The Prehistoric World or Vanished races Part 52

Ill.u.s.tration of Chapultepec.--------------

From this stage of development would naturally arise symbolical paintings. Thus "footsteps" might signify the idea of going. A comma-shaped figure, issuing from a person's mouth, would stand for speech. The next step is what we might call rebus-writing, where not the thing itself was meant but the sound. Thus this cut represents Chapultepec--meaning gra.s.shopper-hill, or locust mount. It is evident, here, the pictures of the objects represent the name. They, probably, did not use this principle farther than to represent the proper names of persons and things before the coming of the Spaniards.

Ill.u.s.tration of Amen.--------------------

Some think that, in addition to the above, the Mexicans used, to a very limited extent, a true phonetic writing--one in which the figures refer not to the thought, but to the sound of the thought.<83> Others are not ready to concede that point. They could not have been further along than the threshold of the discovery, at all events. The Spanish missionaries were very desirous of teaching the Indians the Pater-noster, the Ave-Maria, and the Credo. Either the Indians themselves, or the priests (probably the latter), hit on the device of using painted symbols for the words and syllables of the church prayers and formulas. Thus in this manner was painted the word Amen. The first sign is the conventional figure for water, in Mexican "atl", which stood for A. For the second syllable they put the picture of a maguey plant, in Mexican "metl." The whole, then, was "atl-metl," which was as near as they could express the word amen. We must observe, that this was after the conquest.<84>

Ill.u.s.tration of Historical Sheet.-----------------

The plate opposite is one of the paintings of the Mendoza collection.

This collection, we must remember, was made after the conquest, simply to gratify the curiosity of the King of Spain. The matter treated of is the events connected with time when Motec.u.ma the fifth "chief-of-men"

held office. Around the edge we see the hieroglyphics of the years. We notice he was chief-of-men from the year one calli to two tecpatl. About the only thing recorded of him is the different pueblos he conquered.

In all he subdued thirty-three; but only eleven are shown in this plate.

The pueblos are indicated by a house toppling over--flames issuing from under the roof. The other little hieroglyphics are the names of the pueblos. The last one in the second transverse line from the bottom is the hieroglyphic of Chalco, which we thus learn was reduced to tribute under this chief. All the events indicated in this cut took place before the discovery of America.<85>

Ill.u.s.tration of Chilapi--Tribute.---------------

A second part of this codex has reference to the tribute received from various tribes. In this cut the left-hand figure is the hieroglyphic of the town of Chilapi, and is an excellent representation of their rebus-writing we have just referred to. It is a tub of water, on which floats a red-pepper pod. The Mexican word for this last is chilli, for water it is "atl.". The word "pa" means above. For the full word we have "chilli-atl-pa." Contracted, it becomes chilapi. The figure to the right is the tribute. The five flags denotes one hundred. Below is represented a copper ax-blade--from which we infer that the Pueblo of Chilapi had to furnish a tribute of one hundred copper axes.

Ill.u.s.tration of Child Training.--------------

A third part of this same collection refers to the Mexican customs. In this cut we have represented the training of a boy at the different ages of four, six, thirteen and fourteen years of age. The little round marks number the years of his age. The little elliptical-shaped figures show the number of tortullas the child is allowed at a meal. The boy is trained to carry and make various things, to row a boat, and to fish.

Ill.u.s.tration of Migration Chart.-----------

The most interesting of Mexican picture-writings is the record of their wanderings. This was formerly supposed to represent their migrations from Asia--but is now known to refer only to their wanderings in the Valley of Mexico. De Lafield, in his "Antiquities of America," gives a full representation of this picture-writing. Bancroft's "Native Races,"

Vol. II, pp. 548-49, give a very good reduced copy. We will not attempt to reproduce it all. This cut represents the beginning of it. A man is seen crossing a stream in a boat. The figure behind him may mean an island, on which are represented some pueblos and human figures. On the opposite bank of the stream, to which the footsteps lead, is the hieroglyphic of Culhuacan, "the curved mountain." The year date of this movement is "one tecpatl." The character within that of Culhuacan is Huitzilopochtli, their national G.o.d. The flakes issuing from his mouth signify that he is guiding them. The princ.i.p.al figures about this map are the hieroglyphic names of various places where they stopped, and the time spent at each place.

The Mayas seem to have been further advanced in the art of writing than their Nahua neighbors. Specimens of their hieroglyphic writings have been given in the preceding chapter. The hopes of our scholars were greatly raised when, in 1863, the announcement was made that there had been discovered, in Madrid, a Maya alphabet, which, it was expected, would unlock the mysterious tablets just mentioned.

The alphabet thus discovered is represented in the next cut. It will be seen that some of the letters have a number of different forms. This discovery was hailed as of the greatest importance, and a number of scholars at once set about to decipher the tablets. They were speedily undeceived. The alphabet is, practically, of no help whatever. Prof.

Valentine even goes so far as to declare that this alphabet was not of native origin.

Ill.u.s.tration of Landa Alphabet.------------------

Ill.u.s.tration of Maya T.---------------

He thinks that Bishop Landa, who is the authority for this alphabet, and who was Bishop of Yucatan from 1549 to 1579, being anxious to a.s.sist the natives in learning the new faith, set about the manufacture of an alphabet for them. This he did by having the natives paint some native object which came the nearest to the sound of our alphabet. Thus, for instance, this symbol there are excellent reasons for supposing represents the sun, or the word "day." The Maya word for this is _te._ We find that this is the symbol that Landa employs for the letter T, only, in his drawing, the central dot has fallen into the lower dashes.

Nearly all the other letters can be traced to a similar source.<86> But the professor's reasoning does not satisfy all. He is believed to be right in a number of his identifications; but still the characters might have been used in a phonetic way.<87>

Ill.u.s.tration of Maya Ma.n.u.script.-------------

There is no doubt but that the Mayas had a different system than that in use among the Nahua people. The knowledge how to use it was, probably, confined to the priests; and, furthermore, the system was, doubtless, a mixed one. A few phonetic characters might have been used; but they also used picture-writing. The plate above is a sample of the ma.n.u.scripts they left behind. It is in the nature of a religious almanac, and refers to the feasts celebrated at the end of a year. The line of characters on the left hand are the days characters Eb and Been. In the lower division, a priest offers a headless fowl to the idol on the left. In the middle division, the priest is burning incense to drive away the evil-spirit. In the upper division, the a.s.sistant, with the idol on his back, is on his march through the village. As yet, we know but very little about the tables. We know the hieroglyphics of days and of months.

Ill.u.s.tration of Hieroglyphics--Tablet of the Cross.------

Examining the tablets in the Temple of the Cross, at Palenque, represented below, we notice a large glyph, at the commencement of the tablet, something like a capital letter. This, Mr. Valentine thinks, represents the censers which stood in the temples before the idols, in which fire was constantly kept.<88> Running through the tablets we notice glyphs, in front of which are either little dots, or one or more bars with little dots in front of them. These are day-dates. The dots count one--the little upright bars, five. The probabilities are that this tablet is a sort of list of feast-days in honor of the G.o.ds represented by the central tablet.

As we have made a considerable effort to acquaint ourselves with the social organization and customs of the various tribes, and have spent some time in learning the details of their calendar system, and their advance in the art of writing, it will not be out of place to inquire as to their history--to determine, if possible, some of the dates to be given for the arrival of the tribes, and some of the important points of their prehistoric life. Whatever difficulties we have experienced in acquiring a knowledge of their customs will be greatly increased now.

Their architecture, social organization, and general enlightenment could be perceived by the conquering Spaniards, and our information in regard to the same should have been full and complete. We have seen, however, how meager it is. The only light thrown on these disputed points is the result of the labors of modern scholars. When we were made acquainted with some of the first principles of Indian society, we could read with profit the accounts of the early writers.

But, when we come to ask for dates in their history, we are almost entirely at sea. The traditions, in this respect, are almost worthless.

So, all that we shall attempt to do, is to present some of the thoughts of our scholars as to the probable connection of the civilized tribes with each other, and what value is to be given to the few dates at our command. We will begin, first, with the Maya tribes. This includes those tribes that speak the Maya language, and its dialects. It was in their territory that the most striking ruins were found. They include the tribes of Yucatan, Guatemala, Chiapas, and Tobasco. Then there comes a break; but they were also settled on both banks of the River Panuco.

Many theories have been advanced as to the origin of the Mayas. As yet, the question is not solved.

Not a few have supposed them to be the same as the Mound Builders of the United States. Dr. Brinton has pointed out that the language of the Natchez Indians contains some words of the Maya.<89> A Mexican scholar, Senor Orozco-y-Berra, thinks it probable that the Mayas once occupied the Atlantic sea-board of the United States; that they pa.s.sed from the peninsula of Florida to Cuba, and thence to the other Caribbean Islands, and so to Yucatan. He states that the traditions of the Mayas uphold this view.<90> But others are not ready to admit it. We have found a number of points of resemblance between the Mayas and the Nahuas.

Differences we would, of course, expect to find; but still the points of resemblance are sufficiently strong to indicate either that the tribes were once subject to the same influence, from whence they derived their culture, or else that they are descended from the same stock. We have reverted to the wors.h.i.+p of Quetzalcohuatl, and shown how the Quiches, under the name of Guc.u.matz, wors.h.i.+ped a similar deity. We have also referred to the great similarity of the calendar system.

From the limited s.p.a.ce at our command, it is not possible to refer to the traditions of the Maya tribes. We will refer to but one ma.n.u.script bearing on this question; but this is, probably, the most important one.

This ma.n.u.script was written by a native with the Spanish letter, but in the Maya language. It was written not far from the time of the conquest of Yucatan by the Spaniards, and the account is, doubtless, as full a one, from the native stand-point, as can be given. The period of time used by the author is Ahau, which we have seen is either twenty, or twenty-four years.

Carefully going over this ma.n.u.script, Prof. Valentine arrives at the following conclusions: About the Year 137, A.D., the Mayas started from some place they called Tulla, or Tullapan, on their migration. Where this place was we do not know. The traditions of all the civilized nations refer to this place as a starting-point. It was a "land of abundance." It may be that this was but some fabled place, such as almost all primitive people have traditions of.<91> About the year 231, A.D., they arrived on the coast of Central America, and spread themselves over a large part of it. This same ma.n.u.script speaks of the "discovery" of Chichen-Itza, 522, A.D. The date of the founding of Uxmal is given as about the year 1000, A.D. From 1000 to 1200, A.D., was the golden era of the Mayas in Yucatan.

The tribes at Uxmal, Mayapan, and Chichen-Itza formed a confederacy of which Mayapan seems to have been the head. About the year 1200, inter-tribal war broke out. It seems to have been caused by the arrival of Nahua tribes, who established themselves in Mayapan. They were finally expelled, but they left the Mayas in such a state of exhaustion that they could not present a united front against the Spaniards. Such are the conclusions of Prof. Valentine. He estimates the length of an Ahau at twenty years, and it does seem that the author of the ma.n.u.script used that number of years.<92>

Of the other branch of the civilized tribes we know but very little.

The historical picture writings of the Mendoza collection, a collection compiled, remember, after the conquest, and, therefore, representing the traditions then current among the Mexicans, takes us back to 1325, A.D., to the first settlement in the Pueblo of Mexico. Sahagun, a Franciscan monk, who went to Mexico as early as the year 1529, and remained there until his death in 1590, wrote a very voluminous account of the Mexicans, their customs and history, and as he was in Mexico at the time when their traditions were still fresh in the minds of the natives, his account is probably as good as any. He obtained his information in a very credible manner. He gathered together some old Indians, well acquainted with the traditional history of their country. They are supposed to have "refreshed" their memory by inspecting a number of picture writings, which have since disappeared.

It is manifest that this history is valuable, just in proportion as the traditions are valuable. He makes one statement that Prof. Valentine has dwelt upon with great ability. He states that numberless years ago the first settlers came in s.h.i.+ps and landed at a northern port, which, from that cause, was called Pauntla. This is supposed to be the Panuco River.

After they had settled here, a large part of them, including their leaders and the priests, went off south; Sahagun says as far as Guatemala. The party left behind organized themselves into an independent body. They reconstructed from memory the calendar; they increased and became powerful, until pus.h.i.+ng over the mountain, they built the pyramid of Cholula, and finally reached the city of Teotihuacan, where they built a central sanctuary. For some reason they abandoned their homes, all except the Otomies, and wandered off across the plains, and high, cold, desert places, that they might discover new lands.<93>

No dates are mentioned for these occurrences, and we are not aware that this tradition is mentioned by other writers. We recall that from the mouth of the Panuco River southward, we found evidence of considerable population in olden times. We also recall that in this section are the ruined pyramids of Tuzpan and Papantla. Prof. Valentine is inclined to think that this date is referred to on the calendar stone; that is, 231 A.D. Just twenty-four cycles elapsed from this time to the date of the dedication of the calendar stone in 1479.

He also thinks that the Maya traditions refer to this same occurrence.

One more reference to this same mysterious date is contained in the traditions of the Tezcucan tribe. According to the traditions, the beginning of things were in the year 245 A.D. According to this view, then, the ancestors of both Nahua and Maya people appeared on the gulf coast about 231 A.D.; in the same place where a Maya-speaking tribe are found to-day. From here those who developed the Maya culture went to the south and south-west; those who developed the Nahua went to the west and north-west.

We do not profess to be a judge as to the value of this tradition.

Our scholars will, probably, at no distant day, come to more definite conclusions in the matter. Prof. Short thinks the strangers who at this early time made their appearance on the gulf sh.o.r.e were colonies of Mound Builders from the Mississippi Valley.<94> We think it best to be very cautious about coming to any such conclusions. We must not forget that back of the twelfth century is nothing but vague traditions. Mr.

Bandelier tells us that "nothing positive can be gathered, except that even during the earliest times Mexico was settled or overrun by sedentary, as well as by nomadic tribes that both acknowledged a common origin."<95> The savage tribes have the general name of Chichimecas, but by right this term ought to be applied to the sedentary tribes as well; however, the word Toltec stands for these sedentary tribes. We have all read about the great Toltec Empire in Mexico. This is a ridiculous use of words. There was no tribe or nation of people of the name of Toltecs.<96> All these prehistoric aborigines were probably Chichimecas; but by Toltecs we refer to the sedentary tribes, the skillful workers among them. If we are to judge any thing of traditions, the original home of these people were somewhere to the north of Mexico.