The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-06-21 00:00:00

enlarged, and
a total of 525

JUNE 21, 1853

o'cloc

The Ifait; States :daii St :am-sip, Atlantic, Captain:
West, which left New York on the 11th inst., was off
Holyhead at 2 o'clgck, p.m.

[BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.]

LONDON, TUESDAY MORNING.

THE AZTEC LILLIPUTIANS.-STRANGE
ARRIVAL IN LIVERPOOL.

Imerica

ke land of wonder

The mind of the model

republic is ever bent cn the contemplation of strange
subjects—subjects stretching often beyond the boundaries
of the material world. Spirit-rapping and table-moving
have lately agitat3d every community in the States. The
revelationa in natural hister- fime by

mode from time

Brother Jonathan, have vastly enlarged the earth's vo-
lume of wonders ; but we hesitate not to avow that the
most remarkable revelation of all has recently taken place
which ever excited the surprise of the Old or the New
World. We allude to the Aztec children, by some sup.
posed to belong to one of the lost tribes of Israel, by
others said to be of Siberian origin, and by some thought
to be descended from the Egyptians. To the North
American Indians, among whom they have been found,
they bear no likeness whatever; indeed, the difference is
so distinctive from the Caucasian, the Mongolian, the
African, and Red American races, that a mere glance is
sufficient to carry conviction of their separate individuality
as a race. The careful examination of the ethnologist
goes but to strengthen the fact of their perfectly distinct
character, physiologically and phrenologically,
The couple of Aztec children, which arrived in Liverpool on
Saturday, from America, are in the charge of Professor
Anderson, the world-famous wizard of the nortk. who, after a
successful American campaign, has returned to Britain with the
youthful specimens of the hitherto unheard-of race. These
children, vslos were yesterday brought to our office in the care
of Professor Anderson and Mr. Morris, present the most
extraordinary phenomena ever witnessed by tier modern
world, let their origin be what it may. We have not here the
unsightly copy of an American in miniature, whom the rfritish
public flocked to see in the person of Tom Thumb with an
avidity which said little for the taste and judgment of the
crowd. But we have creatures infinitely smaller in stature than
Tom'l bumb, albeit they look not like dwarfs, being, so to speak,
perfect specimens of the Lilliputian race to which they belong,
so far as the unaccustomed' eye can discern. Had we read an
account of these extraordinary people, we should have been
disposed to class them with the fawns and dryads of the
Arcadian vales; with the Moonlight fairies—the little grey
men of the Norse legends—or the green-coated gentry who
frequent the valleys of Scotland. But they are neither sprites
ncr elfs, but human beings, of real flesh and blood like our-
selves—the remnant, mayhap, of some strange and wonderful
race—the mightiest marvel of the- land of wonders—and who,
if they bear a resemblance to any existing race are, in the case
of the boy, allied somewhat to the Caucasian branch of the
human family. The most learned and scientific men in the
United States have made critical examinations of these
children, and unite in proneuncing them the most
unique and extraordinary beings that have ever fallen under
their observation. The attention of European men of science,
ethnologists, physiologists, philesophere, and physicians is now
called tothese curious and remarkable children.
in introducing to the scientific and general public of Europe
the Aztec Lilliputians, we deem it necessary to give an outline
of the facts relating to their discovery and history. They are
not introduced to the public as dwarfs, or freaks of nature in
human organisation—but they are exhibited as types and spe-
cimens of a•race of people long since supposed to be extinct—
living links between the most remote ages and the present—a
race of people of whom we in the present age- know absolutely
nothing—whose history is a sealed book, at-Atha-knowledge of
whose manners-and customs has been swallowed in the womb
of time. Modern scientific researches, aided by monumental
remains, enable us to surmise much; but het* science must
pause, for, after all, we have nothing but surmise to guide us
in our attempts-to penetrate the vista of long past ages, and
gather something like a history of nations as fare advanced in
civilisation as ourselves, nay, even more so.
Central America has been and is comparatively terra incog-
nita. The explorations of Mr Stevens, the great 'traveller, in
these regions, and"the publication of his work on Central Ame-
rica, have thrown tome light upon the subject, and-excited the
wonder and imagination of all classes of readers, yet he failed
in penetrating beyond a certain range and, although his•enthu-
siasin was excited to the highest pitch of excitement by the
rumours which reached him of great undiscovered-Cities and
nations beyond the mountain fastnesses, be gave up the attempt
of endeavouring to test the truth of these traditionary;umours,
owing to the apparent hopelessness and impracticabihtrof the
task.

Whilst in Mexico, occasional excursions by the troops-of the
United States, undertaken with no other object than- the purs
suit of roving bands of-predatory Indians, resulted inethe dis-
covery of native cities-inhabited by people far advanced in civi-
lization, engaged in manufactures, tilling the earth, and in-every
way distinct, in -habit; manners, and customs, from the rude
barbarism of the Indian-tribe of thel more northern continent;
but neither the military nor the Mexican commission succeeded
• in penetrating the immenee labyrintn of mountains north of the
Gila, whither native tribes retreat when pursued.
Stevens, in his second-volume of Central America, relateea
conversation between himself and a priest residing at &elm
Cruz del Quiche, and the worthy padre romantic relation, -of
marvellous ruins in the surrounding oountrY, some of which-
were little more than four leagues from Vera Paz. Bet the
most exciting intelligence Stevens received was that a larg.eand
populous city actually existed- far on the other side of the great
Sierra range, whose sparkling domes and minarets theprieet
bad himself seen from the summit of the Sierra, whicla rising
peseeo feet, overlooks an .immense plain, extending to litiositan
and the Gulf of Mexico—a city, whose people, manners, -and
Customs were supposed te,he in precisely the same state as
when Cortes landed—where natives exist who alone are ableeto•
solve the mystery which-hangs over the ruins of Central
, America. The ardent sharaeter of the American mindewas
stimulated by Stevens's recitals and the probability of ;dis-
coveries which would form a new era in the history of the
. world. Certain it is that- the reading of the particular
:passage relating to the existence of a large and populous city
• far away in an unexplored --country, on the other side of the
Sierra, so inflamed the imaginations of two gentlemen—the
one a Mr. Huertis, of Baltimore, and the other a Mr. Ham-
mond, from Canada, bode of- whom were possessed of ample
means—that they determined to undertake the perilous enter-
prise which Stevens had given up as hopeless. We have intelli•
gence of their departure from New Orleans, and arrival at
Mize, in the autumn of 1644 we trace them with a party of
Indiana along the borders-of the Gulf of Amatique, thence
south-west to Coban, where they arrived on Christmas-day, and
paused to rest prior to proceeding to Santa Cruz del Quiche,
where Stevens first heard of, this living city in the wilderness,
and from vrbich point the journey had, in fact, to be corn-
rnenced. At Coban they were joined by Pedro Valasquez,,of
San Salvador, a Spaniard ,and from his lips alone can any re-
cord of their subsequent movements be obtained, as neither
Mr.-Huertis nor Mr. Hammond ever returned to tell their own
tale. Certain it is that they saw and were seen by the old padre,.
who related the same story he had told Stevens, and that
when- shown the illustrations- in the published travels of the
latter, both Velasquez and the padre recognised the sketches
of ruins and monuments- immediately as objects with which
they were familiar. Re-assured by these and other proofs-of
the truthfulness of Stevena's statements, the party again com-
menced their onward march towards Totonicapan on the lath
of April, and their safe arrival at Gueguetenangocan also be
traced, where they procured mules,guides, and provisions,•and
strengthened their band. They then commenced the ascent•of
the Sierra, and, on the 19tli of May, at an altitude of $5OO feet,
ins latitude 15 degrees 48 minutes north, they reached the sum
mit. On the 20th the morning was fair, the Pacific Ocean was
plainly distinguishable; as, also, whole groups of ruins, and
pyramids through the telescope far away in what was supposed
to-be the state of Chiapas-- At two o'clock p.m. on the same
day, all doubt of the history, as given by Stevens, vanished, for
the entire party, guides- and all, distinctly saw what was evi-
dently a richly monumented and inhabited city, of extremely
large dimensions, of an-. Egyptian character, lying at some
leagues distance in the-plain below, apparently not more-than
25 leagues from Ocosingo, in the same latitude, and in, the
direct course of the river Legartos. Domes and minarets
were apparent in such a.state of preservation as precluded the
idea of the place being deserted, and thus stimulated by what
they bed seen the intrepid travellers determined on exploring
the plain below; but the descent of the Sierra on- Oat side
i was an entire mposeibility. It was therefore agreed that
they should return the way they had some to the.bottom of
the. ravine, thence trace its north-east course to -a large vil-
lage they had seen-.on the banks of the Legato (subsequently
discovered to be named Aguamasinta), where Messrs. Huertia
and Hammond were, to halt whilst Velasquez and the guiles
'returned to Quezaltenango for surplus arms and ammuni-
tion, and to recruit a. band of Indians to accompany them.
Velasquez did retain. to Quezaltenango, and fulfilled his mis-
sion, leaving there most of the people who had accompanied
him on his first trip.;. and the fact of his rejoining }lnertia
and Hammond at Aguamasinta in the beginning of the
following July is:also ou record. Thenceforward, with the ex-
ception of the account of Velasquez, the Spaniard, without
notes or observations, and with no personal corroboration
(for no other member of the adventurous baud returned),
all is a confused and irregular account of their proceedings,
almost too marvellous for belief but for the living evidence of
the two Aztec, Lilliputians, whom Velasquez wax found in
possession of at San Salvador during the following February.
His account briefly ia, that they had penetrated to this city in
the wilderness—whichwas of vast proportions,with heavy walls.
battlements, and a moat throughout its cireumference--fult of
temples, eigentic statues, and all the parapiternallia of paganism
—where the people still retained the worship of the sun as a
deity—where the habits, customs, sovereignty, and primitive
simplicity, of the Peruvians in the days of Pizzaro, combined
with Assyrian magnificence and civilization, still existed intact
and without alloy from the outer world—and where the heredi-
tary priesthood of Kaana were kept isolated from the other in-
habitants, reserved for the purpose of paganism, its rites and
ceremonies, i
onies, with the same religious reverence as in the days of
the Egyptian rule—where the people were bound to remain,
neither seeking nor permitting any intercourse with the white
race, to which on the one side the lofty and impracticable
Sierra presented an apparently insurmountable obstacle, whilst
on the other desert plains and leviathan forests completely
shut out the civilised world—a. city where straggling white•
men had previously penetrated, but whence no white man had.
ever returned, the choice of death or remaining being the onIF:
alternative. But as the trutli:of hienaerative concerning thief pagan city of Iximaya, with its, exact locality and existence,. will be determined by the United States survey, now in course
of formation, the question. will be soon set at rest. Mean-
time it is certain that neither Hammond nor Huertis returned
the former, Velasquez says, died trout a spear wound received
in the first skirmish with, the native bend set on guard against
intrusion on their domains; and the latter, it is evident, was
sacrificed after taking upon himself moral obligations. to re-
main, and then attempting to escape.
Velasquez was more fortunate and more politic ; for, after
lulling his captors into a state of security, he not only escaped
himself, but brought with him two of the children of the Kaana
priesthood. His description of this extraordinary race of beings
is simply this :—That, forbidden by sacred laws from marrying
any but those of their own caste, they. had here, in the course
of centuries, dwindled down to a few individuals, who, thought
diminutive in stature, are held in great veneration by the
Iximayan community as living types of an. antique race of
priesthood, nearly extinct, who had accompanied the first
migration of the people of the Assyrian plains.
If we doubt the narrative of Velasquez and the other evidence
before us, the natural inquiry is,—who and what are these ex
traordinary people, and where did they, come from? for they
are evidently unlike every other branch of the human family
ever seen by civilized people, and different in physical organi-
sation to any and every other specimen previously seen. in a
living form ; whilst their appearance at places in Central
America nearest the region whence they came created just as
ranch bewildering astonishment and intense curiosity as have
ensued during their exhibition throughout the most enlightens
ed portions of the United States; whilst their lite-like resem-
blance to the sculptured figures found in the ruins of Central
America, and on the ancient marbles in the British Museum,
confirm the belief of their- origin and history as given by
Velasquez.

.1 nen. guardians solicit the most seatOing investigation,
nd the aid of scientific research to elicit the truth. All
he facts in their possession are freely given, and they do
of shrink from, but court the fullest inquiry, convinced, as
ley are, that these two Aztec Lilliputians will prove to be the
...;—fitic and historical ities ever brought before
tend to throw some light
o ceremonies, of bygone ages.
these names the two Aztec
by medical men supposed to

Leysublic, whilst their existence may

laptised) a

lion is corroho-
teeth, which indicates a much
r maturity than that which at first sight would be awarded
tgs of such an infantile form. The formation of the cra-
.

•ated by the appearance

totally d;ffcrent
ch the scientifl,

a maturity