Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1852-08-18
THE AZTEC CHILDREN.
BY AUsTRALIS.


considerable time been exhibited in the city of
New York, where thousands with an intense
and excited interest have sought to crafty their
curiosity as to the probable origin and history
of these wonderful representatives OF ancient
Adam.
They have recently been removed from the
great metropolis of the United States to the pa
iernal city of the ever memorable and benevo-
lent Penn, where they cannot fail to excite in
the bosom of every enlightened freeman and
phanthropist, the same lively. interest as to
their peculiar relations to the great family of
man, and their claims to the sympathy and in
terest of their felow-beings.
1t is not the purpose of the author of this
sketch to recur to the account furnished by Mr..
Stevens in his travels in Central America, which
constitutes the source and foundation upon
which many of the facts connected with the ex-
pedition.of Velasquez rest, and from which in
teresting portions of the history of these chill
dren are framed. The admirable work of Mr..
Stevens particularly the account which he
gives of the wonderful remains which were
brought to his view by the intelligent padre of
Santa Cruz del Quiche) furnishes strong
ground for the belief of the actual existence of
the idolatrous city of Iximaya. His description
of the descendants of the ancient sacerdotal Or
der of the Aztec guardians of the once flourish
ing temples of that people not unknown to Cor
tez and Avarado, would seem to indicate race
in no remote degree to the present
physical construction and appearance of the Az
tee children. 1t is asserted by Velasquez, one
of the principal conductors of the expedition
which resulted in the capture and flight of these
wonderful children, that they constitute por-
tion of the descendants of the ancient and pc
culiar order of priesthood called Kaanas, which
it was distinctly asserted in the ancient annals
of Iximaya had accompanied the first migration
of this people from the Assyrian plains. Their
peculiar and strongly distinctive ineaments, it
is now perfectly well ascertained, are to be tra-
ced in many of the sculptured monuments of
the Central American ruins and were found still
more abundantly on those of Iximaya. Forbid
den, by inviolably sacred laws, from intermarry-
ing with any persons but those of their own
caste, they had here dwinded down, in the
course of many centuries, to few insignificant
diminutive in stature, and imbecile
in intellect" Such is the language of the con-
ductors of the enterprise referred to-such the
probable origin of these extraordinary repre-
sentations of those who in Scriptural language
were called giants" now re-appearing in what
might be Justly delneated as miniature editions
of humanity-daguerreoty specimens of him
I" who was created little lower than the an
gels"
The origin of these interesting little strangers
must we think, remain for the present involved
in an obscurity which time and future discover
les can alone remove. Their history and rela-
ton to the community from which they have
been removed, and their language, habits and
in the scale of rational and intelli-
gent beings, are calculated to excite in no ordin-
ary degree the active and inquisitive mind of
the psychologist, the antiquarian and the Chris
tian.
In their unusual diminutiveness as human be-
ings-the singular and striking features which
give animation to their countenances, and at
times the fixed and unmistakable lines which in
dicate deep thought and feeing-they are OBJ
jects of profound interest and intense specula-
ton. To the rejecting and intelligent specta-
tor their presence strikngly recalls the language
of the Psalmst-" We are fearfully and won-
derfully made" In contemplating them as n
portion of the human family, governed by the
general laws of nature, and subject to the uni
form operations Of her unchangeable economy,
we are nevertheless startled at that apparent de-
generacy which, in the deprivation of physical
strength and beauty, humbes our own pride
while it enlists our sympathy.
These phenomena of the human species, in
their personal action, the expression of agreea-
BILE features, and in the enjoyment of company
and the attentions of the visitors who throng
around them, afford no ordinary degree of inter-
est and sympathy. The boy measures about
thirty-two inches in height, and the girl twenty
nine. They are finely formed, and delcately
fashioned in proportion to the reduced size and
natural conformation which distinguish their
structures. Their color is of the Spanish, or
rather more of the Mexican complexion; the
hair black and silken in its appearance, slightly
inclined to curl, yet glossy and beautiful. Their
features, deprived of that refined and graceful
to regularity and beauty which dis
tinguishes the Anglo-Saxon countenance, are
nevertheless interesting. Like the representa-
tions of those Aztec heads which Stevens has
portrayed, 4" the top of the forehead to the end
of the nose of each of these children is almost
straight, bearing an unmistakable resemblance
to the features of their idoairous images
They are gratefully sensible of the caresses and
little familiar attentions of visitors, and appear
always to be interested in the gambos and
amusements of children. To their guardians
they manifest very warm attachment and
seem with an intuitive sense of their own help
lessness and dependence for protection and Sc
curity, to regard them with strong fial afiec-
ton.