diff --git "a/data/test/30752.txt" "b/data/test/30752.txt" --- "a/data/test/30752.txt" +++ "b/data/test/30752.txt" @@ -1,2901 +1,2901 @@ - - - - -Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - -Transcriber's Note - -A number of typographical errors have been maintained in this version -of this book. They have been marked with a [TN-#], which refers to a -description in the complete list found at the end of the text. -Inconsistent spelling, hyphenation, and capitalization have been -maintained. A list of inconsistently spelled, hyphenated, and -capitalized words is found in a list at the end of the text. - -Oe ligatures have been expanded. The following codes are used for -characters that are not available in the character set used for this -book: - - [sun] Sun symbol - [=a] a with macron - [c] open o - [C] open O - - - - - VESTIGES OF THE MAYAS, - - OR, - - _Facts tending to prove that Communications and Intimate Relations - must have existed, in very remote times, between the inhabitants of_ - - MAYAB - - AND THOSE OF - - ASIA AND AFRICA. - - BY - - AUGUSTUS LE PLONGEON, M. D., - - Member of the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Mass., of the - California Academy of Sciences, and several other Scientific Societies. - Author of various Essays and Scientific Works. - - NEW YORK: - JOHN POLHEMUS, PRINTER AND STATIONER, - 102 NASSAU STREET. - - 1881. - - - - -To - -_MR. PIERRE LORILLARD._ - -Who deserves the thanks of the students of American Archaeology more than -you, for the interest manifested in the explorations of the ruined -monuments of Central America, handiwork of the races that inhabited this -continent in remote ages, and the material help given by you to Foreign -and American explorers in that field of investigations? - -Accept, then, my personal thanks, with the dedication of this small -Essay. It forms part of the result of many years' study and hardships -among the ruined cities of the Incas, in Peru, and of the Mayas in -Yucatan. - - Yours very respectfully, - - AUGUSTUS LE PLONGEON, M. D. - -NEW YORK, _December 15, 1881_. - - - - - Entered according to an Act of Congress, in December, 1881, - - BY AUGUSTUS LE PLONGEON, - - In the Office of the LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS in Washington, D.C. - - - - -VESTIGES OF THE MAYAS. - - -Yucatan is the peninsula which divides the Gulf of Mexico from the -Caribbean Sea. It is comprised between the 17 deg. 30' and 21 deg. 50', -of latitude north, and the 88 deg. and 91 deg. of longitude west from -the Greenwich meridian. - -The whole peninsula is of fossiferous limestone formation. Elevated a -few feet only above the sea, on the coasts, it gradually raises toward -the interior, to a maximum height of above 70 feet. A bird's-eye view, -from a lofty building, impresses the beholder with the idea that he is -looking on an immense sea of verdure, having the horizon for boundary; -without a hill, not even a hillock, to break the monotony of the -landscape. Here and there clusters of palm trees, or artificial mounds, -covered with shrubs, loom above the green dead-level as islets, over -that expanse of green foliage, affording a momentary relief to the eyes -growing tired of so much sameness. - -About fifty miles from the northwestern coast begins a low, narrow range -of hills, whose highest point is not much above 500 feet. It traverses -the peninsula in a direction a little south from east, commencing a few -miles north from the ruined city of Uxmal, and terminating some distance -from the eastern coast, opposite to the magnificent bay of Ascension. - -Lately I have noticed that some veins of red oxide of iron exist among -these hills--quarries of marble must also be found there; since the -sculptured ornaments that adorn the facade of all the monuments at Uxmal -are of that stone. To-day the inhabitants of Yucatan are even ignorant -of the existence of these minerals in their country, and ocher to paint, -and marble slabs to floor their houses, are imported from abroad. I -have also discovered veins of good lithographic stones that could be -worked at comparatively little expense. - -The surface of the country is undulating; its stony waves recall -forcibly to the mind the heavy swell of mid-ocean. It seems as if, in -times long gone by, the soil was upheaved, _en masse_, from the bottom -of the sea, by volcanic forces. This upheaval must have taken place many -centuries ago, since isolated columns of _Katuns_ 1m. 50c. square, -erected at least 6,000 years ago, stand yet in the same perpendicular -position, as at the time when another stone was added to those already -piled up, to indicate a lapse of twenty years in the life of the nation. - -It is, indeed, a remarkable fact, that whilst the surrounding -countries--Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba and the other West India Islands--are -frequently convulsed by earthquakes, the peninsula of Yucatan is -entirely free from these awe-inspiring convulsions of mother earth. This -immunity may be attributed, in my opinion, to the innumerable and -extensive caves with which the whole country is entirely honeycombed; -and the large number of immense natural wells, called Senotes, that are -to be found everywhere. These caves and senotes afford an outlet for the -escape of the gases generated in the superficial strata of the earth. -These, finding no resistance to their passage, follow, harmlessly, these -vents without producing on the surface any of those terrible commotions -that fill the heart of man and beast alike with fright and dismay. - -Some of those caves are said to be very extensive--None, however, has -been thoroughly explored. I have visited a few, certainly extremely -beautiful, adorned as they are with brilliant stalactites depending from -their roofs, that seem as if supported by the stalagmites that must have -required ages to be formed gradually from the floor into the massive -columns, as we see them to-day. - -In all the caves are to be found either inexhaustible springs of clear, -pure, cold water, or streams inhabited by shrimps and fishes. No one can -tell whence they come or where they go. All currents of water are -subterraneous. Not a river is to be found on the surface; not even the -smallest of streamlets, where the birds of the air, or the wild beasts -of the forests, can allay their thirst during the dry season. The -plants, if there are no chinks or crevices in the stony soil through -which their roots can penetrate and seek the life-sustaining fluid -below, wither and die. It is a curious sight that presented by the roots -of the trees, growing on the precipituous[TN-1] brinks of the _senotes_, -in their search for water. They go down and down, even a hundred feet, -until they reach the liquid surface, from where they suck up the fluid -to aliment the body of the tree. They seem like many cables and ropes -stretched all round the sides of the well; and, in fact, serves as such -to some of the most daring of the natives, to ascend or descend to enjoy -a refreshing bath. - -These _senotes_ are immense circular holes, the diameter of which varies -from 50 to 500 feet, with perpendicular walls from 50 to 150 feet deep. -These holes might be supposed to have served as ducts for the -subterranean gases at the time of the upheaval of the country. Now they -generally contain water. In some, the current is easily noticeable; many -are completely dry; whilst others contain thermal mineral water, -emitting at times strong sulphurous odor and vapor. - -Many strange stories are told by the aborigines concerning the -properties possessed by the water in certain senotes, and the strange -phenomena that takes place in others. In one, for example, you are -warned to approach the water walking backward, and to breathe very -softly, otherwise it becomes turbid and unfit for drinking until it has -settled and become clear again. In another you are told not to speak -above a whisper, for if any one raises the voice the tranquil surface of -the water immediately becomes agitated, and soon assumes the appearance -of boiling; even its level raises. These and many other things are told -in connection with the caves and senotes; and we find them mentioned in -the writings of the chroniclers and historians from the time of the -Spanish conquest. - -No lakes exist on the surface, at least within the territories occupied -by the white men. Some small sheets of water, called aguadas, may be -found here and there, and are fed by the underground current; but they -are very rare. There are three or four near the ruins of the ancient -city of Mayapan: probably its inhabitants found in them an abundant -supply of water. Following all the same direction, they are, as some -suppose, no doubt with reason, the outbreaks of a subterranean stream -that comes also to the surface in the senote of _Mucuyche_. A mile or so -from Uxmal is another aguada; but judging from the great number of -artificial reservoirs, built on the terraces and in the courts of all -the monuments, it would seem as if the people there depended more on the -clouds for their provision of water than on the wells and senotes. Yet I -feel confident that one of these must exist under the building known as -the Governor's house; having discovered in its immediate vicinity the -entrance--now closed--of a cave from which a cool current of air is -continually issuing; at times with great force. - -I have been assured by Indians from the village of Chemax, who pretend -to know that part of the country well, that, at a distance of about -fifty miles from the city of Valladolid, the actual largest settlement -on the eastern frontier, in the territories occupied by the SANTA CRUZ -Indians, there exists, near the ruins of _Kaba_, two extensive sheets of -water, from where, in years gone by, the inhabitants of Valladolid -procured abundant supply of excellent fishes. These ruins of Kaba, said -to be very interesting, have never been visited by any foreigner; nor -are they likely to be for many years to come, on account of the imminent -danger of falling into the hands of those of Santa Cruz--that, since -1847, wage war to the knife against the Yucatecans. - -On the coast, the sea penetrating in the lowlands have formed sloughs -and lakes, on the shores of which thickets of mangroves grow, with -tropical luxuriancy. Intermingling their crooked roots, they form such a -barrier as to make landing well nigh impossible. These small lakes, -subject to the ebb and flow of the tides, are the resort of innumerable -sea birds and water fowls of all sizes and descriptions; from the snipe -to the crane, and brightly flamingos, from the screeching sea -gulls to the serious looking pelican. They are attracted to these lakes -by the solitude of the forests of mangroves that afford them excellent -shelter, where to build their nests, and find protection from the storms -that, at certain season of the year, sweep with untold violence along -the coast: and because with ease they can procure an abundant supply of -food, these waters being inhabited by myriads of fishes, as they come to -bask on the surface which is seldom ruffled even when the tempest rages -outside. - -Notwithstanding the want of superficial water, the air is always charged -with moisture; the consequence being a most equable temperature all the -year round, and an extreme luxuriance of all vegetation. The climate is -mild and comparatively healthy for a country situated within the -tropics, and bathed by the waters of the Mexican Gulf. This mildness and -healthiness may be attributed to the sea breezes that constantly pass -over the peninsula, carrying the malaria and noxious gases that have not -been absorbed by the forests, which cover the main portion of the land; -and to the great abundance of oxygen exuded by the plants in return. -This excessive moisture and the decomposition of dead vegetable matter -is the cause of the intermittent fevers that prevail in all parts of the -peninsula, where the yellow fever, under a mild form generally, is also -endemic. When it appears, as this year, in an epidemic form, the natives -themselves enjoy no immunity from its ravages, and fall victims to it as -well as unacclimated foreigners. - -These epidemics, those of smallpox and other diseases that at times make -their appearance in Yucatan, generally present themselves after the -rainy season, particularly if the rains have been excessive. The country -being extremely flat, the drainage is necessarily very bad: and in -places like Merida, for example, where a crowding of population exists, -and the cleanliness of the streets is utterly disregarded by the proper -authorities, the decomposition of vegetable and animal matter is very -large; and the miasmas generated, being carried with the vapors arising -from the constant evaporation of stagnant waters, are the origin of -those scourges that decimate the inhabitants. Yucatan, isolated as it -is, its small territory nearly surrounded by water, ought to be, if the -laws of health were properly enforced, one of the most healthy countries -on the earth; where, as in the Island of Cozumel, people should only die -of old age or accident. The thermometer varies but little, averaging -about 80 deg. _Far_. True, it rises in the months of July and August as -high as 96 deg. in the shade, but it seldom falls below 65 deg. in the -month of December. In the dry season, from January to June, the trees -become divested of their leaves, that fall more particularly in March -and April. Then the sun, returning from the south on its way to the -north, passes over the land and darts its scorching perpendicular rays -on it, causing every living creature to thirst for a drop of cool water; -the heat being increased by the burning of those parts of the forests -that have been cut down to prepare fields for cultivation. - -In the portion of the peninsula, about one-third of it, that still -remains in possession of the white, the Santa Cruz Indians holding, -since 1847, the richest and most fertile, two-thirds, the soil is -entirely stony. The arable loam, a few inches in thickness, is the -result of the detriti of the stones, mixed with the remainder of the -decomposition of vegetable matter. In certain districts, towards the -eastern and southern parts of the State, patches of red clay form -excellent ground for the cultivation of the sugar cane and Yuca root. -From this an excellent starch is obtained in large quantities. Withal, -the soil is of astonishing fertility, and trees, even, are met with of -large size, whose roots run on the surface of the bare stone, -penetrating the chinks and crevices only in search of moisture. Often -times I have seen them growing from the center of slabs, the seed having -fallen in a hole that happened to be bored in them. In the month of May -the whole country seems parched and dry. Not a leaf, not a bud. The -branches and boughs are naked, and covered with a thick coating of gray -dust. Nothing to intercept the sight in the thicket but the bare trunks -and branches, with the withes entwining them. With the first days of -June come the first refreshing showers. As if a magic wand had been -waved over the land, the view changes--life springs everywhere. In the -short space of a few days the forests have resumed their holiday attire; -buds appear and the leaves shoot; the flowers bloom sending forth their -fragrance, that wafted by the breeze perfume the air far and near. The -birds sing their best songs of joy; the insects chirp their shrillest -notes; butterflies of gorgeous colors flutter in clouds in every -direction in search of the nectar contained in the cups of the -newly-opened blossom, and dispute it with the brilliant humming-birds. -All creation rejoices because a few tears of mother Nature have brought -joy and happiness to all living beings, from the smallest blade of grass -to the majestic palm; from the creeping worm to man, who proudly titles -himself the lord of creation. - -Yucatan has no rich metallic mines, but its wealth of vegetable -productions is immense. Large forests of mahogany, cedar, zapotillo -trees cover vast extents of land in the eastern and southern portions of -the peninsula; whilst patches of logwood and mora, many miles in length, -grow near the coast. The wood is to-day cut down and exported by the -Indians of Santa Cruz through their agents at Belize. Coffee, vanilla, -tobacco, india-rubber, rosins of various kinds, copal in particular, -all of good quality, abound in the country, but are not cultivated on -account of its unsettled state; the Indians retaining possession of the -most fertile territories where these rich products are found. - -The whites have been reduced to the culture of the Hennequen plant -(agave sisalensis) in order to subsist. It is the only article of -commerce that grows well on the stony soil to which they are now -confined. The filament obtained from the plant, and the objects -manufactured from it constitute the principal article of export; in fact -the only source of wealth of the Yucatecans. As the filament is now much -in demand for the fabrication of cordage in the United States and -Europe, many of the landowners have ceased to plant maize, although the -staple article of food in all classes, to convert their land into -hennequen fields. The plant thrives well on stony soil, requires no -water and but little care. The natural consequence of planting the whole -country with hennequen has been so great a deficiency in the maize crop, -that this year not enough was grown for the consumption, and people in -the northeastern district were beginning to suffer from the want of it, -when some merchants of Merida imported large quantities from New York. -They, of course, sold it at advanced prices, much to the detriment of -the poorer classes. Some sugar is also cultivated in the southern and -eastern districts, but not in sufficient quantities even for the -consumption; and not a little is imported from Habana. - -The population of the country, about 250,000 souls all told, are mostly -Indians and mixed blood. In fact, very few families can be found of pure -Caucasian race. Notwithstanding the great admixture of different races, -a careful observer can readily distinguish yet four prominent ones, very -noticeable by their features, their stature, the conformation of their -body. The dwarfish race is certainly easily distinguishable from the -descendants of the giants that tradition says once upon a time existed -in the country, whose bones are yet found, and whose portraits are -painted on the walls of Chaacmol's funeral chamber at Chichen-Itza. The -almond-eyed, flat-nosed Siamese race of Copan is not to be mistaken for -the long, big-nosed, flat-headed remnant of the Nahualt from Palenque, -who are said to have invaded the country some time at the beginning of -the Christian era; and whose advent among the Mayas, whose civilization -they appear to have destroyed, has been commemorated by calling the -_west_, the region whence they came, according to Landa, Cogolludo and -other historians, NOHNIAL, a word which means literally _big noses for -our daughters_; whilst the coming of the bearded men from the _east_, -better looking than those of the west, if we are to give credit to the -bas-relief where their portraits are to be seen, was called -CENIAL--_ornaments for our daughters_. - -If we are to judge by the great number of ruined cities scattered -everywhere through the forests of the peninsula; by the architectural -beauty of the monuments still extant, the specimens of their artistic -attainments in drawing and sculpture which have reached us in the -bas-reliefs, statues and mural paintings of Uxmal and Chichen-Itza; by -their knowledge in mathematical and astronomical sciences, as manifested -in the construction of the gnomon found by me in the ruins of Mayapan; -by the complexity of the grammatical form and syntaxis of their -language, still spoken to-day by the majority of the inhabitants of -Yucatan; by their mode of expressing their thoughts on paper, made from -the bark of certain trees, with alphabetical and phonetical characters, -we must of necessity believe that, at some time or other, the country -was not only densely populated, but that the inhabitants had reached a -high degree of civilization. To-day we can conceive of very few of their -attainments by the scanty remains of their handiwork, as they have come -to us injured by the hand of time, and, more so yet, by that of man, -during the wars, the invasions, the social and religious convulsions -which have taken place among these people, as among all other nations. -Only the opening of the buildings which contain the libraries of their -learned men, and the reading of their works, could solve the mystery, -and cause us to know how much they had advanced in the discovery and -explanation of Nature's arcana; how much they knew of mankind's past -history, and of the nations with which they held intercourse. Let us -hope that the day may yet come when the Mexican government will grant to -me the requisite permission, in order that I may bring forth, from the -edifices where they are hidden, the precious volumes, without opposition -from the owners of the property where the monuments exist. Until then we -must content ourselves with the study of the inscriptions carved on the -walls, and becoming acquainted with the history of their builders, and -continue to conjecture what knowledge they possessed in order to be able -to rear such enduring structures, besides the art of designing the plans -and ornaments, and the manner of carving them on stone. - -Let us place ourselves in the position of the archaeologists of thousands -of years to come, examining the ruins of our great cities, finding still -on foot some of the stronger built palaces and public buildings, with -some rare specimens of the arts, sciences, industry of our days, the -minor edifices having disappeared, gnawed by the steely tooth of time, -together with the many products of our industry, the machines of all -kinds, creation of man's ingenuity, and his powerful helpmates. What -would they know of the attainments and the progress in mechanics of our -days? Would they be able to form a complete idea of our civilization, -and of the knowledge of our scientific men, without the help of the -volumes contained in our public libraries, and maybe of some one able to -interpret them? Well, it seems to me that we stand in exactly the same -position concerning the civilization of those who have preceded us five -or ten thousand years ago on this continent, as these future -archaeologists may stand regarding our civilization five or ten thousand -years hence. - -It is a fact, recorded by all historians of the Conquest, that when for -the first time in 1517 the Spaniards came in sight of the lands called -by them Yucatan, they were surprised to see on the coast many monuments -well built of stone; and to find the country strewn with large cities -and beautiful monuments that recalled to their memory the best of Spain. -They were no less astonished to meet in the inhabitants, not naked -savages, but a civilized people, possessed of polite and pleasant -manners, dressed in white cotton habiliments, navigating large boats -propelled by sails, traveling on well constructed roads and causeways -that, in point of beauty and solidity, could compare advantageously with -similar Roman structures in Spain, Italy, England or France. - -I will not describe here the majestic monuments raised by the Mayas. -Mrs. Le Plongeon, in her letters to the _New York World_, has given of -those of UXMAL, AKE and MAYAPAN, the only correct description ever -published. My object at present is to relate some of the curious facts -revealed to us by their weather-beaten and crumbling walls, and show how -erroneous is the opinion of some European scientists, who think it not -worth while to give a moment of their precious time to the study of -American archaeology, because say they: _No relations have ever been -found to have existed between the monuments and civilizations of the -inhabitants of this continent and those of the old world_. On what -ground they hazard such an opinion it is difficult to surmise, since to -my knowledge the ancient ruined cities of Yucatan, until lately, have -never been thoroughly, much less scientifically, explored. The same is -true of the other monumental ruins of the whole of Central America. - -When Mrs. Le Plongeon and myself landed at Progresso, in 1873, we -thought that because we had read the works of Stephens, Waldeck, -Norman, Fredeichstal; carefully examined the few photographic views made -by Mr. Charnay of some of the monuments, we knew all about them. Alas! -vain presumption! When in presence of the antique shrines and palaces of -the Mayas, we soon saw how mistaken we had been; how little those -writers had seen of the monuments they had pretended to describe: that -the work of studying them systematically was not even begun; and that -many years of close observation and patient labor would be necessary in -order to dispel the mysteries which hang over them, and to discover the -hidden meaning of their ornaments and inscriptions. To this difficult -task we resolved to dedicate our time, and to concentrate our efforts to -find a solution, if possible, to the enigma. - -We began our work by taking photographs of all the monuments in their -_tout ensemble_, and in all their details, as much as practicable. Next, -we surveyed them carefully; made accurate plans of them in order to be -able to comprehend by the disposition of their different parts, for what -possible use they were erected; taking, as a starting point, that the -human mind and human inclinations and wants are the same in all times, -in all countries, in all races when civilized and cultured. We next -carefully examined what connection the ornaments bore to each other, and -tried to understand the meaning of the designs. At first the maze of -these designs seemed a very difficult riddle to solve. Yet, we believed -that if a human intelligence had devised it, another human intelligence -would certainly be able to unravel it. It was not, however, until we had -nearly completed the tracing and study of the mural paintings, still -extant in the funeral chamber of Chaacmol, or room built on the top of -the eastern wall of the gymnasium at Chichen-Itza, at its southern end, -that Stephens mistook for a shrine dedicated to the god of the players -at ball, that a glimmer of light began to dawn upon us. In tracing the -figure of Chaacmol in battle, I remarked that the shield worn by him -had painted on it round green spots, and was exactly like the ornaments -placed between tiger and tiger on the entablature of the same monument. -I naturally concluded that the monument had been raised to the memory of -the warrior bearing the shield; that the tigers represented his totem, -and that _Chaacmol_ or _Balam_ maya[TN-2] words for spotted tiger or -leopard, was his name. I then remembered that at about one hundred yards -in the thicket from the edifice, in an easterly direction, a few days -before, I had noticed the ruins of a remarkable mound of rather small -dimensions. It was ornamented with slabs engraved with the images of -spotted tigers, eating human hearts, forming magnificent bas-reliefs, -conserving yet traces of the colors in which it was formerly painted. I -repaired to the place. Doubts were no longer possible. The same round -dots, forming the spots of their skins, were present here as on the -shield of the warrior in battle, and that on the entablature of the -building. On examining carefully the ground around the mound, I soon -stumbled upon what seemed to be a half buried statue. On clearing the -_debris_ we found a statue in the round, representing a wounded tiger -reclining on his right side. Three holes in the back indicated the -places where he received his wounds. It was headless. A few feet -further, I found a human head with the eyes half closed, as those of a -dying person. When placed on the neck of the tiger it fitted exactly. I -propped it with sticks to keep it in place. So arranged, it recalled -vividly the Chaldean and Egyptian deities having heads of human beings -and bodies of animals. The next object that called my attention was -another slab on which was represented in bas-relief a dying warrior, -reclining on his back, the head was thrown entirely backwards. His left -arm was placed across his chest, the left hand resting on the right -shoulder, exactly in the same position which the Egyptians were wont, at -times, to give to the mummies of some of their eminent men. From his -mouth was seen escaping two thin, narrow flames--the spirit of the -dying man abandoning the body with the last warm breath. - -These and many other sculptures caused me to suspect that this monument -had been the mausoleum raised to the memory of the warrior with the -shield covered with the round dots. Next to the slabs engraved with the -image of tigers was another, representing an _ara militaris_ (a bird of -the parrot specie, very large and of brilliant plumage of various -colors). I took it for the totem of his wife, MOO, _macaw_; and so it -proved to be when later I was able to interpret their ideographic -writings. _Kinich-Kakmo_ after her death obtained the honors of the -apotheosis; had temples raised to her memory, and was worshipped at -Izamal up to the time of the Spanish conquest, according to Landa, -Cogolludo and Lizana. - -Satisfied that I had found the tomb of a great warrior among the Mayas, -I resolved to make an excavation, notwithstanding I had no tools or -implements proper for such work. After two months of hard toil, after -penetrating through three level floors painted with yellow ochre, at -last a large stone urn came in sight. It was opened in presence of -Colonel D. Daniel Traconis. It contained a small heap of grayish dust -over which lay the cover of a terra cotta pot, also painted yellow; a -few small ornaments of macre that crumbled to dust on being touched, and -a large ball of jade, with a hole pierced in the middle. This ball had -at one time been highly polished, but for some cause or other the polish -had disappeared from one side. Near, and lower than the urn, was -discovered the head of the colossal statue, to-day the best, or one of -the best pieces, in the National Museum of Mexico, having been carried -thither on board of the gunboat _Libertad_, without my consent, and -without any renumeration having even been offered by the Mexican -government for my labor, my time and the money spent in the discovery. -Close to the chest of the statue was another stone urn much larger than -the first. On being uncovered it was found to contain a large quantity -of reddish substance and some jade ornaments. On closely examining this -substance I pronounced it organic matter that had been subjected to a -very great heat in an open vessel. (A chemical analysis of some of it by -Professor Thompson, of Worcester, Mass., at the request of Mr. Stephen -Salisbury, Jr., confirmed my opinion). From the position of the urn I -made up my mind that its contents were the heart and viscera of the -personage represented by the statue; while the dust found in the first -urn must have been the residue of his brains. - -Landa tells us that it was the custom, even at the time of the Spanish -conquest, when a person of eminence died to make images of stone, or -terra cotta or wood in the semblance of the deceased, whose ashes were -placed in a hollow made on the back of the head for the purpose. Feeling -sorry for having thus disturbed the remains of _Chaacmol_, so carefully -concealed by his friends and relatives many centuries ago; in order to -save them from further desecration, I burned the greater part reserving -only a small quantity for future analysis. This finding of the heart and -brains of that chieftain, afforded an explanation, if any was needed, of -one of the scenes more artistically portrayed in the mural paintings of -his funeral chamber. In this scene which is painted immediately over the -entrance of the chamber, where is also a life-size representation of his -corpse prepared for cremation, the dead warrior is pictured stretched on -the ground, his back resting on a large stone placed for the purpose of -raising the body and keeping open the cut made across it, under the -ribs, for the extraction of the heart and other parts it was customary -to preserve. These are seen in the hands of his children. At the feet of -the statue were found a number of beautiful arrowheads of flint and -chalcedony; also beads that formed part of his necklace. These, to-day -petrified, seemed to have been originally of bone or ivory. They were -wrought to figure shells of periwinkles. Surrounding the slab on which -the figure rests was a large quantity of dried blood. This fact might -lead us to suppose that slaves were sacrificed at his funeral, as -Herodotus tells us it was customary with the Scythians, and we know it -was with the Romans and other nations of the old world, and the Incas in -Peru. Yet not a bone or any other human remains were found in the -mausoleum. - -The statue forms a single piece with the slab on which it reclines, as -if about to rise on his elbows, the legs being drawn up so that the feet -rest flat on the slab. I consider this attitude given to the statues of -dead personages that I have discovered in Chichen, where they are still, -to be symbolical of their belief in reincarnation. They, in common with -the Egyptians, the Hindoos, and other nations of antiquity, held that -the spirit of man after being made to suffer for its shortcomings during -its mundane life, would enjoy happiness for a time proportionate to its -good deeds, then return to earth, animate the body and live again a -material existence. The Mayas, however, destroying the body by fire, -made statues in the semblance of the deceased, so that, being -indestructible the spirit might find and animate them on its return to -earth. The present aborigines have the same belief. Even to-day, they -never fail to prepare the _hanal pixan_, the food for the spirits, which -they place in secluded spots in the forests or fields, every year, in -the month of November. These statues also hold an urn between their -hands. This fact again recalls to the mind the Egpptian[TN-3] custom of -placing an urn in the coffins with the mummies, to indicate that the -spirit of the deceased had been judged and found righteous. - -The ornament hanging on the breast of Chaacmol's effigy, from a ribbon -tied with a peculiar knot behind his neck, is simply a badge of his -rank; the same is seen on the breast of many other personages in the -bas-reliefs and mural paintings. A similar mark of authority is yet in -usage in Burmah. - -I have tarried so long on the description of my first important -discovery because I desired to explain the method followed by me in the -investigation of these monuments, to show that the result of our labors -are by no means the work of imagination--as some have been so kind a -_short_ time ago as to intimate--but of careful and patient analysis and -comparison; also, in order, from the start, to call your attention to -the similarity of certain customs in the funeral rites that the Mayas -seem to have possessed in common with other nations of the old world: -and lastly, because my friend, Dr. Jesus Sanchez, Professor of -Archaeology in the National Museum of Mexico, ignoring altogether the -circumstances accompanying the discovery of the statue, has published in -the _Anales del Museo Nacional_, a long dissertation--full of erudition, -certainly--to prove that the statue discovered by me at Chichen-Itza, -was a representation of the _God of the natural production of the -earth_, and that the name given by me was altogether arbitrary; and, -also, because an article has appeared in the _North American Review_ for -October, 1880, signed by Mr. Charnay, in which the author, after -re-producing Mr. Sanchez's writing, pronounces _ex cathedra_ and _de -perse_, but without assigning any reason for his opinion, that the -statue is the effigy of the _god of wine_--the Mexican Bacchus--without -telling us which of them, for there were two. - -Having been obliged to abandon the statue in the forests--well wrapped -in oilcloth, and sheltered under a hut of palm leaves, constructed by -Mrs. Le Plongeon and myself--my men having been disarmed by order of -General Palomino, then commander-in-chief of the federal forces in -Yucatan, in consequence of a revolutionary movement against Dr. -Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada and in favor of General Diaz--I went to Uxmal -to continue my researches among its ruined temples and palaces. There I -took many photographs, surveyed the monuments, and, for the first time, -found the remnants of the phallic worship of the Nahualts. Its symbols -are not to be seen in Chichen--the city of the holy and learned men, -Itzaes--but are frequently met with in the northern parts of the -peninsula, and all the regions where the Nahualt influence predominated. - -There can be no doubt that in very ancient times the same customs and -religious worship existed in Uxmal and Chichen, since these two cities -were founded by the same family, that of CAN (serpent), whose name is -written on all the monuments in both places. CAN and the members of his -family worshipped Deity under the symbol of the mastodon's head. At -Chichen a tableau of said worship forms the ornament of the building, -designated in the work of Stephens, "Travels in Yucatan," as IGLESIA; -being, in fact, the north wing of the palace and museum. This is the -reason why the mastodon's head forms so prominent a feature in all the -ornaments of the edifices built by them. They also worshipped the sun -and fire, which they represented by the same hieroglyph used by the -Egyptians for the sun [sun]. In this worship of the fire they resembled -the Chaldeans and Hindoos, but differed from the Egyptians, who had no -veneration for this element. They regarded it merely as an animal that -devoured all things within its reach, and died with all it had -swallowed, when replete and satisfied. - -From certain inscriptions and pictures--in which the _Cans_ are -represented crawling on all fours like dogs--sculptured on the facade of -their house of worship, it would appear that their religion of the -mastodon was replaced by that of the reciprocal forces of nature, -imported in the country by the big-nosed invaders, the Nahualts coming -from the west. These destroyed Chichen, and established their capital at -_Uxmal_. There they erected in all the courts of the palaces, and on the -platforms of the temples the symbols of their religion, taking care, -however, not to interfere with the worship of the sun and fire, that -seems to have been the most popular. - -Bancroft in his work, "_The Native Races of the Pacific States_," Vol. -IV., page 277, remarks: "That the scarcity of idols among the Maya -antiquities must be regarded as extraordinary. That the people of -Yucatan were idolators there is no possible doubt, and in connection -with the magnificent shrines and temples erected by them, and rivalling -or excelling the grand obelisks of Copan, might naturally be sought for, -but in view of the facts it must be concluded that the Maya idols were -very small, and that such as escaped the fatal iconoclasms of the -Spanish ecclesiastics were buried by the natives as the only means of -preventing their desecration." - -That the people who inhabited the country at the time of the Spanish -conquest had a multiplicity of gods there can be no doubt. The primitive -form of worship, with time and by the effect of invasions from outside, -had disappeared, and been replaced by that of their great men and women, -who were deified and had temples raised to their memory, as we see, for -example, in the case of _Moo_,[TN-4] wife and sister of Chaacmol, whose -shrine was built on the high mound on the north side of the large square -in the city of Izamal. There pilgrims flocked from all parts of the -country to listen to the oracles delivered by the mouth of her priests; -and see the goddess come down from the clouds every day, at mid-day, -under the form of a resplendent macaw, and light the fire that was to -consume the offerings deposited on her altar; even at the time of the -conquest, according to the chroniclers, Chaacmol himself seems to have -become the god of war, that always appeared in the midst of the battle, -fighting on the side of his followers, surrounded with flames. Kukulcan, -"the culture" hero of the Mayas, the winged serpent, worshipped by the -Mexicans as the god Guetzalcoalt,[TN-5] and by the Quiches as Cucumatz, -if not the father himself of Chaacmol, CAN, at least one of his -ancestors. - -The friends and followers of that prince may have worshipped him after -his death, and the following generations, seeing the representation of -his totems (serpent) covered with feathers, on the walls of his palaces, -and of the sanctuaries built by him to the deity, called him Kukulcan, -the winged serpent: when, in fact, the artists who carved his emblems on -the walls covered them with the cloaks he and all the men in authority -and the high priests wore on ceremonial occasions--feathered -vestments--as we learned from the study of mural paintings. - -In the temples and palaces of the ancient Mayas I have never seen -anything that I could in truth take for idols. I have seen many symbols, -such as double-headed tigers, corresponding to the double-headed lions -of the Egyptians, emblems of the sun. I have seen the representation of -people kneeling in a peculiar manner, with their right hand resting on -the left shoulder--sign of respect among the Mayas as among the -inhabitants of Egypt--in the act of worshiping the mastodon head; but I -doubt if this can be said to be idol worship. _Can_ and his family were -probably monotheists. The masses of the people, however, may have placed -the different natural phenomena under the direct supervision of special -imaginary beings, prescribing to them the same duties that among the -Catholics are prescribed, or rather attributed, to some of the saints; -and may have tributed to them the sort of worship of _dulia_, tributed -to the saints--even made images that they imagined to represent such or -such deity, as they do to-day; but I have never found any. They -worshiped the divine essence, and called it KU. - -In course of time this worship may have been replaced by idolatrous -rites, introduced by the barbarous or half civilized tribes which -invaded the country, and implanted among the inhabitants their religious -belief, their idolatrous superstitions and form of worship with their -symbols. The monuments of Uxmal afford ample evidence of that fact. - -My studies, however, have nothing to do with the history of the country -posterior to the invasion of the Nahualts. These people appear to have -destroyed the high form of civilization existing at the time of their -advent; and tampered with the ornaments of the buildings in order to -introduce the symbols of the reciprocal forces of nature. - -The language of the ancient Mayas, strange as it may appear, has -survived all the vicissitudes of time, wars, and political and religious -convulsions. It has, of course, somewhat degenerated by the mingling of -so many races in such a limited space as the peninsula of Yucatan is; -but it is yet the vernacular of the people. The Spaniards themselves, -who strived so hard to wipe out all vestiges of the ancient customs of -the aborigines, were unable to destroy it; nay, they were obliged to -learn it; and now many of their descendants have forgotten the mother -tongue of their sires, and speak Maya only. - -In some localities in Central America it is still spoken in its pristine -purity, as, for example, by the _Chaacmules_, a tribe of bearded men, it -is said, who live in the vicinity of the unexplored ruins of the ancient -city of _Tekal_. It is a well-known fact that many tribes, as that of -the Itzaes, retreating before the Nahualt invaders, after the surrender -and destruction of their cities, sought refuge in the islands of the -lake _Peten_ of to-day, and called it _Petenitza_, the _islands of the -Itzaes_; or in the well nigh inaccessible valleys, defended by ranges of -towering mountains. There they live to-day, preserving the customs, -manners, language of their forefathers unaltered, in the tract of land -known to us as _Tierra de Guerra_. No white man has ever penetrated -their zealously guarded stronghold that lays between Guatemala, Tabasco, -Chiapas and Yucatan, the river _Uzumasinta_ watering part of their -territory. - -The Maya language seems to be one of the oldest tongues spoken by man, -since it contains words and expressions of all, or nearly all, the known -polished languages on earth. The name _Maya_, with the same -signification everywhere it is met, is to be found scattered over the -different countries of what we term the Old World, as in Central -America. - -I beg to call your attention to the following facts. They may have no -significance. They may be mere coincidences, the strange freaks of -hazard, of no possible value in the opinion of some among the learned -men of our days. Just as the finding of English words and English -customs, as now exist among the most remote nations and heterogeneous -people and tribes of all races and colors, who do not even suspect the -existence of one another, may be regarded by the learned philologists -and ethonologists[TN-6] of two or three thousand years hence. These -will, perhaps, also pretend that _these coincidences_ are simply the -curious workings of the human mind--the efforts of men endeavoring to -express their thoughts in language, that being reduced to a certain -number of sounds, must, of necessity produce, if not the same, at least -very similar words to express the same idea--and that this similarity -does not prove that those who invented them had, at any time, -communication, unless, maybe, at the time of the building of the -hypothetical Tower of Babel. Then all the inhabitants of earth are said -to have bid each other a friendly good night, a certain evening, in a -universal tongue, to find next morning that everybody had gone stark mad -during the night: since each one, on meeting sixty-nine of his friends, -was greeted by every one in a different and unknown manner, according to -learned rabbins; and that he could no more understand what they said, -than they what he said[TN-7] - -It is very difficult without the help of the books of the learned -priests of _Mayab_ to know positively why they gave that name to the -country known to-day as Yucatan. I can only surmise that they so called -it from the great absorbant[TN-8] quality of its stony soil, which, in -an incredibly short time, absorbs the water at the surface. This -percolating through the pores of the stone is afterward found filtered -clear and cool in the senotes and caves. _Mayab_, in the Maya language, -means a tammy, a sieve. From the name of the country, no doubt, the -Mayas took their name, as natural; and that name is found, as that of -the English to-day, all over the ancient civilized world. - -When, on January 28, 1873, I had the honor of reading a paper before the -New York American Geographical Society--on the coincidences that exist -between the monuments, customs, religious rites, etc. of the prehistoric -inhabitants of America and those of Asia and Egypt--I pointed to the -fact that sun circles, dolmen and tumuli, similar to the megalithic -monuments of America, had been found to exist scattered through the -islands of the Pacific to Hindostan; over the plains of the peninsulas -at the south of Asia, through the deserts of Arabia, to the northern -parts of Africa; and that not only these rough monuments of a primitive -age, but those of a far more advanced civilization were also to be seen -in these same countries. Allow me to repeat now what I then said -regarding these strange facts: If we start from the American continent -and travel towards the setting sun we may be able to trace the route -followed by the mound builders to the plains of Asia and the valley of -the Nile. The mounds scattered through the valley of the Mississippi -seem to be the rude specimens of that kind of architecture. Then come -the more highly finished teocalis of Yucatan and Mexico and Peru; the -pyramidal mounds of _Maui_, one of the Sandwich Islands; those existing -in the Fejee and other islands of the Pacific; which, in China, we find -converted into the high, porcelain, gradated towers; and these again -converted into the more imposing temples of Cochin-China, Hindostan, -Ceylon--so grand, so stupendous in their wealth of ornamentation that -those of Chichen-Itza Uxmal, Palenque, admirable as they are, well nigh -dwindle into insignificance, as far as labor and imagination are -concerned, when compared with them. That they present the same -fundamental conception in their architecture is evident--a platform -rising over another platform, the one above being of lesser size than -the one below; the American monuments serving, as it were, as models for -the more elaborate and perfect, showing the advance of art and -knowledge. - -The name Maya seems to have existed from the remotest times in the -meridional parts of Hindostan. Valmiki, in his epic poem, the Ramayana, -said to be written 1500 before the Christian era, in which he recounts -the wars and prowesses of RAMA in the recovery of his lost wife, the -beautiful SITA, speaking of the country inhabited by the Mayas, -describes it as abounding in mines of silver and gold, with precious -stones and lapiz lazuri:[TN-9] and bounded by the _Vindhya_ mountains on -one side, the _Prastravana_ range on the other and the sea on the third. -The emissaries of RAMA having entered by mistake within the Mayas -territories, learned that all foreigners were forbidden to penetrate -into them; and that those who were so imprudent as to violate this -prohibition, even through ignorance, seldom escaped being put to death. -(Strange[TN-10] to say, the same thing happens to-day to those who try -to penetrate into the territories of the _Santa Cruz_ Indians, or in the -valleys occupied by the _Lacandones_, _Itzaes_ and other tribes that -inhabit _La Tierra de Guerra_. The Yucatecans themselves do not like -foreigners to go, and less to settle, in their country--are consequently -opposed to immigration. - -The emissaries of Rama, says the poet, met in the forest a woman who -told them: That in very remote ages a prince of the Davanas, a learned -magician, possessed of great power, whose name was _Maya_, established -himself in the country, and that he was the architect of the principal -of the Davanas: but having fallen in love with the nymph _Hema_, married -her; whereby he roused the jealousy of the god _Pourandura_, who -attacked and killed him with a thunderbolt. Now, it is worthy of notice, -that the word _Hem_ signifies in the Maya language to _cross with -ropes_; or according to Brasseur, _hidden mysteries_. - -By a most rare coincidence we have the same identical story recorded in -the mural paintings of Chaacmol's funeral chamber, and in the sculptures -of Chichsen[TN-11] and Uxmal. There we find that Chaacmol, the husband -of Moo[TN-12] is killed by his brother Aac, who stabbed him three times -in the back with his spear for jealousy. Aac was in love with his sister -Moo, but she married his brother Chaacmol from choice, and because the -law of the country prescribed that the younger brother should marry his -sister, making it a crime for the older brothers to marry her. - -In another part of the _Ramayana_, MAYA is described as a powerful -_Asoura_, always thirsting for battles and full of arrogance and -pride--an enemy to B[=a]li, chief of one of the monkey tribes, by whom -he was finally vanquished. The celebrated Indianist, Mr. H. T. -Colebrooke, in a memoir on the sacred books of the Hindoos, published in -Vol. VIII of the "Asiatic Researches," says: "The _Souryasiddkantu_ (the -most ancient Indian treatise on astronomy), is not considered as written -by MAYA; but this personage is represented as receiving his science from -a partial incarnation of the sun." - -MAYA is also, according to the Rig-Veda, the goddess, by whom all things -are created by her union with Brahma. She is the cosmic egg, the golden -uterus, the _Hiramyagarbha_. We see an image of it, represented floating -amidst the water, in the sculptures that adorn the panel over the door -of the east facade of the monument, called by me palace and museum at -Chichen-Itza. Emile Burnouf, in his Sanscrit Dictionary, at the word -Maya, says: Maya, an architect of the _Datyas_; Maya (_mas._), magician, -prestidigitator; (_fem._) illusion, prestige; Maya, the magic virtue of -the gods, their power for producing all things; also the feminine or -producing energy of Brahma. - -I will complete the list of these remarkable coincidences with a few -others regarding customs exactly similar in both countries. One of these -consists in carrying children astride on the hip in Yucatan as in India. -In Yucatan this custom is accompanied by a very interesting ceremony -called _hetzmec_. It is as follows: When a child reaches the age of four -months an invitation is sent to the friends and members of the family of -the parents to assemble at their house. Then in presence of all -assembled the legs of the child are opened, and he is placed astride -the hip of the _nailah_ or _hetzmec_ godmother; she in turn encircling -the little one with her arm, supports him in that position whilst she -walks five times round the house. During the time she is occupied in -that walk five eggs are placed in hot ashes, so that they may burst and -the five senses of the child be opened. By the manner in which they -burst and the time they require for bursting, they pretend to know if he -will be intelligent or not. During the ceremony they place in his tiny -hands the implement pertaining to the industry he is expected to -practice. The _nailah_ is henceforth considered as a second mother to -the child; who, when able to understand, is made to respect her: and she -is expected, in case of the mother's death, to adopt and take care of -the child as if he were her own. - -Now, I will call your attention to another strange and most remarkable -custom that was common to the inhabitants of _Mayab_, some tribes of the -aborigines of North America, and several of those that dwell in -Hindostan, and practice it even to-day. I refer to the printing of the -human hand, dipped in a red liquid, on the walls of certain -sacred edifices. Could not this custom, existing amongst nations so far -apart, unknown to each other, and for apparently the same purposes, be -considered as a link in the chain of evidence tending to prove that very -intimate relations and communications have existed anciently between -their ancestors? Might it not help the ethnologists to follow the -migrations of the human race from this western continent to the eastern -and southern shores of Asia, across the wastes of the Pacific Ocean? I -am told by unimpeachable witnesses that they have seen the red or bloody -hand in more than one of the temples of the South Sea islanders; and his -Excellency Fred. P. Barlee, Esq., the actual governor of British -Honduras, has assured me that he has examined this seemingly indelible -imprint of the red hand on some rocks in caves in Australia. There is -scarcely a monument in Yucatan that does not preserve the imprint of -the open upraised hand, dipped in red paint of some sort, perfectly -visible on its walls. I lately took tracings of two of these imprints -that exist in the back saloon of the main hall, in the governor's house -at Uxmal, in order to calculate the height of the personage who thus -attested to those of his race, as I learned from one of my Indian -friends, who passes for a wizard, that the building was _in naa_, my -house. I may well say that the archway of the palace of the priests, -toward the court, was nearly covered with them. Yet I am not aware that -such symbol was ever used by the inhabitants of the countries bordering -on the shores of the Mediterranean or by the Assyrians, or that it ever -was discovered among the ruined temples or palaces of Egypt. - -The meaning of the red hand used by the aborigines of some parts of -America has been, it is well known, a subject of discussion for learned -men and scientific societies. Its uses as a symbol remained for a long -time a matter of conjecture. It seems that Mr. Schoolcraft had truly -arrived at the knowledge of its veritable meaning. Effectively, in the -2d column of the 5th page of the _New York Herald_ for April 12, 1879, -in the account of the visit paid by Gen. Grant to Ram Singh, Maharajah -of Jeypoor, we read the description of an excursion to the town of -Amber. Speaking of the journey to the _home of an Indian king_, among -other things the writer says:--"We passed small temples, some of them -ruined, some others with offerings of grains, or fruits, or flowers, -some with priests and people at worship. On the walls of some of the -temples we saw the marks of the human hand as though it had been steeped -in blood and pressed against the white wall. We were told that it was -the custom, when seeking from the gods some benison to note the vow by -putting the hand into a liquid and printing it on the wall. This was to -remind the gods of the vow and prayer. And if it came to pass in the -shape of rain, or food, or health, or children, the joyous devotee -returned to the temple and made other offerings." In Yucatan it seems to -have had the same meaning. That is to say: that the owners of the house -if private, or the priests, in the temples and public buildings, called -upon the edifices at the time of taking possession and using them for -the first time, the blessing of the Deity; and placed the hand's -imprints on the walls to recall the vows and prayer: and also, as the -interpretation communicated to me by the Indians seems to suggest, as a -signet or mark of property--_in naa_, my house. - -I need not speak of the similarity of many religious rites and beliefs -existing in Hindostan and among the inhabitants of _Mayab_. The worship -of the fire, of the phallus, of Deity under the symbol of the mastodon's -head, recalling that of Ganeza, the god with an elephant's head, hence -that of the elephant in Siam, Birmah[TN-13] and other places of the -Asiatic peninsula even in our day; and various other coincidences so -numerous and remarkable that many would not regard them as simple -coincidences. What to think, effectively, of the types of the personages -whose portraits are carved on the obelisks of Copan? Were they in Siam -instead of Honduras, who would doubt but they are Siameeses.[TN-14] What -to say of the figures of men and women sculptured on the walls of the -stupendous temples hewn, from the live rock, at Elephanta, so American -is their appearance and features? Who would not take them to be pure -aborigines if they were seen in Yucatan instead of Madras, Elephanta and -other places of India. - -If now we abandon that country and, crossing the Himalaya's range enter -Afghanistan, there again we find ourselves in a country inhabited by -Maya tribes; whose names, as those of many of their cities, are of pure -American-Maya origin. In the fourth column of the sixth page of the -London _Times_, weekly edition, of March 4, 1879, we read: "4,000 or -5,000 assembled on the opposite bank of the river _Kabul_, and it -appears that in that day or evening they attacked the Maya villages -situated on the north side of the river." - -He, the correspondent of the _Times_, tells us that Maya tribes form -still part of the population of Afghanistan. He also tells us that -_Kabul_ is the name of the river, on the banks of which their villages -are situated. But _Kabul_ is the name of an antique shrine in the city -of Izamal. Cogolludo, in the lib. IV., cap. VIII. of his History of -Yucatan, says: "They had another temple on another mound, on the west -side of the square, also dedicated to the same idol. They had there the -symbol of a hand, as souvenir. To that temple they carried their dead -and the sick. They called it _Kabul_, the working hand, and made there -great offerings." Father Lizana says the same: so we have two witnesses -to the fact. _Kab_, in Maya means hand; and _Bul_ is to play at hazard. - -Many of the names of places and towns of Afghanistan have not only a -meaning in the American-Maya language, but are actually the same as -those of places and villages in Yucatan to-day, for example: - -The Valley of _Chenar_ would be the valley of the _well of the woman's -children_--_chen_, well, and _al_, the woman's children. The fertile -valley of _Kunar_ would be the valley of the _god of the ears of corn_; -or, more probably, the _nest of the ears of corn_: as KU, pronounced -short, means _God_, and _Kuu_, pronounced long, is nest. NAL, is the -_ears of corn_. - -The correspondent of the London _Times_, in his letters, mentions the -names of some of the principal tribes, such as the _Kuki-Khel_, the -_Akakhel_, the _Khambhur Khel_, etc. The suffix Khel simply signifies -tribe, or clan. So similar to the Maya vocable _Kaan_, a tie, a rope; -hence a clan: a number of people held together by the tie of parentage. -Now, Kuki would be Kukil, or Kukum maya[TN-15] for feather, hence the -KUKI-KHEL would be the tribe of the feather. - -AKA-KHEL in the same manner would be the tribe of the reservoir, or -pond. AKAL is the Maya name for the artificial reservoirs, or ponds in -which the ancient inhabitants of Mayab collected rain water for the time -of drought. - -Similarly the KHAMBHUR KHEL is the tribe of the _pleasant_: _Kambul_ in -Maya. It is the name of several villages of Yucatan, as you may satisfy -yourself by examining the map. - -We have also the ZAKA-KHEL, the tribe of the locust, ZAK. It is useless -to quote more for the present: enough to say that if you read the names -of the cities, valleys[TN-16] clans, roads even of Afghanistan to any of -the aborigines of Yucatan, they will immediately give you their meaning -in their own language. Before leaving the country of the Afghans, by the -KHIBER Pass--that is to say, the _road of the hawk_; HI, _hawk_, and -BEL, road--allow me to inform you that in examining their types, as -published in the London illustrated papers, and in _Harper's Weekly_, I -easily recognized the same cast of features as those of the bearded men, -whose portraits we discovered in the bas-reliefs which adorn the antae -and pillars of the castle, and queen's box in the Tennis Court at -Chichen-Itza. - -On our way to the coast of Asia Minor, and hence to Egypt, we may, in -following the Mayas' footsteps, notice that a tribe of them, the learned -MAGI, with their Rabmag at their head, established themselves in -Babylon, where they became, indeed, a powerful and influential body. -Their chief they called _Rab-mag_--or LAB-MAC--the old person--LAB, -_old_--MAC, person; and their name Magi, meant learned men, magicians, -as that of Maya in India. I will directly speak more at length of -vestiges of the Mayas in Babylon, when explaining by means of the -_American Maya_, the meaning and probable etymology of the names of the -Chaldaic divinities. At present I am trying to follow the footprints of -the Mayas. - -On the coast of Asia Minor we find a people of a roving and piratical -disposition, whose name was, from the remotest antiquity and for many -centuries, the terror of the populations dwelling on the shores of the -Mediterranean; whose origin was, and is yet unknown; who must have -spoken Maya, or some Maya dialect, since we find words of that -language, and with the same meaning inserted in that of the Greeks, who, -Herodotus tells us, used to laugh at the manner the _Carians_, or -_Caras_, or _Caribs_, spoke their tongue; whose women wore a white linen -dress that required no fastening, just as the Indian and Mestiza women -of Yucatan even to-day[TN-17] - -To tell you that the name of the CARAS is found over a vast extension of -country in America, would be to repeat what the late and lamented -Brasseur de Bourbourg has shown in his most learned introduction to the -work of Landa, "Relacion de las cosas de Yucatan;" but this I may say, -that the description of the customs and mode of life of the people of -Yucatan, even at the time of the conquest, as written by Landa, seems to -be a mere verbatim plagiarism of the description of the customs and mode -of life of the Carians of Asia Minor by Herodotus. - -If identical customs and manners, and the worship of the same divinities -under the same name, besides the traditions of a people pointing towards -a certain point of the globe as being the birth-place of their -ancestors, prove anything, then I must say that in Egypt also we meet -with the tracks of the Mayas, of whose name we again have a reminiscence -in that of the goddess Maia, the daughter of Atlantis, worshiped in -Greece. Here, at this end of the voyage, we seem to find an intimation -as to the place where the Mayas originated. We are told that Maya is -born from Atlantis; in other words, that the Mayas came from beyond the -Atlantic waters. Here, also, we find that Maia is called the mother of -the gods _Kubeles_. _Ku_, Maya _God_, _Bel_ the road, the way. Ku-bel, -the road, the origin of the gods as among the Hindostanees. These, we -have seen in the Rig Veda, called Maya, the feminine energy--the -productive virtue of Brahma. - -I do not pretend to present here anything but facts, resulting from my -study of the ancient monuments of Yucatan, and a comparative study of -the Maya language, in which the ancient inscriptions, I have been able -to decipher, are written. Let us see if those _facts_ are sustained by -others of a different character. - -I will make a brief parallel between the architectural monuments of the -primitive Chaldeans, their mode of writing, their burial places, and -give you the etymology of the names of their divinities in the American -Maya language. - -The origin of the primitive Chaldees is yet an unsettled matter among -learned men. Some professing one opinion, others another. All agree, -however, that they were strangers to the lower Mesopotamian valleys, -where they settled in very remote ages, their capital being, in the time -of Abraham, as we learn from Scriptures, _Ur_ or _Hur_. So named either -because its inhabitants were worshipers of the moon, or from the moon -itself--U in the Maya language--or perhaps also because the founders -being strangers and guests, as it were, in the country, it was called -the city of guests, HULA (Maya), _guest just arrived_. - -Recent researches in the plains of lower Mesopotamia have revealed to us -their mode of building their sacred edifices, which is precisely -identical to that of the Mayas. - -It consisted of mounds composed of superposed platforms, either square -or oblong, forming cones or pyramids, their angles at times, their faces -at others, facing exactly the cardinal points. - -Their manner of construction was also the same, with the exception of -the materials employed--each people using those most at hand in their -respective countries--clay and bricks in Chaldea, stones in Yucatan. The -filling in of the buildings being of inferior materials, crude or -sun-dried bricks at Warka and Mugheir; of unhewn stones of all shapes -and sizes, in Uxmal and Chichen, faced with walls of hewn stones, many -feet in thickness throughout. Grand exterior staircases lead to the -summit, where was the shrine of the god, and temple. - -In Yucatan these mounds are generally composed of seven superposed -platforms, the one above being smaller than that immediately below; the -temple or sanctuary containing invariably two chambers, the inner one, -the Sanctum Sanctorum, being the smallest. - -In Babylon, the supposed tower of Babel--the _Birs-i-nimrud_--the temple -of the seven lights, was made of seven stages or platforms. - -The roofs of these buildings in both countries were flat; the walls of -vast thickness; the chambers long and narrow, with outer doors opening -into them directly; the rooms ordinarily let into one another: squared -recesses were common in the rooms. Mr. Loftus is of opinion that the -chambers of the Chaldean buildings were usually arched with bricks, in -which opinion Mr. Taylor concurs. We know that the ceilings of the -chambers in all the monuments of Yucatan, without exception, form -triangular arches. To describe their construction I will quote from the -description by Herodotus, of some ceilings in Egyptian buildings and -Scythian tombs, that resemble that of the brick vaults found at Mugheir. -"The side walls outward as they ascend, the arch is formed by each -successive layer of brick from the point where the arch begins, a little -overlapping the last, till the two sides of the roof are brought so near -together, that the aperture may be closed by a single brick." - -Some of the sepulchers found in Yucatan are very similar to the jar -tombs common at Mugheir. These consist of two large open-mouthed jars, -united with bitumen after the body has been deposited in them, with the -usual accompaniments of dishes, vases and ornaments, having an air hole -bored at one extremity. Those found at Progreso were stone urns about -three feet square, cemented in pairs, mouth to mouth, and having also an -air hole bored in the bottom. Extensive mounds, made artificially of a -vast number of coffins, arranged side by side, divided by thin walls of -masonry crossing each other at right angles, to separate the coffins, -have been found in the lower plains of Chaldea--such as exist along the -coast of Peru, and in Yucatan. At Izamal many human remains, contained -in urns, have been found in the mounds. - -"The ordinary dress of the common people among the Chaldeans," says -Canon Rawlison, in his work, the Five Great Monarchies, "seems to have -consisted of a single garment, a short tunic tied round the waist, and -reaching thence to the knees. To this may sometimes have been added an -_abba_, or cloak, thrown over the shoulders; the material of the former -we may perhaps presume to have been linen." The mural paintings at -Chichen show that the Mayas sometimes used the same costume; and that -dress is used to-day by the aborigines of Yucatan, and the inhabitants -of the _Tierra de Guerra_. They were also bare-footed, and wore on the -head a band of cloth, highly ornamented with mother-of-pearl instead of -camel's hair, as the Chaldee. This band is to be seen in bas-relief at -Chichen-Itza, inthe[TN-18] mural paintings, and on the head of the statue -of Chaacmol. The higher classes wore a long robe extending from the neck -to the feet, sometimes adorned with a fringe; it appears not to have -been fastened to the waist, but kept in place by passing over one -shoulder, a slit or hole being made for the arm on one side of the dress -only. In some cases the upper part of the dress seems to have been -detached from the lower, and to form a sort of jacket which reached -about to the hips. We again see this identical dress portrayed in the -mural paintings. The same description of ornaments were affected by the -Chaldees and the Mayas--bracelets, earrings, armlets, anklets, made of -the materials they could procure. - -The Mayas at times, as can be seen from the slab discovered by -Bresseur[TN-19] in Mayapan (an exact fac-simile of which cast, from a -mould made by myself, is now in the rooms of the American Antiquarian -Society at Worcester, Mass.), as the primitive Chaldee, in their -writings, made use of characters composed of straight lines only, -inclosed in square or oblong figures; as we see from the inscriptions in -what has been called hieratic form of writing found at Warka and -Mugheir and the slab from Mayapan and others. - -The Chaldees are said to have made use of three kinds of characters that -Canon Rawlinson calls _letters proper_, _monograms_ and _determinative_. -The Maya also, as we see from the monumental inscriptions, employed -three kinds of characters--_letters proper_, _monograms_ and -_pictorial_. - -It may be said of the religion of the Mayas, as I have had occasion to -remark, what the learned author of the Five Great Monarchies says of -that of the primitive Chaldees: "The religion of the Chaldeans, from the -very earliest times to which the monuments carry us back, was, in its -outward aspect, a polytheism of a very elaborate character. It is quite -possible that there may have been esoteric explanations, known to the -priests and the more learned; which, resolving the personages of the -Pantheon into the powers of nature, reconcile the apparent multiplicity -of Gods with monotheism." I will now consider the names of the Chaldean -deities in their turn of rotation as given us by the author above -mentioned, and show you that the language of the American Mayas gives us -an etymology of the whole of them, quite in accordance with their -particular attributes. - - -RA. - -The learned author places '_Ra_' at the head of the Pantheon, stating -that the meaning of the word is simply _God_, or the God emphatically. -We know that _Ra_ was the Sun among the Egyptians, and that the -hieroglyph, a circle, representation of that God was the same in Babylon -as in Egypt. It formed an element in the native name of Babylon. Which -was _ka-ra_. - -Now the Mayas called LA, that which has existed for ever, the truth _par -excellence_. As to the native name of Babylon it would simply be the -_city of the infinite truth_--_cah_, city; LA, eternal truth. - - -ANA OR DIS. - -Ana, like Ra, is thought to have signified _God_ in the highest sense. -Its etymology seems to be problematic. His epithets mark priority and -antiquity; _the original chief_, the _father of the gods_, the _lord of -darkness or death_. The Maya gives us A, _thy_; NA, _mother_. At times -he was called DIS, and was the patron god of _Erech_, the great city of -the dead, the necropolis of Lower Babylonia. TIX, Maya is a cavity -formed in the earth. It seems to have given its name to the city of -_Niffer_, called _Calneh_ in the translation of the Septuagint, from -_kal-ana_, which is translated the "fort of Ana;" or according to the -Maya, the _prison of Ana_, KAL being prison, or the prison of thy -mother. - - -ANATA - -the supposed wife of Ana, has no peculiar characteristics. Her name is -only, says our author, the feminine form of the masculine, Ana. But the -Maya designates her as the companion of Ana; TA, with; _Anata_ with -_Ana_. - - -BIL OR ENU - -seems to mean merely Lord. It is usually followed by a qualificative -adjunct, possessing great interest, NIPRU. To that name, which recalls -that of NEBROTH or _Nimrod_, the author gives a Syriac etymology; napar -(make to flee). His epithets are the _supreme_, _the father of the -gods_, the _procreator_. - -The Maya gives us BIL, or _Bel_; the way, the road; hence the _origin_, -the father, the procreator. Also ENA, who is before; again the father, -the procreator. - -As to the qualificative adjunct _nipru_. It would seem to be the Maya -_niblu_; _nib_, to thank; LU, the _Bagre_, a _silurus fish_. _Niblu_ -would then be the _thanksgiving fish_. Strange to say, the high priest -at Uxmal and Chichen, elder brother of Chaacmol, first son of _Can_, the -founder of those cities, is CAY, the fish, whose effigy is my last -discovery in June, among the ruins of Uxmal. The bust is contained -within the jaws of a serpent, _Can_, and over it, is a beautiful -mastodon head, with the trunk inscribed with Egyptian characters, which -read TZAA, that which is necessary. - - -BELTIS - -is the wife of _Bel-nipru_. But she is more than his mere female power. -She is a separate and important deity. Her common title is the _Great -Goddess_. In Chaldea her name was _Mulita_ or _Enuta_, both words -signifying the lady. Her favorite title was the _mother of the gods_, -the origin of the gods. - -In Maya BEL is the road, the way; and TE means _here_. BELTE or BELTIS -would be I am the way, the origin. - -_Mulita_ would correspond to MUL-TE, many here, _many in me_. I am the -mother of many. Her other name _Enuta_ seems to be (Maya) _Ena-te_, -signifies ENA, the first, before anybody, and TE here. ENATE, _I am here -before anybody_, I am the mother of the Gods. - - -HEA OR HOA. - -The God Fish, the mystic animal, half man, half fish, which came up from -the Persian gulf to teach astronomy and letters to the first settlers on -the Euphrates and Tigris. - -According to Berosus the civilization was brought to Mesopotamia by -_Oannes_ and six other beings, who, like himself, were half man, half -fish, and that they came from the Indian Ocean. We have already seen -that the Mayas of India were not only architects, but also astronomers; -and the symbolic figure of a being half man and half fish seems to -clearly indicate that those who brought civilization to the shores of -the Euphrates and Tigris came in boats. - -Hoa-Ana, or Oannes, according to the Maya would mean, he who has his -residence or house on the water. HA, being water; _a_, thy; _na_, house; -literally, _water thy house_. Canon Rawlison remarks in that -connection: "There are very strong grounds for connecting HEA or Hoa, -with the serpent of the Scripture, and the paradisaical traditions of -the tree of knowledge and the tree of life." As the title of the god of -knowledge and science, _Oannes_, is the lord of the abyss, or of the -great deep, the intelligent fish, one of his emblems being the serpent, -CAN, which occupies so conspicuous a place among the symbols of the gods -on the black stones recording benefactions. - - -DAV-KINA - -Is the wife of _Hoa_, and her name is thought to signify the chief lady. -But the Maya again gives us another meaning that seems to me more -appropriate. TAB-KIN would be the _rays of the sun_: the rays of the -light brought with civilization by her husband to benighted inhabitants -of Mesopotamia. - - -SIN OR HURKI - -is the name of the moon deity; the etymology of it is quite uncertain. -Its titles, as Rawlison remarks, are somewhat vague. Yet it is -particularly designated as "_the bright_, _the shining_" the lord of the -month. - -Zin in Maya has also many significations. Zin is to stretch, to extend. -_Zinil_ is the extension of the whole of the universe. _Hurki_ would be -the Maya HULKIN--sun-stroked; he who receives directly the rays of the -sun. Hurki is also the god presiding over buildings and architecture; in -this connection he is called _Bel-Zuna_. The _lord of building_, the -_supporting architect_, the _strengthener of fortifications_. _Bel-Zuna_ -would also signify the lord of the strong house. _Zuu_, Maya, close, -thick. _Na_, house: and the city where he had his great temple was _Ur_; -named after him. _U_, in Maya, signifies moon. - - -SAN OR SANSI, - -the Sun God, the _lord of fire_, the _ruler of the day_. He _who -illumines the expanse of heaven and earth_. - -_Zamal_ (Maya) is the morning, the dawn of the day, and his symbols are -the same on the temples of Yucatan as on those of Chaldea, India and -Egypt. - - -VUL OR IVA, - -the prince of the powers of the air, the lord of the whirlwind and the -tempest, the wielder of the thunderbolt, the lord of the air, he who -makes the tempest to rage. Hiba in Maya is to rub, to scour, to chafe as -does the tempest. As VUL he is represented with a flaming sword in his -hand. _Hul_ (Maya) an arrow. He is then the god of the atmosphere, who -gives rain. - - -ISHTAR OR NANA, - -the Chaldean Venus, of the etymology of whose name no satisfactory -account can be given, says the learned author, whose list I am following -and description quoting. - -The Maya language, however, affords a very natural etymology. Her name -seems composed of _ix_, the feminine article, _she_; and of _tac_, or -_tal_, a verb that signifies to have a desire to satisfy a corporal want -or inclination. IXTAL would, therefore, be she who desires to satisfy a -corporal inclination. As to her other name, _Nana_, it simply means the -great mother, the very mother. If from the names of god and goddesses, -we pass to that of places, we will find that the Maya language also -furnishes a perfect etymology for them. - -In the account of the creation of the world, according to the Chaldeans, -we find that a woman whose name in Chaldee is _Thalatth_, was said to -have ruled over the monstrous animals of strange forms, that were -generated and existed in darkness and water. The Greek called her -_Thalassa_ (the sea). But the Maya vocable _Thallac_, signifies a thing -without steadiness, like the sea. - - -URUKH. - -The first king of the Chaldees was a great architect. To him are -ascribed the most archaic monuments of the plains of Lower Mesopotamia. -He is said to have conceived the plans of the Babylonian Temple. He -constructed his edifices of mud and bricks, with rectangular bases, -their angles fronting the cardinal points; receding stages, exterior -staircases, with shrines crowning the whole structure. In this -description of the primitive constructions of the Chaldeans, no one can -fail to recognize the Maya mode of building, and we see them not only in -Yucatan, but throughout Central America, Peru, even Hindoostan. The very -name _Urkuh_ seems composed of two Maya words HUK, to make everything, -and LUK, mud; he who makes everything of mud; so significative of his -building propensities and of the materials used by him. - - -ASSYRIA. - -The etymology of the name of that country, as well as that of Asshur, -the supreme god of the Assyrians, who never pronounced his name without -adding "Asshur is my lord," is still an undecided matter amongst the -learned philologists of our days. Some contend that the country was -named after the god Asshur; others that the god Asshur received his name -from the place where he was worshiped. None agree, however, as to the -significative meaning of the name Asshur. In Assyrian and Hebrew -languages the name of the country and people is derived from that of the -god. That Asshur was the name of the deity, and that the country was -named after it, I have no doubt, since I find its etymology, so much -sought for by philologists, in the American Maya language. Effectively -the word _asshur_, sometimes written _ashur_, would be AXUL in Maya. - -_A_, in that language, placed before a noun, is the possessive pronoun, -as the second person, thy or thine, and _xul_, means end, termination. -It is also the name of the sixth month of the Maya calendar. _Axul_ -would therefore be _thy end_. Among all the nations which have -recognized the existence of a SUPREME BEING, Deity has been considered -as the beginning and end of all things, to which all aspire to be -united. - -A strange coincidence that may be without significance, but is not out -of place to mention here, is the fact that the early kings of Chaldea -are represented on the monuments as sovereigns over the _Kiprat-arbat_, -or FOUR RACES. While tradition tells us that the great lord of the -universe, king of the giants, whose capital was _Tiahuanaco_, the -magnificent ruins of which are still to be seen on the shores of the -lake of Titicaca, reigned over _Ttahuatyn-suyu_, the FOUR PROVINCES. In -the _Chou-King_ we read that in very remote times _China_ was called by -its inhabitants _Sse-yo_, THE FOUR PARTS OF THE EMPIRE. The -_Manava-Dharma-Sastra_, the _Ramayana_, and other sacred books of -Hindostan also inform us that the ancient Hindoos designated their -country as the FOUR MOUNTAINS, and from some of the monumental -inscriptions at Uxmal it would seem that, among other names, that place -was called the land of the _canchi_, or FOUR MOUTHS, that recalls -vividly the name of Chaldea _Arba-Lisun_, the FOUR TONGUES. - -That the language of the Mayas was known in Chaldea in remote ages, but -became lost in the course of time, is evident from the Book of Daniel. -It seems that some of the learned men of Judea understood it still at -the beginning of the Christian era, as many to-day understand Greek, -Latin, Sanscrit, &c.; since, we are informed by the writers of the -Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, that the last words of Jesus of -Nazareth expiring on the cross were uttered in it. - -In the fifth chapter of the Book of Daniel, we read that the fingers of -the hand of a man were seen writing on the wall of the hall, where King -Belshazzar was banqueting, the words "Mene, mene, Tekel, upharsin," -which could not be read by any of the wise men summoned by order of the -king. Daniel, however, being brought in, is said to have given as their -interpretation: _Numbered_, _numbered_, _weighed_, _dividing_, perhaps -with the help of the angel Gabriel, who is said by learned rabbins to be -the only individual of the angelic hosts who can speak Chaldean and -Syriac, and had once before assisted him in interpreting the dream of -King Nebuchadnezzar. Perhaps also, having been taught the learning of -the Chaldeans, he had studied the ancient Chaldee language, and was thus -enabled to read the fatidical words, which have the very same meaning in -the Maya language as he gave them. Effectively, _mene_ or _mane_, -_numbered_, would seem to correspond to the Maya verbs, MAN, to buy, to -purchase, hence to number, things being sold by the quantity--or MANEL, -to pass, to exceed. _Tekel_, weighed, would correspond to TEC, light. -To-day it is used in the sense of lightness in motion, brevity, -nimbleness: and _Upharsin_, dividing, seem allied to the words PPA, to -divide two things united; or _uppah_, to break, making a sharp sound; or -_paah_, to break edifices; or, again, PAALTAL, to break, to scatter the -inhabitants of a place. - -As to the last words of Jesus of Nazareth, when expiring on the cross, -as reported by the Evangelists, _Eli, Eli_, according to St. Matthew, -and _Eloi, Eloi_, according to St. Mark, _lama sabachthani_, they are -pure Maya vocables; but have a very different meaning to that attributed -to them, and more in accordance with His character. By placing in the -mouth of the dying martyr these words: _My God, my God, why hast thou -forsaken me?_ they have done him an injustice, presenting him in his -last moments despairing and cowardly, traits so foreign to his life, to -his teachings, to the resignation shown by him during his trial, and to -the fortitude displayed by him in his last journey to Calvary; more than -all, so unbecoming, not to say absurd, being in glaring contradiction to -his role as God. If God himself, why complain that God has forsaken him? -He evidently did not speak Hebrew in dying, since his two mentioned -biographers inform us that the people around him did not understand what -he said, and supposed he was calling Elias to help him: _This man -calleth for Elias._ - -His bosom friend, who never abandoned him--who stood to the last at the -foot of the cross, with his mother and other friends and relatives, do -not report such unbefitting words as having been uttered by Jesus. He -simply says, that after recommending his mother to his care, he -complained of being thirsty, and that, as the sponge saturated with -vinegar was applied to his mouth, he merely said: IT IS FINISHED! and -_he bowed his head and gave up the ghost_. (St. John, chap. xix., v. -30.) - -Well, this is exactly the meaning of the Maya words, HELO, HELO, LAMAH -ZABAC TA NI, literally: HELO, HELO, now, now; LAMAH, sinking; ZABAC, -black ink; TA, over; NI, nose; in our language: _Now, now I am sinking; -darkness covers my face!_ No weakness, no despair--He merely tells his -friends all is over. _It is finished!_ and expires. - -Before leaving Asia Minor, in order to seek in Egypt the vestiges of the -Mayas, I will mention the fact that the names of some of the natives who -inhabited of old that part of the Asiatic continent, and many of those -of places and cities seem to be of American Maya origin. The Promised -Land, for example--that part of the coast of Phoenicia so famous for -the fertility of its soil, where the Hebrews, after journeying during -forty years in the desert, arrived at last, tired and exhausted from so -many hard-fought battles--was known as _Canaan_. This is a Maya word -that means to be tired, to be fatigued; and, if it is spelled _Kanaan_, -it then signifies abundance; both significations applying well to the -country. - -TYRE, the great emporium of the Phoenicians, called _Tzur_, probably -on account of being built on a rock, may also derive its name from the -Maya TZUC, a promontory, or a number of villages, _Tzucub_ being a -province. - -Again, we have the people called _Khati_ by the Egyptians. They formed a -great nation that inhabited the _Caele-Syria_ and the valley of the -Orontes, where they have left very interesting proofs of their passage -on earth, in large and populous cities whose ruins have been lately -discovered. Their origin is unknown, and is yet a problem to be solved. -They are celebrated on account of their wars against the Assyrians and -Egyptians, who call them the plague of Khati. Their name is frequently -mentioned in the Scriptures as Hittites. Placed on the road, between the -Assyrians and the Egyptians, by whom they were at last vanquished, they -placed well nigh insuperable _obstacles in the way_ of the conquests of -these two powerful nations, which found in them tenacious and fearful -adversaries. The Khati had not only made considerable improvements in -all military arts, but were also great and famed merchants; their -emporium _Carchemish_ had no less importance than Tyre or Carthage. -There, met merchants from all parts of the world; who brought thither -the products and manufactures of their respective countries, and were -wont to worship at the Sacred City, _Katish_ of the Khati. The etymology -of their name is also unknown. Some historians having pretended that -they were a Scythian tribe, derived it from Scythia; but I think that we -may find it very natural, as that of their principal cities, in the Maya -language. - -All admit that the Khati, until the time when they were vanquished by -Rameses the Great, as recorded on the walls of his palace at Thebes, the -_Memnonium_, always placed obstacles on the way of the Egyptians and -opposed them. According to the Maya, their name is significative of -these facts, since KAT or KATAH is a verb that means to place -impediments on the road, to come forth and obstruct the passage. - -_Carchemish_ was their great emporium, where merchants from afar -congregated; it was consequently a city of merchants. CAH means a city, -and _Chemul_ is navigator. _Carchemish_ would then be _cah-chemul_, the -city of navigators, of merchants. - -KATISH, their sacred city, would be the city where sacrifices are -offered. CAH, city, and TICH, a ceremony practiced by the ancient Mayas, -and still performed by their descendants all through Central America. -This sacrifice or ceremony consists in presenting to BALAM, the -_Yumil-Kaax_, the "Lord of the fields," the _primitiae_ of all their -fruits before beginning the harvest. Katish, or _cah-tich_ would then be -the city of the sacrifices--the holy city. - -EGYPT is the country that in historical times has called, more than any -other, the attention of the students, of all nations and in all ages, on -account of the grandeur and beauty of its monuments; the peculiarity of -its inhabitants; their advanced civilization, their great attainments in -all branches of human knowledge and industry; and its important position -at the head of all other nations of antiquity. Egypt has been said to be -the source from which human knowledge began to flow over the old world: -yet no one knows for a certainty whence came the people that laid the -first foundations of that interesting nation. That they were not -autochthones is certain. Their learned priests pointed towards the -regions of the West as the birth-place of their ancestors, and -designated the country in which they lived, the East, as the _pure -land_, the _land of the sun_, of _light_, in contradistinction of the -country of the dead, of darkness--the Amenti, the West--where Osiris sat -as King, reigning judge, over the souls. - -If in Hindostan, Afghanistan, Chaldea, Asia Minor, we have met with -vestiges of the Mayas, in Egypt we will find their traces everywhere. -Whatever may have been the name given to the valley watered by the Nile -by its primitive inhabitants, no one at present knows. The invaders that -came from the West called it CHEM: not on account of the black color of -the soil, as Plutarch pretends in his work, "_De Iside et Osiride_," but -more likely because either they came to it in boats; or, quite probably, -because when they arrived the country was inundated, and the inhabitants -communicated by means of boats, causing the new comers to call it the -country of boats--CHEM (maya).[TN-20] The hieroglyph representing the -name of Egypt is composed of the character used for land, a cross -circumscribed by a circle, and of another, read K, which represent a -sieve, it is said, but that may likewise be the picture of a small boat. -The Assyrians designated Egypt under the names of MISIR or MISUR, -probably because the country is generally destitute of trees. These are -uprooted during the inundations, and then carried by the currents all -over the country; so that the farmers, in order to be able to plow the -soil, are obliged to clear it first from the dead trees. Now we have the -Maya verb MIZ--to _clean_, to _remove rubbish formed by the body of dead -trees_; whilst the verb MUSUR means to _cut the trees by the roots_. It -would seem that the name _Mizraim_ given to Egypt in the Scriptures also -might come from these words. - -When the Western invaders reached the country it was probably covered by -the waters of the river, to which, we are told, they gave the name of -_Hapimu_. Its etymology seems to be yet undecided by the Egyptologists, -who agree, however, that its meaning is the _abyss of water_. The Maya -tells us that this name is composed of two words--HA, water, and PIMIL, -the thickness of flat things. _Hapimu_, or HAPIMIL, would then be the -thickness, the _abyss of water_. - -We find that the prophets _Jeremiah_ (xlvi., 25,) and _Nahum_ (iii., 8, -10,) call THEBES, the capital of upper Egypt during the XVIII. dynasty: -NO or NA-AMUN, the mansion of Amun. _Na_ signifies in Maya, house, -mansion, residence. But _Thebes_ is written in Egyptian hieroglyphs AP, -or APE, the meaning of which is the head, the capital; with the feminine -article T, that is always used as its prefix in hieroglyphic writings, -it becomes TAPE; which, according to Sir Gardner Wilkinson ("Manners and -Customs of the Ancient Egyptians," _tom._ III., page 210, N. Y. Edition, -1878), was pronounced by the Egyptians _Taba_; and in the Menphitic -dialect Thaba, that the Greeks converted into Thebai, whence Thebes. The -Maya verb _Teppal_, signifies to reign, to govern, to order. On each -side of the mastodons' heads, which form so prominent a feature in the -ornaments of the oldest edifices at Uxmal, Chichen-Itza and other parts, -the word _Dapas_; hence TABAS is written in ancient Egyptian characters, -and read, I presume, in old Maya, _head_. To-day the word is pronounced -THAB, and means _baldness_. - -The identity of the names of deities worshiped by individuals, of their -religious rites and belief; that of the names of the places which they -inhabit; the similarity of their customs, of their dresses and manners; -the sameness of their scientific attainments and of the characters used -by them in expressing their language in writing, lead us naturally to -infer that they have had a common origin, or, at least, that their -forefathers were intimately connected. If we may apply this inference to -nations likewise, regardless of the distance that to-day separates the -countries where they live, I can then affirm that the Mayas and the -Egyptians are either of a common descent, or that very intimate -communication must have existed in remote ages between their ancestors. - -Without entering here into a full detail of the customs and manners of -these people, I will make a rapid comparison between their religious -belief, their customs, manners, scientific attainments, and the -characters used by them in writing etc., sufficient to satisfy any -reasonable body that the strange coincidences that follow, cannot be -altogether accidental. - -The SUN, RA, was the supreme god worshiped throughout the land of Egypt; -and its emblem was a disk or circle, at times surmounted by the serpent -Uraeus. Egypt was frequently called the Land of the Sun. RA or LA -signifies in Maya that which exists, emphatically that which is--the -truth. - -The sun was worshiped by the ancient Mayas; and the Indians to-day -preserve the dance used by their forefathers among the rites of the -adoration of that luminary, and perform it yet in certain epoch[TN-21] -of the year. The coat-of-arms of the city of Uxmal, sculptured on the -west facade of the sanctuary, attached to the masonic temple in that -city, teaches us that the place was called U LUUMIL KIN, _the land of -the sun_. This name forming the center of the escutcheon, is written -with a cross, circumscribed by a circle, that among the Egyptians is -the sign for land, region, surrounded by the rays of the sun. - -Colors in Egypt, as in Mayab, seem to have had the same symbolical -meaning. The figure of _Amun_ was that of a man whose body was light -blue, like the Indian god Wishnu,[TN-22] and that of the god Nilus; as if -to indicate their peculiar exalted and heavenly nature; this color being -that of the pure, bright skies above. The blue color had exactly the -same significance in Mayab, according to Landa and Cogolludo, who tell -us that, even at the time of the Spanish conquest, the bodies of those -who were to be sacrificed to the gods were painted blue. The mural -paintings in the funeral chamber of Chaacmol, at Chichen, confirm this -assertion. There we see figures of men and women painted blue, some -marching to the sacrifice with their hands tied behind their backs. -After being thus painted they were venerated by the people, who regarded -them as sanctified. Blue in Egypt was always the color used at the -funerals. - -The Egyptians believed in the immortality of the soul; and that rewards -and punishments were adjudged by Osiris, the king of the Amenti, to the -souls according to their deeds during their mundane life. That the souls -after a period of three thousand years were to return to earth and -inhabit again their former earthly tenements. This was the reason why -they took so much pains to embalm the body. - -The Mayas also believed in the immortality of the soul, as I have -already said. Their belief was that after the spirit had suffered during -a time proportioned to their misdeeds whilst on earth, and after having -enjoyed an amount of bliss corresponding to their good actions, they -were to return to earth and live again a material life. Accordingly, as -the body was corruptible, they made statues of stones, terra-cotta, or -wood, in the semblance of the deceased, whose ashes they deposited in a -hollow made for that purpose in the back of the head. Sometimes also in -stone urns, as in the case of Chaacmol. The spirits, on their return to -earth, were to find these statues, impart life to them, and use them as -body during their new existence. - -I am not certain but that, as the Egyptians also, they were believers in -transmigration; and that this belief exists yet among the aborigines. I -have noticed that my Indians were unwilling to kill any animal whatever, -even the most noxious and dangerous, that inhabits the ruined monuments. -I have often told them to kill some venomous insect or serpent that may -have happened to be in our way. They invariably refused to do so, but -softly and carefully caused them to go. And when asked why they did not -kill them, declined to answer except by a knowing and mysterious smile, -as if afraid to let a stranger into their intimate beliefs inherited -from their ancestors: remembering, perhaps, the fearful treatment -inflicted by fanatical friars on their fathers to oblige them to forego -what they called the superstitions of their race--the idolatrous creed -of their forefathers. - -I have had opportunity to discover that their faith in reincarnation, as -many other time-honored credences, still exists among them, unshaken, -notwithstanding the persecutions and tortures suffered by them at the -hands of ignorant and barbaric _Christians_ (?) - -I will give two instances when that belief in reincarnation was plainly -manifested. - -The day that, after surmounting many difficulties, when my ropes and -cables, made of withes and the bark of the _habin_ tree, were finished -and adjusted to the capstan manufactured of hollow stones and trunks of -trees; and I had placed the ponderous statue of Chaacmol on rollers, -already in position to drag it up the inclined plane made from the -surface of the ground to a few feet above the bottom of the excavation; -my men, actuated by their superstitious fears on the one hand, and -their profound reverence for the memory of their ancestors on the other, -unwilling to see the effigy of one of the great men removed from where -their ancestors had placed it in ages gone by resolved to bury it, by -letting loose the hill of dry stones that formed the body of the -mausoleum, and were kept from falling in the hole by a framework of thin -trunks of trees tied with withes, and in order that it should not be -injured, to capsize it, placing the face downward. They had already -overturned it, when I interfered in time to prevent more mischief, and -even save some of them from certain death; since by cutting loose the -withes that keep the framework together, the sides of the excavation -were bound to fall in, and crush those at the bottom. I honestly think, -knowing their superstitious feelings and propensities, that they had -made up their mind to sacrifice their lives, in order to avoid what they -considered a desecration of the future tenement that the great warrior -and king was yet to inhabit, when time had arrived. In order to overcome -their scruples, and also to prove if my suspicions were correct, that, -as their forefathers and the Egyptians of old, they still believed in -reincarnation, I caused them to accompany me to the summit of the great -pyramid. There is a monument, that served as a castle when the city of -the holy men, the Itzaes, was at the height of its splendor. Every anta, -every pillar and column of this edifice is sculptured with portraits of -warriors and noblemen. Among these many with long beards, whose types -recall vividly to the mind the features of the Afghans. - -On one of the antae, at the entrance on the north side, is the portrait -of a warrior wearing a long, straight, pointed beard. The face, like -that of all the personages represented in the bas-reliefs, is in -profile. I placed my head against the stone so as to present the same -position of my face as that of UXAN, and called the attention of my -Indians to the similarity of his and my own features. They followed -every lineament of the faces with their fingers to the very point of the -beard, and soon uttered an exclamation of astonishment: "_Thou!_ -_here!_" and slowly scanned again the features sculptured on the stone -and my own. - -"_So, so,_" they said, "_thou too art one of our great men, who has been -disenchanted. Thou, too, wert a companion of the great Lord Chaacmol. -That is why thou didst know where he was hidden; and thou hast come to -disenchant him also. His time to live again on earth has then arrived._" - -From that moment every word of mine was implicitly obeyed. They returned -to the excavation, and worked with such a good will, that they soon -brought up the ponderous statue to the surface. - -A few days later some strange people made their appearance suddenly and -noiselessly in our midst. They emerged from the thicket one by one. -Colonel _Don_ Felipe Diaz, then commander of the troops covering the -eastern frontier, had sent me, a couple of days previous, a written -notice, that I still preserve in my power, that tracks of hostile -Indians had been discovered by his scouts, advising me to keep a sharp -look out, lest they should surprise us. Now, to be on the look out in -the midst of a thick, well-nigh impenetrable forest, is a rather -difficult thing to do, particularly with only a few men, and where there -is no road; yet all being a road for the enemy. Warning my men that -danger was near, and to keep their loaded rifles at hand, we continued -our work as usual, leaving the rest to destiny. - -On seeing the strangers, my men rushed on their weapons, but noticing -that the visitors had no guns, but only their _machetes_, I gave orders -not to hurt them. At their head was a very old man: his hair was gray, -his eyes blue with age. He would not come near the statue, but stood at -a distance as if awe-struck, hat in hand, looking at it. After a long -time he broke out, speaking to his own people: "This, boys, is one of -the great men we speak to you about." Then the young men came forward, -with great respect kneeled at the feet of the statue, and pressed their -lips against them. - -Putting aside my own weapons, being consequently unarmed, I went to the -old man, and asked him to accompany me up to the castle, offering my arm -to ascend the 100 steep and crumbling stairs. I again placed my face -near that of my stone _Sosis_, and again the same scene was enacted as -with my own men, with this difference, that the strangers fell on their -knees before me, and, in turn, kissed my hand. The old man after a -while, eyeing me respectfully, but steadily, asked me: "Rememberest thou -what happened to thee whilst thou wert enchanted?" It was quite a -difficult question to answer, and yet retain my superior position, for I -did not know how many people might be hidden in the thicket. "Well, -father," I asked him, "dreamest thou sometimes?" He nodded his head in -an affirmative manner. "And when thou awakest, dost thou remember -distinctly thy dreams?" "_Ma_," no! was the answer. "Well, father," I -continued, "so it happened with me. I do not remember what took place -during the time I was enchanted." This answer seemed to satisfy him. I -again gave him my hand to help him down the precipitous stairs, at the -foot of which we separated, wishing them God-speed, and warning them not -to go too near the villages on their way back to their homes, as people -were aware of their presence in the country. Whence they came, I ignore; -where they went, I don't know. - -Circumcision was a rite in usage among the Egyptians since very remote -times. The Mayas also practiced it, if we are to credit Fray Luis de -Urreta; yet Cogolludo affirms that in his days the Indians denied -observing such custom. The outward sign of utmost reverence seems to -have been identical amongst both the Mayas and the Egyptians. It -consisted in throwing the left arm across the chest, resting the left -hand on the right shoulder; or the right arm across the chest, the -right hand resting on the left shoulder. Sir Gardner Wilkinson, in his -work above quoted, reproduces various figures in that attitude; and Mr. -Champollion Figeac, in his book on Egypt, tells us that in some cases -even the mummies of certain eminent men were placed in their coffins -with the arms in that position. That this same mark of respect was in -use amongst the Mayas there can be no possible doubt. We see it in the -figures represented in the act of worshiping the mastodon's head, on the -west facade of the monument that forms the north wing of the palace and -museum at Chichen-Itza. We see it repeatedly in the mural paintings in -Chaacmol's funeral chamber; on the slabs sculptured with the -representation of a dying warrior, that adorned the mausoleum of that -chieftain. Cogolludo mentions it in his history of Yucatan, as being -common among the aborigines: and my own men have used it to show their -utmost respect to persons or objects they consider worthy of their -veneration. Among my collection of photographs are several plates in -which some of the men have assumed that position of the arms -spontaneously. - -_The sistrum_ was an instrument used by Egyptians and Mayas alike during -the performance of their religious rites and acts of worship. I have -seen it used lately by natives in Yucatan in the dance forming part of -the worship of the sun. The Egyptians enclosed the brains, entrails and -viscera of the deceased in funeral vases, called _canopas_, that were -placed in the tombs with the coffin. When I opened Chaacmol's mausoleum -I found, as I have already said, two stone urns, the one near the head -containing the remains of brains, that near the chest those of the heart -and other viscera. This fact would tend to show again a similar custom -among the Mayas and Egyptians, who, besides, placed with the body an -empty vase--symbol that the deceased had been judged and found -righteous. This vase, held between the hands of the statue of Chaacmol, -is also found held in the same manner by many other statues of -different individuals. It was customary with the Egyptians to deposit in -the tombs the implements of the trade or profession of the deceased. So -also with the Mayas--if a priest, they placed books; if a warrior, his -weapons; if a mechanic, the tools of his art,[TN-23] - -The Egyptians adorned the tombs of the rich--which generally consisted -of one or two chambers--with sculptures and paintings reciting the names -and the history of the life of the personage to whom the tomb belonged. -The mausoleum of Chaacmol, interiorly, was composed of three different -superposed apartments, with their floors of concrete well leveled, -polished and painted with yellow ochre; and exteriorly was adorned with -magnificent bas-reliefs, representing his totem and that of his -wife--dying warriors--the whole being surrounded by the image of a -feathered serpent--_Can_, his family name, whilst the walls of the two -apartments, or funeral chambers, in the monument raised to his memory, -were decorated with fresco paintings, representing not only Chaacmol's -own life, but the manners, customs, mode of dressing of his -contemporaries; as those of the different nations with which they were -in communication: distinctly recognizable by their type, stature and -other peculiarities. The portraits of the great and eminent men of his -time are sculptured on the jambs and lintels of the doors, represented -life-size. - -In Egypt it was customary to paint the sculptures, either on stone or -wood, with bright colors--yellow, blue, red, green predominating. In -Mayab the same custom prevailed, and traces of these colors are still -easily discernible on the sculptures; whilst they are still very -brilliant on the beautiful and highly polished stucco of the walls in -the rooms of certain monuments at Chichen-Itza. The Maya artists seem to -have used mostly vegetable colors; yet they also employed ochres as -pigments, and cinnabar--we having found such metallic colors in -Chaacmol's mausoleum. Mrs. Le Plongeon still preserves some in her -possession. From where they procured it is more than we can tell at -present. - -The wives and daughters of the Egyptian kings and noblemen considered it -an honor to assist in the temples and religious ceremonies: one of their -principal duties being to play the sistrum. - -We find that in Yucatan, _Nicte_ (flower) the sister of _Chaacmol_, -assisted her elder brother, _Cay_, the pontiff, in the sanctuary, her -name being always associated with his in the inscriptions which adorn -the western facade of that edifice at Uxmal, as that of her sister, -_Mo_,[TN-24] is with Chaacmol's in some of the monuments at Chichen. - -Cogolludo, when speaking of the priestesses, _virgins of the sun_, -mentions a tradition that seems to refer to _Nicte_, stating that the -daughter of a king, who remained during all her life in the temple, -obtained after her death the honor of apotheosis, and was worshiped -under the name of _Zuhuy-Kak_ (the fire-virgin), and became the goddess -of the maidens, who were recommended to her care. - -As in Egypt, the kings and heroes were worshiped in Mayab after their -death; temples and pyramids being raised to their memory. Cogolludo -pretends that the lower classes adored fishes, snakes, tigers and other -abject animals, "even the devil himself, which appeared to them in -horrible forms" ("Historia de Yucatan," book IV., chap. vii.) - -Judging from the sculptures and mural paintings, the higher classes in -_Mayab_ wore, in very remote ages, dresses of quite an elaborate -character. Their under garment consisted of short trowsers, reaching the -middle of the thighs. At times these trowsers were highly ornamented -with embroideries and fringes, as they formed their only article of -clothing when at home; over these they wore a kind of kilt, very similar -to that used by the inhabitants of the Highlands in Scotland. It was -fastened to the waist with wide ribbons, tied behind in a knot forming a -large bow, the ends of which reached to the ankles. Their shoulders -were covered with a tippet falling to the elbows, and fastened on the -chest by means of a brooch. Their feet were protected by sandals, kept -in place by ropes or ribbons, passing between the big toe and the next, -and between the third and fourth, then brought up so as to encircle the -ankles. They were tied in front, forming a bow on the instep. Some wore -leggings, others garters and anklets made of feathers, generally yellow; -sometimes, however, they may have been of gold. Their head gears were of -different kinds, according to their rank and dignity. Warriors seem to -have used wide bands, tied behind the head with two knots, as we see in -the statue of Chaacmol, and in the bas-reliefs that adorn the queen's -chamber at Chichen. The king's coiffure was a peaked cap, that seems to -have served as model for the _pschent_, that symbol of domination over -the lower Egypt; with this difference, however, that in Mayab the point -formed the front, and in Egypt the back. - -The common people in Mayab, as in Egypt, were indeed little troubled by -their garments. These consisted merely of a simple girdle tied round the -loins, the ends falling before and behind to the middle of the thighs. -Sometimes they also used the short trowsers; and, when at work, wrapped -a piece of cloth round their loins, long enough to cover their legs to -the knees. This costume was completed by wearing a square cloth, tied on -one of the shoulders by two of its corners. It served as cloak. To-day -the natives of Yucatan wear the same dress, with but slight -modifications. While the aborigines of the _Tierra de Guerra_, who still -preserve the customs of their forefathers, untainted by foreign -admixture, use the same garments, of their own manufacture, that we see -represented in the bas-reliefs of Chichen and Uxmal, and in the mural -paintings of _Mayab_ and Egypt. - -Divination by the inspection of the entrails of victims, and the study -of omens were considered by the Egyptians as important branches of -learning. The soothsayers formed a respected order of the priesthood. -From the mural paintings at Chichen, and from the works of the -chroniclers, we learn that the Mayas also had several manners of -consulting fate. One of the modes was by the inspection of the entrails -of victims; another by the manner of the cracking of the shell of a -turtle or armadillo by the action of fire, as among the Chinese. (In the -_Hong-fan_ or "the great and sublime doctrine," one of the books of the -_Chou-king_, the ceremonies of _Pou_ and _Chi_ are described at length). -The Mayas had also their astrologers and prophets. Several prophecies, -purporting to have been made by their priests, concerning the preaching -of the Gospel among the people of Mayab, have reached us, preserved in -the works of Landa, Lizana, and Cogolludo. There we also read that, even -at the time of the Spanish conquest, they came from all parts of the -country, and congregated at the shrine of _Kinich-kakmo_, the deified -daughter of CAN, to listen to the oracles delivered by her through the -mouths of her priests and consult her on future events. By the -examination of the mural paintings, we know that _animal magnetism_ was -understood and practiced by the priests, who, themselves, seem to have -consulted clairvoyants. - -The learned priests of Egypt are said to have made considerable progress -in astronomical sciences. - -The _gnomon_, discovered by me in December, last year, in the ruined -city of Mayapan, would tend to prove that the learned men of Mayab were -not only close observers of the march of the celestial bodies and good -mathematicians; but that their attainments in astronomy were not -inferior to those of their brethren of Chaldea. Effectively the -construction of the gnomon shows that they had found the means of -calculating the latitude of places, that they knew the distance of the -solsticeal points from the equator; they had found that the greatest -angle of declination of the sun, 23 deg. 27', occurred when that -luminary reached the tropics where, during nearly three days, said angle -of declination does not vary, for which reason they said that the _sun_ -had arrived at his resting place. - -The Egyptians, it is said, in very remote ages, divided the year by -lunations, as the Mayas, who divided their civil year into eighteen -months, of twenty days, that they called U--moon--to which they added -five supplementary days, that they considered unlucky. From an epoch so -ancient that it is referred to the fabulous time of their history, the -Egyptians adopted the solar year, dividing it into twelve months, of -thirty days, to which they added, at the end of the last month, called -_Mesore_, five days, named _Epact_. - -By a most remarkable coincidence, the Egyptians, as the Mayas, -considered these additive five days _unlucky_. - -Besides this solar year they had a sideral or sothic year, composed of -365 days and 6 hours, which corresponds exactly to the Mayas[TN-25] -sacred year, that Landa tells us was also composed of 365 days and 6 -hours; which they represented in the gnomon of Mayapan by the line that -joins the centers of the stela that forms it. - -The Egyptians, in their computations, calculated by a system of _fives_ -and _tens_; the Mayas by a system of _fives_ and _twenties_, to four -hundred. Their sacred number appears to have been 13 from the remotest -antiquity, but SEVEN seems to have been a _mystic number_ among them as -among the Hindoos, Aryans, Chaldeans, Egyptians, and other nations. - -The Egyptians made use of a septenary system in the arrangement of the -grand gallery in the center of the great pyramid. Each side of the wall -is made of seven courses of finely polished stones, the one above -overlapping that below, thus forming the triangular ceiling common to -all the edifices in Yucatan. This gallery is said to be seven times the -height of the other passages, and, as all the rooms in Uxmal, Chichen -and other places in Mayab, it is seven-sided. Some authors pretend to -assume that this well marked septenary system has reference to the -_Pleiades_ or _Seven stars_. _Alcyone_, the central star of the group, -being, it is said, on the same meridian as the pyramid, when it was -constructed, and _Alpha_ of Draconis, the then pole star, at its lower -culmination. - -But if, as the Rev. Joseph A. Seiss and others pretend, the scientific -attainments required for the construction of such enduring monument -surpassed those of the learned men of Egypt, we must, of necessity, -believe that the architect who conceived the plan and carried out its -designs must have acquired his knowledge from an older people, -possessing greater learning than the priests of Memphis; unless we try -to persuade ourselves, as the reverend gentleman wishes us to, that the -great pyramid was built under the direct inspiration of the Almighty. - -Nearly all the monuments of Yucatan bear evidence that the Mayas had a -predilection for number SEVEN. Since we find that their artificial -mounds were composed of seven superposed platforms; that the city of -Uxmal contained seven of these mounds; that the north side of the palace -of King CAN was adorned with seven turrets; that the entwined serpents, -his totem, which adorn the east facade of the west wing of this -building, have seven rattles; that the head-dress of kings and queens -were adorned with seven blue feathers; in a word, that the number SEVEN -prevails in all places and in everything where Maya influence has -predominated. - -It is a FACT, and one that may not be altogether devoid of significance, -that this number SEVEN seems to have been the mystic number of many of -the nations of antiquity. It has even reached our times as such, being -used as symbol[TN-26] by several of the secret societies existing among -us. - -If we look back through the vista of ages to the dawn of civilized life -in the countries known as the _old world_, we find this number SEVEN -among the Asiatic nations as well as in Egypt and Mayab. Effectively, in -Babylon, the celebrated temple of _the seven lights_ was made of _seven_ -stages or platforms. In the hierarchy of Mazdeism, the _seven marouts_, -or genii of the winds, the _seven amschaspands_; then among the Aryans -and their descendants, the _seven horses_ that drew the chariot of the -sun, the _seven apris_ or shape of the flame, the _seven rays_ of Agni, -the _seven manons_ or criators of the Vedas; among the Hebrews, the -_seven days_ of the creation, the _seven lamps_ of the ark and of -Zacharias's vision, the _seven branches_ of the golden candlestick, the -_seven days_ of the feast of the dedication of the temple of Solomon, -the _seven years_ of plenty, the _seven years_ of famine; in the -Christian dispensation, the _seven_ churches with the _seven_ angels at -their head, the _seven_ golden candlesticks, the _seven seals_ of the -book, the _seven_ trumpets of the angels, the _seven heads_ of the beast -that rose from the sea, the _seven vials_ full of the wrath of God, the -_seven_ last plagues of the Apocalypse; in the Greek mythology, the -_seven_ heads of the hydra, killed by Hercules, etc. - -The origin of the prevalence of that number SEVEN amongst all the -nations of earth, even the most remote from each other, has never been -satisfactorily explained, each separate people giving it a different -interpretation, according to their belief and to the tenets of their -religious creeds. As far as the Mayas are concerned, I think to have -found that it originated with the _seven_ members of CAN'S family, who -were the founders of the principal cities of _Mayab_, and to each of -whom was dedicated a mound in Uxmal and a turret in their palace. Their -names, according to the inscriptions carved on the monuments raised by -them at Uxmal and Chichen, were--CAN (serpent) and [C]OZ (bat), his -wife, from whom were born CAY (fish), the pontiff; AAK (turtle), who -became the governor of Uxmal; CHAACMOL (leopard), the warrior, who -became the husband of his sister MOO (macaw), the Queen of _Chichen_, -worshiped after her death at Izamal; and NICTE (flower), the priestess -who, under the name of _Zuhuy-Kuk_, became the goddess of the maidens. - -The Egyptians, in expressing their ideas in writing, used three -different kinds of characters--phonetic, ideographic and -symbolic--placed either in vertical columns or in horizontal lines, to -be read from right to left, from left to right, as indicated by the -position of the figures of men or animals. So, also, the Mayas in their -writings employed phonetic, symbolic and ideographic signs, combining -these often, forming monograms as we do to-day, placing them in such a -manner as best suited the arrangement of the ornamentation of the facade -of the edifices. At present we can only speak with certainty of the -monumental inscriptions, the books that fell in the hands of the -ecclesiastics at the time of the conquest having been destroyed. No -truly genuine written monuments of the Mayas are known to exist, except -those inclosed within the sealed apartments, where the priests and -learned men of MAYAB hid them from the _Nahualt_ or _Toltec_ invaders. - -As the Egyptians, they wrote in vertical columns and horizontal lines, -to be read generally from right to left. The space of this small essay -does not allow me to enter in more details; they belong naturally to a -work of different nature. Let it therefore suffice, for the present -purpose, to state that the comparative study of the language of the -Mayas led us to suspect that, as it contains words belonging to nearly -all the known languages of antiquity, and with exactly the same meaning, -in their mode of writing might be found letters or characters or signs -used in those tongues. Studying with attention the photographs made by -us of the inscriptions of Uxmal and Chichen, we were not long in -discovering that our surmises were indeed correct. The inscriptions, -written in squares or parallelograms, that might well have served as -models for the ancient hieratic Chaldeans, of the time of King Uruck, -seem to contain ancient Chaldee, Egyptian and Etruscan characters, -together with others that seem to be purely Mayab. - -Applying these known characters to the decipherment of the inscriptions, -giving them their accepted value, we soon found that the language in -which they are written is, in the main, the vernacular of the aborigines -of Yucatan and other parts of Central America to-day. Of course, the -original mother tongue having suffered some alterations, in consequence -of changes in customs induced by time, invasions, intercourse with other -nations, and the many other natural causes that are known to affect -man's speech. - -The Mayas and the Egyptians had many signs and characters identical; -possessing the same alphabetical and symbolical value in both nations. -Among the symbolical, I may cite a few: _water_, _country or region_, -_king_, _Lord_, _offerings_, _splendor_, the _various emblems of the -sun_ and many others. Among the alphabetical, a very large number of the -so-called Demotic, by Egyptologists, are found even in the inscription -of the _Akab[c]ib_ at Chichen; and not a few of the most ancient -Egyptian hieroglyphs in the mural inscriptions at Uxmal. In these I have -been able to discover the Egyptian characters corresponding to our own. - -A a, B, C, CH or K, D, T, I, L, M, N, H, P, TZ, PP, U, OO, X, having the -same sound and value as in the Spanish language, with the exception of -the K, TZ, PP and X, which are pronounced in a way peculiar to the -Mayas. The inscriptions also contain these letters, A, I, X and PP -identical to the corresponding in the Etruscan alphabet. The finding of -the value of these characters has enabled me to decipher, among other -things, the names of the founders of the city of UXMAL; as that of the -city itself. This is written apparently in two different ways: whilst, -in fact, the sculptors have simply made use of two homophone signs, -notwithstanding dissimilar, of the letter M. As to the name of the -founders, not only are they written in alphabetical characters, but also -in ideographic, since they are accompanied in many instances by the -totems of the personages: e. g[TN-27] for AAK, which means turtle, is the -image of a turtle; for CAY (fish), the image of a fish; for Chaacmol -(leopard) the image of a leopard; and so on, precluding the possibility -of misinterpretation. - -Having found that the language of the inscriptions was Maya, of course -I had no difficulty in giving to each letter its proper phonetic value, -since, as I have already said, Maya is still the vernacular of the -people. - -I consider that the few facts brought together will suffice at present -to show, if nothing else, a strange similarity in the workings of the -mind in these two nations. But if these remarkable coincidences are not -merely freaks of hazard, we will be compelled to admit that one people -must have learned it from the other. Then will naturally arise the -questions, Which the teacher? Which the pupil? The answer will not only -solve an ethnological problem, but decide the question of priority. - -I will now briefly refer to the myth of Osiris, the son of _Seb and -Nut_, the brother of _Aroeris_, the elder _Horus_, of _Typho_, of -_Isis_, and of _Nephthis_, named also NIKE. The authors have given -numerous explanations, result of fancy; of the mythological history of -that god, famous throughout Egypt. They made him a personification of -the inundations of the NILE; ISIS, his wife and sister, that of the -irrigated portion of the land of Egypt; their sister, _Nephthis_, that -of the barren edge of the desert occasionally fertilized by the waters -of the Nile; his brother and murderer _Tipho_, that of the sea which -swallows up the _Nile_. - -Leaving aside the mythical lores, with which the priests of all times -and all countries cajole the credulity of ignorant and superstitious -people, we find that among the traditions of the past, treasured in the -mysterious recesses of the temples, is a history of the life of Osiris -on Earth. Many wise men of our days have looked upon it as fabulous. I -am not ready to say whether it is or it is not; but this I can assert, -that, in many parts, it tallies marvelously with that of the culture -hero of the Mayas. - -It will be said, no doubt, that this remarkable similarity is a mere -coincidence. But how are we to dispose of so many coincidences? What -conclusion, if any, are we to draw from this concourse of so many -strange similes? - -In this case, I cannot do better than to quote, verbatim, from Sir -Gardner Wilkinson's work, chap. xiii: - - "_Osiris_, having become King of Egypt, applied himself towards - civilizing his countrymen, by turning them from their former - barbarous course of life, teaching them, moreover, to cultivate and - improve the fruits of the earth. * * * * * With the same good - disposition, he afterwards traveled over the rest of the world, - inducing the people everywhere to submit to his discipline, by the - mildest persuasion." - -The rest of the story relates to the manner of his killing by his -brother Typho, the disposal of his remains, the search instituted by his -wife to recover the body, how it was stolen again from her by _Typho_, -who cut him to pieces, scattering them over the earth, of the final -defeat of Typho by Osiris's son, Horus. - -Reading the description, above quoted, of the endeavors of Osiris to -civilize the world, who would not imagine to be perusing the traditions -of the deeds of the culture heroes _Kukulean_[TN-28] and Quetzalcoatl of -the Mayas and of the Aztecs? Osiris was particularly worshiped at Philo, -where the history of his life is curiously illustrated in the sculptures -of a small retired chamber, lying nearly over the western adytum of the -temple, just as that of Chaacmol in the mural paintings of his funeral -chamber, the bas-reliefs of what once was his mausoleum, in those of the -queen's chamber and of her box in the tennis court at Chichen. - - "The mysteries of Osiris were divided into the greater and less - mysteries. Before admission into the former, it was necessary that - the initiated should have passed through all the gradations of the - latter. But to merit this great honor, much was expected of the - candidate, and many even of the priesthood were unable to obtain - it. Besides the proofs of a virtuous life, other recommendations - were required, and to be admitted to all the grades of the higher - mysteries was the greatest honor to which any one could aspire. It - was from these that the mysteries of Eleusis were borrowed." - Wilkinson, chap. xiii. - -In Mayab there also existed mysteries, as proved by symbols discovered -in the month of June last by myself in the monument generally called the -_Dwarf's House_, at Uxmal. It seemed that the initiated had to pass -through different gradations to reach the highest or third; if we are to -judge by the number of rooms dedicated to their performance, and the -disposition of said rooms. The strangest part, perhaps, of this -discovery is the information it gives us that certain signs and symbols -were used by the affiliated, that are perfectly identical to those used -among the masons in their symbolical lodges. I have lately published in -_Harper's Weekly_, a full description of the building, with plans of the -same, and drawings of the signs and symbols existing in it. These secret -societies exist still among the _Zunis_ and other Pueblo Indians of New -Mexico, according to the relations of Mr. Frank H. Cushing, a gentleman -sent by the Smithsonian Institution to investigate their customs and -history. In order to comply with the mission intrusted to him, Mr. -Cushing has caused his adoption in the tribe of the Zunis, whose -language he has learned, whose habits he has adopted. Among the other -remarkable things he has discovered is "the existence of twelve sacred -orders, with their priests and their secret rites as carefully guarded -as the secrets of freemasonry, an institution to which these orders have -a strange resemblance." (From the New York _Times_.) - -If from Egypt we pass to Nubia, we find that the peculiar battle ax of -the Mayas was also used by the warriors of that country; whilst many of -the customs of the inhabitants of equatorial Africa, as described by Mr. -DuChaillu[TN-29] in the relation of his voyage to the "Land of Ashango," -so closely resemble those of the aborigines of Yucatan as to suggest -that intimate relations must have existed, in very remote ages, between -their ancestors; if the admixture of African blood, clearly discernible -still, among the natives of certain districts of the peninsula, did not -place that _fact_ without the peradventure of a doubt. We also see -figures in the mural paintings, at Chichen, with strongly marked African -features. - -We learned by the discovery of the statue of Chaacmol, and that of the -priestess found by me at the foot of the altar in front of the shrine -of _Ix-cuina_, the Maya Venus, situated at the south end of _Isla -Mugeres_, it was customary with persons of high rank to file their teeth -in sharp points like a saw. We read in the chronicles that this fashion -still prevailed after the Spanish conquest; and then by little and -little fell into disuse. Travelers tells us that it is yet in vogue -among many of the tribes in the interior of South America; particularly -those whose names seem to connect with the ancient Caribs or Carians. - -Du Chaillu asserts that the Ashangos, those of Otamo, the Apossos, the -Fans, and many other tribes of equatorial Africa, consider it a mark of -beauty to file their front teeth in a sharp point. He presents the Fans -as confirmed cannibals. We are told, and the bas-reliefs on Chaacmol's -mausoleum prove it, that the Mayas devoured the hearts of their fallen -enemies. It is said that, on certain grand occasions, after offering the -hearts of their victims to the idols, they abandoned the bodies to the -people, who feasted upon them. But it must be noticed that these -last-mentioned customs seemed to have been introduced in the country by -the Nahualts and Aztecs; since, as yet, we have found nothing in the -mural paintings to cause us to believe that the Mayas indulged in such -barbaric repasts, beyond the eating of their enemies' hearts. - -The Mayas were, and their descendants are still, confirmed believers in -witchcraft. In December, last year, being at the hacienda of -X-Kanchacan, where are situated the ruins of the ancient city of -Mayapan, a sick man was brought to me. He came most reluctantly, stating -that he knew what was the matter with him: that he was doomed to die -unless the spell was removed. He was emaciated, seemed to suffer from -malarial fever, then prevalent in the place, and from the presence of -tapeworm. I told him I could restore him to health if he would heed my -advice. The fellow stared at me for some time, trying to find out, -probably, if I was a stronger wizard than the _H-Men_ who had bewitched -him. He must have failed to discover on my face the proverbial -distinctive marks great sorcerers are said to possess; for, with an -incredulous grin, stretching his thin lips tighter over his teeth, he -simply replied: "No use--I am bewitched--there is no remedy for me." - -Mr. Du Chaillu, speaking of the superstitions of the inhabitants of -Equatorial Africa, says: "The greatest curse of the whole country is the -belief in sorcery or witchcraft. If the African is once possessed with -the belief that he is bewitched his whole nature seems to change. He -becomes suspicious of his dearest friends. He fancies himself sick, and -really often becomes sick through his fears. At least seventy-five per -cent of the deaths in all the tribes are murders for supposed sorcery." -In that they differ from the natives of Yucatan, who respect wizards -because of their supposed supernatural powers. - -From the most remote antiquity, as we learn from the writings of the -chroniclers, in all sacred ceremonies the Mayas used to make copious -libations with _Balche_. To-day the aborigines still use it in the -celebrations of their ancient rites. _Balche_ is a liquor made from the -bark of a tree called Balche, soaked in water, mixed with honey and left -to ferment. It is their beverage _par excellence_. The nectar drank by -the God of Greek Mythology. - -Du Chaillu, speaking of the recovery to health of the King of _Mayo_lo, -a city in which he resided for some time, says: "Next day he was so much -elated with the improvement in his health that he got tipsy on a -fermented beverage which he had prepared two days before he had fallen -ill, and which he made by _mixing honey and water, and adding to it -pieces of bark of a certain tree_." (Journey to Ashango Land, page 183.) - -I will remark here that, by a strange _coincidence_, we not only find -that the inhabitants of Equatorial Africa have customs identical with -the MAYAS, but that the name of one of their cities MAYO_lo_, seems to -be a corruption of MAYAB. - -The Africans make offerings upon the graves of their departed friends, -where they deposit furniture, dress and food--and sometimes slay slaves, -men and women, over the graves of kings and chieftains, with the belief -that their spirits join that of him in whose honor they have been -sacrificed. - -I have already said that it was customary with the Mayas to place in the -tombs part of the riches of the deceased and the implements of his trade -or profession; and that the great quantity of blood found scattered -round the slab on which the statue of Chaacmol is reclining would tend -to suggest that slaves were sacrificed at his funeral. - -The Mayas of old were wont to abandon the house where a person had died. -Many still observe that same custom when they can afford to do so; for -they believe that the spirit of the departed hovers round it. - -The Africans also abandon their houses, remove even the site of their -villages when death frequently occur;[TN-30] for, say they, the place is -no longer good; and they fear the spirits of those recently deceased. - -Among the musical instruments used by the Mayas there were two kinds of -drums--the _Tunkul_ and the _Zacatan_. They are still used by the -aborigines in their religious festivals and dances. - -The _Tunkul_ is a cylinder hollowed from the trunk of a tree, so as to -leave it about one inch in thickness all round. It is generally about -four feet in length. On one side two slits are cut, so as to leave -between them a strip of about four inches in width, to within six inches -from the ends; this strip is divided in the middle, across, so as to -form, as it were, tongues. It is by striking on those tongues with two -balls of india-rubber, attached to the end of sticks, that the -instrument is played. The volume of sound produced is so great that it -can be heard, is[TN-31] is said, at a distance of six miles in calm -weather. The _Zacatan_ is another sort of drum, also hollowed from the -trunk of a tree. This is opened at both ends. On one end a piece of -skin is tightly stretched. It is by beating on the skin with the hand, -the instrument being supported between the legs of the drummer, in a -slanting position, that it is played. - -Du Chaillu, Stanley and other travelers in Africa tell us that, in case -of danger and to call the clans together, the big war drum is beaten, -and is heard many miles around. Du Chaillu asserts having seen one of -these _Ngoma_, formed of a hollow log, nine feet long, at Apono; and -describes a _Fan_ drum which corresponds to the _Zacatan_ of the Mayas -as follows: "The cylinder was about four feet long and ten inches in -diameter at one end, but only seven at the other. The wood was hollowed -out quite thin, and the skin stretched over tightly. To beat it the -drummer held it slantingly between his legs, and with two sticks -beats[TN-32] furiously upon the upper, which was the larger end of the -cylinder." - -We have the counterpart of the fetish houses, containing the skulls of -the ancestors and some idol or other, seen by Du Chaillu, in African -towns, in the small huts constructed at the entrance of all the villages -in Yucatan. These huts or shrines contain invariably a crucifix; at -times the image of some saint, often a skull. The last probably to cause -the wayfarer to remember he has to die; and that, as he cannot carry -with him his worldly treasures on the other side of the grave, he had -better deposit some in the alms box firmly fastened at the foot of the -cross. Cogolludo informs us these little shrines were anciently -dedicated to the god of lovers, of histrions, of dancers, and an -infinity of small idols that were placed at the entrance of the -villages, roads and staircases of the temples and other parts. - -Even the breed of African dogs seems to be the same as that of the -native dogs of Yucatan. Were I to describe these I could not make use of -more appropriate words than the following of Du Chaillu: "The pure bred -native dog is small, has long straight ears, long muzzle and long curly -tail; the hair is short and the color yellowish; the pure breed being -known by the clearness of his color. They are always lean, and are kept -very short of food by their owners. * * * Although they have quick ears; -I don't think highly of their scent. They are good watch dogs." - -I could continue this list of similes, but methinks those already -mentioned as sufficient for the present purpose. I will therefore close -it by mentioning this strange belief that Du Chaillu asserts exists -among the African warriors: "_The charmed leopard's skin worn about the -warrior's middle is supposed to render that worthy spear-proof._" - -Let us now take a brief retrospective glance at the FACTS mentioned in -the foregoing pages. They seem to teach us that, in ages so remote as to -be well nigh lost in the abyss of the past, the _Mayas_ were a great and -powerful nation, whose people had reached a high degree of civilization. -That it is impossible for us to form a correct idea of their -attainments, since only the most enduring monuments, built by them, have -reached us, resisting the disintegrating action of time and atmosphere. -That, as the English of to-day, they had colonies all over the earth; -for we find their name, their traditions, their customs and their -language scattered in many distant countries, among whose inhabitants -they apparently exercised considerable civilizing influence, since they -gave names to their gods, to their tribes, to their cities. - -We cannot doubt that the colonists carried with them the old traditions -of the mother country, and the history of the founders of their -nationality; since we find them in the countries where they seem to have -established large settlements soon after leaving the land of their -birth. In course of time these traditions have become disfigured, -wrapped, as it were, in myths, creations of fanciful and untutored -imaginations, as in Hindostan: or devises of crafty priests, striving to -hide the truth from the ignorant mass of the people, fostering their -superstitions, in order to preserve unbounded and undisputed sway over -them, as in Egypt. - -In Hindostan, for example, we find the Maya custom of carrying the -children astride on the hips of the nurses. That of recording the vow of -the devotees, or of imploring the blessings of deity by the imprint of -the hand, dipped in red liquid, stamped on the walls of the shrines and -palaces. The worship of the mastodon, still extant in India, Siam, -Burmah, as in the worship of _Ganeza_, the god of knowledge, with an -elephant head, degenerated in that of the elephant itself. - -Still extant we find likewise the innate propensity of the Mayas to -exclude all foreigners from their country; even to put to death those -who enter their territories (as do, even to-day, those of Santa Cruz and -the inhabitants of the Tierra de Guerra) as the emissaries of Rama were -informed by the friend of the owner of the country, the widow of the -_great architect_, MAYA, whose name HEMA means in the Maya language "she -who places ropes across the roads to impede the passage." Even the -history of the death of her husband MAYA, killed with a thunderbolt, by -the god _Pourandara_, whose jealousy was aroused by his love for her and -their marriage, recalls that of _Chaacmol_, the husband of _Moo_, killed -by their brother Aac, by being stabbed by him three times in the back -with a spear, through jealousy--for he also loved _Moo_. - -Some Maya tribes, after a time, probably left their home at the South of -Hindostan and emigrated to Afghanistan, where their descendants still -live and have villages on the North banks of the river _Kabul_. They -left behind old traditions, that they may have considered as mere -fantasies of their poets, and other customs of their forefathers. Yet we -know so little about the ancient Afghans, or the Maya tribes living -among them, that it is impossible at present to say how much, if any, -they have preserved of the traditions of their race. All we know for a -certainty is that many of the names of their villages and tribes are -pure American-Maya words: that their types are very similar to the -features of the bearded men carved on the pillars of the castle, and on -the walls of other edifices at Chichen-Itza: while their warlike habits -recall those of the Mayas, who fought so bravely and tenaciously the -Spanish invaders. - -Some of the Maya tribes, traveling towards the west and northwest, -reached probably the shores of Ethiopia; while others, entering the -Persian Gulf, landed near the embouchure of the Euphrates, and founded -their primitive capital at a short distance from it. They called it _Hur -(Hula) city of guests just arrived_--and according to Berosus gave -themselves the name of _Khaldi_; probably because they intrenched their -city: _Kal_ meaning intrenchment in the American-Maya language. We have -seen that the names of all the principal deities of the primitive -Chaldeans had a natural etymology in that tongue. Such strange -coincidences cannot be said to be altogether accidental. Particularly -when we consider that their learned men were designated as MAGI, (Mayas) -and their Chief _Rab-Mag_, meaning, in Maya, the _old man_; and were -great architects, mathematicians and astronomers. As again we know of -them but imperfectly, we cannot tell what traditions they had preserved -of the birthplace of their forefathers. But by the inscriptions on the -tablets or bricks, found at Mugheir and Warka, we know for a certainty -that, in the archaic writings, they formed their characters of straight -lines of uniform thickness; and inclosed their sentences in squares or -parallelograms, as did the founders of the ruined cities of Yucatan. And -from the signet cylinder of King Urukh, that their mode of dressing was -identical with that of many personages represented in the mural -paintings at Chichen-Itza. - -We have traced the MAYAS again on the shores of Asia Minor, where the -CARIANS at last established themselves, after having spread terror among -the populations bordering on the Mediterranean. Their origin is unknown: -but their customs were so similar to those of the inhabitants of Yucatan -at the time even of the Spanish conquest--and their names CAR, _Carib_ -or _Carians_, so extensively spread over the western continent, that we -might well surmise, that, navigators as they were, they came from those -parts of the world; particularly when we are told by the Greek poets and -historians, that the goddess MAIA was the daughter of _Atlantis_. We -have seen that the names of the khati, those of their cities, that of -Tyre, and finally that of Egypt, have their etymology in the Maya. - -Considering the numerous coincidences already pointed out, and many more -I could bring forth, between the attainments and customs of the Mayas -and the Egyptians; in view also of the fact that the priests and learned -men of Egypt constantly pointed toward the WEST as the birthplace of -their ancestors, it would seem as if a colony, starting from Mayab, had -emigrated Eastward, and settled on the banks of the Nile; just as the -Chinese to-day, quitting their native land and traveling toward the -rising sun, establish themselves in America. - -In Egypt again, as in Hindostan, we find the history of the children of -CAN, preserved among the secret traditions treasured up by the priests -in the dark recesses of their temples: the same story, even with all its -details. It is TYPHO who kills his brother OSIRIS, the husband of their -sister ISIS. Some of the names only have been changed when the members -of the royal family of CAN, the founder of the cities of Mayab, reaching -apotheosis, were presented to the people as gods, to be worshiped. - -That the story of _Isis_ and _Osiris_ is a mythical account of CHAACMOL -and MOO, from all the circumstances connected with it, according to the -relations of the priests of Egypt that tally so closely with what we -learn in Chichen-Itza from the bas-reliefs, it seems impossible to -doubt. - -Effectively, _Osiris_ and _Isis_ are considered as king and queen of the -Amenti--the region of the West--the mansion of the dead, of the -ancestors. Whatever may be the etymology of the name of Osiris, it is a -_fact_, that in the sculptures he is often represented with a spotted -skin suspended near him, and Diodorus Siculus says: "That the skin is -usually represented without the head; but some instances where this is -introduced show it to be the _leopard's_ or _panther's_." Again, the -name of Osiris as king of the West, of the Amenti, is always written, in -hieroglyphic characters, representing a crouching _leopard_ with an eye -above it. It is also well known that the priests of Osiris wore a -_leopard_ skin as their ceremonial dress. - -Now, Chaacmol reigned with his sister Moo, at Chichen-Itza, in Mayab, in -the land of the West for Egypt. The name _Chaacmol_ means, in Maya, a -_Spotted_ tiger, a _leopard_; and he is represented as such in all his -totems in the sculptures on the monuments; his shield being made of the -skin of leopard, as seen in the mural paintings. - -Osiris, in Egypt, is a myth. Chaacmol, in Mayab, a reality. A warrior -whose mausoleum I have opened; whose weapons and ornaments of jade are -in Mrs. Le Plongeon's possession; whose heart I have found, and sent a -piece of it to be analysed by professor Thompson of Worcester, Mass.; -whose effigy, with his name inscribed on the tablets occupying the place -of the ears, forms now one of the most precious relics in the National -Museum of Mexico. - -ISIS was the wife and sister of Osiris. As to the etymology of her name -the Maya affords it in I[C]IN--_the younger sister_. As Queen of the -Amenti, of the West, she also is represented in hieroglyphs by the same -characters as her husband--a _leopard, with an eye above_, and the sign -of the feminine gender an oval or egg. But as a goddess she is always -portrayed with wings; the vulture being dedicated to her; and, as it -were, her totem. - -MOO the wife and sister of _Chaacmol_ was the Queen of Chichen. She is -represented on the Mausoleum of Chaacmol as a _Macaw_ (Moo in the Maya -language); also on the monuments at Uxmal: and the chroniclers tell us -that she was worshiped in Izamal under the name of _Kinich-Kakmo_; -reading from right to left the _fiery macaw with eyes like the sun_. - -Their protecting spirit is a _Serpent_, the totem of their father CAN. -Another Egyptian divinity, _Apap_ or _Apop_, is represented under the -form of a gigantic serpent covered with wounds. Plutarch in his -treatise, _De Iside et Osiride_, tells us that he was enemy to the sun. - -TYPHO was the brother of Osiris and Isis; for jealousy, and to usurp the -throne, he formed a conspiration and killed his brother. He is said to -represent in the Egyptian mythology, the sea, by some; by others, _the -sun_. - -AAK (turtle) was also the brother of Chaacmol and _Moo_. For jealousy, -and to usurp the throne, he killed his brother at treason with three -thrusts of his _spear_ in the back. Around the belt of his statue at -Uxmal used to be seen hanging the heads of his brothers CAY and -CHAACMOL, together with that of MOO; whilst his feet rested on their -flayed bodies. In the sculpture he is pictured surrounded by the _Sun_ -as his protecting spirit. The escutcheon of Uxmal shows that he called -the place he governed the land of the Sun. In the bas-reliefs of the -Queen's chamber at Chichen his followers are seen to render homage to -the _Sun_; others, the friends of MOO, to the _Serpent_. So, in Mayab as -in Egypt, the _Sun_ and _Serpent_ were inimical. In Egypt again this -enmity was a myth, in Mayab a reality. - -AROERIS was the brother of Osiris, Isis and Typho. His business seems to -have been that of a peace-maker. - -CAY was also the brother of _Chaacmol_, _Moo_ and _Aac_. He was the high -pontiff, and sided with Chaacmol and Moo in their troubles, as we learn -from the mural paintings, from his head and flayed body serving as -trophy to Aac as I have just said. - -In June last, among the ruins of _Uxmal_, I discovered a magnificent -bust of this personage; and I believe I know the place where his remains -are concealed. - -NEPHTHIS was the sister of Isis, Osiris, Typho, and Aroeris, and the -wife of Typho; but being in love with Osiris she managed to be taken to -his embraces, and she became pregnant. That intrigue having been -discovered by Isis, she adopted the child that Nephthis, fearing the -anger of her husband, had hidden, brought him up as her own under the -name of Anubis. Nephthis was also called NIKE by some. - -NIC or NICTE was the sister of _Chaacmol_, _Moo_, _Aac_, and _Cay_, with -whose name I find always her name associated in the sculptures on the -monuments. Here the analogy between these personages would seem to -differ, still further study of the inscriptions may yet prove the -Egyptian version to contain some truth. _Nic_ or _Nicte_[TN-33] means -flower; a cast of her face, with a flower sculptured on one cheek, -exists among my collections. - -We are told that three children were born to Isis and Osiris: Horus, -Macedo, and Harpocrates. Well, in the scene painted on the walls of -Chaacmol's funeral chamber, in which the body of this warrior is -represented stretched on the ground, cut open under the ribs for the -extraction of the heart and visceras, he is seen surrounded by his wife, -his sister NIC, his mother _Zo[c]_, and four children. - -I will close these similes by mentioning that _Thoth_ was reputed the -preceptor of Isis; and said to be the inventor of letters, of the art of -reckoning, geometry, astronomy, and is represented in the hieroglyphs -under the form of a baboon (cynocephalus). He is one of the most ancient -divinities among the Egyptians. He had also the office of scribe in the -lower regions, where he was engaged in noting down the actions of the -dead, and presenting or reading them to Osiris. One of the modes of -writing his name in hieroglyphs, transcribed in our common letters, -reads _Nukta_; a word most appropriate and suggestive of his attributes, -since, according to the Maya language, it would signify to understand, -to perceive, _Nuctah_: while his name Thoth, maya[TN-34] _thot_ means to -scatter flowers; hence knowledge. In the temple of death at Uxmal, at -the foot of the grand staircase that led to the sanctuary, at the top of -which I found a sacrificial altar, there were six cynocephali in a -sitting posture, as Thoth is represented by the Egyptians. They were -placed three in a row each side of the stairs. Between them was a -platform where a skeleton, in a kneeling posture, used to be. To-day the -cynocephali have been removed. They are in one of the yard[TN-35] of the -principal house at the Hacienda of Uxmal. The statue representing the -kneeling skeleton lays, much defaced, where it stood when that ancient -city was in its glory. - -In the mural paintings at Chichen-Itza, we again find the baboon -(Cynocephalus) warning Moo of impending danger. She is pictured in her -home, which is situated in the midst of a garden, and over which is seen -the royal insignia. A basket, painted blue, full of bright oranges, is -symbolical of her domestic happiness. She is sitting at the door. Before -her is an individual pictured physically deformed, to show the ugliness -of his character and by the flatness of his skull, want of moral -qualities, (the[TN-36] proving that the learned men of Mayab understood -phrenology). He is in an persuasive attitude; for he has come to try to -seduce her in the name of another. She rejects his offer: and, with her -extended hand, protects the armadillo, on whose shell the high priest -read her destiny when yet a child. In a tree, just above the head of the -man, is an ape. His hand is open and outstretched, both in a warning and -threatening position. A serpent (_can_), her protecting spirit, is seen -at a short distance coiled, ready to spring in her defense. Near by is -another serpent, entwined round the trunk of a tree. He has wounded -about the head another animal, that, with its mouth open, its tongue -protruding, looks at its enemy over its shoulder. Blood is seen oozing -from its tongue and face. This picture forcibly recalls to the mind the -myth of the garden of Eden. For here we have the garden, the fruit, the -woman, the tempter. - -As to the charmed _leopard_ skin worn by the African warriors to render -them invulnerable to spears, it would seem as if the manner in which -Chaacmol met his death, by being stabbed with a spear, had been known -to their ancestors; and that they, in their superstitious fancies, had -imagined that by wearing his totem, it would save them from being -wounded with the same kind of weapon used in killing him. Let us not -laugh at such a singular conceit among uncivilized tribes, for it still -prevails in Europe. On many of the French and German soldiers, killed -during the last German war, were found talismans composed of strips of -paper, parchment or cloth, on which were written supposed cabalistic -words or the name of some saint, that the wearer firmly believed to be -possessed of the power of making him invulnerable. - -I am acquainted with many people--and not ignorant--who believe that by -wearing on their persons rosaries, made in Jerusalem and blessed by the -Pope, they enjoy immunity from thunderbolts, plagues, epidemics and -other misfortunes to which human flesh is heir. - -That the Mayas were a race autochthon on this western continent and did -not receive their civilization from Asia or Africa, seems a rational -conclusion, to be deduced from the foregoing FACTS. If we had nothing -but their _name_ to prove it, it should be sufficient, since its -etymology is only to be found in the American Maya language. - -They cannot be said to have been natives of Hindostan; since we are told -that, in very remote ages, _Maya_, a prince of the Davanas, established -himself there. We do not find the etymology of his name in any book -where mention is made of it. We are merely told that he was a wise -magician, a great architect, a learned astronomer, a powerful Asoura -(demon), thirsting for battles and bloodshed: or, according to the -Sanscrit, a Goddess, the mother of all beings that exist--gods and men. - -Very little is known of the Mayas of Afghanistan, except that they call -themselves _Mayas_, and that the names of their tribes and cities are -words belonging to the American Maya language. - -Who can give the etymology of the name _Magi_, the learned men amongst -the Chaldees. We only know that its meaning is the same as _Maya_ in -Hindostan: magician, astronomer, learned man. If we come to Greece, -where we find again the name _Maia_, it is mentioned as that of a -goddess, as in Hindostan, the mother of the gods: only we are told that -she was the daughter of Atlantis--born of Atlantis. But if we come to -the lands beyond the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, then we find a -country called MAYAB, on account of the porosity of its soil; that, as a -sieve (_Mayab_), absorbs the water in an incredibly short time. Its -inhabitants took its name from that of the country, and called -themselves _Mayas_. It is a fact worthy of notice, that in their -hieroglyphic writings the sign employed by the Egyptians to signify a -_Lord_, a _Master_, was the image of a sieve. Would not this seem to -indicate that the western invaders who subdued the primitive inhabitants -of the valley of the Nile, and became the lords and masters of the land, -were people from MAYAB; particularly if we consider that the usual -character used to write the name of Egypt was the sieve, together with -the sign of land? - -We know that the _Mayas_ deified and paid divine honors to their eminent -men and women after their death. This worship of their heroes they -undoubtedly carried, with other customs, to the countries where they -emigrated; and, in due course of time, established it among their -inhabitants, who came to forget that MAYAB was a locality, converted it -in to a personalty: and as some of their gods came from it, Maya was -considered as the _Mother of the Gods_, as we see in Hindostan and -Greece. - -It would seem probable that the Mayas did not receive their civilization -from the inhabitants of the Asiatic peninsulas, for the religious lores -and customs they have in common are too few to justify this assertion. -They would simply tend to prove that relations had existed between them -at some epoch or other; and had interchanged some of their habits and -beliefs as it happens, between the civilized nations of our days. This -appears to be the true side of the question; for in the figures -sculptured on the obelisks of Copan the Asiatic type is plainly -discernible; whilst the features of the statues that adorn the -celebrated temples of Hindostan are, beyond all doubts, American. - -The FACTS gathered from the monuments do not sustain the theory advanced -by many, that the inhabitants of tropical America received their -civilization from Egypt and Asia Minor. On the contrary. It is true that -I have shown that many of the customs and attainments of the Egyptians -were identical to those of the Mayas; but these had many religious rites -and habits unknown to the Egyptians; who, as we know, always pointed -towards the West as the birthplaces of their ancestors, and worshiped as -gods and goddesses personages who had lived, and whose remains are still -in MAYAB. Besides, the monuments themselves prove the respective -antiquity of the two nations. - -According to the best authorities the most ancient monuments raised by -the Egyptians do not date further back than about 2,500 years B. C. -Well, in Ake, a city about twenty-five miles from Merida, there exists -still a monument sustaining thirty-six columns of _katuns_. Each of -these columns indicate a lapse of one hundred and sixty years in the -life of the nation. They then would show that 5,760 years has intervened -between the time when the first stone was placed on the east corner of -the uppermost of the three immense superposed platforms that compose the -structure, and the placing of the last capping stone on the top of the -thirty-sixth column. How long did that event occur before the Spanish -conquest it is impossible to surmise. Supposing, however, it did take -place at that time; this would give us a lapse of at least 6,100 years -since, among the rejoicings of the people this sacred monument being -finished, the first stone that was to serve as record of the age of the -nation, was laid by the high priest, where we see it to-day. I will -remark that the name AKE is one of the Egyptians' divinities, the third -person of the triad of Esneh; always represented as a child, holding his -finger to his mouth. AKE also means a _reed_. To-day the meaning of the -word is lost in Yucatan. - -Cogolludo, in his history of Yucatan, speaking of the manner in which -they computed time, says: - -"They counted their ages and eras, which they inscribed in their books -every twenty years, in lustrums of four years. * * * When five of these -lustrums were completed, they called the lapse of twenty years _katun_, -which means to place a stone down upon another. * * * In certain sacred -buildings and in the houses of the priests every twenty years they place -a hewn stone upon those already there. When seven of these stones have -thus been piled one over the other began the _Ahau katun_. Then after -the first lustrum of four years they placed a small stone on the top of -the big one, commencing at the east corner; then after four years more -they placed another small stone on the west corner; then the next at the -north; and the fourth at the south. At the end of the twenty years they -put a big stone on the top of the small ones: and the column, thus -finished, indicated a lapse of one hundred and sixty years." - -There are other methods for determining the approximate age of the -monuments of Mayab: - -1st. By means of their actual orientation; starting from the _fact_ that -their builders always placed either the faces or angles of the edifices -fronting the cardinal points. - -2d. By determining the epoch when the mastodon became extinct. For, -since _Can_ or his ancestors adopted the head of that animal as symbol -of deity, it is evident they must have known it; hence, must have been -contemporary with it. - -3d. By determining when, through some great cataclysm, the lands became -separated, and all communications between the inhabitants of _Mayab_ and -their colonies were consequently interrupted. If we are to credit what -Psenophis and Sonchis, priests of Heliopolis and Sais, said to Solon -"that nine thousand years before, the visit to them of the Athenian -legislator, in consequence of great earthquakes and inundations, the -lands of the West disappeared in one day and a fatal night," then we may -be able to form an idea of the antiquity of the ruined cities of America -and their builders. - -Reader, I have brought before you, without comments, some of the FACTS, -that after ten years of research, the paintings on the walls of -_Chaacmol's_ funeral chamber, the sculptured inscriptions carved on the -stones of the crumbling monuments of Yucatan, and a comparative study of -the vernacular of the aborigines of that country, have revealed to us. I -have no theory to offer. Many years of further patient investigations, -the full interpretation of the monumental inscriptions, and, above all, -the possession of the libraries of the learned men of _Mayab_, are the -_sine qua non_ to form an uncontrovertible one, free from the -speculations which invalidate all books published on the subject -heretofore. - -If by reading these pages you have learned something new, your time has -not been lost; nor mine in writing them. - - - - -Transcriber's Note - - -The following typographical errors have been maintained: - - Page Error - TN-1 7 precipituous should read precipitous - TN-2 17 maya should read Maya - TN-3 20 Egpptian should read Egyptian - TN-4 23 _Moo_ should read _Moo_ - TN-5 23 Guetzalcoalt should read Quetzalcoatl - TN-6 26 ethonologists should read ethnologists - TN-7 26 what he said should read what he said. - TN-8 26 absorbant should read absorbent - TN-9 28 lazuri: should read lazuli: - TN-10 28 (Strange should read Strange - TN-11 28 Chichsen should read Chichen - TN-12 28 Moo should read Moo, - TN-13 32 Birmah should read Burmah - TN-14 32 Siameeses. should read Siameses. - TN-15 33 maya should read Maya - TN-16 34 valleys should read valleys, - TN-17 35 even to-day should read even to-day. - TN-18 38 inthe should read in the - TN-19 38 Bresseur should read Brasseur - TN-20 49 (maya) should read (Maya) - TN-21 51 epoch should read epochs - TN-22 52 Wishnu, should read Vishnu, - TN-23 58 his art, should read his art. - TN-24 59 _Mo_, should read _Moo_, - TN-25 62 Mayas should read Mayas' - TN-26 63 as symbol should read as a symbol - TN-27 66 e. g should read e. g. - TN-28 68 _Kukulean_ should read _Kukulcan_ - TN-29 69 DuChaillu should read Du Chaillu - TN-30 72 death frequently occur; should read death frequently occurs; - or deaths frequently occur; - TN-31 72 is is should read it is - TN-32 73 beats should read beat - TN-33 80 _Nicte_ should read _Nicte_ - TN-34 80 maya should read Maya - TN-35 81 yard should read yards - TN-36 81 qualities, (the should read qualities (thus - -The following words are inconsistently spelled and hyphenated: - - Aac / Aak - Ake / Ake - birth-place / birthplace - facade / facade - Ha / Ha - Hapimu / Hapimu - Hema / Hema - Kinich-Kakmo / Kinich-kakmo - Na / Na - Rab-mag / Rabmag - _senotes_ / senotes - Tipho / Typho - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Vestiges of the Mayas, by Augustus Le Plongeon - + + + + +Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +A number of typographical errors have been maintained in this version +of this book. They have been marked with a [TN-#], which refers to a +description in the complete list found at the end of the text. +Inconsistent spelling, hyphenation, and capitalization have been +maintained. A list of inconsistently spelled, hyphenated, and +capitalized words is found in a list at the end of the text. + +Oe ligatures have been expanded. The following codes are used for +characters that are not available in the character set used for this +book: + + [sun] Sun symbol + [=a] a with macron + [c] open o + [C] open O + + + + + VESTIGES OF THE MAYAS, + + OR, + + _Facts tending to prove that Communications and Intimate Relations + must have existed, in very remote times, between the inhabitants of_ + + MAYAB + + AND THOSE OF + + ASIA AND AFRICA. + + BY + + AUGUSTUS LE PLONGEON, M. D., + + Member of the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Mass., of the + California Academy of Sciences, and several other Scientific Societies. + Author of various Essays and Scientific Works. + + NEW YORK: + JOHN POLHEMUS, PRINTER AND STATIONER, + 102 NASSAU STREET. + + 1881. + + + + +To + +_MR. PIERRE LORILLARD._ + +Who deserves the thanks of the students of American Archaeology more than +you, for the interest manifested in the explorations of the ruined +monuments of Central America, handiwork of the races that inhabited this +continent in remote ages, and the material help given by you to Foreign +and American explorers in that field of investigations? + +Accept, then, my personal thanks, with the dedication of this small +Essay. It forms part of the result of many years' study and hardships +among the ruined cities of the Incas, in Peru, and of the Mayas in +Yucatan. + + Yours very respectfully, + + AUGUSTUS LE PLONGEON, M. D. + +NEW YORK, _December 15, 1881_. + + + + + Entered according to an Act of Congress, in December, 1881, + + BY AUGUSTUS LE PLONGEON, + + In the Office of the LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS in Washington, D.C. + + + + +VESTIGES OF THE MAYAS. + + +Yucatan is the peninsula which divides the Gulf of Mexico from the +Caribbean Sea. It is comprised between the 17 deg. 30' and 21 deg. 50', +of latitude north, and the 88 deg. and 91 deg. of longitude west from +the Greenwich meridian. + +The whole peninsula is of fossiferous limestone formation. Elevated a +few feet only above the sea, on the coasts, it gradually raises toward +the interior, to a maximum height of above 70 feet. A bird's-eye view, +from a lofty building, impresses the beholder with the idea that he is +looking on an immense sea of verdure, having the horizon for boundary; +without a hill, not even a hillock, to break the monotony of the +landscape. Here and there clusters of palm trees, or artificial mounds, +covered with shrubs, loom above the green dead-level as islets, over +that expanse of green foliage, affording a momentary relief to the eyes +growing tired of so much sameness. + +About fifty miles from the northwestern coast begins a low, narrow range +of hills, whose highest point is not much above 500 feet. It traverses +the peninsula in a direction a little south from east, commencing a few +miles north from the ruined city of Uxmal, and terminating some distance +from the eastern coast, opposite to the magnificent bay of Ascension. + +Lately I have noticed that some veins of red oxide of iron exist among +these hills--quarries of marble must also be found there; since the +sculptured ornaments that adorn the facade of all the monuments at Uxmal +are of that stone. To-day the inhabitants of Yucatan are even ignorant +of the existence of these minerals in their country, and ocher to paint, +and marble slabs to floor their houses, are imported from abroad. I +have also discovered veins of good lithographic stones that could be +worked at comparatively little expense. + +The surface of the country is undulating; its stony waves recall +forcibly to the mind the heavy swell of mid-ocean. It seems as if, in +times long gone by, the soil was upheaved, _en masse_, from the bottom +of the sea, by volcanic forces. This upheaval must have taken place many +centuries ago, since isolated columns of _Katuns_ 1m. 50c. square, +erected at least 6,000 years ago, stand yet in the same perpendicular +position, as at the time when another stone was added to those already +piled up, to indicate a lapse of twenty years in the life of the nation. + +It is, indeed, a remarkable fact, that whilst the surrounding +countries--Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba and the other West India Islands--are +frequently convulsed by earthquakes, the peninsula of Yucatan is +entirely free from these awe-inspiring convulsions of mother earth. This +immunity may be attributed, in my opinion, to the innumerable and +extensive caves with which the whole country is entirely honeycombed; +and the large number of immense natural wells, called Senotes, that are +to be found everywhere. These caves and senotes afford an outlet for the +escape of the gases generated in the superficial strata of the earth. +These, finding no resistance to their passage, follow, harmlessly, these +vents without producing on the surface any of those terrible commotions +that fill the heart of man and beast alike with fright and dismay. + +Some of those caves are said to be very extensive--None, however, has +been thoroughly explored. I have visited a few, certainly extremely +beautiful, adorned as they are with brilliant stalactites depending from +their roofs, that seem as if supported by the stalagmites that must have +required ages to be formed gradually from the floor into the massive +columns, as we see them to-day. + +In all the caves are to be found either inexhaustible springs of clear, +pure, cold water, or streams inhabited by shrimps and fishes. No one can +tell whence they come or where they go. All currents of water are +subterraneous. Not a river is to be found on the surface; not even the +smallest of streamlets, where the birds of the air, or the wild beasts +of the forests, can allay their thirst during the dry season. The +plants, if there are no chinks or crevices in the stony soil through +which their roots can penetrate and seek the life-sustaining fluid +below, wither and die. It is a curious sight that presented by the roots +of the trees, growing on the precipituous[TN-1] brinks of the _senotes_, +in their search for water. They go down and down, even a hundred feet, +until they reach the liquid surface, from where they suck up the fluid +to aliment the body of the tree. They seem like many cables and ropes +stretched all round the sides of the well; and, in fact, serves as such +to some of the most daring of the natives, to ascend or descend to enjoy +a refreshing bath. + +These _senotes_ are immense circular holes, the diameter of which varies +from 50 to 500 feet, with perpendicular walls from 50 to 150 feet deep. +These holes might be supposed to have served as ducts for the +subterranean gases at the time of the upheaval of the country. Now they +generally contain water. In some, the current is easily noticeable; many +are completely dry; whilst others contain thermal mineral water, +emitting at times strong sulphurous odor and vapor. + +Many strange stories are told by the aborigines concerning the +properties possessed by the water in certain senotes, and the strange +phenomena that takes place in others. In one, for example, you are +warned to approach the water walking backward, and to breathe very +softly, otherwise it becomes turbid and unfit for drinking until it has +settled and become clear again. In another you are told not to speak +above a whisper, for if any one raises the voice the tranquil surface of +the water immediately becomes agitated, and soon assumes the appearance +of boiling; even its level raises. These and many other things are told +in connection with the caves and senotes; and we find them mentioned in +the writings of the chroniclers and historians from the time of the +Spanish conquest. + +No lakes exist on the surface, at least within the territories occupied +by the white men. Some small sheets of water, called aguadas, may be +found here and there, and are fed by the underground current; but they +are very rare. There are three or four near the ruins of the ancient +city of Mayapan: probably its inhabitants found in them an abundant +supply of water. Following all the same direction, they are, as some +suppose, no doubt with reason, the outbreaks of a subterranean stream +that comes also to the surface in the senote of _Mucuyche_. A mile or so +from Uxmal is another aguada; but judging from the great number of +artificial reservoirs, built on the terraces and in the courts of all +the monuments, it would seem as if the people there depended more on the +clouds for their provision of water than on the wells and senotes. Yet I +feel confident that one of these must exist under the building known as +the Governor's house; having discovered in its immediate vicinity the +entrance--now closed--of a cave from which a cool current of air is +continually issuing; at times with great force. + +I have been assured by Indians from the village of Chemax, who pretend +to know that part of the country well, that, at a distance of about +fifty miles from the city of Valladolid, the actual largest settlement +on the eastern frontier, in the territories occupied by the SANTA CRUZ +Indians, there exists, near the ruins of _Kaba_, two extensive sheets of +water, from where, in years gone by, the inhabitants of Valladolid +procured abundant supply of excellent fishes. These ruins of Kaba, said +to be very interesting, have never been visited by any foreigner; nor +are they likely to be for many years to come, on account of the imminent +danger of falling into the hands of those of Santa Cruz--that, since +1847, wage war to the knife against the Yucatecans. + +On the coast, the sea penetrating in the lowlands have formed sloughs +and lakes, on the shores of which thickets of mangroves grow, with +tropical luxuriancy. Intermingling their crooked roots, they form such a +barrier as to make landing well nigh impossible. These small lakes, +subject to the ebb and flow of the tides, are the resort of innumerable +sea birds and water fowls of all sizes and descriptions; from the snipe +to the crane, and brightly flamingos, from the screeching sea +gulls to the serious looking pelican. They are attracted to these lakes +by the solitude of the forests of mangroves that afford them excellent +shelter, where to build their nests, and find protection from the storms +that, at certain season of the year, sweep with untold violence along +the coast: and because with ease they can procure an abundant supply of +food, these waters being inhabited by myriads of fishes, as they come to +bask on the surface which is seldom ruffled even when the tempest rages +outside. + +Notwithstanding the want of superficial water, the air is always charged +with moisture; the consequence being a most equable temperature all the +year round, and an extreme luxuriance of all vegetation. The climate is +mild and comparatively healthy for a country situated within the +tropics, and bathed by the waters of the Mexican Gulf. This mildness and +healthiness may be attributed to the sea breezes that constantly pass +over the peninsula, carrying the malaria and noxious gases that have not +been absorbed by the forests, which cover the main portion of the land; +and to the great abundance of oxygen exuded by the plants in return. +This excessive moisture and the decomposition of dead vegetable matter +is the cause of the intermittent fevers that prevail in all parts of the +peninsula, where the yellow fever, under a mild form generally, is also +endemic. When it appears, as this year, in an epidemic form, the natives +themselves enjoy no immunity from its ravages, and fall victims to it as +well as unacclimated foreigners. + +These epidemics, those of smallpox and other diseases that at times make +their appearance in Yucatan, generally present themselves after the +rainy season, particularly if the rains have been excessive. The country +being extremely flat, the drainage is necessarily very bad: and in +places like Merida, for example, where a crowding of population exists, +and the cleanliness of the streets is utterly disregarded by the proper +authorities, the decomposition of vegetable and animal matter is very +large; and the miasmas generated, being carried with the vapors arising +from the constant evaporation of stagnant waters, are the origin of +those scourges that decimate the inhabitants. Yucatan, isolated as it +is, its small territory nearly surrounded by water, ought to be, if the +laws of health were properly enforced, one of the most healthy countries +on the earth; where, as in the Island of Cozumel, people should only die +of old age or accident. The thermometer varies but little, averaging +about 80 deg. _Far_. True, it rises in the months of July and August as +high as 96 deg. in the shade, but it seldom falls below 65 deg. in the +month of December. In the dry season, from January to June, the trees +become divested of their leaves, that fall more particularly in March +and April. Then the sun, returning from the south on its way to the +north, passes over the land and darts its scorching perpendicular rays +on it, causing every living creature to thirst for a drop of cool water; +the heat being increased by the burning of those parts of the forests +that have been cut down to prepare fields for cultivation. + +In the portion of the peninsula, about one-third of it, that still +remains in possession of the white, the Santa Cruz Indians holding, +since 1847, the richest and most fertile, two-thirds, the soil is +entirely stony. The arable loam, a few inches in thickness, is the +result of the detriti of the stones, mixed with the remainder of the +decomposition of vegetable matter. In certain districts, towards the +eastern and southern parts of the State, patches of red clay form +excellent ground for the cultivation of the sugar cane and Yuca root. +From this an excellent starch is obtained in large quantities. Withal, +the soil is of astonishing fertility, and trees, even, are met with of +large size, whose roots run on the surface of the bare stone, +penetrating the chinks and crevices only in search of moisture. Often +times I have seen them growing from the center of slabs, the seed having +fallen in a hole that happened to be bored in them. In the month of May +the whole country seems parched and dry. Not a leaf, not a bud. The +branches and boughs are naked, and covered with a thick coating of gray +dust. Nothing to intercept the sight in the thicket but the bare trunks +and branches, with the withes entwining them. With the first days of +June come the first refreshing showers. As if a magic wand had been +waved over the land, the view changes--life springs everywhere. In the +short space of a few days the forests have resumed their holiday attire; +buds appear and the leaves shoot; the flowers bloom sending forth their +fragrance, that wafted by the breeze perfume the air far and near. The +birds sing their best songs of joy; the insects chirp their shrillest +notes; butterflies of gorgeous colors flutter in clouds in every +direction in search of the nectar contained in the cups of the +newly-opened blossom, and dispute it with the brilliant humming-birds. +All creation rejoices because a few tears of mother Nature have brought +joy and happiness to all living beings, from the smallest blade of grass +to the majestic palm; from the creeping worm to man, who proudly titles +himself the lord of creation. + +Yucatan has no rich metallic mines, but its wealth of vegetable +productions is immense. Large forests of mahogany, cedar, zapotillo +trees cover vast extents of land in the eastern and southern portions of +the peninsula; whilst patches of logwood and mora, many miles in length, +grow near the coast. The wood is to-day cut down and exported by the +Indians of Santa Cruz through their agents at Belize. Coffee, vanilla, +tobacco, india-rubber, rosins of various kinds, copal in particular, +all of good quality, abound in the country, but are not cultivated on +account of its unsettled state; the Indians retaining possession of the +most fertile territories where these rich products are found. + +The whites have been reduced to the culture of the Hennequen plant +(agave sisalensis) in order to subsist. It is the only article of +commerce that grows well on the stony soil to which they are now +confined. The filament obtained from the plant, and the objects +manufactured from it constitute the principal article of export; in fact +the only source of wealth of the Yucatecans. As the filament is now much +in demand for the fabrication of cordage in the United States and +Europe, many of the landowners have ceased to plant maize, although the +staple article of food in all classes, to convert their land into +hennequen fields. The plant thrives well on stony soil, requires no +water and but little care. The natural consequence of planting the whole +country with hennequen has been so great a deficiency in the maize crop, +that this year not enough was grown for the consumption, and people in +the northeastern district were beginning to suffer from the want of it, +when some merchants of Merida imported large quantities from New York. +They, of course, sold it at advanced prices, much to the detriment of +the poorer classes. Some sugar is also cultivated in the southern and +eastern districts, but not in sufficient quantities even for the +consumption; and not a little is imported from Habana. + +The population of the country, about 250,000 souls all told, are mostly +Indians and mixed blood. In fact, very few families can be found of pure +Caucasian race. Notwithstanding the great admixture of different races, +a careful observer can readily distinguish yet four prominent ones, very +noticeable by their features, their stature, the conformation of their +body. The dwarfish race is certainly easily distinguishable from the +descendants of the giants that tradition says once upon a time existed +in the country, whose bones are yet found, and whose portraits are +painted on the walls of Chaacmol's funeral chamber at Chichen-Itza. The +almond-eyed, flat-nosed Siamese race of Copan is not to be mistaken for +the long, big-nosed, flat-headed remnant of the Nahualt from Palenque, +who are said to have invaded the country some time at the beginning of +the Christian era; and whose advent among the Mayas, whose civilization +they appear to have destroyed, has been commemorated by calling the +_west_, the region whence they came, according to Landa, Cogolludo and +other historians, NOHNIAL, a word which means literally _big noses for +our daughters_; whilst the coming of the bearded men from the _east_, +better looking than those of the west, if we are to give credit to the +bas-relief where their portraits are to be seen, was called +CENIAL--_ornaments for our daughters_. + +If we are to judge by the great number of ruined cities scattered +everywhere through the forests of the peninsula; by the architectural +beauty of the monuments still extant, the specimens of their artistic +attainments in drawing and sculpture which have reached us in the +bas-reliefs, statues and mural paintings of Uxmal and Chichen-Itza; by +their knowledge in mathematical and astronomical sciences, as manifested +in the construction of the gnomon found by me in the ruins of Mayapan; +by the complexity of the grammatical form and syntaxis of their +language, still spoken to-day by the majority of the inhabitants of +Yucatan; by their mode of expressing their thoughts on paper, made from +the bark of certain trees, with alphabetical and phonetical characters, +we must of necessity believe that, at some time or other, the country +was not only densely populated, but that the inhabitants had reached a +high degree of civilization. To-day we can conceive of very few of their +attainments by the scanty remains of their handiwork, as they have come +to us injured by the hand of time, and, more so yet, by that of man, +during the wars, the invasions, the social and religious convulsions +which have taken place among these people, as among all other nations. +Only the opening of the buildings which contain the libraries of their +learned men, and the reading of their works, could solve the mystery, +and cause us to know how much they had advanced in the discovery and +explanation of Nature's arcana; how much they knew of mankind's past +history, and of the nations with which they held intercourse. Let us +hope that the day may yet come when the Mexican government will grant to +me the requisite permission, in order that I may bring forth, from the +edifices where they are hidden, the precious volumes, without opposition +from the owners of the property where the monuments exist. Until then we +must content ourselves with the study of the inscriptions carved on the +walls, and becoming acquainted with the history of their builders, and +continue to conjecture what knowledge they possessed in order to be able +to rear such enduring structures, besides the art of designing the plans +and ornaments, and the manner of carving them on stone. + +Let us place ourselves in the position of the archaeologists of thousands +of years to come, examining the ruins of our great cities, finding still +on foot some of the stronger built palaces and public buildings, with +some rare specimens of the arts, sciences, industry of our days, the +minor edifices having disappeared, gnawed by the steely tooth of time, +together with the many products of our industry, the machines of all +kinds, creation of man's ingenuity, and his powerful helpmates. What +would they know of the attainments and the progress in mechanics of our +days? Would they be able to form a complete idea of our civilization, +and of the knowledge of our scientific men, without the help of the +volumes contained in our public libraries, and maybe of some one able to +interpret them? Well, it seems to me that we stand in exactly the same +position concerning the civilization of those who have preceded us five +or ten thousand years ago on this continent, as these future +archaeologists may stand regarding our civilization five or ten thousand +years hence. + +It is a fact, recorded by all historians of the Conquest, that when for +the first time in 1517 the Spaniards came in sight of the lands called +by them Yucatan, they were surprised to see on the coast many monuments +well built of stone; and to find the country strewn with large cities +and beautiful monuments that recalled to their memory the best of Spain. +They were no less astonished to meet in the inhabitants, not naked +savages, but a civilized people, possessed of polite and pleasant +manners, dressed in white cotton habiliments, navigating large boats +propelled by sails, traveling on well constructed roads and causeways +that, in point of beauty and solidity, could compare advantageously with +similar Roman structures in Spain, Italy, England or France. + +I will not describe here the majestic monuments raised by the Mayas. +Mrs. Le Plongeon, in her letters to the _New York World_, has given of +those of UXMAL, AKE and MAYAPAN, the only correct description ever +published. My object at present is to relate some of the curious facts +revealed to us by their weather-beaten and crumbling walls, and show how +erroneous is the opinion of some European scientists, who think it not +worth while to give a moment of their precious time to the study of +American archaeology, because say they: _No relations have ever been +found to have existed between the monuments and civilizations of the +inhabitants of this continent and those of the old world_. On what +ground they hazard such an opinion it is difficult to surmise, since to +my knowledge the ancient ruined cities of Yucatan, until lately, have +never been thoroughly, much less scientifically, explored. The same is +true of the other monumental ruins of the whole of Central America. + +When Mrs. Le Plongeon and myself landed at Progresso, in 1873, we +thought that because we had read the works of Stephens, Waldeck, +Norman, Fredeichstal; carefully examined the few photographic views made +by Mr. Charnay of some of the monuments, we knew all about them. Alas! +vain presumption! When in presence of the antique shrines and palaces of +the Mayas, we soon saw how mistaken we had been; how little those +writers had seen of the monuments they had pretended to describe: that +the work of studying them systematically was not even begun; and that +many years of close observation and patient labor would be necessary in +order to dispel the mysteries which hang over them, and to discover the +hidden meaning of their ornaments and inscriptions. To this difficult +task we resolved to dedicate our time, and to concentrate our efforts to +find a solution, if possible, to the enigma. + +We began our work by taking photographs of all the monuments in their +_tout ensemble_, and in all their details, as much as practicable. Next, +we surveyed them carefully; made accurate plans of them in order to be +able to comprehend by the disposition of their different parts, for what +possible use they were erected; taking, as a starting point, that the +human mind and human inclinations and wants are the same in all times, +in all countries, in all races when civilized and cultured. We next +carefully examined what connection the ornaments bore to each other, and +tried to understand the meaning of the designs. At first the maze of +these designs seemed a very difficult riddle to solve. Yet, we believed +that if a human intelligence had devised it, another human intelligence +would certainly be able to unravel it. It was not, however, until we had +nearly completed the tracing and study of the mural paintings, still +extant in the funeral chamber of Chaacmol, or room built on the top of +the eastern wall of the gymnasium at Chichen-Itza, at its southern end, +that Stephens mistook for a shrine dedicated to the god of the players +at ball, that a glimmer of light began to dawn upon us. In tracing the +figure of Chaacmol in battle, I remarked that the shield worn by him +had painted on it round green spots, and was exactly like the ornaments +placed between tiger and tiger on the entablature of the same monument. +I naturally concluded that the monument had been raised to the memory of +the warrior bearing the shield; that the tigers represented his totem, +and that _Chaacmol_ or _Balam_ maya[TN-2] words for spotted tiger or +leopard, was his name. I then remembered that at about one hundred yards +in the thicket from the edifice, in an easterly direction, a few days +before, I had noticed the ruins of a remarkable mound of rather small +dimensions. It was ornamented with slabs engraved with the images of +spotted tigers, eating human hearts, forming magnificent bas-reliefs, +conserving yet traces of the colors in which it was formerly painted. I +repaired to the place. Doubts were no longer possible. The same round +dots, forming the spots of their skins, were present here as on the +shield of the warrior in battle, and that on the entablature of the +building. On examining carefully the ground around the mound, I soon +stumbled upon what seemed to be a half buried statue. On clearing the +_debris_ we found a statue in the round, representing a wounded tiger +reclining on his right side. Three holes in the back indicated the +places where he received his wounds. It was headless. A few feet +further, I found a human head with the eyes half closed, as those of a +dying person. When placed on the neck of the tiger it fitted exactly. I +propped it with sticks to keep it in place. So arranged, it recalled +vividly the Chaldean and Egyptian deities having heads of human beings +and bodies of animals. The next object that called my attention was +another slab on which was represented in bas-relief a dying warrior, +reclining on his back, the head was thrown entirely backwards. His left +arm was placed across his chest, the left hand resting on the right +shoulder, exactly in the same position which the Egyptians were wont, at +times, to give to the mummies of some of their eminent men. From his +mouth was seen escaping two thin, narrow flames--the spirit of the +dying man abandoning the body with the last warm breath. + +These and many other sculptures caused me to suspect that this monument +had been the mausoleum raised to the memory of the warrior with the +shield covered with the round dots. Next to the slabs engraved with the +image of tigers was another, representing an _ara militaris_ (a bird of +the parrot specie, very large and of brilliant plumage of various +colors). I took it for the totem of his wife, MOO, _macaw_; and so it +proved to be when later I was able to interpret their ideographic +writings. _Kinich-Kakmo_ after her death obtained the honors of the +apotheosis; had temples raised to her memory, and was worshipped at +Izamal up to the time of the Spanish conquest, according to Landa, +Cogolludo and Lizana. + +Satisfied that I had found the tomb of a great warrior among the Mayas, +I resolved to make an excavation, notwithstanding I had no tools or +implements proper for such work. After two months of hard toil, after +penetrating through three level floors painted with yellow ochre, at +last a large stone urn came in sight. It was opened in presence of +Colonel D. Daniel Traconis. It contained a small heap of grayish dust +over which lay the cover of a terra cotta pot, also painted yellow; a +few small ornaments of macre that crumbled to dust on being touched, and +a large ball of jade, with a hole pierced in the middle. This ball had +at one time been highly polished, but for some cause or other the polish +had disappeared from one side. Near, and lower than the urn, was +discovered the head of the colossal statue, to-day the best, or one of +the best pieces, in the National Museum of Mexico, having been carried +thither on board of the gunboat _Libertad_, without my consent, and +without any renumeration having even been offered by the Mexican +government for my labor, my time and the money spent in the discovery. +Close to the chest of the statue was another stone urn much larger than +the first. On being uncovered it was found to contain a large quantity +of reddish substance and some jade ornaments. On closely examining this +substance I pronounced it organic matter that had been subjected to a +very great heat in an open vessel. (A chemical analysis of some of it by +Professor Thompson, of Worcester, Mass., at the request of Mr. Stephen +Salisbury, Jr., confirmed my opinion). From the position of the urn I +made up my mind that its contents were the heart and viscera of the +personage represented by the statue; while the dust found in the first +urn must have been the residue of his brains. + +Landa tells us that it was the custom, even at the time of the Spanish +conquest, when a person of eminence died to make images of stone, or +terra cotta or wood in the semblance of the deceased, whose ashes were +placed in a hollow made on the back of the head for the purpose. Feeling +sorry for having thus disturbed the remains of _Chaacmol_, so carefully +concealed by his friends and relatives many centuries ago; in order to +save them from further desecration, I burned the greater part reserving +only a small quantity for future analysis. This finding of the heart and +brains of that chieftain, afforded an explanation, if any was needed, of +one of the scenes more artistically portrayed in the mural paintings of +his funeral chamber. In this scene which is painted immediately over the +entrance of the chamber, where is also a life-size representation of his +corpse prepared for cremation, the dead warrior is pictured stretched on +the ground, his back resting on a large stone placed for the purpose of +raising the body and keeping open the cut made across it, under the +ribs, for the extraction of the heart and other parts it was customary +to preserve. These are seen in the hands of his children. At the feet of +the statue were found a number of beautiful arrowheads of flint and +chalcedony; also beads that formed part of his necklace. These, to-day +petrified, seemed to have been originally of bone or ivory. They were +wrought to figure shells of periwinkles. Surrounding the slab on which +the figure rests was a large quantity of dried blood. This fact might +lead us to suppose that slaves were sacrificed at his funeral, as +Herodotus tells us it was customary with the Scythians, and we know it +was with the Romans and other nations of the old world, and the Incas in +Peru. Yet not a bone or any other human remains were found in the +mausoleum. + +The statue forms a single piece with the slab on which it reclines, as +if about to rise on his elbows, the legs being drawn up so that the feet +rest flat on the slab. I consider this attitude given to the statues of +dead personages that I have discovered in Chichen, where they are still, +to be symbolical of their belief in reincarnation. They, in common with +the Egyptians, the Hindoos, and other nations of antiquity, held that +the spirit of man after being made to suffer for its shortcomings during +its mundane life, would enjoy happiness for a time proportionate to its +good deeds, then return to earth, animate the body and live again a +material existence. The Mayas, however, destroying the body by fire, +made statues in the semblance of the deceased, so that, being +indestructible the spirit might find and animate them on its return to +earth. The present aborigines have the same belief. Even to-day, they +never fail to prepare the _hanal pixan_, the food for the spirits, which +they place in secluded spots in the forests or fields, every year, in +the month of November. These statues also hold an urn between their +hands. This fact again recalls to the mind the Egpptian[TN-3] custom of +placing an urn in the coffins with the mummies, to indicate that the +spirit of the deceased had been judged and found righteous. + +The ornament hanging on the breast of Chaacmol's effigy, from a ribbon +tied with a peculiar knot behind his neck, is simply a badge of his +rank; the same is seen on the breast of many other personages in the +bas-reliefs and mural paintings. A similar mark of authority is yet in +usage in Burmah. + +I have tarried so long on the description of my first important +discovery because I desired to explain the method followed by me in the +investigation of these monuments, to show that the result of our labors +are by no means the work of imagination--as some have been so kind a +_short_ time ago as to intimate--but of careful and patient analysis and +comparison; also, in order, from the start, to call your attention to +the similarity of certain customs in the funeral rites that the Mayas +seem to have possessed in common with other nations of the old world: +and lastly, because my friend, Dr. Jesus Sanchez, Professor of +Archaeology in the National Museum of Mexico, ignoring altogether the +circumstances accompanying the discovery of the statue, has published in +the _Anales del Museo Nacional_, a long dissertation--full of erudition, +certainly--to prove that the statue discovered by me at Chichen-Itza, +was a representation of the _God of the natural production of the +earth_, and that the name given by me was altogether arbitrary; and, +also, because an article has appeared in the _North American Review_ for +October, 1880, signed by Mr. Charnay, in which the author, after +re-producing Mr. Sanchez's writing, pronounces _ex cathedra_ and _de +perse_, but without assigning any reason for his opinion, that the +statue is the effigy of the _god of wine_--the Mexican Bacchus--without +telling us which of them, for there were two. + +Having been obliged to abandon the statue in the forests--well wrapped +in oilcloth, and sheltered under a hut of palm leaves, constructed by +Mrs. Le Plongeon and myself--my men having been disarmed by order of +General Palomino, then commander-in-chief of the federal forces in +Yucatan, in consequence of a revolutionary movement against Dr. +Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada and in favor of General Diaz--I went to Uxmal +to continue my researches among its ruined temples and palaces. There I +took many photographs, surveyed the monuments, and, for the first time, +found the remnants of the phallic worship of the Nahualts. Its symbols +are not to be seen in Chichen--the city of the holy and learned men, +Itzaes--but are frequently met with in the northern parts of the +peninsula, and all the regions where the Nahualt influence predominated. + +There can be no doubt that in very ancient times the same customs and +religious worship existed in Uxmal and Chichen, since these two cities +were founded by the same family, that of CAN (serpent), whose name is +written on all the monuments in both places. CAN and the members of his +family worshipped Deity under the symbol of the mastodon's head. At +Chichen a tableau of said worship forms the ornament of the building, +designated in the work of Stephens, "Travels in Yucatan," as IGLESIA; +being, in fact, the north wing of the palace and museum. This is the +reason why the mastodon's head forms so prominent a feature in all the +ornaments of the edifices built by them. They also worshipped the sun +and fire, which they represented by the same hieroglyph used by the +Egyptians for the sun [sun]. In this worship of the fire they resembled +the Chaldeans and Hindoos, but differed from the Egyptians, who had no +veneration for this element. They regarded it merely as an animal that +devoured all things within its reach, and died with all it had +swallowed, when replete and satisfied. + +From certain inscriptions and pictures--in which the _Cans_ are +represented crawling on all fours like dogs--sculptured on the facade of +their house of worship, it would appear that their religion of the +mastodon was replaced by that of the reciprocal forces of nature, +imported in the country by the big-nosed invaders, the Nahualts coming +from the west. These destroyed Chichen, and established their capital at +_Uxmal_. There they erected in all the courts of the palaces, and on the +platforms of the temples the symbols of their religion, taking care, +however, not to interfere with the worship of the sun and fire, that +seems to have been the most popular. + +Bancroft in his work, "_The Native Races of the Pacific States_," Vol. +IV., page 277, remarks: "That the scarcity of idols among the Maya +antiquities must be regarded as extraordinary. That the people of +Yucatan were idolators there is no possible doubt, and in connection +with the magnificent shrines and temples erected by them, and rivalling +or excelling the grand obelisks of Copan, might naturally be sought for, +but in view of the facts it must be concluded that the Maya idols were +very small, and that such as escaped the fatal iconoclasms of the +Spanish ecclesiastics were buried by the natives as the only means of +preventing their desecration." + +That the people who inhabited the country at the time of the Spanish +conquest had a multiplicity of gods there can be no doubt. The primitive +form of worship, with time and by the effect of invasions from outside, +had disappeared, and been replaced by that of their great men and women, +who were deified and had temples raised to their memory, as we see, for +example, in the case of _Moo_,[TN-4] wife and sister of Chaacmol, whose +shrine was built on the high mound on the north side of the large square +in the city of Izamal. There pilgrims flocked from all parts of the +country to listen to the oracles delivered by the mouth of her priests; +and see the goddess come down from the clouds every day, at mid-day, +under the form of a resplendent macaw, and light the fire that was to +consume the offerings deposited on her altar; even at the time of the +conquest, according to the chroniclers, Chaacmol himself seems to have +become the god of war, that always appeared in the midst of the battle, +fighting on the side of his followers, surrounded with flames. Kukulcan, +"the culture" hero of the Mayas, the winged serpent, worshipped by the +Mexicans as the god Guetzalcoalt,[TN-5] and by the Quiches as Cucumatz, +if not the father himself of Chaacmol, CAN, at least one of his +ancestors. + +The friends and followers of that prince may have worshipped him after +his death, and the following generations, seeing the representation of +his totems (serpent) covered with feathers, on the walls of his palaces, +and of the sanctuaries built by him to the deity, called him Kukulcan, +the winged serpent: when, in fact, the artists who carved his emblems on +the walls covered them with the cloaks he and all the men in authority +and the high priests wore on ceremonial occasions--feathered +vestments--as we learned from the study of mural paintings. + +In the temples and palaces of the ancient Mayas I have never seen +anything that I could in truth take for idols. I have seen many symbols, +such as double-headed tigers, corresponding to the double-headed lions +of the Egyptians, emblems of the sun. I have seen the representation of +people kneeling in a peculiar manner, with their right hand resting on +the left shoulder--sign of respect among the Mayas as among the +inhabitants of Egypt--in the act of worshiping the mastodon head; but I +doubt if this can be said to be idol worship. _Can_ and his family were +probably monotheists. The masses of the people, however, may have placed +the different natural phenomena under the direct supervision of special +imaginary beings, prescribing to them the same duties that among the +Catholics are prescribed, or rather attributed, to some of the saints; +and may have tributed to them the sort of worship of _dulia_, tributed +to the saints--even made images that they imagined to represent such or +such deity, as they do to-day; but I have never found any. They +worshiped the divine essence, and called it KU. + +In course of time this worship may have been replaced by idolatrous +rites, introduced by the barbarous or half civilized tribes which +invaded the country, and implanted among the inhabitants their religious +belief, their idolatrous superstitions and form of worship with their +symbols. The monuments of Uxmal afford ample evidence of that fact. + +My studies, however, have nothing to do with the history of the country +posterior to the invasion of the Nahualts. These people appear to have +destroyed the high form of civilization existing at the time of their +advent; and tampered with the ornaments of the buildings in order to +introduce the symbols of the reciprocal forces of nature. + +The language of the ancient Mayas, strange as it may appear, has +survived all the vicissitudes of time, wars, and political and religious +convulsions. It has, of course, somewhat degenerated by the mingling of +so many races in such a limited space as the peninsula of Yucatan is; +but it is yet the vernacular of the people. The Spaniards themselves, +who strived so hard to wipe out all vestiges of the ancient customs of +the aborigines, were unable to destroy it; nay, they were obliged to +learn it; and now many of their descendants have forgotten the mother +tongue of their sires, and speak Maya only. + +In some localities in Central America it is still spoken in its pristine +purity, as, for example, by the _Chaacmules_, a tribe of bearded men, it +is said, who live in the vicinity of the unexplored ruins of the ancient +city of _Tekal_. It is a well-known fact that many tribes, as that of +the Itzaes, retreating before the Nahualt invaders, after the surrender +and destruction of their cities, sought refuge in the islands of the +lake _Peten_ of to-day, and called it _Petenitza_, the _islands of the +Itzaes_; or in the well nigh inaccessible valleys, defended by ranges of +towering mountains. There they live to-day, preserving the customs, +manners, language of their forefathers unaltered, in the tract of land +known to us as _Tierra de Guerra_. No white man has ever penetrated +their zealously guarded stronghold that lays between Guatemala, Tabasco, +Chiapas and Yucatan, the river _Uzumasinta_ watering part of their +territory. + +The Maya language seems to be one of the oldest tongues spoken by man, +since it contains words and expressions of all, or nearly all, the known +polished languages on earth. The name _Maya_, with the same +signification everywhere it is met, is to be found scattered over the +different countries of what we term the Old World, as in Central +America. + +I beg to call your attention to the following facts. They may have no +significance. They may be mere coincidences, the strange freaks of +hazard, of no possible value in the opinion of some among the learned +men of our days. Just as the finding of English words and English +customs, as now exist among the most remote nations and heterogeneous +people and tribes of all races and colors, who do not even suspect the +existence of one another, may be regarded by the learned philologists +and ethonologists[TN-6] of two or three thousand years hence. These +will, perhaps, also pretend that _these coincidences_ are simply the +curious workings of the human mind--the efforts of men endeavoring to +express their thoughts in language, that being reduced to a certain +number of sounds, must, of necessity produce, if not the same, at least +very similar words to express the same idea--and that this similarity +does not prove that those who invented them had, at any time, +communication, unless, maybe, at the time of the building of the +hypothetical Tower of Babel. Then all the inhabitants of earth are said +to have bid each other a friendly good night, a certain evening, in a +universal tongue, to find next morning that everybody had gone stark mad +during the night: since each one, on meeting sixty-nine of his friends, +was greeted by every one in a different and unknown manner, according to +learned rabbins; and that he could no more understand what they said, +than they what he said[TN-7] + +It is very difficult without the help of the books of the learned +priests of _Mayab_ to know positively why they gave that name to the +country known to-day as Yucatan. I can only surmise that they so called +it from the great absorbant[TN-8] quality of its stony soil, which, in +an incredibly short time, absorbs the water at the surface. This +percolating through the pores of the stone is afterward found filtered +clear and cool in the senotes and caves. _Mayab_, in the Maya language, +means a tammy, a sieve. From the name of the country, no doubt, the +Mayas took their name, as natural; and that name is found, as that of +the English to-day, all over the ancient civilized world. + +When, on January 28, 1873, I had the honor of reading a paper before the +New York American Geographical Society--on the coincidences that exist +between the monuments, customs, religious rites, etc. of the prehistoric +inhabitants of America and those of Asia and Egypt--I pointed to the +fact that sun circles, dolmen and tumuli, similar to the megalithic +monuments of America, had been found to exist scattered through the +islands of the Pacific to Hindostan; over the plains of the peninsulas +at the south of Asia, through the deserts of Arabia, to the northern +parts of Africa; and that not only these rough monuments of a primitive +age, but those of a far more advanced civilization were also to be seen +in these same countries. Allow me to repeat now what I then said +regarding these strange facts: If we start from the American continent +and travel towards the setting sun we may be able to trace the route +followed by the mound builders to the plains of Asia and the valley of +the Nile. The mounds scattered through the valley of the Mississippi +seem to be the rude specimens of that kind of architecture. Then come +the more highly finished teocalis of Yucatan and Mexico and Peru; the +pyramidal mounds of _Maui_, one of the Sandwich Islands; those existing +in the Fejee and other islands of the Pacific; which, in China, we find +converted into the high, porcelain, gradated towers; and these again +converted into the more imposing temples of Cochin-China, Hindostan, +Ceylon--so grand, so stupendous in their wealth of ornamentation that +those of Chichen-Itza Uxmal, Palenque, admirable as they are, well nigh +dwindle into insignificance, as far as labor and imagination are +concerned, when compared with them. That they present the same +fundamental conception in their architecture is evident--a platform +rising over another platform, the one above being of lesser size than +the one below; the American monuments serving, as it were, as models for +the more elaborate and perfect, showing the advance of art and +knowledge. + +The name Maya seems to have existed from the remotest times in the +meridional parts of Hindostan. Valmiki, in his epic poem, the Ramayana, +said to be written 1500 before the Christian era, in which he recounts +the wars and prowesses of RAMA in the recovery of his lost wife, the +beautiful SITA, speaking of the country inhabited by the Mayas, +describes it as abounding in mines of silver and gold, with precious +stones and lapiz lazuri:[TN-9] and bounded by the _Vindhya_ mountains on +one side, the _Prastravana_ range on the other and the sea on the third. +The emissaries of RAMA having entered by mistake within the Mayas +territories, learned that all foreigners were forbidden to penetrate +into them; and that those who were so imprudent as to violate this +prohibition, even through ignorance, seldom escaped being put to death. +(Strange[TN-10] to say, the same thing happens to-day to those who try +to penetrate into the territories of the _Santa Cruz_ Indians, or in the +valleys occupied by the _Lacandones_, _Itzaes_ and other tribes that +inhabit _La Tierra de Guerra_. The Yucatecans themselves do not like +foreigners to go, and less to settle, in their country--are consequently +opposed to immigration. + +The emissaries of Rama, says the poet, met in the forest a woman who +told them: That in very remote ages a prince of the Davanas, a learned +magician, possessed of great power, whose name was _Maya_, established +himself in the country, and that he was the architect of the principal +of the Davanas: but having fallen in love with the nymph _Hema_, married +her; whereby he roused the jealousy of the god _Pourandura_, who +attacked and killed him with a thunderbolt. Now, it is worthy of notice, +that the word _Hem_ signifies in the Maya language to _cross with +ropes_; or according to Brasseur, _hidden mysteries_. + +By a most rare coincidence we have the same identical story recorded in +the mural paintings of Chaacmol's funeral chamber, and in the sculptures +of Chichsen[TN-11] and Uxmal. There we find that Chaacmol, the husband +of Moo[TN-12] is killed by his brother Aac, who stabbed him three times +in the back with his spear for jealousy. Aac was in love with his sister +Moo, but she married his brother Chaacmol from choice, and because the +law of the country prescribed that the younger brother should marry his +sister, making it a crime for the older brothers to marry her. + +In another part of the _Ramayana_, MAYA is described as a powerful +_Asoura_, always thirsting for battles and full of arrogance and +pride--an enemy to B[=a]li, chief of one of the monkey tribes, by whom +he was finally vanquished. The celebrated Indianist, Mr. H. T. +Colebrooke, in a memoir on the sacred books of the Hindoos, published in +Vol. VIII of the "Asiatic Researches," says: "The _Souryasiddkantu_ (the +most ancient Indian treatise on astronomy), is not considered as written +by MAYA; but this personage is represented as receiving his science from +a partial incarnation of the sun." + +MAYA is also, according to the Rig-Veda, the goddess, by whom all things +are created by her union with Brahma. She is the cosmic egg, the golden +uterus, the _Hiramyagarbha_. We see an image of it, represented floating +amidst the water, in the sculptures that adorn the panel over the door +of the east facade of the monument, called by me palace and museum at +Chichen-Itza. Emile Burnouf, in his Sanscrit Dictionary, at the word +Maya, says: Maya, an architect of the _Datyas_; Maya (_mas._), magician, +prestidigitator; (_fem._) illusion, prestige; Maya, the magic virtue of +the gods, their power for producing all things; also the feminine or +producing energy of Brahma. + +I will complete the list of these remarkable coincidences with a few +others regarding customs exactly similar in both countries. One of these +consists in carrying children astride on the hip in Yucatan as in India. +In Yucatan this custom is accompanied by a very interesting ceremony +called _hetzmec_. It is as follows: When a child reaches the age of four +months an invitation is sent to the friends and members of the family of +the parents to assemble at their house. Then in presence of all +assembled the legs of the child are opened, and he is placed astride +the hip of the _nailah_ or _hetzmec_ godmother; she in turn encircling +the little one with her arm, supports him in that position whilst she +walks five times round the house. During the time she is occupied in +that walk five eggs are placed in hot ashes, so that they may burst and +the five senses of the child be opened. By the manner in which they +burst and the time they require for bursting, they pretend to know if he +will be intelligent or not. During the ceremony they place in his tiny +hands the implement pertaining to the industry he is expected to +practice. The _nailah_ is henceforth considered as a second mother to +the child; who, when able to understand, is made to respect her: and she +is expected, in case of the mother's death, to adopt and take care of +the child as if he were her own. + +Now, I will call your attention to another strange and most remarkable +custom that was common to the inhabitants of _Mayab_, some tribes of the +aborigines of North America, and several of those that dwell in +Hindostan, and practice it even to-day. I refer to the printing of the +human hand, dipped in a red liquid, on the walls of certain +sacred edifices. Could not this custom, existing amongst nations so far +apart, unknown to each other, and for apparently the same purposes, be +considered as a link in the chain of evidence tending to prove that very +intimate relations and communications have existed anciently between +their ancestors? Might it not help the ethnologists to follow the +migrations of the human race from this western continent to the eastern +and southern shores of Asia, across the wastes of the Pacific Ocean? I +am told by unimpeachable witnesses that they have seen the red or bloody +hand in more than one of the temples of the South Sea islanders; and his +Excellency Fred. P. Barlee, Esq., the actual governor of British +Honduras, has assured me that he has examined this seemingly indelible +imprint of the red hand on some rocks in caves in Australia. There is +scarcely a monument in Yucatan that does not preserve the imprint of +the open upraised hand, dipped in red paint of some sort, perfectly +visible on its walls. I lately took tracings of two of these imprints +that exist in the back saloon of the main hall, in the governor's house +at Uxmal, in order to calculate the height of the personage who thus +attested to those of his race, as I learned from one of my Indian +friends, who passes for a wizard, that the building was _in naa_, my +house. I may well say that the archway of the palace of the priests, +toward the court, was nearly covered with them. Yet I am not aware that +such symbol was ever used by the inhabitants of the countries bordering +on the shores of the Mediterranean or by the Assyrians, or that it ever +was discovered among the ruined temples or palaces of Egypt. + +The meaning of the red hand used by the aborigines of some parts of +America has been, it is well known, a subject of discussion for learned +men and scientific societies. Its uses as a symbol remained for a long +time a matter of conjecture. It seems that Mr. Schoolcraft had truly +arrived at the knowledge of its veritable meaning. Effectively, in the +2d column of the 5th page of the _New York Herald_ for April 12, 1879, +in the account of the visit paid by Gen. Grant to Ram Singh, Maharajah +of Jeypoor, we read the description of an excursion to the town of +Amber. Speaking of the journey to the _home of an Indian king_, among +other things the writer says:--"We passed small temples, some of them +ruined, some others with offerings of grains, or fruits, or flowers, +some with priests and people at worship. On the walls of some of the +temples we saw the marks of the human hand as though it had been steeped +in blood and pressed against the white wall. We were told that it was +the custom, when seeking from the gods some benison to note the vow by +putting the hand into a liquid and printing it on the wall. This was to +remind the gods of the vow and prayer. And if it came to pass in the +shape of rain, or food, or health, or children, the joyous devotee +returned to the temple and made other offerings." In Yucatan it seems to +have had the same meaning. That is to say: that the owners of the house +if private, or the priests, in the temples and public buildings, called +upon the edifices at the time of taking possession and using them for +the first time, the blessing of the Deity; and placed the hand's +imprints on the walls to recall the vows and prayer: and also, as the +interpretation communicated to me by the Indians seems to suggest, as a +signet or mark of property--_in naa_, my house. + +I need not speak of the similarity of many religious rites and beliefs +existing in Hindostan and among the inhabitants of _Mayab_. The worship +of the fire, of the phallus, of Deity under the symbol of the mastodon's +head, recalling that of Ganeza, the god with an elephant's head, hence +that of the elephant in Siam, Birmah[TN-13] and other places of the +Asiatic peninsula even in our day; and various other coincidences so +numerous and remarkable that many would not regard them as simple +coincidences. What to think, effectively, of the types of the personages +whose portraits are carved on the obelisks of Copan? Were they in Siam +instead of Honduras, who would doubt but they are Siameeses.[TN-14] What +to say of the figures of men and women sculptured on the walls of the +stupendous temples hewn, from the live rock, at Elephanta, so American +is their appearance and features? Who would not take them to be pure +aborigines if they were seen in Yucatan instead of Madras, Elephanta and +other places of India. + +If now we abandon that country and, crossing the Himalaya's range enter +Afghanistan, there again we find ourselves in a country inhabited by +Maya tribes; whose names, as those of many of their cities, are of pure +American-Maya origin. In the fourth column of the sixth page of the +London _Times_, weekly edition, of March 4, 1879, we read: "4,000 or +5,000 assembled on the opposite bank of the river _Kabul_, and it +appears that in that day or evening they attacked the Maya villages +situated on the north side of the river." + +He, the correspondent of the _Times_, tells us that Maya tribes form +still part of the population of Afghanistan. He also tells us that +_Kabul_ is the name of the river, on the banks of which their villages +are situated. But _Kabul_ is the name of an antique shrine in the city +of Izamal. Cogolludo, in the lib. IV., cap. VIII. of his History of +Yucatan, says: "They had another temple on another mound, on the west +side of the square, also dedicated to the same idol. They had there the +symbol of a hand, as souvenir. To that temple they carried their dead +and the sick. They called it _Kabul_, the working hand, and made there +great offerings." Father Lizana says the same: so we have two witnesses +to the fact. _Kab_, in Maya means hand; and _Bul_ is to play at hazard. + +Many of the names of places and towns of Afghanistan have not only a +meaning in the American-Maya language, but are actually the same as +those of places and villages in Yucatan to-day, for example: + +The Valley of _Chenar_ would be the valley of the _well of the woman's +children_--_chen_, well, and _al_, the woman's children. The fertile +valley of _Kunar_ would be the valley of the _god of the ears of corn_; +or, more probably, the _nest of the ears of corn_: as KU, pronounced +short, means _God_, and _Kuu_, pronounced long, is nest. NAL, is the +_ears of corn_. + +The correspondent of the London _Times_, in his letters, mentions the +names of some of the principal tribes, such as the _Kuki-Khel_, the +_Akakhel_, the _Khambhur Khel_, etc. The suffix Khel simply signifies +tribe, or clan. So similar to the Maya vocable _Kaan_, a tie, a rope; +hence a clan: a number of people held together by the tie of parentage. +Now, Kuki would be Kukil, or Kukum maya[TN-15] for feather, hence the +KUKI-KHEL would be the tribe of the feather. + +AKA-KHEL in the same manner would be the tribe of the reservoir, or +pond. AKAL is the Maya name for the artificial reservoirs, or ponds in +which the ancient inhabitants of Mayab collected rain water for the time +of drought. + +Similarly the KHAMBHUR KHEL is the tribe of the _pleasant_: _Kambul_ in +Maya. It is the name of several villages of Yucatan, as you may satisfy +yourself by examining the map. + +We have also the ZAKA-KHEL, the tribe of the locust, ZAK. It is useless +to quote more for the present: enough to say that if you read the names +of the cities, valleys[TN-16] clans, roads even of Afghanistan to any of +the aborigines of Yucatan, they will immediately give you their meaning +in their own language. Before leaving the country of the Afghans, by the +KHIBER Pass--that is to say, the _road of the hawk_; HI, _hawk_, and +BEL, road--allow me to inform you that in examining their types, as +published in the London illustrated papers, and in _Harper's Weekly_, I +easily recognized the same cast of features as those of the bearded men, +whose portraits we discovered in the bas-reliefs which adorn the antae +and pillars of the castle, and queen's box in the Tennis Court at +Chichen-Itza. + +On our way to the coast of Asia Minor, and hence to Egypt, we may, in +following the Mayas' footsteps, notice that a tribe of them, the learned +MAGI, with their Rabmag at their head, established themselves in +Babylon, where they became, indeed, a powerful and influential body. +Their chief they called _Rab-mag_--or LAB-MAC--the old person--LAB, +_old_--MAC, person; and their name Magi, meant learned men, magicians, +as that of Maya in India. I will directly speak more at length of +vestiges of the Mayas in Babylon, when explaining by means of the +_American Maya_, the meaning and probable etymology of the names of the +Chaldaic divinities. At present I am trying to follow the footprints of +the Mayas. + +On the coast of Asia Minor we find a people of a roving and piratical +disposition, whose name was, from the remotest antiquity and for many +centuries, the terror of the populations dwelling on the shores of the +Mediterranean; whose origin was, and is yet unknown; who must have +spoken Maya, or some Maya dialect, since we find words of that +language, and with the same meaning inserted in that of the Greeks, who, +Herodotus tells us, used to laugh at the manner the _Carians_, or +_Caras_, or _Caribs_, spoke their tongue; whose women wore a white linen +dress that required no fastening, just as the Indian and Mestiza women +of Yucatan even to-day[TN-17] + +To tell you that the name of the CARAS is found over a vast extension of +country in America, would be to repeat what the late and lamented +Brasseur de Bourbourg has shown in his most learned introduction to the +work of Landa, "Relacion de las cosas de Yucatan;" but this I may say, +that the description of the customs and mode of life of the people of +Yucatan, even at the time of the conquest, as written by Landa, seems to +be a mere verbatim plagiarism of the description of the customs and mode +of life of the Carians of Asia Minor by Herodotus. + +If identical customs and manners, and the worship of the same divinities +under the same name, besides the traditions of a people pointing towards +a certain point of the globe as being the birth-place of their +ancestors, prove anything, then I must say that in Egypt also we meet +with the tracks of the Mayas, of whose name we again have a reminiscence +in that of the goddess Maia, the daughter of Atlantis, worshiped in +Greece. Here, at this end of the voyage, we seem to find an intimation +as to the place where the Mayas originated. We are told that Maya is +born from Atlantis; in other words, that the Mayas came from beyond the +Atlantic waters. Here, also, we find that Maia is called the mother of +the gods _Kubeles_. _Ku_, Maya _God_, _Bel_ the road, the way. Ku-bel, +the road, the origin of the gods as among the Hindostanees. These, we +have seen in the Rig Veda, called Maya, the feminine energy--the +productive virtue of Brahma. + +I do not pretend to present here anything but facts, resulting from my +study of the ancient monuments of Yucatan, and a comparative study of +the Maya language, in which the ancient inscriptions, I have been able +to decipher, are written. Let us see if those _facts_ are sustained by +others of a different character. + +I will make a brief parallel between the architectural monuments of the +primitive Chaldeans, their mode of writing, their burial places, and +give you the etymology of the names of their divinities in the American +Maya language. + +The origin of the primitive Chaldees is yet an unsettled matter among +learned men. Some professing one opinion, others another. All agree, +however, that they were strangers to the lower Mesopotamian valleys, +where they settled in very remote ages, their capital being, in the time +of Abraham, as we learn from Scriptures, _Ur_ or _Hur_. So named either +because its inhabitants were worshipers of the moon, or from the moon +itself--U in the Maya language--or perhaps also because the founders +being strangers and guests, as it were, in the country, it was called +the city of guests, HULA (Maya), _guest just arrived_. + +Recent researches in the plains of lower Mesopotamia have revealed to us +their mode of building their sacred edifices, which is precisely +identical to that of the Mayas. + +It consisted of mounds composed of superposed platforms, either square +or oblong, forming cones or pyramids, their angles at times, their faces +at others, facing exactly the cardinal points. + +Their manner of construction was also the same, with the exception of +the materials employed--each people using those most at hand in their +respective countries--clay and bricks in Chaldea, stones in Yucatan. The +filling in of the buildings being of inferior materials, crude or +sun-dried bricks at Warka and Mugheir; of unhewn stones of all shapes +and sizes, in Uxmal and Chichen, faced with walls of hewn stones, many +feet in thickness throughout. Grand exterior staircases lead to the +summit, where was the shrine of the god, and temple. + +In Yucatan these mounds are generally composed of seven superposed +platforms, the one above being smaller than that immediately below; the +temple or sanctuary containing invariably two chambers, the inner one, +the Sanctum Sanctorum, being the smallest. + +In Babylon, the supposed tower of Babel--the _Birs-i-nimrud_--the temple +of the seven lights, was made of seven stages or platforms. + +The roofs of these buildings in both countries were flat; the walls of +vast thickness; the chambers long and narrow, with outer doors opening +into them directly; the rooms ordinarily let into one another: squared +recesses were common in the rooms. Mr. Loftus is of opinion that the +chambers of the Chaldean buildings were usually arched with bricks, in +which opinion Mr. Taylor concurs. We know that the ceilings of the +chambers in all the monuments of Yucatan, without exception, form +triangular arches. To describe their construction I will quote from the +description by Herodotus, of some ceilings in Egyptian buildings and +Scythian tombs, that resemble that of the brick vaults found at Mugheir. +"The side walls outward as they ascend, the arch is formed by each +successive layer of brick from the point where the arch begins, a little +overlapping the last, till the two sides of the roof are brought so near +together, that the aperture may be closed by a single brick." + +Some of the sepulchers found in Yucatan are very similar to the jar +tombs common at Mugheir. These consist of two large open-mouthed jars, +united with bitumen after the body has been deposited in them, with the +usual accompaniments of dishes, vases and ornaments, having an air hole +bored at one extremity. Those found at Progreso were stone urns about +three feet square, cemented in pairs, mouth to mouth, and having also an +air hole bored in the bottom. Extensive mounds, made artificially of a +vast number of coffins, arranged side by side, divided by thin walls of +masonry crossing each other at right angles, to separate the coffins, +have been found in the lower plains of Chaldea--such as exist along the +coast of Peru, and in Yucatan. At Izamal many human remains, contained +in urns, have been found in the mounds. + +"The ordinary dress of the common people among the Chaldeans," says +Canon Rawlison, in his work, the Five Great Monarchies, "seems to have +consisted of a single garment, a short tunic tied round the waist, and +reaching thence to the knees. To this may sometimes have been added an +_abba_, or cloak, thrown over the shoulders; the material of the former +we may perhaps presume to have been linen." The mural paintings at +Chichen show that the Mayas sometimes used the same costume; and that +dress is used to-day by the aborigines of Yucatan, and the inhabitants +of the _Tierra de Guerra_. They were also bare-footed, and wore on the +head a band of cloth, highly ornamented with mother-of-pearl instead of +camel's hair, as the Chaldee. This band is to be seen in bas-relief at +Chichen-Itza, inthe[TN-18] mural paintings, and on the head of the statue +of Chaacmol. The higher classes wore a long robe extending from the neck +to the feet, sometimes adorned with a fringe; it appears not to have +been fastened to the waist, but kept in place by passing over one +shoulder, a slit or hole being made for the arm on one side of the dress +only. In some cases the upper part of the dress seems to have been +detached from the lower, and to form a sort of jacket which reached +about to the hips. We again see this identical dress portrayed in the +mural paintings. The same description of ornaments were affected by the +Chaldees and the Mayas--bracelets, earrings, armlets, anklets, made of +the materials they could procure. + +The Mayas at times, as can be seen from the slab discovered by +Bresseur[TN-19] in Mayapan (an exact fac-simile of which cast, from a +mould made by myself, is now in the rooms of the American Antiquarian +Society at Worcester, Mass.), as the primitive Chaldee, in their +writings, made use of characters composed of straight lines only, +inclosed in square or oblong figures; as we see from the inscriptions in +what has been called hieratic form of writing found at Warka and +Mugheir and the slab from Mayapan and others. + +The Chaldees are said to have made use of three kinds of characters that +Canon Rawlinson calls _letters proper_, _monograms_ and _determinative_. +The Maya also, as we see from the monumental inscriptions, employed +three kinds of characters--_letters proper_, _monograms_ and +_pictorial_. + +It may be said of the religion of the Mayas, as I have had occasion to +remark, what the learned author of the Five Great Monarchies says of +that of the primitive Chaldees: "The religion of the Chaldeans, from the +very earliest times to which the monuments carry us back, was, in its +outward aspect, a polytheism of a very elaborate character. It is quite +possible that there may have been esoteric explanations, known to the +priests and the more learned; which, resolving the personages of the +Pantheon into the powers of nature, reconcile the apparent multiplicity +of Gods with monotheism." I will now consider the names of the Chaldean +deities in their turn of rotation as given us by the author above +mentioned, and show you that the language of the American Mayas gives us +an etymology of the whole of them, quite in accordance with their +particular attributes. + + +RA. + +The learned author places '_Ra_' at the head of the Pantheon, stating +that the meaning of the word is simply _God_, or the God emphatically. +We know that _Ra_ was the Sun among the Egyptians, and that the +hieroglyph, a circle, representation of that God was the same in Babylon +as in Egypt. It formed an element in the native name of Babylon. Which +was _ka-ra_. + +Now the Mayas called LA, that which has existed for ever, the truth _par +excellence_. As to the native name of Babylon it would simply be the +_city of the infinite truth_--_cah_, city; LA, eternal truth. + + +ANA OR DIS. + +Ana, like Ra, is thought to have signified _God_ in the highest sense. +Its etymology seems to be problematic. His epithets mark priority and +antiquity; _the original chief_, the _father of the gods_, the _lord of +darkness or death_. The Maya gives us A, _thy_; NA, _mother_. At times +he was called DIS, and was the patron god of _Erech_, the great city of +the dead, the necropolis of Lower Babylonia. TIX, Maya is a cavity +formed in the earth. It seems to have given its name to the city of +_Niffer_, called _Calneh_ in the translation of the Septuagint, from +_kal-ana_, which is translated the "fort of Ana;" or according to the +Maya, the _prison of Ana_, KAL being prison, or the prison of thy +mother. + + +ANATA + +the supposed wife of Ana, has no peculiar characteristics. Her name is +only, says our author, the feminine form of the masculine, Ana. But the +Maya designates her as the companion of Ana; TA, with; _Anata_ with +_Ana_. + + +BIL OR ENU + +seems to mean merely Lord. It is usually followed by a qualificative +adjunct, possessing great interest, NIPRU. To that name, which recalls +that of NEBROTH or _Nimrod_, the author gives a Syriac etymology; napar +(make to flee). His epithets are the _supreme_, _the father of the +gods_, the _procreator_. + +The Maya gives us BIL, or _Bel_; the way, the road; hence the _origin_, +the father, the procreator. Also ENA, who is before; again the father, +the procreator. + +As to the qualificative adjunct _nipru_. It would seem to be the Maya +_niblu_; _nib_, to thank; LU, the _Bagre_, a _silurus fish_. _Niblu_ +would then be the _thanksgiving fish_. Strange to say, the high priest +at Uxmal and Chichen, elder brother of Chaacmol, first son of _Can_, the +founder of those cities, is CAY, the fish, whose effigy is my last +discovery in June, among the ruins of Uxmal. The bust is contained +within the jaws of a serpent, _Can_, and over it, is a beautiful +mastodon head, with the trunk inscribed with Egyptian characters, which +read TZAA, that which is necessary. + + +BELTIS + +is the wife of _Bel-nipru_. But she is more than his mere female power. +She is a separate and important deity. Her common title is the _Great +Goddess_. In Chaldea her name was _Mulita_ or _Enuta_, both words +signifying the lady. Her favorite title was the _mother of the gods_, +the origin of the gods. + +In Maya BEL is the road, the way; and TE means _here_. BELTE or BELTIS +would be I am the way, the origin. + +_Mulita_ would correspond to MUL-TE, many here, _many in me_. I am the +mother of many. Her other name _Enuta_ seems to be (Maya) _Ena-te_, +signifies ENA, the first, before anybody, and TE here. ENATE, _I am here +before anybody_, I am the mother of the Gods. + + +HEA OR HOA. + +The God Fish, the mystic animal, half man, half fish, which came up from +the Persian gulf to teach astronomy and letters to the first settlers on +the Euphrates and Tigris. + +According to Berosus the civilization was brought to Mesopotamia by +_Oannes_ and six other beings, who, like himself, were half man, half +fish, and that they came from the Indian Ocean. We have already seen +that the Mayas of India were not only architects, but also astronomers; +and the symbolic figure of a being half man and half fish seems to +clearly indicate that those who brought civilization to the shores of +the Euphrates and Tigris came in boats. + +Hoa-Ana, or Oannes, according to the Maya would mean, he who has his +residence or house on the water. HA, being water; _a_, thy; _na_, house; +literally, _water thy house_. Canon Rawlison remarks in that +connection: "There are very strong grounds for connecting HEA or Hoa, +with the serpent of the Scripture, and the paradisaical traditions of +the tree of knowledge and the tree of life." As the title of the god of +knowledge and science, _Oannes_, is the lord of the abyss, or of the +great deep, the intelligent fish, one of his emblems being the serpent, +CAN, which occupies so conspicuous a place among the symbols of the gods +on the black stones recording benefactions. + + +DAV-KINA + +Is the wife of _Hoa_, and her name is thought to signify the chief lady. +But the Maya again gives us another meaning that seems to me more +appropriate. TAB-KIN would be the _rays of the sun_: the rays of the +light brought with civilization by her husband to benighted inhabitants +of Mesopotamia. + + +SIN OR HURKI + +is the name of the moon deity; the etymology of it is quite uncertain. +Its titles, as Rawlison remarks, are somewhat vague. Yet it is +particularly designated as "_the bright_, _the shining_" the lord of the +month. + +Zin in Maya has also many significations. Zin is to stretch, to extend. +_Zinil_ is the extension of the whole of the universe. _Hurki_ would be +the Maya HULKIN--sun-stroked; he who receives directly the rays of the +sun. Hurki is also the god presiding over buildings and architecture; in +this connection he is called _Bel-Zuna_. The _lord of building_, the +_supporting architect_, the _strengthener of fortifications_. _Bel-Zuna_ +would also signify the lord of the strong house. _Zuu_, Maya, close, +thick. _Na_, house: and the city where he had his great temple was _Ur_; +named after him. _U_, in Maya, signifies moon. + + +SAN OR SANSI, + +the Sun God, the _lord of fire_, the _ruler of the day_. He _who +illumines the expanse of heaven and earth_. + +_Zamal_ (Maya) is the morning, the dawn of the day, and his symbols are +the same on the temples of Yucatan as on those of Chaldea, India and +Egypt. + + +VUL OR IVA, + +the prince of the powers of the air, the lord of the whirlwind and the +tempest, the wielder of the thunderbolt, the lord of the air, he who +makes the tempest to rage. Hiba in Maya is to rub, to scour, to chafe as +does the tempest. As VUL he is represented with a flaming sword in his +hand. _Hul_ (Maya) an arrow. He is then the god of the atmosphere, who +gives rain. + + +ISHTAR OR NANA, + +the Chaldean Venus, of the etymology of whose name no satisfactory +account can be given, says the learned author, whose list I am following +and description quoting. + +The Maya language, however, affords a very natural etymology. Her name +seems composed of _ix_, the feminine article, _she_; and of _tac_, or +_tal_, a verb that signifies to have a desire to satisfy a corporal want +or inclination. IXTAL would, therefore, be she who desires to satisfy a +corporal inclination. As to her other name, _Nana_, it simply means the +great mother, the very mother. If from the names of god and goddesses, +we pass to that of places, we will find that the Maya language also +furnishes a perfect etymology for them. + +In the account of the creation of the world, according to the Chaldeans, +we find that a woman whose name in Chaldee is _Thalatth_, was said to +have ruled over the monstrous animals of strange forms, that were +generated and existed in darkness and water. The Greek called her +_Thalassa_ (the sea). But the Maya vocable _Thallac_, signifies a thing +without steadiness, like the sea. + + +URUKH. + +The first king of the Chaldees was a great architect. To him are +ascribed the most archaic monuments of the plains of Lower Mesopotamia. +He is said to have conceived the plans of the Babylonian Temple. He +constructed his edifices of mud and bricks, with rectangular bases, +their angles fronting the cardinal points; receding stages, exterior +staircases, with shrines crowning the whole structure. In this +description of the primitive constructions of the Chaldeans, no one can +fail to recognize the Maya mode of building, and we see them not only in +Yucatan, but throughout Central America, Peru, even Hindoostan. The very +name _Urkuh_ seems composed of two Maya words HUK, to make everything, +and LUK, mud; he who makes everything of mud; so significative of his +building propensities and of the materials used by him. + + +ASSYRIA. + +The etymology of the name of that country, as well as that of Asshur, +the supreme god of the Assyrians, who never pronounced his name without +adding "Asshur is my lord," is still an undecided matter amongst the +learned philologists of our days. Some contend that the country was +named after the god Asshur; others that the god Asshur received his name +from the place where he was worshiped. None agree, however, as to the +significative meaning of the name Asshur. In Assyrian and Hebrew +languages the name of the country and people is derived from that of the +god. That Asshur was the name of the deity, and that the country was +named after it, I have no doubt, since I find its etymology, so much +sought for by philologists, in the American Maya language. Effectively +the word _asshur_, sometimes written _ashur_, would be AXUL in Maya. + +_A_, in that language, placed before a noun, is the possessive pronoun, +as the second person, thy or thine, and _xul_, means end, termination. +It is also the name of the sixth month of the Maya calendar. _Axul_ +would therefore be _thy end_. Among all the nations which have +recognized the existence of a SUPREME BEING, Deity has been considered +as the beginning and end of all things, to which all aspire to be +united. + +A strange coincidence that may be without significance, but is not out +of place to mention here, is the fact that the early kings of Chaldea +are represented on the monuments as sovereigns over the _Kiprat-arbat_, +or FOUR RACES. While tradition tells us that the great lord of the +universe, king of the giants, whose capital was _Tiahuanaco_, the +magnificent ruins of which are still to be seen on the shores of the +lake of Titicaca, reigned over _Ttahuatyn-suyu_, the FOUR PROVINCES. In +the _Chou-King_ we read that in very remote times _China_ was called by +its inhabitants _Sse-yo_, THE FOUR PARTS OF THE EMPIRE. The +_Manava-Dharma-Sastra_, the _Ramayana_, and other sacred books of +Hindostan also inform us that the ancient Hindoos designated their +country as the FOUR MOUNTAINS, and from some of the monumental +inscriptions at Uxmal it would seem that, among other names, that place +was called the land of the _canchi_, or FOUR MOUTHS, that recalls +vividly the name of Chaldea _Arba-Lisun_, the FOUR TONGUES. + +That the language of the Mayas was known in Chaldea in remote ages, but +became lost in the course of time, is evident from the Book of Daniel. +It seems that some of the learned men of Judea understood it still at +the beginning of the Christian era, as many to-day understand Greek, +Latin, Sanscrit, &c.; since, we are informed by the writers of the +Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, that the last words of Jesus of +Nazareth expiring on the cross were uttered in it. + +In the fifth chapter of the Book of Daniel, we read that the fingers of +the hand of a man were seen writing on the wall of the hall, where King +Belshazzar was banqueting, the words "Mene, mene, Tekel, upharsin," +which could not be read by any of the wise men summoned by order of the +king. Daniel, however, being brought in, is said to have given as their +interpretation: _Numbered_, _numbered_, _weighed_, _dividing_, perhaps +with the help of the angel Gabriel, who is said by learned rabbins to be +the only individual of the angelic hosts who can speak Chaldean and +Syriac, and had once before assisted him in interpreting the dream of +King Nebuchadnezzar. Perhaps also, having been taught the learning of +the Chaldeans, he had studied the ancient Chaldee language, and was thus +enabled to read the fatidical words, which have the very same meaning in +the Maya language as he gave them. Effectively, _mene_ or _mane_, +_numbered_, would seem to correspond to the Maya verbs, MAN, to buy, to +purchase, hence to number, things being sold by the quantity--or MANEL, +to pass, to exceed. _Tekel_, weighed, would correspond to TEC, light. +To-day it is used in the sense of lightness in motion, brevity, +nimbleness: and _Upharsin_, dividing, seem allied to the words PPA, to +divide two things united; or _uppah_, to break, making a sharp sound; or +_paah_, to break edifices; or, again, PAALTAL, to break, to scatter the +inhabitants of a place. + +As to the last words of Jesus of Nazareth, when expiring on the cross, +as reported by the Evangelists, _Eli, Eli_, according to St. Matthew, +and _Eloi, Eloi_, according to St. Mark, _lama sabachthani_, they are +pure Maya vocables; but have a very different meaning to that attributed +to them, and more in accordance with His character. By placing in the +mouth of the dying martyr these words: _My God, my God, why hast thou +forsaken me?_ they have done him an injustice, presenting him in his +last moments despairing and cowardly, traits so foreign to his life, to +his teachings, to the resignation shown by him during his trial, and to +the fortitude displayed by him in his last journey to Calvary; more than +all, so unbecoming, not to say absurd, being in glaring contradiction to +his role as God. If God himself, why complain that God has forsaken him? +He evidently did not speak Hebrew in dying, since his two mentioned +biographers inform us that the people around him did not understand what +he said, and supposed he was calling Elias to help him: _This man +calleth for Elias._ + +His bosom friend, who never abandoned him--who stood to the last at the +foot of the cross, with his mother and other friends and relatives, do +not report such unbefitting words as having been uttered by Jesus. He +simply says, that after recommending his mother to his care, he +complained of being thirsty, and that, as the sponge saturated with +vinegar was applied to his mouth, he merely said: IT IS FINISHED! and +_he bowed his head and gave up the ghost_. (St. John, chap. xix., v. +30.) + +Well, this is exactly the meaning of the Maya words, HELO, HELO, LAMAH +ZABAC TA NI, literally: HELO, HELO, now, now; LAMAH, sinking; ZABAC, +black ink; TA, over; NI, nose; in our language: _Now, now I am sinking; +darkness covers my face!_ No weakness, no despair--He merely tells his +friends all is over. _It is finished!_ and expires. + +Before leaving Asia Minor, in order to seek in Egypt the vestiges of the +Mayas, I will mention the fact that the names of some of the natives who +inhabited of old that part of the Asiatic continent, and many of those +of places and cities seem to be of American Maya origin. The Promised +Land, for example--that part of the coast of Phoenicia so famous for +the fertility of its soil, where the Hebrews, after journeying during +forty years in the desert, arrived at last, tired and exhausted from so +many hard-fought battles--was known as _Canaan_. This is a Maya word +that means to be tired, to be fatigued; and, if it is spelled _Kanaan_, +it then signifies abundance; both significations applying well to the +country. + +TYRE, the great emporium of the Phoenicians, called _Tzur_, probably +on account of being built on a rock, may also derive its name from the +Maya TZUC, a promontory, or a number of villages, _Tzucub_ being a +province. + +Again, we have the people called _Khati_ by the Egyptians. They formed a +great nation that inhabited the _Caele-Syria_ and the valley of the +Orontes, where they have left very interesting proofs of their passage +on earth, in large and populous cities whose ruins have been lately +discovered. Their origin is unknown, and is yet a problem to be solved. +They are celebrated on account of their wars against the Assyrians and +Egyptians, who call them the plague of Khati. Their name is frequently +mentioned in the Scriptures as Hittites. Placed on the road, between the +Assyrians and the Egyptians, by whom they were at last vanquished, they +placed well nigh insuperable _obstacles in the way_ of the conquests of +these two powerful nations, which found in them tenacious and fearful +adversaries. The Khati had not only made considerable improvements in +all military arts, but were also great and famed merchants; their +emporium _Carchemish_ had no less importance than Tyre or Carthage. +There, met merchants from all parts of the world; who brought thither +the products and manufactures of their respective countries, and were +wont to worship at the Sacred City, _Katish_ of the Khati. The etymology +of their name is also unknown. Some historians having pretended that +they were a Scythian tribe, derived it from Scythia; but I think that we +may find it very natural, as that of their principal cities, in the Maya +language. + +All admit that the Khati, until the time when they were vanquished by +Rameses the Great, as recorded on the walls of his palace at Thebes, the +_Memnonium_, always placed obstacles on the way of the Egyptians and +opposed them. According to the Maya, their name is significative of +these facts, since KAT or KATAH is a verb that means to place +impediments on the road, to come forth and obstruct the passage. + +_Carchemish_ was their great emporium, where merchants from afar +congregated; it was consequently a city of merchants. CAH means a city, +and _Chemul_ is navigator. _Carchemish_ would then be _cah-chemul_, the +city of navigators, of merchants. + +KATISH, their sacred city, would be the city where sacrifices are +offered. CAH, city, and TICH, a ceremony practiced by the ancient Mayas, +and still performed by their descendants all through Central America. +This sacrifice or ceremony consists in presenting to BALAM, the +_Yumil-Kaax_, the "Lord of the fields," the _primitiae_ of all their +fruits before beginning the harvest. Katish, or _cah-tich_ would then be +the city of the sacrifices--the holy city. + +EGYPT is the country that in historical times has called, more than any +other, the attention of the students, of all nations and in all ages, on +account of the grandeur and beauty of its monuments; the peculiarity of +its inhabitants; their advanced civilization, their great attainments in +all branches of human knowledge and industry; and its important position +at the head of all other nations of antiquity. Egypt has been said to be +the source from which human knowledge began to flow over the old world: +yet no one knows for a certainty whence came the people that laid the +first foundations of that interesting nation. That they were not +autochthones is certain. Their learned priests pointed towards the +regions of the West as the birth-place of their ancestors, and +designated the country in which they lived, the East, as the _pure +land_, the _land of the sun_, of _light_, in contradistinction of the +country of the dead, of darkness--the Amenti, the West--where Osiris sat +as King, reigning judge, over the souls. + +If in Hindostan, Afghanistan, Chaldea, Asia Minor, we have met with +vestiges of the Mayas, in Egypt we will find their traces everywhere. +Whatever may have been the name given to the valley watered by the Nile +by its primitive inhabitants, no one at present knows. The invaders that +came from the West called it CHEM: not on account of the black color of +the soil, as Plutarch pretends in his work, "_De Iside et Osiride_," but +more likely because either they came to it in boats; or, quite probably, +because when they arrived the country was inundated, and the inhabitants +communicated by means of boats, causing the new comers to call it the +country of boats--CHEM (maya).[TN-20] The hieroglyph representing the +name of Egypt is composed of the character used for land, a cross +circumscribed by a circle, and of another, read K, which represent a +sieve, it is said, but that may likewise be the picture of a small boat. +The Assyrians designated Egypt under the names of MISIR or MISUR, +probably because the country is generally destitute of trees. These are +uprooted during the inundations, and then carried by the currents all +over the country; so that the farmers, in order to be able to plow the +soil, are obliged to clear it first from the dead trees. Now we have the +Maya verb MIZ--to _clean_, to _remove rubbish formed by the body of dead +trees_; whilst the verb MUSUR means to _cut the trees by the roots_. It +would seem that the name _Mizraim_ given to Egypt in the Scriptures also +might come from these words. + +When the Western invaders reached the country it was probably covered by +the waters of the river, to which, we are told, they gave the name of +_Hapimu_. Its etymology seems to be yet undecided by the Egyptologists, +who agree, however, that its meaning is the _abyss of water_. The Maya +tells us that this name is composed of two words--HA, water, and PIMIL, +the thickness of flat things. _Hapimu_, or HAPIMIL, would then be the +thickness, the _abyss of water_. + +We find that the prophets _Jeremiah_ (xlvi., 25,) and _Nahum_ (iii., 8, +10,) call THEBES, the capital of upper Egypt during the XVIII. dynasty: +NO or NA-AMUN, the mansion of Amun. _Na_ signifies in Maya, house, +mansion, residence. But _Thebes_ is written in Egyptian hieroglyphs AP, +or APE, the meaning of which is the head, the capital; with the feminine +article T, that is always used as its prefix in hieroglyphic writings, +it becomes TAPE; which, according to Sir Gardner Wilkinson ("Manners and +Customs of the Ancient Egyptians," _tom._ III., page 210, N. Y. Edition, +1878), was pronounced by the Egyptians _Taba_; and in the Menphitic +dialect Thaba, that the Greeks converted into Thebai, whence Thebes. The +Maya verb _Teppal_, signifies to reign, to govern, to order. On each +side of the mastodons' heads, which form so prominent a feature in the +ornaments of the oldest edifices at Uxmal, Chichen-Itza and other parts, +the word _Dapas_; hence TABAS is written in ancient Egyptian characters, +and read, I presume, in old Maya, _head_. To-day the word is pronounced +THAB, and means _baldness_. + +The identity of the names of deities worshiped by individuals, of their +religious rites and belief; that of the names of the places which they +inhabit; the similarity of their customs, of their dresses and manners; +the sameness of their scientific attainments and of the characters used +by them in expressing their language in writing, lead us naturally to +infer that they have had a common origin, or, at least, that their +forefathers were intimately connected. If we may apply this inference to +nations likewise, regardless of the distance that to-day separates the +countries where they live, I can then affirm that the Mayas and the +Egyptians are either of a common descent, or that very intimate +communication must have existed in remote ages between their ancestors. + +Without entering here into a full detail of the customs and manners of +these people, I will make a rapid comparison between their religious +belief, their customs, manners, scientific attainments, and the +characters used by them in writing etc., sufficient to satisfy any +reasonable body that the strange coincidences that follow, cannot be +altogether accidental. + +The SUN, RA, was the supreme god worshiped throughout the land of Egypt; +and its emblem was a disk or circle, at times surmounted by the serpent +Uraeus. Egypt was frequently called the Land of the Sun. RA or LA +signifies in Maya that which exists, emphatically that which is--the +truth. + +The sun was worshiped by the ancient Mayas; and the Indians to-day +preserve the dance used by their forefathers among the rites of the +adoration of that luminary, and perform it yet in certain epoch[TN-21] +of the year. The coat-of-arms of the city of Uxmal, sculptured on the +west facade of the sanctuary, attached to the masonic temple in that +city, teaches us that the place was called U LUUMIL KIN, _the land of +the sun_. This name forming the center of the escutcheon, is written +with a cross, circumscribed by a circle, that among the Egyptians is +the sign for land, region, surrounded by the rays of the sun. + +Colors in Egypt, as in Mayab, seem to have had the same symbolical +meaning. The figure of _Amun_ was that of a man whose body was light +blue, like the Indian god Wishnu,[TN-22] and that of the god Nilus; as if +to indicate their peculiar exalted and heavenly nature; this color being +that of the pure, bright skies above. The blue color had exactly the +same significance in Mayab, according to Landa and Cogolludo, who tell +us that, even at the time of the Spanish conquest, the bodies of those +who were to be sacrificed to the gods were painted blue. The mural +paintings in the funeral chamber of Chaacmol, at Chichen, confirm this +assertion. There we see figures of men and women painted blue, some +marching to the sacrifice with their hands tied behind their backs. +After being thus painted they were venerated by the people, who regarded +them as sanctified. Blue in Egypt was always the color used at the +funerals. + +The Egyptians believed in the immortality of the soul; and that rewards +and punishments were adjudged by Osiris, the king of the Amenti, to the +souls according to their deeds during their mundane life. That the souls +after a period of three thousand years were to return to earth and +inhabit again their former earthly tenements. This was the reason why +they took so much pains to embalm the body. + +The Mayas also believed in the immortality of the soul, as I have +already said. Their belief was that after the spirit had suffered during +a time proportioned to their misdeeds whilst on earth, and after having +enjoyed an amount of bliss corresponding to their good actions, they +were to return to earth and live again a material life. Accordingly, as +the body was corruptible, they made statues of stones, terra-cotta, or +wood, in the semblance of the deceased, whose ashes they deposited in a +hollow made for that purpose in the back of the head. Sometimes also in +stone urns, as in the case of Chaacmol. The spirits, on their return to +earth, were to find these statues, impart life to them, and use them as +body during their new existence. + +I am not certain but that, as the Egyptians also, they were believers in +transmigration; and that this belief exists yet among the aborigines. I +have noticed that my Indians were unwilling to kill any animal whatever, +even the most noxious and dangerous, that inhabits the ruined monuments. +I have often told them to kill some venomous insect or serpent that may +have happened to be in our way. They invariably refused to do so, but +softly and carefully caused them to go. And when asked why they did not +kill them, declined to answer except by a knowing and mysterious smile, +as if afraid to let a stranger into their intimate beliefs inherited +from their ancestors: remembering, perhaps, the fearful treatment +inflicted by fanatical friars on their fathers to oblige them to forego +what they called the superstitions of their race--the idolatrous creed +of their forefathers. + +I have had opportunity to discover that their faith in reincarnation, as +many other time-honored credences, still exists among them, unshaken, +notwithstanding the persecutions and tortures suffered by them at the +hands of ignorant and barbaric _Christians_ (?) + +I will give two instances when that belief in reincarnation was plainly +manifested. + +The day that, after surmounting many difficulties, when my ropes and +cables, made of withes and the bark of the _habin_ tree, were finished +and adjusted to the capstan manufactured of hollow stones and trunks of +trees; and I had placed the ponderous statue of Chaacmol on rollers, +already in position to drag it up the inclined plane made from the +surface of the ground to a few feet above the bottom of the excavation; +my men, actuated by their superstitious fears on the one hand, and +their profound reverence for the memory of their ancestors on the other, +unwilling to see the effigy of one of the great men removed from where +their ancestors had placed it in ages gone by resolved to bury it, by +letting loose the hill of dry stones that formed the body of the +mausoleum, and were kept from falling in the hole by a framework of thin +trunks of trees tied with withes, and in order that it should not be +injured, to capsize it, placing the face downward. They had already +overturned it, when I interfered in time to prevent more mischief, and +even save some of them from certain death; since by cutting loose the +withes that keep the framework together, the sides of the excavation +were bound to fall in, and crush those at the bottom. I honestly think, +knowing their superstitious feelings and propensities, that they had +made up their mind to sacrifice their lives, in order to avoid what they +considered a desecration of the future tenement that the great warrior +and king was yet to inhabit, when time had arrived. In order to overcome +their scruples, and also to prove if my suspicions were correct, that, +as their forefathers and the Egyptians of old, they still believed in +reincarnation, I caused them to accompany me to the summit of the great +pyramid. There is a monument, that served as a castle when the city of +the holy men, the Itzaes, was at the height of its splendor. Every anta, +every pillar and column of this edifice is sculptured with portraits of +warriors and noblemen. Among these many with long beards, whose types +recall vividly to the mind the features of the Afghans. + +On one of the antae, at the entrance on the north side, is the portrait +of a warrior wearing a long, straight, pointed beard. The face, like +that of all the personages represented in the bas-reliefs, is in +profile. I placed my head against the stone so as to present the same +position of my face as that of UXAN, and called the attention of my +Indians to the similarity of his and my own features. They followed +every lineament of the faces with their fingers to the very point of the +beard, and soon uttered an exclamation of astonishment: "_Thou!_ +_here!_" and slowly scanned again the features sculptured on the stone +and my own. + +"_So, so,_" they said, "_thou too art one of our great men, who has been +disenchanted. Thou, too, wert a companion of the great Lord Chaacmol. +That is why thou didst know where he was hidden; and thou hast come to +disenchant him also. His time to live again on earth has then arrived._" + +From that moment every word of mine was implicitly obeyed. They returned +to the excavation, and worked with such a good will, that they soon +brought up the ponderous statue to the surface. + +A few days later some strange people made their appearance suddenly and +noiselessly in our midst. They emerged from the thicket one by one. +Colonel _Don_ Felipe Diaz, then commander of the troops covering the +eastern frontier, had sent me, a couple of days previous, a written +notice, that I still preserve in my power, that tracks of hostile +Indians had been discovered by his scouts, advising me to keep a sharp +look out, lest they should surprise us. Now, to be on the look out in +the midst of a thick, well-nigh impenetrable forest, is a rather +difficult thing to do, particularly with only a few men, and where there +is no road; yet all being a road for the enemy. Warning my men that +danger was near, and to keep their loaded rifles at hand, we continued +our work as usual, leaving the rest to destiny. + +On seeing the strangers, my men rushed on their weapons, but noticing +that the visitors had no guns, but only their _machetes_, I gave orders +not to hurt them. At their head was a very old man: his hair was gray, +his eyes blue with age. He would not come near the statue, but stood at +a distance as if awe-struck, hat in hand, looking at it. After a long +time he broke out, speaking to his own people: "This, boys, is one of +the great men we speak to you about." Then the young men came forward, +with great respect kneeled at the feet of the statue, and pressed their +lips against them. + +Putting aside my own weapons, being consequently unarmed, I went to the +old man, and asked him to accompany me up to the castle, offering my arm +to ascend the 100 steep and crumbling stairs. I again placed my face +near that of my stone _Sosis_, and again the same scene was enacted as +with my own men, with this difference, that the strangers fell on their +knees before me, and, in turn, kissed my hand. The old man after a +while, eyeing me respectfully, but steadily, asked me: "Rememberest thou +what happened to thee whilst thou wert enchanted?" It was quite a +difficult question to answer, and yet retain my superior position, for I +did not know how many people might be hidden in the thicket. "Well, +father," I asked him, "dreamest thou sometimes?" He nodded his head in +an affirmative manner. "And when thou awakest, dost thou remember +distinctly thy dreams?" "_Ma_," no! was the answer. "Well, father," I +continued, "so it happened with me. I do not remember what took place +during the time I was enchanted." This answer seemed to satisfy him. I +again gave him my hand to help him down the precipitous stairs, at the +foot of which we separated, wishing them God-speed, and warning them not +to go too near the villages on their way back to their homes, as people +were aware of their presence in the country. Whence they came, I ignore; +where they went, I don't know. + +Circumcision was a rite in usage among the Egyptians since very remote +times. The Mayas also practiced it, if we are to credit Fray Luis de +Urreta; yet Cogolludo affirms that in his days the Indians denied +observing such custom. The outward sign of utmost reverence seems to +have been identical amongst both the Mayas and the Egyptians. It +consisted in throwing the left arm across the chest, resting the left +hand on the right shoulder; or the right arm across the chest, the +right hand resting on the left shoulder. Sir Gardner Wilkinson, in his +work above quoted, reproduces various figures in that attitude; and Mr. +Champollion Figeac, in his book on Egypt, tells us that in some cases +even the mummies of certain eminent men were placed in their coffins +with the arms in that position. That this same mark of respect was in +use amongst the Mayas there can be no possible doubt. We see it in the +figures represented in the act of worshiping the mastodon's head, on the +west facade of the monument that forms the north wing of the palace and +museum at Chichen-Itza. We see it repeatedly in the mural paintings in +Chaacmol's funeral chamber; on the slabs sculptured with the +representation of a dying warrior, that adorned the mausoleum of that +chieftain. Cogolludo mentions it in his history of Yucatan, as being +common among the aborigines: and my own men have used it to show their +utmost respect to persons or objects they consider worthy of their +veneration. Among my collection of photographs are several plates in +which some of the men have assumed that position of the arms +spontaneously. + +_The sistrum_ was an instrument used by Egyptians and Mayas alike during +the performance of their religious rites and acts of worship. I have +seen it used lately by natives in Yucatan in the dance forming part of +the worship of the sun. The Egyptians enclosed the brains, entrails and +viscera of the deceased in funeral vases, called _canopas_, that were +placed in the tombs with the coffin. When I opened Chaacmol's mausoleum +I found, as I have already said, two stone urns, the one near the head +containing the remains of brains, that near the chest those of the heart +and other viscera. This fact would tend to show again a similar custom +among the Mayas and Egyptians, who, besides, placed with the body an +empty vase--symbol that the deceased had been judged and found +righteous. This vase, held between the hands of the statue of Chaacmol, +is also found held in the same manner by many other statues of +different individuals. It was customary with the Egyptians to deposit in +the tombs the implements of the trade or profession of the deceased. So +also with the Mayas--if a priest, they placed books; if a warrior, his +weapons; if a mechanic, the tools of his art,[TN-23] + +The Egyptians adorned the tombs of the rich--which generally consisted +of one or two chambers--with sculptures and paintings reciting the names +and the history of the life of the personage to whom the tomb belonged. +The mausoleum of Chaacmol, interiorly, was composed of three different +superposed apartments, with their floors of concrete well leveled, +polished and painted with yellow ochre; and exteriorly was adorned with +magnificent bas-reliefs, representing his totem and that of his +wife--dying warriors--the whole being surrounded by the image of a +feathered serpent--_Can_, his family name, whilst the walls of the two +apartments, or funeral chambers, in the monument raised to his memory, +were decorated with fresco paintings, representing not only Chaacmol's +own life, but the manners, customs, mode of dressing of his +contemporaries; as those of the different nations with which they were +in communication: distinctly recognizable by their type, stature and +other peculiarities. The portraits of the great and eminent men of his +time are sculptured on the jambs and lintels of the doors, represented +life-size. + +In Egypt it was customary to paint the sculptures, either on stone or +wood, with bright colors--yellow, blue, red, green predominating. In +Mayab the same custom prevailed, and traces of these colors are still +easily discernible on the sculptures; whilst they are still very +brilliant on the beautiful and highly polished stucco of the walls in +the rooms of certain monuments at Chichen-Itza. The Maya artists seem to +have used mostly vegetable colors; yet they also employed ochres as +pigments, and cinnabar--we having found such metallic colors in +Chaacmol's mausoleum. Mrs. Le Plongeon still preserves some in her +possession. From where they procured it is more than we can tell at +present. + +The wives and daughters of the Egyptian kings and noblemen considered it +an honor to assist in the temples and religious ceremonies: one of their +principal duties being to play the sistrum. + +We find that in Yucatan, _Nicte_ (flower) the sister of _Chaacmol_, +assisted her elder brother, _Cay_, the pontiff, in the sanctuary, her +name being always associated with his in the inscriptions which adorn +the western facade of that edifice at Uxmal, as that of her sister, +_Mo_,[TN-24] is with Chaacmol's in some of the monuments at Chichen. + +Cogolludo, when speaking of the priestesses, _virgins of the sun_, +mentions a tradition that seems to refer to _Nicte_, stating that the +daughter of a king, who remained during all her life in the temple, +obtained after her death the honor of apotheosis, and was worshiped +under the name of _Zuhuy-Kak_ (the fire-virgin), and became the goddess +of the maidens, who were recommended to her care. + +As in Egypt, the kings and heroes were worshiped in Mayab after their +death; temples and pyramids being raised to their memory. Cogolludo +pretends that the lower classes adored fishes, snakes, tigers and other +abject animals, "even the devil himself, which appeared to them in +horrible forms" ("Historia de Yucatan," book IV., chap. vii.) + +Judging from the sculptures and mural paintings, the higher classes in +_Mayab_ wore, in very remote ages, dresses of quite an elaborate +character. Their under garment consisted of short trowsers, reaching the +middle of the thighs. At times these trowsers were highly ornamented +with embroideries and fringes, as they formed their only article of +clothing when at home; over these they wore a kind of kilt, very similar +to that used by the inhabitants of the Highlands in Scotland. It was +fastened to the waist with wide ribbons, tied behind in a knot forming a +large bow, the ends of which reached to the ankles. Their shoulders +were covered with a tippet falling to the elbows, and fastened on the +chest by means of a brooch. Their feet were protected by sandals, kept +in place by ropes or ribbons, passing between the big toe and the next, +and between the third and fourth, then brought up so as to encircle the +ankles. They were tied in front, forming a bow on the instep. Some wore +leggings, others garters and anklets made of feathers, generally yellow; +sometimes, however, they may have been of gold. Their head gears were of +different kinds, according to their rank and dignity. Warriors seem to +have used wide bands, tied behind the head with two knots, as we see in +the statue of Chaacmol, and in the bas-reliefs that adorn the queen's +chamber at Chichen. The king's coiffure was a peaked cap, that seems to +have served as model for the _pschent_, that symbol of domination over +the lower Egypt; with this difference, however, that in Mayab the point +formed the front, and in Egypt the back. + +The common people in Mayab, as in Egypt, were indeed little troubled by +their garments. These consisted merely of a simple girdle tied round the +loins, the ends falling before and behind to the middle of the thighs. +Sometimes they also used the short trowsers; and, when at work, wrapped +a piece of cloth round their loins, long enough to cover their legs to +the knees. This costume was completed by wearing a square cloth, tied on +one of the shoulders by two of its corners. It served as cloak. To-day +the natives of Yucatan wear the same dress, with but slight +modifications. While the aborigines of the _Tierra de Guerra_, who still +preserve the customs of their forefathers, untainted by foreign +admixture, use the same garments, of their own manufacture, that we see +represented in the bas-reliefs of Chichen and Uxmal, and in the mural +paintings of _Mayab_ and Egypt. + +Divination by the inspection of the entrails of victims, and the study +of omens were considered by the Egyptians as important branches of +learning. The soothsayers formed a respected order of the priesthood. +From the mural paintings at Chichen, and from the works of the +chroniclers, we learn that the Mayas also had several manners of +consulting fate. One of the modes was by the inspection of the entrails +of victims; another by the manner of the cracking of the shell of a +turtle or armadillo by the action of fire, as among the Chinese. (In the +_Hong-fan_ or "the great and sublime doctrine," one of the books of the +_Chou-king_, the ceremonies of _Pou_ and _Chi_ are described at length). +The Mayas had also their astrologers and prophets. Several prophecies, +purporting to have been made by their priests, concerning the preaching +of the Gospel among the people of Mayab, have reached us, preserved in +the works of Landa, Lizana, and Cogolludo. There we also read that, even +at the time of the Spanish conquest, they came from all parts of the +country, and congregated at the shrine of _Kinich-kakmo_, the deified +daughter of CAN, to listen to the oracles delivered by her through the +mouths of her priests and consult her on future events. By the +examination of the mural paintings, we know that _animal magnetism_ was +understood and practiced by the priests, who, themselves, seem to have +consulted clairvoyants. + +The learned priests of Egypt are said to have made considerable progress +in astronomical sciences. + +The _gnomon_, discovered by me in December, last year, in the ruined +city of Mayapan, would tend to prove that the learned men of Mayab were +not only close observers of the march of the celestial bodies and good +mathematicians; but that their attainments in astronomy were not +inferior to those of their brethren of Chaldea. Effectively the +construction of the gnomon shows that they had found the means of +calculating the latitude of places, that they knew the distance of the +solsticeal points from the equator; they had found that the greatest +angle of declination of the sun, 23 deg. 27', occurred when that +luminary reached the tropics where, during nearly three days, said angle +of declination does not vary, for which reason they said that the _sun_ +had arrived at his resting place. + +The Egyptians, it is said, in very remote ages, divided the year by +lunations, as the Mayas, who divided their civil year into eighteen +months, of twenty days, that they called U--moon--to which they added +five supplementary days, that they considered unlucky. From an epoch so +ancient that it is referred to the fabulous time of their history, the +Egyptians adopted the solar year, dividing it into twelve months, of +thirty days, to which they added, at the end of the last month, called +_Mesore_, five days, named _Epact_. + +By a most remarkable coincidence, the Egyptians, as the Mayas, +considered these additive five days _unlucky_. + +Besides this solar year they had a sideral or sothic year, composed of +365 days and 6 hours, which corresponds exactly to the Mayas[TN-25] +sacred year, that Landa tells us was also composed of 365 days and 6 +hours; which they represented in the gnomon of Mayapan by the line that +joins the centers of the stela that forms it. + +The Egyptians, in their computations, calculated by a system of _fives_ +and _tens_; the Mayas by a system of _fives_ and _twenties_, to four +hundred. Their sacred number appears to have been 13 from the remotest +antiquity, but SEVEN seems to have been a _mystic number_ among them as +among the Hindoos, Aryans, Chaldeans, Egyptians, and other nations. + +The Egyptians made use of a septenary system in the arrangement of the +grand gallery in the center of the great pyramid. Each side of the wall +is made of seven courses of finely polished stones, the one above +overlapping that below, thus forming the triangular ceiling common to +all the edifices in Yucatan. This gallery is said to be seven times the +height of the other passages, and, as all the rooms in Uxmal, Chichen +and other places in Mayab, it is seven-sided. Some authors pretend to +assume that this well marked septenary system has reference to the +_Pleiades_ or _Seven stars_. _Alcyone_, the central star of the group, +being, it is said, on the same meridian as the pyramid, when it was +constructed, and _Alpha_ of Draconis, the then pole star, at its lower +culmination. + +But if, as the Rev. Joseph A. Seiss and others pretend, the scientific +attainments required for the construction of such enduring monument +surpassed those of the learned men of Egypt, we must, of necessity, +believe that the architect who conceived the plan and carried out its +designs must have acquired his knowledge from an older people, +possessing greater learning than the priests of Memphis; unless we try +to persuade ourselves, as the reverend gentleman wishes us to, that the +great pyramid was built under the direct inspiration of the Almighty. + +Nearly all the monuments of Yucatan bear evidence that the Mayas had a +predilection for number SEVEN. Since we find that their artificial +mounds were composed of seven superposed platforms; that the city of +Uxmal contained seven of these mounds; that the north side of the palace +of King CAN was adorned with seven turrets; that the entwined serpents, +his totem, which adorn the east facade of the west wing of this +building, have seven rattles; that the head-dress of kings and queens +were adorned with seven blue feathers; in a word, that the number SEVEN +prevails in all places and in everything where Maya influence has +predominated. + +It is a FACT, and one that may not be altogether devoid of significance, +that this number SEVEN seems to have been the mystic number of many of +the nations of antiquity. It has even reached our times as such, being +used as symbol[TN-26] by several of the secret societies existing among +us. + +If we look back through the vista of ages to the dawn of civilized life +in the countries known as the _old world_, we find this number SEVEN +among the Asiatic nations as well as in Egypt and Mayab. Effectively, in +Babylon, the celebrated temple of _the seven lights_ was made of _seven_ +stages or platforms. In the hierarchy of Mazdeism, the _seven marouts_, +or genii of the winds, the _seven amschaspands_; then among the Aryans +and their descendants, the _seven horses_ that drew the chariot of the +sun, the _seven apris_ or shape of the flame, the _seven rays_ of Agni, +the _seven manons_ or criators of the Vedas; among the Hebrews, the +_seven days_ of the creation, the _seven lamps_ of the ark and of +Zacharias's vision, the _seven branches_ of the golden candlestick, the +_seven days_ of the feast of the dedication of the temple of Solomon, +the _seven years_ of plenty, the _seven years_ of famine; in the +Christian dispensation, the _seven_ churches with the _seven_ angels at +their head, the _seven_ golden candlesticks, the _seven seals_ of the +book, the _seven_ trumpets of the angels, the _seven heads_ of the beast +that rose from the sea, the _seven vials_ full of the wrath of God, the +_seven_ last plagues of the Apocalypse; in the Greek mythology, the +_seven_ heads of the hydra, killed by Hercules, etc. + +The origin of the prevalence of that number SEVEN amongst all the +nations of earth, even the most remote from each other, has never been +satisfactorily explained, each separate people giving it a different +interpretation, according to their belief and to the tenets of their +religious creeds. As far as the Mayas are concerned, I think to have +found that it originated with the _seven_ members of CAN'S family, who +were the founders of the principal cities of _Mayab_, and to each of +whom was dedicated a mound in Uxmal and a turret in their palace. Their +names, according to the inscriptions carved on the monuments raised by +them at Uxmal and Chichen, were--CAN (serpent) and [C]OZ (bat), his +wife, from whom were born CAY (fish), the pontiff; AAK (turtle), who +became the governor of Uxmal; CHAACMOL (leopard), the warrior, who +became the husband of his sister MOO (macaw), the Queen of _Chichen_, +worshiped after her death at Izamal; and NICTE (flower), the priestess +who, under the name of _Zuhuy-Kuk_, became the goddess of the maidens. + +The Egyptians, in expressing their ideas in writing, used three +different kinds of characters--phonetic, ideographic and +symbolic--placed either in vertical columns or in horizontal lines, to +be read from right to left, from left to right, as indicated by the +position of the figures of men or animals. So, also, the Mayas in their +writings employed phonetic, symbolic and ideographic signs, combining +these often, forming monograms as we do to-day, placing them in such a +manner as best suited the arrangement of the ornamentation of the facade +of the edifices. At present we can only speak with certainty of the +monumental inscriptions, the books that fell in the hands of the +ecclesiastics at the time of the conquest having been destroyed. No +truly genuine written monuments of the Mayas are known to exist, except +those inclosed within the sealed apartments, where the priests and +learned men of MAYAB hid them from the _Nahualt_ or _Toltec_ invaders. + +As the Egyptians, they wrote in vertical columns and horizontal lines, +to be read generally from right to left. The space of this small essay +does not allow me to enter in more details; they belong naturally to a +work of different nature. Let it therefore suffice, for the present +purpose, to state that the comparative study of the language of the +Mayas led us to suspect that, as it contains words belonging to nearly +all the known languages of antiquity, and with exactly the same meaning, +in their mode of writing might be found letters or characters or signs +used in those tongues. Studying with attention the photographs made by +us of the inscriptions of Uxmal and Chichen, we were not long in +discovering that our surmises were indeed correct. The inscriptions, +written in squares or parallelograms, that might well have served as +models for the ancient hieratic Chaldeans, of the time of King Uruck, +seem to contain ancient Chaldee, Egyptian and Etruscan characters, +together with others that seem to be purely Mayab. + +Applying these known characters to the decipherment of the inscriptions, +giving them their accepted value, we soon found that the language in +which they are written is, in the main, the vernacular of the aborigines +of Yucatan and other parts of Central America to-day. Of course, the +original mother tongue having suffered some alterations, in consequence +of changes in customs induced by time, invasions, intercourse with other +nations, and the many other natural causes that are known to affect +man's speech. + +The Mayas and the Egyptians had many signs and characters identical; +possessing the same alphabetical and symbolical value in both nations. +Among the symbolical, I may cite a few: _water_, _country or region_, +_king_, _Lord_, _offerings_, _splendor_, the _various emblems of the +sun_ and many others. Among the alphabetical, a very large number of the +so-called Demotic, by Egyptologists, are found even in the inscription +of the _Akab[c]ib_ at Chichen; and not a few of the most ancient +Egyptian hieroglyphs in the mural inscriptions at Uxmal. In these I have +been able to discover the Egyptian characters corresponding to our own. + +A a, B, C, CH or K, D, T, I, L, M, N, H, P, TZ, PP, U, OO, X, having the +same sound and value as in the Spanish language, with the exception of +the K, TZ, PP and X, which are pronounced in a way peculiar to the +Mayas. The inscriptions also contain these letters, A, I, X and PP +identical to the corresponding in the Etruscan alphabet. The finding of +the value of these characters has enabled me to decipher, among other +things, the names of the founders of the city of UXMAL; as that of the +city itself. This is written apparently in two different ways: whilst, +in fact, the sculptors have simply made use of two homophone signs, +notwithstanding dissimilar, of the letter M. As to the name of the +founders, not only are they written in alphabetical characters, but also +in ideographic, since they are accompanied in many instances by the +totems of the personages: e. g[TN-27] for AAK, which means turtle, is the +image of a turtle; for CAY (fish), the image of a fish; for Chaacmol +(leopard) the image of a leopard; and so on, precluding the possibility +of misinterpretation. + +Having found that the language of the inscriptions was Maya, of course +I had no difficulty in giving to each letter its proper phonetic value, +since, as I have already said, Maya is still the vernacular of the +people. + +I consider that the few facts brought together will suffice at present +to show, if nothing else, a strange similarity in the workings of the +mind in these two nations. But if these remarkable coincidences are not +merely freaks of hazard, we will be compelled to admit that one people +must have learned it from the other. Then will naturally arise the +questions, Which the teacher? Which the pupil? The answer will not only +solve an ethnological problem, but decide the question of priority. + +I will now briefly refer to the myth of Osiris, the son of _Seb and +Nut_, the brother of _Aroeris_, the elder _Horus_, of _Typho_, of +_Isis_, and of _Nephthis_, named also NIKE. The authors have given +numerous explanations, result of fancy; of the mythological history of +that god, famous throughout Egypt. They made him a personification of +the inundations of the NILE; ISIS, his wife and sister, that of the +irrigated portion of the land of Egypt; their sister, _Nephthis_, that +of the barren edge of the desert occasionally fertilized by the waters +of the Nile; his brother and murderer _Tipho_, that of the sea which +swallows up the _Nile_. + +Leaving aside the mythical lores, with which the priests of all times +and all countries cajole the credulity of ignorant and superstitious +people, we find that among the traditions of the past, treasured in the +mysterious recesses of the temples, is a history of the life of Osiris +on Earth. Many wise men of our days have looked upon it as fabulous. I +am not ready to say whether it is or it is not; but this I can assert, +that, in many parts, it tallies marvelously with that of the culture +hero of the Mayas. + +It will be said, no doubt, that this remarkable similarity is a mere +coincidence. But how are we to dispose of so many coincidences? What +conclusion, if any, are we to draw from this concourse of so many +strange similes? + +In this case, I cannot do better than to quote, verbatim, from Sir +Gardner Wilkinson's work, chap. xiii: + + "_Osiris_, having become King of Egypt, applied himself towards + civilizing his countrymen, by turning them from their former + barbarous course of life, teaching them, moreover, to cultivate and + improve the fruits of the earth. * * * * * With the same good + disposition, he afterwards traveled over the rest of the world, + inducing the people everywhere to submit to his discipline, by the + mildest persuasion." + +The rest of the story relates to the manner of his killing by his +brother Typho, the disposal of his remains, the search instituted by his +wife to recover the body, how it was stolen again from her by _Typho_, +who cut him to pieces, scattering them over the earth, of the final +defeat of Typho by Osiris's son, Horus. + +Reading the description, above quoted, of the endeavors of Osiris to +civilize the world, who would not imagine to be perusing the traditions +of the deeds of the culture heroes _Kukulean_[TN-28] and Quetzalcoatl of +the Mayas and of the Aztecs? Osiris was particularly worshiped at Philo, +where the history of his life is curiously illustrated in the sculptures +of a small retired chamber, lying nearly over the western adytum of the +temple, just as that of Chaacmol in the mural paintings of his funeral +chamber, the bas-reliefs of what once was his mausoleum, in those of the +queen's chamber and of her box in the tennis court at Chichen. + + "The mysteries of Osiris were divided into the greater and less + mysteries. Before admission into the former, it was necessary that + the initiated should have passed through all the gradations of the + latter. But to merit this great honor, much was expected of the + candidate, and many even of the priesthood were unable to obtain + it. Besides the proofs of a virtuous life, other recommendations + were required, and to be admitted to all the grades of the higher + mysteries was the greatest honor to which any one could aspire. It + was from these that the mysteries of Eleusis were borrowed." + Wilkinson, chap. xiii. + +In Mayab there also existed mysteries, as proved by symbols discovered +in the month of June last by myself in the monument generally called the +_Dwarf's House_, at Uxmal. It seemed that the initiated had to pass +through different gradations to reach the highest or third; if we are to +judge by the number of rooms dedicated to their performance, and the +disposition of said rooms. The strangest part, perhaps, of this +discovery is the information it gives us that certain signs and symbols +were used by the affiliated, that are perfectly identical to those used +among the masons in their symbolical lodges. I have lately published in +_Harper's Weekly_, a full description of the building, with plans of the +same, and drawings of the signs and symbols existing in it. These secret +societies exist still among the _Zunis_ and other Pueblo Indians of New +Mexico, according to the relations of Mr. Frank H. Cushing, a gentleman +sent by the Smithsonian Institution to investigate their customs and +history. In order to comply with the mission intrusted to him, Mr. +Cushing has caused his adoption in the tribe of the Zunis, whose +language he has learned, whose habits he has adopted. Among the other +remarkable things he has discovered is "the existence of twelve sacred +orders, with their priests and their secret rites as carefully guarded +as the secrets of freemasonry, an institution to which these orders have +a strange resemblance." (From the New York _Times_.) + +If from Egypt we pass to Nubia, we find that the peculiar battle ax of +the Mayas was also used by the warriors of that country; whilst many of +the customs of the inhabitants of equatorial Africa, as described by Mr. +DuChaillu[TN-29] in the relation of his voyage to the "Land of Ashango," +so closely resemble those of the aborigines of Yucatan as to suggest +that intimate relations must have existed, in very remote ages, between +their ancestors; if the admixture of African blood, clearly discernible +still, among the natives of certain districts of the peninsula, did not +place that _fact_ without the peradventure of a doubt. We also see +figures in the mural paintings, at Chichen, with strongly marked African +features. + +We learned by the discovery of the statue of Chaacmol, and that of the +priestess found by me at the foot of the altar in front of the shrine +of _Ix-cuina_, the Maya Venus, situated at the south end of _Isla +Mugeres_, it was customary with persons of high rank to file their teeth +in sharp points like a saw. We read in the chronicles that this fashion +still prevailed after the Spanish conquest; and then by little and +little fell into disuse. Travelers tells us that it is yet in vogue +among many of the tribes in the interior of South America; particularly +those whose names seem to connect with the ancient Caribs or Carians. + +Du Chaillu asserts that the Ashangos, those of Otamo, the Apossos, the +Fans, and many other tribes of equatorial Africa, consider it a mark of +beauty to file their front teeth in a sharp point. He presents the Fans +as confirmed cannibals. We are told, and the bas-reliefs on Chaacmol's +mausoleum prove it, that the Mayas devoured the hearts of their fallen +enemies. It is said that, on certain grand occasions, after offering the +hearts of their victims to the idols, they abandoned the bodies to the +people, who feasted upon them. But it must be noticed that these +last-mentioned customs seemed to have been introduced in the country by +the Nahualts and Aztecs; since, as yet, we have found nothing in the +mural paintings to cause us to believe that the Mayas indulged in such +barbaric repasts, beyond the eating of their enemies' hearts. + +The Mayas were, and their descendants are still, confirmed believers in +witchcraft. In December, last year, being at the hacienda of +X-Kanchacan, where are situated the ruins of the ancient city of +Mayapan, a sick man was brought to me. He came most reluctantly, stating +that he knew what was the matter with him: that he was doomed to die +unless the spell was removed. He was emaciated, seemed to suffer from +malarial fever, then prevalent in the place, and from the presence of +tapeworm. I told him I could restore him to health if he would heed my +advice. The fellow stared at me for some time, trying to find out, +probably, if I was a stronger wizard than the _H-Men_ who had bewitched +him. He must have failed to discover on my face the proverbial +distinctive marks great sorcerers are said to possess; for, with an +incredulous grin, stretching his thin lips tighter over his teeth, he +simply replied: "No use--I am bewitched--there is no remedy for me." + +Mr. Du Chaillu, speaking of the superstitions of the inhabitants of +Equatorial Africa, says: "The greatest curse of the whole country is the +belief in sorcery or witchcraft. If the African is once possessed with +the belief that he is bewitched his whole nature seems to change. He +becomes suspicious of his dearest friends. He fancies himself sick, and +really often becomes sick through his fears. At least seventy-five per +cent of the deaths in all the tribes are murders for supposed sorcery." +In that they differ from the natives of Yucatan, who respect wizards +because of their supposed supernatural powers. + +From the most remote antiquity, as we learn from the writings of the +chroniclers, in all sacred ceremonies the Mayas used to make copious +libations with _Balche_. To-day the aborigines still use it in the +celebrations of their ancient rites. _Balche_ is a liquor made from the +bark of a tree called Balche, soaked in water, mixed with honey and left +to ferment. It is their beverage _par excellence_. The nectar drank by +the God of Greek Mythology. + +Du Chaillu, speaking of the recovery to health of the King of _Mayo_lo, +a city in which he resided for some time, says: "Next day he was so much +elated with the improvement in his health that he got tipsy on a +fermented beverage which he had prepared two days before he had fallen +ill, and which he made by _mixing honey and water, and adding to it +pieces of bark of a certain tree_." (Journey to Ashango Land, page 183.) + +I will remark here that, by a strange _coincidence_, we not only find +that the inhabitants of Equatorial Africa have customs identical with +the MAYAS, but that the name of one of their cities MAYO_lo_, seems to +be a corruption of MAYAB. + +The Africans make offerings upon the graves of their departed friends, +where they deposit furniture, dress and food--and sometimes slay slaves, +men and women, over the graves of kings and chieftains, with the belief +that their spirits join that of him in whose honor they have been +sacrificed. + +I have already said that it was customary with the Mayas to place in the +tombs part of the riches of the deceased and the implements of his trade +or profession; and that the great quantity of blood found scattered +round the slab on which the statue of Chaacmol is reclining would tend +to suggest that slaves were sacrificed at his funeral. + +The Mayas of old were wont to abandon the house where a person had died. +Many still observe that same custom when they can afford to do so; for +they believe that the spirit of the departed hovers round it. + +The Africans also abandon their houses, remove even the site of their +villages when death frequently occur;[TN-30] for, say they, the place is +no longer good; and they fear the spirits of those recently deceased. + +Among the musical instruments used by the Mayas there were two kinds of +drums--the _Tunkul_ and the _Zacatan_. They are still used by the +aborigines in their religious festivals and dances. + +The _Tunkul_ is a cylinder hollowed from the trunk of a tree, so as to +leave it about one inch in thickness all round. It is generally about +four feet in length. On one side two slits are cut, so as to leave +between them a strip of about four inches in width, to within six inches +from the ends; this strip is divided in the middle, across, so as to +form, as it were, tongues. It is by striking on those tongues with two +balls of india-rubber, attached to the end of sticks, that the +instrument is played. The volume of sound produced is so great that it +can be heard, is[TN-31] is said, at a distance of six miles in calm +weather. The _Zacatan_ is another sort of drum, also hollowed from the +trunk of a tree. This is opened at both ends. On one end a piece of +skin is tightly stretched. It is by beating on the skin with the hand, +the instrument being supported between the legs of the drummer, in a +slanting position, that it is played. + +Du Chaillu, Stanley and other travelers in Africa tell us that, in case +of danger and to call the clans together, the big war drum is beaten, +and is heard many miles around. Du Chaillu asserts having seen one of +these _Ngoma_, formed of a hollow log, nine feet long, at Apono; and +describes a _Fan_ drum which corresponds to the _Zacatan_ of the Mayas +as follows: "The cylinder was about four feet long and ten inches in +diameter at one end, but only seven at the other. The wood was hollowed +out quite thin, and the skin stretched over tightly. To beat it the +drummer held it slantingly between his legs, and with two sticks +beats[TN-32] furiously upon the upper, which was the larger end of the +cylinder." + +We have the counterpart of the fetish houses, containing the skulls of +the ancestors and some idol or other, seen by Du Chaillu, in African +towns, in the small huts constructed at the entrance of all the villages +in Yucatan. These huts or shrines contain invariably a crucifix; at +times the image of some saint, often a skull. The last probably to cause +the wayfarer to remember he has to die; and that, as he cannot carry +with him his worldly treasures on the other side of the grave, he had +better deposit some in the alms box firmly fastened at the foot of the +cross. Cogolludo informs us these little shrines were anciently +dedicated to the god of lovers, of histrions, of dancers, and an +infinity of small idols that were placed at the entrance of the +villages, roads and staircases of the temples and other parts. + +Even the breed of African dogs seems to be the same as that of the +native dogs of Yucatan. Were I to describe these I could not make use of +more appropriate words than the following of Du Chaillu: "The pure bred +native dog is small, has long straight ears, long muzzle and long curly +tail; the hair is short and the color yellowish; the pure breed being +known by the clearness of his color. They are always lean, and are kept +very short of food by their owners. * * * Although they have quick ears; +I don't think highly of their scent. They are good watch dogs." + +I could continue this list of similes, but methinks those already +mentioned as sufficient for the present purpose. I will therefore close +it by mentioning this strange belief that Du Chaillu asserts exists +among the African warriors: "_The charmed leopard's skin worn about the +warrior's middle is supposed to render that worthy spear-proof._" + +Let us now take a brief retrospective glance at the FACTS mentioned in +the foregoing pages. They seem to teach us that, in ages so remote as to +be well nigh lost in the abyss of the past, the _Mayas_ were a great and +powerful nation, whose people had reached a high degree of civilization. +That it is impossible for us to form a correct idea of their +attainments, since only the most enduring monuments, built by them, have +reached us, resisting the disintegrating action of time and atmosphere. +That, as the English of to-day, they had colonies all over the earth; +for we find their name, their traditions, their customs and their +language scattered in many distant countries, among whose inhabitants +they apparently exercised considerable civilizing influence, since they +gave names to their gods, to their tribes, to their cities. + +We cannot doubt that the colonists carried with them the old traditions +of the mother country, and the history of the founders of their +nationality; since we find them in the countries where they seem to have +established large settlements soon after leaving the land of their +birth. In course of time these traditions have become disfigured, +wrapped, as it were, in myths, creations of fanciful and untutored +imaginations, as in Hindostan: or devises of crafty priests, striving to +hide the truth from the ignorant mass of the people, fostering their +superstitions, in order to preserve unbounded and undisputed sway over +them, as in Egypt. + +In Hindostan, for example, we find the Maya custom of carrying the +children astride on the hips of the nurses. That of recording the vow of +the devotees, or of imploring the blessings of deity by the imprint of +the hand, dipped in red liquid, stamped on the walls of the shrines and +palaces. The worship of the mastodon, still extant in India, Siam, +Burmah, as in the worship of _Ganeza_, the god of knowledge, with an +elephant head, degenerated in that of the elephant itself. + +Still extant we find likewise the innate propensity of the Mayas to +exclude all foreigners from their country; even to put to death those +who enter their territories (as do, even to-day, those of Santa Cruz and +the inhabitants of the Tierra de Guerra) as the emissaries of Rama were +informed by the friend of the owner of the country, the widow of the +_great architect_, MAYA, whose name HEMA means in the Maya language "she +who places ropes across the roads to impede the passage." Even the +history of the death of her husband MAYA, killed with a thunderbolt, by +the god _Pourandara_, whose jealousy was aroused by his love for her and +their marriage, recalls that of _Chaacmol_, the husband of _Moo_, killed +by their brother Aac, by being stabbed by him three times in the back +with a spear, through jealousy--for he also loved _Moo_. + +Some Maya tribes, after a time, probably left their home at the South of +Hindostan and emigrated to Afghanistan, where their descendants still +live and have villages on the North banks of the river _Kabul_. They +left behind old traditions, that they may have considered as mere +fantasies of their poets, and other customs of their forefathers. Yet we +know so little about the ancient Afghans, or the Maya tribes living +among them, that it is impossible at present to say how much, if any, +they have preserved of the traditions of their race. All we know for a +certainty is that many of the names of their villages and tribes are +pure American-Maya words: that their types are very similar to the +features of the bearded men carved on the pillars of the castle, and on +the walls of other edifices at Chichen-Itza: while their warlike habits +recall those of the Mayas, who fought so bravely and tenaciously the +Spanish invaders. + +Some of the Maya tribes, traveling towards the west and northwest, +reached probably the shores of Ethiopia; while others, entering the +Persian Gulf, landed near the embouchure of the Euphrates, and founded +their primitive capital at a short distance from it. They called it _Hur +(Hula) city of guests just arrived_--and according to Berosus gave +themselves the name of _Khaldi_; probably because they intrenched their +city: _Kal_ meaning intrenchment in the American-Maya language. We have +seen that the names of all the principal deities of the primitive +Chaldeans had a natural etymology in that tongue. Such strange +coincidences cannot be said to be altogether accidental. Particularly +when we consider that their learned men were designated as MAGI, (Mayas) +and their Chief _Rab-Mag_, meaning, in Maya, the _old man_; and were +great architects, mathematicians and astronomers. As again we know of +them but imperfectly, we cannot tell what traditions they had preserved +of the birthplace of their forefathers. But by the inscriptions on the +tablets or bricks, found at Mugheir and Warka, we know for a certainty +that, in the archaic writings, they formed their characters of straight +lines of uniform thickness; and inclosed their sentences in squares or +parallelograms, as did the founders of the ruined cities of Yucatan. And +from the signet cylinder of King Urukh, that their mode of dressing was +identical with that of many personages represented in the mural +paintings at Chichen-Itza. + +We have traced the MAYAS again on the shores of Asia Minor, where the +CARIANS at last established themselves, after having spread terror among +the populations bordering on the Mediterranean. Their origin is unknown: +but their customs were so similar to those of the inhabitants of Yucatan +at the time even of the Spanish conquest--and their names CAR, _Carib_ +or _Carians_, so extensively spread over the western continent, that we +might well surmise, that, navigators as they were, they came from those +parts of the world; particularly when we are told by the Greek poets and +historians, that the goddess MAIA was the daughter of _Atlantis_. We +have seen that the names of the khati, those of their cities, that of +Tyre, and finally that of Egypt, have their etymology in the Maya. + +Considering the numerous coincidences already pointed out, and many more +I could bring forth, between the attainments and customs of the Mayas +and the Egyptians; in view also of the fact that the priests and learned +men of Egypt constantly pointed toward the WEST as the birthplace of +their ancestors, it would seem as if a colony, starting from Mayab, had +emigrated Eastward, and settled on the banks of the Nile; just as the +Chinese to-day, quitting their native land and traveling toward the +rising sun, establish themselves in America. + +In Egypt again, as in Hindostan, we find the history of the children of +CAN, preserved among the secret traditions treasured up by the priests +in the dark recesses of their temples: the same story, even with all its +details. It is TYPHO who kills his brother OSIRIS, the husband of their +sister ISIS. Some of the names only have been changed when the members +of the royal family of CAN, the founder of the cities of Mayab, reaching +apotheosis, were presented to the people as gods, to be worshiped. + +That the story of _Isis_ and _Osiris_ is a mythical account of CHAACMOL +and MOO, from all the circumstances connected with it, according to the +relations of the priests of Egypt that tally so closely with what we +learn in Chichen-Itza from the bas-reliefs, it seems impossible to +doubt. + +Effectively, _Osiris_ and _Isis_ are considered as king and queen of the +Amenti--the region of the West--the mansion of the dead, of the +ancestors. Whatever may be the etymology of the name of Osiris, it is a +_fact_, that in the sculptures he is often represented with a spotted +skin suspended near him, and Diodorus Siculus says: "That the skin is +usually represented without the head; but some instances where this is +introduced show it to be the _leopard's_ or _panther's_." Again, the +name of Osiris as king of the West, of the Amenti, is always written, in +hieroglyphic characters, representing a crouching _leopard_ with an eye +above it. It is also well known that the priests of Osiris wore a +_leopard_ skin as their ceremonial dress. + +Now, Chaacmol reigned with his sister Moo, at Chichen-Itza, in Mayab, in +the land of the West for Egypt. The name _Chaacmol_ means, in Maya, a +_Spotted_ tiger, a _leopard_; and he is represented as such in all his +totems in the sculptures on the monuments; his shield being made of the +skin of leopard, as seen in the mural paintings. + +Osiris, in Egypt, is a myth. Chaacmol, in Mayab, a reality. A warrior +whose mausoleum I have opened; whose weapons and ornaments of jade are +in Mrs. Le Plongeon's possession; whose heart I have found, and sent a +piece of it to be analysed by professor Thompson of Worcester, Mass.; +whose effigy, with his name inscribed on the tablets occupying the place +of the ears, forms now one of the most precious relics in the National +Museum of Mexico. + +ISIS was the wife and sister of Osiris. As to the etymology of her name +the Maya affords it in I[C]IN--_the younger sister_. As Queen of the +Amenti, of the West, she also is represented in hieroglyphs by the same +characters as her husband--a _leopard, with an eye above_, and the sign +of the feminine gender an oval or egg. But as a goddess she is always +portrayed with wings; the vulture being dedicated to her; and, as it +were, her totem. + +MOO the wife and sister of _Chaacmol_ was the Queen of Chichen. She is +represented on the Mausoleum of Chaacmol as a _Macaw_ (Moo in the Maya +language); also on the monuments at Uxmal: and the chroniclers tell us +that she was worshiped in Izamal under the name of _Kinich-Kakmo_; +reading from right to left the _fiery macaw with eyes like the sun_. + +Their protecting spirit is a _Serpent_, the totem of their father CAN. +Another Egyptian divinity, _Apap_ or _Apop_, is represented under the +form of a gigantic serpent covered with wounds. Plutarch in his +treatise, _De Iside et Osiride_, tells us that he was enemy to the sun. + +TYPHO was the brother of Osiris and Isis; for jealousy, and to usurp the +throne, he formed a conspiration and killed his brother. He is said to +represent in the Egyptian mythology, the sea, by some; by others, _the +sun_. + +AAK (turtle) was also the brother of Chaacmol and _Moo_. For jealousy, +and to usurp the throne, he killed his brother at treason with three +thrusts of his _spear_ in the back. Around the belt of his statue at +Uxmal used to be seen hanging the heads of his brothers CAY and +CHAACMOL, together with that of MOO; whilst his feet rested on their +flayed bodies. In the sculpture he is pictured surrounded by the _Sun_ +as his protecting spirit. The escutcheon of Uxmal shows that he called +the place he governed the land of the Sun. In the bas-reliefs of the +Queen's chamber at Chichen his followers are seen to render homage to +the _Sun_; others, the friends of MOO, to the _Serpent_. So, in Mayab as +in Egypt, the _Sun_ and _Serpent_ were inimical. In Egypt again this +enmity was a myth, in Mayab a reality. + +AROERIS was the brother of Osiris, Isis and Typho. His business seems to +have been that of a peace-maker. + +CAY was also the brother of _Chaacmol_, _Moo_ and _Aac_. He was the high +pontiff, and sided with Chaacmol and Moo in their troubles, as we learn +from the mural paintings, from his head and flayed body serving as +trophy to Aac as I have just said. + +In June last, among the ruins of _Uxmal_, I discovered a magnificent +bust of this personage; and I believe I know the place where his remains +are concealed. + +NEPHTHIS was the sister of Isis, Osiris, Typho, and Aroeris, and the +wife of Typho; but being in love with Osiris she managed to be taken to +his embraces, and she became pregnant. That intrigue having been +discovered by Isis, she adopted the child that Nephthis, fearing the +anger of her husband, had hidden, brought him up as her own under the +name of Anubis. Nephthis was also called NIKE by some. + +NIC or NICTE was the sister of _Chaacmol_, _Moo_, _Aac_, and _Cay_, with +whose name I find always her name associated in the sculptures on the +monuments. Here the analogy between these personages would seem to +differ, still further study of the inscriptions may yet prove the +Egyptian version to contain some truth. _Nic_ or _Nicte_[TN-33] means +flower; a cast of her face, with a flower sculptured on one cheek, +exists among my collections. + +We are told that three children were born to Isis and Osiris: Horus, +Macedo, and Harpocrates. Well, in the scene painted on the walls of +Chaacmol's funeral chamber, in which the body of this warrior is +represented stretched on the ground, cut open under the ribs for the +extraction of the heart and visceras, he is seen surrounded by his wife, +his sister NIC, his mother _Zo[c]_, and four children. + +I will close these similes by mentioning that _Thoth_ was reputed the +preceptor of Isis; and said to be the inventor of letters, of the art of +reckoning, geometry, astronomy, and is represented in the hieroglyphs +under the form of a baboon (cynocephalus). He is one of the most ancient +divinities among the Egyptians. He had also the office of scribe in the +lower regions, where he was engaged in noting down the actions of the +dead, and presenting or reading them to Osiris. One of the modes of +writing his name in hieroglyphs, transcribed in our common letters, +reads _Nukta_; a word most appropriate and suggestive of his attributes, +since, according to the Maya language, it would signify to understand, +to perceive, _Nuctah_: while his name Thoth, maya[TN-34] _thot_ means to +scatter flowers; hence knowledge. In the temple of death at Uxmal, at +the foot of the grand staircase that led to the sanctuary, at the top of +which I found a sacrificial altar, there were six cynocephali in a +sitting posture, as Thoth is represented by the Egyptians. They were +placed three in a row each side of the stairs. Between them was a +platform where a skeleton, in a kneeling posture, used to be. To-day the +cynocephali have been removed. They are in one of the yard[TN-35] of the +principal house at the Hacienda of Uxmal. The statue representing the +kneeling skeleton lays, much defaced, where it stood when that ancient +city was in its glory. + +In the mural paintings at Chichen-Itza, we again find the baboon +(Cynocephalus) warning Moo of impending danger. She is pictured in her +home, which is situated in the midst of a garden, and over which is seen +the royal insignia. A basket, painted blue, full of bright oranges, is +symbolical of her domestic happiness. She is sitting at the door. Before +her is an individual pictured physically deformed, to show the ugliness +of his character and by the flatness of his skull, want of moral +qualities, (the[TN-36] proving that the learned men of Mayab understood +phrenology). He is in an persuasive attitude; for he has come to try to +seduce her in the name of another. She rejects his offer: and, with her +extended hand, protects the armadillo, on whose shell the high priest +read her destiny when yet a child. In a tree, just above the head of the +man, is an ape. His hand is open and outstretched, both in a warning and +threatening position. A serpent (_can_), her protecting spirit, is seen +at a short distance coiled, ready to spring in her defense. Near by is +another serpent, entwined round the trunk of a tree. He has wounded +about the head another animal, that, with its mouth open, its tongue +protruding, looks at its enemy over its shoulder. Blood is seen oozing +from its tongue and face. This picture forcibly recalls to the mind the +myth of the garden of Eden. For here we have the garden, the fruit, the +woman, the tempter. + +As to the charmed _leopard_ skin worn by the African warriors to render +them invulnerable to spears, it would seem as if the manner in which +Chaacmol met his death, by being stabbed with a spear, had been known +to their ancestors; and that they, in their superstitious fancies, had +imagined that by wearing his totem, it would save them from being +wounded with the same kind of weapon used in killing him. Let us not +laugh at such a singular conceit among uncivilized tribes, for it still +prevails in Europe. On many of the French and German soldiers, killed +during the last German war, were found talismans composed of strips of +paper, parchment or cloth, on which were written supposed cabalistic +words or the name of some saint, that the wearer firmly believed to be +possessed of the power of making him invulnerable. + +I am acquainted with many people--and not ignorant--who believe that by +wearing on their persons rosaries, made in Jerusalem and blessed by the +Pope, they enjoy immunity from thunderbolts, plagues, epidemics and +other misfortunes to which human flesh is heir. + +That the Mayas were a race autochthon on this western continent and did +not receive their civilization from Asia or Africa, seems a rational +conclusion, to be deduced from the foregoing FACTS. If we had nothing +but their _name_ to prove it, it should be sufficient, since its +etymology is only to be found in the American Maya language. + +They cannot be said to have been natives of Hindostan; since we are told +that, in very remote ages, _Maya_, a prince of the Davanas, established +himself there. We do not find the etymology of his name in any book +where mention is made of it. We are merely told that he was a wise +magician, a great architect, a learned astronomer, a powerful Asoura +(demon), thirsting for battles and bloodshed: or, according to the +Sanscrit, a Goddess, the mother of all beings that exist--gods and men. + +Very little is known of the Mayas of Afghanistan, except that they call +themselves _Mayas_, and that the names of their tribes and cities are +words belonging to the American Maya language. + +Who can give the etymology of the name _Magi_, the learned men amongst +the Chaldees. We only know that its meaning is the same as _Maya_ in +Hindostan: magician, astronomer, learned man. If we come to Greece, +where we find again the name _Maia_, it is mentioned as that of a +goddess, as in Hindostan, the mother of the gods: only we are told that +she was the daughter of Atlantis--born of Atlantis. But if we come to +the lands beyond the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, then we find a +country called MAYAB, on account of the porosity of its soil; that, as a +sieve (_Mayab_), absorbs the water in an incredibly short time. Its +inhabitants took its name from that of the country, and called +themselves _Mayas_. It is a fact worthy of notice, that in their +hieroglyphic writings the sign employed by the Egyptians to signify a +_Lord_, a _Master_, was the image of a sieve. Would not this seem to +indicate that the western invaders who subdued the primitive inhabitants +of the valley of the Nile, and became the lords and masters of the land, +were people from MAYAB; particularly if we consider that the usual +character used to write the name of Egypt was the sieve, together with +the sign of land? + +We know that the _Mayas_ deified and paid divine honors to their eminent +men and women after their death. This worship of their heroes they +undoubtedly carried, with other customs, to the countries where they +emigrated; and, in due course of time, established it among their +inhabitants, who came to forget that MAYAB was a locality, converted it +in to a personalty: and as some of their gods came from it, Maya was +considered as the _Mother of the Gods_, as we see in Hindostan and +Greece. + +It would seem probable that the Mayas did not receive their civilization +from the inhabitants of the Asiatic peninsulas, for the religious lores +and customs they have in common are too few to justify this assertion. +They would simply tend to prove that relations had existed between them +at some epoch or other; and had interchanged some of their habits and +beliefs as it happens, between the civilized nations of our days. This +appears to be the true side of the question; for in the figures +sculptured on the obelisks of Copan the Asiatic type is plainly +discernible; whilst the features of the statues that adorn the +celebrated temples of Hindostan are, beyond all doubts, American. + +The FACTS gathered from the monuments do not sustain the theory advanced +by many, that the inhabitants of tropical America received their +civilization from Egypt and Asia Minor. On the contrary. It is true that +I have shown that many of the customs and attainments of the Egyptians +were identical to those of the Mayas; but these had many religious rites +and habits unknown to the Egyptians; who, as we know, always pointed +towards the West as the birthplaces of their ancestors, and worshiped as +gods and goddesses personages who had lived, and whose remains are still +in MAYAB. Besides, the monuments themselves prove the respective +antiquity of the two nations. + +According to the best authorities the most ancient monuments raised by +the Egyptians do not date further back than about 2,500 years B. C. +Well, in Ake, a city about twenty-five miles from Merida, there exists +still a monument sustaining thirty-six columns of _katuns_. Each of +these columns indicate a lapse of one hundred and sixty years in the +life of the nation. They then would show that 5,760 years has intervened +between the time when the first stone was placed on the east corner of +the uppermost of the three immense superposed platforms that compose the +structure, and the placing of the last capping stone on the top of the +thirty-sixth column. How long did that event occur before the Spanish +conquest it is impossible to surmise. Supposing, however, it did take +place at that time; this would give us a lapse of at least 6,100 years +since, among the rejoicings of the people this sacred monument being +finished, the first stone that was to serve as record of the age of the +nation, was laid by the high priest, where we see it to-day. I will +remark that the name AKE is one of the Egyptians' divinities, the third +person of the triad of Esneh; always represented as a child, holding his +finger to his mouth. AKE also means a _reed_. To-day the meaning of the +word is lost in Yucatan. + +Cogolludo, in his history of Yucatan, speaking of the manner in which +they computed time, says: + +"They counted their ages and eras, which they inscribed in their books +every twenty years, in lustrums of four years. * * * When five of these +lustrums were completed, they called the lapse of twenty years _katun_, +which means to place a stone down upon another. * * * In certain sacred +buildings and in the houses of the priests every twenty years they place +a hewn stone upon those already there. When seven of these stones have +thus been piled one over the other began the _Ahau katun_. Then after +the first lustrum of four years they placed a small stone on the top of +the big one, commencing at the east corner; then after four years more +they placed another small stone on the west corner; then the next at the +north; and the fourth at the south. At the end of the twenty years they +put a big stone on the top of the small ones: and the column, thus +finished, indicated a lapse of one hundred and sixty years." + +There are other methods for determining the approximate age of the +monuments of Mayab: + +1st. By means of their actual orientation; starting from the _fact_ that +their builders always placed either the faces or angles of the edifices +fronting the cardinal points. + +2d. By determining the epoch when the mastodon became extinct. For, +since _Can_ or his ancestors adopted the head of that animal as symbol +of deity, it is evident they must have known it; hence, must have been +contemporary with it. + +3d. By determining when, through some great cataclysm, the lands became +separated, and all communications between the inhabitants of _Mayab_ and +their colonies were consequently interrupted. If we are to credit what +Psenophis and Sonchis, priests of Heliopolis and Sais, said to Solon +"that nine thousand years before, the visit to them of the Athenian +legislator, in consequence of great earthquakes and inundations, the +lands of the West disappeared in one day and a fatal night," then we may +be able to form an idea of the antiquity of the ruined cities of America +and their builders. + +Reader, I have brought before you, without comments, some of the FACTS, +that after ten years of research, the paintings on the walls of +_Chaacmol's_ funeral chamber, the sculptured inscriptions carved on the +stones of the crumbling monuments of Yucatan, and a comparative study of +the vernacular of the aborigines of that country, have revealed to us. I +have no theory to offer. Many years of further patient investigations, +the full interpretation of the monumental inscriptions, and, above all, +the possession of the libraries of the learned men of _Mayab_, are the +_sine qua non_ to form an uncontrovertible one, free from the +speculations which invalidate all books published on the subject +heretofore. + +If by reading these pages you have learned something new, your time has +not been lost; nor mine in writing them. + + + + +Transcriber's Note + + +The following typographical errors have been maintained: + + Page Error + TN-1 7 precipituous should read precipitous + TN-2 17 maya should read Maya + TN-3 20 Egpptian should read Egyptian + TN-4 23 _Moo_ should read _Moo_ + TN-5 23 Guetzalcoalt should read Quetzalcoatl + TN-6 26 ethonologists should read ethnologists + TN-7 26 what he said should read what he said. + TN-8 26 absorbant should read absorbent + TN-9 28 lazuri: should read lazuli: + TN-10 28 (Strange should read Strange + TN-11 28 Chichsen should read Chichen + TN-12 28 Moo should read Moo, + TN-13 32 Birmah should read Burmah + TN-14 32 Siameeses. should read Siameses. + TN-15 33 maya should read Maya + TN-16 34 valleys should read valleys, + TN-17 35 even to-day should read even to-day. + TN-18 38 inthe should read in the + TN-19 38 Bresseur should read Brasseur + TN-20 49 (maya) should read (Maya) + TN-21 51 epoch should read epochs + TN-22 52 Wishnu, should read Vishnu, + TN-23 58 his art, should read his art. + TN-24 59 _Mo_, should read _Moo_, + TN-25 62 Mayas should read Mayas' + TN-26 63 as symbol should read as a symbol + TN-27 66 e. g should read e. g. + TN-28 68 _Kukulean_ should read _Kukulcan_ + TN-29 69 DuChaillu should read Du Chaillu + TN-30 72 death frequently occur; should read death frequently occurs; + or deaths frequently occur; + TN-31 72 is is should read it is + TN-32 73 beats should read beat + TN-33 80 _Nicte_ should read _Nicte_ + TN-34 80 maya should read Maya + TN-35 81 yard should read yards + TN-36 81 qualities, (the should read qualities (thus + +The following words are inconsistently spelled and hyphenated: + + Aac / Aak + Ake / Ake + birth-place / birthplace + facade / facade + Ha / Ha + Hapimu / Hapimu + Hema / Hema + Kinich-Kakmo / Kinich-kakmo + Na / Na + Rab-mag / Rabmag + _senotes_ / senotes + Tipho / Typho + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Vestiges of the Mayas, by Augustus Le Plongeon + *** \ No newline at end of file