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THE MEXICAN CALENDAR STONE.
THE MEXICAN CALENDAR STONE,
By Philipp J. J. Valentini, Ph, D.
(From the German.)
TERRA COTTA FIGURE FROM ISLA MUJERES,
NORTHEAST COAST OF YUCATAN.
ARCHEOLOGICAL COMMUNICATION ON YUCATAN,
By Dr. Augustus Le Plqngeon.
NOTES ON YUCATAN,
By Mrs. Alice D. Le Plongeon.
compiled and arranged
By STEPHEN SALISBURY, Jr,
WORCESTER :
PRESS OF CHARLES HAMILTON.
1 8 7 9.
WITH THE RESPECTS OF
Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society , 0/ 4p?'i7 24 and
October 21, 1878.
PRIVATELY PRINTED*
/\ J )
CONTENTS
Page.
The Mexican Calendar Stone, By Philipp J. J. Valentini, Ph. D. 5
Introductory Note to Vortrag, By Committee of Publi-
cation . 5
Biographical Note . . . . . , • .r • • • • • • 27
Terra Co tta Figure fro*m Isla Mujeres', By 'Stephen Salisbury, jr. 31
“ Historia ‘ de Yucatan” (Note.) 53
“ Mapa de Yucatan” (Note.) 53
Archeological Communication on Yucatan, By Dr. Augustus
Le Plongeon . / .* . -. . ^ . . .‘V ' 57
Notes on Yucatan, By Mrs. Alice D. Le Plongeon 69
ILLUSTRATIONS.
The Mexican Calendar Stone Frontispiece.
Shrine and Terra Cotta Figures, from Isla Mujeres and British
Honduras 32
Plan of Southernmost Point of Isla Mujeres, showing the
position of Ruins 37
Plan of Shrine at South Point of Isla Mujeres 42
Statue called Chaac-Mol, from a Photograph taken for the
Rev’d Edward E. Hale 57
Mural Tracing, from Ciiichen-Itza, Yucatan 59
Sculptured Figure on a Sapote Lintel, at Chichen-Itza,
Yucatan 65
Parque Hidalgo, at MIsrida, Yucatan 69
Dock and Wharf at Progreso, Port of Yucatan 71
Custom-House at Progreso 72
A Plant of Henequen (Agave Sisalensis) 73
A Tonkos (an implement used by the Indians to separate the
hemp filament) 74
Government House, at Merida, Yucatan 76
Indian Hut in Yucatan, with Indians at work 79
Public Square at Izamal. Yucatan 81
Casa del Adelantado Montejo, at MLrida, Yucatan .... 90
City Hall, at M£rida, Yucatan 91
Cathedral, at MDrida, Yucatan 92
House of Senor Dario Galera, at MRrida, Yucatan .... 94
Court-Yard of House of Dona Bruna Galera de Casares,
at MDrida, Yucatan 95
Mestiza Servants in Yucatan, making Tortillas 96
THE MEXICAN CALENDAR, STONE.
By Philipp J. J. Valentini, Ph. D.
[Proceedings of American Antiquarian Society. April 24, 187S.]
Note by the Committee of Publication.
"We arc indebted to Stephen Salisbury', Jr., Esq., fora translation
of Doctor Valentiui’s lecture on the “Mexican Calendar Stone,”
“ Yortrag fiber den Mexicanischen Calendar- Stein, gehalten von Prof.
Ph. Valentini, am 30. April 1878, in New York, U. S. A., vor dem
Beutsch yes. icissenschaftlichen Verein ”), and also for copies of a
heliotype of the stone itself. The views of the lecturer, as is the
case with all discussions in the publications of the society, are left to
rest on their own merits. The matter is cognate to the recent investi-
gations in the central portions of our continent, to which attention has
been drawn by various communications from Mr. Salisbury, and is
’clearly and ably set forth by the lecturer. If the system of interpreta-
tion applied by Prof. Valentini to the “Calendar Stone” may not be
wholly peculiar to himself, but has also been substantially advanced by
Senor Alfredo Chavero, a learned Mexican scholar (see “The Nation,”
New York, August 8th, and September 19th, 1878), the fact that two
learned inquirers concur in adopting the same conclusion respecting the
nature of the monument, and similar principles for the interpretation of
its inscriptions, only gives additional weight to their opinions. The
collateral estimate, by Professor Valentini, of the real character and pur-
pose of Bishop Lauda’s phonetic alphabet, is plausible, and very likely
to prove to be correct. It is a view that removes all obscurity from the
dubious claim of an absolute key to the literal rendering of Mexican
hieroglyphics. The aim of the missionary bishop to construct an
alphabet from signs familiar to the natives, which might enable him to
prepare religious manuals for their benefit, would be no more than has
been attempted by other Catholic teachers— for example, among the
Indians of Nova Scotia, as described by Father Vetromile.
2
G
Impressed, as we are, by the profound philosophy of Judge Morgan’s
essays upon Indian institutions, civil and political, and much as we
admire the acute aud exhaustive studies, among authorities, of Mr.
Baudelier upon “the warlike customs and organization of the Mexican
tribes,” aud “ the distribution and tenure of lands, and the customs
with respect to inheritance among the ancient Mexicans,” we cannot
ignore the existence of indications of mysterious advances in science,
and a mystical archaeological lore, possibly extending to remote periods
of time, which remain unexplained aud unaccounted for by their pro-
cesses of reasoning. There is something for which the theories of
these writers do not afford a means of solution. It is exactly this that
has excited and bewildered the imaginations of explorers long before
Brasseur de Bourbourg and Dr. Le Plongeon, and will continue to
bewilder others till its nature and significance are more clearly under-
stood. The successes of Du Chaillu, of Schliemaun, and of Stanley, are
remarkable instances of triumphant results in cases where enthusiasm
had been supposed to lack the guidance of wisdom. If earnest meu are
willing to take the risks of personal research iu hazardous regions, or
exercise their ingenuity and their scholarship in attempting to solve
historical or archaeological problems, we may accept thankfully the infor-
mation they give, without first demanding in all cases unquestionable
evidence or absolute demonstration.
S. F. Haven, Chairman.
YORTRAG OF DR. YALENTINI.
Gentlemen. — Will you give your attention to a lecture, which
you have kindly invited me to deliver, though I am not a member of
your society? The lecture will treat of certain studies to which 1
have devoted myself for a long time — the so-called Mexican hieroglyph-
ics, and especially a monument which is known as the Mexican
Calendar Stone.
My opinion of the circumstances to which this monument of old
Mexican art owes its origin, the explanation of the object, I might say
of the subject, which the artist has undertaken to represent, — the
description and meaning of the hieroglyphic symbols which appear in
detail, of their combination iu a harmonious whole, and finally also the
establishing of a system by which the deciphering of them is made pos-
7
sible, will demand your time and patience; but by this detailed investi-
gation we shall finally arrive at the desired result. It will be demon-
strated that this so-called Calendar Stone did not, as has hitherto been
supposed, serve the Mexicans for highly scientific purposes, to wit:
Astronomy, but for very profane purposes, for human sacrifices, with
whose blood they thought to conciliate the auger of their gods. The
rich sculptures with which the disc is ornamented will prove to l?e no
hieroglyphics concerning the days of the passage of the sun through
the zenith of the City of Mexico, or through equinoxial or solstitial
points; but I shall be able to demonstrate to you that the artist has suc-
ceeded in these sculptures in bringing before our eyes a very abstract
theme, namely, that of the division of time, and indeed that peculiar
division of time which existed among the people of Anahuac before the
Spanish conquest. This is a brief outline of what I propose to discuss
in this lecture.
In a lecture which touches so closely the culture and civilization of
ancieut Mexico, a glance at that culture and civilization would be
desirable, but for lack of time I must deny myself that pleasure. I
shall call to your minds your recollection of the accounts of the Con-
quest, of all the impressions you have gathered and retained from your
acquaintance with Mexican antiquities, paintings and curiosities. But
as I have spoken of this monument as one upon which the divisions of
time of this nation are said to be engraved, and as this representation
and form of hieroglyphic symbols has been suggested, I consider it my
duty to make some observations for the better understanding of this
particular form of writing.
The Mexican hieroglyphics are not to be read in the same manner as
those of Egypt or Assyria, by sound. If you look upon a Mexican
picture-sheet, and see a sculpture, a group of couuected ornaments
made up of human heads, animals, flowers, etc., and see them projected
either in a horizontal or vertical line, do not necessarily conclude that
each ornament in a group is a letter, the group itself a word, and the
union of many or few of such groups a sentence, the meaning of which
can be deciphered by the aid of the alphabet-key. The Mexicans pos-
sessed a language very highly developed; they had expressions for each
idea, abstract and concrete, and could convey them with wonderfully
subtle shades, full of feeling and rich in thought; but to separate the
human voice into vowel and consonant sounds, and to depict each indi-
vidual one by an arbitrary mark, symbol or letter, and then to form of
these letters the sounded word, and to place each syllable one after the
other as we do in writing, was to them an unknown art. This has
been lately controverted. It is claimed that a Yucatan alphabet has
been found, that a Yucatan picture-book, — the so-called Codex Tro —
has been thereby interpreted. A gigantic piece of nonsense has thus
come to the surface. It is claimed that the Codex is a description
of the Yucatecos from the glacial period, of the gradual elevation of the
(
8
chain of the Antilles, and like ante-diluvian events. This Yucatan
alphabet is nothing more than an attempt by a missionary bishop, Diego
de Lauda, to teach the natives their own language phonetically, in our
manner, but with their own symbols. I will not follow this subject
further, but I am willing to give more detailed explanations hereafter if
it is desirable.
The Mexicans, as we have said, used no phonetic system, but had an
expressive picture-writing. When they desired to communicate with
each other, they took the brush and color and depicted the most
characteristic scenes of an event on paper. In these representations
the fancy of the painter had full play. Each of several artists would
depict the same event in a different manner, though there were certain
limits to be observed. In expressing the various and daily recur-
ring human dealings they bound themselves to an entirely distinct, con-
ventional method of fixed form. For example, if they would convey the
idea of going, we find always footsteps leading from one person to an-
other or to a house. If it concerns speaking, there flies always from the
mouth of the speaker a flake, representing the breath; when singing, the
flake is larger, longer, and in a certain measure divided. If they spoke
of a certain person whose name was “ BlacJcfuot ” they painted close to
his head his name in hieroglyphics, — a foot marked with black dots. If
he was called “ Water-nose” they depicted a face over tvhich a little
stream of blue water was flowing. If the conquest of a city appeared in
their annals, the typical picture of a conquest was a house under whose
crumbling roof a triple flame was applied; but in order to show of what
city or town they spoke, its coat-of-arms was painted close to it. These
coats-of-arms showed in picture their names, and these names were
always derived from some peculiarity growing out of their locality, or
other prominent circumstance. Most of the cities were located on
rising ground, for protection against inundation and the winds. On
that account many of the names of cities end in tepeqne, which signifies
mountain. If there grew upon the mountain many Zapote trees, and if
it was called for this reason Zapotepeque, the coat-of-arms is a moun-
tain on which a Zapote tree is painted. If many quails were caught on
the mountain there was represented the head of a quail.
These brief indications will be sufficient to explain that the so-called
Mexican hieroglyphics were nothing but pictures of natural objects, or
if collected in groups, were representations of scenes and events of then-
social and historical life.
To arrive at an understanding, these Mexican paintings should give
us as little trouble as if we had one of our own ordinary picture-sheets
before us, or any illustration torn out of a book, from whose particulars
■ we had to guess the text which belonged to it. The difficulty of under-
standing it is as follows : At first sight, our unaccustomed eye is un-
favorably impressed ; the reason is that the Mexican painters did not
draw like the practiced artist of to-day. They drew, so to speak, like
9
a highly-gifted "but untaught child, without regard to the distribu-
tion of light and shadow, in mere outlines, in lines sharply defined; but
all the main properties of the objects are vividly portrayed, and often
exaggerated to caricature. The eye very soon pardons this deformity.
We liud this method of representation quite to the purpose, for in the
great similarity of objects it never leaves a doubt as to what is intended.
The peculiar difficulty in interpreting the pictures is that we may not
know at all the objects represented. We may not know them, in the
first place, for the reason that such objects, to-day, have entirely gone
out of use. To this class belong many pictures of their gods and
goddesses, lares aud penates, but especially the entire paraphernalia of
their complicated heathen worship. Secondly, the pictures may be unin-
telligible to us because they represent objects which belong only to
those countries, zones, and nationalities where they exist: As for
instance, certain tropical animals and plants, their utensils for cooking,
for art, and for labor. Who, for instance, would recognize the coat-of-
arms which we have mentioned above, of Zapotepeque, without having
previously seen the particular structure of the tree, of its trunk, of
its leaves, its flowers and fruits, or if he had seen it in a modern repre-
sentation, would have recognized that Mexican style of representation?
Thirdly, pictures for certain abstract ideas find a place here. Who
would know, without being told, that the representation of the idea of
a year was a ribbon or rope wound up in form of a knot? In this
case, you see, the picture stands not only for the object itself, but for
something else which men have been accustomed to associate with its
form. The picture is indeed only a symbol. Let these few examples
suffice; I must go on.
In overcoming the difficulties I have mentioned, and which we meet
in the explanation of every Mexican picture-sheet, we have valuable
assistance provided. In order to convey to the monarch, Charles V., a
picture of the history of the lately conquered people, their customs,
their resources, and the number of the newly acquired cities, Mendoza,
the first Viceroy of Mexico, created a commission of three Indian
painters. One was directed to picture the entire political history of
the Mexican people, from the time of their immigration from the north
to the execution of the last king, Quauhtemotzin, and to present it
exactly as it was pictured in their annals. The second was directed to
picture all the cities, or their emblems, and with each the emblems of
the products which they sent to the metropolis in payment of their
semi-annual tribute. The third was directed to represent the Mexican
method of education of both sexes year by year up to 15 years of age, to
show how the one was taught to be a good mechanic or soldier, and the
other to be a skilful housewife. To each of these pictures an explana-
tory text was attached. We have therefore in this so-called Mendoza
Codex, a political, economical, statistical and social history of the
nation; but the most important fact is that care was taken to connect a
10
particular explanation with each individual figure, and of these there
are upwards of a thousand. We have, therefore, explanations of
nearly a thousand Mexican objects, exactly as the Mexicans pre-
sented them, and as all these objects belong to political, statistical and
social life, we may be sure that we shall meet them again in each
picture-sheet which we may examine. Their recognition will be the
easier, as there is no essential change made by the artist in regard to
the once-established outline, form or color. We have, besides, another
authentic source of interpretation of Mexican hieroglyphic pictures,
in the so-called Codex Vaticanus, a picture book, which was prepared
by some new Mexican magnate of the church, for the Pope, like
that of Mendoza for the Emperor. The Codex Vaticanus is a description
of Mexican cosmogony, mythology, and the calendar. It is painted in
brighter colors than the former, and, like that, each figure is accompa-
nied by a special interpretation. In these we possess, from the earliest
time of the Spanish conquest, when a generation of Mexican painters
was yet alive, an entirely authentic key for the understanding of their
conventional mode of expressing both objects and ideas. Besides these
oflicial interpretations, we have many other private ones. Later archae-
ologists, of Mexican and Spanish origin, collectors and connoisseurs,
have supplied us with many excellent works upon this subject, and have
settled decisively the idea and meaning of a great number of the
figures.
I have thus pointed out the chief sources for the study and under-
standing of Mexican hieroglyphics. Much still remains to be said.
Taken by itself, no one of these picture problems can be explained
successfully without a complete acquaintance with the political history
of this people, ami with their mythology, and without a profound reading
of all the Spanish chroniclers, and especially the reports of the early
missionaries, who, in order to accomplish their object, the conversion
of the natives, were first obliged to become familiar with their mode of
expressing their feelings by symbols or pictures. These missionaries
have not, so far as we know, drawn a single picture, but their descrip-
tions of the new and curious objects which came before their astonished
eyes, may aid us in understanding the pictures themselves, for they are
often so striking that we are sometimes unexpectedly able to find the
corresponding picture upon some sculpture or painted sheet.
After this summary description of what Mexican hieroglyphics sig-
nify, and the sources where we must look for their interpretation, per-
mit me, as a trial of my system, to interpret with you such a picture
problem. As I mentioned before, this will not be undertaken with a
painted picture, but with a sculpture, whose richness oilers us an abun-
dance of matter for investigation.
1 will, in the first place, inform you in what year, by whose order, and
upon what particular festival occasion, this stone disc was first made,
where it was buried, aud when it was afterwards recovered aud brought
11
to light, and what people thought it signified. (The picture which you
sec here is an exact copy of the best photograph at hand of the Mexican
Calendar Stone).
The disc is wrought from an enormous slab of basaltic porphyry. It
stands out in relief from the surface of the block, 9 inches. The diame-
ter is 11 feet 8 inches.
It was, according to our reckoning, about the year 1478, or nearly
four hundred years ago, and only two years before the death of the then
reigning king of Mexico, Axayacatl, that he was reminded by the high
priest of the State of a vow that he had once made ; who spoke as follows :
— (And I will give the long text of the Indian writer, Tezozomoc, in the
fewest words.)* “The building of the large sacrificial pyramid which you
have undertaken approaches its end. You vowed to decorate it with
a beautiful work, in which the Preserver of Mankind, Huitzilopochtli,
could take pleasure. Time presses ; do not delay the work any longer.
* I think,’ said the king, ‘ to replace the sacrificial stone which my
father once devoted to the God of the Sun, with a new one. Let that
be laid aside, but carefully preserved. I will give the laborers provi-
sions and clothing that they may select the most proper stone from the
quarries, and I will send the sculptor gold, cocoa, and colored cloth,
that he may engrave a picture of the sun as it is surrounded by our
other great gods.’ So the workmen went out and quarried the stone,
laying it upon rollers, and 50,000 strong men rolled it along. But as it
was upon the bridge of Xoloc, the beams gave way, the bridge broke in
pieces, the stone fell into the water, and no one dared to remove it from
the bottom of the lake. Then the king was angry and said : ‘ Let them
build a new bridge, with double beams and planks, and bring a new
stone from the quarries of Cuyoacan. Let them bring a second stone
here out of which a trough may be made to receive the blood which
flows as expiation from the sacrificial stone.’ ” When the stone had been
quarried and prepared, and had been rolled over the bridge in good con-
diiiou, there was a feast of joy. Here follows a description of bloody
combats, the praise of the master, whom the king visited in his work-
shop, and the report that the stone had been completed by order of the
king, with a picture of the sun in the middle, surrounded by the other
deities. Again a bloody thanksgiving, celebrated for the completion of
the trough, is mentioned. Then was the question asked, how should
the immense stone be placed on the pyramid ? After it was placed in
position, we read that it was sunk in the surface of an altar. The altar
is of stone, of the height of 8 men, and of the length of 20 cubits.
Before it the trough was placed. Then follows the description of a
bloody festival which was held for the dedication of this sacrificial slab,
and upon it thousands of victims were slain. The king, as chief sacri-
* Kingsborougli’s Mexican Antiquities, Vol. IX., Cap. 47-9. H. Ternaux-Couipans,
Paris, 1803. Vol. I., Cap. 64, page 287-293.
12
fleer, on the first clay killed a hundred victims with his own hand,
drank of their blood, and ate of their flesh; and so arduous was his
labor, and so much did he eat, that he became sick, and soon after died.
He had only time to have his portrait sculptured upon the surface of the
rock of Chapultepeque, according to the custom of Mexican kings. So
much for Tezozomoc’s report. That the sacrificial stone here men-
tioned is identical with this picture, I will, in addition to the descrip-
tion, bring a still further proof. (See picture of the pyramid in Ramu-
sio’s collection).*
No doubt this stone served for all their bloody sacrifices up to the
year 1521. In that year the Spaniards captured the city, and Cortez
ordered the destruction of the entire pyramid, and that the canals of
the city be filled with its fragments. Neither Cortez nor Bernal Diaz,
nor any of the chroniclers of the conquerors, make mention of the
existence of any such monument as the afore-described stone. They
did not undertake its destruction ; nay, they even placed it in the mar-
ket-place, on exhibition, where the pyramid once stood. f This we have
from a missionary chronicler named Duran, between the years 1551 and
15G9, who says he has. always seen it in the same place, and that there
had been so much talk about it, among Spaniards and natives, that
finally his eminence the Bishop of Montul'ar took umbrage, and ordered
its burial in the place where it stood, in order that the memory of the
infamous actions that had been perpetrated upon it might be removed
from sight. Until the year 1790, no one of the many writers on
Mexican antiquities has made the least mention of it. In that year the
repair of the pavement of the market-place was undertaken. In a deep
excavation the laborers struck a slab of stone, which gave such a hol-
low souud from the stroke of the iron, that they thought a treasure-
vault might be concealed under it. When they lifted the slab, they
found no treasure vault, but were astonished when they beheld on one
side the spectacle of this incomparable treasure of ancient Mexican art.
The clergy wished it to be again buried, but the art-loving and liberal
Yiceroy, llevillagigedo, ordered it to be exposed. He caused it to be
* Ramusio’s Viaggi, Giunti, 1556, Tom. III., page 30G.
tSenor Allredo Cliavero, of the Liceo Hidalgo, of Mexico, in a pamphlet written on the
Calendar Stone, ( Calendario Azteca , Ensayo Archieologico por A. Chavero , Secretario per-
petuo de le Sociedad de Geografia y Estadistica dc Mexico ; Secunda Edition , Mexico, 1S7G),
has tlie merit of having first discovered this interesting fact.
A strong proof was thereby given of the identity of our Calendar Stone with that stone-
disc of tlie sun, which King Axnyacatl ordered to he inscribed in the table of the altar placed
on tlie platform of tlie great pyramid. For, if tlie existing generation of conquerors,
according to Duran, rccogni/.ed tlie disc exhibited in 1560, in tlie plaza of Mexico, as that on
which Indians, as well as Spanish captives, were sacrificed, and, further, if tlie Bishop Mou-
tufar ordered this disc to be buried on the same spot (tlie plaza of the city of Mexico), from
which in 1790 it was dug out again, there can be no longer any doubt as to the fact that the
discs described by Tezozomoc and by Duran, are one and tlie same, i. e. Tlie Calendar Stone.
Senor Chavero’s reference is: Ilistoria de las Indias de la Nueva Espana , by Padre Duran ,
Edition de Jose Ramirez. Mexico, 1867. Tom. I., pag. 272.
13
built in on the southerly side of the cathedral, in the ashler-work, of one
of its towers, so that all could see it, and it is to be seen there to-day.
No one had then the least idea that such a stone had ever existed, or
for what purposes’ it might have served. The archaeologists said at
once that it must have some connection with the worship of the sun.
They thought the shield in the centre represented the ancient sun-god,
and while they found the always well-known twenty pictures of the
days of the Mexican month engraved about it in a circle, they gave to
the disc the name by which it is still known, the Mexican Calendar
Stone.
A professor of astronomy and mathematics, Don Leon y Gama, who
was much devoted to Mexican antiquities, and who had at the same time
a small work on Mexican Chronology in preparation, was officially
requested to furnish an interpretation of these rare hieroglyphics. He
accepted the commission, and produced, after twenty months of study
and writing, a work in which he maintained the singular idea that the
disc had served the ancient Mexicans as an astronomical instrument,
lie had deciphered five hieroglyphics upon it, of which one represents
the day upon which the sun goes in its course from the north, another
the day on which it goes back in its course from the south through the
zenith of the Capital of Mexico, the third and fourth hieroglyphics
depict the two days of the passage of the sun through the point of
equal day and night, the fifth is a hieroglyphic of the day of the
Summer solstice. As this theory proceeded on the supposition that the
Mexicans must have been acquainted with the globular form of the
earth, with our divisions by parallels and meridians, and our entirely
modern solar system (an assertion of which we have positive proof to
the contrary) ; and still further, as Gama could not furnish the main
proof, — to identify the five hieroglyphics, or to prove that they appear
at all in any painting or sculpture — and as no authentic interpretation
could be given in corroboration of his assertion, this strange astronom-
ical conception of the monument was assailed on its first publication in
a book by his own countrymen. He, himself, was requested by the
scientific men of the city to make a public defence of his theory, and as
he did not make his appearance, he and his theory were held in con-
tempt. His description of the disc is inaccurate and in many places
entirely false, superficial, and full of imperfections. He disposes of two
of the zones on the disc by the simple remark that, they represent, tiie
one the photosphere of the sun„and the other the Milky Way in the trop-
ical heavens ! Gama is up to to-day the first and only interpreter of this
monument.* In spite of the want of proof in his assertions and of the
* While tills translation Into English was In preparation. The Nation , New York, August S,
1878, prints an article, in which the claim is made that Senor A. Cltavero, in the above-men-
tioned pamphlet, has given us an interpretation of this Aztecan monument; that therefore, my
claim to he the first interpreter of it, after Gama, is a mistaken assumption , and dually, that
3
14
ridiculous nature of his conception, he as well as the monument will
continue to be quoted by those who are interested to establish the supe-
rior culture of the ancient Mexicaus.
The artist, as I said before, has selected as the subject of this altar-
plate, the division of time. How he has handled his subject exhaust-
ively in the symbolic art manner of his nation on this stone disc I will
endeavor to explain to you, and I hope by convincing proofs. I wish to
make you acquainted with the system of the Mexican division of time
as described by the Spanish missionaries and other writers, all of whom
are corroborative of each other.
The Mexican year was a solar year of 365 days. The saying was that
one of their oldest astronomers, Cipac by name, in order to bring the
days of the solar year to a correct number, had added to an old calendar
of 3G0 days, the last five days. Each day had a particular name except
these last five, which had no names; they were held as nameless, unfor-
tunate days, and were called nemotemi. This year of 365 days was
divided into two parts. The larger and first portion, of 260 days, was
called meztli poliualli, or moon reckoning, mez, moon, and puliualli
reckoning. The smaller and latter portion, of 100 or 105 days, was
called tonal-pohualli, or sun reckoning. Besides this division they
divided the year into 18 months, and gave to each month 20 days, and
these 360 days were the foundation of their reckoning. Each month of
20 days had a subdivision of four weeks of five days. A certain
number of years, 52, made what the Spanish writers erroneously called
it is even particular and striking to what an extent the evidence of the learned Mexican scholar
agrees, if not verbatim, at least substantially, with the contents of my Vortrag.
My answer to these remarks has appeared in The Nation, of Sept. 19, 1878. The writer of
the article, brought by tills answer to an absolute silence regarding that latter imprudent
and even odious insinuation, insists, however, on his statement that Senor Chavero has
given an interpretation, and lias his reply printed at the foot of my answer.
This reiterated claim, I am forced to declare, again, is unjustified. I maintain what is
expressed in the Vortrag. Senor Chavero, in continuation of his very interesting pages
on tlie history of the Calendar cut in the stone, attempts, in a few additional pages,
to explain only a certain set of the hieroglyphics which claimed his main attention;
as also A. von Humboldt did when lie explained those engraved in the zone of the 20 days.
Neither of these scholars, however, lias gone over the whole ground of the monument,
and endeavored, as I did, to prove that the whole sum of the multifarious symbols will
turn out to be, so to speak, a text, the purport of which is a full representation of all
those symbols which the ancient Mexicans used for their peculiar division of time, and which
was chosen by the sculptor as an appropriate subject for the celebration of the lapse of the
cycle in the year 1479 A. D.
Now, if A. von Humboldt lias given only a fragmentary interpretation of the stone, and
never thought to call himself its interpreter, nor has been called so by others, and neillier
Albert Gallatin nor Brantz Mayer, two scholars who have written largely on the same
subject, have pretended or were pretended to be interpreters of the monument, I do not
see why Mr. Chavero, under equal conditions as the aforesaid authors, should be called
so>_ml|ess the writer of the article, in order to suit ids purposes, intended to force upon
the term “ interpretation” a meaning different from that which science lias always given
it. To all these gentlemen due merit is given In a larger treatise which I intend to pubfislt.
The restrictions of a public lecture foi bade more elaborate literary relereuces.
15
9
a Mexican century, — tin sitjlo. Each year of this period or cycle of
52 years had its particular name. When this cycle ended, the years ot
the succeeding cycle bore the same names. Finally, the Mexicans
reckoned according to the periods of creation, of which they had four.
The world was, according to their tradition, destroyed by the sun, and
lour times was again reconstructed by it. The first destruction was by
war, the second by hurricane, the third by rain, and the fourth by a
general flood. The traditions of the duration of these periods of crea-
tion vary. The name of the year of creation is always the same ; they
called it. a sacrificial knife, — I Tecpatl. This year, I Tecpatl, forms the
basis of all their chronological calculations. The Mexican system of
the division of time is exhausted by this statement. Allow me now to
make mention of the day which the Mexican astronomers are said to
have interpolated after a lapse of four years, in order to make the
length of the solar year more correct. This assertion, first made by
modern writers, is not upheld by a single authentic source. No Indian,
no Spanish writer, no picture, no sculpture, gives any justification of
such an interpretation. This assertion is not even fortunate enough to
belong to the class of well-grounded suppositious ; it belongs to the
class of learned fictions.
The symbolic figures for the representation of each of these divisions
of time we shall find expressed on this disc, and indeed engraved upon
the zones, which are always laid concentrically around each other.
Let us look first at the centre shield, which is formed by these
zones.
A face looks out of it, ornamented with all imaginable decorations. It
has a neck-chain, ear-rings from the middle of which feathers depend ;
from the under-lip hangs down a tentetl, lip-stone, set with jewels; the
forehead is surrounded by a fillet on which are two large jewels, and in
the middle is a hieroglyphic symbol. If I do not mistake, the hair is
represented braided in skeins. If we analyze the small symbol on the
forehead, we shall find the name of the sun-god, Atonatiuli, expressed
on it. Here, the tub with water in it, and drops springing out, is the
Mexican symbol for water, all, in the Naliuatl language of the natives.
Above this water rises a disc whose margin is set with four small cir-
cles. This is the emblem of the disc of the sun when seen in connec-
tion with other objects. The sun was commonly called tonatiuli. If the
sun-god was intended in his quality of destroyer of the world, and
[fai-ticularly as destroyer by the last great flood, this was expressed by
the prefix Atl, and both words were blended together and called
Atovaliuh. In view of this explanation of the name, it is easy to
understand why the artist engraved the face with the lineaments of
extreme old age. The eye-sockets are deep-sunken, deep wrinkles
appear upon the forehead and the cheeks. The chin and jaws are lean
and emaciated. The artist did not wish to represent the god as a bril-
liant constellation, but as the creator, the giver, the divider of time; as
16
the very oldest being that ever existed. We shall find him now sur-
rounded by all the symbols of time.
It is easy to recognize the above mentioned symbols of the day as
expressed in 1G hours. It is evident that the four larger pointers
indicate sun-rising, meridian, sun-set and midnight. The subdivisions
of 8 hours are marked by the smaller pointers, while the 16 hours are
indicated by the small towers at corresponding distances. Their loca-
tion at exactly equal distances, favors the assumption that they were
also employed for dividers, as they occur on every picture or sculp-
ture extant of the sun’s disc. But I am unable to tell you why our
artist and all his predecessors, instead of further subdividing by
pointed indices, have chosen the figure of this small tower.
Let us turn now to the symbols of the 20 days of the Mexican month.
You will not find them in the broad zone which surrounds the centre
shield, but in the next and smaller one, which is composed of 20 small
houses. You will And the picture for the first day, called Uipac, at the
left of the apex of the pointer of the diadem, as we shall always find the
series of days running towards the left. The bristling head of some
nameless monster signifies the priest-mask of the astronomer who, as the
story goes, interpolated the five days to the 3G0 of the old sun reckoning.
They thus gave to the oldest of their calendar heroes the first place in
the circle of days. The second day, called Ehecatl. wind, is represented
by the head of a crocodile with open jaws, and a fillet upon its head.
The third day is called Calli, house, a Mexican house with flat roof.
The floor, rear-wall, roof, ceiling, pillars and cross-beams are clearly
defined. The fourth day is QueCzpalin, or lizard. The fifth, Oohuatl, or
serpent. The sixth, Miquitzli, or skull. The seventh, Matzatl, a stag.
The eighth, Tochtli, a rabbit. The ninth is Atl, water. The tenth is
Itzcuintli, a hound. A. von Humboldt expresses surprise that this
head is the only one in the entire zone which had its face turned to the
right. He had seen it thus in Gama’s drawing, but the original shows
it in the same position as the rest. The eleventh day is Ozomatl, a mon-
key. The twelfth is Mcilinalli, a creeping plant, a skull surrounded by
this parasite, — the decoration of a hero fallen in battle. The thirteenth
day is Acatl, a cane. This is a tropical bamboo, growing only in moist
places, and therefore is represented stauding in a tub; the bud, breaking
from its envelope of leaves, aud the stalk are easily recognized. The
fourteenth day is Ocelotl, the tiger. The fifteenth, Cozcaquauhtli, a king
vulture. The sixteenth, Quauhtli, the eagle. The seventeenth, Ollin,
a minature of the great centre shield, the destruction of the world.
The eighteenth is Tecpatl, the sacrificial knife. The nineteenth is
Quiahuitl, the head of the statue of the god of rain. And the twentieth
day is Xocliitl, a flower, with the water tub, the growing bud, the
fruit, a kernel of corn aud stamens.
With these 20 representations of the days in an encircling ring, the
unity of the idea of a full month is expressed. That these are indeed*
17
the symbols of the 20 clays Is more than confirmed by the many pictures
which we possess in the Mexican Codices. It is Interesting to observe
that none of the painters or sculptors permit themselves to deviate
essentially from the once established type of expression, either in
outline or in color.
In the interpretation of the following zone, that of the squares with
five points enclosed, ancl also with the other one around this, consisting
of small Glyphs, there is more of difficulty. No picture or text can be
found in accessible sources. In consequence of this lack of external
evidence we must try to develop internal explanation of their meaning.
Therefore let us first examine the construction and arrangement of their
several parts. The zone of the squares is as you see interrupted by the
main pointers, and thereby divided into four equal parts. Each of the
parts consists of teu little houses. Each of these encloses five points.
The prevailing idea that upon this disc the ancient Mexican calendar is
represented leads us to suppose that there was in the sequence of the
squares, as well as in the numbers enclosed therein, a concealed calcu-
lation which referred to the calendar. Let us see, now, what product
we find by adding the given numbers. In each part are ten little houses,
each with five numbers, therefore we obtain 50 for each part, and 200 for
four of them. I frankly confess that I had no idea that the counting of
the 200 numbers could be increased to 260, but Gama has shown me the
way. He says in his description, always so hastily written, regarding
this important zone, the following: “ In it you find the ancient Mexican
reckoning, — Metzlipohualli ; only 200 days are visible. You must look for
the missing 60 under the pointers.” That sounds very artful. We
cannot remove the pointers and look under them. If we could do that
we certainly should not find the 60 days under them. Further explana-
tion Gama does not give. But we will take this bare assertion as
a hint whose meaning it is worth while to investigate more closely. Is
Gama indeed right? and has the artist, forced as he was to show the
pointers on the disc, demanded of the observer to look for the missing
days in the places which he had to cover with the pointers? Now if
these pointers take just as much room as is necessary for placing under
them the 60 numbers, or what is the same, 12 small houses, then the
reckoning must be right. Let us take a compass, therefore, and meas-
ure how much space each leg of a pointer covers. We find it takes just
the room of one and a half houses. One pointer thus gives room for
three houses, or 15 numbers. Now as we have only four main pointers,
we obtain room for 60 numbers. These 60, added to the 200 which we
have already, gives a hypothetical total of 260 numbers. Now the
Moon-reckoning, Metzlipohualli, has just as many days as we have
found numbers here. It is, therefore, very probable that each number
is meant to represent a day.
But this is thus far only a supposition. It might be easily said that
the reckoning was right merely by accident. Has not the artist himself
18
given some certain indication tliat directs the observer to find the miss-
ing GO numbers under the pointers? Look at the cross-lines 'which have
been drawn over the pointers; they are in exact continuation of the
rings with which the zone is surrounded. The ring-lines reach exactly
to the end of the foot of each pointer. We must not suppose them to
serve an ornamental purpose. Such a purpose could only have been
reached if the artist had drawn all the lines parallel with the contours
of the pointers. But by drawing the lines across the pointers, he has
certainly indicated his meaning that the zone of the squares is continu-
ous under the feet of the pointers, and that the corresponding numbers
are also concealed there.
Still we are not certain whether these so found 2G0 numbers are really
symbols of the 260 days of the moon’s reckoning. We shall be per-
fectly sure if wc discover besides these 2G0, the other 105 which com-
plete the year of 365 days.
And in what more fitting place than directly in the following zoue,
that of the Glyphs, may we expect to find the 105 missing days? The
arrangement is, as you see, entirely as in the preceding zone. This
zone is also divided into parts by the intervening pointers. But we
perceive not only four but eight parts. The four little pointers have
stepped between the main ones. The zone also has a new symbol, a
Glyph, which, as it appears to me, is an imitation of a kernel of maize.
Evidently the days of the sun-reckoning should be different from those
of the moon-reckoning. Consequently the different form of representa-
tion is no stumbling-block. The principal thing is that the reckoning
permits 105 such Glyphs to be found in the zone. Beginning to count,
we find 10 Glyphs in each of the upper six divisions, and 5 in each of
the two lower ones. This gives us 70 visible Glyphs. There are still
35 Glyphs wanting for the completed number of the sun-reckoning.
But we observe that the artist again demanded of us to imagine that
the missing number is concealed under the pointers. He has drawn the
lines of continuation of this zone also across the pointers, and not only
over the four large ones, but also across the four smaller ones. Nay,
he has even (and I am afraid induced by very stupid advice), begun to
carve a Glyph on the surface of the evening (west) pointer, within the
cross-lines. We are therefore certain of his intention for the continua-
tion. Let us, as before, measure, to find how many Glyphs will go
under the space of each foot of a pointer. We find the measure gives
one and a half Glyphs. We have 1G such spaces, and therefore room for
24 such Glyphs. These, added to the 70 which we have, give 91. If we
would be consistent we must imagine 10 Glyphs more concealed by the
feathers of the helmets, and we thus reach the sum of 101 Glyphs
within the zone, divided into eight parts. Now we are in distress. We
need not only 101 but 105 Glyphs, and without the discovery of this
last one our entire speculation would be good for nothing. Wherever
19
we look upon the monument this one single Glyph is nowhere to be
found.
Now, gentlemen, the artist must have been just as much at a loss to
represent this last Glyph, as we are to find it. The number 105, an odd
one, does not, as we see, easily allow itself to be divided among the
eight divisions which are equal to each other. This was as clear to the
artist as to us. But let us think how, if he had an intention to repre-
sent 105 days of the sun in this zone, he could have done it?
In order to help himself, he could have drawn the lower part of the
circle, unnoticed by the eye of the spectator, a trifle larger, and thus
have made room for the 105th Glyph, or he could have carved each of
the Glyphs in the lower part of the circle a trifle smaller. But the cir-
cles, as well as the Glyphs, are uniform. He might have been able to
put the missing Glyph between the openings of the lower large pointer,
but he did not; he would thereby have defaced the symmetry of the
whole monument. How did he help himself? In the theoretical expo-
sition of the ancient Mexican division of time, I have made mention of the
last five days of the year, the Nemolemi. In a carved representation of
such a division of time as we have on this monument, these live highly
interesting days ought not to be wanting. But if they are contained
here, then our idea of the purpose which the artist had in his mind will
not only be better corroborated, but we shall at the same time be obliged
to admit that the artist was perfectly aware of the customary computation
of 3G5 days in a year. Tour eyes have, no doubt, before this, found the
place where the artist brings to view the five Nemotemi days. Here !
they are inserted over the large midnight pointer, between the two large
lower tablets of the central shield. Now imagine this section, which is
indeed nothing else than a portion of the double circle of the year,
brought down, and the impression is created as if its central Glyph oc-
cupied just the space where it is missing for the computation of the 105
days of the sun, and in which place the artist did not trust himself to
depict it, for reasons which I have already mentioned. In the strongest
meaning of the words the artist has not finished his task. He demands
that we accept the missing Glyph as standing with the Nemolemi. I
think we can accept this proposition. He, as a true artist, has spoken
more clearly by a hint than we could ever have supposed at the begin-
ning. He was hard pressed, but he has extricated himself skilfully.
“ How?” he thought, laughing, “ I will leave you to guess 1”
Now, for the first time, we have a right to suppose the 260 numbers
in the former zone to represent in reality the 260 days' of the moon-
reckoning. The numbers of each separate zone form the arithmetical
complement of the other. Each, separately, gives us an insight in its
own peculiar separation of the Mexican year, to wit, in the so-called
moon-reckoning of the 260 days, and in the sun-reckoning of the 105
days.
We have found, up to now, the symbols of the 16 hours of the day,
20
those for the 20 days of the mouth, the month itself in the unity of the
day-circle. We have found besides, the sum of 365 days as they were
divided into 260 and 105 days, and Anally the live Nemotemia. We might
ask besides for a representation of the division of the week. Now here
it is. The 5 points in eacli square shall represent the above-mentioned
Mexican week of five days. •
There remain still to be found representations of the 52-year cycle,
and for the four eras of creation.
We shall find the symbol of the cycles of the 52 years engraved in
this last and broader zone which surrounds the entire disc. What is the
proof of the symbol? We have an external proof of it by pictures in the
so-called Mexican Codices. I have selected some for your inspec-
tion. Here they are. (See the drawings for the collection of Kings-
borougli, Codex Vaticanus, pi. 91; Codex Boturini, pi. 10; Codex Telle-
rianus. pis. 6 and 8.) Compare these pictural paintings with those
sculptured on the zone. You will find that they agree completely. In
both a shaft is sunken into a round hole out of which some involuted
object comes forward. We observe on each of the pictural representa-
tions, that each is divided in halves, the one painted gray, the other,
red. We find the same bipartition on this sculpture. What tli is symbol
signifies becomes clear to us by the observation that on the painted
tables, representing the years, we always find the same symbol after the
lapse of 52 years. We find it always connected with the symbol of the
52d year. In one place, in Kingsb. Col., Vol. V., Cod. Tel., page 150,
pi. 8, it is accompanied by an explanatory text which says,— This is
the mark for the binding together of the 52 years.” In this way its
significance as the symbol of the 52-year cycle is established, and an
external proof is furnished. The internal proof proceeds clearly from
an analysis of the symbol in its different parts.
The shaft represents the stick for rubbing,— tetlaxoni, which, put in a
round disc of dry wood, produces, by friction, the sacred spark, by
twirling it round and round. The volutes are the smoke arising there-
from, made red by the reflection from the kindled flame.
For a better and more vivid understanding of the symbol, I will give
you in brief words a description of the re-kindling of the sacred fire, as
the chroniclers have transmitted it to us.
The ancient Mexicans had a superstition that the sun-god would
destroy the world in the last night of the 52d year, and that he would
never come back. To prevail on him to remain, they offered to him of
their own free-will the greatest sacrifices; not a human life only, but
also on all their hearths and in all their dwellings and temples, they
extinguished their fires. They left it to the goodness of the god to give
them back this element so necessary to mankind. Tliey broke all then-
household furniture; they hung black masks before their faces; they
prayed and fasted; and on the evening of the last night they formed a
great procession to a neighboring mountain. Arriving, there is found a
21
man lying on a circular stone, who gave himself voluntarily as a sacri-
fice to the god. Exactly at the midnight hour a priest thrust a knife into
his breast, tore out the heart, and raised it towards the starry heavens
with uplifted hands, while another priest laid a small, round block of
dry, soft wood upon the open wound, and a third priest, springing on
the stone and kneeling over the body, placed a hard stick perpendicu-
larly on the block, which he then with his hands caused to revolve.
This violent friction produced a spark which was caught up and was
immediately carried to a neighboring funeral pile, whose rising flame
proclaimed to the people the promise of the god to delay for a season
the destruction of the world, and to grant to mankind a new lease of
52 years of existence. Wherever among the nations in Asia Minor and
other parts of the continent of Asia, the worship of the suu prevails,
we read always of the same ceremonies at the periodical reproduction
of the sacred fire, but perhaps not with the same bloody rites as in
Mexico. Three pictures showing the kindling of fire cau be seen ') on a
wooden board in the Codex Selden, pi. 10; 2) the same procedure over
the body of a serpent in Codex Laud, pi. 8, botli in the Ivingsborongh
collection, and 3) the same scene upon a human body in the Codex
Veletri, Fol. 31.
In this way the existence of the symbol indicating the larger division
of time, the cycle of 52 years, is found to be represented on the
monument.
You will observe, within the upper part of the same zone, two other
groups of sculptures, which give the idea of knots or loops. Such is
indeed the case. What do they mean? After a close examination of
the painted annals, it appears that this knotted loop is a second sym-
bol, indicating the lapse of a cycle of 52 years. This symbol too, like
the former, which represents the rekindling of the sacred tire, returns
like it each time at the end of 52 years; and not closely connected, and
underneath it as the former, but crowded in so imperceptibly that I only
acquired the knowledge of its existence, when in the collection of
Squier I saw a picture of Mexican aunals where the artist had not
crowded it in but had painted it separately underneath. Near it was
written in the Nahuatl text the word Molpiynxihuitl, — translated it
means the binding together of the years. We say, a century has
elapsed, — the Mexicans said, we bind the years together.
The copies in both cases are, '), in Kingsborough Col., Cod. Boturini,
pi. 10; 2), Codex Squier. I will mention at the same time that the Yuea-
tecos, also the artists of the Palenque sculptures, have used the same
knot as a symbol for a period which had elapsed. The discovery of
these symbols and the establishing of their chronological signification,
will be of value in the future, to throw more light on the history of
Central American nations, as soon as we shall have secured more mate-
rial for study.
We now come to the last of the divisions of time, — to the eras.
4
22
You will find their symbols represented on the four large tablets which
are grouped around the head of the sun-god in a highly original manner.
These eras, as I have said, were great cosmogonic epochs, about the
duration of which the painters do not seem to have entirely agreed.
The number of years indicated by them is various. It is sullicient for
the moment for us to know that the first era (the table for which
is above the sun-god on the right hand) represents the destruc-
tion of the world by war. Tradition tells us that tigers went forth
and broke the bones of men. The head of this tiger wears an ear-
ring with a curled feather, and a tassel depends from the ring.
The four numbers shown in this tablet do not signify dates of days
or years. Four was the sacred number which appears everywhere,
expressed iu circles or lines where suu-feasts or objects particularly
connected with them were concerned. You see this number, four,
repeated in the three other tablets, and also iu a larger form in the
interstices at the sides of the tablets, and once more in the same
manner at the right and left and close to the border of the medallion
which incloses the head. But the symbol affixed to the upper tablet
at the left, 1 Tecpatl (one sacrificial knife), is a genuine symbol of the
day, probably signifying the very day in which the festival was cele-
brated iu memory of the first destruction of the world. The second
tablet has the symbol for Ehecatl, or wind, in memory of the epoch
when the world was destroyed by a hurricane. This epoch is separated
from the first by the point of the diadem of the sun-god, and crowded
iu between these is visible an interesting smaller sculpture, — a wall
with towers of varying size, rent, and the crumbling and failing roof
lifted by the wind. Observe the small symbol for the breath, or wind,
a tassel hanging from the side of the larger tower. The destroyed
building therefore siguifies the royal city. If, as I suppose, the
destroyed building means calli, or house, and the round button on the
roof means one, we should have before us the announcement that on
the day 1 calli a great festival was celebrated to commemorate the
second destruction of the world. If we turn the disc half round
towards the upper side, we recognise in the third tablet the head of
the god of rain, — llaloc. The world, it was said, had been destroyed
for the third time by rain. Rain drops flow down over the nose and
the neck of the god. The festival of this destruction seems to have
been held on the day 1 Quiahuitl (1 Rain), for we see the symbol
for this day placed at the foot of the tablet. Iu the last tablet
you find the representation of the fourth destruction of the world,
by a great flood. Nothing has more strongly led to the supposition
that there might exist a connection between this American nation
and those of the Orient than the communication which the natives
at the time of the conquest had made to the missionaries, that such
an event had occurred. A great flood, as they report, had inun-
dated the world thousands of years ago. Two persons, man and
23
woman, the one Coxcox, the other Xochiquetzal by name, had saved
themselves in a boat, and landed on the top of a mountain. After a
time a vulture came with a bone in its beak. “ The destruction is still
going on,” said Coxcox llut after a while a humming bird came with a
flower in its beak. This was a sign that things on the earth were again
produced. The pair alighted from their boat, and from them are de-
scended the whole human family. This account is regarded iu more
modern times as a fabrication of the priests, and the pictures of it,
Avhich are in existence, are considered simply as inventions. (I will show
you now such a picture. It is from the work of Gemelli, il giro del mendo,
Vol. VI., and is taken from the so-called picture of the migration of
the Aztecs. Out of a sheet of water there projects, as you see, the peak
of a mountain ; on it stands a tree, and on the tree a bird spreads its
wings. At the foot of the mountain peak there comes out of the water
the heads of a man and a woman. The one wears on his head the sym-
bol of his name, the head of Coxcox, a pheasant. The other head bears
that of a hand with a bouquet [ xochitl , a flower, and quetzal , shining
iu green gold]. In the foreground is a boat out of which a naked man
stretches out his hands imploringly to heaven). Now, still under
the impression of this picture, turn your eyes to the sculpture in the
tablet. There you will find represented the flood, and with great
emphasis, by the accumulation of all those symbols with which the
ancient Mexicans conveyed the idea of water, — 1), a tub of standing
water; 2), drops springing out, not two as heretofore in the symbol for
Atl, water, but four drops; 3), the picturg for moisture, a snail; 4),
above, a crocodile, the king of the rivers. Iu the midst of these symbols
which in their combination evidently express abundance of water, you
will notice the profile of a mau with a fillet, and a smaller one of a
woman. There can be no doubt that these profiles indicate the Mexican
Noah — Coxcox , and his wife — Xochiquetzal , and at the same time the
story of them, and the pictures representing the story have not been
invented by the catholic clergy, but really existed among the nations
long before the conquest. At the foot of the tablet stands the date of
the festival day 7 Ozomatl, or 7 Apes.
My task to furnish a proof that the disc contains a complete sculp-
tured representation of the division of time which prevailed in ancieut
Mexico, is mostly completed. We have found the 16 hours of the day,
the 20 days of the month, the 5 days of the week, the 365 days of the
year, the 5 Nemoterui, the two subdivisions of the year of 260 days in
the moon-reckoning and the 105 days in the sun-reckoning, the symbols
for the cycle of 52 years in two different forms, and lastly the four eras.
You will also ask me the signification of another zone — of that which
lies between the zone of the sun-reckoning and that of the cycles. We
will call it the zone of the rain-god, — Tlaloc. By the discovery of entirely
analogous pictures in the painted annals “ of rain streaming from out
of the clouds,” the explanation of the twelve sculptures resembling each
24
other, is justified. Under each of these clouds discharging rain you
will observe four drops falling on a bed of earth, represented by three
furrows in which there lies a seed-corn. This was the mode of repre-
senting cultivated land. In consideration that on the great sacrificial
pyramid there stood, as I showed you on the Ramusio drawing, not
only the temple of the sun, but also that of the rain-god, — Tlaloc , the
artist, on the occasion of the consecration of the pyramid, of the
dedication of the sacrificial slab, brought also his homage to the
rain-god. by a representation of the rain, the fertilizer of all things.
But I have not yet completed my explanation of the disc of the sun.
The zone of the cycles owes us still more important disclosures. As
yet we know only what each of these cycle-tablets means ; not what all
together signify. As the zone, Mefzlipohualli, would have remained un-
explained if we had looked only at each small house by itself and not at
the meaning of them regarded as a whole, so it is here. We shall have
to count the tablets in order to solve the problem which it is evident
the artist has laid before us in connecting them with each other. It
is evident that they must be connected with each other, as a whole
series of tablets, and consequently as a series of cycles or festivals.
You see each of these tablets brought close to the border of the next
one, in the same manner in which the painters used to represent the
series of successive years (as you will see here on this painting, copied
from the annals) in which the frame of each year appears closely con-
nected with the preceding one. On one disc the series and connection
of the sculptured tablets of the cycles begins at the bottom, from the
two heads decorated with helmets. Whom these heads represent I am
unable to tell. The artist may have had in his mind to represent the
discoverer and improver of the calendar of the sun. From them the
zone goes round to the right and left and each half ends in a pointer
above. These two pointers converge towards a conspicuous tablet
between them, which crowns the whole disc.
By counting the tablets, we find 12 on each side, and 24 in all. Now
if each of these tablets and the corresponding cycle includes 52 years,
then 24 such tablets would express a total of 1248 years. What we
have to do with these 1248 years has clearly been indicated by the artist.
We must bring them into connection with the large tablet at the head of
the disc, for nothing can be understood by the two pointers alone.
These pointers have a certain function to perform. They are, as it
were, the leaders of their respective cycle columns. They move them
towards this crown-tablet and thereby indicate that these two columns
should be brought into a certain connection with it. The true meaning
of this connection will not be understood before we know what the
symbol engraved on the crown-tablet may signify. Nothing is easier to
decypher. It is that of Acatl, a cane, which we have become acquainted
with as the symbol for a certain day. We sec added to this symbol
the number 13; consequently we read 13 Acatl. Now, as 13 Acatl
is a well-known name for a distinct Mexican year, to wit, for the last
year of a cycle of 52 years, let us translate this year of 13 Acatl into
our own chronological language. To do this I simply refer, for I must
he brief, to the authentic reduction tables. which I can show and explain
if it is desired. This year, 13 Acatl, changed into our corresponding
year will give us A. D. 1479.
A year engraved in such a place as this evokes from the beginning the
supposition that it was intended to designate a time in which this work
of art was made and consecrated to its public uses. We disperse all
doubts if we call to mind the donor of this altar-disc, the king Axayacatl,
of whom the chronicler, Tezozomoc, tells us that, sickening in conse-
quence of his feast of consecration, he lived but a year louger. The
reign of this king was from 1466 to 1480. You see, therefore, lww
reliable is the report of the historian, [Tezozomoc, aud that the symbol, 13
Acatl, can not fairly be understood to signify the day 13 Acatl of the
Mexican calendar, but must be interpreted by the year of this very
same name, which year is found equivalent to ours, A. 1). 1479.] Now,
the connection into which the artist wished to bring these two semi-
circles of cycles to the year A. D. 1479, was no other, as it seems, than
to inform the -observer that when, in this year, 13 Acatl, he carved the
altar-disc, he had found meutioned in the annals 24 festivals of the
re-kindling of the sacred lire. This, therefore, in our idiom, would
signify that the Mexicans, in the jrear A. D. 1479, had a recorded
national existence of 1248 years. For this reason, the beginning of
their national era would be the year A. U. 231.
It is not difficult for us to guess what particular historical event was
meant to coincide with this date, if one is only familiar with all the
traditions, the accounts of the missionaries, the collected labors of the
chroniclers, and the explanations which have been made even so
recently as the last century, relating to the history of the people of
Anahnuc I cannot go further into details, however interesting they
appear to me. Only so much I may say : It is evident from the scru-
tiny of all the mentioned authorities, that the annals indicate the middle
of our third century as the time when the people arrived, who, coining
from tiie three eastern harbors of Central America, — Tampico, Xica-
lanco and Bacalar— penetrated into the interior of the country, killed the
giants who inhabited Cholula, and became, in Yucatan, Honduras, Chia-
pas and Mexico, the founders and builders of those numerous towns and
temples whose ruins we to-day behold with wonder. The disc, there-
fore, with its chronological zone, should be considered one of the most
reliable authorities on the earlier periods of ancient Mexican history.
On the one hand it gives a historical date; on the other hand it con-
firms one which long ago was only a speculation, and for that reason
always regarded with doubt.
[Another question is still to be solved, namely, what use can be made
of the symbols for the ligatures ? Each ligature was found to represent
26
one cycle, and since we have two bundles of these ligatures, each
of four symbols, on the disc, the product of multiplying 8 by 52 would
give a sum of 410 years. Thus much, however, is clear, that these 41G
years were not intended by the artist to be added to the 1248 years.
Had he so intended, we do not perceive why he should not have
increased the number of the 24 tablets to 32 tablets at once. He would
have found the room for them, if he had only sought it. In this per-
plexity, the well known dates of written Mexican history will come
to our aid, and lead us on a track, which very probably, will afford
a reasonable solution of the problem. All chroniclers agree in
speaking of the year’s date of a memorable event that occurred in the
middle of the 11th century : that of the dispersion and ruin of a mighty
and highly cultured race, which for long centuries had swayed the
destinies of Anahuac, civilized the ancient indigenous race, laid the
foundation of social, political and religious order, and built sumptuous
palaces and temples. Yet this nation, at the epoch indicated, afflicted by
drought, famine, pestilence, and also by domestic revolution, had
given way to the irruption of other races, coming from the North of
Mexico. Several Northern tribes, we are told, had come, one after the
other, settled on the ruins of the former, and gradually adopted from the
few and highly civilized remnants that civilization which anciently had
formed its glory. The writers commonly give that ancient race the
name of the Tultecas, to the invading barbarians, that of Chichimecas,
of which latter, the Aztecs, were those who came last, and who on the
lonely island of the Tezcuco-lagoon, had succeeded in building up the
splendid town of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, and very soon arose to such a
power, that the surrounding tribes, willingly or not, acknowledged
their supremacy.
Now, this total destruction of the so-called Tultecan Empire and the
first invasion by Chichimecau tribes from the North, is generally set
down in the chronicles under the year date of 10G3 A. D. It is a round
chronological number and will be found to bear the name of 13 Acatl.
If we now incline to make use of this year’s date of the overthrow of
the ancient Tultecan dynasty set down at 10G3 A. I)., and would subtract
the sum of these eight cyclical ligatures (which is 416) from the date of
the inauguration of the disc, 1479, we should come to the year’s date of
10G3 A. 1). It was the date of the important national event, which
could not have escaped the knowledge of the annal-painters, since we
learned that they knew enough of their ancient history to carry it back
as far as 231 A. 1) These 41G years, therefore, would represent the full
epoch occupied by Chichimecau history, from 1063 to the year 1479 of
our Disk.
Let us now follow this same train of thought and suppose that the
artist, who was a Chichimecau by nation, but an Aztec by tribe, when
he was writing history with his chisel on the disc, had felt desirous of
incorporating on it also a date of special interest to his tribe, the Aztecs,
27
namely, that of the foundation of the Aztecan dynasty, how could he do
this better than in the way as it seems he actually did it? We allude
to the peculiar circumstance of two tablets of rekindling the sacred lire
severed from the remaining series of tablets. These two tablets, trans-
lated so to speak into the language of numbers, represent two cycles,
which give us the number of 104 years. It happened that exactly in
the year 1479 two cycles had elapsed since the ascension of the first
Aztecan king, Acnmpichtli, to the throne of Mexico. This memorable
event in Aztecan history we liud set down in the printed annals as the
year 13 Acatl, or 1375 A. D.J
Much more might be said about the contents of this chronological
zone, which will not escape the attentive observer, but I must refrain
from giving more information just now. X must refrain also from
speakiug of the conclusions which might now be drawn from the estab-
lishing of so early historical data, in explanation of still earlier periods,
dates, it is true, which have been indicated solely in the painted annals.
I could make you acquainted with what might be understood by the date,
X Calli, or 137 A. D., particularly in what year the earlier annals m ike
mention of a great eclipse of the sum Also, with regard to the date
1 Tecpatl, about which the astronomers are said to have had a congress
for the correction of the calendar, and which corresponds to the year 29
before the birth of Christ. But I have already occupied your time and
attention beyond the intended limits, and I close my lecture with my
■warmest thanks for the honor of so large an audience.
Note by the Translator.
The references which now appear as foot-notes in the Vortrag,
and several paragraphs of the text, were supplied after publica-
tion, by Dr. Valentini, at special request, and in the interest of
completeness.
A short biographical sketch of the author may not be without interest
to his readers. Philipp J. J. Valentini was born at Berlin, Prussia, in
1828. His father was a teacher of foreign languages, and he was early
trained to philological pursuits. He was educated in the Lyceum of Ros-
leben and the Gymnasium of Torgau, and studied jurisprudence at the
University of Berlin, where he was appointed auscultator of the Rammer
gerichl. Interrupted in this career by political disturbances, he was
forced to enter the army. In 1854 he went to Central America with
schemes of colonization. He found that the people of Costa Rica could
28
give no account of the entry and settlement of their ancestors in that
country; and in pursuit of information, in 1858 he returned to Berlin to
discover historical material that might throw light on this obscure point
of early Spanish colonization. The first vague results were presented
in a dissertation on this question, for which he received the degree of
Ph. D. from the University of Jena.
In 1SG1 Dr. Valeutini revisited Costa Rica, with the intention of view-
ing localities of conquest and discovery, and making researches among
the archives of the five Central American Republics. There he estab-
lished, in union with Dr. Streber, the first statistical office on a modern
plan, and was sent by the government to assist at the foundation of the
Atlantic province of Linton (Caribbean Gulf), lie visited, in schooner
and canoe, the west coast discovered by Columbus, ltoatan Island, and
as far as Boca del Toro. He found that Columbus’s reports of his fourth
voyage from Jamaica were as complete as could be made by that perse-
cuted navigator. Dr. Valeutini was encouraged by the government to
publish his investigations; but the German and the Spanish texts still
remain in manuscript in consequence of a subsequent revolution in that
country.
In the course of his studies he arrived at the conviction that the con-
quest could not be understood without research into the former history
of the Indians, and that chronology is the backbone of the historical ac-
count. Indian history is supposed to be written on stone, the copies of
which are often of doubtful correctness. Therefore, Dr. Valeutini visited
Guatemala to inspect the hieroglyphics of Palenque. He was not able
to penetrate farther than to the Quichfi ruins on account of sedition of
the border Indians. To arrive at positive proof that a certain symbol
found in the engravings of the named races represented that which the
ancient races used for their century was his fixed purpose. Residing in
Guatemala and San Salvador for some time, he completed his MSS. of
the “Discovery and Conquest of the ancient Province of Castilla de
Oro,” and a “ Geography of San Salvador” for the use of schools.
In 1871, Dr. Valeutini came to New York, and was able to pursue his
studies of Indian hieroglyphics in the Mexican department of the Astor
Library. He received from the Smithsonian Institution an original copy
of a curious Central American slab, presented to that collection twenty-
five years ago, from Tabasco, without explanation. He recognized this
as the tablet which J. L. Stephens missed when he explored the
29
oratory. (Travels in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan, Vol. II.,
page 346). On this, the supposed symbol for the century is clearly ex-
pressed by a knot. The same knot, or loop resembling a bow knot,
appears also in the Mexican painted hieroglyphics, and particularly on
the Calendar Stone interpreted in the Vortrag herewith presented.
One vertebra of the backbone of Indian history is now recognized.
The skeleton can be reconstructed of the disjecta membra, from
which important conclusions may be drawn. Dr. Yalentini has pre-
pared an essay and interpretation on some of the Palenque slabs,
which contain, however, no history of that people, but were merely
local temple records. He has been, and is now, occupied in teaching
languages as a profession.
Stephen Salisbury, Jr.
5
TERRA COTTA FIGURE FROM ISLA MUJERES,
NORTH-EAST COAST OF YUCATAN.
By Stephen Salisbury, Jr.
The aboriginal relics considered in this article are portions
of a female figure in terra cotta, found by Dr. Augustus Le
Plongeon, late in the year 1876, on the Island of Mujercs.
It formed the front of a brasero or supposed incense burner,
and though the exact dimensions of the entire figure can
not be given, some idea of its relative size may be formed
by observing the way in which a smaller figure was
attached to a brasero or earthen vase, which is also shown in
heliotype for comparison. The portions of the figure which
remain are hollow, and are made of a reddish clay. The
face is very expressive, with open month, showing the upper
row of teeth filed * as are said to be those of Chaacinol, dis-
covered by the same explorer at Chichen-Itza, Yucatan,
already described in a previous paper. f The nostrils are
perforated and also the pupils of the eyes. There are small
holes near the base of the ears from which an ornament
may have originally depended. The expression of the face
is cruel and savage, and when seen in profile extremely
searching. The head is surmounted by a helmet or head-
dress 8 inches high, the base of which consists of a square
*The practice of filing- the teetli is spoken of by Landa, Belation des
choses de Yucatan, de Diego de Landa. Paris, 1864, page 183. Also, by
Ilerrera [English Text], Vol. IV., page 174.
fFroecediugs, April 25, 1877, page 70.
32
band, presenting a front of 7 inches and 4^ inches wide,
with an indented border above and below, narrowing at the
middle of the face so as to expose much of the forehead.
The band is ornamented by lines and incrustations. Above
the band is a tubular projection 4£ inches high, the top of
which is of greater diameter than the base, and is marked
with regular incisions. The feet and part of the leg remain.
Above the ankle are seen traces of the clothing. The feet
are shod with sandals, like those of the statue of Chaacmol,
which are confined by a band of some material at the heel,
and tied together in front in a manner very similar to that
which is practised at the present time among the Indians
of that country. The toes are clearly defined, and the
nails are carefully formed.
The surface of the clay shows the wear of time and the
effect of contact with moist earth, but portions still present
the original smooth finish seen on terra cotta objects that
have been better preserved. On offering these relics for
inspection to a skilful potter, much admiration was expressed
for the ability in moulding shown by the Indian workmen
of the past. In fact, the degree of skill manifested in the
execution would indicate a trained eye and hand, and a
knowledge of effect not often observed in the stone and
clay works of early Indian artists. The illustration marked 1
on the opposite page is from a photograph of the shrine, near
which the relics marked 2 and 3 were excavated. It is
presumably the same building described and pictured in
Stephens’s “Travels in Yucatan,” Yol. II., page 416, as the
two plates agree entirely with each other, except that in the
later picture, the building lias suffered somewhat from the
disintegrating influences of thirty-five years. There is also
1.— Shrine at South end of Isla Mujeres.
4.— Incense Burner, from Guinea Grass, British
Honduras.
0 / 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 /0
M ill I I I 1 1 I
Heliotype Printing Co.
2 — Portions of Terra Cotta Figure, forming front of
Incense Burner, found near the Shrine at the South
end of Isla Mujeres, North-East Const of Yucatan.
220 Devonshire St., Boston.
ii.— Another view of the some Figure, forming front of In-
cense Burner, found near the Shrine at South end of
Isla Mujeres, North-East Coast of Yucatan.
33
a discrepancy in the localities, Stephens saying that the
ruins were at the North end of the island, while Dr. Le
Plongeon places them at the South point, both in his written
description and upon the plans of the island which are intro-
duced later. However, Dr. Le Plongeon has given the most
conclusive proof of his assertion in the plans which he has
offered. That the building is the same viewed by Stephens
is shown by the fact that his name, with the date 1842, is
mentioned in a letter to the writer accompanying the pho-
tograph, as one of those traced “on the lintel of the
largest doorway on the South side of the building.”
The illustration marked 4 is another supposed incense
burner, now in the possession of the writer. It was the
property of Mr. John E Mutrie, of the house of Guild &
Co., of Belize, British Honduras, and was found at Guinea
Grass, New .River, Northern District, British Honduras, and
is inches high and 7 inches in diameter. This specimen
of a brasero or incense burner, is here shown to indicate the
character of the object of which the face and feet, previ-
ously described, formed a part.
The interest in these relics is much increased by the
fact that the Island of Mujeres, where they were found,
received its name from the worship of female idols, which
was there observed by the Spaniards on the first exploration
of the coast of the continent of which we have a detailed
account. This island was the earliest discovery in the expe-
dition of Cordova, and is thus described by Torquemada in
his Monarchia Indiana : —
“ In the year 1516, Francisco, Fernandez de Cordova, Christoval
Morante, and Lope Ochoa de Caucedo, armed three ships to go to
seek for Indians in the neighboring islands, and to traffic, as had
34
been tbeir custom up to that time, and their expedition was un-
eventful until they discovered the land of Yucatan — a coast until
then unknown and undiscovered by us Spaniards ; where upon a
headland there were some very large and good salt mines. It was
called Las Mujeres, because there were there towers of stone,
with steps, and chapels, covered with wood and straw, in which
many idols that appeared to be females were arranged in a very
artificial order. The Spaniards marveled to see edifices of stone,
that up to that time they had not seen in those islands, and that
the people there clothed themselves so richly and beautifully, be-
cause they had on tunics and mantles of white cotton aud in colors,
ornamented with feathers, carcillos, and with gold and silver
jewelry; and the breasts and heads of the women were covered.
There came soon canoes frill of people. We called to them by
signs that they should come on, and there entered thirty Indians
into our ships, and they wondered to see our people. We re-
warded them, and they went away promising to come back an-
other day, which they did, bringing a message from the chief
himself, who said these words: Conez cotoche, [which means
1 Go there into my houses ’], and they called this place Poiut
Cotoche. Those in the ships went on the land aud had a skirmish
with the natives of the country, as relat ed by Antonio Herrera in
the Decades • and they wounded fifteen Spaniards ; engaging
them one after another, until they came foot to foot ; and they
seized our two Indians who became afterward Christians and
were called, the one Julian and the other Melchor. Tliere were
of those Indians many wounded and seventeen killed.” *
Herrera states in his account of this action :
Where this defeat was sustained there were three houses')" made
of stone and lime, which were oratories, with many idols of clay,
having countenances of demons, of women, and of other horrid
* Monarchia Indiana. Por F. Juan de Torquemada. Madrid, 1725.
Lib. IV., cap. 3.
t'l'he remarkable agreement in the number of buildings mentioned by Herrera
with the number found by Dr. Le Plongeou, in a more or less ruined condition,
as shown in bis plan which accompanies a communication hereafter introduced,
dated June 15, 1878, is to be noted. The plan is entitled “ Plan of the Southern-
most Point of Island Mujeres, showing the relative position of the ruins.”
35
figures. ***** And, while they fought, the priest Alonzo
Gonzalez took from the oratories certain boxes in which were
idols of clay and of wood, with ornaments, adornments, and
diadems of gold. They took in this encounter two laborers who
were Christians, — called Julian and Melchor. The Spaniards
returned to embark, content with having discovered a people of
reason, and other matters different from those of Darien and the
islands; especially houses of stone and lime — a thing that they
had not seen in the Indies up to that time.” *
Bancroft, in his Native Paces of the Pacific States, vol.
IV., page 277, says ; “ The scarcity of idols among the
Maya antiquities must be regarded as extraordinary. The
double-headed animal and the statue of the old woman at
Uxmal; the rude figure carved on a long flat stone, and the
small statue in two pieces at Nolipat ; the idol at Zayi, re-
ported as in use for a fountain ; the rude, unsculptured mon-
oliths of Sijoli ; the scattered and vaguely-mentioned idols on
the plains of Mayapan, and the figures in terra cotta collect-
ed by Norman at Campeaehy, complete the list, and many of
these may have been originally merely decorations of build-
ings. The people of Yucatan were idolaters there is no
possible doubt, and in connection with the magnificent
shrines and temples erected by them, stone representations
of their deities, carved with all their aboriginal art, 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 small, and that such
as escaped the fatal iconoclasm of the Spanish ecclesiastics
were buried by the natives, as the only means of preventing
their desecration.”
The writer has three specimens of Campeaehy idols, which
*Historia de las Indias. Tor Antonio de Herrera. Madrid, 1601. Tom. I.
Decade II., Lib. IV., cap. 17.
36
he procured at that city in 1862. They are of a reddish
clay of a darker hue than that from Mujeres Island, and
measure respectively 5, 6 and 7 inches in height. They have
high head-dresses, and two of them have wraps about the
throat, and are otherwise grotesquely clothed. Two of them
are arranged with a whistle, and the other answers the pur-
pose of a rattle, which suggests the idea that they may have
been used as toys, to say nothing of any other purpose.
This peculiarity is not uncommon in similar relics found in
the central portions of the continent. These so-called Cam-
peachy idols were found in the Indian graves which abound in
that locality. Similar terra cotta figures are pictured in
Bancroft’s Native Races of the Pacific States, vol. IY., page
264. The figures bear marks of being moulded by hand,
and not cast, and this same observation applies to the Mu-
jeres figure. On inspection the Campeachy idols show traces
of white, vermilion and green pigment, which is not uncom-
mon in the picture paintings of the Mayas.
The incense burner shown in Plate 4 exists now only in
the figure which is still perfect, and in pieces of the vase
which is broken. The lieliotype was taken from a photo-
graph secured while it was still perfect and entire. The
pieces of the vase show marks of fire and are much black-
ened, but whether from ancient use or from modern experi-
ment can not be determined. However, it is fair to presume
that the coloring is ancient, as clay utensils of aboriginal
date often retain the traces of exposure to smoke and flame.
After the receipt of these terra cottas, Dr. Le Plongeon,
at the request of the writer, prepared an account of his dis-
covery of the relics pictured in Plates 2 and 3, and extracts
from his communication are here given, as the most full and
M- D.
The HELiOTyPEPraiTmoCo. 220 Devonshire St Boston.
37
complete description of the Island Mujeres, its people and its
ruins, of which we have any knowledge. The incense burner
in Plate 4 represents a similar object in perfect preservation,
though of less artistic merit than that which Dr. Le Plongeon
describes in the following letter: —
Colony ok British Honduras,
Bruize, 15 June , 1878.
Stephen Salisbury, Jr., Esq., Worcester, Mass. :
Dear Sir. — You ask me to furnish you with a description of the
locality where I discovered the beautiful specimen of Maya
ceramic art — the head of a priestess, now in your possession —
disinterred by me at the shrine on the southernmost end of Island
Mujeres
Notwithstanding all such descriptions belong by right to the
work I intend to publish on the ruins of Mayapan, and a prema-
ture relation might, perhaps, with many individuals,' detract from
the interest of the book, the concern manifested by you in our
labors and discoveries amongst the ruined cities of the Mayas,
causes me to put aside any egotistical feelings and prompts me to
cheerfully comply with your request.
May the reading of the following lines prove to yourself, to the
members of the American Antiquarian Society, and to the lovers
of science, as interesting as the visit to the island has to Mrs.
Le Plongeon and myself.
Isla Mujeres is a small islet ou the eastern shores of the
Yucatan Peninsula, situated about six miles from the coast, in
latitude North 21° 18f and longitude West 86° 42', Greenwich
meridian. It is a mere rock of coralline calcareous stone, six
miles long and one-half mile broad in its widest parts, whilst in
many places it is scarcely two hundred steps across. The
northernmost point, called EL frayle, at high tide is cut off from
the main portion of the island. The north end is barely higher
than the level of the sea, but the soil rises gradually from north
to south and west to east until it reaches an elevation of forty
to fifty feet at the south extremity. There, are conspicuous the
ruins of the shrine and those of three other small buildings,
G
38
hanging on the very brink of the precipice, serving as landmarks
to mariners.
Island Mujeres was one of the first lands discovered by the
Spanish adventurers who came to the conquest of Mayapan,
attracted thither by their lust for gold.
Bishop Lauda is the chronicler who has given tire most minute
and correct accounts of Mayapan — of its inhabitants, their cus- .
toms, laws and modes of life. He tells ns in his work, “ Las
cosas de Yucatan ,” that when the Spaniards landed there, they
found a shrine, on the altars of which were the images of many
women ; that in the impulse of their religious fanaticism they
destroyed these images and replaced them by one of the Virgin
Mary. Mass was then celebrated in presence of a larip multi-
tude of Indians. That on account of so many statues of females
having been found there, they gave the place the name of Ida
de las Mujeres — Women’s Island.
The same chronicler also informs us that there existed a shrine
dedicated to female idols. Hither pilgrims came from far and
near in order to sacrifice and deposit votive offerings. To-day
even, the soil in front of the shrine is strewn with their debris,
more or less broken. They consisted of terra cotta figures made
to the semblance of the human body or parts of the same.
After the conquest of Yucatan, not only the shrine, but the
whole island seems to have been abandoned. It remained unin-
habited for many years.
The village of Dolores is built on the beach of the pretty little
bay, where the fleet of fishing smacks from Havana, as the pirates
of old, find a sure shelter from the violence of the stormy
northers that dash the waves against the iron-bound shores of the
eastern side of the islet, producing a terrific and deafening noise.
The houses are snugly ensconced in a thick grove of cocoa
trees, whose evergreen foliage shields them from the scorching
rays of the tropical sun. Three streets run north and south,
parallel with the beach of the bay, and are crossed at right angles
by others leading from the bay to the ocean. The principal
street, the middle one, half a mile in length, covered with deep
sand, as are all the others, leads in a straight line to the necropolis.
The dwellings, with but very lew exceptions, are mere thatched
huts. The walls are formed of palisades of trunks of palmetto
39
trees called chilt , that grow in great abundance on the island
and on the main land opposite. They are stuccoed inside and out
with cob, and then whitewashed. Amongst the five hundred
houses of which the village is composed, a dozen may have their
walls of stone and mortar, but all are covered with the leaves of
the palmetto tree. Each hut is separated from the next by a
» court-yard. In some, the owners, with great patience and labor,
try to cultivate in the sandy soil, a few rose-bushes and other
flowering shrubs of sickly appearance, of which they are very
proud.
The village boasts of a Square. The south side is occupied by
a neat little church, the result of the handiwork of some devout
individuals who, being caught at sea in a norther, and in immi
nent peril of their lives, vowed to build, with their own hands, a
new church, in lieu of the old one, which had been destroyed by a
storm, if they reached the shore alive. On the east side are
seen, at the foot of a hillock, the foundation walls of the ancient
church. The west side is adorned with a long, narrow shed,
surrounded by a rustic balustrade. In the rear of it is a large room
— this is the barracks; two cells — these are the jail. The whole
form the City Hall, for the reunions of “ El consejo municipal"
— the common council — when that honorable body meets, and
during every day in the week it is converted into a school-room.
Private dwellings fill the north side of the Square or Plaza.
The interior of the houses is the same for the rich as for the
poor. It consists of a large single room, which serves during the
day as parlor and reception room. It is converted at night into a
common sleeping apartment by hanging hammocks from the
rafters which support the guano roof. Oftentimes an old sail
hung across the room divides it into two apartments, and serves
in lien of a curtain. In several houses, whose owners have been so
fortunate as to pick up stray pine boards from wrecked vessels
that have been wafted in the neighborhood of the island, or from
the coast of the main land opposite, the old sail has been replaced
by a wooden partition.
The articles of furniture are few and old-fashioned — some
wooden chairs and tables, trunks, supported on trestles to isolate
them from the damp floors of betun (Maya for concrete), in order
to preserve their contents from humidity and mould, and the shrine
40
of the Pen ate , containing the wooden statuette of the patron saint
of the family, before which is constantly burning a small lamp. A
coarse hammock or two, together with fishing nets, oars, poles,
masts, sails, and divers other tackle, complete the list, not forget-
ting a few cheap colored lithographs of the Virgin Mary and
some saint or other.
The inhabitants are, as a general thing, a line set of people. •
The men, mostly of Indian race, speaking among themselves the
Maya language, are sinewy and athletic. They forcibly recalled
to our minds the figures of warriors so beautifully portrayed on
the walls of the inner room in the Chaaemol monument at
Chichen-Itza. It is surprising to see them handle their canoes
— so similar in shape to those used by the ancient Mayas, as seen
sculptured on the stones of the queen’s room in Chichen. Hardy,
fearless and skilful in their own craft, they are said to be worth-
less as sailors in larger vessels. The women, of medium height,
are handsome, graceful, not over shy, and rather slovenly.
It is a fact, patent at first sight, that the Indian blood is fast
disappearing from amongst the islanders. The blue eyes, fair,
rosy skins, and light bloude hair of the rising generation bespeak
their direct descent from European blood.
Salt is found in large quantities in the centre of the island. It
is deposited on the shores of an extensive pool of salt water,
connected by an underground passage which communicates at
certain epochs of the year with the sea on the east side of the
islet.
A large portion of the interior of the island is occupied by a
most picturesque lake, which opens on the south side of the bay
by a narrow channel, through which the waters of the ocean enter,
and is very nearly three miles in length. The lake is conse-
quently subject to tides.
On the third of December I hired Don Ambrosio Aquilar and
his boat in order to visit the ruins at the south’ end of the island.
After breakfast, we left Dolores, in company with a gentleman
from Cam peachy, who had arrived a few days before. The people
saw us leave the shore with suspicious eyes. We were all
strangers, going to visit a place that no one cares for, and where
the pirates used to have a lookout. There could be no possible
doubt that we were going in search of the treasure said to be
buried there; and an hour after our arrival at the ruins there was
no lack of visitors and people, who came suddenly upon us and
observed our movements.
A little more than an hour’s pleasant sailing along the eastern
shore of the island brought us opposite the ruins, which appeared
towering above our heads on the very brink of a precipitous pro-
• montory. The whole building seemed as if it was about to
tumble into the sea and crush us under its debris. We could find
no place to land. The sea was breaking heavily on the coralline
rocks; so we. were obliged to retrace our way until we could find
a proper place. We soon met with a small nook where the water
was calm, and the boat could be safely anchored on the edge of
the coral reef, but the rock was high and perpendicular. There
was a small patch of white sand beach where we could easily
land. We made up our minds to try to ascend this natural stone
wall. Holding to the rough and projecting points of the rock, and
also to the roots and the hanging withes, we soon found ourselves
on firm ground, within half a mile of the building. We came to
a slight declivity that seemed artificially made, aud then to a per-
fectly level plain, sandy and barren. At our right, on the very
edge of the rock, were the ruined walls of a small square building.
It stood on an oblong platform about two metres high, easily
ascended by means of a stairway composed of five steps, on the
east side. The whole was entirely covered by the Cactus opuntia
plant, whose prickly leaves forbade intrusion. Opposite, on the east
side of the promontory, on the brink also of the precipice, are the
remnants of another structure, now completely destroyed. Only
the foundation stones of the walls are left. I am informed that in
1847 the walls stood entire, but were demolished by the people
who immigrated at that time, in order to procure materials for
building their houses. To-day they are obliged to go to JVisuete,
probably the ancient JEJcab of the chroniclers, a large ruined
city on the main land opposite Mujeres, in order to procure hewn
stones. They go there with fear and trembling, lest they should
meet with Indians from Tulum, and be made prisoners.
About one hundred metres from these ruins, going south, is the
shrine, standing on the narrowest part of the promontory. On
each side the rock has given way to the incessant disintegrating
42
power of the waves, and tumbled into the sea, carrying in ils fall
the eastern end of the platform, and the wall of the edifice.
It is a rough, oblong structure, originally measuring om. 95c.
by 5m. 25c., and 3 metres in height. It faces nearly south, and
stands on a platform 2 metres high, by 9m. 25c. from north to
south, and 8m. 55c. from east to west.
Its architecture is similar to that of the larger monuments of
the interior of the peninsula, with but a slight variation in the
entablature and in the cornice. The construction is rude, as that
of the buildings I have had an opportunity of visiting on the
coast at Meko, Nisuete, Kankun, and the Island of Cozumel.
Formerly the walls were stuccoed, and may have been orna-
mented. The stucco has now disappeared, except in a few small
patches here and there, and the walls inside and out are left
denuded.
As in all the edifices devoted in Mayapan to religious worship,
the interior is divided into two rooms, the innermost and
smallest being the holy of holies, where the shrine proper, or
altar of the god or goddess, stood. This fact, recorded by
Land a, Cogolludo, and other chroniclers, is in the present case most
forcibly illustrated.
The exterior walls measure exactly Om. 90c. in thickness,
the inner, or that which divides the sanctuary from the front
room, Om. 70c. The ceiling is formed by a triangular arch.
The sanctuary is 4m. 95c. long and lm. 15c. wide; the front
room of the same length is a little wider, being lm. 35c.
Let me remark here, that if, in the measurement of the monu-
ments of Yucatan, I have adopted the metric standard of linear
measure, it has not been from choice, but from necessity,
and the strange discovery that the metre agrees with the standard
of dimension adopted by these most ancient artists and architects.
I have tried successively the English yard, the Spanish vara, the
French toise; none gave me the exact dimensions of the width of
doors or thickness of walls, &c. All left me fractions in plus or
minus. The metre only, strange as it may appear, answering in
every case to the exact dimensions. I will not pass any private
opinion on this fact, but will leave the inference to others.
The building is entered by a single doorway, lm. 15c. wide
and lm. 59c. high, facing southerly. Two doors lead from the
The HEUCTfFEPPJHTUtoCC. 220 DEVONSHIRE Sr BOSTON
I
4:\
front room into the sanctuary. The one opposite to the exterior
doorway is of exactly the same dimensions; whilst that on the
left is somewhat narrower, being Om. 05c. wide.
The lintels of these doorways consist of round sapote beams,
about 15 centimetres in diameter.
Those of the two inner doorways are literally covered by the
names of those who have visited the place at different epochs.
In the inner room, just opposite the entrance doorway and
the corresponding inner one, stands the altar. It is of masonry,
1m. 45c. long by Om. 65c. wide and Om. 50c. high.
It was on this altar that the Spanish adventurers found the
images of the female idols which were destroyed by their fanatical
and ignorant chaplain, who replaced the Maya idols by the image
of the Virgin Mary, and celebrated mass.
Entering the building, on the left-hand side, may be seen
an excavation about eighteen inches in diameter, made in
the floor by a certain Dr. Fabregas, who came in years past
in search of the treasure. From my heart I thanked him for
having opened this hole, and saved me the trouble. Not-
withstanding it is not more than two feet deep, it afforded me a
good opportunity for studying the construction of the platform.
I found it to be au oblong inclosure surrounded by massive walls
of strong masonry Om. 75 centimetres wide and 2 m. 50
centimetres high, filled up with loose stones carefully piled one
upon another. An entrance was left on the north side to
penetrate the inclosure and arrange the stones. I discovered
it closed by a huge stone four feet high and eighteen inches wide.
I held my own counsel, for many eyes were following me wher
ever I went, but I made up my mind to bring the proper tools
and remove it at my next visit. The floor of the rooms is made
of concrete. Even to-day, concrete floors are those most gener-
ally in use in Yucatan.
The edifice, surrounded, at its base, by a counter-fort Om. 30
centimetres wide and Om. 60 high, that served the double purpose
of strengthening the walls of the building, and offering a com-
fortable seat to the ministrants or to the pilgrims, does not
occupy the centre of the platform ; but is so placed as to leave a
space of 3 metres, 10 centimetres in front between the counter-fort
41
and the edge of the platform and only Om. 30 centimetres in the
rear.
A stairway 2m. .05c. wide composed of 5 steps, each 1 metre
deep, and encased between massive piers 1.15 wide and 1.75 long
by two metres high, serving in lien of balustrade, leads to the
top of the platform. Four metres' from the foot of that stairway
and fronting the entrance of the shrine was another altar of the
same size and construction as that within the holy of holies. It
is at the foot of this altar, on its south side, that I disinterred
the precious specimen of ceramic art, that I take to be the head
of a priestess, from the head-dress. It might have been also one
of the images of the goddess, wrought to the semblance of one
of her devotees.
The soil between the shrine and the other ruined buildings was
once upon a time leveled by hand, and covered with a layer of
betun (concrete) 0m. 20 centimetres thick, beautifully polished
and painted white. So was the area in front of the edifice to the
very edge of the cliff. To-day the wind has blown coarse sand
over it to a depth varying from one to four and five feet.
The survey of the monument and its surroundings, operations
incomprehensible to the motley crowd of curious individuals who
had followed in our wake, having occupied several hours, it being
about 3 o’clock P. M., we concluded it was time to retrace our
way to Dolores, if we wished to reach the village before night,
notwithstanding our intense desire to rake the sand in search
of any precious object that might have escaped destruction at the
hands of the iconoclasts, whose handiwork was everywhere
visible, in the scattered debris of votive offerings, that strew the
sand in front of the shrine and around the exterior altar to the
very biink of the precipice. We refrained; there were too many
witnesses eagerly watching every one of our steps and motions.
So taking a parting glance at the shrine and promising to repeat
our visit as soou as possible, we regained the spot where our boat
lay riding at anchor, trying on the road to picture to our minds
the scenes witnessed by these old, weather-beaten, silent walls.
I wanted to engage Don Ambrosio for the next day, as I
desired to take photographic views of the ruins, and continue
explorations. I had seen enough of them to tempt my appetite
and make me long for something more. What should I find by
45
removing the large stone that closed the entrance to the chamber
I suspected to exist under the shrine? I knew that the ancient
Mi iyas were wont to bury their Ivins or priests in such apart-
ments built expressly under the temples, and with them the
badges of their profession.
But Don Ambrosio was not to be obtained. He had to finish
some business and start immediately for Cozumel. lie otfered
however to accompany me again to the ruins, on his return to the
island, which he said would be in a few days, if I wanted him.
Day after day passed, and I was unable to obtain the means of
again visiting the shrine. Several times I was tempted to start
on foot, but it was a serious undertaking. It would take me at
least half a day to reach the place. Then I should certainly be
exhausted, unfit for work. It was useless to go unless I made up
my mind to pass the night there, exposed without shelter to wind
and rain if it happened to be bad weather.
At last, on the 28th of December, Sefior Don Salustino
Castro, a farmer from Cozumel, who had come for a few weeks
to Isla Mujeres, and whose acquaintance I had made, offered to
make a pleasure trip to the ruins with his wife and children. I
accepted with pleasure his invitation to join him, and happy to
have the opportunity, told him of my intention to remove the
large stone on the North side of the platform.
When we reached our destination and while each one was
enjoying, to the best of his fancy, the clolcefar niente, the neces-
sary consequence of a good repast, lying or reclining on the
sandy soil as it best suited the fancy of the individual, I began to
examine the ground in front of the shrine. At the foot of the
altar, on the South side, I saw a place that had all the appearance
of having once been disturbed.
I called for a shovel, one of the servants was soon by my side
with the instrument called for, and in order to show his •willing-
ness to please me, unasked he thrust with all his might the tool
into the soft sand, and with a smile of pride at his exploit,
brought forth a foot within a sandal, that bore unmistakable
marks of having just been amputated from its corresponding leg.
He was about to repeat the operation when I swiftly interposed.
Falling on my knees, in presence of all the picnicking party,
with my own hands, I carefully removed the damp sand from
7
4G
around an incense burner, of which the whole body of a female
in a squatting posture had occupied the front part. It had lain
there for ages, but, alas ! it was now before us in pieces. The
blow from the shovel had been sufficient to destroy the soft,
fragile work of art. Happily the face had escaped injury. It was
a great fortune in a terrible misadventure.
These terra cotta objects when first discovered are very tender,
the dampness having permeated the whole clay during the centu-
ries that they have been buried. They are therefore exceedingly
pliable. Before attempting to remove them it is necessary to
leave them exposed for an hour or so to the action of the air and
to the rays of the sun, when they recover part of their pristine
hardness, and can be handled without so much danger of damage.
For hours all hands were busy searching in the sand endeavor-
ing to discover some other entire object, but without success.
The servants of Don Salustino with the aid of a crowbar
removed the large stone on the North side of the platform, and a
small doorway lay open before us, and we could then plainly see
that the whole platform was made of dry stones carefully super-
posed. We removed some, but soon abandoned the job, fearing
lest the whole structure, which is in a very ruinous condition,
should tumble upon us, and catch some one as a rat in a trap.
We remained satisfied that, if any thing is buried among the
«tones, it can only be obtained by running the risk of seeing the
entire edifice crumble over those engaged in the work. Lejeu
n'en vautpas la Chandelle , et le cout en quitte le gout.
That day I made excavations in several places in the level space
North of the shrine, and discovered that, as I said before, the
whole soil between this structure and the other ruined buildings
had been and is yet covered with concrete, highly polished and
painted white. It was now abodt 2 o’clock P. M. Satisfied with
our day’s work, we began our journey home, happy with the
consciousness to have in part saved from destruction a rare
specimen of the Maya ceramic art. Don Fermin Mondaca, who
has lived for more than twenty years on the island, and the oldest
inhabitants, have assured me that this was the finest object that
to their knowledge had been found in that place.
Four days later, that is to say, on the 2d of January, 1877, Don
Pedro Toredano, having been able at last to put some men and
a
47
one of his boats at my disposal, for the last time we returned to
the ruins with our photographic instruments, and took views of
the shrine, from the altar near which I had disinterred the beau-
tiful female head. Desiring to varnish the negatives, in order to
be able to carry them safely home, I put some live coals in the
bottom of the incense burner discovered on the 28th, and entered
the shrine to be protected from the wind, when lo! a slight
vapor arose from among the coals, and a sweet, delicious perfume
filled again the antique shrine, as in the days of its splendor,
when the devotees and pilgrims from afar used to make their
offerings and burn the mixture, carefully prepared, of styrax,
copal and other aromatic rosins, on the altar of the goddess.
I remain, very sincerely, yours,
AUGTUS Le PLONGEON, M.D.
In connection with the above communication, extracts
from letters of Dr. Le Plongeon, of date July 18 and August
9, 1878, are introduced as bearing upon the character of
the terra cotta objects now under consideration and as
valuable reflections upon Maya art. He writes : —
“ In answer to your inquiries about terra cottas in Yucatan, J.
will say that I have studied with great care the specimens that
have come into my hands. But they have been comparatively
few, the locality where found was unknown, and I have not
acquired sufficient knowledge to decide upon the subject authori-
tatively. The best specimens I have seen came from Isla Mujeres
(the head now in your possession), and the “ Goddess of the Bees ”
from Cozumel, n'ow in the Museum at Merida. They are not
the productions of the inhabitants of the islands, since there is
no clay ( can cab — red earth) to be found there. These pieces were
imported from the main land, and must have been manufactured
in the eastern part of the Peninsula, where this kind of earth
exists in abundance in certain districts. The broken jar, pieces
of which I found scattered at various depths among the loose
stones that formed the monument raised over the statue of Chaac-
mol, was of a very coarse manufacture and the loss of its lid,
48
which was entire, and placed over the remains of the brains of
Chaacmol in the large stone urn, near l»is head, is to be lamented.
A friend, while examining it, let it fall by accident and it was
smashed into fragments.
Before I should dare to pronounce upon the advancement of
ceramic art in Mayapan and hence determine the probable age of
each specimen, I must disinter the pieces myself, and by the age
of the monument where it was found, determine that of the terra
cotta. One thing however is clear to my mind, that the ceramic
art kept pace with that of sculpture, and that at a certain period
Mayapan boasted of very skilful artists who could transform the
clay into beautiful objects of art, like the head in your possession.
But there were, at the same time, inferior artists whose works
were not as costly, more within the means of the people in gen-
eral, and consequently more abundant; and these were the tyros
in the art that filled the market with their productions, as the
Italian plaster-of-Paris statuette venders do in our days. There
were potters who manufactured common pottery, like our com-
mon earthen ware. Who will dare compare the artists who can
transform kaoline and petunse into the beautiful vases of
Sevres, and the workman who makes our common plates, cups
and saucers ! Yet all these things are made at the same epoch
and may be produced from the same material. ******
At the village of St. Michael, in the island of Cozumel, is the
spot where Cortez is said to have left a cross for the adoration of
the Indians, and near by a church was built, whose walls still
remain. Here in digging to search for treasure, said to be buried
near it, was found by chance the terra cotta incense burner,
the so-called Goddess of the Bees, nowin Merida.* * * * *
Do not mistake in regard to the head from the Isla Mujeres.
It was not an idol but the portrait of some high priestess placed
in frout of an incense burner, like the figures from Guinea Grass
in the collection now sent you, or the above named incense burner
in the Museo Yucateco, of which you have a photograph. I
can not say how high it was when entire, for it was broken under
the sand ; but judging from the bottom of the burner that I used
to carry live coals into the shrine to varnish my negatives, I should
suppose that it was about 18 inches high, like that at Merida, or
it may have been a little higher. It was well preserved by the
49
accumulation of loose sand around it, and so are many pieces of
the votive offerings that strew the sand in front of the sanctuary,
and since destroyed in part by the hand of man.”
We may now safely turn for information to that unfailing
and authentic source of light on the customs and usages of
the Mayas, Bishop Lauda.* * * lie says : “ The very travellers
carried incense with them in a small dish. At night
wherever they arrived they placed together three small
stones, depositing upon them grains of incense. Before
these they set three other flat stones and placed incense
upon them, praying to the God, et cet. **** They had some
idols of stone, but few in number, others of wood of small
size, although not so numerous as those in terra cotta, f
**** rphe priest then burnt incense mingled with forty-
nine kernels of ground corn. The nobles placed their
incense in the brasero of the idol, and offered incense in
their turn.”
Lord Kingsborough’s collection has numerous plates rep-
resenting probable incense burners, but none of them have
figures attached that will compare in artistic finish with
the face from Mujeres Island. The text of Captain
Dupaix (2d Expedition, 1806), says in regard to one of
these braseros, “you may perceive in the rear of the figure
a cylindrical tube suitable to contain in its cavity pieces of
pitch or some other combustible material, and which might
have served as the receptacle of a torch at their religions
festivals.Ӥ
Among the interesting collections from Guatemala in the
* Relation des choses cle Yucatan, de Diego de Landa. Paris, 1864, page
157. t lb., page 213.
§ Kingsborough’s Mexican Antiquities, London. 1S30, vol. V., page 254.
lb.,voi. IV., Figures 78,103 and 107. [Illustrations.]
50
Peabody Museum of Archaeology at Cambridge, are several
small terra cotta figures, having vases above the head-
dress that are blackened on the inside by the use of fire.
The incense usually burned by the Mayas was copal. This
resinous gum is insoluble in most liquids, and resists the
action of time like amber, while on being burned it gives
forth a fragrance resembling frankincense. Therefore it is
not incomprehensible that the incense vase from Mujeres
Island should have retained enough of the fragrant gum to
astonish a person experimentally heating it, as is mentioned
by Dr. Le Plongeon at the conclusion of his communication.
We have Hubert Howe Bancroft as authority that the
Maya idols thus far discovered are few in number, none of
them equal as monoliths to those of Copan in Guatemala, in
point of size. But in point of artistic finish we should give
the first place to those of the Maya country, as is generally
conceded to its architecture and sculpture. The lievista de
Merida , of July 4, 1878, describes a small statue lately dis-
covered, and answering to Banda’s account of Maya idols of
stone. The writer calls it un j)equeno Chaacmol, repre-
senting an Indian character of importance, judging from its
costume. “ It is seated upon a seat placed on a pedestal or
throne, which in the rear loses itself in the bust of the
statue. The hands are extended over the knees, and the
erect head has a gloomy, serious and majestic countenance,
as of a monarch giving audience to his subjects. It has a
spacious forehead, above which the hair is cut horizontally.
The nose is decidedly aqueline, the lips are moderately
large, and the upper lip is covered by a moustache cut like
the hair, which leads the antiquarian to suppose that this
type belonged to a superior race from that which the con-
51
querors encountered. It is shod with the traditional sandals
or alpargatas. Upon the breast is an escutcheon with rays,
which perhaps represents the sun, and the shoulders are
covered by a mantle, which is recognized as composed of
feathers. The seat, throne, and statue itself are of a single
piece of stone, and together measure about two feet in height.
It was found in a vault in the neighborhood of Izamal,
which permits us to suppose that it was an idol, or that it
represented a king or a character of ' the ancient Maya aristoc-
racy. It was painted flesh-color, and notwithstanding it has
been repeatedly washed, it still retains traces of coloring
closely adhering to it. The stone is now porous, and the
archaeologist supposes he finds marks of three or four cen-
turies which have rolled over the statue.”
The desire is expressed by the writer of the article just
quoted that this figure may be presented to the Museo
Yucateco, and preserved there, without the unfortunate fate
which awaited the greater Chaacmol (the statue which was
carried to the city of Mexico l)3r order of Government in
1877 and is now placed in the National Museum). There
seems to be good reason to suppose that the above described
figure was an idol. Its size and coloring agree with some of
those hitherto accepted as such, while the fact of its being
hidden away is in accord with the explanation of the rarity
of such objects, as they were often secreted by the Indians
from the knowledge of the Ecclesiastics, who had caused
their destruction in numerous authenticated autos-da-fe.
Foremost among the Maya idols which have escaped de-
struction, may be ranked the gigantic stucco head at Izamal,
a place famous among the Indians at the time of the Con-
quest as one of their most sacred resorts. Though of rude
52
workmanship and of inferior art, it deserves to be alluded to
in connection with the terra cotta figures of Yucatan, as
stucco is also exceedingly rare in external ornamentation,
stone being generally employed for the purpose in Maya
buildings. It is correctly pictured in Stephens’s Travels in
Yucatan, vol. ii., page 434. The relief is a colossal human
head upon the face of an artificial perpendicular wall, and
has a stern, harsh expression like that of some of the bas-
reliefs in stone at the ruins of Uxrnal. The head is 7. feet
6 inches in height, and 7 feet in width, and the ground-work
is of projecting stones, which are covered with stucco. A
stone 1 foot 6 inches long protrudes from the chin, serving,
perhaps, for a copal altar. The face was evidently designed
to he seen from a distance, as its extraordinary proportions
indicate. Upon the left appears the totem or emblazonment
of the divinity portrayed in relief.
But enough has been written to draw attention to the terra
cotta figure, and to show the probable use that the vase to
which it was attached subserved. It is most interesting from
its merit as a work of art, and it is curious as being found
near a shrine on the island famous for female idols at the
time of its discovery. Dr. Le Plongeon’s supposition that
the face may have been moulded to resemble some particular
female character or priestess, is not at all improbable. It is
to be hoped that future excavations in a country so abound-
ing in antiquarian material, will furnish us with other and
more perfect specimens of Maya art.
NOTE.
A work of much interest to the student of American Archaeo-
logy is now being issued in the form of a general history of
Yucatan, in three volumes, of which the first and second have
already been published. It bears the title Historic i de Yucatan
descle la epoca mas remota hasta nuestros clias, For Eligio
Ancona. Merida , 1878. Imprenta de M. Heredia Arguelles.
The first volume treats of the ancient history of the province, the
second of the period of the Spanish rule, and the third will con-
tain the modern history of that country. This work will more
than supply the place of Jlistoria de Yucatan , For Hr. Diego
Lop>ez cle Oogolludo, Madrid , 1688, and its reprint Los tres
siglos de la clominacion Espanola en Yucatan , For idem , idem ,
Merida , 1845. As both of these editions are extremely rare and
contain nothing of modern history, the new work is much
needed.
For the proper understanding of investigations and dis-
coveries in the Maya country, access to a historical map is neces-
sary. This want has now been fully supplied by the publication
of Mapa de la Feninsula de Yucatan , edicion de 1878. by
Seiiores Joaquin Hiibbe and Andres Aznar Perez, assisted as to
important data by the suggestions of our late associate, the
lamented archaeologist and philologist, Dr. Carl Hermann Bereudt.
It is a valuable addition to the topographical history of this portion
of the United States of Mexico, and gives a most correct plan
of the States of Yucatan and Catnpeachy, together with the
greater part of Tabasco and Belize and portions of Guatemala
and Chiapas. This map designates places occupied by the beau-
tiful Maya ruins, and has been prepared with great care for offi-
cial and educational uses in Yucatan. It is a work of interest to
students of the history and archaeology of the central portions
of America. The map is 28x36, and may be obtained from Dr.
George E. Shiels, No. 896 Broadway, New York.
8
AKCHiEOLOGICAL COMMUNICATION ON YUCATAN.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL COMMUNICATION ON YUCATAN.
BY DR. AUGUSTUS LE PLONGEON.
[Proceedings of American Antiquarian Society, October 21, 1878.]
T ii e following letter is intended by the writer as a first
contribution to the Proceedings of this Society since his
appointment to membership, and as a recognition of his
satisfaction at the interest manifested by the Society in his
explorations and discoveries. It is accompanied by copies
from a photograph of the Statue of Chaacinol, of tracings
of a Mural Painting, and of a Carved Lintel from Chichen-
Itza, all of which are herewith reproduced : —
Colony of British Honduras,
Belize, July 15, 1878.
Stephen Salisbury, Jr., Esq., Worcester, Mass. :
Dear Sir. — You will see in my communication on the Isla
Mujeres, that I have found the three houses made of stones and
lime that were the oratories mentioned by Herrera, and on my
plan you have the exact position they occupy respecting each
other.* Of the towns spokeu of by Torquemada, and chapels
with steps, their roofs being covered with straw, I have also
spoken to you.f They are on the main land opposite. The
largest city is Kankun , but in Uisuckte and Meco are temples
and altars and columns, while nothing of that sort exists on Isla
Mujeres, and those of Cozumel are on quite a diminutive scale.
The largest to be found at the time of the conquest was about
half a mile from the village of St. Miguel, on the north side.
Father Gonzales tells me he saw the statue of Chaacinol as it
now appears in the city of Mexico. It is not within the museum,
but rests upon a pedestal in the open court-yard of that establish-
ment, This is an unfortunate position, for by this time all the
paint put on the stone by the artist who sculptured it must have
disappeared, washed away by the rain.
* Historia de las Indias. Por Antonio de Herrera. Madrid, 1601. Tom.
1. Decade II., Lib. IV., cap. 17. *
t Monarcliia Indiana. Por F. Juan de Torquemada. Madrid, 1725. Lib.
IV., cap. 3.
58
The upper lip of the statue is very thin, and in portraits
painted on the walls and carved on the stones in the lodge of
the queen at the north end of the gymnasium at Chichen-
Itza, he is represented, as in his statue, with the upper
teeth discovered, which are filed like a saw, as are those of the
head in your possession from Isla Mujeres. I have seen only
these two heads with the teeth filed in that way. Besides what
Bishop Landa says of the practice in Yucatan, it is known that
tribes of Indians in the interior of Brazil practice this custom
to-day, as do also nations of the west coast of Equatorial
Africa. Were we to judge of the Itzaes as Judge Moi'gan
and others wish us to do, by analogy, we must be convinced that
Landa, in that, as in many other things, told us the truth. I
have studied his work very carefully, as published by Brasseur de
Bourbourg, and as far as I am able to judge from what I posi-
tively know of the customs, habits, domestic and public life, and
religious ceremonies, of the ancient dwellers in Chiohen-Itza, as
portrayed in brilliant colors and accurate drawings on the walls of
what I call the Chaacmol monument, I may say, without fear of
being contradicted by men of intelligence, that many of these
pictured customs are accurately described by Landa, although
impaired and changed in some degree by the manners and cus-
toms of the different races that invaded the country after these
monuments were erected.
I am more particularly willing to credit the relations of in-
telligent eye-witnesses, who have lived in a country, and tell me
of the ways and mode of life of its inhabitants, when I find there
pictures and sculptures agreeing with such narratives, than I am
to give faith to the speculations of the wisest men who have not
had the same opportunities of observation. So I prefer to
believe what Diego de Landa says of what he saw with his own
eyes than what others imagine must have been, judging by com-
parison and analogy with the manners and customs of other
tribes and nations.
I have passed four years of my life among the monuments of
Yucatan, searching every corner of them, scrutinizing every stone,
asking every portrait or sculpture to tell me something of the
lives on earth of the personages they represent. How far they
have responded to my enquiries, the discovery of the statue of
1
Specimen of the figures com-
posing the mural paintings of
the funeral chamber in Chaac-
mol Monument, Chichen-Itza.
Traced by Dr. Le Plongeon and
his wife, from the originals, in
the month of November, 1875.
The Heliotype Print mo Co. £20 Devonshire Sr. Boston
50
Chaacmol, Hie knowledge of the place where his brother Huun-
cay's statue lies concealed, and of the location of the vaults contain-
ing the libraries of the II-Menes , (records of the wise men) will
show. What else I kuow of their secrets, if I am able to resume
my work among the ruins of Chichcn-Itza, the scientific world will
see. At present I can offer two more statues, that of the dying
tiger with a human head, showing on its body the wounds, the
cause of its death, typical of what happened to the great warrior,
Chaacmol (spotted tiger), and another of white calcareous
stone, like Chaaemol’s, lying exactly in the same position on its
pedestal, somewhat smaller than the first, and unfortunately with-
out a head, which I have searched for without success. Besides,
I have many basreliefs ready for transportation, together with
ancient gigantic heads, sculptured in the round. These heads,
and the statue of the dying tiger are represented in your col-
lection of photographs.
That I should be able to speak of the customs and manners of
the Itzaes at the time that the beautiful Kinich-Kalcmo and
Chaacmol feigned at Chichen Itza, should surprise no one, since
they are vividly painted on the walls of the funeral chamber of
the Chaacmol monument, and on those of the apartments in the
second story of the palace and museum.* Part of these mural
paintings have been restored by Mrs. Le Plongeon and by me,
and we have therefore studied them line by line. It requires no
great effort of the imagination to understand, when one sees it
pictorially represented, that it was customary for the II-Menes to
cover themselves with a mantle of blue and yellow plumes when
consulting the lines produced by fire on the shell of an armadillo
or a turtle, in order to read the destiny of a person (just as the
Chinese used to do), on seeing the scene so plainly represented as
in the drawing that I send you, which is but a fraction of those
on the walls of the room so often mentioned. These two figures,
part of a more complicated design, represent the queen Kinich-
Kalcmo (recognized by her seven blue feathers), when a child, con-
sulting an H-Men , in order to know her destiny. Her fate is
* Some of these names are translations of Maya words used to designate par-
ticular buildings by the Indians themselves, and others of the names have been
given by later travellers, and by the writer of this letter, as descriptive of the
uses for which it is supposed the buildings were intended. [S. S., Jr.]
GO
written in (he form and colors of* the scroll starting from the neck
of the II-Men.
I will now indulge in a little translation (when in fact imagina-
tion does the greatest part of the work), in the reading of the
scroll starting from the priest’s throat of the figure in the mural
painting I send you. First, the meaning of the colors. These
we know to a certainty. Blue meant holiness, sanctity, chastity,
— hence happiness, from the blue vault of heaven ; the human
victims who offered themselves, or were offered as a propitiatory
sacrifice to the divinity, were painted blue and considered holy.
Then violet. It also meant happiness, but without the idea of
sanctity ; rather happiness produced by an innocent and pure life.
Then green — wisdom, knowledge — hence power, war. The feath-
ers that the chiefs carried on their heads in war, or in the peaceful
occupation of scientific researches, were painted green, as also
among the high chiefs in Mexico. This ornament of the chiefs
is mentioned in the essay of Mr. Ad. F. Bandelier, in the tenth
Report of the Peabody Museum. Then yellow — all evil passions.
We have also the form of the scroll to consider. Now it starts
from the throat of the II-Men , a blue, well rounded smooth curve
which indicates a happy infancy free from troubles, etc., etc. (She
is a princess). Then adolescense — free from care, filled with inno-
cence and happiness (violet). Then she enters into womanhood.
She is in love with a wise and fierce warrior entitled to carry three
feathers on his head (Chaacmol has three feathers), and during her
matrimonial life, she will enjoy a short period of bliss and happi-
ness. But after her youth she will experience the effects of the
evil passions of some one who will persecute her and cause her to
suffer. Hence the yellow crooked streak, the end of which turns
from her, whilst the tlnee feathers of her husband overshadow
and protect her. This may be a beginning to solve the riddle of
the mural paintings when my tracings are placed in the hands of
those expert in rebus solving. These two figures are merely part
of a group, nearest the ground, on the right hand side as you
enter the funeral chamber.
If the Peabody Museum or the Smithsonian Institution desire to
put chase my collection of tracings of mural paintings, I will sell
it in order to procure funds to continue my researches. The
whole collection will comprise as many as twenty-five plates, nearly
all between 30 and 36 inches in length. Either a copy of the
61
tracings can be thus purchased or the original tracings with the
copyright. They represent war scenes with javelins flying in all
directions, warriors fighting, shouting, assuming all sorts of ath-
letic positions, scenes from domestic life, marriage ceremonies,
temples with complete domes, proving that the Itza architects
were acquainted with the circular arch, but made use of the trian-
gular probably because it was the custom and style of architecture
of the time and country.
I began my woik in Yucatan, I will not say without precon-
ceived ideas, but with the fixed intention of finding either the
proof or the denial of an opinion formed during my rumblings
among the ruins of Tiahuanuco, that the cradle of the world’s
civilization is this continent on which we live. Ready to retract
such opinion if I should find plausible evidence that I was wrong,
I cared too little for the theories that others have advanced, to
allow my mind to be influenced by them. I judge for myself ; if
my conclusions are the same as theirs, it is a proof to me that I
am not far from the truth. But I prefer to listen to the mute yet
eloquent voices of the painters, sculptors and architects, who have
written the history of their nation on the stones of the monu-
ments reared to perpetuate and make known to succeeding gen-
erations the events recorded by them.
Let us take an example — the very ancient origin of these monu-
ments. In some buildings in the larger towns are seen rows of
columns of hewn stones, all equal in size, and containing the
same number (eight) of stones. ISTo traces of roofs ever having
been supported by these stones are to be found in their vicinity.
Stephens, having seen many of them at Ake and Chichen, could
not imagine why they had been erected. Their very construction,
the upper or capping stone being supported on four smaller ones,
isolated from those underneath, precludes the very thought of
their having served to sustain a roof of any kind. Yet they had
an object, and what was it ? Let us see if the chroniclers knew
anything about their use ? Yes, all did. Landa, Lizana, Cogol-
ludo, and others, tell us they were called Katuns (epochs), and
served as calendars to record the age of the nation or town.
Cogolludo tells us that every twenty years, amid the rejoicings
of the people, a new stone was added to those already piled up in
certain edifices, and that each stone marked an epoch of twenty
years in the life of the nation. That after seven had thus been
9
G2
placed one above the other, then began the Ahau-Katun; and
every five years a small stone was placed on each corner of the
uppermost, beginning at the eastern (likintan), then the western
( chikintan ), then the northern (xamantan), lastly, the southern
(noholtan). At that time a great festivity took place, and the
capping stone was laid upon the top of the smalles ones. Landa, in
his “ Cosas de Yucatan,'' tells us the same thing. Now examine
the plates of the town of Ake in your collection ; there you will
find the photographs of the monument supporting the columns of
the Katuns , and the columns themselves. See how they corres-
pond to the above-mentioned description. May we not consider
the question of the extreme antiquity of some of the monuments
of Yucatan as settled, since the thirty-six columns represent (to
the mind) an undeniable lapse of 5760 years from the time the
first stone was placed on the platform until the place was aban-
doned, and we know that this very town of Ake was still inhab-
ited at the time of the Spanish conquest ?*
In Chichen, I counted as many as 120 of these columns, and
there were many more. True, many lay prostrate on the ground,
and we cannot be certain that they were completed, but this is a
matter easy to ascertain by counting every stone of the Katuns,
which are easily distinguished from any others.
The evidences that intercourse existed in very remote times
between this continent and those of Asia and Africa, are as
follows: On the same walls, already many times mentioned
(Chichen-Itza), we see very tall figures of people with small
heads, thick lips, curly short hair or wool on their heads (negroes).
We always see them as standard or parasol bearers, but never
engaged in actual warfare. Sculptured on the pillars, and par-
ticularly on the columns of the castle, and also on the walls of the
queen’s chamber and on those of her lodge in the gymnasium or
Tennis court, are the marked features of long-bearded men. (See
your collection of ancient types). These seem to have Semitic or
Assyrian features, and on the slabs found by Layard in Nineveh
are seen sculptured male and female characters with true American
types, crowns of feathers on their heads, the females wearing the
very identical dress (anacu) of the Peruvian Indian women.
* May not the greater part of these columns have served as symbolical history
set up as memorials of past antiquity? [S. S., Jr.]
63
Here figures with turbans on their heads are not wanting, and in
a few days I hope to be able to send you a terra cotta found in
this colony, representing a character wearing one of these Asiatic
head-dresses.
After reading what Landa tells us of the customs of the inhabit-
ants of Yucatan and comparing them with the habits of the
Carians, as described by Herodotus, it suggests itself to me that
these Carians, who were the first known rovers of the seas long
before the Phoenicians, came from Mayapan or Central America;
I say Mayapan because of the large number of Maya words found
in the ancient Greek, and the many Assyrian and even Hebrew
or Semitic words, to speak more accurately, found in the Maya,
which would seem to indicate intercommunication. That fact
can not be purely accidental. I must say, however, that I have
never seen in Mayapan any vestiges whatever of Phoenician
writings, architecture, or civilization.
The civilization of Mayapan stands entirely apart and distinct
from any other. It must on no account be confounded with the
Aztec or Mexican, as is often done. The Itzaes (wise and industri-
ous men as their name implies) and the Mexicans are two distinct
races. Neither their language, nor religion, nor their customs, had
many points of similitude, and it is well known that the Mexican
element was introduced on the Peninsula as soldiery by the laws
of Mani only a few years before the Spanish conquest, and is con-
sequently an importation of recent date.
As to the existence of giants and pigmies in remote antiquity
at Mayapan, there can be no doubt. We see their figures repre-
sented on the mural paintings and on the sculptured walls; and,
more to the point, their bones are from time to time disinterred.
The edifices of Ake give the impression that they were the work
of a very tall and uncouth people, and the buildings on the
eastern coast and on the islands of Mujeres and Cozumel give evi-
dences of habitation by a diminutive race not more than two feet
in stature. Tradition among the Indians refers frequently to the
Aluxob (pigmies), and they ascribe all the monuments to them.f
t Statements, which seem improbable, are so habitually made in both
ancient and modern accounts of observations in Mexico and Central America,
that they may best be left to the future for comment or explanation.
[Pub. Com.]
The writing of the Mayas is different from that of Copan,
Palenque, or Mexico. True, sentences or ideas are written at Pa-
lenque and Copan in squares like those in the Maya country, but
on comparing carefully their different writings I could perceive
only a very slight resemblance. The writing of sentences or
ideas in squares does not, by any means, imply that the characters
were the same. The Germans, the English, the Latin races, and
the Greeks, all wrote their ideas in straight lines from left to right,
but their languages and alphabets are very different, while
containing some characters that are similar. So with the Maya
and other writings of Central America.
The Maya MSS. and hieroglyphics, since we must give that
name to their characters, must be studied by themselves, without
reference to those of Copan and Palenque, or the pictorial records
of Mexico. Landa has preserved the Maya alphabet, and Bras-
seur de Bourbourg has the credit of having discovered and pub-
lished it. He has explained it at some leugth in the introduction
of his translation of the Codex Troano. I think he has done
more towards the advancement of our knowledge in the Maya
literature than all the jealous impugners who have refused to
accept his translation. It seems to me that, since they rejected
his work and scorned him, some one of them should have come for-
ward to offer a better rendering of the Codex. No one has done
so because no one is capable of doing it. “ La critique est facile ,
mais Vart est difficile ,” and until I can do better I will accept as
good Brasseur de Bourbourg’s work and translation, for he had
more opportunities for studying the Maya characters and language
than the French archaeologists who- have not accepted his inter-
pretation.
I believe, in ancient times as to-day, the tide of emigration of
the human race following the course of the sun, has been from
East to West. This is natural ; the conical motion of the earth
causes the ocean to submerge the eastern sides of continents
whilst it elevates the western coasts, and men as other animals
retreat before the invading waters. But I also believe that, at an
epoch difficult to determine, there was a partial emigration from
West to East; from this continent to the Western coast of
Africa and the Mediterranean, and from the Western coast of
Asia to America ; as we see in our day the Chinese abandoning
their native flowery empire to flock to California ; and that the
emigration then as now has not been sufficient to impart the
customs of the mother country to the people among whom they
landed; and that, as the Cariaus of old in the Mediterranean and
on the coast of Asia Minor, have ended by disappearing — by being
swallowed up by the more populous surrounding nations, — so the
emigrants from the Western coast of Asia have been swallowed
up by the American nations, leaving however, in some places in
America, as proofs of their existence, their almond eyes and some
oilier of their physical characteristics, together with a few of
their religious superstitions and practices.
Concerning the historical value of the statue of Chaacmol, I
would say that, at the time of the Spanish conquest, the tradi-
tion of three brothers having governed the country at the same
time, at a remote period, was prevalent among the inhabitants of
Mayapan. Some of the chroniclers have mentioned it in their
writings. The legend of these three rulers is to be found among
all the Indiau nations of Central America, with slight variations
of course from the idiosyncrasies of each tribe and the manner of
its communication to them by their ancestors. But the main
fact of the existence of the three brothers stands the same
throughout their narratives. The mural paintings on the walls of
the funeral chambers at Chichen-Itza represent the very life of
these three brothers, whose portraits are seen in vivid colors, and
are easily recognized also in the bas-reliefs that adorn the Queen’s
room in the Chaacmol monument (you have the photographs in
your collection) and the lodge or box at the Northern end of the
gymnasium. In the funeral chamber, the terrible altercation
between Aac and Chaacmol, which had its termination in the
murder of the latter by his brother, is represented by large figures,
three-fourths life size. There Aac is painted holding three spears
in his hands, typical of the three wounds he inflicted, on the back
of his brother. These wounds are indicated on the statue of the
dying tiger (symbol of Chaacmol) by two holes near the lumbar
region and one under the left scapula, proving that the blow was
aimed at the heart from behind. The two wounds are also
marked by two holes near each other in the lumbar region, on the
bas-relief of the tiger eating a human heart that adorned the
Chaacmol mausoleum (see photograph in your collection). This is
(36
no play of the imagination, but simply a close scrutiny of the
stones and a plain reading of the history recorded thereon.
Aac after the commission of his cowardly act, prompted, we
infer from the mural painting, by love for his sister in-law
Kinich-Kakmo, who had preferred her husband Chaacmol to him,
lied for safety to TTxtnal and built there the edifice called the
“ House of the Governor.” There he is represented over the
door, in the centre of the edifice, sitting on an ornamented seat,
his feet resting on three flayed bodies, the one in the middle that
of a woman — typical picture of his triumph over Huuncay, Kinich-
Ivakmo and Chaacmol. The building, “ House of the Turtles,” at
Uxmal, standing on the corner of the second platform of the
“ House of the Governor,” was the private residence of Aac,
inscribed with his totem — the turtle, as that rising on the South
end of the East wall of the gymnasium at Chichen-Itza is adorned
with the totem of his brother Chaacmol, a row, or as Stephens
has it, a procession of tigers.
Let these few words suffice to show my view of the historical
value of the statue discovered by me, the name of which I did
not give at random, and prove to the American Antiquarian
Society that, in my investigations, I have not relied on the imagi-
nation, but have contented myself with reading what is written in
very plain characters. I shall be most happy to do the honors of
the forests and deserted palaces of the Itzae rulers, when I am able
to resume my work among their ruins, to any member of the
Society who will favor me with a visit. Meanwhile, let those who
desire to become acquainted with the history of the personages
whose life, memory and deeds, my explorations in Yucatan have
helped to revive after their long oblivion, study the photographs.
I hope our friends of the Antiquarian Society have been inter-
ested in the few terra cottas I have sent you from Honduras. On
closely examining representations of bas-reliefs from Copan and
Palenque, my attention has been drawn to the fact that the
figures are represented sitting cross-legged, and this is surprising,
for the Indians of to day never sit in this manner, but always
squatting on their heels like the Chinese. But the Hindostanese
are represented sitting cross-legged .like the little figure of a
woman among the objects obtained from General Bograu in the
Honduras collection.
07
If I could obtain a sale of my collection of mural tracings, that,
historically speaking, are of more importance than the statue of
Chaacmol, because they declare the history of the characters
they represent, I might take a new start to search for the books
of the Mayas Could not the American government ask the
Mexican for a plaster-of-Paris fac-simile of the Chaacmol statue
for the Peabody Museum, or the National Museum at Washington,
and then collect together the other stones, or copies of them,
relating to the history of this statue? It is sad to see the leaves
of that history scattered here and there. What does the statue
individually placed in a Museum mean? Nothing, of course,
except as a specimen of sculpture. But when accompanied by
other stones relating to it, then it forms the body for an episode
iu the life of the Maya nation.
Yet the small collection, as you will perceive, is interesting in
more than one point of view —
1st. The singular instrument of music , showing that at the
time they were used the people had some idea of the scale, and
could contrive even rude instruments by which they were able to
produce the true notes do, mi, sol, la, si, and perhaps more if we
understood their instruments better. By chance, blowing it in a
certain manner I produced a semi-tone also, sol sharp, if I remem-
ber rightly.
2d. The little statue loithout a head, sitting cross-legged.
During my investigations in Yucatan, I have found only two
small statues without heads sitting in that manner, the one at
Chichen-Itza, in the observatory (you can see it iu one of the
plates of that monument at the top of the stairs, where I caused
it to be placed in a niche, which it seems to have occupied in
ancient time), and the other in the court-yard at the foot of the
great stairway of the sanctuary or Casa del Adevino at Uxmah
3d. That, like the Peruvians, the Indians of Honduras made
their utensils of clay, in the forms of fruit and animals, while the
Mayas made them generally to represent portions of the human
body, or of its ludicrous likeness, the monkey.
Accept my thanks for papers and reports, and believe me, Sir,
Yours very sincerely,
AUG™ Lb PLONGEON, M.D.
PARQUE HIDALGO (FORMERLY CALLED PLAZA DE JESUS), AT MERIDA, YUCATAN
NOTES ON YUCATAN.
By Mrs. Alice D. Le Plongeon.
These notes were the substance of a lecture delivered by-
Mrs. Le Plongeon, at Belize, British Honduras, early in
1878, for the benefit of “ The Catholic School,” which is
free to the poor children of that place. The lecture gives
the impressions of a traveller respecting a portion of this
continent, destined to receive most careful attention from
historians and antiquaries. At the close of the lecture, Wem
FrtfltmVP. Barlee, Lieutenant-Governor, proposed a vote
of thanks, in which he handsomely complimented Mrs.
Le Plongeon on her first effort in the lecture field, which
motion was supported by the Honorable W. Parker, the
Supreme Judge of the colony, in fitting terms. The illus-
trations in the form of photographs were furnished to
accompany the lecture.*
We are about to speak on a very dry matter; of old sun-
scorched stones, piled one upon the other at so remote a period
that we have to go back ages upon ages in order to arrive at the
time when civilized men existed on this Continent, and reared
monuments that not only emulate those of modern times, but
even approach, in beauty of form and elaborateness of design
those of Greece and Hindostan, and which to-day our artists and
architects copy.
We shall endeavor to associate the modern customs with the
ancient, so as to make it agreeable as well as instructive. We
dwell on the borders of a country where anciently a very high
civilization existed. We speak of these lands thus far arehae-
ologically unexplored ; and it may be that when properly ex-
*The illustrations used in this article were made by the Heliotype Printing
Company from copies by Mr. H. M. Stephenson, of Boston, Architect.
JO
70
aminerl we shall find that people who were far advanced in
intellectual and scientific culture, lived thousands of years ago in
places not yet penetrated among the forests in the unknown parts
of the Colony of Belize.
We shall ask you to accompany us in our travels among the
ancient cities of Yucatan ; and when we speak of the people who
inhabit the country to-day, we shall tell you the truth about their
customs, their civilization, their physical and mental attainments.
We hope that if there are any Yucatecos present, when we criti-
cise what we believe should be criticised, they will not regard it
as speaking ill of their country or of their people ; nor when we
tell of their merits and virtues, look upon it as adulation. As
travellers, we must speak of things as they are.
On the 29th of July, 1873, we left New York for Yucatan, on
board the steamship “ Cuba," of Alexandre & Sons, of Broadway,
New York, owners of the line of steamers that run between New
York and New Orleans, touching at Havana and the principal
ports of the Mexican Gulf, carrying the Mexican mail to and from
the United States. We were not sorry, on the 6th of August,
two days after leaving the Island of Cuba, to cast anchor three
miles from the shore in the roadstead of Progreso. Seen at that
distance, Yucatan appears a low, level plain, scarcely rising above
the sea — not a hill, not even a hillock, to relieve the monotony of
the landscape, or to intercept the line of the horizon. The first
sound from the land that reached our ear was the sharp, shrill call
of the bugle — ill omen for the peace of the country.
The custom-house boat soon drew up alongside of the “Cuba,”
and the health officers, with Mr. Martin Hatch, the American Con-
sul, came on board. Mr. Hatch told us that the yellow fever was
making havoc among the strangers in the Capital. He had just
lost his father by it. The health officers also assured us that it
was unusually severe that season among the people not acclimated.
The Consul even advised us not to land, lest we should fall victims
to the fever. We also learned from him that the country was in
a state of revolution, and had been for some time past; that en-
counters were frequent between the troops of the revolutionary
chief and the State and Federal troops. Notwithstanding this
rather discouraging news, having started to see Yucatan, we left
the steamer about 8 o’clock, A. M., on board a lighter. As the
71
weather was very calm, it took us three hours, under a scorching
sun, to reach the land. At 1 1 o’clock we were on the wharf. We
DOCK AND WHARF AT PROGRESO, PORT OF YUCATAN.
started immediately in search of some breakfast; for on board
they had neglected to give us any, in their hurry to discharge
the living freight. Wading ankle-deep in the sand we reached
a place called the Hotel Mendezona : a thatched hut of two
rooms. Here breakfast was served in the fashion of the country,
at a round table, where some of our fellow-passengers were
already seated.
Progreso was founded only a few years ago through political
influence (and political influence is everything in Mexico), to the
detriment of the real estate and house owners of the old Port of
Sisal, that was from that time abandoned. Progreso, as a port
of entry, has few advantages over Sisal, being an open roadstead
that affords no shelter for shipping, and is even dangerous in the
season of the northers. At the time of our arrival there were
but few good buildings in the place. The wharf where we landed
is a skeleton wooden wharf, built on piles. It is about one
hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy feet long, and
72
about 40 feet wide, and is said to have cost 20,000 dollars. It
would, however, be difficult to know, by its appearance, how the
amount could have been expended in that work. Its construction
was superintended by an American engineer, Mr. Alexander
Stephens, who, about eighteen months ago, was murdered by the
hostile Indians of Chan-Santa-Cruz, on his farm of Xuxab ,
situated on the extremity of the north-east coast of the Peninsula
of Yucatan, at a short distance from the Island Holbox.
To the right of the wharf, about one hundred yards from the
shore, stands the finest edifice in the town — the custom-house.
CUSTOM-HOUSE AT PROGRESO, TORT OF YUCATAN.
It is a two-storied stone building, with arcades on the ground
floor, where are situated the storerooms, and the office of the
Captain of the Port. The upper story is divided into a large
room occupied by the desks of the clerks and different officers of
the house, and the dwelling apartments of the administrator.
This building is pretty and spacious. It is also said to have cost
a large amount of money. On one side of this edifice, about one
hundred yards back, are several large storerooms, and the Post-
office.
Beyond this there was then little to be seen. Since that time
many improvements have been made, and Progreso is now re-
sorted to, in the summer months, by the ladies of Merida, as a
watering place. The best bathing booth that existed at the time
of our arrival, arid until lately, belonged to Senior Alonzo Aspe,
then the administrator of the custom-house. This gentleman,
for whom we had a letter of introduction, received us with great
hospitality. Hospitality is one of the leading traits of Yucatecan
character. It is a particular blessing in a country where hotels
are almost unknown.
The Yankees are proverbially inquisitive ; we had just come
from among them, and finding ourselves in the custom-house,
we began, in the course of conversation, to ask questions about
the country and its commerce. The principal article of export
is the henequen or filament of the Sisal hemp (the Agave
Sisalensis, an evergreen succulent plant, indigenous to Yucatan,
A PLANT OF HENEQUEN ( Agave Sisalensis ).
which bears a considerable resemblance to the plants of the
genus aloe, with which it is sometimes confounded). This
plant requhes little care, grows well in stony places, and scarcely
74
needs water. Yucatan is very stony, and as there are no rivers
in the country, the agriculturist depends altogether on the rain
for irrigating his fields.
The leaf of the agave, which vanes in length from two to five
feet when mature, is the part of the plant that furnishes the fila-
ment. There are three ways of scraping the leaf to obtain it.
The one most in use is a machine moved by steam or horse
power. It incurs so much waste of the filament, that last year,
we are informed, the planters of Merida proposed to offer a
reward of 20,000 dollars to any person who would improve the
machine.
The other two methods have been used by the natives from
time immemorial. The first is with a Tonkos. A tonkos is a flat
board of very hard wood, about a foot long, and four
inches wide. The upper end, which is the thickest, is
carved out to form a handle ; the lower end, thin and
sharp, is scooped in the middle in shape of a crescent.
This is the scraper. They place a leaf of the plant
upon a round, straight stick, about an inch or an inch
and a half in diameter. This is held in an oblique
position. After splitting the leaf lengthwise with the
tonkos, into three or four parts, each piece is squeezed
between the tonkos and the scraper, the man putting
all the weight of his body to increase the pressure.
The filament obtained in this manner is the most appreciated.
The second method is with the Facte. It consists in laying
the leaf upon a flat board about three feet long and eight inches
wide, one end being placed on the ground and the other against
the waist of the worker, who scrapes it with a piece of hard wood,
made in the shape of a two-handled knife. By working hard, the
best hand can only obtain twenty-five pounds of filament per day.
He commences work at midnight, and ceases about 9 o’clock in the
morning, when the sun is getting high, for the plant contains an
acrid principle that, with the heat of the day, acts as an
epispastic. Hammocks, bags and cordage, all made of henequen,
constitute, besides the filament, the chief articles of exportation ;
the making of them is therefore an important branch of industry
in the country.
To return to our narrative. We passed the day in the habita-
A Tonkos.
tion of the family of Sefior Aspe, in the custom-house. It was
mail day — we obtained seats in the coach for M6rida. At four
o’clock it was at the door. Between the custom-house and the
road there was a quantity of deep sand, and Sefior Aspe was too
polite to allow a lady to walk through it.
Our conveyance was an old-fashioned, rickety carriage, that
might well have belonged to our great-great grandfathers. At-
tached to it were three tiny mules ; they looked quite incapable of
gettingtheir load out of the sand, much less of taking it to Merida,
twenty four miles distant. Evidently they had resolved not to try
it; for they kicked, jumped, turned and twisted in every direction
but the right one. By dint of pushing the wheels from behind,
dragging the beasts in front, and whipping them from above, we
finally got into the road. Once fairly started they went with sur-
prising rapidity ; not even slackening their speed, when they
passed over a rustic bridge, made of loose boards placed on beams,
constructed over the slough, at the entrance to the swamps behind
the town. Nor did they once stop until we reached the relay.
These mules, so puny in appearance, were far too strong and
active for our comfort. When on board the “ Cuba ” we had
looked to Yucatan for rest ; but now we were, for the time being,
worse off than ever. The road is cut through fields of henequen ;
and it is not in many places that precaution has been taken to
make it smooth. Since then a railway has been laid, and is oper-
ated by horse-power. When we left Progreso it was about half
completed. One year ago mules were yet used in place of the
locomotive. Here and there, on either side of the road, tall chim-
neys denote the establishments of planters. We thought at the
time that no road could be worse than this, from the port to
the capital of Yucatan ; but when we visited the eastern part of
the state we had reason to change our opinion. To remain seated
was quite out of the question ; we could only hold on to the
leather straps, and patiently receive a shaking, which forcibly
reminded us of a doctor’s prescription, “ when taken to be well
shaken.”
We survived the twenty-four up-and-down miles, and entered
the capital, well-nigh exhausted, between seven and eight o'clock
in the evening. Even at that early hour all was silent, as if the
city had been deserted. Moonlight lends enchantment to every-
70
tiling, and smooths out rough places. When we passed the prin-
cipal square all looked polished and beautiful. The shrubs and
other plants, that adorn the central garden, seemed to be covered
Casa del Gobierno (Government House), at Merida, Yucatan,
WITH A PORTION OF THE PLAZA DE LA INDEPENDENCES, AND IN
THE BACKGROUND ON THE RIGHT THE IGLESIA DE JESUS.
with frost. The cathedral on our left rose grand and gloomy.
Opposite to it the arcade of the City Hall, and the ancient mansion
of the Fathers of the Company of Jesus, looked imposing and
brilliant. We told the coachman to drive to a hotel. There was
only one — of course that was the best — the Hotel Meridiano.
Thither we went. After taking supper in the public apartment —
for the landlord, Francisco Lopez, a Spaniard, said there was no
private dining room — we were conducted to a room. It contained
two folding beds, closed all round with curtains, a large pine table
and one or two chairs of the same material. Besides these articles
there were mosquitoes enough to torment all the inhabitants of
the city. From these the bed-curtains seemed to promise us a
shelter. We prepared to avail ourselves of it ; but alas ! for our
77
expectations. Instead of a mattress to rest upon, we had only a
piece of canvas stretched on the frame.
The business of the next day was house-hunting, — not an easy
task, for very little building is done in Merida.
Having made arrangements to visit the eastern part of Yucatan,
we set out for Izamal. An epidemic of small-pox had broken out
in Merida. Our friend, Dr. Don Liborio Irigoyen, then Governor
of the State, asked us, as a favor, to dispense vaccine matter
among the inhabitants of the places through which we were to
pass. On the 3d of November he gave to Dr. Le Plongeon an
• official commission to that effect. He said that he could not send
a physician for that purpose, as the treasury was exhausted. We
complied with his request at our own expense. Our travelling
carriage was a bolcin-coche. It is a two-wheeled vehicle resem-
bling a van. A mattress is spread in the bottom, for the passen-
gers to sit or lie upon, as may best please them. It will accom-
modate six persons seated, or two lying at full length, which is
the most common way of travelling in the bolan. Suspended
upon leather straps, it is the only conveyance suitable for the
roads of Yucatan. Some are four-wheeled, but these are seldom
used on account of the bad roads. They are drawn by three
mules, which go at a dashing rate, at least for the first few miles.
The road between Merida and Izamal is one of the best in the
State. About four miles from the capital, on the right-hand side
going towards Tixkokob , are to be seen a number of mounds in a
ruinous condition. This is the site of the ancient village of Techoh ,
and the ruins show that once upon a time there existed a large
village. We have not examined these edifices, our attention not
having been called to them until a very short time previous to
our leaving Yucatan. The people of the country take but little
interest in the remains of the monuments of the ancieut inhab-
itants.
The first village that we reached was Tixpeual. It is composed
of a few straggling houses, with thatched roofs, and some Indian
huts, nestling among orchards. W e passed through a long, irregu-
lar street, the principal and only one, leading to a large square
overrun with grass, where stands an old convent in a most ruinous
condition, and a roofless church. The altar only is under a shed
of palm leaves. Nominally, the Roman Catholic religion is that
11
78
of the country ; but since the laws of reform were first promul-
gated under President Don Benito Juarez, when the property of
the clergy was confiscated, many of the churches have fallen into
ruin. Frequently the churches are sustained by the exertions of
the priests alone, who are now, with but few exceptions, very
poor. The people of the small towns take little pride in the
appearance and preservation of their temples.
At Tixpeual , the carriages coming from or going to Merida,
generally stop to water their horses at a well by the roadside.
The next town of importance is Tixkokob. At this place the
Spaniards fought a hard battle with the Indians, under the com-
mand of the Cocomes, princes of Sotuta. The historian says there
were only two hundred Spaniards to forty thousand (?) Indians.
This battle took place on Thursday, June 11th, 1541. A few
months later the city of Merida was founded. Tixkokob is now the
aristocratic village of Yucatan, so we were told. It is small, not
over picturesque, but a well kept and clean town. The church is
large. The convent, now half ruined, attached to it, is occupied
by our good friend, Dn. Pablo Ancona, the curate, to whose
hospitality and kindness we owe much. To him also is due the
re-edification, at his own expense, of the part now habitable. The
village is surrounded by plantations of henequen. The principal
industry of the place, among the poor, is hammock making. This
is done for the most part by women and young girls, which latter
I must say are very pretty. Besides the curate, we have there
many good friends whom we remember with pleasure.
About fifteen miles from Tix/coJcob we passed the village of
Ccicalchen, once of some importance, if we might judge by the
number of stone houses seen around the spacious square. It is
now nearly deserted and lonely.
This manner of travelling in our own carriage, passing through
many unknown and strange looking places, stopping when and
wherever one feels inclined, is certainly more pleasant and full of
interest than being carried at the rate of forty miles an hour in a
railway car. The Indians alone, in their picturesque, unique cos-
tume, were sufficient to rivet our attention. Then, too, the hedges
were brilliant with convolvulus of various colors; rose-pink, sky-
blue, rich purple, and pure white, mingling and entwining each
other. Upon the ground, every here and there, were large groups
79
or patches of yellow butterflies that, upon our approach, rose and
fluttered around us. To give an idea of their number, we may
say that we rode through clouds of them for miles. They were
of the most brilliant hues. Indeed no country can surpass Yucatan
in the beauty and variety of color of its flowers, insects and birds.
We next traversed Mucuiche , a hamlet of a few scattered huts
hidden among orchards, and then came to the village of Citilcum.
Indian Hut in Yucatan, with Indian Laborers at work.
As we rode through it a storm was just breaking overhead; yet
notwithstanding a loud peal of thunder, we distinctly heard
A, B, C, echoed by many youthful mouths. Looking toward the
place from whence the sound came, we saw the village school
where the hopes of the villagers of both sexes were learning the
names of the letters, which they shouted out at the top of their
voices, making rather a discordant than a harmonious noise.
They stopped short of one accord at the rattle of wheels upon
the stony road, stretching their necks and eyes to the utmost to
get a peep at the travellers, and then, at the command of the
Magister, in unison screamed again A, B, C.
80
At a very short distance from this place, on the left of
the road, are to be seen the remnants of the magnificent ancient
causeway, carefully built of hewn stone, cemented with mortar,
which, at the time of the Spanish conquest, existed between
Izamal and T.-Ho (Merida). A great part of this work has been
thoroughly destroyed to obtain stones to macadamize the public
road.
We were six miles from Izamal, yet could plainly see, towering
above all, the church that crowns the great mound of which we
will speak anon. The rain continued to fall heavily until we were
near the city, when the sun again shone forth in all its splendor ;
so the bolan coche entered Izamal sparkling with rain-drops. We
drove to a house that had been taken for us, and found to our dis-
may that the floor of each room was abundantly adorned with
little pools of water — unfortunate result of a shower of rain and a
leaky roof. We had letters of recommendation to Senor Don
Joaquin Reyes, one of the principal merchants there. These we
sent by our servant. In less than half an hour the carriage of
Don Joaquin was at the door with a request from him for us
to go immediately to his house. He did not allow us to return to
our mansion of small lakes, but furnished one belonging to himself,
and put it at our disposal, which proved to be much more comfort-
able than the one rented for us. The friendship then shown by
Senor Reyes and his amiable family has never changed.
Izamal is not what it was some years ago, having been partly
destroyed by the Indians at the time of their insurrection in 1847.
Anciently it was celebrated for its temples where the people went
in pilgrimage from all parts, even from the countries now
called Chiapas, Guatemala, and Tabasco, in olden times
Xibalba. Four of the principal mounds yet remain. They sur-
round the largest square. The smaller ones were destroyed for
the purpose of building the city. That situated on the north side
is an oblique pyramid, with a gradual ascent of broad steps on
the south side, and a very steep, almost perpendicular one, on the
north. Upon this mound, that is one huudred and fifty feet high
from the base to the summit, a temple was raised in honor of
Kinich-Kakmo. Ivinich-Kakmo signifies fiery Ara, with eyes like
the sun. The Ara, or Macaw, is of the parrot family, with a long
81
tail, very brilliant plumage, and a powerful beak. This bird
inhabits the Antilles and the warmer parts of America.
PUBLIC SQUARE, AT IZAMAL, YUCATAN,
WITH ARTIFICIAL MOUND IN THE BACKGROUND.
In our later studies among the ruins of Chichen, we have
learned that the totem of the wife of the chieftain Chaacmol,
queen of Chichen, was an Ara ( Moo in the Maya tongue). The
queen is represented on some of the monuments as an Ara eating
human hearts. In the interior of the building that Ivinich-Kakmo
caused to be raised to the memory of Chaacmol, we find the his-
tory of her life portrayed in mural paintings. She was graceful,
beautiful, affectionate and brave ; and such was her goodness
and virtue, that after her death the people deified her, as some
of the nations of antiquity in the Old World deified their illus-
trious personages. Her shrine was then built upon the mound on
the north side of the square. It was said that always at mid-day
Kinich-Kakmo descended from heaven in the form of an Ara, and
burned the sacrifice offered on her altar. By a strange coinci-
dence we read in the Bible of similar phenomena, taking place
among the Jews, the fire from heaven coming to burn the offer-
ings on the altar.
82
The second mound, on the south side of the square, is very
extensive. It was called by the Indians Ppapp-Hol-Chac, which
means “ Heads and thunder.” Father Lizana, an historian of the
time of the conquest, said that the word Ppapp-Hol-Chac meant
the mansion of the priests of the gods. This mound was occupied
by the palaces of the priests, which were destroyed by Bishop
Diego de Landa, who built in their place the church and convent
of the Franciscan monks, in order, says Cogolludo in Book Y. of
his “ Historia de Yucatan ,” to drive away the devil with the sight
of the holy habit of the friars, from a place which had been defiled
by the presence of the priests of idols. To-day the convent is in
a ruinous condition, but serves as a barracks, and occasionally as
a penitentiary. Landa also destroyed the temples of the other
mounds. On the east side of the square was a temple dedicated
to Itzamatul , which means “ he who receives and possesses the
grace or dew from heaven.” Tradition says that Zamna was
the first King that ruled over Yucatan, and that he divided the
lands, and gave names to the towns. During life he was con
suited by the people, who wished to know what was taking place
in remote parts. He also used to prophecy the things of the
future. According to tradition, they carried the dead to him that
he might bring them back to life. He healed the sick by the
imposition of the hand. After his death they deified him and
raised an altar in his honor. He was held in great veneration
even at the time of the Spanish conquest. The people brought
to his shrine their sick friends. These were carried to another
temple, also dedicated to him, that occupied the west side of the
square, and was called Kabul, that is to say, “the working-hand.”
People went there in great numbers from all parts of the country,
carrying presents and alms.
Cogolludo, in the second chapter of the YIth Book, tells us
that Father Landa endeavored by all possible means to attract the
Indians to the holy Catholic faith, and wean them from their idol-
atrous rites. Seeing that they were accustomed to worship
images, having destroyed theirs with his own hands, he resolved
to replace them by one of the Virgin Mary. He made a voyage
to Guatemala to obtain one from the chisel of a renowned sculptor,
who resided there. As he was going, the Franciscan monks
83
asked him to bring another for their convent in Merida.
The two images were obtained, put into one box, and, that they
might not be injured, it was carried on the shoulders of Indians.
On the way back it rained continually, but not on the box, nor
upon those who carried it, nor even for some distance around
them. Arrived at the city of Merida, the monks chose for their
convent the image that had the prettiest face and most saintly
expression. Although the other had been brought for the Indians,
and was to be carried to Izamal, the people of Valladolid wanted
it for the convent of that city, because, said they, it is not just
that it should remain in an Indian village. The Indians opposed
this as they could ; but what the Spaniards wished began to be
put in execution. All iu vain, however; no human strength
could move it from Izamal. So, to the delight of the Indians and
admiration of the mouks, the image was placed in the convent of
that city. Cogolludo goes on to tell of the wonderful and numer-
ous miracles performed by Our Lady of Izamal, in healing the
sick and raising the dead. Even to-day they are said to be per-
formed, and her shrine is a place of pilgrimage for the people
of Yucatan, notwithstanding that the original image was
destroyed some years ago in the burning of the church, and
replaced by another, as stated on a marble slab at the principal
entrance of the church. Landa destroyed the idols that healed
the sick and raised the dead, putting that of the Virgin Mary
in their place, and the same miracles have continued. The
image, however, that had remained at Merida effected nothing.
The Indian, the mixed or Mestizo race, and even some of the
uneducated white, are firm believers in witchcraft, and practice
many superstitious rites. In name they are Catholic, but in name
only, and because they have been driven to it. Cogolludo says
in the 17th chapter of his IV th Book, that those Indians who
failed to attend mass were flogged ; and we kuow from good
authority that only thirty years ago those Indians who entered
the church late were whipped at the door.
Throughout Yucatan, wTheu the Indians or Mestizos suffer from
a disease they do not understand, they are often said to be, and
really imagine themselves bewitched, and that this or that
medicine man ( II- Men ) can cure them by destroying the sorcery.
The medicine man is generally an Indian who pretends to a great
84
knowledge of medicinal herbs ; and who, in fact, has an insight
into the use of some few, having received tl\e instruction from
his parents, who have, in their turn, received it from theirs. It is
easy to comprehend how different may be the knowledge of the
medicine man of to-day from that possessed by his forefathers,
when we consider that it has been passed to him only by word of
mouth. • The ancient H-Men (wise man) was, possibly, a
sage of great learning, but the II-Men of to day is a trickster and
impostor. Nevertheless, many Indians have a profound faith in
his power and wisdom, so he is called to the aid of the bewitched.
The rogue, uttering cabalistic words, goes under the bed or ham-
mock to dig up the figure of the person that has done the mischief.
This, at least, is what he pretends. Of course, he has some little
figure hidden about him ; he feigns scraping the floor, generally
mere earth among the poor Indians, and soon presents an image
said to be a likeness of the person who has bewitched the patient.
For this he receives a fee, and takes his departure amid the thanks
of his wondering dupes. The patient remains, of course, neither
better nor worse for the ceremony, unless his faith be great and
the disease half fanciful.
I copied an old manuscript, written in the Spanish language,
and in very bad grammar, that I found in Isla Mujeres, where it
is venerated and firmly relied upon as the most complete work on
medicine. It is called the “Book of the Few.” Why, I have
not been able to discover. I was told by several persons that this
same manuscript serves in lieu of a physician in some parts of
Yucatan. When in Valladolid, Yucatan, we heard it spoken of
in very flattering terms. The following is a quotation : —
Cure for the Bewitched. — “ First take a root of vervain, cook
it in wine, and give it to the patient to drink. It will be vomited.
To know if the person is bewitched, pass a branch of skunk plant
over him. If the leaves become purple the person is bewitched.
To be freed from the enchantment wTear a cross, made from the
root of the skunk plant, around the neck.”
This is a sample of the many absurdities found in that old
manuscript.
We were in Izamal in the month of December. On the 8th
the festival of Our Lady of Izamal is celebrated. A large fair is
85
held, to which the merchants, not only of Yucatan, but also from
the neighboring States, flock, as in olden times, if not to pay their
respects at the shrine of the Virgin, to worship at the altar of
Mercury. The people go thither to kneel before the image
already mentioned, and to pass three days as merrily as possible.
In the morning there are processions to the shrine of Our Lady.
Mass is celebrated at eleven o’clock. From church the congrega-
tion goes straightway to the bull-fight.
A bull-fight in Yucatan is not like a bull-fight in Spain. The
ring is built by the principal families of the village, each lending
servants to erect a part of it. It is a double palisade, sustaining
sheds, covered with leaves of the palmetto, that are divided into
boxes. Every one provides a chair for himself. The best and
worst, large and small, all attend.
There are but few men, if any, who give themselves at all to
the study of tauromachy. Many enter the ring perfectly ignorant
of all rules by which they might escape the fury of the animal.
It was customary among the ancient people of Yucatan to sacrifice
their lives as an offering to the deity for any benefit received. This
is yet openly practised among the Indians, but in such manner as
not to pass for human sacrifice. If an Indian desires any particu-
lar thing he begs it from his patron saint, and, to show his grati-
tude, promises in return to fight the bull, or to keep himself intoxi-
cated for a certain number of days, or to perform some other rash
deed. Well, he knows nothing about bull-fighting. To enter
the ring and confront the animal is about as sure a death for him
as being shot at by arrows, as was customary for the victims
that offered themselves in the olden times. With an Indian
about to enter the arena I once remonstrated, but the only answer
given to all argument and persuasion was “In promesa, Colei"
(my promise, Lady). Nothing could shake his resolution; he
complied with his promise, and was carried away mortally
wounded. The ring is occupied by six or more Indians on foot.
Some young men of the city who wish to display their horseman-
ship enter mounted. Of those on foot some are provided with a
pole about three feet long, having a sharp iron head like that of
an arrow, called rejon. Others have merely a sack made of hene-
quen. This serves them as a shield against the bull. Certainly
they, at times, show much courage and have very narrow escapes.
12
86
When the people tire of seeing the bull played with, they call for
the rejoneros. Those who have already performed now stand
aside, and the rejoneros , that is, the men provided with spears,
come forward. Their business is to strike the bull in the nape of
the neck and kill him. If the blow is well given the animal at
once falls dead, but this is seldom the case. The beast is chased
by two or three men at once, blow after blow is dealt ; the blood
gushing afresh each time. The first blow makes it furious; it is
then dangerous for the pursuers, but the loss of blood soon
weakens it, and it becomes almost harmless. The horsemen are
then called upon to lasso, drag it off, and bring in another,
llockets are fired, the people applaud, the band plays, and a clown
does his best to amuse the audience during the interval. If a bull
is disinclined to fight, they girt his body with ropes in every pos-
sible way, and fasten fire-crackers to his tail and about the head
and back. Thus aggravated the poor beast jumps and the fire-
crackers explode. This l enders him furious for a minute or so.
If again he refuses to fight he is taken away as a coward not
worth killing. Such is the bull-fight in some of the villages of
Yucatan.
Nearly all the religious festivals outside of the larger towns are
attended with bull-fights, gambling and fireworks, and, as of old,
inebriation. Apart from the festivals of the church, the Indians
have many ceremonies of their own that their forefathers prac-
tised. They regard them with far more veneration than those
forced upon them by the priests. One of these rites is the Etzmeek
Naylan , or the act of placing the child, when four months old,
astride the hip of a woman chosen for the occasion. She repre-
sents for them the godmother, from Naylan (godmother.) These
godmothers faithfully keep their promise to bring up the child,
if the parents are removed from it. The child, and its mother,
both have a great respect for her, the little one being taught to
kiss her hand when she approaches it. The ceremony is as fol-
lows : After the child is placed astride of the hip, the woman
walks round the outside of the house five times with the baby.
Five eggs are buried in hot ashes, that they may there break, and
the child thus have its five senses awakened. If the eggs do not
bieak leadily, it is a sure sign that the children will not be very
intelligent. If they wish it to write well, they place a pen in its
87
hand during the ceremony ; to read well, a book ; to work in the
fields, a machete (a long knife generally used by the natives).
This rite causes us to remember a very touching Hindoo anec-
dote that we have read in the life of the Prince Sidharna, son ot
Maya Devi, the beautiful illusion. He retired from the court when
yet young, and became Budha, the founder of Budhism, which
sect is to Brahmanism, as Christianity to Judaism. A young
woman having lost her only child thought herself most unjustly
treated. She went to Budha to ask him to brins; it back to life.
Budha promised so to do if she would bring him live grains of
mustard seed from the hands of some one ' who had lost no
relative, no friend. The woman went rejoicing from door to door
with the child astride upon her hip. She failed to find any one
who had lost neither friend nor relative. Then she comprehended
that she was not exempt from the general law of death, and went
back repentant to Budha, who pardoned her. Ever after, she
remained with him and became a sainted person.
This shews that the custom common in Yucatan, of carrying
children astride the hip, existed likewise in Hindostan at the time
that Budha lived ; that is to say, more than five thousand years
ago.
As we have said that the Indians of Yucatan believe in witch-
craft, we will tell you how Dr. Le Plongeon acquired the reputa-
tion of a wizard. It was said that several persons had wished to
enter the great artificial mound raised to Kinich-Kakmo, the late
Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg among others, but as yet none had
succeeded. Everybody considered the feat, if not impossible,
at least very dangerous, as there might be snakes lurking there,
and other venomous reptiles, with which the country abounds.
Dr. Le Plongeon decided to enter if possible, as his examination
of the mound had persuaded him that it must contain interior
chambers. He was fortunate enough to find a small opening on
the eastern side. After penetrating ten yards, he found a dry stone
wall blocking the way. To the right he perceived, by the light
of his candle, a small aperture. He made his way through this.
Crawling on about fifteen yards among immense blocks of hewn
stone that form the foundation of the mound, he found that there
was no entrance in that direction. Returning, he felt a strong
current of air that seemed to come through the stone wall. He
88
came to the conclusion that there was the road lie sought. He had
an order from the Governor of the State, to ask the Jefe Politico ,
or magistrate, for help. This he did, requesting him to lend
four prisoners from the penitentiary, as no free working men
could be induced to venture, much less to work, under the
mound. The men were given, and an opening was made in the
Avail. This took nearly a whole day, as there was little space
for working. The next, day the magistrate offered all kinds of
excuses not to lend the men again. The Doctor, however,
went to the mound in company with Dr. Don Braulio Mendez
and Don Joaquin Reyes. The gentlemen entered as far as
the wall, but left Dr. Le Plongeon to continue his explorations
through the opening made by the prisoners. The passage was
exceedingly small, being half filled up with loose earth. Tie took
a string between his teeth, to signal if anything should befall
him, and penetrated, by the light of a candle, about twenty-five
yards in a westerly direction, crawling on the ground, with his
back scraping the roof. Reaching the end of the passage, he
found a place where he could sit upright. At the left-hand side
was an opening almost blocked up with earth that had sifted
between the stones. It left an aperture of about a foot and a
half. Here the shoulders would not pass ; but looking through,
he saw a kind of chamber, and, on the south side, the doorway
of a subterranean passage, leading south towards the mound upon
which the church stands. A strong current of air blew through
the passage. There is no doubt that from time immemorial com-
munication has existed between the two mounds. There ended
the exploration in that direction for the time being.
Among the Indians and Mestizos a strange tradition is current
and firmly believed. It is, that under the mound is a large pool
of crystalline water ; and, standing in the middle, a beautiful
image of a woman, so resplendent and shining that it illuminates
the whole place. But as in our modern times no one has entered
into the interior, we must accept the existence of an image there
as a possibility, for the Indians were in the habit of burying
under these pyramids the effigies of their honored rulers, as the
Egyptians the mummies of theirs. The visit of the doctor to
the mound gave rise to the following ludicrous incident: — A mis-
chievous cat, poking his nose where he had no business, threw
89
down a bottle containing a solution of nitrate of silver. To repair
the damage the doctor set to work, to make some more, and for
that purpose dissolved some Spanish coin in nitric acid. Having
precipitated the pure silver in the form of chloride, in order to
separate it from the alloy of copper, he converted the chloride
into black oxide, which very much resembles loam. In order to
get rid of the little zinc it might yet contain, he sent it, well
washed and dried, to the silversmith to have it melted, little
dreaming of the inference that would be drawn. Our servant
was a Mexican soldier of the Pioneer regiment, accustomed to a
strict discipline, and to comply therefore with the orders he
received, lie took the oxide of silver to the best silversmith and
requested him to melt it. The smith having examined the stuff,
became enraged at the idea that any one should take him for a
fool, and wish to play him a practical joke, and asked the soldier
what he meant by requesting him to waste his time trying to melt
earth under the pretence that it was silver. The soldier merely
replied that such were his orders, that he knew nothing else, and
begged him to do it. After much pourparler, the smith at last
took a small quantity of the stuff that he believed to be earth,
placed it upon a piece of charcoal and with his blowpipe directed
a flame upon it. Whenlo! to his astonishment, a globule of
bright silver appeared in lieu of the supposed earth. Then a
lucid idea crossed his brain. “Oh !” said he, “I now know why
that foreigner, your master, went under the mound. He knew
that the earth there was pure silver, and went for that.” The
worthy man refused to melt the rest lest it might be bewitched.
This took place on a Saturday morning. On Monday we learned
that very early on the previous day, Sunday, the smith, with some
of his companions, had proceeded to the mound, entered it, not
without fear and trembling, and filled some large bags with loam.
This was carried to the forge, and he passed the day trying to
obtain silver by blowing upon it, but alas ! without success.
When this story was told to us, the Doctor thought it would
be well to push the joke a little farther. So he took a small
quantity of solution of nitrate of silver and poured into it a solu-
tion of common salt. You are aware that the result of this
mixture is a white precipitate of chloride of silver, which when dry,
resembles lime. Having obtained this, the Doctor sent it to the
silversmith to have it melted. After much hesitation he snb-
90
mitted it to the magic action of the blowpipe flame. The globule
of silver again made its appearance. “ Ah ! ” said he, angrily,
“ now I understand the whole thing, and why we worked all
yesterday, and burned so much coal for nothing. Your master
knew that we were going to the mound, and by his power of
witchcraft, changed the loam into saccab ” (white earth).
From that time Dr. Le Plongeon passed for a great wizard and
enchanter among the lower classes of Izamal.
Merida, the capital of Yucatan, was founded on the site of the
ancient city of T.-IIo , in the year 1542, by Don Francisco de
Moutejo, Lieutenant-Governor and Captain-General, son of Don
Francisco de Montejo, the Adelantado, Governor and Chief
Justice for the Provinces of Yucatan and Cozumel.
Casa del Adelantado Montejo, on the Plaza de la Independencia,
at Merida, Yucatan.
The Spaniards built their first houses in the style of the natives.
Afterwards they destroyed the artificial mounds that surrounded
the place where the principal square now is, to use the stones for
building the city, commencing at that point. The first house
built under the direction of Montejo yet stands on the south
/*
91
side of the square. It is a curious combination of Spanish and
Indian work. Prominent among the ornaments on the facade
are Spaniards standing upon prostrate Indians (sad emblem of the
social position of the poor Indian of to-day).
The City Hall occupies the central part of the west side of the
square, between the dwelling of Don Bernado Peon and the
ancient mansion of the Jesuit Fathers. It is a long two-storied
building, with an arcade running the whole length on the ground
and upper floor, where are the Council Chambers and office of the
City Treasurer. Below are the barracks of the National Guard,
police station, city jail, and office of the magistrate. A turret rises
from the centre of the building, and in front is the city clock,
which announces to the inhabitants that their life on earth is
shortened by an hour. Under it, on a marble plate, is the date of
the erection of the building in letters said to be of pure gold.
Casa Municipal (City Hall) with a portion of tiie Plaza de la
Indefendencia, at Merida, Yucatan.
The Bishop’s palace and the cathedral adjoin each other, and
occupy the eastern side of the square. The cathedral is a massive-
looking monument, of imposing proportions. On the north are
the government offices and some private property. The middle
of the square is laid out as a flower garden. This is the prome-
nade of the ladies, particularly on Sunday and Thursday evenings,
when the orchestra performs there.
The prettiest spot in Merida is the Plaza cle Jesus, or Jesus
square.* It is a small enclosure, with an Italian marble fountain
in the centre, patches of ground laid out as flower beds, and an
abundance of elegant iron seats. The walks are paved with
marble, and over all trees wave their green foliage. Formerly the
orchestra played there, but it was abandoned for the larger
square, not being spacious enough for all the people to enter the
garden. This is enclosed by an iron railing, and only opened to
the public at certain hours. A few days after our arrival we went
*See lull-page illustration of Parque Hidalgo (formerly called Plaza de
Jesus), facing page 69.
LA CATEDRAL, AT MERIDA, YUCATAN,
on the Plaza de la Independence*,.
03
to that place to listen to the music, and we almost imagined our-
selves upon enchanted ground. The band was excellent ; Maestro
Cuevas was director, and the opera of Semiramis was well exe-
cuted. The atmosphere was soft and balmy ; and how graceful
were the ladies ! Dressed, nearly all of them, in white, they
glided, rather than walked, to the compass of the harmonious
sounds. We have never seen any people move as gracefully as
do the Yucatecan ladies ; this walk is not studied, but natural to
them. Their harmonious, amiable character shows itself in their
way of walking. This scene was yet more enhanced by the pale
moon that shed her silvery light over all. That evening will
always be remembered by me, for before morning I was prostrated
with yellow fever. I passed through that illness in the Hotel
Meridiano, attended by Dr. Le Plongeon, who patiently fulfilled
the duties of nurse and physician with the most assiduous care,
not sleeping, during seven days, more than an hour in every
twenty-four, as we had been assured that no stranger attacked
with the fever that year had escaped death.
The streets of the city of Merida are laid out at right angles.
They are wide, and paved in the dry season with dust — when it
rains, carpeted with mud, and adorned with innumerable pools of
water, that almost interrupt pedestrian travel. Besides the Plaza
Mayor, there are about fourteen or fifteen smaller squares, and on
each a church.
The marketplace is in the centre of the city. It is poorly pro-
vided. Everything, except the meat, is sold on the ground,
generally spread out on clean, white cloths, or large plantain
leaves placed on the flagstones. The venders squat in rows
beside their wares, which are sold in very small proportions. To
a stranger it is a novel and pretty sight, on account of the pic-
turesque costumes of the Indians.
The houses are generally one story high, though there are some
handsome two-story dwellings. The apartments are spacious and
lofty, but seldom elegant. Some of the buildings have interior
court-yards adorned with flowers.
The only theatre looks rather unattractive outwardly. It has
been proposed to pull down the Castle of San Benito, and build a
new theatre in its place. It would be regretted, for the fortress
of San Benito, and ex-convent of the Franciscan friars, is a his-
13
House of Senor Dario Galera, on the Plaza de la Independencia,
at MERIDA, Yucatan.
torical monument that ought to be preserved. It stands on the
eastern side of the city, and occupies the elevated site of a magnifi-
cent temple of the ancient inhabitants. Bishop Landa in his work,
“ Las (Josas de Yucatan ,” has given a description, and preserved
the plan of it. To-day the convent is in ruins. The church
attached to it serves as barracks for the federal troops stationed
in Merida. Some part of the building has been re-erected to
serve as a penitentiary. Many of the cells have been purposely
pulled down by the federal soldiers, to use the material for build-
ing an almshouse and free school for the poor, but a change of
government prevented the completion of the project. Some of
the interior decorations yet remain upon the old walls of the con-
vent, though the roof has fallen. We have seen the remnants of
the ancient monument spoken of by Landa, which, according
to Father Cogolludo, supported the cells of the second story of
the convent. As a fortress, the building would yet do good
service.
95
Court-Yard of the House of Dona Biiuna Galera de Casares, at
Merida, Yucatan, with Servants variously employed.
The society of Merida is pleasing. Even the poorest classes are
well-mannered and refined. They will give all they have to
receive a visitor kindly. There is little vice in the city ; violent
crimes, such as theft and murder, are almost unheard of in the
country. The gentlemen are very polite, and, as a rule, well
informed, well educated, and very intelligent.
The ladies are very much retired. Some only leave their
houses to attend church. In appearance some are beautiful, but
all are graceful and none ugly. They are fond of music, and have
a natural talent for it. Some are very skilful at making sugar
flowers, fruits and vegetables. We have seen these fabricated
with such perfection, that, being close to them, and even having
them in the hand, it was difficult to persuade ourselves that they
were not the real thing. The taste alone cau undeceive ; it is as
96
pleasing as the appearance. In dress the ladies follow the Euro-
pean fashions.
The Mestizas and Indians always retain their most picturesque
ancient national costume. The Indian woman’s dress is of white
linen. The under part is a full skirt called pic, made long enough
to escape the ground ; the upper, called uipil, falls over it to the
knees. This consists of a single piece that requires no fastening;
it is cut square at the neck. Nothing can be prettier than a
young Mestiza in holiday attire — her pic and uipil both edged
with colored embroidery and deep lace, made by the natives; her
feet encased in dainty satin slippers — around her neck a gold
rosary, from which depend coins of the same metal, and ribbons
of various hues, ller bearing is that of a princess ; a modest
ENGAGED IN MAKING TORTILLAS, Oil INDIAN COHN CAKES.
one withal, though conscious of her bewitching appearance, which
is yet more enhanced if she carries a basket of flowers, gracefully
97
poised upon the tips of her fingers and raised to the level of her
head to shade her face from the sun. The Mestizas of Merida are
renowned for their beauty, and with good reason. Their ordinary
head-dress is a white lace veil, and when they dance they wear a
hat trimmed with ribbons and flowers. Their hair is either worn
in two plaits, or fastened in a peculiar knot, called a Tuch, that
falls upon the back of the neck. The costume of the men recalls
most forcibly to the mind the dress worn by the workmen of
Assyria and Egypt, as shown on the mural paintings of the tombs
of Egypt, and the bas-reliefs on the slabs of Nineveh.
Merida has a musical academy, where music is well studied and
carefully performed. There is also an amateur theatrical society
among the youth of the city, which certainly performs far better
than the travelling companies that visit Yucatan.
There are two large colleges. One, uEl Colegio Oatolico,” in
the Plaza cle Jesus, is the private property of Father Dominguez.
It is exceedingly well kept. They have classes for primary edu-
cation and the higher branches of learning. Theology, and all
other studies necessary to those who wish to enter the priesthood,
are taught. It has a good library, and a department of chemistry
and natural philosophy, well supplied with good instruments ;
also an astronomical and meteorological observatory, where the
director, Father Dominguez, takes observations every day, that
are published in the “ Pevista cle Merida." The other, at a
short distance from the Plaza cle Jesus, is the “ Institute
Literario an establishment belonging to the Government.
In it all branches of education are taught, including medicine
and jurisprudence. Two large apartments of this building
were ceded in the year 1871 to serve as a museum for antiquities,
under the direction of Senor Don Crecencio Carillo Ancona, a
Presbyter, who has taken a true interest in the arehaaology of that
country and has dedicated many hours of his life to its ancient
history. This museum contains pieces of antique sculpture, plas-
ter casts, pottery, some Maya manuscripts, objects of natural his-
tory, and samples of various woods of the country. There are
also several public schools. These, under the supervision of the
Common Council, are very well conducted. The children are
what the Americans would call “ smart.” They progress with
astonishing rapidity in all the studies they are put to. A few
98
years ago, there being no proper school for girls, two ladies, Dona
Rita Cetina Gutierez and Dona Cristina Farfan, undertook to
establish one for those of poor families, calling it the Siempre
Viva ” (Evergreen). It is, to-day, by the eft'orts of those ladies,
in a most nourishing condition.
Formerly there was an hospital near the centre of the city; the
old convent of the Mejorada serves now for that purpose. This
hospital, until the middle of 1876, was under the care and super-
intendence of the Sisters of Charity ; but at the time of the pro-
mulgation of the laws of reform, these ladies abandoned it, no
longer being permitted to dwell in the community. It contains
an asylum for the insane. At the time of our departure from
Merida the hospital was under the direction of our friend, Dr.
Sauri, a very able physician, who served in the United States as
surgeon during the war, in the army of the Potomac, and went
afterwards to France and Germany to complete his medical
studies. He is a true lover of his profession.
Merida boasts of several private open carriages, and some very
fine horses imported from Europe and the United States. The
vehicle generally in use is called a caleza. It is similar to the
old-fashioned chaise. Two people may sit in it comfortably, and
three upon an emergency. It is drawn by one horse, which the
driver rides. This conveyance is supported on broad leather
straps, and the motion is very easy.
Several newspapers are published; some three times a week,
others twice only. “ El Periodica Oficial," or “ La Razon del
Pueblo ,” is the organ of the Government ; “Za lievista de Merida,"
that of the commercial community; ‘El Pensamiento of the
Masonic society ; and ‘■'■El Mensajero," of the clergy. Other small
sheets are issued occasionally by the Spiritualists and other uists ,”
as this or that opinion is most prevalent. One of them, called
‘Ea Ley de Amor ” (The Law of Love), is a Spiritualist paper,
against which ‘■El Artesano," an ultra-montane sheet, is issued.
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