The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Ancient Cities of the New World, by Désiré Charnay, Translated by J. Gonino and Helen S. Conant

THE
ANCIENT CITIES OF THE NEW WORLD.

DÉSIRÉ CHARNAY

THE
Ancient Cities
OF THE
NEW WORLD.

BEING

Travels and Explorations in Mexico and Central America

From 1857-1882.
BY
DÉSIRÉ CHARNAY.
With numerous Illustrations.
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY
J. GONINO and HELEN S. CONANT.

LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL,
Limited.
1887.

CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS,
CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.

TO

MR. PETER LORILLARD.

Sir,

When the Minister of Public Instruction entrusted me with the study of the Ancient American Civilisations, you wished to become associated with my labours in a truly munificent spirit. You will find in the following pages the result of my discoveries, which, you are aware, were attended with perfect success. I strove, during the progress of these studies, to carry out the programme laid down by you towards the reconstruction of civilisations that have passed away. I think I have succeeded; and I hope to have sufficiently demonstrated that these civilisations had but one and the same origin—that they were Toltec and comparatively modern. If the learned world shall confirm my theory, and success crown my endeavours; if it shall be found that I have solved this vexed American question, so hotly controverted hitherto, it will be mainly due to your generous support.

Pray accept the dedication of this Work as a token of my deep gratitude.

DÉSIRÉ CHARNAY.

TRANSLATORS’ NOTE.

The justification for having ventured to correct the spelling of some proper names, and other slight emendations, is to be found in the Author’s Preface, where he states that “he often trusted an uncertain memory for his quotations, and that his book was written between two expeditions.” There is more: it was deemed advisable, to suit a restless and exacting generation, to reduce the bulk of the volume, a task which was not undertaken without fear and trembling, the Translator being painfully conscious of shortcomings, and that retrenchment may have been where it should rather have expanded, and expanded where it should have retrenched.

PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION.

The first notice upon this work appeared in the North American Review, the energetic Editor of which (Mr. A. Th. Rice) wished to be before all his contemporaries in giving his subscribers an aperçu of my labours. Unfortunately for them that publication contained my impressions of the moment, just as I dotted them down, which, as a natural consequence, had to be modified pari passu with my discoveries, whilst my quotations, owing to an uncertain memory, were not much to offer readers of such intrinsic merit. A second publication followed in the Tour du Monde, but although better thought out than the first, even that was too hastily written to do justice to the magnificent collection I now present to the public, in which the entire design I had at heart is revealed; and if the account of my discoveries, the issue which naturally follows, the theory I wish to establish, are still couched in language which may appear crude and incomplete, I ask the indulgence of my readers on the plea that this edition received the last touch between two expeditions. On the other hand the subject is so vast, that I only aimed at giving a broad outline, hoping for greater leisure at some future time.

My wish has been so to write as to be easily understood by all; to this end I have given my book the dual form of a journal as well as a scientific account: in it I recount the history of a civilisation which has long passed away, which is hardly known, or rather which has been systematically misunderstood and misrepresented. My explorations led me to the uplands of Mexico, the first establishments of the civilising race, and enabled me to trace the Toltecs step by step to their highest development in the various regions of Central America, and not unfrequently to give a certain date, to re-establish historical truth. There is nothing very extraordinary in this reconstruction, which, at first beautifully simple, became complicated with the countless contradictory accounts which have been published in regard to it. In the hands of the Spanish padres, origins, however obscure, were made to agree with the Biblical narrative both in their ponderous commentaries and their ridiculous systems, which, starting with the confusion of tongues, travelled on to the lost tribes of Israel, ending with the legend which ascribes to St. Thomas the apostleship of America. Modern historians have not been much better in this respect, and the last century has produced a stupendous amount of the most extraordinary publications, forming an inextricable labyrinth, of which the immense compilation of Bancroft may serve as an example.

The cause of this confusion is twofold: first and foremost, the destruction of nearly all the Indian documents by the conquerors; and secondly, the small degree of interest they felt for anything that dated before their advent. The first accounts, such as Ixtlilxochitl’s for instance, were written from narratives more or less trustworthy, delivered from memory by the natives, in which, as might be expected, the most incoherent traditions are mixed up with certain historical facts, without discrimination or the slightest spirit of criticism; for science is but of yesterday, and archæology, anthropology, and philology were as yet unknown. This explains why, if we except those things which fell under their personal observation, later historians are so infinitely superior to the ancient.

Up to the present day authentic documents have been wanting; for without any fault or demerit on the part of the explorers, their drawings of monuments, however carefully done, could not cope with modern photographs and squeezes. On the other hand, each traveller writing, it is true, from actual observation, but confining himself to one district, could only describe a few of the principal ruins, so that his theory respecting them was untenable when compared or applied to the ruins of the whole country. Thus it came to pass that the various epochs of American civilisation were dealt with as so many distinct civilisations, producing the utmost confusion. Whereas a sound study of American civilisation should set aside preconceived opinions and commentaries, and confine itself to its monuments, original documents, and such passages in ancient writers descriptive or explanatory of the end and object of these monuments, not neglecting the powerful aid of photography and squeezes; when a judicious and intelligent comparison of the relation these monuments bear to one another, must soon force the conviction that, whatever the time which divides them or the difference in their details, they belong to one and the same civilisation, and that of comparatively recent date—namely the Toltec.

We shall leave the question of first origins as being unnecessary for our purpose; as also traditions, prehistoric legends, language, and religion, confining ourselves to what may be termed history; that is, beginning with the arrival of the cultured Toltecs in Mexico. We shall note their establishment in the valley of Tula, their development on the high plateaux, the disruption of their empire; how they transmitted their industries and mechanical arts to the people who succeeded them; and lastly, we shall follow them in their exodus and find the traces of their civilisation everywhere on their passage and in the regions of Central America.

With regard to my theory on the relatively recent period of American civilisation and its Toltec origin, I am far from being the first in upholding it, since Stephens and Humboldt affirmed it some fifty years ago, whilst all the ancient chroniclers implied it. Is ancient Egypt less interesting because her MSS. are now read and her origin known? Why then should the people who raised the American monuments be less deserving of our regard, because they built them ten centuries sooner or ten centuries later? Does it alter the character of the monuments, or destroy an art unknown to us hitherto?

The question of first origins has always seemed to me an idle pursuit; and if the evolutionist doctrine is true, a perfect moral microscope would be required to reach the remote past of man, whose countless generations, scattered in every clime, go back to the dark period when our rude progenitors were hardly distinguished from the brute creation. Will it ever be possible to penetrate beyond? Besides, our ancestors have nothing in common with the autochthones of America, whom I firmly believe to have come from the extreme East. My reasons for this opinion are based on the fact that their architecture is so like the Japanese as to seem identical; that their decorative designs resemble the Chinese; whilst their customs, habits, sculpture, language, castes, and polity recall the Malays both in Cambodia, Annam, and Java. The word “Lacandon,” which is the name of a tribe in Central America, is also, according to Dr. Neis, that of a race in Indo-China, who spell it “Lah-Canh-dong.” F. Gamier says that “the Cambodians build their huts on piles some six or nine feet above the ground. At first sight it might be attributed to the necessity for protecting themselves from inundations; but as this mode of construction is found in places where no such danger exists, it must be ascribed to the instinct of a particular race” (it is the instinct of the Toltecs which caused them to erect their edifices on esplanades and pyramids); and in his description of the Khmer monuments at Angor-Tom and Angor-Wat he adds: “They are placed on pyramids of three to five stories high,” etc. The analogy is also seen in the ornamentation of the buildings, where the human figure is rudely treated, whilst great care is observable in the other decorative designs, a point which always struck us in American sculpture. It should also be remarked that bricks covered with plaster, stucco decoration, cemented floors, roads, and courtyards are common to the Malays and the Americans; whilst the corbel vault is found in Java, Cambodia, and America. Again, some temples at Lawoe, in Java, are built on pyramids, having a staircase on the slope leading to the edifice, like those of the Toltecs. This resemblance has struck every traveller, and is the more important that these monuments only date from the fourteenth or fifteenth century, and are far removed from those edifices which were introduced in Java by the followers of Buddha and Brahma; but the destruction of Indian temples and Indian beliefs was succeeded by an architectural atavism, a return to a Malay primitive type, evidenced by the monuments at Lawoe, which I visited in 1878, a fact which I think of vital importance.

Castes are purely Asiatic and unknown among the Red Indians, but they existed with the Toltecs, where the commonwealth was divided into distinct classes of priests, warriors, merchants, and tillers of the soil; whilst land was held in common, and a feudal system is apparent with both the Toltecs and Malays. Two languages are used in Java and Cambodia; one to address superiors, the other for the vulgar. This was also the case with the Toltecs, and gave rise to two different written languages. Finally, the worship of serpents as gods of wisdom, like Quetzalcoatl, is found in India, Greece, China, Japan, and particularly in Cambodia and Java. To us these points of resemblance are more than mere coincidence; something better than fortuitous analogies: they seem to point to a vast and novel field for the investigation of archæologists.

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

MEXICO.

Map of
TOLTEC MIGRATIONS
after the Explorations of
DÉSIRÉ CHARNAY

THE ANCIENT CITIES
OF THE NEW WORLD.

CHAPTER I.

VERA CRUZ AND PUEBLA.

My former Mission—The present one—Why called Franco-American—Vera Cruz—Railway from Vera Cruz to Mexico—Warm Region—Temperate Region—Cordova—Orizaba—Maltrata—Cold Region—Esperanza—Puebla and Tlascala—The Old Route.

When I started for Mexico in 1880, I already knew something of the country, having, in the year 1857, been sent out as delegate for my Government to explore parts of it. At that time I was rich in hopes and full of grand intentions, but poor in knowledge and light of purse, and I soon learnt that the work I had undertaken was of so difficult and complicated a character, that the whole thing was beyond my powers; and, finding that from want both of money and of technical knowledge I was unable to carry out the great schemes I had imagined, I contented myself with simply photographing some of the monuments as I visited them, without even venturing to add any comment thereto. Now all was different. Better prepared in every way: with additional knowledge, backed by influential supporters, and with the aid of numerous documents which I had collected, I felt I might reasonably hope to be able to throw some light on one of the most obscure corners of the history of man.

But at the very moment when the Minister of Public Instruction, on the advice of the Commission for Missions and Travels, was again entrusting me with the exploration of Mexico, that I might study its monuments, it so chanced that a rich American, Mr. Lorillard, of New York, was also minded to fit out a scientific expedition for the same purpose, and that I was the man he had fixed upon to direct it. The latter had already set apart a considerable sum of money for the expedition, so that I found myself placed in a somewhat delicate position, for, by refusing Mr. Lorillard, I should have risked a dangerous competition in the very country and the very places I was to explore; and, by accepting, I should have seemed to give up my nationality, and to deprive my own country of many precious documents and interesting collections. I felt myself, therefore, fortunate in being able to combine the two rival expeditions, and, under the name of a Franco-American Mission, to carry out the important work, and in this I was assisted by the unparalleled generosity of Mr. Lorillard, who gave up to France all the fruits of my labour, my researches, and my discoveries. It was under such circumstances that I started on the 26th of March, 1880, and taking New York on my way, to pay my respects to my generous sleeping-partner, I reached Vera Cruz at the end of April.

The aspect of Vera Cruz, seen from the sea, is anything but pretty, consisting of a monotonous line of houses, blackened by heavy rain and the driving Norte. Built on a sandy shore, surrounded by barren hills stripped of all vegetation, and low-lying lagoons, Vera Cruz may safely be pronounced the most unhealthy place in Mexico. Yellow fever is never absent from its shores, and with every new batch of immigrants it becomes epidemic and violent in the extreme, fastening on the newcomers with unusual severity. We learnt that to our cost, at the time of the war of intervention, when our soldiers were literally decimated by this fearful scourge. It became necessary to replace the white troops by negro battalions, the latter withstanding better than Europeans the fury of the epidemic.

A VIEW OF VERA CRUZ AND THE FORT OF SAN JUAN OF ULLOA.

Vera Cruz can scarcely be said to possess a harbour, having only an indifferent anchorage, in which ships are far from safe. Fort St. Juan affords the only shelter, but in bad weather vessels frequently break from their moorings, and are thrown or driven on to the coast. A storm here is synonymous with north wind, and when it blows no words can give an adequate idea of its violence; it is not a straightforward, honest tempest, such as every good manner knows how to cope with, but it comes in terrific and sudden squalls, carrying whirlwinds of sand, which penetrate the best-closed houses; consequently, on the first indication of its approach, every dwelling is securely fastened, barges are taken in and chained up, vessels lower their double anchors, the harbour becomes empty, all work is suspended, and the place wears the aspect of a deserted city. The thermometer falls suddenly, the porter, with teeth chattering, wraps himself in his blanket, a woollen overcoat is quickly substituted for the ordinary white holland jacket, and every one goes about shivering with cold. The pier is soon hidden by the huge waves raised by the disturbed element, in the harbour vessels get foul of one another, and steamers to avoid shipwreck get up steam, ready to take their station outside.

Vera Cruz welcomed us with one of these strong north winds, which obliged us to stay for three days in the roadstead, unable to leave our steamer; and when I did land, I was so glad, so happy at once more feeling the ground under my feet, that I failed to notice, as I had done before, the very uncomfortable pavement of the town, which consists of sharp pointed stones; but just as a sheep has a portion of his fleece torn from him by every bramble he passes by, so does every traveller leave some portion of his individuality in every country which he visits—and on seeing again the places he has known before, he thinks to himself that he will be welcomed by the same impressions, the same friendships, nay, the same adventures as before will be there. He believes he will find everything exactly as he left it, he looks forward to shaking hands with a particular friend, to revisiting a certain spot, to entering a certain house, whose kind inmates had always had a warm welcome for him. He arrives, but the scene is changed, the old well-remembered spot is laid waste, the house a heap of ruins, friends dead, and Time, alas! has done its fatal work.

After two-and-twenty years’ absence, I eagerly looked forward to shaking hands with the friends I had left. The returning traveller looks back on two-and-twenty years as but a day; to him it seems but yesterday that he left the place; every one will, of course, know him again; every one will come forward and warmly welcome him back. Heaven help him! The quarter of a century, which he has hardly taken into account, has in reality weighed heavily on him, as upon all; even should he be fortunate enough to recognise a few acquaintances, they have completely forgotten him, and like Rip Van Winkle, he seems to awake from a hundred years’ sleep—to find all changed, and everything about him strange and new. In my own case, the only friend I found was the oldest of all, whom I thought I was never likely to see again. But it was not until I had told him my name that he recognised me; for at first he saw nothing but a perfect stranger standing before him. I inquired after A—he was no more; and B?—dead; and C?—dead also. I stopped, I was afraid to go on. It was under the burden of impressions such as these that I found myself once more in Vera Cruz.

And yet Vera Cruz, situated at the extremity of the Mexican gulf, is not commonplace, but rather an Eastern city, and her origin is marked everywhere; in her cupolas, painted white, pink, and blue, her flat terraces, and ornaments mostly of a pyramidal form. But cities live longer than men, and I found Vera Cruz rejuvenated, younger and more animated than of yore.

A slight breath of French activity seems to have crossed the seas and to pervade everything. The houses are freshly painted, the steeples whitewashed, cupolas enamelled, and new blocks of houses and monuments meet the eye in all directions. The square, which was formerly squalid and intersected by watercourses, is now a charming place, paved with marble and planted with trees, in which squirrels and ouertitis gambol and play the whole day long. The centre is occupied by a fountain, and the sides by arcades, giving access to magnificent cafés, beautiful shops, the Cathedral and the Town Hall inlaid with gleaming tiles.

In the day-time the shade is deep and the air cool, whilst in the evening numerous loungers and fair women, their hair chequered with phosphorescent cucuyos, fill the green walks, and give it the appearance of a huge hot-house. Vera Cruz, to those who are used to its climate, is a very pleasant abode, and though in some respects not so desirable as many European cities, life here, on account of the great heat, is easier, fuller, more satisfying. Wines are not dearer than in Paris; fish is both plentiful and excellent; tropical fruit of every kind is to be found in the market, as well as all the feathered tribe, varying from the laughing-bird and the parrot to the beautiful red and green Aras of Tabasco. Add to this the constant incoming and outgoing of every nation in the universe, eliciting a daily interchange of news with the outer world, and in a sense annihilating the distance which divides you from the mother country. Then, too, there is the Gulf with its blue waters, tempting to the most delightful dives man ever had; the jetty, which, insignificant though it be, is none the less a favourite resort, where in the evening people go for a little fresh air, beneath a magnificent canopied sky; and where in the day they can watch on the horizon the white sail disappearing out of sight. Picture to yourself this marvellous sky, filled with innumerable noisy sea-birds and small black vultures dotting it at a dizzy height, whilst far below, hoary, venerable pelicans, quite at home in the harbour, from long habit seem to spend their lives in diving and rising solemnly, then come and perch on the Custom House flag, with a grotesque kind of dignity, as though conscious of having fully done what was expected of them.

But the great feature about Vera Cruz is the innumerable flights of black vultures, which fill the streets, and cover every roof and pinnacle. They are so tame as to be scarcely disturbed by the passers-by, and when servants throw out house refuse, there follows a general rush and a fearful fight, in which dogs take part, without, however, always getting the best of it. These dogs, like those of Constantinople, are the ædiles of both town and country, which without them would be intolerable.

Beyond Mexico Gate, a fine public walk, planted with large cocoa-trees, leads to a suburb which has within the last few years grown into a little town; it is the great rendezvous for sailors and coolies who come to dance and flirt with the damsels of the place, and the evening is generally wound up with a hot dispute with their less favoured companions.

The coast along the Atlantic is a vast sandy plain, diversified by marshes peopled with herons, wild ducks, iguanas, and serpents, which are almost impervious from thickets of aromatic shrubs and wild flowers, in the midst of which tower magnificent trees; but the sound of no voice ever breaks on this wilderness in which lurks the malaria, save the hoarse cry of a wild animal, the passing of an eagle-fisher, or the whirling of a vulture in quest of some easy prey.

The journey from Vera Cruz to Mexico is now performed by railway, which has replaced the once cumbrous diligence, and traffic has increased to such an extent that the English Railway Company is unable to convey inland goods which have come by sea.

We start on our journey with an escort, even now a necessary precaution, for five-and-twenty years have not modified the manners of the natives, and highway robbers are still a flourishing institution in Mexico.

Pressing westward, we go through the sandy, marshy zone, and leaving behind us Tejeria, Soledad, Paso Ancho, and Paso del Macho, we reach the famous Chiquihuite bridge, when a glorious region succeeds to the flat country and parched vegetation of the coast; we continue to ascend through grander and grander scenery and more luxurious vegetation, having on our left the river Atoyac with its precipitous course, between deep ravines, and presently we come in sight of the iron viaduct, which is considered one of the best works on the line.

Still pressing upwards we reach the temperate zone, where we find coffee, tobacco, and banana plantations, spreading their broad green leaves under the shade of great trees which shelter them against the fierce heat of the sun; while little houses, embowered in orange-groves and creepers, peep out coquettishly from leaf and foliage.

And now the grand outlines of the Sierra are about us, and at every bend of the road charming views unfold before our enraptured gaze; a dazzling light colours all things with the richest tints, and Orizaba rears its magnificent head straight before us. Orizaba is, with the Popocatepetl, the highest mountain in Mexico; its snowy peak is visible for many a mile at sea. At its foot may be seen the city of the same name, extending over a large area, with her numerous and once gorgeous churches, now falling into decay, amidst a vast plateau, circled by mighty mountains, once gleaming with volcanic fires and grand summits. Mills and factories, greatly on the increase, are worked by water-power, which is brought by aqueducts or mountain torrents.

After Orizaba, the road becomes very steep; we enter the gorges of Infiernillo (small hell), where, along roads coasting deep ravines and unfathomable precipices, spanned by stupendous bridges, we reach Maltrata, where the train stops to change engines, when we ascend the heights, or cumbres, leading to the plateau.

VIEW OF PUEBLA, TAKEN FROM ALTO.

And now the road opens out in long windings, rounding the steepest declivities; bridges and tunnels succeed each other with dazzling rapidity, and the huge engine puffs and hisses, sending out long, curling volumes of white smoke over the most glorious landscape; and our journey, which has lasted three hours, brings us to Esperanza, at an elevation of some 1,200 metres,[1] and here we breakfast at an excellent buffet. After Esperanza, the country becomes a dreary, monotonous, dusty plain, contrasting painfully with the brilliant colouring of the warm zone; not a tree is to be seen, hardly any vegetation; some rare fields of stunted maize and wheat, a few meagre cactuses, with here and there a white hacienda, are the only indications that this forlorn region is not wholly uninhabited. Nevertheless, the monotony of this immense plain is relieved by the grand outline of mountains which bound the horizon, and the sand mounds, which are visible everywhere, give the landscape a peculiar and somewhat severe aspect.

The railway, strange to say, has deprived this region of its few inhabitants, and steam has done away with the arriero and the long lines of heavy carts, panting mules, and muleteers in picturesque costumes, and the tinkling bells of madinas (mules heading the trains) are no more.

Then, also, these dusty roads were enlivened by the presence of small cottages, whence the cheerful hand-clapping of tortilleros reminded the hungry traveller that here his honest hunger might be appeased, during which the muleteer would ogle or distribute somewhat questionable compliments among the belles of the district; all is gone, even to the meson, in whose vast courtyard weary mules were put up for the night. The cottage has left no trace behind, the walls of the meson are a mass of ruins, and the courtyard deserted.

And now we travel in a north-west direction; we pass Huamantla, round Malinche, and leave Puebla some twenty leagues on our left, and crossing Apizaco we reach the Llanos of Apam, famed for its pulque, or Mexican wine, which is made of the juice of aloes (Agave Americana), to be found everywhere; but Apam pulque is as superior to other pulque as Chambertin is superior to ordinary claret. Aloe plantations are everywhere to be seen, and at each station a huge train calls daily for the casks full of the liquor so dear to Mexicans. This intoxicating beverage is not tempting in appearance, for it is yellowish, thick and stringy, with a most repulsive smell, yet when a taste for it has been acquired even Europeans drink it with pleasure after a day’s trip. Here I am reminded how much the railway has destroyed the picturesqueness of the road. If in former times the traveller went over the ground at a slower pace, he had leisure to linger over the plain, admire the mountain round which the railway now twines, to stop at Amozoc, a time-honoured haunt of brigands; and though he missed Tlascala, the faithful ally of Cortez, and the hereditary enemy of Mexico, he had the opportunity of visiting Puebla de los Angeles, which lies at the very foot of great Malintzi or Malinche, faced by the snowy peaks of Iztaccihuatl and Popocatepetl.

The city of Puebla de los Angeles was founded by the Spaniards soon after the conquest, on the site of an insignificant village a few miles east of Cholula. After Mexico, which it rivals by the beauty of its edifices, it is the most important city of New Spain. Like ancient Cholula, she is remarkable for the number and the magnificence of her sacred buildings, the multitude of her priests, and the pomp of her religious ceremonies, and her cathedral, in an architectural point of view, ranks as high as that of Mexico, whilst her treasures are perhaps even more considerable than those of her rival—her grand chandelier of massive silver having alone cost £14,000. The innumerable steeples of a hundred churches, and the gleaming cupolas, give a remarkable character to the panorama of this city, which has sustained many a siege, while her last defence under Ortega was simply heroic.

In the time of the diligence the road led to ancient Cholula, and the traveller had the opportunity of visiting her pyramid, on which stands the temple dedicated to Quetzacoatl, “God of the air,” who was pleased to dwell among men, and, during his visit in Cholula, which extended over twenty years, he taught the Toltecs the arts of peace, a better form of government, and a more spiritualised religion, in which the only sacrifices were the fruits and flowers of the season. It was in honour of this benevolent deity that this stupendous mound was erected. The date of its erection is unknown, for it was found there when the Aztecs entered the plateau; but it has been variously ascribed to the Olmecs, the Toltecs, and even to a race of giants, who wished to save themselves from another deluge. Clavigero observes very naturally, that the builders were rather stupid in taking so much trouble to raise an artificial mound, when they had within reach the highest mountains in the world where to take refuge in any such emergency.[2] It had the truncated, pyramidal form of the Mexican teocalli (temple), its four sides facing the cardinal points, and divided into the same number of terraces. The original outlines, however, have been effaced by the action of time, while the growth of shrubs and wild flowers, which cover its surface, gives it the appearance of one of those symmetrical elevations thrown up by Plutonic agency rather than the work of man. The height of this pyramid is 60 metres;[3] its base, which is square, covers about forty-four acres, and the platform on its truncated summit embraces more than one. Cholula was of great antiquity, and was founded by the primitive race which occupied the land before the Aztecs. At the time of the conquest it was one of the most populous and flourishing cities of New Spain. “Nothing could be more grand than the view which met the eye from the truncated summit of the pyramid. Towards the north stretched the bold barrier of porphyry rock which nature has reared round the valley of Mexico, with the huge Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl standing like two sentinels to guard the entrance of this enchanted region. Far away to the south was seen the conical head of Orizaba soaring high into the clouds, and nearer, the barren, though beautifully shaped Sierra de Malinche, throwing its broad shadows over the plains of Tlascala. Three of these volcanoes, higher than the highest peak in Europe, and shrouded in snows which never melt under the fierce sun of the tropics, at the foot of the spectator the sacred city of Cholula, with its bright towers and pinnacles sparkling in the sun, reposing amidst gardens and verdant groves. Such was the magnificent prospect which met the eye of the conquerors, and may still, with slight change, meet that of the modern traveller, as he stands on the broad plateau of the pyramid and his eye wanders over the fairest portion of the beautiful plateau of Puebla.”[4]

PANORAMA OF PUEBLA.

PANORAMA OF PUEBLA.

Cholula was the holy city of Anahuac, the Mecca, Jerusalem, and Rome of the Indians; in it the kindred races had temples of their own, and ministers for the service of the deity to whom they were consecrated. The sanctity of the place brought pilgrims from the furthest corners of Anahuac, who came to offer up their devotions at the shrine of Quetzacoatl and other divinities. Here Quetzacoatl had dwelt, and on his departure for the countries of the East, he had bidden his followers to keep fast his teaching, promising that he and his descendants would return, to reign again over them. This remarkable legend, which was popular with all the Indian tribes, was one of the most powerful auxiliaries of the Spanish conquerors, in whom the simple Indians thought they recognised the lofty stature, noble mien, clear complexion, and blue eyes, of the deity they had so long expected.

But talking of Cholula has made us forget that the train is going to start: the guards, hurrying in every direction to look for us, summon us into our carriages, the signal is given, and we speed away.

And now we notice on the platform of every station, detachments of soldiers, with large felt hats, trimmed with silver ribbons and tassels, whilst their horses, ready saddled, are stationed close by. In spite of their baggy trousers and slouching hats, these men have a military bearing, which shows them to be a picked body of troops, and in fact they are the “rural guard,” lately formed, but already of the greatest service; thanks to their vigilant intelligence, the country is almost safe. This guard is recruited among the class described as “having no occupation and no permanent abode,” and the Government gave proof of its sagacity when it availed itself of this turbulent element, which after having been the scourge of the country, now keeps it quiet. It is a case of setting a thief to catch a thief; for the “rural,” acquainted for twenty miles round with all the “old customers,” whose accomplice he used to be, knows better than any one how to track an escaped convict, or discover a secret haunt; and thanks to telegraphs and railroads, pronunciamentos have gone out of fashion, nipped in the bud before they are given time to assume any large proportions.

From Apam, where we got out to look at the view, we proceed to Palma; then Otumba, where Cortez, a few days after his evacuation of Mexico, obtained a great victory over the Aztecs, in which their chief was slain; and leaving Teotihuacan with its pyramids on the left, we reach Mexico and St. Cosme Station.

CHURCH OF SAN DOMINGO. (See p. [30.])

CHAPTER II.

MEXICO.

Her New Appearance—Moral Transformation—Public Walks and Squares—Suburbs—Railway—Monuments—Cathedral—S. Domingo—S. Francisco—La Merced—Hats à la S. Basilio—Suppression of Religious Orders.

Mexico has undergone a still greater change than Vera Cruz. The large square, which used to be ill-paved and empty, has become a fine garden, planted with eucalyptus trees, which have grown wonderfully during the last twelve years, some measuring seven feet in girth and over 100 feet in height. Beneath the shade of these beautiful trees stretch beautiful gardens and green turf, whilst the centre is occupied by the Zocalo, a pavilion, in which every evening very fair concerts are given, attended by the Mexican society.

Spacious houses in modern style have been constructed at different points of the city; new districts have arisen on the site once occupied by convents; pretty squares are distributed about, and the Paseo Nuevo, which was to extend as far as Chapultepec, is one which the proudest cities in the world might envy. But will it ever be completed? At present, it only reaches the imposing monument erected in honour of Christopher Columbus, which every Frenchman should admire as coming from Paris and the work of a Frenchman. The immediate area round Mexico has been completely transformed by lines of railroad and tramways; in places once occupied by fetid water or marshy ground, pretty villas and flower gardens are now to be seen, whilst on the other side of the Paseo, to the right and left of S. Cosme, the smaller suburbs are extending so fast that they will soon join the main city. Should Americans come—and a goodly number are here already—all this land, now almost valueless, would in a few years double and treble in price.

But what is still more remarkable is the moral transformation: a new life seems to animate Mexico: education, trade, industry, and public works, have received great development; security has increased, a public conscience has been awakened, ideas have become more liberal, change of power is now effected without disturbance, whilst formerly it was preceded, accompanied and followed by the ever-recurring pronunciamentos; a feeling of good-fellowship begins to penetrate all classes, and Government House is in a true sense the House of the people, being filled from early morning by friends, employés, or petitioners. Every one is free to come and go, without let or hindrance, all are received by the Governor without having to ask an audience, and every one is welcomed with the greatest affability, as I can from personal experience amply testify. To give an idea how far the spirit of patriotism was roused by the war of intervention, I will quote the words of a deputy, who, on my preliminary bill being submitted to Congress, which had been agreed to between the Government and myself respecting my excavations and their export, rushed into the tribune to speak against its adoption. “Gentlemen,” he cried, “I feel savage, beside myself, almost idiotic, when the interests of our country are at stake.” The speaker was right in his description of himself, for the removal of a few fragments from the soil of the Republic was not deserving of such an outburst.

But it is the privilege of the young ever to exaggerate, and Mexico is as yet in her youth. The public press is just started, and there are but two independent papers, the admirably conducted Republican Moniteur and the Nineteenth Century, which give any profits. All the others are paid by the Government, are short-lived, and disappear one after another, to reappear under new names and take up with a different party. And yet there is no lack of talent, the drawback is in the difficulty of communications. The heavy postal charges (a letter from one village to another costs one shilling), the ignorance and indifference of the masses about political events, are the main causes which prevent any newspaper from succeeding. The only interest evinced in politics is at the time of the elections, and even in these, Mexicans take very little interest, knowing beforehand that it will not much matter to them, and that their burden will hardly be made lighter. It may be safely predicted that the Indians will not be roused from their apathy until they are better educated, and until they discover that they have a direct interest in mixing in politics—for which they are eminently qualified—and if their vast majority be considered, they would undoubtedly contribute a large contingent, whilst their industry, their intelligent quickness to seize everything, coupled with a natural talent of adaptation, would soon raise them to the foremost ranks in the army, politics, the bar and science, as may even now be seen in the few who have had the privilege of education; nor would this be difficult, for they now stand on a perfect footing of equality with the Mexicans, for unlike most conquerors, jealous to preserve their nationality, the modern Mexicans repudiate their Spanish descent and are proud to call themselves Indians. But what is to be the outcome of it all? Will the Indian, forgetting his humble and thrifty aspirations, thirst, like the Mexican, after Government employment, which, whilst it keeps him idle, unfits him for commercial and industrious pursuits? He has lived hitherto under laws harsh and severe for him alone; is there no fear that once free, he will plunge into the vices of freed men, rather than put on the virtues of civilised people? If we are to borrow our experience from the past, this would be the case, since when, shortly after the conquest, he lived under milder laws, the effect was to sink him into such an appalling condition of moral depravity as to move the good Franciscan monk Sahagun to say of him: “We ought not perhaps to be surprised at finding among them the usual shortcomings which belong to their country, since the Spaniards who live here, and especially the American born, are in no way better than the Indians. Even the natives of Spain, after a few years in this country, are quite altered, and I have always ascribed this change to a difference of climate and latitude. It is humiliating to our feelings as Christians,” exclaims Sahagun, “to reflect that the Indians of olden time, wise in their generation, knew how to remedy evils peculiar to the soil, by means of practices which were their safeguard, whereas we succumb to our evil propensities; the result of which is that we see a new generation, Indian as well as Spanish, rising around us, which it is difficult to manage or to save. Parents have not that authority they ought to have over their offspring to guard them against their natural proclivities. The ancient dwellers of this soil were far better inspired when they abandoned the education of their children to public authority, which replaced paternal rights. Unfortunately this method was tainted by idolatrous and superstitious practices; but were these to be eliminated and the ancient method introduced afresh among the Indo-Spanish people, a great public good would undoubtedly follow, which would relieve the Government of many difficulties now pressing upon it. As it is we hardly know how to deal with those reared in our schools, who, finding themselves no longer checked by the fear and discipline of former, nor the severity of pagan times, do not care to learn and are indifferent to admonition; very different in this respect from their Aztec forefathers. At first, following their ancient practice, which placed the youth of both sexes in buildings within the enclosure of their temples, in which they were drilled in monastic discipline, and taught to reverence their gods and obey the laws of their country, we tried to bring them up in our establishments, and to this end we collected them in buildings adjoining our houses, in which they were accustomed to rise in the middle of the night to sing the matins of Our Lady, and recite the ‘Hours’ at early dawn; they were also required to beat themselves with stripes and to spend some time of the day in mental exercises, but as they were not compelled as in pagan times to do any manual labour, as their natural aspirations seemed to demand, and as moreover they were better fed and more mildly treated than their student ancestors, they soon learnt and fell into evil ways. We also directed our attention to the women to see whether it were possible to place them in convents, as in heathen times, and with this end in view we made them Christian nuns, and imposed on them perpetual vows; convents and retreats were erected, in which they were taught their religious duties and the art of reading and writing. Such as had shown themselves proficient in these pursuits and were possessed besides of becoming dignity and decorum, were chosen to preside over these establishments as guides and teachers of Christianity and purity of life[5]. At first we fondly hoped, as in the men’s case, that they would become worthy and spotless nuns, but we were mistaken, experience having shown that, for the present at least, they were incapable of so much perfection, and convents and conventicles had to be abolished, and we have to confess that the time has not yet come for repeating the experiment.”

The passage just quoted is suggestive of many things.

A deplorable change for the worse is already observable in the character of the Indians of Tabasco and Chiapas since the Suffrage Bill, which by making them partly independent of the whites, has also made them idle, insolent, treacherous, and depraved. A sad look-out for times to come. But even granting that all happens for the best, is there much probability that the Indian will have time to develop his natural resources before the Anglo-Saxon invasion shall have confined him for ever to the lower ranks in the social scale?

However that may be, Mexico, although bent on progress, seems only to receive her notions second-hand. Eager for action, every new idea or advance which has received a trial with other nations, is sure to be promptly adopted, without any inquiry whether it is applicable, suitable, or useful, among a people wholly unprepared to receive them; and this total impossibility of legislating for half savages and illiterate people made a deputy say one day to me: “We have a constitution fit for angels, whereas we ought to have one fit for asses.”

What happens? The Mexicans at present enjoy perfect liberty, which they use to stop the action of the Government, and as each department is entirely independent, the lowest clerk is able to stop the whole machinery. Most Mexicans have, or wish to have, Government employment, leaving to foreigners the development of their national wealth; banking, trade, and the working of their rich mines are, with few exceptions, in the hands of Spaniards, French, English, and Americans. The latter are swarming in; and, save Vera Cruz, all the railways are American.

Very few Mexicans have been found willing to risk their capital in these important enterprises, being satisfied with receiving a premium, or joining the companies as employés. What will happen? It would be a strange and novel phenomenon to see a superior (?) race disappearing before an inferior one. Be that as it may, it is certain that on the day when the Anglo-Americans shall be able to dispense with the services of the Mexican, they will not scruple to thrust him aside, careful however to keep the Indians of the Highlands, now a docile, frugal, hard-working people, whom they will use for mining and agricultural purposes, as well as for the construction of railways. But this is not yet. The absorption will come, however—gradually, silent, peaceful—a slow, easy death, but a sure death nevertheless.

Yet it would be a matter for regret that this attractive people, open to every new idea of progress, eager to distinguish themselves, as shown a hundred times in the defence of their liberties, should be swallowed up by the Saxon element. The “Timeo Danaos dona ferentes” is surely applicable here, and Mexico should beware of her powerful neighbour—Caveant Consules.

Mexico has a great wealth of monuments, palatial houses, and churches, the finest of which is the Cathedral, occupying the northern side of the Place d’Armes, with the Palace to the east, the Houses of Parliament to the south, and the Portal de las Damas on the western side. It was erected on the site of the sumptuous temple dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, the war god and the patron deity of the Aztecs, whose altars reeked with the blood of human hecatombs in every city of the empire. The first stone for this church was laid in the reign of Philip II., and the canonicate of Archbishop Pedro Moya de Contreras. The foundations, which extended as far as the north side of the old temple, embracing the whole space now taken up by the courts, were carried on under the energetic supervision of Alonzo Perez de Castañeda. The work required for these foundations, owing to the unsteady, marshy nature of the soil, was so enormous that in 1615 the walls only rose to some twenty feet above the ground. Philip III., on being informed of the difficulties which retarded the work begun by his father, sent a plan drawn by his own architect, which was to simplify the original one, and accelerate the completion of the church.

The principal sacristy was finished in 1623; the vaults in the middle nave were completed between 1623 and 1665. In 1667, the interior of the Cathedral being quite finished, the inauguration took place. The choir, however, was only completed in 1730, when the rich and marvellous balustrade, which divides the choir from the sanctuary, executed by Macao, was put up. This balustrade, composed of bronze and silver, which has all the appearance of burnished gold, is most striking in its general effect.

The expenses of this church (completed in 1791) amounted to 2,446,000 piastres, or £489,200. Seen from the square, the edifice has the imposing appearance of churches of the latter portion of the sixteenth century. The façade, though simple, is very imposing, and contrasts favourably with the other sacred edifices in the city; three doors intervene between Doric columns and open into the middle and lateral naves. Over the main door two stories superimposed and ornamented with Doric and Corinthian pilasters, support a most elegant steeple, crowned by three statues, representing the theological virtues. On each side, towers, severe in design, and topped by cupolas, rise to the height of 78 metres.[6] The interior is one mass of gold. The choir, which is immense, occupies the principal nave, and, by means of a costly composite gallery, is made to join the main altar, designed after St. Peter’s in Rome. The two lateral naves, destined for the congregation, have no choir or seats of any kind, and Mexican ladies, who are very regular in their attendance at church, are satisfied with kneeling or sitting on the damp stones of the pavement, whether from zeal or because it would not be “good form” not to do so, remains doubtful, whereas it is quite certain that their delicate constitution demands a less dangerous practice. The few men who are ever seen in the interior of a church generally stand; most, however, remain outside talking to one another, and waiting for the ladies, who on coming out reward them for their patience by a bewitching look or a graceful inclination of the head.

Among the works of art possessed by the Cathedral, may be mentioned a small picture by Murillo, known as the “Virgin of Belen,” not a good specimen of the great master. The priests attached to the church look upon it, however, as their most precious jewel; to this may be added the “Assumption of the Virgin,” of massive gold, weighing 1,116 ounces; a silver lamp hanging before the sanctuary, which cost £16,000; the tabernacle of massive silver valued at £32,000, besides diamonds, rubies, emeralds, amethysts, pearls, and sapphires in shoals, and a vast quantity of gold and silver vases, representing fabulous sums of money.

On the wall of the left tower to the west, may be seen the famous Aztec calendar, found on the 17th December, 1700, whilst the new esplanade of Impedradillo was being constructed. By order of the Viceroy it was carefully encased and preserved in the steeple wall, and has proved to be one of the most precious monuments of Indian antiquity. Antonio de Gama, in a masterly treatise, explained the objects to which it was devoted, and poured a flood of light on the astronomical science of the Aborigines and their mythology. His work has been criticised, however, by Valentine of New York, and both are impugned by Chavero of Mexico, whilst others pass a severe judgment on all three. So true is it, that archæological, like other questions, are ever open to hot dispute.

The Sagrario is a huge chapel close to the Cathedral, used for marriages, christenings, and burial services. The host is exposed at all times on the altar for the veneration of the faithful. The Sagrario deserves a passing note, for though vicious in taste, it has such a wealth of ornamentation and sculpture, as to make one forget the defects of its style considered as a whole. It is from the Sagrario that the last sacrament used to be carried to comfort the rich and powerful, in a gilt carriage, or beneath a gorgeous daïs, amidst a cortège of priests, who preceded and followed it, its presence being announced by the ringing of a silver bell. At its approach the traffic and movement of the town was suspended; every one, no matter the state of the weather, humbly knelt down in dust or mud; all were expected to join the procession and accompany the host to the house of the dying; the viceroy himself was not exempted from this formality, and chroniclers tell us that many were the times when he was thus compelled to head the marching column.

EL SAGRARIO.

But that was in the good old time, which I am old enough to have seen, when priests and monks, their heads covered with huge hats, à la Don Basilio, filled the streets with their portly, dignified figures, their faces ever open to a smile. That time has gone by; monks and priests, shorn of their dress and privileges, have disappeared and become private citizens. The Church on that occasion was not proceeded against by slow degrees; the Government, feeling at home in a country peculiarly religious and Catholic, decreed on the same day the suppression of all religious communities, the confiscation of their goods, and the disestablishment of the Church, and though a large majority mildly protested, nobody cared; not so the monks and priests, who whirled anathemas and fulminated the excommunicatio maxima against whomsoever should lend a hand to the demolition of the convents—nay, even against those who would be found bold enough to pass through the streets thus opened on ecclesiastical property. The Leperos, however, engaged in these demolitions, had recourse to an ingenious device to nullify the spiritual thunderbolts of their ancient patrons. They bedizened themselves with amulets, scapularies, and chaplets as a protection against the wiles of the devil, and thus attired they proceeded gaily to the destruction of cell and chapel, whilst weeping dueñas, indignant at being witnesses of such sacrilege, poured out their unavailing supplications.

The excitement lasted but a week, and the Leperos thought so little of it that they did not refrain from bearing away to their housewives the wainscoting of the religious houses, and the newly made streets were used like any others.

But it will be asked, what of the monks? Most have become citizens and taken wives, and are now heads of families; some have gone into exile; whilst others are business men. I have even met a few, who, having turned Protestants, were employed as guides by the Boston and New York Biblical Missions. As for the clergy, contrary to the received opinion that on being deprived of their emoluments and tithes they would be richer than before, they have become as poor as their vows require, as humble as they profess, reading their services as heretofore to crowded congregations, and every one is or seems to be satisfied.

But to return to our edifices. The Church and Convent of S. Domingo (Dominick) stands in Custom House Square, blocked up at all times by carriages, carts, mules, and a motley crowd. At this point, when pronunciamentos were the rule, rebels used to take their stand, and sheltered behind the high steeples of the church, shot at their fellow-citizens lodged on the azoteas (flat roofs) of the neighbouring houses. They did their work so often and so well that the desolation of these cloisters is complete. The pictures which once were their chief ornament are mostly in holes, and the walls blackened with shot and powder. S. Domingo has the hardly enviable privilege of having been the seat of the Inquisition. Here, in 1646, the terrible tribunal celebrated its first auto-da-fè, when forty-eight persons were burnt at the stake. These human sacrifices, which were only abolished at the beginning of this century, were not better than the revolting practices of the Aztecs, save that Catholic priests were content to burn their victims without eating them, but to make up for this they branded them with eternal infamy.

The Convent of S. Francisco, which at one time extended over fifteen acres of ground, is situated between the street bearing the same name and S. Juan de Latran y Zuletta Street. It is intersected by beautiful cloisters, courts, and gardens, and was formerly the most important as well as the richest convent in Mexico: having two churches, the interiors of which were adorned with gigantic altars of finely-carved gilt wood; three exquisite chapels, and elegant cloisters covered with pictures, thus forming one of the most remarkable monuments in Mexico. But alas! all that wealth is gone, the ruthless hand of democracy has pulled down cell and chapel; streets run in places once occupied by its altars; its flower-beds are turned into a nursery-garden, and its silent cells are tenanted by poor families, whose women and children fill the air with their shrill and discordant voices. All that remains is the façade, with its magnificent gate—a curious mixture of Renaissance pilasters, covered with figures in high relief, surmounted with composite capitals, divided by niches adorned with statues, besides a marvellous wealth of ornamentation, not in the best taste, but highly finished. Their chief interest, however, lies in their being the work of the Indians, rather than the production of a Spanish chisel. Indians, according to Mendieta, were no contemptible artists; “with tools made of tin and copper, they could cut not only metals, but the hardest substances. They carved their vessels of gold and silver, with their metallic chisels, in a very delicate manner. They imitated the figures of animals, and could mix the metals in such a manner, that the feathers of a bird, or the scales of a fish, should be alternately of gold and silver.”

They worked the various stones and alabasters with guijarros (a tool made of silex and flint), in the construction of their public buildings, entrances and angles of which were frequently ornamented with images, sometimes of their fantastic and hideous deities. Sculptured images were so numerous, that the foundations of the Cathedral in the Plaza Mayor are said to be entirely composed of them.[7] They also painted from nature, birds, fish, and landscape, and after their conversion to Christianity, says Mendieta, they reproduced admirably our images and reredos from Flanders and Italy.

CLOISTER OF THE CONVENT OF LA MERCED.

The religion of the Aztecs imposed upon their followers certain forms, in their delineation of the human figure, or the personification of the Deity, which they were not permitted to discard; this explains why we find so many rude images side by side with the most exquisite work of ornamentation.

But to return. No one would stop to look at the Convent de la Merced were it not for its cloisters, the finest in Mexico; they are composed of white, slender columns, in Moorish style, with indented arches, forming galleries which surround a paved court, the centre of which is occupied by an insignificant fountain.

The Convent stands in the middle of a densely populated suburb, forming a striking contrast to the tumult and hubbub outside. The feeling of profound desolation which is felt at gazing on these walls is beyond description, for the silence is only broken in the rare intervals when an aguador comes to fill his cantaros and chochocoles (earthen pots and jars) at the fountain. The white picturesque tunic of the monks which relieved the solitude of these endless galleries has for ever disappeared, and now its vast passages only give access to empty cells.

The walls of the galleries are covered with innumerable pictures, the figures in which are of life-size, representing martyrs of the order of S. Domingo and its most celebrated saints. They are not pleasant to look at, presenting to the eye nothing but distortions, funeral piles and dislocations; all the tortures, in fact, which the perverted ingenuity of man has devised to harass his fellow-creatures. Among them, some are lifting to heaven their gory heads, whose blood is streaming down to their feet, whilst others are stretching out their freshly-stunted arms and calcined limbs. At no time can the priests of Huitzilopochtli have sanctioned more harrowing suffering, or consented, in their religious frenzy, to more revolting practices.

The Convent de la Merced used to possess a good library, and many precious manuscripts of Indian antiquity; but the superstitious ignorance of the monks allowed it to fall into decay, and documents of highest interest to the historian and archæologist were used as waste-paper or consigned to the flames.

The choir of this church had one hundred seats of carved oak, and was considered one of the finest in the world. The Government is converting the church into a library, which, when completed, is expected to be one of the finest monuments of the city.

Among buildings of public usefulness, the School of Mines, El Salto del Agua, Chapultepec Military College, the Art Academy, and the Museum may be mentioned.

MEXICAN MONKS.

EL SALTO DEL AGUA (FOUNTAIN).

CHAPTER III.

THE INDIANS.

El Salto del Agua—Netzahualcoyotl—Noche triste—Historical Jottings—Chapultepec—Indians—Chinampas—Legends—Anecdote—Mexican Museum—Tizoc’s Stone, or Gladiator’s Stone—Yoke and Sacrificial Stone—Holy War—Religious Cannibalism—American Copper.

El Salto del Agua is the only monumental fountain in Mexico; it stands in the centre of a low suburb removed from the chief thoroughfares, and terminates the aqueduct which brings from Chapultepec (“grasshopper’s hill”) an abundant supply of water to Mexico. El Salto del Agua is an oblong building, with a very mediocre façade; a wide spread-eagle in the centre supports the escutcheon bearing the arms of the city. On each side twisted columns with Corinthian capitals bear two symbolical figures, representing Europe and America, besides eight half-broken vases.

According to historians of the conquest, El Salto del Agua, and the Aqueduct which it terminates, replaced the ancient aqueduct of Montezuma, constructed by Netzahualcoyotl, King of Tezcuco, between the years 1427 and 1440. At that time it was brought through an earthen pipe to the city, along a dyke constructed for the purpose, and that there might be no failure in so essential an article, a double course of pipes in stone and mortar was laid. In this way a column of water the size of a man’s body was conducted into the heart of the capital, where it fed fountains and reservoirs of the principal mansions.[8]

Since the name of Netzahualcoyotl has been mentioned, it may not be out of place to give a brief account of a prince whose accomplishments, character, and adventurous life, would make him a fit hero for romance rather than the subject of sober history. He was descended from the Toltecs, of whom we shall speak later. He ruled over the Acolhuans or Tezcucans, as they were generally called, a nation of the same family as the Aztecs, whom it preceded on the plateau, and whom it rivalled in power and surpassed in intellectual activity. He was himself at once king, poet, philosopher, and lawgiver, and was a munificent patron of letters, and Tezcuco was, in his time, the meeting-place of all that was intelligent in Anahuac, as was Athens in the days of Pericles, Florence and Rome under the Medicis. Netzahualcoyotl held a conspicuous place among the bards of Anahuac, for the tender pathos of his verse, the elegance and rich colouring of his style, and the tinge of melancholy which pervades most of his writings. His large and enlightened mind could not accept the superstitions of his countrymen, still less the sanguinary rites of the Aztecs; his humane temper shrank from their cruel rites, and he endeavoured to recall his people to the more pure and simple worship of their forefathers. But he shared the fate of men far in advance of their time, and had to yield before their ignorance and fanaticism, contenting himself with publicly avowing his faith and nobler conception of the deity. He built a temple in the usual pyramidal form, to the “Unknown God, the Cause of Causes.”

Though Netzahualcoyotl was of a benevolent disposition, he was strict in the administration of the laws, even against his own children; indeed, he put to death his two sons for having appropriated other people’s booty. Many anecdotes are told of the benevolent interest he took in his subjects, amongst whom he delighted to wander in disguise, and, like Haroun-al-Raschid, entered freely in conversation with them, thus ascertaining their individual wants. His last days were spent in the pursuit of astronomical studies and the contemplation of the future life. He died full of days after a reign of nearly fifty years, during which he had freed his country from a foreign tyrant, breathed new life into the nation, renewed its ancient institutions, and seen it advancing towards a higher standard of civilisation; and he saw his end approach with the same serenity that he had shown alike in misfortune and in prosperity. Such is the very imperfect account of a prince who was the glory of his nation; whose muse, by turns, invited men to enjoy the passing hour, or bade them beware of the vanity of all earthly pleasures, teaching them to look beyond the grave for things that will endure.

But before we go on to Chapultepec, we must call at Tacuba, and visit the famous Ahuahuete, a kind of cypress, under whose shelter Cortez, on the night of July 1, 1520, came to rest his weary limbs and mourn over the cause which had so greatly imperilled his safety and that of his troops, as to make imperative the evacuation of Mexico, in which many of his most trusty veterans were sacrificed. The night was called on this account Noche triste, “Melancholy night.”

TREE OF THE NOCHE TRISTE, AT POPOTLAN.

But to explain. We will give a short sketch of the causes which brought about this sad event, quoting largely from Father Duran, Ramirez, and Sahagun:

“It was in the month of May, the Mexican toxcatl, when it was common for the Aztecs to celebrate their great annual festival in honour of their war-god Huitzilopochtli, which was commemorated by sacrifice, religious songs and dances, in which all the nobility engaged, displaying their magnificent gala costumes, with their brilliant mantles of feather-work, sprinkled with precious stones, and their necks, arms, and legs ornamented with collars and bracelets of gold. Alvarado, whom Cortez had left as lieutenant of his forces, during his expedition against his formidable enemy, Narvaez, was now petitioned by the Indian caciques to be allowed to perform their rites. Alvarado acquiesced on condition that on this occasion there should be no human sacrifice, and that they should come without weapons; he and his soldiers, meanwhile, attended as spectators, some of them taking station at the gates, as if by chance. They were all fully armed, but as this was usual, it excited no suspicion; but as soon as the festival, which was held in the court of the great temple, had fairly begun, and the Mexicans were engrossed by the exciting movement of the dance, and their religious chants, Alvarado and his followers, at a concerted signal, rushed with drawn swords on their defenceless victims. Unprotected by armour or weapon of any kind, they were hewn down without resistance by their pitiless and bloodthirsty assailants. Some fled to the gates, but were thrust back by the pikes of the soldiers; some were able to scale the walls; others, penetrating the sanctuary of the temple, fell on the pavement and simulated death. The pavement ran with streams of blood, ‘like water in a heavy shower,’ and the ground was strewn with the mutilated limbs of the dead. The Spaniards, not content with slaughtering their victims, rifled them of their precious ornaments. On this sad day were sacrificed more than six hundred men, the flower of the Mexican nobility; not a family of note but had to mourn the loss of a near relation. The tidings of this horrible butchery filled the nation with stupefaction and dismay; they could hardly believe their senses. Every feeling of long-smothered hostility and rancour now burst forth in a cry for vengeance. The respect for the person of their sovereign made them desist from further attempts to storm the fortress. But they threw up works around the Palace to prevent the Spaniards from getting out. They suspended the market, to preclude the possibility of their enemy obtaining supplies. This accomplished, they quietly sat down, waiting for the time when famine would deliver the hated foreigner into their hands. The situation of the Spaniards seemed desperate, when they were relieved from their gloomy apprehensions by the return of Cortez, who with his comrades had succeeded in utterly crushing Narvaez. It was not too soon: a few days more and the garrison must have surrendered from lack of provisions, and still more from want of water. Alvarado was subjected to a cross-examination by Cortez, who contented himself with administering some words of reproof, and ordering him to his post; for the city again rose to arms. In this terrible strait, Cortez sent to the Aztec Emperor to request him to mediate with his subjects. Meanwhile the Spaniards endeavoured to effect a retreat out of a city thoroughly roused against them. This they accomplished under cover of a dark, drizzling night, after a fearful carnage and much bloodshed, lasting over several days; when the Spanish troops, accompanied by their Tlascalan allies, abandoned a city which had been so lately the scene of their triumphs, and each soldier, loaded with as much gold and jewels as he could carry, made for the gates. All was hushed in silence; no danger seeming to arrest their march, they were beginning to hope that a few hours would see them beyond the missiles of the enemy. But, as they drew near the bridges of Tlascopan Street, they were assailed by thousands of Mexicans, and amidst a fearful tumult and destructive confusion, followed by shouts of impotent rage from the combatants and moans from the severely wounded, in which the best among the Spaniards lay buried in the murky waters of the canals, or fallen under the axes of the Mexicans, the Spanish leaders, followed by the disordered remnant of their troops, were allowed to defile to an adjacent village called Popotla, where Cortez, on beholding their thinned ranks and deplorable condition, gave vent to the anguish of his soul.

Cortez’ fame has been much overrated; he was fortunate rather than great, for he was powerfully assisted at the very outset by the friendly attitude of the Indians, who welcomed in him the Deliverer long foretold in their legends, who was to rescue them from the thraldom and heavy burdens imposed upon them by the Aztec monarchs, to enable them to carry on their warlike enterprises and policy of annexation. He was helped, moreover, by two intelligent interpreters, Aguilar and Marina, in his intercourse with the natives; Marina proving subsequently a devoted friend, and a faithful and skilful negotiator with the Indians. It is equally certain that, from purely selfish motives of personal convenience and policy, as also to gratify the cruel rapacity of his followers, he not only allowed, but even ordered acts of bloodshed and treachery which must for ever stain his character. His courage cannot be doubted; yet his conduct in the expedition to Honduras, his pusillanimity on his return, argue a poor politician; whilst the revolting massacres at Cholula and Mexico sink into shade when compared with the murder of Guatemozin. Las Casas, who knew him well, calls him “that fellow;” which term of reproach is more opprobrious than a worse epithet.

But these things have detained us too long already; let us now proceed to Chapultepec, one of the most delightful spots in the Mexican valley. Two roads, the Paseo Nuevo and the tramway, lead to it; we will take the latter as shorter and cheaper, which, starting from the Place d’Armes, goes through Belen gate, and sets us down at the very entrance of the Castle. Chapultepec, “grasshopper hill,” is a volcanic hill some 1,625 feet long, and 100 feet high, covered with luxurious vegetation, crowned with groves of cypresses, ahuahuetes, some of which are seventy-five feet in diameter, and seem to defy the decay of ages.[9]

The view from the windows of the Palace, which stands on the top of the hill, embracing the valley of Mexico, is one of the finest in the world. In the highly rarefied atmosphere of these upper regions, even distant objects have a brilliancy of colouring and a distinctness of outline which enables one to take in the details of this marvellous panorama, studded with towns and hamlets, the white walls of which, together with the tops of porphyry rocks, glimmer in the rays of the sun. Stretching far away at their feet are seen noble forests of oak, sycamore, and cedar, whilst beyond, cultivated fields, beautiful gardens, lakes, and lagoons, girdle the valley around. Looking towards Mexico, the spectator has behind him the low chain de las Cruces; on his right, to the south, Pedregal and the Ajuscean hills; before him, to the east, the grand snowy tops of Popocatepetl, “the hill of smoke,” and Iztaccihuatl, “White Woman,” from its bright robe of snow; on his left to the north, Cerro Gordo, and nearer, the Sierra Guadalupe, where stands the most celebrated sanctuary of Mexico, dedicated to the Virgin.

This chapel rises on the site once occupied by the famous temple of Toci—the mother of a god—whose altars were thronged all times by multitudes of devotees. To induce the Indians to welcome the Virgin Mary as their tutelar divinity, the priests took care to represent her with a dark complexion and the courtly robes worn by noble Mexican maidens in their time of prosperity. The story of the Aztec Virgin is so characteristic of the sanguinary instincts of the people who raised her to the rank of a deity, that we will tell it.

The Mexicans, after a series of wanderings and adventures, during which they endured all the hardships of a migratory life, succeeded at length in establishing themselves on the muddy islets of the principal lake, in the year 1325. Here they raised a temple to their war-god, Huitzilopochtli, on whose altars human sacrifices were offered. Prisoners were generally reserved for this purpose, but in times of public calamity the god required the best of the land. It is told how on one occasion, the oracle of Huitzilopochtli demanded that a Royal Princess should be sacrificed to him; and how the Aztec monarch sent to one of his vassals, the King of Colhuacan, to petition for one of his daughters to become the mother of the tutelar god—and as such share with him divine honours. The King of Colhuacan, flattered by the honour reserved for his daughter, unable besides to refuse, confided the young Princess to the care of the Aztec envoys, who escorted her with great pomp to the city where she was sacrificed, her skin being taken off after death to clothe the young priest who was to represent the deity in this solemnity. The cruelty was carried so far as to invite the father to be present at the bitter mockery of his child’s deification; he came, penetrated the sanctuary, but at first the gloom of the temple did not let him see anything, until he was given a copal-gum torch, the flame of which bursting up suddenly revealed the horrible picture of the young priest standing close to the idol and receiving the homage of the multitude. The skin fitted so tightly that the monarch recognised his daughter’s mask, and almost mad with grief he fled the temple to mourn for his murdered child.[10]

CHAPULTEPEC.

The Mexican valley was occupied successively by various tribes, which advancing from the north and north-west, entered the country towards the end of the seventh century. The first and most remarkable of these, both from the mildness of their character and the degree of their civilisation, were the Toltecs, who occupied Chapultepec as early as the eighth century, and established their capital at Tula, north of the Mexican valley, whose name Toltec was synonymous with architect. After a time, a rude tribe, the Chichemecs, entered the territory and were soon followed by other races, amongst which were the Aztecs or Mexicans, and the Acolhuans or Tezcucans. Some of these obtained leave from Xolotl, King of the Chichemecs, to settle on Chapultepec, which in the course of time became a royal residence, and a royal burial-place, whilst its rocks were made to transmit to posterity the features of the Mexican monarchs, Azayacoatl and the two Montezumas, together with the sons of the last Aztec emperor; two statues of this monarch and his father were to be seen as late as the last century, when they were destroyed by order of the Government.

CHARCOAL AND BATTEAS VENDORS.

Father Duran tells how Montezuma I. had himself and his first minister sculptured. Feeling that his end was drawing near, he summoned the doughty warrior Tlacael, who for three reigns had shown his valour on the field of battle and his wisdom in council: “Brother Tlacael,” said the monarch, “it would be well that our names and persons should be graven on the rock of Chapultepec, and thus pass to posterity.” “Your wish, most noble king, shall instantly be obeyed.” And calling together the most renowned sculptors, Tlacael imparted to them the royal command. In a few days two bas-reliefs were executed, so striking in resemblance, and so exquisite in workmanship, as to surprise Montezuma himself.

The Castle, which was built by the Viceroy Galvaez at the close of the seventeenth century, was transformed into a Military School by the Government in 1841; Maximilian during his short reign altered it, and made it his favourite residence. The Palace is once more occupied by the Military College, whose pupils have shown themselves worthy of it, by their heroic defence at the time of the American war. An observatory has been lately built, at the expense of the Government.

But it is time to return to Mexico, where we shall find the Indian pretty much what he was three or four hundred years ago. This arises from his having been subjected, from the earliest times, to Aztec rule and the severe discipline of its priests and afterwards to the still more cruel and unjust yoke of the Spaniards, who, by depriving him of civil rights and all his goods, degraded him to the low rank he now occupies. Before the conquest the people was divided in three distinct and almost equally honourable classes, land proprietors, warriors, and merchants; but the conquerors, reserving for themselves all these good things, restricted the Indians to the occupations of macehual (tiller of the ground), or tamene (porter), that is, a beast of burden, used by marching armies or merchants in their distant expeditions; and, although all careers are now opened to him, he is slow to avail himself of his newly-acquired privileges.

As an aguador, he still conveys water to every household, in jars, which he carries one behind, the other in front, supported by leather thongs covering his head; as a vendor he brings coals in nets made of aloe strings; his earthenware, poultry, eggs, vegetables, in huacales or cases made of twigs, kept together by strings; and, indeed, his tools, kitchen utensils and the like, are the same as he formerly used. The only alteration he has made in his costume has been to adopt nether garments, but in the Uplands he dispenses with this and is satisfied with his maxtli, “broad band.” He has not varied his diet, nor the manner of preparing it; the staple of his food is still Indian corn, which he grinds with a metate, granite roller, or bakes into flat cakes, tortillas, in comals, or baking ovens. His vegetables he seasons highly, and on days of festival he adds to this simple fare a turkey when he is well-to-do, a piece of pork when poor; his drink is the pulque, the invention of which dates nearly four hundred years back; his jacal, or hut, composed of sticks lined with clay, roofed with aloe leaves, measuring at the basement some seven or ten feet square, is exactly the jacal of ancient chroniclers, without any pavement, hardly any furniture, save some few images of saints, which have replaced the terra-cotta household divinities.

In former times, when he lived on the lagoons, with no right to the land, which was held by his enemies, he satisfied his hunger with frogs and serpents, to be found in the marshes, salamanders, flies and flies’ eggs, ahuatli, which latter were made into cakes, a dish which was adopted by the Spaniards; and, when further pressed by want and dearth, he invented chinampas, those floating gardens which so much surprised the conquerors. Chinampas were rafts of reeds, rushes, and other fibrous materials, which, tightly knit together, formed a sufficient basis for the heaps of black mud which the natives drew up from the bottom of the lake. Gradually islands were formed, some reaching two or three hundred feet in length, and three or four feet in depth, with a very rich soil, on which the thrifty Indian raised maize and vegetables for himself and flowers for the market, his prince, and his gods. Some of these chinampas were firm enough to allow the growth of small trees, and to have a hut for the owner, who, with a long pole resting on the sides or the bottom of the shallow basin, could change his position at pleasure, whether to move from an unpleasant neighbour or take his family on board, and moved on like some enchanted island over the water. In later times these floating gardens increased to such an extent that they completely girdled the city around with flowers and verdure, when every morning early numbers of boats, richly freighted, would be seen to glide through the canals and file out towards Plaza Mayor.[11] Mexico, since the diminution of the lake, has become a high and dry city of the main land, with its centre nearly a league distant from the water; chinampas are no more; small flower-beds, divided by narrow causeways, where the Indian still mans his canoe, are all that remain of the floating gardens of olden time. Should the traveller wish to study the natives, he should go on market days toward the road which leads out of S. Cosme, by which great numbers both of men and women enter the city, their legs and backs bent under burdens heavier sometimes than an animal could carry. Indian women wear a dark woollen petticoat, striped with yellow, red, and green, and a piece of the same stuff, with an opening for the head, covers the bust and completes the costume. Notwithstanding their rags, some are not wanting in good looks, whilst most are well made, and were they cleanly and better dressed, many would be found strikingly pretty.

MEXICAN WATER-CARRIER.

MEXICAN TORTILLERA AND STRAW MAT SELLERS.

I only speak of young girls, for the old, covered with dirt rather than rags, are generally to be seen reeling under the influence of pulque. It is not too much to say that the Indian has retained all his primitive vices, and has added thereto those given him by his conquerors. Though he still preserves some of his popular legends, it is quite a chance if he understands anything about them; for in olden times, these were kept and transmitted by the upper classes, which have long ceased to exist, and the modern Indian knows absolutely nothing of his past history.

And here, to illustrate my meaning, I may be permitted to give an example of this marvellous ignorance, even regarding recent events. I happened to be in a village situated on Lake Chalco, when a number of Indians of both sexes, dressed up in old, ludicrous European costumes, got into boats and landed a short distance further, entering the village amidst a population which came out to meet them, with cries, hootings and blows, finally forcing them to re-embark. It was evident to me that this represented an invasion, which had been successfully repulsed, referring perhaps to the war of intervention, but though I asked, no one was able to enlighten me, contenting themselves with repeating “Francia, Francia.” At last an old man said that the masquerade commemorated an incident in the Spanish war of 1808, during the first empire. And on my expressing my astonishment at the ignorance of the actors about a subject they represented every year: “Are your common people much wiser when they sing their Latin Mass?” objected my American friend. I felt that I was answered, and I was silent.

The Indian is fond of money, his delight is to hoard, yet he is no better for it, as regards his daily life; he has all the instinct of a miser without its benefit; for your miser enjoys his money, he visits it by stealth, spends his time in counting, in contemplating it, whereas the Indian buries his hoardings out of sight; the satisfaction of knowing that he is rich is all-sufficient for him, and he does not care for the things which his gold would procure. The Valley of Oaxaca, which for generations supplied the world with cochineal, is supposed to have millions of money buried underground. During my residence there, I knew a man who, it was rumoured, was fond of hoarding; on one occasion he received some £200 for ingots and cochineal, and two days after asked me for the loan of four shillings. “Well, but what have you done with the money you got two days since?” I asked. “Esta colocado, Señor.” “It’s invested” (stowed underground). This secretive instinct, however, is not confined to the Indian, it is to be found among all conquered and persecuted races: serfs under Louis XIV. hid away both their bread and their money; the inhabitants of Indo-China and others only pay their taxes under pressure of the stick. It may be that the thrifty habit of our own middle classes, their wish to hoard for the mere sake of it, their aversion to part with it for any purpose of public good, which forms such a striking contrast to our Transatlantic fellow-citizens, is attributable to this instinct, which still survives when the need for it has long ceased to exist. We are, alas, but the freedmen of yesterday, whereas Americans have now long enjoyed the blessings of free institutions, and have besides the enormous advantage of trying them in an entirely new country. Untrammelled alike by traditions or the bonds which still fetter us, they are able to work out their benevolent or brilliant schemes, confident that their intelligence and their industry will lead them to new paths of progress and prosperity.

With the Indian this same instinct borders on fanaticism: the man who finds a treasure covers it up again carefully, not dreaming of making use of it; should he have a confidant, the latter will starve, nay, go through torture, rather than betray his friend. And here I cannot resist the temptation of telling an anecdote related to me by a Mexican friend bearing on the subject: A well-to-do Indian, who lived not far from Mexico, had a daughter whom a Frenchman was willing to marry, in the hope of inheriting the old man’s fortune, which was supposed to amount to some £20,000. Like most Indians, he died intestate, when a search was made for his money, but none could be found. His only available property was his cottage and garden. The deceased was known to have had a wretchedly poor friend, the confidant of all his secrets. He was immediately applied to, and subjected to numerous questions by the heirs regarding the money, and to induce him to speak, they offered the quarter, nay, the half of the hidden treasure, but he still refused; at last they thought of making him drunk, hoping that what they had been unable to obtain would be effected by pulque. He was made comfortable, when he became very confiding, so confiding that the expectant heir fully believed that a moment more would see him the happy recipient of the long-treasured-up secret, but the poor man suddenly stopped, horrified at what he was going to say, seeming to see his friend’s ghost before him, reproaching him for his disloyalty.

We shall not be taking leave of the Indian if we pay a visit to the Museum, where Aztec pottery, Aztec jewellery, Aztec kings, and Aztec gods will remind us of him everywhere. The Mexican Museum cannot be called rich, in so far that there is nothing remarkable in what the visitor is allowed to see. After reading the glowing accounts regarding Mexican manufacture and their marvellous objects of art, it was natural that I should be anxious to see the jewels, stuffs, manuscripts, and above all the paintings made with birds’ feathers, representing domestic scenes, and the portraits of Aztec monarchs, but I saw nothing in the two large rooms devoted to Mexican antiquities. I was told that the Museum was not in working order, that nothing was classified, that more space was being prepared in which the precious objects now shut up in numerous cases would be laid out for the benefit of the public. It may be so. For the present, we have to content ourselves with a collection of obsidian, marble, and porphyry heads; a number of large yokes, beautifully carved, besides several pieces of jade, rock-crystal, and bars of gold. As for the long rows of so-called “ancient vases,” there is not one that is not imitation. This I know to my cost, for with a credulity which subsequent events hardly justified, I no sooner was told that these vases were of great antiquity, than I immediately ordered three hundred to be cast from them, which I caused to be placed in the Trocadéro during the Paris Exhibition; but on an expert in such matters seeing them, he at once detected and exposed the fraud, and in my disappointment it was not much comfort to reflect, that with half the money expended on these comparatively worthless objects, I might have bought, close to Mexico, a whole collection of vases of undoubted antiquity. It is a curious circumstance, that Mexicans, even the best informed among them, as well as foreigners, should so often be victimised by vulgar forgers of antiquities, who trade on the passions of the collector and the gullibility of the public; and that such things cannot be done in Europe without immediate detection, can only arise from the superior knowledge of our savants, and the greater facility afforded them of observing, classifying, and comparing the productions of all the civilised nations of the world, in the numerous collections with which our museums, both public and private, abound. In my own case, after my excavations, I never could have been so grossly imposed upon by pottery modern in shape, over which ancient bas-reliefs had been incongruously reproduced, forming a monstrous medley of things old and new, without any originality whatever. Their history is this: the manufacture was carried out on a large scale at Tlatiloco, a Mexican suburb, between 1820 and 1828, and the author must have realised an enormous fortune, if we are to judge from the quantity which he sent broadcast into the world—most museums, nearly all private collections are infested with them, whilst a great number are even now bought by the unwary. The thing was done in this way. Vases of every shape were chosen, without much thought or care, relying on the ignorance and the stupidity of the public; every form was used, whether a common water-jug, a flat or round vase, a rude or shapely jar, and by means of ancient moulds found in vast quantities in the whole area of the valley, heads, images, tiny figures, whistles, geometrical designs, palm-leaves, etc., were inlaid on the object, which had a simple, double, or treble twisted handle according to its size; it was a tripod with a gaping mouth, or topped with arabesque, when the occasion served. Variety was its distinctive merit; and when completed this fine work of art was buried some twelve months or more to impress upon it the hand of time, and thus prepared was launched on its course.

COURT IN THE MEXICO MUSEUM.

I trust that these few observations will serve as a warning to people, and save them from experience as costly as my own. Having now relieved my conscience, we will go back to the Museum and look at what I consider the finest portion, namely the court, planted with beautiful palm-trees, shrubs, and flowers, amongst which may be seen the most interesting specimens of the whole collection. First and foremost is a statue of a man lying on his back, holding a cup with both hands and pressing it against his body. It was found at Chichen-Itza, in Yucatan, by Leplongeon, an American explorer, who was obliged to part with it in favour of the Mexican Government, in virtue of the law which declares all antiquities to be national property. Next to this in interest come two other statues, like it in all respects: one discovered at Tlascala, the other marked “unknown.” This similarity of objects of art found among the populations of the plateaux and those of the Yucatan peninsula seems to point to identity of worship among those tribes. Sanchez, the director of the Museum, believes this statue to be Tetzcatzoncatl, god of wine; but Perez and Dr. Hamy are of opinion that it represents Tlaloc, god of rain, in which view I coincide. However that may be, we will speak of it at greater length when we come to Chichen-Itza, where it was unearthed. On the second plan, to the left, stands the Tlascalan Tlaloc, and behind it Quetzalcoatl, “the feathered serpent,” tutelar deity of the Toltecs, and worshipped by all American tribes; he came to have many names, and was represented under various forms, according to his multifarious attributes. He was the Zoroaster of Anahuac; “under him the earth produced fruits and flowers of its own accord. An ear of Indian corn was as much as a man could carry. The air was filled with perfumes and the sweet melody of birds,” etc.

TEOYAOMIQUI, GOD OF DEATH AND WAR.

THE STONE OF THE SUN, OR OF TIZOC, MEXICO MUSEUM.

At the extremity of the court, to the left, we find a block of serpentine with a magnificent head beautifully sculptured, marked in the catalogue as “the rising moon,” but which Bustamente thinks to be Temascaltoci, the goddess who presided over ablutions, and Chavero, one of the many forms under which Quetzalcoatl was represented. In the same line with these stands a huge block, having a hideous figure of Death, Teoyaomiqui (a goddess), besides a vast number of divinities, ranging over the whole Indian Olympus, collected under the gallery at the furthest extremity of the court, most of which are frightful, and would give a poor idea of Aztec talent, did we not know that they are all specimens of hieratic art, and as such were not permitted to vary in shape or design. And now we come to Tizoc’s stone, or Temalacatl, the sun’s stone, one of the most interesting in the collection, and connected with a bloody episode which is reported by most historians. It would have been broken up for paving the square, like many other monuments of this kind found on the same spot and about the same time, had not Canon Gamboa arrested the work of destruction, and caused the stone to be placed in the north-west side of the churchyard, where it was left undisturbed until 1824, when it was transferred to the University for a short time, and finally placed in the middle of the court of the New Museum. This monument is a block of trachyte, oblong in shape, measuring over eight feet in diameter, thirty-one feet in circumference, and some two feet six inches in depth. The surface is ornamented with two figures, portrayed in fifteen different attitudes, recalling the victories of the Emperor Tizoc. Two women are seen among the vanquished, from which it would appear that the Salic Law was not in force among the Indians. In every one of these groups Tizoc is represented holding by the hair the vanquished, who, in a supplicating posture, seems to ask for mercy. Over each figure may be seen a hieroglyph, expressive of the conquered city represented by her chief. The surface of the stone is occupied by an image of the sun, having in the centre a hole some six inches deep, which is connected with a tube terminating on the upper circumference. This hole is supposed to have been made by the Spaniards in their attempt to split the stone, which was so fortunately stopped by Canon Gamboa, but not before they had mutilated every face of the different groups. This supposition seems borne out by the fact that it was not likely the original makers would have bored a hole right through the bassi-relievi, and thus deface their own work.

The Temalacatl, or “gladiatorial stone,” as it was called by the Spaniards, must not be confused with the Techcatl, or “stone of sacrifice.” The former was always to be found in the courts of the Temple, placed over a basement varying in bulk according to the size of the stone, from which the captive, particularly if he happened to be a man of distinction, was allowed to fight against a number of enemies in succession; but, besides the inequality of numbers, he was furnished only with a wooden sword ornamented with feathers along the blade, whereas his adversaries had weapons of obsidian, “as sharp as steel.” If he succeeded in defeating them all, as did occasionally happen, he was allowed to escape, but if vanquished he was dragged to the stone, the upper surface of which was somewhat convex to receive the victim; on this the prisoner was stretched, five priests securing his head and his limbs, while a sixth, clad in a scarlet mantle, dexterously opened the breast of the victim with a sharp knife, and inserting his hand in the wound, tore out the heart, and holding it up first towards the sun—a god common to all—cast it at the face or the feet of the divinity to whom the temple was dedicated, whilst the multitudes knelt in humble adoration at the foot of the stone or pyramid ready to receive the body, which was hurled down by the priests, and which the people divided among themselves, to have it served up in an entertainment in honour of the particular god they were celebrating.

THE TEMALACATL, OR GLADIATORIAL STONE, FROM RAMIREZ MS.

The sacrifice ceremonial, whether from the summit of the Temple or from the gladiatorial stone, was exactly the same, save that the latter, standing but a few feet from the ground, allowed the whole city to witness the ghastly details of the sight. These stones were perfectly plain or beautifully sculptured, like the one under notice, according to the teocalli it was destined for, or the degree and importance of the donor. The temalacatl or stone of Montezuma I., which up to the present time has not been found, is supposed to lie buried under the “Plaza de las Armas” in Mexico. Besides these, there was a smaller circular stone, the Cuauhxicalli, “eagle’s cup,” so called from the hearts of the victims being thrown into the hole situated in the centre, and which now, by a curious contrast, is used as a drinking trough by pigeons and small birds.[12]

The last Montezuma would have also erected a Temalacatl, for which a huge block of stone was transported from Aculco, beyond Lake Chalco, but in crossing a bridge which traversed one of the canals, the supports gave way, and the gigantic mass was precipitated into the water, where it still lies.

A military point of honour, as understood among the western nations of Europe, was so deeply rooted in the Indian warriors that they would suffer death rather than be guilty of any act that could lower them in the estimation of their fellow-citizens. With the Mexicans and Tlaxcaltecs, a soldier, if unfortunate enough to be made a prisoner, was reserved for sacrifice, especially if he happened to be of superior rank; to be ransomed was deemed unworthy and a disgrace. A few years before the arrival of the Spaniards, the Uexotzincas, the Tlaxcaltecs and the Mexicans were at war with each other. In one of the frequent skirmishes between the rival nations, it happened that a Tlaxcaltec chief, by name Tlahuicole, was captured. His fame as a warrior had spread far and wide; his prowess was so well known that few cared to measure their strength with his, or feel the weight of his huge tomahawk, which a man of common stature could hardly lift. But one day, in the heat of pursuit, he got far ahead of all his companions, when he was waylaid in a morass, immediately surrounded, placed in a cage, and conveyed to Mexico amidst the rejoicings of the enemy. He was brought to the Emperor Moteuhçoma, who, on hearing his name, not only spared his life but offered him his liberty, and treated him with marked distinction. But Tlahuicole refused everything, and besought the Emperor to devote him to the gods according to custom. Seeing that he could not be prevailed upon to accept any offer, however brilliant, Moteuhçoma gave orders that he should be tied on the gladiatorial stone and that some of his best soldiers should fight him, whilst he himself, with a numerous retinue, witnessed the scene. Tlahuicole killed successively eight men, and wounded upwards of twenty; but he succumbed at last, and was carried off to be offered to the war-god Huitzilopochtli.[13]

But to return: this temalacatl clearly belongs to Tizoc, for his portrait is seen on the edge of the stone, whilst a speckled leg (he is supposed to have had varices) is sculptured above his image. The monument, however, like the great temple, may have been completed by his successor Ahuitzotl between 1484-1486.

Human sacrifices were made even more revolting by cannibalism, which from the Aztecs spread among all the surrounding nations, and were adopted by the populations with which they were at war by way of reprisals. The more humane chiefs, such as Netzahualcoyotl, king of Texcuco, tried to oppose this barbarous custom; but they were obliged to yield before the ignorance of the people and the fanaticism of the priests, who seeing that the supply of prisoners of war began to fail, clamoured for more, and urged on the monarchs the necessity of sacrificing their own subjects, on the ground that they would be more easily obtained; that they would be fresher, more acceptable, and in the same condition as children and slaves. In the year 1454, the country was visited by a horrible famine, and the priests declared that the celestial wrath could only be appeased by regular and numerous sacrifices; to obtain which a treaty was entered into by the three allied kings of Mexico, Texcuco, and Tlacopan with the three republics of Tlascala, Huezotzinco, and Cholula, by which they agreed that their troops should engage to fight on the first days of each month, on the territory between Cuantepec and Ocelotepec, and thus supply themselves with human victims. The men engaged in these encounters received the terrible name of “enemies of the house,” whilst these monthly affrays are known in history as the “Holy War.” It was not on the circular Temalacatl that victims were sacrificed, but on the dreadful Techcatl, “stone of sacrifice,” which was 6 ft. 6 in. long by 3 ft. 3 in. wide, and about 3 ft. high, so as to enable the officiating priests to have a thorough command over their victim. At the dedication of the great temple of Huitzilopochtli in 1486, the prisoners who for some years had been reserved for this solemn occasion, were drawn up and ranged in files, forming a procession along the narrow causeways two miles long, when the number sacrificed is almost beyond belief, and is variously estimated at 80,000 and 20,000. The massacre lasted four days, and was begun by the kings of Mexico, Texcuco, Tacuba, and the Minister Tlacael, until they were relieved by the priests. However, the number of victims immolated has no doubt been much exaggerated.[14]

It is difficult to reconcile these revolting usages with a people that had made great advance in civilisation. American writers have tried to palliate the abominable practices of their ancestors, on the ground that they shared them in common with every other nation in the early stage of their history. In their eyes the Aztecs, if not commendable, were at least pardonable, and Orozco y Berra says that “human sacrifices originate from an error of the mind rather than from evil disposition; that it is the result of an exaggerated religious feeling, and not a real desire to do evil. That this institution, if philosophically considered, is not deserving of the intempestive lamentations of a few sentimental moralists.”[15] “The horror I feel,” he adds, “for the revolting abuse of human sacrifice, yields to what I feel for utter impiety; I will go further, and say that I prefer human sacrifice to atheism, as I prefer the ignorant negro who bows before his fetish, to a free-thinker.” Obviously Orozco is animated with the same spirit as his ancestors. An Aztec of the olden time would have adduced better reasons, for he held that to be sacrificed on the altar of his god was even more glorious than to die in battle, since it ensured him a speedy passage into paradise; and as the enemy was never slain if there were a chance of taking him alive, the number of those who disappeared was a fixed quantity. The same argument is urged in favour of cannibalism, but it is at least doubtful if it ever existed as an institution among other civilised nations. Men, however cruel, do not feed on one another, unless obliged by an absolute necessity; and cannibalism, which no doubt existed with all primitive populations, only continued among those who were deprived of sufficient space where they could hunt and feed their flocks, and who were reduced to a scanty supply of roots and herbs for their subsistence. This was observed among the Caraïbs at the time of the Conquest; in the islands of the Pacific, in Australia, where the soil is so poor, that although cannibalism prevails, the increase of population has to be kept down, and the recent introduction of pigs in the islands has diminished but not eradicated this ancient practice, which has never flourished with races provided with bears, reindeer, horses, and herds. This usage, which at first was a necessity, became a sacred tradition with the Aztecs, with whom religion was all-powerful; it directed the State, presided over the minutest details of domestic life, and as the influence of the priests was unbounded, peasants and princes had to bow their necks to their tyranny. They cannot be called cannibals, however, in the coarsest sense of the word, for they did not feed on human flesh to gratify their appetite, but as a duty, and in obedience to their religion; and during the long and terrible siege of Mexico not a single case of cannibalism is recorded against them by ancient authorities. Whence did they derive this religious practice? Not from the nations of the ancient continent with whom they have so much in common, for at that time cannibalism was no longer practised among the nomadic tribes of Eastern Asia; nor from Japan or China, where the people had always lived on the produce of the soil; it is probable that they received it from the Caraïbs of the Antilles and the Polynesian races of the Pacific, who made them forget the mild teachings and higher civilisation of the Toltecs.

WRONG SACRIFICIAL COLLAR.

RIGHT SACRIFICIAL COLLAR.

We give the drawings of two yokes: No. 1 is the yoke which up to the present time has been universally accepted as that used for securing the victim during the sacrifice, of which several specimens are to be seen in Mexican museums and in our own Trocadéro, but which, owing to the cylindrical shape of the arch, measuring some sixteen inches in height by about seven in width, we maintain could never have been used for the purpose assigned to it; whereas No. 2, which we claim to have unearthed, answers in our opinion exactly to the requirements of a yoke for such a purpose. It is almost the width of the Techcatl, and is concave on its lower surface, which makes it a perfect fit for a convex stone; it has, moreover, a round hollow in the centre, sufficiently large to steady a man’s neck, so that the priest had only to apply this yoke to prevent any movement, when, to use Father Duran’s expression, he let fall his sharp silex knife and the victim opened “like a pomegranate.”[16]

Notwithstanding the assertion of most historians respecting the work of the Aborigines, it is difficult to account how with the tools they were acquainted with they could cut not only the hardest substances, but also build the numerous structures which are still seen in Mexico and Central America, together with the sculptures, bas-reliefs, statues, and inscriptions like those we reproduce. These monuments were innumerable, of all dimensions, and according to Leon y Gama,[17] there was no town or settlement which did not possess on the stones of its walls, on the rocks of its mountains, the year of its foundation, its origin, and the history of its progress engraved in symbols and characters which could only be read by the Indians themselves. It is all the more inexplicable that they should have only used stone implements, that copper was abundant, and that they knew how to temper and make it nearly as hard as steel. The method employed by stone sculptors, however, has in all probability been lost.

Clavigero[18] says that stone was worked with tools of hard stone; that copper hatchets were used by carpenters, and also to cultivate the soil and to fell trees; and Mendieta writes that both carpenters and joiners used copper tools, but that their work was not so beautiful as that of the sculptors on stone who had silex implements.[19]

Some historians have proved to their own satisfaction that copper was unknown to the Indians; but had they taken the trouble to read, however slightly, any authority on the subject, they would have paused before they advanced a theory which is entirely at variance with all writers, both ancient and modern. It is an ascertained fact that very rich copper-mines have been worked since the Conquest;[20] and in 1873, whilst sinking a shaft in a copper-mine at Aguila, in the State of Guerrero, the miner lost suddenly the vein; and on examining the cause of the accident an excavation was found 4 ft. 4 in. long, 4 ft. 9 in. deep, and over 3 ft. wide, in which was a rich copper vein from 2 to 4 in. in thickness. The engineer, Felipe Lorainzar, could see no sign of iron or powder having been used, but the walls showed marks of fire; and both the copper ore and the rock in which it was embedded, were shattered and split in various places. In the rubbish were found 142 stones of different dimensions, shaped like hammers and wedges, the edges of which were blunt or broken; these stones were of a different substance from the surrounding rock, clearly indicating that the mine had originally been worked by the natives.[21]

Copper was likewise found in Chili, Columbia, Chihuahua, and in New Mexico. Before the Conquest, the Indians procured lead and tin from the mines of Tasco, but copper was the metal used in mechanic arts. Hatchets, arms, and scissors were made of copper found in the mountains of Zocatollan. The letters of Cortez tell us that among the taxes paid by the conquered people, figured copper hatchets and lingots of the same metal, which were paid every eighty days. Bernal Diaz[22] says that in his second expedition with Grijalva, the inhabitants of Goatzacoalco brought them upwards of six hundred copper hatchets in three days, having wood handles exquisitely painted, and so polished that “we thought at first they were gold.” Copper was also found in Venezuela, where, at the present day, jewels of copper, or mixed with gold, crocodiles, lizards, and frogs are found. We procured some and placed them in the Trocadéro, having the same dimensions as those in Central America. Those we found on our first visit to Mitla, are thin, shaped like a tau, and hardly 4 in. long. Dupaix found similar hatchets at Mitla, and he thinks they were used as currency, a supposition all the more probable, that an Indian from Zochoxocotlan, near Oaxaca, found an earthen pot containing twenty-three dozen of these taus, but differing slightly from each other both in size and thickness. We read in Torquemada,[23] that copper tablets, varying in thickness and shaped like a tau, were used as currency in various regions, and that they contained a large proportion of gold.

Gumesindo Mendoza mentions copper scissors in the Mexican Museum which were found to contain 97·87 lead, 100 copper, 213 platinum, 100 tin, and infinitesimal quantities of gold and zinc. On removing the oxide which covered them the bronze looked like red gold, its density being equal to 8.815; it is harder than copper and breaks under strong pressure, the broken part showing a fine granulation, like steel; but its hardness is less than carburetted iron and insufficient for the use it was intended for.

Humboldt says that Peruvian scissors contained 94 lead, 100 copper, 6 platinum, 100 tin, and that their specific weight was 8·815; other scissors analysed by Ramirez yielded 90 lead, 100 copper, 10 platinum, and 100 tin. It seems almost impossible that the Indians should not have used these admirable bronze scissors to build palaces, sculpture their idols and the images of their kings, which are still visible on the porphyry rocks of Chapultepec; and if it is denied that they were able to carve such hard substances, they must be credited with having easily worked the calcareous stones of Chiapas and Yucatan.

The American tribes had reached the transition epoch between the polished stone and the bronze period, which was marked by considerable progress in architecture and some branches of science. With them this period lasted longer than in the old world, owing to their never having come in contact with nations of a higher civilisation and possessed of better tools. Their only scientific data in the past were traditions which, if we believe their apologists, were carefully preserved and developed; but they have nearly all been lost, and great uncertainty must for ever rest upon the degree of their scientific progress; for it is equally impossible to accept either the wild theories of the good Abbé Brasseur, who sees in the Troano and Chilmalpoca codices, a whole system of geology dating ten thousand years back, as it is impossible to accept the childish dreams of Leplongeon, who credits the Mayas with every discovery down to the electric telegraph; nor yet those who maintain that without astronomical instruments (since they were unacquainted with glass) the Aztecs had discovered the composition of the sun and the transit of Venus. It seems as futile to make the Nahuas the inventors of everything as to rank them with mere savages. The religion of a people is a sure index of the degree of its culture; we know that the moral code and religion of the Toltecs showed wonderful growth towards all the essentials of a high civilisation, for religion in its early stage is but a gross fetishism, of which the head of the family is the priest, who performs before his household god the simple ceremonies he learnt from his forefathers. But as the tribe rises in importance his duties become more complicated, and he is willing to lay down his priestly office in favour of a poet or prophet, who, whilst the warriors are engaged in warfare and other avocations, shall pray for the welfare of the tribe and expound the wishes of the deity, receiving for his services part of the booty or the produce of the chase, and later, have his share of the land under cultivation. He soon adopts a dress so as to be distinguished from the warriors and the people; and as the number of priests increases, offerings are multiplied; a more imposing ceremonial replaces the simple worship of former days, temples and chapels are built, the image of the god is placed in the sanctuary, and only approached by the high priest, who becomes the sole interpreter between god and man. The former is now given numerous personalities, according to his various attributes, and the simple fetish of an early epoch develops in process of time into a mighty host, frequently numbering upwards of three thousand deities like the Aztec Olympus, for whose service a numerous priesthood and great wealth are required, implying a high degree of civilisation.

That there should be great uncertainty upon questions resting chiefly on vague traditions is natural enough, but that the same should be the case with matters that admitted of easy proof seems unaccountable; as, for instance, the name of Montezuma, in whose intimacy the Spaniards lived several months; yet of the twenty-three chroniclers who wrote about him, two call him Motecuhzoma, three Montezuma, and the remaining eighteen spell his name in as many different ways.

And here we will take leave of the Aztecs, whose history has been so admirably written by Prescott. My object in writing about them was to give some idea, however slight, of this people, in order to prepare the reader to follow me in my investigations respecting the far more ancient civilisation of the Toltecs—a civilisation which from them passed to the Aztecs, the Nahua tribes, and the people of Central America; the remains of which are still to be seen, whilst its stones will compose, together with chroniclers and historians, the foundation of our work.

HUMAN SACRIFICES.

ANCIENT INDIAN POTTERY.

CHAPTER IV.

TULA.

Journey to Tula—The Toltecs—Ancient Historians—Origins—Peregrinations— Foundation of Tula—Toltec Religion—Chief Divinities—Art—Industry—Measurement of Time—The Word Calli—Architecture.

The journey to Tula, capital of the Toltecs, our next destination, is performed partly by railway and partly by diligence over a distance of some sixteen leagues north of Mexico. The valley in this month (August) is at its best; immense plantations of Indian corn give it the aspect of a green sea, whilst a grand range of mountains and lofty summits bound it at the horizon. We go through the Tejan district, stopping a few minutes at Tacuba, where the old cypress of the “Melancholy night” is again pointed out to us. Our next station is Atzacapotzalco, once an independent state; then Tlanepantla. The country, as far as the eye can reach, presents nothing but the same plantations, the same hamlets, the same poor squalid huts, whilst here and there a few Indians in tatters, and swarms of naked children, gaze at us stupidly as we speed along. Now we come to a fortress-like church, formerly used as a stronghold by the Pronunciados; we notice for the first time some stunted poplars, some rare willow-trees, and by-and-by hedges of prickly pear, and now that we are in the diligence, the country somewhat changes; instead of long stretches of green maize, we have immense plantations of aloe, which to my mind, whether viewed from afar or near, are never a picturesque feature in the landscape. It is a wonder how we advance at all, for the wheels of our carriage almost disappear in the ruts of the worst road I ever travelled upon; I am confident that nothing has been done to it since the day it was opened. We cross a muddy river, when, with cracking of whip and galloping horses, we enter a village shaded by great ash-trees, and draw up before a respectable-looking inn, where we take up our quarters, for we are in Tula, once the brilliant capital of the Toltecs, but now reduced to a small straggling town numbering some 1,500 souls.

The Toltecs, as was stated before, were one of the Nahuan tribes, which from the seventh to the fourteenth century spread over Mexico and Central America. Their existence has been denied by various modern historians, although all American writers agree that the numerous bands which followed them in the country received their civilisation from them. It must be admitted, however, that our knowledge rests chiefly on traditionary legends full of anachronisms, transmitted to us by the nations that came after them; but it will be our care to fill up the enormous discrepancies to be met with at almost every page, by the monuments it has been our good fortune to bring to light. Two writers, Ixtlilxochitl and Mariano Veytia, have written about this people: the first in his “Historia Chichemeca” and “Relaciones,” the second in his “Historia Antigua de Mejico;” the latter being more explicit, it is from him that we will chiefly borrow, without neglecting, however, other chroniclers. Both made use of the same documents, drew from the same sources, the traditionary legends of their country; and Veytia, besides his own, had access to Botturini’s valuable collection of Mexican manuscripts, so that he was well acquainted with American antiquities. Ixtlilxochitl, on the other hand, as might be expected, in writing the history of his ancestors, whose language he understood and whose hieroglyphs he could decipher, is inspired by patriotic zeal; and it will be found that these historians have just claims to our admiration for the compass of their inquiries, and the sagacity with which they conducted them.

EXTRACTING PULQUE.

A third writer, Ramirez, by far the most illustrious of those who have treated the same subject, speaking of the two historians who preceded him, says: “I am not claiming infallibility for our historians, yet it must surely be conceded that, if no credence is given to our own, the same measure must be meted out to all the traditions of other countries, for neither Diodorus, Josephus, Livy, Tacitus, nor other historians, are able to bring the array of documents with which our history abounds in support of their assertions. I have purposely omitted Herodotus, the most curious and instructive among ancient historians, because modern discoveries and modern criticism have cleared him from the unjust attacks of Plutarch. A history is true and highly instructive, although it may contain absurd propositions, if it faithfully transmits the traditions, the belief, and the customs of a people; as it may be absolutely false, although relating facts which seem natural and probable, but are only the invention of the author. Mexican history and biography, like those of other nations, are founded on tradition and historical documents; than which none are better authenticated or more trustworthy.”

We think Ramirez proves his case, and, in writing these chapters, we will not be more critical than he is.[24]

Veytia,[25] like all historians of that time, places the primitive home of the Toltecs in Asia, to make his account agree with Genesis, where it is said that after the destruction of the Babylonian Tower, “The Lord scattered the sons of men upon the face of all the earth.” According to him, they crossed Tartary and entered America through the Behring Straits, by means of large flat canoes, and square rafts made of wood and reeds; the former are described, and called acalli, “water houses,” in their manuscripts. Directing their course southward, they built their first capital, Tlapallan, “coloured,” subsequently Huehue-Tlapallan, to distinguish it from a later Tlapallan. Huehue-Tlapallan was the cradle whence originated the various tribes which peopled America. Each tribe was called after the father or chief of the family, who was also its ruler; hence came the Olmecs, from Olmecatl; the Xicalancas, from Xicalantl, etc.; it is uncertain whether the Chichemecs derived their appellation from Cichen, the man, or Chichen, the town in Yucatan.[26]

The Toltecs, by the common consent of historians, were the most cultured of all the Nahua tribes, and better acquainted with the mode of perpetuating the traditions of their origin and antiquities. To them is due the invention of hieroglyphs and characters, which, arranged after a certain method, reproduced their history on skins of animals, on aloe and palm-leaves, or by knots of different colours, which they called nepohualtzitzin, “historical events,” and also by simple allegorical songs. This manner of writing history by maps, songs, and knots, was handed down from father to son, and thus has come to us.[27]

Tlacatzin was the next city they built; and here, after thirteen years of warfare, they separated from the main body of the nation and migrated some seventy miles to the south, where in 604 they founded Tlapallanco, “small Tlapallan,” in remembrance of their first capital. But the arrival of fresh immigrants caused them to remove further south, and, under the command of their wise man, Hueman,[28] “the Strong Hand,” who is endowed with power, wisdom, and intelligence, the Toltecs set out in 607, and marked their progress by building Jalisco, where they remained eight years; then Atenco, where they were five years; and twenty years at Iztachuexuca. In after times other Nahuan tribes followed them by different routes, as the ruins in New Mexico and the Mexican Valley everywhere attest.

Las Casas Grandes, the settlements in the Sierra Madre, the ruins of Zape, of Quemada, recalling the monuments at Mitla, others in Queretaro, together with certain features in the building of temples and altars, which remind one of the Mexican manuscripts from which the Toltec, Aztec, and Yucatec temple was built, make it clear that the civilising races came from the northwest; and Guillemin Tarayre,[29] like ourselves, sees in the calli the embryo of the teocalli, which developed into the vast proportions of the pyramidal mounds found at Teotihuacan, Cholula, in Huasteca, Misteca, Tabasco, and Yucatan.

The next city built by the Toltecs was Tollatzinco, where they remained sixteen years; and finally settled at Tollan or Tula, which became their capital. The date of its foundation is variously given; Ixtlilxochitl sets it down at 556, Clavigero 667, and Veytia assigns 713 A.D. as the probable date. In our estimation, this divergence of opinion confirms rather than invalidates the existence of this people.

When the Aztecs reached Anahuac, Atzacapotzalco, Colhuacan, and Texcuco were small flourishing states. They had inherited from the Toltecs many useful arts, their code of morals, philosophy and religion, which in their turn they taught the Aztecs, so that the institutions and customs of these different tribes were common to all; and in default of documents which have been lost, we ascribe nearly all the historians of the Conquest relate of the Aztecs, whom they found the dominant race, as applicable to the Toltecs, the fountain of all progress both on the plateaux and in Central America, where we shall follow them. As for the Aztecs, who settled for the first time on the Mexican lake at the beginning of the fourteenth century, they were at that period nothing but a rude, barbarous tribe, and to the last day of their political existence they remained a military caste.

Among the ruins to be found at Tula are those of an unfinished temple called Quetzali, consisting of pillars in the shape of serpents, the heads of which form the basement and the tails the capital.

Some writers, amongst whom is Botturini, think the Toltecs were preceded by the Olmecs and Xicalancas on the territories of Tlaxcala, Huexcotzinco, and Puebla, when, after years of inter-tribal conflict, they settled in the Yucatan peninsula. But we have found in several Indian writers, that at the coronation of Chalchiuhtlanetzin, “bright stone,” King of the Toltecs, the Olmecs and Xicalancas came to swear allegiance and submit to his authority; and there is nothing to make one suppose that they were compelled to leave the country, for they seem to have amalgamated so well with the new-comers that their very name was merged in theirs, although they retain the memory of their origin even to this day. “There can be no doubt,” says Veytia, “that some of these people (Toltecs) established themselves in Yucatan”[30]—a remarkable passage, which we find confirmed at every step. According to the same authority, they built Tula in six years, when, to avoid the personal jealousy of the Caciques, they petitioned for the second son of King Huehue-Tlapallan, whom they proclaimed their ruler under the name of Chalchiuhtlanetzin.

TOLTEC POTTERY.

All the Toltecs did was excellent, graceful, and delicate; exquisite remains of their buildings covered with ornamentation, together with pottery, toys, jewels, and many other objects are found throughout New Spain, for, says Sahagun,[31] “they had spread everywhere.” Both Veytia and Ixtlilxochitl[32] ascribe a common origin to the Nahua, Toltec, Acolhuan, and Mexican tribes. “The Toltecs were good architects and skilled in mechanic arts; they built great cities like Tula, the ruins of which are still visible; whilst at Totonac they erected palaces of cut stone, ornamented with designs and human figures, recalling their chequered history.” “At Cuernavaca” (probably Xochicalco), he adds, “were palaces entirely built of cut stone, without mortar, beams, girders, or wood of any kind.” Torquemada speaks of the Toltecs in the same terms, observing that “they were supposed to have come from the west, and to have brought with them maize, cotton, seeds, and the vegetables to be found in this country; that they were cunning artists in working gold, precious stones, and other curiosities.”[33] On the other hand, Clavigero thinks “they were the first nation mentioned in American traditions, and justly celebrated among the Nahuas, for their culture and mechanic skill; and that the name Toltec came to be synonymous

TLALOC, FROM A PIECE OF POTTERY. for architect and artificer.”[34] Quotations might be multiplied ad infinitum, but the foregoing will suffice to prove the existence of this people and their peculiar genius.

Their law of succession was somewhat curious: each king was to rule one of their centuries of fifty-two years; if he lived beyond it he was required to give up the crown to his son, and, in case of death, a joint regency took the reins of government for the remaining years. Their sacred book, teomoxtli, contained both their annals and their moral code. It is conjectured, with what evidence is uncertain, that they worshipped an “unknown god,” perhaps the origin of the “unknown god” to whom the King of Texcuco raised an altar. Their principal deities, however, were Tonacatecuhtli, the “Sun” and the “Moon,” to whom temples were first erected; to these they added Tlaloc, god of rain, and Quetzalcoatl, god of air and wisdom.[35] Tlaloc, according to Torquemada, was the oldest deity known, for when the Acolhuans, who followed the Chichemecs, arrived in the country, he was found on the highest summit of the Texcucan mountain.[36] His paradise, called Tlalocan, was a place of delight, an Eden full of flowers and verdure; whilst the surrounding hills were called “Tlaloc mounts.”[37] He was emphatically the god of many places, of many names, and numerous personifications; as Popocatepetl he presided over the formation of clouds and rain, he was the “world-fertiliser,” the “source of favourable weather,” sometimes represented dark in colour, his face running with water to signify a rich yielding soil; he carried a thunderbolt in his right hand, a sign of thunder and lightning; whilst his left held a tuft of variegated feathers, emblem of the different hues of our globe; his tunic was blue hemmed with gold, like the heavens after rain. His wife, Chalchiuhtlicue, goddess of waters, was represented wearing a blue petticoat, the colour of the mountain Iztaccihuatl when seen at a distance, which was sacred to her.

Most historians mention Quetzalcoatl, at first a generic name, whom posterity endowed with every virtue and deified.[38] His great temple was at Tula, but he was also worshipped in Yucatan under the name of Cukulcan,[39] having the same meaning with Quetzalcoatl. He had travelled thither with a branch of the Toltecs, which, advancing from west to east, had taken Tabasco on their way, and occupied the peninsula earlier than a second branch, which entered the country by a southern route, under the command of their chief Tutulxiu, and became the rival and enemy of the first, whose reigning family were the Cocomes, “auditors.” The worship of Quetzalcoatl extended on the plateaux and in the peninsula, where the chiefs claimed to be descended from him. The symbol by which he is best known is “feathered serpent;” but he was severally called Huemac,[40] the “Strong Hand,” the “white-bearded man,” his mantle studded with crosses, or dressed in a tiger’s skin; “god of air,” when he was the companion of Tlaloc, whose path he swept, causing a strong wind to prevail before the rainy season; and also a youthful, beardless man, etc. The various attributes of Quetzalcoatl and Tlaloc developed according to the people, the country, and epoch. Such transformations have been observed among all nations: in India the great Agni was at first but the spark produced by rubbing two pieces of wood together, which became cloud, dawn, the sun, the flash, Indra, etc. With the Greeks, Apollo was the god of light, poetry, music, medicine, etc. The Christian religion presents the same phenomenon; for we have the Ancient of Days, the Dove, the Lamb, the Vine. Thus Tlaloc, god of rain, is sometimes seen on ancient vases, his eyes circled with paper, his face running with water; or as an embryo cross, a perfect cross; and again in the form of a man lying on his back, supporting a vase to collect rain. The latter representation is found in Mexico, Tlaxcala, and Yucatan. Several writers[41] mention that crosses were found throughout Mexico, Yucatan, and Tabasco, being another and later personification of Tlaloc. They have all been lost; but we reproduce those found by us, presenting various distinct forms. The cultus of the cross is of great antiquity and almost universal, for we find it in Greece, in India, on pottery of the Bronze Period (the suastica); whilst among the Slaves it was, as in America, the god of storm and rain.

Toltec Crosses.

No. 1, Serpent’s Cross. No. 2, Cross seen on Quetzalcoatl’s Tunic and on the Palaces at Mitla. No. 3, Mayapan Cross. No. 4, Cross of Teotihuacan. Nos. 5 and 7, Crosses in the Temples of Palenque. No. 6, Cross met with in the Temples of Lorillard City.

The same may almost be said of the serpent.[42] It was reverenced in Egypt, in America, and is found at the beginning of Genesis; whilst in the north-west of India, the Nagas were serpent worshippers, whose great ancestor Naga was supposed to have been present at the Creation as Genius of the Ocean. He was the god of wisdom, the titular deity of mankind; and we find him at Bœroe-Bœdor, in Java, beautifully sculptured on a bas-relief, where Buddha is seen crossing the seas on a lotus-wreath, whilst close to him two immense serpents (Nagas) are raising their heads towards him in token of reverence. He is also worshipped in Cambodia, and his image is reproduced on the magnificent monuments of Angcor-Tom.

QUETZALCOATL, UNDER HIS BEST-KNOWN ATTRIBUTES.

The festival which was celebrated in honour of Quetzalcoatl during the teoxihuitl, “sacred year,” was preceded by a severe fasting of eighty days, during which the priests devoted to his service were subjected to horrible penances. He reigned successively at Izamal, in Yucatan, Chichen-Itza, and Mayapan, under the name of Cukulcan. To this god were ascribed the rites of confession and penance.

COTTON SPINNING.

The religion of the Toltecs was mild, like their disposition; no human blood ever stained their altars, their offerings consisting of fruits, flowers, and birds; nevertheless, their laws, which were the same for all classes, were stringent and severe. Polygamy was forbidden, and kings themselves were not allowed concubines, whilst their priests were deserving of the respect which was shown them from prince and peasant alike. They had sculptors, mosaists, painters, and smelters of gold and silver; and by means of moulds knew how to give metals every variety of shape; their jewellers and lapidaries could imitate all manner of animals, plants, flowers, birds, etc. Cotton was spun by the women, and given a brilliant colouring both from animal and mineral substances; it was manufactured of every degree of fineness, so that some looked like muslin, some like cloth, and some like velvet. They had also the art of interweaving with these the delicate hair of animals and birds’ feathers, which made a cloth of great beauty. Ixtlilxochitl[43] is afraid to pursue the panegyric of this people, lest it should appear exaggerated. Their calendar was adopted by all the tribes of Anahuac and Central America; it divided the year into eighteen months of twenty days each, adding five intercalary days to make up the full number of three hundred and sixty-five days; these belonged to no month, and were regarded as unlucky. Both months and days were expressed by peculiar signs; and as the year has nearly six hours in excess of three hundred and sixty-five days, they provided for this by intercalating six days at the end of four years, which formed leap year. Tlapilli, “knots,” were cycles of thirteen years; four of these cycles was a century, which they called xiuhmolpilli, “binding up of knots,” represented by a quantity of reeds bound together. Besides the “bundle” of fifty-two years, the Toltecs had a larger cycle of one hundred and four years, called “a great age,” but not much used. The whole system rested on the repetition of the signs denoting the years, enabling one by means of dots to determine accurately to what cycle or what century each year belonged. And as these signs stood differently in each cycle, confusion was impossible; for the century being indicated by a number showing its place in the cycle, the dots would make it easy to determine to what age any given year belonged, according to its place at knot first, second, third, or fourth. Thus for instance, the year tecpatl “flint,” calli “house,” tochtli “rabbit,” and acatl “reed,” beginning the great cycle, would have one, five, nine, thirteen dots in the first series; four, eight, twelve, in the second; three, seven, fourteen, in the third; and two, six, ten, in the fourth series, which would come first in the new cycle, and the latter having its appropriate sign would enable one to see at once that “Flint” 12 was the twelfth year in the second series of the first cycle or century; that “Flint” 2 was the second year in the fourth series of the first cycle, etc. Example:

TLAPILLI.

It will be seen later that the hieroglyph calli is the outline of the Toltec palace and temple, the foundation of his architecture, which never varies, and which we shall find in all monuments, whether we travel north or south, on the plateaux or in the lowlands; so that had everything else been destroyed, we might nevertheless pronounce with safety that all the monuments in North America were of Toltec origin. The genius of a nation, like that of an individual, has generally one dominant note, traceable through the various expressions of her art. India has topes and pagodas, Egypt sphinxes and hypostyle chambers, Greece three orders of columns. North America has only a plain wall ending with two projecting cornices having an upright or slanting frieze, more or less ornamented but of no appreciable difference.

A description of the ceremonies which took place at the end of

CALLI, IN PROFILE. every great cycle, will find here a natural place, and enable us to understand subsequent events.

The Aztecs celebrated their great festival of the new fire at the end of each century of fifty-two years, called by Sahagun toxiuilpilli, and by others xiuhmolpilli. As the end of the century drew near they were filled with apprehension, for if the fire failed to be rekindled, a universal dissolution was expected to follow. In their despair at such a contingency they threw away their idols, destroyed their furniture and domestic utensils, and suffered all fires to go out. A lofty mountain near Iztapalapan, some two leagues from Mexico, was the place chosen for kindling the new fire, which was effected by the friction of two sticks placed on the breast of the victim. The fire was soon communicated to a funeral pile, on which the body of the victim was placed and consumed. This ceremony always took place at midnight, and as the light mounted up towards heaven shouts of joy burst forth from the multitudes who covered the hills, the house-tops, and terraces of the temples, their eyes directed towards the mountain of sacrifice. Couriers, with torches lighted at the blazing fire, rapidly bore them to the inhabitants of the surrounding districts, whilst every part of the city was lighted with bonfires. The following days were given up to festivity, the houses were cleansed and whitewashed, the broken vessels were replaced by new ones, and the people dressed in their gayest apparel. If we except human sacrifice, this must have been a Toltec ceremony.[44]

CAPITAL, FOUND AT TULA.

THE PYRAMID OF THE SUN, TULA.

CHAPTER V.

TULA. PYRAMID OF THE SUN. ANTIQUITIES OF TULA.

Caryatides—Columns—Capitals—Carved Shell—Tennis-ring—Tlachtli—Ancient Bas-reliefs—Toltecs Portrayed—Historical Jottings—The Temple of the Frog—Indian Vault—The Plaza—El Cerro del Tesoro.

Tula extended over a plain intersected by a muddy river winding round the foot of Mount Coatepetl, which commanded the city. The modern town occupies but a small proportion of the area of the ancient capital, and the few antiquities that adorn the plaza were found in clearing the river of some of its mud or whilst ploughing the adjacent fields.

TOLTEC CARYATID, TULA.

PARTS OF A COLUMN, TULA.

First in order are three fragments of caryatides: one, a gigantic statue which we reproduce, is about 7 ft. high; the head and upper part of the body below the hips are wanting, the legs are 1 ft. 3 in. in diameter, and the feet 4 ft. long. The two embroidered bits below the waist were no doubt the ends of the royal maxtli, the exact copy of which we shall see later on bas-reliefs in Chiapas, Palenque, and Lorillard City. The greaves, of leather bands, are passed between the toes and fastened on the instep and above it by large knots, recalling the Roman cacles. This statue is of black basalt, like all the other fragments; and although exceedingly rude and archaic in character, is not wanting in beauty in some of its details. Next comes a column in two pieces, lying on the ground, having a round tenon which fitted closely into the mortise and ensured solidity; it is the only specimen we have found where such care had been bestowed.

TENNIS-RING, TULA. The carving on the outward portion of the column consists of feathers or palms, whilst the reverse is covered with scales of serpents arranged in parallel sections. This fragment answers Sahagun’s description about the columns of a temple dedicated to Quetzalcoatl, already mentioned, where rattle-snakes formed the ornamentation. It is also interesting from the fact that we shall see a similar column at Chichen-Itza in a temple of the same god. Here also among other fragments I noticed a Greek column with a Doric capital, but on which I dare not pronounce definitely, although there is nothing else in the place denoting Spanish influence. All we can say is that it shows the marvellous building instinct of the Toltecs, and that we found some remains of a like description in the Yucatan peninsula. By far the most interesting object seen here, on account of the study and the archæological issues it entails, is a large carved stone ring about 6 ft. 5 in. in diameter, having a hole in the centre some 10 in. in circumference, evidently a tennis-ring. Tennis, tlacheo, tlachtli, was first known in Anahuac and transmitted to the Chichemecs, Acolhuans, and Aztecs by the Toltecs, who carried it with them to Tabasco, Yucatan, Uxmal, and Chichen; and in the latter place we found a perfect tennis-court with one ring still in place.

We must turn to Torquemada[45] for full particulars respecting this national game, which was played in buildings of so typical a character as to be easily recognised. It consists of two thick parallel walls 32 ft. high, at a distance of 98 ft. from each other, having a ring fixed in the walls 22 ft. high, as seen in our cut; whilst at each extremity of the court stood a small temple in which preliminary ceremonies were performed before opening the game. It was played with a large india-rubber ball; the rules required the player to receive it behind, not to let it touch the ground, and to wear a tight-fitting leather suit to make the ball rebound. But the greatest feat was to send the ball through the ring, when a scramble, a rush, and much confusion followed, the winner having the right to plunder the spectators of their valuables. Sending the ball through the ring required so much dexterity, that he who succeeded was credited with a bad conscience or supposed to be doomed to an early death. Tennis seems to have been in such high repute with the Indians that it was not confined to individuals, but also played between one city and another, and accompanied, says Veytia, by much betting, when they staked everything they possessed, even their liberty. But this writer errs in ascribing the game to the Aztecs in honour of their god Huitzilopochtli, as we shall show.

Among other objects which we found at Tula is a large

WARRIOR’S PROFILE, FOUND AT TULA. curiously-carved shell of mother-of-pearl; the carving recalls Tizoc’s stone, and notably the bas-reliefs at Palenque and Ocosinco in Chiapas; also two bas-reliefs, one in a rock outside the town, the other, by far the most valuable, in the wall of a private house, but very old and much injured, representing a full-face figure and another in profile; their nose, beard, and dress are similar to those described by Veytia[46] in the following passage: “The Toltecs were above middle height, and owing to this they could be distinguished in later times from the other aborigines. Their complexion was clear, their hair thicker than the nations who followed them, although less so than the Spaniards. This is still observable among the few who remain claiming Toltec descent.”

These remains are priceless in every respect because of their analogy and intimate connection with all those we shall subsequently discover, forming the first links in the chain of evidence respecting our theory of the unity of American civilisation, which it is our object to prove in the course of this work.

On beholding these caryatides, the question naturally arises as to what monument they were intended for; and in turning to Veytia,[47] we read that under the Emperor Mitl (979-1035) the Toltecs reached the zenith of their power; that their empire extended over one thousand miles, bordering on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; and that the population was so dense as to cause the soil to be cultivated on the highest mountains, whilst an influential priesthood performed the sacred rites within innumerable sanctuaries. The great cities of the high plateaux were Teotihuacan and Cholula, as later Palenque, Izamal, and Cozumel were those of the warm region. This emperor, jealous of the flourishing state and religious superiority of Teotihuacan, “the habitation of the gods,” wished to set up a new and rival deity for the veneration of his people; to this end he chose the songstress of the marsh, the “Frog,” whom he presented as the goddess of waters. And that the new deity should be ushered in with due pomp and solemnity, he had a magnificent temple built in her honour, and her gold statue placed within the temple, covered with emeralds, the size of a palm, and cunningly worked so as to imitate nature. Up to that time, temples had been large mounds erected on the summits of mountains, like that of Tlaloc, or on artificial pyramids like that of Teotihuacan, where the idols were exposed to the elements; that of the Frog was the first which was built with stones and given a rectangular shape, having a kind of solid vault (boveda), also of stone, which by a skilful arrangement covered the whole edifice.[48] Here, then, we have a very plain description of the Indian vault, the Yucatec vault, a vault we have observed in the north and the whole extent of our Toltec journey; seen by Guillemin Tarayre in the tombs at Las Casas Grandes, mentioned by Ixtlilxochitl as the distinguishing feature in the monuments of Toluca and Cuernavaca, and by Humboldt at Cholula in the following passage: “On visiting the interior of the pyramid, I recognised a mortuary chamber, having the bricks of the ceiling so arranged as to diminish the pression of the roof. As the aborigines were unacquainted with the vault, they provided for it by placing horizontally and in gradual succession very large bricks, the upper slightly overlapping the lower, and in this way replaced the Gothic vault.”[49] This remarkable writer further says, that “Yucatan and Guatemala are countries where the people had come from Atylan and reached a certain degree of civilisation.”[50] Far greater would have been his appreciation, had his investigations been directed to the Toltecs and Central America, where the overlapping vault was introduced by them in all public edifices, temples, and palaces. With the testimony of these writers, we may consider the vault question definitely settled.

TOLTEC BAS-RELIEFS.

The town, or rather the plaza, with its diminutive garden, planted with a few consumptive shrubs and flowers, with its porticoes giving access to the Town Hall, the Law Courts, the Church and shops, only gets animated on Sundays and market-days, when the population of the surrounding districts pours in for the purpose of buying or selling. Except meat, all articles are sold on the ground, spread on plantain leaves or clean cloths; where vendors dispose themselves in long rows about the plaza, offering their goods, crockery, and fruit. Customers stand about in groups, surveying the animated scene, enjoying a little gossip, or trying to drive a hard bargain; whilst Indian matrons ply from one vendor to another in almost silent dignity, accompanied by their daughters, who look at this and handle that, sometimes with the intention of buying, often to exchange a few words with the merchant or an acquaintance. Some look quite pretty, with their glorious eyes, their long hair reaching below the waist in two long plaits, with glass or stone beads around their necks; their scanty costume leaving uncovered their shapely arms, necks, and ankles. On looking at them, I seem to myself to be carried back a thousand years amidst that grand old race whose ruins I am here to study. Further on, under a monumental ash-tree, primitive kitchens have been set up, round which a dense throng of customers, settled on the ground, are enjoying their tortillas, or when they are well-to-do, their portion of black beans, frijoles, pork or turkey, in jicaras, the whole highly seasoned with Chili pepper; the best dinner not costing more than threepence.

YOUNG GIRLS OF TULA.

Every human type seems to have congregated here, from the Egyptian sharp outline of features to the flat-nosed, flat-faced Kalmuk. Most women are bare to the waist; but as this seems a matter of course, no one notices it.

The area of ancient Tula has now been under cultivation for three hundred years—hardly a desirable condition for the explorer. We know that the city stood here; but its only vestiges are to be found on the hill overlooking the town to the north. It was called Palpan in the time of the Toltecs; but now it is known as Cerro del Tesoro, because a poor shepherd-boy, some twenty years since, whilst scratching the moist ground, discovered a vase with five hundred gold ounces in it; but not knowing the value of his newly-found treasure, he parted with it for a few coppers. We are going to try our luck on the same hill; and better advised than the poor shepherd, we shall not give up our discoveries in favour of any one.

RUINS OF A TOLTEC HOUSE.