Cut 10.Mexican carpenter.
Cut 10.Mexican carpenter.
Cut 10.Mexican carpenter.
This instrument is of the most extravagant form. Were it not for the authentic interpretation of the picture and the accessories we should not be able to make out what kind of object it represented, and least of all that it was a hatchet.
Let us examine its construction. The wooden handle has the shape of all the Mexican and Yucatecan axes,—that of a somewhat curved club. But instead of its being chopped off at the top, the handle extends farther and is bent down to an angle of about 45 degrees. On the head of this bent top a deep notch is visible, into which the blade of a little axe is fixed, being fastened by a tongue or string wound three times around. Thus, when a blow was struck, we can presume, the head of the tenon would not move, from the resistance it met from the bottom of the notch. Thus much the picture proves, and we cannot learn anything more of this instrument. We only presume that in order to get a durable handle, they sought a curved branch, and that this branch came generally from one particular class of trees. The wordTepozcolulasignifies, properly, the town in which copper was bent,tepuzque(copper), andcoloa(to bend), but we learn from our picture, that thenatives understood these words to signify the town where the curved handles were manufactured, which seems to be corroborated by another picture which we found for the coat of arms of the town of Tepozcolula, Cod. Mendoza, pl. 45, fig. 5, in which the painter (see cut11) has laid a special stress upon this curving of thehandle, by shaping the end of the handle into an exaggerated spiral form.
Cut 11.Tepozcolula.
Cut 11.Tepozcolula.
Cut 11.Tepozcolula.
There existed also a town, in which carpenter’s work was the chief occupation of the inhabitants. This is to be inferred from the coat of arms belonging to the town of Tlaximaloyan, cut12, Cod. Mendoza, pl. 10, fig. 5.
Tlaximasignifies to work as a carpenter, andtlaximallia chip of wood. The “little” axe of copper, found by Dupaix at Quilapa, and of which he gives an illustration not differing from the known shapes of all axes, is very probably a specimen of this carpenter’s axe (see Dupaix, Vol. II., 3d Expedition, Planche II., fig. 4).
Cut 12.Town of Tlaximaloyan.
Cut 12.Town of Tlaximaloyan.
Cut 12.Town of Tlaximaloyan.
It is but natural to think that being in possession of the large chopping axe, the invention of the small hatchet would have become incomparably easier than that of this awkward carpenter’s tool. We are, however, too little informed to judge or to criticize its construction and rather incline to think that these people had reasons of their own for giving it the form it has. It must have been the one which Sahagun called “destral,” or carpenter’s hatchet.[23]
We can still offer another form of copper tool once usedby the natives. Dupaix[24]discovered the original near the same town where he had found the chisel. Below is a copy of his drawing in cut13:
Cut 13.Copper Tool, found by Dupaix in Oaxaca.
Cut 13.Copper Tool, found by Dupaix in Oaxaca.
Cut 13.Copper Tool, found by Dupaix in Oaxaca.
The edge of this tool will be noticed to have a curve belonging to the circumference of a circle. The cutting blade is 10 inches wide. Like the axes, it has a tenon by which it could be fastened to an opening in a wooden handle. It will appear from closer description that it was too thin to have been used for heavy operations. Let us consult the narration of the explorer: “This instrument is of red and very pure copper, and when touched it gives out a sonorous sound. The metal isnot hammeredbutcast. It is of not much weight, symmetrical, and of graceful shape. The contoursare regular and resemble those of an anchor. It is flat on both sides, the portion serving as a handle (or tenon) is a little thicker and slopes towards the edge, which cuts as well as a chisel. An Indian, named Pascual Baltolano, from the village of Zocho Xocotlan, half a mile distant from this city of Antequera, a few months ago, when tilling his field met with an earthen pot which contained 23 dozen of these blades, their quality, thickness and size being a little different from each other. This gives rise to the supposition that there existed various moulds, by means of which these specimens were multiplied and cast. They did not differ greatly from that which I possess. We meet here with a great difficulty, which is to determine to what usage these instruments were destined,—to agriculture or mechanics, as instruments of sacrifice or a variety of offensive weapon that was fixed in the point of a lance? That which is certain, however, is that they are found in abundance in this province and that merchants buy these metals from the Indians and rank them high on account of the superior quality of the ore.” On proceeding in his expedition, the same author reaches the village of Mitla, where in the parochial church he receives the following disclosure on the purpose of the before-mentioned tools: “One day, when hearing mass in Mitla, I noticed an ancient picture, which represented (San.) Isidro, the patron of the laborers, and saw him painted holding in his right hand a pole armed with the problematic blade. I therefrom conclude, that like the ancient Indians, the native laborers of to-day have adopted this instrument as a distinctive mark of their profession, and that instead of being an instrument of death it must be viewed as one for giving life.” This explanation agrees satisfactorily with what could be inferred from its size and its peculiar shape, and if we imagine the tenon bent and in this form fastened to the top of a pole we should possibly have discovered a certain garden instrument of which the Spaniards spoke as always used by the natives, theuictli, or coa, hoe. It was never described inparticular, nor could we discover it in the pictures, but Molina’s translation ofuictliwith “coa” which is hoe, tells the story.
There is still something more in this passage of Dupaix, that is worth considering. Among the 23 dozen of the instruments contained in the earthen pot, and of which he was informed that they were similar in shape to that which he had found, it is clear that there must have been a great number of very diminutive size; otherwise we cannot conceive how so many of them would have been placed in the pot, at all. Let us take advantage of this suggestion and suppose Dupaix’s engraving, cut13, reduced to a diminutive size. We make thereby a little figure, and we cannot deny that it looks like a GreekTau. Of such aGreek Tau, formed from copper, and used by the natives as money at the time of the Conquest mention is made by the chroniclers.[25]They may be right, but with the understanding that these copper pieces were not manufactured for the purpose of serving as coin, but as tools, which of course, came into market and became objects of barter, as we read the copper bells also did, besides grains of the cacao fruit, bales of cotton, axes and other articles of common necessity.
Thus much, and no more, we were able to glean from the early literature of the Conquest and from the paintings of the natives. As we anticipated at the outset, the testimony bearing on copper industry among the early Mexicans is altogether incomplete and lacks that fulness of description in which those writers indulge when treating topics of socialcustoms, religious rites, or monstrous idols. In but few instances the pictures gathered from the codices illustrate the dim suggestions and the doubtful wording of the Spanish text, so as to give at least a general idea of the localities where the copper ores were obtained, of the process of smelting, of the moulds that were used, and the objects or tools that were produced by these means.
One point however we think we have come very near deciding, and one which when collecting our notes was constantly in mind, namely: Whether the Mexican bronze was to be viewed as an artificial or a natural product? There was a great doubt concerning this question caused by the first notices respecting the composition of the bronze. The expressions of Cortes and Bernal Diaz were of so condensed a character that we were at a loss how to reduce them to their elementary meaning, and the doubt was not removed when examining apart each of the subsequent writers on the same subject. But when putting their statements together, a certain basis, at least, could be obtained, from which to deduce a settled opinion. From the combined statements we learned that the bronze found among the natives contained a rich basis of copper, which was mixed either with gold, or with silver, or with tin, and we might infer from this variety of admixtures, that the natives manufactured theirlatonaccording to a fixed method. But, on the contrary, as the three metals named are always found to be the steady components of Mexican copper ore, we are led to the presumption, that these ores were worked in their unaltered condition, just as nature had produced them. It is not indeed meant to teach thereby, that the native did not appreciate the fact, that copper of a deep red was softer than that of a lighter color. Whenever they had to manufacture a chisel and had a choice between the two qualities, we are certain they would have employed the lighter metal for this purpose. But we hardly believe that they considered the light metalto be a composition of the red colored copper with either silver, gold or tin. This belief would involve a presupposition of metallurgical science in the early Mexicans, that we have not the least knowledge they had ever attained to. On the other hand, however, there is a strong reason for the belief, that they recognized this light metal to be related to the red copper. For if they had thought this bronze orlatonto be a separate kind of metal, they would have had a separate name for it, as they had for all the other metals, from the gold down to the tin, and even to the cinnabar. Bronze would have been calledtepuzqueas was copper, but probably—with the addition descriptive either of color or of hardness.
We were unable to discover one single hint, from which to infer that they possessed the knowledge of hardening copper by dipping the hot metal into water. This is a hypothesis, often noted and spoken of, but which ranges under the efforts made for explaining what we have no positive means to verify or to ascertain.
Though we have gained so little from our researches, this little, however, we hope may incite others to extend their investigations, and thus render the path clearer which we have tried to explore into this field of prehistoric industry. The most substantial proofs and contributions may be expected from our fellow-students in Mexico. They dwell upon the ground which was the scene of this ancient industry. They are also in a continuous contact with a numerous indigenous race, which despite of European attempts to improve their working facilities, still tenaciously cling to their old usages and fashions. Our Museums are overcrowded with Mexican idols, pottery, and flint arrow-heads. One specimen of an ancient tin-borer, one of a copper axe or hoe, or of a bronze chisel would be counted as a very welcome and valuable acquisition.