CHAPTER X.
Waldeck’s Remarks on Uxmal—Ancient Tools—Soil and Health—Ancient Customs—End of Time—The Coronation of an Emperor—Religious Beliefs—Marriage Ceremony—Infant Baptism—Origin of those Rites—Horse Worship—Amusements—Markets—Idols—Candidates for Matrimony—Their Worship Varies—Refinements.
In respect to the ruins of Uxmal, Waldeck remarks, that “nothing is in stucco—all is in well-worked stone. Cogolludo and Gutierre have confounded Palenque with Uxmal, and Uxmal with Copan. The edifices of Palenque, except the palace, are of small dimensions—those of Uxmal are, comparatively, colossal, and all constructed of hewn stone. The pyramid is called the Conjurer’s Tower, and is the highest of five seen by the author. He considers it a place originally devoted to sacrifices. The Asiatic style is easily recognised in the architecture of this monument. It is ornamented by the symbolic elephant upon the rounding corners of the building. The trunk is yet visible on the east side, though the whole figure is much broken on the west side. It is to be regretted that the figure is not entire. The legs, for the most part, are wanting. There are some statues in basso-relievo, very natural; and in somerespects very correctly designed. Above all, in the ornaments, we must admire the patience of the workmen, and the taste of those ancient people, so rich in monumental wealth. Blue and red are the only colors distinguishable upon the walls. The carvings, which ornament the façades of some of the edifices of Uxmal, deserve the careful attention of artists and savans. When they carefully examine the squares, which compose those beautiful embellishments, they will be convinced that their designers had a profound knowledge of the principles of geometry. I have measured all the details by plumb and line, and have found them to conform to each other with perfect accuracy in all their parts.”
No iron implements, or tools of any description, have been discovered here; nor was I successful in finding anything of the kind at Chi-Chen. Flint was undoubtedly used. This stone is capable of being formed with a most delicate natural edge, which is as durable, in the working of limestone, as that of steel.
The soil about Uxmal is rich, principally of a red sand loam, capable of producing corn, tobacco, and almost any other product that the limited industry of its inhabitants may be disposed to cultivate. The face of the land is somewhat undulating, and free of that flat monotonous appearance which may be considered as almost an affliction to a great portion of this province. There are ponds in the vicinity; which, taken in connexion with the rank vegetation which borders them, engender considerable sicknessduring the months of autumn. The timber throughout Yucatan is of a stinted growth.
Antonio de Solis, the author of the “History of the Conquest of Mexico,” a work of even classical merit, written at a period when he could have access to all the facts, gives some of the peculiar customs of the natives of Mexico that may be very properly noticed here; as they may throw some light upon the subject when the matter is brought to the reflection of those who are more competent than I am to draw conclusions. Some allowance should be made for the religious prejudices of the age in which this book was produced, and of its author. De Solis says that the Mexicans adjusted their calendar by the motion of the sun, making his altitude and declination the measure of times and seasons. They allowed to their years three hundred and sixty-five days, and divided them into eighteen months of twenty days each; leaving the five overplus days to come in at the end of the year, which were celebrated as holydays. Their weeks consisted of thirteen days, with different names marked in their calendar by images. The “age” or cycle, in their calendar, was four weeks of years, marked by a circle, which they divided into fifty-two degrees, allowing a year to each degree. In the centre of this circle they painted the sun, from whose rays proceeded four lines of different colors, which equally divided the circumference, leaving thirteen degrees to each semi-diameter; and these divisions served as signs of their zodiac, upon which their ages had their revolutions, and the sunhis aspects, prosperous or adverse, according to the colors of the lines. In a large circle, enclosing the other, they marked, with their figures and characters, the accidents of the age, and all circumstances which had happened worthy of being remembered. These secular maps were public instruments, which served for a proof of their history. It may be remarked among the wisest institutions of their government, that they had official historiographers, whose duty it was to preserve for posterity the exploits of their nation.
They had a superstition that the world was in danger of destruction at the last day of the “age” of fifty-two years; and all the people prepared themselves for that dreadful and ultimate calamity. They took leave of the light with tears, and expected death without any previous sickness. They broke their household vessels as unnecessary lumber, extinguished their fires, and walked about like disturbed people, without daring to take any rest, till they knew whether they were to be for ever consigned to the regions of darkness. On the dawning of day they began to recover their spirits, with their eyes fixed towards the east; and, at the first appearance of the sun, they saluted him with all their musical instruments, and congratulated each other upon their security for the duration of another age. They immediately crowded to their temples to render thanks to their gods, and to receive from the priests new fire, which had been preserved by them throughout the night. Next, they made a new provision for theirnecessary subsistence, and this day was spent in public rejoicings; the diversions being dedicated to the renewal of time, much after the manner of the secular games among the Romans.
Their emperor, who was chosen by electoral princes upon the death of his predecessor, receives the crown upon very precise conditions. He is obliged to take the field with the forces of the empire, and obtain some victory over his enemies, or subdue some rebels or some neighboring province, before he can be crowned, or permitted to ascend the royal throne. So soon as the victorious prince was found to be qualified for the regal dignity by the success of his enterprise, he returned triumphantly to the city, and made his public entry with great state and solemnity. The nobility, ministers, and priests accompanied him to the temple of war, where, after he had offered the customary sacrifices, the electoral princes clothed him in the royal robes; arming his right hand with a sword of gold, edged with flint, the ensign of justice, and his left with a bow and arrows, signifying his power and command in war. Then the first elector, the king of Tezcuco, placed the crown upon his head. After this, one of the most eloquent magistrates made a long harangue, wishing him joy of the dignity in the name of the whole empire; and added some documents, representing the troubles and cares that attend a crown, with the obligations he lay under to guard the public good of his kingdom; recommending to him the imitation of his ancestors. This speech being ended, the chief of the priests approachedhim with great reverence, and between his hands the emperor took the oath with great solemnity. He swore to maintain the religion of his ancestors; to observe the laws and customs of the empire; to treat his vassals with lenity; that, during his rule, they should have seasonable rains; and that no inundations of rivers, sterility of soil, or malignant influence of the sun, should happen.
Amidst such a multitude of gods as they worship, they still acknowledge a superior deity, to whom they attribute the creation of the heavens and the earth.[17]This first cause of all things was, among the Mexicans, without a name; there being no word in their language whereby to express his attributes. They only signified that they knew him by looking towards heaven with veneration, and giving him, after their way, the attribute of ineffable, with the same religious uncertainty as the Athenians worshipped the Unknown God. They believed in the immortality of the soul, and in future rewards and punishments. They buried great quantities of gold and silver with their dead, in a belief that it was necessary to bear their expenses through a long and troublesome journey. They put to death some of their servants to accompany them; and it was a common thing for wives to consummate the exequies of their husbands by their own deaths. Princes were obliged to have monuments of vast extent, for the greatest part of their riches and family were interred with them;both the one and the other in proportion to their dignity and grandeur. The whole of the servants were obliged to accompany the prince into the other world, together with some flatterers among them; who, at that time, suffered for the deceit of their profession.
The marriage was a kind of contract, with some religious ceremonies. The preliminary articles being all agreed upon, the couple appeared in the temple, and one of the priests examined their inclinations by certain formal questions, appointed by law for that purpose. He then took the tip of the woman’s veil with one hand, and one corner of the husband’s garment in the other, and tied them together at the ends, to signify the interior tie of their affections. Thus they returned to their habitation, accompanied by the same priest; where, imitating the Romans with regard to theirdii Lares, or household gods, they paid a visit to the domestic fire, which they believed concerned in the union between the married pair. They went round it seven times, following the priest; after which they sat down to receive their equal share of the heat, and this accomplished their marriage. They registered in a public instrument the portion brought by the bride, every part whereof the husband was obliged to restore in case they parted, which very frequently happened; for mutual consent was judged to be a sufficient cause for a divorce; a case in which the laws never interfered. When once thus dissolved, it was inevitabledeath for them to come together again. Inconstancy was punished with the utmost rigor.
Their new-born infants were carried to the temples with solemnity, and the priests received them with certain admonitions concerning the troubles to which they were born. If they were the sons of nobles, they put a sword into the child’s right hand, and upon his left arm a shield, kept in the temple for that purpose. If of plebeian extraction, they put into their hands mechanical instruments; and the females, of both degrees, had only the distaff and spindle, signifying to each the kind of employment which destiny had prepared for them. This ceremony over, they were brought to the altar, and there, with a thorn of maguey, or a lancet of flint, they drew some drops of blood from the privy parts; after which they either sprinkled them with water, or dipped them into it; using, at the same time, certain invocations. This appears to be a striking imitation of baptism and circumcision, which De Solis very piously attributes to the devil; who, he also says, introduced among these barbarians the confession of sins, giving it to be understood that thereby they obtained the favor of their gods. He (the devil) likewise instituted a sort of communion, which the priest administered upon certain days of the year; dividing into small bits an idol made of flour and honey, mixed into a paste, which they called the god of Penitence. They had jubilees, processions, offerings of incense, and the other forms of divine worship. They even gave their chief priests the title ofpapasin theirlanguage; which, together with other imitations of the Catholic church, the author thinks must have cost Satan a deal of close study and perseverance!
The rest of the rites and ceremonies of “these miserable heathen were shocking and horrible both to reason and nature; bestialities, and incongruous, stupid absurdities; which seemed altogether incompatible with the regularity and admirable economy which were observed in the other parts of the government, and would scarcely be believed were not history full of examples of the like weaknesses and errors of men in other nations, and in parts of the world where they have the means of being more enlightened. Sacrifices of human blood began about the same time with idolatry. The horrible and detestable custom of eating human flesh has been practised many ages since among the barbarous people of our hemisphere, as Galatia confesses in her antiquities; and Scythia, in her Anthropophagi, must acknowledge the same. Greece and Rome wanted the knowledge of true religion, and were complete idolaters; although, in everything else, they gave laws to the whole world, and left edifying examples to posterity.” He therefore concludes that the Mexican worship was no other than a detestable compound of all the errors and abominations which have been received among the Gentiles in different parts of the world.
Don Solis would not enter into a detail of their particular festivals and sacrifices, their ceremonies, sorceries, and superstitions; not only because theyare met at every step, with tedious repetitions, in the histories, but because it is his opinion that too much caution cannot be observed in restricting the pen upon a subject of this nature; at best to be looked upon as an unnecessary lesson, affording the reader little pleasure and much less profit.
With all due deference to the erudition and moral feelings of the author above, so largely quoted, I doubt whether information of consequence might not be obtained from the minutiæ of these ceremonies, trifling as they appear, that would be of importance to the future historian. If the exploits of these nations had been handed down even in the writings of those “capable historiographers,” it would have been some consolation for the absence of any better authority.[18]The suppression of these records we cannot pardon—the natives erred through ignorance; their conquerors, from a policy only worthy of the darkest ages. They not only destroyed what they confess to be a wise and excellent government, but they buried in oblivion the very name of the people they so mercilessly obliterated from a national (it may almost be said from an earthly) existence.
Waldeck, in referring back to the time that Cortez was in Tabasco, gives an account of a sick horse left with the Indians by that almost worshipped commander; which, under the rich and unnatural food they furnished him, very naturally famished. Some say he was fed with grains of gold; the natives judging,from the prevailing passion of his former masters, that this would be his most satisfactory diet. He died, poor horse, however, as might have been anticipated, under their unfortunate attentions; but the consequences did not end here. They erected an elegant temple to his memory, deified him, and placed him among the most prominent of their gods, where he received their faithful and regular devotions. In after years, the missionaries and Spanish priests had more difficulty to dissuade them from the worship of this horse, which they called Tizimin,[19]than they had from all their other gods. From this circumstance, it appears that this temple must have been built after the conquest; and, as it possesses architectural beauty in no respect inferior to the temples of a more ancient date, we may infer that the same race of people that produced it, may have been the architects of the most elaborate works among the ruins.[20]
Bernal Diez, a companion of Cortez, who haswritten a particular account of the conquest, but not with the elegance of De Solis, is very minute in describing the great temples in Mexico, the gods, and the rich splendor of the city. One part of it was occupied by Montezuma’s dancers; some of whom bore sticks on their feet, others flew in the air, and others danced likematachines. The gardens of the great Indian prince were very extensive, irrigated by canals of running water, and shaded with every variety of trees. In them were baths of cut stone, pavilions for feasting or retirement, and theatres for shows and for the dancers and singers; all of which were kept in the most exact order by laborers employed for the purpose.
The market was held upon the grand square. Here, in places prepared for the purpose, was every kind of merchandise in use among them; consisting of gold, silver, jewels, feathers, mantles, chocolate, skins, sandals, slaves, and all the varieties of food, cooked and in a raw state. Mechanics, in all branches, here performed their labors; and every thing appeared to be done in the greatest harmony. Judges regularly presided here to decide any disputes, and to see that the laws were duly executed and obeyed.
A circuit was made through a number of large courts (the smallest of which is larger than the great square of Salamanca) before we entered the great temple, which had double enclosures, built of stone and lime, and the courts paved with large white cut stone, very clean; and, where it was not paved, plasteredand polished. The ascent to the temple was by one hundred and fourteen steps; from the top of which was a complete view of the city and the surrounding neighborhood. Here were two altars, highly adorned, with richly wrought timbers on the roof; and, over the altars, gigantic figures resembling very fat men. One was Huitzilopochtli, their war god, with a great face and terrible eyes. His figure was entirely covered with gold and jewels, and his body bound with golden serpents. In his right hand he held a bow, and in his left a bundle of arrows. A little idol stood by, representing his page, who bore a lance and target richly ornamented with gold and jewels. The great idol had round his neck the figures of human heads and hearts made of pure gold and silver, ornamented with precious stones of a blue color. On the left was the other large figure, with a countenance like a bear, and big shining eyes of a polished substance (mica) like their mirrors. The body of this idol was also covered with jewels. These two deities were said to be brothers. The name of this last was Tezcatepuca, and he was the god of the infernal regions; and, according to their belief, presided over the souls of men. His body was covered with figures representing little devils, with the tails of serpents. In the summit of the temple, and in a recess, the timber of which was highly ornamented, was a figure half human and the other half resembling an alligator, inlaid with jewels and partly covered with a mantle. This idol was said to contain the germ and origin of all createdthings, and was the god of harvests and fruits. These places were exceedingly offensive from the smell of human blood, with which they were besmeared. Here was an enormous drum, (the head was made of the skin of a large serpent,) the sound of which could be heard the distance of two leagues.
At a little distance from this temple stood a tower. At the door were frightful idols; by it was a place for sacrifice; and, within, boilers and pots full of water, to dress the flesh of the victims, which was eaten by the priests. The idols were like serpents and devils, and before them were tables and knives for sacrifice; the place being covered with the blood which was spilt on these occasions. Crossing a court is another temple, wherein were the tombs of the Mexican nobility. Next this was yet another, full of skeletons and piles of bones; each kept apart, but regularly arranged. In each temple were idols and its particular priests; the latter of whom wore long vestments of black, somewhat between the dress of the Dominicans and canons.
At a certain distance from the buildings last spoken of were others, the idols of which were the superintendent deities of marriages; near which was a large structure occupied by Mexican women, who resided there, as in a nunnery, until they were married. They worshipped two female deities, who presided over marriages; and to them they offered sacrifices, in order to obtain good husbands.
Each province had its peculiar gods, who were supposed to have no concern with any other; sothat, in consequence, there were a great multiplicity of idols in the various districts.[21]Mexico was thought to have attained its zenith at the time Cortez first entered it. The city had risen up in about one hundred and thirty years (from 1388 to 1518) solely by the aid of its military power. As the great temple, however, is said to have existed a thousand years, this assertion is hardly reconcilable with the facts. The Tlascalans not only proved themselves to be as warlike as the Mexicans, but equally qualified as statesmen. They held it as a principle, that “whatever was unlawful, with them, was impossible.” At Zempoala books were seen in their temples, containing the rites of their religion, written in imagery or ciphers, as was customary with the painters of Teutile, at Tabasco.[22]The same kind of writing was noticed at Mexico, done on cotton cloth.
Waldeck says that there exists a history of the original Conquest of Yucatan, written by Villa Gutierre, a copy of which was found in the archives of the cathedral at Merida. This work is very superior to the voluminous and undigested compilation of Cogolludo; at the same time it must be remarked, it carries a similar theological coloring and religious prejudice. So, though Villa Gutierre was neither priest nor monk, he none the less invoked, in each page, the trinity and the saints; and even his book is dedicated to the holy Virgin. This was the madness of the epoch; Spanish and American literature was entirely placed under the auspices of monkish bigots, who wrote theirhistories in the same style as they did the lives of the saints.
Besides these authors there is no other historian of Yucatan. I have an abridged manuscript copy of Cogolludo in my possession; but, from a close examination, it appears to be unworthy of translation. The numerous writers on Mexico are well known to the reader. Baron Humboldt is deservedly the most celebrated who has treated on that subject; and his writings are an honor to the age. But the most remarkable work that has ever probably been produced, is that of the late Lord Kingsborough, on American Antiquities, which is acknowledged to be the most costly undertaking ever attempted by a single individual, of a literary kind. A copy, and the only one in the United States, is in the possession of the Pennsylvania Library, at Philadelphia. The collection of materials was made by Augustine Aglis, who edited and published it in London, in 1830. He has succeeded in “getting up” a splendid book, but the compilation falls short of its merits. It is comprised in seven immense folio volumes, embellished with upwards of a thousand splendid engravings, colored with the greatest neatness and skill. It is said that only about fifty copies were suffered to be struck, to be presented to friends. The plates were then defaced. It cost something like one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to produce this work. This patron of literature and the arts, a short period since, died in the prison of Dublin, a sad instance of self-immolation to his own munificence; his fate being but a melancholy inducement for others to follow his example.
COACH TRAVELLING,CROSSING THE MOUNTAINS FROM UXMAL.
COACH TRAVELLING,CROSSING THE MOUNTAINS FROM UXMAL.
COACH TRAVELLING,CROSSING THE MOUNTAINS FROM UXMAL.