Some of the sepulchers found in Yucatan are very similar to the jar tombs common at Mugheir. These consist of two large open-mouthed jars, united with bitumen after the body has been deposited in them, with the usual accompaniments of dishes, vases and ornaments, having an air hole bored at one extremity. Those found at Progreso were stone urns about three feet square, cemented in pairs, mouth to mouth, and having also an air hole bored in the bottom. Extensive mounds, made artificially of a vast number of coffins, arranged side by side, divided by thin walls of masonry crossing each other at right angles, to separate the coffins, have been found in the lower plains of Chaldea—such as exist along the coast of Peru, and in Yucatan. At Izamal many humanremains, contained in urns, have been found in the mounds.
“The ordinary dress of the common people among the Chaldeans,” says Canon Rawlison, in his work, the Five Great Monarchies, “seems to have consisted of a single garment, a short tunic tied round the waist, and reaching thence to the knees. To this may sometimes have been added anabba, or cloak, thrown over the shoulders; the material of the former we may perhaps presume to have been linen.” The mural paintings at Chichen show that the Mayas sometimes used the same costume; and that dress is used to-day by the aborigines of Yucatan, and the inhabitants of theTierra de Guerra. They were also bare-footed, and wore on the head a band of cloth, highly ornamented with mother-of-pearl instead of camel’s hair, as the Chaldee. This band is to be seen in bas-relief at Chichen-Itza,inthemural paintings, and on the head of the statue of Chaacmol. The higher classes wore a long robe extending from the neck to the feet, sometimes adorned with a fringe; it appears not to have been fastened to the waist, but kept in place by passing over one shoulder, a slit or hole being made for the arm on one side of the dress only. In some cases the upper part of the dress seems to have been detached from the lower, and to form a sort of jacket which reached about to the hips. We again see this identical dress portrayed in the mural paintings. The same description of ornaments were affected by the Chaldees and the Mayas—bracelets, earrings, armlets, anklets, made of the materials they could procure.
The Mayas at times, as can be seen from the slab discovered byBresseurin Mayapan (an exact fac-simile of which cast, from a mould made by myself, is now in the rooms of the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester, Mass.), as the primitive Chaldee, in their writings, made use of characters composed of straight lines only, inclosed in square or oblong figures; as we see from the inscriptions in what has been called hieratic form of writingfound at Warka and Mugheir and the slab from Mayapan and others.
The Chaldees are said to have made use of three kinds of characters that Canon Rawlinson callsletters proper,monogramsanddeterminative. The Maya also, as we see from the monumental inscriptions, employed three kinds of characters—letters proper,monogramsandpictorial.
It may be said of the religion of the Mayas, as I have had occasion to remark, what the learned author of the Five Great Monarchies says of that of the primitive Chaldees: “The religion of the Chaldeans, from the very earliest times to which the monuments carry us back, was, in its outward aspect, a polytheism of a very elaborate character. It is quite possible that there may have been esoteric explanations, known to the priests and the more learned; which, resolving the personages of the Pantheon into the powers of nature, reconcile the apparent multiplicity of Gods with monotheism.” I will now consider the names of the Chaldean deities in their turn of rotation as given us by the author above mentioned, and show you that the language of the American Mayas gives us an etymology of the whole of them, quite in accordance with their particular attributes.
The learned author places ‘Ra’ at the head of the Pantheon, stating that the meaning of the word is simplyGod, or the God emphatically. We know thatRawas the Sun among the Egyptians, and that the hieroglyph, a circle, representation of that God was the same in Babylon as in Egypt. It formed an element in the native name of Babylon. Which waska-ra.
Now the Mayas calledLA, that which has existed for ever, the truthpar excellence. As to the native name of Babylon it would simply be thecity of the infinite truth—cah, city;LA, eternal truth.
Ana, like Ra, is thought to have signifiedGodin the highest sense. Its etymology seems to be problematic. His epithets mark priority and antiquity;the original chief, thefather of the gods, thelord of darkness or death. The Maya gives usA,thy;NA,mother. At times he was calledDis, and was the patron god ofErech, the great city of the dead, the necropolis of Lower Babylonia.Tix, Maya is a cavity formed in the earth. It seems to have given its name to the city ofNiffer, calledCalnehin the translation of the Septuagint, fromkal-ana, which is translated the “fort of Ana;” or according to the Maya, theprison of Ana,KALbeing prison, or the prison of thy mother.
the supposed wife of Ana, has no peculiar characteristics. Her name is only, says our author, the feminine form of the masculine, Ana. But the Maya designates her as the companion of Ana;TA, with;AnatawithAna.
seems to mean merely Lord. It is usually followed by a qualificative adjunct, possessing great interest,Nipru. To that name, which recalls that ofNebrothorNimrod, the author gives a Syriac etymology; napar (make to flee). His epithets are thesupreme,the father of the gods, theprocreator.
The Maya gives usBil, orBel; the way, the road; hence theorigin, the father, the procreator. AlsoENA, who is before; again the father, the procreator.
As to the qualificative adjunctnipru. It would seem to be the Mayaniblu;nib, to thank;LU, theBagre, asilurus fish.Nibluwould then be thethanksgiving fish. Strange to say, the high priest at Uxmal and Chichen, elder brother of Chaacmol, first son ofCan, the founder of those cities, isCay, the fish, whose effigy is my last discovery in June, among the ruins of Uxmal. Thebust is contained within the jaws of a serpent,Can, and over it, is a beautiful mastodon head, with the trunk inscribed with Egyptian characters, which readTZAA, that which is necessary.
is the wife ofBel-nipru. But she is more than his mere female power. She is a separate and important deity. Her common title is theGreat Goddess. In Chaldea her name wasMulitaorEnuta, both words signifying the lady. Her favorite title was themother of the gods, the origin of the gods.
In MayaBELis the road, the way; andTEmeanshere.BeltéorBeltiswould be I am the way, the origin.
Mulitawould correspond toMUL-TE, many here,many in me. I am the mother of many. Her other nameEnutaseems to be (Maya)Ena-te, signifiesENA, the first, before anybody, andTEhere.Enaté,I am here before anybody, I am the mother of the Gods.
The God Fish, the mystic animal, half man, half fish, which came up from the Persian gulf to teach astronomy and letters to the first settlers on the Euphrates and Tigris.
According to Berosus the civilization was brought to Mesopotamia byOannesand six other beings, who, like himself, were half man, half fish, and that they came from the Indian Ocean. We have already seen that the Mayas of India were not only architects, but also astronomers; and the symbolic figure of a being half man and half fish seems to clearly indicate that those who brought civilization to the shores of the Euphrates and Tigris came in boats.
Hoa-Ana, or Oannes, according to the Maya would mean, he who has his residence or house on the water.Ha, being water;a, thy;ná, house; literally,water thy house. Canon Rawlison remarks in that connection:“There are very strong grounds for connectingHEAor Hoa, with the serpent of the Scripture, and the paradisaical traditions of the tree of knowledge and the tree of life.” As the title of the god of knowledge and science,Oannes, is the lord of the abyss, or of the great deep, the intelligent fish, one of his emblems being the serpent,Can, which occupies so conspicuous a place among the symbols of the gods on the black stones recording benefactions.
Is the wife ofHoa, and her name is thought to signify the chief lady. But the Maya again gives us another meaning that seems to me more appropriate.Tab-kinwould be therays of the sun: the rays of the light brought with civilization by her husband to benighted inhabitants of Mesopotamia.
is the name of the moon deity; the etymology of it is quite uncertain. Its titles, as Rawlison remarks, are somewhat vague. Yet it is particularly designated as “the bright,the shining” the lord of the month.
Zin in Maya has also many significations. Zin is to stretch, to extend.Zinilis the extension of the whole of the universe.Hurkiwould be the MayaHulkin—sun-stroked; he who receives directly the rays of the sun. Hurki is also the god presiding over buildings and architecture; in this connection he is calledBel-Zuna. Thelord of building, thesupporting architect, thestrengthener of fortifications.Bel-Zunawould also signify the lord of the strong house.Zuú, Maya, close, thick.Na, house: and the city where he had his great temple wasUr; named after him.U, in Maya, signifies moon.
the Sun God, thelord of fire, theruler of the day. Hewho illumines the expanse of heaven and earth.
Zamal(Maya) is the morning, the dawn of the day, and his symbols are the same on the temples of Yucatan as on those of Chaldea, India and Egypt.
the prince of the powers of the air, the lord of the whirlwind and the tempest, the wielder of the thunderbolt, the lord of the air, he who makes the tempest to rage. Hiba in Maya is to rub, to scour, to chafe as does the tempest. AsVulhe is represented with a flaming sword in his hand.Hul(Maya) an arrow. He is then the god of the atmosphere, who gives rain.
the Chaldean Venus, of the etymology of whose name no satisfactory account can be given, says the learned author, whose list I am following and description quoting.
The Maya language, however, affords a very natural etymology. Her name seems composed ofix, the feminine article,she; and oftac, ortal, a verb that signifies to have a desire to satisfy a corporal want or inclination.Ixtalwould, therefore, be she who desires to satisfy a corporal inclination. As to her other name,Nana, it simply means the great mother, the very mother. If from the names of god and goddesses, we pass to that of places, we will find that the Maya language also furnishes a perfect etymology for them.
In the account of the creation of the world, according to the Chaldeans, we find that a woman whose name in Chaldee isThalatth, was said to have ruled over the monstrous animals of strange forms, that were generated and existed in darkness and water. The Greek called herThalassa(the sea). But the Maya vocableThallac, signifies a thing without steadiness, like the sea.
The first king of the Chaldees was a great architect. To him are ascribed the most archaic monuments of theplains of Lower Mesopotamia. He is said to have conceived the plans of the Babylonian Temple. He constructed his edifices of mud and bricks, with rectangular bases, their angles fronting the cardinal points; receding stages, exterior staircases, with shrines crowning the whole structure. In this description of the primitive constructions of the Chaldeans, no one can fail to recognize the Maya mode of building, and we see them not only in Yucatan, but throughout Central America, Peru, even Hindoostan. The very nameUrkuhseems composed of two Maya wordsHuk, to make everything, andLuk, mud; he who makes everything of mud; so significative of his building propensities and of the materials used by him.
The etymology of the name of that country, as well as that of Asshur, the supreme god of the Assyrians, who never pronounced his name without adding “Asshur is my lord,” is still an undecided matter amongst the learned philologists of our days. Some contend that the country was named after the god Asshur; others that the god Asshur received his name from the place where he was worshiped. None agree, however, as to the significative meaning of the name Asshur. In Assyrian and Hebrew languages the name of the country and people is derived from that of the god. That Asshur was the name of the deity, and that the country was named after it, I have no doubt, since I find its etymology, so much sought for by philologists, in the American Maya language. Effectively the wordasshur, sometimes writtenashur, would beAXULin Maya.
A, in that language, placed before a noun, is the possessive pronoun, as the second person, thy or thine, andxul, means end, termination. It is also the name of the sixth month of the Maya calendar.Axulwould therefore bethy end. Among all the nations which have recognized the existence of aSupreme Being, Deity has been considered as the beginning and end of all things, to which all aspire to be united.
A strange coincidence that may be without significance, but is not out of place to mention here, is the fact that the early kings of Chaldea are represented on the monuments as sovereigns over theKiprat-arbat, orFOUR RACES. While tradition tells us that the great lord of the universe, king of the giants, whose capital wasTiahuanaco, the magnificent ruins of which are still to be seen on the shores of the lake of Titicaca, reigned overTtahuatyn-suyu, theFOUR PROVINCES. In theChou-Kingwe read that in very remote timesChinawas called by its inhabitantsSse-yo,THE FOUR PARTS OF THE EMPIRE. TheManava-Dharma-Sastra, theRamayana, and other sacred books of Hindostan also inform us that the ancient Hindoos designated their country as theFOUR MOUNTAINS, and from some of the monumental inscriptions at Uxmal it would seem that, among other names, that place was called the land of thecanchi, orFOUR MOUTHS, that recalls vividly the name of ChaldeaArba-Lisun, theFOUR TONGUES.
That the language of the Mayas was known in Chaldea in remote ages, but became lost in the course of time, is evident from the Book of Daniel. It seems that some of the learned men of Judea understood it still at the beginning of the Christian era, as many to-day understand Greek, Latin, Sanscrit, &c.; since, we are informed by the writers of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, that the last words of Jesus of Nazareth expiring on the cross were uttered in it.
In the fifth chapter of the Book of Daniel, we read that the fingers of the hand of a man were seen writing on the wall of the hall, where King Belshazzar was banqueting, the words “Mene, mene, Tekel, upharsin,” which could not be read by any of the wise men summoned by order of the king. Daniel, however, being brought in, is said to have given as their interpretation:Numbered,numbered,weighed,dividing, perhaps with the help of the angel Gabriel, who is said by learned rabbins to be the only individual of the angelic hosts who can speak Chaldean and Syriac, and had once before assisted him in interpreting the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar. Perhaps also, having been taught the learning of the Chaldeans, he had studied the ancient Chaldee language, and was thus enabled to read the fatidical words, which have the very same meaning in the Maya language as he gave them. Effectively,meneormane,numbered, would seem to correspond to the Maya verbs,MAN, to buy, to purchase, hence to number, things being sold by the quantity—orMANEL, to pass, to exceed.Tekel, weighed, would correspond toTEC, light. To-day it is used in the sense of lightness in motion, brevity, nimbleness: andUpharsin, dividing, seem allied to the wordsPPA, to divide two things united; oruppah, to break, making a sharp sound; orpaah, to break edifices; or, again,PAALTAL, to break, to scatter the inhabitants of a place.
As to the last words of Jesus of Nazareth, when expiring on the cross, as reported by the Evangelists,Eli, Eli, according to St. Matthew, andEloi, Eloi, according to St. Mark,lama sabachthani, they are pure Maya vocables; but have a very different meaning to that attributed to them, and more in accordance with His character. By placing in the mouth of the dying martyr these words:My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?they have done him an injustice, presenting him in his last moments despairing and cowardly, traits so foreign to his life, to his teachings, to the resignation shown by him during his trial, and to the fortitude displayed by him in his last journey to Calvary; more than all, so unbecoming, not to say absurd, being in glaring contradiction to his role as God. If God himself, why complain that God has forsaken him? He evidently did not speak Hebrew in dying, since his two mentioned biographers inform us that the people around him did not understand what he said, and supposed he was calling Elias to help him:This man calleth for Elias.
His bosom friend, who never abandoned him—who stood to the last at the foot of the cross, with his mother and other friends and relatives, do not report such unbefitting words as having been uttered by Jesus. He simply says, that after recommending his mother to his care, he complained of being thirsty, and that, as the sponge saturated with vinegar was applied to his mouth, he merely said:It is finished!andhe bowed his head and gave up the ghost. (St. John, chap. xix., v. 30.)
Well, this is exactly the meaning of the Maya words,Helo, Helo, lamah zabac ta ni, literally:Helo, Helo, now, now;LAMAH, sinking;ZABAC, black ink;TA, over;NI, nose; in our language:Now, now I am sinking; darkness covers my face!No weakness, no despair—He merely tells his friends all is over.It is finished!and expires.
Before leaving Asia Minor, in order to seek in Egypt the vestiges of the Mayas, I will mention the fact that the names of some of the natives who inhabited of old that part of the Asiatic continent, and many of those of places and cities seem to be of American Maya origin. The Promised Land, for example—that part of the coast of Phœnicia so famous for the fertility of its soil, where the Hebrews, after journeying during forty years in the desert, arrived at last, tired and exhausted from so many hard-fought battles—was known asCanaan. This is a Maya word that means to be tired, to be fatigued; and, if it is spelledKanaan, it then signifies abundance; both significations applying well to the country.
Tyre, the great emporium of the Phœnicians, calledTzur, probably on account of being built on a rock, may also derive its name from the MayaTzuc, a promontory, or a number of villages,Tzucubbeing a province.
Again, we have the people calledKhatiby the Egyptians. They formed a great nation that inhabited theCæle-Syriaand the valley of the Orontes, where they have left very interesting proofs of their passage onearth, in large and populous cities whose ruins have been lately discovered. Their origin is unknown, and is yet a problem to be solved. They are celebrated on account of their wars against the Assyrians and Egyptians, who call them the plague of Khati. Their name is frequently mentioned in the Scriptures as Hittites. Placed on the road, between the Assyrians and the Egyptians, by whom they were at last vanquished, they placed well nigh insuperableobstacles in the wayof the conquests of these two powerful nations, which found in them tenacious and fearful adversaries. The Khati had not only made considerable improvements in all military arts, but were also great and famed merchants; their emporiumCarchemishhad no less importance than Tyre or Carthage. There, met merchants from all parts of the world; who brought thither the products and manufactures of their respective countries, and were wont to worship at the Sacred City,Katishof the Khati. The etymology of their name is also unknown. Some historians having pretended that they were a Scythian tribe, derived it from Scythia; but I think that we may find it very natural, as that of their principal cities, in the Maya language.
All admit that the Khati, until the time when they were vanquished by Rameses the Great, as recorded on the walls of his palace at Thebes, theMemnonium, always placed obstacles on the way of the Egyptians and opposed them. According to the Maya, their name is significative of these facts, sinceKatorKatahis a verb that means to place impediments on the road, to come forth and obstruct the passage.
Carchemishwas their great emporium, where merchants from afar congregated; it was consequently a city of merchants.Cahmeans a city, andChemulis navigator.Carchemishwould then becah-chemul, the city of navigators, of merchants.
Katish, their sacred city, would be the city where sacrifices are offered.Cah, city, andTICH, a ceremony practiced by the ancient Mayas, and still performed bytheir descendants all through Central America. This sacrifice or ceremony consists in presenting toBalam, theYumil-Kaax, the “Lord of the fields,” theprimitiæof all their fruits before beginning the harvest. Katish, orcah-tichwould then be the city of the sacrifices—the holy city.
Egyptis the country that in historical times has called, more than any other, the attention of the students, of all nations and in all ages, on account of the grandeur and beauty of its monuments; the peculiarity of its inhabitants; their advanced civilization, their great attainments in all branches of human knowledge and industry; and its important position at the head of all other nations of antiquity. Egypt has been said to be the source from which human knowledge began to flow over the old world: yet no one knows for a certainty whence came the people that laid the first foundations of that interesting nation. That they were not autochthones is certain. Their learned priests pointed towards the regions of the West as the birth-place of their ancestors, and designated the country in which they lived, the East, as thepure land, theland of the sun, oflight, in contradistinction of the country of the dead, of darkness—the Amenti, the West—where Osiris sat as King, reigning judge, over the souls.
If in Hindostan, Afghanistan, Chaldea, Asia Minor, we have met with vestiges of the Mayas, in Egypt we will find their traces everywhere. Whatever may have been the name given to the valley watered by the Nile by its primitive inhabitants, no one at present knows. The invaders that came from the West called itChem: not on account of the black color of the soil, as Plutarch pretends in his work, “De Iside et Osiride,” but more likely because either they came to it in boats; or, quite probably, because when they arrived the country was inundated, and the inhabitants communicated by means of boats, causing the new comers to call it the country of boats—Chem(maya).The hieroglyph representingthe name of Egypt is composed of the character used for land, a cross circumscribed by a circle, and of another, read K, which represent a sieve, it is said, but that may likewise be the picture of a small boat. The Assyrians designated Egypt under the names ofMisirorMisur, probably because the country is generally destitute of trees. These are uprooted during the inundations, and then carried by the currents all over the country; so that the farmers, in order to be able to plow the soil, are obliged to clear it first from the dead trees. Now we have the Maya verbMiz—toclean, toremove rubbish formed by the body of dead trees; whilst the verbMusurmeans tocut the trees by the roots. It would seem that the nameMizraimgiven to Egypt in the Scriptures also might come from these words.
When the Western invaders reached the country it was probably covered by the waters of the river, to which, we are told, they gave the name ofHapimú. Its etymology seems to be yet undecided by the Egyptologists, who agree, however, that its meaning is theabyss of water. The Maya tells us that this name is composed of two words—Há, water, andPIMIL, the thickness of flat things.Hapimu, orHapimil, would then be the thickness, theabyss of water.
We find that the prophetsJeremiah(xlvi., 25,) andNahum(iii., 8, 10,) callThebes, the capital of upper Egypt during the XVIII. dynasty:NóorNá-amun, the mansion of Amun.Násignifies in Maya, house, mansion, residence. ButThebesis written in Egyptian hieroglyphsAp, orApé, the meaning of which is the head, the capital; with the feminine article T, that is always used as its prefix in hieroglyphic writings, it becomesTapé; which, according to Sir Gardner Wilkinson (“Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians,”tom.III., page 210, N. Y. Edition, 1878), was pronounced by the EgyptiansTaba; and in the Menphitic dialect Thaba, that the Greeks converted into Thebai, whence Thebes. The Maya verbTeppal, signifies to reign, to govern, to order. Oneach side of the mastodons’ heads, which form so prominent a feature in the ornaments of the oldest edifices at Uxmal, Chichen-Itza and other parts, the wordDapas; henceTabasis written in ancient Egyptian characters, and read, I presume, in old Maya,head. To-day the word is pronouncedTHAB, and meansbaldness.
The identity of the names of deities worshiped by individuals, of their religious rites and belief; that of the names of the places which they inhabit; the similarity of their customs, of their dresses and manners; the sameness of their scientific attainments and of the characters used by them in expressing their language in writing, lead us naturally to infer that they have had a common origin, or, at least, that their forefathers were intimately connected. If we may apply this inference to nations likewise, regardless of the distance that to-day separates the countries where they live, I can then affirm that the Mayas and the Egyptians are either of a common descent, or that very intimate communication must have existed in remote ages between their ancestors.
Without entering here into a full detail of the customs and manners of these people, I will make a rapid comparison between their religious belief, their customs, manners, scientific attainments, and the characters used by them in writing etc., sufficient to satisfy any reasonable body that the strange coincidences that follow, cannot be altogether accidental.
TheSun, RA, was the supreme god worshiped throughout the land of Egypt; and its emblem was a disk or circle, at times surmounted by the serpent Uræus. Egypt was frequently called the Land of the Sun. RA or LA signifies in Maya that which exists, emphatically that which is—the truth.
The sun was worshiped by the ancient Mayas; and the Indians to-day preserve the dance used by their forefathers among the rites of the adoration of that luminary, and perform it yet in certainepochof the year. The coat-of-arms of the city of Uxmal, sculptured on thewest façade of the sanctuary, attached to the masonic temple in that city, teaches us that the place was calledU LUUMIL KIN,the land of the sun. This name forming the center of the escutcheon, is written with a cross, circumscribed by a circle, that among the Egyptians is the sign for land, region, surrounded by the rays of the sun.
Colors in Egypt, as in Mayab, seem to have had the same symbolical meaning. The figure ofAmunwas that of a man whose body was light blue, like the Indian godWishnu,and that of the god Nilus; as if to indicate their peculiar exalted and heavenly nature; this color being that of the pure, bright skies above. The blue color had exactly the same significance in Mayab, according to Landa and Cogolludo, who tell us that, even at the time of the Spanish conquest, the bodies of those who were to be sacrificed to the gods were painted blue. The mural paintings in the funeral chamber of Chaacmol, at Chichen, confirm this assertion. There we see figures of men and women painted blue, some marching to the sacrifice with their hands tied behind their backs. After being thus painted they were venerated by the people, who regarded them as sanctified. Blue in Egypt was always the color used at the funerals.
The Egyptians believed in the immortality of the soul; and that rewards and punishments were adjudged by Osiris, the king of the Amenti, to the souls according to their deeds during their mundane life. That the souls after a period of three thousand years were to return to earth and inhabit again their former earthly tenements. This was the reason why they took so much pains to embalm the body.
The Mayas also believed in the immortality of the soul, as I have already said. Their belief was that after the spirit had suffered during a time proportioned to their misdeeds whilst on earth, and after having enjoyed an amount of bliss corresponding to their good actions, they were to return to earth and live again a material life. Accordingly, as the body was corruptible,they made statues of stones, terra-cotta, or wood, in the semblance of the deceased, whose ashes they deposited in a hollow made for that purpose in the back of the head. Sometimes also in stone urns, as in the case of Chaacmol. The spirits, on their return to earth, were to find these statues, impart life to them, and use them as body during their new existence.
I am not certain but that, as the Egyptians also, they were believers in transmigration; and that this belief exists yet among the aborigines. I have noticed that my Indians were unwilling to kill any animal whatever, even the most noxious and dangerous, that inhabits the ruined monuments. I have often told them to kill some venomous insect or serpent that may have happened to be in our way. They invariably refused to do so, but softly and carefully caused them to go. And when asked why they did not kill them, declined to answer except by a knowing and mysterious smile, as if afraid to let a stranger into their intimate beliefs inherited from their ancestors: remembering, perhaps, the fearful treatment inflicted by fanatical friars on their fathers to oblige them to forego what they called the superstitions of their race—the idolatrous creed of their forefathers.
I have had opportunity to discover that their faith in reincarnation, as many other time-honored credences, still exists among them, unshaken, notwithstanding the persecutions and tortures suffered by them at the hands of ignorant and barbaricChristians(?)
I will give two instances when that belief in reincarnation was plainly manifested.
The day that, after surmounting many difficulties, when my ropes and cables, made of withes and the bark of thehabintree, were finished and adjusted to the capstan manufactured of hollow stones and trunks of trees; and I had placed the ponderous statue of Chaacmol on rollers, already in position to drag it up the inclined plane made from the surface of the ground to a few feet above the bottom of the excavation; mymen, actuated by their superstitious fears on the one hand, and their profound reverence for the memory of their ancestors on the other, unwilling to see the effigy of one of the great men removed from where their ancestors had placed it in ages gone by resolved to bury it, by letting loose the hill of dry stones that formed the body of the mausoleum, and were kept from falling in the hole by a framework of thin trunks of trees tied with withes, and in order that it should not be injured, to capsize it, placing the face downward. They had already overturned it, when I interfered in time to prevent more mischief, and even save some of them from certain death; since by cutting loose the withes that keep the framework together, the sides of the excavation were bound to fall in, and crush those at the bottom. I honestly think, knowing their superstitious feelings and propensities, that they had made up their mind to sacrifice their lives, in order to avoid what they considered a desecration of the future tenement that the great warrior and king was yet to inhabit, when time had arrived. In order to overcome their scruples, and also to prove if my suspicions were correct, that, as their forefathers and the Egyptians of old, they still believed in reincarnation, I caused them to accompany me to the summit of the great pyramid. There is a monument, that served as a castle when the city of the holy men, the Itzaes, was at the height of its splendor. Every anta, every pillar and column of this edifice is sculptured with portraits of warriors and noblemen. Among these many with long beards, whose types recall vividly to the mind the features of the Afghans.
On one of the antæ, at the entrance on the north side, is the portrait of a warrior wearing a long, straight, pointed beard. The face, like that of all the personages represented in the bas-reliefs, is in profile. I placed my head against the stone so as to present the same position of my face as that ofUxan, and called the attention of my Indians to the similarity of his and my own features.They followed every lineament of the faces with their fingers to the very point of the beard, and soon uttered an exclamation of astonishment: “Thou!here!” and slowly scanned again the features sculptured on the stone and my own.
“So, so,” they said, “thou too art one of our great men, who has been disenchanted. Thou, too, wert a companion of the great Lord Chaacmol. That is why thou didst know where he was hidden; and thou hast come to disenchant him also. His time to live again on earth has then arrived.”
From that moment every word of mine was implicitly obeyed. They returned to the excavation, and worked with such a good will, that they soon brought up the ponderous statue to the surface.
A few days later some strange people made their appearance suddenly and noiselessly in our midst. They emerged from the thicket one by one. ColonelDonFelipe Diaz, then commander of the troops covering the eastern frontier, had sent me, a couple of days previous, a written notice, that I still preserve in my power, that tracks of hostile Indians had been discovered by his scouts, advising me to keep a sharp look out, lest they should surprise us. Now, to be on the look out in the midst of a thick, well-nigh impenetrable forest, is a rather difficult thing to do, particularly with only a few men, and where there is no road; yet all being a road for the enemy. Warning my men that danger was near, and to keep their loaded rifles at hand, we continued our work as usual, leaving the rest to destiny.
On seeing the strangers, my men rushed on their weapons, but noticing that the visitors had no guns, but only theirmachetes, I gave orders not to hurt them. At their head was a very old man: his hair was gray, his eyes blue with age. He would not come near the statue, but stood at a distance as if awe-struck, hat in hand, looking at it. After a long time he broke out, speaking to his own people: “This, boys, is one of the great menwe speak to you about.” Then the young men came forward, with great respect kneeled at the feet of the statue, and pressed their lips against them.
Putting aside my own weapons, being consequently unarmed, I went to the old man, and asked him to accompany me up to the castle, offering my arm to ascend the 100 steep and crumbling stairs. I again placed my face near that of my stoneSosis, and again the same scene was enacted as with my own men, with this difference, that the strangers fell on their knees before me, and, in turn, kissed my hand. The old man after a while, eyeing me respectfully, but steadily, asked me: “Rememberest thou what happened to thee whilst thou wert enchanted?” It was quite a difficult question to answer, and yet retain my superior position, for I did not know how many people might be hidden in the thicket. “Well, father,” I asked him, “dreamest thou sometimes?” He nodded his head in an affirmative manner. “And when thou awakest, dost thou remember distinctly thy dreams?” “Má,” no! was the answer. “Well, father,” I continued, “so it happened with me. I do not remember what took place during the time I was enchanted.” This answer seemed to satisfy him. I again gave him my hand to help him down the precipitous stairs, at the foot of which we separated, wishing them God-speed, and warning them not to go too near the villages on their way back to their homes, as people were aware of their presence in the country. Whence they came, I ignore; where they went, I don’t know.
Circumcision was a rite in usage among the Egyptians since very remote times. The Mayas also practiced it, if we are to credit Fray Luis de Urreta; yet Cogolludo affirms that in his days the Indians denied observing such custom. The outward sign of utmost reverence seems to have been identical amongst both the Mayas and the Egyptians. It consisted in throwing the left arm across the chest, resting the left hand on the right shoulder; orthe right arm across the chest, the right hand resting on the left shoulder. Sir Gardner Wilkinson, in his work above quoted, reproduces various figures in that attitude; and Mr. Champollion Figeac, in his book on Egypt, tells us that in some cases even the mummies of certain eminent men were placed in their coffins with the arms in that position. That this same mark of respect was in use amongst the Mayas there can be no possible doubt. We see it in the figures represented in the act of worshiping the mastodon’s head, on the west façade of the monument that forms the north wing of the palace and museum at Chichen-Itza. We see it repeatedly in the mural paintings in Chaacmol’s funeral chamber; on the slabs sculptured with the representation of a dying warrior, that adorned the mausoleum of that chieftain. Cogolludo mentions it in his history of Yucatan, as being common among the aborigines: and my own men have used it to show their utmost respect to persons or objects they consider worthy of their veneration. Among my collection of photographs are several plates in which some of the men have assumed that position of the arms spontaneously.
The sistrumwas an instrument used by Egyptians and Mayas alike during the performance of their religious rites and acts of worship. I have seen it used lately by natives in Yucatan in the dance forming part of the worship of the sun. The Egyptians enclosed the brains, entrails and viscera of the deceased in funeral vases, calledcanopas, that were placed in the tombs with the coffin. When I opened Chaacmol’s mausoleum I found, as I have already said, two stone urns, the one near the head containing the remains of brains, that near the chest those of the heart and other viscera. This fact would tend to show again a similar custom among the Mayas and Egyptians, who, besides, placed with the body an empty vase—symbol that the deceased had been judged and found righteous. This vase, held between the hands of the statue of Chaacmol, is also found held in the samemanner by many other statues of different individuals. It was customary with the Egyptians to deposit in the tombs the implements of the trade or profession of the deceased. So also with the Mayas—if a priest, they placed books; if a warrior, his weapons; if a mechanic, the tools of hisart,
The Egyptians adorned the tombs of the rich—which generally consisted of one or two chambers—with sculptures and paintings reciting the names and the history of the life of the personage to whom the tomb belonged. The mausoleum of Chaacmol, interiorly, was composed of three different superposed apartments, with their floors of concrete well leveled, polished and painted with yellow ochre; and exteriorly was adorned with magnificent bas-reliefs, representing his totem and that of his wife—dying warriors—the whole being surrounded by the image of a feathered serpent—Can, his family name, whilst the walls of the two apartments, or funeral chambers, in the monument raised to his memory, were decorated with fresco paintings, representing not only Chaacmol’s own life, but the manners, customs, mode of dressing of his contemporaries; as those of the different nations with which they were in communication: distinctly recognizable by their type, stature and other peculiarities. The portraits of the great and eminent men of his time are sculptured on the jambs and lintels of the doors, represented life-size.
In Egypt it was customary to paint the sculptures, either on stone or wood, with bright colors—yellow, blue, red, green predominating. In Mayab the same custom prevailed, and traces of these colors are still easily discernible on the sculptures; whilst they are still very brilliant on the beautiful and highly polished stucco of the walls in the rooms of certain monuments at Chichen-Itza. The Maya artists seem to have used mostly vegetable colors; yet they also employed ochres as pigments, and cinnabar—we having found such metallic colors in Chaacmol’s mausoleum. Mrs. Le Plongeon still preserves some in her possession. From where they procured it is more than we can tell at present.
The wives and daughters of the Egyptian kings and noblemen considered it an honor to assist in the temples and religious ceremonies: one of their principal duties being to play the sistrum.
We find that in Yucatan,Nicté(flower) the sister ofChaacmol, assisted her elder brother,Cay, the pontiff, in the sanctuary, her name being always associated with his in the inscriptions which adorn the western façade of that edifice at Uxmal, as that of her sister,Mó,is with Chaacmol’s in some of the monuments at Chichen.
Cogolludo, when speaking of the priestesses,virgins of the sun, mentions a tradition that seems to refer toNicté, stating that the daughter of a king, who remained during all her life in the temple, obtained after her death the honor of apotheosis, and was worshiped under the name ofZuhuy-Kak(the fire-virgin), and became the goddess of the maidens, who were recommended to her care.
As in Egypt, the kings and heroes were worshiped in Mayab after their death; temples and pyramids being raised to their memory. Cogolludo pretends that the lower classes adored fishes, snakes, tigers and other abject animals, “even the devil himself, which appeared to them in horrible forms” (“Historia de Yucatan,” book IV., chap. vii.)
Judging from the sculptures and mural paintings, the higher classes inMayabwore, in very remote ages, dresses of quite an elaborate character. Their under garment consisted of short trowsers, reaching the middle of the thighs. At times these trowsers were highly ornamented with embroideries and fringes, as they formed their only article of clothing when at home; over these they wore a kind of kilt, very similar to that used by the inhabitants of the Highlands in Scotland. It was fastened to the waist with wide ribbons, tied behind in a knot forming a large bow, the ends of which reachedto the ankles. Their shoulders were covered with a tippet falling to the elbows, and fastened on the chest by means of a brooch. Their feet were protected by sandals, kept in place by ropes or ribbons, passing between the big toe and the next, and between the third and fourth, then brought up so as to encircle the ankles. They were tied in front, forming a bow on the instep. Some wore leggings, others garters and anklets made of feathers, generally yellow; sometimes, however, they may have been of gold. Their head gears were of different kinds, according to their rank and dignity. Warriors seem to have used wide bands, tied behind the head with two knots, as we see in the statue of Chaacmol, and in the bas-reliefs that adorn the queen’s chamber at Chichen. The king’s coiffure was a peaked cap, that seems to have served as model for thepschent, that symbol of domination over the lower Egypt; with this difference, however, that in Mayab the point formed the front, and in Egypt the back.
The common people in Mayab, as in Egypt, were indeed little troubled by their garments. These consisted merely of a simple girdle tied round the loins, the ends falling before and behind to the middle of the thighs. Sometimes they also used the short trowsers; and, when at work, wrapped a piece of cloth round their loins, long enough to cover their legs to the knees. This costume was completed by wearing a square cloth, tied on one of the shoulders by two of its corners. It served as cloak. To-day the natives of Yucatan wear the same dress, with but slight modifications. While the aborigines of theTierra de Guerra, who still preserve the customs of their forefathers, untainted by foreign admixture, use the same garments, of their own manufacture, that we see represented in the bas-reliefs of Chichen and Uxmal, and in the mural paintings ofMayaband Egypt.
Divination by the inspection of the entrails of victims, and the study of omens were considered by the Egyptians as important branches of learning. The soothsayersformed a respected order of the priesthood. From the mural paintings at Chichen, and from the works of the chroniclers, we learn that the Mayas also had several manners of consulting fate. One of the modes was by the inspection of the entrails of victims; another by the manner of the cracking of the shell of a turtle or armadillo by the action of fire, as among the Chinese. (In theHong-fanor “the great and sublime doctrine,” one of the books of theChou-king, the ceremonies ofPouandChiare described at length). The Mayas had also their astrologers and prophets. Several prophecies, purporting to have been made by their priests, concerning the preaching of the Gospel among the people of Mayab, have reached us, preserved in the works of Landa, Lizana, and Cogolludo. There we also read that, even at the time of the Spanish conquest, they came from all parts of the country, and congregated at the shrine ofKinich-kakmo, the deified daughter ofCan, to listen to the oracles delivered by her through the mouths of her priests and consult her on future events. By the examination of the mural paintings, we know thatanimal magnetismwas understood and practiced by the priests, who, themselves, seem to have consulted clairvoyants.
The learned priests of Egypt are said to have made considerable progress in astronomical sciences.
Thegnomon, discovered by me in December, last year, in the ruined city of Mayapan, would tend to prove that the learned men of Mayab were not only close observers of the march of the celestial bodies and good mathematicians; but that their attainments in astronomy were not inferior to those of their brethren of Chaldea. Effectively the construction of the gnomon shows that they had found the means of calculating the latitude of places, that they knew the distance of the solsticeal points from the equator; they had found that the greatest angle of declination of the sun, 23° 27´, occurred when that luminary reached the tropics where, during nearly three days, said angle of declination does not vary, for which reason they said that thesunhad arrived at his resting place.
The Egyptians, it is said, in very remote ages, divided the year by lunations, as the Mayas, who divided their civil year into eighteen months, of twenty days, that they calledU—moon—to which they added five supplementary days, that they considered unlucky. From an epoch so ancient that it is referred to the fabulous time of their history, the Egyptians adopted the solar year, dividing it into twelve months, of thirty days, to which they added, at the end of the last month, calledMesoré, five days, namedEpact.
By a most remarkable coincidence, the Egyptians, as the Mayas, considered these additive five daysunlucky.
Besides this solar year they had a sideral or sothic year, composed of 365 days and 6 hours, which corresponds exactly to theMayassacred year, that Landa tells us was also composed of 365 days and 6 hours; which they represented in the gnomon of Mayapan by the line that joins the centers of the stela that forms it.
The Egyptians, in their computations, calculated by a system offivesandtens; the Mayas by a system offivesandtwenties, to four hundred. Their sacred number appears to have been 13 from the remotest antiquity, butSEVENseems to have been amystic numberamong them as among the Hindoos, Aryans, Chaldeans, Egyptians, and other nations.
The Egyptians made use of a septenary system in the arrangement of the grand gallery in the center of the great pyramid. Each side of the wall is made of seven courses of finely polished stones, the one above overlapping that below, thus forming the triangular ceiling common to all the edifices in Yucatan. This gallery is said to be seven times the height of the other passages, and, as all the rooms in Uxmal, Chichen and other places in Mayab, it is seven-sided. Some authors pretend to assume that this well marked septenary system has reference to thePleiadesorSeven stars.Alcyone, the central star of the group, being, it is said, on the same meridian as the pyramid, when it was constructed, andAlphaof Draconis, the then pole star, at its lower culmination.
But if, as the Rev. Joseph A. Seiss and others pretend, the scientific attainments required for the construction of such enduring monument surpassed those of the learned men of Egypt, we must, of necessity, believe that the architect who conceived the plan and carried out its designs must have acquired his knowledge from an older people, possessing greater learning than the priests of Memphis; unless we try to persuade ourselves, as the reverend gentleman wishes us to, that the great pyramid was built under the direct inspiration of the Almighty.
Nearly all the monuments of Yucatan bear evidence that the Mayas had a predilection for numberSEVEN. Since we find that their artificial mounds were composed of seven superposed platforms; that the city of Uxmal contained seven of these mounds; that the north side of the palace of KingCanwas adorned with seven turrets; that the entwined serpents, his totem, which adorn the east façade of the west wing of this building, have seven rattles; that the head-dress of kings and queens were adorned with seven blue feathers; in a word, that the numberSEVENprevails in all places and in everything where Maya influence has predominated.
It is aFACT, and one that may not be altogether devoid of significance, that this numberSEVENseems to have been the mystic number of many of the nations of antiquity. It has even reached our times as such, being used assymbolby several of the secret societies existing among us.
If we look back through the vista of ages to the dawn of civilized life in the countries known as theold world, we find this numberSEVENamong the Asiatic nations as well as in Egypt and Mayab. Effectively, in Babylon, the celebrated temple ofthe seven lightswas made ofsevenstages or platforms. In the hierarchy of Mazdeism, theseven marouts, or genii of the winds, theseven amschaspands; then among the Aryans and their descendants, theseven horsesthat drew the chariot of the sun, theseven aprisor shape of the flame, thesevenraysof Agni, theseven manonsor criators of the Vedas; among the Hebrews, theseven daysof the creation, theseven lampsof the ark and of Zacharias’s vision, theseven branchesof the golden candlestick, theseven daysof the feast of the dedication of the temple of Solomon, theseven yearsof plenty, theseven yearsof famine; in the Christian dispensation, thesevenchurches with thesevenangels at their head, thesevengolden candlesticks, theseven sealsof the book, theseventrumpets of the angels, theseven headsof the beast that rose from the sea, theseven vialsfull of the wrath of God, thesevenlast plagues of the Apocalypse; in the Greek mythology, thesevenheads of the hydra, killed by Hercules, etc.
The origin of the prevalence of that numberSEVENamongst all the nations of earth, even the most remote from each other, has never been satisfactorily explained, each separate people giving it a different interpretation, according to their belief and to the tenets of their religious creeds. As far as the Mayas are concerned, I think to have found that it originated with thesevenmembers ofCan’sfamily, who were the founders of the principal cities ofMayab, and to each of whom was dedicated a mound in Uxmal and a turret in their palace. Their names, according to the inscriptions carved on the monuments raised by them at Uxmal and Chichen, were—Can(serpent) andɔoz(bat), his wife, from whom were bornCay(fish), the pontiff;Aak(turtle), who became the governor of Uxmal;Chaacmol(leopard), the warrior, who became the husband of his sisterMoó(macaw), the Queen ofChichen, worshiped after her death at Izamal; andNicté(flower), the priestess who, under the name ofZuhuy-Kuk, became the goddess of the maidens.
The Egyptians, in expressing their ideas in writing, used three different kinds of characters—phonetic, ideographic and symbolic—placed either in vertical columns or in horizontal lines, to be read from right to left, from leftto right, as indicated by the position of the figures of men or animals. So, also, the Mayas in their writings employed phonetic, symbolic and ideographic signs, combining these often, forming monograms as we do to-day, placing them in such a manner as best suited the arrangement of the ornamentation of the façade of the edifices. At present we can only speak with certainty of the monumental inscriptions, the books that fell in the hands of the ecclesiastics at the time of the conquest having been destroyed. No truly genuine written monuments of the Mayas are known to exist, except those inclosed within the sealed apartments, where the priests and learned men ofMayabhid them from theNahualtorToltecinvaders.
As the Egyptians, they wrote in vertical columns and horizontal lines, to be read generally from right to left. The space of this small essay does not allow me to enter in more details; they belong naturally to a work of different nature. Let it therefore suffice, for the present purpose, to state that the comparative study of the language of the Mayas led us to suspect that, as it contains words belonging to nearly all the known languages of antiquity, and with exactly the same meaning, in their mode of writing might be found letters or characters or signs used in those tongues. Studying with attention the photographs made by us of the inscriptions of Uxmal and Chichen, we were not long in discovering that our surmises were indeed correct. The inscriptions, written in squares or parallelograms, that might well have served as models for the ancient hieratic Chaldeans, of the time of King Uruck, seem to contain ancient Chaldee, Egyptian and Etruscan characters, together with others that seem to be purely Mayab.
Applying these known characters to the decipherment of the inscriptions, giving them their accepted value, we soon found that the language in which they are written is, in the main, the vernacular of the aborigines of Yucatan and other parts of Central America to-day. Ofcourse, the original mother tongue having suffered some alterations, in consequence of changes in customs induced by time, invasions, intercourse with other nations, and the many other natural causes that are known to affect man’s speech.
The Mayas and the Egyptians had many signs and characters identical; possessing the same alphabetical and symbolical value in both nations. Among the symbolical, I may cite a few:water,country or region,king,Lord,offerings,splendor, thevarious emblems of the sunand many others. Among the alphabetical, a very large number of the so-called Demotic, by Egyptologists, are found even in the inscription of theAkabɔibat Chichen; and not a few of the most ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs in the mural inscriptions at Uxmal. In these I have been able to discover the Egyptian characters corresponding to our own.
A a, B, C, CH or K, D, T, I, L, M, N, H, P, TZ, PP, U, OO, X, having the same sound and value as in the Spanish language, with the exception of the K, TZ, PP and X, which are pronounced in a way peculiar to the Mayas. The inscriptions also contain these letters, A, I, X and PP identical to the corresponding in the Etruscan alphabet. The finding of the value of these characters has enabled me to decipher, among other things, the names of the founders of the city ofUxmal; as that of the city itself. This is written apparently in two different ways: whilst, in fact, the sculptors have simply made use of two homophone signs, notwithstanding dissimilar, of the letter M. As to the name of the founders, not only are they written in alphabetical characters, but also in ideographic, since they are accompanied in many instances by the totems of the personages: e.gforAak, which means turtle, is the image of a turtle; forCay(fish), the image of a fish; for Chaacmol (leopard) the image of a leopard; and so on, precluding the possibility of misinterpretation.
Having found that the language of the inscriptions wasMaya, of course I had no difficulty in giving to each letter its proper phonetic value, since, as I have already said, Maya is still the vernacular of the people.
I consider that the few facts brought together will suffice at present to show, if nothing else, a strange similarity in the workings of the mind in these two nations. But if these remarkable coincidences are not merely freaks of hazard, we will be compelled to admit that one people must have learned it from the other. Then will naturally arise the questions, Which the teacher? Which the pupil? The answer will not only solve an ethnological problem, but decide the question of priority.
I will now briefly refer to the myth of Osiris, the son ofSeb and Nut, the brother ofAroeris, the elderHorus, ofTypho, ofIsis, and ofNephthis, named alsoNiké. The authors have given numerous explanations, result of fancy; of the mythological history of that god, famous throughout Egypt. They made him a personification of the inundations of theNile;Isis, his wife and sister, that of the irrigated portion of the land of Egypt; their sister,Nephthis, that of the barren edge of the desert occasionally fertilized by the waters of the Nile; his brother and murdererTipho, that of the sea which swallows up theNile.
Leaving aside the mythical lores, with which the priests of all times and all countries cajole the credulity of ignorant and superstitious people, we find that among the traditions of the past, treasured in the mysterious recesses of the temples, is a history of the life of Osiris on Earth. Many wise men of our days have looked upon it as fabulous. I am not ready to say whether it is or it is not; but this I can assert, that, in many parts, it tallies marvelously with that of the culture hero of the Mayas.
It will be said, no doubt, that this remarkable similarity is a mere coincidence. But how are we to dispose of so many coincidences? What conclusion, if any, are we to draw from this concourse of so many strange similes?
In this case, I cannot do better than to quote, verbatim, from Sir Gardner Wilkinson’s work, chap. xiii:
“Osiris, having become King of Egypt, applied himself towards civilizing his countrymen, by turning them from their former barbarous course of life, teaching them, moreover, to cultivate and improve the fruits of the earth. * * * * * With the same good disposition, he afterwards traveled over the rest of the world, inducing the people everywhere to submit to his discipline, by the mildest persuasion.”
The rest of the story relates to the manner of his killing by his brother Typho, the disposal of his remains, the search instituted by his wife to recover the body, how it was stolen again from her byTypho, who cut him to pieces, scattering them over the earth, of the final defeat of Typho by Osiris’s son, Horus.
Reading the description, above quoted, of the endeavors of Osiris to civilize the world, who would not imagine to be perusing the traditions of the deeds of the culture heroesKukuleanand Quetzalcoatl of the Mayas and of the Aztecs? Osiris was particularly worshiped at Philo, where the history of his life is curiously illustrated in the sculptures of a small retired chamber, lying nearly over the western adytum of the temple, just as that of Chaacmol in the mural paintings of his funeral chamber, the bas-reliefs of what once was his mausoleum, in those of the queen’s chamber and of her box in the tennis court at Chichen.
“The mysteries of Osiris were divided into the greater and less mysteries. Before admission into the former, it was necessary that the initiated should have passed through all the gradations of the latter. But to merit this great honor, much was expected of the candidate, and many even of the priesthood were unable to obtain it. Besides the proofs of a virtuous life, other recommendations were required, and to be admitted to all the grades of the higher mysteries was the greatest honor to which any one could aspire. It was from these that the mysteries of Eleusis were borrowed.” Wilkinson, chap. xiii.
In Mayab there also existed mysteries, as proved by symbols discovered in the month of June last by myself in the monument generally called theDwarf’s House, at Uxmal. It seemed that the initiated had to passthrough different gradations to reach the highest or third; if we are to judge by the number of rooms dedicated to their performance, and the disposition of said rooms. The strangest part, perhaps, of this discovery is the information it gives us that certain signs and symbols were used by the affiliated, that are perfectly identical to those used among the masons in their symbolical lodges. I have lately published inHarper’s Weekly, a full description of the building, with plans of the same, and drawings of the signs and symbols existing in it. These secret societies exist still among theZuñisand other Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, according to the relations of Mr. Frank H. Cushing, a gentleman sent by the Smithsonian Institution to investigate their customs and history. In order to comply with the mission intrusted to him, Mr. Cushing has caused his adoption in the tribe of the Zuñis, whose language he has learned, whose habits he has adopted. Among the other remarkable things he has discovered is “the existence of twelve sacred orders, with their priests and their secret rites as carefully guarded as the secrets of freemasonry, an institution to which these orders have a strange resemblance.” (From the New YorkTimes.)
If from Egypt we pass to Nubia, we find that the peculiar battle ax of the Mayas was also used by the warriors of that country; whilst many of the customs of the inhabitants of equatorial Africa, as described by Mr.DuChailluin the relation of his voyage to the “Land of Ashango,” so closely resemble those of the aborigines of Yucatan as to suggest that intimate relations must have existed, in very remote ages, between their ancestors; if the admixture of African blood, clearly discernible still, among the natives of certain districts of the peninsula, did not place thatfactwithout the peradventure of a doubt. We also see figures in the mural paintings, at Chichen, with strongly marked African features.
We learned by the discovery of the statue of Chaacmol, and that of the priestess found by me at the foot of thealtar in front of the shrine ofIx-cuina, the Maya Venus, situated at the south end ofIsla Mugeres, it was customary with persons of high rank to file their teeth in sharp points like a saw. We read in the chronicles that this fashion still prevailed after the Spanish conquest; and then by little and little fell into disuse. Travelers tells us that it is yet in vogue among many of the tribes in the interior of South America; particularly those whose names seem to connect with the ancient Caribs or Carians.
Du Chaillu asserts that the Ashangos, those of Otamo, the Apossos, the Fans, and many other tribes of equatorial Africa, consider it a mark of beauty to file their front teeth in a sharp point. He presents the Fans as confirmed cannibals. We are told, and the bas-reliefs on Chaacmol’s mausoleum prove it, that the Mayas devoured the hearts of their fallen enemies. It is said that, on certain grand occasions, after offering the hearts of their victims to the idols, they abandoned the bodies to the people, who feasted upon them. But it must be noticed that these last-mentioned customs seemed to have been introduced in the country by the Nahualts and Aztecs; since, as yet, we have found nothing in the mural paintings to cause us to believe that the Mayas indulged in such barbaric repasts, beyond the eating of their enemies’ hearts.
The Mayas were, and their descendants are still, confirmed believers in witchcraft. In December, last year, being at the hacienda of X-Kanchacan, where are situated the ruins of the ancient city of Mayapan, a sick man was brought to me. He came most reluctantly, stating that he knew what was the matter with him: that he was doomed to die unless the spell was removed. He was emaciated, seemed to suffer from malarial fever, then prevalent in the place, and from the presence of tapeworm. I told him I could restore him to health if he would heed my advice. The fellow stared at me for some time, trying to find out, probably, if I was a stronger wizard than theH-Menwho had bewitched him. Hemust have failed to discover on my face the proverbial distinctive marks great sorcerers are said to possess; for, with an incredulous grin, stretching his thin lips tighter over his teeth, he simply replied: “No use—I am bewitched—there is no remedy for me.”
Mr. Du Chaillu, speaking of the superstitions of the inhabitants of Equatorial Africa, says: “The greatest curse of the whole country is the belief in sorcery or witchcraft. If the African is once possessed with the belief that he is bewitched his whole nature seems to change. He becomes suspicious of his dearest friends. He fancies himself sick, and really often becomes sick through his fears. At least seventy-five per cent of the deaths in all the tribes are murders for supposed sorcery.” In that they differ from the natives of Yucatan, who respect wizards because of their supposed supernatural powers.