The Prehistoric World or Vanished races Part 40

Amongst these ruins are about twenty mounds, both circular and square, from six to twenty-five feet in height. Some authorities think that the Mound Builders went by water from near the mouth of the Mississippi to this region. To such as place any real reliance on this theory, these mounds are full of interest. But some details of construction would seem to indicate a different people as their builders than those who reared mounds in the Gulf States of the Mississippi Valley. The main body of the mound is earth, but they are faced with hewn blocks of sandstone, eighteen inches square and six inches thick. Although one of the mounds is quite large, covering two acres, yet in but one instance was a terraced arrangement noticed. As a general thing, the facing of stone had fallen to the ground, and some of the smaller mounds had caved in; showing, perhaps, that they were used as burial mounds. In other cases the mounds had entirely disappeared, leaving the stone facing on the surface. This may account for some of the stones scattered over the surface. A few miles away there is another group of circular mounds.

Across the river in Vera Cruz, from very slight mention, we gather that, substantially, the same kind of ruins occur. At Chacuaco the ruins are said to cover three square leagues--but we have no further account of them than that. Small relics of aboriginal art are said to be common, and mention is made of mounds. The antiquities of Vera Cruz are a topic about which it is very difficult to form correct ideas. It will be noticed that it presents a long stretch of country to the Gulf. The land near the coast is low, and very unhealthy. About thirty miles from the coast we strike the slope of the mountains bounding the great interior plateau. This section is fertile and healthy, and was, evidently, thickly settled in early times. We must remember that it is always in a mountainous section of country that a people make their last stand against an invading foe. It was in these mountain chains where the Maya tribes made their last stand against the invading Nahua tribes, and even this line was pierced through by the Tonacas.

It is not strange, then, to find abundant evidence of former occupation in all this section of country. One thing in its favor was the number of easily defended positions. The country is cut up by deep ravines.

The early inhabitants used all the land that was at all available for agricultural purposes. On steep slopes they ran terraces to prevent the soil from washing. In the smaller ravines they located great numbers of water-tanks, from which, in the dry season, they procured water to irrigate their land. Of this section, we are told, "there is hardly a foot of ground in the whole State of Vera Cruz in which, by excavation, either a broken obsidian knife, or a broken piece of pottery, is not found. The whole country is intersected with parallel lines of stones, which were intended, during the heavy showers of the rainy season, to keep the earth from washing away. The number of these lines of stones shows clearly that even the poorest land, which n.o.body in our day would cultivate, was put under requisition by them."<48>

Ill.u.s.tration of Papantla.----------------

They no less conclusively show that a considerable body of people had here been pressed by foreign invasion into a small, contracted s.p.a.ce. It is useless to attempt a more particular description of these ruins.

In the absence of cuts, the description would only prove tiresome.

Pyramids, both with and without buildings on their summits, are comparatively frequent. As they would be noticed where other ruins would be overlooked, we have some cuts of the more remarkable ones. The preceding cut is the pyramid at Papantla.

The base is ninety feet square, and the pyramid has seven stories, as seen in the engraving. Only the last one contains apartments; with this exception, the pyramid is solid. Stairways in front lead up to the top.

Mr. Mayer says "there is no doubt, from the ma.s.s of ruins spread over the plain, that the city was more than a mile and a half in circuit."

But we have no further description of them. Other localities with pyramids and ruins are known. At Tusapan occurs this ruin, which may be taken as a type of all the pyramids in this region. This was the only building remaining standing at Tusapan; but, from the ruins lying about, this is not supposed to have been the grandest structure there.

Ill.u.s.tration of Tusapan.---------------

This will complete what we have to say of the ruins in territory occupied by the Nahua tribes. Other remains of their handiwork we will examine when we treat of their customs and manners. We will now turn our attention to the ruins in the territory of the Mayas. As the culture of these two people is so similar, we will devote but one chapter to the two. Comparison is the great means we have of fixing in the mind points we wish to keep. We have to admit that the treatment of the Nahua ruins is not very satisfactory; but it is difficult to obtain accurate information in regard to them. We think what resemblance can be traced, is more in the direction of the Pueblo tribes than of the Mound Builders. The first ruin found in Mexico, Casa Grandes, in Chihuahua, is evidently but another station of Pueblo tribes.

The fortified hill at Quemada is apparently but a further development of the cl.u.s.tering houses with the little inclosures noticed on the Gila.

Mounds are, indeed, mentioned in a number of localities, but they seem to be more nearly related to the terraced foundation of buildings observed in Arizona than to the mounds of the Mississippi Valley.

Surely as striking a ruin as any is at Mitla, but Mr. Bandelier does not hesitate to compare it with some in the Pueblo country. Now, it is very unsafe and very unsatisfactory to trace resemblances of this kind, and we do not a.s.sign any especial value to them. But it only shows that, so far as this method is of use, it points to a closer connection with the Pueblo tribes than with the Mound Builders.

REFERENCES

(1) Gregory's "History of Mexico," p. 19.

(2) Bancroft's "Native Races," Vol. II, p. 92.

(3) The _Tierra Caliente._ (4) Ober's "Mexican Resources," p. 2.

(5) "Mexico As It Was," p. 221.

(6) "Six Months in Mexico," p. 386.

(7) Mayer: "Mexico As It Was," p. 234.

(8) Thompson's "Mexico," p. 144.

(9) Bancroft: "Native Races," Vol. IV, p. 526.

(10) "Rambles in Mexico," p. 140.

(11) "Gratacap, in _American Antiquarian,_ October, 1883, p. 310.

(12) "Native Races," Vol. II, pp. 168-173.

(13) As to this hill, Mr. Bandelier remarks: "As a salient and striking object, and on account of the freshwater springs, Chapultepec was worshiped, but I find no trace among older authors of any settlement there--still less of a Summer palace-- at the time of the conquest." "Report of an Archaeological Tour in Mexico," p. 73.

(14) Charney in _North American Review,_ September, 1880, p. 190.

(15) "Recollections of Mexico," p. 140.

(16) We have several times remarked that it is not safe to judge prehistoric population by the amount of ruins. "Indians never rebuild on ruins or repair them."

(17) Bancroft: "Native Races," Vol. IV., p. 537.

(18) Bancroft: "Native Races," Vol. IV, p. 547.

(19) The ceilings in the pueblos of Arizona were often made of poles covered with cement. See Chapter XI.

(20) Bancroft's "Native Races," Vol. IV, p. 550.

(21) Bandelier: "Fifth Annual Report Arch. Inst.," p. 86.

(22) Bancroft's "Native Faces," Vol. IV, p. 610.

(23) Bancroft's "Native Races," Vol. IV, p. 613.

(24) "Fifth Annual Report," p. 86.

(25) Bancroft's "Native Races," Vol. IV, p. 581. These dimensions are different in different accounts, as may be seen by consulting Mr. Bancroft's work.

(26) _Lyons's Journal._ From Mayer's "Mexico As It Was,"

p. 243.

(27) There is something of a similarity between these ruins and those of the coast tribes of Peru.

(28) Another authority states that it is thirty feet square and thirty feet high. Bancroft: "Native Races," Vol. IV, p. 587, note.

(29) As seen in the Drawing. Mr. Lyons states there are seven stories.

(30) This was Clavigaro. Mayer's "Mexico As It Was," p. 245.

(31) Thompson's "Recollections of Mexico," p. 29.

(32) "An Archaeological Tour in Mexico," p. 163.

(33) The alt.i.tude varies according to the side where the measurement is taken. The average height is about one hundred and seventy feet.

(34) To be described hereafter.

(35) See Chapter XI.

(36) Different explorers give different figures.

(37) Taylor's "Anahuac," p. 184.

(38) "Mexico As It Was," p. 180.

(39) Mayer: "Mexico As It Was," p. 184.

(40) This is in strict keeping with what we have seen to be true of their pueblo sites. This is the conclusion of Mr. Bandelier, who discusses this subject in his essay on "Art of War Among the Mexicans." Peabody Museum Reports, Vol. II, p. 146, note 186.

(41) Bancroft: "Native Races," Vol. IV, p. 419.

(42) Bancroft's "Native Races," 393, note.

(43) Bancroft's "Native Races," Vol. IV, p. 395.

(44) Bandelier: "An Archaeological Tour in Mexico," p. 295.

(45) Mayer: "Mexico As It Was," pp. 251-2.

(46) Valentine, in "Proceedings Am. Antiq. Soc.," Oct., 1882.

(47) Bancroft's "Native Races," Vol. IV, p. 595.

(48) "Smithsonian Report," 1873, p. 373.

Chapter XIV.

THE MAYA TRIBES.

The geographical location of the Maya tribes--Description of Copan--Statue at Copan--Altars at Copan--Ruins at Quiriga Patinamit--Utatlan--Description of Palenque--The Palace at Palenque--The Temple of the Three Inscriptions--Temple of the Beau-relief--Temple of the Cross--Temple of the Sun--Maler's Temple of the Cross--Significance of the Palenque crosses--Statue at Palenque--Other ruins in Tobasco and Chiapas--Ruins in Yucatan--Uxmal--The Governor's House--The Nunnery--Room in Nunnery--The sculptured facades--Temple at Uxmal--Kabah--Zayi--Labna--Labphak--Chichen-Itza--The Nunnery--The Castillo--The Gymnasium--M. Le Plongon's researches--The tradition of the Three Brothers--Chaac-mol--Antiquity of Chichen.

In the Central American region of the Western Continent are found the ruins of what are p.r.o.nounced by all scholars to be the highest civilization, and the most ancient in time, of any in the New World.

There it arose, flourished, and tottered to its fall. Its glory had departed, its cities were a desolation, before the coming of the Spaniards. The explorer who would visit them finds himself confronted with very great difficulties. Their location is in a section of the country away from the beaten track of travel. Their sites are overspread with the luxuriant vegetation of tropical lands, through which the Indian's machete must carve a pa.s.sage. The states in which they are situated are notorious for anarchy and misrule, and the climate is such that it is dangerous for those not acclimated to venture thither during a large part of the year. So it is not strange that but few have wandered among these ruins, and described them to the world at large.

Ill.u.s.tration of Map of Central America.-----------

But the accounts thus presented are interesting in the extreme, though they have raised many questions that have thus far defied solution.

There is no doubt but what there exist large groups of ruins not yet described, structures and monuments which might, perhaps, throw some light on a past that now seems hopelessly lost. But the ruins thus far described are so numerous, their similarity is so evident, that we feel we have but little to hope from such undiscovered ruins. There are, doubtless, richly ornamented facades, grotesquely sculptured statues, and hieroglyphic-covered altars, but they would prove as much of an enigma as those already known. Our only hope is that some fortunate scholar will yet discover a key by whose aid the hieroglyphics now known may be read. Then, but not until then, will the darkness that now enshrouds ancient Maya civilization be dissipated.

As will be seen from a glance at the map, the most important ruins are in the modern states of Honduras, Guatemala, Chiapas, and especially Yucatan, the northern portion of this peninsula being literally studded with them. The river Usumacinta and its numerous tributaries flowing in a northern direction through Chiapas is regarded as the original home of the civilization whose ruins we are now to describe. From whence the tribes came that first settled in this valley is as yet an unsettled point. We notice that we have here another instance of the influence that fertile river valleys exert upon tribes settling therein. The stories told us of the civilization that flourished in primitive times in the valleys of the Euphrates and the Nile are not more wonderful--the ruins perhaps not more impressive--than are the traditions still extant, or the material remains fallen in picturesque ruins, of the civilization that once on a time held sway in the Usumacinta Valley.