Vestiges of the Mayas Part 3

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 Phnicia 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 as _Canaan_. This is a Maya word that means to be tired, to be fatigued; and, if it is spelled _Kanaan_, it then signifies abundance; both significations applying well to the country.

TYRE, the great emporium of the Phnicians, called _Tzur_, probably on account of being built on a rock, may also derive its name from the Maya TZUC, a promontory, or a number of villages, _Tzucub_ being a province.

Again, we have the people called _Khati_ by the Egyptians. They formed a great nation that inhabited the _Caele-Syria_ and the valley of the Orontes, where they have left, very interesting proofs of their pa.s.sage on earth, 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 a.s.syrians and Egyptians, who call them the plague of Khati. Their name is frequently mentioned in the Scriptures as. .h.i.tt.i.tes. Placed on the road, between the a.s.syrians and the Egyptians, by whom they were at last vanquished, they placed well nigh insuperable _obstacles in the way_ of 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 emporium _Carchemish_ had 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, _Katish_ of 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 princ.i.p.al 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, the _Memnonium_, always placed obstacles on the way of the Egyptians and opposed them. According to the Maya, their name is significative of these facts, since KAT or KATAH is a verb that means to place impediments on the road, to come forth and obstruct the pa.s.sage.

_Carchemish_ was their great emporium, where merchants from afar congregated; it was consequently a city of merchants. CAH means a city, and _Chemul_ is navigator. _Carchemish_ would then be _cah-chemul_, the city of navigators, of merchants.

KATISH, their sacred city, would be the city where sacrifices are offered. CAH, city, and TICH, a ceremony practiced by the ancient Mayas, and still performed by their descendants all through Central America.

This sacrifice or ceremony consists in presenting to BALAM, the _Yumil-Kaax_, the "Lord of the fields," the _primitiae_ of all their fruits before beginning the harvest. Katish, or _cah-tich_ would then be the city of the sacrifices--the holy city.

EGYPT is 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 the _pure land_, the _land of the sun_, of _light_, 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 it CHEM: 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).[TN-20] The hieroglyph representing the name of Egypt is composed of the character used for land, a cross circ.u.mscribed 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 a.s.syrians designated Egypt under the names of MISIR or MISUR, probably because the country is generally dest.i.tute 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 verb MIZ--to _clean_, to _remove rubbish formed by the body of dead trees_; whilst the verb MUSUR means to _cut the trees by the roots_. It would seem that the name _Mizraim_ given 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 of _Hapimu_. Its etymology seems to be yet undecided by the Egyptologists, who agree, however, that its meaning is the _abyss of water_. The Maya tells us that this name is composed of two words--Ha, water, and PIMIL, the thickness of flat things. _Hapimu_, or HAPIMIL, would then be the thickness, the _abyss of water_.

We find that the prophets _Jeremiah_ (xlvi., 25,) and _Nahum_ (iii., 8, 10,) call THEBES, the capital of upper Egypt during the XVIII. dynasty: No or Na-AMUN, the mansion of Amun. _Na_ signifies in Maya, house, mansion, residence. But _Thebes_ is written in Egyptian hieroglyphs AP, or APe, 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 becomes TAPe; which, according to Sir Gardner Wilkinson ("Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians," _tom._ III., page 210, N. Y. Edition, 1878), was p.r.o.nounced by the Egyptians _Taba_; and in the Menphitic dialect Thaba, that the Greeks converted into Thebai, whence Thebes. The Maya verb _Teppal_, signifies to reign, to govern, to order. On each 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 word _Dapas_; hence TABAS is written in ancient Egyptian characters, and read, I presume, in old Maya, _head_. To-day the word is p.r.o.nounced THAB, and means _baldness_.

The ident.i.ty 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.

The SUN, RA, was the supreme G.o.d worshiped throughout the land of Egypt; and its emblem was a disk or circle, at times surmounted by the serpent Uraeus. 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 certain epoch[TN-21]

of the year. The coat-of-arms of the city of Uxmal, sculptured on the west facade of the sanctuary, attached to the masonic temple in that city, teaches us that the place was called U LUUMIL KIN, _the land of the sun_. This name forming the center of the escutcheon, is written with a cross, circ.u.mscribed 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 of _Amun_ was that of a man whose body was light blue, like the Indian G.o.d Wishnu,[TN-22] and that of the G.o.d 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 G.o.ds were painted blue. The mural paintings in the funeral chamber of Chaacmol, at Chichen, confirm this a.s.sertion. 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 superst.i.tions 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 barbaric _Christians_ (?)

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 the _habin_ tree, 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; my men, actuated by their superst.i.tious 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 superst.i.tious 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 n.o.blemen. Among these many with long beards, whose types recall vividly to the mind the features of the Afghans.

On one of the antae, 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 of UXAN, 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.

Colonel _Don_ Felipe 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 their _machetes_, 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 men we 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 stone _Sosis_, 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?" "_Ma_," 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 G.o.d-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.

Circ.u.mcision 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; or the 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 att.i.tude; 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 facade 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 a.s.sumed that position of the arms spontaneously.

_The sistrum_ was 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, called _canopas_, 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 same manner 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 his art,[TN-23]

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 n.o.blemen considered it an honor to a.s.sist in the temples and religious ceremonies: one of their princ.i.p.al duties being to play the sistrum.

We find that in Yucatan, _Nicte_ (flower) the sister of _Chaacmol_, a.s.sisted her elder brother, _Cay_, the pontiff, in the sanctuary, her name being always a.s.sociated with his in the inscriptions which adorn the western facade of that edifice at Uxmal, as that of her sister, _Mo_,[TN-24] 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 to _Nicte_, 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 of _Zuhuy-Kak_ (the fire-virgin), and became the G.o.ddess 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 cla.s.ses 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 cla.s.ses in _Mayab_ wore, 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 reached to 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, pa.s.sing 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 the _pschent_, 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 the _Tierra 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 of _Mayab_ and 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 soothsayers formed 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 sh.e.l.l of a turtle or armadillo by the action of fire, as among the Chinese. (In the _Hong-fan_ or "the great and sublime doctrine," one of the books of the _Chou-king_, the ceremonies of _Pou_ and _Chi_ are 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 of _Kinich-kakmo_, the deified daughter of CAN, 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 that _animal magnetism_ was 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.

The _gnomon_, 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 lat.i.tude 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 the _sun_ had 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 called U--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, called _Mesore_, five days, named _Epact_.