The Ancient Cities of the New World. Being travels and explorations in Mexico and Central America from 1857-1882 ... With numerous illustrations. Translated from the French [and abridged] by J. Gonino and Helen S. Conant

Front matter

THE ANCIENT CITIES OF THE NEW WORLD. DfeSIRfc CHARNAY THE ANCIENT CITIES OF THE NEW WORLD BEING VOYAGES AND EXPLORATIONS IN MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA FROM 1857-1882 By DESIRE CHARNAYj TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH By J. GONINO and HELEN S. CO>ANT NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE Copyright, 1887, by Harper & Brothers. All rights reserved. TO MR. PETER LORILLARD. Sir, WHEN the Minister of Public Instruction entrusted me with the study of the Ancient American Civilisations, you wished to become associated with my labours in a truly munificent spirit. You will find in the following pages the result of my discoveries, which, you are aware, were attended with perfect success. I strove, during the progress of these studies, to carry out the programme laid down by you towards the reconstruction of civilisations that have passed away.

I think I have succeeded ; and I hope to have sufficiently demonstrated that these civilisations had but one and the same origin — that they were Toltec and comparatively modern. If the learned world shall confirm my theory, and success crown my endeavours ; if it shall be found that I have resolved this vexed American question, so hotly controverted hitherto, it will be mainly due to your generous support. Pray accept the dedication of this Work as a token of my deep gratitude DESIRE CHARNAY. Paris, November \st, 1884.

Introduction

. This interesting volume now offered to American readers by M. Desire Charnay is the outcome of an expedition which received strong support in the United States, and enriched the museums of Paris and Washington with valuable collections. In these cir cumstances the writer, who represented the interests of America and France in organising and directing the expedition, has been requested to repeat here in outline the origin and objects of the enterprise and the work that went before. Although the idea of equipping and despatching such an ex pedition had for many years been entertained by Mr. Pierre Loril lard, of New York, its execution originated independently on both sides of the Atlantic — in France and in America — where two similar though separate enterprises were actually, as sometimes happens, taking form simultaneously.

Indeed, it was only while actively engaged in organising the American party that the pres ent writer became aware of the existence of " another Richmond in the field," and it augured well for the success of the under taking that he encountered no serious difficulty in reconciling and amalgamating what would otherwise have developed into two rival enterprises. The expedition aimed at the careful reproduction of Central American monuments and a systematic investigation of the Introduction. X so-called "ruined cities" and other remains of ancient civilisation in Central America and Mexico. It was despatched under the joint auspices of the Governments of the United States and France. The expense was jointly defrayed by Mr. Pierre Loril lard, the original promoter of the undertaking, and by the French Government.

The expedition was placed under the charge of M. Desire Charnay. The means were provided not only of photo graphing bas-reliefs and hieroglyphic inscriptions, but of making careful casts of them by the skilful process of M. Lotin de Laval. Copies of these casts were to be first presented to the Smith sonian Institution at Washington, and to the French Government, which latter has provided for their permanent preservation in the Musee Lorillard of the Trocadero. The collection and preservation of these reproductions formed one of the most distinctive and valuable features of the enterprise, offering, as they now do, to students of all countries, an ample field for investigation, and possibly the materials requisite for a solution of the linguistic problem by some future Champollion. In the face of great difficulty and discouragement M. Charnay has succeeded in securing and safely transporting numerous casts of the important palaces and temples of Central America now on exhibition in the museums of Paris and Washington.

These results were finally reachieved after the destruction of the first collection by hostile Indians. The conspicuous generosity of an American citizen and the indefatigable work of a French explorer have thus brought within every-day reach of civilisation the most important and instructive relics of an American race that M. Charnay has declared to be not as ancient as many would have us believe, but that still commands the strong interest that will ever attach to the imperishable monuments of its former vigour. These monuments are of surpassing grandeur. Their annals and the tale their hieroglyphics strive to tell are still unsolved. They by Introduction. XI far surpass in importance any ruins found in the adjoining land of Montezuma. Yet how few Americans of our day have any adequate conception of the stately edifices of monumental Mitla or of Palenque, with its magnificent palace, its terraces and tem ples, its pyramids and sculptured ornaments?

The story of Span ish rule in America is familiar to all, but comparatively few have any knowledge of those splendid relics that still crowd the entire nucleus of new Spain, and, despite the havoc of time, speak to us so eloquently of a noble culture reaching back beyond the conquest. More, no doubt, would have been known to us of a territory so full of interest and so close at hand, but for the untimely end of the distinguished traveller, John L. Stephens, the lax manner in which the work has since been conducted, and the temporary ebb in popular interest. Whatever may have been the other causes which combined to prevent many systematic explorations of that region, the prin cipal one may no doubt be found in the isolated position of the country and its distance from the world's great thoroughfares.

It is curious to observe to what an extent we owe what little knowledge we possess, even of the antiquities, to men who were first attracted to the spot by schemes for the formation of new com mercial highways. At the time of the conquest another and most potent reason against systematic exploration lay in the wealthy and alluring kingdom of the neighbouring Aztecs. Thither flocked the restless and intrepid spirits of Castile, to luxuriate amid the delights of a New World, and to return after a few years laden with the treasures of America. It is difficult, if not impossible, to conceive the shock which must have been produced on the Continent of Europe by the discovery of America. All the marvels of Eastern fable pale be fore the vision of a New World emerging like a mirage from the Introduction.

XII Western seas, peopled by strange races, glorious in the richness of its tropical vegetation, its forests teeming with curious animal forms, its mines reputed to contain inexhaustible stores of gold and gems. The bounds of human empire had suddenly been widened, and the world's compass was increased by an unknown quantity. Soon the American dependencies of the Castilian crown alone embraced a territory almost as large as Europe. From the equator northward and southward, far into the tem perate zone, Spanish rule was extended. Thence came gold and silver to be coined in all the mints and curiously wrought in all the jewellers' shops of Europe and Asia. Soon the cultivation of indigenous and exotic plants, with the enforced labor of slaves, was found to be not an inferior source of wealth, and from the Spanish dominions in America were exported tobacco, chocolate, indigo, sugar, coffee, as well as hides, cochineal, and quinquina.

Truly this was a land of milk and honey, where, if one would believe some of the chroniclers of the day, the buildings were more sumptuous than the palace of Aladdin, and the very foun tains more wonderful than the golden water of Parizade. The lust of gold was the supreme passion of all classes, and, while all efforts were bent on the spoliation and oppression of an ingenious and diligent population, men's minds were turned aside from any serious attention to the relics of a race that had already flourished and decayed. Small wonder, indeed, that the Spanish Viceroy, who, leaving behind him the curses of Mexico, entered Madrid with a long train of gilded coaches and of sumpter-horses, trapped and shod with silver, spared himself the pains of such laborious inquiries. But, although we hear of no investigations on the spot, the New World offered to the thinkers of the day no small field for speculation, and, where knowledge failed, fancy took its place — to what purpose can best be understood after a perusal of Mr. Bancroft's learned chapter on this subject in his "Native Introduction.

XIII Races of the Pacific States." For illustrations of the spirit in which the problems of the New World were discussed, we need not seek beyond the pages of that important work. Of the innumerable questions to which the discovery of Amer ica gave rise, the most difficult to answer, perhaps, was that regarding the origin of the newly-discovered races. Not so thought the theologian, who was content to look upon the aborigines as straggling members of the Hebrew stock, whose ancestors had found their way thither — it did not much matter how — from the primal abode of man in Asia Minor. He saw in the discovery only another evidence of the truth of Holy Writ. Were not these Indians the lost tribes of Israel ? In this easy manner was the question settled, then. But in later times it has again cropped up, to receive answers as diverse as they are often ridiculous.

The theory of an Asiatic immigration obviously was suggested by a certain resemblance between the products of plastic art on the opposite shores of the Pacific, and by the close proximity in the north of the two continents. But, as Friedrich Miiller and others have pointed out, the supposed influence of Asia must have shown itself conspicuously in matters of every-day life — in the simpler industries, in a knowledge of materials, in the common possession of various plants and animals. But in all these circumstances the respective civilisations of America and of China and Japan are wholly different. If, however, the theory of an Asiatic immigration across the Pacific is to be put aside as untenable, what can be said in favor of the theories which connect the red-man with the Mongolian or Samoyed, the Cymric or Gal lic Celts, the Polynesian or the Iberian Basque ?

The study of language has led to some singular misconcep tions. The famous Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg, a profound but eccentric student of American antiquities, discovered what he thought unmistakable affinities between the Maya and Quiche Introduction. XIV languages and Greek, Latin, French, English, German, and other languages. These languages, indeed, he regards as derivatives from the Maya -Quiche. But to understand this topsy-turvy doctrine presupposes a knowledge of the abbe's origin theory. At first his belief was that civilisation began in the Occident instead of in the Orient, as has always been supposed. In support of this opinion he cited as his principal authority a Nahua manuscript, which he entitled " Codex Chimalpopoca," and which purports to be a history of the kingdoms of Calhuacan and Mex ico.

Subsequently, however, he sacrificed the theory over which he had spent so much time and labour. The Codex began to have for him a new meaning. In an allegorical sense it referred to the mighty cataclysm which submerged the cradle of civilisation. From this time Brasseur became a convert of the Atlantis theory, believing that the American Continent originally occupied the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, extending so far across the Atlantic as to have possibly included the Canaries. But at a remote period this continent was engulfed by a tremendous con vulsion of nature. The continuity of the Americas was destroyed by the submersion, which included in its area Yucatan, Honduras, and Guatemala. A subsequent upheaval of the continent was, however, sufficient to restore this portion of the surface.

Such is an outline of Brasseur's theory ; and, entirely apart from his wild conjectures and still wilder arguments, it is worthy of obser vation that science has in recent times gone to show that a vast extent of dry land formerly existed between America and Europe. The judgment passed by Mr. Bancroft on the abbe's speculations is eminently just; he says that, in perusing Brasseur's " Quatre Lettres," the reader is "continually harassed by long, rambling digressions — literary no-thoroughfares, as it were — into which he is beguiled in the hope of coming out somewhere, only to find himself more hopelessly lost than ever; for any mytholoo-ical Introduction. XV evidence the pantheons of Phœnicia, Egypt, Hindostan, Greece, and Rome are probed to their most obscure depths ; comparative philology is as accommodating to the theorist as ever, which is saying a great deal ; the opinions of geologists, who never dreamed of an Atlantis theory, are quoted to show that the American continent formerly extended into the Atlantic in the manner supposed."

It is certainly wise, even were Brasseur's original documents obtainable and intelligible, to reject his " double meaning " as an hallucination, and to regard his first rendering of the Codex as more reliable, if indeed any reliance whatever can be placed upon his labours. The earlier theories furnish many instances of ingenious hypotheses and naive credulity. To those whose sole desire was to make the history of man in America conform to revela tion, Noah's ark presented itself as a convenient deus ex machina. Lescarbot fails to see why Noah should have experienced any difficulty in reaching America, when — his reason is remarkable — "Solomon's ships made voyages lasting three years." Another opinion is that the sons of Noah reached America by land ; while Orrio, in order to show that one human pair was equal to the task of populating the Old Wrorld and the New, assures us that " one woman can in two hundred and ten years become the ancestor of one million six hundred and forty-seven thousand and eighty-six persons."

In support of a derivation from Noah, we are constantly referred to the tradition of a foreign origin and the native floodmyths. According to Lord Kingsborough, who is a willing believer in Scriptural analogies, the Mexican tradition of the deluge bears " unequivocal marks of having been derived from a Hebrew source." But there is little reason to doubt that such of these traditions as are not wholly spurious are in the most essential parts " improved " by the Spanish chroniclers and priests, who were not unaccustomed to draw upon Introduction. XVI their imaginations for their facts. As a sequel to the flood myths we come upon traditions of the building of a tower of refuge, and this has led some writers to identify the Americans with certain of the builders of Babel, who were scattered over the earth after the confusion of tongues.

Indeed, there is no limit to the fancy of the chroniclers. Fuerites, the chronicler of Guatemala, gives an interesting account of the fabled descent of the Toltecs — the builders of man)' of the finest structures of Central America — from the house of Israel. These amusing stories and speculations have their counterpart in the more or less frivolous theories which are put forward in later times with out the excuse of being warped by a religious purpose. The Celtic theory is supported upon characteristic grounds. It is based upon the idea that our old friend the Welsh prince Madoc, son of Owen Gwynedd, established his colony in Mex ico, and the proof of this startling assertion is threefold : " First, the Mexicans believed that their ancestors came from a beautiful country afar off, inhabited by white people ; secondly, they adored the cross ; and, thirdly, several Welsh names are found in Mexico."

In further corroboration various stories are told which are supposed to point to existing traces of the Welsh colony. A story of this kind, appearing in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1740, is told by the Rev. Morgan Jones, and illus trates the heavy drafts that have so frequently been made on public credulity. Along with five companions, the reverend gentleman was taken prisoner by the Tuscarora tribe. Beino about to be killed, his life was saved by the accident of a solil oquy in his native tongue. The Indians were able to converse freely in Welsh, and Mr. Jones remained among them for four months, and "did preach to them in the same language three times a week." Again, in 1801, a certain Lieutenant Roberts met an Indian chief at Washington who spoke Welsh as fluently Introduction. aXVll "as if he had been born and brought up in the vicinity of Snow don."

This Indian said this was the language spoken by his tribe, the Asguaws, who preserved the tradition of an origin from beyond the sea, and conformed to a law which forbade the acquisition by their children of any other speech till after twelve years of age. Several instances of a similar character are cited in support of the pretensions of the Scotch and Irish to be the progenitors of the Americans, and all one can say is that these claims are just as strong as those, for instance, of the Hellenes and Pelasgians. But all such theories of the origin of the American races from an Israelitish stock, or from a Cymric or a Gaelic, may be safely dismissed as the fruits of misguided enthusiasm and per verted ingenuity. There remain, then, three hypotheses, each of which has its strenuous advocates, namely — first, that the Amer ican races are autochthonic, and this was held by Agassiz, in accordance with his doctrine of multiple centres of creation ; second, that they are of one blood with the races inhabiting the Eastern continent, from whom they were separated by the sub sidence of the intervening land ; third, that they represent a migration from Asia via Behring Strait, or across the Pacific in lower latitudes.

Either of the first two hypotheses, could it be proved, would harmonise many apparently conflicting circum stances connected with Mexican civilisation. At the same time it would give to that civilisation the peculiar interest which must attach to an independent development, presenting a curious and suggestive parallel to that with which we are familiar. True, there are striking resemblances between the architectural style of America and of several Old World countries, and slight, but seemingly real, though in fact fortuitous, points of affinity in language, while a consensus of traditions shows an aboriginal knowledge of certain countries beyond the sea inhabited by Introduction. XVIII "white -faces." But this is not overwhelming evidence against either the Atlantis or the autochthonic theory, and is as noth ing indeed compared with the proof that can be adduced against any of the other theories.

On the other hand, as has been sug gested, the strangeness of the implied connection between the Old World and the New disappears if we admit the possibility — no very unlikely contingency — of stray vessels having found their way at various times to these distant shores. To this slight admi.xture of foreign elements we might not unreasonably attribute certain striking points of identity existing between the artistic forms of the Eastern and the Western continent, and which could hardly have had a separate origin in both. They are but few in number, and chief among them are to be named the sphinx-like statues at the base of the pyramid at Izamal, and the representation, on pottery, of elephants equipped for war purposes. It is difficult to say whether we may expect much new light to be thrown on this phase of the subject from future investigation ; but we can rest assured that a nearer approach will be made to the truth on the acquisition of fuller and clearer knowl edge.

Until comparatively recent years, in the absence of any well - authenticated account of the remains of Mexican civilisation, there was a disposition to regard as apocryphal the glowing descriptions of Cortes and the Spanish chroniclers. Dr. Robert son, the historian, lays it down "as a certain principle that Amer ica was not peopled by any nation of the ancient world which had made considerable progress in civilisation." Mr. Charnay 's labours now tend decidedly to prove that the great monuments of Central America are of no great antiquity. It is remarked by Mr. Hubert H. Bancroft that "the tendency of modern research is to prove the great antiquity of American civilisation as well as of the American people ; and, if either was drawn from a foreign Introduction. XIX source, it was at a time probably so remote as to antedate all Old World culture now existing, and to prevent any light being thrown on the offspring by a study of the parent stock."

There are many who would join issue with Mr. Bancroft on the vexed questions he so ably raises, and on which we have so many and diverse opinions recorded by explorers within the past century. It is, indeed, only within this recent period that we hear of any notable efforts to elucidate the subject of the antiquities. The existence of some of the more important ruins was first discovered in 1750, when a party of Spaniards, travelling in Chiapas, stumbled upon the so - called Casas de Piedras, subsequently named Palenque, after the neighbouring village. It was not till 1786 that the King of Spain despatched the expedition of which Captain Del Rio took charge. To Rio's report was added a commentary by Dr. Paul Felix, in which the people were derived from the Egyptians. This document, after being neglected or withheld by the government, fell into English hands after the revolution, and an English version was published in 1S22.

This, the first account of the antiquities given to Europe, failed to awaken public interest, partly, no doubt, because the whole nar rative was too novel and startling, too full of gorgeous and vivid tints, to be at once accepted with general credence. Meantime Charles IV. of Spain had sent out another expedition under Captain Dupaix, who was aided by a secretary, a draughtsman, and a detachment of dragoons. The expedition lasted over three seasons, from 1805 to 1807. The drawings and MSS. went out of sight at the time of the revolution, and, some time after, were almost accidentally discovered in the Cabinet of Natural History in Mexico. Twenty -eight years after the date of the expedition, in 1S34-35, Dupaix's work saw the light in the shape of four costly volumes. Then followed Lord Kingsborough's still more expensive work, which, as regards its material, is little more than Introduction.

XX a rehash of Dupai.x, and in respect of its opinions is a store house of analogies in support of the Hebrew theory. Colonel Galendo was the only other practical investigator in the field up to the time of Waldeck's expedition, which lasted over two years, and the funds for which were provided by an association in Mexico. All previous work, however, was far surpassed in excel lence by that of Stephens and Catherwood, the accurate, lively narrative of the former being in every way worthy of the remarkable drawings of the latter. During their two visits to the country, they accomplished, by their individual efforts, infinitely more than any of the previous expeditions, bringing to our knowledge upward of forty ruined cities, besides making the most painstaking examination of Copan, Quiche, Palenque, and Uxmal.

The region embracing Yucatan, Guatemala, and Nica ragua has also been ably treated by Mr. E. G. Squier, and in the same territory, at Uxmal and Chichen Itza, Waldeck has been carefully supplemented by the labours of M. Desire Char nay. In our own time we find the number both of theoretical and practical workers increased so largely that we can do no more than name a few, such as Dr. Scherzer, Dr. Boyle, Rosny, Dr. Bernonitti, Stephens Salisbury, Jr., and Larrouza, whose im portant work in five volumes was published in Mexico, 1875-79. Last, but of the first importance, we will name Mr. Hubert H. Bancroft's careful work, which is an admirable cyclopædia of the whole subject. One of the distinctive features of Mexican architecture is the pyramidal form of the buildings or their substructures.

On this account chiefly, an attempt has been made to trace a connection between America and Egypt, in civilisation if not in race ; but, as Fergusson points out, the two kinds of pyramids are widely different. The towering structure of Mexico, as a matter of fact, is not a pyramid at all in the conventional sense It is distin- Introduction. XXI guished by the fact that it almost invariably forms the basis of some superstructure It is, indeed, little more than an arrangement of gradually diminishing terraces ; where this is not the case the pyramid is a truncated mound, intended, it is generally thought, as a place of sacrifice. Most of the ruined towns have such mounds, but the great pyramid at Izamal is peculiar in consisting of two pyramidal piles of masonry, one on the top of the other, the base of the whole measuring no less than eight hundred and twenty feet on each side, and the first platform six hundred and fifty feet.

The pyramidal form is also finely seen in the Casa del Gobernador at Uxmal, which is described as, of all the structures of the kind, the most stately in form and pro portions. Here three successive terraces form the base which holds aloft the grand ornate building, and add to its look of spacious magnificence. The sculptured ornament at Uxmal is of a special character. It resembles arabesque in its general appearance, but is richly diversified, the parts being wrought into a sort of " sculptured mosaic," having possibly a symbolical meaning. According to Stephens, the carved work is equal to the finest of the Egyptian. It would be impossible, he says, with the best instruments of modern times, to cut stone more perfectly. And yet, as far as is known, the ancient sculptor was ignorant of the existence of iron, and had to rely in the formation of his tools upon chaystone or flint.

Add to this the diffi culty of quarrying large masses of stone, conveying them long distances through a rough country, and of raising them to great altitudes, and the construction of these vast edifices seems truly marvellous. But it is not our present intention to discuss at length the subject of Central American civilisation, aware as we are that matters of the greatest interest would arrest the atten tion at every step. Whether or not it will be in human power to decipher the Introduction. XXII hieroglyphics and to give to history the annals they so vainly strive to tell, is a question yet to be settled. But in any event one of the main objects of the Franco- American expedition, the reproduction and representation of numerous important in scriptions and edifices, has been most successfully accomplished.

This will bring within the reach of all concerned, both in Europe and in America, problems not unworthy of the highest human intellect. Nor is it unreasonable to expect that some new Champollion will do for the early annals of our continent what has been already so amply done for the history of ancient Egypt. It is true that the quiet student at Washington or Paris will, of necessity, remain cold to some of the feelings nat urally evoked by the monuments which attest the prosperity of what was one of the fairest and most populous regions of the earth. He will, perhaps, not be stirred by the feelings which have moved enthusiastic travellers. It will not be in his power to feel with the explorer when, in the midst of desolation and ruin, he conjures up the past, dispels the gloomy forest, and fancies every structure perfect, with its terraces and pyramids repeopled, and overlooking an immense inhabited plain.

The scholar will not perhaps so readily as the traveller call back into life the strange people whom Stephens fancied gazing at him in sadness from the walls of Palenque— the same people who had once, clad in fanciful costumes, adorned with plumes and feathers, ascended the terraces of the palace and the steps lead ing to the temples. But, though the future investigator may have no share in the genial enthusiasm of the explorer, he will have at his command all the materials that diligent research have been able to obtain for shedding light upon the orio-in and history of this interesting population. He will possess faithful representations of most important monuments. He will, in effect, have before his eyes Copan, with all its myste- Introduction. X.Xlll ries, its columns scored with hieroglyphics, its rows of death's heads on the sculptured walls, its nameless kings and gods ; and to his unimpassioned research we must trust to bring be fore us once more the old faith of an ancient and mightv priesthood, and the lost knowledge and strange arts of a cultivated and vanished people. Allen Thorndike Rice.

Preface

. The first notice upon this work appeared in the North American Review, the energetic Editor of which (Mr. A. Th. Rice) wished to be before all his contemporaries in giving his subscribers an apergu of my labours. Unfortunately for them that publication contained my impressions of the moment, just as I dotted them down, which, as a natural consequence, had to be modified pari passu with my discoveries, whilst my quotations, owing to an uncertain memory, were not much to offer scholars of such intrinsic merit. A second publication followed in the Tour du Monde, but although better thought out than the first, even that was too hastily written to do justice to the magnificent collection I now present to the public, in which the entire design I had at heart is revealed ; and if the account of my discoveries, the issue which naturally follows, the theory I wish to establish, are still couched in language which may appear crude and incomplete, I ask the indulgence of my readers on the plea that this edition received the last touch between two expeditions.