Vestiges of the Mayas Part 4

By a most remarkable coincidence, the Egyptians, as the Mayas, considered these additive five days _unlucky_.

Besides this solar year they had a sideral or sothic year, composed of 365 days and 6 hours, which corresponds exactly to the Mayas[TN-25]

sacred 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 of _fives_ and _tens_; the Mayas by a system of _fives_ and _twenties_, to four hundred. Their sacred number appears to have been 13 from the remotest antiquity, but SEVEN seems to have been a _mystic number_ among 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 pa.s.sages, and, as all the rooms in Uxmal, Chichen and other places in Mayab, it is seven-sided. Some authors pretend to a.s.sume that this well marked septenary system has reference to the _Pleiades_ or _Seven stars_. _Alcyone_, the central star of the group, being, it is said, on the same meridian as the pyramid, when it was constructed, and _Alpha_ of 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 surpa.s.sed 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 number SEVEN. 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 King CAN was adorned with seven turrets; that the entwined serpents, his totem, which adorn the east facade 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 number SEVEN prevails in all places and in everything where Maya influence has predominated.

It is a FACT, and one that may not be altogether devoid of significance, that this number SEVEN seems to have been the mystic number of many of the nations of antiquity. It has even reached our times as such, being used as symbol[TN-26] by 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 the _old world_, we find this number SEVEN among the Asiatic nations as well as in Egypt and Mayab. Effectively, in Babylon, the celebrated temple of _the seven lights_ was made of _seven_ stages or platforms. In the hierarchy of Mazdeism, the _seven marouts_, or genii of the winds, the _seven amschaspands_; then among the Aryans and their descendants, the _seven horses_ that drew the chariot of the sun, the _seven apris_ or shape of the flame, the _seven rays_ of Agni, the _seven manons_ or criators of the Vedas; among the Hebrews, the _seven days_ of the creation, the _seven lamps_ of the ark and of Zacharias's vision, the _seven branches_ of the golden candlestick, the _seven days_ of the feast of the dedication of the temple of Solomon, the _seven years_ of plenty, the _seven years_ of famine; in the Christian dispensation, the _seven_ churches with the _seven_ angels at their head, the _seven_ golden candlesticks, the _seven seals_ of the book, the _seven_ trumpets of the angels, the _seven heads_ of the beast that rose from the sea, the _seven vials_ full of the wrath of G.o.d, the _seven_ last plagues of the Apocalypse; in the Greek mythology, the _seven_ heads of the hydra, killed by Hercules, etc.

The origin of the prevalence of that number SEVEN amongst 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 the _seven_ members of CAN'S family, who were the founders of the princ.i.p.al cities of _Mayab_, 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) and [C]OZ (bat), his wife, from whom were born CAY (fish), the pontiff; AAK (turtle), who became the governor of Uxmal; CHAACMOL (leopard), the warrior, who became the husband of his sister MOo (macaw), the Queen of _Chichen_, wors.h.i.+ped after her death at Izamal; and NICTe (flower), the priestess who, under the name of _Zuhuy-Kuk_, became the G.o.ddess 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 left to 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 facade 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 of MAYAB hid them from the _Nahualt_ or _Toltec_ invaders.

As the Egyptians, they wrote in vertical columns and horizontal lines, to be read generally from right to left. The s.p.a.ce 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. Of course, 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_, the _various emblems of the sun_ and many others. Among the alphabetical, a very large number of the so-called Demotic, by Egyptologists, are found even in the inscription of the _Akab?ib_ at 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 p.r.o.nounced 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 of UXMAL; 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 h.o.m.ophone 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. g[TN-27] for AAK, which means turtle, is the image of a turtle; for CAY (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 was Maya, 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 of _Seb and Nut_, the brother of _Aroeris_, the elder _Horus_, of _Typho_, of _Isis_, and of _Nephthis_, named also NIKe. The authors have given numerous explanations, result of fancy; of the mythological history of that G.o.d, famous throughout Egypt. They made him a personification of the inundations of the NILE; 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 murderer _Tipho_, that of the sea which swallows up the _Nile_.

Leaving aside the mythical lores, with which the priests of all times and all countries cajole the credulity of ignorant and superst.i.tious 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 a.s.sert, 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 inst.i.tuted by his wife to recover the body, how it was stolen again from her by _Typho_, 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 heroes _Kukulean_[TN-28] and Quetzalcoatl of the Mayas and of the Aztecs? Osiris was particularly wors.h.i.+ped at Philo, where the history of his life is curiously ill.u.s.trated 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 pa.s.sed 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 the _Dwarf's House_, at Uxmal. It seemed that the initiated had to pa.s.s through 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 in _Harper'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 the _Zunis_ and other Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, according to the relations of Mr. Frank H. Cus.h.i.+ng, a gentleman sent by the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution to investigate their customs and history. In order to comply with the mission intrusted to him, Mr.

Cus.h.i.+ng has caused his adoption in the tribe of the Zunis, 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 inst.i.tution to which these orders have a strange resemblance." (From the New York _Times_.)

If from Egypt we pa.s.s 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.

DuChaillu[TN-29] in 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 that _fact_ without 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 the altar in front of the shrine of _Ix-cuina_, the Maya Venus, situated at the south end of _Isla 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 fas.h.i.+on 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 a.s.serts 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 the _H-Men_ who had bewitched him. He must 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 superst.i.tions 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.

From the most remote antiquity, as we learn from the writings of the chroniclers, in all sacred ceremonies the Mayas used to make copious libations with _Balche_. To-day the aborigines still use it in the celebrations of their ancient rites. _Balche_ is a liquor made from the bark of a tree called Balche, soaked in water, mixed with honey and left to ferment. It is their beverage _par excellence_. The nectar drank by the G.o.d of Greek Mythology.

Du Chaillu, speaking of the recovery to health of the King of _Mayo_lo, a city in which he resided for some time, says: "Next day he was so much elated with the improvement in his health that he got tipsy on a fermented beverage which he had prepared two days before he had fallen ill, and which he made by _mixing honey and water, and adding to it pieces of bark of a certain tree_." (Journey to Ashango Land, page 183.)

I will remark here that, by a strange _coincidence_, we not only find that the inhabitants of Equatorial Africa have customs identical with the MAYAS, but that the name of one of their cities MAYO_lo_, seems to be a corruption of MAYAB.

The Africans make offerings upon the graves of their departed friends, where they deposit furniture, dress and food--and sometimes slay slaves, men and women, over the graves of kings and chieftains, with the belief that their spirits join that of him in whose honor they have been sacrificed.

I have already said that it was customary with the Mayas to place in the tombs part of the riches of the deceased and the implements of his trade or profession; and that the great quant.i.ty of blood found scattered round the slab on which the statue of Chaacmol is reclining would tend to suggest that slaves were sacrificed at his funeral.

The Mayas of old were wont to abandon the house where a person had died.

Many still observe that same custom when they can afford to do so; for they believe that the spirit of the departed hovers round it.

The Africans also abandon their houses, remove even the site of their villages when death frequently occur;[TN-30] for, say they, the place is no longer good; and they fear the spirits of those recently deceased.

Among the musical instruments used by the Mayas there were two kinds of drums--the _Tunkul_ and the _Zacatan_. They are still used by the aborigines in their religious festivals and dances.

The _Tunkul_ is a cylinder hollowed from the trunk of a tree, so as to leave it about one inch in thickness all round. It is generally about four feet in length. On one side two slits are cut, so as to leave between them a strip of about four inches in width, to within six inches from the ends; this strip is divided in the middle, across, so as to form, as it were, tongues. It is by striking on those tongues with two b.a.l.l.s of india-rubber, attached to the end of sticks, that the instrument is played. The volume of sound produced is so great that it can be heard, is[TN-31] is said, at a distance of six miles in calm weather. The _Zacatan_ is another sort of drum, also hollowed from the trunk of a tree. This is opened at both ends. On one end a piece of skin is tightly stretched. It is by beating on the skin with the hand, the instrument being supported between the legs of the drummer, in a slanting position, that it is played.

Du Chaillu, Stanley and other travelers in Africa tell us that, in case of danger and to call the clans together, the big war drum is beaten, and is heard many miles around. Du Chaillu a.s.serts having seen one of these _Ngoma_, formed of a hollow log, nine feet long, at Apono; and describes a _Fan_ drum which corresponds to the _Zacatan_ of the Mayas as follows: "The cylinder was about four feet long and ten inches in diameter at one end, but only seven at the other. The wood was hollowed out quite thin, and the skin stretched over tightly. To beat it the drummer held it slantingly between his legs, and with two sticks beats[TN-32] furiously upon the upper, which was the larger end of the cylinder."

We have the counterpart of the fetish houses, containing the skulls of the ancestors and some idol or other, seen by Du Chaillu, in African towns, in the small huts constructed at the entrance of all the villages in Yucatan. These huts or shrines contain invariably a crucifix; at times the image of some saint, often a skull. The last probably to cause the wayfarer to remember he has to die; and that, as he cannot carry with him his worldly treasures on the other side of the grave, he had better deposit some in the alms box firmly fastened at the foot of the cross. Cogolludo informs us these little shrines were anciently dedicated to the G.o.d of lovers, of histrions, of dancers, and an infinity of small idols that were placed at the entrance of the villages, roads and staircases of the temples and other parts.

Even the breed of African dogs seems to be the same as that of the native dogs of Yucatan. Were I to describe these I could not make use of more appropriate words than the following of Du Chaillu: "The pure bred native dog is small, has long straight ears, long muzzle and long curly tail; the hair is short and the color yellowish; the pure breed being known by the clearness of his color. They are always lean, and are kept very short of food by their owners. * * * Although they have quick ears; I don't think highly of their scent. They are good watch dogs."

I could continue this list of similes, but methinks those already mentioned as sufficient for the present purpose. I will therefore close it by mentioning this strange belief that Du Chaillu a.s.serts exists among the African warriors: "_The charmed leopard's skin worn about the warrior's middle is supposed to render that worthy spear-proof._"

Let us now take a brief retrospective glance at the FACTS mentioned in the foregoing pages. They seem to teach us that, in ages so remote as to be well nigh lost in the abyss of the past, the _Mayas_ were a great and powerful nation, whose people had reached a high degree of civilization.

That it is impossible for us to form a correct idea of their attainments, since only the most enduring monuments, built by them, have reached us, resisting the disintegrating action of time and atmosphere.

That, as the English of to-day, they had colonies all over the earth; for we find their name, their traditions, their customs and their language scattered in many distant countries, among whose inhabitants they apparently exercised considerable civilizing influence, since they gave names to their G.o.ds, to their tribes, to their cities.

We cannot doubt that the colonists carried with them the old traditions of the mother country, and the history of the founders of their nationality; since we find them in the countries where they seem to have established large settlements soon after leaving the land of their birth. In course of time these traditions have become disfigured, wrapped, as it were, in myths, creations of fanciful and untutored imaginations, as in Hindostan: or devises of crafty priests, striving to hide the truth from the ignorant ma.s.s of the people, fostering their superst.i.tions, in order to preserve unbounded and undisputed sway over them, as in Egypt.