Chapter XIII: Section 3: Mexico

No adequate attention can be given in the present paper to the distribution and description of the petroglyphs of Mexico. In fact very little accurate information is accessible regarding them. The distinguished explorer, Mr. A. Bandelier, in a conversation mentioned that he had sketched but not published two petroglyphs in Sonora. One, very large and interesting, was at Cara Pintada, 3 miles southwest of Huassavas, and a smaller one was at Las Flechas, 1 mile west of Huassavas. He also sketched one in Chihuahua on the trail from Casas Grandes to the Cerro de Montezuma. From the accounts of persons met in his Mexican travels he gave it as his opinion that a large number of petroglyphs still remained in the region of the Sierra Madre.

The following mention of the paintings of the ancient inhabitants of Lower California is translated from an anonymous account, in Documentos para la Historia de Mexico (_a_), purporting to have been written in 1790:

Throughout civilized California, from south to north, and
especially in the caves and smooth rocks, there remain various rude
paintings. Notwithstanding their disproportion and lack of art, the
representations of men, fish, bows and arrows, can be distinguished
and with them different kind of strokes, something like characters.
The colors of these paintings are of four kinds; yellow, a reddish
color, green and black. The greater part of them are painted in high
places, and from this it is inferred by some that the old tradition
is true, that there were giants among the ancient Californians. Be
this as it may, in the Mission of Santiago, which is at the south,
was discovered on a smooth rock of great height, a row of hands
stamped in red. On the high cliffs facing the shore are seen fish
painted in various shapes and sizes, bows, arrows, and some unknown
characters. In other parts are Indians armed with bows and arrows,
and various kinds of insects, snakes, and mice, with lines and
characters of other forms. On a flat rock about 2 yards in length
were stamped insignia or escutcheons of rank and inscriptions of
various characters.

Towards Purmo, about 30 leagues beyond the Mission of Santiago
del Sur, is a bluff 8 yards in height and on the center of it is
seen an inscription which resembles Gothic letters interspersed with
Hebrew and Chaldean characters [?].

Though the Californian Indians have often been asked concerning
the significance of the figures, lines, and characters, no
satisfactory answer has been obtained. The most that has been
established by their information is that the paintings were
their predecessors, and that they are absolutely ignorant of the
signification of them. It is evident that the paintings and drawings
of the Californians are significant symbols and landmarks by which
they intended to leave to posterity the memory, either of their
establishment in this country, or of certain wars or political or
natural triumphs. These pictures are not like those of the Mexicans,
but might have the same purpose.

Several petroglyphs in Sonora are described and illustrated infra in