Chapter XVII: Appendix: A Brief Maya Vocabulary (1)

Acquaintance, kaholâl.

Adder, can, or cam.

——, (harmless,) tzelcam.

Afternoon, zezikin.

Age (an,) khinkatun.

Agony, takyekik, xulikal.

Air, l’k-ikal.

Alligator, ain, chinan.

Alms, ↄayatzil, zitl, matan.

Anger, campectzil.

Animal, balachi.

Ant, zinic, zacal.

Apartment, uay, kakal.

Appetite, ulolal.

Arm and hand, kab.

Ascend, nacal.

Ashes, ↄitaan.

Asthma, coc, coczen, cencoc.

Avarice, coczioïl.

Ax, baat.

Badger, ah, chab.

Ball, (dance,) okot.

Banner, lacân.

Basket, xac.

Bat, zoↄ.

Bath, katchu.

Beam, chalatché.

Beans, bouloul.

Beautiful man, chichcelem.

Bee, yikilkab.

Bed, uay, chac, chacché.

Bed canopy, yuub.

Bed-bug, kulimpic.

Bell, (small,) kilzimoc.

Bench, xacamache.

Bird, chich.

Birth, züan.

To Bleed, tock.

Bleeding, tockil.

Blood, kik, olâm.

Blemish, yikub.

Blind, ekmaï.

Blister, ppool, choolax.

Body, uinclil, cucut.

Bow, pump.

Boy, pal.

Brain, ↄomel.

Bread, uah.

To Break, noppah.

Breast, tzem.

Broom, mizib.

Bug, (flying,) pic.

Butter, tratz.

Buttock, ppucit.

Calabash, chu.

Caldron, mazcabcun.

Calf of the leg, ppuloc.

Cancer, ↄunuz, ↄunuztacon.

Candle, yibac.

Candle, (wax,) yibaccib.

Cane, ochux.

Cat, mix, miztun.

Caterpillar, nok, nokol.

Chair, yec.

Chamber, unoyna.

Chastisement, tzeac.

Cheek, ppuc.

Chicken, cach

Chin, meex.

Cholic, kuxnakil, yanakil.

Circle, peet, petil.

Claws, (beast’s,) mol.

Cloak, (sort of,) zuyem.

Cloudy, nocoycan.

Coal, thabaantchuc, tchuc, cimenchuc.

Cochineal, mukaï.

Cold weather, ceec.

Cold in the head, zizhalil.

Cold, (any thing,) ziz.

Consumption, tzemztemil, nichoïl.

Contagion, bambanicimil.

Cook, or cookery, coben.

Corn, yxim.

Corner, tunk.

Cord, (line,) kaan.

Costiveness, natzhalil, zunↄnalil.

Courage, ikal, ↄabaïl.

Court, tancabal.

Covetousness, natzil.

Crab, ixbau.

Cramp, lotheek, zizoc.

Cricket, maaz.

Cripple, mech, moch.

Crown, nac.

Cruelty, yxmaↄnↄilil.

Dauphin, ahzibic.

Day, kin.

Day-break, yaja-cab.

Day after to-morrow, cabej.

Dead, cimen.

Deaf, cooc.

Deafness, coocil.

Death, cimil, cimen.

Deceit, tabzah.

Deer, ceb.

To Deflower, zat zubuyil.

Descend, emel.

Desire, ↄibolal.

Diamond, kabliztoc.

To Die, cimil.

Dinner, (to eat,) hanal.

Discord, kexolal.

Dog, pek.

Door, hol.

Doubt, picolal.

Drake, (wild,) catzhâa.

Drawers, ex, humpel, sacech.

Drink, ukil.

Drop, chibaloc, can-nohol.

Dropsy, zot, chupil.

Dumb, tot.

Dumbness, totil.

Eagle, coot.

Ear, leexicên.

Early, matukin.

East, lakin.

Earthen dish, xamah.

Earthquake, cicilan, cicilancal.

Eat, (bread,) hantachouaj.

Egg, hue, cel.

Elbow, cué.

Embroider, chuy.

Enchanter, ahez, ahcunyha, ahcunal.

Ennui, tukolal.

Enter, ocol.

Entrails, hobnel, tzuc.

Eye-lash, matzab.

Eye-lid, pachich.

Eyes, ouich, or ych.

Fair, kinic.

To Fall, nenel.

Family, balnaïl, cuchteïl.

Fan, ual, picit.

Far, naach.

Fast, tumut, hana.

Fat, yek, yekil.

Father, hachyum.

Fear, zablemotal.

Feather, kukum.

Feebleness, tzemil.

Female, chupal.

Fever, chacauil, chocuil.

Fever, (intermittent,) yaxcal.

Fiction, iktili, iktilican.

Fields, hotoch.

Fight, tock.

Fingers, jalkab.

Finger, (middle,) chumuckab.

——, (ring,) ahoïpit.

Fire, kak.

Firewood, zi.

Fish, (lake,) hulum.

——, (peculiar to America,) tzan.

To Fish, tchoukaï.

Flame of fire, leↄka.

Flatulency, baalanik.

Flea, chic.

Flint, tock.

Flux, xaankik.

Foot and leg, oc.

Fore-finger, tuchub.

Foreigner, nachiluinic, ↄul.

Forest, kax.

Forehead, chi-lec.

Forgetfulness, tumbobal.

Fornication, pakkeban.

Foundation, ↄec, ↄecil.

Fraud, tabzah.

Fresh, (a thing,) ziz.

Froth, (scum,) om.

Gall, ka, kha, kah.

Giant, ahuanchac.

Girl, tchoupal.

Glow-worm, cocaï.

Goat, chupul, yuc.

God, Kù.

Godfather, yumilan, yeyum.

Godmother, naylan, naylah.

Gold, kantakin.

Gossip, etyum, yumlàh.

Gravel, kaluix, kataczah, kazab.

Great, nohoch, mapal, nuc.

Grief, okomolal.

Groin, heh, mah.

Gum, chunco.

Gutter, ocoyhaa, oc.

——, (sewer,) beelhaa, yachhaa.

Hale, bat.

Half, tancoh.

Hammock, yaabkaan.

Hamper, baas.

Hands, kab.

Hand-worm, pech.

Hare, (two species,) halu, tzub.

Hat, pooc.

Hatred, uyah.

Head, hoot, pol.

Headache, kuxpolil, yapolil.

Hedge-hog, kixpachok.

Heart, puzcical.

To Heat, kilcab.

Heaven, caan.

Heel, toucuy, chol.

Hen, chcach.

Hermaphrodite, hazakam, cobol.

Hern, bac-haa-zacboc.

Hiccough, toucub.

Hip, bobox.

Honey, cab.

Honey bear, zambhol.

Hope, alabolal.

Horse, tzot, tzotzel.

Host, ula.

Hot, chocouhàa.

House, na, otoch.

——, (stone,) nocac.

Humanity, uinicil.

Hump-backed, ppuz, buz.

Hunger, uüh.

To Hunt, tzonaï.

Husband, ichambil.

Image, vimba.

Imagination, ↄüolâl.

Incest, onelbilkeban.

Inconstancy, hebolal.

Industry, ytzatil.

Infant, hcho, schuchul.

Infirmity, kohanil, chapaïl.

Intention, olil.

Intestine, zal.

Itch, uech.

Jar, (large,) calamacat.

Jaws, camach.

Jewel, ↄipit, kab.

Jug, buleb, zuleb.

Kidneys, yz.

To Kill, cimzah.

To Kiss, machü, ↄuↄ.

Knee, pix.

Ladder-step, ↄac, ↄacal.

Languor, kohanil, chapaïl.

Lead, tau.

League, luub.

To Learn, cambal.

Learning, miatzil.

Left, ↄic.

Level ground, poctchê.

Lie, tuz.

Light, zaz, zazil, zalilil.

Lightning, lemba, lembaïl.

License, zipitolal.

Lime, taan.

Linen, nok.

——, (dirty,) cicinok.

——, (clean,) yamaxihutnok.

Lion, (wild,) kancoh.

——, (white,) ↄacek. [bo, aï.

——, and Leopard, coh, chac-

Liver, tamnel.

Living, ahcuxan.

Lizard, ixmemech, xzeluoh.

——, (kind of,) huh.

Louse, uc.

Love, yecunah.

Madam, colel.

Madness, cooïl.

Man, uinic.

Man, (handsome,) chichcelem.

Market, kinic.

Marrow, ↄubac.

Mask, kohob.

Mat, (rush,) poop.

Mature, takin.

Measles, uzankak.

Meat, baak.

Melancholy, ppoolcmolal, tzemolal.

Memory, kehlaï.

Menses, ilmah-u.

Midnight, tantchoumoukacab.

Midwife, etnaa, nalha.

Milk, ucabim.

Mirror, nen.

Mist, yeeb.

Mole, ba.

Monkey, maax.

Month, ilaxnoc.

Moon, umpekin.

Moth, xthuyul.

Mother, hachnàa.

Mould, ↄalâb.

Mouth, cha, xi.

Murmur, campectzil.

Nail, (claw,) laxquetlac.

Near, nasaan.

Necklace, kanthixal.

Negligence, nayolal.

Negro, ekbok.

Nerve, xich.

Night, acâb, acbil.

Nipple, polim.

No, ma.

Nobody, mamac.

Noise, hum.

Noon, tantchoumoukin.

North, nohol.

Nose, nü.

Nostrils, holnil.

Nothing, mabal.

Obstinacy, nolmaïl.

Oil, tzatza, kaabil.

Ornament, cen, cenanil tap.

Outcry, auac.

Owl, icim.

Pain, ya, yoïl, kinàm.

——, (in the side,) auat-mô.

——, (mouth, teeth,) chacnik.

——, (breast,) tuzik.

Palace, ahauna, papilote.

Palate, mabcaan.

Palm of the hand, tancab.

Palm-tree, haaz.

Pantaloons, humpel ech.

Partridge, num.

Paste, takab, takeb.

Pavement, taztunichil.

Peg, ecbe.

Pearl, yaxiltun.

Pen, cheb.

Period of time, katum, kin-katun.

Petticoat, paytem, bon.

Physician, ahↄuyah.

Pigeon, zacpacal.

Piles, kabak, ixmumuz.

Pillow, kumchuy.

Pitcher, ppul.

Plate, chob.

Poet, hiktan.

Poison, uay, yaah, tenↄac.

Porridge-pot, cucul, yaan.

Pride, nonohbaïl.

To Produce, alan, alan cal.

Promise, zebchiil.

Provisions, nech.

Pulse, tipontip.

Pupil, (of the eye,) nenel, ich.

To Purge, kalab, halabↄac.

Putrefaction, tuil, hio.

Quinsy, zippcal, yacalil.

Rabbit, thul, muy.

Rain, chuluhhàa.

Rainbow, cheel.

Remedy, ↄaↄacil.

To Retake, mol.

Rib, chalat.

Right, noh.

Ring, ↄipit, kab.

Rivulet, haltun.

Rust, yx, akzah.

Saliva, tub, baba, cilbaïl.

Salt, taab.

Salutation, peul, peultah.

Scorpion, zinan.

Scull, tzec, tzekil.

Sea, kanaps.

Serpent, kanal, can, ixkukilcan.

To Sew, embroider, chuy.

Shade, booy.

Shark, ahcanxok.

Shin-bone, tul, tzelec.

Shirt, xicul.

To Shirt, buuc.

Shoes, chanal.

Shoulder, celembal, pach.

Side, tzel.

To Sing, kaay.

Sir, yum.

Skeleton, tzitzak.

Skin, (human,) oth, othel.

——, (animal,) kcuel.

To sleep, uenel.

Sleep, uenel.

Sleeve, teppliz, tzotiz.

Small-pox, kake.

Snails, mexenhubo.

Soil, bitun.

Sorcerer, ahez, ahcunyha, ahcunal

Sore, pomaetel.

Sore eyes, ya ichil.

Soul, pixan.

South, chanian.

Sparrow-hawk, hii.

Spider, leum.

Spine, chacpich.

——, (animal,) zibnel.

Spot, yihul.

Squirrel, cuc, cuceb.

Star, eck.

Steps, eb.

——, (stone,) ebtun.

——, (wood,) ebché.

Stomach, ychpuzical.

Stone, tunieh.

Stool, (cricket,) yculxec.

Stove, mohob, mob.

Stranger, omon.

Stud, moo.

To Suck, ↄuuc.

Sugar, momcab, mom.

Sun, khin.

Swallow, cuzân.

To Sweep, miz.

Sweat, keluc.

Sweet, chahuc, chaku.

Swim, tahal, tahalhaa.

To Swoon, nuniltameaz, haↄik.

Swooning, zalalol, zaccimil, thoyol.

Sword, (sabre,) haↄab.

Table, mayac.

——, (of stone,) mayac tun.

To Take, chaa.

Tarantula, am.

Tear, kabich, yatilich.

Teeth, (grinders,) cham.

Tempest, chacakal.

Temple, machunhach.

Thigh, chacbacal.

Thirst, ukah, ukhil.

Thorn, hiix.

Throat, cal.

Throne, nac ↄam.

Thumb, naakab.

Thunder, humchac, peechac.

Thunderbolt, uhaↄchac.

Thus, or so, beï.

Tiger, balam, chacekel.

Timidity, oyomolal.

Toad, much.

Tobacco, kutz.

To-day, béjélaé, or bechlaé.

To-morrow, saamal.

Tooth, co.

——, (canine,) ↄay.

Tortilla, (corn bread,) pakach, pecuah.

Tortoise, ack.

To Touch, tal.

Treason, kubilah.

Treasure, tzoy.

Tree, (trunk of,) out-choun-tchai.

Tripe, choch.

Trough, poxché, pokoatché.

Turtle, ae.

Understanding, naat.

Vanity, pezbaïl.

Vein, ychac.

Vengeance, tohbaïl.

Venom, soliman, chihimtie.

Vial, ppool, choolax.

Village, cacab.

Vinegar, zuↄci, pahcii.

Viper, ahaucan.

Virgin, zuhuy.

Voice, than.

Vow, ppaachii.

Vulture, (species of,) ouxcil.

To Wake, ximbal.

To Walk, ximbalni.

Wall, pak.

——, (enclosure,) tulum, paa.

Wallet, mucuc, chim.

War, katun, bateil, ppizba.

Wart, ax, chuc.

Washerwoman, humpel, schpo, xpo.

Washing hands, pocolkab.

Water, haa.

Wax, cib.

Weasel, zabin.

To Weep, okol.

Well, cheen.

West, chikin.

Wheel, cocoↄ.

To Whistle, chouchoub.

Wild-boar, ac.

Wild-cat, akxux, zacoboly.

Wild-hog, citân.

Wild-turkey, ahau, cutz.

Will, olha.

Wind, (blustering,) ciz.

Wing, xik.

Wolf, cabcoh.

Woman, or wife, attambil.

Wood-louse, (Indian,) xkuluck.

To Work, meyach.

World, jocokab.

Wound, cimil, centanil.

Wrist, kalcab.

Year, oumpe-hab.

Yes, matan la.

Yesterday, joolgé, or hooljé.

Youth, paal, baac.

* * * * *

NUMBERS TO ONE HUNDRED.

1, hun.

2, ca

3, ox

4, can.

5, ho.

6, uac.

7, uuc.

8, uaxac.

9, bolon.

10, lahun.

11, buluc.

12, lahca.

13, oxahun.

14, canlahun.

15, holhun.

16, uaclahun.

17, uuclahun.

18, uaxaclahun.

19, bolonlahun.

20, hunkal.

21, huntukal.

22, catukal.

23, oxtukal.

24, cantukal.

25, hotukal.

26, uactukal.

27, uuctukal.

28, uaxactukal.

29, bolontukal.

30, lahucakal.

31, buluctukal.

32, cahcatukal.

33, oxlahutukal.

34, canlahutukal.

35, holucukal.

36, uaclahutukal.

37, uuclahutukal.

38, uaxaclahutukal.

39, bolonlahutukal.

40, cakal.

41, huntuyoxkal.

42, catuyoxkal.

43, oxtuyoxkal.

44, cantuyoxkal.

45, hotuyoxkal.

46, uactuyoxkal.

47, uuctuyoxkal.

48, uaxactuyoxkal.

49, bolontuyoxkal.

50, lahuyoxkal.

51, buluctuyoxkal.

52, lahcatuyoxkal.

53, oxlahutuyoxkal.

54, canlahutuyoxkal.

55, holhuyoxkal.

56, uaclahutuyoxkal.

57, uuclahutuyoxkal.

58, uaxaclahutuyoxkal.

59, bolonlahutuyoxkal.

60, oxkal.

61, huntucankal.

62, catucankal.

63, oxtucankal.

64, cantucankal.

65, hotucankal.

66, uactucankal.

67, uuctucankal.

68, uaxactucankal.

69, bolontucankal.

70, lahucankal.

71, buluctucankal.

72, lahcatucankal.

73, oxlahutucankal.

74, canlahutucankal.

75, holhucankal.

76, uaclahutucankal.

77, uuclahutucankal.

78, uaxaclahutucankal.

79, bolonlahutucankal.

80, cankal.

81, hutuyokal.

82, catuyokal.

83, oxtuyokal.

84, cantuyokal.

85, hotuyokal.

86, uactuyokal.

87, uuctuyokal.

88, uaxactuyokal.

89, bolontuyokal.

90, lahuyokal.

91, buluctuyokal.

92, lahcatuyokal.

93, oxlahutuyokal.

94, canlahutuyokal

95, holhuyokal.

96, uaclahutuyokal.

97, uuclahutuyokal.

98, uaxaclahutuyokal.

99, bolonlahutuyokal.

100, hokal.

* * * * *

TRADITION OF THE MEXICAN NATIVES RESPECTING THEIR MIGRATION FROM THE
NORTH.

In corroboration of Mr. Atwater’s opinion with respect to the gradual remove of the ancient people of the West toward Mexico, we subjoin what we have gathered from the Researches of Baron Humboldt on that point. See Helen Maria Williams’ translation of Humboldt’s Researches in America, vol. ii. p. 67; from which it appears the people inhabiting the vale of Mexico, at the time the Spaniards overran that country, were called Aztecs, or Aztecas; and were, as the Spanish history informs us, usurpers, having come from the north, from a country which they called _Aztalan_.

This country of Aztalan, Baron Humboldt says, “we must look for at least north of the forty-second degree of latitude.” He comes to this conclusion from an examination of the Mexican or Azteca manuscripts, which were made of a certain kind of leaves, and of skins prepared; on which an account in painted hieroglyphics, or pictures, was given of their migration from Aztalan to Mexico, and how long they halted at certain places; which, in the aggregate, amounts to “four hundred and sixteen years.”

The following names of places appear on their account of their journeyings, at which places they made more or less delay, and built towns, forts, tumuli, &c.:—

1st. A place of _Humiliation_ and a place of _Grottoes_. It would seem at this place they were much afflicted and humbled, but in what manner is not related; and also at this place, from the term _grottoes_, that it was a place of caverns and dens, probably where they at first hid and dwelt, till they built a town and cleared the ground. Here they built the places which they called Tocalco and Oztatan.

2d journey. They stopped at a place of _fruit-trees_; probably meaning, as it was further south, a place where nature was abundant in nuts, grapes, and wild fruit-trees. Here they built a mound or tumulus; and, in their language, it is called a Teocali.

3d journey; when they stopped at a place of _herbs_, with _broad leaves_; probably meaning a place where many succulent plants grew, denoting a good soil, which invited them to pitch their tents here.

4th journey; when they came to a place of _human bones_; where they, either during their stay, had battles with each other, or with some enemy; or they may have found them already there, the relics of other nations before them; for, according to Humboldt, this migration of the Aztecas took place A. D. 778; so that other nations certainly had preceded them, also from the north.

5th journey; they came to a place of _eagles_.

6th journey; to a place of _precious stones_ and _minerals_.

7th journey; to a place of _spinning_, where they manufactured clothing of cotton, barks, or of something proper for clothing of some sort, and mats of rushes and feathers.

8th journey; they came to another place of eagles, called the Eagle Mountain: or, in their own language, _Quauktli Tepec_: _Tepec_, says Humboldt, in the Turkish language, is the word for mountain; which two words are so near alike, _tepec_, and _tepe_, that it would seem almost an Arab word, or a word used by the Turks.

9th journey; when they came to a place of walls, and the seven grottoes; which shows the place had been inhabited before, and these seven grottoes were either caves in the earth, or were made in the side of some mountain, by those who had preceded them.

10th journey; when they came to a place of thistles, sand, and vultures.

11th journey; when they came to a place of _Obsidian mirrors_, which is much the same with that of ising-glass, scientifically called mica membranacea. This mineral substance is frequently found in the tumuli of the west, and is called by the Mexicans the _shining_ god. The obsidian stone, however, needs polishing before it will answer as a mirror.

12th journey; came to a place of water, probably some lake or beautiful fountains, which invited their residence there, on the account not only of the water, but for fishing and game.

13th journey; they came to the place of the _Divine Monkey_, called, in their own language, _Teozomoco_. In the most ancient Hebrew, this animal is called K-oph, Kooph, and Kuphon: in the Arabic, which is similar to the Hebrew, it is called K-ha-noos, Khanassa, and Chanass; all of which words bear a strong resemblance to the Mexican Te-oz-o-moco, especially to the Arabic Khanoos. Here, it would seem, they set up the worship of the monkey, or baboon, as the ancient Egyptians are known to have done. This animal is found in Mexico, according to Humboldt.

14th journey; when they came to a high mountain, probably with table lands on it, which they called _Chopaltepec_, or mountain of locusts: “A place,” says Baron Humboldt, “celebrated for the magnificent view from the top of this hill;” which, it appears, is in the Mexican country, and probably not far from the vale of Mexico, where they finally and permanently rested.

15th journey; when they came to the vale of Mexico; they here met with the prodigy, or fulfilment of the prophecy, or oracle, predicted at their outset from the country of Aztalan, Huehuetlapallan, and Amaquemacan; which was (see Humboldt, vol. ii. p. 185), that the migrations of the Aztecs should not terminate till the chiefs of the nation should meet with an _eagle_, perched on a _cactus-tree_, or prickly pear; at such a place they might found a city. This was, as their bull-hide books inform us, in the vale of Mexico.

We have related this account of the Azteca migration from the country of Aztalan, Huehuetlapallan, and Amaquemacan, from the regions of north latitude forty-two degrees, merely to show that the country, provinces, or districts, so named in their books, must have been the country of Ohio, Mississippi, and Illinois, with the whole region thereabout; for these are not far from the very latitude named by Humboldt as the region of Aztalan, &c.

The western country is _now_ distinguished by the general name of the “lake country;” and why? because it is a country of lakes; and for the same reason it was called by the Mexicans _Azteca_, by the Indians, _Aztalans_, because in their language ATL is water, from which Aztalan is doubtless a derivative, as well also as their own name as a nation or title, which was _Astecas_, or people of the lakes.

This account, derived from the Mexicans since their reduction by the Spaniards, is gathered from the researches of learned travellers, who have, for the very purpose of learning the origin of the people of this country, penetrated not only into the forest retreats in the woods of Mexico, but into the mysteries of their hard language, their theology, philosophy, and astronomy. This account of their migration, as related above, is corroborated by the tradition of the Wyandot Indians.

We come to a knowledge of this tradition by the means of a Mr. William Walker, some time Indian agent for our government. A pamphlet, published in 1823, by Frederick Falley, of Sandusky, contains Mr. Walker’s account, which is as follows: A great many hundred years ago, the ancient inhabitants of America, who were the authors of the great works of the West, were driven away from their country and possessions by barbarous and savage hordes of warriors, who came from the north and north-east, before whose power and skill in war they were compelled to flee, and went to the south.

After having been there many hundred years, a runner came back into the same country whence the ancient people had been driven, which we suppose is the very country of Aztalan, or the region of the Western States, bringing the intelligence that a dreadful _beast_ had landed on their coast along the sea, which was spreading among them havoc and death, by means of fire and thunder; and that it would no doubt travel all over the country, for the same purpose of destruction. This beast, whose voice was like thunder, and whose power to kill was like fire, we have no doubt represents the cannon and small arms of the Spaniards, when they first commenced the murder of the people of South America.—[PRIEST.]

* * * * *

TRAITS OF THE MOSAIC HISTORY FOUND AMONG THE AZTECA NATIONS.

The tradition commences with an account of the deluge, as they had preserved it in books made of the buffalo and deer skin, on which account there is more certainty than if it had been preserved by mere oral tradition, handed down from father to son.

They begin by painting, or, as we would say, by telling us that Noah, whom they call Tezpi, saved himself, with his wife, whom they call Xochiquetzal, on a raft or canoe. Is not this the ark? The raft or canoe rested on or at the foot of a mountain, which they call Colhuacan. Is not this Ararat? The men born after this deluge were born dumb. Is not this the confusion of language at Babel? A _dove_ from the top of a tree distributes languages to them in the form of an olive leaf. Is not this the dove of Noah, which returned with that leaf in her mouth, as related in Genesis? They say, that on this _raft_, besides Tezpi and his wife, were several _children_, and animals, with grain, the preservation of which was of importance to mankind. Is not this in almost exact accordance with what was saved in the ark with Noah, as stated in Genesis?

When the Great Spirit, Tezcatlipoca, ordered the waters to withdraw, Tezpi sent out from his raft a _vulture_, which never returned, on account of the great quantities of dead carcasses which it found to feed upon. Is not this the raven of Noah, which did not return when it was sent out the second time, for the very reason here assigned by the Mexicans? Tezpi sent other birds, one of which was the humming-bird; this bird alone returned, holding in its beak a branch covered with leaves. Is not this the dove? Tezpi, seeing that fresh verdure now clothed the earth, quitted his raft near the mountain of Colhuacan. Is not this an allusion to Ararat of Asia? They say the tongues which the dove gave to mankind, were infinitely varied; which, when received, they immediately dispersed. But among them there were fifteen _heads_ or _chiefs_ of families, which were permitted to speak the same language, and these were the Taltecs, the Aculhucans, and Azteca nations, who embodied themselves together, which was very natural, and travelled, they knew not where, but at length arrived in the country of Aztalan, or the lake country in America.

Among the vast multitude of painted representations found by Humboldt, on the books of the natives, made also frequently of prepared skins of animals, were delineated all the leading circumstances and history of the deluge, of the fall of man, and of the seduction of the woman by the means of the serpent, the first murder as perpetrated by Cain, on the person of his brother Abel.

Among the different nations, according to Humboldt, who inhabited Mexico, were found paintings which represented the deluge, or the flood of Tezpi. The _same_ person among the Chinese is called _Fohi_ and _Yu-ti_, which is strikingly similar in sound to the Mexican _Tezpi_, in which they show how he saved himself and his wife, in a bark, or some say, in a canoe, others on a raft, which they call, in their language, a huahuate.

Tezpi sent out other birds, one of which was the humming-bird; this bird alone returned again to the boat, holding in its beak a branch, covered with leaves. Tezpi now knowing that the earth was dry, being clothed with fresh verdure, quitted his bark near the mountain Colhucan, or Ararat. A tradition of the same fact, the deluge, is also found among the Indians of the Northwest. I received (says a late traveller) the following account from a chief of one of the tribes, in his own words, in the English:—“An old man, live great while ago, he wery good man, he have three son. The Great Spirit tell him, go make raft—build wigwam on top: for he make it rain wery much. When this done, Great Spirit say, put in two of all the creatures, then take sun, moon—all the stars, put them in—get in himself, with his _Equa_, (wife,) children, shut door, all dark outside. Then it rain much hard, many days. When they stay there long time—Great Spirit say, old man, go out. So he take diving animal, sa goy see if find the earth: so he went, come back, not find anything. Then he wait few days—send out mushquash, see what he find. When he come back, brought some mud in he paw; old man wery glad; he tell mushquash, you wery good, long this world stand, be plenty mushquash, no man ever kill you all. Then few days more, he take wery prety bird, send him out, see what it find; that bird no come back: so he send out one white bird, that come back, have grass in he mouth. So old man know water going down. The Great Spirit say, old man, let sun, moon, stars go out, old man too. He go out, raft on much big mountain, when he see prety bird, he send out first, eating dead things—he say, bird, you do no right, when me send, you no come back, you must be black, you no prety bird any more—you always eat bad things So it was black.”

The purity of these traditions is evidence of two things: first, that the book of Genesis, as written by Moses, is not, as some have imagined, a cunningly devised fable, as these Indians cannot be accused of Christian nor of Jewish priestcraft, their religion being of another cast. And second, that the continents of America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, were anciently united, so that the _earlier_ nations came directly over after the confusion of the ancient language and dispersion—on which account its purity has been preserved more than among the more wandering tribes of the old continents.

As favoring this idea of their (the Mexicans) coming immediately from the region of the tower of Babel, their tradition goes on to inform us, that the tongues distributed by this bird were infinitely various, and dispersed over the earth; but that it so happened that fifteen heads of families were permitted to speak the same language. These travelled till they came to a country which they called Aztalan, supposed to be in the regions of the now United States, according to Humboldt. The word _Aztalan_ signifies, in their language, _water_, or a country of much water. Now, no country on the earth better suits this appellation than the western country, on account of the vast number of lakes found there, and it is even, by us, called the lake country.

It is evident that the Indians are not the first people who found their way to this country. Among these ancient nations are found many traditions corresponding to the accounts given by Moses respecting the creation, the fall of man by the means of a serpent, the murder of Abel by his brother, &c.; all of which are denoted in their paintings, as found by the earlier travellers among them, since the discovery of America by Columbus, and carefully copied from their books of prepared hides, which may be called parchment, after the manner of the ancients of the earliest ages. We are pleased when we find such evidence, as it goes to the establishment of the truth of the historical parts of the Old Testament, evidence so far removed from the skeptic’s charge of priestcraft here among the unsophisticated nations of the woods of America.

Clavigero, in his history of Mexico, says that among the Chiapanese Indians was found an ancient manuscript in the language of that country, made by the Indians themselves, in which it was said, according to their ancient tradition, that a certain person, named _Votan_, was present at that great building, which was made by order of his uncle, in order to mount up to heaven: that then every people was given their language, and that Votan himself was charged by God to make the division of the lands of Anahuac—so Noah divided the earth among his sons. Votan may have been Noah, or a grandson of his.

Of the ancient Indians of Cuba, several historians of America relate, that when they were interrogated by the Spaniards concerning their origin, they answered, they had heard from their ancestors, that God created the heavens and the earth, and all things; that an old man, having foreseen the deluge with which God designed to chastise the sins of men, built a large canoe and embarked in it with his family, and many animals; that when the inundation ceased, he sent out a raven, which, because it found food suited to its nature to feed on, never returned to the canoe; that he then sent out a pigeon, which soon returned, bearing a branch of the _Hoba_ tree, a certain fruit-tree of America, in its mouth; that when the old man saw the earth dry, he disembarked, and having made himself wine of the wood grape, he became intoxicated and fell asleep; that then one of his sons made ridicule of his nakedness, and that another son piously covered him; that, upon waking, he blessed the latter and cursed the former. Lastly, these islanders held that they had their origin from the accursed son, and therefore went almost naked; that the Spaniards, as they were clothed, descended perhaps from the other.

Many of the nations of America, says Clavigero, have the same tradition, agreeing nearly to what we have already related. It was the opinion of this author, that the nations who peopled the Mexican empire belonged to the posterity of Naphtuhim—(the same, we imagine, with Japheth;) and that their ancestors, having left Egypt not long after the confusion of the ancient language, travelled towards America, crossing over on the isthmus, which it is supposed once united America with the African continent, but since has been beaten down by the operation of the waters of the Atlantic on the north, and of the Southern ocean on the south, or by the operation of earthquakes.

Now we consider the comparative perfection of the preservation of this _Bible_ account as an evidence that the people among whom it was found must have settled in this country at a very early period of time after the flood, and that they did not wander any more, but peopled the continent, cultivating it, building towns and cities, after their manner, the vestiges of which are so abundant to this day; and on this account, viz., their fixedness, their traditionary history was not as liable to become lost, as it would have undoubtedly been had they wandered, as many other nations of the old world have done. As evidence of the presence of a Hindoo population in the southern, as well as the western parts of North America, we bring the Mexican traditions respecting some great religious teacher who once came among them. These say, that a wonderful personage, whom they name _Quetzalcoatl_, appeared among them, who was a white and bearded man. This person assumed the dignity of acting as a priest and legislator, and became the chief of a religious sect, which, like the Songasis, and the Buddhists of Hindostan, inflicted on themselves the most cruel penances. He introduced the custom of piercing the lips and ears, and lacerating the rest of the body, with the prickles of the agave and leaves, the thorns of the cactus, and of putting reeds into the wounds, in order that the blood might be seen to trickle more copiously. In all this, says Humboldt, we seem to behold one of those Rishi, hermits of the Ganges, whose pious austerity is celebrated in the books of the Hindoos.

Respecting this white and bearded man, much is said in their tradition, recorded in their books of skin; and among other things, that after a long stay with them he suddenly left them, promising to return again in a short time, to govern them and renew their happiness. This person resembles, very strongly, in his promise to return again, the behavior of Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver, who, on his departure from Lacedæmon, bound all the citizens under an oath, both, for themselves and posterity, that they would neither violate nor abolish his laws till his return; and soon after, in the Isle of Crete, he put himself to death, so that his return became impossible.

It was the posterity of this man whom the unhappy Montezuma thought he recognised in the soldiers of Cortez, the Spanish conqueror of Mexico. “We know,” said the unhappy monarch, in his first interview with the Spanish general, “by our books, that myself, and those who inhabit this country, are not natives, but strangers, who came from a great distance. We know, also, that the chief who led our ancestors hither returned, for a certain time, to his primitive country, and thence came back to seek those who were here established, who after a while returned again, alone. We always believed that his descendants would one day come to take possession of this country. Since you arrive from that region where the _sun rises_, I cannot doubt but that the king who sends you is our natural master.”

Humboldt says that the Azteca tribes left their country, Aztalan, in the year of our Lord 544; and wandered to the south or southwest, coming at last to the vale of Mexico. It would appear from this view, that as the nations of Aztalan, with their fellow nations, left vast works, and a vast extent of country, apparently in a state of cultivation, with cities and villages, more in number than three thousand, as Breckenridge supposed, they must, therefore, have settled here long before the Christian era.

And this Quetzalcoatl, a celebrated minister of these opinions, appears to have been the _first_ who announced the religion of the east among the people of the west. There was also one other minister, or Brahmin, who appeared among the Mozca tribes in South America, whom they named _Bochica_. This personage taught the worship of the sun; and, if we were to judge, we should pronounce him a missionary of the Confucian system, a worshipper of fire, which was the religion of the ancient Persians, of whose country Confucius was a native. This also is evidence that the first inhabitants of America came here at a period near the flood, long before that worship was known, or they would have had a knowledge of this Persian worship, which was introduced by _Bochica_ among the American nations, which, it seems, they had not, until taught by this man.

Bochica, it appears, became a legislator among those nations, and changed the form of their government to a form, the construction of which, says Baron Humboldt, bears a strong analogy to the governments of Japan and Thibet, on account of the _pontiffs_ holding in their hands both the secular and the spiritual reins. In Japan, an island on the east of Asia, or rather many islands, which compose the Japanese empire, is found a religious sect, styled Sinto, who do not believe in the sanguinary rites of shedding either human blood, or that of animals, to propitiate their gods; they even abstain from animal food, and detest bloodshed, and will not touch any dead body.—(_Morse’s Geography_, p. 523.)

There is in South America a whole nation who eat nothing but vegetables, and who hold in abhorrence those who feed on flesh.—(_Humboldt_, p. 200.)

Such a coincidence in the religion of nations can scarcely be supposed to exist, unless they are of one origin. Therefore, from what we have related above, and a few pages back, it is clear, both from the tradition of the Aztecas, who lived in the western regions before they went to the south, and from the fact that nations on the Asiatic side of Bhering’s Strait have come _annually_ over the strait to fight the nations of the northwest, that we, in this way, have given conclusive and satisfactory reasons why, in the western mounds and tumuli, are found evident tokens of the presence of a Hindoo population; or, at least, of nations influenced by the superstitions of that people, through the means of missionaries of those castes, and that they did not bring those opinions and ceremonies with them when they _first_ left Asia, after the confusion of the antediluvian language, as led on by their fifteen chiefs; till, by some means, and at some period, they finally found this country—not by the way of Bhering’s Strait, but by some nearer course.

Perhaps a few words on the supposed native country of Quetzalcoatl may be allowed; who, as we have stated, is reported to have been a _white_ and _bearded_ man, by the Mexican Aztecas. There is a vast range of islands on the northeast of Asia, in the Pacific, situated not very far from Bhering’s Strait, in latitude between forty and fifty degrees north. The inhabitants of these islands, when first discovered, were found to be far in advance in the arts and civilization, and a knowledge of government, of their continental neighbors, the Chinese and Tartars. The island of Jesso, in particular, is of itself an empire, comparatively, being very populous, and its people are also highly polished in their manners. The inhabitants may be denominated white—their women especially, whom Morse, in his geography of the Japan, Jesso, and other islands in that range, says expressly are white, fair, and ruddy. Humboldt says they are a bearded race of men, like Europeans.

It appears that the ancient government of these islands, especially that of Japan, which is neighbor to that of Jesso, was in the hands of spiritual monarchs and pontiffs till the seventeenth century. As this was the form of government introduced by Quetzalcoatl, when he first appeared among the Azteca tribes, which we suppose was in the country of Aztalan, or Western States, may it not be conjectured that he was a native of some of those islands, who in his wanderings had found his way hither, on errands of benevolence; as it is said in the tradition respecting him, that he preached peace among men, and would not allow any other offering to the divinity than the first fruits of the harvest, which doctrine was in character with the mild and amiable manners of the inhabitants of those islands. And that peculiar and striking record, found painted on the Mexican skin-books, which describes him to have been a white and bearded man, is our other reason for supposing him to have been a native of some of these islands, and most probably Jesso, rather than any other country.

The inhabitants of these islands originated from China, and with them undoubtedly carried the Persian doctrines of the worship of the sun and fire; consequently, we find it taught to the people of Aztalan and Mexico, by such as visited them from China or the islands above named; as it is clear the sun was not the original object of adoration in Mexico, but rather the power which made the sun. So Noah worshipped.

Their traditions also recognise another important chief, who led the Azteca tribes _first_ to the country of Aztalan, long before the appearance of Quetzalcoatl or Bochica among them. This great leader they name Tecpaltzin, and doubtless allude to the time when they first found their way to America, and settled in the western region.—[PRIEST.]

* * * * *

ORIGIN OF FIRE-WORSHIP.

For many ages the false religions of the East had remained stationary; but in this period, _magianism_ received considerable strength from the writings of Zoroaster. He was a native of Media. He pretended to a visit in heaven, where God spoke to him out of a fire. This fire he pretended to bring with him on his return. It was considered holy—the dwelling of God. The priests were for ever to keep it, and the people were to worship before it. He caused fire-temples everywhere to be erected, that storms and tempests might not extinguish it. As he considered God as dwelling in the fire, he made the sun to be his chief residence, and therefore the _primary_ object of worship. He abandoned the old system of two gods, one good and the other evil, and taught the existence of one Supreme, who had under him a good and evil angel—the immediate authors of good and evil. To gain reputation, he retired into a cave, and there lived a long time a recluse, and composed a book called the _Zend-Avesta_, which contains the liturgy to be used in the fire-temples, and the chief doctrines of his religion. His success in propagating his system was astonishingly great. Almost all the eastern world, for a season, bowed before him. He is said to have been slain, with eighty of his priests, by a Scythian prince, whom he attempted to convert to his religion.

It is manifest that he derived his whole system of God’s dwelling in the fire, from the burning bush, out of which God spake to Moses. He was well acquainted with the Jewish Scriptures. He gave the same history of the creation and deluge that Moses had given, and inserted a great part of the Psalms of David into his writings. The Mehestani, his followers, believed in the immortality of the soul, in future rewards and punishments, and in the purification of the body by fire; after which they would be united to the good.—(_Marsh’s Ecclesiastical History_, p. 78.) From the same origin, that of the burning bush, it is altogether probable the worship of fire, for many ages, obtained over the whole habitable earth; and is still to be traced in the funeral piles of the Hindoos, the beacon-fires of the Scotch and Irish, the periodical midnight fires of the Mexicans, and the council-fires of the North American Indians, around which they dance.

A custom among the natives of New Mexico, as related by Baron Humboldt, is exactly imitated by a practice found still in some parts of Ireland, among the descendants of the ancient Irish.

At the commencement of the month of November, the great fire of _Sumhuin_ is lit up, all the culinary fires in the kingdom being first extinguished, as it was deemed sacrilege to awaken the winter’s social flame except by a spark snatched from this sacred fire; on which account, the month of November is called, in the Irish language, Sumhuin.

To this day, the inferior Irish look upon bonfires as sacred; they say their prayers walking round them, the young dream upon their ashes, and the old take this fire to light up their domestic hearths, imagining some secret undefinable excellence connected with it.—[PRIEST.]

* * * * *

GREAT STONE CALENDAR OF THE MEXICANS.

This stone was found near the site of the present city of Mexico, buried some feet beneath the soil, on which is engraven a great number of hieroglyphics, signifying the divisions of time, the motions of the heavenly bodies, the twelve signs of the Zodiac, with reference to the feasts and sacrifices of the Mexicans, and is called by Humboldt the _Mexican Calendar_, in relief, on basalt, a kind of stone.

This deservedly celebrated historiographer and antiquarian has devoted a hundred pages and more of his octavo work, entitled “_Researches in America_,” in describing the similarity which exists between its representations of astrology, astronomy, and the divisions of time, and those of a great multitude of the nations of Asia—Chinese, Japanese, Calmucks, Mongols, Mantchaus, and other Tartar nations; the Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Phœnicians, Greeks, Romans, Hebrews, and ancient Celtic nations of Europe. (See the American edition by Helen Maria Williams, vol. i.) The size of this stone was very great, being a fraction over twelve feet square, three feet in thickness, weighing twenty-four tons. It is of the kind of stone denominated trappean porphyry, of the blackish gray color.

The place where it was found was more than thirty miles from any quarry of the kind; from which we discover the ability of the ancient inhabitants not only to transport stones of great size, as well as the ancient Egyptians, in building their cities and temples of marble, but also to cut and engrave on stone, equal with the present age.

It was discovered in the vale of Mexico, in A. D. 1791, in the spot where Cortez ordered it to be buried, when, with his ferocious Spaniards, that country was devastated. That Spaniard universally broke to pieces all images of stone which came in his way, except such as were too large and strong to be quickly and easily thus affected. Such he buried, among which this sculptured stone was one. This was done to hide them from the sight of the natives, whose strong attachment, whenever they saw them, counteracted their conversion to the Roman Catholic religion.

The sculptured work on this stone is in circles; the outer one of all is a trifle over twenty-seven feet in circumference—from which the reader can have a tolerable notion of its size and appearance. The whole stone is intensely crowded with representations and hieroglyphics, arranged, however, in order and harmony, every way equal with any astronomical calendar of the present day. It is further described by Baron Humboldt, who saw and examined it on the spot:—

“The concentric circles, the numerous divisions and subdivisions engraven on this stone, are traced with mathematical precision. The more minutely the detail of this sculpture is examined, the greater the taste we find in the repetition of the same forms. In the centre of the stone is sculptured the celebrated sign _nahuiolin-Tonatiuh_, the SUN, which is surrounded by eight triangular radii. The god _Tonatiuh_, or the sun, is figured on this stone, opening his large mouth, armed with teeth, with the tongue protruded to a great length. This yawning mouth and protruded tongue is like the image of _Kala_, or, in another word, _Time_—a divinity of Hindostan. Its dreadful mouth, armed with teeth, is meant to show that the god Tonatiuh, or Time, swallows the world, opening a fiery mouth, devouring the years, months, and days, as fast as they come into being. The same image we find under the name of _Moloch_ among the Phœnicians, some of the ancient inhabitants on the eastern side of the Mediterranean, from which very country there can be but little doubt America received a portion of its earliest inhabitants.” Hence a knowledge of the arts to great perfection, as found among the Mexicans, was thus derived. Humboldt says the Mexicans have evidently followed the Persians in the division of time, as represented on this stone. The Persians flourished one thousand years before Christ.

“The structure of the Mexican aqueducts leads the imagination at once to the shores of the Mediterranean.”—(_Thomas’s Travels_, p. 293.) The size, grandeur, and riches of the tumuli on the European and Asiatic sides of the Cimmerian strait (which unites the Black sea with the Archipelago, a part of the Mediterranean, the region of ancient Greece, where the capital of Turkey in Europe now stands, called Constantinople), “excite astonishing ideas of the wealth and power of the people by whom they were constructed.”

But whatever power, wealth, genius, magnitude of tumuli, mounds and pyramids are found about the Mediterranean—where the Egyptian, the Phœnician, the Persian, and the Greek, have displayed the monuments of this most ancient sort of antiquities—all, all is realized in North and South America, and doubtless under the influence of the same superstition and eras of time,— having crossed over, as before argued; and among the various aboriginal nations of South and North America, but especially the former, are undoubtedly found the descendants of the fierce Medes and Persians, and other warlike nations of the old world.

The discoveries of travellers in that country show, even at the present time, that the ancient customs in relation to securing their habitations with a wall still prevail. Towns in the interior of Africa, on the river Niger, of great extent, are found to be surrounded by walls of earth, in the same manner as those of the West in North America.

See the account as given by Richard Lander: “On the 4th of May, we entered a town of prodigious extent, fortified with three walls of little less than twenty miles in circuit, with ditches or moats between. This town, called _Boo-hoo_, is in the latitude of about eight degrees forty-three minutes north, and longitude five degrees and ten minutes east. On the 17th, we came to _Roossa_, which is a cluster of huts walled with earth.”

This traveller states that there is a kingdom in Africa called _Yaorie_, which is large, powerful, and flourishing, containing a city of prodigious extent. The wall surrounding it is of clay, very high, and in circuit between twenty and thirty miles. He mentions several other places, similarly enclosed by earth walls.

It is easy to perceive the resemblance between these walled towns in central Africa, and the remains of similar works in this country, America.—[PRIEST.]

* * * * *

SCIENTIFIC ACQUIREMENTS OF ANCIENT BUILDERS IN THE WEST.

As it respects the scientific acquirements of the builders of the works in the West, now in ruins, Mr. Atwater says: “When thoroughly examined, they have furnished matter of admiration to all intelligent persons who have attended to the subject. Nearly all the lines of ancient works found in the whole country, where the form of the ground admits of it, are right ones, pointing to the four cardinal points. Where there are mounds enclosed, the gateways are most frequently on the east side of the works, towards the rising sun. Where the situation admits of it, in their military works, the openings are generally towards one or more of the _cardinal points_. From which it is supposed they must have had some knowledge of astronomy, or their structures would not, it is imagined, have been thus arranged. From these circumstances, also, we draw the conclusion, that the first inhabitants of America emigrated from Asia, at a period coeval with that of Babylon, for here it was that astronomical calculations were first made, 2234 years before Christ.

“These things could never have so happened, with such invariable exactness in almost all cases, without design. On the whole,” says Atwater, “I am convinced from an attention to many hundreds of these works, in every part of the West which I have visited, that their authors had a knowledge of astronomy.

“Our ancient works continued into Mexico, increasing in size and grandeur, preserving the same forms, and appear to have been put to the same uses. The form of our works is round, square, triangular, semicircular, and octangular, agreeing, in all these respects with those in Mexico. The first works built by the Mexicans were mostly of earth, and not much superior to the common ones on the Mississippi.” The same may be said of the works of this sort over the whole earth, which is the evidence that all alike belong to the first efforts of men in the very first ages after the flood.

“But afterwards temples were erected on the elevated squares, circles, &c., but were still, like ours, surrounded by walls of earth. These sacred places, in Mexico, were called ‘_teocalli_’ which in the vernacular tongue of the _most ancient_ tribe of Mexicans, signifies ‘_mansions of the gods_.’ They included within their sacred walls, gardens, fountains, habitations of priests, temples, altars, and magazines of arms. This circumstance may account for many things which have excited some surprise among those who have hastily visited the works on Paint creek, at Portsmouth, Marietta, Circleville, Newark, &c.

“It is doubted by many to what use these works were put; whether they were used as forts, camps, cemeteries, altars, and temples; whereas they contained all these either within their walls or were immediately connected with them. Many persons cannot imagine why the works at the places above mentioned were so extensively complicated, differing so much in form, size, and elevation, among themselves.” But the solution is, undoubtedly, “they contained within them altars, temples, cemeteries, habitations of priests, gardens, wells, fountains, places devoted to sacred purposes of various kinds, and the whole of their warlike munitions, laid up in arsenals. These works were calculated for defence, and were resorted to in cases of the last necessity, where they fought with desperation. We are warranted in this conclusion, by knowing that these works are exactly similar to the most ancient now to be seen in Mexico, connected with the fact, that the Mexican works did contain within them _all_ that we have stated.”—[PRIEST.]

* * * * *

PREDILECTION OF THE ANCIENTS TO PYRAMIDS.

In those early ages of mankind, it is evident there existed an unaccountable ambition among the nations, seemingly to outdo each other in the height of their pyramids; for Humboldt mentions the pyramids of Porsenna, as related by Varro, styled the most learned of the Romans, who flourished about the time of Christ; and says there were at this place four pyramids, eighty meters in height, which is a fraction more than _fifteen_ rods perpendicular altitude: the meter is a French measure, consisting of three feet three inches.

Not many years since was discovered, by some Spanish hunters, on descending the Cordilleras toward the Gulf of Mexico, in the thick forest, the pyramid of Papantla. The form of this teocalli or pyramid, which had seven stories, is more tapering than any other monument of this kind yet discovered, but its height is not remarkable, being but fifty-seven feet—its base but twenty-five feet on each side. However, it is remarkable on one account: it is built entirely of hewn stones, of an extraordinary size, and very beautifully shaped. Three stair-cases lead to its top, the steps of which were decorated with hieroglyphical sculpture and small niches, arranged with great symmetry. The number of these niches seems to allude to the 318 simple and compound signs of the days of their civil calendar. If so, this monument was erected for astronomical purposes. Besides, here is evidence of the use of metallic tools, in the preparation and building of this temple.

In those mounds were sometimes hidden the treasures of kings and chiefs, placed there in times of war and danger. Such was found to be the fact on opening the tomb of a Peruvian prince, when was discovered a mass of pure gold, amounting to 4,687,500 dollars.—(_Humboldt’s Researches_, vol. i. p. 92.)

There is, in Central America, to the south-east of the city of Cuernavaca, on the west declivity of Anahuac, an isolated hill, which, together with the pyramid raised on its top by the ancients of that country, amounts to thirty-five rods ten feet altitude. The ancient tower of Babel, around which the city of Babylon was afterward built, was a mere nothing compared with the gigantic work of Anahuac, being but twenty-four hundred feet square, which is one hundred and fifty rods, or nearly so; while the hill we are speaking of, partly natural and partly artificial, is at its base twelve thousand and sixty-six feet: this, thrown into rods, gives seven hundred and fifty-four, and into miles, is two and three eighths, wanting eight rods, which is five times greater than that of Babel.

This hill is a mass of rocks, to which the hand of man has given a regular conic form, and which is divided into five stories or terraces, each of which is covered with masonry. These terraces are nearly sixty feet in perpendicular height, one above the other, besides the artificial mound added at the top, making its height near that of Babel; besides, the whole is surrounded with a deep broad ditch, more than five times the circumference of the Babylonian tower.