Chapter XX

Conjectures respecting the descendants of the tribes who built
the Temples. — Knowledge and education of the Caciques and
Priests. — Traditions of the arrival of white strangers from
the East. — Las Casas. — Quetzal-Coatl. — Crosses found in
Yucatan. — Gomara. — Legend of the flight of Spaniards by sea
towards the West after the conquest of Spain by the
Saracens. — Fabulous island of Antilia. — Columbus on his
outward voyage steers for Antilia. — Trade-winds. —
Considerations upon the probabilities of vessels being driven
across the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans towards America 400

INDEX 423

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PLATES.

PAGE.

ALTAR-PIECE, TEMPLE OF THE CROSS, PALENQUE _Frontispiece_.

BEAVER DAM, LODGE AND POND, NEAR ISHPEMING 36

CHIPPEWA CHIEF (West of Lake Superior) 50

INDIAN MOUNDS, CAHOKIA 108

CHIPPEWA ENCAMPMENT 116

SIOUX ENCAMPMENT 116

SPIRIT ROCK 118

PAWNEE, (SHA-TO-KO) Blue-Hawk 132

PAWNEE WOMAN 136

PRAIRIE AND BOULDERS, NORTH IOWA 142

PRAIRIE DOGS, NEBRASKA 142

INDIAN, SALT LAKE VALLEY, UTAH 146

CHIEFS OF THE OGALLALAS (Dakotas) 174

ANCIENT INDIAN MOUNDS NEAR GUATEMALA 190

CATHEDRAL AND SQUARE, LA ANTIGUA GUATEMALA 196

QUICHÉ INDIAN HOLDING THE OFFICE OF ALGUAZIL 216

BARRANCA, CENTRAL AMERICA 238

INDIAN HUTS 238

INDIAN WOMAN GRINDING CHOCOLATE, (Central America) 288

PALACE OR MONASTERY, PALENQUE (EAST FRONT) 297

†UXMAL 339

†PYRAMID AND TEMPLE OF THE DWARF 340

†AN ANGLE OF THE CASA DE LAS MONJAS 342

†CASA DEL GOBERNADOR 342

†AN ANGLE OF THE CASA DE LAS MONJAS 344

†CASA DE LAS MONJAS 344

SERPENT EMBLEM, CASA DE LAS MONJAS 350

†INTERIOR OF THE CASA DE LAS MONJAS AND ITS ADJOINING PYRAMID
AND TEMPLE, UXMAL 352

†QUADRANGLE, CASA DE LAS MONJAS 356

PART OF THE ALTAR-PIECE IN A TEMPLE AT PALENQUE 390

MEXICAN CACIQUE MAKING AN OFFERING 398

MEXICAN CALENDAR STONE 408

MAPS AND PLANS.

LAKE SUPERIOR 35

REGION OF THE MOUND BUILDERS 54

INCLOSURES NEAR NEWARK 66

INCLOSURES AT MARIETTA 71

INCLOSURES AT CIRCLEVILLE 81

FORT ANCIENT 88

OCTAGONAL AND CIRCULAR INCLOSURES, NEWARK 97

ANTILIA (from Ruysch’s Map of the World, 1508) 418

CENTRAL AMERICA AND YUCATAN

UNITED STATES AND MEXICO

ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT.

THE GOLDEN CITY PASSING THE SEAL ROCKS 177

VOLCAN DE AGUA AND VOLCAN DE FUEGO 200

APPROACH TO UTATLAN 227

INDIAN STATUE, OCOSINGO 264

INDIAN STATUE, PALENQUE 311

ENTRANCE TO THE CASA DE LAS MONJAS 348

NOTE.—The illustration of the Serpent Emblem in the Casa de las
Monjas is reproduced from a large photograph taken at Uxmal by
William D. James, Esq. It will be observed that the details of
the sculpture of the rattlesnake are very clearly defined.

The illustrations marked † are from a series of valuable
photographs, also taken at Uxmal, by Captain Herbert Dowding,
Royal Navy, who placed at my disposal such of them as I
considered to be required for the purposes of this work.

I wish to call particular attention to the representation of
that part of the Casa de las Monjas where the adjacent Temple
of the Dwarf is seen. In comparing the structures with the
pyramid, it has to be remembered that the Casa de las Monjas is
placed upon a raised platform not less than seventeen feet in
height. The Pyramid of the Dwarf is completely detached.

Upon an examination of the frontispiece it will be noticed that
the centre stone which, when I saw it lying on the ground at
Palenque, was uninjured, is there shown in two portions which
are kept in position by iron clamps.

It was accidentally broken when being removed from Palenque to
the museum in the City of Mexico.

The left slab, upon which is graven the smaller figure, is from
a photograph of a moulding made by M. Desiré Charnay. The right
slab is from a photograph of the original stone now placed in
the museum at Washington, and which was represented in the
Memoir upon the Palenque Tablet written by Professor Rau, and
published by the Smithsonian Institution. The photographs of
the right and left slabs have been reduced to the size of that
of the centre, and thus an exact reproduction of the whole of
the Tablet of the Cross has been obtained. The representation
in the frontispiece is, approximately, upon the scale of one
inch to the foot and is therefore a twelfth of the size of the
original tablet when it was in its position within the temple.

The illustrations of Indians are from photographs collected by
me during my travels and were selected as being typical of the
respective tribes. My small sketch of the entrance to the Casa
de las Monjas at Uxmal is drawn to scale, and the character of
the Indian horizontal arch is delineated in its architectural
proportions.

TRAVELS AMONGST AMERICAN INDIANS:
THEIR
ANCIENT EARTHWORKS AND TEMPLES.