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 Research Library, The Getty Research Institute 
 
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Concerning' 
 
 THE INSTITUTIONS & MONUMENTS 
 
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 SOME OF THE MOST 
 
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 COR1TILLEKAS ! 
 
 ■^ ) Written in, French by 
 
 -ALEXANDER DE HUMBOLDT, 
 
 & Translated into English Jrv^ 
 
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 Fab ashed iv Longman, Hurst Jlees, Orme k Srewn, J. Murray & M. Co lb urn . 
 
 1S14. 
 
THE GETTY 
 LIBRARY 
 
ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 EDITOR. 
 
 THE Views of the Cordilleras and 
 Monuments of the Natives of America, which 
 form the Picturesque Atlas of the Quarto Edi- 
 tion of M. M. de Humboldt and BonplanaVs 
 Travels in the Equinoxial Regions of the New 
 Continent, consist of one large Volume in Folio 
 ornamented with Sixty-nine Plates engraved by 
 the first Artists of Berlin, Rome, and Paris. 
 This Work, which is highly interesting, from 
 the numerous Researches it contains in the An- 
 tiquities of Mexico and Peru, from the Descrip- 
 tion of the most remarkable Scenes of the Cor- 
 dilleras, and the Manners of its Inhabitants, 
 should accompany the Octavo Edition of this 
 Voyage; but the Picturesque Atlas in Folio 
 being, from its Nature, of too high a Price for 
 
 a2 
 
IV 
 
 Readers in general, it has been judged necessary 
 to Reprint the Text in two Octavo Volumes. 
 The greater Part of the Subjects contained in 
 the Atlas may be read ivithout consulting the 
 Plates, but some Parts of the Text to be well 
 understood, require the Aid of the Plates. For 
 this Reason, Nineteen Engravings have been 
 selected by M. de Humboldt, from Sixty-nine 
 contained in the Folio Edition, which Plates are 
 reduced in order to be placed at the End of the 
 Two Octavo Volumes. 
 
 The Geographical and Physical Maps will 
 accompany the Personal Narrative. 
 
PICTURESQUE ATLAS 
 
 TRAVELS 
 
 EQUINOCTIAL REGIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE NEW CONTINENT. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 A have collected, in the following work, 
 whatever relates to the origin and first pro- 
 gress of the arts among the natives of Ame- 
 rica. Two thirds of the plates which it 
 contains present specimens of the remains 
 of their architecture, sculpture, historical 
 paintings, and hieroglyphics relative to 
 their division of time, and the system or 
 their calendar. To this representation or 
 vol. xnr. B 
 
2 
 
 their monuments, which are interesting to 
 the philosophical study of man, I have 
 added a few of the most remarkable pictu- 
 resque views of the new continent. The 
 motives for this selection will be found in 
 the general observations at the beginning of 
 this Essay. 
 
 The description of each plate, as far as 
 the nature of the subject admits, forms a 
 separate treatise. I have dwelt more at 
 length on such as could throw light on the 
 analogies existing between the inhabitants 
 of the two hemispheres ; and we shall be 
 surprised to find, towards the end of the 
 fifteenth century, in a world which we call 
 new, those ancient institutions, those reli- 
 gious notions, and that style of building, 
 which seem in Asia to indicate the very 
 dawn of civilization. The characteristic 
 features of nations, like the internal con- 
 struction of plants, spread over the surface 
 of the globe, were the impression of a pri- 
 mitive type, notwithstanding the variety 
 produced by the difference of climates, the 
 
nature of the soil, and the concurrence of 
 many accidental causes. 
 
 In the beginning of the conquest of Ame- 
 rica, the attention of Europe was chiefly 
 directed toward the gigantic constructions 
 of Couzco, the high roads carried along the 
 centre of the Cordilleras, the pyramids 
 "With steps, and the worship and symbolical 
 writings of the Mexicans. The country 
 around Port Jackson, in New Holland, 
 and the island of Otaheite, have not been 
 more frequently described in our times, 
 than were the regions of Mexico and Peru 
 at that period. To form a proper estimate 
 of the simplicity, the true and local colour- 
 ing which characterizes the descriptions of 
 the first Spanish writers, we must have vi- 
 sited the spot. While we peruse their 
 writings, we regret that they are not accom- 
 panied with drawings, to have given us a 
 precise idea of the numerous momuments 
 which became the prey of fanaticism, or 
 which have been suffered to fall into ruin 
 from negligence not less culpable. 
 
 b 2 
 
 / 
 
The ardour, with which America had 
 been the object of investigation, diminished 
 from the beginning of the seventeeth cen- 
 tury. The Spanish colonies, which were 
 the only regions formerly inhabited by ci- 
 vilized nations, were shut against foreigners; 
 and recently, when the Abbe Clavigero 
 published in Italy his ancient history of 
 Mexico, the facts, attested by a crowd of 
 ocular witnesses, often hostile to each 
 other, were regarded as extremely doubt- 
 ful. Some distinguished writers, more 
 struck with the contrasts than the harmony 
 of nature, have described the whole of 
 America as a marshy country, unfavour- 
 able to the increase of animals, and newly 
 inhabited by hordes as savage as the 
 people of the South Sea. In the histori- 
 cal researches respecting the Americans, 
 candid examination had given place to ab- 
 solute scepticism. The declamatory des- 
 criptions of Solis, and of some other wri- 
 ters, who had never quitted Europe, were 
 confounded with the simple but true nar- 
 
ratives of the first travellers ; and it seemed 
 to be the duty of a philosopher, to refuse 
 assent to every observation made by the 
 missionaries. 
 
 Since the end of the last century, a happy 
 revolution has taken place in the manner 
 of examining the civilization of nations, 
 and the causes which impede or favour its 
 progress. We have become acquainted 
 with countries, the customs, institutions, 
 and arts of which differ almost as widely 
 from those of the Greeks and Romans, as 
 the primitive forms of extinct races of 
 animals differ from those of the species, 
 which are the objects of descriptive natural 
 history. The society at Calcutta has thrown 
 a luminous ray over the history of the 
 people of Asia. The monuments of Egypt, 
 which are at present delineated with sin- 
 gular precision, have been compared with 
 the monuments of countries the most re- 
 mote ; and my own recent investigations on 
 the natives of America appear at an epocha, 
 in which we no longer deem unworthy of 
 
attention whatever is not conformable to 
 that style, of which the Greeks have left 
 such inimitable models. 
 
 It might have been preferable to have 
 arranged the materials, contained in this 
 work, in geographical order; but the diffi- 
 culty of collecting, and terminating at the 
 same time, a great number of plates en- 
 graved in Italy, Germany, and France, has 
 prevented me from following this method. 
 The want of order, compensated, to a 
 certain degree, by the advantage of variety, 
 is also less reprehensible in the descriptions 
 of a Picturesque Atlas, than in a regular 
 Treatise ; and I shall endeavour to remedy 
 this inconvenience by a table, in which 
 the plates are classed agreeably to the na- 
 ture of the objects they represent. 
 
 I. Monuments. 
 
 A. Mexican. 
 
 Statue of a priestess. 
 Pyramid of Cholula. 
 Fori of Xochicalco. 
 
Bas-relief, representing the triumph of a 
 
 warrior. 
 Calendar and hieroglyphics of the days. 
 Vases. 
 Bas-relief sculptured around a cylindrical 
 
 stone. 
 Axe wfth engraved characters. 
 Sepulchral house of Mitla. 
 Hieroglyphical paintings. 
 
 Manuscripts of the Vatican, 
 of Veletri. 
 of Vienna, 
 of Dresden, 
 of Berlin, 
 of Paris. 
 of Mendoza. 
 of GemellL 
 
 B. Peruvian. 
 
 House of the Inca at Cannar. 
 Inga-Chungana. 
 Ruins of Callo. 
 Inti-Guaicu. 
 
 C. Muyscas. 
 
 Calendar. 
 Sculptured heads. 
 
8 
 
 II. Views. 
 
 A . Elevated plain of Mexico. 
 
 Great square of Mexico. 
 Basaltes of Regla. 
 Coffer of Perote. 
 Volcano of Jorullo. 
 Porphyry columns of Jacal. 
 Organos of Actopan. 
 
 C. Mountains of South America. 
 
 Silla de Caraccas. 
 
 Air Volcanoes of Turbaco. 
 
 Cataract of Tequendama. 
 
 Lake of Guatavita. 
 
 Natural bridge of Icononzo. 
 
 Passage of Quindiu. 
 
 Cataract of Vinegar river. 
 
 Chimborazo. 
 
 Volcano of Cotopaxi. 
 
 Pyramidal summits of Ilinissa. 
 
 Nevado of Corazon. 
 
 Nevado of Cayambe. 
 
 Volcano of Pichincha. 
 
 Rope bridge of Penipe. 
 
 Letter-carrier of Jaen Bracamaros. 
 
 Raft of Guayaquil. 
 
I have endeavoured to copy, with the 
 greatest exactness, the objects exhibited in 
 these engravings. Those who are employ- 
 ed in the practical profession of the arts 
 are aware, how difficult it is to attend mi- 
 nutely to the great number of plates, which 
 compose a Picturesque Atlas. If some be 
 less perfect than connoisseurs might wish, 
 this imperfection ought not to be attributed 
 to the artists employed, under my inspec- 
 tion, in the execution of my work, but to 
 the sketches which I drew on the spot, 
 and often in very difficult circumstances. 
 Several landscapes have been coloured, be- 
 cause in this sort of engraving, the snow 
 detaches itself more strikingly from the 
 azure of the sky, and the imitation of the 
 Mexican paintings rendered the mixture of 
 coloured plates with engravings indispen- 
 sable. I have felt how difficult it is to give 
 the former that vigorous tone of colouring, 
 which we admire in the Oriental Scenery 
 of Mr. Daniel. 
 
 In the description of the monuments of 
 
10 
 
 America, I have attempted to keep an 
 equal tenor between the two methods fol- 
 lowed by those learned men, who have 
 investigated the monuments, the languages, 
 and the traditions of nations. Some, 
 allured by splendid hypotheses, built on 
 very unstable foundations, have drawn ge- 
 neral consequences from a small number of 
 solitary facts : they have discovered Chinese 
 and Egyptian colonies in America ; recog- 
 nized Celtic dialects and the Phenician 
 alphabet ; and, while we are ignorant whe- 
 ther the Osci, the Goths, or the Celts, are 
 nations emigrated from Asia, have given a 
 decisive opinion on the origin of all the 
 hordes of the New Continent. Others 
 have accumulated materials without gene- 
 ralizing any idea ; which is a method, as 
 sterile in tracing the history of a nation, as 
 in delineating the different branches of 
 natural philosophy. May I have been 
 happy enough to avoid the errors, which I 
 have now pointed out ! A small number 
 of nations, far distant from each other, the 
 
11 
 
 Etruscans, the Egyptians, the people of 
 Thibet, and the Aztecks, exhibit striking 
 analogies in their buildings, their religious 
 institutions, their division of time, their 
 cycles of regeneration, and their mystic 
 notions. It is the duty of the historian to 
 point out these analogies, which are as diffi- 
 cult to explain as the relations that exist 
 between the Sanscrit, the Persian, the 
 G reek, and the languages of German origin ; 
 but in attempting to generalize ideas, we 
 should learn to stop at the point where 
 precise data are wanting. In conformity 
 to these principles, I shall mention the 
 consequences to which the opinions I have 
 adopted seem to lead respecting the natives 
 of the New World. 
 
 Neither an attentive examination of the 
 geological constitution of America, nor re- 
 flections on the equilibrium of the fluids, that 
 are diffused over the surface of the Globe, 
 lead us to admit, that the New Continent 
 emerged from the waters at a later period 
 than the Old : we discern in the former the 
 same succession of stony strata, that we find 
 
12 
 
 in our own hemisphere ; and it is probable, 
 that, in the mountains of Peru, the granites, 
 the micaceous schists, or the different form- 
 ations of gypsum, and gritstone, existed 
 originally at the same periods as the rocks 
 of the same denominations in the Alps of 
 Switzerland. The whole globe appears to 
 have undergone the same catastrophes. At 
 a height superior to that of Mount Blanc, 
 on the summit of the Andes, we find petri- 
 fied sea-shells ; fossile bones of elephants are 
 spread over the equinoctial regions ; and 
 what is very remarkable, they are not dis- 
 covered at the feet of the palm trees in the 
 burning plains of the Orinoco, but on the 
 coldest and most elevated regions of the 
 Cordilleras. In the New World, as well as 
 in the Old, generations of species long ex- 
 tinct have preceded those, which now people 
 the earth, the waters, and the air. 
 
 There is no proof, that the existence of 
 man is much more recent in America than 
 in the other continent. Within the tropics, 
 the strength of vegetation, the breadth of 
 
 
IS 
 
 rivers, and partial inundations have pre- 
 sented powerful obstacles to the migration 
 of nations. The extensive countries of the 
 north of Asia are as thinly peopled, as the 
 savannahs of New Mexico and Paraguay ; 
 nor is it necessary to suppose, that the coun- 
 tries first peopled are those, which offer the 
 greatest mass of inhabitants. The problem 
 of the first population of America is no 
 more the province of history, than the 
 questions on the origin of plants and ani- 
 mals, and on the distribution of organic 
 germs, are that of natural science. His tory , 
 in carrying us back to the earliest epochas, 
 instructs us that almost every part of the 
 Globe is occupied by men who think them- 
 selves aborigines, because they are ignorant 
 of their origin. Among a multitude of 
 nations, who have succeeded, or have been 
 incorporated with each other, it is impos- 
 sible to discover with precision the first 
 basis of population, that primitive stratum 
 beyond which the region of cosmogonical 
 tradition begins. 
 
14 
 
 The nations of America, except those 
 which border on the polar circle, form a 
 single race, characterized by the forma- 
 tion of the scull, the colour of the skin, 
 the extreme thinness of the beard, and 
 straight and glossy hair. The American 
 race bears a very striking resemblance to 
 that of the Mongul nations, which include 
 the descendants of the Hiong-Nu, known 
 heretofore by the name of Huns, the 
 Kalkas, the Kalmucks, and the Burats. 
 It has been ascertained by late observa- 
 tions, that not only the inhabitants of Una- 
 lashka, but several tribes of South America, 
 indicate, by the osteological characters of 
 the head, a passage from the American to 
 the Mongul race. When we shall have 
 more completely studied the brown men 
 of Africa, and that swarm of nations, who 
 inhabit the interior and north-east of Asia, 
 and who are vaguely described by siste- 
 matic travellers under the name of Tartars 
 and Tschoudes, the Caucasian, Mongul, 
 American, Malay, and Negro races, will 
 
15. 
 
 appear less insulated, and we shall ac- 
 knowledge, in this great family of the hu- 
 man race, one single organic type, modified 
 by circumstances which perhaps will ever 
 remain unknown. 
 
 Though the nations of the New Con- 
 tinent are connected by intimate ties, they 
 exhibit, in the mobility of their features, in 
 their complexions, tanned in a greater or 
 less degree, and in their stature, a differ- 
 ence as remarkable as the Arabians, the 
 Persians, and Sclavonians, who are all of 
 the Caucasian race. The hordes who 
 wander along the burning plains of the 
 equinoctial regions have, however, no 
 darker skins than the mountaineers of the 
 temperate zone ; whether it be that in the 
 human race, and in the greater part of 
 animals, there is a certain period of organic 
 life, beyond which the influence of climate 
 and food have no erfect, or that the devia- 
 tion from the primitive type becomes ap- 
 parent only after a long series of ages. 
 Besides, every thing concurs to prove, that 
 
16 
 
 the Americans, as well as the people of the 
 Mongul race, have less flexibility of orga- 
 nization than the other nations of Asia and 
 Europe. 
 
 The American race, though the least nu- 
 merous of any, occupies the largest space 
 on the Globe. It extends across both 
 hemispheres, from sixty-eight degrees of 
 northern, and fifty-five degrees of southern 
 latitude. It is the only race, which has 
 fixed its dwelling on the burning plains 
 bounded by the ocean, as well as on the 
 ridges of the mountains, where it roams 
 over heights twelve hundred feet above 
 that of the Peak of Teneriffe. 
 
 The number of languages, which distin- 
 guish the different native tribes, appears 
 still more considerable in the New Con- 
 tinent than in Africa, where, according to 
 the late researches of Messrs. Seetzen and 
 Vater, there are above one hundred and 
 forty. In this respect the whole of Ame- 
 rica resembles Caucasus, Italy before the 
 conquest of the Romans, Asia Minor when 
 
17 
 
 that country contained, on a small extent 
 of territory, the Cicilians of Semitic race, 
 the Phrygians of Thracian origin, the 
 Lydians, and the Celts. The configuration 
 of the soil, the strength of vegetation, tlie 
 apprehensions of the mountaineers under 
 the tropics of exposing themselves to the 
 burning heat of the plains, are obstacles to 
 communication, and contribute to the 
 amazing variety of American dialects. This 
 variety, it is observed, is more restrained 
 in the savannahs and forests of the north, 
 which are easily traversed by the hunter, 
 on the banks of great rivers along the coast 
 of the ocean, and in every country wher e 
 the Jncas had established their theocracy 
 by the force of arms. 
 
 When it is asserted, that several hundred 
 languages are found in a continent, the 
 whole population of which is not equal to 
 that of France, we regard as different those 
 languages, which bear the same affinity to 
 each other, I will not say as the German and 
 the Dutch, or the Italian and the Spanish, 
 
 VOL. XIII. c 
 
13 
 
 hut as the Danish and the German, the Chal- 
 dean and the Arabic, the Greek and the 
 Latin. In proportion as we penetrate into 
 the labyrinth of American idioms, we dis- 
 cover, that several are susceptible of being 
 classed by families, while a still greater 
 number remain insulated, like the Biscayan 
 among European, and the Japanese among 
 Asiatic languages. This separation may, 
 however, be only apparent ; for we may 
 presume that the languages, which seem to 
 admit of no ethnographical classification, 
 have some affinity, either with other lan- 
 guages which have been for a long time 
 extinct, or with the idioms of nations which 
 have never yet been visited by travellers. 
 
 The greater part of the American lan- 
 guages, even such as have the same differ- 
 ence with each other as the languages of 
 Germannic origin, the Celtic and the Scla- 
 vonian, bear a certain analogy in the whole 
 of their organization : for instance, in the 
 complication of grammatical forms, in the 
 modification of the verb according to the 
 
19 
 
 nature of its syntax, and in the number of 
 additive particles (affixa et suffixa). This 
 uniform tendency of the idioms betrays, if 
 not a community of origin, at least a great 
 analogy in the intellectual dispositions of 
 the American tribes, from Greenland to the 
 Magellanic regions. 
 
 Investigations made with the most scru- 
 pulous exactness, in following a method 
 which had not hitherto been used in the 
 study of etymologies, have proved, that 
 there are a few words that are common in 
 the vocabularies of the two continents. In 
 eighty-three American languages, examined 
 by Messrs. Barton and Vater, one hundred 
 and seventy words have been found, the 
 roots of which appear to be the same ; and 
 it is easy to perceive, that this analogy is 
 not accidental, since it does not rest merely 
 on imitative harmony, or on that conform- 
 ity in the organs, which produces almost a 
 perfect identity in the first sounds articu- 
 lated by children. Of these one hundred 
 and seventy words, which have this con- 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 nexion with each other, three fifths resem- 
 ble the Mantchou, the Tongouse, the Mon- 
 gul, and the Samoyede ; and two fifths the 
 Celtic and Tschond, the Biscayan, the Cop- 
 tic, and the Congo languages. These words 
 have been found by comparing the whole 
 of the American languages with the whole 
 of those of the Old World ; for hitherto we 
 are acquainted with no American idiom, 
 which seems to have an exclusive corres- 
 pondence with any of the Asiatic, African, 
 or European tongues. What some learned 
 writers have asserted from abstract theo- 
 ries, respecting the pretended poverty of 
 all the American languages, and the ex- 
 treme imperfection of their numerical sys- 
 tem, is as doubtful as the assertions which 
 have been made respecting the. weakness 
 and stupidity of the human race through- 
 out the New Continent, the stunted growth 
 of animated nature, and the degeneration 
 of those animals, which have been trans- 
 ported from one hemisphere to the other. 
 Several idioms, which now form the Ian- 
 
21 
 
 guage of barbarous nations only, seem to 
 be the wrecks of languages, once rich, 
 flexible, and belonging to a more cultivat- 
 ed state. We shall not enter into the dis- 
 cussion, ..whether the primitive condition of 
 the human race was rude and brutalized, 
 or whether the savage hordes are descended 
 from nations, whose intellectual faculties, 
 and the languages which reflect those fa- 
 culties, were equally developed ; we shall 
 only observe, that the little which we know 
 of the history of the Americans tends to 
 prove, that the tribes, whose migrations 
 have been directed from the north to the 
 south, while yet dwelling near the polar 
 regions, used various idioms which we find 
 at present under the torrid zone. From 
 this we may by analogy conclude, that 
 the ramification, or rather, to use a term 
 independent of every system, the multipli- 
 city of languages is a very ancient pheno- 
 menon. Perhaps those, which we call Ame- 
 rican, belong no more to America than the 
 
2$ 
 
 Magyar or Hungarian, the Tschoud or 
 Finlandish belongs to Europe. 
 
 We must admit, that the comparison be- 
 tween the idioms of the two continents has 
 hitherto led to no important conclusion ; 
 but we may cherish the hope, that this 
 study will become more productive, when a 
 great number of materials shall be found, 
 to exercise the sagacity of the learned. 
 How many languages exist in America, 
 and in central and eastern Asia, the me- 
 chanism of which is to us as much unknown 
 as that of the Tyrhenian, the Oscan, and 
 the Sabine ! Among the nations who have 
 disappeared in the Old World, there are 
 perhaps several, of which a few scanty 
 tribes are preserved in the vast solitudes of 
 America. 
 
 If languages supply but feeble evidence 
 of ancient communication between the 
 two worlds, this communication is fully 
 proved by the cosmogonies, the monu- 
 ments, the hieroglyphics, and institutions 
 
23 
 
 of the people of America and Asia. I 
 flatter myself, that the following sheets will 
 justify this assertion, by the addition of 
 new evidence to that which has been long 
 since admitted. I have carefully endea- 
 voured to make a proper distinction be- 
 tween whatever indicates a community of 
 origin, with what is the result of the analo- 
 gous situation of nations, when they begin 
 to improve their social state. 
 
 It has hitherto been impossible to ascertain 
 the period, when the communication between 
 the inhabitants of the two worlds took place ; 
 and how rash would be the attempt to 
 point out the group of nations of the Old 
 Continent, with which the Toltecks, the 
 Aztecks, the Muyscas, and the Peruvians 
 present the nearest analogies ; since these 
 analogies are apparent in the traditions, 
 the monuments, and customs, which per- 
 haps preceded the present division of Asia- 
 tics into Chinese, Moguls, Hindoos, and 
 Tungooses. 
 
 At the period of the discovery of the 
 
 P 
 
24 
 
 New World, or rather when the first inva- 
 sion of the Spaniards took place, the Ame- 
 ricans, who had made the greatest pro- 
 gress in civilization, were the inhabitants 
 of the mountains. Men, born in the plains 
 under temperate climates, had followed 
 the ridges of the Cordilleras, which rise 
 in proportion as they approach the Equa- 
 tor. In these elevated regions they found 
 the temperature and the plants, which 
 were congenial with those of their native 
 soil. 
 
 The faculties unfold themselves with 
 more facility, wherever man, chained to a 
 barren soil, compelled to struggle with the 
 parsimony of nature, rises victorious from 
 the lengthened contest. The arid moun- 
 tains of Caucasus and central Asia are the 
 refuges of free and barbarous nations. In 
 the equinoxial parts of America, where 
 savannahs, clothed in perpetual verdure, 
 are suspended above the region of the 
 clouds, no civilized nations exist but those 
 embosomed in the Cordilleras. Their first 
 
25 
 
 progress in the arts was as ancient as the 
 singular form of their governments, which 
 were unfavourable to individual liberty. 
 
 The New Continent, like that of Africa 
 and Asia, presents several points of a pri- 
 mitive civilization, of which the mutual re- 
 lations are as unknown as those of Meroe, 
 Thibet, and China. The civilization of 
 Mexico emanated from a country situate 
 towards the north ; in South America, the 
 great edifices ofTiahuanaco have served as 
 models for the monuments which the Incas 
 erected at Couzco. Amidst the extensive 
 plains of upper Canada, in Florida, and in 
 the deserts bordered by the Orinoco, the 
 Cassiquiare, and the Guainia, dykes of a 
 considerable length, weapons of brass, and 
 sculptured stones, are indications that those 
 very countries were formerly inhabited by 
 industrious nations, which are now tra- 
 versed only by tribes of savage hunters. 
 
 The unequal distribution of animals over 
 the surface of the globe has had a consider- 
 able influence on the fate of nations, and 
 
26 
 
 on their greater or less rapid progress to- 
 ward civilization. In the OJd Continent, 
 the pastoral life formed the passage from 
 hunting to agricultural nations. The ru- 
 minating animals, so easily reared under 
 every climate, have followed the African 
 negro, the Mogul, the Malay, and the 
 hordes that dwell on Caucasus. Though 
 several quadrupeds, and a greater number 
 of the vegetable tribe, are common to the 
 most northern regions of both worlds, Ame- 
 rica possesses, in the species of oxen, only 
 the bison and the musk ox ; two ani- 
 ' mals difficult to tame, and the females of 
 which yield but little milk, notwithstanding 
 the richness of the pasture. The American 
 hunter was not led to agriculture by the 
 care of flocks, and the habits of a pastoral 
 life. The inhabitant of the Andes was 
 never tempted to milk the lama, the alpaca, 
 or the guanaco. Milk was formerly a 
 nourishment unknown to the Americans, 
 as well as to several nations of eastern 
 Asia. 
 
27 
 
 Never has the savage, freely roving 
 through the forests of the temperate zone, 
 been known to throw willingly aside the 
 habits of the hunter, and embrace the still- 
 ness of agricultural life. This transition, 
 which is the most difficult, and the most 
 important in the history of human socie- 
 ties, can only be attained by the force of 
 circumstances. When, in their distant mi- 
 grations, hordes of hunters, expelled by 
 other warlike hordes, reached the plains of 
 the equinoctial zone, they were compelled 
 by impenetrable forests and a luxuriant 
 vegetation, to change their character and 
 habits. There are countries between the 
 Orinoco, the Ucajale, and the river of 
 Amazons, where man finds no other space 
 free than the rivers and the lakes. Rivetted 
 to the soil on the banks of rivers, the most 
 savage tribes encircle their huts with ba- 
 nanas, jatropha, and other alimentary 
 plants. 
 
 No historical fact, no tradition connects 
 the nations of South Ameriea with those 
 
28 
 
 that inhabit the north of the Isthmus of 
 Panama. The annals of the Mexican em- 
 pire appear to go as far back as the sixth 
 century of our era, since at that period we 
 find the epochas of the migrations, the 
 causes which produced them, the names of 
 the chiefs descended from the illustrious 
 house of Citin, who led, from the unknown 
 regions of Aztlan and Teocolhuacan, the 
 northern nations into the plains of Ana- 
 huac. The foundation of Tenochtillan, 
 like that of Rome, goes back to the heroic 
 ages ; and it is only from the twelfth century 
 that the annals of the Aztecks, like those of 
 the Chinese, and the people of Thibet, give 
 an uninterrupted account of secular fes- 
 tivals, the genealogy of their kings, the 
 tributes imposed on the conquered, the 
 foundation of cities, celestial phenomena, 
 the minutest events even which have in- 
 fluenced the state of societies in their 
 infancy. 
 
 Though no traditions point out any 
 direct connexion between the nations of 
 
29 
 
 North and South America, their history is 
 not less fraught with analogies in the poli- 
 tical and religious revolutions, from which 
 dates the civilization of the Aztecks, the 
 Muyscas, and the Peruvians. Men with 
 beards, and with clearer complexions than 
 the natives of Anahuac, Cundinamarca, 
 and the elevated plain of Couzco, make 
 their appearance without any indication of 
 the place of their birth; and, bearing the 
 title of high priests, of legislators, of the 
 friends of peace, and the arts, which flourish 
 under its auspices, operate a sudden change 
 in the policy of the nations, who hail their 
 arrival with veneration. Quetzalcoatl, 
 Bochica, and Manco Capac, are the sacred 
 names of these mysterious beings. Quet- 
 zalcoatl, clothed in a black, sacerdotal 
 robe, comes from Panuco, from the shores 
 of the Gulf of Mexico; Bochica, the 
 Boudha of the Muyseas, presents himself 
 on the high plains of Bogota, where he ar- 
 rives from the savannahs, which stretch 
 along the east of the Cordilleras. The 
 
30 
 
 history of these legislators, which I have 
 endeavoured to unfold in this work, is in- 
 termixed with miracles, religious fictions, 
 and with those characters which imply an 
 allegorical meaning. Some learned men 
 have pretended to discover, that these 
 strangers were shipwrecked Europeans, or 
 the descendants of those Scandinavians, 
 who, in the eleventh century, visited Green- 
 land, Newfoundland, and perhaps Nova 
 Scotia ; but a slight reflection on the pe- 
 riod of the Tolteck migrations, on the 
 monastic institutions, the symbols of wor- 
 ship, the calendar, and the form of the 
 monuments of Cholula, of Sogamozo, and 
 of Couzco, leads us to conclude, that it was 
 not in the north of Europe that Quetzal- 
 coatl, Bochica, and Manco Capac framed 
 their code of laws. Every consideration 
 leads us rather towards Eastern Asia, to 
 those nations who have been in contact 
 with the inhabitants of Thibet, to the Slia- 
 manist Tartars, and the bearded Ainos of 
 the isles of Jesso and Sachalin. 
 
31 
 
 When I have employed in the course 
 of these investigations the words, monu- 
 ments of the New World, progress in the 
 arts of drawing, intellectual culture, I 
 have had no intention of supposing a state 
 of things, which indicates what is called, 
 somewhat vaguely, a highly advanced ci- 
 vilization. Nothing is more difficult than 
 a comparison between nations, jvho have 
 followed different roads in their progress 
 towards social perfection. The Mexicans 
 and Peruvians must not be judged accord- 
 ing to the principles laid down in the history 
 of those nations, which are the unceasing 
 objects of our studies. They are as remote 
 from the Greeks and the Romans, as they 
 bear a near affinity to the Etruscans and 
 the people of Thibet. Among the Peru- 
 vians, a theocratic government, while it 
 favoured the growth of industry, the con- 
 struction of public works, and whatever 
 might be called general civilization, pre- 
 sented obstacles to the display of the facul- 
 ties of the individual. Among the Greeks, 
 
32 
 
 on the contrary, before the time of Pericles, 
 this liberal and rapid progress of individual 
 talents outstripped the tardy steps of gene- 
 ral civilization. The empire of the Incas 
 may be compared to some great monastic 
 establishment, in which each member of the 
 congregation was prescribed the duties he 
 had to perform for the general good. When 
 on the spot we study those Peruvians, who, 
 through the lapse of ages, have preserved 
 their national physiognomy, we learn to 
 estimate, at its true value, the code of laws 
 framed by Manco Capac, and the effects 
 produced on morals and public happiness. 
 We discern a general state of prosperity, 
 contrasted with a small portion of private 
 welfare ; more submissive resignation to the 
 decrees of the sovereign, than patriotic love 
 for the country ; passive obedience, with- 
 out courage for bold enterprises ; a spirit of 
 order, which regulated with minute preci- 
 sion the most indifferent actions, while no 
 general views enlarged the mind, and no 
 elevation of thought ennobled the charac- 
 
33 
 
 ter. The most complicated political insti- 
 tutions recorded in the history of mankind 
 had crushed the germe of personal liberty, 
 and the founder of the empire of Couzco, 
 in flattering himself with the power of 
 forcing men to be happy, reduced them to 
 the state of mere machines. The Peruvian 
 theocracy was, no doubt, less oppressive 
 than the government of the Mexican kings ; 
 yet both contributed to give the monu- 
 ments, the rites, and the mythology of the 
 two nations, that dark and melancholy 
 aspect, which forms a striking contrast with 
 the elegant arts and soothing fictions of the 
 people of Greece. 
 
 Paris, April the 12M, 1813. 
 
 VOL. XIII. 
 
^tlonumente of America, 
 
 PICTURESQUE VIEWS 
 
 CORDILLERAS. 
 
 The monuments of nations, from which we are 
 separated by a long interval of ages, are calcu- 
 lated to fix our attention in two distinct points 
 of view. The works of art, belonging to a 
 people highly advanced in civilization, excite 
 our admiration by the harmony and beauty "of 
 their forms, and by the genius with which they 
 are conceived. The bust of Alexander, found in 
 the garden of the Pisoes, would be esteemed a 
 valuable relic of antiquity, although no inscrip- 
 tion indicated the features of the conqueror of 
 Arbela. An engraved stone, or a medal of the 
 d2 
 
36 
 
 polished ages of Greece, interests the lovers of 
 the arts by the severity of the style, or by its 
 finished execution, although no legend or mono- 
 gram connects these objects with any particular 
 point of history. Such is the privilege of the 
 marvels of genius, which were produced in the 
 climes of Asia Minor, and in part of the south of 
 Europe. 
 
 The monuments of those nations, on the con- 
 trary, which have attained no high degree of in- 
 tellectual cultivation, which either from religi- 
 ous or political causes, or the nature of their or- 
 ganization, have never been affected by the 
 beauty of forms, can be considered only as me- 
 morials of history. To this class belong the 
 remains of sculpture, scattered over the vast 
 countries which extend from the banks of the 
 Euphrates to the eastern shores of Asia. The 
 idols of Thibet and Hindostan, those which have 
 been discovered on the central plains of Mon- 
 golia, are calculated to throw light on the 
 ancient communication of nations with each 
 other, and on the common origin of their mytho- 
 logical traditions. 
 
 The rudest works, the most grotesque forms, 
 those masses of sculptured rocks, venerable only 
 from their enormous magnitude, and their re- 
 mote antiquity • those lofty pyramids, which in- 
 dicate the multitudes employed in their construe- 
 
37 
 
 tion ; are all connected with the philosophical 
 study of history. By the same connection, the 
 feeble remains of the skill, or rather industry, of 
 the nations of the New Continent become worthy 
 of our attention. Influenced by this persuasion, 
 I have, in the course of my travels, brought to- 
 gether whatever objects I have been able, by un- 
 wearied research, to discover in the countries, 
 where intolerance in those ages of barbarism left 
 scarcely any vestige of the manners and religious 
 rites of their ancient inhabitants; when edifices 
 and temples were demolished for the stones with 
 which they were erected, or the hidden treasures 
 they were supposed to contain. 
 
 The comparative view which I shall take of 
 the works of art belonging to Peru and Mexico, 
 and those of the ancient world, will give some 
 interest to my researches, as well as to the Pic- 
 turesque Atlas, which will contain the result of 
 my investigations. Biassed by no system, I 
 shall point out those analogies that naturally pre- 
 sent themselves, distinguishing such as seem to 
 prove an indentity of race, from such as perhaps 
 depend only on internal causes, on the resem- 
 blance of all nations in the display of their intel- 
 lectual faculties. I shall here confine myself to a 
 succinct description of the objects represented in 
 the engravings. The consequences which seem 
 to result from the comparative view of these mo- 
 
38 
 
 numents can be discussed only in the narrative of 
 my journey; since, as the nations to whom these 
 edifices and sculptures are attributed still exist, 
 their character, and the knowledge of their man- 
 ners, will throw light on the history of their 
 migrations. 
 
 Investigations of monuments erected by half- 
 civilized nations have another kind of interest, 
 which we may call psychological ; presenting to 
 us a picture of the uniform progress of the human 
 mind. The works of the first inhabitants of 
 Mexico hold an intermediary place between 
 those of the Scythian tribes, and the ancient mo- 
 numents of Hindostan. What a striking spec- 
 tacle does human genius present, when we sur- 
 vey the immense disparity, that separates the 
 tombs of Tinian and the statues of Easter Island 
 from the monuments of the Mexican temple of 
 Mitla ; and compare the shapeless idols of this 
 temple with the masterpieces of the chisel of 
 Praxiteles or Lysippus ! 
 
 But we shall cease to wonder at the rude 
 style or incorrect expression of the monuments 
 of the nations of America, when we reflect, that, 
 cut off from the rest of mankind, wanderers in a 
 country where man must have long struggled 
 against Nature in her most savage and disordered 
 aspect, these tribes, with no resources but in 
 their own energy, could only emerge with tardy 
 
39 
 
 progress from their native barbarism. The east 
 of Asia, the west and the north of Europe, pre- 
 sent the same phenomena. In pointing them 
 out, I shall not pretend to investigate from what 
 hidden causes the germe of the fine arts grew 
 and spread only over a very small part of the 
 Globe. How many nations of the ancient 
 world lived in a climate equal with that of 
 Greece, and surrounded with every object that 
 elevates the imagination, without awakening to 
 that sensibility of the perfection of forms, the 
 peculiar privilege of the Greeks, to whose crea- 
 tive genius belong all that the arts possess of 
 beautiful and sublime ! 
 
 These considerations are sufficient to explain 
 my intentions in the publication of these frag- 
 ments of American monuments. Their study 
 may become useful, like that of the most imper- 
 fect languages ; which are interesting, not only 
 by their analogy with those that are known, but 
 still more by the strict connection, which exists 
 between their structure and the degree of intelli- 
 gence in man, when more or less remote from 
 civilization. 
 
 Presenting in the same work the rude monu- 
 ments of the indigenous tribes of America, and 
 the picturesque views of the mountainous coun- 
 tries which they inhabited, my intention is to 
 
40 
 
 connect objects, the relation of which to each 
 other has not escaped the sagacity of those, who 
 apply themselves to the philosophical study of the 
 human mind. Although the manners of a peo- 
 ple, the display of their intellectual faculties, 
 the peculiar character stamped on their works, 
 depend on a great number of causes which are 
 not merely local, it is nevertheless true, that the 
 climate, the nature of the soil, the physiognomy 
 of the plants, the view of beautiful or of savage 
 nature, have great influence on the progress of 
 the arts, and on the style which distinguishes 
 their productions. This influence becomes the 
 more perceptible, the farther man is removed 
 from civilization. What a contrast between the 
 architecture of a tribe that has dwelt in vast and 
 gloomy caverns, and that of hordes whose bold 
 monuments recall in the shafts of their columns 
 the towering trunks of the palm trees of the 
 desert ! An accurate knowledge of the origin 
 of the arts can be acquired only from studying 
 the nature of the site where they arose. The 
 only American tribes, among whom we find re- 
 markable monuments, are the inhabitants of 
 mountains. Insolated in the region of the clouds, 
 on the most elevated plains of the Globe, sur- 
 rounded by volcanoes, the craters of which are 
 encircled by eternal snows, they appear to have 
 
41 
 
 admired, in the solitude of their deserts, thoes 
 objects only which strike the imagination by the 
 greatness of their masses ; and their productions 
 bear the stamp of the savage nature of the Cor- 
 dilleras. 
 
 A part of this Atlas is appropriated to sketches 
 of the great scenes of this savage nature. I have 
 been less studious to delineate those, which pro- 
 duce only a picturesque effect, than to give an 
 exact representation of the shapes of the moun- 
 tains, the vallies by which their sides are fur- 
 rowed, and the tremendous cascades formed by 
 the fall of their torrents. The Andes bear the 
 same proportion to the chain of the Alps, as 
 these to the chain of the Pyrenees. Whatever I 
 have beheld of picturesque or awful on the 
 borders of the Saverne, in the north of Ger- 
 many, on the Euganean mountains, the central 
 chain of Europe, or the rapid declivity of the 
 peak of Teneriffe, I have found all assembled 
 in the Cordilleras of the New World. It would 
 require ages to observe these beauties, and dis- 
 cover the wonders which nature has lavished 
 over an extent of two thousand five hundred 
 leagues, from the granitic mountains of the 
 Strait of Magellan to the coasts bordering on 
 the east of Asia. I shall think I have accom- 
 plished my purpose, if the feeble sketches con 
 
42 
 
 tained in this work should lead other travellers, 
 friends of the arts, to visit the regions which I 
 traversed, and to retrace accurately those stu- 
 pendous scenes, to which the Old Continent offers 
 no resemblance. 
 
^ 
 
 H 
 
 Qj 
 
43 
 
 STATUE 
 
 AN AZTECK PRIESTESS, 
 
 PLATES I. & II. 
 
 I have placed at the head of my Picturesque 
 Atlas a valuable relic of Mexican sculpture; 
 a statue in basalt, preserved at Mexico in the ca- 
 binet of a distinguished lover of the arts, M. 
 Dupe, captain in the service of his catholic ma- 
 jesty. This well-informed officer, who in early 
 life improved his taste for the fine arts by a resi- 
 dence in Italy, has made several excursions 
 through New Spain, to investigate the Mexican 
 monuments. He has sketched with great accu- 
 racy the reliefs of the pyramid of Papantla, on 
 which he intended to publish a very curious 
 work. 
 
 The statue, of which both sides are here re- 
 presented in their natural size *, is chiefly re- 
 
 * See the French edition in folio, Plates I and II 
 
44 
 
 markable for a kind of headdress, somewhat re- 
 sembling the veil or calantica of the heads of 
 Isis, the Sphinxes, Antinous, and a great num- 
 ber of other Egyptian statues. It must never- 
 theless be observed, that, in the Egyptian veil, 
 the two ends, which fall below the ears, are ge- 
 nerally very scanty and cross folded. In several 
 statues of the God Apis, in the Museum of the 
 Capitol, the ends are convex in the front, and 
 plaited lengthways, while the back part, that 
 which touches the neck, is constantly flat, and 
 not rounded as in the Mexican headdress. That 
 the greatest analogy exists between this head- 
 dress and the plaited drapery, that encircles the 
 heads incrusted on the pillars of Tentyra, is 
 evident from the accurate drawings, which M. 
 Denon has given in his Travels in Egypt. 
 
 Perhaps the fluted pads, which in the Mexican 
 statue extend towards the shoulders, are masses 
 of hair, like the tresses in a statue of Isis, of 
 Greek workmanship, placed in the library of the 
 Villa Ludovisi at Rome. This singular arrange- 
 ment of the hair is particularly striking on the 
 reverse of the statue, engraved on the second 
 plate, which presents an enormous bag tied in the 
 middle by a knot. The celebrated Zoega, of 
 whom the fine arts have lately been deprived 
 by death, assured me, that he had seen a bag of 
 exactly the same form on a small statue of Osiris 
 in bronze, in the Museum of Cardinal Borgia, 
 
45 
 
 at Veletri. The forehead of the Mexican priest- 
 ess is ornamented with a string of pearls on the 
 edge of a narrow fillet. These pearls, which 
 have never been observed on any Egyptian 
 statue, indicate the communications which ex- 
 isted between the city of Tenochtitlan, ancient 
 Mexico, and the coast of California, where 
 pearls are fished up in great numbers. The neck 
 is covered with a three cornered handkerchief, 
 to which hang twenty-two little balls, or tassels, 
 placed with great symmetry. These tassels, 
 as well as the headdress, are found on a great 
 number of Mexican statues, or bas-reliefs, and 
 in hieroglyphical paintings, and remind us of 
 the small apples and pomegranates on the robes 
 of the high priest of the Hebrews. 
 
 On the front of the statue, and half a deci- 
 metre * from its basis, the toes of the feet are 
 seen on each side, but there are no hands, which 
 indicates the infancy of the art. It seems, from 
 the back front, that the figure is seated, or ra 
 ther squat ; and it is singular, that the eyes in 
 this figure are without eye-balls, which are indi- 
 cated in the bas-reliefs lately discovered at 
 Oaxaca. The basalt of this sculpture is very 
 hard, and of a fine black ; it is the true basalt, 
 with a few grains of peridot, and not Lydian 
 
 * For the correspondence of English with French mea- 
 sures, see the table at the end of the volume. 
 
46 
 
 stone, or porphyry with basis of greenstone, 
 which antiquaries commonly call Egyptian ba- 
 salt. The folds of the headdress, and especially 
 the pearls, are highly finished ; though the 
 artist, destitute of a steel chisel, and with no 
 tools perhaps but those of copper mixed with 
 tin, such as I have brought from Peru, must 
 have encountered great difficulties in the exe- 
 cution. 
 
 This statue has been very accurately drawn, 
 under the inspection of M. Dupe, by a student 
 of the Academy of Painting at Mexico. It is 
 0*38 of a metre in height, and 019 in breadth. 
 I have adopted the denomination of the statue 
 of a priestess, the title which it bears in the 
 country. It may nevertheless represent some 
 Mexican divinity, and have been originally 
 classed among the household gods. The head- 
 dress and pearls found on an idol discovered in 
 the ruins of Tezcuco, and which I deposited in 
 the cabinet of the King of Prussia, at Berlin, 
 give authority to this conjecture. The orna- 
 ment of the neck, and the natural form of the 
 head, render it more probable, that the statue 
 represents simply an Azteck woman. On this 
 last supposition, the fluted pads, which extend 
 toward the breast, cannot be tresses ; since the 
 virgins, who devoted themselves to the service of 
 the temple, were shorn by the high priest, or 
 tepanteohuatzin. 
 
47 
 
 A slight resemblance between the calantica of 
 the heads of Isis, and the Mexican headdress ; 
 the pyramids with terrasses, like those of Fa- 
 youm, and of Sakharah ; the frequent use of 
 hieroglyphical painting ; the five complementary 
 days added to the end of the Mexican year, 
 similar to the epagomena of the Memphian year ; 
 exhibit very remarkable points of comparison 
 between the people of the Old and the New 
 Continent. We are nevertheless very far from 
 indulging in hypotheses, which would be as 
 vague and uncertain as those which make 
 the Chinese a colony from Egypt, and the Bis- 
 cayan language a dialect of the Hebrew. 
 These analogies for the most part disappear, 
 when the facts are examined separately. The 
 Mexican year, for instance, notwithstanding the 
 epagomena, differs entirely from that of the 
 Egyptians. An illustrious geometrician *, who 
 examined the fragments which I brought to Eu- 
 rope, found by the Mexican intercalation, that 
 the duration of the tropical year of the Aztecks 
 is almost identical with the duration found by 
 the astronomers of Almamon. 
 
 If we go back to the early ages, history marks 
 several central points of civilization, of the mu- 
 tual relations of which we are ignorant ; such 
 
 * La Place, Exposition du Systerae du Monde, 3 e ed. p. 
 554. 
 
48 
 
 as Meroe, Egypt, the banks of the Euphrates, 
 Hindostan, and China. The elevated plains of 
 Central Asia have no doubt given birth to sys- 
 tems of knowledge still more remote, and per- 
 haps to the reflection of that light we may be 
 led to attribute the commencement of American 
 civilization. 
 
49 
 
 VIEW 
 
 GREAT SQUARE OF MEXICO. 
 
 PLATE III. 
 
 The city of Tenochtitlan, the capital of Ana- 
 huac, founded in the year 1325, on a small group 
 of islands, situate on the western part of the salt 
 lake of Tezcuco, was totally destroyed during 
 the siege carried on by the Spaniards in 1521, 
 which lasted seventy-five days. The new city, 
 which contains nearly 140,000 inhabitants, was 
 rebuilt by Cortez on the ruins of the old. The 
 streets were ranged in the same lines, but the 
 canals, which crossed the streets, were filled up 
 by degrees ; and Mexico, greatly embellished by 
 the Viceroy, count of Revillagigedo, may at 
 present vie with the finest towns of Europe. 
 The great square, represented in the third plate, 
 is the spot on which formerly stood the spacious 
 temple of Mexitli ; which, like all the teocalU, 
 or houses of the Mexican divinities, was a pyra- 
 VOL. xiri. E 
 
50 
 
 nridal edifice, resembling the Babylonian monu- 
 ment dedicated to Jupiter Belus. The palace 
 of the Viceroy of New Spain is on the right ; a 
 building of simple architecture, belonging origi- 
 nally to the family of Cortez, which is that of the 
 Marquis del Valle de Oaxaca, Duke of Monte- 
 leone. In the middle of the engraving is the 
 cathedral, part of which (el sagrario) is in the 
 ancient Indian or Moorish style, vulgarly called 
 Gothic. Behind the cupola of the sagrario, at 
 the corner of the street Del Indio Triste and 
 that of Tacuba, stood formerly the palace of the 
 King of Axajacatl, where Montezuma lodged 
 the Spaniards on their arrival at Tenochtitlan. 
 The palace of Montezuma was on the right of 
 the cathedral, opposite that of the present Vice- 
 roy. It appears to me useful to point out these 
 localities, since they may be interesting to those, 
 who study the history of the conquest of Mexico. 
 The Plaza Mayor, which must not be con- 
 founded with the great market of Tlatelolco, 
 described by Cortez in his letters to the Emperor 
 Charles the Fifth, is ornamented, since 1803, 
 with the equestrian statue of Charles the Fourth, 
 executed at the expense of the Viceroy, the 
 Marquis of Branciforte. This statue of bronze 
 is in the purest style, and highly finished ; it was 
 drawn, modelled, cast, and erected by the same 
 artist, Don Manuel Tolsa, a native of Valentia in 
 Spain, and director of the class of sculpture in 
 
51 
 
 the academy of the fine arts at Mexico. We 
 know not which most to admire, the talents of 
 this artist, or the courage and perseverance 
 which he displayed in a country where every 
 thing was to be created, and numberless ob- 
 stacles to be surmounted. This capital work 
 succeeded on the first cast. The statue weighs 
 nearly twenty-three thousand kilogrammes, and 
 it is two decimetres higher than the equestrian 
 statue of Lewis the fourteenth, which stood in 
 the place Vendome at Paris. The artist had 
 the good taste not to gild the horse, which is 
 simply coated with a brownish olive varnish. 
 As the buildings around the square are in ge- 
 neral not lofty, the sky forms the back ground to 
 the statue ; a circumstance which, on the ridge 
 of the Cordilleras, where the atmosphere is of a 
 deep blue, produces a very picturesque effect. I 
 was at Mexico when this enormous mass was re- 
 moved from the foundery to the Plaza Mayor, a 
 distance of about sixteen hundred metres, which 
 it took five days to accomplish. The means em- 
 ployed by Mr. Tolsa to raise it on a pedestal of a 
 beautiful Mexican marble were very ingenious, 
 and would deserve a minute description. 
 
 The great square of Mexico is at present of 
 an irregular form, since that which contains the 
 shops of the Parian has been built within it, con- 
 trary to the plan of Cortez. To correct the ap- 
 pearance of this irregularity, it has been thought 
 
 e2 
 
52 
 
 necessary, to place the equestrian statue, which 
 the Indians call the great horse, in a particular 
 enclosure, paved with large slabs of porphyry, 
 and raised more than fifteen decimetres above the 
 level of the adjacent streets. The oval, the great 
 axis of which is a hundred metres, is encircled by 
 four fountains, and closed, to the great discontent 
 of the natives, by four gates, the bars of which 
 are ornamented in bronze. The engraving is a 
 faithful copy of a drawing on a larger scale by 
 Mr. Ximeno, a distinguished artist, and director 
 of the class ofpaintinginthe academy of Mexico. 
 The figures in the drawing placed beyond the 
 enclosure, are in the dress of the Guachinangoes, 
 or lower class of the Mexican people *. 
 
 * See ray Political Essay on the Kingdom of New-Spaia, 
 French edition, pages 119, 168, 177, and 186. 
 
/,/////>/ / . /r , 'r'\/r.> ,■/ ■ ' ■ 
 
 
 &&?byZimp7TumJ!cr3tJla&, itrms tjhvwn Au.i 'jj.Iij. 
 
53 
 
 NATURAL BRIDGES 
 
 ICONONZO, 
 
 PLATE IV. 
 
 Amidst the majestic and varied scenery of the 
 Cordilleras, the vallies most powerfully affect 
 the imagination of the European traveller. The 
 stupendous height ol the mountains can be dis- 
 cerned only at a considerable distance, aud from 
 the low lands which extend along the coasts to 
 the foot of the central chain. The elevated 
 plains, which encircle the summits of these moun- 
 tains covered with perpetual snow, are for the 
 most part from two thousand five hundred to 
 three thousand metres above the level of the 
 ocean. This circumstance weakens in some 
 measure the effect produced by the colossal 
 masses of Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, and Antisana, 
 viewed from the lofty plains of Riobamba and 
 Quito : while, on the contrary, the vallies of the 
 Cordilleras, deeper and narrower than those of 
 
54 
 
 the Alps and the Pyrenees, present scenes of the 
 wildest aspect, and fill the soul with astonish- 
 ment and terror. These vallies are crevices, the 
 sides and bottom of which are clothed with 
 vigorous vegetation ; and the depth in many 
 parts is so great, that were Vesuvius and the 
 Puy de Dome seated in these abysses, their 
 summits would not exceed the ridge of the 
 nearest mountains. M. Ramond's interesting 
 travels have made us acquainted with the valley 
 of Ordesa, which descends from Mount Perdu, 
 and the mean depth of which is nearly nine 
 hundred metres (four hundred and fifty-nine 
 toises). In travelling on the ridge of the Andes, 
 from Pasto to the town of Ibarra, and descending 
 from Loxa to the banks of the river of Amazons, 
 M. Bonpland and myself traversed the well- 
 known crevices of Chota and Cutaco, which on 
 measuring I found to be, one fifteen hundred, 
 and the other thirteen hundred metres in perpen- 
 dicular depth. To give a more complete idea 
 of the grandeur of these geological phenomena, 
 it must be remarked, that the bottom of these 
 crevices is only a fourth part less elevated above 
 the level of the sea, than the passages of St. 
 Gothard and Mount Cenis. The valley of 
 Icononzo, or Pandi, part of which is represented 
 in the fourth plate, is less remarkable for its di- 
 mensions, than for the singular form of its rocks, 
 which seem to have been carved bv the hand of 
 
55 
 
 man. Their naked and barren summits present 
 the most picturesque contrast with the tufts of 
 trees and shrubs, which cover the brinks of the 
 crevice. The small torrent, which has made 
 itself a passage through the valley of Icononzo, 
 is called Rio de la Summa Paz, and falls from 
 the eastern chain of the Andes, which, in the 
 kingdom of New Grenada, divides the basin of 
 the river Magdalena from the vast plains of the 
 Meta, the Guaviare, and the Orinoco. This 
 torrent confined in a bed almost inaccessible, 
 could not have been crossed but with extreme 
 difficulty, if nature had not provided two bridges 
 of rocks, which are justly considered in the 
 country as among the objects most worthy the 
 attention of travellers. In the month of Sep- 
 tember, 1801, we passed these natural bridges of 
 Icononzo, on our journey from Santa Fe de 
 Bogota to Popayan and Quito. 
 
 The name of Icononzo is that of an ancient 
 village of the Muysco Indians, situate at the 
 southern extremity of the valley, of which 
 only a few scattered huts now remain. The 
 nearest inhabited place to this remarkable spot 
 is the small village of Pandi, or Mercadillo, at 
 the distance of a quarter of a league toward the 
 north-east. The road from Santa Fe to Fusa- 
 gasuga, (lat. 4° 20' 21" north ; long. 5 h T 14"), 
 and thence to Pandi, is one of the most difficult 
 and least frequented to be found in the Cordil- 
 
5(> 
 
 Leras. The traveller must feel a passionate en- 
 thusiasm for the beauties of nature, who prefers 
 the dangerous descent of the desert of San For- 
 tunato, and the mountains of Fusagasuga, lead- 
 ing towards the natural bridges of Icononzo, to 
 the usual road from the elevated plain of Bogota, 
 by the Mesa de Juan Diaz to the banks of the 
 Magdalena. 
 
 The deep crevice through which rushes the 
 torrent of the Summa Paz, is in the centre of 
 the valley of Pandi. Near the bridge the waters 
 keep their direction from east to west, during a 
 length of four thousand metres. The river forms 
 two beautiful cascades at the point where it enters 
 the crevice on the west of Doa, and where it 
 escapes in its descent towards Melgar. This 
 crevice was probably formed by an earthquake, 
 and resembles an enormous vein, from which the 
 mineral substance has been extracted by the 
 labor of miners. The neighbouring mountains 
 are of gritstone, with a clay cement ; this forma- 
 tion, which reposes on the primitive schists 
 (thonschiefer) of Villeta, extends from the moun- 
 tain of rock salt of Zipaquira to the basin of the 
 river Magdalena. This mountain contains also 
 the strata of coal of Canoas, or Chipa, which 
 are worked near the great fall of Tequendama *. 
 
 In the valley of Icononzo, the gritstone (sand- 
 
 * See Plate VF, French folio edition. 
 
57 
 
 stein) is composed of two distinct rocks ; one, 
 extremely compact and quartzose, with a small 
 portion of cement, and scarcely any fissures of 
 stratification, lies on a schistose gritstone (sand- 
 steinschiefer) , with a fine grain, and divided 
 into an infinite number of small strata, ex- 
 tremely thin, and almost horizontal. It is pro- 
 bable, that the compact and quartzose stratum, 
 when the crevice was formed, resisted the shock 
 which rent these mountains ; and that it is the 
 continuity of this stratum, which serves as a 
 bridge to cross from one side of this valley to the 
 other. This natural arch is fourteen metres and a 
 half in length, and twelve metres seven decime- 
 tres in breadth : its thickness in the centre is two 
 metres four decimetres. Experiments carefully 
 made on the fall of bodies, and with a chro- 
 nometer by Berthoud, gave us ninety-seven 
 metres seven decimetres for the height of the 
 upper bridge above the level of the waters of the 
 torrent. A well informed person, who has an 
 agreeable country residence in the beautiful 
 valley of Fusagasaga, Don Jorge Lozano, had 
 already measured this height with a line, and 
 found it to be one hundred and twelve varas 
 (93'4 m ) ; the mean depth of the torrent appears 
 to be about rix metres. The Indians of Pandi 
 have formed, for the safety of travellers, who, 
 however, seldom visit this desert country, a 
 
58 
 
 small balustrade of reeds, which extends along 
 the road leading to the upper bridge. 
 
 Sixty feet below this natural bridge is another, 
 to which we are led by a narrow pathway, which 
 descends upon the brink of the crevice. Three 
 enormous masses of rock are fallen so as to 
 support each other. That in the middle forms 
 the key of the arch ; an accident which might 
 have given the natives the idea of arches in 
 masonry, unknown to the people of the new 
 world, as well as to the ancient inhabitants of 
 Egypt. I shall not decide the question whether 
 these masses of rock have been projected from a 
 great distance, or whether they are the frag- 
 ments of an arch broken on the spot, but origi- 
 nally like the upper natural bridge. The latter 
 conjecture seems probable, from a similar event 
 which happened to the Coliseum at Rome, 
 where, in a half ruined wall, several stones were 
 stopped in their descent, because in falling 
 they accidentally formed an arch. 
 
 In the middle of the second bridge of Ico- 
 nonzo is a hollow of more than eight metres 
 square, through which the bottom of the abyss is 
 perceived. We there made our experiments on 
 the fall of bodies. The torrent seems to flow 
 through a dark cavern, whence arises a lugubri- 
 ous noise, caused by the numberless flights of 
 nocturnal birds that haunt the crevice, and 
 
59 
 
 which we were led at first to mistake for those 
 bats of gigantic size so well known in the equi- 
 noctial regions. Thousands of them are seen 
 flying over the surface of the water. The In- 
 dians assured us, that these birds are of the size 
 of a fowl, with a curved beak and an owl's eye. 
 They are called cacas ; and the uniform colour 
 of their plumage, which is a brownish gray, leads 
 me to think, that they belong to the genus of the 
 caprimulgus, the species of which are so various 
 in the Cordilleras. It is impossible to catch 
 them, on account of the depth of the valley ; and 
 they can be examined only by throwing down 
 rockets to illumine the sides of the crevice. 
 
 The height of the natural bridge of Icononzo 
 above the ocean is eight hundred and ninety- 
 three metres. A phenomenon, similar to the 
 upper bridge, of which we have just given the 
 description, exists in the mountains of Virginia, 
 in the county of Rockbridge. This Mr. Jeffer- 
 son has examined with an attention, that distin- 
 guishes all the observations of that excellent 
 naturalist *. The natural bridge of Cedar 
 Creek in Virginia is a calcareous arch of twenty- 
 seven metres at its opening ; its height above 
 the waters of the river is seventy metres. 
 
 The earthen bridge (Rumichaca), which we 
 found on the declivity of the porphyritic moun- 
 
 * Notes on Virginia, p. 86. 
 
so 
 
 tains of Chumban, in the province of Los Pastos; 
 the bridge of Madre de Dios, called Danto, near 
 Totonilco, in Mexico; the pierced rock near 
 Grandola, in the province of Alentejo, in Por- 
 tugal ; are geological phenomena, which bear 
 some resemblance to the bridge of Icononzo: 
 but I doubt whether in any part of the Globe a 
 phenomenon has been discovered so extraordi- 
 nary as that of the three masses of rocks, which 
 support each other by forming a natural arch. 
 
 I sketched the natural bridges of Icononzo 
 from the northern part of the valley, with a side 
 view of the arch. The first proofs of this plate 
 indicate erroneously Mr. Gmelin of Rome as the 
 engraver, instead of M. Bouquet of Paris. 
 
61 
 
 PASSAGE OF QUINDIU, 
 
 CORDILLERA OF THE ANDES. 
 
 PLATE V. 
 
 In the kingdom of New Grenada, from 2° 30 
 to 5° 15' of northern latitude, the Cordillera of 
 the Andes is divided into three parallel chains, 
 of which the two lateral only are covered at very 
 considerable heights with gritstone, and other 
 secondary formations. The eastern chain di- 
 vides the valley of the river Magdalena from the 
 plains of Rio Meta. The natural bridges of 
 Icononzo, of which we have just given the de- 
 scription, are situate on its western declivity. 
 Its highest summits are the Paramo de la Summa 
 Paz, and that of Chingasa. Neither of these 
 attains the region of perpetual snows. The 
 central chain divides the waters between the 
 basin of the river Magdalena and that of Rio 
 Cauca. It often attains the limits of the per- 
 petual snows, and greatly surpasses it in the 
 
62 
 
 colossal summits of Guanacas, Baragan, and 
 Quindiu. At the rising and setting of the Sun, 
 this central chain offers a magnificent spectacle 
 to the inhabitants of Santa Fe ; and reminds us, 
 though on a much more stupendous scale, of the 
 view of the Alps in Switzerland. 
 
 The western chain of the Andes separates the 
 valley of Cauca from the province of Choco, and 
 the coasts of the South Sea. Its elevation is 
 scarcely fifteen hundred metres ; it sinks so low 
 between the sources of the Rio Atracto, and 
 those of Rio San-Juan, that we can scarcely 
 follow its course into the isthmus of Panama. 
 
 These three chains of mountains are blended 
 together in the sixth and seventh degrees of 
 north latitude. They form a single group to the 
 south of Popayan, in the province of Pasto. We 
 must not, however, confound them with the 
 division of the Cordilleras observed by Bouguer 
 and La Condamine in the kingdom of Quito, 
 from the equator to the second degree of south 
 latitude. 
 
 The city of Santa Fe de Bogota is situate on 
 the west of the Paramo of Chingasa, in an ele- 
 vated plain, which is two thousand six hundred 
 and fifty metres above the level of the sea, and 
 which extends to the ridge of the eastern Cordil- 
 leras. This particular structure of the Andes 
 obliges the traveller from Santa Fe to Popayan 
 and the banks of the Cauca, to descend the 
 
63 
 
 eastern chain, either by the Mesa and Tocayma, 
 or the natural bridges of Icononzo, traverse the 
 valley of the river Magdalena, and cross the 
 central chain. The most frequented passage is 
 that of the Paramo de Guanacas, described by 
 Bouguer, on his return from Quito to Cartha- 
 gena. Pursuing this road the traveller crosses 
 the ridge of the central Cordilleras in a single 
 day, and amidst an inhabited country. We 
 preferred the passage of the mountain of Quindiu, 
 or Quindio, between the cities of Ibague and 
 Carthago, the entrance of which passage is re- 
 presented in the fifth plate *. These geogra- 
 phical explanations seemed necessary to give a 
 clear idea of the position of a place, which is 
 not to be found in the most accurate charts of 
 South America, even in that of La Cruz. 
 
 The mountain of Quindiu, (lat. 4° 36', long. 
 5 h 12') is considered as the most difficult pas- 
 sage in the Cordilleras of the Andes. It is a 
 thick uninhabited forest, which in the finest 
 season cannot be traversed in less than ten or 
 twelve days. Not even a hut is to be seen, nor 
 can any means of subsistence be found. Tra- 
 vellers at all times of the year furnish themselves 
 with a month's provision, since it often happens, 
 that by the melting of the snows, and the sudden 
 
 * See Plate V, folio edition. 
 
64 
 
 swell of the torrents, they find themselves so cir- 
 cumstanced, that they can descend neither on 
 the side of Carthago, nor that of Ibague. The 
 highest point of the road, the Garito del Paramo, 
 is three thousand five hundred and five metres 
 above the level of the sea. As the foot of the 
 mountain, towards the banks of the Cauca, is 
 only nine hundred and sixty metres, the climate 
 there is in general mild and temperate. The 
 pathway, which forms the passage of the Cor- 
 dilleras, is only three or four decimetres in 
 breadth, and has the appearance in several places 
 of a gallery dug, and left open to the sky. In 
 this part of the Andes, as almost in every other, 
 the rock is covered with a thick stratum of clay. 
 The streamlets, which flow down the mountains, 
 have hollowed out gullies six or seven metres 
 deep. Along these crevices, which are full of 
 mud, the traveller is forced to grope his passage; 
 the darkness of which is increased by the thick 
 vegetation, that covers the opening above. The 
 oxen, which are the beasts of burden commonly 
 made use of in this country, can scarcely force 
 their way through these galleries, some of which 
 are two thousand metres in length ; and if per- 
 chance the traveller meets them in one of these 
 passages he finds no means of avoiding them, 
 but by turning back, and climbing the earthen 
 wall, which borders the crevice, and keeping 
 
65 
 
 himself suspended, by laying hold of the roots, 
 which penetrate to this depth from the surface of 
 the ground. 
 
 We traversed the mountain of Quindiu in the 
 month of October, 1801, on foot, followed by 
 twelve oxen, which carried our collections and 
 instruments, amidst a deluge of rain, to which 
 we were exposed during the last three or four 
 days, in our descent on the western side of the 
 Cordilleras. The road passes through a coun- 
 try full of bogs, and covered with bamboos. 
 Our shoes were so torn by the prickles, which 
 shoot out from the roots of these gigantic gra- 
 mina, that we were forced like all other travel- 
 lers, who dislike being carried on men's backs 
 to go barefooted. This circumstance, the con- 
 tinual humidity, the length of the passage, the 
 muscular force required to tread in a thick and 
 muddy clay, the necessity of fording deep tor- 
 rents of icy water, render this journey extremely 
 fatiguing : but, however painful, it is accom- 
 panied by none of those dangers, with which the 
 credulity of the people alarm travellers. The 
 road is narrow, but the places where it skirts 
 precipices are very rare. As the oxen are ac- 
 customed to put their feet in the same tracks, 
 they form small furrows across the road, sepa- 
 rated from each other by narrow ridges of earth. 
 In very rainy seasons, these ridges are covered 
 by water, which renders the traveller's step 
 
 VOL. XIII. f 
 
6G 
 
 doubly uncertain, since he knows not whethar 
 he places his foot on the ridge, or in the furrow. 
 As few persons in easy circumstances travel on 
 foot, in these climates, through roads so difficult, 
 during fifteen or twenty days together, they are 
 carried by men in a chair, tied on their back ; for 
 iti the present state of the passage of Quindiu, it 
 would be impossible to go on mules. They talk 
 in this country of going on a man's back (andar 
 en carguero), as we mention going on horse- 
 back, no humiliating idea is annexed to the 
 trade of cargueroes ; and the men who follow 
 this occupation are not Indians, but mulattoes, 
 and sometimes even whites. It is often curious 
 to hear these men, with scarcely any covering, 
 and following a profession which we should con- 
 sider so disgraceful, quarrelling in the midst of a 
 forest, because one has refused the other, who 
 pretends to have a whiter skin, the pompous title 
 of don, or of su merced. The usual load of 
 a carguero is six or seven arrobas (from seventy- 
 five to eighty-eight kilogrammes *) : those who 
 are very strong, carry as much us nine arrobas. 
 When we reflect on the enormous fatigue, to 
 which these miserable men are exposed, jour- 
 neying eight or nine hours a day over a moun- 
 tainous country, when we know, that their 
 
 * For the correspondent English and French weights, see 
 he I able at the end of the volume. 
 
67 
 
 backs are sometimes as raw as those of beasts of 
 burden, and that travellers have often the cruelty 
 to leave them in the forests, when they fall sick ; 
 that they earn by a journey from Ibague to 
 Carthago only twelve or fourteen piastres (sixty 
 or seventy francs) in a space of fifteen, and 
 sometimes even twenty-five or thirty days ; we 
 are at a loss to conceive, how this employment 
 of a carguero, one of the most painful which can 
 be undertaken by man, is eagerly embraced by 
 all the robust young men, who live at the foot of 
 the mountains. The taste for a wandering and 
 vagabond life, the idea of a certain independ- 
 ence amidst forests, leads them to prefer this em- 
 ployment to the sedentary and monotonous la- 
 bour of cities. 
 
 The passage of the mountain of Quindiu is 
 not the only part of South America, which is 
 traversed on the backs of men. The whole of 
 the province of Antioquia is surrounded by 
 mountains so difficult to pass, that they who 
 dislike entrusting themselves to the skill of a 
 carrier, and who are not strong enough to travel 
 on foot from Santa Fe" de Antioquia to Bocca de 
 Nares, or Rio Samana, must relinquish all 
 thoughts of leaving the country. I> was ac- 
 quainted with an inhabitant of this province, so 
 immensely bulky, that he had not met with 
 more than two mulattoes capable of carrying 
 him ; and it would have been impossible for him 
 
 f2 
 
68 
 
 f 
 to return home, if these two carriers had died, 
 
 while he was on the banks of the Magdalena, at 
 Mompox or Honda. The number of young 
 men, who undertake the employment of beasts 
 of burden at Choco, Ibague, and Medellin, is 
 so considerable, that we sometimes met a file of 
 fifty or sixty. A few years ago, when a project 
 was formed to make the passage from Nares to 
 Antioquia passable for mules, the cargueroes pre- 
 sented formal remonstrances against mending 
 the road, and the government was weak enough 
 to yield to their clamours. We may here ob- 
 serve, that a class of men near the mines of 
 Mexico have no other employment, than that of 
 carrying other men on their backs. In these 
 climates the indolence of the whites is so great, 
 that every director of a mine has one or two 
 Indians at his service, who are called his horses 
 (cavallitoes), because they are saddled every 
 morning, and, supported by a small cane, and 
 bending forwards, they carry their master from 
 one part of the mine to another. Among the 
 cavallitoes, or cargueroes, those who have a sure 
 foot and easy step are known and recommended 
 to travellers. It is distressing to hear the quali- 
 ties of man spoken of in terms, by which we are 
 accustomed to denote the gait of mules and 
 horses. The persons who are carried in a chair 
 by a carguero must remain several hours mo- 
 tionless, and leaning backwards ; the least mo- 
 
09 
 
 tion is sufficient to throw down the carrier, and 
 his fall would be so much the more dangerous, 
 as the carguero, too confident in his skill, 
 chooses the most rapid declivities, or crosses a 
 torrent on a narrow and slippery trunk of a tree. 
 These accidents are however rare, and those 
 which happen must be attributed to the impru- 
 dence of travellers, who, frightened at a false 
 step of the carguero, leap down from their 
 chairs. 
 
 The fifth plate represents a very picturesque 
 view, seen at the entrance of the mountain of 
 Quindiu, near Ibague, at a post called the foot 
 of the Cuesta. The truncated cone of Tolima, 
 covered with perpetual snow, and reminding us 
 by its form of Cotopaxi and Cayambe, appears 
 above the mass of granitic rocks. The small 
 river of Combeima, which mingles its waters 
 with those of Rio Cuello, winds in a narrow 
 valley, and forces its way across a thicket of 
 palm trees. A part of the town of Ibague, the 
 great valley of the river Magdalena, and the 
 eastern chain of the Andes, are seen in the 
 back ground. In the fore ground is a band of 
 cargueroes coming up the mountain, representing 
 the mode of fastening on the shoulders the chair 
 made of bamboo wood, which is steadied by a 
 headstall similar to that worn by horses and 
 oxen. The roll in the hand of the third car 
 guero is the roof, or rather movable house, 
 
70 
 
 which is to shelter the travellers who cross the 
 forests of Quindiu. When they search Ibague, 
 and prepare for the journey, they pluck in the 
 neighbouring mountains several hundred leaves 
 of the vijao, a plant of the family of the bananas, 
 which forms a genus approaching the thalia, 
 and which must not be confounded with the 
 heliconia bihai. These leaves, which are 
 membranous and silky, like those of the musa, 
 are of an oval form, fifty-four centimetres 
 (twenty inches) long, and thirty-seven centi- 
 metres (fourteen inches) in breadth. Their lower 
 surface is a silvery white, and covered with a 
 farinaceous substance, which falls off in scales. 
 This peculiar varnish enables them to resist the 
 rain during a long time. In gathering these 
 leaves, an incision is made in the middle rib, 
 which is the continuation of the foot-stalk ; and 
 this serves as a hook to suspend them, when the 
 movable roof is formed. On taking it down, 
 they are spread out and carefully rolled up in a 
 cylindrical bundle. It requires about a hundred 
 weight of leaves (50 kilogrammes) to cover a 
 hut large enough to hold six or eight persons. 
 When the travellers reach a spot in the midst of 
 the forests, where the ground is dry, and where 
 they propose to pass the night, the cargueroes lop 
 a few branches from the trees, with which they 
 make a tent. In a few minutes this slight tim- 
 ber work is divided into squares by the stalks of 
 
71 
 
 some climbing- plant, or threads of the agave, 
 placed in parallel lines three or four decimetres 
 from each other. The vijao leaves meanwhile 
 have been unrolled, and are now spread over the 
 above work, so as to cover each other like the 
 tiles of a house. These huts thus hastily built, 
 are cool and commodious. If during the night 
 the traveller feels the rain, he points out the 
 spot where it enters, and a single leaf is sufficient 
 to obviate the inconvenience. We passed 
 several days in the valley of Boquia under one 
 of these leafy tents, which was perfectly dry 
 amidst violent and incessant rains. 
 
 The mountain of Quindiu is one of the richest 
 spots in useful and interesting plants. Here we 
 found the palm-tree (ceroxylon andicola), the 
 trunk of which is covered with vegetable wax ; 
 the passiflora in trees ; and the majestic mutisia 
 grandiflora, with flowers of a scarlet colour six- 
 teen centimetres (six inches long). 
 
72 
 
 FALL OF THE TEQUENDAMA. 
 
 PLATE VI. 
 
 The elevated plain, on which stands the city of 
 Santa Fe de Bogota, resembles in a variety of 
 circumstances that which is surrounded by the 
 Mexican lakes. Each of these plains is higher 
 than the summit of St. Bernard, the first being- 
 two thousand six hundred and sixty, and the 
 second two thousand two hundred and seventy- 
 seven metres above the level of the ocean. The 
 valley of Mexico is bounded by a circular wall 
 of mountains of porphyry, and its centre is co- 
 vered with water : for the numerous torrents, 
 which rush into the valley, found no outlet, 
 until the Europeans had dug the canal of Hue- 
 huetoca. The plain of Bogota is also encircled 
 by lofty mountains ; and the perfect level of the 
 soil, its geologial structure, the form of the 
 rocks of Suba and Facatativa, which rise like 
 small islands in the midst of the savannahs, seem 
 all to indicate the existence of an ancient lake. 
 The river of Funzha, usually called Rio de 
 
73 
 
 Bogota, into which flow the waters of the valley, 
 forced its way through the mountains to the 
 south-west of Santa Fe\ Near the farm of . 
 Tequendama, this river rushes from the plain by 
 a narrow outlet into a crevice, which descends 
 towards the basin of the river Magdalena. 
 Were an attempt made to close this passage, 
 which is the sole opening out of the valley of 
 Bogota, these fertile plains would gradually be 
 converted into a sheet of water like the Mexican 
 lake. 
 
 It is easy to perceive the influence of these 
 geological facts on the traditions of the ancient 
 inhabitants of these countries. We shall not 
 decide, whether merely from the aspect of the 
 country a people not far removed from civiliza- 
 tion were led to form hypotheses on the first re- 
 volutions of the Globe ; or whether the great 
 inundations of the valley of Bogota were suffi- 
 ciently recent, to have left traces on the memory 
 of men. Historical traditions are every where 
 blended with religious opinions ; and it may not 
 be uninteresting in this place to mention those, 
 which the conqueror of this country, Gonzalo 
 Ximenes de Quesada, found disseminated among 
 the Muyscas, Panchas, and Natagaymas, when 
 he first penetrated into the mountains of Cundi- 
 namarca *. 
 
 * See Lucas Fernandez Piedrahita, Obispo de Panama, 
 
74 
 
 In the remotest times, before the Moon accom- 
 panied the Earth, according- to the mythology of 
 the Muysca or Mozca Indians, the inhabitants of 
 the plain of Bogota lived like barbarians, naked, 
 without agriculture, without any form of laws or 
 worship. Suddenly appeared among them an 
 old man, who came from the plains situate on 
 the east of the Cordillera of Chingasa ; and who 
 appeared to be of a race unlike that of the natives, 
 having a long and bushy beard. He was known 
 by three distinct appellations, Bochica, Nem- 
 quetheba, and Zuhe. This old man, like 
 Manco-Capac, instructed men how to clothe 
 themselves, build huts, till the ground, and form 
 themselves into communities. He brought with 
 him a woman, to whom also tradition gives three 
 names, Chia, Yubecayguaya, and Huythaca. 
 This woman, extremely beautiful, and no less 
 malignant, thwarted every enterprise of her 
 husband for the happiness of mankind. By her 
 skill in magic, she SAvelled the river of Funzha, 
 and inundated the valley of Bogota. The 
 greater part of the inhabitants perished in this 
 deluge ; a few only found refuge on the summits 
 of the neighbouring mountains. The old man, 
 in anger, drove the beautiful Huythaca far from 
 the Earth, and she became the Moon, which 
 
 Iiistoi ia general del uuevo Rcyno de Grenada, page 17; a 
 work eomposed from the Mss. of Quesada. 
 
75 
 
 began from that epocha to enlighten our planet 
 during the night. Bochica, moved with com- 
 passion for those who were dispersed over the 
 mountains, broke with his powerful arm the 
 rocks that enclosed the valley, on the side of 
 Canoas and Tequendama. By this outlet he 
 drained the waters of the lake of Bogota; he built 
 towns, introduced the worship of the Sun, named 
 two chiefs, between whom he divided the civil 
 and ecclesiastical authority, and then withdrew 
 himself, under the name of Idacanzas, into the 
 holy valley of Iraca, near Tunja, where he lived 
 in the exercise of the most austere penitence for 
 the space of two thousand years. 
 
 This Indian fable, which attributes the cata- 
 ract of Tequendama to the founder of the empire 
 of Zaque, contains a number of peculiarities, 
 which we find scattered in the religious tradi- 
 tions of several nations of the old continent. 
 The good and evil principle here seem to be 
 personified in the old man Bochica and his wife 
 Huythaca. The remote period when the Moon 
 did not exist, reminds us of the boast of the 
 Arcadians on the antiquity of their origin. The 
 planet of the night is represented as a malignant 
 being, augmenting the humidity of the Earth ; 
 while Bochica, child of the Sun, dries the soil, 
 promotes agriculture, and becomes the benefac- 
 tor of the Muyscas, as the first Inca was that of 
 the Peruvians. 
 
76 
 
 The traveller, who views the tremendous sce- 
 nery of the cataract of Tequendama, will not be 
 surprised, that rude tribes should have attributed 
 a miraculous origin to rocks, which seem to have 
 been cut by the hand of man ; to that narrow 
 gulf, into which falls headlong the mass of 
 waters that issue from the valley of Bogota ; to 
 those rainbows reflecting the most vivid colours, 
 and of which the forms vary every instant ; to 
 that column of vapour, rising like a thick cloud, 
 and seen at five leagues distance from the walks 
 around Santa Fe. The sixth plate can give 
 but a very feeble idea of this majestic spectacle. 
 If it be difficult to describe the beauties of cata- 
 racts, it is still more difficult to make them felt 
 by the aid of the pencil. The impression they 
 leave on the mind of the observer depends on the 
 concurrence of a variety of circumstances. The 
 volume of water must be proportioned to the 
 height of the fall, and the scenery around must 
 wear a wild and romantic aspect. The Pisse- 
 vache and the Staubbach, in Switzerland, are 
 lofty, but their masses of water are not very 
 considerable. The Niagara and the fall of the 
 Rhine, on the contrary, furnish an enormous 
 volume of water, but their height is not above 
 fifty metres. A cataract surrounded by hills 
 only produces far less effect, than the falls of 
 water which rush into the profound and narrow 
 vallies of the Alps, the Pyrenees, and, above all, 
 
77 
 
 the Cordilleras of the Andes. Independent of 
 the height and mass of the column of water, the 
 figure of the landscape, and the aspect of the 
 rocks ; it is the luxuriant form of the trees and 
 herbaceous plants, their distribution into groups, 
 or into scattered thickets, the contrast of those 
 craggy precipices and the freshness of vegeta- 
 tion, which stamp a peculiar character on these 
 great scenes of nature. The fall of Niagara, 
 placed beneath a northern sky, in the region of 
 pines and oaks, would be still more beautiful, 
 were its drapery composed of heliconias, palms, 
 and arborescent ferns. The cataract of Tequen- 
 dama forms an assemblage of every thing that is 
 sublimely picturesque in beautiful scenery. 
 This fall is not however, as it is commonly be- 
 lieved to be in the country, and repeated by 
 naturalists in Europe, the loftiest cataract on the 
 Globe: the river does not rush, as Bouguer 
 relates, into a gulf of five or six hundred metres 
 of perpendicular depth ; but there scarcely exists 
 a cataract, which from so lofty a height preci- 
 pitates so voluminous a mass of waters. The 
 Rio de Bogota, after replenishing the marshes 
 between the village of Facatativa and Fontibon, 
 is still forty-four metres broad at Canoas, a little 
 above the fall ; which is half the breadth of the 
 Seine at Paris, between the Louvre and the 
 Palace of the Arts. The river narrows consi- 
 derably near its fall, where the crevice, which 
 
78 
 
 appears to have been formed by an earthquake, 
 js only ten or twelve metres wide. In very dry 
 seasons, the volume of water, which, at a double 
 bound, falls to a depth of a hundred and seventy- 
 five metres, still presents a side view of ninety 
 square metres. The two figures of men, repre- 
 sented in the drawing-, serve as a scale of the 
 total height of the fall. The point where these 
 men are placed, on the upper bank, is two thou- 
 sand four hundred and sixty-seven metres above 
 the level of the ocean. From this point to the 
 river Magdalena, the small river of Bogota, 
 called at the foot of the cataract Rio de la 
 Mesa, Rio de Tocayma, or Rio del Collegio, 
 has still a fall of two thousand one hundred 
 metres, which is more than one hundred and 
 forty metres in every common French league. 
 
 The road, which leads from the town of Santa 
 Fe to the fall of Tequendama, passes by the 
 village of Suacha, and the great farm of Canoas, 
 well known for its fine crops of wheat. The 
 enormous mass of vapours, which continually 
 rises from the cataract, and which is precipi- 
 tated by its contact with the cold air, contributes 
 much, it is believed, to the great fertility of this 
 part of the plain of Bogota. At a small distance 
 from Canoas, on the height of Chipa, a magni- 
 ficent prospect astonishes the traveller by the 
 variety of its contrasts. Leaving the cultivated 
 plain rich in corn, he finds himself surrounded, 
 
79 
 
 not only with the aralia, the alstonia theoeformis, 
 the begonia, and the yellow bark-tree (cinchona 
 cordifolia), but with oaks, with elms, and other 
 plants, the growth of which recalls to his mind 
 the vegetation of Europe ; when suddenly he 
 discovers as from a terrace, and at his feet, a 
 country producing the palm, the banana, and 
 the sugar cane. The crevice into which the Rio 
 de Bogota throws itself communicating with the 
 plains of the warm region (tlerra caliente), sl 
 few palm trees have sprung up at the foot of the 
 cataract. This particular circumstance leads 
 the inhabitants of Santa Fe to observe, that the 
 cataract of the Tequendama is so high, that the 
 water falls in one bound, from a cold (tieiTafria) 
 into a warm country. We are sensible, that 
 a difference of one hundred and seventy-five 
 metres of height is too inconsiderable, to have 
 much influence on the temperature of the air ; 
 and it is not on account of the height of the soil, 
 that the vegetation of the plain of Canoas con- 
 trasts with that of the ravine. If the rock of 
 Tequendama, which is a gritstone with a clayey 
 basis, were not quite perpendicular ; and if the 
 elevated plain of Canoas were sheltered like the 
 crevice, the palm trees, which flourish at the 
 foot of the cataract, would have pushed their 
 migrations to the upper level of the river. The 
 appearance of this vegetation is so much the 
 more interesting to the inhabitants of the valley 
 
80 
 
 of Bogota, as they live in a climate where the 
 thermometer descends very often to the freezing 
 point. 
 
 I succeeded, but not without danger, in carry- 
 ing instruments into the crevice itself, at the 
 foot of the cataract. It takes three hours to 
 reach the bottom by a narrow path (camino de 
 la Calebra), which leads to the ravine of La 
 Povasa. Although the river loses in falling a 
 great part of its water, which is reduced into 
 vapours, the rapidity of the lower current forces 
 the observer to keep at the distance of nearly 
 one hundred and forty metres from the basin 
 dug out by the fall. A few feeble rays of 
 noon fall on the bottom of the crevice. The 
 solitude of the place, the richness of the vege- 
 tation, and the dreadful roar that strikes upon 
 the ear, contribute to render the foot of the 
 cataract of Tequendama one of the wildest 
 scenes, that can be found in the Cordilleras. 
 
1 
 
 
 
81 
 
 PYRAMID OF CIIOLULA. 
 
 PLATE VJ I. 
 
 Among those swarms of nations, which, from 
 the seventh to the twelfth century of the Chris- 
 tian era, successively inhabited the country of 
 Mexico, five are enumerated, the Toltecks, the 
 Cicimecks, the Acolhuans, the Tlascaltecks, and 
 the Aztecks, who, notwithstanding their political 
 divisions, spoke the same language, followed the 
 same worship, and built pyramidical edifices, 
 which they regarded as teocallis, that is to say, 
 the houses of their gods. These edifices were 
 all of the same form, though of very different 
 dimensions ; they were pyramids, with several 
 terraces, and the sides of which stood exactly in 
 the direction of the meridian, and the parallel of 
 the place. The teocalli was raised in the midst 
 of a square, and walled enclosure, which, some- 
 what like the veptpoXos of the Greeks, contained 
 gardens, fountains, the dwellings of the priests, 
 and sometimes arsenals ; since each house of a 
 Mexican divinity, like the ancient temple of 
 
 VOL. XIII. G 
 
82 
 
 Baal Berith, burnt by Abifnelech, was a strong 
 place. A great staircase led to the top of the 
 truncated pyramid, and on the summit of the 
 platform were one or two chapels, built like 
 towers, which contained the colossal idols of the 
 divinity, to whom the teocalli was dedicated. 
 This part of the edifice must be considered as 
 the most consecrated place: like the vxoq, or 
 rather the a&ioe,, of the Grecian temples. It was 
 there also, that the priests kept up the sacred 
 fire. From the peculiar construction of the 
 edifice we have just described, the priest who 
 offered the sacrifice was seen by a great mass of 
 the people at the same time : the procession of 
 the teopivqui, ascending or descending the stair- 
 case of the pyramid, was beheld at a consider- 
 able distance. The inside of the edifice was 
 the burial place of the kings and principal per- 
 sonages of Mexico. It is impossible to read the 
 descriptions, which Herodotus and Diodorus 
 Siculus have left us of the temple of Jupiter 
 Belus, without being struck with the resem- 
 blance of that Babylonian monument to the 
 teocallis of Anahuac. 
 
 At the period when the Mexicans, or Aztecks, 
 one of the seven tribes of the Anahuatlacks, 
 (inhabitants of the banks of rivers), took posses- 
 sion, in the year 1190, of the equinoctial region 
 of New Spain, they already found the pyra- 
 midal monuments of Teotihuacan, of Cholula, or 
 
83 
 
 Cholollan, and of Papantla. They attributed 
 these great edifices to the Toltecks, a powerful 
 and civilized nation, who inhabited Mexico five 
 hundred years earlier, who made use of hiero- 
 glyphical characters, who computed the year 
 more precisely, and had a more exact chrono- 
 logy than the greater part of the people of the 
 old continent. The Aztecks knew not with 
 certainty what tribe had inhabited the country of 
 Anahuac before the Toltecks ; and conse- 
 quently the belief, that the houses of the deity 
 of Teotihuacan and of Cholollan was the work 
 of the Toltecks, assigned them the highest anti- 
 quity they could conceive. It is however pos- 
 sible, that they might have been constructed 
 before the invasion of the Toltecks ; that is, 
 before the year 648 of the vulgar era. We 
 ought not to be astonished, that no history of 
 any American nation should precede the seventh 
 century ; and' that the annals of the Toltecks 
 should be as uncertain as those of the Pelasgi 
 and the Ausonians. The learned Mr. Schloezer 
 has clearly proved, that the history of the North 
 of Europe reaches no higher than the tenth 
 century, an epocha when Mexico was in a more 
 advanced state of civilization than Denmark, 
 Sweden, and Russia. 
 
 The teocalli of Mexico was dedicated to Tez- 
 catlipoca, the first of the Azteck divinities after 
 Teotl, who is the supreme and invisible Being ; 
 
 g 2 
 
84 
 
 and to Huitzilopocmii, the god of war. It was 
 built, by the Aztecks, on the model of the pyra- 
 mids of Teotihuacan, six years only before the 
 discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. 
 This truncated pyramid, called by Cortez the 
 principal temple, was ninety-seven metres in 
 breadth at its basis, and nearly fifty-four metres 
 in height. It is not astonishing, that a building 
 of these dimensions should have been destroyed 
 a few years after the siege of Mexico. In 
 Egypt there scarcely remains any vestiges of 
 the enormous pyramids, which towered amidst 
 the waters of the lake Mceris, and which Hero- 
 dotus says were ornamented with colossal statues. 
 The pyramids of Porsenna, of which the de- 
 scription seems somewhat fabulous, and four of 
 which, according to Varro, were more than 
 eighty metres in height, have equally disappeared 
 in Etruria *. 
 
 But if the European conquerors overthrew 
 the teocallis of the Aztecks, they did not alike 
 succeed in destroying more ancient monuments, 
 that are attributed to the Tolteck nation. We 
 shall give a succinct description of these monu- 
 ments, remarkable for their form and magni- 
 tude. 
 
 The group of the pyramids of Teotihuacan is 
 in the valley of Mexico, eight leagues north- 
 
 * Plin. xxxvi,19. 
 
85 
 
 cast from the capital, in a plain that bears the 
 name of Micoatl, or the Path of the Dead, 
 There are two large pyramids dedicated to the 
 Sun (Tonatiuh), and to the Moon (Meztli) ; 
 and these are surrounded by several hundreds of 
 small pyramids, which form streets in exact 
 lines from north to south, and from east to west. 
 Of these two great teocallis, one is fifty-five, the 
 other forty-four metres in perpendicular height. 
 The basis of the first is two hundred and eight 
 metres in length ; whence it results, that the 
 Tonatiuh Yztaqual, according to Mr. Oteyzas 
 measurement, made in 1803, is higher than the 
 Mycerinus, or third of the three great pyramids 
 of Geeza in Egypt, and the length of its base 
 nearly equal to that of the Cephren. The small 
 pyramids, which surround the great houses of 
 the Sun and the Moon, are scarcely nine or ten 
 metres high ; and served, according to the tra- 
 dition of the natives, as burial places for the 
 chiefs of the tribes. Around the Cheops and 
 the Mycerinus in Egypt, there are eight small 
 pyramids, placed with symmetry, and parallel 
 to the fronts of the greater. The two teocallis of 
 Teotihuacan had four principal stories, each of 
 which was subdivided into steps, the edges of 
 which are still to be distinguished. The 
 nucleus is composed of clay mixed with small 
 stones, and it is encased by a thick wall of te- 
 
86 
 
 zontli, or porous amygdaloid *. This construc- 
 tion recalls to mind that of one of the Egyptian 
 pyramids of Sakharah, which has six stories ; 
 and which, according to Pocock, is a mass of 
 pebbles and yellow mortar, covered on the out- 
 side with rough stones. On the top of the great 
 Mexican teocallis were two colossal statues of 
 the Sun, and the Moon : they were of stone, 
 and covered with plates of gold, of which they 
 were stripped by the soldiers of Cortez. When 
 bishop Zumaraga, a Franciscan monk, under- 
 took the destruction of whatever related to the 
 worship, the history, and the antiquities of the 
 natives of America, he ordered also the demoli- 
 tion of the idols of the plain of Micoatl. We 
 still discover the remains of a staircase built with 
 large hewn stone, which formerly led to the plat- 
 form of the teocalli. 
 
 On the east of the group of the pyramids of 
 Teotihuacan, on descending the Cordillera to- 
 wards the gulf of Mexico, in a thick forest, 
 called Taj in, rises the pyramid of Papantla. 
 This monument was by chance discovered 
 -scarcely thirty years ago, by some Spanish 
 hunters ; for the Indians carefully conceal from 
 the whites whatever was an object of ancient 
 veneration. The form of this teocalli, which 
 
 * Mandelsteiu of the German mineralogists. 
 
87 
 
 had six, perhaps seven stories, is more tapering 
 than that of any other monument of this kind : 
 it is nearly eighteen metres in height, while the 
 breadth of its basis is only twenty-five, and con- 
 sequently about half as high as the pyramid of 
 Caius . Cestius at Rome, which is thirty-three 
 metres. This small edifice is built entirely with 
 hewn stones, of an extraordinary size, and very 
 beautifully and regularly shaped. Three stair- 
 cases lead to the top. The covering of its steps 
 is decorated with hieroglyphical sculpture, and 
 small niches, which are arranged with great 
 symmetry. The number of these niches seems 
 to allude to the three hundred and eighteen 
 simple and compound signs of the days of the 
 Cempohualilhuitl, or civil calendar of the Tol- 
 tecks. 
 
 The greatest, most ancient, and most cele- 
 brated of the whole of the pyramidal monuments 
 of Anahuac is the teocalli of Cholula. It is 
 called in the present day the Mountain made by 
 the hand of Man (monte hecho a memos). At a 
 distance it has the aspect of a natural hill 
 covered with vegetation. This pyramid is re- 
 presented in the seventh plate in its present 
 ruined state. 
 
 A vast plain, the Puebla, is separated from the 
 valley of Mexico by the chain of volcanic moun- 
 tains, which extend from Popocatepetl, towards 
 
88 
 
 Rio Frio, and the peak of Telapon *. This 
 plain, fertile though destitute of trees, is rich in 
 memorials interesting- to Mexican history. In 
 it nourished the capitals of the three republics 
 of Tlascalla, Huexocingo, and Cholula, which, 
 notwithstanding their continual dissensions, re- 
 sisted with no less firmness the despotism and 
 usurping spirit of the Azteck kings. 
 
 The small city of Cholula, which Cortez, in 
 his Letters to Charles V, compares with the 
 most populous cities of Spain, contains at pre- 
 sent scarcely sixteen thousand inhabitants. The 
 pyramid is to the east of the city, on the road 
 which leads from Cholula to Puebla. It is well 
 preserved on the western side, which is that 
 represented in the engraving. The plain of 
 Cholula presents that aspect of barrenness, which 
 is peculiar to plains elevated two thousand two 
 hundred metres above the level of the ocean. 
 A few plants of the agave and dracsena rise on 
 the foreground, and at a distance the summit of 
 the volcano of Orizaba is beheld covered with 
 snow ; a colossal mountain, five thousand two 
 hundred and ninety-five metres of absolute 
 height, and of which I have published a sketch 
 in my Mexican Atlas, plate 17. 
 
 The teocalli of Cholula has four stories, all of 
 
 * See my Mexican Atlas,, pi. Ill ami IX. 
 
89 
 
 equal height. It appears to have been con- 
 structed exactly in the direction of the four 
 cardinal points ; but as the edges of the stories 
 are not very distinct, it is difficult to ascertain 
 their primitive direction. This pyramidal mo- 
 nument has a broader basis than that of any 
 other edifice of the same kind in the old con- 
 tinent. I measured it carefully, and ascertained, 
 that its perpendicular height is only fifty metres, 
 but that each side of its basis is four hundred 
 and thirty-nine metres in length. Torquemada 
 computes its height at seventy-seven metres ; 
 Betancourt, at sixty-five ; and Clavigero, at 
 sixty-one. Bernal Diaz del Castillo, a common 
 soldier in the army of Cortez, amused himself 
 by counting the steps of the staircases, which 
 led to the platform of the teocallis : he found 
 one hundred and fourteen in the great temple of 
 Tenochtitlan, one hundred and seventeen in that 
 of Texcuco, and one hundred and twenty iii that 
 of Cholula. The basis of the pyramid of Cholu- 
 la is twice as broad as that of Cheops ; but its 
 height is very little more than that of the pyra- 
 mid of Mycerinus. On comparing the dimensions 
 of the house of the Sun, at Teotihuacan, with 
 those of the pyramid of Cholula, we see, that the 
 people, who constructed these remarkable monu- 
 ments, intended to give them the same height, 
 but with bases, the length of which should be 
 in the proportion of one to two. We find also 
 
90 
 
 a considerable difference in the proportions be- 
 tween the base and the height in these various 
 monuments; in the three great pyramids of 
 Geeza, the heights are to the bases as 1 to V7 ; 
 in the pyramid of Papantla covered with hiero- 
 glyphics, this ratio is as 1 to 1*4 ; in the great 
 pyramid of Teotihuacan, as 1 to 3*7; and in 
 that of Cholula as 1 to 7*8» This last monument 
 is built with unbaked bricks (xamilll), alternat- 
 ing with layers of clay. I have been assured 
 by some Indians of Cholula, that the inside is 
 hollow ; and that, during the abode of Cortez in 
 this city, their ancestors had concealed, in the 
 body of the pyramid, a considerable number of 
 warriors, who were to fall suddenly on the 
 Spaniards : but the materials with which the 
 teocalli is built, and the silence of the historians 
 of those times*, give but little probability to this 
 assertion. 
 
 It is certain, however, that in the interior of 
 this pyramid, as in other teocallis, there are con- 
 siderable cavities, which were used as sepul- 
 chres for the natives. A particular circumstance 
 led to this discovery. Seven or eight years ago 
 the road from Puebla to Mexico, which before 
 passed to the north of the pyramid, was changed. 
 In tracing the road, the first story was cut 
 through, so that an eighth part remained isolated 
 
 ' Cartas do llemaqi C'utez , Mexico, 1770., p. 09. 
 
91 
 
 like a heap of bricks. In making this opening a 
 square house was discovered in the interior of 
 the pyramid, built of stone, and supported by 
 beams made of the wood of the deciduous cypress 
 (cupressus disticha). The house contained two 
 skeletons, idols in basalt, and a great number of 
 vases, curiously varnished and painted. No 
 pains were taken to preserve these objects, but 
 it is said to have been carefully ascertained, that 
 this house, covered with bricks and strata of 
 clay, had no outlet. Supposing that the pyra- 
 mid was built, not by the Toltecks, the first in- 
 habitants of Cholula, but by prisoners made by 
 the Cholulans from the neighbouring nations, it 
 is possible, that they were the carcases of some 
 unfortunate slaves who had been shut up to 
 perish in the interior of the teocalli. We ex- 
 amined the remains of this subterraneous house, 
 and observed a particular arrangement of the 
 bricks, tending to diminish the pressure made on 
 the roof. The natives being ignorant of the 
 manner of making arches, placed very large 
 bricks horizontally, so that the upper course 
 should pass beyond the lower. The continuation 
 of this kind of stepwork served in some measure 
 as a substitute for the Gothic vault, and similar 
 vestiges have been found in several Egyptian 
 edifices. An adit dug through the teocalli of 
 Cholula, to examine its internal structure, would 
 be an interesting operation ; and it is singular, 
 
92 
 
 that the desire of discovering hidden treasure 
 has not prompted the undertaking. During my 
 travels in Peru, in visiting the vast ruins of the 
 city of Chimu, near Mansiche, I went into the 
 interior of the famous Huaca de Toledo, the 
 tomb of a Peruvian prince, in which Garci 
 Gutierez de Toledo discovered, on dig'ging a 
 gallery, in 1576, massive gold amounting in 
 value to more than five millions of francs, as is 
 proved by the book of accounts, preserved in the 
 mayor s office at Truxillo. 
 
 The great teocalli of Cholula, called also the 
 Mountain of unbaked bricks (tlalchihualtepec), 
 had an altar on its top, dedicated to Quetzal- 
 coatl, the god of the air. This Quetzalcoatl, 
 whose name signifies serpent clothed with green 
 feathers, from coatl, serpent, and quetzalli, green 
 feathers, is the most mysterious being of the 
 whole Mexican mythology. He was a white 
 and bearded man, like the Bochicha of the 
 Muyscas, of whom we spoke in our descriptions 
 of the Cataract of Tequendama. He was high 
 priest of Tula (Tollan), legislator, chief of a 
 religious sect, which, like the Sonyasis and the 
 Bouddhists of Indostan, inflicted on themselves 
 the most cruel penances. He introduced the 
 custom of piercing the lips and the ears, and 
 lacerating the rest of the body with the prickles 
 of the agave leaves, or the thorns of the cactus ; 
 and of putting reeds into the wounds, in order 
 
93 
 
 that the blood might be seen to trickle more 
 copiously. In a Mexican drawing in the Vati- 
 can library*, I have seen a figure representing 
 Quetzalcoatl appeasing by his penance the wrath 
 of the gods, when, thirteen thousand and sixty 
 years after the creation of the World, (I follow 
 the very vague chronology computed by Rios) 
 a great famine prevailed in the province of 
 Culan. The saint had chosen his place of retire- 
 ment near Tlaxapuchicalco, on the volcano Cat- 
 citepetl (Speaking Mountain), where he walked 
 barefooted on agave leaves armed with prickles. 
 We seem to behold one of those rishi, hermits 
 of the Ganges, whose pious austerity)" is cele- 
 brated in the Pouranas. 
 
 The reign of Quetzalcoatl was the golden age 
 of the people of Anahuac. At that period, all 
 animals, and even men, lived in peace ; the 
 earth brought forth, without culture, the most 
 fruitful harvests ; and the air was filled with a . 
 multitude of birds, which were admired for their 
 song, and the beauty of their plumage. But 
 this reign, like that of Saturn, and the happiness 
 of the world, were not of long duration ; the 
 great spirit Tezcatlipoca, the Brahma of the 
 nations of Anahuac, offered Quetzalcoatl a beve- 
 rage, which, in rendering him immortal, inspired 
 
 * Codex anonymus, No. 3738, fol. 8. 
 
 + Schlegel iiber Sprache and Weisheit der Indier, p. 132. 
 
94 
 
 him with a taste for travelling ; and particularly 
 with an irresistible desire of visiting a distant 
 country, called by tradition Tlapallan*. The 
 resemblance of this name to that of Huehuet- 
 lapallan, the country of the Toltecks, appears 
 not to be accidental. But how can we conceive, 
 that this white man, priest of Tula, should have 
 taken his direction, as we shall presently find, 
 to the south-east, towards the plains of Cholula, 
 and thence to the eastern coasts of Mexico, in 
 order to visit this northern country, whence his 
 ancestors had issued in the five hundred and 
 ninety-sixth year of our era ? 
 
 Quetzalcoatl, in crossing the territory of 
 Cholula, yielded to the intreaties of the inhabit- 
 ants, who offered him the reins of government. 
 He dwelt twenty years among them, taught 
 them tp cast metals, ordered fasts of eight days, 
 and regulated the intercalations of the Tolteck 
 year. He preached peace to men, and would 
 permit no other offerings to the Divinity, than 
 the first fruits of the harvest. From Cholula 
 Quetzalcoatl passed on to the mouth of the river 
 Goasacoalco, where he disappeared, after having 
 declared to the Cholulans (Chololtecatles), that 
 he would return in a short time to govern them 
 again, and renew their happiness. 
 
 It was the posterity of this saint, whom the 
 
 * Clavigero Storia di Messico, torn. 2, p. 12. 
 
95 
 
 unhappy Montezuma thought he recognized in 
 the soldiers of Cortez. " We know by our 
 books," said he, in his first interview with the 
 Spanish General, " 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. He 
 a found them married to the women of this land, 
 " having a numerous posterity, and living in 
 " cities, which they had built. Oui* ancestors 
 * hearkened not to their ancient master, and he 
 " returned alone. We have 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, and, as 
 " you assure me, you have long known us, I 
 " cannot doubt, but that the king, who sends 
 " you, is our natural master*." 
 
 Another very remarkable tradition still exists 
 among the Indians of Cholula, according to 
 which the great pyramid was not originally 
 destined to serve for the Worship of Quetzalcoatl. 
 After my return to Europe, on examining at 
 Rome the Mexican manuscript in the Vatican 
 library, I found, that this same tradition was 
 
 * First Letter of Cortez, § 21 and 29. 
 
96 
 
 already recorded in a manuscript of Pedro de 
 Los Rios, a Dominican monk, who, in 1566, 
 copied on the very spot all the hieroglyphical 
 paintings he could procure. " Before the great 
 inundation, which took place four thousand 
 eight hundred years after the creation of the 
 World, the country of Anahuac was inhabited 
 by giants (tzocuillixeque). All those who did 
 not perish were transformed into fishes, save 
 seven, who fled into caverns. When the waters 
 subsided, one of these giants, Xelhua, surnamed 
 the architect, went to Cholollan ; where, as a 
 memorial of the mountain Tlaloc, which had 
 served for an asylum to himself and his six 
 brethren, he built an artificial hill in form of a 
 pyramid. He ordered bricks to be made in the 
 province ofTlamanalco, at the foot of the Sierra of 
 Cocotl, and to convey them to Cholula he placed 
 a file of men, who passed them from hand to 
 hand. The gods beheld with wrath this edifice, 
 the top of which was to reach the clouds. Irri- 
 tated at the daring attempt of Xelhua, they 
 hurled fire on the pyramid. Numbers of the 
 workmen perished ; the work was discontinued, 
 and the monument was afterwards dedicated to 
 Quetzalcoatl, the god of the air." 
 
 This history reminds us of those ancient tra- 
 ditions of the East, which the Hebrews have re- 
 corded in their sacred books. The Cholulans 
 preserved a stone, which, enveloped in a ball 
 
97 
 
 of fire, had fallen from the clouds on the top of 
 the pyramid. This aeorolite had the figure of a 
 toad. Rios, to prove the high antiquity of this 
 fable of Xelhua, observes, that it was contained 
 in a hymn, which the Cholulans sung at their 
 festivals, dancing round the teocalli ; and that 
 this hymn began with the words Tulanian hulu- 
 laez, which are words belonging to no dialect at 
 present known in Mexico. In every part of the 
 Globe, on the ridge of the Cordilleras, as well as 
 in the isle of Samothrace in the Egean sea, frag- 
 ments of primitive languages are preserved in 
 religious rites. 
 
 The size of the platform of the pyramid of 
 Cholula, on which I made a great number of 
 astronomical observations, is four thousand two 
 hundred square metres. From it the eye ranges 
 over a magnificent prospect ; Popocatepetl, 
 Iztaccihuatl, the peak of Orizaba, and the 
 Sierra de Tlascalla, famous for the tempests 
 which gather around its summit. We view at 
 the same time three mountains higher than 
 Mount Blanc, two of which are still burning vol- 
 canoes. A small chapel, surrounded with cy- 
 press, and dedicated to the Virgin de los Re- 
 medios, has succeeded to the temple of the god 
 of the air, or the Mexican Indra. An ecclesias- 
 tic of the Indian race celebrates mass every day 
 on the top of this antique monument. 
 
 vol. xiii. H 
 
98 
 
 In the time of Cortez, Cholula was considered 
 as a holy city. No where existed a greater num- 
 ber of teocallis, of priests, and religious orders 
 (tlamacazque) ; no spot displayed greater mag- 
 nificence in the celebration of public worship, or 
 more austerity in its penances and fasts. Since 
 the introduction of Christianity among the In- 
 dians, the symbols of a new worship have not 
 entirely effaced the remembrance of the old. 
 The people assemble in crowds from distant 
 quarters at the summit of the pyramid, to cele- 
 brate the festival of the Virgin. A mysterious 
 dread, a religious awe, fills the soul of the Indi- 
 an at the sight of this immense pile of bricks, 
 covered with shrubs and perpetual verdure. 
 
 We have above remarked the great similarity 
 of construction between the Mexican teocallis 
 and the temple of Bel or Belus, at Babylon. 
 This analogy had already struck Mr. Zoega, 
 though he had been able to procure but very in- 
 complete descriptions of the group of the pyra- 
 mids of Teotihuacan*. According to Hero- 
 dotus, who visited Babylon, and saw the temple 
 of Belus, this pyramidal monument had eight 
 stories. It was a stadium high, and the breadth 
 of its basis was equal to its height. The outer 
 wall which surrounded it, the Ttey(SoXo<, was two 
 
 * Zocga, de Uridine Obeliscoriini, p. 380. 
 
99 
 
 stadia square. A common Olympic stadium was 
 one hundred and eighty-three metres : the 
 Egyptian stadium was only ninety-eight*. The 
 pyramid was built of brick and asphaltum. A 
 temple (vxos) was erected on its top, and another 
 at its basis. The first, according to Herodotus, 
 was without statues ; it contained only a table of 
 gold, and a bed on which reposed a female 
 chosen by the god Belus *f-. Diodorus Siculus, 
 on the other hand, asserts, that the upper temple 
 contained an altar, and three statues, to which, 
 according to notions taken from the worship of 
 the Greeks, he gave the names of Jupiter, Juno, 
 and RheaJ. But neither these statues nor any 
 part of the monument existed in the time of Dio- 
 dorus and Strabo. In the Mexican teocallis, 
 as in the temple of Belus, the lower naos was 
 distinguished from the temple on the platform 
 of the pyramid. The same distinction is clearly 
 pointed out in the letters of Cortez, and in the 
 history of the conquest written by Bernal Diaz, 
 who dwelt several months in the palace of the 
 king Axajacatl, and consequently opposite the 
 teocalli of Huitzilopochtli, 
 
 * Vincent, Voyage of ]Nearclms, p. 5(j (French transla- 
 tion). 
 
 t Herodotus, lib. 1, c. 181, 183. 
 
 X Diodorus Siculus, Ed. Wesselingiana, vol. 1, lib. 2, page 
 123. 
 
 h2 
 
100 
 
 No one of the ancient writers, neither Hero- 
 dotus nor Strabo*, Diodorus nor Pausanias*j~, 
 ArrianJ nor Quintus Curtiusfy, asserts, that the 
 temple of Belus was erected according to the 
 four cardinal points, like the Egyptian and 
 Mexican pyramids. Pliny observes only, that 
 Belus was considered as the inventor of astro- 
 nomy: Inventor hie fuit sideralis sclent ice \\. 
 Diodorus relates, that the Babylonian temple 
 served as an observatory to the Chaldeans. " It 
 must be admitted," says he, " that this building 
 was of an extraordinary height, and that here 
 the Chaldeans made their observations on the 
 stars, the rising and setting of which might be 
 exactly perceived, on account of the elevation 
 of the edifice. The Mexican priests, (teopix- 
 qui) made observations also on the stars from the 
 summit of the teocallis ; and announced to the 
 people, by the sound of the horn, the hours of 
 the nighty. These teocallis were built in the 
 interval between the epocha of Mahomet and the 
 reign of Ferdinand and Isabella ; and we cannot 
 
 * Strabo, lib. 16, 211. 
 
 t Pausanias, lib. 8, ed. Xylandri, p. 509, n. 31. 
 X Arriamis, lib. 7, 17. 
 § Quint. Curt. lib. 5, 1 et 37 
 || Plin. Hist. nat. lib. vi, 30. 
 
 11 Gama, Uescripcion cronologica de la Piedra calen- 
 deria j Mexico, 1792, p. 15. 
 
101 
 
 observe without astonishment, that American 
 edifices, the form of which is almost the same as 
 that of one of the most ancient monuments on 
 the banks of the Euphrates, belong to times so 
 near our own. 
 
 When we consider in the same point of view 
 the pyramidical monuments of Egypt, of Asia, 
 and of the New Continent, we see, that, though 
 their form is alike, their destination was alto- 
 gether different. The group of pyramids at 
 Geeza and at Sakhara in Egypt ; the triangular 
 pyramid of the Queen of the Scythians, Zarina, 
 which was a stadium high, and three in circum- 
 ference, and which was decorated with a colossal 
 figure* ; the fourteen Etruscan pyramids, which 
 are said to have been enclosed in the labyrinth 
 of the king Porsenha, at Clusinm ; were reared 
 to serve as the sepulchres of the illustrious dead. 
 Nothing is more natural to men, than to com- 
 memorate the spot where rest the ashes of those, 
 whose memory they cherish ; whether it be, as 
 in the infancy of the race, by simple mounds of 
 earth, or in later periods by the towering height 
 of the tumulus. Those of the Chinese and of 
 Thibet have only a few metres of elevation-}-. 
 Farther to the west the dimensions increase : 
 
 * Diodorus Siculus, lib. 2, c. 34. 
 
 t Dubalde, Description of China, tom. 2, p. 126. Asiatic 
 Researches, vol. ii, p. 314. 
 
10-2 
 
 the tumulus of the king Alyattes, father of Croe- 
 sus, in Lydia, was six stadia, and that of Ninus 
 was more than ten stadia in diameter*. In the 
 north of Europe the sepulchres of the Scandi- 
 navian king Gormus, and the queen Daneboda, 
 covered with mounds of earth, are three hun- 
 dred metres broad, and more than thirty high. 
 We meet with these tumuli in both hemispheres ; 
 in Virginia, and in Canada, as well as in Peru, 
 where numerous galleries, built with stone, and 
 communicating with each other by shafts, fill 
 up the interior of the huacas, or artificial hills. 
 In Asia these rustic monuments have been 
 decorated with the refinement of eastern luxury, 
 while their primitive forms have been preserved. 
 The tombs of Pergamus are cones of earth, 
 raised on a circular wall, which seems to have 
 been encased with marble-)-. 
 
 The teocallis, or Mexican pyramids, Were at 
 once temples and tombs. We have already 
 observed, that the plain, on which were built the 
 houses of the Sun and of the Moon at Teoti- 
 huaca, is called the Path of the Dead ; but the 
 essential and principal part of a teocalli was the 
 chapel, the naos, at the top of the edifice. In 
 
 * Herodotus, lib. 1, c. 93. Ctesias, apud Diod. Sicul. 
 lib. 2, c. 7. 
 
 + Choiseul Gouflicr, Voyage Piltoresque de la Grece, 
 Com. 2, p. 27 to 31. 
 
103 
 
 the infancy of civilization, high places were 
 chosen by the people to offer sacrifices to the 
 gods. The first altars, the first temples, were 
 erected on mountains ; and when these moun- 
 tains were isolated, the worshippers delighted in 
 the toil of shaping them into regular forms, 
 cutting them by stories, and making stairs to 
 reach the summit more easily. Both conti- 
 nents afford numerous examples of these hills 
 divided into terraces, and supported by walls of 
 brick or stone. The teocallis appear to me to 
 be merely artificial hills, raised in the midst of a 
 plain, and intended to serve as a basis to the 
 altars. What more sublime and awful than a 
 sacrifice, that is offered in the sight of an assem- 
 bled nation ! The pagods of Indostan have 
 nothing in common with the Mexican temples. 
 That of Tanjore, of which Mr. Daniell has given 
 beautiful drawings*, is a tower with several 
 stories, but the altar is not at the top of the mo- 
 nument. 
 
 The pyramid of Bel was at once the temple 
 and tomb of this god. Strabo does not speak of 
 this monument as a temple, he simply calls it 
 the tomb of Belus. In Arcadia, the tumulus 
 (%&j/x«), which contained the ashes of Calisto, 
 bore on its top a temple of Diana. Pausanias-)~ 
 
 * Oriental Scenery, PI. 17. 
 t Pausanias, lib. 8, c. 35. 
 
104 
 
 describes it as a cone, made by the hands of 
 man, and long covered with vegetation. This 
 is a very remarkable monument, in which the 
 temple is only an incidental decoration ; it serves, 
 if we may use the expression, as an intermediary 
 step between the pyramids of Sakhara and the 
 Mexican teocallis *. 
 
 * See my Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, 
 pages 169, 187, 289. 
 
105 
 
 DETACHED MASS 
 
 PYRAMID OF CHOLULA, 
 
 PLATE VIII, 
 
 The pyramid of Cholula is so covered with 
 vegetation, that it is extremely difficult to ex- 
 amine the structure of the great terraces. The 
 Spanish historians of the sixteenth century, 
 several of whom visited Mexico in the time of 
 Montezuma, or a few years after his death, 
 assert, that the whole edifice is built with bricks. 
 In looking through the manuscripts of Pedro de 
 Los Rios in the Vatican at Rome*, I found, as 
 I have already stated, that the inhabitants of 
 Cholula believed, according to an ancient tradi- 
 tion, that the bricks with which the teocalli was 
 built were made in the province Of Tlalmanalco, 
 at the foot of mount Cocotl ; and that prisoners, 
 
 * Cod. Vat. anonvm. u. 3738, fol. 10. 
 
106 
 
 placed in files, conveyed the bricks from hand to 
 hand the space of several leagues, from Cocotl to 
 Cholula. This tradition, which has the air of an 
 Arabian tale, is found among the Peruvians. 
 Those of Cuzco, who consider themselves as the 
 inhabitants of a holy city, assert, that, when the 
 Inca Tupac Yupanqui took possession of the 
 kingdom of Quito (Quitu), he ordered immense 
 masses of freestone to be taken from the quarries 
 near Cuzco, in order to erect temples to the Sun 
 in the newly conquered countries. 
 
 I was enabled to ascertain the internal struc- 
 ture of the pyramid of Cholula in two different 
 places ; near the summit, on the front opposite 
 the volcano of Popocatepetl ; and on the northern 
 side, where the first terrace is cut through by 
 the new road, which leads from Puebla to 
 Mexico. In digging this road the end of the 
 temple was detached from the rest of the mass. 
 The eighth plate represents this detached part, 
 in which the alternate layers of brick and clay 
 are distinctly seen. The bricks were generally 
 eight centimetres high, and forty in length ; and 
 seemed to me not to have been burnt, but only 
 dried in the Sun; they may, however, have 
 undergone a slight baking, and the humidity of 
 the air may have rendered them friable- Per- 
 haps the strata of clay, which separate those of 
 brick, are wanting on the inside of the pyramid, 
 and in the parts which support the enormous 
 
107 
 
 weight of the whole mass. Mr. Zoega * erro- 
 neously imagined, that the teocalli of Cholula 
 was a real choma, a mound of earth, cased exter- 
 nally with a layer of bricks. Gemelli, whom 
 Robertson and other historians of the first rank 
 accuse of inaccuracy more than he deserves, 
 describes this pyramid under the name of a 
 pyramid of earth -}-. 
 
 The construction of the teocalli, as we have 
 already observed, reminds us of the most ancient 
 monuments, that are recorded in the history of 
 the civilization of mankind. The temple of 
 Jupiter Belus, which seems to be recognized in 
 the ancient mythology of the Hindoos under the 
 name of Bali :£, the pyramids of Meidoum and 
 Dahchour, and several of the group of Sakhara, 
 in Egypt, are also composed of immense heaps of 
 bricks, the remains of which, after a lapse of 
 thirty ages, are still in good preservation. 
 
 * De Obeliscis, page 380. 
 f Giro del Modo, torn, vi, p. 380. 
 
 X Fra Paolino Di S. Bartholomeo, Viaggio alle Indie 
 Orientali. p. 241. 
 
108 
 
 MONUMENT OF XOCHICALCO. 
 
 PLATE IX. 
 
 The singular monument, a fragment of which 
 covered with sculpture is represented in this 
 engraving, is considered in the country as a mi- 
 litary monument. To the south east of the city 
 of Cuernuvaca (the ancient Quauhnahuac), on 
 the western declivity of the Cordillera of Ana- 
 huac, in that happy region, designated by the 
 inhabitants under the name of tierra templada 
 (temperate region) because it is the reign of 
 perpetual spring, rises an insolated hill, which, 
 according to the barometrical measurement of 
 Mr. Alzate, is one hundred and seven metres 
 high. This hill is on the west of the road lead- 
 ing from Cuernavaca to the village of Miacatlan. 
 The Indians call it, in the Mexican or Azteck 
 dialect, Xochicalco, or the House of Flowers. 
 We shall see farther on, that the etymology of 
 this name is as uncertain, as the epocha of the 
 construction of the monument, which is attri- 
 buted to the Toltecks. This nation is to the 
 
109 
 
 Mexican antiquaries, what the Pelasgian colo- 
 nists were to the Archaeologists of Italy. What- 
 ever is lost in the night of time is considered as 
 the work of a people, among whom we think we 
 discover the first germes of civilization. 
 
 The hill of Xochicalco 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 masoniy. 
 These terraces are nearly twenty metres in per- 
 pendicular height ; but narrow towards the top, 
 as in the teocallis, or Azteck pyramids, the sum- 
 mit of which was decorated with an altar. The 
 whole of the terraces slope a little toward the 
 south west, probably for the easier running off 
 of the rains, which are very frequent in this 
 region. The hill is surrounded by a deep and 
 very broad ditch, so that the whole entrenchment 
 is nearly four thousand metres in circumference. 
 The magnitude of these dimensions ought not to 
 surprise us : on the ridge of the Cordilleras of 
 Peru, and on heights almost equal to that of the 
 peak of Teneriffe, M. Bonpland and myself 
 have seen monuments still more considerable. 
 Lines of defence, and entrenchments of extra- 
 ordinary length, are found in the plains of 
 Canada. The whole of these American works 
 resemble those, which are daily discovered in 
 the eastern part of Asia; nations of the Mongul 
 race, those especially that are most advanced in 
 
110 
 
 civilization, have built walls, which separate 
 whole provinces. 
 
 The summit of the hill of Xochicalco is an 
 oblong platform, seventy-two metres from north 
 to south, and ninety-six from east to west. This 
 platform is encircled by a wall of hewn stone, 
 more than two metres high, which served as a 
 defence for the combatants. In the centre of 
 this spacious military square, we find the re- 
 mains of a pyramidical monument, which had 
 five stories, the form of which resembled the teo- 
 callis we have already described. The first story 
 only has been preserved, and it is that which is 
 represented in the ninth plate. The owners of a 
 sugar house near the spot demolished like barba- 
 rians the pyramid, and employed the stones to 
 build their ovens. The Indians of Tetlama 
 assert, that the five stories still existed in 1750 ; 
 "* and from the dimensions of the first story we may 
 conjecture, that the edifice was twenty metres 
 high. Its faces are exactly fronting the four 
 cardinal points. The base of the edifice is 20* 7 
 metres in length, and 17*4 in breadth. It is 
 very remarkable, that no vestige of a staircase 
 can be discovered leading to the top of the pyra- 
 mid, where formerly it is asserted there was a 
 stone seat {ximotlalli), ornamented with hiero- 
 glyphics. 
 
 Travellers, who examine attentively this work 
 of the native tribes of America, cannot fail to be 
 
Ill 
 
 greatly struck with the polish and the cut of the 
 stones, all of which are parallelopipeds ; the care 
 with which they have been arranged, without 
 cement between the joints ; and the execution of 
 the reliefs, with which the stones are decorated. 
 Each figure occupies several stones ; and, from 
 the outlines not being interrupted by the joints 
 of the stones, we may conjecture, that these 
 reliefs were sculptured after the construction 
 of the edifice was finished. Among the hiero- 
 glyphical ornaments of the pyramid of Xochi- 
 calco, we distinguish heads of crocodiles spout- 
 ing water, and figures of men sitting crosslegged 
 according to the custom of several nations of 
 Asia. As the edifice is placed on a plain, ele- 
 vated more than thirteen hundred metres above 
 the level of the ocean, and since crocodiles haunt 
 only the rivers which are near the coast ; it 
 seems strange, that the architect, instead of imi- 
 tating plants and animals belonging to moun- 
 tainous countries, should have employed, in these 
 reliefs, with extreme industry, the gigantic pro- 
 ductions of the torrid zone. 
 
 The ditch, with which the hill is surrounded, 
 the covering of the terraces, the great number of 
 subterraneous apartments dug in the rock on the 
 northern side; the wall that defends the ap- 
 proach to the platform, concur all together to 
 give the monument of Xochicalco a military 
 aspect. The natives even to this day designate 
 
112 
 
 the ruins of the pyramid by a name equivalent to 
 that of a castle, or citadel. The great analogy 
 between the form of this kind of citadel, and the 
 teocallis, leads me to think, that the hill of 
 Xochicalco was merely a fortified temple. The 
 pyramid of Mexitli, or the great temple of 
 Tenochtitlan, contained also an arsenal, and 
 served during the siege as a fort, sometimes to 
 the Mexicans, and at others to the Spaniards. 
 W.e learn from Scripture, that, in the earliest 
 times, the temples of Asia, such as that of Baal 
 Berith at Shechem, in Canaan, were not only 
 buildings consecrated to worship, but also en- 
 trenchments, in which the inhabitants of a city 
 defended themselves against the attacks of an 
 enemy. Nothing indeed is more natural to men, 
 than to fortify the places, which contain the tu- 
 telary gods of the country. What more animat- 
 ing when the state is in danger, than to fly to 
 the foot of their altars, and fight under their im- 
 mediate protection ? Among the nations whose 
 temples were built like the pyramid of Belus, 
 one of the most ancient in its figure, the struc- 
 ture of the edifice might serve the double pur- 
 pose of worship and defence. In the Grecian 
 temples, the wall which formed the peribolos 
 alone afforded an asylum to the besieged. 
 
 The natives of the neighbouring village of 
 Tetlama are in possession of a map, drawn 
 before the arrival of the Spaniards, but to which 
 
113 
 
 some names have been added since the con- 
 quest, in this map, at the place where the 
 monument of Xochicalco is situate, is the figure 
 of two warriors fighting with clubs, one of 
 whom is called Xochicatli, and the other Xica- 
 tetli. We shall not here follow the Mexican 
 antiquaries in their etymological discussions, to 
 learn whether one of these warriors gave his 
 name to the hill of Xochicalco ; or whether the 
 image of two combatants merely denotes a battle 
 between two neighbouring nations : or finally, 
 whether the denomination of the House of 
 Flowers was given to this pyramidical monu- 
 ment, because the Toltecks, like the Peruvians, 
 offered to the divinity only fruits, flowers, and 
 incense. It was also near Xochicalco, that thir- 
 ty years since an isolated stone was found, on 
 which was represented in relief an eagle tearing 
 a captive ; an allusion, no doubt, to a victory 
 obtained by the Aztecks over some neighbour- 
 ing nation. 
 
 The drawing of the relief of the first story 
 was copied from an engraving published by 
 Mr. Alzate, at Mexico, in 1791. I had no op- 
 portunity myself of visiting this remarkable mo- 
 nument. When, arriving in New Spain by way 
 of the South Sea, I went in the month of April, 
 1803, from Acapulco to Cuernavacca, I had 
 never heard of the hill of Xochicalco ; and I 
 regret not having verified myself the descrip- 
 
 VOL. XIII. i 
 
114 
 
 tion* given of this monument by Mr. Alzate, 
 corresponding member of the Academy of Sci- 
 ences at Paris. There being no scale to the 
 ninth plate, it is necessary to observe, that the 
 height of the figures sitting cross-legged is 
 103m. 
 
 * Descripcion de las Antiquidades de Xocliicalco, par Don 
 Joseph Antonia Alzate y Ramirez ; Mexico, 1791. Due An- 
 tichi Monumenti di Architettura Messicana illustrati da Pie- 
 tro Marquez ; Rome, 1804. 
 
115 
 
 VOLCANO OF COTOPAXI. 
 
 PLATE X. 
 
 In the description of the valley of Icononzo, 
 I observed, that the enormous height of the 
 elevated plains, which surround the lofty sum- 
 mits of the Cordilleras, somewhat weakens the 
 impression, which these great masses leave on 
 the mind of a traveller accustomed to the ma- 
 jestic scenes of the Alps and the Pyrenees. It 
 is not so much the absolute height of mountains, 
 as their aspect, figure, and groupings, that give 
 a peculiar character to the landscape. 
 
 I have endeavoured to represent what may be 
 called the physiognomy of mountains, in a series 
 of drawings, some of which have already ap- 
 peared in the geographical and physical Atlas 
 belonging to my Essay on the Kingdom of New 
 Spain. The comparison of the respective forms 
 of mountains in the most distant parts of the 
 Globe, like that of the forms of the vegetable 
 tribes under different climates, appeared to me 
 highly interesting to geology. Very few ma- 
 
 i2 
 
11G 
 
 terials yet exist for so important a work. 
 Without the aid of geodesical instruments, 
 by which we measure very small angles, it 
 is almost impossible to determine the outlines 
 with sufficient exactness. While I^was em- 
 ployed in these measurements in the southern 
 hemisphere, on the ridge of the Cordilleras 
 of the Andes, Mr. Osterwald, with the assis- 
 tance of a celebrated astronomer, Mr. Tralles, 
 was sketching, by a similar method, the chain 
 of the Alps of Switzerland, as it appears when 
 viewed from the banks of the lake of Neuf- 
 chatel. This view, lately published, is so very 
 exact, that, the distance of each summit being 
 known, their relative height is found by em- 
 ploying in the calculation only the simple mea- 
 sure of the outlines of the drawing. Mr. Tralles 
 made use of a repeating circle. The angles by 
 which I determined the size of the different 
 parts of the mountain were taken with a sextant 
 by Ramsden, the limb of which marked with 
 certainty six or eight seconds. By the repetition 
 of this operation at the interval of distant pe- 
 riods, the accidental changes, which take place 
 on the surface of the Globe, may some day be 
 verified. In a country exposed to earthqukes, 
 and overwhelmed by volcanoes, it is very diffi- 
 cult to determine whether the mountains dimi- 
 nish, or whether by the ejection of ashes and 
 scorise they insensibly augment. The simple 
 
117 
 
 angles of elevation, taken at determinate stations, 
 would solve this question more clearly than a 
 complete trigonometrical survey, the result of 
 which is affected by the errors, which may take 
 place both in the measurement of the basis, and 
 in that of the oblique angles. 
 
 When we consider the physiognomy of the 
 mountains on each continent, we discover an 
 analogy of form, which we could not have ex- 
 pected, if we reflect on the concurrence of the 
 forces, which in the primitive world have acted 
 tumultuously on the softened surface of our 
 planet. The fire of volcanoes raises cones of 
 ashes and pumice stones, where it penetrates 
 through a crater ; immense swellings, like domes 
 of extraordinary magnitude, seem owing to the 
 expansive force only of the elastic vapours ; 
 earthquakes have raised up strata full of sea- 
 shells ; and the basins which now form circular 
 vallies, or elevated plains surrounded by moun- 
 tains, have been furrowed by the currents of the 
 sea. Each country of the Globe has its peculiar 
 physiognomy ; but amidst these characteristic 
 features, which bestow such a richness and va- 
 riety on the face of nature, we are struck with a 
 resemblance of form, founded on an identity of 
 ]oeal causes and circumstances. When we sail 
 amid the Canary islands, and observe the basal- 
 tic cones of Lanzerota, of Alegranza, and of 
 Graciosa, we seem to view the group of the 
 
118 
 
 Euganean mountains, or the trappean hills of 
 Bohemia. The granites, the micaceous schists, 
 the old sand-stones, the calcareous formations, 
 which the mineralogists designate under the 
 names of formations of the Jura, of the High 
 Alps, or transition limestone, give a particular 
 character to the outline of the great masses, and 
 to the breaches found on the ridges of the Andes, 
 the Pyrenees, and the Uralian mountains. The 
 nature of the rocks has every where modified the 
 external form of the mountains. 
 
 Cotopaxi, the summit of which is represented 
 in the tenth plate, is the loftiest of those volca- 
 noes of the Andes, which at recent epochs have 
 undergone eruptions. Its obsolute height is five 
 thousand seven hundred and fifty- four metres 
 (two thousand nine hundred and fifty-two toises); 
 it is double that of Canigou ; and consequently 
 eight hundred metres higher than Vesuvius 
 would be, were it placed on the top of the Peak 
 of Teneritfe. Cotopaxi is also the most dread- 
 ful volcano of the kingdom of Quito, and its ex- 
 plosions the most frequent and disastrous. The 
 mass of scoriae, and the huge pieces of rock 
 thrown out of this volcano, which are spread 
 over the neighbouring valleys, covering a surface 
 of several square leagues, would form, were they 
 heaped together, a colossal mountain. In 1 738, 
 the flames of Cotopaxi rose nine hundred metres 
 above the brink of the crater. In 1744, the 
 
119 
 
 roarings of the volcano were heard as far as 
 Honda, a town on the borders of the M agdalena, 
 and at the distance of two hundred common 
 leagues. On the 4th of April, 1768, the quantity 
 of ashes ejected by the mouth of Cotopaxi was 
 so great, that in the towns of Hambato and 
 Tacunga day broke only at three in the after- 
 noon, and the inhabitants were obliged to use 
 lanterns in walking the streets. The explosion 
 which took place in the month of January, 1803, 
 was preceded by a dreadful phenomenon, the 
 sudden melting of the snows that covered the 
 mountain. For twenty years before, no smoke 
 or vapour, that could be perceived, had issued 
 from the crater ; and in a single night the sub- 
 terraneous fire became so active, that at sun- 
 rise the external walls of the cone, heated, no 
 doubt, to a very considerable temperature, ap- 
 peared naked, and of the dark colour, which is 
 peculiar to vitrified scoriae. At the port of Guay- 
 aquil, fifty-two leagues distant in a straight line 
 from the crater, we heard, day and night, the 
 noises of the volcano, like continued discharges 
 of a battery ; we distinguished these tremendous 
 sounds even on the Pacific Ocean, to the south- 
 west of the island of Puna. 
 
 Cotopaxi is situate to the south-east of the 
 city of Quito, at the distance of twelve leagues, 
 between the mountain of Rnminnavi ; the sum- 
 mit of which, rugged with small separate rocks, 
 

 120 
 
 extends itself like a wall of enormous height - 9 
 and Quelendanna, which enters the boundary 
 of the eternal snows. It is in this part of the 
 Andes, that a longitudinal valley separates the 
 Cordilleras into two parallel chains. The bot- 
 tom of this valley is three thousand metres above 
 the level of the ocean, so that Chimborazo and 
 Cotopaxi, seen from the elevated plains of Lican 
 and Mulalo, appear no higher than the Col de 
 Geant and du Cramont, measured by Saus- 
 sure. As there is reason to suppose, that the 
 proximity of the ocean contributes to feed the 
 volcanic fire, the geologist is astonished to find, 
 that the most active volcanoes in the kingdom of 
 Quito, Cotopaxi, Tungurahua, and Sangay, be- 
 long to the eastern chain of the Andes, and con- 
 sequently that which is farthest from the coasts. 
 The whole of the peaks, except Rucu-Pichincha, 
 which crown the Western Cordilleras, seem to 
 be volcanoes extinguished for a long series of 
 ages ; but the mountain of which we give a 
 drawing, and which is 2° 2' distant from the 
 nearest coasts, those of Esmeralda and the bay 
 of San-Mateo, sponts out at different periods ca- 
 taracts of fire, and spreads destruction over the 
 surrounding plains. 
 
 The form of Cotopaxi is the most beautiful 
 and regular of the colossal summits of the high 
 Andes. It is a perfect cone, which, covered 
 with an enormous layer of snow, shines with 
 
121 
 
 dazzling splendor at the setting of the sun, and 
 detaches itself in the most picturesque manner 
 from the azure vault of Heaven. This covering 
 of snow conceals from the eye of the observer 
 even the smallest inequalities of the soil ; no 
 point of rock, no stony mass, penetrates this 
 coating of ice, or breaks the regularity of the 
 figure of the cone. The summit of Cotopaxi 
 resembles the Sugar-loaf (Pan de azucar) which 
 terminates the Peak of Teyde ; but the height of 
 its cone is six times the height of that of the 
 great volcano of the Island of Teneriffe. 
 
 It is only near the brink of the crater we see 
 ledges of rock, that are never covered with snow, 
 and that look at a distance like stripes of the 
 darkest hue ; the great steepness of this part of 
 the cone, and the crevices from which issue 
 currents of heated air, are probably the causes 
 of this phenomenon. The crater, like that 
 of the Peak of Teneriffe, is surrounded by a 
 small circular wall, which, examined with a 
 good telescope, looks like a parapet. This is 
 more distinctly seen on the southern declivity, 
 when the beholder is placed either on the Lion 
 mountain (Puma-Urcv), or on the banks of the 
 small lake of Yuracoche. I have added beneath 
 the plate, in order to show this peculiar structure 
 of the volcano, a view of the southern brink of 
 the crater, such as I have sketched it near the 
 limit of the perpetual snows (at the absolute 
 
122 
 
 height of four thousand four hundred and eleven 
 metres), at Suniguaicu, on the ridge of porphy- 
 ritic mountains, which joins Cotopaxi to the 
 Nevado de Quelendanna. 
 
 The conic point of the Peak of Teneriffe is of 
 easy access, rising from the midst of a plain 
 covered with pumice stones, and on which a 
 few tufts of Spartium supranubium vegetate. 
 In scaling the volcano of Cotopaxi, it is ex- 
 tremely difficult to attain the inferior boundary 
 of the perpetual snows, as we experienced in an 
 excursion we made in the month of May, in the 
 year 1802. The cone is surrounded by deep 
 crevices, which at the moment of the eruptions 
 bear down scoriae, pumice stone, water, and 
 blocks of ice, to Rio Napo, and Rio de los Ala- 
 ques. After a near examination of the summit 
 of Cotopaxi, we may venture to assert, that it 
 would be impossible to reach the brink of the 
 crater. 
 
 The greater the regularity in the form of the 
 cone of this volcano, the more we are struck in 
 finding, on the side to the south-east, a small 
 mass of rock, half concealed under the snow, 
 studded with points, and which the natives call 
 the head of the Inca. The origin of this singular 
 denomination is very uncertain. A popular tra- 
 dition prevails in the country, that this isolated 
 rock was heretofore a part of the top of Coto- 
 paxi. The Indians relate, that the volcano, at 
 
 
123 
 
 its first eruption, ejected far off a stony mass ; 
 which, like the cap of a dome, covered the enor- 
 mous cavity, that contains the subterraneous fire. 
 Some pretend, that this extraordinary catas- 
 trophe took place a short time after the invasion 
 of the kingdom of Quito by the Inca Tupac 
 Yupanqui ; and that the rock, which is sketched 
 in the tenth plate to the left of the volcano, is 
 called the head of the Inca, because its fall was 
 the ominous presage of the death of the con- 
 queror. Others, still more credulous, affirm, 
 that this mass of porphyry with basis of pitch- 
 stone* was displaced in an explosion, that 
 happened at the very moment when the Inca 
 Atahualpa was strangled by the Spaniards at 
 Caxamarca. It seems indeed certain, that an 
 eruption of Cotopaxi took place when the army 
 of Pedro Alvarado marched from Puerto Viejo to 
 the elevated plains of Quito ; although Piedro 
 de Cieca -)~ and Garcilasso de la Vega;}; do not 
 name the mountain, that threw out ashes, the 
 sudden fall of which affrighted the Spaniards. 
 But to adopt the opinion, that at this epocha, 
 for the first time, the rock called the Cabezadel 
 Inca took its present place, we must suppose, 
 that Cotopaxi had no former eruptions ; a sup- 
 
 * Pecfotein-porphyr, Werner. 
 
 t Chronica del Peru, 1554, ch. 41, fol. 109. 
 
 X Comentarios Keales, lib. 2, oh. 2, vol. 2, p. 69. 
 
124 
 
 position the more unfounded, as the walls of the 
 palace of the Inca at Callo, built by Huayna 
 Capac, contain stones of volcanic origin, thrown 
 out by the mouth of Cotopaxi. We shall dis- 
 cuss in another place the important question, 
 whether it be probable, that this volcano had 
 already attained its present height, when the 
 subterraneous fire issued from its summit ; or 
 whether a number of geological facts do not 
 rather concur to prove, that the cone, like the 
 Somma on Vesuvius, is composed of a great 
 number of strata of lava heaped upon each 
 other. 
 
 I sketched Cotopaxi and the Head of the 
 Inca, to the west of the volcano, at the farm of 
 Sienega, on the terrace of a beautiful country 
 house belonging to our friend, the young Mar- 
 quis of Maenza, who has lately inherited the title 
 of Grandee, and that of Count of Punnelrostro. 
 In order to distinguish, in these views of the tops 
 of the Andes, the mountains that are volcanoes 
 still burning from those that have no erup- 
 tions, I have traced a slight smoke above the 
 crater of Cotopaxi, though I saw none at the 
 time I made the sketch. The house of Sienega, 
 built by a person who was intimately connected 
 with M. de la Condamine, is placed on the vast 
 plain, which extends between the two branches 
 of the Cordilleras, from the hills of Chisinche 
 and Tiopullo as far as Ilambato. The colossal 
 
125 
 
 volcano of Cotopaxi, the pyramidal peaks of 
 Ilinissa, and the Nevado de Quelendanna, open 
 here at once on the spectator, and in dreadful 
 proximity. This is one of the most majestic 
 and most awful views I ever beheld in either 
 hemisphere. 
 
126 
 
 MEXICAN MONUMENT 
 
 IN RELIEF, 
 FOUND AT OAXACA. 
 
 PLATE XT. 
 
 This relief, one of the most curious remains of 
 Mexican sculpture, was found a few years ago, 
 near the town of Oaxaca. The sketch was 
 communicated to me by an eminent naturalist, 
 Mr. Cervantes, professor of botany at Mexico, 
 to whom we owe the knowledge of the new 
 genera cheirostemon, guardiola, and many other 
 plants, which will be published in the Flora of 
 New Spain by Messrs. Sesse and Mocinno. 
 The persons who sent this drawing to Mr. Cer- 
 vantes assured him, that it was copied with the 
 greatest care ; and that the relief, sculptured on 
 a blackish and very hard rock, was more than a 
 metre in height. 
 
 They who have made a particular study of 
 the Tolteck and Azteck monuments must be 
 
127 
 
 struck both with the analogy and the contrasts 
 between the relief of Oaxaca, and the figures 
 which we find repeated in the hieroglyphical 
 manuscripts, on the idols, and on the covering 
 of several teocallis. Instead of those dwarfish 
 men, who are scarcely five heads high, and who 
 remind us of the most ancient Etruscan style, 
 we distinguish in the relief represented in the 
 eleventh plate a group of three figures, of slender 
 form, and drawn too correctly for the infancy of 
 the art. There is reason to think, that the 
 Spanish painter, who copied this sculpture at 
 Oaxaca, corrected the outlines in certain parts, 
 perhaps unintentionally, particularly in sketch- 
 ing the hands and toes. But can we suppose, 
 that he has changed the proportions of the 
 whole figures ? and is not this supposition devoid 
 of probability, if we examine with what careful 
 minuteness the forms of the heads, the eyes, and 
 particularly the ornaments of the helmet, are 
 traced ? These ornaments, among which we 
 distinguish feathers, ribands, and flowers ; these 
 noses, of extraordinary size, resemble those that, 
 are found in the Mexican paintings preserved at 
 Rome, Veletri, and Berlin. It is only by com- 
 paring what was produced at the same epocha, 
 and by people of the same origin, that we can 
 form an exact idea of the style, which charac- 
 terizes the different monuments ; if we may be 
 allowed to apply the word style to the analo- 
 
1*28 
 
 gies we discover among a multitude of fantastic 
 and singular forms. 
 
 We might also ask, whether the relief of 
 Oaxaca does not date from a period, when, after 
 the first arrival of the Spaniards, the Indian 
 sculptors were already acquainted with some 
 European works of art. In discussing this ques- 
 tion we should recollect, that, three or four 
 years before Cortez made himself master of the 
 country of Anahuac, and before religious mis- 
 sionaries hindered the natives from graving any 
 other figures than those of saints, Hernandez de 
 Cordova, Antonio Alaminos, and Grixalva, had 
 visited the Mexican coasts, from the island of 
 Cozumel, and False Cape, in the peninsula of 
 Yucatan, as far as the mouth of the river of Pa- 
 nuco. These conquerors had general commu- 
 nications with the inhabitants, whom they found 
 well clothed, dwelling in populous towns, and 
 more civilized than any other people on the 
 New Continent. It is probable, that, in these 
 military expeditions, crosses, rosaries, and 
 images, objects of veneration among the ca- 
 tholics, were left with the natives; and it is 
 possible also, that some of these images may 
 have passed successively from the coast as far 
 inland as the mountains of Oaxaca : but can we 
 suppose, that the sight of a few figures correctly 
 drawn could have determined the natives to 
 abandon forms consecrated by the fashion of so 
 
129 
 
 many ages ? A Mexican sculptor might have 
 faithfully copied the image of an Apostle no 
 doubt ; but in a country where, as in Hindostan 
 and China, the natives adhered with the greatest 
 perseverance to the manners, habits, and arts, of 
 their ancestors, would he have dared to repre- 
 sent a hero, or a Mexican divinity, under a new 
 and foreign form ? Besides, the historical pic- 
 tures of the Mexican painters after the arrival 
 of the Spaniards, several of which are found in 
 the remains of the collection of Boturini at 
 Mexico, evidently prove, that this influence of 
 the European arts on the taste of the American 
 nations, and on the correctness of their drawings, 
 was extremely slow. 
 
 I thought it indispensable to state the doubts* 
 that might be suggested respecting the origin of 
 the relief of Oaxaca, which I have had engraved 
 at Rome after the sketch that was communi- 
 cated to me ; but I am far from giving any 
 decided opinion on so extraordinary a monu- 
 ment, which I had no opportunity of examining 
 myself. The architecture of the palace of 
 Mitla, the elegance of the Grecques and laby- 
 rinths, which decorate the walls, are proofs, 
 that the civilization of the Zapoteck nations was 
 superior to that of the inhabitants of the valley 
 of Mexico. We may therefore be less sur- 
 prised, that the relief in question should have 
 been found at Oaxaca, the ancient Huaxyacac, 
 
 VOL. XIII. K 
 
130 
 
 which was the capital of the country of the 
 Zapotecks. If I might presume to offer my 
 own private opinion, I should observe, that it 
 appears to me more natural to attribute this 
 monument to Americans, who had yet had no 
 communication with the Whites ; than to sup- 
 pose, that some Spanish sculptor, who had fol- 
 lowed the army of Cortez, should have amused 
 himself with a work in the Mexican style in 
 honour of a vanquished people. The natives of 
 the north-west coast of America have never been 
 deemed very civilized ; yet they have executed 
 drawings, the just proportions of which have 
 been admired by English navigators *. 
 
 Whatever be the true state of the question, it 
 seems certain, that the relief of Oaxaca repre- 
 sents a warrior returning from combat, and 
 decked with the spoils of his enemies. Two 
 slaves are placed at the feet of the conqueror. 
 What is most striking in this composition are 
 the noses of an enormous size, in the whole of 
 six heads seen sideways. These noses are the 
 essential characteristics of the monuments of 
 Mexican sculpture. In the hieroglyphical pic- 
 tures preserved at Vienna, Rome, and Veletri, 
 or in the palace of the Viceroy at Mexico, the 
 divinities, heroes, and even priests are all drawn 
 with large aquiline noses, often pierced towards 
 
 * Dixon's Voyage, p. 272. 
 
131 
 
 the point, and ornamented with the amphibaena, 
 or mysterious double-headed serpent. It is 
 possible, that this extraordinary physiognomy 
 might indicate a race of men very different from 
 that which now inhabits these countries, whose 
 noses are broad, flat, and of a moderate size ; 
 but it is also possible, that the Mexican people 
 might have thought, with the prince of philo- 
 sophers *, that there was something majestic 
 and royal {frxaiKuov) in a large nose, and might 
 have considered it in their reliefs and in their 
 paintings, as the symbol of power and moral 
 worth. 
 
 The pointed form of the heads is not less 
 striking in the Mexican drawings, than the size 
 of the noses. If we examine osteologically the 
 skulls of the natives of America, we see, as I 
 have elsewhere remarked, that there is no race 
 on the Globe in which the frontal bone is more 
 flattened, or which have less forehead -f~. This 
 extraordinary flattening exists among people of 
 the copper-coloured race, who have never been 
 acquainted with the custom of producing arti- 
 ficial deformities, as is proved by the skulls of 
 Mexican, Peruvian, and Azteck Indians, which 
 M. Bonpland and myself brought to Europe, 
 
 * Plato, de Republics, lib. 5. 
 
 t Blumenbaeh, Decas quinta Craniorum, 1808, p. 14, 
 tab. 46. 
 
 k2 
 
132 
 
 and several of which arc deposited in the M\l- 
 semn of Natural History at Paris. The negroes 
 prefer the thickest and most prominent lips ; the 
 Calnmcks perceive the line of beauty in turned 
 up noses. M. Cuvier * observes, that the Gre- 
 cian artists, in the statues of heroes, raised the 
 facial line from 85 to 100 degrees, or beyond the 
 natural form. I am led to think, that the bar- 
 barous custom, among certain savage tribes in 
 America, of squeezing the heads of children 
 between two planks, arises from the idea, that 
 beauty consists in this extraordinary compres- 
 sion of the frontal bone, by which nature has 
 characterized the American race. It is no 
 doubt from following this standard of beauty, 
 that even the Azteck people, who never dis- 
 figured the heads of their children, have repre- 
 sented their heroes and principal divinities with 
 heads much natter than any of the Caribs I saw 
 on the lower Orinoco. 
 
 The figure of the warrior in the relief of 
 Oaxaca presents a very extraordinary mixture 
 of costumes. The ornaments of his headdress, 
 which has the shape of a helmet ; those of the 
 standard (signum), which he holds in the left 
 hand, and on which we see a bird, as on the 
 standard of Ocotelolco ; are found in all the 
 Azteck paintings. The vest with the long and 
 
 * Le^onsd'Anatomie comparec, t. 2, p. 0. 
 
133 
 
 narrow sleeves resembles the garment, which 
 the Mexicans name ichcahuepilli ; but the net, 
 which covers the shoulders, is an ornament 
 no longer to be met with among the Indians. 
 Below the girdle is the spotted skin of a jaguar, 
 with its tail. It is related by the Spanish his- 
 torians, that the Mexican warriors, in order to 
 appear more terrible in combat, wore enormous 
 wooden helmets in the form of a tyger's head, 
 the jaws of which were armed with the teeth of 
 this animal. Two skulls, no doubt those of van- 
 quished enemies, are tied to the girdle of the 
 conqueror. His feet are covered with a kind of 
 buskin, which reminds us of the oxeXeau, or caligce, 
 of the Greeks and Romans. 
 
 The slaves, represented sitting cross-legged 
 at the feet of the conqueror, are very remarkable 
 both for their attitudes and their nudity. That 
 on the left is like the figure of those saints, 
 which we frequently see in Hindoo paintings, 
 and which the navigator Roblet found on the 
 north-west coast of America, among the hiero- 
 glyphical paintings of the natives of Cox's chan- 
 nel *. It would be easy to trace, in this relief, 
 the Phrygian cap and the apron (rstffypx) of 
 the Egyptian statues, were we to follow the steps 
 of a learned writer -J-, who, led away by the 
 
 * Marchand's Voyage, vol. 1, p. 312. 
 t Court de Gibeliu. 
 
134 
 
 warmth of his imagination, thought he had dis- 
 covered on the New Continent Carthaginian in- 
 scriptions and Phoenician monuments *. 
 
 * See Archaeologia, or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to 
 Antiquity ; published by the Antiquaries of London, vol. 8, 
 p. 290. 
 
135 
 
 GENEALOGY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PRINCES OF AZCAPOZALCO. 
 
 PLATE XII. 
 
 Two fragments of hieroglyphical paintings, 
 both posterior to the arrival of the Spaniards on 
 the coasts of Anahuac, are engraved on this 
 plate. The originals, from which these draw- 
 ings are copied, belong to the Azteck manu- 
 scripts, which I brought from New Spain, and 
 which are deposited in the royal library at 
 Berlin. The plate, from the manner in which 
 it is engraved, is a perfect imitation, not only of 
 the drawing, but of the colour of the Mexican 
 paper ; and reminds us of the curious envelope 
 of a mummy, that was preserved for some time 
 at Strasbourg, in a private collection, and now 
 forms a part of the great and valuable collections 
 of the Institute of Egypt at Paris. 
 
 The paper, which was used for the hierogly- 
 phical paintings of the Azteck people, has a 
 
136 
 
 great resemblance to the Egyptian paper, made 
 with the iibres of the reed (cy per us papyrus). 
 The plant, which was employed in Mexico for 
 the fabrication of paper, is known in our gardens 
 under the name of aloes. It is the pite (agave 
 Americana), called metl, or maguey, by the 
 people of the Azteck race. The mode of 
 making this paper was very similar to that em- 
 ployed in the South Sea islands with the bark of 
 the paper mulberry tree ( broussonetia papy- 
 rifera). I have seen pieces three metres long 
 and two broad. The agave is cultivated at 
 present not for paper-making, but for preparing 
 with its juice, at the unfolding of the stalk and 
 flowers, the intoxicating liquor called octli, or 
 pulque ; for the pite or metl may be used as a 
 substitute at the same time for the hemp of 
 Asia, the paper reed of Egypt, and the vine of 
 Europe. 
 
 The painting, a copy of which is at the bottom 
 of the twelfth plate, is five decimetres long and 
 three broad. It is well preserved, the colours 
 are vivid, and the agave paper yellowed by 
 time is of a very fine and equal texture. It ap- 
 pears that this fragment of hieroglyphic writing, 
 which I purchased at Mexico, at the sale of 
 Mr. Gama's collection, was formerly a part of 
 the museum of the chevalier Boturini Benaducci. 
 This Milanese traveller had crossed the seas with 
 no other view, than to study on the spot the 
 
137 
 
 history of the native tribes of America ; but in 
 traversing" the country to examine its monuments, 
 and make researches into its antiquities, he had 
 the misfortune to excite the suspicion of the 
 Spanish government. After having- been de- 
 prived of all the fruits of his labours, he was sent 
 in 1736, as a state-prisoner, to Madrid. The 
 King of Spain declared him innocent, but this 
 declaration did not restore to him his property ; 
 and his collections, the catalogue of which Bo- 
 turini published at the end of his Essay on the 
 Ancient History of New-Spain, printed at Ma- 
 drid, lay buried in the archives of the Vice- 
 royalty at Mexico. These valuable relics of the 
 culture of the Aztecks were preserved with so 
 little care, that there scarcely exists at present 
 an eighth part of the hieroglyphical manuscripts 
 taken from the Italian traveller. 
 
 They who, before Boturini, were in possession 
 of the genealogical painting, which we now 
 publish, have added to it explanatory notes, 
 sometimes in Mexican, and sometimes in the 
 Spanish language. We see by these notes, that 
 the family, whose genealogy is represented in the 
 drawing, is that of the lords (tlatoanis) of Azca- 
 pozalco. The small territory of these princes, 
 to which the Tepanecks gave the pompous name 
 of kingdom, was situate in the valley of Mexico, 
 near the western bank of the lake of Tezcuco, to 
 the north of the river Escapuzalco. Torquemada 
 
138 
 
 asserts, that these princes, jealous of the anti- 
 quity of their nobility, carried back their origin 
 as far as the first age of our era. They were 
 neither of the Mexican nor Azteck race ; they 
 considered themselves as descendants of the 
 Acolhuan kings, who had governed the country 
 of Anahuac before the arrival of the Aztecks, 
 by whom the princes of Azcapozalco were made 
 tributaries in the eleventh calli of the Mexican 
 era, which corresponds to the year 1425 of the 
 Christian. 
 
 The genealogical painting, which we publish, 
 appears to contain twenty-four generations, in- 
 dicated by as many heads placed one above an- 
 other. We must not be surprised at never 
 seeing more than one son ; since among the 
 poorest Indians, that are tributary, every inhe- 
 ritance descends to the eldest son*. The ge- 
 nealogy begins with a prince named Tixlpit- 
 zin, whom we must not confound with Tecpalt- 
 zin, the chief of the Aztecks, in their first 
 migration from Aztlan ; or with Topiltzin, the 
 last king of the Toltecks : but we shall perhaps 
 wonder at not finding, instead of the name of 
 Tixlpitzin, that of Acolhuatzin, first king of 
 Azcapozalco, of the family of the Citins, who, 
 according to the tradition of the natives, reigned 
 
 * Gomara, Hist, de la Conquista de Mexico ; 1553, f. 
 121. 
 
139 
 
 in a very distant country, north of Mexico. 
 Near the fourteenth head is written the name of 
 Vitznahuatl. If this prince were the same per- 
 son with a king of Huexotla, whom the Mexican 
 historians name also Vitznahuatl, and who lived 
 about the year 1430, the genealogy of the family 
 of Azcapozalco would go back to the year 1010 
 of our era, in reckoning only thirty years for 
 each generation. But how then can we explain 
 the ten following generations, as the drawing 
 appears to have been made towards the end of 
 the sixteenth century ? Neither shall I decide 
 why the year 1565 is marked between the names 
 of the two princes, Anahuacatzin and Quauh- 
 temotzin. We know, that the last of these 
 names is that of the unfortunate Azteck king, 
 whom Gomara falsely names Quahutimoc ; and 
 who, by order of Cortez, was hung up by the feet 
 in 1521, as is proved by a very valuable hiero- 
 glyphical history, preserved in the Convent of 
 San Felipe Neri, at Mexico*. But how could 
 this king, nephew of Montezuma, figure in 
 the family of the lords or tlatoanis of Azcapo- 
 zalco ? 
 
 It is certain, that, when the last of these 
 princes ordered the genealogical painting of his 
 ancestors to be composed, his father and grand- 
 father were still living. ' This circumstance is 
 
 * See my Political Essay on New-Spain, p. 185. 
 
140 
 
 clearly indicated by the small tongues placed at 
 some distance from the month. A dead man, 
 say the natives, is reduced to eternal silence : 
 according- to them, to live, is to speak ; and, as 
 we shall see presently, to speak much is a mark 
 of power and nobility. These figures of tongues 
 are also met with in the Mexican picture of the 
 Deluge, which Gemelli published from a manu- 
 script at Siguenza ; in which we see men born 
 dumb, who disperse themselves to repeople the 
 Earth ; and a bird, that distributes among them 
 thirty-three different tongues. In the same man- 
 ner a volcano, on account of the subterraneous 
 noise heard sometimes in its neighbourhood, is 
 figured by the Mexicans as a cone with several 
 tongues hovering over its top : a volcano is 
 called the mountain that speaks. 
 
 It is remarkable enough, that the Mexican 
 painter should have given only to the three per- 
 sons, who were living in his time, the diadem 
 (copilli) which is a sign of sovereignty. We 
 meet with the same headdress, but without the 
 knot which reaches towards the back, in the 
 figures of the kings of the Azteck dynasty, pub- 
 lished by the Abbe Clavigero. The last branch 
 of the lords of Azcapozalco is represented sitting 
 on an Indian chair, with his feet at liberty : 
 dead kings, on the contrary, are figured not only 
 ■without tongues, but with their feet wrapped up 
 in the royal cloak (xiuhtilmatli) which gives 
 
TolJLmp. 141 
 
 -///'/ /// ,//.''■/',>,////// 
 
 I'ljli ' bu Itmgman liiirjt.Hrfs i>niif Jt Tliwi.Aiui 'uTj.f 
 
141 
 
 these images a great resemblance to Egyptian 
 mummies. It is almost superfluous in this place 
 to notice the general observation, that, in all the 
 Mexican paintings, the objects tied to a head by 
 means of a thread, indicate to those acquainted 
 with the language of the natives, the names of 
 the persons drawn by the artist. The natives 
 pronounce these names, when they 3ee the hiero- 
 glyphic. Chimalpopoca signifies a buckler that 
 smokes ; Acamapitzin, a hand that holds reeds. 
 Thus, to indicate the names of these two kings, 
 predecessors of Montezuma, the Mexicans paint- 
 ed a buckler and a fist tied by a thread to two 
 heads ornamented with a royal fillet. I have 
 remarked, that in the pictures made after the 
 conquest, the valiant Pedro Alvarado was drawn 
 with two keys placed behind the neck, in allu- 
 sion, no doubt, to the keys of St. Peter, whose 
 images were every where seen by the people in 
 the Christian churches. I do not understand the 
 meaning of the marks of feet, in the genealogical 
 picture, behind the heads. In other Azteck 
 paintings, this hieroglyphic indicates roads, mi- 
 grations, and sometimes the direction of a move- 
 ment. 
 
 A Lawsuit in Hieroglypkical Writing. 
 
 Amidst the enormous quantity of paintings 
 found among the Mexican nations by the first 
 
142 
 
 conquerors, a very considerable number was des- 
 tined to serve as evidence in litigious causes. 
 The fragment added to the genealogy of the 
 lords of Azcapozalco is an example of this kind. 
 It is a paper of a law-suit respecting the possession 
 of an Indian farm. Under the dynasty of the 
 Azteck kings, the profession of a lawyer was 
 unknown in Mexico. The contending parties 
 appeared in person to plead their cause, either 
 before the judge of the district, called teuctli ; or 
 before the high courts of justice, called tlacatecatl 
 or cihuacohuatl. As the sentence was not imme- 
 diately pronounced after hearing the parties, each 
 of the disputants was interested in leaving with 
 the judges a hieroglyphical painting, to remind 
 them of the principal object of the dispute. 
 When the king presided in the assembly of the 
 judges, which took place every twenty, and in 
 certain cases every fourscore days, these law 
 papers were placed before the monarch. In 
 criminal causes, the picture represented the per- 
 son accused, not only at the moment when the 
 crime was committed, but also in the different 
 circumstances of his life preceding this action. 
 The king, in pronouncing the sentence of death, 
 made with the point of a dart a scratch across the 
 head of the culprit represented in the picture. 
 
 The use of these paintings in law-suits was 
 continued in the Spanish tribunals long after the 
 conquest. The natives, unable to address the 
 
143 
 
 judges except through an interpreter, considered 
 the employment of hieroglyphics as doubly ne- 
 cessary. They were presented before the several 
 courts of justice in New-Spain (the Real Audi- 
 cncia, the Sala del Crimen, and the Juzgado de 
 Indios) as late as the beginning of the seven- 
 teenth century. When the Emperor Charles V. 
 with a view to encourage the culture of the arts 
 and sciences in these distant regions, founded, 
 in 1553, the University of Mexico, three profes- 
 sorships were established ; one for teaching the 
 Azteck language, another for the Otomite, and 
 a third for the explanation of hieroglyphical 
 paintings. It was for a long time deemed indis- 
 pensable to have attorneys, pleaders, and judges, 
 who were able to read the titles, the genealogical 
 paintings, the ancient code of the laws, and the 
 list of taxes (tributes) which each feudatory was 
 obliged to pay his lord. Two professors of the 
 Indian language still exist at Mexico ; but the 
 chair destined for the study of the Azteck anti- 
 quities has been suppressed. The use of paint- 
 ings is entirely lost; not because the knowledge 
 of the Spanish language has increased among 
 the natives, but because, from the present orga- 
 nization of the tribunals, it is found more useful 
 to apply to lawyers to plead the cause of the peo- 
 ple before the judges. 
 
 The painting represented on the twelfth plate 
 seems to indicate a law-suit between some natives 
 
144 
 
 and Spaniards. The affair in litigation is a farm, 
 the plan of which is traced in orthographical 
 projection. We see the high-road pointed out 
 by the marks of the feet ; the houses sketched 
 in profile ; an Indian, whose name indicates a 
 bow ; and Spanish judges sitting in chairs with 
 the laws before them. 
 
 The Spaniard, placed immediately above the 
 Indian, was probably called Aquaverde; the 
 hieroglyphic of water, painted green, being 
 figured behind his head. The tongues are very 
 unequally divided in this picture. Every thing 
 portrays the state of a vanquished country : the 
 native scarcely dares defend his cause, while the 
 strangers with long beards talk much and loud, 
 as the descendants of a conquering people. 
 
/ft/. 
 
 Vol jiii. p. i4s. 
 
 ■ ' . //, { '// , 
 
 / 
 
 f>t/> ''/"/ /.">i,/nt.itt. Hurst. Hres_ Ornu ,f- "Brown . ■ btOUtt, itii.i . 
 
145 
 
 AN AZTECK 
 HIEROGLYPHICAL MANUSCRIPT, 
 
 PRESERVED IN THE 
 
 LIBRARY OF THE VATICAN. 
 
 PLATE XIII, 
 
 The Mexican painting's, a very small number 
 of which has reached our times, excite a double 
 interest, both from the light they throw on the 
 mythology and history of the first inhabitants of 
 America, and the apparent connexion with the 
 hieroglyphical writing of certain nations of the 
 Old Continent. We shall bring together in this 
 work whatever can afford information with 
 respect to the communication which at the most 
 distant periods seems to have taken place be- 
 tween groups of nations separated by deserts, 
 by mountains, or by seas ; and shall here mark 
 the result of our investigations on the hierogly- 
 phical paintings of the Americans. 
 
 Characters are found in Ethiopia, which have 
 an astonishing resemblance with those of the 
 
 VOL. XIII. L 
 
146 
 
 ancient Sanscrit, and particularly with the in- 
 scriptions in the caves of Canara, the construc- 
 tion of which preceded all the known periods of 
 Indian history *. The arts appear to have 
 flourished at Meroe, and at Axoum, one of the 
 most ancient cities of Ethiopia, before Egypt 
 rose from a state of barbarism. A celebrated 
 writer, deeply versed in the history of India, 
 Sir William Jones f, believed, that he had 
 traced the same people in the Ethiopians of 
 Meroe, the first Egyptians, and the Hindoos. 
 Yet it is almost certain, that the Abyssinians, 
 whom we must not confound with the autoch- 
 thones of Ethiopia, were an Arabian tribe ; 
 and, according- to the observation of M. Lan- 
 gles, the same hamyaritic characters, which we 
 discover in the east of Africa, still decorated, 
 in the fourteenth century of the vulgar era, 
 the gates of the city of Samarcand. Some 
 connexion therefore undoubtedly existed be- 
 tween Habesch, or ancient Ethiopia, and the 
 elevated plain of central Asia. 
 
 A long struggle between two religious sects, 
 the Brahmans and the Bouddhists, terminated 
 by the emigration of the Chamans to Thibet, 
 Mongolia, China, and Japan. If tribes of the 
 
 * Notes, by M. Latigles, to Norden's Travels, vol. 3, 
 p. 299, 349. 
 
 + Asiatic Researches, vol. 3, p. 6. 
 
147 
 
 Tartar race have passed over to the north- 
 west coast of America ; and thence to the 
 south and the east, towards the banks of Gila, 
 and those of the Missouri, as etymological * 
 researches seem to indicate ; we should be less 
 surprised at finding-, among the semi-barbarous 
 nations of the new continent, idols and mo- 
 numents of architecture, a hieroglyphical writ- 
 ing, and exact knowledge of the duration 
 of the year, and traditions respecting the first 
 state of the world, recalling to our minds the 
 sciences, the arts, and the religious opinions o* 
 the Asiatic nations. 
 
 In the study of the history of mankind, as 
 in that of the immensity of languages spread 
 over the face of the Globe, it would be losing 
 ourselves in a labyrinth of conjectures, were 
 we to assign a common origin to so many races, 
 and so many different tongues. The roots of 
 the Sanscrit found in the Persian tongue, the 
 great number of roots of the Persian, and even 
 of the Pahlavi, which we discover in the tongues 
 of Germannic origin -}-, give us no right to con- 
 sider the Sanscrit, the Pahlavi, or the ancient 
 language of the Medes, the Persian, and the 
 German, as derived from one and the same 
 
 * Vater ueber Araerika's Bevollkerung, p. 155, 169. 
 
 + Atlelung's Mithridates, Th. 1, p. 277, Schlegel, ueber 
 Sprache and Weisheit der Inder, p. 7. 
 
 l2 
 
148 
 
 source. It would no doubt be absurd to sup- 
 pose the migration of Egyptian colonies where- 
 ever pyramidical monuments and symbolical 
 paintings are found ; but how can we avoid be- 
 ing struck with the traces of resemblance offered 
 by the vast pictures of manners, of arts, of lan- 
 guage, and traditions, which exist at present 
 among nations at the most remote distance from 
 each other ? Why should we hesitate to point 
 out, wherever they occur, the analogies of con- 
 struction in languages, of style in monuments, 
 and of fictions in cosmogonies, although we may 
 be unable to decide what were the secret causes 
 of these resemblances, while no historical fact 
 carries us back to the epocha of the communica- 
 tions, which existed between the inhabitants of 
 different climates ? 
 
 In fixing our attention on the graphical means 
 which the natives employed to express their 
 ideas, we find real hieroglyphics, sometimes 
 curiologic, sometimes tropical, such as those, 
 the use of which appears to have passed from 
 Ethiopia into Egypt ; symbolic characters com- 
 posed of numerous keys, destined to speak 
 rather to the eyes than the ear, and expressing 
 whole words, like the Chinese ; or syllabical 
 characters, like those of the Mantchou Tartars, 
 in which the vowels are combined in one figure 
 with the consonants, but which may also 
 be restored into simple letters ; finally, real 
 
149 
 
 alphabets, which offer the highest degree of per- 
 fection in the analysis of sounds, and of which 
 some, for instance the Corean, according to the 
 ingenious observation of M. Langles*, seem still 
 to indicate the transition from hieroglyphics to 
 alphabetical writing. 
 
 In the immense extent of the new continent, 
 we see nations which have reached a certain de- 
 gree of civilization ; we observe forms of go- 
 vernment, and institutions, which could only 
 have been the effect of a long struggle between 
 the prince and the people, the priesthood and 
 the magistracy ; and we find languages, some 
 of which, such as the Greenland, the Cora, the 
 Tamanac, the Totonac, and the Quichua -f-, dis- 
 play a richness of grammatical forms, which we 
 trace nowhere in the old continent, except at 
 Congo, and among the Biscayans, who were the 
 remains of the ancient Cantabrians : but amid 
 these marks of civilization, and this progressive 
 perfection of language, it is remarkable, that no 
 native people of America had attained that ana- 
 lysis of sounds, which leads to the most admira- 
 ble, we might say the most miraculous of all in- 
 ventions, an alphabet. 
 
 We perceive that the use of hieroglyphical 
 
 * Norden's Travels, Langles' edition, vol. 3, p. 296. 
 + Archiv fuer Ethnographic, B. 1, s. 345. Vater s 
 206. 
 
150 
 
 paintings was common to the Toltecks, the 
 Tlascaltecks, the Aztecks, and several other 
 tribes, which, since the seventh century of our 
 era, appear successively on the elevated plain 
 of Anahuac ; but we nowhere find alphabetic 
 characters ; and we are led to think, that the 
 progressive perfection of symbolic signs, and 
 the facility with which objects are painted, 
 had prevented the introduction of letters. We 
 may cite, in support of this opinion, the ex- 
 ample of the Chinese, who during thousands 
 of years have contented themselves with four- 
 score thousand characters, composed of two 
 hundred and fourteen keys, or radical hiero- 
 glyphics : but do we not discover among the 
 Egyptians the simultaneous use of an alpha- 
 bet, and hieroglyphic writing, of which we have 
 undoubted proof in the valuable rolls of papyrus 
 found in the swathings of several mummies, 
 and represented in M. Denon's Picturesque 
 Atlas *? 
 
 Kalm-}- relates, in his Travels in America, 
 that Mr. Verandrier had discovered, in 1746, 
 in the savannahs of Canada, nine hundred lea- 
 gues west of Montreal, a stone tablet fixed in a 
 sculptured pillar, and on which were strokes that 
 were taken for a Tartarian inscription. Several 
 Jesuits at Quebec assured the Swedish traveller 
 
 * Denon's Voyage en Egypt, Pi. 136 et 137. 
 f Kalm's Reise, B. Ill, p. 416. 
 
151 
 
 that they had examined this tablet, which the 
 Chevalier Beauharnois, then governor of Ca- 
 nada, had sent to M. de Maurepas in France. 
 We cannot but deeply regret having no farther 
 knowledge of a monument, so interesting to 
 the history of man. But were there any per- 
 sons residing at Quebec capable of judging of 
 the character of an alphabet ? and if this pre- 
 tended inscription had been really recognized 
 in France as a Tartarian inscription, is it pro- 
 bable, that an enlightened minister, a protec- 
 tor of the arts, would not have ordered it to be 
 published ? 
 
 The Anglo-American antiquaries have made 
 known an inscription, which is supposed to be 
 Phoenician, and which is engraved on the rocks 
 of Dighton, in Narraganset bay, near the banks 
 of Taunton river, twelve leagues south of Bos- 
 ton. Drawings of this inscription have been 
 repeatedly published, from the end of the 17th 
 century down to the present time by Danforth, 
 Mather, Greenwood, and Sewell ; but so dis- 
 similar, that it is difficult to recognize them 
 as copies of the same original. The natives who 
 inhabited these countries, at the time of the 
 first European settlements, preserved an anci- 
 ent tradition, according to which, strangers in 
 wooden houses had sailed up Taunton river, 
 formerly called Assoonet. These strangers, 
 after having conquered the red men, had en- 
 
152 
 
 graved marks in the rock, wbich is now covered 
 by the waters of the river. Count Gebelin does 
 not hesitate, with the learned Dr. Stiles, to re- 
 gard these marks as a Carthaginian inscrip- 
 tion. He says, with that enthusiasm which is 
 natural to him, but which is highly injurious 
 in discussions of this kind, that this inscription 
 comes happily at the moment from the new 
 world, to confirm his ideas on the origin of 
 nations ; and that it is clearly demonstrated to 
 be a Phoenician monument, a picture which, in 
 the foreground, represents an alliance between 
 the American people and the foreign nation, 
 coming by the winds of the north from a rich 
 and industrious country. 
 
 I have carefully examined the four draw- 
 ings of the celebrated stone of Taunton river, 
 which Mr. Lort* published in London in' the 
 Memoirs of the Antiquarian Society. Far 
 from recognizing a symmetrical arrangement 
 of simple letters and syllabic characters, I 
 discover a drawing scarcely traced, like those 
 that have been found on the rocks of Norway-}-, 
 and in almost all the countries inhabited by the 
 Scandinavian nations. In this sketch we dis- 
 tinguish, from the form of the heads, five hu- 
 
 * Account of an ancient Inscription, by Mr. JLort, Archae- 
 ologia, vol. 3, p. 290. 
 
 + Sulini, Samlinger til ten Danske Historic, B. 2, p. 215. 
 
153 
 
 man figures, surrounding an animal with horns, 
 much higher in the fore than the hinder part of 
 the body. 
 
 In the voyage made by M. Bonpland and 
 myself to ascertain the communication between 
 the rivers Orinoco and Amazon, we were told 
 of an inscription, which it was asserted was 
 found in the chain of granitic mountains, that, 
 in the seventh degree of latitude, extends from 
 the Indian village of Uruana, or Urbana, as far 
 as the western banks of the Caura. A mission- 
 ary, Ramon Bueno, a Franciscan monk, hav- 
 ing accidentally entered a cavern formed by 
 the separation of some ledges of rocks, beheld 
 in the middle of the cave a large block of gra- 
 nite, on which he saw what he believed to be 
 characters formed into various groups, and 
 ranged on the same line. Unfortunately, the 
 difficult circumstances, in which we were placed 
 on our return from Rio Negro to St. Thomas 
 de la Guayana, did not permit us to verify per- 
 sonally this observation. The missionary gave 
 me a copy of part of these characters, of which 
 the following is an engraving. 
 
 2 
 
 *F 
 
 Some resemblance to the Phoenician alphabet 
 
154 
 
 may be discovered in these characters ; but 
 I much doubt whether the good monk, who 
 seemed to be but little interested about this pre- 
 tended inscription, had copied it very carefully. 
 It is somewhat remarkable, that out of seven cha- 
 racters there were none several times repeated ; 
 I have inserted them merely as worthy of engag- 
 ing the attention of the learned, who may here- 
 after visit the forests of Guyana. 
 
 It is also remarkable, that in this savage 
 and desert country, where P. Bueno found let- 
 ters engraven in granite, are a great number of 
 rocks, which at considerable heights are covered 
 with figures of animals, representations of the 
 sun, the moon, and the stars, and other hiero- 
 glyphical signs. The natives relate, that their 
 ancestors, in the time of the great ivaters, came 
 in canoes to the top of these mountains : and 
 that the stones were then in so plastic a state, 
 that men could trace marks on them with their 
 fingers. This tradition indicates a tribe in a dif- 
 ferent state of civilization from that of the peo- 
 ple by which it was preceded, discovering an 
 absolute ignorance of the use of the chisel, and 
 every other metallic tool. 
 
 From the whole of these facts it results, that 
 there exists no certain proof of the knowledge 
 of an alphabet among the Americans. In re- 
 searches of this kind we cannot be too careful 
 not to confound what may be the effect of 
 
155 
 
 chance, or idle amusement, with letters or sylla- 
 bic characters. Mr. Truter* relates, that in the 
 southern extremity of Africa, among the Bet- 
 juanas, he saw children busy in tracing- on a 
 rock, with some sharp instrument, characters 
 which bore the most perfect resemblance with 
 the P and the M of the Roman alphabet ; not- 
 withstanding which, these rude tribes were per- 
 fectly ignorant of writing. 
 
 This want of letters observed in the new con- 
 tinent, at the time of its second discovery by 
 Christopher Columbus, leads to the idea, that 
 the tribes of the Tartar or Mongul race, which 
 we may suppose to have passed from the east of 
 Asia to America, were not in possession of al- 
 phabetical writing ; or what is less probable, 
 that, having relapsed into barbarism under the 
 influence of a climate less favorable to the display 
 of the understanding, they had lost this won- 
 derful art, known only to a very small number 
 of individuals. We shall not here examine the 
 question, whether the Devanagari alphabet is of 
 remote antiquity on the banks of the Indus and 
 the Ganges ; or whether, as Strabo-f- asserts 
 from Megasthenes, the Hindoos were ignorant 
 of writing before the conquests of Alexander. 
 Farther to the east and the north in the region 
 
 * Bertuch, Geogr. Ephera. B. 12, s. 67. 
 t Strabo, lib. 15, p. 1035—1044. 
 
156 
 
 of monosyllabic languages, as in that of the 
 Tartarian, Samoiede, Ostiack, and Kamt- 
 schadale tongues, the use of letters wherever it is 
 at present found, was introduced very late. It 
 seems indeed probable, that it was the Christian 
 sect of Nestorians, who communicated the 
 Stranghelo alphabet to the Oighours and the 
 Mantchou Tartars ; an alphabet, which in the 
 northern regions of Asia is still more recent, than 
 the Runic characters in the north of Europe. 
 We need not, therefore, suppose the communi- 
 cations between eastern Asia and America to 
 have been of very remote antiquity, in order to 
 comprehend why this latter part of the world 
 had not been instructed in an art, which for a 
 long series of ages was unknown except in 
 Egypt, in the Phoenician and Grecian colonies, 
 and in the small space lying between the 
 Mediterranean, the Oxus, and the Persian 
 gulf. 
 
 When we examine the history of those nations 
 among which the use of letters is unknown, we 
 find almost every where, in both hemispheres, 
 that men have attempted to paint the objects 
 which strike their imagination, to represent 
 things by indicating a part for the whole, to 
 compose pictures by grouping figures in symbo- 
 lical sketches, and thus to perpetuate the 
 memory of certain remarkable facts. The 
 Delaware Indian, in scouring the woods, carves 
 
157 
 
 strokes on the bark of the trees, to mark the 
 number of men and women he has killed of the 
 enemy : the conventional sign, which indicates 
 the skin stripped from the head of a woman, dif- 
 fers by a simple stroke only from that which 
 characterizes the scalp of a man. Were we to 
 call hieroglyphic every painting of ideas by 
 things, there is not, as Mr. Zoega* has well re- 
 marked, a corner of the Globe, in which we 
 should not find hieroglyphical writing ; but this 
 same learned person, who has deeply studied the 
 Mexican paintings, observes also, that we must 
 not confound hieroglyphical writing with the re- 
 presentation of an event, with pictures in which 
 the objects are in the state of action with one 
 another. 
 
 The first missionaries who visited America, 
 Valades and Acosta -j~, have already called the 
 Azteck paintings a writing similar to that of the 
 Egyptians. If Kircher, Warburton, and other 
 learned men, have since contested the propriety 
 of this expression, it is because they have not 
 distinguished the paintings of a mixed hind, in 
 which real hieroglyphics, sometimes curiological, 
 sometimes tropical, are added to the natural re- 
 presentation of an action, from simple hierogly- 
 
 * Zoega, [). 525—534. 
 
 t Rhetorica Christiana, auclore Didaco Valades; Roma?, 
 1579, P. 2, c. 27, p. 93. Acosta, Lib. 6, c. 7. 
 
158 
 
 phical writing, such as is found, not on the 
 pyramidion, but on the great faces of the obe- 
 lisks. The famous inscription of Thebes, cited 
 by Plutarch, and by Clement of Alexandria *, 
 the only one, the explanation of which has 
 reached us, expressed by the hieroglyphics of a 
 child, an old man, a vulture, a fish, and a hippo- 
 potamus, the following sentence : " You who 
 are born, and who are to die, know, that the 
 Eternal hates impudence." A Mexican, to express 
 the same idea, would have represented the great 
 spirit, Teotl, chastising a criminal ; certain cha- 
 racters placed above two heads, would have 
 been sufficient to indicate the age of the child, 
 and that of the old man : he would have indivi- 
 dualized the action, but the style of his hierogly- 
 phical paintings would not have furnished him 
 with the means of giving a general expression to 
 the sentiment of hatred and vengeance. 
 
 According to the ideas which the ancients 
 have transmitted to us of the hieroglyphical in- 
 scriptions of the Egyptians, it is veiy probable, 
 that they might have been read, as we read 
 Chinese books. The collections, which we im- 
 properly call Mexican manuscripts, contain a 
 great number of paintings, which may be inter- 
 
 * Plut. de Iside ; ed. Par. 1624, Vol. 2, p. 363, F. Clem 
 Alexand. Stromat. Vol. 5, c. 7, ed. Potter, Oxon, 1715, Vol. 
 2, p. 670, lin. 30. 
 
159 
 
 preted or explained like the sculptures on the 
 Trajan column ; but we find only a very small 
 number of characters susceptible of being read. 
 The Azteck people had real simple hierogly- 
 phics for water, earth, air, wind, day, night, the 
 middle of the night, speech, motion : they had 
 also for numbers, for the days and the months of 
 the solar year. These signs, added to the paint- 
 ing of an event, marked in a very ingenious man- 
 ner, whether the action passed during the day or 
 the night ; the age of the persons they wished to 
 represent ; whether they had been conversing, 
 and who among them had spoken most. We 
 even find among the Mexicans vestiges of that 
 kind of hieroglyphics, which is called phonetic, 
 and which indicates relations, not with things, 
 but with the language spoken. Among semi-bar- 
 barous nations, the names of individuals, of cities, 
 and mountains, have generally some allusion to 
 objects that strike the senses, such as the form of 
 plants and animals, fire, air, or earth. This cir- 
 cumstance has given the Azteck people the 
 means of being able to write the names of cities, 
 and those of their sovereigns. The verbal 
 translation of Axajacatl, is face of water; that of 
 Ilhuicamina, arrow which pierces the sky ; thus 
 to represent the kings Moteuczoma Ilhuicamina 
 and Axajacatl, the painter united the hierogly- 
 phics of water and the sky to the figure of a 
 head and of an arrow. The names of the cities 
 
160 
 
 of Macuilxochitl, Quauhtinchan, and Tehuilo 
 joccan, signify, Jive Jloivers, house of the eagle, 
 and place of mirrors: to indicate these three 
 cities, they painted a flower placed on five points, 
 a house from which issued the head of an eagle, 
 and a mirror of obsidian. In this manner the 
 union of several simple hieroglyphics indicated 
 compound names, and by signs which spoke at 
 the same time to the eye and the ear : the cha- 
 racters which designated towns and provinces 
 were often drawn also from the productions of 
 the soil, or the occupations of the inhabitants. 
 
 From the whole of these researches it follows, 
 that the Mexican paintings which have been 
 preserved to our times, offer a great resemblance 
 not with the hieroglyphical writings of the 
 Egyptians, but with the rolls of papyrus found 
 in the swathings of the mummies ; which we 
 may also consider as paintings of a mixed kind, 
 because they unite symbolical and isolated cha- 
 racters with the representation of an action. 
 We recognize, in these rolls of papyrus, initia- 
 tions, sacrifices, allusions to the state of the soul 
 after death, tributes paid to conquerors, the be- 
 neficent effects of the inundations of the Nile, 
 and the labours of agriculture. Among a great 
 number of figures represented in action, or in 
 connexion with each other, we observe real 
 hieroglyphics, those isolated characters which 
 belonged to writing ; and it is not only on the 
 
161 
 
 papyri, and the swathings of mummies, but also 
 on the obelisks, that we find traces of this mixed 
 kind, which joins painting with hieroglyphical 
 writing. The lower part and the point of 
 Egyptian obelisks present in general a group of 
 two figures, which are in a state of action with 
 respect to each other, and which ought not to be 
 confounded with the isolated characters of sym- 
 bolical writing. 
 
 When we compare the Mexican paintings 
 with the hieroglyphics, that decorated the tem- 
 ples, the obelisks, and perhaps even the pyramids 
 of Egypt ; and reflect on the progressive steps, 
 which the human mind appears to have follow- 
 ed in the invention of graphic means fitted to ex- 
 press ideas ; we see, that the nations of America 
 were very distant from that perfection which the 
 Egyptians had obtained. The Aztecks were 
 indeed but little acquainted with simple hiero- 
 glyphics ; they could represent the elements, and 
 the relations of time and of place ; but it is only 
 by a great number of these characters, suscepti- 
 ble of being employed separately, that the paint- 
 ing of ideas becomes easy, and approximates to 
 writing. We find among the Aztecks the germes 
 of phonetic characters : they know how to write 
 names, by uniting certain signs which are asso- 
 ciated with sounds : this contrivance might have 
 led them to the beautiful discovery of giving an 
 alphabetic form to their simple hieroglyphics ; 
 
 VOL. XIII. m 
 
162 
 
 but ages would have elapsed, before these na- 
 tions of mountaineers, who adhered to their 
 manners and customs with the same invincible 
 obstinacy as the Chinese, the Japanese, and the 
 Hindoos, could have raised themselves to the 
 decomposition of words, the analysis of sounds, 
 the invention of an alphabet ! 
 
 Notwithstanding the extreme imperfection of 
 the hieroglyphical writing of the Mexicans, their 
 paintings were good substitutes for books, manu- 
 scripts, and alphabetic characters. In the time 
 of Montezuma, thousands of persons were em- 
 ployed in painting ; either forming new com- 
 positions, or copying pictures which already 
 existed. The facility with which they made 
 paper of the leaves of maguey, or pite (the 
 agave), no doubt greatly contributed to render 
 the use of painting so frequent. The paper reed 
 (cyperus papyrus) of the Old Continent grows 
 only in moist and temperate places ; the pite, on 
 the contrary, flourishes equally in the valleys, 
 and on the loftiest mountains ; it vegetates in the 
 warmest regions of the Globe, and on elevated 
 plains, where the thermometer descends to the 
 freezing point. The Mexican manuscripts 
 (codices Mexicani), that have been preserved, are 
 some of them painted on deer skins, others on 
 cotton, or paper of maguey. It is very probable, 
 that among the Americans, as formerly among 
 the Greeks, and other people of the Old World, 
 
163 
 
 the use of skins, tanned and prepared, preceded 
 that of paper : the Toltecks, at least, seem al- 
 ready to have employed hieroglyphical painting 
 at that remote era, when they inhabited the 
 northern provinces, the climate of which is un- 
 fit for the cultivation of the agave. 
 
 Among the Mexican people, the figures and 
 symbolic characters were not traced on separate 
 leaves. Whatever was the substance employed 
 for manuscripts, they were seldom destined to 
 form rolls ; but were almost always folded in 
 zigzag, in a particular manner, like the mounts 
 of our fans. Two tablets of light wood were 
 pasted at the ends, one at top, the other at bot- 
 tom, so that, before the painting was unfolded, 
 the manuscript had the most perfect resem- 
 blance with our bound books. By this arrange- 
 ment, on opening a Mexican manuscript as we 
 open our books, we can see only half of the cha- 
 racters at one time, those which are painted on 
 the same side of the skin, or paper of maguey : 
 to examine the whole of the pages, if the different 
 folds of a band, which is often twelve or fifteen 
 metres in length, can be called pages, we must 
 extend the whole manuscript first from the left to 
 the right, and then from the right to the left. In 
 this respect the Mexican paintings are perfectly 
 similar to the Siamese manuscripts, preserved in 
 the public library at Paris, which are also folded 
 in zigzag. 
 
 m 2 
 
 
164 
 
 The volumes, which the first missionaries of 
 New Spain improperly called Mexican books, 
 contained notions on a great number of very 
 different subjects ; they consisted of historical 
 annals of the Mexican empire, rituals indicating 
 the month and the day on which sacrifices were 
 to be made to particular divinities, cosmogonical 
 and astrological representations, papers relating 
 to lawsuits, documents respecting the divisions 
 of property in a district, lists of tributes payable 
 at certain periods of the year, genealogical tables 
 according to which inheritances or the rule of 
 succession in families was regulated, calendars 
 showing the intercalations of the civil year and 
 religious year, and paintings indicating the pains 
 and penalties, which the judges were to inflict 
 for crimes. My travels in different parts of 
 America and Europe procured me the advantage 
 of examining a greater number of Mexican ma- 
 nuscripts, than Zoega, Clavigero, Gama, the 
 Abbe Hervas, the ingenious author of the Let- 
 tere Americane, Count Einaldo Carli, and other 
 learned persons, who, since Boturini, have writ- 
 ten on these monuments of the ancient civiliza- 
 tion of America. In the valuable collection pre- 
 served in the palace of the Viceroy at Mexico, I 
 saw fragments of paintings relative to each of the 
 subjects I have just enumerated. 
 
 We cannot avoid being struck with the great 
 resemblance, which we observe between the 
 
165 
 
 Mexican manuscrips preserved at Veletri, al 
 Rome, at Bologna, at Vienna, and at Mexico ; 
 they seem at first sight to be copies of each 
 other ; they are all extremely incorrect in the 
 outlines, but we find a scrupulous attention to 
 the details, and great strength in the colouring, 
 which is placed so as to produce the most strik- 
 ing contrasts. The figures are in general 
 dwarfish with respect to the body, like those of 
 the Etruscan reliefs : but in correctness of draw- 
 ing they are far beneath the most imperfect 
 paintings of the Hindoos, the Chinese, the Ja- 
 panese, or the people of Thibet. We see in 
 the Mexican paintings heads of an enormous 
 size, a body extremely short, and feet which, 
 from the length of the toes, look like the claws 
 of a bird. The heads are always drawn in pro- 
 file, though the eye is placed as if the figure pre- 
 sented a full view. All this denotes the infancy 
 of the art ; but we must not forget, that people 
 who express their ideas by paintings, and who 
 are compelled by their state of society to make 
 frequent use of mixed hieroglyphical writing, 
 attach as little importance to correct painting, 
 as the literati of Europe to a fine hand-writing 
 in their manuscripts. 
 
 It cannot be denied, that the Mexican people 
 belong to a race of men, who, like several 
 Tartar and Mongul hordes, are extremely fond of 
 imitating the form of objects. Every where in 
 
166 
 
 New Spain, as well as in Quito and Peru, we find 
 Indians, who know how to paint and carve ; they 
 succeed in servilely copying whatever they be- 
 hold, and they have learnt, since the arrival of the 
 Europeans, to give correctness to their outlines ; 
 but nothing indicates their being penetrated with 
 that feeling of the beautiful, without which paint- 
 ing and sculpture cannot rise above the rank of 
 mechanical arts. In this, and in many other re- 
 spects, the inhabitants of the New World resem- 
 ble the whole of the tribes of the East of Asia. 
 
 We may conceive also how the frequent use 
 of mixed hieroglyphical paintings must contri- 
 bute to spoil the taste of a nation, thus famili- 
 arized to the aspect of the most hideous figures, 
 and of forms the most remote from correctness 
 of proportion. To indicate a king, who, in 
 such a year, conquered a neighbouring nation, 
 the Egyptian, in the perfection of his writing, 
 ranged in the same line a small number of 
 isolated hieroglyphics, which expressed the 
 whole series of the ideas he wished to represent ; 
 and these characters consisted for the most part 
 of the figures of inanimate objects : the Mexican, 
 on the contrary, to express the same thing, was 
 obliged to paint a group of two persons, a king, 
 armed, overthrowing a warrior wearing the arms 
 of the conquered city. But in order to abridge 
 the labour of these historical paintings, they 
 began soon to paint only what was absolutely 
 
167 
 
 indispensable to recognize the objects. Why 
 give arms to a figure represented in an attitude 
 in which no use is made of them ? Moreover, 
 the principal forms, those by which a divinity, a 
 temple, a sacrifice, were represented, must have 
 been early fixed. It would have become ex- 
 tremely difficult to comprehend these paintings, 
 if every artist could have capriciously varied the 
 representation of objects, which it was so often 
 necessary to portray. Hence it follows, that the 
 civilization of the Mexicans might have been 
 considerably advanced, without their being 
 tempted to abandon the incorrect forms, to which 
 they had been habituated for ages. A warlike 
 nation, living on mountains, robust, but ex- 
 tremely ill-favoured according to the European 
 principles of beauty, degraded by despotism, 
 accustomed to the ceremonies of a sanguinary 
 worship, is but little disposed to raise itself to 
 the cultivation of the fine arts ; the habit of 
 painting instead of writing, the daily view of so 
 many hideous and disproportioned figures, the 
 obligation of preserving the same forms without 
 change, these various circumstances must have 
 contributed to perpetuate a bad taste among the 
 Mexicans. 
 
 We seek in vain on the elevated plain of 
 central Asia, or farther to the north and the east, 
 for nations who have made use of this hierogly- 
 phical painting, which has been practised in the 
 
168 
 
 country of Anahuac ever since the end of the 
 seventh century. The Kamtschatdales, the Ton- 
 gooses, and other tribes of Siberia, described by 
 Strahlenberg, paint figures which represent his- 
 torical facts. Under every zone, as we have 
 already observed, we find nations more or less 
 addicted to this kind of painting ; but there is a 
 wide distance between a plate covered with 
 certain characters, and those Mexican manu- 
 scripts, which are all composed according to a 
 uniform system, and which may be considered 
 as the annals of the empire. We are ignorant 
 whether this system of hieroglyphic painting 
 was invented in the New Continent, or whether 
 it was owing to the emigration of some Tartar 
 tribe acquainted with the exact duration of the 
 year, and whose civilization was as ancient as 
 that of the Oighours of the elevated plain of 
 Turfan. If we do not find in the Old Continent 
 any nation, that has made so extensive a use of 
 painting as the Mexicans, it is because we dis- 
 cover neither in Europe nor in Asia a civilization 
 so much advanced, without the knowledge of an 
 alphabet, or certain characters that serve as a 
 substitute, such as the characters of the Chinese 
 and the Coreans. Before the introduction of 
 hieroglyphical painting, the nations of Anahuac 
 made use of those knots, and threads of various 
 colours, which the Peruvians call quippus, and 
 which are found not only among the Canadians, 
 
169 
 
 but in very remote times among the Chinese. 
 Boturini was fortunate enough to procure speci- 
 mens of real Mexican quippus, or nepohualt- 
 zitzin, found in the country of the Tlascaltecks. 
 In the great migrations of the nations, those of 
 America transported themselves from north to 
 south, as the Iberians, the Celts, and the Pelas- 
 gi flowed from east to west. Perhaps the ancient 
 inhabitants of Peru had already passed over the 
 elevated plain of Mexico : in fact, Ulloa, who was 
 well acquainted with the style of Peruvian archi- 
 tecture, was struck with the great resemblance 
 certain old edifices of Western Louisiana bore, 
 in the distribution of the doors and niches, to the 
 tamboes built by the Incas ; and it is not less sin- 
 gular, according to the traditions collected at Li- 
 can the ancient capital of the kingdom of Quito, 
 that the quippus were known to the Puruays 
 long before they were subdued by the descend- 
 ants of Manco-Capac. 
 
 The use of writing and of hieroglyphics super- 
 seded in Mexico, as well as in China, that of 
 knots, or the nepohualtzitzin. This change 
 was effected about the year 648 of our era. A 
 northern, but very polished race, the Toltecks, 
 appears in the mountains of Anahuac, on the east 
 of the gulf of California ; declares itself expelled 
 from a country lying to the north-west of the 
 Rio Gila, and called Huehuetlapallan ; it brings 
 with it paintings, indicating year by year the 
 
170 
 
 events of its migration ; and it professes to have 
 quitted this country, the situation of which is 
 altogether unknown to us, in the year 544, at 
 the same period when the total ruin of the dy- 
 nasty of the Tsin had occasioned great com- 
 motions among the nations in the east of Asia. 
 This circumstance is very remarkable : moreover, 
 the names, which the Toltecks bestowed on the 
 cities they built, were those of the cities of the 
 northern country, which they had been compell- 
 ed to abandon ; from this circumstance the ori- 
 gin* of the Toltecks, the Cirimecks, the Acol- 
 huans, and the Aztecks, of those four nations 
 who spoke the same language, and who entered 
 successively, and by the same road into Mexico, 
 will be known, if we ever discover in the north 
 of America or Asia a people acquainted with the 
 names of Huehuetlapallan, Aztlan, Teocolhua- 
 can, Amaquemecan, Tehuajo, and Copalla. 
 
 As far as the parallel of fifty-three leagues, the 
 temperature of the north-west coast of America 
 is milder than that of the eastern coasts ; we 
 might be led to think, therefore, that civilization 
 had anciently made some progress in this climate, 
 and even in higher latitudes. Even in our own 
 times we perceive, that in the fifty-seventh de- 
 gree, in Cox's Channel, and Norfolk Sound, 
 
 * Clavigero, Storia di Messico, torn. 1, p. 126 -, torn. 4, 
 p. 29 aud 40. 
 
171 
 
 called by Marchand the gulf of Tchinkitane, 
 the natives have a decided taste for hierogly- 
 phical paintings on wood. I have examined in 
 another part of my works*, whether it is pro- 
 bable, that these industrious nations, of a gene- 
 rally mild and affable disposition, are Mexican 
 emigrants, who sought refuge toward the north, 
 after the arrival of the Spaniards ; or whether 
 they are not rather the descendants of the Tol- 
 teck and Azteck tribes, who, at the time Of the 
 irruption of the nations of Aztlan, remained in 
 these northern regions. From the happy coin- 
 cidence of various circumstances, man raises him- 
 self to a certain degree of cultivation, even in 
 climates the least favourable to the development 
 of organized beings : near the polar circle, in 
 Iceland, in the twelfth century, we know the 
 Scandinavians cultivated literature and the arts 
 with more success, than the inhabitants of Den- 
 mark and Prussia. 
 
 A few Tolteck tribes appear to have mixed 
 with the nations, who formerly inhabited the 
 country lying between the eastern bank of the 
 Mississippi and the Atlantic ocean. The Iroquois 
 and the Hurons made hieroglyphical paintings 
 on wood, which bear a striking resemblance 
 
 * See my Essai Politique, vol. 1, p. 372; vol. 2, p. 507 : 
 Marchand, torn. 1, p. 259, 261, 299, 375. 
 
172 
 
 with those of the Mexicans* ; they indicated the 
 names of the persons they meant to represent, 
 by employing the same means, which we have 
 already mentioned in the description of a genea- 
 logical painting. The natives of Virginia had 
 paintings called sagkokok, which represented in 
 symbolical characters the events, that had taken 
 place during the space of sixty years : these were 
 great wheels divided by sixty spokes, or into as 
 many equal parts. Lederer -f- relates having 
 seen, in the Indian village of Pommacomek, 
 one of these hieroglyphical cycles, in which the 
 epocha of the arrival of the Whites on the coasts 
 of Virginia was marked by the figure of a swan 
 vomiting fire ; to indicate at the same time the 
 colour of the Europeans, their passage by water, 
 and the destruction which their fire-arms had 
 poured on the Red men. 
 
 At Mexico the use of painting and of paper of 
 maguey was extended far beyond the limits of 
 the empire of Montezuma, to the borders of the 
 lake of Nicaragua, whither the Toltecks in their 
 migrations had carried their language and their 
 arts. In the kingdom of Guatimala, the inhabi- 
 tants of Teochiapan had preserved traditions, 
 
 * Lafitau, vol. 2, p. 43, 225, 410. La Honlan, Voyage 
 dans l'Amcriquc septentrionale, vol. 2, p. 193. 
 t Journal des Savans, 1G81, p. 75. 
 
173 
 
 that went back to the epocha of a great deluge ; 
 after which their ancestors, led by a chief called 
 Votan y had come from a country lying toward 
 the north. In the village of Teopixca, there 
 still existed in the sixteenth century descendants 
 of the family of Votan, or Vodan ; for these two 
 names are the same, the Toltecks and the Az- 
 tecks not having the four consonants d, b, r, s, 
 in their language. They who have studied the 
 history of the Scandinavian nations in the heroic 
 times, must be struck at finding in Mexico a 
 name, which recalls that of Wodan or Odin, 
 who reigned among the Scythians, and whose 
 race, according to the very remarkable assertion 
 of Bede*, " gave kings to a great number of 
 nations." 
 
 If it be true, as many learned men have sup- 
 posed, that these same Toltecks, whom pesti- 
 lence, followed by a great drought, had driven 
 from the elevated plain of Anahuac about the 
 middle of the eleventh century of our era, reap- 
 peared in South America as founders of the 
 empire of the Incas, why should not the Peruvi- 
 ans have abandoned their quijrpus, and adopted 
 the hieroglyphical writing of the Toltecks ? 
 Almost at the same epocha, in the beginning of 
 the twelfth century, a Greenland bishop had 
 
 * Reda, Hist. Eccles. lib. 1, c. 15. Francisco Nunnez tie 
 la Vega, Constitutiones Synodales, p. 74. 
 
174 
 
 carried, not to the Continent of America, but to 
 Newfoundland (Finland), Latin books, the same 
 perhaps as the brothers Zeni found there in 
 1380*. 
 
 We are ignorant whether tribes of the Tolteck 
 race penetrated into the southern hemisphere, 
 not by the Cordilleras of Quito and Peru, but 
 by following the plains which stretch to the east 
 of the Andes, towards the banks of the Mara- 
 non. An extremely curious fact, with which I 
 became acquainted during my abode at Lima, 
 leads to this supposition. 
 
 Narcissus Gilbar, a franciscan, distinguished 
 for his courage, and his love of inquiry, found, 
 among some independent Indians, the Panoes, 
 on the banks of the Ucayale, a little to the north 
 of the mouth of the Sarayacu, bundles of paint- 
 ings, which in their external appearance per- 
 fectly resembled our volumes in quarto. Eacli 
 leaf was three decimetres long, and two broad ; 
 the covering of these collections was formed of 
 several leaves of the palm tree, with a very thick 
 parenchyma, glued together : pieces of tolerably 
 fine cotton formed the leaves, which were fast- 
 ened by threads of the agave. When Gilbar 
 reached the dwellings of the Panoes, he found 
 an old man seated at the foot of a palm-tree, 
 
 * Viaggio de Fralelli Zeni (Venezia, 1808), p. 67. 
 t Ibid. 
 
175 
 
 and surrounded by several young persons, to 
 whom he was explaining the contents of these 
 books. The savages would not at first permit a 
 white man to approach the teacher ; and in- 
 formed the missionary by means of Indians of 
 Manoa, who alone understood the language of 
 the Panoes, " that these paintings contained hid- 
 den things, which no stranger ought to know." 
 With great difficulty N. Gilbar procured one of 
 these collections, which he sent to Lima for the 
 inspection of P. Cisneros, the learned compiler of 
 a periodical journal*, which has been translated 
 in Europe. Several persons of my acquaintance 
 have seen this book of the Panoes, every page of 
 which was covered with paintings. These were 
 figures of men and of animals, and a great num- 
 ber of isolated characters, which were deemed 
 hieroglyphical, arranged in lines, with admirable 
 order and symmetry. The liveliness of the co- 
 lors was particularly striking ; but as no one at 
 Lima had seen a fragment of Azteck manu- 
 scripts, it was impossible to judge of the identity 
 of the style of paintings found at the distance of 
 eight hundred leagues from each other. 
 
 P. Cisneros wished to deposit this book in the 
 convent of the missions of Ocopa ; but whether 
 the person, to whom it was entrusted, lost it in 
 the passage over the Cordilleras, or whether it 
 
 * El Mercurio Peruano. 
 
17* 
 
 was taken and sent clandestinely into Europe, it 
 is certain, that it never reached the place of its 
 first destination : every search made to regain so 
 curious an object was fruitless, and the regret of 
 not having copied these characters came too 
 late. The missionary, Narcissus Gilbar, with 
 whom I was intimately acquainted at Lima, pro- 
 mised rne to make use of every endeavour to 
 procure me another collection of these paintings 
 of the Panoes : he knows that several exist 
 among them ; and that they say themselves, 
 that these books were transmitted to them by 
 their fathers. The explanation they give of 
 these paintings seems founded on an ancient tra- 
 dition, which is perpetuated in some families. 
 The Indians of Manoa, whom P. Gilbar commis- 
 sioned to make researches on the meaning of 
 these characters, imagined, that they related to 
 travels, and ancient wars with the neighbouring 
 tribes. 
 
 The Panoes differ at present but very little 
 from the other savages, who inhabit these damp 
 and sultry forests : naked, living on the fruits of 
 the plaintain, and the produce of their fishery, 
 they are far removed from all knowledge of 
 paintings, and from feeling the want of commu- 
 nicating their ideas by graphic signs. Like the 
 greater part of the tribes planted on the banks of 
 the spacious rivers of South America, they appear 
 to have been but recent occupants of the soil 
 
177 
 
 they now inhabit. Are they the scanty remnant 
 of some civilized nation fallen into the savage 
 state? or are they descendants of those same 
 Toltecks, who carried the use of hieroglyphic 
 paintings into New-Spain, and who, expelled by 
 other nations, have disappeared from the borders 
 of the lake Nicaragua ? These are interesting 
 questions for elucidating the history of man ; 
 and are connected with others, the import- 
 ance of which has not hitherto been sufficiently 
 felt. 
 
 Some granitic rocks, which rise on the savan- 
 nahs of Guiana, between the Cassiquiare and the 
 Conorichite, are covered with figures of tigers, 
 crocodiles, and other characters, which may be 
 regarded as symbolical. Similar figures are 
 found four hundred leagues to the north and the 
 west, on the banks of the Orinoco, near Encara- 
 mada and Caicara ; on the borders of the river 
 Cauca, near Timba, between Cali and Jelima ; 
 and even on the elevated plain of the Cordille- 
 ras, in the Paramo of Guanacas. The natives of 
 these regions are unacquainted with the use of 
 metallic tools ; and all concur in asserting, that 
 these characters already existed when their ances- 
 tors arrived in those countries. Is it to a single na- 
 tion, trained to industry, and skilled in sculpture, 
 such as the Toltecks, the Aztecks, and the tribes 
 that emigrated from Aztlan, that these marks of 
 remote civilization are owing ? In what region 
 
 VOL. XIII. N 
 
178 
 
 must we place the seat of this culture ? Is it to 
 the north of the river Gila, on the elevated plain 
 of Mexico ? or in the southern hemisphere, in 
 those lofty plains of Tiahuanacu, which the Incas 
 themselves found covered with ruins of majestic 
 greatness, and which may be considered as the 
 Himala and the Thibet of South America ? These 
 problems are not to be solved in the present state 
 of our knowledge. 
 
 We have now examined the relations, that 
 exist between the Mexican paintings and the 
 hieroglyphics of the ancient world. We have 
 endeavoured to throw some light on the origin 
 and migrations of the nations that introduced into 
 New-Spain the use of symbolic writing, and the 
 fabrication of paper ; what remains is to notice 
 the manuscripts (Codices Mejcicani), that, since 
 the sixteenth century, have been sent to Europe, 
 and preserved in public and private libraries. 
 We shall be astonished to find how rare are be- 
 come these precious monuments of a nation, 
 which in its progress toward civilization appears 
 to have struggled with the same obstacles, that 
 opposed the advancement of the ails among all 
 the nations of the North, and even of the East of 
 Asia. 
 
 From the researches I have made it appears, 
 that there exist at present in Europe only six 
 collections of Mexican paintings, those of the 
 Escurial, Bologna, Veletri, Rome, Vienna, and 
 
179 
 
 Berlin. The learned Jesuit Fabrega, who is 
 often cited in the works of Mr. Zoega, and 
 whose manuscripts relating to the Azteck anti- 
 quities were communicated to me by the Cheva- 
 lier Borgia, nephew to the Cardinal of that name, 
 supposes, that the archives of Simancas in Spain 
 contain also some of these hieroglyphical paint- 
 ings, which Robertson has so aptly denominated 
 picture ivritings*. 
 
 The collection preserved at the Escurial has 
 been examined by Mr. Waddilove, chaplain to 
 the English embassy at Madrid when Lord 
 Grantham was ambassador. It has the form of 
 a book in folio ; which may lead us to suspect, 
 that it is only a copy of a Mexican manuscript, 
 for the originals I have examined are all of the 
 size of volumes in quarto. The objects repre- 
 sented seem to prove, that the collection of the 
 Escurial, like those of Italy and Vienna, are 
 either astrological books, or real rituals, which 
 point out the religious ceremonies prescribed for 
 particular days of the month. At the bottom of 
 each page is an explanation in Spanish, which 
 has been added since the conquest. 
 
 The collection of Bologna is deposited in the 
 library of the Institute of Sciences of that city. 
 We are unacquainted with its origin ; but we 
 read on the first page, that this painting, which 
 
 * Robertson's History of America, 1802, vol. 3, p. 403. 
 N 2 
 
180 
 
 is 3*26 centimetres (eleven Roman palms) in 
 length, was ceded, the 26th of December, 1665, 
 by Count Valerio Zani to the Marquis of Caspi. 
 The characters, which are traced on a thick an d 
 ill prepared skin, seem in a great measure to al- 
 lude to the form of the constellations, and to as- 
 trological notions. There exists an engraved 
 copy of this Codex Mexicanus of Bologna, in the 
 Museum of Cardinal Borgia, at Veletri. 
 
 The collection of Vienna, which is sixty-five 
 pages, is become celebrated, since it fixed the 
 attention of Dr. Robertson ; who, in his classic 
 work on the History of the New Continent, has 
 published a few pages in outlines only, and with- 
 out coloring. We read on the first page of this 
 Mexican manuscript, that it was sent by 
 King Emanuel of Portugal to Pope Clement 
 the Seventh, and that it has since been in the 
 hands of the Cardinals Hippolito de Medicis and 
 Capuanus. 
 
 Lambeccius*, who has made very incorrect 
 engravings of some figures of the Codex V'mdo- 
 bonensis, observes, that as King Emanuel was 
 dead two years before the election of Pope Cle- 
 ment the Seventh, this manuscript could not have 
 been given to this last Pontiff", but rather to Leo 
 the Tenth, to whom the King of Portugal sent an 
 
 * Lambeccii Commentar. de Bibliotheca Caesar. Vindo- 
 bonensi, ed. 1776, p. 966. 
 
181 
 
 embassy in 1513 ; but I ask how it was pos- 
 sible to have Mexican paintings in Europe 
 in 1513, since Hernandez de Cordova did not 
 discover the coasts of Yucatan till 1617, and 
 Cortez landed at Vera Cruz only in 1519? Is 
 it probable, that the Spaniards should have found 
 Mexican paintings in the island of Cuba, when 
 the inhabitants of that island, notwithstanding 
 the short distance from False Cape to Cape St. 
 Antonio, do not ajjpear to have had any com- 
 munication with the Mexicans ? It is true, 
 that, in the note added to the collection of 
 Vienna, this collection is not called Codex Mexi- 
 canus, but Codex Indice meridionalis : never- 
 theless the perfect analogy between this manu- 
 script and those at Veletri and Rome leaves no 
 doubt with respect to their common origin. King 
 Emanuel died in 1521 ; Clement the Seventh 
 in 1534: it seems to me incredible, that before 
 the first entry of the Spaniards into Tenoch- 
 titlan on the 8th of November, 1519, there 
 should have been a Mexican manuscript at 
 Rome. At whatever period it reached Italy, 
 it is certain, that, after having passed from 
 hand to hand, it was offered in 1677 to the 
 Emperor Leopold by the Duke of Saxe-Eise- 
 nach. 
 
 We are altogether ignorant of the fate of 
 the collection of Mexican paintings, which ex- 
 isted toward the end of the 17th century at 
 
182 
 
 London, and which were published by Parchas. 
 This manuscript was sent to the Emperor 
 Charles the Fifth by the first Viceroy of Mexico, 
 Antonio de Mendoza, Marquis of Mondejar : 
 the vessel which transported this valuable object 
 was taken by a French ship, and the collection 
 fell into the hands of Andrew Thevet, geogra- 
 pher to the King of France, who had himself 
 visited the new continent. After the death of 
 this traveller, Hakluyt, who was chaplain to 
 the English embassy at Paris, purchased the 
 manuscript for twenty crowns ; and from Paris 
 it went to London, where Sir Walter Raleigh 
 was desirous of publishing it. The expense of 
 engraving the figures retarded the publication 
 till 1625 ; when, in compliance with the wishes 
 of the learned antiquary Spelman, Purchas in- 
 serted the whole of the collection of Mendoza 
 in his collection of travels *j These same 
 figures have been copied by Thevenot -f-, in his 
 Relation of divers Travels : but this copy, as 
 Abbe Clavigero % has very justly observed, is 
 full of faults ; the events, for instance, which 
 took place under the reign of the King Ahui- 
 zotl, are there indicated under the reign of 
 Montezuma. 
 
 * Punhas's Pilgrims, vol. :j, p. 1065. 
 
 t ThcviMiot (161H3), vol. 2, PI. 4, p. 1— «6. 
 
 I Clavigero, vol. 1, p. "23. 
 
183 
 
 Some authors* have asserted, that the ori- 
 ginal of the celebrated collection of Mendoza 
 was preserved in the royal library at Paris ; but 
 it seems certain, that for a century past this 
 library has contained no Mexican manuscript. 
 How should the collection purchased by 
 Hakluyt, and carried to England, have been 
 brought back to France ? We know at present of 
 no other Mexican paintings at Paris than some 
 copies contained in a Spanish manuscript, which 
 came from the library of Tellier, and of which 
 we shall have occasion to speak hereafter. This 
 book, highly interesting in other respects, is 
 preserved in the superb collection of manuscripts 
 in the public library at Paris. It resembles 
 the Codex anonymus of the Vatican, N. 3738, 
 which is the work of the monk Pedro de los 
 Riosf. Kircher has copied a part of the en- 
 graving of Purchas %. 
 
 The collection of Mendoza throws light over 
 the history, political state, and domestic life of 
 the Mexicans. It is divided into three sections ; 
 which, like the skandhas of the Hindoo Puranas, 
 treat of subjects altogether different. The first 
 section gives the history of the Azteck dynasty 
 
 * Warburton, Essay on Hieroglyphicks, vol. 1, p. 18. 
 Papillon, Histoire de la Gravure en Bois, torn. 1, p, 364. 
 f See above the description ofvPl. 7. 
 % Kircheri CEdipus, vol. 3, p. 32. 
 
184 
 
 from the foundation of Tenochtitlan, in the 
 year 1325 of our era, to the death of Montezuma 
 the Second, properly called Monteuczoma Xo- 
 cojotzin, in 1520 ; the second section is a list 
 of the tributes, which each province and little 
 town paid the Azteck sovereigns ; the third and 
 last section contains sketches of the domestic 
 life and manners of the Azteck people. The 
 viceroy Mendoza lias added to each page of 
 the collection an explanation in Mexican and 
 Spanish, so that the whole forms a work very 
 interesting to the historian. The figures, not- 
 withstanding the incorrectness of the outlines, 
 present several very singular sketches of man- 
 ners. We see in them the education of chil- 
 dren from their infancy, till they become mem- 
 bers of society, either as husbandmen, manu- 
 facturers, warriors, or priests. The quantity of 
 food suitable to every age, the punishment that 
 ought to be inflicted on children of both sexes ; 
 every thing among the Mexicans was prescribed 
 in the most minute detail, not by law, but by 
 ancient customs, from which no deviation was 
 permitted. Fettered by the yoke of arbitrary 
 power, and the barbarism of civil institutions, 
 without freedom of will in the most indifferent 
 actions of domestic life, the whole nation was 
 reared in a languid uniformity of customs and 
 of superstitions. The same causes have pro- 
 duced similar effects in ancient Egypt, in India, 
 
185 
 
 in China, in Mexico, and in Peru ; wherever 
 men were merely masses animated by a same- 
 ness of will ; wherever laws, religion, and 
 custom, have placed barriers to the progress of 
 intellectual improvement and individual happi- 
 ness. 
 
 In the paintings of the Mendoza collection 
 we trace the ceremonies practised on the birth 
 of a child. The midwife, invoking the god 
 Ometeuctli, and the goddess Omecihualt, who 
 reside in the abodes of the blest, sprinkled 
 water on the forehead and the breast of the 
 newborn infant ; and after pronouncing dif- 
 ferent prayers*, in which water was considered 
 as the symbol of the purification of the soul, 
 the midwife bad the children draw near, who 
 had been invited to give the child a name. In 
 some provinces a fire was lighted at the same 
 time, and the infant was seemingly made to 
 pass through the flame, and undergo the double 
 purification of fire and water. This ceremony 
 reminds us of usages, the origin of which, in 
 Asia, appears to be lost in the darkness of the 
 remotest ages. 
 
 Other plates of the collection of Mendoza 
 represent the punishments, often barbarous, in- 
 flicted by parents on their children, according 
 to the greatness of the fault, and the age and 
 
 * Clavigero, vol. 2, p, 8C. 
 
186* 
 
 sex of the offender. A mother exposes her 
 daughter to the smoke of pimento (capsicum 
 baccatum) : a father pricks his son eight years 
 old with agave leaves, which are terminated by 
 thorns. The painting indicates in what cases 
 the hand only of the child should be pricked, 
 and in what other cases parents are permitted 
 to extend this painful operation over the whole 
 of the body. A priest, teopLvqui, chastises a 
 novice, by throwing burning coals on his head, 
 because he has passed the night beyond the 
 boundary of the temple. Another priest is re- 
 presented as sitting in the attitude of observing 
 the stars, to indicate the hour of midnight. 
 We here perceive, in the Mexican painting, 
 the hieroglyphics of midnight placed above the 
 head of the priest, and a dotted line from the 
 eye of the observer pointing towards a star*. 
 We see also figures, which represent women 
 spinning with a distaff, and weaving at a loom 
 the warp of which is perpendicular : a gold- 
 smith blowing a charcoal fire through a pipe ; 
 an old man of seventy, to whom the law allows 
 the privilege of intoxication, as it did to a wo- 
 man when she became a grandmother : a match- 
 maker, called cihuatlanque, who carries the 
 young virgin on her back to the house of the 
 bridegroom ; and lastly the nuptial benedic- 
 
 * Thevenot, vol. 2, PI. 4, tig. 49, 51, 55, 61. 
 
187 
 
 tion, the ceremony of which consisted in the 
 priest, or teopixqui, tying- the skirt of the young 
 man's cloak (tilmatli), to the young woman's 
 robe (huepilli). The Mendoza collection con- 
 tains also several figures of Mexican temples, 
 in which we clearly distinguish the pyramidal 
 monument divided into steps, and the little cha- 
 pel, the veos, at the top. But the most com- 
 plicated painting, as well as the most ingenious 
 of this Codex Mexicanus, is that which represents 
 a tlatoani, or governor of a> province, strangled 
 for revolting against his sovereign ; for the same 
 picture records the crime of the governor, the 
 punishment of his whole family, and the ven- 
 geance exercised by his vassals against the state 
 messengers, bearers of the order of the king of 
 Tenochtitlan. 
 
 Notwithstanding the enormous quantity of 
 paintings, which, considered as monuments of 
 Mexican idolatry, were burnt at the beginning 
 of the conquest, by order of the bishops and 
 the first missionaries, Boturini*, whose mis- 
 fortunes we have already deplored in the pre- 
 ceding pages, succeeded toward the midst of 
 the last century in collecting near 500 of their 
 hieroglyphical paintings. This collection, the fin- 
 est and the most complete of those hitherto made, 
 was dispersed like that of Siguenza; of which 
 
 * Boturini, Tableau General, p. 1—96. 
 
188 
 
 some slight remnants were preserved, till the 
 expulsion of the Jesuits, in the library of St. 
 Peter and St. Paul at Mexico. A part of the 
 paintings collected by Boturini was sent to Eu- 
 rope in a Spanish vessel, which was taken by 
 an English privateer. It was never known 
 whether these paintings reached England, or 
 whether they were thrown into the sea as of no 
 value. A well informed traveller has assured 
 me, that a Codex Mexicanus is shown in a li- 
 brary at Oxford, which in the liveliness of its 
 colours resembles that of Vienna; but Robert- 
 son, in the last edition of his history of America, 
 says expressly, that no other monument of 
 Mexican industry and civilization exists in Eng- 
 land, beside a golden cup of Montezuma's, be- 
 longing to Lord Archer. How could this Ox- 
 ford collection have remained unknown to the 
 illustrious Scottish historian ? 
 
 The greater part of the manuscripts of Bo- 
 turini, those which were confiscated in New 
 Spain, were torn, pillaged, and dispersed by 
 persons, who were ignorant of the value of these 
 objects. What exists at present, in the palace 
 of the viceroy, composes only three packets, 
 each seven decimetres square by five in height. 
 They remained in one of the damp apartments 
 of the ground floor with the archives of the 
 government, which the viceroy, Count Revilla- 
 gigedo removed, because the humidity mould- 
 
189 
 
 ered the paper with alarming rapidity. We feel 
 a sentiment of indignation on seeing the ex- 
 treme negligence, with which these valuable 
 remains were abandoned, which had cost so 
 much care and labor, and which the unfortu- 
 nate Boturini, fired with that enthusiasm, which 
 is peculiar to enterprising men, calls in his His- 
 torical Essay, " the only property which he 
 possessed in the Indies, and which he would 
 not change against all the gold and silver of 
 the New World." I shall not here undertake 
 to give a detail of the paintings preserved in the 
 palace of the viceroyalty ; but shall only observe, 
 that there are some, which are six metres 
 long and two broad, and which represent the 
 migrations of the Aztecks from the Rio Gila 
 to the valley of Tenochtitlan, the foundation of 
 several cities, and wars with the neighbouring 
 nations. 
 
 The library of the University of Mexico 
 is no longer in possession of any original 
 hieroglyphic paintings. I found only a few 
 copies in outline without colours, and executed 
 with little care. The richest and finest col- 
 lection of this capital is that of P. Jose Antonio 
 Pichardo, member of the congregation of San 
 Felipe Neri. The house of this enlightened 
 and studious person was to me what the house 
 of Siguenza was to the traveller Gemelii. Pi- 
 chardo has sacrificed his little fortune in collect- 
 
190 
 
 ing- Azteck paintings, and in copying those he 
 was unable to purchase : his friend Gama, au- 
 thor of several astronomical memoirs, bequeath- 
 ed him all the most valuable hieroglyphical ma- 
 nuscripts he possessed. In the new continent, 
 as well as in every other country, private indivi- 
 duals, and those not the most opulent, become 
 the collectors and preservers of objects, which 
 are worthy the protection of governments. 
 
 In the kingdom of Guatimala, or in the in- 
 terior of Mexico, I know of no persons ani- 
 mated with the same zeal as Alzate, Velasquez, 
 and Gama. The hieroglyphic paintings are 
 now so scarce in New Spain, that the greater 
 part of the well informed men who reside there 
 have never seen any ; and among the remains 
 of the collection of Boturini there is not a single 
 manuscript so fine as the Codices Mexicani 
 of Veletri and Rome. I have however no doubt, 
 that several objects of importance to the study 
 of history may be still found in the hands of the 
 Indians, who inhabit the province of Mechuacan, 
 the Intendancies of Mexico, Puebla, and Oaxaca, 
 the peninsula of Yucatan, and the kingdom of 
 Guatimala. In these countries the nations, who 
 were emigrants from Aztlan, had reached a 
 certain degree of civilization ; and a traveller, 
 who, understanding the Azteck, Tarasck and 
 Maya languages, could obtain the confidence 
 of the natives, might still collect, three cen- 
 
191 
 
 turies after the conquest, and a hundred years 
 after the journey of Boturini, a considerable 
 number of historical Mexican paintings. 
 
 The Codex Mexicanus of the Borgian muse- 
 um at Veletri is the finest of the Azteck manu- 
 scripts, that I have examined. We shall have oc- 
 casion to speak of it hereafter, in the explanation 
 of the 15th plate. 
 
 The collection preserved in the royal library 
 at Berlin contains different Azteck paintings, 
 which I purchased during my abode in New 
 Spain. The twelfth plate gives two fragments 
 of this collection : it contains the lists of tri- 
 butes, genealogies, the history of the migrations 
 of the Mexicans, and a calendar made at the 
 beginning of the conquest, in which the simple 
 hieroglyphics of the days are joined to figures of 
 saints painted in the Azteck style. 
 
 The library of the Vatican at Rome possesses 
 in the valuable collection of its manuscripts 
 two Codices Mexicani, numbered 3738, and 
 3776, in the catalogue. These collections, as 
 well as the manuscript of Veletri, were un- 
 known to Dr. Robertson, when he enumerated 
 the Mexican paintings preserved in the different 
 libraries of Europe. Mercatus* in his de- 
 scription of the obelisks of Rome, relates, that, 
 toward the end of the 16th century, two col- 
 
 * Mercatus, degli Obelischi di Roma, C. 2, p. 96. 
 
1<*2 
 
 lections of original paintings existed in the Va- 
 tican. It would seem, that one of these collec- 
 tions is entirely lost, unless it is that which is 
 seen in the library of the Institute of Bologna; 
 the other was found in 1785 by the Jesuit Fa- 
 brega, after fifteen years search. 
 
 The Codex Vaticanus, No. 3776, of which 
 Acosta and Kircher have made mention*, is 
 7*87 m , or thirty-one palms and a half, long, and 
 01 9 m , or seven inches, square: its forty-eight 
 foldings form ninety-six pages, or as many divi- 
 sions marked on both sides of several doe skins 
 glued together. Every page is subdivided into 
 two compartments ; but the whole manuscript 
 contains only 176 of these compartments, be- 
 cause the first eight pages consist of the simple 
 hieroglyphics of the days, arranged in parallel 
 rows close to each other. The thirteenth plate 
 of the Picturesque Atlas is an exact copy of one 
 of these folds, or a page of the Codex Vaticanus. 
 As all the pages are alike with respect to the 
 general arrangement, this copy is sufficient to 
 give an idea of the whole book. 
 
 The border of each fold is divided into twen- 
 ty-six small compartments, which contain the 
 simple hieroglyphics of the days. These hiero- 
 glyphics are twenty in number, which form 
 periodical series. As the small cycles are of 
 
 * Zoega, De Oris*. Obeliscor. p. fl31. 
 
193 
 
 thirteen days each, it follows, that the series of 
 the hieroglyphics passes from one cycle to an- 
 other. The whole of the Codex Vaticanns con- 
 tains a hundred and seventy-six of these small 
 cycles, or two thousand two hundred and ninety 
 days. We shall not enter here into any detail 
 on these subdivisions of time, proposing to give 
 an explanation of the Mexican calendar, one of 
 the most complicated, but also one of the most 
 ingenious to be fonnd in the history of astrono- 
 my. Every page exhibits, in the two subdivisions 
 of which we have already spoken, two groups of 
 mythological figures. We should lose ourselves 
 in vain conjectures, were we to attempt inter- 
 preting these allegories ; the manuscripts of 
 Rome, Veletri, Bologna, and Vienna having 
 none of those explanatory notes, which the vice- 
 roy Mendoza added to the manuscript published 
 by Purchas. It were to be wished, that some 
 government would publish at its own expense 
 these remains of the ancient American civiliza- 
 tion ; for it is only by the comparison of several 
 monuments, that we can succeed in discovering 
 the meaning of these allegories, which are partly 
 astronomical, and partly mystic. If of all the 
 Greek and Roman antiquities there only re- 
 mained a few cameos, or solitary coins, the most 
 simple allusions would have escaped the sagacity 
 of antiquaries. How much light has the inspec- 
 
 VOL. XHIi o 
 
194 
 
 tion of bass-reliefs thrown over the study of 
 medals ! 
 
 Zoega, Fabrega, and others, who have studied 
 the Mexican manuscripts in Italy, consider the 
 Codex Vaticanus, like that ofVeletri, as consist- 
 ing of tonalamatls, or ritual almanacks ; that is 
 to say, as books which showed the people, for a 
 space of several years, the divinities that presided 
 over the small cycles of thirteen days, and who 
 governed, during this space, the destinies of 
 men ; the religious duties, which ought to be 
 practised ; and especially the offerings, which 
 were to be made to the idols. 
 
 The thirteenth plate of my Atlas, which is a 
 copy of the ninety-sixth page of the Codex 
 Vaticanus, represents on the left an adoration : 
 the deity has on a helmet, the ornaments of 
 which are very remarkable : he is seated on a 
 small bench, called icpalll, before a temple, of 
 which only the top, or small chapel placed on 
 the upper part of the pyramid, is represented. 
 The adoration consisted at Mexico, as well as 
 in the East, in the ceremony of touching the 
 ground with the right hand, and carrying the 
 left to the mouth. In the drawing, No. 1, the 
 homage is rendered by a genuflexion ; the atti- 
 tude of the figure, which prostrates itself before 
 the temple, is found in several paintings of the 
 Hindoos. 
 
195 
 
 Ttie group, No. 2, represents the celebrated 
 serpent woman Cihuacohuatl, called also Qui- 
 kiztli, or Tonacacihua, woman of our flesh : she 
 is the companion of Tonacateuctli. The Mexi- 
 cans considered her as the mother of the human 
 race ; and, after the god of the celestial Para- 
 dise, Ometeuctli, she held the first rank among 
 the divinities of Anahuac ; we see her always re- 
 presented with a great serpent. Other paintings 
 exhibit to us a feather-headed snake, cut in 
 pieces by the great spirit, Tezcatlipoca, or by the 
 Sun personified, the god Tonatiuh. These alle- 
 gories remind us of the ancient traditions of 
 Asia. In the woman and serpent of the Aztecks 
 we think we perceive the Eve of the Semetic 
 nations : in the snake cut in pieces, the famous 
 serpent Kaliya, or Kalinaga, conquered by Vish- 
 nu, when he took the form of Krishna. The 
 Tonatiuh of the Mexicans appears also to be 
 identical with the Krishna of the Hindoos, re- 
 corded in the Bhagavata Purana, and with the 
 Mithras of the Persians. The most ancient tra- 
 ditions of nations go back to a state of things, 
 when the earth, covered with bogs, was inhabited 
 by snakes and other animals of gigantic bulk : 
 the beneficent luminary, by drying up the soil, 
 delivered the earth from these aquatic monsters. 
 Behind the serpent, who appears to be speak- 
 ing to the goddess Cihuacohuatl, are two naked 
 figures ; they are of a different colour, and seem 
 
 o2 
 
190 
 
 to be in the attitude of contending with eacli 
 other. We might be led to suppose, that the 
 two vases, which we see at the bottom of the 
 picture, one of which is overturned, is the cause 
 of this contention. The serpent woman was 
 considered at Mexico as the mother of two twin 
 children ; these naked figures are perhaps the 
 children of Cihuacohualt ; they remind us of the 
 Cain and Abel of Hebrew tradition. I doubt 
 whether the difference of colour, which we ob- 
 serve in the two figures, indicates a difference of 
 race, as in the Egyptian paintings found in the 
 tombs of the kings at Thebes, and in the orna- 
 ments moulded in earth and stuck on the chests 
 which contain the mummies at Sakhara. In 
 carefully studying the historical hieroglyphics of 
 the Mexicans, we seem to recognize, that the 
 heads and hands of the figures are painted as by 
 chance, sometimes yellow, sometimes blue, and 
 at other times red. 
 
 The cosmogony of the Mexicans ; their tradi- 
 tions of the mother of mankind, fallen from her 
 first state of happiness and innocence ; the idea 
 of a great inundation, in which a single family 
 escaped on a raft ; the history of a pyramidical 
 edifice raised by the pride of men, and destroyed 
 by the anger of the gods ; the ceremonies of ab- 
 lution practised at the birth of children ; those 
 idols made with the flower of kneaded maize, 
 and distributed in morsels to the people assem- 
 
m 
 
 bled in the temples ; the confession of sins made 
 by the penitent; those religious associations, 
 similar to our convents of men and women ; the 
 universal belief, that white men, with long- 
 beards and sanctity of manners, had changed 
 the religion and political system of nations ; all 
 these circumstances had led the priests, who ac- 
 companied the Spanish army at the time of the 
 conquest, to the belief, that at some very distant 
 epocha Christianity had been preached in the 
 New Continent. Some learned Mexicans* have 
 imagined, that the Apostle St. Thomas was the 
 mysterious personage, high priest of Tula, whom 
 the Cholulans acknowledged under the name of 
 Quetzalcoatl. It is no way doubtful, that Nes- 
 torianism, mingled with the dogmata of the 
 Bouddhistes and the Shamans-}-, spread through 
 Mantchou Tartary into the north-east of Asia : 
 we may therefore suppose, with some appearance 
 of reason, that christian ideas have been com- 
 municated by the same means to the Mexican 
 nations, especially to the inhabitants of that 
 northern region, from which the Toltecks emi- 
 grated, and which we must consider as the ojffi- 
 cina virorum of the New World. 
 
 This supposition would be even more admissi- 
 
 * Siguenza, Opera ined. Eguiara, Bibl. Mexicana, p. 78. 
 f Langles, Rituel des Tartares Manchoux, p. 9 ct 14. 
 GEORGI Alphab. tibetannm, p. 298. 
 
198 
 
 ble than the hypothesis, according to which the 
 ancient traditions of the Hebrews and Chris- 
 tians passed into America with Scandinavian 
 colonies, formed since the eleventh century on 
 the coasts of Greenland, at Labrador, and per- 
 haps even in the island of Newfoundland. These 
 European colonists undoubtedly visited a part of 
 the continent, which they called Drogeo ; they 
 were acquainted with the countries situate to 
 the south-west, and inhabited by cannibals col- 
 lected in populous cities ; but, without examin- 
 ing in this place whether these cities were those 
 of the provinces of Ichiaca and of Confachiqui, 
 visited by Hernando de Soto, the conqueror of 
 Florida, it may suffice to observe, that the reli- 
 gious ceremonies, the dogmas, and traditions, 
 which struck the imagination of the first Spanish 
 missionaries, were incontestably found at Mexi- 
 co ever since the arrival of the Toltecks, and 
 consequently three or four centuries before the 
 navigation of the Scandinavians to the eastern 
 coasts of the New Continent. 
 
 The ecclesiastics, who, following the armies 
 of Cortez and Pizarro, penetrated into Mexico 
 and Peru, were naturally inclined to exaggerate 
 the analogies, which they fancied they had re- 
 cognized between the cosmogony of the Aztecks, 
 and the dogmas of the christian religion. Im- 
 bued with the Hebrew traditions, comprehend- 
 ing imperfectly the languages of the country, 
 
 

 and the meaning- of the hieroglyphical paintings, 
 they referred every thing to the system they had 
 previously formed ; like the Romans, who saw 
 nothing among the Germans and Gauls but 
 their own worship^ and their own divinities. 
 When we examine this question by the rules of 
 the most rigid analysis, we find nothing among 
 the Americans, which leads to the supposition 
 that the Asiatic nations migrated to the New 
 Continent after the establishment of Christianity. 
 I am very far from denying the possibility of 
 these posterior communications ; I am not igno- 
 rant*, that the Tchoutskis annually crossed 
 Behring's Straits to make war on the inhabit- 
 ants of the north-west coast of America ; but I 
 think I may affirm, from the knowledge we have 
 acquired since the end of the last century of the 
 sacred books of the Hindoos, that, in order to 
 explain these resemblances of traditions, of 
 which all the first missionaries speak, we have 
 no need to recur to Western Asia, peopled by 
 nations of the Semetic race ; these same tra- 
 ditions, of high and venerable antiquity, are 
 found both among the followers of Brahma, and 
 among the Shamans of the eastern steppes of 
 Tartary. 
 
 We will resume this important subject, either 
 
 * See my Essai Politique sur la Nouvelle-Espagne, vol. 2, 
 p, 502, 8vo edition. 
 
200 
 
 in treating of the Pastous*, an American nation, 
 who eat nothing but vegetables, and who hold 
 in abhorrence those who feed on flesh; or in 
 speaking of the dogma of the metempsychosis 
 received among the Tlascaltecks. We shall 
 examine the Mexican tradition of the four suns, 
 or four destructions of the world ; as well as the 
 traces of the trimurti, or trinity of the Hindoos, 
 found in the religion of the Peruvians. Not- 
 withstanding these striking analogies existing 
 between the nations of the New Continent, and 
 the Tartar tribes who have adopted the religion 
 of Bouddah, I think I discover in the mythology 
 of the Americans, in the style of their paintings, 
 in their languages, and especially in their exter- 
 nal conformation, the descendants of a race of 
 men, which, early separated from the rest of 
 mankind, has followed for a lengthened series of 
 ages a peculiar road in the unfolding of its intel- 
 lectual faculties, and in its tendency towards 
 civilization. 
 
 * Garcilasso, Comentarios reales, torn. 1, p. 274. 
 
201 
 
 COSTUMES 
 
 DELINEATED BY THE 
 
 MEXICAN PAINTERS IN THE TIME OF 
 MONTEZUMA. 
 
 PLATE XIV. 
 
 These nine figures are taken from the Codex 
 Anonymus, No. 3738, preserved among the 
 manuscripts of the Vatican, which we have had 
 occasion to cite several times. They are copies 
 of pictures made by Mexican painters at the 
 time of the first abode of Cortez at Tenoch- 
 titlan. P. Rios, in tracing the drawings, ap- 
 pears to have been more attentive to the parti- 
 culars of the dresses, than to a faithful imitation 
 of the outlines. On comparing the paintings of 
 Plate fourteenth with those contained in the 
 original manuscripts that have reached us, we 
 see, that the figures copied by the Spanish 
 monk are somewhat too much lengthened. 
 These alterations of form are every where found, 
 when the artists have not been sufficiently im- 
 
202 
 
 bued with the idea of what importance it is to 
 preserve the style, which characterizes the pro- 
 ductions of the art among- nations, who are more 
 or less removed from civilization. What a 
 difference in the truth of the outlines between 
 the hieroglyphics published by Norden, and 
 those we find in the work of Zoega on the obe- 
 lisks, or in the description of the monuments of 
 Egypt, with which the Institute of Cairo has 
 lately enriched the sciences ! 
 
 Nos. I, 2, 3, 4, 5. Five Mexican warriors : 
 the first three wear the dress called Ichcahuepilli, 
 a kind of cuirass of cotton, three centimetres 
 thick, and covering the body from the neck to 
 the waist. The soldiers of Cortez adopted this 
 armour, which they named escaujnl ; a term in 
 which we scarcely trace a word of the Azteck 
 language. The ichcahuepilli was a perfect 
 security ag-ainst darts : but we must not con- 
 found it with the coats of mail of gold or copper, 
 worn by the generals, called lords of the eagles 
 and the tigers, quauhtin and oocelo, on account 
 of their armour in the shape of masks. The 
 bucklers, cMmalli, Nos. 1 and 2, are of a very 
 different form from those figured by Purchas 
 and Lorenzana*. The shield No. 2, has an 
 
 * Purchas, Pilgrims, torn. 3, p. 1080, fig. LM ; p. 1099, 
 fig. C ; pi. 4, fig- F. Lorenzana, Historia die Nueva Espana, 
 p. 177, lam. 2, H, et 2. Adornos militares. 
 
203 
 
 appendage of cloth and feathers, which served 
 to deaden the stroke of the dart ; its form reminds 
 us of the bucklers, which we find represented on 
 several vases of Grcecia Magna. The club, 
 carried by the warrior, No. 3, was hollow, and 
 contained stones, which were flung with prodi- 
 gious force, as if they were thrown from a sling. 
 The figure, No. 4, represents one of those intre- 
 pid soldiers, who went almost naked to war, 
 with the body wrapped in a net of large meshes, 
 which they threw over the head of the enemy, 
 as the Roman retiarii in a contest with the mir- 
 millones. No. 5 is a private soldier, who wears 
 a cloth cloak, and a very narrow belt of skin, 
 maxtlatl, around his waist. 
 
 The figure, No. 6, represents, as the Codex 
 f r atlcanus expressly indicates, the unfortunate 
 Montezuma II, in a court dress, such as he wore 
 in his palace. His robe, tlachquauhjo, is bor- 
 dered with pearls ; his hair turned back to the 
 top of his head, and tied with a red riband, the 
 military distinction of princes, arid the most 
 valiant commanders : his neck is ornamented 
 with a collar of precious stones (cozcapetlalt), 
 but he wears neither the bracelets (matemecatl), 
 nor the boots (cozehuatl), nor the ear rings (na- 
 cochtli), nor the ring set with emeralds suspended 
 at the lower lip, which belonged to the grand 
 dress of the emperor. The author of the Codex 
 Anonymus says, " that the sovereign is figured 
 
204 
 
 holding flowers in one hand, and a reed with a 
 cylirder of odoriferous resin at the end, in the 
 other." The vase which the emperor holds in 
 his left hand has some resemblance to that 
 which is seen in the hand of the intoxicated 
 Indian, represented in the collection of Men- 
 doza*. The Mexican painters generally repre- 
 sented kings and great nobles with naked feet, 
 to indicate, that they were not born to make use 
 of their legs, and that they constantly ought to 
 be carried in palanquins, on the shoulders o^ 
 their domestics -J-. 
 
 No. 7. An inhabitant of Tzapoteca, a pro- 
 vince which comprised the south-east part of the 
 intendancy of Oaxaca. 
 
 Nos. 8 and 9. Two women of Huasteca ; the 
 dress of the latter figure is uo doubt Indian ; but 
 that of No. 8 very much resembles a European 
 dress. Is it a woman of the country, to whom 
 the soldiers of Cortez had given a neckerchief 
 and a rosary ? This is a question I shall not de- 
 cide; but I observe, that the three cornered hand- 
 kerchief is seen in several Mexican paintings 
 before the arrival of the Spaniards ; and that the 
 pretended rosary, which is not terminated by a 
 cross, may very well be one of those strings of 
 beads, which existed from the most remote an- 
 
 * Pnrchas, p. 1117, Jig. F. 
 t Codex Anon. n. 3738, fol. 60. 
 
205 
 
 tiquity in all Eastern Asia, in Canada, Mexico, 
 and Peru. 
 
 Though P. Rios, as we have already observed, 
 appears to have somewhat lengthened the figures, 
 the extremities, the form of the eyes, and that of 
 the lips, the uppermost of which is constantly 
 protruded beyond the lower, are proofs that he 
 has copied faithfully. 
 
200 
 
 AZTECK HIEROGLYPHICS, 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 MANUSCRIPT OF VELETRI. 
 
 PLATE XV. 
 
 Of all the Mexican manuscripts preserved in 
 Italy, the Codex Borgianus of Veletri is the 
 largest, and the most remarkable for the splendor 
 and extreme variety of the colours. It is forty- 
 four or forty-five palms (near eleven metres) 
 long ; and has thirty-eight folds, or seventy-six 
 pages. It is a ritual and astrological almanack, 
 which, from the distribution of the simple hiero- 
 glyphics of the days, and that of the groups of 
 mythologicar figures, resembles altogether the 
 Codex Vaticanus, a page of which is given in the 
 thirteenth plate. 
 
 The manuscript of Veletri appears to have 
 belonged to the family of Giustiniani. We 
 know not by what unlucky chance it fell into 
 the hands of the domestics of that house, who, 
 ignorant of the value of such a collection of 
 
207 
 
 monstrous figures, gave it as a plaything^to their 
 children. From their hands it was rescued by 
 an enlightened lover of antiquities, Cardinal 
 Borgia; but not before attempts had been made 
 to burn some pages or folds of the deer skin, 
 on which the paintings are delineated. Nothing 
 indicates the antiquity of this manuscript, which 
 perhaps is but an Azteck copy of an older book. 
 The great freshness of the colours might lead us 
 to suspect, that the Codex Borgianus, as well as 
 that of the Vatican, does not go beyond the four- 
 teenth century. 
 
 We cannot fix our eyes on these paintings, 
 without feeling a crowd of interesting questions 
 pressing on our minds. Did there exist at 
 Mexico, in the lifetime of Cortez, hieroglyphic 
 paintings made in the time of the Tolteck 
 dynasty, and consequently in the seventh cen- 
 tury of our era ? Were there other copies at 
 that period than those of the famous divine book, 
 called teoamoxtli, compiled at Tula, in the 
 year 660, by the astrologer Huematzin, and in 
 which we find the history of Heaven and of 
 Earth, a cosmogony, a description of the con- 
 stellations, the division of time, the migrations 
 of nations, mythology, and moral philosophy ? 
 Was this Mexican Puraua, the teoamoxtli, the 
 remembrance of which has been preserved so 
 many ages in the Azteck traditions, one of those, 
 which monkish fanaticism committed to the 
 
208 
 
 flames in Yucatan, and the loss of which book 
 was so deeply lamented by Acosta, who was 
 more learned and enlightened than his contem- 
 poraries ? Is it certain, that the Toltecks, that 
 industrious and enterprising people, who have 
 several traits of resemblance with the Tchouds*, 
 or ancient inhabitants of Siberia, were the first 
 to introduce painting ? or had the Cuitlaltecks 
 and the Olmecks, who dwelt on the elevated 
 plain of Anahuac before the irruption of the 
 nations of Aztlan, and to whom the learned 
 Siguenza attributes the construction of the pyra- 
 mids of Teotihuacan, already recorded their 
 annals and their mythology in collections of 
 hieroglyphical paintings? We have not, data 
 enough to answer these important questions; 
 the obscurity, that envelops the origin of the 
 Mongul and Tartar nations, seems to extend 
 over the whole history of the New Continent. 
 
 The Codex Borgianus has been commented 
 upon by the Jesuit Fabrega, of Mexican origin. 
 During my last abode in Italy, in 1805, the 
 Chevalier Borgia, nephew of the Cardinal, had 
 the kindness to send for the Mexican manuscript 
 with its commentary from Veletri to Rome. I 
 examined them carefully : the explanations of 
 P. Fabrega appeared to me often arbitrary and 
 
 • Voyage de Pallas (traduction de Paris), torn. 4, p. 
 282. 
 
209 
 
 fanciful. I have engraved a part of the %urs. 
 which most excited my curiosity ; I have added 
 to each group, represented in the 15th plate, the 
 citation of the Codex Borgianus, and that of the 
 Italian manuscript, which was to serve as a 
 commentary. 
 
 No. 1. An unknown animal, decorated with 
 a collar, and a kind of harness, but pierced with 
 darts. Fabrega calls it the crowned rabbit, the 
 sacred rabbit. This figure is found in several 
 rituals of the ancient Mexicans. According to 
 the traditions, which have been preserved to our 
 times, it is a symbol of suffering innocence. 
 Under this point of view, the allegorical repre- 
 sentation reminds us of the lamb of the Hebrews, 
 or the mystic idea of an expiatory sacrifice des- 
 tined to calm the anger of the divinity. The in- 
 cisive teeth, and the form of the head and tail, 
 seem to indicate, that the painter wished to re- 
 present an animal of the order glires (rongeurs) : 
 although the feet with two hoofs, and a toe 
 which does not touch the ground, indicate a 
 species of the ruminating tribe ; I doubt whether 
 it be a cavia, or Mexican hare ; perhaps it may 
 be some unknown quadruped, living in the inte- 
 rior, on the north of the Rio Gila, towards the 
 north-west part of America. 
 
 This same animal, with a much longer tail, 
 seems to me to figure a second time in the Codex 
 Borgianus at the fifty-third page : of this No. 1 1, 
 
 VOL. XIII. p 
 
210 
 
 of the 1 5th plate, is a copy. P. Fabrega takes 
 this figure, which is covered with twenty hiero- 
 glyphics of the days, for a stag (mazatl) ; P. 
 Rios asserts, that it is an astrological conceit of 
 the physicians ; a painting which teaches, that 
 he who is born on such or such a day, shall have 
 pains in his eyes, his stomach, or his ears : we 
 see indeed, that the twenty simple hieroglyphics 
 of the days are distributed over different parts of 
 the body. 
 
 The sign of the day which began the small 
 period of thirteen days, or the half lunation, was 
 considered as ruling for the whole of this period ; 
 so that a man born on the day when the hiero- 
 glyphic was an eagle, had every thing to fear, or 
 to hope, each time that an eagle swayed the 
 week of thirteen days. Mr Zoega* seems to 
 adopt the explanation of Rios ; and finds a strik- 
 ing connexion between this fiction and the 
 iatromathematic ideas of the Egyptians. If we 
 cast our eyes over our own almanacks, we shall 
 see, that these absurd ideas tarnish even our own 
 times ; since it is often less profitable to enlighten 
 the people, than to encourage their credulity. 
 I found this same allegorical figure, which be- 
 longs to astrological medicine, in the Codex Bor- 
 gianus, fol. 17 (MSS. No. 66) and in the Codex 
 Anonymus of the Vatican, fol. 54. 
 
 • Zof<:a, p. 328 ,wl 531. 
 
211 
 
 No. 3, 5, 6, 7. A child newly born is repre- 
 sented four times. The hair, which rises like 
 two horns on the top of the head, indicates that 
 it is a girl. The child is sucking ; the umbili- 
 cal cord is cutting ; she is presented to the 
 divinity ; and her eyes are touched as a sign of 
 benediction. Fabrega asserts, that the seated 
 figures, No. 5 and 7, represent two priests. He 
 thinks he recognizes, by the helmet of No. 7, 
 the high priest of the god Tonacateuctli. 
 
 No. 4. The representation of a human sacri- 
 fice. A priest, whose figure is almost lost under 
 a monstrous disguise, is tearing out the heart of 
 the victim ; his left hand is armed with a club : 
 the naked body of the victim is painted ; spots 
 are marked on it, by which the skin of the 
 jaguar, or American tiger, were meant to be 
 imitated ; on the left is another priest (topiltzin) , 
 who pours the blood of the heart plucked out 
 upon the image of the sun placed in a niche in a 
 temple. I should not have engraved this hideous 
 scene, if the disguise of the sacrificer did not 
 present certain remarkable analogies with the 
 Ganesa of the Hindoos, which do not seem acci- 
 dental. The Mexicans made use of helmets, 
 which imitated the form of the head of a serpent, 
 a crocodile, or a jaguar. In the mask of the sa- 
 crificer, we discover the resemblance of the trunk 
 of an elephant, or some pachydermatous animal 
 resembling it in the configuration of the head, 
 
 p2 
 
212 
 
 but the upper jaw bone is furnished with incisive 
 teeth. The muzzle of the tapir is no doubt 
 somewhat longer than the snout of our swine, 
 but there is a great distance from the muzzle of 
 the tapir to the trunk figured in the Codex Bor- 
 gianus. Had the people of Aztlan, sprung from 
 Asiatic origin, preserved some vague notions of 
 elephants ? or, which appears to me much less 
 probable, did their traditions go back to the 
 period, when America was yet peopled with those 
 gigantic animals, the petrified skeletons of which 
 are found buried in the marly lands even on the 
 ridge of the Mexican Cordilleras } May there 
 not also exist, in the north-west part of the New 
 Continent, in countries which have been visited 
 neither by Hearne, Mackenzie, nor Lewis, some 
 unknown animal of this kind, which, from the 
 configuration of its trunk, holds the middle place 
 between the elephant and the tapir? The 
 hieroglyphics of the days, which surround the 
 group figured in the forty-ninth page of the col- 
 lection of Veletri, clearly indicate, that this sacri- 
 fice was made at the end of the year, after the 
 nemontemi, or complementary days. The tem- 
 ple of the Sun reminds us of the worship of a 
 mild and humane people, the Peruvians. That 
 worship, in which no other offerings were made 
 to the divinity than flowers, incense, and the first 
 fruits of their harvests, existed without doubt at 
 Mexico to the beginning of the fourteenth cen- 
 
213 
 
 tury. A learned writer*, who has made some 
 curious comparisons between the mythological 
 ideas of different nations, has hazarded the hypo- 
 thesis, that the two religious sects of India, the 
 worshippers of Vishnoo, and those of Siva, had 
 spread themselves into America ; and that the 
 Peruvian worship was that of Vishnoo, when he 
 appeared under the figure of Crishna, or the 
 Sun ; while the sanguinary worship of the Mexi- 
 cans is analogous to that of Siva, when he takes 
 the character of the Stygian Jupiter. The wife 
 of Siva, the black goddess Cali, or Bhavanif, the 
 symbol of death and destruction, wears, in the 
 Indian statues and paintings, a necklace of hu- 
 man skulls : and to her the Vedas enjoin the 
 offering of human sacrifices. The ancient wor- 
 ship of Cali, the horrible cruelty of which was 
 mitigated by the reform of Bouddha, forms no 
 doubt a great resemblance with the worship of 
 Mictlancihuatl, the goddess of Hell, and with 
 that of several other Mexican divinities : but in 
 studying the history of the people of Anahuac, 
 we are tempted to consider these resemblances 
 as merely accidental. We have no right to pre- 
 sume communications, wherever we find, among 
 
 * Frederic Leopold, Count Stolberg, Geschichte der Fe- 
 ligion Jesu Christi, B, 1, p. 426. 
 
 f Asiatic Researches, vol. 1, p. 203 et 293. 
 
214 
 
 half civilized people, the worship of the Sun, or 
 the custom of sacrificing human victims ; and 
 this custom, far from having been brought from 
 eastern Asia, may very probably have taken 
 birth in the valley of Mexico itself. In fact, 
 history instructs us, that, when the Spaniards 
 arrived at Tenochtitlan, this sanguinary worship, 
 which reminds us of those of Cali, of Moloch, 
 and of the Esus of the Gauls, had existed only 
 two hundred years. 
 
 The nations, which from the seventh to the 
 twelfth century have successively inundated 
 Mexico, the Toltecks, the Chichimecks, the 
 Nahuatlacks, the Acolhuans, the Tlascaltecks, 
 and the Aztecks, formed a single group, con- 
 nected by analogy of language and manners ; 
 somewhat like the Germans, the Norwegians, 
 the Goths, and the Danes, who are all confound- 
 ed in a single race, that of the Germannic nations. 
 It is probable, as we have already stated, that 
 other nations, the Otomites, the Olmecks, the 
 Cuitlatecks, the Zacatecks, and the Tarascks, 
 appeared before the Toltecks in the equinoctial 
 region of New Spain. Wherever nations have 
 advanced in the same direction, the position of 
 the countries in which they are found marks in 
 some sort the chronological order of their mi- 
 grations. Can we doubt, that in Europe, the 
 most western nations, the Iberians, and the Can- 
 
215 
 
 tabri, arrived thither before the nations the near- 
 est Asia, before the Thracians, the Illyiians, and 
 the Pelasgi ? 
 
 But, whatever be the relative antiquity of the 
 different races of rtien settled in the mountains 
 of Mexico, the Caucasus of America, it appears 
 certain, that none of these nations, from the Ol- 
 mecks to the Aztecks, had for a long time been 
 acquainted with the barbarous custom of sacri- 
 ficing human victims. The principal divinity of 
 the Toltecks was called TlalocteuctU ; he was at 
 once the god of water, of mountains, and of tem- 
 pests. In the eyes of these mountaineers, it is on 
 the lofty summits perpetually enveloped in clouds, 
 that the mysterious preparation of thunder takes 
 place ; there the abode of the great spirit Teotl 
 is fixed ; of that invisible being called Ipalne- 
 moanl and Tlock-Nahuack, because he is self- 
 existent, and contains all things within himself; 
 and from this almost inaccessible region rushes 
 the tempest, which destroys the hut, and the 
 beneficent rain, which enlivens the fields. The 
 Toltecks had erected on the top of a high moun- 
 tain the image of TlalocteuctU ; this image, 
 rudely carved, was made of a white stone, con- 
 sidered as divine (teotetl), for this people, like 
 the ancient Orientals *, attached superstitious 
 ideas to the color of certain stones. TlalocteuctU 
 
 * Millii Dissertationes selectae, p. 309. 
 
216 
 
 was represented witli thunder in his hand, seat- 
 ed on a stone in the form of a cube, and hav- 
 ing before him a vase in which caoutchouc and 
 seeds were offered him. The Aztecks followed 
 this same worship till the year 1317, when the 
 war with the inhabitants of the town of Xochi- 
 milco furnished them with the first idea of a 
 human sacrifice. The Mexican historians, who, 
 immediately after the taking- of Tenochtitlan, 
 wrote in their own language, but making use of 
 the Spanish alphabet, have transmitted to us 
 this horrible event. 
 
 From the beginning of the fourteenth cen- 
 tury the Aztecks lived under the sway of the 
 King of Colhuacan, and had principally con- 
 tributed to the victory, which this king had 
 gained over the Xochimilcks. When the war 
 was finished, they were desirous of offering a 
 sacrifice to their principal god, Huitzilopochtli, 
 or Mexitli, whose image in wood, placed in a 
 chair of reeds, called the seat of god, teokpalli, 
 and carried on the shoulders of four priests, 
 had preceded them in their migration. They 
 asked their master, the King of Colhuacan, to 
 bestow on them some objects of value, to give 
 greater solemnity to this sacrifice. The kino-, 
 if we may give this title to the chief of a scanty 
 tribe, sent them a dead bird, wrapped in a 
 coarse cloth ; and to add mockery to insult, 
 he proposed to them to attend at the festival 
 
217 
 
 himself. The Aztecks professed to be flattered 
 with this offer ; but they resolved at the same 
 time to make a sacrifice, which should strike 
 terror into their masters. After a long dance 
 around their idol, they brought forth four 
 Xochimilcks, prisoners, whom they had kept 
 hidden a long time : these miserable captives 
 were immolated with the ceremonies still ob- 
 served at the time of the conquest by the Spa- 
 niards, on the platform of the great pyramid 
 of Tenochtitlan, which was dedicated to the 
 same god of war, Huitzilopochtli. The Col- 
 huans signified their just abhorrence of this 
 human sacrifice, the first which had been made 
 in their country: but fearing the ferocity of 
 their slaves, and seeing them puffed up with 
 pride at the success obtained in the war against 
 the Xochimilcks, they gave the Aztecks their 
 liberty, enjoining them to quit the territory of 
 Colhuacan. 
 
 The first sacrifice had happy effects for a 
 nation that was oppressed ; vengeance soon 
 gave birth to a second. After the foundation 
 of Tenochtitlan, an Azteck scours the border of 
 the lake, to kill some animal for an offering 
 to the god Mexitli ; he meets an inhabitant of 
 Colhuacan, called Xomimitl. Irritated against 
 his former masters, the Azteck attacks the Col- 
 huan: the conquered Xomimitl is led to the 
 
218 
 
 new city, and expires on the fatal stone placed 
 at the foot of the idol. 
 
 The circumstances of the third sacrifice were 
 still more tragic. Peace is reestablished ap- 
 parently between the Aztecks, and the inha- 
 bitants of Colhuacan : nevertheless the priests 
 of Mexitli cannot conquer their hatred against 
 a neighbouring nation, that had enslaved them : 
 they meditate atrocious vengeance ; they per- 
 suade the King of Colhuacan to entrust them 
 with his only daughter, to be brought up in the 
 temple of Mexitli, where, after her death, she 
 should be worshiped as the mother of this pro- 
 tecting divinity of the Aztecks ; adding, that 
 it was the idol himself, who declared his will 
 by their mouths. The credulous king accom- 
 panies his daughter ; he leads her into the dark 
 recess of the temple : there the priests separate 
 the father from the child ; a tumult is heard in 
 the sanctuary ; the unfortunate king does not 
 distinguish the groans of his expiring daugh- 
 ter ; a censer is placed in his hand ; and a few 
 moments after, he is ordered to light the copal. 
 By the pale glare of the rising flame he be- 
 holds his child bound to a pillar, her bosom 
 mangled, motionless, and robbed of life. De- 
 spair deprived him of the use of reason for 
 the remainder of his days ; he was unable to 
 avenge himself, and the Colhuans dared not 
 
219 
 
 resent the injury done them by a people, who 
 struck them with terror by such an excess of 
 ferocity. The immolated victim is placed 
 among the Azteck divinities, under the name 
 of Teteionan*, mother of the gods, or Tocitzin, 
 our grandmother ; a divinity which we must not 
 confound with Eve, or the serpent-woman, call- 
 ed Tonantzin. 
 
 In the Old Continent, wherever we find traces 
 of human sacrifices, their origin is lost in the 
 night of time. The history of the Mexicans, 
 on the contrary, has handed down to us the 
 narrative of events, which have given a fero- 
 cious and sanguinary character to the worship 
 of a people, among whom animals and first 
 fruits were the only primitive offerings. I have 
 thought fit to relate these traditions, undoubted- 
 ly founded on historical truth : intimately con- 
 nected with the study of the manners, and the 
 moral improvement of our species, they appear 
 to me more interesting, than the puerile tales 
 of the Hindoos respecting the numerous in- 
 carnations of their divinities. I shall not how- 
 ever decide the question, whether the sacrifice 
 of the four Xochimilcks was really the first 
 offered to the god Mexitli : or whether the 
 Aztecks had not preserved some old tradition, 
 according to which they imagined, that the god 
 
 * Clavigero, vol. 1, p. 166, 168, 172 ; vol. 2, p. 22. 
 
220 
 
 of war savored the blood of human victims. 
 Mexitli came into the world with a dart in his 
 right hand, a buckler in his left, and his head 
 covered with a helmet crowned with green fea- 
 thers ; his first feat at his birth was to kill his 
 brothers and sisters. Perhaps, under other 
 climates, sanguinary rites had been offered to 
 this terrible god, called also Tetzahuitl, or the 
 terrific ; perhaps this worship had a respite only 
 because prisoners were wanting, and consequent- 
 ly victims ; while the nation, marching under 
 the auspices of Mexitli, made a peaceable pro- 
 gress across the mountains of Tarahumara to 
 the elevated central plain of Mexico. 
 
 The continual wars of the Aztecks, after 
 they had fixed their residence on the islets of 
 the salt lake of Tezcuco, furnished them with 
 so considerable a number of victims, that hu- 
 man sacrifices were offered to all their divini- 
 ties without exception, even to Quetzalcoatl *, 
 who, like the Bouddha of the Hindoos, had 
 preached against this execrable custom ; and 
 to the goddess of the harvests, the Mexican 
 Ceres, called Centeotl, or Tonacajohiia, she who 
 feeds mankind. The Totonacks, who had adopt- 
 ed the whole of the Tolteck and Azteck my- 
 thology, distinguished, as of a different race, 
 
 * Gomara, Chronica general de las Tndias, (edition of 
 1553), vol.2, fol. 134. 
 
221 
 
 the divinities that required a sanguinary worship, 
 and the goddess of the fields', who asked only for 
 offerings of flowers and fruits, the sheaf of 
 maize, or the birds that devoured the seeds of 
 this plant, so useful to man. An ancient pro- 
 phecy gave this nation some hope of a beneficent 
 reform in its religious ceremonies; this pro- 
 phecy stated, that Centeotl, who is the same 
 with the beautiful Chri, or Lakchmi, of the 
 Hindoos ; and whom the Aztecks, like the Arca- 
 dians, designated under the name of the great 
 Goddess, or primitive Goddess (Tzinteotl) ; 
 should triumph at last over the ferocity of the 
 other gods ; and that human sacrifices should 
 give place to innocent offerings, and the first 
 fruits of the harvests. In this tradition of the 
 Totonacks we behold a struggle between two 
 religions ; a conflict between the ancient Tolteck 
 divinity, mild and humane, like the people who 
 had introduced its worship, and the ferocious 
 gods of that warlike tribe, the Aztecks, who 
 had stained the fields, the temples, and the altars, 
 with blood. 
 
 When we read the letters of Cortez to the 
 Emperor Charles V. the memoirs of Bernal Diaz, 
 of Motolinia, and other Spanish authors, who 
 had made observations on the Mexicans before 
 the changes wrought on them by their commu- 
 nications with Europe, we are astonished, that 
 
222 
 
 such extreme ferocity in religious ceremonies 
 should be found among a people, whose social 
 and political state reminds us, in other points of 
 view, of the civilization of the Chinese, and the 
 inhabitants of Japan. The Aztecks were not 
 satisfied with dyeing their idols with blood, as is 
 practised still by the Chaman Tartars, who how- 
 ever sacrifice to their Nogats oxen and sheep 
 only ; they even devoured a part of the carcase, 
 which the priests threw down to the bottom of 
 the staircase of the teocalli, after having torn 
 out the heart. We cannot mention these objects 
 without inquiring, whether these barbarous rites, 
 which we find also in the islands of the South 
 Sea, among nations whose mild manners have 
 been too much vaunted, would have ceased of 
 themselves, if the Mexicans, without having any 
 communication with the Spaniards, had con- 
 tinued to advance towards civilization. It is 
 probable, that this beneficent reform in their 
 worship, this triumph of the goddess of the har- 
 vests over the gods of carnage, would have been 
 very long delayed. 
 
 In South America, the most powerful nation, 
 the Peruvians, followed the worship of the Sun. 
 The most bloody wars were waged by the Incas, 
 to introduce a peaceable and gentle religion ; 
 human sacrifices vanished, wherever the descend- 
 ants of Manco-Capac carried their laws, their 
 
223 
 
 divisions into casts, their language, and their mo- 
 nastic despotism. In the country of Anahuac the 
 sanguinary rites of Huitzilopochtli were estab- 
 lished in proportion as the Mexican empire swal- 
 lowed np all the neighbouring states. The great- 
 ness of this empire was founded on an intimate 
 alliance of the class of the priesthood with the 
 nobility destined to the trade of arms. The high 
 priest, teoteuctli (divine Lord) was generally a 
 prince of the royal blood ; and no war could be 
 undertaken without his permission. The priests 
 even went to combat, and were raised to the 
 first dignities in the army * ; their influence be- 
 came thereby as extensive as that of the Roman 
 patricians, who had the exclusive right of augury, 
 and, in which a celebrated writer \ has seemed 
 to recognize traces of a political institution of 
 the Hindoos. 
 
 In Mexico, where the number and the power 
 of the priests (teopixquis) and the monks (tlama- 
 cazques) were almost as great as they are at 
 present in Thibet and Japan, every thing which 
 was the effect of religious fanaticism would have 
 been changed but very slowly. History proves, 
 that the barbarous custom of human sacrifices 
 
 * Peintures hierogivphiques du Recueil de Mendoza. 
 Thevenot, vol. 4, fol. 57. 
 
 + Schlegel, Weisheit der Iodier, s. 100. 
 
224 
 
 was preserved for a length of time among the 
 nations most advanced in civilization. The 
 paintings found in the tombs of the kings at 
 Thebes leave no doubt, that these sacrifices were 
 habitual among the Egyptians*. We have 
 already observed, that formerly in India the 
 goddess Cali required human victims, as Saturn 
 exacted them at Carthage. At Rome, after the 
 battle of Cannae, two Gauls, a male and female, 
 were buried alive ; and the Emperor Claudius 
 was obliged, to forbid by an express decree the 
 sacrifice of men in the Roman empire -f-. But 
 still more, in times less remote, what savage 
 effects of religious intolerance do we not our- 
 selves see amid the civilization of the human 
 race, at the period of a general melioration of 
 characters and manners? Whatever be the 
 difference among nations in the progress of their 
 intellectual culture, fanaticism and interest still 
 hold their fatal sway. Posterity will scarcely 
 conceive, that in polished Europe, under the in- 
 fluence of a religion, which, from the nature of 
 its principles, favours liberty, and proclaims the 
 
 * Voyage de Dcnon, p. 298, pi. 124, No. 2. Decade 
 Egyptienne, torn. 3, p. 110. 
 
 t Sueton., c. 25, (ed. Wolf'., vol. 1, p. 48). Plin. Hist. 
 Nat. lib. 31, c. 1 ; lib. 8, c. 22. Tertullian. Apologet. 
 adversus Gentes, c. 9 (ed. Palmer, 1684, p. 41). Lactant. 
 Div. Inslit. lib. I, o. 21. 
 
225 
 
 sacred rights of mankind, there exist laws, which 
 sanction the slavery of the blacks, which permit 
 the planter to tear the child from its mother's 
 arms, to sell it in a distant land. These con- 
 siderations prove to us, and the fact is not very 
 consolatory, that whole nations may advance 
 rapidly towards civilization, while their particu- 
 lar institutions, and their religious rites, retain 
 the marks of their original barbarism. 
 
 Number 8 indicates the ceremony of kindling 
 the new fire, at the period of the procession 
 which was made every fifty-two years to the 
 summit of a mountain near Iztapalapan. 
 
 At the end of each cycle the intercalation was 
 made, sometimes of twelve, and at others of thir- 
 teen days. The people, expecting at the same time 
 the fourth destruction of the Sun and the Earth, 
 extinguished all the fires ; till, at the beginning 
 of the new cycle, the priests lighted them anew. 
 The painting represents a victim stretched on 
 the stone of sacrifice, having a wooden disk on 
 the breast, which the teopixqui inflames by rub- 
 bing. The hieroglyphic of the starry sky, which 
 we see in the preceding page of the Borgian 
 collection, seems to have a reference to the cul- 
 mination of the Pleiades. We shall treat farther 
 on, in the explanation of the twenty-third plate, 
 of the connexion, which, it is said, existed be- 
 tween this culmination and the beginning of 
 the cycle. 
 
 VOL. XIII. Q 
 
22G 
 
 The art of producing fire, by rubbing together 
 two kinds of wood of different hardness, is of 
 remote antiquity. We find it among the nations 
 of both continents : in the Homeric times, ac- 
 cording to M. Visconti, the invention was at- 
 tributed to Mercury*. The disk, which lies on 
 the body of the victim, and on which the priest 
 turns the cylindric wood, is the aro^vs of the 
 Greeks f. Pliny asserts, that of all the woody 
 substances, the ivy is that which ignites best 
 when it is rubbed with laurel wood J. We have 
 found these w^ia among the Indians of the 
 Orinoco. It requires a great rapidity of motion, 
 to raise the temperature to the degree of incan- 
 descence. 
 
 No. 9. Figure of a dead king, surrounded by 
 four flags, the eyes shut, no hands, the feet 
 wrapped up. The chair is the royal seat called 
 tlatocaicpalli, on which is represented, in the 
 Codex Borgianus (fol. 9), Adam, or Tonaca- 
 teuctli, the Lord of our Jlesh, and Eve, or To- 
 nacacihua. This hieroglyphical character is 
 found figured in the ritual almanack, at the 
 page which indicates the cycle of thirteen 
 
 * Homer. Hymn, in Mercur. v. 180. 
 
 f Apollon. Rbod. Argouaut, lib. 1, v. 1104, et Schol. 
 ad aim. 
 
 \ Plin. Hist. Natur. lib. 10, c. 77. Seneca Nat. Quaest. 
 II, 22. Tbeopbr. c. 10. 
 
227 
 
 days, during which the Sun passes the zenith at 
 Mexico. 
 
 No. 10. An allegory, which reminds us of 
 the purifications of India. A divinity, whose 
 enormous nose is decorated with the figure of 
 the two headed snake, or mysterious amphisboena, 
 carries in his hand a xiquipilli, or a purse of 
 incense : we see on his back a broken vase, 
 from which issues a serpent ; another serpent, 
 bleeding, and cut in pieces, is before him; a 
 third serpent, equally mangled, is contained in 
 a chest full of water, from which rises a plant. 
 We discover on the right a man placed in a 
 vase ; on the left a woman adorned with flowers, 
 probably the voluptuous Tlamezquimilli, who 
 is represented also with a bandage on her eyes. 
 In the same page we find an agave, which, 
 when cut, yields blood. Does this allegory 
 allude to the serpent that poisons the water, 
 the source of all organic life *, to the victory 
 of Crishna over the dragon Kaliya, to the seduc- 
 tion and purification by fire ? It is evident, that 
 the figure of the serpent in the Mexican paint- 
 ings represents two different ideas. In the re- 
 liefs which indicate the divisions of the year 
 and of the cycles, this figure expresses only 
 time, cevum. The serpent represented in com- 
 pany with the mother of men (Cihuacohuatl), 
 
 * Paullinus de S. Bartholomaeo, Codices Arcnscs, p. 235. 
 
 Q2 
 
2i>& 
 
 or crushed by the great spirit, Teotl, when he 
 takes the form of one of the subaltern divinities, 
 is the genius of evil, a real nxxo^sufiuv. Among 
 the Egyptians this last idea was expressed, not 
 by the hieroglyphic of the serpent*, but that 
 of the hippopotamus. Les figures sans vete- 
 mens, comme celle du groupe No. 10, et la 
 deesse de la volupte, appelee Ixcuina ou Tlazol- 
 teucihuaf, sont extrmemement rares dans les 
 peintures Mexicaines. En general, les peuples 
 barbares donnent des vetemens a leurs statues : 
 c'est un ramnement de l'art de presenter le corps 
 nu dans la beaute naturelle de ses formes. II 
 est tres-remarquable aussi que parmi les hiero- 
 glyphes Mexicains on ne decouvre absolument 
 rien qui annonce le symbole de la force genera- 
 trice, ou le culte du lingam, qui est repaudu 
 dans 1'Inde et parmi toutes les nations qui 
 ont eu des rapports avec les Hindoux. M. 
 Zoega a observ6 que l'embleme du phallus ne se 
 trouve pas non plus dans les ouvrages Egyptiens 
 d'une haute antiquite ; il a cru pouvoir en con- 
 clure que ce culte est rnoins ancien qu'on ne le 
 suppose. Cette assertion est cependant con- 
 traire aux notions que Hamilton, Sir William 
 Jones, and M. Sehlegel, ont puisees dans le 
 
 * Zoega, p. 445, n. 35. 
 
 t Codex Borg. MSS. fol. 73. 
 
229 
 
 Siva Pourana *, dans le Kasi Khanda, et dans 
 plusieurs autres ouvrages ecrits en langue San- 
 skrit. On ne sauroit douter que l'adoration des 
 douze lingams, venns du sommet de l'lmaiis 
 (Himavata), ne remonte jusqua l'epoque des 
 premieres traditions des Hindoux. Aii milieu 
 de tant d'autres rapports qui annoncent d'ancien- 
 nes communications entre l'Asie orientate et le 
 nouveau continent, on doit etre surpris de ne 
 pas trouver dans ce dernier quelques traces du 
 culte du phallus. M. Langles f observe ex- 
 pressement que, dans l'lnde, les Vaichnava, ou 
 sectateurs de Vichnou, ont horreur de cet em- 
 bleme de la force productrice, que Ton adore 
 dans les temples de Siva et de son epouse, la 
 deesse de l'abondance, Bhavani. Ne pourroit-on 
 pas supposer qu*il existe egalement parmi les 
 Bouddhistes exiles dans le nord-est de l'Asie une 
 secte qui rejette le culte du lingam, et que 
 c'est de ce Bouddhisme ^pur6 qu'on retrouve 
 quelques foibles traces parmi les peuples Ame- 
 ricans ? 
 
 * Catalogue des Manuscrits Sanskrits de la bibliotheque 
 imperiale, p. 36, et 50. 
 
 f Recherches Asiatiques, torn. 1, p. 215. 
 
230 
 
 VIEW 
 
 CHIMBORAZO and CARGUAIRAZO. 
 
 PLATE XVI. 
 
 A part of the Cordillera of the Andes is di- 
 vided into several branches, separated from each 
 other by longitudinal valleys : another part 
 forms only a single mass beset with volcanic 
 summits. In the description of the passage of 
 the mountain of Quindiu (plate 5th) we have 
 attempted to give a geological sketch of the 
 ramifications of the Cordilleras in the kingdom 
 of New Grenada, between 2° 30' and 5° 15' of 
 northern latitude. We observed at the same 
 time, that the great valleys, placed between the 
 two lateral branches and the central chain, were 
 the basins of two considerable rivers, the bed 
 of which is yet less elevated above the level of 
 the ocean than that of the Rhone, the waters 
 of which have hollowed out the valley of Sion 
 

 >y 
 
 
 Nt 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^2 
 
231 
 
 in the higher Alps. On advancing from Po- 
 payan toward the south, we see on the arid ele- 
 vated plain of the province of Los Pastos the 
 three small chains of the Andes lost in one 
 group, which stretches far beyond the equa- 
 tor. 
 
 This group, in the kingdom of Quito, pre- 
 sents an extraordinary appearance from the 
 river of Chota, which meanders amid moun- 
 tains of basaltic rock to the Paramo of Assuay, 
 on which are seen some remarkable remains of 
 Peruvian architecture. The most elevated sum- 
 mits are arranged in two lines, which form as 
 it were a double ridge to the Cordilleras. These 
 colossal summits, covered with perpetual ice, 
 served for signals in the operations of the French 
 academicians at the time of the measurement 
 of the equinoxial degree. Their symmetrical 
 disposition, in two lines directed from north to 
 south, has led Bouguer to consider them as 
 two chains of mountains, separated by a longi- 
 tudinal valley : but what this celebrated astro- 
 nomer calls the bottom of a valley is the summit 
 of the Andes itself; it is an elevated plain, the 
 absolute height of which is from two thousand 
 seven hundred to two thousand nine hundred 
 metres. We must not confound a double 
 ridge with a real ramification of the Cordil- 
 leras. 
 The plain covered with pumice stone, that 
 
232 
 
 forms the fore ground of the drawing of which 
 we here give the description, is a part of this 
 elevated plain, which separates the western 
 from the eastern ridge of the Andes of Quito. 
 In these plains the population of this marvel- 
 lous country is concentrated ; towns are there 
 built, which contain from thirty to fifty thousand 
 inhabitants. When we have lived for some 
 months on this elevated spot, where the baro- 
 meter keeps at twenty inches high, we feel 
 the irresistible influence of an extraordinary 
 illusion : we forget by degrees, that every thing 
 which surrounds the observer ; those villages 
 which proclaim the industry of a mountainous 
 people ; those pastures, covered at the same 
 time with herds of lamas, and flocks of Euro- 
 pean sheep ; those orchards bounded by hedges 
 of duraiita and barnadesia ; those fields cultivat- 
 ed with care, and promising the richest harvests ; 
 hang as it were suspended in the lofty regions 
 of the atmosphere: we scarcely recollect, that 
 the soil w r e inhabit is more elevated above the 
 neighbouring coasts of the Pacific Ocean, than 
 the summit of Canigou above the basin of the 
 Mediterranean. 
 
 Considering the ridge of the Cordilleras as 
 a vast plain curtained by distant mountains, 
 we accustom ourselves to look on the inequali- 
 ties of the summit of the Andes as so many iso- 
 lated tops. Pichincha, Cayambe, Cotopaxi, 
 
233 
 
 all those volcanic peaks, which we call by par- 
 ticular names, though at more than half their 
 total height they form but one mass ; appear 
 to the eyes of the inhabitant of Quito as so 
 many distinct mountains, which tower amid a 
 plain unclothed by forests. This illusion is so 
 much the more complete, as the breaches in the 
 double ridge of the Cordilleras reach down to 
 the level of the high inhabited plains. Hence 
 the Andes have the appearance of one chain 
 only when they are seen at a distance, from the 
 coasts of the great ocean, or from the savannahs, 
 which extend to the foot of their eastern de- 
 clivity. Placed even on the ridge of the Cor- 
 dilleras, either in the kingdom of Quito, or in 
 the province of Los Pastos, or still farther to the 
 north, in the interior of New Spain, we see only 
 a heap of scattered summits, groups of isolated 
 mountains, which detach themselves from the 
 central elevated plain ; the greater the mass of 
 the Cordilleras, the more difficult it is to con- 
 template as a whole their structure and their 
 form. 
 
 The study of this form, however, or, if I may 
 be allowed the expression, of this physiognomy 
 of the mountains, is singularly facilitated by the 
 direction of the lofty plains, which constitute 
 the ridge of the Andes. When we travel from 
 the city of Quito to the Paramo of Assuay, we 
 see, in a journey of thirty-seven leagues to the 
 
334 
 
 west, the summits of Casitagua, Pichincha, 
 Atacazo, Corazon, Iliniza, Carguairazo, Chim- 
 borazo, and Cunambay, rise in succession ; and 
 to the east the tops of Guamani, Antisana, 
 Passuchoa, Ruminnavi, Cotopaxi, Quelendanna, 
 Tungurahua, and Capa-Urcu, which, with the 
 exception of three or four, are all higher than 
 Mount Blanc. These mountains are so arranged, 
 that, viewed from the central plain, far from 
 hiding each other, they exhibit themselves in 
 their real shape, as if projected on the azure 
 vault of the sky ; we imagine we behold on 
 the same vertical plane their summit and their 
 peak ; they remind us of the stupendous view 
 of the coasts of New Norfolk and Cook's River : 
 and appear like a bold rocky coast, which, rising 
 from the bosom of the waters, seem so much the 
 less distant, as no object is placed between the 
 shore and the eye of the observer. 
 
 But if the structure of the Cordilleras, and 
 the form of the central elevated plain, are 
 favorable for geological observations; if they 
 enable the traveller to examine with facility the 
 outlines of the double ridge of the Andes : the 
 enormous elevation of this plain gives a less ap- 
 pearance of loftiness to summits, which, if placed 
 on islets, scattered along the immensity of the 
 ocean, like Mowna-Roa and the Peak of Te- 
 neriffe, would astonish more by their stupendous 
 height. The plain of Tapia, seen on the fore- 
 
235 
 
 ground of the sixteenth plate, and in which I 
 have sketched, near Riobamba-Nuevo, the group 
 of Chimborazo and Carguaiazo, has an abso- 
 lute elevation of 2891 metres (1493 toises) ; it 
 is only a sixth less elevated than the top of Etna. 
 The summit of Chimborazo does not therefore 
 surpass the height of this plain more than 3G40 
 metres, which is 84 metres less than the height 
 of the top of Mount Blanc above the priory of 
 Chamonix ; for the difference between Chim- 
 borazo and Mount Blanc is nearly equal to that 
 which is observed between the elevation of the 
 plain of Tapia, and the bottom of the valley of 
 Chamonix. The top of the Peak of Teneriffe, 
 compared with the level of the town of 
 Oratava, is still more elevated than Chimbo- 
 razo and Mount Blanc above Riobamba and 
 Chamonix. 
 
 Mountains which would astonish as by their 
 height, if they were placed near the sea-shore, 
 seem to be but hills when they rise from the 
 ridge of the Cordilleras : Quito, for instance, is 
 backed by a small cone called Javirac, which 
 does not seem higher to the inhabitants of that 
 city, than Mountmartre, or the heights of 
 Meudon, appear to the inhabitants of Paris. 
 This cone of Javirac, according to my measure- 
 ment, is, however, 3121 metres (1600 toises) of 
 absolute height; and is almost as lofty as the 
 
i$36 
 
 summit of Marbore, one of the highest sum- 
 mits of the chain of the Pyrenees. 
 
 Notwithstanding the effects of this illusion 
 produced by the height of the plains of Quito, of 
 Mulalo, and Riobamba, we should seek in vain 
 near the coasts, or on the eastern slope of Chim- 
 borazo, a place that would afford so magnificent 
 a view of the Cordilleras, as that I enjoyed for 
 several weeks in the plain of Tapia. When we 
 are placed on the back of the Andes, between 
 the double ridge formed by the colossal tops of 
 Chimborazo, Tungurahua, and Cotopaxi, we 
 are still near enough their summits to see them 
 under angles of considerable altitude ; but in 
 descending toward the forests, which environ the 
 foot of the Cordilleras, these angles become very 
 small ; for, on account of the enormous mass of 
 the mountains, we rapidly leave the summits at 
 a distance, in proportion as we approach the level 
 of the ocean. 
 
 I have sketched the outlines of Chimborazo 
 and Carguairazo, by the use of the same graphic 
 means as I have already mentioned, when I 
 spoke of the drawing of Cotopaxi. The line 
 marking the inferior limits of the perpetual 
 snows is at a height, which somewhat exceeds 
 that of Mount Blanc, for this last mountain, 
 if placed under the equator, would be covered 
 but occasionally with snow. The constant tern- 
 
237 
 
 perature, which reigns under this zone, is the 
 cause why the limit of perpetual ice is not sub- 
 ject to those irregularities, which we observe in 
 the Alps and the Pyrenees. On the northern 
 declivity of Chimborazo, between that mountain 
 and Carguairazo, the road leads from Quito to 
 Guayaquil, and toward the coasts of the Pacific 
 Ocean. The paps covered with snow, which 
 rise on this side, remind us, by their form, of that 
 of the dome of Goute, seen from the valley of 
 Chamonix. On a narrow ridge, which rises 
 amidst the snows on the southern declivity, M. 
 M. Bonpland, Montufar, and myself, attempted 
 to reach, not without danger, the summit of 
 Chimborazo. We carried instruments to a con- 
 siderable height, though we were surrounded by 
 a thick fog, and very much incommoded by the 
 great tenuity of the air. The point where we 
 stopped to observe the inclination of the mag- 
 netic needle was more elevated than any yet 
 attained by man on the ridge of mountains ; it 
 was more than eleven hundred metres higher 
 than the top of Mount Blanc, which the most 
 enlightened and most intrepid of travellers, Mr. 
 de Saussure, had the satisfaction of reaching, 
 after struggling against difficulties still greater 
 than those we had to conquer near the summit of 
 Chimborazo. These laborious excursions, the 
 narratives of which generally excite the atten- 
 tion of the public, offer but a very small number 
 
238 
 
 of results useful to the progress of science ; the 
 traveller finds himself on ground covered with 
 snow, in a stratum of air, the chemical mixture 
 of which is the same as that of the lower re- 
 gions, and in a situation in which delicate expe- 
 riments cannot be made with all the exactness 
 requisite. 
 
 If we compare the fifth, tenth, and sixteenth 
 plates of this work with those of the geographi- 
 cal and physical Atlas, which acccompanies my 
 Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, we dis- 
 tinguish three kinds of principal forms belonging 
 to the high tops of the Andes. The volcanoes 
 which are yet burning, those which have but a 
 single crater of extraordinary size, are conic 
 mountains, with summits truncated in a greater 
 or less degree : such is the figure of Cotopaxi, of 
 Popocatepec, and the Peak of Orizaba. Volca- 
 noes, the summits of which have sunk after a long 
 series of eruptions, exhibit ridges bristled with 
 points, needles leaning in different directions, 
 and broken rocks falling into ruins. Such is the 
 form of the Altar, or Capac-Urcu, a mountain 
 once more lofty than Chimborazo, and the de- 
 struction of which is considered as a memorable 
 period in the natural history of the New Conti- 
 nent ; such is the form also of Carguairazo, a 
 great part of which fell in on the night of the 
 19th of July, 1698. Torrents of water and mud 
 then issued from the opened sides of the moun- 
 
239 
 
 tain, and laid waste the neighbouring country. 
 This dreadful catastrophe was accompanied by 
 an earthquake, which, in the adjacent towns of 
 Hambato, and Llactacunga, swallowed up thou- 
 sands of inhabitants. 
 
 A third form of the high tops of the Andes, 
 and the most majestic of the whole, is that of 
 Chimborazo, the summit of which is circular ; it 
 reminds us of those paps without craters, which 
 the elastic force of the vapours swells up in 
 regions where the hollow crust of the Globe is 
 mined by subterraneous fires. The aspect of 
 mountains of granite has little analogy with that 
 of Chimborazo. The granitic summits are flat- 
 tened hemispheres ; the trappean porphyry 
 forms slender cupolas. Thus on the shore of the 
 South Sea, after the long rains of winter, when 
 the transparency of the air has suddenly in- 
 creased, we see Chimborazo appear like a cloud 
 at the horizon ; it detaches itself from the 
 neighbouring summits, and towers over the 
 whole chain of the Andes, like that majestic 
 dome, produced by the genius of Michael An- 
 gelo, over the antique monuments, which sur- 
 round the Capitol. 
 
240 
 
 PERUVIAN MONUMENT 
 
 CANNAR. 
 
 PLATE XVII. 
 
 The lofty plains, that stretch along the back 
 of the Cordilleras from the equator to the third 
 degree of south latitude, end where a mass of 
 mountains rises from four thousand five hundred 
 to four thousand eight hundred metres of height, 
 which like an enormous dyke unites the eastern 
 to the western ridge of the Andes of Quito. 
 This group of mountains, in which porphyry 
 covers mica-slate and other rocks of primitive 
 formation, is known by the name of the Paramo 
 del Assuay. We were obliged to cross it, in 
 order to go from Riobamba to Cuenca, and to 
 visit those beautiful forests of Loxa, which are so 
 celebrated for their fruitfulness in bark *. The 
 
 * Cinchona. 
 
241 
 
 journey over Assuay is formidable, especially in 
 the months of June, July, and August, when 
 there are immense falls of snow, and the icy 
 winds of the south sweep over these regions. 
 As the high road, according to the measures I 
 took in 1802, is almost the height of Mount 
 Blanc, the travellers are exposed to a cold so 
 excessive, that several perish every year from its 
 effects. In the middle of this journey, at the ab- 
 solute height of four thousand metres, we cross 
 a plain, the extent of which is six square 
 leagues. This plain (and this remarkable fact 
 throws some light on the formation of elevated 
 plains) is almost on the level of the savannahs, 
 by which the part of the volcano of Antisana 
 covered with eternal snows is surrounded. The 
 elevated plains of Assuay and of Antisana, the 
 geological construction of which has such strik- 
 ing resemblances, are nevertheless more than 
 fifty leagues distant from each other : they con- 
 tain lakes of fresh water of considerable depth, 
 and bordered by a thick turf of Alpine grasses, 
 but no fish, and scarcely any aquatic insect, en- 
 livens their solitude. 
 
 The soil of the Llano del Pullal, the name 
 given to the high plains of Assuay, is excessively 
 marshy. We were surprised to find in this 
 place, and at heights Vhich greatly surpass the 
 top of the Peak of TenerifFe, the magnificent re- 
 
 VOL. XIII. R 
 
242 
 
 mains of a road constructed by the Incas of Peru. 
 This causeway, lined with free -stone, may be 
 compared to the finest Roman roads I have seen 
 in Italy, France, or Spain : it is perfectly straight, 
 and keeps the same direction for six or eight 
 thousand metres. We observed the continuation 
 of this road near Caxamarca, 120 leagues to the 
 south of Assuay ; and it is believed in the coun- 
 try, that it led as far as the city of Cuzco. 
 Near this road over the Assuay, at the absolute 
 height of 4042 metres (2074 toises) are the re- 
 mains of the palace of the Inca Tupaynpangi, 
 the ruins of which, commonly called los Pare- 
 dones, are but of small elevation. 
 
 In descending from the Paramo of Assuay, 
 toward the south, we discover, between the 
 farms of Turche and Burgay, another monu- 
 ment of ancient Peruvian architecture, known 
 under the name of Ingapilca, or the fortress of 
 Cannar. This fortress, if we can so call a hill 
 terminated by a platform, is much less remark- 
 able for its height, than its perfect preservation. 
 A wall built of large blocks of free-stone rises to a 
 height of five or six metres. It forms a very re- 
 gular oval, the great axis of which is nearly thirty- 
 eight metres in length. The interior of this oval 
 is a flat piece of ground covered with rich vege- 
 tation, which increases the picturesque effect of 
 the landscape. In the centre of the enclosure is 
 
243 
 
 a house, containing only two rooms, which are 
 near seven metres in height. This house and 
 the enclosure, represented in the sixteenth plate, 
 form part of a system of walls and fortifications, 
 of which we shall hereafter speak, and which are 
 more than one hundred and fifty metres in length. 
 The cut of the stones, the disposition of the 
 doors and niches, the perfect analogy between 
 this edifice and those of Cuzco, leave no doubt 
 respecting the origin of this military monument, 
 which served as a lodging to the Incas, when 
 those princes journeyed occasionally from Peru to 
 the kingdom of Quito. The foundations of a 
 great number of edifices, which surround the 
 enclosure, indicate, that there was room enough 
 at Cannar to lodge the small army, which gene- 
 rally attended the Incas in their journeys. I 
 found among these foundations a stone cut with 
 great nicety, as represented in the fore-grotmd 
 of the drawing on the left : but I cannot guess 
 the purpose, for which it was shaped in this par- 
 ticular manner. 
 
 What is most curious in this small edifice, 
 surrounded by a few trunks of schinus molle, is 
 the form of its roof, which gives it a perfect re- 
 semblance to European houses. One of the first 
 historians of America, Pedro de Cieca de Leon, 
 who began to describe his travels in 1541, gives 
 the detail of several houses of the Inca in the 
 province of Los Canares. He expressly 
 
 r2 
 
244 
 
 says *, that the edifices of Thomebamba have a 
 covering of rushes, so well made, that, if it be 
 not consumed by fire, it will last without alter- 
 ation for several ages. From this observation 
 we may be led to believe, that the gable of the 
 house of Cannar was added after the conquest ; 
 and what seems especially to favor this hypothe- 
 sis is the existence of open windows in this part 
 of the building ; for it is certain, that in the edi- 
 fices of ancient Peruvian construction, as in the 
 remains of the houses of Pompeia and Hercula- 
 neum, no windows are to be found. 
 
 M. de la Condamine, in a very interesting 
 Memoir on some ancient Monuments of Peru -}- 
 is inclined also to think, that the gable which we 
 observe in the small edifice at Cannar is not of 
 the time of the Incas. He says, " that it is per- 
 haps of modern fabrication ; and that it is not of 
 free-stone like the rest of the walls, but of a kind 
 of brick dried in the air, and kneaded with 
 straw." He adds in another place, that the use 
 of those bricks, to which the Indians gave the 
 name of tica, was known to the Peruvians long- 
 before the arrival of the Spaniards ; and that, for 
 this reason, the gable may be of ancient construc- 
 tion, though formed of bricks. 
 
 * Pedro de Cieca de Leon, Chronica del Peru (Anvers, 
 1554), torn. 1, c. 44, p. 120. 
 
 t Meraoires de TAcademie de Berlin, 1746, p. 444. 
 
245 
 
 I regret very much not having read the Me- 
 moirs of M. de la Condamine before my voyage 
 to America ; I am very far from throwing any 
 doubt on the observations of this celebrated 
 traveller, whose labours obliged him to remain 
 a long time in the environs of Cannar, and who 
 had much more leisure than myself to inspect 
 this monument. I am nevertheless surprised, 
 that while examining on the spot itself the ques- 
 tion, whether the roof of this building was added 
 in the time of the Spaniards, neither M. Bon- 
 pland nor myself was struck with the difference of 
 construction, which is said to exist between the 
 wall and the gable above it. I found no bricks 
 (ticas or adobes) ; they seemed to me to be 
 merely freestones, covered with a kind of yellow 
 stucco, easy to detach, and mixed with ichu, or 
 chopped straw. The owner of a neighbouring 
 farm, who accompanied us in our excursion to 
 the ruins of Cannar, boasted, that his ancestocs 
 had greatly contributed to the destruction of this 
 edifice ; he related to us, that the sloping roof 
 had been covered, not in the European manner, 
 that is, with tiles, but with stones slit very thin 
 and highly polished. It was this circumstance 
 particularly, which made me lean then to the 
 opinion, probably erroneous, that, excepting the 
 four windows, the rest of the edifice was such as 
 it had been built in the time of the Incas. How- 
 ever this may be, we must allow, that the use of 
 
246 
 
 roofs with acute angles would have been highly 
 useful in a country of mountains subject to 
 violent rains. These sloping roofs are known to 
 the natives of the north-west coast of America ; 
 and were known in the south of Europe in the 
 most remote times, as several Greek and Roman 
 monuments prove ; particularly the reliefs on the 
 column of Trajan, and the paintings of land- 
 scapes found at Pompeia, and formerly preserved 
 in the fine collection of Portici. The angle at 
 the top of the roof was obtuse among the Greeks; 
 and a right angle among the Romans, who 
 lived in a less favoured climate than that of 
 Greece. The farther we advance toward the 
 north, the more sloping are the roofs. 
 
 The drawing of the seventeenth plate was 
 made at Rome, after a sketch of my own, by 
 Mr. Gmelin, an artist justly celebrated for his 
 talents, and the great extent of his knowledge : 
 during my last abode in Italy, he honoured me 
 with his particular friendship, and it is to his 
 care, that I am in a great measure indebted for 
 what, in this book, may not appear altogether 
 unworthy of exciting the interest of the public. 
 
247 
 
 ROCK OF INTI-GUAICU. 
 
 PLATE XVIII. 
 
 In descending the hill, the summit of which is 
 crowned by the fortress of Cannar, to a valley 
 hollowed by the river Gulan, we find small foot- 
 paths cut in the rock : these paths lead to a 
 fissure, which in the Qquichua language is called 
 Inti-Guaicu, or the ravine of the Sun. In this 
 solitary spot, shaded by a beautiful and luxu- 
 riant vegetation, rises an insulated mass of sand- 
 stone, which is only four or five metres high. 
 One of the surfaces of this small rock is remark- 
 able for its whiteness : it is cut perpendicularly 
 as if it had been worked by the hand of man. 
 On this smooth and white ground are concen- 
 tric circles, which represent the image of the 
 Sun, such as at the commencement of civiliza- 
 tion we see it figured among every nation of the 
 Earth. These circles are of a blackish brown ; 
 and in the space they enclose we perceive fea- 
 tures half effaced, which indicate two eyes and a 
 mouth. The foot of the rock is cut into 
 
248 
 
 steps, which lead to a seat hollowed out in 
 the same stone, and so placed, that from the 
 bottom of a hollow the image of the sun may 
 be seen. 
 
 The natives relate, that, when the Inca Tupa- 
 yupangi advanced with his army to make the 
 conquest of the kingdom of Quito, then governed 
 by the Conchocando of Lican, the priests dis- 
 covered on the stone the image of the divinity, 
 whose worship ought to be introduced among 
 the conquered nations. The inhabitants of 
 Cuzco thought they every where beheld the 
 figure of the Sun, as the Christians, under every 
 zone, have found either crosses, or the print of 
 the feet of the Apostle St. Thomas, traced on 
 rocks. The Peruvian prince aud his soldiers 
 considered the discovery of the stone of Inti- 
 Guaicu as of happy augury: it contributed, with- 
 out doubt, to induce the Incas to build a habita- 
 tion at Cannar : for it is known, that the descend- 
 ants of Manco-Capao considered themselves as 
 the children of the star of day, an opinion 
 which offers a singular coincidence between the 
 first legislator of Peru, and that of India *, 
 who was also called Vawasaouta y or son of the 
 Sun. 
 
 * Menou 2, or Sal vavrala. Recherches Asiatiques, torn. 
 1, p. 170; torn. 2, p. 172. Paolin. Systema Brachman, 
 p. 141. 
 
249 
 
 On a close examination of the rock of Inti- 
 Guaica we discovered, that the concentric circles 
 were small veins of brown iron ore, very com- 
 mon in every formation of sandstone. The fea- 
 tures, which indicate the eyes and the mouth, 
 are evidently traced by means of some metallic 
 tool ; we may suppose, that they were added by 
 the Peruvian priests, in order to impose more 
 readily on the people. On the arrival of the 
 Spaniards, the missionaries were highly inte- 
 rested in withdrawing from the eyes of the na- 
 tives whatever was the object of ancient venera- 
 tion ; and we still find traces of the chisel em- 
 ployed in effacing the image of the Sun. 
 
 According to the interesting researches of 
 Mr. Vater, the word Inti, Sun, offers no ana- 
 logy with any known idiom of the Old Continent. 
 In general, out of eighty-three American lan- 
 guages examined by this respectable writer, and 
 by Dr. Barton of Philadelphia,, we have hitherto 
 recognized but one hundred and thirty-seven 
 roots, which were found in the languages of Asia 
 and Europe ; namely, in those of the Mantchou 
 Tartars, the Monguls, the Celts, the Biscayans, 
 and the Esthonians. This curious result seems 
 to prove what we have already advanced in 
 speaking of the mythology of the Mexicans. It 
 cannot be doubted, that the greater part of the 
 nations of America belong to a race of men,. 
 
250 
 
 who, isolated ever since the infancy of the world 
 from the rest of mankind, exhibit in the nature 
 and diversity of language, in their features and 
 the conformation of their skull, incontestable 
 proofs of an early and complete separation. 
 
251 
 
 YNGA-CHUNGANAj 
 
 NEAR CANNAR. 
 
 PLATE XIX. 
 
 To the north of the ruins of Cannar rises a 
 chain of hills, the slope of which toward the 
 house of the Inca is very gentle, while it is 
 almost perpendicular on the side of the valley of 
 Gulan. According to the traditions among the 
 natives, this hill formed part of the gardens, that 
 surrounded the ancient Peruvian fortress. We 
 here found, as near the ravine of the Sun, a great 
 number of small pathways cut on the slope of a 
 rock, which is scarcely covered with vegetable 
 mould. 
 
 Near Mexico, in the gardens of Chapoltepec, 
 the European traveller view6 with melancholy 
 feeling cypress trees *, the trunks of which are 
 more than sixteen metres in circumference; and 
 
 * Cupressus disticha, L. 
 
252 
 
 which are thought, with some probability, to 
 have been planted by kings of the Azteck dy- 
 nasty. In the gardens of the Inca, near Cannar, 
 we sought in vain for some tree, which might 
 seem to have outlived half a century ; nothing 
 indicates the abode of the Incas in these coun- 
 tries, except perhaps a small monument of stone, 
 placed on the brink of a precipice, and on the 
 purpose of which the inhabitants are not agreed. 
 This small monument, which is called the 
 Sport of the Inca, consists in a single mass of 
 stones. The Peruvians employed in its construc- 
 tion the same artifice as the Egyptians did in 
 the sculpture of the sphynx of Geeza, of which 
 Pliny expressly says, " e saxo naturali elabo- 
 rate:." The rock of quartzose sandstone, which 
 serves as its basis, was diminished, so that, after 
 having taken away the strata which formed the 
 summit, there remained only a seat with an en- 
 closure around, which is represented on this 
 plate. We may be surprised, that a people who 
 heaped together so prodigious a number of free- 
 stones on the superb causeway of Assu ay, should 
 have recourse to such singular means to [raise a 
 wall three feet high. All the Peruvian works 
 bear the mark of a laborious people, who de- 
 lighted in hollowing rocks, and in seeking diffi- 
 culties to show their address in conquering them ; 
 and who imprinted on the most insignificant 
 edifices a character of solidity, from which we 
 
253 
 
 might be led to think, that at some other epocha 
 they could have raised monuments far more 
 considerable. 
 
 The Inga-Chungana, at a distance, resembles 
 a sofa, the back of which is decorated with a 
 sort of arabesque in form of a chain. On enter- 
 ing the oval enclosure, we perceive, that there is 
 no seat but for one person ; but that this person 
 is placed in a commodious manner, so as to enjoy 
 the most delightful prospect over the valley of 
 Gulan. A small river winds along this valley, 
 and forms several cascades, the foam of which is 
 seen through tufts of gunnera and melastomas. 
 This rustic seat would be an ornament to. the 
 gardens of Richmond or Ermenonville ; and the 
 prince, who had chosen this site, was not insen- 
 sible to the beauties of nature ; he belonged to 
 a people, whom we have no right to style bar- 
 barous. 
 
 I beheld in this fabric only a seat placed in 
 a delightful spot, at the brink of a precipice, on 
 the steep declivity of a hill that commands the 
 valley : some old Indians, who are the historians 
 of the country, find this explanation too simple . 
 they assert, that the hollow sculptured chain on 
 the edge of the enclosure was formed to receive 
 little balls, which were rolled along it for the 
 amusement of the prince. We must admit, that 
 the edge, on which is the Arabesque, has some 
 slope ; and that the ball, at the place where the 
 
254 
 
 wall is perceptibly lower, might have mounted, 
 as much as it had descended, if thrown with 
 sufficient force : but were this supposition true, 
 should we not find at the end of the chain some 
 hole, to receive the balls when their course was 
 finished ? The place where the wall of the en- 
 closure is the lowest, the point opposite the seat, 
 corresponds to an opening in the rock on the 
 brink of the precipice. A narrow pathway, cut 
 in the sandstone, leads to this grotto, in which, 
 according to the tradition among the natives, 
 there are treasures hidden by Atahualpa. They 
 say too, that a streamlet formerly ran along this 
 pathway. Is it there that we should look for the 
 Sport of the Inca ? and was this enclosure so 
 situate, that the prince could conveniently see 
 what passed on the steep declivity of the rock ? 
 We shall speak more of this grotto in the nar- 
 rative of our journey to Peru. 
 
255 
 
 INTERIOR 
 
 OF THI 
 
 HOUSE OF THE INCA AT CANNAR. 
 
 PLATE XX. 
 
 This plate represents the plan and inside of the 
 small building, which occupies the centre of the 
 esplanade in the citadel of Cannar, and which 
 M. La Condamine thought destined for a guard- 
 house. I sketched this drawing with the greater 
 exactness, because the remains of Peruvian 
 architecture scattered along the ridge of the 
 Cordilleras, from Cuzco to Cayamb£, or from 
 the thirteenth degree of north latitude to the 
 equator, all bear the same character in the cut of 
 the stones, the shape of the doors, the symme- 
 trical disposal of the niches, and the total absence 
 of exterior ornaments. This uniformity of con- 
 struction is so great, that all the stations (tambos) 
 along the high roads, called, in the country, 
 houses or palaces of the Inca, appear to have 
 been copied from each other. Peruvian archi- 
 
256 
 
 tecture was limited to the wants of a nation of 
 mountaineers ; it had neither columns, nor pilas- 
 ters, nor circular arches : these natives of a 
 rocky country, of elevated plains almost desti- 
 tute of trees, were not led, like the Greeks and 
 Romans, to imitate in their architecture the as- 
 semblage of a construction in wood ; simplicity, 
 symmetry, and solidity, were the three charac- 
 ters, by which all Peruvian edifices were distin- 
 guished. 
 
 The citadel of Cannar, and the square build- 
 ings surrounding it, are not constructed with the 
 same quartzose sandstone, which covers the pri- 
 mitive slate and the porphyries of Assuay, and 
 which appears at the surface in the garden of the 
 Inca, as we descend toward the valley of Gulan. 
 Neither are the stones used for the edifices of 
 Cannar granite, as M. de la Condamine thought, 
 but a trappean porphyry of great hardness, en- 
 closing vitreous feldspar and hornblende. This 
 porphyry was perhaps dug in the great quarries, 
 which are found at four thousand metres of 
 height near the lake of Culebrilla, more than 
 three leagues distant from Cannar. It is certain 
 at least, that these quarries furnished the fine 
 stone employed in the house of the Inca, situate 
 in the plain of Pullal, at an elevation almost 
 equal to that of the Puy de Dome if placed on 
 the summit of Cauigou. 
 
 We do not find in the ruins of Cannar those 
 
257 
 
 stones of enormous size, which we see in the 
 Peruvian edifices of Cuzco and the neighbouring 
 countries. Acosta measured some at Traqua- 
 naco, which were twelve metres (thirty-eight 
 feet) long, five metres, eight tenths (eighteen 
 feet) broad, and one metre nine tenths (six feet) 
 thick. Pedro Cieca of Leon saw some of the 
 same dimensions in the ruins of Tiahuanaco *. 
 In the citadel of Cannar I saw no stones that 
 exceeded twenty-six decimetres (eight feet) in 
 length. They are in general much less remark- 
 able for their bulk, than the extreme beauty of 
 their shape ; the greater part are joined without 
 any appearance of cement. We nevertheless 
 recognise cement in some of the buildings sur- 
 rounding the citadel, and in the three houses of 
 the lnca at Pullal, each of which is more than 
 fifty-eight metres long. This cement is formed 
 of a mixture of small stones and argillaceous 
 marl, which effervesces with acids ; it is a true 
 mortar, of which I detached considerable por- 
 tions with a knife, by digging into the interstices 
 which were left between the parallel courses of 
 the stones. This fact deserves some attention ; 
 because the travellers who preceded us have all 
 asserted, that the Peruvians were unacquainted 
 with the use of mortar ; but the supposition, 
 that the Peruvians were as ignorant in this point 
 
 * Cie^a, Chronica del Peru (Anvers, 1554), p. 254. 
 VOL. XIII. S 
 
25* 
 
 as the ancient inhabitants of Egypt, is erroneous. 
 The Peruvians not only employed a marly mortar 
 in the great edifices of Pacaritambo *, but made 
 use of a cement of asphaltum (betun) ; a mode 
 of construction, which on the banks of the Eu- 
 phrates and the Tigris may be traced back to 
 the remotest antiquity. 
 
 The porphyry made use of for the buildings of 
 Cannar is cut into parallelopipedons with such 
 perfection, that the joints of the stone would be 
 imperceptible, as M. de la Condamine remarks, 
 if their exterior surface were a plane ; but the 
 outer surface of each stone is slightly convex, 
 and cut slantingly towards the edge ; so that the 
 joints form small flirtings, which serve as orna- 
 ments, like the separations of the stones in rustic 
 work. This cut of the stone, which the Italian 
 architects call bugnato, is found in the ruins of 
 Callo, near Mulado, where I have sketched it in 
 detail \ : it gives the walls of the Peruvian build- 
 ings a great resemblance to certain Roman 
 structures, for instance, to the muro di Nerva at 
 Rome. 
 
 What chiefly characterizes the monuments of 
 Peruvian architecture is the form of the doors, 
 which are generally nineteen or twenty deci- 
 metres (six or eight feet) high, so that the Inca, 
 
 * Cie^a, Chronica del Peru (Anvers, 1554), 234. 
 f See pi. 24, (9 of the edition in 8vo). 
 
£50 
 
 or great nobles might pass, though carried in a 
 palanquin on the shoulders of their subjects. 
 The door-posts were not parallel, but inclined, 
 probably in order to use stone lintels of less di- 
 mensions. The niches (JwcoJ hollowed in the 
 walls, and serving for cupboards, imitate the 
 form of these porte rastremate : the inclined 
 position of these parts in the Peruvian edifices 
 gives them some resemblance to those of Egypt, 
 in which the lintels are always shorter than the 
 thresholds. Between the hocoes are cylindric 
 stones, with polished surfaces, which project out 
 of the wall to the length of five decimetres ; the 
 natives assured us, that they were used to hang- 
 weapons or ornaments on. We observed also 
 in the corners of the walls cross pieces of por- 
 phyry of a singular shape, M. de la Conda- 
 mine thinks, that they were intended to join the 
 two walls. I am rather inclined to believe, that 
 the cords of their hammocks were fastened round 
 these cross pieces ; at least we find similar pieces 
 of wood, serving for this purpose, in all the huts 
 of the Indians of the Orinoco. 
 
 The Peruvians showed surprising dexterity in 
 cutting the hardest stones. At Cannar we find 
 curved grooves hollowed in the porphyry, to 
 supply the want of hinges to the doors. La 
 Condamine and Bouguer saw in old edifices, 
 built in the time of the Incas, ornaments of por- 
 phyry, representing the muzzles of animals, in 
 
 s 2 
 
260 
 
 the perforated nostrils of which were moveable 
 rings of the same stone *. When I crossed the 
 Cordilleras by the Paramo of Assuay, and saw 
 the enormous masses of stone extracted from the 
 porphyry quarries of Pullal, employed in con- 
 structing the high roads of the Inca, I already 
 began to doubt, whether the Peruvians were not 
 acquainted with other tools beside hatchets of 
 flint ; I suspected, that grinding was not the 
 only method they had employed to smooth the 
 stones, or give them a regular and uniform con- 
 vexity ; and I then adopted an opinion contrary 
 to the ideas generally received ; I conjectured, 
 that the Peruvians had tools of copper, which 
 mixed with a certain proportion of tin acquires 
 considerable hardness. This conjecture has 
 been justified by the discovery of an ancient 
 Peruvian chisel, found at Vilcabamba, near 
 Cuzco, in a silver mine worked in the time of 
 the Incas. This valuable instrument, for which 
 I am indebted to the friendship of P. Narcissus 
 Gilbar, and which I have brought to Europe, is 
 twelve centimetres long and two broad. The 
 metal of which it is composed has been analyzed 
 by Mr. Vanquelin, who found in it 0*94 of cop- 
 per, and 006 of tin. This keen copper of the 
 Peruvians is almost identical with that of the 
 
 * Mcmoires de l'Acadernie de Berlin, 1746, p. 452, lib. 7, 
 f. 4. 
 
2f)l 
 
 Gallic axes, which cut wood as if they had been 
 of steel *. Every where in the Old Continent, 
 at the beginning of the civilization of nations, 
 the use of copper mixed with tin (%*x*/°«) pre- 
 vailed over that of iron, even in places where 
 the latter had been for a long time known. 
 
 * See my Political Essay on New Spain, vol. 3, p. 306, 
 edition in 8vo. 
 
202 
 
 AZTECK BAS-RELIEF, 
 
 FOUND IN THE 
 
 GREAT SQUARE OF MEXICO. 
 
 PLATE XXI. 
 
 The cathedral of Mexico, represented in the 
 third plate, is built on the ruins of the teocalli, or 
 house of the God Mexitli. This pyramidal mo- 
 nument, constructed by king Ahuizotl, in 1486, 
 was thirty-seven metres high from its basis to 
 the upper platform, whence there is an extensive 
 view over the lakes, the surrounding country 
 strown with villages, and the mountains that 
 skirt the valley. The platform, which served as 
 an asylum in battle, was crowned by two chapels 
 in the form of towers, each of which was seven- 
 teen or eighteen metres, so that the whole teo- 
 calli was fifty-four metres high. The heap of 
 stones, that formed the pyramid of Mexitli, was 
 used after the siege of Tenochtitlan, to raise the 
 Plaza Mayor. In digging eight or ten metres 
 deep, a great number of colossal idols, and other 
 
2G3 
 
 remains of Azteck sculpture, were discovered : 
 in fact, three curious monuments, of which we 
 shall give a description in this work, the stone 
 of sacrifices, the colossal statue of the goddess 
 Teoyaomiqui, and the stone of the Mexican ca- 
 lendar, were found, when the Viceroy, Couiat 
 Revillagigedo, levelled the great square of 
 Mexico, by lowering the ground. A very credi- 
 ble person, who had been commissioned to direct 
 these works, assured me, that the foundations of 
 the cathedral are surrounded by an immense 
 quantity of idols and reliefs, and that the three 
 masses of porphyry, which we have just men- 
 tioned, are the smallest of those discovered in 
 digging to the depth of twelve metres. Near 
 the capilla del sagrario a sculptured rock was 
 discovered, which was seven metres long, six 
 broad, and three in height ; the workmen, find- 
 ing that they could not get it out, were about to 
 break it in pieces ; but happily they were di- 
 verted from their intention by a canon of the 
 cathedral, Mr. Gamboa, an enlightened friend 
 of the arts. 
 
 The stone, which is commonly known by the 
 name of the stone of sacrifices (piedra de los sa- 
 crificios), is of cylindrical form : it is 3 metres 
 broad, and 11 decimetres in height; it is sur- 
 rounded with a relief, in which we find twenty 
 groups of two figures, all represented in the same 
 attitudes. One of these figures is constantly the 
 
261 
 
 same : it is a warrior, perhaps a king, who has 
 his right hand resting on the helmet of a man, 
 who is offering him flowers as a mark of obedi- 
 ence. Mr. Dupe, whom I had occasion to men- 
 tion at the beginning of this work, has copied 
 the whole relief; I convinced myself on the spot 
 of the exactness of his drawing, a part of which 
 is engraven on the plate ; and I have chosen the 
 remarkable group, which represents a bearded 
 man. It is observable, that in general the 
 Mexican Indians have somewhat more beard 
 than the rest of the natives of America ; it is 
 not rare even to see some with mustaches. Was 
 there ever formerly a province, the inhabitants 
 of whicb wore a long beard ? Or is that which 
 we see in the relief artificial? and is it a part 
 of those fantastic ornaments, by which warriors 
 sought to inspire their enemies with terror ? 
 
 Mr. Dupe's opinion seems to me well-founded, 
 that this sculpture represents the conquests of 
 an Azteck king. The conqueror is always the 
 same, the vanquished warrior wears the dress 
 of the nation to which he belongs, and of which 
 he may be said to be the representative. Behind 
 the prisoner is placed the hieroglyphic, that de- 
 notes the conquered province. In the collection 
 of Mendoza, the conquests of a king are in the 
 same manner indicated by a buckler, or bundle 
 of arrows, placed between the king and the 
 symbolical characters or arms of the subjected 
 
265 
 
 countries. As the Mexican prisoners were of- 
 fered up in the temples, it would appear natural 
 enough, that the triumphs of a warrior king 
 should be figured around the fatal stone, on 
 which the topiltzln (the sacrificing priest) tore 
 out the heart of the unhappy victim. What has 
 caused this hypothesis to be adopted is, that the 
 upper surface of the stone has a groove cf some 
 depth, which appears to have been cut to let the 
 blood run off. 
 
 Notwithstanding these apparent proofs, I am 
 inclined to think, that the stone of the sacrifices 
 was never placed at the top of a teocalli ; but 
 was one of those stones, called temalacatl, on 
 which the combat of the gladiators took place 
 between the prisoner destined to be sacrificed 
 and a Mexican warrior. The real stone of sa- 
 crifices, that which crowned the platform of the 
 teocalli, was green, either jasper, or perhaps 
 jade * ; its form was that of a parallelopipedon, 
 fifteen or sixteen decimetres in length, and a 
 metre in breadth ; its surface was convex, so that 
 the victim stretched upon the stone had the 
 breast raised higher than the rest of his body. 
 No historian states, that this block of green 
 stone was sculptured ; the great hardness of the 
 rocks of jasper and jade no doubt formed an ob- 
 stacle to the execution of a bass-relief. On com- 
 
 * Beilstein of Werner. 
 
26G 
 
 paring the cylindric block of porphyry found in 
 the great square of Mexico, with those oblong 
 stones, on which the victim was thrown when 
 the topiltzin approached, armed with a knife of 
 obsidian, we easily conceive, that these two ob- 
 jects offer no resemblance either in matter or in 
 form. 
 
 It is easy, on the contrary, to recognise, in 
 the description which ocular witnesses have given 
 of the temalacatl, the stone on which the pri- 
 soner destined for sacrifice fought, that of which 
 Mr. Dupe" has sketched the relief. The un- 
 known author of the work published by Ramu- 
 sio, under the title of Relazione d'un Gentiluomo 
 di Fernando Cortez, expressly says, that the te- 
 malacatl had the form of a mill-stone, was three 
 feet thick, had figures sculptured round it, and 
 was large enough to serve for a combat between 
 two persons. This cylindrical stone was placed 
 on a platform raised three metres in height. 
 The prisoners most distinguished for their cou- 
 rage or their rank were reserved for the sacrifice 
 of the gladiators. Placed on the temalacatl, 
 surrounded by an immense crowd of spectators, 
 they were to fight six Mexican warriors in suc- 
 cession ; if they were fortunate enough to con- 
 quer them, their liberty was granted them, and 
 they were permitted to return to their own coun- 
 try ; if, on the contrary, the prisoner sunk under 
 the strokes of one of his adversaries, a priest, 
 
267 
 
 called c/iu/chiu/itepehua, dragged him dead or 
 living to the altar, and tore out his heart. 
 
 It is possible, that the stone, which was found 
 in digging round the cathedral, was the same 
 temalacatl, which the gentiluomo of Cortez 
 asserts having seen near the enclosure of the 
 great teocalli of Mexitli. The figures of the 
 relief are nearly sixty decimetres high. Their 
 shoes are very remarkable : the conqueror has 
 his left foot terminated by a kind of beak, 
 which appeal's to be a defensive weapon. We 
 may be surprised at finding this weapon, to 
 which I know of nothing analogous among other 
 nations, only on the left foot. This same figure, 
 the stunted body of which reminds us of the 
 earliest Etruscan style, holds the prisoner by 
 the helmet, grasping it with his left hand. In 
 a great number of Mexican paintings, which 
 represent battles, we see warriors holding their 
 weapons in the left hand : they are represented 
 acting rather with this hand than with the right. 
 We might be led to think at first sight, that this 
 singularity is the result of peculiar habits ; but, 
 on examining a great number of historical hiero- 
 glyphics of the Mexicans, we observe, that their 
 painters placed weapons sometimes in the right, 
 and at other times in the left hand *, as it hap- 
 pened to produce a symmetrical disposition in 
 
 * Cod. Vat. anon. fol. 86. 
 
268 
 
 the groups ; I found several striking' examples in 
 looking- through the Codex Anonymus of the 
 Vatican, in which we found Spaniards holding 
 the sword in the loft hand. This singularity of 
 confounding the light with the left is also cha- 
 racteristic of the beginning of the art ; we ob- 
 serve the same in some Egyptian reliefs ; we even 
 find in the latter right hands fastened to left 
 arms, whence it results, that the thumb seems 
 placed on the outside of the hand. Learned an- 
 tiquaries have been induced to think, that there 
 was something mysterious in this extraordinary 
 arrangement, which Mr. Zoega attributes only 
 to mere caprice, or the negligence of the artist. 
 
 I much doubt, whether this bass-relief, which 
 encircles the temalacatl, and so many other sculp- 
 tures in basaltic porphyry, were executed by em- 
 ploying only tools of jade, or other very hard 
 stones. It is true, that I have sought in vain to 
 procure some metallic chisel of the ancient Mex- 
 icans, like that I brought from Peru : but Anto- 
 nio de Herera, in the tenth book of his History 
 of the West Indies, says expressly, that the inha- 
 bitants of the maritime province of Zacatollan, 
 situate between Acapulco and Calima, prepared 
 two sorts of copper, of which one was hard or 
 cutting, and the other malleable ; the hard cop- 
 per was used to fabricate hatchets, weapons, and 
 instruments of agriculture ; the malleable copper 
 was employed for vases, caldrons, and other 
 
•2(J?J 
 
 necessary utensils in do mestic use. Now, the 
 country of Zacatollan having been subjected by 
 the kings of Anahuac, it does not appear proba- 
 ble, that in the environs of the capital of the 
 kingdom they continued to engrave stones by 
 grinding, if metallic chi sels could be procured. 
 This hard Mexican copper was no doubt alloyed 
 with tin, in the same manner as the tool found at 
 Vilcabamba, and that Peruvian hatchet, which 
 Godin sent to M. de Maurepas, and which Count 
 Caylus thought was tempered copper. 
 
270 
 
 BASALTIC ROCKS 
 
 CASCADE OF REGLA. 
 
 PLATE XXII. 
 
 In changing our latitude and climate, we see a 
 change in the aspect of organic nature, in the 
 form of animals and of plants, which impresses 
 a peculiar character on every zone. With the 
 exception of some aquatic and cryptogamous 
 vegetables, the soil in every region is covered 
 with different plants. It is not so with inanimate 
 nature, with that aggregation of earthy sub- 
 stances, which covers the surface of our planet ; 
 the same decomposed granite, on which, amid 
 the frosts of Lapland, the vacciniums, the an- 
 dromedas, and the moss that nourishes the rein- 
 deer, vegetate, is found again in those bowers 
 of fern-trees, of palms, and of heliconia, the 
 shining foliage of which unfolds itself under the 
 influence of the equatorial heats. When at the 
 end of a long voyage, after passing from one 
 
VoLJIE.y.270. 
 
 
 i '■■ '. > t 'Ot. V i '/ /S/<*(/ A? . /■ 
 
 
 Tub* by Longman Hurst Jl&ts Ormt k ErowrL-Augh8i4 
 
271 
 
 hemisphere to another, the inhabitant of the 
 north lands on some distant shore, he is sur- 
 prised to find, amid a crowd of unknown pro- 
 ductions, those strata of slate, micaceous schist, 
 and trappean porphyry, that form the arid coasts 
 of the Old Continent bathed by the icy ocean. 
 Under every climate the rocky crust of the 
 Globe presents the same appearance to the tra- 
 veller ; he every where finds, and not without 
 emotion, in the midst of a New World, the rocks 
 of his native country. 
 
 This analogy in unorganized nature extends 
 even to those little phenomena, which we should 
 be tempted to attribute to causes merely local. 
 In the Cordilleras, as well as in the mountains 
 of Europe, granite sometimes offers aggregations 
 in the form of spheroids flattened and divided 
 into concentric layers : under the tropics as 
 well as in the temperate zone, we find in the 
 granite some of those masses abounding in mica 
 and hornblende, which resemble blackish balls 
 enclosed in a mixture of feldspar and milky 
 quartz ; schillerspar is found in the serpentines of 
 the isle of Cuba, as well as in those of Germany ; 
 the mandelstein and perlstein of the elevated 
 plain of Mexico appear identic with those seen 
 at the foot of the Carpathian mountains. The 
 superposition of the secondary rocks follows the 
 same laws in regions the most remote from each 
 
272 
 
 other. In every place the same appearances 
 attest the same order in the revolutions, which 
 have progressively changed the surface of the 
 Globe. 
 
 If we go back to physical causes, we ought 
 to be less surprised at finding, that travellers 
 have discovered no new rocks in distant re- 
 gions. The climate has an influence on the 
 form of animals and of plants, because the play 
 of affinities, which presides over the unfolding 
 of the organs, is modified both by the tempe- 
 rature of the atmosphere, and by that which re- 
 sults from the different combinations formed by 
 chemical action ; but the unequal distribution 
 of heat, which is the effect of the obliquity of the 
 ecliptic, could have had no sensible influence on 
 the formation of the rocks ; this formation, on the 
 contrary, must itself have had a powerful influ- 
 ence on the temperature of the Globe, and the 
 surrounding air. When great masses of matter 
 pass from a liquid to a solid state, this pheno- 
 menon cannot take place without being accom- 
 panied by an enormous evolution of caloric. 
 These considerations seem to throw some light 
 on the first migrations of animals and of 
 plants. I might be tempted to explain by 
 this progressive elevation of temperature seve- 
 ral important problems, particularly that which 
 the existence of the productions of the In- 
 
279 
 
 dies buried in the countries of the north exhi- 
 bits, were I not afraid of increasing the number 
 of geological dreams. 
 
 The basalts of Regla, sketched on this plate, 
 offer an undeniable proof of that identity of 
 form, which is observed among the rocks of 
 different climates. The mineralogical traveller, 
 who casts a look over this drawing, finds in it 
 the form of the basalts of the Vivarias, of the 
 Euganean mountains, or of the promontory of 
 Antrim in Ireland. The slightest circumstances 
 observable in the columnar rocks of Europe are 
 perceived in this group of the basalts of Mexico. 
 So great an analogy of structure leads us to 
 suppose, that the same causes have acted under 
 every climate, and at very different epochas ; 
 for the basalts covered with thonschiefer and 
 compact limestone must be of a very different 
 age from those, that repose on strata of coal and 
 pebbles. 
 
 The cascade of Regla is to the north-east of 
 Mexico, at a distance of twenty-five leagues, 
 between the celebrated mines of Real del 
 Monte, and the thermal waters of Totonilco. 
 A small river, which moves the wheel of the 
 mill for amalgamation at Regla, the construc- 
 tion of which cost more than ten millions of 
 livres, forces its way across the groups of ba- 
 saltic columns ; the sheet of water that rushes 
 down is considerable, but the fall is not above 
 
 VOL. XIII. T 
 
274 
 
 seven or eight metres. The surrounding rocks, 
 which remind us of the cave of Fingal, at 
 Staffa, in the Hebrides ; the contrasts of vege- 
 tation, the wild appearance, and the solitude of 
 the place, render this small cascade extremely 
 picturesque. On both sides of the ravine the 
 basaltic columns rise to more than thirty metres 
 in height, and on them grow tufts of cactus and 
 yucca filamentosa. The prisms have generally 
 five or six sides, and are sometimes as much as 
 twelve decimetres in breadth ; several present 
 very regular articulations. Each column has 
 a cylindrical nucleus, of a denser mass than the 
 surrounding parts ; these nuclei are as it were 
 enchased in the prisms, which in their horizontal 
 fracture offer very remarkable convexities. This 
 structure, which is also found in the basalts of 
 Fairhead, I have shown in the foreground of the 
 drawing toward the left. 
 
 The greater part of the columns of Regla 
 are perpendicular ; though some very near the 
 cascade, have forty-five degrees of inclination 
 toward the east ; and farther on there are others 
 horizontal. Each group, at the time of its for- 
 mation, appears to have followed particular 
 attractions. The mass of these basalts is very 
 homogeneous. Mr. Bonpland remarked in them 
 nuclei of olivine or granuliform peridot, sur- 
 rounded with mesotype-zeolite. The prisms, 
 and this fact deserves the attention of geologists, 
 
27 b 
 
 repose on a bed of clay, under which is again 
 found basalt. In general that of Regla is super- 
 posed on the porphyry of Real del Monte, while 
 a floetz limestone serves as a basis to the basalt 
 of Totonilco. The whole of this basaltic region 
 is two thousand metres above the level of the 
 ocean. 
 
 v 2 
 
276 
 
 RELIEF IN BASALT, 
 
 REPRESENTING THE 
 
 MEXICAN CALENDAR. 
 
 PLATE XXIH. 
 
 Among the number of monuments which seem 
 to prove, that the people of Mexico, at the time 
 of their conquest by the Spaniards, had attained 
 a certain degree of civilization, we may assign 
 the first rank to the calendars, or different divi- 
 sions of time, adopted by the Toltecks and the 
 Aztecks ; either for the use of society in general, 
 or to regulate the order of sacrifices, or to facili- 
 tate the calculations of astrology. This kind of 
 monument is so much the more worthy of fixing 
 our attention, as it is a proof of knowledge, 
 which we have some difficulty in considering as 
 the result of observations made by a nation of 
 mountaineers, in the uncultivated regions of the 
 New Continent. We might be tempted to com- 
 pare the circumstance of the Azteck calendar, 
 
Vbl.MEp. ?76m 
 
 y 
 
 '6ca>?z/ 
 
 tCaZzizatf-r tKs sAe/ty* S7? zAJaJa/f. 
 
 J'nb ' h/£, 1,1,1111,111 -JDirstJi<;rs.Ormt&:Jiri<wn r Aiiqh8ii . 
 

•277 
 
 with that of those languages rich in words, and 
 in grammatical forms, which we find among 
 nations, whose actual mass of ideas is not cor- 
 respondent to the multiplicity of signs adapted 
 to explain them. Those languages so rich and 
 flexible, those modes of intercalation which sup- 
 pose an accurate knowledge of the duration of 
 the astronomical year, are perhaps only the re- 
 mains of an inheritance, transmitted to them by 
 nations heretofore civilized, but since relapsed 
 into barbarism. 
 
 The monks and other Spanish writers, who 
 visited Mexico a short time after the conquest, 
 gave but vague and often contradictory notions 
 of the different calendars in use among the na- 
 tions of the Tolteck and Azteck race. We find 
 these notions in the works of Gomara, Valades, 
 Acosta, and Torquemada. This last writer, not- 
 withstanding his superstition, has transmitted to 
 us in his Monarquia Indiana, a collection of im- 
 portant facts, which discovers an accurate know- 
 ledge of local circumstances. He lived fifty years 
 among the Mexicans : he arrived at the city of 
 Tenochtitlan at a period, when the natives were 
 yet in possession of a great number of historical 
 paintings ; and when, before the house of the 
 Marquis del Valle *, in the Plaza Mayor, were 
 
 * See page 7, phte 3d, folio edition. 
 
278 
 
 seen the remains of the great teocalli* dedi- 
 cated to the god Huitzilopochtli. Torquemada 
 made use o! the manuscripts of three Franciscan 
 monks, Bernardino de Sahagun, Andrea de 
 Olmos, and Toribio de Benavente, who were very 
 intimately acquainted with the American lan- 
 guages, and who went to New-Spain in the time 
 of Cortez, before the year 1528. Notwithstand- 
 ing these advantages, the historian of Mexico 
 has not furnished us with all the information 
 respecting the chronology and calendars of the 
 Mexicans, that we might have expected from his 
 zeal and his instruction. He expresses himself 
 with so little precision, that we read in his work, 
 that the year of the Aztecks finished at the 
 month of December, and began at the month 
 of February f. 
 
 Materials more instructive than the narratives 
 of the first Spanish historians, had long existed 
 at Mexico, in the convents and public libraries. 
 Some Indian authors, Christoval del Castillo, a 
 native of Tezcuco, who died in 1606, at the age 
 of eighty years, Fernando de Alvarado Tezozo- 
 moc, and Domingo Chimalpain, have left manu- 
 scripts composed in the Azteck language on the 
 
 * The year 1577. Torquemada, lib. viii, c. 2. (vol. 2, 
 p. 157.) 
 
 + Ibid. lib. 10, cap. 10, 33, 34, and 36. 
 
279 
 
 history and chronology of their ancestors. These 
 manuscripts, which contain a great number of 
 dates, reckoning at the same time according to 
 the Christian era, and according to the civil and 
 ritual calendar of the natives, have been studied 
 with advantage by the learned Carlos de Siguen- 
 za, professor of mathematics at the university 
 of Mexico ; by the Milanese traveller, Boturini 
 Benaducei ; by the Abbe Clavigero ; and latterly 
 by Mr. Gama, whose astronomical labours I 
 have had occasion to mention in another work*. 
 Finally, in 1790, a stone of enormous bulk, 
 covered with characters evidently relative to the 
 Mexican calendar, the religious festivals, and 
 the days in which the Sun passes the zenith of 
 the city of Mexico, was discovered in the founda- 
 tions of the ancient teocalli. This served at the 
 same time to clear up some doubtful points, and 
 call the attention of some enlightened natives to 
 the Mexican calendar. 
 
 I endeavoured, not only during my stay in 
 America, but after my return to Europe, to study 
 carefully every thing that has been published 
 on the division ef time, and the mode of inter- 
 calation among the Aztecks. I examined on 
 the spot the celebrated stone found in the Plaza 
 Mayor, and represented in the twenty-third 
 
 * Essai pollt, sur le IMexiquc, vol. 2, p. 24, dc ledition 
 in 8vo. 
 
2*0 
 
 plate : I have drawn some not uninteresting 
 notions from the hieroglyphic paintings pre- 
 served in the convent of San Felipe Neri at 
 Mexico : and I perused at Rome the manuscript 
 commentary, which P. Fabrega composed on 
 the Codex Mexicanus of Veletri : but I greatly 
 regret, that I am not sufficiently versed in the 
 Mexican language, to read the works written 
 by the natives in their own tongue, and in the 
 Roman alphabet, immediately after the taking 
 of Tenochtitlan. Consequently I have not been 
 able to verify the whole of the assertions of 
 Siguenza, Boturini, Clavigero, and Gama, on. 
 the Mexican intercalation, by comparing them 
 with the manuscripts of Chimalpain and of Tezo- 
 zomoc, whence those authors assure us they 
 derived the notions which they have published. 
 Whatever be the doubts which remain on several 
 points in the minds of the learned, habituated 
 to scrutinize every fact, and adopt only what is 
 rigorously proved, I am happy to have excited 
 attention to a curious monument of Mexican 
 sculpture, and to have given some new particu- 
 lars respecting a calendar, which neither Robert- 
 son nor the illustrious author of the History of 
 Astronomy appears to have treated with all the 
 consideration it deserves. This calendar will 
 be rendered still more interesting by the ideas 
 we shall furnish relative to the Mexican tradi- 
 tion of the four ages, or four Suns, which exhibit 
 
281 
 
 remarkable analogies with the yougs and the 
 calpas of the Hindoos: and on the ingenious me- 
 thod employed by the Mnysca Indians, a nation 
 of mountaineers of New Grenada, to correct 
 their lunar years by the intercalation of a thirty- 
 seventh moon, called deaf or cuhupqua. It is 
 by collecting and comparing the different sys- 
 tems of American chronology, that we can judge 
 of the communications, which appear to have 
 existed, in very remote times, between the na- 
 tions of India and Tartary, and those of the 
 New Continent. 
 
 The civil year of the Aztecks was a solar year 
 of three hundred and sixty-five days, and was 
 divided into eighteen months, each of twenty 
 days. After these eighteen months, or three 
 hundred and sixty days, five complementary 
 days were added, and the year began anew. 
 The names of Tonalpohualli or Cempohualilhuitl, 
 which distinguished this civil calendar from the 
 ritual calendar, sufficiently indicated its principal 
 characters. The first of these names signifies 
 reckoning of the Sun, in opposition to the ritual 
 calendar, called reckoning of the Moon, or Metz- 
 lapohualli : the second denomination is derived 
 from cempohualU, twenty, and ilhuitl, festival ; 
 and it alludes, either to the twenty days con- 
 tained in each month, or the twenty solemn fes- 
 tivals celebrated during the course of a civil 
 year, in the teocallis, or houses of the gods. 
 
2S2 
 
 The beginning of the civil day among the 
 Aztecks was reckoned like that of the Persians, 
 the Egyptians*, the Babylonians, and the 
 greater part of the nations of Asia, except the 
 Chinese, from sunrising. It was divided into 
 eight intervals, a division found among the 
 Hindoos f and the Romans ; four of which were 
 determined by the rising of the Sun, its setting, 
 and its two passages across the meridian. The 
 rising was called yquiza tonatiuh; noon, nepantla 
 tonatiuh; the setting, onaqui tonatiuh; and mid- 
 night, yohualnepantla. The hieroglyphic of the 
 day was a circle divided into four parts. Al- 
 though, under the parallel of the city of Mexico, 
 the length of the day does not vary more than 
 two hours twenty-one minutes, it is very certain, 
 that the Mexican hours were originally unequal, 
 like the planetary hours of the Jews, and all 
 those which the Greek astronomers* noted under 
 the name of nieupitxi in opposition to the lav^z^vxi 
 equinoxial hours. 
 
 The epochas of the day and the night which 
 correspond nearly to our hours 3, 9, 15, and 21, 
 astronomical time, had no particular names. 
 The Mexicans, to denote them, pointed, as our 
 labourers do, to the place of the sky where the 
 
 * Ideler, Hist. Unters.. ucber die astr. Bcob. der Alten, 
 p. 26. 
 
 t BaiJIy, Hist, l'Astr. anc. p. 29b'. 
 
283 
 
 Sun would be in following its course from east 
 to west ; this gesture was accompanied by these 
 remarkable words : iz Teotl, there God will be ; 
 an expression which recalls that happy period, 
 when the people emigrated from Aztlan knew 
 yet no other divinity than the Sun, and were ad- 
 dicted to no sanguinary rite *. 
 
 Each Mexican month of twenty days was 
 subdivided into four small periods of five days. 
 At the beginning of these periods every com- 
 mune kept its fair, tianguiztli. The Muyscas, 
 a nation of South America, had weeks of three 
 days. It appears, that no nation of the New 
 Continent was acquainted with the week, or 
 cycle of seven days, which we find among the 
 Hindoos, the Chinese, the Assyrians, and the 
 Egytians, and which, as Le Gentilf has very 
 justly observed, is followed by the greater part 
 of the nations of the Old World. 
 
 A passage in the history of the Incas by Gar- 
 cilasso, induced M. M. Bailly J and Lalande to 
 think, that the Peruvians reckoned by cycles 
 of seven days. " The Peruvians," says Gfarci- 
 lasso, " reckon the months by the Moon ; they 
 * J reckon the half months by the increas- 
 
 * See above, p. 216. 
 
 t Le Getitil, Hist, de l'Acad. 1772, Tom. ii, p. 207, 209. 
 La Place, Expos, du Systeme du Monde, p. 272. 
 
 X Baillv, Hist, de l'A*tKm. Liv. 5, § 17, p. 408. Lalande r 
 Astroih 5 1534. 
 
284 
 
 ing and waning of the Moon ; they reckon the 
 weeks by the quarters, without having particular 
 names for the days of the week." But Acosta, 
 better informed than Garcilasso ; and who, to- 
 ward the end of the sixteenth century, com- 
 posed at Peru the first books of his Physical Geo- 
 graphy of the New Continent; says clearly, that 
 neither the Mexicans, nor the Peruvians, were 
 acquainted with the small period of seven days ; 
 " for this period," adds he, " does not depend 
 more on the course of the Moon, than on that 
 of the Sun. It owes its origin to the number of 
 the planets*." 
 
 If we reflect an instant on the system of the 
 Peruvian calendar, we shall be aware, that, 
 though the phases of the Moon change nearly 
 every seven days, this cycle of seven days does 
 not correspond with any accuracy to the phases 
 of the Moon in several consecutive lunar months. 
 The Peruvians, according to Polo, and all the 
 writers of those times, had years (huata) of 365 
 days, regulated, as we shall see farther on, by 
 solar observations made month after month at 
 the city of Cuzco. The Peruvian year was divid- 
 ed, as were almost all the years of the nations of 
 Eastern Asia, into twelve Moons, qitilla, the syno- 
 dical revolutions of which finished in 354 days, 
 
 * Acosta, Hisloria natural y moral tie las Imlias. Lib. C, 
 C. 3, cd. of Barcelona, 1591, p. 260. 
 
285 
 
 eight hours, forty-eight minutes. To correct 
 the lunar year, and make it coincide with the 
 solar year, eleven days, according to ancient 
 custom, were added ; which, by the edict of the 
 Inca, were divided among the twelve moons. 
 According to this arrangement, it was scarcely 
 possible, that four equal periods, into which the 
 lunar months should be divided, could be seven 
 days each, and correspond to the phases of the 
 Moon. The same historian, whose testimony 
 is cited by M. Bailly in favor of the opinion, that 
 the week of the Hindoos was known to the Ame- 
 ricans, affirms, that, according to an ancient 
 law of the Inca Pachacutec, there ought to be in 
 each lunar month three days for festivals and for 
 markets (catu); and that the people were to 
 work, not seven, but eight consecutive days, and 
 rest the ninth *> This is undoubtedly a divi- 
 sion of a lunar month, or a sideral revolution 
 of the Moon, into three small periods of nine 
 days. 
 
 We shall observe, on this occasion, that the 
 Japanese -j~, a nation of the Tartar race, are 
 equally unacquainted with the small period of 
 seven days ; while it is in use among the Chinese, 
 who seem also aborigines of the elevated plain of 
 
 * Garcilasso, Lib. 6, C. 35, torn. 1, p. 210. 
 t Voyage de Thunberg au Japon, p. 317. 
 
286 
 
 Tartar^, but who have long had intimate com- 
 munications with Hindostan * and Thibet. 
 
 We have seen above, that the Mexican year 
 presented, like that of the Egyptians and the 
 new French calendar, the advantage of a division 
 into months of equal duration. The five com- 
 plementary days, the epagomenes ^wyofieveu 
 of the Egyptians, were denoted among the 
 Mexicans by the name of nemontemi or voids. 
 We shall see presently the origin of this denomi- 
 nation ; it is sufficient here to observe, that the 
 children born during the five complementary 
 days were regarded as unfortunate, and were 
 called nemoquichtli or nencihuatl, unhappy men 
 or women; in order that, as is stated by the 
 Mexican writers, these very names should call 
 to their remembrance, in every event of life, how 
 little they ought to trust to their stars. 
 
 Thirteen Mexican years formed a cycle, 
 called tlalpilli, analogous to the indiction of the 
 Romans. Four tlalpilli formed a period of 52 
 years, or xiuhmolpilli, ligature of the years; finally, 
 two of these periods of 5*2 years formed an old 
 age, cehuehuetiliztli. To express myself more 
 clearly, I shall call, with several Spanish writers, 
 the ligature half a century, and old age a century. 
 
 * Sir "William Jones, in the Asiatic Researches, vol, 1, 
 p. 420. 
 
287 
 
 The hieroglyphic of the half century is conform- 
 able to the figurative signification of the word ; 
 it is a bundle of reeds tied by a riband. A half 
 century (xiuhmolpilli) was considered by the 
 Mexicans as a great year ; and this denomination, 
 no doubt, induced Gomara *, to call the induc- 
 tions, or the four cycles of thirteen years, great 
 weeks, t las semanas del anno. 
 
 The idea of denoting a period by a word, 
 which calls to mind a bundle of years or Moons, 
 is found among the Peruvians. In the Qquichua 
 language, lingua del Inga, a year of 365 days is 
 called huata ; a word evidently derived from 
 huatani, to tie, or huatanan, a rope of rushee. 
 The Aztecks had no hieroglyphics for the old age, 
 or century of 104 years, the name of which in- 
 dicates, as we may say, the term of life of aged 
 persons. 
 
 In resuming what we have just stated on the 
 division of time, we find, that the Mexicans had 
 small periods of five days (half decads), months 
 of twenty days, civil years of 18 months, indio- 
 tions of 13 years, half centuries of 52 years, and 
 centuries, or old ages, of 104 years. 
 
 According to the curious researches of Mr. 
 Gama, it appears certain, that, at the close of a 
 cycle of 52 years, the civil year of the Toltecks 
 and the Aztecks, like that of the Chinese and the 
 
 * Gomara, Conquista de Mexico, 1553, fol. 118. 
 
288 
 
 Hindoos, finished at the winter soistice; " when/" 
 as the first missionary monks sent to Mexico 
 with simplicity say, " the Sun, in his annual 
 course, begins again his labours, quando desanda 
 lo a?idado." This same beginning of the year 
 is found among the Peruvians, whose calendar, 
 in other respects, sufficiently indicates, that they 
 are not descended from the Toltecks, as several 
 writers have gratuitously supposed *. The in- 
 habitants of Cuzco preserved a tradition f, ac- 
 cording to w T hich the first day of the year cor- 
 responded fonneriy to our first of January, till 
 the Inca Titu-Manco-Capac, who took the sur- 
 name of Pachacutec (reformer of time), ordered, 
 that, when the Sun trod back his steps, that 
 is at the winter solstice, the year should 
 begin. 
 
 A great confusion exists among the Spanish 
 writers on the denomination and the series of the 
 18 Mexican months. Several of these months 
 had three or four names ; and some authors, for- 
 getting that the Mexicans, when they had to re- 
 present a periodical series of signs, or hierogly- 
 phics, wrote from write to left, and began at the 
 bottom of the page, have taken the last month 
 
 * Sec page 173, and my Essay on the primitive Population 
 of America. Berlin. M on at sch rift, 1806. Mere. p. 177, 
 208. 
 
 f Acosta, p. 2C0, 
 
289 
 
 for the first, The Aztecks united in what they 
 called ivheels of the half century, xiuhmolpiHi, 
 the series of hieroglyphics, that denote the cycle 
 of 52 years. A serpent, with its tail in its 
 mouth, forming a circle, surrounds the wheel, 
 and denotes, by four knots, the four indictions, 
 or tlalpilU. This emblem reminds us of the 
 serpent or dragon, which, among the Egyp- 
 tians and the Persians *, represents the century, 
 a revolution, cevum. In this wheel of fifty-two 
 years, the head of the serpent denotes the be- 
 ginning of the cycle. It is not so with the 
 wheel of the year; the serpent there does 
 not encircle the 18 hieroglyphics of the months, 
 and nothing in it characterizes the first month of 
 the year. 
 
 The memoir which Mr. Gama published at 
 Mexico on the Azteck almanack being very 
 scarce in Europe, I shall insert here the series of 
 the months, according to the laborious investi- 
 gations of this distinguished writer. I shall add 
 the etymology of the denominations, all of which 
 relate to the festivals, public works, and the 
 climate of Mexico. We cannot doubt, but that 
 Tititl was the first month, the Indian Christoval 
 del Castillo expressly stating in his manuscript 
 history, that the nemontemi, or complementary 
 
 * Bailly, p. 515. 
 VOL. XIII. U 
 
290 
 
 days, were added at the end of the month Ate- 
 mo%tli. The following are the names of the 18 
 months. 
 
 1. Tit it I, perhaps from tititxia, to glean after 
 the harvest ; Itzcalli, month destined to renew 
 and whiten the insides of houses and temples. 
 From the 9th to the 28th of January, in the 
 first year of the first indiction of the cycle 
 Xiuhmolpilli. 
 
 2. Xochilhuitl, from the 29th of January, to 
 the 17th of February. 
 
 3. Xilomanaliztli ; Atlcahualco, which wants 
 water or rain ; Quahuitlehua, month in which 
 the trees begin to bud ; Cihuailhuitl, women's 
 festival. From the 18th of February to the 9th 
 of March. 
 
 4. Tlacaxipehuatiztli ; the name of this 
 month calls to mind the horrible ceremony, in 
 which human victims were flayed for their skins ; 
 which, when tanned, formed the priests gar- 
 ments, as we see in the hieroglyphic painting 
 represented in plate 27 ; Cohuailhuitl, festival 
 of the snake. From the 9th to the 29th of 
 March. 
 
 5. Tozoztontli, month of vigils, because the 
 ministers of the temple were obliged to watch 
 during the great festivals celebrated in this 
 month. From the SOtli of March to the 18th of 
 April. 
 
 6. Huey Tozoztli, the grand vigil, the grand 
 
291 
 
 penitence. From the 19th of April to the 8th of 
 May. 
 
 7. Toxcatl, month in which cords and garlands 
 of maize were tied around the necks of the idols ; 
 Tepopoc/wiliztli, a censer, from the 9th to the 
 28th of May. It was in this month, Toxcatt, 
 that the fellow soldier of Cortez, Pedro de Alva- 
 rado, that ferocious warrior whom the Mexicans 
 called the Sun, Tonatuih, on account of his 
 flaxen hair, made a horrible slaughter of the 
 Mexican nobility assembled within the enclosure 
 of the teocalli. This attack was the signal of the 
 civil dissensions, that caused the death of the 
 unfortunate Montezuma. 
 
 8. Etzalqualiztli, a name which appears to be 
 derived from etzalli, a particular kind of food 
 prepared with the flour of maize. From the 
 29th of May to the 17th of June. 
 
 9. TecuiUiuitzintU, mouth or festival of the 
 young warriors. From the 18th of June to the 
 7th of July. 
 
 10. Hueytecuilhuitl, festival of the nobility 
 and warriors advanced in years. From the 8th 
 to the 27th of July. 
 
 11. MiccaillilulzintU, the little festival of the 
 dead ; Tlaxocliimaco, distribution of flowers. 
 From the 28th of July to the 16th of August. 
 
 12. HueymiccaWiuitl, the grand festival cele- 
 brated in remembrance of the dead ; Xocotlhuetzi, 
 fall of fruit, month in which fruit ripens, cones- 
 
 u 2 
 
992 
 
 ponding to theend of summer. From the 1 7th 
 of August to the 5th of September. 
 
 13. Ochpaniztli, a besom, the month appoint- 
 ed for cleaning the canals, and repairing the 
 dykes and roads ; Tenahuitiliztli. From the 6th 
 to the 25th of September. 
 
 14. Pachtli, name of a parasite plant, which 
 begins to bud at this period on the trunks of old 
 oaks ; Ezoztli ; Teotleco ; come from the gods. 
 From the 26th of September to the 15th of 
 October. 
 
 15. Hueypachtli, month in which the plant 
 pachtli has arrived at a certain size ; Tepeil- 
 huitl, festival of the mountains, or rather of the 
 rural divinities who preside over the moun- 
 tains. From the 16th of October to the 4th of 
 November. 
 
 16. Quecholliy month in which the flamingo 
 (phoenicopterus) a bird called by the Mexicans, 
 on account of the beautiful colour of its plumage, 
 ieoquechol, the divine heron, arrives on the bor- 
 ders of the lake. From the 5th to the 24th of 
 November. 
 
 17. Panquetzaliztli, from the name of the 
 standard of the god Huitzilopochtli, carried in 
 the processions, during the celebrated festival of 
 Teocualo, or of the god eaten by the faithful, 
 under the form of flour of maize kneaded with 
 blood. From the 25th of November to the 14th 
 of December. 
 
293 
 
 18. Atemoztli, the descent of water and of 
 snow; snow begins towards the end of Decem- 
 ber to cover the mountains, which surround the 
 valley of Mexico. From the 15th of December 
 to the 3d of January. 
 
 In the first year of the cycle, the five comple- 
 mentary days correspond to the 4th, 5th, 6th, 
 7th, and 8th of January. A nation, which 
 makes no intercalation but every 52 years, finds 
 the commencement of its year retrograde nearly 
 a day every four years, and consequently, twelve 
 or thirteen days at the end of the cycle, xluJi- 
 molpilli. Hence it results, as we shall see far- 
 ther on, that the last complementary day, or 
 nemontemi, of the last year of the Mexican cycle, 
 corresponds to the 26th of December. Now the 
 five nemontemi being reckoned vague and unlucky 
 days, the day of the winter solstice, or the 21st 
 of December, was considered as the end of the 
 Xhihmolpilli. The nemontemi, or epagomenes, 
 as well as the twelve or thirteen intercalary days, 
 belong to neither of the two years between 
 which they fall ; and it is for this reason, that we 
 have named the winter solstice the end, not the 
 beginning, of a cycle of 52 years. 
 
 In the 3d, 4th and 5th months, which answer 
 to our months of February, March, and April, 
 solemn festivals were instituted in honor of 77a- 
 locteutli, the god of water ; this period being the 
 time of the great droughts, which last in the 
 
294 
 
 mountainous country till the month of June and 
 July. If the priests had neglected the interca- 
 lation, the festivals in which the gods were in- 
 voked to grant a year abundant in rains would 
 have gradually approached the time of the har- 
 vest : the people would have perceived, that the 
 order of the sacrifices was inverted ; and not 
 having lunar months, they could not even, like 
 the gods of Aristophanes *, accuse the Moon of 
 throwing their calendar and religious worship 
 into confusion. As to the denominations and 
 hieroglyphics of the Mexican months, nothing 
 indicates, that they have taken birth in a more 
 northerly climate. The word quahuitlehua, it is 
 true, calls to mind, that the trees are clothed 
 with young leaves toward the end of February ; 
 but this phenomenon, which is not observed in 
 the low regions of the torrid zone, is suitable to 
 the mountainous region, situate between the 19th 
 and 24th degrees of latitude, where the oaks, 
 without shedding entirely their old leaves, begin 
 to bud forth anew. 
 
 We have hitherto spoken of the civil calendar 
 called the Suns reckoning, Tonalpohnalli ; we 
 shall now examine the ritual calendar, denoted 
 by the names of the reckoning of the Moon, 
 3fctzlopohuaUi, and the reckoning of the festivals, 
 Cemilhuitlapohualiztli, from tlapohualiztli, reck- 
 
 • Aristopb. Nubcs, v. Gl-3. 
 
2i)5 
 
 oning, and ilhuitl, festival. This last calendar, 
 the only one employed by the priests, and of 
 which we find traces in almost all the hierogly- 
 phical paintings preserved to our own times, pre- 
 sents a uniform series of small periods of 23 days. 
 These small periods may be considered as half' 
 lunations ; they probably took their origin from 
 the two states of watching, ixtozoliztli, and 
 sleep, cochiliztli, which the Mexicans attributed 
 to the Moon ; according as this luminary lights 
 the greater part of the night, or, appearing only 
 by day on the horizon, seems, according to the 
 popular opinion, to repose in the night. This 
 relation, observed between the periods of thir- 
 teen days, and the half of the time that the 
 Moon is visible, before and after her opposition, 
 has undoubtedly given to the ritual calendar the 
 name of the reckoning of the Moon ; but this de- 
 nomination ought not to induce us to look for a 
 lunar year in the series of the small cycles, which 
 follow uniformly, and which have nothing com- 
 mon either with the phases or the revolutions of 
 the Moon. 
 
 The number 13 by its multiples affords pro- 
 portions, which the Mexicans made use of to 
 preserve an agreement between the ritual and 
 civil almanacks. A civil year of 365 days 
 contains a day more than twenty-eight small 
 periods of 13 days ; now the cycle of 62 years 
 being divided into four tlalpUli of 13 years, this 
 
296 
 
 supernumerary day forms at the end of each indica- 
 tion a small entire period, and a tlalpilli contains 
 three hundred and sixty-five of these periods : 
 that is, as many weeks of thirteen days, as the 
 year has civil days. A year of the ritual alma- 
 nack has twenty half lunations, or two hundred 
 and sixty days, and this same number of days 
 contains fifty-two half decades, or small periods 
 of five days ; the Mexicans then found, in the 
 concordance of these two reckonings of the 
 Moon and the Sun, their favourite numbers of 
 five, thirteen, twenty, and fifty-two. A cycle of 
 fifty-two years contained one thousand four hun- 
 dred and sixty small periods of thirteen days ; 
 and, if to these we add thirteen intercalary days, 
 we shall have one thousand four hundred and 
 sixty- one small periods; a number which acci- 
 dentally coincides with that of the years consti- 
 tuting the Sothiac period. 
 
 The cycle of nineteen solar years, which cor- 
 responds to two hundred and thirty-five luna- 
 tions, and which the Chinese knew more than 
 sixteen centuries before Meton *, finds its multi- 
 ple neither in the cycle of sixty years, which is 
 in use among the greater part of the nations of 
 eastern Asia, and among the Muyscas of the 
 elevated plain of Bogota ; nor in the cycle of 
 fifty-two years, adopted by all the nations of the 
 
 * La Place, Expos, torn. 2, p. 2(37. 
 
297 
 
 Tolleck, Acolhuan, Azteck, and Tlascalteck 
 race. It is true, that five old ages of one hun- 
 dred and four years each, form, within a year 
 nearly, the Julian period ; and that the double 
 of the period of Meton is almost equal to three 
 indictions (tlalpilli) of the Mexican year; but 
 no multiple of thirteen is exactly equal to the 
 number of days contained in a period of two 
 hundred and thirty-five lunations. The period 
 of Meton contains five hundred and thirty-three 
 small cycles and a half of thirteen days, while 
 that of Calippus contains two thousand one hun- 
 dred and thirty-four and one thirteenth. The 
 knowledge of these periods was useful to the 
 nations of Asia, who, as well as the Peruvians, 
 the Muyscas, and the other tribes of South Ame- 
 rica, had lunar years: but it must have been ab- 
 solutely indifferent to the Mexicans, the pretended 
 reckoning of the Moon (metzlapohualli) being 
 only an arbitrary division of a great period of 
 thirteen astronomical years into three hundred 
 and sixty-five small periods of thirteen days, each 
 of which has perceptibly the same duration as 
 the sleep or vigil of the Moon. 
 
 The Mexicans were in possession of annals, 
 that went back to eight centuries and a half be- 
 yond the epocha of the arrival of Cortez in the 
 country of Anahuac. We have already explain- 
 ed how these annals presented, in their sub- 
 
298 
 
 divisions, sometimes a cycle of fifty-two years, at 
 others a tlalpilli of thirteen years, and at others a 
 single year of two hundred and sixty days, con- 
 tained in twenty small periods of thirteen days, 
 according as the history was more or less mi- 
 nute. Along with the periodical series of the 
 hieroglyphics of the years and the days, the 
 migrations of the nations, their battles, and the 
 events which had rendered the reign of each 
 king illustrious, were represented in paintings 
 brilliant in colouring, hideous from the form and 
 the extreme imperfection of the drawing, but 
 often natural in the composition. It could not 
 be denied, but that Valades, Acosta, Torquema- 
 da, and in these latter times Siguenza, Boturini, 
 and Gama, have gained information from paint- 
 ings which went back as far as the seventh cen- 
 tury. I have had in my own hands paintings, in 
 which the migrations of the Toltecks were re- 
 cognised ; but I doubt whether the first Spanish 
 conquerors found, as Gomara asserts, annals 
 that traced events, year by year, through eight 
 centuries. The Toltecks had disappeared four 
 hundred and sixty-five years before the arrival of 
 Cortez ; the nation which the Spaniards found 
 settled in the valley of Mexico was of the Az- 
 teck race : what he knew of the Toltecks he 
 could have learnt only from paintings, which 
 they had left in the country of Anahuac ; or from 
 
299 
 
 some dispersed families, who, restrained by the 
 love of their native soil, had not thought proper 
 to share the chances of the emigration. 
 
 The annals of the Aztecks begin, according to 
 Gama, at an epocha corresponding to the year 
 1091 of our era; a period at which, by order of 
 their chief Chalchiuhtlatonac, they celebrated the 
 festival of the renewal of the fire at Tlalixco, 
 called also Acahualtzinco, situate probably under 
 the parallel of thirty-three or thirty-five north 
 latitude. It is only since the year 1091, in 
 which as the Indian historian Chimalpain ex- 
 pressly says, they tied for the first time the years 
 after their going forth from Aztlan, that Mexican 
 history presents the greatest order, and an asto - 
 nishing minuteness in the recital of events. 
 
 Conformably to what we have hitherto stated 
 of the reckoning of the Sun, and the uniform di- 
 vision of the year into eighteen months of equal 
 duration, it would have been easy for the Mexi- 
 cans, to denote the periods of historical events 
 by recording the day of the month, and reckon- 
 ing the number of years which had passed since 
 the famous sacrifice of Tlalixco. This simple 
 and natural method would without doubt have 
 been followed, if the annals of the empire had 
 not been kept by the priests, teopixqui. We 
 sometimes find, it is true, the hieroglyphic of a 
 month, to which are added round points, placed 
 in two unequal rows, proving by their disposi- 
 
300 
 
 tion, that the Azteck priests, as we have already 
 observed, followed the different terms of a series 
 from right to left, and not from left to right, as 
 the Hindoos, and almost all the nations that now 
 inhabit Europe. We still see at Mexico the 
 copy of a painting, formerly in the museum of 
 the Chevalier Boturini, in which the sign of the 
 month quecholli, followed by thirteen points, is 
 placed near a Spanish spearman, whose horse 
 has under his feet the hieroglyphic of the city 
 of Tenochtitlan. This painting no doubt repre- 
 sents the first entry of the Spaniards into Mex- 
 ico, on the thirteenth of the month quecholli, 
 which, according to Gama, corresponds to the 
 17th of November, 1519 ; but we must confess, 
 that simple dates, expressed by the month and 
 the number of the days passed, was very rarely 
 found in the Mexican annals. 
 
 With respect to the years, those of the same 
 cycle of fifty-two years were never distinguished 
 by numbers. In order not to confound them, 
 however, they made use of a particular contriv- 
 ance, which we shall describe farther on ; and 
 which is so much the more curious, as it offers 
 points of resemblance between the chronological 
 system of the Mexicans, and that of the people of 
 Asia. The rounds or signs of numbers are found 
 added only to the ligatures, which indicate cycles 
 of fifty-two years. Thus the hieroglyphic of the 
 Xiuhmolpilli, followed by four rounds, placed 
 
301 
 
 near islets, on which the temple of Mexitli was 
 built, reminded the Mexicans, that his ancestors 
 had tied the years four times ; or that, since the 
 sacrifice of Tlalixoo, four times fifty-two years 
 had passed away, when the city of Tenochtitlan 
 was founded on the lake of Tezcuco. These 
 rounds consequently indicated, that this remark- 
 able event had taken place after the year 1299, 
 and before the year 1351. Let us now examine 
 the ingenious but very complicated methods, of 
 which these people made use to denote the year 
 and the day of a cycle of fifty-two years. 
 
 This method, as we shall presently explain, is 
 identic with that made use of by the Hindoos, 
 the Thibetans, the Chinese, the Japanese, and 
 the Asiatic people of the Tartar race ; who also 
 distinguished the months and the years by the 
 correspondence of several periodical series *, the 
 number of the terms of which is not the same. 
 The Mexicans employ, for the cycle of years^ 
 the four following signs, which have the 
 names of 
 
 Tocktll - - a rabbit or hare, 
 
 Acatl - - - a cane, 
 
 Tecpatl - - a flint, or silex,' 
 
 Calli - - - a house. 
 
 We find these four hieroglyphics in several of 
 the preceding plates. For the figure of the rab- 
 
 * Series Periodiques. 
 
302 
 
 bit (tochtli) see, in plate 13, the animal with 
 large ears figured in the eighth compartment, 
 reckoning from the bottom on the right ; plate 
 23, the third compartment at the bottom on the 
 left ; and more especially plate 27, No. 1, the 
 eighth compartment. For cane (acatlj, flint 
 (tecpatl), and house (calli), see, on the circular 
 stone represented plate 23, the fifth, tenth, and 
 fifteenth compartments, which follow that of the 
 rabbit, from left to right. We shall easily re- 
 cognise the same forms in plate 27, No. 1, in 
 the compartments thirteen, eighteen, and three, 
 reckoning in the same row from right to left, 
 and beginning with the lower row. The sign of 
 flint is also seen in plate 13, behind the figure in 
 the attitude of adoration. On this same plate 
 the calli is represented by the entire figure of a 
 house, in which are seen the door, and a very 
 elevated roof. 
 
 Let us at present imagine the cycle, or the 
 half old age, divided into four tlalpilli, each of 
 thirteen years ; and the four signs rabbit, cane, 
 flint, and house, added in a periodical series to 
 the fifty-two years contained in a cycle, we shall 
 find, that two Mictions cannot begin by the 
 same sign ; that the sign placed at the head of 
 an indiction must necessarily terminate it, and 
 that the same sign cannot belong to the same 
 number. The following is the table of the 
 Mexican cycle, called ligature or xiuhmolpilli. 
 
303 
 
 
 «3 
 
 <j 
 
 
 
 «j 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 IV 
 
 j 
 
 
 
 tu 
 
 13 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 S3 
 
 1 
 
 PS 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 u 
 
 .2 
 
 E 
 
 i 
 
 o 
 
 33 
 
 XI 
 
 ■§ 
 
 PS 
 
 o 
 3 
 
 CS 
 
 i 
 
 3 
 O 
 
 33 
 
 X 
 X 
 CS 
 
 OS 
 
 3 
 cS 
 
 .2 
 E 
 
 3 
 O 
 
 3! 
 
 j 
 
 ,4 
 
 « 
 
 CO 
 
 ■^ 
 
 in 
 
 W 
 
 t* 
 
 00 
 
 en 
 
 o 
 
 pj 
 
 n 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 r-t 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ts 
 u 
 
 3 
 
 3. 
 
 •x 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 P-4 
 
 "3 
 
 5 
 u 
 
 & 
 
 ■3 
 
 c3 
 
 cj 
 
 < 
 
 3 
 
 U 
 CJ 
 
 H 
 
 '3 
 
 3 
 
 a 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 o 
 
 OS 
 
 3 
 o 
 
 cS 
 
 u 
 
 < 
 s 
 
 o 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 w 
 
 "S 
 
 3 
 u 
 
 CS 
 
 U 
 
 "3 
 
 X 
 
 CS 
 
 3 
 X 
 3 
 u 
 
 X 
 u 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 S 
 
 S 
 
 xl 
 
 < 
 
 u 
 N 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 xi 
 
 E^ 
 a 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 S 
 o 
 
 ej 
 2 
 o 
 
 u 
 
 xi 
 
 
 V 
 
 a 
 O 
 
 >-5 
 
 "5 
 
 OS 
 
 s 
 
 XI 
 
 X 
 O 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 cS 
 
 CS 
 
 1 
 
 cS 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 c 
 
 +1 
 
 
 
 «J 
 
 *j 
 
 
 
 
 ii 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 04 
 
 .9 
 
 E 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 33 
 
 X 
 CS 
 Pi 
 
 u 
 
 3 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 .2 
 
 E 
 
 3 
 O 
 
 33 
 
 X 
 X 
 CS 
 
 PS 
 
 1) 
 3 
 cS 
 
 U 
 
 .2 
 E 
 
 V3 
 
 3 
 O 
 
 33 
 
 XI 
 X 
 CS 
 
 PS 
 
 B 
 cS 
 
 3 
 
 E 
 
 
 <M 
 
 CO 
 
 «*> 
 
 o 
 
 «o 
 
 t^ 
 
 oo 
 
 C4 
 
 o 
 
 
 <N 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CS 
 
 3< 
 
 
 ..X 
 
 3 
 
 u 
 
 < 
 
 2 
 o 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 Q 
 PS 
 
 3 
 
 es 
 Pi 
 
 "3 
 
 X 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 < 
 
 3 
 8< 
 u 
 u 
 Eh 
 
 "3 
 
 Xj 
 
 X) 
 u 
 
 O 
 «h 
 o 
 
 s 
 
 3 
 
 u 
 
 < 
 
 U 
 
 o 
 Eh 
 
 '3 
 
 •s 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 X 
 u 
 o 
 
 H 
 « 
 s 
 
 o 
 Eh 
 
 g 
 
 h 
 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 
 CS 
 
 s 
 
 X 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 
 Eh 
 
 V 
 
 3 
 O 
 
 
 3 
 
 -a 
 
 3 
 
 u 
 
 cS 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 X 
 
 3 
 u 
 
 X 
 
 3 
 u 
 
 X 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 cS 
 
 
 
 
 oi 
 
 « 
 
 
 
 cj 
 
 *i 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 *j 
 
 
 3 
 
 a 
 
 .s 
 
 E 
 
 3 
 O 
 
 33 
 
 xi 
 1 
 PS 
 
 3 
 cS 
 
 .2 
 
 E 
 
 3 
 O 
 
 33 
 
 X 
 X 
 cS 
 PS 
 
 o 
 3 
 
 CS 
 
 O 
 
 .2 
 E 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 33 
 
 X 
 
 •8 
 
 PS 
 
 3 
 
 CS 
 
 j 
 
 
 <N 
 
 CO 
 
 -s> 
 
 m 
 
 <o 
 
 r» 
 
 00 
 
 CJ» 
 
 o 
 
 
 n 
 
 CO 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 u 
 
 w 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 *-^ 
 
 •-^ 
 
 
 
 Is 
 
 3 
 cj 
 
 Eh 
 
 o 
 
 "3 
 
 x 
 
 u 
 
 o 
 
 "3 
 
 3 
 
 w 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 &. 
 
 u 
 
 <u 
 Eh 
 
 a> 
 u 
 cS 
 3 
 u 
 
 "3 
 o 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 o 
 
 X 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 u 
 
 3 
 
 u 
 
 "3 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 U 
 
 3 
 
 s, 
 a 
 
 r 
 
 u 
 
 xi 
 
 "3 
 
 u 
 u 
 
 © 
 
 u 
 
 o 
 H 
 o 
 
 2 
 o 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 t> 
 <3 
 >» 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 u 
 
 
 v 
 O 
 
 bj 
 
 O 
 
 •-9 
 
 2 
 
 cS 
 
 s 
 
 X! 
 
 x! 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 cS 
 
 CS 
 
 CS 
 
 CS 
 
 
 *s 
 
 
 
 <u 
 
 ■g 
 
 
 
 ei 
 
 ■w 
 
 
 
 
 « 
 
 
 .a 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 a 
 
 3 
 
 X> 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 
 X 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 
 ,_; 
 
 CS 
 PS 
 
 
 
 E 
 
 33 
 
 cS 
 
 PS 
 
 «S 
 
 E 
 
 33 
 
 cS 
 
 PS 
 
 cS 
 
 £ 
 
 O 
 
 33 
 
 Is 
 PS 
 
 E 
 
 -4 
 
 n 
 
 CO 
 
 "<* 
 
 m 
 
 «o 
 
 »-» 
 
 00 
 
 c> 
 
 o 
 
 ,_; 
 
 "M 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ,J 
 
 # j 
 
 
 3 
 
 B 
 
 H 
 
 PS 
 fa 
 
 x 
 
 u 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 3. 
 o 
 
 "3 
 
 X 
 u 
 
 o 
 H 
 
 3 
 
 u 
 
 < 
 
 a 
 
 CJ 
 01 
 
 3 
 
 3. 
 o 
 1) 
 H 
 
 V 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 *3 
 O 
 
 "S 
 
 X 
 u 
 
 o 
 H 
 
 *3 
 
 "3 
 
 3 
 X 
 
 3 
 
 u 
 
 <J 
 
 3J 
 u 
 
 CS 
 
 &, 
 u 
 
 Eh 
 V 
 u 
 
 N 
 O 
 
 U 
 
 "3 
 
 2 
 o 
 
 2 
 o 
 
 u 
 
 1 
 o 
 
 1) 
 
 2 
 o 
 
 
 H 
 
 a 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 3 
 X 
 
 3 
 u 
 
 o 
 5 
 
 3 
 u 
 
 3 
 o 
 
 
 CS 
 
 ^ 
 
 »t3 
 
 
 
 •-5 
 
 OS 
 
 2 
 
 'A 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 u 
 
 U 
 
 es 
 
 cS 
 
 cS 
 
 CS 
 
,304 
 
 The words ce, one, jei, placed before the 
 names of the four hieroglyphics of the years, 
 indicate the numbers, the series of which does 
 not pass thirteen, and which are consequently 
 repeated four times in a ligature. The follow- 
 ing table exhibits the numbers from one to thir- 
 teen, in the Mexican or Azteck, Nootka, Muysca 
 or Mosca, Peruvian or Qquichua, Mantchou, 
 Oigour, and Mongul languages. 
 
305 
 
 CO 
 
 W 
 O 
 
 <« 
 
 U> 
 
 a 
 55 
 
 <; 
 >— i 
 
 < 
 
 PS 
 < 
 
 as C 
 
 o I 
 
 2 5 
 
 a £ 
 o I 
 
 O 1 
 H g 
 
 3 O 
 
 o h 
 
 -F .-: 
 
 ■s -a 
 
 cS O 
 
 s 2 ** 
 
 PC * a Q H Q Q £ 
 
 H n -H 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 c 
 
 
 o 
 
 c 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 
 3 
 
 a 
 
 03 
 
 -s 
 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 C-H 
 
 o 
 
 >» ,3 .S .3 
 u u u 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 c 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 >S 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CS 
 
 
 CS 
 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 O 
 O 
 
 
 o 
 
 CS 
 
 _cs 
 
 cS 
 
 "5 
 
 
 CS 
 
 g. 
 
 .§• 
 
 y 
 
 o 
 
 CS 
 
 .3 
 
 CS 
 N 
 
 p 
 
 CS 
 
 O 
 
 _£S 
 CS 
 
 p 
 
 .J 
 p 
 
 CO 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 CO 
 
 <! 
 
 o 
 
 "A 
 
 co 
 
 ,2 
 
 < 
 
 5j 
 
 H 
 
 <l 
 
 < 
 
 < 
 
 < 
 
 •< 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CS 
 
 CS 
 
 5 
 
 >< 
 
 
 
 
 
 CS 
 CJ 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 OS 
 
 
 CS 
 
 % 
 
 O 
 
 a 
 
 < 
 
 o 
 
 
 S 
 
 fe; 
 
 CS 
 
 ri 
 O 
 
 OS 
 
 u 
 
 s 
 
 >-> 
 
 u 
 
 VI 
 
 X 
 
 CS 
 
 CJ 
 
 3 
 ,3 
 
 co 
 
 CS 
 
 u 
 
 << 
 
 p 
 
 tj 
 
 a 
 
 '3 
 
 Cc 
 
 '3 
 
 55 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 .j 
 
 <J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 < 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 '«5 
 
 
 cS 
 
 55 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 p 
 
 cS* 
 
 a 
 
 < 
 
 u 
 
 ; 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 D 
 
 Q^_ 
 
 u 
 
 ffi 
 
 cc! 
 u 
 
 cs 
 N 
 
 9 
 
 a 
 
 9 
 
 CS 
 
 ce 
 o 
 
 © 
 N 
 
 93 
 
 q 
 
 cS 
 CJ 
 
 u 
 
 CS 
 
 o 
 
 cj 
 
 C 
 3 
 
 u 
 CJ 
 
 CJ 
 
 ca 
 
 a 
 
 CJ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 <u 
 
 O 
 
 u 
 
 
 * 
 
 -s 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 "3 
 
 
 M 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 CJ 
 
 B 
 
 
 
 
 
 ._; 
 
 V 
 
 i 
 
 . 
 
 3 
 
 s 
 
 ^ 
 
 V2 
 
 •j 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 « 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 < 
 
 * 
 
 CJ 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 IS 
 
 J 
 
 3 
 
 u 
 
 ts 
 
 s 
 
 
 OS 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 ~ 
 
 CT 
 
 M 
 
 rr 
 
 •a 
 
 •o 
 
 i^ 
 
 oc 
 
 c^ 
 
 © 
 
 *"^ 
 
 CX 
 
 2 
 
 VOL. XIII. 
 
306 
 
 We may be struck with the extreme differ- 
 ence in the seven languages, in which we have 
 just given the cardinal numbers. The American 
 languages are as distinct from each other, as 
 they are from the Tartar tongues. This want of 
 analogy ought not, however, to be alleged as a 
 proof against the opinion, that the American 
 nations have had ancient communications with 
 eastern Asia. The different groups of Tarta- 
 rian nations vary as much in this respect. The 
 Oigours, who, two ages before our era, emi- 
 grated from the banks of the Selinga toward 
 the elevated plain of Turfan, in the latitude of 
 43° 30', speak a language differing more from 
 that of the Mantchous, than the German from 
 the Latin. When tribes of the same origin are 
 separated during a long series of ages, by seas 
 and vast deserts, their idioms preserve but a 
 very small number of roots and forms, that are 
 common to each other. 
 
 In the same manner as the Mexicans, speak- 
 ing of the year of a cycle, placed the cardinal 
 numbers ce, o?ne, jei, before the names of the 
 four hieroglyphics rabbit, cane, flint, and house? 
 they joined in their paintings the signs of these 
 numbers to the signs of the years. The mode 
 was the same as that employed to distinguish 
 the cycles or ligatures. As the periodical series 
 of the numbers had only thirteen terms, it was 
 
307 
 
 sufficient to add to the hieroglyphic the rounds 
 denoting the units. 
 
 The symbolical writing of the Mexican na- 
 tions exhibited simple signs equally for twenty, 
 and for the second and third powers of the same 
 number, which recalls to mind that of the lingers 
 and toes of the hands and the feet. A small 
 standard, or flag, represented twenty units ; the 
 square of twenty, or four hundred, was figured 
 by a feather t because grains of gold, enclosed in 
 a quill, were used in some places as money, or 
 a sign for the purposes of exchange. The figure 
 of a sack indicated the cube of twenty, or eight 
 thousand, and bore the name of xiquipilli, given 
 also to a kind of purse that contained eight, 
 thousand grains of cacao. A standard divided 
 by two cross lines, and half coloured, indicated 
 half twenty, or ten. If the standard was three 
 quarters coloured, it denoted fifteen units or 
 three fourths of twenty. In reckoning, the 
 Mexican did not name the multiples of ten, 
 which the Arabians called knots, but the multi- 
 ples of twenty. He said one twenty, cem-pohuaW, 
 two twenties, om-pohuaUi, three twenties, yei- 
 pokualli, and four twenties, naliai-pohuaUi. The 
 last expression is the same with that employed 
 in French *. It is almost superfluous to ob- 
 serve, that the Mexicans were unacquainted 
 
 * Quatre-ringt. 
 x2 
 
308 
 
 with the method of giving- to the signs of the 
 numbers the values of position * ; that admirable 
 method invented either by the Hindoos, or by 
 the Thibetans f> but unknown alike to the 
 Greeks J, the Romans, and the civilized nations 
 of Western Asia. The Mexicans joined their 
 hieroglyphics of the numbers nearly in the same 
 manner as the Romans repeated the letters of 
 their alphabet, which served them as ciphers. 
 We should not be surprised to see, that the 
 Mexican arithmetic does not present a simple 
 hieroglyphic for hundreds above four hundred, 
 when we recollect ||, that the Arabians, till the 
 fifth age of the hegira, knew as little of signs for 
 the enumeration of the hundreds above four 
 hundred ; and that, to write nine hundred, this 
 people, justly celebrated in the annals of the 
 sciences, were obliged to place twice the sign of 
 four hundred by the side of the sign of one 
 hundred. 
 
 From what we have observed respecting the 
 manner of distinguishing the ligatures from each 
 other, and the years contained in a ligature, it 
 follows, that a period was determined, by nam- 
 ing at once the number of the ligatures, or cycles, 
 
 * La Place, Expos., torn. 2, p. 276. 
 f Georgii Alpli. Tibet., c. 23, p. 637. 
 I Delambrc, sur les ionds et les analogues des Grecs. 
 (Oeuvrcs d'Arcbimfede, par Peyrsucd, p. 575.) 
 || Sylvestrc de Sacy, Gratnm. And)., 1810, P. 1, p. 74, 
 
309 
 
 and two corresponding terms in the two perio- 
 dical series of thirteen numbers and four signs. 
 The following- table presents several remarkable 
 epochas of the Mexican history, indicated ac- 
 cording- to the era of the Aztecks. We should 
 recollect, that these nations reckoned the num- 
 ber of their cycles, or jcuihmolpiUis, only from 
 the year 1091 ; because, in their annals, they 
 had established a new chronological order after 
 their departure from Aztlan, or from the begin- 
 ning of their migrations towards the south. 
 
310 
 
 n 
 
 <: 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 . <y 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 ,i; 
 
 "3 
 
 Q 
 
 
 ,jS 
 
 
 
 
 
 ►5 
 
 03 
 
 
 •H 
 
 
 
 -z 
 
 <*< 
 
 CJ 
 
 _2 
 
 
 | 
 
 
 1 
 
 X. 
 
 a 
 
 s 
 
 o 
 c 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 
 
 'n 
 
 *o 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 3 
 o 
 
 c 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 
 .s 
 
 03 
 | 
 
 a 
 
 .2 
 
 
 be 
 
 %M 
 
 o 
 
 ■g. 
 
 M 
 
 CJ 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 03 
 
 s 
 
 t- 
 
 CJ 
 
 c 
 
 
 O 
 
 © 
 
 3 
 
 "o 
 
 g 
 
 O 
 
 O 
 
 "3 
 
 o 
 
 8 
 
 
 .2 
 
 c 
 
 3 
 
 U« 
 
 o 
 
 >«5 
 
 a 
 
 03 
 
 S 
 
 03 
 
 
 3 
 
 .2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 ■M 
 
 03 
 
 1) 
 
 o 
 
 03 
 
 1 CJ 
 
 cj 
 
 OS 
 
 Si 
 
 <-4- 
 
 o 
 
 "3 
 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 h 
 
 t- 
 
 a 
 
 V 
 
 
 K 
 
 •3 
 
 O 
 
 "5 
 
 W 
 
 Q 
 
 
 CI 
 
 
 
 
 c> 
 
 % 
 
 O' 
 
 
 CO 
 
 co 
 
 rh 
 
 -* 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / ^ s 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 J2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 .£3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 03 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 <w 
 
 tf 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 co 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 tf 
 
 
 
 5J 
 
 
 
 
 
 CJ 
 
 
 5" 
 
 
 .5 
 
 CJ 
 
 
 !3 
 
 
 
 j= 
 
 CJ 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 X . 
 
 e 
 
 6' 
 
 f-^ 
 
 C 
 03 
 CJ 
 
 oj" 
 
 o 
 
 
 <M 
 
 r— I 
 
 j= 
 
 ■^ 
 
 ,— i 
 
 CJ 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 cT 
 
 <c 
 
 c 
 
 <u 
 
 O 
 
 ^ej 
 
 
 6" 
 
 5 
 
 oj 
 
 o 
 
 co 
 
 "3 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 H 
 s 
 
 s 
 
 o 
 
 oo 
 
 ea 
 
 
 
 ■5 
 
 CS 
 
 1 
 
 02 
 
 03 
 
 cj 
 
 "3 
 
 
 09 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 Is 
 
 g 
 
 u 
 
 CJ 
 
 3 
 o 
 
 "S3 
 
 
 o 
 
 •a 
 
 3 
 
 s=r 
 
 
 .-T 
 
 .-T 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 "o 
 
 "o 
 
 S 
 
 "3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 g 
 
 ~3 
 3 
 
 "o 
 
 3 
 
 
 3 
 X 
 
 ^c 
 
 w 
 
 ej 
 
 CJ 
 03 
 
 "3 
 3 
 
 ,4 
 
 3 
 
 
 ^3 
 CJ 
 
 
 *3 
 
 "3 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 JJ 
 
 o 
 
 CJ 
 
 u 
 
 
 *« 
 
 03 
 
 IS 
 
 2 
 
 'm 
 
 •3 
 
 5 
 
 13 
 
 
 fc 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 CJ 
 
 5 
 
 
311 
 
 The same contrivance of the concordance of 
 two periodical series was employed to distinguish 
 the days of the same year. It appears, that 
 originally among the Mexican nations, as well 
 as among the Persians, each day of the month 
 had a name, and a particular sign ; these twenty 
 signs recall to mind the yogas, which, in the 
 astrological almanack of the Hindoos, we find 
 added to the twenty-eight days of the lunar 
 month. In the Metzllapohualli, or 7*eckoning 
 of the Moon of the Aztecks, they were distri- 
 buted among the small cycles of the half-luna- 
 tions ; so that a periodical series of thirteen 
 terms, which were all ciphers, corresponded to 
 a periodical series of twenty terms, which con- 
 tained only hieroglyphical signs. It is in this 
 series of days, that we find the four grand signs, 
 rabbit, cane, flint, and house, by which, as we 
 have just seen, the years of a cycle were denoted ; 
 sixteen other signs of an inferior order were so 
 distributed, that in an equal number of four they 
 separated the grand signs one from the other. 
 
 Recollecting, that each Mexican month was 
 divided into four small periods of five days, we 
 may conceive, that originally the hieroglyphics 
 rabbit, cane, flint, and house, indicated the be 
 ginning of these small periods in the years, the 
 first day of which bore one of the four signs 
 above named. In fact, when the first of the 
 
312 
 
 month I Hit I has the sign calli, the sixth of all 
 the following months will be tochtli, the eleventh 
 acatl, and the sixteenth tecpatl : each month will 
 begin as it were by a Sunday, and these Sundays 
 will fall during the whole year on the same days 
 of the months. The Mexicans paid particular 
 regard to the events, that happened on one of 
 the four days which had the hieroglyphics of the 
 cycle of the years. We find traces of this su- 
 perstition among the Persians ; who, in order to 
 give a sign (karkioian) to each day of the month, 
 added to the twelve celestial spirits, who pre- 
 sided over the months, eighteen ministers of an 
 inferior order. The Mexicans considered those 
 days as lucky, which bore the sign of the year. 
 The Persians * distinguished the days governed 
 by the same angel, that presided over the whole 
 month. 
 
 As most of the hieroglyphic paintings re- 
 presented in the plates accompanying this 
 work relate to the sacrifices, which were to be 
 made in each period of thirteen days, we find 
 the figures of the twenty signs of the days 
 several times repeated. I shall here mention 
 only the plates 13, 23, and 27. The following 
 are the names of these signs: 
 
 * Langlds, : i:r lc Calendrier J'oai, dans Chardin, Voy- 
 age a Ispahan, vol. •?, p. 26">. 
 
313 
 
 Calli . 
 
 CuetzpaUn 
 Cohuatl 
 
 Miquiztll . . 
 Mazatl . . 
 
 TOCHTLI . . 
 
 AH ... . 
 
 Itzcuintli . . 
 Ozomatli . . 
 Malinalli . . 
 Acatl . . 
 Ocelotl . . . 
 Quauhtli 
 Cozcaquauhtli 
 Ollin 
 Tecpatl 
 Quiahuitl . 
 Xochitl . 
 Cipactli . 
 
 Ehecatl . 
 
 a house, 
 a lizard. 
 
 a snake. This word is found 
 in Cihuacohuatl *, serpent 
 woman, the Eve of the Mexi- 
 cans, 
 death, a death's head, 
 a buck, or stag. 
 a rabbit, 
 water, 
 a dog. 
 an ape. 
 grass. 
 a cane. 
 
 a tiger, or jaguar, 
 an eagle. 
 
 king of the vultures, 
 annual course of the Siln. 
 flint, 
 rain, 
 a flower. 
 
 a sea animal. TeocipactU, 
 fish-divinity, is one of the 
 names, which the Mexicans 
 gave Cojccoa; who is the 
 Noah of the people of the 
 Semetic race, 
 wind. 
 
 See above, p 195 . 
 
314 
 
 The numbers thirteen and twenty having no 
 common factors in the almanack of half-luna- 
 tions, the two periodical series cannot twice 
 correspond to the same terms, till after thirteen 
 multiplied by twenty, or two hundred and sixty 
 days. In a year, the first day of which has the 
 sign cipactli, there is no half-lunation, that be- 
 gins with the sign cipactli, in the first thirteen 
 months ; but after the month pachtli, the same 
 signs return with the same ciphers. To avoid 
 this cause of error, the Mexicans, faithful to their 
 principles of not naming the number of small 
 periods of thirteen days, had again recourse to 
 the contrivance of periodical series. They 
 formed a third series of nine signs, called the 
 lords or masters of the night, namely, 
 
 Xiuhteucli tletl . fire, or master of the year. 
 
 Tecpatl . 
 
 . . flint. 
 
 Xochitl 
 
 . . a flower. 
 
 Cinteotl . 
 
 . . the goddess of maize. 
 
 Miquhtli 
 
 . death. 
 
 Atl . . 
 
 , . water. 
 
 Tlazolteotl . 
 
 . the goddess of love. 
 
 Tepeyollotli . 
 
 . a spirit, that inhabits the in 
 
 
 terior of mountains. 
 
 Quiahuitl 
 
 ram. 
 
 We may be astonished at finding a series of 
 nine terms in a calendar, that makes use only of 
 
315 
 
 the numbers 5, 13, 18, 20, and 52; we may- 
 even be tempted to look for some analogy be- 
 tween the nine lords of the night of the Mexicans, 
 and the nine astrological signs of several nations 
 of Asia, who join to the seven visible planets 
 two invisible dragons, to which they attribute 
 eclipses : but without doubt it is only the facility, 
 with which the nine lords of the night divide 
 themselves forty times* into three hundred and 
 sixty days, that has given the preference to the 
 number nine. 
 
 The five complementary days, called by the 
 Persians furtive, or pendjehidouzdideh, bear, 
 among the Mexicans, the name of nemontemi, or 
 void, because they do not add to them those 
 terms of the third series, which the Indian au- 
 thors consider as the companions of the signs of 
 the days. We should observe, and this circum- 
 stance may become embarrassing in the Azteck 
 chronology, that five of these companions bear 
 the same name as the hieroglyphics of the day : 
 but, according to the reveries of the American 
 astrologers, the spirits that belong to the series of 
 the nine signs govern the night, while the other* 
 twenty signs govern the day. The Hindoos 
 were acquainted also with genii (caranas) pre- 
 siding over half a lunar day (tithi). 
 
 As there are twenty signs of the day, and nine 
 companions or lords of the night, the same com- 
 panion must correspond, every nine multiplied by 
 
316 
 
 twenty, or one hundred and eighty days, to the 
 same hieroglyphics ; but it is impossible, that, 
 in the same year of three hundred and sixty-five 
 days, the same term of three series, namely, the 
 number, the sign of the day, and the companion, 
 or nocturnal spirit, can coincide more than once. 
 In a year which begins by Cipactli, 
 
 The 11th of January will he. ..3d Calli, Xochitl. 
 
 The 10th of July will be... 1st Calli, Xochitl. 
 
 The 2d of February will be... 12th Cohautl, Tlazolteotl. 
 
 The 1st of August will be. . .10th Cohuatl, Tlazolteotl. 
 
 The 18th of May will be.. 3d Xochitl, Xochitl. 
 
 The 5th of November.. . .will be .1st Xochitl, Xochitl. 
 
 The employment of the third periodical series, 
 by means of which two days, that have the same 
 number and the same hieroglyphic, are distin- 
 guished ; for instance, 1 Cipactli, correspond- 
 ing to the 9 th of January and the 26th of Sep- 
 tember, was unknown to the greater part of the 
 Spanish historians. It was discovered by Mr. 
 Gama, from the Mexican manuscripts of the 
 Indian Christoval del Castillo. In order to 
 denote a day, according to the complicated 
 method of the Mexicans, we should say, a fourth 
 of a month, which is at the same time a Wed- 
 nesday of the Gregorian, and a quint idi of the 
 French republican calendar. This expression 
 would indicate the coincidence of certain terms 
 
317 
 
 of three periodical series ; namely, of the thirty 
 or thirty-one clays of the month, of the seven 
 days of the week, and of the ten days of the 
 decade. To dissipate entirely every doubt, that 
 may remain respecting the chronological system 
 of the Mexicans, we shall here add a table, which 
 unites the divisions of the ritual and civil calen- 
 dars, and their correspondence with the Grego- 
 rian calendar. 
 
318 
 
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 v ) 
 
 
319 
 
 It would be useless to extend this table be- 
 yond the first thirty-one days of the Mexican 
 year ; but we will here observe, that the Indians 
 of Chiapa, who employed the same divisions of 
 time, and the same contrivance of the periodical 
 series, gave the hieroglyphics of the days con- 
 tained in a month the name of twenty illustrious 
 warriors, who in the remotest times had con- 
 ducted the first colonists to the mountains of 
 Teochiapan. Among these signs of the days, 
 (Mrkunan of the Persians,) the Chiapanese dis- 
 tinguished, like the Aztecks, four great, and 
 sixteen little signs. The first began the periods 
 of five days ; but for the names of house, rabbit? 
 cane, and flint, (catti, tochtli, acatl, and tecpatl,) 
 the Chiapanese had substituted those of Votan, 
 Lambat, Been, and Chinaos ; four chiefs cele- 
 brated in their historical annals. 
 
 We have already fixed the attention of our 
 readers on this Votan, or Wodan, an American, 
 who seems to be a member of the same family 
 with the Wods, or Odins, of the Goths, and 
 nations of Celtic origin. As Odin and Boudha, 
 according to the learned researches of Sir Wil- 
 liam Jones, are probably one and the same 
 person * it is curious to see the names of Boud- 
 var, Wodans-dag, (Wednes-day) , and Votan, 
 denote in India, in Scandinavia, and Mexico, a 
 
 * Asiat. Res. vol. 1, p. 511 ; vol. 2, p. 343. 
 
320 
 
 day of a small period. According to the 
 ancient traditions, collected by the Bishop 
 Francis Nunnez de la Vega, " the Wodan of 
 the Chiapanese was grandson of that illustrious 
 old man, who, at the time of the great deluge, 
 in which the greater part of the human race 
 perished, was saved on a raft, together with his 
 family." Wodan co-operated in the construc- 
 tion of the great edifice, which had been under- 
 taken by men to reach the skies ; the execution 
 of this rash project was interrupted; each family 
 received from that time a different language, 
 and the great spirit, Teotl, ordered Wodan, to 
 go and people the country of Anahuac. This 
 American tradition reminds us of the Menou of 
 the Hindoos, the Noah of the Hebrews, and the 
 dispersion of the Couschites of Singar [the 
 Cushites of Shinar]. Comparing this tradition 
 either with those of the Hebrews and Indians 
 preserved in Genesis and the two sacred Poura- 
 nas*, or with the fable of Xelhua the Cholulainf, 
 and other facts cited in the course of this work, 
 it is impossible to avoid being struck with the 
 analogy, which exists between the old memo- 
 rials of the people of Asia, and those of the New 
 Continent. 
 
 W T e shall here prove, as we have just asserted, 
 
 * L. c. vol. 3, p. 480. 
 f See above, p. 96. 
 
321 
 
 that this analogy is particularly manifest in the 
 division of time, in the use of periodical series, 
 and in the ingenious, though complex and em- 
 barrassing method, of denoting a day or a year, 
 not by ciphers, but by astrological signs. The 
 Toltecks, the Aztecks, the Chiapanese, and 
 other nations of American race, reckoned by 
 cycles of fifty-two years, divided into four 
 periods of thirteen years ; the Chinese, the Japa- 
 nese, the Calmucks, the Moghols, the Mant- 
 chous, and other Tartar hordes, have cycles of 
 sixty years, divided into five small periods of 
 twelve years. The nations of Asia, like those 
 of America, have particular names for the years 
 contained in a cycle ; it is still said at Lassa, 
 and at Nangasacki, as formerly in Mexico, that 
 such or such an event took place in the year of 
 the rabbit, the tiger, or the dog. None of these 
 nations has as many names as there are years in 
 the cycle ; all consequently must have recourse 
 to the contrivance of the correspondence of pe- 
 riodical series. Among the Mexicans, these 
 series are of thirteen numbers and four hiero- 
 glyphical signs ; among the nations of Asia, 
 whom we have just named, the series do not 
 contain numbers, they are formed only of signs 
 corresponding to the twelve constellations of the 
 zodiac, and the names of the elements, which 
 afford ten terms, because each element is con- 
 
 VOL. XII I. Y 
 
322 
 
 sidered as male and female. The character of 
 these methods is the same in the chronology of 
 the Americans as in that of the Asiatics : if we 
 cast our eyes over the table of the years, which 
 we have sketched some pages back *, we shall 
 see, that the mode adopted by the Mexicans is 
 even less complicated. The Japanese, to denote 
 the period of the accession of a Dairi, do not 
 say, that it was in the year ouma (horse) of the 
 second period of twelve years : they call the 
 nineteenth year of the cycle, the year male water 
 (horse), placed between the years female water 
 (sheep) o,ndJe?nale metal (serpent). To have a 
 clear idea of these periodical series of the Japa- 
 nese calendar, we should recollect, that this 
 nation, like the people of Thibet, reckon five 
 elements ; namely, wood (kertoj, fire (finoj, 
 earth (tsutsno), metal, or lead (hanno), and 
 water (midmo). Each element is male or fe- 
 male, according as the syllable je or to is added, 
 a distinction which was also in use among the 
 Egyptians |. In order to distinguish the sixty 
 years of the cycle, the Japanese combine the 
 ten elements, or terrestrial principles, with 
 the twelve signs of the zodiac, called the celes- 
 tial principles. We shall give here only the 
 
 * See p. 310. 
 
 t Seneca, Quaest. Nut. lib. 3, c. 14. 
 
3*1 
 
 first two indictions contained in the Japanese 
 cycle *. 
 
 
 
 
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 In the Mexican calendar, each of the four in- 
 dictions of thirteen years begins with a different 
 sign ; in the Japanese calendar, each period of 
 
 * Kaempfer, Hist, tin Japon, 1729, vol. 1, p. 137, lab. 15. 
 V2 
 
3'24 
 
 twelve years is governed by one of the five male 
 elements. As, among the Mexicans, the fourth 
 term of the series of numbers, jiahui, can corres- 
 pond, in fifty -two years, only once to the second 
 term of the series of signs, acatl; so among the 
 Japanese, in a cycle of sixty years, one of the 
 five male elements is placed but once with one 
 of the twelve signs of the zodiac. The follow- 
 ing table, which contains fourteen Mexican and 
 Japanese years, will clearly explain the analogy, 
 that exists between the calendars of the nations 
 of Mexico and of Eastern Asia. 
 
3'2n 
 
 TABLE. 
 
 
 CYCLE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CYCLE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 E 
 
 JAPANESE. 
 
 MEXICANS. 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 LeX a, *', $, $', y, y,' be the 
 
 Let a, @, y, $, be the four 
 
 BB 
 
 male aud female elements, 
 
 signs of the years, and a, 
 
 
 aud «, b, c, ... the ce- 
 
 b, c, . . . the thirteen names 
 
 
 lestial signs, and we shall 
 
 of the ciphers, and we shall 
 
 have 
 
 have 
 
 1 
 
 x, a. 
 
 ff, x. 
 
 2 
 3 
 
 «', b. 
 
 b,ll. 
 C, 7. 
 
 0, c. 
 
 4 
 5 
 
 0', </. 
 
 d, S. 
 
 7, e. 
 
 e, x. 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 /,/• 
 
 
 J ,s- 
 
 8 
 9 
 
 J\ h. 
 
 M- 
 
 £. »'• 
 
 1, X. 
 
 10 
 11 
 
 .', i. 
 
 A', 0. 
 1,7. 
 
 x, I. 
 
 12 
 13 
 14 
 
 u, vn. 
 
 m, $. 
 
 ft a. 
 ft* 
 
 n 3 x. 
 
 a, jS. 
 
S26 
 
 Periodical series are in use also in China, 
 where ten can combined with twelve tchl denote 
 the days or years of the periods of sixty days or 
 sixty years *. Among the Japanese, the Chi- 
 nese, and the nations of Mexico, the periodical 
 series can serve only to characterize fifty-two or 
 sixty years. The Thibetans, on the contrary, have 
 rendered the contrivance of series so complex, 
 that they have names for one hundred and ninety- 
 two, and even for two hundred and fifty-two 
 years. In denoting, for instance, the memorable 
 year, in which the great lhama Kan-ka-gnimbo, 
 united, with the consent of the Emperor of 
 China, the ecclesiastic and temporal powers * ; 
 the inhabitant of Lhassa cites the year malejire, 
 bird (me po cia) of the fourteenth cycle past 
 since the deluge. He reckons fifteen elements ; 
 namely, five of the masculine gender, five of the 
 feminine, and five neuter. By combining these 
 fifteen elements with the twelve signs of the 
 zodiac, and naming the first twelve years of the 
 cycle only after the celestial signs, without add- 
 ing any element, he obtains denominations for 
 12x15 +12 = 1 92 years. Adding finally sixty 
 years denoted by the combination of ten male 
 and female elements with the twelve signs of the 
 zodiac, he finds his great cycle of two hundred 
 
 * Observ. Astr. du P. Soaciet, published by P. Gaubil, 
 torn. 1, p. 26 ; torn. 2, p. 175. 
 
327 
 
 and fifty-two years, Let a, b, c, . . . . ,, be the 
 signs of the zodiac; #, /3, y, . . ., the neutral ele- 
 ments ; «', j3', /,..., the male elements ; and 
 
 *", 0", y", , the female elements ; we shall 
 
 have, 1st, for the first twelve years, a, b % c, d t 
 . . . . ; 2dly, for the years 13--72, cca, ah, <*c, . . . ., 
 
 &a f $b, /3c, , ya, yb, yc, ; 3dly, for 
 
 the years 73 — 132, *'a, *'b, *'c, . . . ., tfa, /37;, $'c; 
 4thly, for the years 133 — 192, x"a, ot'b, a"c, 
 . . . ., P>"a, tf'by p"c, . . . . ; Sthly, for the years 
 
 193- 252, «V<r, *'*'% *V'c } ; Wa, Wb, 
 
 Wc, .... 
 
 The Tzihi-chen, or public calculators of 
 Lhassa*, allege in favour of the chronology of 
 Thibet, that, as the years of the same name re- 
 turn only every two centuries, the date of an his- 
 torical event is fixed, even when the cycle is not 
 indicated. The uncertainty is greater among the 
 Japanese, and among the Mexicans, where the 
 same names occur every sixty or fifty- two years. 
 We may be surprised, that the Thibetans, who 
 from the highest antiquity made use of the same 
 ciphers and the same system of numeration as 
 the Hindoos, have not abandoned the compli- 
 cated method of periodical series. This method, 
 which takes its origin from astrological reveries, 
 ought to have been employed only by people, 
 who, like the Aztecks and the Toltecks, found 
 
 * Gcorgi, Alph. Tibet, p. 516. 
 
328 
 
 difficulty in expressing very considerable num- 
 bers, and whose annals were written in hierogly- 
 pliical characters. 
 
 We have just seen, that the Mexicans, the 
 Japanese, the people of Thibet, and several 
 other nations of central Asia, have followed the 
 same system in the division of the great cycles, 
 and in the denomination of the years that com- 
 pose them. We have now to examine a fact, 
 which more immediately concerns the history of 
 the migrations of the natives, and which seems 
 hitherto to have escaped the researches of the 
 learned. I think it may be proved that a great 
 part of the names, by which the Mexicans de- 
 noted the twenty days of their month, are those 
 of the signs of a zodiac in use from the remotest 
 antiquity among the nations of Eastern Asia. 
 In order to demonstrate, that this assertion is 
 less unfounded than it appears at first sight, I 
 shall unite in the same table, 1st, The names of 
 the Mexican hieroglyphics, such as they have 
 been transmitted to us by every writer of the 
 sixteenth century ; 2dly, The Tartarian, Japa- 
 nese, and Thibetan names of the twelve signs 
 of the zodiac ; and 3dly, The names of the 
 naschatras, or lunar houses, of the calendar of 
 the Hindoos. I flatter myself, that such of my 
 readers as shall attentively examine this compa- 
 rative table will feel interested in the discussion 
 of the first divisions of the zodiac, on which we 
 are going to enter. 
 
329 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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From the remotest periods, the nations of 
 Asia were acquainted with the two divisions of 
 the ecliptic, one into 27 or 28 houses, or lunar 
 prefectures, the other into 12 parts. The asser- 
 tion, that this last division was found only among 
 the Egyptians, is erroneous. The most ancient 
 monuments of Indian literature, the works of 
 Calidas and Amarsinh* mention both the 12 
 signs of the zodiac, and the 27 campaigns of the 
 moon. From what we know of the communica- 
 tions which had taken place several thousands 
 of years before our aera, between the nations of 
 Ethiopia, Upper Egypt, and Hindostan, we 
 ought not to consider all that they transmitted 
 to the people of Greece as belonging exclusively 
 to the Egyptians. 
 
 The division of the ecliptic into 27 or 28 lunar 
 houses, is probably-}- more ancient than the 
 division into twelve parts, which relate to the 
 annual motion of the Sun. Phenomena repeated 
 every lunation in the same order, fix the attention 
 of men much more strongly than changes of po- 
 sition, the cycle of which is finished only in the 
 space of a year. As the Moon is placed, in each 
 lunation, near the same stars, it appears natural, 
 that particular names should be given to the 27 
 or 28 constellations, through which she passes in 
 
 * Asiatic Researches, vol. ii, p. 346. 
 + Lc Gcntil, vol. i, p. 264. 
 
331 
 
 a synodical revolution. The names of these con- 
 stellations have by degrees been given to the 
 lunar days themselves, and this apparent con- 
 nexion between the sign and the day is become 
 the principal basis of the chimerical calculation 
 of astrology. 
 
 On an attentive examination of the names, 
 which the nacshatras, or lunar houses, bear in 
 Hindostan, we recognise in them not only ail 
 the names of the Tartar and Thibetan zodiac, 
 but also those of several constellations, which are 
 identic with the signs of the Greek zodiac. 
 Each nacshatra has 13° 20', and 2 nacshatras 
 correspond to one of our signs. The following 
 table shows the great probability, that the solar 
 zodiac took its origin from the lunar zodiac ; 
 and that the twelve signs of the former were 
 chosen in a great measure among the 27 nac- 
 shatras. 
 
332 
 
 LUNAR HOUSES. 
 
 SIGNS of the ZODIAC. 
 
 Rat. 
 
 Rat, Aquarius. 
 
 Antelope. 
 
 Ox, Capricorn. 
 
 Arrow, bow. 
 
 Tiger, Sagittarius. 
 
 Tail of the lion. 
 
 Linn. 
 
 Beam of a pair of scales. 
 
 Dragon, Balance. 
 
 Serpent. 
 
 Serpent, Virgin. 
 
 Horse. 
 
 Horse. 
 
 Goat. 
 
 Sheep, Crah. 
 
 Ape. 
 
 Ape, Twins. 
 
 Eagle. 
 
 Bird, Bull. 
 
 Dog's tail. 
 
 Dog, Ram. 
 
 Fish. 
 
 Hog, Fish. 
 
 In the Arabian sky, the belt of Orion is deno- 
 ted under the name of Mican, the beam of a pair 
 of scales ; and it seems so much more remark- 
 able, that a lunar station of the Hindoos bears 
 the same denomination, as, since the discovery 
 of the zodiac of Tentyra, doubts have been 
 raised with respect to the antiquity of the con- 
 stellation of the Balance. It cannot be denied, 
 that the signs, which compose the Egyptian, 
 Chaldean, and Greek zodiac, were known in 
 India from the remotest times ; and it is pro- 
 bable, that Julius Caesar, when he added the 
 Balance to the Roman zodiac, followed the 
 
333 
 
 advice of the astronomer Sosigenes *, who, born 
 in Egypt, could not be ignorant of the division 
 of the ecliptic used in the east. There is how- 
 ever no need -{• of raising doubts respecting the 
 high antiquity of the sign of the Balance, to 
 weaken the unfounded hypothesis, according to 
 which a temple of Upper Egypt was built more 
 than four thousand years before our sera. 
 
 Struck with the analogy that exists between 
 the denominations of the nacshatras, and those 
 of several signs of the zodiac of Thibet and of 
 Greece, I have examined whether the constella- 
 tions, which bear the same name, correspond to 
 the same points of the heavens : and I find they 
 do not, whether we suppose, that the first 
 nacshatra, known under the denomination of 
 the Horse, is the Horse of the Thibetan zodiac, 
 and consequently the Lion of the Greek zodiac ; 
 or whether we admit with Sir W. Jones and Mr. 
 Colebrooke J, that the commencement of the 
 nacshatras is placed in the sign of the Ram, 
 which is the Dog of the Thibetan zodiac. This 
 last hypothesis would seem probable only if the 
 lunar houses were reckoned contrary to the order 
 
 * Buttm.an, in Ideler, Hist. Unt. p. 372—378. 
 
 f See a learned treatise by Visconti, inserted in the trans- 
 lation of Htrodotns by Larcher (2d ed.), Tom, 2, p. 676 ; 
 and Visconti, Miscell. di Museo Pio — Clementino, Tom. 6, 
 p. 25, note, c. 
 
 X Asiatic Researches, Vol. 9, p. 118. 
 
334 
 
 of the signs: then the six nacshatras denoted by 
 the names of two faces, three prints of the feet of 
 Vishnou, the tail of the lion, the wreath of leaves, 
 the arrow, and the head of the antelope, would 
 have represented our signs, the Twins, the Crab, 
 the Lion, the Virgin, the Sagittary, and Capri- 
 corn. But on any of these suppositions, the 
 Balance, the Lion, and the Ram, are not placed 
 at the reciprocal distances which are fitted for 
 them. According to the learned researches of 
 the members of the society at Calcutta, the nac- 
 shatras aswini, horse ; pushy a, arrow ; and inula, 
 tail of the lion ; answer to a. of the Ram, I of the 
 Crab, and y of the Scorpion, of the Greek 
 zodiac, or to the dog, the sheep, and hare of the 
 zodiac of Tartary and Thibet. 
 
 It may seem extraordinary, at first sight, that 
 these nations, in forming from the twenty-seven 
 or twenty-eight signs of the lunar calendar the 
 twelve signs of the solar zodiac, should have pre- 
 served the names of a great number of constella- 
 tions, without any regard to their absolute posi- 
 tion, and to the order in which they follow each 
 other; but we must not conclude thence, that the 
 striking analogy between twelve nacshatras and 
 an equal number of signs of the Thibetan and 
 Greek zodiac is merely accidental. As the de- 
 nominations of the lunar mansions have gradually 
 descended even to the days, we may conceive, 
 that they were become familiar to the people, 
 
335 
 
 who were no doubt ignorant of the position of the 
 stars of which the divisions of the ecliptic were 
 composed. It is possible, that nations relapsed 
 into barbarism had preserved but a confused re- 
 membrance of the names of the nacshatras ; and 
 that in reforming their calender, they might 
 have chosen among the names those of the signs 
 of the solar zodiac, without following the order 
 anciently adopted. It is possible also, and I am 
 inclined to give the preference to this latter 
 opinion, that the zodiac composed of twelve signs 
 may have had its origin from an ancient lunar 
 zodiac, in which the nacshatras were arranged in 
 an order more analogous to that which we ob- 
 serve at present in the dodecatemoria of the 
 people of Thibet and Tartary. In fact, the divi- 
 sions of the ecliptic, which Sir William Jones, 
 Colebrooke, and Sonnerat, have published, differ 
 essentially from each other. The arrow, which 
 according to one Indian writer i6 the eighth 
 nacshatra, is only the twenty-third according to 
 another. We shall see presently, in speaking of 
 a Roman bas relief described by Bianchini, that 
 in the East solar zodiacs formerly existed, which 
 had the same signs, though placed in a different 
 order. Moreover, the return of the Sun from the 
 tropics toward the equator, and the phenomenon 
 of the equal duration of the days and the nights, 
 must have led to great changes in the figures 
 
336 
 
 of the nacshatras, when a part only was employed 
 to form the solar zodiac. 
 
 This intimate connexion between the lunar 
 mansions and the signs of the zodiac is moreover 
 evident in the names given by the Hindoos to the 
 months and the years. These names, according 
 to the curious investigations of Mr. Davis *, are 
 not those of the dodecatemoria of the solar zo- 
 diac ; they are taken from the nacshatras them- 
 selves, each month bearing the name of the 
 lunar mansion, in which the full moon occurs. 
 We have seen farther back, that at Thibet, in 
 China, and among the Tartar nations, each year 
 of the five indictions of the great cycle bears the 
 name of one of the 12 animals of the solar zo- 
 diac. Among the Hindoos, the years take the 
 name of the nacshatras in which Jupiter is at his 
 heliacal rising. It is thus that Amvini (horse) 
 or Magha (house) is the name of a year, of a 
 month, and of a tithy, or lunar day ; as at Mexico 
 the sign tochtli (rabbit) or colli (house) presides 
 at the same time over the year, the half lunation, 
 and the day. 
 
 From the whole of these considerations it 
 follows, that the division of the ecliptic into 
 twelve signs probably had its origin from the 
 division into 27 or 28 lunar mansions ; and that 
 
 * On the cycle of sixt\ years, Asiat. Res. vol. 3, p. 217 — 
 201. 
 
337 
 
 the solar zodiac was primitively a lunar zodiac, 
 each full moon being- nearly two nacshatras and 
 a quarter, or 13° 20' distant from that preced- 
 ing. It is thus that the most ancient astronomy 
 of nations is connected with the motions of the 
 moon only. If it happen, that the twelve signs 
 of the zodiac bear names that differ totally 
 from those of the nacshatras, we must not hence 
 conclude, that the stars themselves were distri- 
 buted after a double division. In eastern Asia, 
 the zodiac of twelve signs was, for a long time, 
 only an abstract division*, while the zodiac of 
 twenty-seven or twenty-eight nacshatras was 
 alone a real stellar zodiac. I have been led to 
 insist on the intimate connexion that exists be- 
 tween the two divisions of the ecliptic, to show, 
 that both may have given birth to the signs of 
 the Mexican zodiac. 
 
 Let us examine first the analogy between the 
 denominations of the Mexican days, and the 
 signs of the Thibetan, Chinese, Tartarian, and 
 Mongul zodiac. This analogy is striking in 
 the eight hieroglyphics called atl, cipactli, 
 ocelotl, tochtli, cohuatl, quauhtli, ozomatli, and 
 itzcuintU. 
 
 Atl, water, is often indicated by a hierogly- 
 phic, the parallel and undulating lines of which 
 remind us of the sign we employ to denote 
 
 * Bftilly, Ast. Ind. p. 5 ; Ast. mod. torn. 3, p. 301. 
 vol. xi ir. z 
 
338 
 
 Aquarius. The first tse, or asterism, of the 
 Chinese zodiac, the rat (Shou), is also frequent- 
 ly represented under the figure of water*. In 
 the reign of the emperor Tchouen-hiu there was 
 a great deluge; and the celestial sign Hiuen- 
 hiao, which by its position answers to our Aqua- 
 rius, is the symbol of this reign. Thus P. 
 Souciet, in his Researches on the Cycles and the 
 Zodiac, observes, that China and Europe agree 
 in representing under different denominations 
 the sign, which we name Amphora, or Aquarius. 
 Among the western nations, the water that flows 
 from the vase of Aquarius (ww i^axo?) early 
 formed a particular constellation (i»J«f), to which 
 belonged the beautiful stars Fomalhaut and 
 Deneb kaitos, as is evident -j~ from several pas- 
 sages of Aratus, Geminus, and the scholiast of 
 Germanicus. 
 
 Cipactli is a sea animal J. This hieroglyphic 
 bears a strong analogy to Capricorn, which the 
 Hindoos and other nations of Asia call sea mon- 
 ster. The Mexican sign indicates a fabulous 
 animal, a whale with a horn in its forehead. 
 
 * Obs. malhem. du P. Souciet, published by P. Gaubil, 
 tom. 3, p. 33. 
 
 + Itieler, Sternnamen, p. 197. 
 
 + Gama, Descrip. histor. y cronol. de dos Piedras (Mexi- 
 co. 1702), p. 27 and 100. 
 
 
339 
 
 Gomara and Torquemada * call it espadarte, a 
 name by which the Spaniards denote the nar- 
 wal, the great tooth of which is known by the 
 name of the unicorn's horn. Boturini took this 
 horn for a harpoon, and erroneously translated 
 cipactli by serpent armed with harpoons. As 
 this sign does not represent a real animal, it is 
 natural enough, that its form should vary more 
 than that of any other sign. Sometimes the 
 horn appears a lengthening of the muzzle, as in 
 the famous fish oxyrinchus, represented in the 
 place of the southern fish under the belly of 
 Capricorn, in some Indian planispheres f : at 
 other times the horn is entirely wanting. On 
 casting our .eyes on the figures in plate 23d and 
 27th, taken from very ancient drawings and re- 
 liefs, we see how much Valades, Boturini, and 
 Clavigero were mistaken, in representing the 
 first hieroglyphic of the Mexican days as a 
 shark, or a lizard. In the manuscript in the 
 Borgian museum, the head of cipactli resembles 
 that of a crocodile ; and this same name of cro- 
 codile is given by Sonnerat to the tenth sign of 
 the Indian zodiac, which is our Capricorn. 
 
 Besides, the idea of the sea animal, cipactli, is 
 connected in the Mexican mythology with the 
 history of a man, who, at the epocha of the de- 
 
 * Conquista, fol. 119. Mon. ind., torn. 3, p. 223. 
 t Philos. Transact., 1772, p. 353. 
 z 2 
 
340 
 
 struction of the fourth sun, after having for a 
 long time swam in the waters, saved himself 
 alone, by reaching the top of the mountain 
 Colhuacan. We have observed, that the Noah 
 of the Aztecks, commonly called Coxcox, bears 
 also the name of Teo-Cipactli, in which the 
 word divinity, or divine, is added to that of 
 cipactli. On looking into the zodiac of the na- 
 tions of Asia, we find, that the Capricorn of the 
 Hindoos is the fabulous fish maharan, or souro *, 
 celebrated for his exploits, and represented, from 
 the most remote antiquity, as a sea-monster with 
 the head of an antelope -j~. As the inhabitants 
 of India, like the Mexicans, often indicate the 
 nacskatras (lunar mansions) and the laquenons 
 (dodecatemoria) by the heads only of the ani- 
 mals, which compose the lunar and solar zodiacs, 
 we ought not to be surprised, that the western 
 nations should have transformed the mahara 
 into Capricorn (uiyov^d) ; and that Aratus, 
 Ptolemy, and the Persian Kaswini, should have 
 given it the tail of a fish. An animal, which, 
 after having for a length of time inhabited 
 the waters, takes the form of an antelope, and 
 scales the mountains, reminds nations, whose 
 disturbed imagination associates objects the 
 
 * Sonnerat, Voyage aux lodes, torn. 1, p. 310. Bailly, 
 Astr. tad., p. 210. 
 
 f Asiat. Researches, vol. 2, p. 335, No. 7- 
 
341 
 
 most remote from each other, of the ancient tra- 
 ditions of Menou, Noah, and the Deucalions fa- 
 mous among the Scythians and people of Thes- 
 saly. It is true, according to Germanicus, that 
 Deucalion, whom we may consider as the Cox- 
 cox, or the Teo-Cipactli of the Mexican mytho- 
 logy, was placed not in the sign of Capricorn, but 
 in the sign that immediately follows it, in that of 
 Aquarius (vfyo%oos). In this circumstance there 
 is nothing to surprise us ; it rather confirms the 
 ingenious opinion of Mr. Bailli on the ancient 
 connexion of the three signs of the Fishes, 
 Aquarius, and Capricorn, or the antelope fish *. 
 Ocelotl, tiger, the jaguar (fells onca) of the 
 warm regions of Mexico ; tochtU, hare : ozo- 
 matli, female ape ; itzcuintli, dog ; cohuatl, ser- 
 pent ; quauhtii, bird, are asterisms that bear the 
 same names in the Tartar and Thibetan zodi- 
 acs. In the Chinese astronomy, the hare de- 
 notes not only the fourth tse, or sign of the zo- 
 diac ; the Moon, from the remote period of the 
 reign of Yao, was figured as a disk, on which 
 a hare -f, seated on his hinder feet, turns a stick 
 in a vase, as if employed in making butter ; a 
 peculiar idea, which might have had its origin 
 in the steppes of Tartary, where hares are abun- 
 dant, and which are inhabited by shepherd na- 
 
 • Astr. moderne, torn. 3, p. 297. 
 
 t Grosier, Hist. gen. de la Chine, p. 297. 
 
342 
 
 lions. The Mexican ape, ozomatli, answers to 
 the heou of the Chinese *, to the pet eld of the 
 Mantchous, and to the prehou of the people of 
 Thibet ; three names that denote the same ani- 
 mal. Procyon appears to be the ape hanuan \, 
 so well known in the mythology of the Hindoos ; 
 and the position of this star, placed on the same 
 line with the Twins and the pole of the ecliptic, 
 corresponds very well with the place which the 
 ape holds in the Tartar zodiac, between the Crab 
 and the Bull. Apes are found also in the sky of 
 the Arabians ; they are stars in the constellation 
 of the great dog, called El-kurid % in the cata- 
 logue of Kazwini. I enter into these details re- 
 specting the sign ozomatli, because an animal of 
 the torrid zone, placed among the constellations 
 of the Mongul, Mantchou, Azteck, and Tolteck 
 nations, is a very important point, not only in 
 the history of astronomy, but also in that of the 
 migrations of nations. 
 
 The sign itzcuintli, dog, answers to the last 
 sign but one of the Tartar zodiac, to the ky of the 
 Thibetans, to the nokai of the Mantchous, and 
 to the in of the Japanese. P. Gaubil informs 
 us, that the dog of the Tartar zodiac is our do- 
 decatemorion of the Ram ; and it is very re- 
 
 * Deguignes, Hist, des Huns, Tom. 1, p. 47. 
 + Dupuis, Origine des Cultes, Torn. 3, p. 363. 
 X Ideler, Sternnamen, p. 238, 248, 413. 
 
343 
 
 markable, that, according to Le Gentil, among 
 the Hindoos, though this people was unacquaint- 
 ed with the series of signs which begins with the 
 rat, the place of the Ram is sometimes occupied 
 by a marron dog. In the same manner, among 
 the Mexicans, itzcuintU denotes the wild dog ; 
 for that which is tame is called techichi. Mexico 
 formerly swarmed with carnivorous quadrupeds* 
 of a species between the wolf and the dog, which 
 Hernandes has but imperfectly described. The 
 race of these animals, known by the names of 
 xoloitzcuintli, itzcnintepotzotU, and tepeitzcidntli, 
 is perhaps not yet entirely destroyed ; but pro- 
 bably withdrawn into the most desert and soli- 
 tary forests. In the part of the country through 
 which I passed, I have never heard any mention 
 of a marron dog. Le Gentil -j~ and Bailly were 
 mistaken, when they asserted, that the word 
 media, which denotes our ram, signifies a marron 
 dog. This word of the Sanscrit language is the 
 ordinary name of the ram, it is employed J in a 
 very poetical manner by an Indian author, who 
 describes the combat of two warriors, saying, 
 " that by their heads they were two mecha 
 " (rams) ; by their arms, two elephants ; by their 
 " feet, two noble coursers." 
 
 * See my Tableaux de la Nature, Tom. 1, p. 117. 
 t Le Gentil, Voyage, Tom. 1, p. 247. 
 X Observation de Mr. de Chezy. 
 
:*44 
 
 The following table unites the signs of the 
 Tartar zodiac with those of the days of the 
 Mexican calendar: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 oj 
 
 
 
 
 *^ 
 
 
 
 
 F-H 
 
 w 
 
 
 
 ■s 
 
 
 
 
 be 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 4-» 
 
 c 
 <u 
 c 
 
 as 
 
 HO 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 C3 
 
 9 
 
 B 
 
 < 
 
 Q 
 O 
 
 ft 
 
 < 
 
 u 
 
 1— 4 
 
 H 
 
 .fiP 
 
 MS 
 
 so 
 49 
 
 r\ 
 HO 
 
 HO 
 
 
 
 bJ3 
 O 
 
 Ho 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 i- 
 
 Ho 
 
 8 
 
 53 
 
 
 
 U 
 
 „© 
 
 
 
 N 
 
 kj 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 fc-l 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 ^ 
 
 C? 
 
 
 oi 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 K 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 W 
 
 < 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 , 
 
 H 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 *j 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 o 
 u 
 
 O 
 
 CO 
 
 6 
 a 
 
 s 
 a; 
 
 r- 
 33 
 
 c5 
 9« 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 *3 
 
 3 
 
 03 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 So 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 »8 
 
 HO 
 
 8 
 
 •2 
 
 
 < 
 
 8 
 
 £ 
 
 1 
 
 A. 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 Without returning to the hieroglyphics water 
 (atl) and the sea monster (cipactli), which ex- 
 hibit a striking analogy with the asterisms of 
 Aquarius and Capricorn, the six signs of the 
 Tartar zodiac, found in the Mexican calendar- 
 
 
345 
 
 are sufficient to render it extremely probable, 
 that the people of the two continents drew their 
 astrological ideas from a common source. Those 
 features of resemblance, on which we insist, are 
 not taken from uncouth or allegorical paintings, 
 susceptible of being interpreted agreeably to the 
 nature of the hypothesis which we seek to esta- 
 blish. If we consult the works composed, at the 
 beginning of the conquest, by Spanish or Indian 
 authors, who were ignorant even of the existence 
 of a Tartar zodiac, we shall see, that at Mexico, 
 from the seventh century of our era, the days 
 were called tiger, dog, ape, hare, or rabbit ; as 
 throughout the whole of eastern Asia the years 
 still bear the same names in the Thibetan, 
 Mantchou-tartar, Mongul, Calmuck, Chinese, 
 Japanese, Corean, and all the languages of Ton- 
 quin and Cochin China *. 
 
 It may be conceived, that nations, which have 
 never had any intercourse with each other, may 
 make equal divisions of the ecliptic into 27 or 28 
 parts, and give each lunar day the name of the 
 stars near which the Moon is placed in its pro- 
 gressive motion from west to east. It appears 
 very natural also, that nations either of shepherds 
 or hunters should denote these constellations, 
 and these lunar days, by the names of the animals 
 which are the constant objects of their affections 
 
 * Souciet, Tom. 2, p. 138. 
 
34(i 
 
 or their fears. The sky of the nomade tribes 
 will be peopled with dogs, stags, bulls, and 
 wolves, without its being at all necessary for us 
 to conclude, that these tribes have formerly 
 made part of the same people. We must not 
 confound objects that resemble each other from 
 mere accident, or from a similarity of situation, 
 with those that attest a common origin, or 
 ancient communications. 
 
 But the Tartar and Mexican zodiacs contain 
 not only the animals peculiar to the climates 
 which these people inhabit at present ; we find 
 also apes and tigers, two animals that are 
 unknown on the elevated plains of central and 
 eastern Asia, to which a great elevation gives 
 a colder temperature than that which feigns 
 toward the west under the same latitude. The 
 people of Thibet, the Monguls, the Mantchous, 
 and the Calmucks, have therefore received from 
 a more southern country the zodiac, which is too 
 exclusively called the Tartar cycle. The Tol- 
 tecks, the Aztecks, the Tlascaltecks flowed from 
 the north toward the south : we are acquainted 
 with Azteck monuments as far as the banks of 
 the Gila, between 33° and 34° of northern lati- 
 tude. History shows us the Toltecks coming 
 from regions still more northerly. These colo- 
 nists, issuing from Aztlan, did not arrive as bar- 
 barous hordes ; every thing that appertained to 
 them betokened the remains of ancient civiliza- 
 
347 
 
 tion. The names given to the cities which they 
 built were the names of places which their an- 
 cestors inhabited ; their laws, their annals, their 
 chronology, the order of their sacrifices, were 
 modelled on the knowledge they had acquired 
 in their primitive country. But the apes and 
 the tigers, which figure among the hieroglyphics 
 of the days, and in the Mexican tradition of the 
 Jour ages or destructions of the Sun, do not in- 
 habit the northern part of New-Spain, and the 
 north-west coast of America. Consequently the 
 signs ozomatli and ocelotl render it singularly 
 probable, that the zodiacs of the Toltecks, the 
 Aztecks, the Monguls, the Thibetans, and so 
 many other nations now separated by a vast ex- 
 tent of country, originated on one and the same 
 point of the ancient continent. 
 
 The lunar mansions of the Hindoos, in which 
 we also find an ape, a serpent, a tail of a dog, 
 and the head of an antelope, or of a sea-monster, 
 exhibit still other signs, the names of which re- 
 mind us of the calli, acatl, tecpatl, and ollin, of 
 the Mexican calendar. 
 
348 
 
 
 
 
 
 cu 
 
 t.) 
 
 
 
 
 CD 
 
 CD 
 
 CD 
 
 
 
 
 P 
 
 *\ 
 
 Vm 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 a 
 
 O 
 
 05 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 p 
 
 CO 
 
 in 
 
 4-J 
 
 fe 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 CD 
 
 rj 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 ,C 
 
 "C 
 
 l-H 
 
 
 
 ,£> 
 
 *a 
 
 p-l 
 
 GO 
 
 
 
 c+i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • ^ 
 
 Cm 
 
 CD 
 
 O 
 
 1—4 
 
 
 
 p 
 
 o 
 
 p 
 
 .2 
 
 
 X 
 
 CD 
 to 
 
 CD 
 
 p 
 
 '•p 
 
 >■» 
 
 g 
 
 P 
 
 p 
 
 «s 
 
 O 
 
 rO 
 
 § 
 
 o 
 
 c<3 
 
 
 
 ■"P 
 CD 
 
 
 
 52 
 
 8f« 
 
 
 P 
 CD 
 
 
 a 
 
 g 
 ^ 
 
 ex 
 
 ^ 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 *j 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 cu 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 .CD 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ch 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 C*H 
 
 
 <5 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 er 
 
 
 
 
 4-i 
 
 
 <! 
 
 
 
 
 .2 
 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 W 
 
 
 
 
 ■n 
 
 
 en 
 O 
 
 
 
 
 Ph 
 
 
 ft 
 
 to 
 
 S 
 
 o 
 
 43 
 
 P 
 
 P 
 
 o 
 
 CD 
 CD 
 
 is 
 
 C3 
 
 
 Q 
 
 „ 
 
 O 
 
 •> 
 ^ 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 53 
 
 
 
 « 
 £> 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 cS 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 We shall first observe, that the Azteck word 
 calll has the same signification as the huala, or 
 
349 
 
 holla *, of the Woguls, who dwell on the banks 
 of the Kama and Irtisch ; as atel (water in 
 Azteck, and itels (river) in Vilel, recall to mind 
 the words atl, atelsh, etel, or idel, (river) in the 
 language of the Mongul Tartars, Tscheremisses, 
 and Tschouwasses «f\ The denomination of 
 calli, house, very well denotes a station or lunar 
 mansion (in Arabic, menazil el hamaa) a place 
 of repose. It is thus that among the Indian 
 nacshatras, beside the houses (magha and 
 punarvasu) we also find bedsteads and ma- 
 trasses. 
 
 The Mexican sign acatl, cane, is generally 
 figured as two reeds tied together J. But the 
 stone found at Mexico in 1 790, and which offers 
 the hieroglyphics of the days, represents the 
 sign acatl in a very different manner. We 
 recognise in it a bundle of reeds, or a sheaf 
 of maize contained in a vase. We shall ob- 
 serve on this occasion, that, in the first period 
 of thirteen days of the year tochtli, the sign acatl 
 is constantly accompanied by Cinteotl, who is 
 the goddess of maize, Ceres, the divinity who 
 presides over agriculture. Among the western 
 nations, Ceres is placed in the 5th dodecatemo- 
 rion: we even find very ancient zodiacs, in 
 
 * Vater. Amer. Bevolker, p. 160. 
 
 t Engel, Ungar. Gesch. T. 1, p. 346, 361, Georgi, Rei- 
 sen. B. 2, p. 904. Thwrocz, Chron. Hungaror., p. 49. 
 | Plate 27. 
 
350 
 
 which a bundle of ears of corn * fills up the 
 whole of the place, which Ceres, Iris, Astrea, or 
 Erigone, ought to occupy in the sign of the har- 
 vests and vintages. It is thus we find, from the 
 remotest antiquity, among the most distant na- 
 tions, the same ideas, the same symbols, the same 
 tendency to refer natural phenomena to the mys- 
 terious influence of the stars. 
 
 The Mexican hieroglyphic tecpatl indicates a 
 keen edged stone of oval form, lengthened at 
 both ends, like those which were made use of as 
 knives, or which were fastened to the end of a 
 pike. This sign recalls to mind the crltt'ica or 
 sharp knife of the lunar zodiac of the Hindoos. 
 On the great stone represented in the 23d Plate, 
 the hieroglyphic tecpatl is figured in a manner 
 somewhat different from the form commonly 
 given to this instrument. The silex is pierced 
 through the centre, and the opening seems des- 
 tined to receive the hand of the warrior, who 
 makes use of this weapon with two points. We 
 know, that the Americans had a peculiar art of 
 boring the hardest stones and working them by 
 friction. I have brought from South America, 
 and deposited at the Museum at Berlin, a ring 
 of obsidian, which was a girl's bracelet, and 
 forms a hollow cylinder near seven centimetres 
 
 * Ideter, Sternnamen, S. 172. Dupuis, Origine dcs Cultes, 
 T«m 2, p. 228— 234. Atlas, p. 0. 
 
251 
 
 in diameter, four centimetres high, and three 
 millimetres thick. We can scarcely conceive 
 how a vitreous and fragile substance could be re- 
 duced to the state of so thin a plate. Besides, 
 tecpatl differs from obsidian, a substance which 
 the Mexicans called iztli ; jade, hornstone, and 
 flint being confounded under the denomination 
 of tecpatl. 
 
 The sign ollin or ollin-tonatiuh, presides, in 
 the beginning of the cycle of 52 years, over the 
 seventeenth day of the first month. The expla- 
 nation of this sign has greatly embarrassed the 
 Spanish monks, who, without the slightest ele- 
 mentary notions of astronomy, attempted to ex- 
 plain the Mexican calendar. The Indian authors 
 translate ollin by motions of the Sun. When 
 they find the number nahui added, they render 
 nahui ollin by the words Sun (tonatiuh) in his 
 Jour motions ; sometimes (Plate 37) like two 
 ribands intertwined, or rather like two portions 
 of curves, which cross each other, and which 
 have three perceptible inflections at their sum- 
 mits ; sometimes (Plate 23) like the solar disk 
 surrounded with four squares, which contain the 
 hieroglyphics of the numbers one (ce) and four 
 {nahui) ; at other times like three prints of feet. 
 The foursquares allude, as we shall soon explain, 
 to the famous tradition of the four ages, or four 
 destructions of the world, which took place on 
 the days 4 tyger, nahui oeelotl ; 4 trind, nahui 
 
352 
 
 ehecatl ; 4 rain, nahui quiahiiitl; and 4 water, 
 naliui atl ; in the years ce acatl, 1 cane ; ce tec- 
 patl, 1 flint ; and ce calli, 1 house. With these 
 same days the solstices, the equinoxes, and the 
 passages of the Sun across the zenith of the 
 city of Tenochtitlan, very nearly corresponded. 
 
 The representation of the sign ollin by three 
 ococpalli, or prints of the feet, as we often find 
 them in the manuscripts at the Vatican, and in 
 the Codex Borgianus, fol. 47, n. 210, is remark- 
 able from the analogy which it seemingly offers 
 with sravana, or the three prints of' the feet of 
 Vishnou, one of the mansions of the lunar zodiac 
 of the Hindoos. In the Mexican calendar, the 
 three prints indicate either the traces of the Sun 
 in its passage across the equator, and its motion 
 towards the two tropics, or the three positions of 
 the Sun in the zenith, in the equator, and in one 
 of the solstices. It is possible, that the lunar 
 zodiac of the Hindoos contained some sign, 
 which, like that of the Balance, might refer to 
 the course of the Sun. We have seen, that the 
 zodiac of twenty-eight signs may have been 
 transformed by degrees into a zodiac of twelve 
 mansions of the full Moon ; and that some nac- 
 shatras may have changed their denomination, 
 since, from the knowledge of the annual motion 
 of the Sun, the zodiac of the full Moons is become 
 a real solar zodiac. Crishna, the Apollo of the 
 Hindoos, is in fact no other than Vishnou, under 
 
353 
 
 the form of the Sun *, which is more particu- 
 larly worshipped under the name of the god 
 Sourya. Notwithstanding- this analogy of ideas 
 and of signs, we think, that the three footsteps, 
 which form the twenty-third nacshatra, sravana, 
 have only an accidental resemblance with the 
 three prints of feet, that represent the sign ollin. 
 M. de Chezy, who was very profoundly versed 
 m the Persian and Sanscrit languages, observes, 
 that the sravana of the Indian zodiac alludes to 
 a legend highly distinguished among the Hin- 
 doos, and recorded in the greater part of their 
 sacred books, particularly in the Bhagavat-Pou- 
 ranam. Vishnou, desirous of punishing the pride 
 of a giant, who thought himself as powerful as 
 the gods, presents himself under the form of a 
 dwarf, and entreats him to grant in his vast em- 
 pire the space he can measure with three of his 
 steps ; the giant assents with a smile, and at the 
 instant the dwarf rises to so prodigious a stature, 
 that in two steps he measures the space between 
 Heaven and Earth. As he asks, at the third 
 step, where he can place his foot, the giant re- 
 cognizes the god Vishnou, and prostrates himself 
 before him. This fable so well explains the 
 figure of the nacshatra sravana, that it would be 
 difficult to admit the connexion of this sign with 
 that of ollin ; as cipactli, and the Mexican Noah, 
 
 * Asiatic Researches, vol. 1, p. 200, 
 VOL. XIII. A A 
 
354 
 
 Teo-Cipactli, are connected with the constella- 
 tion of Capricorn, and that of Deucalion, an- 
 ciently placed in Aquarius. 
 
 We have now explained the correspondencies 
 that exist between the signs of which the different 
 zodiacs of India, Thibet, Tartary, and the hiero- 
 glyphics of the days and years of the Mexican 
 calendar are composed. We have found that in 
 these correspondencies, the most numerous and 
 striking are those of the cycle of the twelve ani- 
 mals, which we have designated under the name 
 of the zodiac of Tartary and Thibet. To finish 
 a discussion, the results of which are so impor- 
 tant to the history of the ancient communications 
 of nations, we shall examine more closely this 
 last zodiac ; and prove, that, in the Asiatic sys- 
 tem of astrology, with which the Mexican astro- 
 logy appears to have a common origin, the 
 twelve signs of the Zodiac preside not only over 
 the months, but also over the years, the days, 
 the hours, and even over the smallest parts of 
 the hours. 
 
 When we consider, that the nations of eastern 
 Asia employ at the same time divisions of the 
 ecliptic into twenty-seven or twenty-eight, into 
 twelve, and into twenty-four parts ; and that the 
 same signs of the solar zodiac bear denomina- 
 tions, and often figures, entirely different; we are 
 tempted to believe, that this multiplicity of signs 
 must produce an extreme confusion in the limits 
 
355 
 
 assigned to the zodiacal constellations. Among 
 the Hindoos, for instaucc, we find, beside the 
 nacshatras, or lunar mansions, twelve laquenons 
 the names of which are the same as those of the 
 signs of the Greek and Egyptian zodiac. The 
 Chinese divide the ecliptic in three manners, 
 namely, into twenty-eight nacshatras, which they 
 call che or eal-che-po-sieou* ; into twelve tse, 
 which answer to our signs, but which bear 
 names, partly mystical, and partly borrowed 
 from the productions of the country, as great 
 splendor, profound void, head and tail of the 
 quail^c ; and into twenty-four tsiehi. The de- 
 nominations of these tsiehi, or half -tse, relate to 
 the climate, and the variations of temperaturej. 
 The Chinese have besides two other cycles of 
 twelve signs ; that of the tchi ; and that of the 
 animals, the names of which are identic with 
 those of the cycles of Thibet and Tartary ; seven 
 che answer to three tse, as six tsieki answer to 
 three tchi, and three celestial animals. The 
 cycle of these twelve Chinese animals, among 
 which we have found the ape, the tiger, the rat 
 (symbol of water), the dog, the bird, the serpent, 
 and the hare, of the Mexican calendar, gives the 
 
 * Souciet and Gacbil, vol. 3, p. 80. 
 
 t L. c, vol. 3, p. 98. 
 
 J L, c. rol. 3, p. 94. Bailly, Astr. iml. p. 90. 
 
 A A 2 
 
35<j 
 
 names to the cycle of twelve years, as well as to 
 the small period of twelve days. The twelve 
 animals are used, says P. Gaubil*, to denote the 
 twelve moons of the year, the twelve hours of the 
 day and night, and the twelve celestial signs. 
 But all these divisions into twelve parts, marked 
 by different names, are, in the east of Asia, only 
 abstract or imaginary divisions : they serve to 
 recall to mind the motion of the Sun in the eclip- 
 tic ; but the real starry zodiac, as Mr. Bailly 
 very well observes-}-, and as is confirmed by the 
 more recent researches of Sir William Jones and 
 Mr. Colebrooke, consists of the twenty-eight 
 lunar mansions. It is true, they say in China, 
 that the Sun enters into the Ape, or the Hare, as 
 we say that it enters into the Twins or the Scor- 
 pion ; but the Chinese, the Hindoos, and the 
 Tartars class the stars only according to the sys- 
 tem of the nacshatras. The division of the zo- 
 diac into twenty-seven or twenty-eight parts, 
 known from Yemen to the plains of Turfan and 
 Cochinchina, belongs, as well as the small period 
 of seven days, to the most ancient monuments of 
 astronomy. 
 
 Wherever we observe at the same time several 
 divisions of the ecliptic, differing not in the num- 
 bers of the asterisms, but in their denominations, 
 
 * Souciet, vol. 2, p. 166, 174. 
 + Astr. ind. p. 5. 
 
357 
 
 as the tse, the tchi, and the celestial animals of 
 the Chinese, of the people of Thibet, and of the 
 Tartars, this multiplicity of signs is probably 
 owing to a mixture of several nations, who have 
 been subdued one by the other. The effects of 
 this mixture, those of the influence exercised by 
 the conquerors on the vanquished people, are 
 particularly manifest in the north-east part of 
 Asia ; the languages of which, notwithstanding 
 the great number of Mongul and Tartar roots 
 they contain, differ so essentially * from each 
 other, that they seem to defy any methodi- 
 cal classification. In proportion as we remove 
 from Thibet and Indostan, we see the uniform 
 type of civil institutions, of knowledge, and of 
 religious rites, weaken and disappear. Now, if 
 the hordes of eastern Siberia, among whom the 
 dogmas of Bouddhism have evidently penetrat- 
 ed, appear nevertheless to be connected only by 
 feeble ties to the civilized nations of southern 
 Asia, ought we to be surprised, that, in the New 
 Continent, along with some features of analogy 
 in traditions, in chronology, and in the style of 
 their remains, we should discover so great a 
 number of striking differences ? When nations of 
 Tartar or Mongul origin, transplanted to foreign 
 shores, mingled with the indigenous hordes of 
 America, have found a road toward civilization 
 
 Adelung, Mithridates, vol. 2, p. 533 and 560. 
 
?■ 
 
 3c# 
 
 with great difficulty, their languages, their my- 
 thology, their divisions of time, every thing as- 
 sumes a character of individuality, that almost 
 effaces the primitive type of their national phy- 
 siognomy. 
 
 In fact, instead of the cycles of sixty years, of 
 years divided into twelve months, and small 
 periods of seven days, used among the nations of 
 Asia, we find among the Mexicans cycles of 
 fifty-two years, years of eighteen months of 
 twenty days each, half decades, and half luna- 
 tions of thirteen days. The system of periodical 
 series, the correspondent terms of which serve 
 to denote the dates of the days and the years, is 
 the same in both continents ; a great many of 
 the signs that compose the series in the Mexican 
 calendar are borrowed from the zodiac of the 
 nations of Thibet and Tartary ; but neither 
 their number, nor the order in which they follow 
 each other, are those observed in Asia. 
 
 The Tartarian zodiac does not begin, like that 
 of the Hindoos, with the Dog, which answers to 
 our sign of the Ram, but with the Rat, which re- 
 presents Aquarius*. This same zodiac has besides 
 the striking particularity, that the celestial animals 
 are reckoned contrary to the order of the signs : 
 instead of placing them in that which is marked 
 
 * Souciet, vol. 2, p. 136. Bailly, Ast. inch, p. 212. Lan- 
 gles, notes du Voyage dr Thunberg, p. 319. 
 
359 
 
 by the motion of the Sun in the ecliptic from 
 west to east, the Thibetans, the Chinese, the 
 Japanese, and the Tartars, reckon the signs in 
 the following order ; Rat, or Aquarius ; Ox, or 
 Capricorn ; Tiger, or Sagittary ; Hare, or Scor- 
 pion, &c. This singular habit has perhaps its 
 cause in the circumstance, that the twelve zodi- 
 acal constellations in their passage over the me- 
 ridian, preside over the different hours of the 
 day and the night. As they share in the general 
 motion of the celestial sphere from east to west, 
 they are arranged in the order, according to 
 which they rise or set one after the other. 
 
 In the Mexican calendar, the signs of the 
 days which are identical with the signs of the 
 Tartar cycle, those of the dog, the ape, the tiger, 
 and the horse, are so placed, that no analogy of 
 relative position can be recognised between 
 them. Cipactli, which we have proved to be the 
 antelope-fish, is the first asterism, as Capricorn 
 seems to have been among the Egyptians*. 
 Among the Mexican signs nearly the following 
 order prevails, cipactli, cohuatl, tochtli, itzcu- 
 intli, ozomatli, and ocelotl ; or, substituting the 
 names of our signs, Capricorn, Virgo, the Scor- 
 pion, the Ram, the Twins, and Sagittarius. Is this 
 difference in the arrangement of the signs mere- 
 
 * Fragmentum ex Gazophylacio Card. Barberini (Kir- 
 cberi GBdipus, 1653, vol. 3, p. 160). 
 
360 
 
 ly apparent? and does it arise from a cause 
 analogous to that, which, according- to the testi- 
 mony of Herodotus and Dion Cassius*, led the 
 people of the east to name the days of the week 
 after the planets placed in a very different order 
 from that assigned them by the astronomy of the 
 Hindoos, the Egyptians and the Greeks ? Con- 
 sidering the number of terms, that compose the 
 series of the hours, and that of the Mexican hie- 
 roglyphics, we feel, that this hypothesis is not 
 admissible. 
 
 In speaking of the analogy observable be- 
 tween the names of several lunar mansions, and 
 those of the signs of the solar zodiac, we have 
 explained how the primitive order of the aste- 
 risms may be changed, when nations, replunged 
 into barbarism, endeavour from an obscure re- 
 membrance, to reestablish the system of their 
 chronology. Although the supposition of these 
 changes is obvious, we are nevertheless not forc- 
 ed to admit it, in order to explain the dissimili- 
 tude in the position of the same signs in the Tar- 
 tar and Mexican zodiacs. The Hindoos pre- 
 serve several divisions of the ecliptic into twenty- 
 seven or twenty-eight nacshatras, the names of 
 which are in great part the same, without being 
 placed in the same order. An ancient monu- 
 
 * Dion Cassius, lib. 37, c. 19. (Ed. Fabric, 1750, torn. f, 
 p. 124). Heicd, lib.2,c. 89. 
 
361 
 
 ment, made known by Bianchini in the begin- 
 ning of the last century, proves, that there ex- 
 isted in the Ilast solar zodiacs, in which are 
 found the Tartarian asterisras of the Horse, the 
 Dog, the Hare, the Dragon, and the Bird, ar- 
 ranged so that the Dog answers to the Bull, and 
 not to the Ram of the Greek zodiac, while the 
 Dog and the Hare are separated not by four, but 
 only by two signs. Now if in Asia the same 
 nacshatras, and the same dodecatemorions, have 
 not always followed the same order in the dif- 
 ferent lunar and solar zodiacs, we must not be 
 surprised at the transposition of the signs ob- 
 served in the cycle of the hieroglyphics of the 
 day among the Mexicans. It is even possible, 
 that this transposition may be merely apparent, 
 and may appear real to us, because we can com- 
 pare the Tolteck and Mexican calendars only to 
 the cycles which we find at present among the 
 Tartars and the Thibetans. Perhaps other na- 
 tions of eastern Asia have communicated their 
 zodiac to those warlike hordes, which have in- 
 undated Mexico since the seventeenth century. 
 Perhaps in traversing the elevated plain of cen- 
 tral Asia, and examining more attentively the 
 remains of civilization preserved in little Buck- 
 haria, at Turfan, or near the ruins of Kara- 
 corum, the ancient capital of the empire of the 
 Monguls, travellers may some day discover the 
 
362 
 
 same series of signs, as is contained in the zodiac 
 of the Mexicans. 
 
 The astronomical monument, of which Bian- 
 chini sent a drawing to the academy, is a mar- 
 ble fragment preserved in the Vatican, and 
 found at Rome in 1705. We propose here to 
 examine it with particular attention, because it 
 seems well adapted to throw light on the divi- 
 sions of the ecliptic used in Mexico and eastern 
 Asia. It exhibits, in five consecutive zones, the 
 figures of the planets, the decani, the asterisms of 
 the Greek zodiac repeated twice, and the signs 
 of another zodiac, which has the greatest ana- 
 logy with that of the Tartar nations. We may 
 be surprised, that Fontenelle, Bailly, Dupuis, and 
 other distinguished men of letters, who have 
 written on the origin of the zodiacs, should have 
 taken this bass-relief for an Egyptian work*. 
 According to the observation of Mr. Visconti, 
 the style of the figures representing the planets 
 evidently proves, that it was sculptured in the 
 time of the Csesars. In this mutilated monu- 
 ment we recognise, among the signs of the in- 
 terior zone, a horse, a crab, a serpent, a dog that 
 
 * Hist, cle l'Acad. des Sciences, 1708, vol.1, p. 110. 
 Bailly, Hist, de l'Astr. anc, p. 493 and 504. Dupuis, 
 Origine des Cultes, vol. 1, p. 180. Hager, Ulustraz. d'uno 
 JZodiaco orientale, 1811, p. 15. 
 
363 
 
 bears some likeness to the wolf, a hare, two birds, 
 one of which seems placed opposite to a serpent, 
 and two quadrupeds, one with a long- tail, and 
 the other with goat's horns. As the asterisms of 
 the Greek zodiac were arranged one by one 
 with those of the unknown zodiac, we see, that 
 the Horse and the Hare answer, as in the Tartar 
 dodecatemorions, to our signs of the Lion and 
 the Scorpion. The following table exhibits the 
 order, in which the asterisms are placed in the 
 planisphere of Bianchini. I have added the 
 signs of the Tartar cycle, of which we found 
 vestiges among the nations of the New Con- 
 tinent. 
 
304 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 < 
 
 
 ZODIAC OF BIANCHINI. 
 
 o 
 
 N 
 O 
 
 2 
 a 
 
 g 
 
 Bird. 
 
 Hare. 
 
 Goat. 
 
 Animal with a long tail. 
 
 Horse. 
 
 Crab. 
 
 Serpent. 
 
 Dog or Wolf. 
 
 Bird. 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 N 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 i 
 
 w 
 
 xft 
 
 rt o CO •» •*» S-, :S 3 ™ w O" ?! 
 
 The names of the animals, which are too 
 much mutilated to be known with certainty, are 
 printed in italics; the asterisms of the Greek 
 sphere, which are entirely erased, are distin- 
 guished in the same manner. I have arranged 
 these last contrary to the order of the signs, ac- 
 cording to the practice of the Tartarian nations. 
 
•305 
 
 It is remarkable enough, that, in this curious 
 monument, the planets and the decani, the last 
 of which only are figured in the Egyptian style 
 with heads or masks of animals, are found placed 
 in contrary directions. Though in the two zones, 
 which represent the Greek zodiac, four signs are 
 repeated under the same forms, we must not 
 thence conclude that the others were equally 
 identic. It were above all to be wished, that 
 the Twins, and Pan, or Capricorn, had been 
 preserved in the two zones ; for the sculptor 
 seems to have had the intention of uniting the 
 zodiacs of different nations, and the heterogene- 
 ous forms* given to the same asterisms among 
 the Chaldeans, the Egyptians, and the Greeks. 
 The Twins are represented by two figures, 
 which Mr. Bailly thought to be of different 
 sexes, one of which holds a club, and the other 
 a lyre. It is under this same form, that this sign 
 is described in the Astronomicon of Hyginus -j- ; 
 and thus that it is figured in the Sanscrit verses 
 of the poet Sripeti : " the couple, miihouna" 
 says this Hindoo writer, " is composed of a girl, 
 
 * Eratosthenis Cataster., ed. Scliaubach., 1795, page 21, 
 Hygin. Poeticon Astr., lib. 2, c. 28 j lib. 3, c. 27. (Auctores 
 Mythographi Latini, ed. van Stuveren, 1742, torn. 2, page 
 481—528). 
 
 + Lib. 3, c. 21. (Auct. Mythograpb. torn. 2, page 523). 
 Du Choul, Discours de la Religion des Anciens Romains, 
 1556, page 180. Ideler, Sternnamen, s. 151. 
 
366 
 
 who plays on the vina, and of a young man, 
 who brandishes a club*." 
 
 The interior zodiac contains, like that of the 
 Thibetans, the Chinese, and the Tartars, only 
 animals, real £«&*. In the Greek sphere, half 
 the signs are formed of animals found in nature, 
 the other half is composed of human figures, and 
 fabulous or allegorical beings. The Balance, 
 tyyoc,, or AjT^a, is held sometimes by the claws, 
 wiA*/, of the Scorpion-)-* ; at others by a male 
 figure, as in the planisphere of Bianchini, and in 
 the Indian zodiac ; and at others by the Virgin, 
 who in this case assumes the name of Astrea. 
 &hv|. The signs of the lunar mansions, or the 
 hieroglyphics of the days of the Mexican calen- 
 dar, are represented both by animals and inani- 
 mate objects. If we adopt the ingenious idea 
 of Mr. Hager, according to which the sacred 
 stone, brought by Michaux from the banks of 
 the Tygris, is an ancient zodiac, we shall find, 
 that, among the Chaldeans, the series of the real 
 $dS/a was also interrupted by altars, towers, and 
 houses;};. This last fact is favourable to the 
 hypothesis, that the dodecatemorions owe their 
 origin to the lunar mansions, or houses. The 
 same stone appears to offer another analogy. In 
 
 * Asiat. Res. vol. 2, page 335. 
 
 t M anil., lib. I. vol. 609. 
 
 X lllustrazione d'uno Zod. Orientale, cap. 8, p. 39, trav. 2. 
 
367 
 
 the Tartarian cycle, the Tiger corresponds to 
 Saggitarius, often indicated merely by an arrow. 
 In the zodiac described by Mr. Hager, we find, 
 beside the wolf, a marron clog, and Capricorn, 
 or the Antelope-fish, an arrow, which represents 
 the river Tygris. This analogy is merely acci- 
 dental ; for the name of the river has nothing in 
 common with that which the animal, the tiger, 
 bears in the East. 
 
 When we recollect, that the zodiac which 
 contains a dog, a hare, and an ape, belongs ex- 
 clusively to Eastern Asia, and that it has pro- 
 bably passed thence into America, we are sur- 
 prised to see, that it was known at Rome in the 
 first ages of our era, the period at which the 
 planisphere of Bianchini was sculptured. The 
 astrologers, or Chaldeans, established in Greece 
 and in Italy, had no doubt communications with 
 those of Asia ; and these communications must 
 have become more frequent and extensive, in 
 proportion as astrology was more in vogue 
 among the people, and at the court of the Caesars. 
 Of eight signs, which are recognisable in the 
 planisphere of Bianchini, there is only one, the 
 Crab, which does not belong to the Tartar 
 zodiac. The hare, which is found among the 
 Thibetans and Mexicans, has the legs somewhat 
 longer, but is sufficiently characterized by its 
 place in the Scorpion. I am ignorant why Mr. 
 Bailly took the dog, or wolf, for a hog, which 
 
.308 
 
 animal nevertheless is also in the Tartarian 
 zodiac : it corresponds to the signs of the Fishes 
 of the Greek sphere ; and, what is very remark- 
 able, in the planispheres of the temple of Ten- 
 tyra, a figure holding a hog in its hand is seen 
 twice near the same sign *. The monument 
 described by Bianchini is so much the more in- 
 teresting, as we recognize in no astronomical 
 work either Greek or Latin, not even in the 
 Saturnalia of Macrobius, written in the time of 
 Theodosius, the traces of this cycle of animals, 
 which the Monguls, and other Tartar hordes, 
 who ravaged Europe, undoubtedly used in their 
 chronology: and with which we have become 
 well acquainted only from our communications 
 with China and Japan. It seems strange, that 
 the eloquent historian of the academy, Fonte- 
 nelle, should not have remembered, that astro- 
 logical reveries are intimately connected with 
 the first notions of astronomy ; and that they 
 were of service in throwing light on the ancient 
 communications of nations with each other. 
 " The monument," says he, " in which Bian- 
 chini sought explanations, belongs to the history 
 of the folly of mankind, and the academy has 
 something better to do, than waste its time in 
 researches of this kind." 
 
 In resuming what we have stated respecting 
 
 * Denon, Voyage, PI. 130 and 132. 
 
369 
 
 the different divisions of the ecliptic, and the 
 signs that preside, in both continents, over the 
 years, the months, the days, and the hours, we 
 find the following results. Among the nations 
 that have turned their attention to the starry 
 vault, the lunar zodiac, divided into twenty-seven 
 or twenty-eight mansions, is more ancient than 
 the zodiac in twelve parts, which, from being at 
 first only a zodiac of full-moons, is become a 
 solar zodiac. The names of the months are 
 sometimes chosen among the lunar mansions, as 
 with the Hindoos ; at other times they are those 
 of the dodecatemorions, as in the Dionysian 
 year. On the banks of the Ganges, they still 
 say, the months Arrow, House, or Head of the 
 Antelope; as in the time of Ptolemy- Philadelphus 
 they said at Alexandria, the months Didymon^ 
 Parthenon, and Aegon, months of the Twins, the 
 Virgin, and Capricorn *. An intimate connex- 
 ion is observed between the names of the dodeca- 
 temorions and those of the nacshatras : among 
 several nations, the latter have passed to the 
 lunar days. Beside the real division of the 
 ecliptic, which is a zone of the starry heaven, 
 there still exists, and especially in Eastern Asia, 
 divisions of the time, which the Sun employs in 
 returning nearly to the same stars, or the same 
 point of the horizon. These cycles, generally 
 
 * Ideler, Hist. Untersuch., s. 264. 
 VOL. XIII. B B 
 
.170 
 
 composed of twelve or twenty-four parts, accord- 
 ing to the number of the lunations, or half-luna- 
 tions, that have elapsed, belong rather to chro- 
 nology, than to astronomy ; they present only an 
 ideal division of the ecliptic, of which each part 
 takes a name and a particular sign. Such are 
 the Tartarian animals, the foe and the tsiehi of 
 the Chinese. These signs, which measure only 
 the time, and subdivide the seasons, may be in- 
 vented by nations, who do not fix their attention 
 on the stars. We may find a real zodiac com- 
 posed of twelve signs, which preside over the 
 months ; and, by the contrivance of periodical 
 series, over years, days, and hours, even in the 
 lower regions of Peru, where a thick cloud of 
 vapors withholds the view of the stars from the 
 inhabitants, without concealing from them the 
 disks of the Sun and Moon. The signs of the 
 ideal zodiac, the complete revolution of which 
 (the circle, annulus) forms a year {annus, evuxv- 
 toc), are easily transferred to the constellations 
 themselves; and hence the division of time, be- 
 comes a division of the sphere. 
 
 We shall not discuss whether the zodiac of 
 the Hindoos, the Chaldeans, the Egyptians, and 
 the Greeks, had not also been originally* a cycle, 
 the signs of which pointed out the variations of 
 
 * Rhode, Versuch ueber das Alter des Thiorkreises, 1809, 
 s. 16 and 101. 
 
the climate in a coimtry subject to periodical 
 inundations. The unequal extent occupied by 
 the Virgin and the Crab, and the want of Con- 
 nexion * observed between the figures of the 
 dodecatemorion and the extrazodiacal constella- 
 tions, appear to give some probability to this 
 supposition. We see in fact, that there are 
 nations, who employ at the same time several 
 divisions of the ecliptic ; and that the signs, 
 which, in one nation, belong to constellations, 
 are with another nation only divisions of time. 
 Perhaps there existed formerly some region of 
 Asia, in which the Tartarian cycle of the celes- 
 tial animals, which Bailly considers as the oldest 
 of the zodiacs, while Dupuis -J- strives to make it 
 pass for a table of paranatellons, was a real 
 division of the stars placed in the ecliptic. In 
 order to understand clearly the relations, which 
 from the remotest periods were formed between 
 the nations of both continents, we should not 
 lose 6ight of the intimate connexion, that exists 
 between the imaginary and the real zodiac, be- 
 tween the cycles and the constellations of thf 
 ecliptic, between the mansions and the division 
 of the solar orbit. 
 
 The same considerations on the progressive 
 
 * Recherches sur l'Origine des Constellations de la 
 Sphere Grecque, 1807, p. 6-5. 
 
 t Origines des Cultes, torn. 3, p. 362. 
 B B.2 ' 
 
372 
 
 unfolding of astronomy prevent us from deciding, 
 whether the hieroglyphics of the days and the 
 years of the Totteck and Azteck calendar, like the 
 Chinese tse and tchl, belong only to an imagi- 
 nary or fictitious zodiac, or whether they denote 
 zodiacal constellations. We have already ob- 
 served, that the great wheels, which represent 
 the cycle of fifty-two years, were encircled by a 
 serpent biting his tail, and with four folds to 
 mark the four indictions. The hieroglyphics 
 being arranged in periodical series of four terms, 
 and the intervals that separate one fold from 
 another containing twelve years, each knot of 
 the serpent corresponded to another sign. I think 
 these four knots, denoted by the asterisms rabbit, 
 cane, silecc, and house, alluded to the points of 
 the solstices and the equinoxes, or the intersec- 
 tion of the colures with the ecliptic. The most 
 ancient division of the zodiac, says Albategni # , 
 is that into four parts. In fact, in the first year 
 of the great cycle of the days matlactli tochtli 
 ( 10 rabbit) chicuei acatl, (8 cane), chicome calli 
 (7 house), and matlactli tecpatl, (11 flint), an- 
 swered to the 2 2d of December, the 22d of 
 March, the 20th of June, and the 23d of Sep- 
 tember. These days are but little distant from 
 the equinoxes and solstices ; and as the Mexican 
 
 * De Scientia Stellarum, cap. 2, (eel. Bonon., 1G45, 
 page 3). 
 
' 373 
 
 year began in the winter solstice, like the year of 
 the Chinese, it is natural enough, that, in the 
 periodical series of the signs of the years, the 
 first term should be tochtli, though in the series 
 of the twenty signs of the days tochtli is preceded 
 by calli. 
 
 We also know, from the notions which Si- 
 guenza derived from the works of Ixtlilxochitl, 
 that the four folds of the serpent, and the four 
 asterisms which belong to them, indicate the 
 four seasons, the four elements, and the cardinal 
 points. Earth was dedicated to the rabbit, and 
 water to the cane ; and we have seen, in speak- 
 ing of the signs of the night, that Tepeyollotli, 
 one of the divinities who dwelt in caverns, and 
 Cinteotl, the goddess of the harvests, accompany 
 the diurnal signs rabbit and cane. The sense of 
 these, allegories is too clear to want explanation. 
 The four signs of the equinoxes and solstices, 
 chosen in a series of twenty signs, recall to mind 
 also the four royal stars, Aldebaran, Regulus, 
 Antares, and Fomalhaut, celebrated throughout 
 Asia, and presiding over the seasons*. In the 
 New Continent, the indications of the cycle of 
 fifty- two years form, as it were, the four seasons 
 of the great year; and the Mexican astrologers 
 were pleased in seeing one of the four equi- 
 
 * Firniieus, Lib/o' 6. 1. 
 
S74 
 
 noxial signs presiding over every period of thir- 
 teen years. 
 
 Though the same signs were used and ar- 
 ranged in the same order, in every part of the 
 Mexican empire, some difference was neverthe- 
 less observed in the choice of the solstitial and 
 equinoxial sign placed at the head of the xiuh- 
 molpilli, or ligature of the years. The inhabit- 
 ants of Tezcuco began the great year by acatl ; 
 those of Teotihuacan, by calll ; the Toltecks by 
 tecpatl. It has been doubted, whether, among 
 the same nations, notwithstanding the difference 
 we have just indicated, the first day of the year 
 was constantly the sign cipactli ; but the frag- 
 ments of their historic annals, preserved in the 
 Boturini Museum, and in the collection of P. 
 Pichardo, at Mexico, seem to indicate, that the 
 variety of dates proceeds from the time at which 
 the intercalation of the thirteen days was made, 
 and not from the different manner of marking 
 the beginning of the cycle. 
 
 We are ignorant whether the twenty signs of 
 the Mexican days are the remains of an ancient 
 division of the zodiac into twenty-eight lunar 
 mansions ; or whether with the four signs of the 
 night, the names of which are not found among 
 those of the days, they anciently formed twenty- 
 four asterisms, like the tsiehi of the Chinese 
 zodiac. An equal number of signs had perhaps 
 
375 
 
 been placed between the four equinoxial and 
 solstitial signs ; perhaps the number of twenty 
 was derived only from a division of the visible 
 hemisphere into ten parts. It is certain, that 
 this same division engaged the Mexicans to 
 divide the year of three hundred and sixty days 
 into eighteen months ; and that it became the 
 basis of a system, of which we find no vestige in 
 the Old Continent. I am induced however to 
 think, that the division into eighteen months of 
 twenty days is posterior to another into twelve 
 moons of thirty days ; for the method of making 
 a sign of the zodiac preside over each day, and 
 of determining the number of the months by the 
 return of the periodical series, must have been 
 adopted later than the more obvious idea of 
 dividing the year according to the number of 
 lunations it contains. Although the divisions of 
 the ecliptic into twenty-four tsiekis *; and into 
 thirty- six decani, exist in Asia, these divisions 
 have never led to years of ten or fifteen months : 
 and, if antiquity speaks of those of four, six, or 
 twenty-four months, these divisions do not de- 
 pend on the use of periodical series, like the 
 eighteen months of the Mexican year, but on 
 the importance assigned to the equinoxial and 
 
 * Amiot, in Ies Memoires concernant les Chinois, vol. 2, 
 p. 161. Gaubil, Traits de FAstronomie Chiaoisc, p. 32. 
 
376 
 
 solstitial points, to the cycles of sixty days, and 
 the durations of the half lunations. 
 
 We have already observed, that the Mexican 
 year, like that of the Egyptians and Persians, 
 was composed of three hundred and sixty days* 
 to which were added five epagomena, termed 
 furtive (muster aha) , or useless (nemontemij. 
 If the Mexicans had been unacquainted with 
 the excess of the duration of the revolution of 
 the Sun over three hundred and sixty- five days, 
 the beginning of their year, like that of the 
 vague year of the Egyptians, would have passed, 
 in about one thousand five hundred and eight 
 years, through every season and every point of 
 the ecliptic. Four centuries had elapsed after 
 the reform of the Mexican calendar in 1091, be- 
 fore the arrival of the Spaniards. The writers 
 of that time affirm, that at this epocha the ca- 
 lendar of the Europeans coincided within a few 
 days with the Azteck calendar : and the accu- 
 rate calculation of the eclipses of the Sun 
 marked in the Mexican annals even render it 
 probable, that the difference observed between 
 the two calendars proceeded wholly from our 
 own not having yet undergone the Gregorian 
 reform. Let us now examine what was the 
 mode of intercalation, by which the Mexicans 
 avoided the errors of their chronology. 
 
 The Mexican year being solar, and not lunar, 
 
377 
 
 admitted a far more simple mode of intercala- 
 tion, than that of the Greeks and Romans before 
 the introduction of the Merkklinus. If we cast 
 our eyes upon the intercalations used among 
 different nations, we see that some permit the 
 hours to accumulate till they form a whole day, 
 while others neglect the intercalation till the 
 supplementary hours form a period equal to one 
 of the great divisions of their year. The first 
 mode of intercalation is that of the Julian year, 
 the second is that of the ancient Persians, who 
 added, every one hundred and twenty years, a 
 whole month of* thirty days to a year of twelve 
 months, and so that the intercalary month ran 
 through the whole year in 12 X 120 or fourteen 
 hundred and forty years *, The Mexicans have 
 evidently followed the system of the Persians ; 
 they retained the vague year, till the supplemen- 
 tary hours formed a half lunation, and they in- 
 tercalated consequently thirteen days in every 
 ligature, or cycle of fifty-two years. Hence it 
 followed, as we have already observed, that 
 each ligature contained ^ s , or one thousand four 
 hundred and sixty- one small periods of thirteen 
 days. The Mexican year began at the commence 
 ment of the xiuhmolpilli, on the day which corres- 
 ponds to the 9th of January of the Gregorian 
 calendar. The fifth, ninth, and thirteenth years 
 
 * Ideler, Hist. Untcrs., s. 379, 
 
378 
 
 of the cycle, the first day of the year was the 
 8th, the 7th, and the 6th of January ; in every 
 year of the sign tochtli the Mexicans lost. a day ; 
 and by the effect of this retrogradation, the year 
 calli of the fourth indiction began the 27th of De- 
 cember, and finished at the winter solstice, the 
 21st of December, not reckoning the five useless 
 or complementary days. Hence it results, that 
 the last of the nemontemi, called cohuatl, and 
 considered as the most unlucky day, because it 
 belonged to no period of thirteen days, fell, at the 
 end of the cycle, on the 26th of December ; and 
 the thirteen intercalary days brought back the 
 beginning of the year to the 9th of January. In 
 order to render what we have just explained more 
 clear, we shall here add the table of the last 
 twenty-five days of the first year of the cycle. 
 
379 
 
 
 
 
 
 METZLAPOHUALLI. 
 
 
 GREGORIAN 
 
 i 
 
 - A _ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 <i 
 
 Series of 13 Xumlers, 
 
 Series 
 
 
 CALENDAR. 
 
 2 
 
 and of 
 
 of 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 20 Signs of the Bay. 9 
 
 Signs of the Night. 
 
 
 
 15 
 16 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 { 
 
 
 3 Cipactli. 
 
 Tepeyollotli. 
 
 
 ( 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 3 
 
 
 4 Ehecatl. 
 
 Quiahuitl. 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 Calli. 
 
 6 Cuetzpalin. 
 
 Tlctl. 
 Tecpatl. 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 fi 
 
 7 Cohuatl. 
 
 Xochitl. 
 
 
 
 19 
 20 
 21 
 22 
 23 
 24 
 25 
 26 
 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 !j -( 8 Miquiztli. 
 
 Cinteotl. 
 
 
 OJ 
 
 O 
 
 « ^ 
 
 s 
 
 a 
 u 
 
 w 
 
 a 
 
 h 
 
 ft 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 9 Mazatl. 
 
 10 Tochtli. 
 
 11 Atl. 
 
 12 Itzcuintli. 
 
 Miquiztli. 
 AtL 
 
 Tlazolteotl 
 Tepeyollotli. 
 
 
 1 < 
 
 13 Ozomatli. 
 
 Quiahuitl. 
 
 
 1 
 
 ' 1 Malinalli. 
 
 Tletl. 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 <» 
 a 
 
 13 
 
 
 2 Acatl. 
 
 Tecpatl. 
 
 
 
 28 
 
 ^ 
 
 14 
 
 
 3 Ocelotl. 
 
 Xochitl. 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 4 Quauhtli. 
 
 Cinteotl. 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 16 
 
 s 1 
 
 C5 
 
 5 Cozcaquauhtli 
 
 Miquiztli 
 
 
 
 L 31 
 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 
 6 Ollin. 
 
 7 Tecpatl. 
 
 Atl. 
 Tlazolteotl. 
 
 
 
 r » 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 19 
 
 
 8 Quiahuitl. 
 
 Tepeyollotli 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 20 
 
 £ 
 
 9 Xochitl. 
 
 10 Cipactli. 
 
 11 Ehecatl. 
 
 12 CalU. 
 
 Quiahuitl. 
 
 
 o 
 Si 
 
 4 
 5 
 6 
 7 
 8 
 
 9 
 10 
 
 
 ~ 1 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 . 5 
 
 <N 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 V r 
 
 
 
 
 1 Cohuatl. 
 
 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 \* 
 
 i 
 
 , 1 Cipactli. 
 | 2 Ehecatl. 
 
 Tletl. 
 Tecpatl. 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 ss; 
 
 3 
 
 « 
 
 1 3 Calli. 
 
 Xochitl. 
 
 
 
 12 
 13 
 
 
 5 
 
 > «( 4 Cueztpalin. 
 
 | I 5 Cohuatl. 
 
 - 1 
 
 Cinteotl. 
 Miquiztli. 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 <u 
 
 6 
 
 ^ j 6 Miquiztli. 
 ~ . V 7 Mazatl. 
 
 Atl. 
 
 
 
 I 15 
 
 ^ 
 
 t 7 
 
 Tlazolteotl. 
 
 
380 
 
 The intercalation of thirteen days was cele- 
 brated by a great secular festival, called xiuh- 
 molpia, or toxiuhmolpilia (ligature of our years), 
 and described by all the historians of the con- 
 quest *. The Mexicans believed, according to 
 a very ancient prediction, that the end of the 
 world would take place at the termination of a 
 cycle of fifty-two years; that the sun would no 
 more appear on the horizon ; and that mankind 
 would be devoured by evil genii of hideous ap- 
 pearance, known under the name of Tz'itzi- 
 mimes. This belief was no doubt connected 
 with the Tolteck tradition of the Jour ages, ac- 
 cording to which the Earth had already under- 
 gone four great revolutions, three of which had 
 taken place at the end of a cycle. The people 
 passed in the deepest consternation the five com- 
 plementary days, which preceded the xiuhmol- 
 pia : on the fifth day, the sacred fire was extin- 
 guished in the temples by order of the teoteuctli, 
 or high priest ; in the convents, the number of 
 which was as considerable at Tenochtitlan, as it 
 has been from the remotest periods in Thibet 
 and Japan, the monks, or tlamacazquis, devoted 
 themselves to prayer : at the approach of the 
 night, no person dared light the fire in his house ; 
 
 * Torqueruada, de una Fiesta grandissima, lib. 10, c. 33 
 —36; torn. 2, page 312 et 321. Acosta, lib. 6, c. 2, 
 p. 259. 
 
381 
 
 the vessels of clay were broken, garments torn, 
 and whatever was most precious was destroyed, 
 because every thing appeared useless at the tre- 
 mendous moment of the last day. Amidst this 
 frantic superstition, pregnant women became the 
 objects of peculiar horror to the men ; their faces 
 were hidden with masks, made with paper of the 
 agave ; they were even imprisoned in the store- 
 houses of maize ; from a persuasion, that, if the 
 cataclysm took place, the women, transformed 
 into tigers, would make common cause with the 
 evil genii (tzitzimimes), to avenge themselves of 
 the injustice of the men. 
 
 In the evening of the last day of the nemon- 
 temi, which is presided by the sign of the 
 serpent, began the festival of the newjire. The 
 priests took the dresses of their gods ; and, fol- 
 lowed by an immense crowd of people, went in 
 solemn procession to the mountain of Huixach- 
 tecatl *, two leagues from Mexico, between 
 Iztapallapan and Culhuacan. This lugubrious 
 march was called the march of the gods, teone- 
 nemi ; a denomination which reminded the 
 Mexicans, that the gods had quitted their city, 
 and that perhaps they would see them no more. 
 When the procession had reached the summit of 
 the porphyritic mountain of Huixachtecat], it 
 waited the moment when the Pleiades ascended 
 
 * Vixacfatia, from Gomara, Conquista, fol. 133 (a). 
 
382 
 
 the middle of the sky, to begin the horrible 
 sacrifice of which we have spoken *, in the 
 description of plate 15th, No. 8. The corpse of 
 the victim remained stretched on the ground, 
 and the instrument made use of to kindle the 
 fire by rubbing (ko^ix of the Greeks, tletlaxoni 
 of the Mexicans) was placed on the wound, 
 which the priest of Copulco, armed with a knife 
 of obsidian, had made in the breast of the pri- 
 soner destined to be sacrificed. When the bits 
 of wood (la harlna del palillo), detached by the 
 rapid friction of the cylinder, had taken fire, an 
 enormous pile, previously prepared to receive 
 the body of the unfortunate victim, was kindled. 
 The flames of the pile were seen from a great 
 part of the valley of Mexico, on account of the 
 height of the mountain on which this sanguinary 
 rite was performed ; and the people filled the air 
 with joyful exclamations. All those who were 
 unable to follow the procession were stationed on 
 the terraces of houses, or the tops of the teocallis, 
 or the hills that arose in the middle of the lake ; 
 their eyes were fixed on the spot where the flame 
 was to appear, a certain presage of the benevo- 
 lence of the gods, and of the preservation of 
 mankind during the course of a new cycle. 
 Messengers posted at respective distances, hold- 
 ing branches of the wood of a very resinous pine, 
 
 * Paae 225. 
 
383 
 
 carried the new fire from village to village, to 
 the distance of fifteen or twenty-leagues ; it was 
 deposited in every temple, whence it was distri- 
 buted to every private dwelling. When the 
 Sun began to appear on the horizon, the accla- 
 mations redoubled. The procession went back 
 from the mountain of Iztapalapan, to the city ; 
 and the people thought that they beheld their 
 gods return to their sanctuaries. The women 
 were then released from prison ; every one put 
 on new dresses, and the thirteen intercalary days 
 were employed in cleansing the temples, in 
 whitening the walls, in renewing their house- 
 hold furniture, their plate, and whatever else was 
 necessary for domestic use. . 
 
 This secular festival, this apprehension of see- 
 ing the fifth sun extinguished at the epoch of the 
 winter solstice, seems to present a new instance 
 of analogy between the Mexicans and the in- 
 habitants of Egypt. Achilles Tatius *, in his 
 commentary on Aratus, has preserved the follow- 
 ing account, which Scaliger thinks is borrowed 
 from the Octaeterides of Eudoxus. " When the 
 Egyptians saw the Sun descend from the Crab 
 
 * Achil. Tat., Isag. in Phaenom., c. 23, (Petavius de 
 Doctr. Temp., 1703, torn. 3, p. 85). Scalig., Adnot. ad 
 Manil. Astron., lib. I, v. 69, p. 85. See also the French 
 translation of the Letters of Count Carli, torn. 1, page 398, 
 note 1. 
 
384 
 
 towards Capricorn, and the days gradually di- 
 minish, they were accustomed to sorrow from 
 the apprehension, that the Sun was to abandon 
 them entirely. This epocha coincided with the 
 festival of Isis : but when the orb began to re- 
 appear, and the duration of the days grew longer, 
 they robed themselves in white garments, and 
 crowned themselves with flowers {hevxei^ow^a^sc, 
 ttreQavviCpowmv) ." On reading this passage of 
 Achilles Tatius, we think we peruse what 
 Gomara and Torquemada relate respecting the 
 festival of the Mexican jubilee. In the same 
 manner *, in the work of Sextus Empiricus f 
 against the astrologers, we find as it were the 
 description of the symbolical figure J, which we 
 have engraved in plate 15th, from the manu- 
 script preserved at Veletri. In every nation on 
 Earth superstitious ideas assume the same form 
 at the rise and fall of civilization ; and it is on 
 account of this analogy, that it is difficult to dis- 
 tinguish what has been communicated from 
 country to country, and what man has drawn 
 from an interior source. 
 
 * Dupuis, Mem. explicatif du Zodiaque, 1806, page 145. 
 
 + Sext. Empir. contra Mathem., lib. 5, (ed. Stephan., 
 torn. 3, p. 187). Firmicus, lib. 2, c. 27, (ed. Aid. Manut. 
 1503, fol. 105). Origen. contra Celsum, lib. 8, c. 56, (ed. 
 Delarne, 1733 torn.) 1, page 783. 
 
 See abore, page 206, Pi. 15. 
 
3*5 
 
 P. Torquemada, speaking of the secular festi- 
 val, marks the moment of the sacrifice apparent- 
 ly in a very exact manner, but which contains a 
 real contradiction. " When the procession *," 
 says he, " reached the foot of the mountain of 
 (t Huixachtecatl, the priests waited till mid- 
 " night, which they knew by the position of the. 
 " Pleiades, which at this hour had attained the 
 iC mid-sky, (estavan encumbradas en medio del 
 " cielo) : for the time of the jubilee or secular 
 " festival was arrived, when these stars rose at 
 " the beginning- of the night ; which for the 
 u horizon of Mexico is generally in the month 
 " of December." The expression, " when the 
 " Pleiades had attained the mid-sky," means 
 without doubt the passage of the stars across the 
 meridian, or what is nearly the same thing for 
 the calendar of Mexico, their passage through 
 the zenith. Now the last secular festival was 
 celebrated in the sixth year of the reign of 
 Montezuma ; and at that epoch, the culmination 
 of the Pleiades took place at midnight, if we 
 take into account the procession of the equinoxes, 
 not in the month of December, but on the 8th of 
 November. On the 26th of December, this con- 
 stellation rose 3 h 23' before sunset, and its pas- 
 sage across the meridian was at 8 h 33' in the 
 
 * Torqeumada, Tom. 3, p. 313, b. et 321 a. 
 VOL. XIII. € C 
 
386 
 
 evening. These circumstances are naturally the 
 same for every part of the Earth, where we may 
 suppose the Mexican calendar to have been 
 formed ; and if we go back to the first sacrifices 
 celebrated at Tlalixco in 10)1, or to the migra- 
 tions of the Toltecks in the sixth century of our 
 era, we find, that, toward the winter solstice, 
 from the effect of the precession of the equinoxes, 
 the culmination of the Pleiades draws nearer sun- 
 set. It is probable, that the expression, " at the 
 moment of midnight," and " mid-sky," ought 
 not to be taken in the literal sense. Torquemada 
 speaks generally in so confused a manner of the 
 system of the chronology of the Mexicans, that 
 it may be supposed he had misconceived all that 
 the Indians told him respecting their astronomi- 
 cal phenomena. After having formally stated, 
 that the cycle, and consequently the year, finish- 
 ed in the month of December, he admits, that 
 the first day of the year is the 1st of February ; 
 and he adds, that at the winter solstice the Sun 
 attains at Mexico the most elevated point of its 
 course. Torquemada has collected with the 
 most scrupulous exactness, names, traditions, and 
 isolated facts ; but, utterly devoid of judgment, 
 he contradicts himself whenever he endeavours 
 to combine facts, or judge of their mutual rela- 
 tions. As the Mexicans were not acquainted 
 with the use of clepsydras, which are of very 
 
387 
 
 high antiquity* in Chaldea and China, they 
 could not exactly mark the moment of midnight. 
 Besides, the cosmical setting of the Pleiades was 
 also considered 3 throughout the whole of Asia, as 
 an indication of the beginning of winter-}-. We 
 should look in vain for rigorous exactness in po- 
 pular traditions, which perhaps took rise in 
 much more northerly regions, where the cold is 
 felt a month before the solstice. 
 
 What we have just said relative to the con- 
 stellation of the Pleiades is also sufficient, to 
 prove how far mistaken are some authors, who 
 seem uncertain whether the year began toward 
 the vernal equinox, or toward the winter solstice. 
 The farther we remove from the 5th of Novem- 
 ber, the day of the achronical rising of the 
 Pleiades, the less possible would it be, that at 
 midnight, when this secular sacrifice was cele- 
 brated, the Mexicans should have seen this con- 
 stellation near the zenith ^. Nevertheless, Tor- 
 quemada, Leon, and Betancourt, believed, that 
 the year began the 1st or 2d of February; Acosta 
 and Clavigero, the 26th of the same month ; 
 Valades and Alva Ixtlilxochitl, the 1st and 20th 
 of March ; Gemelli and Veytia, the 10th of 
 
 * Sext. Empir. pag. Stephan. 113. Lettre du p»re Du 
 Croz, in Souciet, Observat., Tom. 1, p. 345. 
 
 f Bailly, A6tr. mod., p. 477. 
 
 | Gama, § 35, p. 52, note. 
 
 c c 2 
 
388 
 
 April. In the sixteenth century, the culmina- 
 tion of the Pleiades took place on the day of the 
 vernal equinox 3 h 8' before the setting of the 
 Sun. It is true, that, according" to an ancient 
 tradition *, the disappearance of this constella- 
 tion at sunrise denoted formerly the day of the 
 autumnal equinox, which supposes an observa- 
 tion made three thousand years before our era ; 
 but we cannot admit, that the Mexicans had re- 
 ceived their chronology from a people, who be- 
 gan their year at the entrance of autumn. The 
 concordance of dates, several astronomical phe- 
 nomena, the evidence of the Spanish authors 
 who accumulated materials without knowing the 
 true system of the calendar, all are in favour of 
 the system of Gama. I shall content myself with 
 citing a single proof. The Indian historiogra- 
 pher Christoval del Castillo, in a manuscript 
 workf, written in the Mexican language, and 
 preserved at Mexico, asserts, that the five com- 
 plementary days were added to the end of the 
 month Atemoztli ; which corresponds, according 
 to the unanimous testimony of the Indian and 
 Spanish authors, to our month of December. 
 Torquemada says besides, that the third festival 
 of the god of water was celebrated at the winter 
 
 * Plin. Hist. Nat., Lib. 18, c. 25, (ed. Harduin, 1741,) 
 Tom. 2, p. 129. 
 
 i MSS., cap. 71. 
 
389 
 
 solstice, which took place towards the end of 
 Atemoztli ; and that the cycle finished in the 
 month of December. All these circumstances 
 agree in placing the intercalary days a short time 
 after the winter solstice. The fear of seeing the 
 star of day extinguished or disappear, the ideas 
 of sorrow and of joy expressed at the secular fes- 
 tival, refer rather to the period of the shortening 
 of the days, than to that of the equinox. It is 
 true, it was at the entrance of spring, that at 
 Rome the pontiff took the new fire from the altar 
 of Vesta ; and that the Persians celebrated the 
 great festivals oftheNeurouz ; but the motives* 
 of these festivals were different from those, that 
 guided the Mexicans and the Egyptians in the 
 solstitial festivals, and those in honor of Isis. 
 
 I have explained the system of the intercala^ 
 tion, such as it is seen in the Mexican manu- 
 scripts, such as it has been adopted by Siguenza, 
 Clavigero, Carli, and long before them by 
 Boulanger and Freret. According to this sys- 
 tem, the length of the year is supposed to be 
 365*25 days ; whence it results, that, from the 
 reform of the calendar in 1091, to the arrival of 
 the Spaniards, the Mexicans must have found 
 themselves in an error of more than three days. 
 Now the researches which Gama made on the 
 
 * Dupuis, Origine des Cultes, lorn. 1, p. 156 j torn. J, 
 P. 2, p. 96. 
 
390 
 
 eclipses of the Sun on the 23d of February, 1477, 
 and the 7th of June, 1481, which are indicated 
 in the hieroglyphical annals ; on several me- 
 morable periods of the conquest ; and on the 
 days, when, according to the Mexican records, 
 the Sun passes the zenith of Tenochtitlan ; seem 
 to prove, that this error of three days did not 
 take place ; and that at the beginning of the 
 sixteenth century, as we have before observed, 
 the dates of the Azteck calendar were more ac- 
 cordant with the days of the solstices and equi- 
 noxes, than those of the Spanish calendar. 
 
 Without knowing the exact length of the year, 
 the Mexicans would have been enabled from 
 time to time to rectify their calendar, as they 
 learned from gnomonic observations, that, in 
 the first year of the cycle, the equinoxes of spring 
 and autumn were some days distant from 7 ma- 
 linalli, and from 9 cozcaquauhtli. The Peruvi- 
 ans of Cuzco, whose year was lunar, regulated 
 their intercalation, not by the shadow of gno- 
 mons, which they however very assiduously mea- 
 sured, but by marks placed in the horizon, to 
 denote where the Sun rose and set on the days 
 of the solstices and equinoxes. A periodical and 
 exact intercalation, such as that which has been 
 known by the Persians since the eleventh cen- 
 tury, is no doubt preferable to those sudden 
 changes, which are denoted by the title of re- 
 forms of the calendar ; but a nation, which for 
 
391 
 
 ages should employ a very imperfect mode of 
 intercalation, might nevertheless maintain har- 
 mony between its calendar, and that of the most 
 civilized people, if, led by direct observation of 
 the heavenly bodies, it changed at times the begin ■ 
 nine: of its vear. The Mexican historv, in its 
 annals, offers no trace of such sudden changes, 
 or extraordinary intercalations. Since the ce- 
 lebrated epoch of the sacrifice of Tlalixco, the 
 calendar had undergone no reform, the interca- 
 lation was uniformly made at the end of each 
 cycle ; and to explain how four centuries had 
 not been sufficient to produce a perceptible error 
 in the chronology, Mr. Gama admits, that the 
 Mexicans intercalated only twenty -five days 
 every cycle of a hundred and four years, cetme- 
 huetiliztli, or twelve days and a half at the end 
 of each cycle of fifty-two years, which fixes the 
 duration of the year to 365 24 days. He thinks 
 himself enabled to conclude from the statement 
 even of the historians of the sixteenth century, 
 that the secular festival was celebrated day and 
 night alternately ; and that, if the years of a 
 cycle began all at midnight, those of another be- 
 gan all at noon. Unable to examine the works 
 written in the Mexican language, I cannot de- 
 cide on the contrary of Mr. Gama's opinions. 
 The reasons which he alleges in his dissertation 
 on the monuments discovered in 1790, appear to 
 me less conclusive, since I have been enabled to 
 
392 
 
 examine more thoroughly the Mexican calendar. 
 When his heirs shall have obtained the means of 
 publishing his treatise on the Tolteck and Azteck 
 chronology, it will be more easy to judge of the 
 real number of the intercalary days. Gama's 
 astronomical labours, the exactness of which we 
 have had an opportunity of verifying, ought to 
 inspire great confidence ; and it is probable, that 
 a scientific person, who has had the patience to 
 calculate for the parallel of the ancient Teno- 
 chtitlan, according to the tables of Mayer, a 
 great number of eclipses of the Sun, connected 
 with historical epochas, would not have lightly 
 hazarded a new hypothesis, had he not been led 
 to it by a careful comparison of dates, and by the 
 study of hieroglyphical paintings. 
 
 " The intercalation of twenty-five days in a 
 hundred and four years," says Mr. La Place *, 
 " supposes a more exact duration of the tropical 
 years than that of Hipparchus, and, what is very 
 remarkable, almost equal to the year of the as- 
 tronomers of Almamon. When we consider the 
 difficulty of attaining so exact a determination, 
 we are led to believe, that it is not the work of 
 the Mexicans, and that it has reached them from 
 the Old Continent ; but from what people, and 
 by what means, was it received ? Why, if it was 
 transmitted to them from the north of Asia, is 
 
 * Expo, du Svstkme du Monde, 3d cd., torn. 2, p. 818. 
 
393 
 
 their division of time so diflerent from those, 
 which have been used in that part of the world ?" 
 In our present state of knowledge, we must not 
 flatter ourselves, that we can solve these ques- 
 tions ; but even not admitting the intercalation 
 of twelve days and a half in a cycle, and not 
 granting to the Mexicans the knowledge of the 
 ancient Persian year of 365 25 days, we shall 
 find in the hieroglyphics of the days, and in the 
 employment of the periodical series, irrefragable 
 testimony of an ancient communication with 
 eastern Asia. 
 
 Though the Mexican cycle began by the year 
 of the rabbit, tochtli, as the Tartar cycle begins 
 by the year of the rat, singueri, the intercalation 
 took place only in the year ome gcatl. This very 
 circumstance induced the Mexicans, to denote in 
 their paintings a xiuhmolpilli, or cycle of fifty- 
 two years, by a bundle of canes. The Mexicans 
 had migrated from Aztlan in the year 1064, or 
 1 tecpatl ; their migrations lasted twenty-three 
 years, till 1087, or 2 acatl, when they arrived at 
 Tlalixco. Now, though the reform of the ca- 
 lendar took place in 1090, or the year 1 tochtli, 
 the festival of the new fire was nevertheless ce- 
 lebrated only in the following year 2 acatl ; be- 
 cause, says the Indian historian, Tezozomoc, 
 " the tutelary god of the nation, Huitzilopochtli, 
 had made his first appearance the day I tecpatl 
 of the year 2 acatl" 
 
394 
 
 Some writers have suspected, that the Mexi 
 cans, before the reform of the calendar of Tla- 
 lixco, had intercalated a day every four years. 
 A festival of the god of fire (Xiuhteuctli), cele- 
 brated with more solemnity in the year which 
 bore the symbol tochtli, seems to have given rise 
 to this opinion. Count Carli, whose American 
 Letters exhibit a singular mixture of just obser- 
 vations, of ingenious ideas, of mere sportive no- 
 tions, and of things incompatible with the princi- 
 ples of sound philosophy, and the true system of 
 the motions of the heavenly bodies, imagines, that 
 he has discovered, in the festivals of nine days, 
 celebrated every four years, the remains of a 
 lunar intercalation. He supposes, that the Mex- 
 ican priests computed in a year twelve lunations 
 of twenty-nine days, eight hours ; and that to 
 bring back, every four years, these years of three 
 hundred and fifty-two days to real lunar years, 
 they added nine days. This supposition is al- 
 most as vague as that of the same writer, when 
 he attributes to the celestial bodies the mistake 
 of the ancient calendars, in admitting that, some 
 thousands of years before our era, the Earth 
 finished its revolution round the Sun in three 
 hundred and sixty days*, and that a lunar 
 month was only twenty-seven days and a half. 
 
 * Lettres Amcricaines, torn. 1, p. 153, 161, 167, 333, and 
 371. 
 
395 
 
 As a periodical series of four terms was em- 
 ployed to distinguish the years contained in a 
 cycle, the Mexicans were very naturally led to 
 quadrennial festivals. Such was the solemn fast 
 of one hundred and sixty days, celebrated at the 
 spring equinox, in the petty republics of Tlas- 
 calla, Cholula, and Huetxocingo ; and the hor- 
 rible sacrifice, which took place every four years 
 at Quauhlitlan, in the month of itzcalli, when the 
 penitents scarified their bodies, letting the blood 
 run along reeds thrust into their wounds*, and 
 hanging up these reeds in the temple, as public 
 marks of their devotion. These festivals, which 
 remind us of the acts of penitence at Thibet and 
 in the Indies, were repeated each time that the 
 same sign presided over the year. 
 
 On opening, at Rome, the Codex Borgianus 
 of Veletri, I there found the curious passage-}-, 
 from which the Jesuit Fabrega concluded, that 
 the Mexicans had knowledge of the real dura- 
 tion of the tropical year. Twenty cycles of fifty- 
 two years, or one thousand and forty years, are 
 there indicated in four pages : at the end of this 
 great period, we see the sign rabbit, tochtli, im- 
 mediately*|"precede, among the hieroglyphics of 
 the days, the bird, cozquauhtli ; so that seven 
 
 * Gomara, p. 131. Torquemada, torn. 2, p. 307. Ge- 
 melli, torn. 6, p. 75. 
 
 + Cod. Borg. fol. 48-63. Fabrega, MSS. fol. k, p. 7. 
 
396 ' 
 
 days are suppressed, those of water, the dog, the 
 ape, grass (malinalli), the cane, the tiger, and the 
 eagle. P. Fabrega supposes, in his manuscript 
 commentary, that this omission refers to a pe- 
 riodical reform of the Julian intercalation, be- 
 cause a subtraction of seven days, at the end of 
 a cycle of one thousand and forty years, reduces, 
 by an ingenious method, a year of 365*25 days 
 to a year of 365-243 days, which is only 1' 26", 
 or 0*001 of a day, greater than the real mean 
 year, as it is laid down in the tables of Mr. 
 Delambre. After the examination of a great 
 number of hieroglyphic paintings of the Mexi- 
 cans, and having seen the extreme care with 
 which they are executed in the minutest details, 
 we cannot admit, that the omission of seven 
 terms in a periodical series is owing to mere 
 chance. Fabrega's observation without doubt 
 deserves notice here; not that it is probable, 
 that a nation should in reality employ a reform 
 of the calendar only after long periods of a thou- 
 sand and forty years ; but because the manu- 
 script of Veletri seems to prove, that its author 
 was acquainted with the real duration of the 
 years. If at Mexico, on the arrival of the 
 Spaniards, an intercalation of twenty-five days 
 in one hundred and four years existed, it is to be 
 supposed, that this more perfect intercalation 
 was preceded by an intercalation of thirteen days 
 in fifty-two years. Now the remembrance of 
 
397 
 
 this ancient method would have been preserved . 
 and it is possible, that the' Mexican priest, who 
 composed the ritual in the Borgian Museum, 
 meant to indicate in his book a contrivance of 
 calculation adapted to rectify the ancient calen- 
 dar, by retrenching seven days from a great 
 period of twenty cycles. We shall be able to 
 judge of the propriety of this opinion, only when 
 a greater number of Mexican paintings shall 
 have been consulted in Europe and in America ; 
 for I cannot too often repeat, that all that we 
 have hitherto learnt respecting the ancient state 
 of the natives of the New Continent is nothing, 
 in comparison with the light which will be one 
 day thrown on this subject, if we succeed in 
 bringing together the materials now scattered 
 over both worlds, that have survived the ages of 
 ignorance and barbarism. 
 
 The valuable monument represented in plate 
 23d, which had been already engraved at Mexi- 
 co twenty years ago, confirms a part of the ideas 
 we have just unfolded respecting the Mexican 
 calendar. This immense stone was found in the 
 month of December, 1790, in the foundations of 
 the great temple of Mexitli, in the great square 
 of Mexico, nearly seventy metres to the west of 
 the second gate of the Viceroy's palace, and 
 thirty metres north of the flower market, called 
 Portal de lasjlores, at the small depth of five 
 decimetres. It was so placed, that the sculp- 
 
398 
 
 tured part could be seen only by putting it in a 
 vertical position. When Cortez destroyed the 
 temples, he broke the idols, and every thing that 
 belonged to the ancient rites. Those masses of 
 stone, which were too large to be destroyed, were 
 buried, in order to conceal them from the eyes of 
 a vanquished people. Though the circle, which 
 contains the hieroglyphics of the days, is only 
 three metres four decimetres in diameter, we 
 found, that the whole stone formed a rectangled 
 parallelopipedon of four metres length, as many 
 metres broad, and one metre thick. 
 
 The nature of this stone is not calcareous, as 
 Mr. Gama asserts ; it is a blackish gray trap- 
 pean porphyry, with basis of basaltic ivakke. 
 On carefully examining some detached frag- 
 ments, I perceived hornblende, several very 
 slender crystals of vitreous feldspar, and, what is 
 very remarkable, sprinklings of mica. This 
 rock, cracked and full of small cavities, is desti- 
 tute of quartz, like almost all rocks of trappean 
 formation. As its actual weight is more than 
 twenty-four tuns, and no mountain within eight 
 or ten leagues of the city could furnish a por- 
 phyry of this grain and color, we may easily ima- 
 gine the difficulties, which the Mexicans must 
 have found in transporting so enormous a mass 
 to the foot of the Teocalli. The sculpture in re- 
 lievo is as well polished as any other to be found 
 in Mexican works ; the concentric circles, the 
 
399 
 
 numerous divisions and subdivisions, are traced 
 with mathematical precision ; the more minutely 
 the detail of this sculpture is examined, the 
 greater taste we find in the repetition of the same 
 forms, that attention to order and feeling of sym- 
 metry, which among half civilized nations is a 
 substitute for the feeling of the beautiful. ' 
 
 In the centre of the stone is sculptured the 
 celebrated sign nahid oll'in Tonatiuh (the Sun in 
 his four motions), of which we have already 
 spoken. The Sun is surrounded by eight tri- 
 angular radii ; which are also found in the ritual 
 calendar tonalamatl, in historical paintings, and 
 wherever there is a representation of the Sun, 
 Tonatiuh*. The number eight alludes to the 
 division of the day and the night into eight parts-}". 
 The god Tonatiuh is figured opening his large 
 mouth, armed with teeth ; this yawning mouth, 
 and protruded tongue, remind us of the figure of 
 a divinity of Hindostan, the image of Kala, Time. 
 According to a passage of the Bhagvat-Gheeta, 
 Cala " swallows the worlds, opening a fiery 
 mouth, exhibiting a row of dreadful teeth, and 
 protruding an enormous tongue^." Tonatiuh, 
 placed among the signs of the days, measuring 
 
 * PI. 15, n. 4, (Cod. Borg. Velelr., foL 49). 
 f See p. 282. 
 
 X Wilkins's Translation. See also the Hindu Pantheon, 
 art. Kftla. 
 
400 
 
 the year by the four movements of the solstices 
 and the equinoxes, is in fact the real symbol of 
 time ; it is Krishna assuming the form of Kala, 
 it is Chronos devouring his children, whom we 
 imagine we find under the name of Moloch 
 among the Phoenicians. 
 
 The inner circle contains the twenty signs of 
 the days ; recollecting that clpactli is the first, 
 and xochiil the last of these asterisms, we here, 
 as elsewhere, perceive, that the Mexicans ar- 
 ranged the hieroglyphics from right to left. The 
 heads of the animals are placed in an opposite 
 direction, no doubt because the animal, which 
 turns his back to another, is supposed to pre- 
 cede it. Mr. Zoega observed this peculiarity 
 among the Egyptians*. The death's head, mi- 
 quiztli, placed near the serpent, and accompany- 
 ing it as a sign of the night in the third periodi- 
 cal series, is an exception to the general rule ; 
 this alone is directed toward the last sign, while 
 the animals have their faces turned toward the 
 first. This arrangement is not the same in the 
 manuscripts at Veletri, Rome, and Vienna. 
 
 It is probable, that the sculptured stone, 
 which Mr. Gama has endeavoured to explain, 
 was anciently placed in the enclosure of the teo- 
 calli, in a sacellum dedicated to the sign ollbi 
 
 * Zoega, de Obel., p. 464 ; where, by an error of ibe press, 
 tbe words dextrorsum and sivistrorsum are confounded with 
 each other. 
 
401 
 
 Tonatiuh. We know by a fragment of Her- 
 nandez, preserved by the Jesuit Nieremberg 
 in the eighth book of his Natural HisS 
 that the great teocalli contained within its walls 
 six times thirteen or seventy-eight chapels, se- 
 veral of which were dedicated to the Sun, the 
 Moon, the planet Venus, called Ilcuicatitlan or 
 Tlazolteotl, and to the signs of the zodiac*. 
 The Moon, considered by all nations as the 
 planet that attracts humidity, had a small temple 
 (teccizcalU) built in shell work. The great 
 festivals of the Sun {Tonatiuh) were celebrated 
 at the winter solstice, and in the sixteenth period 
 of thirteen days, over which presided both the 
 sign nahui ollin Tonatiuh, and the milky way, 
 known under the name of Citlalinycue, or Citlal- 
 cueye. During one of these festivals of the Sun, 
 the kings were wont to withdraw into an edifice, 
 built in the midst of the enclosure of the teocalli, 
 and called Hueyquauhxicalco. They passed 
 four days in fasting and penitence ; a bloody 
 sacrifice was afterward offered in honor of the 
 eclipses (Netonatiuhqualo, the unfortunate Sun 
 devoured). In this sacrifice one of two masked 
 victims represented the Sun, Tonatiuh, the 
 
 * Eusebii Nierembergii Hist. Nat., lib. 8, cap. 22, (Ant- 
 werpiae, 1635, page 142—156). Templi partes, 3, 8, 9, 20, 
 25. 
 
 VOL. XIII. D D 
 
402 
 
 other, the Moon, Meztli, as emblems to show, 
 that the Moon is the real cause of the eclipse of 
 the Sun. 
 
 Beside the asterisms of the Mexican zodiac, 
 and the figures of the sign nahui ollin, the stone 
 gives also the dates of ten great festivals, which 
 were celebrated from the spring to the autumnal 
 equinox. As several of these festivals were 
 correspondent with celestial phenomena, as the 
 Mexican year is vague during the space of a 
 cycle, and as the intercalation takes place only 
 every fifty-two years, the same dates do not de- 
 note four years successively the same days. The 
 winter solstice, which, the first year of the cycle, 
 took place on the day 10 tochtli, retrograded 
 two signs eight years later, and fell on the day 
 8 miquiztli. Hence it follows, that, in order 
 to indicate the dates by the signs of the days, 
 we must add the year of the cycle with which 
 these dates correspond. In fact the sign 13 
 canes, or matlactly omey acatl, placed above the 
 figure of the Sun, toward the upper edge of the 
 stone, shows, that this monument contains the 
 fasti of the twenty-sixth year of the cycle, 
 from the month of March to the month of Sep- 
 tember. 
 
 In order to give a clearer view of the signs, 
 which indicate the festivals of the Mexican re- 
 ligion, I must again observe, that the rounds 
 
403 
 
 placed near the hieroglyphics of the days are 
 terms of the first of the three periodical series, 
 of which we have already explained the use. 
 Reckoning from right to left, and beginning at 
 the right of the triangle resting on the forehead 
 of the god, Oll'in Tonatiuh, with the point to- 
 ward cipactli, we find the eight following hiero- 
 glyphics : 4 tiger; \ silecc ; tletl, fire, without 
 marking the number ; 4 wind ; 4 rain ; 4 ram ; 
 2 ape ; and 4 ivater. We now come to the ex- 
 planation of the Mexican festivals, according to 
 the calendar of Mr. Gama, and the order of the 
 festivals indicated in the works of the historians 
 of the sixteenth century. 
 
 In the year 13 acatl, which is the last year of 
 the second indiction of the cycle, the beginning 
 of the year retrograded six days and a half, be- 
 cause the intercalation had not taken place for 
 twenty-six years. The first day of the month 
 tititlj which bears the sign, 1 cipactli tletl, conse- 
 quently corresponds not to the 9th but the 3d of 
 January ; and the sign, which presides over the 
 seventh period of thirteen days, 1 quiahuitl, or 
 1 rain, coincides with the 22d of March, or 
 with the vernal equinox. It is at this period, 
 that the festivals of Tlaloc, or the god of water, 
 were celebrated ; which indeed had already be- 
 gun ten days before the equinox, on the day 
 4 atl, or 4 water ; without doubt, because on the 
 12th of March, tfr the 3d of the month Tlacaxi- 
 
404 
 
 pehualiztli, the hieroglyphic of water, atl, was 
 the sign* both of the day and of the night. 
 Three days after the vernal equinox, the day 
 4 ehecatl, or 4 wind, began a solemn fast of forty 
 days, in honour of the Sun. This fast finished 
 on the SOth of April, which corresponds to 1 
 tecpatl, or 1 flint. As the sign of this day is 
 accompanied by the Lord of the Night tletl, fire, 
 we find the hieroglyphic tletl, placed near the 
 
 1 tecpatl, on the left of the triangle, the point of 
 which is directed toward the beginning of the 
 zodiac. At the right of the sign 1 tecpatl is 
 4 ocelotl, or 4 tiger, this day is remarkable from 
 the passage of the Sun through the zenith of the 
 city of Mexico. The whole of the small period 
 of thirteen, days, in which this passage takes 
 place, and which is the eleventh of the ritual 
 year, was dedicated to the Sun. The sign 
 
 2 ozomatli, or 2 ape, corresponds to the epocha 
 of the summer solstice, it is placed immediately 
 near 1 quiakuitl, or 1 rain, the day of the equi- 
 nox. 
 
 We might be puzzled to explain 4 quiahuitl r 
 or 4 rain. In the first year of the cycle, this 
 day corresponded exactly to the second passage 
 of the Sun through the zenith of the city of 
 Mexico; but in the year 13 acatl, the fasti of 
 which are found in this monument, the day 4 
 
 f Nabui atl, atl, atl ; see abore, p. 316. 
 
 
405 
 
 rain preceded this passage six days. As the 
 whole period of thirteen days, in which the Sun 
 reaches the zenith, is dedicated to the sign ollin 
 Tonatiu/t, and the milky way, citlalcucye ; and 
 as the day 4 rain constantly belongs to this same 
 period ; it seems probable, that the Mexicans 
 indicated this last day in preference, in order that 
 the figure of the Sun should be surrounded by 
 four signs, which had all the same number four ; 
 and particularly to form an allusion to the four 
 destructions of the Sun, which tradition places 
 in the days 4 tiger, 4 wind, 4 water, and 4 rain. 
 The five small rounds, which are found on the 
 left of the day 2 ape, immediately above the 
 sign mallnalli, seem to allude to the festival of 
 the god Macuil-Malinalli, who had particular 
 altars ; this festival was celebrated about the 
 12th of September, called Macullll Mallnalli, 
 The point of the triangle, which separates the 
 sign of the day, 1 silex, from the sign of the 
 night, tletl, or fire, is directed towards the first of 
 the twenty aster isms of the signs of the zodiac, 
 because, in the year 13 canes, the day 1 cipactli 
 corresponds to the day of the autumnal equinox : 
 about this time was celebrated a festival of ten 
 days, the most solemn of which was the day 10 
 Ollin, or 10 Sun, which corresponds to our 16th 
 of September. It is believed at Mexico, that 
 the two compartments placed under the tongue 
 
406 
 
 of the god Ollin Tonatiuh present twice the 
 number five; but this explanation appears to 
 me as doubtful, as that which has been at- 
 tempted to be given of the forty compartments 
 surrounding the zodiac, and of the numbers 6, 
 10, and 18, which are repeated toward the edge 
 of the stone. We shall not examine whether 
 the holes made in this enormous stone were 
 made, as Mr. Gama thought, to place wires to 
 serve as gnomons. What is more certain, and 
 highly important to Mexican chronology, is, 
 that this monument proves, in opposition to the 
 opinion of Gemelli and Boturini, that the first 
 day, whatever be the sign of the year, is con- 
 stantly presided by cipactli, a sign which corres- 
 ponds to the Capricorn of the Greek sphere. 
 We may snppose, that near this stone another 
 was placed, which contained the fasti from the 
 autumnal equinox to that of the spring. 
 
 We have now collected under the same point 
 of view all that is hitherto known of the division 
 of time among the Mexican nations, carefully 
 distinguishing what is certain from what is 
 merely probable. We see from what has been- 
 explained respecting the form of the year, how 
 imaginary are those hypotheses, by which some- 
 times the lunar years, sometimes years of two 
 hundred and eighty-six days divided into twenty- 
 two months, have been attributed to the Tol- 
 
407 
 
 tecks and the Aztecks*. The knowledge of 
 the system of the calendar followed by the most 
 northerly nations of America and Asia would 
 be highly interesting. Among the inhabitants 
 of Nootka, we still find the Mexican months of 
 twenty days ; but their year has only fourteen 
 months, to which they add, by very complex 
 methods, a great number of intercalary days f. 
 When a nation does not regulate the subdivi- 
 sions of the year after the same lunations, the 
 number of months becomes very arbitrary, and 
 its choice seems to depend only on a particular 
 predilection for certain numbers. The Mexican 
 nations preferred the double decads, because 
 they had simple signs only for the units, for 
 twenty, and for the powers of twenty. 
 
 The use of periodical series, and the hierogly- 
 phics of the day, have exhibited striking analo- 
 gies between the nations of Asia and those of 
 America. Some of these examples have not 
 escaped the penetration of Mr. Dupuis J, though 
 he has confounded the signs of the months with 
 those of the days, and had but a very imperfect 
 knowledge of the Mexican chronology. It 
 would be contrary to the end we have proposed 
 
 * Waddilove, in Robertson's Hist, of America, vol. 3, 
 p. 404, note 35. 
 
 t Don Joze Mozinno, Viage a Noutka, M. S. (See my 
 Essai Politique, vol. i. p. 335). 
 
 + Memoire explicatif sur le Zodiaque, p. 99. 
 
4Q8 
 
 to ourselves in this work, to dwell on theories 
 respecting the ancient civilization of the inha- 
 bitants of the north, and of the centre of Asia, 
 Thibet and Mexico offer analogies sufficiently 
 remarkable in their ecclesiastical hierarchy, in 
 the number of religious assemblies, in the severe 
 austerity of their penitentiary rites, and in the 
 order of their processions. It is impossible not 
 to be struck with this resemblance, in reading 
 with attention the recital, which Cortez made 
 the Emperor Charles V, of his solemn entrance 
 into Cholula, which he calls the holy city of the 
 Mexicans. 
 
 A people who regulated its festivals accord- 
 ing to the motion of the stars, and who engraved 
 lis fasti on a public monument, had no doubt 
 reached a degree of civilization superior to that 
 which has been allowed by Pauw, Raynal, and 
 even Robertson, the most judicious of the histo- 
 rians of America. These writers consider every 
 state of society as barbarous, that did not bear 
 the type of civilization, which they, according to 
 their systematic ideas, had formed. We cannot 
 admit these abrupt distinctions into barbarous 
 and civilized nations. After having examined 
 in this work with scrupulous impartiality what- 
 ever we ourselves have been able to discover 
 respecting the ancient state of the nations of the 
 New Continent, we have endeavoured to com- 
 bine the features by which they are immediately 
 
409 
 
 characterized, and those by which they seem to 
 be connected with different groups of Asiatics. 
 The state of nations and of individuals is the 
 same: as, in the latter, the whole faculties of 
 the mind unfold themselves but gradually, so, in 
 the former, the progress of civilization does not 
 manifest itself at once in the melioration of 
 public and private manners, in a taste for the 
 arts, and in the form of general institutions. 
 Before we class nations, we should study them 
 according to their specific characters, since ex- 
 ternal circumstances may give an infinite variety 
 to the shades of civilization, which distinguish 
 tribes of a different race ; especially when, fixed 
 in regions far remote from each other, they have 
 long lived under the influence of governments 
 and religious rites hostile to the progress of the 
 mind, and to the preservation of individual 
 liberty. 
 
 vol. xki. BE 
 
410 
 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 OF 
 
 ENGLISH WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 
 
 WITH THOSE USED IN FRANCE. 
 
 NEW FRENCH WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 
 
 I.— MEASURES OF LENGTH. 
 
 The Metre being at 30° and the Foot at 62°. 
 
 
 
 English Inches. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Millimetre 
 
 = 03937 
 
 
 
 
 
 Centimetre 
 
 = -39371 
 
 
 
 
 
 Decimetre 
 
 = 3-93710 
 
 
 
 
 
 Metre 
 
 = 3937100 Ma. 
 
 Fur. 
 
 Yds. 
 
 Feet. 
 
 In. 
 
 Decametre 
 
 = 393-710o0 = 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 9-7 
 
 Hecatometre 
 
 = 3937- 10000 = 
 
 
 
 109 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Kilometre 
 
 =S 39371 00000 = 
 
 4 
 
 213 
 
 1 
 
 10*2 
 
 Mvriometre =393710 00000 = 6 1 156 6 
 
 II.— MEASURES OF CAPACITY. 
 Cubic Inches. 
 Millilitre = -06103 
 
 Centilitre ~ -61028 
 
 Decilitre ~ 6'10280 Tops. Hogs 
 
 Litre = 6102800 = 
 
 Decalitre ~ 610-28000 = 00 
 
 Hecatolitre = 610280000 =00 
 
 Kilolitre = 6102800000 = 10 
 
 Myriolitre = 61028000000 = 10 1 
 
 . Wine G. 
 
 Pints. 
 
 
 
 21133 
 
 2 
 
 51362 
 
 26419 
 
 
 12- 19 
 
 
 589 
 
 
4fil 
 
 III.— WEIGHTS. 
 
 English Grains. 
 •0164 
 .1544 
 1-5444 
 
 ic a a An, AVOIRDUPOIS. 
 
 1&'4440 p oun( i, un. Dram. 
 
 154*4402 =0 565 
 
 15444023 =0 3 85 
 
 15444 0234 =2 3 5 
 
 Milligramme = 
 Centigramme ~ 
 Decigramme zz 
 Gramme r= 
 
 Decagramme — 
 II ecatogrammer: 
 Kilogramme — 
 Mjriogramme = 1544402344 — 22 
 
 IV.— ANCIENT PARIS MEASURES. 
 
 The French toise = 6 
 
 The Paris foot of 12 in. = 12 
 
 The inch = 
 
 The line, or 1- 12th of an in. = 
 
 The 12th of a line = 
 
 •3945 English feet. 
 
 •7977 -v 
 
 0664 / 
 . 0888 r English inches. 
 
 0074 / 
 
 END OF VOL, XIII. 
 
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