H65 
 opy 1 
 
 =* 
 
 HISTORICAL DATA 
 
 FROM 
 
 ANCIENT RECORDS AND RUINS 
 
 OF 
 
 MEXICO 
 
 AND 
 
 CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 ,<oNe ^^op,r^ 
 
 CO PAN 
 
 \ 
 
 LOUIS E. HILLS 
 
 PRICE 50 CENTS 
 
LOUIS E. HILLS. 
 
HISTORICAL DATA 
 
 FROM 
 
 Ancient Records and Ruins 
 
 OF 
 
 Mexico 
 
 AND 
 
 Central America 
 
 BY 
 
 LOUIS E. HILLS 
 Independence, Mo. 
 
 Your short work on the Popol Vuh 
 
 We've read, and believe it to be true; 
 
 Of primitive people who crossed the seas, 
 
 In ancient records called Quinames; 
 
 And Nahua history plainly told, 
 
 In Toltec records two thousand years old. 
 
 Error always opposes truth; 
 
 You'll meet opposition, but win forsooth. 
 
 Live on! Fight on! We'll help you through; 
 
 We'U all subscribe for Volume Two. 
 
 PRICE, 50 CENTS 
 
 Copyright, 1919, 
 By LOUIS E. HILLS 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 I am offering to students of American archaeology 
 something definite on geographical location for use in the 
 study of the traditional history of the Ancient Americans ; 
 showing landing places of the different colonies as told in 
 their traditions, locations of the most ancient cities, and 
 something of their migrations. 
 
 The geography of a country is an indispensable requisite 
 for the study of its history. 
 
 To associate the geography of a country with its his- 
 tory is the most efficient method of rendering the study 
 both interesting and instructive. 
 
 I have condensed many quotations for the sake of brev- 
 ity, and to better gather out facts from the mass of fables, 
 thus getting a clearer view of the true history by brushing 
 away the cobwebs and dust of fiction, which have been ac- 
 cumulating for many centuries. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 f?'i 
 
 4 
 
 U 
 
 )C1A532434 
 AUG25lSiy 
 
Who Were the Ancient Americans? 
 
 The remarkable evidence of ancient civilized nations 
 who once flourished upon the American continent, who built 
 great cities, pyramids and temples, the ruins of which may- 
 still be seen, should create an interest in American arch- 
 aeology, not only among men of science, but among men of 
 intelligence throughout the world. 
 
 Who they were or from whence they came have been 
 the subjects of many and varied conjectures, and yet no 
 satisfactory conclusions have been reached. 
 
 Mr. Bancroft says: "The fragments 'we have of the 
 ancient traditions' represent the history of many people for 
 many centuries ; they are not necessarily contradictory, for 
 in the absence of all chronology we have no means of know- 
 ing to what epoch each refers. The apparent contradictions 
 and inconsistencies result, for the most part, from the ef- 
 forts of authors through whose writings the traditions are 
 handed down to us, to reconcile them with their theories; 
 to apply to one people the traditions of many, to a modern 
 people the traditions of a remote antiquity, or to compress 
 the events of eight or nine centuries into one." 
 
 Mr. Bancroft gathered together a wonderful amount 
 of traditional history in his five volumes of "Native 
 Races," very valuable for the study of primitive history of 
 the Ancient Americans ; yet he offers no credible solutions 
 to the great questions, who were the ancestors of the An- 
 cient Americans, from whence they came, and how they 
 reached the American continent? 
 
 "All writers agree in giving to the ancient nations of 
 America a remote antiquity," and of the primitive annals 
 in the Popol Vuh, Mr. Bancroft says : "We may be very sure 
 that, be they marvelous or common-place, each is founded 
 on an actual occurrence." 
 
 Geography is an indispensable requisite for the study of 
 history; to associate the geography of a country with its 
 history is the most efficient method of rendering the study 
 both interesting and instructive. 
 
 There is a vast amount of traditional history, which, 
 if systematically studied, may furnish sufficient evidence of 
 location to make geography possible. While there may be 
 unreasonable additions and distortions made by writers and 
 translators of the ancient records, yet they are based upon 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, p. 568. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, p. 183. 
 
AND RUINS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 facts. We may gather the wheat from the chaff by leaving 
 out much of the unreasonable, and condense the facts which 
 are supported by corroborative evidences. 
 
 LOCATIONS DESCRIBED IN TRADITIONS. 
 Method in Study. 
 
 THREE COLONIES. 
 
 Traditional history of Mexico and Central America 
 tells of three colonies who came to the country from across 
 th« sea ; one came from where the sun sets (west) , or across 
 the Pacific, and two came from where the sun rises (east), 
 or across the Atlantic. 
 
 THE QUINAMES. 
 
 The people of the primitive colony were called 
 Quinames, or giants, in the traditions, because they knew of 
 them as a race of large and powerful men. 
 
 THE QUICHE TRADITIONS. 
 
 The Quiche Indians of Guatemala in their traditions 
 say, "The primitive people, or the first colony, were in the 
 distant east beyond immense seas and lands"; that they 
 crossed the sea in seven berks or ships, and disembarked 
 at Panuco, in the Panuco riv^r near Tampico, jMexico. It 
 is not stated from whence they came, but merely that they 
 came out of the regions where the sun rises (or from the 
 east) . 
 
 FROM THE NAHUA RECORDS. 
 
 "At the end of the first age of the world, as we are 
 told by Ixtlilxochitl, the earth was visited by a flood which 
 covered the most lofty mountains, after the repeopling of 
 the earth by the descendants of a few families who escaped 
 destruction, at the building of a tower, and the confusion 
 of tongues, and consequent scattering of the population — 
 for all these things were found in the native traditions as 
 we are informed" — seven families speaking the same lan- 
 guage kept together in their wanderings for many years; 
 after crossing broad lands and seas, enduring great hard- 
 ships, they reached Tamoanchan or Huehue Tlapallan." 
 (Foot-note. —The date of the arrival (of this primitive 
 colony) in Huehue Tlapallan is given by Ixtlilxochitl as 520 
 years after the flood.) 
 
 Torquemada's account of the primitive colony I con- 
 dense. Certain people came by sea to Panuco, from Panuco 
 they passed on by degrees and built Tula, from there they 
 passed on and built Cholula; here these people remained 
 and multiplied, and sent colonies to people Upper and Lower 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. Ill, p. 270. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, p. 209. 
 
 715 
 
 Terrestrial 
 Paradise, 
 V. p. 191. 
 
 Vol. 
 
 Indian Mon- 
 archy, Vol I, 
 p. 254-6. 
 
Native Races, 
 Vol. IV, pp. 416 
 and 417. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, p. 147. 
 
 HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 Mizteca and the Zapotican country, and these, it is said, 
 raised the grand edifices whose remains are still to be seen 
 at Mictlan (Mitla). 
 
 "The Able Brasseur in one part of his writings ex- 
 presses the opinion that Mitla was built by people from 
 Cholula." "It will be apparent to the reader that the ruins 
 at Mitla bear no resemblance whatever to other Oajacan 
 monuments." 
 
 The history of the Ancient Americans is not altogether 
 traditional, but was handed down in their writings for over 
 two thousand years. 
 
 Campbell's 
 New Revised 
 Complete 
 Guide to 
 Mexico, p. 238. 
 (1904.) 
 
 715 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. Ill, p. 67. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, p. 200. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. 5, p. 483. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol V, pp. 9- 
 11-27. 
 
 QUINAMES, OR GIANTS. 
 
 "The Pyramid of Cholula (Cho-Ioo-la) ." "The date of 
 the building of the Pyramid of Cholula is unknown. Even 
 before the Aztecs came to the plains of Cholula, the great 
 pyramid was there in the midst, and the people told them 
 the legend of it." "That it was built by a race of giants 
 descended from two survivors of a great deluge." 
 
 "The Mexicans round Cholula had a special legend con- 
 necting the escape of a remnant from the great deluge, who 
 were giants. One of the giants, Xelhua, surnamed the Ar- 
 chitect, went to Cholula and began to build an artificial 
 mountain, as a monument and a memorial." 
 
 "The Pyramid of Cholula was erected under the direc- 
 tion of a chief named Xelhua. The occasion of its being 
 built seems to have been connected in some way with the 
 flood." 
 
 Quinames, or giants, were the original possessors of 
 the country about Puebla and Cholula. 
 
 Mr. Bancroft says : "The honor of peopling America 
 has frequently been given to Noah and his immediate de- 
 scendants." He thinks that Ham was the father of the 
 American race (opinions held by Orrio and Torquemada). 
 "Descendants of Noah who assisted at the Tower of Babel, 
 after the confusion of tongues, dispersed, and a portion of 
 them came to America." 
 
 Historical 
 Geography 
 of the Bible, 
 by Coleman, 
 p. 51. 
 
 THE BUILDERS OF THE TOWER OF BABEL WERE 
 
 GIANTS. 
 
 An ancient Chaldee work which Alexander (the Great) 
 caused to be translated, which came from the royal library 
 of Nineveh, which is as follows : "From the gods, who in- 
 habited the earth in the first ages, there sprang a race of 
 giants of immense size, and of the strongest bodily frame; 
 full of insolent daring, they formed the ambitious design 
 to build a lofty tower (Babel), but while they were em- 
 
Flavius 
 Josephus, 
 Book I, Chap. 
 5, Ver. 1. 
 
 759 99 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. I, p. 670. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V. p. 147. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, p. 197.. 
 
 AND RUINS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 ployed in the erection, a dreadful tempest, raised by the 
 gods, destroyed the huge edifice and scattered among them 
 unknown words, whence arose discord and confusion." 
 
 "The Sibylline Oracle contains a similar tradition of 
 giants attempting to scale the heavens by building a tower." 
 
 Flavius Josephus, Jewish historian, says: "The people 
 who built Babel were dispersed abroad on account of their 
 languages, and went out by Colonies everywhere, and there 
 were some, also, who crossed the sea in ships." 
 
 Mr. Bancroft says : "The Quinames, or giants, a.re men- 
 tioned as the first inhabitants of Mexico" ; then follows cita- 
 tions to many authorities. 
 
 I call attention to the historical records handed down 
 for centuries, inherited and translated by Ixtlilxochitl. 
 
 "Our knowledge of Olmec history subsequent to their 
 first, appearance is confined to a few events which occurred 
 in Puebla. Here, chiefly on the Rio Atoyae near Puebla de 
 los Angeles, and Cholula they found the Quinames, or 
 giants. * * * These Quinames, as Ixtlilxochitl states, 
 were survivors of the great destruction which closed the 
 second age of the world." 
 
 The discovery of the Quinames in the regions around 
 Puebla and Cholula agrees with other traditions as to their 
 location. 
 
 "The Quinames, traditionally assigned as the first in- 
 habitants of nearly every part of the country, have been the 
 subject of much discussion among the Spanish writers." 
 
 "Clavegero considers the existence of a race of giants 
 doubtful, although admitting that there were doubtless in- 
 dividuals of great size among them." Most other writers 
 of this class accept more or less literally the tradition of 
 the giants who were the first dwellers in the land, deeming 
 the discovery of the bones of a large race of people, in va- 
 rious localities, corroborative authority. 
 
 CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCE, BONES OF GIANTS. 
 
 "Villa Senor y Sanchez, one of the early Spanish 
 writers, names Tula as one of the many localities where 
 giants* bones had been found." 
 
 "Humboldt mentions some giants' bones that were 
 found within the limits of the state of Michoacan." (The 
 state west of Mexico.) 
 
 "Ribas, in his standard and very rare work on 'The vo"Tv^p^lob 
 Triumphs of the Faith,' says : "At San Agustin, between the • . • 
 
 city of Durango and San Juan del Rio, Arlegui notes the 
 existence of bones of giants." 
 
 Native Races. 
 Vol. V, p. 198. 
 
 754 44 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. IV, p. 547. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. IV. p. 571. 
 
10 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. I, p. 670. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. IV, p. 695. 
 
 HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 "The Quinames, or giants, are mentioned as the first 
 inhabitants of Mexico by nearly all the early writers," as 
 Mr. Bancroft says. 
 
 The finding of bones of large men in different parts of 
 Mexico is certainly strong corroborative evidence that the 
 traditions of giants, the first people who inhabited Mexico, 
 are based upon facts, and that a large race of people did 
 live in Mexico, at some time in the distant past. 
 
 San Antonio 
 (Texas) Ex- 
 press of 
 April 14, 1918. 
 
 737 21 
 
 Pre-Historic 
 America, by 
 Nadaillac, 
 p. 15. 
 
 Pre-Historic 
 America, 
 pp. 40-45. 
 
 Native Races. 
 Vol. IV, p. 695. 
 
 RECENT DISCOVERIES IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO 
 
 Now late and important evidences come from the val- 
 ley of Mexico, in an article from Professor William Niven 
 (a man of considerable fame), whose article was published 
 in the San Antonio Express. 
 
 "He tells of discoveries of world-wide interest, that 
 promise to change history, and which startlingly corrob- 
 orate legends supposed to be pure myths, that have come 
 down to us from the dim, dim past." 
 
 He has found evidences of three distinct civilizations 
 that have inhabited the Valley of Mexico at different pe- 
 riods, "classed by me," he says, "as Aztec, Pre-Aztec, and 
 primitive." 
 
 This extract from his article I call especial attention 
 to: "Some of the bones show a race of people over the av- 
 erage of the ordinary size." Here, then, is the latest evi- 
 dence of a large race of people once living upon this conti- 
 nent, called Quinames, or giants, in the traditions, and they 
 were the primitive colony who landed at Panuco, built Tula, 
 settled in the Valley of Mexico, and built Cholula and the 
 great pyramid still to be seen there. 
 
 THE CO-EXISTENCE OF MAN WITH THE MASTODON 
 
 Proofs of the co-existence of man, with extinct animals, 
 have multiplied until doubt is no longer reasonable. "One 
 fact now is incontestably secured to science: The first 
 Americans were a large and powerful race, and were con- 
 temporary with gigantic animals. * * * They had to 
 contend with the mastodon, the megatherium, the mylodon, 
 the megalonyx, the elephant and a jaguar larger than that 
 of the present day." 
 
 Professor March said: "The evidence as it stands 
 today, although not conclusive, seems to place the appear- 
 ance of man in this country in the Pliocene age; and the 
 best proof of this has been found on the Pacific Coast, where 
 men lived among animals as little known as themselves." 
 
 "In 1857 a fragment of a human skull was found, as- 
 sociated with the bones of the mastodon, in the auriferous 
 
AND RUINS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
 gravel of Table Mountain, California, at a depth of 180 
 feet. Dr. C. F. Winslow sent this fragment to the Natural 
 History Society of Boston." 
 
 BONES OF MASTODONS FOUND IN MEXICO. 
 "On the hacienda of Chapingo, about a league south of 
 Tezcuco (m the Valley of Mexico), an ancient causeway 
 rras found m excavating, at a depth of four feet below the 
 surface; the cedar piles of which were in a good state of 
 preservation. Under the causeway was the skeleton of a 
 mastodon, and similar skeletons are said to have been found 
 at other points in the Valley of Mexico." 
 
 BONES OF MASTODONS FOUND IN GUATEMALA. 
 
 "Bones of mastodons seen by John Lloyd Stephens near 
 Gueguetenango, Guatemala." 
 
 A NATION OF GIANTS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 
 
 "Peruvian legends speak of a nation of giants who 
 eame by sea, waged war with the natives, and erected splen- 
 did edifices, the ruins of many of which still remain." 
 
 "Garcelasso de la Vega gives this tradition as he him- 
 self heard it in Peru." 
 
 "They affirm, he says, in all Peru, that certain giants 
 came by sea to the cape now called St. Helens, in large 
 barks made of rushes. These giants were so enormously 
 tall that ordinary men reached no higher than their knees. 
 * * * Their bones may be seen at the present day. 
 It is not known from what place they came, nor by what 
 route they arrived." . ^ . , ^. 
 
 STRONG CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCE FOR THIS 
 LEGEND. 
 
 Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese, in the service of 
 the King of Spain: "In September, 1519, Magellan, with 
 five ships and about 300 men, started on what proved to- 
 be one of the most romantic voyages in history. He was 
 killed in the Philippine Islands in a fight with the natives 
 there. One ship and eighteen of his crew reached Lisbon 
 September 6, 1522." 
 
 "Magellan discovered the strait that bears his name," 
 (on the southern coast of South America). 
 
 "An Italian named Antonio Pigafetta, who went with 
 him, relates that the great navigator was obliged to winter 
 m the Bay of San Juliano, where an Indian was brought to 
 him who had been surprised by his sailors; this man, says 
 our historian, was so tall that the tallest of us only came 
 
 11 
 
 Native Racea' 
 Vol. rv, p. 627j 
 
 Incidents of 
 Travel in Cen- 
 tral America, 
 by Stephens 
 and Cather- 
 wood, p. 366. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, p. 24. 
 
 History of 
 Patagronia. 
 
 Pre-Historlc 
 America, 
 
 pp. a-10. 
 
Pre-Hlstorle 
 America, p. 3. 
 Enc. Brit., 
 9th Edition, 
 yol. XII. p. «6». 
 Vol. I, p. 615. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, p. 1»9. 
 
 ZCatlre Races, 
 Vol, y, p. 69. 
 
 Pre-Hl3torl« 
 America, pp. 
 St87 and 400. 
 
 Pre-HIstortc 
 America, 
 p. 890. 
 
 Pre-Hl8t*rlo 
 America. 
 p. 406. 
 
 HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 to his waist. * * * He was a Tehuelche, to whom Ma- 
 gellan gave the name of Patagon because of the size of his 
 foot, which was aggravated by the shape of the shoe he 
 wore." 
 
 "The Patogonians of South America were remarkable 
 for their lofty stature." 
 
 "Patagonians are the tallest race on the globe." 
 
 A knowledge of this large race in South America 
 caused some writers to suppose that the primitive race of 
 Mexico, called Quinames or giants, came from that country, 
 as we see in the following. 
 
 "Oviedo adopts the conclusions of Mendoza that the 
 giants (of Mexico) probably came from the Strait of Ma- 
 gellan (South America), the only place where such beings 
 were known to exist. 
 
 "Torquemada, followed by Veytia, identifies them with 
 a similar race that were traditionally located at a very early 
 time in Peru." 
 
 I call attention to what I believe to be facts: The 
 Olmecs and Xicalancas went down into South America 
 and there found descendants of this race of people, called 
 giants, and had trouble with them as stated in the tradi- 
 tions from Peru by Garcelasso de La Vega. 
 
 This would account for the location of the principal 
 ruins in South America high in the mountains, at Cuzco and 
 Lake Titicaca, a dreary and desolate country, so difficult of 
 access, where no cereals can ripen ; they built there, whoever 
 they were, for safety and protection. 
 
 "A number of writers say the Quichuas may have come 
 from the north probably several centuries after the Aymaras, 
 and we must look for their ancestors among the prolific 
 races of Central America." 
 
 "It is probable, although we cannot prove it, that both 
 (the Quichuas and the Aymaras of South America) sprang 
 from Nahua races, and that they came from the north, even 
 ft:om the prolific table-land of Anahuac." 
 
 WHERE THE QUINAMES OR GIANTS CAME FROM. 
 
 In summing up evidences drawn from history, tradi- 
 tions and modern research concerning the primitive people 
 of Mexico, called Quinames or giants, the following deduc- 
 tions stand out strong and clear as facts. 
 
 Tradition says, Nimrod and people who built the Tower 
 of Babel were a race of large and powerful men. At the 
 confusion of tongues, and consequent scattering of the popu- 
 lation, seven- families speaking the same language kept to- 
 
AND RUINS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 gether in their wanderings for many years ; and after cross- 
 ing broad lands and seas reached Mexico. 
 
 They crossed the sea from the east, coming in seven 
 barks or ships, disembarked at Panuco, near Tampico. This 
 colony traveled up the Panuco river and settled in the place 
 now called Tula, just north of the Valley of Mexico. This 
 in time became their first capital city; here the bones of 
 giants were found. 
 
 As the people increased in number they spread out 
 southward through the Valley of Mexico, and built a city 
 in the place now called Teotihuacan. At the death of their 
 two leaders, who brought them across the sea, or later, this 
 people built two pyramids as monuments and memorials to 
 their greatness. They are still standing and called today 
 "Pyramids of the Sun and Moon." 
 
 Some of these people moved over the mountains east 
 of the Valley of Mexico and settled on the beautiful plains 
 of Huitzilapan, and built a city at the place now called 
 Cholula, and this in time became a capital city. 
 
 A king in this city named Xelhua built the great pyra- 
 mid (still a wonder to the world) for a monument and a 
 memorial (to God for bringing them across the sea in 
 safety) . 
 
 All this is told in the ancient records, inherited and 
 translated by Ixtlilxochitl, grandson of the last King of 
 Texcoco. 
 
 The Olmecs discovered survivors of this race on the 
 banks of the Hio Atoyac between Puebla and Cholula as 
 Ixtlilxochitl (Ist-lil-zoch-itl) , the native historian, learns 
 from ancient historical documents translated by him. 
 
 A colony of this primitive people of Mexico, called 
 Quinames or giants, left Cholula, went southward and built 
 a great city by the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, called Mictlan 
 or Mitla. 
 
 Mr. Bancroft says: "Charnay fancies that the palaces 
 (at Mitla) were built by a people that afterwards migrated 
 southward." 
 
 This opinion I believe to be correct and this accounts 
 for the traditions of the giants in Peru, from whom the 
 Patagonians are descended. 
 
 These ancient people were co-existent with extinct 
 animals, the elephant and the mastodon, which were used 
 by them, possibly, as beasts of burden, as evidences brought 
 to light by modern research indicate. 
 
 The walls of the palace at Chimu, Peru, are richly or- 
 namented with stuccos in relief, fine arabesques, and (^reek 
 frets, reminding us of those of Mitla. 
 
 "Mexican history and biography, like those of other 
 
 ir 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol hi, p. 17a. 
 
 759 
 202 
 
 99 
 37 
 39 
 
 742 68 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. IV, p. 117. 
 
 737 21 
 
 Pro-Historic 
 America, 
 p. 897. 
 
14 
 
 The Ancient 
 Cities of the 
 New World, by 
 Desire Char- 
 nay, p. 78. 
 
 715 
 
 HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 nations, are founded on tradition and historical documents ; 
 and none are better authenticated or more trustworthy.'* 
 
 "A history may be true and highly instructive, 
 although it may contain seemingly absurd propositions; 
 yet faithfully transmits the traditions, the belief, and the 
 customs of the people." 
 
 The primitive race in Mexico, known as Quinames or 
 giants, were pyramid-builders and used a kind of mortar or 
 cement of extraordinary hardness not known today. 
 
 Historical 
 Geography of 
 the Bible, 
 by Coleman, 
 p. 52. 
 
 Bureau of 
 American 
 Bthnology, 
 Bulletin 28, 
 p. 250: Article: 
 ••Description of 
 Mitla Ruins," 
 by Father 
 Burgoa. 
 
 CEMENT AT THE TOWER OF BABEL. 
 
 "The Tower of Babel, Birs Nemroud, or the Tower of 
 Nimrod, was visited by Sir Robert Ker Porter, who describes 
 it as follows : "Looking at it from the west, the entire mass 
 rises at once from the plain in one stupendous, though ir- 
 regular, pyramidal hill. The tower-like looking ruin on the 
 top is a solid mass, twenty-eight feet wide, of the most 
 beautiful masonry." 
 
 "The cement which connects the bricks is so hard that 
 Ker Porter found it impossible to chip off the smallest 
 piece." 
 
 "In the construction of the walls (of the palace at 
 Mitla), the greatest architects of the earth have been sur- 
 passed. 
 
 MORTAR OR CEMENT OF WONDERFUL HA^RDNESS. 
 
 "The inner side of the walls consist of a mortar or 
 stucco of such hardness that no one knows with what kind 
 of liquid it could have been mixed." 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. IV, p. 543, 
 foot-note. 
 
 A VERY FINE MORTAR AS HARD AS A ROCK AT 
 TEOTIHUACAN. 
 
 "Respecting miscellaneous remains at Teotihuacan, 
 * * * foundations of buildings and horizontal layers of 
 a very fine mortar as hard as a rock." 
 
 
 
 49 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 52 
 
 55 
 
 
 
 53 
 
 64 
 70 
 
 Native 
 
 Races. 
 
 Vol. 
 
 V, 
 
 p. 
 
 183. 
 
 Native 
 
 Races. 
 
 Vol. 
 
 V, 
 
 p. 
 
 21. 
 
 THE COLONY FROM THE WEST. 
 (From the Popol Vuh.) 
 
 One of the accounts of the colony that crossed the sea 
 (Pacific) from the west is given in the Popol Vuh, the 
 national book or history of the Quiche Indians of Guate^ 
 mala. I quote from this record as follows : "It is from where 
 the sun sets that we came to Tulan, from the other side of 
 the sea." 
 
 It was the opinion b'f^tiaMKingsborough',Brasseur de 
 Bourbourg and others that, "The Quiche wanderers came 
 
AND RUINS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 from the other side of the sea to the northwest coast of 
 America," basing their theory, no doubt, of a northwest 
 landing upon their supposition that the Quiches descended 
 from the Toltees, who they said came from the northwest, 
 1. e. "Cahfomia." 
 
 ,Mr. Bancroft, Nadaillac, and others, beheved the Na- 
 huas and Mayas, from whom the Quiches descended, crossed 
 the Pacific and landed upon the west coast of Central 
 America. I quote Mr. Bancroft: "I have already made 
 known my skepticism respecting national American mi- 
 grations in general, and the Toltec migration southward 
 in particular, and there is nothing in the annals of Guate- 
 mala to modify the views previously expressed." * * * 
 "It is safer to suppose that the mass of the Quiches and 
 other nations of Guatemala, Chiapas, and Honduras were 
 descended directly from the Mayas." 
 
 "As I have said before, the phenomena of civilizaztion 
 in North America may be accounted for with tolerable con- 
 sistency by the friction and mixture of this Maya culture, 
 and people, with the Nahua element of the north; while 
 that either, by migrations northward or southward, can 
 have been the parent of the other within the traditionally 
 historic past, I regard as extremely improbable." 
 
 "That the two elements (Nahua and Maya) were iden- 
 tical in their origin and early development is by no means 
 impossible; all that we can safely presume is that within 
 historic times they have been practically distinct in their 
 workings. "There are traditions of the first appearance 
 of the Nahua civilization in the regions of Tabasco and 
 Chiapas, of its growth, and the gradual establishment of a 
 power rivaling that of the people I call Mayas, and of a 
 struggle by which the Nahuas were scattered in different 
 directions, chiefly northward, to reappear in history cen- 
 turies later as the Toltees of *Anahuac' (The Valley of 
 Mexico)." 
 
 "While the positive evidence in favor of this migra- 
 tion from the South (Guatemala to Mexico) is very meagre, 
 it must be admitted that a southern origin of the Nahua 
 culture is far more consistent with facts and traditions than 
 was the northwestern origin so long implicitly accepted. 
 There is no data by which to fix the period of the original 
 Maya empire, or its downfall or breaking up into rival fac- 
 tions by civil and foreign wars, * * * and I should fix 
 the epoch of its highest power at a date preceding rather 
 than following the Christian era." 
 
 "That the Nahua power in primitive times extended 
 over Guatemalan localities as did the Maya power, and the 
 
 15 
 
 Native Races. 
 Vol V, p. 21. 
 
 Native Races. 
 Vol. II, 
 pp. 121-2. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. II, 
 pp. 117-8. 
 
16 
 
 682 
 683 
 
 9 
 19 
 
 Native Races, 
 
 Vol. V, 
 
 pp. 544 & 567-8 
 
 HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 long struggle between the two powers was no local contest^ 
 but was felt in a greater or less degree throughout the whole 
 country, from Anahuac to Guatemala, and perhaps still 
 father south." 
 
 "I have in a preceding chapter," says Mr. Bancroft, 
 "presented the evidence of the existence during a few cen- 
 turies before and after the beginning of the Christian era of 
 a great aboriginal empire in Central America, narrating all 
 that may be known of its decline and fall resulting from 
 the contentions of the great Maya and Nahua powers." 
 
 With the knowlege of the Quiches and their ancestors 
 the Mayas and Nahuas, one can better understand the facts 
 that are revealed in the Popol Vuh. 
 
 Popol Vuh. 
 Native History 
 of Ancient 
 Americans. 
 Old book. 
 Native Races, 
 Bancroft. Vol. 
 Ill, p. 42-43, 
 and Vol. V, p. 
 148. 
 
 Translations of 
 Popol Vuh. 
 LegeTids of 
 origin of 
 American 
 Indians. 
 
 THE POPOL VUH. 
 
 The richest legacies of traditional history, handed down 
 through many centuries by ancient Americans, are the Popol 
 Vuh, the national book of the Quiches of Guatemala, and the 
 ancient records from the royal archives inherited and trans- 
 lated by Ixtlilxochitl, grandson of the last king of Tezcuco, 
 an ancient city that once stood on the opposite side of the 
 lake, east, from the city of Mexico. 
 
 There were, no doubt, unreasonable distortions and 
 additions made in their historical records, and the trans- 
 lations of them, as they come to us, are vague and incorrect ; 
 yet, without question, there is rare historical data revealed 
 in them. 
 
 THE POPOL VUH. 
 
 The Popol Vuh, the Quiche history, was first discovered 
 in the last of the seventeenth century, by a Dominican, 
 Father Francisco Ximenez, who copied it and also trans- 
 lated it into Spanish. His manuscript containing the Quiche 
 text and his translation of it were hid for a long time in 
 the convent of the Dominicans in Guatemala, and were 
 later turned over to the library of the University of San 
 Carlos of Guatemala. Here Doctor Scherzer discovered 
 them in June, 1854. He carefully copied them and after- 
 wards published them. 
 
 Popol Vuh, 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, pp. 170- 
 171. 
 
 SPANISH AND FRENCH TRANSLATIONS 
 OF THE POPOL VUH. 
 
 Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg first saw this manuscript 
 in 1855, in Guatemala. He copied both the Quiche text and 
 the Spanish translation made by Ximenez, but was dissatis- 
 fied with the translation made by Ximenez, believing it to 
 be full of faults, disfigured by abridgements and omissions. 
 So in 1860 he settled among the Quiches and by the help of 
 
16 
 
 Mat' 
 Vol 
 pp. 
 
 Po 
 Ns 
 of 
 Ai 
 Ol 
 N; 
 B 
 
 i: 
 
 a 
 1 
 
ibia.. Vol V, 
 
 ]». 18». 
 
 AND RUINS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 natives and with his own practical knowledge of their 
 language he made a new translation in French. 
 
 Where the ancient American people came from, and 
 how they reached the continent, are questions which have 
 puzzled all students of American traditions. The different 
 records of the different tribes of Indians in Mexico and 
 Central America disagree as to the coming of their ances- 
 tors. 
 
 Writers have failed to see that there were different 
 colonies that came at different times, landing in different 
 places in America. 
 
 THE POPOL VUH. 
 In the indroduction we read : 
 
 "This is the origin of the ancient history of Quiche. 
 Here we write the annals of the past. We shall bring it 
 to light because the Popol Vuh, the national book, is no 
 longer visible, in which it Was clearly seen that we came 
 from beyond the sea." 
 
 "It is from where the sun sets we came, from the othe» 
 side of the sea." 
 
 LANDING-PLACE OF THE COLONY THAT 
 CAME FROM THE WEST. 
 
 The Quiche traditional history begins with a colony 
 that came across the sea from where the sun sets (west), 
 and the first location after their arrival in America, accord- 
 ing to the Popol Vuh, was called Xibalba, pronounced 
 Zabalba. It was from Xibalba that the first migration of 
 the Quiche ancestors took place "after they had rendered 
 fitting funeral honors to their father, who had perished 
 there." 
 
 "The place where the brothers started to contend." 
 
 This quarrel between brothers in their first settle- 
 ment after the death and burial of their father is import- 
 ant history, showing the origin of the Nahuas and Mayas 
 to be from one family, and this quarrel that commenced at 
 the death of their father, between brothers, was continued 
 by their posterity after they became great Nations: The 
 Nahua and Maya Nations. 
 
 BLACK MEN AND WHITE TOGETHER. 
 
 I find a remarkable statement coming from the Popol 
 Vuh, recorded in "Native Races," as follows; 
 
 "All seem to have spoken one language and to have >^at*v« HaoeoL 
 lived in great peace, black men and white together." ^*'** ^" ** "'' 
 
 THE CHARACTER OF THE XIBALBANS. 
 The character of the Xibalbans is here described : 
 
 17 
 
 First landtnjr- 
 place. 
 
 Qulehe legend. 
 Ibid.. Vol. V, 
 p. 180. See 
 foot-note alvo. 
 
 91 22 
 
 Foot-notie 
 
18 
 
 HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 
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63 212 
 213 
 
 AND RUINS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 19 
 
 "They were fond of war, of frightful aspect, ugly as Native Races, 
 
 owls, inspiring evil and discord ; faithless, hypocritical, and Mayal' /ni't: 
 
 tyrants, they wqre both black and white, painting their ^"^• 
 faces, moreover, with divers colors." 307 102 
 
 This description of the Xibalbans by the Quiche his- 
 torians, show the Quiches, while they may have been Maya 
 descent, were strong friends of the Nahuas back as far as 
 their history goes. The Xibalbans were Mayas we know. 
 
 LOCATION OF XIBALBA. 
 
 The Popol Vuh indicates the first settlement of the menf. ^'"'^" 
 colony that crossed the Pacific was called Xibalba; and voi'^'v ?^sfl' 
 from evidence deduced from traditional history, ruins, and " ' 
 
 other sources, I am convinced the ruins of Zacualpa in 
 balyador, Central America, are the ruins of Xibalba; and 
 that the boundary lines of Salvador, as it is today, were 
 gie work of the colony ; landing in La Union Bay, Gulf of 
 Fonseca, this causing the eastern boundary line to be made 
 there they then traveled west across the Lempa river and 
 settled m the central province of San Vicente; later spread- 
 ing out towards the west, to the present boundary line of 
 Guatemala, and this was called "the land where our fathers 
 came from" in their history. 
 
 ANCIENT RUINS OF SALVADOR. Native Races. 
 
 "The state of Salvador, on the Pacific side, stretched S'" '''• ^^- ''- 
 some one hundred and eighty miles, from the Gulf of Fon- 
 seca to the Rio Paza, the Guatemalan boundary, and ex- 
 tending inland about eighty miles. Here, in the central prov- 
 ince of San Vicente, a few miles southward from the capi- 
 tal city of the same name, ruins are found. But of these 
 rums we only know that they are the most imposing monu- 
 ments in the State, covering nearly two square miles at the 
 toot of the volcano of Opico, and they consist of vast ter- 
 races, rums of edifices and circular and square towers, and 
 subterranean galleries, all built of stone. 
 
 "Hassel says they are the remains of the old Indian Native Races, 
 town of Zacualpa [Xibalba]. Several mounds, considerable TootSt?' ''' 
 m size and regular in outline, were noted on the plains of 
 of Jiboa west of San Vicente, also similar ones near Sonso- 
 nate m the southwestern portion of the state." 
 
 THE VALLEY OF THE RIO LEMPA. San|L?£; 
 
 'The topographical features of Salvador are remark- 5"" 2f e.^' ^''"'^'■' 
 
 able; there is a broad valley running through the country 63 212 
 
 varying m width from twenty to thirty miles, and having 213 
 
 a length of upward of one hundred miles. This mao-nifi- 214 
 
 cent valley, which is drained by the river Lempa, is unsur- ^^ 
 
20 
 
 HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^^' 
 
 
 
 
 ■^^^a**,-' 
 
 ■T ^,::^S#i:.■^• 
 
 O 
 
 a 
 o 
 
 Q 
 
 > 
 
 O 
 
 w 
 
 > 
 
AND RUINS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 passed for beauty and fertility by any equal extent of 
 country under the tropics." 
 
 21 
 
 LOCATION OF IZMACHI. 
 
 Three princes determined to go as their father had 
 ordered to the east on the sea shore whence their fathers had 
 come— they had established themselves in the great City 
 of Izmachi. 
 
 NAHUA, OR NIMA. 
 
 "In its primitive sense the name Nahua meant secret, 
 occult, mysterious. It designated a man versed in judicial 
 wisdom, astrology, and the arts, a sorcerer or magician. 
 The name of Nahua signified an expert man, who spoke well 
 his own language." 
 
 XT u^^' ^^"^^^ h^s certainly given us light on the name 
 Nahua. This he learned from the natives in the south- 
 eastern part of Guatemala. 
 
 NIMA-QUICHE AND THREE BROTHERS. 
 This man is referred to as follows : 
 
 "Nima-Quiche, * * * more beloved than any of 
 his predecessors, was directed by an oracle to leave. * =^ 
 Nima-Quiche was accompanied by his three brothers." 
 
 The four brothers were called Balam-Quitze, B^lam- 
 Agab,^Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam. The name Balam must 
 have been an appellation used by the ancient Quiches to 
 signify some office held, and the way it was used mio-ht 
 indicate a difference in rank : If before the name, High 
 Priest, possibly ; and if after the name, a lesser office The 
 name Balam as found in the Bible was the name of a man 
 who had the gift of prophecy. 
 
 4-u "i^* *^^ advice of Balam-Quitze and his companions, 
 they departed m search of gods to worship (or a place to 
 worship God), and came to Tulan Zuiva, the Seven Caves 
 where gods were given them— Tohil, Avilix, Hacavitz, and 
 
 ^i^^f?'^- ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ of Tamub and Ilocab, 
 anc'. the three tribes, or families, kept together, for their ffod 
 was the same." 
 
 This traditional history in the Popol Vuh, no doubt 
 represents the four brothers and people looking for a place 
 where they could settle and make their home, and could 
 worship God unmolested, also telling of their calling to 
 high and holy office, as priests of God to minister in the 
 law of Moses. 
 
 Mr. Bancroft says: 
 
 u- "Tjie account of the dawn and its attendant ceremonies 
 which follow m the Popol Vuh would seem, in connection 
 
 Native' Races. 
 Vol. V. 
 pp. 55S-3. 
 
 290 
 364 
 
 1 
 29 
 
 Notes on Cen- 
 tral America, 
 Squier, p. 342. 
 Nahua-Niina. 
 
 53 70 
 
 167 10 
 
 307 
 
 104 
 
 Races, 
 
 Native 
 Vol. V, 
 pp. 565-6. 
 Travels In Cen- 
 tral America, 
 p. 326. 
 
 Names of four 
 brothers. 
 
 Num. 31:8. 
 Smith's Bible 
 Dictionary. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V. p. 547. 
 
 95 
 
 Look for a 
 home of peace. 
 
 Native' Races. 
 Vol. V, p. 549. 
 
22 
 
 97 42 
 
 Establishment 
 of government. 
 
 HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 with the preceding quotations, to refer vaguely to the elec- 
 tion of rulers, the establishment of a temporal and spirit- 
 ual government, the birth of Quiche institutions." 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. Ill, p. 49. 
 
 Seven Caves. 
 
 96 22 
 
 210 28 
 
 30 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V. p. 554. 
 Led by four 
 chiefs. 
 
 Ibid., Vol. V, 
 pp. 95, 564-565. 
 Travels in Cen- 
 tral A.merlca, 
 Stephens, 
 p. 326. 
 
 North Ameri- 
 cans of Anti- 
 Quity. 
 Short, pp. 
 214-215. 
 Four brothers. 
 
 TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL GOVERNMENT 
 OF QUICHES ESTABLISHED, 
 
 "So the four men and their people set out for Tulan 
 Zuiva, otherwise called the Seven Caves, and there they 
 received gods. Balam-Quitze received the god Tohil, Balam- 
 Agab received the god Avilix, and Mahucutah received the 
 god Hacavitz; all very powerful gods, but Tohil seems to 
 have been the chief, and in a general way god of the whole 
 Quiche nation." 
 
 "All this time they were directed by their trinity, act- 
 ing through their four chief sacrificers, or High Priests, 
 Balam-Quitze, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam, the 
 same who led them in their migration from the region of 
 Xibalba." These four brothers Were Israelites, as it says 
 in "Native Races" and "Travels in Central America" ; these 
 men were priests of God, and were offering sacrifices and 
 burnt offerings according to the law of Moses. This is the 
 reason they were called "the four sacrificers." 
 
 "The account which the Popol Vuh furnishes of the 
 migrations of the ancient Quiches is somewhat confused. 
 In their original home their worship was purely spiritual; 
 whatever there might have been, these four men forsook 
 their abode and journeyed to Tulan Zuiva, or place of Seven 
 Caves." 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. IV, pp. 
 82-83. 
 
 Mineral 
 
 resources 
 
 land. 
 
 of 
 
 95 
 
 19 
 
 198 
 
 19 
 
 SEVEN CAVES, OR TULAN ZUIVA. 
 
 "One cave found near the ruins of Copan is the cave of 
 Tibulca. This appears like a temple of great size, hollowed 
 out of the base of a hill, and adorned with columns having 
 bases, pedestals, capitals and crowns, all accurately ad- 
 justed according to architectural principles; at the sides are 
 numerous windows faced with stone exquisitely wrought. 
 All these circumstances lead to a belief that there must have 
 been some intercourse between the inhabitants of the Old 
 and the New World at a very remote period." 
 
 I have no doubt there are six other caves in or near the 
 ruins of Copan hidden by the forest, yet to be brought to 
 light. 
 
 MINERAL RESOURCES OF HONDURAS 
 AND SALVADOR. 
 
 "In respect to mineral resources, Honduras ranks first 
 among all the States of Central America, Gold, silver, 
 platina, copper, copper-pitch ore, black copper and iron are 
 
AND RUINS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 found. The rich gold mine at San Andres is only a few- 
 miles from the ruins of Copan. Fine opals are found in 
 Honduras also. Iron ore is common in Honduras and is 
 highly magnetic and so nearly pure that it is forged with- 
 out smelting. It occurs in vast and exhaustless beds, and 
 might be produced in any desirable quantity." 
 
 "Nine leagues from Santa Anna in Salvador are some 
 rich mines of iron ore, which produce a purer and more 
 malleable metal than any imported from Europe. The ore 
 is found near the surface, and very abundant. Some of 
 this iron, sent to England a few years ago for the purpose 
 of examination, proved to be a very valuable variety for 
 conversion into fine steel, approaching in this respect very 
 nearly to the celebrated 'Wootz' of India." 
 
 There were minerals, then, in abundance, in Salvador 
 and Honduras, for this colony, and the fine work in stone 
 still to be seen in the ruins of Copan, indicate the use of 
 metal tools, very likely iron ; but in their migrations north- 
 ward where they were located for centuries, in places where 
 iron could not be obtained, they lost a knowledge of it. 
 
 23 
 
 Notes on Cen- 
 tral America, 
 pp. 160-171. 
 
 Ibid., p. 308. 
 
 63 
 95 
 
 217 
 19 
 
 LOCATION OF THE CITY OF TULAN ZUIVA. 
 
 The ruins at Copan, Honduras, are at the foot of the 
 mountains separating Guatemala from Honduras. Ban- 
 croft, in giving the boundary of Honduras, gives the names 
 of the mountain chains which form the boundary line be- 
 tween Honduras and Guatemala, and, describing the an- 
 tiquities in Honduras, says : 
 
 "Copan, the most wonderful of all, and one of the most 
 famous of American ruins. The location is in a most fertile 
 region, near the Guatemalan boundary, on the eastern bank 
 of the Rio Copan." 
 
 Prehistoric 
 America, Na- 
 daillac, p. 328. 
 
 403 
 476 
 
 14 
 111 
 113 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. IV., pp. 
 69-77. 
 
 THE RUINS OF A GJIEAT STONE CITY AT COPAN. 
 
 The ruins at Copan, Honduras, Central America, are 
 the remains of a hitherto unknown people, but, as works of 
 art, proving that a people once occupied Central America, 
 who were not savages, but skilled in the arts of civilization. 
 Many have sought in vain to penetrate the mystery, who 
 the people were who built and inhabited this great stone 
 city. Mr. John Lloyd Stephens said it was situated in one 
 of the most fertile valleys in Central America, at the foot 
 of the mountain range that separates Guatemala from Hon- 
 duras, on the left bank of the Copan river, as you ascend 
 the stream. The wonderful ruins of Copan, like a wrecked 
 bark in the midst of the ocean, with name effaced, and none 
 to tell from whence she came, nor the cause of her destruc- 
 tion ; yet in the Popol Vuh record is the light that will dis- 
 
 Ruins at 
 Copan, the city 
 of Tulan Zuiva. 
 t)y Aztecs; 
 Aztlan, 
 Tulan Zulva 
 and Tulan 
 by Quiches. 
 
24 
 
 96 22 
 
 Travels in Cen- 
 tral America, 
 Stephens, pp. 
 80-87. 
 
 HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 solve the darkness of what has seemed an impenetrable 
 mystery, for surely the ruins at Copan are the ruins of the 
 city of Tulan, answering indeed wonderfully to location and 
 description of that city as described in the traditions as 
 Aztlan, or Tulan — Tulan Zuiva. 
 
 Mr. Stephens wrote in his "Travels in Central America, 
 page 80: 
 
 "No plans or drawings have ever been published, nor 
 anything that can give an idea of the valley of romance and 
 wonder, where, as has been remarked, the genii who at- 
 tended 6n King Solomon seem to have been the artist." 
 
 The ruins extend along the river more than two miles, 
 and in the rear is an unexplored forest in which there may 
 be extensive ruins. 
 
 Ancient 
 America, by 
 J. D. Baldwin, 
 p. 218. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V. p. 221. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, p. 306. 
 
 95 15 
 
 16 
 
 95 7 8 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, p. 325. 
 
 AZTLAN THE PRIMITIVE HOME OF THE AZTECS. 
 
 "A well-authenticated tradition of the Aztecs, repre- 
 sented in their picture writing of the place of their origin, 
 is designated by the sign of water, a pyramidal temple with 
 grades, and near these a palm tree." 
 
 The wonderful pyamidal temple, with grades, standing 
 on the Copan river, in a land where the palm trees grow, 
 all fit with the ruins at Copan. It was the city of Aztlan. 
 
 Thus we see the picture writings of the Aztecs of 
 Mexico favor the idea that the first home and point of 
 departure in their migrations was in the south; this is in 
 agreement with all the earlier traditions that the primitive 
 Nahua power was in the south (Honduras and Guatemala) . 
 
 "Aztlan is described as a land too fair and bounteous 
 to be left willingly in the mere hope of finding a better. The 
 native tradition relates, they received that which their 
 chiefs took to be a message from the gods (their God), 
 directing the people to seek a new home." 
 
 "The Aztecs continued the profession of boatmen, 
 which they had practiced on a river at Aztlan. This 
 presents strong analogies to that of Tulan Zuiva, and it is 
 not impossible that the events related are identical. The 
 earlier portions of this tradition referring vaguely back to 
 the primitive epochs of Nahua history." 
 
 John Lloyd Stephens, in his work, "Travels in Central 
 America," p. 80 to 87, gives a fine description of the temple 
 still standing at Copan, Honduras, C. A. 
 
 TEMPLE IN THE CITY OF AZTLAN. 
 A TEMPLE RESEMBLING KING SOLOMON'S TEMPLE 
 
 AT COPAN. 
 
 The principal part of the ruins on the bank of the river 
 
AND RUINS OP MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 is that of a temple. The front or river wall extends in a 
 right line north and south 624 feet, and is from 60 to 90 feet 
 high. It is made of cut stone, from three to six feet in 
 length, and a foot and a half in breadth. The whole line 
 of survey is 2,866 feet, which is gigantic and extraordinary 
 for a ruined structure of the aborigines. 
 
 Mr. Stephens says: 
 
 "By cutting down trees, we discovered the entrance to 
 be on the north side by a passage thirty feet wide, and about 
 three hundred feet long. On the right is a high range of 
 steps to the terrace of the river wall. At the foot of this 
 are six circular stones from eighteen inches to three feet in 
 diameter — perhaps once the pedestals of columns or monu- 
 ments now fallen and buried. At the end of the passage is 
 the area, or courtyard, one hundred and forty feet long, and 
 ninety broad, with steps on all sides. This was probably 
 the Most Holy Place in the Temple. Beyond doubt it had 
 been the theatre of great events, and imposing religious 
 ceremonies. There were no idols, nor were there any ves- 
 tiges of them, but on the left, two-thirds the way up the 
 steps to the Holy Place, was a gigantic stone head, the por- 
 trait of some king, chieftain, or sage. In the middle of the 
 temple area, elevated above a flight of steps, was an altar, 
 the place of sacrifice. This altar was a solid block of stone 
 six feet square and four feet high, resting on four globular 
 stones, one under each corner." 
 
 THE ALTAR, IN SHAPE AND SIZE, LIKE THE ALTAR 
 OF BURNT OFFERINGS. 
 
 This temple, in the ruins of Copan, is indeed like the 
 temple of Solomon which was built on Mount Moriah, "upon 
 the top of the mountain," with the Holy Place and the Most 
 Holy Place and the altar of burnt offerings 5 cubits (71/^ 
 feet) square and 41/2 feet high, just a trifle larger than the 
 square stone altar in the temple of Copan. 
 
 TRADITIONAL HISTORY OF PORTRAITS IN STONE. 
 
 "Another wonder, the three tribal gods, Tohil, Avilix, 
 and Hacavitz [or Balam-Quitze, Balam-Agab, and Mahu- 
 cutah], were turned into stone." 
 
 This could only mean their portraits were cut in stone, 
 as John T. Short says in "The North Americans of An- 
 tiquity." 
 
 STONE PORTRAITS AT COPAN. 
 
 John Lloyd Stephens says they found in the ruins at 
 Copan, beautifully sculptured in stone, portraits of kings, 
 chieftains, or sages ; one near the Holy Place in the temple 
 six feet high. 
 
 25 
 
 96 
 
 22 
 25 
 
 Stephens' 
 
 Travels. 
 
 pp. 80 and 87. 
 
 A temple. 
 
 Portrait of 
 
 Dalam- 
 
 Quitze. 
 
 II. Chron. 3:1-3. 
 Ezek. 43:12. 
 Ex. 38:1. 
 Ex. 40:29. 
 
 210 28 
 
 30 
 
 169 2 
 
 Native jc^,- 
 Vol. Ill, pp. »., 
 52. 
 
 Portraits of 
 three lead«Tr->r 
 North Ana«ir- 
 icans of 
 Antiquity, 
 p. 216. 
 
 Travels in u-w.^. - 
 tral America, 
 pp. 83 and 87, 
 Stone portratfa, 
 
26 
 
 Death of Nima- 
 Quitze and his 
 three brothers. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. Ill, pp. 
 53-54. 
 
 167 9 
 10 
 11 
 
 North Amer- 
 icans of 
 Antiquity, 
 p. 217. 
 
 168 12 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, pp. 
 565-566. 
 
 Ibid., Vol. V, 
 p. 180, also 
 foot-note. 
 
 Centuries for 
 language to 
 change. 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V. p. 181. 
 
 277 49 
 
 95 
 98 
 
 19 
 51 
 
 Priests. 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, p. 554. 
 
 HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 DEATH OF THE ANCESTORS OF THE RACE. 
 
 "Now it came to pass that the time of the death of 
 Balam-Quitze, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam 
 drew near. They were forewarned that their death and 
 their end were at hand." 
 
 "At last, at the noonday of their national glory, it came 
 to pass that the ancestors of their race, Balam-Quitze, 
 Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam, died ; the men who 
 came from across the sea died." 
 
 This is an abridgment, no doubt, by the Quiche his- 
 torian, referring to the death of all four of the brothers, 
 at the death of the one great leader, Balam-Quiche, and 
 may represent a long period of time. We also read that 
 Nima-Quiche (or the great Quiche) was the father of the 
 Quiches; the same is said of Balam-Quitze, thus showing 
 them to be one and the same person. 
 
 "The narrative of the struggle with Xibalba (located 
 in Salvador, Central America) was introduced at the begin- 
 ning of the Quiche migrations, when the four brothers de- 
 parted from Xibalba and went to Tulan Zuiva." 
 
 "The four men with their families, and all who would 
 go with them, migrated to Tulan Zuiva, or Seven Caves. 
 Here their language was changed, and they became a sep- 
 arate nation." 
 
 This must represent centuries, for their language to 
 change and the few families to become a nation. 
 
 "The point most dwelt upon during their stay in Tulan 
 was trouble with Xibalba, which circumstance may indicate 
 that Tulan was in the Xibalban region." 
 
 "The Quiches lived long in their new home, before they 
 left their city for Guatemala. All this time they were di- 
 rected by their trinity — Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz, acting 
 through their chief sacrificers, or High Priests, Balam- 
 Quitze, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam, the same 
 who had led them in their migration from the region of 
 Xibalba." "Of course many generations of priests bearing 
 these names, or these TITLES, must have succeeded each 
 other in the direction of Quiche affairs during this period." 
 
 North Amer- 
 icans of 
 Antiquity, 
 p. 215. 
 
 DEPARTURE FROM TULAN. 
 
 Whether they determined to abandon Tulan, or were 
 driven from it, the record does not say. 
 
 "At last Tulan, the mysterious land of Seven Caves, 
 was forsaken, and the people began a migration attended 
 with indescribable hardships and famine itself. Their way 
 
26 
 
 
 Death of 
 Quitze a 
 three br 
 
 
 Native ] 
 Vol. Ill, 
 53-54. 
 
 
 If 
 
 
 North A 
 leans of 
 Antiquit; 
 p. 217. 
 
 
 16£ 
 
 
 Native 1 
 Vol. V, ] 
 565-566. 
 
 
 Ibid.. Vo 
 p. 180, al 
 foot-not( 
 
 
 Centuriei 
 languagt 
 change. 
 Native 1 
 Vol. V. I 
 
 . 
 
 zn 
 
 
 9E 
 
 
 9S 
 
 
 Priests. 
 Native B 
 Vol. V, I 
 
 _ 
 
 
 I 
 
 North A 
 leans ol 
 Antiquit 
 p. 216. 
 
 
AND RUINS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 led through dense forest, and over big mountains, and along 
 the sea on a rough and pebbly shore." 
 
 Mr. John L. Stephens says: 
 
 "According to Fuentes, the chronicler of the kingdom 
 of Guatemala, the kings of the Quiches and Kachiquels 
 were descended from the Toltecan Indians (or Indians from 
 Tulan land), who, when they came into the country (Gua- 
 temala), they found it already inhabited by a people of a 
 different nation." 
 
 27 
 
 Travels in Cen- 
 tral America, 
 p. 326. 
 
 201 24 
 
 Nahuas dicov- 
 ered the 
 Olmecs and 
 Xicalancas. 
 
 LANDING-PLACES OF THE OLMECS AND XICALAN- 
 CAS, THE THIRD COLONY OF ANCIENT 
 TRADITIONS. 
 
 "The Olmecs and Xicalancas (Ze-cal-an-cas) , who were 
 sometime represented as two nations, and sometimes as a 
 division of the same nation, and regarded by all authorities 
 as Nahuas." * * * "Southern Vera Cruz and Tabasco 
 were the regions traditionally settled by them." * * * 
 "They are regarded as the first of the Nahua nations in 
 this region and are first noticed by tradition on the south- 
 easten coast, whither they had come in ships from the east." 
 "Ixtlilxochitl tells us they occupied the land in the third 
 age of the world, landing on the east coast as far as the 
 land of Papuha (muddy water) or in the regions about the 
 Laguna de Terminos. * * * Their national names are 
 derived from that of their first rulers, Olmecatl and Xica- 
 lancatl" (meaning descendants of Olmec and Xicalanca). 
 
 "Two ancient cities called Xicalanco are reported on 
 the gulf coast ; one of them, whose ruins are still said to be 
 visible, was just below Vera Cruz, the other on the point, 
 which still bears the name of Xicalanco, at the entrance to 
 the Laguna de Terminos, and the whole region, between the 
 two Xicalancos and for seventy-five miles inland, was called 
 Anahuac Xicalanco." 
 
 THREE DIFFERENT PA^RTS OF THE COUNTRY 
 CALLED ANAHUAC. 
 
 There were three places called Anahuac by the Ancient 
 Americans. (Meaning, "Maritime people, or having com- 
 merce by sea.") 
 
 "The Oajacan coast region, if we may credit the result 
 of researches by the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg, was some- 
 times known as Anahuac Ayotlan, and the opposite coast of 
 Tabasco was called Anahuac Xicalanco." "Centrally located 
 on the table-land in Mexico, and surrounded by a wall of lofty 
 volcanic cliffs and peaks, is the most famous of all the val- 
 ley plateaux, something more than one hundred and sixty 
 
 Vol. V, pp. 
 195-6. 
 
 387 74 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. II, p. 129. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. IV. p. 287. 
 
 540 
 549 
 
 6 
 10 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. II, pp. 87- 
 88 and 111. 
 Bureau of 
 American 
 Ethnology. 
 Bulletin 28, 
 p. 258. 
 
28 HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 548 4 miles in circuit. The Valley of Mexico, "Anahuac, that is 
 to say, Country by the waters," taking its name from the 
 lakes that formerly occupied one-tenth of its area. "Ana- 
 huac," with an elevation of 7,500 feet, may be taken as a 
 representative of the tierra fria. It has a mean tempera- 
 ture of 62 degrees, a climate much like that of Europe, 
 although dryer; wheat, barley and all the European cereals 
 and fruits flourish side by side with plantations of maize 
 in this valley." 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. II, pp. 379- 
 398. 
 
 279 
 280 
 
 78 
 90 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. II, p. 129. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, pp. 195 
 and 196. 
 
 PRIMITIVE SHIPPING. 
 
 "From the earliest times the two southern Anahuacs, 
 of Ayotlan and Xicalanco, corresponding to what are now 
 the southern coast of Oajaca and the tierra caliente of Ta- 
 basco and southern Vera Cruz, were inhabited by commer- 
 cial peoples. The Xicalancas engaged to some extent in a 
 maritime coasting trade, mostly confined, however, as it 
 would appear, to the coast of their own territories and those 
 immediately adjacent." 
 
 There are strong reasons to believe that the people 
 known as Olmecs and Xicalancas were one and the same 
 nation, and that they were known first as Olmecs, taking 
 the name of their leader, or ruler, Olmec, at the time of 
 their landing; "Olmecatl meaning, descendants of or people 
 of Olmec." Ixtlilxochitl, in referring to these people subse- 
 quent to their first appearance, called them Olmecs; cent- 
 uries later, when they merged with the Nahuas from the 
 south, they were called Xicalancas. Their language was 
 not the same as the Nahua, but they were known as a 
 Nahua nation, and united with them in their wars with the 
 Mayas. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, p. 197. 
 
 202 
 
 37 
 39 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V. p. 196. 
 
 OLMECS. 
 
 According to Ixtlilxochitl, in the first mention of this 
 nation in the Nahua history, these people were called 
 Olmecs, and upon their arrival in the country they discov- 
 ered the last of the Quinames or giants, as follows : "Our 
 knowledge of Olmec history subsequent to their first ap- 
 pearance is confined to a few events which occurred in 
 Puebla. Here on the Rio Atoyac near Puebla de los Angeles 
 and Cholula they found the Quinames or giants. * * * 
 These Quinames, as Ixtlilxochitl states, were survivors of 
 the great destruction which closed the second age of the 
 world." 
 
 The two points of land on the gulf coast having the 
 same name, Xicalanco, no doubt indicated two landing-places, 
 the first on the point below Vera Cruz, and their discovery 
 of the Quinames in that country may have been the reason 
 
AND RUINS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 20 
 
 NAHUA BOATS. 
 
 Tahucups, boats 8 feet wide and 60 feet long, from Tabasco, dug from 
 a single log, capable of carrying sixty persons, used extensively in the Gulf 
 of Mexico in ancient times. ("Native Races," Vol. II., pp. 379, 398, 739; 
 "The Ancient Cities of the New World," p. 263.) 
 
30 
 
 Travels in Cen- 
 tral America. 
 Stephens and 
 Catherwood, p. 
 326. 
 
 206 
 202 
 
 24 
 34 
 
 475 101 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, p. 544. 
 
 HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 for their departure, and their next landing was in Tabasco 
 on the point at Laguna de Terminos. These two places in 
 later centuries became their principal seaports, and the 
 boundary points of the country called Anahuac Xicalanco." 
 
 NAHUAS, OLMECS AND XICALANCAS UNITE. 
 
 "QUICHE HISTORY— According to Fuentes, the 
 chronicler of the Kingdom of Guatemala, the Kings of 
 Quiche and Kachiquel were descended j^rom the Toltecan 
 Indians (or from the Indians from Tulan Zuiva) , who, when 
 they came into this country (Guatemala), found it already 
 inhabited by people of different nations." 
 
 There can be no doubt that the Popol Vuh gives the 
 primitive history of the Nahuas and Mayas, from whom the 
 Quiches were descended; Xibalba was their first city and 
 location after crossing the Pacific. There was a large 
 family of brothers, who quarreled, and four brothers left 
 Xibalba and settled at Tulan Zuiva, also called Aztlan, now 
 known as the ruins at Copan, Honduras ; here they lived for 
 several centuries, until they had changed their language 
 and became a nation. About 200 B. C. these people, the 
 Nahuas, were driven or for some reason forced to leave 
 Tulan Zuiva, called sometimes "Tula or Tulan," and by the 
 Aztecs, "Aztlan." They migrated to the northern parts of 
 Guatemala, where they discovered the Olmecs, then called 
 Xicalancas, who united with them, and were known as 
 Nahua nations after that. 
 
 After the Nahuas departed from Tulan Zuiva, the 
 Mayas moved in, took possession of the city, and made it 
 their chief city ; the king moving from Xibalba, Salvador, to 
 Tulan Zuiva in Honduras (Copan) , and may have given the 
 city a different name in their language. 
 
 In time the Mayas went over into Guatemala to war 
 with the Nahuas, and their warfare continued for centuries. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, pp. 
 210-211. 
 
 689 24 
 
 THE OLMECS AND XICALANCAS KNOWN AS 
 NAHUA NATIONS. 
 
 The Nahuas, strengthened by the Olmecs and Xicalan- 
 cas, were able to withstand the armies of the Mayas who 
 came against them from time to time, and they built great 
 cities along the Rio Usumacinta and the Rio de la Pasion, 
 from British Honduras to Tabasco, where they continued 
 to live until 338 A. D. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. IV, pp. 
 130-131-132. 
 
 485 3 
 
 4 
 
 ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS n»T GUATEMALA. 
 
 "Extending eastward from the region of Huehuete- 
 nango to that of Salama in the province of Vera Paz a dis- 
 
486 11 
 
 AND RUINS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 tance of nearly one hundred miles, there seems to be a line 
 of rums, occurring- at frequent intervals particularly in the 
 Valley of the Rabinal and about the town of that name. A 
 map of Guatemala now before me [says Mr. Bancroft] 
 locates seventeen of these ruins. * * * Most of them 
 being the remains of fortresses or fortified towns, built on 
 strong natural positions at river mouths, guarding the en- 
 trances to fertile valleys." The ruins at Cawinal are situ- 
 ated on both sides of the stream, in a fine mountain-girt 
 valley, the approach to which was g-uarded by a long line 
 of fortifications, pyramided mounds, and watch-towers, 
 whose remains may yet be seen." 
 
 "One Leon de Pontelli claims to have traveled in North- 
 western Guatemala in 1859, and to have discovered many 
 ancient and remarkable ruins of great cities at points im- 
 possible to locate, somewhere about the confines at Vera 
 Paz and Peten." 
 
 Prof. Edward Seler says : "The fortifications skillfully Bureau of 
 
 constructed by the inhabitants of this territory (Guate- E^noioSy 
 
 mala) prove that they had to protect themselves against Bulletin 28. 
 
 constant hostile disturbances." p- ^"• 
 
 31 
 
 Native Races 
 Vol. IV, 
 p. 132. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, pp. 
 567-568. 
 
 WHO WWE THE BUILDERS OF THESE ANCIENT 
 FORTIFICATIONS IN GUATEMALA? 
 
 Who were the builders of these fortifications ? What 
 does history say? 
 
 Mr. H. H. Bancroft, the historian, says : *T have in a 
 preceding- chapter presented the evidence of the existence 
 during a few centuries before and after the beginning of 
 the Christian era of a great aboriginal empire in Central 
 America, narrating all that may be known of its decline and 
 fall, resulting from the contentions of the great Maya and 
 Nahua powers." 
 
 It was either the Nahuas or Mayas, then, who built 
 these fortifications; and there can be little doubt the 
 Nahuas, who were settled in the northern part of Guate- 
 mala with their principal cities along the Rio Usumacinta, 
 and m Chiapas, were the builders, trying to protect their 
 homes and lands from attacks made upon them by the 
 Mayas. 
 
 Mr. Bancroft says : "It has been seen that the Nahuas ^^\'''^ ^J-^'^f^ 
 a few centuries after the beginning of our era were driven ^°'- ^' p- ' ' 
 northward and established themselves in Anahuac" (Val- 
 ley of Mexico) . 
 
 These fortifications were built, no doubt, before Yuca- 
 tan was discovered and settled in the fifth century, when 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. II, p. 117. 
 
32 
 
 HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 the Mayas were located in Southeastern Guatemala, Hon- 
 duras, and Salvador. 
 
 In associating the history furnished by the Quiches 
 in the Popol Vuh, and the Nahua history by the Toltecs, 
 as translated by Ixtlilxochitl, We may gather a good outline 
 of the Nahua and Maya history ; though there are no Maya 
 records giving their history, the most we know of them is 
 obtained from the Nahua and Quiche records. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V. p. 147. 
 
 IXTLILXOCHITL THE NATIVE HISTORIAN. 
 
 "Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl was a grandson of the 
 last king of Tezcuco, from whom he inherited all that was 
 saved of the records in the public archives, (He translated 
 these records early in the sixteenth century.) His works 
 are more extensive than those of any other writer, covering 
 the whole of Nahua history." 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, pp. 
 208-209. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, p. 167. 
 
 631 
 
 NAHUA HISTORY BY THE TOLTECS. 
 
 "I now come to what may be termed the regular annals 
 of that branch of the Nahua nations which acquired the 
 name of Toltec." 
 
 Mr. Bancroft says : "By the omission of a large amount 
 of profitless conjecture, the traditions may be somewhat 
 simplified so as to yield, as other traditions have done, some 
 items of general information respecting the primitive Na- 
 hua period/' Then follows a brief account of the coming 
 of the Quinames or giants from the Tower of Babel, and 
 their destruction ; which was Ohnec history, recorded in the 
 annals of the Nahuas after they united, about 200 B. C. 
 
 We next note an account of an "Assembly of the Wise 
 Men in Huehue Tlapallan (this city is thought by some to 
 be the holy city, the ruins of which are at Palenque, Chiapas, 
 Mexico), the chief city of their dominion" (at that time). 
 * * * It was at this assembly (83 B. C.) that "they 
 added the bissextile (a leap year), to regulate the solar 
 year with the equinox." 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, pp. 
 210. 
 
 624 e 
 
 THE GREAT CATACLYSM. 
 
 "One hundred and sixteen years after this regulation 
 or invention of the Toltec (Nahua) calendar, the sun and 
 moon were eclipsed, the earth shook, and the rocks were 
 rent asunder, and many other things and signs (signs of 
 what?) happened. This was in the year Ce Calli, which, 
 the chronology being reduced to our systems, proves to be 
 the same date when Christ our Lord suffered," 33 A. D. 
 
 Here are some important dates which go back nearly a 
 
AND RUINS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 hundred years before the Christian era, taken from historic 
 records kept by the Nahuas. 
 
 Then follows another positive date of great importance. 
 
 33 
 
 HUEMAN THE PROPHET. 
 
 "Three hundred and five years later (338 A. D.), when 
 the empire (Nahua) had long been at peace," war (which 
 must have been by an overwhelming force of the Mayas, so 
 powerful the Nahuas could not withstand them) came 
 against them. Then we read : "There rose a great astrologer 
 (a prophet, as he is called in "Native Races," Vol. V, pp. 
 242 and 243), named Hueman (Wa-man), saying that ac- 
 cording to their history they had suffered great persecu- 
 tions. * * * Consequently it did not behoove them to remain 
 so near their enemies; moreover his astrologjr had taught 
 him that there was a broad and happy land where the 
 Quinames had lived for many years (Mexico, from the 
 Isthmus of Tehuantepec north) , but so long a time had now 
 passed since their destruction, and their enemies (the 
 Mayas) rarely penetrated those regions." 
 
 Beginning with this date, 338 A. D., we follow the 
 migrations of the Nahuas, which would now include the 
 Olmecs and Xicalancas. 
 
 For centuries before the national migrations of the 
 Nahuas northward, colonies of the Nahua people at differ- 
 ent times had moved northward, or north of the Isthmus of 
 Tehuantepec into Mexico, which must have weakened the 
 Nahuas in the south. 
 
 It is evident the Nahuas made a stand in the Isthmus 
 of Tehuantepec, and their fortifications may still be seen 
 there. 
 
 There must have been a treaty made here between the 
 Nahuas and Mayas, as we read, "It has been seen, in what 
 has been said on the subject, that there was a dividing line 
 between the Nahuas and Mayas, drawn across the Isthmus 
 of Tehuantepec." 
 
 The next record we find of the Nahuas, we read of 
 them some 40 or 50 years later on the plains of Teotihuacan 
 in the Valley of Mexico, where the aged Hueman makes an 
 abridgment of all the Toltec (Nahua) records. 
 
 It Was here at Teotihuacan, tradition says, the Nahuas 
 were defeated by the Mayas, and the few who were left 
 scattered to the north, south, east and west, Ixtlilxochitl 
 says, 387 A. D. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, pp. 
 210-211. 
 
 695 4 
 698 30 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. IV, pp. 
 368-9. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. IV, p. 366; 
 Vol. II, p. 92. 
 
 692 60 
 61 
 62 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, pp. 
 248-251. 
 
 701 5 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, p. 209, 
 foot-note. 
 
 700 44 
 
34 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, p. 248. 
 
 701 7 
 8 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, p. 251. 
 
 291 
 
 16 
 18 
 
 Mexican 
 Antiquities, by 
 Kingsborough, 
 Vol. VI, pp. 
 256-8. 
 
 HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 AN ABRIDGMENT OF THEIR RECORDS IN TEOTI- 
 HUACAN IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE NAHUAS IN THE VALLEY OF 
 MEXICO AT TEOTIHUACAN, 
 
 We next read of a meeting of all the sages under the 
 direction of the aged Hueman. * * * "At this assem- 
 bly there were brought forward all the Toltec records reach- 
 ing back to the earliest period of their existence, and from 
 these documents, after a long conference and the most care- 
 ful study, the Teoamoxtli, or Book of God, was prepared. In 
 its pages were inscribed the Nahua annals from the time 
 of the deluge, or even from the creation ; together with all 
 their religious rites, governmental system, laws, and social 
 customs, * * * and a complete explanation of their 
 modes of reckoning time, and interpreting the hieroglyphics. 
 To the divine book was added a chapter of prophecies re- 
 specting future events and the signs by which it should be 
 known when the time of their fulfillment was drawing 
 near." 
 
 "The Toltecs (Nahuas), according to their ancient 
 history, were the race who peopled the country after the 
 giants, of whom mention has been made in the preceding 
 chapter." The Toltecs say their ancestors proceeded from 
 a .region situated in the west (across the Pacific) to Tulan 
 (Zuiva), the first city which they founded; and add also 
 that they brought with them maize, cotton and other seeds 
 and vegetables which grow in this country, and they ex- 
 celled in working in metals, and in stone." 
 
 "Their downfall and destruction, as a great nation, as 
 reported by the very few who were left, was from the perse- 
 cutions and oppression of certain kings (Mayas) for the 
 space of more than five hundred years, and it appeared to 
 them that their persecutions proceeded from the anger of 
 the gods" (or of God). 
 
 701 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, p. 209, 
 foot-note. 
 
 THE RECORD OF THEIR DESTRUCTION. 
 
 "They were gathered together in a general assembly 
 composed of all the priests, princes and considerable lords 
 in a place called Teotihuacan, which is in a district a short 
 distance north of the present City of Mexico/* Then follows 
 a relation of tales in w^hich the Toltecs (Nahuas) were smit- 
 ten, day after day, with terrible destruction by a vast multi- 
 tude of their enemies until they scattered in different direc- 
 tions, east, west, north, and south. 
 
 The date given by Ixtlilxochitl of the Toltec (Nahua) 
 banishment from their country and their migrating to Huit- 
 lapalan, California, as 387 A. D., and centuries lat^r returned 
 
AND RUINS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 again to the Valley of Mexico, their history says 648 A. D., 
 and have been known as Toltecs since. 
 
 I am very sure this statement of the overthrow of the 
 Nahuas as a nation, which would include the Olmecs and 
 Xicalancas, who were then a part of that nation, as given 
 by Ixtlilxochitl in his translation from the Toltecs' record, 
 is true history and the date 387 is comparatively correct, 
 and some of the Olmecs and Xicalancas who fled to their 
 seaport, "Xicalanco," "on the Gulf," just below Vera Cruz 
 of the present day, "sailed to South America as Boturini 
 said," about 387 A. D. 
 
 They were driven from Chiapas and Tabasco and their 
 migrations began under the leadership of Hueman, 338 A. 
 D., so we are told; then follows a long description of their 
 journeyings with families and stock, the men continually 
 fighting off the Maya armies until they finally reached the 
 Valley of Mexico, where they were destroyed as a nation, 
 387 A. D. And the few who were left scattered north, south, 
 east, and west, some of them to return again to the Valley 
 of Mexico in 648 A. D., and then known as Toltecs. 
 
 3S 
 
 701 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V. p. 208. 
 
 REPRESENTATIONS OF THE BEARDED WHITE MAN. 
 
 The bearded white man of American tradition called 
 Quetzal-Coatl by the Nahuas, Cukulcan by the Mayas, and 
 Gucumatz by the Quiches, the various names in the dif- 
 ferent languages of the different tribes translated by the 
 Spanish writers as feathered-serpent, bird-serpent, or 
 feathered-snake, but was intended by the Indians to repre- 
 sent the Words "flying serpent," their name for the bearded 
 white man who appeared amongst them mysteriously, and 
 disappeared as mysteriously as he came. The rebus used 
 by the ancient Americans to represent him was a bird and 
 serpent. ..- • . 
 
 A copper medal Wa^ found in GuatemSa b/'Ordone^ 
 about 1794 A. D. He refers the origin of it to the founders 
 of Palenque. 
 
 On one side is a representation of the bearded white 
 man kneeling between two fierce heads ; on the reverse side 
 is the bird and serpent, showing the medal gives a represen- 
 tation of the bearded white man and his name represented 
 by the bird and serpent, or "flying serpent." 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. V, p. 23. 
 
 57 
 
 571 
 
 134 
 
 135 
 
 47 
 
 48 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. IV. p. 118. 
 
 MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS. 
 
 Fragment 16 of Alexander Von Humboldt Collection, 
 found in 1803, the original is in the iRoyal Library at Ber- 
 lin. This fragment is a coarse paper made of agave fibers. 
 
HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 4J 73 
 
AND RUINS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 37 
 
 It is very old and much damaged ; the drawings are done in 
 black without other coloring. The pictures begin above at 
 the left and continue in this row from left to right, but in 
 the second row from right to left, and so on, the direction 
 alternating. 
 
 There can be little doubt the representations are of the 
 birth and crucifixion of Christ, of his descent into hell, his 
 resurrection and ascent into heaven, and possible reference 
 to the Ten Commandments. And this was the bearded 
 white man called by the Nahuas of Mexico Quetzal-Coatl, 
 or "Flying Serpent." 
 
 THE BEARDED WHITE MAN. 
 
 One of the greatest, if not the greatest event recorded 
 in traditional history of the Ancient Americans was the 
 mysterious appearance of a bearded white man who came 
 to them as a teacher of religion. 
 
 This could not be a legendary account of a mythic per- 
 sonage that had no foundation in fact, but was a circum- 
 stance considered by the ancient historians to be of very 
 great importance, and many and various accounts of his 
 appearance and teachings were carefully recorded and pre- 
 served in their annals, and handed down for nearly two 
 thousand years. 
 
 CULTURE-HEJIOES OF TRADITION. 
 
 Mr. Bancroft says: "Although bearing various names voi!Yiif pp!*' 
 and appearing in different countries, the American culture- 45, "135.' 451'. 
 heroes all present the same general characteristics. They 
 are all described as white, bearded man, generally clad in ^^2 9 
 
 long (white) robes; appearing suddenly and mysteriously ^0 
 
 upon the scene of their labors, they at once set about im- 1^ 
 
 proving the people by instructing them in useful and orna- 
 mental arts, giving them laws, exhorting them to practice 
 brotherly love and other Christian virtues, and introducing a 
 milder and better form of religion; having accomplished 
 their mission, they disappear as mysteriously and unexpect- 
 edly as they came; and finally, they are apotheosized and 
 held in great reverence by a grateful posterity. 
 
 "In such guise, or on such mission, did Quetzal- 
 Coatl appear in Cholula, Votan in Chiapas, Wixepecocha in 
 Oajaca, Zamma and Cukulcan in Yucatan, Gucumatz in 
 Guatemala, Vira-Cocha in Peru, Sume and Paye-Tome in 
 Brazil, Bochica in Colombia." 
 
 This tradition, as we see, is not confined to Mexico and 
 Central America, but the same description of a white and 
 bearded man is found in South America. "Bohica (or 
 
38 
 
 57 
 
 134 
 
 571 
 
 47 
 
 Native 
 
 Races, 
 
 Vol. III.. 
 
 p. 267. 
 
 Bureau of 
 
 American Eth- 
 
 nology, 
 
 Bulle- 
 
 tin 28, p. 
 
 583. 
 
 HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 Bochica) , a white man with a beard, appeared to the Mozca 
 Indians in the plains of Bogota. * * * Having settled 
 the government, civil and ecclesiastical, he retired * ♦ * 
 for two thousand years." 
 
 A bird, a serpent, and the Christian cross were used 
 by the Ancient Americans to represent the bearded white 
 man who appeared so mysteriously among them. 
 
 The bird chosen, and set apart as sacred, to be a part 
 of the symbol to represent this bearded white man, was, 
 according to John Lloyd Stephens, the traveler, "the most 
 beautiful thing that flies," called the quetzal. Thus the 
 rebus, the bird and serpent, or in short, bird-serpent, or 
 flying serpent, designated by different names in the dif- 
 ferent languages of the different tribes or nations, yet 
 meaning the same thing, FLYING-SERPENT. 
 
 This is a very important discovery, and surely leads to 
 the solving of the problem, as to the identity of the bearded 
 white man referred to in the traditions of the Ancient 
 Americans throughout the Western Continent. 
 
 Popular His- 
 tory of South 
 America and 
 Panama, pp. 
 3-4. 
 
 Conquest of 
 Mexico, Vol. II, 
 p. 388. 
 
 670 30 
 
 History of 
 America by S. 
 S. Goodrich, 
 pp. 42 and 48. 
 
 QUETZAL-COATL OF NAHUA HISTORY, 
 THE GREATEST NAHUA LEGENI). 
 
 "There are great legends, worthy of noblest represen- 
 tation in poetry and art, that belong to the dusk of Amer- 
 ican tradition." * * * "One of these relates to Quetzal- 
 Coatl, who came from the Eastern World to Guatemala, 
 and to the golden age that arose under his preaching, when 
 the birds sang never so sweetly, when the flowers bloomed 
 never so brightly, when a single ear of corn taxed the 
 strength of a man, and no violence was allowed to bird, 
 beast or man, Quetzal-Coatl, of whom the beautiful bird of 
 Guatemala, the quetzal, is still a reminder — a bird that, ac- 
 cording to John Lloyd Stephens, the explorer, is *the most 
 beautiful thing that flies.' " 
 
 William H. Prescott, in Conquest of Mexico, Vol. 2, p. 
 388, says: "But none of the deities of the country sug- 
 gested such astonishing analogies with Scripture as Quet- 
 zal-Coatl. He was the white man, wearing a beard, who 
 came from the east; and who, after presiding over the 
 golden age of Anahuac, disappeared as mysteriously as he 
 had come. As he promised to return at some future day, 
 his reappearance was looked for with confidence by each 
 succeeding generation." 
 
 It is true that each succeeding generation was looking 
 for the return of this bearded man. When Christopher 
 Columbus and his crew visited the American Continent, 
 
AND RUINS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL^ AMERICA 
 
 "The natives everywhere received them as celestial visi- 
 tants." "Where villages of a thousand or more of the 
 natives Were seen, they threw themselves prostrate on the 
 earth, endeavoring to express by gesticulations that they 
 considered the Spaniards as descended from heaven." 
 
 When CJortez first visited the Coast of Mexico the 
 native Mexicans begged to be permitted to behold him whom 
 they sought; they were conducted to the fore part of the 
 vessel, where Cortez was already expecting them, with mock 
 majesty. They were introduced, and when they saw him 
 majestically seated upon a throne, they prostrated them- 
 selves upon the deck and kissed it. When rising, he who 
 was the principal of them all addressed him: 'Our Lord 
 and God, we welcome your arrival, since we who are your 
 servants have long expected you.' " 
 
 39 
 
 Mexican 
 Antiquities, 
 Kingsborough, 
 Vol. VI. p. 343. 
 
 A MEXICAN TRADITION. 
 
 "Amongst the Mexicans there suddenly appeared 
 Quetzal-Coatl, *a white and bearded man/ " etc. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. Ill, p. 269. 
 
 THE BEARDED WHITE MAN CALLED "FEATHERED 
 SERPENT" OR "FLYING SERPENT." 
 
 The account of the mysterious appearance of the 
 bearded white man seems to have been known to all the 
 nations of North, South and Central America. He was 
 called by many of the nations "Feathered Serpent." His 
 symbols were a bird, a serpent and the cross. 
 
 "His emblematic name, the Bird-Serpent, and his rebus, 
 the bird, serpent and the cross, are at Palenque." 
 
 The Temple of the Cross at Palenque has a tablet en- 
 graved on the back wall. "The center is occupied by a large 
 design, which is a figure resembling a cross, on which the 
 sacred quetzal bird sits." 
 
 The Nahua nations called the bearded white man 
 Quetzal-Coatl, meaning in their language "Feathered 
 Serpent." The Mayas called him "Cukulcan," which means 
 "Feathered Serpent" in their language, and the Quiches of 
 Guatemala called him "Gucumatz," which means "Feathered 
 Snake" in their language. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. III., p. 268. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. Ill, p. 267, 
 and 
 
 Bureau of 
 American 
 Ethnology, 
 Bulletin 28, 
 p. 583. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. III., pp. 
 475-451-135. 
 
 FEATHERED SERPENT. 
 
 A very important question, which few writers have 
 tried to explain, is, '*Why was the bearded white man, this 
 
 1! ii';;^' OcUyv\< 
 
40 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. v., pp. 26- 
 87. 
 
 57 134 
 
 HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 wonderful personage of tradition, called "Feathered Ser- 
 pent"? 
 
 Lord Kingsborough and other writers considered this 
 peculiar title to be one of the strong proofs of an Israelitish 
 origin of the ancient Americans, who, having a knowledge 
 of the brazen serpent raised by Moses, and knowing it to 
 be a symbol of the Messiah, took this way to show the 
 bearded white man to be the Christ. I quote : "It's probable 
 that Quetzal-Coatl, whose proper name signifies 'Feathered 
 Serpent,' was so called after the brazen serpent which Moses 
 lifted up in the wilderness, the feathers perhaps alluding to 
 the rabbinical tradition that the fiery serpents which God 
 sent against the Israelites were of a winged species." 
 
 Isa, 14:29 
 20:6. 
 John 3:14. 
 
 and 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. II, p. 113; 
 Vol. III., p. 2R1. 
 
 A FIERY FLYING SERPENT. 
 
 That the Israelites believed the fiery serpents the Lord 
 sent among the people (Num. 21:6 to 9) were of a winged 
 species is borne out by the reference made by the Prophet 
 Isaiah to "a fiery flying serpent." Both references are in 
 the singular, which may point to the fiery brass serpent set 
 up by Moses, or to Christ, which it symbolized. 
 
 St. John says, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in 
 the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." 
 The reference, therefore, by the Prophet Isaiah to "a fiery 
 flying serpent" appears to be referring in some way to 
 Christ, the Messiah. 
 
 Surely Lord Kingsborough and others were within the 
 bounds of reason in thinking that "Feathered Serpent" was 
 symbolic of the fiery "flying serpent," thus one of the many- 
 proofs that the ancestors of some of the Mexicans and Cen- 
 tral Americans were Israelitish and that the bearded white 
 man was the Messiah. 
 
 Mexican 
 Antiquities, by 
 Kingrsborough. 
 Vbl, VI, pp. 
 166-6. 
 
 See Nativ* 
 Races, Vol. Ill, 
 pp. 272-3. 
 
 QUETZAL-COATL, THE LORD OF THE NAHUAS. 
 
 ANCIENT AMERICANS HAD A KNOWLEGE 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 "Torquemada informs us on the authority of Las Casas 
 that Quetzal-Coatl had been in Yucatan (Palenque), and 
 was there adored" (worshiped). 
 
 "The interpreters of the Vatican Codex say in the 
 following passage, that the Mexicans had a tradition that 
 Quetzal-Coatl died upon the cross, and, according to their 
 belief, for the sins of mankind." 
 
 "This tradition from the Vatican MSS. acquires the 
 most authentic character from the corroboration which it 
 
A ND RUINS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 41 
 
 
42 
 
 History of 
 Mexico, by 
 Bancroft, p. 
 101. 
 
 Bureau of 
 American Eth- 
 nology, Bulle- 
 tin 28, p. 583. 
 
 HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 receives from several paintings in the Codex Borgian, or 
 Borgian manuscript, which actually represent Quetzal-Coatl 
 crucified, nailed to the cross. These paintings are contained 
 in the 4th, 72nd, 73rd and 75th pages of the above mentioned 
 MSS. The article of his burial, resurrection and descent into 
 hell appears also to be represented in the 71st and 73rd 
 pages of the same MSS." jj---:- 
 
 "The chief divinity of the Nahua Nations was Quetzal- 
 Coatl, the gentle God, ruler of the air, controller of the sun 
 and rain, and source of all prosperity." 
 
 Throughout Mexico and Guatemala there were hun- 
 dreds of temples dedicated to Quetzal-Coatl, but the Temple 
 of the Cross at Palenque "was the only one having his rebus 
 complete. 
 
 In this temple on the back wall of the Holy of Holies 
 was a tablet engraved representing the cross, a bird and 
 a serpent. The bird standing upon the cross is recognized 
 as the sacred quetzal bird of Guatemala, and implies more 
 for this temple than for any other, which is significant; 
 this evidently was the place where the bearded white man 
 first appeared, who is represented on the copper medal 
 found by Ordonez in 1794, who refers its origin to Palenque. 
 
 Pilgrimages 
 made to Pal- 
 enque. 
 
 Ancient Cities 
 of the New 
 World, Desire 
 Charnay, pp. 
 245-246. 
 
 Priest, not 
 warriors. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. IV., pp. 
 288-289. 
 A religious 
 center. Palen- 
 que a famous 
 city. 
 
 PALENQUE AN IMPORTANT RELIGIOUS CENTER. 
 Desire Charnay said of Palenque: 
 
 "It was a holy place, an important religious center, a 
 
 city which was resorted to as a place of pilgrimage, teeming 
 with shrines and temples. The great edifice was not a 
 royal palace, but rather a priestly habitation occupied by 
 the higher clergy of this holy center, as the reliefs every- 
 where attest." 
 
 "On the reliefs at Palenque we behold peaceful, stately 
 subjects, usually a personage standing with a scepter, a 
 calm, majestic figure, whose mouth emits a flame, emblem 
 of speech and oratory ; no arttis, no warriors, nothing but 
 preachers." ^..a,.- j^ a 
 
 Mr. Bancroft says : — «•— -| -^^ 
 
 "Here is an earthly paradise, the cliarms of which have 
 been enjoyed with enthusiastic delight by the few lovers o^f 
 
 r'-'/// 
 
 Nature who have penetrated its solitudes." _ , ^ 
 
 "The natural advantages of this region seem to have 
 been fully appreciated by aboriginal Americans, for here 
 they reared the temples and palaces of one of the grandest 
 
AND RUINS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 cities or religious centers, which as a ruins, under the name 
 of Palenque, has become famous throughout the world, as 
 it was, doubtless, throughout America in the days of its 
 pristine glory many centuries ago." 
 
 Palenque was built on the foothills on the borders of 
 the Usumacinta Valley, overlooking the forest-covered 
 plains towards the Gulf; affording a wonderful view, the 
 waters of the Gulf could be seen in the distance. 
 
 43 
 
 Beautiful 
 location. 
 
 NAHUAS LEFT THEIR LANDS AND SACRED CITY. 
 
 Evidences show that colonies of the Nahuas left the 
 regions along the Rio Usumacinta, migrating into the land 
 northwa,rd, one colony going as early as 45 B. C. These 
 colonies settled in the Valley of Mexico and on the beautiful 
 plains of Huitzilapan, rebuilding an ancient city found there, 
 which they called Cholula. 
 
 Here in Cholula, tradition says, they were visited by 
 the bearded white man, "Quetzal-Coatl," who, when he de- 
 parted from their city, took four virtuous young men with 
 him, and their history says, "The four disciples returned to 
 Cholula." 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. III., pp. 
 258-9. 
 
 672 14 
 
 15 
 
 679 49 
 
 NAHUAS OVERCOME AND SCATTERED. 
 
 When the Nahuas were driven out of Guatemala, Ta- 
 basco and Chiapas in the fourth century by the Mayas, and 
 they were forced to leave their sacred city, ruins of which 
 are at Palenque, then Cholula became their sacred city, or 
 religious center. 
 
 After the Nahuas were overcome and destroyed as a 
 nation in 387 A. D., as Ixtlilxochitl tells us, and the few 
 left scattered, centuries later returning as nations or tribes, 
 the first of which were the Toltecs, rebuilding their sacred 
 city, Cholula, and settling in the Valley of Mexico. 
 
 TWO HOLY CITIES, AT PALENQUE AND CHOLULA. 
 
 "The chief renown of Cholula consisted in being the 
 holy city of Anahuac, unequalled for the frequency and 
 pomp of her festivals and sacred pageants, in being the 
 religious center for countless pilgrims who journeyed from 
 afar to worship at the shrines here maintained, not only by 
 the citizens, but by princes of different countries. Her 
 temples were estimated to equal the number of days in the 
 year." 
 
 "Cholula was, in her ancient days, what Rome is today. 
 Pilgrims came from hundreds of miles — as do the Moham- 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. v., p. 209, 
 foot-note. 
 
 Ancient Cities 
 of tlie New 
 World, Desire 
 Charnay, p. 
 245-246. 
 History of 
 Mexico, by 
 Bancroft, p. 
 237. 
 
 Campbell's 
 Complete Guide 
 to Mexico, p. 
 239. 
 
44 HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 medans to Mecca — to bow down before the temple of Quet- 
 zal-Coatl in the Holy City of Anahuac." 
 
 Thus we see the two places where the bearded white 
 man appeared to the Nahuas became holy cities, sacred 
 places, and continued to be for many centuries; in fact, 
 Cholula was, until the time of the conquest by the Spaniards, 
 1519 A. D., very much the same as Jerusalem in the days 
 of the Crusaders. 
 
 Native Races. Quetzal-Coatl was identified by some of the Spanish 
 
 priests with St. Thomas the Apostle, by others with the 
 Messiah. 
 
 Why did they think Quetzal-Coatl of the Nahuas was 
 the Apostle St. Thomas, or the Messiah ? 
 
 They found the Christian cross had been an object of 
 veneration for centuries before they came, that the Nahuas 
 practiced baptism and other Christian rites and customs. 
 
 The History of St. Thomas from the day of Pentecost 
 to the day of his death in India, after a six-yea,r missionary 
 trip in China, has been kept by the St. Thomas Church of 
 India (who are known as Nestorians), so that the theory 
 that St. Thomas the Apostle came to America is unfounded, 
 and Quetzal-Coatl must have been the Messiah, and is so 
 nicely described in the history of the Ancient Americans as 
 found in their records kept for centuries. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol II, p. 260 
 and 270. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. Ill, p. 270. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. II., p. 631. 
 
 NAHUA HISTORY. 
 
 AFTER THE OLMECS AND XICALANCAS UNITED 
 
 WITH THE NAHUAS. 
 
 "After the enfranchisement of the Olmecs, a man 
 named Quetzal-Coatl arrived in the country, whom Garcia, 
 Torquemada, Sahagun and other Spanish writers took to 
 be St. Thomas. 
 
 It was also at that time that the third age ended and 
 the fourth began, called Sun of Fire because it was supposed 
 that it was in this last stage that the world would be de- 
 stroyed by fire. 
 
 MAYA HISTORY. 
 
 CONFEDERATED EMPIRES IN GUATEMALA AND 
 
 CHIAPAS WERE THE NAHUAS, OLMECS AND 
 
 MAYAS IN THE BEGINNING OF THE 
 
 CHRISTIAN ERA. 
 
 "In the days of ancient Maya glory, when Votan (the 
 bird-serpent of the Mayas) and his successors reigned 
 over mighty and perhaps confederated empires in Chiapas, 
 Guatemala, and Yucatan, the kings were pictured by tra- 
 
AND RUINS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 dition as combining the character and po'wers of legisla- 
 tors, teachers, high priests and monarchs." 
 
 "After a long term of prosperity this government in 
 Guatemala and Chiapas became weakened, and at last prac- 
 tically destroyed." 
 
 We may see from these brief sketches of history the 
 time when the Nahuas, Mayas and other tribes or nations 
 had a long term of peace and prosperity, when they dwelt 
 in Guatemala and Chiapas. 
 
 Made Known in Guatemala a God Had Been Born. 
 
 An occurrence is related by Torquemada as follows: 
 "After the people of the country had multiplied and in- 
 creased, it was made known in the province of Otlata (Uta- 
 tlan) that a God had been bom. 
 
 45 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. v.. p. 544, 
 
 602 22 
 
 MORNING STAR CONNECTED WITH DEITY. 
 
 "The Augustine monk Padre Jeronimo Roman y Za- 
 mora relates of the tribe settled on the borders of the 
 Zapotic and Mixtec countries, that they paid great reverence 
 to the Morning Star, and kept an accurate record of its 
 appearance, as observations of the stars was the duty of 
 the priests. The Morning Star, it seems, was ever regarded 
 as connected with the Deity. They said that Quetzal-Coatl 
 died when the star became visible." 
 
 "Quetzal-Coatl was represented as of white complexion, 
 clothed in a white robe ; the Morning Star was his symbol." 
 
 Morning- Star. 
 Bureau of 
 American Eth- 
 nology, Bulle- 
 tin 28, p. 359. 
 
 602 22 
 
 24 
 
 Morning- Star. 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. III., p. 267. 
 
 FROM THE BIBLE. 
 
 "I, Jesus, have sent mine Angel to testify unto you 
 these things in the Churches. I am the root and the off- 
 spring of David, and the Bright and Morning Star." 
 
 Rev. 22:16. 
 
 NAHUA HISTORY. 
 QUETZAL-COATL CALLED LORD. 
 
 "And only Quetzal-Coatl of all the Gods was pre- 
 eminently called Lord." 
 
 "This Quetzal-Coatl is now held as a Deity." 
 
 Quetzal-Coatl is he who was born of a Virgin. 
 
 "Quetzal-Coatl was he who they say created the world, 
 and they bestowed on him the appellation of Lord." 
 
 "Among the Mexicans (at Cholula) there suddenly ap- 
 peared Quetzal-Coatl, green feather snake, a bearded white 
 man." 
 
 The feathers of the quetzal bird were a brilliant red 
 and green. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. III., p. 251. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. III., p. 250. 
 
 Native Races. 
 Vol. III., p. 271. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. III., p. 272. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. III., p. 269. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. II., p. 405. 
 
 Bureau of 
 American Eth- 
 nology, Bulle- 
 tin 28, p. 652. 
 
46 
 
 Native Races. 
 Vol. II., p. 633. 
 
 HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 MAYA HISTORY. 
 
 Cukulcan, a famous personage bearing a striking re- 
 semblance in his traditional career and in the etymology of 
 his name to the Quetzal-Coatl of the Nahuas. 
 
 Bancroft's 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. II., p. 635. 
 
 PLUME OF QUETZAL FEATHERS. 
 
 Whenever the Maya king appeared in public he was al- 
 ways attended by a large company, and wore a long white 
 robe ; his crown was a plain golden circle, wider on the fore- 
 head than behind, and surmounted with a plume of quetzal 
 feathers. This bird was reserved for the king and highest 
 nobles, death being the penalty, according to Ordonez, for 
 one of the lower ranks who should capture the bird or wear 
 its plumage. 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. II., p. 659. 
 
 Sacred packs 
 of the Osage 
 Indians, Okla- 
 homa. 
 
 Des Moines 
 Capital, April 
 3, 1911. 
 
 THE MAYA CRIMINAL CODE OF GUATEMALA. 
 
 "In Guatemala — He who killed the quetzal, a bird 
 reserved for the kings, was put to death." 
 
 "Washington, D. C, April 3, 1911.— Officials of the 
 Bureau of American Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institu- 
 tion are highly pleased over the acquisition of a sacred pack 
 of the Osage Indians ; very few, if any, have ever been ob- 
 tained by scientists before. These sacred packs are precious 
 from a religious standpoint of the Indians, and are put in 
 charge of the priest, or medicine-man, who keeps them care- 
 fully hidden. At certain periods they are opened, and the 
 contents worshipped, amid the most elaborate ceremonies; 
 but even at these times only the chosen men of the tribe are 
 allowed to see the strange and sacred contents. This pack 
 wa,s secured for the National Museum by Francis le Flesh- 
 che, an educated Omaha Indian. One of these was opened 
 with much care by Dr. Walter Hough, who found the out- 
 side to be made of a rare Indian fabric, woven of the silky 
 brown hair of the buffalo. Inside of this was a buckskin 
 bag, and the last bundle inside the buckskin bag was the 
 most important of all, for it represented the Holy of Holies. 
 In this bundle was a buckskin object resembling a head- 
 band, and inside of this was found the most sacred object, 
 the body of a (quetzal) bird, which had been mummified 
 and was a brilliant vermilion and green." 
 
 This shows that the Osage Indians had a knowledge of 
 the sacred emblem of Quetzal-Coatl, and had this bird of 
 Guatemala mummified as an object of worship in Oklahoma. 
 
AND RUINS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 PRIESTS OF THE ORDER OF QUiETZAL-COATL. 
 
 "He (Quetzal-Coatl) had Priests who were called Que- 
 quetzal-Co-huas, that is to say, Priests of the Order of 
 Quetzal-Coatl." 
 
 The kings were often High Priests and head of this 
 Order of Priests, and wore plumes of the quetzal feathers 
 as the insignia of their office, as did all this Priesthood of 
 the order of Quetzal-Coatl, as seen in pictures of men with 
 this feather head-dress throughout Mexico and Central 
 America. 
 
 A COUNCIL OF TWELVE MEN. 
 
 Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg, on the authority of some 
 of his original MSS., states there was a council of twelve, 
 presided over by the King. Dr. Le Plongeon says, "There 
 was a council of twelve Priests." 
 
 TWO ALHPABETS SIMILAR TO EGYPTIAN. 
 
 Mrs. Alice Le Plongeon says, "Like the Egyptians, the 
 Mayas had a demotic (popular) and a sacred alphabet, 
 many of the signs in each being similar to those of the 
 Egyptians." Characters like those used by the Egyptians 
 in use by the Mayas are shown in Dr. Le Plongeon's work. 
 
 47 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. III., p. 259. 
 
 633 21 
 
 653 70 
 
 71 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. II., p. 730. 
 
 312 25 
 
 760 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 Native Races, 
 Vol. II, p. 231, 
 foot-note. 
 Sacred Mys- 
 teries of the 
 New World, p. 
 49. 
 
 Here and There 
 in Yucatan, p. 
 116. 
 
 Sacred Mys- 
 teries of the 
 New World, p. 
 XII. 
 
 BABYLONIAN DESIGNS AND STRANGE CHARAC- 
 TERS FOUND IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 
 
 By Prof. Wm. Niven. 
 
 "Archaeological discoveries in excavations now being 
 made in the Valley of Mexico." 
 
 "The valley lies a vast emerald oval, surrounded by 
 towering mountains, wonderfully beautiful is the scene of 
 softly sloping and fertile country." 
 
 "In all the localities where archaeological ruins abound 
 in this country there is probably none of such vast impor- 
 tance for the student and explorer as in the Valley of 
 Mexico." 
 
 "Some of the bones (of the primitive people) show a 
 race over the average of the ordinary size. Many of these 
 pre-historic persons have been more than six feet in height. 
 Very, very few arrow heads are found, needles made from 
 bone are plentiful, the needles with a hole near the point 
 show they knew the art of knitting. Spindle whorls, similar 
 to those found in Troy, were found in vast numbers, and all 
 of them have strange characters and designs, which are 
 more highly artistic than those found in Egypt. Eagle 
 heads are also plentiful, with curious Babylonian characters 
 and Grecian decorations. Cylinders for the rolling of manu- 
 
 San Antonio, 
 Texas, Ex- 
 press, April 14, 
 1918. 
 
613 73 
 
 48 HISTORICAL DATA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS 
 
 script with Babylonian designs are found. No doubt they 
 knew the art of writing and printing, as is shown by seals 
 which are found in quantities." 
 
 TRADITIONAL HISTORY OF DESTRUCTION OF ROB- 
 BERS IN OAXACA IN ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC. 
 
 "One of the earliest conquests of the Zapotic Kings was 
 f J that of the Mountain of the Sun, near the town of Macuilxu- 
 Native Races, chil. There dwelt on this mountain a tribe of very fierce 
 Vol. v., p. 531. an(j blood-thirsty barbarians, who lived by plundering the 
 surrounding nations. At length their depredations became 
 so frequent, and were attended with such cruelty, that it 
 became evident that the country would soon be abandoned 
 by its inhabitants unless the robbers were annihilated. Ac- 
 cordingly, a large force of picked troops was sent against 
 them under the command of two renowned warriors. The 
 expedition was successful. After a desperate resistance, 
 the robbers were overpowered and slaughtered to a man." 
 
 IN CONCLUSION. 
 
 I have gathered together these historical facts from 
 ancient records, traditions, and the location of ruins, and 
 am offering them to students of American Archaeology as 
 a help for further research into the dim past of the great 
 civilizations that once flourished in Mexico and Central 
 America. 
 
 In my study of the records of the Ancient Ame,ricans, 
 the ruins of cities, and temples still standing, and recent 
 archaeological discoveries, I have made many geographical 
 locations, based upon facts discovered in their historical 
 records, not theories. We have had too much theorizing in 
 the past, and some historical facts, not agreeing with the 
 fancy of some writers, have been called MYTHS ; it is truth 
 we want, and evidence based upon facts that are valuable. 
 
 LOUIS E. HILLS. 
 
LIBRRRY OF CONGRESS 
 
 016 260 413 2