the six regions and recorded facts relating thereunto. On the sides of
Stela F, each initial is followed by 34 glyphs only, the count being
shorter than that of Stela E by 2×2=4. One side of Stela C exhibits the
initial followed by 2×13 glyphs grouped in parallel lines, then a
horizontal band with 4 glyphs; the other side the initial followed by
4×6=24 and a group of 4 glyphs. Stela D is particularly remarkable on
account of the six squares of pictorial glyphs which follow the “Initial”
which, in this case, exhibits the head and body of a jaguar in its centre.
I refer to Mr. Maudslay’s interesting conclusion that these pictorial
glyphs preceded, in date, the more cursive method of representing the
initial series. In consequence of this jaguar initial, Stela A becomes
particularly noticeable, because one of the personages upon it has a
beard, whilst the other is masked as an ocelot or jaguar.

A vivid sense of the actuality of the bond that existed between the
ancient dwellers at Copan and Quirigua, their totemic animals and symbolic
coloring, is obtained on reading Mr. Maudslay’s following description of
the excavation of mound 4 at Copan (Report Proceedings Geographical
Society, 1886, p. 578).... “The excavation was then continued ... when
more traces of [human] bones were found mixed with red powder and sand....
Continuing the excavation ... a skeleton of a jaguar was found lying under
a layer of charcoal ... the teeth and part of the skeleton had been
painted red. At about 100 yards to the south of this mound I shortly
afterwards opened another ... mound ... and found a few small fragments of
human bones, two small stone axes and portions of another jaguar’s
skeleton and some dog’s teeth, showing that the interment of animals was
not a matter of chance.”

If we add this to the accumulation of evidence I have presented, showing
that in Mexico and Yucatan the ocelot was associated with the north, the
color red, the underworld, the nocturnal cult and with bearded priests, we
must admit that there is hope that, some day, we may be as familiar with
the life and customs of the ancient Americans as we are now with those of
the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans.

Strange animal effigies in stone have been found at Quirigua: one (B)
somewhat resembles a dragon and exhibits complex glyphs; another (G) has
been named an armadillo and has 2×8=16 glyphs carved on its lower and
2×20=40 on its upper sides.

A circular slab deserves special mention: in its centre is a seated
figure. Forming a band around the edge, to the right of the figure are 6
glyphs and 6 others are to his left=12 in all. Above him to his left are 5
and to his left are 3 glyphs. This peculiar distribution of 20 glyphs is
of peculiar interest.

The crowning glory of Quirigua, however, is the gigantic block of stone,
completely covered with intricate carvings and glyphs, which is known as
the “Great Turtle,” and of which splendid casts, made from Mr. Maudslay’s
moulds, are now exhibited in the South Kensington Museum, London, and in
the American Museum of Natural History, New York. Of the many features of
this remarkable monument, which can be studied in Mr. Maudslay’s
forthcoming part XI of the Biologia Centrali-Americana, the seated figure,
occupying a prominent place and obviously representing the central ruler,
deserves special mention. In his right hand he holds a peculiar sceptre
similar to that held by the personage on Stela E. His left hand is
concealed under a carved face, a detail which recalls the Santa Lucia
bas-reliefs.

Palenque and its group of sister cities now claim our notice. Of the
latter Men-ché particularly arrests our attention on account of its name,
the second part of which means tree and by extension, tribe. The word
_men_ is of particular interest, for it is not only the name of a dog in
the Maya Calendar but signifies precisely the same as the Mexican word
toltecatl, namely, master-builder, artificer or artisan, an adept in
manufacture. The habitual form of employing the word would be ah-men,
meaning he who is a master builder, etc.; while men-ah or men-yah
signifies work or production of manual labor. The first part of the
Nahuatl word aman-teca, signifying artisan, artificer, seems to be a
corrupt rendering of the Maya ah-men. That Men-ché, which is also known as
Lorillard City, was a centre of the highest development of
native-sculpture and art seems proven by the truly admirable and
exquisitely fine workmanship of the bas-reliefs obtained there by Mr.
Maudslay, and now exhibited at the British Museum. In execution and finish
they undoubtedly surpass any specimens of ancient American art I have ever
seen.

A search for the possible derivation of the word men leads to mehen, the
name for “sons or nephews in the male line,” mehen-ob, the descendants,
mehen-tzilaan=genealogy and parentage (a word which sheds some light on
the meaning of the ancient capital Tzilan in Yucatan). Mehen is also
employed as meaning something little, small or minute.

From the above data it may be inferred that Men-ché may have originally
signified “the tree or tribe of the sons or nephews in the male line,” and
that these people may have so identified themselves with the arts of
building and working in precious metals and stone, etc., that their title
was used as a designation for these industries. It is certainly remarkable
that, situated at an easy distance on the same river Usumacinto, there is
the great ruined city of Palenque(66) (pronounced by the natives
Pa-lem-ke) which seems also to have originally terminated in ché=tree or
tribe and to be derived from palil, pal or palal=vassal, servant, subject,
also small child. Let us see how far the monuments of Palenque justify and
support this translation of its name.

Referring the reader to Mr. Maudslay’s Biologia, and to Mr. Holmes’
Archæological Studies, Pt. II, and other well-known works on the ruins of
Palenque, I shall confine myself to a cursory examination of the four
principal isolated pyramid-temples, known, respectively, as the temples of
the Inscriptions, of the Sun, of the Cross and of the Cross No. 2.
Although the orientation of these edifices is not accurate they may be
roughly said to face the cardinal points as follows:—

The temple “of the Inscriptions” faces the north, that “of the Sun” the
east, whilst the temple “of the Cross” faces the south and that “of Cross
2,” the west. Dr. Brinton has already shown that the well-known symbol on
the famous “Tablet of the Cross” is not a cross, but the conventional
symbol for “tree” of the type I have illustrated in the preceding fig. 53.
As Cross No. 2 unquestionably belongs to the same category, it results
that these two temples would be more correctly designated as “of the Tree”
and that they furnish us with an interesting parallel of the Peruvian
quisuar can-cha, or “place of the tree,” where the Inca erected two trees
which typified his father and mother and were “as the root and stems of
the Incas.” The Palenque “trees,” moreover, closely resemble those on the
Mexican Féjérvary chart (fig. 52) inasmuch as, in each case, the tree is
surmounted by a bird and is flanked by two human figures.

It has already been shown in the preceding pages that in ancient America
the tree was generally employed as a symbol for tribe and that the Maya
word for tree=ché occurs as an affix signifying tribe or people not only
in Qui-ché, Man-ché (the latter a tribe inhabiting the region of Menché
and Palenque) etc., but also in the names of tribes inhabiting the
southern regions of North America.

Assuming, therefore, upon convincing and substantial evidence which will
be further corroborated, that the “Tablet of the Cross” represents a tree,
the symbol of tribal life, the next step is to interpret the bird perched
upon it and generally acknowledged to be a quetzal (pronounced kay-tzal)
as the totem of the tribe, which also probably expresses its name. The
tree is represented as associated with serpent symbolism and as growing
from a vase=ho-och placed on a monstrous head=ho-ol, the idea conveyed
being that it flourished in the centre or middle, while the head
signifies, as has been shown, the capital and also the chief. On the vase
is carved a symbol to which I draw special attention, as it recurs on the
right hand end of the carved band below the tree, is met with in Maya
calculiform glyphs and is also frequently employed in ancient Mexico. It
represents the corolla of a four-petalled flower which obviously
symbolized the Four-in-One, which permeated the native civilizations.

The word for “flower” being nic in Maya and xochitl (pronounced hoochitl)
in Nahuatl, it must be admitted that the symbol of a vase with a flower
seems to afford an instance of a bilingual rebus, as the Maya hooch is
identical in sound to the Nahuatl xoch-itl. Even without this, however,
the meaning of the tree and serpent, the bird, the vase, the quadripartite
flower, and the head, would have been generally and equally intelligible
to native tribes, being familiar symbols constantly employed in
metaphorical speech.

Mr. Maudslay has pointed out and illustrated in his work (Biologia, pl.
92, pt. X) that the side branches of the “cross” simulate bearded
serpents’ heads, whilst their recurved upper jaws are covered with what
resemble buds of flowers, seeds or beads. The Palenque “cross” is indeed
characterized by being profusely decorated with “bead or seed-like
ornaments and appendages” some of which resemble beads or seeds, figured
in some instances, like those on the Copan swastika, the meaning of which
seems supplied by the previously cited Zuñi text. It does not appear to be
a mere matter of chance that the following Maya words, culled from the
dictionaries, are so closely connected: yax-ché=a sort of ceiba tree, the
emblem of celestial life of the Mayas; yax-chumil and
yax-pa-ibe=adjectives primitive, original; adverb firstly, at the
beginning; yaxil, verb=to make something new, to commence, begin;
yaxil-tun=bead or pearl; yax-mehen-tzil=eldest son.

According to this incontrovertible evidence we find that the sacred tree
of life of the Mayas was designated by the word yax, signifying first,
original, new, etc.; that the same root enters into the composition of the
word for eldest son and finally for “bead.” The latter curious agreement
is accentuated by the well-known fact that the Mexicans employed in
metaphorical speech the word cuzcatl=bead made of some precious stone, to
designate “father, mother, lord, captain, governor; those who are like a
sheltering tree to the people” (Olmos, cap. VIII). A term of particular
endearment for a son was “gold-bead” (teocuitla-cuzcatl). Olmos moreover
records no less than eight metaphorical designations for a “Tree, or first
father, origin of generation, lord or governor,” and appellations for
twenty-nine “Relatives who issue from one stem or trunk.”

Collectively, the evidence set forth in the preceding pages identifies the
image on the famous “Tablet of the Cross,” as a symbolical representation
of the “Tree of Life of the Eldest Sons,” chiefs or nobility of a tribe,
whose totemic bird was the quetzal.(67) Before completing the description
of this tablet, the analogous representation of a tree on the “Temple of
the Cross 2” should be examined. This is generally known as the foliated
Cross and like its counterpart it issues from a vase with a quadriform
emblem, and a monstrous head. Its branches are composed of
conventionalized maize plants on which human heads and faces occupy the
places of the corn-cobs whilst their hanging hair simulates the tassels of
the ripe corn. The maize-leaves are decorated with groups of seed-like
beads amongst which distinct representations of maize seeds are
discernible. These form, indeed, the leading motif of the seed decorations
and indicate that the “appendages” to the groups of seed-like beads on the
Copan swastika were but conventionalized maize-seeds. The branches of the
maize-tree are surmounted by a conventionally ornamented head from which
hangs a necklace of beads with a medallion consisting of a face surrounded
by a beaded frame. Above the head the totemic quetzal bird is repeated
under almost precisely the same form but in a reversed position. It is
interesting to note that the Maya name for maize is ixim, which added to
the ché=tree, yields ixim-ché, a word which actually occurs as the local
name of the ancient capital of Guatemala, named “Iximché-tecpan.” To this
curious fact should be also added that “ix” is the prefix employed to
designate the feminine gender and that Ix-chel is “the name of the Maya
goddess of medicine and of child-birth.”

An extremely interesting composite symbol is carved under the feet of the
personage standing next to the “maize-tree,” to the right of the
spectator. It consists of the realistically carved large convolute
sea-shell such as constituted the Mexican symbol of parturition. An almost
grotesque human figure is represented as issuing from it and holding in
its hand a maize plant which bends upwards and curves over the shell. Its
leaves are drawn with maize-seeds on and amongst them, in the same
conventional way that has been noticed on the central tree, and human
heads again simulate the corn-cob. An acquaintance with Mexican and Zuñi
symbolism enables us to grasp the significance of this composite symbol
which figuratively expresses the common birth and growth of the substance
of plant and human life. The personage who stands over this symbol, facing
the tree and the tail of the bird which surmounts it, holds a curiously
decorated emblem in his hand, of which more anon. A small twig bearing
three terminal leaves issues from his head. Behind him are 4 perpendicular
columns with 17 glyphs in each; whilst a detached series, consisting of 13
smaller glyphs, is carved in front and above him.

At the opposite side of the tree, facing the almost unrecognizable head of
the bird, a personage stands on an elaborately carved monstrous head,
covered with a maize-plant. He is wearing a necklace and medallion like
that on the tree itself. His head is surmounted by a high cap bearing a
conventionalized flower-bud. A belt in the form of a serpent with open
jaws, encircles his waist and he is holding aloft in his hands, a
miniature, human, seated figure with folded arms, a bead necklace and an
indescribable head-dress and masked face. His attitude indicates that, by
offering this figure, he is performing some rite. On the other hand, a
conventionalized sign for water seems to be issuing from the bird’s head
and descending upon the figure whilst puffs of breath and seeds issuing
from its beak seem to be directed towards the tiny effigy of a human
being.

Reverting now to the “Tablet of the Cross I,” we find precisely analogous
figures at its sides, only in reversed positions. To the right of the
spectator stands the priest with a tall hat surmounted by the flower-bud,
somewhat resembling a fleur-de-lis. The small human figure he is offering
is recumbent and is being held out so as to come in contact with the
pendant issuing from the bird’s head.

The figure on the opposite side, with the head-dress and twig with three
leaves, is facing the central tree and holding a staff which, in this case
although combined with other emblems, clearly appears to represent a young
maize plant, with its roots below, and growing shoot with leaves above. As
on the other tablets there are columns of glyphs behind each figure,
whilst the personage holding the maize-plant is associated with a detached
group, in two portions, consisting of 10+4 glyphs, and is standing on a
large glyph associated with a numeral.

Having thus cursorily brought out some special points observable on both
“Cross Tablets,” let us now glance at the tablet in the “Temple of the
Sun.” On this we again find columns of glyphs and a personage at each side
of a central figure. The same peculiarities and differences of costume are
observable here as on the preceding tablets; but each personage holds a
small, grotesque human figure with a long nose, and each stands on the
back of a human being, that to the left of the spectator especially
appearing to be a conquered enemy.(68)

Two over-burdened-looking seated figures, one of which is clothed in a
spotted ocelot’s skin, occupy the centre and support, on their bowed
shoulders, a curious emblem terminating in open serpents’ jaws. The large
head (of a jaguar?) is in the centre and above this issue two puffs of
breath with seeds, forming a double recurved figure so identical in shape
and detail to a single branch of the Copan swastika that one might imagine
it was carved by the same hand. On this tablet, instead of a tree, the
centre is occupied by a shield, exhibiting a face and having tufts of
feathers at its four rounded corners. This rests on two crossed lances
with decorated handles surmounted by large points.

In this connection it is interesting and important to note that, in
ancient Mexico, lands conquered and acquired in warfare were termed “mil
chimalli,” literally, “field of the shield,” a metaphor which was also
probably known to the Mayas.

Glancing next at the “Temple of Inscriptions,” the fourth of the large
detached temples of Palenque, we find that its interior is characterized
by the most extensive mural inscriptions found in America, consisting
entirely of hieroglyphics. Four exterior free pillars, however, “contain
on their outer faces, modelled in bold relief, life-sized figures of women
holding children in their arms” (Holmes).

Having brought out the particular point that, in each of the four temples
described, adults are represented in the act of carrying or offering
children or diminutive and strangely grotesque conventionalized effigies
of human beings, I would note that the only analogous grotesque figures
with long noses, I know of, are those on the sceptres held in the hand by
the seated personage on the “Great Turtle” and by the individual carved on
Stela E at Quirigua. It is noteworthy that the left hand of the latter
personage holds a shield displaying a face and recalling that carved on
the tablet of the Palenque “Temple of the Sun.” Analogous grotesque
figures also surround the personage carved on Stela F at Copan. These
facts indicate that the Quirigua “Great Turtle,” the stelæ at Quirigua and
Copan and the Palenque tablets, were erected by people sharing the same
cult and ritual observance, one feature of which was the carrying of
diminutive human effigies, with exaggerated and almost grotesque noses.

A clue to the significance of this rite is supplied by the text of the
Codex Telleriano-Remensis (Kingsborough, vol. V, p. 134) relating to the
Mexican 20-day period Iz-calli, the last of the year. “It was the feast of
Fire, because at this season the trees became warmed and began to bud. In
it was celebrated the festival Pil-quixtia, meaning ‘human life or nature
which had always escaped destruction although the world itself had been
destroyed several times.’ ”

“Izcalli signifies as much as liveliness, and in this 20-day period all
mothers lifted their children by their heads and holding them aloft called
out, Izcalli, Izcalli, as though they said ’aviva’=live, live.... This was
the period of production ... thanks were rendered to the nature which is
the cause of the production.... Every four years they feasted for 8 days
in memory of the three times that the world was destroyed. They name this
‘four times Lord,’ because this escaped destruction, although all was
destroyed. They designated the festival as that of ‘renovation’ and said
that when it and the fast came to an end the bodies of men became like
those of children. Therefore, in order to figure [or symbolize] this
festival, adults led certain children by the hand, in the sacred dance.”

Slightly incoherent though this text may be, it furnishes a most valuable
supplement to the descriptions of the same festival by other authorities.
As this is exhaustively treated in my forthcoming text to the “Life of the
Indians ” in which all available authorities are quoted and collated, I
shall confine myself here to some facts which bear a special relation to
the subject of this paper. In Mexico another name for the festival period
Izcalli, was Xilomaniztli=the birth or sprouting of the young maize.
According to Duran, izcalli signified “the creating or bringing up” and in
order to make the growth of children coincide with that of the young
maize, parents, during this period, stretched the limbs and every part of
the bodies of all infants of tender age.

Another observance which was held at this time was in anticipation of the
New Year and consisted in the raising and planting of high poles or wands
with branches, in the courtyards of the temples and in the streets. These
typified the new life; “the budding and rejoicing of the trees.” Another
New Year custom was that of carrying budding branches or young shoots of
maize in the hand, on a particular day named Xiuh-Tzitzquilo, literally,
“the taking of the year in one’s hands.” The explanation of this metaphor
is given by Duran who states that “the natives consider that the year,
with its months and days, is like a branch with its twigs and leaves.”

A passing mention must be moreover made of the two movable festivals
celebrated by the Mexicans, in which they scattered broken egg-shells on
the roads and streets as a rite of thanksgiving for “the life bestowed
upon the chicken in the shell” by the divine power. In the image of this
festival contained in the “Life of the Indians,” the egg-shells are
represented at the foot of a tree bearing seven blossoms; the seated
divinity in front of this wears a bird-mask and carries a staff with a
heart in his hand. These festivals were named respectively, seven flowers
and one flower.

Briefly summarizing the foregoing data, we find it proven that, deeply
impressed with the wonderful renewal of life in nature, the ancient
Mexicans rendered periodical thanksgiving for this in its various forms.
The budding tree, the young shoots of the maize, all seedlings, the broken
egg-shells from which the young chickens had emerged, were adopted as
emblems of the renewal of life. The child was likewise looked upon as the
renewal of the human race and every four years a thanksgiving festival “of
renovation” was solemnized in which children took a special part. In my
work on the Calendar system I shall show how far this festival “of new
birth” coincided with astronomical phenomena. From Landa we learn that in
the Maya months “Chen or Yax,” on a day designated by the priest, a
festival was celebrated named Ocna: “the renovation of the temple in
honour of the Chacs, the gods of the maize-fields.” This was held each
year ... all idols and incense-burners were renewed and if necessary the
building was rebuilt or renovated and, “in commemoration of this, an
inscription in the native characters was fixed to the walls.”

Referring to other chapters of Landa’s work we find that, as in Mexico,
the Yucatec children received a “child’s name” at birth which was changed
when, having accomplished the third year, they were “reborn” and received
a new name, _i. e._ the combined name of their father and mother. On
attaining puberty they obtained an individual name which they preserved
during life-time. A knowledge of the social organization of these people
enables one to grasp the full importance and significance of these changes
of name, which were accompanied by ritual observances and betokened the
enrolment of the children into their respective classes and sub-classes
and a consequent reorganization of certain departments of the State. It
appears that in ancient times the ceremonial of the “new birth,” or
re-naming of the children, took place every four years, simultaneously
with the thanksgiving feast for the “continuation of the human race.”

A careful analysis of native words and metaphors tends to show, moreover,
that the children born within each four-year-period were collectively
regarded as “a fresh growth upon the tribal tree.” In Mexico the word for
leaf=atlapalli, was employed as a metaphor for the lower class, whilst in
Peru the male and female descendants of the Incas were represented by gold
and silver fruits upon the trees of their male and female ancestry. The
collection of such scattered scraps of testimony enables us to reconstruct
the drift of native thought and realize that the registration of
individuals was associated with the conception of a tribal tree bearing
four branches and covered with blossoms, fruits and leaves which faded and
fell but were replaced by fresh growths.

We learn from Duran that so careful a record was kept of the population,
by the Mexican priesthood, “that not even a newborn babe could escape
detection.” The reason for this strict vigilance is clear, for the welfare
of the community and the harmonious working of the complex machinery of
state depended upon the constant renewal of vacancies caused by deaths in
each department of industry and government.

After this excursion into the realm of native thought let us now return to
the Palenque tablets, placed in detached temples which approximately face
the four cardinal points. On the tablet of the “Temple of the Cross” we
have a tribal tree with symbols of the Middle and of the Four Quarters and
of duality. A priest with a flower on his head presents a diminutive human
figure to the totemic bird perched on the tree. Another, with a leafy
branch on his head-dress, holds a conventional sceptre simulating a young
growing shoot of maize. Behind each figure are rows of glyphs and in the
upper corner to the left of the spectator is the septenary series headed
by the initial-sign.

In the “Temple of Cross II” we have a variant of the identical
representation in which the maize plant and the sea shell are prominent.
If I may hazard a suggestion of the meaning of these two tablets, I should
say that they appear to be tribal registers most probably relating to the
increase and decrease of the male and female population in all divisions
and classes, during a fixed period of time. Both seem to commemorate the
“renovation” or “new growth” of the tribal tree in a mode which would have
been as intelligible to a Mexican, for instance, as to a Maya. The fact
that the “Temple of the Sun” and that of the “Inscriptions” obviously held
analogous registers, points to the alternative possibilities (1) that each
temple was destined to preserve the register of the population and social
organization, etc., of one of the four quarters of the capital and state,
according to years; (2) that the trees in the “Cross temples” figured the
male and female lineages of the ruling caste, whilst the tablet in the
“Temple of the Sun” recorded the numbers of conquered people reduced to
slavery and the “Temple of Inscriptions” preserved the register of female
children or of vassals; (3) that each of the four temples preserved a
complete register of the entire state and had been erected consecutively
at the conclusion or beginning of eras, the difference observable in the
central motif conveying the salient feature or event marking each special
epoch and recording, according to years, the organization of the state
during its course.

In the face of this possibility as well as the probability that each glyph
was painted and implied a year, it is interesting to note that, including
the initial glyph, the “Tablet of the Cross” exhibits 108 glyphs on the
side to the left and 124 on the side to the right of the spectator=a total
of 232; the “Tablet of the Cross II” exhibits 76 to the left and 83 to the
right=159; and that in the “Temple of the Sun,” 70 to the left, 159 to the
right and 12 in the middle=241. The “Temple of Inscriptions” exhibits the
initial series (see Maudslay, Biologia, pt. X, pl. 82) and entire walls
covered with glyphs, some of which, as on the tablets enumerated above,
are accompanied by numerals whilst others are not.

In a future publication I shall submit illustrations of these monuments
with the ripened results of my investigations concerning them. For my
present purpose it suffices to have produced substantial proofs that the
ancient dwellers in Palenque employed the same metaphors, the same cursive
method of registration and held the same fundamental principles of
organization that have been shown to underlie the civilizations of Peru,
Guatemala, Yucatan, and Mexico and still survive amongst the Zuñis and
more northern tribes. It is obvious that, at Palenque and the neighboring
Menché and Ixkun, an integral civilization, based on these principles, had
existed for an incalculable length of time. Strangely enough it seems to
form so close a link between Maya and Mexican culture that it almost seems
justifiable to surmise that both Maya and Nahuatl languages were spoken in
these ancient ruined cities.

Proceeding mentally northwards we will not linger at the ruins of Mitla,
the name of which seems to indicate that it had lain to the north of a
great ancient centre of government, since Mictlan in Nahuatl and Mitnal in
Maya both designate the region of the underworld and the north.

Reaching the ultimate stage of our mental exploration of the American
Continent we now transport ourselves to the Valley of Mexico and, on the
site of the ancient capital of Montezuma and his coadjutor, face the three
great monolithic monuments which are popularly known as the Calendar
Stone, the Stone of Tizoc and Huitzilopochtli. In 1886, at the Buffalo
Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, I
presented a “Preliminary Note of an Analysis of the Mexican Codices and
Graven Inscriptions,” in which the opinion was advanced that the “Calendar
Stone” was identical with the “circular elaborately carved tablets which,
according to Padre Duran, were erected in each market-place in ancient
Mexico, and were held in great veneration. They were frequently consulted
and by them the market-days were regulated.”

“All writers concur in stating that the market was held on each fifth day,
when all adults were obliged by law to resort to the appointed
market-place. The entire produce and manufacture of the state were brought
there, even from great distances, severe penalties being incurred by those
who bartered the products of agriculture or manual labor on the highway or
elsewhere. On the broad, straight, cemented roads which led from the four
quarters to the heart of the capital, ‘resting places’ for the wayfarers
and carriers were provided at fixed intervals. The enormous concourse of
people, the variety of produce exhibited in the market-places of
Montezuma’s capital filled the conquerors with wonder and admiration. From
Cortés, Bernal Diaz, Sahagun and others we learn that the market was a
special charge of the supreme chief of Mexico; that appointed officers
presided in state over it whilst others moved among the throng
superintending the traffic. Standard measures were kept and rigorous
punishment awaited those who sold by false measure or bartered stolen
property.”

After making the preceding statements I advanced the opinion “that the
periodical market-day was the most important regulator of the Mexican
social organization and that the monolith generally known as the
Calendar-stone was the Market-stone of the City of Mexico. It bears the
record of fixed market days; and I venture to suggest that from these the
formation of the Mexican Calendar system originated. The stone shows the
existence of communal property and of an equal division of general
contributions into certain portions....”

I concluded the above communication with the statement: “Before publishing
my final results I shall submit them to a searching and prolonged
investigation. An examination of the originals of many of the Codices
reproduced in Lord Kingsborough’s ‘Mexican Antiquities’ will be necessary
to determine important points and during the forthcoming year my line of
researches will be in this direction.” In my youthful enthusiasm and
inexperience I little foresaw, when I wrote the above sentences, that I
should spend thirteen years in diligent research before I felt ready to
express my ripened conclusions concerning the Calendar-stone. Although the
results I am about to submit are final they are necessarily incomplete,
their full presentation with adequate illustrations being included in my
forthcoming special work on the Social and Calendaric system of ancient
America. For the present I have limited myself to the reproduction of the
outline drawing of the monolith made by the late Dionysio Abadiano of
Mexico and published in his somewhat fanciful work on this subject.(69) No
one, however, had studied the Calendar-stone more carefully than he; and,
besides being extremely accurate in outline, his drawing has the merit of
including the eight deep circular holes which were drilled at regular
intervals outside of the worked border of the stone as well as the groups
of smaller circular and shallow depressions which Señor Abadiano
discovered on the outer unworked portion of the monolithic block. Without
discussing here the question whether the eight drill holes were intended
to support a species of gnomon, as Leon y Gama first maintained, or merely
served for the guidance of those who carved this marvel of accurate
workmanship and symmetrical design, I shall merely point out that,
although the group of circular depressions in the block, in the lower
corner to the left of the spectator, offers a certain resemblance to the
form of the constellation of Ursa Major, this may be merely the result of
chance.

Facing the problem of the meaning and purpose of the “Calendar-stone,”
after thirteen years of assiduous study, I find that the interpretation I
suggested in 1886, is substantially strengthened and corroborated by
freshly accumulated evidence. The difference is that I now lay less stress
upon the phonetic elements and values of the symbols, although, as I shall
set forth in the special publication alluded to, no study of the monument
can be considered complete unless these be carefully analyzed and
understood. The one great stride in advance that I think I have made is
the recognition that the monolith is an image of the Great Plan or Scheme
of Organization which has been expounded in the preceding pages and which
permeated every branch of native thought.

The monument represents the high-water mark reached in the evolution of a
set of ideas, which were suggested to primitive man by long-continued
observation of the phenomena of Nature and by the momentous recognition of
the

                            “northern star,
    Of whose true-fixed, and resting quality,
    There is no fellow in the firmament.
    The skies are painted with unnumber’d sparks,
    They are all fire, and every one doth shine;
    But there’s but one in all doth hold his place.”(70)

This inscribed tablet, which constitutes one of the most important
documents in the history of the human race, is as clearly an image of the
nocturnal heaven as it is of a vast terrestrial state which once existed
in the valley of Mexico, and had been established as a reproduction upon
earth of the harmonious order and fixed laws which apparently governed the
heavens.

The monument exposes these laws, the dominion of which probably extended
throughout the American Continent, and still faintly survive in some
existing aboriginal communities. It not only sets forth the organization
of state government and the subdivision of the people into classes bearing
a fixed relation to each other, but also serves as a chart of the
territory of the State, its capital and its four provinces, and minor
topographical divisions. Finally, it reveals that the progress of time,
the succession of days, years and epochs, _i. e._ the Calendar, was
conceived as a reproduction of the wheel of sinistral revolution described
by the circumpolar constellations around Polaris. The Septentriones served
as an indicator, composed of stars, the motive power of which emanated
from the central luminary. This marked not only the march of time each
night, but also the progress of the season by the four contrapositions
apparent in the course of a year, if observed at a fixed hour of the
night.

The twenty familiar day and year signs of the native calendar are carved
on a band which encircles the central figure on the stone. I am now in a
position to prove satisfactorily that these signs were not merely
calendaric and that they equally designated four principal and 4×4=16
minor groups of stars; four chiefs and 4×4=16 minor tribal groups or
divisions of men.

                             [Illustration.]

                                Figure 56.

Merely a few indications will suffice to prove how completely and
unmistakably the symmetrical design on the monolith (fig. 56) expounds the
great plan which had impressed itself so deeply and indelibly upon the
minds of the native philosophers and influenced all their thoughts and
speculations.

The head and face in the middle of the monument conveys the idea of
duality, being masked, _i. e._ doubled-faced and bearing the number 2
carved on its forehead. It conveyed the conception of a divine power who
ruled heaven and earth from a changeless and fixed centre in the heaven;
expressed the dual government of the earth by twin-rulers who dwelt in a
central capital. It typified light and the heaven itself with its two
eyes; the sun and moon and darkness and the earth by the mouth; whilst the
symbols for breath issuing from both nostrils and the tongue protruding
from the mouth denoted the power of speech, which was so indissolubly
connected with the idea of chieftainship by the Mexicans that a title for
the chief was “the Speaker.” The central head likewise denoted a “complete
count”=one man, and was expressive of a great era of time, embodying
twenty epochs.

As a synopsis of the whole, the following titles recorded in the
chronicles would be applicable to the central ruler, celestial or
terrestrial: the two lord, the divine twin; the two-lord and two lady; the
quadruple lord, “He who looks in four directions;” the lord of the
thirteen powers; the one lord, _i. e._ embodying a complete count=20; the
lord of five (_i. e._ of the Middle and Four Quarters); of seven, _i. e._
of the Middle, Above, Below, and Four Quarters; of thirteen, _i. e._ of
the duplication or male and female or celestial and terrestrial divisions
of the Above, Below and Four Quarters plus the Middle.

Surrounding the central head are four square divisions arranged in two
separate parts, each of which includes what appears to be in one case the
right, and in the other the left, conventionalized claw (forepaw?) of an
animal armed with hooked nails, such as Mictlantecuhtli, the lord of the
North, is represented with.

The square compartments contain symbols of the four elements so disposed
that air and water are appropriately associated with the hand to the right
(=male region) and fire and earth with the hand to the left side (=the
female region) of the central head. But this is not all, for another
carefully devised relation between the elements likewise appears upon
careful examination. In the middle, carved above the central face and
between the symbols for air and fire, is the conventionalized “ray of the
Sun,” or pyramid which typifies “that which ascends or is above” the upper
elements and the Above. As its opposite we find below, situated between
the symbols of earth and water, a ring with a concentric circle
representing the drop of water=“that which descends.” As the Moon was
inseparably associated with water and the Below, it is doubtlessly
included in the symbolism.

One more point which will receive due attention in my monograph remains to
be briefly noticed. As the symbol for air=east is situated to the right of
the symbol for north, and the earth=west is to its left, it is clear that
the central face is conceived as looking down from above upon the
spectator. It is only when the stone is considered as placed face downward
that the symbols assume their proper positions as regards the cardinal
points. This reversal, which is the natural result of the association of
the east and south with the right hand of the middle personage, suggests
that the monolith may have been originally designed to be let into the
flat or slanting ceiling of a building. As a parallel instance I will
state that, some years ago, Señor Troncoso pointed out to me a fact he had
noticed, namely, that the relative positions of the cardinal points on the
Féjérvary chart were reversed and that it must have been intended to be
looked at from underneath.

Each of the element symbols is accompanied by four numerals placed in the
angles of the squares, with one exception, where one numeral was obviously
dislodged from its proper position by an encroaching emblematic ornament.
The positions of these numerals and of their square enclosures are what
recalled to my mind the opposite positions assumed by Ursa Major in its
annual rotation around the axis of the heaven. Just as the central face
primarily represented Polaris, so these squares figured the four
contrapositions of the great constellation. The peculiar, almost
cross-shaped figure resulting from the union and association of the
symbols of the Centre, and of the Above, Below, Right, Left=Four Quarters,
is a well-known conventional sign, generally known as a “nahui-ollin.” The
accepted translation of this name is “four movements,” from olinia,
verb=to move, and no name could be more appropriate for a symbol which, to
my idea, like the swastika, actually represents the movement of the most
conspicuous of septentrional constellations to four opposite places.

At the same time, as the nahui-ollin on the stone encloses symbols of the
four elements, the union of which was believed by the native philosophers
to be essential for the production and maintenance of life, I was led to
observe also the fact that the words for life and heart, and the verbs to
be alive, to live, to resuscitate, etc., are all derivatives from the root
yuli, or yoli, which undoubtedly has a common origin with the verb
olinia=to move. It therefore not only appears that, to the native mind,
motion and life were indissolubly linked together, but that the name
nahui-ollin must have signified four-fold life as well as movement. It
likewise typified the four sides of the great pyramid which formed the
nucleus of the capital and was crowned by two temples, respectively
occupied by symbolical images of the “Divine Twins.” It is impossible not
to realize that, in ancient Mexico, the pyramid constituted an image of
the entire system.

Each of its sides obviously pertained to one of the four regions and was
probably painted with its symbolical color.(71) It seems safe to assume
that the pyramid was originally erected by the coöperation of people from
the four quarters of the capital and state and was possibly added to at
fixed intervals so that it represented not only the constitution of the
commonwealth, but testified to its age and growth. The widely-prevalent
primitive custom that each individual should add one or more stones to a
heap of stones, as an individual contribution, may have been carried out
in the building of pyramids, the origin of which will be discussed further
on.

Although it is almost superfluous to do so, as by this time the set of
associated ideas must be familiar to the reader, I shall briefly summarize
some of the chief four-fold division or organization of which the
nahui-ollin was the graphic symbol. It represented:

1. The four elements or substances and kinds of life.

2. The four regions of the heaven, each composed, in turn, of four
sub-regions.

3. The four provinces of the state, each containing four districts.

4. The four quarters of the capital, each of which had four wards.

Like the nahui-ollin the pyramid was an image or embodiment of the
fundamental all-pervading principle. Both therefore equally expressed
further meanings which I shall proceed to enumerate.

5. Four stars and also four star-groups or planets which seem to have been
associated with the cardinal points and are indicated by four discs
exhibiting two concentric circles and four glyphs placed around them.
Although at a disadvantage, not being able to substantiate my statement
here, I shall mention that, amongst the above, the Pleiades and the
planets Venus and Jupiter doubtlessly figure, the latter as two evening
and two morning stars.

6. The human lords of the four regions who respectively governed the four
divisions of the population, who were classified as the Fire, Air, Water
and Earth people, the identical classification being applied in turn to
each class and so on _ad infinitum_.

7. Rotation or a movement encircling the four quarters imagined as
“quadruple motion.” This was not confined to the Septentriones, for the
ancient Mexican astronomers had recognized what they termed the “four
movements of the Sun”—namely, its apparent rising in the east and progress
to the north; and setting in the west and progress to the south. According
to Leon y Gama, the first to describe the stone in 1832, the central
“nahui ollin” portrayed the “four movements of the sun” and recorded the
solstices and equinoxes. His opinion has since been shared by other
writers, amongst whom I cite Señor Troncoso. According to Sir Norman
Lockyer, moreover, the symbol does correctly and appropriately figure the
annual course of the sun. It must be admitted that the invention of a
figurative symbol which not only records the annual rotation of the
circumpolar star-groups but also the annual apparent course of the sun is
an achievement which has never been surpassed in primitive astronomy and
merits admiration and recognition. The record of the periodical movements
of the heavenly bodies, constitutes, at the same time naturally a register
of the four seasons.

8. Simultaneously with the division of the year into four equal parts, the
ollin (and pyramid) typified the division of the 20-day period into four
quarters as well as the four 13 year periods which constituted the epoch
of fifty-two years. As the Calendar periods will be discussed in my
monograph on the subject, I shall only mention here a fact showing how
completely the quadruplicate idea had influenced native speculation. The
Mexicans believed that four great eras had passed since the creation of
the world and designated these as the earth, air, fire and water eras.
They believed that, although humanity had always escaped utter
annihilation, the world had been almost completely destroyed by three of
the elements in succession at the end of three of these eras. At the time
of the Conquest, the Mexicans supposed themselves to be living in a fourth
age which was doomed to perish by fire.

9. According to the distinguished Mexican scholar Señor Alfredo Chavero,
the symbols in the nahui-ollin commemorated the four epochs of the world’s
history and I readily accept this as one of the many significations of the
quadruplicate figure.

Leaving the nahui-ollin for the present, let us next consider the band,
with compartments, which encloses it and exhibits the twenty symbols
hitherto only known as calendaric signs,—four of which were year- as well
as day-signs, whilst sixteen were day-signs only. Their relative positions
show that they were intended to be read from right to left.

A profusion of evidence, however, exists showing that individuals bore the
day-names as personal appellations, not only in Mexico but also in Central
America. Amongst the Quichés for instance, members of the “Royal house of
Cavek” are designated in the Popol Vuh, as three deer, nine dog, etc.

It thus follows that the twenty signs were not merely names of years and
days, but also designated the tribes and clans. The element-symbols which
marked every fifth day and the years and constitute the major signs,
likewise were the names of the four great divisions of the people, and of
their respective chieftains. On the other hand the 4×4=16 minor signs,
applied not only to days but to the 4×4=16 clans. At the same time the
element names conveyed in a general way the occupation of each of the four
divisions of people as well as their places of abode in reference to the
capital. Accordingly, the earth people would specially attend to
agriculture, mining, the manufacture of pottery, etc.; water people to
irrigation, the furnishing of drinks, fishing, etc.; the fire people to
all occupations which had to do with fire: the procuring of combustibles
for fire and lighting, cooking, the working in metals, etc.

As on the stone, the sign calli=house is in juxtaposition to the symbol
for air, it may be inferred that the air people were the builders, the
masons, the artificers, the Nahuatl name for which was “toltecatl.” As the
air symbol occupies the place of highest honor in reference to the central
face, namely, above the right hand, it is evident that the builders, or
“toltecas,” were the caste which enjoyed the highest consideration. Their
totem was the bird, the inhabitant of the air. The second rank in honor
was held by the fire people placed to the left, above. Their totem was the
ocelot.

Without going further into details for the present, I merely point out
that the identical division of the members of each community and
association with the elements, etc., was carried out throughout the state.
This method clearly established the relation and also determined the
geographical position of each class of people in reference to the whole.

The carved band on the Calendar-stone, with its twenty signs, determined
once and for all time the exact position to be taken up in all public
assemblages, in councils, sacred dances, and likewise controlled the
exposition of the products of the land in the great market-place. What is
more: each division of the people, by reason of its indissoluble union to
one element and one region, also had its own season during which it led in
ceremonial observances. So skilfully was the lunar ceremonial or religious
year devised that each sign, without any distinction, ruled a period of
thirteen days. At the same time the period fell into four divisions headed
by the four principal or element signs.

In the solar or civil year, each sign had its day, but as the computation
of years passed by, each sign in due rotation ruled during one year. It
was only when each sign had had an equal rule that the cycle completed
itself, and, in turn, became a part of a greater cycle of time. To realize
the marvellous ingenuity with which the rotation of days and consequently
the working of the entire machinery of state was carried on, it is
necessary to have before one’s eyes, a series of reconstructive tables,
such as I have prepared for my paper on the subject. For the present,
however, I trust that some idea of the harmonious organization of the
state may have been conveyed to the reader.

One important feature remains for consideration. As already mentioned, one
of the four annual midnight positions of the Bear star-groups, and
presumably a “royal star,” pertained to each cardinal-point and
consequently to each of the four divisions of people. To this statement,
which can be supported by substantial evidence, I must add that each of
the sixteen minor signs likewise designated constellations, of which there
were thus four in each region of the heaven. The twenty familiar day-signs
thus actually constituted also the native zodiac. As the region to which
each constellation pertains is clearly designated by the cardinal-point
signs, their identification is merely a matter of time. Since ten of the
signs represent animals, and these were the clan totems, it is easy to
realize how animal forms, composed of stars, came to be traced in the
heavens.

Deferring further discussion of the native zodiac I will but point out
what an intimate relation was thus established and maintained between
star-groups and human beings; and how the periodical rotation and stations
of the celestial bodies actually guided or, at all events, coincided with
the periods of human activity in various branches.

I am not, as yet, prepared to formulate a final opinion on the meaning of
the narrow band that surrounds the zodiacal belt, which is at the same
time the list of years and days and of tribes and clans, but shall merely
note that it exhibits four large and four lesser rays which designate the
quarters and half-quarters of the whole. A few words concerning the
symbolism of these rays should find place here. In Nahuatl the ray was
named “tona-mitl,” literally “the shining arrow,” “shaft of light.”
Ixtlilxochitl tells us that it was an ancient custom of his people on
taking possession of new territory “to shoot with utmost force four
arrows, in the directions of the four regions of the world.”(72) This
interesting passage shows us that the rays, _i. e._ arrows of light,
carved on the stone, conveyed the idea of possession of the four regions
and four sub-regions by the central power.

Returning to an examination of the concentric band to which the rays are
attached: It exhibits also 4×10 groups of five dots, two of which groups
are almost concealed by star-symbols on the recurved open jaws of the
serpents’ heads which meet at the bottom of the stone. Above this band and
placed exactly between the larger and lesser rays are single compartments
with five-dot groups. It has been interesting to detect the reason why two
five-dot groups were carved, as I have already pointed out, immediately
under the central head. They evidently supply the missing groups whose
places are filled up by the recurved upper jaws of the serpents, heads at
the bottom of the monolith. From the care taken to preserve a visible
record of these two groups, it is obvious that a special importance was
attached to the recording of eight five-dot groups besides the forty in
the band, making a total of 4×12=48 groups, or 10+2=12 to each quarter.

As the Mexican name for market was macuil-tianquiztli, literally the “Five
(day) market” and the Maya word for capital was homonymous with five=ho,
it is evident that these five dot groups would have conveyed the idea of
“market,” market-day and possibly market-town, to a Mexican. To a
Maya-speaking people they would have appeared to express practically the
same thought, since all capitals, large or small, were market-places and
absorbed and redistributed the product of quadruple provinces within the
radius of its jurisdiction. The inference that the five-dot groups may
have served as a topographical register of the larger and minor capitals
existing in each quarter of the state, is substantiated by more evidence
than can be produced here. I have moreover found indications that this
belt may have served as a sort of moon-calendar which was also an attempt
at an adjustment of lunar to solar periods.(73) Before, however, an
estimate can be made of the full meaning of this belt formed by the two
great serpents which encircle the entire monument, more time and labor
will have to be expended.

One point about the twin serpents is clear; they are represented as
springing from a square enclosing the symbol Acatl accompanied by 13 which
has been generally interpreted as a calendar date. It seems to me to be
more deeply significant than a mere date, especially as it appears to
designate the point of departure for the progressive movement of the two
serpents whose open jaws enclose human heads in profile which together
form one face. The upper jaws end in two recurved appendages, each
exhibiting seven star symbols. As these obviously typify night or darkness
and the open jaws seem to threaten to absorb or engulf the ray of the sun
pointing downwards, it appears as though these typified a disappearance of
light into the underworld of darkness and destruction.

The symbolical surroundings of the downward ray are in striking contrast
to its opposite, the upward ray, which reaches to the 13 Acatl sign and
points to what appears to be the place of origin or birth of the twin
serpents. It certainly seems that this all-embracing and enfolding twin
pair are designed to typify the dual forces of nature under a form which
would also express quadruplication. By what must be termed a stroke of
genius the designer of the monolith chose to represent the forms of two
serpents, relying upon the fact that Nahuatl-speaking people would see in
each serpent (=coatl) a twin (=coatl). Did he not also realize that to a
Maya each serpent (=can) would mean 4 (=can) and that the pair would
appear to embody or express the numerals 4 and also 8?

It is noteworthy that each serpent is represented with one claw and that
these two added to those contained in the central nahui-ollin complete the
four-limbed figure which was essentially the image of a complete count=the
state, the nation, the era, etc. In this monument, as elsewhere, it is
possible to follow the development of the symbolism expressed by two heads
which form but one, twin-bodies which mean four and of four limbs which
represent the digital count=20.

Under different aspects the same theme repeats itself again and again upon
the stone, which proves that the master minds who planned and wrought it
destined it to be the image of a plan based on the idea of a central and
yet all-embracing, dual, yet quadruple force or power.

The preceding rapid sketch I have given of the wide-reaching significance
of this remarkable monument will, I hope, be found to amply support and
corroborate the view I advanced in 1886, when I pointed out that the
“Calendar-stone” answered to the description given by Duran, of the
“circular elaborately carved tablets which were kept in each market-place
and were held in great veneration.” I trust that it is now clear why it
should have been frequently consulted and why the market-days were
regulated according to the carved indications upon the surface. Engraved
upon it were the Great Plan and its laws of organization and rotation. It
clearly determined, once and for all, the sequence of the days; the
relation of all classes of the population to each other and to the whole,
and set forth not only the place each group should occupy in the
market-place, but also the product or industry with which it was
associated and the periods when its contributions to the commonwealth
should be forthcoming in regular rotation. The stone was therefore not
only the tablet but the wheel of the law of the State and it can be
conjectured that its full interpretation was more or less beyond the
capacity of all but an initiated minority, consisting of the elders,
chiefs and priests.

Postponing for the present further discussion of this, the most precious
and remarkable monument which has ever been unearthed on the American
Continent, let us briefly bestow attention upon the two other monoliths
which may be said to be its companions and obviously belong to the same
period and civilization. In 1886, in the preliminary note cited above, I
advanced the view that the first of these, generally known as the
“Sacrificial stone,” was a “law-stone of a similar nature [to the
Calendar-stone] which recorded, however, the periodical collection of
certain tributes paid by subjugated tribes and others whose obligation it
was to contribute to the commonwealth of Mexico.” I pointed out that the
“frieze around the stone consists of groups, placed at intervals, of the
flint-knives (tecpatl) with conventionally carved teeth (tlantli) giving
in combination the word ‘tecpatlantli.’ This occurs in Sahagun’s Historia,
as the name given to the ‘lands of the tecpan or palace,’ and in one of
the native works I find designated the four channels into which the
produce of these lands was diverted.” I likewise noted that “the periods
indicated on it differ from those on the Calendar-stone,” which might more
appropriately be designated as the ancient Mexican wheel of the law or of
the Great Universal Plan.

Thirteen years of painstaking research have only served to strengthen me
in my interpretation of the “Sacrificial-stone.” The frieze around it
exhibits sixteen groups, each consisting of the repeated representation of
a warrior characterized by having one foot only. In each case he is
figured as seizing by the hair a different individual, who bows his head
and offers the weapon he holds in his right hand to his victor. Amongst
the sixteen subjugated personages are two women and above each are
hieroglyphs expressing the names of well-known localities, some of which
are mentioned in native chronicles as having been conquered in historical
times by Mexican rulers.

In my account of the Plan of the Ancient City of Mexico, I shall
illustrate these hieroglyphs, locate the places to which they refer and
further discuss this monument. Meanwhile I shall but state that it
undoubtedly belongs to the same category of monuments as the tablets in
the “Temple of the Sun” at Palenque; the bas-relief at Ixkun and that in
the house of the “Tennis-court” at Chichen-Itza where warriors in a
procession render homage to a seated personage, by presenting their
spear-throwers to him in precisely the same manner as shown on the Mexican
Tribute-Stone.

The upper surface of this exhibits the same division into eight parts,
marked by four large and four smaller rays, pointing to the quarters and
half-quarters. Observation shows that of the sixteen localities four were
assigned to each quarter and it is evident that the monument determined
the time and the order in which the tribute for each was paid and
collected at the capital. The one-footed man again graphically symbolizes
axial rotation and conveys the idea of a central ruler who in turn seizes
and exerts control upon 4×4 tribal chiefs. The monument establishes,
moreover, the interesting fact that amongst the subjugated communities
were two gynocracies, represented by women who, instead of spear-throwers,
present their weaving shuttle to the victor.

We shall next consider a monument whose uncouth and ugly form embodies a
deep and nobly planned conception of the “divine twin,” or “divine Four,”
that so completely dominated the minds of the native philosophers.

Let us now carefully examine the monolith now preserved in the National
Museum of Mexico (fig. 57). Leon y Gama, having observed that what
appeared to be the foundation of the statue was carved and that massive
projections existed under its so-called arms, logically concluded that the
original design had been to support the figure from the sides, so that its
base was lifted from the ground and the figure upon it exposed to view
from underneath. His inference is borne out by the carving on the base
which belongs to the same category as the image of Mictlan-tecuhtli, and
represents a semi-human body, of quadriform shape soaring downward.

                             [Illustration.]

                                Figure 57.

The centre (fig. 51) exhibits on a square the five-dot figure, and the
square, in turn, is enclosed in a circle; the whole symbolism relating to
the now well-worn theme of the centre and four quarters and the union of
the earth=the square and the heaven=the circle. It clearly exhibits a
skull attached to each limb, typifying the four quarters or the clans and
their chiefs, whilst the hands hold the larger heads, emblematic of
supreme dual rulership. It is interesting to find that the above carving,
under the feet of the sculptured figure, embodies the entire meaning of
the statue, which is but a variation of the native philosophical theme of
“Divine Twain” or Quetzalcoatl. Two serpents’ heads surmount a semi-human
body and meeting form the semblance of two single faces turned to the
front and back of the statue. By this ingenious device the unity, yet
duality of the divine twin is graphically rendered and one-half of each
countenance is represented as belonging to each serpent. These are thus
shown to be indissolubly linked together, yet distinct. Their single, yet
dual head has four eyes, eight fangs and two forked tongues. The figure
and skirt composed of intertwined rattlesnakes, constitute feminine
attributes given to the symbolical figure of the “twin-lord and
twin-lady,” the “father and mother of all.” Instead of hands the arms
terminate in serpents’ heads and the huge feet in great claws.

Between these, in the front and at the back, a rattlesnake’s body and head
appear. The belt consists of a large snake whose head and tail hang down
in front, as the ends of a bow. A skull is attached to the front and
another to the back of the belt. In the latter case it surmounts a
fan-shaped, curiously plaited ornamental appendage partly decorated with
feathers. Forming a sort of necklace in front are four hands, _i. e._
4×5=20 and two conventionalized hearts. At the back there are two hands
and two hearts and an intricate knot which fastens the necklace, the real
meaning of which is far from what it may appear to be. It probably
signified the same as the painted hearts and hands on ceremonial garments
of which Sahagun tells us that “they meant that the people who wore them
lifted their hearts and hands to the Creator to implore for rain and
food.” At the same time, the arrangement in front clearly reveals the
sculptor’s allusion to the head, two hearts, four hands and twenty
fingers, which symbolize these familiar numerical divisions. An indication
that this symbolical statue was probably designed and executed by the same
master who made the circular stone of the Great Plan, is furnished by the
calendar sign 13 Acatl, which is carved under the skull at the back of the
figure.

Deferring an investigation of the significance of this date, I shall now
draw attention to what is to me the most interesting and important feature
of the whole image. The view of the top of the two heads, as may be seen
by the accompanying reproduction from a photograph (fig. 58) exhibits, at
their line of union, a small square with diagonal cross-lines. The
position of this symbol which resembles the top view of a pyramid and
forms, as it were, the apex of the statue, every detail of which is deeply
symbolical, clearly reveals the sanctity and importance attached to this
graphic image of the Centre, the union of four in one or _vice versa_, the
theme on which the native mind played numberless and endless variations.

A reflection, again forced upon one in studying the monumental composite
image of the dual and quadruple forces of nature, is that it must have
been as intelligible to a Maya as to a Mexican, and conveyed the
conception of Kukulcan to the one and Quetzalcoatl to the other. Several
facts point, however, to the greater probability that the original
conception of the monument must have arisen amongst Maya-speaking people.

                             [Illustration.]

                                Figure 58.

The divided square, simulating a pyramid and so obviously a symbol of
four=can, carved on the head of a serpent=can, throws an interesting light
upon the probable derivation of the affix=can, which occurs in certain
names of localities in Mexico, and in some cases distinctly stands for
“mountain.” It is a fact which has already been cited in Señor Antonio
Penafiel’s useful work on the Geographical names of Mexico that, in the
pictographic hieroglyphs of localities the affix can signifies a town,
being synonymous with the _tepec_, _i. e._ tepetl, the Nahuatl name for
mountain or town. One of many similar instances, which could be produced,
is illustrated in his fig. XXIII, 1, where _can_ obviously stands for the
mountain which is represented as twisted or bent over (colhua), in the
hieroglyph for Colhuacan. The hieroglyphs for the towns Acayocan and
Tenayocan, furnish a similar employment of the mountain to express the
sound can. The sense of the affix _can_, meaning a town, only becomes
clear when we interpret it as the name of the artificial mountain with
four sides, the pyramid, which was the symbol of four=the Maya _can_, and
was the emblem of a central capital. This is convincingly proven by the
Codex Mendoza for instance, in which it is shown that the Mexican mode of
recording the conquest of a tribe was to paint their hieroglyphic name and
a picture of the destruction of the pyramid temple which had stood in the
centre of their capital. In other words, the conquered town ceased to be a
centre of rule—its captive chieftain was taken to the capital, where the
horrible rite of sacrifice performed upon him and the tearing out of his
heart likewise symbolized the destruction of the independent life of the
tribe or integral whole he represented in his person. It was thus brought
home to the conquered people that they had ceased to exist as an
independent body, and the distribution of the chieftain’s flesh to the
ritualistic cannibals graphically symbolized its absorption into the great
central state. It is necessary to emphasize here that these horrible rites
were of comparatively recent origin and had been invented by the Mexicans
for the purpose of intimidating their vassals, after a prolonged period of
wars and bloodshed, which menaced the very existence of the integral
state. The presence in Mexico of numerous names of towns, ending in can,
seems to indicate the influence, in ancient times, of the Maya-speaking
civilization to which the origin of the pyramid must be assigned. The
association of the latter with the word _can_ is strikingly illustrated in
the name of Teotihua-Can, where stand the ruins of two of the largest and
most imposing pyramids of ancient America. The base of the larger of the
two has been estimated at about 700 feet square, it being impossible to
take an exact measurement owing to the mass of accumulated débris which
covers the lower part of the structure.

The base of the second pyramid measures about 475 feet square. The sides
of both pyramids rose at an angle of about 45 degrees and were in each
case interrupted by four terraces. This double application of a quadruple
division merits special attention, as it produced besides the four great
4×4 lesser sections, the sacred centre of the terraces, which crowned each
structure. Historical tradition relates that the larger pyramid, known as
the “Enclosure of the Sun (=Tonatiuh-I-Tzacual),” originally bore on its
summit a colossal image of the sun, covered with plates of gold, whilst
the other, the “Enclosure of the Moon” exhibited a similar image, covered
with silver. The distinguished and reliable historian Orozco y Berra
quotes this tradition adding that the soldiers of Cortés despoiled the
images of their precious metals and that the Bishop Zumarraga ordered a
further destruction of all monuments at Teotihuacan.

The tradition which records the existence of a silver and of a gold image,
cannot be dismissed as unfounded, because it meets with a certain amount
of corroboration by other data. In the first case the so-called “battered
goddess,” a mutilated stone image, which was found in the courtyard at the
base of the “Pyramid of the Moon,” looks as though it may have been the
very monument which was once plated with silver. Traces of concentric
bands of ornamentation seem to indicate that its round face had originally
occupied the centre of a sculptured disc, in which case this must have had
a diameter of about twelve feet. In Peru, as already stated, a silver
image of the moon, associated with the female sovereign, was the
complement to the golden effigy of the sun, associated with the Inca.

Even if data had not already been produced which establishes the existence
of two religious cults in ancient Mexico, the respective symbols of which
were the sun and the moon, the presence of two pyramids at Teotihuacan
would suggest the existence of a division of some sort. The origin of
these great and imposing structures is shrouded in mystery, but it is
generally conceded that they must have been built long before the
comparatively modern inhabitants of the valley of Mexico, the wandering
Aztecs, had taken up their abode in the midst of the salt lagoons. The
erection of two pyramids, however, proves that their builders had already
practised the cult of the middle of heaven and earth, or Above and Below,
and of the Four Quarters for so long a time, that there had been a
separation of religions and government into two almost independent parts,
each complete in itself. In the light of the testimony produced it is safe
to infer that for an indefinite time the rival cults developed side by
side until dissension and consequent disintegration followed. The Mexican
state was the outcome of a later effort to reorganize and rebuild an
integral whole on the ancient plan, the knowledge of which had been
preserved and handed down. As time went on it was inevitable that the same
causes which had caused the more ancient and greater state to crumble
away, should be actively at work on the second.

It has already been shown that two religions existed in Montezuma’s time
the respective embodiments of which were Huitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipoca.
It is an interesting fact, related by Bernal Diaz, that the idols of both
stood together in one tower at the summit of the great temple and were
alike, “because they were brothers.” At the same time whilst
Tezcatlipoca’s image was decorated with obsidian (=tezcatl)
Huitzilopochtli’s was encrusted with turquoises. It is curious to note how
closely the old soldier’s description of these idols answers to that of
the great dualistic statue which has been discussed in the preceding
pages. His account contains the following details: “In this hall were what
resembled two altars with very richly [ornamented or carved] platforms on
the top of the roof or ceiling. On each altar was a statue, as of a giant,
very tall in body and very stout. The first, which represented
Huitzilopochtli, had a very wide, deformed or monstrous face and forehead,
and terrifying eyes ... around his neck were faces of Indians and what
were hearts. These were of gold whilst the former were of silver inlaid
with blue mosaic-work. The entire body was covered with mosaic-work, gold
and beads and misshapen pearls, all fastened to it with a kind of cement
or glue. Encircling the body were what were like huge serpents made of
gold and mosaic.... The idol was of Tezcatlipoca, and its eyes were made
of shining black stone [obsidian] called Tezcat. The statues were alike
because they were said to be brothers. Tezcatlipoca was the lord of the
Underworld ... and around his body were figures like small devils with
tails like serpents.”(74) But for the fact that Bernal Diaz mentions a
plurality of faces in Huitzilopochtli’s necklace, whereas our monument
exhibits but one skull, in front, his description strikingly coincides
with the monolith now existing. Considering that thirty years had elapsed
before he wrote this description allowance must be made for this and other
slight lapses. On the other hand, dual statues, exactly alike, but with
differently colored ornamentation, are precisely what we should expect to
find on the summit of the great pyramid-temple of Mexico. With our present
knowledge and comprehension of native symbolism, moreover, we see that two
statues, each of which figured twin-serpents, would best express the
native idea of the dual and quadruple principles and elements. What is
more, two dual statues, each surmounted by a square, diagonally crossed,
like a pyramid, would correspond, in symbolism, to the two great pyramids
of Teotihuacan and carry out, on a small scale, the idea of a dual
government.

Valuable and reliable evidence, showing to what an extent the Mexicans
regarded their government as dual and quadruple, can be gleaned from the
records of the presents sent by Montezuma to Cortés, under the impression
that the bearded Spaniards were the descendants of the ancient founders of
their civilization. The native ruler sent the complete ceremonial dress of
the four lords of the four regions denoting by that act of homage that he
acknowledged Cortés as his equal, _i. e._ the supreme central lord who
united the four-fold power in his person. “He likewise sent him a large
wheel of pure gold, covered with designs and with the image of a monster
in its centre.” Its weight was estimated at 3,800 “pesas” and it was
considered “the finest and best of all the presents.” It was accompanied
by “a large wheel of silver,” weighing forty-eight marcos. By the light of
our present knowledge it may be that both “wheels” were images of the
Great Plan and that whilst the gold one set forth the constitution and
organization of the Upper division of the State and possibly conveyed the
statistics of its members, the silver wheel was a record of the Lower
division. The gift of these tablets must have been intended as an act of
subservience and an acknowledgment of Cortés as the lord of the Above and
Below, as well as of the Four Quarters. The utter lack of understanding
for the symbolism of these gifts on the part of the recipient, can
scarcely have escaped the notice of Montezuma’s messengers and must have
sorely puzzled their unfortunate master.

The existence in Mexico at the time of the Conquest, of a dual state,
suggests the possibility that, in some way, the pyramids of Teotihuacan
continued to be connected with the opposite and rival cults of the Sun and
the Nocturnal Heaven, although their origin was shrouded in the past. It
is known that their site was venerated: besides, the name Teotihuacan,
which Orozco y Berra translated as “the place of the masters as keepers of
the gods” or “the place where the gods were adored,” most probably really
meant “the divine four-sided mountains or pyramids” or, possibly, “the
sacred pyramids of the lords.”

Until an extensive, carefully-planned and systematical exploration has
been carried out at Teotihuacan, it is impossible to form any definite
conclusions concerning its past history. Cherishing the hope that such an
exploration may yet be made during my lifetime, I shall merely make a few
remarks concerning the ruins, which I visited many years ago. Approaching
them from the south one enters a broad straight road, several miles in
length and about 250 feet wide, which is bordered at each side by a series
of irregular mounds, probably covering ruined structures. This imposing
road leads directly into the vast courtyard which stretches across the
base of the great pyramid of the Moon. As the City of Mexico lies to the
south of Teotihuacan it is significant to find that this road leads from
that direction to a vast pyramid situated at the north, which was,
according to the ancient Mexicans, the region of the Underworld, darkness
and death. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that the ancient
native name which still clings to the roadway is “the path of the dead.”
The presence, moreover, of innumerable small clay heads which are,
undoubtedly, portraits or effigies of persons represented as dead, points
to the alternative that Teotihuacan may have been the necropolis of an
ancient civilization or that it was, even at the time of the Conquest, the
place where a register of deaths was kept by the priest-rulers, by means
of small clay effigies.

Considering the native idea, it seems more than probable that all matters
pertaining to the dead should be relegated to the northern region and the
fact that the road from the south leads to a pyramid which tradition
associates with the moon, the symbol of the nocturnal cult of the “Below,”
lends color to these views.

There is a temptation to imagine that possibly after the adoption of two
distinct cults of which the second pyramid seems to furnish
incontrovertible proof, a further divergence ensued resulting in the
ultimate abandonment of the capital by the votaries of the Sun, the male
principle and the Above. As the native civilizations were based on such a
plan that dissension and disorganization inevitably led to utter downfall
and ruin, it is easy to see that a gynocracy and the cult of the earth and
underworld should gradually become extinct. At the zenith of its power,
however, it may safely be inferred, that Teotihuacan was a great centre
where astronomical observation and agriculture flourished, these being the
natural outcome of the cult of mother-earth and the nocturnal heaven.
Whilst all conjecture must necessarily be hypothetical, it is a comfort to
reflect that, locked in the ruins themselves, lies guarded the past
history of Teotihuacan, which was shrouded in a mist of uncertainty even
at the time of the Conquest.

The pyramids themselves, however, openly reveal the fact, that their
builders possessed a knowledge of the great plan, and that, at some time,
a single central pyramid not being sufficient, two, of unequal sizes,
arose to bear lasting testimony not only of past greatness, but of
long-forgotten rivalry and dissension. Finally, there is one thing
certain, namely, that the building of the pyramids at Teotihuacan must
have been preceded by an extremely long period during which the native
ideas, of which they were the expression and image, had developed and
taken definite shape. If Teotihuacan yields evidence of an advanced stage
in the history of the intellectual development of the native race, it also
marks the beginning of the disintegration of the state of which it was the
central capital. On the other hand, at Cholula, also situated in the high
plateau of Mexico, to the east of its present capital stands, in ruined
solitary grandeur, the largest pyramid on the American continent, whose
base is twice as large as that of the pyramid of Cheops in Egypt.

The name of the ancient capital of which it formed the nucleus was Tullan
Cholollan Tlachiuhaltepec.(75) Boturini (_op. cit._ p. 113) cites an old
native manuscript on which a picture of the pyramid of Cholula was painted
with the note that, in ancient times, it was named Tultecatl Chalchihuatl
On Azia Ecatepec, which he translates as “the monument or precious jade
stone of the Toltecs, which rears itself in the region of the air.” As
eca-tepec literally means air-mountain, Boturini’s translation may seem
somewhat exaggerated; on the other hand, the Spaniards, who knew the
Nahuatl language best, repeatedly state that its words were so replete
with significance that it would sometimes require several Spanish
sentences to set forth the meaning of a single native word. Boturini, who
had exceptional opportunities for obtaining information, adds to the above
the following translation of a Nahuatl inscription which had been written
by the native scribe below the drawing which unfortunately is now lost.
“Nobles and Lords: Here you have your documents, the mirror of your past,
the history of your ancestors who, out of fear for a deluge, constructed
this place of refuge or asylum for the possibility of the recurrence of
such a calamity.”

After citing the opinions of various authors concerning the origin of the
pyramid, Orozco y Berra concludes that “there is no certainty about its
age, but instinctively it is supposed to be extremely ancient and to
pertain to pre-historic times. According to my judgment the people who
constructed it belonged to the same civilization as the builders of
Teotihuacan and possibly were their contemporaries. Cholollan was also a
venerated sanctuary, in which the religious idea predominated” (_op. cit._
p. 363). “At the time of the Conquest a temple stood on the summit of the
pyramid and contained an image of Quetzalcoatl (the Divine Twain, the
Creator, the Father and Mother of all) as well as an aerolite, shaped like
a frog which had fallen from heaven, wrapped in a ball of flame.” In the
Vatican MS. of Padre Rios there is another version of the tradition that
the pyramid had been erected by giants after a deluge, which had destroyed
everything, ... and that before it was finished, fire fell upon it causing
the death of its builders and the abandonment of the work.

Allusion has already been made, in the preceding pages, to the native
traditions according to which, “there had been three memorable epochs in
the history of mankind, which lasted for centuries and were abruptly
terminated, each time by a mighty convulsion of nature. The majority of
human beings perished in each of these, but a remnant survived and thus
the race was preserved.”

The periodical festival of thanksgiving, which was still observed at the
time of the Conquest by the native races, abundantly testifies to the
reality of their belief in these great catastrophes and the preservation
of their ancestors from utter extermination. It was doubtless in order to
make their past history conform with the quadruple organization of all
epochs of their native Calendar that the native sages assigned their
successive destructions to the separate agencies of fire, water and air,
in the form of violent tempests and cyclones. From descriptions contained
in the Mexican Codex Chimalpopoca and in the Popol Vuh, the sacred book of
the Quichés, it will be seen that the phenomena described are such as
would naturally accompany a volcanic outbreak on a great scale.
Considering that, in Mexico alone, there are no less than nine monster
volcanoes, of which two are not yet extinct, and that in Guatemala, in
historical times, whole cities have been destroyed by earthquakes and
volcanic action, it is not at all astonishing to find traditions of great
catastrophes amongst the inhabitants of these regions.

No one can look upon the grand snow-clad peaks of the great volcanoes,
which surround the high central plateau of Mexico, without realizing that
mighty upheavals and disturbances, such as the world has seldom seen, must
have attended the formation of the huge craters next to which Vesuvius
seems but a hillock. A volcanic outbreak amongst these elevated peaks,
which range from 15,000 to 19,000 feet above the sea-level, would
obviously be accompanied by great inundations caused by the melting of the
masses of snow which crown their heights. The valley of Mexico in which
the large lagoons lie, as in a basin without an outlet, and the plains
which surround Cholula and stretch to the base of the volcanoes must
repeatedly have been the scene of ruin and desolation, lasting for many
centuries. As the Abbé Bourbourg justly remarks: “The majority of the
edifices in the City of Mexico are built of volcanic tufa, said to have
been formed by the small volcanoes which lie at the southeast of the
valley of Mexico. At various periods of antiquity great masses of lava
have descended into this valley, in which one extensive ancient lava-field
is now known as the ‘Pedregal de San Augustin.’ ” Another great flow of
lava has actually been traced from its apparent source, the now extinct
volcano of Ajusco, at the south of the valley of Mexico, to Acapulco, on
the Pacific coast.

The Mexican chronicles describe as follows the destruction of the earth by
fire: “... there came a rain of fire: all that existed was burnt and a
rain composed of sand-stone fell. It is said that whilst the sand-stone we
now see was being formed the tet-zontli [_i. e._ volcanic tufa], boiled
with great noise. Then the red mountains also lifted themselves up ... the
sun consumed itself [was darkened], all houses were destroyed and all the
lords or chiefs perished....”

The same author relates how, after the repeated destruction by water,
obscurity reigned for twenty-five years. This cataclysm is also described
in the sacred book of the Quichés as follows: “Then ... the waters became
swollen by the mere will of the Heart of Heaven and there came a great
inundation from above and descended upon the people ... they were deluged
and then a thick resinous substance fell from the sky. The face of the
earth was obscured and a dark rain commenced and fell during the day and
during the night ... there was great sound of fire overhead. Then the
people ran pushing each other and filled with despair: they endeavoured to
mount upon the houses and these, falling in, threw them again to earth.
They wished to climb the trees, but these swayed and cast the people from
them; they tried to enter caves, but these shut themselves before
them....” It was after this universal ruin and destruction that, according
to native tradition, the pyramid of Cholula was erected, as a place of
refuge for the remnant of the native race which had escaped destruction
and returned to the scene of desolation, lured by the richness of the
fertile soil, just as the Italian peasants return to their vineyards on
Vesuvius after each eruption. All things considered there seems to be no
ground for rejecting the native tradition which affirms that the great
pyramid of Cholula was erected as a place of refuge from inundations,
especially as no more plausible explanation of the origin of the pyramid
can be imagined. Any primitive people, inhabiting fertile plains which
abounded in game and fish, and food-plants, but were exposed to frequent
inundations, could not fail to recognize the advantages of an elevated
piece of ground as a place of safety. It is easy to imagine the
intermediate stages in the transition from this simple recognition to the
final determination to build a compact, high and spacious elevation,
within the reach of all inhabitants of a settlement, on which these could
not only find refuge from the dangers of floods and volcanic disturbances,
but also store their harvest, and possibly some form of raft or boat which
they might employ as a last means of escape.

Irrefutable proof that the maize had been cultivated from remote antiquity
in this region, and had even become identified with it, is furnished by
the fact that the name of the small republic of Tlaxcalla, which lies in
the neighboring foot-hills, signifies bread, and that its hieroglyphic
sign consists of two hands holding a tortilla, or maize-cake.

It is well known that botanists have not yet succeeded in identifying,
amongst the native grasses of America, the ancestor of the cultivated
maize-plant. They assert, however, that the development of what is now the
world’s largest cereal, from a wild native species, must have required
incalculable time.

It must be admitted that no factor could possibly have more speedily
impressed upon primitive men the benefits of concerted action and of
organization and communal life than the occasional recurrence of a great
and imminent peril which was shared by all alike, and for which there was
but one visible means of escape. It is equally clear that, once a
concerted and united undertaking had been determined upon, some sort of
plan and organization must have naturally evolved itself. The mere
building of such a gigantic structure as the pyramid of Cholula, which may
well have absorbed the energies of several generations of men, or, at all
events that of innumerable workmen, could well have been an abiding and
most powerful factor in establishing their social organization. Its
erection must indeed have marked an epoch in the lives of the inhabitants
of this region, because, during many years it created a bond of common
interest which, of itself, might well have laid the foundation of a
permanent communal life, in which responsibility and labor were equally
distributed. The mere necessity to expend an equal amount of material and
labor upon the building of each side of the pyramid, would naturally lead
to the formation of pathways traced by the feet of the carriers of earth
and stone from different directions, and ultimately to a division of the
workers into four bands, each associated with a different cardinal point.
Practice would demand that each band should be under leadership, and be
divided into those who collected and carried material, and those who
placed it in position, at each side of the pyramid. The necessity for
general supervision and directorship, extending over the four bands of
workers alike, would, of itself, create central rulership upon which would
devolve the duty of enforcing an equal division of labor, which would
create, in turn, some form of systematic routine and rotation. It can thus
be understood how, by slow degrees, each side of the pyramid would become
permanently identified with a cardinal point; and associated with a
division of workmen under its leader and a fixed period of time. It may
likewise be seen how a separate caste would slowly develop itself,
consisting of the trained architects and builders, the descendants of the
first organizers of human labor, and systematical rulers of men.(76)

It may thus be seen how the realization of frequent danger, the necessity
to provide an escape and insure the safety of the race, aided by
experience, might lead to the conception of a vast pyramid, the mere
building of which would create and establish the fundamental principles of
organization and government.

The simultaneous development of the ideas suggested by Polaris would
inevitably lead to a comparison and association of the terrestrial centre
of communal activity with the polar axis, and to the conception of an
earthly government in which human affairs were adjusted so as to be in
seeming harmony with the movements of celestial bodies. The blending of
the conclusions attained by the astronomer-priests, and the practical
system adopted by the master builders, could not fail ultimately to cause
the pyramid to appear as the sacred visible sign or image of the single,
central power and quadruple government which extended its rule throughout
heaven and earth. I venture to point out that, if carefully analyzed, the
pyramid seems to be but a later development of precisely the same ideas
which are expressed by the swastika.

Pausing now to review preceding data we find it demonstrated that the
geographical position of Tullan Cholollan and its pyramid designates it as
an ancient seat of civilization where the native scheme of organization
may have evolved itself, and the source whence the native traditions
concerning successive destructive cataclysms and convulsions of nature may
have spread.

What is more, the peculiar conditions existing at Tullan Cholollan,
situated in the heart of a volcanic region, would amply explain the
traditional destruction and abandonment of the most ancient centre of
native civilization and the spread throughout the continent of the
identical scheme of government, etc., it being most natural that each band
of fugitives, on finding what appeared to be a favorably situated region,
should settle there and carry out the inherited plan of organization,
etc., which would naturally become slightly modified under altered
conditions. Fresh colonies on the pattern of the ruined metropolis and
integral state would successively be founded far and wide and as examples
of such I venture to designate Tulantzinco, literally the title Tullan,
and possibly Teotihuacan, where the native civilization seems to have
undergone its more advanced stages of evolution, and to have risen in
power, developed divergent cults with separate languages (the Maya and the
Nahuatl) and instituted the two religions and dual rulership which
eventually led to dissension and the dissolution of the integral state at
a period anterior to historical times.

The assumption that the most ancient centre of native civilization lay in
a volcanic region affords a plausible explanation of how an inordinate
value would naturally be placed on stability, _per se_, and the feelings
of veneration for Polaris and a passionate longing for a place of
terrestrial and celestial rest would become strongly developed. Indeed, it
is only possible to understand the reason why various American tribes
wandered about in ardent and earnest search for the stable middle of the
earth, when it is assumed that they must have been driven from their
former place of residence by volcanic disturbances which made a firm piece
of ground under foot seem to be the most desirable of all earthly
benefits. I venture to assert that this search and the ideal of stability
would not have been suggested so forcibly to people who had never
experienced a long succession of more or less terrible earthquakes.

Although widely different opinions concerning the identification of the
ancient Tullan are held by American archæologists they will all
doubtlessly admit that at Cholollan we have, in the first case, a locality
to which the natives assign the name of Tollan, and a pyramid, the largest
on the American continent, which testifies that, in prehistoric times,
this place was inhabited for a prolonged period, by a numerous and
organized community.

The fertility of the surrounding plains now known as the Campiña de Puebla
and the ancient name of Tlaxcalla yield evidence that, from time
immemorial, this district was associated with maize cultivation.

The vicinity of the giant volcanoes of Popocatepetl, Iztaccihuatl and
Orizaba(77) sufficiently demonstrate that they must repeatedly have been
the scene of violent disturbances which would fully account for the
tradition of successive cataclysms which destroyed a vast state and almost
annihilated the native race.

The foregoing unassailable facts undoubtedly justify the conclusion that
the giant pyramid of Cholula marks the site of the great and ancient
Tollan whose destruction was the theme of the plaintive native songs of
lamentation even at the time of the Spanish Conquest. That the natives
have ever regarded Cholula as a place of particular sanctity is shown by
the following statement by Fray Geronimo Roman y Zamorra (1569-1575)
(Republicas de Indias, ed. Suarez, Madrid, 1888): “It was Colola or
Cholola, which was the ancient metropolis or head of all the native
religion, so much so that all the great chiefs or lords had their own
chapels and dwelling houses there because they used to perform pilgrimages
to its great temple this being the most revered [in the _land_].”

It is also reasonable to infer that the region of the high plateau and
valley of Mexico, possibly before the formation of the great lagoons, was
the cradle of ancient American civilization, where, during countless
centuries, the native race literally and figuratively cultivated its own
maize and simultaneously developed the set of ideas which formed the basis
of its intellectual evolution.

In this connection it is interesting to reflect that, as clearly shown by
ceremonial usages which existed throughout our continent and survive to
the present day amongst the Pueblo Indians, it is to the fostering care,
forethought and labor of countless generations of women, the “Corn Maidens
and Mothers,” that America owes the priceless legacy of a food-plant which
has already sustained untold millions of lives. Thus, whilst the ancient
“Daughters of the Earth” have given their country a gift which will last
for all time, the pyramids, temples and cities, reared by the “Sons of
Heaven,” have fallen into ruin, and the great edifice of human thought
that they reared, their complex social organization, government and
calendar now lie superseded under the dust of time.

At this point of investigation the question naturally arises, Whence came
the founders of the native civilization, who established themselves and
peopled the central region of Mexico and doubtlessly dwelt there for a
prolonged period prior to the first of the traditional cataclysms which
nearly proved destructive to their race?

It is obvious that, before this interesting question can be satisfactorily
discussed, a minute analysis and investigation should be made of all other
ancient civilizations of the world in which the swastika was employed as a
sacred symbol. A comparative research on such a scale could only be
effectively carried out with the active coöperation of orientalists,
archæologists and philologists in all departments of research. Taking, as
an index, the presence in old centres of civilization of the most ancient
sacred symbol of the world, the swastika, the aim of the joint
investigation should be to trace how far it was accompanied, in each
country, by pole-star worship and the set of ideas, symbols and words to
which it is so indissolubly linked in ancient America and China. By this
means only can a final conclusion be reached as to whether this symbol
spread over the earth from one original centre of civilization, or whether
it suggested itself to primitive observers of Septentriones in various
localities and at different times, as the natural outcome of
star-observation. If the swastika and the septentrional set of ideas
spread from one centre then we should expect to find them accompanied by
traces of a common language. I shall have contributed my share to the
joint investigation when, in addition to the preceding data, I present the
following list of Maya and Mexican names intimately associated with the
native symbols and set of ideas. In presenting them I once more draw
attention to the resemblance of sound in words which obviously influenced
the choice of certain symbols just as, for instance, loose-skinned oranges
are now given as presents at New Year in China, because their native name
has exactly the same sound as the word meaning “good fortune.” The use,
especially on porcelain, of the bat=fuh, to signify “happiness,” also fuh,
and of the sonorous stone “King” to emblematize “prosperity,”(78) are
other instances which shed much light upon the origin of primitive
symbolism in China and elsewhere.

Symbols And Names Connected With Middle Or Centre.

_Maya._

Ho, or Ti-hoo=name of ancient capital of Yucatan.

Ho-m, or ho-mul=artificial mound or pyramid.

Ho-mtanil=belly.

Ho-bnel=entrails.

Ho=five, symbolized by hand=kab, also by five-dot group.

Ci-hom=sacred tree, the leaves of which were scattered in the temple
court-yard at the baptism of children (Landa).

Ho-l=head (symbol).

Ho-och=vase in general.

Cuxabel=heart or life, _cf._ ah-cuch-cab=heart of the state, title of lord
or chieftain.

Nic, or nic-té=flower, usually represented as consisting of five parts,
_i. e._, the centre and four petals.

Tem=the square altar.

Names Of Symbols Connected With Four Quarters, Above And Below.

_Maya._

Can=four, serpent.

{Caan=sky, cord.
{Canalil=adj. grandeur, elevation.
{Canal=on top of, on; also yellow.
{Canal-cun-zaal=to exalt, elevate, aggrandize, praise.
{Cananil=necessity, need.
{Canaan=adj. necessary, needed.

Ché=tree.

Zin-ché=cross, literally tree of life or of power.

Zin-il=powerful, _cf._ zihnal=original, primitive.

Zihzabal=creation.

Zian=the beginning, origin, generation.

Zihil=to commence, or be born.

Zinan=scorpion, symbol.

Name And Symbol Of North.

_Maya._

Am=spider.

Aman=the north.

Star-Names.

_Maya._

Ek=star, black.

Ek-chuah=name of the patron divinity of travellers and traders, _i. e._,
the pole-star.

_cf._ Ikal, native word adopted by Spanish missionaries to denote “a
spirit.”

I have already pointed out how a minute comparison of the equivalent
Mexican symbols and their names shows that the latter often seem to be
mere translations from the Maya and that the same identity of sound does
not always exist between the Nahuatl symbol, its name and true
significance. On the other hand in the much-used Mexican symbol for the
centre and four quarters, the flower, pronounced ho-chitl, but written
xo-chitl, the archaic Maya syllable ho, so intimately connected with the
centre, recurs. It also appears in the name of the constellation Ursa
Minor, xo-necuilli, in the word xoch-ayotl=tortoise, employed as a symbol,
and in the name xolotl=something double or dual, sometimes employed as a
synonym of coatl=twin, serpent. The hand=maitl was employed to express the
numeral five=macuilli. It is particularly interesting to note that in
order to express the word tlachi-ual-tepetl or “artificial mound” (the
Maya hom) in Nahuatl, the scribes had to paint a mountain surmounted by an
eye, a symbol also employed to designate stars=the eyes of night. The
Nahuatl for tree=quahuitl is almost homonymous with quaitl=head and both
were employed as symbols of the centre.

The following Nahuatl words claim special attention. The first is teotl,
which was adopted as the equivalent of the Greek Theos by the Spanish
missionaries, but which appears to have been originally used in the sense
of a “Divinity,” or “divine lord,” and was also applied to all lords or
rulers. The second is the verb yoli or yolinia=to live and yollotl=heart.
A special interest attaches itself, however, to the noun yauatl=circle and
the verb yaualoa=to go around in a circle many times, because there is
good ground for identifying, as the Ursa Major, the star-god mentioned as
Youal-tecuhtli by Sahagun. As youalli means night, the title literally
signifies “the lord of the night,” while yaual=tecuhtli would mean the
lord of the circle or wheel, the most appropriate name for Ursa Major. The
actual representation, in the “Lyfe of the Indians,” of the “Lord of
Night,” within a wheel or circle composed of his own footsteps, so
strikingly corroborates this view, that further comment appears
unnecessary (fig. 59).

                             [Illustration.]

                                Figure 59.

In conclusion the exact meaning of the most important native symbols is
here recapitulated so as to facilitate comparative research.

THE SWASTIKA OR CROSS

the most ancient of primitive symbols was primarily a graphic
representation of the annual rotation of the Septentriones around Polaris.
It thus constituted not only an image of the most impressive of celestial
phenomena but also a year-symbol. The most highly-developed forms of the
swastika found in Mexico are associated with calendar-signs. In Mexico and
in the Ohio Valley it is linked with the serpent, to the symbolism of
which reference should be made. In Copan the cross symbol is associated
with the image of a figure in repose, occupying the Middle, and four puffs
of breath or air, laden with life-seeds, emanating from this.

Considering that the cross ultimately became the symbol of the union of
the four elements or two principles of nature in one and that the
production of life-producing rain was attributed to the union of heaven
and earth, it is evident why the Cozumel cross was described to its
Spanish discoverers, by the natives, as a symbol of the “rain-god.”

THE SACRED FIRE

which was kept perpetually burning on the summit of the pyramid was the
graphic and appropriate image of the central light of heaven that most
naturally suggested itself to the native mind. Its origin was attributed
to supernatural agency and it was under the special care of the
priesthood. A deeply symbolical meaning was obviously attached to the
ceremonial kindling of the sacred fire by means of the reed fire-drill
which was held perpendicularly and inserted into a horizontally-placed
piece of dry wood. A noteworthy resemblance to a tau-shaped figure was
thus formed, which is interesting in connection with the fact that the
ceremony of kindling the sacred fire was undoubtedly regarded by the
ancient Mexicans as emblematical of the productive and life-giving union
of the dual principles of nature. The acatl or reedstalk, inserted into
the vase-like symbol of the earth, such as is carved on the centre of the
upper edge of the calendar-stone, is but another hieratic form of the same
symbolism.

The annual re-distribution of the sacred fire to the entire population, a
fresh gift from heaven obtained by the mediation of the high-priest, was
particularly impressive and emphasized the idea of all fire and light and
life proceeding from a common centre.

It is noticeable that the reed or acatl is also intimately associated with
the east, the masculine or life-giving region. The Maya name for
tortoise=ac, is a curious homonym of the Nahuatl word ac-atl.

THE SERPENT

emblematizes and expresses the sound of quadruple power in Maya and
duality in Nahuatl. It was employed as an image or embodiment in a single
form of the two principles of nature or the four elements. It was usually
accompanied by the adjective heavenly or divine and symbolized
reproduction, being the union of the masculine or heavenly and feminine or
earthly principles. In this connection it should be noted that the numeral
two in Nahuatl is ome, and in Maya, ca. A native mode of expressing
duality, by means of two horn-like projections on the heads of allegorical
personages, is exemplified in fig. 29, p. 92.

THE TREE

was the emblem of life, of hidden and visible growth which extended
downward into the earth and upward into heaven and sent forth its four
branches towards the cardinal points. It typified tribal life because its
various parts were identified with the different members of the community
and, metaphorically, the lord was spoken of as the trunk or main stem; the
minor chiefs as branches and twigs; the men or vassals as leaves; the
maidens as flowers, and the women as fruit, etc. The name “atlapalli” was,
for instance, the current Nahuatl appellation for vassals.

As the conventionalized trees in the native picture-writings are usually
figured with four equal branches they formed an appropriate image of the
living state, and of all directions in space. The “tree of life” thus
formed a swastika or cross and both symbols were indissolubly linked
together. The names of two trees, considered particularly sacred by the
Mayas, were the ci-hom and the yax-ché, a sort of ceiba which was termed
“the tree of celestial life” (Landa).

THE HUMAN FACE

was an image of the duality and unity of nature. The upper half of the
face symbolized heaven with its two eyes, the sun and moon. The mouth and
teeth, the Nahuatl name for which=tlan-tli was homonymous with the affix
tlan=land or earth=tlalli, emblematized earth, darkness and the Below. The
nose with its two nostrils emblematized inhalation and exhalation. The
sanctity attached to this mystic union of two streams of breath led to the
consecration of the nose by the wearing of a symbolical ornament attached
to it.

THE HUMAN FORM

expressed “a complete count” and was employed as an image of the entire
constitution, and of the calendar system; each part of the government
administration and calendar sign being identified with one of the twenty
digits, four limbs, body and head of the human form.

THE QUADRUPED

usually the ocelot, or puma, was the symbol of the government of the Below
and nocturnal cult of the earth as opposed to

THE BIRD OR EAGLE

which typified the upper state and diurnal cult of Heaven. Chiefs, who
united dual powers in their persons, wore, as an emblem, the serpent, or a
combination of ocelot-skin and feather ornaments.

THE HAND

expressed _per se_, in Maya, the numeral ho=five, which was also the name
of a state which invariably consisted of the central capital and four
provinces. As such it was carried as an emblem of power by the central
ruler, as may be seen in the native codices. The thumb being regarded as
the principal or ruling finger, the chief lord was metaphorically spoken
of as the thumb, whilst the minor lords were entitled fingers=pilli.

THE PYRAMID AND SACRED MOUNTAIN

was primarily an artificial elevation destined to be a place of refuge in
times of inundation; the pyramid ultimately symbolized: (1) the sacred
stable centre of the world and the Four Quarters; (2) central power and
its four manifestations or elements. The great pyramid of the ancient City
of Mexico which was crowned by two chapels, respectively containing
symbolical images of the two principles of nature, is a striking
illustration of the employment of the pyramid to express the dual centre
(the Above and Below, etc.) and the quadruple organization of all things
which was expressed not only by the four sides of the structure but by its
four superposed terraces. The fact recorded by Friar Duran, that the
flight of steps which led to the summit of the pyramid on its eastern side
consisted of 365 steps, and that the annual ceremony of ascending these,
performed by a consecrated individual, “signified the course of the sun in
a year,” indicates that the pyramid was also associated with the idea of
the quadruplicate division of time which pervaded the entire calendar
system.

It should also be borne in mind that in ancient Mexico the summits of high
mountains were regarded as sacred, “because it was there that Heaven and
Earth met and generated fructifying showers.” As religious cult developed,
the rites performed on the summit of the pyramid or artificial mound were
for the purpose of evoking rain and the renewal of life upon earth, and
symbolized the union of heaven and earth. To the native mind the pyramid
thus represented the consecrated meeting-place of heaven and earth, the
Above and Below, the masculine and feminine elements, the “divine twins,”
as well as universal, all-pervading, quadruplicate organization. The
massive pyramid likewise typified, in an impressive manner, the main idea
connected with the Middle: that of stability, immutability, quietude and
repose, combined with power.

In some localities a remarkable rock or massive block of stone was adopted
as the mark of the sacred centre and became the altar on which offerings
or sacrifices were made, or the throne on which the terrestrial central
ruler seated himself on ceremonial occasions and assumed an attitude of
absolute repose. It is interesting to collate the Nahuatl words Te-otl,
divinity or divine lord, with te-tl=stone and the Maya te-m=stone seat or
altar, of which many carved examples exist in the ruined Central American
cities, and to observe that principal personages, such as are represented
on the carved altars and in the middle of the Copan swastika, are
represented as seated cross-legged, as though this attitude were specially
indicative of repose on the stable centre of the four quarters. As the
natives usually squat or sit on their heels, the cross-legged attitude is
particularly noteworthy in connection with the omnipresent set of ideas.

THE BOWL OR VASE

was the emblem of earth, the receptacle of fructifying showers, and of the
terrestrial centre. Filled with rain-water, on the surface of which the
radiance of a star—the pole-star—reflected itself, the bowl was supposed
to typify the union of heaven and earth by means of the divine essence of
light and life, proceeding from the “Heart of Heaven.”

THE FLOWER

was another symbol of the earth and of the state and its divisions. It
occurs as a composite flower consisting of a yellow centre surrounded by
multicolored petals. The usual form is of a flower with four equal petals,
bearing a circle or dot in the centre and one on each petal, the Middle
and Four Quarters being thus expressed.

A closing allusion should be briefly made to the native association of the
square with the earth and the circle with the heaven and to the influence
exerted by these ideas combined with those of light and darkness upon
primitive architecture and symbolical ornamental designs.

Pointing out that all of the above symbols are but variations on the
fundamental theme of the “Middle, Four Quarters, Above and Below,” I also
emphasize the fact that, in ancient America, language powerfully
influenced the choice of symbols, as may be particularly seen in the case
of the serpent, the Nahuatl and Maya names for which are homonymous with
duality and quadruplicity.

The origin and meaning of the ancient American symbols of the cross, the
serpent, the tree, etc., are clearly apparent. It remains to be seen how
far this is the case in other countries where the identical symbols were
or are employed, and it is to my fellow archæologists that I look for
final authoritative statements on this important subject, in their special
lines of research.

Meanwhile I shall present some facts which are accessible to the general
reader and suffice for the purpose of my present investigation.

CHINA.

Pole-star worship and determination of time by Ursa Major existed in China
from remote antiquity. The Chinese name for the pole-star is
Teen-hwang-ta-tee, literally the great imperial ruler of the Heaven. In
China “the pole-star, round which the entire firmament appears to turn,
ought to be considered as the Sovereign of the Heavens, and as the most
venerated divinity” (G. Schlegel, Uranographie Chinoise, p. 524). The
sacred central forbidden enclosure, at Peking, contains a temple of the
North Star God. In the description of the imperial worship held at the
winter and summer solstices, in James Edkins’ Religion in China (London,
1878, p. 24) it is stated: “On the second terrace of the east side, the
tablet of the Sun is placed, and also that of _the Great Bear_, the five
of the 28 constellations and one for all the other stars.” The following
passage shows the origin of the Chinese year:

1. “The months and seasons are determined by the revolution of Ursa Major
(the Chinese name for which is Pek-tao the ‘Seven Directors’). The tail of
the constellation pointing to the east at nightfall announces the arrival
of spring; pointing to the south the arrival of summer; pointing to the
west the arrival of autumn and pointing to the north the arrival of
winter. This means of calculating the seasons becomes more intelligible
when it is remembered that in ancient times the Bear was much nearer the
north pole than now and revolved around it like the hand of a clock”
(Prof. Rob. K. Douglass, China. London, 1887, p. 418). The Chinese zodiac
is represented with the pole-star and circumpolar constellations in the
centre (Astronomy of the Chinese, Ancient China, W. H. Medhurst, Shanghae,
1846).

2. The determination and designation of six directions in space. In
Chinese the six ho or ki designate the limits of space, the zenith, nadir
and four quarters (Mayer’s Manual, pp. 306, 312 and 321). “The term Liu-ho
also applies to the six pairs of cyclical signs and means ‘Universe,’ that
is, Heaven and Earth [being Above and Below] and the Four Quarters.”(79)

The syllable ho also occurs in the following words which deserve to be
collated with the Maya list: Hô=river, hu=lake. C-hó-o=master, _cf._ Maya
hol=head. Hó-o=resident, _cf._ Maya ho=capital. Shó-o=tree, _cf._ Maya
ci-hom=tree. Pih-shó-o=cypress. Kwó=country, _cf._ mouth, symbol for land
or below. Kòw=mouth, etc. Chow=name of ancient metropolis.

3. The conception of the Above and Below=duality. The zenith is naturally
associated with heaven and the nadir with earth. Heaven is father and
earth is mother. Heaven is figured by a circle and earth by a square. “The
marriage of Heaven and Earth produces all things.” The association of
heaven with the male and earth with the female principles is shown by (1)
the injunction: “Thou shalt honor thy father as the heaven and thy mother
as the earth.” (2) In Pekin, the Emperor, termed “the Son of Heaven,”
inhabits the “Palace of Heaven” whilst the Empress inhabits the “Palace of
Earth’s repose.” The sun is male and the “Temple of the Sun” is situated
to the east. The moon is female and the “Temple of the Moon” is situated
to the west in the sacred enclosure at Pekin. The emblematic color of the
heaven is naturally azure; of the sun, red; of the earth, yellow; and of
the moon, white. It is thus evident that the cult of heaven and earth is
indissolubly linked to that of the Yang and Yin, the male and the female
principle, and that in China the following chains of association
concerning duality were formed:

Zenith.                Nadir.
Above.                 Below.
Tien=Heaven.           Tec=Earth.
Father.                Mother.
Yang.                  Yin.
Color: Azure.          Yellow.
Emblem: Sun.           Moon.
East=place of          West, place of
rising.                setting.
Light.                 Darkness.
Day.                   Night.
Personification: the   The Earth-Mother.
Shang-ti=
Emperor=Above, The     The Empress=Below?
Lord of Heaven or
Universe.
Earthly                The Empress? or
representative: the    Sombre Emperor?
Light Emperor.

An interesting addition to this dual list is the view of a modern
Chinaman, that the Yang and Yin principles refer to positive and negative
electricity! (Legge). A striking result of the association of woman with
the nadir and earth is the fact that in Thibet, according to Rockhill,
woman is designated as Smanba or Manba: “low creature.”

THE MIDDLE AND FOUR QUARTERS.

It is well known that the Chinese designate their empire as the “Middle
Kingdom.” Another native name for China is “Chung-ho-a,” which I find
translated as “the Flower of the Middle.” The empire is likewise
designated as “the Four Seas”=ssu-hai and “the Four Mountains,” and it was
actually divided by the emperor Yaou or Yāo (B.C. 2357) into four
provinces converging at the capital, the central enclosure of which was
considered as the centre of heaven and earth. It is extremely significant
that, in this central enclosure there is a temple, consecrated to the god
of the north star=The Imperial Ruler of Heaven, whereas altars only are
dedicated to the sun and moon respectively. The existence in the central
enclosure, or the “Carnation prohibited city,” of the Temple of Earth’s
Repose, reveals that the idea of stability was associated with this
terrestrial centre. The fact that the Empress and the female portion of
the Imperial family resided in the “Palace of Earth’s Repose” affords an
explanation of the possible origin of deforming the feet of noble women,
this being a means of enforcing comparative repose upon them, in keeping
with the symbolism of their surroundings.

The most striking structure in this sacred enclosure is “an artificial
mound, nearly one hundred and fifty feet high, having five summits,
crowned with as many temples. Its height allows the spectator to overlook
the whole city, whilst, too, it is itself a conspicuous object from every
direction.” This sacred mound or pyramid actually marks the centre of the
empire. From the surrounding walls of the sacred city four roads diverge
towards the cardinal points, dividing the capital into four quarters. Each
province was ruled by an official and both province and ruler seem to have
been anciently designated by the term Mountain=Yo or Kan. A superior
official, entitled the “President of the Four Mountains” is mentioned as
the counsellor of Emperor Yaou in the Shu King. One name for mountain is
yo, another is kan, a word which resembles k’an=water and kwăn=earth,
which forms the name of the earth mother=Kwan-yin. Without drawing any
hasty conclusions, I merely note the curious fact that the title “the
President of the Four Mountains,” must sometimes have been rendered as Kan
and as Yo, and that a variant the name of “four seas” may well have been
“four _ho_” or lakes or rivers. The title kan, meaning mountain or
eminence, and the idea of four rivers flowing from a common centre or
spring, may well have developed themselves among Chinese-speaking people.
It may be an odd coincidence only that the word kan=mountain, should be so
intimately connected with the numeral four in the Chinese title; while it
is a synonym for four in the Maya, it is also found employed in the
honorific Maya title Kukul-kan=the divine Kan, and as a synonym for
mountain in certain names of localities in the valley of Mexico. An
interesting but little known fact is that the peak of the mighty Kulkun
mountain in China is designated as the “King of Mountains, the summit of
the earth, the supporter of heaven and the axis which touches the pole”
(Meyer’s Conversations-Lexikon).

I should much like to know whether the name kul-kun is a variant of
kul-kan, and literally signifies “divine mountain.” In this case it would
strangely resemble the Maya Kukulkan and the Nahuatl Cul-hua-can, the name
of the fabulous recurved mountain of Aztec tradition. Feeling that I am
here treading upon extremely dangerous ground I shall abandon further
comparisons and conclusions to philologists and Chinese scholars and
merely conclude by stating the certain facts, that in Chinese and Maya
alike the syllable _ho_ seems to be associated with the Middle; while
_can_ is connected with four-fold division. I may perhaps venture to add
that, in Chinese, Maya and Nahuatl alike, the particles te and ti seem
closely connected with Heaven; while the Chinese kwan=earth, offers a
certain resemblance to the Nahuatl affix tlan, meaning land, and kan,
sometimes used for mountain.

Since the Chow Dynasty, the empire was spoken of as having five instead of
four mountains, which leads to the inference that reference was thus made
to the central metropolis also, the most sacred feature of which was its
central artificial mountain or pyramid. It is obvious that the empire was
governed from the central chief capital and from minor capitals situated
in the four provinces and built on the pattern of Peking. In an extremely
interesting and clever paper(80) Mr. James Wickersham has recently
remarked that “the arrangement of cities after the cardinal-points plan
was the rule not only in America but in China” and gives the following
quotations: “Mukden, the metropolis and ancient capital of Manchuria, was
a walled city like Peking. Main streets ran across the city from gate to
gate, with narrow roads, called Hu-ting, intersecting them. The palace of
the early Manchu sovereigns occupies the centre” (The Middle Kingdom,
Williams, vol. I, pp. 192-198). The Manchurian city of Kirin is also
divided into four quarters: “Two great streets cross each other at right
angles, one of them running far out into the river on the west supported
by piles.” Peune, another large city, is similarly divided. “It consists
of two main streets with the chief market [place] at their crossing. This
plan is the rule in the cities of northern China; the large cities are
walled and divided by cross streets emerging from the city gates at the
cardinal points” (Coxe’s Russia, pp. 316-17). The relation of the central
seat of government to its provinces is thus recorded in the Canon of
Shun.(81) “In five years there was one tour of inspection (performed by
the emperor) and four appearances at court of the nobles. They set forth a
report of their government in words. This was clearly tested by their
works. They received chariots and robes according to their services.”

The order of rotation in which the emperor visited in one year the capital
of each quarter, returning after each absence to the metropolis, is given
as follows: “In the second month the tour was to the east. In the fifth
month ... to the south. In the eighth month ... to the west. In the
eleventh month ... to the north.” During the next year the nobles of the
eastern province made their appearance at court, and the south, west and
north provinces followed in turn, it being noticeable that, in each case,
the circle started at the east, the place of rising.

The institution of the calendar by the Emperor Yaou is described at length
in the Shu King.(82) Confucius said of this remarkable personage, “Heaven
alone is great, but Yaou is able to imitate Heaven.”

The Emperor Yaou “... harmonized the various states of the empire and the
black-haired people, oh! how they were reformed by this cordial agreement.
He commanded He and Ho (officers superintending the calendar and
astronomical instruments) in reverent accordance with the motions of the
expansive heavens, to arrange by numbers and represent the revolutions of
the sun and moon and stars with the lunar mansions and then respectfully
communicate to the people the seasons adapted for labor. He then
separately directed He’s younger brother to reside at Yu-e (the modern