The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 5, Primitive History

The preceding classes include all the original authorities, that is, all founded on information not accessible to later writers. These works have been the foundation of all that has been written since, except what has been developed from linguistic and other scientific researches. All that modern authors have done may be followed step by step, their facts as well as their conclusions.

Of the secondary authorities already alluded to, the condition and institutions of the natives, with the material relics of their past, not much need be said. It is only indirectly by means of comparisons that these authorities can help us in the study of history. How little they can teach unaided is illustrated in the case of the wild tribes, for whose history they are practically the only authorities. In Mexico and Central America the state of civilization as shown in native art, religion, government, or manners and customs, may indicate by resemblances or dissimilarities a connection or want of it between the different civilized tribes, and may thus corroborate or modify their written annals; it may even throw some light on the unity or diversity of its own origin by showing the nature of the connection between the Nahua and Maya cultures, in which striking resemblances as well as contrasts are observed. Outside of the regions mentioned, where there were no tangible records, we can only search among the wilder tribes for points of likeness by which to attach their past to that of the civilized nations. It may be foreseen that the results of such a search will be but meagre and unsatisfactory, yet on several important branches of the subject, such as the relation borne by the Mound-Builders and Pueblos to the southern nations, it furnishes our only light.

LANGUAGE AS A HISTORICAL AUTHORITY

Of the historical aids now under consideration, ethnology proper, the study of physical and mental characteristics, has yielded and promises apparently the least important results. In fact, as has been already pointed out in another part of this work, it has hardly acquired the right to be classed among the sciences, so far as its application to the American people is concerned. Theoretically it may, in a more perfect state of development than now exists, throw some light on the route and order of American migrations, possibly on the question of origin; thus far, however, ethnological studies have been practically fruitless. Results obtained from a comparison of the miscellaneous arts and customs of various tribes have likewise furnished and will continue to furnish but very slight assistance in historical investigations. Resemblances and dissimilarities in these respects depend intimately on environment, which in comparatively short periods works the most striking changes. Strongly marked analogies are noted in tribes that never came in contact with each other, while contrasts as marked appear in people but a short time separated. Under the same circumstances, after all, men do about the same things, the mind originating like inventions; and coincidences in arts and customs, unless of an extraordinary nature, may be more safely attributed to an independent origin resulting from environment, than to international identity or connection. That language is by far the best of these secondary authorities is conceded by all. No better proof of relationship between native tribes can be desired than the fact that they speak the same language, or dialects showing clear verbal and constructive resemblances. The most prominent abuse of this authority has been a disposition to connect the past of tribes in whose languages slight and forced verbal similarities are pointed out. There is also some difference of opinion about the use of the authority. That two tribes speaking the same languages or similar dialects have had a common origin, or have at least been intimately connected in the past, as tribes, is evident; but how far back that origin or connection may extend, whether it may reach back through the ages to the first division of the human race, or even to the first subdivision of the American peoples, is a disputed point. Fortunately the doubts that have been raised concern chiefly the question of origin, which for other reasons cannot yet be settled.²⁷⁶

Having thus given a sketch of the sources to which we may look for all that is known and has been conjectured respecting the American past, I shall proceed to place before the reader in the remaining chapters of my work what these authorities reveal on the subject. I have not, I believe, exaggerated their value, but fully comprehend the unsubstantial character which must be attributed to many of them. I am well aware that aboriginal American history, like the ancient Egyptian and Hebrew annals, differs materially in its nature and degree of accuracy from the history of England since the expedition of William the Conqueror, or of Mexico since the Conquest by Hernan Cortés. I do not propose to record such events only as may be made to conform to the modern idea of chronologic exactitude, rejecting all else as fabulous and mythic. Were such my purpose, a chapter on the subject already given in the second volume would suffice, with some contraction for the earlier epochs, and a corresponding expansion, perhaps, for Aztec history during the century immediately preceding the Conquest. On the contrary, I shall tell the tale as I find it recorded, mingled as it doubtless is at many points with myth and fable, and shall recount, as others have done, the achievements of heroes that possibly never lived, the wanderings of tribes who never left their original homes. It is not in a spirit of real or feigned credulity that I adopt this course, – on the contrary, I wish to clearly discriminate between fact and fancy wherever such discrimination may be possible, and so far as an extensive study of my subject may enable me to do so – but it is in accordance with the general plan of the whole work to record all that is found, rejecting only what may be proven false and valueless rather than what may possibly be so.

TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT

I have compared the American past to a dark sea, from the bluff coast line of which projects an occasional cape terminating in precipitous cliffs, quicksands, and sunken rocks, beyond which some faint lights are floated by buoys. The old authors, as Torquemada, Clavigero, and Veytia, had but little difficulty in crossing from the headlands to the tower of Babel beyond the Sea of Darkness; they told the story, fables and all, with little discrimination save here and there the rejection of a tale infringing apparently on orthodoxy, or the expression of a doubt as to the literal acceptation of some marvelous occurrence. Of modern authors, those who, like Wilson, refuse to venture upon the projecting capes of solid rock and earth, who utterly reject the Aztec civilization with all its records, are few, and at this day their writings may be considered as unworthy of serious notice. Other writers, of whom Gallatin is a specimen, venture boldly from the main coast to the extremity of each projecting point, and acknowledge the existence of the rocks, sands, and buoys beyond, but decline to attempt their passage, doubting their security. These men, in favor of whose method there is much to be said, accept the annals of the later Aztec periods, but look with distrust upon the traditions of the Chichimec, Toltec, and Olmec epochs; and hardly see in the far distance the twinkling floating lights that shine from Votan's Empire of Xibalba. Then there are writers who are continually dreaming they have found secure footing by routes previously unknown, from rock to rock and through the midst of shifting sands. Such are the advocates of special theories of American history resting on newly discovered authorities or new readings of old ones. They carefully sift out such mythic traditions as fit their theories, converting them into incontrovertible facts, and reject all else as unworthy of notice; these, however, have chiefly to do with the matter of origin. Finally, I may speak of Brasseur de Bourbourg, rather a class by himself, perhaps, than the representative of a class. This author, to speak with a degree of exaggeration, steps out without hesitation from rock to rock over the deep waters; to him the banks of shifting quicksand, if somewhat treacherous about the edges, are firm land in the central parts; to him the faintest buoy-supported stars are a blaze of noon-day sun; and only on the floating masses of sea-weed far out on the waters lighted up by dim phosphorescent reflections, does he admit that his footing is becoming insecure and the light grows faint. In other words, he accepts the facts recorded by preceding authors, arranges them often with great wisdom and discrimination, ingeniously finds a historic record in traditions by others regarded as pure fables, and thus pushes his research far beyond the limits previously reached. He rejects nothing, but transforms everything into historic facts.

In the present sketch I wish to imitate to a certain extent the writers of each class mentioned, except perhaps the specialists, for I have no theory to defend, have found no new bright sun to illumine what has ever been dark. With the Spanish writers I would tell all that the natives told as history, and that without constantly reminding the reader that the sun did not probably stand still in the heavens, that giants did not flourish in America, that the Toltec kings and prophets did not live to the age of several hundred years, and otherwise warning him against what he is in no danger whatever of accepting as truth. With Wilson and his class of antiquarian sceptics I would feel no hesitation in rejecting the shallow theories and fancies evolved by certain writers from their own brain. With Gallatin I wish to discriminate clearly, when such discrimination is called for and possible, between the historic and the probably mythic; to indicate the boundary between firm land and treacherous quicksand; but also like Brasseur, I would pass beyond the firm land, spring from rock to rock, wade through shifting sands, swim to the farthest, faintest, light, and catch at straws by the way; – yet not flatter myself while thus employed, as the abbé occasionally seems to do, that I am treading dry-shod on a wide, solid, and well-lighted highway.

CHAPTER III.
THE PRE-TOLTEC PERIOD OF ABORIGINAL HISTORY

Subdivision of the Subject – Tzendal Tradition of the Votanic Empire – Votan's Book and its Contents as reported by Nuñez de la Vega, Cabrera, and Ordoñez – Testimony of Manners and Customs, Religion, Languages, and Monuments of the Civilized Nations respecting the Primitive Maya Peoples – The Quiché Record, or Popol Vuh – Civilizing Efforts of Gucumatz and his Followers – Exploits of Hunahpu and Xbalanque – Conquest of Xibalba – Migration from Tulan Zuiva, the Seven Caves – Meaning of the Quiché Tradition – Nahua Traditions – The Toltecs in Tamoanchan according to Sahagun – The Codex Chimalpopoca – Pre-Toltec Nations in Mexico – Olmecs and Xicalancas – The Quinames – Cholula and Quetzalcoatl – The Totonacs – Teotihuacan – Otomís, Miztecs, Zapotecs, and Huastecs – The Toltecs in Huehue Tlapallan – Migration to Anáhuac – The Chichimecs in Amaquemecan – Ancient Home of the Nahuatlacas and Aztecs – Primitive Annals of Yucatan – Conclusions.

TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT

DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT

In order to render more vivid than it would otherwise have been a picture of Nahua and Maya institutions as they were found in the sixteenth century, I have devoted one chapter of a preceding volume to an outline view of aboriginal history; to fill in so far as possible its details, is my remaining task. The sketch alluded to will prove convenient here, since it will enable me at various points to refer intelligibly and yet briefly to events somewhat in advance of their chronologic order. As has been stated, the sixth century is the most remote period to which we are carried in the annals of Anáhuac by traditions sufficiently definite to be considered in a strict sense as historic records. Prior to the sixth century there were doubtless other periods of Nahua greatness, for there is little evidence to indicate that this was the first appearance in Mexico of this progressive people, but previous development cannot be definitely followed – in a historical sense – although affording occasional glimpses which supply interesting matter for antiquarian speculation.

In the southern regions, where the Maya culture flourished, or what may be considered geographically as Central America, we have seen that the chronologic record is much less extensive and perfect even than in the north, taking us back in an oft-broken line only a few centuries beyond the Conquest. Yet we have caught traditional glimpses far back in the misty past of a mighty aboriginal empire in these tropical lands, of the earlier and grander stages of Maya culture, of Votan, of Xibalba, of even the early periods of Nahua civilization and power. Palenque, Copan, and their companions in ruin, the wonderful material monuments of the ancient epoch, proving it to be no mere creation of the imagination, have been described and pictured. With the breaking-up of the Maya empire into separate nations at an unknown date, the aboriginal history of Central America as a whole ceases, and down to a period closely preceding the Conquest, we have only an occasional event, the memory of which is preserved in the traditions of two or three nations.

The history of the Native Races may be most conveniently subdivided as follows; – 1st. The Pre-Toltec Period, embracing the semi-mythic traditions of the earliest civilization, extending down to a date – always preceding the sixth century, but varying in different parts of the territory – when the more properly historic annals of the different nations begin, and including also the few traditions referring to pre-Toltec nations north of Tehuantepec. 2d. The Toltec Period, referring like the two following periods to Anáhuac alone, and extending down to the eleventh century. 3d. The Chichimec Period, extending from the eleventh century to the formation of the tri-partite alliance between the Aztecs, Acolhuas, and Tepanecs in the fifteenth century. 4th. The Aztec Period, that of Aztec supremacy during the century preceding the Conquest. 5th. The annals of such Nahua nations outside the limits of the Aztec Empire proper as cannot be conveniently included in the preceding divisions. 6th. Historical traditions of the Wild Tribes of the north. 7th. The Quiché-Cakchiquel nations of Guatemala. 8th. Miscellaneous nations and tribes of Central America. 9th. The Maya nations of Yucatan.

The first division, the Pre-Toltec Period, to which the present chapter is devoted, will include the few vague traditions that seem to point to the cradle of American civilization, to the Votanic empire, to Xibalba, and to the deeds of the civilizers, or culture-heroes, in Tabasco and Chiapas. Who can estimate the volumes that would be required for a full narration of all that actually occurred within this period, had the record been made or preserved; – the development, from germs whose nature is unknown, of American civilization; the struggles and misfortunes of infant colonies; the exploits of native heroes; plots of ambition, glorious success, utter failure; the rise and fall of princes and of empires; wars, triumphs, defeats; oppression and revolt; political combinations and intrigues; religious strife between the fanatic devotees of rival divinities; seasons of plenty and of famine; earthquake, flood, and pestilence – a tangled network of events spread over the centuries; – to relate all that we may know of it a chapter will suffice.

VOTAN AND HIS DEEDS

I have told in another volume the mythic tale of Votan,²⁷⁷ the culture-hero, how he came to America and apportioned the land among the people. He came by divine command from Valum Chivim by way of Valum Votan, built a great city of Nachan, 'city of the serpents' – so called from his own name, for he was of the race of Chan, a Serpent – and founded a great empire in the Usumacinta region, which he seems to have ruled over as did his descendants or followers for many centuries. He was not regarded in the native traditions as the first man in America; he found the country peopled, as did all the culture-heroes, but by his teachings and by the aid of his companions he firmly established his own ideas of religion and government. So far as his memory was preserved by tradition he was a civilizer, a law-giver, the introducer of the Maya culture, worshiped moreover, after his disappearance, as a god. He came by sea from the east, but with the locality whence he started I have nothing to do here; neither is it necessary to indulge in speculation respecting the four mysterious visits which he paid after his arrival in America to his original home in the Old World, where it is gravely asserted he was present at the building of Solomon's temple and saw the ruins of the tower of Babel. His reported acts in the New World, whose people he came to civilize, were; – the dividing or apportioning of the lands among the people; their instruction in the new institutions they were required to adopt; the building of a great city, Nachan, afterwards the metropolis of an empire; the reception of a new band of disciples of his own race, who were allowed to share in the success already achieved by his enterprise; the subdividing of his empire after its power had become wide-spread in the land into several allied monarchies subordinate in a certain degree to Nachan, among whose capitals were Tulan, Mayapan, and Chiquimula; the construction of a subterranean road or 'snake hole' from the barranca of Zuqui to Tzequil; the deposit of a great treasure with tapirs as sacred animals in a 'house of gloom' at Huehuetan in Soconusco, protected by guardians called tlapianes, at whose head was a Lady Superior; and finally the writing of a 'book' in which was inscribed a complete record of all he had done, with a defense or proof of his claims to be considered one of the Chanes, or Serpents.²⁷⁸

THE BOOK OF VOTAN

This document is the authority, indirectly, for nearly all that is known from Tzendal sources of Votan and his empire. Francisco Nuñez de la Vega, Bishop of Chiapas, claims to have had in his possession²⁷⁹ and to have read this historical tract. He does not describe it, but from his having been able to read the contents, it would seem to have been, if genuine, not the original in hieroglyphics but an interpretation in European letters, although still perhaps in the Tzendal language. Of the contents, besides a general statement of Votan's coming as the first man sent by God to portion out the land, and some of his experiences in the Old World, this author says nothing definite. He claims to have had much knowledge of Tzendal antiquity derived from the work mentioned and other native writings, but he feared to perpetuate this knowledge lest it might "confirm more strongly an idolatrous superstition." He is the only authority for the deposit of the treasure in the Dark House at Huehuetan, without saying expressly that he derived his information from Votan's writings. This treasure, consisting of aboriginal relics, the bishop felt it to be his duty to destroy, and it was publicly burned in 1691. It is not altogether improbable that a genuine Maya document similar to the Manuscript Troano or Dresden Codex,²⁸⁰ preserved from the early times, may have found a native interpreter at the time of the Conquest, and have escaped in its disguise of Spanish letters the destruction that overtook its companions.

The next notice of this manuscript is found in the writings of Dr Paul Felix Cabrera,²⁸¹ who in the last part of the eighteenth century found it in the possession of Don Ramon de Ordoñez y Aguiar, a native and resident of Ciudad Real in Chiapas.²⁸² He describes the document as consisting of "five or six folios of common quarto paper, written in ordinary characters in the Tzendal language, an evident proof of its having been copied from the original in hieroglyphics, shortly after the conquest."²⁸³ The manuscript, according to Cabrera, recounted Votan's arrival with seven families, to whom he apportioned the lands; his voyages to the Old World; and his reception of the new-comers. Returning from one of his voyages "he found seven other families of the Tzequil nation, who had joined the first inhabitants, and recognized in them the same origin as his own, that is, of the Culebras. He speaks of the place where they built their first town, which, from its founders, received the name of Tzequil; he affirms the having taught them refinement of manners in the use of the table, table-cloth, etc.; that, in return for these, they taught him the knowledge of God and of his worship; his first ideas of a king and obedience to him; and that he was chosen captain of all these united families."

Ordoñez, at the time of Cabrera's visit, was engaged in writing his great 'History of the Heaven and Earth,'²⁸⁴ a work, as the learned Doctor predicts, to be "so perfect in its kind, as will completely astonish the world." The manuscript was never published, part of the historical portion was lost, and the remaining fragments or copies of them fell into the hands of Brasseur de Bourbourg, whose writings contain all that is known of their contents; and it must be confessed that from these fragments little or nothing of value has been extracted by the abbé in addition to what Nuñez de la Vega and Cabrera had already made known. Ordoñez was familiar with the Tzendal language and character, with the ancient monuments of his native state, and was zealously devoted to antiquarian researches; he had excellent opportunities to collect and record such scraps of knowledge as the Tzendal tribes had preserved from the days of their ancestors' greatness;²⁸⁵ but his enthusiasm seems rather to have led him to profitless speculations on the original population of the New World and "its progress from Chaldea immediately after the confusion of tongues." Even after rejecting the absurd theories and speculations which seem to have constituted the bulk of his writings, one cannot help looking with some distrust on the few traditional statements respecting Votan not given by other authors, and thinking of possible transformations that may have been effected in Tzendal fables under the pens of two writers like Ordoñez and Brasseur, both honest investigators, but of that enthusiastic class of antiquarians who experience few or no difficulties.

TZENDAL TRADITIONS

The few items of information respecting the Votanic period not already mentioned, some of them not in themselves improbable, but few traceable to any very definite native source, are the following: The date of the foundation of the empire, according to Ordoñez, was about 1000 B.C. Whether he had any other reason for this supposition than his theory that the building of Solomon's temple, attributed by some writers to that period, took place during Votan's life, is uncertain. The name Tzequiles, applied to Votan's followers by the aborigines, – or rather, it would seem, by the first to the second division of the Serpents – is said to mean in Tzendal 'men with petticoats,' and to have been applied to the new-comers by reason of their peculiar dress.²⁸⁶ To them was given, after the permanent establishment of the empire, one of the great kingdoms into which it was divided, with Tulan as their capital city. This kingdom with two others, whose capitals were Mayapan in Yucatan and Chiquimula, possibly Copan, in Honduras, were allied with, yet to a certain degree subordinate to, the original empire whose capital was Nachan, built and ruled by Votan himself and his descendants. The only names which seem to have been applied in the Tzendal traditions to the people and their capital city were Chanes, or Serpents, and Nachan, or City of Serpents; but these names acquire considerable historical importance when it is noted that they are the exact equivalents of Culhuas and Culhuacan, names which will be found so exasperatingly prevalent in the Nahua traditions of the north. Ordoñez claims, however, that the name Quiché, at a later period that of a Guatemalan kingdom, was also in these earlier times applied to Votan's empire.²⁸⁷

Of Votan's death there is no tradition, nor is anything definite reported of his successors, save, what is perhaps only a conjecture, that their names are recorded in the Tzendal calendar as the names of days,²⁸⁸ the order being that of their succession. In this case it is necessary to suppose that Votan had two predecessors, Igh and Imox; and in fact Brasseur claims to find in one document a statement that Igh brought the first colony to America.²⁸⁹ Chinax, the last but two of the line, a great soldier, is said to have been put to death by a rival of another nation.²⁹⁰ Nuñez de la Vega notes the existence of a family of Votans in his time, claiming direct descent from the great founder; and Brasseur states that a wild tribe of the region are yet known as Chanes.²⁹¹

THE VOTANIC EMPIRE

Such are the vague memories of the Chiapan past so far as they were preserved by the natives of the region, and collected by Europeans. The nature of the traditions themselves, the sources whence they sprang, the medium through which they are given to us, are not such as to inspire great confidence in the accuracy of the details related, although some of the traditions are not improbable and were very likely founded on actual occurrences. But whatever value may be attached to their details, the traditions in question have great weight in establishing two general propositions – the existence in the remote past of a great and powerful empire in the Usumacinta region, and a general belief among the subjects of that empire that the beginning of their greatness was due to a hero or demi-god called Votan. They point clearly to the appearance and growth of a great race, nation, or dynasty; and they carry us no farther. Respecting the questions who or what was Votan, man or mythic creation, populator, colonizer, civilizer, missionary, conqueror, foreign or native born? When, how, and whence did he come to the central tierra caliente? Who were the people among whom he wrought his mighty deeds, and what was their past history? we are left to simple conjecture, – conjecture of a class which falls without the limits of my present purpose, and to which the first chapter of this volume has been devoted. Doubtless the Votanic was not the first period of American civilization and power, but none earlier is known to us. In addition to the Tzendal traditions there are several other authorities bearing more or less directly on this primitive empire, which I proceed to investigate.

In the second volume of this work I have described the physique, character, manners and customs, arts, and institutions of the civilized nations of our territory, dividing them into two great families or groups, the Mayas and the Nahuas, "the former the more ancient, the latter the more recent and wide-spread." The many contrasts observed between the institutions of the northern and southern nations seemed sufficiently marked to outweigh the frequently recurring resemblances, and to justify me in the opinion there expressed that their culture had either been distinct from the beginning, or – what is more probable and for my purpose practically the same thing – that it had progressed in different paths for a long time previous to the coming of the Spaniards. The contrasts observed were attributed to a distinct origin of the two national groups, or, with more probability, to their long separation; while the analogies were to be referred either to unity of origin, to the tendency of humanity to like development under like circumstances, to frequent communication and friction by commerce or war, or still better, to the influence of all these causes combined.

THE MAYAS AND NAHUAS

The picture presented in the third volume of the myths and languages of the same nations favored the view previously taken. In the religious fancies, divinities, forms of worship, ideas of a future state, physical, animal, and creation myths, to which the first part of the volume was devoted, the analogies, it is true, seemed somewhat stronger and the contrasts less striking than in the characteristics previously portrayed; this was perhaps because the myths of any people point farther back into their past than do the so-called manners and customs; but in the consideration of languages which followed, the contrasts between the two groups came out more distinctly marked than at any previous stage of the investigation. A very large proportion of the tongues of the civilized nations were found to belong more or less closely to one or the other of two linguistic families. Finally, in the fourth volume a study of material relics tended very strongly to confirm the opinion before arrived at respecting the development of Maya and Nahua culture in distinct channels, at least during the historic period. I need not repeat here even en résumé the facts exhibited in the preceding volumes, nor the lessons that have at different points been drawn from them; but I may briefly mention some general conclusions founded on the preceding matter which bear on my present purpose of historical investigation. First, as already stated, the Maya and Nahua nations have been within traditionally historic times practically distinct, although coming constantly in contact. Second, this fact is directly opposed to the once accepted theory of a civilized people, coming from the far north, gradually moving southward with frequent halts, constantly increasing in power and culture, until the highest point of civilization was reached in Chiapas, Honduras, and Yucatan, or as many believed in South America. Third, the theory alluded to is rendered altogether untenable by the want of ruins in California and the great north-west; by the utter want of resemblance between New Mexican and Mexican monuments; by the failure to discover either Aztec or Maya dialects in the north; and finally by the strong contrasts between the Nahuas and Mayas, both in language and in monuments of antiquity. Fourth, the monuments of the south are not only different from but much more ancient than those of Anáhuac, and cannot possibly have been built by the Toltecs after their migration from Anáhuac in the eleventh century, even if such a migration took place. Fifth, these monuments, like those of the north, were built by the ancestors of the people found in possession of the country at the Conquest, and not by an extinct race or in remote antiquity.²⁹² Sixth, the cities of Palenque, Ococingo, and Copan, at least, were unoccupied when the Spaniards came; the natives of the neighboring region knew nothing of their origin even if they were aware of their existence, and no notice whatever of the existence of such cities appears in the annals of the surrounding civilized nations during the eight or nine centuries preceding the Conquest; that is, the nation that built Palenque was not one of those found by Europeans in the country, but its greatness had practically departed before the rise of the Quiché, Cakchiquel, and Yucatan powers. Seventh, the many resemblances that have been noted between Nahua and Maya beliefs, institutions, arts, and relics, may be consistently accounted for by the theory that at some period long preceding the sixth century the two peoples were practically one so far as their institutions were concerned, although they are of themselves not sufficient to prove the theory. Eighth, the oldest civilization in America which has left any traces for our consideration, whatever may have been its pre-historic origin, was that in the Usumacinta region represented by the Palenque group of ruins.²⁹³