The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished Races

By Author	[ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z \| Other Symbols ]
By Title	[ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z \| Other Symbols ]
By Language

Download this book: [ ASCII ]

Look for this book on Amazon

We have new books nearly every day.
If you would like a news letter once a week or once a month fill out this form and we will give you a summary of the books for that week or month by email.

Title: The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished Races
Author: Allen, Emory Adams
Language: English
As this book started as an ASCII text book there are no pictures available.

*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished Races" ***

[Illustration]

THE PREHISTORIC WORLD:
or,
VANISHED RACES.

By E. A. ALLEN

Author of “The Golden Gems of Life.”

Each of the following well-known Scholars reviewed one or more Chapters, and
made valuable suggestions:

C. C. ABBOTT, M.D.,
Author of“Primitive
Industry.”

Prof. F. W. PUTNAM,
Curator of Peabody Museum of Archæology
and Ethnology, Harvard University.

A. F. BANDELIER,
Explorer for Archæological Institute
of America, author of “Archæological Tour
in Mexico.”

Prof. CHARLES RAU,
Curator of Archæological Department
of Smithsonian Institution.

ALEXANDER WINCHELL, LL.D.,
Professor of
Geology and Paleontology, University of Michigan.

CYRUS THOMAS, PH.D.,
Of the Bureau of
Ethnology.

G. F. WRIGHT,
Of the United States Geological Survey, Professor in
Theological Seminary, Oberlin, Ohio.

NASHVILLE:
CENTRAL PUBLISHING HOUSE,
1885.

frontispiece

Contents

Chapter I:
INTRODUCTION.

Chapter II:
EARLY GEOLOGICAL PERIODS.

Chapter III:
MEN OF THE RIVER DRIFT.

Chapter IV:
CAVE-MEN.

Chapter V:
ANTIQUITY OF THE PALEOLITHIC AGE.

Chapter VI:
THE NEOLITHIC AGE IN EUROPE.

Chapter VII:
THE BRONZE AGE IN EUROPE.

Chapter VIII:
THE IRON AGE IN EUROPE.

Chapter IX:
EARLY MAN IN AMERICA.

Chapter X:
THE MOUND BUILDERS.

Chapter XI:
THE PUEBLO COUNTRY.

Chapter XII:
THE PREHISTORIC AMERICANS.

Chapter XIII:
THE NAHUA TRIBES.

Chapter XIV:
THE MAYA TRIBES.

Chapter XV:
THE CULTURE OF THE CIVILIZED TRIBES.

Chapter XVI:
ANCIENT PERU.

Contents

Chapter I: INTRODUCTION.

Difficulties of the subject—Lesson to be learned—The pursuit of
knowledge—Recent advances—Prehistoric past of the Old World—Of
the New—Of Mexico and the South—The Isles of the Pacific—Similar
nature of the relics—The wonders of the present age—History of
popular opinion on this subject—The teachings of the Bible—Nature
of the evidence of man’s antiquity—The steps leading up to this
belief—Geology—Astronomy—Unfolding of life—Nature of our inquiry.

Chapter II: EARLY GEOLOGICAL PERIODS.

Necessity of a general acquaintance with the outlines of
Geology—A time in which no life was possible on the globe—Length
of this period—History of life commences at the close of this
period—On the formation of rocks—The record imperfect—The three
great periods in animal life on the globe—Paleozoic Age—Animal
and vegetable life of this period—Ideal scenes in this period—The
Mesozoic Age—Animal and vegetable life of this period—Advance
noted—Abundance of reptilian life—First appearance of
birds—Nature’s methods of work—the Cenozoic Age Geological
outline—Sketch of the Eocene Age—Of the Miocene Age—What is
sufficient proof of the presence of man—Discussion on the Thenay
flints—The Pliocene Age—Animal and vegetable life of this age—Was
man present during this age?—Discussion of this subject—Summing
up of the evidence—Conclusion.

Chapter III: MEN OF THE RIVER DRIFT.

Beginning of the Glacial Age—Interglacial Age—Man living in
Europe during this age—Map of Europe—Proof of former elevation of
land—The animals living in Europe during this age—Conclusions
drawn from these different animals—The vegetation of this
period—Different climatic conditions of Europe during the Glacial
Age—Proofs of the Glacial Age—Extent of Glacial Ice—Evidence of
warm Interglacial Age—The primitive state of man—Early English
civilization—Views of Horace—Primitive man destitute of
metals—Order in which different materials were used by man for
weapons—Evidence from the River Somme—History of Boucher De
Perthes’s investigations. Discussion of the subject—Antiquity of
these remains—Improvement during the Paleolithic Age—Description
of the flint implements—Other countries where these implements
are found—What race of men were these tribes—The Canstadt
race—Mr. Dawkins’s views—When did they first appear in Europe?
The authorities on this question—Conclusion.

Chapter IV: CAVE-MEN.

Other sources of information—History of cave explorations—The
formation of caves—Exploration in Kent’s Cavern—Evidence of two
different races—The higher culture of the later race—Evidence of
prolonged time—Exploration of Robin Hood Cave—Explorations in
Valley of the River Meuse—M. Dupont’s conclusions—Explorations in
the Valley of the Dordogne—The station at Schussenreid—Cave-men
not found south of the Alps—Habitations of the Cave-men—Cave-men
were hunters—Methods of cooking—Destitute of the potter’s
art—Their weapons—Clothing—Their skill in drawing—Evidence of a
government—Of a religious belief—Race of the Cave-men—Distinct
from the Men of the Drift—Probable connection with the Eskimos.

Chapter V: ANTIQUITY OF THE PALEOLITHIC AGE.

Interest in the Antiquity of man—Connected with the Glacial
Age—The subject difficult—Proofs of a Glacial Age—State of
Greenland to-day—The Terminal Moraine—Appearance of the North
Atlantic—Interglacial Age—Causes of the Glacial Age—Croll’s
Theory—Geographical causes—The two theories not antagonistic—The
date of the Glacial Age—Probable length of the Paleolithic
Age—Time Since the close of the Glacial Age—Summary of results.

Chapter VI: THE NEOLITHIC AGE IN EUROPE.

Close of the first cycle—Neolithic culture connected with the
present—No links between the two ages—Long lapse of time between
the two ages—Swiss lake villages—This form of villages widely
scattered—Irish cranogs—Fortified villages—Implements and weapons
of Neolithic times—Possessed of pottery—Neolithic
agriculture—Possessed of domestic animals—Danish
shell-heaps—Importance of flint—The art of navigation—Neolithic
clothing—Their mode of burial—The question of race—Possible
remnants— Connection with the Turanian race—Arrival of the Celts.

Chapter VII: THE BRONZE AGE IN EUROPE.

Races of Men, like Individuals—Gradual change of Neolithic Age to
that of Bronze—The Aryan family—First Aryans Neolithic—Origin of
Bronze—How Great discoveries are made—Gold the first metal—Copper
abundant—No Copper Age—The discovery of Tin—Explanation of an
Alloy—Bronze, wherever found, the same composition—What is meant
by the Bronze Age—Knowledge in other directions—Gradual Growth of
Culture—Three Centers of Bronze production—Habitations during the
Bronze Age—The Bronze Ax—Implements of Bronze—Personal
ornaments—Ornaments not always made of Bronze—Advance in Arts of
living—Advance in Agriculture—Warlike Weapons—How they worked
Bronze—Advance in Government—Trade in the Bronze Age—Religion of
the Bronze Age—Symbolical figures—Temples of the Bronze
Age—Stonehenge.

Chapter VIII: THE IRON AGE IN EUROPE.

Bronze not the best metal—Difficulties attending the discovery of
Iron—Probable steps in this discovery—Where this discovery was
first made—Known in Ancient Egypt—How this knowledge would
spread—Iron would not drive out Bronze—The primitive
Iron-worker—The advance in government—Pottery and ornaments of
the Iron Age—Weapons of early Iron Age—The battle-field of
Tilfenau—Trade of early Iron Age—Invention of Money—Invention of
Alphabetic Writing—Invasion of the Germanic Tribes—The cause of
the Dark Ages—Connection of these three ages—Necessity of
believing in an Extended Past—Attempts to determine the
same—Tiniere Delta—Lake Bienne—British Fen-lands—Maximum and
Minimum Data—Mr. Geikie’s conclusions—The Isolation of the
paleolithic Age.

Chapter IX: EARLY MAN IN AMERICA.

Conflicting accounts of the American Aborigines—Recent
discoveries—Climate of California in Tertiary Times—Geological
changes near its close—Description of Table Mountain—Results of
the discoveries there—The Calaveras skull—Other relics—Discussion
of the question—Early Californians Neolithic—Explanation of
this—Date of the Pliocene Age—Other discoveries bearing on the
Antiquity of man—Dr. Koch’s discovery—Discoveries in the Loess of
Nebraska—In Greene County, Ill.—In Georgia—Difficulties in
detecting a Paleolithic Age in this country—Dr. Abbott’s
discoveries—Paleolithic Implements of the Delaware—Age of the
deposits—The race of Paleolithic man—Ancestors of the
Eskimos—Comparison of Paleolithic Age in this country with that
in Europe—Eskimos one of the oldest races in the World.

Chapter X: THE MOUND BUILDERS.

Meaning of “MOUND BUILDERS”—Location of Mound Building tribes—All
Mounds not the work of men—Altar Mounds—Objects found on the
Altars—Altar Mounds possibly burial Mounds—Burial Mounds—Mounds
not the only Cemeteries of these tribes—Terraced Mounds—Cahokia
Mound—Historical notice of a group of Mounds—The Etowal
group—Signal Mounds—Effigy Mounds—How they represented different
animals—Explanation of the Effigy Mounds—Effigy Mounds in other
localities—Inclosures of the Scioto Valley—At Newark, Ohio—At
Marietta, Ohio—Graded Ways—Fortified Inclosures—Ft. Ancient,
Ohio—Inclosures of Northern Ohio—Works of unknown import—Ancient
Canals in Missouri—Implements and Weapons of Stone—Their
knowledge of Copper—Ancient mining—Ornamental pipes—Their
knowledge of pottery—Of Agriculture—Government and Religion—Hard
to distinguish them from the Indians.

Chapter XI: THE PUEBLO COUNTRY.

Description of the Pueblo Country—Historical outline—Description
of Zuñi—Definition of a Pueblo—Old Zuñi—Inscription Rock—Pueblo
of Jemez—Historical notice of Pecos—Description of the Moqui
tribes—The Estufa—Description of the San Juan country—Aztec
Springs—In the Canyon of the McElmo—The Ruins on the Rio
Mancos—On Hovenweep Creek—Description of a Cliff-house—Cliff
Town—Cave Houses—Ruins on the San Juan—Cave Town—The Significance
of Cliff-houses—Moqui traditions—Ruins in Northern New
Mexico—Ruins in the Chaco Cañon—Pueblo Bonito—Ruins in
South-western Arizona—The Rio Verde Valley—Casa Grande—Ruins on
the Gila—Culture of the Pueblo Tribes—Their Pottery—Superiority
of the Ancient pottery—Conclusion.

Chapter XII: THE PREHISTORIC AMERICANS.

Different views on this Subject—Modern System of
Government—Ancient System of Government—Tribal Government
universal in North America—The Indians not Wandering
Nomads—Indian houses Communal in character—Indian Methods of
Defense—Mandan Villages—Indians sometimes erected Mounds—Probable
Government of the Mound Builders—Traditions of the Mound Builders
among the Iroquois—Among the Delawares—Probable fate of the Mound
Builders—The Natchez Indians possibly a remnant of the Mound
Builders—Their early Traditions—Lines of resemblance between the
Pueblo Tribes and the Mound Builders—The origin of the
Indians—America Inhabited by the Indians from a very early
time—Classification of the Indian Tribes—Antiquity of the Indian
Tribes.

Chapter XIII: THE NAHUA TRIBES.

Early Spanish discoveries in Mexico—The Nahua tribes
defined—Climate of Mexico—The Valley of Anahuac—Ruins at
Tezcuco—The Hill of Tezcocingo—Ruins at Teotihuacan—Ancient
Tulla—Ruins in the Province of Querataro—Casa Grandes in
Chihuahua—Ancient remains in Sinaloa—Fortified Hill of
Quemada—The Pyramid of Cholula—Fortified Hill at Xochicalco—Its
probable use—Ruins at Monte Alban—Ancient remains at Mitla—Mr.
Bandelier’s investigations—Traditions in regard to Mitla—Ruins
along the Panuco River—Ruins in Vera Cruz—Pyramid of
Papantla—Tusapan—Character of Nahua Ruins.

Chapter XIV: THE MAYA TRIBES.

The geographical location of the Maya tribes—Description of
Copan—Statue at Copan—Altar at Copan—Ruins at
Quiriga—Patinamit—Utatlan—Description of Palenque—The Palace at
Palenque—The Temple of the Three Inscriptions—Temple of the
Beau-relief—Temple of the Cross—Temple of the Sun—Maler’s Temple
of the Cross—Significance of the Palenque crosses—Statue at
Palenque—Other ruins in Tobasco and Chiapas—Ruins in
Yucatan—Uxmal—The Governor’s House—The Nunnery—Room in
Nunnery—The Sculptured Façades—Temple at
Uxmal—Kabah—Zayi—Labna—Labphak—Chichen-Itza—The Nunnery—The
Castillo—The Gymnasium—M. Le Plongon’s researches—The tradition
of the Three Brothers—Chaac-Mal—Antiquity of Chichen-Itza.

Chapter XV: THE CULTURE OF THE CIVILIZED TRIBES.

Different views on this question—Reasons for the same—Their
architecture—Different styles of houses—The communal house—The
teepan—The teocalli—State of society indicated by this
architecture—The gens among the Mexicans—The phratry among the
Mexicans—The tribe—The powers and duties of the council—The head
chiefs of the tribe—The duties of the “Chief-of-Men”—The mistake
of the Spaniards—The Confederacy—The idea of property among the
Mexicans—The ownership of land—Their laws—Enforcement of the
laws—Outline of the growth of the Mexicans in power—Their tribute
system—How collected—Their system of trade—Slight knowledge of
metallurgy—Religion—Quetzalcohuatl—Huitzilopochtli—Mexican
priesthood—Human sacrifice—The system of Numeration—The calendar
system—The Calendar Stone—Picture-writing—Landa
Alphabet—Historical outline.

Chapter XVI: ANCIENT PERU.

First knowledge of Peru—Expeditions of Pizarro—Geography of
Peru—But a small part of it inhabitable—The tribes of ancient
Peru—How classified—Sources of our knowledge of Peru—Garcillaso
De La Vega—Origin of Peruvian civilization—The Bolson of
Cuzco—Historical outline—Their culture—Divided into phratries and
gentes—Government—Efforts to unite the various tribes—Their
system of colonies—The roads of the Incas—The ruins of Chimu—The
arts of the Chimu people—The manufacture of Pottery—Excavation at
Ancon—Ruins in the Huatica Valley—The construction of a Huaca—The
ruins at Pachacamac—The Valley of the Canete—The Chincha
Islands—Tiahuanuco—Carved gateway—The Island of
Titicaca—Chulpas—Aboriginal Cuzco—Temple of the Sun—The
Fortress—General remarks.

1. Pyramids and Sphinx.
2. Paleozoic Forest.
3. The Pterodactyl.
4. Ichthyosauri.
5. The Labyrinthodon.
6. The Paleotherium.
7. Miocene Mammals.
8. Cut Bones of a Whale.
9. Mastodon.
10. Map of Europe.
11. Scratched Stone.
12. Interglacial Bed.
13. Paleolithic Flints.
14. Flint Implements.
15. Section of Gravel-pit.
16. Paleolithic Flint, England.
17. Flint Flakes.
18. Spear-head Type.
19. Hatchet Type.
20. Neanderthal Man.
21. Gailenreuth.
22. Spear-head, Lower Breccia, Kent’s Cavern.
23. Flake, Cave-earth, Kent’s Cavern.
24. Spear-head, Cave-earth, Kent’s Cavern.
25. Harpoon, Pin, Awl, and Needle, Kent’s Cavern.
26. Robin Hood Cave.
27. Horse incised on Piece of Rib.
28. Bone Implements, Cresswell Crags.
29. Bone Implements, Dordogne Caves.
30. Rock Shelter, Bruniquel.
31. Whale and Seal incised on Bone.
32. Cave-bear incised on Slate.
33. Glove incised on Bear’s Tooth.
34. Reindeer grazing.
35. Group of Reindeers.
36. Man, and other Animals.
37. Fish incised on Bear’s Tooth.
38. Ibex.
39. Mammoth, La Madeline Cave, France.
40. Reindeer carved on Dagger Handle.
41. Flower on Reindeer’s Horn.
42. Ornamented Reindeer Horn, use unknown.
43. Eskimo Art.
44. The Mammoth.
45. Antarctic Ice-sheet.
46. Earth’s Orbit.
47. Lake Village.
48. Foundation Lake Village.
49. Irish Crannog.
50. Fortified Camp, Cissbury.
51. Neolithic Axes.
52. Neolithic Weapons.
53. Hafted Hatchet in Sheath.
54. Ax in Sheath.
55. Sheath with two Hatchets.
56. Chisels in Sheath.
57. Horn Hoe.
58. Miner’s Pick.
59. Polishing Stone.
60. Neolithic Boat-making.
61. Neolithic Cloth.
62. Spindle Whorl.
63. Weaver’s Comb.
64. Chambered Burial Mound.
65. Dolmen, England.
66. Dolmen, France.
67. Dolmen, once covered with Earth.
68. Menhir.
69. Stone Circle, England.
70. Chambered Tomb, France.
71. Bronze Axes, First Form.
72. Bronze Axes, Second Form.
73. Bronze Axes, Third Form.
74. Hammer.
75. Chisel.
76. Bronze Knives.
77. Crescent, use unknown.
78. Bracelet.
79. Hair-pin.
80. Bronze Pendants.
81. Necklace and Beads.
82. Ornamental Designs.
83. Bronze Sickle.
84. Clay Vessel and Support.
85. Bronze Weapons.
86. Mold.
87. Burial Mound.
88. Avebury Restored.
89. Stonehenge Restored.
90. Ancient Tower, Scotland.
91. Ornaments.
92. Gold Ornament.
93. Swords.
94. Ornamental Sword-sheath.
95. Lance-head and Javelin.
96. Shields.
97. Gallic Coin.
98. Imaginary Section of Table Mountain.
99. Calaveras Skull.
100. Implement found in Loess.
101. Spear-shaped Paleolithic Implement.
102. Paleolithic Implement, Argillite.
103. Stone Implement.
104. Mound Prairie.
105. Mound and Circle.
106. Altar Mound.
107. Plan and Section of Altar.
108. Burial Mounds.
109. Burial Mounds.
110. Grave Creek Mound.
111. Cross-section St. Louis Mound.
112. Terraced Mound.
113. Elevated Square, Marietta.
114. Cahokia Mound.
115. Temple Mound inclosed in a Circle.
116. Etowah Mound, Georgia.
117. Hill Mounds.
118. Miamisburg Mound.
119. Effigy Mounds.
120. Elephant Mound.
121. Emblematic Mounds.
122. Grazing Elks—Fox in the distance.
123. Eagle Mound.
124. Hawks and Buffaloes.
125. Goose and Duck.
126. Turtle.
127. Salamander and Muskrat.
128. Man-shaped Mound.
129. Emblematic Mound Inclosure.
130. Bird Mound surrounded by a Stone Circle.
131. The Big Serpent Mound.
132. The Alligator Mound.
133. High Bank Works.
134. Square and Circle Embankment.
135. Square inscribed in a Circle.
136. Circle and Ditch.
137. Mound Builders’ Works, Newark, Ohio.
138. Eagle Mound.
139. Gateway of Octagon.
140. Observatory Mound.
141. Works at Marietta, Ohio.
142. Graded Way, Piketon, Ohio.
143. Fortified Hill, Hamilton, Ohio.
144. Fort Ancient, Ohio.
145. Fortified Headland.
146. Inclosure, Northern Ohio.
147. Square Inclosure, Northern Ohio.
148. Sacrificial Pentagon.
149. Festival Circle.
150. Crescent Works.
151. Triangular Works.
152. Arrow Points.
153. Ax found in a Mound.
154. Weapons of Stone from Tennessee.
155. Copper Ax.
156. Copper Bracelets.
157. Ancient Mine, Michigan.
158. Sculptured Face.
159. Face of a Female.
160. Beaver.
161. Otter.
162. Birds on Pipes.
163. Group of Clay Vessels.
164. Bowls with Human Faces.

165. Bottle-shaped Vessels (Smith. Inst.)
166. Water Cooler.
167. Pottery Vessels.
168. Agricultural Implements.
169. Idols.
170. Map of the Pueblo Country.
171. Zuñi.
172. Ground Plan.
173. End View.
174. Old Zuñi.
175. Inscription Rock.
176. Wolpi.
177. Watch Tower.
178. Ruins at Aztec Springs.
179. Ruins in the McElmo Cañon.
180. Tower on the Rio Mancos.
181. Ruins in the Hovenweep Canyon.
182. Two-storied House in the Mancos Cañon.
183. View of the Cliff in which the House is Situated.
184. Plan of the House.
185. Doorway of the House.
186. Room of the House.
187. Cliff Town, Rio Mancos.
188. Caves used as Houses, Rio Mancos.
189. Ruins in the San Juan Cañon.
190. Cave Town.
191. Battle Rock, McElmo Cañon.
192. Restoration of Pueblo Bonito.
193. Plan of Pueblo Bonito.
194. Different Styles of Masonry.
195. Room in Pueblo Bonito.
196. Casa Grandes, on the Gila.
197. Indented and Corrugated Ware.
198. Painted Pueblo Pottery.
199. Long House of the Iroquois.
200. Stockaded Onondaga Village.
201. Pomeiock.
202. Mandan Village.
203. Ruins near the La Platte, Valley of the San Juan.
204. Stone Mask, found in Tennessee.
205. Map of Mexico.
206. Bas-relief Tezcuco.
207. Montezuma’s Bath.
208. Aqueduct, Tezcocingo.
209. Teotihuacan.
210. Casas Grandes.
211. Quemada.
212. Pyramid of Cholula.
213. Xochicalco.
214. Enlarged View of the Ruins.
215. Wall at Mitla.
216. Ornamentation at Mitla.
217. Hall at Mitla.
218. Papantla.
219. Tusapan.
220. Map of Central America.
221. Ruins of Copan.
222. Statue, Copan.
223. Statue, Copan.
224. Hieroglyphics, Top of Altar.
225. Bas-relief, East Side of Altar.
226. Portrait, Copan.
227. Plan of Palenque.
228. General View of Palace, Palenque.
229. Cross-section of Palace, Palenque.
230. Trefoil Arch.
231. Entrance to Principal Court.
232. Stone Tablet.
233. Palace, Palenque.
234. Ruined Temple of the Three Tablets.
235. Elevation Temple of the Three Tablets.
236. The Beau-relief.
237. Temple of the Cross.
238. Tablet of the Cross.
239. The Sun.
240. Maler’s Cross.
241. Statue, Palenque.
242. Bas-relief, on the left hand of the Altar of the Cross.
243. Plan of Uxmal.
244. The Governor’s House, Uxmal.
245. Two-headed Monument, Uxmal.
246. End View.
247. Ground Plan.
248. Figure over the Doorway.
249. Ornament over the Doorway.
250. Elephant’s Trunk.
251. Plan of Nunnery.
252. Room in Nunnery.
253. Façade, Southern Building.
254. Façade, Eastern Building.
255. Serpent Façade, Western Building.
256. Temple, Uxmal.
257. Arch, Kabah.
258. Zayi.
259. Plan of Zayi.
260. Gateway at Labna.
261. Castillo, Chichen-Itza.
262. Gymnasium at Chichen-Itza.
263. Ring.
264. Building at end of Gymnasium.
265. Painted Stucco Work.
266. Queen Consulting the H-men.
267. Chaac-mol.
268. Bearded Itza.
269. Arizona Ruin.
270. Tribute Sheet.
271. Yucatan Axes.
272. Carpenter’s Ax.
273. Mexican Carpenter.
274. Copper Tool.
275. Huitzilopochtli.
276. Mexican Numeration Signs.
277. Maya and Mexican Day Signs.
278. Maya Months.
279. Calendar Stone.
280. Sign of Rain.
281. Sign of a Cycle.
282. Indian Picture-writing.
283. Chapultepec.
284. Amen.
285. Historical Sheet.
286. Chilapi Tribute.
287. Child-training.
288. Migration Chart.
289. Landa Alphabet.
290. Maya T.
291. Maya Picture-writing.
292. Hieroglyphics, Tablet of the Cross.
293. Map of Peru.
294. Fortress, Huatica Valley.
295. Ruins at Pachacamac.
296. Relics from Guano Deposits.
297. Burial Towers.
298. Palace.
299. Section of Palace Walls.
300. Ornamentation on Walls.
301. Adobe Ornament.
302. Gold and Silver Vases.
303. Bronze Knives and Tweezers.
304. Water-jar.
305. Water-jars from Ancon.
306. Cloth Found in Grave.
307. Wall in Huatica Valley.
308. Burial Mound, or Huaca.
309. Fortress Mound.
310. Temple Wall.
311. Fortress, Huatica Valley.
312. General View of Pachacamac.
313. View of the Temple.
314. Relics from Graves at Pachacamac.
315. Relics found buried in Guano Deposits.
316. Prehistoric Pottery-ware.
317. Silver Cylinder Head.
318. Terrace Wall, Tiahuanuco.
319. Method of joining Stones, Tiahuanuco.
320. Gateway, Tiahuacuno.
321. Ruins on the Island of Titicaca.
322. Ruins, Island of Coati.
323. Burial Tower.
324. Terrace Wall at Cuzco.
325. Temple of the Sun.
326. Fortress Wall.
327. Section of Fortress Wall.
328. Quippos.

Full-page Engravings

1. Cliff Houses, Rio Mancos Cañon.
2. Engraved Title Page.
3. Paleozoic Forest.
4. Rock Shelter at Bruniquel.
5. Antarctic Ice Sheet.
6. Lake Village, Switzerland.
7. Pueblo of Zuñi.
8. Cliff-town, Rio Mancos.
9. Restoration of Pueblo Bonito.
10. Painted Pueblo Pottery.
11. Pyramid of Cholula.
12. Copan Statue.
13. General View of Palace.
14. Bas-relief on the left-hand of the Altar of the Cross.
15. Plan of Uxmal.
16. The Governor’s House, Uxmal.
17. Room in Nunnery.
18. Zayi.
19. Castillo, Chichen-Itza.
20. Tribute Sheet.
21. Huitzilopochtli.
22. Calendar Stone.
23. Historical Sheet.
24. Pachacamac.

IN
this volume the author has sought to lay before the reader a
description of life and times lying beyond the light of history.
This is indeed an extensive subject, and calls for some
explanation, both as to the general design of the work and what
steps have been taken to secure correct information.

History is a word of varied import. In general, when we talk
about history, we mean those accounts of past events, times, and
circumstances of which we have written records. Not necessarily
meaning alphabetical writing, because hieroglyphic records have
furnished much true history. Hieroglyphic writing, which long
preceded alphabetical writing, is itself a comparatively recent
art. In no country do we find any records carrying us further
back than a few thousand years before the Christian era. We have
every reason to believe that the historical part of man’s life on
the globe is but an insignificant part of the whole. This
historic period is not the same in all countries. It varies from
a few centuries in our own country to a few thousands of years in
Oriental lands. In no country is there a hard and fast line
separating the historic period from the prehistoric. In the dim
perspective of years the light gradually fades away, the mist
grows thicker and thicker before us, and we at last find
ourselves face to face with the unknown past.

This extensive period of time is not, however, utterly lost to
us. We have simply to gather our information in some other way.
Enthusiastic explorers, digging beneath the ashes of Vesuvius,
have brought to light the remains of an entombed city. Of this
city we indeed have historic records, but even if all such
records had long since disappeared, we would gather much
information as to the nationality of the inhabitants, their
customs, and manners, by a simple inspection of the relics
themselves. Everywhere over the earth, entombed beneath the feet
of the living, or crumbling on the surface, are the few relics of
a past far antedating the relics of Pompeii. They are the proofs
positive that some people inhabited the land in far away times.

Our object is to gather together the conclusions of the
scientific world as to primitive man. We wish to see how far back
in the geological history of the globe we can find evidence of
man’s existence, and we desire to learn his surroundings and the
manner of his life. There can be no more important field than for
us to thus learn of the past. To read the story of primitive man,
to walk with him the earth in ages long ago, with him to wage war
on the huge animals of a previous epoch, to recede with him
before the relentless march of the ice of the Glacial Age, to
watch his advance in culture, to investigate whether there are
any races of men now living which are the direct descendants of
this primeval man.

The author makes no claims to original investigations. He trusts,
however, it will not be considered impertinent for a mere
loiterer in the vestibule of the temple of science to attempt to
lay before others the results of the investigations of our
eminent scholars. He has endeavored faithfully to perform this
task. As far as possible technical language has been avoided.
This is because he has written not for the distinctively
scientific men, but rather for the farmer, the mechanic, and the
man of business. Constant references are made to the authorities
consulted. The reader his a right to know who vouches for the
statements made in the text.

The pleasantest part of an author’s duty is to return thanks for
assistance. After the manuscript was prepared with what care
could be bestowed on it, it was determined to submit it to some
of our best American scholars for criticism. Accordingly, each of
the gentlemen named on the title page were requested to review
one or more chapters. As far as possible, each one was asked to
review that chapter or chapters for which, either by reason of
the position they held, or the interest they were known to take
in such subjects, they would by common assent be acknowledged as
eminently fitted to sit in judgment. In justice to them, it
should be stated that they were not expected to concern
themselves with the literary merits or demerits of the
manuscript, but to criticise the scientific statements made
therein. To each and all of these gentlemen the author would
acknowledge his deep obligations.

We are indebted to Rev. J. P. MacLean, the well-known
archaeologist, both for many valuable suggestions, and for the
use of wood-cuts on pages 60, 138 and 396. We are also under
obligation to Rev. S. D. Peet, editor of the _American
Antiquarian,_ for cuts illustrative of the effigy mounds of
Wisconsin. The officials of the Smithsonian Institution, and the
Bureau of Ethnology have our thanks for many cuts, for which
credit is given them throughout the work.

Finally, the author wishes to say that it was the intention to
make this work the joint production of the author and his
partner, Mr. S. C. Ferguson, but before any progress was made it
was deemed advisable to change the programme. While the literary
work has all been performed by the author, the many details
necessarily connected with the publication of a book were
attended to by Mr. Ferguson.

E. A. ALLEN.

Cincinnati, _January_ 1, 1885.

Ruins of Cannar

T HOU unrelenting Past! Strong are the barriers round thy dark
domain—
And fetters, sure and fast, Hold all that enter thy
unbreathing reign.

Far in thy realm, withdrawn, Old empires sit in sullenness and
gloom;
And glorious ages, gone, Lie deep within the shadow of thy
womb.

Full many a mighty name Lurks in thy depths, unuttered,
unrevered: With thee are silent fame, Forgotten arts, and
wisdom disappeared.
W. C. BRYANT.

The Prehistoric World

Chapter I
INTRODUCTION.

Difficulties of the subject—Lesson to be learned—The pursuit of
knowledge—Recent Advances—Prehistoric past of the Old World—Of
the New—Of Mexico and the South—The Isles of the Pacific—Similar
nature of the relics—The wonders of the present age—History of
popular Opinion on this subject—The teachings of the Bible—Nature
of the evidence of man’s antiquity—Geology—Astronomy—Unfolding of
life—Nature of our inquiry.

WHO

can read the book of the past? Who can tell us the story of
Creation’s morn? It is, not written in history, neither does it
live in tradition. There is mystery here; but it is hid by the
darkness of bygone ages. There is a true history here, but we
have not learned well the alphabet used. Here are doubtless
wondrous scenes; but our stand-point is removed by time so vast,
the mist of years is so thick before us, that only the ruder
outlines can be determined. The delicate tracery, the body of the
picture, are hidden from our eye. The question as to the
antiquity and primitive history of man, is full of interest in
proportion as the solution is beset with difficulties. We
question the past; but only here and there a response is heard.
Surely bold is he who would attempt, from the few data at hand,
to reconstruct the history of times and people so far removed. We
quickly become convinced that many centuries, and tens of
centuries, have rolled away since man’s first appearance on the
earth. We become impressed with the fact, “that multitudes of
people have moved over the surface of the Earth, and sunk into
the night of oblivion, without leaving a trace of their
existence: without a memorial through which we might have at
least learned their names.”[1]

To think of ourselves, is to imagine for our own nation an
immortality. We are so great, so strong, surely nothing can move
us. Let us learn humility from the past: and when, here and
there, we come upon some reminder of a vanished people, trace the
proofs of a teeming population in ancient times, and recover
somewhat of a history, as true and touching as any that poets
sing, let us recognize the fact, that nations as well as
individuals pass away and are forgotten.

The past guards its secret well. To learn of it we must seek new
methods of inquiry. Discouraged by the difficulties in the way,
many have supposed it hidden from the present by a veil which
only thickens as time passes. In the remains of prehistoric times
they have failed to recognize the pages of history. They saw only
monuments of ancient skill and perseverance: interesting
sketches, not historical portraits. Some writers have held that
we must give up the story of the past, “whether fact or
chronology, doctrine or mythology—whether in Europe, Asia,
Africa, or America—at Thebes, or Palenque—on Lycian shore, or
Salisbury plain—lost is lost and gone is gone for evermore.” Such
is the lament of a gifted writer,[2] amongst the first to ponder
over the mysteries of the past. At the present day, with better
means at hand, a more hopeful view is taken. But here a caution
is necessary; for, in attempting to reconstruct the history of
primitive times, such is the interest which it inspires, that
many allow imagination to usurp the place of research, and write
in terms too glowing for history.[3]

The human mind is sleepless in the pursuit of knowledge. It is
ever seeking new fields of conquest. It must advance: with it,
standing still is the precursor of defeat. If necessary it
invents new methods of attack, and rests not until it gains its
objective point, or demonstrates the hopelessness of its quest.
The world needs but be informed that on a given point knowledge
is dim and uncertain, when there are found earnest minds applying
to the solution of the mystery all the energies of their natures.
All the resources of science are brought to bear; every
department of knowledge is made to contribute of its store: and
soon a mass of facts is established and a new science is added to
the department of human knowledge.

Thus, with our knowledge of prehistoric times, what so seemingly
vain as to attempt to roll back the flight of time, and learn the
condition of primeval man? All the light of ancient history makes
but little impression on the night of time. By its aid we can but
dimly see the outlines of the fortieth century back; beyond is
gloom soon lost in night. But a few short years ago, men did not
think it possible to gain further information. With the materials
at hand this could not be done. The triumph of the intellect was
simply delayed, not hopelessly repulsed. Geology was but just
beginning to make good its claim to a place among the sciences.
This unfolded to man the physical history of the world as read
from the rocks, and deals with times so vast and profound that we
speak no longer of years, but of ages. And with the aid of
Geology grand secrets were wrung from the past, and new light was
thrown on the manners and customs of primitive man. Thus the
foundation for still another science was laid, called Archæology,
or the science of Human Antiquities. These two sister sciences
are the keys by whose aid we have not only acquired much
information of a past that seemed a hopeless enigma—but, as
Columbus on the waste of waters could perceive traces of land as
yet invisible, so can the present seekers after knowledge trace
the signs of a satisfactory solution of many of the great
questions relating to the origin and history of the vanished
races of mankind.

In whatever land we commence our investigations, we quickly come
upon the evidences of an ancient life long antedating all
historical information. Ancient Egypt has been a fruitful theme
for the antiquarians pen. The traveler has moralized over the
ruins of her past greatness, and many pointed illustrations of
national growth and decay have been drawn from her history.

Here was the seat of an ancient civilization, which was in the
zenith of its power many centuries before Christ. The changes
that have passed over the earth since that time are far more
wonderful than any ascribed to the wand of the magician. Nations
have come and gone, and the land of the Pharaohs has become an
inheritance for strangers; new sciences have enriched human life,
and the fair structure of modern civilization has arisen on the
ruins of the past. Many centuries, with their burden of human
hopes and fears, have sped away into the past, since
“Hundred-gated Thebes” sheltered her teeming population, where
now are but a mournful group of ruins. Yet to-day, far below the
remorseless sands of her desert, we find the rude flint-flakes
that require us to carry back the time of man’s first appearance
in Egypt to a past so remote that her stately ruins become a
thing of yesterday in comparison to them.

In the New World, mysterious mounds and gigantic earth-works
arrest our attention. Here we find deserted mines, and there we
can trace the sites of ancient camps and fortifications. The
Indians of the prairies seem to be intruders on a fairer
civilization. We find here evidences of a teeming population. In
the presence of their imposing ruins, we can not think that
nomadic savages built them. They give evidences rather of a
people having fixed habitations and seem to imply the possession
of a higher civilization than that of the Indians. These
questions demand solution; but how shall we solve the problem?
Save here and there a deserted camp, or a burial mound,
containing perhaps articles of use or adornment, all traces have
vanished. Their earth-works and mounds are being rapidly leveled
by the plow of modern times, and the scholar of the future can
only learn from books of their mysterious builders.

In Mexico, and farther south, we find the ruins of great cities.
To the student of antiquity, these far surpass in interest the
ruined cities of the Nile or Euphrates valley. Babylon of old,
with its walls, towers, and pleasure resorts, was indeed
wonderful. In our own land cities, if not as ancient, yet fallen
in more picturesque ruin, reward the labors of the explorer.
Uxmal, Copan, and Palenque, invite our attention. Here are
hieroglyphics in abundance, but no Rosetta Stone supplies the key
by whose aid a Champollion can unravel the mystery.

The luxuriant vegetative growth of the tropics, with its fierce
storms, is every year hastening the obliteration of these ruins,
and we must improve the time well, if we would learn from them
what they have to say of the past.

The isles of the Pacific give evidence that, long before the dawn
of authentic history, man lived there. Indeed, as the islands
which gem that ocean, from their configuration and position, seem
to be but the elevated plateaus and mountain peaks of a continent
that has gone down beneath the blue wave of the Pacific, so,
throughout Polynesia can be traced the fragmentary remains of a
civilization, the greater portion of which has been completely
buried by the waters of oblivion, leaving only here and there a
trace to reconstruct, if we can, the entire structure.

The earliest remains of man are very similar in all lands. They
consist of weapons of war and of the chase, implements of
domestic use, and articles of personal adornment. Few and simple
as they are, they are capable of imparting useful information as
to early times. By their aid we become eye-witnesses of the daily
life of primitive man. We learn that though lacking in almost
every thing we consider essential for comfort and happiness, yet
they were actuated by much the same hopes and fears as the men of
the present age. The great burden of life was the same then as
now. There was the same round of daily labor made necessary by
the same ceaseless struggle for existence. Rude forts and warlike
implements show there was the same encroachment of the strong on
the weak as now.

This is a wonderful age in many respects. In none, however, more
wonderful than in the wide-spread diffusion of knowledge. The
ordinary people now understand more of nature’s secrets than the
wise men of old. They are to-day interested in researches that a
former generation would have relegated to the scholar and the man
of leisure. No department of knowledge is retained for the
researches of a favored few. The farmer, the mechanic, and the
man of business are alike interested in a knowledge of
prehistoric times. The rude implements of the past appeal to the
curiosity of all. We arise from a study of the past with clearer
ideas of man’s destiny. Impressed with the great advancement in
man’s condition from the rude savagery of the drift, to the
enlightened civilization of to-day, what may we not hope the
advancement will be during the countless ages we believe a
beneficent Providence has in store for his creature, man?

A history of the popular opinion of the antiquity of man is not
only of interest, but should teach a lesson to all who think
others are wrong because not holding the same views as they do.
Hardly fifty years have passed since scientific men began to
attribute to the human race an antiquity more remote than that
assigned them by history and tradition. At first these views met
with general opposition, much as did the theory of the present
system of astronomy when it was first proclaimed. We laugh now at
the ignorant fear’s and prejudices used to combat both.

It was claimed that the Bible taught that man had lived on the
globe scarcely six thousand years. The Bible is the book to which
the Anglo-Saxon mind clings with the greatest reverence. The
memories of childhood are associated with its pages, and its very
appearance recalls the prayers of long ago. It is not strange
then that the Christian world guards with jealous care against
any thing which may be thought to weaken the force of its
statements.

But it is human nature to go to extremes: and, when we give our
support to one way of thinking, we find it difficult to be
patient with those of the contrary opinion.

Now, the researches of some of the most eminent men and learned
divines have amply shown, that there are no data given in the
Scriptures on which to base an estimate as to the antiquity of
man. Happily the Christian mind no longer shrinks from the
conclusions reached by the scientist: and, indeed, it is the
contemplation of the stupendous periods of Geological times, and
the infinite greatness of the works of Creation as disclosed by
Astronomy, with the extreme lowness of man’s first condition as
made evident by Archæology, that lend new force to the words,
“What is man, that thou art mindful of him!”

The evidences on which we predicate an extreme antiquity for man
are necessarily cumulative. It is not from one source alone that
we obtain information, but from many. Eminent men in nearly every
department of knowledge have lent their aid to the elucidation of
this subject. It can only be understood by those who will fairly
weigh the facts that modern discoveries have unrolled before
their eyes. There are many who have not done this, and are
consequently unable to project their mental vision so far back
into the very night of time, as is now demanded for the beginning
of man’s first appearance on the earth. And, indeed, so
enormously has this period been extended—so far back does it
require us to go—that even the most enlightened investigator may
well recoil in dismay when he first perceives the almost infinite
lapse of years that are required by his calculation since the
creation of man.

At this day the scholar must be ready to explain the steps by
which he reaches his conclusions. Not necessarily explaining the
minutiæ of his journey hither, but the main outlines of his
course. This seems to call for a slight outline of Geology. The
animal and vegetable tribes which have come and gone upon the
earth, following each other like the shadows of passing clouds on
a Summer’s day, have left their remains in the rocks which at
that time were forming. A close investigation of these remains
shows that they form the record book of nature, wherein we are
permitted to read somewhat of her secrets. This had long been a
sealed book to man; but science, as we have seen, constantly
extending her domain, at length taught him the alphabet.

And the Geologist now unfolds the past age of our world with a
variety of detail, and a certainty of conclusion well calculated
to inspire us with grateful admiration.

It is no longer a question that many ages must have rolled away,
during which our world was totally unfit for life of any kind,
either animal or vegetable.

The nebular theory of Laplace, as modified by the modern
astronomers, so satisfactorily explains many of the phenomena of
the solar system, that it takes rank almost as a demonstrated
fact. According to the terms of this theory, our Earth, now so
dependent on the sun for light and warmth, was itself a glowing
orb, and as a bright star radiated its light and heat into space.
Grand conception, and probably true. It is now useless to
speculate as to how many cycles of almost infinite years had
begun and ended, before Earth’s fading fires gave notice that
they must soon expire in night.

The stages through which the Earth passed in turn await the sun,
save that there is no further beneficent luminary to give him
light and heat: when time shall have quenched his fiery glow,
death and night shall reign supreme, where now is life and light.

Time is long, and nature never hurries. She builds for infinite
years, and recks not the time of building. The human mind is far
too feeble to comprehend the duration of time that sped away and
was gone ere the slowly falling temperature of the Earth admitted
the formation of a crust over her surface. When that came, the
first great scene was closed. The star had expired, the planet
rolled in her annual course around the still glowing central sun.
Now came the formative age of the world, when the great
continents were outlined.

The atmosphere gradually freed itself from its weight of
water-vapor, the rains descended, and the ocean took form and
contour. We are concerned only with the outlines of Geology, not
with its details. It is full of the most interesting facts, but
is foreign to our present purpose. We will only say, there is a
marked progression in the scale and importance of life forms.

The lower forms of animals appear first to be followed in time by
the higher. It is true that some forms have survived through all
the changes of Geological time to the present: yet, speaking
generally, some forms of life are peculiar to each age, and the
general phase of animal life is different with each period. They
thus form epochs in the history of the world as read from the
rocks, and though the beginning and ending of each age may blend
by insensible gradations with that of the preceding and
following, yet, taken as a whole, we observe in each such
singularities of form and structure as to give name to each
particular age.

In the fullness of time man appears; and it is our pleasant task
to trace the evidence of his primitive state, his growth in
culture, and his advancement made before the dawn of history. Our
inquiry, then, is as to his prehistoric state. We use this term
in the same sense as Dr. Wilson uses it: that is, to express the
whole period disclosed to us by means of archæological evidence,
as distinguished from what is known through historical records.
We can not doubt but that this includes by far the largest
portion of man’s existence. The time embraced within historical
records, though different in different portions of the world, is
but a brief period in comparison to the duration of time since he
first went forth to possess the Earth. If we can make plain to
our readers that man has lived in the world an extremely long
time, going back indeed to a former Geological age—that his first
state was very low and rude—that he has risen to his present high
estate by means of his own exertions continued through long
ages—and from this form a prophecy of a golden age to come in the
yet distant future, we shall feel that we have not written in
vain.

The Sphinx

[1] Von Hellwald: “Smithsonian Report,” 1866.

[2] Palgrave,

[3] Lubbock: “Prehistoric Times,” p. 2.

Chapter II
EARLY GEOLOGICAL PERIODS.1

Necessity of a general acquaintance with the outlines of
Geology—A time in which there was no life possible on the
globe—Length of this period—On the formation of rocks—The record
imperfect—The three great periods in animal life on the
globe—Paleozoic age—Animal and vegetable life of this period—The
Mesozoic age—Animal and vegetable life of this period—Advance
noted—Abundance of reptilian life—First appearance of
birds—Nature’s methods of work—The Cenozoic age—Geological
outline—Sketch of the Eocene age—Of the Miocene age—What is
sufficient proof of the presence of man—Discussion of the Thenay
flints—The Pliocene age—Animal and vegetable life of this age—Was
man living during this age?—Discussion of this subject—Summing up
the evidence—Conclusion.

For a clear understanding of questions relating to early man, a
more or less extensive acquaintance with Geology is required.
This is by no means a difficult task to accomplish. What so
interesting as to understand at least the outlines of the history
of life on the globe? To see how, following a definite plan, the
vast continents have grown to their present size and form; to see
how animal and vegetable life have evolved successively higher
and higher forms; to see where in this wondrous drama of
creation, this strange unfolding of life, the first faint,
indecisive traces of man’s presence are to be found; to learn
what great changes in climate, in Geogony, and in life, had
occurred before man’s appearance, let us pass in brief review the
history of early geological periods.

As we have already stated, there must have been a very long
period of time during which no life was possible on the globe. Of
this era we know but little; for we find no strata of rocks of an
earlier date than we know life, in its simplest forms, to have
existed.2 Still we are not less confident of the existence of
this era, and the mind can dimly comprehend the scene, when a
nearly shoreless ocean surged around the globe.3

As to the extent of time during which there was no life, we have
no means of determining. That it was almost infinitely long is
made apparent by the researches of eminent scholars on the
cooling of lava. Toward the close of this extended period of time
faint traces of life appear. Not life as we are apt to think of
it. No nodding flowers were kissed by the sunshine of this early
time. The earliest forms of flowerless plants, such as sea-weeds,
and in dry places possibly lichens covering the rocks, were the
highest forms of vegetable life. Animal life, if present, for the
fact is denied by some, occurs in the very lowest form, merely
structureless bodies, with no especial organs of sense, or
nutrition: and their motion consisting simply in protruding and
withdrawing hair-like processes.4 Such was the beginning of life.
This vast period of time, which includes the beginning, is known
among geologists as Archean time.

From the close of this age, the history of life properly
commences. It might be well to explain the means which the
geologist uses to interpret the history of the globe. It is now
understood that the forces of nature have always produced the
same results as they do now. From the very earliest time to the
present, rocks have been forming. There, where conditions were
favorable, great beds of limestone, formed from shells and
corals, ground up by the action of the sea5—in other places,
massive beds of sandstone or of sand, afterward consolidated into
sandstone—were depositing. On the land surface, in places, great
beds of vegetable _débris_ were being converted into coal. Now we
can easily see how the remains of organic bodies, growing at the
time of the formation of these beds, should be preserved in a
fossil form. Limestone rocks are thickly studded in places with
all sorts of marine formations. Coal fields reveal wonders of
early vegetative growth. From sandstone rocks, and shaly beds, we
learn strange stories of animal life at the time they were
forming. From a careful study of these remains together with the
formation in which they occur, not only in one locality but all
over the earth, geologists have gradually unfolded the history of
life on the globe. It is admitted that, at best, our knowledge in
that direction is fragmentary. This arises from errors in
observation as well as that fossil formations are rare, or at
least localities where they are known to exist are but few. So
our knowledge of the past is as if we were examining some record
from which pages, chapters, and even volumes, have been
extracted.

Paleozoic Forest

In consequence of this imperfect record we can not, as yet, trace
a gradual successive growth from the low forms of animal and
plant life, that characterized the closing period of Archean
time, to the highly organized types of the present. The record
suddenly ceases and when we again pick up the thread we are
surrounded by more advanced types, higher forms of life. Though
we may hope that future discoveries will do much toward
completing the records, we can not hope that they will ever
really be perfected. So, from our present stand-point, the
history of life on the globe falls naturally into three great
divisions.6 This is no more than we might expect, when we reflect
that nature’s laws are universal in their action, and that the
world, as a whole, has been subjected to the same set of changes.

The period following on after Archean time is called, by
geologists, Paleozoic time.

During the long course of time embraced in this age, the forms of
life present wide differences from those of existing time.

This period produced the great beds of coal we use to-day. But
the vegetation of the coal period would present strange features
to our eyes. The vegetation commenced with the lowest orders of
flowerless plants, such as sea-weeds; but, before it was brought
to a close, there was a wonderful variety and richness of plants
of the flowerless or Cryptogamic division. In some of the warmest
portions of the globe, we have to-day tree-ferns growing four or
five feet high. During the closing part of the Paleozoic time,
there were growing all over the temperate zone great tree-ferns
thirty feet or so in height. Some varieties of rushes in our
marshes, a foot or two in height, had representatives in the
marshes of the coal period standing thirty feet high, and having
woody trunks.7 Near the close of the Paleozoic time, vegetation
assumed a higher form of life. Flowering plants are represented.
Pines were growing in the coal measures.

In animal life a similar advance is noted. The class of animals
having no backbone, or invertebrate animals, were largely
represented. But, toward the close of the Paleozoic time, we meet
with representatives of the backbone family. The waters swarmed
with fishes.8 Besides these, there were amphibians; 9 and
reptiles in the closing portions.10

The Pterodactyl

Thus we see what a great advance was made in life during this
period. The forms of life during the early stages of this age
were inferior in this, also, that they were all water species.11
But, before it closes, we have a rich and varied terrestrial
vegetation, and also air-breathing animals. The class Mammalia,
to which man belongs, had no representative on the earth during
the extended Paleozoic time.

We can easily see, from the foregoing, how appropriately this
period has been named that of old life forms. In imagination we
can recall a scene of this old age. The air is sultry and full of
vapors. The soil seems hot and steaming. This is a veritable
forest, but we see none of the beautiful flowers which we
associate with tropical vegetation to-day. In the branches of the
graceful tree-ferns, we will look in vain for birds. They were
yet far in the future. Neither were there any of the higher
orders of animals present. Not a single representative of the
great class of mammals enlivened the depths of the forest. There
were fishes in the waters, but not the fishes of to-day. Some
true reptiles and amphibians disported themselves in swampy
jungles, but they were unimportant. Almost the only sound to
break the stillness, was the hum of marsh-loving insects, the
whistling of the wind, and the roar of the tempests, which we may
well believe raged with the more than tropic severity of the
present.12

The time at last came for the dawning of a new era. Vast changes
had been taking place in the geography of both continents. The
region to the south-west of the Green Mountains was upturned. The
Alleghany Mountains were formed, and the region east of the
Mississippi River became part of the stable land of the
continent.13 In Europe, nearly as great changes occurred. The
conditions of life must have been greatly modified by these
geographical changes. The life-forms bear testimony to this
changed condition. Old forms die away, and are succeeded by those
approaching more nearly our own times. The name of this period is
the Mesozoic time, or the period of middle life forms.14 It is
instructive to notice the steady advance in the type of life,
both animal and vegetable. The abundant flowerless vegetation of
the coal formation of the preceding epoch dwindles away. But the
flowering trees increase in number and importance until, in the
closing period of Mesozoic time, we have trees with deciduous
leaves. A great many of our forest trees had representatives in
the forests of that epoch.

Ichthyosauri

Palms and species like the big tree of California were growing
side by side with species akin to our own common trees. But in
the animal world there were many strange forms. This was the age
of reptiles. They domineered on the land, in the air, and in the
sea. On the land there stalked huge reptiles fifty and sixty feet
long, and, when standing erect, at least thirty feet high.15 Some
of these huge creatures were carnivorous, living on other
animals. Others fed on the foliage of trees. In the air, huge
reptilian bats, veritable flying dragons with a spread of wings
from ten to twenty feet, disported themselves.16 In the sea there
swam great reptilian whales, seals, and walruses.17 There was a
marvelous abundance of reptilian life. At the present day, there
are not more than six species of reptiles in the whole world
having a length of over fifteen feet, and not more than eighteen
species exceeding ten feet in length. But from one limited
locality, representing but one era of this age in England, there
have been discovered four or five species of carnivorous reptiles
twenty to fifty feet long, ten or twelve species of crocodiles,
lizards, and swimming reptiles from ten to sixty feet
long—besides multitudes of great flying reptiles and turtles.
Doubtless similar scenes of animal life were everywhere
represented.

The Labyrinthodon.

Birds made their first appearance during the Mesozoic time, and
here we obtain a clear view of nature’s methods of work. There is
no longer a doubt but that the first birds were simply modified
reptiles. The first bird had a long jointed tail, and a bill well
supplied with formidable teeth.18 It was during this period that
the first representative of the class Mammalia, to which man
belongs, appears.19 It is in the rocks of this era that we meet
with remains of marsupials, the order to which opossums belong.
This is the lowest of the Mammalian class. To the class Mammalia
belong the most highly organized animals. They have been the
ruling animals since the close of Mesozoic time. We must now
watch their development with especial care. For this brief
review, as far as it has gone, has shown a steady and gradual
progress in life forms, the lower invariably preceding the
higher. We therefore feel that it will be vain to seek for any
trace of man until we find undoubted proofs of the existence of
all the forms of animals below him. The last great division of
time is called Cenozoic.20 This means new life forms. In this
age, the forms of life are much nearer our own. As it was some
time during this epoch when man makes his appearance, we deem it
best to go into more detail, and give the subdivisions of this
period. It has been amply sufficient to give simply the outlines
of the other periods. In order to fix more clearly the sequence
of life, we will give an outline showing the periods we have
reviewed, and also the subdivisions of the Cenozoic time, which
we are now to examine with more care.

OUTLINE.

LIFE.
Archæan Time.
_The Beginning._ Includes the long lapse of time when the
globe could not support life, but towards its close faint
traces of life, both animal and vegetable appeared.

Paleozoic Time.
_The Period of Old Life Forms._ Forests of flowerless trees;
but pines grew in the coal measures. Animal life largely
invertebrate; but amphibians and reptiles among the
vertebrate appear at the close.

Mesozoic Time.
_The Period of Middle Life Forms._ Flowering trees increasing
in number and importance. Deciduous trees make their
appearance. Animal life largely reptilian. The class Mammalia
represented by marsupials.

Cenozoic Time.
_Tertiary,_ or Age of Mammals.
Eocene. Miocene. Pliocene.

_Quaternary,_ or Age of Man.
Glacial or Pleistocene. Recent.

At the close of the Mesozoic time, great elevations of land took
place in both America and Europe, especially in the northern
portions.21 This could not fail to have a great effect on life,
both animal and vegetable.

During the Eocene, or first division of the Tertiary Age, we have
simply to note the steady progress of life. There were forests of
species of oaks, poplars, maples, hickories, and other common
trees, and others now found only in tropical regions. Palm trees
were growing in the upper Missouri region of the United States.
And England was decidedly a land of Palms, as no less than
thirteen species are known to have been growing there. Cypresses,
yews, and pines graced the scene.22 Our special interest centers,
however, in the mammals of this epoch.

The Paleotherium.

In the preceding epoch marsupials only were represented. But in
beds of the middle and closing portions of the Eocene period we
meet with a sudden increase of Mammalian life. Whale-like animals
were especially abundant in the seas; and on our Western plains
were animals like the tapirs of India, and rhinoceros-like
animals as large as elephants23 but having no trunks, and
diminutive little animals not larger than foxes, from which have
come our horses. Europe also had a varied Mammalian fauna. There
were numerous hog-like animals. Animals, like the tapirs of
tropical Asia and America, wandered in the forests and on the
banks of the rivers. Herds of horse-like animals, about the size
of Shetland ponies, fed on the meadows.24 Animals that chew the
cud were present, or at least had near representatives.25

Among the flesh-eating animals were creatures resembling foxes,
wolverines, and hyenas.26 This shows what a great advance had
been made. But, besides all these, we are here presented with
representatives of the order of Quadrumana, or four-handed
animals. Several genera of lemurs are found in both America and
Europe.

Now the Quadrumana are the order below man. Therefore it seems
that in the Eocene period, all the forms of life _below_ man are
represented. The time seems to be at hand when we can look, with
some confidence, for traces of the presence of man himself. We
must therefore be more cautious in our investigations.

The epoch following on after the Eocene is designated as the
Miocene. We must remember that, though recent in a geological
sense, yet it is immensely remote when measured by the standard
of years. We must inquire into all the surroundings of this far
away time. The geographical features must have been widely
different from the present.

In the first place, the elevation of land to the north must have
been sufficient to have connected the land areas of the Northern
Hemisphere—North America, with Asia27 and Greenland; and this
latter country must have been united with Iceland, and, through
the British Islands, with Europe. But, to compensate for this
land mass to the north, large portions of Central and Southern
Europe were beneath the waves.28 The proof of this extended mass
of land is to be found in the wide distribution of similar
animals and plants in the Miocene time. All the chief botanists
are agreed that the north Polar region was the center from which
plants peculiar to the Eocene and Miocene epochs spread into both
Europe and America.29 We may mention that the famous big trees of
California are simply remnants of a wide-spread growth of these
trees in Miocene times. They can be found in a fossil state at
various places in British America, in Greenland, and in Europe.
They are supposed to have originated somewhere in the north, and
spread by these land connections we have mentioned into both
Europe and America. But this is not the only tree that grew in
the Miocene forests of both continents. The magnolia, tulip-tree,
and swamp cypress are other instances.30 Eleven species, growing
in the Rocky Mountain regions in Rocene times, found their way to
Europe in the Miocene times,31 driving before them the plants of
a tropical growth that had hitherto flourished in England. Now
this implies land connection between the two continents.
Furthermore, animals both large and small are found common to the
two countries.32 The climate over what is now the North Temperate
Zone, and even further. north, must have been delightful. There
is ample testimony to this effect in the rich vegetative remains
over wide areas.

In Spitzbergen, within twelve degrees of the pole, where now a
dwarf willow and a few herbaceous plants form the only
vegetation, and the ground is most of the time covered with snow
and ice, there were growing, in Miocene times, no less than
ninety-five species of trees, including yews, hazels, elders,
beech, elms, and others.33 But it is in the Miocene forests of
the continent of Europe where we meet with evidence of a
singularly mild climate.

There were at least eleven species of palms growing in
Switzerland; and one variety of them grew as far north as
Northern Germany.34

We can not give a list of all the species. On the one hand, there
were elms, willows, poplars, oaks, and beeches, thus far similar
to the forest growth of temperate regions. Mingled with these
were forests of trees like the tulip-tree, swamp cypress, and
liquid amber or sweet gum of the southern part of the United
States—plants whose home is in the warm and moist regions of the
earth. But there were also representatives of the tropical
regions—such as fig-trees, cinnamon-trees, and camphor-trees:
these are found growing now in tropical countries. Fruit-trees of
the cherry, plum, and almond species were also to be seen. Prof.
Heer points out how all this should convince us that a large part
of Europe, in the Miocene Age, possessed a climate not unlike
that of the Madeira or Canary Islands to-day. He calls especial
attention to the fact that these trees were nearly all of
evergreen species, and that a severe winter would destroy them.
He finds one hundred and thirty-one species of the Temperate
Zone—species that can stand a moderate amount of cold, but not
very hot and dry climates. He finds eighty-five species of
tropical plants that could not possibly live where the Winters
are severe. Mingled with these were nearly three hundred species
whose natural home is in the warm, temperate portions of the
earth. The only way you can explain this motley assemblage of
trees is, to suppose that in what is now Europe was a climate
free from extremes, allowing the trees to put forth flowers and
fruits all the year round. “Reminding us,” says Prof. Heer, “of
those fortunate zones where Nature never goes to rest.”35

Miocene Mammals.

Let us now inquire as to the animals that roamed through these
great forests we have been describing. The Miocene period
extended over a long lapse of time, and considerable change took
place among the animals belonging to the different parts of this
age. We will only give a general outline for the whole period.
The marsupials lingered along into the early stages of this
period, and then disappeared from Europe. The rhinoceros were
present in the early stages, and continued through the entire
age. We meet in this period animals of the elephant kind, two
species, the mastodon and deinotherium. Antelopes and gazelles
wandered in vast troops over the plains of Hungary, Spain, and
Southern France. Carnivorous animals resembling tigers and hyenas
found abundance of animal food. Herds of horse-like animals fed
on the rich herbage of the meadows. The birds were largely
represented. In the woods were to be seen flocks of gayly
feathered paroquets and trogons. On the plains secretary-birds
hunted the serpents and reptiles, which furnished them food—and
eagles were on the watch for their prey. Cranes waded in the
rivers for fish. Geese, herons, and pheasants must have been
abundant.

Our main interest centers in the order Quadrumana. We must
remember that this order appeared in the Eocene. Several species
were present in the Miocene. They wandered in the forests of
France, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy, and doubtless found
abundant food in the figs and bread-fruit, walnuts, almonds,
dates, and other nuts growing there.36 One of the most important
is regarded as belonging to the same genus as the Gibbons.37 This
is the genus which has been sometimes regarded as making a nearer
approach to man than any other monkey.38 Others, however,
consider it as belonging to an extinct family.39 In addition to
this species there were at least three other species: thus there
was no absence of simian life in the Miocene.40

From the sketch we have thus far drawn of the Miocene Age, it
seems to have been a very favorable one in every respect. One
writer41 affirms, that “the world never experienced a more
beautiful period.” And indeed it seems as if the facts bear out
this statement. A genial, temperate climate was the rule, even to
high northern latitudes. We need not doubt but that there were
grassy plains, wooded slopes, and rolling rivers. Was man present
to take advantage of all these favorable surroundings? Did he
wander through the evergreen forests, and hunt the deer,
antelope, and hogs—the hipparions, and mastodons, and
deinotheres—then so numerous?42 We know of no inherent
improbability of his existence at that time. An ape belonging to
a highly organized genus was then living in Europe. Every
condition considered necessary for the primeval Garden of Eden
was then satisfied. Let us stop for a minute and examine the
nature of the evidence considered sufficient to prove the
presence of man during any of the past geological ages.

Should we be so fortunate as to find portions of the bones of the
human skeleton in a geological formation in such positions that
they could not possibly have been introduced there since the
deposition of the containing bed, it would of course prove that
man was at least as old as the formation itself. But it happens
that human remains in beds of a previous geological age are very
rare. Indeed, human remains in formations of the Pleistocene
Age,43 during which we have ample testimony, as we shall see, of
the presence of man, are very rare. The cases in which there can
be no doubt can be reckoned on the fingers. The explanation of
this state of things is not at all difficult, for it is only
under very rare circumstances that portions of the bones of
animals even larger than man are preserved to us in geological
strata. Vast numbers die and vanish away without leaving a trace
behind them for every fragmentary bone we recover. In the case of
man we must remember that, in previous eras, he was present in
very small numbers; that, owing to his intelligence, he would not
be as liable to be drowned and swept away, and so mingle his
remains with beds of river detritus then forming, as were
animals. Mr. Lyell has made some remarks on the draining of the
Haarlem Lake by the government of Holland in 1853, which shows
that even favorable circumstances do not always preserve remains
for future inspection. Though called a lake, this body of water
was an arm of the sea, covering about forty-five thousand acres.
The population which had lived on the shores of the lake was
between thirty and forty thousand souls. “There had been many a
shipwreck, and many a naval fight on those waters, and hundreds
of Dutch and Spanish soldiers and sailors had met there with a
watery grave,” yet not a solitary portion of the human skeleton
was to be found in its bed.44 Thus we see that, in the majority
of cases, we must rely on other evidence than the presence of
human bones to prove the existence of man in the geological
periods of the past. In the case of the Haarlem Lake again, there
was found the wreck of one or two vessels, and some ancient
armor. So, had it been a disputed point whether man was a denizen
of this planet at the time when the area in question was covered
by water, it would have been settled beyond a doubt by these
relics of his industry, even though portions of the human frame
itself were entirely wanting. And, in reality, proofs of this
nature are just as satisfactory as it would be to discover human
bones. If, on a desert island, we find arrow-heads, javelins, a
place where there had been a fire, split bones, and other
_débris_ of a feast, we are as much justified in asserting that
man had been there, as we would be had we seen him with our own
eyes. In the same manner, if we detect in any strata of the past
any undoubted products of human industry—such as weapons, or
implements and ornaments—in such position that we know they could
not have been deposited there since the formation of the bed
itself, we have no hesitancy in asserting that man himself is of
the same antiquity as the strata containing the implements. In
the great majority of cases, this is the only kind of evidence
possible to advance.

It is now well known that the first stage in the culture of any
people, is what is called the Stone Age. That is to say, their
weapons and implements were made from stone, or at least the
majority of them were. We will discuss on another page this
point, and also the grounds leading us to infer that many of the
extremely rude forms are really the work of man.

Let us now return to the Miocene Age, in which we are to seek for
the presence of man. In 1867 a French geologist, by the name of
Bourgeois, who had been searching some beds of the Miocene Age,
near Thenay, France, found a number of flints of such a peculiar
shape, that he concluded they could only be explained by
supposing that man formed them. In this case there is to question
as to the age of the stratum containing the flints. All
geologists are agreed that it is of the Miocene Age. The question
then is, whether the flints were artificially cut or not. On this
question there has been a great division of opinion, and we can
not do better than to examine and see where the Principal
scientific men stand on this point.

In 1872, at the scientific congress in Brussels, this question
was referred to a committee composed of the most competent men
from the different countries of Europe. We are sorry to say that,
after a thorough consideration of them, the judges were unable to
agree. Some accepted them, others rejected them, and still others
were undecided. Some of the latter have since become convinced by
recent discoveries.45

Since this discovery, similar specimens have been described as
having been found in Portugal, and from another locality in
France. Some men of the highest authority accept these flints as
proving the presence of man in Miocene times. This is supported
by such men as Quatrefages, Hamy, Mortillet, and Capellini.46
These are all known to be competent and careful geologists.
Another class does not think the evidence strong enough to
declare these flints of human origin, and so do not think it
proved that man lived in Europe in Miocene times; but do believe
that we will eventually find proofs of his existence during that
era in the warm and tropical regions of the globe. This is the
view of such men as Lubbock, Evans, Huxley, and Winchell. Still
others say that, during the vast lapse of years since Miocene
times, all the species of land mammals then alive have
perished47—their place being taken by other species—and therefore
it is incredible that man, the most highly specialized of all
animals, should have survived. And hence, if these Thenay flints
are really artificial in their origin, it is more reasonable to
suppose they were cut by one of the higher apes, then living in
France, than by man. This is the view of Prof. Dawkins and Prof.
Gaudry.48 As to the last view, it is surely but reasonable to
suppose, with Quatrefages,49 that the superior intelligence of
man would serve to protect him from the operation of causes that
would effect the extinction of lower animals. Hence, unless some
evidence be produced to show that species of apes are known to
make rude stone implements, or some evidence that they did this
in past ages, we must believe, with Geikie and others, that these
flints prove that Miocene man lived in France, unless indeed we
refuse to believe that they are artificial.

It also seems to us that those who hold to the view that man was
living in other parts of the world, as Asia, during the Miocene
Age, ought readily to admit that a few wandering bands might
penetrate into Europe.50 The climate was tropical, there was an
abundance of animal life, and, if man was living anywhere, it is
very reasonable to suppose that, at some epoch during the course
of the Miocene Age, he would have found his way to Europe, unless
shut off by the sea. It therefore seems to us that the presence
of those cut flints is conclusive of the presence of man in
Europe during the Miocene Age. At the same time we can not affirm
that this is the conclusion of the scientific world. They seem to
have heeded the remark of Quatrefages, that “in such a matter
there is no great urgency,” and are waiting for further
discoveries.

Thus far in our review we have noticed the steady progress in the
forms of life. In the Miocene Age we have seen all the types of
life below man present, and some indications of the presence of
man himself. We must now learn what we can of the Pliocene Age,
the last division of the Tertiary Age.

The Pliocene Age need not detain us long. Considerable changes in
the geography of both Europe and America were going forward
during the Miocene Age, and the result was quite a change in
climate. There was a steady elevation of the Pacific coast region
of America, and, as a consequences a period of great volcanic
outbursts in California and Oregon.51 At the same time the bridge
connecting Asia and America was severed.52 In Europe the
Mediterranean area was elevated; but the land connecting
Greenland with Europe sank, allowing the cold waters of the
Arctic to communicate with both the North Sea and the
Atlantic—England at that time forming part of the great peninsula
extending north and west from Europe.53 The climate during the
Pliocene Age was cooler than that of the Miocene. This is marked
in the vegetation of that period. The palms and the cinnamon
trees, which in Miocene times grew in Germany, flourished no
farther north than Italy during the Pliocene.54

Count DeSaporta, who made special researches in the flora of this
period, found the remains of a forest growth buried under lava on
the side of a mountain in Cantal France, at an elevation of about
four thousand feet above the level of the sea. This consisted
principally of pines. This shows that probably all Northern
Europe was covered with somber forests of pine. In the same
section he found, buried under volcanic ash, a vegetation
consisting mostly of deciduous trees—maples, alders, poplars,
willows, elms, and ashes. As this was growing at the height Of
about twenty-three hundred feet in Cantal France, it probably
represents the vegetation of Britain and Northern Germany.
Finally, the vegetation of Central and Southern France, as well
as Northern Italy, was intermediate in character between the
luxuriant evergreen forests of the Miocene Age and that now
growing there. The tropical character of the vegetation was
evidently passing away. The climate over a large part of Europe
was now temperate, though probably warmer than at present.55

In the Mammalia we have to notice the disappearance of some
species, and the arrival and spread of some others. The apes
living as far north as Germany in the Miocene Age were restricted
to Southern France and Italy in the Pliocene, and, at its close,
vanished altogether from Europe. The first living species of
mammals is found in the remains of the hippopotamus that
frequented the rivers of Pliocene times. The mastodon of Miocene
times was still to be seen, but along with it was a species of
true elephants. The hipparion survived into this epoch, but the
horse also makes its appearance. Great quantities of deer roamed
over the land; and, as might be expected where they were so
abundant, the carnivorous animals allied to the bears and wolves,
panthers, linxes, and tigers, were also to be found. “At night,”
says Mr. Dawkins, “the Pliocene forests of Central France echoed
with the weird laughter of the hyena.”

The gradual lowering of the climate is also shown by the remains
of the mollusks deposited in beds of marine or sea formation
during different eras of this age. It is found that the earlier
the bed, the more southern mollusks are found in it. This shows
us that, all through the Pliocene Age, the waters of the seas
surrounding England were gradually growing cooler, thus
compelling the retreat of those mollusks fitted only for a warm
climate, and allowing a gradual increase in those species fitted
for cold or northern latitudes. We also find, in deposits made
near the close of Pliocene times, numbers of stone which show all
evidence of having been borne thither by means of ice. So we may
conclude that rafts of ice came floating down the North Sea
during the closing period of the Pliocene Age.56 Still, during
the entire length of the Pliocene Age, Europe certainly offered
an inviting home for man. Not only were the higher orders of
animals present, but at least one living species was known. We
find more proofs of his presence, but whether they are sufficient
to convince us that man really lived during that epoch is to be
seen.

Prof. Whitney has brought to the attention of the scientific
world what he considers ample evidence of the presence of
Pliocene man in California. We reserve this for discussion in
another place. We will only remark, at present, that the evidence
in this case is regarded as sufficient by some of the best of
American Scholars.57 We simply mention them here, so that they
may be borne in mind when we see what evidence Europe has to
offer on this point. In 1863, M. Desnoyers, of France,
discovered, in a stratum which he considered Pliocene, some bones
of elephants and other animals cut and scratched in such a manner
that he considered the cuts to be the work of man. As showing how
cautious geologists are of accepting such conclusions, we mention
this case. There was found in the same bed the remains of an
extinct beaver. The question was at once raised, whether rodents
by gnawing these bones could not have produced the cuts in
question. Sir Charles Lyell, by actual experiments in the
Zoological Gardens in London, soon showed that this was probably
the fact.58 Yet Sir John Lubbock thinks it quite likely some of
them were of human origin.59 Subsequently, however, M. Bourgeois
discovered in the same bed worked flints, about the human origin
of which there seems to be no doubt;60 but a more careful study
of the formation in which they occur has raised questions as to
its age. Though usually held to be Pliocene, some careful
observers consider it to be of a later age. Geologists can not be
accused of rashly accepting statements as to the antiquity of
man.

In 1867 there was discovered, in Northern Italy, a human skull in
a railway cutting at a depth of nearly fifty feet. This stratum
contains remains of several Pliocene animals. This is held to
prove the existence of Pliocene man by several eminent observers,
amongst others Prof. Cocchi, of Italy, and Forsyth Major.61 But
in this case Mr. Dawkins contends that it was not found under
such conditions as render it certain that the stratum had been
undisturbed, and so does not prove to a certainty that it was of
the same age as the stratum.62 And Mr. Geikie thinks that the
stratum itself is of a later age than the Pliocene.63 It is but
right that geologists should thus carefully scan all the evidence
produced.

Cut on Bones of a Whale from Pliocene Deposit.

In 1876 Prof. Capellini discovered, in a Pliocene deposit in
Italy, the bones of a whale, which were so marked with cuts and
incisions that he thought the only explanation was to say they
had been cut by men. In this case64 there is no dispute as to the
age of the stratum. Neither is there much doubt but that the cuts
are the work of man. It is quite true that Mr. Evans has
suggested that they may be the work of fishes. In this he is
followed by Prof. Winchell.65 But there appears to be little
ground for such belief, because the cuts are all on the outside
faces of rib-bones, and the outer faces of the backbones. From
the position occupied by the remaining portions of the skeleton,
Prof. Capellini is sure that the animal had run aground, and, in
that condition, was discovered and killed by men, who then, by
means of flint knives, cut away such portions of food as they
wished. It must have been lying on its left side, since the cuts
were all made on bones of the right.66 It is not probable that
fishes would have been apt to choose the outside faces of the
ribs on the right side for their meals. These cut bones have been
carefully examined by many competent men, who have agreed with
Capellini that they are the work of men.67 Mr. Dawkins thinks the
cuts were artificial, but he says, “It is not, however, to my
mind satisfactorily shown that these were obtained from
undisturbed strata.”68 Now these bones have been found in several
localities, always in Pliocene deposits, which formed the shores
of the Pliocene sea.69 Knowing how carefully geologists inquire
into all the surroundings of a find, surely, if Capellini and
others are the competent men they are admitted to be, they would
have informed us long ago if they were not found in undisturbed
strata.

Mr. Dawkins also objects because fragments of pottery were found
in the strata. “Pottery,” says he, “was unknown in the
Pleistocene Age,70 and therefore is unlikely to have been found
in the Pliocene.”71 Mr. Geikie says this objection is founded on
a mistake, as Prof. Capellini told him the pottery was found
lying on the surface, and was never for a moment imagined by him
as belonging to the same age as the cut bones.72 There is also
the objection, that, inasmuch as all the mammals then alive
except one have perished, it is more than likely that, had man
been in existence then, he too would have disappeared.

We considered this point fully when speculating as to the
presence of man in the Miocene: so we have nothing further to
offer. We might, however, suggest that, if the hippopotamus
amongst mammals could survive all the changing time since the
Pliocene, as it has done, it seems no more than fair to admit
equal power of endurance to the human species. The position then
of the scientific world as to the Pliocene Age of man is, on the
whole, more decided in its favor than for the Miocene Age. Quite
a number of eminent scholars, whose conclusions are worthy of all
respect, unhesitatingly affirm the existence of Pliocene man in
Europe. Others are not quite ready to admit his existence in
Europe, but do think he was in existence elsewhere. Still others,
with all due respect for the discoveries of Capellini, think it
more prudent to await further discoveries. The reader, who has
followed us through this brief outline of the past, can join
which of the classes he will, and be sure of finding himself in
good company.

This completes our review of past geological ages. With the
termination of the Pliocene Age we find ourselves on firmer
ground. We only wish to call attention once more to the gradual
unfolding of life. We see that the rule has been that everywhere
the lower forms of life precede the higher. In the plant world
flowerless plants precede the flowering ones. The coal we burn
to-day is mainly the remains of the wonderful growth of the
flowerless vegetation of the Paleozoic Ace. When flowering plants
appear, it is the lower forms of them at first.

It was long ages before trees with deciduous leaves appeared. The
growth of animal life is equally instructive. First invertebrate
life, then the lowest forms of vertebrate life. The fishes are
followed by amphibians—then reptiles, then birds. The first
mammal to appear was the lowest organized of all—the marsupials.
And we have seen the sudden increase of mammalian life in
Tertiary times. We notice, in all the divisions of life, a
beginning, a culmination, and a decline. There has never been
such a growth of flowerless plants as in the Paleozoic, and
flowering plants probably culminated in the Miocene. The same
rule holds good for the animal world also. As man is the most
highly organized of all the animals, we can not hope to find any
evidence of his presence until we find proofs of the presence of
all the lower types of life. Of course future discoveries may
change our knowledge when the series is complete; but, from our
present stand-point, he could not have lived before the Miocene
Age, and we have seen how faint and indecisive are the proofs of
his presence even then. But should it finally be proved, beyond
all dispute, that man did live in the Miocene Age, we must
observe that this is but a small portion, but a minute fraction,
of the great lapse of time since life appeared on the globe. We
are a creation of but yesterday, even granting all that the most
enthusiastic believer in the antiquity of man can claim.

The Mastodon.
REFERENCES

The manuscript of this chapter was submitted to Prof. Winchell,
of the University of Michigan, for criticism.

Dana’s “Manual of Geology,” p. 146.

Ibid. p. 147.

Nicholson’s “Manual of Zoology,” p. 59.

Dana’s “Manual of Geology,” p. 74.

Nicholson’s “Manual of Zoology,” p. 42.

Dana’s “Manual of Geology,” p. 323.

Nicholson’s “Zoology,” p. 402.

Dana’s “Geology,” p. 302.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 6.

Dana’s “Geology,” p. 382.

Haywood’s, Heer’s, “Primeval World of Switzerland.”

Dana’s “Man. Geology,” p.395.

Nicholson’s “Man. Zoology,” p.42.

Marsh: “American Assoc. Rep.,” 1877.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 6.

Nicholson’s “Manual of Zoology,” pp. 419 and 504.

When we talk of first appearance, we mean the discovery of
remains. All who believe in the doctrine of evolution, know
that the class Mammalia must have appeared early in Paleozoic
times. Thus, Mr. Wallace says, “Bats and whales—strange
modifications of mammals—appear perfectly well developed in the
Eocene. What countless ages back must we go for the origin of
these groups—the whales from some ancestral carnivorous animal,
the bats from the insectivora!” and even then we have to seek
for the common origin of these groups at far earlier periods.
“So that, on the lowest estimate, we must place the origin of
the Mammalia very far back in Paleozoic times.” (“Island Life,”
p. 201.)

This word is also spelled Kainozoic, and Cainozoic. We follow
Dana, p. 140.

Dana, “Manual of Geology,” p. 488.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 28.

Many of these animal forms were common during the early Eocene.
(Winchell.)

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 29.

Dana, “Geology,” p. 517.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 32.

Marsh. “American Assoc. Rep.,” 1877.

Haywood’s Heer’s “Primeval World of Switzerland,” p. 296.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 20.

Ibid., p. 43.

Dana’s “Manual of Geology,” p. 498.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 42.

Dana’s “Manual of Geology,” p. 514.

Haywood’s Heer’s “Primeval World of Switzerland,” p. 334.

Haywood’s Heer’s “Primeval World of Switzerland.”

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” pp. 57 and 64.

Ibid., p. 57: also, Haywood’s Heer’s “Primeval World of
Switzerland.”

Nicholson’s “Manual of Zoology,” p. 605.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 58.

Ibid. 58.

McLean: “Mastodon, Mammoth, and Man,” p. 67.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Europe,” p. 66.

See “Outline,” p. 41.

Lyell’s “Antiquity of Man,” p. 193.

Quatrefages’s “Human Species,” p. 151.

Prof. Winchell says: “Quatrefages does not now consider the
proof decisive (_Hommes Fossiles et Hommes Sauvages,_ Paris,
1884, p. 95).” He cites, as agreeing with him, MM. Cotteau,
Evans, “and, I believe, most of the members who have not
publicly pronounced themselves.”

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 67.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 68.

“Human Species,” p. 152.

Prof. Winchell remarks that, though some savage races might
have been living in tropical lands during the Miocene, still
the oldest skull and jaws obtainable in Europe are of a higher
type than these.

Dana’s “Manual of Geology,” p. 523.

Marsh: “American Assoc. Rep.,” 1877.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 73.

Ibid., p. 78.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 77.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 76.

Winchell’s “Pre-Adamites,” Whitney’s “Auriferous Gravels of
California,” Marsh’s “Address before American Assoc.,” 1879.

“Antiquity of Man,” p. 234.

“Prehistoric Times,” p. 433.

Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” p. 343.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain.”

Ibid.

“Prehistoric Europe,” p. 318.

Quatrefages’s “Hum. Species,” p. 150; Geikie’s “Prehistoric
Eur.,” p. 345.

“Pre-Adamites.”

Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” p. 344.

Ibid.

“Early Man in Britain,” p. 92.

Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” p. 344.

Same as Glacial. See “Outline,” p. 41.

“Early Man in Britain,” p. 92.

“Prehistoric Europe,” p. 345, note 2.

Chapter III
MEN OF THE RIVER DRIFT.1

Beginning of the Glacial Age—Inter-glacial Age—Man living in
Europe during this age—Map of Europe—Proof of former elevation of
land—The animals living in Europe during this age—Conclusions
drawn from these different animals—The vegetation of this
period—Different climatic conditions of Europe during the Glacial
Age—Proofs of a Glacial Age—Extent of the Glacial Ice—Evidence of
warm Inter-glacial Age—The primitive state of man—Early English
civilization—Views of Horace—Primitive man destitute of
metals—Order in which different materials were used by man for
weapons—Evidence, from the River Somme—History of Boucher de
Perthes’s investigations—Discussion of the subject—Antiquity of
these remains—Improvement during Paleolithic Age—Description of
the flint implements—Other countries where these implements are
found—What race of men were these tribes—The Canstadt race—Mr.
Dawkins’s views—When did they first appear in Europe—The
authorities on this question—Conclusion.

The tertiary age, with its wonderful wealth of animal and plant
life, gradually drew to its close. In our “Outline” we have named
the period that next ensued the Glacial Age.2 This was
sufficiently exact for our purpose then, but we must remember
this is the name3 for a long series of years. During this period
great changes in climate occurred. At its commencement, a genial
temperate climate prevailed throughout Europe; and this, as we
know, was preceded, during the Miocene Age, by a warm tropical
one.4 This succession, then, shows us that, for some reason or
other, the climate had been gradually growing colder. This change
went forward uninterruptedly. Doubtless very gradually, from
century to century, the seasons grew more and more severe, until,
finally, the Summer’s sun no longer cleared the mountains of the
Winter’s snow. This was the beginning of the Glacial Age proper.

The best authorities also suppose that the reign of snow and ice
was broken by at least one return (possibly more) of genial
climate, when animals and plants from the south again visited the
countries of Northern Europe—only, however, to be once more
driven forth by a return of arctic cold. But finally, before the
increasing warmth of a genial Climate, the glaciers vanished, not
to return again, and the Glacial Age became merged in that of the
present.

It is no longer a question that man lived in Europe during the
largest portion of this age, if not from the beginning. It is
necessary, then, to come to a clear understanding of the
successive stages of this entire age, and to trace the wonderful
cycles of climate—the strange mutation of heat and cold, which
must have exerted a powerful influence on the life, both animal
and vegetable, of the period—and see when we first find decisive
proofs of man’s presence, and learn what we can of his condition.

The map of Europe, at the close of Pliocene times and the
commencement of the Glacial Age, is of interest to us in several
ways. From this it will be seen that it was considerably more
elevated than at the present. As this is no fancy sketch, but is
based on facts, it is well to outline them. Without the aid of
man, land animals can not possibly pass from the mainland of a
continent to an island lying some distance off the shore. But it
is well known that animals like the rhinoceros, and several
others, wandered as well over the surface of the British Islands
as on the adjacent coast of Europe. We are therefore compelled to
assume, that at that time the English Channel and the Irish Sea
were not in existence. This necessitates an elevation of at least
four hundred feet, which would also lay bare a large portion of
the North Sea.5 In proof of this latter statement is the fact,
that, at a distance from land in the North Sea, fishermen at the
present day frequently dredge up bones and teeth of animals that
then roamed in Europe.6

Map of Europe.

While there is no necessity for supposing an elevation greater
than that required to lay bare a passage for animals back and
forth, yet soundings undertaken by the British government have
established the fact, that the ocean deepens very gradually away
from the shores of the main-land until a depth of six hundred
feet is reached, when the shore falls away very suddenly. This is
supposed to be the sea-coast of that time. The English Channel
would then have existed as the valley of the Seine, and the Rhine
have prolonged its flow over the present bed of the North Sea. As
the land stood at this height through a large portion of the
Glacial Age, it is not at all unreasonable to suppose that
primitive tribes hunted back and forth along these valleys, and
so doubtless many convincing proofs of their presence at that
early day lie buried underneath the waves of the sea. In like
manner, at the south, we know that elephants, lions, and hyenas
passed freely from Africa to Spain, Italy, and the Island of
Crete,7 and, consequently, the Mediterranean Sea must have been
bridged in one or two places at least.8

The change from Pliocene times to early Glacial was so gradual
that quite a number of animals lived on from one to the other,
and, as we have already stated, one of these species has even
survived to our own times.9

But we note the arrival in Europe of a great number of new
animals, and the diversity of species seems at first an
inexplicable riddle. The key, however, is to be found in the
great climatic changes, which we have already mentioned as
occurring during this age. On the one hand, we find such animals
as the musk-sheep, reindeer, and arctic fox, animals whose
natural home is in high northern latitudes, where snow and ice
prevail most of the year.10 Yet during this age they lived in
Southern France and Italy, which must then have had a far
different climate than that at present.

Were we to confine our attention to these alone we would be
convinced that the climate of Europe at that time was arctic in
its severity. But side by side with the remains of these animals
are found others which imply an altogether different climate. The
hippopotamus, now frequenting the rivers of Africa, during that
period roamed as far north as Yorkshire, England.11 This animal
could not live in a country where the cold was severe enough to
form ice on the rivers. The remains of a number of other animals
are found whose natural home is in the warm regions of the
earth.12 These two groups of animals, one from the north and one
from the south, show how varied was the climate of Europe during
the Glacial Age.

In addition to these, there was also a large number of animals
whose home is in the temperate regions of the earth—animals that
thrive in neither extremes of heat and cold. This includes a
great many animals of the deer kind, several varieties of bears
and horses; in fact, the majority of those with which we are
acquainted.13

Now, what conclusion follows from this assemblage of animals?
Many theories have been put forward in explanation. It has been
suggested that Europe at that time had a climate not unlike that
of some portions of the earth at present; that is, a long and
severe Winter was followed by a short but warm Summer. During the
Winter reindeer and other northern animals would press from the
north in search of food, but would retire on the approach of
Spring, when their feeding grounds would in turn be occupied by
bisons and animals of a southern habitat. In confirmation of this
view it is pointed out that a vast collection of bones, from the
bottom of a sink-hole or pond in Derbyshire, England,
conclusively show that in the summer-time it was visited by
bisons with their calves, and in Winter by reindeer.14 This
theory is open to a great many objections. As is well known, some
animals make quite extensive migrations annually, but we can
scarcely believe that heavy, unwieldy animals like the
hippopotamus, were then such industrious travelers as to wander
every year from Italy to Northern England and return.15 But the
very ground on which this theory rests, that of strongly
contrasted summers and winters, could not be true of Europe or
the western portions of it, owing to the presence of the Atlantic
Ocean, and the influence which it inevitably exerts on the
climate.16 We see, then, that the presence of these different
animals can be explained only by supposing great secular changes
in climate. Let us see if we can strengthen this view by an
appeal to the vegetation of this period.

We have seen how important a guide as to climate were the remains
of the vegetation of the early times. We therefore turn with more
confidence to such discoveries as will tell us of the flora of
this age. But there are many reasons why remains of plant growth
should be few. As we shall soon learn, this was a period of
flooded rivers; and in the gravels and loams thus formed is found
our principal source of information as to the life of the age.
But such a rush of waters would form gravelly banks or great beds
of loam, and would sweep any plants which might be washed into
its floods far out to sea; or if by chance they should become
buried in such gravel beds, the action of water would speedily
cause the decay of the tender portions, such as leaves, bark, and
soft wood, in which case no profitable investigation could be
made. Occasionally, however, around the shores of old lakes,
vegetable beds have been buried, and we know that some mineral
springs deposit a sort of protecting sediment on every thing with
which they come in contact. By such means, at rare intervals,
leaves, seeds, and fruits have been sealed up for future
inspection, and from a careful study of all such instances much
valuable information has been obtained. At one place in the
valley of the Seine was discovered, under a bed of tufa, the
remains of a forest growth. It is not doubted that the deposit
belongs to the Glacial Age.17

Yet the forest growth reminds us of that prevalent during the
Miocene Age. The fig-tree, canary, laurel, and box-tree grew in
profusion. These are all southern forms. One severe winter would
kill them all, and even hard frosts would prevent the ripening of
their fruits.

Neither were the Summers hot and dry. This is shown by the
presence of numerous plants which can not thrive in hot and dry
localities, but live in the shady woods of Northern France and
Germany. The evidence of this forest growth surely presents us an
inviting picture of Europe during a portion of the Glacial Age.

We are not without evidence, also, of a much more severe climate.
In a lignite bed (a species of coal) found in nearly the same
latitude as the forest growth just mentioned, we detect the
presence of trees that grow only in cold northern climates, such
as birch, mountain pine, larch, and spruce.18 And in some
peat-bogs of Southern Europe belonging to this age19 are found
willows now growing only in Spitzbergen, and some species of
mosses that only thrive far to the north. It is quite evident
that this deposit testifies to an altogether different climate
from that indicated by the deposit before mentioned. No theory of
migration can explain this assemblage of plants, unless it be
migration taking place very slowly, in consequence of an equally
slow change of climate.

From what we have just learned of the animals and plants living
in Europe during this age, we can frame some conception of the
different climatic conditions of Europe. On the one hand, we have
a country with a mild and genial climate. Trees of a warm
latitude were then growing as far north as Paris, and we may well
suppose Europe to have abounded in shady forests and grassy
plains, through which flowed large rivers. It was just such a
country as that in which elephants and southern animals would
flourish, while vast herds of deer and bovine animals wandered
over the entire length and breadth of the land. Where animal life
was so abundant there were sure to be carnivorous animals also,
and lions, hyenas, tigers, and other animals added to the variety
of animal life.

This, however, is but one side of the picture. The other presents
us with a very different scene; instead of an abundant forest
growth, the land supported only dwarf birch, arctic willows, and
stunted mosses. Arctic animals, such as musk-sheep and reindeer,
lived all the year around in Southern France. The woolly mammoth
lived in Spain and Italy. In short, the climate and conditions of
life were vastly different in the two stages.

We must now turn our attention to the proofs of glaciers in
Europe, the phenomena from which this age derives its name.
Descriptions of Alpine glaciers are common enough, but as
glaciers and the Glacial Age have a great deal to do with the
antiquity of man, we can not do better than to learn what we can
of their formation, and their wonderful extension during this
period. The school-boy knows that by pressure he gives his
snowball nearly the hardness of ice. He could make it really ice
if he possessed sufficient strength. The fact is, then, that snow
under the influence of pressure passes into the form of ice. In
some cases nature does this on a large scale. Where mountains are
sufficiently elevated to raise their heads above the snow line we
know they are white all the year around with snow. What is not
blown away, evaporated, or, as an avalanche, precipitated to
lower heights, must accumulate from year to year. But the weight
pressing on the lower portions of this snow-field must soon be
considerable, and at length become so great, that the snow
changes to the form of ice. But as ice it is no longer fixed and
immovable. We need not stop to explain just how this ice-field
moves, but the fact is that, though moving very slowly, it acts
like a liquid body. It will steal away over any incline however
small, down which water would flow. Like a river it fills the
valleys leading down from the mountains. But, of course, the
lower down it flows the higher the temperature it meets, and it
will sooner or later reach a point where it will melt as fast as
it advances. This stream of ice flowing down from snow-clad
mountains is called a glacier. Those we are best acquainted with
are but puny things compared with those of the polar regions,
where in one case a great river of ice sixty miles wide, flowing
from an unknown distance, some thousands of feet in depth (or
height), pours out into the sea.20

We at once perceive that such a mass of ice could not pour down a
valley without leaving unmistakable signs of its passage. The
sides of the mountains would be deeply scarred and smoothed.
Projecting knobs would be worn away. The surface of the valley,
exposed to the enormous grinding power of the moving ice, would
be crushed, pulverized, and dragged along with it. Pieces of
stone, like that here represented, would form part of this moving
_débris,_ and as they were crowded along they would now and then
grate over another piece of stone more firmly seated, and so
their surface would be deeply scratched in the direction of their
greatest length. There is always more or less water circulating
under the Alpine glaciers, and the streams that flow from them
are always very muddy, containing, as they do, quantities of
crushed rock, sand, and clay.

Scratched Stone.

If, for any reason, this earthy matter was not washed out it
would form a bed of hard clay, in places packed with these
striated stones. Such beds of clay are known as “till” or bowlder
clay.21

This is descriptive, though in a very general way, of the
glaciers as they exist to-day. Geologists have long been aware of
the fact that they have convincing proofs of the former presence
of glaciers in Northern Europe, where now the climate is mild.
The mountains of Scotland and Wales show as distinct traces of
glaciers as do those of the Alps. It is not necessary, in this
hasty sketch, to enumerate the many grounds on which this
conclusion rests. It is sufficient to state that by the united
labors of many investigators in that field we are in possession
of many conclusions relating to the great glaciers of this age
which almost surpass belief; and yet they are the results of
careful deductions. The former presence of this ice sheet itself
is shown in a most conclusive manner by the bowlder clay formed
underneath the great glacier, containing abundant examples of
stone showing by their scratched surface that they have been
ground along underneath the glacier. The rocks on the sides of
the mountains are scratched exactly as are those in the Alps. By
observing how high up on the mountains the striæ are, we know the
thickness of the ice-sheet; and the direction in which it moved
is shown in several ways.22

Briefly, then, the geologist assures us that when the cold of the
Glacial Age was at its maximum glaciers streamed down from all
the mountains of Scotland, Wales, and Northern England; that the
ice was thick enough to overtop all the smaller hills, and on the
plains it united in one great sea of ice some thousands of feet
in thickness, that it stretched as far south as the latitude of
London, England. But that to the west the ice streamed out
across, the Irish Sea, the islands to the west of Scotland, and
ended far out into what is now the Atlantic.23 But these
glaciers, vast as they were, were very small compared with the
glaciers that streamed out from the mountains of Norway and
Sweden. These great glaciers invaded England to the south-west,
beat back the glacier ice of Scotland from the floor of the North
Sea, overran Denmark, and spread their mantle of bowlder clay far
south into Germany.24

While such was the condition of things to the north, the glaciers
of the Alps were many times greater than at present. All the
valleys were filled with glacier ice, and they spread far out on
the plains of Southern Germany and westward into France. The
mountains of Southern France and the Pyrenees also supported
their separate system of glaciers. Ice also descended from the
mountains of Asia Minor and North Africa.25 In America we meet
with traces of glaciers on a vast scale; but we can not pause to
describe them here.26

It need not surprise us, therefore, to learn of reindeer and
musk-sheep feeding on stunted herbage in what now constitutes
Southern France. When a continuous mantle of snow and ice cloaked
all Northern Europe, it is not at all surprising to find evidence
of an extremely cold climate prevailing throughout its southern
borders. We thus see how one piece of evidence fits into another,
and therefore we may, with some confidence, endeavor to find
proofs of more genial conditions when the snow and ice
disappeared, and a more luxuriant vegetation possessed the land,
and animals accustomed to warm and even tropical countries roamed
over a large extent of European territory. In Switzerland it was
long ago pointed out that after the ancient glaciers had for a
long time occupied the low grounds of that country they, for some
cause, retreated to the mountain valleys, and allowed streams and
rivers to work over the _débris_ left behind them. At Wetzikon
most interesting conclusions have been drawn. We there learn
that, after the retreat of the glaciers, a lake occupied the
place, which in course of time became filled with peat, and that
subsequently the peat was transformed into lignite. To judge from
the remains of animals and plants, the climate must have been at
least as warm as that at present; and this condition of things
must have prevailed over a period of some thousands of years to
explain the thick deposits of peat, from which originated the
lignites.27

But we also know that this period came to an end, and that once
more the ice descended. This is shown by the fact that directly
overlying the lignite beds are alternating layers of sand and
gravel, and, resting on these, glacier-born bowlders. The same
conclusion follows from the discoveries made at many other
places.

In Scotland it is well known that the bowlder clay contains every
now and then scattered patches of peat and beds of soil either
deposited in lakes or rivers. The only explanation that can be
given for their presence is that they represent old land
surfaces; that is, when the land was freed from ice, and
vegetation had again clothed it in a mantle of green. In this cut
is shown one of these beds. Both above and below are the beds of
bowlder clay. The peat in the centre varies from an inch to a
foot and a half in thickness, and contains many fragments of
wood, sticks, roots, etc.; and of animals, numerous beetles were
found, one kind of which frequents only places where deer and
ruminant animals abound.

Interglacial Bed.

From a large number of such discoveries it is conclusively shown
that, after all, Scotland was smothered under one enormous
glacier, a change of climate occurred, and the ice melted away.
Then Scotland enjoyed a climate capable of nourishing sufficient
vegetation to induce mammoths, Irish deer, horses, and great oxen
to occupy the land. But the upper bowlder clay no less
conclusively shows that once more the climate became cold, and
ice overflowed all the lowlands and buried under a new
accumulation of bowlder clay such parts of the old land surface
as it did not erode. Substantially the same set of changes are
observed in English and German geology.28

Having thus given an outline of the climatic changes which took
place in Europe during the Glacial Age, and the grounds on which
these strange conclusions rest, we must now turn our attention to
the appearance of man.

The uncertainties which hung over his presence in the earlier
periods, spoken of in the former chapter, do not apply to the
proofs of his presence during this age, though it is far from
settled at what particular portion of the Glacial Age he came
into Europe. We must remember we are to investigate the past, and
to awaken an interest in the history of a people who trod this
earth in ages long ago. The evidence on which we establish a
history of the early tribes of Europe is necessarily fragmentary,
but still a portion here and a piece there are found to form one
whole, and enable us to form quite a vivid conception of manners
and times now very far remote.

It is not claimed that we have surmounted every difficulty—on the
contrary, there is yet much to be deciphered; but, in some
respects, we are now better acquainted with these shadowy tribes
of early times than with those whose history has been recorded by
the historian’s facile pen. He has given us a record of blood. He
acquaints us with the march of vast armies, tells us of pillaged
cities, and gives us the names of a long roll of titled kings;
but, unfortunately, we know little of the home life, the
occupation, or of those little things which make up the culture
of a people. But the knowledge of primitive tribes, gathered from
the scanty remains of their implements, from a thorough
exploration of their cavern homes, has made us acquainted with
much of their home life and surroundings: and we are not entirely
ignorant as to such topics as their trade, government, and
religion. We must not forget that this is a knowledge of tribes
and peoples who lived here in times immeasurably ancient as
compared with those in existence at the very dawn of history.

We must try and form a mental picture of what was probably the
primitive state of man; and a little judicious reasoning from
known facts will do much for us in this direction. Some writers
have contended that the first condition of man was that of
pleasing innocence, combined with a high degree of enlightenment,
which, owing to the wickedness of mankind, he gradually lost.
This ideal picture, however consonant with our wishes, must not
only give way before the mass of information now at our command,
but has really no foundation in reason; “or, at any rate, if this
primitive condition of innocence and enlightenment ever existed,
it must have disappeared at a period preceding the present
archæological investigations.”29 Nothing is plainer than that our
present civilization has been developed from barbarism, as that
was from savagism.30 We need go back but a few centuries in the
history of any nation, before we find them emerging from a state
of barbarism. The energy and intelligence of the Anglo-Saxon has
spread his language to the four corners of the globe; he has
converted the wilderness into fruitful fields, and reared cities
in desert lands: yet his history strikingly illustrates our
point. A century back, and we are already in a strange land. The
prominent points of present civilization were yet unthought of.
No bands of iron united distant cities; no nerves of wire flashed
electric speech. The wealth of that day could not buy many
articles conducive of comfort, such as now grace the homes of the
poor. The contrast is still more apparent when we recall another
of the countless centuries of the past. England, with Europe, was
but just awakening to modern life. Printing had but just been
invented. Great discoveries had been made, and mankind was but
just beginning those first feeble efforts which were to bring to
us our modern comforts. But a millennium of years ago, and the
foundation of English civilization had but just been laid by the
union of the rude Germanic tribes of the Saxons and the Angles.
Similar results attend the ultimate analysis of any civilization.
It was but yesterday that wandering hordes, bound together by the
loose cohesion of tribal organization, and possessing but the
germ of modern enlightenment, held sway in what is now the
fairest portion of the world: and we, the descendants of these
rude people, must reflect that the end is not yet—that the onward
march of progress is one of ever hastening steps—and that, in all
human probability, the sun of a thousand years hence will shine
on a people whose civilization will be as superior to ours as the
light of day exceeds the mellow glow of a moon-lit night.

If such are the changes of but a few centuries, what must we not
consider the changes to have been during the countless ages that
have sped away since man first appeared on the scene! The early
Greek and Roman writers were much nearer right when they
considered primitive man to have been but a slight degree removed
from the brute world. Horace thus expresses himself: “When
animals first crept forth from the newly formed earth, a dumb and
filthy herd, they fought for acorns and lurking places —with
their nails, and with fists—then with clubs—and at last with
arms, which, taught by experience, they had forged. They then
invented names for things, and words to express their thoughts;
after which they began to desist from war, to fortify cities, and
enact laws.” The learning of modern times leads to much the same
conclusion.

It is evident that primitive man must have been destitute of
metals; for it requires a great deal of knowledge and experience
to extract metals from their ores. In the eyes of savages, the
various metallic ores are simply so many varieties of stone— much
less valuable for his purposes than flint, or some other
varieties. We know it to be historically true, that a great many
nations have been discovered utterly destitute of any knowledge
of metals.

When we reflect how much of our present enlightenment is due to
the use of metals, we can readily see that their discovery marks
a most important epoch in the history of man. There is, then,
every reason to suppose that stone was a most important article
for primitive man. It was the material with which he fought his
battle for existence, and we need not be surprised that its use
extended through an enormously long period of time. Not only was
primitive man thus low down in the scale, but of necessity his
progress must have been very slow.

The time during which men were utterly destitute of a knowledge
of metals, far exceeds the interval that has elapsed since that
important discovery.31 Scholars divide the stone age into two
parts. In the first, the stone implements, are very few, of
simple shapes, and in the main formed of but one variety of
stone—generally flint~-and they were never polished. In the
second division, we meet with a great many different implements,
each adapted to a different purpose. Different varieties of stone
were employed, and they also made use of bone, shell, and wood,
which were often beautifully polished.

From what we have learned of the development of primitive
society, it will not surprise us to learn that the first division
of the age of stone comprises a vastly greater portion of time,
and is far more ancient, than the second. We will give an outline
showing the order of use of different materials; but it is here
necessary to remark that Bronze was the first metal that man
learned to use, and Iron the second.

ORDER IN WHICH DIFFERENT MATERIALS WERE USED FOR WEAPONS AND
IMPLEMENTS BY PRIMITIVE MAN.

Age of Stone.
Rough, or Old Stone Age
Paleolithic

Polished, or New Stone Age
Neolithic

Age of Metals.
Bronze Age. Iron Age.

In this outline the words Paleolithic and Neolithic are the
scientific terms for the two divisions of the Stone Age, and will
be so used in these pages.

The only races of men that we could expect to find in Europe
during the Glacial Age would be Paleolithic tribes, and it is
equally manifest that we must find traces of them in beds of this
age, or in association with animals that are characteristic of
this age, or else we can not assert the existence of man at this
time. The valley of the river Somme, in Northern France, has
become classical ground to the student of Archæology, since it
was there that such investigations as we have just mentioned were
first and most abundantly made. It is now well known that the
surface features of a country—that is, its hills and dales, its
uplands and lowlands—are mainly due to the erosive power of
running water. Our rivers have dug for themselves broad valleys,
undermined and carried away hills, and in general carved the
surface of a country, until the present appearance is the result.
It must be confessed that when we perceive the slow apparent
change from year to year, and from that attempt to estimate the
time required to produce the effects we see before us, we are apt
to shrink from the lapse of time demanded for its accomplishment.
Let us not forget that “Time is long,” and that causes, however
trifling, work stupendous results in the course of ages.

Paleolithic Flints.

But a river which is thus digging down its channel in one place,
deposits the materials so dug away at other and lower levels, as
beds of sand and gravel. In the course of time, as the river
gradually lowers its channel, it will leave behind, at varying
heights along its banks, scattered patches of such beds. Wherever
we find them, no matter how far removed, or how high above the
present river, we are sure that at some time the river flowed at
that height; and standing there, we may try and imagine how
different the country must have looked before the present deep
valley was eroded.

In the case of the river Somme, we have a wide and deep valley, a
large part of which has been excavated in chalk rock, through
which the river now winds its way in a sinuous course to the
English Channel. Yet we feel sure that at some time in the past
it was a mighty stream, and that its waters surged along over a
bed at least two hundred feet higher than now. In proof of this
fact we still find, at different places along the chalky bluff,
stretches of old gravel banks, laid down there by the river,
“reaching sometimes as high as two hundred feet above the present
water level, although their usual elevation does not exceed forty
feet.”32

The history of the investigation of the ancient gravel beds of
the Somme is briefly this: More than one instance had been noted
of the finding of flint implements, apparently the work of men,
in association with bones of various animals, such as hyenas,
mammoths, musk-sheep, and others, which, as we have just seen,
lived in Europe during the Glacial Age. In a number of cases such
finds had been made in caves. But for a long time no one
attributed any especial value to these discoveries, and various
were the explanations given to account for such commingling. A
French geologist, by the name of Boucher DePerthes, had noted the
occurrence of similar flint implements, and bones of these
extinct animals, in a gravel pit on the banks of the Somme, near
Abbeville, France. He was convinced that they proved the
existence of man at the time these ancient animals lived in
Europe. But no one paid any attention to his opinions on this
subject, and a collection of these implements, which he took to
Paris in 1839, was scarcely noticed by the scientific world. They
were certainly very rude, and presented but indistinct traces of
chipping, and perhaps it is not strange that he failed to
convince any one of their importance. He therefore determined to
make a thorough and systematic exploration of these beds at
Abbeville. In 1847 he published his great work on this subject,
giving over sixteen hundred cuts of the various articles he had
found, claiming that they were proof positive of the presence of
man when the gravels were depositing.

Flint Implements, so-called.

Now there are several questions to be answered before the
conclusions of the French geologist can be accepted. In the first
place, are these so-called flint implements of human workmanship?
From our illustrations, we see that they are of an oval shape,
tending to a cutting edge all around, and generally more or less
pointed at one end. The testimony of all competent persons who
have examined them is, that however rude they may be, they were
undoubtedly fashioned by man. Dr. C. C. Abbott has made some
remarks on implements found in another locality, equally
applicable to the ones in question. He says: “We find, on
comparing a specimen of these chipped stones with an accidentally
fractured pebble, that the chipped surfaces of the former all
tend toward the production of a cutting edge, and there is no
portion of the stone detached which does not add to the
availability of the supposed implement as such; while in the case
of a pebble that has been accidentally broken, there is
necessarily all absence of design in the fracturing.”33

Like the watch found on the moor, they show such manifest
evidence of design, that we can not doubt that they were produced
by the hand of man. But it is not enough to know that they are
artificial, we must also know that they are of the same age as
the beds in which they are found.

Section of Gravel Pit.

This cut represents a section of a gravel pit at St. Acheul, on
the Somme. The implements are nearly always found in the lowest
strata, which is a bed of gravel from ten to fourteen feet thick.
Overlying this are beds of marl, loam, and surface soil,
comprising in all a depth of fourteen feet. It has been suggested
that the implements are comparatively recent, and have sunk down
from above by their own weight, or perhaps have been buried in
artificial excavations. The beds are however too compact to admit
of any supposition that they may have been sunk there; and if
buried in any excavation, evident traces of such excavation would
have remained. We can account for their presence there in no
other way than, that when the river rolled along at that high
elevation, and deposited great beds of sand, these implements
were someway lost in its waters, and became buried in the gravel
deposits.

Finally, we have to consider the age of the deposits. This is a
question that can be answered only by geologists, and we may be
sure that more than ordinary attention has been bestowed upon
them. The remains of many animals characteristic of the Glacial
Age were found in the beds at Abbeville. These include those of
the elephants, rhinoceros, hyenas, cave-bear, and cave-lion.34

In the formation of these gravel beds, ice has undoubtedly played
quite an important part. Bowlders that could have got there only
by the aid of ice, are found in several localities. Evidence
gathered from a great many different sources all establish the
fact that these gravels date as far back as the close of the
Glacial Age at least, and there are some reasons for supposing
them to be interglacial.

We can easily see that the melting away of the immense glaciers
that we have been describing would produce vast floods in the
rivers, and it is perhaps owing to the presence of such swollen
rivers that are due the great beds of surface soil, called loam
or loess, found in all the river valleys of France and Germany.35
These deposits frequently overlie the gravel beds. They are then
of a later date than the beds in which are found such convincing
proofs of the presence of man, and if they themselves date from
the close of the Glacial Age, it is no longer a question whether
the gravel beds themselves belong to that age. Thus we see that
we can no longer escape the conclusions of Boucher DePerthes. The
discovery of rudely worked flints in the drift of the Somme River
thus establishes the fact that some time during the Glacial Age,
man in a Paleolithic state lived in France.

Geological terms convey to us no definite ideas as to the lapse
of time, and we have an instinctive desire to substitute for them
some term of years. In most cases this is impossible, as we have
no means to measure the flight of past time, nor are we yet
prepared to discuss the question of time, since to do so we must
learn a great deal more about the cause of the Glacial Age. We
might, however, cite statements which can not fail to impress us
with the fact that a great extent of time has passed.

In the case of the river Somme we have a valley in some places a
mile or more in width, and about two hundred feet in depth. This
has mostly been excavated in chalk rock. Taking our present large
rivers as a basis, it would require from one to two hundred
thousand years for the Somme to perform this work.36 It will not
do, however, to take the present action of our rivers as a guide,
since we have every reason to suppose this work went forward much
more rapidly in past times. But we can not escape the conclusion
that it demands a very long time indeed to explain it. The valley
has remained in its present shape long enough to admit the
formation of great beds of peat in some portions. Peat is formed
by the decomposition of vegetable growth. Its growth is in all
cases slow, depending entirely upon local circumstances. European
scholars who have made peat formation a special study assure us
that to form such immense beds as occur near Abbeville, several
thousand years are required, even under the most favorable
conditions.

Yet we would be scarcely willing to rest such important
conclusions as the foregoing on the researches of one individual,
or in one locality. As already stated, DePerthes made his
discoveries public in 1847. Yet they were so opposed to all that
had been believed previously, that but few took the pains to
investigate for themselves. In 1853, Dr. Rigollot, of Amiens, who
had been skeptical as to DePerthes, commenced to look for himself
in the gravel beds at St. Acheul, about nine miles below
Abbeville. As might be expected, he was soon convinced.

Paleolithic Flint, England.

It may be said that the scientific world formally accepted the
new theory when such English scientists as Evans, Falconer,
Lyell, and Prestwich reported in its favor. Since that time, many
discoveries of ancient implements have been made at various
places in France and England under circumstances similar to those
in the valley of the Somme. In England they have been found along
almost all the rivers in the southern and south-eastern part. One
class of discoveries there gives us new ideas as to the extent of
time that has passed since they were deposited. That is where
they occur in gravel beds having no connection with the present
system of rivers. In one case the gravel forms a hill fifteen
feet high, situated in the midst of a swampy district, surrounded
on all sides by low, flat surfaces. Several such instances could
be given; but, in all such cases, we can not doubt that,
somewhere near, there once rolled the waters of an ancient river,
that man once hunted along its banks, and that, owing to some
natural cause, the waters forsook their ancient bed—and that
since then, in the slow course of ages, the action of running
water has removed so much of the surface of the land near there,
that we can not guess at its ancient configuration: we only know,
from scattered patches of gravel, that we are standing on the
banks of an ancient water-course.

One instance, illustrative of the great change that has come over
the surface features of the country, demanding for their
accomplishment a great lapse of time, is furnished by the Isle of
Wight. That island is now separated from the mainland by a narrow
channel, called the South Hampton Water, or the Solent Sea.

It is now known that this is nothing but an old river channel, in
which the sea has usurped the place of the river. The coast is a
river embankment, with the usual accompaniments of gravel beds,
flint implements, and fresh water shells. On the shores of the
island we find the opposite bank of the old river. A very great
change must have taken place in the surface features before the
sea could have rolled in and cut off the Isle of Wight from the
mainland.

In speaking of the length of time demanded for this change, Dr.
Evans says: “Who can fully understand how immeasurably remote was
the epoch when what is now that vast bay was high and dry land,
and a long range of chalk downs, six hundred feet above the sea,
bounded the horizon on the South? And yet that must have been the
sight that met the eye of primitive man who frequented the banks
of that ancient river, which buried their handiwork in gravels
that now cap the cliffs—and of the course of which so strange and
indubitable a memorial subsists in what has now become the Solent
Sea?”37

The illustrations scattered through this essay are
representations of the stone implements found in the drift of
European rivers. During all the long course of time supposed to
be covered by the Paleolithic Age, there are but very few
evidences of any improvement, as far as we can judge from the
implements themselves. This is in itself a melancholy proof of
the low condition of man. He had made so little advance in the
scale of wisdom, he possessed so little knowledge, he was so much
a creature of instinct, that, during the thousands of years
demanded for this age, he made no appreciable progress. The
advance of the last century was many times greater than that of
the entire Paleolithic Age. A blow struck on one end of a piece
of flint will, owing to the peculiar cleavage of flint, split off
pieces called flakes. This is the simplest form of implement used
by man. It is impossible to say with certainty how they were
used; but, from the evidence observed on them, they were probably
used as scrapers. The men of that day doubtless knew some simple
method of preparing clothing from the skins of the animals they
had killed, and probably many of these sharp-rimmed flakes were
used to assist in this primitive process of tanning.

Flint Flakes.

When the piece of flint itself was chipped into form, it was one
whose shape would indicate a spear-head or hatchet. We present
illustrations of each. Forms intermediate between these two are
found. Some have such a thick heavy base that it is believed they
were used in the hand, and had no handle or haft.

Others, with a cutting edge all round, may have been provided
with a handle. M. Mortillet, of France, who has had excellent
opportunities of studying this question very thoroughly, thinks
that the hatchet was the only type of implement they possessed,
and that it was used for every conceivable purpose—but that their
weapon was a club, all traces of which have, of course, long
since vanished away.38

Spear Head Type and Hatchet Type.

These few implements imply that their possessors were savages
like the native Australians. In this stage of culture, man lived
by hunting, and had not yet learned to till the ground, or to
seek the materials out of which his implements were made by
mining. Re merely fashioned the stones which happened to be
within reach in the shallows of rivers as they were wanted,
throwing them away after they had been used. In this manner the
large numbers which have been met with in certain spots may be
accounted for. Man at this time appears before us as a nomad
hunter, poorly equipped for the struggle of life, without
knowledge of metals, and ignorant of the art of grinding his
stone tools to a sharp edge.39 Of course we can not hope to learn
much of their social condition other than that just set forth.

DePerthes found some flints which show evidence of their human
origin, and yet it would be very difficult to say what was their
use. He thinks they may have a religious significance, and has
set forth a great variety of eloquent surmises respecting them.
It only need be said that such theorizing is worse than useless.
That while it is very probable these tribes had some system of
belief, yet there is no good reason for supposing these flints
had any connection with it. It has been supposed, from another
series of wrought flints, that the men of this epoch were
possessed of some sentiments of art, as pieces have been found
thought to represent the forms of animals, men’s faces, birds,
and fishes; but as very few have been able to detect such
resemblances, it is safe to say they do not exist.

As the love of adornment is almost as old as human nature itself,
we may not be surprised to find traces of its sway then. Dr.
Rigollot found little bunches of shells with holes through either
end. The supposition is that these were used as beads; which is
not at all strange, considering how instinctively savage men
delight in such ornaments. These ancient hunters made use of
beads partially prepared by nature.

Europe is not the only country where the remains of this savage
race are found. They are found in the countries bordering the
Mediterranean in Northern Africa, and in Egypt. In this latter
country they are doubtless largely buried under the immense
deposits of Nile mud; yet in 1878 Professor Haynes discovered in
Upper Egypt scrapers and hatchets, pronounced by archæologists to
be exactly similar to those of the river Somme. We are not
informed as to their geological age, but there can be no question
that they are much older than any monument of Egyptian
civilization hitherto known.40

Paleolithic implements have also been found in Palestine and in
India. In the latter country the beds are so situated that they
present the same _indicia,_ of age as do those of the Somme
Valley. A great portion of the formation has been removed, and
deep valleys cut in them by running water.41 They have also been
found in at least one locality in the United States; that is in
the glacial gravel of the valley of the Delaware at Trenton, New
Jersey. We must not confound these remains with those of the
Indian tribes found scattered over a large extent of surface.
Those at Trenton also are not only in all respects, except
materials, similar to those of the Somme, but are found imbedded
in a formation of gravel that was deposited at least as far back
as the close of the Glacial Age, thus requiring the passage of
the same long series of years since they were used, as do the
implements of European rivers.42 We must also bear in mind that
no country has been so carefully explored for these implements as
has Europe, and that the very country, Asia, where, for many
reasons, we might hope to find not only unequivocal proofs of
man’s presence but from our discoveries be able to clear up many
dark points, as to the race, origin, and fate of these primitive
tribes, is yet almost a sealed book.

But the scattered discoveries we have instanced show us that the
people whose implements have been described in this chapter were
very widely dispersed over the earth, and everything indicates
that they were far removed from us in time. The similarity in
type of implements shows that, wherever found, they were the same
people, in the same low savage state of culture—“Alike in the
somber forests of oak and pine in Great Britain, and when
surrounded by the luxuriant vegetation of the Indian jungle.”43

We have yet two important points to consider. The first is, what
race of men were these river tribes? and second, when did they
arrive in Europe? Did they precede the glacial cold? did they
make their appearance during a warm interglacial period? or was
it not until the final retreat of the glaciers that they first
wandered into Europe? These questions are far from settled; yet
they have been the object of a great amount of painstaking
research.

To determine the first point, it is necessary that anatomists
have skeletons of the men of this age, to make a careful study of
them. But for a great many reasons, portions of the human
skeleton are very rarely found in such circumstances that we are
sure they date back to the Paleolithic Age, and especially is
this true of the men of the River Drift. In a few instances
fragmentary portions have been found.

M. Quatrefages, of France, who is certainly a very high authority
on these points, thinks that the hunter tribes of the River Drift
belonged to the Canstadt race—“so named from the village of
Canstadt, in Germany, near which a fossil skull was discovered in
1700, and which appears to be closely allied to the Neanderthal
skull, discovered near Dusseldorf in 1857, and about which so
much has been written.”44 Quatrefages supposes that this type of
man is still to be found in certain Australian tribes. These are
not mere guesses, but are conclusions drawn from careful study by
eminent European scholars.45

It is well known that a competent naturalist needs but a single
fossil bone to describe the animal itself, and tell us its
habits. So also anthropologists need but fragments of the human
skeleton, especially of the skull, to describe characteristics of
the race to which the individual belonged.

Neanderthal Man.

This cut, though an ideal restoration, is a restoration made in
accordance with the results of careful study of fragmentary
skulls found in various localities in Europe. The head and the
face present a savage aspect; the body harmonized with the head;
the height was not more than five feet and a half; yet the bones
are very thick in proportion to their length, and were evidently
supplied with a powerful set of muscles, since the little
protuberances and depressions where the muscles are attached are
remarkably well developed.46 Huxley and Quatrefages have both
pointed out that representatives of this race are to be found
among some Australian tribes. Among the races of this great
island there is one, distributed particularly in the province of
Victoria, in the neighborhood of Port Western, which reproduces
in a remarkable manner, the characters of the Canstadt race.”47
Not the least interesting result of this discovery is the
similarity of weapons and implements. “With Mr. Lartet, we see in
the obsidian lances of New Caledonia the flint heads of the lower
alluvium of the Somme. The hatchet of certain Australians reminds
us, as it did Sir Charles Lyell, of the Abbeville hatchet.48

Yet some hesitate about accepting these interesting inferences,
thinking that the portions of the human skeleton thus far
recovered, which are beyond a doubt referable to this period, are
too fragmentary to base such important conclusions upon. This is
the view of Boyd Dawkins, who thinks “we can not refer them to
any branch of the human race now alive.”49 “We are without a
clew,” continues he, “to the ethnology of the River Drift man,
who most probably is as completely extinct as the woolly
rhinoceros or the cave bear.”50 Future discoveries will probably
settle this point.

It is yet a much disputed point to what particular portion of the
Glacial Age we can trace the appearance of man. We can profitably
note the tendency of scientific thought in this direction. But a
short time has elapsed since a few scholars here and there began
to urge an antiquity for man extending back beyond the commonly
accepted period of six thousand years. Though it is now well
known and admitted that there are no good grounds for this
estimate, yet such was its hold, such its sway over scientific as
well as popular thought, that an appeal to this chronology was
deemed sufficient answer to the discoveries of DePerthes,
Schmerling, and others. It was but yesterday that this popular
belief was overthrown and due weight given the discoveries of
careful explorers in many branches, and the antiquity of man
referred, on indisputable grounds, to a point of time at least as
far back as the close of the preceding geological age.51

It seems as if here a halt had been called, and all possible
objections are urged against a further extension of time. It is,
of course, well to be careful in this matter, and to accept only
such results as inevitably follow from well authenticated
discoveries. But it also seems to us there is no longer any doubt
that man dates back to the beginning of that long extended time
we have named the Glacial Age.52

In the first place, we must recall the animals that suddenly made
their appearance in Europe at the beginning of this age. Though
there were a number of species, since become extinct, the
majority of animal forms were those still living.53

These are the animals with which man has always been associated.
There is therefore no longer any reason to suppose the evolution
of animal life had not reached that stage where man was to
appear. We need only recall how strongly this point was urged in
reference to the preceding geological epoch, to see its important
bearings here. Mr. Boyd Dawkins has shown that the great majority
of animals which invaded Europe at the commencement of this age,
can be traced to Northern and Central Asia, whence, owing to
climatic changes, they migrated into Europe.54

Inasmuch as man seems to have been intimately associated with
these animals, it seems to us very likely that he came with them
from their home in Asia. We think the tendency of modern
discoveries is to establish the fact that man arrived in Europe
along with the great invasion of species now living.55

Turning now to the authorities, we find this to be the accepted
theory of many of those competent to form an opinion.

In England Mr. Geikie has strongly urged the theory that the
Glacial Age includes not only periods of great cold, but also
epochs of exceptional mildness; and he strongly argues that all
the evidence of the River Drift tribes can be referred to these
warm interglacial epochs; in other words, that they were living
in Europe during the Glacial Age.56

In answer to this it has been stated that the relics of River
Drift tribes in Southern England overlie bowlder clay, and must
therefore be later in origin than the Glacial Age.57

But, Mr. Geikie and others have shown that the ice of the last
great cold did not overflow Southern England,58 so that this
evidence, rightly read, was really an argument in favor of their
interglacial age.59 The committee appointed by the British
Association to explore the Victoria Cave, near Settle, urge this
point very strongly in their final report of 1878.60 To this
report Mr. Dawkins, a member of the committee, records his
dissent, but in his last great work he freely admits that man was
living in England during the Glacial Age, if he did not, in fact,
precede it.61

Mr. Skertchley, of the British coast survey, in 1879,62 announced
the discovery in East Anglia of Paleolithic, implements
underlying the bowlder clay of that section. Mr. Geikie justly
regards this as a most important discovery.63

Finally Mr. Dawkins, in his address as President of the
Anthropological section of the British Association, in 1882, goes
over the entire ground. After alluding to the discovery of
paleolithic implements in Egypt, India, and America, he
continues: “The identity of implements of the River Drift hunter
proves that he was in the same rude state of civilization, if it
can be called civilization, in the Old and the New World, when
the hand of the geological clock struck the same hour. It is not
a little strange that this mode of life should have been the same
in the forests of the North, and south of the Mediterranean, in
Palestine, in the tropical forests of India, and on the western
shores of the Atlantic.” This, however, is not taken as proving
the identity of race, but as proving that in this morning-time of
man’s existence he had nowhere advanced beyond a low state of
savagism. Mr. Dawkins then continues: “It must be inferred from
his wide-spread range that he must have inhabited the earth for a
long time, and that his dispersal took place before the Glacial
epoch in Europe and America. I therefore feel inclined to view
the River Drift hunter as having invaded Europe in preglacial
times, along with other living species which then appeared.” He
also points out that the evidence is that he lived in Europe
during all the changes of that prolonged period known as the
Glacial Age.64

Sir John Lubbock also records his assent to these views. He says
on this point: “It is, I think, more than probable that the
advent of the Glacial Period found man already in possession of
Europe.”65

In our own country Prof. Powell says: “It is now an established
fact that man was widely scattered over the earth at least as
early as the beginning of the Quaternary period, and perhaps in
Pliocene times.”66

This completes our investigation of the men of the River Drift.
We see how, by researches of careful scholars, our knowledge of
the past has been enlarged. Though there are many points which
are as yet hidden in darkness, we are enabled to form quite a
clear mental picture of this early race. Out of the darkness
which still enshrouds the continent of Asia we see these bands of
savages wandering forth; some to Europe, Africa, and the west;
others to America and the east.

This was at a time when slowly falling temperature but dimly
prophesied a reign of arctic cold, still far in the future. This
race does not seem to have had much capacity for advancement,
since ages came and went leaving him in the same low state.
During the climax of glacial cold he doubtless sought the
southern coasts of Europe along with the temperate species of
animals. But whenever the climatic conditions were such that
these animals could find subsistence as far north as England he
accompanied them there, and so his remains are found constantly
associated with theirs throughout Europe. Though doubtless very
low in the scale, and at the very foot of the ladder of human
progress, we are acquainted with no facts connecting them with
the higher orders of animals. If such exists, we must search for
them further back in geological time. The men of the River Drift
were distinctively human beings, and as such possessed those
qualities which, developing throughout the countless ages that
have elapsed, have advanced man to his present high position.

REFERENCES

This chapter was submitted to Prof. G. F. Wright, of Oberlin,
for criticism.

Lyell’s “Antiquity of Man;” Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” p.
332.

It is, however, applicable to only a portion of the Quaternary,
or Post-tertiary period. (Wright.)

Chapter II.

Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” p. 339.

Dawkins’s “Cave Hunting,” p. 365.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 112.

Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” p. 337.

The majority of the Pliocene animals disappeared from Europe at
the close of the period in question. This includes such animals
as the mastodon, hipparion, and many kinds of deer (Geikie’s
“Prehistoric Europe,” p. 334). The following animals survived
into the Glacial Age, and some even into Inter-glacial periods:
African hippopotamus (still living), saber-toothed lion, bear
of Auvergne, big-nosed rhinoceros, Etruskan rhinoceros,
Sedgwick’s deer, deer of Polignac, Southern elephant.
(“Prehistoric Europe,” p. 95.)

The northern animals include the following: Alpine hare,
musk-sheep, glutton, reindeer, arctic fox, lemming, tailless
hare, marmot, spermophile, ibex, snowy vole, chamois. (Geikie’s
“Prehistoric Europe,” p. 32.)

Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” p. 28.

The following animals are given as southern species:
Hippopotamus, African elephant, spotted hyena, striped hyena,
serval, caffer cat, lion, leopard. In addition to the above
there were also four or five species of elephants and three
species of rhinoceros, which have since become extinct.
(Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” p. 32.)

It is scarcely necessary to give a list of these animals. Prof.
Dawkins enumerates thirty-three species. The following are some
of the most important: Urus, bison, horse, stag, roe, beaver,
rabbit, otter, weasel, martin, wildcat, fox, wolf, wild boar,
brown bear, grizzly bear. (Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” p,
32.)

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 191.

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 316.

Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” p. 87.

Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” p. 50.

Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” p. 54.

Ibid., p. 55.

Kane’s “Arctic Exploration,” Vol. I, p. 225.

Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” p. 180.

Wallace’s “Island Life,” p. 104.

Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” p. 189.

Ibid., p. 192, _et seq._

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain.”

For fuller information on this topic see James Geikie’s “The
Great Ice Age;” also, by the same author, “Prehistoric Europe.”
In Appendix “B” of this latter work the author gives a map of
Europe at the climax of the Glacial Age, showing the great
extension of the glaciers. This map embodies the results of the
labors of a great many eminent scholars. See also Croll’s
“Climate and Time;” also Wallace’s “Island Life,” pp. 102-202.
We are not aware that the statements as set forth above are
seriously questioned by any geologist of note. Some consider it
quite possible that the bowlder clays of Southern England and
Central Germany were deposited during a period of submergence
from melting icebergs. (Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p.
116.) But even this demands vast glaciers to the north of this
supposed submergence to produce the icebergs. The weight of
authority, however, is in favor of the glaciers. (Geikie’s
“Prehistoric Europe,” p. 175.)

Haywood’s Heer’s “Primeval World of Switzerland,” p. 200.

“Prehistoric Europe,” p. 261. It is no longer a question that
there was at least one mild period separating two periods of
cold in Europe. See Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 316;
Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” pp. 115-120; Lyell’s
“Antiquity of Man,” pp. 282-285., Dana’s “Manual of Geology,”
first edition, p. 561; Haywood’s Heer’s “Primeval World of
Switzerland,” Vol. II, p. 203; Wallace’s “Island Life,” p. 114;
Croll’s “Climate and Time.” Mr. Geikie, in his works, “The
Great Ice Age” and “Prehistoric Europe,” maintains there were
several warm interglacial epochs.

Wright.

Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 29.

Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” p. 365. Morgan’s “Ancient
Society,” p. 39.

Rau’s “Early Man in Europe,” p. 14.

“Primitive Industry,” p. 485.

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” 384.

Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” chap. ix. Most geologists
suppose there was a general depression of the region below the
sea level, or so as to form inland lakes, and that the loess
was thus deposited, as perhaps it is depositing at the present
time in the lakes of Switzerland. (Wright.)

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 423.

Evans’s “Ancient Stone Implements,” p. 621.

_Pop. Science Monthly,_ Oct., 1883.

Dawkins’s “Ear. Man in Brit.,” p. 163.

Wright’s “Studies in Science and Religion,” p. 278. See also
British Association Report, 1882, p. 602.

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 356.

Abbott’s “Primitive Industry.”

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 172.

Wright.

Quatrefages’s “Human Species,” p. 307.

“Human Species,” p. 305.

Ibid., p. 307.

Quatrefage’s “Human Species,” p. 306.

“Early Man in Britain,” p. 173.

Ibid., p. 233.

We do not give any estimate in years as to this antiquity in
this chapter.

We must remember that this age is also variously called the
Quaternary, Pleistocene, and Post Tertiary. We do not now refer
to the evidence of man’s existence in the Miocene and Pliocene,
treated of in the preceding chapter.

Mr. Dawkins finds that fifty-five out of seventy-seven species
are yet living. “Early Man in Britain,” p, 109.

“Early Man in Britain,” p. 110.

Those who reject the proofs of the existence of man in Pliocene
times because the evolution of life had not then reached a
stage where we could hope to find man, are here confronted with
a difficulty. If Mr. Dawkins be right (as stated above) then
the various animals in question must have been living in Asia
during the preceding Pliocene Age. There is no reason to
suppose man was not associated with them, since he belongs to
the same stage of evolution (Le Conte’s “Elements of Geology,”
p. 568), and though, owing to climatic and geographical causes,
the animals themselves might have been confined to Asia, there
is surely no good reason why man may not, in small bands, and
at various times, have wandered into Europe.

“Prehistoric Europe,” “The Great Ice Age.”

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 170.

“Prehistoric Europe,” p. 268.

Ibid., 360.

British Assoc. Rep., 1878.

“Early Man in Britain,” pp. 137, 141, and 169, with note.

British Assoc. Rep., 1879.

Prehistoric Europe, p. 263.

British Assoc. Rep., 1882.

Preface to Kains-Jackson’s “Our Ancient Monuments.”

“First Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology,” p. 73.

Chapter IV
CAVE-MEN.1

Other sources of Information—History of Cave Exploration—The
formation of Caves—Exploration in Kent’s Cavern—Evidence of two
different races—The higher culture of the later race—Evidence of
prolonged time—Exploration of Robin Hood Cave—Explorations in
Valley of the River Meuse—M. Dupont’s conclusions—Explorations in
the Valley of the Dordogne—The Station at Schussenreid—Cavemen
not found south of the Alps— Habitations of the Cave-men—Cave-men
were Hunters—Methods of Cooking—Destitute of the Potter’s
art—Their Weapons—Clothing—Their skill in Drawing—Evidence of a
Government—Of Religious belief—Race of the Cave-men—Distinct from
the men of the Drift—Probable Connection with the Eskimos.

We have been delving, among the sands of ancient river bottoms
for a proof of man’s existence in far remote times. Slight and
unsatisfactory as they may be to some, they are the materials
with which we reconstruct a wondrous story of life and times
removed from us by many a cycle of years.

Men have frequently resorted to the caverns of the earth for
protection. In places we find caves that served this purpose
during the Paleolithic Age. The men of the Drift, however, do not
appear to have used them, save as temporary places of refuge,
perhaps as a protection from bands of savage enemies, or from
unusually inclement weather. But yet most surprising results have
attended the exploration of caves in England, France, and
Belgium. We find in those gloomy places that the men of the Drift
were not the only tribes of men inhabiting Europe during the
Glacial Age. In fact, living at later date than the Drift tribes,
but still belonging to the Paleolithic Age, were tribes of people
who appear to have utilized caverns and grottoes as places of
permanent resort, and, judging from their remains, they had made
considerable advance in the arts of living as compared with the
tribes of the Drift.

But before pointing out the grounds upon which these conclusions
rest, it may be well to give a slight review of the history of
cave research. The dread and awe which kept people away from
caves during the Middle Ages preserved their contents for later
discoverers. In the seventeenth century, some adventurous spirits
began to search in them for what they called Unicorn horns, which
were deemed a most efficacious remedy for various diseases. This
search served the good purpose of bringing to light various
fossil bones of animals, and calling the attention of scientific
men to the same.

The cave of Gailenreuth, in Bavaria, was explored by Dr. Goldfuss
in 1810. He came to the conclusion that the bones of bears and
other extinct animals were proofs of the former presence of the
animals themselves. Dr. Buckland, a celebrated English writer,
visited the cave in 1816, and became much interested in the work;
so much so that when Kirkdale Cavern, in England, was discovered
in 1821, he at once repaired to the spot and made a careful
exploration. The results satisfied him that hyenas and other
extinct animals had once lived in England. He followed up his
explorations in a number of cases, and published a work on this
subject in 1822, which marks the commencement of a new era in
cave research.

In 1825 Kent’s Cavern, near Torquay, was discovered, and Rev. J.
McEnry made partial explorations in it. He discovered flint
implements and perceived they might be a proof of the presence of
man with these extinct animals. Dr. Buckland had not found these
relics, or else had passed them by as of no importance, for he
refused to entertain the theory that man and the extinct animals
had been contemporaneous. Explorations made in France in 1827-8
had furnished such strong evidence on this point that it was
deemed established by some scholars, but being opposed to the
prevailing belief, nothing came of it.

Gailenreuth.

In 1829 Schmerling commenced his investigations in the caves of
the valley of the Meuse. For years he continued his work under
many difficulties. Sir Charles Lyell tells us he was let down day
after day to the opening of the Engis Cave by a rope tied to a
tree. Arriving there he crawled on all fours through a narrow
passage way to the enlarged chamber, where, standing in mud and
water, he superintended the investigations. He examined over
forty of those caves, and published his results in 1833. He
clearly showed that man must have been living along with various
animals now extinct in Belgium. But, as before remarked, it was
deemed sufficient answer to this careful explorer to point out
that his results were opposed to the accepted chronology, and so
they were passed by. When the time at last came, and their true
worth was recognized, Schmerling himself had passed away.

We have already seen what great results followed the exploration
of DePerthes in the river gravels. When it had been clearly
established that man and extinct animals hid coexisted in Europe,
the results of cave explorations were eagerly recalled, and
governments vied with royal societies and private individuals in
continuing the researches. The results are that a rich store of
facts has been gathered from those gloomy resorts, illustrative
of the later stages of Paleolithic art.

A word as to the formation of caves, grottoes, caverns, and rock
shelters. These vary greatly in size, some being so small as to
furnish protection to but few individuals; others, especially
caves, so large that whole tribes might have found a place of
resort within their chambers. They are found in all limestone
countries. The formation of caves is now recognized as due to
natural causes acting slowly through many years. Limestone rock
is very hard and durable, but chemistry teaches us that water
charged with carbonic acid gas will readily dissolve it.
Rain-water falling from the clouds is sure to come in contact
with masses of decaying vegetable matter, which we know is
constantly giving off quantities of this gas. Laden with this the
water sinks into the ground, and, if it comes in contact with
limestone, readily washes some of it away in solution. But beds
of limestone rock are noted for containing great fissures through
which subterranean waters penetrate far into the ground. We can
readily see how this percolating water would dissolve and wear
away the surface of the rocks along such a fissure, and in
process of time we would have the phenomenon of a stream of water
flowing under ground.

Owing to a great many causes—such, for instance, as the meeting
of another fissure—we would expect that portions of this
underground way would become enlarged to spacious halls. In some
such a way as this it is now understood that all caves have
originated.

Owing to many natural causes the river may, after a while, cease
to flow, leaving enlarged portions of its channel behind as a
succession of chambers in a cave. But water would still come
trickling in from the tops and sides, and be continuously
dripping to the floor, where it speedily evaporates. When such is
the case it leaves behind it the limestone it held in solution.
So, in process of time, if the deposition is undisturbed, there
will be formed over the floor of the cave a more or less
continuous layer of limestone matter known as stalagmite. The
same formations on the top and sides of the cave are called
stalactites. In places where the drip is continuous the
stalactite gradually assumes the shape of an immense icicle;
while the stalagmite on the floor of the cave, underneath the
drip, rises in a columnar mass to meet the descending stalactite.
A union of these is not uncommon, and, we have pillars and
columns presenting the strange, fantastic appearance on which
tourists delight to dwell in their notes of travel.

While these accumulations are in all cases very slow, still we
can not measure the time since it commenced by the rate of
present growth, because this rate varies greatly at different
times and places even in the same cave. And we must also remark
that this complete series of changes only occur in a few
localities, the majority of caves being insignificant in size.2

From what has been said as to the formation of caves, we would
expect them to occur in river valleys, and this is the case,
though in some instances there have been such immense changes in
the surface level of the country that we can now find no trace of
rivers near them. This is exactly similar to some gravel
deposits, which, as we have seen, are occasionally found where is
now no running water. The most noted caverns, however, are found
high up on the banks of existing rivers. We can not doubt that
the rivers were the cause of the caves. But having excavated
their beds below the level of the then existing caves, they
ceased to flow in them, and left them to be occupied by savage
animals and the scarcely less savage men. But at times, swollen
by floods, the river would again assert its supremacy and roll
its waters through its old channels.

These floods would not only tear up and rearrange whatever
_débris_ had already accumulated, but would introduce quantities
of sediment and animal remains. In some such a manner as is here
pointed out (though exactly how geologists are not agreed) caves
were invaded, after being long occupied by men or animals, by
floods of water. In many cases the evidence would seem to
indicate that after such a visitation by water the cave and its
water-rolled and water-arranged contents were left to silence,
visited by neither man nor beast. In such instances stalagmitic
coverings would gradually form over the confused _débris,_ and in
some places acquire a thickness of several feet. In some
instances several such floors are found one above the other,
pointing to a prolonged period of usage, and then a quiet stage,
in which the drip of falling water alone broke the silence, and
nature sealed up another chapter of cave biography beneath the
layer of stalagmite.

One of the most important caves of England is Kent’s Cavern,
before mentioned. This cave was carefully explored under the
direction of a committee appointed by the British Association,
and to show the care and thoroughness of the work we need only
state that this work occupied the greater portion of sixteen
years, and hence the results obtained may be regarded as, in a
general way, illustrative of the life of the cave dwellers. “This
cave is about a mile east of Torquay harbor, and is of a sinuous
character, running deeply into a hill of Devonian limestone,
about half a mile distant from the sea. In places it expands into
large chambers, to which various distinctive names have been
given.”3

Let us see what general results have been reached by this
committee. The investigation disclosed several different beds of
stalagmite, cave earth, and breccia. The lowest layer is a
breccia.4 The matrix is sand of a reddish color, containing many
pieces of rock known as red-grit and some pieces of quartz. This
implies the presence of running water, which at times washed in
pieces of red-grit. The surface features must have been quite
different from the present, since now this rock does not form any
part of the hill into which this cave opens.5And this change in
drainage took place before this lowest layer was completed, since
not only bears, but men, commenced to visit the cave. The
presence of bears is shown by numerous bones, and that of man by
his implements.

Spear-head—Lower Breccia, Kent’s Cavern.

We must notice that all the implements found in the breccia are
similar to those of the Drift, being rudely formed and massive.
No doubt these are the remains of Drift men, who, for some cause
or other, temporarily visited the cave, perhaps contending with
the cave bear for its possession. But a time at length arrived
when for some reason neither animals nor man visited the cave.
The slow accumulation of stalagmite went forward until in some
places it had obtained a thickness of twelve feet. Freely
admitting that we can not determine the length of time demanded
for this deposition, yet none can doubt that it requires a very
long time indeed. Says Mr. Geikie: “How many centuries rolled
past while that old pavement was slowly accreting, no one can
say; but that it represents a lapse of ages compared to which the
time embraced by all tradition and written history is but as a
few months, who that is competent to form an opinion can doubt?”
But after this long period of quiet, from some source great
torrents of water came rolling through the cave. We know this to
be so, because in places it broke up this layer of stalagmite and
washed it away, as well as large portions of the breccia below,
and after the floods had ceased, occasionally inundations still
threw down layers of mud and silt. This accumulation is known as
cave earth, and is the layer containing the numerous remains of
the Cave-men. Here the explorers were not only struck with the
large number of implements, but at once noticed that they were of
a higher form and better made. Instead of the rude and massive
implements of the Drift tribes, we have more delicate forms
chipped all around. And we also meet with those that from their
form may have been used as the heads of spears or arrows. Flakes
were also utilized for various purposes. We also find implements,
weapons, and ornaments of bone—a step in advance of Drift
culture. They had “harpoons for spearing fish, eyed needles or
bodkins for stitching skins together, awls perhaps to facilitate
the passage of the slender needle through the tough, thick hides;
pins for fastening the skins they wore, and perforated badgers’
teeth for necklaces or bracelets.”6 Nothing of this kind has yet
been shown as belonging to the men of the Drift.

Flake—Cave-earth,
Kent’s Cavern and Spear-head—, Kent’s
Cavern.

The bones of a large number of animals are also found in the cave
earth. The most abundant is the hyena, and no doubt they dragged
in a great many others; but the agency of man is equally
apparent, as the bones have often been split for the extraction
of marrow. Besides bones of the hyena, we have also those of the
lion, tiger, bear, and reindeer.7

Harpoons, Pin, Awl, and Needle—Kent’s Cavern.

With these animals man, from time to time, disputed possession of
the cave. At one place on the surface of the cave earth is found
what is known as the “black band.” This is nothing more or less
than the fire-place of these old tribes. Here we find fragments
of partially consumed wood, bones showing the action of fire—in
short, every thing indicating a prolonged occupancy by man.

No one can doubt but that this deposit of cave earth itself
requires a prolonged time for its accumulation.8 But this period,
however prolonged, at length comes to an end. From some cause,
both animals and man again abandoned the cave. Another vast cycle
of years rolls away—a time expressed in thousands of years—during
which nature again spread over the entombed remains a layer of
stalagmite, in some places equal in thickness to the first
formation. Above this layer we come to a bed of mold containing
remains of the later Stone Age, of the Bronze, and even of the
Iron Age. Below the first layer of stalagmite—the completed
biography of Paleolithic times; above, the unfinished book of the
present. Such are the eloquent results obtained by the thorough
exploration of one cave. The results of all the other
explorations, in a general way, confirm these. Mr. Dawkins
explored a group of caverns in Derbyshire, England. These caverns
and fissures are situated in what is known as Cresswell Crags,
the precipitous sides of a ravine through which flows a stream of
water dividing the counties of Derby and Nottingham.

This cut represents the different strata in Robin Hood cave. It
will be seen that, at one place, the stalactite has united with
the stalagmite below. It is not necessary to go into the details
of this exploration. All the relics of man found in _d, c,_ and
the lower portions of _b,_ are the rude and massive forms
peculiar to the River Drift tribes. But the relics found in the
breccia _a,_ and the upper portion of the cave earth _b,_ denote
a sudden advance in culture. The rude tools of the lower strata
are replaced by more highly finished ones of flint.

Robin Hood Cave.

The most important discovery was that of a small fragment of rib,
with its polished surface ornamented with the incised figure of a
horse. The peculiar value of this discovery is, that it serves to
connect the Cave-men of England with those of the continent who,
as we shall afterward see, excelled in artistic work of this
kind.

In another cave of this series, in association with similar
flints, were found the following bone implements. We can only
conjecture the use of the notched bone. The pieces of reindeer
horn, terminating in a scoop, may have served as a spoon to
extract marrow.

Horse Incised on Piece of Rib.

We must not fail to notice that the more highly finished relics
of the Cave-men are found in strata overlying those of the River
Drift; and, in the case of Kent’s Cavern, these two sets of
implements are separated by a layer of stalagmite requiring a
very prolonged time for its formation. This would imply that the
Cave-men came into England long after the tribes of the River
Drift; and, judging from the relics themselves, they must have
been a distinct people. We must recall how completely the climate
and animals in England varied during the Glacial Age. We have
also seen how closely connected the River Drift tribes were with
the animals of the warm temperate regions. Coming at a later
date, totally distinct from them in culture are those
Cave-men—perhaps they may prove to be associated with the Arctic
animals. But, before speculating on this point, we must learn the
results attending the exploration of the caves of Belgium,
France, and other countries on the continent of Europe.

Bone Implements—Cresswell Crags.

In the valley of the river Meuse (Belgium), and its tributaries,
have been found a number of caves and rock-shelters. It was in
the caves of the Meuse that Schmerling made his explorations.
When the real value of his work was recognized, the Belgian
government had a thorough exploration made by M. Dupont, director
of the Royal Museum in Brussels. This gentleman scientifically
examined forty-three of these resorts. His opinions, therefore,
are deserving of great weight; but, unfortunately, they are not
accepted by all. These caves vary greatly in size—many being mere
rock-shelters. From their position, we are at once struck with
the prolonged period of time necessary to explain their
formation. They are found at very different heights along the
river’s bank. In one case two caves are so situated that the
river must have sunk its bed nearly two hundred feet between the
time of their formation.9

M. Dupont thinks the evidence very clearly points to the presence
of two distinct stages in cave life—one of which he calls the
Mammoth period, and the other, which is more recent, the
Reindeer. It is, however, known that the mammoth lived all
through the Reindeer epoch, if not to later times; so the names
bestowed on these periods do not seem very appropriate. We can
readily see, however, that, while the names might be wrong, the
two periods might be reality. In many cases, the same cave
contained remains of both stages, separated by layers of cave
earth, and it is noticed that, in such cases, those of the
Reindeer stage are invariably of a later date. In general terms,
M. Dupont finds that the implements of the Mammoth period are of
a rude make, consisting of a poor kind of flint, and poorly
finished. But, in beds of the Reindeer epoch, the flint
implements consist, principally, of well-shaped blades and
flakes—with numerous bodkins, or awls—javelins, or arrow-heads
—besides articles of bone and horn such as harpoons, and teeth of
various animals drilled as if suspended for ornaments. Their
workmanship indicates decidedly more skill than that of the
implements obtained from the lower levels. But the most
remarkable finds of the Reindeer epoch consist of portions of
reindeer horn, showing etchings or engravings which have been
traced by some sharp point, no doubt by a flint implement. One
small bit of horn has been cut or scraped so as to present the
rude outline of a human figure.

So far the evidence seems to bear out the same conclusions as do
those of the British caves, though it also shows that the men of
the Drift inhabited caves quite extensively. We must remember,
however, that the greatest wealth of cave relics belongs to the
so-called Cave-men, but that savage tribes have always resorted
to caves as a place for occasional habitation.10

It is in France that we find the greatest wealth of relics of
Cave-men. Sir John Lubbock has left us a description of the
valley of the Vezère, where these caverns occur. The Vezère is a
small tributary of the Dordogne. “The rivers of the Dordogne run
in deep valleys cut through calcareous strata: and while the
sides of the valley in chalk districts are generally sloping, in
this case, owing probably to the hardness of the rock, they are
frequently vertical. Small caves and grottoes frequently occur:
besides which, as the different strata possess unequal power of
resistance against atmospheric influence, the face of the rock
is, as it were, scooped out in many places, and thus
‘rock-shelters’ are produced. In very ancient times these caves
and rock-shelters were inhabited by men, who have left behind
them abundant evidence of their presence.

“But as civilization advanced, man, no longer content with the
natural but inconvenient abode thus offered to him, excavated
chambers for himself, and in places the whole face of the rock is
honey-combed with doors and windows, leading into suits of rooms,
often in tiers one over the other, so as to suggest the idea of a
French Petra. Down to a comparatively recent period, as, for
instance, in the troublous times of the Middle Ages, many of
these, no doubt, served as very efficient fortifications, and
even now some of them are in use as store-houses, and for other
purposes, as, for instance, at Brantome, where there is an old
chapel cut in solid rock.

“Apart from the scientific interest, it was impossible not to
enjoy the beauty of the scene which passed before our eyes, as we
dropped down the Vezère. As the river visited sometimes one side
of the valley, sometimes the other, so we had at one moment rich
meadow lands on each side, or found ourselves close to the
perpendicular and almost overhanging cliff. Here and there we
came upon some picturesque old castle, and though the trees were
not in full leaf, the rocks were, in many places, green with box
and ivy and evergreen oak, which harmonized well with the rich
yellow brown of the stone itself.”11

Thus it will be seen this valley has been a favorite resort for
people at widely different times, and amongst others, the cave
dwellers of the Paleolithic Age. As in the caves of Belgium, some
of them are at a considerable height above the stream, while
others are but little above the present flood line. Mr. Dawkins
refers us to the results of the exploration of a French scientist
in one of the grottoes of this section, which seem to be exactly
similar to the results obtained from the caves of Cresswell Crags
and Kent’s Cavern. The implements obtained from the two lower
strata are rough choppers and rude flakes of jasper and other
simple forms. Above these beds was a stratum of black earth,
underneath a sheet of stalagmite. Here were found implements of a
far higher type: those of flints, consisting of flakes, saws, and
scrapers, with finely chipped heads and arrow-heads, and awls and
arrow-heads of bone and antler.12 Now these results can only be
interpreted as were those in the English caverns. The lower and
ruder implements belong to the men of the Drift; the later and
more polished ones to the Cave-men.

Bone Implements, Dordogne Caves.

Most of the relics obtained from these caverns belong to the
Cave-men proper. However, the implements from one of them, known
as Le Moustier, are of a rude type, and may belong to those of
the Drift. But most of them are of superior make and finish.
These specimens are all from caves in this vicinity.13

We have seen that the men of the Drift were very widely scattered
over the earth. We find, however, that the Cave-men had a much
more limited range. Dr. Fraas has shown their presence in
Germany. At Schussenreid, in Bavaria, was found an open air
station of these people. It was evidently a camping-ground, one
of the few places where proofs of their presence have been
discovered outside of caves. Here we found the usual _débris,_
consisting of broken bones, charcoal, blackened hearth-stone, and
implements of flint and horn. We must stop a minute to notice a
bit of unexpected proof as to the severity of climate then
prevailing in Europe. This deposit was covered up with sand, and
on this sand were the remains of moss, sufficiently perfect to
determine the kind. We are assured that it is composed of species
now found only in Alpine regions, near or above the snow-line,
and in such northern countries as Greenland and Spitzbergen.14
Dr. Fraas also proved their presence in several caves in Suabia.
One known as the Hohlefels Cave was very rich in these relics.
They have been found in Switzerland, as at Thayengen; but are not
found south of the Alps or the Pyrenees. Men, indeed, inhabited
caves in Italy, but they did not use the implements
characteristic of the Cave-men.15 Mr. Dawkins points out that
this range corresponds very nearly to that of the northern group
of animals, thus differing widely from the men of the River
Drift. In this connection we must notice that the reindeer is the
animal whose remains are most commonly met with in the _débris_
they have left in the caves. This animal surely testifies to a
cold climate. We are thus justified in concluding that the
Cave-men are associated with the Arctic group of animals.16

We must now turn our attention to the culture of the Cave-men. We
must reflect that long ages, with great changes of climate and
life, both animal and vegetable, have rolled away since the
remains of these early races were sealed by the stalagmite
formation in caves. The relics at their best are but scanty
memorials of a people long since passed, and we can not expect,
can not hope, to recover more than a general outline. But this
will be found full of interest, for it is a picture of
Paleolithic life and times existing in Europe long ages before
the pyramids of Egypt were uplifted.

With respect to habitations, we have already seen that he took up
his abode in caves, at least where they were suitable. According
to their depth and the light penetrating them, he either occupied
the whole extent of them, or established himself in the outlet
only. About the center of the cave some slabs of stone, selected
from the hardest rock such as sandstone or slate, were bedded
down in the ground, and formed the hearth for cooking his food.
But in no country are such resorts sufficiently numerous to
shelter a large population; besides, they, are generally at some
distance from the fertile plains, where game would be most
abundant. In such cases they doubtless constructed rude huts of
boughs, skins, or other materials. Such an out-door settlement
was the station at Solutré, France, where has been found an
immense number of bones of horses, reindeers, also, though in
less abundance, those of elephants, aurochs, and great lions.17

Rock Shelter at Bruniquel.

Where no cave presented itself, these people made for themselves
convenient sheltering places under the cover of some great
overhanging rock. In various places in France such resorts have
been discovered. The name of “rock shelters” has been given to
such resorts. In such places, where we may suppose they built
rude huts, are found rich deposits of the bones of mammals,
birds, and fishes, as well implements of bone and horn.

We have frequently referred to the presence of hearths, showing
that they used fire. Like other rude races, it is probable that
they obtained fire by the friction of one piece of wood upon
another. M. Dupont found in one of the Belgium caves a piece of
iron pyrites, from which, with a flint, sparks could be struck.

Speculations have been indulged as to the probable condition of
man before he obtained a knowledge of fire. If the acquisition of
fire be regarded as one of the results of human endeavor, it must
surely be classed as one of the most valuable discoveries which
mankind has made. We do not believe, however, that we shall ever
discover relics of races or tribes of men so low in the scale as
to be ignorant of the use of fire. Even some of the flints which
M. Bourgeois would refer to the Miocene Age show evidence of its
action.18

The men of the Caves supported life by hunting. But a very small
part of their food supplies could have been drawn from the
vegetable kingdom. When the climate was so severe that Alpine
mosses grew at Schussenreid, acorns and like nuts would be about
all they could procure from that source. The animals hunted by
the Cave-men were principally reindeer, horses, bisons, and,
occasionally mammoths and woolly rhinoceros. But they were not
very choice in this matter, as they readily accepted as food any
animal they could obtain by force or cunning. Wolves and foxes
were not rejected, and in one cave large numbers of the bones of
the common water rat were obtained. We know what animals were
used as food, because we find their bones split for the purpose
of procuring the marrow they contained. This was evidently to
them a nutritious article of diet, since they were careful to
open all the bones containing it, and bones so split are
frequently the only means of detecting the former presence of man
in some bone caves.

We must not forget that at that time the shore of the Atlantic
Ocean, during a large part of the Paleolithic Age, was situated
much farther west than it is now, and so in all probability many
refuse heaps are now underneath the waves. From certain drawings
that are found in some French caves, we know they were used for
hunting both seals and whales.

We can not doubt that the capture of a whale afforded as much
enjoyment to them as it does to a tribe of Eskimos now. Bones of
birds and fishes are found in many instances. The salmon appears
to have been a favorite among fishes. Among the birds are found
some species now only living in cold countries, such as the snowy
owl, willow grouse, and flamingo. This is but another proof that
the climate of Europe was then very cold.

Whale and Seal, Incised on Bone.

The Cave-men were not afraid to attack animals greatly superior
to them in strength. In the Hohlefels Cave in Germany were found
great quantities of the broken and split bones of cave bears, an
animal very similar to the grizzly, and probably its equal in
strength. The reindeer was the main reliance of these tribes. Its
bones are found in great abundance, and it doubtless was to them
all it is to the Lapps of Europe to-day, except, of course, that
it was not domesticated.

Though fire would naturally suggest some rude method of cooking,
we can scarcely find a trace of such operations, and it has been
a matter of conjecture how they proceeded. Sir John Lubbock
thinks they boiled their food, and in the absence of pottery used
wooden or skin vessels, bringing the water to a boiling point by
means of stones heated red hot and thrown into the water. He
points out the presence of peculiarly shaped stones found in some
caves, which he thinks were used for this purpose.19 It is not
supposed they had any articles of pottery during this epoch. This
is quite an important point, because a knowledge of pottery marks
an important epoch in the culture of a people.

Cave Bear, Incised on Slate.

A people possessed of this knowledge have passed from Savagism
into the lower status of Barbarism.20 A piece of pottery is as
little liable to destruction as a piece of bone, and so, had
those people possessed pottery, there is no reason why pieces of
it should not be found in every refuse heap, and amongst the
_débris_ of all caves. But such is not the case; no fragments of
pottery have yet been found which can be referred with confidence
to the epoch of the Cave-men.21

Some speculations have been indulged in as to whether the men of
this age were cannibals or not. It need occasion no surprise if
they were, since ancient writers assert that even during
historical times this practice prevailed in Europe.22 Though not
definitely proven there are many facts difficult of explanation,
except on this supposition. However, it may well be that this,
after all, only amounted to the custom of eating parts of an
enemy killed in battle, as certain modern savages do that we
would not call cannibals.23

It is not necessary to speak at much length of the methods of
hunting. They had bows and arrows, daggers of reindeer horn,
spears tipped with flint or bone, and harpoons. Besides, they
made a formidable club of the lower jaw-bone of the cave-bear
with its canine tooth still left in its place. Fishing with nets
is not supposed to have been known, Harpooning was probably their
favorite way. M. G. DeMortillet thinks they fished as follows:
They fastened a cord to the middle of a small splinter of bone.
This was then baited, and when swallowed by the fish, was very
certain to get caught in the body.24

We know that rude tribes of to-day have many means of snaring
animals. Doubtless similar scenes were enacted on their primeval
hunting-grounds. French books contain illustrations of the men of
this period driving game over precipitous sides. They had no dogs
to assist them in the hunt, and though reindeer were around them
in great abundance, it is not supposed that they thought of
domesticating them.

Man is the only animal which seeks to protect his body from the
Summer’s heat or the cold of Winter by the use of clothing. We
are, unfortunately, not able to present many details of the dress
of man during the early Stone Age. We are, however, quite certain
that when the climate was severe enough to permit such animals as
the musk-sheep and the reindeer to inhabit South-western Europe,
man must have been provided with an abundance of warm clothing,
though doubtless rudely made and fashioned. Many reindeer horns
found in France are cut and hacked at the base in such a way as
to indicate that it was done when removing the skins. We also
know that the rudest of savage tribes are never at a loss for
some process of tanning hides and rendering them fit for use.
From the immense number and variety of scrapers found among the
cave _débris._ we are sure the preparation of clothing occupied
no inconsiderable portion of their time. We also find numerous
awls and splinters of flint and bone, which they doubtless used
in exactly the same manner as similar tools are used by the Lapps
to-day in Europe, that is, to pierce holes in the hides, through
which to pass their rude needle and thread. The needles are made
of reindeer horn, and they were not only smoothly polished, but
the eyes are of such a minute size, and withal so regularly made,
that many at first could not believe they were drilled by the use
of flint alone. This, however, has been shown to be the case by
actual experiments. The thread employed was reindeer tendons, for
bones of these animals are found cut just where they would he cut
in removing these tendons. This cut shows that they protected
their hands by means of long gloves of three or four fingers.25

Glove, Incised on Bear’s Tooth.

We have thus far been considering those arts which pertain more
directly to living. We have presented some sketches found
engraved on pieces of bone. We first noticed this among the
relics found in one of the Creswell caves in England. It was also
noticed in Belgium. It was among the Cave-men of Southern France
that this artistic trait became highly developed. Among the
reindeer hunters of the Dordogne were artists of no mean ability.
We must pause a minute and mark the bearing of this taste for
art. We have seen many reasons for supposing the men of the caves
much farther advanced in the scale of culture than those of the
Drift, but we have also seen that we can not rank them higher
than the highest grade of savages.

Sir John Lubbock thus speaks of them: “In considering the
probable condition of these ancient Cave-men, we must give them
full credit for their love of art, such as it was; while, on the
other hand, the want of metal, of polished flint implements, and
even of pottery, the ignorance of agriculture, and the apparent
absence of all domestic animals, including even the dog,
certainly imply a very low state of civilization.”26

They were certainly not as far advanced in civilization as the
next race we will describe, yet the Neolithic people had no such
skill as was possessed by the cave-men. This need not surprise
us, because “an artistic feeling is not always the offspring of
civilization, it is rather a gift of nature. It may manifest its
existence in the most barbarous ages, and may make its influence
more deeply felt in nations which are behind in respect to
general progress than in others which are more deeply advanced in
civilization.”27

Reindeer Grazing.

In regard to the objects themselves, a glance at the
illustrations show us that they are quite faithful sketches of
the animals at that time common. As might be expected, sketches
of the reindeer are numerous. This cut is regarded as the highest
example of Paleolithic art, sketched on a piece of horn and found
in Switzerland. The animal is grazing, and the grass on which it
feeds is seen below. We have on a piece of slate the outlines of
a group of reindeer, generally considered as representing a
fight, though it may mean a hunt, and that the hunter has
succeeded in killing a portion of the herd. Some, as we see, are
on the ground.

Group of Reindeers.
Man and Other Animals.

It would be exceedingly interesting could we but find well
executed sketches of the men of this period, but, unfortunately,
with one or two exceptions, no representations, however rude,
have yet been discovered of the human form. Perhaps an
explanation of this fact may be found in the well-known
reluctance of savage tribes to have any engravings taken of
themselves, and we can well imagine that if any one was known to
make drawings of human beings he would be regarded with
suspicious distrust, and it would hardly be a safe accomplishment
to possess. One very curious group represents a man, long and
lean, standing between two horses’ heads, and by the side of a
long serpent or fish, having the appearance of an eel. On the
reverse side of this piece of horn were represented the heads of
two aurochs or bisons. Mr. Dawkins thinks this also represents a
hunting sketch, and that the man is in the act of striking one of
the horses with a spear.

Fish, Incised on Bear’s Tooth and Ibex.

On, a fragment of spear-head found in France several human hands
were engraved, but having only four fingers each. On this point
Mr. Lartet assures us that some savage tribes still depict the
hand without the thumb.28 Representations of birds and reptiles
are very rare; fishes are more common. On a piece of reindeer’s
horn was found this representation of the head and chest of an
ibex. Of special interest to us is a representation of a mammoth
found engraved on a piece of mammoth tusk in one of the Dordogne
caves. We have no doubt that the artist who engraved it was
perfectly familiar with the animal itself.

Mammoth—La Madeline Cave, France.

Their artistic skill was not confined to the execution of
drawings. They frequently carved pieces of reindeer horn into
various animal forms. Our next cut shows us a dagger, the handle
of which is carved to imitate a reindeer. It will be seen how the
artist has adapted the position of the animal to the necessities
of the case. Flowers are very seldom represented; but one
implement from France has a very nice representation of some
flowering plant engraved on it.

Take it all in all, the possession of this artistic instinct is
certainly remarkable—the more so when we remember the rudeness of
his surroundings, and the few and simple means at his command for
work. “A splinter of flint was his sole graving tool; a piece of
reindeer horn, or a flake of slate or ivory, was the only plate
on which primitive man could stamp his reproduction of animated
nature.”29

Reindeer Carved on Dagger Handle.

Some speculations have been indulged in as to whether we have any
traces of a government amongst the Paleolithic people. That they
had some chief or leader is more than probable. In the caves of
France we find a number of fragments of reindeer horn. Generally
speaking, they show evidence of a good deal of care in making
them. They are carved and ornamented with sketches of various
animals, and invariably have one or more holes bored in the base.
The idea has been quite freely advanced, that these are emblems
of authority.30 And some have pointed out, that, though they are
too light for use as weapons, yet, their “frequent occurrence,
and uniformity of type, show that they possess a conventional
significance.”31 Mr. Geikie says that these conjectures “are mere
guess-work.”32 And Mr. Dawkins points out that they are very
similar in design and ornament with an implement of the Eskimos
known as an “arrow-straightener.”33

Whatever may be our conclusions in regard to these ornamented
pieces of reindeer horn, we can not doubt but that their social
instincts found expression in some sort of alliance for the
common good. This is shown by several facts: such, for instance,
as the evidence of trade or barter between localities
considerable distances apart. The inhabitants of Belgium must
have gone to what is now Southern France to procure the flint
they used. They also procured, from the same source, fossil
sea-shells, which they valued highly.34 We also notice the fact,
that certain localities appear to have been used as the place of
manufacture for certain articles, to the exclusion of others. In
other words, the primitive people appear to have learned the
great utility of a division of labor. One of the caves in Belgium
appears to have been used as a place to make flint implements.
Over twenty thousand articles of flint were found in this cave.35
In France, while in one cave the implements were all of the
spear-head type, in a neighboring cave horn was almost the only
article used in the manufacture of implements. We must not,
however, form an exalted idea of their trade—it was simply barter
in a rude state of society.36

Flowers on Reindeer’s Horn.

Ornamented Reindeer Horn—Use Unknown.

Various opinions have been held as to whether we have any trace
of a religious belief. Theoretically speaking, they had some sort
of a religion, though doubtless very vague and indistinct; for we
know of no nation as far advanced as they were destitute of it.37
It has been pointed out, that the bones of some animals, as the
horse, were very rare, and their absence explained as the result
of superstitious reasons. It has also been conjectured that some
of the perforated bones and teeth of animals found in various
deposits were amulets worn for religious purposes; and some have
gone so far as to infer, that the ornamentations on some of these
so-called amulets represent the sun, and that, consequently,
sun-worship prevailed among the Cave-men. While these various
conjectures are, of course, possible, it is equally certain they
are all “mere guess-work.”

Early explorers describe with considerable degree of confidence
the manner of burial among the Cave-men, and inferred from the
remains found buried with the bodies that they had some notion of
a life beyond the grave—and, accordingly, placed near the body
food and drink to support him on his journey, weapons wherewith
to defend himself, and his favorite implements, so that, arrived
at the land of spirits, he would be well provided for. These
result are not borne out by later investigations. The instance
mentioned most prominently, that of the burial cave at Aurignac,
France, has been shown to have no bearing on the question, as
every thing indicates that the burials were of a much later date.

We have yet a most important question before us—one that is still
engaging the attention of scientific men in Europe. That is the
question of race. Who were these early tribes? Are they in any
way connected with the men of the Drift? Have we any
representations of them now living upon the earth? On these
questions there is quite a diversity of opinion. In various caves
in France and Belgium, skulls and other bones of the human
skeleton have been found. These have been studied with care by
the best scholars in Europe; and B. Carfares has set forth the
results in his various works, in which he connects them, not only
with the men of the River Drift, but with the race of men that
inhabited Europe during the succeeding Neolithic Age, and,
indeed, with men now living in France and Belgium.

There is no question as to the correctness of these inferences
—the only one is, whether the skulls and fragmentary skeletons
are really remains of the Cave-men. This must be made perfectly
clear and unquestioned before we are to accept them. Mr. Darkens
reviews the various cases where skeletons have been found in
caves.38 He points out that, in every instance, very serious
doubts can be raised as to whether they are really remains of the
Cave-men or not.

Until these objections are met, we do not see how the opinion of
B. Carfares (above) can be accepted. But if these instances are
not accepted, then, in all other instances where there is no
doubt, the remains are in such a fragmentary condition that no
conclusion can be made from them. So as far as remains of the
human skeleton are concerned, we can form no conclusions as to
the race to which the Cave-men belonged.

We have already noted, that the Cave-men came into Europe much
later than the men of the Drift, and that their range was very
limited, corresponding, in fact, with that of the northern group
of animals. When the cold of the Glacial Age passed away, the
musk-sheep, reindeer, and other animals, were driven out of
Europe. They are found now only in high northern latitudes, such
as Greenland. Mr. Darkens thinks that there, also, are to be
found the Cave-men of the Paleolithic Age, now known as the
Eskimos. Though not accepted by all authorities, yet some of our
best scholars find much to commend in this theory.

We have undoubted proofs that, in America, the Eskimos formerly
lived much farther south.39 And Dr. Abbot thinks the Paleolithic
implements discovered in New Jersey, bearing such striking
resemblance to those of Europe, are undoubtedly their work.40
Therefore, there is no absurdity in asserting that they once
lived in Western Europe; the more so, when we reflect that the
climate, the animals—in fact, all their surroundings— must have
been similar to those of their present habitats.

When we come to examine the customs and habits of these Eskimos,
we are at once struck with their resemblance to what we have seen
was the probable state of life among the Cave-men. At Solute, for
instance, we have vast refuse heaps of bones of animals. We find
similar heaps around the rude huts of the Eskimos to-day. Captain
Parry describes one as follows: “In every direction round the
huts were lying innumerable bones of walruses and seals, together
with skulls of dogs, bears, and foxes.”41

Other points of comparison strike us when reading Sir John
Lubbock’s account of their habits and customs. For instance:
“Their food, if cooked at all, is broiled or boiled; their
vessels, being of stone or wood, can not, indeed, be put on the
fires, but heated stones are thrown in until the water becomes
hot enough and the food is cooked.” “Their food consists
principally of reindeer, musk-ox, walrus, seals, birds, and
salmon. They will, however, eat any kind of animal food. They are
very fond of fat and marrow, to get at which they pound the bones
with a stone.” “The clothes of the Eskimos are made from the
skins of the reindeer, seals, and birds, sewn together with
sinews. For needles they use the bones of either birds or
fishes.” “The Eskimos have also a great natural ability for
drawing. In many cases they have made rude maps for our officers,
which have turned out to be substantially correct. Many of their
bone implements are covered with sketches.”

Eskimo Art.

In this cut we have a bone drill on which are sketched reindeer,
geese, a braider or flat-bottomed boat, a tent around which
various articles of clothing are hung up to dry, a woman
apparently engaged in the preparation of food, and a hunting
scene.

Now, we know that savage tribes, widely separated by time and
space, will, after all, under the pressure of common necessities,
invent much the same implements and live much the same life. But
still, where every thing seems to coincide, the climate, the
animals, the mode of life proved the same, and especially when
both are seen possessed of a common artistic skill, together with
the known fact that in the Western Continent the Eskimos did
formerly live much farther south; there is surely a strong case
made out, and therefore the probabilities are that the Eskimos
are the representatives of the Cave-men of Europe.42 And yet we
must be cautious on this point; or rather we remember that the
phrase, “predecessors of the Eskimos,” does not imply that they
were in all respects like them. An examination of the rude
sketches of the Cave-men left by themselves seems to indicate
that the whole body was covered with hair. “The hunter in the
Antler from Duluth Cave has a long, pointed beard, and a high
crest of hair on the poll utterly unlike the Eskimo type. The
figures are also those of a slim and long-jointed man.”43

This completes our review of the Paleolithic people, and it only
remains to present some general conclusions. The Glacial or
Pleistocene Age is seen to have been of immense duration, and
characterized by great changes in climate. We have found that two
races of men occupied Europe during this time. The men of the
River Drift are the most ancient.

We have seen that they can be traced over wide-extended areas.
They seem to have invaded Europe, along with the great invasion
of animals from Asia, constituting the temperate group of
animals; and with those animals they probably shifted back and
forth, as the cold of the Glacial Age increased or waned. These
people seem to have completely vanished. At a later date, when
the cold of the Glacial Age was once more severe, associated with
animals now living only in high northern latitudes, came the
Cave-men, whose discussion has formed the subject of this
chapter.

It will be seen how much we owe to patient investigators. The
results are, indeed, bewildering. They make us acquainted with a
people the very existence of whom was not known a few years back.
Though the whole life of those ancient races seemed hopelessly
lost in the night of time, the gloom is irradiated by the light
of modern science, which lays before our astonished vision the
remains of arts and industries of the primitive tribes that
occupied Europe during the morning-time of human life.

The Mammoth. REFERENCES

The manuscript of this chapter was submitted to Prof. B. B.
Wright, of Overlain, for criticism.

On the formation of caves consult Geikie’s “Prehistoric
Europe,” p. 71; also Evans’s “Ancient Stone Implements,” p.
429.

Evans’s “Ancient Stone Implements,” p. 445.

Pronounced Bret’-chá, a rock composed of fragments of older
rock, united by a cement.

Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” p. 92.

Pengelly, quoted by Geikie, “Prehistoric Europe,” p. 93.

Evans’s “Ancient Stone Implements,” p. 462.

Evans’s “Ancient Stone Implement,” p. 463.

Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” p. 102.

Mr. Dawkins (“Early Man in Britain,” p. 203) does not consider
M. Dupont justified in dividing the remains found in the
caverns of Belgium into two epochs. He considers them to be the
remains of the same people, some tribes being, perhaps, farther
advanced than others. Mr. Dawkins is, of course, high
authority, but we think his argument could also be applied to
prove there was no real difference between the men of the River
Drift and the so-called Cave-men. This, in fact, is the opinion
of many, including Mr. Evans, who is exceptionally well
qualified to judge of these remains. We think, however, in view
of the evidence adduced by Mr. Pengelly, Mr. Geikie, Mr.
Dawkins, and others, few will venture to doubt that there is a
wide difference between the men of the River Drift and those of
the Caves.

“Prehistoric Times,” p. 330.

“Early Man in Britain,” p. 198.

French writers make four divisions of these caves, according to
the degree of finish, which the specimens show. Mr. Dawkins
does not think the difference in the implements sufficient to
justify this view. With the possible exception of Le Moustier,
as stated above, we think his view correct, which is also the
opinion of Mr. Evans. (“Ancient Stone Implements,” p. 439.)

Rau’s “Early Man in Europe,” p. 88.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 205.

Ibid., p.

It is, however, thought that the station was used as a
camping-ground by very different people, at widely different
times.

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 434.

“Prehistoric Times,” p. 335.

Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 12.

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 338. J. C. Southall, in his
valuable work, “Recent Origin of Man,” p. 195, _et seq.,_
argues that pottery was known at this time, and cites instances
where it is stated to have been found. This is the opinion of
Figuier also. (“Primitive Man,” p. 54.) But Mr. Dawkins points
out that these pieces of pottery are clearly of a Neolithic
style, and does not think it proven that they are of
Paleolithic age. Mr. Geikie also denies that there is any proof
that they were acquainted with the potter’s art. (“Prehistoric
Europe,” p. 18.) So the highest place in the scale of
civilization we can assign these people to is that of Upper
Savageism.

Rau’s “Early Man in Europe,” p. 79;

Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” p. 22.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 90.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 210.

“Prehistoric Times,” p. 341.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 105.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 111.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 105.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 102.

Rau’s “Early Man in Europe,” p. 73.

“Prehistoric Europe,” p. 18.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 237.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 117.

Ibid., p. 118.

Ibid., pp. 94 and 95.

This, as Sir John Lubbock points out, depends on our meaning of
the word “religion.” (“Prehistoric Times,” p. 589.)

“The principal instance are Cro-Magnon, Frontal, and Furforz,
in Belgium; Aurignac, Bruniquel, and Mentone, in France.”
“Cave-Hunting,” chap. vii.

“Contributions to N. A. Ethnology,” vol. i, p. 102; “U.S.
Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian,” vol. vii, p.
12; Abbott’s “Primitive Industry,” p. 517.

“Primitive Industry,” 518.

Quoted by Lubbock,”Prehistoric Times,” p. 507.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 242.

Prof. Grant Allen, _Popular Science Monthly,_ November, 1882,
p. 99.

Chapter V
ANTIQUITY OF THE PALEOLITHIC AGE.1

Interest in the Antiquity of man—Connected with the Glacial
Age—The Subject Difficult—Proofs of a Glacial Age—State of
Greenland to-day—The Terminal Moraine—Appearance of the North
Atlantic—Interglacial Age—Causes of the Glacial Age—Croll’s
Theory—Geographical causes—The two theories not Antagonistic—The
date of the Glacial Age—Probable length of the Paleolithic
Age—Time since the close of the Glacial Age—Summary of results.

As we have already remarked, geological periods give us no
insight as to the actual passage of years. To say that man lived
in the Glacial Age, and that we have some faint traces of his
presence in still earlier periods, after all conveys to our minds
only vague ideas of a far-away time. The more a geologist studies
the structure of the earth, the more impressed is he with the
magnitude of the time that must have passed since “The
Beginning.” At present, however, there are no means known of
accurately measuring the time that has passed. It is just as well
that it is so, since, were it known, the human mind would be
utterly incapable of comprehending it. But as to the antiquity of
man, it is but natural that we should seek more particularly to
solve the problem and express our answer in some term of years.

Now, we have seen that the question of the antiquity of man is
intimately connected with that of the Glacial Age. That is to
say, the relics of man as far as we know them in Europe, are
found under such circumstances that we feel confident they are
not far removed from the period of cold. For it will be found
that those conservative scholars who do not think that man
preceded the Glacial Age, or inhabited Europe during the long
course of years included in that period, do think he came into
Europe as soon as it passed away. So, in any case, if we can
determine the date of the Glacial Age, we shall have made a most
important step in advance in solving the problem of the antiquity
of man himself. So it seems to us best to go over the subject of
the Glacial Age again, and see what conclusions some of our best
thinkers have come to as to its cause, when it occurred, and
other matters in relation to it.

It is best to state frankly at the outset that this topic is one
of the great battle-grounds of science to-day, and that there are
as yet but few points well settled in regard to it. One needs but
attempt to read the literature on this subject to become quickly
impressed with the necessity of making haste slowly in forming
any conclusions. He must invoke the aid of the astronomer,
geologist, physical-geographer, and physicist. Yet we must not
suppose that questions relating to the Glacial Age are so
abstruse that they are of interest only to the scholar. On the
contrary, all ought to be interested in them. They open up one of
the most wonderful chapters in the history of the world. They
recall from the past a picture of ice-bound coasts and countries
groaning under icy loads, where now are harbors enlivened by the
commerce of the world, or ripening fields attesting the vivifying
influence of a genial sun. Let us, therefore, follow after the
leaders in thought. When we come to where they can not agree we
can at least see what both sides have to say.

Somewhat at the risk of repetition, we will try and impress on
our readers a sense of the reality and severity of the Glacial
Age. There is danger in regarding this as simply a convenient
theory that geologists have originated to explain some puzzling
facts, that it is not very well founded, and is liable to give
way any day to some more ingenious explanation. On the contrary,
this whole matter has been worked out by very careful scholars.
“There is, perhaps, no great conclusion in any science which
rests upon a surer foundation than this, and if we are to be
guided by our reason at all in deducting the unknown from the
known, the past from the present, we can not refuse our assent to
the reality of the Glacial Age of the Northern Hemisphere in all
its more important features.2 At the present day glaciers do
exist in several places on the earth. They are found in the Alps
and the mountains of Norway, and the Caucasus, in Europe. The
Himalaya mountains support immense glaciers in Asia; and in
America a few still linger in the more inaccessible heights of
the Sierra Nevada. It is from a study of these glaciers, mainly
however, those of the Alps, that geologists have been enabled to
explain the true meaning of certain formations they find in both
Europe and America, that go by the name of drift.

When in an Alpine valley we come upon a glacier, filling it from
side to side, there will be noticed upon both sides a long train
of rock, drift, and other _débris_ that have fallen down upon its
surface from the mountain sides. If two of these ice-rivers unite
to form one glacier, two of these trains will then be borne along
in the middle of the resulting glacier. As this glacier continues
down the valley, it at length reaches a point where a further
advance is rendered impossible by the increased temperature
melting the ice as fast as it advances. At this point the train
of rocks and dirt are dumped, and of course form great mounds,
called moraines. The glacier at times shrinks back on its rocky
bed and allows explorers to examine it.

In such cases they find the rocks smoothed and polished, but here
and there marked with long grooves and striæ. These points are
learned from an examination of existing glaciers. Further down
the valley, where now the glaciers never extend, are seen very
distinctly the same signs. There are the same moraines, striated
rocks, and bowlders that have evidently traveled from their home
up the valley. The only explanation possible in this case is that
once the glaciers extended to that point in the valley.

It required a person who was perfectly familiar with the behavior
of Alpine glaciers, and knew exactly what marks they left behind
in their passage, to point out the proofs of their former
presence in Northern Europe and America, where it seems almost
impossible to believe they existed. Such a man was Louis Agassiz,
the eminent naturalist. Born and educated in Switzerland, he
spent nine years in researches among the glaciers of the
mountains of his native country. He proved the former wide
extension of the glaciers of Switzerland. With these results
before them, geologists were not long in showing that there had
once been glacial ice over a large part of Europe and North
America.

The proofs in this case are almost exactly the same as those used
to show that the ancient glaciers of Switzerland were once larger
than now. But as the great glaciers of the glacial age were many
times larger than any thing we know of at the present day, there
were of course different results produced.

For instance, the water circulating under Alpine glaciers is
enabled to wash out and carry away the mass of pulverized rock
and dirt ground along underneath the ice. But when the glaciers
covered such an enormous extent of country as they did in the
Glacial Age, the water could not sweep away this detritus, and so
great beds of gravel, sand, and clay would be formed over a large
extent of country. But to go over the entire ground would require
volumes; it is sufficient to give the results.

The interior of Greenland to-day is covered by one vast sea of
ice. Explorers have traversed its surface for many miles; not a
plant, or stone, or patch of earth is to be seen. In the Winter
it is a snow-swept waste. In the Summer streams of ice-cold water
flow over its surface, penetrating here and there by crevasses to
unknown depths. This great glacier is some twelve hundred miles
long, by four hundred in width.3 Vast as it is, it is utterly
insignificant as compared with the great continental glacier that
geologists assure us once held in its grasp the larger portion of
North America.

The conclusions of some of our best scholars on this subject are
so opposed to all that we would think possible, according to the
present climate and surroundings, that they seem at first
incredible, and yet they have been worked out with such care that
there is no doubt of the substantial truth of the results.

The terminal moraine of the great glacier has been carefully
traced through several States. We now know that one vast sea of
ice covered the eastern part of North America, down to about the
thirty-ninth parallel of latitude. We have every reason to think
that the great glacier, extending many miles out in the Atlantic,
terminated in a great sea of ice, rising several hundred feet
perpendicularly above the surface of the water. Long Island marks
the southern extension of this glacier. From there its temporal
moraine has been traced west, across New Jersey and Pennsylvania,
diagonally across Ohio, crossing the river near Cincinnati, and
thence west across Indiana and Illinois. West of the Mississippi
it bears off to the north-west, and finally passes into British
America.4

All of North America, to the north and northeast of this line,
must have been covered by one vast sea of ice.5 Doubtless, as in
Greenland to-day, there was no hill or patch of earth to be seen,
simply one great field of ice. The ice was thick enough to cover
from sight Mt. Washington, in New Hampshire, and must have been
at least a mile thick over a large portion of this area,6 and
even at its southern border it must in places have been from two
hundred to two thousand feet thick.7 This, as we have seen, is a
picture very similar to what must have been presented by Europe
at this time.8

Antarctic Ice Sheet.

The Northern Atlantic Ocean must have presented a dreary aspect.
Its shores were walls of ice, from which ever and anon great
masses sailed away as icebergs. These are startling conclusions.
Yet, in the Southern Hemisphere to-day is to be seen nearly the
same state of things. It is well-known that all the lands around
the South Pole are covered by a layer of ice of enormous
thickness. Sir J. A. Ross, in attempting to reach high southern
latitudes, while yet one thousand four hundred miles from the
pole, found his further progress impeded by a perpendicular wall
of ice one hundred and eighty feet thick. He sailed along that
barrier four hundred and fifty miles, and then gave up the
attempt. Only at one point in all that distance did the ice wall
sink low enough to allow of its upper surface being seen from the
mast-head. He describes the upper surface as an immense plain
shining like frosted silver, and stretching away as far as eye
could reach into the illimitable distance.9

The foregoing makes plain to us one phase of the Glacial Age.
Though it may not be quite clear what this has to do with the
antiquity of man, yet we will see, in the sequel, that it has
considerable. As to the periods of mild climate that are thought
by some to have broken up the reign of cold, we do not feel that
we can say any thing in addition to what has been said in a
former chapter.10

We might, however, say, that the sequences of mild and cold
climate are not as well made out in America as they seem to be in
Europe; or at least our geologists are more cautious as to
accepting the evidence as sufficient. And yet such evidences are
not wanting: as in Europe, at various places, are found layers of
land surfaces with remains of animals and plants, but both above
and below such surface soil are found beds of bowlder clay. These
offer undeniable evidence that animals and plants occupied the
land during temperate inter-glacial epochs, preceded and followed
by an Arctic climate, and ice-sheets like those now covering the
interior of Greenland, and the Antarctic Continent.11

We have thus, though somewhat at length, gone over the evidence
as to the reality and severity of the Glacial Age. It was during
the continuance of such climate that Paleolithic man arrived in
Europe, though it was not perhaps until its close. We must not
lose sight of the fact that our principal object at present is to
determine, if we can, a date for either the beginning or ending
of this extraordinary season of cold, and thereby achieve an
important step in determining the antiquity of man.

A moment’s consideration will show us that a period of cold
sufficient to produce over a large portion of the Northern
Hemisphere the results we have just set forth must have a cause
that is strange and far-reaching. It can not be some local cause,
affecting but one continent, since the effect produced is
observed as well in Europe as in America.

Every year we pass through considerable changes in climate. The
four seasons of the year seem to be but an annual repetition, on
a very small scale of course, of the great changes in the climate
of the earth that culminated in the Glacial Age; though we do not
mean to say, that periods of glacial cold come and go with the
regularity of our Winter. The changes in the seasons of the year
are caused by the earth’s position in its orbit, and its annual
revolution around the sun. It may be that the cause of the
Glacial Age itself is of a similar nature; in which case it is an
astronomical problem, and we ought, by calculation, to determine,
with considerable accuracy, dates for the beginning and ending of
this epoch.

Nothing is clearer than that great fluctuations of climate have
occurred in the past. Many theories have been put forth in
explanation. It has been suggested that it was caused by loss of
heat from the earth itself. That the earth was once a ball of
incandescent matter, like the sun, and has since cooled down, is
of course admitted. More than that, this process still continues;
and the time must come when the earth, having yielded up its
internal heat, will cease to be an inhabitable globe. But the
climate of the surface of the earth is not dependent upon the
heat of the interior. This now depends “according to the
proportion of heat received either directly or indirectly from
the sun; and so it must have been during all the ages of which
any records have come down to us.”12 Some have supposed that the
sun, traveling as it does through space, carrying the earth and
the other planets with him, might, in the course of ages, pass
through portions of space either warmer or colder than that in
which it now moves. When we come to a warm region of space, a
genial climate would prevail over the earth; but, when we struck
a cold belt, eternal Winter would mantle a large part of the
globe with snow and ice. This, of course, is simply guess-work.
No less than seven distinct causes have been urged; most of them
either purely conjectural, like the last, or manifestly
incompetent to produce the great results which we have seen must
be accounted for. But, amongst these, two causes have been
advanced—the one astronomical, the other geographical; and, to
the one or the other, the majority of scholars have given their
consent.

It will be no harm to see what can be said in favor of both
theories. So, we will ask the reader’s attention, as it is our
earnest desire to make as plain as possible a question that has
so much to do with our present inquiry. In the course of our
investigations, we can not fail to catch glimpses of wonderful
changes in far away times; and can not help seeing what labor is
involved in the solution of all questions relating to the same.13

Earth’s Orbit.

The earth revolves around the sun in an orbit called an ellipse.
This is not a fixed form, but slowly varies from year to year. It
is now gradually becoming circular. It will, however, not become
an exact circle. Astronomers assure us that, after a long lapse
of time, it will commence to elongate as an ellipse again. Thus,
it will continually change from an ellipse to an approximate
circle, and back again. In scientific language, the eccentricity
of, the earth’s orbit is said to increase and decrease.

In common language we would state that the shape of the path of
the earth around the sun was sometimes much more elongated and
elliptical than at others. The line drawn through the longest
part of an ellipse is called the major axis. Now the sun does not
occupy the center of this line, but is placed to one side of it;
or, in other words, occupies one focus of the ellipse. It will
thus be seen that the earth, at one time during its yearly
journey, is considerably nearer to the sun than at others. The
point where it approaches nearest the sun is called _Perihelion,_
and the point where it reaches the greatest distance from the sun
is called its _Aphelion._ It will be readily seen that the more
elliptical its orbit becomes the greater will be the difference
between the perihelion and aphelion distance of the sun. At
present the earth is about three millions of miles nearer the sun
in perihelion than in aphelion. But we must remember the orbit of
the earth is now nearly circular. There have been times in the
past when the difference was about thirteen millions of miles. We
must not forget to add, that the change in the shape of the
earth’s orbit is not a regular increase and decrease between
well-known extremes. It is caused by the attraction of the other
planets. It has been calculated at intervals of ten thousand
years for the last million years. In this way it has been found
that “the intervals between connective turning points are very
unequal in length, and the actual maximum and minimum values of
the eccentricity are themselves variable. In this way it comes
about that some periods of high eccentricity have lasted much
longer than others, and that the orbit has been more elliptical
at some epochs of high eccentricity than at others.”14 We have
just seen that the earth is nearer the sun at one time of the
year than at another. At present the earth passes its perihelion
point in the Winter of the Northern Hemisphere, and its aphelion
point in the Summer. We will for the present suppose that it
always reaches the points at the same season of the year. Let us
see if the diminished distance from the sun in Winter has any
thing to do with the climate.

If so, this effect will be greatly magnified during a period of
high eccentricity, such as the earth has certainly passed through
in the past. We will state first, that the more elliptical the
orbit becomes, the longer Summer we have, and the shorter Winter.
Astronomically, Spring begins the 20th of March, and Fall the 22d
of September. By counting the days between the epochs it will be
found that the Spring and Summer part of the year is seven days
longer than the Fall and Winter part. But if the earth’s orbit
becomes as highly eccentrical as in the past, this difference
would be thirty-six days.15

This would give us a long Spring and Summer, but a short Fall and
Winter. This in itself would make a great difference. We must
beer in mind, however, that at such a time as we are here
considering, the earth would be ten millions of miles nearer the
sun in Winter than at present. It would certainly then receive
more heat in a given time during Winter than at present.16 Mr.
Croll estimates that whereas the difference in heat received
during a given time is now one-fifteenth,17 at the time we are
considering it would be one-fifth. Hence we see that at such a
time the Winter would not only be much shorter than now, but at
the same time would be much milder.

These are not all the results that would follow an increase of
eccentricity. The climate of Europe and North America is largely
modified by those great ocean currents—the Gulf Stream and the
Japan current. Owing to causes we will not here consider, these
currents would be greatly increased at such a time. As a result
of these combined causes, Mr. Croll estimates that during a
period of high eccentricity the difference between Winter and
Summer in the Northern Hemisphere would be practically
obliterate. The Winter would not only be short, but very mild,
and but little snow would form, while the sun of the long
Summers, though not shining as intense as at present, would not
have to melt off a great layer of snow and ice, but the ground
became quickly heated, and so warmed the air. Hence, if Mr. Croll
be correct, a period of high eccentricity would certainly produce
a climate in the Northern Hemisphere such as characterized many
of the mild interglacial epochs as long as the earth passed its
perihelion point in Winter.

We have so far only considered the Northern Hemisphere. As every
one knows, while we have Winter, the Southern Hemisphere has
Summer. So at the very time we would enjoy the mild short
Winters, the Southern Hemisphere would be doomed to experience
Winters of greatly increased length and severity. As a
consequence, immense fields of snow would be formed, which, by
pressure, would be changed to ice, and creep away as a desolating
glacier. It is quite true that the short Summer sun would shine
with increased warmth, but owing to many causes it would not
avail to free the land from snow and ice.

As Mr. Geikie points out, “An increased amount of evaporation
would certainly take place, but the moisture-laden air would be
chilled by coming into contact with the vast sheets of snow, and
hence the vapor would condense into thick fogs and cloud the sky.
In this way the sun’s rays would be, to a large extent, cut off,
and unable to reach the earth, and consequently the Winter’s snow
would not be all melted away.” Hence it follows that at the very
time the Northern Hemisphere would enjoy a mild interglacial
climate, universal Spring, so to speak, the Southern Hemisphere
would be encased in the ice and snow of an eternal Winter.

But the earth has not always reached its perihelion point during
the Winter season of the Northern Hemisphere. Owing to causes
that we need not here consider, the earth reaches its perihelion
point about twenty minutes earlier each year, so if it now passes
its perihelion in Winter of the Northern Hemisphere, in about ten
thousand years from now it will reach it in Summer, and in
twenty-one thousand, years it will again be at perihelion in
Winter. But see what important consequences follow from this. If
during a period of high eccentricity we are in the enjoyment of
short mild Winters and long pleasant Summers, in ten thousand
years this would certainly be changed. Our Summer season would
become short and heated; our Winters long and intensely cold.
Year by year it would be later in the season before the sun could
free the land from snow, and at length in deep ravines and on
hill-tops the snow would linger through the brief Summer, and the
mild interglacial age will have passed away, and again the
Northern Hemisphere will be visited by snow and ice of a truly.
Glacial Age. If, therefore, a period of high eccentricity lasts
through the many thousand years, we must expect more than one
return of glacial cold interspersed by mild interglacial
climates.

We have tried in these last few pages to give a clear statement
of what is known as Croll’s theory of the Glacial Age. There is
no question but what the earth does thus vary in its position
with regard to the sun, and beyond a doubt this must produce some
effect on the climate, and we can truthfully state that the more
the complicated question of the climate of the earth is studied,
the more grounds do scholars find for affirming that indirectly
this effect must have been very great. And yet we can not say
that this theory is accepted as a satisfactory one even by the
majority of scholars. Many of those who do not reject it think it
not proven. Therefore, before interrogating the astronomer as to
the data of the Glacial Age, according to the terms of this
theory, let us see what other causes are, adduced; then we can
more readily accept or reject the conclusions as to the antiquity
of man which this theory would necessitate us to adopt.

The only other cause to which we can assign the glacial cold,
that is considered with any favor by geologists, is geographical;
that is to say, depending on the distribution of land and water.
Glaciers depend on the amount of snow-fall. In any country where
the amount of snow-fall is so great that it is not all evaporated
or melted by the Summer’s sun, and consequently increases from
year to year, glaciers must soon appear, and these icy rivers
would ere-long, flow away to lower levels. If we suppose, with
Sir Charles Lyell, that the lands of the globe were all to be
gathered around the equator, and the waters were gathered around
the poles, it is manifest that there would be no such a thing as
extremes of temperature, and it is, perhaps, doubtful whether ice
would form, even in polar areas.18 At any rate, no glaciers could
be formed, as there would be no land on which snow could gather
in great quantities.

If, however, we reverse this picture, and conceive of the land
gathered in a compact mass around the poles, shutting out the
water, but consider the equatorial region of the earth to be
occupied by the waters of the ocean, we would manifestly have a
very different scene. From the ocean moisture-laden winds would
flow over the polar lands. The snowfall would necessarily be
great. In short, we can not doubt but what all the land of the
earth would be covered with glaciers.19

Although these last conceptions are purely hypothetical, they
will serve the good purpose of showing the great influence that
the geographical distribution of land and water have on the
climate of a country. Of one thing, however, geologists have
become more and more impressed of late years. That is, that
continents and oceans have always had the same relative position
as now; that is to say, the continents have followed a definite
plan in their development. The very first part of North America
to appear above the waters of the primal sea clearly outlined the
shape of the future continent. Mr. Dana assures us that our
continent developed with almost the regularity of a flower. Prof.
Hitchcock also points out that the surface area of the very first
period outlined the shape of the continent. “The work of later
geological periods seems to have been the filling up of the bays
and sounds between the great islands, elevating the consolidated
mass into a continental area.”20 So it is not at all probable
that the lands of the globe were ever grouped, as we have here
supposed them.

This last statement is liable, however, to leave us under a wrong
impression; for although, as a whole, continental areas have been
permanent, yet in detail they have been subject to wonderful and
repeated changes. “Every square mile of their surface has been
again and again under water, sometimes a few hundred feet
deep—sometimes, perhaps, several thousand. Lakes and inland seas
have been formed and been filled up with sediment, and been
subsequently raised into hills, or even mountains. Arms of the
sea have existed, crossing the continent in various directions,
and thus completely isolating the divided portions for varying
intervals. Seas have become changed into deserts and deserts into
seas.”21

It has been shown beyond all question that North-western Europe
owes its present mild climate to the influence of the Gulf
Stream.22 Ocean currents, then, are a most important element in
determining the climate of a country. If we would take the case
of our hypothetical polar continent again, and, instead of
presenting a continuous coast line, imagine it penetrated by long
straits and fiords, possessing numerous bays, large inland seas,
and in general allowing a free communication with the ocean, we
are very sure the effect would be widely different.

Under these circumstances, says Mr. Geikie, the “much wider
extent of sea being exposed to the blaze of the tropical sun, the
temperature of the ocean in equatorial regions would rise above
what it is at present. This warm water, sweeping in broad
currents, would enter the polar fiords and seas, and everywhere,
beating the air, would cause warm, moist winds to blow athwart
the land to a much greater extent than they do at present; and
these winds thus distributing warmth and moisture, might render
even the high latitude of North Greenland habitable by civilized
man.” So we see that it is necessary to look for such
geographical changes as will interfere with the movements of
marine currents.

Now, it is easy to see that comparatively small geographical
changes would not only greatly interfere with these currents, but
might even cause them to entirely change their course. An
elevation of the northern part of North America, no greater in
amount than is supposed to have taken place at the commencement
of the Glacial Age, would bring the wide area of the banks of
Newfoundland far above the water, causing the American coast to
stretch out in an immense curve to a point more than six hundred
miles east of Halifax, and this would divert much of the Gulf
Stream straight across to the coast of Spain.23

Such an elevation certainly took place, and if continued
westward, Behring’s Strait would also have been closed. It is to
such northern elevations, shutting out the warm ocean currents,
that a great many geologists look for a sufficient explanation of
the glacial cold.

Prof. Dana says: “Increase in the extent and height of high
latitude lands may well stand as one cause of the Glacial Age.”
Then he points out how the rising of the land of Northern Canada
and adjacent territory, which almost certainly took place, “all a
sequel to the majestic uplift of the Tertiary, would have made a
glacial period for North America, whatever the position of the
ecliptic, or whatever the eccentricity of the earth’s orbit,
though more readily, of course, if other circumstances favored
it.”24

It may occur to some that if high northern lands be all that is
necessary for a period of cold, we ought to have had it in the
Miocene Age, when there was a continuous land connection between
the lands of high polar areas and both Europe and America, since
we know that an abundant vegetation spread from there, as a
center, to both these countries. But at that epoch circumstances
were different. The great North Temperate lands were in a
“comparatively fragmentary and insular condition.”25 There were
great inland seas in both Europe and Asia, through which powerful
currents would have flowed from the Indian Ocean to Arctic
regions.

Somewhat similar conditions prevailed in North America. The
western part was in an insular condition. A great sea extended
over this part of the country, joining the Arctic probably on the
north, through which heated water would pour into the polar sea.
And so, instead of a Glacial Age, we find evidence of a mild and
genial climate, with an abundant vegetation.

We thus see that there are two theories as to the cause of the
Glacial Age presented for our consideration. Both of them have
received the sanction of scholars eminent for their scientific
attainments. On inspection we see they are not antagonistic
theories. They may both be true for that matter, and all would
admit that whatever effect they would produce singly would be
greatly enhanced if acting together. Indeed, there are very good
reasons for supposing both must have acted in unison.

There seem to be very good reasons for not believing that the
eccentricity of the earth’s orbit, acting alone, produced the
glacial cold. If that were the case, then whenever the
eccentricity was great we should have a Glacial Age. Now, at some
period of time during the long-extended Tertiary Age we are
certain the eccentricity of the earth’s orbit became very great,
much more so, in fact, than that which is supposed to have
produced the cold of the Quaternary Age. But we are equally
certain there was no glacial epoch during this age.26 What other
explanation can we give for its non-appearance except that
geographical conditions were not favorable?

But, on the other hand, there are certain features connected with
the phenomena of the Glacial Age that seem very difficult of
explanation, if we suppose that geographical changes alone
produced them. We must remember that evidences of the former
presence of glaciers are found widely scattered over the earth.
We shall, therefore, have to assume an elevation not only for
America and Europe, but extend it over into Asia, and take in the
Lebanon Mountains, for they also show distinct traces of
glaciers. And this movement of elevation must also have affected
the Southern Hemisphere, the evidence being equally plain that at
the same comparatively late date glaciers crushed over Southern
Africa and South America.27 This is seen to prove too much.
Again, how can we explain the fact that some time during the
Glacial Age we had a submergence, the land standing several
hundred feet lower than now, but still remained covered with ice,
and over the submerged part there sailed icebergs and ice-rafts,
freighted with their usual _débris_? That such was the state of
things in Europe we are assured by some very good authorities.28

Neither do geographical causes afford an adequate explanation of
those changes of temperature that surely took place during the
Glacial Age. These last considerations show us how difficult it
is to believe that geographical causes could have produced the
Glacial Age.

We are assured that all through the geological ages the
continents had been increasing in size and compactness, and that
just at the close of the Tertiary Age they received a
considerable addition of land to the north. The astronomer also
informs us that at a comparatively recent epoch the eccentricity
of the earth’s orbit became very great. The conditions being
favorable, it is not strange that a Glacial Age supervened.

We have been to considerable length in thus explaining the
position of the scientific world in regard to the cause of the
Glacial Age. Our reason for so doing is that this age is, we
think, so connected with the Paleolithic Age of man, that it
seems advisable to have a clear understanding in regard to it.
What we have to say is neither new nor original. It is simply an
earnest endeavor to represent clearly the conclusions of some of
our best scholars on this subject, and we have tried to give to
each theory its due weight. Our conclusions may be wrong, but, if
so, we have the consolation of erring in very good company.

We have now gone over the ground and are ready to see what dates
can be given. Though the numbers we use seem to be very large
indeed, they are so only in comparison with our brief span of
life. They are insignificant as compared with the extent of time
that has surely rolled by since life appeared on the globe. Let
us, therefore, not be dismayed at the figures the astronomer sets
before us.29

About two hundred and fifty thousand years ago the earth’s path
around the sun was much the same as that of the present. No great
changes in climate were liable to take place at that time. During
the next fifty thousand years the eccentricity steadily
increased. Towards the end of that time all that was necessary to
produce a glacial epoch in the Northern Hemisphere was favorable
geographical causes, and that our earth should reach its point
nearest the sun in Summer. This it must have done when about half
that time had elapsed.

We can in imagination see what a slow deterioration of climate
took place. Thousands of years would come and go before the
change would be decisive. But a time must have at length arrived
when the vegetation covering the ground was such as was suited
only for high northern latitudes. The animals suited for warm and
temperate regions must have wandered farther south; others from
the north had arrived to take their place. We can see how well
this agrees with the changes of climate at the close of the
Pliocene Age. The snows of the commencing Glacial Age would soon
begin to fall, finally the sun would not melt them off of the
high lands, and mountain peaks, and so a Glacial Age would be
ushered in.

We have referred to the fact that the earth reaches its
perihelion point a little earlier each year, and, as a
consequence, we would have periods of mild climate alternating
the cold. This extended period of time, equal to twenty-one
thousand of our ordinary years, has been named the Great Year of
our globe. Mr. Wallace has pointed out some very good reasons for
thinking Mr. Croll’s theory must be modified on this point. He
thinks that when once a Glacial Age was fairly fastened on a
hemisphere, it would retain its grasp as long as the eccentricity
remained high, but whenever the Summer of the Great Year came to
that hemisphere, it would melt back the glacial ice for some
distance, but this area would be recovered by the ice when the
Winter of the Great Year supervened. These effects would be
different when the eccentricity itself became low. Then we would
expect the glacial conditions to vanish entirely when the Summer
of a Great Year comes on.30

As we have made the theoretical part of this chapter already too
long, we must hurry on. We can only say that this view is founded
on the fact that when a country was covered with snow and ice, it
had so to speak, a great amount of cold stored up in it, so much,
in fact, that it would not be removed by the sun of a new
geological Summer. This ought to be acceptable to such geologists
as are willing to admit the advance and retreat of the great
glacier, but yet doubt the fact of the interglacial mild climate.

But now to return to the question of time about two hundred and
twenty thousand years ago. Then the Northern Hemisphere,
according to this theory, was in the grasp of a Glacial Age.
According to Mr. Wallace, as long as the eccentricity remained
high, there could be no great amelioration of climate, except
along the southern border of the ice sheet, which might, for
causes named, vary some distance during the Great Year. Two
hundred thousand years ago the eccentricity, then very high,
reached a turning point. It then steadily, though gradually,
diminished for fifty thousand years; at that time the
eccentricity was so small, though considerably larger than at
present, that it is doubtful if it was of any service in
producing a change of climate.31 At that time, also, the Northern
Hemisphere was passing through the Summer season of the Great
Year. We ought, therefore, to have had a mild interglacial
season. Except in high northern latitudes the ice should have
disappeared. This change we would expect to find more marked in
Europe than in America.

We need only recall how strong are the evidences on this point.
Nearly all European writers admit at least one such mild
interval, and though not wanting evidence of such a period in
America, our geologists are much less confident of its
occurrence.

But from that point the eccentricity again increased. So when the
long flight of years again brought secular Winter to the Northern
Hemisphere, the glaciers would speedily appear, and as
eccentricity was again high, they would again hold the country in
their grasp. Fifty thousand years later, or one hundred thousand
years ago, it passed its turning point again; eighty thousand
years ago, it became so small that it probably ceased to effect
the climate. Since then it has not been very large. Twenty-five
thousand years ago it was less than it is now, but it is again
growing smaller. According to this theory, then, the Glacial Age
commenced about two hundred and twenty thousand years ago. It
continued, with one interruption of mild climate, for one hundred
and forty thousand years, and finally passed away eighty thousand
years ago.

What shall we say to these results? If true, what a wonderful
antiquity is here unfolded for the human race, and what a
wonderful lapse of time is included in what is known as the
Paleolithic Age! How strikingly does it impress upon our minds
the slow development of man! Is such an antiquity for man in
itself absurd? We know no reason for such a conclusion. Our most
eminent scholars nowhere set a limit to the time of man’s first
appearance. It is true, many of them do not think the evidence
strong enough to affirm such an antiquity, but there are no
bounds given beyond which we may not pass.

Without investigation some might reject the idea that man could
have lived on the earth one hundred thousand years in a state of
Savagism. If endowed with the attributes of humanity, it may seem
to them that he would long before that time have achieved
civilization. Such persons do not consider the lowliness of his
first condition and the extreme slowness with which progress must
have gone forward. On this point the geologists and the
sociologists agree. Says Mr. Geikie: “The time which has elapsed
from the close of the Paleolithic Age, even up to the present
day, can not for a moment compare with the aeons during which the
men of the old stone period occupied Europe.” And on this subject
Mr. Morgan says: “It is a conclusion of deep importance in
ethnology that the experience of mankind in Savagery was longer
in duration than all their subsequent experience, and that the
period of Civilization covers but a fragment of the life of the
race.”32 The time itself, which seems to us so long, is but a
brief space as compared with the ages nature has manifestly
required to work out some of the results we see before us every
day. We are sure, but few of our scholars think this too liberal
an estimate. All endeavor to impress on our minds that the
Glacial Age is an expression covering a very long period of time.

As to the time that has elapsed since the close of the Glacial
Age there is some dispute, and it may be that we will be forced
to the conclusion that the close of the Glacial Age was but a few
thousand years ago. Mr. Wallace assures us, however, that the
time mentioned agrees well “with physical evidence of the time
that has elapsed since the cold has passed away.”33

Difficulties are, however, urged by other writers. We can see at
once that as quick as the glaciers are removed the denuding
forces of nature, which are constantly at work, would begin to
rearrange the _débris_ left behind on the surface, and in the
course of a few thousand years must effect great changes. Now, in
some cases the amount of such change is so small that geologists
are reluctant to believe a vast lapse of time has occurred since
the glaciers withdrew. Mr. Geikie tells us of some moraines in
Scotland that they are so fresh and beautiful “that it is
difficult to believe they can date back to a period so vastly
removed as the Ice Age is believed to be.”34 In our own country
this same sort of evidence is brought forward, and we are given
some special calculations going to show that the disappearance of
the glaciers was a comparatively recent thing.35

It will be seen that these conclusions are somewhat opposed to
the results previously arrived at. In explanation Mr. Geikie
thinks the cases spoken of in Scotland were not the moraines of
the great glaciers, but of a local glacier of a far later date.
He thinks that the climate, while not severe enough to produce
the enormous glaciers of early times, was severe enough to
produce local glaciers still in Scotland.36 It is possible that a
similar explanation may be given for the evidence adduced in the
United States. We can only state that, according to the
difference in climate between the eastern and western sides of
the Atlantic Ocean, when the climate was severe enough to produce
local glaciers in Scotland, it would produce the same effect over
a large part of eastern United States down to the latitude of New
York City.37 And while it is true there would not be as much
difference in climate on the two sides of the Atlantic in Glacial
times as at present, since the Gulf Stream, on which such
difference depends would then have less force, still it was not
entirely lacking, and the difference must have been
considerable.38

Prof. Hitchcock has made a suggestion that whereas we know a
period of several months elapses after the sun crosses the
equator before Summer fairly comes on, so it is but reasonable to
suppose that a proportionate length of time would go by after the
eccentricity of the earth’s orbit became small, before the
Glacial Age would really pass away. He accordingly suggests it
may have been only about forty thousand years since the glaciers
disappeared.39

At the close of the Glacial Age Paleolithic man vanished from
Europe. This, therefore, brings us to the conclusion of our
researches into what is probably the most mysterious chapter of
man’s existence on the earth.

It may not come amiss to briefly notice the main points thus far
made in our investigation of the past. As to the epoch of man’s
first appearance, we found he could not be expected to appear
until all the animals lower than he had made their appearance.
This is so because the Creator of all has apparently chosen that
method of procedure in the development of life on the globe.
According to our present knowledge, man might have been living in
the Miocene Age, and with a higher degree of probability in the
Pliocene. But we can not say that the evidence adduced in favor
of his existence at these early times is satisfactory to the
majority of our best thinkers. All agree that he was living in
Europe at the close of the Glacial Age, and we think the evidence
sufficient to show that he preceded the glaciers, and that as a
rude savage he lived in Europe throughout the long extended
portion of time known as the Glacial Age.

We also found evidence of either two distinct races of men
inhabiting Europe in the Paleolithic Age, or else tribes of the
same race, widely different in time and in culture. The one
people known as the men of the River Drift apparently invaded
Europe from Asia, along with the species of temperate animals now
living there. This people seem to have been widely scattered over
the earth. The race has probably vanished away, though certain
Australian tribes may be descendants of them. They were doubtless
very low in the scale of humanity, having apparently never
reached a higher state than that of Lower Savagism. The second
race of men inhabiting Europe during the Paleolithic Age were the
Cave-dwellers. They seem to have been allied to the Eskimos of
the North. They were evidently further advanced than the Drift
men, but were still savages.

The Paleolithic Age in Europe seems to have terminated with the
Glacial Age. But we are not to suppose it came to an end all over
the earth at that time. On the contrary, some tribes of men never
passed beyond that stage. When the light of civilization fell
upon them they were still in the culture of the old Stone Age. We
are to notice that in such cases the tribes thus discovered were
very low in the scale. The probable data for the Paleolithic Age
have formed the subject of this chapter. While claiming in
support of them the opinions of some eminent scholars, we freely
admit that it is not a settled question, but open to very grave
objections, especially the date of the close of the Glacial Age,
which seems to have been comparatively recent, at least in
America. We think, however, that these objections will yet be
harmonized with the general results. Neither is this claimed to
be an exhaustive presentation of the matter. It is an outline
only—the better to enable us to understand the mystery connected
with the data of Paleolithic man.

In these few chapters we have been dealing with people, manners,
arid times, of which the world fifty years ago was ignorant. Many
little discoveries, at first apparently disconnected, are
suddenly brought into new relation, and behold, ages ago, when
the great continents were but just completed, races of men, with
the stamp of humanity upon them, are seen filling the earth. With
them were many great animals long since passed away. The age of
animals was at an end. That of man had just begun.

The child requires the schooling of adversity and trial to make a
complete man of himself, and it is even so with races of men. Who
can doubt that struggling up from dense ignorance, contending
against adverse circumstances, compelled to wage war against
fierce animals, sustaining life in the midst of the low
temperature which had loaded the Northern Hemisphere with snow
and ice, had much to do in developing those qualities which
rendered civilization possible.

As to the antiquity of man disclosed in these chapters, the only
question that need concern us is whether it is true or not.
Evidence tending to prove its substantial accuracy should be as
acceptable as that disproving it. No great principle is here at
stake. The truth of Divine Revelation is in no wise concerned.
There is nothing in its truth or falsity which should in any way
affect man’s belief in an overruling Providence, or in an
immortality beyond the grave, or which should render any less
desirable a life of purity and honor. On the contrary, we think
one of the greatest causes of thanksgiving mortals have is the
possession of intellectual powers, which enable us to here and
there catch a glimpse of the greatness of God’s universe, which
the astronomer at times unfolds to us; or, to dimly comprehend
the flight of time since “The Beginning,” which the geologist
finds necessary to account for the stupendous results wrought by
slow-acting causes.

It seems to us eminently fitting that God should place man here,
granting to him a capacity for improvement, but bestowing on him
no gift or accomplishment, which by exertion and experience he
could acquire; for labor is, and ever has been, the price of
material good. So we see how necessary it is that a very extended
time be given us to account for man’s present advancement.
Supposing an angel of light was to come to the aid of our feeble
understanding, and unroll before us the pages of the past, a past
of which, with all our endeavors, we as yet know but little. Can
we doubt that, from such a review, we would arise with higher
ideas of man’s worth? Our sense of the depths from which he has
ascended is equated only by our appreciation of the future
opening before him. Individually we shall soon have passed away.
Our nation may disappear. But we believe our race has yet but
fairly started in its line of progress; time only is wanted. We
can but think that that view which limits man to an existence
extending over but a few thousand years of the past, is a
belittling one. Rather let us think of him as existing from a
past separated from us by these many thousand years; winning his
present position by the exercise of God-given powers.

REFERENCES

The manuscript of this chapter was submitted to Prof. G. F.
Wright, of Oberlin, for criticism.

Wallace’s “Island Life,” p. 113.

Nordenskiold’s “American Journal of Science,” vol. 110, p. 58.

Wright’s “Studies in Science and Religion,” p. 307, where a map
of this moraine is given.

There is, however, a small area in the south-west part of
Wisconsin where, for some reason, the ice passed by.

Dane’s “Manual of Geology,” p. 538.

Wright’s “Studies in Science and Religion,” p. 308.

“Men of the Drift,” p. 71.

Geikie’s “Great Ice Age,” p. 93.

“Men of the River Drift.”

Abbott’s “Primitive Industry,” p. 545; Quoted from “Geology of
Minnesota.” Report, 1877, p. 37.

Geikie’s “Great Ice Age,” p. 97.

The astronomical theory, which we will first examine, was first
enunciated by Mr. Croll, following a suggestion of the
astronomer Adhemer. Mr. Croll’s views were set forth in many
able papers, and finally gathered into a volume entitled
“Climate and Time in their Geological Relation.” The ablest
defense of these views is that by Mr. James Geikie, in his
works “The Great Ice Age,” and “Prehistoric Europe.”

Geikie’s “Great Ice Age,” p. 114.

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 420, Table 4.

Ibid., Table 5.

Geikie’s “Great Ice Age,” p. 123.

Wallace’s “Island Life,” p. 143.

Ibid., p. 124.

“Geology of New Hampshire,” Vol. II, p. 5.

Wallace’s “Island Life,” p. 99.

Geikie’s “Great Ice Age,” p. 103.

Wallace’s “Island Life,” p. 149. Hitchcock’s “Geology of New
Hampshire,” Vol. II, p. 7, gives a map showing what immense
areas in that section would be raised to the surface by a raise
of three hundred feet.

_American Journal of Science,_ 1871, p. 329.

Wallace’s “Island Life,” p. 184.

Wallace’s “Island Life,” p. 182.

Ibid., p. 157 and note. Prof. Wright thinks this statement
doubtful. He refers to the date of the Glacial Age in the
Southern Hemisphere.

Wallace’s “Island Life,” p. 200; Dawkins’s “Early Man in
Britain,” p. 119; Geikie’s “Great Ice Age,” p. 256;
Quatrefages’s “Human Species,” p. 288.

For these results, see McFarland’s Calculations in “American
Journal of Science,” 1880, p. 105.

“Island Life,” p. 153.

See chart, p. 124, Wallace’s “Island Life.”

“Ancient Society,” p. 39.

“Island Life,” p. 201.

“Prehistoric Europe,” p. 312.

On this point consult Wright’s “Studies in Science and
Religion,” pp. 232-347; also Prof. Lewis in “Primitive
Industry,” pp. 547-551.

“Prehistoric Europe,” p. 560.

See any isothermal map.

Wallace’s “Island Life,” p. 154, note.

“Geology of New Hampshire,” Vol. III, p. 327, referred to in
Wright’s “Studies in Science and Religion,” p. 327.

Chapter VI
THE NEOLITHIC AGE IN EUROPE.1

Close of the first cycle—Neolithic culture connected with the
present—No links between the two ages—Long lapse of time between
the two ages—Swiss lake villages—This form of villages widely
scattered—Irish cranogs—Fortified villages—Implements and weapons
of Neolithic times—Possessed of pottery—Neolithic
agriculture—Possessed of domestic animals—Danish shell-heaps—
Importance of flint—The art of navigation—Neolithic clothing—
Their modes of burial—The question of race—Possible remnants—
Connection with the Turanian race—Arrival of the Celts.

In the preceding chapters we have sought to learn what we could
of the Paleolithic Age. We have seen what strange people and
animals occupied the land, and have caught some glimpses of a
past that has been recovered to us out of the very night of time.
From under the ashes of Vesuvius archæologists have brought to
light an ancient city. We gaze on it with great interest, for we
there see illustrated the state of society two thousand years
ago. But other cities of that time are still in existence, and
not only by the aid of tradition and song, but from the pages of
history, we can learn of the civilization of the Roman people at
the time of the destruction of Pompei; so that, in this case, our
knowledge of the past is not confined to one source of
information. But no voice of history or tradition, or of existing
institutions, speaks to us of the Paleolithic Age. Of that remote
time, the morning time of human life, we learn only from the
labors of geologists and archæologists. We are virtually dealing
with a past geological age. The long term of years thus defined
drew to its close amidst scenes of almost Arctic sterility. In
all probability, glaciers reflected the sun’s rays from all the
considerable hills and mountains of Central and Northern Europe,
though forming, perhaps, but a remnant of the great glaciers of
the Ice Age. The neighboring seas must have been whitened by the
glistening sails of numerous icebergs. Such was the closing scene
of Paleolithic life.

The first great cycle of human life, as far as we know it now,
was concluded in Europe. We do not mean to say that it terminated
all over the world. In other regions it survived to far later
times. But, in Europe, Paleolithic animals and men had worked out
their mission, and we have now to record the arrival and spread
of a new race, bringing with them domestic animals, a knowledge
of rude husbandry, and many simple arts and industries of which
their Paleolithic predecessors were ignorant.

We recall, that the men of the Paleolithic Age seemed incapable
of advancement;2 or their progress was so slow that we scarcely
notice it. But we can trace the lines of advancement from the
Neolithic culture to that of the present. We have, however, to
deal with people and times far removed from the light of history.

We have before us, then, a new culture and a new people. On the
one hand is Paleolithic man, with his rude stone implements,
merely chipped into shape—surrounded by many animals which have
since vanished from the theater of life—inhabiting a country
which, at its close at least, was more like Greenland of to-day
than England or France. The scene completely changes, when the
misty curtain of the past again rises and allows us to continue
our investigations into primitive times.

We would naturally expect to find everywhere, connecting links
between these two ages—the culture of the one gradually changing
into the culture of the other. This, however, is not the case.
The line of demarkation between the ages is everywhere plainly
drawn; and, furthermore, we are learning that a very long time
elapsed between the departure, or disappearance, of the
Paleolithic tribes, and the arrival of their Neolithic
successors. This is shown in a great many ways, and we will
notice some of them. We learn that Neolithic man occasionally
used caves as a place of habitation. In such cases there is
nearly always a thick layer of stalagmite between the strata
containing the Paleolithic implements and the Neolithic strata
—though this stalagmite is unmistakable evidence of the lapse of
many years, we can not determine how many, as we do not know the
rate of formation.

This lapse of time is shown very plainly when we come to consider
the changes wrought in the surface features of the country by the
action of running water. We know that rain, running water, and
frost, constituting what we call denuding forces, are constantly
at work changing the surface of a country. We know that, in
general, this change is slow. But great changes have been wrought
between these two ages.

In the British Islands, we know that the rivers had time to very
materially change the surface features of the land. The important
rivers of Scotland had carved out channels one hundred feet deep
in places; and along their courses, especially near their mouths,
had plowed out and removed great quantities of glacial
material—forming broad flats which became densely wooded before
Neolithic man made his appearance on the scene. In some cases the
entire surface of the land had been removed, leaving only knolls
and hills of the old land surface. Examples of this occur on the
east coast of England, and in what is known as the Fen-lands. The
final retreat of the glaciers must have left the country covered
with _débris._ After this had been largely denuded, the country
became densely wooded. It was not until these changes had taken
place, that Neolithic man wandered into Europe.3

But still another ground exists for claiming a long interval
between these two ages, namely, the great changes that took place
in the animal world of Europe during these two epochs. Many
different species of animals characteristic of the Paleolithic
Age vanished as completely from Europe as the rude tribes that
hunted them, before the appearance of Neolithic tribes. But
little change in the fauna of England has taken place in the last
two thousand years. So it is obvious that the great change
above-mentioned demands many centuries for its accomplishment.
Huge animals of the elephant kind, such as the mammoth, no longer
crashed through the underbrush, or wallowed in the lakes. The
roars of lions and tigers, that haunted the caves of early
Europe, were no longer heard.4 In short, there had disappeared
forever from Europe the distinctly southern animals that
diversified the fauna of Paleolithic times. Even the Arctic
animals were banished to northern latitudes, or mountain heights.

We have dwelt to some length on the proofs of a long-extended
time between these two ages. The more we reflect on these
instances the more impressed are we with a sense of duration vast
and profound, in which the great forests and grassy plains of
Europe supported herds of wild animals all unvexed by the
presence of man. We will only mention one more point and then
pass on.

We have seen that the highest rank we can assign to Paleolithic
man in the scale of civilization is Upper Savagism. But when
Neolithic man appeared, he was in the middle status of Barbarism.
The time, therefore, between the disappearance of Paleolithic man
and the arrival of Neolithic man was long enough to enable
primitive man to pass one entire ethnical period, that of Lower
Barbarism. But this requires a very long period of time, probably
several times as long as the entire series of years since
Civilization first appeared, which is supposed to be in the
neighborhood of five thousand years ago.5

We must now turn our attention to Neolithic man himself and learn
what we can of his culture, and discover, if possible, what race
it was that spread over Europe after it had been for so long a
time an uninhabitable country. A few remarks by way of
introduction will not be considered amiss.

We are learning that tribal organization, implying communism in
living, is characteristic of prehistoric people.6 Tribal
organization sufficed to advance man to the very confines of
civilization. We have no doubt but that this was the state of
society amongst the Neolithic people. But this implies living in
communities or villages. We need not picture to ourselves a
country dotted with houses, the abodes of single families; such
did not exist, but here and there were fortified villages.

Still another consequence follows from this tribal state of
society. There was no such thing as a strong central government.
Each tribe obeyed its own chief, and a state of war nearly always
existed between different tribes. Such we know was the state of
things among the Indian tribes of America. Travelers tell us that
it is so to-day in Africa. Each tribe stood ready to defend
itself or to make war on its neighbors. One great point,
therefore, in constructing a village, was to secure a place that
could be easily defended.

Bearing these principles in mind, let us see what we can learn of
their habitations. Owing to a protracted drouth, the water in the
Swiss lakes was unusually low in the Winter of 1854, and the
inhabitants of Meilen, on the Lake Zürich, took advantage of this
state of affairs to throw up embankments some distance out from
the old shore, and thus gain a strip of land along the coast. In
carrying out this design, they found in the mud at the bottom of
the lake a number of piles, some thrown down and others upright,
fragments of rough pottery, bone and stone instruments, and
various other relics.

Dr. Keller, president of the Zürich Antiquarian Society, was
apprised of this discovery, and proceeded at once to examine the
collection made and the place of discovery. He was not long in
determining the prehistoric nature of the relics, and the true
intent of the pile remains. He proved them to be supports for
platforms, on which were erected rude dwellings, the platforms
being above the surface of the water, and at some distance from
the shore, with which they were connected by a narrow bridge.

Lake Village, Switzerland.

This was the first of a series of many interesting discoveries
from which we have learned many facts as to Neolithic, times. The
out we have introduced is an ideal restoration of one of these
Swiss lake villages. It needs but a glance to show how admirably
placed it was for purposes of defense. Unless an enemy was
provided with boats, the only way of approach was over the
bridge. But the very fact that they resorted to lakes, where at
the expense of great labor they erected their villages, is a
striking illustration of the insecurity of the times.

This discovery once made, it is surprising what numbers of these
ancient lake villages have been discovered. Switzerland abounds
in large and small lakes, and in former times they must have been
still more numerous, but in the course of years they have become
filled up, and now exist only as peat bogs. But we now know that
during the Neolithic Age the country was quite thickly inhabited,
and these lakes were the sites of villages. Over two hundred have
been found in Switzerland alone. Fishermen had known of the
existence of these piles long before their meaning was
understood. Lake Geneva is one of the most famous of the Swiss
lakes. Though in the main it is deep, yet around the shore there
is a fringe of shallow water.

It was in this shallow belt that the villages were built. The
sites of twenty-four settlements are known. We are told that on
“calm days, when the surface of the water is unruffled, the piles
are plainly visible. Few of them now project more than two feet
from the bottom, eaten away by the incessant action of the water.
Lying among them are objects of bone, horn, pottery, and
frequently even of bronze. So fresh are they, and so unaltered,
they look as if they were only things of yesterday, and it seems
hard to believe that they can have remained there for
centuries.”7

A lake settlement represents an immense amount of work for a
people destitute of metallic tools. After settling on the
locality, the first step would be to obtain the timbers. The
piles were generally composed of the trunks of small-sized trees
at that time flourishing in Switzerland. But to cut down a tree
with a stone hatchet is no slight undertaking. They probably used
fire to help them. After the tree was felled it had to be cut off
again at the right length, the branches lopped off, and one end
rudely sharpened. It was then taken to the place and driven into
the mud of the lake bottom. For this purpose they used heavy
wooden mallets. It has been estimated that one of the settlements
on Lake Constance required forty thousand piles in its
construction.8

The platform which rested on these piles was elevated several
feet above the surface of the water, so as to allow for the swash
of the waves. It was composed of branches and trunks of trees
banded together, the whole covered with clay. Sometimes they
split the trees with wedges so as to make thick slabs. In some
instances wooden pegs were used to fasten portions of the
platform to the pilework.

As to the houses which were erected on these platforms, though
they have utterly vanished, yet from a few remains we can judge
something as to the mode of construction. They seem to have been
formed of trunks of trees placed upright, one by the side of the
other, and bound together by interwoven branches. This was then
covered on both sides with two or three inches of clay. A plaster
of clay and gravel formed the floor, and a few slabs of sandstone
did duty for a fire-place. The roof was of bark, straw, or
rushes. There does not seem to have been much of a plan used in
laying out a settlement. As population increased other piles were
added, and thus the village gradually extended. No one village
would be likely to contain a great number of inhabitants.
Calculations based on the area of one of the largest settlements
in Lake Geneva, gives as a result a population of thirteen
hundred, but manifestly nothing definite is known.

This brief description gives us an idea of a method of
constructing villages which, as we shall soon see, extended all
over Europe, though varied somewhat in detail. The condition of
the remains indicate that these settlements were often destroyed
by fire. At such times quantities of arms, implements, and
household industries would have been lost in the water, and so
preserved for our inspection.

This mode of building found such favor among the early
inhabitants of Europe that it continued in use through the
Neolithic Age, that of Bronze, and even into the age of Iron.
Passages here and there in ancient histories evidently refer to
them. Though they have long since passed away in Switzerland, the
Spaniards found them in Mexico, and they are still to be seen in
some of the isles of the Pacific. Remembering this, we need not
be surprised if we find in one small lake settlements belonging
to widely different ages. Here one of the Stone Age, there one of
the Bronze, or even a confused mingling of what seems to be
several ages in one settlement.9

There is scarcely a country in Europe that does not contain
examples of lake villages. From their wide distribution we infer
that a common race spread over the land. We will now mention some
differences in construction discovered at some places, where,
from the rocky nature of the bed of the lake, it was impossible
to drive piles so as to form a firm foundation. They sometimes
packed quantities of stone around the piles to serve as supports
in a manner as here indicated. “In all probability the stones
used were conveyed to the required spot by means of canoes, made
of hollowed out trunks of trees. Several of these canoes may
still be seen at the bottom of Lake Bienne, and one, indeed,
laden with pebbles, which leads us to think it must have
foundered with its cargo.”10

Foundation, Lake Village.

In some cases these heaps of stone and sticks rise to the surface
of the water or even above it, the piles in such cases serving
more to hold the mass together than as a support to the platform
on which the huts were erected. This mode of construction could
only be employed in small lakes. This makes in reality an
artificial island, and seems to have been the favorite method of
procedure in the British Islands. In Ireland and Scotland immense
numbers of these structures are known. They are called crannogs.
This cut represents a section of one in Ireland. Though they date
back to the Neolithic Age, yet they so exactly meet the wants of
a rude people that they were occupied down to historic times.

Irish Crannog.

The advantage of forming settlements where they could only be
approached on one side were so great that other places than lakes
were resorted to. Peat-bogs furnished nearly as secure a place of
retreat as do lakes. These have been well studied in Northern
Italy. They do not present many new features. They were
constructed like the lake villages, only they were surrounded by
a marsh, and not by a lake. In some of the Irish bogs they first
covered the surface of the bog with a layer of hazel bushes, and
that by a layer of sand, and thus secured a firm surface.11 In
this case the villages were still further defended by a
breastwork of rough spars, about five feet high. One of the
houses of this group was found still in position, though it had
been completely buried in peat. No metal had been used in its
construction. The timbers had been cut with a stone ax, and the
explorer was even so fortunate as to find an ax, which exactly
fitted many of the cuts observed on the timbers.

But we are not to suppose that lakes and bogs afforded the only
sites of villages. They are found scattered all over the surface
of the country, and, as we shall soon see, they show the same
painstaking care to secure strong, easily defended positions.
They have been generally spoken of as forts, to which the
inhabitants resorted only in times of danger. We think, however,
they were locations of villages, the customary places of abode.
For this is in strict accordance with what we find to be the
early condition of savage life in every part of the world.

Traces of these settlements on the main-land have been mostly
obliterated by the cultivation of the soil during the many years
that have elapsed since their Neolithic founders occupied them.
In Switzerland the location of five of these villages are known.
In all instances they occupied places very difficult of
approach—generally precipitous sides on all but one or two. On
the accessible sides ramparts defended them. The relics obtained
are in all respects similar to those from the lake villages.12

Fortified Camp, Cissbury.

Fortified inclosures have been described in Belgium. We are told,
“They are generally established on points overhanging valleys, on
a mass of rocks forming a kind of headland, which is united to
the rest of the country by a narrow neck of land. A wide ditch
was dug across this narrow tongue of land, and the whole camp was
surrounded by a thick wall of stone, simply piled one upon
another, without either mortar or cement.” “One of these walls,
when described, was ten feet thick, and the same in height.”
These intrenched positions were so well chosen that most of them
continued to be occupied during the ages which followed. The
Romans occasionally utilized them for their camps. Over the whole
inclosure of these ancient camps worked flints and remains of
pottery have been found.13 These fortified places have been well
studied in the south of England.

What is known as the South-Downs in Sussex is a range of hills of
a general height of seven hundred feet. This section is about
five miles wide and fifty miles long. Four rivers flow through
these downs to the sea. In olden times their lower courses must
have been deep inlets of the sea, thus dividing those hills into
five groups, each separated from the other by a wide extent of
water and marsh land. To the north of these hills was a vast
expanse of densely wooded country. It is not strange, then, to
find traces of numerous settlements among these hills. As the
surface soil is very thin, old embankments can still be traced.
The cut given is a representation of Cissbury, one of the largest
of these camps. It incloses nearly sixty acres. The rampart
varies according to the slope of the hill. Where the ascent was
at all easy it was made double. Fortified camps are very numerous
throughout the hill country. They vary, of course, in size, but
the situation was always well chosen.14

As for the buildings themselves, or huts of the Neolithic people,
we know but little. They were probably built much the same as the
houses in the lake settlements. We meet with some strange
modifications in England. Frequently within these ramparts we
find circular pits or depressions in the ground. They are
regarded as vestiges of habitations, and they must have been
mainly under ground. “They occur singly and in groups, and are
carried down to a depth of from seven to ten feet through the
superficial gravel into the chalk, each pit, or cluster of pits,
having a circular shaft for an entrance. At the bottom they vary
from five to seven feet in diameter, and gradually narrow to two
and a half or three feet in diameter in the upper part. The
floors were of chalk, sometimes raised in the center, and the
roof had been formed of interlaced sticks, coated with clay
imperfectly burned.”15

In the north of Scotland, instead of putting them under ground,
they built them on the natural surface, and then built a mound
over them all. In appearance this was scarcely distinguishable
from a mound, but on digging in we discover a series of large
chambers, built generally with stones of considerable size, and
converging toward the center, where an opening appears to have
been left for light and ventilation. In some instances the mound
was omitted, and we have simply a cluster of joining huts, with
dry, thick walls. These have been appropriately named “Bee-hive
Houses.”16

We can form a very good idea of Neolithic Europe from what we
have learned as to their habitations. A well-wooded country,
abounding in lakes and marshes, quite thickly settled, but by a
savage people, divided into many tribes, independent of and
hostile to each other. The lakes were fringed with their peculiar
settlements; they are to be noticed in the marshes, and on
commanding heights are still others. The people were largely
hunters and fishers, but, as we shall soon see, they practised a
rude husbandry and had a few domestic animals. Such was the
condition of Europe long before the Greek and Latin tribes lit
the beacon fires of civilization in the south.

It is evident that the builders of the lake settlements and the
fortified villages were an intelligent and industrious people,
though their scale in civilization was yet low. Their various
implements of bone, horn, and stone display considerable advance
over the rude articles of the Drift.

Neolithic Axes.

One of the most important implements was the ax. The Paleolithic
hatchet, we remember, was rude, massive, and only roughly chipped
into shape, and was intended to be held in the hand. The
Neolithic ax was a much better made one, and was furnished with a
handle. They were enabled to accomplish a great deal with such
axes. “Before it, aided by fire, the trees of the forest fell to
make room for the tiller of the ground, and by its sharp edge
wood became useful for the manufacture of various articles and
implements indispensable for the advancement of mankind in
culture.”17 These axes vary in size and finish. As a general
thing they are ground to a sharp, smooth edge, but not always,
nor were they always furnished with a handle.

Some axes are found with a hole bored in them, through which to
pass a handle. These perforated axes are found in considerable
numbers, and some have denied that they could be produced without
the aid of metal. It is almost self-evident that the perforated
axes are later in date than the solid ones, and probably many of
them are no earlier in time than the Age of Metals. There is,
however, nothing to show that all belong to so late a time.
Besides, experiments have amply shown that even the hardest kind
of flint can be drilled without the aid of metals.18

Warlike implements are, of course, quite common. Many of the axes
found are probably war axes. Then besides we have arrowheads,
spears, and daggers. These are considered to be “marvels of skill
in flint chipping.”19 Stone was used for a great many other
purposes, such as scrapers, sling-stones, hammers, saws, and so
on. Flint was generally the kind of stone used. Our civilization
owes a great deal to this variety of stone. It is not only hard,
but its cleavage is such that it was of the greatest use to
primitive man. In a general way the Neolithic stone implements
are seen to be better adapted to the object in view than the
Paleolithic specimens. They are also generally polished.

Wood was largely used in their common household implements. But
it is only in exceptional cases that it has been preserved to us.
They have been recovered, however, in peat-bogs and in the
remains of lake settlements. These wooden utensils consist of
bowls, ladles, knives, tubs, etc. They used fire to hollow them
out, and the blows of the flint hatchet used to remove the
charred portions, are still to be observed in some specimens.

Neolithic Weapons.

The Neolithic people had learned how to manufacture pottery,
though not of a very superior quality. It is all hand-made: so
the potter’s wheel had not yet been introduced. The material is
clay mixed with gravel or pounded shells. Very often they
ornamented their clay vessels with lines and dots. The bowls or
jars were evidently suspended by cords, for the bottom was made
too rounding for them to stand erect. Besides, we find the holes
for the cords, and in some places handles.

Hafted Hatchet in Sheath, and Axe in Sheath.

No notice of Neolithic tools would be complete without mentioning
the use made of horn and bone. One peculiar use for which they
employed horn was as a socket for holding other implements. Thus
this figure shows us an ax in a socket of horn. The middle of the
socket is generally perforated with a round or oval hole,
intended to receive a handle of oak, birch, or some other kind of
wood adapted for such a use. The cut below represents a hatchet
of this kind. A number of these sockets have been found, which
were provided at the end opposite to the stone hatchet with a
strong and pointed tooth. These are boars’ tusks, firmly buried
in the stag’s horn. These instruments, therefore, fulfilled
double purposes: they cut or crushed with one end and pierced
with the other. Sockets are also found which are not only
provided with the boars’ tusks, but are hollowed out at each end,
so as to hold two flint hatchets at once, as is seen in our next
figure. Chisels and gouges were also sometimes placed in bone
handles. Portions of horn probably at times did duty as hoes. We
give a representation of such an implement.20 We must now seek
some information as to how the men of the Neolithic Age supported
life.

Sheath, with two Hatchets, Chisel in Sheath, and Horn Hoe.

From the remains of fish at all the lake settlements it is
evident they formed no inconsiderable portion of their food.
Fishing nets and hooks have been discovered. They were successful
hunters as well. But the men of this age were no longer dependent
on the chase for a livelihood. We have mentioned several times
that they were acquainted with agriculture. This implies a great
advance over the primitive hunters of the early Stone Age.

On the shores of the lakes which furnished them with a place of
habitation they raised many of our present species of grain.
Owing to a cause of which we have already spoken—that is,
destruction of the lake settlements by fire—the carbonized
remains of these cereals have been preserved to us. There were
four varieties of wheat raised, none exactly like our common
wheat. In addition to this they raised barley and millet, several
varieties of each. Nor were the fruits neglected. Apples and
pears were dried and laid away for use in the Winter. Seeds of
the common berries were found in abundance, showing that these
primitive people were fully alive to their value.

From this it follows that the Neolithic people were not only
tillers of the soil, but horticulturists as well. According to
Dr. Keller, the vegetable kingdom furnished their principal
supply of food. Hazelnuts, beechnuts, and chestnuts were found in
such quantities as to show they had been gathered for use.
Neither hemp, oats, nor rye were known. Not only do we find the
remains of the grains, fruits, seeds, etc., from which the above
conclusions are drawn, but, farther than this, pieces of bread
have been found in a carbonized state, and thus as effectually
preserved as the bread of a far later date found in the ovens of
Pompeii. According to Figuier, the peasant classes of Tuscany now
bake bread, after merely bruising the grain, by pouring the
batter on glowing stones and then covering it with ashes. As this
ancient prehistoric bread is of similar shape, it was probably
baked in an equally primitive fashion.21

Aside from the natural interest we feel in these evidences as to
ancient industry, a study of the remains of plants cultivated by
the Neolithic people reveals to us two curious and suggestive
facts. It has been found that the wild plants then growing in
Switzerland are in all respects like the wild plants now growing
there. But the cultivated plants—wheat, millet, etc.—differ from
all existing varieties, and invariably have smaller seeds or
fruits.22 This shows us that man has evidently been able to
effect considerable change by cultivation, in the common grains,
during the course of the many centuries which separate the
Neolithic times from our own age. But if this rate of change be
adopted as a measure of time, what shall we say is to the
antiquity demanded to explain the origin of cultivated grain from
the wild grasses of their first form?

We learn, in the second place, that the cultivated plants are all
immigrants from the south-east—their native home being in
South-eastern Europe and Asia Minor. We shall afterward see that
this is true of the domestic animals also. There can be but one
explanation for this. The ancient inhabitants of Europe must have
come from that direction, and brought with them the plants they
had cultivated in their eastern homes, and the animals they had
reduced to their service. The traces of agriculture thus found in
Switzerland are by no means confined to that country. In other
countries of Europe, such as England and France, we also find
proofs that men cultivated the earth. In localities where we do
not find the grain itself, we find their rude mills, or mealing
stones, which as plainly indicate a knowledge of the agricultural
art as the presence of the cereals themselves.23

As we have stated, Neolithic man in Europe possessed domestic
animals. He was not only a cultivator of the soil, but he was a
herdsman as well; and he kept herds of oxen, sheep, and goats.
Droves of hogs fattened on the nuts of the forest, and the dog
associated with man in keeping and protecting these domestic
animals. We know that the Swiss Lake inhabitants built little
stalls by the sides of their houses, in which they kept their
cattle at night. But these domestic animals were not descendants
of the wild animals that roamed the forests of Europe. Like the
plants, they are immigrants from the south-east. Our best
authorities consider they were brought into Europe by the
invading Neolithic tribes.

The knowledge of husbandry, though rude, and the possession of
domestic animals, though of a few species only, strikingly
indicate the advance over the Paleolithic tribes. They also had
fixed places of living. This culture spread all over Europe. That
it was substantially the same everywhere there is no doubt.
Certain refuse heaps in Denmark, Scotland, and indeed in all the
sea-coast countries, have been thought to support a different
conclusion. Those of Denmark have been very carefully studied,
and so we will refer to them. All along the Baltic coast, but
especially in Denmark, have been discovered great numbers of
mounds, which were found to consist “almost entirely of shells,
especially of the oyster, broken bones of animals, remains of
birds and fishes, and, lastly, some wrought flints.” The first
supposition in regard to those shell-heaps was that they were of
marine formation, accumulated beneath the sea, and elevated to
the surface along with the gradual rise of the land. But they are
now known to be nothing more or less than the sites of ancient
settlements. The location of the rude cabins can still be traced.
The ancient hearths are still in place. “Tribes once existed here
who subsisted on the products of hunting and fishing, and threw
out around their cabins the remains of their meals, consisting
especially of the _débris_ of shell-fish.” These heaps gradually
accumulated around their rude dwellings, and now constitute the
refuse heaps in question.24

The careful investigation of their contents has failed to
disclose any evidence of a knowledge of agriculture, and the only
domestic animal found is the dog. The implements are altogether
of stone and horn. No trace of metal has yet been obtained. As a
rule, they are rudely made and finished. Though of the Neolithic
type, they are not polished except in a few instances. The
principal interest turns on the question of age of these refuse
heaps. Some think they were accumulated at the very beginning of
the Neolithic Age—that these tribes preceded by many years the
men of the Swiss Lakes. Others think they were tribes of the same
great people, living at the same time. On such a point as this,
only those who have carefully studied the deposits are entitled
to speak.

Some few facts stand out quite prominently. The size of the
mounds25 indicate long-continued residence—showing that these
people had permanent places of abode. As they are not confined to
Denmark, but are found generally throughout Europe, it would seem
to imply that the Neolithic people preferred to live as fishers
and hunters wherever the surroundings were such that they could
by these means obtain an abundant supply of food. Some
shell-heaps in Scotland were still forming at the commencement of
the Bronze Age; and Mr. Geikie, on geological grounds, assigns
the shell-heaps of Denmark to a late epoch of the Stone Age.

It seems to us quite natural that isolated tribes, living where
game was abundant, and where fishing met with a rich reward,
should turn in disgust from the agricultural life of their
brother tribes, and, resuming the life of mere hunters and
fishers, speedily lose somewhat of their hardly won culture—for
civilization is the product of labor. Whenever a people from
necessity or choice abandon one form of labor for another
demanding less skill to triumph over nature, a retrogression in
culture is inevitable.26

Miner’s Pick.

From what we have stated as to the use of flint we can readily
see that it was a valuable material. Sections where it was found
in abundance would as certainly become thickly populated as the
iron and gold regions of our own day. In Paleolithic times the
supply of flint was mostly obtained from the surface and in the
gravel of rivers. In Neolithic times men had learned to mine for
flint. Flint occurs in nodules in the chalk. Near Brandon,
England, was discovered a series of these workings. They consist
of shafts connected together by galleries. These pits vary in
size from twenty to sixty feet in diameter, and in some cases
were as much as thirty feet deep. From the bottom of these shafts
they would excavate as far as they dared to the sides. They made
no use of timbers to support the roof, and so these side
excavations were not of great extent. In these old workings the
miners sometimes left behind them their tools. The principal one
was a pick made of deer’s horn, as is here represented. Besides
these, they had chisels of bone and antler. The marks of stone
hatchets on the sides of the gallery are visible.

In one instance the roof had caved in, evidently during the
night, and on clearing out the gallery near the end where the
roof stood firm, there were found the implements of the workmen,
just as they were left at the close of the day’s work; and in one
place on the pick, covered with chalk dust, was still to be seen
the marks of the workman’s hand. How many years, crowded with
strange scenes, have swept over England since that chalky
impression was made! The surface of the earth is a palimpsest, on
which each stage of culture has been written over the faint,
almost obliterated, records of the past. Not only the living man,
who has left there the impression of his hand has passed away,
but also his people and his culture. And now it is only here and
there that we catch a faint tracing underlying our later
civilization, by which we reconstruct the history of these
far-away times.

Nothing would be more natural than that where flint was found in
abundance a regular manufactory of implements would be
established. Such was the case at Cissbury, which we have already
mentioned as one of the early British towns. Mines had been dug
within the walls inclosing the town. The surface of the ground
near the old mines at this place is literally covered by
splinters of flint in every stage of manufacture, “from the
nodule of flint fresh out of the chalk, spoilt by an unlucky
blow, to the article nearly finished and accidentally broken.”27
Here the flint was mined and chipped into rudimentary shape, but
carried away to be perfected and polished.

A very important place in Neolithic manufactures was noticed near
Tours, France. Here was an abundant supply of flint, and very
easily obtained, and the evidence is conclusive that here existed
real manufactories. Of one stretch of ground, having an area of
twelve or fourteen acres, we are told: “It is impossible to walk
a single step without treading on some of these objects.” Here we
find “hatchets in all stages of manufacture, from the roughest
attempt up to a perfectly polished weapon. We find, also, long
flakes or flint-knives cleft off with a single blow with
astonishing skill.”

But in all these objects there is a defect; so it is concluded
that these specimens were refuse thrown aside in the process of
manufacture. As at Cissbury, very few polished flints are found,
so we may conclude the majority of weapons were carried elsewhere
for completion. But some weapons were completed here. In the
neighborhood have been found the stones used as polishers. This
cut shows us one used in polishing the axes. The workmen would
take one of the rough-hewn instruments, and, rubbing it back and
forth on such a stone as this, gradually produced a smooth
surface and a sharpened edge.28

Polishing Stone.

We have suggested that our civilization owes a great deal to
flint. If we will consider the surroundings of their
manufacturing sites, we will see the force of this remark. It
must have taxed to the utmost the powers of these primitive men
to sink the shafts and run the galleries to secure a supply of
this valuable stone. In short, they had to invent the art of
quarrying and working mines. This would lead to the division of
labor, for while one body of men would become experts as miners,
others would become skillful in chipping out the implements, and
still others would do the finishing and polishing. A system of
barter or trade would also arise, for the workmen at the mines
and factories would have to depend on others for food and
clothing, and in payment for the same would furnish them
implements. As localities where flint could be obtained in
suitable quantities are but few, we can see how trade between
widely scattered tribes would arise. This kind of traffic is
shown to have extended over wide distances in Neolithic times.
For instance, there was been found scattered over Europe axes
made of varieties of stone known as nephrite and jade. They were
highly valued by primitive tribes, being very hard and of a
beautiful green color. They are thought to have been employed in
the observance of superstitious rites. But quarries of these
varieties of stone do not occur in Europe. An immense amount of
labor has been expended in finding their native home. This is now
known to be in Asia.29 Manufactured in Asia, axes of these
materials may have drifted into Europe and finally arrived in
England.

Neolithic Boat-making.

Trade between different tribes must have been greatly facilitated
by means of canoes, which Neolithic man knew well how to make.
The art of navigation was probably well advanced. The canoes were
formed of the trunks of large trees. In most cases they were
hollowed out by means of the ax and fire combined. Sometimes the
ends were partially rounded or pointed, but often cut nearly
square across—rather a difficult shape to propel fast or to guide
properly. These ancient boats have been found in nearly all the
principal rivers of Europe, and in many cases, no doubt, come
down to much later date than the Neolithic Age. From the remains
of fish found in their refuse heaps we are confident that in some
such a shaped boat as this they trusted themselves far out at
sea. They served to transport them from the shores of Europe to
England, and at a later date to Ireland.

Neolithic Cloth.

The clothing of the men of the Neolithic Age doubtless consisted
largely of the prepared skins of the animals, and some fragments
of leather have been found in the lake settlements. But a very
important step in advance was the invention of spinning and
weaving, both of which processes were known at this time. The
cloth which is here represented is formed of twists of interwoven
flax, of rough workmanship, it is true, but none the less
remarkable, considering the epoch in which it was manufactured.
Balls of thread and twine have also been found.30 This cut is a
spindle-whorl. These have been discovered very often. They were
made sometimes of stone and at other times of pottery and bone.
The threads were made of flax, and the combs which were used for
pushing the threads of the warp into the weft show that it was
woven into linen on some kind of a loom. Several figures of the
loom have been given, but we have no certainty of their
correctness.31

Spindle-whorl, and Weaver’s Comb.

Let us now see if we can gather anything as to the religious
belief of Neolithic man. On this point we can at best only
indulge in vague conjectures. Yet some light seems thrown on this
difficult subject by examination of the burial mounds. This
introduces us to a subject of much interest which, in our hurried
review, we can but glance at.

Scattered over Europe are found numbers of mysterious monuments
of the past. Some of them we have mentioned already as the
embankments surrounding ancient villages. But aside from these
are other monuments, such as burial mounds, rude dolmens, and
great standing stones, sometimes arranged in circles, sometimes
in rows, and sometimes standing singly. Many of these remains may
be of a far later date than the Neolithic Age, still it is
extremely difficult to draw a dividing line between the monuments
of different ages.

Chambered Burial Ground, Denmark.

Dolmen, England.

Burial mounds are found everywhere, many in Europe going back to
the Neolithic Age, though some are of a very recent construction.
The Egyptian Pyramids are burial mounds on the grandest scale.
The first cut represents a Danish Tumulus, or burial mound, of
this Age. The openings lead to the center of the mound, where
they connect with chambers in which the bodies were formerly
placed. There are, of course, various modifications of this
tumulus. Often the gallery was omitted, a rude chamber was
erected, and a mound reared over it. Sometimes, indeed, no
chamber was made, but simply a mound placed over the body.

Dolmen, France.

Dolmen, once covered with Earth.

There have been found in England a great many stones arranged as
in the preceding cut, though generally not built with such
regularity as is there represented. They are named Dolmens, a
word meaning stone tables. They were more generally made of rough
stones, rudely arranged. This cut represents one found in France.
In early times these were supposed to have been rude altars used
by the mysterious Druids in celebrating their rites. They are now
known to be the tombs of the Neolithic Age. They are, in fact,
the chambers above mentioned. The mound of earth has since
disappeared and left its chamber standing exposed to the air.
Traces of the old passage way are still met. Whether all Dolmens
were once covered with earth or not, is not yet known. In the
majority of cases they probably were. In the last cut portions of
stone are still buried in the earth. We are told that in India
the people in some places still erect Dolmens similar to those of
Neolithic times.32

Menhir.

Stone Circle, England.

Aside from the tombs themselves, there are other arrangements of
great stones which must have once possessed great significance to
their builders, but their meaning is now lost. Of this nature are
the blocks of rough stone set up in the ground generally in the
vicinity of tombs. These are the standing stones, or menhirs,
which, as we have stated, are arranged in various forms. When
arranged in circles, they are generally regarded as tombs. When
placed in long parallel rows, as at Carnac, in France, we are not
sure of their meaning. We are told that the Hill tribes of India
to this day erect combinations of gigantic stones into all the
shapes we have here described.33

The peculiar shape of the burial mounds, with a passage way
conducting us to an interior chamber, or series of chambers,
probably arose from the belief entertained by many savage people,
that the dead continue to live an existence much like that when
alive, and consequently the same surroundings were deemed
necessary for their comfort. So the tomb was made similar to the
house of the living. The ordinary Winter huts of the Laplander
are very similar in shape and size to the burial tumuli, and
amongst some people, as the inhabitants of New Zealand, the house
itself is made the grave. It was closed up and painted red, and
afterward considered sacred.

Chambered Tomb, France.

So it may quite well be that the Neolithic inhabitants of
Denmark, “unable to imagine a future altogether different from
the present, or a world quite unlike our own, showed their
respect and affection for the dead by burying with them those
things which in life they had valued most; with women, their
ornaments, with warriors, their weapons. They buried the house
with its owner, and the grave was literally the dwelling of the
dead. When a great man died he was placed on his favorite seat,
food and drink was arranged before him, his weapons were placed
by his side, his house was closed, and the door covered up,
sometimes, however, to be opened again when his wife or children
joined him in the land of spirits.”

That they believed in a life beyond the grave is shown by the
objects they buried with the individuals. These are implements of
various kinds, flakes, arrow-heads, scrapers, celts, and pottery,
doubtless intended to be of service to the deceased. We know this
to be a very common proceeding amongst all barbarous people. In
some cases it would appear as if they realized that the material
things themselves could be of no service to the departed, but
imagined that in some vague way the spirits of things might be of
service to the spirits of men, and so they would purposely break
the flints and throw the fragments into the grave. Sometimes they
may have buried only models of the objects they wished to give to
the dead, imagining that in this way the spirits of the objects
represented would accompany and be of service to the spirits of
the departed. To this day the Eskimos bury small models of boats,
spears, etc., rather than the objects themselves. The ancient
Etruscans buried jewelry, but made it so thin and fragile that it
could not have been of service to the living. In China this is
carried still further, and paper cuttings or drawings of horses,
money, etc., are burned at the grave.

These remarks may explain the absence of remains so often noticed
in Neolithic burials in England. But other evidence can be given
to show this belief in future life. The mounds were of course
often erected over noted chiefs, and we are not without evidence
that he was not allowed to go unattended into the other world. It
has been noted that often skeletons have been met with having the
skull, cleft, and in one case, at least, all but one presented
that appearance. It is but reasonable to suppose that these
skeletons were those of captives or slaves sacrificed to be the
attendants of the chief in the spirit world. Funeral feasts were
also held in honor of the dead. Thus we may gather from burial
mounds something of the religious belief of their occupants.

It is not improbable that ancestor worship, or the worship of the
dead, was part of their faith, so that the mounds became temples.
On this point we are told “it is impossible not to believe then
that the people who made these great, and in some cases
elaborately constructed, tombs would continue ever after to
regard them as in some sort consecrated to the great chiefs who
were buried under them. Each tribe would have its own specially
sacred tombs, and perhaps we may here see a germ of that
ancestor-worship which may be traced in every variety of
religions belief.”34

We now approach a difficult part of our inquiry, but, at the same
time, one that possesses for us a great interest. Who were these
people into whose culture we have been inquiring? While laying
the foundation of our present civilization, though being the
fountain head from whence many of the arts and industries, which
now make our existence comfortable and happy, take their feeble
origin, gradually developing and expanding as the time rolls on,
have they themselves, as a race, vanished in the mighty past, or
are their descendants still to be found in Europe? Who were they?
Whence and when? Difficult problems, but we have read to but
little purpose if we have not already learned that earnest
observers need but the slightest clue to enable them to trace out
brilliant results.

In the first place, are there any grounds for supposing the
Neolithic people to be the descendants of those who hunted the
reindeer along the Vézère? This view has its supporters. M.
Quatrefages, a very able scholar indeed, maintains that the
Neolithic people were the same race as those who inhabited the
caves and found shelter in the rock grottoes of France.35 This,
to others, does not seem credible. We must recall the long lapse
of time that it is apparent has elapsed between the two ages. We
have seen how different were the two cultures; as Mr. Geikie
remarks, “So great, indeed, is the difference between the
conditions of life that obtained in the two ages of Stone, that
we can hardly doubt that the two people came of different
stocks.”36 The Neolithic people brought with them domestic
animals and plants whose native home is in Western Asia. We can
hardly account for this fact, if we suppose them to be the
descendants of Paleolithic tribes in France.

Abandoning, therefore, any attempt to trace lines of connection
between the people of the two ages, let us carefully study all
the facts connected with the Neolithic people and their culture,
to see if we can solve the problem by so doing. We have noticed
that substantially the same stage of culture existed throughout
Europe from Switzerland to the British Islands. This points to
the presence of a common race during at least a portion of the
time. But if there was a common race living in Europe they would
certainly possess common physical features. As a race they may
have been tall in stature, or medium, or short, and portions of
the human skeleton would show a uniformity in this regard.

Now one of the means that scientists use to determine the races
of men is a comparison of skulls, measured in a systematic
manner. The objection has been made that no reliance can be
placed on these results, because at the present day skulls of all
sorts of shapes and sizes can be obtained among people of the
same nationality. But these objections would not apply to people
of prehistoric times. Their surroundings would be simple and
natural—not artificial and complex, as in modern times. In our
times people of different nationality are constantly coming in
contact, and intermarriage results; but in prehistoric times this
was not liable to occur, and so the comparative purity of blood
would certainly produce a much greater uniformity of physical
features.37

From a very careful examination of a great number of burial
mounds in Great Britain, it has been ascertained that in all of
those that date back to Neolithic times, and contain portions of
human skeletons, the bones are always those of individuals small
in stature, the average height being about five and a half feet.
The skulls are of that variety known as long skulls. From this we
can at once form a mental picture of the Neolithic inhabitants of
Britain. No less important conclusions have been deduced from the
study of burial mounds on the continent. We meet with remains of
these same small-sized people. “They have left traces of their
presence in numerous interments in chambered tombs and caves in
Belgium and France, as well as in Spain and Gibraltar. We may
therefore conclude that at one period in the Neolithic Age the
population of Europe, west of the Rhine and north of the Alps,
was uniform in physique and consisted of the same small people as
the Neolithic inhabitants of Britain and Ireland.”38

We must now inquire whether there are any people living in Europe
which might have descended from the original stock. We are in the
position of those who, from a few broken down arches, a ruined
tower and dismantled wall, would seek to form a mental picture of
the stately building that once stood there. If we can here and
there discover, by the light of history or exploration, some
races or tribes that, owing to their geographical position, have
escaped the fate that befell the great body of their countrymen,
we may perhaps replace our mental picture by one founded on
reality. Nor need we be in doubt where to seek for such scattered
remnants of people. Successful invaders always appropriate to
their own use the fertile lowlands and the fruitful portions of
the country of their helpless foes. But a weak people have often,
in the rocky fastnesses of their land, made a successful stand.
So, to determine the race, we will examine the people living in
such regions, and see if there are any that physically conform to
what is already known of the Neolithic people, and so entitled to
claim a relationship by descent.

Both slopes of Pyrenees Mountains, between France and Spain, have
been occupied from time immemorial by a peculiar race of people
known as the Basque. Secure in their mountain homes, they have
resisted foreign civilization, and retained their national
characteristics as well as their liberties, though they have been
nominally vassals to many powers, from the early Carthaginians to
the later French and Spanish. From the many invasions they have
undergone the Basque language and people are by no meals uniform.
But Dr. Broca, one of the most learned anthropologists in Europe,
has shown that the original Basques were dark in complexion, with
black hair and eyes. In addition to this, the efforts of some of
the most eminent scholars in Europe,39 who have made numerous
examinations of skulls and skeletons obtained from ancient Basque
cemeteries, have conclusively shown that in all physical features
the Basques agree with men of Neolithic times.40

The Basques do not belong to the great division of the human
family known as Aryans, to which the English-speaking races, as
well as the nations of Europe generally, belong. They belong to a
far older division of the human family—the Turanian41—and were
doubtless in possession of Europe long before the Indo-European
nations commenced their westward migrations from Central Asia.
They are described as being brave, industrious, and frugal, with
patriarchal manners and habits. They scorn authority, except what
emanates from themselves, and have but few nobility. They are
impetuous, merry, and hospitable, fond of music and dancing.42 Of
their warfare we are told they are “not distinguished in open
warfare, but unconquerable in guerrilla warfare, and famed for
defense of walled cities.”43 Such are the Basques of to-day, and
many of these traits of character, we doubt not, were the same
amongst the Neolithic people.

Mr. Dawkins also thinks that two tribes, living in Northern
Italy, in the very earliest historical times, are other remnants
of the same people. One of these were the Ligurians.
Investigations and traditions show that some time before the dawn
of history they had been driven out of the pleasant parts of
Southern France, but had made a successful stand in the mountain
regions of Northern Italy. They, like the Basques, were strong,
active, and warlike. They were small in stature, swarthy in
features, and long-headed. To the south of these were the
Etruscans. But little is known of them, though the evidence is
that long before the Christian Era they were a powerful people.
In physical features they resembled those already described.
Their sculpture exhibits only short, sturdy figures, with large
heads and thick arms. Another possible remnant of these people
existed at the very dawn of history in the mountainous regions of
Wales. They were known as Silures. but have since become absorbed
in the surrounding population. In civilization and physical
features they agree with the remnants already described.

In the north of Russia are found the Finns. Their origin and
migrations are alike unknown. One thing is certain, they belong
to the Turanian family, and so are probably allied to the Basques
and Etruscans. It is possible that they also are but a sorry
remnant of the once wide-spread Neolithic people. Driven out of
the fairer portions of Europe, they hive found an asylum in their
present bleak surroundings. Like the people already described,
they are short in stature, and dark visaged.44

The tribes we have thus briefly mentioned are regarded by some as
representatives of the Neolithic people. Prof. Winchell, speaking
of the wide-spread extension of the Turanian race, assures us,
that “history, tradition, linguistics, and ethnology conspire to
fortify the conclusions that, in prehistoric times, all Europe
was overspread by the Mongoloid (Turanian) race, of which
remnants have survived to our own times in the persons of the
Basques, Finns, Esths, Lapps, and some smaller tribes.”45
Researches into the surroundings of these people, combined with
what we have already learned as to the culture, customs, and
manners of the Neolithic people in the preceding pages, throw no
little light on this age. The darkness of oblivion seems
dispelled by the light of science, and we behold before us the
Europe of Neolithic times, thickly inhabited by a race of people,
small in stature, dark visaged, and oval-faced—fond of war and
the chase, yet having a rude system of agriculture. The picture
seems complete; and we have now only to raise some inquiries as
to the great stock of people to which they belonged, and
conjecture as to the date of their arrival in Europe.46

We are now learning that far back in the past, when mankind was
yet young in the world, the great Turanian family held a
commanding position. They seem to have dispersed widely over the
earth. Their migrations began long before that of the Aryan and
Semitic people. When tribes of these later people began their
wanderings, they found a Turanian people inhabiting the country
wherever they went. Long before the times of Abraham, the fertile
plains of Chaldea were the home of powerful tribes of this
family. Egypt, and the fertile Nile Valley, the home of ancient
civilization, was their possession at a time long preceding the
rise of the Pharaohs. Their Asiatic origin is corroborated by
what we have learned of their domestic animals and cereals, which
we know to be also from Asia, or the south-east. These Turanian
tribes, at some far remote time, must have appeared in Asia
Minor. Urged onward by the pressure of increasing population,
they passed into Europe and Northern Africa. Their progress was,
doubtless, slow; but they gradually filled Europe. The English
Channel must have presented no inconsiderable barrier, and it was
after Europe had been populated for a long time that they
ventured to brave its passage in their rude canoes.

The Neolithic culture, which we have treated of in reference to
Europe only, is seen to have been of Turanian origin. From its
Asiatic home it spread over the entire world—to the islands of
the Pacific, and even America. The road that leads from barbarism
to civilization is long and difficult, and it is not strange that
but one or two families of men were able to attain that end by
their own unaided effort.47 The Turanian Family, which probably
advanced man from savagism into barbarism, seems to have at that
stage exhausted its energies. This is but an illustration of the
fact that a race, like an individual, has a period of growth, a
maturity of healthful powers, and an old age of slow decadence.
After thus dispersing over the world, carrying with them the
culture of the Neolithic Age, they seem to have halted in their
progress. It remained for a new people, starting, perhaps, from
the same state of culture, but with new energies, to discover and
employ metals in the construction of tools and implements. This
gave them so great a command over nature that civilization became
possible. But whatever considerable advance the Turanian races
were able to make beyond the Neolithic culture was by reason of
intercourse with these later people. Where completely isolated
from them, as in the New World, they remained, for the most part,
in the Neolithic culture.48

We have hitherto spoken as if there was but one race in Europe
during Neolithic times. In the main this is true; yet, near the
close of this time, a different race arrived in Europe. That this
is so, is proved by the same line of evidence used to determine
the Neolithic people. We shall have much to say of them
hereafter. They were the vanguard of the great Aryan race. This
calls for some explanation. It has been found that the principal
languages of Europe and South-western Asia have certain common
characteristics; so much so that we are justified, even
compelled, to assume that the nations speaking these languages,
such for instance as the Teutonic, Sclavic, Italic, Greek,
Persian, Hindoostanee, and others, are descendants from a common
ancestor. These people are called, collectively, Aryans. They
were the ones who drove the Turanians out of the fairest portions
of Europe. Though they appeared at a late date, they have filled
the most important places in history, and the civilization of the
world to-day is Aryan.

Now we must again form a mental picture of Neolithic Europe—
after it had been for a long time in the possession of the
Turanian tribes, the first band of Aryan invaders make their
appearance. They must have appeared somewhere near the
south-eastern confines of Europe, but they pressed forward to the
western portion. They firmly seated themselves in the western and
central parts of Europe, driving out the Turanian tribes who had
so long possessed the land. They were themselves still in the
Neolithic stage of culture. But they probably did not long
antedate the knowledge of metals. Mr. Dawkins thinks that it
caught up with them before they arrived in Britain, and that they
are the ones who introduced bronze into that island. The Aryan
tribe, who thus made their appearance in Europe, are identified
as the Celts of history.

The Neolithic Age thus drew to its close, but not all at once. It
disappeared first in the southern portion of Europe—from Greece
and Italy; but it lingered to a far later date in the north:
among the scattered tribes of Turanian people it would still
assert its sway. Even after metals were introduced, the cheapness
and abundance of stone would cause it to be used, among the
poorer people at least. But finally this culture gives way to a
higher one in Europe—though it still survived in portions of
Asia, the Isles of the Pacific, and in America. We can but
reflect on the difference between the two ages of stone. The
former ends amidst Arctic scenes—and, in the darkness that
ensues, ages pass before we again detect the presence of man. The
Neolithic closes gradually, everywhere giving way to a higher
culture. We must not forget that our present civilization owes
much to our far away Neolithic ancestors. When we reflect on the
difficulties that had to be overcome before animals could be
profitably held in a domestic state, or cultivation of the earth
made profitable, we almost wonder that they succeeded in either
direction. Aside from these, we turn to them for the origin of
trade, navigation, and mining. No inconsiderable part of the
battle of civilization had thus been won.

REFERENCES

The manuscript of this chapter was submitted to Prof. Chas.
Rau, of the Smithsonian Institution, for criticism.

The Cave-men were, undoubtedly, considerably in advance of the
Men of the Drift. If we regard the two as but one race of men,
then the statement is not true. We have, however, given our
reasons for considering the Cave-men as a different race. Hence
the statement made above.

Consult Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” chapters on “British
Post-glacial and Recent Deposits.”

Lions still lived in Greece at the time of Herodotus. See
“Polymnia,” vii, 125, etc.

This last argument is drawn from Mr. Morgan’s work. It is well
to state that his divisions are very far from being accepted by
all authorities.

Morgan’s “Ancient Society.”

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 189.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 223.

On lake settlements, consult Keller’s “Lake Dwellings;” Rau’s
“Early Man in Europe,” chap. v; Sir John Lubbock’s “Prehistoric
Times,” chap. vi; Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 218, _et seq._

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 222.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 270.

Keller’s “Lake Dwellings.” Translated by Lee.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 153.

General Lane Fox’s “Hill Forts of Sussex,” Archæology, vol.
xvii.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 267.

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 56.

Mr. Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 274.

Smithsonian Report, 1868.

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 103.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” pp. 161-166.

“Primitive Man,” p. 171.

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 219.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 268.

These heaps are generally called “kjökken-möddings”—meaning
kitchen refuse.

One mound is spoken of as being one thousand feet long, two to
three hundred feet wide, and ten feet high.

On Danish Shell Mounds, consult Keary’s “Dawn of History,” p.
369, _et seq._; Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” chap. vii;
Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” pp. 365-9; Figuier’s “Primitive
Man,” pp. 129-134; Rau’s “Early Man in Europe,” pp. 108-113;
Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” pp. 309-305.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 279.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” pp. 147-150 and 154: Another very
important place was the Island of Rügen, in the Baltic Sea.
Rau’s “Early Man in Europe,” p. 137.

“Proceedings American Antiq. Society, April, 1881,” p. 286.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 262.

See remarks of Prof. Rau on this subject (“Early Man in
Europe,” pp. 128-9 and note.) Mr. Dawkins thinks it “probable
also that the art of weaving woolen cloth was known, although,
from its perishable nature, no trace of it has been handed down
to us.” (“Early Man in Britain,” p. 275.)

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 132.

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 130.

On this subject consult Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” chap.
v.; Keary’s “Dawn of History,” p. 363-6; Geikie’s “Prehistoric
Europe,” p. 375; Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 284-9;
Ferguson’s “Rude Stone Monuments;” Figuier’s “Primitive Man,”
chap. iii.; Rau’s “Early Man in Europe,” p. 139; “Archæology,”
Vol. XLII.

“Human Species”, p. 335.

“Prehistoric Europe,” p. 547.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 310, note 3.

Ibid., p. 314.

Thurman, Virchow, Huxley, and others.

Mr. Dawkins is inclined to view them as a remnant of the
Neolithic people. Whether our scholars will ultimately accept
his views, remains to be seen.

Brace’s “Races of the Old World,” p. 82,

Am. Encyclopedia, Art. Basque.

Brace’s “Races of the Old World,” p. 82.

“Pre-Adamites,” p. 150.

It is unnecessary to caution the reader, that, after all, our
knowledge of “prehistory” is vague. Prof. Virchow, who is
eminent authority on these points, thinks it not yet possible
to identify the prehistoric people of Europe; and good
authorities hold that the Turanian tribes just named are the
remnants of Paleolithic tribes, instead of Neolithic.

Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 39.

The exceptions to this statement are the higher classes of
sedentary Indians, of which we shall treat in future pages.

Chapter VII
THE BRONZE AGE IN EUROPE.1

Races of Men, like Individuals—Gradual change of Neolithic Age to
that of Bronze—The Aryan family—First Aryans Neolithic—Origin of
Bronze—How Great discoveries are made—Gold the first metal—Copper
Abundant—No Copper Age—The discovery of Tin—Explanation of an
Alloy—Bronze, wherever found, the same Composition—What is meant
by the Bronze Age—Knowledge in other Directions—Gradual Growth of
Culture—Three Centers of Bronze Production—Habitations during the
Bronze Age—The Bronze Ax—Implements of Bronze—Personal
ornaments—Ornaments not always made of Bronze—Advance in Arts of
living—Advance in Agriculture—Warlike Weapons—How they worked
Bronze—Advance in Government—Trade in the Bronze Age—Religion of
the Bronze Age—Symbolical figures—Temples of the Bronze
Age—Stonehenge.

ITis with races of men as with individuals, the progressive
growth of youth soon reaches its limit and maturity of power.
While it brings greater strength, it has not the buoyancy of
early years, so the manner of life becomes fixed, and onward
progress stops. They can then only hope to hold on the even tenor
of their way, happy if increasing years do not bring again their
childhood state. The Neolithic people entered Europe early in the
youth of the race which spread their civilization over the globe,
but the race to which they belonged appear to have reached their
zenith of development long ages ago, since which time, whatever
higher culture they have reached has been a gift to them by other
people. Their energies became exhausted, and for a long series of
years Europe was filled by the camps, lake villages and fortified
places of Neolithic times.

As to the absolute length of time during which they inhabited
Europe, we have no data to determine. Relatively, their sojourn,
however long, was but a short time compared to the duration of
the old Stone Age. It presents no such evidence of lapse of ages
as can be observed in the older deposits, yet we may be sure that
it was for no inconsiderable period.

The Paleolithic Age was apparently terminated in Europe by the
cold of the last glacial epoch. No such natural course put an end
to the Neolithic Age, but as the strong have an advantage over
the weak, the young over the old, so does a race young,
undeveloped, or in the early maturity of its powers, have an
advantage over the older and more fixed civilization with which
it comes in contact. To understand the causes which introduced
into Europe the Bronze Age, we must refer to the Aryan race and
to Asia.

We have in the preceding chapter briefly mentioned the Aryan
race. They have so much to do with the higher culture of the
Metallic Ages, that it seems not out of place to refer once more
to their origin. The evidence goes to show that the ancient
Aryans inhabited some portion of South-western Asia. As a race or
family, they appear to have been one of the latest developed. Yet
a record of their progress is a record of civilization.

Unless we reflect, we are liable to be misled by the expression,
recent development. The Hindoos, one of the latest members of
this family, were in India several thousand years before Christ.2
But however far back we trace them, we find them in possession of
metals. Aside from this, we know that before the different Aryan
tribes had commenced their migration (with the exception,
however, of the Celts), while they formed but one mass of people,
they worked some of the metals.3 They could have acquired this
knowledge only after the passage of many years, when they were
ignorant of it. This bespeaks a profound antiquity for the Aryan
family.

As we have seen, Europe, while yet inhabited by Neolithic people,
was invaded by a branch of the Aryans. We do not know the date of
this invasion, yet it must have been an early date, since the
Celts separated from the Aryans before the use of metals. The
Aryans have ever been noted as an aggressive people, and under
different names have, in modern times, carried victorious arms in
all quarters of the globe. This is equally characteristic of the
primitive Aryans. Though it is not apparent that they possessed
any higher culture than the people who already inhabited Europe,
yet they everywhere triumphed over them and possessed themselves
of the fairest portion of the Neolithic domain, driving the
primitive inhabitants to those mountainous regions where their
descendants are found to-day.

It is not probable that the Aryan invaders waged exterminating
war against the Neolithic tribes. The evidence shows that there
was considerable mingling of the two races. It has been
suggested, however, that the Neolithic people who were not driven
away were reduced to slavery.4 However that may be, the remains
of the two people are found side by side in chambered tombs and
sepulchral caverns, showing that they dwelt together in the same
area. As before remarked, the Aryan invaders are identified as
the Celts. That it was relatively late in the Neolithic Age when
they made their appearance, is shown by the fact that they had
only reached the English Channel when a knowledge of bronze
caught up with them.

We must now endeavor to learn the origin of bronze. The impulsive
energies of this newer race found vent not only in conquest over
the neighboring tribes, but it is extremely probable that they
are the ones who first compelled nature to yield up her metallic
stores to be of service to man. If the knowledge of fire was the
starting point of human advancement, surely the knowledge of
metals, their useful properties, and how to extract them from
their ores, may lay claim to being the starting point of our
present enlightenment. We have but to glance around us to see how
many of our daily comforts are dependent on the use of metals.
Should we, by any mischance, become deprived of the use of iron,
or of the useful alloys, bronze and brass, our civilization would
be in great danger of reverting to Savagism. Man, destitute of
metals, can do but little to improve his surroundings; but grant
him these, and victory over his environment is secured.

We can not retrace the exact steps of this beautiful discovery;
we are not sure to what family it is to be ascribed. Perhaps not
to any one alone. Nature may have taken her children by the hand,
and kindly guided their feeble steps in the line of experiments
leading up to this knowledge, and, finally, one family, more
fortunate than the others, succeeded in the attempt. All great
discoveries have been approached in different directions, by
different people. No sooner is it made than this fact appears,
and people widely separated by time and place are found to be on
the verge of the same great truth. It was probably so at the
discovery of metallurgy.

The Turanian tribes, who had so long inhabited Europe, were
suddenly confronted by the victorious hosts of the Celts, the
vanguard of the Aryans, the precursors of a higher culture. The
movements of these primitive people could not fail to have a
great effect on the human mind. It would become alert, keen, and
active. Such was the state of ancient society when a knowledge of
bronze was introduced—a discovery which consigned stone, hitherto
the substance most commonly made use of to advance human
interests, to a subordinate position, and opened up for man the
exhaustless mineral stores of nature.

It is suggested by some that gold was the first metallic
substance employed. Its glittering particles would attract the
attention of primitive man, and little articles of ornament were
early manufactured from it. To be sure, the supply was very
limited; but what there was would serve the useful purpose of
imparting to men some idea of metallic substances. Portions of it
falling in the fire might have suggested the idea of smelting and
of molding—might, at least, have lead to experiments in that
line. The supply of gold existing in a native state is so small,
that no use could have been made of it except for ornaments.

Iron, we know, is the most abundant mineral. But it is very rare
in a native state, and its ores have nothing distinguishing about
them, and so it is not strange that another metal received the
attention of primitive man. That metal was probably copper. It is
often found in a pure state in nature. In the Michigan mines of
our own country, masses of pure copper many tons in weight have
been discovered.5 No such rich deposits are found in the Old
World; but considerable quantities of native copper were
obtained, and it was by no means a rare metal. Copper possesses
several qualities that would attract attention. It is quite
malleable; that is, it can be easily hammered into shape. We can
imagine the surprise of the old stone-workers at finding a stone
that, instead of breaking or splitting, could be hammered into
shape. By accident, or otherwise it would be learned, in time,
that it could be melted. This would lead to the idea of molding.

If the above process were followed out, there would be a real
Copper Age preceding that of Bronze: no trace of such an age has
yet been detected in Europe. “But there is, however, every reason
for believing, that, in some parts of the world, the use of
native copper must have continued for a lengthened period before
it was discovered that the addition of a small portion of tin not
only rendered it more fusible, but added to its elasticity and
hardness.”6 The absence of a Copper Age in Europe would imply
that the art of manufacturing bronze was discovered in some other
locality.

Copper by itself is so soft that it would not be of much use to
man, except the experience they would gain of melting and
molding. In our own country the aboriginal inhabitants were well
acquainted with copper, and even knew how to mold it. Yet, except
as just pointed out, it is not probable that it exerted any
marked influence on their development.7 In the old world supplies
of native copper are limited, and recourse must be had to the
ores of copper. Now these ores, such as copper-pyrites, are
nearly always of a bright color, and as such would attract the
attention of primitive man. They might suspect that these bright
colored ores contained copper from finding similarly colored ores
in connection with native copper, in fact passing from one form
to the other. But it requires no little skill to reduce the ores
of copper; and, when obtained, for reasons just pointed out, it
would not be of great utility. But primitive man was thus
cautiously and experimentally feeling his way to a knowledge of
metallurgy.

All the evidence obtainable goes to show that tin was known as
early as copper, or at least soon after. Its ores though not
striking on account of their color, are on account of their great
weight. It is comparatively easy to reduce it from its ores. It
is quite widely distributed over the earth. It often occurs in
the gravels of rivers, where, as we have already mentioned,
primitive men must have, at a very early date, sought for gold.
Owing to their weight, the gravel of tin-stone would remain
behind with the gold when it was washed. “In process of time its
real nature might have been revealed by accident; and, before the
eye of the astonished beholder, the dull stone, flung into the
fire, became transfigured into the glittering metal.”8

When two metals come together in a molten state, they often form,
not a mixture of the two, part copper and part tin, for example,
but a new compound, different from either, called an alloy.
Copper is, so to speak, a sociable metal, and readily unites with
many different metals—amongst others with tin, when it forms
bronze, the article that marks a new state in the history of
primitive culture. It seems to us strange that an alloy, a
combination of two different metals, should have been the first
used by man, and not a simple metal like iron. Such, however, is
the fact of the case; and we have tried to point out the probable
steps which led up to the invention of bronze. We can scarcely
comprehend the difficulties which attended the labors of the
primitive metal-workers. There were no books containing the
wisdom of many, from which the investigator could draw his stores
of knowledge. and the only way that knowledge could be
disseminated was by word of mouth.

Now, when one man makes an important step in a discovery,
hundreds of earnest workers, some, perhaps, in distant places,
are quickly made aware of the fact, and extend its scope, or
point out its imperfections, and thus hasten on the desired end.
Then, each individual, or community, must, of necessity, have
commenced at the beginning, and the discoveries made would hardly
be perpetuated in the memory of others. There were so many
obstacles to be overcome before a knowledge of bronze could be
acquired, in the then existing state of human knowledge, that it
must ever remain a source of wonder to us, at the present day,
that it was invented at all.

We may picture to ourselves the ancient copper-worker, after
numerous experiments, guided by some good genius, finally hitting
on some process by which, from his mass of ore, he extracted a
nearly pure piece of copper. Having learned how to reduce these
ores, there are many ways in which it might have been found that
a mixture of the two metals would form a new compound of greatly
increased value.

It must have taken a long course of experiments to determine what
proportions of each metal to use to make the best bronze. It is
interesting to know that these early workers had learned the
proportions of each to use, not varying a great deal from the
results of modern research—that is, from ten to twelve per cent
of tin. Bronze relics, no matter where obtained, whether in the
Old or the New World, do not widely depart from this standard,
and such instances as do would probably denote that the supply of
tin became short. This uniformity of composition would imply that
the art of making bronze was discovered in one place, from which
it gradually spread over the globe.

This fact is a key to the culture of the Bronze Age. Widely
separated communities, destitute of a knowledge of metals, would
instinctively make use of stone. In this case uniformity of type
would not imply community of knowledge. But a knowledge of metals
is altogether different. It is wonder enough that one community
should have hit on the invention of bronze. The chance would be
against its independent discovery in widely separated areas. They
would be more apt to chance on the production of some other
metal. Thus; tribes in the interior of Africa are said to have
passed direct from the Stone to the Iron Age, a knowledge of
bronze not having been carried to them.

We are thus able to form a true conception of the Bronze Age. It
did not prevail over the world at the same time. Indeed, as we
shall subsequently see, there is every reason to suppose it
spread very slowly, and that it still lingered in Central and
Northern Europe long after its use had been abandoned for that of
iron in the South. Neither, when it was first introduced, did it
put a stop to the use of stone. It was necessarily costly, and on
its first appearance in a country, brought hither by trade, could
only be afforded by rich and powerful chiefs and warriors. As
time advanced, and they learned to make it cheaper, and each
country took up its separate manufacture, it would gradually
supersede stone. But bronze was never cheap enough to drive out
the use of stone altogether. This only occurred when the art of
working iron was discovered.

We shall learn that the knowledge of bronze, while a very
important and distinguishing phase of culture of the Bronze Age,
was not its only characteristic. It was distinguished by the
arrival and spread of the Aryan races, by a great extension of
commerce, by more refinements in the comforts of life, by the
increasing strength of government, which in after ages flowered
out in the mighty nations of antiquity, and rendered historic,
civilization possible.

Some facts stand out with great prominence. The origin of this
culture is lost in the very night of time. We may be sure that it
goes back to a profound antiquity, and that it extended over a
long series of years.

It is evident there was no great and sudden change from the
culture of the Stone Age to that of Bronze. It was as if the
darkness of night had given place to the roseate light of dawn,
to be shortly followed by the full day of historic times. It was
probably introduced by trade. The articles introduced in this way
would consist of simple implements, weapons, and ornaments.
Following after the trade would be found the smelter with his
tools, and, where the conditions were favorable, local
manufactories would be set up. But this home industry would not
prevent importation of more pretentious articles from abroad.
This would account for the rich collections of shields, swords,
and golden cups found in Denmark that betray an Etruscan origin.

Investigations of recent scholars show that the bronze of the
early Bronze Age came from Asia Minor. Subsequently there were
three great centers of bronze production, each having certain
styles. These were the Russian on the east, the Scandinavian on
the north, and the Mediterranean on the south. If this view be
correct, bronze must have been in use in the South of Europe long
before it was in the North. This view of the introduction of
bronze is, we think, that of the best scholars in Europe. Others,
however, think bronze was brought in by the invasion of the Aryan
tribes. Mr. Keary says: “The men of the Bronze Age were a new
race, sallying out of the east to dispossess the older
inhabitants, and if, in some places, the Bronze men and the Stone
men seem to have gone on for a time side by side, the general
characteristic of the change is that of a sudden break.”9 We have
shown that it was carried to England by an invasion, and it was,
perhaps, so introduced into Denmark, but in other countries of
Europe by trade.10

Let us now see what change in the home life, in the culture of
the people, would be brought about by the use of bronze. We must
reflect that we are not to deal with some new race, but with the
same race that inhabited Europe at the close of Neolithic times.
The people who had triumphed over nature with their implements of
stone were now put in possession of weapons and implements of
greatly increased efficiency. The results could not fail to
advance their culture. We would not expect any great change in
the houses. They would, however, be much better built. The
metallic tools were certainly a long ways ahead of the best stone
implements. With the aid of metallic axes, knives, saws, gouges,
and chisels, their cabins could be increased in size and
appearance. They still built settlements over the lakes, but the
Bronze Age settlements were more substantially built, and placed
farther out from shore. Fortified places were still numerous; the
remains of thousands of them of this age have been found in
Ireland. But the forests were cleared, wild animals disappeared,
society became more settled, and we may be sure that an
increasing number of little hamlets were scattered over the
country.

Caves were resorted to during this epoch only in times of danger.
One at Heathbury Burn, in England, contained portions of the
skeletons of two individuals, surrounded by many articles of
bronze and a mould for casting bronze axes. It is not difficult
to read the story. In some time of sudden danger workers in
bronze fled hither with their stores, but owing to some cause
were unable to escape the death from which they were fleeing, and
their bodies, with their mineral stores, were lost to sight until
the modern explorer made them a subject of scientific
speculations.11

Bronze Axes—First Form.

The most important implement was the ax. Our civilization has
originated from many small things. It is difficult to
overestimate the importance of the ax in advancing civilization.
The stone axes, easily blunted and broken, could have made but
little impression on the vast forests of pine, oak, and beech,
covering the greater part of Britain and the continent in the
Neolithic Age. Clearings necessary for pasture and agriculture
must unquestionably, then, have been produced principally by the
aid of fire. Under the edge of the bronze ax clearings would be
rapidly produced, pasture and arable land would begin to spread
over the surface of the country; with the disappearance of the
forests the wild animals would become scarce, hunting would cease
to be so important, agriculture would improve, and a higher
culture inevitably follow. “When first the sound of the woodman’s
ax was heard in the forests of the north, the victory of man over
his natural environments was secured, and the forest and morass
became his forever.”12

The bronze ax was used for a great variety of purposes, not only
as an ax, but as chisel, hoe, etc. As might be expected, the
oldest axes were simply modeled after the stone ones. The
preceding cut represents these simple forms.

They were inserted into the handle much the same as they did the
stone axes. It never occurred to these ancient workers to cast
the axes with a hole in them for the handle.

Bronze Axes—Second and Third Form.

The above cut represents the second form of the ax. The trouble
with the first was that much usage would inevitably split the
handle. To remedy this, a stop or ridge was raised across the
celt, and the metal and the wood were made to fit into one
another. The small figure illustrates this method of hafting. It
would be quite natural to bend the sides of this second form
around, and thus would arise a third form in which the handle was
let into a socket, of which we also give a cut. As a general
thing, bronze axes were plain, but they were sometimes ornamented
with ridges, dots, and lines.

In addition to axes, they of course had many other implements of
bronze. Chisels were made much the same as at present, except
that the handle fitted into a socket. A few hammers have been
discovered in the Swiss lake villages. Bronze knives of different
styles and sizes were quite numerous. The workmanship on them is
generally skillful. They were, as a rule, fitted into a handle of
bone, horn, or wood, and the blade was nearly always carved. In
some cases the knives also ended in a socket into which the
handle fitted.13

Hammer, Chisel and Bronze Knives.

In matters of personal ornament, the men and women of the Bronze
Age were as willing to make use of artificial helps as their
descendants to-day, and no doubt fashion was quite as arbitrary
in her rule then as now. Among some savage nations the dressing
of the hair—especially of the men—is carried to a very elaborate
pitch.14 In this respect, some of the dandies of the Bronze Age
certainly excelled. They evidently built up on their heads a
great pyramid of hair; in some cases large enough to allow of the
use of hair-pins two feet long. Of course such a structure as
this was intended to last a life-time. So careful were they of
this head-dress that they used a crescent-shaped pillow of
earthenware, so that it might not be disturbed when they slept.
Dr. Keller, who first described these crescent-shaped articles,
thought they were religious emblems of the moon. He may be right,
as the matter is not yet decided, but some think they were the
pillows in question. At first thought this would seem absurd, but
when we learn of the habits of the natives of Abyssinia and other
savage races, we cease to wonder.

Crescent, Bracelet and Hairpin.

In speaking of the ornaments of the Bronze Age, a caution is
necessary, because ornaments of bronze may belong to any age.
Bracelets and rings have been quite numerous. The bracelets vary
much in shape, are decidedly artistic in workmanship, and often
set off with carved designs. Some of this shape are composed of a
single ring of varying width, the ends of which almost meet and
terminate by a semicircular clasp; others are a combination of
straight or twisted wires ingeniously joined to one another.
“Some of these ornaments remain even up to the present day in a
perfect state of preservation. In an urn from one of the lake
settlements six specimens were discovered, the designs of which
appeared quite as clearly as if they had only just been
engraved.”15

We are called on to notice one important point in reference to
these bracelets and rings. That is, they are so small they could
scarcely be worn nowadays; a fact leading us to infer that the
people must have been of small size. It has also been noticed
that the handles of the swords are smaller than would be
convenient for soldiers now. Some ornaments of bronze were worn
as pendants. For this purpose they were provided with a circular
hole, and were probably worn suspended around the neck.

Bronze Pendants.

Ornaments were not always of bronze. Necklaces were sometimes
made of amber, and gold beads were quite common. We give a cut of
both. They are from burial mounds of this age in England. We
remember the ornamentations on implements in the Paleolithic Age
was by engraving animal forms. In the Neolithic Age they seem to
have cared very little for ornamenting. During the Bronze Age the
ornamentation was of a simple but pleasing and uniform style. It
consisted of simple geometrical patterns, combination of circles,
dots, and straight lines. In this next figure we have given the
principal designs found in France.

Necklace and Beads.

In the arts of living an increase in culture is noticeable. We
have seen that in Neolithic times they were acquainted with the
use of the distaff. In the Bronze Age they manufactured woolen
cloth. We have but few specimens of this cloth, because it is
under only very exceptional circumstances that woolen fabrics can
be preserved for any great length of time. From examinations of
burial mounds of this period, it would appear that the better
class of people were clad in linen and woolen. Probably the use
of the skins of animals for dress purposes was mostly
discontinued during this age. Woolen cloaks of this period have
been found in Denmark, though probably dating from near the
close.

Ornamental Designs. Bronze Sickle.

In agriculture we detect only such advances as improved
implements would suggest. They used the sickle in gathering in
the harvest. We find no implements which we are sure were used
for agricultural purposes. Yet they must have had some means of
preparing the ground for the cereals. The day of wild animals was
gone. In the lake settlements of this age the domestic animals
outnumbered the wild species.16

During this age the horse was used for riding and driving, and
oxen were used for plowing.

The proof of this fact is certain sketches found in Denmark. But
the use of bronze in that country continued after iron had been
introduced in the south of Europe. Pottery was more carefully
made—though the wheel for turning it was not yet introduced. The
shapes were varied and elegant; sometimes, instead of having a
flat base, they came to a point below—in which case they had to
be placed in a support before they could stand upright. Nearly
all the pottery bears the ornamentation peculiar to the Bronze
Age—that is, straight lines, dots, etc.

Clay Vessel and Support. Bronze Weapons.

During this age, the inhabitants were as much given to war and
conquest as any rudely civilized people: we, therefore, meet with
remains of their weapons. The principal ones were swords,
daggers, spear-heads, and arrows. The swords are always more or
less leaf-like in shape, double-edged, sharp-pointed, and
intended more for stabbing and thrusting, rather than cutting. No
hand guards were used.

Sometimes the handles were fastened to the swords by means of
rivets; and, at other times, the handle was plaited with wood or
bone. They are of different lengths, intermediate between the
sword and the dagger. It is doubtful whether they made use of
shields.

Bronze shields are, indeed, found; but, from the ornaments and
other circumstances they are generally considered to belong to
the Iron Age: for we shall subsequently learn that the
introduction of iron did not prevent the continued use of bronze.
The bow was well known; and this must have necessitated the use
of arrows. Some bronze arrows have been found; but a flint arrow
is nearly as serviceable as bronze, and much cheaper, so we may
be sure they were more common. They also employed spears and
javelins, and the bronze heads of these weapons are found in
various places. The invading Celt found many camps and fortified
places already in existence, and continued them in use after the
original occupant had been driven away.

Mold.

As we have spent some time in learning the different objects
manufactured out of bronze, it may be of interest to learn
somewhat of their methods of working bronze. We have already
stated how the amateur worker in bronze would follow on after the
trader—and so the objects of bronze would be made in all the
countries of Europe. Molds have been found in various places.
This is a mold for casting the axes having a socket in which to
put the handle. It was found in the cave at Heathbury Burn,
already mentioned. None of the bronze objects were forged out, as
a smith forges out objects of iron—they were cast. In the absence
of steel, it would be almost impossible to cut bronze; hence it
was necessary to make the casting as nearly perfect as possible.
Sometimes the molds were cut out of stone, as in the figure just
given. The molds themselves were, in this case, difficult to
make; besides, they could scarcely be made so perfect as not to
leave a little ridge, where the two halves of the mold came
together, which, as just explained, owing to the absence of
steel, it would be very difficult to remove. In process of time
they discovered an easier way of making the molds, that employed
at the present day—that is, by the use of sand. The ridge would
still remain, and is to be plainly seen on specimens of ancient
bronze.

To overcome the difficulty just mentioned, they invented a third
method of casting, which displays great ingenuity. A model of the
object desired was made of wood or wax, and inclosed in prepared
earth mixed with some inflammable material, in order that, when
subjected to heat, it might become porous. The whole was then
heated until the wax or wood disappeared. The mold was then ready
for use. The great advantage of this method was that there were
no projecting lines of junction to disfigure the complete
implement. This seems to have been the most common method
employed. This explains the fact, that we seldom find any two
bronze objects exactly similar to one another. Any impression
left on the wax model would be faithfully reproduced. Marks of
the spatula, with which the wax was worked, are frequently found;
and, in one case, the impression of the human finger was
observed.17

A people as highly cultured as those of the Bronze Age must have
had some system of government, and one that was a sensible
advance over the government of the Neolithic people. In the
Neolithic Age it was, doubtless, tribe against tribe.
Confederacies, the union of several tribes for common purpose of
defense, must have been more common at this age.18 The first
Aryan tribes to arrive in Europe, as we have seen, were the
Celts. In time, they had to withstand the pressure of invasion
themselves. The Belgae, and other Germanic tribes, were also on
the move. But war at this period would partake more of the nature
of people against people, than of tribe against tribe. The civil
and the military departments of government must have taken more
definite shape, and we are not without evidence of fairly
organized and disciplined forces. As early as two thousand eight
hundred years before Christ, the sea-coast people of Europe,
while yet in the Bronze Age, allied their forces for the conquest
of Egypt.19

We have referred to the influence of trade in shaping
civilization. It is commerce that to-day is carrying civilization
to remote corners of the globe. Long before the dawn of history,
it was an active agent in advancing culture. It is important to
note the great expanse of commerce, both inland and marine, which
prevailed during the Bronze Age. An important article of trade
was, of course, bronze. The people who first learned the secret
of its manufacture would speedily find a demand for their wares
from surrounding tribes, and we have already pointed out how this
trade would quickly give rise to local manufactures. But, to
produce bronze, we know tin is just as necessary as copper—and
all the countries of Europe are not provided with these metals;
so more or less trade would inevitably take place. In various
ways the stores of the bronze merchant might be lost, and only
revealed in after years by accident. One of these deposits, found
in France, is evidently the store of a merchant or trader from
Etruria to the tribes of the north and west, and so gives us a
quite vivid idea of the trade of that early time. It consisted of
over four hundred articles of bronze, “comprising knives,
sickles, lance-heads, horse-bits, rings, buttons, pendants, and
bracelets.”20

As an article of adornment, amber was highly prized, not only by
the people of Europe during the Bronze Age, but also by the
people of the preceding Neolithic Age. This caused a trade to
spring up which certainly did its share in enlightening the
people. The main supply must have been obtained from the shores
of the Baltic. That the trade was of importance is evidenced by
the fact that amber has been found scattered over Europe in the
tombs of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages.

We have given a passing glance at the religion of each age we
have examined. It must be confessed that great uncertainty hangs
over the results. From a close examination of their industries,
we can gather considerable as to the home life and general
enlightenment of prehistoric times. A knowledge of religious
belief is gathered mainly from a study of their burial customs.
This is a very important part of our investigation, because a
religious belief is one of the exponents of the culture of a
people.

We have seen that in the Neolithic Age the dead were buried
surrounded by implements, weapons, and ornaments for use in the
future life. The descendants of these people throughout Europe,
even in the Bronze Age, would still continue this custom. The
implements buried with the body were more often of stone than
bronze. We must constantly bear in mind that bronze was costly.
This will explain its absence in many cases. It is interesting to
note in this connection that these are “cases in which it is
evident that flint implements were deposited in graves rather in
deference to ancient customs than because they were still in
every-day use.”21 We also notice that during this age, often the
objects placed in the graves were, from their shape, obviously
not intended for daily use. This would clearly indicate that the
popular mind became impressed with the fact that these votive
offerings, however freely given, could be of no assistance to the
departed, but they still continued the custom because it was
sanctioned by usage of past years.

But the dead were not always buried during the Bronze Age, nor,
indeed, as a general rule. The invading race doubtless brought
with them a new religion. Many of the ornamentations on their
swords, vases, and other articles, are supposed by some writers
to be religious symbols. From the frequent occurrence of the
circle, and combinations of circles, it has been suggested that
they worshiped the sun. And the occurrence of customs observable
even at a late day, in various portions of Europe, as pointed out
by Prof. Nelson, show that the worship of the fire-god, or the
sun, was once widely extended in Europe.22 On this point we are
further told: “That even as late as the time of Canute the
Great,23 there is a statute forbidding the adorement of the sun
and the moon.”24 So it is not strange that in the new faith a
different method of burial would be followed. That was by
cremation. “The dead were burned, were purified by being passed
through the fire along with their possessions.”25 The ashes was
then gathered together and placed in urns and burial mounds and
barrows. The votive offerings of flint and bronze articles in
daily use were also thrown in the fire, and their burnt remains
placed with the other ashes in the burial urn. The cut is that of
a bell-shaped barrow of the Bronze Age.

Burial Mound.

We have just seen what inferences have been drawn from the use of
the circle as an ornament. This is not the only sign that has
been thought to have some symbolical meaning. The cross was also
used as an ornament, and possessed probably some religious
significance. A third figure which has caused some discussion was
the triangle. “It is, on the whole, very probable that all these
signs, which are not connected with any known object, bear some
relation to certain religious or superstitious ideas entertained
by the men of the Bronze epoch, and, as a consequence of this,
that their hearts must have been inspired with some degree of
religious feeling.”26

Avebury Restored.

We have mentioned the use of stone circles in Neolithic times.
During the Bronze Age they built the circle very large, sometimes
twelve hundred feet in diameter, and they were sometimes made of
earth. These circles are regarded by some27 as being simply
burial places, and many of them have been proved to be such. But
others regard them as temples, meaning thereby not a building, in
our sense of the word, but a place of sanctity, and probably
where some form of worship was held. Even if we allow that they
were originally tombs in every case, it does not follow that they
have not also been temples, for the religious sentiment has, in
all ages, and in all places, tended to center in tombs, which
ultimately have become places of worship. Many of our Christian
Churches have originated in this manner, and it is a most obvious
transition from the tomb to the temple. The worship of the
spirits of the dead at the one would naturally grow into the
worship of the Great Unknown in the other.28

The preceding cut is a restoration of one of the largest of these
temples. Here we see a circle twelve hundred feet in diameter, of
upright stones, guarded by both a ditch and embankment. From the
two openings in the embankment formerly extended two long winding
avenues of stone. Between them rises Silbury Hill, the largest
artificial mound in Great Britain, being one hundred and thirty
feet high. The area of the large inclosure was about twenty-eight
and a half acres. This was a temple of no inconsiderable size. It
was, of course in ruins when the earliest account of it was
written, and we can only speculate as to the lapse of time since
it was venerated as a place of worship.

Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain, is a better known ruin, though
not on as large a scale as at Avebury. The cut gives us a
restoration of it. The outer circle of standing stones is one
hundred feet in diameter, and when entire consisted of one
hundred stones. These are of sandstone, and were obtained in the
vicinity. A course of stone was laid along the top. We notice
within a smaller circle of stone. The material of these stones is
such that we know they must have come from a distance. Mr. James
tells us that they are erratic—that is, bowlders brought from the
North of Scotland by the glaciers—and that others of the same
kind are still to be seen lying around the country.29 But the
more common opinion is that they were brought there by the people
from a distance, perhaps Cornwall or the Channel Islands. If this
be true, it is evidence of a strong religious feeling, and a
peculiar value must have been attached to the material, since for
any ordinary monument the stones in the neighborhood would have
sufficed. Still nearer the center were five groups of three great
stones each, and immediately within these a horseshoe of smaller
stones. Finally, near the head of the horseshoe, a great slab of
sandstone is supposed to have served for an altar. The date of
the two structures just described has been a matter of some
dispute.

Stonehenge Restored.

It is worthy of notice that in the immediate neighborhood of both
of them are found a great number of barrows of the Bronze Age.
Over three hundred were erected in the neighborhood of the
latter. In the opinion of many this fixes their date in the
Bronze Age. Stonehenge, in its ruined state, has formed the
subject of no little speculation. Modern explorers, in connecting
it with the Bronze Age, have not dispelled from it the
enchantment of mystery. We must ever wonder as to the nature of
the rites there observed. Our questionings meet with but feeble
response; for though we have learned somewhat of past times, it
is comparatively but little. Ruined columns, crumbling burial
mounds, and remains of stone and bronze will always be surrounded
with more or less mystery—a striking illustration that science is
able to dispel but little of the darkness which unnumbered years
have thrown around the culture of the past.

Ancient Tower, Scotland. REFERENCES

The manuscript of this chapter was submitted to Prof. Chas.
Rau, of the Smithsonian Institution for criticism.

Brace’s “Races of the Old World,” p. 60.

Brace’s “Races of the Old World,” p. 61.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 343.

“One mass estimated to weigh two hundred tons.” Dana’s “Manual
of Mineralogy,” p. 291.

Evans’s “Ancient Bronze Implements,” p. 2.

Rau’s “Anthropological Subjects,” p. 89. In his preface to this
collection he asserts his belief, that “former inhabitants of
North America, notwithstanding all assertions to the contrary,
were unacquainted with the art of melting copper.” Ibid., vii.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 401.

“Dawn of History,” p. 367.

For an excellent discussion of this subject, about which there
is yet much uncertainty, we would refer the reader to Evans’s
“Ancient Bronze Implements,” chap. xxii.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 355.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 350.

“Prehistoric Times,” p. 34.

“Early Man in Britain,” p. 351.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 255.

Rau’s “Early Man in Europe,” p. 135, and note.

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 39.

Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” pp. 119, 120.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Europe,” p. 449.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 383.

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 157.

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 74.

A.D., 995-1035.

Ferguson’s “Rude Stone Monuments.”

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 367.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 283.

Ferguson’s “Rude Stone Monuments.”

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 377.

James’s “Stonehenge,” p. 3.

Chapter VIII
THE IRON AGE IN EUROPE.

Bronze not the best metal—Difficulties attending the discovery of
Iron—Probable steps in this discovery—Where this discovery was
first made—Known in ancient Egypt—How this knowledge would
spread—Iron would not drive out Bronze—The primitive
Iron-worker—The advance in government—Pottery and ornaments of
the Iron Age,—Weapons of early Iron Age—The battle-field at
Tilfenan—Trade of early Iron Age—Invention of Money—Invention of
Alphabetic Writing—Invasion of the Germanic Tribes—The cause of
the Dark Ages—Connection of these three Ages—Necessity of
believing in an extended past—Attempts to determine the
same—Tinière Delta—Lake Bienne, British Fen-beds—Maximum and
Minimum data—Argument from the widespread dispersion of the
Turanian Race—Mr. Geikie’s conclusions—The isolation of the
Paleolithic Age.

Theintroduction of bronze was the harbinger of better days to the
various tribes of Europe. Without metals it is doubtful if man
would ever have been able to raise himself from barbarism. His
advance in civilization has been in direct proportion to his
ability to work metals. As long as he knew how to work bronze
only he could not hope for the best results. The trouble was not
in the metal itself, but in the supply; for copper and tin, the
constituents of bronze, are found only in limited amounts. When
we reflect on the multiplicity of purposes for which some
metallic substance is needed, we at once perceive that men
require a metal which can not only be worked cheaply, but must
exist in great abundance, so that the needs of a rich and varied
culture may be met.

The Divine Author of nature has stored away just such a metal,
and in such exhaustless quantities that it forms an ingredient in
nearly all soils, and flows away in the waters of many springs
and rivers. It exists in abundance in nearly every country of the
globe, in some forming veritable mountain masses. We refer to
iron, the king of metals; and when man had learned to reduce it
from its ores he had taken the first step in a new direction, the
end whereof is yet far distant.

We have in the preceding chapter presented some reasons why
copper would be known before iron. In the first place, how were
men to learn there was such a thing as iron? Supposing its ores
did occur in abundance, there was nothing to attract attention to
them. They were not of great heft, like tin ore or of striking
color, like the ores of copper. In the hills, and under the foot
of man, nature indeed had imprisoned a genius; but there was no
outward sign by which man was to divine his presence. Copper, as
we have seen, occurs frequently in a native form that is ready
for use, without reducing from its ores. Native iron, on the
contrary, is almost the rarest of substances, though it is
reported as occurring in one or two localities on the earth.1
Almost the only examples of native iron has been obtained from
meteorites. Strange as it may seem, these wanderers in space,
which occasionally flame athwart the sky, consist largely of pure
iron; at least this is true of such specimens as have from time
to time been found on the earth’s surface. This supply is of
course extremely limited, yet some Siberian tribes are said to
make knives from iron obtained in this manner.2 Moreover the
evidence of language, as used by the ancient Greeks and
Egyptians, would imply the meteoric origin of the first known
form of the metal.3 But though such accidental finds might prove
the existence of another metal, they would furnish no hint how to
extract it from its ores, or indeed, that it existed in the form
of ores.

The prolonged schooling in metallurgy, which men received during
the Bronze Age, could not fail to give them many hints, and
doubtless accidental discoveries of metallic substances were
made. We can conceive how, by accident or design, iron ore,
treated in a similar manner to copper and tin ore, would leave
behind a mass of spongy iron. The difficulty would be in working
it; for, as we have seen, they were in the habit of casting their
articles of bronze. But iron is very difficult of fusion. It was
a long while before they learned how to do that. They had
therefore to learn an entirely new art—that is, to fashion their
implements of iron by hammering the heated mass.

There is no reason to suppose that iron was first discovered in
Europe. Its spread has been from the east and south to the north
and west. It, in all probability, was discovered, like bronze, in
Asia. Although evidence, both archæological and traditional, goes
to show that bronze was in use long before iron, yet iron has
been known from time immemorial. Explain it how we will,
civilization and history follow close after the knowledge of
iron. Wherever the light of history first falls on the nations of
the Old World, we find them acquainted with iron, but such
knowledge, at least on the part of the Mediterranean nations,
does not long precede history, for at that early time, iron was
still a most precious metal. It was not yet produced in
sufficient quantities to take the place of bronze; hence the
prehistoric Iron Age was there but of short duration.

Among the early Egyptians iron was known, but was probably not
very common. There is on this subject some diversity of opinion;
some believing that at the very earliest historical period they
were skilled in working it, and employed it in all the affairs of
life, but others assure us that at the most ancient period they
did not really use iron, and that bronze was the metal employed
for all ordinary purposes.4

A wedge of iron is said to have been found in a joint between the
stones of the great pyramid. Here, then, at the dawn of historic
times iron seems to be making its way among a bronze-using
people. The ancient Chaldeans employed iron as an ornament, but
not for implements. With them it was therefore a precious metal.
Among the Assyrians, iron was largely used, and at a
comparatively early date. A careful study of the poems of Homer
shows that the Greeks of nearly three thousand years ago had a
knowledge of iron, though it was a highly prized metal. But to
the north of the Mediterranean the prehistoric Iron Age was of
longer duration.

We can readily see that a knowledge of iron would spread in much
the same way as did bronze. When first introduced, it would be
rare and costly, and so would be used sparingly. Bronze axes have
been found with the edge of iron. Afterwards, as it became more
abundant, it would be used altogether for cutting instruments and
weapons, while bronze, being more easily worked, would still be
used for ornaments, brooches, etc. At Hallstadt, in Austria, was
discovered a cemetery which evidently belongs to a time when iron
was taking the place of bronze. In this case, the implements of
bronze are those forms which we have learned were produced near
the close of the Bronze Age. The iron implements are not those
forms best suited for that metal, but imitations of those of
bronze.5 We remember when bronze was first introduced, the
weapons were simply copies of those forms already made in stone.6

We may suppose that a knowledge of iron would spread rapidly. The
knowledge of metallurgy necessary for the production of bronze
was at this time widely disseminated. It would require,
therefore, but a hint to start them in experiments. In the
dissemination of this knowledge, commerce, of course, played a
most important part. Whenever the early Greek and Roman writers
have occasion to mention the arms of the less civilized tribes of
Europe, we learn they were of iron. This shows that at a very
early time this knowledge had spread all over Europe.7

It is scarcely necessary to remark that the use of iron would not
drive out the use of bronze. That would still be used for many
purposes; and even stone would continue in use, at least for some
purposes. At the battle of Marathon, arrow-heads and lances of
stone were largely used. We can easily understand how, by one of
a number of causes, some rude tribes, yet unacquainted with the
use of metal, would come to occupy the site of some settlement,
the inhabitants of which had been in the Bronze or Iron Age. This
actually happened at ancient Troy, where the remains of a
stone-using folk have been found above those of a people using
metal. This, though an exception to the general rule, need give
us no surprise.

Iron manufacture at the present day, is one of our great
industries. In its present form it is the final development of an
industry whose first unfoldings we have now to glance at. That
the first process man employed to procure iron should have been
very rude, is what we would expect. Some of the partially
civilized tribes of to-day may give us an insight into the
process employed. We are told that in Tartary each native makes
the iron he needs, just as every household would make its own
bread. The furnace is a very small affair, not holding more than
three pounds of ore. This is filled with ore and charcoal. The
bellows are used, and after the charcoal is all burned out, the
result is a small piece of spongy iron, which needs only repeated
heating and hammering to be made serviceable.8 Primitive
furnaces, on a somewhat larger scale, have been discovered in
Switzerland. Here the excavation was made in the side of a hill,
and a rude, dome-shaped chimney built over it.

We must not forget that our task ends where the historian’s
begins. The use of iron did not long precede history, so we have
but little to describe as to the customs and manners of life
during the prehistoric Iron Age. A general advance in all the
social arts must surely have taken place. Improved tools, and
more cheaply produced, could not fail to advance man very
materially in culture. Some lake settlements were still in use as
places of residence, but better means of protection than water
was now known—walled cities were in use, especially around the
Mediterranean sea.

Mr. Morgan has traced for us the evolution of government. At this
early date the Greek and Roman people were engaged in
substituting for ancient society the modern idea of government
founded on territory.9 The great body of European tribes were now
in the final stage of barbaric life. Their system of government
was doubtless the highest known to ancient society— that of
confederacies; the union of tribes speaking dialects of the same
language, for offensive and defensive purposes.

Ornaments and Gold Ornament.

As characteristic of the advance of this epoch, we may mention
the appearance of pottery made on the potter’s wheel, and baked
in an improved kind of furnace. Previous to this epoch all the
pottery had been moulded by hand and baked in an imperfect manner
in the open air. This may be thought to be but a small
improvement. Our civilization, however, depends upon small
improvements. Only during the early part of this age, while iron
was scarce, and therefore valuable, would it be used for the
purpose of ornaments. Iron brooches have been found in
considerable quantities in the lake settlements. Bronze would
still be the principal article used for ornaments. The articles
of bronze manufactured play a great deal of skill. Nor was gold
entirely forgotten. The cap-shaped ornament of gold was found in
Ireland. During the Bronze age, as we have seen, there was no
attempt made to represent animal forms by way of ornaments; but
we meet with such representations during the early part of the
Iron Age. This shows how they ornamented the sheath of a sword
found in one of the Swiss lakes.

Swords and Ornamental Sword Sheath.

The warriors of the early Iron Age possessed leaf-shaped swords
for stabbing. The hilts were of bronze. This period was a
struggle for existence, on the part of the various tribes of
Europe. War must have been very common, so it is not strange that
a large number of relics of this age are of warlike implements.
Lance-heads, javelins, and arrow-heads have been found in
abundance. It appears, from experiments ordered by the Emperor
Napoleon III, that the javelins could only have been used as
missile weapons, and that they were thrown, not by the hand
merely grasping the shaft, but by means of a cord or thong,
something after the principle of a sling.10

Some years ago an old battle-field was discovered at Tiefenau, in
Switzerland. On it were found a great number of objects made of
iron, such as fragments of chariots, bits for horses, wheels,
pieces of coats of mail, and arms of various sorts, including no
less than a hundred two-handed swords. All of these were made of
iron.11 The soldiers also carried with them shields, made
sometimes of bronze, as in the cut below, or of wood, studded
with iron.

Lance-head and Javelin, and Shields.

There is evidence of considerable volume of trade at this time.
The Mediterranean was the theater of an extended commerce.
Phœnician sailors not only ventured to brave the Mediterranean
sea, but carried their vessels out on the Atlantic at as early a
date as 500 B.C. The Greek traders were also active. Massilia, or
as it is known in modern times, Marseilles, was the seat of a
thriving trade. African ivory has been found in the tombs of
Hallstadt, in Austria, in connection with ornaments of amber from
the Baltic, and gold from Transylvania. The inhabitants of this
town possessed in their salt mines the source of a lucrative
trade. The trader of the Iron Age was able to take an immense
stride by reason of the invention of money. Heretofore, in
Europe, we have not met with coins, and trade must have been
carried on by means of barter.

Gallic Coin.

Acquainted as we are at the present day with money and the
mechanism of exchange, it is difficult to see how any extended
trade could be carried on without some unit of value, yet no
coins are known earlier than the Iron Age.12 The most ancient
coins known are Greek, and date back to the eighth century before
Christ. This coin is one found in one of the lake settlements. It
is made of bronze, and the figures are not stamped, but obtained
by melting and casting.13 This, however, is not a Greek coin, but
a Gallic one. On the battlefield of Tiefenau, mentioned above,
several Greek coins, struck at Massilia, were found.14

It is scarcely necessary to point out, that though iron gives its
name to this age, it by no means follows that the only difference
between this and the Bronze Age is the use of iron. “The pottery
is different, the forms of the implements and weapons are
different, the ornamentation is different, the knowledge of
metallurgy was more advanced, silver and lead were in use,
letters had been invented, coins had been struck.”15 That
wonderful invention, the phonetic alphabet, was made during the
early part of this age. The past was no longer simply kept alive
in the memory of the living, handed down by tradition and song.
Inscriptions, and monuments, and books abounded, and we are no
longer confined to an inspection of their handiwork, or
examination of their habitations, and explanation of ancient
burial mounds for our knowledge of their life and surroundings.
It is no longer the archæologists’ collections, but the writings
of the historian that unfolds past times and customs.

Let us cast a glance at the condition of Europe at the dawn of
history. We have seen that in general terms the Bronze Age
coincided with the arrival and spread of the Celts, though the
earlier Celts were still Neolithic. The use of iron could
scarcely have been inaugurated before the innumerable hordes of
the Germanic tribes, probably driven from their Asiatic homes by
the presence of invading people, were on the march. The world
has, perhaps, never witnessed such a movement of people as
convulsed Europe for several hundred years, beginning the second
century before Christ and continuing until the fall of the
Western Empire of Rome. The light of history dawns on a stormy
scene in Europe. The Celts confined to the Western portion had
been largely subjected by the Roman armies, but the largest
portion of Europe held by the Germanic tribes was the seat from
whence assault after assault was made on the Roman Empire, which
at length, weakened by internal dissensions and enervated by
luxury, split in twain, and the western, and most important part,
fell before its barbarian foes.

The various tribes could not keep alive the civilization they had
overthrown. The wandering hordes of Germanic people could not
easily forget their former barbaric life, their marches of
conquest, and careers of pillage. But the claims of civilization,
though light and pleasant, are none the less imperative, and a
people who seek her rewards must form settled communities,
develop public spirit, organize government, and sink the
individual in the public good. Not appreciating these claims, it
is not strange that the incipient civilization nearly expired,
and that the night of the Dark Ages enwrapt Europe. From out that
darkness, composed of the descendants of the people whose culture
we have been investigating, finally emerged the mediæval nations
of Europe.

The review has been a pleasant one, for it is a record of
progress. The difference between the culture of the Neolithic and
the Iron Age is great, but it is simply a development, the result
of a gradual growth. Civilization and history have only hastened
this growth. If we look around us to-day we can trace the
elements of our civilization back through the eras of history,
and though the faint beginning of some can be noticed, yet many
of them come down to us from prehistoric times. We have treated
of these early people in the three stages of culture known as the
Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron Ages. We have seen there is no hard
and fast line dividing the different stages of culture. To borrow
the words of another, these stages of progress, like the three
principal colors of the rainbow, overlap, intermingle, and shade
off the one into the other, and yet in the main they are well
defined.16

We instinctively long to set bounds to the past, to measure it by
the unit of years. It affords us satisfaction to give dates for
events long since gone by. For any event in the domain of
history, it is natural and appropriate to gratify this desire. It
gives precision to our thoughts, and more firmly fixes the march
of events. But the historical portion of human life on the globe
is but a small part of the grand whole. When we pass beyond
history, or into prehistoric times, we find ourselves utterly at
a loss as to dates.

We have referred in the preceding pages to the commonly accepted
belief of a few years ago, that, at most, a few thousand years
express the whole period of human life on the globe. This was
supposed to be the teaching of the Scriptures, but Infinite
Wisdom left not only his word, but he left an imperishable record
of the past in rocky strata and excavated valley, in dripping
caves and mountain masses. When it was seen that the claims of
geology for a greatly extended past, one transcending the powers
of the human mind to conceive its length, could no longer be
successfully denied, then it was that earnest investigators in
the field of human antiquity could no longer shut their eyes to
the fact that if geological evidence were worth any thing, man
must have existed in the world for a far longer time than one
covered by the brief period hitherto relied on.

This truth is so patent and plain that it has received the
unqualified indorsement of the most learned scholars.
Distinguished divines have been amongst its able expounders, and
instead of being in opposition to the Bible, as already stated,
the earnest reader finds in the periods of the geologists
unexpected confirmation of its truths. The evidence of an
extended past for man is not, however, wholly of a geological
nature, though these have been the ones principally relied on.
The archæologist to-day summons to his aid the science of
language, studies into the origin of civilization and the
comparison of the different races of men, and derives from each
and all of these concurrent testimony as to a vast, shadowy, and
profound antiquity for man, one stretching way beyond the dawn of
history, far into the very night of time.

As we have now spent some time in tracing out the culture of
these early ages, it may be well to see if there are any means at
our command to determine the absolute chronology of the various
ages. At the very outset of our inquiry, we shall perceive that
we have no such class of facts as guided our investigations into
the age of the Paleolithic remains. We have but to recall the
situation in which the implements of that age were found, always
under such circumstances, that we see at once that a great lapse
of time has passed since they became imbedded where found, and
then the bones of the various extinct animals, found so
associated with the implements, that we are justified, even
compelled, to admit they occupied the same section of country,
and then, from a variety of causes, we are satisfied that they
occupied Europe at the close of the Glacial Age, if not for long
ages before. All this gave us a point of departure, and we have
showed with what care scholars have studied all questions
relating to the date of the Glacial Age.

But aside from the fact that geology points out that a long time
went by after the close of the Glacial Age before Neolithic man
arrived on the scene, we are largely deprived of its aid in our
investigations; for all the various implements and specimens of
the household industries, from which we derive our knowledge of
these latter ages, are found only in surface deposits; that is,
in the modern alluvia and silt of river bottoms, in superficial
deposits, in caves, and in peat-bogs; and even in other instances
where apparently deeply buried, as in the submerged forest
deposits of the British coasts, we know that, geologically
speaking, their age is recent.

But in spite of these difficulties, attempts have been made from
time to time to determine the absolute chronology of these ages.
The results, however, can only be considered as approximations of
the truth. We will call attention to some of these calculations.
Their value to us consists in showing us the methods by which
this problem has been attacked, and not in the results obtained.
M. Morlot, of Switzerland, has sought to determine this question
by a study of the delta of the Tinière, which is a small river
flowing into the lake of Geneva. Like all mountain streams, it
brings down considerable quantities of sediment, with which it
has formed a conical shaped delta. Cuttings for a railroad
exposed a fine section of this cone, and showed that at three
different times layers of vegetable soil, which must once have
been its old surface were found.

The lowest surface was some twenty feet beneath the present
surface, and here were found relics of the Stone Age. The second
layer was at the depth of ten feet, and contained relics of the
Bronze Age. Finally the first buried layer, three feet beneath
the present surface, was found to contain relics of the Roman
Age. Obtaining from other data the time that has elapsed since
the deposits of the Roman layer, he readily calculates the age of
the Stone and Bronze layers. By this means he obtains for the
Bronze Age an antiquity of between three and four thousand years,
and for the Neolithic Age from five to seven thousand years.17 M.
Morlot does not claim for his calculation more than approximate
accuracy.18 But if we were to allow it a greater accuracy than
its author claims, it would still only show us that from a period
of from five to seven thousand years ago, tribes of stone using
folks lived in Switzerland. It tells us nothing as to their first
appearance, or the total length of this age.19

Other calculations of a similar nature have been made. The Lake
of Bienne, in Switzerland, has been gradually silting up along
its margins from time immemorial. About seven hundred and fifty
years ago there was an abbey built at one place on the then
existing shore of the lake. Since that time the gain of land has
been about twelve hundred feet. A considerable distance further
up the valley are found the remains of a lake settlement of the
Stone Age. If the gain of land has been uniform, it has not been
far from seven thousand years since the lake washed round the
ancient settlement. Of course the land may have gained faster at
one time than at another, but from the general configuration of
the valley it is considered that its gain was regular.20

Mr. Skertchly, of the Geological Survey of England, has furnished
still another estimate, based on the growth of the Fen-beds on
the east coast of England. It is sufficient to state that he also
arrives at an estimate of about seven thousand years for the
Neolithic period.21 Now these results are interesting, and their
substantial agreement is, to say the least, striking. We must
remember, however, that none of them are free from error. They
may serve to clear up our thoughts on this subject, but we notice
they tell us nothing as to the beginning of the Neolithic Age.

Abandoning the effort to obtain dates for the various ages,
attempts have been made to calculate the entire interval that has
elapsed since the close of the Glacial times, and thus set bounds
to the first appearance of Neolithic man. We briefly touched on
this question in determining the antiquity of the Paleolithic
Age, and we say, as far as this country was concerned, it was
comparatively a recent thing, but as for Europe, it must be at a
very remote time. M. Quatrefages has called our attention to two
investigations in Europe, which, in order to understand this
question, we will now glance at. The waters of the Rhone carry
into Lake Geneva every year quantities of sediment. In other
words, from this and other sources, the lake is gradually being
filled up. Carefully calculating the amount carried into the lake
in a year, estimates have been made of the length of time it has
taken the river to fill up the lake as much as it has.

But in making this calculation the date arrived at was a maximum
one—that is, a point beyond which it is not reasonable to suppose
the time extended. These calculations gave as a result one
hundred thousand years. The meaning of this is that the time
elapsed since the close of the Glacial Age was something less
than the number just stated. On the other hand, a minimum date
for this time has been obtained by estimating the amount of
erosion in the valley of the River Saone, in France. From this we
know that the time can not be less than seven thousand years.22

It is, perhaps, doubtful whether we shall ever be able to obtain
satisfactory answers to these questions. From what we have
repeatedly seen of the slowness of development of primitive man,
we do not doubt but what the antiquity of Neolithic Man goes much
farther back than seven thousand years. When a naturalist finds
in widely separated parts of the world animals belonging to a
common order, he is justified in concluding that the order is a
very ancient one. To illustrate, the opossum belongs to an order
of animals of which the only other representatives are found in
Australia and the neighboring islands.23 We are not surprised,
therefore, to learn that this order was the first to appear in
geological time.24 We think the rule is equally applicable to
races of men. We are told that the Turanian race, or, as it is
often named, the Mongoloid race, is a very widely scattered one.
Its representatives are found over the larger portion of Asia, in
Northern Europe, the islands of the Pacific; and they were the
only inhabitants of the New World at the time of the conquest.25
This wide dispersion would imply that they were one of the
ancient races of the world, and as such their antiquity must be
far greater than the above named number of years.

This point grows clearer when we see what light is afforded on
this subject by historical research. The Turanian people were in
full possession of Europe while yet the ancestors of the Hindoos
and the various European nations dwelt together as one people in
Asia. As a race they had grown old when the Celts commenced their
wanderings. Egypt comes before us as a powerful people, at a time
at least as early as six thousand years ago. Even at that time
they had attained civilization. But we need not doubt that there
is a long series of years lying back of that, during which this
people were slowly advancing from a previous condition of
barbarism. The Egyptian people themselves are, in part at least,
descendants of a Turanian people that probably in former times
occupied the valley of the Nile and North Africa.26

Mr. Geikie has lately gone over the entire ground from the point
of view of a geologist. He ranges over a wide field, and appeals
in support to writers of acknowledged ability in all branches of
learning.27 Yet the impression we gather from his writings is
that of ill-defined, but far-reaching antiquity, one necessary to
account for the great climatic and geographical changes which he
shows us have taken place since the Glacial Age. But he tells us
that any term of years he could suggest would be a mere guess. We
can not do better than leave the matter here. Perhaps as a result
of the research of our present scholars, we may soon have more
precise results.

These closing essays have impressed on us clearly and distinctly
the isolation of the Paleolithic Age. When we reflect on its
prolonged duration, its remoteness in time, and its complete
severance from the Neolithic and succeeding ages, we are almost
ready to wonder whether they were indeed human beings. But
beginning with the Neolithic Age, we come to our own era. This
primitive culture seems to have been the commencement of our own
culture, and so the industries, household implements, and weapons
of these ages possess a greater interest to us. We have now
completed our inquiry into prehistoric life in Europe, and are
ready to turn our attention to other parts of the field. What we
have thus far learned shows us how true it is that the past of
human life on the globe is full of mystery. We trust that what
has been written will enable our readers to form clearer
conceptions of life in Europe during these far away times.

REFERENCES

Dana’s “Manual of Mineralogy,” p. 230.

“Primitive Man,” p. 298.

Evans’s “Ancient Stone Implements,” p. 5.

Evans’s “Ancient Bronze Implements,” p. 8.

“Ancient Bronze Implements,” p. 3.

Ibid., p. 40.

Ibid., p. 19.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 300.

“Ancient Society,” p. 216.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 325.

“Prehistoric Times,” p. 7.

M. Desor, in “Smithsonian Reports,” 1865, tells us that small
brass rings were probably used by people of the Swiss lake
villages of the Bronze Age epoch as money.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 310.

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 7.

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 17.

Evans’s “Ancient Bronze Implements,” p. 1.

“Smithsonian Report,” 1860, p. 342.

Ibid.

Mr. Southall, in “Recent Origin of Man,” p. 475, quotes, from
Dr. Andrews, of Chicago, to the effect that these calculations
are very erroneous, as he thinks that M. Morlot forgot that the
size of the cone would increase more and more slowly. On the
contrary, M. Morlot says as follows: “Only this growth must
have gone on at a gradually diminishing rate, because the
volume of a cone increases as the cube of its radius. Taking
this fact into consideration, etc.” (Smithsonian Report, 1860,
p. 341.) There are, however, several objections to this
calculation, for which see Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p.
400; also Quatrefages’s “Human Species,” p. 138.

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 402. For criticisms on this
calculation see Southall’s “Recent Origin of Man.”

British Assoc. Rep., 1879.

Quatrefages’s “Human Species,” p. 139, _et seq._

Nicholson’s “Manual of Zoölogy,” p. 535.

Dana’s “Manual of Geology,” p. 416, note.

Keary’s “Dawn of History,” p. 382; Morgan’s “Systems of
Consanguinity and Affinity.”

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 324.

“Prehistoric Europe,” chap. xvi to xxii.

Chapter IX
EARLY MAN IN AMERICA.1

Conflicting accounts of the American Aborigines—Recent
discoveries—Climate of California in Tertiary Times—Geological
changes near its close—Description of Table Mountain—Results of
the discoveries there—The Calaveras skull—Other relics—Discussion
of the question—Early Californians Neolithic—Explanation of
this—Date of the Pliocene Age—Other discoveries bearing on the
Antiquity of man—Dr. Koch’s discovery—Discoveries in the Loess of
Nebraska—In Greene County, Ill.— In Georgia—Difficulties in
detecting a Paleolithic Age in this country—Dr. Abbott’s
discoveries—Paleolithic Implements of the Delaware—Age of the
deposits—The race of Paleolithic man—Ancestors of the
Eskimos—Comparison of Paleolithic Age in this country with that
in Europe—Eskimos one of the oldest races in the World.

When the energy and skill of Columbus were crowned with success,
and the storm-tossed Atlantic was found to lave the shores of a
western continent, reflecting minds in Europe were much
interested in the strange stories they heard of the inhabitants
of the New World. On the one hand Spanish adventurers told
scarcely credited stories of populous cities, temples glittering
with gold and silver ornaments, and nations possessed of a
barbaric civilization scarcely inferior to their own. On the
other hand were accounts of morose savages, cruel and vindictive
in nature, depending on fishing and the chase for a livelihood.
Nearly four centuries have elapsed since that time. The
aboriginal inhabitants have nearly disappeared, leaving their
origin and prehistoric life almost as great a riddle to us as it
was to the early colonists.

But in endeavoring to unroll the pages of their history, we have
chanced upon some strange discoveries. The Aztecs, that people
whose culture is to-day such an enigma to our scholars, are known
to be a late arrival in the valley of Anahuac. They were preceded
in that section by a mysterious people, the Toltecs, whose
remains excite our liveliest curiosity, but of which we have yet
learned but little. Yucatan is shown to have been for many
centuries the home of a people whose advancement equated that of
the Aztecs at their palmiest day. Like important discoveries
attended the labors of explorers in the North. The entire valley
of its great river is known to have been the home of a numerous
population, that, from the nature of their remains, we call the
Mound-builders. Who these people were, when and whence they came,
and whither they went, are questions whose solution is by no
means accomplished. Nor are such discoveries the only results. A
study of their institutions has done much in revealing the
constructions of ancient society, and thereby throwing light on
some mysterious chapters of man’s existence.

Of late years interest in the antiquity of man in America has
been reawaked by the discoveries of human remains in Pliocene
deposits in California, and the Glacial gravel of the Delaware at
Trenton, New Jersey. Before this it was supposed that we had no
authentic instance of human remains in America found under such
circumstances that it was necessary to assign to them a profound
antiquity. If these latter day discoveries be true, we can not
escape the conclusion that man lived in America at as early a
date as that indicated by any of the European explorations. Some
hold that the proof of his existence here in Pliocene times is
far more satisfactory than any evidence of his presence in Europe
during this time. There is something fascinating in this belief.
If some of the most eminent scientists of America are not
mistaken, man lived on our Pacific coast before the great
ice-sheets that pulverized the surface of the earth and dispersed
life before them came down from the north. He ranged along the
western rivers before the volcanic peaks of the Sierras were
uplifted, and his old hunting-grounds are to-day buried
underneath the greet lava flow which desolated ancient California
and Oregon. But this assertion has not been allowed to pass
undisputed, nor has it received the assent of all scientists.

We can easily understand why scholars subject all questions
relating to the first appearance of man to very careful scrutiny.
If a competent geologist should assert that he had found, in
undoubted Pliocene formations, bones of some species of animals
not hitherto suspected of living at that date, his statement
would be accepted as proof of the same. But in the case of man,
every circumstance is inquired into. It is but right that the
utmost care should be exercised in this direction. But, on the
other hand, we are not justified in demanding mathematical
demonstration in every case of the accuracy of a reported
discovery. Yet such seems to be the position of a portion of the
scientific world. For, although they willingly admit that man has
lived on the earth for a very long time indeed, they urge all
sorts of objections to extending that time into a past geological
age.

Accordingly, when Professor Whitney states as the result of many
years spent in the investigation of the Tertiary formation of
California, that he finds evidence of the existence of man in the
Pliocene Age, it is not strange that one part of the scientific
world listens incredulously to his statements, and are at once
ready to explain away the facts on which he relies. He may, of
course, be mistaken, for it is human to err, but his proofs are
sufficiently strong to convince some of the best scholars in
America. We can do no more than to lay the facts before the
reader and let him judge for himself.

We have seen what a genial climate prevailed in Europe during the
Tertiary Age. This must also have been true of California. A rich
and varied vegetation decked the land. The great trees of
California of our day then flourished in Greenland, Iceland, and
Western Europe. The cypress of the Southern States was then
growing in Alaska and other high northern latitudes. The climate
probably passed from a tropical one, in early Tertiary times, to
a milder or temperate one in Pliocene times. Amongst the animals
inhabiting America were three species of camels. Rhinoceroses,
mastodons, and elephants trooped over the land. Tigers and other
carnivore prowled in the forests. Herds of horse-like animals,
one scarcely distinguishable from our common horse, grazed in the
valleys, along with several species of deer. From the presence of
the old drainage beds, we know that majestic rivers rolled their
watery burden through the land. Such a country might well afford
a home for man if he were present.

To understand fully the course of events which now took place we
must venture on geological ground. The great Pacific Ocean, lying
to the west of America, is constantly exerting a lateral
pressure, which during Tertiary times showed its effect in the
uplifting of the great mountain ranges of the western coast.2
During late Tertiary times, as a counterpart to the upward
movement, a great subsidence commenced in the Pacific region.3
Doubtless many islands, some think an entire continent even,
disappeared beneath the waves. The completion of the various
mountain ranges left the coast firm and unyielding; hence, as it
could not bend before the fiery flood forced upward from below by
the downward motion just mentioned, it broke, and the torrent of
molten rock leaped out as a lava flow. In consequence of this,
near the close of Pliocene times, the surface of California and
Oregon, especially the north of California, became buried under
the lava and ashes of the most desolating volcanic outbreak that
the earth has ever known.

Let us now see what bearing this has on the question of the
antiquity of man. Scattered here and there throughout California
are numerous masses of basaltic lava, which appear as elevated
ridges, the softer strata around having been denuded away. They
have received the general name of Table Mountains. They have not
only been noted for their picturesque beauty, but miners long
since found that the gravels underneath the lava covering were
rich in gold. In Tuolumne County the Table Mountain is a flow of
lava which originated in lofty volcanoes several miles away.

It extends along the north side of the Stanilaus, which is a
small river flowing in a south-westerly course through the
county. The mountain is in the form of a ridge about two thousand
feet above the present level of the river. At one point the river
breaks through this ridge, which has been worn away for a
considerable distance. From this point the ridge appears as a
continuous mountain, stretching away to the south for a distance
of twenty miles, from where it crosses the river. “As seen from a
distance the Table Mountain reveals its origin at once, in the
contrast between the long, straight line of its upper edge and
the broken and curving ones which the eroded hills of the
auriferous strata everywhere exhibit. Its dark color and
comparative absence of trees and shrubs on its top and sides also
indicate very clearly that the materials of which it is composed
are very different from that of the surrounding hills.”4

This is the celebrated Table Mountain of Tuolumne County. It is
simply a vast flow of lava. It must have been a grand sight when
this river of fire came rolling down from its volcanic fount. Its
present position on top of an elevated ridge is a very singular
one. In explanation of that we arrive at some very important
conclusions, and we can not fail to be impressed with the fact
that countless ages have rolled away since that lava flood poured
down the mountain side. “No one can deny that a stream of melted
lava, running for forty miles down the slope of the Sierra, must
have sought and found a depression or valley in which to flow;
for it is impossible that it should have maintained for any
distance its position on the crest of a ridge.” Lava is about as
thick as molten iron, and would as surely seek some valley in
which to flow as would so much water. “The valley of the
Stanilaus, now two thousand feet deep, could not then have
existed; for this flow of lava is clearly seen to have crossed it
at one point.”

“The whole face of the country must, therefore, have undergone an
entire change since the eruption took place, during which this
mass of lava was poured out. The valley of the Stanilaus must
have then been occupied by a range of mountains. The same is true
of the other side, where now is the valley of Wood’s Creek; for
such ranges must have existed in order to form and wall in the
valley in which the current of lava flowed. There has been,
therefore, an amount of denudation during the period since this
volcanic mass took its position of not less than three or four
thousand feet of perpendicular depth, and this surprising series
of changes is not peculiar to one locality, but the whole slope
of the Sierras, through the gold region, is the scene of similar
volcanic outflows and subsequent remodeling of the surface into a
new series of reliefs and depressions.”5

Imaginary Section of Table Mountain.

In order to fully realize the change here spoken of, an imaginary
section of Table Mountains is here presented. Here we see the two
valleys on the sides, and the mass of lava covering the top of
the mountain. The dotted lines represent the position of the old
line of hills, which must once have inclosed the valley down
which coursed the fiery torrent.

We require to dwell on this, fact before we can fully understand
its meaning. The “eternal hills,” two and three thousand feet in
height, have been completely washed away, and where they stood is
now a deep valley. But the old valley, protected by its stony
covering, is now a mountain ridge; and this, we are told, is not
a solitary instance, but the entire surface of the country has
been thus denuded. We stand in awe before the stupendous results,
which nature, working through vast cycles of time, has
accomplished.

But if this lava flow took place in a pre-existing valley, we
ought to find under the rocky covering beds of gravel, rolled
stones, and other _débris_ peculiar to a river bed. Such, in
fact, we do find extended along directly underneath the lava,
about fifteen hundred feet above the general level of the
country. These old river gravels are found to be very rich in
gold, and miners have tunneled into them in numerous places in
search of the valuable metal. In order to determine the
geological age of these gravels, and subsequent lava flow, a
careful examination of portions of plants and bones of animals
found therein has been made. The plants are pronounced by
competent authority6 to be Pliocene, totally distinct from any
specimens now growing in California. The animal remains are
rhinoceroses, camels, and an extinct species of horse. The age of
these gravels is, therefore, pronounced to be Pliocene. We would
say in this connection that the auriferous gravels of California
have been the object of a very careful research by Prof. Whitney.
He adds to his conclusions that of another of the State
geologists. We need not give in detail his arguments, but he
reaches the conclusion that the auriferous gravels of the Pacific
slope represent the whole of the Tertiary Age.7

We have seen that in the ancient gravels of European rivers
archæologists have found the materials wherewith to build a
fascinating story of man’s appearance in Quaternary times. We
have underneath the lava flow of California the gravel beds of
rivers far antedating the gravels of the Somme. It is therefore
not a little interesting to learn from Prof. Whitney that he
finds many proofs of the existence of man in the gravels of the
Pliocene Age in California. Under the solid basalt of Table
Mountain have been found many works of men’s hands, as well as
the celebrated “Calaveras Skull.”

Calaveras Skull.

This skull was taken from a mining shaft at Altaville, at a depth
of one hundred and thirty feet from the surface, beneath seven
different strata of lava and gravel. Prof. Whitney was not
present when it was found. He, however, made it his business to
examine into the facts of the case, and he thus speaks of it:
“That the skull was found in these old, intact, cemented gravels
has been abundantly proved by evidence that can not be gainsaid.”
And again: “So far as human and geological testimony can at
present be relied on, there is no question but that the skull was
found under Table Mountain, and is of the Pliocene Age.”8

This would seem to be pretty explicit, but, as we have said
before, Prof. Whitney, in his formal report as the State
geologist of California, reaches the conclusion that the
auriferous gravels of the Pacific are all of the Tertiary Age. It
is therefore not a little interesting to learn that numerous
instances are recorded of the finding of human remains or the
works of man in these gravels. Prof. Whitney mentions twenty such
instances.9 Mr. Bancroft furnishes us a list of such discoveries,
giving as his authority Mr. C. D. Voy, of the California
Geological Survey, of Oakland, California. He states that Mr. Voy
personally visited most of the localities where the discoveries
were made, and took all possible pains to verify their
authenticity, and in many cases obtaining sworn statements from
the parties who made them.10

Two stone mortars and spear-heads, six and eight inches long,
were found in the gravel under Table Mountain, just mentioned.
These relics were found about three hundred feet from the
surface. A hundred feet and more of this depth was of solid lava.
At another place a stone bead was found three hundred feet from
the mouth of the tunnel, under a thick layer of lava. Many other
instances might be given of such discoveries, not always under
lava coverings, but always in such instances that we are
compelled to assign to them an immense antiquity. As, for
instance, at San Andreas, according to a sworn statement in Mr.
Voy’s possession, large stone mortars were taken from a layer of
cemented gravel, overlain by one hundred and twenty-five feet of
volcanic and gravel materials. Many similar instances are on
record, but enough have been mentioned to serve the purpose of
the chapter.11

As we have briefly gone over the ground on which the antiquity of
man in America is, by some, referred to the Pliocene Age, it is
but fair to notice some of the objections that have been raised.
It is not necessary to point out that the only questions worthy
to be considered are of a scientific nature.

We must deny either the age of the gravels themselves or that the
objects of human handiwork were found as claimed, or else that
they are of the same age as the gravels. Prof. LeConte thinks,
from the nature of the gravels and the peculiar circumstances
which surround them, that they are not older than the close of
the Pliocene Age. He thinks they, in fact, belong to the
transitory period between that age and the Quaternary.12 But as
we are considering the question of Pliocene man, it makes but
little difference if the gravels do belong to the very close of
that period. They may still be called Pliocene.

One great trouble with those remains is that they were not
discovered by professed geologists. We have to depend upon the
statements of miners. But if their statements can be believed
(and why should they not?), there is no doubt about their
genuineness. The testimony, as Mr. Whitney says, “all points in
one direction, and there has never been any attempt made to pass
off on any member of the survey any thing out of keeping, or—so
to speak—out of harmony with what has been already found, or
might be expected to be found. It has always been the same kind
of implements which have been exhibited to us, namely, the
coarsest and the least finished, which one would suppose could be
made, and still be implements at all.”13 This result would hardly
be possible, where so many parties are concerned in furnishing
the evidence, if the objects were not genuine.14

In opposition to this conclusion it has been urged that the stone
mortars, pestles, etc., have become imbedded in the gravel by the
action of streams, or slips from the mountain side in modern
times, or are the results of interments or mining operations.15
As an illustration of how they might become buried by the action
of streams, reference is made to somewhat similar discoveries in
the tin-bearing streams of Cornwall (Wales). We know with
considerable certainty that at a very early date the Phœnicians
worked in the gravels of these streams for tin ores. Implements
made use of by them and others—such, for instance, as shovels,
mortars, pick-axes, stone bowls, and various dishes—have been
found at all depths in this gravel, by more modern miners.16

This may explain the presence, in some instances, of similar
remains in California, but it utterly fails to do so, where the
remains have been buried underneath a lava flow or a bed of
volcanic materials, as is the case in many of the instances we
have cited. Manifestly no water has disturbed their strata since
the volcanic materials were laid down. Neither can we think of a
land-slide carrying these remains into the heart of a mountain,
or burying them underneath a hundred feet of lava. The peculiar
position in which they were often found is surely lost sight of
by those who think they might have been placed there by
interment. We can not think of a savage people digging a grave in
such a position.

It has been urged with considerable force that these relics have
been left behind by ancient miners when they mined for gold. Dr.
Wilson is cited as authority for the statement that the Mexicans
obtained “silver, lead, and tin from the mines of Tasco and
copper was wrought in the mountains of Zacotollan by means of
galleries and shafts, opened with persevering toil where the
metallic veins were imbedded in the solid rock.” Prescott, the
historian, also testifies to the same fact.

We need only add to this, that wherever these ancient galleries
were opened in the solid rock, they still exist. Schoolcraft
mentions finding one two hundred and ten feet deep.17 The chances
are not worth considering, that these old mines would be
overlooked. If, for instance, the Calaveras skull is that of a
prehistoric miner, killed in an old mining gallery only a
thousand years or so ago, it is inconceivable that all evidence
of this mine should have disappeared. Or, if in one case it
should have done so, it would surely have been detected in other
instances. The variety and explicitness of the testimony brought
forward makes all such supposition improbable.18

It is best, in this matter, to hold the judgment in suspense. We
have stated Mr. Whitney’s position, and the objections that have
been raised to it. The amount of thought bestowed on the
antiquity of man will doubtless soon clear up the whole matter.
We can not do better than to consider his surroundings, supposing
that he was really present. The country must have been very
different from the California of to-day. Dr. Cooper says, “The
country consisted of peninsulas and islands, like those of the
present East Indies; resembling them also in climate and
productions.”19 The probabilities are that to the west and
southwest of California, instead of watery expanse of the
Pacific, only broken here and there by an ever-verdant islet,
there was either a continental expanse of land or, at any rate, a
vast archipelago. We know that over a large part of the Northern
Pacific area the land has sunk not less than six thousand feet
since late Tertiary times.20

We are certain the ocean area must have presented a vastly
different aspect before that depression commenced. It is not
unreasonable to suppose that communication between North America
and Asia was much easier than in subsequent epochs. It might have
been an easy matter for man to pass back and forth without losing
sight of land. It is therefore reasonable to suppose that if
Pliocene man was in existence, he would have occupied both sides
of the Pacific at this early time.21 These last conclusions are
very important ones to reach, and as there is reasonable
foundation for them, we must bear them in mind in the subsequent
pages.

It will be remembered that the races of men who inhabited Europe
in the Paleolithic Age had only very rudely formed, unpolished
implements. It is not until we arrive at the Neolithic stage of
culture that we meet with specimens of polished stone implements.
To judge from the specimens of early Californian art, the
beautifully polished pestles, beads, plummets or sinkers,
spear-heads, etc., Pliocene man in California must have been in
the Neolithic stage of culture. Though they were not acquainted
with the potter’s art, yet from their skill in working vessels of
stone, they had undoubtedly passed entirely through Savagism, and
had entered the confines of Barbarism,22 as far advanced, in
fact, as many of the Indian tribes the Spaniards found in
possession of the country.

It must be confessed this seems very singular. It is this
statement that causes many to shut their eyes to what would be
otherwise at once admitted and refuse to believe the genuineness
of the discovery. If the implements brought to light had been of
the rude River Drift type—celts but little removed from nodules
of flint—scholars would not be so cautious about accepting them.
But when we learn they are Neolithic, we at once see why they
hesitate, and ask for more conclusive proofs; yet this is no
reason to disregard the discoveries. They may be a great
surprise, they may be an unwelcome discovery to the holder of
some theories, yet the only question is, whether they are true or
not, and if true, theories must be modified to fit the facts.
Prof. Putnam thus speaks, in reference to them: “As the
archæologist has no right to be governed by any pre-conceived
theories, but must take the facts as he finds them, it is
impossible for him to do otherwise than accept the deductions of
so careful and eminent a geologist as Prof. Whitney, and draw his
conclusions accordingly, notwithstanding the fact that this
Pliocene man was, to judge by his works in stone and shell, as
far advanced as his descendants were at the time of the discovery
of California by the Spaniards.”23

Perhaps a partial explanation of this matter may be found when we
consider all the circumstances of the case. The origin of man is
generally assigned to some tropical country. Sir John Lubbock
thus speaks of it: “Our nearest relatives in the animal kingdom
are confined to hot, almost tropical climates; and it is in such
countries that we are, perhaps, most likely to find the earliest
traces of the human race.”24 This is also the opinion of other
eminent scholars. M. Quatrefages thinks that man probably
originated in Asia. He points out, however, that, during Tertiary
times, the climate was much milder, and man might have originated
in Northern Asia.25 Now, if it be true that a great mass of land
has disappeared beneath the waves of the Pacific, why may we not
suppose that, if this sunken land was not the original home of
man, it was at a very early time inhabited by him; that here he
passed through his experience in savagism?26 We know how suited
the islands of the Pacific are to the needs of a savage people;
and we must not lose sight of the probable ease with which they
could reach the coast of California—and also of what Dr. Cooper
has told us of the climate and geographical surroundings of
California at that early time. So it may not be unreasonable to
suppose that man reached California long ages before he wandered
into Europe, and so reached the Neolithic stage of culture much
earlier than he did in other parts of the world.27

It might be objected, that if a people in the Neolithic stage of
culture lived in California in the Pliocene Age, they ought to
have reached a very high stage of culture indeed when the
Spaniards invaded the country. This is what we would expect had
they been left to develop themselves. The great geographical
changes that took place near the close of the Pliocene would cut
off the primitive Californians from the Asiatics. Not only was
the land connection—if it indeed existed—now destroyed, but
causes were changing the climate. Ice and snow drove from the
north life of both animals and plants, and for an entire
geological period communications with Asia by way of the north
must have been very difficult, if not cut off altogether. Who can
tell what changes now came to the Asiatic branch of these people?
We are but too familiar with the fact that nations and races
sicken and die: many examples could be given. The natives of the
Sandwich Islands seem doomed to extinction. In a few centuries,
the Indians of America will live only in tradition and song.

Such may have been the fate of the early inhabitants of the
Pacific continent: certainly it would not be surprising, if the
immense climatic and geographical changes which then took place
would produce that result. Or it may be that but a scanty remnant
lived on, absorbed by more vigorous, though less highly
cultivated stocks of the same people, whose homes had been on the
main-land of Asia—and the remnant left along the Pacific coast
must have lived on under vastly different circumstance. The
interior of North America was largely a dreary expanse of ice and
snow down to the 39th parallel of latitude. It is quite true,
this great glacier did not reach the Pacific Slope; but it must
have exerted a powerful influence on the climate: and the
evidence points, that the Sierra Nevada were occupied by local
glaciers which reached down into the fertile expanse of the
plains.

This was certainly a far different climate, and a far different
country, than that which sustained a vegetation of a tropical
growth. It may well be that the people should, as a result of
their changed conditions, have deteriorated in culture; or, at
any rate, their progress toward civilization may have been
stopped, and many thousands of years may have passed with no
perceptible improvement. It may be objected, that man will
improve under any state of existence, give him time enough. This
is, doubtless, in the main true. But a race may early reach its
limit of culture; in which case, as a race, it will not improve:
we may do much with the individual, but nothing, or but very
little, for the race.

In these considerations which have been advanced we may find some
reason for the early appearance of Neolithic man, as well as the
fact that he advanced no farther in culture. But whether man
first arrived in California in Pliocene times or not, he
continued to inhabit the land to the present day. He would,
however, be exposed to assault after assault from invading
tribes. We do not wish to examine the question of the origin of
the native Americans. It is held, by the best authorities, that
at least a portion of them came from Asia, using the Kurile
Islands as a stepping stone. Reaching the main-land of America,
and passing down the coast, they would, sooner or later, reach
the Valley of the Columbia—which has been characterized as the
most extraordinary region on the face of the earth in the variety
and amount of subsistence it afforded to tribes destitute of a
knowledge of agriculture. At certain seasons of the year the
rivers are crowded with fish, and they are then caught with the
greatest ease. As a mixture of forest and prairie, the country is
an excellent one for game. A species of bread-root grew on the
prairies; and, in the Summer, there was a profusion of berries.
To these advantages must be added that of a mild and equable
climate.28

These combined advantages would make this valley one of the
centers of population, from whence would issue successive bands
of invading people. A portion of these, passing over into
California, would come in contact with the descendants of
Pliocene man. The result would be, that the primitive
inhabitants, unable to escape to the west, would come in contact
with wave after wave of invading tribes. This is not altogether
theory. All inquirers into the customs, arts, and languages of
the primitive Californians have been struck with the remarkable
commingling of the same. We are driven to the conclusion that
here has been the meeting ground of many distinct tribes and
nations. “From such a mixture, and over-population of the most
desirable portions of the country, would naturally result the
formation of the hundreds of petty tribes that existed in both
Upper and Lower California when first known to the Spaniards.”29

In view of these facts, it is not strange that no advance in
culture is noticeable; and the grounds just mentioned may go far
to explain why we catch sight, here and there, of bits of
customs, habits, and manners of life which strangely remind us of
widely distant people—though it will not explain the presence of
words of Malay or Chinese origin which are claimed to exist.30
What is known as the Eskimo trace is quite marked in the physical
characters and in the arts of the Californians.31 It is,
probably, the continuance of the type of the primitive American
race.

It would naturally be interesting to know whether any date can be
given for the Pliocene Age, and so give us some ideas as to the
antiquity of man, if he were really here during that epoch. This,
however, is one of the most difficult questions to answer, and in
the present state of our knowledge incapable of solution.
Approximations have, of course, been made, and, as might be
expected, vary greatly in results. When it was acknowledged on
all hands that on geological grounds the age of the earth was
certainly very great, many times the few thousand years hitherto
relied on, it is not strange that popular thought swung to the
other extreme, and hundreds of millions of years were thought
necessary to explain the series of changes which the geologists
unfolded. This demand for a greatly extended time was
strengthened when the law of the gradual evolution of life was
expounded by the modern school of naturalists, and as great a
lapse of time as five hundred millions of years was not deemed an
extravagant estimate. Sir William Thompson has, however,
demonstrated that the time that has elapsed since the crust of
the earth became solidified can not be far from one hundred
millions of years, and consequently we know the time since the
appearance of life must be greatly less than that number of
years.

Attempts have been made to estimate the length of time required
to form the sedimentary crust of the earth. The results are so
divergent on this point that it is best not to adopt any standard
at present. Our views on this matter are also dependent on the
time that has elapsed since the close of the Glacial Age, which,
as we have seen, is not yet a settled point. If it be true that
the islands of the Pacific commenced to sink during late Tertiary
times, then we have a measure of that time in the growth of
coral, which has required at least four hundred thousand years to
form reefs the thickness of some that are known to exist.32

But here, again, it seems we are not certain when this depression
commenced.33 In a previous chapter we have gone over the Glacial
Age, and have seen when, according to Mr. Croll’s theory, it
commenced. This was probably not far from the close of the
Pliocene Age. We might as well leave the matter here. There are
so many elements of uncertainty that it is doubtful if we will
ever be able to assign satisfactory dates to the epoch.34

In bringing to a conclusion this somewhat extended notice of
early man in California we have to admit that much of it is
speculative; still it is an endeavor to explain known facts. The
main statement is that man lived in California in the Pliocene
Age, in the Neolithic stage of culture. Whether the arguments
adduced in support of this statement are sufficient to prove its
accuracy must be left to the mature judgment of the scientific
world. There is no question but that the climate and geography,
the fauna and the flora, were then greatly different from those
of the present. Starting with these known facts, so strange and
fascinating, it need occasion no surprise, if the pen of the
enthusiastic explorer depict a scene wherein facts and fancy are
united.

In this case truth is certainly stranger than fiction, and when,
in imagination, we see the great Pacific archipelago emerge from
the waves, and, in place of the long swell of the ocean, we
picture the pleasing scenes of tropic lands, the strange floral
growth of a past geological age, the animal forms which have
since disappeared, with man already well advanced in culture:
when we recall all this, and picture forth the surprising changes
which then took place, the slowly subsiding land, the encroaching
waters, and the resultant watery waste, with here and there a
coral-girt island, the great volcanic uplift on the main-land,
the flaming rivers of molten lava, which come pouring forth,
followed by the night of cold, ice, and snow: when we consider
these, and the great lapse of time necessary for their
accomplishment, how powerless are mere words to set forth the
grandeur and the resistless sweep of nature’s laws, and to paint
the insignificance and trifling nature of man and his works!

The discoveries in California are not the only instances of the
relics of man and his works found under such circumstances that
they are relied on by some to prove the great age of man in
America. But on account of the rarity of these finds, and the
contradictory statements and opinions respecting them, the
scientific world has until lately regarded with some distrust the
assertion of a great antiquity for man on this continent; but a
review of the evidence on this point, and especially of Dr.
Abbott’s discoveries in New Jersey, must impress on all the
conclusion that tribes of men were living here at the close of
the Glacial Age, and probably long before that time.

It need occasion no surprise to learn that several of the
discoveries of former years, relied on in this connection, have
since been shown to be unreliable. They have not been able to
stand a careful examination at the hands of later scholars. They
were made when European savants were first communicating to the
world the results of the explorations of the river gravels and
caves of that country. The antiquity of man being amply proven
there, may afford some explanation why more discriminating care
was not employed. Of this nature were some of the discoveries in
the valley of the Mississippi; such, for instance, as the portion
of the human skeleton found mingled with the bones of extinct
animals a few miles below Natchez, and the deeply buried skeleton
at New Orleans, in both of which cases a simple explanation is at
hand without the necessity of supposing a great flight of years.

Some of these discoveries yet remain an unsettled point. Such is
the discovery of flint arrow-heads in connection with the bones
of a mastodon found in Missouri. Dr. Koch, who made the
discovery, draws from the facts of the case such a suggestive
picture that we will give his own words. After describing where
found, he says: “The greater portion of these bones had been more
or less burned by fire. The fire had extended but a few feet
beyond the space occupied by the animal before its destruction,
and there was more than sufficient evidence that the fire had not
been an accidental one, but, on the contrary, that it had been
kindled by human agency, and, according to all appearance, with
the design of killing the huge creature which had been found
mired in the mud, and in an entirely helpless condition. All the
bones which had not been burned by the fire had kept their
original position, standing upright and apparently quite
undisturbed in the clay, whereas those portions which had been
extended above the surface had been partially consumed by the
fire, and the surface of the clay was covered, as far as fire had
extended, by a layer of wood ashes, mingled with larger or
smaller pieces of charred wood and burnt bones, together with
bones belonging to the spine, ribs, and other parts of the body,
which had been more or less injured by the fire. It seemed that
the burning of the victim and the hurling of rocks at it had not
satisfied the destroyers, for I found also, among the ashes,
bones, and rocks, several arrow-heads, a stone spear-head, and
some stone axes.”

Such is Dr. Koch’s very interesting statement of this find. “It
was received by the scientific world,” says Foster, “with a sneer
of contempt,” and, it seems to us, for very insufficient reasons.
It is admitted that his knowledge of geology was not as accurate
as it should have been. He made some mistakes of this nature,
which have been clearly shown.35 Still, he is known to have been
a diligent collector, and we are told “no one who knew him will
question but that he was a competent observer.”36 It seems to us
useless to deny the truth of his statements. There is, however,
nothing to necessitate us believing in an immense age for these
remains. This is not to be considered a point against them, for
there is no reason for supposing that the mastodon may not have
lingered on to comparatively recent times, and that comparatively
recent men may not have intercepted and destroyed helpless
individuals. Indeed, we are told there are traditions still
extant among the Indians of these monsters.37

We have other facts showing that, in this country as in Europe,
man was certainly living not far from the time when the land was
covered with the ice of the Glacial Age, whatever may be true of
still earlier periods. We are told that, when the time came for
the final breaking up of the great glaciers, and while they still
lingered at the head waters of the Platte, the Missouri, and the
Yellowstone rivers, a mighty lake—or, rather, a succession of
lakes—occupied the greater portion of the Missouri Valley. The
rivers flowing into them were of great size,38 and heavily
freighted with sediment, which was deposited in the still waters
of the lakes, and thus was formed the rich loess deposits of
Nebraska.

From several places in this loess have been taken rude stone
arrows, buried at such depths and under such circumstances, that
we must conclude they were deposited there when the loess was
forming. But this requires us to carry them back to a time when
elephants and mastodons roamed over the land, for bones of these
huge creatures39 are quite frequently found. This arrow-point
—or, it may be, spear-head—was found twenty feet from the
surface; and almost directly above it, and distant only thirteen
inches, was a vertebra of an elephant. “It appears, then, that
some old races lived around the shores of this lake, and,
paddling over it, accidentally dropped their arrows, or let them
fly at a passing water-fowl;” and, from the near presence of the
elephant’s bone, it is shown that man here, as well as in Europe,
was the contemporary of the elephant, in at least a portion of
the Missouri Valley.40

Implement found in Loess.

Other examples are on record. In Greene County, Illinois, parties
digging a well found, at the depth of seventy-two feet, a stone
hatchet. Mr. McAdams carefully examined the well, to see if it
could have dropped from near the surface. He tells us the well
was dug through loess deposits; and from the top down was as
smooth, and almost as hard, as a cemented cistern.41 The loess
was, as in Nebraska, deposited in the still waters of the lake
which once occupied the Valley of the Illinois.42 And we need not
doubt but that it dates from the breaking up of the glacial ice.
The position of this hatchet, then, found at the very bottom of
the loess deposits, shows that, while yet the glaciers lingered
in the north, and the flooded rivers spread out in great lakes,
some tribes of stone-using folks hunted along the banks of the
lakes, whose bottoms were to form the rich prairies of the West.

Previous to this discovery, Mr. Foster had recorded the finding
in this same formation, distant but a few miles, a rude hatchet.
There was in this case a possibility that the stone could have
been shaped by natural means, and so he did not affirm this to be
a work of man; but he says, “had it been recovered from a plowed
field, I should have unhesitatingly said it was an Indian’s
hatchet.”43 We think it but another instance of relics found
under such circumstances, that it points to the presence of man
at the close of the Glacial Age.

No doubt many similar discoveries have been made, but the
specimens were regarded as the work of Indians; and though the
position in which they wore found may have excited some surprise,
they were not brought to the attention of the scholars. Nor is it
only in the prairie regions of the West where such discoveries
have been made. Col. C. C. Jones has recorded the finding of some
flint implements in the drift of the Chattahooche River, which we
think as conclusively proves the presence of man in a far away
time as do any of the discoveries in the river gravels of Europe.
It seems that gold exists in the sands of this river, and the
early settlers were quick to take advantage of it. They dug
canals in places to turn the river from its present channel—and
others, to reach some buried channel of former times. These
sections passed down to the hard slate rock, passing through the
surface, and the underlying drift, composed of sand, gravel, and
bowlders. “During one of these excavations, at a depth of nine
feet below the surface, commingled with the gravels and bowlders
of the drift, and just above the rocky substratum upon which the
deposit rested, were found three [Paleolithic] flint
implements.”44

He adds that, “in materials, manners of construction, and in
general appearance, so nearly do they resemble some of the rough,
so-called flint hatchets, belonging to the drift type, as
described by M. Boucher De Perthes, that they might very readily
be mistaken, the one for the other.” “They are as emphatically
drift implements, as any that have appeared in the diluvial
matrix of France.” On the surface soil, above the flints, are
found the ordinary relics of the Indians. The works of the Mound
Builders are also to be seen. Judging from their position, the
Paleolithics must be greatly older than any of the surface
remains. Many centuries must go by to account for the formation
of the vegetable soil above them.

Speculating on their age, Mr. Jones eloquently says, “If we are
ignorant of the time when the Chattahooche first sought a highway
to the Gulf; if we know not the age of the artificial tumuli
which still grace its banks; if we are uncertain when the red
Nomads who, in fear and wonder, carried the burdens of the
adventurous DeSoto, as he conducted his followers through
primeval forests, and, by the sides of their softly mingling
streams, first became dwellers here, how shall we answer the
question as to the age in which these rude drift implements were
fashioned and used by these primitive people?”45

The examples we have quoted, even though the case of California
be not considered, are all suggestive of a great antiquity for
man, taking us back in time to when the glaciers still “shone in
frigid splendor” over the northern part of the United States.
When European savants had established the science of Archæology,
and shown the existence of separate stages of culture, it was but
natural that those interested in the matter on this side of the
Atlantic should turn with renewed energy to investigate the
archæology of this country, to see if here, too, they could find
evidence of a Paleolithic Age. But the scholar in this country is
confronted with a peculiar difficulty. Owing to the very
multiplicity and variety of relics of prehistoric times, it is
difficult to properly classify and understand them. The field is
of great extent, the time of study has been short, and the
explorers few; so it is not strange that but few localities have
been thoroughly searched. But, until this is done, we can not
hope to reach definite conclusions.

The peculiar culture of the Indians, prevailing among them at the
time of the discovery, proved a hindrance, rather than a help, in
this matter. The Indians are certainly not Paleolithic, many of
their implements being finely wrought and polished; but their
arrow-heads, hatchets, and celts were sufficiently rude to spread
the conviction that all weapons and implements of stone should be
referred to them. This belief has done much to hinder real
progress. It is not to be wondered at that some difference of
opinion has prevailed, among our scholars, whether the different
stages of culture, discovered in Europe, have any existence here.

On one hand, it is denied that different stages can be detected.
Says Prof. Whitney: “It is evident that there has been no
unfolding of the intellectual faculties of the human race on this
continent similar to that which has taken place in Central
Europe. We can recognize no Paleolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, or
Iron Ages.”46 Others assure us, that if present, the ages stand
in reverse order. “The relics last used were by far the rudest,
and the historic races, which are the survivors of the
prehistoric, are the wildest of the two; the lower status
remaining, while the higher has passed away.”47 In still another
place we read: “The Neolithic and Bronze Ages preceded the
Paleolithic, at least in the Mississippi basin.”48

Notwithstanding these quotations, we think it will yet be shown
that in this country, as in Europe, there was a true Paleolithic
Age, and that there was no such inversion as is here spoken of.
In some places sedentary tribes may have been driven away and
their territory occupied by more war-like, but less highly
cultivated tribes. But take the whole Indian race, and they were
steadily advancing through the Neolithic stage of culture. They
were acquainted with copper, and were drawing near to the
discovery of bronze and metals, and, indeed, the discovery had
been made of bronze in the far south. But lying back of the true
Indian Age, long preceding it in time, to which probably belong
the relics mentioned in the preceding discoveries, is a true
Paleolithic Age.

We are indebted for the facts on which the above conclusion rests
more to the writings of Dr. C. C. Abbott, of Trenton, New Jersey,
than any other individual, and his results are based on an
extensive study of the relics themselves and the position in
which found. In a collection of stone implements of this country
arranged in a cabinet, we find rude and unpolished specimens, as
well as those of a finely wrought Neolithic type. Now the
Indians, when first discovered, frequently made use of very
rudely formed implements, and from a knowledge of this fact, it
came about that but little attention was paid to the position in
which the relics were discovered. They were all classified as
Indian relics. But the greatest and most valuable discoveries in
science have occurred as a result of the attention paid to little
things; in this case by carefully scrutinizing the position in
which they occurred.

Dr. Abbott commenced by gathering a very extensive collection,
carefully searching his section of country and gathering all
specimens of artificially shaped stones. These must have existed
there in considerable quantities, as, in three years’ time, he
collected over nine thousand specimens,49 carefully examining
them as they came from the soil.50 As a result of this extensive
and careful research he is able to present us some general
conclusions. The surface specimens, including in this
classification also those specimens turned up by the plow,51 are
characteristically Indian. The material is jasper and quartz, and
they are generally carefully made. They used other varieties of
stone as well. Like the Neolithic people of Europe, they sought
the best varieties of stone for their purpose. But his collection
also included rude Paleolithic forms, and he found by taking the
history of each specimen separately, that just in proportion as
the relics were rude in manufacture and primitive in type the
deeper were they buried in the soil.52 Writing in 1875, he says:
“We have never met a jasper (flint) arrow-head in or below an
undisturbed stratum of sand or gravel, and we have seldom met
with a rude implement of the general character of European drift
implements on the surface of the ground.”53

These are not theoretical opinions, but are deductions drawn from
a very extensive experience. From figured specimens of these
rudest formed implements, we see they are veritable Paleolithic
forms, resembling in a remarkable manner the rude implements of
the old world, whether collected in France or in India. We
learned that the Paleolithic people of Europe utilized the
easiest attainable stone for their implements. They contented
themselves with such pieces of flint as they could gather in
their immediate vicinity. The easiest attainable rock in the
valley of the Delaware is not flint, but argillite, and such is
the material of which the Paleolithic implements are formed. Thus
it is shown that the first appearance of a stone-using folk in
the valley of the Delaware was in the Paleolithic stage of their
culture. Judging from the depths of their buried implements, this
long preceded the Neolithic stage.

Spear-shaped Paleolithic Implement.

These conclusions have been sustained in a very marked manner by
late discoveries in the valley of the Delaware, to which we will
now refer. After reaching the conclusion that the relics of the
Stone Age in New Jersey clearly pointed to a Paleolithic
beginning, when argillite, the most easily attainable stone, was
utilized in the manufacture of weapons and implements, Dr. Abbott
made the further discovery that in the ancient gravels of the
Delaware River Paleolithic implements only were to be found. We
must remember that it was in the gravels of European rivers that
the first discoveries were made which have since resulted in so
wonderfully extending our knowledge of the past of man.

The city of Trenton, New Jersey, is built on a gravel terrace
whose surface is between forty and fifty feet above the flood
plain of the Delaware. We are told that this gravel is clearly a
river deposit, and must have been laid down by the Delaware at
some former time in its history. It is in this gravel deposit
that quite a large number of Paleolithic implements have been
found.

Paleolithic Implement, Argillite.

This cut is a representation of one of them, found under such
circumstances that there can be no question about its antiquity.
We are told it was taken from the face of the bluff fronting the
river. Owing to heavy rains, a large section off of the front of
the bluff became detached just the day before this specimen was
discovered. It was found in the fresh surface thus exposed,
twenty-one feet from the surface, almost at the bottom of the
gravel. Immediately above it, and in contact with it, was a
bowlder estimated to weigh over one hundred pounds. Immediately
above this last was a second and much larger bowlder. It is
manifest the implements could never have gotten in the place
found after the gravel had been deposited.54

This is only one of the many examples that could be given. But it
is to be noticed that implements of the Neolithic type do not
occur in the gravel, except on the surface. Dr. Abbott is not the
only one who has found those implements. Many of our best
American scholars have visited the locality and secured
specimens, amongst others, Prof. Boyd Dawkins, of England, who is
so familiar with this class of relics in Europe. We may consider
it proven, then, that in this country there was also a
Paleolithic Age. Our present information in regard to it is only
a beginning.

Since this interesting discovery was made in New Jersey we have
received news of similar discoveries in Minnesota. A lady, Miss
Frank Babbitt, has found in the modified drift of the Mississippi
River, at Little Falls, Minnesota, evidence of the existence of
Paleolithic man. The implements are made of quartz, and not
argillite, but closely resemble implements made of this later
material as described by Dr. Abbott. It is, to say the least, an
interesting coincidence that one of a very few flint implements
found in the Trenton gravel by Dr. Abbott should be identical in
shape with some of the flint implements in Minnesota.55

This point being determined, others at once spring up asking
solution. Among the very first is the question of age. The river
terrace on which Trenton is built is a geological formation, and
if we can determine its age we shall also determine at least one
point in the antiquity of man, for we know the implements are as
old as the gravels. It is not necessary for our purpose to give
more than the results of the careful labors of others in this
direction. We may be sure that this question has been carefully
studied. When the implements were first discovered, the gravels
were considered of glacial origin, and to that period they were
assigned by Dr. Abbott. Subsequently Prof. Lewis, a member of the
Pennsylvania State survey, decided that they were essentially
post-glacial—that is, more recent in time than the Glacial Age.56
Still more recently Prof. Wright, of Oberlin, but also of the
State survey of Pennsylvania, concludes that they are, after all,
a deposit made at the very close of the Glacial Age.57

He thinks the sequence of events were about as follows: When the
ice of the Glacial Age reached its greatest development, and came
to a pause in its southward march, it extended in an unbroken
wall across the northern part of New Jersey, crossing the
Delaware about sixty-five miles above Trenton. In front of it was
accumulated the great terminal morain—a long range of gravelly
hills still marking its former presence.

It is certain that the close of the Glacial Age was comparatively
sudden, and marked by floods far exceeding any thing we are
acquainted with at the present day. For, when the formation of
the ice ceased, we must bear in mind that the country to the
north of the terminal morain was covered with a great glacier, in
some places exceeding a mile in thickness. When glacial
conditions were passing away, and the ice commenced to melt
faster than it was produced, the thaw would naturally go on over
the entire field at an increasing rate, and hence would result
floods in all the rivers.

He considers the gravels in question to have been deposited near
the close of this flooded period, when the land stood at about
its present level and the glaciers had retreated perhaps to the
Catskill Mountains. The rivers were still swollen and would be
heavily charged with coarse gravel brought from the morains and
lying exposed on the surface of the ground vacated by the
glaciers.58

Probably but few geologists will take exceptions to these views.
Thus we have very satisfactory reasons for connecting these
Paleolithic people with the close of the Glacial Age—a conclusion
to which the scattering discoveries mentioned in the preceding
pages also points. But as regards Dr. Abbott’s discoveries, they
are on such a scale, and vouched for by so many eminent
observers, that we need no longer hesitate to accept them, or
complain of the scattering nature of the finds.

But we might inquire whether this is the earliest period to which
the presence of man can be ascribed in this country? Excepting,
of course, California, we do not know of any well established
fact on which to base a greater antiquity for man. However, this
subject is very far from being as closely studied as in Europe.
Believing that in Europe man was living before the Glacial Age,
and that in all probability he was living in California at the
same early time, we would naturally expect to find some evidence
of his presence in the Mississippi Basin and along the Atlantic
seaboard. But no explorer has yet been fortunate enough to make
such discoveries.59

It is scarcely necessary to point out that we have only the
relative age of these gravel deposits. We have not yet arrived at
an answer in years. This we are not able to do. As we have
several times remarked, our American scholars, as a rule, do not
think many thousands of years have elapsed since the Glacial Age,
and yet they are not all agreed on that point. From the depths in
the gravel and loess deposits that the stone relics are found, we
may suppose that man was present during the entire series of
years their formation represents. Prof. Aughey, to whose
discoveries in loess deposits in Nebraska we have referred,
estimates the length of time necessary to produce those deposits
as between nineteen and twenty thousand years, and this he
considers a low estimate. So we see that, at any rate, the date
of man’s first appearance in America was certainly very far in
the past.

In forming a mental picture of the conditions of life at that
early time, it is not necessary to imagine a dreary scene of
Arctic sterility. This is not true of the time when the Glacial
Age was at its greatest severity. But at the time we are now
considering, the glaciers had retreated over a large part of the
country, though they still lingered in northern and mountainous
regions. Great lakes and majestic rivers were the features of the
country. The St. Lawrence was still choked with ice, and the
great lakes must have discharged their waters southward.60 The
Mississippi, gathering in one mighty stream the drainage of the
Central Basin, sped onward to the Gulf, doubtless many times
larger than its present representative. The animals then living
included several species that have since become extinct.
Mastodons and elephants must have been numerous, as their remains
are frequently found in loess deposits.61 They have also been
found in the gravels of New Jersey, in connection with the rude
implements already mentioned. Probably keeping close to the
retreating glaciers were such animals as the moose, reindeer, and
musk-ox, while the walrus disported itself in the waters off the
coast. At any rate those animals now only found in high northern
latitudes were living during Glacial times as far south as
Kentucky and New Jersey.62

A good deal of interest is connected with the finding of one
mastodon’s tooth. It was found in the gravel deposit, about
fourteen feet beneath the surface. It must have been washed to
the position where found when the great floods from the melting
glacier, with their burden of sand and gravel, were rolling down
the valley. We can either conclude that the climate was such as
to permit the existence of such animals, or that the animal to
which it belonged lived in some far away pre-glacial time. But
our interest suddenly increases when we learn that, but a few
feet away, under exactly similar circumstances, was found the
wisdom tooth of a human being. It, too, was rolled, scratched,
and polished, and had evidently been swept along by the
tumultuous flood. “The same agency that brought the one from the
Upper Valley of the Delaware brought the other, and, after long
years, they come again to light, and jointly testify that, in
that undetermined long ago, the creatures to which they
respectively belonged were living together in the valley of the
river.”63

We must now consider the question of race. Who were the men that
fashioned the implements? Were they Indians? or were they a
different people? As far as we know the Indians, they were
Neolithic. Their implements and weapons are often polished,
pecked, and finely wrought; and, as before remarked, they
employed the best kind of stone for their purpose. Dr. Abbott,
who speaks from a very extensive personal experience, tells us,
that it is not practical to trace any connection between the
well-known Indian forms and the Paleolithic implements of the
river gravels: “The wide gap that exists between a full series of
each of the two forms is readily recognized when the two are
brought together.”64 Besides this difference in form, there is
also a difference in material. The ruder forms not being of
jasper and allied minerals, but are almost exclusively of
argillite.65 In addition to the foregoing, we must consider the
different positions they occupy—the former being found only on or
near the surface, the latter deeply buried within. These
different reasons all point to the same conclusion: that is, that
the Indians were preceded in this country by some other people,
who manufactured the Paleolithic specimens recently discovered.

In Europe, Prof. Dawkins, as we have seen, maintains that the
Cave-men were the predecessors of the Eskimos. This may serve us
as a point of departure in the inquiry as to who the pre-Indian
people were? It is manifest, however, that we must have some
ground on which to base this theory. The Eskimo seem to belong to
the Arctic region, as naturally as the white bear and the walrus.
At the early time we are considering in America, glaciers had not
retreated very far. So his climatic surroundings must have been
much the same as at present. But the Eskimo may not live where he
does now by choice: we may behold in him a people driven from a
fairer heritage, who found the ice-fields of the North more
endurable than the savage enemy who envied him his possession. It
seems very reasonable to suppose that the Eskimos long inhabited
this country before the arrival of the Indians, if it was not, in
fact, their original home.

Mention has been made of the Eskimo traits still to be observed
among the tribes of California. Prof. Putnam thinks that this
fact can best be explained on the supposition that these tribes
came in contact with primitive Eskimo people.66 Dr. Rink, from
investigation of the language and traditions of the different
Eskimo tribes, thinks they are of American origin, and must once
have lived much farther south.67 He says, “The Eskimos appear to
have been the last wave of an aboriginal American race, which has
spread over the continent from more genial regions— following
principally the rivers and water-courses, and continually
yielding to the pressure of the tribes behind them until they
have at last peopled the sea-coasts.”68 Mr. Dall, in his
explorations of the Aleutian Islands, comes to the same
conclusion as Dr. Rink. He says his own conclusions are, “that
the Eskimos were once inhabitants of the interior of North
America—have much the same distribution as the walrus, namely, as
far south as New Jersey.”69

All this tends to prove that the Paleolithic people of New Jersey
were ancestors of the Eskimos. This becomes highly probable when
we pursue the subject a little farther. Dr. Abbott has shown,
from the similarity of implements, position in which found, and
so forth, that the Paleolithic people continued to occupy the
country down to comparatively recent times, when Indian relics
took their place.70 This is such an important point that we must
give his reasons more in detail. Remember that Dr. Abbott speaks
from the experience gained by gathering over twenty thousand
specimens of stone implements, and paying especial attention to
the position in which they were found. The surface soil of that
section of New Jersey, where he made his explorations, was formed
by the slow decomposition of vegetable and forest growth. In this
layer he found great numbers of undoubted Indian implements. The
number, however, rapidly decreases the deeper we go in this
stratum. This would show that the Indians were late arrivals.
Below this surface soil is a stratum of sand, overlying the
gravelly beds below and passing into the surface soil just
mentioned. In this layer were found great numbers of implements
inferior to the Indian types found on the surface, but superior
to the Paleolithic specimens described. They are not only
inferior in finish to the Indian specimens, but are of different
material. They are always formed of argillite. It was further
noticed that the number of these rapidly decreased in the layer
of surface soil, and are but rarely found on the surface.

Now it might be said that these rude forms were fashioned by
Indians when in a rude state of culture, and, as they became more
advanced, they learned the superior qualities of flint, and so
dropped the use of argillite. But it so happens that we have
found several places where were veritable manufactories of Indian
implements. It is very significant that we never find one where
the workman used both flint and argillite. He always used flint
alone. Every thing seems to point to the fact, that the tribes
who fashioned the argillite implements were different from the
Indian tribes who made the flint implements. It is Dr. Abbott’s
conclusions that the former, the descendants of the Paleolithic
tribes, were the Eskimos, who, according to these views, must
have inhabited the eastern portion of the United States to
comparatively recent times.

In further support of these views, we think we have grounds for
asserting that we have veritable historical accounts of the
Eskimo people slowly retiring before the aggressions of their
Indian foes. It is no longer doubted but that Norsemen, as early
as the year 1000, made voyages of discovery along the coast of
North America, as far south as Rhode Island: they called the
country Vineland. It is true that the Icelandic accounts of these
expeditions contain some foolish and improbable statements; but
so do the writings of Cotton Mather, made many years later.

These accounts refer but very briefly to the inhabitants they
saw, but enough is given to show that the people were not
Indians, but Eskimos. The language used is: “The men were small
of stature and fierce, having a bushy head of hair, and very
great eyes, and wide cheeks.”71 Their small size is frequently
referred to, which would surely not be the case if they were
describing the Algonkins that the English colonists found in the
same section of country many years later. To the same effect is
the assertion that the Eskimos did not reach Greenland until the
middle of the fourteenth century.72 The traditions of the
Tuscarawas Indians that place their arrival on the Atlantic coast
in the year 1300, also refer to a tribe of people that were at
least much like the Eskimos.73

Thus we are led, step by step, to the recognition of a
Paleolithic Age in America, and finally to the belief that the
descendants of these people were Eskimos. We at once notice the
coincidence of these results with some of the conclusions of
Prof. Dawkins, of England, and it is desirable to trace a little
farther the points of resemblance and difference between this age
in America and in Europe. In this latter country we have seen the
Paleolithic Age can be divided into two stages, or epochs, during
which different races inhabited the country. The first, or the
epoch of the men of the River Drift, long preceded the epoch of
the Cave-men. It was those latter tribes only that Mr. Dawkins
connects with the Eskimos.

We have not yet found evidence in this country that points to
such a division of the Paleolithic Age. We have no relics of
Cave-men as distinguished from the men of the River Drift. It is
true, we are not lacking evidence of the use of caves by various
tribes,74 but there is nothing to show that such use was very
ancient, or that the people were properly Paleolithic. We can not
say what future discoveries will unfold, but as yet we have only
implements of the River Drift type, and these are the men Dr.
Abbott considers to be the ancestors of the Eskimos. In this
country, then, we have shown the existence of but one race of men
in the same stage of culture as the men of the River Drift, but
of the same race as the men of the Cave. These results may be
cited as an argument in favor of those scholars who think that
the men of the River Drift and the men of the Cave were in
reality the same people.75

In Europe there was apparently a long lapse of time between the
disappearance of the Paleolithic tribes and the arrival of the
Neolithic people, but we have no evidence of such a period in
America. The Paleolithic people remained in possession until
driven away by the Neolithic ones. All evidence of Paleolithic
man in Europe terminated with the Glacial Age, and there is
little doubt but what they date from preglacial times. Our
present knowledge does not carry us any farther back in this
country than the close of Glacial times. If we consider that the
Glacial Age in America coincides in time with the same age in
Europe, then the last statements would imply that the Paleolithic
Age here was later than in Europe; in fact, that Paleolithic man
had run his course in Europe before he appeared in America, and
some might even go further, and say that he migrated from Europe
to America. There are, however, no good grounds for such
conclusions. We believe that future discoveries will show that in
America also Paleolithic man was living in Glacial and preglacial
times.76

We feel that we have done but scant justice to this subject, but
we assure our readers that this question has been but little
studied in this country. Referring all relics of stone to the
Indians, our scholars have been slow to recognize traces of an
earlier race in America. Our sources of information are as yet
but few, and much remains to be done in this field. In Europe as
in America, scholars are still hard at work on the Paleolithic
Age, and we are to hold ourselves in readiness to modify our
opinions, or to reject them entirely and adopt new ones as our
knowledge increases.

There is one thought that occurs to us. From the combined
investigations of both European and American scholars, the Eskimo
is seen to be one of the oldest (if not the oldest) races of men
now living. They afford a striking illustration of the fact that
a race may early reach a limit of culture beyond which, as a
race, they can not pass. Should the American discoveries
establish the fact that the River Drift tribes are also Eskimos,
then we are fairly entitled to consider them the remnant of a
people who once held possession of all the globe, but who have
been driven to the inhospitable regions of the North by the
pressure of later people. What changes have come over the earth
since that early time? In the long lapse of years that have gone
by newer races, advancing by slow degrees, have at last achieved
civilization. The fiat of Omnipotent power could have created the
world in a perfected form for the use of man, but instead of so
doing, Infinite Wisdom allowed slow-acting causes, working
through infinite years, to develop the globe from a nebulous
mass. Man could, indeed, have been created a civilized being, but
instead of this, his starting-point was certainly very low. He
was granted capacities in virtue of which he has risen. We are
not to say what the end shall be, but we think it yet far off.

Stone Implement.
REFERENCES

The manuscript of this chapter was submitted to Dr. C. C.
Abbott, of Trenton, New Jersey, for criticism.

Dana’s “Manual of Geology,” p. 735, _et seq._

Ibid., p. 753.

Whitney’s “Geology of California,” Vol. I.

Whitney’s “Geological Survey of California,” Vol. I.

Dr. Newbury’s “Geological Survey of California.”

Whitney’s “Auriferous Gravels of California,” p. 283.

Cambridge Lecture, 1878.

“Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 698.

In general, all about Sonora, in the auriferous gravels, are
found bones of extinct animals, and, associated with them, many
relics of the works of human hands. These are found at various
depths down to one hundred feet. (Whitney’s “Auriferous
Gravels,” p. 263.)

_American Journal of Science,_ Vol. XIX, p. 176, 1880.

“Auriferous Gravels,” p. 279.

Wright’s “Studies in Science and Religion,” p. 289.

Dawkins, in Southall’s “Pliocene Man,” p. 18.

Southall’s “Pliocene Man,” p. 19.

Schoolcraft’s “Archæology,” Vol. I, p. 105.

As bearing on the question of Pliocene man, we might refer to
the impression of human (?) foot-prints in the sand-stone
quarry of the State prison at Nevada. At one time this area was
the bottom of a lake, and we can plainly see the tracks of
various animals that came down to drink. A huge mammoth visited
the place; so also did horses and other animals. Among these is
one series of tracks evidently made by a biped. Some think they
are the sandaled foot of a human being. This question is still
under discussion.

“Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian,” Vol. VII, p.
11.

Dana’s “Manual of Geology,” p. 583.

Putnam, in “Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian,”
Vol. VII, p. 11.

Ibid., p. 18.

“Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian,” Vol. VII, p.
12.

“Prehistoric Times,” p. 436.

“Human Species,” p. 147.

The researches of Mr. Dall in the Aleutian Islands demonstrate
the long-continued occupation of them by a savage people, and a
gradual advance of the same in culture—though this apparent
advance may have been simply the inroads of more advanced
tribes. U.S. Geographical Survey W. of 100th M., p. 12.

Wright’s “Studies in Science and Religion,” p. 292.

Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 108, note.

“Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian,” Vol. VII, p.
3.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. III, pp. 646, 647.

“U.S. Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian,” Vol.
VII, p. 12.

Dana’s “Manual of Geology,” p. 591.

LeConte’s “Elements of Geology.”

Prof. Winchell, in his last work, “World Life,” p. 363, _et
seq.,_ goes over the entire subject. As might be expected, no
decisive results are obtained. He sums up the arguments to show
that in this country the close of the Glacial Age is not more
than seven thousand years ago (p. 375). The student who reads
these pages and then Mr. Geikie’s work, “Prehistoric Europe,”
will be sorely puzzled to know what conclusions to adopt. We
can not do better than refer to the chapter on Antiquity
Paleolithic Age.

Dana’s _Am. Journal of Science,_ May, 1875.

Foster’s “Prehistoric Races,” p. 62.

See Lockwood, in _Popular Science Monthly_ for 1883, for
account of beaver dam built on a mastodon skeleton and evidence
of contemporaneity of Indians and mastodons.

“The Missouri was a stream thirty miles wide.”

“Hayden,” p. 255.

For the facts on which this paragraph rests, see Report of
Samuel Aughey, Ph.D., in “U.S. Survey of the Territories, for
1874,” p. 243, _et seq._

“American Assoc. Rep.,” 1880, p. 720.

“Illinois Geological Reports,” Vol. III, p. 123.

“Prehistoric Races,” p. 69.

Jones’s “Antiquities of the Southern Indians,” p. 293.

Jones’s “Antiquities of the Southern Indians,” p. 295.

Quoted by Abbott’s “Primitive Industry,” p. 3.

Peet’s “Archæology of Europe and America,” p. 11.

Short’s “North Americans of Antiquity,” p. 27.

Up to the present time (1884) Dr. Abbott has collected over
20,000 specimens of stone implements, and all his more recent
“finds” but confirm the opinion he expressed as to their
significance ten years ago. His collection is at the Peabody
Museum of Archæology, at Cambridge, Mass. (See last Peabody
Report.)

“Nature,” Vol. XI, p. 215.

Ibid.

“Nature,” Vol. XI, p. 215.

Ibid.

“Primitive Industry,” Abbott, p. 506.

Seventeenth Report Peabody Museum, p. 354 and note.

“Primitive Industry,” p. 551.

“Studies in Science and Religion,” p. 324.

Ibid., p. 324.

We believe that similar results will attend the careful
exploration in other sections. As bearing on this subject, it
is interesting to know that Paleolithic implements are reported
from one locality in Mexico. Our information in regard to them
is very slight. (Brit. Assoc. Reports, 1881; Pres. Address,
Count De Saporte, _Popular Science Monthly,_ Sept., 1883.)

Dana’s “Manual of Geology,” p. 540.

“Geographical and Geological Survey,” 1874, p. 254.

Abbott’s “Primitive Industry,” p. 483.

Abbott: “Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History,”
Vol. XXII, p. 102.

“Primitive Industry,” p. 512.

U.S. survey West of the 100th Meridian,” Vol. VII, p. 12.

Abbott’s “Primitive Industry,” p. 520.

Ibid., p. 519.

U.S. Geographical Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region,” Vol. I,
p. 102, quoted from “Primitive Industry,” p. 519.

_Popular Science Monthly,_ Jan., 1883.

DeCosta’s “Precolumbian Discovery of America,” p. 69.

Winchell’s “Preadamites,” p. 389.

Brinton’s “Myths of the New World,” p. 23. Note.

Prof. DeHass’s “Paper” read before Am. Assoc., 1882.

See chapter, “Cave-men,” p. 113. Note.

See remarks of Prof. Boyd Dawkins quoted earlier.

Chapter X
THE MOUND BUILDERS.1

Meaning of “Mound Builders”—Location of Mound Building tribes—All
Mounds not the work of men—Altar Mounds—Objects found on the
Altars—Altar Mounds possibly burial Mounds—Burial Mounds—Mounds
not the only Cemeteries of these tribes—Terraced Mounds —Cahokia
Mound—Historical notice of a group of Mounds—The Etowah
group—Signal Mounds—Effigy Mounds—How they represented different
animals—Explanation of the Effigy Mounds—Effigy Mounds in other
localities—Inclosures of the Scioto Valley—At Newark, Ohio—At
Marietta, Ohio—Graded Ways—Fortified Inclosures—Ft. Ancient,
Ohio—Inclosures of Northern Ohio—Works of unknown import—Ancient
Canals in Missouri—Implements and Weapons of Stone—Their
knowledge of Copper—Ancient mining —Ornamental pipes—Their
knowledge of pottery—Of Agriculture—Government and Religion—Hard
to distinguish them from the Indians.

The past of our race is irradiated here and there by the light of
science sufficiently to enable us to form quite vivid conceptions
of vanished peoples. As the naturalist, from the inspection of a
single bone, is enabled to determine the animal from which it was
derived, though there be no longer a living representative, so
the archæologist, by the aid of fragmentary remains, is able to
tell us of manners and times now long since removed. In the words
of another: “The scientist to-day passes up and down the valleys,
and among the relics and bones of vanished people, and as he
touches them with the magic wand of scientific induction, these
ancient men stand upon their feet, revivified, rehabilitated, and
proclaim with solemn voice the story of their nameless tribe or
race, the contemporaneous animals, and physical appearance of the
earth during those prehistoric ages.”2

We have already learned that the world is full of mysteries, and
though, by the exertion of scholars, we begin to have a clearer
idea of some topics, yet our information is after all but vague
and shadowy. The amount of positive knowledge in regard to the
mysterious tribes of the older Stone Age, or the barbarians of
the Neolithic period, or the struggling civilization of the early
Metallic Ages, is lamentably deficient. On our Western Continent
we have the mysterious remains in the gold-bearing gravels of the
Pacific coast, the significance of which is yet in dispute. We
have the Paleolithic Age of Europe, represented by the remains
found in the gravels of the Delaware at Trenton, New Jersey. When
deposited there, and by what people used, is, perhaps, still
enshrouded in doubt.

Leaving now the past, expressed by geological terms, or by
periods of thousands of years, we draw near to our own tribes,
near, at least, comparatively speaking, and behold, here, also,
we discern evidence that an ancient culture, as marked as that
which built its cities along the fertile water-courses of the Old
World, had its seat on the banks of our great rivers; that here
flourished in full vigor for an unknown length of time a people
whose origin and fate are yet in doubt, though, thanks to the
combined efforts of many able men, we begin to have clearer ideas
of their social organization. We know them only by reason of
their remains, and as these principally are mounds, we call them
the “Mound Builders.”

The name is not a distinguishing one in every sense, since
mankind, the world over, have been mound and pyramid builders.
The pyramids of Egypt and the mound-dotted surface of Europe and
Asia bear testimony to this saying, yet nowhere else in the world
are they more plainly divided into classes, or marked with design
than here. In some places fortified hills and eminences suggest
the citadel of a tribe or people. Again, embankments of earth,
mostly circular or square, separate and in combination, generally
inclosing one or more mounds, excite our curiosity, but fail to
satisfy it. Are these fading embankments the boundaries of sacred
inclosures, or the fortification of a camp, or the foundations on
which to build communal houses? Here graded ways, there parallel
embankments raise questions, but suggest no positive answer. We
are equally in doubt as to the purposes for which many of the
mounds were built. Some seem to have been used as places of
sepulcher, some for religious rites, and others as foundation
site of buildings. Some may have been used as signal mounds, from
which warning columns of smoke, or flaming fires, gave notice of
an enemy’s approach.

Before coming to details let us, at a glance, examine the picture
as a whole. This country of ours, with its wide plains, its
flowing rivers and great lakes, is said by scholars to have been
the home of a people well advanced in the arts of barbarian life.
What connection, if any, existed between them and the Indians, is
yet unsettled. We are certain that many years before the Spanish
discovery of America they made their settlements here, developed
their religious ideas, and erected their singular monuments. That
they were not unacquainted with war, is shown by their numerous
fortified inclosures. They possessed the elements of agriculture,
and we doubt not were happy and contented in their homes. We are
certain they held possession of the fairer portions of this
country for many years.

We must now seek to gather more particular knowledge of them, and
of the remains of their industry. We must not forget that these
are the antiquities of our own country; that the broken
archæological fragments we pick up will, when put together, give
us a knowledge of tribes that lived here when civilization was
struggling into being in the East. It should be to us far more
interesting than the history of the land of the Pharaohs, or of
storied Greece. Yet, strange to say, the facts we have just
mentioned are unknown to the mass of our people. Accustomed to
regard this as the New World, they have turned their attention to
Europe and the East when they would learn of prehistoric times.
In a general way, we have regarded the Indians as a late arrival
from Asia, and cared but little for their early history. It is
only recently that we have become convinced of an extended, past
in the history of this country, and it is only of late that able
writers have brought to our attention the wonders of an ancient
culture, and shown us the footprints of a vanished people.

We must first try and locate the territory occupied by the
remains of the mound builders. They are not to be found broadcast
over the whole country. We recall, in this connection, that the
early civilization of the East arose in fertile river valleys.
This is found to be everywhere the case, so we are not surprised
to learn that the broad and fertile valley of the Mississippi,
with its numerous tributaries, was the territory where these
mysterious people reared their monuments and developed their
barbarian culture. Throughout the greater portion of this area we
find numerous evidences of a prolonged occupation of the country.
We are amazed at the number and magnitude of the remains. Though
this section has been under cultivation for many years, and the
plow has been remorselessly driven over the ancient embankments,
yet enough remain to excite our curiosity and to amply repay
investigation.

This portion of the United States seems to have been the home,
the seat of the mound building tribes. We can not expect to find
one type of remains scattered over this entire section of
country. Indeed, to judge from the difference of the remains,
they must have been the work of different people or tribes, who
were doubtless possessed of different degrees of culture.3 We
will notice in our examination how these remains vary in
different sections of the country. But it is noticeable that
these remains become scarce and finally disappear as we go north,
east, and west from the great valley. Although they are numerous
in the Gulf States, yet they are not to be found, except in a few
cases, in States bordering on the Atlantic.4 Some wandering
bands, perhaps colonies from the main body of the people,
established works on the Wateree River, in South Carolina,5 In
the mountainous regions of North Carolina occur mines of mica,
which article was much prized by the mound builders; and here
also are to be found traces of their early presence.6 We do not
know of any authentic remains in New England States. In Western
New York there exists a class of remains which, though once
supposed to be the work of these people, are now generally
considered as the remains of works erected by the Indians,7 and
of a similar origin appears to have been the singular
fortification near Lake Winnipiseogee, in New Hampshire.8

We have no record of their presence north of the great lakes.
Passing now to the western part of the valley, we do not find
definite traces of their presence in Texas. On this point,
however, some authors state the contrary, apparently basing their
views on a class of mounds mentioned by Prof. Forshey.9 But the
very description given of these mounds, and the statements as to
the immense number of them,10 seem to show they are not the work
of men.11 We do not think the West, and especially the
North-west, has been carefully enough explored to state where
they begin. It is certain that the head waters of the Mississippi
and the Missouri were thickly settled with tribes of this people,
and some writers think that they spread over the country by way
of the Missouri Valley from the North-west. Mr. Bancroft quotes
from the writings of Mr. Dean, to show the existence of mounds
and inclosures on Vancouver Island, and in British Columbia. And
the statement is made that a hundred miles north of Victoria
there is a group of mounds ranging from five to fifty yards in
circumference, and from a few feet to fifty feet in height.12

The inclosures, however, are described as being very similar to
those in Western New York, and are probably simply fortified
sites, common among rude people the world over, and such as were
often erected by Indians. The remains on the upper Missouri and
its tributaries are very numerous, and to judge from the brief
description given us of them, they must be very interesting.13
This section has, however, been too little explored to speak with
confidence of these works.

As showing how much care should be exercised in this matter, we
refer to the account given by Capt. Wilkes in his journal of the
United States exploring expedition. Speaking of the mounds on the
gravelly plains between the Columbia River and Puget Sound, he
tells us that the Butte Prairies are covered with small mounds at
regular distances asunder. Some of them are thirty feet in
diameter, six or seven feet above the level of the ground, and
many thousands in number. He opened some of them, and found a
pavement of round stones, and he thought he could detect an
arrangement of the mounds in groups of five, thus. Five dots

It was his impression that they were the works of men, and had
been constructed successively and at intervals of several
years.14 This observation of Capt. Wilkes is referred to by many
as evidence of the former existence of Mound Builders in this
section.

More careful research in recent times has established the fact
that these mounds were certainly not erected by human hands, and
no one else has been able to discover the supposed arrangement in
groups of five. The pavement of round stones is common to the
whole prairie.

But the greatest objection is the number of the mounds. A
population larger than could have found a living in the country
must have been required to erect them, unless we assume that a
great length of time was consumed in this work. Some other
explanation must be given for these mounds, as well as for those
mysterious ones mentioned by Prof. Forshey. This cut gives us a
fair idea of the scenery of this section and the mounds.15

Mound Prairie.

Within the area we have thus defined are located the works of the
people we call the Mound Builders. What we wish to do is to learn
all about these vanished people. A great many scholars have
written about them, and large collections of the remains of their
handiwork have been made. There is, however, a great diversity of
opinion respecting the Mound Builders and their culture. So we
see we have a difficult subject to treat of. In order to gain a
clear understanding of it, we must describe the remains more
closely. About all we can learn of these people is from a study
of their monuments. We can not call to our aid history or
tradition, or rock-carved inscription, but must resort to
crumbling mounds, broken down embankments; study their location,
and observe their forms. To the studies in the field we must add
those in the cabinet, and examine the many objects found in and
above the mounds and earth-works, as well as the skeletons of the
builders of the works. Rightly used, we can draw from these
sources much valuable information of the people whose
council-fires blazed all along the beautiful valleys of the Ohio
and Mississippi rivers in times far removed from us.

Mound and Circle.

We will first speak of the simplest form of these works, the
ordinary conical mound. This is the one form found all over the
extensive area designated. They exist in great numbers on the
banks of the upper Missouri, as well as the river bottoms of the
South. This cut represents a very fine specimen of a mound, in
this instance surrounded by a circular embankment. We must not
forget that mounds are found all over the world. “They are
scattered over India, they dot the steppes of Siberia and the
vast region north of the Black Sea; they line the shores of the
Bosphorus and the Mediterranean; they are found in old
Scandinavia, and are singularly numerous in the British
Islands.”16

The principle in human nature which leads to the erection of
mounds is living and active to-day. The shaft which surmounts
Bunker Hill is but a modern way of memorizing an event which in
earlier ages would have led to the erection of a mound, and the
polished monument which marks the resting place of some
distinguished man was raised for the same purpose as the mounds
heaped over the chiefs and warriors of another age. The feeling
which moves us to crown with steeples or spires our houses of
worship is evidently akin to that which induced older races to
erect a mound on which to place their temples, their idols, and
altars of sacrifice.

If mounds were the only works remaining of these ancient people,
we would not take so great an interest in them, and, as it is, we
are not to suppose that all the mounds are the works of those
people we call the Mound Builders. Recent investigation and
historical evidence unite in showing that some comparatively
recent Indian tribes formed and used mound structures. Early
explorers have left abundant testimony to show that in many cases
the Indians resorted to mound-burial. Thus, it seems that it was
the custom of the Iroquois every eighth or tenth year, or
whenever about to abandon a locality, to gather together the
bones of their dead and rear over them a mound. To this custom,
which was not confined to the Iroquois, are doubtless to be
ascribed the barrows and bone mounds which have been found in
such numbers in various parts of the country.17 Although it is
well to bear these facts in mind, yet it is not doubted that the
larger number, and especially the more massive ones, were erected
by the same people who built the other mysterious works, and so
it is necessary that they be carefully studied.

Altar Mound and Plan and Section of Altar.

In the valley of the Ohio there have been found a class of mounds
known as Altar Mounds. These, it should be stated, nearly always
occur in or near inclosures. This cut gives us a good idea of
mounds of this kind. Near the top is seen an instance of what is
called “intrusive” burial. After the mound was completed it had
been dug into and a body buried near the surface. This burial was
evidently later in time, and had no connection with the purpose
for which the mound was originally built. We also notice in this
mound the different layers of which it was composed. These layers
are of gravel, earth, and sand, the latter being only a few
inches thick. Mounds made in this manner are called stratified
mounds, and all altar mounds are probably of this kind. The lines
of stratification have been described as curving so as to
correspond with the shape of the mound, and such we are told is
the general rule.18

The peculiar feature, however, is the altar at the bottom of the
mound, directly above the natural surface of the ground. The
small cut gives us a clear idea of the altar, the light lines
running around it showing the plan. These altars are almost
always composed of clay, though some of stone have been
discovered. They are of various shapes and sizes. We notice the
dish-shaped depression on the top of the altar. The clay of which
they are composed seems to have been moulded into shape directly
over the surface of the ground. Sometimes a layer of sand was put
down as a foundation. They are nearly always thoroughly burned,
the clay being baked hard, sometimes to the depth of fifteen or
twenty inches. This must have required intense and long continued
heat.

We are at once curious to know the object of this altar. Within
the basin-shaped depression are generally found all manner of
remains. Sometimes portions of bones, or fragments of wood,
arranged in regular order; pieces of pottery vessels, and
implements of copper and stone; spear-heads, arrow-heads, and
fragments of quartz and crystals of garnet. Pipes are a common
find, carved in miniature figures of animals, birds, and
reptiles. Two altar-mounds but recently examined near Cincinnati
had altars about four feet square that were loaded down with
ornaments.

One especially contained quantities of ornaments of stone,
copper, mica, shells, the canine-teeth of bears and other
animals, and thousands of pearls. They were nearly all
perforated, as if for suspension. Several of the copper ornaments
were covered with native silver which had been hammered out into
thin sheets and folded over the copper. One small copper pendant
seems to have been covered with a thin sheet of hammered gold, as
a small piece was still clinging to it. This is the first example
of finding native gold in the mounds.19 On this altar were also
found masses of meteoric iron, and ornaments of the same
material. One piece of mica showed the profile of a face.20

In all cases the articles found on the altars show the action of
fire. We seem justified, then, in supposing that after the altar
was formed, fires were lit on them, and into this fire were
thrown the various articles just enumerated. But what was all
this for? This will probably never be very clear to us, beyond
the fact that it was a religious rite. Portions of the human
skeleton have been found on these altars, and it has been
suggested that human victims were at times part of the sacrifice;
but as it is known that this people practised cremation, it may
be that the altars were sometimes used for that purpose, the
remains being afterwards gathered and buried elsewhere.

After the offerings had been flung into the fire, while it was
yet glowing on the altar, earth or sand was heaped over them for
a few inches, then successive layers of earth and sand, or ashes,
clay, or gravel. Sometimes the altars were used several different
times, in which case a layer of clay several inches thick was
laid over the old altar. In one case three layers had been burned
in before the final addition of earth and sand were heaped over
it. These strange monuments of a by-gone people hint to us of
mysterious rites. We wish we had more positive knowledge of the
ceremonies they commemorated; but at present we must rest
satisfied with conjecture.

The next class of mounds are known as burial mounds, some of
which are stratified, and resemble the so-called altar mounds. A
mound explored in Butler County, Ohio, had in the center a layer
of clay an inch thick, which had been burned until it was red.
Underneath this was another layer of clay, beneath which was
found charcoal, burnt cloth, and charred bones. Mr. Foster thinks
that in this mound the body was placed on a rude altar, fires
were lit, and that while yet burning, clay was thrown over it
all, and that then fires were built all over the mound,
sufficient to burn the clay for an inch in thickness.21 We have
also a description of a group of mounds explored near the
Mississippi River, in which there were evident signs of
cremation. At least in several mounds fires had been built close
above the bodies. But in cremation other victims may have been
burned to accompany the departed chiefs or warriors. In one mound
evidence of such a custom was observed.

In another mound the center was found to be a mass of burned clay
interspersed with calcined human bones. No less than ten or
fifteen bodies had been burned here. “They must have worshiped
some fierce ideal deity, and the ceremony must have been
considered of great importance to have required so many victims.”
This may have been, however, nothing more than simple
cremation.22

Pidgeon has described mounds in Minnesota, in many respects like
the altar mounds. In one case he mentions there was an altar or
pavement of stone on the original surface of the ground, a few
feet above which was a layer of clay, showing the action of
fierce and long-continued fires. We furthermore are told that
cremation, especially of chiefs, was more or less common among
the Village Indians of North America, that similar usage was
observed among many of the tribes of Mexico, and that the Mayas,
of Yucatan, burnt the bodies of their lords, and built temples
over their remains. So it may be that the altar mounds are but
varieties of funeral mounds, the remains of the bodies burned
here being buried elsewhere.23

Burial Mounds.

The nations that celebrated their mysteries around these mounds
have long since departed; the altar fires long since burned low.
We are not sure that we understand their purport, but we are
certain they were regarded as of great importance, and we can
readily imagine that when the fires were lit on the altars,
gathering crowds stood round, and participated in the religious
observance, throwing into the fire their most valued ornaments,
in this manner paying their last respects to the departed chiefs
and great men of their tribe.

The true burial mounds are very numerous, an comprise by far the
larger number of mounds. They are to be found all over the Mound
Builders’ territory, and are about the only class of remains
found in the prairie regions of the West. From the upper waters
of the Missouri and the great lakes on the north to the Gulf
States on the south, and from west of the Mississippi to the
Alleghenies of the East, in all this vast region they are the
prevailing class of remains, and occur by hundreds, and even
thousands, along the valleys. The mounds themselves are often not
very conspicuous; as a rule they are simply heaps of dirt raised
above the surface and rounded over, and from two or three to
fifteen or twenty feet high, although many are of much larger
size. They are seldom found on the lower, or recent river
terrace, but are common on the upper terrace, and are often built
upon the high bluffs bordering the streams, where a wide stretch
of country is exposed to view. Black-bird, an Omaha chief, who
died about the year 1800, desired to be buried on a high bluff
overlooking the Missouri, so that he might see the boats passing
up and down the river. Perhaps from a similar superstitious wish
the Mound Builders sometimes chose the sites of their burial
mounds where they could watch over their country; or it may be
that the monuments over the dead were placed in such conspicuous
positions that they might be readily seen by the people.

The next cut represents an ordinary burial mound, which was
explored by tunneling in from one side. We notice there are no
different layers or stratifications in this case. In some cases,
at least, the building of such a mound occupied several years. We
can see where the dirt was thrown down in small quantities,
averaging about a peck, as if from a basket. In one case grass
had started to grow on the unfinished surface of the mound, to be
covered up by fresh dirt.24

Burial Mounds.

In the majority of cases the mounds contain the remains of but
one individual, with various relics of a rude and barbarous
people. Where but one body was buried, the usual mode of
procedure seems to have been to first clear a space on the
surface of the ground; the body was then placed in the center of
this prepared place, and often a rude framework of timber was
placed around it, sometimes a stone chamber was built up. Over
this the mound was erected to the desired height. This
description would apply to nearly all of the many thousands of
burial mounds in the country.

In the cut a layer of charcoal is noticed near the top. Nearly
all mounds show evidence of the existence of fire during some
period of their construction. In some cases these fires were
fierce and long continued, as if the object had been to cremate
the body. It may have been a part of their religious belief that
it was necessary to keep fires blazing on the mound for a short
length of time to keep off evil spirits, or to comfort the soul
of the departed. Such at any rate was the custom among some
Indian tribes. We are told that among the Iroquois, a “fire was
built upon the grave at night to enable the spirit to prepare its
food.”25

In some cases, many individuals were buried in the same mound.
These may be communal burials, such as we have already referred
to. Mounds of this kind have been examined near Nashville,
Tennessee. One mound alone was the burial place of over two
hundred persons. Pidgeon describes some triangular burial mounds
in Minnesota, differing in shape only from the ordinary circular
mounds that belong to this division. In general, burial mounds
are not very high, yet there are exceptions to this rule.

Grave Creek Mound.

This cut represents one of the largest of these mounds. It is
situated at the junction of Grave Creek and the Ohio River,
twelve miles below Wheeling, in West Virginia. It measures
seventy feet in height, and its base is nearly one thousand feet
in circumference. An excavation made from the top downward, and
from one side of the base to the center, disclosed the fact that
the mound contained two sepulchral chambers, one at the base and
one near the center of the mound. These chambers had been
constructed of logs, and covered with stone. The lower chamber
contained two skeletons, one of which is supposed to have been a
female. The upper chamber contained but one skeleton. In addition
to these, there were found a great number of shell beads,
ornaments of mica, and bracelets of copper.26

A moment’s thought will show us what a great work such a mound
must have been for a people destitute of metallic tools and
domestic animals. The earth for its construction was probably
scraped up from the surface and brought thither in baskets. A
people capable of erecting such a monument as this, with only
such scanty means at their command, must have possessed those
qualities which would sooner or later have brought them
civilization.

Another very interesting mound of this class once stood in the
city of St. Louis. The rapidly growing city demanded its removal
in 1869. It was an oblong mound, one hundred and fifty feet long
by thirty in height. In its removal it was shown that it
contained a burial chamber seventy-five feet long, from eight to
twelve feet wide, and from eight to ten feet high, in which about
thirty burials had taken place. The surface of the ground had
first been leveled, then the walls raised to the desired height,
made firm and solid, and plastered with clay. Timbers formed the
roof, over which the mound had been raised to the desired height.

Cross-section St. Louis Mound.

In process of time the roof decayed and fell in, thus giving a
sunken appearance to the top of the mound. This view is a cross
section of the mound as it was revealed by the workmen. We notice
where the roof has fallen in, and the outline of the interior
chamber. This burial chamber was perhaps an exact model of the
cabins in which the people lived. Can it be that this mound was
the final resting place of some renowned chief, and that the
other bodies were those of his attendants sent to accompany him
to the other world? This is perhaps as reasonable a conjecture as
any. Certain it is that this tumulus and that at Grave Creek were
fit pyramids for the Pharaohs of the New World.

It is not to be supposed that the mounds were the sole cemeteries
of the people who built them. Like the barrows of Europe, they
were probably erected only over the bodies of the chiefs and
priests, the wise men, and warriors of the tribe. The amount of
work required for the erection of a mound was too great to
provide one for every person. The greater number of the dead were
deposited elsewhere than in mounds, but it is doubtful whether we
can always distinguish the prehistoric burial places from those
of the later Indians. An ancient cemetery, discovered near
Madisonville, Ohio, proved to be a most interesting find, as it
was thought to be a burial place of the Mound Builders,27 but it
seems there is strong doubt on this point. One writer thinks this
was a cemetery of the Erie tribe of Indians, and not very ancient
in date.28

In Tennessee are to be found numerous burial places known as the
stone-grave cemeteries. Stone graves of a similar character are
found in Kentucky, Ohio, and Missouri. These are as yet but few
facts which can be used as indicating that all the stone graves
are of one people. Many of these cemeteries are of great
antiquity, while similar stone graves are of quite recent date.
In some places the cemeteries cover very large areas.

Terraced Mound.

We have now to describe a class of mounds that are always
regarded with great interest, as a number of our scholars think
they see in them the connecting link between the remains in this
country and those of Mexico and the South. These are generally
known as “temple mounds,” from the common impression that they
were sites of temples or public buildings. In general terms,
mounds of this class are distinguished by their large size and
regularity of form, and they always have a flat or level top. On
one side there is generally a graded way leading up to the
summit, in some instances several such methods of approach.
Sometimes the sides of the mound are terraced off into separate
stages.29

We have already noticed that different sections of country are
distinguished by different classes of mound remains. In the
present State of Ohio are found many altar mounds and inclosures.
In the West are large numbers of burial mounds, but the so-called
temple mounds are most numerous in the South. At one place in
Wisconsin is found a low embankment inclosing four low mounds
with leveled tops. But the resemblance between these and the
regular temple mounds is certainly slight. Only a few instances
of these flat-topped mounds are found in Ohio. Of these the still
existing “elevated squares” at Marietta are good examples.

Elevated Square, Marietta. This cut represents the mound
preserved in the park at Marietta. It is ten feet high, one
hundred and eighty-eight feet long, by one hundred and thirty-two
feet wide. The platform on the top has an area of about half an
acre. Graded ways lead up on each of the four sides. These grades
are twenty-five feet wide, and sixty feet long.30

As we approach the Gulf States, these platform mounds increase in
number. The best representative of this class, the most
stupendous example of mound builders’ work in this country, is
situated in Illinois, not far from St. Louis. The mound and its
surroundings are so interesting that they deserve special
mention. One of the most fertile sections of Illinois is that
extending along the Mississippi from the Kaskaskia to the Cahokia
river, about eighty miles in length, and five in breadth. Well
watered, and not often overflowed by the Mississippi, it is such
a fertile and valuable tract that it has received the name of the
“Great American Bottom.” It is well known that the Mound Builders
chose the most fertile spots for their settlements, and it is
therefore not surprising to find the evidence that this was a
thickly settled portion of their territory. Mr. Breckenridge,
writing in 1811, says: “The great number of mounds, and the
astonishing quantity of human bones, everywhere dug up or found
on the surface of the ground, with a thousand other appearances,
announces that this valley was at one time filled with
habitations and villages. The whole face of the bluff, or hill,
which bounds it on the east, appears to have been a continuous
burying ground.”31

Mounds are numerous in this section. We learn that there are two
groups of mounds or pyramids, one about ten miles above the
Cahokia, and the other about the same distance below it, more
than one hundred and fifty in all. Speaking of the group above
the Cahokia, Mr. Breckenridge says: “I found myself in the midst
of a group of mounds mostly of a circular shape, and, at a
distance, resembling enormous hay-stacks scattered through a
meadow. One of the largest which I ascended was about two hundred
paces in circumference at the bottom, the form nearly square,
though it had evidently undergone considerable alteration from
the washing of rains. The top was level, with an area sufficient
to contain several hundred men.” He represents the view from the
top of the mound to be a very extensive and beautiful one. From
this elevation he counted forty-five mounds or pyramids, besides
a great number of small artificial elevations. This group was
arranged in the form of a semicircle, about a mile in extent, the
open space being on the river.

Cahokia Mound.

Three miles above occurs the group in which is found the famous
big mound.32 This cut gives us a good idea of the mound as it was
in its perfect state. All accounts given of this mound vary. From
a cut of the model, as prepared by Dr. Patrick, the area of the
base is a trifle over fifteen acres.33 The ascent was probably on
the south side of the mound, where the little projection is seen.
The first platform is reached at the height of about fifty feet.
This platform has an area of not far from two and four-fifth
acres. Large enough for quite a number of houses, if such was the
purpose for which this mound was erected. The second platform is
reached at about the height of seventy-five feet, and contains
about one and three-fourth acres. The third platform is elevated
ninety-six or ninety-seven feet, while the last one is not far
from one hundred feet above the plain. The area of the last two
is about three-fourths of an acre each. The areas of all the
platforms are not far from six acres. We require to dwell on
these facts a moment before we realize what a stupendous piece of
work this is. The base is larger than that of the Great
Pyramid,34 and we must not lose sight of the fact that the earth
for its construction was scraped up and brought thither without
the aid of metallic tools or beasts of burden, and yet the earth
was obtained somewhere and piled up over an area of fifteen acres
in one place to a height of one hundred feet, and even the lowest
platform is fifty feet above the plain. Some have suggested that
it might be partly a natural elevation. There seems to be,
however, no good reason for such suggestions.

What motive induced the people to expend so much labor on this
mound? It is not probable that this was a burial mound, though it
may ultimately prove to be so. The most probable supposition is
that the mound was erected so as to secure an elevated site,
perhaps for purpose of defense, as on these platforms there was
abundant room for a large village, and an elevation or height has
always been an important factor in defenses. In this connection,
Prof. Putnam has called our attention to a fact which indicates
that a very long time was occupied in the construction of the
mound, and further, that a numerous population had utilized its
platforms as house sites—that is, that “everywhere in the
gullies, and over the broken surface of the mounds, mixed with
the earth of which it is composed, are quantities of broken
vessels of clay, flint chips, arrow-heads, charcoal, bones of
animals, etc., apparently the refuse of a numerous people.” The
majority of writers, however, think that this elevated site,
obtained as the result of so much labor, was utilized for
important public buildings, presumedly the temple of their gods,
and no one can help noticing the similarity between this
structure and those raised by the ancient Mexicans for both
religious purposes and town sites.

Mr. Foster thinks that “upon this platform was reared a capacious
temple, within whose walls the high-priests gathered from
different quarters at stated seasons, celebrated their mystic
rites, while the swarming multitudes below looked up with mute
adoration.”35 Mr. Breckenridge, whose writings we have already
referred to, at the time of his first visit, “everywhere observed
a great number of small elevations of earth, to the height of a
few feet, at regular distances apart, which appeared to observe
some order: near them pieces of flint and fragments of earthen
vessels.” From this he concludes that here was a populous town,
and that this mound was a temple site. It is doubtful whether we
shall ever pierce the veil that lies between us and this
aboriginal structure. The pyramids of the Old World have yielded
up their secret, and we behold in them the tombs of Egypt’s
kings. But this earthen pyramid on the western prairie is more
involved in mystery, and we do not know even its builders. If the
result of religious zeal, we may be sure that a religion which
exacted from its votaries the erection of such a stupendous piece
of work was one of great power.

As before remarked, “temple mounds” increase in numbers and
importance as we go south. In Kentucky they are more frequent
than in the States north of the Ohio River, and in Tennessee and
Mississippi they are still more abundant.36 We also learn that
they are often surrounded, or nearly so, with moats or ditches,
as if to fortify their location. Our next cut illustrates such an
arrangement—a circular wall of earth four feet high and two
thousand three hundred feet in circumference, incloses four
mounds, two of which are temple mounds. According to the late
Prof. Forshey, temple mounds abound in Louisiana. He described a
group situated in Catahoola County, in which the principal mound
has a base of more than an acre, a height of forty-two feet, and
the upper platform an area of nearly one-third of an acre. The
smaller mounds are arranged around this larger one. This group is
defended by an embankment. From this point for a distance of
twenty miles along the river, are scattered similar groups of
mounds; in all cases the smaller ones arranged around the larger
one, which is presumably the site of a temple.

Temple Mounds inclosed in a Circle.

A digression right here may not be devoid of interest. We are not
sure but that the dim, uncertain light of history falls on the
origin of this group of mounds. When the French first commenced
their settlement in the lower Mississippi Valley, the Natchez
Indians was the most powerful tribe in all that section. In the
course of time, wars ensued between them and the French, and in
the year 1730 they fled into Upper Louisiana, and settled at the
place where these mounds are now found. But the French followed
them a year or so afterwards, and nearly exterminated. them. Some
of our scholars think that they erected these mounds.37 The
historian of that epoch simply says they had “built a fort
there.” It is however questioned whether they had time to build
works of such magnitude. But they were both a mound-building and
a mound-using people, and we are not prepared to say how long it
would take them to do the work, until we know the number engaged,
methods employed, and other considerations.38 If they did not
build these works, they doubtless cleared them of trees and
utilized them; and this place was therefore the scene of the
final downfall of the Natchez—a people we have every reason to
regard as intimately connected with the prehistoric
mound-building tribes.

The largest temple mound in the South is near Seltzertown,
Mississippi. Its base covers about six acres, and it rises forty
feet. This slope was ascended by means of a graded way. The
summit platform has an extent of nearly four acres. On this
platform three other mounds had been reared—one at each end, and
a third in the center. Recent investigation by the Bureau of
Ethnology have shown that the base of this mound is a natural
formation. Lumps of sun-dried, or partially burnt clay, used as
plastering on the houses of the Mound Builders, gave rise to a
sensational account of a wall of sun-dried bricks two feet thick,
supporting the mound on the northern side.39 The famous Messier
Mound, in Georgia, is said to reach a height of ninety-five feet.
But a large part of this elevation is a natural eminence; the
artificial part is only a little over fifty feet.

Etowah Mound, Georgia.

A work of unusual interest occurs on the Etowah River, Georgia.
This cut gives us a plan of the work. We notice, first of all,
the moat or ditch by which they fortified their position. The
ditch is still from five to twenty-five feet deep, and from
twenty to seventy-five feet wide. It connects directly with the
river at one end, but stops short at the other. It surrounds
nearly fifty acres of land. At two points we notice reservoirs,
each about an acre in size, and an average depth of not less than
twenty feet. At its upper end is an artificial pond. This ditch,
with its reservoirs and pond, is no slight work. The large mound
seen in the center of the space is one of the largest of the
temple mounds. Its shape is sufficiently shown in the cut. The
height of the mound is sixty-five feet. We call especial
attention to the series of terraces leading up the south side of
the mound. Graded ways afford means of access from one terrace to
the other. A pathway is also seen on the eastern side.

To this group of works an interest attaches similar to that of
the group of works mentioned in Louisiana. We are not certain but
that we catch a glimpse of it while it was yet an inhabited
Indian town. This is contained in the brief accounts we have of
the wanderings of the unfortunate De Soto and his command. One of
the chroniclers of this expedition La Vega, describes one of the
towns where the weary Spaniards rested, and which we are sure was
somewhere in Northern Georgia, in such terms, mentioning the
graded way leading to the top, that Prof. Thomas, who has spent
some time in this investigation, thinks his description can apply
only to the mound under consideration.40 Whether this conclusion
will be allowed to stand, remains to be seen. But, if true, then
the darkness which rests upon this aboriginal structure lifts for
a moment and we see around it a populous Indian town, able to
send five hundred warriors to battle. The Spaniards marched on to
sufferings and death, and darkness again closed around the Etowah
Mound. When the Europeans next beheld it around it was the silent
wilderness; the warriors had departed; the trees of the forest
overspread it.

We have now described the principal mound structures, and shown
the different classes into which they are divided. But a large
class of mounds are found scattered all through the Mound
Builders’ territory that were probably used as signal mounds.
Burial mounds were also often used for this purpose.41 This was
because their location was always very favorable for signal
purposes. Signaling by fire is a very ancient custom. The Indians
on our western plains convey intelligence by this means at the
present day. Some tribes use such materials as will cause
different shades of smoke, using dried grass for the lightest,
pine leaves for the darkest, and a mixture for intermediate
purposes. They also vary the signal by letting the smoke rise in
an unbroken column, or cover the fire with a blanket, so as to
cause puffs of smoke. The evidence gathered from the position of
the mounds, and traces of fire on their summit, is that the Mound
Builders had a very extensive system of signal mounds.

Hill Mounds.

To illustrate this system, we would state that the city of
Newark, Ohio, was the site of a very extensive settlement of the
Mound Builders. This settlement was in a valley, but on all the
surrounding hills were located signal mounds. And it is further
stated that lines of signal mounds can be traced from here as a
center to other and more distant points. The large mound at Mt.
Vernon, twenty miles to the north, was part of this system. As
the settlements of the Mound Builders were mostly in river
valleys, we would expect to find all along on the bluffs fronting
these valleys traces of signal mounds. In the Scioto Valley, from
Columbus to Chillicothe, a distance of about forty miles, twenty
mounds “may be selected, so placed in respect to each other that
it is believed, if the country was cleared of forests, signals of
fire might be transmitted in a few minutes along the whole line.”
Some think the chain is much more extensive than this, and that
the whole Scioto Valley, from Delaware County to Portsmouth, was
so provided with mounds that signals could be sent in a very few
minutes the whole distance.42

Miamisburg Mound.

The valley of the Miami River was equally well provided with
signal mounds. This great mound, at Miamisburg, Ohio, rising to
the height of sixty-eight feet, was one of the chain by which
signals were transmitted along the valley. Not only was each
river valley thus provided, but there is evidence that
communication was established between different river systems, so
we can easily see how quickly the invasion of their country by an
enemy from any quarter would become known in widely scattered
sections. Immediately across the river from Chillicothe, Ohio, on
a hill nearly six hundred feet high, was located a signal mound.
A fire built upon it would be visible twenty miles up the valley,
and an equal distance down. It would be also visible far down the
valley of Paint Creek. Some think that such a system of lofty
observatories extended across the whole State of Ohio, of
Indiana, and Illinois, the Grave Creek mound, on the east, the
great mound at Cahokia, on the west, and the works in Ohio
filling up the line. We do not believe, however, it is safe to
draw such conclusions. It is doubtful whether there was any very
close connection between the tribes in these several sections.

In the State of Wisconsin are found some of the most interesting
remains of the Mound Builders. They are so different from the
ordinary remains found elsewhere that we must admit that the
people who built them differed greatly from the tribes who built
the great temple mounds of the South, or the earthworks of Ohio.
The remains in Wisconsin are distinguished not by their great
size or height, but by their singular forms. Here the mound
building instincts of the people were expressed by heaping up the
earth in the shape of animals. What strange fancy it was that led
them to mould the figures on the bluffy banks of the rivers and
the high lands about the lakes of their country, we shall perhaps
never know. That they had some design in this matter is, of
course, evident, and if we would try and learn their secret, we
must address ourselves to a study of the remains.

Effigy Mounds. Effigy mounds are almost exclusively confined to
the State of Wisconsin. We, indeed, find effigy mounds in other
sections, but they are of rare occurrence.43 They, however, show
that the same reasons, religious, or otherwise, exists in other
localities, while in the area covered by the southern portion of
the State of Wisconsin it found its greatest expression. This cut
affords us a fair idea of effigy mounds. Here are seen two
animals, one behind the other. On paper we can readily see the
resemblance. Stretched out on the ground, and of gigantic
proportions, the resemblance is not so marked, and some might
fail to notice it at first sight. Either of those figures is over
one hundred feet long, and about fifteen feet wide. With few
exceptions, effigy mounds are inconsiderable in height, varying
from one to four feet. These mounds have been carefully studied
of late years, and there is no doubt that in many instances we
can distinguish the animals represented.

We learn, then, that tribes formerly living in Wisconsin had the
custom of heaping up the earth in the shape of the various
animals peculiar to that section. But no effigies are found of
animals that have since become extinct, or of animals that are to
be found only in other lands.

Elephant Mound. Our next cut represents the famous elephant mound
of Wisconsin, on the strength of which a number of fair theories
have been given relating to the knowledge of the mastodon by the
builders of the mound, and its consequent antiquity. It now bears
some resemblance to an elephant, but we learn that the trunk was
probably produced by the washing of the banks and, from the same
cause, a projection above the head, supposed to represent horns,
has disappeared. Taking these facts into consideration, it is
quite as likely that it represented a buffalo.44 One writer even
thinks he found a representation of a camel, but the fact is, the
more these effigy mounds are studied, the more certain are we
that they are representations of animals formerly common in that
region.

Emblematic Mounds.

The manner in which they represented the various animals is full
of interest to us. It has been discovered that they worked on a
system. The last cut represents a group of three animals
discovered a few miles from the Blue Mounds in Dane County. We
notice at once a difference between the central animal, with a
tail, and the other two. It will also be observed that the
animals are represented in profile, with only two projections for
legs. They are never separated so that we can distinguish the two
front and the two hind feet. Animals so figured are the bear,
fox, wolf, panther, and others. Grazing animals, such as the
buffalo, elk, and deer, are represented with a projection for
horns. In the last cut the other two animals are buffaloes. In
various ways the particular kind of animal can nearly always be
distinguished.45

Grazing Elks. Fox in the Distance.

The preceding cut represents two elks grazing, and a fox in the
distance. The long embankments of earth at one side are
considered by Mr. Peet as in the nature of game drives. But we
call attention to the expressiveness with which these figures are
delineated. What could be more natural than the quietly grazing
elks, with the suspicious prowling fox in the distance. In the
cut we also see two cross-shaped figures. This was their method
of representing birds, a projection on each side of a central
body denoting wings. These figures are often very expressive.

Eagle Mound.

In this cut we have no difficulty in recognizing an eagle. It is
represented as soaring high in the air. On the bluffs above it is
a wolf effigy, and several conical and long mounds. In the cut
preceding this the eagle and the hawk are hovering over the
feeding elks, while in this cut a flock of hawks are watching
some buffaloes feeding in the distance. This group of effigies
was found on the banks of the Kickapoo River.

Hawks and Buffaloes.

Goose and Duck. Our next cut represents a wild goose with a long
neck and beak followed by a duck with a short neck, flying
towards the lake.

Water-loving animals, such as salamanders and turtles, are
represented in still another way, two projections on each side of
a central figure. The next following cut represents a turtle. The
tail was not always added. The salamander closely resembles the
turtle, but notice the difference in the body, and still
different is the cut of the musk-rat (see later). Fishes are
figured as a straight embankment of earth tapering to a point.

Turtle.

The same system that was observed in the location of signal
mounds is to be noticed in the arrangements of these groups of
effigy mounds. They are not alone. One group answers to another
on a distant hill, or is in plain view of another group in the
valley below. Distant groups were so related, each commanding a
wide extent of country, and thus group answers to group, and
mound to mound, for miles away, making a complete system
throughout the region.

Salamander and Musk-rat and Man-shaped Mound.

We notice this as to the location of the mounds. When we examine
the mounds themselves we observe no little skill in the way they
represent the animals. They often impressed on them something
more than mere animal resemblances. “There are groups where the
attitudes are expressive of a varied action. Certain animals,
like the weasel or mink, being seen with a bird so near that,
apparently, it might be caught by a single spring; and still
others, like the wolf or wild-cat, are arranged head to head, as
if prepared for combat; and still others, like the squirrel or
coon, are in the more playful attitudes, sometimes apparently
chasing one another over hill or valley; and again situated
alone, as if they had just leaped from some tree, or drawn
themselves out of some den or hole.”46

Nor is the effigy of the human form wanting. It is found in
several localities throughout the State. This cut shows us one
such effigy. This was the beginning of a long train of animal
mounds, presumably representing bears, found near the Blue
Mounds, Wisconsin.47 We can not observe that any more importance
was ascribed to the effigy of a human being than to that of an
animal.

In casting about for suitable explanation for the erection of
these animal mounds, we find ourselves lost in conjecture as to
the motive which induced these people to prepare these earthen
effigies. We may be sure that it was for some other reason than
for amusement, or to give exercise to an artistic feeling. Only
in very few instances do we detect any arrangements which would
imply that they were in the nature of defenses. In some cases the
effigies are so arranged as to form a sort of inclosure, some
portion of the figure being prolonged to an unusual extent and
thus inclosing a space that may have been utilized for a village
site. This group on the Wisconsin River illustrates this point.
Here the area thus partially inclosed, is about an acre. It is a
singular fact that these inclosures are almost always triangular
in shape.48 But it is manifest that a simple earth wall would
serve for defense much better than these forms. They probably
were not burial mounds, as few contain human remains, and it is
not yet certain that these remains were not intrusive burials.49
It seems, therefore that they must have been in some manner
connected with the religious life of the people.

Emblematic Mound Inclosure.

If we examine the various groups scattered throughout the State,
this belief is strengthened. It is found, for instance, in nearly
every group, that some one effigy is the principal one, and is
placed in a commanding position, about which the other forms are
arranged. It is also thought that the same effigy is the
principal or ruling effigy over a wide district. In illustration
of this, it can be stated that in the south-eastern part of the
State the turtle is always the ruling effigy. In any group of
effigies it is the principal one. It seems to watch over and
protect the others. In subordination to it are such forms as the
lizard, hawk, and pigeon. Passing to the North, the turtle is no
longer the important figure. It is replaced by the wolf, or
wild-cat. This is now the principal form, and if the turtle is
sometimes present, it is of less importance.

So marked is the fact we have just stated that Mr. Peet says,
“that sometimes this division assumes almost the character of a
river system, and thus we might trace what seems to be the
beginning in this country of that which prevailed on classic soil
and in Oriental regions—namely, river gods and tutelar divinities
of certain regions, each tribal divinity having its own province,
over which it ruled and on which it left its own form or figure
as the seal of its power and the emblem of its worship.”50

Looking for some explanation of this, we may find a key in the
known customs of various Indian tribes, and the lower races of
men. It is known that a tribe of Indians is divided into smaller
bands, which are called gens or clans. A gens may consist of
several hundred persons, but it is the unit of organization. It
takes the place of a family among civilized people. These various
bands are generally named after some animal. In the beginning
these names may have been of no special significance, but in
course of time each band would come to regard themselves as
descendants of the animal whose name they bore. Hence the animal
itself would be considered sacred in their eyes, and its life
would seldom be taken by members of that gens.

The animal thus honored by the gens was, in the Indian dialect,
the totem of the clan. This organization and custom we find
running all through the Indian tribes. In many tribes the Indians
were wont to carve a figure of their totem on a piece of slate,
or even to carve a stone in the shape of the totem, which carved
or sculptured stone they wore as an ornament, or carried as a
charm to ward off evil and bring them good luck.51 We need only
suppose that this system was very fully developed among the Mound
Builders of Wisconsin, to see what important bearing it has on
these effigy mounds.

A tribe located on one of the fertile river valleys of Wisconsin
was composed of various gens or clans. On some common point in
proximity to their villages, or some spot which commanded a wide
view of the surrounding country, each gens would rear an effigy
of its totem, the animal sacred to them. In every tribe some gens
would be the most powerful, or for some cause the most respected,
and its totem would be given in the largest effigy, and would be
placed in the most commanding position. In a different locality
some other tribe would be located, and some other totem would be
regarded as of the most importance.

In this light effigy-mounds are not mere representatives of
animal forms. They are picture-writings on a gigantic scale, and
are the source of much true history. They tell us of different
tribes, the clans which composed them, the religious beliefs, and
the ruling gens of the tribe. Contemplating them, we seem to live
again in the far-off past. The white man disappears; waving
forests claim their ancient domain, and the rivers, with a more
powerful current, roll in their olden channels. The animals whose
forms are imaged here, go trooping through the forest or over the
fertile bottom lands. The busy scenes of civilization give place
to the placid quiet of primeval times, and we seem to see
peaceful tribes of Mound Builders paying a rude veneration to
their effigy-gods, where now are churches of a more
soul-satisfying religion.

But there is still another point to be learned from an
examination of these ancient mounds. Not only are they totems of
the tribes, but they were looked on in some sense as being
guardian divinities, with power to protect the homes of the
tribe. This is learned by studying the location in which they are
placed. They occupy all points of observation. In other parts of
the Mound Builders’ country, wherever we find signal-mounds we
find corresponding positions in Wisconsin occupied by groups of
effigy-mounds, or if one only is present, it is always the one
which, from the considerations we have stated, was regarded as
the ruling effigy of that section. It is as if their builders
placed them as sentinels to guard the approaches to their homes,
to give warning of the arrival of hostile bands. This is further
borne out by finding that mounds placed in such positions
frequently show evidence of the action of intense fire, and so we
conclude they were used as signal stations also. So we need not
doubt but that the region thus watched over by these
effigy-mounds, group answering to group along the river banks, or
in the valleys below, was at times lit up by the signal fires at
night; or the warning column of smoke by day betokening the
presence of dancer.52

Bird Mound, surrounded by a Stone Circle.

Before leaving the subject of effigy-mounds, we must refer to
some instances of their presence in other localities. This cut is
an eagle effigy discovered in Georgia. Only one other instance,
also occurring in Georgia, is known of effigy-mounds in the
South. Measured from tip to tip of the wings, the bird, in this
case, is one hundred and thirty-two feet. This structure is
composed of stones, and a singular feature is the surrounding
circle of stone.53

Big Serpent Mound.

Several examples of effigy-mounds are found in Ohio. The most
notable one is that known as the Great Serpent Mound, in Adanis
County. We give an illustration of it. The entire surrounding
country is hilly. The effigy itself is situated on a tongue of
land formed by the junction of a ravine with the main branch of
Brush Creek, and rising to a height of about one hundred feet
above the creek. Its form is irregular on its surface, being
crescent-shaped, with the point resting to the north-west. We
give in a note some of the dimensions. The figure we give of this
important effigy is different from any heretofore presented. We
are indebted for the plan from which the drawing was made to Rev.
J. P. MacLean, of Hamilton, Ohio. Mr. MacLean is a well-known
writer on these topics. During the Summer of 1884, while in the
employ of the Bureau of Ethnology, he visited the place, taking
with him a thoroughly competent surveyor, and made a very careful
plan of the work for the Bureau. All the other figures published
represent the oval as the end of the works. Prof. Putnam, who
visited the locality in 1883, noticed, between the oval figure
and the edge of the ledge, a slightly raised, circular ridge of
earth, from either side of which a curved ridge extended towards
the sides of the oval figure. Mr. MacLean’s researches and
measurements have shown that the ridges last spoken of are but
part of what is either a distinct figure or a very important
portion of the original figure. As figured, it certainly bears a
very close resemblance to a frog, and such Mr. MacLean concludes
it to be.

There is both a similarity and a difference between this work and
those of Wisconsin. The fact that it occurs isolated, the other
effigies in Ohio being many miles away, shows that some special
purpose must have been subserved by it. There the great numbers
gave us a hint as to their purpose. In this case, however, nearly
all observers conclude that it was a religious work. Mr. MacLean,
after describing these three figures, propounds this query: “Does
the frog represent the creative, the egg the passive, and the
serpent the destructive power of nature?” Not a few writers,
though not acquainted with the presence of the frog-shaped
figure, have been struck with the combination of the egg and the
serpent, that plays such an important part in the mythology of
the Old World. We are told that the serpent, separate or in
combination with the circle, egg, or globe, has been a
predominant symbol among many primitive nations. “It prevailed in
Egypt, Greece, and Assyria, and entered widely into the
superstitions of the Celts, the Hindoos, and the Chinese.”
“Wherever native religions have had their scope, this symbol is
sure to appear.”54

Even the Indians have made use of this symbol. On Big Medicine
Butte, in Dakota Territory, near Pierre, is a train of stones
arranged in the form of a serpent, which is probably the work of
the Sioux Indians. Around about on the hill is the burying-ground
of their chiefs. This was to them sacred ground, and no whites
were allowed near. The stones are about the size of a man’s head,
and are laid in two rows, from one to six feet apart. The length
in all is three hundred and fifty feet, and at the tail, stones,
to represent rattles, are rudely carved. The eyes are formed by
two big red bowlders. No grass was allowed to grow between the
two rows of stone.55

It seems reasonable to suppose that the few isolated effigy
mounds we have outside of Wisconsin were built to subserve a
different purpose than those in that State. Mr. Peet has made
some remarks on their probable use that seem to us to cover the
ground, and to do away with any necessity of supposing on the
part of its builders an acquaintance with Old World mythologies.
Nature worship is one of the earliest forms of worship. The
prominent features of a landscape would be regarded as objects of
worship. Thus, for example, the island of Mackinac resembles in
its outline the shape of a turtle; so the island was regarded as
sacred to the turtle, and offerings were made to it. A bluff on
the same island at a distance resembles a rabbit; accordingly, it
was called by that name, and offerings were made to it. It is
quite natural that the effigy-mound builders should seek to
perpetuate by effigy some of these early traditions.

In the case of the Big Serpent mound this point is worth
considering. The ridge on which it stands is not only in the
midst of a wild, rough region, but is so situated that it
commands a wide extent of country. In shape this tongue of land
is also peculiar. It is a narrow, projecting headland, and would
easily suggest the idea of a serpent or a lizard. “This, with the
inaccessibility of the spot, would produce a peculiar feeling of
awe, as if it were a great Manitou which resided there; and so a
sentiment of wonder and worship would gather around the locality.
This would naturally give rise to a tradition, or would lead the
people to revive some familiar tradition and localize it.”56 The
final step would be to make an effigy.

It seems to us very hazardous to draw any conclusions as to the
religious beliefs of the Mound Builders from this effigy, or
combinations of effigies. It also seems to us reasonable to
suppose that but one figure was intended to be represented. A
very slight prolongation of the serpent’s jaws and the limbs of
the frog would connect them, in which case we would have some
amphibious creature with an unduly extended tail, or perhaps a
lizard. We must remember that the whole figure has been plowed
over once or twice, so that we are not sure of the original
outlines. We can not tell why they should represent a portion of
the body as hollow, but neither can we tell why the head of the
supposed serpent should be represented as hollow. We do not find
any important earth-works near here. The hill on which it is
placed commands a very extensive view of the surrounding country.
Within the oval a pile of stones showed evidence of a
long-continued fire, which would indicate that this was also a
signal-mound. Prof. Putnam thinks it probable that there was a
burial place between it and the large conical mound not far
away.57

In the vicinity of Newark, Ohio, are two examples of effigy
mounds. This cut represents what is called the alligator mound,
but it is probably the effigy of a lizard. The position which
this mound occupies is significant. It is on the very brow of a
hill about two hundred feet high, which projects out into a
beautiful valley. The valley is not very wide. Directly across
was a fortified camp, in the valley below it was a circular work,
and a short distance below on another projecting headland was a
strongly fortified hill. The great works at Newark were six miles
down the valley, but were probably in plain view. That it was
perhaps a signal station, is shown by the presence of traces of
fire.

Alligator Mound.

The length of this effigy is two hundred and five feet, the
breadth of the body at its widest part, twenty feet, average
height about four feet.58 The effigy mounds of Wisconsin, and the
other few examples mentioned, are among the most interesting
objects of aboriginal work. Except in a few favored instances,
they are rapidly disappearing. To the leveling influence of time
is added the assistance of man, and our knowledge of them will
soon be confined to existing descriptions, unless something is at
once done to preserve them from destruction. Interesting mementos
of a vanished race, we turn from their contemplation with a sigh
of regret that, in spite of our efforts, they are still so
enwrapped in doubt.

Mounds and effigies by no means complete the description of Mound
Builders’ remains. One of the most interesting and mysterious
class of works is now to be described. Early travelers in Ohio
came here and there upon embankments, which were found to inclose
tracts of land of various sizes. It was noticed that the
embankments were often of the form of perfect circles, or
squares, or sometimes octagons, and very often combinations of
these figures. It was further evident that the builders sought
level, fertile lands, along the various river courses. They very
seldom built them on undulating or broken ground. Often have the
very places where civilized man has laid the foundation of his
towns proved to be the sites of these ancient works of the Mound
Builders, and thus it has happened that many of the most
interesting works of antiquity have been ruthlessly removed to
make way for the crowded streets and busy marts of our own times.

The larger number of inclosures are circular, often of a small
size. Where they occur separately they either have no gateway, or
but one. Sometimes the circles are of very large size,
surrounding many acres. Sometimes, though not very often, a ditch
was also dug inside the embankment. This last circumstance is by
many regarded as a strong proof that the primary object of these
circles was not for defense.59 But an inclosure of this kind,
even with the ditch on the inside, if surmounted by a row of
pickets or palisades, would prove a strong position against
Indian foes armed with bow and arrow. The Mandans constructed
defenses of this kind around their villages.60 As to the original
height of the walls, in the majority of cases it was not very
great, generally from three to seven feet.

It is estimated that in Ohio alone there are fifteen hundred
inclosures, but a large number of them have nothing especially
worthy of mention. Some, however, are on such a large scale that
they call from all more than a passing glance. In contemplating
them, we feel ourselves confronted by a mystery that we can not
explain. The ruins of the old world excite in us the liveliest
feeling of interest, but we know their object, their builders,
and their probable antiquity. The mazy ruins at Newark, and other
places in Ohio, also fill the mind with astonishment, but in this
case we are not certain of their antiquity, their builders are
unknown, and we can not conjecture with any degree of certainty
as to their use. Before so many uncertainties imagination runs
riot, and we are inclined to picture to ourselves a scene of
barbaric power and magnificence.

High Bank Works.

One beautiful specimen of this work is found in this cut. It
occurs on the right bank of the Scioto river, five miles below
Chillicothe. Here we notice a combination of the octagon and the
circle. The areas of each are marked. The octagon is nine hundred
and fifty feet in diameter, and nearly regular in shape. In 1846
its walls were eleven or twelve feet high, by about fifty feet
base. It will be noticed that there is a gate at or near each
angle of the octagon except one, and in front of that angle was a
pit, from which some of the earth to form the walls was taken.
Facing each gateway a mound was placed, as if to guard the
entrance.

The circle connected with the octagon is perfect in shape, and is
ten hundred and fifty feet in diameter. Its walls were only about
half the height of the octagon. We notice some other small
circular works in connection with the main work. In this case the
parallels are not very regular, and seem to be connected with one
or more circular works. In a work situated but a few miles from
the one here portrayed, the parallels extend in one direction
nearly half a mile, only one hundred and fifty feet apart. They
terminate on the edge of a terrace. The object of such parallels
is as yet unknown. In some cases, after extending some distance,
they simply inclosed a mound.

It is easy enough to describe this work and give its dimensions,
but who will tell us the object its builders had in mind? The
walls themselves would afford but slight protection and if they
were for defense, must have been surmounted with palisades. Works
that were undoubtedly in the nature of fortified camps, are found
in this same section, and one of the strongest was located not
more than twelve miles away; but such defensive works differ very
greatly in design from regular structures such as we are now
describing. A very eminent scholar, Mr. Morgan, has advanced the
theory that the walls were the foundations on which communal
houses, like the Pueblos of the West, were erected.61 But this is
mere theory. All traces of such habitations (if they ever
existed) are gone, the usual _debris_ which would be sure to
accumulate around house-sites, is wanting, and the walls
themselves seem unfit for such purpose.62

They may have been embankments surrounding towns and cultivated
fields, but little has yet been found which can be cited as
proofs of residence within the area so inclosed. We should not be
surprised, however, if such would ultimately prove to be the
case, since we now know that the Mound Builders of Tennessee did
fortify their villages by means of embankments and ditches.63 A
number of writers think that these regular inclosures were in
some way connected with the superstitions of the people. In other
words, that they were religious in character. Mr. Squier remarks,
“We have reason to believe that the religious system of the Mound
Builders, like that of the Aztecs, exercised among them a great,
if not a controlling, influence. Their government may have been,
for aught we know, a government of the priesthood—one in which
the priestly and civil functions were jointly exercised, and one
sufficiently powerful to have secured in the Mississippi Valley,
as it did in Mexico, the erection of many of those vast
monuments, which for ages will continue to challenge the wonder
of men. There may have been certain superstitious ceremonies,
having no connection with the purpose of the mound, carried on in
inclosures especially dedicated to them.”64 Another late writer
to whom we have several times referred, tells us there is no
doubt but what a “religious view” was the controlling influence
in the erection of these works, and that they express a
“complicated system of symbolism,” that we see in them evidence,
of a most powerful and wonderful religious system.65 Still such
assertions are easier made than proven, and until we know
somewhat the purpose for which they were used, how are we to know
whether they were sacred or not?

Casting conjectures, for the moment, aside, let us learn what we
can from the works themselves. From their large extent they could
only be reared by the expenditure of great labor. This implies
some form of government sufficiently centralized and powerful to
control the labors of large bodies of men. Moreover, they were
sufficiently advanced to have some standard of measurement and
some way of measuring angles. The circle, it will be remembered,
is a true circle, and of a dimension requiring considerable skill
to lay out. The sides of the octagon are equal, and the alternate
angles coincident.

Every year the plow sinks deeper into these crumbling
embankments, and the leveling forces of cultivation are
continually at work, and the time is not far distant when the
curious traveler will with difficulty trace the ruins of what was
once, to the Mound Builders, a place of great importance.

Square and Circle Embankment. The more usual combination was that
of a square and a circle. An example is given in this cut, which
is a plan on a very small scale, of works which formerly existed
in Circleville. One peculiar feature about this work was that a
double wall formed the circle, with a ditch between the two
walls. In the next cut we notice a peculiar combination of these
two figures. The square is inclosed within the circle. Whatever
we may ultimately decide as to the larger works, it would seem as
if this could only be explained as in the nature of a religious
work. We can see no reason for constructing a defensive work, or
inclosing a village, or erecting foundations for houses of such a
shape as this. They must have been in some way connected with the
superstitions of the people.

Square inscribed in a Circle.
Circle and Ditch. A peculiar feature is also noticed in reference
to some of the smaller circles in this section. The cut at left
illustrates it. The circle has a ditch interior to the
embankment, and also a broad embankment of about the same height
with the outer wall, interior to the ditch, running about
half-way around the circle. A short distance from the circle was
one of those elevated squares, one hundred and twenty feet square
at the base, and nine feet high.66 It may be that this square was
the foundation on which stood a temple, in which case the circle
might have been dedicated to religious purposes also.

The great geometrical inclosures are especially numerous in the
Scioto Valley. All the works we have described were in the near
neighborhood of Chillicothe, and works as important as these are
scattered all up and down the valley. We must also recall how
well provided this valley was with signal mounds. All indications
point to the fact that here was the location of a numerous
people, ready to defend their homes whenever the warning fires
were lit. Although Mound Builders’ works are numerous in the
valley of the two Miami Rivers, Cincinnati being the site of an
extensive settlement, yet they were not such massive structures
as those in the Scioto. This would seem to indicate that these
valleys were the seats of separate tribes.67 But this Eastern
tribe must have occupied an extensive territory, since works of
the most complicated kind are found at Newark.

All indications point to the fact that near this latter place was
a very important settlement of the Mound Builders. Several
fortified works exist a few miles up the valley; signal-mounds
are to be seen on all heights, commanding a wide view, and the
famous alligator mound is placed, as if with the design of
guarding the entrance to the valley. No verbal description will
give an idea of the works, so we refer at once to the plan. This
will give us a good idea of the works as they were when the first
white settlers gazed upon them. They have nearly all been swept
away by modern improvements, excepting the two circular works and
the octagon. Here and there fragments of the other works can
still be traced.

Mound Builders’ Works, Newark, Ohio.

Two forks of the Licking River unite near Newark; the bottom
between these rivers comprising several square miles, was
occupied by these ancient earth-works. By reference to the plan,
we see the works consisted of mounds of various sizes, parallel
walls, generally of a low elevation, small and low embankments,
in the form of small circles and half-circles. There are also
several large works consisting of a circle and octagon combined,
one large circle, and a parallelogram. The circular structure at
‘E,’ is undoubtedly one of the best preserved and most imposing
in the State. There are many inclosing larger areas, but none
more clearly defined. As this is now included in the fair-grounds
of Licking County, it is preserved from destruction, and will
remain a monument of aboriginal work long after all traces of the
others have disappeared. “At the entrance, which is towards the
east, the ends of the walls curve outwards for a distance of a
hundred feet, leaving a passage way eighty feet wide between the
deep ditches on either hand.” From this point the work, even now
presents an impressive appearance. The walls are twelve feet in
perpendicular height, and about fifty feet base. There is a ditch
close around it on the inside, seven feet deep by thirty-five
feet wide. The area inclosed is about thirty acres.

Eagle Mound. In the center is an effigy-mound, represented by
this cut. It represents a bird on the wing, and is called the
Eagle Mound. The long mound in the body of the bird has been
opened, and it was found to contain an altar, such as has been
already described. Was this a place of sacrifice, and did this
wall inclose a sacred area? Our question remains unanswered. We
can dig in the mounds, and wander over the embankments, but the
secret of the builders eludes us.

A mile to the north-west of the part of the work just described
are the Octagon and works in connection with it. The Octagon is
not quite regular, but the sides are very nearly equal. At each
angle is a gateway, interior and opposite to which is a mound, as
if to guard the opening. The cut gives a view of the Octagon,
looking in through one of these gateways. At present, however,
but a small portion is in the forest. Most of it is under
cultivation, but the work can still be easily traced, and is one
of the best preserved in the State. A portion of it, still in the
forest, presents the same appearance to-day as it did to the
first explorer. When a stranger for the first time wanders along
the embankment and ascends the mounds, he can not fail to
experience sensations akin to those of the traveler when he comes
upon the ruins of some Old World city. We wish that for a brief
space of time the curtain of the past would up-roll, and let us
view these works while yet their builders flourished here.

Gateway of Octagon.

Connected with the Octagon by parallel walls three hundred feet
long and placed sixty feet apart, is the smaller circle, “F.”
This is a true circle, and is upwards of half a mile in
circumference. A portion of it lying in the woods, still retains
its primitive form, but the larger part is now under cultivation.
There is no difficulty, however, in tracing its entire length.
The most interesting feature in connection with this part of the
work is immediately opposite the point of entrance from the
octagon, and is represented in our next cut. At this point it
seems as if the builders had started to make parallel walls, but
afterwards changed their design and threw across the opening a
large mound. From this mound a view of the entire embankment
could be obtained. It is called the Observatory Mound. It has
been so often dug into that it is now really in ruins, but is
still too steep to be plowed over.

Observatory Mound, Newark Works.

It is scarcely necessary to describe the works further, except to
state that three lines of parallel embankments lead away from the
octagon. Those extending south have been traced for upwards of
two miles, and are gradually lost in the plain. It was the
opinion of Mr. Atwater, one of the earliest investigators, that
these lines connected with other works thirty miles away, in the
vicinity of Lancaster.68 Small circles are numerous in connection
with these works. It has been suggested by several that they mark
the sites of circular dwellings. The larger ones, indicated by
the letter “G,” are more pretentious. They have the ditch and
embankment, which we have already described. Many interesting
coincidents in dimensions will be perceived between portions of
this work and those described in the Scioto valley.69

Although we have devoted considerable space to this branch of the
Mound Builders’ work, we must still find space to describe the
works at Marietta, which possessed some singular features. This
cut gives us a correct plan of the works as they were when in
1788 the first settlers arrived at the mouth of the Muskingum to
lay out their town. The growth of the beautiful town of Marietta
has completely destroyed these works, except the elevated
squares, A and B, the large mound and inclosing circle at X, with
a portion of the adjoining embankments, and a small fragment of
the parallel walls forming what has been called the “Graded Way.”
The elevated squares are the finest examples of “temple” mounds
remaining in the Ohio Valley. The circle and ditch with the
conical mound inclosed is also a fine example of that class of
works. From the summit of the mound an extensive view is to be
had both up and down the Ohio.

Works at Marietta, Ohio.

The gateways of the smaller square were guarded by mounds, which
were wanting in the larger one. We would call especial attention
to the two embankments which led from the larger square towards
the river. They were six hundred and eighty feet long, and one
hundred and fifty feet apart.70 Some have supposed these walls
were designed to furnish a covered way to the river. But as Mr.
Squier remarks, we would hardly expect the people to go to the
trouble of making such a wide avenue for this purpose, nor one
with such a regular grade. Besides, the walls did not reach the
river. The work seems to be simply a passage way, leading from
one terrace to the other, but why the builders should have made
such a massive work, we can not explain. It has been called the
“Sacred Way,” and this name may possibly be applicable, but it is
only conjectural. Some twenty years ago these two massive and
beautiful embankments were still preserved, thanks to the care of
the early settlers, who planned a street to pass between them,
which was named the _Via Sacra._ These words still remain on a
corner signboard; but alas for sentiment! the banks, so long
revered, have been utilized for brick-working.

Graded Way, Piketon, Ohio.

Several instances of these graded streets or ways have been found
in connection with the Mound Builders’ works. Sometimes they lead
from one terrace to another, sometimes directly to the water. One
of the latter kind formerly existed near Piqua, Ohio.71 This cut
is a view of a graded way near Piketon, Ohio. In this case,
though the difference in level between the second and third
terrace is but seventeen feet, these ancient people laid out a
graded ascent some ten hundred and eighty feet long, by two
hundred and ten feet average width. The earth was thrown out on
either side, forming embankments. From the left hand embankments,
passing up to the third terrace, there could formerly be traced a
low embankment running for fifteen hundred feet, and connected
with mounds and other walls at its extremity.

Some have supposed that formerly the river flowed at the
extremity of this graded way, and a passage way to the water was
thus furnished. Squier says, in this connection: “It is
sufficient to observe that the river now flows half a mile to the
left, and that two terraces, each twenty feet in height,
intervene between the present and the supposed ancient level of
the stream. To assent to this suggestion, would be to admit an
almost immeasurable antiquity to the structure under
consideration.” The casual observer would say that it was
intended to afford an ascent from one terrace to the other. But
as the height was only seventeen feet, we can not see why it was
so necessary to have a long passage way of easy grade from one
terrace to the other. It was evidently built in connection with
the obliterated works on the third terrace. This interesting
remain is now utilized as a turnpike, and the passing traveler
but little recks he is going over one of the most ancient
causeways in the land. It may be that ceremonious processions,
with stately tread, utilized this causeway in years long since
elapsed. Speculation, always an unsafe guide to follow, is
especially so in this case, and so we leave this memento of a
vanished people as much an enigma to us as to its first
explorers.

We have described but a few of the sacred inclosures of Ohio, but
enough have been given to give us a fair idea of all. We wish now
to call attention to another class of remains. We have seen how
the works we have been describing are lacking in defensive
qualities. This becomes more marked, when we learn there are
works, beyond a doubt, defensive in character, in which advantage
is taken of all circumstances which would render the chosen
retreat more secure. In the first place, strong natural positions
were selected. They chose for their purpose bluffy headlands
leading out into the river plain. A people surrounded by enemies,
or pressed by invaders, would naturally turn their attention to
such heights as places susceptible of defense. Accordingly, it
does not surprise us to find many heights occupied by strong and
complicated works. Generally the approaches to them were rugged
and steep on all but one or two sides, and there they are guarded
by walls of earth or stone.

A fine example of a fortified hill was discovered in Butler
County, Ohio, a few miles below the town of Hamilton. This hill
is the highest one in the immediate vicinity. By reference to the
figure, we see that on all sides, except towards the north, the
approach was steep and precipitous, almost inaccessible.

Fortified Hill, Hamilton, Ohio.

The wall is not of regular shape. It runs around on the very brow
of the hill, except in one or two places, where it cuts across a
ridge. In 1843 this wall was still about five feet high and
thirty-five feet base. The earth and stone of which the wall is
made were evidently gathered up from the surface of the hill. In
some places holes had been excavated, probably for the double
purpose of securing materials for the wall, and providing
reservoirs for water against a time of need. There are but four
openings in the wall, and each is very carefully guarded. The
complicated walls guarding the main entrance to the north are
especially noticeable. There are no less than four inner walls
besides the crescent shaped embankment on the outside. The signal
mound was about five hundred feet to the north of the main
opening. The stones on the surface of the mound all show the
action of fire.

If we were uncertain of the uses of the other class of
inclosures, which have been named Sacred Inclosures, we have no
need to hesitate as to the character of this work. Every thing in
reference to it betokens that it was a defensive work. The valley
of the Big Miami, in which it occurs, was a favorite resort of
the Mound Builders. On the opposite side of the river, to the
south, was a square and an ellipse combined, and several other
large works were ranged along the river in the course of a few
miles. We need scarcely doubt that this was a citadel in times of
need, and that when warning columns of smoke or flaming fires
showed the approach of an enemy, the old and the sick, the women
and the children, fled hither for protection, while the warriors
went forth to battle for their homes.

We will call attention to but one more of these fortified hills,
but this is on a magnificent scale. It is known as Fort Ancient,
and is situated on the Little Miami River, about forty miles east
of Cincinnati. It was not only a fort, but was also a fortified
village site, and has some features about it which are regarded
as of a religious nature. The hill on which it stands is in most
places very steep towards the river. A ravine starts from near
the upper end on the eastern side, gradually deepening towards
the south, and finally turns abruptly towards the west to the
river. By this means nearly the whole work occupies the summit of
a detached hill, having in most places very steep sides. To this
naturally strong position fortifications were added, consisting
of an embankment of earth of unusual height, which follows close
around the very brow of the hill. This embankment is still in a
fine state of preservation, but is now annually exposed to
cultivation and the inroads of cattle, so that it will not be
long before it will be greatly changed if no effort be made to
preserve it.

Fort Ancient.

This wall is, of course, the highest in just those places where
the sides of the hill are less steep than usual. In some places
it still has a height of twenty feet. We notice the wall has
numerous breaks in it. Some of these are where it crosses the
ravines, leading down the sides of the hill. In a few cases the
embankment may still be traced to within a few feet of a rivulet.
Considerable discussion has ensued as to the origin and use of
these numerous gateways. Mr. Squier thinks that these openings
were occupied by timber work in the nature of blockhouses which
have long since decayed. Others, however, think that the wall was
originally entire except in a few instances, and that the breaks
now apparent were formed by natural causes, such as water
gathering in pools, and musk-rats burrowing through the walls,
and we are told that such an opening was seen forming in the year
1847.72 No regular ditch exists inside the wall, the material
apparently being obtained from numerous dug holes.

It will be seen that the works could be naturally divided into
two parts, connected by the isthmus. More than one observer has
pointed out the resemblance in general outline of this work to a
map of North and South America, but of course the resemblance, if
any, is entirely accidental. Mr. Peet has called attention to the
resemblance which the walls of the lower inclosure bear to two
serpents, their heads being the mounds, which are separated from
the body by the opening which resembles a ring around the neck.
Their bodies are the walls, which, as they bend in and out, and
rise and fall, much resembles, he thinks, two massive green
serpents rolling along the summit of this high hill. If any such
resemblance occurs, we think it purely accidental. In relation to
the wall across the isthmus, it has been thought to have been the
means of defending one part of the work should an enemy gain
entrance to the other. It has also been supposed that at first
the fort was only built to the cross wall on the isthmus, and
afterwards the rest of the inclosure was added to the work.

The total length of the embankment is about five miles, the area
enclosed about one hundred acres. For most of this distance the
grading of the walls resembles the heavy grading of a railroad
track. Only one who has personally examined the walls can realize
the amount of labor they represent for a people destitute of
metallic tools, beasts of burden, and other facilities to
construct it.

Now, what was the object of this work? We think it was not simply
a fort, but rather a fortified village. That it must have
required the work of a numerous body of people, is undoubted, and
if they lived elsewhere, where are the works denoting such a
fact? We would further suggest that, if this was the seat of a
tribe, each of the two divisions might have been the location of
a phratry of the tribe, by a phratry, meaning the subdivision of
a tribe. We would call especial attention to the two mounds seen
just outside of the walls at the upper end. From these mounds two
low parallel walls extended in a north-easterly direction some
thirteen hundred and fifty feet, their distant ends joining
around a small mound. As this mound was not well situated for
signal purposes, inasmuch as it did not command a very extensive
view, and as the embankments would afford very little protection,
unless provided with palisades, it seems as if the most
satisfactory explanation we have is that it was in the nature of
a religious work.

Mr. Hosea thinks he has found satisfactory evidence that between
these walls there was a paved street, as he discovered in one
place, about two feet below the present surface, a pavement of
flat stones.73 From this, as a hint, he eloquently says:
“Imagination was not slow to conjure up the scene which was once
doubtless familiar to the dwellers at Fort Ancient. A train of
worshipers, led by priests clad in their sacred robes, and
bearing aloft the holy utensils, pass in the early morning, ere
yet the mists have risen in the valley below, along the gently
swelling ridge on which the ancient roadway lies. They near the
mound, and a solemn stillness succeeds their chanting songs; the
priests ascend the hill of sacrifice and prepare the sacred fire.
Now the first beams of the rising sun shoot up athwart the ruddy
sky, gilding the topmost boughs of the trees. The holy flame is
kindled, a curling wreath of smoke arises to greet the coming
god; the tremulous bush which was upon all nature breaks into
vocal joy, and songs of gladness bursts from the throats of the
waiting multitude as the glorious luminary arises in majesty and
beams upon his adoring people. A promise of renewed life and
happiness. Vain promise, since even his rays can not penetrate
the utter darkness which for ages has settled over this people.”
Thus imagination suggests, and enthusiasm paints a scene, but,
from positive knowledge, we can neither affirm nor deny its
truth.

Most of the works of the Mound Builders are noticeable for their
solidity and massiveness. We see this illustrated in the great
walls of Fort Ancient. Some of our scholars think this is a
distinguishing feature of the Mound Builders’ work.74 It seems to
us that it is difficult to make this a distinguishing feature, as
we have no means of knowing how much “massiveness” is required in
a work to entitle it to be considered a work of the Mound
Builders. Should this distinction be established, however, we
have to notice that while in the western part of the State of
Ohio the Mound Builders’ inclosures are more often of the
defensive sort, the type changes to the eastward, where, as in
the Scioto Valley, we find the so-called sacred inclosures in
larger numbers. In the State of Ohio, then, there were at least
two well defined types of works by the Mound Builders. But if we
split the Mound Builders up into tribes, where shall we draw the
line between them and our later Indians?

Fortified Headland, Northern Ohio.
Inclosures, Northern Ohio.

Scattered through Ohio, but especially abundant in the northern
part of the State, is a class of works which has excited
considerable comment. This cut illustrates a work of this kind.
It was located near where Cleveland now stands. The defense
consists mainly in the location. The wall seems to have been
rather of a secondary affair. The hill was too steep to admit
approach to it except from the rear, where the double wall was
placed. With both of these works a ditch was dug outside the
wall. These works did not always consist simply of fortified
headlands. This cut is of a portion of the works formerly
existing near Norwalk, Ohio. The circular work, D, is shaped much
like the sacred inclosures, though not on so large a scale. In
the larger work, at B, we notice a truncated mound. The ditch is
on the outside of the circles. This cut is of a work formerly on
the banks of the Black River. Here we have a square inclosure,
defended by two embankments and a ditch.

Square Inclosure, Northern Ohio.

This class of works was formerly common not only in Ohio and
Western New York, but they were also to be observed in other
sections of the country. They existed alike in the valley of the
two Miami Rivers, and in that of the Scioto. They were also found
throughout the South. Even Wisconsin, the home of the effigy
Mound Builders, is not destitute of this class of remains. The
peculiar interest attaching to them arises from the fact that in
some places, at least, we have good reason to assign their
construction to Indian tribes. Those of Western New York were
very thoroughly studied by Mr. Squier. When he commenced his
investigations, he was under the impression that he was dealing
with the remains of a people very similar, at least, to those who
built the massive works in the Ohio Valley and elsewhere, but he
was led to the conviction that they were the works of the
Iroquois Indians, and as further proof that such was the case, we
are told that since the palisades that once inclosed places known
to be villages of the Iroquois have disappeared, there is no
difference to be observed between the appearance of the ruins of
such a village site and any of the earthworks in Western New
York. But we have just stated that the remains last mentioned are
identical with those found in Northern Ohio, and indeed over a
wide extent of country. The conclusion seems to be, then, that
one large class of works in many points resembling Mound
Builders’ works, found widely distributed throughout the
Mississippi Valley, were really the works of Indians.75 But we
are approaching a subject we do not wish to discuss just yet. We
simply point out that not all the remains of prehistoric people
in the Mississippi Valley are referable to the Mound Builders.

We have tried to point out the more important works that are
ascribed to them. It must of necessity occur in a work of this
nature that the review should be very brief, yet we have touched
on the different classes of their works. But before leaving this
part of our field we must mention some anomalous works, and refer
to others which, if they can be relied on as works of the same
people, certainly imply a great advance on their part.

Our next cut is named by Mr. Pidgeon the “Sacrificial Pentagon.”
Writing in 1850, he states, “This remarkable group . . . has
probably elicited more numerous conjectures as to its original
use than any other earth-work yet discovered in the valley of the
Mississippi. . . . It is situated on the west highlands of the
Kickapoo River, in Wisconsin.”76 Mr. Pidgeon claims to have
discovered two of these pentagons. We are not aware that any one
else has verified these discoveries, and it is difficult to
decide what value to give to his writings. He claims to have made
extensive researches around the head-waters of the Mississippi as
early as 1840, and there to have met an aged Indian—the last of
his tribe—who gave him many traditions as to the mounds in that
locality. Most of our scholars think his writings of no account,
whatever, and yet Mr. Conant says, “He seems to have been a
thoroughly conscientious and careful observer, faithfully noting
what he saw and beard.”77

Sacrificial Pentagon.

We will briefly describe a few of the earth-works he mentions,
notice their singular form, and give an outline of the traditions
in regard to them, leaving the reader to draw his own
conclusions. Of this work the outer circle is said to have been
twelve hundred feet in circumference, the walls being from three
to five feet in height; width on the ground from twelve to
sixteen feet. The walls of the pentagon were from four to six
feet high. The inner circle was of very slight elevation. The
central mound was thirty-six feet in diameter. This singular
arrangement of circle, pentagon, and mounds, is traditionally
represented to have been a sacred national altar—the most holy
one known to tradition—and no foot, save that of a priest, might
pass within the sacred walls of the pentagon after its
completion. The sacrifice offered on this altar was that of human
life. Twice each year the offering was made.78

Festival Circle.

The work represented in the figure at left is stated to have been
in the near neighborhood of the former, and to have been
intimately connected with it. Mr. Pidgeon claims to have found
five of these circles and two pentagons. So far as we know, he is
the only authority for their occurrence, no one else having been
so fortunate as to have found them. This is surely a singular
work, and we can not fail to recognize in it a representation of
the sun and the moon. In excavating in the central mound, we are
assured that small pieces Of mica were found abundantly mixed
with the soil. “Had the surface-soil been removed with care, and
the stratum beneath been washed by a few heavy showers of rain,
so thoroughly studded was it with small particles of mica, that
under the sun’s rays it certainly would have presented no unapt
symbolic representation of that luminary.”79

Crescent Works.

Our next figure is another singular arrangement of
crescent-shaped works and mounds. Lapham says that
crescent-shaped works are found in Wisconsin. Pidgeon says that
crescent works are found in Illinois, but works arranged as shown
in this wood-cut he found in but four places in Wisconsin. Could
we verify this author’s statements, this illustration and the
preceding one would be very good evidence of the prevalence of
sun-worship among the effigy Mound Builders of Wisconsin. This
would be nothing singular, since the Indian race almost
universally reverenced the sun.80

The figure below represents a group of works which, we are told,
were of a class formerly abundant in Missouri and Iowa. The
embankments are stated to be of varying heights, but all of the
same length. They do not quite meet, but a mound defends the
opening. Sometimes a square is so represented, and sometimes but
two walls.

Triangular Works.

A singular statement is made in reference to a nice proportion
said to be observed between the heights of the embankments and
walls. In this case, for instance, the heights of the embankments
are, three, four, and five feet; the sum of these, twelve feet,
was the exact height of the central mound. Furthermore, the
square of the sum of the heights of three embankments gives us
one hundred and forty-four feet, which is the length of the
embankments. We are gravely assured that this same nice
proportion is always observed in works of this kind. The
embankments being always of equal length, but of varying heights,
still the sum of these heights, whether three or four sides,
being always equal to the height of the central mound.81 We do
not know of any specimen of this class of works now existing. If
this early explorer’s account be reliable, then we have in works
of this class very good evidence that some of their inclosures
were in the nature of sacred inclosures. The trouble is to verify
Mr. Pidgeon’s account. There is a good deal that is strange and
marvelous in reference to the Mound Builders, and we must use
judgment as to what is told us, unless we are sure there is no
mistake, or unless the reports are vouched for by many observers.

We wish to call attention to some singular works in Missouri,
which would imply that the Mound Builders were possessed of no
little engineering skill. We have every indication that near New
Madrid was a very extensive settlement. The works consist of
inclosures, large and small mounds in great numbers, and
countless residence sites. One of fifty acres was noticed, which
had evidently been inclosed by earthen walls. In some places in
the forest, where this wall had been preserved, its height was
found to be from three to five feet, and its base width fifteen
feet.82 But the suggestive features about these works are noticed
along the edge of the swamp near which they stood. This swamp in
1811 was a lake, with a clear, sandy bottom. It is not at all
doubted but that it was at one time the bed of the Mississippi
River, and probably this town stood on its banks. The river is
now some eighteen miles away. It must suddenly have changed its
course, leaving behind it a lake, which, in course of time,
became a swamp.

But along the shores of this ancient lake, in front of the
inclosure, small tongues of land have been carried out into the
water, from fifteen to thirty feet in length, by ten, or fifteen
in width, with open spaces between, which, small as they are,
forcibly remind one of the wharfs of a seaport town. The cypress
trees grew very thickly in all the little bays thus formed, and
the irregular, yet methodical, outlines of the forest, winding in
and out close to the shore of these tongues of land, is so marked
as to remove all doubt as to their artificial origin.83 The
suggestion is made in view of these wharfs, that the Mound
Builders must have had some sort of boats to navigate the waters
of the lake.

And the singular part is, that right in this neighborhood are
many evidences of a system of canals. A glance at the map will
show that the portion of Missouri around New Madrid, and to the
south of it, is dotted with swampy lakes and sluggish bayous. The
evidence is to the effect that the ancient inhabitants connected
these bayous and lakes with artificial canals, so as to form
quite an extended system of inland water-ways. Right east of the
town of Gayoso, we are told that a canal had been dug that now
connects the Mississippi with a lake called Big Lake. A bayou
running into this lake was joined by a canal with Cushion Lake.

From this last lake, by means of bayous and lakes, a clear course
could be pursued for some miles north, where finally another
canal was cut to join with the Mississippi a few miles below New
Madrid. The entire length of this water way was some seventy
miles, but we are not told how much of it was artificial, neither
are the dimensions given. Prof. Swallow speaks of a canal “fifty
feet wide, and twelve feet, deep.” Whether this was one of this
series or not, we do not know.84 This is indeed a singular piece
of work. It would be more satisfactory if we had more definite
information in regard to the same.

With our present knowledge of the state of society among the
Mound Builders, as made evident by the remains of their
implements and ornaments, we are not justified in believing this
part of a system of internal navigation. We have already seen
that further south they sometimes surrounded their village sites
with a wide and deep moat or ditch, as was observed around the
inclosure containing the great mound on the Etowah. We are
inclined to believe that a more careful survey would greatly
modify the accounts we have of these canals, if it did not, in
fact, show that they were the works of nature. According to a
writer in the _American Antiquarian,_85 the whole lower part of
the Mississippi Valley was abundantly supplied with canals,
irrigating ditches, and evidences of a high intelligence. He
speaks of observing the presence of an extensive canal a little
north of the section we have described. He asserts they were dug
to convey the surplus waters of the Mississippi in times of flood
to the White and St. Francis Rivers, thus preventing disastrous
overflows. It is needless to caution the reader against such
conclusions. Our information in regard to those canals is far too
limited to support the views advanced.

This finishes our examination of the works of the Mound Builders.
Except in the case of the more massive works, they have become
obliterated, but here and there are left traces of the former
presence of these now vanished people. The antiquary muses over
the remains of their inclosures, their fortified places, their
effigies and mounds. By the combined efforts of scholars in many
departments, we may yet hope that the darkness now enshrouding
this race may be dissipated, but at present our positive
knowledge is very limited indeed. It is as if we were asked to
reconstruct a picture which had faded in the lapse of time so
that only traces here and there are visible. Here, perhaps, a
hand is seen; there a piece of foliage; in one place something we
think representing water, in another a patch of sky, or a
mountain peak. Until a key is found which shall show us how to
connect these scattered parts, our efforts are useless, since
many pictures could be formed, but we have no surety we are
right. So we may form mental conceptions of the Mound Builders,
but they are almost as varied as the individual explorers.
Science may yet discover the key which will enable us to form a
clear mental conception of the race which flourished here many
years ago, and left their crumbling memorials to excite the
curiosity of a later people.

We must now turn our attention to another branch of inquiry and
learn what we can of the culture of the Mound Builders. This is
to be determined by an investigation of the remains of their
implements, weapons, and ornaments. When we know the skill with
which they manufactured these articles, and gain an insight into
some of their probable customs, we shall know where to place them
in the scale of civilization. What we have learned of their works
has already convinced us that we are dealing with a people
considerably above the scale of Savagery. The nice proportion
between the parts, the exact circles and coincident angles show
considerable advance in mechanical skill. The character of the
works indicates that the people had permanent places of abode,
and were not subject to the vicissitudes of a hunter’s state of
life for subsistence. This implies that we are dealing with a
people living in village communities, practising agriculture and
many other arts, and therefore entitled to rank in the middle
status of Barbarism corresponding to the Neolithic inhabitants of
Europe.86 We will now see how far this conclusion is sustained by
an examination of the remains of the handiwork of the people.

Arrow Points. Ax found in a Mound.

Implements of stone are of course abundant. But men, when in the
culture of the Stone Age, having a common material to work upon,
and under the pressure of common needs, have everywhere provided
similar forms. For this reason it is hard to find distinctive
points of difference between implements of stone of Mound
Builders’ work and a series of similar implements the work of
Indians. We are assured, however, that when examining a series of
each, those of the Mound Builders display a superior finish.87
The preceding wood-cut represents a collection of arrow-points
found in the mounds, but they are not particularly so
distinguishable from specimens found on the surface. Great
numbers of arrow-points are occasionally found on altars. Here we
have a view of one of the stone axes fashioned by the hands that
heaped the mounds. It is certainly a very fine specimen.

The Mound Builders must have had all the varieties of stone
implements common to people in their stage of culture, such as
axes, fleshers, and chisels. They also must have possessed
mortars and pestles for grinding corn, and some implements did
duty as hoes and spades. We represent in a group a collection of
weapons and implements from the mounds and stone graves of
Tennessee. All these articles are finely finished. One of the
axes has a hole bored through it. One of them is further provided
with a stone handle, and is characterized as being the “most
beautiful and perfect stone implement ever exhumed from the
aboriginal remains within the limits of the United States.”

Weapons of Stone from Tennessee. (Smith. Inst.)

People in the culture of the Stone Age make but very rare use of
metal, as metals are to them simply varieties of stone, much less
useful for their purpose than the different kinds of flints,
except for ornaments. From the altar mounds, near Cincinnati,
were taken ornaments of silver, copper, iron and traces of gold,
all of which had been worked into their present shape by simply
hammering. The iron, it should be remarked, was meteoric iron,
which can be hammered as easily as native copper. We have already
remarked that about the only native iron is obtained from such
sources. Copper was utilized for a great variety of purposes.

Copper Ax.

We give a cut of a copper ax found in one of the Ohio mounds.
Copper axes have lately been found quite frequently in mounds
near Davenport, Iowa, and in most cases before being deposited in
the mounds, they had been wrapped in cloth. Copper ornaments are
a more common find. Bracelets, beads, and ear ornaments are
numerous. Our next cut represents some very fine bracelets found
in a mound near Chillicothe, Ohio, Copper tools and weapons have
been found quite frequently on the surface, but we are not sure
in this case whether they are not the work of recent Indians. The
early explorers noticed the presence of copper ornaments among
the Indians. “When Henry Hudson discovered, in 1609, the
magnificent river that bears his name, he noticed among the
Indians of that region pipes and ornaments of copper.” The
account says: “They had red copper tobacco pipes, and other
things of copper they did wear about their necks.”88 De Soto also
noticed among the Southern Indians axes of copper. Other accounts
could be quoted showing that the Indians were well acquainted
with copper.89 The fact is, in this matter also, it is impossible
to draw a dividing line between relics of the Mound Building
tribes and the Indians. However, the Mound Builders were
certainly acquainted with copper, but to their minds it was only
a singular stone, one that they could hammer, into a desired
shape.

Copper Bracelets.

Where did they obtain their copper? We are all aware that in this
country great supplies of pure copper exist near the southern
shore of Lake Superior, and there is a peculiarity about the
copper found there, that is, the presence of small pieces of
silver with the copper. This is a very singular mixture, and we
are not aware of its occurrence elsewhere. It would trouble the
best chemists to explain it. From this fact we are enabled to
identify articles of copper derived from that source, and to that
region we can trace the copper from which are formed most of the
copper implements and ornaments found in this country. It is also
noticeable that the nearer we get to this region the more
numerous are the finds of articles of copper. More are reported
from Wisconsin than the rest of the United States put together.

This leads us to a very interesting subject. In 1848 Mr. S. O.
Knapp, agent of the Minnesota Mining Company on the northern
peninsula of Michigan, discovered that the modern miners were but
following in the footsteps of some ancient people who had mined
for copper there some time now far past. The general conclusion
is that these old miners were Mound Builders, but here the
evidence of their presence is not found in the existence of
mounds and earthworks, but of pits and excavations, which, by the
slow accumulation of years, had become filled to near the surface
with _débris_ of various kinds. Many had noticed these little
pits and depressions without suspecting they had aught to do with
the presence of man. The hollows made by large trees, overturned
by the wind, frequently left as well marked depressions as these
excavations.

We have abundant proof that these old miners were practical
workmen. They evidently did not neglect the most trifling
indication of metals. They made thorough research and discovered
the principal lodes. Our present day miners have long since
learned to regard the presence of these ancient pits as excellent
guides in this matter. With modern appliances they penetrate far
beyond the power of the old workmen. At the Waterbury mine there
is in the face of the vertical bluff an artificial opening, which
is twenty-five feet wide, fifteen feet high, and twelve feet
deep. The materials thrown out in digging had accumulated in
front, and on this forest trees common to that region were
growing of full size. Some of the blocks of stone which were
removed from this recess would probably weigh two or three tons,
and must have required the use of levers to move them. Beneath
the surface rubbish was discovered the remains of a cedar trough,
by which the water from the mines was conducted away. Wooden
bowls were found, which were probably used to dip the water from
the mine into this trough.

Near the bottom of the pit, shovels, made of cedar, were found,
shaped much like a canoe paddle, but showing by their wear that
they were used as shovels. Although they appeared solid while in
water, yet, on drying, they shrunk up, and were with difficulty
preserved. A birch tree, two feet in diameter, was observed
growing directly over one of these shovels. No marks of metallic
tools were observed anywhere about this large pit.

Ancient Mine, Michigan.

In this case they constructed a sort of a cave, but in many cases
they mined open to the air, that is, they simply dug trenches or
pits. A row of these ancient pits, now slight depressions,
indicate a vein. What they seem to have especially sought after
was lumps of copper that they could easily manage and fashion by
hammering. They had not discovered the art of melting. When they
found an unusually large piece, they broke off what they could by
vigorous hammering. In one case they found a mass weighing about
six tons of pure copper. They made an attempt to master this
piece. By means of wedges they had got it upon a cob-work of
round logs or skids, six or eight inches in diameter, but the
mass was finally abandoned for some unknown reason after breaking
off such pieces as they could until the upper surface was smooth.
This mass rested on the framework of logs while the years came
and went, until, after the lapse of unknown time, the white men
once more opened the old mine.

On the rubbish in front of this mine was standing the stump of a
pine tree ten feet in circumference. These ancient mines are
found not only on the main-land, but on the islands off the coast
as well. The only helps they seem to have employed was fire,
traces of which are found everywhere, and stone mauls and axes.
The mauls consist of oblong water-worn bowlders of hard tough
rock, nature having done every thing in fashioning them except to
form the groove, which was chiseled out around the middle. Some
copper implements were also found.

Col. Whittlesey, from whose writings we have drawn the foregoing,
concludes that these mines were worked by the Mound Builders. As
he finds no traces of graves or houses, or other evidence of a
protracted stay, he thinks they were worked only through the
Summer season of the year by bands of workmen from the south.

As to what caused the abandonment of the works we do not know. It
might have been an impulse of their race hurrying them on to some
distant migration; or, more probably, pressed by foes from
without, they were compelled to abandon their ancient homes.
Whatever the cause was, nature resumed her sway. Forest trees
crept up to and grew around the mouths of the deserted mines.
Col. Whittlesey concludes from the group of trees growing on the
top of the rubbish heap that at least five hundred years passed
away before the white man came from the south to resume the work
of his ancient predecessor.90

It is not, however, proven that the Mound Builders were the sole
workers of these ancient mines. It is known that the Indians
mined for flint. Some of the excavations for this purpose, in
what is known as Flint Ridge, in Muskingum County, Ohio, are as
marked as the traces of ancient mining in Michigan. Similar
appearances are recorded in Missouri. As copper was in demand
among the Indians, and as it is probable that they obtained much
of it from the North, they may have continued to work the ancient
copper mines until comparatively recent times. Mr. Lapham
believes that the progenitors of the Indian tribes found dwelling
in the regions near these mines, carried on mining operations
there. Dr. Rau thinks it probable that small bands of various
Northern tribes made periodical excursions to the locality,
returning to their homes when they had supplied themselves with
sufficient quantities of the much-desired metal. The fact that
many of the modern Indian tribes knew nothing about these mines
is not of much weight, when we reflect how easily a barbarian
people forget events, even those of a striking nature.

We are apt to judge the culture of a people by the skill they
display in works of arts. The article on which the Mound Builder
lavished most of his skill was the pipe. This would show that
with them, as with the modern Indians, the use of the pipe was
largely interwoven with their civil and religious observances. In
making war and in concluding peace, it probably played a very
important part. “To know the whole history of tobacco, of the
custom of smoking, and of the origin of the pipe, would be to
solve many of the most interesting problems of American
ethnology.”91

The general decoration consisted in carving the bowl of the pipe
into the shape of some animal or bird. In some instances we have
carved representations of the human head. Such as these are of
particular interest and value, as they are probably faithful
representations of the features of the Mound Builders. This is a
fine specimen found in one of the altar mounds in Ohio. The
method of wearing the hair is worthy of notice. The holes placed
in a row encircling the forehead and coming down as low as the
ears, were once filled with pearls. In some they still remained
when found, though they had been burned in the fire. The lines
upon the face obviously imitate the custom of tattooing the
countenance.

Sculptured Face and Face of a Female.

Scholars have called attention to the fact that Humboldt
discovered in Mexico a small statue which he supposed represented
an Aztec priestess. This statue had sculptured upon its forehead
a row of pearls, worn in the same manner as is represented in
this pipe. This is another pipe of great interest, and is
supposed to represent the head of a woman. The countenance is
expressive, the eyes prominent, and the lips full and rounded. We
must notice again the headdress. While the faces are of Indian
type, the method of wearing the hair is different from that of
the typical Indian of the North.

Beaver.

The animal forms into which the pipe-bowls are carved, are also
full of interest. This is not so much on account of animal forms
themselves as the insight we gain as to the artistic skill of the
people who fashioned the pipes, and in various ways learn of bits
of customs and manners peculiar to them. Here we have figured a
pipe, the bowl of which is carved to represent a beaver. No one
need hesitate as to the animal which the carver had in mind. It
is represented in a characteristic attitude, and has the broad,
flat tail of its species. It must have required no little skill
and patient labor to work a rough stone into this finished pipe,
especially when we remember that the maker had no edged tools
with which to work.

Otter.

We can not always determine the animal which the artist had in
mind. In this illustration we have figured such a pipe.
Considerable discussion has arisen as to the animal represented.
Some cases of this nature have been thought to show either
migration from a distant country on the part of the maker or else
an extended system of trade.

Squier and Davis, who first figured it, supposed it to represent
a manatee, or sea-cow. This animal is essentially a tropical
species, the only known place where it was found in the United
States being Florida. From the presence of this carved specimen,
found a thousand miles to the north, some interesting queries, as
the origin of the mound-building tribes, and the state of life
among them, were raised. It is almost certain, however, that the
animal intended to be represented was the otter.92

Birds on Pipes.

The most general form of sculpture was that of birds, and we find
specimens of almost all the common varieties. In this group we
recognize the tufted heron striking a fish; the eagle, or hawk,
tearing a smaller bird; the swallow, apparently just ready to
fly; and in the last figure, one that has given rise to a good
deal of discussion. Some think from the circumstance of its
having a very large bill, toes pointing behind as well as before,
that it represents a toucan, which, if true, would make it a most
interesting specimen. But cautious scholars conclude that the
“figure is not of sufficient distinctness to identify the
original that was before the artist’s mind.” And therefore it is
not wise to make this specimen the subject of a far-reaching
speculation.93

It may be of interest to inquire whether the Indians made pipes
as tastefully ornamented as those we have described. We should
notice that all the pipes here described are from one very
limited locality in Ohio, and that is the valley of the Scioto,
the same section of country where were found the great inclosures
of a mathematical shape. We have no reason for supposing that the
Mound Builders generally throughout the Mississippi Valley had
this artistic skill. We have seen nowhere any thing to show a
superiority for them in this respect. Whatever conclusion can be
drawn from those pipes, applies only to the tribe in the Scioto
Valley. It is believed they do constitute a peculiar class by
themselves. As works of art, there are but few aboriginal relics
of North American origin their equal.94

We would also refer to the fact that most of these specimens were
obtained from one altar-mound.95 We do not know what ceremonies
were performed around this altar, but if it were a place of
burial or cremation, they might have been the obsequies of some
distinguished maker of pipes. That such a person would be the
recipient of honor, is not singular, for “the manufacture of
stone pipes, necessarily a painful and tedious labor, may have
formed a branch of aboriginal industry, and the skillful pipe
carver probably occupied among the former Indians a rank equal to
that of the experienced sculptor in our times.” Among the Ojibway
Indians, we are told, are persons who possess peculiar skill in
the carving of pipes, and make it their profession, or at least
the means of gaining, in part, their livelihood. One “inlaid his
pipes very tastefully with figures of stars, and flowers of black
and white stones. But his work proceeded very slowly, and he sold
his pipes at high prices.”96 So we see how cautious we must be
about drawing inferences from this peculiar class of pipes found
in one limited locality.

The knowledge of how to manufacture pottery is justly regarded as
a turning point in the advance of primitive man along the weary
road that brings him at last to civilization. At this point he
ceases to be a savage, and enters the confines of Barbarism.97
The skill shown in using this knowledge is one of the many things
we have to take into consideration in determining the rank of a
people in the scale of enlightenment. The Mound Builders were
evidently quite well along in the potter’s art; and as they have
left behind them many examples of their work, we must try and
acquaint ourselves with some of the more important varieties.

Group of Clay Vessels.

This illustration is of a group of clay vessels of the bowl
pattern, found in mounds in different parts of the Mississippi
Valley. In one of these we see a good example of the style of
ornamentation by means of incised lines. In the duck-headed
vessel we have a representation of a class of vessels common in
Missouri and Tennessee. Not unfrequently one or both of the
handles of vessels of this class is in the form of a human head
instead of that of an animal. Our next illustrations represent a
group of such specimens. Judging from the skill with which they
imitated animals, it is not unreasonable to believe that in these
faces we have rude likenesses of the people who made them.

Bowls with Human Faces.

The two bottle-shaped vessels here figured, are from mounds in
Louisiana. As will be noticed, the ornamentation is quite
artistic. The ware is of a good quality, and they are good
examples of the Mound Builders’ art. The form with the long neck
is perhaps a water-cooler. When filled with water, and allowed to
stand, some of the water passes through the pores, and
evaporating, keeps the surface of the vessel cool.

They also made some vessels of large size to serve for cooking
purposes. On some of the larger vessels the imprint of woven
weeds and willows of a basket on the outer surface leads to the
belief that such vessels were formed or moulded within baskets.
Many large pots and urns, however, were made without this aid.
Some large urns were used for burial purposes. In a Michigan
mound an urn about three feet in height had been so used. It was
standing upright, and into it the whole skeleton of a man had
been compressed, and a closely-fitting lid covered the top.98
Very large, shallow vessels were used to manufacture salt—that
is, they were filled from some salt-spring, and then the water
was evaporated, leaving the salt. In localities near
salt-springs, thick fragments of rude earthenware have been found
that must have come from vessels as large as barrels.

Bottle-shaped Vessels. (Smith. Inst.)
Water Cooler.

In the next group we have representations of a singular class of
vessels. In some cases the mouth and neck of the vessel is shaped
in imitation of animals. In the smallest one we recognize the
head of a man, with an opening in the back of the head. Many
vessels of this form are known, and a great many different animal
heads are represented. The fish-shaped vessel is a curious one.
The one figured evidently represents a sun-fish. The long vase or
jug is in the shape of a child’s leg, with an opening in the
heel.

Pottery Vessels. (Smith. Inst.)

Some very beautiful vessels of the character of those we have
figured, have been found in Missouri. One enthusiastic explorer
says, “Perhaps we have very few modern artists who could equal
those ancient pottery makers in taste, skill, curious design, and
wonderful imitation of nature. Birds, beasts, fishes, even the
shells on the river shore, have an exact counterpart in their
domestic utensils.” “While digging in one of these pottery mounds
in Missouri, we unearthed a large tortoise. We thought it was
alive, and seizing it, to cast it into the woods for its liberty,
we were suddenly surprised to find our tortoise was an earthen
vessel in that shape. In the same mound we uncovered a huge
shell—the single valve of a unio. Closer inspection revealed that
it was a perfect earthen vessel. Following these came a perfect
fish, exhibiting, to our astonishment, the scales, fins, and
peculiarities of that species of fish in detail.”99

We must leave this interesting part of our subject. An entire
volume would scarcely do justice to it, but for the sake of
comparison, we must inquire as to the state of this art among the
Indian tribes. It seems that before the arrival of the whites,
the Indian tribes throughout North America, with few exceptions,
were apt potters. The whites, however, soon supplied them with
superior utensils of metal, so, that the majority of the Eastern
tribes soon lost the knowledge of the art. It lingered longer
among the tribes of the South, and of the interior, and even to
this day the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico and Arizona make an
excellent article of pottery. Early travelers wrote in high terms
of the skill of the Southern Indians in this matter. Du-Pratz
thought so highly of the work of the Natchez Indians that he had
them make him an entire dinner set.

Catlin, speaking of the Mandan Indians, says the women of that
tribe made great quantities of dishes and bowls, modeled after
many forms. He says they are so strong and serviceable that they
cook food in them by hanging them over the fire, as we would an
iron pot. “I have seen specimens,” he continues, “which have been
dug up in Indian mounds and tombs in the Southern and Middle
States, placed in our Eastern museums, and looked upon as a great
wonder, when here this novelty is at once done away with, and the
whole mystery: where women can be seen handling and using them by
hundreds, and they can be seen every day in the summer, also,
moulding into many fanciful forms, and passing them through the
kilns, where they are hardened.”

Dr. Rau, speaking of the artistic skill of the Indian potters, as
shown by numerous remains gathered in Illinois, does not hesitate
to assert, after personal examination of Mound Builders’ pottery,
that the Indian relics were in every respect equal to those
specimens exhumed from the mounds of the Mississippi Valley.100
Lapham, speaking of fragments of Mound Builders’ pottery in
Wisconsin, says, “They agree in every respect with fragments
found about the old Indian villages.”

The culture of a people is also determined by their knowledge of
agriculture. The savage depends entirely upon hunting and fishing
for subsistence. A knowledge of horticulture, of domestic
animals, and of agriculture, even though rude, are each and all
potent factors in advancing man in culture. So we must inquire as
to the traces of agricultural knowledge observable among the
remains of the Mound Builders. Some writers speak in quite
glowing terms of the enormous crops they must have raised for
their populous cities. The fact is, that while it is doubtless
true that they practiced agriculture, yet we have no reason to
suppose it was any thing more than a rude tillage, such as was
practiced among the village Indian tribes. This is evident from
the tools with which they worked.

Agricultural Implements. (Smith. Inst.)

In a few cases copper tools have been recovered which may have
served for digging in the ground, but in most cases their art
furnished them nothing higher than spades, shovels, picks, and
hoes made of stone, horn, bone, and probably wood. In this cut
are specimens of such agricultural tools. These were doubtless
furnished with handles of wood. The notched one was perhaps
provided with a handle at right angles to it, so as to constitute
a hoe. That we are right in regarding these implements as
agricultural tools, is shown not only by their large size, but
also by the traces of wear discovered on them. We must admit,
however, that agriculture carried on with such tools as these,
must have been in a comparatively rude state.

In this connection we must refer to the garden beds noticed in
some places. We read that in Western Michigan the so-called
garden beds are a distinguishing feature of the ancient
occupation, often covering many acres in a place, in a great
variety of forms, both regular and grotesque.101 These seem from
the above account to be very similar to the garden beds of
Wisconsin. Dr. Lapham tells us that in the latter State they
consist of low, broad, parallel ridges, as if corn had been
planted in drills.

The average four feet in width, and the depth of the walk between
them is six inches. Traces of this kind of cultivation are found
in various parts of the State. We are also referred to the
presence of garden mounds in Missouri, but in this case the low
mounds are of the same mysterious class that Prof. Forshey says
occur by millions in the South-west, and may not be the work of
man. Just what the connection is between the garden beds and the
Mound Builders is hard to determine. Mr. Lapham thinks that those
in Wisconsin were certainly later in date than the mounds. He
observed that they were frequently constructed right across the
works of the Mound Builders. This would seem to imply that the
makers were not one and the same people.

As to the government and religion of the Mound Builders, all is
conjecture. On both of these points a great deal has been
assumed, but when we try to find out the grounds on which these
theories rest we quickly see how little real foundation there is
for any knowledge on this subject. If we are right in our views
as to the effigy mounds of Wisconsin, then a sort of animal
worship prevailed. Whether the great inclosures in the Scioto
Valley were of a religious nature or not is very doubtful. The
great serpent mound was probably an object of worship. The
assertion is quite frequently made that the Mound Builders were
sun worshipers, which may be correct, but we must observe that we
have no proofs of it in the works they have left. We judge it to
be true only because sun-worship was probably a part of the
religion of a large proportion of the Indian race, and because we
find special proofs of its existence among some of the Southern
Indians who are supposed to be closely related to the Mound
Builders.

Idols. (Smith. Inst.)

As we approach the South, we meet with what are supposed to be
rude and uncouth idols, but they have not been found under such
circumstances as to make it positive that they belonged to the
Mound Builders. In this illustration we have two idols,
considered to be genuine relics of the stone-grave people of
Tennessee. The first one is an Aztec idol found at Cholula, and
introduced here simply for comparison. What position these idols
held in connection with the religion of the race, we are not
prepared to say.

Similar remarks might be made as to the system of government. A
number of writers, taking into account the immense labor involved
in constructing some of the works, have insisted that the people
must have lived under a despotic form of government, one in which
the state had unlimited power over the lives and fortunes of its
subjects.102

There is no real foundation for such views, and we think they are
misleading. No one doubts but that the Mound Builders were living
in a tribal state of society. If so, they doubtless had the usual
subdivisions of a tribe. This point we remember afforded us some
insight into the meaning of the effigy mounds of Wisconsin.

This would imply the government by the council, and while the
rulers may have been hereditary, the officers of the tribe were
probably elective, and could be deposed for cause. We do not mean
to assert that this is an exact picture of the state of
government of the Mound Builders, because our knowledge on this
point is not sufficient to make such a positive statement, but it
is far more likely to be true than the picture of a despotic
government, ruling from some capital seat a large extent of
country, holding a court with barbaric pomp and circumstances
such as some writers would have us believe.

We hope our readers have not been wearied by this somewhat
extended investigation of the Mound Builders. Every storm that
beats upon their works tends to level them. The demands of our
modern life are fast obliterating the remaining monuments and,
indeed, it is now only those which are situated in favorable
localities, or are massive in construction, that are left for our
inspection. But these nearly obliterated records of the past are
of more than passing interest to us as monuments of the
prehistoric times of our own country. We wander over these ruins
and find much to interest us, much to excite our curiosity. The
purposes of many are utterly unknown. Some, by their great
proportions, awaken in us feelings of admiration for the
perseverance and energy of their builders. But when we
investigate the objects of stone, of clay, and of copper this
people left behind them, we notice how hard it is to draw a
dividing line between them and the Indians.

In fact, there is no good reason for separating them from the
Indian race as a whole. We do not mean to say that they were not,
in many respects, different from the tribes found in the same
section of the country by the early explorers, though, we ought,
perhaps, to confine this remark to the central portion of the
country occupied by these ancient remains. But the American of
to-day differs from the American of early Colonial times. The
miserable natives of Southern California were Indians, but very
different indeed from the ambitious, warlike Iroquois, who
displayed so much statesmanship in the formation of their
celebrated league. In another chapter we shall discuss this part
of our subject, as well as the question of the antiquity of the
ruins.

REFERENCES

(1) The manuscript of this chapter was submitted to Prof. F. W.
Putnam, curator of the Peabody Museum of Archæology and
Ethnology, Harvard University, for criticism.

(2) Conant’s “Footprints of Vanished Races,” p. 122.

(3) Force: “Some Considerations on the Mound Builders,” p. 64;
“Am. Antiquarian,” March, 1884, pp. 93-4; “10th Annual Report,
Peabody Museum,” p. 11.

(4) Short’s “North Americans of Antiquity”, p. 28.

(5) Squier and Davis’s “Ancient Monuments,” p. 105.

(6) Foster’s “Prehistoric Paces,” p. 148.

(7) Squier’s “Aboriginal Monuments of New York,” Smithsonia
Contribution No. 11, p. 83.

(8) Squier’s “Aboriginal Monuments of New York,” Smithsonia
Contribution No. 11, p. 87.

(9) Foster’s “Prehistoric Races,” p. 121.

(10) “They are numbered by millions.” Ibid.

(11) Prof. Forshey could frame no satisfactory hypothesis of
their origin. Ibid, p. 122.

(12) “Native Races,” Vol. IV, pp. 739 and 740.

(13) Smithsonian Rep., 1870, p. 406.

(14) Narrative of U.S. exploring expedition during the years
1838-42, Vol. IV, p. 334.

(15) Prof. Gibbs in Frank Leslie’s Monthly, August, 1883.

(16) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 139.

(17) Jones’s “Explorations in Tennessee,” p. 15.

(18) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 143. Explorers for Bureau of
Ethnology so report it in the South. Prof. Putnam, who has
certainly had great experience, says he has always found the
layers to be horizontal.

(19) “Sixteenth Annual Report Peabody Museum,” p, 171. An
ornament shaped to resemble the head of a wood-pecker, made of
gold, derived from some Spanish source, was found in a mound in
Florida. This particular mound must have been erected after the
discovery of America. (“Smithsonian Report,” 1877, p. 298, _et
seq._)

(20) “Sixteenth and Seventeenth Report Peabody Museum.” These
ornaments were made of hammered iron. This is the first time
that native iron has been found in the mounds. (Putnam.)

(21) “Prehistoric Races,” p. 178.

(22) J. E. Stevens’s Paper, read before the Muscatine Academy
of Science, Dec., 1878.

(23) That this was at any rate sometimes the case See “Ancient
Monuments,” p. 159.

(24) “Peabody Museum Reports,” Vol. II, p. 58.

(25) Jones’s “Explorations in Tennessee,” p. 15. See also
“First An. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,” p. 198.

(26) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 169. See also note on same page
for another account of a larger number of skeletons.

(27) Short’s “North Americans of Antiquity,” App. A.

(28) James’s “Popular Science,” File 1883, p. 445.

(29) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 173.

(30) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 74.

(31) “Views of Louisiana.”

(32) This cut represents the mound as it probably was before
the outlines were destroyed by cultivation. It is based on a
model prepared by Dr. Patrick for the Peabody Museum.

(33) “Peabody Museum Report,” Vol. II, p.473. As this may
include some of the wash from the mound, perhaps it would be
better to give the real area of the base as over twelve acres.

(34) That is, if we follow the plan.

(35) “Prehistoric Races,” p. 107.

(36) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 174.

(37) Pickett’s “History of Alabama,” Vol. I., p. 301.

(38) Carr’s “Mounds of the Mississippi Valley,” pp. 91, 92;
note, 103.

(39) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 117. Note.—For the statement made
in this text we are under obligation to Prof. Thomas, of the
Bureau of Ethnology, who, in answer to a letter of inquiry,
kindly furnished the information.

(40) _“Am. Antiquarian,”_ March, 1884, p. 99.

(41) It may be that no mounds were built for signaling purposes
alone. The work of erecting mounds was so great that it is
quite likely they were always erected for some other purpose,
and used only secondarily for signal purposes. Such is shown to
be the case with many of the signal mounds in Ohio. Such is the
opinion of Mr. MacLean, who has made extensive researches.

(42) Force’s “Some Consideration of the Mound Builders,” p. 65.

(43) Similar effigy mounds have been recently observed in
Minnesota, but they have not yet been described. (Putnam.)

(44) Peet’s _American Antiquarian,_ May, 1884, p. 184.

(45) Peet’s _American Antiquarian,_ January, 1884. We are
indebted to the writings of Mr. Peet in this periodical for the
months of January, May, and July, 1884, for many interesting
facts in reference to the effigy mounds. He has studied them
more than any other person, and his conclusions are
consequently of great value.

(46) Peet’s “Emblematic Mounds and Totem System of the Indian
Tribes.”

(47) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 40.

(48) _American Antiquarian,_ January, 1883.

(49) Putnam, in “Proceedings of American Antiquarian Society,”
1884.

(50) Peet’s “Emblematic Mounds and Totem System of the Indian
Tribes.”

(51) Abbott’s “Primitive Industry,” p. 383.

(52) Peet’s “Military Architecture of the Emblematic Mound
Builders.”

(53) “Smithsonian Report,” 1877, p. 278, _et seq._

(54) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 97; _American Antiquarian,_
January, 1883, p. 77.

(55) This information is communicated by Mr. L. N. Tower, a
gentleman in the employ of C. “&” N. W. E. R., at Tracy, Minn.,
who, at the request of the writer visited this locality, made
measurements, etc.

(56) _American Antiquarian,_ November, 1884, p. 403.

(57) The dimensions of this figure vary. Mr. MacLean’s survey
makes the entire length of the serpent part eleven hundred and
sixteen feet; the distance between the extended jaws, one
hundred feet. The oval figure is one hundred and thirteen feet
long by fifty feet wide. The frog or head portion is fifty-five
feet. Mr. Squier says, “The entire length, if extended, would
be not less than one thousand feet.” Mr. Putnam’s measurements
make it fourteen hundred and fifteen feet. The writer would
state that he visited this effigy in the summer of 1884. Though
there but a very short time, and not prepared to make careful
measurements, he did notice some points in which the
illustrations, previously given, are certainly wrong. The oval
is not at the very extremity of the cliff. The little
projections generally called ears of the serpent are not at
right angles to the body, but incline backwards. The
convolutions of the serpent’s body bend back and forth quite
across the surface of the ridge.

(58) Schmuckers.

(59) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 47.

(60) Foster’s “Prehistoric Races,” p. 175.

(61) “Contributions North American Ethnology,” Vol. IV, p. 210.
A cut of this “restored” pueblo is there given.

(62) See discussion of this subject in “Proceedings of Am.
Antiq. Society,” Oct., 1883.

(63) “Peabody Museum Reports,” Vol. II, p. 205.

(64) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 47.

(65) Peet: “The Mound Builders.”

(66) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 53.

(67) Force: “Some Considerations on the Mound Builders,” p. 64.

(68) “Archæologia Americana,” Vol. I, p. 129.

(69) For words at Newark, consult “Ancient Monuments,” p. 67,
_et seq. “American Antiquarian,”_ July, 1882.

(70) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 74.

(71) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 88.

(72) Mr. Putnam visited the work a few years since, and came to
the conclusion that the larger and old openings were part of
the original design, and that they were places where it was
easier to put up log structures than earthen walls. Just such
openings occur in the massive stone wall around Fort Hill, in
Highland County. A few of the openings at Fort Ancient he
thinks are unquestionably of recent origin, in order to drain
the holes inside the embankments.

(73) _Cincinnati Quart. Journal Science,_ 1874, p. 294.

(74) Peet: “The Mound Builders.”

(75) Peet’s “Mound Builders:” “If the reader will compare some
of these last cuts with that of the fortified camp at Cissbury,
Eng., p. 183, he will see how similar this last work is to
those just mentioned. Perhaps the real lesson to be learned is
that rude people, whether Indians, Mound Builders, or Celts,
resorted to about the same method of defense.”

(76) “Antiquarian Research,” p. 89.

(77) Conant’s “Footprints of Vanished Races,” p. 15, _et seq._
Mr. Conant refers to Mr. Pidgeon’s work in such a way as to
give the impression that he was convinced of the genuineness of
his account.

(78) “Traditions of Decodah,” p. 89, _et seq._

(79) “Antiquarian Research,” p. 190.

(80) “The American Indian, so far as known, without the
exception of a single tribe, worshiped the sun.” Carr’s “Mounds
of the Mississippi Valley,” p. 56.

(81) Conant’s “Footprints of Vanished Races,” p. 60.

(82) Ibid., p. 32. If the explorers are really satisfied this
was a walled town, it ought to throw some light on the
inclosures in the Ohio Valley.

(83) Conant’s “Footprints of Vanished Races,” p. 35.

(84) Conant’s “Footprints of Vanished Races,” p. 77.

(85) Vol. III, p. 290, _et seq._

(86) Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 11.

(87) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 210; also Peet: “The Mound
Builders.” “Their relics are marked by a peculiar finish.”

(88) Rau’s “Anthropological Research.”

(89) “Proceedings Am. Antiq. Society,” April, 1877, p. 61.

(90) “Smithsonian Contribution to Knowledge,” Vol. XIII.

(91) Abbott’s “Primitive Industry,” p. 315.

(92) “Annual Report of Bureau of Ethnology,” 1880-1, p. 123,
_et seq._

(93) In the “Annual Report of Bureau of Ethnology,” for 1880-1,
Mr. Henshaw has very fully discussed these mound-pipes, and
shown that Messrs. Squier and Davis wore mistaken in a number
of their identifications of the animal forms. He concludes
there “are no representations of birds or animals not
indigenous to the Mississippi Valley.”

(94) The recent discoveries by Putnam and Metz, in the
Altar-mounds in the Little Miami Valley, have brought to light
many interesting and important sculptures in stone and
terra-cotta, which, as works of art, are in some respects
superior to those from the Scioto Valley, but as they have not
yet been figured, we can only refer to them here in this brief
note.

(95) “Number Eight,” Mound City, near Chillicothe, Ohio.
“Ancient Monuments,” p. 152.

(96) Rau: “Anthropological Subjects,” p. 130.

(97) Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 12.

(98) _American Antiquarian,_ 1879, p. 64.

(99) McAdams: _American Antiquarian,_ 1880, p. 140.

(100) “Smithsonian Report,” 1866. We have gathered these points
for comparison from Dr. Rau’s article in that report.

(101) Bella Hubbard, _American Antiquarian,_ 1876, p. 219.

(102) Foster’s “Prehistoric Races,” p. 346.

Chapter XI
THE PUEBLO COUNTRY.1

Description of the Pueblo Country—Historical outline—Description
of Zuñi—Definition of a Pueblo—Old Zuñi—Inscription Rock—Pueblo
of Jemez—Historical notice of Pecos —Description of the Moqui
tribes—The Estufa—Description of the San Juan country—Aztec
Springs—In the cañon of the McElmo—The Ruins of the Rio Mancos—On
Hovenweep Creek—Description of a Cliff-house—Cliff Town—Cave
houses—Ruins on the San Juan—Cave Town—The Significance of
Cliff-houses—Moqui traditions—Ruins in Northern New Mexico—Ruins
in the Chaco cañon—Pueblo Bonito—Ruins in South-western
Arizona—The Rio Verde Valley—Casa Grande—Ruins on the
Gila—Culture of the Pueblo Tribes—Their Pottery—Superiority of
the Ancient pottery—Conclusion.

We have hitherto been describing people and tribes that have
completely vanished. We have peered into the mysterious past and
sought as best we could to conjure back the scenes of many years
ago. The line between the known and the unknown, between the
historic and prehistoric, is not far removed from us in the new
world. Not yet four centuries have passed since the veil was
lifted, and America, with her savage tribes of the North, and her
rude civilization of the South, was revealed to the wondering
eyes of Europe. But with a knowledge of this new land came also
wondrous stories of wealth, and in consequence an army of
adventurers were soon on her shores. Then follows a short period
of war and conquest. The Indian race could not withstand the
whites. European civilization, transplanted to America, has
thriven. But whatever advance the native tribes have made since
the discovery, has been by reason of contact with the whites.

Map of the Pueblo Country.

There was no single birthplace of American culture. Advance took
place wherever the climate was mild and the soil fertile, and
thus an abundant supply of food could be obtained. One such
locality was the valley of the San Juan, in what is now the
southwestern part of the United States. It is quite allowable to
suppose that here the mild climate and bountiful soil suggested
agriculture, and with a knowledge of this, rude though it was, a
beginning was made in a culture which subsequently excited the
admiration of the Spaniards. However that may be, we know this
section contains abundant ruins of former inhabitants. And yet
again we find in this same country the remnants of this former
people, doubtless living much the same sort of life as did their
forefathers. American scholars, with the best of reason, think
this section affords the best vantage ground from which to study
the question of native American culture. It presents us not only
with ruins of past greatness, but in the inhabited pueblos, gives
us a picture of primitive times, and invites us, by a careful
study of their institutions, to become acquainted with primitive
society.

Travelers and explorers describe the scenery of the Pueblo
country as a very peculiar one. It is bleak without being
absolutely barren. The great mountain chains form picturesque
profiles, which in a measure compensate for the lack of
vegetation. No country on the face of the globe bears such
testimony to the power of running water to wear away the surface.
The rivers commenced by wearing down great cañons. They occur
here on a grand scale. The cañon of the Colorado River, having a
length of two hundred miles, and through the whole, nearly
vertical walls of rock, three to six thousand feet in height.
Nearly all the tributary streams of the Colorado empty into it by
means of gorges nearly as profound. What is true of the Colorado
is true, though in a lesser degree of the Rio Grande and of the
Pecos, as only portions of these streams are cañon-born. But,
besides digging out these cañons, the entire surface of the
country has in places been removed to the depth of several
hundred feet, leaving large extent of table-lands, called mesas,
with generally steep, or even precipitous, sides, standing
isolated here and there.

Though thus bearing evidence of more extended rainfall, and of
the action of water in the past, it is essentially an arid
country now. Most of the minor water-courses laid down on the map
are dry half of the year, or have but scattered pools of water;
so a description of the surface of the country would tell us of
deep river valleys, in many cases narrow and running through
rocky beds, in which case we call them cañons; in other cases
very wide, but having generally precipitous sides; the country
often mountainous and great stretches of table-land, but
generally dry and desolate, except in the immediate vicinity of
rivers. The river valleys themselves are generally very fertile.

Such is the country where we are to investigate native American
culture. The history of the country since its first occupation by
the Spaniards is not devoid of interest. It did not take the
Indians of Mexico long to learn that what the Spaniards most
prized was gold, and that the surest way to curry favor with them
was to relate to them exaggerated stories of wonderful wealth to
be gained in distant provinces. About 1530 the viceroy of New
Spain (Mexico) learned from an Indian slave of seven great cities
somewhere to the north; and of their wealth it was said they had
streets exclusively occupied by workers in gold and silver.

Though expeditions to the northern provinces of Mexico speedily
dispelled the illusions in regard to them, the wonderful story of
the Seven Cities flitted further north. Six years later these
stories were invested with new life by the arrival in Mexico of
Cabeza De Vaca and three companions. The story of their
remarkable wanderings reads like an extract from a work of
fiction. They were members of the unfortunate Spanish expeditions
to the coast of Florida in 1528. After the shipwreck and final
overthrow of the expedition, these four men had wandered from
somewhere on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, first north, and
then west, passing through, probably, portions of Texas and New
Mexico, until finally they were so fortunate as to meet with
their own countrymen near Culiacan, in Mexico. The story they had
to tell fell on willing ears. They stated to the viceroy that
they had carefully observed the country through which they had
passed, and had been told of great and powerful cities containing
houses of four and five stories, with the usual accompaniments of
great wealth.

The next incident was the journey of three Franciscan friars and
a negro (who, by the way, had been with De Vaca in his
wanderings), sent out by the Governor Coronado, with orders to
return and report to him all they could learn by personal
observation of the Seven Cities. This expedition did not
accomplish much. Arriving near Cibola (the Spanish name for the
country of the Seven Cities), they sent the negro on ahead to
gain the good will of the Indians. Instead of this, he was killed
by them. On hearing which, the monks contented themselves with
gazing on the pueblo (which they describe as “more considerable
than Mexico”) from a safe distance, and then hurriedly returned
to Culiacan. They gave Coronado a most glowing account of all
they had discovered.

Coronado now thought the time had come for decisive action.
Accordingly, with the viceroy’s permission, he organized his
forces, and in 1540 set out on his memorable march in search of
the Seven Cities of Cibola. We do not propose to give in detail
the series of conquests beginning with this expedition and
finally ending with the subjection of New Mexico in 1598. It is
needless to say that the Spanish forces found no cities teeming
with wealth. What they did find was a country much the same as at
present. The cities were the communal houses, or combination of
houses, known as pueblos. The pueblo of Zuñi is the remaining one
of the mystical seven. The ruins of at least six other pueblos
are known to be in the immediate vicinity.2

\ Pueblo of Zuñi.

This historical account, short and imperfect as it is, introduces
us to a most interesting people. If we would know more of them we
can not do better than to adopt the advice of Hosta, ex governor
of Jemez, to Dr. Loew: “If you wish to see what a great people we
once were you must go upon the mesas and into the cañons of the
vicinity, where ruins of our forefathers are numerous.”

One of the most important pueblos yet remaining inhabited, and
one of the first that Coronado encountered in his expedition, is
Zuñi. The present pueblo is considered as the remaining one of
the Seven Cities—at least, by the majority of Americanists.
Whipple describes Zuñi as follows: “Treading an opening between
rocky bluffs, . . . we entered the valley, several miles in
width, which leads to Zuñi. The soil seemed light, but where
cultivated it produced fine crops without the aid of irrigation.
. . . Within the valley appeared occasional towers, where herders
and, laborers watch to prevent a surprise from Apaches. Near the
center of this apparent plain stood, upon an eminence, the
compact city of Zuñi.3 By its side flowed the river which bears
the same name. It is now but a rivulet of humble dimensions,
though sometimes said to be a large stream. . . . Passing beneath
an arch, we entered a court, . . . entirely surrounded by houses
of several receding stories, which were attained by means of
ladders loading from one to another. . . . From the top the
pueblo reminds one of an immense ant-hill, from its similar form
and dense population. . . . Going down from its outer side into
the street, we encounter five stories of descent.”4

In order to prevent confusion, we will state that a pueblo, which
is the Spanish name for these old Indian towns, may be one of
several different types. A common form of village consists of but
one or two, seldom three, large buildings, so arranged as to
surround an interior court. Sometimes there is but one large
building, which is nearly in the shape of a half circle; instead
of being really circular, it has a number of different sides. In
some cases a village consists of a number of these large houses
irregularly arranged. But the tendency is always to inclose a
square.5

In the modern villages the buildings forming the square do not
meet, but in some cases are connected by bridges or covered
gangways, and in some instances the houses project over the
streets below, which, being narrow, are thus given an underground
appearance.6

Ground Plan and End View. The buildings, or communal houses, for
one house contained sometimes five hundred rooms, are generally
from three to four hundred feet long and about one hundred and
fifty feet in width at the base. The lower story is divided by
cross-walls into a mass of cell-like rooms, as shown in the
illustrations which represents the ground plan of a pueblo having
four ranges of rooms. Each story in height has one less range of
rooms, so that, looking directly at the end of this building, it
would present the appearance shown by this cut: The only means of
getting from one terrace to the other is by the aid of ladders.
In some cases these terraces run from both sides of the building;
in others they face the inclosed space; and in others still they
face outside. Most of the inhabited pueblos are built of
adobe—that is, sun-dried bricks. The majority of the ancient
ruins were built of stone set in adobe mortar. With this
digression, we will now return to Zuñi.

Old Zuñi.

Ruins testifying to the former greatness of these people are
scattered around them. Three miles to the east of the present
pueblo of Zuñi, on the bluff seen in the cut, are the ruins of a
larger pueblo, which is called Old Zuñi. Mr. Whipple, who
explored this field of ruins, thus describes his visit: “The
projecting summit of the cliffs seemed inaccessible. . . . We
followed a trail which, with great labor, had been hammered out
from seam to seam of the rocks along the side of the precipice.
At various points of the ascent, where a projecting rock
permitted, were barricades of stone walls, from which the old
man7 told us they had hurled rocks upon the invading Spaniards.
Having ascended one thousand feet, we found ourselves upon a
level surface, covered with thick cedars. . . . The top of the
mesa was of an irregular figure, a mile in width, bounded upon
all sides by perpendicular bluffs. . . . The guide hurried us on
half a mile further, where appeared the ruins of a city, indeed.
Crumbling walls, from two to twelve feet in height, were crowded
together in confused heaps, over several acres of ground. . . .
Upon examining the pueblo, we found the standing walls rested
upon ruins of greater antiquity.8 The primitive masonry, as well
as we could judge, must have been about six feet thick. The more
recent was not more than a foot or a foot and a half, but the
small sandstone blocks had been laid in mud mortar with
considerable care.”9

The descriptions of ruins have so much that is similar that
repetitions become tiresome. We will not, therefore, delay much
longer with Zuñi. A few miles east of Old Zuñi we come to Pescado
Springs, near which are the ruins of several pueblos. “This
spring bursts from a broken point of the lava bed, and at once
becomes a pretty stream, glittering with great numbers of the
finny tribe, which gives name to it. The circular wall which once
inclosed the fountainhead is now partly broken down. Upon each
side, and almost tangent, are ruins of pueblos so ancient that
the traditions of present races do not reach them. They are
nearly circular in form, and of equal dimension. One measured
three hundred and fifteen short paces, about eight hundred feet,
in circumference. They were of stone; but the walls have
crumbled, leaving only a heap of rubbish.”10

Following up this stream, other ruins were found. It seems, then,
that in the pueblo of Zuñi we have left a pitiful remnant of a
numerous people. When the Spaniards first appeared on the scene
they were apparently prosperous. The rapid decrease of the Pueblo
tribes was owing to several causes. In 1680 they made an attempt
to throw off the Spanish yoke. At first this was successful. But
inter-tribal warfare at once set in. At this time also the
inroads of the Apaches and Navajos became so troublesome that the
Pueblo tribes could not successfully cultivate their land. At
this time also a succession of dry years set in, and famine was
the result. Their customs and manners we will describe in another
place. There are many reasons for supposing that the country had
been inhabited for a very long period, even before the Spaniards
invaded it. Some places must have been even then in ruins, or, if
inhabited, it is very strange that the Spanish records do not
mention them. Such, for instance, is Inscription Rock, about
fifteen miles east of Old Zuñi, which the Spaniards must have
passed when on their way back and forth to Zuñi.

Inscriptionn Rock.

The small mesa here ends with a bold front of white sandstone
rock, rising almost vertically two hundred and fifty feet high.
This cut gives us a view on the top of the table-rock. We see
here the foundations of two old buildings. A deep ravine nearly
divides this little plateau into two portions. As we have said,
this rises with a bold, precipitous front from the plain. At one
place this front is completely covered with inscriptions. Here
the Indians, unknown years ago, made their strange hieroglyphics
which, presenting to our eyes only a senseless combination of
forms of animals and men and meaningless figures, may have
conveyed to them knowledge of important events. A great many
Spanish inscriptions have also been carved on the rock. Whipple
calls attention to the fact that though Spanish inscriptions
placed there nearly two hundred years ago, seem but slightly
affected by atmospheric action, still some of the Indian
hieroglyphics are “almost wiped out by the fingers of time.” A
number of centuries have probably rolled away since they were
inscribed.

It may be interesting to know the reading of some of these old
inscriptions. A translation of one of the earliest and longest is
here given, with the exception of a few words which could not be
made out: “Bartolome Narrso, Governor and Captain-general of the
province of New Mexico, for our lord, the king, passed by this
place on his return from the pueblo of Zuñi, on the 29th of July,
of the year 1620, and put them in peace, at their petition,
asking the favor to become subjects of his majesty, and anew they
gave obedience; all of which they did with free consent, knowing
it prudent as well as very Christian, . . . to so distinguished
and gallant a soldier, indomitable and famed; we love . . .”11

It is somewhat strange to meet thus in the interior of the United
States with the record of a military expedition some months
before the Puritans landed at Plymouth. There seems to be nothing
especial to describe about the ruins. Both Simpson and Whipple
notice that the masonry seems to be unusually good. As it must
have been very difficult to procure water, the location must have
been chosen solely for the protection it afforded. The early
Spanish accounts contain the names of one hundred and twenty-six
pueblos. Some are, however, mentioned two or three times. Mr.
Bandelier has succeeded in identifying every one. The Rio Puerco
Valley was never a very prosperous one, and the river is scarcely
a permanent one. At present a few ruins at Poblazon, for
instance, are to be seen, and the valley looks poor and barren.

The valley of the Rio Grande River was occupied by a number of
Pueblo tribes, and there are at present eight inhabited pueblos
along this river, in New Mexico, and one in Texas. The region
around Bernalillo was a prosperous section. At intervals, up and
down the river, and along its tributaries, we can still trace low
crumbling ruins, evidence of an old pueblo. If the statements of
the Spanish writers are to be believed, the number of inhabited
towns, at the time of the conquest, was at least ten times that
now existing. The population could never have exceeded forty
thousand. At present it contains about nine thousand. Still
making all allowance for Spanish exaggeration, we are convinced
that it was a thickly populated country at the time of the
conquest.

One of the most interesting pueblos in New Mexico is Jemez, on a
river of that name, sixty miles west of Santa Fe. We speak of it
here because it is the center of a most interesting group of
ruins. Like the pueblo of Zuñi, it is a remnant only of a
prosperous people. The reports of Coronado’s expedition
frequently mention Jemez, though it may be doubtful whether they
refer to the pueblo of that name now, or to one of the numerous
ruined ones in the immediate vicinity. Jemez is a prosperous
pueblo, having fine fields, large irrigating ditches, and
extensive flocks of sheep.

Simpson describes it in 1849 as follows: “The pueblo of Jemez is
an Indian town of between four and five hundred inhabitants, . .
. and is built upon two or three parallel streets, the houses
being of adobe construction, and having second stories disposed
retreatingly upon the first, to which access is had by means of
ladders. . . . About the premises are probably a dozen acres
covered with apricot and peach trees. . . . The Rio de Jemez,
upon which the pave lies, is an affluent of the Rio Grande,
varies from thirty to fifty feet in breadth, is of a rapid
current. . . . Patches of good corn and wheat skirt it here and
there along its banks, and the extent of cultivable land
bordering it may be estimated at about a mile in breadth.”

We are more interested, however, in ruins testifying to past
greatness. “Six miles up the river you come to the union of two
cañons—the Guadalupe and San Diego. Where the mesa between these
cañons narrows itself to a point, are the ruins of two pueblos,
one upon the lower prominence of the mesa, the other upon the
mesa proper, and only approachable by two narrow, steep trails,
the mesa everywhere else being nearly perpendicular, and seven
hundred and fifty feet high. The view from the mesa is
picturesque and imposing in the extreme. Far beneath, to the
right and left, a stream makes its way between the colossal walls
of the sandstone upon the narrow width of the mesa; near
frightful precipices are the ruins of a town of eighty houses,
partly in parallel rows, partly in squares, and partly perched
between overhanging rocks, the rim and surfaces of which formed
the walls of rooms, the gaps and interstices being filled in
artificially.”

“Nearly every house had one story and two rooms. The building
material was trachytic rock as found upon the mesa. Broken
pottery, charred corn, and millstones for grinding corn, were
found in some of the rooms. The roofs had all fallen in, and so
also had many of the side walls, in the construction of which
wood was but little used. Piñon trees have taken root within many
of the former rooms. Upon asking my Indian guide whether the
former inhabitants of this town were obliged to descend the steep
and dangerous pathway every day to the creek to procure water, he
replied there were cisterns upon the mesa, in which rain,
formerly plentiful, was caught. He then called my attention to
some conical heaps of stones along the rim of the precipice which
was the material for defense.”12

This description introduces us to another class of ruins—that is,
detached separate houses, different from the great communal
structures we have already described. What connection exists
between these two forms of houses will be studied in another
place. As a rule, the rooms in the detached houses are larger
than in the communal houses. Exceptions occur in some of the
inhabited pueblos.13 This is only one of many towns in ruins
thereabouts. According to Dr. Loew there are no less than
twenty-five or thirty.

It is not our purpose to describe any more of the pueblos of this
section of New Mexico than is required to enable us to understand
the customs, manners, and habits of the Pueblo tribes. We learn
that in New Mexico we are brought face to face with feeble
remnants of former tribes, and that these were probably in their
most flourishing condition when the Spaniards first invaded the
country, and though in a few instances the ruins imply a great
antiquity, as at Inscription Rock, still we may be reasonably
sure that the majority of them date but a few centuries back. The
ruins of Catholic churches established by the Franciscan monks in
the sixteenth century occur in several places, five being found
around Jemez.

The story of the decline of the Pueblo tribes may be illustrated
by the history of Pecos. This pueblo was situated on the Rio
Pecos, about twenty-five miles south-east of Santa Fe. With the
exception of the present inhabited town of Taos, it was the most
eastern point reached by the pueblo building tribes. This, though
a very large pueblo, has nothing especial to attract attention,
except that the entire mesa was inclosed by a stone wall about
six feet and a half high, and twenty inches thick, having a total
length of three thousand, two hundred and twenty feet.14 Its
history is, however, interesting and instructive. Coronado, with
his army, visited Pecos before he abandoned the country in 1543.
His reports mention it as a prosperous pueblo. Several raids were
made into New Mexico by Spanish parties, but the conquest proper
occurred in 1598, when the Pecos pledged fidelity to the crown of
Spain.

The Catholic Church at once set about establishing missions at
various pueblos. The Pecos Church was established in 1629, though
missionary work had been done here before that time. One of the
priests who accompanied Coronado remained behind at Pecos. He was
never afterwards heard from. This church became one of the most
renowned in New Mexico. The inhabitants became herders as well as
agriculturists. It was prosperous. In 1680 the Pueblo of Pecos
sheltered two thousand Indians. “But a storm was brewing from
whose effects the Pueblo tribes never recovered.” In 1680 the
Indians rose against the Spanish and drove them from New Mexico.
The priests were murdered, the churches were sacked. From this
time doubtless date the ruins of the churches seen around Jemez.
At Pecos and many other places intertribal warfare set in. Bloody
battles were fought.

Neither were the Spaniards idle. In 1682 one expedition was made,
and at least two pueblo towns were destroyed by them. In 1689 the
entire country was reconquered. Some tribes were nearly
exterminated, and all more or less weakened and a great many
ruins date from that time. It was the beginning of a decline for
the Pueblo tribes, and this decline was hastened by intertribal
warfare, by drought, and by ravages from wild Indians. As to the
drought, it is sufficient to state that some ruins are now
fifteen, and even twenty, miles from permanent water. The
Comanches were the scourge of the Pecos. On one occasion they
slaughtered all the young men but one. This was a blow from which
they never recovered. Finally reduced by sickness to but five
adults, the Pecos sold their lands and, at the invitation of
their brethren at Jemez, went to live with them, and the pueblo
of Pecos speedily became the ruins we now find it.15

No doubt a similar history could be written of many other ruins.
“Our people,” said Hosta, “were a warlike race, and had many
fights, not only with the Spaniards, but also with other Indian
tribes the Navajos and Taos, for instance and were thus reduced
to this pueblo of Jemez, which now forms the last remnant.” New
Mexico is now becoming rapidly “Americanized,” and it will soon
be brought to a test whether the Pueblo tribes can withstand this
new influence and retain their peculiar civilization, or whether,
like many other races, their life force is nearly spent, in which
case they will live only in history.

We must not overlook the Moki Pueblos in Arizona. They are
situated one hundred miles northwest of Zuñi. The Spaniards
discovered them, and called their province Tusayan. They are much
like the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico, only they have been much
less disturbed by outside influence. There are a number of ruined
towns in this vicinity. We wish to refer to them because of their
intimate connection with the ruins to the North. Their houses are
built of stone on precipitous mesas.

Wolpi. (Maj. Powell)

Lieut. Ives, who visited them in 1858, has left quite a full
description of them. He states that “each pueblo is built around
a rectangular court, in which, we suppose, are the springs that
furnished the supply to the reservoirs. The exterior walls, which
are of stone, have no openings, and would have to be scaled or
battered down before access could be gained to the interior. The
successive stories are set back, one behind the other. The lower
rooms are reached through trap-doors from the first landing. The
houses are three rooms deep, and open upon the interior court.”16
He was much pleased with the manner in which they had terraced
off the bluff of the mesas into little garden patches, irrigating
them from the large reservoirs from the top.

There is one feature common to all the Pueblo tribes which is
necessary to refer to here, from its connection with the ruined
structures further north. In all of the inhabited pueblos there
is a structure known as an Estafa, some pueblos having several.
They are usually circular, but occasionally (as at Jemez)
rectangular. They are generally subterranean, or mostly so. They
are great institutions among the Pueblos. “In these subterranean
temples the old men met in secret council, or assembled in
worship of their gods. Here are held dances, festivities, and
social intercourse.”

Another common feature, represented in this cut, is the
watch-tower. It is either round, as in this case, or rectangular.
It may be interesting to recall in this connection the signal
mounds of the Mound Builders. They were not always in the
immediate vicinity of other ruins. Neither can we state that
there was a system in their arrangement, one answering to another
at a distance, and yet it was noticed where the rains were
numerous that several were in view from one point.17 In
dimensions these towers range from ten to fifteen feet in
diameter, and from five to fifteen feet in height, while the
walls are from one to two feet thick. They are in many cases
connected with structures rectangular in form.

Watch Tower.

We will now leave the inhabited pueblos and the ruins in their
immediate vicinity and, going to the north, explore a section of
country that shows every evidence of having sustained a
considerable population some time in the past. To understand this
fact clearly, it will be necessary to fix the location of the
places named by means of the map. From time to time confused
reports of the wonders to be seen in the San Juan section of
Colorado had appeared in the East, but the first clear and
satisfactory account is contained in the reports of Messrs.
Jackson and Holmes, members of the U.S. Geographical and
Geological survey of the territories under Dr. Hayden for 1874
and 1876.

In the south-western portion of Colorado is a range of mountains
known as the San Juan. Stretching from their base west to the
Sierras is a great plateau region, drained by the numerous
tributaries of the San Juan River. It would, perhaps, be more in
keeping with the facts of the case to say “had been drained some
time in the past,” for this is now such an arid, semi-desert
country that the majority of the streams are dry, or have but
scattered pools of water in them, during a large portion of the
year; and yet, at times, great volumes of water go sweeping
through them. This whole plateau is cut up with long, cañoned
valleys, presenting, in effect, the same surface features that we
have already described in New Mexico. Yet this precipitous,
cañon-marked section of country is literally filled with the
crumbling ruins of a former people. The situation in which they
occur is in many cases very singular, and the whole subject is
invested with great interest to us, because we see in them the
remains of a people evidently the same as the Pueblo people
to-day.

One of the most extensive ruins in this section is situated at
Aztec Springs. This, it will be seen, is about midway between the
Rio Mancos and the McElmo. Mr. Holmes found the site of the
spring, but it contained no water. He was told, however, by those
familiar with the locality that there had been a living spring
there up to within a few years. It was evidently a place of
considerable importance once. Mr. Holmes describes the ruins as
forming the most imposing pile of masonry found in Colorado. They
cover an area of over ten acres. This includes only the ruins
around the springs. But all about this central portion are
scattered and grouped the remnants of smaller structures. So that
nearly a square mile is covered with the ruins of this ancient
pueblo. Most of the stone used was brought from the Mesa Verde
(Green Plateau), a mile away, and must have been a great work for
a people so totally without facilities.

Ruins at Aztec Springs. It will be seen that immediately to the
right of the Springs is a large rectangular ruin in better
preservation than the rest. This now “forms a great mound of
crumbling rock from twelve to twenty feet in height, overgrown
with artemisia, but showing clearly, however, its rectangular
structure, adjusted approximately to the four points of the
compass.” This house, from its massive walls, must have had an
original height of at least forty feet. “The walls seem to have
been doubled, with a space of seven feet between; a number of
cross-walls at regular intervals indicate that this space has
been divided into apartments, as seen in the plan.” Two low lines
of rubbish cross the square, probably partition walls.

Surrounding this house is a net-work of fallen walls, so
completely reduced that none of the stones seem to remain in
place. Mr. Holmes was at a loss to know whether to call them a
cluster of irregular apartments, having low, loosely built walls,
or whether they are the remains of imposing pueblos. In the group
of ruins to the left of the spring are two well-defined circular
estufas. Below the main mass of ruins, connected by low walls of
ruins, is another great square, nearly two hundred feet in
dimensions. One wall seems to have consisted of a row of
apartments; the other walls served to simply inclose the square,
near the center of which was another large estufa.

Several important conclusions can be drawn from a study of this
locality. The spring, now dry, was once evidently the source of a
considerable stream. Whether the group of low ruins were
collections of small houses, or remains of imposing pueblos, we
need not doubt that the walls of the square inclosures were
composed of pueblo houses. The estufas were probably in all
respects similar to those of the present inhabited pueblos. The
country around, now so dry and barren, must once have supported
considerable population. As to the period of abandonment, we have
nothing to guide us. Being an agricultural settlement, it was
probably abandoned at an earlier date than the cave-dwellings and
cliff-houses of the cañons of the vicinity. The reason for this
will appear subsequently. The site of this ruin, as well as for a
long distance around, is covered with pieces of broken pottery.
We notice that the spring has only lately gone dry. This
illustrates the changes now taking place all through the country.
It is drying up, and this process has been in operation for a
long while.

Ruins in the McElmo Cañon. Many groups of ruins are now in
localities where the people could not hope for subsistence. About
six miles to the north of these ruins, about a mile from the
McElmo, is the group of ruins here represented, which may throw
some light on the remains at Aztec Springs. The principal feature
is the triple walled tower, of which a plan is given. The tower
has a diameter of about forty-three feet, and a circumference of
about one hundred and thirty-five feet. The walls are traceable
nearly all the way around, and the space between the two outer
ones, which is about five feet, contains fourteen apartments or
cells. The walls about one of these cells were still standing at
the time of Mr. Holmes’s visit, but the cell was filled with
rubbish from the fallen walls. A door-way, opening into this
apartment, could still be seen. The inner wall was probably never
very high. It simply inclosed the estufa.

The ruins surrounding this tower consist of low, fallen walls,
scarcely traceable. The apartments number nearly one hundred, and
were generally rectangular. They are not of a uniform size, and
were certainly not arranged in regular order. Now, as Mr. Holmes
observes, it would certainly seem that, if they are the ruins of
such structures as the pueblos of the south, there would be some
regularity of size, and some systematic arrangement. He says
that, in reality, they are more like a cluster of pens, such as
are used by the Moqui tribes for keeping sheep and goats.

Since these surveys were made, Mr. Bandelier, as agent for the
Archæological Institute, has made important researches. He finds
that the small, detached houses, such as we described in the
ruined village near Jemez, are found in Arizona, with a small
court-yard or inclosure attached to them. If we understand the
description of the ruins just mentioned, and those at Apache
Springs, they are villages of these small houses and their
inclosures. In such villages the inclosures meet each other, so
as to form a checker-board of irregularly alternating houses and
courts. The houses are easily discernible from the fact of little
rubbish mounds having accumulated where they stood. Around these
parts of the wall can still be traced. This combination makes a
strong, easily defended position. Each of such villages contains
one or more open spaces of large size, but they are irregularly
located.

We must notice one point more: Each village of this nature, that
was of any size, contained a larger ruin in the center. This was
noticed in the ruins at Aztec Springs. This larger building was
in the nature of a citadel, and there the inhabitants could
retire when the approaches were carried by the enemy. This
central building ultimately swallowed up all the others, and so
developed into the pueblo structures we have noticed. The little
walled inclosures surrounding the houses were largely in the
nature of defenses. Tradition asserts that in many cases they
were garden plats, and appearances sometimes confirm this. “They
may also have been the yard proper for each family, in which the
latter slept, cooked—in fact, lived—during the heat of the Summer
months.”18

Referring once more to the ruins near the McElmo, we are told
that every isolated rock and bit of mesa within a circle of miles
of this place is strewn with remnants of ancient dwellings. We
presume these were small, separate houses. They may have been
outlying settlements of the tribe whose main village was at Aztec
Springs. We must also notice the small tower in the corner. This
was a watch tower. It was fifteen feet in diameter, walls three
and a half feet thick, and in 1876 was still five feet high, It
overlooked the surrounding country. The rainfall in the past must
have been more abundant, to support the population we are
justified in thinking once lived there. The nearest water is now
a mile away, and during the dry season some fifteen miles to the
north, in the Rio Dolores, and yet we have every reason to
believe these old inhabitants were very saving of water. They
built cisterns and reservoirs to store it up against the time of
need.

Tower on the Rio Mancos. We give a cut of the tower of the ruins
of a similar village, or settlement, to the one just described,
which occurs twenty miles to the southeast in the cañon of the
Rio Mancos. Being so similar, we will mention it here. In this
case the tower had only two walls. Mr. Holmes says the diameter
of the outer wall is forty-three feet, that of the inner
twenty-five feet. The space between the two circles is divided by
cross-walls into ten apartments. This tower is placed also in the
midst of a group of more dimly marked ruins or foundations,
extending some distance in each direction from it. Mr. Holmes,
however, states that there are no ruins of importance in
connection with this tower, but that there are a number of ruins
in the immediate vicinity. In this case, then, the citadel (if
such it was) was not directly connected with other ruins.

The Rio Mancos, that we have just mentioned, was a favorite place
of resort for these old people. This stream, rising in the La
Platte Mountains, flows through beautiful valleys to a great
table-land known as the Mesa Verde. Mr. Jackson explored this
valley in 1874, and he reports as follows: “Commencing our
observation in the park-like valley of the Mancos, between the
mesa and the mountains, we find that the low benches which border
the stream upon either side bear faint vestiges of having at some
far away time been covered with dwellings, grouped in communities
apparently, but so indistinct as to present to the eye little
more than unintelligible mounds. By a little careful
investigation, however, the foundation of great square blocks of
single buildings and of circular inclosures can be made out, the
latter generally of a depressed center, showing an excavation for
some purpose.”

From this description we can not quite make out whether these
ruins are great communal buildings, like the modern pueblo, or
clusters of separate houses. We incline to the latter opinion,
however. The circular depressed area was doubtless used as an
Estufa, the place of religious meetings for men alone. “The
greater portion of these mounds are now overgrown with artemisia,
pinion-pine, and cedar, concealing them almost entirely from
casual observation.” “We found the surest indication of their
proximity in the great quantity of broken pottery which covered
the ground in their neighborhood. The same curiously indented,
painted, and glazed ware, was found throughout New Mexico and
Arizona. It was all broken into very small pieces, none that we
could find being larger than a silver dollar.” Specimens of this
pottery will be figured in its appropriate place.

“Nowhere among these open plane habitations could we discover any
vestige of stone-work, either in building material or implements.
It is very evident that the houses were all of adobe, the
mound-like character of the remains justifying that belief.” In
this last respect we note a difference between these remains and
those already described. The mesa verde is one of those elevated
plateaus we have so often described. Through this the Mancos has
cut a cañon nearly thirty miles in length, and from one to two
thousand feet deep. The description we have already given is of
the valley of the river before coming to the cañon.

Entering the cañon, Mr. Jackson continues: “Grouped along in
clusters, and singly, were indications of former habitations,
very nearly obliterated, and consisting mostly, in the first four
or five miles, of the same mound-like forms noticed above, and
accompanied always by the scattered, broken pottery. Among them
we find one building of squared and carefully laid sandstone, one
face only exposed of three or four courses, above the mass of
_debris_ which covered every thing. This building lay within a
few yards of the banks of the stream, was apparently about ten
feet by eight, the usual size, as near as we could determine, of
nearly all the separate rooms or houses in the larger blocks,
none larger, and many not more than five feet square. The stones
exposed are each about seven by twelve inches square, and four
inches thick, those in their original position retaining correct
angles, but, when thrown down, worn away by attrition to
shapeless bowlders.”

“As we progressed down the cañon the same general characteristics
held good. The great majority of the ruins consisting of heaps of
_debris_ a central mass considerably higher and more massive than
the surrounding lines of sub-divided squares. Small buildings,
not more than eight feet square, were often found standing alone
apparently, no trace of any other being detected in their
immediate neighborhood.” We would call especial attention in this
description to the character of the ruins, the central, higher
mass surrounded by other ruins; also to the houses found
occasionally standing alone. We notice they are of the same
general character as the ruins at Aztec Springs.

We are finding abundant evidence that this section was once
thickly settled. Going back to the triple-walled tower on the
McElmo, Mr. Jackson says of the immediate vicinity: “On the mesa
is group after group upon the same general plan, a great central
tower and smaller surrounding buildings. They cover the whole
breadth and length of the land, and, turn which way we would, we
stumbled over the old mound and into the cellars, as we might
call them, of these truly aborigines.” We believe, however, that
no excavation for cellar purposes are found in the entire region
covered by these ancient ruins.

“Starting down the cañon (the McElmo), which gradually deepened
as the table-land rose above us, we found upon either hand very
old and faint vestiges of the homes of a forgotten people, but
could give them no more attention than merely noting their
existence.”

Mr. Morgan has shown the existence of regular large houses in the
valley of Aminas River, east of the Mancos;19 and he also speaks
of the ruins at the commencement of McElmo cañon as being large
communal buildings. We should judge from Mr. Jackson’s report
just given that these ruins were rather small clusters of houses
of the same design as the ruins at Apache Springs.

Near the Utah boundary line we notice the Hovenweep Creek joining
the McElmo from the north. The mesa, narrowing to a point where
the two cañons meet, is covered with ruins much like what we have
described already. The Hovenweep is appropriately named, meaning
“deserted valley.”

Ruins in the Hovenweeep Cañon.

Further west still is the Montezuma Valley. Mr. Jackson’s party
found the ruins so numerous as to excite surprise at the numbers
this narrow valley must have supported. He says, “We camped at
the intersection of a large cañon coming in from the west. . . .
At this point the bottoms widen out to from two to three hundred
yards in width, and are literally covered with ruins, evidently
those of an extensive settlement or community, although at the
present time water was so scarce (there not being a drop within a
radius of six miles) that we were compelled to make a dry camp.
The ruins consist evidently of great solid mounds of rock
_debris,_ piled up in rectangular masses, covered with earth and
a brush growth, bearing every indication of extreme age—just how
old is about as impossible to tell as to say how old the rocks of
this cañon are. This group is a mile in length, in the middle of
the valley space, and upon both sides of the wash. Each separate
building would cover a space, generally, of one hundred feet
square; they are seldom subdivided into more than two or four
apartments. Relics were abundant, broken pottery and arrow-points
being especially plenty. At one place, where the wash held
partially undermined the foundation of ore of the large
buildings, it exposed a wall of regularly laid masonry, extending
down six feet beneath the superincumbent rubbish to the old
floor-level, covered with ashes and the remains of half-charred
sticks of juniper.”

Lower down, the valley was noted for little projecting tongues of
rock extending out into the cañon, sometimes connected with the
main walls of the cañon by narrow ledges of rock, and in cases
even this had disappeared, leaving detached masses of rock
standing quite alone. “Within a distance of fifteen miles there
are some sixteen or eighteen of these promontories and isolated
mesas of different height, every one of them covered with ruins
of old and massive stone-built structures.”

We have been somewhat full in our description of these ruins, yet
their importance justifies this course. So far we see but very
little to remind us of the pueblo towns. On the other hand, the
buildings seem to be often single houses, or a few houses grouped
together. In some locations they were built of stone, in others
of adobe. It is to be observed, however, that the houses are very
small—not larger than the rooms in the modern pueblos. We
evidently have here quiet scenes of agricultural life. They of
course had enemies, and guarded against their attacks by the
watch-towers, of which an example is given in the McElmo ruins.
The country must have been better watered than now, the soil
productive the seasons kind; and who can tell how long these
agricultural tribes held the land? Under these conditions, time
must have been rapidly bringing them civilization. But we must
now turn to a sorrowful chapter in their history, and trace the
dispersion of these tribes, their unavailing attempts to hold
their own against a savage foe, and the desperate chances they
took before leaving the land of their fathers.

This brings us to a consideration of cliff-houses—that is, houses
so placed that manifestly the only reason the people would have
for putting them where found would be of a defensive nature; and,
for a similar reason, we may be very sure they are of a later
date than the majority of the ruins in the valley or in the
cañons. People would never have settled in the valley in the
first place if they had felt the necessity of seeking
inaccessible places in which to build shelters as a resort in
time of need. We can not do better than to refer once more to Mr.
Jackson’s exploration in the valley of the Rio Mancos. We have
already referred to it in reference to the larger ruins.

Two-storied House in the Mancos Cañon.

This cut gives us a general view of the first cliff-house
discovered in this valley. This was far up on the cliff. Mr.
Jackson says, “We had no field-glass with the party, and to this
fact is probably due the reason we had not seen others during the
day in this same line, for there is no doubt that ruins exist
throughout the entire length of the cañon, far above and out of
the way of ordinary observation.” Subsequently Mr. Holmes proved
this supposition to be true. The sides of this cañon have nearly
all their ledges occupied by these houses.

Every advantage was taken, both natural and artificial, to
conceal them from view. “Cedars and pines grew thickly along the
ledges upon which they are built, hiding completely any thing
behind them. All that we did find were built of the same
materials as the cliffs themselves with but few, and then only
the smallest, appertures toward the cañon, the surface being
dressed very smooth, and showing no lines of masonry. It was only
on the very closest inspection that the houses could be separated
from the cliff.”

View of Cliff in which the House is situated. To illustrate the
singular position in which this house was located, we introduce
this cut. It is seven hundred feet above the valley. “Whether
viewed from below or from the heights above, the effect is almost
startling, and one can not but feel that no ordinary
circumstances could have driven a people to such places of
resort.” As showing the difficulty an enemy would have to
approach such a house, we give Mr. Jackson’s account of his climb
to it:

“The first five hundred feet of ascent were over a long, steep
slope of _debris,_ overgrown with cedar, then came alternately
perpendiculars and slopes. Immediately below the house was a
nearly perpendicular ascent of one hundred feet, that puzzled us
for a while, and which we were only able to surmount by finding
cracks and crevices into which fingers and toes could be
inserted. From the little ledges occasionally found, and by
stepping upon each other’s shoulders, and grasping tufts of
yucca, one would draw himself up to another shelf, and then, by
letting down a stick of cedar or a hand, would assist the
others.”

“Soon we reached a slope, smooth and steep, in which there had
been cut a series of steps, now weathered away into a series of
undulating hummocks, by which it was easy to ascend, and without
them almost an impossibility. Another short, steep slope, and we
were under the ledge on which stood our house.” By referring to
the first cut, we see that the house stands on a very narrow
ledge, and that the rocks overhang it so as to furnish a roof. It
will also be noticed that the ledge is rounding, so that the
outer walls of the house rise from an incline. Piers, or
abutments, had also been built along the ledge, so as to form an
esplanade.

Plan of the House.

The house itself was only about twelve feet high, but this had
been divided into two stories. Whether it ever had any other roof
than the overhanging walls of rock is doubtful. The plan is shown
in the preceding cut. The curved apartment at the right is a
reservoir, capable of holding about five barrels. A series of
pegs were inserted in the wall, so as to form a means of descent
from a window to the bottom. A number of doorways are seen in the
plan; a cut of one is presented in this figure.

Doorway of the House.

We are, however, warned that the artist has represented the
stonework a little too regularly. The support for the top of the
doorway is not clearly shown; a number of small beams of wood
were laid across, on these the stones. This cut gives us a view
of the front room. Looking in from the end window, we can see
where the second story commenced. The doorway we have been
describing was not a very handy mode of entrance. Its builders,
however, did the best they could in their limited space. The
house displays perseverance, ingenuity, and taste. It was
plastered, both within and without, so as to resemble the walls
of the cañon, but an ornamental border was added to the
plastering of the interior rooms.

Room of the House. This cliff house could only have been used as
a place of refuge in a time of need. We must observe the care
with which it was hidden away. The walls were plastered on the
outside, so as to resemble the cañon-walls. Then we must notice
what a secure place of retreat it afforded the people. No
invading party could hope to storm this castle as long as there
was any one to defend it. This house, with its four small rooms,
could give shelter to quite a band of Indians. Then, besides, it
was not alone. Ruins of half a dozen smaller houses were found
near by. Some had been crushed by the overhanging walls falling
upon them, and others had lost their foothold and tumbled down
the precipice.

It needs but a glance to satisfy any one that only dire necessity
would have driven a people to such resorts. When we consider how
much labor it must have required to convey the materials to the
almost inaccessible place, the many inconveniences the people
must have been put to when they were occupied, we may imagine how
the people clung to their old home. It is altogether likely that
such resorts would be only used now and then. During seasons of
war and invasion probably the women and old the men, with the
little ones, went thither for protection.

Mr. Holmes calls attention to one point bearing on the antiquity
of this ruin. The buttresses, which probably support a
balustrade, noticed in the figure on the house, were built on the
sloping surface of the rock. It would take but very little
weathering of the rocks to throw them to the bottom of the cañon;
and, furthermore, the rock is a rough sandstone, and hence easily
crumbles; and it is not well protected by the overhanging cliff;
but no perceptible change has taken place since the buttresses
were first built. The thickness of a sheet of paper has hardly
been washed from the surface, and the mortar, almost as hard as
the rock itself, lies upon it as if placed there within a dozen
years. This structure is, evidently, not as old as the low mounds
of crumbling ruins we have heretofore described. It is more than
probable that such retreats as this were not provided until near
the close of their stay in the country.

A ruin further down the cañon, described by Mr. Holmes, is of
great interest, as it shows how necessary the people considered
it to be to construct an estufa. It will be observed that there
are two houses. So nicely are these hidden away that Mr. Holmes
had almost completed a sketch of the upper house before he
noticed the lower one. They are both overhung by the rocks above
so as to be protected from the weather. The upper house can only
be approached by means of steps cut in the rock. It appears to be
in an unfinished state, and, when we consider the great labor
required for its construction, we can not wonder that they grew
tired before its completion.

The lower house is some eight hundred feet above the bottom of
the cañon, but is comparatively easy of approach. The interesting
feature about it is the estufa. It was situated near the center
of the main portion of the house. The entrance to this chamber
shows the peculiar importance attached to it by the builders. Mr.
Holmes says: “A walled and covered passage-way of solid masonry,
ten feet of which is still intact, leads from an outer chamber
through the small intervening apartments into the circular one.
It is possible that this originally extended to the outer wall,
and was entered from the outside. If so, the person desiring to
visit the estufa would have to enter the aperture about
twenty-two inches high by thirty wide, and crawl, in the the most
abject manner possible, through a tube-like passage-way nearly
twenty feet in length.”

“My first impression was that this peculiarly constructed way was
a precaution against enemies, and that it was probably the only
means of entrance to the interior of the house, but I am now
inclined to think this is hardly probable, and conclude that this
was rather designed to render a sacred chamber as free as
possible from profane intrusion.” This illustrates the peculiar
regard in which it was held. Even when sore pressed by their
enemies, and obliged to flee to inaccessible heights, they still
constructed their sacred place.

Cliff-Town, Rio Mancos.

These cliff-houses, of which we give illustrations, are quite
common in the Mancos. Our frontispiece shows an interesting
group, about ten miles from the foot of the cañon. These are
situated only about forty feet above the bed of the creek, but
still in a secure position. Here a bed of shale had been
weathered out of the sandstone, leaving a sort of horizontal
groove four feet high and from four to six feet deep. In this a
row of minute houses had been built. They had been made to occupy
the full height and depth of the crevice, so that when one
reaches it at the only accessible point he is between two houses,
and must pass through these to get at the others.

Besides the cliff-houses, the explorers found that these people
had made use of little cave-like openings in the cliffs, and, by
walling up the openings, had converted them into houses. These
were very common in the Mancos, and of all sizes. Some were
evidently merely little hiding places, in which to store away
provisions or other articles. In some places the cliffs were
literally honey-combed with these little habitations. Sometimes
the walls were quite well preserved and new-looking, while all
about were others in all stages of decay.

“In one place in particular a picturesque outstanding promontory
has been full of dwellings. . . . As one from below views the
ragged, window-pierced crags, he is unconsciously led to wonder
if they are not the ruins of some ancient castle, behind whose
mouldering walls are hidden the dread secrets of a long-forgotten
people; but a nearer approach quickly dispels such fancies, for
the windows prove to be only the doorways to shallow and
irregular apartments hardly sufficiently commodious for a race of
pigmies. Neither the outer openings nor the apertures that
communicate between the caves are large enough to allow a person
of large stature to pass, and one is led to suspect that these
nests were not the dwellings proper of these people, but
occasional resorts for women and children, and that the somewhat
extensive ruins of the valley below were their ordinary dwelling
places.”20

Caves used as Houses, Rio Mancos.

On the San Juan, about ten miles above the mouth of the Mancos,
is a significant combination of cave-dwellings and towers. In
this case, about half-way up the cliff, which is not more than
forty feet high, excavations had been made in a soft bed of
shale. They are now quite shallow, but were probably once deeper
and walled up in front. Directly above these cave-openings, on
the very brink of the cliffs, were the remains of two circular
towers, in each case double-walled, and probably divided by
cross-walls into partitions. The towers were probably their
council chambers and places of worship. The caves, directly
below, down a steep bank, were their fortresses, whither in times
of danger they could flee. The little community, by means of
ladders, could freely pass from their cave resorts to the towers
and back.

Ruins in the San Juan Cañon.

The San Juan River does not seem to be as rich in ruins as some
of its tributaries. Yet near the mouth of the Montezuma we came
upon a ruin which shows considerable analogy to the pueblos. Mr.
Jackson says upon the top of the bench (fifty feet high)
overlooking the river are the ruins of a quadrangular structure
of a peculiar design. It is arranged very nearly at right angles
to the river. We see from the plan that we have the ruins of a
larger building arranged around an open court—at least, Mr.
Jackson could detect no trace of a wall in front. We must notice
the seven apartments, arranged in the form of a semicircle, back
of the court. Extreme massiveness is indicated throughout the
whole structure.

In the immediate vicinity of this ruin were found a number of
little, cave-like dwellings. They were so small that doubts were
raised as to whether they were suitable for human habitations,
but the majority of them bore ample evidence in smoke-begrimed
walls that such was their use. Twelve miles below the mouth of
the Montezuma this group of ruins was discovered. These were
situated in a cave that was almost exactly a hemisphere in shape.
Where the curve of the roof met the curve from the bottom a
little projecting bench had been utilized as a foundation for a
row of houses.

Cave-Town.

The little community that built their houses here seem to have
practised all the industries of a savage life. In one place there
was evidence that on that spot had been carried on the
manufacture of stone implements. At another place holes had been
drilled, as if for a loom. In the main building there were
fourteen rooms or apartments, ranging from sixteen to nine feet
in width. “In the central room of the main building we found a
circular, basin-like depression, that had served as a fireplace,
being still filled with the ashes and cinders of aboriginal
fires, the surrounding walls being blackened with smoke and soot.
This room was undoubtedly the kitchen of the house. Some of the
smaller rooms appear to have been used for the same purpose, the
fires having been made in the corner against the back wall, the
smoke escaping overhead. The masonry displayed in the
construction of the walls is very creditable. A symmetrical curve
is preserved throughout the whole line, and every portion
perfectly plumb. The subdivisions are at right angles to the
front. The whole appearance of the place and its surroundings
indicate that the family or little community who inhabited it
were in good circumstances, and the lords of the surrounding
country. Looking out from one of their houses, with a great dome
of solid rock overhead that echoed and re-echoed every word
uttered with marvelous distinctness, and below them a steep
descent of one hundred feet to the broad, fertile valley of the
Rio San Juan, covered with waving fields of maize and scattered
groves of majestic cotton-woods, these old people, whom even the
imagination can hardly clothe with reality, must have felt a
sense of security that even the incursions of their barbarian
foes could hardly have disturbed.”21

To describe the defensive ruins on Epsom Creek, Montezuma Creek,
and the McElmo is simply to repeat descriptions already given. We
meet with cave-houses, cliff-houses, and sentinel-towers in
abundance. The whole section appears to have been thickly
settled. Further explorations will doubtless make known many more
ruins, but probably nothing differing in kind from what is
already known. We think the defensive ruins belong to a later
period of their existence than do the old and time-worn
structures we have hitherto described along the river valleys and
open plains, as at Aztec Springs. These structures plainly show
that at the time they were built the people were subject to an
invasion from a stronger foe, one before whose approach they had
to fly for protection to the almost inaccessible cliffs.

They would obviously never have settled there had they always had
to contend with these savage tribes. It needs no great skill to
read the story of the dispersion of these old people from the
ruins we have described; the many watch-towers, which were also
used as fortresses or citadels in which to find protection,
testifying to the need of increased watchfulness. The cave-houses
and cliff-fortresses, cunningly hidden away to escape detection,
or so placed as to defy the assault of their enemies, show to
what desperate straits they were driven; and imagination only can
picture the despair that must have filled their hearts when the
hour of final defeat came, and they must have realized that even
these shifts would not allow them to stay in the lands of their
fathers.

That this is the explanation of these ruins, we will cite the
legendary stories given by an old man among the Moquis concerning
some ruins in the cañon of the McElmo, just over the line in
Utah. At this point the cañon widens out considerably, and in the
center of the valley is still standing a portion of the old mesa,
once filling the entire valley. It is now a mass of dark red
sandstone, about one hundred feet high, and three hundred feet
around, seamed and cracked, and gradually disappearing, as the
rock has gone all around it. The top of this rock is covered with
the ruins of some building; there are also ruins at the base and
all around the immediate vicinity. There were watch towers and
estufas, showing that this was a place of great interest.

Battle Rock, McElmo Cañon.

The story is as follows: “Formerly the aborigines inhabited all
this country as far east as the headwaters of the San Juan, as
far north as the Rio Dolores, west some distance into Utah, and
south and south-west throughout Arizona, and on down into Mexico.
They had lived there from time immemorial, since the earth was a
small island, which augmented as its inhabitants multiplied. They
cultivated the valley, fashioned whatever utensils and tools they
needed very neatly and handsomely out of clay, and wood, and
stone, not knowing any of the useful metals; built their homes
and kept their flocks and herds in the fertile river bottoms, and
worshiped the sun. They were an eminently peaceful and prosperous
people, living by agriculture rather than by the chase. About a
thousand years ago, however, they were visited by savage
strangers from the north, whom they treated hospitably. Soon
these visits became more frequent and annoying. Then their
troublesome neighbors, ancestors of the present Utes, began to
forage upon them, and at last to massacre them and devastate
their farms. So, to save their lives at least, they built houses
high up on the cliffs, where they could store food and hide away
until the raiders left.

“But one Summer the invaders did not go back to their mountains,
as the people expected, but brought their families with them and
settled down. So, driven from their homes and lands, starving in
their little niches on the high cites they could only steal away
during the night and wander across the cheerless uplands. To one
who has traveled these steppes such a flight seems terrible, and
the mind hesitates to picture the sufferings of the sad
fugitives. At the ‘Creston’ (name of the ruin) they halted, and
probably found friends, for the rocks and caves are full of the
nests of these human wrens and swallows. Here they collected,
erected stone fortifications and watch-towers, dug reservoirs in
the rocks to hold a supply of water, which in all cases is
precarious in this latitude, and once more stood at bay. Their
foes came, and for one long month fought, and were beaten back,
and returned day after day to the attack as merciless and
inevitable as the tide. Meanwhile the families of the defenders
were evacuating and moving south, and bravely did their defenders
shield them till they were all safely a hundred miles away.

“The besiegers were beaten back and went away. But the narrative
tells us that the hollows of the rocks were filled to the brim
with the mingled blood of conquerors and, conquered, and red
veins of it ran down the cañon. It was such a victory as they
could not afford to gain again, and they were glad, when the long
flight was over, to follow their wives and little ones to the
south. There, in the deserts of Arizona, on well-nigh
unapproachable, isolated bluffs, they built new towns, and their
few descendants, the Moquis, live in them to this day, preserving
more carefully and purely the history and veneration of their
forefathers than their skill or wisdom.”22

Mr. Jackson thinks this legend arises from the appearance of the
rocks. The bare floor of nearly white sandstone, upon which the
butte stands, is stained in gory streaks and blotches by the
action of an iron constituent in the rocks of another portion of
the adjoining bluffs. That may well be true, but we believe that
there are germs of truth in the story. Driven from their homes,
where did the fugitives go? Some of them may have gone east, but
probably the body of the migration was to the south. It has been
the tendency of all tribes, but especially of the sedentary
tribes, to pass to the south and east, and this is also the
traditions among the inhabitants of still existing pueblos.23 We
find that every available portion of New Mexico and Arizona bears
evidence of having been once populated by tribes of Indians, who
built houses in all respects like those already described. In
northern New Mexico, Prof. Cope has described a whole section of
country as being at one time more densely populated than the
thickly inhabited portions of the Eastern States. He says: “The
number of buildings in a square mile of that region is equal to,
if not greater than the number now existing in the more densely
populated rural districts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.”24

In one location he found a village of thirty houses, built of
stone, and all in ruins. He found, over a large extent of
country, that every little conical hill and eminence was crowned
with ruins of old houses. We, of course, can not say that these
ruins are necessarily younger than those to the north of the San
Juan, and yet we think from Prof. Cope’s description that they do
not present such evidence of antiquity as do the crumbling ruins
previously described. And then, besides, they were always located
in easily defended positions.

The village spoken of was really a Cliff Village, being arranged
along the very edge of a precipitous mesa, the only access to it
being along a narrow causeway. Then again, although we have
described many ruins near which no water is to be had, at least,
in dry seasons, yet we have every reason to suppose water was
formerly more plentiful and easily attained. But in this section
it must always have been a serious question with them to obtain
enough water for necessary purposes. They must have had to store
away water in vessels of pottery, whose ruins are now so
abundant. It is not such a country as we would suppose a people
to choose for a place to settle in, only that they knew not where
else to go.

It is also considered settled that all the inhabited pueblos, as
well as those in ruins near the inhabited ones, were built by the
descendants of these people whose houses we have described. This
is proven by the similarity of pottery. Though some styles of
ancient corrugated ware are found in the San Juan section not
found near the inhabited pueblos, yet vast quantities of ware,
similar to that now found in the inhabited pueblos, can be picked
up all over the ruins to the north. Again, their religion must
have been the same, as ruined estufas are common, in all respects
similar to those now in use. In the modern pueblos we are struck
with the small cell-like rooms, yet they are but little smaller
than the ordinary single houses plentifully found over the entire
field of ruins. All the Pueblo tribes are agricultural, so were
these old people. In fact, all evidence confirms the conclusion
that the remnants of the Pueblo people that we have already
described, are also the descendants of the people driven by
hostile bands from north of the San Juan.

This statement may give false impressions, however. The
traditions of the Pueblo Indians, of New Mexico, are to the
effect that they came from the north, and also that their
ancestors formerly lived in the small houses we have described.
But we do not mean to say that all the small houses and pueblos
in Arizona and New Mexico are later in date than the
cliff-houses. The pressure has always been from the north to the
south. Neither would we be understood as saying that all the
sedentary tribes, both ancient and modern, belong to the same
stock of people. There are several different stocks of people
even among the present Pueblos.25

In the valley of the Rio Chaco, about midway between the Rio
Grande and the San Juan, we meet a group of ruined pueblos whose
style of masonry is thought to indicate a greater antiquity than
the inhabited pueblo towns; these probably indicate another
settlement of these people. As these are really remarkable ruins,
we must briefly describe them. In the Chaco cañon, as indicated
on the map, within the space of ten miles are the ruins of eight
larger pueblos. Another is located at the very beginning of the
cañon, and two more on the edge of the mesas just outside of the
cañon. These are large communal houses of regular pueblo type,
and, theoretically at least, they should be later in date than
the majority of ruins throughout the area represented on the map.
We think the development has been from small, separate houses, to
a closely connected cluster, with a central citadel, which
finally drew to itself all the other buildings, and became the
communal building we call a pueblo.26

We give a restoration of, one—the Pueble Bonito—one of the
largest and most important of the ruins. We can not doubt but
what the restoration is substantially correct. It shows the open
court, the terraced structure, and the system of defense. The
circle itself is not as near a half-circle as we would imagine.
The ground plan shows that it was really a many-sided building.
This pueblo must have presented a striking appearance when it was
in a complete state.

Restoration of Pueblo Bonito.

By comparing this structure with the views of some of the present
pueblo towns, we will understand the remarks made earlier, as to
the different styles of pueblo structures. This building must
have had not far from six hundred and fifty rooms. “No single
edifice of equal accommodations has ever been found in any part
of North America. It would shelter three thousand Indians.”27
This pueblo will compare favorably with some of the structures of
Yucatan; though not so ornamental, yet for practical convenience
it must have met the wants of the builders fully as well. This
may be given as a fair example of the entire class.

The evident plan on which they started to build their structures,
is shown in the following plan of the pueblo. But some of them
were not fully completed. Two of them had but one wing. In the
restoration the court is seen to be closed by a straight row of
small buildings, but in most cases the wall inclosing the court
was more or less circular. In one case the court was left open.
We will only give general descriptions. It is now believed that
these great structures were built only a part at a time; perhaps
the main body, or a part of it, first. Afterwards, as the number
of inhabitants increased, a wing would be added, and then the
other; and so, many years would elapse before the pueblo would
assume its completed form.

Plan of Pueblo Bonito.

These structures ranged in extent from about four hundred to
twelve hundred feet in external measurement and could furnish a
home to from two hundred to eight hundred or a thousand Indians,
and, in one case at least, many more.

In the next cut we have represented the different styles of
masonry employed in the pueblos of this valley. It varied all the
way from careful piling of big and little stones, and of
alternate layers of such materials, to very good masonry indeed.
Speaking of it, Mr. Jackson says, “It is the most wonderful
feature in these ancient habitations, and is in striking contrast
to the careless and rude methods shown in the dwellings of the
present pueblos. The material, a grayish-yellow sandstone,
breaking readily into thin laminae, and was quarried from the
adjacent exposures of that rock. The stones employed average
about the size of an ordinary brick, but as the larger pieces
were irregular in size, the interstices were filled in with very
thin plates of sandstone, or rather built in during its
construction; for by no other means could they be placed with
such regularity and compactness. So closely are the individual
pieces fitted to each other that at a little distance no jointage
appears, and the wall bears every indication of being a plain,
solid surface.”

Different Styles of Masonry.

Besides these important ruins, there are a great many others not
especially different from those previously described. We can not
state positively that these ruins are of a later date than those
of the North; we think they are. From the character of the
structures, we are more inclined to class them with the great
pueblos of the Rio Grande, Puerco, and Zuñi. By examining the map
we see that the Rio Chaco would afford a convenient route for
them in their migration from the San Juan Valley.

Room in Pueblo Bonito.

It may be of some interest to notice one of the rooms in this
pueblo. Simpson says it is walled up with alternate layers of
large and small stones, the regularity of the combination
producing a very pleasant effect. Mr. Morgan thinks this room
will compare not unfavorably with any of equal size to be found
in the more imposing ruins of the South. We must notice the
ceiling. The probabilities are that the Rio Chelly, further to
the west, afforded another line of retreat. Some ruins are found
scattered up and down the river or cañon, which we will not stop
to describe. Off to the south-west are the inhabited towns or
pueblos of the Moquis, who, as we have seen, have a tradition
that they came from the north.

There are some ruins found in the south-western part of Arizona
which must be described in a general survey of the ruins of the
Pueblo country. The river Gila, with numerous tributaries, is the
most important stream in that portion of the State. It is in just
such a section as we would expect to find ruins, if anywhere.
Coronado, as we have seen, invaded the country about three
hundred and fifty years ago. At the time of his visit this was
then a ruin, for his historian describes one ruin as “a single
ruined and roofless house . . . the work of civilized people who
had come from afar.”28 This gives us a point as to the antiquity
of some of the ruins in the Gila Valley. As we shall see, there
is every reason to suppose that this section was at one time a
thickly inhabited one.

From the similar character of the remains, we conclude the
original inhabitants to be of the same race of people as those we
have already described, but what was the exact relation between
them we can not tell, but we think a study of the ruins will only
confirm the general truth of the traditions of the Pueblo tribes.
In any one tradition there is doubtless much that is distorted.
One form in which the traditions find expression is: “That they
proceeded from the north-west to the upper waters of the Rio
Colorado. There they divided, portions ascended by the San Juan,
cañon De Chelly, or the more easterly branches of that stream
towards the center of New Mexico. Others, passing over the waters
of the Rio Verde (see map), descended its valley to the Rio
Gila.”29

One hundred and fifty miles southwest of Zuñi we notice the Verde
River flowing into the Rio Salado, and the latter into the Gila.
Besides those streams, there are other smaller ones, not marked
on the map.30 Mr. Bandelier found near the cañon del Tule an
improvement on the irrigating ditches, that was a lining of
concrete; and in this section also was noticed the ruins of both
pueblos and the small houses. Near Ft. Apache he found the ruins
of the largest villages discovered in Arizona, but we have no
details of it. The valley of the Rio Verde and Salado seems to
have been a favorite resort.

As early as 1854 attention was called to ruins in the Rio Verde.
Mr. Leroux reported to Mr. Whipple that the “river banks were
covered with ruins of stone houses and regular fortifications,
which appeared to have been the work of civilized men, but had
not been occupied for centuries. They were built upon the most
fertile tracts of the valley, where were signs of acequias
(irrigating ditches) and of cultivation. The walls were of solid
masonry, of rectangular form, some twenty or thirty paces in
length, were of solid masonry, and yet remaining ten or fifteen
feet in height. The buildings were of two stories, with small
apertures or loop-holes for defence, when besieged.”31

Mr. Bandelier confirms this account as to the number of ruins.
The entire valley of the Verde is filled with ruins of every
description. From the account of the valley itself, we can see
how well suited it was to the needs of village Indians. Mr.
Leroux speaks in high praise of its fertility. Wood, water, and
grass were abundant. In the neighborhood of Fort Reno Mr.
Bandelier discovered a new architectural feature of great
interest to us. This is a raised platform, on which the buildings
were supported. This raised platform is a very important feature,
as we shall learn in the ruins of Mexico and Central America. We
have already seen how it was employed by the Mound Builders.

In other words, the detached houses are seen to form villages,
with a central stronghold, and the tendency is observed to raise
an artificial foundation for this central house, which draws into
itself the surrounding houses. This is but another modification
of the same idea which, in other sections of this area developed
into the communal pueblo. Near Tempe a still more significant
arrangement was noticed. Here was a four-sided platform, three
hundred and forty feet long by two hundred and eighty feet wide,
and five feet high, supported a second platform measuring two
hundred and forty by two hundred feet, and six feet high.
Elevated platforms, as a general rule, were not very distinct.
Mr. Bandelier thinks that, owing to the peculiar drainage of the
country, these artificial foundations were required to preserve
the buildings from being swept away by a sudden torrent. The
settlement of the sedentary tribes in this region cluster on the
triangle formed by the Rio Verde, Salado, and Gila Rivers. “This
is a warm region, with a scanty rainfall, and but little timber,
and the soil is very fertile when irrigated, and two crops a year
can be readily raised. Mr. Bandelier regards it as exceedingly
well adapted to the wants of a horticultural people, and even
traces in it some resemblance to Lower Egypt.”

A very celebrated ruin on the Gila River gives us a fair idea of
what this central stronghold of the village cluster, sometimes
supported on a raised foundation, was like. This cut is a view of
the principal ruin in this section, which, however, is only a
portion of an extensive settlement, covering some five acres in
all. The building is not very large, only fifty by forty feet,
and four stories, of ten feet each, in height, with a possibility
that the central portion of the building rose ten feet higher.
The walls are built of adobe, five feet thick at the base, but
tapering slightly at the top.

Casa Grandes, on the Gila.

This house was surrounded by a court-yard which inclosed about
two acres. Shapeless mounds, presumably the ruins of houses, are
to be seen in various parts of this inclosure. “If the ground
plan of this great house,” says Mr. Bandelier, “with its
surroundings of minor edifices, courts and inclosures is placed
by the side of the ground plan of other typical ruins, the
resemblance is almost perfect except in materials used.” This
settlement was separated into two divisions. In one place was
noticed a large elliptical tank with heavy embankments, nearly
eight feet deep.

As to other ruins on the Gila, Mr. Bartlett tells us: “One thing
is evident, that at some former period the valley of the Gila was
densely populated. The ruined buildings, the irrigating canals,
and the vast quantities of pottery of a superior quality, show,
that while they were an agricultural people, they were much in
advance of the present semi-civilized tribes of the Gila.”
Speaking of the ruins of the Gila east of the San Pedro River,
Emory says: “Whenever the mountains did not infringe too closely
on the river and shut out the valley, they were seen in great
abundance, enough, I should think, to indicate a former
population of at least one hundred thousand; and in one place
there is a long wide valley, twenty miles in length, much of
which is covered with the ruins of buildings and broken pottery.
Most of these outlines are rectangular, and vary from forty to
fifty feet to two hundred by four hundred feet.”32

It is, however, necessary to be very cautious in judging
population by the number of ancient ruins. Prehistoric people
were naturally of a roving disposition. The multitude of ruins in
Western New York is not regarded as evidence of dense population,
but they were occasioned by the known customs of the Indians in
changing the sites of their villages “every ten, fifteen, or
thirty years; or, in fact, whenever the scarcity of firewood, the
exhaustion of their fields, or the prevalence of an epidemic made
such a step desirable.”33 Doubtless a similar remark may explain
the difference of opinion as to the numbers of the Mound
Builders.34 And, finally, Mr. Bandelier concludes that the great
number of ruins scattered through New Mexico and its neighboring
territories is by no means evidence of a large population. The
evidence of tradition is to the effect that a large number of
villages were successively, and not simultaneously, occupied by
the same people.35

We have about completed our survey of the Pueblo country. We
might state that the large communal houses, known as pueblos, are
found as far south on the Rio Grande as Valverde. Clusters of
separate houses occur as far south as Dona Ana. A range of low
mountains lies to the west of the Rio Grande; between it and the
headwaters of the Gila evidences of ancient habitations were
observed on the small streams. Though these occur sometimes in
little groups, the court-yards are not connected so as to form a
defensive village. Small inclosed surfaces, with no evidence that
a house ever was connected with them, were also observed. Mr.
Bandelier could only surmise that these were garden-plots,
something like the ancient terrace garden-plots in Peru.

Take it all in all, this is, indeed, a singular region, and the
Pueblo tribes were a singular people. Their architecture shows us
a people in the Middle Status of Barbarism. That they practised
agriculture is shown by the presence of old irrigating ditches.
Corn and corn-cobs are found in the rubbish-heaps of old
settlements. Mr. Morgan thinks that the valley of the San Juan
and its numerous tributaries was the place where the Indian race
first rose to the dignity of cultivators of the soil.36 Cotton
cloth has been found in the ruins on the Salado River. “At the
time of the Spanish conquests the Pueblo Indians along the Rio
Grande used cotton mantles.”37

As we have devoted considerable time to the pottery of the Mound
Builders, we must see how it compares with the pottery of this
region. Fragments of pottery are very numerous all over the field
of ruins. All explorers mention their abundance. Mr. Holmes on
one occasion counted the pieces of pottery that by their shape
evidently belonged to different vessels that he found in an area
ten feet square. They numbered fifty-five, and we are led to
believe they were not more numerous here than in other
localities.

We recall that the ornamentations on the vessels of clay made by
Mound Builders were either incised lines or indentations on the
surface of the vessels. And, still further, the clay vessels
themselves were frequently molded in the shape of animals or
heads of animals. In this plate we have fragments of indented and
corrugated ware, from the San Juan valley. This ware is only
found under such circumstances indented and that we are justified
in considering it very ancient. The ware made at the time of the
conquest was always painted.

Indented and Corrugated Ware.

At Zuñi and some of the other pueblos, at the present day, they
make vessels in the form of various animals and other natural
objects. This is, however, a recent thing. Only one vessel is
known that was found under such circumstances that we are
justified in thinking it very old. That was molded into a shape
resembling some kind of an animal. This was found on the Rio
Gila, in New Mexico; and even that has some peculiarities about
it that renders its age uncertain. Mr. Bandelier says: “No vessel
of ancient date, of human or animal shape, has ever been found.”
This is a most important point for us to consider, when we recall
how numerous were animal-shaped vessels among the Mound Builders.

Painted Pueblo Pottery.

In this plate we have specimens of the ordinary painted ware from
the ancient ruins. The most of these are restorations, but so
many fragments have been obtained of each vessel that we have no
doubt of the accuracy of the drawings. They decorated their
pottery by painting. Even in many cases where they were further
ornamented by indentations they still painted it, showing that
painting was regarded as of the most importance. We notice that
the ornamentation consists almost entirely of geometrical
figures, parallel lines, and scrolls. Over the entire field of
ruins the body of the vessels is of one of two colors; it is
either white or red. The color employed to produce the
ornamentation is black. There is almost no exception to this
rule, though sometimes the ornamentation is of a brownish color
with a metallic luster. Along the Rio Grande and the Gila some
changes are noticed. The ornamentation is not strictly confined
to two colors. Symbolical representations of clouds, whirlwind,
and lightning are noticed. The red ware has disappeared, and a
chocolate-colored ground takes its place.

All have noticed the superiority of the ancient pottery over that
of the present tribes. Says Prof. Putnam. “A comparison of this
ancient pottery with that made by the present inhabitants of the
pueblos shows that a great deterioration has taken place in
native American art, a rule which I think can be applied to all
the more advanced tribes of America. The remarkable hardness of
all the fragments of colored pottery which have been obtained
from the vicinity of the old ruins in New Mexico, Colorado,
Arizona, and Utah, and also of the pottery of the same character
found in the ruins of adobe houses, and in caves in Utah, shows
that the ancient people understood the art of baking earthenware
far better than their probable descendants now living in the
pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona.”38

We have learned that the remnant of an aboriginal people, now
living in the inhabited pueblos of the West, present us, in their
primitive usage, with the fading outlines of a culture once
widespread in the section of country we have examined. Many of
the early sedentary tribes have vanished completely. Traditions
state that other tribes have moved southward into regions
unknown. “The picture which can be dimly traced to-day of this
past is a very modest and unpretending one. No great cataclysms
of nature, no wave of destruction on a large scale, either
natural or human, appear to have interrupted the slow and tedious
development of the people before the Spaniards came. One portion
rose while another fell, sedentary tribes disappeared or moved
off, and wild tribes roamed over the ruins of their former
abode.” At present but a few pueblos are left to show us what the
people once were. But the fate of the Pueblo of Pecos hangs over
them all. The rising tide of American civilization is rapidly
surrounding them. Before many decades, possibly centuries, the
present Pueblo tribes will yield to their fate. They, too, will
be numbered among the vanished races of men.

REFERENCES

The manuscript of this chapter was submitted to Mr. Ad. F.
Bandelier, of Highland, Illinois. As agent for the
Archæological Institute of America, he spent three years in
explorations in the Pueblo country.

See an excellent historical account by Bandeliers: “Papers of
the Archæological Institute of America.” American series No. 1.

The term “City of Zuñi” is scarcely correct; it should be
Pueblo of Zuñi.

Pacific Railroad Report; Whipple, Vol. III., pp. 67 and 68.

“Archæological Institute of America,” Fifth An. Rep., pp. 55
and 56.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. I., p. 534.

His guide.

The ruins on the top were, however, built after 1680, when the
inhabitants of Flavona, the Spanish “Alvona,” fled to the top
of the mesa to escape the forays of the Navajos. The ruins were
abandoned before 1705. Zuñi is partly built on the ruins of
Flavona, which is still its aboriginal name. (Bandelier.)

Pacific Railroad Reports, Whipple, Vol. III., p. 69.

Pacific Railroad Reports, Whipple, Vol. III., p. 65.

“Simpson’s Report,” p. 124.

Dr. Loew, in “U.S. Geographical Survey West of the 100th
Meridian,” Vol. VII, p. 343.

“Fifth An. Rep. Archæological Inst. of America,” p. 61.

Bandelier’s “Papers of the Archæological Inst.” p. 46.

These facts are drawn from Mr. Bandelier’s article already
referred to.

“Colorado River of the West,” p. 119, _et seq._

U.S. Survey, Hayden, 1876, p. 390.

Bandelier, “Fifth Annual Report Archæological Inst. of
America,” pp. 62, 68, and 65.

“Contributions to North American Ethnology,” Vol. IV, p. 172,
_et seq._

Holmes.

U.S. Survey, Hayden, 1876, p. 419.

Rendered by Ingersoll, in _N.Y. Tribune,_ Nov. 3, 1874.

Bandelier, in Fifth Ann. Rep., Arch. Inst., p 79.

U.S. Survey West of 100th M., Vol. VII, p. 358.

“First Annual Report of Bureau of Ethnology,” p. 74.

“Fifth Annual Report Arch. Inst.,” pp. 42, 78.

Morgan: “Contribution to N. A. Ethnology,” Vol. IV, p. 163.

“Smithsonian Report,” 1863, p. 313.

Whipple, Pacific R. R. Report, Vol. III.

Wherever reference is made to Mr. Bandelier’s discoveries, it
is taken from the oft-quoted Fifth Annual Report, Archæological
Institute.

Whipple, Pacific R. R. Reports, Vol. III., p. 14.

Bartlett’s “Personal Narrative.”

Carr’s “Mounds of the Mississippi Valley.”

Morgan’s “House and House Life,” p. 218.

Fifth Annual Report, p. 84.

“Contributions to N. A. Ethnology,” Vol. IV., p. 192.

Bandelier’s “Fifth Annual Report Arch. Inst.,” p. 76.

U.S. Survey West of 100th Meridian, Vol. VII., p. 381.

Chapter XII
THE PREHISTORIC AMERICANS.1

Different views on this subject—Modern system of government—
Ancient system of government—Tribal government universal in North
America—The Indians not wandering Nomads—Indian houses communal
in character—Indian methods of defense—Mandan villages—Indians
sometimes erected mounds—Probable government of the Mound
Builders—Traditions of the Mound Builders among the
Iroquois—Among the Delawares—Probable fate of the Mound
Builders—The Natchez Indians possibly a remnant of the Mound
Builders—Their early traditions—Lines of resemblance between the
Pueblo tribe and the Mound Builders—The origin of the
Indians—America inhabited by Indians from a very early time—
Classification of the Indian tribes—Antiquity of the Mound
Builders’ works.

The attempts to explain the origin of the numerous tribes found
in possession of America at the time of its discovery by
Europeans have been many and various. There are so many
difficulties attending the solution of this problem that even at
this day no theory has received that full assent from the
scientific world deemed necessary for its establishment as an
ascertained fact. New interest has been thrown around this
question by the discoveries of late years. In our south-western
territories we have clearly established the former wide extension
of the village Indians, remnants of which are still to be found
in the inhabited pueblos; and, as we have seen, the wide expanse
of fertile soil, known as the Mississippi Valley, has undoubtedly
been the home of tribes who are generally supposed to have
attained a much higher stage of culture than that of the
Indians—at least, of such culture as we are accustomed to
ascribe, whether justly or not, to Indian tribes. It becomes an
interesting question, therefore, to determine what connection, if
any, existed between the Mound Builders and the Indian tribes on
the one hand, and the Pueblo tribes on the other.

As to the works of the Mound Builders, one class of critical
scholars think they see in them the memorials of a vanished race,
and point out many details of construction, such as peculiarities
in form, in size, and position, which they think conclusively
prove that the works in question could only have been produced by
races or tribes far more advanced in culture than any Indians.
This belief finds expression by a well-known writer in the
following words: “A broad chasm is to be spanned before we can
link the Mound Builders to the North American Indians. They were
essentially different in their form of government, their habits,
and their daily pursuits.” This is substantially the opinion of a
great many writers on this subject.2

But this conclusion has not been allowed to pass unchallenged. We
have on record the convictions of a few careful investigators
that there is no necessity for supposing that only an extinct or
vanished race could have built the mounds and thrown up the
embankments which we observe in the valley of the Ohio and
elsewhere; that there is nothing, in fact, either in the
construction of the mounds themselves or in the remains of art
found in them, which we may not with safety ascribe to the
ancestors of our present Indians.3 It will be seen that we may,
indeed, be at a loss to know what conclusion to adopt; hence, as
an aid to us in this direction, it may be well to inquire into
the organization of Indian tribes and their customs and manners
at the time of their discovery.

It is not necessary to sketch their history, as this has been
done many times. Moreover, it is but a dreary recital of the
gradual encroachment of the Whites on the lands of the Indians,
the vain endeavors of the latter to repress them, and a record of
many cruel acts of savage warfare, burning villages, midnight
massacre, and scenes of terrible sufferings. The uniform result
was that the Indian tribes were steadily driven away from their
ancient homes, until we now find them but a sorry remnant on
scattered reservations or grouped together in the Indian
Territory. Their ancient institutions are nearly broken down, and
it is with difficulty that we can gain an understanding of their
early condition; and yet this seems to be necessary before we are
prepared to decide on the origin of the mound-building people.

It seems necessary here to briefly describe the two great plans
or systems of government, under one or the other of which
mankind, as far as we know them, have always been organized,
though, theoretically, there must have been a time, in the very
infancy of the race, when there was either no government or
something different from either of them. At the present day, in
all civilized countries, government is founded upon territory and
upon property. A person is described as living in such a
township, county, and state.4 This seems to be a very simple and
natural division, but, like every thing else, it is the result of
growth—of a development. It took nearly three centuries of
civilization and a succession of able men, each improving on what
the other had done, to fully develop this system among the
Greeks.5 This is the basis of the modern form of government.
Whenever it was organized, it marked the termination of ancient
government. The other plan of government is founded on personal
relations.

A person would be described as of such a gens, phratry, and
tribe. It is sufficient to state the words gens, and phratry
simply denote subdivisions of a tribe.6 This is the ancient
system of government, and goes very far back in the history of
the race. It is that state of society which everywhere preceded
history and civilization. When we go back to the first beginning
of history in Europe, we find the Grecian, Roman, and Germanic
tribes in the act of substituting the modern system of government
for the tribal state, under which they had passed from savagism
into and through the various stages of barbarism, and entered the
confines of civilization. The Bible reveals to us the tribal
state of the Hebrews and the Canaanites.

Under the light of modern research, we can not doubt but what
this form of government was very ancient, and substantially
universal. It originated in the morning of time, and so
completely answered all the demands of primitive society that it
advanced man from savagism, through barbarism, and sufficed to
enable him to make a beginning in civilization. It was so firmly
established as one of the primitive institutions, that when it
was found insufficient to meet the demands of advancing society,
it taxed to the utmost the skill of the Aryan tribes to devise a
system to take its place.

This was the system of government throughout North America when
the Spaniards landed on its shores. This is true, at least as far
as our investigations have gone.7 In several cases tribes
speaking dialects of the same stock-language had united in a
confederacy; as, for instance, the celebrated league of the
Iroquois, and in Mexico, the union of the three Aztec tribes. But
confederacies did not change the nature of tribal government. As
there was but one general form or plan of government in vogue
amongst the Aborigines of North America at the time of discovery,
we ought certainly to find common features in the culture of the
Pueblo Indians of the South-west, the Mound Builders of the
Mississippi Valley, and the various Indian tribes; and if the
lines of resemblance are sufficient to show a gradual progress
from the rude remains of savage tribes to the more finished works
of the Pueblos, and between these and the Mound Builders, then we
may consider this fact as one more reason for believing that they
constitute but one people in different stages of development.

The tribal state of society is always associated with village
life. It makes no difference where we commence our
investigations, we will soon be convinced that village life is
the form in which people organized in tribes lived. This is true
of the wild tribes in Africa, and of the hill tribes of India
to-day.8 The same was true of the early Greeks.9 There must be a
reason for this. It is found in their peculiar system of
government. People divided into groups and clusters would
naturally be drawn together into villages. We would expect, then,
to find that the Indian tribes lived in villages. We are
accustomed to speak of them as wandering nomads. This is scarcely
correct; or rather, it is certainly wrong, if applied to the
tribes east of the Mississippi, when first encountered by the
whites. Some of them may have been in a state of migration, in
search of better homes, or homes more secure from the attacks of
too powerful enemies, as was the case with the Shawnees, and
wandering bands on hunting or warlike expeditions were common
enough. The Germanic, tribes that overthrew the Roman Empire, for
a similar reason, were in a migrating state. But it is none the
less certain that they established permanent villages wherever
they found suitable places.

Nearly all the tribes claimed separate districts, in which they
had permanent villages, often stockaded.10 The site of Montreal
was a famous Indian village,11 and other villages were found in
Canada. The Iroquois tribes had permanent villages, and resided
in them the greater part of the year.12 One visited in 1677 is
described as having one hundred and twenty houses, the ordinary
one being from fifty to sixty feet long, and furnishing shelter
to about twelve families. In one case, at least, the town was
surrounded by palisades.

In 1539 De Soto made his appearance on the coast of Florida. Four
years later a feeble remnant of this expedition landed at Panuco,
Mexico. His route has not been accurately traced, but it is
certain he travelled the Gulf States and crossed the Mississippi.
De Soto himself found a grave in the waters of this river, but
under new leaders the expedition pushed on through Arkansas, and
probably found its most western point on the prairies of the
West, where, disheartened, it turned back to near where De Soto
died, constructed some rude boats, and floated down the
Mississippi, and so to Mexico. We have two accounts written by
members of this expedition,13 and a third, written by Garcilasso
de La Vega from the statements of eye-witnesses and memoranda
which had fallen into his hands.

From these considerable can be learned of the Southern Indians
before they had been subjected to European influences. One of the
first things that arrests attention is the description of the
villages. They found, to be sure, some desert tracts, but every
few miles, as a rule, they found villages containing from fifty
to three hundred spacious and commodious dwellings, well
protected from enemies—sometimes surrounded by a wall, sometimes
also by a ditch filled with water. When west of the Mississippi
they found a tribe living in movable tents, they deemed that fact
worthy of special mention. But in the same section they also
found many villages.

One hundred and forty years afterward the French explorer, La
Salle, made several voyages up and down the Mississippi. He
describes much the same state of things as do the earlier
writers. The tribes still dwelt in comfortable cabins, sometimes
constructed of bark, sometimes of mud,14 often of large size, in
one case forty feet square, and having a dome-shaped roof. Nor
was this village life confined to the more advanced tribes. The
Dakota tribes, which include the Sioux and others, have been
forced on the plains by the advancing white population, but when
first discovered they were living in villages around the
headwaters of the Mississippi. Their houses were framed of poles
and covered with bark.15

Lewis and Clark, in 1805, found the valley of the Columbia River
inhabited by tribes destitute of pottery, and living mainly on
fish, which were found in immense quantities in the river. They
describe them as living in large houses, one sometimes forming a
village by itself. They describe one house capable of furnishing
habitations for five hundred people. Other authorities could be
quoted, showing that the Algonquin Indians, living in Eastern and
Atlantic States, had permanent villages.16 The idea then, that
the Indians are nothing but wandering savages, is seen to be
wrong. It is well to bear this in mind, because it is often
asserted that the Mound Builders must have been a people
possessing fixed habitations. While this is doubtless correct, we
see that it is also true of the Indians.17

There is another feature of Indian life which we will mention
here, because it shows us a common element in the building of
houses, seen alike in the pueblo structures of the West and the
long houses of the Iroquois. That is, the Indian houses were
always built to be inhabited by a number of families in common.
All nations in a tribal state possess property in common. It is
not allowed to pass out of the gens of the person who possesses
it, but at his death is supposed to be divided among the members
of his gens; in most cases, however, to those nearest of kin
within the gens.18 This communism showed itself in the method of
erecting houses.

The long house of the Iroquois was divided into apartments so as
to shelter from one hundred to two hundred Indians. A number of
these houses gathered together composed a village. These were
quite creditable structures of Indian art, being warm and
comfortable, as well as roomy. Should we examine the whole list
of writers who have mentioned Indian villages, we would find them
all admitting that the houses were usually occupied by a number
of families, one in the Columbia Valley, as we see, sheltering
five hundred persons.

There is no question but the pueblos were built by people holding
property in common. They were, of course, erected by a more
advanced people, who employed better materials in construction,
but it is quite plain that they were actuated by the same
instincts, and built their houses with the same design in view as
the less advanced Indian tribes in other sections of the country.
What we have described as the small houses in Arizona in the
preceding chapter, in most cases includes several rooms, and we
are told that in one section they “appear to have been the abode
of several families.”19

Long House of the Iroquois.

One of the main points the Indians would have to attend to in the
construction of their villages was how to defend them, and we can
not do better than to examine this point. A French writer
represents the villages of Canada as defended by double, and
frequently triple, rows of palisades, interwoven with branches of
trees.20 Cartier, in 1535, found the village of Hochelaga (now
Montreal) thus defended. In 1637 the Pequot Indians were the
terror of the New England colonies, and Capt. Mason, who was sent
to subject them, found their principal villages, covering six
acres, strongly defended by palisades.

Stockaded Onondaga Village.

The Iroquois tribes also adopted this method of defense. In 1615
Champlain, with Indian allies, invaded the territory of the
Iroquois. He left a sketch of his attack on one of their
villages. This sketch we reproduce in this illustration, which is
a very important one, because it shows us a regularly palisaded
village among a tribe of Indians where the common impression in
reference to them is that they were a wandering people with no
fixed habitations. The sketch is worthy of careful study. The
buildings within are the long houses which we have just
described. They are located near together, three or four in a
group. The arrangement of the groups is in the form of a square,
inclosing a court in the center. This tendency to inclose a court
is a very common feature of Indian architecture. Such, as we have
seen, is the arrangement of the pueblos. Such was also the
arrangement of the communal buildings in Mexico, Central America,
and Peru. In this case the village covered about six acres also.
The defense was by means of palisades. There seem to be two rows
of them. They seem to have been well made, since Champlain was
unsuccessful in his attack. In earlier times these fortified
villages were numerous.

Pomeiock. Further south, this method of inclosing a village was
also in use. In 1585 the English sent an expedition to the coast
of North Carolina. An artist attached to this expedition left
some cuts, one of which represents a village near Roanoke. It is
surrounded, as we see, by a row of palisades, and contains
seventeen joint tenement houses, besides the council house. The
historians of De Soto’s expedition make frequent mention of
walled and fortified towns. “The village of Mavilla,” from which
comes our name Mobile, says Biedman, “stood on a plain surrounded
by strong walls.” Herrera, in his General History, states that
the walls were formed by piles, interwoven with other timber, and
the spaces packed with straw and earth so that it looked like a
wall smoothed with a trowel.

Speaking of the region west of the Mississippi, Biedman says: “We
journeyed two days, and reached a village in the midst of a
plain, surrounded by walls and a ditch filled by water, which had
been made by Indians.” This town is supposed to have been
situated in the north-eastern part of Arkansas, and it is
interesting to note that recent investigators find what are
probably the remains of these walled towns, in the shape of
inclosures with ditches and mounds, in North-eastern Arkansas and
South-eastern Missouri.21 The tribes throughout the entire extent
of the Mississippi Valley were accustomed to palisade their
villages—at least, occasionally.22

Mandan Village. On the Missouri River we find some Indian tribes
that have excited a great deal of interest among archæologists.
It has been surmised that, if their history could be recovered,
it would clear up a great many difficult questions. They were
accustomed to fortify their village’s with ditches, embankments,
and palisades. This gives us a cut of one of their villages. It
is to be observed that it has a great likeness to some of the
inclosures ascribed to the Mound Builders.

This has been noted by many writers. Says Brackenridge: “In my
voyage up the Missouri I observed the ruins of several villages
which had been abandoned twenty or thirty years, which in every
respect resembled the vestiges on the Ohio and Mississippi.”23
Lewis and Clark, in their travels, describe the sites of several
of these abandoned villages, the only remains of which were the
walls which had formerly inclosed the villages, then three or
four feet high. The opinion has been advanced that the inclosures
of the Mound Builders were formerly surmounted by palisades. Mr.
Atwater asserts that the round fort which was joined to a square
inclosure at Circleville showed distinctly evidence of having
supported a line of pickets or palisades.24

Should it be accepted that the inclosures of the Mound Builders
represent village sites, and that they were probably further
protected by palisades, it would seem, after what we have just
observed of the customs of the Indians in fortifying their
villages, to be a simple and natural explanation of these
remains.

We have already referred to the fact that scholars draw a
distinction between the more massive works found in the Ohio
Valley and the low, crumbling ruins occupying defensive positions
found in such abundance along Lake Erie and in Western New York,
asserting the former to be the works of the Mound Builders
proper, and the latter the remains of fortified Indian villages.
This may be true, but it seems to us that there is such a common
design running through all these remains that it is more
reasonable to infer that the more massive works were constructed
by people more advanced than those who built the less pretentious
works, but not necessarily of a dilterent race. We can not do
better than to quote the remarks of Mr. Brackenridge in this
connection: “We are often tempted by a fondness for the marvelous
to seek out remote and impossible causes for that which may be
explained by the most obvious.”25

But inclosures and defensive works are only a small part of the
Mound Builders’ remains. We know that large numbers of mounds are
scattered over the country, and we recall in this connection what
was said as to the erection of mounds by Indian tribes in a
preceding essay. Somewhat at the risk of repetition we will once
more examine this question. It is generally admitted that it was
the custom of Indian tribes to erect piles of stones to
commemorate several events, such as a treaty, or the settlement
of a village, but more generally to mark the grave of a chief, or
some noted person, or of a person whose death occurred under
unusual circumstances.26 These cairns are not confined to any
particular section of the country, being found in New England,
throughout the South, and generally in the Mississippi Valley.
From their wide dispersion, and from the fact that they do not
differ from the structures built by Indian tribes within a few
years past, it is not doubted but what they are the works of
Indians.

Now, if we could draw a dividing line, and say that, while the
Indians erected mounds of stone, the Mound Builders built theirs
of earth, it would be a strong argument in favor of a difference
of race. But this can not be done. When De Soto landed in
Florida, nearly three hundred and fifty years ago, he had an
opportunity of observing the customs of the Indians as they were
before the introduction of fire-arms, and before contact with the
Whites had wrought the great change in them it was destined to.
Therefore, what few notes his historians have given us of the
ways of life they observed amongst the southern tribes are of
great importance in this connection. At the very spot where he
landed (supposed to be Tampa Bay) they observed that the house of
the chief “stood near the shore, upon a very high mound, made by
hand for strength.”

Garcilasso tells us “the town and the house of the Cacique
(chief) Ossachile are like those of the other caciques in
Florida. . . . The Indians try to place their villages on
elevated sites, but, inasmuch as in Florida there are not many
sites of this kind where they can conveniently build, they erect
elevations themselves, in the following manner: They select the
spot, and carry there a quantity of earth, which they form into a
kind of platform, two or three pikes in height, the summit of
which is large enough to give room for twelve, fifteen, or twenty
houses, to lodge the cacique and his attendants. At the foot of
this elevation they mark out a square place, according to the
size of the village, around which the leading men have their
houses. To ascend the elevation they have a straight passage-way
from bottom to top, fifteen or twenty feet wide. Here steps are
made by massive beams, and others are planted firmly in the
ground to serve as walls. On all other sides of the platform the
sides are cut steep.”27

Biedman, the remaining historian, says of the country in what is
now (probably) Arkansas. “The caciques of this country make a
custom of raising, near their dwellings, very high hills, on
which they sometimes build their huts.”28 Twenty-five years later
the French sent an expedition to the east coast of Florida. The
accounts of this expedition are very meager, but they confirm
what the other writers have stated as to the erection of platform
mounds with graded ways.29 Le Moyne, the artist of this
expedition, has left us a cut of a mound erected over a deceased
chief. It was, however, but a small one.30

La Harpe, writing in 1720, says of tribes on the lower
Mississippi: “Their cabins . . . are dispersed over the country
upon mounds of earth made with their own hands.” As to the
construction of these houses, we learn that their cabins were
“round and vaulted,” being lathed with cane and plastered with
mud from bottom to top, within and without. In other cases they
were square, with the roof dome-shaped, the walls plastered with
mud to the height of twelve feet.31 It is interesting to observe
how closely what little we do know about Mound Builders’ houses
coincides with the above.

Recent investigations by the Bureau of Ethnology have brought to
light vestiges of great numbers of their buildings. These were
mostly circular, but those of a square or rectangular form were
also observed. In Arkansas their location was generally on low,
flat mounds, but vestiges of some were also noticed near the
surface of large mounds. In Southern Illinois, South-eastern
Missouri, and Middle and Western Tennessee the sites of thousands
were observed, not in or on mounds, but marked by little
circular, saucer-shaped depressions, from twenty to fifty feet in
diameter, surrounded by a slight earthen ring. We know the
framework of these houses was poles, for in several cases the
charred remains of these poles were found. We know they were
plastered with a thick coating of mud, for regular layers of
lumps of this burnt plastering are found. These lumps have often
been mistaken for bricks, as in the Selzertown mound. In several
cases the plastering had been stamped with an implement, probably
made of split cane of large size.32

On the lower Mississippi we meet with the Natchez, a tribe that
has excited a great deal of interest; but at present we only want
to note that they also constructed mounds. They were nearly
exterminated by the French in 1729. But before this Du Pratz had
lived among them, and left a description of their customs. Their
temple was about thirty feet square, and was situated on a mound
about eight feet high, which sloped insensibly from its main
front on the north, but was somewhat steeper on the other sides.
He also states that the cabin of the chief, or great sun, as he
was called, was placed upon a mound of about the same height,
though somewhat larger, being sixty feet over the surface.33 A
missionary who labored among them, stated that when the chief
died his mound was deserted, and a new one built for the next
chief.34

Neither was this custom of erecting mounds confined to the
Southern Indians. Colden states of the Iroquois: “They make a
round hole in which the body is placed, then they raise the earth
in a round hill over it.”35 It was the custom among a large
number of tribes to gather together the remains of all who had
died during several years and bury them all together, erecting a
mound over them.36 Mr. Jefferson, in his notes on Virginia,
describes one of these mounds, and relates this interesting fact
in reference to it: “A party of Indians passing about thirty
years ago through the part of the country where this barrow is,
went through the woods directly to it, without any instructions
or inquiry; and having staid about it some time, with expressions
which were construed to be those of sorrow, they returned to the
high road, which they had left about a half dozen miles to pay
this visit, and pursued their journey.”37

Coming down to our own times, the Indians had lost a great many
of their ancient customs, yet, at times, this old instinct of
mound burial asserts itself. About the first of the century
Blackbird, a celebrated chief of the Omahas, returning to his
native home after a visit to Washington, died of the small-pox.
It was his dying request that his body be placed on horseback,
and the horse buried alive with him. Accordingly, in the presence
of all his nation, his body was placed on the back of his
favorite white horse, fully equipped as if for a long journey,
with all that was necessary for an Indian’s happiness, including
the scalps of his enemies. Turfs were brought and placed around
the feet and legs, and up the sides of the unsuspecting animal,
and so gradually the horse and its rider were buried from sight,
thus forming a good-sized burial mound.38 Another instance came
under Mr. Catlin’s observation at the pipe stone quarry in
Dakota. He visited there about 1832 and saw a conical mound, ten
feet high, that had been erected over the body of a young man
accidentally killed there two years before.

Enough references have now been given to show that the Indian
tribes certainly did erect mounds, and that there is every reason
to suppose they were the authors of the temple mounds of the
South, or of some of them, at any rate. We have now shown that,
according to early writers, the Indians did live in permanent
villages, often stockaded, and knew very well how to raise
embankments and mounds. It would seem as if this removed all
necessity for supposing the existence of an extinct race to
explain the numerous remains, collectively known as Mound
Builders’ works. Yet, as this is surely an important point, it
may be well to carry the investigations a little further.

Taking in account the great amount of labor necessary to raise
such structures as the mounds at Cahokia and Grave Creek, and the
complicated works at Newark, some writers have asserted that the
government of the Mound Builders was one in which the central
authority must have had absolute power over the persons of the
subjects, that they were in effect slaves;39 and as this was
altogether contrary to what is known amongst Indian tribes, they
must have been of a different race.

If the Indians in a tribal state are known to have erected some
mounds, and to have built temple-platforms and walled towns in
the south, then all they needed was sufficient motive, religious
or otherwise, to have built the most stupendous works known. We
think the ruined pueblos in the Chaco Cañon represent as great an
amount of work as many of those of the Mound Builders. A
calculation has been made, showing that over thirty million
pieces of stone were required in the construction of one
pueblo,40 besides an abundance of timber. Each piece of stone had
to be dressed roughly to fit its place; the timbers had to be
brought from a considerable distance, cut and fitted to their
places in the wall, and then covered with other courses, besides
other details of construction, such as roof-making, plastering,
and so forth, and this is not the calculation of the largest
pueblo either.41 Yet no one supposes that the Indian tribes who
erected these structures were under a despotic form of
government.

We think, however, that it might be freely admitted that in all
probability the government of the Mound Builders was arbitrary,
but so was the government of a great many Indian tribes. Amongst
the Natchez the chief was considered as descended from the sun.
Nor was this belief confined to the Natchez, as the tribes of the
Floridian Peninsula asserted the same thing of their chiefs.
Among all these latter tribes the chief held absolute and
unquestioned power over the persons, property, and time of their
subjects.42

Amongst the Natchez the power of the Great Sun (their title for
chief) seems to have been very great. This nation had a regularly
organized system of priesthood, of which the chief was also the
head. On the death of the chief a number of his subjects were put
to death to keep him company. But we must notice that the
subjects considered it an honor to die with the chief, and made
application beforehand for the privilege. Bearing these facts in
mind, it does not seem improbable that in more distant days, when
the Natchez or some kindred tribe were in the height of their
power, the death of some great chief might well be memorialized
by the erection of a mound as grand in proportion as that of
Grave Creek.

In fact, the more we study the subject, the more firmly we become
convinced that there is no hard and fast line separating the
works of the Mound Builders from those of the later Indians. We
therefore think that we may safely assert that the best
authorities in the United States now consider that the mound
building tribes were Indians, in much the same state of culture
as the Indian tribes in the Gulf States at the time of the
discovery of America, and we shall not probably be far out of the
way if we assert, that when driven from the valley of the Ohio by
more warlike people they became absorbed by the southern tribes,
and, indeed the opinion is quite freely advanced that the Natchez
themselves were a remnant of the “Mysterious Mound Builders.”

If the Mound Building tribes were here at a comparatively late
date, we ought to expect to find some traditions of their former
existence. The statement is quite often made that the Indians had
no tradition as to the origin or purpose of the mounds, and from
this it is argued that the mounds are of great antiquity. But,
instead of finding no traditions, we find nearly every tribe
possessed of some, and often very full and distinct.43 It makes
no difference that a number of those traditions are childish, and
that traditions are a very unsatisfactory sort of proof at best.
Still, if we observe that the traditions, such as they are, are
corroborative of other proofs, it is well to examine into them
anyway.

The Iroquois tribes have a tradition, that is given in the
writing of Cusick, a Tuscaroa Indian. It is generally considered
as a nonsensical production, but Mr. Hale points out that,
“whenever his statements can be submitted to the tests of
language, they are invariably confirmed.”44 Such, for instance,
are the assertions that they formerly inhabited the country
around the St. Lawrence River in Canada, and further, that the
Mohawk was the oldest tribe, from whence the others separated in
time.

The substance of the tradition supposed to refer to the Mound
Builders, is as follows: South of the great lakes was the seat of
a great empire. The emperor resided in a golden city. The nations
to the north of the great lakes formed a confederacy, and seated
a great council fire on the river St. Lawrence. This confederacy
appointed a high chief as ambassador, who immediately departed to
the south to visit the emperor at the golden city. Afterwards,
the emperor built many forts throughout his dominions, and almost
penetrated to Lake Erie. The people to the north considered this
an infringement on their territory, and it resulted in a long
war.

The people of the north were too skillful in the use of bows and
arrows, and could endure hardships which proved fatal to a
foreign people. At last, the northern people gained the victory,
and all the towns and forts were totally destroyed and left in
ruins.45 If this tradition stood alone, it would not be deserving
of much attention, but we know the Iroquois tribes did originally
live in the valley of the St. Lawrence. We also feel sure the
Mound Builders were a powerful people, and lived in the Ohio
Valley. What is there unreasonable, therefore, in supposing that
the Iroquois came in contact with them, and that this tradition
rests on facts?

But this tradition is very similar to one among the Delawares.
This tribe spoke a different stock language than the Iroquois,
and belonged to the Algonquin division of the Indian tribes.
There were many wars between the Delawares and the Iroquois, but
finally the latter were acknowledged masters. It is well to keep
this in mind, because with this feeling between the two tribes,
they would not be apt to have similar traditions unless there was
a basis of fact.46

Mr. Gallatin informs us that the original home of the Algonquins
was to the north of Lake Superior. The tradition states that the
Delawares (they called themselves the Leni-lenape) were living in
a cold, fir-tree country—evidently the wooded regions north of
Lake Superior. Getting tired of this country, they set out
towards the East in search of a better place, and probably
followed the lake shore around until they finally came to a great
river—that is, the Detroit. The country beyond was inhabited by a
numerous and powerful people, called the Allegewi,47 who dwelt in
great fortified towns. Here they found the Huron-Iroquois tribes.
This was before the Iroquois had separated from the Hurons.

Some treachery on the part of the Allegewi was made the occasion
of war. The Leni-lenape and the Hurons united their forces. This
is perhaps the Confederacy of Cusic. A long war resulted, but in
the end the Allegewi were defeated, and, as the tradition states,
“all went southward.”48 We see no reason to doubt but what we
have here a traditional account of the overthrow of the Mound
Builders. The remnant that fled south found the country inhabited
by mound-building tribes, and doubtless became absorbed among
them. In confirmation of this view it may be said that the
languages of the tribes of the Gulf States, which belong to one
stock language,49 have all been greatly influenced by words
derived from a foreign source.50

Perhaps a large body of them may have lived on as a fully
organized tribe. As we have already stated, the opinion is quite
freely advanced that this is the origin of the Natchez.51 It
seems advisable to inquire more particularly into the customs and
traditions of this tribe. Du Pratz, who lived among them in 1718,
and claims to have enjoyed the confidence of their chiefs and
principal men, has left the most complete account of them; though
Father Charlevoix, a Jesuit priest, in his letters, also
describes them fully.

A number of interesting statements in regard to them, at once
arrest attention. Most of the tribes in the southern region of
the United States spoke dialects of a common stock language
(Chata-muskoki), showing a derivation from a common source. The
Natchez spoke a different language. Sun-worship seems to have
been carried to a greater extent than among any other tribes we
are acquainted with. As late as 1730 they still had their
temples, where the eternal fire was kept burning, carefully
watched; for they believed that should it become extinguished, it
would surely bring great trouble on the tribe. Among the Natchez,
if anywhere among Indian tribes, the power of the chief was
absolute, and there seems to have been something like privileged
classes amongst them. We have already referred to them as Mound
Builders.

But most interesting is it to learn of their former wide
extension and ancient power. Du Pratz says, “According to their
traditions they were the most powerful nation of all North
America, and were looked upon by other nations as their
superiors, and on that account were respected by them. To give an
idea of their power, I shall only mention that formerly they
extended from the River Manchas, or Iberville, which is about
fifty leagues from the sea, to the River Wabash, which is distant
from the sea about four hundred and sixty leagues; and that they
had about eight hundred suns, or princes.”52 It is at least a
reasonable supposition that that the Natchez were a remnant of
the Mound Builders.

So far we have dwelt chiefly on the relations between the Indians
and the Mound Builders. Let us now see if we can not detect some
connection between the Pueblo tribes of the south-west and the
Mound Builders. All the tribes in the Gulf States had traditions
of a western and south-western origin. In regard to the Creek
Indians, this tradition is very distinct. They relate, with many
details, their journey from the west, their fight with the
Alabamas, etc.53 In the Natchez tradition, as given by Du Pratz,
they are seen, not only to come from the same western source, but
distinctly preserve recollections of pueblo houses.

The substance of their traditions is that they came from a
pleasant country and mild climate, “under the sun,” and in the
south-west, where the nation had lived for many ages, and had
spread over an extensive country of mountains, hills, and plains,
in which the houses were built of stone, and were several stories
high. They further relate how, owing to increase of enemies, the
great sun sent some one over to examine and report on the country
to be found to the east. The country being found extremely
pleasant, a large part of their nation removed thither; and,
after many generations, the great sun himself came also. Speaking
of the ancient inhabitants of the country they came from, the
tradition states that “they had a great number of large and small
villages, which were all built of stone, and in which were houses
large enough to lodge a whole tribe.”54 We would offer the same
suggestion on these traditions as on the others. They are of
value only so far as supported by other testimony. The great
objection to them is that the pueblo structures of the west are
evidently of recent origin. So these traditions would prove that
the Natchez Indians were quite recently connected with the Pueblo
tribes, which is not at all probable. We have some slight
evidence that does not rest on traditions. Mr. Holmes has given
us a plan of an ancient village he discovered on the La Platte
River, San Juan Valley. It will be seen by reference to the plate
that the buildings were separated from each other. The forms are
chiefly rectangles and circles, and one or two seem to have been
elliptical. This description certainly reminds us of the circles
and squares so common among the Mound Builders. But there is also
a truncated mound, fifty by eighty feet, and nine feet high. “Its
flat top and height give it more the appearance of one of the
sacrificial mounds of the Ohio Valley than any others observed in
this part of the West.” Mounds are known to exist in Utah.55

Ruins near the La Platte Valley of the San Juan. We need not
expect to trace a continuous line of ruins from the San Juan
Valley to that of the Ohio, granting the migration to have taken
place, because a migrating race would not be apt to erect
monuments until they reached the end of their line of migration.
Those who take this view of it say that it is not at all strange
that when these migrating tribes reached their new homes in the
Mississippi Valley they erected structures differing from those
they had formerly built, because all their surroundings would be
different, and in the prairie sections they would find neither
stone for building their pueblos nor clay suitable for adobe
construction. So they would do the next best thing, and build a
fortified village. This is the view of that eminent scholar, Mr.
Morgan. It must be borne in mind, however, that the fortified
villages of the southern Indians, including those of the
Mississippi Valley, corresponded more nearly with those of the
Atlantic shore, and more northern tribes, than with the pueblo
structures.

There is another line of proof which we think has been read the
wrong way, or, at least, applied too strongly, and made to do
service in proving that the Mound Builders migrated from the
valley of the Ohio to Mexico, and there laid the foundation of
that wonderful civilization which is yet a riddle to the
antiquarian.56 This is derived from a study of the skulls
procured from various sections of this country, Peru, and Mexico.
It is sufficient to state that anatomists have made a careful
study of the skulls of individuals of various nations, and
instituted certain comparisons between them, and discoveries of
great importance have been made by this means. Now, some of our
best American scholars have insisted that the skulls of the Mound
Builders and the ancient inhabitants of Mexico and the Inca
Peruvians are so similar that they must have belonged to the same
race.

This type of skull, however, is characteristic, not only of the
Mound Builders, the ancient Mexicans and the Peruvians, but of
the Pueblos, and of such tribes as the Natchez, Creeks, and
Seminoles. We think, with all due regard to the opinions of
others, that in the present state of our knowledge of craniology
we are not authorized in drawing very important conclusions
therefrom. About all we are justified in stating is that the
sedentary or village Indians, whether found in North or South
America, have certain common features.

It is also hard to see any great resemblance between the works of
the Mound Builders and the Pueblo tribes. The truncated mounds
discovered by Mr. Holmes, we remember, were also used as
foundations for house structures along the Gila. In this feature
we, of course, see a resemblance to the platform mounds of the
Mississippi Valley. But we must be careful in tracing connections
on such a slim basis as this. We must remember also what a
difference there is in the pottery of the two sections.57 If we
were to give an opinion, based on the present known facts, we
should say the separation between the people who afterwards
developed as the pueblo builders of the west and the Mound
Builders of the Mississippi Valley took place at an early date.

But let us not suppose that this conclusion clears up all
mysteries. A problem which has thus far defied the efforts of
some of our best thinkers is still before us, and that is: “From
whence came the Indians?” As we remarked at the beginning of this
chapter, no one theory has yet received universal acceptance. In
view of these facts, it is not best to present any theories, but
content ourselves with such statements as seem reasonably well
settled. On all hands it is agreed that the Indians have been in
America a long while, and whatever advance they were able to make
in the scale of civilization has been achieved in this country.58

This statement implies that they were in undisturbed possession
of this country long enough for some tribes of them to reach the
middle status of barbarism, which means advancement sufficient to
enable them to cultivate the ground by irrigation, and to acquire
a knowledge of the use of stone and adobe brick in building.59
More than half the battle of civilization had then been won. Look
at it as we will, this demands an immense period of time for its
accomplishment. In the arts of subsistence, government, language,
and development of religious ideas the advancement they had been
able to make from a condition of savagism to that in which the
Mound Builders evidently lived, or the Aztecs in Mexico,
represents a progression far greater than from thence to
civilization.

We are, therefore, sure that the Indians have inhabited this
country for an extended period. We can prolong the mental vision
backwards until we discover them, a savage race, gaining a
precarious livelihood by fishing and the chase. In America there
was but one cereal, or grain, growing wild. That was maize, or
Indian corn. We can not tell in what portion of the continent it
was native, but, in whatever section it was, there, probably,
first commenced permanent village life.

A settled residence, and being no longer dependent on hunting for
a livelihood, would advance the Indians greatly in the scale of
culture. So we can understand how in one section would arise
Indian tribes possessed of quite complicated systems of
government and religion and a knowledge of agriculture. And from
this as a center they would naturally spread out to other
sections. The conclusion to which we seem driven is, that there
is no necessity for supposing the Mound Builders to be any thing
more than village Indians, in much the same state of development
as the southern Indians at the time of the discovery. The Indian
race shows us tribes in various stages of development, from the
highly developed Pueblo Indians on the one hand to the miserable
Aborigines of California on the other.

These various tribes may be classified as the wild hunting tribes
and the sedentary, partially civilized tribes. To this last
division belong the Mound Builders. We have seen how the
partially civilized tribes in the valley of the San Juan were
gradually driven south by the pressure of wild tribes. We need
not doubt but such was the case in the Mississippi Valley. But we
need not picture to ourselves any imposing movement of tribes. In
one location a mound-building tribe may have been forced to
abandon its territory, which would be occupied by bands of
hunting tribes. In other cases they would cling more tenaciously
to their territory. The bulk of them may have been forced south;
some in other directions, and, like the Pimas on the River Gila,
or the Junanos east of the Rio Grande, have retrograded in
culture.60 Some bands may even have reached Mexico, and exerted
an influence on the culture of the tribes found there.61

It is only necessary to add a brief word as to the antiquity of
the Mound Builders’ works, or rather as to the time of
abandonment. On this point there is a great diversity of opinion,
and it seems to us almost impossible to come to any definite
conclusion. The time of abandonment may vary greatly in different
sections of the country, and we have seen how apt Indian tribes,
even in the same section, are to abandon one village site in
order to form another a few miles away.62 Fort Hill, in Ohio,
that so strongly impressed its first explorers with a sense of
antiquity,63 may have been abandoned long before the Circleville
works, where Mr. Atwater could still distinguish vestiges of the
palisades that once helped to defend it.

We have said about all that can be said in a brief review of the
prehistoric life in America north of Mexico. We have seen how
much there is still for our scholars to work up before we can
profess to as full and complete a knowledge as we have of the
prehistoric life in Europe. We are just on the threshold of
discoveries in regard to the Paleolithic Age in this country. The
southern boundary of the great ice sheet is now known to us. Many
scholars have pointed out to us the scattering bits of evidence
going to show that the ancestors of the present Eskimos once
inhabited the interior of this continent. Dr. Abbott has found
unmistakable evidence of the presence of such a people in New
Jersey. Our Indian tribes who came next, are not properly
prehistoric, though many questions relating to them belong to
that field.

We have examined the works of the people known as Mound Builders.
They are indeed varied and full of interest, but our conclusion
leaves their origin involved in the still deeper question of the
origin of the Indian race. We are satisfied that they were
village Indians and not tribes of a vanished people. We have also
examined that section of country wherein the greatest development
of village Indian life north of Mexico took place. It would be
very satisfactory could we show lines of migration from the
valley of the San Juan, as a center, to the Mississippi Valley on
the one hand, and to Mexico and the South on the other. We can
find some lines of evidence, but not enough to positively state
such an important truth.

We must now leave this field of inquiry. We trust such of our
readers as have followed us in these pages will have clearer
ideas of the prehistoric life in North America. They must however
regard this knowledge as simply a foundation, a starting-point,
or as the shallows along the shore, while the massive building,
the long journey, or the great ocean, is still before them. Our
scholars are giving their time and attention to these problems.
They are learning what they can of the traditions and myths of
the tribes still existing. They are studying their languages and
plan of government. They are also making great collections of the
works of their hands. We will hope some day for clear light on
all these topics, which will either confirm our present
conclusions or show us wherein we must change them, or, perhaps,
reject them altogether.

Stone Mask found in Tennessee. REFERENCES

The manuscript of this chapter was submitted to Cyrus Thomas,
Ph.D., of the Bureau of Ethnology, for criticism.

Baldwin’s “Ancient America,” p. 58. Gallatin, Trans. Am.
Ethnol. Soc., I., p. 207. Short’s “North Americans of
Antiquity,” p. 65. Conant’s “Footprints of Vanished Races,” p.
120. Jone’s “Antiquities of Tennessee,” p. 146. MacLean’s “The
Mound Builders,” Chap. xii.

Carr’s “Mounds of the Mississippi Valley.” Schoolcraft’s
“Archives of Aboriginal Knowledge,” Vol. I., p. 66; Vol. II.,
p. 30. Morgan’s “House and House Life American Aborigines,”
Vol. IV.; “Contributions to N. A. Ethnology,” p. 199. Brinton:
_American Antiquarian,_ October, 1881. Thomas: _American
Antiquarian,_ March, 1884. Powell: Transactions of
Anthropological Society, 1881, p. 116.

Of course these words vary in different nations, but the
meaning is the same in all.

Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 269.

The gens, phratry, and tribe were subdivisions of the Ancient
Greeks. Of a similar import were the gens, curiæ, and tribe of
the Roman tribes. The Irish sept and the Scottish clan are the
same in meaning as the gens of other tribes. American authors,
in treating of the Indians, have generally used the words tribe
and clan as equivalent of gens. This is not correct. Almost all
the tribes had a complete organization in gens and phratries,
though of course they did not so name them. These terms are
adopted by Mr. Morgan because they have a precise and
historical meaning. As an example of Indian
tribal-organization, we give an outline of the Seneca-Iroquois
tribe.

TRIBE.
First Phratry, or Brotherhood.
Bear Wolf Beaver Turtle
Gens.

Second Phratry, or Brotherhood.
Deer Snipe Heron Hawk
Gens.

It is proper to remark that the phratries are not a necessary member
of the series. Several of the Indian tribes had only gens and tribe.
Mr. Schoolcraft uses the words totemic system to express the same
organization. Totem, the Ojibway dialect, signifies the symbol or
devise which they use to designate the gens. Thus the figure of a bear
would be the totem of the bear gens. We must remember that the tribes
of to-day have, in many cases, lost their ancient organization. See
Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” where this subject is fully treated. Also
Powell, in “First Annual Report of Bureau of Ethnology;” Grote’s
“History of Greece,” Vol. III, p. 55, _et seq._; Smith’s “Dictionary
of Greek and Roman Antiquities,” articles, gens, civitas, tribus,
etc.; also Dorsey, in _American Antiquarian,_ Oct., 1883, p. 312, _et
seq._

The Mexican tribes form no exception to this statement. See
this volume, Chapter XV.

Lewis’s “Wild Races of South-eastern India.”

Grote’s “History of Greece,” Vol. II.

Mallery: “American Association Reports,” 1877.

Hochelaga.

Morgan: “Contribution to N. A. Ethnology,” Vol. IV, p. 119.

“Luis Hernando De Biedman,” and “A Gentleman of Elvas,” both
translated in “Historic Collections of Louisiana,” Vol. II.

“Historical Collections of Louisiana,” Vol. I, p. 61.

Morgan’s “Contribution to N. A. Ethnology,” Vol. IV, p. 114.

Read Capt. John Smith, “Hist. of Virginia;” also “Mass. Hist.
Col.,” Vol. VIII, of the third series.

Consult “The Mounds of the Mississippi Valley,” by Lucian Carr,
of the Kentucky Graphical Survey, where this subject is fully
treated, and copious quotations given.

Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 526.

Bandelier’s “Fifth Annual Report, Arch. Inst.,” p. 60.

“Charlevoix’s Travels in North America,” p. 241.

Fourth Annual Report of Peabody Museum, and from information
furnished me by the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology.

“The custom of palisading appears to have been general among
the northern tribes.”—Brackenridge’s “Views of Louisiana,” p.
182.

“Views of Louisiana,” p. 183.

“Archæology Americanæ,” Vol. I., p. 145.

“Views of Louisiana,” p. 182.

Carr: “Mounds of the Mississippi Valley,” p. 78.

Quoted from Brinton, _Am. Antiq.,_ Oct., 1881.

Hist. Col. of Louisiana, Vol. II., p. 105.

“Mounds of the Mississippi Valley,” p. 90.

“Expedition to Florida,” p. 15.

Shea’s “Early Voyages on the Mississippi,” p. 135. “Historical
Collections of Louisiana,” Vol. I., p. 61. Quoted from Cyrus
Thomas in _American Antiquarian,_ March, 1884.

See article by Cyrus Thomas, of the Bureau of Ethnology, in
_American Antiquarian,_ March, 1884.

“History of Louisiana,” Lond., 1763, Vol. II., pp. 188 and 211.

Father Le Petit: Note, p. 142. “Hist. Col. Louisiana,” Vol.
III.

“Hist. of the Five Nations,” Introduction, p. 16.

Smithsonian Contribution to Knowledge, No. 259, p. 15; “Mounds
of the Mississippi Valley,” p. 87.

“Notes on Virginia,” p. 191.

Catlin’s “North American Indians,” p. 95.

Foster’s “Prehistoric Races of the U.S.,” p. 346.

Pueblo Chettro-kettle, Chaco Cañon.

“Geographical and Geological Survey of the Territories,”
Hayden, 1876, p. 440. Calculations made by Mr. Holmes.

Brinton’s “Floridian Peninsula,” p. 21. We think, however, this
statement requires to be taken with some allowance. Personal
liberty seems to have been the birthright of every Indian.
(“Mounds of the Mississippi Valley,” Carr, p. 24.) The council
of the tribe is the real governing body of all people in a
tribal state of society. (“Ancient Society,” Morgan.) When the
war-chief united in his person priestly powers also, he at once
became an object of greater interest. This explains why the
government of the chiefs among all the Southern Indian tribes
appears so much more arbitrary than among the northern tribes.
His real power was probably much the same in both cases, but
superstition had surrounded his person with a great many
formalities. The early explorers, acquainted only with the
arbitrary governments of Europe, saw in all this despotic
powers whereas there might not have been much foundation for
this belief.

“Traditions of Decodah,” Pidgeon. Carr, “Mounds of the
Mississippi Valley,” p. 70.

“Indian Migrations,” _American Antiquarian,_ April, 1883.

Mr. Hale suggests that copper was the gold of the North
American Indians, and that the “golden city” simply means a
city or town where they knew how to work copper. It is well
known that the mound building tribes had such knowledge, at
least they knew how to work native copper.

This tradition was first made known by Heckwelder, a missionary
among the Delawares, in his “History of the Indian Nations.” It
is repeated at much greater length, and with additional
particulars, in a paper read by Mr. E. G. Squier, before the
Historical Society of New York. Mr. Squier has simply
translated a genuine Indian record known as the Bark Record.
The two authorities here mentioned consider the Delawares as
coming from west of the Mississippi. Mr. Hale points out that
it was more likely the Upper St. Lawrence—that portion known as
the Detroit River—that was the “Great River” of the traditions.

From this word comes Alleghany Mountains and River.

In this connection it is at least interesting to note that
several authors—Squier, MacLean, and others—have contended,
judging from the fortified hills and camps, that the pressure
of hostilities on the Mound Builders of the Ohio Valley was
from the north-east.

The Chata-muskoki family. (Brinton.)

Hale: _American Antiquarian,_ April, 1883.

We are not at all certain but our scholars will shortly come to
the conclusion that the Cherokees or Shawnees are quite as
likely to be the descendants of the Allegewi as the Natchez.

It is scarcely necessary to caution the reader as to the value
of this statement of ancient greatness. The chroniclers of De
Soto’s expedition had nothing to say about it.

Pickett’s “History of Alabama,” Vol. II.

Du Pratz: “History of Louisiana,” Vol. II.

Stone _metates,_ or mills, have so far been found only in
Missouri, not far from the Missouri River. As this is such an
important implement among the Pueblo tribes, its presence in
this locality is significant. (Thomas.)

(56) As the proof seems to be conclusive that the Indians of
the south who were encountered by the Europeans first visiting
that section were the builders of the mounds of that region, it
brings these works down to a date subsequent to the entry of
the civilized tribes into Mexico. (Thomas.)

Some of the pottery from South-eastern Missouri and Arkansas
shows a strong resemblance to that of some Pueblo tribes.
(Thomas.)

Short’s “North Americans of Antiquity,” p. 202.

Morgan: “Ancient Society,” p. 12.

“Fifth Annual Report Archæological Institute,” p. 85.

Short’s “North Americans of Antiquity,” p. 458.

Carr: “Mounds of the Mississippi Valley,” p. 97.

“Ancient Monuments,” p. 14.

Chapter XIII
THE NAHUA TRIBES.

Early Spanish discoveries in Mexico—The Nahua tribes
defined—Climate of Mexico—The Valley of Anahuac—Ruins at
Tezcuco—The hill of Tezcocingo—Ruins at Teotihuacan—Ancient
Tulla—Ruins in the province of Querataro—Casa Grandes in
Chihuahua—Ancient remains in Sinaloa—Fortified hill of
Quemada—The Pyramid of Cholula—Mr. Bandelier’s investigations at
Cholula—Fortified hill at Xochicalco—Its probable use—Ruins at
Monte Alban—Ancient remains at Mitla—Mr. Bandelier’s
investigations—Traditions in regard to Mitla—Ruins along the
Panuco River—Ruins in Vera Cruz—Pyramid of
Papantla—Tusapan—Character of Nahua Ruins.

When the ships of the Spanish admiral came to anchor before the
Island of San Salvador, he had indeed discovered a “New World.”
It was inhabited by a race of people living in a state of society
from which the inhabitants of Europe had emerged long before the
dawn of authentic history. The animal and plant life were also
greatly different from any thing with which they were acquainted.
The Spaniards little suspected the importance of their discovery.
Columbus himself died in the belief that he had simply explored a
new route to Asia. A quarter of a century elapsed after the first
voyage of Columbus before an expedition coasted along the shores
of Mexico. This was the expedition of Juan De Grijalva, in 1518.
He gave a glowing description of the country he had seen, which
“from the beauty and verdure of its indented shores, and the
lovely appearances of its villages, he called ‘New Spain.’”1

Map of Mexico.

This was followed, in the year 1519, by the history-making
expedition of Cortez. The scene of his first landing was about
forty miles south of the present town of Vera Cruz, but to this
place they soon removed. At his very first landing-point he
learned of the existence of what he was pleased to call a
powerful empire, ruled by a most valiant prince. The accounts the
Indian allies gave him of the power and wealth of this empire
inflamed the imagination of Cortez and his followers. This was an
age, we must remember that delighted in tales of the marvelous;
add to this the further fact that Cortez was not, at the
beginning of his expedition, acting with the sanction of his
royal master; indeed, his sailing from the island of Cuba was in
direct violation of the commands of the governor. It was very
necessary for him to impress upon the court of Spain a sense of
the importance of his undertaking.

Certain it is that the accounts that have been handed down to us,
though read with wonder and admiration, though made the basis on
which many writers have constructed most glowing descriptions of
the wonders of the barbaric civilization, which they would fain
have us believe, rivaled that of “Ormus and of Ind,” are to-day
seriously questioned by a large and influential portion of the
scientific world. We have another point to be considered that is
of no little weight, as all candid men must admit that it would
influence the opinions the Spaniards would form of the culture of
the Indians. As the man of mature years has lost the memory of
his childhood, so have the civilized races of men lost, even
beyond the reach of tradition, the memory of their barbaric
state. The Spaniards were brought face to face with a state of
society from which the Indo-European folks had emerged many
centuries before. They could not be expected to understand it,
and hence it is that we find so many contradictory statements in
the accounts of the early explorers; so much that modern scholars
have no hesitation in rejecting.

The main tribe of the empire which Cortez is said have overthrown
is known to us by the name of the Aztecs; but as this name
properly denotes but one of many tribes in the same state of
development, it is better to use a word which includes all, or
nearly all, of the tribes that in olden times had their home in
the territory now known as Mexico. Careful comparisons of the
various dialects of ancient Mexico have shown that, with the
exceptions of some tribes in Vera Cruz, they all belonged to one
stock-language; and so they are collectively known as the Nahua
tribes.2

We wish now to inquire into the culture of this people, to see
how much of the strange story that the Spaniards have to tell us
has a reasonable foundation. We will state frankly that, though
the literature on this subject is of vast proportions, yet it is
very far from being a settled field. All accounts of the early
explorers of the strange scenes, customs, and manners of the
inhabitants, when they were first discovered, are so intermixed
with self-evident fables, and statements that are undoubtedly
exaggerations, that we have a most difficult task before us. We
will first examine the antiquities of this section, compare them
with those found in more northern regions, and then examine the
statements of the early writers as to the customs of the people.
We do not propose to do more than to follow after our leaders in
thought, and try to make plain the conclusions to which they have
arrived. We are not to deal wholly with a prehistoric people,
though their origin is unknown. What we desire to do is to clear
away the mists of three and a half centuries, and to catch, if
possible, a glimpse of what was probably the highest development
of prehistoric culture in North America just before the arrival
of the Spaniards.

Mexico was surely a land well adapted to the needs of a
prehistoric people. Along the coasts the ground is low. This
constitutes what is known as the “Hot Country.”3 The greater part
of Mexico consists of an elevated table-land, which rises in a
succession of plateaus. As we leave the coast region and climb
the plateau, we experience changes of climate. If it were level,
it would have mainly a tropical climate, but owing to the
elevation we have just mentioned, it has mainly a temperate
climate. The whole plateau region is cut up with mountains. The
Sierra Madre, on the west, is the main chain, but numerous
cross-ranges occur. The result is, a greater part of Mexico
abounds in fertile, easily defended valleys—just such localities
as are much sought after by a people in barbaric culture,
constantly exposed to the assaults of invading foes.4

We may as well pass at once to the valley of Anahuac, the most
noted in all the region, and learn of the antiquities of this
central section. It is in this valley that the capital of the
Mexican Republic is situated. All travelers who have had occasion
to describe its scenery have been enthusiastic in its praise. The
valley is mountain-girt and lake-dotted, and in area not far
different from the State of Rhode Island. On one of the principal
lakes was located the Pueblo of Tenochtitlan, the head-quarters
of the Aztecs, commonly known as the City of Mexico. When Cortez
first stood upon the encircling mountains, and gazed down upon
the valley, he saw at his feet one of the most prosperous and
powerful pueblos of the New World.

This is not the place to recount the story of its fall. Our
present inquiry is concerned solely with the remains of its
prehistoric age. The enthusiastic Spaniards would have us believe
in a city of Oriental magnificence. We have no illustrations of
this pueblo. It was almost completely destroyed by Cortez before
its final surrender in August, 1521. It was then rebuilt as the
capital city of New Spain. Of course, all traces of its original
buildings soon disappeared. What we can learn of its appearance
is derived from the accounts of the early writers, which we will
examine in their proper place. After having surveyed the entire
field of ruins, we will be much better qualified to judge of the
vague statements of its former grandeur. A few relics have,
indeed, been found buried beneath the surface of the old city.
They illustrate the culture of the people, as will be noticed
further on.

Directly across the lake from the Pueblo of Mexico was that of
Tezcuco, the head-quarters of the second powerful tribe of the
Aztec Confederacy. Traces only are recoverable of its former
buildings. At the southern end of the modern town were found the
foundations of three great pyramids. They were arranged in a line
from north to south. Mr. Mayer says of these ruins: “They are
about four hundred feet in extent on each side of their base, and
are built partly of adobe and partly of large, burned bricks and
fragments of pottery.”5 He tells us further that the sides of the
pyramids “were covered with fragments of idols, clay vessels, and
obsidian knives.” From other discoveries, it would seem these
pyramids were coated with cement. The suggestion is made that on
one of these pyramids stood the great temple of Tezcuco, which,
an early writer tells us, was ascended by one hundred and
seventeen steps.

Bas-Relief, Tezcuco.

In another part of the town a sculptured block of stone was
found, of which this cut is given. “It appears to be the remains
of a trough or basin, and the sculpture is neatly executed in
relief. I imagine that it was designed to represent a conflict
between a serpent and a bird, and you can not fail to remark the
cross distinctly carved near the lower right-hand corner of the
vessel.” Bullock, who traveled in Mexico in 1824, has left a
brief description of the ruins of what he calls a palace. “It
must have been a noble building. . . . It extended for three
hundred feet, forming one side of the great square, and was
placed on sloping terraces raised one above the other by small
steps. Some of these terraces are still entire and covered with
cement. . . . From what is known of the extensive foundations of
this palace, it must have covered some acres of ground.”6 This
last statement is doubtless exaggerated. From what we know of
Indian architecture, these ruins were doubtless long, low, and
narrow, and placed on one or more sides of a square, perhaps
inclosing a court.

About three miles from the town of Tezcuco is a very singular
group of ruins. This is the Hill of Tezcocingo. This is very
regular in outline, and rises to the height of about six hundred
feet. A great amount of work has evidently been bestowed on this
hill, and some very far-fetched conclusions have been drawn from
it. Probably as notable a piece of work as any was the aqueduct
which supplied the hill with water, and this is really one of the
most wonderful pieces of aboriginal work with which we are
acquainted.

The termination of the aqueduct is represented in our next cut.
This is about half-way up the hill, right on the edge of a
precipitous descent of some two hundred feet. “It will be
observed in the drawing that the rock is smoothed to a perfect
level for several yards, around which seats and grooves are
carved from the adjacent masses. In the center there is a
circular sink, about a yard and a half in diameter and a yard in
depth, and a square pipe, with a small aperture, led the water
from an aqueduct which appears to terminate in this basin. None
of the stones have been joined with cement, but the whole was
chiseled, from the mountain rock.”7 This has been called
“Montezuma’s Bath,” simply from the custom of naming every
wonderful ruin for which no other name was known after that
personage; but this was not a bath, but a reservoir of water.

Montezuma’s Bath.

From this circular reservoir the side of the mountain is cut down
so as to form a level grade, just as if a railroad had been made.
This grade winds around the surface of the hill for about half a
mile, when it stretches out across a valley three-quarters of a
mile wide, an elevated embankment from sixty to two hundred feet
in height. Reaching the second mountain, the graded way commences
again, and is extended about half-way around the mountain, where
it extends on another embankment across the plains to a range of
mountains, from which the water was obtained.

Aqueduct, Tezcocingo.

This cut represents the embankment crossing the valley. Along the
top of this way was laid the canals to transport the water, made
of an exceedingly hard cement of mortar and fragments of pounded
brick. It is estimated that nearly, if not quite, as much labor
was expended on this aqueduct as on the Croton aqueduct that
supplies New York City.8 This last statement is probably too
strong, but, considering that this work was accomplished by a
people destitute of iron tools, it is seen to be a most
extraordinary work. From what we have already learned, this hill
was evidently a very important place. On all sides we meet with
evidences that the whole of the hill was covered with artificial
works of one kind or another. On the side of the hill opposite
this reservoir was another recess bordered by seats cut in living
rock, and leading to a perpendicular cliff, on which a calendar
is said to have been carved, but was destroyed by the natives in
later days.9

Traces of a spiral road leading up the summit have been observed.
In 1824 Bullock (who, however, is not regarded as a very accurate
observer) “found the whole mountain had been covered with
palaces, temples, baths, hanging-gardens, and so forth.” Latrobe,
somewhat later, found “fragments of pottery and broken pieces of
obsidian knives and arrows; pieces of stucco, shattered terraces,
and old walls were thickly dispersed over its whole surface.”10
Mr. Mayer, after speaking of the abundance of broken pottery and
Indian arrows, says: “The eminence seems to have been converted
from its base to its summit into a pile of terraced gardens.”

By one class of writers this hill is regarded as the “suburban
residence of the luxurious monarchs of Tezcuco, . . . a pleasure
garden upon which were expended the revenues of the state and the
ingenuity of its artists.”11 Mr. Bancroft has gathered together
the details of this charming story,12 and tells us that the kings
of Mexico had a similar pleasure resort on the Hill of
Chapultepec, a few miles west of the city.13 It is sufficient at
present to state that an explanation much simpler and more in
accord with our latest scientific information can be given. It is
more likely that this hill was the seat of a village Indian
community. Its location was naturally strong. The water, brought
with so much labor from a distance, furnished a supply for the
purpose of irrigation, as well as bodily needs. The terraced
sides show that every foot of ground was utilized, and the ruins
of the palaces that Mr. Bullock mentions were the
fast-disappearing ruins of their communal buildings. Owing to the
cruel raids of the Aztec tribes, this place may have been
deserted before the coming of the Spaniards, and thus no mention
was made of it.

Teotihuacan.

Still further to the north, about thirty miles from Mexico, is
found another extensive field of ruins, which is called
Teotihuacan, meaning “City of the Gods.” The principal ruins now
standing are the two immense pyramids (which are represented in
this cut), which the natives call the “House of the Moon” and the
“House of the Sun.” We will describe the surroundings first. It
is unquestioned but that here was a very extensive settlement in
early times. When the Nahua tribes entered Mexico they probably
found it inhabited. One very recent writer thinks that “nowhere
else in America can you find a more imposing mass of ruins.”14 He
estimates that it was “a city upwards of twenty miles in
circumference.”

Other writers have also noticed its great extent. According to
Thompson, “the ruins cover an area very nearly as large as that
of the present City of Mexico, and the streets are as distinctly
marked by the ruins of houses.”15 And in another place Mr.
Charney tells us “the city was of vast extent; and, without
indulging in any stereotyped reflections on the vanity of human
greatness, I will say that a more complete effacement is nowhere
else to be seen. The whole ground, over a space five or six miles
in diameter, is covered with heaps of ruins, which at first view,
make no impression, so complete is their dilapidation.”16

Of this mass of ruins we are told but little, beyond the general
assertion that it consists of the ruins of buildings, temples,
etc. But very recently M. Charney has uncovered the foundation of
one of these houses. He calls it a palace. It was, in all
probability, a communal building. It had two wings inclosing a
court, and was located on a terraced pyramid. He found, on
digging into the terrace in front of the ruins, a great number of
sloping walls, covered with cement, containing small
compartments, etc. M. Charney can not account for their presence.

In view of the discoveries further north, we would respectfully
suggest that this was, in reality, the lower story of the
building, whose flat roof formed the terrace in front of the
second story, whose foundation M. Charney so happily discovered.
But such suggestions as this are very unsafe to make, and must be
supported by further discoveries before they are of any real
value.

He found a large number of good-sized rooms, and speaks
especially of one hall fifty feet square, in the center of which
was six pillars, sloping from the base upwards. They, doubtless,
served to support the roof. We regret that we have not been able
to see M. Charney’s ground plan of this ruin. Of the pyramids
themselves we have quite full information. The larger one, that
of the sun, is seven hundred and sixty feet square and two
hundred and sixteen feet high. It will be seen that these
dimensions throw the great mound at Cahokia into the shade.
Though the base may not be quite as great, the height of the
pyramid is over twice that of the mound. Three terraces are
plainly visible. The surface was covered with cement, large slabs
of which remain in their place. The moon pyramid is further
north.

It is in all respects like that of the sun, but of smaller
dimensions, being one hundred and fifty feet high. In early times
these pyramids are said to have supported statues, but, if so,
they have long since been thrown down. Their surface and the
ground around is thickly strewn with fragments of pottery,
obsidian knives, and other small relics. Running south from the
House of the Moon, and passing a little to one side of the House
of the Sun, are the remains of a wide, paved road. Its width is
stated to be one hundred and thirty feet, and its length about
two hundred and fifty rods.17

This road suddenly expands in front of the Moon, so as to suggest
the idea of a Greek cross. Pieces of cement (with which this road
was covered) are still visible in places. It is lined with mounds
on either side, and they stand so close together as to resemble
continuous embankments in some places. Speculations are abundant
as to the object of this graded way. Tradition calls it the “Path
of the Dead.” Small mounds are very numerous over the surface.
They may have been for burial purposes, but sculptured stones are
found in them, and specimens of hard cement. This group of ruins
is regarded as of very great antiquity.

We can easily see that the growth of the soil formed by the decay
and detrition of the stone slabs of the pyramids, temples, and
other buildings would be slow, especially as the rainfall is
light. But in some localities it is more than three feet thick.
In places three separate floors are observed, one over the other,
pointing to as many successive occupations of the same sections
by men.

About sixty-five miles to the north of Mexico was located Tollan,
or Tulla. According to tradition, this was the capital city of
the Toltecs, a mysterious people who long preceded the Aztecs. We
are told that “extensive ruins remained at the time of the
conquest, but very few relics have survived to the present
time.”18 M. Charney, whose labors we have referred to at
Teotihuacan, succeeded also in making important discoveries here.
He tells us that on the site of this ancient capital there is a
hill, “about one mile long by half a mile broad, covered with
mounds, plateaus, and ruins of all kinds.”

He gives us the dimensions of two pyramids, as follows. The first
is one hundred and ninety-six feet on each front, and forty-six
feet high. The second is one hundred and thirty-one feet square,
and thirty-one feet high. Both of these pyramids stood on raised
foundations, which M. Charney calls esplanades. As no other
pyramids are mentioned, we are to suppose these are the two
principal ones. Perhaps they are also pyramids of the sun and
moon. Our chief interest is concerned with the remains of the
habitations he discovered here. He says: “I set the men to work
at one of the many mounds upon the ridge, and soon found that I
had hit upon a group of habitations.” A general idea of this
group of buildings is given in this passage: “The dwellings were
united together in groups, and erected on isolated mounds, one in
the middle, the others around about, the whole forming a sort of
honey-comb, with its cells placed at different elevations.”

We can not help being struck with the general resemblance of the
descriptions here given and that of the ruins in the vicinity of
the River Gila. The general tendency is seen to gather together
in clusters, with, probably, the most important house in the
center. As to the materials used in this building, we are told
“they used clay and mud for the inside of the walls, cement to
coat them, dressed stone and brick for casings, bricks and stone
for stairways, bricks for pilasters, and wood for roofing the
edifice. The houses bad flat roofs, consisting of timbers coated
with cement. Of such timbers we find vast quantities.”19

Of the arrangements of the rooms, he tells us, “The apartments
that have been brought to light comprise a number of chambers,
big and little, placed at different heights. We shall have no
clear idea of the relation of these different chambers to one
another, or of the mode of access to them through the
labyrinthine passages and the numerous stairways, until the whole
edifice has been unearthed.”

This was not the only building he discovered. On digging into a
mound supposed to be the support of a temple, he discovered it
was the ruined foundation of a still grander house. He says, “It
is much larger than the other one, stands on a pyramid, and has
two wings inclosing a courtyard. The walls are thicker than those
of the first habitation, and more strongly built. The apartments,
too, are larger, though arranged in a similar fashion.” Elsewhere
he tells us that this building contained at least forty-three
apartments, large and small. We presume very few will now
question but what the buildings he here describes are ruined
communal buildings, much like the structures in Arizona.

But perhaps the most interesting result of his labors was the
proof that these ruins were certainly inhabited after the
conquest—for how long a time we can not tell. This is shown by
fragments of bones and other articles found in the refuse heaps.
The bones were of such animals as the horse, swine, sheep, oxen,
etc.—animals introduced into this country by the Spaniards. The
fragments of pottery include specimens plainly not of Indian
manufacture, such as fragments of porcelain, and that variety of
glazed ware known as delf, and lastly, the neck of a glass
bottle. It may be said that these fragments might have been left
by a band of Spaniards who occupied the ruins in the early days
of the conquest, perhaps long after the Indian owners had left.
This is of course possible, but it is just as reasonable to
suppose the fragments were left by descendants of the original
builders.

Northward from Tulla is a small province, marked on the map
Querataro. From the accounts at our disposal, which are very
brief, we gather that this whole section is a tableland split up
by ravines of great depths and precipitous sides; consequently
one abounding in easily defended positions. It was found that all
the projecting points, naturally strong, were rendered still
stronger by the presence of ditches, walls, and embankments.
Three groups of ruins are mentioned especially, and their
location is marked on the map. At Pueblito there was, at an early
day, plainly to be seen, the foundation of a large, rectangular
building. The walls were built of stone laid in clay.

At Canoas, in the northern part of the State, there is a steep
and strongly fortified bill, but particulars in regard to it are
very meager. “There are, in all, forty-five defensive works on
the hill, including a wall about forty feet in height, and a
rectangular platform with an area of five thousand square
feet.”20 Ranas, the most northern one of the three sites
mentioned, is regarded as the center of population in early
times. “A small lake and a perennial spring are supposed to have
been the attractions of this locality in the eyes of the people.
On all the hills about are still seen vestiges of their
monuments.”

If we look at the map we will notice that we have gone but a
little ways north of the valley of Anahuac. Yet, with the
exception of the Gulf-coast, there are but few striking
aboriginal ruins in Northern Mexico. At the time of the conquest
the whole northern section was the home of tribes not generally
considered to be as far advanced as those who lived in the
section we have already described, and in regions further south.
Yet it is certainly hard to draw the line between the culture of
the two people. We are told that, these Northern tribes though
styled “dogs,” and “barbarians,” by the Southern tribes, were yet
“tillers of the soil, and lived under systematic forms of
government, although not apparently much given to the arts of
agriculture and sculpture.”

This point is of considerable interest to us, theoretically; for
it is a question from whence came the various Nahua tribes. We
would naturally think, if they came from the North, we ought to
find evidence of their former presence in the various Northern
States of Mexico. We must remember, however, that a migrating
people are not apt to leave monuments until they reach the end of
their migration. Neither has the territory been as carefully
explored as it should be. What accounts we can obtain of the
remains in this section are certainly very meager. But one place
in Sonora do ruins occur, and they have never been examined by
competent personages.21 In Chihuahua occur ruins, evidently the
works of the same people as built the separate houses to the west
of the Rio Grande, in New Mexico.

These ruins have received the same name as those on the Rio
Gila—that is, “Casas Grandes,” meaning “Great House.” This cut
represents a view of these ruins. The river valley is here about
two miles wide, and is said to be very fertile. Mr. Bartlett
thinks there is no richer valley to be found from Texas to
California. This valley was once the seat of a considerable
population. Mounds are here found in considerable numbers. Over
two thousand are estimated as occurring in a section of country
sixty miles long by thirty in width.22 We wish we knew more about
the mounds. They are said to contain pottery, stone axes, and
other implements. It is possible, then, that these mounds are
ruins of separate houses. At any rate, such are the only kind of
ruins noticed in the upper part of this same valley by Mr.
Bandelier.

Casas Grandes.

The ruins in question are undoubtedly those of a rich and
prosperous pueblo. They are so placed as to command a very
extensive view. The river valley is cut through a plain, and has
precipitous sides about twenty-five feet in height. The ruins in
question are found partly in the bottoms and partly on the upper
and more sterile plateau. The walls were made of adobe, and in
consequence of their long exposure to the elements are very far
gone in ruins; so much so that Mr. Bartlett was unable to make
out the plan. But enough was seen to show that this was a pueblo
much like the structure already described. They properly belong
to the Arizona group of ruins.

We are told they face the cardinal points, and consist of fallen
and erect walls. The portions still standing are from fifty to
sixty feet high, or rather were that height in 1851. It is
doubtful whether any thing more than a mound of adobe mud now
marks the spot. The walls were highest in the center of the mass.
At the distance of a few miles was a hill said to be fortified.
But the descriptions of it are conflicting. Some represent it as
crowned with a stone-built fortress two or three stories high.
Others more reasonable, represent it as the site of a
watch-tower, or sentry station, and that at regular intervals on
the slope of the hill are lines of stone, with heaps of loose
stones at their extremities.23 Probably the same fate overtook
the tribes of this valley as did the sedentary tribes of the
North. They would not willingly abandon a place so well suited to
their needs. The presence of an invading foe, cruel and
vindictive, alone accounts for this group of ruins.

In Sinaloa we have no very definite account of ruins. However,
Mr. Bandelier says, the existence of ancient villages in that
section is certain, and that from “Sinaloa there are ample
evidences of a continuous flow Southward.”24 There are no ruins
worth mentioning in any of the other States, excepting Zacatecas,
where we find a ruin of great interest. This is at Quemada, in
the southern part of the State. The name is taken from that of a
farm in the near neighborhood. The ruins are situated on the top
of a hill, which is not only naturally strong, but the approaches
to it are fortified. The hill ascends from the plain in a gentle
slope for several hundred yards, it then rises quite
precipitously for about a hundred and fifty feet. The total
height of the hill above the plain is probably not far from eight
hundred feet.25

At all points where the approach to the top of the hill is not
steep enough to form a protection of itself, the brow is guarded
by walls of stone. This is especially true of the northern end of
the hill. One peculiar feature of this place is the traces of
ancient roads, which can still be clearly distinguished crossing
each other at various angles on the slope we have mentioned. They
can be followed for miles, and are described as being slightly
raised and paved with rough stones. In places on the slope, their
sides are protected by embankments.

Considerable speculations have been indulged in as to the
purposes for which these roads were used. It has been suggested
that they were the streets of an ancient city which must once
have existed on the plains; and that the fortified hill, with the
ruins on its summit, was the citadel, the residence of their
rulers, and the location of their temples. But we think a more
reasonable view is that all of the city that ever stood in that
neighborhood was on the hill summit, and that these streets were
for religious purposes, reminding us in this respect of the
graded ways and traces of paved streets sometimes met with in the
Mississippi Valley. In proof of this view, it is said that many
of them, after being followed for a long distance, are found to
terminate in a heap of stones, which are evidently the ruins of a
regular pyramid. In opposition to both of these views, it has
been suggested that the surrounding plain was low and marshy, and
that the object of these causeways was to secure a dry passage,
which explanation is certainly very reasonable.

Quemada.

Of the top of the hill, it may be sufficient to state that it is
of irregular shape, half a mile in length from north to south,
and of varying width, but on an average one thousand feet wide.
The approach to the top of the hill was strongly guarded.
Although buildings were observed covering the whole top of the
hill, yet they were in two principal groups. This cut, though but
one of many, will give us very good ideas of all the ruins. It is
seen to be an inclosure. It is on a small scale. It was one
hundred and fifty feet square. We notice terraces on three sides.
These terraces are three feet high by twelve wide, and in the
center of each side are steps by which to descend to the
square.26 Each terrace is backed by a wall, portions of which are
seen in the engraving. These walls are twenty feet high by eight
or nine in thickness. The openings seen in the wall are not
properly doors, as they extend to the top of the wall.

This court, encompassed by terraces, is a peculiar feature. It is
different from any thing we know of, either north or south.27
Courts, surrounded by buildings located on terraces, are common
enough, but all accounts of these ruins say nothing of buildings.
We remember the inclosures that surrounded the houses clustered
in groups on the Rio Gila. We think this comes near to being a
development of the same idea. The low walls of the former
inclosure are here quite pretentious pieces of masonry. In some
cases two or more of these inclosed courts are joined by
openings.

The opening in the wall on the right of the engraving leads into
a perfect inclosed square of two hundred feet. In one case a
range of pillars was noticed parallel with the walls, and distant
twenty-three feet. These are supposed to have supported the roof
of the portico, and houses of a rude description might have been
ranged along under this roof, which has since completely
vanished. Back of this square, but not very well shown on the
drawing, rises a precipitous hill. A pyramid is placed in the
center of the side towards the hill. It is only nineteen feet
high,28 but is divided into five stages or stories.29

This pyramid will serve as an example of numerous other pyramids
scattered over the summit of the hill. They are made of stone.
The largest one, whose dimensions are given, is fifty feet
square, and the same in height. In front of the pyramid, and in
the center of the square, are the remains of an altar. In view of
the altar and pyramid, within the inclosed square, we may suppose
this to have been dedicated to their religion. As if to confirm
this belief, is the statement that on the hill to the back of the
pyramid are numerous tiers of seats, either broken in the rock or
built of rough stone. The people seated on them would be
conveniently located as regards both sight and hearing of what
transpired there.

From an Indian’s point of view, this hill was very strongly
fortified. It would be almost impossible for an enemy to capture
the settlement on its summit. The surrounding country was
probably fertile, and a large body of Indians could have lodged
within the fortified inclosures. It has some peculiar features,
which have been pointed out. There is now no water on the hill,
but traces of what is supposed to be an aqueduct are observed, as
well as several tanks, and at one place a well. There is not an
appearance of great antiquity about these ruins, and yet native
traditions are silent in regard to them, and but one of the early
writers refers to them, and he had not seen them.30

West of the central basin the remains are more numerous than to
the north, but they are not very striking, and it is scarcely
worth our while to stop and examine them. About sixty miles in a
south-easterly direction from Mexico is the modern town of
Cholula. This has grown at the expense of the ancient city of
Cholula, grouped around the famous pyramid of that name. This was
the Mexican “Tower of Babel.” The traditions in regard to it
smack so strongly of outside influence that but little reliance
can be placed on them. They are evidently a mixture of native
traditions and Biblical stories. Like Teotihuacan and Tulla, this
is regarded as a relic of Toltec times. This is but another way
of saying that it is older in time than the majority of ruins.

At the time of Cortez’s march to Mexico Cholula was a very
important place. In his dispatches he says: “The great city of
Cholula is situated in a plain, and his twenty thousand
householders in the body of the city, besides as many more in the
suburbs.” He further states that he himself counted the towers of
more than four hundred “idol temples.”31

We must remember that this is a Spanish account, and therefore
exaggerated. Still, after making due allowance for the same, it
would remain an important aboriginal settlement. We have no
reliable data of the population at the time of the conquest. From
documentary evidence Mr. Bandelier has shown that while Cholula
was certainly a populous Indian pueblo, it is a misnomer to call
it a city. It was a group of six distinct clusters, gathered
around a common market. He estimates that its population may
possibly have been thirty thousand.32 All explorers have
mentioned the fertility of the plain in the midst of which this
monument is found.

But this plain is almost destitute of easily defended positions;
which fact has an important bearing on the purpose for which the
great mound was erected. At a distance it presents all the
appearance of a natural hill. The casual observer would not
believe it was entirely the work of men. “In close proximity,”
says Mr. Bandelier, “the mound presents the appearance of an
oblong conical hill, resting on projecting platforms of unequal
length. Overgrown as it is with verdure and partly by trees, and
with a fine paved road leading to the summit, it looks strikingly
like a natural hill, along whose slopes the washing of the rains
and slides have laid bare bold bluffs, and into whose bulk clefts
and rents have occasionally penetrated.”

Pyramid of Cholula.

This celebrated mound or pyramid has lately been the subject of a
very careful study by Mr. Bandelier. The illustration we present
gives us a very good idea of the present appearance of the mound.
The mass is probably solid throughout, and if there is a natural
hill in its center, it must be a very small one. The height of
the central higher mass is very nearly two hundred feet.33 The
present appearance of the summit is entirely due to the
Spaniards. At the time of the conquest the summit was convex; the
friars had it leveled in order to plant a cross. The area of this
upper platform is not far from two-thirds of an acre. It is now
paved and surrounded by a wall.

In the illustration we detect the appearance of terraces. These
are level areas, not all of the same height; neither do they
extend entirely around the mound. In fact, the present appearance
indicates three projections, or aprons, surrounding and
supporting a conical hill, and separated from each other by wide
depressions. This central mound, with its three projections,
rests upon a very extensive platform, which was probably
cross-shaped. This platform seems to have been about twelve feet
high, and covered an area of at least sixty acres.

The object for which this great pile was erected is a topic that
has exercised the thoughts of many scholars. Some have supposed
it was a burial mound. Some years ago, while in constructing a
road from Pueblo to Mexico, the first terrace or story was
slightly dug into, and disclosed a chamber, which contained two
skeletons, two idols, and a collection of pottery. Yet, before
deciding it to be a burial mound, it will be necessary to show
the presence of tombs near the center.

We have referred to the results of Mr. Bandelier’s explorations.
He made a very thorough study of this great pyramid—more complete
than any that had hitherto been made—and his results should have
corresponding weight. He finds that the materials of which the
adobe brick is composed are exactly the same as that of the
surrounding plain. This does away with one old tradition, that
the bricks were manufactured at a distance, and brought several
leagues to their destination by a long line of men, who handed
them along singly from one to another.

From the manner in which the bricks are laid, and from their
variation in size, he concludes that the structure was not all
erected at one time, but that the mound is the accumulation of
successive periods of labor. From this it follows that it was
built to serve some purpose of public utility, and not as a token
of respect for some individual. Wherever found, these great works
show the same evidence of not being all completed at once. This
was true of the North; we shall also find it true of the South.
Charney noticed the same thing in the house at Tulla. Nothing is
more natural than that an Indian community would increase their
buildings as the tribe increased.

Mr. Bandelier’s final conclusion in regard to the purpose of its
erection is one of great interest, but not at all surprising. “If
we imagine the plateaus and aprons around it covered with houses,
possibly of large size, like those of Uxmal and Palenqué,34 or on
a scale intermediate between them and the communal dwellings of
Pecos and many other places in New Mexico,35 we have then, on the
mound of Cholula, as it originally was, room for a large
aboriginal population. The structure, accordingly, presents
itself as the base of an artificially elevated, and therefore,
according to Indian military art, a fortified, pueblo.”

But this does not remove from it the air of mystery. Long-fallen
indeed are the communal walls. It was not simply a few years ago
that these pueblo-crowned terraces were reared. The date of its
erection is hid in the dim traditions of the past. The traditions
of the Nahua tribes, who came at a far later date, speak of it as
even then standing on the plain. Scattered over the plain are
other ruins of a somewhat different nature from the general ruins
in the valley. These may be the ruins of works erected by the
same class of people as built the mounds. Especially is this
thought to be true of ruins found on the slopes of neighboring
volcanoes.

To the south-west of Cholula are the ruins of Xochicalco, which,
by some, are pronounced to be the finest in Mexico. There are
many points of resemblance between this ruin and Tezcocingo. The
meaning of the word is “Hill of Flowers.” The hill is a very
regular, conical one, with a base nearly three miles in
circumference, and rises to a height above the plain of nearly
four hundred feet.36 The hill is considered to be entirely a
natural formation; but it probably owes some of its regular
appearance to the work of man. Around the base of the hill had
been dug a wide and deep ditch. When Mr. Taylor visited the
place, the side of this moat had fallen in, in many places, and
in some quite filled up—but it was still distinctly visible.37
The whole surface of this hill was laid off into terraces.

Five of these terraces, paved with blocks of stone laid in
mortar, and supported by perpendicular walls of the same
material, extend, in oval form, entirely around the whole
circumference of the hill, one above the other. From the
accumulation of rubbish, these terraces are not easy to detect in
all places. Probably, at one time, there was some easy means of
access from one terrace to the other, but they have
disappeared—so that now the explorer has to scramble up
intervening slopes of the terraces as best he can. It is probable
that defensive works once protected these slopes.

Mr. Mayer says: “At regular intervals, as if to buttress these
terraces, there are remains of bulwarks shaped like the bastions
of a fortification.”38 “Defense seems to have been the one object
aimed at by the builders.” The top of the hill is leveled off.
Some writers represent that a wall of stone was run along the
edge of the summit but others think that the whole top of the
hill had been excavated, so as to form a sunken area, leaving a
parapet along the edge. This summit-platform measured two hundred
and eighty-five feet by three hundred and twenty-eight feet.
Within this area were found several mounds and heaps of stones.
The probabilities are that it was once thickly covered with
ruins. In the center of this sunken area are the remains of the
lower story of a pyramid, which the inhabitants in the vicinity
affirm to have been once five stories high.

To judge from the ruins still standing, this must have formed one
of the most magnificent works of aboriginal skill with which we
are acquainted. This cut gives a general idea of the ruins from
the west. We presume the broken appearance presented by this side
is in consequence of the removal of stones by planters in the
vicinity for their own use. It seems they have used this monument
as a stone-quarry. This pyramid, or the first story of it, was
nearly square—its dimensions being sixty-four feet by
fifty-eight.

Xochicalco.

The next cut is an enlarged drawing of the north-west corner seen
in the first drawing. Notice the grotesque ornamentations on it.
The ornaments are not stucco-work, but are sculptured in
bas-relief. As one figure sometimes covers parts of two stones,
it is plain they must have been sculptured after being put in
position. The height of this front is nearly fifteen feet. In the
left-hand corner of this sculpture will be perceived the bead of
a monstrous beast with open jaws and protruding tongue. This
figure is constantly repeated in various parts of the façade.
Some have supposed it to be a crocodile. The rabbit is another
figure that constantly reappears in portions of the wall.

Enlarged View of Ruins of Xochicalco.

We can scarcely realize the labor involved in the construction of
this pyramid and the terraced slope. Some idea may be formed of
the immense labor with which this building was constructed from
measurements made of several of the masses of porphyry that
compose it. One stone was nearly eight feet long by three broad.
The one with the rabbit on is five feet by two and a half. When
it is recollected that these materials were not found in the
neighborhood, but were brought from a great distance, and borne
up a hill more than three hundred feet high, we can not fail to
be struck with the industry, toil, and ingenuity of the builders,
especially as the use of beasts of burden was, at the time,
unknown in Mexico. Nor was this edifice, on the summit, the only
portion of the architect’s labor. Huge rocks were brought to form
the walls supporting the terraces that surrounded the hill, a
league in circumference, and the whole of that immense mass was
eased in stone. Beyond these terraces, again, there was still
another immense task in the ditch, of even greater extent, which
had to be dug and regularly embanked.39

Now, what was the object of all this labor? This must have been
the center of a large settlement. It seems that the surrounding
hills—or, at least, some of them—were also terraced. Mr. Taylor
says: “On the neighboring hills we could discern traces of more
terraced roads of the same kind. There must be many miles of them
still remaining.” In a Mexican book we are told “adjoining this
hill is another higher one, also covered with terraces of
stone-work in the form of steps. A causeway of large marble flags
led to the top, where there are still some excavations, and among
them a mound of large size.” Mr. Latrobe, from the top of the
“Hill of Flowers,” saw that it was the center towards which
converged several roads, which could be traced over the plain.
The road he examined was “about eight feet in breadth, composed
of large stones tightly wedged together.” It is extremely
probable that in Xochicalco we have another instance of a
strongly fortified hill, on the top of which was their pueblo,
arranged around their teocalli, or temple.40

In our description of this ruin we must not forget to mention
some curious underground chambers, excavated in the hill itself.
On the northern slope, near the foot, is the entrance to two
galleries, one of which terminated at the distance of eighty
feet. The second gallery is cut in solid limestone, about nine
feet square, and has several branches. The floors are paved with
brick-shaped blocks of stone. The walls are also, in many places,
supported by masonry, and both pavement, walls, and ceilings are
covered with lime-cement, which retains its polish, and shows
traces, in some parts, of having had originally a coating of red
ocher. The principal gallery, after a few turns, finally
terminated, or appeared to, in a large room eighty feet long, in
which two pillars were left to support the roof. In one corner of
this room there was a dome-shaped excavation in the roof, from
the apex of which a round hole about ten inches in diameter
extended vertically upwards.

The natives say there are still other excavations. We have seen
no good explanation of the uses of these excavations. The labor
in constructing them must have been very great. In the province
of Oaxaca we shall find several groups of ruins. In all
probability those known and described are not more numerous than
those unknown. The class of ruins represented by Quemada,
Tezcocingo, and Xochicalco (that is, a hill strongly fortified,
with traces of a settlement on the summit, mounds, foundations of
communal houses, and pyramidal structures) are also to be found
here. At Quiotepec we have very meager accounts of such a ruin.
The hill is over two miles in circumference and a thousand feet
high. A running stream has rendered one side of the hill very
steep and precipitous, but the other sides are terraced.

One of the terrace-walls at the summit is about three hundred and
twenty feet long, sixty feet high, and five and a half feet
thick.41 On the summit of the hill are found great numbers of
mounds, foundations of small buildings, as well as ruins of
statelier buildings, called by some palaces, but which were
probably regular communal structures; also the pyramid base of a
temple. At different points near the summit of the hill are three
tanks or reservoirs, one of which is sixty feet long, twenty-four
feet wide, and six feet deep, with traces of steps leading down
into it.

Still further south, near the center of the state at Monte Alban,
is a more extensive group of ruins on the same general plan as
the one just described. In this case, from the banks of a stream,
there rises a range of high hills with precipitous sides. At
their summit is an irregular plateau half a mile long by nearly a
quarter of a mile wide. M. Charney states that a portion of this
plateau is artificial. He represents the whole surface as
literally covered with blocks of stone—some sculptured—the ruined
foundations of buildings, terraces, and so forth. He regards it
as one of the most precious remains of aboriginal work, and this
is the view of Mr. Bandelier also. It is to be regretted that we
have not more details of such interesting ruins. We, however,
would learn but little new from them. One ruin is spoken of as an
immense square court, inclosed by four long mounds, having a
slight space between them at the ends. It is extremely probable
that these mounds once supported buildings.

The most celebrated ruin in Oaxaca is Mitla. These are the first
ruins we have met that, by their strange architecture and
peculiar ornamentation, suggest some different race as their
builders. The present surroundings are of the gloomiest
character. The country is barren and desert. The valley in which
the ruins are located is high and narrow, but surrounded by bleak
hills. The soil is dry and sandy, and almost devoid of
vegetation. The cold winds, blowing almost constantly, sweep
before them great clouds of sand. A small stream flows through
this dreary waste, which, during the rainy season, is a raging
torrent. “No birds sing, or flowers bloom,” around these old
ruins. Appropriately enough, tradition speaks of this as the
“Place of Sadness,” or “Dwelling of the Dead.” As to the extent
of territory covered by the ruins, we have not been able to learn
further than the general statement that at the time of the
conquest they covered an immense area.42

Wall at Mitla. Mr. Bandelier found, besides two artificial hills,
traces of thirty-nine distinct edifices, and, as he thinks these
are all the buildings that ever stood there, it is manifest that
this was not a city in our sense of the word. Two or three of the
buildings were constructed of adobe, plastered, and painted red.
The others were built of stone. Of these latter the greater part
stands upon the ground, but a few are built upon elevated
terraces, composed of stone and earth heaped together and faced
with stone. In one group of four buildings the terraced
foundation contained a basement—in one case, at least—in the form
of a cross. The purpose of this cellar or basement left in the
artificial foundation is unknown. Some think they were used for
burial purposes but it is more likely they were general
store-rooms. The arrangement of these buildings was the same as
elsewhere. That is, so placed as to inclose a court. This
illustration shows us the method of constructing the walls of the
building. We notice two distinct parts. The inner part is built
of broken stones laid in tolerably regular courses in clay. There
was no mortar used. This inner core is much the same sort of work
as the masonry in the pueblos of Arizona. A facing was put on
over this inner core, which served both for ornament and for
strength. This illustration is a corner of one of these
buildings, and gives us in excellent idea of the peculiar
ornamentation employed at Mitla. Mr. Bancroft gives us a clear
idea of how this facing was put on: “First, a double tier of very
large blocks are placed as a base along the surface of the
supporting mound, projecting two or three feet from the line of
the wall, the stones of the upper tier sloping inward. On this
base is erected a kind of framework of large, hewn blocks with
perfectly plain, unsculptured fronts, which divide the surface of
the wall into oblong panels of different dimensions.”43

Ornamentation at Mitla.

It would, then, seem as if the panels were thickly coated with
clay. Into this clay was then driven small, smoothed blocks of
wedge-shaped stones, in such a way as to cover them with
geometrical ornamentations, which, though not absolutely
symmetrical, present a striking and agreeable appearance. Each
section of the wall presents a different pattern, but this
difference is so slight that the general effect is harmonious.44
This mosaic ornamentation is found in some of the inner facings
of the walls as well. In general, however, the walls on the
inside were covered with mortar and painted.

Hall at Mitla.

Some of the blocks of stone forming the basement, the framework
of the panels, and the lintels of the door are of great size, and
the lintels were in some cases sculptured. One of the largest
rooms at Mitla is represented in the preceding cut. The peculiar
feature about it is the range of columns seen in the drawing. The
inner plastering has fallen, exposing the rough wall. The columns
are simple stone pillars, having neither chapter nor base. It is
generally supposed that these pillars supported the roof. As in
the pueblo buildings to the north, as well as the Toltec house at
Tulla, the roof was probably formed of the trunks of small-sized
trees laid close together and covered with clay and cement.

We have as yet not seen any thing in these ruins sufficiently
striking to justify the somewhat extravagant assertion made about
them. The ornamentation is indeed peculiar and tasteful, but
aside from that, we see no reason to speak of them as magnificent
structures. The buildings are low and narrow; the rooms are
small, dark, and illy ventilated. “Light could only have been
admitted from one side, and the apertures for this purpose were
neither lofty nor broad.” Mr. Bandelier fittingly characterizes
the ruins as the “barbaric effort of a barbarous people.” Those
scholars who think we have in Mexico the ruins of a highly
civilized, powerful empire, regard these ruins as in some way set
aside for mourning purposes of the royal family. “According to
tradition,” says Mayer, “They were . . . intended as the places
of sepulture for their princes. At the death of members of the
royal family, their bodies were entombed in the vaults beneath;
and the sovereign and his relatives retired to mourn over the
departed scion in the chambers above these solemn abodes,
screened by dark and silent groves from the public eye.” Another
tradition devotes the edifices to a sect of priests, whose duty
it was to live in perfect seclusion, and offer expiatory
sacrifices for the royal dead who reposed in the vaults
beneath.45

With all due respect to traditions, we think a much more
reasonable explanation can be given. One reason why Mitla has
been regarded as such an important place, is because it has been
assumed that there were no other ruins like it, especially in
Mexico. This, according to Mr. Bandelier, is a mistake. He
examined one or two quite similar ruins in the near vicinity, and
at another place he found a group of ruins in every way worthy of
being compared to Mitla, but he was not able to examine them. So
we must either decide there were a number of these “Sepulchral
Palaces,” or else adopt some simpler explanation. But still
stronger is the fact, that at the time of the conquest, Mitla was
an inhabited pueblo. We have the account of a monk who visited it
in 1533. He mentions in particular the ornamentation of the
walls, the huge doorways, and the hall with the pillars. It is
extremely probable that if it was devoted to any such purpose,
some mention would have been made of it. We think Mr. Bandelier
is right when he concludes that these structures are communal
buildings, but little different from others.

As for the other ruins in Oaxaca, we will not stop longer to
examine them. At Guingola, in the southern part of the State, was
found a ruined settlement. The principal ruins were located on
the summit of a fortified hill, which, from a brief description,
must have been much like those we have already described.

We will now turn our attention to the Gulf-coast. The whole coast
region abounds in great numbers of ruins. It is in this section,
however, that tribes of people belonging to a different family
than the Nahua tribes, were living at no very distant time in the
past. So it is not doubted but that many of these ruined
structures, perhaps the majority of them, were the works of their
hand. When Cortez landed on the coast, in the neighborhood of
Vera Cruz, he was received by the Totonacas. These were a Nahua
tribe, but both to the north and south of them were Maya
tribes.46 We will, however, describe the ruins in the present
State of Vera Cruz under one head.

We notice, on the coast, the Gulf of Tampico, into which pours
the river Panuco. From an antiquarian point of view, this is a
most interesting locality. It was here that a feeble remnant of
De Soto’s disastrous expedition found a refuge in 1543. And it
was here that, at a far earlier period, according to the dim,
uncertain light of tradition, the ancestors of some of the
civilized nations of Mexico made their first appearance; of this,
more hereafter. Certain it is that, commencing at this river, we
find ourselves in a land of ruins.

It is to be regretted, however, that our information is not
definite in regard to them. We are told, in general terms, of a
great field of ruins, but in the absence of cuts, can scarcely
give a clear description of them. On the northern bank of the
Panuco, Mr. Norman found at one place the ground “strewn with
hewn blocks of stone and fragments of pottery and obsidian.”47
They were found over an area of several square miles. Many of the
blocks of stone were ornamented with sculpture. They imply the
presence, in former times, of some kind of buildings. We can not
form an opinion as to the number, style, etc. Mr. Norman regards
them as the ruins of a great city, the site of which is now
covered with a heavy forest.

Amongst these ruins are about twenty mounds, both circular and
square, from six to twenty-five feet in height. Some authorities
think that the Mound Builders went by water from near the mouth
of the Mississippi to this region. To such as place any real
reliance on this theory, these mounds are full of interest. But
some details of construction would seem to indicate a different
people as their builders than those who reared mounds in the Gulf
States of the Mississippi Valley. The main body of the mound is
earth, but they are faced with hewn blocks of sandstone, eighteen
inches square and six inches thick. Although one of the mounds is
quite large, covering two acres, yet in but one instance was a
terraced arrangement noticed. As a general thing, the facing of
stone had fallen to the ground, and some of the smaller mounds
had caved in; showing, perhaps, that they were used as burial
mounds. In other cases the mounds had entirely disappeared,
leaving the stone facing on the surface. This may account for
some of the stones scattered over the surface. A few miles away
there is another group of circular mounds.

Across the river in Vera Cruz, from very slight mention, we
gather that, substantially, the same kind of ruins occur. At
Chacuaco the ruins are said to cover three square leagues—but we
have no further account of them than that. Small relics of
aboriginal art are said to be common, and mention is made of
mounds. The antiquities of Vera Cruz are a topic about which it
is very difficult to form correct ideas. It will be noticed that
it presents a long stretch of country to the Gulf. The land near
the coast is low, and very unhealthy. About thirty miles from the
coast we strike the slope of the mountains bounding the great
interior plateau. This section is fertile and healthy, and was,
evidently, thickly settled in early times. We must remember that
it is always in a mountainous section of country that a people
make their last stand against an invading foe. It was in these
mountain chains where the Maya tribes made their last stand
against the invading Nahua tribes, and even this line was pierced
through by the Tonacas.

It is not strange, then, to find abundant evidence of former
occupation in all this section of country. One thing in its favor
was the number of easily defended positions. The country is cut
up by deep ravines. The early inhabitants used all the land that
was at all available for agricultural purposes. On steep slopes
they ran terraces to prevent the soil from washing. In the
smaller ravines they located great numbers of water-tanks, from
which, in the dry season, they procured water to irrigate their
land. Of this section, we are told, “there is hardly a foot of
ground in the whole State of Vera Cruz in which, by excavation,
either a broken obsidian knife, or a broken piece of pottery, is
not found. The whole country is intersected with parallel lines
of stones, which were intended, during the heavy showers of the
rainy season, to keep the earth from washing away. The number of
these lines of stones shows clearly that even the poorest land,
which nobody in our day would cultivate, was put under
requisition by them.”48

Papantla.

They no less conclusively show that a considerable body of people
had here been pressed by foreign invasion into a small,
contracted space. It is useless to attempt a more particular
description of these ruins. In the absence of cuts, the
description would only prove tiresome. Pyramids, both with and
without buildings on their summits, are comparatively frequent.
As they would be noticed where other ruins would be overlooked,
we have some cuts of the more remarkable ones. The preceding cut
is the pyramid at Papantla.

The base is ninety feet square, and the pyramid has seven
stories, as seen in the engraving. Only the last one contains
apartments; with this exception, the pyramid is solid. Stairways
in front lead up to the top. Mr. Mayer says “there is no doubt,
from the mass of ruins spread over the plain, that the city was
more than a mile and a half in circuit.” But we have no further
description of them. Other localities with pyramids and ruins are
known. At Tusapan occurs this ruin, which may be taken as a type
of all the pyramids in this region. This was the only building
remaining standing at Tusapan; but, from the ruins lying about,
this is not supposed to have been the grandest structure there.

Tusapan.

This will complete what we have to say of the ruins in territory
occupied by the Nahua tribes. Other remains of their handiwork we
will examine when we treat of their customs and manners. We will
now turn our attention to the ruins in the territory of the
Mayas. As the culture of these two people is so similar, we will
devote but one chapter to the two. Comparison is the great means
we have of fixing in the mind points we wish to keep. We have to
admit that the treatment of the Nahua ruins is not very
satisfactory; but it is difficult to obtain accurate information
in regard to them. We think what resemblance can be traced, is
more in the direction of the Pueblo tribes than of the Mound
Builders. The first ruin found in Mexico, Casa Grandes, in
Chihuahua, is evidently but another station of Pueblo tribes.

The fortified hill at Quemada is apparently but a further
development of the clustering houses with the little inclosures
noticed on the Gila. Mounds are, indeed, mentioned in a number of
localities, but they seem to be more nearly related to the
terraced foundation of buildings observed in Arizona than to the
mounds of the Mississippi Valley. Surely as striking a ruin as
any is at Mitla, but Mr. Bandelier does not hesitate to compare
it with some in the Pueblo country. Now, it is very unsafe and
very unsatisfactory to trace resemblances of this kind, and we do
not assign any especial value to them. But it only shows that, so
far as this method is of use, it points to a closer connection
with the Pueblo tribes than with the Mound Builders.

REFERENCES

Gregory’s “History of Mexico,” p. 19.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. II, p. 92.

The _Tierra Caliente._

Ober’s “Mexican Resources,” p. 2.

“Mexico As It Was,” p. 221.

“Six Months in Mexico,” p. 386.

Mayer: “Mexico As It Was,” p. 234.

Thompson’s “Mexico,” p. 144.

Bancroft: “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 526.

“Rambles in Mexico,” p. 140.

“Gratacap, in _American Antiquarian,_ October, 1883, p. 310.

“Native Races,” Vol. II, pp. 168-173.

As to this hill, Mr. Bandelier remarks: “As a salient and
striking object, and on account of the freshwater springs,
Chapultepec was worshiped, but I find no trace among older
authors of any settlement there—still less of a Summer palace—
at the time of the conquest.” “Report of an Archæological Tour
in Mexico,” p. 73.

Charney in _North American Review,_ September, 1880, p. 190.

“Recollections of Mexico,” p. 140.

We have several times remarked that it is not safe to judge
prehistoric population by the amount of ruins. “Indians never
rebuild on ruins or repair them.”

Bancroft: “Native Races,” Vol. IV., p. 537.

Bancroft: “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 547.

The ceilings in the pueblos of Arizona were often made of poles
covered with cement. See Chapter XI.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 550.

Bandelier: “Fifth Annual Report Arch. Inst.,” p. 86.

Bancroft’s “Native Faces,” Vol. IV, p. 610.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 613.

“Fifth Annual Report,” p. 86.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 581. These dimensions
are different in different accounts, as may be seen by
consulting Mr. Bancroft’s work.

_Lyons’s Journal._ From Mayer’s “Mexico As It Was,” p. 243.

There is something of a similarity between these ruins and
those of the coast tribes of Peru.

Another authority states that it is thirty feet square and
thirty feet high. Bancroft: “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 587,
note.

As seen in the Drawing. Mr. Lyons states there are seven
stories.

This was Clavigaro. Mayer’s “Mexico As It Was,” p. 245.

Thompson’s “Recollections of Mexico,” p. 29.

“An Archæological Tour in Mexico,” p. 163.

The altitude varies according to the side where the measurement
is taken. The average height is about one hundred and seventy
feet.

To be described hereafter.

See Chapter XI.

Different explorers give different figures.

Taylor’s “Anahuac,” p. 184.

“Mexico As It Was,” p. 180.

Mayer: “Mexico As It Was,” p. 184.

This is in strict keeping with what we have seen to be true of
their pueblo sites. This is the conclusion of Mr. Bandelier,
who discusses this subject in his essay on “Art of War Among
the Mexicans.” Peabody Museum Reports, Vol. II, p. 146, note
186.

Bancroft: “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 419.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” 393, note.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 395.

Bandelier: “An Archæological Tour in Mexico,” p. 295.

Mayer: “Mexico As It Was,” pp. 251-2.

Valentine, in “Proceedings Am. Antiq. Soc.,” Oct., 1882.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 595.

“Smithsonian Report,” 1873, p. 373.

Chapter XIV
THE MAYA TRIBES.

The geographical location of the Maya tribes—Description of
Copan—Statue at Copan—Altars at Copan—Ruins at Quiriga
Patinamit—Utatlan—Description of Palenque—The Palace at
Palenque—The Temple of the Three Inscriptions—Temple of the
Beau-relief—Temple of the Cross—Temple of the Sun—Maler’s Temple
of the Cross—Significance of the Palenque crosses—Statue at
Palenque—Other ruins in Tobasco and Chiapas—Ruins in
Yucatan—Uxmal—The Governor’s House—The Nunnery—Room in
Nunnery—The sculptured façades—Temple at
Uxmal—Kabah—Zayi—Labna—Labphak—Chichen-Itza—The Nunnery—The
Castillo—The Gymnasium—M. Le Plongon’s researches—The tradition
of the Three Brothers—Chaac-mol—Antiquity of Chichen.

Inthe Central American region of the Western Continent are found
the ruins of what are pronounced by all scholars to be the
highest civilization, and the most ancient in time, of any in the
New World. There it arose, flourished, and tottered to its fall.
Its glory had departed, its cities were a desolation, before the
coming of the Spaniards. The explorer who would visit them finds
himself confronted with very great difficulties. Their location
is in a section of the country away from the beaten track of
travel. Their sites are overspread with the luxuriant vegetation
of tropical lands, through which the Indian’s machete must carve
a passage. The states in which they are situated are notorious
for anarchy and misrule, and the climate is such that it is
dangerous for those not acclimated to venture thither during a
large part of the year. So it is not strange that but few have
wandered among these ruins, and described them to the world at
large.

Map of Central America.

But the accounts thus presented are interesting in the extreme,
though they have raised many questions that have thus far defied
solution. There is no doubt but what there exist large groups of
ruins not yet described, structures and monuments which might,
perhaps, throw some light on a past that now seems hopelessly
lost. But the ruins thus far described are so numerous, their
similarity is so evident, that we feel we have but little to hope
from such undiscovered ruins. There are, doubtless, richly
ornamented façades, grotesquely sculptured statues, and
hieroglyphic-covered altars, but they would prove as much of an
enigma as those already known. Our only hope is that some
fortunate scholar will yet discover a key by whose aid the
hieroglyphics now known may be read. Then, but not until then,
will the darkness that now enshrouds ancient Maya civilization be
dissipated.

As will be seen from a glance at the map, the most important
ruins are in the modern states of Honduras, Guatemala, Chiapas,
and especially Yucatan, the northern portion of this peninsula
being literally studded with them. The river Usumacinta and its
numerous tributaries flowing in a northern direction through
Chiapas is regarded as the original home of the civilization
whose ruins we are now to describe. From whence the tribes came
that first settled in this valley is as yet an unsettled point.
We notice that we have here another instance of the influence
that fertile river valleys exert upon tribes settling therein.
The stories told us of the civilization that flourished in
primitive times in the valleys of the Euphrates and the Nile are
not more wonderful—the ruins perhaps not more impressive—than are
the traditions still extant, or the material remains fallen in
picturesque ruins, of the civilization that once on a time held
sway in the Usumacinta Valley.

One of the most famous groups of ruins in this section of the
country is that of Copan, situated in Honduras, but very near the
Guatemala line. This is commonly spoken of as “the oldest city in
America,”1 and has some evidence to substantiate this claim.
Whatever be its relative antiquity, it is doubtless very old, as
it was probably in ruins at the time of the conquest. There are
several facts going to prove this assertion. When Cortez, in
1524, made his march to Honduras, he passed within a few leagues
of this place. He makes no mention of it, which he would have
been very apt to do had it been inhabited. Fifty years later
Garcia De Palacio made a report on these ruins to the king of
Spain. According to this report, it was then in much the same
state as described by modern travelers, and the same mystery
surrounded it, showing that it must have been in ruin much longer
than the short space of time from the conquest to the date of his
report. But few travelers have visited Copan, and fewer still
have left a good description of it. Mr. Stephens, accompanied by
Mr. Catherwood, explored it in 1839, and this constitutes our
main source of information.2

We feel that here is the place to speak a word of caution. In
common with other writers, we have used the word cities, in
speaking of the ruins of Maya civilization. In view of the
criticisms that have been freely expressed by some of the best
scholars of American ethnology, as to the generally accepted view
of the civilization of the Mexican and Central American races, it
is necessary to be on our guard as to the language employed. In
the case of Copan, for instance, all the remains known, occur in
an irregularly inclosed space of about nine hundred by sixteen
hundred feet, while but a portion of such inclosed space is
covered by the ruins themselves. Now it can, of course, be said
that this space contains simply the remains of public buildings,
so to speak—such as temples, palaces, and others—while the
habitations of the great body of the common people, poorly built,
and located outside of this area, may have vanished away. But, on
the other hand, it may also be that in this small area we have
the ruins of all the buildings that ever stood at Copan. In which
case the word city is a misnomer; pueblo would be more
appropriate. But looking at them in the simplest light, we shall
find there is still a great deal to excite astonishment.
Fragments of the wall originally inclosing the area in which are
located the temple pyramids and statues, are still to be found.
Very few particulars have been given of this wall. It was made of
blocks of stone, and seems to have been twenty-five feet thick at
the base, but the height is not given. The northern half of this
area is occupied by a large terrace, somewhat irregular in
outline, and impressed Mr. Stephens with the idea that it had not
all been erected at the same time, but additions had been made
from time to time. Instead of describing the ruins in full, we
will let the illustration speak for itself. The dimensions of
this terrace are, six hundred and twenty-four feet by eight
hundred and nine feet. The side fronting on the river was
perpendicular. The other three sides consist of ranges of steps
and pyramidal structures. All these steps and pyramidal sides
were once painted. The general height of the terrace was about
seventy feet above the surface of the ground.

Ruins of Copan.

Though Mr. Stephens warns us that this terrace was not as large
as the base of the Pyramid of Ghizeh, still it must have required
an immense amount of work, since careful computations show that
over twenty-six million cubic feet of stone were used in its
construction. This stone was brought from the quarries two miles
away. We must not forget that this work was performed by a people
destitute of metallic tools.

On the terrace were the ruins of four pyramids, one rising to the
height of one hundred and twenty-two feet. The surface of the
terrace was not continuous. In two places there were court-yards,
or sunken areas. The larger is ninety by one hundred and
forty-four feet, and has a narrow passage-way leading into it
from the north. Whatever buildings that once stood on this
terrace, have vanished away. At one place only, on the terrace,
fronting the river, are the remains of small, circular towers,
thought to have been watch towers. The whole terrace was thickly
overgrown by trees of a tropical growth. Mr Stephens noticed two
immense Ceiba trees growing from the very summit of one of the
pyramids. This structure has been called the Temple, and a great
many surmises have been made as to the scenes once enacted there.
If analogous to other structures in Central America, this terrace
was surmounted with buildings. They may have been temples or
palaces, or they may have been communal houses, not unlike those
of New Mexico, to the north.

But of more importance than the ruins of this temple, are the
statues and altars peculiar to this region. Mr. Stephens found
fourteen of them. It seems very singular, indeed, to come upon
these statues in the depth of a Central American forest, and they
give us an idea of the state of advancement of these old tribes
that nothing else does. They raise many queries. Why is it that
so many are found here—so few elsewhere? Are they statues of
noted personages, or idols? We are powerless to answer these
questions. These secrets will only be yielded up when the
hieroglyphics with which they are covered shall be read.

The places where these statues are found is seen to the right of
the main body of ruins. It will be seen that only one is within
the terrace area of the temple. Three others are situated near
it, but the majority are near the southern end of the inclosure.
We are not given the dimensions of all, but the smallest one
given is eleven feet, eight inches high, by three feet, four
inches width and depth; the largest, thirteen feet high, four
feet wide, and three feet deep. No inconsiderable part of the
labor on the statues must have been that of quarrying the large
blocks of stone out of which they were carved, and transporting
them to the place where found. They came from the same quarry as
the other stones used in building; and so were transported a
distance of about two miles. Mr. Stephens found, about midway to
the quarry, a gigantic block, “which was probably on its way
thither, to be carved and set up as an ornament, when the labors
of the workmen were arrested.”

Copan Statue.

There is such a similarity in all these statues that a
representation of one will suffice. This is the representation of
one of the largest statues. It is seen to be standing on a sort
of pedestal. A face occupies a central position on the front.
Some of the faces have what may be a representation of a beard.
In all but one, the expression is calm and peaceful. They were
once painted red. Traces of color were still visible at the time
of Mr. Stephens’s visit. In all but one the hands are represented
as placed back to back on the breast.

The complicated headdress and the ornaments on the robes utterly
defy description. The sides and back of the statues are covered
with hieroglyphics, though now and then a face is introduced. A
side view of another statue shows this feature. All are convinced
that we have in these hieroglyphics an explanation of each
statue, but what it is, is yet unknown. Mr. Stephens says: “Of
the moral effect of the monuments themselves, standing as they
do, in the depths of a tropical forest, silent and solemn,
strange in design, excellent in sculpture, rich in ornament,
different from the works of any other people; their uses and
purposes—their whole history—so entirely unknown, with
hieroglyphics explaining all, but perfectly unintelligible, I
shall not pretend to convey any idea. Often the imagination was
pained in gazing at them. The tone which pervades the ruins is
that of deep solemnity.”

In front of most of the statues is what is called an altar, which
would seem to imply that these monuments are really idols. “The
altars, like the idols, are all of a single block of stone. In
general, they are not so richly ornamented, and are more faded
and worn, or covered with moss. Some were completely buried, and
of others it was difficult to make out more than the form. All
differed in position, and doubtless had some distinct and
peculiar reference to the idols before which they stood.”

Statue, Copan.

These altars are strongly suggestive of sacrificial scenes. The
altar before the idol found in the court-yard on the terrace of
the temple, is one of the most interesting objects found at
Copan. It is six feet square and four feet high. The top is
divided into thirty-six tablets of hieroglyphics which we may
well imagine records some events in the history of this
mysterious people. Each side has carved on it four human figures.
They are generally all represented as facing the same way. We
give an illustration of the east side. Each individual is sitting
cross-legged on a hieroglyphic, and has a ponderous head-dress.

Hieroglyphics, top of Altar.

Mr Stephens found the quadrangle at the south-east corner of the
plan to be thickly strewn with fragments of fine sculpture.
Amongst the rest was a “remarkable portrait.” (Shown later.) “It
is probably the portrait of some king, chieftain, or sage. The
mouth is injured, and part of the ornament over the wreath that
crowns the head. The expression is noble and severe, and the
whole character shows a close imitation of nature.” Colonel
Gallindo, who visited Copan in 1835, discovered a vault very near
where the circular towers are located, on the terrace fronting
the river. This vault was five feet wide, ten feet long, and four
feet high. It was used for burial purposes. Over fifty vessels of
red pottery, containing human bones, were found in it.3

Bas-relief, East Side of Altar.

In this hasty sketch we do not feel that we have done justice to
Copan. It is, however, all the space we can devote to this
interesting ruin. We call special attention to the hieroglyphics
on the altar and the statues. We will find other hieroglyphics at
Palenque, and in Yucatan, evidently derived from these.4 They
have been made the subject of very interesting study, and we will
refer to them again at another page. We also notice especially
the fact that we have no ruined buildings at Copan. In this
respect it stands almost alone among the Central American ruins.
The distinguishing features, however, are the carved obelisks.
They are evidently not the work of rude, people. Mr. Stephens,
who was every way qualified to judge, declares that some of them
“are in every way equal to the finest Egyptian workmanship, and
that with the best instruments of modern times, it would be
impossible to cut stone more perfectly.”

Portrait, Copan.

A dark mystery hangs over these ruins. Their builders are
unknown. Whether we have here some temple sacred to the gods of
the Maya pantheon or some palace made resplendent for royal
owners, who can tell? Whether these are the ruins of the more
substantial public buildings of a great city, of which all other
buildings have vanished—or whether this is the remains of a
prosperous pueblo, whose communal houses crowded the terraces,
with sacrificial altars on the lofty pyramids—who knows? At long
intervals a passing traveler visits them, ponders over their fast
disappearing ruins, and goes his way. The veil drops, the
tropical forest more securely environs them—and thus the years
come and go over the ruins of Copan.

Nearly north from Copan (see map), about half-way to the coast,
on the bank of the river Montagua, is found a small hamlet, by
the name of Quiriga. Mr. Stephens, when traveling in the country
in 1840, after many careful inquiries, heard of ruins near that
place. Though not able to explore them himself, his companion,
Mr. Catherwood, did. The result of this gentleman’s exertion
makes us acquainted with another group of ruins, in many respects
similar to those of Copan, though apparently much farther gone in
decay. His visit was a very hurried one; and he was not able to
clear the moss away from the statues so as to draw them as it
should be done.5

We must notice that, though called a city, all the monuments and
fragments thus far brought to light are scattered over a space of
some three thousand square feet. No plan has been given. We
gather, however, from Stephens’s work, that a pyramidal wall
inclosed the ruins, as at Copan.6 No dimensions of this wall are
given. Within the inclosure (if such it was) was a terrace. Here,
again, dimensions are not given; but we are told it was about
twenty-five feet to the top, and that the steps were, in some
places, still perfect. It was constructed of neatly cut sandstone
blocks. No monuments or altars were observed on the terrace, but
in close proximity to it were fragments of sculpture. At another
place near the wall, Mr. Catherwood mentions eight standing
statues, one fallen one, and saw fragments of at least thirteen
others. They are represented as being very similar to those of
Copan, but two or three times as high. The hieroglyphics are
pronounced identical with those already described.

There are no traditions extant of these ruins. No thorough
exploration has been made. A city may have stood there; but, if
so, its name is lost, its history unknown. “For centuries it has
lain as completely buried as if covered with the lava of
Vesuvius. Every traveler from Yzabel to Guatemala has passed
within three hours of it. We ourselves have done the same; and
yet there it lay, like the rock-built city of Edom, unvisited,
unsought, and utterly unknown.”

A large extent of territory in Guatemala and Yucatan is as yet an
unknown country, or at least has never been thoroughly explored.
Strange stories have flitted here and there of wonders yet to be
seen. The country swarms with savages, living in much the same
state as they were when the Spaniards invaded the country. They
have never been conquered, and, in the rugged fastnesses of their
land, bid defiance to all attempts to civilize them. From all we
can learn, there are numerous groups of ruins scattered here and
there—but of their nature we are, as yet, mostly in the dark.

We have, indeed, historical notices of a few places; but, as the
color of an object is the same as that of the medium through
which it is viewed, we can not help thinking that the glamour of
romance, which the early Spanish writers threw around all their
transactions in the New World, has woefully distorted these
sketches. This same effect is to be noticed in all the
descriptions of the ruins. Where one party sees the ruins of
imperial cities, another can detect but the ruins of imposing
pueblos, with their temples and pyramids. It can be truthfully
stated, that this is a land of ruins. Every few leagues, as far
as it has been explored, are the remains of structures that
excite astonishment.

The meager reports given us raise our curiosity, but fail to
satisfy it. Almost all explorers relate stories of the existence
of an aboriginal city. The location of this city shifts from
place to place; always, however, in a section of country where no
white men are allowed to intrude. The Curé of Santa Cruz, in whom
Mr. Stephens expressed confidence, declared that he had, years
before, climbed to the summit of a lofty sierra, and then “he
looked over an immense plain, extending to Yucatan and the Gulf
of Mexico, and saw, at a great distance, a large city, spread
over a great space, with turrets white and glittering in the
sun.” We are afraid a search for this mythical city would be
attended with much the same results as rewards the child’s
pursuit of a golden treasure at the end of the rainbow.

As a sample of known ruins, we might cite two in the immediate
neighborhood of Quirigua. At the distance of a few leagues, both
above and below this latter place, are the remains of former
settlements. The accounts are very brief. Of the ruins below, we
are informed that they consist of the remains of a quadrilateral
pyramid, with traced sides, up which steps lead to the summit
platform, where _débris_ of hewn stone are enveloped in dense
vegetation.” Of the ruins located above Quirigua, we are simply
told “of a large area covered with aboriginal relics—in the form
of ruined stone structures, vases and idols of burned clay, and
monoliths, buried for the most part in the earth.”

These descriptions will serve as samples of many others, and,
though they are interesting in their way, we are afraid they
would grow tiresome by repetition. We will, therefore, only make
mention of one or two important points; premising, however, that,
beyond a doubt, similar ruins are scattered up and down the river
valleys of the entire country.7

Two cities of ancient Guatemala especially mentioned by Spanish
writers are Utatlan and Patinamit. Here, if we may believe their
recitals, were the capitals of two powerful monarchies. The
pictures they draw for us are those of cities of Oriental
magnificence. The system of government they describe is that of
absolute monarchy, founded on feudalism. We will briefly glance
at the remains of these “imperial cities.” Their location is seen
on the map. The approach to Patinamit is very difficult, indeed.
Situated on a high table-land, it commands an almost boundless
view. On every side are immense ravines, and the only way of
entering it was by a narrow passage cut in the side of the
ravine, twenty or thirty feet deep, and not wide enough for two
horsemen to ride abreast.

Mr. Stephens mentions coming to a wall of stone, but broken and
confused. The ground beyond was covered with mounds of ruins, and
in one place he saw the foundations of two buildings, one of them
being one hundred and fifty by fifty feet. He does not give us
the area covered by the ruins, but there is nothing in his
description to make us think it very large in extent. He also
quotes for us Fuentes’s description of this same place, written,
however, one hundred and forty years earlier. In this he speaks
of the remains of a magnificent building, perfectly square, each
side measuring one hundred paces, constructed of hewn stones,
extremely well put together. In front of the building is a large
square, on one side of which stand the ruins of a sumptuous
palace; and near to it are the foundations of several houses.8 He
also asserts that traces of streets could still be seen, and that
they were straight and spacious, crossing each other at right
angles. Fuentes certainly had remarkable eyes. He wrote a
description of Copan which not only differs from all accounts of
modern travelers, but also from the still earlier description by
Garcia De Palacio.9

Patinamit means “The City,” and is represented as the capital
city of the Cakchiquel “monarchy.” The site of the city was
certainly admirably chosen for defense, and we have no doubt but
what here was the head-quarters of a powerful tribe of Indians;
but, until scholars have settled some very disputed points about
the civilization of the Central American nations, we must be
cautious in the use of the words monarchy and palaces as applied
to these old people or these ruins.

Thirty-five or forty miles north-eastward from Patinamit we come
to the ruins of the most renowned city in Guatemala at the time
of the conquest. This was Utatlan, the Quiche capital, a city
which the Spaniards compared to Mexico in magnificence, and
which, at the time of its destruction, was at its zenith of
prosperity. The location was very similar to that of Patinamit.
It also stood on an elevated plateau, with immense ravines on
every side. It was approached only at one point, and guarding
this one point of approach was a line of fortifications. They
consisted of the remains of stone buildings, probably towers. The
stones were well cut and laid together. These fortifications were
united by a ditch.

Within this line of towers stood a structure, generally regarded
as a fort, directly guarding the line of approach. Steps led up a
pyramidal structure having three terraces, one over the other.
The top was protected by a wall of stone, and from the center
rose a tower. Beyond this fort was the ruins of the city. Mr.
Stephens describes a large ruin which is called The Palace. It is
said, in round numbers, to have been eleven hundred by twenty-two
hundred feet. As this area is more than fifty-five acres in
extent, we can see it was not a palace in our sense of the word.
The stones of which it was composed have been largely removed to
build the modern town of Santa Cruz. But the floor could still be
traced, and some remains of partition walls. The floor was still
covered with hard cement.

Adjoining the palace was a large plaza or court-yard, also
cemented, in the center of which was the ruins of a fountain.
Another structure still remaining was a small pyramid, at the top
of which was probably a temple, or, at least, a place of
sacrifice. No hieroglyphics or statues have been found here. A
few terra-cotta figures have been found, and one small gold
image. It would seem from this description that the ruins simply
consist of a few large structures. For aught we know, they may
have been communal houses.

Mr. Stephens, however, condenses Fuentes’s account, which is
truly wonderful. According to him, the center of the city was
occupied by the royal palaces, around which were grouped the
houses of the nobles. The extremities were inhabited by the
plebeians. He tells us there were many sumptuous buildings, the
most superb of which was a seminary, where between five and six
thousand children were educated at royal expense. The palace was
formed of hewn stones of various colors. There were six principal
divisions. In one was lodged the king’s body-guard, in the second
the princes and the relatives of the king, and so forth.

It is not necessary to remind the reader that it is very doubtful
whether such a state of things ever existed. It is related, for
instance, that the king marched from Utatlan with seventy-two
thousand warriors to repel the attack of Alvarade. This would
indicate a total population of between two and three hundred
thousand souls. It seems to us that a city of that size would not
so completely disappear in a little over three centuries that a
careful explorer could find only the ruins of a few large
buildings.

We do not feel that we have done near justice to the ruins of
Guatemala. As we have before remarked, there are, doubtless, many
ruins not yet brought to light. They are rapidly disappearing,
and we do not know that we will ever possess a description of
them, or understand their real import. The light of history,
indeed, fell on the two groups of ruins last described. But the
Spanish writers were totally unacquainted with Indian society,
and may, therefore, have widely erred in applying to their
government terms suited only to European ideas of the sixteenth
century. And it is not doubted but that their estimate of the
population of the towns, and of the enemies with which they had
to contend, were often greatly overdrawn. In short, the remains
themselves are remarkable, but every ruined pyramid is not
necessarily the remains of a great very great city, nor every
large building in ruins necessarily a palace.

Going northward out of Guatemala, we pass into the modern state
of Chiapas. This is described a country of great natural beauty
and fertility. And here it is that we meet with a group of ruins
which have been an object of great interest to the scientific
world. They have been carefully studied and described, and many
theories have been enunciated as to their builders, their
history, and civilization. The place is supposed to have been
deserted and in ruins when Cortez landed in the country. At any
rate, he marched within a few leagues of it, but, as in the case
of Copan, he is silent in regard to it.

They take their name from the modern town of Palenque, near which
they are located. This town was founded in 1564. It was once a
place of considerable importance, but its trade has died away,
and now it would not be known were it not for the ruins of a
former people located near it. Though distant from the village
only some eight miles, nearly two centuries went by before their
existence was known. Had they been visited and described at the
time of the founding of the village, no doubt much that is now
mysterious in regard to them would have been cleared away. But
for two centuries they were allowed to sleep undisturbed in the
depths of the forest, and in that time the elements played sad
havoc with the buildings, inscriptions, and ornaments. What are
left are not sufficient to impart full information. Imagination
is too apt to supply the details, and these ruins, grand in
proportion, wonderful in location, enwrapt by dense forests,
visited by the storms of tropical lands, are made to do service
in setting forth a picture of society and times which we are
afraid has but little real foundation to rest upon.

The ruins of Palenque are the first which awakened attention to
the existence of ancient ruins in America, and, therefore, it may
not come amiss to state more particularly the circumstances of
their first discovery. The existence of an aboriginal city in
this locality was entirely unknown; there were no traditions even
that it had ever existed. Of course the natives of the modern
town of Palenque must have known of their existence, but no
account of them was published. They are said to have been
discovered in 1750 by a party of traveling Spaniards. This
statement Mr. Stephens doubts. The first account was published in
1784. The Spanish authorities finally ordered an exploration.
This was made under the auspices of Captain Del Rio, who arrived
on the ground in 1787. His report was locked up in the government
archives, and was not made public until 1822.

The reception of this report illustrates how little interest is
taken in American antiquities. It was scarcely noticed by the
_Scientific World._ As Mr. Stephens remarks, “If a like discovery
had been made in Italy, Greece, Egypt, or Asia, within the reach
of European travel, it would have created an interest not
inferior to the discovery of Herculaneum, or Pompeii, or the
ruins of Paestum.” But, from some cause, so little notice was
taken of this report that in 1831 the explorations of Colonel
Galindo, whose works we have referred to at Copan, was spoken of
as a new discovery. In the meantime another government expedition
under the direction of Captain Dupaix explored these ruins in
1807. Owing to the wars in Europe and the revolution in Mexico,
his report was not published until 1835. Mr. Stephens visited the
ruins in 1840. His account, profusely illustrated, was the means
of making known to a large class of readers the wonderful nature
of the ruins, not only at Palenque, but in Yucatan as well.

In this outline we have given an account of the early
explorations at Palenque. Private individuals have visited them,
and governments have organized exploring expeditions, and by both
pencil and pen made us familiar with them. As to the remains
actually in existence, these accounts agree fairly well, but we
have some perplexing differences as to the area covered by the
ruins. Where the early explorers could trace the ruins of a large
city modern travelers can find but a few ruined structures,
which, however, excite our liveliest interest. One of the
earliest accounts speaks of the ruins of over two hundred
buildings. Another speaks of them as covering an area of many
square miles. Mr. Stephens thinks a few acres would suffice.

From the researches of M. Charney, it would seem that the ruins
are really scattered over quite an area. His exploration made in
1881, seems to confirm the older writers. With abundant means at
his command, he was enabled to explore the forest, and he found
many ruins which escaped the other observers. According to him,
the ruins are scattered over an area extending about one mile and
a quarter from north to south, and about one and three-fourths
from east to west. Throughout this space, the ruined structures
were in all respects similar to those previously described,
consisting altogether of what he calls palaces and temples.10

There seems to be no especial order in the arrangement of the
buildings. They are separated by quite an interval, excepting to
the south of the palace, where there are groups of buildings near
together. The fact that such careful explorers as Stephens and
Waldeck failed to notice these additional ruins, gives us a faint
idea of the density of the forest.

Plan of Palenque.

The plan represents the distribution and relative size of the
ruins of which we have definite descriptions. Those having no
numbers are some of the groups that were passed by as of no
account. We must understand that so dense is the forest that not
one of these structures is visible from its neighbors. Where the
trees are cut down, as they have been several times, only a few
years are necessary for it to regain its former density, and each
explorer must begin anew.

The largest structure, marked one on the plan, is known as the
palace. This is only a conjectural name. We have no reason,
except its size, to suppose it the residence of a royal owner.
Its base is a pyramid which, Mr. Stephens tells us, is of oblong
form, forty feet high, three hundred and ten feet in front and
rear, and two hundred and sixty feet on each side. The pyramid
was formerly faced with stone, which has been thrown down by the
growth of trees, so that its form is hardly distinguishable. The
sides may once have been covered with cement, and perhaps
painted. Dupaix, who examined these ruins in 1808, so represents
them. Mr. Stephens expressly states that the eastern front was
the principal entrance. Mr. Waldeck, however, detected traces of
stairways on the northern side. M. Charney has settled the point,
that the principal entrance was on the northern side.

The principal bulk of this pyramid seems to have been earth; the
facing only being composed of stone. Mr. Bancroft thinks he has
discovered evidence that there were four or more thick
foundation-walls built from the surface of the ground to support
the buildings on top of the pyramid; that the space between these
walls was subsequently filled with earth, and that sloping
embankments, faced with stones, were built upon the outside.11
The summit platform of this pyramid supports the building, or
collection of buildings, known as the palace. Though generally
spoken of as one building, we think we have here the ruins of a
number of buildings.

Bas-relief, Palenque.

Probably the original inhabitants built a continuous structure
close to the edge of the platform, leaving the interior for an
open court. Subsequently, as population increased, rather than
resort to the labor necessary to raise a new pyramidal structure,
they erected other buildings on this court. From the plan, as
given by Mr. Stephens, there seems to have been no less than five
such put up, besides the tower. Thus covering the platform with a
somewhat confused mass of buildings, and, instead of the large
open court, there were left only three narrow courts, and one
somewhat larger—seventy by eighty feet.12 The building erected
near the edge of the platform, inclosing the court, was some two
hundred and twenty-eight feet on its east and west sides, by one
hundred and eighty feet on its north and south sides, and about
thirty feet high.

General View of Palace.

Our general view, taken from Mr. Stephens’s works, represents the
ruined eastern front of this building, surmounting the pyramid.
Trees are seen growing all over the ruins. The outer wall is
pierced by numerous doorways which, being somewhat wider than the
space that separates them, gives to the whole the appearance of a
portico with wide piers: no remains of the doors themselves have
been discovered. Drilled holes in the projecting cornice,
immediately above the doorway, gave Mr. Stephens the impression
that an immense cotton curtain, perhaps painted in a style
corresponding with the ornaments, had been extended the whole
front, which was raised or lowered, according to the weather. The
lintels of the doors were of wood. They had long since vanished,
and the stones over the doorway fallen down. Of the piers
separating the doorways, only fifteen were found standing, but
the crumbling remains of the others were readily traced on the
ruins.

Each of the standing piers, and presumably all the others, was
ornamented with a bas-relief in stucco. This cut gives us a good
example of this style of ornamentation. We notice portions of a
richly ornamented border. This stucco work consists of human
figures in various attitudes, having a variety of dress,
ornaments, and insignia. The stucco is said to be nearly as hard
as the stone itself. Traces of paint, with which the figures were
once ornamented, were still to be seen. The conjectures in regard
to these figures, have been innumerable. Vividly painted, and
placed in a conspicuous place on the wall, we may be very sure
they were full of significance to the builders. Three
hieroglyphics are placed over the head of each group, but so far,
they are as little understood as the figures themselves. We can
imagine the effect, when the building was still perfect and
entire, and all the piers were thus ornamented.

Cross-section Palace, Palenque.

Passing to the top of the pyramid, we find the construction of
the building whose outer wall we have been describing, to be
substantially as follows: Three parallel walls, from two to three
feet in thickness, composed of hewn stones, were erected about
nine feet apart. At the height of ten feet, the walls commenced
approaching each other; not, however, in an arch, for this was
unknown, but in a triangular manner, the stones in each course
projecting a little farther out. This cut represents a
cross-section of the buildings, and shows also the slight
cornice. All inequalities in the surface, as here represented,
were then filled with cement, thus furnishing a smooth surface,
which was then painted. The two outer walls were plentifully
supplied with doorways; the central wall had but few. We are only
given the description of one, which may not apply to all. This
one, opposite the entrance on the east side, has a trefoil-shaped
arch over the door, thus giving it this shape. Besides the few
doorways, the central wall had numerous depressions, or niches,
some of which served for ventilation, others for the support of
beams, and perhaps others as receptacles for torches or idols.
This principle of construction is substantially the same for all
the buildings in the interior of the court, and indeed for all
the buildings at Palenque.

Trefoil Arch.

Passing through the doorway just described, we come into the
second corridor, and continuing through that, we come to what was
once a large court; but, as we stated, it was subsequently built
over so as to leave only a few courts. The largest one, eighty by
seventy feet, is immediately before us, with a range of steps
leading down into it. On each side of the stairway is sculptured,
on stucco, a row of grim and gigantic figures. The engraving
opposite represents the same. “They are adorned with rich
headdresses and necklaces, but their attitude is that of pain and
trouble. The design and anatomical proportions of the figures are
faulty, but there is a force of expression about them which shows
the skill and conceptive force of the artist.” From this small
court stairways lead to the other buildings situated around it.

Entrance to Principal Court.

Stucco ornaments were plentiful. In one room, rather more richly
ornamented than the others, was found a stone tablet, which is
the only important piece of stone sculpture about the palace. We
are told it is of hard stone, four feet long by three feet wide,
and the sculpture is in bas-relief. It is set in the wall, and
around it are the remains of a rich stucco border. Its
significance is unknown. We must notice the small medallion,
containing a face, suspended by a necklace of pearls from the
neck of the principal figure. Mr. Stephens conjectures that it
may represent the sun. Mr. Waldeck gives a drawing of this same
subject; but instead of a face, he represents a cross.13

Stone Tablet.

In the general view we see a tower rising up from the mass of
ruins. Mr. Stephens speaks of this tower as follows. “This tower
is conspicuous by its height and proportions, but an examination
in detail is found unsatisfactory and uninteresting. The base is
thirty feet square, and it has three stories. Entering over a
heap of rubbish at the base, we found within another tower
distinct from the outer one, and a stone staircase, so narrow
that a large man could not ascend it. The staircase terminated
against a dead stone ceiling, closing all further passages, the
last step being only six or eight inches from it. For what
purpose a staircase was carried up to such a bootless termination
we could not conjecture. The whole tower was a substantial stone
structure, and in its arrangements and purposes about as
incomprehensible as the sculptured tablets.”

At the best we can do, it is hard to give such a description of
this ruin that it can be readily understood, so we will present a
restoration of it by a German artist,14 taken, however, from Mr.
Bancroft’s work.15 This is very useful to us, since it conveys an
idea of how the palace looked when it was complete. This view
also includes a second structure, which we will examine soon. We
notice the numerous doorways leading into the first corridor, the
ornamental pier-like portions of the wall separating the doors,
and the several buildings on the court; rising over all, the
tower, which would have been better if the spire had been
omitted.

Palace, Palenque.

This may have been a real palace. Its rooms may have been the
habitations of royalty, and its corridors may have resounded with
the tread of noble personages. M. Charney thinks the palace must
have been the home of priests, and not kings—in fact, that it was
a monastery, where the priests lived who ministered in the
neighboring temples. He thinks Palenque was a holy place, a
prehistoric Mecca. We must be cautious about accepting any theory
until scholars are more agreed about the plan of government and
society among the Central American tribes. But, whatever it was,
many years have passed by since it was deserted. For centuries
tropical storms have beat against the stuccoed figures. The
court-yards and corridors are overrun with vegetation, and great
trees are growing on the very top of the tower. So complete is
the ruin that it is with difficulty the plan can be made out. The
traveler, as he gazes upon it, can scarcely resist letting fancy
restore the scene as it was before the hand of ruin had swept
over it. In imagination he beholds it perfect in its amplitude
and rich decoration, and occupied by the strange people whose
portraits and figures may perhaps adorn its walls.

Ruined Temple of the Three Tablets.

We must now describe the more important of the remaining
structures of Palenque. Glancing at the plan for a moment, we see
to the south-west of the palace a ruin marked 2. This is the site
of a pyramidal structure known as the “Temple of the Three
Tablets,” or “Temple of Inscriptions.” The pyramid is not as
large in area as the palace, though of a greater height. It
measures in height one hundred and ten feet on the slope, but we
are not given the other dimensions. All the sides, which were
very steep, seem to have had steps. Trees have grown up all over
the pyramid and on the top of the building. This illustration,
taken from Mr. Stephens’s work, can not fail to impress on us the
luxuriant growth of tropical vegetation, and we can also see how
such a growth must accelerate the ruin. The stone steps leading
up the sides of the pyramid have been thrown down, and such must
be in time the fate of the building itself. The building on the
summit platform does not cover all the area. It is seventy-six
feet front by twenty-five feet deep and about thirty-five feet
high.

This small cut is a representation of the same building on a
small scale, but cleared of trees and vines. The roof is seen to
consist of two parts, sloping at different angles. The lower part
was covered with stucco ornaments, which, though too much injured
to be drawn, gave the impression that, when perfect and painted,
they must have been rich and imposing. The upper slope is of
solid masonry. “Along the top was a range of pillars, eighteen
inches high and twelve apart, made of small pieces of stone laid
in mortar and covered with stucco, having somewhat the appearance
of a low, open balustrade.”

Elevation Temple of the Three Tablets.

In this wood-cut the front wall, as in the palace, presents more
the appearance of a row of piers than any thing else. Each of the
corner piers contains on its surface hieroglyphics, each of which
contains ninety-six squares. The other piers have ornaments of
stucco similar to those we have already examined on the palace.
In the building itself we have the usual three parallel walls. In
this case, however, the second corridor is divided into three
rooms, and there is no opening in the third wall, unless it be
three small openings for air. The central wall is four or five
feet thick.16 The interior is very plain.

The principal point of interest about the building, from whence
the name is derived, is three tablets of hieroglyphics. One on
either side of the principal doorway of the middle wall, and the
third in the rear wall of the middle room. Being so similar to
other tablets, it is not necessary to give separate cuts of them.
The similarity to those of Copan is very great, the differences
being in minute points, which only critical examination would
detect. Mr. Stephens tells us that the Indians call this building
a school. The priests who came to visit him at the ruins called
it a temple of justice, and said the tablets contained the law.
We do not think either are very safe guides to follow.

At number three on the plan are the ruins of an edifice which is
fast disappearing. The outer wall had already fallen at the time
of Mr. Stephens’s visit. It stands on the bank of the stream. The
pyramid base is one hundred feet high on the slope. The building
on the top is twenty-five feet front by eighteen feet deep. In
the inner corridor could be dimly traced the outlines of a
beautiful piece of stucco work. At the time of Waldeck’s visit it
was still complete, so we are enabled to give a cut of it.

The Beau-Relief.

We are sure the readers will not fail to notice the many points
which make this such an exceptionally fine piece of work. In the
original drawing the grace of the arms and wrists is truly
matchless, and the chest muscles are displayed in the most
perfect manner. The embroidered girdle and folded drapery of the
figure, as well as the drapery around the leopard’s neck, are
arranged with taste. The head-dress is not unlike a Roman helmet
in front, with the addition of numerous plumes. The sandals of
the feet are secured by a cord and rosette, while the ornaments
on the animal’s ankles seem secured by leather straps.17 Mr.
Waldeck, however, who drew this sketch, is supposed to have drawn
at times better than his model.18 This is generally called the
“Temple of the Beau-relief.” Mr. Holden, in his able article
already referred to, comes to the conclusion that this figure
represents the god Quetzalcohuatl, the nature god of the Mayas.

Temple of the Cross. (Smithsonian Institute.)

Eastward from the palace, and across the creek, are seen on the
plan the location of two other structures. The one marked is a
somewhat famous structure, which, for reasons that will soon
appear, is called the “Temple of the Cross.” The pyramid in this
case is one hundred and thirty-four feet on the slope. It,
however, stands on a terrace about sixty feet on the slope. The
forest is so dense that, though other structures are but a short
distance from it, yet they can not be seen. The last two
engravings represent the building and the ground plan. This is
not a fanciful sketch, but is a restoration, “from such remains
and indications that it is impossible to make any thing else out
of it.”

Plan of Temple. (Smithsonian Institute.)

“The building is fifty feet front, thirty-one feet deep, and has
three door-ways. The whole front was covered with stucco
ornaments. The two outer piers contain hieroglyphics.” We notice
a new feature about the roof. It is similar to the roof of the
temple of the “Three Tablets,” in having two different slopes—the
lower one covered with stucco ornaments, but the range of pillars
along the roof is here replaced by a peculiar two-storied
arrangement nearly sixteen feet high. Mr. Stephens says: “The
long sides of this narrow structure are of open stucco-work,
formed into curious and indescribable devices, human figures with
legs and arms spreading and apertures between, and the whole was
once loaded with rich and elegant ornaments in stucco relief. Its
appearance at a distance must have been that of a high, fanciful
lattice. It was perfectly unique—different from the works of any
other people with which we are familiar, and its uses and
purposes entirely incomprehensible.”

It was evidently added to the temple solely for the sake of
appearance. One writer19 believes the roof structures were
erected by some people that succeeded the original builders of
the temple. The plan of the temple gives us a clear idea of the
arrangement of the inner rooms. Our principal interest centers in
the altar, which we notice placed in the center of the back room.
We give an illustration of a similar altar-form in the temple, at
number 5 of the plan. In form it is that of an inclosed chamber,
having a roof of its own. The altar in the Temple of the Cross
was very similar to this. Mr. Stephens’s description is as
follows: “The top of the doorway was gorgeous with stuccoed
ornaments, and on the piers at each side were stone tablets in
bas-relief. Within, the chamber is thirteen feet wide and seven
feet deep.”

Altar in Temple of the Sun.—(Bureau of Ethnology.)

The room was plain within, and right against the back was the
famous “Tablet of the Cross.” This tablet was six feet four
inches high, ten feet eight inches wide, and formed of three
stones. The right-hand one is now in the National Museum in
Washington. The central one, though torn from its original place,
is still at the ruins. The next cut gives us only the sculptured
part of the tablet. On both the right and left-hand were tablets
of hieroglyphics. A long chain of ornaments hung suspended from
the cap of the right-hand figure. The two figures are regarded as
priests. The cross is very plainly outlined, and is the regular
Latin one. Considerable discussion has arisen as to what supports
the cross. Dr. Brinton thinks it a serpent.20 Others think it a
human skull.21 We must also notice the bird on top of the cross.
It is almost impossible to make out the species. The right-hand
figure is offering it something.

Tablet of the Cross.

We must refer to some more tablets found at Palenque before
proceeding further. At number five of the plan was a temple but
little smaller than the one just described. There is, however,
such a similarity between the buildings, that it is not necessary
to give illustrations. The temple, also, had an inclosed altar;
and against the back of that was placed the tablet which was very
similar to the one just described. This illustration represents
the sculptured portions. On each side were tablets of
hieroglyphics. It needs but a glance to show that the priests
are, evidently, the same personages as in the other tablet.

The Sun.

The one on the left is standing on the back of a human being. The
one on the right is, perhaps, standing on a beast; or, if a human
being, he is crushed beneath the weight of the priest. Two other
human figures support a platform, from which rise two bâtons
crossed like a St. Andrew’s cross. These support a mask, from the
center of which a hideous human face looks out. The Aztecs
sometimes represented the sun by such a mask, and hence the name
“Temple of the Sun.”

In still another temple, situated but a short distance from the
others, was discovered a third tablet, which is shown in the cut
opposite. We give all the tablet, showing the hieroglyphics as
well. We must compare this with the first tablet given. The
priests are, evidently, the same—but, notice, they stand on
different sides of the cross. The same priest is making the
offering as in the first, and the same bird is seen on the top of
the cross. The priests stand on flowered ornaments. The support
of the cross resembles the same thing as in the first but whether
it is a human skull, or a serpent, is hard to tell. The cross
itself is not as well outlined. The two arms are floral
ornaments. We must also notice the two faces seen on the upright
part.22

Maler’s Cross.

These tablets are all of great interest. That of the cross, the
first one given, has attracted more attention than almost any
other in the field of American antiquities. This is largely owing
to the cross. As far as the sacred emblem itself is concerned, we
do not think this tablet of more significance than that of the
sun. It is well known that the cross, as a sacred emblem, had
peculiar significance in the ancient religions of the world. Its
use as such has come down to us from time immemorial. On the
first expedition of the Spaniards, in 1518, to the coast and
islands of Yucatan, they discovered that the cross was of some
significance to the natives. In the island of Cozumel they found
a large cross, to which the natives prayed for rain.23

Mr. Brinton thinks that the source of this veneration of the
cross, like the the sacredness of the number four, of which he
gives numerous illustrations, is the four cardinal points.24 From
these points blow the four winds which bring the fertilizing
rains, and thus render the earth fruitful; and hence the cross,
in so many and widely separated portions of the earth, is used as
the symbol of the life-giving, creative, and fertilizing
principle in nature.25 He thinks this is, perhaps, the
significance of these Palenque crosses. It is true we have
different forms of the cross; but in ancient sculpture they seem
to have been of equal importance.26

The results of these inquiries into the hidden meaning of these
tablets are not devoid of interest; but, thus far, but few
conclusions of value have been obtained. They have been made to
do service in support of some far-fetched theories. The early
Spanish writers on these subjects concluded that the crosses
found in Central America were positive proof that St. Thomas had
traveled through the country preaching the doctrines of
Christianity. The padres, who came to visit Mr. Stephens at the
ruins, “at the sight of it, immediately decided that the old
inhabitants of Palenque were Christians, and fixed the age of the
buildings in the third century.”

Wilson finds in the tablets of the cross a strong argument for
the existence of a great Phœnician empire in Central America.
This tablet represents, he thinks, the sacrifice of a child to
Astarte,27 also called Ashtoreth, the great female deity of the
ancient Semitic nations on both sides of the Euphrates, but
chiefly of Phœnicia. The original meaning of this word was “Queen
of Heaven.” Modern scholars do not think these early speculations
of the slightest worth. Dr. Charles Rau28 concludes that as
reasonable a conjecture as any is the supposition that it
represents a sacrifice to the god of rain, made, perhaps, at a
time of drought, apparently influenced to that conclusion by the
fact that the natives of Cozumel regarded a cross in such a
light,29 and further that a cross represents the moisture-bearing
winds.

E. S. Holden30 has made a critical study of the hieroglyphics of
Copan and Palenque. Though far from complete, most interesting
results have been obtained. We can not do more than set forth the
results of his investigations.31 He concludes, from a careful
study of the tablets of the cross and of the sun, that in both
the left-hand priests are representatives of the god of war,32
the right-hand priests being in both representatives of the god
of rain and water.33 In Mexico these deities frequently occupied
the same temple.34 He does not state his conclusions in regard to
the central figures in the tablets. Mr. Brinton thinks the
central figure in the tablet of the cross is a rebus for the
nature god Quetzalcohuatl. The cross was one of the symbols of
Quetzalcohuatl, as such signifying the four winds of which he was
lord. Another of his symbols was a bird. We notice the two
symbols present in the tablet. Mr. Holden also finds that the
glyph standing for this god occurs several times in the tables of
hieroglyphics belonging to this figure.

According to these last views, then, the old Palenquians seem to
have been a very religious people, and Quetzalcohuatl, the god of
peace, seems to have been their principal deity, differing in
this regard from Mexico, where all honor was paid to the god of
war. We are not given any explanation of the Temple of the Three
Tablets, but the other temples have to do with the worship of
this benign deity. The beautiful stucco-work in the Temple of the
Beau-relief, Mr. Holden thinks, also represents him. At the
Temples of the Cross, if we be right as to the meaning of the
central figure, the priests of the god of war and the god of rain
do honor to him.35

Mr. Bandelier makes a statement in regard to the cross which, if
it be accepted, clears away a number of theories. He remarks:
“The cross, though frequently used previously to the conquest by
the Aborigines of Mexico and Central America as an ornament, was
not at all an object of worship among them. Besides, there is a
vast difference between the cross and the crucifix. What has been
taken for the latter on sculptures, like the ‘Palenque tablet,’
is merely the symbol of the ‘Newfire,’ or close of a period of
fifty-two years. It is the fire drill more or less ornamented.”
According to this view, these interesting tablets have reference
to the ceremonies observed by the Mayas at the expiration of a
cycle.36

It now only remains to describe some miscellaneous relics
obtained from Palenque. But few specimens of pottery have been
found. One of the early explorers speaks of finding an earthen
vessel about a foot in diameter. Waldeck made an exploration in a
portion of the palace area, and found a gallery containing hewn
blocks of stone and earthen cups and vases, with many little
earthen balls of different colors. He also speaks of a fine
specimen of terra-cotta.37

The only statues known were found near the Temple of the Cross.
There were two of them, and they supported a platform before the
central doorway. One was broken to pieces; the other is here
represented. Many writers point out resemblances between this
figure and some Egyptian statues.

Statue Palenque. (Smith. Inst.)

In the village of Palenque, built in the wall of a church,38 are
two stone tablets which once stood on each side of the doorway of
the altar containing the tablet of the cross.39 Mr. Stephens was
under the impression that they were originally placed on the
altar of the tablet of the sun, and they are so represented in
the cut (Altar in the Temple of the Sun.) earlier. This plate
represents the left-hand figure. The only explanation which we
have met is contained in that oft-quoted article by Mr. Holden.
He regards it as the representation of the Maya god of war. We
are warned that the weak part of Mr. Holden’s method is his
assumption that the mythology of the Mayas was the same as that
of the Aztecs, when the evidence is not strong enough to assert
such a fact.40

We feel that we have been somewhat lengthy in describing the
ruins of Palenque. But it is one of the most important groups of
ruins that this continent possesses. The most faithful work on
the part of the scholars of all lands has not as yet succeeded in
clearing up the mystery connected with it. We can tread the
courts of their ancient citadel, clamber up to the ruined temples
and altars, and gaze on the unread hieroglyphics, but, with all
our efforts, we know but little of its history. There was a time
when the forest did not entwine these ruins. Once unknown priests
ministered at these altars. But cacique, or king, and priest have
alike passed away. The nation, if such it was, has vanished, and
their descendants are probably to be found in the savage tribes
of Yucatan to-day. “In the romance of the world’s history,” says
Mr. Stephens, “nothing ever impressed me more forcibly than the
spectacle of this once great and lovely city, overturned,
desolate, and lost, discovered by accident, overgrown with trees
for miles around, without even a name to distinguish it. Apart
from every thing else, it was a mournful witness to the world’s
mutation.

“‘Nations melt From power’s high
pinnacle, when they have felt The
sunshine for awhile, and downward go.’”

The ruins at Palenque have been so well known, that but little
attention has been given to other ruins in the States of Tobasco
and Chiapas; and yet, according to M. Charney, imposing ruins of
great extent exist in the western part of Tobasco. At a place
about thirty-five miles from San Juan, in a north-westerly
direction, he found veritable mountains of ruins “overgrown with
a luxuriant vegetation.”41 In the absence of cuts, we can not do
more than give a general idea of these ruins.

Bas-relief on the left-hand of the Altar of the Corss. (Bureau of
Ethnology.)

He asserts that the whole State of Tobasco, and part of Chiapas,
is covered with ruins. One landed proprietor informed him that,
on his estate, he had counted over three hundred pyramids, all of
them covered with ruins. In this connection he refers to the
assertions of some of the early Spanish voyagers, that, when
skirting the shores of Tobasco, they “saw on the shore, and far
in the interior, a multitude of structures, whose white and
polished walls glittered in the sun.” On one large pyramid, one
hundred and fifteen feet high, he found the remains of a building
two hundred and thirty-five feet long.

This building is named the palace. In this building we met with
the type that we have learned is the prevailing one further
south—that is, three parallel walls, forming two rows of rooms.
In general, the rooms are not well arranged for comfort,
according to our opinion; but they were, doubtless, well adapted
to the communal mode of life prevalent among the Indians. M.
Charney seems to have been strongly impressed with the number and
importance of the ruins in this State; but, strangely enough,
others have not mentioned them.42 He says: “I am daily receiving
information about the ruins scattered all over the State of
Tobasco, hidden in the forests. . . . The imagination fails to
realize the vast amount of labor it would involve to explore even
a tithe of these ancient sites. These mountains of ruins extend
over twelve miles. We still see the hollows in the ground whence
the soil was taken for the construction of these pyramids. But
they did not consist merely of clay; bricks, too, entered into
their construction, and there were strengthening walls to make
them firmer. These structures are more wonderful than the
pyramids and the other works at Teotihuacan, and they far surpass
the pyramids of Egypt.”

In the neighboring State of Chiapas, we find the location of
several groups of ruins. At Ocosingo, we have the evident traces
of a large settlement. Mr. Stephens mentions four or five
pyramids crowned with buildings. Immediately beyond these
pyramids he came upon an open plateau, which he considered to
have been the site of the city proper. It was protected on all
sides by the same high terraces, overlooking for a great distance
the whole country around, and rendering it impossible for an
enemy to approach from any quarter without being discovered.
“Across this table was a high and narrow causeway, which seemed
partly natural and partly artificial, and at some distance on
which was a mound, with the foundation of a building that had
probably been a tower. Beyond this the causeway extended till it
joined a range of mountains. . . . There was no place we had seen
which gave us such an idea of the vastness of the works erected
by the aboriginal inhabitants.”43

The ruins at Palenque are considered by some to belong to the
ancient period of Maya architecture; those we are now to examine
are regarded as of more modern date. This is at least true with
respect to the time of their abandonment. Though the efforts of
explorers in Yucatan have been attended with rich results, still
few places have been fully described. The country is fairly
dotted with sites of aboriginal settlements. In all probability
there are many that are yet unknown. Hidden in tropical jungles,
they are fast falling into meaningless mounds of _débris._ The
early Spanish explorers, skirting the coasts of Yucatan, gazed in
astonishment at the views they occasionally obtained of pyramids
crowned with temples and imposing buildings. But this gleam of
historic light was but momentary in duration. It served but to
throw a sunset glow over the doomed tribes and civilization of
the Mayas. By the aid of that dim, uncertain light, we are asked
to recognize a form of government and society which, under the
clearer light of modern researches is seen to bear an equally
strong resemblance to institutions more in keeping with the
genius of the New World.

The few travelers who visit the country are generally content to
revisit and describe places already known. This is not strange,
considering the difficulties that have to be overcome. The
country swarms with savage Indians, who are jealous of the
intrusions of strangers. We have, however, this consolation:
those ruins already brought to light show such a uniformity of
detail, that it is not probable that any new developments are to
be expected. The ruins that are already known are sufficient to
illustrate all the points of their architecture; and we can draw
from them, doubtless, all that can be drawn from ruins, throwing
light on the civil organization of the Mayas of Yucatan.

Plan of Uxmal.

We can not do better than to describe some of the more important
ruins, and then notice wherein others differ. Examining the map,
we see that Uxmal44 is one of the first ruins that would meet us
on arriving, in the country. It is more fully described than any
other, though perhaps not of greater importance than those of
some other localities. As at Palenqué, while the principal ruins
are said to be situated in a small area, the whole section
abounds in mounds and heaps of _débris,_ and it may well be said
that buildings as imposing as those already described are
concealed in the forest not far removed from the present ruins. A
plat of ground seventeen hundred feet long by twelve hundred feet
wide would include the principal structures now known.

The most imposing single edifice here is that called the
Governor’s House. The only reason for giving it this name is its
size. Being of large size, and located on a terraced pyramid, it
has received a name which may be very inappropriate. We will
first notice the pyramid on which the building stands. At
Palenque the pyramid rises regularly from the ground. Here the
pyramid is terraced. In order to understand clearly the
arrangement of these various terraces, we introduce this drawing.
The base is a somewhat irregular figure, though nearly a square.
Another pyramid cuts into one corner of the terrace. The first
terrace is about three feet high, fifteen feet broad, and five
hundred and seventy-five feet long. The second terrace is twenty
feet high, two hundred and fifty feet wide, and five hundred and
forty-five feet in length. The third terrace, on which the
building stands, is nineteen feet high, and its summit platform
is one hundred by three hundred and sixty feet. The height of
this platform above the general surface is a little over forty
feet.45

Pyramid at Palenque.

The material of which the pyramid is composed, is rough fragments
of limestone, thrown together without order; but the terraces
were all faced with substantial stone work. At the time of Mr.
Stephens’s visit the facing of the second terrace was still in a
good state of preservation. Charney believes the platform was
paved with square blocks. This pyramid was not entirely
artificial—they took advantage of a natural hill, as far as it
went. No stairway or other means of ascent to the first terrace
is mentioned. From its low height, probably none was needed. The
second terrace being twenty feet high, some means of ascent was
required. This was afforded, as seen in the drawing, by an
inclined plane, at the south side one hundred feet broad. From
the second terrace a grand staircase, one hundred and thirty feet
wide, containing thirty-five steps, led up to the summit of the
third terrace.

No buildings or other ornaments are mentioned as having been
found on the lower terrace. The wide promenade of the second one
supported some structures of its own, but they were in too
dilapidated a condition to furnish a clear idea of their original
nature, except in one instance—that is of the building at A of
the drawing. This building was ninety-four feet long, thirty-four
feet wide, and about twenty feet high.

The roof had fallen in, so that we do not know the arrangement of
the rooms in the interior. The simplicity of ornaments on the
outer wall is commented on. Instead of the complicated ornaments,
so apparent on the buildings of Yucatan, the only ornament in
this case was a simple and elegant line of round columns,
standing close together, and encircling the whole edifice. At
regular intervals on the upper cornice appeared a sculptured
turtle. From this circumstance, the building was named “The House
of Turtles.” No steps lead to the terrace below or to the one
above. “It stands isolated and alone, seeming to mourn over its
own desolate and ruinous condition.”

At B, along the south end of the terrace, there was a long, low
mound of ruins, and arranged along its base was a row of broken
columns about five feet high and nearly five feet in
circumference. Some have supposed, from this, that columns
extended along the entire promenade of the second terrace. This
would indeed give it a very grand appearance; but there is no
foundation for such a view. East of the central stairway at C,
was a low, square inclosure. This contained a standing pillar,
now in a slanting position, as if an effort had been made to
throw it over. It was about eight feet above the surface of the
ground and five below. The Indians called it a whipping-post. Mr.
Stephens thinks it was connected with the ceremonial rites of an
ancient worship. He found a similarly shaped stone in connection
with other buildings at Uxmal, and at other places in Yucatan.

Two-headed Monument, Uxmal.

Still further east, at D, he found a rude, circular mound of
rough stones. On excavating this, he was rewarded by the
discovery of a double-headed monument. It was carved out of a
single block of stone. The probabilities are that it was
purposely buried when the natives abandoned Uxmal, to prevent the
Spaniards from destroying it. Scattered about over this platform
were found excavations much like well-made cisterns in shape. As
it is something of a mystery where the inhabitants obtained
water, it is a reasonable supposition that these were really
cisterns. Similar excavations were discovered all over the area
of the ruins.

Leaving the second terrace, and passing up the ruined stairway,
we find ourselves on the summit platform of the third terrace,
and see before us one of the long, low, richly ornamented
buildings of Yucatan. This cut presents us an end view, but gives
us a good idea of the building as a whole. It does not occupy the
entire summit; there is a wide promenade all around it. Its
length is three hundred and twenty-two feet; its width,
thirty-nine feet, and its height twenty-six feet.

End View.

In order to understand clearly the arrangement of the rooms, we
will here give the ground-plan. The two end portions may have
been additions to the original structure. There are, at any rate,
reasons for supposing the small rooms in the two recesses of
later construction. We must notice that we have here the usual
three parallel walls and two rows of rooms. All the walls are
massive, the rear wall especially so. It is nine feet thick
throughout, and so are the transverse walls of the two recesses.
Supposing the rear wall might contain rooms, Mr. Stephens made an
opening through it. He found it to be solid.

Ground Plan.

The stones facing the walls and rooms are smooth and square, and
the mass of the masonry consists of rough, irregular fragments of
stone and mortar. This cross-section makes this meaning plain. We
can but notice what an immense amount of useless labor was
bestowed on the walls and ceilings of this building. We gather
more the idea of galleries excavated in a rocky mass, than of
rooms inclosed by walls. The rooms are very plain; no attempt at
decoration was observed. In one or two instances the remains of a
fine coat of plastering was noticed. “The floors were of cement,
in some places hard, but by long exposure broken, and now
crumbling under foot.” The arches supporting the roof are of the
same style as those at Palenque—that is, triangular,—though, in
this case, the ends of the projecting stones were beveled off so
as to form a smooth surface. At Palenque, we remember, the
inequalities were filled with cement. Across the arches were
still to be observed beams of wood, the ends buried in the wall
at both sides. The supposition is that they served to support the
arches while building, and afterwards for the suspension of
hammocks.46

Cross-section of Uxmal.

There are no openings for light and ventilation, consequently
some of the rear rooms are both damp and dark. The lintels over
each doorway were of wood. This was the common and ordinary
material employed for lintels in Yucatan, though in one or two
instances stone was used. They used for this purpose beams of
zapote, a wood noted for its strength and durability. Some inner
lintels still remain in place. The one over the central doorway
of the outer wall was elaborately carved, the others were plain.

The outside of the building is also of interest to us. By a
careful examination, we notice a cornice just above the doorway.
The wall below the cornice presents a smooth surface of
limestone, no traces of plaster or paint appearing; above the
cornice the façade is one solid mass of rich, complicated, and
elaborately sculptured ornaments. This is not stucco work, as at
Palenque, but the ornaments are carved on stone. Mr Stephens
tells us, “Every ornament or combination is made up of separate
stones, each of which had carved on it part of the subject, and
was then set in its place in the wall. Each stone, by itself, is
an unmeaning fractional portion, but placed by the side of
others, makes, part of a whole which, without it, would be
incomplete.”

It is not possible to give a verbal description of all of the
ornaments; we can notice but few. Over each doorway was
represented a person apparently seated on a sort of throne,
having a lofty head-dress, with enormous plumes of feathers
falling symmetrically on each side. Though the figures varied in
each case, in general characteristics they were the same as the
one here represented, which was the figure over the central
doorway of the building.

Figure over the Doorway. Ornament over the Doorway.

Among the most commonly reappearing ornaments at Uxmal, and at
other places, is one that has received the name of the
“Elephant’s Trunk,” and has given rise to no little discussion.
One occurs immediately above the figure. Part of this ornament is
represented in this plate. The central part of this figure, which
appears as a plain band, is in reality a curved projecting stone,
which, when looked at sideways, has the appearance given in this
cut. Though requiring a little imagination, the majority of
travelers see in this some monster’s face. The eyes and teeth are
seen in the first engraving. This projecting stone is the nose.

Elephant’s Trunk.

We stand in amazement before this sculptured façade. We must
reflect that its builders were not possessed of metallic tools.
It extends entirely around the building, though the end and rear
walls are not as elaborately decorated as the front. A little
calculation shows that it contains over ten thousand square feet
of carved stone. The roof of the building was flat. It had been
covered with cement. But vegetation had somehow acquired a
foothold, and the whole is now overgrown with grass and bushes.
Such is a brief description of this “casa.” Hastening to ruins,
it appeals powerfully to the imagination. It is a memorial of
vanished times. We wonder what of the strange people that pressed
up these stairs and entered these rooms? For many years it has
been abandoned to the elements. Year by year portions of the
ornamented façade fall. Though the walls are massive and the roof
is strong, it is but a question of time when a low mound of ruins
will alone mark its site.

Like the palace at Palenque, this structure has given rise to
conflicting theories as to its use. While many of the writers on
this subject claim that it was the residence of royalty, there
are, on the other hand, those who think it is simply a communal
house of village Indians, or the official house of the tribe. In
whatever light we shall ultimately view it, it is surely an
interesting monument of native American culture. The labor
necessary to rear the terraced pyramid, even though advantage was
taken of a natural eminence, must have been great. The building
itself, though not of great dimensions, except in length, must
have required the labor of a large number of Indians for a long
time. For purposes of defense, the location, from an Indian point
of view, was an excellent one, since with them elevation
constitutes the principal means of defense. The terraces could be
easily ascended from but one point, where an enemy could be
easily resisted. In a general way, it may be regarded as a
representative of Yucatan buildings, and so we will be able to
more rapidly describe the remaining structures.

Plan of Nunnery.

On the general plan we see, to the north of the structure we have
just described, a group of ruins marked “C.” This is regarded as
the most wonderful collection of edifices in Yucatan, and as
exhibiting the highest state of ancient architecture and
sculpture in North America. They are known as the “Nunnery,”
which we think is a very absurd name. The pyramid on which they
stood is also terraced, though on one side only. We give a
drawing showing the position on the summit platform of the four
buildings forming this group. Since we have so many ruined
structures to describe, we must avoid such details as will prove
tiresome. We will give in a note the dimensions of these
buildings, and of the pyramid, and pass at once to some points of
special interest.47

Traces of stairways are mentioned as leading up to the terrace,
but none of the steps remained in place. The southern building is
seen to have doors in both the court and terrace walls, but in
this case the middle wall is unbroken. All the rooms of this
building are single. In the plan it appears divided into two
buildings; the opening is, however, but a triangular arched
doorway, through which access was had to the court.

There is no one to dispute our right of way, and so, climbing up
the ruined stairs, and passing through the deserted gateway, we
emerge into a courtyard, now silent and deserted and overgrown
with bushes and grass. It was once paved and covered with cement,
and in the center are the remains of a stone pillar, similar to
that in front of the governor’s house. When the houses were all
occupied this court must have presented an animated scene. But,
now that the buildings are tenantless and going to ruin, it must
impress all beholders with a sense of the changes wrought by
time.

Room in Nunnery.

It will be noticed that the northern building does not stand in
quite the same direction as the southern one, which detracts from
the symmetry of the whole. It stands on a fourth terrace, twenty
feet higher than the others. A grand, but ruined, staircase leads
up the center of the terrace. At each end of this staircase built
against the terrace, could be distinguished the ruins of a small
building. There is one unusual feature about the ruins in the
eastern building. In general, only two rooms open into each
other. In this building, however, six rooms form one suite, and,
furthermore, all the doorways of this suite are decorated with
sculpture. As this suite of rooms was evidently a place of
interest, we will introduce this illustration, which gives us a
good idea of the appearance of the rooms on the inside. We would
do well to compare this cut with that of the room in Pueblo
Bonito. The arched roof is not a true arch but simply the
triangular arch we have already spoken of.

Façade, Southern Building.

The principal attraction about these buildings is the beautiful
façades which overlook the court-yard. They are pronounced by all
to be the finest examples of native American art. With one
exception, they are neither complicated nor grotesque, but chaste
and artistic. As in the Governor’s House, the part below the
cornice is plain, but the remaining part, both front and rear, is
covered with sculpture. On entering the court-yard from the
arched gateway of the southern building, we notice that its
façade is composed of diamond lattice-work and vertical columns,
while over each doorway is something that resembles a house, with
a human figure seated in a doorway. This cut represents but a
small portion of this façade, but it gives us an idea of the
whole.

Façade, Eastern Building.

The façade of the eastern building was in the best state of
preservation of any. We give a section of this also. The
ornaments over the doorway, shown in the cut, consist of three of
those mysterious masks, with the projecting curved stone, already
described. “The ornaments over the other doorways are less
striking, more simple, and more pleasing. In all of them there
is, in the center, a masked face, with the tongue hanging out,
surmounted by an elaborate head-dress. Between the horizontal
bars is a range of diamond-shaped ornaments, in which the remains
of red paint are still distinctly visible, and at each end of
these bars is a serpent’s head, with the mouth wide open.” It is
necessary to examine the drawing attentively, to distinguish
these features. Some think the masked face represents the sun.

Serpent Façade, Western Building.

The western façade is known as the Serpent Façade. It was very
much in ruins at the time of Mr. Stephens’s visit. When entire,
it must have been of great beauty. Two serpents are trailed along
the whole front, and by the interlacing of their bodies divide
the surface into square panels. In the open mouth of these
serpents is sculptured a human head. The panels are filled with
ornaments similar in design to those of the “Governor’s House,”
and among the ornaments of each panel are found one or more human
faces, while full-sized figures are not entirely absent. This cut
represents but a small portion of the façade. It gives us,
however, an idea of the whole. We notice, over the doorway again,
the elephant’s trunk ornament.

The northern building, standing high above the rest, on its own
terrace, was doubtless intended to have the grandest front of
all. It was, however, in such a ruined state, and the few
remaining fragments so complicated, that no drawings have been
given us. Human figures are represented in several places; two
are apparently playing on musical instruments. We recall that at
Palenque, the roof of some of the temples bears a curious
two-storied work, erected apparently for ornamental purposes. The
same instinct reappears in this building. At regular intervals
along the front they carried the wall above the cornice, forming
thirteen turret-like elevations ten feet wide, and seventeen feet
high. These turrets were also loaded with ornaments. Another
curious feature about this building is, that it was erected over,
and completely inclosed, a smaller building of an older date.
Wherever the outer walls have fallen, the ornamented cornice of
the inner building is visible.

When we reflect on the patient labor that must have been expended
on this pyramid and these buildings, we are filled with
admiration for their perseverance and ingenuity. They had neither
domestic animals or metallic tools. The buildings were massively
built and richly ornamented. The sculptured portion covers over
twenty-four thousand square feet.48 The terraced mound supporting
the house contained over sixty thousand cubic yards of materials,
though this may not be wholly artificial. To our eyes, as these
rooms had neither windows nor fire-places, they are not very
desirable. But we may be sure that the builders considered them
as models of their kind.

Leaving this interesting ruin, we will now visit one of the
temples. This is east of the Nunnery, and is marked “D” on the
plan. The mound on which this building stands is high enough to
overlook the entire field of ruins. This cut represents the
eastern side of the mound, up which a flight of stone steps lead
to the building on the summit. There are some grounds for
supposing a grander staircase, supported on triangular arches,
led up the western side.

Temple, Uxmal.

The building on the top is not large—only seventy-two feet long,
and twelve feet wide—and consists of but three rooms, none
opening into each other. The front of the building, though much
ruined, presented an elegant and tasteful appearance. There seems
to be no doubt that this temple was the scene of idolatrous
worship; perhaps of human sacrifices. In a legal paper which Mr.
Stephens saw at Meridia, containing a grant of the lands on which
these ruins stand, bearing date 1673, it is expressly stated that
the Indians at that time had idols in these ancient buildings, to
which, every day, openly and publicly, they burned copal. Nor is
there any doubt that this was the continuation of an old custom.
In the end room of this temple are engraved two circular figures
which, by some, are considered as proofs of the presence of
Phallic worship.49

The buildings we have described will give us a very good idea of
the structures of this ancient city. We have described but a few
of them, but we have now only space to make some general
observations. We wish to point out some resemblances to the ruins
at Palenque. In both, buildings that served as temples were not
large, but of small dimensions, and contained but few rooms. They
occupy the summits of high pyramids. Such was probably the
building on the summit of the pyramid at “F” (see plan). The
buildings on the top of this pyramid, like that just described,
had but three rooms. A very large pyramid is seen at “E.” Our
information in regard to it is very meager. A square platform was
found on the summit. It is not unreasonable to suppose that this
platform was intended to support a temple. But, before it was
erected, the presence of the Spaniards put an end to all native
building. There are, however, no proofs to be advanced in support
of this statement; it is a mere suggestion.

We think the House of the Nuns illustrates the general plan of
building employed at both places. That is as follows: They first
erected a rectangular pyramid or mounds often terraced. Buildings
were then put up parallel to the four sides, thus inclosing a
court. At Palenque this court, as we have seen, was built over.
Besides the House of Nuns, there are several other instances at
Uxmal of courts with buildings on their sides. Looking at the
plan, we see one at “G,” and a still more ruined one between that
and “F.” Such a court, with traces of ruined buildings, also
exists between the nunnery and the temple, at “D.” It is not
improbable that groups of low ruins existing to the westward of
the structures described would be found, on examination, to
reveal the same arrangements.

As for the grand terraced pyramid supporting the Governor’s
House, it may well be that other buildings would have been added
in process of time, as population increased. It is not necessary
to suppose they erected all the buildings around a court at once.
It seems very reasonable to suppose the northern building of the
House of Nuns the oldest. The direction is not quite the same as
the others; it stands on a higher terrace; and, furthermore, the
present exterior walls are simply built around the older
building. It may be, however, that the great terraced mound of
the Governor’s House was intended to support but one building. As
there is the best of reason for supposing that Uxmal was
inhabited at the time of the conquest, there is nothing to forbid
the conclusion that the erection of pyramids, temples, and
buildings was still going on.

Hieroglyphics, which formed such an interesting feature at
Palenque, are here almost entirely wanting. A few rows occur
around the head of the figure over the principal doorway of the
Governor’s House. They are of the same general character as those
already described, but are “more rich, elaborate, and
complicated.” As to the probable antiquity of these ruins, we
must defer consideration until we become more acquainted with the
ruins of Yucatan.

The places we have now described will make us acquainted with the
general character of the ruins scattered all over Yucatan. We do
not feel as if we would be justified in dwelling at any great
length over the remainder, though one or two important places
must be mentioned. A word as to the frequency with which the
ruins occur. We want to repeat that Yucatan, even to this day, is
far from being thoroughly explored. Almost our only source of
information is the writings of Mr. Stephens. But he only
described a few places. In a trip of thirty-nine miles he took in
a westerly direction from Uxmal he saw no less than seven
different groups of ruins. Some of these, though in a very
dilapidated state, presented points of great interest. When he
started he knew of but few of those ruins. Some he heard of quite
by accident while on his way, and some he first saw as he
journeyed along the road. We must suppose the whole country
equally well supplied.

After he had left Uxmal for good, at the village of Nochahab (see
map), a little inquiry brought him information of so many ruins
that he did not have time to visit them all. As to the question
of use to which these buildings were applied, we must either
suppose they had an immense number of temples and palaces—one or
the other every few miles—or else they were the residences of the
people themselves. And, though it may seem very strange that an
imperfectly developed people should ornament so profusely and
delicately their ordinary places of abode,50 yet it is difficult
to understand why they should rear such an abundance of temples
and palaces.

At Kabah (see map) Mr. Stephens found a most interesting field of
ruins, rivaling Uxmal in extent, if not surpassing it. One group
of buildings, arranged much like the House of Nuns, has some
interesting features about it. The highest terrace in this case
is nearly square, and the building on its summit is nearly the
same shape. We have here two rows of double rooms, separated by a
middle wall, very massive, as if two of the typical Maya
buildings had been placed back to back. The front of this
building was elaborately ornamented. In all the buildings at
Uxmal the part above the cornice only was ornamented. Here the
entire front was covered with carved stone. To make room for
further ornaments the roof bore an additional appendage, like the
second story of the Palenque temples. This building must have
presented a wonderful appearance when entire.

Another feature at this place has reference to the pyramid. We
are familiar with the idea of a terraced mound supporting
buildings. In one of these Kabah structures the buildings are
arranged in a different and suggestive way. That is, the pyramid
was terraced off. There were three ranges of buildings, the roof
of one range forming a promenade in front of the other. In
another of the Kabah structures was found a wooden lintel,
elegantly carved. Mr. Stephens tells us the lines were clear and
distinct, and the cutting, under any test, and without any
reference to the people by whom it was executed, would be
considered as indicating great skill and proficiency in the art
of carving on wood. At the expense of a great deal of hard work,
he succeeded in getting this lintel out and removed to New York,
where it was unfortunately destroyed by fire.

They worked stone to better advantage at Kabah than at Uxmal. For
the first time we meet with lintels of stone and a doorway with
carved jambs. The lintels were supported in the center by a
pillar. The pillars were rude and unpolished, but they were not
out of proportion, and, in fact, were adapted to the lowness of
the building. We will only mention one more structure. This is a
lonely arch, of the same form as all the rest, having a span of
fourteen feet. It stands on a ruined mound, disconnected from
every other structure, in solitary grandeur. “Darkness rests upon
its history, but in that desolation and solitude, among the ruins
around, it stood like the proud memorial of a Roman triumph.”
There was the usual pyramid with a temple. In a plan given of the
field of ruins seventeen groups are seen, and, without a doubt,
many more exist in the immediate forest.

Arch, Kabah.

M. Charney has of late years made a discovery which conclusively
shows that this was an inhabited place at the time of the
conquest. In a room as ruined as the rest he discovered the
stucco-figure of a horse and its rider. They are formed after the
Indian manner by an inexperienced hand guided by an over-excited
imagination. Both figures are easily recognized. The horse has on
its trappings. We can see the stirrups. The man wears his
cuirass. We all know what astonishment the appearance of men on
horseback produced among the Indians, and so we are not at a loss
to divine the cause which led to the construction of this figure.
We must remember Mr. Stephens was hurried for time. Portions of
this figure were mutilated, and other portions had been covered
over by a layer of stucco, which Charney had to remove before the
figure could be distinctly made out.51

Zayi.

Within a radius of ten miles from Kabah are located no less than
six so-called cities. The general appearance of all is the
same—low ranges of buildings on terraced mounds, and ornamented
façades. One of these places, by the name of Zayi, is of interest
to us, because it gives us a hint as to how these people
constructed their buildings. Amongst other buildings they found
one large terraced mound, with buildings arranged on it in a very
significant manner. There were three ranges of buildings, one
over the other—the roof of one range on a level with the
foundation of the range above. A grand stair-way led up the
mound. This feature is illustrated in the plate above. We can
imagine what a grand appearance must have been presented by this
great terraced mound, when its buildings were all perfect.

Plan of Zayi. (Bureau of Ethnology.)

The plan of this mound and buildings is shown in the last cut.
Ten rooms on the north side of the second range presented a
curious feature. They were all filled up with a solid mass of
stone and mortar, and this filling up must have gone on as fast
as the walls rose, and the arched ceiling must have closed over a
solid mass. A very reasonable explanation is given of this state
of things by Mr. Morgan.52 He considers that such was the
rudeness of mechanical knowledge among these people that the only
way they could construct their peculiar arched roof was to build
it over an internal core of masonry. Once put together over such
a core, and carried up several feet, the down weight of the arch
would articulate and hold the mass together. Then the core of
masonry would be cleaned out, and the room was ready for use. If
this be true, it follows that these rooms were the last erected.
They were not yet cleared out when the operations of the
Spaniards put an end to all native building. We must notice the
structures at Zayi are in as ruined a condition as the
others—thus strengthening the conviction that their abandonment
was at about the time of the conquest of the peninsula.

We have not space to follow Mr. Stephens in all his journey.
Every few miles he came across one of these peculiar structures.
A common design is apparent in all; but all are alike enveloped
in mystery. At Labna he found an extensive field of ruins, equal
in importance to any in Yucatan. The next illustration represents
an arched gateway, which reminds us of that in the “House of
Nuns.” Passing through this he found himself in a ruined
court-yard, fronting which were the remains of buildings; but
this was only one of many groups of ruins, and Labna was but one
of many places visited. At Labphak Mr. Stephens found “the
tottering remains of the grandest structure that now rears its
ruined head in the forests of Yucatan.” This was a terraced
mound, faced by buildings on three sides, leaving an immense
stair-way occupying the fourth side.

Gateway at Labna.

Small interior stair-ways are mentioned in this building, but no
particular description is given of them. At two places sculptured
tablets were found. These tablets are worthy of notice. They were
the only ones Mr. Stephens found, except at Palenque. It will be
seen, on the map, that this ruin is nearer Palenque than any of
the places in Yucatan yet described. Stucco ornaments, so
apparent at the latter place, were now becoming numerous again.
At Uxmal stone for building could be had in the greatest
abundance—it was not as plenty here. The builders, apparently,
adapted their ornamentation to the material at hand; and, while
at Palenque they employed stucco in ornament, at Uxmal they
carved stone.53

We must now leave this interesting section of Yucatan, though
only a few places have been mentioned. The reader is well aware
of the difference of opinion with which these ruins are viewed.
Some of them are unquestionably temples. If we regard the others
as palaces and the public buildings of great cities, we are at
once puzzled to account for their great numbers. If we look on
the majority of them as communal residences of the inhabitants,
we are amazed at the mass of decorations with which they are
adorned. But our admiration stops there—we are accustomed to
speak of them as stately edifices. This is owing to their
exterior ornaments, and their position on terraced mounds. The
houses are often of great length, but not striking in other
regards. The rooms, in the majority of cases, are small, low,
dark, and ill ventilated. A great amount of useless labor was
bestowed upon the walls, which were unnecessarily massive.

Near the center of the northern part of the peninsula is seen a
place marked Chichen, to which is generally added the word Itza,
making the entire name of the place Chichen-Itza. In this case
the ancient Maya name has come down to us with the ruins—Chichen
meaning the “mouth of wells,” having reference to two springs
which supplied the place with water. Itza is the name of a branch
of the Maya people. This place is of interest to us in several
ways. It was, unquestionably, a renowned city in aboriginal
times. Here the Spaniards met with a very severe repulse. As a
ruin it attracted the attention of early writers, and it has been
the subject of antiquarian research in recent times. The
description of the buildings will not detain us long. They are,
evidently, the work of the same people as those whose structures
we have already described.

One of the most important buildings is known as the Nunnery,
reminding us at once of the collection of buildings of that name
at Uxmal. In this case, however, the pyramid is represented by a
solid mass of masonry one hundred and twelve by one hundred and
sixty feet, rising with perpendicular sides to the height of
thirty-two feet. This is seen to be a departure from the method
of constructing pyramids hitherto described. The proprietor of
the estate on whose grounds these ruins are located used this
mound as a stone-quarry. An excavation of thirty feet revealed no
secret chambers.

The probabilities are that it is solid throughout. A grand
staircase, fifty-six feet wide, leads up to the top of this
mound. Mr. Stephens tells us that three ranges of buildings
occupied the summit, and his drawings represent the same. The
roof of the one forms a promenade in front of the one above. So
each range of buildings rests on a foundation solid from the
ground. Mr. Bancroft describes this mound as having but two
ranges of buildings on the summit. Of these buildings the second
range was, seemingly, the most important. Several of its rooms
contained niches in the back wall, extending from floor to
ceiling. From traces still visible, they were once covered with
painted ornaments. One of the rooms was fifty-seven feet long and
nine wide.

In the rear wall of this room were nine of these niches. “All of
the walls of this room, from the floor to the peak of the arch,
had been covered with painted designs, now wantonly defaced, but
the remains of which present colors, in some places, still bright
and vivid; and among these remains detached portions of human
figures continually reappear, well drawn, the heads adorned with
plumes of feathers and the hands bearing shields and spears.” To
this pile of masonry, at one end, a wing had been attached. This
building was similar in design to other buildings in Yucatan.
Theoretically we would expect this wing to be much later in time
than the buildings on the mound. That it is so, is proven by the
fact that in two rooms the internal core of masonry, as described
at Zayi, had not been wholly removed.

We have noticed in all these structures, the builders first threw
up a mound or pyramid to support the building. In one of the
Chichen edifices the earth had been excavated from all around it,
so as to still present the appearance of a mound. Perhaps the
most prominent object at this place is a stately pyramid, with an
imposing building, represented in the plate below. The mound
itself is nearly two hundred feet square, and rises to the height
of seventy-five feet. On the west and north sides are ruined
staircases.

Castillo, Chichen-Itza.

On the ground, at the foot of the stairway on the north side,
“forming a bold, striking, and well conceive commencement to this
lofty range, are two colossal serpents’ heads, ten feet in
length, with mouths wide open, and tongues protruding. No doubt
they were emblematic of some religious belief, and, in the mind
of an imaginative people passing between them, to ascend the
steps, must have excited feelings of solemn awe.” The temple on
the summit of this pyramid has some peculiar features about it.
It is nearly square—forty-three by forty-nine feet—only one door
in each side. In the room within, instead of partition walls
supporting arches, were two immense beams, resting on square
pillars, and supporting two arches—the only instance in the ruins
of Yucatan of such use of beams.

Gymnasium at Chichen-Itza.

We now wish to speak of one class of ruins which are present at
Uxmal, but which we did not describe. They are two parallel
walls. On the plan of Uxmal they are noticed between the
Governor’s House and the House of Nuns. This illustration
represents this feature. These walls are each two hundred and
seventy-four feet long, thirty feet thick, and twenty-six feet
high. The distance separating them is one hundred and twenty
feet. About one hundred feet from the north end, is seen a
building fronting the open space between the walls. A building
stood in a like position at the south end. In the cut a stone
ring is seen projecting from each side. On the rim and border of
these rings were sculptured two serpents, represented below. The
general supposition is that this structure was used in the
celebration of public games. Mr. Stephens refers us to the
writings of Herrera, an early historian, for a description of a
game of ball played at Mexico, where the surroundings must have
been much the same as is here represented.

Ring.

Most of the structures in Yucatan have been left in undisturbed
quiet since the visit of Mr. Stephens. Five years after his
visit, the Indians rose in revolt, and a large portion of country
through which he traveled in perfect safety has, since then, been
shunned by cautious travelers. As he says, “For a brief space the
stillness that reigned around them was broken, and they were
again left to solitude and silence.” At Uxmal, and some places
near the coast, more recent travelers have investigated the
ruins, wondered over them, and passed on, without materially
adding to our knowledge respecting them. In 1873 a French
scientists Dr. A. Le Plongon, accompanied by his wife, visited
Yucatan for the purpose of exploring the ruins. They spent a year
in Meridia, thoroughly studying the customs of the country, and
preparing for work.

Their first field of work was this ancient city, Chichen-Itza. As
a result, he lays before us a picture of life and times not only
vastly remote from us, but surpassing in wonder any thing
hitherto presented. In the field of American antiquities we need
scarcely be surprised at whatever conclusions are presented to
us. We believe, however, we are not too harsh in saying that
scholars, as a rule, consider Le Plongon as too much carried away
by enthusiasm to judge coolly of his discoveries.54 The most
important part of his discoveries seem to have been in the
buildings in connection with the Gymnasium last described.

At the time of the Spanish conquest, a very common tradition
among the natives was that, in ancient times, three brothers
governed the country. This legend of three rulers in olden times,
was not peculiar to the Mayas, but was found among all the Indian
nations of Central America.55 In our opinion this last statement
at once shows we have here to deal with a question belonging to
mythology and not to history. But M. Le Plongon considers the
buildings at Chichen, especially those of the Gymnasium,
illustrative of the lives of the three brothers, and of the queen
of one of them. In brief, he tells us the names of these three
brothers were, Chaac-mol, Huuncay, and Aac. The first of these,
Chaac-mol, means Tiger King. It was he who raised Chichen-Itza to
the height of its glory. M. Le Plongon would have us believe that
the merchants of Asia and Africa traded in its marts, and that
the wise men of the world came hither to consult with the
H-men,56 whose convent, together with their astronomical
laboratory, is still to be seen. Aac was the younger brother of
the three. He conspired against the life of Chaac-mol, and
finally killed him. The queen of Chaac-mol then erected the
buildings around the Gymnasium as his memorial.

Building at end of Gymnasium.

At the south end of the eastern wall Mr. Stephens noticed two
ruined buildings, an upper and a lower one, of which our next cut
is a representation. He was struck with the remains of painting,
which entirely covered the walls. He tells us the walls were
everywhere covered with designs in painting, representing, in
bright and vivid colors, human figures, battles, houses, trees,
and scenes of domestic life. We give, in a plate, detached
portions of these figures. We must understand that, in the
original, these were beautifully colored. The colors used were
“green, yellow, red, blue, and reddish brown, the last being
invariably the color given to human flesh.”

Painted Stucco-work.

M. Le Plongon contends that these paintings represent scenes in
the lives of the three brothers and the Queen of Chaac-mol, “in
the funeral chamber.” Says he: “The terrible altercation between
Aac and Chaac-mol, which had its termination in the murder of the
latter by his brother, is represented by large figures
three-fourths life size.”57 And in another place he tells us:
“The scenes of his death is impressively portrayed on the walls,
which the queen caused to be raised to the memory of her husband,
in the two exquisite rooms, the ruins of which are yet to be seen
upon the south end of the east wall of the Gymnasium. The rooms
were a shrine where the conjugal love of the queen worshiped the
memory of her departed lover. She adorned the outer walls with
his effigies, his totem-tiger, and his shield and coat-of-arms
between tiger and tiger;58 whilst on the admirably polished
stucco, that covers the stones in the interior of the rooms, she
had his deeds—his and her own life, in fact—painted in beautiful,
life-like designs, superbly drawn, and sweetly colored.”59

He tells us further, that Aac, after the commission of his crime,
fled to Uxmal for protection, where he built the edifice
described as the “Governor’s House.” The seated figures over the
central door-way, he says, represents Aac. In the hieroglyphics
around the head he finds the name. Although neither Mr. Stephens
nor the other travelers mention any thing of the kind, he says
that, under the feet of this figure, “are to be seen the bodies
of three figures, two men and one woman, flayed.”60 Though the
figures are headless, he has no doubt but that they represent
Huuncay, Chaae-Mol, and the queen, his wife. We are further told
that the ruined structure on the second terrace, called the
“House of Turtles,” was Aac’s private residence.

Queen consulting the H-men.

This wonderful story of the lives and adventures of the three
brothers was revealed to the doctor by a careful study of the
detached painting mentioned by Mr. Stephens. One of the paintings
which served him so good a turn is shown in the cut above, which
he considers represents the queen, when a child, consulting one
of the wise men as to her future destiny.61

Perhaps as interesting a portion of his discoveries as any, is
finding sculptured figures of bearded white men on the pillars of
the temple, and painted on the walls of Chaac-mol’s chambers. He
thinks they have Assyrian features. He also claims to have
discovered figures having true Negro features.

As to the antiquity of this city he readily figures up nineteen
thousand years; but this did not take him to the beginning. He
arrives at this estimate in this way: To the north-east of the
pyramid, we have described, are to be seen rows of small columns,
which have excited the curiosity of all who have seen them. Mr.
Stephens represents them in four rows, inclosing a rectangular
area. M. Le Plongon says they surrounded three sides of a
terraced pyramid, which once supported the main temple of the
city. Mr. Stephens has no suggestions to offer as to their use.

Le Plongon claims they were used to measure time, and quotes from
old authors to the effect, that each stone in them stands for
twenty years; and, as there is always just eight stones in a
column, each column means one hundred and sixty years. He counted
one hundred and twenty of these columns—and then, as he says:
“Got tired of pushing my way through the nearly impenetrable
thicket, where I could see many more among the shrubs.” From this
number he computes nineteen thousand two hundred years.

What shall we say to this story that M. Le Plongon brings us of
ancient Maya civilization? It is unquestioned that he has
expended a great amount of patient labor in his work, has braved
many dangers, and is thoroughly in earnest. He has also spent
years in the field, and ought to be well qualified to judge of
the ruins. We believe, however, he is altogether wrong in his
conclusions. The keystone of his discoveries—the one on which he
relies to prove the accuracy of his methods—fails him. This was
the discovery of the statue of Chaac-mol himself, which is here
represented. He claims to have found it as the result of
successfully rendering certain mural tablets in the funeral
chamber, but a careful reading of his own account of the affair
leaves us under the impression that the “instincts of the
archæologist” had as much to do with it as any thing else.62

Chaac-mol.

Be that as it may, he certainly did find this statue buried in
the ground. He is very positive it is Chaac-mol, claiming to have
read the name readily in hieroglyphics on the ear-tablets. He
says: “It is not an idol, but a true portrait of a man who has
lived an earthly life. I have seen him represented in battle, in
council, and in court receptions. I am well acquainted with his
life, and the manner of his death.” This statue was seized by the
Mexican Government, and taken to Mexico. Here a curious discovery
was made. Another statue similar to this was already in the
museum. This latter had been found not far from Mexico. Since
then, still a third, smaller than the others, but evidently
representing the same personage, has been discovered. In short,
it has been shown that this is an idol, worshiped as well by the
Aztecs as by the Mayas, and, instead of being buried, as Le
Plongon asserts, five thousand years ago, we have not much doubt
it was buried to prevent its falling in to the hands of the
Spaniards.63

Bearded Itza.

As to the antiquity with which Le Plongon would clothe Chichen,
if his method be right, he has not more than made a beginning.
Mr. Stephens counted three hundred and eighty of these same
columns, and tells us there were many more.64 We know no good
reason for supposing Chichen was not inhabited at the time of the
conquest. The wooden beams and lintels in the temples have not
yet decayed, and the masonry had not been cleaned out of some of
the rooms. On this point we wish to make a suggestion, a mere
hint. The pillars that supported the arches in the temple
mentioned some pages back were covered with sculpture. Amongst
some others, but very faintly represented, was the preceding
figure of a bearded man. May it not be that it represents a
Spaniard? We must recall the stucco figure of the horse and its
rider at Kabah. It seems to us a reasonable suggestion that they
should carve on the pillars of their temples representations of
the Spaniards, for the Spaniards were twenty-five years in
gaining a permanent foothold in Yucatan, and during that time the
Indians would continue to build and ornament as before.

Arizona Ruin. REFERENCES

Bancroft: “Native Races,” Vol. V, p. 78.

Stephens’s “Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas,
and Yucatan,” Vol. I, p. 113, _et seq._

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 95.

“Report of Bureau of Ethnology,” Vol. I. Mr. Holden’s article.

Fourteen years later, these ruins were visited and described by
an Austrian traveler, Dr. Scherzer. His account, though much
more complete than Mr. Stephens’s, has not yet appeared in
English. Mr. Bancroft, in “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 118, _et
seq.,_ gives a _résumé_ of all information known as to these
ruins.

“Central America,” Vol II, p. 122. We are not sure about this
inclosure. But Mr. Catherwood mentions a wall, and we are told
the ruins are, in all respects, similar to those of Copan.

For full information consult Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol.
IV, pp. 115 to 139.

“Central America,” Vol. II, pp. 152-3.

Brasseur De Bourbourg styles Fuentes’s description of Copan “La
description menteuse de Fuentes.” Bancroft: “Native Races,”
Vol. IV, p. 80, note.

Charney, in _North American Review,_ 1881.

“Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 300, _et seq._

Morgan’s “Contribution to N.A. Ethnology,” Vol. IV, p. 268.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 319.

Armin: “Das Heute Mexico.”

“Native Races,” Vol. IV.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” p. 326.

Short’s “North Americans of Antiquity,” p. 389.

Holden, in “First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.”

Brasseur De Bourbourg.

“Myths of the New World.”

Holden, in “First Annual Report Bureau of Ethnology.”

This tablet is named after its discoverer. The building in
which it is situated was but a short distance from the others;
yet, owing to the density of the forest, neither Waldeck nor
Stephens discovered it. A cast of it is now in the National
Museum at Washington.

Rau, in “Smithsonian Contribution to Knowledge,” Vol. XXII, p.
40.

“Myths of the New World,” p. 95.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. V, p. 506.

See, also, “American Encyclopedia,” Art. “Cross.”

“Conquest of Mexico,” p. 160.

“Smithsonian Contribution to Knowledge,” Vol. XXII.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. III, p. 470.

“Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology,” Vol. I.

Mr. Holden uses, as an important link in his arguments, a
figure engraved on a chalchiute (a sacred stone). He concludes
it to be a representative of Huitzilopochtli, the god of war,
or rather the Maya representative of the Mexican god of that
name. It is unfortunate that Prof. Valentine gives to this same
figure a different significance. In the “Proceedings of the
American Antiquarian Society,” for April, 1884, in a paper on
that subject, he concludes it to be a representation of a
victorious warrior giving sacrifice to his god. The only
persons entitled to speak on such subjects are those thoroughly
acquainted with Maya Archæology.

Huitzilopochtli.

Tlaloc.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. III, p. 324.

While such seem to us to be the results of Mr. Holden’s labors,
it must not be understood that he vouches for them. They must
be regarded as personal views which we express with some mental
forebodings. In this matter we must abide by further
investigations.

Bandelier: “An Archæological Tour in Mexico,” p. 184.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 345.

See Charney, in _North American Review,_ 1881. They wore
formerly in a house.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 332.

Brinton’s “Contribution to North American Ethnology,” Vol. V,
p. 36. “Introduction to Study of Manuscript Troano,” by Prof.
Thomas.

_North American Review,_ February, 1881, p. 187.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” p. 287.

“Central America,” Vol. II, p. 261. At this time Mr. Stephens
had not seen the ruins at Palenque, and those in Yucatan.

Pronounced “oosh-mal.”

Our principal authority on the ruin’s of Yucatan is Mr.
Stephens, whose work, “Incidents of Travel in Yucatan,” in two
volumes, is all that can be desired. Mr. Bancroft, in “Native
Races,” Vol. IV, has gathered together whatever of worth there
is in the writings of various explorers.

Mr. Stephens thinks they were for the support of the arches,
while building. As, however, it is almost certain they
constructed this arch over a solid cove of masonry, which they
afterwards removed (see “Contributions to N.A. Ethnology,” Vol.
IV, p. 262), they could not have been intended for such use.

The pyramid is three hundred and fifty feet square at the base
and nineteen feet high. The terraces are along the south side.
The lowest terrace is three feet high and twenty feet wide. The
second is twelve feet high and forty-five feet wide. The third
is four feet high and five feet wide. The building on the south
side is two hundred and seventy-nine feet long, twenty-eight
feet wide, and eighteen feet high. The north one is two hundred
and sixty-four feet long, twenty-eight feet wide, and
twenty-five feet high. The eastern one, one hundred and
fifty-eight feet long, thirty-five feet wide, and twenty-two
feet high. The western one, one hundred and seventy-three feet
long, thirty-five feet wide, and twenty feet high. (Bancroft’s
“Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 174.) The area of the court is two
hundred and fourteen feet by two hundred and fifty-eight feet.
It is about two and a half feet lower than the buildings on the
eastern, western, and southern sides. There are seventy-six
rooms in the four ranges of buildings, and twelve more in the
facings of the terrace of the north building, to be described.
In size the rooms vary from twenty to thirty feet long by from
ten to twelve feet wide.

Bancroft: “Native Races,” Vol. IV, p. 179.

The dimensions of this mound are as follows: Length of base,
two hundred and thirty-five feet; width of base, one hundred
and five feet; height, eighty-eight feet. Though diminishing as
it rises, it is not exactly pyramidal, but its corners are
rounded. It is incased with stone, and is apparently solid from
the plain.—Stephens’s “Yucatan,” Vol. I, p. 316.

See “Proceedings Am. Antiq. Society,” April, 1880, p. 57.

_North American Review,_ 1882.

“Contributions to North American Ethnology,” Vol. IV, p. 267.

Stephens’s “Yucatan,” Vol. II, p. 164.

Short’s “North Americans of Antiquity,” p. 396; Charney: _North
American Review,_ October, 1880.

“Proceedings Am. Antiq. Society,” Oct., 1878, p. 73.

Learned men of the Mayas.

American Antiquarian Society, October 1878.

The tigers can be seen on the engraving of the gymnasium.

Proceedings American Antiquarian Society, April, 1877, p. 97.

Proceedings American Antiquarian Society, April, 1877, p. 101.

M. Le Plongon interprets the curved figures issuing from the
throat of the wise-man. In the original, different parts of
this figure were of different colors. The doctor frankly tells
us, that “imagination does the greater part of the work” in his
interpretation.

“Guided, as I have said, by my interpretations of the mural
paintings, bas-reliefs, and other signs, . . . I directed my
steps, perhaps inspired by the instincts of the archæologist,
to a dense part of the thicket.” Proceedings Am. Antiq.
Society, April, 1877, p. 85.

_North American Review,_ October, 1880. And yet there are
indications that this is a statue. See Bandelier’s
“Archæological Tour in Mexico,” p. 74.

Stephens’s “Yucatan,” Vol. II, p. 318.

Chapter XV
THE CULTURE OF THE CIVILIZED TRIBES.1

Different views on this question—Reason for the same—Their
architecture—Different styles of houses—The communal house—The
tecpan—The teocalli—State of society indicated by this
architecture—The gens among the Mexicans—The phratry among the
Mexicans—The tribe—The powers and duties of the council—The head
chiefs of the tribe—The duties of the “Chief-of-men”—The mistake
of the Spaniards—The Confederacy—The idea of property among the
Mexicans—The ownership of land—Their laws—Enforcement of the
laws—Outline of the growth of the Mexicans in power—Their tribute
system—How collected—Their system of trade—Slight knowledge of
metallurgy—Religion—Quietzalcohuatl—Huitzilopochtli—Mexican
priesthood—Human sacrifices—The system of Numeration—The calendar
system—The calendar stone—Picture writing—Landa
alphabet—Historical outline.

Alandscape presents varied aspects according to the standpoint
from which it is viewed. Here we have a glimpse of hill and dale;
there a stretch of running water. But two persons, standing in
the same position, owing to their different mental temperaments,
will view things in a different light. Where one, an artist born,
is carried away with the beautiful scenery, another, with a more
practical turn of mind, perceives only its adaptability for
investments. Education and habits of life are also very potent
factors in determining our views on various questions. Scholars
of wide and extended learning differ very greatly in their views
of questions deeply affecting human interests. We know how true
that is of abstruse topics, such as religion and questions of
state polity. It is also true of the entire field of scientific
research. The unknown is a vastly greater domain than the known,
and men, after deep and patient research, adopt widely different
theories to explain the same facts.

It need, therefore, occasion no surprise to learn that there is a
great difference of opinion as to the real state of culture among
the so-called civilized tribes of Mexico and Central America. We
have incidentally mentioned this difference in describing the
ruins and their probable purpose. As one of the objects we have
in view, and perhaps the most important one, is to learn what we
can of the real state of society amongst the prehistoric people
we treat of, it becomes necessary to examine these different
views, and, if we can not decide in our own minds what to accept
as true, we will be prepared to receive additional evidence that
scholars are now bringing forward, and know to how weigh them and
compare them with others.

It has only been within the last few years that we have gained an
insight into the peculiar organization of Indian society. After
some centuries of contact between the various tribes of Indians
and whites, their social organization was still unknown. But we
are now beginning to understand this, and the important discovery
has also been made that this same system of government was very
widely spread, indeed. This subject has, however, been as
extensively treated as is necessary in chapter xii, so we need
not stop longer. But if, with all the light of modern learning,
we have only lately gained a clear understanding of the social
organization of Indian tribes, it need occasion no surprise, nor
call for any indignant denial, to affirm that the Spaniards
totally misunderstood the social organization of the tribes with
which they came in contact in Mexico.

We must also take into consideration the political condition of
Europe at this time. Feudalism still exercised an influence on
men’s minds. The Spanish writers, in order to convey to Europeans
a knowledge of the country and its inhabitants, applied European
names and phrases to American Indian (advanced though they were)
personages and institutions. But the means employed totally
defeated the object sought. Instead of imparting a clear idea, a
very erroneous one was conveyed.

As an illustration of this abuse of language, we might refer to
the case of Montezuma, which name itself is a corruption of the
Mexican word “Motecu-zoma,” meaning literally “my wrathy chief.”
Mr. Bandelier2 and Mr. Morgan have quite clearly shown what his
real position was. His title was “chief of men.”3 He was simply
one of the two chief executive officers of the tribe and general
of the forces of the confederacy. His office was strictly
elective, and he could be deposed for misdemeanor. Instead of
giving him his proper title, and explaining its meaning, the
Spaniards bestowed on him the title of king, which was soon
enlarged to that of emperor, European words, it will be observed,
which convey an altogether wrong idea of Mexican society. Many
such illustrations could be given.

The literature that has grown up about this subject is very
voluminous, but the authors not being acquainted with the
organization of Indian society, have not been able to write
understandingly about them. We do not flatter ourselves that we
have now solved all the difficulties of the case. But since Mr.
Morgan has succeeded in throwing such a flood of light on the
constitution of ancient society, and especially of Indian
society, and Mr. Bandelier has given us the results of his
careful investigation of the culture of the Mexicans, we feel
that a foundation has been laid for a correct understanding of
this vexed problem.

We will now examine their architecture, or style of building. In
dealing with prehistoric people, we have several times referred
to the tribal state of government, involving village life and
communism in living. We have seen how this principle enabled us
to understand the condition of Europe during the Neolithic Age.
In still another place we have used this principle to show the
connection of the Pueblo Indians and other tribes of the United
States. Now we think this is the key which is to explain many of
the ruins we have described in the preceding chapter. But another
principle to be borne in mind, is that of defense. War, we have
seen, is really the normal state of things amongst tribal
communities. Therefore, either some position naturally strong
must be selected as a village site, or the houses themselves must
be fortified, after the fashion of Indians. This will be found to
explain many peculiarities in their method of construction.

Amongst the pueblo structures of to-day, and among the ruins of
the cliff-dwellers, we have seen how compact every thing was. The
estufa, or place of council and worship, was built in close
proximity to the other building, and sometimes it formed part of
it, and we do not learn that there was any thing distinguishing
about the apartments of the chief. Further South a change is
noticed. A specialization of structures, if we may use such an
expression, has taken place, and, among the Mexicans, three kinds
of houses were distinguished. It is extremely probable the same
classification could be made elsewhere. There was, first of all,
the ordinary dwelling houses. Every vestige of aboriginal
buildings in the pueblos of Mexico has long since disappeared,
and our knowledge of these structures can only be gathered from
the somewhat confused accounts of the early writers.

Many, perhaps most, of the houses had a terraced, pyramidal
foundation. Some were constructed on three sides of a court, like
those on the Rio Chaco, in New Mexico. Others probably surrounded
an open court, or quadrangle. The houses were of one and two
stories in height. When two stories, the upper one receded from
the first, probably in the terraced form. As serving to connect
them with the more ornamental structures in Yucatan, we are told
they were sometimes “adorned with elegant cornices and stucco
designs of flowers and animals, which were often painted with
brilliant colors. Prominent among these figures was the coiling
serpent.”4 After pointing out, by many citations, that the
evidence always was that these houses were occupied by many
families, Mr. Morgan concludes, “They were evidently joint
tenement-houses of the aboriginal American model, each occupied
by a number of families ranging from five and ten to one hundred,
and perhaps, in some cases, two hundred families in a house.”5

We can discern this kind of dwelling-house in many of the
descriptions we have given of the ruins in the preceding chapter.
M. Charney evidently found them at Tulla and Teotihuacan. Mr.
Bandelier concludes that similar ruins once crowded the terraces
at Cholula, and that to this class belongs the ruins at Mitla.
The Palace, at Palenque, is evidently but another instance, as
well as the House of Nuns, at Uxmal. In fact, with our present
knowledge of the pueblos of Arizona, and the purposes which they
subserved, as well as the uses made of such houses by the
Mexicans, we are no longer justified in bestowing upon the
structures in Yucatan the name of palaces.

The mistake was excusable among the Spaniards. They were totally
ignorant of the mode of life indicated by these joint
tenement-houses. When they found one of these large structures,
capable of accommodating several hundred occupants, with its
inner court, terraced foundation, and ornamented by stucco work,
or sculpture, it was extremely natural that they should call it a
palace, and cast about for some titled owner.

A second class of houses includes public buildings. The Mexicans,
when at the height of their power, required buildings for public
use, and this was doubtless true of the people who inhabited
Uxmal and Palenque. The most important house was the tecpan, the
official house of the tribe, the council house proper. This was
the official residence of the “chief of men” and his assistants,
such as runners. This was the place of meeting of the council of
chiefs. It was here that the hospitality of the Pueblo was
exercised. Official visitors from other tribes and traders from a
distance were provided with accommodations here. When Cortez and
his followers entered Mexico they were provided for at the
tecpan. We would not expect to find these public buildings,
except in rich and prosperous pueblos. It has been suggested that
the Governor’s House at Uxmal was the official house of that
settlement. The large halls, suitable for council purposes, favor
this idea.6

A third class of buildings was the teocalli, or “House of God”—in
other words, the temple. These were quite common. Each of the
gens that composed the Mexican tribe had its own particular
medicine lodge or temple. This was doubtless true of each and
every tribe of sedentary Indians in the territory we are
describing. “The larger temples were usually built upon pyramidal
parallelograms, square or oblong, and consisted of a series of
superimposed terraces with perpendicular or sloping sides.”7 It
is not necessary to dwell longer on this style of buildings. We
have only to recall the temples of the Sun, of the Cross, and of
the Beau-relief at Palenque; the House of the Dwarf at Uxmal, and
the Citadel at Chichen-Itza, to gather a clear idea of their
construction.

The architecture of a people is a very good exponent of their
culture. Yet all have seen what different views are held as to
the culture of the tribes we are considering. We have, perhaps,
said all that is required on this part of the subject, yet even
repetition is pardonable if it enables us to more clearly
understand our subject. The ornamentation on the ruins of Yucatan
is so peculiar that in our opinion it has unduly influenced the
judgment of explorers in this matter. They lose sight of the fact
that the apartments of the houses are small, dark, and illy
ventilated.

That they should hive gone to the trouble of so profusely
decorating their usual places of abode is, indeed, somewhat
singular.8 But Mitla was certainly an inhabited pueblo at the
time of the Spanish conquest, and there is no good reason for
concluding it was ever any thing more than a group of communal
buildings. Yet, from the description given of it, we can not see
that the buildings are greatly inferior in decoration to the
structures in Yucatan. And yet again, from the imperfect accounts
we have of the aboriginal structures in the pueblo of Mexico, we
infer they were constructed on the general plan of communal
buildings. As for the decorations, we have seen they had
sometimes elaborate cornices, and were covered with stucco
designs of animals and flowers. In this case some of them were,
to be sure, public buildings for tribal purposes, but the
majority of them were certainly communal residences. With these
facts before us, we can not do otherwise than conclude that these
so-called ruins of great cities we have described are simply the
ruins of pueblos, consisting of communal houses, temples, and, in
the case of large and powerful tribes, official houses. To this
conclusion we believe American scholars are tending more and
more.

This requires us to dismiss the idea that the majority of the
people lived in houses of a poorer construction, which have since
disappeared, leaving the ruins of the houses of the nobles. There
was no such class division of the people as this would signify.
These ruins were houses occupied by the people in common. With
this understanding, a questioning of the ruins can not fail to
give us some useful hints. We are struck with their ingenuity as
builders. They made use of the best material at hand. In Arizona
the dry climate permits of the use of adobe bricks, which were
employed, though stone was also used. Further south the pouring
tropical rains would soon bring down in ruins adobe structures
and so stone alone is used.

In the Arizona pueblo we have a great fortress-built house, three
and four stories high, and no mode of access to the lower story.
This is in strict accord with Indian principles of defense, which
consists in elevated positions. Sometimes this elevated position
was a natural hill, as at Quemada, Tezcocingo, and Xochicalco.
Where no hill was at hand they formed a terraced pyramidal
foundation, as at Copan, Palenque, and Uxmal. In the highest
forms of this architecture this elevation is faced with stone, or
even composed throughout of stone, as in the case of the House of
Nuns at Chichen-Itza. In the construction of houses progress
seems to have taken place in two directions. The rooms increased
in size. In some of the oldest pueblo structures in Arizona the
rooms were more like a cluster of cells than any thing else.9

They grow larger towards the South. In the house at Teotihuacan
M. Charney found a room twenty-seven feet wide by forty-one feet
long. Two of the rooms in the Governor’s House at Uxmal are sixty
feet long. But the buildings themselves diminish in size. In
Mexico the majority of the houses were but one story high, and
but very few more than two stories. In Yucatan but few instances
are recorded of houses two stories high. We must remember that
throughout the entire territory we are considering the tribes had
no domestic animals, their agriculture was in a rude state, and
they were practically destitute of metals.10 They could have been
no farther advanced on the road to civilization than were the
various tribes of Europe during the Bronze Age. Remembering this,
we can not fail to be impressed with the ingenuity, patient toil,
and artistic taste they displayed in the construction and
decoration of their edifices.

It may seem somewhat singular that we should treat of their
architecture before we do of their system of government, but we
were already acquainted with the ruins of the former. When we
turn to the latter we find ourselves involved in very great
difficulties. The description given of Mexican society by the
majority of writers on these topics represent it as that of a
powerful monarchy. The historian Prescott, in his charming work11
draws a picture that would not suffer by comparison with the
despotic magnificence of Oriental lands. At a later date Mr.
Bancroft, supporting himself by an appeal to a formidable list of
authorities, regilds the scene.12 But protests against such views
are not wanting. Robertson, in his history, though bowing to the
weight of authority can not forbear expressing his conviction
that there had been some exaggeration in the splendid description
of their government and manners.13 Wilson, more skeptical, and
bolder, utterly repudiates the old accounts, and refuses to
believe the Aztecs were any thing more than savages.14

With such divergent and conflicting views, we at once perceive
the necessity of carefully scanning all the accounts given, and
make them conform, if possible, to what is known of Indian
institutions and manners. The Mexicans are but one of several
tribes that are the subjects of our research; but their
institutions are better known than the others, and, in a general
way, whatever is true of them will be true of the rest. We have
seen the efforts of the Spanish explorers to explain whatever
they found new or strange in America by Spanish words, and the
results of such procedure. We are at full liberty to reject their
conclusions and start anew.

What the Spaniards found around the lakes of Mexico was a union
or confederacy of three tribes. Very late investigations by Mr.
Bandelier have established the presence of the usual subdivisions
of the tribes. So we have here a complete organization according
to the terms of ancient society: that is, the gens, phratry,
tribe, and confederacy of tribes. It is necessary that we spend
some time with each of these subdivisions before we can
understand the condition of society among the Mexicans, and, in
all probability, the society among all of the civilized nations
of Central America.

We will begin with the gens, or the lowest division of the tribe.
We must understand its organization before we can understand that
of a tribe, and we must master the tribal organization before
attempting to learn the workings of the confederacy. To neglect
this order, and commence at the top of the series, is to make the
same mistake that the older writers did in their studies into
this culture. A gens has certain rights, duties, and privileges
which belong to the whole gens, and we will consider some of the
more important in their proper place. We must understand by a
gens a collection of persons who are considered to be all related
to each other. An Indian could not, of his own will, transfer
himself from one gens to another. He remained a member of the
gens into which he was born. He might, by a formal act of
adoption, become a member of another gens; or he might, in
certain contingencies, lose his connection with a gens and become
an outcast. There is no such thing as privileged classes in a
gens. All its members stand on an equal footing. The council of
the gens is the supreme ruling power in the gens. Among some of
the northern tribes, all the members in the gens, both male and
female, had a voice in this council. In the Mexican gens, the
council itself was more restricted. The old men, medicine men,
and distinguished men met in council—but even here, on important
occasions, the whole gens met in council.

Each gens would, of course, elect its own officers. They could
remove them from office as well, whenever occasion required. The
Mexican gentes elected two officers. One of these corresponded to
the sachem among northern tribes. His residence was the official
house of the gens. He had in charge the stores of the gens; and,
in unimportant cases, he exercised the powers of a judge. The
other officer was the war-chief. In times of war he commanded the
forces of the gens. In times of peace he was, so to speak, the
sheriff of the gens.

The next division of the tribe was the phratry—the word properly
meaning a brotherhood. Referring to the outline below, we notice
that the eight gentes were reunited into two phratries. Mr.
Morgan tells us that the probable origin of phratries was from
the subdivision of an original gens. Thus a tradition of the
Seneca Indians affirms that the Bear and the Deer gentes were the
original gentes of that tribe.15 In process of time they split up
into eight gentes, which would each have all the rights and
duties of an original gens—but, for certain purposes, they were
still organized into two divisions.

TRIBE.
First Phratry, or Brotherhood.
Bear Wolf Beaver Turtle
Gens.

Second Phratry, or Brotherhood.
Deer Snipe Heron Hawk
Gens.

Each of these larger groups is called a phratry. All of the
Iroquois tribes were organized into phratries, and the same was,
doubtless, true of the majority of the tribes of North America.
The researches of Mr. Bandelier have quite conclusively
established the fact, that the ancient Mexican tribe consisted of
twenty gentes reunited as four phratries, which constituted the
four quarters of the Pueblo of Mexico.

It is somewhat difficult to understand just what the rights and
duties of a phratry were. This division does not exist in all
tribes. But, as it was present among the Mexicans, we must learn
what we can of its powers. Among the Iroquois the phratry was
apparent chiefly in religious matters, and in social games. They
did not elect any war-chief. The Mexican phratry was largely
concerned with military matters. The forces of each phratry went
out to war as separate divisions. They had their own costumes and
banners. The four phratries chose each their war-chief, who
commanded their forces in the field, and who, as commander, was
the superior of the war-chiefs of the gentes.

In time of peace, they acted as the executors of tribal justice.
They belonged to the highest grade of war-chiefs in Mexico—but
there was nothing hereditary about their offices. They were
strictly elective, and could be deposed for cause. They were in
no case appointed by a higher authority. One of these chiefs was
always elected to fill the office of “Chief of Men;”16 and, in
cases of emergency, they could take his place—but this would be
only a temporary arrangement.

Ascending the scale, the next term of the series is the tribe.
The Spanish writers took notice of a tribe, but failed to notice
the gens and phratry. This is not to be considered a singular
thing. The Iroquois were under the observation of our own people
two hundred years before the discovery was made in reference to
them. “The existence among them of clans, named after animals,
was pointed out at an early day, but without suspecting that it
was the unit of a social system upon which both the tribe and the
confederacy rested.”17 But, being ignorant of this fact, it is
not singular that they made serious mistakes in their description
of the government.

We now know that the Mexican tribe was composed of an association
of twenty gentes, that each of these gens was an independent
unit, and that all of its members stood on an equal footing.
This, at the outset, does away with the idea of a monarchy. Each
gens would, of course, have an equal share in the government.
This was effected by means of a council composed of delegates
from each gens. There is no doubt whatever of the existence of
this council among the Mexicans. “Every tribe in Mexico and
Central America, beyond a reasonable doubt, had its council of
chiefs. It was the governing body of the tribe, and a constant
phenomenon in all parts of aboriginal America.”18 The Spanish
writers knew of the existence of this council, but mistook its
function. They generally treat of it as an advisory board of
ministers appointed by the “king.”

Each of the Mexican gens was represented in this council by a
“Speaking Chief,” who, of course was elected by the gens he
represented. All tribal matters were under the control of this
council. Questions of peace and war, and the distribution of
tribute, were decided by the council. They also had judicial
duties to perform. Disputes between different gentes were
adjusted by them. They also would have jurisdiction of all crimes
committed by those unfortunate individuals who were not members
of any gens, and of crimes committed on territory not belonging
to any gens, such as the Teocalli, Market-place, and Tecpan.

The council must have regular stated times of meeting; they could
be called together at any time. At the time of Cortez’s visits
they met daily. This council was, of course, supreme in all
questions coming before it; but every eighty days there was a
council extraordinary. This included the members of the council
proper, the war-chiefs of the four phratries, the war-chiefs of
the gentes, and the leading medicine men. Any important cause
could be reserved for this meeting, or, if agreed upon, a
reconsideration of a cause could be had. We must understand that
the tribal council could not interfere in any matter referring
solely to a gens; that would be settled by the gens itself.

The important points to be noticed are, that it was an elective
body, representing independent groups, and that it had supreme
authority. But the tribes needed officers to execute the decrees
of the council. Speaking of the Northern tribes, Mr. Morgan says,
“In some Indian tribes, one of the sachems was recognized as its
head chief; and so superior in rank to his associates. A need
existed, to some extent for an official head of the tribe, to
represent it when the council was not in session. But the duties
and powers of the office were slight. Although the council was
superior in authority, it was rarely in session, and questions
might arise demanding the provisional action of some one
authorized to represent the tribe, subject to the ratification of
his acts by the council.”19

This need was still more urgent among the Mexicans; accordingly
we find they elected two officials for this purpose. It seems
this habit of electing two chief executives was quite a common
one among the tribes of Mexico and Central America. We have
already noticed that the Mexican gentes elected two such officers
for their purpose. We are further told that the Iroquois
appointed two head war-chiefs to command the forces of the
confederacy.20

One of the chiefs so elected by the Mexicans bore the somewhat
singular title of “Snake-woman.” He was properly the head-chief
of the Mexicans. He was chairman of the council and announced its
decrees. He was responsible to the council for the tribute
received, as far as it was applied to tribal requirements, and
for a faithful distribution of the remainder among the gentes.
When the forces of the confederacy went out to war, he commanded
the tribal forces of Mexico; but on other occasions this duty was
fulfilled by his colleague, who was the real war-chief of the
Mexicans. His title was “Chief-of-men.” This is the official who
appears in history as the “King of Mexico,” sometimes, even, as
“Emperor of Anahuac.” The fact is, he was one of two equal
chiefs; he held an elective office, and was subordinate to the
council.

When the confederacy was formed, the command of its forces was
given to the war-chief of the Mexicans; thus he was something
more than a tribal officer. His residence was the official house
of the tribe. “He was to be present day and night at this abode,
which was the center wherein converged the threads of information
brought by traders, gatherers of tribute, scouts and spies, as
well as all messages sent to, or received from, neighboring
friendly or hostile tribes. Every such message came directly to
the ‘Chief-of-men,’ whose duty it was, before acting, to present
its import to the ‘Snake-woman,’ and, through him, call together
the council.” He might be present at the council, but his
presence was not required, nor did his vote weigh any more than
any other member of the council, only, of course, from the
position he occupied, his opinion would be much respected. He
provided for the execution of the council’s conclusions. In case
of warp he would call out the forces of the confederacy for
assistance. As the procurement of substance by means of tribute
was one of the great objects of the confederacy, the gathering of
it was placed under the control of the war-chief, who was
therefore the official head of the tribute-gatherers.

We have thus very imperfectly and hastily sketched the
governmental organization of the Mexican tribe. It is something
very different from an empire. It was a democratic organization.
There was not an officer in it but what held his office by
election. This, to some, may seem improbable, because the
Spaniards have described a different state of things. We have
already mentioned one reason why they should do so—that was their
ignorance of Indian institutions. We must also consider the
natural bias of their minds. The rule of Charles the V was any
thing but liberal. It was a part of their education to believe
that a monarchical form of government was just the thing; they
were accordingly prepared to see monarchical institutions,
whether they existed or not.

Then there was the perfectly natural disposition to exaggerate
their achievements. To spread in Europe the report that they had
subverted a powerfully organized monarchy, having an emperor, a
full line of nobles, orders of chivalry, and a standing army,
certainly sounded much better than the plain statement that they
had succeeded in disjointing a loosely connected confederacy,
captured and put to death the head war chief of the principal
tribe, and destroyed the communal buildings of their pueblo.

We must not forget that, from an Indian point of view, the
confederacy was composed of rich and powerful tribes. This is
especially true of the Mexicans. The position they held, from a
defensive standpoint, was one of the strongest ever held by
Indians. They received a large amount of tribute from subject
tribes, along with the hearty hatred of the same. From the time
Cortez landed on the shore he had heard accounts of the wealth,
power, and cruelty of the Mexicans. When he arrived before Mexico
the “Chief-of-men,” Montezuma, as representative of tribal
hospitality, went forth to meet him, extending “unusual
courtesies to unusual, mysterious, and therefore dreaded,
guests.” We may well imagine that he was decked out in all the
finery his office could raise, and that he put on as much style
and “court etiquette” as their knowledge and manner of life would
stand.

The Spaniards immediately concluded that he was king, and so he
was given undue prominence. They subsequently learned of the
council, and recognized the fact that it was really the supreme
power. They learned of the office of “Snake-woman,” and
acknowledged that his power was equal to that of the
“Chief-of-men.” They even had some ideas of phratries and gentes.
But, having once made up their minds that this was a monarchy,
and Montezuma the monarch, they were loath to change their views,
or, rather, they tried to explain all on this supposition, and
the result is the confused and contradictory accounts given of
these officials and divisions of the people. But every thing
tending to add glory to the “Empire of Montezuma” was caught up
and dilated upon. And so have come down to us the commonly
accepted ideas of the government of the ancient Mexicans.

That these views are altogether erroneous is no longer doubted by
some of the very best American scholars. The organization set
forth in this chapter is one not only in accord with the results
obtained by the latest research in the field of ancient society,
but a careful reading of the accounts of the Spanish writers
leads to the same conclusions.21 In view of these now admitted
facts, it seems to us useless to longer speak of the government
of the Mexicans as that of an empire.

We have as yet said nothing of the league or confederacy of the
three tribes of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan; nor is it
necessary to dwell at any great length on this confederacy now.
They were perfectly independent of each other as regards tribal
affairs; and for the purpose of government, were organized in
exactly the same way as were the Mexicans. The stories told of
the glories, the riches, and power of the kings of Tezcuco, if
any thing, outrank those of Mexico. We may dismiss them as
utterly unreliable. Tribal organization resting on phratries and
gentes, and the consequent government by the council of the tribe
was all the Spaniards found. These three tribes, speaking
dialects of the same stock language, inhabiting contiguous
territory, formed a league for offensive and defensive purposes.
The commander-in-chief of the forces raised for this purpose was
the “Chief-of-men” of the Mexicans.

We have confined our researches to the Mexicans. Mr. Bandelier,
speaking of the tribes of Mexico, remarks: “There is no need of
proving the fact that the several tribes of the valley had
identical customs, and that their institutions had reached about
the same degree of development.” Or if such proofs were needed,
Mr. Bancroft has furnished them. So that this state of society
being proven among the Mexicans, it may be considered as
established among the Nahua tribes. Neither is there any
necessity of showing that substantially the same state of
government existed among the Mayas of Yucatan. This is shown by
their architecture, by their early traditions, and by many
statements in the writings of the early historians. These can
only be understood and explained by supposing the same social
organization existed among them as among the Mexicans.

But this does not relegate these civilized nations to savagism.
On the other hand, it is exactly the form of government we would
expect to find among them. They were not further along than the
Middle Status of barbarism. They were slowly advancing on the
road that leads to civilization, and their form of government was
one exactly suited to their needs, and one in keeping with their
state of architecture. When we gaze at the ruins of their
material structures, we must consider that before us are not the
only ruins wrought by the Spaniards; the native institutions were
doomed as well. Traces of this early state of society are,
however, still recoverable, and we must study them well to learn
their secret.

We have yet before us a large field to investigate; that is, the
advance made in the arts of living among these people. This is
one of the principal objects of our present research. We are here
slightly departing from the prehistoric field, and entering the
domain of history. But the departure is justifiable, as it serves
to light up an extensive field, that is, the manner of life among
the civilized nations just before the coming of the Spaniards.
And first we will examine their customs in regard to property. We
have in a former chapter reverted to the influence of commerce
and trade in advancing culture. The desire for wealth and
property which is such a controlling power to-day was one of the
most efficient agents in advancing man from savagism to
civilization. The idea of property, which scarcely had an
existence during that period of savagism, had grown stronger with
every advance in culture. “Beginning in feebleness, it has ended
in becoming the master passion of the human mind.”

The property of savages is limited to a few articles of personal
use; consequently, their ideas as to its value, and the
principles of inheritance, are feeble. They can scarcely be said
to have any idea as to property in lands, though the tribe may
lay claim to certain hunting-grounds as their own. As soon as the
organization of gens arose, we can see that it would affect their
ideas of property. The gens, we must remember, was the unit of
their social organization.

They had common rights, duties, and privileges, as well as common
supplies; and hence the idea arose that the property of the
members of a gens belonged to the gens. At the death of an
individual, his personal property would be divided among the
remaining members of the gens. “Practically,” says Mr. Morgan,
“they were appropriated by the nearest of kin; but the principle
was general that the property should remain in the gens.”22 That
this is a true statement there is not the shadow of a doubt. This
was the general rule of inheritance among the Indian tribes of
North America. As time passed on, and the tribes learned to
cultivate the land, some idea of real property would arise—but
not of personal ownership.

This is quite an important topic; because, when we read of lords
with great estates, we are puzzled to know how to reconcile such
statements with what we now know of the nature of Mexican tribal
organization. Mr. Bandelier has lately gone over the entire
subject. He finds that the territory on which the Mexicans
originally settled was a marshy expanse of land which the
surrounding tribes did not value enough to claim.

This territory was divided among the four gentes of the tribe. As
we have already seen, each of these four gentes subsequently
split up into other independent gentes until there were twenty in
all. Each of these gens held and possessed a portion of the
original soil. This division of the soil must have been made by
tacit consent. The tribe claimed no ownership of these tracts,
still less did the head-chief. Furthermore, the only right the
gentes claimed in them was a possessory one. “They had no idea of
sale or barter, or conveyance, or alienation.” As the members of
a gens stood on equal footing, this tract would be still further
divided for individual use. This division would be made by the
council of the gens. But we must notice the individual acquired
no other right to this tract of land than a right to cultivate
it—which right, if he failed to improve, he lost. He could,
however, have some one else to till it for him. The son could
inherit a father’s right to a tract.

We have seen that the Mexicans had a great volume of tribal
business to transact, which required the presence of an official
household at the tecpan. Then the proper exercise of tribal
hospitality required a large store of provisions. To meet this
demand, certain tracts of the territory of each gens were set
aside to be worked by communal labor. Then, besides the various
officers of the gens, and the tribe, who, by reason of their
public duties, had no time to till the tracts to which, as
members of a gens, they would be entitled, had the same tilled
for them by communal labor. This was not an act of vassalage, but
a payment for public duties.

This is a very brief statement of their customs as regards
holding of lands. It gives us an insight into the workings of
ancient society. It shows us what a strong feature of this
society was the gens, and we see how necessary it is to
understand the nature of a gens before attempting to understand
ancient society. We see that, among the civilized nations of
Mexico and Central America, they had not yet risen to the
conception of ownership in the soil. No chief, or other officer,
held large estates. The possessory right in the soil was vested
in the gens composing the tribe, and they in turn granted to
individuals certain definite lots for the purpose of culture. A
chief had no more right in this direction than a common warrior.
We can easily see how the Spaniards made their mistake. They
found a community of persons holding land in common, which the
individuals could not alienate. They noticed one person among
them whom the others acknowledged as chief. They immediately
jumped to the conclusion that this chief was a great “lord,” that
the land was a “feudal estate,” and that the persons who held it
were “vassals” to the aforesaid “lord.”23

We must now consider the subject of laws, and the methods of
enforcing justice amongst the civilized nations. The laws of the
Mexicans, like those of most barbarous people, are apt to strike
us as being very severe; but good reasons, according to their way
of thinking, exist for such severity. The gens is the unit of
social organization; which fact must be constantly borne in mind
in considering their laws. In civilized society, the State
assumes protection of person and property; but, in a tribal state
of society, this protection is afforded by the gens. Hence, “to
wrong a person was to wrong his gens; and to support a person was
to stand behind him with the entire array of his gentile
kindred.”

The punishment for theft varied according to the value of the
article stolen. If it were small and could be returned, that
settled the matter. In cases of greater value it was different.
In some cases the thief became bondsman for the original owner.
In still others, he suffered death. This was the case where he
stole articles set aside for religion—such as gold and silver, or
captives taken in war; or, if the theft were committed in the
market-place. Murder and homicide were always punished with
death. According to their teaching, there was a great gulf
between the two sexes. Hence, for a person of one sex to assume
the dress of the other sex was an insult to the whole gens—the
penalty was death. Drunkenness was an offense severely
punished—though aged persons could indulge their appetite, and,
during times of festivities, others could. Chiefs and other
officials were publicly degraded for this crime. Common warriors
had their heads shaved in punishment.

These various penalties necessarily suppose judicial officers to
determine the offense and decree the punishment. Having
established, on a satisfactory basis, the Mexican empire, the
historians did not scruple to fit it out with the necessary
working machinery of such an organization. Accordingly we are
presented with a judiciary as nicely proportioned as in the most
favored nations of to-day. But when, under the more searching
light of modern scholarship, this empire is seen to be something
quite different, we find the whole judicial machinery to be a
much more simple affair.

Not much need be added on this point to what we have already
mentioned. Each gens, through its council, would regulate its own
affairs, and would punish all offenses against the law committed
by one of its members against another. Of necessity the decision
of this council had to be final. There was no appeal from its
decision. The council of the tribe had jurisdiction in all other
cases—such as might arise between members of different gentes, or
among outcasts not connected with any gens, or such as were
committed on territory not belonging to any gens.

For this work, the twenty chiefs composing the council were
subdivided into two bodies, sitting simultaneously in the
different halls of the tecpan. This division was for the purpose
of greater dispatch in business. They did not form a higher and
lower court, with power of the one to review the decisions of the
other. They were equal in power and the decisions of both were
final. The decision of the council, when acting in a judicial
capacity, would be announced by their foreman, who was, as we
have seen, the head-chief of the Mexicans—the Snake-woman. It is
for this act that the historian speaks of him as the supreme
judge, and makes him the head of judicial authority.24 His
decisions were, of course, final, not because he made them, but
because they were the conclusions of the council.

The “Chief-of-men,” the so-called “king,” did not properly have
any judicial authority. He was their war-chief, and not a judge;
but from the very nature of his office he had some powers in this
direction. As commander-in-chief, he possessed authority to
summarily punish (with death, if necessary) acts of
insubordination and treachery during war. It was necessary to
clothe him with a certain amount of discretionary power for the
public good. Thus, the first runner that arrived from the coast
with news of the approach of the European ships was, by the order
of Montezuma, placed in confinement. “This was done to keep the
news secret until the matter could be investigated, and was
therefore a preliminary measure of policy.” Placed at the tecpan
as the official head of the tribe, he had power to appoint his
assistants. But this power to appoint implied equal power to
remove, and to punish.25

This investigation into their laws and methods of enforcing them,
carries us to the conclusion already arrived at. It is in full
keeping with what we would expect of a people in the Middle
Status of barbarism. We also see how little real foundation there
is for the view that this was a monarchy. There is no doubt but
that the pueblo of Mexico was the seat of one of the largest and
most powerful tribes, and the leading member of one of the most
powerful confederacies that had ever existed in America.

It may be of interest for us to inquire as to what was the real
extent of this power, and the means employed by the Mexicans to
maintain this power; also how they had succeeded in attaining the
same. They were not by nature more gifted than the surrounding
tribes. The valley of Mexico is an upland basin. It is oval in
form, surrounded by ranges of mountains, rising one above the
other, with depressions between. The area of the valley itself is
about sixteen hundred square miles. The Mexicans were the last
one of the seven kindred tribes who styled themselves,
collectively, the Nahuatlacs. We treat of them as the Nahuas.

The Nahuas on the north and the Mayas on the south included the
civilized nations. When the Mexicans arrived in this valley, they
found the best situations already occupied by other tribes of
their own family. To escape persecution from these, they fled
into the marsh or swamp which then covered the territory which
they subsequently converted into their stronghold. Here on a
scanty expanse of dry soil, surrounded by extensive marshes, they
erected their pueblo. Being few in numbers they were overlooked
as insignificant, and thus they had a chance to improve their
surroundings. They increased the area of dry land by digging
ditches, and throwing the earth from the same on the surrounding
surface, and thus elevated it. In reality, in the marshes that
surrounded their pueblo was their greatest source of strength.
“They realized that while they might sally with impunity, having
a safe retreat behind them, an attack upon their position was
both difficult and dangerous for the assailant.” They were,
therefore, strong enough for purposes of defense. But they wished
to open up communication with the tribes living on the shore of
the great marsh in the midst of which they had their settlement.
For this purpose they applied to their near and powerful
neighbors, the Tecpanics, for the use of one of the springs on
their territory, and for the privilege of trade and barter in
their market. This permission was given in consideration that the
Mexicans become the weaker allies of the Tecpanics, that is, pay
a moderate tribute and render military assistance when called
upon.

The Pueblo of Mexico now rapidly increased in power.
Communication being opened with the mainland, it was visited by
delegates from other tribes, and especially by traders. They
fully perceived the advantages of their location and improved the
same. By the erection of causeways, they entirely surrounded
their pueblo with an artificial pond of large extent. To allow
for the free circulation of the water, sluices were cut,
interrupting these causeways at several places. Across these
openings wooden bridges were placed which could be easily removed
in times of danger.

Thus it was that they secured one of the strongest defensive
positions ever held by Indians. The Tecpanics had been the
leading power in the valley, but the Mexicans now felt themselves
strong enough to throw off the yoke of tribute to which they were
subject. In the war that ensued the power of the Tecpanics was
broken, and the Mexicans became at once one of the leading powers
of the valley. We must notice, however, that the Mexicans did not
gain any new territory, except the locality of their spring.
Neither did they interfere at all in the government of the
Tecpanics. They simply received tribute from them.

Once started on their career of conquest, the Mexicans, supported
by allies, sought to extend their power. The result was that soon
they had subdued all of the Nahua tribes of the valley except
one, that was a tribe located at Tezcuco. This does not imply
that they had become masters of the territory of the valley. When
a modern nation or state conquers another, they often add that
province to their original domain, and extend over it their code
of laws. This is the nature of the conquests of ancient Rome. The
territory of the conquered province became part of the Roman
Empire. They became subject to the laws of Rome. Public, works
were built under the direction of the conquerors, and they were
governed from Rome or by governors appointed from there.

Nothing of this kind is to be understood by a conquest by the
Mexicans, and it is necessary to understand this point clearly.
When they conquered a tribe, they neither acquired nor claimed
any right to or power over the territory of the tribe. They did
not concern themselves at all with the government of the tribe.
In that respect the tribe remained free and independent. No
garrisons of troops were stationed in their territory to keep
them in subjection; no governors were appointed to rule over
them. What the Mexicans wanted was tribute, and in case of war
they could call on them for troops. Secure in their pueblo
surrounded by water, they could sally out on the less fortunate
tribes who chose to pay tribute rather than to be subject to such
forays.

Instead of entering into a conflict with the tribe at Tezcuco,
the result of which might have been doubtful, a military
confederacy was formed, into which was admitted the larger part
of the old Tecpanic tribe that had their chief pueblo at
Tlacopan. The definite plan of this confederacy is unknown. Each
of the three tribes was perfectly independent in the management
of its own affairs. Each tribe could make war on its own account
if it wished, but in case it did not feel strong enough alone, it
could call on the others for assistance. When the force of the
confederacy went out to war, the command was given to the war
chief of the Mexicans, the “Chief-of-men.”

If a member of the confederacy succeeded in reducing by its own
efforts a tribe to tribute, it had the full benefit of such
conquest. But when the entire confederacy had been engaged in
such conquest, the tribute was divided into five parts, of which
two went to Mexico, two to Tezcuco, and one to Tlacopan. This
co-partnership for the purpose of securing tribute by the three
most powerful tribes of the valley, under the leadership of
Mexico, was formed about the year 1426, just about one hundred
years from the date of the first appearance of the Mexicans in
the valley.

From this time to the date of the Spanish conquest in 1520, the
confederate tribes were almost constantly at war with the
surrounding Indians, and particularly with the feeble village
Indians southward from the valley of Mexico to the Pacific, and
thence eastward well towards Guatemala. They began with those
nearest in position, whom they overcame, through superior
numbers, and concentrated action, and subjected to tribute. These
forays were continued from time to time for the avowed object of
gathering spoil, imposing tribute and capturing prisoners for
sacrifice, until the principal tribes within the area named, with
some exceptions, were subdued and made tributary.26

The territory of these tribes, thus subject to tribute,
constitutes what is generally known as the Mexican Empire.27 But,
manifestly, it is an abuse of language to so designate this
territory. No attempt was made for the formation of a State which
would include the various groups of aborigines settled in the
area tributary to the confederacy. “No common or mutual tie
connected these numerous and diverse tribes,” excepting hatred of
the Mexican confederacy. The tribes were left independent under
their own chiefs. They well knew the tribute must be forthcoming,
or else they would feel the weight of their conquerors’
displeasure. But such a domination of the strong over the weak,
for no other reason than to enforce an unwilling tribute, can
never form a nation, or an empire.28 These subject tribes, held
down by heavy burdens—inspired by enmity, ever ready to
revolt—gave no new strength to the confederacy: they were rather
an element of weakness. The Spaniards were not slow to take
advantage of this state of affairs. The tribes of Vera Cruz, who
could have imposed an almost impassable barrier to their advance
through that section, were ready to welcome them as deliverers.29
The Tlascaltecans, though never made tributary to the Mexicans,
had to wage almost unceasing war for fifty years preceding the
coming of the Spaniards. Without their assistance, Cortez would
never have passed into history as the conqueror of Mexico.

A word as to the real power of the Mexicans. Their strength lay
more in their defensive position than any thing else. As we have
just stated, the entire forces of the confederacy were unable to
subject the Tlascaltecans, the Tarasca of Michhuacan were fully
their equal in wealth and power. The most disastrous defeat that
ever befell the forces of the confederacy was on the occasion of
their attack upon this last-named people in 1479. They fled from
the battle-field in consternation, and never cared to renew the
attempt. As to the actual population of the Pueblo of Mexico, the
accounts are very much at variance. Mr. Morgan, after taking
account of their barbarous condition of life—without flocks and
herds, and without field agriculture, but also considering the
amount of tribute received from other tribes—considers that an
estimate of two hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants in the
entire valley would be an excessive number. Of these he would
assign thirty thousand to the Pueblo of Mexico.30

This is but an estimate. In this connection we are informed,
that, when the forces of the confederacy marched against
Michhuacan, as just stated, they counted their forces, and found
them to be twenty-four thousand men. This includes the forces of
the three confederate tribes, and their allies in the valley, and
would indicate a population below Mr. Morgan’s estimate. The
Spanish writers have left statements as to the population of
Mexico which are, evidently, gross exaggerations. The most
moderate estimate is sixty thousand inhabitants; but the majority
of the writers increase this number to three hundred thousand.

The main occupation of the Aztecs, then, was to enforce the
payment of tribute. From the limited expanse of territory at the
disposal of the Mexicans, and the unusually large number of
inhabitants for an aboriginal settlement, as well as the natural
inclination of the Mexicans, they were obliged to draw their main
supplies from tributary tribes. It is human for the strong to
compel the weak to serve them. The inhabitants of North America
were not behind in this respect.31 This is especially true of the
civilized tribes of Mexico and Central America. The confederacy
of the three most powerful tribes of Mexico was but a
copartnership for the avowed purpose of compelling tribute from
the surrounding tribes, and they were cruel and merciless in
exacting the same.

Our information in regard to this tribute is derived almost
entirely from a collection of picture writings, known as the
Mendoza collection, which will be described more particularly
when we describe their picture writings. The confederacy was
never at a loss for an excuse to pounce upon a tribe and reduce
them to tribute. Sometimes the tribe marked out for a prey,
knowing their case to be hopeless, submitted at once when the
demand was made; but, whether they yielded with or without a
struggle, the result was the same—that is, a certain amount of
tribute was imposed on them. This tribute consisted of articles
which the tribe either manufactured, or was in situation to
acquire by means of trade or war; but, in addition to this, it
also included the products of their limited agriculture.

The same distribution of land obtained among all the civilized
tribes that we have already sketched among the Mexicans. So, a
portion of the territory of each conquered tribe would be set
aside to be cultivated for the use of the confederacy. But, as
the tribe did not have any land of its own, except for some
official purpose, this implies that each gens would have to set
aside a small part of its territory for such purpose. Such lots
Mr. Bandelier calls tribute lots. These were worked by the gentes
for the benefit of the Mexicans. It is to be noticed right here,
that the Mexicans did not claim to own or control the land; this
right remained in the gentes of the conquered tribe.

The miscellaneous articles demanded were generally such that they
bore some relation to the natural resources of the pueblo. For
instance: pueblos along the coast, in the warm region of country,
had to furnish cotton cloth, many thousand bundles of fine
feathers, sacks of cocoa, tiger-skins, etc. In other, and
favorable locations for such products, the pueblos had to furnish
such articles as sacks of lime, reeds for building purposes,
smaller reeds for the manufacture of darts.

Tribute Sheet

These facts are ascertained in the Mendoza collection. We are
given there the pictorial symbol, or coat-of-arms, of various
pueblos; also, a pictorial representation of the tribute they
wore expected to pay. The plate is a specimen of their tribute
rolls. The pueblos paying it are not, however, shown.
Considerable can be learned from a study of this collection
—such, for instance, as that the Pueblo of Chala had to pay a
tribute of forty little bells, and eighty copper ax blades.32
And, in another place, we learn that the Pueblo of Yzamatitan was
tributary to eight thousand reams of paper. The articles are here
pictured forth; the number is indicated by the flags, feathers,
etc. The tribute of provisions consisted of such articles as
corn, beans, cocoa, red-pepper, honey, and salt—amounting in all,
according to this collection33 to about six hundred thousand
bushels. Still it will not do to place too great a reliance on
picture records. The number of tributary pueblos must have been
constantly changing. The quantity of articles intended for
clothing was certainly very great. A moderate quantity of gold
was also collected from a few pueblos, where this was obtainable.

The collection of this tribute was one of the most important
branches of government among the Mexicans. The vanquished stood
in peril of their lives if they failed to keep their part of the
contract. In the first place, the Mexicans took from each subject
tribe hostages for the punctual payment of tribute. These
hostages were taken to the Pueblo of Mexico, and held there as
slaves; their lives were forfeited if the tribute was refused.34
But special officers were also assigned to the subject tribes,
whose duty it was to see that the tribute was properly gathered
and transmitted to Mexico. These stewards or tribute gatherers,
are the officers that the early writers mistook for governors.
Their sole business, however, had to do with the collection of
the tribute, and they did not interfere at all in the internal
affairs of the tribe.

Where the forces of the confederacy had conquered a tribe, but
one steward was required to tend to the tribute, but each of the
confederate tribes sent their representative to such pueblos as
had become their own prey, and as sometimes occurred, one pueblo
paid tribute to each of the confederate tribes, it had to submit
to the presence among them of three separate stewards.

We can easily enough see that it required men of ability to fill
this position. They were to hold their residence in the midst of
a tribe who were conquered, but held in subjection only by fear.
To these people they were the constant reminder of defeat and
disgrace. They were expected to watch them closely and report to
the home tribe suspicious movements or utterances that might come
to their notice. We need not wonder that these stewards were the
tokens of chiefs. It was a part of their duty to superintend the
removal of the tribute from the place where gathered to the
Pueblo of Mexico. The tribe paying tribute were expected to
deliver it at Mexico, but under the supervision of the steward.
Arrived at Mexico the tribute was received, not by the so-called
king, the Chief-of-men, but by the Snake-woman, or an officer to
whom this personage delegated his authority. This officer was the
chief steward, and made the final division of the tribute. We are
not informed as to details of this division. A large part of it
was reserved for the use of the tribal government. It was upon
this store that the Chief-of-men could draw when supplies were
needed for tribal hospitality or for any special purpose. The
stores required for the temple, its priests and keepers were
gathered from this source. The larger division must have gone
direct to the stewards of the gentes, who would set some aside
for their official uses, some for religion or medicine, but the
larger part would be divided among the members of the gentes.

In our review of the social system of the Mexicans we have
repeatedly seen how the organization of gentes influenced and
even controled all the departments of their social and political
system. One of the cardinal principles, we must remember, is that
all the members of a gens stand on an equal footing. In keeping
with this we have seen that all were trained as warriors; yet the
great principle of the division of labor was at work. Some filled
in their leisure during times of peace by acting as traders;
others became proficient in some branch of work, such as feather
work, or making gold and silver ornaments. Yet under a gentile
system of society, persons practising such callings could never
become very rich or proficient, simply because, being members of
different gentes, there could not be that cooperation and united
efforts among workmen in these various trades and callings that
is necessary to advance them to the highest proficiency. It
required the breaking up of the gentes and substituting for that
group a smaller one, our modern family, as the unit of social
organization, before great progress could be made.

From what we have just said it follows that it is not at all
likely that there was any great extremes in the condition of the
people. No very wealthy or extremely poor classes. This brings us
to consider the condition of trade and commerce among them. They
had properly no such a thing as money, so their commerce must
have consisted of barter or trade and exchange. Some authorities
assert quite positively that they had money, and mention as
articles used for such purposes grains of cacao, “T” shaped
pieces of tin or copper, and quills of gold dust.35 But Mr.
Bandelier has shown that the word barter properly designates the
transactions where such articles passed. But this absence of
money shows us at once that the merchants of Mexico were simply
traders who made their living by gathering articles from a
distance to exchange for home commodities.

We are given some very entertaining accounts of the wealth and
magnificence of the “merchant princes of Mexico.”36 It needs but
a moment’s consideration of the state of society to show how
little foundation there is for such accounts. Mr. Bancroft also
tells us that “throughout the Nahua dominions commerce was in the
hands of a distinct class, educated for their calling, and
everywhere honored by the people and by kings. In many regions
the highest nobles thought it not disgraceful to engage in
commercial pursuits.”

Though we do not believe there is any foundation for this
statement, yet trading is an important proceeding among sedentary
tribes. “The native is carried over vast distances, from which he
returns with a store of knowledge, which is made a part of his
mythology and rites, while his personal adventures become a part
of the folk lore.”37 It was their principal way of learning of
the outside world. It was held in equally high esteem among the
Mexicans. Such an expedition was not in reality a private, but a
tribal undertaking. Its members not only carried into distant
countries articles of barter, but they also had to observe the
customs, manners, and resources of the people whom they visited.
Clothed with diplomatic attributes, they were often less traders
than spies. Thus they cautiously felt their way from tribe to
tribe, from Indian fair to Indian fair, exchanging their stuff
for articles not produced at home, all the while carefully noting
what might be important to their own tribe. It was a highly
dangerous mission; frequently they never returned, being waylaid
or treacherously butchered even while enjoying the hospitality of
a pueblo in which they had been bartering.

We may be sure the setting out of such an expedition would be
celebrated in a formal manner.38 The safe return was also an
important and joyful event. The reception was almost equal to
that afforded to a victorious war-party. After going to the
temple to adore the idol, they were taken before the council to
acquaint them with whatever they had learned of importance on
their trip. In addition to this, their own gens would give them
appropriate receptions. From the nature of things but little
profit remained to the trader. They had no beasts of burden, and
they must bring back their goods by means of carriers; and the
number of such men were limited. Then their customs demanded that
the most highly prized articles should be offered up for
religious purposes; besides, the tribe and the gens each came in
for a share. But the honors given were almost as great as those
won in war.

The Mexicans had regular markets. This, as we have already
stated, was on territory that belonged to the tribe; not to any
one gens alone. Hence the tribal officers were the ones to
maintain order. The chiefs of the four phratries were charged
with this duty. The market was open every day, but every fifth
was a larger market.39 They do not seem to have had weights, but
counted or measured their articles. In these markets, or fairs,
which would be attended by traders from other tribes, who, on
such occasions, were the guests of the Mexicans, and lodged in
the official house, would be found the various articles of native
manufacture: cloth, ornaments, elaborate featherwork, pottery,
copper implements and ornaments, and a great variety of articles
not necessary to enumerate.

We must now briefly consider their arts and manufactures. Stone
was the material principally used for their weapons and
implements. They were essentially in their Stone Age. Their
knives, razors, lancets, spear and arrowheads were simply flakes
of obsidian. These implements could be produced very cheaply, but
the edge was quickly spoiled. Axes of different varieties of
flint were made. They also used flint to carve the sculptured
stones which we have described in the preceding chapter. They
also had some way of working these big blocks of stone used in
building. But they were not unacquainted with metals—the
ornamental working of gold and silver had been carried to quite a
high pitch. Were we to believe all the accounts given us of their
skill in that direction, we would have to acknowledge they were
the most expert jewelers known. How they cast or moulded their
gold ornaments is unknown. They were also acquainted with other
metals, such as copper, tin, and lead. But we can not learn for
what purpose they used lead or tin, or where they obtained it.40

Cortez, in one of his letters, speaks of the use of small pieces
of tin as money. But we have already seen that the natives had
not risen to the conception of money. They certainly had copper
tools, and bronze ones. It seems, however, that their bronze was
a natural production and not an artificial one—that is to say,
the ores of copper found in Mexico contain more or less gold,
silver, and tin. So, if melted, just as nature left them, the
result would be the production of bronze.41 They were then
ignorant of the knowledge of how to make bronze artificially.
This shows us that they had not attained to a true Bronze Age;
and yet the discovery could not have been long delayed. Sooner or
later they would have found out that tin and copper melted
together would produce the light copper that experience had
taught them was the most valuable.

Yucatan Axes

The most important tool they made of copper was the ax. The ax,
in both Mexico and Yucatan, was made as represented in this
illustration. From their shape and mode of hafting them, we see
at once they are simply models of the stone ax; and this recalls
what we learned of the Bronze Age in Europe. At first they
contented themselves with copying the forms in stone.

Carpenter’s Axe Mexican CarpenterCopper Tool

Nature, everywhere, conducts her children by the same means to
the same ends. This form of ax is a representation of a
carpenter’s hatchet. The next cut is from the Mendoza collection,
and represents a carpenter at work. He holds one of these
hatchets in his hand, and is shaping a stick of timber. The other
cut represents a form of copper tool found in Oaxaca, where they
were once used in abundance. The supposition is that this
implement was used for agricultural purposes—probably as a hoe.
The pieces of T-shaped copper said to have been used as money,
are diminutive forms of this same tool. The statement is
sometimes made that they had a way of hardening copper. “This,”
says Mr. Valentine, “is a hypothesis, often noted and spoken of,
but which ranges under the efforts made for explaining what we
have no positive means to verify or to ascertain.” The presence
of metals necessarily implies some skill in mining; but their
ability to mine was certainly very limited. Gold and silver were
collected by washing the sands. We do not know how copper was
mined; the probabilities are that this was done in a very
superficial way. Whenever, by chance, they discovered a vein of
copper, they probably worked it to an easy depth, and then
abandoned it. M. Charney speaks of one such locality, discovered
in 1873. In this case they had made an opening eleven feet long,
five feet wide, and three feet deep. To judge from appearances,
they first heated the rock, and then perhaps sprinkled it with
water, and thus caused it to split up.42 This is about all we can
discover of their Metallic Age. It falls very far short of the
knowledge of metallurgy enjoyed by the Europeans of the Bronze
Age; and, with the exception of working gold and silver, it was
not greatly in advance of the powers of the North American
aborigines.43 Certainly no trace of mining has been discovered at
all on the scale of the ancient mines in Michigan.

A few words as to some of their other arts, and we will pass on
to other topics. In manufacturing native pottery, they are spoken
of as having great skill. The sedentary Indians everywhere were
well up in that sort of work.44 They knew how to manufacture
cotton cloth, as well as cloth from other articles. We have
stated that paper furnished an important article of tribute. They
made several kinds of paper. One author states that they made
paper from the membrane of trees—from the substance that grows
beneath the upper bark.45 But they also used for this purpose a
plant, called the maguey plant. This was a very valuable plant to
the aborigines, since we are told that the natives managed to
extract nearly as great a variety of useful articles from it as
does an inhabitant of the East Indies from his cocoa palm.
Amongst other articles, they made paper. For this paper, we are
told, “the leaves were soaked, putrefied, and the fibers washed,
smoothed, and extended for the manufacture of thin as well as
thick paper.”46

They used feathers for plumes, fans, and trimmings for clothing.
The articles the Spaniards are most enthusiastic in praising is
that variety of work known as feather mosaic. They took very
great pains with this sort of work. The workman first took a
piece of cloth, stretched it, and painted on it, in brilliant
colors, the object he wished to reproduce. Then, with his bunch
of feathers before him, he carefully took feather after feather,
arranging them according to size, color, and other details, and
glued each feather to the cloth. The Spanish writers assert that
sometimes a whole day was consumed in properly choosing and
adjusting one delicate feather, the artist patiently
experimenting until the hue and position of the feather, viewed
from different points, and under different lights, became
satisfactory to his eye.47

This disregard of time is a thoroughly Indian trait of character.
Years would be spent in the manufacture of a choice weapon. The
impression is given that these feather-workers formed a craft, or
order, and that they lived by themselves. But this would be such
an innovation on the workings of the gens that there is probably
no foundation for it.

We will now consider the subject of religion. We can never judge
of the real state of culture of a people by their advance in the
arts of government and of living alone. Constituted as men are,
they can not help evolving, in the course of time, religious
conceptions, and the result is that almost all the races and
tribes of men have some system of belief, or, at any rate, some
manner of accounting for the present condition of affairs, and
some theory as to a future state. It is true that these theories
and beliefs are often very foolish and childish, still they are
not on that account devoid of interest. From our present
standpoint, we can clearly see that the religions belief of a
people is a very good index of their culture. At first such
conceptions are necessarily rude, but as the people advanced in
culture, they become clearer.

Fearing that we will be misunderstood in the last statement, we
will state to whom it applies. The Christian world hold that God
revealed himself to his chosen people, and that we draw from his
Word what is permitted mortals to know of his government and the
future world. We make no question but that this is true. But long
before there was a Hebrew people there was a Paleolithic race,
who doubtless had some vague, shadowy, ill defined idea of
supernatural power, and sought, in some infantile way, to appease
the same. Afterwards, but long before the glories of Solomon, a
Neolithic people were living in Palestine, and the same culture
was wide-spread over the world. To this day a large part of the
world’s inhabitants have never so much as heard of the Christian
religion. It is to such people that we especially refer.

The religious beliefs of the Indians have not been fully studied
as yet; but, until that is done, it is scarcely possible to
understand and fully weigh what is said as to the religious
beliefs of the Mexicans. What we can discern of the religion of
the Nahua and Maya tribes shows us that it is not at all probable
they had reached a stage of development in which they had any
idea of One Supreme, Over-ruling Power. But our scholars differ
on that point, many contending that the Mexicans distinctly
affirmed the existence of such a God.48 To form such conceptions
implies a power of reasoning on abstract topics that is vain to
expect of a people in their state of development. We think,
therefore, that the idea that they had such a belief, arises from
a misconception. Let us see if we can discover how that was.

Nearly all of the North American tribes had some word to express
supernatural power. The Iroquois used for this purpose the words
“oki” and “otkon.”49 The first meaning of these words is “above.”
As used by these Indians, however, they expressed the working of
any unseen, mysterious, and, therefore, to them, supernatural
power. There was, however, no idea of personality or of unity
about it. Other Indian tribes had words to express the same
meaning. The English and French explorers translated these words
into their languages in various ways. The most common is the
rather absurd one of “medicine,” which has passed into common
use. Thus, to mention one in very frequent use, we have the
expression “Medicine-men”—meaning their priests and conjurers.
The same custom prevailed among the higher class of sedentary
Indians of Mexico and Central America. The Aztecs used the word
“teotl” to express the name meaning; the Mayas, the word “ku;”
the Peruvians, “huaca.” But the word used, in each case, meant
not so much a personal supreme-being as it did an ill-defined
sense of supernatural, mysterious power. This point not being
clearly understood, it was quite natural that the early writers
understood by these various expressions their name of the First
Cause.

In the present state of our knowledge, it is certainly very hard
to give an intelligent statement of the religious conceptions of
the Maya and Nahua tribes. Among the Nahuas, their conception of
creative power was that of a pair—a man and wife. These were not
the active agents, however—they engendered four sons, who were
the creators. This seems to be a widely extended form of
tradition. Two authors, writing about fifty years after the
conquest, speak of the four principal deities and statues. They
had a great many idols besides—but four were the principal ones.

It would be very satisfactory could we frame some theory to
account for this state of things. If we could only be sure that
each god was symbolic of some of the elements—or, if we could
only say that this was but another instance of the use of the
number “four”—and thus connect them with the cardinal points, it
would be very satisfactory to many. The amount of study that has
been bestowed on this question is very great, and it is very far
from being settled. Each of these four was the principal, or
guardian, deity of a particular tribe.50 All of these appear in
native traditions as historical personages, as well as deities.
It is for this reason that Mr. Bandelier concludes that the “four
principal gods were deified men, whose lives and actions became
mixed up with the vague ideas of natural forces and phenomena.”51

As prominent a figure as any in Central American Mythology is
Quetzalcohuatl; and we can form a good idea of the force of the
preceding remarks by considering this case. The name is a
compound of two words, “quetzal-cohuatl”—and is, says Mr.
Bandelier, a fair specimen of an Indian personal name. He tells
us that the meaning is “bright,” or “shining snake.” Others have
translated it, “feathered serpent.” We have referred to the
attempt to show that the tablet of the cross, at Palenque, had
reference to him. Those who think he was the nature-god of the
Nahuas find a great deal of significance in the name.52 Mr.
Bandelier, after carefully considering all reference to him by
the early writers, shows that it is quite as likely that
Quetzalcohuatl “was a man of note, whose memory was afterward
connected with dim cosmological notions.” It is plain that our
idea of the culture of the Mexicans will vary according as we
consider the base of this myth to be a man, or the forces in
nature producing the fertilizing summer rain.53

The worship of Quetzalcohuatl was very widely extended; but it
was mostly confined to the Nahua tribes. But there are somewhat
similar traditions among the Maya tribes; and this is one of
those few points which, like the similarity of their calendar
systems, seems to point to a close connection in early times. The
Quiches have a very similar myth. Briefly, it is to the effect
that four principal gods created the world. One of these was
named Gucumatz—meaning, also, shining, or brilliant snake. Some
think that this is the same personage as Quetzalcohuatl, and from
this fact show how true it is that the operations of the forces
of nature everywhere affect the minds of men in a similar
manner.54 Others will not, however, go as far as this, and will
only say there is a similarity between the two characters. The
tribes in Yucatan also have a tradition of Cuculcan, whose name
means the same as the two already mentioned. The authority who
refers to him speaks of him only as a man. The Quiche legend,
already referred to, speaks of Gucumatz only as a god. The Nahua
traditions of Quetzalcohuatl, as we have seen, are confused
accounts of a man and a god.

The traditions having reference to the earthly career of
Quetzalcohuatl represent him as having considerable to do with
Tulla and Cholula. At Tulla he appears in the light of a great
medicine-man, or priest; at Cholula, as a sachem. Still other
traditions represent him as a great and successful warrior. None
of these characters are incompatible with the others, from an
Indian point of view. These traditions are so hopelessly
confused, that it is doubtful if any thing of historical value
can be gained from them. As a deity, he was worshiped as god of
the air or wind. Why he should be so considered is answered in
various ways. If, reasoning from his name, we choose to believe
he is a nature-god—as such standing for the thunder-storm, clouds
of summer—then, as the winds “sweep the path for the
rain-clouds,” he would be considered their god. Also, following
out this line of thought, we can see how, as the god which brings
the fertilizing summer rain, he would be considered the god of
wealth, and the patron deity of traders.

We must not lose sight of the fact that all these traditions are
most woefully mixed; that, since the conquest, many ideas from
other than native sources have been engrafted on them; and,
furthermore, that other explanations that are worth considering
can be presented. The horticultural tribe located at Cholula had
Quetzalcohuatl for their tutelar deity. Their crops depend upon
the timely descent of the rain. What more natural than that they
should regard such rains as sent by him? This pueblo was also
famous for its fairs. “By its geographical position, its natural
products, and the industry of its people,” it became a great
trading market. Near it was raised cochineal dye, in large
quantities. This was eagerly sought after by traders from a
distance. Cholula was also famous for its pottery. The
Tlaxcaltecos told Cortez that the inhabitants of Cholula were a
tribe of traders; what more natural, then, than that their
tutelar deity should become, in the eyes of foreign tribes, the
god of traders.55

Quetzalcohuatl was but one of the four principal gods. The
tutelar deity of the Mexicans was Huitzilopochtli. His altars
were almost daily wet with the blood of sacrificed victims. No
important war was undertaken, except with many ceremonies he was
duly honored. If time were so short that proper care could not be
bestowed on the ceremonies, then there was a kind of deputy god
that could be served in a hurried manner that would suffice.56
After a successful battle, the captives were conducted at once to
his temple, and made to prostrate themselves before his image. In
times of great public danger, the great drum in his temple was
beaten. The Spaniards, by dire experience, knew well the meaning
of that awful sound.

Huitzilopochtli.

The plate represents what was probably the idol of
Huitzilopochtli. “It was brought to light in grading the Plaza
Mayor in the City of Mexico in August, 1790. It was near the
place where the great Teocalli stood, and where the principal
monuments of Mexico were. They were thrown down at the time of
the conquest and buried from sight. It is an immense block of
bluish-gray porphyry, about ten feet high and six feet wide and
thick, sculptured on front, rear, top and bottom, into a most
complicated and horrible combination of animal, human, and ideal
forms.”57 This idol is generally stated to be that of the goddess
of death. But Mr. Bandelier, after carefully reviewing all the
authorities, concludes that it represents the well-known war-god
of the Mexican tribe.58

To properly conduct the services in honor of these various gods,
required established rites and a priesthood. What we call
“Medicine men” wizards, and names of similar import among the
northern tribes, were more correctly priests. There was no tribe
of Indians so poor but what they had these priests. But we would
expect this office to increase more in power and importance among
the southern Indians. Among the Iroquois, we are told each gens
elected certain “keepers of the faith.” These included persons
both male and female. Their principal duty was to see that the
feast days were properly celebrated. From what we know of the
gens we feel confident that they would be perfectly, independent
in religious matters as well as in other respects. Consequently
it is not probable that there was even in Mexico any hereditary
caste of priests.59

However set aside, or chosen, or elected, we have every reason to
believe that the organization of the priesthood was systematic.
The aspirant for the office had to acquaint himself with the
songs and prayers used in public worship, the national
traditions, their principles of astrology, so as to tell the
lucky and unlucky days. When admitted to the priesthood, their
rank was doubtless determined by meritorious actions. Successes
in war would contribute to this result as well as sanctity, a
priest who had captured several prisoners ranking higher than one
who had captured but one, and this last higher than the
unfortunate who had taken none.60 We must not forget that war was
the duty of all among the Mexicans. The priests were not in all
cases exempt; part of their duties may have been to care for the
wounded. It is not likely that the priests of any one god ranked
any higher than the priests of others, or had any authority over
them.

This body of priests of whom we have just treated concerned
themselves a great deal with the social life of the Mexicans, and
their power was doubtless great. Their duties commenced with the
birth of the child, and continued through life. No important
event of any kind was undertaken without duly consulting the
priests to see if the day selected was a lucky one. The Nahuas
were, like all Indians, very superstitious, so there was plenty
of work cut out for the priests. Into their hands was committed
the art of explaining dreams, fortune-telling, astrology, and the
explanation of omens and signs. Such as the flight and songs of
birds, the sudden appearance of wild animals; in short, any
unexpected or unusual event, was deemed of sufficient importance
to require in its explanation priestly learning. In addition
there was the regular routine of feasts.61 We have seen what a
multitude of gods the Nahuas worshiped. Like all Indian people,
they were very fond of feasts and gatherings of that character;
therefore feast days in honor of some one of the numerous deities
were almost constantly in order, and every month or two were
feasts of unusual importance. The most acceptable sacrifice to
these gods, and without which no feast of any importance was
complete, was human life.

This introduces us to the most cruel trait of their character. It
was not alone true of the Mexicans, but of all the Nahua tribes
and of the Mayas, though in a less degree. On every occasion of
the least importance victims were sacrificed. Any unusual event
was celebrated in a similar manner. Before the departure of a
warlike expedition, the favor of Huitzilopochtli was sought by
the sacrifice of human life; on the return of the same, similar
scenes were enacted. On all such occasions the more victims the
better. These victims were mostly captives taken in war, and wars
were often entered into for the express purpose of procuring such
victims. They were even made a subject of tribute. Devout people
sometimes offered themselves or their children for the sacrifice.
The number of victims, of course, varied from year to year, but
it is possible that it counted up into the thousands every year.

What we are able to gather from the religious beliefs of the
civilized nations sustains the conclusions we have already
arrived at in reference to their culture. We can but believe this
had been greatly overrated. It is the religion of barbarians, not
of a cultivated and enlightened people the historians would have
us believe in. It is a religion in keeping with the character of
the people who had confederated together for the purpose of
compelling unwilling tribute from weaker tribes. It is in keeping
with what we would expect of a people still in the Stone Age, who
still practised communism in living, and whose political and
social organization was founded on the gens as a unit.

It will not be out of place to devote some space to a
consideration of their advance in learning; and first of all let
us see about their system of counting or numeration. This
knowledge, as Mr. Gallatin remarks, must necessarily have
preceded any knowledge of astronomy, or any effort to compute
time. They must have known how to count the days of a year before
they knew how many days it contained. We all know how natural it
is for a child to count by means of his fingers. This was
undoubtedly the first method employed by primitive man. Proof of
this is found in the wide extended use of the decimal system.
Among the civilized nations, traces of this early custom are
still preserved in the meaning of the words used to express the
numbers.

To express the numbers up to twenty, small dots or circles were
used—one for each unit. For the number twenty they painted a
little flag, for the number four hundred, a feather; and for
eight thousand, a purse or pouch. The following table represents
the method of enumeration employed by the Mexicans. But it is
necessary to remark they used different terminations for
different objects.62

Mexican System of Numeration.

Substantially the same system of numeration prevailed among all
the Nahua tribes and the Mayas. It will be seen from this table
that the only numbers having simple names are one, two, three,
four, five, ten, fifteen, twenty, four hundred, and eight
thousand. The other names are compounds of these simple names. It
is also easy to understand their method of pictorial
representation. In reference to the flag, the feather, and the
purse, we must remark that, when these were divided into four
parts, only the colored parts were counted. The collective
number, used among them much as we use the word dozen, was always
twenty; but queerly enough their word for twenty varied according
to the object to be counted. The regular word given in the table
was “pohualli.” In counting thin objects that could be arranged
one above the other, the word twenty was “pilli.” Objects that
were round and plump and thus resembling a stone, were counted
with “tetl” for twenty, and other words for different objects.63

The division of time or their calendar system, is one that was
thought to show great advance in astronomical learning, but of
late years it has been shown that this also was overrated. This
question of how to keep a record of time was a difficult one for
primitive man to solve; that is, when he began to think about it
at all. A long while must have elapsed, and considerable advance
in other respects been made before the necessity of such a thing
occurred to them. The increase and decrease of the moon would
form a natural starting point. It is well known that this is
about as far as the knowledge of the Indians extended. The Maya
word for month means also moon, showing this was their earliest
system of reckoning time.64

Table of Days.

The various Nahua and Maya tribes of Mexico and Central America
had reached about the same stage of development. But their
calendar system is so similar that it affords a strong argument
of the original unity of these people.65 All of the civilized
tribes had months of twenty days each, and each of these days had
a separate name, which was the same for every month of the year.
This period of twenty days was properly their unit of time
reckoning. It is true they had smaller divisions,66 but for all
practical purposes, they were ignored. As none of these tribes
possessed the art of writing, they had to represent these days by
means of hieroglyphics. The following table shows the Mexican and
Maya days, the meaning of each, and the pictorial sign by which
they were represented. We must notice that the Maya hieroglyphics
look more arbitrary, more conventional than the Mexican. This is
interesting, because some of our scholars now believe the Mayas
were the inventors of the calendar. Their hieroglyphics,
therefore, as being the older of the two, should appear more
conventional. In the Mexican hieroglyphics for the days, we can
still trace a resemblance to the natural objects they represent;
in the Maya hieroglyphics, this resemblance has disappeared.

It is not out of place to theorize as to the facts already
mentioned. The first thing that strikes us is that they should
have chosen twenty days for a unit of time. There must have been
some reason lying back of this selection. It would have been more
natural for them to have chosen a number of days (say thirty)
more nearly corresponding to the time from one new moon to
another. Whether we shall ever learn the reason for choosing this
number of days is doubtful; but Mr. Bandelier has given us some
thoughts on this subject, which, though he is careful to state
are not results, but mere suggestions, seem to us to have some
germs of truth, the more so as it is fully in keeping with Indian
customs.

He points out that many of the names for these days mean the same
as the names of the gens in the more northern Indian tribes. Thus
seven of the days have the same meaning as the names of seven of
the nine gens of the Moqui tribe in Arizona. He, therefore,
suggests that the names of these twenty days are the names of the
twenty gens of the aboriginal people from whom have descended the
various civilized tribes under consideration. Indeed, this is
expressly stated to be the method of naming the days adopted by
the Chiapanecs, one of the tribes in question.57

As soon as the people commenced to take any observation at all,
they would perceive that it took just about eighteen of these
periods of twenty days to make a year. So the next step appears
to have been the division of the year into eighteen months. These
months received each a name, and were of course designated by a
hieroglyphic. The names of the Mexican months seem to have been
determined by some of the feasts happening therein. There is
great diversity among the early writers both as to the names of
these months, and the order in which they occur, as well as by
the hieroglyphics by which they are represented.68 It does not
seem worth while to give their names and meaning. We give a plate
showing the name, order in which they occur, and hieroglyphic
symbol of the Maya months. In point of fact, the months were very
little used, as we shall soon see it was not necessary to name
the month to designate the day; but of that hereafter.

Maya Months.

But it would not take these people very long to discover that
they had not hit on the length of a year. Eighteen months, of
twenty days each, make only three hundred and sixty days; so the
next step would be to add on five days to their former year. As
these days do not make a month, they were called the nameless
days. They were considered as being unlucky—no important
undertaking could be commenced on one of them. The child born
therein was to be pitied. But we will see that the expression,
“nameless days” was hardly the case among the Mayas, though it
was among the Mexicans.

Perhaps this will be as good a place as any to inquire whether
they had exact knowledge of the length of the year. As every one
knows, the length of the year is three hundred and sixty-five and
one quarter days, or very nearly; and for this reason we add an
extra day to every fourth year. We would not expect to find this
knowledge among tribes no farther advanced than we have found
these to be. If, as our scholars suspect, the Maya be the one
from which the others were derived, they would be apt to possess
this knowledge, if known. Perez, however, could find no trace of
it among them.69 Many authors have asserted that the Mexicans
knew all about it. Some say they added a day every four years;
others, that they waited fifty-two years, and then added thirteen
days; and some, even, give them credit for still closer
knowledge, and say they added twelve and one-half days every
fifty-two years.70 Prof. Valentine, who has made their calendar
system a special study, concludes that they knew nothing at all
about the matter.71

The beginning of the year is variously stated. Among the Mexicans
it seems that, while the authors differ very much, all but one
places it on some day between the second day of February and the
tenth of April. As their word for year means “new green,” it is
probable they placed its commencement about the time new grass
appeared. The Mayas are said to have placed the commencement of
the year about the sixteenth of July. As this happens to be just
about the time that the sun is directly overhead in Yucatan, it
has been surmised that the natives took astronomical
observations, and tried to have their year commence at that time.
But it must be manifest that, if they did not possess a knowledge
of the true length of the year, and so make allowance for the
leap-year, in the course of a very few years they would have to
revise this date.

Refer once more to the Maya table of days. Suppose the first day
of the year to commence with the day Kan. As there are twenty
days in a month, we see that the second month would also commence
with Kan. In like manner, Kan would be the first day of every
month of that year. When the eighteen months were past, there
would still remain the five days to complete the year. Now,
although they were said to be nameless days, the Mayas gave them
names. The first day was Kan, the second day Chichan, the third
day Quimij, the fourth day Manik, the fifth day Lamat. The
regular order of days we see. They were now ready to commence a
new year.

The next day in the list is Muluc. This becomes the first day of
the first month of the new year. But, being the first day of the
first month, it was the first day of every month of that year. At
the end of the eighteen months of that year, the five days would
have to be named in their order again, which would carry us down
to Gix, the first day of the first month of the third year. It
would also be the first day of every month of that year.
Similarly we see that Cavac would be the first day of every month
of the fourth year. The fifth year would commence again with Kan.
So we see that four of these twenty days became of more
importance than the others. The years were named after them. The
year in which the month commenced with Kan was also called Kan.
The same way with the other days. So the name of the year was
either Kan, Muluc, Gix, or Cavac. These four days were called
“carriers of the year;” because they not only gave the name to
the year, but because the name of the year was also the name of
the first day of every month of that year.

The foregoing will help us to understand the Mexican method. Let
us refer now to the list of Mexican days. The first day of the
first month was Cipac. For the same reason as above set forth,
this would be the first day of every month of the year. The five
extra days either were not named at all, or at any rate they were
not counted off in the table of days. The consequence was that
Cipac was the first day of every month; for we have just seen
that it was the first day of every month of the first year. At
the end of the eighteen months the five nameless days would come
in; but, as they did not form part of a month, were not named.
The first day of the first month of the next year would be named
as if they had not occurred.72 But, when they came to name the
years, we find they proceeded on exactly the same principle as
the Mayas. Thus four of the twenty days, occurring just five days
apart, were taken to name the years. These days were Tecpatl,
Calli, Tochtli, and Acatl.73

Mr. Bandelier, who made the valuable suggestion in regard to the
origin of the names of the days, has also suggested that,
inasmuch as there are four of the days more prominent than the
others, they may signify four original gentes, from which the
others have come. It seem to us, however, when we notice they are
just five days apart, that the system pursued by the Mayas in
naming their years explains the whole matter.

Before we mention the longer periods of time in use among them we
must refer to another mode of reckoning time, and trace the
influence of this second method on the one already named. The
method already explained seems to have been a perfectly natural
one—the second method is founded on superstition. A large part of
the duties of the priests, we remember, was to determine lucky
and unlucky days, and in soothsaying. For this purpose they made
a peculiar division of time, which we will now try and explain.

For some cause or other, thirteen was a number continually
recurring in their calendar. We can perceive no reason why it
should have been chosen. It has been suggested that it was just
about the time from the appearance of a new moon to its full. Be
that as it may, the number of days thirteen comes very near to
what we would call a week. Among the Mexicans, and probably among
the Mayas, these thirteen days were divided into lucky, unlucky,
and indifferent days, and were supposed to be under the guidance
of different gods. The priests had regularly painted lists of
them, with the deities which governed them. These lists were used
in fortune telling.

We must now inquire as to how they kept track of the years. The
Mayas named their next longer period of time an ahau. There is
some dispute as to what number of years it meant. Most of the
early writers decide that it was twenty years;74 but Perez, whose
work we have already referred to, contends that it was
twenty-four years. And this conclusion seems to be confirmed by a
careful study of some of their old manuscripts.75 Thirteen of
these ahaus embraced their longest period of time, known as an
ahau-katun. It had a length of either two hundred and sixty or
three hundred and twelve years, according as we reckon either
twenty or twenty-four years to an ahau. It may be that the length
of an ahau varied among the different tribes of the Mayas.

The Mexicans also had this week of thirteen days. Twenty of these
weeks, or two hundred and sixty days, formed that part of the
year they called the moon-reckoning; the remainder of the year
was the sun-reckoning. Their longer period of time was also based
on this number. A period of thirteen years they called a
tlapilli; four of these constituted a cycle equal to fifty-two
years. The end of this cycle was anxiously awaited by the
Mexicans. They supposed the world was to come to an end on one of
these occasions. As the time drew near, the furniture was broken,
the household gods were thrown into the water, the houses were
cleaned, and finally, all the fires were extinguished. As the
last day of the cycle drew to a close, the priests formed a
procession, and set out for a mountain about six miles from
Mexico. There an altar was built. At midnight a captive, the
bravest and finest of their prisoners, was laid on it. A piece of
wood was laid on his breast, and on this fire was built by
twirling a stick. As soon as fire was produced, the prisoner was
killed as a sacrifice. The production of new fire was proof that
the gods had granted them a new period of fifty-two years.

To understand how the years in this cycle were arranged and
numbered, we must refer once more to the Mayas, for though they
did not use the cycle themselves, yet they give us a hint as to
how it was obtained, and afford one more reason why we should
think the Mayas were the originators of this calendar system. We
give a table showing the arrangement of the days of the year
among the Mayas. We will take the year Kan—that is, we remember,
when Kan was the first day of every month. We would naturally
think they would describe a day by giving the name of the day and
the month—as, the day Kan, of the month Xul, or the first day of
the month Xul—but instead of so doing, they made use of the
period of thirteen days.

For instance, we see, by looking at the table, that the day ten
Kan can not be any other day during the year than the day above
mentioned; so that, for all purposes, it is sufficient to give
the day and its number in the week. We notice, however, that the
last five columns of figures for week days of thirteen are just
the same as the first five. But this did not confuse any, for the
last five columns of days belong to the “sun-reckoning,” the
others to the moon-reckoning. And though the number of the day in
the week was the same, yet a different deity ruled over them than
in the corresponding days of the first five columns. We can not
affirm that we know this to be true of the Mayas. Such, however,
we know to be the case among the Mexicans.76

Almanac.

Now we notice in this almanac that the last day of the year Kan,
is number one of the week. As the count goes right along, the
first day of the next year, Muluc, must be number two. If we
would make an almanac for that year, we would find the first day
of the third year would be number three of the week. If we were
to continue this, we would find that the first days of the years,
would range from one to thirteen. This table shows the number in
the week of the first day of the first fourteen years. The first
day of the fourteenth year would be number one of the week again,
but this time one Muluc, and not Kan. If we would continue our
researches, we would quickly discover that fifty-two years would
go by before we would have a year Kan in which the first day of
the year would be number one again.

Arrangement of Years in a Mexican Cycle. Years.

We think the above explains the origin of the Mexican cycle of
fifty-two years. The Mayas either never had this cycle, or had
abandoned its use.77 The Mexicans however, used this period of
time, and they numbered their years in it in such a way that we
can not explain it, unless we suppose they derived it in some
such a way as just set forth. We give a table showing the order
of the years in a cycle, and also notice that all that was needed
was the number and name of the year to show at once what year of
the cycle it was. The year seven Calli, for instance, could never
be any other year than the twentieth of the cycle.78

Day Date. Year Date.

To express the dates, they of course painted the hieroglyphic of
the day, and dots for the number of days. This cut, for instance,
expresses the day-date “seven Acatl.” They generally wrote the
dots in sets of five. Seven was sometimes expressed in the above
manner. When they wished to express a year-date, they made a
little frame and painted in the hieroglyphics of the year, and
dots for the number. This date here expressed is their thirteen
Acatl, which, by the above table, is seen to be the twenty-sixth
year of the cycle.

We have already dwelt too long on this part of the subject.
Glancing back over the ground, we see there is nothing implying
astronomical knowledge, more than we would expect to find among a
rude people. We find there are several particulars of the Mexican
system which we could not understand, except by reference to the
Maya system. It would bother us to explain why they should choose
the days Tochli, Acatl, Tecpatl, and Calli, to be the names of
their years, if we did not know how the Mayas proceeded. We would
be at a loss to explain why they choose the number of fifty-two
years for the cycle, and arranged their years in it as they did,
if we had not learned the secret from the construction of the
Mayas’ almanac. From this comparison, we should say the Mexican
calendar was the simpler of the two. As the Mayas had twenty days
in the month, and, for priestly use, weeks of thirteen days, so
they took twenty years, which, as they imagined, were supported
by four other years, as a pedestal for their next longer period,
the ahau; and for apparently no other reason than that they had
weeks of thirteen days, they took thirteen of these ahuas for
their longest period of time. They did not use the cycle of
fifty-two years, but they numbered their years in such a way
that, in effect, they were possessed of it. The Mexican did away
with all but the cycle of fifty-two years.

Calendar Stone.

No account of the calendar system of the Mexicans would be
complete without reference to the so-called calendar stone. The
stone, the face of which is sculptured as represented in this
cut, was dug up from the square in front of the cathedral of the
City of Mexico, where it had been buried in 1557. When the temple
was destroyed, this stone still remained entire. Finally the
authorities, fearing it attracted too much attention from the
natives, ordered it buried. It was brought to light again in
1790, but its early history was completely forgotten. The
astronomer Gama pronounced it a calendar stone, and his
interpretation of the characters engraved on it have been the
foundation for the idea that the Mexicans had considerable
knowledge of astronomy.79 Prof. Valentine and others have,
however, shown that it was simply a sacrificial stone, which the
artist had decorated in a peculiar manner. This stone is
considered by some to be so important that we will condense Prof.
Valentine’s description of it as being the best at hand. Not all
of out scholars accept it, however. The central figure is the
face of the sun-god. It is decorated in a truly savage style. It
has ear-rings, neck-chain, lip-pendant, feathers, etc. The
artist’s design has been to surround this central figure with all
the symbols of time. We notice on each side of the sun a small
circle or oval with hieroglyphics resembling claws. In Mexican
traditions these represent two ancient astrologers who were
supposed to have invented the calendar. According to Nahua
traditions of the world, there had been four ages of the world;
at the end of each age, the world was destroyed. Right above and
below the ovals with the claws, we see four squares containing
hieroglyphics.

Each of these squares refers to one of the destructions of the
world. The upper right hand square contains the head of a tiger.
This represents the first destruction of the world, which was by
tigers. The four dots seen, in this square do not refer to a date
as they generally do; it is a sacred number, and constantly
reappears in all hieroglyphics referring to feasts of the sun. To
the left of this square, crowded between it and the pointer, can
be seen the hieroglyphic of the day Tecpatl. The little dot is
one, so this day one tecpatl probably refers to the day in which
the feast in reference to this destruction was celebrated. The
second age was terminated by a hurricane. The upper left hand
square containing the hieroglyphic for wind refers to this
destruction. Between this square and the pointer is crowded in
the hieroglyphic of one Calli, referring to the feast in memory
of this destruction. The third destruction of the world was by
rain, the lower left hand square containing the hieroglyphic of
rain. Below, not very distinctly, is the date of this feast, one
quiahuitl. The last destruction was by water, represented by the
lower right hand square. The date of this feast as represented
below is seven Ozomatl.80

Passing out of this central zone we notice the hieroglyphics for
the days of the month arranged in a circle. The A shaped ray from
the head of the sun indicates where we are to commence to read;
and we notice they must be read from right to left. Resting on
this circle of day, we notice four great pointers not unlike a
large capital A. They are supposed to refer to sunrise, noon,
sunset, and midnight. Next in order after the days we notice a
circle of little squares, each containing five dots. Making
allowance for the space covered by the legs of the pointers just
mentioned, there are found to be two hundred and sixty of these
days; they, therefore, refer to the days of the moon reckoning.
We notice four smaller pointers not quite so elaborate as those
already referred to, resting in this circle. They probably refer
to smaller divisions of the days. The next circle contains a row
of glyphs not unlike kernels of corn. One hundred and five are
represented on this circle; they refer to the days of the sun
reckoning.

Sign of Rain.

Resting on this circle of days are small towers; they, like the
smaller pointers, refer to divisions of the day. Adjoining each
of these little towers is a figure; this cut represents one of
them. We notice they form a circle extending clear around the
stone. The meaning of this circle is gathered from other painted
records. It represents a rain storm; four drops are seen falling
to the ground. The ground is cultivated, as shown by the three
ridges; a grain of corn is represented lying on the ground. This
band on the stone is in honor of the rain-god.

Sign of a Cycle.

There remains only to explain the outer row or band. At the
bottom is a rude representation of two heads with helmets. The
meaning of these figures is unknown. From each of these figures
extend in a semicircle a row of figures of this shape, ending
with pointers at the top, between which is a year-date. Near the
points on each side is what might be described as four bundles
tied together. Each of the small figures just described is the
representation of a cycle of fifty-two years.

The date on the top is the year date, Thirteen Acatl. This is an
easily determinable date. From Mexican paintings, we know the
conquest of Mexico occurred in the year Three Calli. From this
tracing their years back by the table given earlier (Arrangement
of Years in a Mexican Cycle), we would find that the first
Thirteen Acatl we meet was in the year 1479. This is exactly the
date when, according to tradition, the great temple was finished,
and this stone dedicated by bloody sacrifices. If we count the
number of signs for cycles, we find that there are just twelve on
each side, twenty-four in all. As the artist could easily have
made this number more or less, the probabilities are that it
means something. The most plausible explanation is, that in the
year 1479, they had traditions of twenty-four cycles. But this
number of cycles is equivalent to twelve hundred and forty-eight
years, which would carry us back to about the year 231, A.D.,
which date we must bear in mind; not that we think there is any
scientific value to it, but for its bearing on other matter at
the close of the chapter.81

We come now to consider the subject of their picture writings.
The germ of writing is found in the rude attempts to assist the
memory to recall past events. Some of the northern Indian tribes
resorted for this purpose to belts of wampum. When a new sachem
was to be invested with office among the Iroquois, the historical
wampum belts were produced; an old man taking them in hand, and
walking back and forth, proceeded to “read” from them the
principles of the confederacy. In this case, particular events
were connected with particular strings of wampum.82 Pictorial
representation would be the next stage. At first the aim of the
artist would be to make his drawings as perfect as possible. A
desire to save labor would soon lead them to use only the lines
necessary to show what was meant. This seems to be about the
stage of picture writing, reached by some Indian tribes, who have
left here and there specimens carved on rocks.

Indian Picture Writing.

This cut is a specimen of such writing from the cañon of the San
Juan in Arizona. Although quite impossible to read it, there is
no doubt but what it expressed a meaning at the time it was
engraved.

Chapultepec.

From this stage of development would naturally arise symbolical
paintings. Thus “footsteps” might signify the idea of going. A
comma-shaped figure, issuing from a person’s mouth, would stand
for speech. The next step is what we might call rebus-writing,
where not the thing itself was meant but the sound. Thus this cut
represents Chapultepec—meaning grasshopper-hill, or locust mount.
It is evident, here, the pictures of the objects represent the
name. They, probably, did not use this principle farther than to
represent the proper names of persons and things before the
coming of the Spaniards.

Amen.

Some think that, in addition to the above, the Mexicans used, to
a very limited extent, a true phonetic writing—one in which the
figures refer not to the thought, but to the sound of the
thought.83 Others are not ready to concede that point. They could
not have been further along than the threshold of the discovery,
at all events. The Spanish missionaries were very desirous of
teaching the Indians the Pater-noster, the Ave-Maria, and the
Credo. Either the Indians themselves, or the priests (probably
the latter), hit on the device of using painted symbols for the
words and syllables of the church prayers and formulas. Thus in
this manner was painted the word Amen. The first sign is the
conventional figure for water, in Mexican “atl,” which stood for
A. For the second syllable they put the picture of a maguey
plant, in Mexican “metl.” The whole, then, was “atl-metl,” which
was as near as they could express the word amen. We must observe,
that this was after the conquest.84

Historical Sheet.

The plate opposite is one of the paintings of the Mendoza
collection. This collection, we must remember, was made after the
conquest, simply to gratify the curiosity of the King of Spain.
The matter treated of is the events connected with time when
Motecuma the fifth “chief-of-men” held office. Around the edge we
see the hieroglyphics of the years. We notice he was chief-of-men
from the year one calli to two tecpatl. About the only thing
recorded of him is the different pueblos he conquered. In all he
subdued thirty-three; but only eleven are shown in this plate.
The pueblos are indicated by a house toppling over—flames issuing
from under the roof. The other little hieroglyphics are the names
of the pueblos. The last one in the second transverse line from
the bottom is the hieroglyphic of Chalco, which we thus learn was
reduced to tribute under this chief. All the events indicated in
this cut took place before the discovery of America.85

Chilapi—Tribute.

A second part of this codex has reference to the tribute received
from various tribes. In this cut the left-hand figure is the
hieroglyphic of the town of Chilapi, and is an excellent
representation of their rebus-writing we have just referred to.
It is a tub of water, on which floats a red-pepper pod. The
Mexican word for this last is chilli, for water it is “atl.”. The
word “pa” means above. For the full word we have “chilli-atl-pa.”
Contracted, it becomes chilapi. The figure to the right is the
tribute. The five flags denotes one hundred. Below is represented
a copper ax-blade—from which we infer that the Pueblo of Chilapi
had to furnish a tribute of one hundred copper axes.

Child Training.

A third part of this same collection refers to the Mexican
customs. In this cut we have represented the training of a boy at
the different ages of four, six, thirteen and fourteen years of
age. The little round marks number the years of his age. The
little elliptical-shaped figures show the number of tortullas the
child is allowed at a meal. The boy is trained to carry and make
various things, to row a boat, and to fish.

Migration Chart.

The most interesting of Mexican picture-writings is the record of
their wanderings. This was formerly supposed to represent their
migrations from Asia—but is now known to refer only to their
wanderings in the Valley of Mexico. De Lafield, in his
“Antiquities of America,” gives a full representation of this
picture-writing. Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. II, pp. 548-49,
give a very good reduced copy. We will not attempt to reproduce
it all. This cut represents the beginning of it. A man is seen
crossing a stream in a boat. The figure behind him may mean an
island, on which are represented some pueblos and human figures.
On the opposite bank of the stream, to which the footsteps lead,
is the hieroglyphic of Culhuacan, “the curved mountain.” The year
date of this movement is “one tecpatl.” The character within that
of Culhuacan is Huitzilopochtli, their national god. The flakes
issuing from his mouth signify that he is guiding them. The
principal figures about this map are the hieroglyphic names of
various places where they stopped, and the time spent at each
place.

The Mayas seem to have been further advanced in the art of
writing than their Nahua neighbors. Specimens of their
hieroglyphic writings have been given in the preceding chapter.
The hopes of our scholars were greatly raised when, in 1863, the
announcement was made that there had been discovered, in Madrid,
a Maya alphabet, which, it was expected, would unlock the
mysterious tablets just mentioned.

The alphabet thus discovered is represented in the next cut. It
will be seen that some of the letters have a number of different
forms. This discovery was hailed as of the greatest importance,
and a number of scholars at once set about to decipher the
tablets. They were speedily undeceived. The alphabet is,
practically, of no help whatever. Prof. Valentine even goes so
far as to declare that this alphabet was not of native origin.

Landa Alphabet. Maya T.

He thinks that Bishop Landa, who is the authority for this
alphabet, and who was Bishop of Yucatan from 1549 to 1579, being
anxious to assist the natives in learning the new faith, set
about the manufacture of an alphabet for them. This he did by
having the natives paint some native object which came the
nearest to the sound of our alphabet. Thus, for instance, this
symbol there are excellent reasons for supposing represents the
sun, or the word “day.” The Maya word for this is _te._ We find
that this is the symbol that Landa employs for the letter T,
only, in his drawing, the central dot has fallen into the lower
dashes. Nearly all the other letters can be traced to a similar
source.86 But the professor’s reasoning does not satisfy all. He
is believed to be right in a number of his identifications; but
still the characters might have been used in a phonetic way.87

Maya Manuscript.

There is no doubt but that the Mayas had a different system than
that in use among the Nahua people. The knowledge how to use it
was, probably, confined to the priests; and, furthermore, the
system was, doubtless, a mixed one. A few phonetic characters
might have been used; but they also used picture-writing. The
plate above is a sample of the manuscripts they left behind. It
is in the nature of a religious almanac, and refers to the feasts
celebrated at the end of a year. The line of characters on the
left hand are the days characters Eb and Been. In the lower
division, a priest offers a headless fowl to the idol on the
left. In the middle division, the priest is burning incense to
drive away the evil-spirit. In the upper division, the assistant,
with the idol on his back, is on his march through the village.
As yet, we know but very little about the tables. We know the
hieroglyphics of days and of months.

Hieroglyphics—Tablet of the Cross.

Examining the tablets in the Temple of the Cross, at Palenque,
represented below, we notice a large glyph, at the commencement
of the tablet, something like a capital letter. This, Mr.
Valentine thinks, represents the censers which stood in the
temples before the idols, in which fire was constantly kept.88
Running through the tablets we notice glyphs, in front of which
are either little dots, or one or more bars with little dots in
front of them. These are day-dates. The dots count one—the little
upright bars, five. The probabilities are that this tablet is a
sort of list of feast-days in honor of the gods represented by
the central tablet.

As we have made a considerable effort to acquaint ourselves with
the social organization and customs of the various tribes, and
have spent some time in learning the details of their calendar
system, and their advance in the art of writing, it will not be
out of place to inquire as to their history—to determine, if
possible, some of the dates to be given for the arrival of the
tribes, and some of the important points of their prehistoric
life. Whatever difficulties we have experienced in acquiring a
knowledge of their customs will be greatly increased now. Their
architecture, social organization, and general enlightenment
could be perceived by the conquering Spaniards, and our
information in regard to the same should have been full and
complete. We have seen, however, how meager it is. The only light
thrown on these disputed points is the result of the labors of
modern scholars. When we were made acquainted with some of the
first principles of Indian society, we could read with profit the
accounts of the early writers.

But, when we come to ask for dates in their history, we are
almost entirely at sea. The traditions, in this respect, are
almost worthless. So, all that we shall attempt to do, is to
present some of the thoughts of our scholars as to the probable
connection of the civilized tribes with each other, and what
value is to be given to the few dates at our command. We will
begin, first, with the Maya tribes. This includes those tribes
that speak the Maya language, and its dialects. It was in their
territory that the most striking ruins were found. They include
the tribes of Yucatan, Guatemala, Chiapas, and Tobasco. Then
there comes a break; but they were also settled on both banks of
the River Panuco. Many theories have been advanced as to the
origin of the Mayas. As yet, the question is not solved.

Not a few have supposed them to be the same as the Mound Builders
of the United States. Dr. Brinton has pointed out that the
language of the Natchez Indians contains some words of the
Maya.89 A Mexican scholar, Señor Orozco-y-Berra, thinks it
probable that the Mayas once occupied the Atlantic sea-board of
the United States; that they passed from the peninsula of Florida
to Cuba, and thence to the other Caribbean Islands, and so to
Yucatan. He states that the traditions of the Mayas uphold this
view.90 But others are not ready to admit it. We have found a
number of points of resemblance between the Mayas and the Nahuas.
Differences we would, of course, expect to find; but still the
points of resemblance are sufficiently strong to indicate either
that the tribes were once subject to the same influence, from
whence they derived their culture, or else that they are
descended from the same stock. We have reverted to the worship of
Quetzalcohuatl, and shown how the Quichés, under the name of
Gucumatz, worshiped a similar deity. We have also referred to the
great similarity of the calendar system.

From the limited space at our command, it is not possible to
refer to the traditions of the Maya tribes. We will refer to but
one manuscript bearing on this question; but this is, probably,
the most important one. This manuscript was written by a native
with the Spanish letter, but in the Maya language. It was written
not far from the time of the conquest of Yucatan by the
Spaniards, and the account is, doubtless, as full a one, from the
native stand-point, as can be given. The period of time used by
the author is Ahau, which we have seen is either twenty, or
twenty-four years.

Carefully going over this manuscript, Prof. Valentine arrives at
the following conclusions: About the Year 137, A.D., the Mayas
started from some place they called Tulla, or Tullapan, on their
migration. Where this place was we do not know. The traditions of
all the civilized nations refer to this place as a
starting-point. It was a “land of abundance.” It may be that this
was but some fabled place, such as almost all primitive people
have traditions of.91 About the year 231, A.D., they arrived on
the coast of Central America, and spread themselves over a large
part of it. This same manuscript speaks of the “discovery” of
Chichen-Itza, 522, A.D. The date of the founding of Uxmal is
given as about the year 1000, A.D. From 1000 to 1200, A.D., was
the golden era of the Mayas in Yucatan.

The tribes at Uxmal, Mayapan, and Chichen-Itza formed a
confederacy of which Mayapan seems to have been the head. About
the year 1200, inter-tribal war broke out. It seems to have been
caused by the arrival of Nahua tribes, who established themselves
in Mayapan. They were finally expelled, but they left the Mayas
in such a state of exhaustion that they could not present a
united front against the Spaniards. Such are the conclusions of
Prof. Valentine. He estimates the length of an Ahau at twenty
years, and it does seem that the author of the manuscript used
that number of years.92

Of the other branch of the civilized tribes we know but very
little. The historical picture writings of the Mendoza
collection, a collection compiled, remember, after the conquest,
and, therefore, representing the traditions then current among
the Mexicans, takes us back to 1325, A.D., to the first
settlement in the Pueblo of Mexico. Sahagun, a Franciscan monk,
who went to Mexico as early as the year 1529, and remained there
until his death in 1590, wrote a very voluminous account of the
Mexicans, their customs and history, and as he was in Mexico at
the time when their traditions were still fresh in the minds of
the natives, his account is probably as good as any. He obtained
his information in a very credible manner. He gathered together
some old Indians, well acquainted with the traditional history of
their country. They are supposed to have “refreshed” their memory
by inspecting a number of picture writings, which have since
disappeared.

It is manifest that this history is valuable, just in proportion
as the traditions are valuable. He makes one statement that Prof.
Valentine has dwelt upon with great ability. He states that
numberless years ago the first settlers came in ships and landed
at a northern port, which, from that cause, was called Pauntla.
This is supposed to be the Panuco River. After they had settled
here, a large part of them, including their leaders and the
priests, went off south; Sahagun says as far as Guatemala. The
party left behind organized themselves into an independent body.
They reconstructed from memory the calendar; they increased and
became powerful, until pushing over the mountain, they built the
pyramid of Cholula, and finally reached the city of Teotihuacan,
where they built a central sanctuary. For some reason they
abandoned their homes, all except the Otomies, and wandered off
across the plains, and high, cold, desert places, that they might
discover new lands.93

No dates are mentioned for these occurrences, and we are not
aware that this tradition is mentioned by other writers. We
recall that from the mouth of the Panuco River southward, we
found evidence of considerable population in olden times. We also
recall that in this section are the ruined pyramids of Tuzpan and
Papantla. Prof. Valentine is inclined to think that this date is
referred to on the calendar stone; that is, 231 A.D. Just
twenty-four cycles elapsed from this time to the date of the
dedication of the calendar stone in 1479.

He also thinks that the Maya traditions refer to this same
occurrence. One more reference to this same mysterious date is
contained in the traditions of the Tezcucan tribe. According to
the traditions, the beginning of things were in the year 245 A.D.
According to this view, then, the ancestors of both Nahua and
Maya people appeared on the gulf coast about 231 A.D.; in the
same place where a Maya-speaking tribe are found to-day. From
here those who developed the Maya culture went to the south and
south-west; those who developed the Nahua went to the west and
north-west.

We do not profess to be a judge as to the value of this
tradition. Our scholars will, probably, at no distant day, come
to more definite conclusions in the matter. Prof. Short thinks
the strangers who at this early time made their appearance on the
gulf shore were colonies of Mound Builders from the Mississippi
Valley.94 We think it best to be very cautious about coming to
any such conclusions. We must not forget that back of the twelfth
century is nothing but vague traditions. Mr. Bandelier tells us
that “nothing positive can be gathered, except that even during
the earliest times Mexico was settled or overrun by sedentary, as
well as by nomadic tribes that both acknowledged a common
origin.”95 The savage tribes have the general name of
Chichimecas, but by right this term ought to be applied to the
sedentary tribes as well; however, the word Toltec stands for
these sedentary tribes. We have all read about the great Toltec
Empire in Mexico. This is a ridiculous use of words. There was no
tribe or nation of people of the name of Toltecs.96 All these
prehistoric aborigines were probably Chichimecas; but by Toltecs
we refer to the sedentary tribes, the skillful workers among
them. If we are to judge any thing of traditions, the original
home of these people were somewhere to the north of Mexico.

There was doubtless the usual state of inter-tribal warfare, but
after a prolonged period the sedentary tribes—the Toltecs—were
exterminated or expelled. Their successors were utter savages,
coming from the north also. We doubt very much whether any date
can be given for this event, but traditions assign it to about
the year 1064. Prof. Valentine thinks he finds a reference to it
in the calendar of stone. If we will notice, in the outer band
near the top are four little bundles, or knots, in all, eight. We
are told that each of these bundles refers to a cycle of
fifty-two years, or in all four hundred and sixteen years. The
date of the inauguration of the stone is 1479. If we subtract the
number of years just mentioned, we have the date 1063. Whether
this is simply a coincidence, or was really intended to refer to
that event, we can not say.

Considerable speculations have been indulged in as to where the
Toltecs went when driven out of Mexico. Some have supposed they
went to Yucatan, and that to them we are to look for the builders
of the ruined cities. This is the view of a very late explorer,
M. Charney.97 Some have supposed we yet see certain traces of
their presence in Guatemala, where they helped to build up a
great Quexche “monarchy.”98 But we know very little about it. It
is not probable that more than a feeble remnant of them escaped
with their lives.

From the same mysterious regions from where had issued the
aboriginal Chichimecas and Toltec people, there subsequently came
still other bands of sedentary Indians, who finally came to
settle around the lakes of Anahuac. These settlers all spoke
closely related dialects of the same language as their
predecessors, the Toltecs. Finally the Aztecs appeared on the
scene, coming from the same mysterious land of the “Seven Caves.”
According to their historical picture-writings, they founded the
Pueblo of Mexico in 1325. It is somewhat singular that no record
of this event appears on the calendar stone. If the artist was
ingenious enough, as Prof. Valentine thinks he was, to represent
the dispersion of the Toltecs in the eleventh century, he surely
would have found some way to refer to such an important event as
the founding of their Pueblo. From this date the Mexicans
steadily rose in power, until they finally became the leading
power of the valley.99

REFERENCES

The manuscript of this chapter was submitted to A. F. Bandelier
for criticism. The part bearing on religion was subsequently
rewritten. Absence from the country prevented his examining it.

Mr. Bandelier is the author of three essays on the culture of
the ancient Mexicans. These are published in Volume II of
“Peabody Museum Reports.” We wish to make a general reference
to these essays. They are invaluable to the student. Every
position is sustained by numerous quotations from the early
writers. In order to save constant references to them, we will
here state that, unless other authorities are given for
striking statements as to the culture of the Mexicans, their
social organizations, etc., it is understood that our authority
is found in these essays.

In Mexican, “Tlaca-tecuhtli.”

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. II, p. 572.

“Contribution to North American Ethnology,” Vol. IV, p. 229.

Morgan’s “Contributions to N.A. Ethnology,” p. 256.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. II, p. 576.

“Who over heard of an imperfectly developed race decorating so
profusely and so delicately their ordinary abodes, in a manner
usually reserved for temples and palaces?” S. F. Haven, in
Proceedings of Am. Antiq. Society, April, 1880, p. 57.

Morgan’s “Contribution to N.A. Ethnology,” Vol. IV, p. 186.

Cortez saw “trinkets made of gold and silver, of lead, bronze,
copper, and tin.” They were on the confines of a true Bronze
Age. Proceedings of Am. Antiq. Society, April, 1879, p. 81.

“History of the Conquest of Mexico.”

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. II.

“History of America,” 1818, Vol. III, book viii, p. 9.

Wilson’s “Conquest of Mexico.”

Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 91.

But, on this point, see “Peabody Reports,” Vol. II, p. 685
—note, p. 282.

Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 197.

Ibid., p. 205.

“Ancient Society,” p. 118.

Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 147.

We refer again to Mr. Bandelier’s articles. A careful reading
of them will convince any one that the picture of Mexican
Government as set forth in Mr. Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol.
II, is very erroneous. Mr. Bancroft’s views are, however, those
of many writers.

“Ancient Society,” p. 528.

Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 537.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. II, p. 435.

It is needless to remark that these results are greatly at
variance with those generally held, as will be seen by
consulting Mr. Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. II, Chap. xiv.
Mr. Bancroft, however, simply gathers together what other
writers have stated on this subject. We follow, in this matter,
the conclusions of an acknowledged leader in this field, Mr.
Bandelier, who has fully worked out Mr. Morgan’s views,
advanced in “Ancient Society.”

Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 193.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. II, p. 95.

Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 194.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. II, p. 94.

Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 195.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. I, p. 344.

Valentine, in Proceedings of American Antiquarian Society,
April, 1879.

Gallatin: “American Ethnological Society’s Transactions,” Vol.
I, p. 119.

Valentine: Proceedings American Antiq. Soc., October, 1880, p.
75.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. II, p. 381. Proceedings
American Antiquarian Society, April, 1879, p. 110.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. II, p. 193.

“Fifth Annual Report Archæological Institute of America,” p.
83.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. II, p. 389.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. II, p. 325.

Valentine: Proceedings Am. Antiq. Society, April, 1879, p. 90.

Ibid., p. 111.

_North American Review,_ Oct. 1880, p. 310.

See “Copper Age in Wisconsin,” in Proceedings American
Antiquarian Society, No. 69, p. 57.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. II, p. 483.

Proceedings Am. Antiq. Society, Oct., 1881, P. 66. (Valentine.)

Proceedings Am. Antiq. Society, Oct., 1881, p. 66. (Valentine.)

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. II, p. 489.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. III, pp. 182-199. In this
connection, see also Bandolier: “An Archæological Tour in
Mexico,” p. 185, note 2. It seems that none of the early
writers speak of such a belief. The idea of one single God is
first found in the writings of Ixtilxochitl.

Brinton’s “Myths of the New World,” p. 45.

Tezcatlipoca, the tutelar deity of Tezcuco; Huitzilopochtli,
the tutelar deity of Mexico; Camaxtli, the tutelar deity of
Tlaxcala; Quetzalcohuatl, the tutelar deity of Cholula.

Bandelier: “An Archæological Tour in Mexico,” p. 188.

This subject is fully treated of in Brinton’s “Myths of the New
World.”

“Among the Indians it is very easy to become deified. The
development of the Montezuma myth among the Pueblo Indians of
New Mexico is an instance.” (Bandelier.)

Brinton’s “Myths of the New World.”

Bandelier: “An Archæological Tour in Mexico.” pp. 168-213.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. III, p. 298, note 9.

“American Antiquarian,” January, 1883, p. 78.

“An Archæological Tour in Mexico,” p. 67.

“Peabody Museum Reports,” Vol. II, p. 600. Dr. Brinton in
“Myths of the New World,” p. 281, gives some instances that
might be thought to show the contrary. But even in those
extracts we notice the parties had to deserve the office, and
that in no case was it confined to certain persons.

Bancroft: “Native Races,” Vol. III, p. 335.

Bancroft: “Native Races,” Vol. II, p. 500.

Mr. Bandelier remarks that the numbers from five to ten should
be macuil-pa-oc-ce, etc. We give the same table as both Mr.
Gallatin and Mr Bancroft.

For authorities on this subject see Gallatin in “American
Ethnological Society’s Transactions,” Vol. I, p, 49; Bancroft’s
“Native Races,” Vol. II, p. 497; Valentine, in Am. Antiq. Soc.
Proceedings, Oct., 1880, p. 61.

Perez “Chronology of Yucatan,” in Stephens’s “Yucatan,” Vol. I,
p. 435.

See Valentine: “The Katunes of Maya History,” in Proceedings
Am. Antiq. Soc., October, 1879, p. 114.

We refer to the division of five days, not to the thirteen day
period, of which we will soon speak.

Bandelier: “Peabody Museum Reports,” Vol. II, p. 579. Note 29.

Mr. Bancroft, “Native Races,” p. 508, gives a table showing the
variation of authors in this respect. Gallatin “American
Ethnological Society’s Transactions,” Vol. I, p. 66, says, “the
published hieroglyphics are dissimilar in many respects.”

Stephens’s “Yucatan,” Vol. I, p. 438.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. II, p. 513, note 15.

Proceedings Am. Antiq. Society, April, 1878, p. 99.

Gallatin: “American Ethnological Soc. Trans.,” Vol. I, p. 71.

See Valentine, in Proceedings American Antiq. Society, April,
1878, p. 106. Gallatin, who is also good authority, gives the
order different, viz., Tochtli, Acatl, Tecpatl, Calli.

Valentine: Proceedings Am. Antiq. Soc., Oct., 1879, p. 84, _et
seq._

Thomas: “A study of the Manuscript Troano,” in “Contributions
to North American Ethnology,” Vol. V, p. 29.

According to the teachings of the Mexican priests nine deities
governed the days. They had painted lists of these weeks, and
the deities governing each.

Valentine: Proceedings Am. Antiq. Soc., Oct., 1879, p. 85.

In this table we have followed Mr. Gallatin. According to Prof.
Valentine, the order of the years is different. This, however,
is immaterial to an understanding of the system.

Gallatin: “Am. Eth. Soc. Transactions,” Vol. I, p. 94, _et
seq._

Thus says Prof. Valentine. The cast of this stone in the
Smithsonian Institution gives the date eight, instead of seven
Ozomatl.

For information on the Calendar Stone, consult, “American
Ethnological Society’s Transactions,” Vol. I, p. 94, _et seq.;_
Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. II, chap. xvi, and p. 755, _et
seq.;_ Valentine: American Antiquarian Society’s Proceedings,
April, 1878, p. 92, _et seq.;_ Short’s “North Americans of
Antiquity,” p. 419, _et seq._

Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 143.

Brinton: “Introduction to the Study of the Manuscript Troano.”

Valentine: Proceedings of American Antiquarian Society, April,
1880.

Gallatin: “American Ethnological Society’s Transactions,” Vol.
I, p. 131.

Valentine: Amer. Antiq. Society’s Transactions, April, 1880,
pp. 59-91.

Brinton’s “Introduction to Study of manuscript Troans,” p.
xxvi.

American Antiquarian Society, April, 1881, p. 294.

“Myths of the New World.” The doctor now thinks his statement
just referred to, too strong. There is, indeed, a resemblance,
as he pointed out; but it is not strong enough to found any
theories on.

Short’s “North Americans of Antiquity,” p. 474.

Brinton’s “Myths of the New World.”

This historical manuscript represents the traditions of the
Maya people shortly after the conquest. It is very likely its
author had before him picture records of what he wrote. Such
records have since disappeared. The manuscript itself, the
interpretation of it, and Perez’s remarks are found in
Stephen’s “Yucatan,” Vol. II, Appendix. The same in Bancroft’s
“Native Races,” Vol. V, p. 628. The fullest and most complete
discussion is by Prof. Valentine in Proceedings Am. Antiq.
Soc., October, 1879, p. 80, _et seq._ Whether there is any
thing worthy of the name of history is doubtful.

Proceedings Am. Antiq. Society, Oct., 1882.

“North Americans of Antiquity,” p. 578.

“Peabody Museum Reports,” Vol. II, p. 387.

Valentine: Proceedings Am. Antiq. Society, October, 1882, p.
209.

_North American Review,_ from Sept., 1880, to 1883.

Short’s “North Americans of Antiquity,” p. 218.

This historical notice is a mere outline. Such, however, is all
we wished to give. Those who wish for more details can not do
better than to refer to Mr. Bancroft’s fifth volume on the
“Native Races.” We do not believe, however, that any thing
definite is known of the early periods of which some writers
give such glowing descriptions. When they talk about the doings
of monarchs, the rise and fall of dynasties, and royal
governors, we must remember the majority of the descriptive
matter is mere nonsense, consequently our faith in the dates
given can not be very great.

Chapter XVI
ANCIENT PERU.

First knowledge of Peru—Expeditions of Pizarro—Geography of
Peru—But a small part of it inhabitable—The tribes of ancient
Peru—How classified—Sources of our knowledge of Peru—Garcillasso
De La Vega—Origin of Peruvian civilization—The Bolson of
Cuzco—Historical outline—Their culture—Divided into phratries and
gentes—Government—Efforts to unite the various tribes—Their
system of colonies—The roads of the Incas—The ruins of Chimu—The
arts of the Chimu people—The manufacture of pottery—Excavation at
Ancon—Ruins in the Huatica Valley—The construction of a Huaca—The
ruins at Pachacamac—The valley of the Canete—The Chincha
Islands—Tiahuanuco—Carved gateway—The Island of
Titicaca—Chulpas—Ruins at Cannar—Aboriginal Cuzco—Temple of the
Sun—The Fortress—General remarks.

The

early part of the sixteenth century was surely a stirring time in
the world’s history. The night of the Dark Ages was passing off
of the Old World; the darker gloom of prehistoric times was
lifting from off the New. Spanish discoveries followed each other
in rapid succession in the South. As yet, they supposed these
discoveries to be along the eastern shores of Asia, but, in 1513,
Balboa, from a mountain peak, in Darien, saw the gleam of the
great Pacific, which intervenes between America and Asia. At the
same time he was informed there was a country to the southward
where gold was in common use, and of as little value among the
people as iron among the Spaniards. As gold was what the
Spaniards most desired, we can imagine how they rejoiced over
such information.

The rich country of which Balboa was thus informed was later
known as Peru. Balboa himself did not attempt its discovery.
There was no lack, however, of those who wished to achieve fame
and fortune by so doing. Among other restless spirits who had
been attracted to the New World, was Francisco Pizarro. He had
been associated with Balboa in founding the settlement of Darien,
and, of course, he was among the first to hear of the marvelous
country farther south. In 1518, Panama, on the Pacific coast, was
made the seat of government for the Spaniards in that section of
the country. Pizarro was one of the first there—his services had
been rewarded by the grant of an estate. The historian of his
expedition speaks of him as “one of the principal men of the
land, possessing his house, his farm, and his Indians.”1 We need
not doubt but what he often pondered over his knowledge of the
rich country south. He was well acquainted with Indian character,
and knew that a small band of resolute Europeans, possessed of
fire-arms, could sweep every thing before them.

He could not endure the quiet life on his estate, and so he
obtained from the governor permission to explore the coast of the
South Sea to the eastward. He spent a large part of his fortune
on a good ship and the necessary supplies for the voyage, and
finally set sail from Panama in November of 1524. It needed a man
of no common spirits to withstand the disappointments of the next
few years. In less than a year this ship returned to Panama for
reinforcements. Pizarro himself and a few of his men remained at
a place not very far from Panama. Here he was joined by
reinforcements under Almagro. Undismayed by his first experience,
he again sailed southward along the coast. Xeres’s brief account
is as follows: “When they thought they saw signs of habitations,
they went on shore in their canoes they had with them, rowed by
sixty men, and so they sought for provisions. They continued to
sail in this way for three years, suffering great hardships from
hunger and cold. The greater part of the crew died of hunger,
insomuch that there were not fifty surviving. During all these
years they discovered no good land; all was swamp and inundated
land without inhabitants.”

This expedition accomplished nothing further than to obtain
definite information as to Peru. Pizarro’s grant from the
governor having expired, and the further fact that he had spent
all his fortune in these unsuccessful expeditions, made it
necessary for him to go to Spain. Received by the emperor with
favor, clothed with ample authority, he was able to raise men and
money, and finally sailed from Panama in 1531 on his third and
successful expedition for the conquest of Peru. Thus was made
known to the world what is regarded as the most wonderful example
of native civilization in the two Americas.

The dawn of history for Peru was the sunset of her native
culture. In a few short years what has come down to us as the
Empire of the Incas was completely overthrown; the enslaved
Indians were groaning under the weight of Spanish oppression; the
demolition of her ancient monuments had already begun, and
romance, tradition, and wonder had already thrown their subtle
charms around the ruins. The old customs and usages were on the
sudden dropped, a new culture was forced upon the unwilling
natives, and prehistoric Peru, though distant but a few years in
time, was as completely separated from historic Peru as is the
culture of the Neolithic Age in Europe from that of the early
historic period.

The magician’s wand in the fairy stories of olden days did not
present results more bewildering in their changes than did the
operations of the Spaniards in Peru. All accounts unite in
praising the government of ancient Peru. There is probably no
question but what the government the Spaniards overthrew was one
far better adapted to the wants of the native inhabitants than
the one they forced them to accept. But when we read the accounts
of that government as set forth by the early writers, we are at a
loss to know what to believe. There is such an evident mixture of
fables, traditions, and facts, that the cautious student
hesitates, and asks what support the researches of later scholars
give to these early writers. We doubt whether we have to this day
clear ideas of the culture of ancient Peru. This is to be
regretted. There is no question but that here was the highest
development of the Indian race in America. If we accept the
accounts given us, here rose an empire which will not suffer by
comparison with the flourishing empires of early times in
Oriental lands. Let us try and learn what we can of this culture,
and see wherein it differed from that of the civilized tribes
already discussed.

Map of Peru

We must, first of all, acquaint ourselves with the physical
features of the country. We can never fairly judge of the
civilization or culture of a people until we know their
surroundings. One of the discoveries of late years is, that the
culture of a people is greatly influenced by their surroundings.
The very appearance of a country whether it is mountainous or
plain, sea-girt or inland, influences the character of a people.
Civilization is found to depend upon such common factors as
climate, food, and physical surroundings.2 Now if we will examine
the map of South America, we will see that the entire section of
country occupied by the tribes under consideration is very
mountainous. What is known as the Andes is in reality the most
eastern of the two ranges. The western one nearer the coast is
called the Cordillera, or the Coast Range. The summit of this
mountain range often spreads out into great undulating plains,
the general elevation of which is from fourteen to eighteen
thousand feet above the sea. This series of elevated plains forms
a dreary, uninhabited stretch of country, “frigid, barren, and
desolate, where life is only represented by the hardy vicuna and
the condor.”3

This is the uninhabited portion of Peru. The general width of
this plateau region is about one hundred and fifty miles. Passing
this dreary stretch of country we come to another still elevated
plateau section, which extends to the snow-clad Andes proper. The
distance between these two great mountain ranges is from one to
two hundred miles, but as we see on the map they come together in
places. One such place, the Pass of La Raya, fifteen degrees
south latitude is of importance as marking the northern extremity
of the great basin of Lake Titicaca. This basin is remarkable in
many respects. It is of no inconsiderable size, being six hundred
miles in length by one hundred and fifty in width. It has a lake
and river system of its own. At the northern extremity of the
basin is the noted Lake Titicaca, which is given by some as the
traditional place of origin of the Incas. This lake finds an
outlet in the River Desaguadero, which flows in a broad and swift
stream in a southerly direction, where it empties into Lake
Aullagas.

Of this lake we know next to nothing, but it seems to be
established that it has no outlet to the sea. Thus this Titicaca
basin is but another example of interior basins like that of our
own great Salt Lake. It is not, however, favorably situated for
agricultural purposes. It is a “region where barley will not
ripen except under very favorable circumstances and where maize
in its most diminutive size has its most precarious development;
where the potato, shrunk to its smallest proportions, is bitter;
where the only grain is the quinoa, and where the only indigenous
animals fit for food are the biscacha, the llama and the
vicuna.”4

Thus we see that a large part of the interior of Peru was not
desirable for habitations. But this great plateau region north of
the basin of Lake Titicaca is here and there broken up by what we
would call valleys, but which the Spaniards more appropriately
named _bolsons,_ literally meaning “pockets.” These bolsons are
of various altitudes, and, therefore have different climates and
productions. Some are well drained and fertile, others are marshy
and contain considerable lakes. As a general thing, the bolsons
are separated from each other by stretches of the dreary,
desolate plateau; or by ranges of precipitous hills and
mountains, or by profound gorges, along which courses some river
on its way to swell the flood of the mighty Amazon.

The coast range of mountains of which we have spoken runs nearly
parallel to the coast, distant from it about forty miles. This
stretch of country along the entire coast of ancient Peru is
mainly a desert. Owing to causes which we need not explain, rain
is almost unknown; the consequence is, the coast presents a
dreary, verdureless, forbidding appearance. The melting snows on
the great Cordillera, however, send down, here and there, on
their western flanks, feeble rivers. Some of these rivers reach
the sea, others prolong their flow but a few miles from the
mountains before the thirsty desert swallows them from view. As
is true of all desert countries, all that is needed to render it
fertile is water; so, wherever these rivers occur there are found
wonderfully fertile valleys. Every one of these valleys was once
thickly settled, but, like the bolsons of the interior, they were
not connected with each other. Each valley is separated from its
neighbor by many miles of almost trackless desert, across which
the Incas are said to have indicated the road by means of stakes
driven into the sand and joined by Ozier ropes. No remains of
such roads have been found by modern travelers.

Fortress, Huatica Valley

From this description it is “clear that but a small portion of
the country was inhabitable, or capable of supporting a
considerable number of people. The rich and productive valleys
and bolsons are hardly move than specks on the map.”5 It is
necessary that we bear this description of the country in mind.
It will help us to understand as nothing else will how the tribes
located in one rich and productive bolson could, by successive
forays, reduce to a condition of tribute tribes living in other
detached valleys and bolsons. It will also enable us to put a
correct estimate on the extravagant accounts that have reached us
of the population of this country under the rule of its ancient
inhabitants. We can also readily see why the tribes living in the
hot and fertile valleys along the coast, which were called Yuncas
by the Peruvians, should differ in religion and mental and moral
characteristics from the tribes living in the bolsons of the
interior, where the snow-clad peaks were nearly always in sight,
and where the sun, shedding his warm and vivifying beams, would
appear to the shivering natives as the beneficent deity from
whence comes all good.

We must now turn our attention to the tribes inhabiting the
section of country just described. We have seen that the Mayas,
of Central America, the Nahuas, of Mexico, and the sedentary
tribes, of the United States, were considerably in advance of the
great body of the Indian tribes of North America. We find the
same fact true of the natives of South America. Those tribes
inhabiting the territory of ancient Peru, and those of the
territory now known as the United States of Columbia, were
considerably further advanced than the wild tribes living in the
remaining portions of South America. Quite a number of our
scholars have grouped in one class these partially civilized
tribes of both North and South America, and called them the
Toltecan Family.6 But others do not think that there are
sufficient grounds for such a class division. They can not detect
any radical changes in the domestic institutions of the various
tribes.7 On this point we must wait until our authorities are
agreed among themselves.

Attempts have been made to classify the various partially
civilized tribes of Peru. There are several difficulties in the
way. It was, for instance, the custom of the Incas, whenever they
had reduced a tribe to tribute, to force them to learn their
language, which was the Quichua, and is what the early Spanish
writers call the general language of Peru.8 How far this language
was forced on the tribes, and how far it was their own idiom, we
can not tell. Mr. Markham, who has made a very careful study of
all the authorities bearing on Peru, divides the territory of
ancient Peru into five divisions, and in each locates a number of
tribes, which he thinks forms a family.

The first, and most northern one, extends north from near Tumbez,
in the present State of Ecuador. The second extends from Loja, on
the north, to Cerro De Pasco, in about eleven degrees south
latitude. The third, and most important, extends from this last
named place to the pass of La Raya, fifteen degrees south
latitude. This was the home of the Incas and five other closely
related tribes. To the south of La Raya is the basin of Lake
Titicaca, the home of a family of Indians generally known as the
Aymara Indians. This name is, however, wrong; these tribes should
be called the Collao Indians. These four divisions do not include
any territory west of the Cordillera range, except one part of
the third division. These four families are all closely related.
Mr. Markham thinks they all had a common origin. Mr. Squier
thinks the Collao, or, as they are generally called, the Aymara
Indians, are distinct from the others. “They differ from each
other as widely as the German’s differ from the French,” is his
own conclusion. The entire coast district of Peru was the home of
many tribes of Indians, about which we as yet know but little.
The name by which they are known is Yuncas.9

We are now ready to proceed to a consideration of the culture of
ancient Peru, and a description of the monuments. But before
doing so we must have a word to say as to the authorities. At the
time of the Spanish conquest of Peru, the Empire of the Incas was
supposed to have been in existence about four hundred years. But
the Incas had no hieroglyphic or pictorial system of recording
events. The most they had was a system of knot records or
quippos, which will be explained in due time. These records were
simply aids to the memory. Mr. Squier places them “about on a par
with Robinson Crusoe’s Notched Calendar, or the chalked tally of
an illiterate tapster.”10 They are manifestly of no value as
historical records.

It must be evident, then, that all our knowledge of Peru,
previous to the arrival of the Spaniards, rests solely upon
traditions. We have no reason to suppose that these traditions
are of more value in their case than in the case of other rude
and illiterate people. The memory of such people is very short
lived. The tribes in the southern part of the United States must
have been greatly impressed with Do Soto’s expedition. They heard
fire-arms for the first time, and for the first time saw horses
ridden by men. Yet in the course of a few generations they had
completely forgotten all this.11

One very eminent authority is Garcillasso De La Vega.12 Let us
examine his writings a minute. He was born in Cuzco about 1540,
but a few years after the conquest. His mother claimed descent
from the royal family. He left Peru in 1560, when he was just
twenty years old, and went to Spain. He first sought advancement
in the army. Despairing of success in that line, he turned his
attention to literature. One of his first works was an account of
De Soto’s expedition to Florida. The historian Bancroft thus
characterizes this work: “An extravagant romance, yet founded
upon facts—a history not without its value, but which must be
consulted with extreme caution.” Yet in this work there were no
subtile ties of blood, no natural bias as there would be in favor
of the land of his birth.

About 1600 he commenced his “Royal Commentaries of Peru.” This is
the main source of information as to ancient Peru. We must
reflect that he had been away from his native land forty years
when he commenced the work. His sources of information were the
stories told him in his boyhood days, the writings of the Spanish
travelers, monks, and conquerors, and what he learned by
corresponding with his old friends in Peru, which he did when he
formed the design of writing his history. In other words, his
history rests on the traditions extant at the time of the
conquest, viewed, however, from a distance of sixty years. Who
can doubt but what the old man, writing his accounts of this
mother’s race, that race that had been so deeply wronged, wrote
it under the influence of that potent spell, which the memory of
old age throws around childhood’s days?

It is evident we have in these accounts but little deserving the
name of history. When he undertakes to tell us of the doings of
the Incas, who are supposed to have reigned three or four hundred
years before the Spanish conquest, descending to such details as
what nations they subdued, the size of their armies, their
speeches to their soldiers, the words of counsel they addressed
to their heirs, their wise laws and maxims—and we know that this
account rests on traditions—he who believes that they are of
historical value, is surely possessed of a good store of
credulity. We do not mean to say that his writings are of no
account. On the other hand, they are of value. The historical
part we are to consider simply as traditions, and we are to weigh
them just as we would any other collection of traditions and
compare them with monuments still extant. He is good authority on
the customs and manners of the Peruvians just previous to the
arrival of the Europeans.

We have seen what strange mistakes the Spanish writers made in
describing the government and customs of the Mexicans. We have no
doubt but what substantially the same mistake has been made in
regard to Peru. We believe that a careful, critical study of all
that has been written on the subject of Peru by the early writers
will establish this fact. As yet this has not been done. We must
therefore be careful in our description of the state of society
amongst them, as we do not wish to make statements not supported
by good authority.

We must try and decide as to what is the most probable origin of
the ancient Peruvian civilization. Some of the earlier writers on
this subject would trace it to an influx of Toltecs, the same
mythical race that is credited with being the originators of the
culture found in Mexico and Central America. But our modern
scholars have clearly shown that the Toltec Empire, which was
supposed to have preceded the Mexican, never existed. What we are
to understand by the Toltecs is the sedentary tribes of Indians,
either of the Nahua or Maya stock. The only value we would assign
to the story of their dispersion is that it is a traditional
statement that the migration of the sedentary Indians has been in
a direction from north to south.

Ruins at Pachacamac

We have no means of knowing when the first tribes arrived in the
country, or of their state of culture. It was doubtless at a very
early date, and the tribes were probably not far advanced. We
have no reason to suppose the culture of Peru was influenced from
outside sources at all. We can not detect any evidence of a
succession of races in Peru. The distinguished author to whom we
have already referred13 speaks of what he calls the ancient
Peruvians as distinguished from the modern tribes that
acknowledged the government of the Incas.14 We think that all the
evidence points to a long continued residence of the same race of
people.

We may suppose that in the fertile valleys of the coast, and in
the bolsons of the interior, tribes of rude people were slowly
moving along the line of progress that conducts at last to
civilization. There is no reason to suppose that this progress
was a rapid one. Under all circumstances this development is
slow. We must not forget the natural features of the country. The
inhabited tracts were isolated, hence would arise numerous petty
tribes, having no common aims or mutual interests. Each would
pursue their own way, and would keep about equal pace through the
stages of Barbarism.15

In process of time geographical and climatic causes would produce
those effects, from which there is no escape, and some tribes
would distinguish themselves as being possessed of superior
energy, and the same results would follow there as elsewhere;
that is, the dominion of the strong over the weak. All other
circumstances being equal, we would look for this result in a
section where a mild climate and fertile soil enabled man to put
forth his energies, and rewarded his labors. All accounts agree
in speaking of the bolson of Cuzco as well provided by nature in
this respect. One eminent traveler speaks of it as “a region
blessed with almost every variety of climate. On its bracing
uplands were flocks of llamas and abundance of edible roots,
while its sunny valleys yielded large crops of corn, pepper, and
fruits.”16 Mr. Squier thinks that, on the whole, the climate is
very nearly the same as that of the south of France.17

This bolson was the home of the Incas. A number of writers speak
of the Incas very much as if they were a royal family. It is not
necessary to discuss this point very extensively at present. All
our accounts of their early history are traditional. Mr. Markham
and Mr. Squier, both competent judges, assert that the weight of
traditions is to the effect that the Incas originated near Cuzco.
“Universal traditions,” says Mr. Markham, “points to a place
called Peccari Tampu as the cradle or point of origin of the
Incas.” As near as we can make out from the description, this was
where, as seen from Cuzco, the sun appeared to rise.18

We must remark that the sun was the ancestral deity of the Incas.
All the Andean people worshiped some object as an ancestral
deity. “An Indian,” says La Vega, “is not looked upon as
honorable unless he is descended from a fountain, river, or lake,
or even the sea, or from a wild animal, such as a bear, lion,
tiger, eagle, or the bird they called a condor, or from a
mountain, cave, or forest.” The Incas claimed descent from the
sun. So we can see why their legends would center on the place
where the sun appeared to rise. In after years, when they had
extended their conquests to the Collao,19 and stood on the shore
of Lake Titicaca, the sun appeared to them to rise out of its
waves; and so this lake became to them a second point of
traditional origin.

We see we can not solve the question of the origin of the Incas
until we solve the deeper problems of the origin of the Andean
tribes. Every thing seems to indicate a long-continued residence,
perhaps for centuries, and a slow advance in culture. We are not
to suppose the Incas were endowed with unusual capacity for
improvement; all the tribes were probably about equal in this
respect.20 But their situation was in their favor, and they did
not have to contend with those obstacles that confronted other
tribes. They must have increased in numbers and in culture; they
would in time feel themselves strong enough for conquest. We must
bear in mind the peculiar geographical features of the country.
In the isolated valleys and bolsons were living other tribes, but
little inferior to the Incas. There were no common interests
between these tribes. One by one they fell before the assaults of
the Incas, and were reduced to tribute. Rendered still more
powerful by success, the Incas pushed on their conquests until
finally all the tribes living in that vast stretch of country
from the Andes to the Pacific, from Chili to the United States of
Colombia, acknowledged themselves tributary to the Incas. This
was the state of things when the Spaniards, under Pizarro,
appeared on the scene.

When we undertake to learn the history or the state of culture
among the Incas, we are entering on a difficult subject. Of their
history, we know but very little more than is given in this
outline; and owing to the complete absence of all records, we can
not expect to know very much. Garcillasso draws such an inviting
picture of the happy government of the Incas, that we would
suppose that no rebellion or insurrection would ever occur. It
seems, however, that their government was as much subject to such
trials as any. Mr. Forbes tells us that “the Aymaras never
submitted tamely to their Peruvian masters, but from time to time
gave them much trouble by attempting to recover their
independence.” And M. Reville tells us of the Incas that, “more
than once they had to suppress terrible insurrections.” And we
shall see, further on, that the probabilities are that the
various tribes composing this so-called empire were not more
compact and united than were the tribes composing the Mexican
Empire.

Shortly before the conquest, the Incas had reached their zenith
of power. Huayna Capac, who died about 1525, was in reality the
last of the Inca chiefs. Under his management the tribes as far
north as Quito were reduced to tribute. The story goes that
shortly before his death he divided the empire between two of his
sons. One, Huascar, the rightful heir to the throne; the other,
Atahualpa, half-brother to Huascar. His mother was daughter of
the last king (?) of Quito. Her father had been forced to submit
to the victorious Huayna Capac. This division of the Incarial
Empire, was not at all to the liking of either Huascar or
Atahualpa. They both wished to be sole Inca. Civil war was the
result. Atahualpa, by treachery, had taken his brother prisoner,
and would doubtless have achieved his ambition, but just then
Pizarro invaded the country, and the reign of the Incas was over.

Thus far, the story. We very much doubt whether this expresses
the facts of the case. There is no question, of course, that
civil war was in progress when the Spaniards arrived, which war,
by the way, was a very fortunate thing for the Spaniards; but we
do not know enough about the government of the Incas to know
whether Huayna Capac could bequeath any powers to his sons. About
all we are justified in saying is, that on his death, two persons
(they were very likely brothers, and sons of Huayna Capac)
aspired to the chieftaincy of the Incas, and, failing to agree,
resorted to war to settle the matter.

The question is, how far back in the unrecorded past can we
follow tradition? Huayna Capac is thought to have been chief for
about fifty years. His predecessor is said to have been one Tupac
Yupanqui. Velasco, an early writer on the Peruvians, thinks he
was chief for about thirty-six years. As this would carry us back
nearly one hundred years, it must be evident we have gone about
as far as we can place any reliance on tradition. However, the
third chief, going backwards, was also called Yupanqui, sometimes
denominated “Yupanqui the Great,” and his reign (?) takes us back
to about the year 1400. “Beyond this point,” says M. Castaing,
“we fall into a mythological era.” We fully agree with him. We
can not think there is any special value in accounts of events
said to happen before that time—that is, for historical purposes.

That there were victorious chiefs, conducting victorious forays
before that date, is, of course, admitted. That the names of many
of the chiefs have come down to us, as well as some of their
notable achievements is quite possible. It is also evident that
some mythological personages would appear in tradition as
“reigning Incas.” It is equally plain that neither Garcillasso,
nor any of the Spanish writers, had any clear ideas of these
ancient times or events. All traditions finally settle on Manco
Capac as the first chief of the Incas. M. Castaing says he “is
but an allegory of the period of formation.”21 The date of the
accession of this mythological chief is given by most authorities
as about the year 1000. M. Castaing thinks it was in the middle
of the twelfth century. It does not make much difference which
date the reader concludes to accept—one will do as well as the
other.22

Let us turn our attention to the culture of the Incas, and their
state of government. Here we would expect to be on firm ground.
We would expect the Spanish writers to give us reliable accounts
of the state of society of the people they conquered. But, as Mr.
Squier remarks, the overthrow of the Peruvian government “was so
sudden and complete that the chroniclers had hardly time to set
down the events which took place before their own eyes, and had
little leisure, or perhaps inclination, to make a careful
investigation into the principles of their civil and religious
polity. As a consequence, this work has devolved upon the
laborious student and archæologist of a later time.” In other
words, we are to compare the accounts given us by the early
writers with our present knowledge of Indian society.

We have already made the statement that the Inca were a tribe of
Indians. But, if they were a tribe, did they have the usual
subdivisions of a tribe—which, we remember, are the phratry and
gens? The Spanish writers say nothing about such divisions. This
is not strange. They said nothing about the phratries and gentes
of the Mexicans; and yet they were in existence. Neither did the
English mention the institution of the phratries and gentes among
the Iroquois; and yet they were fully developed. We answer, that
the Inca tribe were divided into both phratries and gentes. It is
necessary to show what grounds we have for such belief. It is
well to have a little better understanding of the surroundings of
this tribe.

The isolated section of country which they occupied is about
seventy miles long by sixty in width. “The proper name for the
aboriginal people of this tract,” says Mr. Markham, “is Incas.”
This word must have been at first the title for chief—for all the
chiefs in this section were called Incas; but, in process of
time, the name was assumed as the special title of the tribe at
Cuzco. Mr. Markham gives us further the names of seventeen
lineages who occupied this valley. Whether a lineage was a tribe
or not we can not decide. We will now confine our attention to
the ruling tribe at Cuzco.

The Spaniards noticed that Cuzco was divided into two parts,
called respectively Upper and Lower Cuzco. Garcillasso tells us
that this division was made as follows. Manco-Capac with his wife
and queen were children of the Sun, sent to civilize the Indians,
who, before their arrival, were a very degraded sort of savages.
From Cuzco this sun-descended couple went their different
ways—the king to the north, the queen to the south—“speaking to
all the people they met in the wilderness, and telling them how
their father, the Sun, had sent them from heaven to be the rulers
and benefactors of the inhabitants of all that land; . . . and,
in pursuance of these commands, they had come to bring them out
of the forests and deserts to live in villages.” This sounded so
good to the wild tribes, that they “assembled in great numbers,
both men and women,” and set out to follow their exhorters.23

The tribe that followed the king settled Upper Cuzco; while the
queen’s converts settled Lower Cuzco. This division was not made
so that those living in one half should have any special
privileges over the other—for they were all to be equal, like
brothers. The division was solely in order “that they might be a
perpetual memory of the fact that the inhabitants of one were
assembled by the king, and the other by the queen.” The only
difference between them was, “that the people of Upper Cuzco
should be looked upon and represented as elder brothers, and
those of Lower Cuzco as younger brothers.”

Such is the account of the settlement of Upper and Lower Cuzco.
Any one acquainted with the general principles on which the
division of Indian tribes into phratries took place, can not help
concluding that these divisions were simply two phratries. The
inhabitants of each traced their descent back to a supernatural
personage. They were equal in power to each other as elder and
younger brothers. Polo Ondegardo simply remarks that “the lineage
of the Incas was divided into two branches, the one called Upper
Cuzco, the other Lower Cuzco.”24 There ought to be no objection
to substituting for the word branches used above the scientific
term our scholars now employ; that is, phratry. Each tribe of the
Iroquois confederacy was divided into two phratries, and their
name for this division was a word which meant brotherhood.25

Whatever doubt we may have on this point vanished when we come to
examine into the customs of the Incas. We must not forget that
the most prominent way a phratry shows itself is in matters of
religion, and in the play of social games. “The phratry, among
the Iroquois,” says Mr. Morgan, “was partly for social and partly
for religious objects. . . . In the ball game, for example, they
play by phratries, one against the other. Each phratry puts
forward its best players, usually from six to ten on a side, and
the members of each phratry assemble together, but on opposite
sides of the field in which the game is played. The members of
each phratry watch the game with eagerness, and cheer their
respective players at every successful turn of the game.”

Relics from Guano Deposits.

Let us see how it was among the Incas.26 Like all Indian tribes,
the Incas were very fond of ceremonious feasts. Nearly every
month they celebrated one or more. We gather from Molina that on
occasions when the whole tribe participated in such religious
observances, the people of Upper Cuzco sat apart front Lower
Cuzco. In the month corresponding to August they had a celebrated
feast, the object of which was to drive out all evil from the
land. We read: “All the people of Cuzco came out, . . . richly
dressed, sat down on benches, each man according to the rank he
held, those of the Upper Cuzco being on one side, and those of
Lower Cuzco on the other.” And of another feast we read: “They
brought out the embalmed (?) bodies of the dead Incas, placing
those who had belonged to Upper Cuzco on the side where that
lineage was stationed, and the same with those of Lower Cuzco.”
Other examples could be given, but this point is well
established. In games this same division was observed, since we
read that in the month of December, “on the first day of the
month, those who had been armed as knights—as well those of the
lineage of Upper Cuzco as those of Lower Cuzco—came out into the
square with slings in their hands, . . . and the youths of Upper
Cuzco hurled against those of Lower Cuzco.” We may therefore
consider it well established that the Incas were a tribe of
Indians having two phratries.

Let us now see how the matter stands in regard to gens. This
division follows almost as a matter of course, but it is well to
see what separate grounds exist for the assertion. Garcillasso,
in his description of Cuzco, after a reference to the division
into Upper and Lower Cuzco, tells us further that it was divided
into twelve wards. Mr. Squier gives us a map of the ancient city.
From this we see that the twelve wards were arranged in an
irregular oval around the principal square. Seven of them
belonged to the division of Upper Cuzco, the other five to Lower
Cuzco.

This division is utterly unintelligible to us, unless we suppose
them to be subdivisions of the phratries. It makes no difference
what name we bestow upon them, in effect they can be nothing else
than gentes. As to the number of them, it is well to notice a
coincidence in the statement of an Indian writer, Salcamayhua.27
On a certain very important occasion there were assembled “_all_
the councilors. The governor entered the chamber, where _twelve_
grave councilors were assembled.”28 The most reasonable
explanation that can be given for the number twelve is that each
gens had one representative in the council. The Incas are thus
seen to be very probably, at least, no exception to the general
rule of Indian tribes.

From our present standpoint what can we learn as to their
government? It is, of course, well known what the position of the
early writers on this subject is. They all agree that the
government of the Incas was a monarchy of the strictest type. We
have seen what a wonderful empire they bestowed on the Mexicans.
The Peruvian Empire is painted in still brighter colors. Modern
writers have not allowed the early accounts to suffer by
repetition. Rivero uses the following language: “The monarchs of
Peru, . . . uniting the legislative and executive power, the
supreme command in war, absolute sovereignty in peace, and a
venerated high-priesthood in religious feasts, . . . exercised
the highest power ever known to man.”29 Even so cautious a writer
as Mr. Squier speaks of the Incas as ruling “the most thoroughly
organized, most wisely administered, and most extensive empire of
aboriginal America.”30

It is freely admitted that there is much that is indeed wonderful
in the culture of the Incas; but it has, undoubtedly been greatly
exaggerated. To deal with this question as it should be would
require an entire volume of itself, and would require far more
extensive research than the writer has been able to make, or is,
indeed, prepared to make. It will do no harm to see what we can
learn by comparing the statements of some of the early writers
with what we have now learned of Indian society.

Let us first inquire as to the council. There is no question as
to the existence of a council. Garcillasso and all the early
writers refer to it in an accidental sort of way. To show the
force of this statement, we will give a few quotations.
Garcillasso, speaking of the movements of the Inca Viracocha,
says: “Having passed some years in making journeys, he returned
to Cuzco, where, with the advice of his councilors, he resolved
on war.” And, in another place: “Having consulted with his
council” he assembled his army. Talking about the son of the
foregoing, he says: “In fine, this king, with the advice of his
council, made many laws, rules, ordinances,” etc.31 In the
foregoing we are made aware of the existence of a council, but
are not told as to its size or powers. Each gens would of course
be represented in the council. We have spoken in one place of the
number twelve. Mr. Bandelier tells us that the council consisted
of sixteen members.32 As to its power we are also left in the
dark; but, judging from what we have learned of the council among
the Mexicans and Indian tribes of the North, who can doubt but
that it was the supreme governing body?33

The more we study this question, the more points of resemblance
we would find with the social organization of the Mexicans. The
tenure of land was of course the same, as we learn from the
report of Ondegardo—some differences may have occurred in regard
to tribute.

The Mexicans, we must remember, were at the head of a
confederacy, and the tribute was brought to Mexico to be divided
among the three tribes. The Incas were the only tribe, in the
case of Peru, having supreme power. Having no one to suit but
themselves, they introduced some new features. The tribute,
instead of being all brought to Cuzco, seems to have been, at
least a portion of it, stowed away in storehouses located at
places most convenient for the Incas. Cieza De Leon says: “The
Incas . . . formed many depots full of all things necessary for
their troops. In some of these depots there were lances; in
others, darts; and in others, sandals: and so, one with another,
arms and articles of clothing which these people used, besides
stores of food. Thus, when a chief was lodged in one of these
depots with his troops, there was nothing, from the most trifling
to the most important article, with which they were not
supplied.”34 This tribute was gathered by regular
tribute-gatherers. As in the case of Mexico, these appear in
history as governors. Ondegardo says they left “Cuzco every year,
and returned in February, . . . bringing with them the tribute of
the whole empire.”

As a rule, the Incas did not interfere with the customs of the
tribes they had conquered. Garcillasso says: “Excepting a few
alterations that were necessary for the welfare of the whole
empire, all the other laws and customs of the conquered province
were retained without any change.” In the main, all they wished
for was tribute. Yet they seem to have had some idea of a higher
policy than that. They are credited with carrying out measures
which would certainly tend to bring the tribes into a close
union. Mr. Squier remarks: “The efforts of the Incas to
assimilate the families that were brought within their empire, by
force or alliance—in respect to language, religion, and modes of
life—were powerful and well-directed.”35 This was a step ahead of
any thing that can be said of the Mexicans.

In the matter of language, it is said they made persistent
efforts to have the conquered tribes learn their own language. De
Leon tells us that it was a law throughout the kingdom that this
language should be used—“fathers were punished if they neglected
to teach it to their children in their childhood.” How much we
are to believe of this account is doubtful. Mr. Markham has shown
us that the languages of all the interior tribes were related. We
know how difficult it is to compel a conquered people by law to
learn a foreign language. William the Conqueror made an
unsuccessful attempt to compel the Anglo-saxons to learn
French—it ended by his followers learning English. Are we to
believe that a tribe of Peruvian Indians were successful in
spreading their language over a wide extent of territory in the
course of a few generations?

Burial Towers.

What is considered as the great stroke of policy on the part of
the Incas, was their system of colonies. On this point De Leon
tells us: “As soon as a province was conquered, ten or twelve
thousand men were ordered to go there with their wives; but they
were always sent to a country where the climate resembled that
from whence they came. If they were natives of a cold province,
they were sent to a cold one; and if they came from a warm
province, they went to a warm one. These people were called
mitimaes—which means Indians who have come from one country and
gone to another.” On this we might remark, that the Incas did not
always show such discriminating care where they sent the exiles,
since Mr. Markham tells us that the “descendants of colonists on
the coasts of Peru (a warm climate, notice) still retain
traditions concerning the villages in the Andes (a cold
province), whence their ancestors were transported.”

We will only refer to the so-called royal roads of Peru. Humboldt
observed them in Northern Peru, and speaks in high praise of
them. Many of the early writers mention them. De Leon gives us a
really wonderful account. Modern travelers have not been so
fortunate in finding their remains. Mr. Squier does not mention
them. Mr. Hutchinson searched at every place along the coast, and
could find no trace of such works. The northern part of Peru,
where Humboldt saw them, was almost the last section to be
conquered by the Incas. It is singular that they should have been
in such a hurry to build roads in that section, when the other
parts of their territory were destitute of them.

We are now prepared to inquire as to what remains of this ancient
people have come down to us; and in studying these ruins we must
keep constantly in mind the social organization of Indian
tribes.36 We notice on the map, at about 8° south latitude, a
place marked Truxillo. It is situated nearly two miles from the
sea, in the valley of the Chimu. Its port is the town of
Huanchaco, a dilapidated village of a few hundred houses, about
ten miles further north. Truxillo was founded in 1535 by
Francisco Pizarro, and was once a place of considerable
importance, but at present it is probably most noted for the
famous ruins located near it. Several of the fertile coast
valleys that we have previously described, here unite;
consequently this was a place of great importance to the coast
tribes. The ruins here are among the most remarkable in Peru. The
road from Huanchaco to Truxillo passes directly through the field
of ruins.

Palace.

Mr. Squier tells us that the ruins “consist of a wilderness of
walls, forming great inclosures, each containing a labyrinth of
ruined dwellings and other edifices.” As our space is limited, we
will describe but one of these inclosed spaces. This is a view of
what is usually called a palace, but this certainly is an absurd
name. The inclosure contains some thirty-two acres; the walls
surrounding it are double, and sufficiently heavy to resist field
artillery. At the base the walls, in some cases, are fifteen feet
thick, gradually diminishing toward the top, where they are not
more than three feet thick. They vary in height, the highest
ranging from thirty to forty feet high. In order to give a clear
idea of these walls, we introduce this cut, which gives us a
section of the walls. The materials of which they are built is
adobe.

Section of Palace Wall.

Within this inclosure we notice three open places, or courts, a
number of smaller cross-walls dividing the remaining space into a
number of small courts. Around each of these courts, generally on
three sides, are the ruins of houses. All in the interior of the
large inclosures is so far gone in ruins that we can with
difficulty make out the plan. Inclosures, such as we have
described here, are the principal features of the Chimu ruins.
Mr. Squier speaks of one three or four times the size of this
one. With our present knowledge we are justified in concluding
that Chimu was the head-quarters of a powerful tribe. We are
surely justified in assuming further that each of these great
inclosed squares, containing upwards of thirty, forty, and even
fifty acres, was the home of a gens—their fortified place.

Of the houses, Mr. Squier says: “Around each court the dwellings
of the ancient inhabitants are grouped with the utmost
regularity. . . . Some are small, as if for watchmen or people on
guard; others are relatively spacious, reaching the dimensions of
twenty-five by fifteen feet inside the walls. These walls are
usually about three feet thick, and about twelve feet high. The
roofs were not flat, but, as shown by the gables of the various
buildings, sharply pitched, so that, although rain may not have
been frequent, it was, nevertheless, necessary to provide for its
occurrence. Each apartment was completely separated from the next
by partitions reaching to the very peak of the general roof.
There are no traces of windows, and light and air were admitted
into the apartment only by the door.”

On one side, at least, the whole area of the city was protected
by a heavy wall, several miles of which were still standing at
the time of Mr. Squier’s visit. At various places along this
wall, cross-walls extended inward, thus inclosing great areas
which have never been built over, and which show all evidence of
ancient cultivation. We notice, near the upper end of this
inclosure, a court, occupied by a mound. This is known as a
_huaca,_ which calls for some explanation. It seems that the
general name among all the Peruvian people, for a sacred object,
is huaca. Being a very superstitious people, this name is applied
to a great variety of purposes, amongst others, to these great
artificial mounds, the majority of which are probably burial
mounds. The construction of many of these mounds is very
singular. It seems as if they were a large collection of rooms,
each one of which was filled with clay or adobe. In some of these
chambers, probably, treasures are concealed. One very celebrated
huaca, at Chimu, was found to contain an enormous amount of gold
vessels.

Ornamentation on Walls.

We must not forget to notice the arts of the Chimu people. The
walls of the inner edifices were often ornamented as is seen in
the following cut, of which the upper one is stucco-work and the
lower one is in relief. Adobe bricks are allowed to project out,
forming the ornamental design. Other ornaments of stucco-work
were observed. The second figure on this page gives us an idea of
this style of ornaments. As an evidence of how the climate of
Peru preserves ruins, we would mention that, though this last
stucco-work has been exposed to the elements for probably several
centuries, yet it is still apparently perfect.

Adobe Ornament.

The Chimu people were certainly very expert workmen in gold and
silver. De Leon asserts that, when the Incas conquered them, they
took to Cuzco many of the artisans of the country, “because they
were very expert in the working of metals, and the fashioning of
jewels and vases in gold and silver.” In the cut following we
have two vases—the smaller one of gold, the larger of silver. The
material is very thin, and the ornaments are produced by
hammering from the inside.

Gold and Silver Vases. Bronze Knives and Tweezers.

Besides such works as just described they had the art of casting
representations of men, animals, and reptiles in silver—sometimes
hollow, sometimes solid. They even cast more complex objects. Mr.
Squier says he has one “representing three figures—one of a man,
and two women, in a forest. It rises from a circular base about
six inches in diameter, and weighs forty-eight and a half ounces.
It is solid throughout—or, rather, is cast in a single piece, and
rings, when struck, like a bell.” The trees, he says, are well
represented, their branches spreading in every direction. The
human figures are also well proportioned, and full of action.
They also knew how to manufacture bronze. Many agricultural
implements are found, not only at Chimu, but all along the coast.
In the preceding cut we have bronze knives and tweezers—also, a
war-club of the same material.

Water-jar.
Water-jars from Ancon.

All the coast tribes of Peru excelled in the manufacture of
pottery. Mr. Squier tells us that, in this sort of work we find
“almost every combination of regular or geometrical figures”—men,
birds, animals, fishes, etc., are reproduced in earthenware. In
this cut we have one of the many forms. Notice the serpent
emblem.

The people of Chimu, whose ruins we have been describing, belong
to the coast division—differing in many respects from the
Peruvian tribes in the interior. Our information in regard to the
coast people is very limited. We have to judge them almost
entirely from the ruins of their towns, and the remains of their
handiwork. There is no reason to suppose they were the inferiors
of the Peruvians in culture. It is quite the custom to speak of
them as if they were low savages before the Incas conquered the
country; and that they owe to the latter all their advance in
culture. On the contrary, we may well doubt whether their
condition was at all improved by the Inca conquest. The coast
people are supposed to have been conquered about one hundred
years before the Spanish conquest. It was only after a most
stubborn resistance that the principal valleys were subdued.

Cloth found in Grave.

It is not necessary, neither have we space, to give a review of
all the ruins along the coast. They are very plentiful. There is
not an inhabitable valley but that they abound there. The soil
where not irrigated is very dry, and tends to preserve any thing
buried therein. All the coast people buried their dead; hence it
is that we find, in nearly all the coast valleys, such extensive
cemeteries. At Ancon, for instance, twenty miles north of Lima it
is simply wonderful how extensive the cemeteries are. Mr.
Hutchinson says they extend for miles. Very extensive
explorations have been made here for scientific purposes. We have
given, earlier, some water-jars excavated at Ancon, in last
illustration we have some specimens of cloth found in graves
farther north; and in the same locality was found a very
wonderful piece of feather-work. The small feathers were so
fastened to a ground of cotton cloth that they could not be
pulled off.

Wall in Huatica Valley.

Another noted place, about the same distance south of Lima, is
Pachacamac. Mr. Squier concludes, from the cemeteries at this
place, that it was a holy place, to which pilgrims resorted from
all parts of the empire so as to be laid to rest in holy ground.
When we learn of so many other similar localities, we see that
this conclusion does not follow. The most we can say is, that
these valleys have surely been settled for a long while.

The city of Lima is situated on the south bank of the Rimac
River, about six miles from the coast. Its port is the town of
Callao. The valley is called the Huatica Valley. Very extensive
and wonderful rains occur in this valley, between Lima and the
sea. We are told these ruins are thick and close over a space of
a few square miles, and are inclosed within a triple wall. The
last cut is given as a representation of a portion of this wall,
though only a small portion here and there is still discernible.
Amongst these ruins are a large number of immense mounds.

Burial Mound, or Huaca.

Some are huacas, or burial mounds; and some are in the nature of
fortresses. It is best to explain a little more particularly
about the burial mounds of the coast region of Peru. This cut
gives us an idea of their appearance. As to their construction
Mr. Squier says: “Many if not most of the pyramids, or huacas,
were originally solid—built up of successive vertical layers of
bricks, or compacted clay, around a central mass or core.”

But this is not always the case; since in many huacas we find
walls, in some rooms, and, finally, as before remarked, some
apparently consist of a large, many-storied building, the rooms
of which are all filled with clay. In the mound just mentioned,
Mr. Hutchinson found a number of inclosures—though the work was
done in a rough, shapeless manner. Mr. Squier gives us a
description of a many-roomed huaca as follows: “Thanks to the
energy of treasure-hunters who have penetrated its sides, we find
that it had numerous large painted chambers, was built in
successive diminishing stages, ascended by zigzag stair-ways, and
was stuccoed over and painted in bright colors. The conquerors
filled up these chambers, and recast the edifice with a thick
layer of adobe.”37

This is surely a singular piece of work. The building just
described by Mr. Squier must have been much like a pueblo. We
wish we had fuller descriptions of it. Mr. Squier is eminent
authority, and scholars delight to honor him for his researches.
We take the liberty, however, to question some of his
conclusions. How does he know that this structure was ever used
for any other purpose than as a mound? It is indeed a singular
way to construct a mound, but when we learn of the existence of
mounds showing the different methods of work—some solid, some
with walls, others with rude rooms, still others with rooms
towards the top—why not say that this many-storied building was
simply one style of mound-building? He claims that the Incas
filled up these rooms, and transformed the house into a mound.
Mr. Hutchinson claims there is no proof that the Incas did this
sort of work.

As an example of fortress-mounds, also prevalent in the valley of
the Huatica, we present the next cut. Mr. Hutchinson describes
this mound as being eighty feet high, and about four hundred and
fifty feet square. “Some of the adobe walls, a yard and a half in
thickness, are still quite perfect. That this was not likely to
have been a burial-mound may be presumed from its formation.
Great large square rooms show their outlines on the top, but all
filled up with earth. Who brought this earth here, and, with what
object was the filling up accomplished? for the work of
obliterating all space in these rooms with loose earth must have
been almost as great as the construction of the building in
itself.”38 So it seems that in the fortress-mounds also we meet
with this same mysterious feature—rooms filled with earth.

Fortress Mound.

The Huatica Valley was also the location of a famous temple—at
least such are the traditions—and ruins are pointed out as being
those of the temple in question. It is simply an immense, large
inclosed square, of some forty-nine acres. On each side of this
square there is a huge mass of ruins, and another in the center.
In our next illustration we have a portion of the wall
surrounding the ruins on the south side of the supposed temple.
This is the largest of the group of ruins. The walls are seventy
feet high; the area at the top is over five acres. Here, again,
we notice the same mysterious feature already referred to, for
“on the top of this were also discernible the outlines of large
square rooms, filled up, as all the others, even to the topmost
height of seventy feet, with earth or clay.”

Temple Wall.

This cut is given as a fort, meaning thereby a fortress-mound,
such as we have already described. It is said to be situated to
one side of the temple. From this we understand that the wall
seen in the cut is that already mentioned as inclosing the
temple. Another ruined fortress found in this valley is given
earlier.

Fortress, Huatica Valley.

Twenty miles south of Lima, in the valley of the river Lurin, is
an important field of ruins, known as Pachacamac, which is still
the name of a small village in the neighborhood. We give a
general view of the ruins. The principal point of interest, about
it is the ruins of an old temple. Traditionally, this, is one of
the most interesting points in Peru. All the coast tribes were
very superstitious. We have already referred to the celebrated
temple near Lima. The temple at Pachacamac was of still greater
renown. Arriaga, a famous ecclesiastic, took an active part in
extirpating their idolatrous belief. From his accounts, it seems
they were much addicted to fortune-telling. Their gods were made
to give out oracles and their temples became renowned just in
proportion as their priests were shrewd in this matter.

Pachacamac.

Those at Pachacamac were especially skillful, and it is said,
pilgrims resorted to it from all parts of the coast. As a
consequence, it became very rich. The god that was worshiped here
was a fish-god. The name of this god, and the name of this old
town are alike lost to us. When the Incas conquered the coast
people, they imposed the name of one of their own divinities on
this temple, and by that name the place is now known to us.39

The ruins of the supposed temple are seen on the hill in the
background of the picture. A number of writers speak of this hill
in such terms as to imply that it was altogether artificial, like
the famous pyramid at Cholula.

Mr. Squier says that it is largely artificial, but that the
central core is a natural hill. He speaks of rocks cropping out
on the highest part, which seem to be conclusive of the matter.
They built up great terraces around this central core. These
terrace walls are now in such a ruined condition that they can
with difficulty be made out. We introduce this cut as a nearer
view of the ruins of the temple.

View of the Temple.

Some writers assert that the Incas erected on the summit of this
hill a temple of the sun. There are, however, no good proofs of
this assertion. According to Mr. Squier the only ruin of the Inca
type of architecture is a mile and a half distant. Mr. Hutchinson
noticed, on the very top of the hill, evidence of the same
mysterious proceedings to which we have already referred—that is,
great rooms all filled up with clay. He propounds this query:
“Whose hands carried up the enormous quantities of earth that
fill every space and allow no definition of rooms, halls, or,
indeed, of any thing but the clay itself, and the walls cropping
up from amongst them?” We are afraid this query can never be
answered. Mr. Hutchinson found graves to be very plentiful all
over the field of ruins. Quite a number of curiosities have been
found in these graves. We present in this cut some of the same.
We call especial attention to the duck-headed bowl. Compare, this
with the cut given in Chapter X, and we will be struck with the
similarity. Another view of the ruins at Pachacamac is given
earlier in this chapter. As in the case of the ruins of Grand
Chimu, the whole field of ruins was encompassed by a wall,
portions of which Mr. Hutchinson observed on the north,
stretching away from the sea inland. Explorers have found here
true arches. They are said to exist in Northern Peru. We are at a
loss to account for their appearance, for certainly the people
generally were ignorant of their use.

Relics from Graves at Pachacamac.

The valley of the Canete, the next one we meet going south, is a
very large and very fertile valley. It is also full of ruins, but
not differing enough from the others to justify a separate
description. About one hundred miles below Lima we notice three
small islands. These are the Chincha Islands, noticeable on
account of the immense quantities of guano they contain. It seems
that at various depths in this guano deposits are found relics of
man. In our next cut we present some of these objects. The two
small vessels which were probably water jars, were found buried
in the guano at a depth of sixty-two feet. The other figure, a
wooden idol, was found at the depth of thirty-five feet.

Relics found buried in Guano Deposits.

We have no very good data on which to rely when we attempt to
estimate the number of years required to bury the water jars to
the depth where found. Thousands of years must have passed.40 The
water jars are not rude forms. No little skill is indicated by
their formation. The wooden idol is not necessarily near as old
as the jars, but no one can doubt but that it dates from long
before the Inca conquest of the valley. Another collection of
small idols, and supposed royal emblems, also found in guano
deposits, but at an unknown depth, is shown earlier in this
chapter.

We have thus far been describing the ruins that occur in the
territory occupied by the coast tribes, a people in many ways
different from the great body of Peruvian people in the interior.
According to traditions, the conquest of the coast tribes took
place about one hundred and fifty years before the Spanish
conquest. The details of this conquest are given with great
precision. We doubt whether any great reliance can be placed upon
them. We might remark that while Garcillasso traces the progress
of the conquest from the south north, Salcamayhua reverses this
order, and makes the victorious Incas march from the north to the
south. One or the other made a mistake in traditions.

Prehistoric Pottery Ware.

The Inca conquest of the coast tribes was a very thorough one.
The names and traditions of the tribes were blotted out. The word
Yunca, by which they are known, is from the Inca language. The
same is true of the names of the coast valleys, and yet, from
what we have already learned of them, we feel sure that they were
very far from the degraded savages Garcillasso would have us
believe they were. The inhabitants of each valley formed a
distinct community under its own chief. De Leon says: “The chief
of each valley had a great house, with adobe pillars and
door-ways, hung with matting, built on extensive terraces.” This
might have been the official house of the tribe.

They were an industrious people, and the evidence is abundant
that they had made considerable advance in cultivation of the
ground. They “set apart every square foot of ground that could be
reached by water for cultivation, and built their dwellings on
the hillsides overlooking their fields and gardens. Their system
of irrigation was as perfect as any that modern science has since
adopted.41 It is an altogether mistaken idea to suppose the Incas
were the authors.

We are not without evidence that they were possessed of
considerable artistic skill. This preceding collection of pottery
ware is not the work of savages. Mr. Markham further tells us
that they made “silver and gold ornaments, mantles, embroidered
with gold and silver bezants, robes of feathers, cotton cloth of
fine texture, etc.” We have already referred to the tasteful
decorations of the walls of Grand Chimu. “Figures of colored
birds and animals are said to have been painted on the walls of
temples and palaces.” At Pachacamac the remains of this color are
still seen on a portion of the walls. This cut represents the
head of a silver cylinder found in one of the coast valleys. The
ornamentation is produced by hammering up from below.

Silver Cylinder Head.

We must now leave the coast regions and investigate some ruins in
the interior. We have already spoken of the Lake Titicaca region.
Not far from the southern border of that lake we notice a place
marked Tiahuanuco. Here occur a very interesting group of ruins.
They consist of “rows of erect stones, some of them rough, or but
rudely shaped by art, others accurately cut and fitted in walls
of admirable workmanship; long sections of foundations, with
piers and portions of stairways; blocks of stone, with mouldings,
cornices, and niches cut with geometrical precision, vast masses
of sandstone, trachyte, and basalt, but partially hewn, and great
monolithic doorways, bearing symbolical ornaments in relief,
besides innumerable smaller rectangular and symmetrically shaped
stones rise on every hand, or lie scattered in confusion over the
plain.”42 In fact, all explorers are loud in their praise of the
beautifully cut stones found in the ruins.

Terrace Wall, Tiahuanuco.

We have seen in our review how general has been the desire to
raise foundations, sometimes of great extent, on which to place
buildings. This is true of the ruins under consideration. Here
the pyramid or foundation was faced with stone work. In this
illustration we have a view of such a wall yet remaining in
place. The labor expended on such a wall was very great. We
notice in the cut three large standing stones. These are ranged
along at regular intervals between. No mortar was used in the
construction of the wall. If we examine the large standing stone
carefully we will notice on the side a sort of projecting
shoulder. The stones of the wall that come in contact with this
standing stone are cut to fit this shoulder.

Method of Joining Stone, Tiahuanuco.

The remaining stones in the wall were held in place by a peculiar
arrangement, illustrated in this cut. Round holes were drilled in
the bottom and top of each stone. There is reason to suppose that
bronze pins fitted into these holes. Furthermore, each stone was
cut with alternate grooves and projections, so as to fit
immovably into each other.

One case was observed where either the will has entirely
disappeared, or else it was left unfinished, and so we have a row
of these standing stones, as seen in this illustration. This has
been called the American Stonehenge name is inappropriate,
because we have no reason to suppose the plans of the builders of
the two structures were at all similar.

Pillars of Stone, Tiahuanuco.

The most celebrated feature of these ruins is the presence of
huge gateways, each one cut out of a solid mass of stone. We give
a view of the most noteworthy of these gateways. It is now
broken, tradition says, by a stroke of lightning.43 The upper
portion is covered with carvings.

Gateway, at Tiahuanuco.

North of Tiahuanuco is Lake Titicaca. This was the sacred lake of
the Incas. We have already referred to the probable origin of
this feeling. Near the southern end of this lake, on the western
side, is the peninsula of Copacabana. Separated by a narrow
strait from the northern extremity of this peninsula is the
sacred island, Titicaca. According to traditions, the Incas
sought, in all ways, to beautify this island. They built temples,
and laid out gardens. The hills were leveled as much as possible,
terraced, and then covered with earth brought from afar.
According to the statements of early writers, pilgrims were not
permitted to land on its sacred soil until they had undergone
certain preliminary fasts and purifications on the main-land.
Landing on the island, they traversed a terrace, and by a narrow
passage way they were conducted between two large buildings,
where other ceremonies were performed.

The most sacred spot in all the island was a rock in the northern
part. Only priests of especial sanctity were allowed near it. The
rock to-day presents but the appearance of a weather-worn mass of
red sandstone. It is traditionally represented as having been
plated all over with gold and silver, and covered, except on
solemn occasions with a mantle of rich color and material. Here
the sun was believed to have first risen to dispel the primal
darkness. To this day the Indians regard it with superstitious
veneration. The traveler’s guide, when he comes in sight of it,
removes his hat, and reverently bows to it, and mutters to
himself a few words of mystic import.44

Ruins on the Island of Titicaca.

The whole appearance of the island shows how highly it was
regarded. In one place the remains of a drinking fountain were
noticed. Streams from some unknown source were still bringing to
it their limpid burden. Perhaps as noticeable a ruin as any is
represented in this cut. It is called the Palace. It is in a
sheltered nook. The lake washes the very foot of the foundation
on which it stands. It is two-storied. In the lower story were
twelve rooms, so connected with each other that but four of them
communicated by doors with the outside. The others were certainly
dark and illy ventilated. The second story was entered by means
of the terrace in the rear. The same statement may be made in
regard to its rooms; they did not, however, at all correspond in
arrangement with the rooms below. The Island of Coati, but a
short distance to the south-east, was sacred to the moon. It has
also a number of ruins. The approach to this was guarded by a
number of terraces.

Ruins, Island of Coati.

We will describe one more class of ruins found abundantly in the
Collao region. These are burial towers, or chulpas. A view of one
is here presented. The chulpas are common in the Titicaca basin,
and usually occur in groups, and almost always in positions from
which a large extent of country can be viewed. The great mass of
a chulpa is solid, but within is a dome-shaped chamber, into
which the opening seen in the cut leads. Sometimes the chulpas
are round, and in some the masonry is of that variety we have
already mentioned, called the Cyclopean. Another view of burial
towers is given earlier in this chapter.

Burial Tower.

As a mere description of ruins becomes tiresome, we will now pass
to Cuzco, and see of what we can learn of the architecture of the
Incas. The Incas were, of course, a very rich and a very powerful
tribe. All the tribes of ancient Peru had to pay them tribute. We
way therefore suppose that the pueblo of Cuzco was well built,
the houses large, and imposing, and that the official buildings
for worship and tribal business would be commensurate with their
importance as a tribe. Yet we have but very few accounts of these
buildings. Immediately after the conquest, many of the Spanish
leaders settled in Cuzco. They made many changes in the various
edifices, and introduced into them many improvements. At present
in the modern city we still find portions of ancient walls, and
can trace the foundation of various buildings.

Terrace Wall at Cuzco.

The site of the city of Cuzco is very uneven. It stands on the
slopes of three hills, where as many rivulets come together. The
ancient builders had to resort to extensive terracing in order to
secure level surfaces on which to build. These terraces, built in
a substantial manner, and faced with stone, are still standing in
many places. In this illustration we have a view of such a wall.
Observe that the stones are not laid in regular courses, nor is
there any regularity as to their size. This is a good example of
a Cyclopean wall. Some of the stones must weigh several tons, and
they are fitted together with marvelous precision, one stone
having as many as twelve angles.

All accounts agree that the temple of the sun was the grandest
structure in Cuzco. We present an illustration of one end of it.
This end is slightly curving. It is necessary to remark that this
end now forms part of the Church of Santo Domingo. The
fine-looking window and balcony are modern additions to this
ancient building. According to Mr. Squier, the temple was an
oblong building, nearly three hundred feet long, by about fifty
in width. It formed one side of a spacious court. It did not
extend east and west, but rather north-east and south-west. Early
chroniclers affirm that the inner walls of this temple were
covered with gold. Portions of very thin plates of gold exist in
private museums in Cuzco, said to have formed part of this
covering. The end of the temple shown in our illustration was
covered with a great plate of gold intended to represent the sun.
This plate was all in one piece, and spread from wall to wall.

Temple of the Sun.

Only fragments of the ancient buildings of Cuzco now exist. But
enough are at hand to enable us to describe their general
characteristics. As a rule, they were built around a court, the
outer surface presenting the appearance of an unbroken wall.
These walls are excellent specimens of Inca masonry. All
travelers speak in their praise. Mr. Squier says: “The world has
nothing to show in the way of stone-cutting and fitting to
surpass the skill and accuracy displayed in the Inca structures
at Cuzco.” There was but one gateway to the court. This entrance
was broad and lofty. On the lintels, over the doorway, was
frequently carved the figure of a serpent. The apartments were
constructed so as to face the court, and nearly all opened upon
the same. In some cases rooms wore observed, to which access
could be obtained only after passing through several outer rooms.
Some of the walls yet remaining at Cuzco are from thirty-five to
forty feet high. This would indicate houses of two or three
stories.

It is here necessary to state that the structures we have been
describing are considered by most writers as palaces of the Inca
chiefs. Names hive been bestowed upon them—such as the palace of
Huayna Capac. It is asserted that each Inca chief built a
separate palace. The credulous traveler is even pointed to a pile
of ruins said to have been the palace of that mythical personage,
Manco Capac. There is some conflict of authority as to the names
of these palaces. Modern tradition names one of the most imposing
piles as the palace of Inca Rocca, and as such it is described by
Mr. Squier and others. Garcillasso De La Vega says this chief’s
palace was in an altogether different part of the city.45 Those
who call these buildings palaces, think the houses of the
ordinary people have all disappeared. It is evident, however,
that if our views of the state of society among the Incas be
right, that it is a misnomer to call these structures palaces.
Some of them may have been public buildings, devoted to tribal
purposes. But we need not doubt but that this was the type of
communal buildings erected by the natives of Cuzco.

Fortress Walls.

We must describe one more piece of aboriginal work. This is the
celebrated Fortress of Cuzco. As we have stated, the ancient
pueblo, or city@, was built on the slopes of three hills. One of
these, easily defended, was strongly fortified, and thus
converted into a citadel. Though called a hill, it is in reality
a projecting headland. Back of it rise still higher hills. The
portion overhanging the city is very precipitous, in fact, almost
incapable of ascent. There is, however, a pathway up this front,
ascending in places by stone steps. On this front it did not need
very strong fortifications, yet sections of stone wall, serving
for this purpose, are to be seen. They have been mostly thrown
down, and the stones rolled or tumbled down the hill to be
utilized in building. The main defensive works are where the
headland commences, from which point the city is not visible.

Section of Fortress Walls.

In this illustration we have a view of the three massive walls
which defended the citadel. They are really wonderful works. In
order to understand the construction, we will present an
imaginary section of the walls. The walls support terraces, but
they rose above the terraces so as to form a parapet. To prevent
the accumulation of water behind the parapet, channels were cut
through the walls at regular intervals to drain them. The height
of the outer wall is at present twenty-seven feet; the width of
the terrace thirty-five feet. The second wall is eighteen feet
high; the width of its terrace is also eighteen feet. The height
of the third wall is fourteen feet.

Quippos, or Knot Record.

The Incas divided the year into twelve months, but we do not
learn how they kept track of the years. In this respect they were
behind the Mexicans. Neither do we know of any hieroglyphics for
days, or months, or years. In the matter of keeping records, they
must have been far below the Mexicans. Our next illustration is
that of one of their knot records, or quippos. It is a very rude
attempt to assist the memory. To the base cord are attached other
threads of various colors, and tied in various ways. We, of
course, know but very little about them. It is claimed, however,
that a red thread signified a soldier, or war; a yellow one
signified gold; a white one silver, or peace; a green one wheat,
or maize. A single knot is said to have stood for ten; two knots,
twenty; a knot doubly intertwined, one hundred, etc. Also the
position of the knots on the threads was to be considered, their
distance apart, the way the threads were twisted, and many other
details.46 It is manifest, however, that this system of records
is of very little value, and is way below the picture-writing of
the Mexicans.

Take it all in all, the Incas are indeed an interesting people.
We believe, however, their culture has been greatly overrated.
Our object in this chapter has been to give an outline of the
Incas and the tribes subject to them. It is impossible in these
few pages to give more than an outline. Should the reader, by the
perusal of these pages, acquire an interest in the culture of the
Andean people just before the Spanish invasion, and be thereby
induced to continue his investigations, the writer will consider
such a result reward enough, even though the conclusions reached
should be totally opposed to those set forth in this chapter on
Ancient Peru.

REFERENCES

Xeres: “Report on the Discovery of Peru,” Markham’s
translation, Hakluyt Society’s Publication.

Buckle’s “History of Civilization,” chap. ii.

Squier’s “Peru,” p. 9. The Vicuna is a species of the llama.

Squier’s “Peru,” p. 12. The quinoa is a species of plant of the
same genus as our pig-weeds. But it is a larger plant, and its
seeds give a very nutritious meal. The biscacha is about the
size and shape of the rabbit. It belongs to the chinchilla
family. The llama is the only representative of the camel
family on the western hemisphere. There were three species of
this genus in Peru, the llama, alpaca, and vicuna. These
domesticated and constituted what the Spaniards in their first
reports called sheep.

Squier’s “Peru,” p. 12.

Morton’s “Crania Americanæ” pp. 6, 83. Winchell’s
“Pre-Adamites,” p. 388.

H. L. Morgan. “Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the
Human Family,” p. 255; other works by the same author, “House
and House-life of American Aborigines,” and “Ancient Society.”

The Quichuas were a closely related tribe to the Incas, and
their name has been given to the language of Peru. But as the
Incas were the ruling tribe, their name should have been given
to this family of languages.

“The Geographical Distribution of the Tribes of the Inca
Empire,” in “Journal of the Geographical Society,” Vol. XLI, p.
281, _et seq._

“Peru,” p. 571.

Foster’s “Prehistoric Races,” p. 375. The Zuñi Indians have
indeed preserved a tradition of the visit of Coronado three
hundred and fifty years ago, but in such a form that no one not
acquainted with the facts would guess the meaning. “Fifth
Annual Report Archæological Institute,” p. 40.

More than one-third of Mr. Prescott’s quotations are from this
authority.

Morton.

This idea was largely based on the differences of the skulls.
On this point see “Fourth Annual Report Peabody Museum.” Some
authors speak rather vaguely of the ancient race of the
Titicaca basin. We know of no good foundation for such
expressions.

Garcillasso impresses on his readers the idea that the Incas
was the only tribe at all civilized. The Aymara Indians were
certainly as far advanced as the Incas, and even surpassed them
in the art of cutting stone, if we conclude the ruins at
Tiahuanuco to be of Aymara origin. The tribes of the coast
region were certainly not far behind. The Muyscas, of Bogota,
who were never under the dominion of the Incas, were yet
possessed of a high degree of culture.

Markham in Forbes’s “Aymara Indians,” p. 111.

“Peru,” p. 427.

“It was from Cuzco the nearest point to the sun-rising.”
(Markham.)

Their name for the Titicaca basin.

Markham, in Forbes’s “Aymara Indians.”

_American Antiquarian,_ Sept., 1884, p. 295, _et seq._

It is manifest that, during the centuries of slow development
which the Incas underwent, they had a great many chiefs. How
many we shall never know. Garcillasso gives us a list of
fourteen, including Huascar and Atahualpa. Montesino generously
increases this number to one hundred and one. Neither of them
knew any thing positive about it; but this latter number is the
more reasonable of the two. Mr. Markham, who goes at the
problem in another way, thinks there were five historical
Incas, counting Huayna-Capac the last. He surmises that the
first may have flourished two hundred years before the
conquest.

Markham’s Garcillasso’s “Royal Commentaries,” Vol. I, p. 66.

Markham’s translation, p. 151.

Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 100.

Our authority is Christoval Molina, a priest of Cuzco. He made
a report to the bishop, which must have been written some time
between 1570 and 1584, on the “Fables and Rites of the Incas.”
This was translated by Markham, and published by Hakluyt
Society in 1873. He obtained his information by gathering
together a number of aged Indians, including some priests, who
had participated in these ceremonies in the days of the Incas.

This writer, a native Indian, wrote about the same time as
Garcillasso.

“Fables and Rites of the Incas,” p. 105.

“Peruvian Antiquities,” p. 105.

“Peru,” p. 5.

Many such quotations could be given, not only from Garcillasso,
but from Molina, Salcamayhua, and others.

Address before the Historical Society of New Mexico.

We can not help wondering if the Incas did not have two chief
executives. This would make them similar to the Iroquois, and
most of the more southern tribes, such as we have already seen
to be true of the Mexicans. Mr. Bandelier says there is
abundant proof that the Incas had two chiefs—one the
“dispensing Inca,” the other the “speaking head.”
(“Archæological Tour in Mexico,” p. 167, note 6.)

“Travels,” Markham’s Translation, p. 164.

In Forbes’s “Aymara Indians,” p. 109.

Indian architecture from the Sioux lodge to the houses of
Uxmal, Mitla, and Tiahuanuco, is only understood through Indian
social organization.” (Bandelier.)

“Peru,” p. 214.

“Two Years in Peru,” Vol. I, p. 283.

Markham’s “Introduction,” to “Report on the Discovery of Peru.”

“In this case it is nonsense to talk of hundreds.”
(Hutchinson.)

Markham, in Journal of the Royal Geog. Society, Vol. XLI.

Squier’s “Peru,” p. 375.

The dimensions are: Length, thirteen feet five inches; height
above ground, seven feet two inches; thickness, one foot six
inches. (Squier.)

Squier’s “Peru,” p. 336.

Markham, in “Journal of Geog. Soc.,” Vol. XLI.

“Peruvian Antiquities,” p. 110.

The End.

*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished Races" ***

Home