“But for a brief note in Nature (28th April, 1892), I have never classified the ruins or attempted to give proofs of differences in age of the monuments, but roughly you may safely class them as follows: I am inclined to look on the Motagua river group as the oldest. The Yucatan group is certainly the youngest. Of course there are many other smaller differences between the groups and much overlapping. Whichever group may be the oldest the art is there already advanced and the decoration has taken forms which must have occupied many kinds of workers to conventionalize from natural objects.”

1. On Motagua River, Quirigua, Copan. Large monolithic stelæ and altars with figures and inscriptions carved on all four sides in rather high relief, some groups pictographic. No weapons of war portrayed in the sculpture.

2. On Usumacinto River, Menché, Tinamit, Palenque, Ixkun. Stelæ are usually flat slabs carved with figures and inscriptions in low relief on one side only. External ornament of the buildings usually moulded in stucco. War-like weapons but very scarce.

3. Tikal. Intermediate between Nos. 2 and 4, but somewhat different and distinct from either.

4. Yucatan. Chichen-Itza, Uxmal, etc. Stelæ very few in number and poorly carved. Inscriptions carved in stone are very scarce. Inscriptions were probably painted on the walls of the temples. External ornament of buildings formed by a mosaic of cut stones somewhat resembling Zapotec or Aztec style. Every man portrayed as a warrior [on the bas-reliefs].

By means of the magnificent set of casts which Mr. A. P. Maudslay has generously presented to the South Kensington Museum, London, and with the aid of his monumental and splendidly illustrated work on the Archaeology of Central America, which has been appearing as a part of the Biologia Centrali-Americana, edited by Messrs. Godman and Salvin, I have been able to verify the following facts which will be found to throw light on the purpose and meaning of some of the ancient monuments.

Before examining the great, elaborately carved stelæ which are characteristic of Quirigua and Copan, let us search the native chronicles for some clue explanatory of the purpose for which they were erected.

Disagreeing with the venerable Bishop, I find in the above statements the most valuable indications of the former existence of two centres of culture in Yucatan. There is a curious affinity between the name Zilan (pronounced Dzilan) and Chilan given as “the title of a priestly office which consisted of a juridistic astrology and divination,” by Landa. There may even be a connection between zilan and zian=origin, commencement; zihnal=original and primitive, which may be worthy of consideration in association with the well-known statement, quoted by Dr. Brinton, that “the most venerable traditions of the Maya race claimed for them a migration from Tollan in Zu-iva—thence we all came forth together, there was the common parent of our race; thence came we from amongst the Yagui men, whose god is Yolcuatl Quetzalcoatl.” Dr. Brinton adds that “this Tollan is certainly none other than the abode of Quetzalcoatl named in an Aztec manuscript as ‘Zivena Uitzcatl.’ ” Vague as any conjecture must necessarily be, I cannot but deem it of utmost importance that systematic excavations be made, some day, at Zilan, for the purpose of bringing to light the stelæ referred to by the native informants of Bishop Landa.

By referring to Maya and Spanish dictionaries we gain supplementary valuable information about native memorial stones. We find the name amaytun given as that of “a square stone on which the ancient Indians used to carve the 20 years of the period ahau-katun, because the four remaining years which completed the epoch, were placed underneath, so as to form a sort of pedestal which was called, for this reason, lath oc katun or chek oc katun. By extension, painted representations [of the epoch] were also named amaytun.” The dictionary further informs us that amayté was the name for the first twenty years of the ahau katun, which were carved on the square stone and we see that amayté also means “something square or with corners” and is formed of amay=corner.

Equipped with the foregoing knowledge of the sort of memorial it was customary for the Mayas to erect, let us now see whether the ruins of Copan furnish any monuments which would answer to the description and purpose of “amay-tés” and “ka-tuns.” Referring the reader to parts i-iii of Mr. A. P. Maudslay's work already cited, I draw special attention to the following stelæ and altars which are so admirably figured therein.

The inscriptions on the foregoing stelæ are made of glyphs of a uniform character. Other stelæ at Copan display the interesting set of 6+1=7 signs which recur on so many Central American monuments and strikingly coincide in number with the all-pervading division into six parts plus the middle and synopsis of all. Of this “septenary set of signs,” six are uniform in size and character whilst the first is more elaborate and important in every respect and, as I shall set forth by a series of illustrations in another publication, actually does symbolize the union of the Above and Below. It is to Mr. Maudslay that we owe the recognition of the existence of this septenary set of glyphs, which he announced as follows to the Royal Geographical Society in 1886:

“A number of Central American inscriptions are headed by what I shall call an initial scroll (the style of which is permanent throughout many variations) and begin with the same formula, usually extending through six squares of hieroglyphic writing, the sixth square, or sometimes the latter half of the sixth square, being a human face, usually in profile, enclosed in a frame or cartouche” (Proceedings, p. 583).

Mr. Maudslay has pointed out that on stelæ from Copan and Quirigua a profusion of analogous curved signs occurs also in connection with serpents' heads. A special feature of the curved puffs of breath on the Copan “swastika,” as it has been named, are small seed-like balls which are distributed in detached groups of threes along their inner and outer edges, and are usually accompanied by what resembles the small calyx of a flower, making four small objects in all. These balls, which also recur in the Palenque symbol, forcibly recall a passage of the Zuñi creation myth recounted by Mr. Cushing.

It relates that, at a certain stage of the creation, “the most perfect of all priests and fathers named Yanáuluha ... brought up from the underworld, the water of the inner ocean and the seeds of life production” ... Subsequently, on a feathered staff he carried, “appeared 4 round things, seeds of moving beings, mere eggs they were; two blue like the sky and two red like the flesh of the earth-mother.”...

The Copan swastika enables us to come to another interesting conclusion. It is a refined representation of the set of thoughts suggested by Polaris, the idea of a stable centre being graphically rendered. Movement in four directions is also symbolized. As, in the latitude of Copan, Ursa Minor is the only circumpolar constellation which could have been observed in four opposite positions, it is obvious that Ursa Minor with Polaris must have constituted the Maya Celestial Heart or Life=cuxabal. The following points remain to be discussed in connection with the Copan swastika.

1. To be complete and in keeping with native modes of representation it must have originally been painted with the symbolical colors of the Four Quarters.

2. It is on a wooden club from Brazil or Guiana that, strange to say, I find a cross symbol with bifurcated branches, which most closely resembles the Copan type. Directing the readers to the illustration of this club as fig. 8, pl. xv, in Dr. Stolpe's work already cited, I would ask them to examine also his fig. 7, with a design expressing dual and quadruple divisions; fig. 9b, with circles containing cross lines; 9a, with what resembles somewhat a Maltese cross but also conveys duality; fig. 11b with a cross in a scalloped circle and a curious disc between four signs, with a band of alternate black and white squares and its reverse 11a, with triangles, to which I shall revert; and figs. 10c and d, each with a mound from which a tree is growing. Though tempted to refer to many other symbols I shall limit myself to pointing out that his fig. 1, pl. xiv, exhibits a group of five circles in a circle which strikingly recall the Mexican examples and the Maya ho=5. As each of the foregoing symbols is intelligible and belongs to a group of ideas which I have shown to have been general throughout America, but to have necessarily originated in the northern hemisphere, it seems pretty clear that they must have gradually found their way to Brazil and Guiana from the north by means of coast navigation and traffic.

By this time I trust that my readers will realize with me that, at Copan, the native set of ideas had long taken deep root and flourished. We have seen that the identical numerical divisions of time and tribes and the same symbolism prevailed as have been traced in Peru, Guatemala, Mexico, Yucatan, Zuñi, etc. The following monuments will still further establish this kinship of thought. Copan contains two stone slabs which answer to the description of an amay-tun, inasmuch as they are square and appear to be memorial stones. Let us see whether some clue to their purpose can be obtained from the carvings upon them.

A careful study of the other square monolith at Copan, known as the Alligator altar, will enable us to form a better estimate of the probable meaning of glyphs, employed as seats by chieftains. The Alligator altar takes its name from the sculptured animal which is stretched over its upper surface. Human figures are represented as connected with the different parts of the animal's body, in a way which forcibly recalls Mr. Cushing's explanation of how the various members of a tribe were associated with a part only of their totemic animal and bore the name of this part as their title of honor, according to a strict order of precedence.

According to Mr. Maudslay's description: “Upon the upper surface of the monument are two apparently human figures seated upon the arms of the alligator. Both figures are much weather worn; each has what appears to be a glyph in its hand, which is outstretched toward the alligator's head. Between the alligator's arms and legs four human figures are seated in similar positions, two on each side of the body. These figures have large mask head-dresses and carry offerings in their hands. There are two figures on the north side of the monument, one on either side of the tail of the alligator; each is seated on a glyph. The figures are human, but in place of a human head each figure is surmounted by a glyph. Each figure holds a glyph with the numeral ten attached to it in its outstretched hand.”

Since the above partial description of the altar was written, Mr. Maudslay has found that one of the above glyphs is “Mol” and the other “Zip,” and has identified the glyph used as a head for each figure as the day-sign Cabal. This fact is of particular interest as the meaning of this sign seems to be connected with Caban=the Below, and the two figures with Cabal heads are sculptured at each side of the alligator's tail which is the part of least honor, not only according to Zuñi etiquette, but also according to Mexican ideas, the word for tail being employed, metaphorically, for vassals.

The following résumé will make the distribution of the figures and glyphs on the altar quite clear. Top: outstretched alligator body, whose legs and claws are sculptured over the corners of the altar. On each shoulder 1 figure with glyph=2. On each knee 2 figures=4, making a total of 6 figures on the top. On east and west sides respectively, 4 figures; on north side 2 figures, on the south side 4 figures on composite glyphs=14. The total number of figures on top and sides is 20, each of which is intimately associated with a glyph. Under the snout of the alligator, on the south side, there are 2×4=8 glyphs.

When carefully analyzed we ultimately find that the surface of the altar exhibits in the first case two chieftains of equal rank, but respectively seated on the right and left forelegs of the tribal totem. To my idea this demonstrates that the dual rulership, such as existed elsewhere, prevailed at Copan, and that two lords of the alligator tribe were entitled the right and left forelegs or “arms” of the animal totem. It should be noted here that the Maya name for alligator is chiuan or ain. The dictionaries contain also the following names for the same or allied species: Sea-lizard, alligator (?), ixbaan; lizard in general=ix-mech, or mech, ix-be-bech, ixzeluoh and ix-tulub. Obviously occupying positions of less honor there are 2×2=4 chiefs of equal rank but seated, respectively, on the right and left hind legs of the totem. These again are evidently equivalent to the four sub-rulers of Mexico and Yucatan, the Maya Bacabs or Chacs.

It is not necessary to emphasize how remarkably the Copan altar conforms to the Zuñi method of clan-organization. It suffices for my present purpose merely to establish the community of thought which existed throughout, but which found its highest artistic expression and development in Central America.

There are several other smaller carved monoliths, one of which usually lies in front of a stela. For this reason they have been popularly named “altars,” just as the stelæ have been called “idols.” The majority of these “altars” contradict this appellation by their utterly unsuitable shapes and profuse carvings on their upper, often irregular, rounded surfaces. Some of these monoliths consist of a monstrous head, the shape of which is almost lost under an indescribable mass of ornamentation. In some cases, however, they recall the semblance of the large glyphs on which chieftains are represented as seated on the carved sides of the square monoliths just described. So strongly do some of these resemble certain forms, that I venture to express my belief that, on ceremonial occasions, these carved heads may have served as the seats or stools of honor for chieftains of the rank of those portrayed on the bas-reliefs. The Maya word tem, the plural form for which is tetem, seems to be applicable to such totemistic carved stones. It is translated as stone altar, seat or bench (cf. Nahuatl word te-tl=stone). Other minor monoliths are carved with glyphs. “Altar G,” illustrated in Mr. Maudslay's work, exhibits four glyphs only—an interesting number, replete with significance to the native mind.

Having lingered so long in Copan we can but glance at Quirigua and note its most remarkable features. This ruined city lies on Motagua river, 1,800 feet below and at about a distance of twenty-five to thirty miles from Copan. It is now subjected to almost annual inundations from the river and its situation in marshy surroundings renders it extremely unhealthy. It may have been partly on this account that the neighboring capital of Copan was founded in an elevated and salubrious position.

The beard, as an insignia of rank, occurs in several Mexican MSS. and careful observation shows that it is most frequently represented as worn by a high-priest, usually painted black and sometimes wearing the skin of an ocelot. It is found associated with advanced age and with red, the color of the north, a fact which coincides with the position assigned to bearded effigies at Copan and Quirigua. In Mexican Codices the culture hero, Quetzalcoatl, is figured with a beard, and tradition records that this was his distinctive feature. Images of Quetzalcoatl=the air-god, represent him with a beard, and the calendar-sign Ehecatl=wind, is composed of an elongated mouth and chin to which a beard is attached.

The Maya dictionaries supply us with the clue to the meaning attached to the beard in pictorial art. The word for beard is meex and for “bearded man,” ah-meex, or ah-meexnal, if the beard was long. On the other hand, ah-mek-tancal is the Maya name for “governor and ruler of people or of a town,” and ah-mektanpixan means high priest. The first two syllables of these titles, being identical with the word for a “bearded man,” seem to explain the reason for the association of rank with a beard, and vice versa. Added to preceding data it aids in forming the conclusion that the bearded personages on the stelæ were “high-priests or rulers of people and of towns,” that the beard or goatee was the mark of supreme rank and that artificial ones were sometimes worn.

The beardless effigies, on the other hand, obviously represent individuals belonging to a different caste; and the fact that stelæ exist at Copan and Quirigua on which two figures are carved, back to back, proves that the assignment of the effigies of the two types to separate sides of the courts was preceded by a time when a closer unity prevailed between the dual rulers. The existence of stelæ with female figures proves that here, as well as in Mexico and Peru, there had been a period when “the Below and the cult of the Earth-mother were presided over by a woman.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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