RUINS OF THE CITY OF OTOLUM, DISCOVERED IN NORTH AMERICA.
“Some years ago, the Society of Geography, in Paris, offered a large premium for a voyage to Guatemala, and for a new survey of the antiquities of Yucatan and Chiapa, chiefly those fifteen miles from Palenque.”
“They were surveyed by Captain Del Rio, in 1787, an account of which was published in English in 1822. This account describes partly the ruins of a stone city, of no less dimensions than seventy-five miles in circuit, length thirty-two, and breadth twelve miles, full of palaces, monuments, statues, and inscriptions; one of the earliest seats of American civilization, about equal to Thebes of ancient Egypt.”
It is stated in the Family Magazine, Vol. I., p. 266, as follows: “Public attention has been recently excited respecting the ruins of an ancient city found in Guatemala. It would seem that these ruins are now being explored, and much curious and valuable matter in a literary and historical point of view is anticipated. We deem the present a most auspicious moment, now that the public attention is turned to the subject, to spread its contents before our readers, as an introduction to future discoveries during the researches now in progress.”
The following are some particulars, as related by Captain Del Rio, who partially examined them as above related, 1787: From Palenque, the last town northward in the province of Ciudad Real de Chiapa, taking a southwesterly direction, and ascending a ridge of high land that divides the kingdom of Guatemala from Yucatan, at the distance of six miles, is the little river Micol, whose waters flow in a westerly direction, and unite with the great river Tulija, which bends its course towards the province of Tabasco. Having passed Micol, the ascent begins; and at half a league, or a mile and a half, the traveller crosses a little stream called Otolum; from this point heaps of stone ruins are discovered, which render the roads very difficult for another half league, when you gain the height whereon the stone houses are situated, being still fourteen in number in one place, some more dilapidated than others, yet still having many of their apartments perfectly discernible.
Here is a rectangular area, three hundred yards in breadth by four hundred and fifty in length, which is a fraction over fifty-six rods wide, and eighty-four rods long, being, in the whole circuit, two hundred and eighty rods, which is three-fourths of a mile, and a trifle over. This area presents a plain at the base of the highest mountain forming the ridge. In the centre of this plain is situated the largest of the structures which has been as yet discovered among these ruins. It stands on a mound or pyramid twenty yards high, which is sixty feet, or nearly four rods in perpendicular altitude, which gives it a lofty and beautiful majesty, as if it were a temple suspended in the sky. This is surrounded by other edifices, namely, five to the northward, four to the southward, one to the southwest, and three to the eastward—fourteen in all. In all directions the fragments of other fallen buildings are seen extending along the mountain that stretches east and west either way from these buildings, as if they were the great temple of worship, or their government house, around which they built their city, and where dwelt their kings and officers of state. At this place was found a subterranean stone aqueduct, of great solidity and durability, which in its course passes beneath the largest building.
Let it be understood, this city of Otolum, the ruins of which are so immense, is in North, not South America, in the same latitude with the island of Jamaica, which is about eighteen degrees north of the equator, being on the highest ground between the northern end of the Caribbean sea and the Pacific ocean, where the continent narrows towards the isthmus of Darien, and is about eight hundred miles south of New Orleans.
The discovery of these ruins, and also of many others, equally wonderful, in the same country, is just commencing to arouse the attention of the schools of Europe, who hitherto have denied that America could boast of her antiquities. But these immense ruins are now being explored under the direction of scientific persons, a history of which, in detail, will be forthcoming doubtless, in due time; two volumes of which, in manuscript, we are informed, have already been written, and cannot but be received with enthusiasm by Americans.
By those deeply versed in the antiquities of past ages, it is contended that the first people who settled America came directly from Chaldea, immediately after the confusion of language at Babel.—(See Description of the Ruins of the American City, published in London, 1832, p. 33, by Dr. Paul Felix Cabrera.) Whoever the authors of the city may have been, we seem to find, in their sculptured deities, the idolatry of even the Phœnicians, a people whose history goes back nearly to the flood, or to within a hundred and fifty years of that period.
It appears from some of the historical works of the Mexicans, written in pictures, which fell into the hands of the Spaniards, that there was found one which was written by Votan, who sets himself forth to be the third Gentile, (reckoning from the flood or family of Noah,) and lord of the Tapanahuasec, or the sacred drum. In the book above alluded to, Votan says that he saw the great house which was built by his grandfather, meaning the tower of Babel, which went up from the earth to the sky. In one of those picture books, the account is given by the Indian historian, whoever he was, or at whatever time he lived, that Votan had written it himself. He gives the account that he made no less than four voyages to this continent, conducting with him at one time seven families. He says that others of his family had gone away before himself, and that he was determined to travel till he should come to the root of heaven, the sky, (in the west,) in order to discover his relations the Culebras, or Snake people, and calls himself Culebra, (a snake,) and that he found them, and became their captain. He mentions the name of the town which his relation had built at first, which was Tezequil.
Agreeing with this account, it is found by exploring the ruins of this city, and its sculptures, that among a multitude of strange representations are found two which represent this Votan, on both continents. The continents are shown by being painted in two parallel squares, and standing on each is this Votan, showing his acquaintance with each of them. The pictures engraven on the stones which form the sides of the houses or temples of this ruined city, are a series of hieroglyphics, which show, beyond all doubt, that the era of its construction, and of the people who built it, excels in antiquity those of the ancient Greeks, the Romans, and the most celebrated nations of the old world, and is worthy of being compared even with the first progenitors of the Hebrews themselves, after the flood.—(See History of American City, as before quoted, p. 39.)
It is found that the gods of the ancient Egyptians, even Osiris, Apis, and Isis, are sculptured on the stones of this city, the worship of which passed from Egypt to many nations, and is found under many forms, but all traceable to the same original. We have examined the forms of the figures cut on the side of the famous Obelisk of seventy-two feet in height, brought not long since from Egypt, by the French government, and erected in Paris; and have compared them with some of the sculptured forms of men, found on the stones of this city, in which there is an exact correspondence in one remarkable particular. On the obelisk is represented a king or god seated on a throne, holding in one hand a rod grasped in its middle, having on its top the figure of a small bird.
The arm holding this is extended toward a person who is resting on one knee before him, and offers from each of his hands that which is either food, drink, or incense, to the one on the throne. The head ornaments are of the most fantastic construction. The same without variation is cut in the stones of the ruined American city in many places; with this difference only, the American sculpture is much larger, as if representing gigantic beings, but is of the same character. Can we have a better proof than this, that Egyptian colonies have reached America in the very first ages of the world after the flood, or some people having the notions, the religion, and the arts of the Egyptians, and such were the most ancient people of Canaan, the Hivites, Perizzites, and Hitites, which names denote all these nations as serpent worshippers.
As it respects the true founders of this city, the discovery and contents of which are now causing so great and general interest in both this country and Europe, it is ascertained in the most direct and satisfactory way, in the work to which we have just alluded, published in London, 1832, on the subject of this city, that they were the ancient Hivites, one of the nations which inhabited Palestine, or Canaan, a remnant of which, it is ascertained, fled into the kingdom of Tyre, and there settled, and into Africa, to avoid annihilation by the wars of Joshua, the captain of the Jews; and that among them was one who acted as a leader, and was called Votan, and that he sailed from a port in ancient Tyre, which before it was known by that name, was called Chivim, and that this Votan was the third in the Gentile descent from Noah, and that he made several voyages to and from America. But the kingdom which was founded by Votan, was finally destroyed by other nations, and their works, their cities and towns, turned into a wilderness, as they are now found to be. (The word Hivite, which distinguished one of the nations of old Canaan in the time of Joshua, signifies the same thing in the Phœnician language, Serpent people or worshippers.) The Hivites, it appears, were the ancestors of the Moors, who spread themselves all along the western coast of Africa, at an early period, and in later times they overran the country of Spain, till the Romans supplanted them; who in their turn were supplanted by the northern nations of Germany, the Goths, &c. The Moors were not the proper Africans, as the hair of their heads was long, straight, and shining. They were a different race, and of different manners and attainments. The contour of the faces of the authors of the American city, found sculptured on the stones of its ruins, are in exact correspondence with the forehead and nose of the ancient Moors, the latter of which was remarkable for its aquiline shape, and was a national trait, characteristic of the Moors as well as the Romans.
When the Spaniards overran Peru, which lies on the western side of South America, on the coast of the Pacific were found statues, obelisks, mausolea, edifices, fortresses, all of stone, equal with the architecture of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, six hundred years before the Christian era. Roads were cut through the Cordillera mountains; gold, silver, copper, and lead mines, were opened and worked to a great extent; all of which is evidence of their knowledge of architecture, mineralogy, and agriculture. In many places of that country are found the ruins of noble aqueducts, some of which, says Dr. Morse, the geographer, would have been thought works of difficulty in civilized nations. Several pillars of stone are now standing, which were erected to point out the equinoxes and solstices. In their sepulchres were found paintings, vessels of gold and silver, implements of warfare, husbandry, &c. To illustrate the architectural knowledge of the Peruvians, as well as of some other provinces of South America, we quote the following from Baron Humboldt’s Researches, 1st vol. Eng. Trans., Amer. ed., p. 255:—“The remains of Peruvian architecture are scattered along the ridge of the Cordilleras, from Cuzco to Cajambe, or from the 13th degree of north latitude to the equator, a distance of nearly a thousand miles. What an empire, and what works are these, which all bear the same character in the cut of the stones, the shape of the doors to their stone buildings, the symmetrical disposal of the niches, and the total absence of exterior ornaments! This uniformity of construction is so great, that all the stations along the high road, called in that country palaces of the Incas, or kings of the Peruvians, appear to have been copied from each other; simplicity, symmetry, and solidity, were the three characters by which the Peruvian edifices were distinguished. The citadel of Cannar, and the square building surrounding it, are not constructed with the same quartz sandstone which covers the primitive slate, and the porphyries of Assuay; and which appears at the surface, in the garden of the Inca, as we descend toward the valley of Gulan; but of trappean porphyry, of great hardness, enclosing nitrous feldspar and hornblende. This porphyry was perhaps dug in the great quarries which are found at 4000 meters in height, (which is 13,000 feet and a fraction, making two and a third miles in perpendicular height,) near the lake of Culebrilla, or Serpent lake, ten miles from Cannar. To cut the stones for the buildings of Cannar, at so great a height, and to bring them down and transport them ten miles, is equal with any of the works of the ancients, who built the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabia, long before the Christian era.
“We do not find, however,” says Humboldt, “in the ruins of Cannar, those stones of enormous size, which we see in the Peruvian edifices of Cuzco and the neighboring countries. Acosto, he says, measured some at Traquanaco, which were twelve meters (thirty-eight feet) long, and five meters eight tenths (eighteen feet) broad, and one metre nine tenths (six feet) thick.” The stones made use of in building the temple of Solomon were but a trifle larger than these, some of which were twenty-five cubits (forty-three feet nine inches) long, twelve cubits (twenty-nine feet) wide, and eight cubits (fourteen feet) thick, reckoning twenty-one inches to the cubit.”
“One of the temples of ancient Egypt is now, in its state of ruin, a mile and a half in circumference. It has twelve principal entrances. The body of the temple consists of a prodigious hall or portico; the roof is supported by 134 columns. Four beautiful obelisks mark the entrance to the shrine, a place of sacrifice, which contains three apartments, built entirely of granite. The temple of Luxor probably surpasses in beauty and splendor all the other ruins of Egypt. In front are two of the finest obelisks in the world; they are of rose-colored marble, one hundred feet high. But the objects which most attract attention, are the sculptures which cover the whole of the northern front. They contain, on a great scale, a representation of a victory gained by one of the ancient kings of Egypt over an enemy. The number of human figures cut in the solid stone amounts to fifteen hundred; of these, five hundred are on foot, and one thousand in chariots. Such are the remains of a city which perished long before the records of ancient history had a being.”—Malte-Brun.
We are compelled to ascribe some of the vast operations of the ancient nations of this country, to those ages which correspond with the times and manners of the people of Egypt, which are also beyond the reach of authentic history. It should be recollected that the fleets of king Hiram navigated the seas in a surprising manner, seeing they had not, as is supposed, (but not proved,) a knowledge of the magnetic needle; and in some voyage out of the Mediterranean, into the Atlantic, they may have been driven to South America; where having found a country rich in all the resources of nature, more so than even their native country, they founded a kingdom, built cities, cultivated fields, marshalled armies, made roads, built aqueducts, became rich, magnificent, and powerful, as the vastness and extent of the ruins of Peru, and other provinces of South America, plainly show.
Humboldt says, that he saw at Pullal three houses made of stone, which were built by the Incas, (kings,) each of which was more than fifty meters, or a hundred and fifty feet long, laid in a cement, or true mortar. This fact, he says, deserves attention, because travellers who had preceded him had unanimously overlooked this circumstance, asserting that the Peruvians were unacquainted with the use of mortar, but this is erroneous. The Peruvians not only employed a mortar in the great edifices of Pacaritambo, but made use of a cement of asphaltum; a mode of construction which, on the banks of the Euphrates and the Tigris, may be traced back to the remotest antiquity. The tools made use off to cut their stone were of copper, hardened with tin, the same metal used among the Greeks and Romans, and other nations.
To show the genius and enterprise of the natives of Mexico, before America was last discovered, we give the following as but a single instance: Montezuma, the last king but one of Mexico, A. D. 1446, forty-six years before the discovery of America by Columbus, erected a dike to prevent the overflowing of the waters of certain small lakes in the vicinity of their city, which had several times deluged it. This dike consisted of a bank of stones and clay, supported on each side by a range of palisadoes; extending in its whole length about seventy miles, and sixty-five feet broad, its whole length sufficiently high to intercept the overflowings of the lakes in times of high water, occasioned by the spring floods. In Holland, the Dutch have resorted to the same means to prevent incursions of the sea; and the longest of the many is but forty miles in extent, nearly one half short of the Mexican dike. “Amidst the extensive plains of Upper Canada, in Florida, near the gulf of Mexico, and in the deserts bordered by the Orinoco, in Colombia, dikes of a considerable length, weapons of brass, and sculptured stones, are found, which are the indications that those countries were formerly inhabited by industrious nations, which are now traversed only by tribes of savage hunters.”—[Priest.]