Mexican Copper Tools: The Use of Copper by the Mexicans Before the Conquest; and the Katunes of Maya History, a Chapter in the Early History of Central America, With Special Reference to the Pio Perez Manuscript.

by Philipp J. J. Valentini

The Maya Ahaues of the MSS., brought into correspondence with the years of the Christian Era:—

Ahaues	Before Christ
10	118
8	98
6	78
4	58
2	38
13	18
Ahaues	Christian Era
11	2
9	22
7	42
5	62
3	82
1	102
12	122
10	142
8	162
6	182
4	202
2	222
13	242
11	262	I. Ahau Katun.
9	282
7	302
5	322
3	342
1	362
12	382
10	402
8	422
6	442
4	462
2	482
13	502
11	522	II. Ahau Katun.
9	542
7	562
5	582
3	602
1	622
12	642
10	662
8	682
6	702
4	722
2	742
13	762
11	782	III. Ahau Katun.
9	802
7	822
5	842
3	862
1	882
12	902
10	922
8	942
6	962
4	982
2	1002
13	1022
11	1042	IV. Ahau Katun.
9	1062
7	1082
5	1102
3	1122
1	1142
12	1162
10	1182
8	1202
6	1222
4	1242
2	1262
13	1282
11	1302	V. Ahau Katun.
9	1322
7	1342
5	1362
3	1382
1	1402
12	1422
10	1442
3	1462
6	1482
4	1502
2	1522
13	1542

If, however, it should seem desirable to examine chronological parallels we shall refer our readers to a second chapter on Central American chronology which is hereafter to appear, in which we propose to undertake the task of illustrating and explaining still further the parallelism of Maya and Nahuatl dates. It will then be proved that in this written and still existing Nahuatl chronology, supported by the date 231 A. D., found on the Calendar Stone, a still earlier date designated as X Calli can be found, which represents the year 137 A. D. In this year, according to the annals, a great eclipse of the sun took place, with the remarkable statement that it occurred exactly at the end of a year at 12 o’clock noon. In our manuscript we find the first date preceding the settlement of Chacnouitan designated with the 8th Ahau, the date of the setting out from Tulapan, which we have already stated to be the years 142–162 A. D. Another agreement is that the Nahuatl records show that 166 years before the occurrence of the above mentioned eclipse of the sun in the year 1 Tecpatl, a congress of astrologers to amend the calendar of the nation took place at a town called Huehuetlapallan, and by reckoning back we find that this year corresponds with the year 29 B. C. If we then follow a hint which Señor Perez has very ingeniously furnished that the manuscript strangely begins with an 8th Ahau instead of a 13th Ahau, and that the Maya chronology could be dated back to such a 13th Ahau as a proper beginning connected with some interesting event, we find by reckoning back from the 8th to the 13th Ahau the corresponding date to be the years 18–38 B. C.

Now, the results gained in this line of investigation, can be formulated as follows:—

1. That the conquerors and settlers of the Yucatan peninsula, as well as those of the Anahuac lakes, were joint participants in a correction of their national calendar about the year 29 B. C.

2. That about the year 137 A. D., when a total eclipse of the sun took place, the ancestors of both nations set out from their common fatherland, Tula or Tulapan.

3. That about the year 231 A. D., both nations made their appearance on the coast of Central America, and succeeded in conquering a large portion of the peninsula.

It is true that we have only documentary evidence to substantiate the theory just referred to. But, if we do not possess the desirable evidence of monumental inscriptions, it behooves us to examine and to weigh carefully that which still remains. In this connection we should also remember that the sculptor, in carving his records, was not guided by his memory alone, but that he copied the symbols from the sacred books of his race; and that on the other hand, our learned Maya writer, when translating these latter into written phonetic language, drew his text, as did the sculptor from similar sources.

If therefore with the help of written records we can build up hypotheses partially satisfactory, and not altogether improbable, we have accomplished all that could be expected for the present, at least, and have perhaps excited an interest in a branch of history which has hitherto been held as dead and unproductive.

In conclusion, we would express the hope that the Maya manuscript may be submitted to a rigid critical and linguistic examination, and that the publication of the work may be appended to a heliotype copy of the original in order to exhibit to students a document of so great importance, and to ensure its preservation.

---

[1]. A. v. Humboldt, Essai s. 1. Nouv. Espagne, Tome III., Livre 4, Chap. ii. W. H. Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico, Book I., Chap. 5. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. d. Nat. Civ. du Mexique, Livre III., Chap. 7, pag. 678.

[2]. Carta (2da) de relacion, por Fernando Cortes, de la villa Segura de Frontera desta Nueva España, á 30 de Octubre de 1520 años “donde hay todos los generos de mercaderias, que en todas las tierras se hallan, asi de mantenimientos como de vituallas, joyas de oro y de plata, de plomo, de laton, de cobre, de estano, de piedras, de huesos, etc.”

[3]. Bernal Diaz de Castillo, Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nuevo España, Madrid, 1632, I. Vol., Cap. 92, “y vendian hachas de laton, y cobre y estaño.” The meaning of this passage is, beyond all misinterpretation: He saw for sale bronze axes, and besides pieces of copper and others of tin. The order, in which these three words stand, conveys a suggestion that we should not wholly ignore. The word laton (bronze) is followed by cobre (copper) and estano (tin), the two well known components of bronze. Might not the relative position of the three words teach that, to them, bronze was the most important metal and was therefore assigned the first place, mentioning the copper and tin afterwards as the elements from which the bronze was made? We might also go farther and inquire how the first metal came to be recognized by them as bronze. In framing a reply, let us consider three possible explanations. Let us suppose, first, that they knew the bronze well enough to recognize it at once. They, further, may have entertained doubts as to its identity, but finally have been led to this conclusion by seeing the copper and tin exhibited in the stalls, together with the bronze. Thirdly, we may also suppose, that they would desire to obtain more positive confirmation and therefore have inquired and learned from their native guides that this bronze was actually a composition of the two other metals before them. Therefore, considering all these cases, when engaged in composing their narration, the Spaniards would have remembered the circumstances connected with the memorable visit to the market, and have enumerated the metals in the order in which they actually are found; first, the bronze, the main object of their curiosity, and then the copper and tin as the key to the puzzle.

We, however, make no defence of this forced and artificial interpretation of the language, and still less would in this manner build a premise from which to deduce the final conclusion, that the natives make bronze from copper and tin. On the contrary, the facts elicited from our material, as will be seen later, conduct us to very different conclusions. Still, having been struck by the occurrence of the three words and their relative positions, we could not dismiss them altogether, especially as Cortes and Bernal Diaz were eye-witnesses and were, therefore, of highest authority. Besides, it is by no means impossible that in the future, instruments of bronze may actually be discovered and found to be composed of tin and copper. In such an event our judgment would favor the opinion that Cortes and his followers were keener observers and investigators than those who during three and one-half centuries have attempted to ventilate the question.

For the same position of words, compare also Gomara (Francisco Lopez de), Historia General de las Indias, Ed. Barcia, Cap. 79: “There is also much featherwork in the market, and gold, silver, copper, lead, bronze (laton) and tin, though these three latter metals are scarce.” Gomara, it will be noticed, changed somewhat the position of the words, as compilers often do. He was a secretary to Cortes, and his work appeared in Zaragoza, 1552–1553, five years after Cortes’ death.

[4]. Bernal Diaz, Chap. 147.

[5]. A Vocabulario en la lengua Castellana y Mexicana, por el Revⁿ Padre Fray Alonso de Molina: Guardian del Convento de San Antonio de Tezcuco, de la Orden de los Frayles Menores. México, 1572. This edition was preceded by a smaller one, 1552, which was the fourteenth book in the series of those which were printed in Mexico.

[6]. Let us quote from Bernal Diaz, Chapter 157, without any comment, the following anecdote concerning the word tepuzque. “In the smelting of gold there was also allowed an eighth of alloy to every ounce to assist the men in the purchase of the necessaries of life. But we (the soldiers) derived no advantage from this, but on the contrary, it proved very prejudicial to us, for the merchants added the same percentage to the price of their goods and sold for five pesos what was only worth three, and so this alloy became, as the Indians term it, tepuzque or copper. This expression became so common among us, that we added it to the names of the distinguished cavaliers to express the worth of their character, as, for instance, we used to say, Señor Don Juan of so much tepuzque.”

[7]. Those who wish to be more extensively instructed in the Mexican system of numeration can read: Leon y Gama, Descripcion Hist. y Cronol. de las dos Piedras, Parte II., Appendice II., page 128, Edit. C. M. de Bustamante, Mexico, 1832. Clavigero, Storia antica di Messico, English translation by Ch. Cullen, London, 1807, Vol. I., Book 4, pag. 410; and an article recently published by Orozco y Berra, in Tom. I., Entrega 6ma of the Anales del Museo Nacional de Mexico, 1879, page 258, which article is the most complete hitherto written on the subject, and is illustrated by 53 cuts.

[8]. There is, indeed, one passage in Herrera (Antonio de), Hist. Gen. de los hechos de los Castellanos, Madrid, 1729, in his introductory Descripcion de las Indias, §§ Zacatula and Colima, where the working of copper mines by the indigenous people of these provinces is mentioned: “There are very abundant copper mines in this district, more towards the East, and near the port of Santiago. The Indians make marvelous vessels (vasos) of this copper, because it is sweet (dulce). They have, however, still another kind of copper, which is hard, and which they employed for tilling the ground, instead of using iron, for they were not acquainted with iron before the Spaniards entered the kingdom.” As will be seen later, there is no doubt as to the latter assertion. But we fear the former to be an anachronism and the manufacturing of vasos de cobre (copper vessels) will have to be assigned to the epoch after the Conquest, when the art of hammering was introduced and eagerly accepted and practised by the natives.

[9]. Carta de Hernan Cortes al Emperador, de la gran ciudad de Tenochtitlan, desta Nueva España, a 13 dias del mes de Octubre de 1524. Edicion Gayangos (Don Pascual de), Paris, 1866.

[10]. Tachco, to-day Tasco, at a distance of 25 miles, S. S. W. from the Capital. A. v. Humboldt visited the memorable spot. See Essay s. l. Nouv. Espagne, Livre IV., Chap. xi.: “At the west of Tehuilotepec, is the Cerro de la Campañia, where Cortes began his work of investigation.”

[11]. The words of the text are: “Ciertas pieçeçuelas dello, a manera de moneda muy delgada, y procediendo por mio pezoquiza, halle que en la dicha provincia y aun en otras, se trataba por moneda.”

[12]. In Molina’s vocabulary a suggestion can be found for what technical purposes tin might have been employed. The word teputzlacopintli is translated with cañuto de estaño, para horadar piedras preciosas (cylinder of tin for perforating precious stones). We may, therefore, presume that the holes bored through the well known green jade trinkets, were drilled by the aid of the mentioned cañuto de estaño.

[13]. This little figure symbolizing gold, recurs only once more in all those Mexican paintings which we have been able to examine. It stands in Vol. I., Kingsb. Collection, Cod. Mendoza, page 13, fig. 4, and is identical with that represented by the engraving. We do not venture too far in asserting that the symbol on this gold piece represents a genuine Mexican numeral. It is composed of a cross, having a dot in each of its quadrants. This cross is the well known symbol of the number 8000 (xiquipilli), and each dot stands for the number 1. We have thus expressed four times 8000 (nahui xiquipilli) or 32,000. Here, however, the interpretation ends, so far as it may be based upon accepted authorities. Whatever else there is to be learned concerning this number 32,000, found on the gold piece, must be derived by the confessedly hazardous process of induction.

Nevertheless, let us try this process and ascertain what the number 32,000 actually refers to. In answering this question it may, perhaps, fairly be assumed that the number stands in a direct relation to a certain numerical unity, like that in which hundreds stand to the tens, 100:1. Such a numerical unity, however, presupposes the existence of some tangible equivalent, which in Mexican commerce, if it was not some small piece of metal, would have had some other conventional representation, either in merchandise or in labor. If such a unity actually existed it is clear that its value must have been fixed either by weight or by measure. There is, however, no positive proof that such a unity, fixed by weight or measure, ever existed among the Mexicans. Cortes, in the above quoted letter, pretends that it was impossible for him to detect the use of any weights or scales, and no writer after him has touched this question or given any other decision. Respecting measures, there is no direct testimony at all. But, on the other hand, it is hardly to be imagined that these people, of whose religious administration and social polity we have such abundant evidences, should have been deficient to such an extent in the department of their commercial polity as not to have found any method by which the proportion between the value of the precious metal to merchandise in all its forms was to be expressed. We must guard ourselves against the fallacy that because we are not acquainted with the method it could not have existed. There are grounds to believe that Cortes was right in saying that the Mexicans did not know the use of weights (their vocabulary does not show any word answering to peso, pesilla, libra, balanza romana), but, we think they knew perfectly the use of measures (the vocabulary gives about twenty words for all varieties of this operation); and in regard to a certain unity of measure employed in gold transactions, there are indications given by other trustworthy writers that this unity might be detected in the quills, of conventional length, and probably of conventional diameter, which quills were filled up with grains of gold dust, by the color and shades of which they graduated the respective value. Bernal Diaz, Chapter 92: Antes de salir de la misma plaza, estaban otros muchos mercaderes, que, segun dixeron, era que tenian a vender oro en granos como lo sacan de las minas, metido el oro en unos canutillos delgados de los anserones de tierra (thin goose quills) e asi blancos porque se pareciese el oro por defuera, y por el largor y gordor de los canutillos (length and width of the quills) tenian entre ellos su cuenta (they made up their account) que tantas mantas o que xiquipiles de cacao salia o qualquier otra cosa a que lo trocavan.

This point being settled let us next introduce one other, for it will contribute to strengthen the probability that besides the quill there existed still a lower unity, that of the grain of gold itself, by which they counted. For this purpose, let us turn again to the gold piece represented in the painting. It is round. This reminds us of what was told by Cortes of the little pieces of tin discovered in Tachco, which, he said, were used as coins. Likewise, we read in Bernal Diaz that Motezuma used to pay with pieces of gold when he lost in playing patol (trictrac) with his Spanish jailors. The word employed by the author and eye-witness of the game, is “tejuelo,” which, according to Spanish usages and the dictionaries of their language, signifies: a round piece of metal. The author moreover informs us of the value of this tejuelo. It was 50 ducats of weight and must, therefore, have been equivalent to, at least, one hundred dollars of gold. Since Bernal Diaz in this entire passage wishes to express his highest esteem for Motezuma on account of the princely generosity with which he paid even those whom he knew had cheated him, we may fairly conclude that these tejuelos were not the lowest, but rather the highest, gold pieces that he had at his disposal. Should we now remember the number, 32,000, which is the highest found represented in Mexican pictures (they generally never exceed that of 8000, the xiquipilli), it is not at all improbable that the Motezuma-tejuelo, about 100 dollars worth, might have been equivalent to 32,000 unities, while this unity may have been one grain of gold. For if we would divide 100 dollars of gold into 32,000 equal parts, or still farther divide one gold dollar into 320 equal parts, each part would represent a very small portion of gold, but still large enough to be counted separately with the finger. This was the way the gold-dust was collected on the placeres, not by men but by women and children. The procedure was primitive, indeed, in the highest degree. In such a way, however, gold gathering was undoubtedly practised in the first stage of men’s civilization. If not written in history, yet the linguistical testimony bears witness to it. We find the expression “grain of gold” to be the common property among the ancient and modern nations in connection with commerce and the weighing of gold.

[14]. Torquemada (Fray Juan de) Monarquia Indiana, Madrid, 1613, Vol. II., Book 13, Chapter 1. “The goldsmiths did not possess the tools necessary for hammering metals, but with one stone placed above another one, they make a flat cup or a plate.” (Pero con una piedra sobre otra hacian una taza llana y un plato.) Gomara, l. c. “They will cast a platter in a mould with eight corners, and every corner of several metals, that is to say, the one of gold, the other of silver, without any kind of solder. They will also cast a little caldron with loose handles hanging thereto, as we used to cast a bell. They will also cast in a mould a fish with one scale of silver on its back and another of gold; they will make a parrot of metal so that his tongue shall shake and his head move and his wings flutter; they will cast an ape in a mould so that both hands and feet will stir, and holding a spindle in his hand, seeming to spin, yea, and an apple in his hand, as if he would eat it. Our Spaniards were not a little amazed at the sight of these things, for our goldsmiths are not to be compared to theirs.” Bernal Diaz, Chapter 91. “I will first mention the sculptors and the gold and silversmiths, who were clever in working and smelting gold, and would have astonished the most celebrated of our Spanish goldsmiths; the number of these were very great and the most skilful lived at a place called Azcapotzalco, about four leagues from Mexico.” Petrus Martyr, Decade VI., Chapter 6. (A letter written to Pope Adrian VI.) “The chief noblemen’s houses (in Nicaragua) compass and inclose the King’s street on every side; in the middle site whereof one is erected, in which the goldsmiths dwell. Gold is there molten and forged (?) to be formed into divers jewels, and is formed into small plates or bars, to be stamped after the pleasure of its owners and at length is brought into the form and fashion they desire, and that neatly too.”

[15]. Lorenzana (Don Franc, Antonia de) Historia de Nueva España, page 378, Note 2.

[16]. See Bernal Diaz, Chap. 39.

Petrus Martyr de Angleria, English edition of Eden, Islands of the West Indies, page 169: “Circumference of xxviii spans (spithamarum 28).”

Torquemada Mon. Ind., Lib. IV., Cap. 17.

Three letters, on Cortes’ landing in Yucatan, edited by Fredric Muller, Amsterdam, 1871. (1) Their width being seven spans, (2) larger than a wagon’s wheel, and made as if beaten out of white iron. (3) Two wheels, the one of gold and weighing 30,000 castellanos, the other of silver, weighing 50 mark. These pieces are as large as a millstone.

[17].

From Landa.

Bernal Diaz, Chap. 92: “Bronze axes, and copper and tin.” Petrus Martyr, Dec. V., Chap. 10: “Bronze axes and edges, cunningly tempered.” Gomara, Chap. 210: “They also have axes, borers and chisels of copper mixed with gold, silver or tin.” Landa Rel. d. l., Cosas de Yucatan, Ed. Brasseur, Paris, 1864, pag. 170, with a cut of a Yucatecan axe: “They had little axes made of a certain metal, and shaped as the illustration shows. They fastened them into the top of a wooden handle, one side serving as a weapon, the other for cutting wood. They sharpened them by hammering the edge with stones.” Torquemada, Mon. Ind., Lib. 13, Cap. 34: “The carpenters and carvers worked with copper instruments.” Herrera, Dec. IV., Lib. 8, Cap. 3: “In Honduras (1530) they cleared large mountains, for agricultural purposes, with axes made of flintstone.”

Remesal, Hist. d. l. Prov. de Chiapas y Guatemala, 1606: “They clear, every year, large mountains of woods, in order to prepare them for the reception of the seed corn, as is the custom in the whole province of Vera-paz; and before they got the iron axes they had to work hard because they felled the trees with copper axes and often spent an entire day in cutting one single tree, though of inferior size; and if the tree was larger three and four days, those axes being very apt to break; and having experienced the strength of iron, they appreciate all tools made of it, and thus they held our axes and machetes in great esteem.” Cogolludo, Hist. d. Yucatan, Lib. IV., Cap. 3, mentions axes as an article of trade in Yucatan: “Copper axes, brought from Mexico, which they exchanged for other merchandize.” Documentos ineditos, Madrid, 1864, Vol. I., pag. 470: “The Captain, Gil Gonzales de Avila, arrived here in Sto. Domingo (from Nicaragua) and sends to His Majesty 14,000 pesos de oro and 15,000 pesos, proceeding from axes which they said contained gold, and 6150 pesos de oro proceeding from bells which they also said contained gold. All this he said he was presented with during his discoveries which he was making in the Province of the South sea.” Petrus Martyr, Dec. VI., Chapt. 2 and 3, states the same fact on the authority of Gil Gonzales’ treasurer, Cereceda.

[18]. The absolute absence of mines in Yucatan is a fact that needs no further corroboration. It might, however, be of interest to hear the language used by Landa, Rel. d. las cosas de Yucatan: 1. c. § 5 “There exist many beautiful structures of masonry in Yucatan, all of them built of stone and showing the finest workmanship, the most astonishing that ever were discovered in the Indies; and we cannot wonder at it enough because there is not any class of metal in this country by which such works could be accomplished.”

[19].

From Oviedo.

Herrera (Dec. III., Lib. 4, Cap. 5) having the original reports before his eyes, represents this scene as follows: “Multitudes of Indians flocked along the ways, astonished to see the beards and the dressing of the Spaniards. The chief person they met was Dirianjeu, the warlike cacique, who came attended by five hundred men and seventeen women, covered with gold plates, all drawn up in order, but without arms and with ten banners and trumpets, after their fashion. When they came near, the banners were displayed and the cacique touched Gonzales’ hand, as did all the five hundred, everyone giving him a turkey. Yet each of the women gave him twenty axes of gold (veinte hachas de oro) fourteen carats fine, each weighing eighteen pesos and some more.” We find in Oviedo (Gonzalo Fernandez de), Historia gen. y nat. de las Indias, at the end of Vol. IV., five folio quarto pages with illustrations referring to the chapter he wrote on Nicaragua, and we learn from his text that he made the sketches himself during his sojourn in Nicaragua (1524). They represent views of the volcano of Masaya, gymnastic sports of the Indians, a plan of the town of Tecoatega, and three Indian arms, an estorica, a porra and an alabarda. Each of the drawings is provided with a number which correctly corresponds to that written in the text, except those three drawings of the arms, for which we could not find the text. Upon closer examination we discovered a suggestion made (on page [81]) that some ancient copyist or editor must have revised Oviedo’s original manuscript, who was supposed to have dropped the inscription to which the drawings of the three arms belong, perhaps, only on account of the illegibility of Oviedo’s handwriting. On the other hand, we cannot help expressing our doubts as to the fact that these three kinds of arms should have been in use with the Nicoyans or Nicaraguans. Notwithstanding we give the cut of the alabarda, which has the shape of a genuine mediæval battle-axe.

[20]. Sahagun (Bernardino de), Historia de la N. España, Ed. Carlos M. de Bustamante, 3 Vol., Mexico, 1830.

[21]. The following notice of three prehistoric nails is given for what it is worth. Torquemada, Lib. VI., Cap. 23: Under the reign of Nezahualpilli of Tezcuco, the statue of the God of Rain, Tlaloc, having been found to be timeworn and corroded, a new one was made and located on the mountain of Matlalcueye, the ancient site of this statue. “When this idol of Tlaloc was replaced by the new one, it happened that one of its arms broke off. They put it on again and fastened it with three gold nails. Later, when the new faith was introduced in their countries, this diabolical image was brought down from the hills, at the time of the first Bishop Zummaraga, and was broken to pieces in his presence, but not before removing the three gold nails spoken of.”

[22]. Dupaix, Antiquités Mexicaines, Paris, 1834, Vol. II., Planche 26, fig. 75, and text in Vol. I., page 21, No. 75.

[23]. With our first glance at the picture of Tepozcolula we were induced to believe that we had found therein a representation of the instrument which Petrus Martyr called a “dolabra,” and Sahagun “azuela.” The translation of the one is, pick or hoe, and of the other, cooper’s adze. Both of these, therefore, would have been instruments in which the blade and its edge are at right angles to their handle, and the management of which requires both hands of the workman. This supposition is refuted by the picture of the carpenter (cut [10]), who is distinctly seen to hold the piece of wood in the left and the tool in his right hand.

[24]. Dupaix, l. c., Vol. II., Planche 26, fig. 74, and text Vol. I., page 21.

[25]. Torquemada, Mon. Ind., Lib.—, Chap.—: “They also used certain copper coins, almost in the shape of a Greek Tau, Τ, its width about three or four fingers. It was a thin piece of plate of an uncertain size, and contained much gold.” Clavigero, The History of Mexico, Ed. Ch. Cullen, London, 1807, Vol. VII., Sect. 36, page 386, evidently copies the sentence when he says: “Their fourth species of money, which most resembled coined money, was made of pieces of copper, in the form of a T, and was employed in purchases of little value.”

[26]. S. Salisbury, Jr., Esq.

[27]. Col. John D. Washburn.

[28]. The Hon. Isaac Davis.

[29]. The Palenque Tablet, in the U. S. National Museum. By Charles Rau, 1879.

[30]. The North Americans of Antiquity, their origin, migrations, and type of civilization considered. By John T. Short, 1880.

[31]. Historia de Yucatan. By Eligio Ancona, Mérida, 1879, Vol. I., page 95, note 1.

[32]. Historia de Yucatan, Eligio Ancona, Mérida, 1879, Vol. II., page 78.

[33]. Historia de Yucatan, Eligio Ancona, Mérida, 1879, Vol. I., page 156. “Landa in Relacion de las cosas de Yucatan, § viii., also speaks of the tranquillity and good harmony which reigned among the chiefs of those cities, and we notice that concerning the epochs referred to, his report is in accordance, in many details, with that of the anonymous author of the ‘Maya Epochs.’”

[34]. Diego Lopez de Cogolludo, Historia de Yuacathan. Madrid, 1683, Lib. IV., Cap. 5. “The count they kept in their books was by 20 to 20 years, and also by lustros of 4 to 4 years. When five of these lustros had passed, or twenty years elapsed, they called this time Katun, and set one hewn stone (piedra labrada) upon another, well cemented by lime and sand. This can be noticed in their temples and ecclesiastical buildings, and especially on some ancient walls of our convent in Mérida, upon which the cells have been built.”

The expression Katun, mentioned in this passage, and to which we have assigned a place in our title, requires a few words of explanation. As far as we know, it occurs only three times in our Central American authors; in Cogolludo, Landa, and in our manuscript. The first gives Katun the meaning of a period of twenty years. The second (§ XLI.), uses the following phraseology: “Contando XIII. veyntes con una de las XX. letras de los meses que llaman Ahau, sin orden, sino retruecandolos como pareceran en las siguiente raya redonda, llaman les a estos en su lengua Katunes.” This phraseology is somewhat obscure, nevertheless it will be admitted that his intention was to state that each of the images of the thirteen Ahaues, depicted on the surface of the wheel, represented twenty years, this being a period which they also called Katunes. We arrive at this definite conclusion by the consideration that if Landa says that the period of twenty years was called Ahau, and another one, that of 260 years, Katun, he would have stated the latter fact in expressive words; the occasion for doing so being too urgent to let it pass. The third author uses the word Katun in his introductory lines, without giving it any numerical value. But it will be noticed that in the text which follows, the expression Katun is used interchangeably with that of Ahau for a period of 20 years. This concordance of the three authors allows us to conclude that whenever the word Katun is employed, the short period of 20 years was meant. In this connection a question arises: How is it that no author has made mention of the long period of 260 years, with which we become acquainted in Señor Perez’s chronological essay. It is probable he found it mentioned in some Maya manuscripts in which this long period appeared under the name of Ahau Katun. Though this fact of itself may be considered of no importance, still, as it would bring to light another of the many numerical combinations (13×20=260) in which those people indulged, with the fundamental figures of their calendar system, we must feel a great interest in the asserted fact, hoping it will turn out to be a correct statement. Our researches have been directed for a long time towards the discovery of the symbols which the Maya annalists or sculptors would have employed for their chronological periods. It was in connection with these studies that we discovered the Nahuatl symbols for the same, of which we gave account in our discussion on the Calendar Stone. Yet while this discovery only corroborates the suspicion long entertained that a certain set of Maya symbols represented the lustra of 5, and another the period of 20 years, we have not yet been able to recognize a Maya symbol for the period of 260 years.

The word Katun is a compound of Kat, to ask, to consult, and tun, stone; hence the stone, which when asked, gives account. Thus it was also understood by Cogolludo, who, when mentioning the word Katun (see above), was referring to the square stones incrusted into walls, upon which the convent was built. What traditions he followed in this is still better illustrated by the words in continuation of this passage: “In a place called Tixualahtun, which means a spot where one hewn stone is set upon another one, the Archives of the Indians are said to have existed, to which they resorted for all questions of historical interest (recurso de todos los acaecimientos), as we should do to Simancas, in Spain.” The stone columns found on the spot named, can be seen pictured in J. L. Stephens’ Incidents of travel in Yucatan, Vol. II., page 318.

[35]. Señor Orozco y Berra, the learned and laborious author of the “Carta ethnografica de México, México, 1864,” has made this matter a subject of special investigation in “Anales del Museo Nacional de México,” 1879, Tom. I., Entrega 7, page 305.

[36]. Las cosas de Yucatan. Diego de Landa. Edition B. de Bourbourg. Paris, 1864. Page 315, § XL.

[37]. A specimen of such an instrument with a surface inscribed as the cut shows would hardly have been preserved. We think that the box enclosed a round disk turning on a pivot; this contrivance, evidently served as an aid to the memory in enumerating the alternating Ahaues. To-day, we should obtain the same result by writing the Ahaues in a horizontal or vertical line, but the Nahuatls and Mayas, having solely a symbolical or pictorial manner of representation, made use of this ingenious arrangement by painting the series of the Ahaues on the circumference of a circle. Thus the idea of an uninterrupted sequence of time and the connection of the 2d Ahau with the 13th were brought to notice.

[38]. Ahau translated means: sovereign, king, august, principal. See page 3 of Juan Pio Perez’s “Diccionario de la lengua Maya,” published in Mérida in 1877, by the friends and faithful executors of the last will of the defunct scholar. This valuable work comprises the whole of the linguistical stock of the Maya language, the words collected exceeding the number of 20,000, on 437 pages, quarto. It may be purchased from Dr. George E. Shiels, 896 Broadway, New York.

[39]. Proceedings of Am. Antiq. Society, April 24, 1878, page 16, in an article on the Mexican Calendar Stone, by Ph. J. J. Valentini, in which mention was made of this singular kind of notation from the right to the left hand. A. v. Humboldt, in “Vue des Cordilléres,” page 186, remarks: “Le cercle intérieur offre les vingt signes du jour: en se souvenant que Cipactli est le premier et Xochitl le dernier, on voit qu’gu’ici, comme partout ailleurs, les Mexicains ont rangé les hiéroglyphes de droite à gauche.” The great scholar has clothed in the form of a proven statement that which at the beginning of this century was an opinion generally prevalent among Americanists, and which does not bear the test, when the numerous copies existing of the Mexican calendar days are examined. They all show the arrangement of the days from the left to the right. The sculptured calendar is the only exception.

[40]. Historia de Yucatan; by Eligio Ancona, Mérida, 1879, Vol. I., page 159.

[41]. Remarks on the Centres of Ancient Civilization in Central America. Address read before the Amer. Geogr. Society, New York, July 10, 1876, by Dr. C. Hermann Berendt.

[42]. Herrera, Decade IV., Lib. X., Chapt. 2, 3 and 4. These three chapters are a compilation of data concerning the ancient history of Yucatan, and the adventurous career of the Itza race, which appear to be drawn from sources unknown at this day, and which are independent of what we can learn from Landa, from the author of the Maya Manuscript, and from Cogolludo.

[43]. Traces of such a migration and succeeding halting places can be discovered in the Quiché annals, edited by Brasseur de Bourbourg, with the title of Popol Vuh. “Popol Vuh, le livre sacré et les mythes de l’antiquité centro-Américaine,” Paris, 1861, on pages 83, 235, 241, and pages 215, 217, 236, in which names are quoted and regions described which give evidence of a course of migration from northern to southern Mexico.

[44]. E. Ancona, Historia de Yucatan, Vol. I., page 34. Mérida, 1879.—“The word Chacnovitan or Chacnouitan first appeared in the Maya MSS. or series of Maya epochs. Upon examining this document, and observing that the tribe wandered from Tulapan to Chacnouitan and later to Bakhalal and from there to Chichen-Itza, etc., it will be understood that the name in question was given to no other portion of our peninsula than to that which lies at the south. Brasseur de Bourbourg supposes, and we think not without reason, that Chacnouitan lay between Bakhalal and Acallan, s. e. of the Laguna de los Terminos.—See Brasseur de Bourbourg, Archives de la comission scientifica, Tomo. I, page 422, note 2.”

[45]. Señor Perez in his commentary makes his calculation that 1496 was the year of the death of Chief Ajpulà, and succeeds in giving it a plausible appearance of correctness. But we observe that in order to reach this date he was not aware of having altered the words of the Maya text, and those of his own translation. This translation said correctly: “There were still six years wanting before the completion of the 13th Ahau.” In the text of the commentary, however, we find him starting his count on the supposition that the original text was the sixth year of the 13th Ahau. Though this change is by no means allowable, he succeeds, ingeniously enough, in arriving at the year above quoted, and in stating also the dates of the day and month, precisely as the annalist had set them down.

[46]. Eligio Ancona, Historia de Yucatan, Mérida, 1879, Vol. I., page 333.

[47]. With reference to the Mayas, consult the Quiché traditions in Brasseur de Bourbourg’s Popol Vuh, pages 215, 217 and 236, and Brasseur de Bourbourg’s Memorial of Tecpan Atitlan, page 170, note 3. For the Nahuatl race, Brasseur de Bourbourg’s Histoire des Nations civilisées du Mexique, Vol. I., Appendix, page 428, in extracts made from the Codex Chimalpopoca.

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