When the Western invaders reached the country it was probably covered by the waters of the river, to which, we are told, they gave the name of Hapimú. Its etymology seems to be yet undecided by the Egyptologists, who agree, however, that its meaning is the abyss of water. The Maya tells us that this name is composed of two words—Há, water, and PIMIL, the thickness of flat things. Hapimu, or Hapimil, would then be the thickness, the abyss of water.
We find that the prophets Jeremiah (xlvi., 25,) and Nahum (iii., 8, 10,) call Thebes, the capital of upper Egypt during the XVIII. dynasty: Nó or Ná-amun, the mansion of Amun. Ná signifies in Maya, house, mansion, residence. But Thebes is written in Egyptian hieroglyphs Ap, or Apé, the meaning of which is the head, the capital; with the feminine article T, that is always used as its prefix in hieroglyphic writings, it becomes Tapé; which, according to Sir Gardner Wilkinson (“Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians,” tom. III., page 210, N. Y. Edition, 1878), was pronounced by the Egyptians Taba; and in the Menphitic dialect Thaba, that the Greeks converted into Thebai, whence Thebes. The Maya verb Teppal, signifies to reign, to govern, to order. On each side of the mastodons’ heads, which form so prominent a feature in the ornaments of the oldest edifices at Uxmal, Chichen-Itza and other parts, the word Dapas; hence Tabas is written in ancient Egyptian characters, and read, I presume, in old Maya, head. To-day the word is pronounced THAB, and means baldness.
The identity of the names of deities worshiped by individuals, of their religious rites and belief; that of the names of the places which they inhabit; the similarity of their customs, of their dresses and manners; the sameness of their scientific attainments and of the characters used by them in expressing their language in writing, lead us naturally to infer that they have had a common origin, or, at least, that their forefathers were intimately connected. If we may apply this inference to nations likewise, regardless of the distance that to-day separates the countries where they live, I can then affirm that the Mayas and the Egyptians are either of a common descent, or that very intimate communication must have existed in remote ages between their ancestors.
Without entering here into a full detail of the customs and manners of these people, I will make a rapid comparison between their religious belief, their customs, manners, scientific attainments, and the characters used by them in writing etc., sufficient to satisfy any reasonable body that the strange coincidences that follow, cannot be altogether accidental.
The Sun, RA, was the supreme god worshiped throughout the land of Egypt; and its emblem was a disk or circle, at times surmounted by the serpent Uræus. Egypt was frequently called the Land of the Sun. RA or LA signifies in Maya that which exists, emphatically that which is—the truth.
The sun was worshiped by the ancient Mayas; and the Indians to-day preserve the dance used by their forefathers among the rites of the adoration of that luminary, and perform it yet in certain epoch of the year. The coat-of-arms of the city of Uxmal, sculptured on the west façade of the sanctuary, attached to the masonic temple in that city, teaches us that the place was called U LUUMIL KIN, the land of the sun. This name forming the center of the escutcheon, is written with a cross, circumscribed by a circle, that among the Egyptians is the sign for land, region, surrounded by the rays of the sun.
Colors in Egypt, as in Mayab, seem to have had the same symbolical meaning. The figure of Amun was that of a man whose body was light blue, like the Indian god Wishnu, and that of the god Nilus; as if to indicate their peculiar exalted and heavenly nature; this color being that of the pure, bright skies above. The blue color had exactly the same significance in Mayab, according to Landa and Cogolludo, who tell us that, even at the time of the Spanish conquest, the bodies of those who were to be sacrificed to the gods were painted blue. The mural paintings in the funeral chamber of Chaacmol, at Chichen, confirm this assertion. There we see figures of men and women painted blue, some marching to the sacrifice with their hands tied behind their backs. After being thus painted they were venerated by the people, who regarded them as sanctified. Blue in Egypt was always the color used at the funerals.
The Egyptians believed in the immortality of the soul; and that rewards and punishments were adjudged by Osiris, the king of the Amenti, to the souls according to their deeds during their mundane life. That the souls after a period of three thousand years were to return to earth and inhabit again their former earthly tenements. This was the reason why they took so much pains to embalm the body.
The Mayas also believed in the immortality of the soul, as I have already said. Their belief was that after the spirit had suffered during a time proportioned to their misdeeds whilst on earth, and after having enjoyed an amount of bliss corresponding to their good actions, they were to return to earth and live again a material life. Accordingly, as the body was corruptible, they made statues of stones, terra-cotta, or wood, in the semblance of the deceased, whose ashes they deposited in a hollow made for that purpose in the back of the head. Sometimes also in stone urns, as in the case of Chaacmol. The spirits, on their return to earth, were to find these statues, impart life to them, and use them as body during their new existence.
I am not certain but that, as the Egyptians also, they were believers in transmigration; and that this belief exists yet among the aborigines. I have noticed that my Indians were unwilling to kill any animal whatever, even the most noxious and dangerous, that inhabits the ruined monuments. I have often told them to kill some venomous insect or serpent that may have happened to be in our way. They invariably refused to do so, but softly and carefully caused them to go. And when asked why they did not kill them, declined to answer except by a knowing and mysterious smile, as if afraid to let a stranger into their intimate beliefs inherited from their ancestors: remembering, perhaps, the fearful treatment inflicted by fanatical friars on their fathers to oblige them to forego what they called the superstitions of their race—the idolatrous creed of their forefathers.