I will close these similes by mentioning that Thoth was reputed the preceptor of Isis; and said to be the inventor of letters, of the art of reckoning, geometry, astronomy, and is represented in the hieroglyphs under the form of a baboon (cynocephalus). He is one of the most ancient divinities among the Egyptians. He had also the office of scribe in the lower regions, where he was engaged in noting down the actions of the dead, and presenting or reading them to Osiris. One of the modes of writing his name in hieroglyphs, transcribed in our common letters, reads Nukta; a word most appropriate and suggestive of his attributes, since, according to the Maya language, it would signify to understand, to perceive, Nuctah: while his name Thoth, maya thot means to scatter flowers; hence knowledge. In the temple of death at Uxmal, at the foot of the grand staircase that led to the sanctuary, at the top of which I found a sacrificial altar, there were six cynocephali in a sitting posture, as Thoth is represented by the Egyptians. They were placed three in a row each side of the stairs. Between them was a platform where a skeleton, in a kneeling posture, used to be. To-day the cynocephali have been removed. They are in one of the yard of the principal house at the Hacienda of Uxmal. The statue representing the kneeling skeleton lays, much defaced, where it stood when that ancient city was in its glory.
In the mural paintings at Chichen-Itza, we again find the baboon (Cynocephalus) warning Moó of impending danger. She is pictured in her home, which is situated in the midst of a garden, and over which is seen the royal insignia. A basket, painted blue, full of bright oranges, is symbolical of her domestic happiness. She is sitting at the door. Before her is an individual pictured physically deformed, to show the ugliness of his character and by the flatness of his skull, want of moral qualities, (the proving that the learned men of Mayab understood phrenology). He is in an persuasive attitude; for he has come to try to seduce her in the name of another. She rejects his offer: and, with her extended hand, protects the armadillo, on whose shell the high priest read her destiny when yet a child. In a tree, just above the head of the man, is an ape. His hand is open and outstretched, both in a warning and threatening position. A serpent (can), her protecting spirit, is seen at a short distance coiled, ready to spring in her defense. Near by is another serpent, entwined round the trunk of a tree. He has wounded about the head another animal, that, with its mouth open, its tongue protruding, looks at its enemy over its shoulder. Blood is seen oozing from its tongue and face. This picture forcibly recalls to the mind the myth of the garden of Eden. For here we have the garden, the fruit, the woman, the tempter.
As to the charmed leopard skin worn by the African warriors to render them invulnerable to spears, it would seem as if the manner in which Chaacmol met his death, by being stabbed with a spear, had been known to their ancestors; and that they, in their superstitious fancies, had imagined that by wearing his totem, it would save them from being wounded with the same kind of weapon used in killing him. Let us not laugh at such a singular conceit among uncivilized tribes, for it still prevails in Europe. On many of the French and German soldiers, killed during the last German war, were found talismans composed of strips of paper, parchment or cloth, on which were written supposed cabalistic words or the name of some saint, that the wearer firmly believed to be possessed of the power of making him invulnerable.
I am acquainted with many people—and not ignorant—who believe that by wearing on their persons rosaries, made in Jerusalem and blessed by the Pope, they enjoy immunity from thunderbolts, plagues, epidemics and other misfortunes to which human flesh is heir.
That the Mayas were a race autochthon on this western continent and did not receive their civilization from Asia or Africa, seems a rational conclusion, to be deduced from the foregoing FACTS. If we had nothing but their name to prove it, it should be sufficient, since its etymology is only to be found in the American Maya language.
They cannot be said to have been natives of Hindostan; since we are told that, in very remote ages, Maya, a prince of the Davanas, established himself there. We do not find the etymology of his name in any book where mention is made of it. We are merely told that he was a wise magician, a great architect, a learned astronomer, a powerful Asoura (demon), thirsting for battles and bloodshed: or, according to the Sanscrit, a Goddess, the mother of all beings that exist—gods and men.
Very little is known of the Mayas of Afghanistan, except that they call themselves Mayas, and that the names of their tribes and cities are words belonging to the American Maya language.
Who can give the etymology of the name Magi, the learned men amongst the Chaldees. We only know that its meaning is the same as Maya in Hindostan: magician, astronomer, learned man. If we come to Greece, where we find again the name Maia, it is mentioned as that of a goddess, as in Hindostan, the mother of the gods: only we are told that she was the daughter of Atlantis—born of Atlantis. But if we come to the lands beyond the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, then we find a country called Mayab, on account of the porosity of its soil; that, as a sieve (Mayab), absorbs the water in an incredibly short time. Its inhabitants took its name from that of the country, and called themselves Mayas. It is a fact worthy of notice, that in their hieroglyphic writings the sign employed by the Egyptians to signify a Lord, a Master, was the image of a sieve. Would not this seem to indicate that the western invaders who subdued the primitive inhabitants of the valley of the Nile, and became the lords and masters of the land, were people from Mayab; particularly if we consider that the usual character used to write the name of Egypt was the sieve, together with the sign of land?
We know that the Mayas deified and paid divine honors to their eminent men and women after their death. This worship of their heroes they undoubtedly carried, with other customs, to the countries where they emigrated; and, in due course of time, established it among their inhabitants, who came to forget that Mayab was a locality, converted it in to a personalty: and as some of their gods came from it, Maya was considered as the Mother of the Gods, as we see in Hindostan and Greece.
It would seem probable that the Mayas did not receive their civilization from the inhabitants of the Asiatic peninsulas, for the religious lores and customs they have in common are too few to justify this assertion. They would simply tend to prove that relations had existed between them at some epoch or other; and had interchanged some of their habits and beliefs as it happens, between the civilized nations of our days. This appears to be the true side of the question; for in the figures sculptured on the obelisks of Copan the Asiatic type is plainly discernible; whilst the features of the statues that adorn the celebrated temples of Hindostan are, beyond all doubts, American.