The following mention of the paintings of the ancient inhabitants of Lower California is translated from an anonymous account, in Documentos para la Historia de Mexico (a), purporting to have been written in 1790:
Throughout civilized California, from south to north, and especially in the caves and smooth rocks, there remain various rude paintings. Notwithstanding their disproportion and lack of art, the representations of men, fish, bows and arrows, can be distinguished and with them different kind of strokes, something like characters. The colors of these paintings are of four kinds; yellow, a reddish color, green and black. The greater part of them are painted in high places, and from this it is inferred by some that the old tradition is true, that there were giants among the ancient Californians. Be this as it may, in the Mission of Santiago, which is at the south, was discovered on a smooth rock of great height, a row of hands stamped in red. On the high cliffs facing the shore are seen fish painted in various shapes and sizes, bows, arrows, and some unknown characters. In other parts are Indians armed with bows and arrows, and various kinds of insects, snakes, and mice, with lines and characters of other forms. On a flat rock about 2 yards in length were stamped insignia or escutcheons of rank and inscriptions of various characters.
Towards Purmo, about 30 leagues beyond the Mission of Santiago del Sur, is a bluff 8 yards in height and on the center of it is seen an inscription which resembles Gothic letters interspersed with Hebrew and Chaldean characters [?].
Though the Californian Indians have often been asked concerning the significance of the figures, lines, and characters, no satisfactory answer has been obtained. The most that has been established by their information is that the paintings were their predecessors, and that they are absolutely ignorant of the signification of them. It is evident that the paintings and drawings of the Californians are significant symbols and landmarks by which they intended to leave to posterity the memory, either of their establishment in this country, or of certain wars or political or natural triumphs. These pictures are not like those of the Mexicans, but might have the same purpose.
Several petroglyphs in Sonora are described and illustrated infra in Chapter [XX] on Special Comparisons. The following copies of petroglyphs are presented here as specimens and are markedly different from those in the northwestern states of Mexico, which represent the Aztec culture.
The description of Fig. 98 is extracted from Viages de Guillelmo Dupaix (a):
Fig. 98.—Petroglyphs in Mexico.
Going from the town of Tlalmanalco to that of Mecamecan, at a distance of a league to the east of the latter and in the confines of the estate of Señor Don José Tepatolco, is an isolated rock of granitic stone artificially cut into a conical form with a series of six steps cut in the solid rock itself on the eastern side, the summit forming a platform or horizontal section suitable for the purpose of observing the stars at all points of the compass. It is, therefore, most evident that this ancient monument or observatory was employed solely for astronomical observations, and it is further proved by various hieroglyphs cut in the south side of the cone; but the most interesting feature of this side is the figure of a man standing upright and in profile directing his gaze to the east with the arms raised, holding in the hands a tube or species of optical instrument. Beneath his feet is seen a carved frieze with six compartments or squares and other symbols of a celestial nature are engraved on their surfaces, evidently the product of observation and calculation. Some of them have connection with those found symmetrically arranged in circles on the ancient Mexican calendar, exposed in this capital to general admiration. In front of the observer is a rabbit seated and confronted by two parallel rows of numerical figures; lastly two other symbols relating to the same science are seen at the back.