Race followed race, like cloud-shades o’er the field,
The stranger still to strangers doomed to yield.”
At the time of the conquest the Aztecs, who were then at the height of their power and glory, were the dominant race in what is now Mexico and Central America. And yet the broad plains of Yucatan and Central America were the theatre of a much older civilization compared with which that of the Aztecs was, as one writer says, “as the brightness of the full meridian moon to the splendour of the sun that has already set.” As to whether the Aztec culture was a borrowed culture or not has been the subject of much vain speculation, and little has been accomplished by actual investigation. It is still a matter of dispute “Whether the Maya culture was developed on the soil where its remains are found, or brought with the people from parts unknown; whether the Aztecs borrowed from the Mayas, or the Mayas from the Aztecs; or whether both these great nations derived their culture from the Toltecs. And again, it is claimed that the Toltecs themselves are nothing more than the figures of a sun-myth.”
From this it will be seen that of these early races and their history little is known. It is supposed that the Toltecs who appeared in the Valley of Mexico about the seventh century and built the city of Tula, and possibly Mitla, wandered southward after their defeat by the Aztecs and finally stopped in Guatemala where they found rest from pursuit. This much at least is known that the region comprising the greater part of Guatemala, and the western portion of Honduras, and Yucatan, was the seat of an ancient American civilization as highly developed and as interesting to the archæological or anthropological student as any of the primitive civilizations of the Old World. Long before the dream of western empire began to fire the ambitions of European kings and incite the adventurous spirits of the times, centuries before the empire of the Montezumas had reached the height of its glory, when it was destined to become the prey of those avaricious adventurers, the curtain had already fallen on the last sad scene that closed the career of this Maya, or Toltec, empire, and the ruined cities alone remained as a reminder of their former splendour.
There are numerous remains of these cities, or rather they might be termed ruins of religious and governmental centres, for no ruins have been found of private dwellings. Religion and government seem to have been one and inseparable among these early races. Among these ruins are those of Palenque and Uxmal in Yucatan, Utatlan and Quirigua in Guatemala, Copan,[[2]] and some lesser known ruins in Honduras. There are probably still other cities in the wildernesses around Lake Peten awaiting the coming of the traveller—cities that had their birth so far back in the twilight of time that not even a tradition remains to tell who built them.
[2]. See appendix for description.
There are some traditions which have come down to us in a book called the “Popul Vuh,” or sacred book of the Quichés, by an unknown author. Two translations exist of this book, one in Spanish by Ximenes, the other in French by the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg. Mr. Brigham, in his excellent work, has translated into English a number of the legends contained in that quaint work concerning the founding of the world, the creation of the first inhabitants and other curious lore. I will quote but one concerning the creation of the world:—
“Then the word came to Tepeu Gucumatz in the shades of night; it spoke to Gucumatz and said to him: It is time to consult, to consider, to meet and hold counsel together, to join speech and wisdom to light the way and for mutual guidance. And the name of this is Huracan, the Voice which sounds: the Voice of Thunder is the first; the second is the Flash of Light; the Lightning is the third. These three are the Heart of Heaven, and they descended to Gucumatz at the moment when he was considering the work of creation. Know that this water will retire and give place to land, which shall appear everywhere: there shall be light in the heaven and on earth: but we have yet made no being who shall respect and honour us. They spoke, and the land appeared because of them.”
The Spaniards found numerous books among the priesthood and old Indian families of many pages, in which the history, traditions and customs of the people are probably recorded. The pages were covered with numerals, glyphs and drawings quite beautifully executed in colours. The Spanish priests destroyed all these writings that they could get their hands on, just as they did the records of the Aztecs in Mexico, and made bonfires of the accumulated literature of centuries. Thus, to satisfy a religious bigotry, they have deprived us of a true knowledge of the progressive races who once dwelt in this favoured land. A few of these books still exist and they are preserved in European libraries, although copies have been reproduced for other libraries.