In the mounds and pyramids all traces of palaces and temples of stone have disappeared. One excavation made, however, proves that stone buildings have existed, for in the principal pyramid several rooms have been uncovered, revealing the triangular Maya arch, with walls to the rooms, made of nicely laid stones, covered with stucco or plaster, and with smooth cement floors.
During the last decade decided advance has been made in deciphering the Mayan inscriptions, and the Quirigua hieroglyphs have received considerable attention, especially since the appearance of the work of Mr. A. P. Maudslay. The careful drawings have given us material for a comparative study of these inscriptions with those of Copan and Palenque. Certain parts of the writing have been unravelled and the mystery surrounding them is being slowly dispelled. Much remains to be done, however, before the entire body of the inscriptions is deciphered.
So far as they have been worked out they relate to chronological counts extending over a period of more than three thousand years. This does not imply that they had a written history of such respectable antiquity, but according to their ingenious calendar system and mode of reckoning time they are carried back to a fixed date, very much as we reckon from a fixed date, namely, the birth of Christ. The later dates of the Quirigua inscriptions very probably may be assigned to a place somewhere about the beginning of the Christian era.
CHAPTER VIII
THE STORY OF THE REPUBLIC
“Gold,” said Columbus in a letter to King Ferdinand, “is the most excellent of metals. With gold we not only do whatever we please in this world, but we can employ it to snatch souls from Purgatory and to people Paradise.” This was the keynote to the Spanish character and explains the difference between the civilizations established by Spain and other colonizing nations. Thrifty activity was regarded with disdain by the cavalier and each man sought only enough money to live on the interest of it, or to establish a trust fund for his family. The government imposed on each of its colonies a multitude of officials, since nowhere in the world were there so many nobles for whom it was necessary to provide honourable employment, and an opportunity to acquire the riches that were deemed so desirable. This greed for gold and contempt for all industrial and agricultural pursuits is perhaps the most remarkable feature of Spain’s colonial policy.
“The Spaniards,” says a historian, “conceived the Americans to be animals of an inferior nature, who were not entitled to the rights and privileges of men. In peace they subjected them to servitude. In war they paid no regard to those laws, which, by a tacit convention between contending nations, regulate hostility and set bounds to its rage.” The history of the conquest of Guatemala is but another story of war, rapine and slavery similar to the other conquests of Spain. We have the testimony of Alvarado himself upon this point. On one occasion he wrote to Cortez: “That day I killed and captured many people, many of them captains and persons of rank.” At another time he wrote: “That I might bring them to the service of His Majesty, I determined to burn the lords; and I burned them and commanded their city to be burned and razed to its foundations.” Prisoners were branded on the cheeks and thighs and sold as slaves at public auction, one-fifth of the money realized going to the Spanish crown in all cases. It was not many months until Guatemala acknowledged the sovereignty of Spain, and, with Chiapas, now the southernmost state of the republic of Mexico, was made a province with a resident captain-general.
INDIAN GIRL.
The rule of Spain lasted for nearly three centuries, from 1524 to 1821. Under their system of government the natives were looked upon as lawful prey and were oppressed in every possible way. Las Casas, and a few of the other priests, endeavoured to prevent extreme cruelty, although even their methods would not appear very high, according to present standards. The policy of Spain was always narrow and selfish. The unlimited power of the clergy and their immunity from the civil laws made them arrogant and intolerant. Even before the death of Alvarado, in 1541, there were numerous uprisings of the Indians which were crushed with an iron hand. The false system of government created distrust in all, so that no man put confidence in his neighbour. The Inquisition, that terrible institution of blind hatred and bigotry, flourished here with all its malevolence and many were its victims. Although the Indians were exempt from its action, it gave a ready way to dispose of anyone who made himself particularly obnoxious to the powers that were, and the offenders were turned over to the tender mercies of those who seemed to rejoice in human suffering and misery. We turn with horror from the sacrificial altars of the Aztec and Toltec races; and yet a careful search by historians has not found any persecution for opinion’s sake among these people, but their offerings were all made to please their deities.