.
ON THE ORIGIN OF ANCIENT AMERICAN CIVILIZATIONS
131 It is in conform ity w ith hum an thought that w e are
inclined to assum e fo r like and sim ilar things not only a
like b u t the same origin.
T he M osaic story o f the creation—and, it may w ell be
said, that o f alm ost all ages and peoples—traces back the
origin o f th e hum an race to one original pair. A nd the
m o dera phylogenetic science is based on about the sam e
hypothesis. E ver since A m erica w as recognized as an in-
dependent part o f the earth it has, therefore, alw ays been
a g reat p roblem how the ancestors o f its inhabitants, the
Indians, reached this continent from the land supposed to
be the eradle o f the hum an race.
In the sixteenth century, w hen the A m erican continent
w as thought to be m uch m ore insular than it is in reality,
the theory w as held that the ancestors o f the A m ericans
crossed ov er in canoes. T he m ore m odem age, w hich is
m ore accurately inform ed co ncem ing the respective posi-
tions o f the continents, believes that the A m ericans
crossed the B ering S trait in great crow ds. T he latter
explanation, how ever, is h ardly m ore satisfactory than
the form er, for the antiquity o f man in A m erica can very
w ell antedate the tim e w hen th e continents received their
present shape and the developm ent o f the clim atic and
oth er conditions now existing in different latitudes began.
N ow , how ever, th e sam e hypothesis go v em s th e at-
tem pts that have been m ade to account for the origin o f
the ancient A m erican civilizations. It is obviously diffi-
cult for us to im agine that the sam e invention w as m ade
at d ifferent places independent o f one another, and that
the sam e practice, the sam e custom , and the sam e form
o f art, can have arisen here and there independently, o r
even from different sources. /4 / W herever, therefore, an
agreem ent w orthy o f n ote w ith the custom s and form s o f
the O íd W orld is evident in the civilization o f the A m eri­
cans o f pre-Spanish age, then invariably the first thought
has been o f a d irect transference, and an attem pt has
been m ade to p rove that this is possible.
It cannot, how ever, be denied that the proofs that have
been cited thus far contain very little that is convincing.
T h e ancient account o f A ristotle, that C arthaginian ships,
3
after traveling for m any days w est o f the P illars o f H er­
cules, encountered large u ninhabited islands w ith m ighty
rivers, is today accepted seriously by no one as reference
to a pre-C olum bian discovery o f A m erica. A nd as little
is the platom c tale o f A tlantis adapted to afford a support
for conclusions relative to ancient relations betw een the
Oíd and N ew W orlds, ho w ev er often this may have been
attem pted, and even in the m ost recent tim es.
A founding o f the N ew W orld from the W est has been
asserted in m ore defin ite form . In ancient C hínese annals
a land called Fu-sang is m entioned several tim es, w hich
w as said to be 12,000 Li east o f the “ g reat H a n ,” and in
the last century this Fu-sang w as referred to as the land
o f M éxico by the academ ician de G uignes, and in this he
w as follow ed by m any others. Y et this surm ise also
cannot b e m aintained.
Fu-sang w as a country know n to the C hínese o f m ore
ancient tim e: its producís are enum erated in the reports,
its custom s (w hich are tho ro u g h ly E ast A siatic in their
character) are d escribed, and its princes and nobles are
called by K orean tilles. Fu-sang m ay have been the ñam e
o f one o f the islands to the n o rth o f Japan, as Prof.
Schlegel has sought to m ake credible. But the ñam e can­
n o t refer at all to M éxico o r to any p art o f the continent
o f A m erica.
N ow these strenuous attem pts to attrib u te A m erican
civilization to a foreign o rig in are the m ore rem arkable
as it has never occurred to anyone to derive the civiliza­
tion o f the C hínese from that o f the E gyptians, o r to seek
the beginnings o f the ancient H indus in Chaldea. Since,
how ever, the efforts to connect the civilization o f the
ancient M exicans w ith that o f the O íd W orld are repeat-
ed w ith a certain o bstinacy, it does n ot appear unneces-
sary to in q u ire for once w hether in th e traditions o f the
A m erican races o r in the character o f their civilization a
support may not be found fo r seeking th e origin o f these
peoples o utside o f A m erica.
Speculations co ncem ing the extensive prehistoric m i-
g rations o f the A m erican races and the introduction o f
foreign elem ents o f cu ltu re are connected, as a rule, in
4 A. HISTORY AND FOLKLORE OF MEXICO
the traditions that w e have received from the M exican
races. A nd as a m atter o f fact, am ong the M exicans w e
find the definite n otion that their ancestors carne from
the steppes o f the north as hunting races. T he A ztecs in
the n arro w er sense recounted that their prim al hom e w as
on an island in the w ater. 151 A nd in a passage in Saha­
gún it is stated that the first population o f M éxico—here,
as follow s from the context, the T oltecs are m eant—
carne across the ocean and landed on the n o rth em coast
near Panuco.
H e w ho is inclined to favor the view that the different
races o f Indians em igrated to A m erica across the B ering
S trait w ill find in this tradition a confirm ation o f his
theory, as w ill also, in like m anner, he w ho is inclined
to regard the foreigners w ho carne across the sea as the
bearers o f the M exican civilizations.
I believe I shall encounter no great opposition if I
pronounce conclusions o f this kind prem ature and ven-
turesom e. B ut, on the oth er hand, it is equally certain
that m yths and legends that are recounted to us by p eo ­
ples am ong w hom fairy tales and novel inventions have
not yet becom e a profession and an am usem ent, should
n ot be laid aside w ithout c o n sid e ra ro n as idle babble or
fantastic creations, but how ever curious and m arvellous
they may seem to us they m ust be exam ined on their
m erits.
T he tradition o f the n o rth em hom e o f the M exicans
adm its o f a tw o-fold explanation—an historie and a m yth-
ologic one. It is determ ined beyond question that M exi-
can-speaking races w ere spread, on the one hand, to the
south as far as the lake o f N icaragua and beyond, and on
the other hand, that they dw elt in the steppes o f the north
in m odem Zacatecas and adjacent regions. H ere they
bordered on other tribes that extended through the entire
northw est o f the m odem republic o f M éxico as far as the
b order o f the territo ry o f the U nited States, and spoke
idiom s that are not d irect sister languages o f the M exi­
can, but have a certain kinship w ith it.
T he Jesuits, w ho later established m issions am ong
them , found m any characteristics that suggest the ancient
M exican custom s. A nd it seem s that these national affini-
ties extended still further north. Prof. B uschm ann and
others believed they w ere ju stified in the assum ption that
the Shoshoni races as a w hole w ere another división—a
rem óte one, to be sure—o f the sam e great t'amily. Since,
as a general thing, the progress o f nations is from north
to south, from the barren regions unfavorably situated in
respect to clim ate and culture, into the m ore favored
lands, richer and m ore fertile, so there is som e probabili-
ty that the hom e, o r m ore co rrectly, the earlier dw elling
place o f the M exican nation may have been in the north.
A nd it therefore appears very possible that a m em ory
o f an actual event surv iv es in the M exican tradition
m entioned. But on the o th er side w e should not fail to
consider that the separation o f the allied tribes in the
n o rth , in this case, m ust have taken p lace at a very early
date—this is p roved by the great difference 161 in lan-
guage and the high status o f civilization that the M exi­
cans had reached in com parison w ith th e n o rth em races
and w hich required long centuries fo r th e ir developm ent.
A gain, it cannot b e denied th at the conception w hich the
M exicans had o f this ho m e situated in the n o rth w as
p u rely m ythical. T h e com m onest designation o f this p ri­
mal hom e is C hicom oztoc, “ Seven c a v e s,” i.e. the holes
w here the various tribes crep t forth from the earth. And
lastly, the p o ssibility is n o t to b e excluded that the north
w as perhaps supposed to be the prim al hom e only be-
cause, according to the general b elief, the land o f the
dead lay to the n o rth , the realm o f darkness.
M ore specifíc tro u b le has been w ro u g h t by the special
Aztec v ersión o f the m ig ratio n m yth. T h e A ztecs, the
inhabitants o f M éxico, the capital city , asserted they had
com e from a place called A ztlan, w hich w as in the m idst
o f w ater. C rossing the w ater, their ancestors carne first
to the tow n o f C olhuacan, and from this place they
traveled through the steppes o f the n o rth and, after a
delay at T ollan, reached th eir subsequent hom e. H istori-
ans and interpreters have identified this C olhuacan w ith
the city o f C uliacan, w hich is situated on the northw est-
e m coast o f M éxico, near the entrance o f the G u lf o f
C alifornia.
H ere then w e have th e ground for the theory o f the
transoceanic orig in o f the A ztecs and th e M exicans in
general, w hich opened the w ay for fu rth er speculations
based on this fact. In this co n nection, h o w ev er, on e point
is entirely forgotten, nam ely, that o nly one branch o f the
M exican n atio n , the inhabitants o f the capital city , are
said to have com e from this place situated in the w ater.
T he o th er cognate races, the Ñ aua, lived com fortably on
the dry land. T h e A ztecs first met w ith them in C olhua­
can. A nd in the m yths o f these races them selves, no
m ention is m ade o f a prim al hom e situated in the w ater.
O bviously the prim al hom e A ztlan w as given this special
location only because the descendants o f its ancient in ­
habitants, th e A ztecs, lived in the m idst o f w ater on an
island o r low place in the salt-w ater lagoon.
I com e now to the T oltecs, w ho, as a passage in Sa-
hagün states, carne o v er the sea from the east and landed
in the n o rth o f M éxico near Pánuco, and then traveled on
to the snow -covered sm oking m ountains, nam ely Iztac-
ciuatl and P opocatepetl, and passed on to G uatem ala. In
the ñam e o f the T oltecs three different elem ents are tied
together in a m ost tangled coil.
In th e first place, T o llan o r T u la is the ñam e o f an
1. On the Origin of Ancient American Civilizations
actual city that w as situated in the north o f M éxico in the
territo ry o f the O tom í b u t w hich w as in ruins and aban-
doned in preh isto ric tim e. In the second place, it is the
ñam e o f a m ythical realm , a kind o f golden age that
flourished u nder a god by the ñam e o f Q uetzalcoatl, /7 /
w hose re tu m w as expected from th e ocean o f the east.
F in ally , in the third place, this ñam e em bodied the idea
o f a preh isto ric civilized nation, th e author o f the calen­
d ar and o f all the arts and sciences, w hich w as connected
in som e o f th e oíd accounts and by the historians and
in terpreters g enerally, w ith the historie as w ell as the
m ythic T ollan.
T he descendants o f this preh isto ric civilized nation are
also recognized, how ever, in the M aya populatio n o f the
eastem coast d istriets, the región from w here the retu m
o f the god Q uetzalcoatl w as expected and w hith er this
god and his people m ust, therefore, have gone. T he
credit is due P rof. B rinton for first em phasizing the fact
that a distinction should be m ade betw een the historie
and the m ythic T ollan. H e w as also entirely correct w hen
he identified the character o f Q uetzalcoatl retum in g from
the east w ith a m ythic conception o f the light god, w ho
is said to rise and shine again after the darkness o f the
night, for the individual characteristics w hich are speci-
fied o f the god o f T ollan indeed perm it o f identifying
him w ith the fire god.
I cannot agree w ith B rinton, how ever, in his concep­
tion o f the m ythic T ollan, w hich he identifies w ith the
kingdom o f light, the east, basing his theory on a pas­
sage in the C odex R am írez w here—apparently in conse-
quence o f an etym ological play on w ords—T onallan, the
sun land, is given fo r T ollan. In m y opinion, the T ollan
o f the legends had another m eaning, also m ythic, it is
true, but very differen t and very significant.
I am o f th e opinion that the w ord T ollan can b e de-
rived from th e ro o t tol o r col, w hich m eans “ to curve
one’s self, to bow dow n to the earth, to d esce n d ,” and
from w hich, am ong others, the verb stoloa, “ to bow
the h e a d ,” toloa, “ to gulp som ething d o w n ,” coltic,
“ crooked,” e tc., are derived, and that, therefore, T ollan
may perhaps b e explained as the country w here the sun
sinks dow n to the ground, descends into the earth.
I find a confirm ation o f this theory in the ideas that
were connected w ith the ñam e T ollan in Y ucatan and
Guatemala. In th e Annals o f the Cakchiquels o f G u ate­
mala, T ollan, w hich this M aya race also considered the
primal hom e o f its forefathers, is nam ed in connection
with X ibalbay. A nd in the Books o f C hilam Balam it is
said o f the T utulxius o f M a n í in Y ucatan that their ances­
tors carne from the w est, from Z uiva, from T ollan A pan
Chiucnauhthlan.
Now, X ibalbay is none oth er than the w ell know n
5
M aya designation fo r th e realm o f h o rro rs, o f darkness,
for the und erw o rld , the entrance to w hich lay in the
w est. A pan C hiucnauhthan o r C hiconauhapan is the nine-
fold flow ing stream o f the u n d erw o rld , w hich is speci-
fied w ith this v ery ñam e in the M exican accounts o f the
u n d erw o rld . F in ally , the enigm atical w o rd Z uiva is—per­
h aps—to be derived from zoo paa, w hich in the Zapotee
m eans the w est.
In the w est, w here th e earth has a m outh, the ground
opened an d the K asi’h ta cam e forth. T h u s w e read in the
legend o f the M askoki trib e o f th is ñam e. T h e very sam e
idea /8 / underlies the prim al hom e T ollan. T he analogy
can b e carried still further. M agic plays a pro m in en t part
in the traditions o f T o llan , in connection w ith w hich the
people o f T ollan, the T oltecs, are sw allow ed by the
earth. T h e K asi’h ta have a v ery sim ilar tradition, nam e­
ly, that there in the w est the earth opened its m outh and
ate th e children o f the K asi’hta; on that account they left
this w estern región and traveled eastw ard.
T he g olden age o f T o llan , h o w ev er, is only the elab-
oration o f the ideas that are connected w ith the ancient
hom e and the good oíd tim es by the peo p le o f all ages.
A s, h ow ever, the god o f T o llan w as expected to com e
back from the east, from th e ocean, so his people m ust
have com e from th e east, from th e ocean. T hus this
entire m igration by w ater m elts aw ay into nothing. T he
special localizing, h ow ever, that is effected in the Saha-
gún passage cited is only a construction based on the
literal m eaning o f th e ñam e, for Pánuco o r Panoayan
m eans “ W h ere o ne crosses the w a te r.”
T h e w hole p ictu re that M exican civilization presents to
u s, in fact, is m ost closely connected w ith th e nature o f
the co u n try , and has developed therefrom . O nly in rela-
tion to the height and degree o f its developm ent can it be
considered as isolated, fo r in respect to its elem ents and
the m anner o f developm ent the m ost w ide-reaching
analogies are found all o v er the transatlantic continent,
particularly on its n o rth em half.
O nly the least p o rtio n o f the N o rth A m erican races, so
far at least as they w ere know n at the tim e o f the discov-
ery , should be designated as follow ing exclusively the
p ursuits o f hunting and fishing. E veryw here agriculture
w as carried on am ong them to a g reater o r lesser extent,
consisting for the m ost part o f the grow ing o f m aize,
beans, and go u rd s. E ven the w ild p rairie tribes, the
D akota, M andan, C heyenne, w h o lived alm ost entirely
on b iso n , and now by the exterm in atio n o f the bison
herds are b ro u g h t to th e b rink o f ex tin ctio n , tilled the
ground to a lim ited extent. A nd this w o rk , as everyw here
w here h u nting is still a m ain p u rsu it, w as in the hands o f
the w o m en .
A g ricu ltu re w as conducted on a m ore extended scale
6 A. HISTORY AND FOLKLORE OF MEXICO
by the tribes in th e southem states o f the m odera unión,
and here the m en shared the w ork insofar as they attend-
ed to the digging up o f th e ground, w hile the w om en
planted, sow ed, and harvested.
F inally, am ong th e P ueblo Indians in N ew M éxico and
A rízona, the m an is em ployed w holly in cultivating the
soil, w hile the reaping and preparation o f the crops for
daily bread is still the w ork o f the w om en. A nd this is
the condition that w e also find in ancient M éxico and
w hich still exists everyw here today in M éxico am ong the
Indian population o f the farm ing com m unities.
T he decisión o f a people to engage exclusively o r not
in agriculture is to som e extent a m atter o f political con-
ditions 191 and tem peram ent. In countries w here there
are no large anim als living in h erds, n o sea coasts and
no stream s abounding in fish, as long as peaceful condi-
tions prevail and peaceful inclinations exist, the over-
population resulting m ust soon com pel to a tillin g o f the
soil. T he M oki, w ho are farm ers and live in villages,
cali them selves and their tribal associates H opitó schin-
ium ó, “ Peaceable p e o p le .” T h eir b rothers, the savage
C om anche, they cali N é-um e, “ M e n .”
A s, how ever, this basis o f all civilization, agriculture,
is com m on to the M exicans along w ith a large num ber o f
N orth A m erican races, so also a large share o f the pecu-
liarities o f their dom estic, political, and religious Ufe has
its parallels am ong other races. T he clan constitution is
the sam e, the religious conceptions are fundam entally the
sam e—and often in the m arvellous details them selves.
T he coyote, w ho figures so prom inently in the legends
o f the p rairie trib es, also appears am ong the M exican
divinities. T he feathered serpent, w hich is draw n in
M exican and A ztec p icture w ritings as concealing w ater
w ithin itself, is also honored by the P ueblo Indians as the
m other o f w aters. A nd the w ay in w hich these Indians
draw the feathered serpent, especially the w ay in w hich
the feathers are represented, is such that one alm ost
believes he is looking at a pictu re taken from a M aya
m anuscript. F inally, w hat is usually considered the great-
est peculiarity o f the M exican and Central A m erican
nations, the p ictu re w ritin g , has its first stages and its
parallels am ong all the N orth A m erican tribes.
T o be sure, these considerations w ill not conv ert him
w hose only explanation o f the fact that the cross occurs
in M exican p icture w ritin g , o n H uaxtec pottery, and on
the altar tablets o f P alenque, is that it is the result o f the
earlier residence o f C hristian m issionaries. Ñ o r w ill he
be convinced w ho can only account fo r the presence o f
the H indú sw astika on rattles o f the P ueblo Indians and
the Chínese T ai-ki on a large hew n stone o f C opán, as
having been introduced by B uddhist m onks, ñ o r h e w ho
regards the invention o f the m eander scroll as possible in
G reece alone. If, h ow ever, h e takes the tro u b le to exam ­
ine m ore closely th e sym bols and fornis o f a rt o f the
various p eoples, h e w ill b e com pelled to extend very
greatly th e m issionary jo u m e y s o f the A postle to the
Indians an d travels o f the B uddhist p riests, i f h e w ishes
to satisfy all the dem ands that w ill m eet h im in this
connection.
T u m in g n o w to the civilized cou n tries o f the south, w e
find that h ere to o the trad itio n s respecting th e o rig in and
parentage o f th e races are confined to v ery lim ited areas.
In general w e m eet the idea that is also so com m on
am ong th e N o rth A m erican races, that the ancestors o f
the race issued o u t o f the earth. B ut as a rule, /1 0 / cor-
responding to the decidedly m ore lim ited h o rizo n o f
these tribes, the place w h ere th is o rig in o f the race o f
m ankind w as said to b e found is m uch m ore definitely
stated.
T h e Inca legend com bined these d ifferen t traditions,
since it m akes the Creative god form the pro to ty p es o f
the hum an race o ut o f stone at T iahuanaco— this is also a
preh isto ric ruined city, like the M exican T o llan . T h e god
then gives orders to the perso n ag es, w hom h e has creat-
ed, to go u nder th e earth and to issue fro m th e gro u n d at
d ifferen t places in the provinces. T h e god h im se lf travels
on the Inca h ighw ay tow ard the n o rth , and in C acha,
w here a m onstrous lava stream filis a larg e p art o f the
valley, h e causes fire to fall from th e sky; on a lofty
m ountain near U rco s he m akes a stone seat fo r him self;
in C uzco h e establishes th e Inca dynasty and everyw here
confers o rd ers and law s, as d id h is successors and repre-
sentatives, th e Incas. In T um bez, at the end o f the Inca
highw ay and the Inca conquests o f ancient tim e, he
ascends to the sky, as one m yth says, o r spreads his
m antle an d , traveling o v er the sea, vanishes.
T h e last narrativ e, w hich has been m uch used to iden-
tify this god w ith Q uetzalcoatl and to ascrib e to him , like
the M exican g od, a transoceanic o rig in , is obv io u sly only
m ade to explain the ñam e o f this g od, w hich is W ira-
kocha, i.e . “ F at o r foam o f the o c e a n .” O ther character-
istics, w hich are repeated in the d ifferen t accounts w ith
great faithfulness, nam ely, that th is traveling god w o re a
w h ite ro b e flow ing to his feet and b elted w ith a cord,
short h air, and a tonsure, and held ¡n h is h and an o bject
that, as th e P eruvians had afterw ard p erceived, has the
appearance o f a p rie st’s b rev iary , are yet clearly falsities
like the sim ilar accounts o f the costum e and appearance
o f Q uetzalcoatl. T hese lies w ere readily and devoutly
accepted by the Spaniards and at the sam e tim e had the
effect o f a certain adherence to th e o íd go d s on the part
o f the new rulers w ho w ere o th erw ise very strict in this
particular.
In reality , all the trad itio n s o f th e South A m erican
1. On the Origin of Ancient American Civilizations
peoples also contain nothing that could be explained,
w ith som e pro b ab ility , as due to an introduction o f fo r­
eign O íd W o rld cu lture elem ents. T he isolated account o f
Balboa that an en tire nation carne on rafts to Lam bay-
eque and set up th eir au thority and founded a dynasty in
this little city, like the other sim ilar rep o rt that rests,
how ever, on later and m ore dubious authority, that a
race landed on the coast o f E cuador, w hich gave a dy­
nasty to the capital o f the land, can, how ever, in the
m ost lenient m ind, be referred only to sea voyages o f
v ery local extent.
B ut as little as the traditions, the nature o f the civ ili­
zation o f the South A m erican peoples scarcely occasions
the suspicion o f a foreign influence anyw here. / I I / T he
Peruvian civilization as a w hole is so unique, in spite o f
all the v ariation in its individual w orks, so characteristic
in its details, its form s, its om am ents, its technique, the
national basis o f its culture, that it w ould be difficult for
the m ost zealous advocates o f the A siatic orig in o f N ew
W orld civilization, o f w hom there are still many am ong
the K hetschuists,1 to state at w hat po in t o f the O íd W orld
this civilization w ould now be connected.
A nd again, the P eruvians do not stand entirely alone in
th e nature o f th e ir civilization am ong the other races, at
least in the A ndean región o f A m erica. F o r exam ple, he
w ho follow s the first o f the Peruvian chroniclers, Cieza
de L eón, on his long jo u m e y from the north end o f the
cordilleran chain to the b orders o f the P eruvian d istrict,
and beyond into this as far as the venerable ruins on
Lake T iticaca, w ill certainly receive the im pression that
the golden C uzco represents a focal and culm inating
point. H e w ill, how ever, also see that the elem ents o f the
special P eruvian civilization—ag riculture, pottery, m etal
technique, e tc .—existed everyw here and that only favor-
ing circum stances w ould have been needed to cause them
to flourish as in the Inca kingdom .
In regard to the rank o f their attainm ents, how ever,
even the people decried as rude hunting tribes, w ho fill
the w ide interio r o f B razil, have accom plished things that
need not shrink from com parison w ith other parts o f the
earth—as one o f their m ost sagacious observers has cor-
rectly pointed o u t—fo r exam ple in cultivating the m anioc
and preparing a very useful food from this poisonous
plant.
F o r the w hole question w hether the ancient A m erican
civilizations can b e thought to have an origin outside o f
Am erica o r not, the fact seem s to m e to be decisive that
no cognate connection betw een the languages o f the Oíd
and N ew W orld has yet been proved, and also that thus
far no cultivated plant is know n that could have been
carried in pre-C olum bian tim e from the O íd W orld to
America. F o r today w e are assured that the bean, like
7
m aize and the p otato, is A m erican. A nd that the banana,
like the m ango and o th er A siatic plants, w as first intro-
duced into A m erica in post-C olum bian tim e, is also un-
doubted, how ever often the con trary is asserted.
T he cotton ( Gossypium barbadense L ., G. Peruvianum
C av .) that w as raised by the p re-C olum bian races o f
A m erica, how ever, is a d ifferen t species from the plants
cultivated in the O íd W o rld , in A frica, E g y p t, A rabia,
India ( Gossypium arboreum L ., G. herbaceum L. and
their sub-species).2 /1 2 / T h e G ossypium fam ily is n ot the
only plant fam ily w h o se range includes the tw o hem i-
spheres.
As far as the facts are no w know n, the M onroe D oc­
trin e— “ A m erica for th e A m ericans” —m ust hold good
for the oíd A m erican civilizations. A nd A m erican Sci­
ence w ould only be the g ain er if the fruitless attem pts to
institute im aginary connections should b e given up.
T he question in regard to the orig in o f ancient A m er­
ican civilization, h ow ever, has yet an o th er side that in-
terests us m ore; that is, w h eth er o f the different civiliza­
tions that grew on ancient A m erican so il, on e is depen-
dent upon another, o r w hether w e have to assum e purely
independent civilizations, o r, finally, w hether though as
a general thing independent civilizations existed, yet
definite relations are n ot to be recognized betw een them .
T his question has been raised in reference especially to
the tw o civilizations representing the culm inating points
o f the N ew W o rld , the M exican and the Peruvian. It
seem ed h ardly cred ib le, b ut yet it is actually the case that
these tw o civilizations, lying so n ear together, should
have risen independently o f one another and should have
existed independently o f one an o th er for a long tim e at
least.
T rad e relations betw een p rim itiv e peoples and prim i-
tive com m unities com m only extend fu rth er, as a rule,
than one is accustom ed to im agine. A t the very tim e
w hen C olum bus, w ith som e disappointm ent, w rote in his
diary that the inhabitants o f the islands discovered by
him w ere, in the m ain, a p o o r peo p le g oing ab o u t naked
as they carne into the w o rld , his lieutenant, M artín A lon-
zo P inzón, leam ed at H aiti that to th e south o f Juana,
i.e. C uba, there w as ano th er land nam ed Y am aye, very
rich in gold.
P inzón w as also inform ed that by traveling in an In-
dian boat fo r ten days from Y am aye o ne w ould reach a
country w here the inhabitants wore clothes, a suggestion,
it is true, that w as n ot follow ed by the Spaniards until a
qu arter o f a century had passed. T h e advance o f the
Spaniards from the coast o f Santa M arta to the highland
o f B ogotá w as essentially determ ined by reports, w hich
they heard on the coast, o f a people living in the south
w ho traded in salt. A nd Sebastián de B elalcazar received
8 A. HISTORY AND FOLKLORE OF MEXICO
definite accounts o f the E ldorado, the caciaue in G uata-
vita, w ho, covered w ith gold dust, bathed in the lagoon
o f G uatavita. H is inform an! w as a C hibcha Indian w ho
had com e to Q uito on som e business m atters.
M any articles have a w ide d istribution as com m odities
o f trade and spring up at places w here, at first, one
w ould certainly n o t expect them to appear. T his is tru e
particularly o f things that serve fo r om am entatio n , as
shells, feathers, and the like. H ow very m uch /1 3 / com -
m ercial expeditions and com m ercial interests influence
politics is readily recognized by everyone w ho has ever
studied ancient M exican affairs. B ut m ore extended and
effective relations that have led to one civilization being
influenced by the other, or to an exchange o f culture
elem ents, are dem onstrable only w ithin lim ited areas.
T he w idest distribution has been attained by the cu l­
ture influences that em anated from the Inca kingdom , for
they extended from the m ountain ridges in the south o f
P asto along the entire chain o f the A ndes as far as the
C alchaqui valleys in w estern A rgentina and the Río
M aulé in C hile, and beyond to the savage tribes filling
the interior o f P atagonia. But in the n o rth , w here the
borders o f the Inca conquests are but a short distance
from the m ost southerly M exicans, Peruvian cu ltu re in ­
fluences cease.
E ven in E cuador, the foreign elem ent o f the popula-
tion, w hich is m ixed everyw here w ith the Inca civiliza­
tion, is very prom inent. A nd the races o f C olom bia,
since they rem ained p olitically free o f Inca au th o rity ,
w ere also entirely foreign in their character and in th eir
culture elem ents. T h e entire district o f the isthm us, w ith
C olom bia on on e side and C osta R ica and N icaragua on
the other, form s a separate culture departm ent in w hich
perhaps the G reat A ntilles should also be included. W ith ­
in this departm ent, evidently, far-reaching contacts and
influences have taken place.
T he C hibcha o f the highlands o f B ogotá, the ancient
inhabitants o f the S ierra o f M érida and the K óggaba o f
the S ierra N evada de Santa M arta, belong to a linguistic
fam ily o f w hich a large part o f the prim al races o f C osta
R ica are recognized as additional m em bers. T h e isthm us
had com m ercial relations on both sides. A nd the w hole
picture presented to us by the oíd accounts, as w ell as by
the archaeological m aterial, show s in fact that an analo-
gous civilization existed n o rth and south o f the isthm us.
W hile an exchange, therefore, o f elem ents and in flu ­
ences w as not w anting w ithin this departm ent o f isthm ian
civilization, yet it served in its entirety as a dividing
band w hich, at the tim e w hen the Spaniards o verthrew
all the conditions o f life and created new channels and
new relations, prevented the interm ixing o f the tw o civ­
ilizations that w e have considered as the zeniths o f N o rth
A m erican and South A m erican culture.
T his is en tirely in h arm ony w ith the theory, w hich
enjoyed great pop u larity a few decades ago and w hich
also has its adherents to d ay , o f on e g reat civilized race
that traveled from P u g et Sound in the n o rth to the M is-
sissippi V alley an d across the c liff d w ellers’ d istrict to
M éxico and fu rth er along th e A ndes to the south.
/1 4 / F ro m the m ost recent investigations o f th e A m er­
icans it should be regarded as settled b eyond question
that the rem arkable m ounds o f th e M ississippi district,
and the various objects that have been b ro u g h t to light
from these m ounds, are n o t to be attrib u ted to a m ysteri-
o us nation o f m ound b u ild ers, b u t in the m ain to the
forefathers o f the Indian trib es w ho w ere found in these
regions at the tim e o f the discovery o f A m erica.
A nd everyone w ho has had an o p p o rtu n ity to com pare
the antiquities and m odem eth nographica o f these regions
w ill adm it that the civilization o f the c liff dw ellers and
the abandoned p ueblos o f N ew M éxico and A rizona w as
quite like that o f the tribes still inhabiting these regions,
w ho live in the v illages and till the soil.
In the tw o great cu ltu re departm ents, the M exican and
the P eruvian, it w as by no m eans an undivided nation
that appeared as supporters o f the civ ilization. In M éxico
there w ere the three coordínate d iv isio n s, tw o form ed o f
the Ñ aua and M aya races and the th ird constituting a
m ixture o f Z apotee and M ixtee trib es, each o f w hich
contributed special cu ltu re elem ents o f its ow n k ind to
th e developm ent, and the question is not yet decided as
to w hich o f these th ree divisions is to be ascribed w hat
these Indians considered the greatest p ro d u ct o f civ iliza­
tion— the calendar.
In P erú the Q uechua and th e C olla o f th e highlands
and the Y unga tribes o f the coast are v ery different na-
tions, ju d g in g from th eir languages and descent. It is true
in early tim e they may have m utually influenced each
other, and later w ere w elded into one political body by
Inca conquests. T h eir civilizations, h ow ever, have pre-
served th eir special characteristics up to the m ost recent
tim e, and it is im possible that these n ations could first
have received th eir cu ltu re elem ents from on e another.
A m ap o f A m erica on w hich the large and sm all cen-
ters o f civilization are m arked does n ot by any m eans
coincide w ith th e ethnographic m ap. Sm all fractions
standing on very h igh an d very low levels o f civilization
belong to the sam e branch o f a nation. T h e m iserable
ro ot-digging Y ute, the savage w arlik e C om anche and the
agricultural H opi o r M oki are v ery closely allied, have
no tro u b le in understanding each o th e r’s language, and
perhaps even the civilized nation o f the M exicans be-
longs in the m ore rem óte d ivisión o f these races.
W hile the Indian races are m ixed up in a rem arkable
1. On the Origin of Ancient American Civilizations 9

m anner, in w ays w hich it is som etim es difficult— indeed Article U -l-l o f the A bhandlungen, “Ueber den Ursprung der
im possible—to trace, they have distributed them selves altamerikan'ischen Kulturer,” pp. 3-15. Preussische Jahrbüch-
m any tim es and form ed centers on the continent w here er, Vol. 79 (1895), pp. 488-502.
tribes o f d ifferent parentage, settling side by side, have
1. Apparently a faction o f Quechua historians.—F .E .C .
exchanged th eir products and their acquisitions. A s the
2. See K. Schumann in E ngler and Prantl, Die natürlichen
assistance o f the w om en o f a tribe first m ade it possible
Pflanzenfamdien, Part IV, Section 6.
for the race to rise above the rude rank o f the h u n ter
3. Karl von den Steinen, Unter den Naturvdlkern Zenlral-
class and to devote itself to agriculture, so w ithou t doubt
Brasiliens. Berlin: Dietrich Reim er, 1894.
the peaceable cooperation o f different com m unities and
tribes first occasioned further advancem ent. /1 5 / H ow
this p rogress is still going on, how technical skill m ade
its appearance, h o w w ild plants, w hich w ere useful in
one o r another respect, w ere cultivated, how the p ro d ­
ucts w ere exchanged and the m ental horizon w idened by
extended intercourse and experience, has all been m ost
clearly set forth in th e recent report o f a traveler w ho
w as perm itted to tread upon v irg in so il.3
H ow this process w as carried on in earlier tim es, how
the high and p rolific civilization sprang therefrom , w hich
excites o u r adm iration in ancient P en i and in ancient
M éxico, w ill perhaps nev er be determ ined w ith certainty
in its individual stages. B ut both those hum ble out-
grow ths o f civilization, w hich w e see going on before
our eyes, and the new beginnings w hich are lost in the
m ythical darkness surrounding the unw ritten and unre-
corded past o f the civilized peoples o f A m erica, w ho
w ere capable, in only a very im perfect m anner at least,
o f the com m unication o f ideas and the im m ortalizing o f
historical events, have the advantage o ver all the studies
that are directed to the solution o f the problem s connect­
ed w ith the appearance o f m ankind on earth and his
historical developm ent. T his is due to the fact that they
belong to a new w o rld , lie outside the paths that have
been traced by E uropean developm ent m oving in certain
tracks fo r thousands o f years, and belong to the soil on
w hich they have risen.
T h is I have felt, and I think m any others w ith me, to
be the special charm and peculiar advantage o f A m eri-
canist studies. O u r first du ty , to be sure, is to pro v id e a
basis fo r these far-reaching investigations. T he abundant
m aterial, contained in the rem ains o f the highly civilized
peoples overrun by the S panish conquest, is to be w o rk ­
ed upon first. T h e languages m ust be studied, the texts
edited, the hieroglyphs, covering the w alls o f the tem ples
in long row s, be m ade to speak—all the antiquities o f
these nations, w hich fill o u r m useum s in so great a
num ber, m ust be explained in their different relations.
For this labor, w hich is great and extensive but prom ises
profits and delights and w hich very m uch needs w ork-
men, I w ould plead fo r helpers.