Part 19 (2/2)

The name of the ancient capital of which it formed the nucleus was Tullan Cholollan Tlachiuhaltepec.(75) Boturini (_op. cit._ p. 113) cites an old native ma.n.u.script on which a picture of the pyramid of Cholula was painted with the note that, in ancient times, it was named Tultecatl Chalchihuatl On Azia Ecatepec, which he translates as ”the monument or precious jade stone of the Toltecs, which rears itself in the region of the air.” As eca-tepec literally means air-mountain, Boturini's translation may seem somewhat exaggerated; on the other hand, the Spaniards, who knew the Nahuatl language best, repeatedly state that its words were so replete with significance that it would sometimes require several Spanish sentences to set forth the meaning of a single native word. Boturini, who had exceptional opportunities for obtaining information, adds to the above the following translation of a Nahuatl inscription which had been written by the native scribe below the drawing which unfortunately is now lost.

”n.o.bles and Lords: Here you have your doc.u.ments, the mirror of your past, the history of your ancestors who, out of fear for a deluge, constructed this place of refuge or asylum for the possibility of the recurrence of such a calamity.”

After citing the opinions of various authors concerning the origin of the pyramid, Orozco y Berra concludes that ”there is no certainty about its age, but instinctively it is supposed to be extremely ancient and to pertain to pre-historic times. According to my judgment the people who constructed it belonged to the same civilization as the builders of Teotihuacan and possibly were their contemporaries. Cholollan was also a venerated sanctuary, in which the religious idea predominated” (_op. cit._ p. 363). ”At the time of the Conquest a temple stood on the summit of the pyramid and contained an image of Quetzalcoatl (the Divine Twain, the Creator, the Father and Mother of all) as well as an aerolite, shaped like a frog which had fallen from heaven, wrapped in a ball of flame.” In the Vatican MS. of Padre Rios there is another version of the tradition that the pyramid had been erected by giants after a deluge, which had destroyed everything, ... and that before it was finished, fire fell upon it causing the death of its builders and the abandonment of the work.

Allusion has already been made, in the preceding pages, to the native traditions according to which, ”there had been three memorable epochs in the history of mankind, which lasted for centuries and were abruptly terminated, each time by a mighty convulsion of nature. The majority of human beings perished in each of these, but a remnant survived and thus the race was preserved.”

The periodical festival of thanksgiving, which was still observed at the time of the Conquest by the native races, abundantly testifies to the reality of their belief in these great catastrophes and the preservation of their ancestors from utter extermination. It was doubtless in order to make their past history conform with the quadruple organization of all epochs of their native Calendar that the native sages a.s.signed their successive destructions to the separate agencies of fire, water and air, in the form of violent tempests and cyclones. From descriptions contained in the Mexican Codex Chimalpopoca and in the Popol Vuh, the sacred book of the Quiches, it will be seen that the phenomena described are such as would naturally accompany a volcanic outbreak on a great scale.

Considering that, in Mexico alone, there are no less than nine monster volcanoes, of which two are not yet extinct, and that in Guatemala, in historical times, whole cities have been destroyed by earthquakes and volcanic action, it is not at all astonis.h.i.+ng to find traditions of great catastrophes amongst the inhabitants of these regions.

No one can look upon the grand snow-clad peaks of the great volcanoes, which surround the high central plateau of Mexico, without realizing that mighty upheavals and disturbances, such as the world has seldom seen, must have attended the formation of the huge craters next to which Vesuvius seems but a hillock. A volcanic outbreak amongst these elevated peaks, which range from 15,000 to 19,000 feet above the sea-level, would obviously be accompanied by great inundations caused by the melting of the ma.s.ses of snow which crown their heights. The valley of Mexico in which the large lagoons lie, as in a basin without an outlet, and the plains which surround Cholula and stretch to the base of the volcanoes must repeatedly have been the scene of ruin and desolation, lasting for many centuries. As the Abbe Bourbourg justly remarks: ”The majority of the edifices in the City of Mexico are built of volcanic tufa, said to have been formed by the small volcanoes which lie at the southeast of the valley of Mexico. At various periods of antiquity great ma.s.ses of lava have descended into this valley, in which one extensive ancient lava-field is now known as the 'Pedregal de San Augustin.' ” Another great flow of lava has actually been traced from its apparent source, the now extinct volcano of Ajusco, at the south of the valley of Mexico, to Acapulco, on the Pacific coast.

The Mexican chronicles describe as follows the destruction of the earth by fire: ”... there came a rain of fire: all that existed was burnt and a rain composed of sand-stone fell. It is said that whilst the sand-stone we now see was being formed the tet-zontli [_i. e._ volcanic tufa], boiled with great noise. Then the red mountains also lifted themselves up ... the sun consumed itself [was darkened], all houses were destroyed and all the lords or chiefs perished....”

The same author relates how, after the repeated destruction by water, obscurity reigned for twenty-five years. This cataclysm is also described in the sacred book of the Quiches as follows: ”Then ... the waters became swollen by the mere will of the Heart of Heaven and there came a great inundation from above and descended upon the people ... they were deluged and then a thick resinous substance fell from the sky. The face of the earth was obscured and a dark rain commenced and fell during the day and during the night ... there was great sound of fire overhead. Then the people ran pus.h.i.+ng each other and filled with despair: they endeavoured to mount upon the houses and these, falling in, threw them again to earth.

They wished to climb the trees, but these swayed and cast the people from them; they tried to enter caves, but these shut themselves before them....” It was after this universal ruin and destruction that, according to native tradition, the pyramid of Cholula was erected, as a place of refuge for the remnant of the native race which had escaped destruction and returned to the scene of desolation, lured by the richness of the fertile soil, just as the Italian peasants return to their vineyards on Vesuvius after each eruption. All things considered there seems to be no ground for rejecting the native tradition which affirms that the great pyramid of Cholula was erected as a place of refuge from inundations, especially as no more plausible explanation of the origin of the pyramid can be imagined. Any primitive people, inhabiting fertile plains which abounded in game and fish, and food-plants, but were exposed to frequent inundations, could not fail to recognize the advantages of an elevated piece of ground as a place of safety. It is easy to imagine the intermediate stages in the transition from this simple recognition to the final determination to build a compact, high and s.p.a.cious elevation, within the reach of all inhabitants of a settlement, on which these could not only find refuge from the dangers of floods and volcanic disturbances, but also store their harvest, and possibly some form of raft or boat which they might employ as a last means of escape.

Irrefutable proof that the maize had been cultivated from remote antiquity in this region, and had even become identified with it, is furnished by the fact that the name of the small republic of Tlaxcalla, which lies in the neighboring foot-hills, signifies bread, and that its hieroglyphic sign consists of two hands holding a tortilla, or maize-cake.

It is well known that botanists have not yet succeeded in identifying, amongst the native gra.s.ses of America, the ancestor of the cultivated maize-plant. They a.s.sert, however, that the development of what is now the world's largest cereal, from a wild native species, must have required incalculable time.

It must be admitted that no factor could possibly have more speedily impressed upon primitive men the benefits of concerted action and of organization and communal life than the occasional recurrence of a great and imminent peril which was shared by all alike, and for which there was but one visible means of escape. It is equally clear that, once a concerted and united undertaking had been determined upon, some sort of plan and organization must have naturally evolved itself. The mere building of such a gigantic structure as the pyramid of Cholula, which may well have absorbed the energies of several generations of men, or, at all events that of innumerable workmen, could well have been an abiding and most powerful factor in establis.h.i.+ng their social organization. Its erection must indeed have marked an epoch in the lives of the inhabitants of this region, because, during many years it created a bond of common interest which, of itself, might well have laid the foundation of a permanent communal life, in which responsibility and labor were equally distributed. The mere necessity to expend an equal amount of material and labor upon the building of each side of the pyramid, would naturally lead to the formation of pathways traced by the feet of the carriers of earth and stone from different directions, and ultimately to a division of the workers into four bands, each a.s.sociated with a different cardinal point.

Practice would demand that each band should be under leaders.h.i.+p, and be divided into those who collected and carried material, and those who placed it in position, at each side of the pyramid. The necessity for general supervision and directors.h.i.+p, extending over the four bands of workers alike, would, of itself, create central rulers.h.i.+p upon which would devolve the duty of enforcing an equal division of labor, which would create, in turn, some form of systematic routine and rotation. It can thus be understood how, by slow degrees, each side of the pyramid would become permanently identified with a cardinal point; and a.s.sociated with a division of workmen under its leader and a fixed period of time. It may likewise be seen how a separate caste would slowly develop itself, consisting of the trained architects and builders, the descendants of the first organizers of human labor, and systematical rulers of men.(76)

It may thus be seen how the realization of frequent danger, the necessity to provide an escape and insure the safety of the race, aided by experience, might lead to the conception of a vast pyramid, the mere building of which would create and establish the fundamental principles of organization and government.

The simultaneous development of the ideas suggested by Polaris would inevitably lead to a comparison and a.s.sociation of the terrestrial centre of communal activity with the polar axis, and to the conception of an earthly government in which human affairs were adjusted so as to be in seeming harmony with the movements of celestial bodies. The blending of the conclusions attained by the astronomer-priests, and the practical system adopted by the master builders, could not fail ultimately to cause the pyramid to appear as the sacred visible sign or image of the single, central power and quadruple government which extended its rule throughout heaven and earth. I venture to point out that, if carefully a.n.a.lyzed, the pyramid seems to be but a later development of precisely the same ideas which are expressed by the swastika.

Pausing now to review preceding data we find it demonstrated that the geographical position of Tullan Cholollan and its pyramid designates it as an ancient seat of civilization where the native scheme of organization may have evolved itself, and the source whence the native traditions concerning successive destructive cataclysms and convulsions of nature may have spread.

What is more, the peculiar conditions existing at Tullan Cholollan, situated in the heart of a volcanic region, would amply explain the traditional destruction and abandonment of the most ancient centre of native civilization and the spread throughout the continent of the identical scheme of government, etc., it being most natural that each band of fugitives, on finding what appeared to be a favorably situated region, should settle there and carry out the inherited plan of organization, etc., which would naturally become slightly modified under altered conditions. Fresh colonies on the pattern of the ruined metropolis and integral state would successively be founded far and wide and as examples of such I venture to designate Tulantzinco, literally the t.i.tle Tullan, and possibly Teotihuacan, where the native civilization seems to have undergone its more advanced stages of evolution, and to have risen in power, developed divergent cults with separate languages (the Maya and the Nahuatl) and inst.i.tuted the two religions and dual rulers.h.i.+p which eventually led to dissension and the dissolution of the integral state at a period anterior to historical times.

The a.s.sumption that the most ancient centre of native civilization lay in a volcanic region affords a plausible explanation of how an inordinate value would naturally be placed on stability, _per se_, and the feelings of veneration for Polaris and a pa.s.sionate longing for a place of terrestrial and celestial rest would become strongly developed. Indeed, it is only possible to understand the reason why various American tribes wandered about in ardent and earnest search for the stable middle of the earth, when it is a.s.sumed that they must have been driven from their former place of residence by volcanic disturbances which made a firm piece of ground under foot seem to be the most desirable of all earthly benefits. I venture to a.s.sert that this search and the ideal of stability would not have been suggested so forcibly to people who had never experienced a long succession of more or less terrible earthquakes.

Although widely different opinions concerning the identification of the ancient Tullan are held by American archaeologists they will all doubtlessly admit that at Cholollan we have, in the first case, a locality to which the natives a.s.sign the name of Tollan, and a pyramid, the largest on the American continent, which testifies that, in prehistoric times, this place was inhabited for a prolonged period, by a numerous and organized community.

The fertility of the surrounding plains now known as the Campina de Puebla and the ancient name of Tlaxcalla yield evidence that, from time immemorial, this district was a.s.sociated with maize cultivation.

The vicinity of the giant volcanoes of Popocatepetl, Iztaccihuatl and Orizaba(77) sufficiently demonstrate that they must repeatedly have been the scene of violent disturbances which would fully account for the tradition of successive cataclysms which destroyed a vast state and almost annihilated the native race.

The foregoing una.s.sailable facts undoubtedly justify the conclusion that the giant pyramid of Cholula marks the site of the great and ancient Tollan whose destruction was the theme of the plaintive native songs of lamentation even at the time of the Spanish Conquest. That the natives have ever regarded Cholula as a place of particular sanct.i.ty is shown by the following statement by Fray Geronimo Roman y Zamorra (1569-1575) (Republicas de Indias, ed. Suarez, Madrid, 1888): ”It was Colola or Cholola, which was the ancient metropolis or head of all the native religion, so much so that all the great chiefs or lords had their own chapels and dwelling houses there because they used to perform pilgrimages to its great temple this being the most revered [in the _land_].”

It is also reasonable to infer that the region of the high plateau and valley of Mexico, possibly before the formation of the great lagoons, was the cradle of ancient American civilization, where, during countless centuries, the native race literally and figuratively cultivated its own maize and simultaneously developed the set of ideas which formed the basis of its intellectual evolution.

In this connection it is interesting to reflect that, as clearly shown by ceremonial usages which existed throughout our continent and survive to the present day amongst the Pueblo Indians, it is to the fostering care, forethought and labor of countless generations of women, the ”Corn Maidens and Mothers,” that America owes the priceless legacy of a food-plant which has already sustained untold millions of lives. Thus, whilst the ancient ”Daughters of the Earth” have given their country a gift which will last for all time, the pyramids, temples and cities, reared by the ”Sons of Heaven,” have fallen into ruin, and the great edifice of human thought that they reared, their complex social organization, government and calendar now lie superseded under the dust of time.

At this point of investigation the question naturally arises, Whence came the founders of the native civilization, who established themselves and peopled the central region of Mexico and doubtlessly dwelt there for a prolonged period prior to the first of the traditional cataclysms which nearly proved destructive to their race?

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