Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/736

Rh 694 AMERICA [ANTIQUITIES. carved figures of tortoises in demi-relief. These are ar ranged in groups of four, with their heads placed together ; and from the dimensions of the court, this sala de las Tor- tugas must have required 43,660 of such carved stones for its pavement. The ruins of Chichen, also in Yucatan, extend over an area of two miles in circumference. One of the best pre served buildings with an ambit of 638 feet, is constructed in three terraces, which gave it an appareutaltitude of 65 feet. The buildings here, on the second terrace, have the facades highly sculptured, both above and below the horizontal fil let ; and the doorways are enriched with mouldings, and &amp;lt;/vtss-like ornaments supporting a drip-stone. The staircase here is 56 feet wide. The front apartments are 47 feet long and only 9 wide. There are three doors in the front, and in the central apartment are nine niches. The roofs are stone arches : and all has been once painted of various colours. A curious adjoining structure consists of two parallel stone walls, 274 feet long, and 30 feet apart. The walls are 30 feet thick. It has been conjectured to have been connected with the celebration of some public games, like the palaestrce of the Greeks. In several of the ruins now noticed are found buildings to which there is no access. They have doorways, but these seem to have been walled up when the buildings were erected. Their use is unknown ; they are named casas cerradas, or &quot; shut up houses.&quot; Their interior does not differ from the other apartments above described. It is worthy of notice, that the builders of those cities took great pains to supply them with one of the prime essentials of human comfort abundance of good water, by means of wells and cisterns of excellent construction. The remains in all the 44 ancient towns visited by Stephens have a similar character; so that we can have no hesitation to ascribe them to the same nation, or to kindred races of men, who had certainly attained no inconsiderable civilisation, although unacquainted with the use of iron, or even of bronze. Many of these towns are repeatedly referred to in the native histories, and it is almost certain that a large proportion of them were founded and inhabited by the Tutul-Xius, Nahoas, and other tribes speaking the Nahuatl tongue. In not a few instances the dates and the names of the founders have been preserved. ative It has been generally admitted by physiologists, that .merican the temperate regions of the globe are best fitted to de- .vilisa- velope all the powers of our nature ; and it is a fact in accordance with this opinion, that among the aborigines of America, civilisation followed very closely the chain of the Andes, and was found either upon their sides or the table-land of their summits, where the elevation of the ground moderates the heat of the tropical sun, and pro duces a climate analogous to that of Central and Southern Europe. This civilisation did not exist merely at the two distant and isolated points of Mexico and Peru, but pre sented itself at intermediate places, and may be said to have formed a continuous line from lat. 35 N. to lat. 35 S, with few interruptions, except at those parts where the moun tainous chain disappears, or sinks down to a trifling eleva tion. Some large buildings near the Rio Gila, in lat. 33 N., with fragments of porcelain, indicate the existence of a people there who had some knowledge of the arts. These were most probably a branch of the Aztecs or Toltccs, who afterwards occupied Mexico, as the annals of that country tell. Though some pursued their march south ward, it may be reasonably supposed that a part remained in the district ; and the Indians living here, who culti vate corn, weave cloth, and live in villages consisting of houses built of solid materials, sometimes two stories in height, may either be their descendants, or have bor rowed from them the improvements they possess. Next in order as we proceed southward, are the various nations of Mexico, of whose condition we shall speak by and by. In Chiapa were the Zapotecs, in Yucatan the Mayas, in Guatemala the Quiches and Kachiquels, all nearly aa much advanced in civilisation as the Mexicans, and pro bably of the same primitive stock. From this point, where the Andes lose their elevation, or break into isolated cones, no distinct traces of civilisation appear till we enter the southern continent. Here were found the Muyscas or Moscas, on the table-land of Bogota, a nation consisting of several tribes, who worshipped the sun and practised some of the useful arts. To these succeeded the nations of Peru, living iinder the Incas, whose dominion extended from the equator to the 35th degree of S. latitude. Beyond this boundary were the Chilian tribes, who, though inferior to the Peruvians, had made some advances beyond the rudeness of the savage state. It is proper to mention that some of the nations named were extinct before the arrival of the Spaniards ; but the degree of civilisation they had attained is attested by the monuments they have left behind them. There were no other tribes in the new continent which had made any progress in social improve ment. We would not except the Guaranis of Brazil, and a few others, who derived their subsistence chiefly from agriculture, but were in other respects savages. We place among the exceptions, however, the extinct race of the Allege wis, or whatever was the name of the people, Avho erected the military works existing between the Ohio and the northern lakes ; but they also, it must be remembered, inhabited a temperate climate, though not a mountainous country. It may be affirmed, then, as a general proposi tion, that from 35 of N. to 35 of S. latitude, the siJes and summits of the Andes were the exclusive seats of American civilisation. We admit that some of the tribes in Chiapa, Oaxaca, and Yucatan, inhabited low districts; but they were still near the Cordillera, and may be fairly considered as offsets from the nations dwelling upon it. The fact is important, as marking the effect of climate on the active energies of our species. There is no doubt that, with the improved arts of modern times, civilisation can subsist under the burning sky of the torrid zone, but not in such vigour as in countries which enjoy a more moderate temperature. Perhaps it will be found that the moral and physical powers of man attain their highest perfection in those regions where he is accompanied by wheat and the vine. The zone occupied by the former extends from the 30th to the 57th or 58th parallel ; and within the tropics the corresponding climate is found on the flanks or summits of mountains, from 4500 to 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. It is remarkable that the Mexican annals reach to a Mexicc very remote date, although they were preserved merely by picture-writing. We do not pretend to enter into the question as to the authenticity of the records themselves, and their correctness. It is enough that they have received credit from Humbolclt, Vater, and other men of learning and judgment. From the annals thus preserved, of which further details will be subsequently given, we learn that at the earliest dawn of history the Quinames were in possession of the country, that civilisation was introduced by strangers coming from the east, and that several nations belonging to one race migrated in succession from the north-west, and settled in Anahuac or Mexico. The Toltecs, it is stated, left their original seat, far to the west, in 544 of our era, and after a long journey invaded Mexico, then occupied by wandering hordes, in 648. This people, who penetrated to Nicaragua, if not to South America, were nearly destroyed after the lapse of some centuries ; but were followed by the Chichimecs, a half savage tribe, about 1120, and these a few years afterwards by the Anahautlels,