The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 5, Primitive History

39

See vol. iii., pp. 77, 89.

40

According to Ixtlilxochitl, the Toltec tradition relates that after the confusion of tongues the seven families who spoke the Toltec language set out for the New World, wandering one hundred and four years over large extents of land and water. Finally they arrived at Huehue Tlapallan in the year 'one flint,' five hundred and twenty years after the flood. Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 322. See also another account, p. 450; Boturini, Crón. Mex., pt ii., pp. 5-8; Id., Idea, pp. 111-27; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 24, 145, 212-13; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 145; Hist. y Antig., in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. i., p. 284; Juarros, Hist. Guat., (Guat. 1857) tom. ii., pp. 55-6; Delafield's Antiq. Amer., p. 34; Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 114-15; Prescott's Mex., vol. iii., pp. 380-1; Davis' Anc. Amer., p. 31; Tylor's Anahuac, p. 277.

41

They had also, as we have seen in the third volume, a great many curious ideas as to the way in which man was created, and as in attempting to prove their theories many writers are apt to draw analogies in this particular, I give a brief résumé of the creation-myths here for the reader's convenience: The grossest conceptions of the mystery of the beginning of man are to be found among the rude savages of the north, who, however, as they are quite content, in many instances, to believe that their earliest progenitor was a dog or a coyote, seem entitled to some sympathy from the latest school of modern philosophy, though it is true that their process of development was rather abrupt, and that they did not require very many links in their chain of evolution. But as we advance farther south, the attempts to solve the problem grow less simple and the direct instrumentality of the gods is required for the formation of man. The Aleuts ascribe their origin to the intercourse of a dog and a bitch, or, according to another version, of a bitch and a certain old man who came from the north to visit his brute-bride. From them sprang two creatures, male and female, each half man, half fox; and from these two the human race is descended. Others of the Aleuts believe that their canine progenitor fell from heaven. The Tinneh also owe their origin to a dog; though they believe that all other living creatures were called into existence by an immense bird. The Thlinkeet account of the creation certainly does not admit of much caviling or dispute concerning its chronology, method, or general probability, since it merely states that men were "placed on the earth," though when, or how, or by whom, it does not presume to relate. According to the Tacully cosmogony, a musk-rat formed the dry land, which afterwards became peopled, though whether by the agency of that industrious rodent or not, is not stated. Darwinism is reversed by many of the Washington tribes, who hold that animals and even some vegetables are descended from man. The human essence from which the first Ahts were formed, was originally contained in the bodies of animals, who upon being suddenly stampeded from their dwellings left this mysterious matter behind them. Some of the Ahts contend, however, that they are the direct descendants of a shadowy personage named Quawteaht and a gigantic Thunder Bird. The Chinooks were created by a Coyote, who, however, did his work so badly and produced such imperfect specimens of humanity, that but for the beneficent intervention and assistance of a spirit called Ikánam the race must have ended as soon as it began. Some of the Washington tribes originated from the fragments of a huge beaver, which was slain and cut in pieces by four giants at the request of their sister who was pining away for some beaver-fat. The first Shasta was the result of a union between the daughter of the Great Spirit and a grizzly bear. The Cahrocs believe that Chareya, the Old Man Above, created the world, then the fishes and lower animals, and lastly man. The Potoyantes were slowly developed from Coyotes. The Big Man of the Mattoles created first the earth, bleak and naked, and placed but one man upon it; then, on a sudden, in the midst of a mighty whirlwind and thick darkness, he covered the desolate globe with all manner of life and verdure. One of the myths of Southern California attributes the creation of man and the world to two divine beings. The Los Angeles tribes believe their one god Quaoar brought forth the world from chaos, set it upon the shoulders of seven giants, peopled it with the lower forms of animal life, and finally crowned his work by creating a man and a woman out of earth. Still farther south, the Cochimís believe in a sole creator; the Pericúis call the maker of all things Niparaja, and say that the heavens are his dwelling-place; the Sinaloas pay reverence to Viriseva the mother of Vairubi, the first man. According to the Navajos, all mankind originally dwelt under the earth, in almost perpetual darkness, until they were released by the Moth-worm, who bored his way up to the surface. Through the hole thus made the people swarmed out on to the face of the earth, the Navajos taking the lead. Their first act was to manufacture the sun and the moon, and with the light came confusion of tongues. The Great Father and Mother of the Moquis created men in nine races from all manner of primeval forms. The Pima creator made man and woman from a lump of clay, which he kneaded with the sweat of his own body, and endowed with life by breathing upon it. The Great Spirit of the Pápagos made first the earth and all living things, and then men in great numbers from potter's clay. The Miztecs ascribe their origin to the act of the two mighty gods, the male Lion Snake and the female Tiger Snake, or of their sons, Wind of the Nine Snakes and Wind of the Nine Caves. The Tezcucan story is that the sun cast a dart into the earth at a certain spot in the land of Aculma. From this hole issued a man imperfectly formed, and after him a woman, from which pair mankind are descended. The Tlascaltecs asserted that the world was the effect of chance, while the heavens had always existed. The most common Mexican belief was, that the first human beings, a boy and a girl, were produced from the blood-besprinkled fragments of the bone procured from hades by the sixteen hundred fallen gods sprung from the flint-knife of which the goddess Citlalicue had been delivered. According to the Chimalpopoca manuscript the creator produced his work in successive epochs, man being made on the seventh day from dust or ashes. In Guatemala there was a belief that the parents of the human race were created out of the earth by the two younger sons of the divine Father and Mother. The Quiché creation was a very bungling affair. Three times and of three materials was man made before his makers were satisfied with their work. First of clay, but he lacked intelligence; next of wood, but he was shriveled and useless; finally of yellow and white maize, and then he proved to be a noble work. Four men were thus made, and afterwards four women.

42

'This nice agreement with the Mosaic account of the height which the waters of the Deluge attained above the summits of the highest mountains is certainly extraordinary; since we read in the twentieth verse of the seventh chapter of Genesis: "Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail, and the mountains were covered."' Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 25.

43

Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 321-2.

44

'Un orient lointain,' says Brasseur de Bourbourg; but he must either mean what we call in English the Orient, the East, or contradict himself – which, by the way, he is very prone to do – because he afterwards asserts that Tula is the place 'on the other side of the sea,' from which the Quiché wanderers came to the north-west coast of America.

45

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 105-6.

46

Id., pp. 167-8.

47

Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 178; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 258.

48

Ross' Adven., pp. 287-8.

49

Warden, Recherches, p. 190.

50

Domenech's Deserts, vol. ii., p. 4; Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. i., p. 19.

51

Warden, Recherches, p. 213.

52

The reader will recollect that the story of each of these heroes has been told at length in vol. iii. of this work.

53

The legend of Viracocha, or Ticeviracocha, as he is sometimes called, and his successor, is, according to Herrera, as follows: 'Cuentan tambien los Indios, segun lo tienen por tradicion de sus antepassados, y parece por sus cantares, que en su antiguedad estuuieron mucho tiempo sin ver Sol, y que por los grandes votos, y plegarias que hazian â sus dioses, saliô el Sol de la laguna Titicaca, y de la Isla, que estâ en ella, que es en el Collao, y que pareciô luego por la parte de medio dia vn hõbre blanco de gran cuerpo, y de veneranda presencia, que era tan poderoso, que baxaua las sierras, crecia los valles, y sacaua fuentes de las piedras, al qual por su gran poder llamauan: Principio de todas las cosas criadas, y padre del Sol, porque dio ser a los hombres, y animales, y por su mano les vino notable beneficio, y que obrando estas marauillas, fue de largo hâzia el Norte, y de camino yua dando orden de vida â las gentes, hablando con mucho amor, amonestando que fuessen buenos, y se amassen vnos â otros, al qual hasta los vltimos tiempos de los Ingas llamauã Ticeuiracocha, y en el Collao Tuapaca, y en otras partes Arnauâ, y que le hizieron muchos Templos, y bultos en ellos â su semejança, â los quales sacrificauan. Dizen tambien, que passados algunos tiempos oyeron dezir â sus mayores, que pareciô otro hombre semejante al referido, que sanaua los enfermos, daua vista â los ciegos, y que en la prouincia de los Cañas, queriendo locamente apedrearle, lo vieron hincado de rodillas, alçadas las manos al Cielo, inuocando el diuino fauor, y que pareciô vn fuego del Cielo que los espantô tanto, que con grandes gritos, y clamores le pedian, que los librasse de aquel peligro, pues las venia aquel castigo por el pecado, que auian cometido, y que luego cessô el fuego, quedando abrasadas las piedras, y oy dia se ven quemadas, y tan liuianas, que aunque grandes se leuantan como corcho, y dizen, que desde alli se fue â la mar, y entrando en ella sobre su manto tendido nunca mas se vio, por lo qual le llamaron Viracocha, que quiere dezir espuma de la mar, nõbre que despues mudô signification, y que luego le hizieron vn Templo, en el pueblo de Cacha, y algunos Castellanos solo por su discurso han dicho, que este deuia de ser algun Apostol: pero los mas cuerdos lo tienen por vanidad, porque en todos estos Templos se sacrificaua al demonio, y hasta que los Castellanos entraron en los Reynos del Pirû, no fue oìdo, ni predicado el santo Euangelio, ni vista la Santissima señal de la Cruz.' Hist. Gen., dec. v., lib. iii., cap. vi.; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 82.

54

Sumé was a white man with a thick beard, who came across the ocean from the direction of the rising sun. He had power over the elements, and could command the tempest. At a word from him the trees of the densest forest receded from their places to make a path for him; the most ferocious animals crouched submissive at his feet; the treacherous surface of lake and river presented a solid footing to his tread. He taught the people agriculture, and the use of maize. The Caboclos, a Brazilian nation, refused to listen to his divine teachings, and even sought to kill him with their arrows, but he turned their own weapons against them. The persecuted apostle then retired to the banks of a river, and finally left the country entirely. The tradition adds that the prints of his feet are still to be seen on the rocks and in the sand of the coast. Warden, Recherches, p. 189.

55

Paye-Tome was another white apostle. His history so closely resembles that of Sumé that it is probable they are the same person. Id.

56

'In former times, as they (the Chilians) had heard their fathers say, a wonderful man had come to that country, wearing a long beard, with shoes, and a mantle such as the Indians carry on their shoulders, who performed many miracles, cured the sick with water, caused it to rain, and their crops and grain to grow, kindled fire at a breath, and wrought other marvels, healing at once the sick, and giving sight to the blind,' and so on. 'Whence it may be inferred that this man was some apostle whose name they do not know.' Quoted from Rosales' inedited History of Chili, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 419.

57

Bochica, the great law-giver of the Muyscas, and son of the sun, a white man, bearded, and wearing long robes, appeared suddenly in the people's midst while they were disputing concerning the choice of a king. He advised them to appoint Huncahua, which they immediately did. He it was who invented the calendar and regulated the festivals. After living among the Muyscas for two thousand years, he vanished on a sudden near the town of Hunca. Warden, Recherches, p. 187; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 174, quoting Stevenson's Travels in South America, vol. i., p. 397.

58

Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 35; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 67-8; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 13.

59

In a work entitled Fenix del Occidente.

60

Felicidad de Mej., Mex. 1685, fol. 55.

61

Boturini, Catálogo, in Idea, pp. 43, 50-2. Although the opinion that Quetzalcoatl was St Thomas, 'appears to be rather hazardous, yet one cannot help being astonished at the extent of the regions traversed by St. Thomas; it is true that some writers do not allow of his having gone beyond Calamita, a town in India, the site of which is doubtful; but others assert that he went as far as Meliapour, on the other side of the Coromandel, and even unto Central America.' Domenech's Deserts, vol. i., p. 50. 'Apud Iaiaobæ Indos in Occidenti tradita per avos viget memoria S. Apostoli Thomæ, quam retinent a transitu ejus per illas plagas, cujus non levia extant indicia: præcipuè quædam semita in illis solitudinibus hactenus perseverat, in quâ non oritur herba nisi valdè humilis et parvula, cum utrumque latus herbescat ultra modum; eo itinere dicunt Apostolum incessisse, et inde profectum in Peruana regna. Apud Brasilienses quoque traditio est, ibi prædicasse. Apud alios barbaros, etiam in regionem Paraguay venisse, postquam descendit per fluvium Iguazu, deinde in Paranam per Aracaium, ubi observatur locus in quo sedit defessus Apostolus, et fertur prædixisse, ut a majoribus acceptum est, post se illuc adventuros homines qui posteris eorum annuntiarent fidem veri Dei, quod non leve solatium et animos facit nostræ religionis prædicatoribus, ingentes labores inter illos barbaros pro dilatione Ecclesiæ perpetientibus.' Nieremberg, Historiæ Naturæ, lib. xiv., cap. cxvii.

62

Following are a few points of Lord Kingsborough's elaborate argument: 'How truly surprising it is to find that the Mexicans, who seem to have been quite unacquainted with the doctrines of the migration of the soul and the metempsychosis, should have believed in the incarnation of the only son of their supreme god Tonacatecutle. For Mexican mythology speaking of no other son of that god except Quecalcoatle, who was born of Chimalman the Virgin of Tula, without connection with man, and by his breath alone, (by which may be signified his word or his will, announced to Chimalman by word of mouth of the celestial messenger, whom he dispatched to inform her that she should conceive a son,) it must be presumed that Quecalcoatle was his only son. Other arguments might be adduced to show, that the Mexicans believed that Quecalcoatle was both god and man, that he had previously to his incarnation existed from all eternity, that he had created both the world and man, that he descended from heaven to reform the world by penance, that he was born with the perfect use of reason, that he preached a new law, and, being king of Tula, was crucified for the sins of mankind, as is obscurely insinuated by the interpreter of the Vatican Codex, plainly declared in the traditions of Yucatan, and mysteriously represented in the Mexican paintings.' If the promise of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, – The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God – be couched in the language of ancient prophecy, 'it is not improbable that the head of the dragon which forms the crest of three of the female figures (in one of the Mexican pieces of sculpture), as it may also be presumed it did of the fourth when entire, (if it be not a symbol which Chimalman borrowed from her son's name,) was intended to denote that she had been overshadowed by the power of Huitzilopuchtli, whose device, as we are informed by Sahagun in the first chapter of the first book of his History of New Spain, was the head of a dragon.' Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 507-8. See, more especially, his elaborate discussion of Quetzalcoatl's crucifixion and identity with the Messiah, vol. viii., pp. 5-51. As we have seen in a preceding volume, Quetzalcoatl is compared with the heathen deities of the old world, as well as with the Messiah of the Christians. See vol. iii., chap. vii.

63

See vol. iii., p. 450, et seq.

64

Though the presumption may be in favor of communication by Bering Strait, yet the phenomena in the present state of our knowledge, favors the Aleutian route. Latham's Comp. Phil., p. 384. The Aleutian archipelago is 'probably the main route by which the old continent must have peopled the new. Behring's Straits, though … they were doubtless one channel of communication, just as certainly as if their place had been occupied by solid land, were yet, in all likelihood, only of subordinate utility in the premises, when compared with the more accessible and commodious bridge towards the south.' Simpson's Nar., vol. ii., p. 225. 'There is no improbability that the early Asiatics reached the western shores of America through the islands of the Pacific.' The trace of the progress of the red and partially civilized man from Oriental Asia was left on these islands. Willson's Amer. Hist., pp. 92-3. The first discoveries were made along the coast and from island to island; the American immigrants would have come by the Aleutian Isles. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 10. To come by Aleutian islands presents not nearly so great a difficulty as the migrations among Pacific Islands. Prescott's Mex., vol. iii., p. 374. Immigration from Asia 'appears to have taken place mostly by the Aleuthian islands.' Smith's Human Species, p. 238.

65

Some of the early writers were of course ignorant of the existence of any strait separating America from Asia; thus Acosta – who dares not assume, in opposition to the Bible, that the flood did not extend to America, or that a new creation took place there – accounts for the great variety of animals by supposing that the new continent is in close proximity to if not actually connected with the Old World at its northern and southern ends, and that the people and animals saved in the ark spread gradually by these routes over the whole land. Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 68-73, 81; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt i., pp. 8-9. See also Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 38-42; Gottfriedt, Newe Welt, p. 4; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 26-8. Clavigero produces instances to show that upheavals, engulfings, and separations of land have been quite common, and thinks that American traditions of destructions refer to such disasters. He also shows that certain animals could have passed only by a tropic, others only by an arctic road. He accordingly supposes that America was formerly connected with Africa at the latitude of the Cape Verde islands, with Asia in the north, and perhaps with Europe by Greenland. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., pp. 27-44. The great objection to a migration by way of the cold latitude of Bering Strait, says a writer in the Historical Magazine, vol. i., p. 285, is that tropic animals never could have passed that way. He apparently rejects or has never heard of the theory of change in zones. See farther, concerning joining of continents, and communication by Bering Strait: Warden, Recherches, pp. 202, 221; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii., p. 68, et seq.; Snowden's Hist. N. and S. Amer., p. 198; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Sept. 12, 1862; Priest's Amer. Antiq., pp. 62-3, 82-3; Valois, Mexique, p. 197; Adair's Amer. Ind., p. 219. Bradford denies emphatically that there ever was any connection between America and Asia. 'It has been supposed,' he writes, 'that a vast tract of land, now submerged beneath the waters of the Pacific Ocean, once connected Asia and America… The arguments in favor of this opinion are predicated upon that portion of the Scriptures, relating to the "division" of the earth in the days of Peleg, which is thought to indicate a physical division, – upon the analogies between the Peruvians, Mexicans and Polynesians … and upon the difficulty of accounting in any other manner for the presence of some kinds of animals in America.' After demolishing these three bases of opinion, he adds: 'this conjectured terrestrial communication never existed, a conclusion substantiated, in some measure, by geological testimony.' Amer. Antiq., pp. 222-8. Mr Bradford's argument, in addition to being thoughtful and ingenious, is supported by facts, and will amply repay a perusal.

66

Exam. Crit., tom. ii., p. 68.

67

Mex., vol. iii., p. 418.

68

Prehist. Man, p. 615.

69

Human Species, p. 238.

70

Rel., 2de expéd., p. 28.

71

Peruvian Antiq., p. 24. America was probably first peopled from Asia, but the memory of that ancient migration was lost. Asia was utterly unknown to the ancient Mexicans. The original seats of the Chichimecs were, as they thought, not far to the north-west. They placed Aztlan not in a remote country, but near Michoacan. Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 158-9, 174. There are strong resemblances in all things with Asiatic nations; less in language than other respects, but more with Asia than with any other part of the world. Anatomical resemblances point the same way. Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 196-203. The Americans most probably came from Asia soon after the dispersion and confusion of tongues; but there has been found no clear notice among them of Asia, or of their passage to this continent. Nor in Asia of any such migration. The Mexican histories do not probably go so far back. Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 72-3. If a congregation of twelve representatives from Malacca, China, Japan, Mongolia, Sandwich Islands, Chili, Peru, Brazil, Chickasaws, Comanches, &c., were dressed alike, or undressed and unshaven, the most skillful anatomist could not from their appearance separate them. Fontaine's How the World was Peopled, pp. 147-9, 244-5. The people of Asia seem to have been the only men who could teach the Mexicans and Peruvians to make bronze, and could not teach them to smelt and work iron, one thousand or one thousand five hundred years before the Spanish Conquest. Tylor's Researches, p. 209. It is almost proved that long before Columbus, Northern India, China, Corea, and Tartary, had communication with America. Chateaubriand, Lettre aux Auteurs, p. 87. See also: Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 345; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 20; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 23-4; Simpson's Nar., vol. i., p. 190; Gregg's Com. Prairies, vol. ii., pp. 250-1; Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 426-7; Saint-Amant, Voyages, p. 245; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 290, 295-6; Warden, Recherches, pp. 118-36; Macgregor's Progress of Amer., vol. i., p. 24; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 230; Dodge, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 590; Whymper's Alaska, pp. 278-85; Prichard's Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 519; Mitchill, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 325-32; Vigne's Travels, vol. ii., p. 36; Latham's Man and his Migrations, p. 122; Sampson, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 213. Robertson's Hist. Amer., vol. i., pp. 280-1; Snowden's Hist. N. and S. Amer., p. 200; Stratton's Mound-Builders, MS.; Bradford's Amer. Antiq., pp. 208, 215-16, 432; Pickering's Races of Man, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 287-8; Carver's Trav., pp. 209-13; Kennedy's Probable Origin; Davis' Discovery of New Eng.; Hellwald, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 334. Herrera argued that as there were no natives in America of a color similar to those of the politer nations of Europe, they must be of Asiatic origin; that it is unreasonable to suppose them to have been driven thither by stress of weather; that the natives for a long time had no king, therefore no historiographer, therefore they are not to be believed in this statement, or in any other. The clear conclusions drawn from these pointed arguments is, that the Indian race descended from men who reached America by the nearness of the land. 'Y asi mas verisimilmente se concluye que la generacion, y poblacion de los Indios, ha procedido de hombres que passaron a las Indias Ocidentales, por la vezindad de la tierra, y se fueron estendiendo poco a poco;' but from whence they came, or by what route the royal historiographer offers no conjecture. Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. i., cap. vi.