USA > New York > The natural, statistical, and civil history of the state of New-York, v. 2 > Part 13
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The great tumulus, or temple of Mexico, which was mostly de- stroyed by the Spaniards at the reduction of that city in the year 1521, consisted of five bodies, or terraces, which rose one above another to the height of one hundred and fourteen feet, or upwards, exclusive of two towers which stood on the summit, which were each fifty-six feet high, and which gave a perpendicular elevation of one hundred and seventy feet, or more. The base was about three hundred and thirty-four feet in length, and about two hundred and eighty feet in breadth, and contained two acres and some perches of ground. The second terrace was about fourteen feet shorter, and about the same number of feet narrower than the first. The third was about the same number of feet shorter and narrower than the second ; the fourth and fifth decreased in the same ratio. The space between each terrace was sufficiently broad for three or four men to walk abreast all around. The ascent to the summit was on the south side, and consisted of one hundred and fourteen steps, each being about one foot high. Each step consisted of one or more well formed stones; the ascent, or stair-way, was not con- tinuous, but was divided into as many [parts as there were terra- ces ; so that, after ascending to the top of the first terrace, it was necessary to advance around the space between the first and second terraces, in order to ascend to the third, and so of the rest. The summit was a plain about two hundred and seventy-eight feet in length, and two hundred and twenty-four in breadth, paved with flat stones.
This tumulus, or temple, was enclosed by a stone wall very thick, and eight feet in height, crowned with battlements, and orna- mented with many stone figures in the shape of serpents ; the stones of which the wall was made were laid in lime mortar; the wall had
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four gates looking to the four cardinal points; over each gate there was an arsenal filled with offensive and defensive armour ; the space or enclosure between the wall and the temple was paved, and was sufficiently large for a town of five hundred houses.
The towers already mentioned were fifty-six feet high each, and stood at the eastern extremity of the upper plain. Each tower was divided into three parts; the lower part of each was construc- ted of stone laid in lime mortar, and the middle and upper parts of wood, very well wrought and painted. In the space or enclosure between the wall and temple, there were upwards of forty tumuli of smaller dimensions; the sacrifices were usually made on the area of the upper plain of the great temple ; this temple was mostly con- structed of earth. Besides the great tumulus, or temple, and the small tumuli in the enclosure, there were many others in the city of Mexico; but few or none of these now remain, having been level- ed by the conquerors. The preceding are taken from M. Clavi- gero's History of Mexico.
Several of the mounds in the United States are surrounded with walls and ditches having entrances. The reader will remember that we have already said that there were six tumuli near the defen- sive works on Paint creek in Ohio, surrounded with a parapet and ditch, one near the works at Marietta, and four at Licking, in the same state, all enclosed with parapets and ditches. Mr. Haywood, the historian of Tennessee, observes that many of the mounds in that state were enclosed with ditches and walls. Pavements were not uncommon in Mexico ; the remains of several have been disco- vered in some of our western states. On a supposition that the city of Mexico had been deserted for some ages, the pyramidal structures would have had a resemblance to the two groups at Ka- hokia. The dwellings of the inhabitants would have mouldered away, and nothing would have remained but the mounds. There may have been a large town at Kahokia, and the mounds may be the only vestiges remaining.
Not far from the great temple there was a huge mound of earth, called by the Mexicans Huitzompan, in the form of a half pyramid, one hundred and fifty-four feet long at its base, with a breadth some- what less. The ascent to the plain upon the top, was by a stair- VOL. 11. 18
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case of thirty steps. Upon this plain were erected, about four feer asunder, more than seventy very long beams bored from top to bol- tom. Through these holes sticks were passed across from one bear ·to another ; upon each of these sticks a certain number of here, were strung, or suspended, by the temples; at each end of tin. mound there was a small tower, which appeared to have been made only of skulls and lime. Upon the steps of the ascent of the stair- case, or ascent leading to the top, there was a head betwixt evert stone .- Clavigero.
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The temple, or tumulus of Quetzalcoatl, in the city of Mexico alone differed from the rest in structure, it being round or circular ; the others were all quadrangular erections, that is square structures of earth .- Clavigero.
The tumulus of Quetzalcoatl resembled the great mound on Bir Grave creek in Virginia ; that near Circleville, in Ohio, and the les- ser of the two great mounds at Kahokia, and some others which we have designated in the western states.
The temples, or tumuli of Tezcuco, Cholula, and Teotihuacan. were very celebrated at the time of the conquest in 1521. Bern :: Diaz says, and he was an eye witness, that the stairs of the temple of Tezcuco had one hundred and seventeen steps, and that of Cho- lula one hundred and twenty.
All the old Spanish historians speak with wonder of the number of temples, or tumuli, at Cholula. Cortes, the conqueror, says that from the top of one temple he counted more than four hundred. See Clavigero's Hist. of Mexico.
The Mexican temples, or mounds of large dimensions, wer. generally of a pyramidal form, rising, not by steps, but by a succes- sion of four or five lofty terraces. Buildings were erected on the: summits. The access to the summit was by a grand staircase oc the outside. The kings, nobles, and priests, were buried in places constructed within them ; oblations were offered on the summits.
The most remarkable of the temples still remaining, are those of Teotihuacan, Cholula, and Papantla. The first is situated in the vale of Mexico, about eight leagues north-east of the city of Mex- ico, in a beautiful plain, called the path of the dead, where there are two which are very large, and surrounded by hundreds of
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smaller ones, forming streets or avenues in straight lines from north to south, and from east to west. Each side of the base of the largest measures six hundred and eighty-two feet; the base com- prises an area of ten acres two roods and twenty-eight perches of land, which are two acres two roods and some perches more of land than the base of the grand pyramid in Egypt covers. The perpen- dicular height is one hundred and eighty feet. Its cubical contents exceed one million five hundred thousand yards. All this earth was brought from a short distance by men, without the aid of beasts of burden, for the Toltecans, Acolhuans, and Mexicans, had none of these. Many thousand men must have been employed for years in the labor and structure of this enormous pile of earth so very useless. This mound, it is supposed, was erected by the Tolte- cans, in the eighth century of our vulgar era. The smaller tumuli at this place, are not above thirty feet in perpendicular eleva- tion. Some have supposed these to have been the tombs of the chiefs ; their purposes were, it is likely, the same as those of the great tumuli. Sacrifices, on ordinary occasions, and other obla- tions, were offered on them.
All the tumuli of Teotihuacan are constructed of earth, and must have cost immense labor during a succession of ages. But the greatest and most celebrated of all these pyramidal structures, is the tumulus of Cholula, which at a distance has the appearance of a natural hill covered with vegetation. Its perpendicular height is one hundred and eighty feet, according to some accounts, and one hundred and seventy-seven according to others. Each side of its base is one thousand four hundred and forty feet, according to one account, and one thousand four hundred and sixteen according to another account. It has four great stages or stories. ' Its sides are exactly with the meridian, and the other points north and south, east and west. It covers about forty-eight acres of land, agreeable to one of the dimensions of its base, and some less, agreeable to the other. It is built of brick and earth in alternate layers. The Span- iards have erected a chapel on the platform or summit.
The road made a few years ago from Puebla to Mexico, was carried through the first terrace, which laid open a square room in the interior built of bricks, and supported by cypress beams. The
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bricks were stepped over each other, the upper overreaching the lower, so as to meet and form a kind of Gothic arch ; a mode of structure not uncommon among the ancient Egyptians and His- - doos. This room had no door or outlet, but contained two humnas skeletons, several idols in basalt, and a number of curiously var- nished and painted vases. See M. D. Humbolt's travels in Mexica.
We have occasionally interspersed remarks ; it will be seen d.a: we have adopted the same course in relation to extracts and sepa- rate passages, taken from the history of Mexico by the Abbe Clavi- gero'. We shall have to pursue a similar course with regard to the subsequent extracts we shall make from these and other writers.
The pyramid of Papantla, which was' discovered only about the year 1780 by some Spanish bunters, is more tapering than any other monument of the kind known, being only about eighty feet broad at the base, and sixty-five feet in perpendicular height. It is built entirely of hewn stone, of an extraordinary size and regular shape. There are three staircases leading to the top. This pyra- mid is covered with hieroglyphical sculptures and small niches, 10 the number of three hundred and eighteen, cut in its sides, and ar- ranged with great symmetry. These sculptures are supposed to have reference to the signs of the zodiac. Iron, or copper instru- ments must have been used in making these sculptures. The Mex- icans were possessed of the art of tempering copper, so that it an- swered nearly the same purpose as tempered steel. The sides of the pyramid of Papantla face the four cardinal points.
Near Ceucrnavac, on the road from Mexico to Acapulco, there is another of these stone temples which is square at its base, and rises by a series of platforms to its summit, each of the squares of its base measuring seventy-five feet. . The entire structure is made of wrought stones, fitted and adjusted to each other, so that the whole constitutes a strong, solid, and durable work. The Pe- ruvians fitted the stones which they used in their temples, palaces, and other edifices, in the same manner.
OBSERVATIONS.
Tumulose structures are to be seen at this day in every province of the Mexican empire, and westwardly and north-westwardly of
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that empire to the gulf of California, the rivers Gila, Colerado, &c. on quitting the vale of Mexico they, however, seem to decrease in numbers and magnitude. Here, then, we may reasonably conclude, that the nation had attained its achme in civilization and the arts. Here the densest and most numerous population was collected. Here was the seat of the most opulence.' In the ancient states of Egypt, of Babylon, of Persia, of Greece, of Carthage, and of Rome, the most splendid temples, pyramids, amphitheatres, and other pub- lic edifices, were erected in the'capitols, and those other places containing the greatest population and wealth. The same takes place in modern Europe, and in our own country.
In the valleys of the Mississippi and Ohio, which appear to have been the original seats of the ancestors of the Toltecans, Acolhuans, Mexicans, &c. tumulose structures, and works of defence, at times approach those of Mexico, in numbers, magnitudes, and grandeur of design. We allude to those at Kahokia, Paint creek, Circleville, Licking, Marietta, Big Grave creek, &c. The mode of structure is the same if we exclude the stone pyramids. In both regions we find square and round mounds or temples. In both regions the de- fensive works are round, square, and irregular, and in some in- stances made of stone.
.. CONTRASTS.
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The great temple of Teotihuacan has in its outlines a resem- blance to that of Belus, which was at Babylon. The latter, ac- cording to Herodotus, was a square tower, built in the form of a pyramid. Every one of its sides at its base measured six hundred and sixty feet. Its height was about the same. Around the out- side there was a winding passage (stairway,) from the bottom to the top, sufficiently broad to permit carriages to pass each other. (By this we. understand space or room enough for a carriage road. Car- riages never ascended or descended the passage spoken of by He- rodotus. He speaks figuratively.) It had the appearance of eight square towers built one above another, and gradually decreasing to the top of the building. According to another account, the ascent to the summit was by stairs on the outside, in a sloping direction, and of a spiral form. The latter account is the more probable.
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The temple of Belus, it is likely, was constructed of earth, and faced with brick laid in cement. The chapels, or apartments of the priests, were in the different stories, or terraces, and on the outside.
On the summit there was an observatory. The accounts given us by Herodotus, are in general greatly exaggerated. It is not at all probable, that the temple of Belus was six hundred and sixty feet high, although it may have been six hundred and sixty feet in length, at its base on every side. He tells us, that the walls of Babylon were three hundred and sixty feet high, and eighty-seven feet broad, and that the city was sixty miles in circumference ; that Thebes, the ancient capitol of Egypt had one hundred gates, and that ten thousand soldiers could issue out of each gate on an emer- gency, which would imply a population of seven or eight mi- lions, upwards of five times as many inhabitants as London now contains. Such accounts loose most of their credit, and ought to be received with great allowance. Thebes might have impressed Herodotus with wonder, and so might New-York, a person from the country who had never seen a place larger than Albany. But after making every reasonable deduction for his description of the temple of Belus; we may conclude that it might have, in some re- spects, surpassed that of Tecotihuacan. The temple of Cholula must have had towers on the plain of its summit. These, had they been proportionally higher than those of the great temple of Mexico, would have given it a perpendicular elevation of two hun- dred and sixty feet.
TOMBS IN MITLI.
In the Mexican province of Oaxaca, which is situated to the south-east of the city of Mexico, are many remains of ancient Mexican structures. The most remarkable are at San Antonio de los Cues, a populous place, on the road from Orizaba to Guaxaca, and at a village named Mitli. In this last mentioned place, which was formerly called Miguitlan, (a word signifying in the Mexican language sadness,) are the ruins of an extensive palace, con- structed over the tombs of the kings, and to which the sove- reigns used to retire for some time, on the death of a son, a wife, or a mother. This palace, or rather sepulchre, consists
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'of three edifices placed symmetrically, in a very romantic situa- ation. The principal structure, which is in the best preserva- tion, is nearly one hundred and thirty-one feet in length, and the distribution of the apartments, bears a strong analogy to what has been remarked by the French Savans, in the monuments of Egypt. A stair formed in a pit, leads down to a subterraneous apartment, which is eighty-eight feet in length, and twenty-six in breadth, and which, as well as the exterior walls of the edifice, is covered with ornaments, such as meanders, labyrinths, &c. and some of which are in Mosaic of small porphyry stones. Several curious paintings have been found in these ruins, representing warlike trophies, and sacrifices ; but the most striking object is a vast hall, of which the ceiling is supported by six porphyry columns about sixteen feet in height. The columns bear strong marks of the infancy of the arts, having neither base nor capital, but a contraction of the upper part. See Humboldt's travels.
Comparative views of the Mounds of Europe, Asia, S.c.
Those found in Europe most deserving of attention, are in Ire- land, Great Britain, Scandinavia, Poland, Russia, and Turkey. It is not our intention to enter into long details, but barely to adduce some examples, in order to compare them with the American, and deduce the relative conditions of society and the arts upon both continents, at different and distant periods.
In Ireland mounds are scattered over the island. The tumulus at New-Grange in the county of Meath, is the most remarkable. Its base covers about two acres of land, while its height is over seventy feet, and its circumference at its apex, about three hundred. It is founded on a vast collection of stones covered with gravel and earth.
In Scotland and Wales, the barrows are in general made of loose stones, and are known by the name of cairns. The Moheakan- neews, Agoneaseah, and other hunting nations that resided in the United States at the time of the colonization, and subsequently raised heaps of stones over some of their chiefs. There used to be one in the northern part of the county of Schoharie, which con-
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tained at least, one hundred loads of stones heaped promiscuous! . The Agoneasean road, leading from Icanderago to Schoharie, pa>- sed by it.
In the links of Sandwick, one of the Orkney islands, there are : great many round barrows; some formed entirely of earth, and others of stone covered with earth. These barrows usually con- tained two tiers of coffins.
Numerous barrows are scattered through various parts of Eng- land, but particularly in the Downs of Wiltshire, and Derbyshire. They vary greatly in size, but are usually of a conical forin, and constructed of earth. Many have been opened, and found to con- tain skeletons, urns, ashes, beads, and other relicts. At Aveberry. a small village in the county of Wilts, are remarkable remains cos- sisting of vast numbers of barrows. There was also a temple. constructed of large unhewn stones. Aveberry is suppossed 10 have been the grand metropolitan of the Druids. The tumuli of Ireland and Great Britain, are very ancient, and seem to have been constructed by the Celts before the Romans, Saxons, and Normans conquered them.
The English tumuli, according to the opinion of some, were constructed for twofold purposes ; cemeteries and watch-towers. See Edinburgh Encylopedia, article Mound.
The state of society and of the arts, was far less improved among the Celtic nations in the time of Julins Cæsar, than it was among the Mexicans in the sixteenth century, when the Spaniards first came among them. The laws and police were also far less perfect. Cæsar informs us, that Gaul and Britain were divided into a great number of petty states. Other Roman authors say, that in Gaul alone, there were three hundred independent states. Agricul- ture was in its lowest state, the country was mostly overspread with woods, the roads were very bad. The. Romans had to open new roads through the woods, from state to state. The Gauls were far- ther advanced in improvements than the south Britains, and these again more so than the north Britains, and Hibernians. The Bri- tains painted their bodies and faces like the Indians of North Ame- rica, of Tartar descent. The Gauls and Britains, were not on' ignorant of letters, but also of hieroglyphicks. The former resided
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in small cottages covered with bark, or thatched with straw. The latter in huts like our Indian wigwams. The Mexicans had estab- lished a state of greater extent, than the islands of Great Britain, and Ireland. They had many towns and cities, temples, and roads. They had bridges, . aqueducts, canals, dikes, &c. They had a sovereign, and were under the empire of laws. These laws had . been collected, arranged, and forined into a system. They were recorded in hieroglyphical characters.
In Europe, civilization and the arts were first cultivated in Greece. The Phoenicians introduced them about fifteen hundred years before the Christian era. From thence, they were carried into Italy and Sicily, by Greek colonies. These communicated them to the Ro- mans, as the latter did to the Celtic nations. The arts travelled westwardly, and northwardly from Italy, but not much beyond the Danube and Rhine, and the Picts wall, till long after the downfall
of the Roman empire. Civilization, and the arts progress slowly. We cannot boast of a high civilization. Our progenitors, at the time the northern barbarians overturned the Roman empire of the west, were not much better informed, or much more civilized, than the Winnebagos, or Naudowesies are at this day ; if we exclude a few who resided on the borders of the empire, and these it is probable, were much in the same condition that the Cherokees and Creeks are now in.
" The Danish, Swedish, Polish, and Russian tumuli, are also constructed of earth, and are generally of a conical or pyramidical form. Some are very large, and bespeak amazing labor, and no small degree of art." See Edin. Encyclopedia.
Mounds are frequently met with in the steppes of Asiatic Tar- tary. They resemble those of Russia, &c.
The state of society among the Scandinavians, Russians, and Tartars, was in general less advanced than it was among the Celtic nations. Many of the Tartar nations at this day, are in a condition similar to that of the Naudowesies, Winnebagos, and Chepaw- vans.
The tumuli, or mounds of Asia Minor, though less stupendous than some of those of Mexico, are sufficiently grand to excite the admiration of all who have seen them. One of the most renowned VOL. 11. 19
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of these, is the tomb of Alyattes, king of Lydia, and father of Crœsus, which stands in the midst of several others, on the banks of the lake Gygaeus, where the burial place of the Lydian princes is situated. Croesus lived about 550 years before the Christian era, and was cotemporary with Cyrus the great. The surround- ing tumuli are of various dimensions, some of them tower to such a height, as to appear at a short distance like hills, but they are all greatly overtopped by that of Alyattes, which is reared on a lofty base, about three quarters of a mile in circumference, which rises to the height of two hundred feet. All these tumuli are covered with green turf, and still retain their conical form, without the smallest sinking in of their summits.
In Greece, in early times it was customary to raise a large mound of earth over the ashes of heroes, and illustrious persons. See Homer's Iliad, p. 23, also 310. Pope's translation.
In Egypt, the tumulus or mound of earth, in the lapse of time was transformed into the lofty pyramid of stone.
The tumulus of Alyattes, approaches the nearest in magnitude to that of Cholula, of any now known. Its circumference at its base, is one thousand, three hundred and twenty yards, and its ele- vation, two hundred feet. That of Cholula in Mexico, has a cir- cumference at its base of one thousand nine hundred and twenty yards, and a perpendicular elevation of one hundred and eighty feet. The Lydian is round : the Mexican is square. The base of the Mexican, covers about forty-seven acres of ground. The base of the Lydian, were it, square, would cover about twenty-two, which would not be half as much ground. But its circular form would lessen the surface of its base so much, that it would not per- haps be far over one third of that of the Mexican. The solid contents of the Mexican, more than tripple those of the Lydian. Again, the Mexican tumulus is on a plain; and the Lydian on a lofty base, which would still farther diminish its solid contents. The magni- tude, shape, structure, and materials of the Mexican, all surpass those of the Lydian.
The Lydians had no pyramidical structures of stone. ' The Mexicans had. Those of Papantla and Ceuernavac, are solid stone structures, of pyramidal form. The stones are dressed, and
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adapted the one to the other. These structures show an acquaint- ance with architecture, and the sculptures on them, with the fine arts.
"By comparing the Lydian and Mexican structures with one another, an opinion may in some measure, be deduced of the com- parative state of society, and of the arts, in these two nations at the times these structures were reared ; but it would not be so favor- able to the Lydians, as we might expect from the pompous ac- counts given of them by ancient writers, and which certain of the moderns have copied, and commented upon, with no ordinary de- gree of exultation. The truth is, there could not have been much difference between the state of society, and the arts, of these two nations, at the times these tumuli were constructed. The state of of the arts, shows in a measure the state of society, and the degree of civilization in a nation. In Europe, these have been traced " from the Augustine age to the present time, and all the different stages marked. Among the Romans, the arts flourished most in the Augustine age-after that they declined. The Augustine age was succeeded by that of the Antonines. Then followed the Con- stantine and Theodosian ages-the latter ended in the barbarous age. The Gothic succeeded the barbarous age, while this has been supplanted by the present. Each of these ages is strongly mark- ed. From the Augustine to the barbarous age, there was a gradual decline of the arts, and of the state of society. Each age is known by its architecture, and the state of society must have conformed to this. From the barbarous age to the present, there has been a gradual rise of the arts, proportioned to the progress made by so- ciety in civilization. Every department of the arts announces this. The arts advance, or retrograde with society.
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