The plan of these houses, as well as of those in Yucatan, seems to show that they were designed to be occupied by groups of persons composed of a number of families, whose private boundaries were fixed by solid partition walls. They are exactly adapted to this mode of occupation, and this special adaptation, so plainly impressed upon all this architecture, leads irresistibly to the conclusion that they were occupied on the communal principle, and were, consequently, neither more nor less than joint-tenement houses, of a model which may be called, distinctively, that of the American aborigines. None of these edifices are as large as those on the Rio Chaco, nor does either of them possess equal accommodations with the Pueblo Bonito, which possessed six hundred and forty rooms. [Footnote: Lieutenant Simpson's Report, Senate Ex. Doc., 1st Sess., 31st Congress, 1850, p. 81.]

But in this warm climate, and with the raised terraces used as gathering places, more persons could manage to live in equal spaces.

Each structure, or group of structures, thus elevated, was a fortress. They prove the insecurity in which the people lived; for the labor involved in constructing these platform elevations, in part, at least, artificial, would never have been undertaken without a powerful motive. One of the chief blessings of civilization is the security which a higher organization of society gives to the people, under the protection of which they are able as cultivators to occupy broad areas of land. In the Middle Status of barbarism they were compelled to live generally in villages, which were fortified in various ways; and each village, we must suppose, was an independent, self-governing community, except as several kindred in descent, and speaking the same dialect or dialects of the same language, confederated for mutual protection. An impression has been propagated that Palenque and other pueblos in these regions were surrounded by dense populations living in cheaply constructed tenements. Having assigned the structures found, and which undoubtedly were all that ever existed, to Indian kings or potentates, the question might well be asked, if such palaces were provided for the rulers of the land, what has become of the residences of the people? Mr. Stephens has given direct countenance to this preposterous suggestion. [Footnote: Central America, &c., ii, 235.]

In his valuable works he has shown a disposition to feed the flames of fancy with respect to these ruins. After describing the "palace," so called, at Palenque, and remarking that "the whole extent of ground covered by those [ruins] as yet known, as appears by the plan, is not larger than our Park or Battery" [in New York], he proceeds: "It is proper to add, however, that considering the space now occupied by the ruins as the site of palaces, temples, and public buildings, and supposing the houses of the inhabitants to have been, like those of the Egyptians and the present race of Indians, of frail and perishable materials as at Memphis and Thebes, to have disappeared altogether, the city may have covered an immense extent." [Footnote: Incidents of Travel, Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan, ii, p. 355 ff.] This is a clear case of suggestio falsi by Mr. Stephens, who is usually so careful and reliable and, even here, so guarded in his language. He had fallen into the mistake of regarding these remains as a city in ruins, instead of a small Indian pueblo in ruins. But he had furnished a general ground plan of all the ruins found of the Palenque pueblo, which made it plain that four or five structures upon pyramidal platforms at some distance from each other, with the whole space over which they were scattered about equal to the Battery, made a poor show for a city. The most credulous reader would readily perceive that it was a misnomer to call them the ruins of a city; wherefore the suggestions of Mr. Stephens, that "considering the space now occupied by the ruins as the site of palaces, temples, and public buildings, and supposing the houses of the inhabitants made ... of frail and perishable materials to have disappeared ... the city may have covered an immense extent." That Mr. Stephens himself considered or supposed either to be true may have been the case, but it seems hardly supposable, and in either event he is responsible for the false coloring thus put upon those ruins, and the deceptive inferences drawn from them.

These structures are highly creditable to the intelligence of their builders, and can be made to reveal the manner of their use and the actual progress they had made in the arts of life; but they never can be rationally explained while such wild views are entertained concerning them. Until the actual character and signification of these ruins are made known, such opinions may be expected to prevail concerning them. They spring from the assumed existence of a state of society far enough advanced to develop potentates and privileged classes, with power to enforce labor from the people for personal objects. There is no evidence whatever in support of such an assumption. It is quite probable that small numbers belonging to every pueblo lived a portion of the year in the forests in temporary habitations, engaged in cultivation, or in hunting and fishing; but enough is known from the brief accounts of the early explorers to show us that the body of the inhabitants of Yucatan and Central America were gathered in pueblos or villages. Moreover, they were animated by the same spirit as the Cibolans in what related to personal independence. Rather than live in subjection to Spanish taskmasters, the very Indians who erected these houses with so much labor, as Coronado states of the Cibolans, "Set in order all their goods and substance, their women and children, and fled to the hills, leaving their towns, as it were, abandoned," [Footnote: Herrera, History of America, iii, 346, cf. 348.] preferring a return to a lower stage of barbarism rather than a loss of personal freedom. In 1524 Cortex sent an officer "to reduce the people of Chiapas, who had revolted, which that commander effectually performed, for, when they could resist no longer, these desperate wretches cast themselves with their wives and children headlong from precipices, so that not above two thousand of them remained, whose offspring inhabit that province at this time." The inhabitants of Palenque may have been included in this description. [Footnote: ib., iv, 169.]

The profiles of the Palenque Indians, copied by Stephens from representations in plaster in different parts of the several structures, show that they were flat-heads, like the Chinook Indians of the Columbia River; their foreheads having been flattened by artificial compression. Herrera, speaking generally of the inhabitants of Yucatan, remarks, "that they flattened their heads and foreheads." [Footnote: ib., iv, 169.] Whether it was a general practice does not appear, aside from the Palenque monuments, and the off-hand statement of Herrera.

Another important question still remains, namely, whether or not the Indians of Yucatan and Central America had reached the first stage of scientific architecture, the use of the post and lintel of stone as a principle of construction in stone masonry. The Egyptians used the post and lintel, whence their architecture has been characterized as the horizontal. The Greeks did not get beyond this, although they brought in the three orders of architecture. The round and the pointed arch, used as principles of construction, with all they gave to architecture, were beyond even the Greeks. Speaking of the Governor's House, Mr. Stephens remarks, that "the doors are all gone, and the wooden lintels over them have fallen." [Footnote: Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, i, 175.]

"In some of the inner apartments, the lintels were still in place over the doorways, and some were lying on the floor, sound and solid, which latter condition was no doubt owing to their being more sheltered than those over the outer doorway." [Footnote: ib., p. 178.] The same is true of the House of the Nuns, and of a number of other structures figured and described in Mr. Stephens' works. But lintels of stone are found in some houses. Thus, of one of the buildings at Kabah, he says: "The lintels over the doors are of stone." [Footnote: ib., i, 398.]

In this case there was a stone column in the middle of the doorway, and the lintel was in two sections. Norman, speaking of the ruins at Chichen Itza, remarks that the "doorways are nearly a square of about seven feet, somewhat resembling the Egyptian; the sides of which are formed of large blocks of hewn stone. In some instances the lintels are of the same material." [Footnote: Rambles in Yucatan, p. 128.]

They used sapote wood usually for lintels, a wood remarkable for its solidity and durability. It may safely be said that the lintel of wood was the rule in Yucatan, and not the exception. While they understood the use of the stone lintel, which alone was capable of affording a durable structure, its common and ordinary use was beyond their ability. The use of stone of the size required, overmatched their ability in stone masonry, as a rule. It cannot, therefore, be said that the post and lintel of stone became a principle of construction in their architecture. As the Mayas, who constructed these edifices, were in the Middle Status of barbarism, it was not to have been expected that their architecture would reach the scientific stage.

American aboriginal history and ethnology have been perverted, and even caricatured in various ways, and, among others, by a false terminology, which of itself is able to vitiate the truth. When we have learned to substitute Indian confederacy for Indian kingdom; Teuchtli, or head war-chief, sachem, and chief, for king, prince, and lord; Indian villages in the place of "great cities"; communal houses for "palaces," and democratic for monarchic institutions; together with a number of similar substitutions of appropriate for deceptive and improper terms, the Indian of the past and present will be presented understandingly, and placed in his true position in the scale of human advancement. While the Aryan family has lost neatly all traces of its experiences anterior to the closing period of barbarism, the Indian family, in its different branches, offered for our investigation not only the state of savagery, but also that of both the opening and of the middle period of barbarism in full and ample development. The American aborigines had enjoyed a continuous and undisturbed progress upon a great continent, through two ethnical periods, and the latter part of a previous period, on a remarkable scale. If the opportunity had been wisely improved, a rational knowledge of the experience of our own ancestors, while in the same status, might have been gained through a study of these progressive conditions. Beside this, before a science of ethnology applied to the American aborigines can come into existence, the misconceptions, and erroneous interpretations which now encumber the original memorials must be removed. Unless this can in some way be effectually accomplished, this science can never be established among us.

Our ethnography was initiated for us by European investigators, and corrupted in its foundation from a misconception of the facts. The few Americans who have taken up the subject have generally followed in the same track, and intensified the original errors of interpretation until romance has swept the field. Whether it is possible to commence anew, and retrieve what has been lost, I cannot pretend to determine. It is worth the effort.

Finally, with respect to the condition and structures of the Village Indians of Yucatan and Central America, the following conclusions maybe stated as reasonable from the facts presented:

[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote relocated to chapter end.]

First: That the Family among them was too weak an organization to face alone the struggle of life, and therefore sheltered itself in large households, composed probably of related families.

Second: That they were probably organized in gentes, and, as a consequence, were broken up into independent tribes, with confederacies here and there for mutual protection; and that their institutions were essentially democratic.

Third: That from the plan and interior arrangement of these houses the practice of communism in living in households may be inferred.

Fourth: That the people were Village Indians in the Middle Status of barbarism; living in a single joint-tenement house or in several such houses grouped together, and forming one pueblo.

Fifth: That hospitality and communism in living were laws of their condition, which found expression in the form of the houses, which were adapted to communism in living in large households.

Sixth: That all there ever was of Uxmal, Palenque, Copan, and other pueblos in these areas, building for building, and stone for stone, are there now in ruins.

Seventh: That nothing herein stated is inconsistent with the supposition that some of these structures were devoted to religious uses.

Finally: That a common principle runs through all this architecture, from the Columbia River and the Saint Lawrence, to the Isthmus of Panama, namely, that of adaptation to communism in living.

When we attempt to understand the "Palace at Palenque" or the Governor's House at Uxmal, as the residences of Indian potentates, they are wholly unintelligible; but as communal joint-tenement houses, embodying the social, the defensive, and the communal principles, we can understand how they could have been created, and so elaborately and laboriously finished. It is evident that they were the work of the people, constructed for their own enjoyment and protection. Enforced labor never created them. On the contrary, it is the charm of all these edifices, roomy, and tasteful and remarkable as they are, that they were raised by the Indians for their own use, with willing hands, and occupied by them on terms of entire equality. Liberty, equality, and fraternity are emphatically the three great principles of the gens, and this architecture responds to these sentiments. And it is highly creditable to the Indian mind that while in the Middle Status of barbarism they had developed the capacity to plan, and the industry to rear, structures of such architectural design and imposing magnitude.

I have now submitted all I intended to present with respect to the house architecture of the American aborigines. It covers but a small part of a great subject. As a key to the interpretation of this architecture, two principles, the practice of hospitality and the practice of communism in living, have been employed. They seem to afford a satisfactory explanation of its peculiar features in entire harmony with Indian institutions. Should the general reader be able to acquiesce in this interpretation, it will lead to a reconstruction of our aboriginal history, now so imperatively demanded.

[Relocated Footnote: Whether the Indian tribes of any part of North America had learned to quarry stone to use for building purposes, is still a question. In New Mexico there is no evidence that they quarried stone. They picked up and used such stones as were found in broken masses at the base of cliffs, or as were found on the surface and could be easily removed from their bed. In Central America, if anywhere they must have quarried stone, in the strict sense of this term, but as yet there is no decisive evidence of the fact. It will be necessary to find the quarries from which the stones were taken, with such evidence of their having been worked as these quarries may exhibit. The stones used in the edifices in Yucatan and Central America are represented as a "soft coralline limestone," and, in some cases, as in that of the Copan Idols, so called, of a "soft grit stone." It requires the application of more than ordinary intelligence and skill to quarry stone, even of this character. The native tribes had no metals except native copper gold and silver, and these were without the harness requisite for a lever or chisel; and they had no explosives to use in blasting. Other agencies may have been used. We find the stone lintel for the doorway beyond their ability for ordinary use, and that for the want of it, they were unable to erect permanent structures in stone. The art of quarrying stone is gained by mankind before civilization is gained, but it must commence in rude form before more effective means are discovered through experience. If any of the American Indian tribes had advanced to this knowledge, and possessed the skill and ability to quarry stone, it is important that the fact should be established, and that they should have credit for the progress in knowledge implied by this skill and ability. Dressed stone from the walls at Uxmal, Palenque, and elsewhere in Yucatan and Central America should be proved by applying the square to find whether a level surface and a true angle were formed upon them. It should also be ascertained whether the walls are truly vertical, and also whether they had learned to make a mortar of quicklime and sand. Before our adventurous writers use in connection with our native tribes and their works such terms as "civilization, great cities, palaces, and temples," and apply such imposing titles as "king, prince, and lord" to Indian chiefs, they should be prepared to show that some at least of their tribes had learned the use of wells and how to dig them, and how to quarry stone, to prepare a mortar of lime and sand; to form a right angle and a level face upon a stone, and lay up vertical walls. These necessary acquisitions precede the first beginnings of civilization.]



INDEX.

A.

Abert, J. W., cited Aboriginal history perverted Acosta, J. de, cited Adair, J., cited Adobe houses, ruins of mortar Aleuts, communal dwellings hospitality of the Altars, Mound-Builders' Amidas, P. Ancient society, uniformity in the plan of Anonymous Conqueror Arroyo pueblo Arickarees Athenian tribes, coalescence of Atolli Aztec Confederacy Aztecs, cremation among the eating customs of the extravagant accounts concerning the governmental institutions of the houses of the social system of the

B.

Bachofen, Professor Bancroft, H. H. cited Bandelier, A. F., cited Barlow, Arthur Bartram, John, cited Brasseur de Bourbourg, C. E.

C.

Calpulli Caribs, communal dwellings of the houses of the Carver, J., cited Casa Cerrada or closed house Castanyada, S. de N., cited Catlin, G., cited Champlain, S. de, cited Chiapas, village of Chickasas, gentes and phratries Chilluckittequaw, hospitality of the Chimneys, absence of unknown in Yucatan and Central America Chinooks, houses of the Chocta, gentes and phratries Chopunish, house of the Cibola, Seven Cities of site of the Clahclellahs, houses of the Clan, the Scottish Clarke, J. S. Clatsops, houses of the Clavigero, F. S. cited Columbus, Christopher Communal dwellings of tribes in Lower Status of barbarism of tribes in savagery of Village Indians of New Mexico Communism among ancient Mexicans in living in relation to dwellings Confederacies, origin of Confederacy confined to a common language Iroquois. See Iroquois Confederacy. of the Aztecs Creek Dakota Moki Ottawa the nearest analogue of nation Copan grave posts idols Coronado, F. V., cited Core used in the architecture of Yucatan Cortez, F. cited Coues, E., cited Creek Confederacy Creek Indians, communal dwellings of the Crees Cremation among Mound-Builders practice of, among the Aztecs Mayas Tlascalans Crossman, Captain, cited Culture periods Curia, the Roman Cutler, J. G.

D.

Dakota League lodge described Dakotans, communism of the Dall, W. H., cited Dankers, Jasper, cited Delawares, communism of the eating customs of the hospitality of the Descent in female line in archaic period De Soto, Hernando, cited Diaz, Bernal, cited Dwellings, communal. See Communial dwellings.

E.

Earth works, object of the size of the Embankments as base of houses Emory, General W. H., cited Eskimos Ethnic or culture periods Exaggerations in the accounts of the ancient Mexicans.

F.

Feudalism, absence of in America Food, joint ownership in Foster, J. W. Frontenac, L. de B. Funeral practice, organization at.

G.

Galbraith, F. G. Garcilasso de la Vega Gardens, artificial Gens, archaic form as it exists among American aborigines founded upon kin intermarriage in, prohibited Iroquois rights, privileges, and obligations number of persons in rights, privileges, and obligations of stages of development the Greek the Latin the Sanskrit Gentes and tribes formed by natural growth Chickasas Chocta Dakotan Iroquois, number of list of Maya Mohegan named after animals Ojibwa Omaha similar in different tribes Tlingit transfer of, between phratries Gentile organization society distinguished from political Gorman, S., cited Government, growth of the idea of plan of among American aborigines stages in the development of Governor's House Granganimeo Grave posts of chiefs Greenbalgh cited Grenville, R. Grijalva, J., cited Guerra, C., cited Gyneocracy among the Iroquois.

H.

Halls unknown in Indian architecture Hayden, F. V. Heckewelder, J. cited Heffernan Herrera, A. de, cited Hiawatha High-Bank pueblo described Hindus, communal customs among the Hospitality general among Indians of America law of of the Aleuts Delawares Indians of California Mexico, Central and South America Ohio South America Carolina the Columbia Northwest Iroquois Mandans Mayas Nez Perces North Carolina Indians Onondagas Pimas Southern Indians tribes of the Missouri Upper Mississippi Village Indians of New Mexico House architecture modified by climate Household, number of persons in House life of the Indians of the Dwarf Nuns at Uxmal Old Woman Pigeon Turtle Houses of Central America capacity of the of Indian tribes north of New Mexico the Aztecs California Indians Caribs Chinooks Chopunish Clahclellahs Clatsops Indians of Columbia Valley

Houses of the Kutchin Makah Indians Mandans and Minnetarees Maricopas and Mohaves Nyack Indians Pueblo Taos Uxmal Village Indians Virginia Indians ruins of, in Yucatan and Central America safe against Indian assault Howitt, A. W., on Australian customs.

I.

Idols at Copan Indian society unlike European Indians, house life of the of Mexico and Central America, communal dwellings of the tenure of lands New Mexico, communal dwellings of the land customs of the Northwest coast, communal dwellings of the Peru, communism of the Southern, communal dwellings of the eating customs of the Inheritance, customs of Iroquois, communal dwellings of the communion among confederacy cohesive principles of democratic founded on kinship general features of the origin of the seat of the central tribes Council, annual meeting of the decisions of the objects of the eating customs of the gens rights, privileges, and obligations gentes, number of the list of the hospitality of the houses of the, described lands of the Long-House migration of the mother rights number of, in existence number of the phratries phratry, functions and uses objects of the sachemships of the table of the sachems, names bestowed upon tribal epithets government war chiefs Ives, J. C., cited.

J.

Jackson, W. H. cited Jaramillo, Juan, cited Joliet, L. Jones, S., cited Jose, J. Jus gentilicium.

K.

Kern Kinship, rights and duties of, among the Aztecs rights, duties, and obligations of Kin the basis of gentes Kootenays Kutchin, houses of the.

L.

Lands, division of of the Iroquois ownership of, in common severalty of Village Indians, rights in tenure of, among ancient Mexicans Languages, stock, number of great number of, among American aborigines verbal, incapable of permanence Lapham, J. A. Las Casas, B. de, cited Latin and Sabine gentes, coalescence of Lewis and Clark, cited Lintels of Pueblos of Mexico wood and stone Lolsel Long-House of the Iroquois described Onondaga described symbol of the Iroquois Confederacy

M.

Maine Maize indigenous to America Makah Indians, houses of the Mandan drying scaffolds houses, interior of the ladders Mandans, communal dwellings of the eating customs of the hospitality of the houses of the Marcos, Friar Male labor, first appearance of Maricopas, houses of the Marquette, J. cited Marsh, O. C. Maximilian, Prince Mayas, communism in living of the cremation among gentes of the hospitality of the of Yucatan Meals, customs relating to separation of the sexes at Mexican houses, size of the usually two stories high land ownership, conclusions concerning Mexicans, ancient inheritance among.

Mexican tribes, migration of the Mexico, pueblo of council-house largest in America Migration of the Iroquois Migrations occur through physical causes Miller, D. J. cited Minnetarees, houses of the Mishonginivi, pueblo of, described Mitchell, H. L. Mohaves, houses of the Mohegan gentes and phratries Moki confederacy house, interior Pueblos Montezuma a war chief house of Montezuma's dinner palace Mortar, use of among American Indians Mound-Builders arts and industries of the circular enclosures of the cremation among the derived from Village Indians of New Mexico earth-works, uses of houses of the in Middle Status of barbarism migrations of the migrations of, affected by climate modification of house architecture probable number of probably derived from New Mexico social organization of the structure of, in Ohio Mound, Grave Creek Mounds at Mound City Murphy, H. C.

N.

Nation, a coalition of tribes National Assembly, functions of Ncerchokioo Nez Perces, hospitality of the Norman, B. M., cited Nyack Indians, houses of the.

O.

Ojibwa gentes lodge, description of Omaha gentes Onondaga, Long-House of the, described Onondagas, hospitality of the Onondaga village described Organization, social and governmental Otoes Ottawa confederacy Ownership of lands in severalty.

P.

Palenque architecture so-called palace of the Parker William, a Seneca chief Peru, tenure of lands in Phrata of the Albanians Phratric organization at funerals Phratries, Chickasas Chocta composed of kindred gentes Mohegan of the Iroquois Thinklit Phratry, existence of the, in Mexico and Central America in the military organization Iroquois, functions and uses objects of marriage in the older than the confederacy the Pimas, hospitality of the Plant life in the Rocky Mountains Pomeiock, village of, described Powell, J. W. Powers, Stephen, cited Powhattan Village, communal dwellings of the Prescott, W. H. Pueblo of Chettro Kettle, size of the Mexico Pueblos, number of persons in of North American, number of inhabitants Yucatan and Central America, population of size of

Q.

Quatmozin Quelenes.

R.

Raleigh, Sir Walter Religious beliefs seclusion Rights in lands among the Indians of Taos Robertson, cited Round towers Ruins, east of the Rio Grande in McElmo Canyon the San Juan district near base of Ute Mountain in Mexico of houses in New Mexico the pueblo of Bonito Hungo Pavie Alto Chettro Kettle Penyasca Blanca Pintado Una Vida Wejegi Zayi Arroyo on the Animas River outline plan of

S.

Sachems of the Iroquois, names bestowed upon Sachemships of the Iroquois Confederacy table of

Sahagun, B. cited Sandhill crane San Juan district, ancient occupation of the geographic relations of the Valley, altitude of Santo Domingo, pueblo of Sauks, communal dwellings of the Schulz, Carl Secotan, village of, described Seneca-Iroquois. See Iroquois. Senel Sept, the Irish Shawnees, removal of the Shoshones, hospitality of the Sibley tent, aboriginal origin of the Simpson, J. H. cited Sitgreave, L. Shuyter, Peter, cited Smet, P. J. de Smith, John, cited Social and governmental organization Society, organization of Sokulks, commercial dwellings of the Spanish accounts of Aztec society histories, how they should be regarded Squire, E. G., cited Squire and Davis, cited Steck, M. Stephens, J. L., cited Stevenson, J. Stevenson, Mrs. J., description of Zunyi, by Stones of Pueblo dwellings Swan, C. Swan, J. G., cited Symbol of the Iroquois Confederacy Syndyasmian family.

T.

Taos, houses of Indians, organization of pueblo of described Teepan, or official house of the tribe Tenbroeck, cited Teuchtli Tlingit, gentes and phrates Tiotohatton, size of village of, described Tlascalans, cremation among the four lineages of the Toques Towers, round Tribal government of the Iroquois stages of Tribe composed of gentes functions and attributes of the Tribe, the characteristics of Tribes and gentes continually forming formed by natural growth evolved from each other in savagery, continual dwellings of Tribute and tribute lands.

U.

Uxmal, Governor's House at described House of the Nuns at ground plan room described structures of

V.

Vega, Garcillasso de la, cited Village Indians, houses of the of New Mexico, arts of religious beliefs of Voyage to New York in 1679-1680 by Dankers and Sluyter.

W.

Walker, F. A., on the Iroquois Ward, J., cited Whittlesry, C. Wocoken, island of Wolpi, pueblo of Wright, A. Wyth, J., cited.

Y.

Yucatan and Central American agriculture architecture confederacies general condition of the aborigines household life in Indians, condition and structures of languages of population of villages designed as fortresses ruins of houses in village life

Yzaes Maya Indians of

Z.

Zaya, apartment in architecture ground plans of ruins of Zelsales Zempoala described Zunyi, pueblo of

THE END