Aboriginal American Authors and their Productions | Page 4

to be well written, but less reliable. Of about the same date are the Relacion of Juan Bautista de Tomar, a native of Tezcuco, in which he treats of the customs of his ancestors; the Relaciones of Don Antonio Pimentel, grandson of Nezahualpilli, lord of Tezcuco, an author quoted and praised by the historian Torquemada; the _Historia de Tlaxcallan_ of Diego Mu?oz Camargo, a noble Tlascalan mestizo, of whose style Prescott remarks that it compares not unfavorably with that of some of the missionaries themselves; and the _Relacion de los Dioses y Ritos de la Gentilidad_ of Don Pedro Ponce, the cacique of Tzumpahuacan. Somewhat later, about 1625, Don Domingo de San Anton Mu?on Chimalpain wrote his Historia Mexicana and his _Historia de la Conquista_, which have been mentioned with respect by various writers.
Along with these examples of literary culture in Mexico may be named several native Peruvian writers who made use of the language of their conquerors; as Don Joan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui, whose Relacion de Antiguedades de Piru is a precious document, though composed in very uncritical Spanish; as Don Luis Inca, whose Relacion, prepared in Spanish, seems now to be lost, but is referred to, with praise, by some of the older writers; and, above all others, Inca Garcillasso de la Vega, whose vivid and attractive style, and numerous historical writings place him easily in the first rank of Spanish historians of America.
From the above it would seem evident enough that the American aborigines were endowed, as a race, with a turn for literary composition, and a faculty for it. They were generally, however, an unlettered race. What they composed was for oral use only. This might be carefully arranged, committed to heart, and handed down from generation to generation; but as for recording it in forms which would convey it to the mind through the eye, that was a discovery they had but partially made.
I say, "partially," because graphic methods, of some kind, were widely used. We may as well omit from consideration, in this connection, the merely pictographic signs of the hunting tribes, although they were used for mnemonic purposes. Let us rather proceed, at once, to the highest specimens of the graphic art in ancient America, and inquire their scope. In Mexico, in Yucatan, in Nicaragua, and in one or two districts of South America, the early explorers found systems of writing which seemed to resemble that to which they were accustomed.
The Aztecs manufactured, in large quantities, a useful paper from the leaves of the maguey, and upon it they painted numerous figures and signs, which conveyed ideas, and sometimes also sounds. An early authority informs us that their books were of five kinds. The first detailed their method of computing time; the second described their holy days, festivals and religious epochs; the third gave the interpretation of dreams, omens and signs; the fourth supplied directions for naming children; and the fifth rehearsed the rites and ceremonies connected with matrimony.[9] Besides these, we know they wrote out tribute rolls, the ancient history of their tribes, the fables of their mythology, the genealogy of their sovereigns, and the geographical descriptions of territories. Of all these we have examples preserved, and many of them have been published.
Quite another and a more perfect method of writing prevailed among the Mayas of Yucatan and Central America. Their books were exceedingly neat, and strongly resembled an ordinary quarto volume, such as appears on European bookshelves. I have so lately discussed their manufacture, and the so-called alphabet in which they were written, and in a work of such easy access, that it is enough if I quote the conclusions there arrived at.[10] They are:--
1. The Maya graphic system was recognized, from the first, to be distinct from the Mexican.
2. It was a hieroglyphic system, known only to the priests and a few nobles.
3. It was employed for a variety of purposes, prominent among which was the preservation of their history and calendar.
4. It was a composite system, containing pictures (figuras), ideograms (caracteres), and phonetic signs (letras).
The ruins of Palenque, Copan, and other Maya cities, abound in such hieroglyphs.
The natives of Nicaragua, those, at least, of Aztec lineage, made use of parchment volumes, folded into a neat and portable compass, in which they painted, in red and black ink, certain figures, "by means of which," says the chronicler Oviedo, "they could express and understand whatever they wished, with entire clearness."[11]
In South America the Peruvians had their quipus, cords of different lengths, sizes and colors, knotted in various ways, and attached to a base cord, an arrangement that was a decided aid to the memory, though it could not be connected with the sounds of words. There are also faint traces of figures, with definite meaning, among the Muyscas of