DEsirE Charnay

TENENEPANCO AND NAHUALAC CEMETERIES.

The Rancho of Tlamacas—A Funeral Station—Great Excitement—Ascent—Search—Tenenepanco—Camping—Tlacualero—Excavations—Bodily Remains—Toys—A Beautiful Cup—A Well-preserved Skull—Mispayantla Grotto—Amecameca—A Tumulus Explored—Expedition to Iztaccihuatl—Nahualac—A Second Cemetery.

With a good horse and a comfortable saddle, the ascent of Popocatepetl is a delightful ride. The road rises so rapidly that the view, which was confined to the charming valley of Amecameca, becomes finer and more extensive at every turn of the road, embracing at last the entire plateau.

The air is crisp, the sun, though hot, is bearable, and when, after three hours’ march, we reach the high mountain ridge, we pause to admire in silence the finest panorama in the world: the two great volcanoes to our right and left, the plain of Puebla on our rear, whilst before us stretches the marvellous plain of Mexico, every detail of which is distinctly visible in this clear atmosphere.

We are so lost in contemplation that the guide has at last to remind us that, unless we resume our march, we shall be late for luncheon, which awaits us at Tlamacas; but when we did reach it we found that the only accommodation to be had was a shed, open to rain, wind, and cold. There was fortunately a table and a chimney, and with our camp-beds we managed pretty well.

As soon as we had seen to our luggage we sallied forth in search of the cemetery under the escort of the chief guide, and began the ascent of Monte del Fraile, 782 feet high, over a distance of three miles. This may appear a small matter—but a short walk; yet a climb performed at an altitude of 13,000 feet on moving sand, every step of which is painful, is no joke: the head aches, the pulse throbs, every breath drawn is a gasp, the throat is dry, every attempt to stoop makes one dizzy, rest becomes necessary every few minutes; and on reaching the crest of Tenenepanco rock we were thoroughly exhausted.

POPOCATEPETL AND PICO DEL FRAILE.

POPOCATEPETL AND PICO DEL FRAILE.

My impatience to find the cemetery was so great, that I could not stop long to contemplate the fine view to be seen here; we immediately began our search. But though I seemed to recognise the plateau, it looked somewhat different—strewn with flat stones I had not observed before—consequently I climbed higher, followed by an old Indian who had been with me in my first expedition, and who opened the ground in several Pg 165
Pg 166
Pg 167places. It was found very hard, compact, gravelly, without any appearance of ever having been disturbed; so after many fruitless attempts, I returned to the first place, when the old Indian, who had not breathed a word hitherto, said:

“SeÑor, this is the place where you found some vases the last time you were here.”

“But how do these flags come here?”

“Oh, from subsequent excavations.”

“Then I am sold, robbed, done out of my find,” I cried in my disappointment, as though the cemetery were my property.

“But,” objected the old volcanero softly, “only a few loads of detritus were taken away; there must be more to come out.”

Acting on advice which seemed so reasonable, I soon discovered numerous tepalcates, fragments of vases, cups, and various potteries; we had lost so much time, however, in looking about, that we were soon obliged to abandon the mountain, trusting in what the morrow would bring forth.

A few words about our encampment may not be out of place here. The men occupied an open shed, with a huge chimney in the centre, where twice a day they prepared their own food, consisting of a small quantity of meat and the indispensable tortilla, the whole washed down with a good drop of mezcal. They slept on trusses of dry grass and mats. We were not better housed than the men, whilst our cooking was a great deal worse; if our shed was not quite so open, it was sufficiently so to admit the bitter night cold; the wind came in at all the windows unprotected by any shutters, through the thousand cracks of the ill-jointed enclosure, searing our faces and causing incessant sneezing. Although whole trees were burnt in the huge chimney, it made no appreciable difference in the atmosphere of the room, and as there was no tunnel we were nearly suffocated by the smoke, which, hovering about us, only escaped through the roof. At this altitude, with six or seven degrees below zero (Centigrade) at night, our bed of guttapercha felt like icicles, and every time I came in direct contact with it, I instantly awoke.

The food was plentiful, for the Tlacualero, our “errand-man,” went twice a day to Amecameca to fetch what was required for the whole party; and although the distance was fifteen leagues over a mountain path, I never knew him late. But if provisions were abundant, Julian’s cooking was so extraordinarily bad, that the only one who seemed to enjoy and thrive on it was the dog d’Artagnan; to him it was a matter of indifference if cutlets and beefsteaks were burnt to a cinder, if beans were transformed into sticks—nothing came amiss. As for us, not wishing to starve, we were obliged at last to do the cooking ourselves and confine our Calino to “washing up.” Not that he was a bad fellow, far from it; he deserved in every respect the excellent character I had received with him for honesty, but a man may have given satisfaction as a sacristan, as no doubt he had, and yet be a sorry cook.

The chill nights were certainly trying, but they were made up to us by the glorious mornings; we rose with the first light of day; the sun, still invisible to us, was already greeting the summit of the great volcano, from which rose a light vapour. We watched the snow changing from a delicate pink to dazzling white; the crest of El Fraile, as yet wrapped in nocturnal mists, showed gray against a transparent blue sky, whilst its base, shrouded by a deep fringe of funeral pines, gradually emerged from their gloom at the sun’s magic touch. To the east the plain of Puebla, and far away on the horizon the imposing cone of Orizaba, whilst in the middle distance the severe outline of Malinche seemed to divide the sky. The city de los Angeles, with her square massive buildings, her steeples, cupolas, the towers of the cathedral, the stately pyramid of Cholula rose at our feet bathed in a flood of morning light.

VASES FOUND AT TENENEPANCO.

VASES FOUND AT TENENEPANCO.

The old Indian proved a true prophet; my predecessors had not removed everything; trenches branching off in every direction so as to embrace the whole plateau were at once made and brought to light wholly undisturbed tombs. The first was that of a woman whose head I was able to preserve intact: the bones of all the rest were unfortunately reduced to a gelatinous paste. The dead were buried at a depth varying from some two feet to four feet eight inches; the bodies doubled up, both chin and arms resting on their knees; hands and feet were gone. Within the tomb, over the head, was a sebile, or hollow terra-cotta plate, two small black earthen horns, besides several vases. The whole was damp and moist, the vases filled with earth and water, and the utmost care was required in taking up such fragile objects. They soon, however, hardened by exposure, when they could be easily and safely cleaned and packed. As far as could be judged from the bones and pottery, one of the tombs contained the bodies of a man and a woman. Another, probably that of a chief, had no human remains left, but I found a great variety of precious objects, made of chalchihuitl, a hard green stone, which takes a fine polish, a kind of jade or serpentine, much valued by the Indians; besides these were numerous arrows of obsidian, beads for necklaces, some of hard stone, some of terra-cotta, and a few small figures. A singular circumstance marked this tomb; not a single bead, not a single ornament but was broken, presumably at the time of the burial, as a token of grief. It is at least the only plausible solution which can be given for so many hard and resisting objects having been systematically destroyed.

Moreover, by far the largest proportion of these granite or porphyry beads, whether owing to their great antiquity or their having lain in a very destructive soil, crumbled away at our touch. Broadly speaking, the tombs which had not been disturbed were two to one; the dead had been buried without any regard to their position.

We are not yet inured to our life at an altitude of 13,000 feet, and our daily ascensions are painful in the extreme; our faces literally peel in this sharp wind and hot sun, whilst our hands are frightfully chapped, and almost paralysed. It would be difficult to bear up long against our hardships were it not for the stupendous result of our excavations: kitchen utensils, every variety of vases representing the Toltec god Tlaloc, fruit cups, jewel cups, with feet shaped like a duck’s bill or a boar’s head; chocolate cups with porpoise-like handles; beads, jewels, a whole civilisation emerges from these tombs, and carries us back to the life of this long-forgotten people. Here we have caricatures of ancient warriors; further on a water-carrier bearing his jars like the modern “aguadores;” next are toys and tiny terra-cotta chariots, some are broken, some still preserve their four wheels; they were, presumably, a fond mother’s memento who, ages gone by, buried them with her beloved child. These chariots are shaped like a flattened cayote (a kind of long-bodied fox) with its straight ears and pointed face, and the wheels fit into four terra-cotta stumps; on my renewing the wood axle-tree, which had been destroyed long since, the chariots began to move.

Many more objects were brought to light from these tombs—richly CARICATURE OF TECUHTLI-KNIGHT CARICATURE OF TECUHTLI-KNIGHT (KNIGHT OF THE EAGLE). ornamented “fusaÏoles,” marbles, necklaces, baby-tables, which, like the toy chariots, represented some quadruped—resembling Greek toys. This coincidence between people so different and so far removed from each other is not surprising, for elementary ideas generally find a common expression. It should also be observed that these toys, however rude, do not necessarily mark a very ancient epoch. Early manifestations live on through ages and are found side by side with the highest civilisations, and are still to be met among the people long after the well-to-do possess objects of art.

The 9th of July was one of our best days. Out of ten tombs five were found intact and yielded sixty remarkable pieces, one of which is unique and of peculiar interest. It is a three-footed terra-cotta cup some six inches by three by one and a half at the bottom inside; wonderful to relate, it emerged without a blot from its gloomy abode. Both the inside and outside are covered with pretty devices painted white, yellow, blue, green, and red, fused into a harmonious whole. The colours are in relief and like enamels. Next, one almost as beautiful but smaller, and covered with dirt, was found. These two lovely cups were put out to dry in the sun, when, to my horror, I saw that one was fast scaling off, whilst the brilliant colours of the other were fading visibly. To remove them into the shade was the work of an instant, but, alas! it did not arrest the work of destruction, which continued at an alarming pace. A photograph of the finest cup, as well as the colours of the paintings, was immediately obtained, but it only gives a faint idea of the beauty of this charming work of art.

From these tombs were likewise unearthed a number of diminutive brass bells, which were used both as ornaments and currency; besides large fat vases with a hand painted red over a black ground. This was a Toltec memento, either symbolic of Hueman or of Quetzalcoatl, so often seen on the walls of Yucatec palaces, and likewise on the monuments of some North American tribes. But our most curious “find” was a perfectly well-preserved human brain, the skull of which was gone. This cerebral mass had been protected from the pressure of its surroundings by a stout cup into which it was wedged. No doubt was possible: the two lobes, the circumvolution of the brain to the minute red lines of the blood-vessels, all was there.

BOTTOM OF ENAMELLED CUP FOUND IN THE BURIAL-GROUND.

The fact that a human brain could have been found in good preservation when the skull had disappeared, was received with Homeric laughter; all I can say is that it is so, that the finding of it was witnessed by my associates; that in every tomb where the skull should have been, was invariably observed a whitish substance, which at first was mistaken for lime, but which subsequently whenever it was met with, the men instantly cried out: “Aqui estÀ uno—here is one” (body), and near it vases and fragments clearly indicating the presence of a tomb. These brains, however, not having been protected like the first, were all flattened into a white cake of some five inches by two in thickness. The only explanation I can offer is that at an elevation of 13,000 feet, close to the volcanic cone of Popocatepetl, in a soil saturated with sulphureous vapours (a film of sulphide always extended over my nitrate of silver washes), the same chemical combinations which destroyed the bones, may have acted as a preservative on cerebral matter. But it will be asked, why not have borne away that wonderful brain? I ought to have done so, no doubt, but without alcohol the thing was impossible; besides, had I done so, should I have a better chance of convincing people at a distance?

The toy chariots found no better favour with the public. Our illustrations, however, will settle once for all this vexed question. As must appear to the most inexperienced eye, the character of these toys is exceedingly archaic, nor am I aware that any museum or private collection has anything to show at all approaching them. This was conceded, but it was denied that they were chariots at all—the wheels were only “malacates,” i.e. “fusaÏoles”! Numerous spindles were indeed found by us in the cemetery. Profuse collections may be seen and compared in every museum, when the most ignorant must see that these wheels are quite different to “fusaÏoles” or whorls. It will be said that this toy was but the copy of a chariot brought in by the Spaniards; but a glance at the drawing will show how absurd is the assumption, and carry conviction to the most incredulous.

Granted that is so, what inference do you draw from it? That the Mexicans had chariots? Hardly, since all authorities are silent on the subject, and when we know that the only means of transportation was afforded by carriers. But if such chariots were not available in distant expeditions across rivers, over mountain paths, through immense forests, it was not so within the radius of a city having good roads; and what is there against the possibility of a hand-cart corresponding with ours having been in use?

I am far from affirming that it was so, although certain expressions and quotations might be adduced which would show the supposition to be not so far-fetched as it looks on the face of it. We read in the Ramirez manuscript, for instance, that Montezuma II. set out for his Huaxateca expedition with a numerous army and carruages.79 Why should the Indian writer have used an ambiguous word meaning both chariot and transport, when the former must already have been extant when he wrote—that is, after the Conquest? Farther, Padre Duran relates how this same Montezuma, wishing to erect a temalacatl, had a huge block quarried at Aculco, near Amecameca; and Plate XXV. shows this block raised by means of a rude chariot having clog-wheels, drawn by a multitude of Indians.80 The text, CARTS, CHILDREN’S TOYS. CARTS, CHILDREN’S TOYS. it is true, does not specify a chariot; but if they were unknown, how do they come in his drawing? It is unaccountable, too, that no mention is made of the stone having been brought on rollers or wheels, seeing that it could not have come so great a distance by any other means. It is altogether a mystery.

Lastly, Juarros, in describing the battle at Pinar, fought against Alvarado, mentions war-engines, or what would now be called ammunition carts, moving on rodadillos, which were drawn by armed men wherever they were required. These carts were loaded with arrows, spears, shields, stones, slings, etc., and men, chosen for the service, distributed them as they were wanted.81 Does “rodadillo” mean here a clog-wheel or a roller? If these carts carried arms to combatants in different parts of the field of battle, does it not follow that they moved on wheels, since rollers would have made the diminutive “forts” immovable, contrary to the end proposed?

Should, however, both quotations and arguments seem valueless, it might be added that the toy chariots were perhaps of primeval Toltec invention, the use of which had been lost after their expulsion from the plateaux.

But to return to the cemetery. Whether it be considered Toltec or otherwise, whether ancient or comparatively modern, we hold to its antiquity, to its being essentially Nahua, dedicated to Tlaloc, the god of rain and plenty, the fertiliser of the earth, the Lord of Paradise, the protector of green harvests. We are in his dominions, for he was believed to reside where the clouds gather, on the highest mountain-tops.

The first plate shows the vases unearthed at Tenenepanco, five of which portray this god, with his prominent eyes, the drops of water streaming down his face, making up his teeth, his beard or moustachios; he holds in his right hand a writhing serpent, thereby representing the flash and the thunderbolt—his voice as heard in storms. In the Nahualac Plate four vases also figure the same god.

The nations who succeeded the Toltecs on the plateaux adopted this eminently Toltec deity, who was one of the most popular gods down to the Conquest. The later tribes, however, discarding the mild practices of the Toltecs, stained his cult with human sacrifices. We will add a few quotations showing how great was the analogy between the places consecrated to Tlaloc and the Tenenepanco cemetery.

Torquemada calls him the god of paradise and great delights; that his statue on the highest mountain of Texcuco represented a man seated on a square slab, having at the back a huge stone jar, into which ulli, maize, beans, and other vegetables were placed by the devotees, and that this offering was renewed every year. Ixtlilxochitl mentions, inter alia, that five or six young children were yearly sacrificed to this deity, their hearts torn out, and their bodies buried; and we read in Father Duran that Montezuma and the allied princes repaired on the hill on which a child seven or eight years old was sacrificed. This festival was VASES OF BURIAL-GROUND UNEARTHED AT NAHUALAC. VASES OF BURIAL-GROUND UNEARTHED AT NAHUALAC. celebrated in the month of April, when the maize was above the ground. The next quotation from Torquemada is by far the most interesting, for it mentions Popocatepetl and the surrounding hills where we are carrying on our explorations:

“Indians entertained a great respect for this mountain, whose climate was mild, and the abundance of whose waters made the land around unusually fertile, and here children and slaves were slain in honour of Tlaloc. To the south is another mighty hill, Teocuinani, ‘the Divine Singer,’ so called by the natives because whenever the clouds shroud its summit the volcano bursts forth in flashes of lightning and claps of thunder, spreading terror among the whole population, who hasten to the hill to offer men, incense, paper-crowns, feathers, plates, urns, goblets, cups, toys, and vases” (exactly what we have found). “Close by was a well-constructed house, Ayauchcalli, ‘house of rest,’ in which stood an idol of green stone, chalchihuitl, about the size of a child eight years old. On the arrival of the Spaniards this idol was carried away and buried in the mountains by the Indians, together with numerous objects of gold, silver, and precious stones.”82

We have often seen clouds collected around the top of Teocuinani (El Fraile), and many a time have we heard the dread voice of the Divine Singer; if our Tenenepanco cemetery is not the one spoken of by Father Duran, it is assuredly its nearest neighbour, and we are convinced that this site was once sacred to Tlaloc, consequently ancient, and that besides the victims sacrificed, both men and women were buried here as in consecrated ground, with their utensils, arms, and ornaments.

The foregoing quotations prove, moreover, that the surrounding mountains contain several funeral stations, which might be profitably explored; Mount Tlaloc alone would enrich the most greedy. As for us, we are satisfied with having discovered two and opened the way to others; and when we add that our excavations yielded three hundred and seventy pieces, our self-satisfaction will not appear out of place. The greatest care was taken in packing our treasure in four large huacales, “cases,” and the freight reached safely Amecameca and Mexico, where the Government confiscated it.

In our two years’ explorations the Mexican Museum had deducted a third from the best of our finds; now they illegally detained the whole, refusing to give up any part of it. Let future explorers do their work quietly, offering nothing to the Republic, which might adopt, as in our case, a singular mode of testifying its gratitude.

The next day after our return to the village, we set out for the Mispayantla grottoes, accompanied by a guide and three Indians provided with tools. These grottoes are situated in the barranca known as Mispayantla, at once the most picturesque and the most important in the Mexican Valley, extending from El Fraile to the east and west as far as the Amecan Valley. From rocks rising perpendicularly to some six hundred and nine hundred feet, the eye travels down into its depths, where the course of the river is lost in a glowing wilderness of vegetation. The road was so bad and unsafe that we got off our horses and walked up to the grottoes, where a great disappointment awaited us, for they are nothing but pent-houses, produced by the projecting rock; holes and notches, moreover, plainly testified that we had been preceded long since by other seekers. Broken skulls and bones, of no interest whatever, lay scattered about. We picked up, however, saucepan handles of every size, red earthen vases striped with black, a much injured idol of Tlaloc, a bit of an Indian flute. This had been, no doubt, a funeral station completely rifled. We came away with feelings the reverse of pleasant.

We were not more successful in attempting a teocalli in the heart of Amecameca, than we had been at Mispayantla; remembering, however, that cemeteries abounded in the mountains, I flattered myself I should find one towards Iztaccihuatl. “Tepalcates,” potteries, I had been told, were to be met in various places, but small had been the result on my visiting the sites indicated. From inquiries and the promise of a good reward, I got an Indian to act as guide to Iztaccihuatl, which he knows well, having often been there for the same purpose as ourselves; a few preliminaries are soon settled, and taking some half-dozen men with me, we set out on our mountain expedition. The ascent is performed with great difficulty, for we are just in for the rainy season, and the path is simply abominable. Our horses slip, rear, fall, and we frequently risk breaking our necks; the mule, laden with our instruments and luggage, refuses to move until he is relieved of half his burden.

Leaving Amecameca, we follow a very steep path overlooking frightful precipices, and reach the summit after a forced march of six hours. From this point may be seen the valley, some 3,900 feet long by 1,625 to 1,950 feet broad, bounded by the mountain range which to the west of Mexico makes it impassable. To the east are the peaks of Iztaccihuatl, covered with virgin snow, 650 feet below us; on the crest the barometer marks 12,512 feet, and 12,318 in the valley, that is as near as possible the altitude of Tlamacas.

This narrow valley is so completely closed in by perpendicular rocks, that it would be next to impossible to spy it out without a guide; it is fringed half-way up by gloomy pines, but above us the rock is quite bare. Stray cattle graze peaceably at the bottom of the valley, which owes its name to the nearest peak, “Nahualac.” The latter must have been a far more important funeral station than Tenenepanco. Everything favours this assumption, whilst stone foundations make it probable that a temple or a sanctuary dedicated to Tlaloc once stood here, similar to that mentioned by Father Duran, of which no trace has been found by us. We descry, however, to the north-east of the valley, an artificial pond 195 feet in circumference; in the centre rose a monument, the foundations of which are still extant; and round the pond are similar but smaller monuments, pedestals, altars, or chapels, bearing the statue of Tlaloc.

In a few minutes my men unearthed no fewer than forty vases, several plates, goblets, in the same style as those found at Tenenepanco, save that the clay is coarser and the ornamentation more archaic. This beginning was so promising, that notwithstanding the bitter cold at night, only half-sheltered as we were, my dreams were golden; and the next morning, after a hot cup of coffee mixed with a good dose of mezcal, we were eager to set to work again, when our “finds” were if anything more abundant, and similar to those of the previous day: idols, cups, three-footed goblets, pottery with Tlaloc’s image; very few jewels, however, and no precious stones, whilst the total absence of human remains seems to indicate great antiquity for these remains.

It may be well to mention that a small cup, bearing the image of Tlaloc and placed in the centre of the Tenenepanco Plate, belongs properly to Nahualac. It forms a pendant to another cup also in my possession. Both are quite unique in their way, for nothing in the Aztec antiquities recalls either the material, the shape, the ornamentation, or the workmanship. If this cemetery were Aztec, therefore, it must date back to the early establishment of that tribe in the valley; but in all probability it is either Chichemec or Toltec, for had it been Aztec, human remains would have been found, whereas it is well known that the Toltecs offered only birds, feathers, and flowers to their favourite god, and this leads us to suppose that Nahualac was one among the primeval Toltec stations.

Our four days’ explorations produced nearly eight hundred pieces of all kinds. Our sanguine hopes had been more than realised, and with jubilant feelings we bade the mountain adieu; but alas! our treasure, like its predecessor, went to fill up the shelves of the Mexican Museum.

If the ascent had been painful, the descent was even more so. Leaving the Indians to follow with our luggage, Colonel Castro and I went in advance; but we soon lost our way, and rolled rather than walked down the steep, precipitous slopes of the mountain, whilst our horses, which we were leading, came upon us like avalanches, and often threatened our destruction. We reached the plain at last, and a few minutes brought us to Ameca.

Our excavations on the high plateaux are over; we leave for the warm region, to follow the Toltecs in their great migration at the beginning of the eleventh century.