THE VALUE OF ANCIENT MEXICAN MANUSCRIPTS IN THE STUDY OF THE GENERAL DEVELOPMENT

WR. ING.1

OF

[With 5 plates.]

By ALFRED M. Tozzer.

Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

The successive stages through which writing has passed have been fairly generally accepted and I do not intend at this time to add anything new in regard to this development of writing. Illustrative examples have usually been drawn from various sources in point of time and place. It is possible, however, to find in the Mexican manuscripts illustrations of all the steps in the early history of writing.3

Mexico is the only part of the new world where there are any appreciable data on the prehistoric life of a people outside of the monuments and objects found in connection with them. In Mexico and Central America we approach even if we do not, by any means, reach that fortunate situation in the old world where the documentary evidence of an ancient culture, a literature, is present as an important aid in the study of the life of a people.

The manuscripts of Mexico and Central America have, for the most part, been neglected by all except the specialists in this field. These documents furnish important examples of primitive ideas of art and illustration together with minute details of ethnological interest.

The Mexican manuscripts may be divided into two obvious classes, those written before the advent of the Spaniards at the beginning of the sixteenth century and those written during the early days of the Spanish occupation. Another classification might be based on the distinct localities where the manuscripts are supposed to have been written and the nationality of their authors. The codices of the

1 Reprinted by permission from the proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society for April, 1911, Worcester, Mass., published by the society.

2 For a short account of the development of writing see Clodd, 1907.

A portion of this paper was presented at the Toronto meeting of the Archæological Institute of America, Dec. 28-31, 1908. A brief abstract is published in the American Journal of Archæology (second series), vol. 13, pp. 65-66, 1909.

Nahuas or Aztecs of the plateau of Mexico are to be distinguished from those of the Nahuas of the tierra caliente region and these in turn from those of the Zapotecs in the State of Oaxaca, and these, again, from the manuscripts of the Mayas of Yucatan, southern Mexico, and Guatemala. The many minor differences do not prevent one from seeing a great similarity both in subject-matter and treatment running through them all. The calendar, together with other features of the life of the different peoples of Mexico and Central America, shows a common origin and, to a certain point at least, a parallel development.

The number of manuscripts is limited. The Maya documents form the smallest class with three. There are more than a score of available codices from the Mixtec-Zapotec region, a great part of which show a strong Nahua influence, and about half as many from the Nahuas proper, in addition to a large number of single maps and other manuscript material from Mexico.1

The Spanish priests in their attempts to Christianize the natives aimed especially to destroy all that pertained to the ancient teaching. Accounts tell of the large number of manuscripts burned, and all owing to the misdirected zeal of these Spanish missionaries. The greater part of the documents still in existence are in European libraries, although a few still remain in public or private collections in Mexico.

The manuscripts are usually written either on long strips of deerskin, fastened together end to end, or on strips of paper made of bark or of maguey fiber. The whole strip is, in most cases, folded up like a The two sides of the sheet are often covered with a thin layer of fine plaster, on which the characters are painted. Those dating from post-Columbian times are often written on European paper.

screen.

The greater part of these early manuscripts have been published. Lord Kingsborough in the first quarter of the last century was the first to recognize the importance of reproducing the codices for study. The Duc de Loubat has been instrumental in bringing out in exact facsimile several of the most important ones. There is therefore a considerable amount of available material for a study of the writing of Mexico and Central America.

Both the pre-Columbian and the post-Columbian manuscripts contain records of an historical nature, accounts of migrations, the succession of rulers, campaigns, and lists of tribute. Different phases of the ancient religion and the calendar are also shown, the secular and the sacred calendar, astronomical calculations, the methods of divination of the lucky and unlucky days, and the religious ceremonials.

1 For the names of the most important codices from Mexico and Central America, see Saville (1901), Lejeal (1902), and Lehmann (1905).

It is not, however, the ideas expressed in these documents but the methods used in expressing them, not what is written, but how it is written, not the content, but the means employed that the present paper aims to consider. The manuscripts form only a part of the available material for the study of the writing of the peoples of Mexico and Central America. The extensive use of stone carving on the façades of buildings, on altars and stele, and on the lintels opens up another extensive source from which examples might be drawn. It is only in one case, however, that an illustration will be taken from the stone bas-reliefs.

1

The early history of writing has been curiously alike over the greater part of the world. The preliminary step is in the use of reminders or mnemonics. These signs convey no message in themselves, but serve only as an aid in bringing to mind some event. They are not universally useful as are many specimens of picture writing. They can usually be employed only by those who possess the previous knowledge which the reminders serve to recall. Notched sticks and tallies of various kinds are well-known examples of this class. The Roman rosary immediately suggests itself as belonging to the same type. The Peruvian quipu or knotted string is usually cited as the best representative of the class of reminders. Boturini (1746) in his "Idea de una nueva historia general" states that the natives of Mexico used a knotted string for recording events before the invention of a hieroglyphic writing. Its native name was nepohual tzitzin, "cordon de cuenta y numero." Lumholtz (1902, vol. 2, p. 128) states that the Huichols of north-central Mexico in setting out on a journey prepare two strings of bark fiber and tie as many knots in them as there are days in the journey. One string is left behind in the temple with one of the principal men and the other is carried on the trip. A knot is untied in each string each day. As the travelers always camp in the same places, they are protected from accidents in each place by the prayers of those at home. Lumholtz cites a second instance of the use of the knotted string as a reminder. In the Hikuli rite there is a general confession made by the women. "In order to help their memories each one prepares a string made out of strips of palm leaves in which she has tied as many knots as she has had lovers. This twine she brings to the temple and standing before the fire she mentions aloud all the men she has scored on her string, name after name. Having finished, she throws her list into the fire and when the god has

1 Boturini, 1746, p. 85: "Naciò assimismo en esta Edad un raro modo de historiar y fuè con unos Cordones largos, en los quales se entretexian otros delgados, que pendian de el Cordon principal con nudos de diferentes colores. Llamabanse estas Historias Funiculares en los Reynos del Perù Quipu, y en los de la Nueva España Nepohualtzitzin, derivando su denominacion de el adverbio Nepohuàlli, que quiere decir Ochenta, d como si dixeramos, Cordon de cuenta, y numero, en que se referian y numeraban las cosas dignas de memoria, assi Divinas, como Humanas."