lization which they alone record and expound. Mexican antiquities,
however, will soon receive an additional importance by the publication
(as we learn from his friend Mr. E. Geo. Squier) of M. Aubin,
the French savant who has devoted a life of study‘to the researches
on the Aztec language and literature ; having, by a residence of thirteen
years in Mexico, and by the lucky discovery of the collections
and MBS. of Botturini, become able to obtain all the materials and
the information for deciphering them, so as to elucidate the history
of the Aztec empire previous to Cortez. A few years hence, the
ante-Columhian history of Mexico will he as accessible to us as thè
early annals of any European nation ; for hieroglyphical documents
are not wanting which contain this information : whilst the researches
of Botturini, which in the past century were cut short by the Spanish
Inquisition, have been now resumed by M. Aubin; and, in his
hands, have afforded the key for reading these sealed books.198
The hunter tribes of America evince no feeling for plasticai beauty ;
yet withal, like the Turks and the Celts, they have a considerable
talent for decorative designs, and some perceptions of the harmony
of colors. The originality and ornamental combination of their beadwork
and embroidery is sufficiently known, but they always fail in
rendering the human form. Far higher was the civilization of that
race which preceded them in the trans-Alìeghanian States. We call
that “ Museum,” I give this announcement a wider cirenlation than the threatened book is
destined to obtain, by referring the curions to S q u ie r ’s “ Observations on the Aboriginal
Monuments of the Mississippi Valley,” New York, 8vo., 1847, pp. 71-9 (Extract from the
Transactions of the American Ethnological Society, vol. ii.) ; and to Types of Mankind, pp.
652-3. — G. R. G.]
1« Among recent articles which show how this new school of American archaeologists
augments,—consult S q u ie r , “ Aztec Picture-writing ” (Mew York Tribune, Nov. 24,1852) :—
B a r t l e t t , “ The Aboriginal Semi-civilization of the Great California Basin, with a Refutation
of the popular theory of the Northern Origin of the Aztecs of Mexico ” (New York
Herald, April 4, 1854);— A u b in , “ Lang. Américaine. Langue, Littérature et Ecriture
Mexicaines” (Encyclopédie du X IX " Siècle, Tome xxvi., Supplément,pp. 500-7):—S q u ie r ,
“ Les Indiens Guatusos du Nicaragua ” (Athenoeum Français, 22 Décembre, 1855) P r is s e
d ’Av e n n e s , “ Honduras— Amérique centrale (L'Illustration, Paris, 8 Décembre, 1855): —
B r a s s e u r d e B o u r b o u rO, “ Letter from Rabinal—Department of Vera Paz ” (London Athc-
nceum, Dec. 8, 1855) :—Idem, “ Notes d’un Voyage dans l’Amérique centrale—Lettre à M.
Alfred Maury” (Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, Paris, Août, 1855) :—with S q u ie r ’s critique
on said letter (Op. cit., Déc. 1855) :—T r ü b n e r , “ The New Discoveries in Guatemala,’,’
and “ Central American Archaeology” (London Athenoeum, 12th Jan., and 31st May, 1856);
since enhanced in interest by D on J o sé A n to n io U r r u t ia ’s “ Discovery of additional Monuments
of Antiquity in Central America” (Ibidem, 13 Dec. 1856). The new work,of Dr .
S o h e r z e r brings another distinguished pioneer into the field ; and we have reason to hope
that much light will be thrown upon the Indian languages of New Mexico, California, &c.,
by the conjoint researches of two gentlemen eminently qualified for the task—Mr. J o hn R.
B a r t l e t t (late U . S. Boundary Commissioner to Mexico, and now Secretary of State for
Rhode Island), and Prof. W m. W. T u r n e r (of the U . S. Patent Office, Washington, D. C.).
them “ mound-builders,” from the regular fortifications which they
have erected in several of the western and southern States.187 The
Natchez, destroyed by the French of Louisiana, in the last century,
seem to have, in part, belonged to them. A most characteristic,—we
may say artistically-beautiful—head £73] in red pipe-clay, the workmanship
of these unknown mound-builders, dug up and published
by S q u ier ,198 exhibits the peculiar Indian
features so faithfully, and with
such sculptural perfection, that we cannot,
withhold our admiration from their
artistical proficiency. It proves three
things : 1st, That these “ mound-builders”
were American Indians in type :—■
2d, That time (age ante-Columbian, but
otherwise unknown,) has not changed
the type of this indigenous group of
races:—and 3d, That the “mound-builders
” were probably acquainted with no
Fig. 73.
other men but themselves. In every
way confirming the views of the author
of Qrania Americana.
M ound-b u il d e r .
The monuments of Mexico partake more of the decorative character,
and we cannot but admire their ingenuity in making use of the
most refractory materials for artistical purposes. The following three
heads were all published by the various authors of Antiquités Mexicaines.
Fig. 74,199 carved of wood, is remarkable for its finish and
elegance; fig. 75200 belongs to a statue of volcanic stone; fig. 76201
is of smaragdite, a green, hard, gem-like stone, which cannot, by ourselves,
be worked otherwise than by steel or bronze, and requires the
action of the wheel and emery. All of them are characterized by the
m [Whilst correcting proof, I learn, with the deepest regret, of the demise, at New York
on the 14th Dec. 1856, of Dr. H e rm a n n E. L b d ew ig ; whom I saw qnite well there last October.
Our mutual friend Mr. T r ü b n e r will deplore, with our fellow-students, this sudden
loss the more, as he has in ¡¡ress the crowning monument of L d d ew ig ’s arduous labors the
“ Bibliography of American Aboriginal Linguistics" — the MSS. of which we looked over
together, in London.—G. R. G.]
108 Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, 1848, p. 2 4 5 , fig. 145.
199 Antiquités Mexicaines (Relation des Trois Expêd. du Cap. Dupaix, 1 8 0 5 -7 , dessins de
Castafteda—par L e n o ir , W a r d e n , F a r c y , B a r a d é r e , St. P r ie s t , &c., Paris, 2 vols, folio
1 8 3 4)—pi. lxiii., fig. 121, p. 53—2nde Expéd.
200 Idem, pi. vi. p. 7—Ire Expéd.
201 Idem, Supplément, pi. vii. p. 13—3me Expéd. :—compare also H um bo ld t (Vues des
Cordillèras, Paris, fol. 1810, pl. 66), "Tête gravée en pierre dure parles Indiens Muys-
cas (Researches, tr. Williams, London, 8vo., 1814, ii. p. 20 6 ) ; who considers the stone a
smaragdite, and the workmanship New Grenadian.