Part 2

In the midst of an earthen tripod, surrounded by smoke and flames, we perceive a small disk of a yellow color. Our attention is called to the peculiar mark imprinted on the surface of the disk. Upon searching in Lord Kingsborough’s Collection, Vol. V., page 112, plate 71, where the interpretation of the little picture is given, we learn, that the man sitting by the tripod, is meant to be a goldsmith. Hence we conclude the disk must be understood to mean a round piece of gold, and that very probably the mark printed on it, was the usual symbolical sign for gold.[13] At the right of the tripod sits a man wrapped in his mantle, no doubt the master of the work-shop; for the addition of a flake flying from his mouth, as the typical sign for language or command, gives us a right to suppose that we have before us the so-called _temachtiani_, or master of the trade. At the left side crouches the apprentice, _tlamachtilli_. He holds in his right hand a staff, one end of which is in his mouth and the other is placed in the crucible. _Tlapitzqui_, in the Nahoatl language means at the same time a flute player and a melter of metal. This etymological version therefore conveys the idea, that the staff held by the smelter signifies a pipe or tube used for increasing heat by blowing the fire, as the staff is similar to a long pipe or flute and is held in the mouth of the workman. In his left hand he holds a similar staff, but there is no means of recognizing whether it is a stick for stirring the embers, or a tube to be used alternately with the other. Now, we shall be permitted to draw a conclusion from this process of smelting gold as to the manner of smelting copper. The process must have been exactly the same with both. For, if the Mexican goldsmith, with the aid of a blowpipe, was able to increase the heat of the fire to such a degree as to make gold fusible, a heat which requires 1,100° C., he cannot have found greater difficulties in melting copper, which requires nearly the same degree of heat; and tin, which is far more easily fusible, could have been treated in the same way.

Melting was followed by casting into forms or moulds, and these moulds must have been of stone. This might be concluded from the language of Torquemada and Gomara.[14] The words “_by placing one stone above another one_” are too clear to leave the least doubt as to what the author meant. This process will account for the absolute identity we had the opportunity to observe existing between certain trinkets of the same class, coming chiefly from Nicaragua and Chiriqui. No specimens of a mould, however, have come to our view, or have been heard of as existing in any collection, probably because whenever they were met by the “_huaqueros_,” they did not recognize them as such, and threw them away.

The scanty knowledge we have of all these interesting technical details will not be wondered at, if we consider that we derive it from no other class of writers than from unlearned soldiers, and monks unskilled in the practical matters of this world. But still, the principal reason for this want of information is that the Mexican artist was as jealous in keeping his devices secret, as the European. They also formed guilds, into which the apprentices were sworn, and their tongues were bound by fear as well as interest. Let us quote only one instance. The Vice-King Mendoza reports to the Emperor[15] that he offered to pardon one of those workmen, if he would disclose how he was able to counterfeit the Spanish coins in so striking a way. But the native preferred to remain silent and was put to death.

Here is the place for asking the question: Would not the early Mexicans, aside from their practice of casting the above metals, have employed also that of hammering? Our reply would be emphatically in the negative, if taking the expression “hammering” in its strict meaning, which is that of working with the hammer. The writers of the Conquest have left the most explicit testimony, that the natives, only after the arrival of the Spaniards became acquainted with this instrument, and with the art of using it for working high reliefs out of a metal sheet. Moreover, the native vocabulary has no word for the metal hammer as it is commonly understood. Yet the wooden mallet was known, the so-called _quauhololli_, and used by the sculptors. In the gradual education of mankind in technical knowledge, beating of metals, of course, must have preceded casting. The ancestors of the early Mexicans, at a certain epoch, stood on the same low stage of workmanship as their more distant northern brethren. But when the inventor of the mould had taught them how to multiply the objects most in demand, by the means of this easy, rapid and almost infallible operation, we must not imagine that he had done away entirely with the old practice of beating and stretching metal with a stone. The practice, in certain cases, would have been maintained: as for instance, when a diadem, a shield, or a breastplate was to be shaped, and on occasions when the object to be made required the use of a thin flat sheet of metal. Such objects are not only described by the writers, but are also represented by the native painters. A specimen of such a kind is mentioned, which on account of its extraordinary beauty, workmanship and value left a deep impression on the conquerors. It was the present which Motezuma made to Cortes at his landing, on the _Culhua_ coast, “the two gold and silver wheels;” the one, as they said, representing the Sun, the other the Moon. According to the measures they took of them, these round discs must have had a diameter of more than five feet. It is preposterous to imagine that round sheets of this size should have been the product of casting.[16]

We pass on now to discuss the various tools which we have reason to think were cast in copper or in bronze, by the early Mexicans.

The _axe_ stands in the first place. Cortes, we shall remember, omitted to specify any of the objects which he saw exposed for sale in the market-place. Not so his companion, Bernal Diaz. He, after a lapse of 40 years, when occupied with the writing of his memoirs, has no recollection of other tools, which he undoubtedly must have seen, except the much admired bronze axes. Specimens of these were sent over to Spain in the same vessel on which the above mentioned presents to the Emperor were shipped. At their arrival at Palos, Petrus Martyr of the Council House of the Indies was one of the first to examine the curiosities sent from the New World, and to gather from the lips of the bearers their verbal comments. His remarks on the axes he had seen, are “with their bronze axes and hatchets, cunningly tempered, they (the Indians) fell the trees.” There are three expressions in this passage which will claim our attention. First, we learn that two classes of axes were sent over, one of which Martyr recognized as a “_secūris_” the other as a “_dolabra_” hence a common axe, and another which was like a pick or a hoe. Further on we shall give an illustration of these axes, taken from the pictures of the natives, when we are to recur again to this subject. Our author, in the second place, describes the two axes as of bronze, for this is the English rendering of the Latin expression: _aurichalcea_. Thirdly, we learn, that the blades were “cunningly tempered” or “_argute temperata_.” This language requires explanation.

The attentive reader will remember what has been said respecting Cortes and Bernal Diaz, whether they recognized the bronze objects in the market as a mixture of copper and tin, of themselves, or whether they had been inquisitive enough to ask for information, and in consequence learned that it was a common practice among the workmen to mix these two metals, in certain proportions, in order to produce a harder quality of copper. The latter hypothesis seems to gain a certain corroboration from Martyr’s language. For there cannot be the slightest doubt as to what he meant when putting down the words “cunningly tempered.” He wished to express the idea, that he had positive grounds for the conviction, that the metal of which the axes were made, was not a _natural_ but an _artificial_ product. What grounds for this conviction he had, he does not, however, communicate to his reader.

Our author has the well deserved reputation of being one of the fullest authorities for all that concerns the discovery and conquest of the western hemisphere. Of all, however, that he has written, the pages containing the landing of Cortes in Yucatan, and the entrance of the Spaniards in the capital of Motezuma, appear to have been the most attractive to the general reader and the student; these pages being torn and soiled in the existing copies of his original Latin, as well as of its translation into foreign languages. We mention this circumstance, for it is not without a certain bearing upon our question. It proves how confidently the reading public has drawn upon the author’s statement, and how eagerly students have sought to digest his amazing accounts, quite unsuspicious, however, of the errors in dates as well as facts; admiring rather than criticizing the pompous phraseology of his mediæval Latin, or his often very suggestive but somewhat flighty speculations. In Petrus Martyr, therefore, we may recognize the originator of the widespread theory that the Mexicans possessed the secret of manufacturing bronze in the highest perfection and in accordance with metallurgical rules. We are, however, forewarned. The statement is of importance, and must be weighed before accepting it. We fear it will fail like many genial but unsupported inspirations, of which our author was susceptible. If we ask whence he derived the notion that the bronze tools were “argute temperata” we shall find that he failed to give any authority. Petrus Martyr, whom we often find quoting the full names and special circumstances by the aid of which he gathered the material for his historical letters, does not follow this laudable practice on this occasion, even though the matter was one of importance to investigators like himself. For these instruments of bronze, and many other tools sent over, must have been, in another way, still more interesting to him than the objects of industry themselves. These tools afforded the most palpable proof of an independent industry practised by that strange people beyond the sea; they were a key perhaps also to the riddle, how it was possible to perform those marvels of workmanship. This silence of Petrus Martyr respecting the details of the “_argutia_” which he professes that the natives employed in manufacturing their bronze is so much the more striking, since we find him enlarging a long while upon their manufacture of paper; and he shows himself correctly informed respecting that process. It is clear that the one was as well worth detailing as the other. Therefore we cannot help expressing the suspicion, that whilst he had correct information respecting the one, he had none respecting the other.

It would, however, be venturing too much to reject so important a statement merely on the grounds alleged. In order to save it, we could fairly say, that he omitted his references through carelessness. Accepting this position, let us then seek to ascertain, who his informants might have been, and chiefly inquire what they were able to tell him about the manufacture of bronze in Mexico.

The circumstances accompanying the arrival of the precious gifts from the capital at the Camp of Cortes, their shipping and unlading at Palos, and their registration at the custom-house, are perfectly known. From them we gather the following points: First, no Spaniard had yet set foot in the interior, they were still loitering on the shores of Vera Cruz, where the embassies of Motezuma made their appearance. Hence, they were still shut off from the opportunity of inspecting the workshops of Tezcuco, Mexico and Azcapotzalco, the centres from which this special class of merchandise was spread over the whole isthmus. Cortes, who had many reasons for hastening the transfer of the precious treasures to the ships, without much delay despatched one of them, intrusting two of his friends, Montejo and Puerto Carrero, with the mission of presenting to the Emperor the report of his startling discoveries and the presents coming from the new vassal-king. Petrus Martyr, indeed, mentions these two cavaliers, as being Cortes’ messengers, and it is highly probable that it was from their lips that he gathered among other correct information also that about the manufacture of paper. The special kind of paper he describes, is one which was manufactured and used exclusively on the coast of Yucatan and Vera Cruz, not the paper of the maguey-plant which grows on the high plateaus, but that of the amatl-tree, a native of the tierra caliente. Being in the very country where this kind of paper was manufactured, the Spanish writers, therefore, had the opportunity of hearing how paper was made, even, possibly, of seeing the process itself, which they had not enjoyed in the case of bronze. Could they have got the information from the mouths of the embassadors? We know they held shyly aloof. The intercourse was very ceremonious, and difficult besides, since the conversation passed through the two native languages, and we cannot fairly imagine that the technical question of manufacturing bronze should have become one of the topics of inquiry. Moreover, we do not believe that special attention would have been paid to these bronze implements, if we consider the overpowering impression which the richness and rareness of the other objects must have caused them. Finally, would they not have believed the yellow metal to be gold? since they dreamt of nothing else, and were far from imagining that the opulent ruler of Mexico would have made their Emperor a present of poor bronze tools.

We are not able to offer any conclusive evidence against the remarkable statement made by Petrus Martyr. We are fully aware how many positive proofs are required to render it totally invalid. But we deemed it to be our duty not to withhold from our readers the many grave doubts we entertain against its too ready acceptance. We have still to add, that this statement stands isolated and without support in the whole literature of the Conquest. His contemporary writers, indeed, occasionally speak of copper axes that were tempered by an alloy. None of them, however, goes so far as he, to impute to the early Mexicans the preparation of an artificial bronze, as was so manifestly implied by the words, _argute temperatis_.

The passages which speak about the axes used by the natives are cited below[17]. Three kinds are mentioned, stone, copper and bronze axes. The first of them must have been in use among such tribes as lived outside of the circle of Mexican trade and civilization, or among those which intentionally held themselves aloof. For its retention and use the complete absence of ores in certain districts may have had a decided influence, as for instance was the case with the peninsula of Yucatan.[18] The shape of the Yucatecan blades and that of the handle and the adjustment of both, at least as far as is shown (see cut 8) by the pictures of the Dresden Codex, which are of genuine Yucatecan origin, appear to have been identical with those of the interior of Anahuac.

Among the copper and bronze axes noted below, those of Nicaragua appear to have been of an uncommonly rich alloy of gold. The reader will smile at Herrera’s account of the shrewdness shown by the native ladies in keeping for themselves the plates of pure gold they were attired with, and burdening the soldiers of Gonzales with heavy metal axes.[19] The axes mentioned by Gomara, undoubtedly came from the mines of Anahuac, since their alloy was not only gold, but tin and silver. Gomara is the first who notes the chisel and the borer.

Let us further ascertain, what Father Sahagun[20] is able to tell us about Mexican metal tools. As a teacher of the young native generation, he made it his life’s task to teach his pupils all that concerned the religious belief, the history and the industry of their forefathers. We extract from Lib. 10, Cap. 7, the following passages and translate them as literally as possible: “The goldsmith is an expert in the selection of good metal. He knows how to make of it whatever he likes and does it with skill and elegance. He is conversant with all kinds of devices, and all this he does with composure and accuracy. (_Con medida y compas_). He knows how to purify the ore, and makes plates of silver as well as of gold from the cast metal. He knows likewise how to make moulds of carbon (_moldes de carbon_), and how to put the metal into the fire in order to smelt it. The unskilful goldsmith does not know how to purify the silver, he leaves it mixed up with the ashes, and has his sly ways in taking and stealing something of the silver.” Further on in Cap. 24: “he who is a trader in needles (_agujas_), casts, cleans, and, polishes them well; he makes also bells (_cascabeles_), filters (_aguijillos_), punches (_punzones_), nails (_clavos_), axes (_hachas_), hatchets (_destrales_), cooper’s adzes (_azuelas_), and chisels (_escoplos_).”

In these two passages is summed up all that we sought to gather piecewise from the writers of the Conquest, on our special question. A few new features, however, are cropping out in this enumeration of implements, which give rise to the suspicion, that the goldsmith is described, not as he worked before the year 1521, but as he had perfected himself and enlarged his technical knowledge through the intervention of Spanish mechanics, in the year of Sahagun’s writing, about 1550. We mean the moulds of carbon, the nails,[21] and the cooper’s adze, of which we read in Sahagun exclusively, and of which no pictures or other evidences of their ante-Spanish existence have been preserved.

Pictures of needles frequently occur in the Mexican paintings. But it is understood that they are without an eye, the introduction of our sewing needle having been an actual revelation to the natives. The head of a Mexican needle, or rather pin, was full, and split like that of an animal’s bone. The borer, certainly, had no handle or spiral point. Of all these stitching, piercing and drilling instruments nothing has been preserved, in kind.

A chisel of copper was, however, discovered by Captain Dupaix[22] near the city of Antequera (in Oaxaca). We give a faithful fac-simile of it in cut 9. It is described by the discoverer in the following words: “There are also many chisels of red copper found in the neighborhood of this city, a specimen of which I possess, and will show in the illustrations. Its length is seven inches, and the thickness is one square inch (_sic_), and one side is edged, and this edge is a little dull, showing that it had been in use. We do not know the temper they gave to these instruments in order to employ them in their labors and in their arts, or to give the wood or possibly the stone a regular form.”

We do not know if this chisel is still preserved in the Museum of Mexico, to which it was presented by Captain Dupaix. If not, we hope to be somewhat indemnified by another specimen of bronze chisel, of which we are now in pursuit, and which according to description is similar in form and composition to the one spoken of. Señor Andrez Aznar Perez, now in New York, ploughed up such a tool about twelve years ago, on his plantation near the river Tzompan in Tabasco, at the depth of nearly 12 inches. It was entirely solid, and had a slightly rounded edge, about an inch in length, and he offers to have it brought from Yucatan for further examination.

From the illustration of Captain Dupaix and the description of Mr. Perez, we can for the moment only conclude that the ancient Mexican chisel was similar in its form to that which our stone-masons now make use of.

In regard to the form of ancient Mexican axes, we gave a general idea at the beginning of this essay, but we have still several details to discuss. In the illustrations the curved wooden handle will no doubt appear remarkable. The Mexican painters were such faithful imitators of what they saw, that we cannot presume they would have indulged in what was an essential alteration of the object to be copied. If the handle of the axe was curved, they would have copied it curved, and thus it appears not only in the Mexican but also in the Yucatecan picture codices.

Those acquainted with the practical handling of axes, and with felling trees, know that a curved handle must increase the swinging power of an axe to a considerable degree, and to have used this form is a remarkable instance of Mexican technical craft and cunning. It would be worth while to investigate whether this use of a curved handle was exclusively confined to the natives of Central America, or had passed beyond its boundaries, north as well as south.

We further learn from the pictures, that not the blade of the axe, but the handle had an opening at a certain distance from the top, into which the blade was fitted.

The specimens represented in the cuts 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, appear to be common chopping axes. In the coat of arms of the town of Tepozcolula (see cut 4), however, as already pointed out, the form of the axe differs from those of Tepoztla and Tepoztitlan. In order to obtain a correct idea of these particular kinds of axes, we invite the reader to compare it with another picture (Cod. Mendoza, page 71, fig. 77), and which we give in cut 10. The shape of the axes themselves are evidently alike, in the one as well as in the other picture, only that in cut 10 the axe is not in connection with the coat of arms, but is held by a man who is at work dropping or squaring the branch of a tree, from which chips are flying off. This kind of axe, evidently, served a different purpose from those chopping axes of Tepoztla. It was the hatchet used by the carpenter. Thus reads the explanation given in Kingsb. Coll., Vol. V., page 112.

This instrument is of the most extravagant form. Were it not for the authentic interpretation of the picture and the accessories we should not be able to make out what kind of object it represented, and least of all that it was a hatchet.

Let us examine its construction. The wooden handle has the shape of all the Mexican and Yucatecan axes,—that of a somewhat curved club. But instead of its being chopped off at the top, the handle extends farther and is bent down to an angle of about 45 degrees. On the head of this bent top a deep notch is visible, into which the blade of a little axe is fixed, being fastened by a tongue or string wound three times around. Thus, when a blow was struck, we can presume, the head of the tenon would not move, from the resistance it met from the bottom of the notch. Thus much the picture proves, and we cannot learn anything more of this instrument. We only presume that in order to get a durable handle, they sought a curved branch, and that this branch came generally from one particular class of trees. The word _Tepozcolula_ signifies, properly, the town in which copper was bent, _tepuzque_ (copper), and coloa (to bend), but we learn from our picture, that the natives understood these words to signify the town where the curved handles were manufactured, which seems to be corroborated by another picture which we found for the coat of arms of the town of Tepozcolula, Cod. Mendoza, pl. 45, fig. 5, in which the painter (see cut 11) has laid a special stress upon this curving of the _handle_, by shaping the end of the handle into an exaggerated spiral form.