VOL. I. OR WEEKLY ABSTRACT OF GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. NEW-YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1833. LITERATURE. [From Good's Book of Nature.] ON NATURAL OR INARTICULATE, AND ARTIFICIAL OR ARTICULATE No. 37. or the Source of Evil; and Wath (Germ. Goth,) for God. But it may, perhaps, be observed, that in all the southern dialects of Europe, the French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, we meet with no such term as man; nor in the Latin, from which all these are derived, in which last language the term for man is homo. Yet nothing is Sir, in our own language, is the common title of re- easier than to prove, that even homo itself, the source of spect; and the same term is employed in the same sense all these secondary terms, is derived from the same comthroughout every quarter of the globe. In Hebrew, its mon root. This is clear from its adjective, which is hu radical import is "a ruler or governor;" sir, s-her, or sher, ma-nus: while every school-boy knows that man or men, according as the h is suppressed, or slightly or strongly though not in the classical nominative case of the substanaspirated; in Sanscrit and Persian it means the organ of tive, is included in every inflection below the nominative the head itself; in Greek it is used in a sense somewhat case: as ho-min-is, ho-min-i, ho-min-em, ho-min-e; and dignified, and is synonymous with lords; in Arabia, Tur- it was formerly included in the nominative itself, which key, and among the Peruvians in South America, it is em- was ho-men; whence nothing is clearer than that the parployed as in the Greek; and not essentially different in ticle ho is redundant, and did not originally belong to the Spain, Portugal, Italy, and France; the last country nev- word. And were any additional argument recessary, I er using it, however, but with a personal pronoun prefixed; might advert to the well known fact, that this redundant and it is the very same term in Germany, Holland, and particle is absolutely omitted in the negation of homo, the contiguous countries: the s being dropped in conse- which is not ne-homo but nemo, and was at first ne-men; quence of the h being aspirated more harshly: whence the and which, like homo, or homen, runs, as every one knows, Hebrew s-her is converted into As, used also common-ne-min-is, ne-min-i, &c. It is easy, however, to prove ly, as the similar term is in France, with the prefix of a this redundancy of the ho, by showing the quarter from personal pronoun. which it was derived. The old Latin term was ho-men, The radical idea of the word man is that of a thinking ho-min-is; which every one must perceive is literally the or reasonable being, in contradistinction to the whole obsolete Greek, with the article added to it; μ or range of the irrational creation, by which the thinking ho-men, emphatically the man. The ho is also omitted being is surrounded. And here again I may boldly as- in the feminine of homo, which is fe-min-a, and was at first sert, that while in the primary sense of the word we have feo-min-a, from feo, to produce; literally, the producer, or the most positive proof of the quarter of the globe from bringer-forth of man, or min. Nothing, as it appears to which it issued, and where mankind must first have exist- me, is clearer than this, though the etymologists have ed, and from which he must have branched out into every hitherto sought in vain for the origin of femina. From other quarter, there is not a language to be met with, an- feomina, or without the termination, feomin, we have decient or modern, insular or continental, civilized or sav-rived our own and common Saxon term women; the ƒ, and age, in use among blacks or whites, in which the same term, under some modification or other, is not to be traced, and in which it does not present the same general idea. Man, in Hebrew, to which the term is possibly indebted for its earliest origin, occurs under the form (maneh,) a verb directly importing "to discern or discriminate;" and which, hence, signifies, as a noun, discerning or discriminating being." In Sanscrit we have these senses in the directest manner possible; for in this very ancient tongue, man is the verb, and can only be rendered to think or reason:" while the substantive is mana, of precisely the same meaning as our own word man; and necessarily importing, as I have already observed, "a thinking or reasonable creature." Hence man in both Sanscrit and ancient Egyptian, is synonymous with Adam, or the first man, empathatically the man; hence, again, Menes, was the first king of Egypt; and Minos, the first or chief judge, discerner, or arbitrator among the Greeks. Hence, also, in Greek, men and menos, (μe and use) signify mind or "the thinking faculty;" but uros contracted, is mens, which, in the Latin language imports the very same thing. In the Gothic and all the northern dialects of Europe, man imports the very same idea as in our own tongue; the English, indeed, having descended from the same quarter. In Bengalee and Hindoostanee, it is manshu; in Malayan, manizu; in Japanese, manio; in Atooi, and the Sandwich Islands generally, tane, tanatoo, or tangi; while manawe, imports the mind or spirit; and in New-Guinea or Papuan, it is sonaman, a compound evidently pronounced from man. In this utmost extremity, this Ultima Thule of the southern world, I will just observe, also, in passing, that we meet with the terms Sytan, Satan, v or w, being cognate, or convertible letters in all languages; of which we have a familiar instance in the words valer and father, which, in German and English, mean precisely the same thing. But this subject would require a large volume instead of occupying the close of a single lecture. It is however, as you will find, when we come to apply it, of great importance; and I must yet, therefore, trouble you with another example or two. Youth and young are as capable of as extensive research, and are as common to all languages, barbarous and civilized as the word man. I will only at present remark, that we meet with it in Hebrew, where it is 1 (yuna) in Persia, and Palavi or ancient Persian, where it is juani; in Sanscrit, where it is yauvan; in Greek, vier (yion,) from viss, or vivas; in Latin, where we find it juvenis; in Gothic and German, where it is jung; in Spanish, joven; in Italian, giovan; in French, juene; and, as I have already observed, in our own dialect, young. The word regent, in like manner, is, and ever has been in equal use among all nations. This, like the French regir, is derived from the Latin rege; which runs through all the southern dialects of Europe; while in Germany and the north, the derivative recht is the common term for rule, law, authority. The Hebrew is (ragi,) a conspicuous or illustrious person; the Sanscrit, raja; the Greek, pa and za; of the same exact import as the Hebrew; and hence ra, or rai, imports the sun, the most powerful and illustrious object in creation, among a multitude of barbarous nations, and especially those of the Sandwich Islands and New-Zealand; and rayan-ai, the day or light itself, in different parts of Sumatra. On our own term ray, com This Deity was by the Greeks denominated Zeus Ombrios; and by Lucian, Hyetius. He was worshipped by the Athenians, who reared to him an altar on Mount Hymettus. The cut above is a representation of him as he is made to appear on the Antonine Pillar. He has the shape of an old man with wings, and a long beard, both arms extended, his right arm raised a little higher than the left. The water streams down from his beard and arms. It is pretended that the Roman soldiers in the army of M. Aurelius, who were reduced to great extremity by drought and thirst, were favored by the God with a miraculous shower of this rain, which they caught, as it descended, in the hollow of their shields. Barronius, however, assures us in his annals, that it was the Christian soldiers that were in that army who by their prayers to God obtained this shower, which saved the army. These Christian soldiers are designated in the annals of the Church by the appellation of the Thundering Legion, Fig. 19 represents another entrance into the subterranean avenue by a different way from the first, and to these may be added a third into the same passage, but which is now actually buried beneath heaps of rubbish. In another of the many openings leading to this under ground passage, my regard was attracted by the stone, No. 7, which I broke off from the left hand side of the first step; this I have brought away in order that the various devices of its basrelief may be more accurately investigated: it is however, as well as the preceding No. 6, reduced one half in size to facilitate the transport, and a copy of this is also given in fig. 20. On reaching the second door, artificial light was necessary to continue the descent into this gloomy abode, which was by a very gentle declivity. It has a turning at right angles, and at the end of the side passage there is another door communicating with a chamber sixty-four yards long, and almost as large as those already described; beyond this room there is still another, similar in every respect, and having light admitted into it by some windows commanding a corridor fronting the south, and leading to the exterior of the edifice. Neither bas-reliefs nor any other embellishments were found in these places; nor did they present to notice any object, excepting some plain stones two yards and a half long, by one yard and a quarter broad, arranged horizontally upon four square stands of masonry, rising about half a yard above the ground.These I consider to have been receptacles for sleeping, and this a place for retirement during the night; a belief in which I am still more confirmed from the circumstance of the large stones being partitioned off in the form of alcoves. Here all the doors and separations terminated, and as nothing but stones and earth were discovered by digging, I determined on proceeding to one of the buildings, situated on an eminence to the south of about forty yards in height. This edifice forming a parallelogram, resembled the first in its style of architecture; it has square pillars, an exterior gallery, and a saloon twenty yards long by three and a half broad, embellished with a frontispiece on which are described female figures with children in their arms, all of the natural size, executed in stucco medioreliefs: these representations are without heads, as pourtrayed in figs. 21 and 22. Some whimsical designs, serving as ornaments to the corners of the house, I brought away; they are numbered 8, 9, and 10. but all knowledge respecting them is concealed from us, owing to no aditionary information or written documents being prese explanatory of their real meaning, and the manner in which the inhabitants used such devices for the conveyance of their thoughts. In the inner wall of the gallery, and on each side of the door leading into the saloon, there are three stones measuring three yards in height, and being upwards of one broad, all of them covered with the hieroglyphics in bas-relief recently mentioned, the whole of this gallery and saloon being paved. Leaving this structure, and passing by the ruins of many others, or perhaps what is more probable, of many buildings accessory to this principal edifice, the declivity conducts to a little valley, or open space, whereby the approach to another house in this direction (southerly) is rendered practicable; you arrive at the entrance by an ascent where it is found to have a gallery and a saloon similar to that last described, and at the door of this saloon a stucco ornament, (fig. 23,)displays by its allegory the superstition of the founders. Eastward of this structure are three small eminences forming a triangle, upon each of which is a square building eighteen yards long by eleven broad, of the same architecture as the former, but having along thin roofings several superstructures about three yards high, resembling turrets, covered with different ornaments and devices in stucco. In the interior of the first of these three mansions, at the end of a gallery almost entirely dilapidated, is a saloon having a small chamber at each extremity, while in the centre of the saloon stands an oratory rather more than three yards square, presenting on each side of the entrance a perpendicular stone, whereon is pourtrayed the image of a man in bas-relief, as in figs. 24 and 25.Upon entering, I found the entire front of the oratory occupied by three stones joined together, upon which the objects described in fig. 26 are allegorically represented.The outward decoration is confined to a sort of moulding finished with small stucco bricks, on which are bas-reliefs, Nos. 11 and 12 being specimens of the devices; the pavement of the oratory is quite smooth, and eight inches thick, which it was necessary to perforate in order to make an excavation. Having proceeded in this labour at about half a yard deep, I found a small round earthen vessel, about a foot in diameter, fitted horizontally with a mixture of lime to another of the same quality and dimensions: these were removed, and the digging being continued, a quarter of a yard beneath we discovered a circular stone, of rather larger diameter than the first articles, and on removing this from its position, a cylindrical cavity presented itself, about a foot wide and the third of a foot deep, containing a flint lance, two small conical pyramids, with the figure of a heart in dark crystallized stone, (which is very common in this kingdom, and known by the name of challa ;) there were also two small earthen jars or ewers, with covers containing small stones and a ball of vermillion, which, as well as the other articles, I transmit to you, being numbered 13, 14, 15, and 16. The situation of the subterranean depository coincides with the centre of the oratory, and in each of the inner angles, near the entrance, is a cavity like the one before described, where the little jars numbered 17 and 18 were also buried. ered the flint lance, two conical pyramids, the representation of a heart, and two earthen jars, being the objects numbered 19, 20, 21, and 22. Fig. 30 and the last of this collection, shows the interior front of the third oratory, formed like the others, of three stones of similar size; and, if due attention be given to the bas-reliefs thereon represented, the conclusion drawn from thence must be, that the ancient inhabitants of these structures lived in extreme darkness, for, in their fabulous superstitions, we seem to view the idolatry of the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Romans, and other primitive nations most strongly pourtrayed. On this account it may reasonably be conjectured, that some one of these nations pursued their conquests even to this country, where it is probable they only remained long enough to enable the Indian tribes to imitate their ideas, and adopt, in a rude and awkward manner, such arts as their invaders thought fit to inculcate. I omit any description of the buildings situated to the northward, as they are now nearly destroyed, and afford neither reliefs nor other ornaments, and only vary in their style, similar to those described in the south; it therefore merely remains for me to take notice of the few articles discovered from digging in various parts of this ground, as well as at the edifice in the southwest direction. In architecture this structure does not differ from the others; its divisions consist of a corridor and a saloon, without decorations or bas-reliefs. In digging, an earthen vessel was found, but broken in pieces, which contained some small pieces of challa in the shape of lancets, or thin blades of razors, which were probably used by these uncivilized people for the same purpose as the latter articles are now applied to by Europeans; these instruments and small fragments of the vessel in which they were deposited, I submit for your inspection and examination, being numbered 23 and 24. No. 25 is an earthen pot, containing a number of small bones, grinders, molares, and teeth taken from the same excavation. No. 25 and those that follow denote the quality of the lime, mortar, and burnt bricks employed by the inhabitants; it may be inferred that they used the latter very sparingly, as only those which I brought away for mature examination were to be found among the ruins-they will tend to give full satisfaction, and illustrate the points contained in the last royal mandate, which occasioned a second examination of this ruined city; during which, no circumstance worthy of notice has been omitted, neither have I spared any exertion that could give effect, either to the research or the narrative which I now terminate. I confess, Sir, that the well known zeal of your Excellency for his Majesty's service, your activity and punctuality in carrying into effect his royal commands, your profound knowledge and good taste in the subjects which this commission embraces, and which your Excellency has had the goodness to entrust to my care, have been the most powerful incentives to give energy to my application, my industry, and my perseverance in fulfilling these various operations, which I have pursued without regard either to It is unnecessary to dilate more on the subjects repre- labour or fatigue. My endeavour has uniformly been sented by the bas-reliefs on the three stones, or on the sit-scrupulously and diligently to obey the orders confided in uation of the articles found in this place; they convey to the mind an idea that it was in this spot they venerated, as sacred objects, the remains of their greatest heroes, to whom they erected trophies, recording the particular distinctions they had merited from their country, by their services or the victories obtained over its enemies, while the inscriptions on the tablets were intended to eternise their names; for to this object the characters, as well as the bas-reliefs around them, evidently refer. The other two edifices are of similar architecture, and divided internally in the same manner as the one above described, varying only in the allegorical subjects of the bas-reliefs on the stones. me, as a recompense for which my sole desire is to merit your approbation, in having conformed to the instructions of the King, and the ideas of his enlightened minister. ANTONIO DEL RIO. Palenque, June 24, 1787. Accompanying the foregoing account are a large number of curious drawings representing various figures and hieroglyphics discovered among the ruins, to which reference is made in the account itself. We purpose to present our readers with a number of them sufficient to give them a good idea of their general character. The cut on the following page is one. It is the second drawing in the work, and is noticed in the following paragraph, which we re-insert in connexion with the cut. On gaining the second oratory, its entrance presented the two delineations of men copied in figures 27 and 28, while the front exhibited the three stones displayed in fig. "The interior of the large building is in a style of ar 29. Having proceeded to excavate in this spot, I discov-chitecture strongly resembling the gothic, and from its rude and massive construction, promises great durability.The entrance is on the eastern side by a portico or corridor thirty-six varas or yards in length and three in breadth, supported by plain rectangular pillars, without either bases or pedestals, upon which there are square smooth stones of more than a foot in thickness forming an architrave, while on the exterior superficies are a species of stucco shields; the designs of some of them accompanying this report are numbered 1, 2, 3; while over these stones, there is another plain rectangular block, five feet long and six broad, extending over two of the pillars. Medallions or compartments in stucco containing different devices of the same materials, appear as decorations to the chambers; and it is presumable from the vestiges of the heads which can still be traced, that they were the busts of a series of kings or lords to whom the natives were subject. Between the medallions there is a range of windows like niches, passing from one end of the wall to the other; some of them are square, some in the form of a Greek cross, and others which complete the cross are square, being about two feet high and eight inches deep. Beyond this corridor, there is a square court entered by a flight of seven steps; the north side is entirely in ruins, but sufficient traces remain to show that it once had a chamber and corridor similar to those on the eastern side, and which continued entirely along the several angles. The south side has four small chambers with no other ornament than one or two little windows like those already described.The western side is correspondent to its opposite in all respects but the variety of expression of the figures in stucco. Having completed our general survey of the animal | others the fiercest and most terrible. Our wolves, or other kingdom, we will now go into a more minute examination of the subject, by treating on each species separately In doing this, we shall begin with a description of the monarch of the forest, the noble and majestic Lion, which is very properly placed at the head of the brute creation. "IT has been remarked, that in all hot climates, the terrestrial animals are larger and stronger than in cold or temperate ones. They are also bolder and more ferocious, all their natural qualities seeming to partake of the ardour of the climates in which they live. The Lion, born beneath the burning sun of Africa, or of India, is above all carnivorous animals, far from being his rivals, are hardly worthy to be his providers. The Lions of America, (if, indeed, they deserve to be called Lions,) are, like the cli mate in which they are produced, infinitely milder than those of Africa; and, what plainly proves that the degree of fierceness in this animal depends upon the degree of heat, is that, even in the same country, those that inhabit the high mountains, where the air is more temperate, are different in disposition from those that dwell in the plains, where the heat is excessive. 66 As the Lion has no enemy but man, and his species is |