| PAGE | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preface | iii, iv | |
| Table of Contents | v-xii | |
| PART I. | ||
| ETHNOLOGIC AND ARCHÆOLOGIC. | ||
| Introductory | 17–19 | |
| A Review of the Data for the Study of the Pre-historic Chronology of America | 20–47 | |
| Classification of Data. I. Legendary: of northern tribes; of Peruvians, Mexicans and Mayas; limited range. II. Monumental: pueblos of New Mexico; stone and brick structures of Mexico, Central America and Peru; ruins of Tiahuanaco; artificial shell heaps; the sambaquis of Brazil. III. Industrial: palæolithic implements; early polished stone implements; dissemination of cultivated food plants. IV. Linguistic: multitude and extension of linguistic stocks; tenacity of linguistic form; similarities of internal form; study of internal form. V. Physical: racial classifications; traits of the American type; permanence of the type. VI. Geologic: date of the glacial epochs in North and South America; the earliest Americans immigrants; lines of migrations. Importance of archæological studies. | ||
| On Palæoliths, American and Other | 48–55 | |
| The cutting instrument as the standard of culture; the three “Ages” of Stone, Bronze and Iron; subdivisions of the Age of Stone into Palæolithic and Neolithic; a true “Palæolith”; subdivision of the Palæolithic period into the epochs of “simple” and “compound” implements; palæolithic finds along the Delaware river; the glacial period in America; earliest appearance of man in America. | ||
| On the Alleged Mongolian Affinities of the American Race | 56–66 | |
| A practical question; Cuvier’s triple division of the human species; alleged Mongolian affinities in language; supposed affinities in culture; imagined physical resemblances, as color, cranial analogies, the oblique or “Mongoloid” eye, etc. Insufficiency of all these. | ||
| The Probable Nationality of the “Mound-Builders.” | 67–82 | |
| Who were the “Mound-builders”? Known tribes as constructors of mounds, the Iroquois, Algonkins, Cherokees and Chahta-Muskoki family. Descriptions from De Soto’s expedition; from Huguenots in Florida; from French writers on Louisiana; great size of the southern mounds; probable builders of Ohio mounds. | ||
| The Toltecs and their Fabulous Empire | 83–100 | |
| Statement of the question; the current opinion; the adverse opinion; Tula as an historic site; the Serpent-Hill; the Aztec legends about Tula; date of the desertion of Tula; meaning of the name Tula or Tollan; the mythical cyclus of Tula; birth of Huitzilopochtli; myth of Quetzalcoatl at Tula; his subjects, the Toltecs; purely fabulous narratives concerning them. | ||
| PART II. | ||
| MYTHOLOGY AND FOLK-LORE. | ||
| Introductory | 101–103 | |
| The Sacred Names in Quiche Mythology | 104–129 | |
| The Quiches of Guatemala, and their relationship; sources of information. Their Sacred Book, the Popol Vuh; its opening words; The name Hun-Ahpu-Vuch, the God of Light; Hun-Ahpu-Utiu; Nim-ak, the Great Hog; Nim-tzyiz; Tepeu; Gucumatz; Qux-cho and Qux-palo; Ah-raxa-lak and Ah-raxa-sel; Xpiyacoc and Xmucane, the primal pair; Cakulha; Huracan and Cabrakan; Chirakan, the god of the Storm and the Earthquake; Xbalanque and his journey to Xibalba, or the Descent into Hell. | ||
| The Hero-God of the Algonkins as a Cheat and Liar | 130–134 | |
| Micmac story of Gluskap, the Liar; the Cree god, the Deceiver; Michabo and his tricks; psychological significance of such stories. | ||
| The Journey of the Soul | 135–147 | |
| General belief in a soul; Egyptian theory of its fate; it sinks and rises with the sun; invocation to Osiris; symbols of the river, the boat, the dog, and the sacred numbers; recurrence of these symbols in Greek, Vedantic and Norse beliefs; the Aztec account of the soul’s journey to Paradise. Origin of these symbolic narratives from the apparent daily course of the Sun. | ||
| The Sacred Symbols in America | 148–162 | |
| The four symbols of the Ta Ki, the Triskeles, the Svastika and the Cross; the prevalence of the Triskeles in the Old World; the meaning of the Ta Ki in Chinese philosophy; the Yin and Yang; the Svastika; origin illustrated from n picture-writing; the Copan stone; the earth-plain; the wheel-cross; winter-counts and year cycles; time-wheels and sun-motions; the Four Ages and Tree of Life. | ||
| The Folk-Lore of Yucatan | 163–180 | |
| Mental activity of the Mayas; the diviners; the “field mass”; invocation to the rain-gods; fire-worship; prognostics; transformations of sorcerers; nagualism; a Maya witch story; the Balams; the Man of the Woods; stories of dwarfs and imps; female deceivers; fabulous birds and snakes. | ||
| Folk-Lore of the Modern Lenape | 181–192 | |
| Source of information; reminiscences of the tribe; Messianic hopes; relics of the Stone Age; methods of hunting and fishing; utensils, boats and houses; the native games; the sweat-lodge; their canticos, and the derivation of the term; medical knowledge; cure for rattlesnake bites; native trephining; position of the Lenâpé as “grandfathers”; wampum belts; totemic divisions; peculiarities of the dialect; Lenâpé grammar. | ||
| PART III. | ||
| GRAPHIC SYSTEMS AND LITERATURE. | ||
| Introductory | 193–194 | |
| The Phonetic Elements in the Graphic Systems of the Mayas and Mexicans | 195–212 | |
| Material for the study; were the native hieroglyphs phonetic? Character and arrangement of phonetic symbols; the failure of Landa’s alphabet; phonetic signs in Maya MSS.; hieroglyph of the firmament; phonetic terminals; signs of cardinal points; Mexican phonetic elements; principle of the rebus; examples; the ikonomatic system. | ||
| The Ikonomatic Method of Phonetic Writing | 213–229 | |
| Thought-Writing and Sound-Writing; the ikonomatic method explained; illustrations from Egyptian inscriptions; from the canting arms in heraldry; from the Mexican picture-writing; values of position and colors; determinatives and ideograms in Aztec MSS.; further illustrations from Maya hieroglyphs; Chipeway pictography. | ||
| The Writing and Records of the Ancient Mayas | 230–254 | |
| 1. Introductory—Phoneticism in Maya and Aztec writing. 2. Descriptions by Spanish writers; by Peter Martyr; by Las Casas; by Alonso Ponce; by Lizana; by Aguilar; by Buena Ventura; by Cogolludo; by Soto-Mayor; by Landa; facsimile of Landa’s alphabet; critiques on it; conclusions. 3. References from native sources; Maya words for “writing,” “book,” “calendar,” etc.; a prophecy of Ahkul Chel translated. 4. The existing Codices; the Dresden Codex; the Codex Peresianus; the Codex Troano; the Codex Cortesianus; the mural paintings and inscriptions. | ||
| The Books of Chilan Balam | 255–273 | |
| High civilization of ancient Mayas; destruction of their literature; modern Books of Chilan Balam; signification of this name; contents of the Books; specimen of the prophecies; linguistic value; opinion of Pio Perez; length of the Maya year-cycles; hieroglyphs of the months and days; the 13 ahau katuns; medical contents of the books. | ||
| On the “Stone of the Giants.” | 274–283 | |
| Location of the Stone near Orizaba; its figures; refer to a date in February, 1502; translation of the hieroglyphs, and identification of the date as that of the death of the Emperor Ahuitzotzin; the stone a sepulchral tablet. | ||
| Native American Poetry | 284–304 | |
| Nature of poetry; principle of repetition; Eskimo nith songs; other Eskimo songs; a Pawnee song; Kioway love songs; a Chipeway serenade; Aztec love songs; war-songs of the Otomis; of the Aztecs; of the Qquichuas; prophetic chants of the Mayas. Faculty of poetry universal. | ||
| PART IV. | ||
| LINGUISTIC. | ||
| Introductory | 305–307 | |
| American Languages, and Why we Should Study Them. | 308–327 | |
| Indian geographic names; language a guide to ethnology; reveals the growth of arts and the psychologic processes of a people; illustration from the Lenâpé tongue; structure of language best studied in savage tongues; rank of American tongues; characteristic traits; pronominal forms; idea of personality; polysynthesis; incorporation; holophrasis; origin of these; lucidity of American tongues; their vocabularies; power of expressing abstract ideas; conclusion. | ||
| Wilhelm von Humboldt’s Researches in American Languages | 328–348 | |
| What led Humboldt toward the American tongues; progress of his studies; fundamental doctrine of his philosophy of language; his theory of the evolution of languages; opinion on American languages; his criterion of the relative perfection of languages; not abundance of forms, nor verbal richness; American tongues not degenerations; Humboldt’s classification of languages; psychological origin of Incorporation in language; its shortcomings; in simple sentences; in compound sentences; absence of true formal elements; the nature of the American verb. | ||
| Some Characteristics of American Languages | 349–389 | |
| Study of the human species on the geographic system; have American languages any common trait? Duponceau’s theory of polysynthesis; Humboldt on Polysynthesis and Incorporation; Francis Lieber on Holophrasis; Prof. Steinthal on the incorporative plan; Lucien Adam’s criticism of it; Prof. Müller’s inadequate statement; Major Powell’s omission to consider it; definitions of polysynthesis, incorporation and holophrasis; illustrations; critical application of the theory to the Othomi language; to the Bri-bri language; to the Tupi-Guarani dialects; to the Mutsun; conclusions; addendum; critique by M. Adam on this essay. | ||
| The Earliest Form of Human Speech as Revealed by American Tongues | 390–409 | |
| The Homo alalus or speechless man, a romance; linguistic stocks; the phonetic elements significant; examples; but not of same significance in different stocks; notion of self and other; pronouns a late development; alternating consonants and permutable vowels; examples; phoneticism inadequate; difficulties thus created; counter-sense in language; notion of Being and Not-Being; incorporation; sentence-words; no dependent clauses; no tenses; no adjectives; no numerals; notion of Animate and Inanimate; classificatory particles; primitive man a visuaire. | ||
| The Conception of Love in Some American Languages | 410–432 | |
| Significance of love-words; various origins. I. Algonkin love-words; various senses; highest forms. II. Nahuatl love-words; poverty of the tongue; made up by terminations; words for friendship. III. Maya love-words; singular derivations; the Huasteca dialect; the Cakchiquel dialect; comparisons. IV. Qquichua love-words; abundant; various meanings. V. Tupi-Guarani love-words; meaning of. Conclusions. | ||
| The Lineal Measures of the Semi-Civilized Nations of Mexico and Central America | 433–451 | |
| Metrical standards a criterion of progress; those of the Mayas; of the Cakchiquels; of the Mexicans or Aztecs; of the Mound-Builders of Ohio. Conclusions. | ||
| The Curious Hoax of the Taensa Language | 452–467 | |
| How it began; the deception exposed; absurdities of the invention; a wonderful calendar; a yet more wonderful marriage-song; a second Psalmanazar; rejoinder of the editor; reply to that; final verdict. | ||
| Index of Authors and Authorities | 469–474 | |
| Index of Subjects | 475–489 | |