Read Ebook: The Battle and the Ruins of Cintla by Brinton Daniel G Daniel Garrison

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 55 lines and 7426 words, and 2 pages

Transcriber's Note

A number of typographical errors have been maintained in this version of this book. They have been marked with a , which refers to a description in the complete list found at the end of the text. Inconsistent spelling, hyphenation, and capitalization have been maintained. A list of inconsistently spelled words is found at the end of the text.

THE BATTLE AND THE RUINS OF CINTLA

BY DANIEL G. BRINTON, M. D., LL. D., D. Sc.

PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND LINGUISTICS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

CHICAGO 1896

THE BATTLE AND THE RUINS OF CINTLA.

BY DANIEL G. BRINTON, M. D.

The first battle on the American continent in which horses were used was that of Cintla in Tabasco, March, 1519, the European troops being under the leadership of Hernando Cortes.

This fact attaches something more than an ordinary historic interest to the engagement, at least enough to make it desirable to ascertain its precise locality and its proper name. Both of these are in doubt, as well as the ethnic stock to which the native tribe belonged which opposed the Spanish soldiery on the occasion. I propose to submit these questions to a re-examination, and also to describe from unpublished material the ruins which,--as I believe--, mark the spot of this first important encounter of the two races on American soil.

The most satisfactory narrative, however, is given by the chaplain of Cortes, Francisco de Gomara, and I shall briefly rehearse his story, adding a few points from other contemporary writers.

Cortes with his armada cast anchor at the mouth of the River Grijalva in March, 1519. The current being strong and the bar shallow, he with about eighty men proceeded in boats up the river for about two miles, when they descried on the bank a large Indian village. It was surrounded with a wooden palisade, having turrets and loopholes from which to hurl stones and darts. The houses within were built of tiles laid in mortar, or of sun-dried brick , and were roofed with straw or split trees. The chief temple had spacious rooms, and its dependences surrounded a court yard.

The interpreter Aguilar, a Spaniard who had lived with the Mayas in Yucatan, could readily speak the tongue of the village, which was therefore a Mayan dialect. The natives told him that the town was named Potonchan, which Aguilar translated "the place that smells or stinks," an etymology probably correct in a general way.

After some parleying, Cortes withdrew to an island in the river near by, and as night drew on, he sent to the ships for reinforcements, and despatched some of the troops to look for a ford from the island to the mainland; which they easily found.

The next morning he landed some of his men by the boats, and attacked the village on the water side, while another detachment crossed the ford and making a circuit assaulted it in the rear. The Indians were prepared, having sent their women and children away. They were in number about four hundred, and made at first a brisk resistance, but being surprised by the rear assault, soon fled in dismay. No Spaniard was killed, though many were wounded.

Cortes established himself in the village and landed most of his troops and ten out of his thirteen horses. When his men were rested and the injured had had their wounds dressed with fat taken from dead Indians he sent out three detachments on foot to reconnoitre.

After marching a distance which is not stated, but which could not have been many miles, they came to an extensive plain covered with maize fields, temples and houses. This was Cintla. There were many warriors gathered there, and after a sharp skirmish the Spaniards fell back.

Having thus learned the ground, Cortes prepared for a decisive battle, as also did the natives. The latter gathered at Cintla in five divisions of eight thousand men each, as the chroniclers aver.

Cortes had about five hundred men including some Cuban Indians. The main detachment proceeded on foot by the high road, the cavalry along a path in the woods, and another detachment by a third route. The country was swampy and cut with canals, offering serious obstacles to the horses. It was not until the infantry had been for some time closely engaged with the enemy on the plain of Cintla, and rather severely handled, that the cavalry reached the spot. Their appearance, together with the noise and fatal effect of the musketry, soon struck terror to the hearts of the natives--their ranks broke and they fled. Gomara estimates that there were about three hundred of them killed, which is likely enough; while Bishop De las Casas puts the slain at thirty thousand!

Such was the battle of Cintla. It broke the spirits of the natives, and soon their chieftain, named Tabasco, from whom the river and the province were later called, came in, and offered his submission. Cortes took possession of the land in the name of the King of Spain, and erected a large cross in the chief temple of Potonchan. He remained there several days longer before proceeding on his voyage.

The Tzental is a dialect closely akin to pure Maya, though it was believed by Dr. Berendt to present nearer relations than the Maya proper to the dialect of the Huastecas, a segregated idiom of the Mayan family, spoken near Tampico.

M. Charnay did not visit the ruins of Cintla nor the site of Potonchan, which I am about to describe; but he did make an examination of the ruins of Comalcalco, about thirty miles west of Cintla; and as they are of notable magnitude, he proceeds to argue that they represent the ancient Cintla, of the victory of Cortes.

The arguments on which he founds this contention may be briefly stated. They are that the accounts refer to two entrances to the river while the Tabasco has but one; that the bar of Tabasco now admits vessels of 300 tons, whereas Cortes speaks of it as too shallow for his caravels; that Herrera says Cortes retired to a small island, whereas there is none in the Rio de Tabasco; that Herrera further speaks of a ford by which the soldiers of Cortes "crossed the river," which would have been impossible in the Tabasco; and finally that the same writer mentions cacao plantations, though at present none exist near Frontera. For these reasons he thinks both Grijalva and Cortes entered the embouchure now known as the Barra de Dos Bocas, some twenty-five miles west of the mouth of the Rio de Tabasco.

A slight examination dissipates these objections. Both Grijalva and Cortes note the powerful current of the Rio de Tabasco, carrying fresh water six miles out to sea, as is observed to-day, and this is not in the least applicable to the insignificant stream flowing out of the Dos Bocas. M. Charnay was misinformed when he stated there is no island at the mouth of the Rio de Tabasco. There are in fact two, one, long and narrow, known as the Isla de Grijalva, the other quite small, close to the plantation of Dolores . The latter was probably that to which Cortes retired. None of the accounts say that the soldiers "forded the river," but only the short distance between the island and the mainland. These islands give to the entrance of the river the appearance of two embouchures or mouths. The depth of the bar varies of course with the seasons and with the tides.

But what is conclusive is that in 1525 the Spaniards founded the city Nuestra Se?ora de la Victoria, on the site of Potonchan. In 1646, it had a cura and a vicar, and counted 2000 parishioners, and the abundance of its cacao harvest is especially noted. At some later day it was attacked and destroyed by filibusters; but the remains of the church and the cemetery are still visible at Dolores, and pilgrimages are yet made to them on certain holy days by the faithful of the parish of Frontera, on the opposite shore. This record places the scene of the conflict beyond all doubt.

In fact, although it is doubtful if there are any ruins directly on the coast, there are many but a short distance inland. Those at Comalcacalco have been figured and described by M. Charnay, and his work is so well known that a reference to it is sufficient.

At the locality called Pedrito, about fifteen miles from the mouth of the Tabasco, there are many mounds, embankments, piles of pottery and other signs of an ancient town. Among the relics is a large circular stone, "like a round table," with figures in relief engraved on its sides, and with holes drilled in its surface, in which pegs or wooden nails are said to have been fitted. About ten miles north of this spot is another group of mounds on the left bank of the Rio de San Pablo y San Pedro. Doubtless many others exist unknown in the dense forests.

The passage in his address before the Geographical Society touching on Cintla is as follows:

"It was by mere chance that in the year 1869 I discovered the site of ancient Cintla, buried in the thick and fever-haunted forests of the marshy coast, and unknown until then to the Indians themselves. In the course of the excavations which I caused to be made, antiquities of a curious and interesting character were laid bare.

"The reason for this singular use of cement probably is that in the alluvial soil of this coast, no stones occur within a distance of fifty miles and more from the sea shore; stone implements, such as axes, chisels, grinding stones, obsidian flakes, etc., which are occasionally found, can have been introduced solely by trade. The pottery and the idols made of terra cotta show a high degree of perfection.

There is also among his papers the commencement of an address or essay upon these ruins, written in Spanish, and this, when completed, may have been printed in some Mexican periodical. I translate from it the following passage, the remainder having been lost:

"Not a single tradition, not a single native name survives to cast any light upon these ruins. The whole of this coast was depopulated in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries owing to the slave-hunting incursions of the filibusters and man-hunters. The Indians who are now found in the neighborhood have removed there from the interior since the beginning of the present century, and are absolutely ignorant of the origin or builders of this city, hidden in the tropical forest."

The general position of the ruins will be seen from the above map. It is drawn to the scale of the Mexican league, which contains 5000 yards each 838 mm. One league is therefore approximately two and three quarters of our miles. No ruins or mounds were located immediately on or near the coast.

Almost a continuous line of mounds, embankments and heaps of d?bris extends from near Bellota for about nine miles in a general west-south-west direction over a plain which is now densely covered by a tropical forest.

The principal mound B is terraced about half way up and was 82 feet in height. A cross section of it is shown in Fig. 3, A-B.

A series of constructions is connected with this, the whole running in a direction east-north-east to west-south-west. They consist of a rectangular embankment six to eight feet high, Fig. 2, A; an isolated circular mound, D; and two small mounds at the eastern corners of the great mound, from which parallel embankments, E, extend easterly, inclosing an open space, which at the extremity is terminated by a long low mound, C. The total distance from A to C is 1140 feet.

The great mound and most of the others in the vicinity are faced with mortar made of sand and lime from burnt oyster shells. On one or both sides are flights of steps which lead up to the summit. These are constructed of layers of mortar, tiles and hard-pounded earth, distributed in the manner represented in Fig. 4.

The earth is either black or red, and is mixed with sand from the coast to give it consistency. The tiles or bricks are rectangular in shape, well made and regular in outline, and laid one against another as in a pavement.

Almost anywhere in the area of this ancient city, the soil abounds in fragments of mortar, pottery and images of earthenware. Very frequently the latter are represented seated on a bell-shaped support, apparently that they might be stood up upon a flat surface. Two of these are shown from Dr. Berendt's drawings in Figs. 6 and 7. The handles of utensils were often decorated in fantastic forms as that shown in Fig. 8.

At the foot of the stairways to the summit of the mounds on each side were frequently the remains of tigers' heads, well moulded in burnt clay.

Here and there the remains of wells were discovered, or of excavations which apparently were intended for the purpose of obtaining water.

Dr. Berendt mentions several tombs, but unfortunately does not specify their location or construction. He states that they usually contained several bodies, in a sitting posture, placed side by side with their arms and ornaments.

No trace of metal whatever was discovered, neither copper nor gold, which is rather unexpected, as the natives in the time of Grijalva were acquainted with both these substances.

Such is the brief account I am able to give of these extensive and interesting ruins from the fragmentary papers of their explorer. If any reader of these notes can inform this journal of the disposition Dr. Berendt made of his collection and the full memoranda of his surveys and excavations, the cause of American archaeology will be further benefited.

MEDIA, PENNA.

FOOTNOTES:

The authorities are:

This delectable surgical item is added by Captain Bernal Diaz.

Cortes' description is given in his "fourth letter." His route is extremely difficult to locate accurately.

MSS, Notes of Dr. C. H. Berendt.

Transcriber's Note

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet