on some links in the chain of connexion between the early populations of asia and central america

On Some Links in the Chain of Connexion between the Early Populations of Asia and CentralAmericaAuthor(s): Samuel FergusonSource: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Polite Literature and Antiquities, Vol. 1(1879), pp. 137-140Published by: Royal Irish AcademyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20489940 .

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FERGUSON-On Links between Asia and Central America. 137

XIX.-ON soME LINKs IN THE CHAIN OF CONNEXION BETWEEN T-HE EARLY POPULATIONS OF ASIA AND CENTRAL AMEEIcA.-By SAMUECL FEHGUSON, LL.D., Vice-President.

[Read May 13, 1872.]

IN early Hindoo architecture, the trunk of the elephant is introduced as an ornamental feature in the form of a pendent, sometimes issuing from the cornice over a capital, sometimes descending from the quoins of quadrangular buildings.

The head and trunk of the elephant, distorted and conventionalized in the Mexican taste (I use the words Hindoo and Mexican conven tionally), may be traced in the sculptured ornamentation of many of the Central American structures. Numerous examples may be seen in

Gailhabaut's " Recueil d'Architecture," as well as in the larger works specially devoted to Central American Antiquities. Among these examples may be seen several instances of pendent carved members issuing from the quoins of quadrangular edifices, plainly in the taste, and,

making allowance for time and distance, after the pattern of the Hindoo elephant ornament. I do not attempt to fix the distance in time; but desire to remark that no forms are found more persistent than those which are transmitted through the traditions of architecture: witness the short-horned bull's skull perpetuated in the metopes of our Doric facades.

A general similarity is also discernible between the florid Hindoo decoration and the characteristic Mexican modes of sculptural ornament. The latter are, indeed, to our eyes, wild and extravagantly grotesque; but the resemblance exists both in features and mode of treatment, although apparently separated by intermediate stages, at each of which some new element of bizarrdrie has been superadded to the Hindoo

model. Looking back from Hindostan to Egypt, the same observation will

apply to the pyramids, as compared with theTeocallis of CentralAmerica. A generic likeness strikes the eye; but a likeness implying a variety of intermediate departures from the original model.

The attention of French men of learning, excited by events of national importance in Mexico, has recently been turned to the island of Java, as affording some illustrative evidences of the progress of Mexican civilization in its passage eastward to the New World. In the "Revue Archaeologique". for July, 1864 (p. 70), is an interesting

memoir ot this suibject, in which the leamed work of Sir Stamford Raffles, I" The History of Java" (181 7), is used as a repertory of facts illustrative of the Mexican progresses.

There are two editions of this excellent work; one plain, the other illustrated. M. Eicthal, I infer, has only had access to the plain edition; for in the illustrated copies of the work are found some



138 Proceedlings of the Royal Iris/k Aca(demy.

representations singularly apposite to the inquiry in which he has been engaged, and wlhich a writer of so muchl acuteness and in(lustry would not, I conjecture, have been likely to overlook. The illustrated edition is rare. When I wvas last in the reading-room of the British

Museum, it was not in their genieral collection; but, after some search, a copy wvas found in the King's Library. We possess a copy in the

Moore Library. The most striking features of resemblance between Asiatic and

Egyptian objects on the one hand, and Mexican architectural remains on the other, are the stepped pyramidal temples, of which several plans and drawings are founid in lRaffles' work. In these structures the features of the pyramid and pagoda are combined with an Asiatic pro fusion of ornament, resembling very much the pyramidial Teocallis of

Yucatan. I subjoin oue of the most characteristic.

.-S~~ - a -: :;:.*2-.- - . .

Pyramiidal Teiiple in Jav a.

But the illustration whiih in I&affles' Java bizi's us, so to speak, face to face with the Aztecs, is a representation ot what he describes as " scenic shadows," that is) a species of puppet-show made by projecting the shadows of certain grotesque figures on a semi-transparent surtace.

These marionettes are cut or stamped out of leather, and with moveable limbs are made to play their parts by the motion of the performer's hand, communicated by an attached conducting rod. The features are purely Aztec: the taste aid decorative accessories are of an equally marked Hindoo character. In neither is there the least resemblance to existing Javaniese types, either ethnological or aesthetic. The Javanese account for the unlikeness of these objects to anything in their categories of existence by a statement, which, consideriing that it

was made to Rtaffles long before the attention of Europeans had been turned to the peculiarities of Central American architecture, or of

Aztec physiognomy, is worthy of grave conisideration in aily system of ethnology dealing with Mexican origins.



FERGUSON-On Links between Asia antd Cento al America. 139

" In the wayangs, or scenic shadows, tlhe subject of the perform ances is taken from the earliest period of his tory and fable, down to the destruction of the hindu empire of

Majapahet. These are distinguished accord ing to the periods of the history which they represent, by the terms

wayangpirwa, whyany ge'dog, and wd iyang lki

"The different cha racters in the history are in these wdyangs represented by figures, about eighteen inches ortwo feet high, stamp ed or cut out of pieces of thick leather--ge nerally of buffalo's hide, which are painted and gilt with great care, and at considera ble expense, so as to form some supposed re semblance of the cha racter of the individual intended to be personi fied. The whole figure is, however, strangely

distorted and gro tesque, the nose in par ticular, being unnatn rallyprominent. There is a tradition, that the figureswere first so dis torted by the Snsuflarn

MJria, one of the early Mahometan teachers,

in order to render the preservation of the an cient amusements of the country compatible

with a (lue obedience to the Miahometan pr e cept, whichl forbids any exhibition or1 dramatic

Javanese Scenic Shadows.

K.I. A. PROC.-VOL. I., SER. 11., IlOL. LIT. ANI) ANTI'QI. A



140 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy.

representation of the human form, 'By these means,' said the Su Sunan, with much ingenuity, ' while the world in general will not imaginae the figures to be human, the Ja-.as, from recollecting their

history, will yet be able to comprehend the characters they are in tended to represent, and enjoy in secret their national amusements.

Or if, in time, they should forget the originals, and confound them with the distorted resemblance, they will be impressed with the idea, that it was only after conversion to the faith of the Prophet that their ancestors assumed the present shape of man.' But the compara tively recent alteration in the figures is rendered doubtful from the circumstance of similar figures being found on many of the more an cient coins, thus affording ground for an opinion, that they existed nearly in their present form before the introduction of Mahometanism. Their antiquity is further confirmed by the existence of similar figures in the Hindu island of Bali, where, though not so much distorted, they are still far from natural."-Raffles' "Java," vol. i., pp. 336, 337.

Visiting the rich Museum of East Indian objects at the Hague, in Sept., 1868, I was careful to inquire for examples of these curious Java nese figures, and saw a considerable number of them. The features in all were unnaturally prominent, but by no means so much so as in the drawing of Raffles.



on some links in the chain of connexion between the early populations of asia and central america

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