REGION OF SCULPTURED ROCKS.
475
the first m o n a r c h s , priest-kings, w h o are stripped o f what is human in their nature, t o b e raised t o t h e rank o f national w a s a stranger, like M a n c o - C a p a c , divinities. Amalivaca B o c h i c a , a n d Q u e t z a l e o h u a t l ; t h o s e extraordinary m e n , w h o , in the alpine o r civilized part o f A m e r i c a , o n the t a b l e lands o f P e r u , N e w G r e n a d a , and A n a h u a c , organized civil society, regulated t h e order o f sacrifices, and f o u n d e d relig i o u s c o n g r e g a t i o n s . T h e M e x i c a n Quetzaleohuatl, w h o s e descendants M o n t e z u m a * t h o u g h t h e r e c o g n i z e d in t h e companions of C o r t e z , displays an additional resemblance to Amalivaca, t h e m y t h o l o g i c personage o f savage A m e r i c a or the plains o f t h e torrid z o n e . W h e n advanced i n age, t h e high-priest o f T u l a left t h e c o u n t r y o f A n a h u a c , which h e had filled with his miracles, t o return t o an u n k n o w n r e g i o n , called Tlalpallan. W h e n t h e m o n k B e r n a r d d e Sahagun arrived in M e x i c o , the same questions w e r e p u t t o him, as those which were addressed t o Father Gili t w o h u n d r e d years later, in t h e forests o f t h e O r i n o c o ; he was asked, w h e t h e r h e c a m e from ‘the o t h e r shore’ ( d e l o t r o l a d o ) , f r o m the countries t o which Quetzalcohuatl had retired. T h e r e g i o n o f sculptured rocks, o r o f painted stones, e x t e n d s far b e y o n d t h e L o w e r O r i n o c o , b e y o n d t h e c o u n t r y (latitude 7° 5' t o 7° 40', l o n g i t u d e 68° 30' t o 69° 4 5 ' ) to w h i c h b e l o n g s what may b e called the ‘ local fables’ o f t h e Tamanacs. W e again find these same sculptured r o c k s b e t w e e n t h e Cassiquiare a n d t h e A t a b a p o ( l a t . 2 ° 5' t o 3° 2 0 ' ; long. 69° t o 7 0 ° ) ; a n d b e t w e e n t h e sources o f t h e E s s e q u i b o and t h e Rio B r a n c o (lat. 3° 5 0 ' ; l o n g . 62° 3 2 ' ) . I do not assort that those figures p r o v e t h e k n o w l e d g e o f t h e use o f iron, o r that t h e y d e n o t e a very advanced d e g r e e o f c u l t u r e ; b u t even o n t h e supposition that, instead o f b e i n g symbolical, they are t h e fruits o f t h e idleness o f h u n t i n g nations, w e m u s t still admit an anterior race o f m e n , very different from those w h o n o w inhabit t h e b a n k s o f t h e Orinoco a n d t h e R u p u n u r i . The more a country is destitute o f r e m e m b r a n c e s o f generations that are e x t i n c t t h e m o r e i m p o r t a n t it b e c o m e s t o follow t h e least traces o f what appears t o b e m o n u m e n t a l . T h e eastern plains of N o r t h A m e r i c a display o n l y those extraordinary c i r c u m * The second king of this name, o f the race o f Acamapitzin, properly called Montezuma-Ilhuicamina.