THE GROUP OF THE CROSS. 43 



denial that the heathen Indians ever worshiped crosses is incomprehensible.* 

 He speaks himself in his work on Central America of such a cross at Palenque 

 and gives a representation of it. Above the cross is a bird, and at its sides are 

 two human figures contemplating it and apparently offering a child. . . . The 

 same cross, moreover, occurs in old Mexican hieroglyphical manuscripts, as, for 

 instance, in the Dresden Codex, and in the manuscript of M. do Fejervary, at 

 Budapest, Hungary. At the end of the last-named is seen a kind of Maltese 

 cross with a bloody deity in the centre. On each of the four broad arms of the 

 cross is represented — though dilferently in every instance — a T-shaped structure 

 with a human figure standing at either side, and a bird perched upon the horizontal 

 beam. . . . The bird which appears associated with the cross on the Palen- 

 que bas-relief and in the above-mentioned manuscript is a fitting attribute of the 

 god of the rain and sky. To the bird and the rain belong the regions of the 

 air."t 



From the foregoing it may be deduced that Professor Midler considers the 

 ante-Christian cross in its original conception as a phallic symbol, not only in 

 the old world, but also in the new. Quite dilferent are the views of Dr. D. G-. 

 Brinton, as expressed in his " Myths of the New World," a work undoubtedly 

 betokening uncommon learning and research. To him the cross is merely the 

 symbol of the four cardinal points — the four winds. " The Catholic mission- 

 aries," he says, " found it (the cross) was no new object of adoration to the red 

 race, and were in doubt whether to ascribe the fact to the pious labors of Saint 

 Thomas or the sacrilegious subtlety of Satan. It was the central object in the 

 great temple of Cozumel, and is still preserved on the bas-reliefs of the ruined 

 city of Palenque. From time immemorial it had received the prayers and sacri- 

 fices of the Aztecs and Toltecs, and was suspended as an august emblem from 

 the walls of temples in Popayan and Cundinamarca. In the Mexican tongue it 

 bore the significant and worthy name ' Tree of our Life,' or ' Tree of our Flesh ' 

 (Tonacaquahuitl) . 



" It represented the god of rains and of health, and this was everywhere its 

 simple meaning. ' Those of Yucatan,' say the chroniclers, ' prayed to the cross 



* It is not without some justice that Stephens is taken to task for making that observation, considering that he 

 was acquainted with the writings of Herrera and Cogolludo, who, as we have seen, refer to the Yucatec crosses 

 and their worship.— " Die Krcuze, welche auf Cozumel, in Yucatan und anderen Gegenden vcn Amerika die 

 Aufmerksamkeit der Conquistadores in so hohem Grade auf sich gezogen haben, beruhen keineswegs auf 

 Monehssagen, sondern verdienen, wie AUes, was auch nur entfernten Bezug auf don religiosen Kultus der 

 ' eingeborenen Volker von Amerika hat, eine ernstere VateTsuchnng."— Humboldt: Kritische Untersuchungen 

 uber die historUche Entwickelung der gcographisehen Kenntnlsse von der neuen Welt; Berlin, 1852, Bd. i, S. 544. 



tMuller: Geschichte der Amerikanischen Urreligionen ; Basel, 1855, p. 497.— I have taken the liberty, in 

 my translation, of rendering Professor Muller's description of the cross represented in M. de Fejervdry's manu- 

 script a little more complete. The manuscript in question is reproduced in vol. iii of Lord Kingsborough's 

 work. 



