When the Spaniards
came to Mexico in the early years of the 16th century, Montezuma, an
Aztec prince was on the throne. The Aztecs gave themselves out as
intruders in Mexico. They were a bloody and warlike race, and though
they gave the Spaniards an easy victory it was rather a reception, for
they were overawed by superstition as to the invaders. They stated
that a few centuries before, they had been a wild tribe on the high
country of the Rio Grande and Colorado, in New Mexico. The access
from the Pacific up the Colorado would agree well with the hypothesis
that the chief sources of the aboriginal inhabitants of America were
Mongolian, and that from parties of Mongols landing from the Pacific
Isles on the American coast, the population was derived. At any rate
the Aztecs stated that before they invaded Mexico from their original
home, they were preceded by a civilized race, well acquainted with the
arts and science, knowing more art and astronomy in particular than
they. They stated that they had exterminated this race known as
THE TOLTECS.
The main features of the story seem correct. The Toltecs seem to have
been allied to the Peruvians. Their skulls seem of the Brachycephalic
type. The Toltecs were agriculturists, were mechanical, industrial,
and constructive. In Mexico, and further south in Nicaragua, as well
as northward, large mounds remain which are traced to them.
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