XI.] THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 413 



Maya-Quiche race and culture. The high degree of civilization 

 attained by some of these nations before their reduction by the 

 Aztecs is attested by the magnificent ruins of Mitla, capital of the 

 Zapotecs, which was captured and destroyed by the Mexicans in 

 1494. Of the royal palace Viollet-le-Duc speaks in enthusiastic 

 terms, declaring that "the monuments of the golden age of 

 Greece and Rome alone equal the beauty of the masonry of 

 this great building 1 ." In general their usages and religious rites 

 resembled those of the Aztecs, although the Zapotecs, besides the 

 civil ruler, had a High Priest who took part in the government. 

 " His feet were never allowed to touch the ground ; he was 

 carried on the shoulders of his attendants; and when he appeared 

 all, even the chiefs themselves, had to fall prostrate before him, 

 and none dared to raise their eyes in his presence 2 ." The Zapotec 

 language is still spoken by about 260 natives in the State of 

 Oajaca. 



Farther north the plains and uplands continued to be inhabited 

 by a multitude of wild tribes speaking an unknown number of 

 stock languages, and thus presenting a chaos of ethnical and 

 linguistic elements comparable to that which prevails along the 

 north-west coast. Of these rude populations one of the most 

 widespread are the Otomi of the central region, 



11 i i r i Otomi Seri. 



noted for the monosyllabic tendencies of their 

 language, which Najera, a native grammarian, has on this ground 

 compared with Chinese, from which, however, it is fundamentally 

 distinct. Still more primitive are the Seri Indians of Sonora, who 

 were visited in 1895 by Mr McGee, and found to be "probably 

 more savage than any other tribe remaining on the North 

 American Continent. Most of their food is eaten raw, they 

 have no domestic animals save dogs, they are totally without 

 agriculture, and their industrial arts are few and rude 3 ." 



It is noteworthy that but few traces of such savagery have yet 

 been discovered in Yucatan. The investigations of Mr Henry 

 Mercer 4 in this region lend strong support to Forstermann's 

 views regarding the early Huaxtecan migrations and the general 



' l Quoted by De Nadaillac, p. 365. ~ p. 363. 



3 i6th Ann. Report, p. Ixiii. 



4 The Hill Caves of Yucatan, Philadelphia, 1896. 



