XI.] THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 407 



Chiapas, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, where scarcely 

 any trace is met of Maya names. 



To account for these facts he assumes that in the earliest 

 known times Central America from about 23 to 10 N. was 

 mainly inhabited by Maya tribes, who had even reached Cuba. 

 These Mayas, while still at a somewhat low stage of culture, were 

 invaded by the Aztecs advancing from as far north as at least 26 N. 

 but only on the Pacific side, thus leaving the eastern Huaxtecs 

 untouched. The Mayas, coming thus in contact with the Nahuas 

 first in the north naturally called them "Toltecs" from the settlers 

 in the northern district of Tola. But when all the relations 

 became clearer, the Toltecs fell gradually into the background, 

 and at last entered the domain of the fabulous. 



Now the Aztecs borrowed much from the Mayas, especially 

 gods, whose names they simply translated. A typical case is that 

 of Cuculan, which becomes Quetzalcoatl, where cuc = quezal the 

 bird Trogon resplendens, and can -coatl^ snake 1 . That the Mayas 

 had already developed their writing system is unthinkable ; this 

 took place first amongst the Quiches of Guatemala, the central 

 point of their domain. With the higher culture here developed 

 the Aztecs came first in contact after passing through Mixtec and 

 Zapotec territory, not long before Columbian times, so that they 

 had no time here to consolidate their empire and assimilate the 

 Mayas. On the contrary the Aztecs were themselves merged in 

 these, all but the Pipils and the settlements on Lake Nicaragua, 

 which retained their national peculiarities. 



But whence came the hundreds of Aztec names in the lands 

 between Chiapas and Nicaragua? Here it should be noted that 

 these names are almost exclusively confined to the more important 

 stations, while the less prominent places have everywhere names 

 taken from the tongues of the local tribes. But even the Aztec 

 names themselves occur properly only in official use, hence also 

 on the charts, and are not current to-day amongst the natives 

 who have kept aloof from the Spanish-speaking populations. 



1 Quetzalcoatl, the "Bright-feathered Snake," \A~as the supreme god of the 

 Nahuan pantheon, the incarnation of Tonacateatl, the "Serpent-Sun," creator 

 of all things, round whom clusters most of the mythology, and of the pictorial 

 and plastic art of the Mexicans. 



