SKETCH OF LEWIS H. MORGAN. 119 



as the head chief of the Aztecs, one of the three confederated peoples, the reader 

 will be certain to start with a tolerably clear impression. No harm will be done 

 to truth, if the great lords, with many vassals and large landed estates, and the 

 little lords, with few vassals and small landed estates, are introduced as plain In- 

 dian chiefs, innocent of all knowledge both of estates and vassals. Besides this, 

 it is not improbable that the palaces and most of the temples will ultimately 

 resolve themselves iuto plain communal houses, like those now standing in the 

 picturesque and beautiful valley of the Chaco, roofless and deserted. With 

 these, and a number of similar changes, the future student of aboriginal history 

 will not be led to deceptive conclusions by the glitter of inappropriate terms. 

 Such a history is due to the memory of the Aztecs, and to a right estimate of the 

 Indian family. 



This article inaugurated the reconstruction of the history of Mexi- 

 can and Central American culture, vi^hich is now rapidly in progress. 

 All the previous history had a been a vain but brilliant exaggeration 

 of Indian society, with its languages, arts, religion, and social and 

 governmental institutions a picture derived from boastful and men- 

 dacious travelers. 



In the latter part of 1869 a second article appeared in the same 

 journal on Indian migrations, followed by a third on the same sub- 

 ject in 1870. The purpose of these articles was to indicate an original 

 general dispersion of the Indian tribes from the region of the Colum- 

 bia River. 



In 1876 a fourth article appeared, entitled "Montezuma's Dinner," 

 which was in part a review of Bancroft's " Native Races of the Pacific 

 States," but in fact was a general characterization of the culture dis- 

 covered in Mexico and Central America, with a review of the historic 

 evidence, and was an exquisite satire on the exaggerated accounts of 

 Spanish travelers and priests, expanded and glorified by modern writers. 



In the same year a fifth article appeared, on the " Houses of the 

 Mound-Builders." 



The great work of Mr. Morgan was yet unpublished. It remained 

 for him to gather the materials he had collected on tribal society into 

 one philosophic treatise. This was accomplished in the publication 

 of his volume entitled "Ancient Society" in 1877. This was divided 

 into four parts, as follows : Part I. Growth of Intelligence through 

 Inventions and Discoveries ; Part II. Growth of the Idea of Govern- 

 ment ; Part III. Growth of the Idea of the Family ; Part IV. Growth 

 of- the Idea of Property. 



In the first part technologic evolution was discussed, and culture 

 periods, or what Mr. Morgan denotes " ethnical periods," were defined. 

 These grand periods, through which the most highly developed races 

 of mankind have passed, and into which the various peoples on the 

 globe may be distributed, were set forth as the savage, the barbaric, 

 and the civilized. These were defined in terms relating: to the evolu- 

 tion of arts. Savagery and barbarism were divided into three periods 



