118 G. F. Ruxton, Esq., on the Migration 



And here I may remark, that this inference is borne out 

 by the fact, that the sites of their ruined towns present, at 

 the present time, some of the most barren and unproductive 

 spots to be found in northern Mexico, and nearly all are si- 

 tuated in volcanic districts, which have every appearance of 

 having been disturbed at a comparatively recent period. 



Having thus slightly drawn attention to the ancient inha- 

 bitants of Anahuac, and the probable locality from whence 

 they emigrated to that country, we will see how far we are 

 justified in affirming that the Pueblo Indians and the ancient 

 Mexicans are descended from one and the same stock. 

 Francisco Vasquez Coronado, who was one of the early ex- 

 plorers of New Mexico, asserts that, in the vicinity of a river 

 which was called *' Tegue," there dwelt a nation who built 

 houses three stories high, and who spoke the same language 

 as that used by the Aztecs of the valley of Anahuac. In 

 some old MSS. lately discovered in New Mexico, this people 

 were supposed to form a kingdom called " Sivolo," to which 

 frequent reference is made as being the seat of considerable 

 civilisation when compared with that of other tribes through 

 whom the travellers had passed on their way to the distant 

 north. Fray Ruiz, and Venabides, both Franciscan monks, 

 preached to thousands of Indians who came from the direc- 

 tion of this kingdom of Sivolo, and were astonished at their 

 docility, and the " extraordinary cultivation of their intel- 

 lects." As they do not mention to have met with any dif- 

 ficulty in holding communication with this people, and as 

 they preached daily to them without interruption, it may be 

 taken for granted that the language spoken was intelligible 

 to both ; and as most of the Missionary monks were conver- 

 sant with the Mexican dialect, it must have been through 

 that channel alone that they communicated with the native 

 tribes of this remote region. 



These Indians, like the Pueblos of the present day, preferred 

 to build their towns and villages on the summits of almost in- 

 accessible cliffs, the approach being by means of a zig-zag path 

 cut out of the precipitous sides. The bluffs, or mounds of vol- 

 canic formation, called mesas by the Mexicans, on account of 



