204 Obituary Notice of 



are the aborigines of that portion of Mexico classically known 

 as the Valley of Anahuac, a certain analogy being traceable 

 in their character and habits to the savage tribes of Apaches 

 who infest the northern states of Mexico at the present time ; 

 and these Apaches are the aborigines of New Mexico. From 

 the Apaches branch the Pueblos, Navajos, Apaches Coyo- 

 teros, Mescaleros, Moquis, Yubissias, Maricopas, Chiricaquis, 

 Chemeguabas, Yumayas, which are tribes of the Moquis, and 

 the Nijoras, a small tribe on the GiM, all of whom speak the 

 Apache, with some slight dialectical difference, the idiomatic 

 structure being the same; These people, Mr Ruxton remarks, 

 are eminently distinguished from the New Mexicans or de- 

 scendants of the Spanish conquerors, in their social and moral 

 character ; being industrious, sober, and honest ; the women 

 as remarkable for chastity, as the New Mexicans are noto- 

 rious for the laxity of their morals. *' That the ancient Mexi- 

 cans had attained to any other than the most primitive stage 

 of civilisation is not borne out by any remains which are left 

 in these days to direct our judgment, and that, if the historians 

 who have worked up into romance the meagre materials af- 

 forded by Mexican history had written only what they con- 

 scientiously believed, — if the ancient Mexicans had been de- 

 scribed to be, what in truth they were, and no more, a tribe 

 of Indians dwelling in lodges of stone, and living by agricul- 

 ture, — we should be better able to appreciate their real state, 

 and to draw a just comparison between the pomp and glory 

 of the court of Montezuma, and the regal splendour displayed 

 at the present day in the Medicine Lodge of Tum-ga-cosh or 

 Buffalo Belly, the chief of the mighty nation of the Comanche." 

 " Life in the Far West" is another of Mr Buxton's vigorous 

 productions, which has so completely gained the suffrages of 

 the public as not to need commendation at my hands. It 

 first appeared in Blackwood's Magazine ; but is now pub- 

 lished in a separate form. 



From a traveller of Mr Buxton's pretensions, whose 

 touches fall on the paper with that bold and clear mark which 

 bespeaks strength, and animal spirits, and powers of obser- 

 vation, in a healthy state, " the Oregon Question" was not 

 likely to escape his notice. In a pamphlet published by Mr 



