of the Ancient Mexicans. 115 



to one and the same great nation. The Toltecans and the 

 Aztecs (who were the first and last of the migrate tribes) 

 possessed a similar and nearly equal amount of civilisation, 

 which must have been the source from whence it spread into 

 Southern Mexico. 



Of these tribes, it is only necessary to speak of the two 

 above mentioned, since of none of the intermediate ones is 

 there any information but of the most vague and uncertain 

 character ; and at the same time it must be borne in mind, 

 that no part of Mexican history can be adduced as probable 

 fact, but that the valley of Anahuac has been peopled by 

 different tribes, whose successive occupancy of the country 

 extended over a space of about 800 years, and of whom, it is 

 repeated, the first were the Toltecs, and the last the Aztecs, 

 or Mexicans of the Conquest. 



Cotemporary with these, the wild and wholly barbarous 

 people, called Ottomies, hovered on the extreme boundaries 

 of the civilised states, refusing to benefit by the example of 

 the immigrated tribes, and for the most part engaged in con- 

 stant warfare with them, to recover the lands of which they 

 had been despoiled. 



The Ottomies, then, were probably the aborigines of Ana- 

 huac, and a certain analogy may be traced in their character 

 and habits, to the savage tribe of Apaches, who infest the 

 Northern States of Mexico at the present time. 



It is certain that the Toltecs, as also the Aztecs, came 

 from the north, and, according to the traditions of the 

 people, the Toltecs brought with them a high degree of civi- 

 lisation, higher than that possessed by the Aztecs ; but that 

 the ancient Mexicans had attained to any other than the 

 most primitive stage, is not borne out or warranted by any 

 remains which are left in these days to direct our judgment. 



The Aztecs are supposed to have inhabited a country north- 

 east of the Gulf of California, called by them Azatland ; but 

 its exact locality is entirely suppositious. Somewhere about 

 the year 1160 of our era, they commenced their migration to 

 the south, and the cause of this movement is equally involved 

 in obscurity. 



