MAN FROM THE FARTHEST PAST 
of temple-pyramids at Tenochtitlan, they accompanied its 
dedication with a perfect orgy of human sacrifice. Accord- 
ing to the old chroniclers, tens of thousands of victims of 
both sexes had their hearts torn out and offered to the 
bloodthirsty gods. One of the principal aims in Aztec 
warfare, in fact, was the cap- 
ture of victims for the in- 
satiable altars. 
Like the Mayas, the Aztecs 
had a sort of writing, and 
they had also invented a kind 
of paper, whereon they re- 
corded events, made official 
reports, and even attained to 
the beginnings of true liter- 
ature. The predominant tone 
Fic. 108. Design from Aztec sac- of their writings, especially 
rificial stone; the war god, Huitzil- of their poetry, was one of 
opochtli, on left, in the costume : : 
of an Aztec warrior of high rank, sadness and the inevitable 
seizes a captive, symbolizing the approach of death. 
capture of the town of Tuxpan, : 
“The Place of Rabbits,” as indi- Fierce fighters as they were, 
cated by the sign in the upper the Aztecs offered the Span- 
right-hand corner. After Spinden . : 
iards a brave and determined 
resistance. It is doubtful if Cortes, with all his ability and 
energy, could have reduced their stronghold in the lake if 
smallpox had not broken out among them. Even so, he 
had to storm their great communal houses one by one 
before their resistance was finally crushed. History has 
rarely recorded a more savage struggle. When the Span- 
iards at last conquered, little remained of the once proud 
aboriginal city of Tenochtitlan but a smoking heap of 
ruins. 
THE CIVILIZATION OF THE INCAS 
Civilization, so far as we now know, began almost if not 
quite as early in South America as it did on the Mexican 
plateau. Just as everywhere else in the more advanced 
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