RELATIONS OF ARCHEOLOGY 523 



unnecessary factor in the progress of humanity. The essential 

 ideas of the said school can be summed up in the following words 

 of my old friend Dr. Brinton, whose death all we Americanists 

 deplore. On a similar occasion to this, he said: "The native Ameri- 

 can was a man, a man as we are men, with the same faculties and 

 aspirations, with like aims and ambitions, working, as our ances- 

 tors worked, endeavoring to carry out similar plans with very 

 similar means, fighting the same foes, seeking the same allies, and 

 consequently arriving at the same, or similar results!" 



Let us see what the ruins have to tell us on so important a point. 

 Let us read those pages of stone. We shall select the best, those 

 of Palemke with the valley of Usumacinta, and the famous ruins 

 of Yucatan. They belong to one race, the Maya: and are to be 

 found in two neighboring states of our republic, whose area covers 

 an extent less than one hundredth of that portion occupied by 

 the very same Mayas, Nahuas, and autochthonous Otomies. We 

 are engaged there with a relatively small portion of land. Now 

 then, even with reference to one race and to a territory not ex- 

 tensive, the ruins, if they bear traits of similarity, reveal various 

 autonomies and different governments. Palemke, together with the 

 other towns in the valley of Usumacinta, are characterized by the 

 towers of their palaces and the superstructures of their temples, 

 which are lacking in the Yucatan monuments. With reference to 

 these latter, those of Chichen Itza, Uxmal, and Mayapan present 

 distinct characters: while the governments of Cheles, Cocomes, 

 and Xiuhs were separated. What is revealed to us in this inequal- 

 ity? That, even in their most advanced state of civilization, the 

 Indians did not possess sociological faculties necessary for the 

 formation of great nationalities. 



The Mexicans themselves, who led their conquering armies as 

 far as the frontiers of Guatemala, did not enlarge their territory 

 by means of their conquests : they were content to levy taxes on the 

 conquered peoples. In the very valley of Mexico itself, around 

 the salt lake, the lands to the west and south were in part added; 

 while those of the east and north belonged to the Acolhuas of Tex- 

 coco and other small seignories; but around the fresh- water lake 

 the Chalcas, Colhuas, Xochimilcas, and some peoples of lesser im- 

 portance governed. 



What should be the result of this sociological state? That the 

 country, once divided into a large number of kingdoms and seigno- 

 ries, was in a constant state of warfare, one against the other, so 

 that powerful nationalities, which might assure the peace and pro- 

 sperity of the Indians, could not be formed. On the contrary, every- 

 where there were evidences of decadence; and in due course of 

 time, by the inevitable laws of history, came the conquest. Which 



