542 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 



Toltec after one of their northern branches, the inhabitants of the 

 regfion about Tula, in the north of Mexico. That, when connection 

 between the Aztec and ]\Iaya l)ecanie clearer, the Toltecs passed more 

 and more out of vieAV and at last became legendary reminds one of the 

 Allemands, who are not found in Cxermany at all at the present day, 

 or of the Graeci in Greece, etc. Incidentally, I am reminded of the 

 place Toltecapan, east of Mexico and north of Tlaxcala. 



The Aztecs adopted as their oAvn many things which they learned 

 from the Mayas, especially their deities, whose names they simply 

 translated. The translation of Cukulcan into Quetzalcoatl is a very 

 typical case, for kuk (in the Pocomchi dialect) and quetzal des- 

 ignate the bird Pharomacrus mocinno or Trogon resplendens, and 

 can and coatl mean the snake. That the Mayas had already devel- 

 oped their writing in this locality is inconceivable. This first took 

 place in the center of their territory, in the region of Guatemala. 

 The Aztecs first came in contact Avith the higher civilization developed 

 here after a migration into the Mixtec and Zapotec territories had 

 taken place, which was not very long before the arrival of the Span- 

 iards, so that they did not have time here to establish their supremacy 

 and to absorb the Mayas, but, on the contrary, were absorbed by 

 them. The Pipiles on the outposts on Lake Nicaragua, which had 

 advanced farthest and passed beyond the principal territory of the 

 Mayas, alone preserved their individuality. 



NoAv, whence come the hundreds of Aztec names in the territories 

 between Chiapas and Nicaragua ? In this connection we must note 

 that these names are confined almost entirely to the important 

 settleuients. Avhile the unimportant places bear designations belong- 

 ing to the language of the Indians settled there. The Aztec names 

 of the more important places, moreover, are really used only officially 

 and hence are on the maps. That part of the population which 

 keeps aloof from the Spanish-speaking part uses onh^ the names 

 derived from the native language. Aztecs as well as Mayas use and 

 alwaj^s preferred to use place names which are verbally compre- 

 hensible to them, and on this account they employ for the name 

 which they can not understand a native expression, a translation, or 

 some other substitute. Hence in this case Sapper concludes. Globus, 

 volume 66, pages 95 and 96, that these Aztec names were mostly 

 given to the places by the Spaniards, who, as Ave knoAv, were familiar 

 Avith Aztec, and by their Mexican auxiliary troops, but that this 

 tendency had ceased by 1535. For this reason, according to him, 

 Aztec names are not found in Yucatan, Avhich was not conquered 

 from Mexico. T confess that at first I Avas not in sympathy with this 

 vieAV, but I can not replace it by a more acceptable one. 



The higher Maya civilization Avliich grcAV up around Guatemala 

 had not yet fullj'^ spread over Yucatan Avhen its further development 



