INHABITANTS OF MEXICO. 61 



imposed on the inhabitants the necessity of co operation, of mutual aid and soli- 

 darity, in which lie the germs of all progress. 



Nevertheless, compared with the early historic civilisations of the eastern 

 hemisphere, that of Mexico had the disadvantage of remaining, if not completely 

 isolated, at least almost entirely encircled by barbaric communities. It lacked the 

 proximity of other centres of progressive life, with which to exchange those recip- 

 rocal influences whence might spring another and a higher culture. Despite the 

 vertical disposition of the climates, rendering the hot lands highly dangerous for 

 the inhabitants of the plateaux, the Aztecs had doubtless established distant rela- 

 tions with the Mayas and the various groups of Nahuas dispersed over Central 

 America ; but elsewhere they were cut off from contact with all cultured peoples, 

 until their seclusion was suddenly and violently invaded by the Spanish conquerors. 

 Henceforth, civilisations and races became forcibly intermingled. 



So rapid was the work of destruction which followed the first arrival of the 

 Spaniards that antiquarians might well have feared the complete disappearance 

 of all documents relating to the ancient history of Mexico. Such records were 

 often deliberatel}^ destroyed, as by Archbishop Zumarraga at Tlatelulco, Nunez 

 de la Vega at Chiapa, and others who, aping the zeal of Paul at Ephesus, 

 burnt, as suspected of necromancy, all the Mexican works they could discover. 

 Later they were satisfied wùth concealing the precious manuscripts, which they 

 kept locked up in their libraries, neither able nor willing to make any use of 

 them. 



Fortunately the ancient lore had been kept alive in a few noble families allied 

 by marriage with the Spanish conquerors. The aid of these men could thus be 

 secured in the later attempts made to restore the annals of Anahuac. Many 

 natives contributed in this way to rescue from oblivion the early records of 

 the Aztecs and the allied peoples. In the year 1548 Tadeo de Niça, an Indian of 

 Tlaxcala, at the request of the viceroy, composed a history of the conquest, which 

 was attested by the signatures of thirty Tlaxcaltec nobles. 



Gabriel d'Ayala, of Texcoco, wrote in the Aztec language a history of Mexico 

 from the year 124''3 to 1562. Contributions to the history of her native land, 

 now unfortunately lost, were even made by a Mexican lady, Maria Bartola, 

 Princess of Ixtapalapa. Several pure or half-blood natives, such as Tezozomoc, 

 Chimalpahin and Camargo, have also left important historic manuscripts ; lastly 

 tlie family of the Ixtlilxochitls, descended from the old kings of Mexico and 

 Teotihuacan, had several representatives amongst the national historians, and one 

 of them, Fernando de Alva Cortes, had even the courage to exalt his ancestry and 

 denounce the " frightful cruelties " of the conquerors of Mexico. 



But even amongst the Spanish missionaries men were found who recognised 

 something more in Mexican history than the artifices of the devil, and who went 

 to the trouble to procure explanations of the pictorial records, and collect the 

 ancient traditions of the people. Such were Bartolome de las Casas, Sahagun and 

 Torquemada. The historians of the present century have also been able to throw 

 further light on the pre-Columbian history of the Mexicans, thanks to the 



