744 Concerning Two Divisions of Indians. [December, 
say, but will only remark that the cremationists or Aztecs look 
like Japanese, while the Toltecs or burying Indians look more 
like Chinese, not only in similarity of features but in manners 
and customs. The reserved and uncommunicative disposition of 
both certainly indicate a common origin. 
If a close study were instituted among all the present tribes of 
Indians in the United States and Mexico, proof would no doubt 
be adduced which would determine to which of the divisions they 
belong, the Toltee or Aztec, — if of pure blood or a mixture of 
the two ; and if inquiry were made as to the causes which led to 
the unity, it might also lead to the conclusion that all the tribes 
are offshoots of the two divisions. Certainly the Mandans and 
the so-called mound-builders belonged to the Toltec, while many 
of the Texas Indians appear to be Aztec in their origin. May 
not all American Indians be Chinese and Japanese under another 
- name ? 
The early Spaniards may be somewhat excused, perhaps, for 
_ many of their exaggerations. They themselves were not so ad- 
vanced then in agriculture, architecture, and the domestic arts as 
they now are; and when they beheld a strange land with a new 
people so advanced, they, comparing them with themselves, con- 
cluded that the Mexicans were a great people, as they were con- 
sidering their surroundings and tools and materials to work with. 
They were great, both divisions of them. The fault was in exag- 
gerating their wealth so as to be the gainers thereby, and making 
them out to be what they appear not to have been, idolaters, so 
that they might excite the zeal of a religious denomination to 
locate among them and to force upon them a new set of customs 
which would be the cause of their degeneration. It could scarcely 
be expected of the early historians that they would study the 
Indian character with the view of ascertaining the particular dif- 
ferences between them, as they were looking at them with a view 
to their own reward, and without any consideration of the Indi- 
an’s material welfare or history. Whether Aztec or Toltec, by far 
the larger number soon became hewers of wood and drawers of 
: water for the mission establishments or for a few Spaniards. The 
latter made wealth at the expense of the lives of thousands of In- — n 
dians of both sexes, who were worked to death in mines, on farms, 
and in various occupations. The great aim of the rich was to be 
idle and to compel the poor to labor to make them rich. 
The efforts of the missions were to have the rich subservient to 
them, so that nothing could be done by them without the sanc- 
