THE AZTECS 179 
zation that fell before the force of their arms and who 
made their most notable contributions to organization 
and government. The Toltecs stand just beyond the 
foreline of Aztecan history and may fitly be compared 
to the Etruscans. ‘They were the possessors of a culture 
derived in part from their brilliant contemporaries that 
was magnified to true greatness by their ruder suc- 
cessors. 
The Chichimecas. The term Chichimecas was ap- 
plied by the more civilized tribes of the Mexican high- 
lands to those nomads outside the pale who dressed in 
skins and hunted with the bow and arrow. Some of 
these wandering groups spoke Nahuan dialects, but the 
term was also applied to the Otomis who spoke a dis- 
tinct language. Possibly through having been reduced 
in war certain of these wandering groups were drawn 
into civilization and when the Toltecan cities began to 
decline, they advanced to considerable power and pres- 
tige. In fact, the Aztecs may be considered as originally 
Chichimecan, although several other tribes got an 
earlier start. In later times, these city-broken nomads 
looked back with considerable pride on their lowly 
origin. 
The Chichimecan histories contain numerous genea- 
logical lists of the ruling houses in different towns and 
settlements. .The most valuable document is the 
Annals of Quauhtitlan that has already received some 
attention for its references to Toltecan rulers. Quauh- 
titlan itself was confessedly one of the seats of the 
Chichimecas and its recorded history goes back to 
Chicontonatiuh who began his rule in 687 A.D. and died 
in 751. After the death of this chief there was an inter- 
regnum till Tactli formed a government in 804. He 
also had a long reign and the chronicle naively states :— 
