THE AZTECS L83 



made their most aotable contributions to organizatioD 

 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. 



TheChichimecas.' 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 w T ere 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 

 ( 'hicontonatiuh 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: — 



"In this same year (10 House, 865) died Tactli who 

 was the king of Quauhtitlan where he reigned 02 yen- : 



