THE AZTECS 



M The God Macuilxo- 

 chitl, I'ivc Flower, as shown in a 

 Mexican Codex and in Pottery 

 fn>rn Southern Mexico. 



to be compared \\ ith the 

 evidences of culture con- 

 nection over wide terri- 

 tories that arc found on 

 earlier horizons. There 

 was clearly a brisk trade 

 in gold in Aztecan times 

 between the Isthmus of 

 Panama and Mexico. 



After the breakdown 

 of the civilization of the 

 humid lands of ('(Mitral 

 America, following the 

 Mayan cataclysm, the 

 abandoned regions ap- 

 pear to have been re- 

 populated by a stream 

 of tribes from South 

 America, who swept up 

 the coast of the Car- 

 ibbean Sea and across 

 the peninsula of Yuca- 

 tan, as far as Tehuan- 

 tepec. There was also a 

 strong northern move- 

 ment of tribe- along the 

 Pacific Coast seen most 

 clearly in the distribution 

 of languages belonging 

 to the Chiapanecan or 

 Chorotegan stock. The 

 early historic records 

 -how the Mazateca in 

 transit from their old 

 home in Costa Rica to 



