THE INDIAN RACE. 



29 



weapons and his horse, the mounted ranchero is at home in the for- 

 est or in the open field ; on hill side or in valley. Few riders, else- 

 where, can equal him in speed or horsemanship ; and few can excel 

 him as a herdsman, a robber, an enemy, or even a friend whenever 

 you hit his fancy or are willing to understand his character and 

 pardon his sins. 



Indian Race of Mexico. 



Notwithstanding the brilliant pages which Aztec history contri- 

 buted to the annals of America and the civilization which prevailed, 

 not only in the valley of Mexico, but also in other portions of the 

 territory now within the limits of the republic, we find that the in- 

 digenous descendants of these heroic and intelligent ancestors have 

 degenerated to such a degree that they are at present in general, 

 fitted only for the servile toils to which they are commonly and 

 habitually devoted. Three hundred years of oppression may have 

 done much to produce this sad result. Without union among the 

 tribes ; without community of feeling, language or nationality ; the 

 Indians became an easy prey to the Spaniards after the conquest 

 of the great central power. Old prophecies were accomplished, 

 according to the Aztec belief, by the arrival of the Spaniards. " It 

 is long since we knew from our ancestors," — said Montezuma to 

 Cortez, — "that neither I nor all who inhabit these lands were ori- 

 ginally of them, but that we are strangers, and came hither from 

 distant places. It was said that a great lord conveyed our race to 

 these regions and returned to the land of his birth, and yet, came 

 back once more to us. But, in the meantime, those whom he first 

 brought had intermarried with the women of the country ; and 

 when he desired them to return again to the land of their fathers 

 they refused to go. He went alone ; and ever since have we 

 believed, that from among those who were the descendants of that 

 mighty lord, one shall come to subdue this land, and make us his 

 vassals! According to what you declare of the place whence 

 you come, which is toward the rising sun, and of the great lord 

 who is your King, we must surely believe that he is our natural 

 lord." 



Such were the superstitious opinions amongst the most civilized 

 of all the Indian nations at the period of the conquest. It is not 

 surprising therefore to find the other nomadic, predatory hordes, — 

 whose ferocity was not so keen as that of their northern kindred, 

 but had been tempered and softened in some degree by the genial 

 climate of the tropics, — soon yielding to the superior will of a 



