248 NOTES* 



from that of the Otomites and the Olmecks. This is 

 an attempt to reduce to a general principle the diver- 

 sity of languages, and explain it by the common origin 

 of all nations. 



Page 66. Going out from Aztlan. To facilitate the 

 reading of this work, respecting the monuments of the 

 ancient people of Mexico, I shall in this place insert a 

 fragment, taken from a Sketch of the History of Ana- 

 huac, which I began to compose during my abode in 

 Mexico. This fragment will be useful to those who, 

 not having leisure to recur to the original sources of 

 information, must satisfy themselves with the study of 

 Robertson's History of America, admirable for the sa- 

 gacity with which it has been compiled ; but too much 

 abridged in the part relating to the Toltecks and Az- 

 tecks. I have carefully cited the authors, whom I 

 have consulted for the indication of the dates. 



Chronological Table of the History of Mexico. 



The mountainous region of Mexico, like Caucasus, 

 was inhabited from the most remote period by a great 

 number of nations of different races. A part of these 

 nations may be considered as the remains of numerous 

 tribes, which, in their migrations from the north to the 

 south, had traversed the country of Anahuac ; and of 

 which some families, retained by an attachment to the 

 soil they had cleared, had separated from the body of 

 the nation, preserving their language, their manners, 

 and the primitive form of their government. 



