AMERIND DIVISION 



57 



A northern immigration may have brought the Tarascos of Michoacan into 

 Mexico, or they may belong to the primitive Mexicans. In either case, they 

 are to be found to-day in Guanjuato; with these may be joined the Ulmecs, 

 Xicalancas, Mestecs, and Zapotecs among the early tribes of Mexico. Of all 

 these, the most important would appear to be the Misteca-Zapoteca family, 

 because they are known to have evolved a degree of civilization before the 

 days of the Mayas. This culture is exemplified by the monuments of Mitla 

 and of Monte Alban in Oajaca. 



The Maya people are variously believed to have been immigrants into 

 Yucatan, from which they spread into Guatemala, Salvador, and Honduras, 

 or to have been original settlers therein. Be that as it may, there is no doubt 

 that they extended into Mexico, both along the coast, where one of their 

 tribes, the Huantecs, were found about Tampico, and into the plateau. They 

 very early produced some degree of civilization, and constructed the cele- 

 brated monuments of Guatemala and the pyramid of Cholula in Mexico, on 

 the top of which was the temple of Quetzatcoatl. They invented picture- 

 writing and an almanac. They were divided into the Mayas proper of 

 Yucatan, the Choulats of Mexico, the Quiches, the Pocomans of Guatemala, 

 the Chortes, and the Huantecs of Tampico. 



Such must have been the constitution of the tribes of Mexico when the 

 Nahuans broke their way in. This tribe is allied to the Shoshonies, who 

 occupy the wide tract from Oregon to California and New Mexico, and are 

 believed to have come from the region of British Columbia. They moved 

 down to the west of the Rocky Mountains, and spread as far south as Oajaca 

 and eastwards to the Atlantic between Vera Cruz and Coatzacoalcos. The 

 first waves may have been the Toltecs, but there is great doubt as to who 

 these people were. The Alculhuaques and the Tecpanecs followed, while the 

 last immigration was that of the powerful Aztecs, who, though probably but 

 little civilized when they entered Mexico, soon became so, and remained the 

 masters of that part of America until subdued by the Caucasic migration. 



Enumerating, therefore, the tribes from the north to the south, there would 

 be first the Shoshonies in the west and south-west of the United States, 

 extending into Mexico ; the Yumas of Arizona and the Pueblo-Indians, char- 

 acterized by their curious rock structures; then would come the Otomi, 

 Totonacs, and Zapoteca, with their Nahuan conquerors, especially the Azteca, 

 all in Mexico. In Central America the Maya people would be found in 

 Yucatan, Guatemala, and Honduras, along with the Xicaks of Northern 

 Honduras, the Leukas and Guatusos of Central Honduras. Farther south 

 would be the Choulats of Nicaragua, the Soumoo, the Micos of the Mosquito 

 Reservation, the Moscos of the Blewfields Lagoon, and the Rinos of an island 

 therein. 



Passing into South America, there is the great linguistic family of the 

 Chibcha of Colombia, whose empire extended southwards until it met that 

 of the Incas. These peoples, as well as the Incas, are Andeans — that is to 

 sa}^, are peoples belonging to the highlands of the Andes. It is curious that 

 all the South Amerind civilizations should have developed in these highlands, 

 but it is probable that the lakes and rapid streams were suitable for the 

 extension of agriculture, and thus led to the settlement of peoples, for with- 

 out a permanent abode any great degree of civilization is impossible. The 

 Chibchas, also called 'Muyscans,' influenced the whole Panama region as 

 far north as the northern boundary of Costa Rica. 



South of the Chibchas comes the ancient empire of the Incas, extending 

 from Quito as far south as the Rio Maule in Chili. It would appear from the 

 megalithic remains and the ruins of Tiahuanacu that there was an early 

 civilization in this region, especially about Lake Titicaca. Who these people 

 were we do not know, but they must have been conquered by the Quichuas 

 or Aymaras, who are allied to them, as both speak derivatives of the Quichuan 

 language. 



At the same time there existed near Truxillo the Chimu people, speaking 

 Mochica, a language quite different from Quichuan. They reached to a 

 degree of civilization, but both they and the Quichuans were conquered by 



