THE ANCESTORS OF THE INDIANS. 453 



belief, that the great cities now lying in ruins were 

 the works of the same races who inhabited the coun- 

 try at the time of the conquest. 



Who these people were, whence they came, and 

 who were their progenitors, are questions that in- 

 volve too many considerations to be entered upon at 

 the conclusion of these pages ; but all the Hght that 

 history sheds upon them is dim and faint, and may 

 be summed up in few words. 



According to traditions, picture writings, and Mex- 

 ican manuscripts written after the conquest, the Tol- 

 tecs, or Toltecans, were the first inhabitants of the 

 land of Anahuac, now known as New Spain or Mex- 

 ico, and they are the oldest nations on the continent 

 of America of w^hich we have any knowledge. Ban- 

 ished, according to their own history, from their na- 

 tive country, which was situated to the northwest 

 of Mexico, in the year 596 of our era, they proceed- 

 ed southward under the directions of their chiefs, 

 and, after sojourning at various places on the way 

 for the space of one hundred and twenty-four years, 

 arrived at the banks of a river in the vale of Mexico, 

 where they built the city of Tula, the capital of the 

 Toltecan kingdom, near the site of the present city 

 of Mexico. 



Their monarchy lasted nearly four centuries, du- 

 ring which they multiplied, extended their popula- 

 tion, and built numerous and large cities ; but dire- 

 ful calamities hung over them. For several years 

 Heaven denied them rain ; the earth refused them 



