EMIGRATION OF THE TRIBES. 263 
powerful an Empire existed in all its splendor, while the pyramids, tem- 
ples, palaces, and edifices which are represented in the plates accompany- 
ing these letters, were abandoned to the forest and its beasts. I cannot 
believe, that in so small a geographical space there could be such palpa- 
ble anachronisms, — so much light in one spot with so much blackness next 
it; — that people, at the height of social and architectural refinement, 
should have had neighbors at the distance of 100, 200, or 300 miles, 
who were utter savages, while, a few degrees farther south, there was 
another stratum of known civilization in Peru. 
I do not rely upon all the dates, assigned by Mexican historians, for the 
rise and fall of the Toltecs and Aztecs. There is doubt among the best 
writers on these subjects. The period, during which their emigration 
from the north continued, may be correct ; but I question the accuracy of 
the time given for the commencement and spread of their respective mon- 
archies, especially, when we remember the numbers who fell either in 
battle or under the sacrificial knife. The empires were exceedingly pop- 
ulous, and it would seem to have required centuries to gather all the pop- 
ulation that existed in the vale of Anahuac after the ravages that termi- ' 
nated the Toltec sway. Besides this, the Mexicans rose to great refinement 
from absolute barbarism, or from the comparative ignorance and bad hab- 
its they had contracted during a long emigration. This requires time. 
The growth of nations is gradual. How long did it require to pile up 
the hill of Xochicalco — to dig its ditch of a league in extent — to quarry 
its immense stones — to bring them from their distant caves — to bear them 
to the summit of the mound — to pile them up in the several stories of the 
pyramid — and, lastly, to cover the whole with elaborate carving ? How 
long did it require to prepare the mind of a nation, step by step, for the 
idea and construction of such an edifice ; — which, we must remember, is 
but one out of thousands ! 
It is difficult to determine what might have been the extent of our 
knowledge of all the questions with which I began this letter, if the holy 
fathers, instead of making bonfires of Mexican records, had studied them 
with antiquarian zeal. Yet, I have at least satisfied myself, that if we 
know nothing of the origin of the people of America, we may at least 
be confident that Palenque, Uxmal, Copan, Mexico, Xochicalco, Teo- 
tihuacan, Cholula, Papantla, Tusapan, and Mitla, were the dwellings 
and temples of civilized nations at the period of the Spanish conquest. 
If ever the city of which Mr. Stephens heard, as existing among the 
mountains, (unvisited hitherto by white men,) is penetrated by some fu- 
ture band of adventurous travellers, the mystery may, perhaps, be solved. 
That such a city exists, I think by no means improbable, when it is re- 
collected, that near the town of Cuernavaca, not more, perhaps, than 
seventy miles from the Capital of Mexico, there is a populous and loell 
governed Indian village, enjoying its native Jiahits, and refusing to hold in- 
tercourse viith the Spaniards. How much more probable that there should 
be primitive tribes of which we have not the slightest information flour- 
