The Nahna is the most important of all the races of Mexico, on account of the vast extent of territory it covered, stretching as it did from the Rio Grande to Guatemala, the number of distinct dialects and tribes included within its racial boundaries, and the influence of its religious, social and industrial customs, its political policy, its vast trade and commerce and its colonizing propensities. The extent, shape and position of the territory occupied by the Nahua which is practically the same as at the time of tin Conquest, would seem to prove the truth of the tradition that they entered Mexico from the north. They drove, like a gigantic wedge, through the barbarous tribes of the great plateaux lands of northern Mex ico, forcing the Seri to the mountainous parts of the state of Sonora on the west and splitting apart the Apache and Toboso and crowding them back to the Rio Grande on the north, and driving the Tamaulipecos and the uncivilized tribes of southern Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas also in the direction of the Rio Grande and toward the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Encountering highly civilized peoples in the mountainous and easily-defended states of Guanajuato, Queretaro, Hidalgo and Michoa can, they skirted the latter on the west,. making their way through Guerrero, and, pouring over the mountains to the east, overran Morelos, Mexico, Tlaxcala, Puebla, most of Vera Cruz and a part of Tabasco. A wing of the migra tion, coasting further south along the Pacific, left a strong colony on the southern shore of i Guatemala, another in the interior and a third in Salvador, while a fourth settled upon islands in Lake Nicaragua and occupied all the land between that body of water and the south western coast. A fifth crossed the isthmus and took possession of territory on the northwest ern shore of Panama, near the Costarican boundary line. The Nahuatl confederacy, headed by the Aztecs, extended its territorial dominion, though not successful in forcing its language on the conquered races or in assimilat ing them to the customs, the culture, or even to the political system of the Nahua; so that the people over whom it gradually extended its sway remain ethnically distinct to-day.
Linguistically the Nahua are divided into a score or more of distinct tribes, all speaking, with variations, the Nahuatl tongue. The Tol tees, who had disappeared as a political entity several centuries before the Conquest, were the most noted of the Nahua. They occupied a con siderable part of the territory afterward held by the Aztecs at the time of the Conquest. The following tribes are now recognized as belong ing to the Nahua race: The Acaxee, speaking four closely-related dialects, inhabited the mountainous regions of Durango, between the Tepehuanes and the Aztecs. The Aztecs or Mexicans (including Tlaxcalans) were spread over a vast extent of territory from Tabasco, through southern Vera Cruz and across the state of Puebla, Morelos, Mexico and Guerrero, to the Pacific, and thence up along the coast, through Jalisco and Sinaloa, past the southern end of the Gulf of California. Another group of considerable extent occupies the shores of the Gulf of Tehuantepec. The Yaqui, als6 known as Hiaqui, Cahita, Cinaloa and Sinaloa, who were divided into three tribes speaking distinct dialects, Yaqui, Mayo and Tehueco, are closely allied to the Aztecs, with whom they have been classed. At one time they occupied considerably more territory than they do to-day. They extended over the middle and lower Yaqui, the Mayo and the Fuerte districts of Sonora. Now, so far as language is
concerned at least, they are confined to the Yaqui River district. All the Yaqui tribes were energetic, patriotic and intelligent and they were one of the foremost factors in building up the civilization of Mexico. The Cazcanes occupied the mountainous districts of Jalisco about mid way between Guadalajara and Zacatecas. The Conchos, now extinct, but at one time an im portant tribe, occupied a considerable extent of territory, lying between that of the Tarahumare on the west, the Apache on the east, the Tepe huan on the south and the Rio Grande or the north, their habitat being almost entirely within the boundaries of Chihuahua. The Cora, be longing to the northern or Sonora group of Nahua-speaking tribes, live along the Jestis Maria River in the state of Jalisco. The Huicholes (Guachichiles, Cuachichiles), accord ing to Orozco y Berra, occupied parts of Coc huila, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi and Zacat ecas. They were between the Laguneros on the north, the Otomi to the southeast and south and the Zapoteca to the west. Catholic missions were early established among them; they were brought under the domination of the Spaniards and their language finally disappeared as a tribal institution. In the heart of the Yaqui country were the Nio, who lived south of the Fuerte River. The Niquiran, one of the Nahua settlements furthest south, form a small com munity occupying the land between Lake Nica ragua and the Pacific Ocean and also the neigh boring islands in the lake. About the head waters of the Hermosillo and Yaqui rivers, between the Seri on the west, the Apache on the northeast, the Pima on the northwest and south, was the important Opata tribe, which consisted of two sub-tribes speaking distinct dialects, Eudeve (Heve, Dohema) and Joval (Ova). The most northern Nahua family, the Pima, was divided into the following scattered groups: Pima Alta (Upper Pima), situated principally in the United States, but occupying a small part of northern Sonora; Pima Bata (Lower Pima), who lived around the middle part of the Yaqui River, between the Tarahu mare to the east, the Yaqui to the south, the Seri to the west and the Opata to the north; Potlapigua, near Babispe, northwest of the Opata country, Pima de Bamoa (Sinaloa), in and around Bamoa, on the lower Sinaloa River, south of the Mayo; Tepehuin Pimas, a small group in the western Daft of the Tepehuan country. In southwestern Salvador are three settlements of Nahua known as Pipil and closely related to the Aztecs, while the Sigua (Segues. Xicagua, Shelaba, Chicagua, Chichag-ua), a small Aztec colony on the northwestern side of Pan ama, marks the southermost limit of the Nahua extension. South of the Apache, east of the Concho and north of the Tepehuan, lived the Tarahumare, an extensive division of the Nahua family, covering parts of the states of Sonora, Chihuahua and Durango. They spoke a number of distinct dialects and their territory was divided into Tarahumare Alta and Tarahumare Baja. Tarahumare proper was spoken in the upper country while the tongue of the lower land was known as Chinipa. The Tepecano, closely related to the Tepehuan, occupy the territory between that of the Cazcan and the Guachichil in modern Tepic. The Tepehuan live principally in the state of Durango, south of the Tarahumare, where they are confined, for the most part, to the mountainous regions for a distance of about 250 miles.