INDIANS OF MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND \VEST INDIES.
The tribes of Mexico and Central America ex hibited every stage of culture from the brutish Coehind and savage Seri to the civilized Maya. Tarasco, or Aztec, with thou' highly developed agriculture. architecture. and literature. From the Rio to Panama some thirty lingatis tie stocks were represented. besides. the Ara wakan and Cariban tribes of the West Indies. From traditional and other evidence nearly all of the more important tribes of Mexico and Cuatemala, those of Piman. Nahuat lan, and Mayan stock. appear to have migrated from the north. The (Monti and Chinantee, however, appear to have antedated this move ment and may properly he considered indige nous. There are shadowy traditions of earlier eultivated races. the Chnee and Toltec, from whom the ruder Aztee acquired their first civ ilization, but it is diffieult to decide whether these names belong to the domain of history or of myth. file roving tribes of the northern fron tier seem to have been akin to the Apache, hut have now it completely disappeared that even their affinity is not certainly established. The Comanche and kiowa, as well as the Apache, made constant inroads the north, penetrat ing as far down as Zacatecas. The destruction of the peaceable Carrizo tribes of the lower Rio Oran& is ehiellv (hie to Oise raids.
The tribes of the California peninsula. appa rently of Yuman stock. were among the lowest of the Inman rm.°. possessing every beastly in Mimi without even the savage virtue of bravery. The Seri of Tiburon Island in the adjaeent gulf were but higher in the scale, but earned respect by their determined defense of their terri tory against all intruders. Their southern neigh bors. the Yaqui. were as much noted for their fighting, qualities as for their superior industry and reliability. The Tarumari and other Pimall tribes of the Sierra Madre. as far south as Jalis co, differ hut little in general habit of life from the northern Pueblos. Physically they are dark and rather undersized. The Monti of the central plateau were hut little inferior in eulture to the Aztec. by whom they had been subjeeted. The Chichimec of the same region, so long the sub je•t of ethnologic conjecture, are now known to have been a definite people of distinct stock.
The Nahuatlan tribes which constituted the nucleus of the ancient Aztec, Empire dwelt chiefly• in the present states of Mexico and Puebla, the .\ztec proper having their capital on the site of the present city of Mexico. Detached offshoots of the same stock were found as far south as Costa Rica. The empire included many tribes or nations of diverse stocks, but not all the cognate Nahuatlan tribes, even in the central territory, were 'under the rule of the .kztec, their bitterest enemies in fact being their neighbors and kinsmen, the Tlascaltec.
By reason of their military importance, the Aztec have been somewhat OVerrated. Their gen eral culture, while high in itself, was not su perior to that of the Taraseo or Zapotee, and was inferior to that of the :Nlriya. In their social organization they had passed the matriarchal stage and reckoned descent and inheritanee in the male line. The national prosperity rested upon agriculture. Land belonged to the clan and marriage was regulated by gentile laws. In architecture they had reached a high stage of advancement, the pyramid of hewn stone being one of the most eharaeteristie features. They knew the secret of bronze, and were skillful work ers in gold and com•r, but stone implements con tinued in coinmon use, particularly obsidian for cutting purposes. Their dress was of native cotton, woven and dyed in brilliant colors. They had an extensive pantheon with orders of priests and priestesses, and a ritual verenionial, im pressive but cruel rind bloodthirsty in charac ter, thonsands of hunian victims being annually sacrificed to the god of war, and their flesh after wards eaten by the multitude. Children of the higher classes were educated in public schools, where boys studied military science, writing, his tory, and religion, and girls were taught cooking, household work, weaving, and morals. There was a large native literature preserved in books written upon parchment or maguey paper, 21,000 bundles of this fibre being exacted as an annual tribute from the conquered tribes. The eharneters were ikonoinatie, or partly ideo graphic, partly phonetic, upon the principle of the rebus. Their calendar recognized 365 (lays in the year.