Conquest of Mexico
Mexicans traditionally came from the North," says he, "and know their ancestry very well." (Hist. de Nueva España, p. 81, nota.) There are some antiquaries who see best in the dark.
Page 393 (4).—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 2, et seq.—Idem, Relaciones, MS.— Veytia, Hist. Antig., ubi supra.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., tom. i. lib. 1.
Page 393 (5).—In the province of Sonora, especially along the Californian Gulf. The Cora language, above all, of which a regular grammar has been published, and which is spoken in New Biscay, about 30° north, so much resembles the Mexican, that Vater refers them both to a common stock.—Mithridates, thell iii. abtheil 3, p. 143.
Page 393 (6).—On the southern bank of this river are ruins of large dimensions, described by the missionary Pedro Font, on his visit there, in 1775. (Antiq. of Mexico, vol. vi. p. 538.) At a place of the same name, Casas Grandes, about 33° north, and, like the former, a supposed station of the Aztecs, still more extensive remains are to be found; large enough, indeed, according to a late traveller, Lieut. Hardy, for a population of 20,000 or 30,000 souls. The country for leagues is covered with these remains as well as with utensils of earthenware, obsidian, and other relics. A drawing, which the author has given of a painted jar or vase, may remind one of the Etruscan. "There were, also, good specimens of earthen images in the Egyptian style," he observes, "which are, to me, at least, so perfectly uninteresting, that I was at no pains to procure any of them." (Travels in the Interior of Mexico [London, 1829], pp. 464-466.) The Lieutenant was neither a Boturini nor a Belzoni.
Page 393 (7).—Vater has examined the languages of three of these nations, between 50° and 60° north, and collated their vocabularies with the Mexican, showing the probability of a common origin of many of the words in each.—Mithridates, theil iii. abtheil 3, p. 212.
Page 393 (8).—The Mexicans are noticed by M. de Humboldt, as distinguished from the other aborigines, whom he had seen, by the quantity both of beard and moustaches. (Essai Politique, tom. i. p. 361.) The modern Mexican, however, broken in spirit and fortunes, bears as little resemblance, probably, in physical, as in moral characteristics, to his ancestors, the fierce and independent Aztecs.
Page 393 (9).—Prichard, Physical History, vol. i. pp. 167-169, 182 et seq.—Morton, Crania Americana, p. 66.—M'Culloch, Researches, p. 18.—Lawrence, Lectures, pp. 317, 565.
Page 393 (10).—Thus we find, amidst the generally prevalent copper or cinnamon tint, nearly all gradations of colour, from the European white, to a black, almost African; while the complexion capriciously varies among different tribes. In the neighbourhood of each other. See examples In Humboldt (Essai Politique, tom. I. pp. 358, 359), also Prichard (Physical History, vol. II. pp. 452, 522 et alibi), a writer, whose various research and dispassionate judgment have made his work a text-book In this department of science.
Page 394 (1).—Such is the conclusion of Dr. Warren, whose excellent collection has afforded him ample means for study and comparison. (See his Remarks before the British Association for the Advancement of Science, ap. London Athenasum, Oct., 1837.) In the specimens collected by Dr. Morton, however, the barbarous tribes would seem to have a somewhat larger facial angle, and a greater quantity of brain, than the semi-civilised.—Crania Americana, p. 259.
Page 394 (2).—"One cannot refuse to admit that the human species offers no examples of racial types more closely allied than those of the Americans, Mongols, Manchus and Malays."—Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. I. p. 367.—Also, Prichard, Physical History, vol. i. pp. 184-186; vol. II. pp. 365-367;—Lawrence, Lectures, p. 365.
Page 394 (3).—Dr. Morton's splendid work on American crania has gone far to supply the requisite information. Out of about one hundred and fifty specimens of skulls, of which he has462
