Page:About Mexico - Past and Present.djvu/41

Rh system of picture-writing in use among all the tribes, the more enlightened of their laws and the most refined and humane part of their worship were a legacy from their Toltec predecessors.

Very strong light is often thrown on the past by the history of a single word; the name "Toltec" is an instance of this. While many other Mexicans were yet wandering tribes these people came to the valley and began to build the large edifices for which they have since become famous, and to carve the symbols of their faith on the solid rocks about them. Their rude neighbors looked on with wonder. They had no word of their own to express the new and strange character of a builder; and when they had need to speak of such a man, they called him a Toltec.