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4 very considerable; (2) half-breeds, the descendants of Europeans and Indians; (3) pure Indians, who mostly inhabit the rural districts; and (4) Zambos, a cross between Indian and negro, and other sub-types. In the South and in the State of Yucatan, there exists a population wholly different in origin from the Mexican. This is the Mayan, a race speaking about seventeen dialects of the same tongue, and divided into the three great sub-races of Maya, Quiché, and Cakchiquel. This ancient people it was who built the wonderful temples and palaces of Central America. The Maya had many customs and beliefs in common with the Nahua, but their art and racial characteristics mark them out as fundamentally a different people. At the present time their descendants are represented by the agricultural class in Yucatan and Guatemala. In many parts of Mexico, Indian life in its tribal aspect still exists; and, although several attempts have been made to collect facts concerning native customs in these districts, a large and rich field awaits the traveller who possesses the scientific attainments requisite for the proper and systematic observation of these obscure tribes.

Aztec history could not lay claim to any great antiquity prior to the arrival of Cortés. Coming from the North, probably from the region of British Columbia, with the inhabitants of which their speech, art and religion indicate a common origin, the Aztecs wandered over the Mexican plateau for generations, settling at length in the marshlands near Lake Tezcuco. For a space they were held in bondage by the Tecpanecs, but such truculent helots did they prove, that at length the Tecpanec rulers were fain to "let the people go"; and, once more their own masters, they founded the city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan in 1325. For generations they failed to assimilate the civilisation which surrounded them, and which was at its best represented by the people of Tezcuco on the north-eastern borders of the lake of that name. In 1376