re the two earth pyramids of the sun and the moon. Of
these we shall have occasion to treat more at length in a future
chapter. In speaking of the most ancient remains at Tula and elsewhere
in Mexico, Wilson pronounces them to be clearly Egyptian. It is made
plain by authentic writers upon the subject that this people enjoyed a
large degree of civilization; the ruins of temples supposed to have
been built by them in various parts of the country, especially in
Yucatan, also prove this. Humboldt says that in 648 A. D. the
Toltecs had a solar year more perfect than that of the Greeks and
Romans. Other-writers tell us that they were a worthy people, averse to
war, allied to virtue, to cleanliness, and good manners, detesting
falsehood and treachery. They introduced the cultivation of maize and
cotton, constructed extensive irrigating ditches, built roads, and were
a progressive race. "But where is the country," asks Humboldt, "from
which the Toltecs and Mexicans issued?" They were well housed, and even
elegantly clothed, maintained public schools, and commemorated passing
events by elaborate sculpture and by picture-writing. So complete was
their system of hieroglyphics that they wrote upon religion, history,
geography, and the arts. These records were nearly all destroyed by the
malicious and bigoted iniquity of a Spanish priest named Zumarrage, who
made it his business to seek for and burn all tokens, great and small,
which related to the history of this extremely interesting people. A few
of these curious records, in the form of pictorial writing, yet remain
in Mexico, principally in the National Museum at the capital, and some
have found their way across the ocean to adorn the shelves of European
libraries. One of these documents, still extant, represents the country
as having first been settled by a race who came out of a great cave and
traveled over the realm on the backs of turtles, founding cities and
towns wherever they went. This will show that the traditions of the
aborigines are so fabulous as scarcely to deserve mention. Touching the
vandal act of the Catholic priest Zumarrage, Prescott says: "We
contemplate with indignation the cruelties inflicted by the early
conquerors. But indignation is qualified with contempt when we see them
thus ruthlessly trampling out the sparks of knowledge, the common boon
and property of all mankind. We may well doubt which has the strongest
claim to civilization, the victor or the v