Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1916-04-24
MORE INDIANS LIVE
IN MEXICO THAN EVER
Far 0utnumber All Of Those In
Western Hemisphere.

more Indians living today within the
erritory originally comprising Mex
co than ever existed in any one time
all the rest of the Western Hemis-
Dhere combined, according to a bull.
etin issued today by the National
Geographic Society of WASHINGTON.
"Of the 100000 inhabitants of
Mexico fully 3S per cent are pure
Indians and IS per ccnt of mixed
blood. only 10 per cent being white.
continues the bulletin
These six million Indians, many
If whom are descendants of that won
derful race the Aztecs are divided
into many linguistic families and
RIDES, the numbers varying accord.
ng to the standards of differentiation
adopted by each enthnologist. Some
authorities group them INTO fourteen
families, with fifty-one languages and
sixty-nine dialects. while others
make sixteen family divisions, sub.
iivided into one hundred, thirty.two
RIDES.
1.-THE degrees of civilization to be
found among the many tribes are as
tonishing, ranging from the abject
Seri Indians of Sonora, as pitiably
Indeveloped as the Indians of Terra
lei Fuego, to the highly developed
and splendid speelment of manhood
found among the Nahuatl and Maya
tribes.
THE finest examples Of aboriginal
civilization on the North American
continent We're to be found in the
neighborhood of the present City of
Mexico, with the possible exception
Of that prehistoric race of temple
builders whose ruins dot the Yucca
tan peninsula. II was on the site of
the Capital that the Toltecs left their
imprint from $50 A. D. to the twelfth
century when the Chicimecs. a crud-
er tribe, replaced them, not by con.
quest but because the Toltecs died
out, some anti-quarians attributing
their gradual disappearance to the
"ayages of julque. the insidious drink
that has ever been the curse of that
country
THE came the highly civilized
Acolhuas, and a few years later, be-
fore the opening of the thirteenth
century, the Aztec began to pour in.
leaving in their wake, rs they came
mp the plateau, the remarkable strue-
lures now known as the ruins Of
Casas Grandes. They built Tula, fifty
miles north of Mexico City and even.
tually founded TenochtitIan on site
selected for them by the gods accord
ing to legend. the sign being an
angle Derched on clump of cacti.
with serpent IA it's talons It is the
sign Which remains today the nation
al emblem, appearing both on the
coins and on the flag Of Mexico
"Onc of tho most interesting leg.
ends about the tribes from which
the Indians Of today are descended
is that recorded Of The Colhuas, who
are supposed to have Cnslaved the
Aztecs during the Eaters migratory
march up the plateau The con
querocs soon released their enemies
because they We're horrfed AT tho
Azteca' custom d offcrinG huaaa
sacrifices to their gods.
1T was largely to the cooperation
of the Tlaxcalans, neighboring
tribe, that Cortez owed his triumph
over the Aztecs The latter were as
brave and as chivalrous soldiers as
were the Spanish adventures who
enjoyed the decisive advantage Of
gunpowder and horses, both of which
were unknown to the natives. The
generosity Of the Aztecs as fighting
men is exemplhed in a single Incl
dent Learning that the enemy was
without food, the Mexicans dispatch
ed an ample supply Of provisions. be
cause they scorned TO fight stary-
ing foe,
The majority of The pure-blooded
Indians of Mexico are a quiet. some
what melancholy people Even on
holidays. Of which there are 13I On
the Mexican calendar. they move
silently among the crowds, the men
either barefotted or wearing woven
sandals, their shoulders covered
with their striped sarapes, and the
women with their d.ngy blue rebosas
wrapped about them In attire the
young girls, like the children of Hol-
land, are miniature replcas Of their
mothers.
The pure-blooded Indian Of the
remote regions untouched by civil
cation is more frequently than other
wise a stalwart indN dual Of upright
character, moral honest, and loyal.
One of the fine examples Of his