The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1916-06-09
THE INDIANS OF MEXICO.
They are the Real Backbone of the
Country

There are more Indians living to-
day within the territory originally
comprising Mexico than ever existed
at any one time in all the rest of the
Western Hemisphere combined, ac-
cording to bulletin issued recently
by the National Geographic Society
of Washington.
"Of the 100000 inhabitants of
Mexico fully 3S per cent are pure In
dians, and 43 per cent of mixed, only
10 per cent being whites," continues
the bulletin.
"These six million Indians, many of
whom are descendants of that won
derful race, the Aztecs, are divided
into many linguistic families and
tribes, the number varying according
to the standards of differentiation
adopted by each enthologist. Some
authorities group them into fourteen
families, with fifty-one languages and
sixty-nine dialects, while others make
sixteen family divisions, sub-divided
into one hundred, thirty-two tribes.
The degrees of civilization to be
found among the many tribes are as
tonishing ranging from the abject
Seri Indians of Sonora, as pitiably
undeveloped as the Indians of Terra
del Fuego, to the highly developed and
splendid specimens of manhood found
among the Nahuati and Maya tribes.
"The finest examples of aboriginal
civilization on the North American
continent were 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 Yucatan
peninsula. 1t was on the site of the
capital that the Toltecs left their i'm
print from $50 A. d. to the twelfth
century when the Chchimecs, a
cruder tribe, replaced them, not by
conquest but because the Toltecs died
out, some antiquarians attributing
their gradual disappearance to the
ravages of pulque, the insidious drink
that has ever been the curse of that
country.
"Then came the highly civilized
Acolhuas, and few years later, be-
fore the opening of the thirteenth
century, the Aztecs began to pour in,
leaving in their wake, as they came
up the plateau, the remarkable struc-
lures now known as the ruins of
Casas Grandes. They built Tula,
fifty miles north of Mexico City, and
eventually founded Tenochititlan, on
site selected for them by the gods,
according to legend the sign being
an agile perched on clump of cacti,
with serpent in its talons. 1t is
this sign which remains today the ma
tional emblem, appearing both on the
coins and on the flag of Mexico.
Zone of the most interesting le-
gends about the tribes from which
the Indians of today are descended is
that recorded of the Colhuas, who are
supposed to have enslaved the
Aztecs during the latter's migratory
march UP the plateau. The c6ndueE
ors soon released their enemies be-
cause they were Mortified at the
Aztec's custom of offering human
sacrifices to their gods.
"It was largely to the cooperation
of the ElaZcalans, 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 Axtecs as
fighting men is exemplified in a sim
gle incident. Learning that the en-
emy was without food, the Mexicans
dispatched an ample supply of pro-
visions, because they scorned to fight
a starving foe!
"The majority of the pure blooded
Indians of Mexico are a quiet, some
what melancholy people. Even on
holidays, of which they are 131 on
the Mexican calendar, they move 81
lently among the crowds, the men
either barefooted or wearing woven
sandals, their shoulders covered with
their striped sarapes, and the women
with their dingy blue rebosas wrap
ped about them. In attire the young
girls, like the children of Holland,
are miniature replicas of the mothers.
"The pure-blooded Indian of the
remote regions untouched by civil
lation is more frequently than other
wise a stalwart individual of up
right character, moral, honest, and
loyal. One of the finest examples Of
his race was Benito Juarez, a mem
ber of the Zapotecas tribe of Oavaca.
He was by turns shepherd, stu
dent Of divinity, governor of Oxaca,
minister of justice. and finally presi-
dent of the republic.
'Porfirio Diaz, the outstanding fig
ure in Mexican history during the last
quarter of the nineteenth century,
was also born in Oxaca and accord
ing to his official biography was one
fourth Indian, however, some gene
alopistS hold that he was NOR. naarlX