The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1916-04-23
More Of Them Within Original
Mexico Than Ever Existed
at One Time.

WASHINGTON. April 22@There
are more Indians living today within
the territory originally comprising
Mexico than ever existed at any one
time in all the rest Of the western
hemisphere combined. according to
bulletin Just issued by the National
Geographic Society Of Washington.
"Of the 100000 Inhabitants Of
Mexico fully thirty-eight per cent are
pure Indians. and forty-three per
cent Of mixed blood. only nineteen
per cent whites" continues the bull
letin.
These six million Indians. many
Of whom are descendants OF that
wonderful race the Aztecs, are d.
vtded into many linguistic families
and tribes. the numbers varying &C.
cording to the standards Of differ
entation adopted by each enthnolo-
gist. Some authorities group them
into fourteen families. with fiftyone
languages and Bixty-nine dialects,
while others make sixteen family
divisions, subdivided into one humid
red, and thirty-two tribes.
The degrees of civilization to be
found among the many tribes are
astonishing. ranging from the abject
Seri Indians Of Sonora. as pitiably
undeveloped at the Indians OF Terra
del Fuego. to the highly developed
and splendid specimens of manhood
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. It was on the site of
the capital that the Toltecs left their
imprint $50 A. D. to the twelfth CEN
fury when the Chichimecs. cruder
tribe, replaced them, not by conquest
but because the Toltecs died out,
some antiquarians attrbuting 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 Aztec 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 lula,
fifty miles north of Mexico City, and
eventually founded Tenochtitlan, on
selected for them by the gods, &c
cording to legend. the sign being an
eagle perched on clump OF cacti,
with serpent in its talons. 1t is
this sign which remains today the
national emblem. appearing both on
the coins and on the flag of Mexico.
Interesting Legend.
"One Of the most interesting leg
ends about the tribes from which the
Indians of today are descended is
that recorded on the Colhuas, who
are supposed to have enslayed the
Aztecs during the latter's migratory
march up the plateau. The conquer
| ors soon released their enemies be-
cause they were Mortified at the
Aztecs' custom Of offering human
sacrifices to their gods.
1T was largely 10 the cooperation
OF the Tlaxcalans. neighboring
tribe, that Cortez owed his triumph
over the Aztecs. Tho latter were as
brave and MS 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 exemplitled in a single incl
dent. Learning that the enemy was
without food, the Mexicans dis
patched an ample supply OF pro-
visions, because they scorned to fight