The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-02-18

sNNE Of the greatest mysteries 81
science has been the origin Of
the Aztecs, the highly cultured but
extraordinary cruel race whose civiliza-
ton was destroyed by the Spanish when
they conquered Mexico and whose gods
were SO blood-thifsty Tia. at one time.
50 the records show, 10000 men and
women were slaughtered in four days -
sacrifices to them.
!. Indeed. 50 blood-thirsty were these
wicked Aztec gods that it has been
estimated the average number Of human
hearts torn from living sacrifices and
offered to them on the Aztec affairs must
have appropriated at least 100, 900 every
year.
It has long been known that the Aztecs
appeared in the great valley of Mexico.
the region around what ID now the City
Of Mexico, about six hundred years after
the Crucifxion. There they overcame the
Mayas. mysterious and exceedingly
ancient race, the ruins Of whose cities
strew the jungles of Yucatan. From the
Mayas they learned architecture and other
arts and upon the mild religion of the
vanquished they grated the bloody rites
that were the characteristics of their own.
And when the Spaniards came down,
nearly thousands years later, they found
that memory of the birth place of the
Aztec race had given way to legend. All
they had were hieroglyphs of place far
to the north that they called Aztlan. This,
the legends said, was place flowing with
milk and honey, . lovely, place in which
the Aztecs had enjoyed q golden age Of
ease and luxury.
aefzScience now believes that it has found
=Azt1an, the old home town in way of
speaking, Of the Aztecs. In hidden
valley in the sun baked desert lands of
northern Mexico, remains have been dis
covered which seem to show that here for
ages the race grew and developed, de-
.Heloping as they did so the wicked worship
(which they took with them in their great
migration and which, even more than the
Spaniards, contributed to their downfall.
Here, in ancient caves and time worn
temples, the Psychologists have uncovered
symbols and images of these gods and
many other things which have convinced
them that it is mysterious Aztlan.
ba But it is nothing like the paradise the
olegends describe. There is little yegeta-
stiDn and less water. 1t may be, however,
that at one time it was fertile land.
zSbme swift climatic charge turned its
fields and forests intp desert, dried up
3Ehe springs and streams and drove the
oAztecs southwark to find food.
rctsThe discoveries were made by an ex-
position under DR.. Edgar L. Hewett,
director of the School Of American Re.
. search at Santa Fe, New Mexico. The
runs are in what Is known as the Casas
3Grande District of northern Mexico. This
rs. several hundred miles southwest of FL
.sPaso.
basAfter they had quit this valley of
oAztlan the Aztecs, 1t would seem,
wandered about in the Mexican wilder
mess for nearly 400 years, and were driven
from place to place by the neighboring
r4vibes and sometimes enslaved, until in
the early part Of the thirteenth century
they overcame the country, established
themselves in the Mexican valley and a
9khndred years later were ruling all the
land from what. is now the City of
Mexico. There they lived as overlords
9umtil their great chief, MOntezuma, SUR
rendered to the Spanish explorer, cortez,
chi 4519.
saIieacriice Of great multitudes of human
beings was always feature of the tenn
ple ceremonies when the Aztecs appeased
tI,nir codS. An old nanuserinE YavIu