PREFACE.
It is not judged needful by either author or publisher to assign reasons for laying before the public these chapters About Mexico, Past and Present, much less to apologize for so doing, save as they may be inadequate to the importance and the interest of the subject. Our "next neighbor" on the south needs and deserves to be understood by the citizens of the United States, and especially by those who have at heart the welfare of their fellowmen and desire the extension to them of the blessings of a pure and elevating Bible Christianity. Near neighborhood enhances all the motives which would lead us to study another nation and emphasizes our obligation so to do. In the case of Mexico the romance of her history as well as the wonders of her land and the hope of her future renders interest in her people and in their welfare easy.
Among the many authorities consulted in the preparation of this work, the author would acknowledge special indebtedness to—
History of Columbus, Washington Irving.
Houses and Home-Life of the American Aborigines, L. H. Morgan (Government Printing-Office, Washington, D. C., 1881); also an article by the same writer in Johnson's Cyclopædia, entitled "Architecture of American Indians.".
Articles by Ad. F. Bandelier, Report of Peabody Museum, 1880.
Native Religions of Mexico and Peru, Révelle (1884).
Despatches of Hernandez Cortez, with introduction by George Folsom (New York, 1843).
Memoirs of Captain Bernal Diaz.
History of Mexico, by the Abbé Clavigero.
Origin of Written Language, Rev. James F. Riggs,
Mexico, by Brantz Mayer.
History of Mexico, H. H. Bancroft.
Causes and Consequences of the Mexican War, William Jay.
Mexico and the United States, Gorham D. Abbott, D.D., LL.D.
Twenty Years among the Mexicans, by Miss Melinda Rankin (1875).
Publications of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, of the American Board of Foreign Missions and the Bible Society Record.
For the use of valuable engravings which add much to the interest of its pages the book is indebted to the courtesy of the Missouri and Pacific Railway Company, St. Louis, and to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, New York, to whom the thanks of author and publisher are hereby gratefully tendered.