CHAPTER VII.
WHAT MONTEZUMA THOUGHT OF IT.
Home Of Mexican Civilization — The Border Land Of Savagism — Configuration of the Country — The Nahuas and the Mayas — Toltecs, Chichimecs, and Aztecs — The Valley Of Mexico — Civil Polity Of the Aztecs — King Ahuitzotl — Montezuma made Emperor — Character of the Man — His Career — The First Appearing of the Spaniards not Unknown to Montezuma — The Quetzalcoatl Myth — Departure of the Fair God — Signs and Omens Concerning his Return — The Coming of the Spaniards Mistaken for the Fulfilment of the Prophecy — The Door Opened to the Invader.
Before entering upon the crusade which was so painfully to affect the destinies of this vast interior, let us cast a brief glance upon the country and its inhabitants, and particularly on that idiosyncrasy of the aboriginal mind which opened the door to the invaders. The first two subjects are fully treated in the first, second, and fifth volumes of my Native Races of the Pacific States to which I would refer the reader, being able here to give only an outline of what in detail is an exceedingly interesting phase of indigenous development.
This development awoke to consciousness in the forms of the Nahua and Maya civilizations, the former occupying the northern portion of that tropical tableland which rises to salubrious heights between latitudes 22° and 11°, and the latter the southern portions. Round the opaque lowland edges of this heaven-enlightened interior the mind of man seemed also dark and low, dwarfed by sandy sweeps, or overshadowed by redundant foliage; yet it was not altogether free from the influence of its neighbors, for the people of
