Chihuahua (city); and in the principal ports on the Pacific coast of Mexico.
Messrs. Wells, Fargo & Co. also carry a large amount of mail matter from these ports to San Francisco and to New York.
II.
History.
It would be foreign to the aim of this guide-book to give a complete history of Mexico from the earliest times to the present day. We will confine ourselves chiefly to the chronology of the country.
The early history of Mexico is involved in great obscurity. The traditions of the aborigines are so fabulous as barely to deserve mention.
Picture-writings, mostly on cloth made from the maguey fiber, afford the principal means of investigating the origin of the primitive races. Unfortunately, nearly all of these historical illustrations were burned by order of the Spanish bishop Zumarraga, at the time of the Conquest. A few of them remain in Mexico, principally in the museum at the capital, and several have found their way to the libraries of Europe.
According to an old painting, on maguey cloth, in possession of a resident of Uruapan, in the State of Michoacan, this country was settled by Indians, who came out of an immense cave and traveled over the realm on the backs of turtles, founding cities and towns wherever they went.
Very little is known of the ancient history of Mexico, but, according to the best authorities—
The Toltecs appeared in 648 a. d.
The Chichimecs appeared in 1170 a. d..
The Nahualtecs appeared in 1178 a. d.
The Acolhuans and Aztecs appeared in 1196 a. d.
