CHAPTER XI.
A GLANCE AT THE AZTEC AT HOME.
Indians, Columbus called the first men of the new world that met his sight in the Bahamas, and "Indians" they have remained to this day. Not only has the name been applied to those red men of the West India Islands, but to the whole race inhabiting North, South, and Central America.
Did it ever occur to you that there might be a difference among these Indians, as to color, size, nature and acquirements! Has it ever been brought forcibly to your mind that there is as great a difference between the Indians of the North and those of the South as between the varied families of the white race? The Irish and English are not as dissimilar as the Indians of the United States and those of Mexico. The Northern Indians are nomades, wild rovers by nature, possessing few of the arts of civilization; the Southern Indians (as has been remarked in the opening chapters), were fixed to the soil, and had many acquirements to entitle them to high respect. Those Indians, at the time of their discovery by the Spaniards, were remarkably well-formed, of good height, with black eyes and hair, rather narrow foreheads, straight, shapely limbs and remarkable for their endurance.
If allowed to live out the natural term of their years they generally arrived at a good old age. They were very moderate in eating, but indulged in strong drinks frequently to excess. They were patient and long-suffering,
