CHAPTER IV.
Aboriginal Population,—Conquests of Alvarado,—Utatlan,—Palaces, &c. of the King of Quiché,—Languages,—Establishment of the Roman Religion,—Las Casas and the Dominicans,—Population,—Employment,—Mode of Life and Customs,—Taxes,—Physiognomy,—Bodily Construction,—Mental Capacities,—Means of Civilization.
Whether Guatimala was originally peopled from Mexico, or whether at any remote period of its history it was tributary to that power, are questions involved in too much obscurity to permit a positive conclusion. The dim and imperfect records of these semi-civilized kingdoms leave us in perfect ignorance as to the source from whence the tribes of which they were composed issued, and consequently cannot be expected to inform us in detail of the course which the stream of population took, or in what instances the springs of it might be considered independent
one of another.
