MIGHATION OF THE NAHUAS

emigrated to Tulaii Zuiva a much colder country. We shall assume that « AzLlan » which means a white land is identical with the land, the Norse seafarers were told of and found in soulhern United Stades, and which they called Whitramannalaiid, because they were told by the people there, that such was the name of the country. A curious name to invent, and inore curious still, that it is the correct norse translation not only of « Aztlan », but as we shall hereafter show, we hâve reason to believe, of « Shawanr/o » which in the northern Algonquin language means at once the « South » and Lhe land of the « Sha-wanoes » corrupted into « Shawneee » whose former home was in the Soulh-east of the United States, where the Suwanee river of Florida and the city of Savannah in Georgia still attests their former présence.

Nearer relations, however, of the Nahuatlacs than thèse Sha-wanoes were undoubtedly the Natchez. This people together with ihe Mavils, their immédiate easlern neighbors were even at the timeofDe Soto's expodhioii, in 15il, stiU distiuguished by a higher civilizalion, higher skill especially in pottery and building their fortilications De Soto thought fit to withstand a siège ! ^ by a more complicated System of government, a strictlyhereditary caste, nobility and a regular System of Sun worship. If it is considered, that the Aztecs when they arrived on the Mexican highland, were the rudest of ail the Nahua tribes, and that many featm'cs of their later civilizalion were acquired by contact or perpetuated by amalgamation , with the previous population, which retained the skill of the still earlier Xibalban civilization ; if, on theotherhand is considered that the Natchez were exposed to the contact of the more barljarous tribes of the North during the five centuries intervening between the departure of the Nahuatlacs and the DeSoto's expédition, ail reasons for doubting the continuityof the old Mound-Builders civilization even till the modem influx of the white race superseded it, vanisli. The accounts o!' lhe De SoLo's expédition tell us of Indian towns, of regularly

3i4r • cuM;.!;i";s DES AMi':r,i(;,v>a.-yrES. 20

Liiilt habitations, of fortifications consisting of earth-walls and palissades, provided witii watclitowers and bastions, of cultivated fields, of large accnmulated stores of maïze in thèse towns etc. over the entire soutliern part of the United States. It is indeed certain, tliat ail thèse évidences of a civilization largely snpel'ior to that of thelater and modem Indians must still be consideredinl'erior to that of theMound-Budders of the Ohio and Mississipi valley. But if we assume, that this ancient civilization reached its highest perfection on the fertile prairies of the présent Northwestern States ; that even when it existed in its most perfect state, the grade of civilization lessened lowards the Southeast^ wilh the distance ; that North of i tlie lakes and on the East coast it never prevailed on uccount of the rigor of cliinate, and that thèse countries romained always the home of roaming, but ferociously vigorous barbarian tribes; ihat thèse tribes pressing against and continually laiding and iilundering the civilizod settlements uf the Prairie Nations iinally Ibrced the latter to yeld, to retreat beyond the Mississipi and thence by way of the Arkansas river and Oztollan, in search ot new homes f)etter secured against Ihedevastating inroads of the roaming tribes ; that in this manner the most highiy civilized « mouiidbuilding >> people of the Northwest was sudde jly withdrawn ; and th;it tlie less civilized Mound-Builders, the Nachez, Al.ivils, AUeghans and Shawanoes of the South and Southeast. remaiuing, were assuddenly exposed on their northern frontiersto the inroads of the fresh barbarian tribes pouring dowu from the North in search of plunder and booty ; that unable lo willistand thèse barbarians, tho greaier jiai't of thèse southern Mound-Builders, notably the AUeghans and Shawa- ' noes were grodually overwhelmed and partly extinguished, partly subdued by the savage Iribcs of the North (which latter is not a mère fanciful assumption, but a fact, well l)orne ont by the traditions of the Indian tribes uf the United States, as the conquest and dispersion of the Shawanoes of Florida and

21 M1(',|;.\.TI().\ t)F THE .VAMUAS. âlâ"

Georgia seeins not to luive been coinpleted before ihe 16"' oi* even 17"' ceutury) ; wo ^vill no luni^ei* consicler the former existence and the latter decay of th3 ^lound-Builders civilization as a mystery, Jjuried for ever in the obhviou.

Even the traditions of thèse northern nations iniperfect as they hâve becorne under the overwhehning impressions of the later wave of white conquest, proceeding from the coast of the Eastern Océan, hâve not quite forgotten the former existence and the exodus of thèse Nahua Mound-builders in and from the western prairie country. Gusiek's remarkable history of the Iroquois (1), states again and again that « their hunters were opposed by big snakes », that the « great horned snake appeared on lake Ontario », that the « Iake serpent traversed the country, and they were compelled to build fortifications in order to save themselves from the devouring monsters », that « a snake with a human head prevented the intercourse of their several villages, as it had seltled near the principal path of communication » also « that it retreats etc. etc. Now in order to understand the force of thèse passages, it is necessary to remind the reader, that the Nahua race were perhaps even more properly and generally designated as the « Gulhua » the « Snake » race, and one branch, remotely connected with them in blood and language, though woefully degenerated, the Snakes or Shoshones of Oregon etc., carry the name to tins very day. Again it is staled, that in early times, when the nation appointed a « prince » for tho tirst time, the latter repaired to the South and visited the great emperor, who resided at the Golden Gity, the Gapital of a vast empire. After a time, the emperor built many forts through his dominions and almost penetrated the lake Erie... Long bloody wars ensued; the peopleofthe North could endure hardships,

(1) Given iu Schoolcraft : ludians. Vol. V.

346 ' C0N(3RÈS DES américanistes. 22

which proved i'atal to foreigii people ; at last, the northern nations gaiiied the conquest, and ail the forts and towns were totally destroyed and left in a heap of ruine. If this statement is very remarkable, not only because it possesses what I may be pardoned for calling the true ringof history, but also, because it agrées with the extent and nature of the nioundbuilders remains, found since Gusick wrote his history in 1825, the following is scarcely less so : « An expédition was sent towards theMississipi river ; they crossed it, reached an extensive meadow; they discovered a curions animal, a winged fish, it flew about the tree, it moved like a humming hirdy> . It must be remembered that the « Snake » from which the Gulhua race derived its name is frequently described as a M'inged waler-aniinal, as a man-Pish, and that the Iliinnnîng hird was the totem of the last tribe of Nahuas, arriving in Anahuac from Aztlan, the later famous Aztecs, whose migration leader, deified as « Huitzilopochtli » wore it as a crest.

The Gherokee tradition, told by Timberlake, is equally significant : The prince of rattlesnakes lives in the glens of the mountains. His palace is guarded by obedient subjects... Many warriors and magicians tried to get possession of the diadem, sparkling on his head, but they were destroyed by the poisonous fangs of its defenders. Finally one more inventive than the rest, hit upon the bright idea of envasing hiraself in leather, and by this device marched unarmed through the hissing and snapping court, tore off the shining jewel» ând broiight itin triumph to his nation.

And in the myth of the Algonquins, the god-hero Michabo is in contlict with the shilling prince of serpents, who lives in the lake ; he destroys the reptile with a dart ; clothes himself with the skin of his foe, and drivos the rest of tlie serpents to the South.

AU thèse traditions are the more worthy of crédit, as there is absolutely nothing either in known history, or in the condition of the Mound-Builders remains, that would contradict