That the ancient history of the country was something like what is
reported in the old writings seems not improbable when we consider the
condition in which the native population was found three hundred and
fifty years ago. This shows that Mexico and Central America had been
subjected to disrupting political changes caused by violent transfers of
supreme influence from one people to another several times in the course
of a long history. Such a history is indicated by the monuments, and its
traces were noticeable in peculiarities of the native inhabitants of the
various districts at the time of the Spanish Conquest. They are still
manifest to travelers who study the existing representatives of the old
race and the old dialects sufficiently to find them. There were several
distinct families or groups of language, and, in many cases, the people
represented by each family of dialects were in a state of separation or
disruption. To a considerable extent they existed in fragmentary
communities, sometimes widely separated.
The most important group of related dialects was that which included the
speech of the Mayas, Quiches, and Tzendals, which, it is supposed,
represented the language of the original civilizers, the Colhuas.
Dialects of this family are found on both sides of the great forest.
There were other dialects supposed to indicate Toltec communities; and
there were communities south of Mexico, in Nicaragua, and even farther
south, which used the Aztec speech. Very likely all these differing
groups of language came originally from the same source, and really
represent a single race, but comparative philology has not yet reported
on them. Mention is made of another people, called Waiknas or Caribs,
and conjecture sees in them remains of the aboriginal barbarians termed
Chichimecs. They dwelt chiefly in the "dense, dank forests" found
growing on the low alluvion of the Atlantic coast. So far as is known,
their speech had no affinity with that of any other native community.
People of this race constitute a chief element in the mixed population
of the "Mosquito Coast," known as Moscos.
In Yucatan the old inhabitants were Mayas, and people using dialects
related to theirs were numerous in Tabasco, Chiapa, Guatemala, and the
neighboring districts, while all around the country were scattered
communities supposed to be of Toltec origin, as their speech could not
be classed with these dialects nor with that of the Aztecs. The most
reasonable explanation of this condition of the people is that furnished
by the old chronicles and traditions. The country must have been
occupied, during successive periods, by different peoples, who are
represented by these broken communities and unlike groups of language.
When all the native writings still in existence shall have been
translated, and especially when the multitude of inscriptions found in
the ruins shall have been deciphered, we may be able to see in a clearer
light the ruins, the people, and their history.