Note 124 — PART I. ETHNOLOGIC AND ARCHÆOLOGIC. (continued 2)

American Hero Myths, p. 35. The only writer on ancient American history before me who has wholly rejected the Toltecs is, I believe, Albert Gallatin. In his able and critical study of the origin of American civilization (Transactions of the American Ethnological Society, Vol. i, p. 203) he dismissed them entirely from historical consideration with the words: “The tradition respecting the Toltecs ascends to so remote a date, and is so obscure and intermixed with mythological fables, that it is impossible to designate either the locality of their primitive abodes, the time when they first appeared in the vicinity of the Valley of Mexico, or whether they were preceded by nations speaking the same or different languages.” Had this well-grounded skepticism gained the ears of writers since 1845, when it was published, we should have been saved a vast amount of rubbish which has been heaped up under the name of history.

Dr. Otto Stoll (Guatemala; Reisen und Schilderungen, ss, 408, 409, Leipzig, 1886) has joined in rejecting the ethnic existence of the Toltecs. As in later Nahuatl the word toltecatl meant not only “resident of Tollan,” but also “artificer” and “trader,” Dr. Stoll thinks that the Central American legends which speak of “Toltecs” should be interpreted merely as referring to foreign mechanics or pedlers, and not to any particular nationality. I quite agree with this view.