EARLY EXPLORERS.

TOPICAL OUTLINE.

MEMORY AID.

For Lesson on Early English and Dutch Explorers.

(Place on the Blackboard and have pupils fill blanks, then elaborate by written

What has been built over

How was Joliet rewarded?

SEARCH QUESTIONS.

Champlain's grave? How did Canada receive its name? What name did La Salle give his residence? After whom dj La Salle name his fort at Chickasaw Bluff? Why was New Albion so called? Who was the founder of the Jesuits?

PREPARATORY NOTES.

TO CHAPTERS XIII, XIV, XV.

Geography.-Note upon a map the location of Mexico. Where is Yucatan: Vera Cruz? Note the relative position of America and Asia. What strait between them? About how wide is this strait? Where are the Aleutian Islands. Upon the chart of the ocean currents in a physical geography note the direction and flow of the Japan current. Where does this current touch the American shores? What current flows from Africa to South America at the equator? Note the numerous islands in the Pacific Ocean. Name

the principal ones in Malaysia. Upon a globe or map of the world note the nearness of Norway to Iceland. Of Iceland to Greenland. Of Greenland to Labrador. Of Labrador to Newfoundland. Of Newfoundland to the New England coast. Where is Newport ?

Definition of Words.-Know the meanings of the following words: Aboriginal, ethnologist, plane, immutable, partial, zeal, impelled, revealed, archæologists, imbedded, supplanting, predecessor, ingenuity, devise, concentrate, inferior, absolute, expressive, systematic, precepts, expert, fabrics, crystalized, congregate, surveillance, serfdom, vassalage, dialects, varying, improvident, edifice, economy, primitive, constituents, prowess, decorum, taciturn, ceremonious, intervals, guttural, vocabulary, reverence, appease, grotesque, efficacy, interpret, alternate, attribute, discordant, fantastically, incantations, intensified, accordance, inferior, encroaching, bounty, cope, extinction, speculative, fabricated, similarity, nautical, evidence, research, predominating, structure, antiquity, sedentary, relapse, deify, accredited, ample, blend, corroborative, bards, veritable, inscribe, prehistoric.

Pronunciation of Names.—Study the pronunciation of the following: Chichimecs, Alcolhuas, Nahuatlac, Aztlan, Tenochitlan, Montezuma, Esquimaux, Algonquins, Sioux, Shoshones, Comanches, Apaches, Iroquois, Hoei Shiu, Phoenicians, Zuni, Pueblo, Moquis Cabral, Quetzal, Gunnbjorn, Bjorne Herjulfson, Lief Ericson, Thorstein, Thorfinn, Karlsefne.

PARALLEL READINGS.

REFERENCE.-Short's "North Americans of Antiquity," Foster's "Prehistoric Races," Bancroft's (H. H.) “Native Races of the Pacific States," Schoolcraft's "Indian Tribes of the United States," Biart's "The Aztecs," Prescott's "Conquest of Mexico," Catli■'s "North American Indians," Beamish's "Discovery of America by Northmen," Weise's "Discoveries of America to the year 1525," Vining's "An Inglorious Columbus.” GENERAL.-Wallace's "Fair God," Mrs. Wallace's "Land of the Pueblos," Drake's "Making of the Great West," Cooper's "Leatherstocking Tales," Longfellow's "Hiawatha," "Skeleton in Armor," Fontaine's "How the World was Peopled," "The First Americans" (Harper's Magazine, August, 1882), "The Zunis" (Century Magazine, Aug.-Dec., 1882, Feb.-May, 1883), Mrs. Jackson's "A Century of Dishonor," "The Visit of the Vikings" (Harper's Magazine, Sept., 1882), "Indian Tribes of Prehistoric Times," (Magazine of American History, Sept., 188S), "Conquest of the Mayas," (Magazine of American History, April, 1888), “Lief Ericson," by Mrs. Ole Bull (Magazine of American History, March, 1SSS).

TOPICAL.-"Mound Builders," "Iroquois," "Northmen," "Vikings," "Aztecs,” “Pueblos,” "Mayas," "Indians, North American," "Madoc," "Lief Ericson," "Vinland," "Snorri,” "Karlsefne," "Mandans," "Newport, Old Tower at," "Dighton Rock," "Cliff-Dwellers."

AMERICA OF OLD.

CHAPTER XIII.

Aboriginal Races.-Semi-Civilized.

The Spaniards, under Cortez, came in contact with the Indian in his highest state of development. Of the races conquered by him and his followers we have had for a long time but little knowledge.

The aboriginal inhabitants of the American Continent, wherever found, are known as Indians. They are classed by some ethnologists as a separate and distinct family of mankind. By others they are regarded as subdivsions of a great family that includes among its members the yellow races of Asia.

Just as we find the white race to-day in various portions of the world, existing in every condition of society, so were the red race found living at the time of the discovery in different portions of the American Continent. Some were occupying very low planes of existence, as do now the animallike Digger Indians of California; others, in accordance with the immutable laws of human progress, had. by the time the Europeans began to visit American shores, responded to several impulses, and reached a state of partial civilization, both peculiar and wonderful.

The religious zeal of the conquerors impelled them to tear down what to them were pagan temples, and destroy many of the sacred records that would have made ancient Mexican history clear to us. What has long been hidden, however, is being gradually revealed by the labors of modern explorers and archæologists.

Among the earliest to occupy the territory afterwards to be conquered by Cortez were the Mayas, whose descendants still live in the interior of Yucatan. Here to this day are to be found imbedded in the earth and covered with forests, ruins of their ancient monuments, temples and cities. Following the Mayas, there arrived successively, each blending with or supplanting its predecessor, the Toltecs, the Chichimecs, the Alcolhuas and the seven Nahuatlac tribes, one of which (the Aztecs) deeming themselves the favored children of their divinity, Mexitli, changed their names to Mexi, from which we have the present Mexico.

Emigrating from a northern land, referred to in their traditions as Aztlan, of whose location we know but little, the Aztecs reached Anahuac, and laid the foundations of their capital, Tenochitlan, about the year 1325, near the present City of Mexico. A warlike race, continually engaged in conquests and conflicts, they made themselves secure by building in a lake and guarding the approach to their city by long and easily defended causeways.

When at war and surrounded by enemies, the fish of the lake served them as food, and ingenuity devised chinampas, or floating islands, upon which they raised fruits and vegetables. These chinampas were constructed of interwoven reeds and roots, upon which was deposited the rich soil taken from the bottom of the lake. As time passed on, and the subjugation of neighboring tribes brought security and power, Tenochitlan became adorned with temples and palaces, wherein were accumulated from all parts of the realm, the wealth and treasure for which the mines of Mexico are to this day celebrated. Under the reigns of wise and intelligent Montezumas, many of the arts of civilized life developed, and the advancement made by them before the conquest, reached a degree but little inferior to that of their conquerors.

The government of the Aztecs was that of an absolute monarchy. Supreme power was vested in the Montezuma, or emperor. Under him ruled nobles or caciques over the different provinces. Justice was admirably administered in every part of the kingdom. The religion, however, was idolatrous, and, unlike that of the Mayas and some of the other tribes, cruel in many of its practices and ceremonies, human sacrifice being of frequent occurrence.

The language of the Aztecs was very full and expressive; their speech, musical. In writing they employed hiero

glyphics and pictures. Poetry was frequently composed and sung to appreciative hearers, and oratory was carefully cultivated. The education of children was systematic, and consisted of precepts and counsels regularly bestowed by fath

er to son,

by mother to daughter. Re

igious instruc

tion was given

REMAINS OF ANCIENT AMERICAN CIVILIZATION.

for three years in public schools, and special seminaries were provided for the higher education of those destined to become priests and priestesses.

In many of the arts the Aztecs were expert. As potters, stonecutters, jewelers, and basket-makers, they excelled. Many were skilled woodworkers, builders, and weavers,