They have hovered about the dawn of American history long enough. To them have been attributed not only the primitive culture of Central America and Mexico, but of lands far to the north, and even the earthworks of the Ohio Valley. It is time they were assigned their proper place, and that is among the purely fabulous creations of the imagination, among the giants and fairies, the gnomes and sylphs, and other such fancied beings which in all ages and nations the popular mind has loved to create. Toltec, Toltecatl,[1] which in later days came to mean a skilled craftsman or artificer, signifies, as I have said, an inhabitant of Tollan--of the City of the Sun--in other words, a Child of Light. Without a metaphor, it meant at first one of the far darting, bright shining rays of the sun. Not only does the tenor of the whole myth show this, but specifically and clearly the powers attributed to the ancient Toltecs. As the immediate subjects of the God of Light they were called "Those who fly the whole day without resting,"[2] and it was said of them that they had the power of reaching instantly even a very distant place. When the Light-God himself departs, they too disappear, and their city is left uninhabited and desolate. [Footnote 1: Toltecatl, according to Molina, is "oficial de arte mecanica ò maestro," (_Vocabulario de la Lengua Mexicana_, s.v.). This is a secondary meaning. Veitia justly says, "Toltecatl quiere decir artifice, porque en Thollan comenzaron a enseñar, aunque a Thollan llamaron Tula, y por decir Toltecatl dicen Tuloteca" (_Historia_, cap. xv).] [Footnote 2: Their title was _Tlanqua cemilhuique_, compounded of _tlanqua_, to set the teeth, as with strong determination, and _cemilhuitia_, to run during a whole day. Sahagun, _Historia_, Lib. iii, cap. iii, and Lib. x, cap. xxix; compare also the myth of Tezcatlipoca disguised as an old woman parching corn, the odor of which instantly attracted the Toltecs, no matter how far off they were. When they came she killed them. Id. Lib. iii, cap. xi.] In some, and these I consider the original versions of the myth, they do not constitute a nation at all, but are merely the disciples or servants of Quetzalcoatl.[1] They have all the traits of beings of supernatural powers. They were astrologers and necromancers, marvelous poets and philosophers, painters as were not to be found elsewhere in the world, and such builders that for a thousand leagues the remains of their cities, temples and fortresses strewed the land. "When it has happened to me," says Father Duran, "to ask an Indian who cut this pass through the mountains, or who opened that spring of water, or who built that old ruin, the answer was, 'The Toltecs, the disciples of Papa.'"[2] [Footnote 1: "Discipulos," Duran, _Historia_, in Kingsborough, vol. vii, p. 260.] [Footnote 2: Ibid.]