And we might have had some other pictures, too, that these people made, for they used to draw things, just as we do, and when they wanted to describe a thing they would often draw a picture of it, instead of only _saying_ what it was like. Even their writing was all in pictures, for when they wanted to write--say the word "sun" or the word "house"--they would draw a little picture of the sun or of a house, only so quickly and with such a few strokes of the pen or the paint-brush (I don't quite know which it was), that it was quite like proper writing. Of course there are some words that are not so easy to make a picture of--as you can try for yourself--but, wherever it could be done, these old Aztecs would do it. And if only we had some more of this writing (for we have very little of it), we should be able to know a great deal more about this old people, who were in America before Columbus came there, and what they did and what they thought about, and the remarks they made to each other, and just think how interesting that would be. It is always interesting to know something about people quite different to ourselves who lived a long time ago. Unfortunately, when the Spaniards had conquered these people, instead of keeping the things which they had made, they burnt them. They burnt their houses, their temples, their cities, their picture-writings, their feather-pictures, their wonderful flowers--until the gold and silver they were made of were quite melted--their clothes, everything--even the people themselves--and, to save time, they often burnt the two last together. It is a great pity they did this, but, you see, everybody has a plan of doing things, and the plan of the Spaniards was to burn the people they conquered, and everything belonging to them. But was it not horribly cruel? Oh! most horribly; but so it is to shoot sea-gulls, and then to cut off their wings, before they are dead, and throw them back into the sea, to drown there or bleed to death. That is what _we_ do, and _it_ is horribly cruel, too. So do not let us think about the cruel things the Spaniards did--yet. Let us think, first, about the cruel things that are done by people in our own country, and try to stop _them_. _When_ we have stopped them--_all_ of them--then we can think about the Spaniards--and some other nations.