AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Zoques, Mixes, etc. "The greater part of Gaxaca [Mexico] and the neighboring regions are still occupied by the Zapytees, who call themselves Didja-za. There are now about 265,000 of them, about 50,000 of whom speak nothing but their native tongue. In ancient times they constituted a powerful independent state, the citizens of which seem to have been quite as highly civilized as any member of the Aztec family. They were agricultural and sedentary, living in villages and constructing buildings of stone and mortar. {108} The most remarkable, but by no means the only, specimens of these still remaining are the ruins of Mitla. ... The Mixtecs adjoined the Zapotecs to the west, extending along the coast of the Pacific to about the present port of Acapulco. In culture they were equal to the Zapotecs. ... The mountain regions of the isthmus of Tehuantepec and the adjacent portions of the states of Chiapas and Oaxaca are the habitats of the Zoques, Mixes, and allied tribes. The early historians draw a terrible picture of their valor, savagery and cannibalism, which reads more like tales to deter the Spaniards from approaching their domains than truthful accounts. However this may be, they have been for hundreds of years a peaceful, ignorant, timid part of the population, homely, lazy and drunken. ... The faint traditions of these peoples pointed to the South for their origin. ... The Chinantecs inhabited Chinantla, which is a part of the state of Oaxaca. ... The Chinantecs had been reduced by the Aztecs and severely oppressed by them. Hence they welcomed the Spaniards as deliverers. ... Other names by which they are mentioned are Tenez and Teutecas. ... In speaking of the province of Chiapas the historian Herrera informs us that it derived its name from the pueblo so-called, 'whose inhabitants were the most remarkable in New Spain for their traits and inclinations.' They had early acquired the art of horsemanship, they were skillful in all kinds of music, excellent painters, carried on a variety of arts, and were withal very courteous to each other. One tradition was that they had reached Chiapas from Nicaragua. ... But the more authentic legend of the Chapas or Chapanecs, as they were properly called from their totemic bird the Chapa, the red macaw, recited that the whole stock moved down from a northern latitude, following down the Pacific coast until they came to Soconusco, where they divided, one part entering the mountains of Chiapas, the other proceeding on to Nicaragua." _D. G. Brinton, The American Race, pages 140-146._ ALSO IN _A. Bandelier, Report of Archæological Tour in Mexico._ AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Zoques. See above: ZAPOTECS, ETC. AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Zuñian Family.