The marvellous country, or, Three years in Arizona and New Mexico.: Containing an authentic history of this wonderful country and its ancient civilization ... together with a full and complete history of the Apache tribe of Indians .../ By Samuel Woodworth Cozzens. Illustrated by more than one hundred engravings.

PRESCOTT'S CONCLUSION.
of one people; boldly announcing that the assertions of the
historian Claverigo are correct when he says that "all the
ruins existing in New Mexico and Arizona are of undoubted
Aztec origin."
On the other hand, Prescott, in his "Conquest of Mexico,"
says, "It is true that these remains discover a race of men
superior to the natives of New Mexico of the present day,
but where are the evidences of the very high stage of civilization to which the Aztecs are said, by historians, to have
obtained in Anahacu? Where are the evidences of a mechanical knowledge equal to that which must have been exercised in the construction of the temple of Xochicalco, or
the palaces of Tescotzinco, and the colossal calendar stone in
the capital?"
In a word, Prescott seems to think that all of these ruins
are of Toltec rather than Aztec origin, or are the work of
their contemporaries, the Tezcucans.
Professor Bell, an English writer, who travelled through a
portion of this country, in his work on "North America,"
devotes considerable space, and discusses to some length the
question as to who were the builders of these ruins. He
considers the town-buildilng Indians as the skirmish line of
the Aztec race when it was united and in the full plenitude
of its power. He says: "The rich bottom-lands of the Gila
were occupied and placed under irrigation; the valley of the
Rio Verde, Salinas, and other streams, were taken posses
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