the giant pyramid of Cholula marks the site of the great and ancient
Tollan whose destruction was the theme of the plaintive native songs of
lamentation even at the time of the Spanish Conquest. That the natives
have ever regarded Cholula as a place of particular sanctity is shown by
the following statement by Fray Geronimo Roman y Zamorra (1569-1575)
(Republicas de Indias, ed. Suarez, Madrid, 1888): "It was Colola or
Cholola, which was the ancient metropolis or head of all the native
religion, so much so that all the great chiefs or lords had their own
chapels and dwelling houses there because they used to perform pilgrimages
to its great temple this being the most revered [in the _land_]."

It is also reasonable to infer that the region of the high plateau and
valley of Mexico, possibly before the formation of the great lagoons, was
the cradle of ancient American civilization, where, during countless
centuries, the native race literally and figuratively cultivated its own
maize and simultaneously developed the set of ideas which formed the basis
of its intellectual evolution.

In this connection it is interesting to reflect that, as clearly shown by
ceremonial usages which existed throughout our continent and survive to
the present day amongst the Pueblo Indians, it is to the fostering care,
forethought and labor of countless generations of women, the "Corn Maidens
and Mothers," that America owes the priceless legacy of a food-plant which
has already sustained untold millions of lives. Thus, whilst the ancient
"Daughters of the Earth" have given their country a gift which will last
for all time, the pyramids, temples and cities, reared by the "Sons of
Heaven," have fallen into ruin, and the great edifice of human thought
that they reared, their complex social organization, government and
calendar now lie superseded under the dust of time.

At this point of investigation the question naturally arises, Whence came
the founders of the native civilization, who established themselves and
peopled the central region of Mexico and doubtlessly dwelt there for a
prolonged period prior to the first of the traditional cataclysms which
nearly proved destructive to their race?

It is obvious that, before this interesting question can be satisfactorily
discussed, a minute analysis and investigation should be made of all other
ancient civilizations of the world in which the swastika was employed as a
sacred symbol. A comparative r