UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 , ^1 -\ 
 
 
 T O 
 
 THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 THE EARL OF BUTE. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 T Have the Honour to prefent to your 
 Lordship a Tranflation of the Hiftory of 
 Mexico, written by a Native of that Country. 
 The Obligation I am under to your Lordship 
 for an Acquaintance with the Original, and 
 the Relation which every Effort to dilTemin- 
 ate pleafing and inftru6i:ive Knowledge, bears 
 to your Lordfhip's Life and Manners, have 
 didlated this Addrefs. I chearfully lent my 
 
 A 2 In- 
 
 321846
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 Induftry to aflift an Advocate in the Caufe 
 of Truth, who faw her Interefts abandoned, 
 and felt for her Oppreffion. Though the 
 
 Talk might eafily have fallen into abler 
 Hands, I dare freely appeal to your Lord- 
 ship for the Fidelity of my Labours. 
 
 I have the Honour to be, with the utmofl: 
 Refpea, 
 
 fl 
 
 My L r c, 
 
 Your L o R D s H 1 p's much obliged. 
 
 And moft obedient humble Servant, 
 
 CHARLES CULLEN.
 
 TRANSLATOR 's PREFACE. 
 
 ^. l"^HE difcovery of America conftitutes one of the moft 
 3.-. remrvkable aeras of the world; and the hillory of it 
 a fub'ec"^ not only curious but univerfally interefti ng, from 
 ;.:ous conneólioris with almoft every other part 
 ol tiie globe. The Spanifh hiliorians of the two pre- 
 ceding centuries have done little tovvards elucidating this 
 point. Partiality, prejudice, ignorance, and credulity, have 
 occafioned them all to blend fo many abfurdities and 
 improbal)ilities with their accounts, that it has not been- 
 merely difficult, but altogether impoffiblc, to afcertain the 
 truth. To colle<rt from their fcattered materials whatever 
 wore the face of probability, that was naturally curious, or 
 politically interefting, fo as to form one uniform confiilcnt 
 relation of the whole, was a tafk in which, for a long time, 
 no modern writer dared to engage. Dr. Robertfon at laft 
 •undertook, and executed it with the applaufe diie to his 
 beauty of ftyle, his induftry, and his judgment. 
 
 But notwithftanding the alTiduity of his refearches, and' 
 the pains he has taken to extricate fads from the confu- 
 fion of different authors, as what is true does not always ap- 
 pear poflible, and what appears probable is rtot always true, 
 he has not entirely fucceeded, though he has done all that 
 ' • couid
 
 IV 
 
 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 could be expeacd. The want of many elTential documents, 
 which are preferved in archives of the new world, and 
 other difadvantages attending the fituation of a writer at a 
 diftancc from that continent, unacquainted with its lan- 
 guages, produaions, or people, perhaps, have made him 
 diffident of entering into very minute details, or of dweUing 
 upon grounds where he was uncertain of being accurate, 
 and induced him, rather than ofiFer conjeaures which 
 micTht not have reached the truth refpeaing that country 
 and its inhabitants, to adhere to records more authentic 
 concerning the difcoverers of it. 
 
 This condua, however prudent, has left the American 
 fide of the piòlure ftiil greatly in the dark. The Abbé Ray- 
 nal and M. de Paw have not contributed much to remedy 
 this defea. The hiftory of Mexico, by the Abbé Clavigero, 
 a native of Vera Cruz, who refided near forty years in the 
 provinces of New Spain, examined its natural produce, ac- 
 quired the language of the Mexicans and other nations, ga- 
 thered many of their traditions, ftudied their hiftorical paint- 
 ings, and other monuments of antiquity, it is prefumed, has 
 fupplied their deficiencies. The tranflator, therefore, hopes 
 the prefent work which contains all the valuable matter of 
 other authors, befides many important particulars never be- 
 fore pubjiflied, will prove acceptable to the public. 
 
 PRE-
 
 R E F A e E. 
 
 THE hiftory of Mexico, undertaken in order to avoid the pain' 
 and reproach of idleiiefs to which I found my life con- 
 demned, to ferve to the utmoft of my power my native country, 
 and to reftore to their full light truths obfcured by an incredible 
 number of modern writers on America, has been a tafk equally 
 laborious, difficult, and expenfive. . Exclufive of the great expences 
 occafioned by procuring from Cadiz, Madrid, and other cities of 
 Europe, the books v/hich were neceflary to my purpofe, I have read 
 and examined every publication which has appeared hitherto on tlie 
 fubje<5t : I have compared the accounts of authors, and critically 
 weighed their authority ; I have ftudied many hiftorical paintings of 
 the Mexicans ; I have profited from their manufcripts, which I 
 read formerly in Mexico ; and confulted with many perfons well ac- 
 quainted with thefe countries. In addition to fuch diligence I might 
 add, to give credit to my labours, that I refided thirty-fix years in that 
 extenfive kingdom ; acquired the Mexican language, and for feveral 
 years converfed with the Mexicans, whofe hiftory I write. I do not, 
 however, flitter myfelf with having been able to give a perfedl work ; 
 fince, befides finding myfelf unpofiefled of thofe endowments of ge- 
 nius, judgment, and eloquence, which are the requifites of a good hif- 
 torian, the lofs of the greatefl part of the Mexican paintings, and the 
 want of many valuable manufcripts which are preferved in diftcrent 
 libraries of Mexico, and required repeated confiiltation, are infuper- 
 able obftacles to any one who undertakes fuch a hiftory, particu- 
 larly at a confiderable diftancc from thcfe countries.- Nevcrtlielcfs, 
 2 hope my work will be acceptable; not on account of the elegance of 
 
 the
 
 VUl 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 the flyle, the beauty of the defcriptions, the magnitude of the events, 
 or the weight of the opinions delivered in it ; but from tlie diligence of 
 my refearches, the integrity of my relation, and the fervice done to the 
 learned, who arc defirous of being made acquainted with the hiflory 
 of Mexico. 
 
 At the perfuafion of fome perfuns of learning, I wrote flie Eflay on 
 the Natural Hiftoiy of Mexico, contained in the firft book, which I had 
 not before judged neceffary ; and it may, in the opinion of many, be 
 confidered as foreign to the purpof:; : but not to deviate from my fub- 
 jed, I have connedled the account of natural productions v/ith the 
 general hiflory, by mentioning the ufe which the Mexicans made of 
 them. On the other hand, to thofe who are attached to the ftudy of 
 Natural Hiftory, this eflay will appear, what in truth it is, too con- 
 fined and fuperficial ; but to fatisfy the curious on that fabjecft, it 
 would be neceflary to write a work very different from that which I 
 have undertaken. At the fame time, I fhould have fpared myfelf a 
 great deal of trouble, if I had not been obliged to comply with the 
 felicitations of my friends j as in writing that fketch of Natural 
 Hiflory, I found it necefFary to fludy the works of Pliny, Diofco- 
 rides, Laet, Hernandez, UUoa, Buffon, Bomare, and other natur- 
 alifls ; not content with v/hat I had feen myfelf, or the infci-ma- 
 tion I had received from intelligent people to v/hom thofe countries 
 were well known. 
 
 In this hiflory, nothing has been more anxioufly fludied than fide- 
 ■Jity J I might have abridged my labours, and, perhaps, rendered my 
 work more acceptable to many, if all the diligence which I ufed to invef- 
 tigate fafts, had been employed to flrew the relation with philofophical 
 and political reflexions, or fidlions of capricious invention, after the ex- 
 ample of many authors in this boafled age ; but to me, as to thofe who 
 are the fworn enemies of deceit, falfehood, or affeftation, truth ap- 
 pears a beauty whofe charms increafe in proportion to her iimpli- 
 tity of drcfs. In recounting the events of the conquefl made by the 
 Spaniards, I have equally ubflalned from t.he panegyric of Solis, or the 
 
 in-
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ÌHvcétives of Las Cafas (a) -, being unwilling eitlier to flatter or ca- 
 lumniate my countrymen. I have left fails ia ihe £\me degree of cer- 
 tainty, or probability, in which I found them; wherever I could not 
 afcertain an event on account of tlic difagreement among authors, as for 
 example, the death of Montezuma, I have faithfully reported their 
 different opinions, without having omitted, however, fuch additional 
 conjeftures as reflexion on the fubjed: has fuggelled. In flaort, I 
 have always had before my eyes the t.vo facred laws of hifl:ory ; not 
 to dare to fpeak. what is falfe ; nor to fear to fpeak what is true : and 
 I flatter myfelf I have violated neither^ 
 
 I do not doubt there may be readers too nice and refined to bear 
 with the harflmefs of fo many Mexican names as are fcattercd through 
 this hiftory; but it is an evil which I have not been able to remedy, 
 without hazarding another defeót lefs tolerable, though futficicntly 
 couunon in almoil AÌ the Europeans who have written on America, 
 that is, the altering of names, for the purpOfe of foftening them, un- 
 til they are rendered unintelligible. Who would be capable of divi- 
 ning that De Solis fpeaks of Quauhnahuac, when he fays !^atlaòaca ;. 
 of Hucjotlipan, where he fubllitutes Gualipar ; or of Cuitlalpitoc^ 
 where he writes PUpatoc? I have therefore thought it mofl fafe ta 
 imitate tiie .xample of thofe modern writers, who, whenever thev in- 
 troduce into their works the names ofperlons, places, or rivers, of any 
 particular country of Europe, writs them in the language of its re- 
 fpeclive nation ; and in the writings of thefe authors there are names- 
 taken from the German, and other tongues, fully harlher to the ear, 
 fi-om the greater concourfe of rough conibnants, than any of the 
 words I have made ufe of. I do not, however, rejedl names that have 
 been formerly altered, by which there is no danger of being deceived, 
 as they are generally known. 
 
 With refpedl to the geography of Anahuac, I have ufed every en- 
 deavour to render it correct ; availing myfelf of the knowledge which I 
 
 (aj I do not mean to charge Solis uith flattery, nor Las CaCis with calumny : all I wiilj to 
 be undcrllood is, thnt 1 cuulJ not adopt the fentiincnts of yolis, who w:'.s ambitious of ag-pran- 
 diziiig his hero ; nor of Las Cafas, who was fired with pious zeal it» behalf of ihe Indi;ins, 
 «'ithoyt acculing mjfelf of both. 
 
 Yql. I. b jgained. 
 
 IK
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 gained in many excurfions through that country, as well as the infor- 
 mation and writings of others; i\fter all, I have not entirely fuc- 
 ceeded ; for, in fpite of my moft earnefl attempts, I have not been able to 
 procure the few incomplete aflronomical obfervations which have been 
 made on thefe places. The fituation, therefore, and diftances men- 
 tioned in the body of the hiftory, as well as in the chart, are not to be 
 confidered as being afcertained with that precifion and accuracy v.'hich 
 are required from a geographer ; but according to fuch computation 
 as could be made by an attentive furveyor who judged by the eye, I 
 have in my hands innumerable ancient and modern charts of Mexico, 
 of which it would have bscn eafy to have copied the mofb corredt ; 
 but amone thrfe I have not found even one that is not full of errors, 
 as well in regard to the latitude and longitude of places, as in refpedt 
 to the divifion of provinces, the courfe of rivers, and the direólion of 
 the coafls. 
 
 To make known what dependence may be placed on any of the 
 charts hitherto publiOied, it will be fufficient to mention the differ- 
 ence between them concerning the longitude of the capital, notwith- 
 flanding it ought to have been better afcertained than any other city of 
 Mexico. This diiference is not lefs than fourteen degrees, as by fomc 
 geograpliers the city of Mexico is placed in two hundred and fixty-four 
 degrees of longitude from the illand of Ferro; by others, in two hun- 
 dred and fixty-five ; by others, in two hundred and fixty-fix, and 
 even in two hundred and feventy- eight, or rather more. 
 
 To give fome ornament, however, to my hiftory, as well as to faci- 
 litate the underftanding of many things defcribed in it, I have added 
 twenty plates. The Mexican characters, the reprcfentations of the 
 cities, of the kings, of the armour, of the drelTes, of the fliields, of 
 the century, of the year, and of the deluge, have been copied from 
 different Mexican paintings. The figare of the greater temple was 
 taken from that of the Anonymous Conqueror, his dimenfions of it, 
 however, being corre6led, and additions made to it according to the 
 defcription of other ancient authors. The figure of the other temple 
 is a copy of that which Valades publifhed in his Chrijtian Rhetoric. 
 
 The
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The portrait of Montezuma was taken from a copy which Gemelli pu- 
 blirtied of the original, in the pofTellion of Siguenza. The portraits of 
 the conquerors are copies of thofe which are found in the Decades 
 of Herrera. All the other figures are defigns from what we have 
 feen ourfelves, and the defcriptions of ancient hiflorians. 
 
 Befides thefe, I have thought proper to prefix to my narration a 
 fhort account of the writers on the ancient hiilory of Mexico, to flaew 
 the ground-work of my labours ; alfo to do honour to the memory of 
 fome illuflrious Americans, whofe writings are entirely unknown in 
 Europe. It will ferve likewife to point out the fources from whence 
 others may obtain the hiftory of Mexico, who may be hereafter ia~ 
 clined to complete tins imperfedl work. 
 
 XI 
 
 b 2 AN
 
 A N 
 
 ACCOUNT 
 
 OK THE 
 
 W R IT E R S 
 
 ON THE 
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 In the Sixteenth Century. 
 
 FErdinand Cortes. The four very long letters written by this fam- 
 ous conqueror to his fovereign, Charles the Fifth, containing an 
 account of tlie Conqueft, and many valuable particulars refpedt- 
 ing Mexico, and the Mexicans, were publiflied in Spanifh, in Latin, 
 in the Tufcan, and other languages ; the firfl: of thefe letters was 
 printed in Seville in 1522 ; they are all well written, and difcover both 
 modefly and fincerity in the relation ; as he has neither made a boaft of 
 his own adtions, nor thrown obfcurity on thofe of others. If he had 
 had the rafhnefs to deceive his king, his enemies who prefented fo 
 many complaints at court againft him, would not have failed to re- 
 proach him witli fuch a crime. 
 
 Bernal Diaz del Caftillo, a foldier and conqueror ; A True Hijlory 
 of the Conquejl of New Spain, written by him, was printed in Madrid 
 in 1632, in one volume, folio. Notwithftanding the mifcarriage of 
 his undertaking, and the coarfcnefs of the ftyle, this hiftory has been 
 much efleemed for the fimplicity and fincerity of its author, which is 
 every where difcoverable. He was an eye-witnefs of all that he re- 
 lates ; but, from being illiterate, he was unqualified for the talk he un- 
 took ; and frequently ihews himfelf forgetful of fadls, by haviiig writ- 
 ten many years after the conqueft. 
 
 Al—
 
 XlV 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE WRITERS ON THE 
 
 Alfonfo de Mata, and Alfonfo d'Ojeda, both conquerors, and wri- 
 ters of commentaries on the conqueft of Mexico, which Herrera and 
 Torquemada have made ufe of. Thofe of Ojeda are the fulleft and 
 the mofl efteemed. He was more acquainted with the Indians, 
 being the perfon appointed to attend to the auxiliary troops of the 
 Spaniards. 
 
 Tlie Anonymous Conqueror. This is the name given to the author 
 of a fliort, but very curious, and efleemed relation which is found in 
 the colledlion of Ramufio, under the title of The Relation of a Gentle- 
 man -who attended Ferdinand Cortes. I have not been able to conjec- 
 ture who this gentleman may have been, as no author makes mention 
 of him 3 but, whoever he was, he is candid, accurate, and cu- 
 rious. Without troubling himfelf with the events of the conqueft, 
 he relates what he obferved in Mexico concerning the houfes, the 
 fepulchres, the arms, the drelTes, the manner of eating and drinking, 
 &c. of the Mexicans, and defcribes the form of their temples. If 
 his work had not been (o much confined, there would have been no 
 one comparable to it i'efpe<5lH'ig the antiquities of Mexico. 
 
 Francifco Lopez de Gomara. The hiftory of New Spain, written by 
 this learned Spaniard agreeable to information received from the mouths 
 of the conquerors, and the Writings of the firft religious miffionaries 
 who were employed in the converfion of the Mexicans, and printed in 
 Saragolfa in 1 554, is curious and well drawn up. He was the firft who 
 publiilied the feftivals, rites, la\Vs, and the method by which the Mexi- 
 cans computed time : but there are many inaccuracies in it on account 
 oi thelè firft informations which he obtained not having been altogether 
 evadi:. The tranflation of this work in the Tufcan language, printed 
 at Venice in 1 599, is fo full of errors it cannot be read without dilguft^ 
 
 Toribio de Benavente. A moft celebrated Spaniard of the order of 
 St. Francis, and one of the twelve firft preachers who announced the 
 golpel to the Mexicans, known commonly from his evangelical po- 
 verty, by the Mexican name of Motolinia, wrote, among his apoftoli- 
 cal works. The Uijlory of the Indians of New Spain, divided into three- 
 parts. In the firft, he explains the ritei of tlieir ancient religion ; in 
 
 6 tho.
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY OF MEXICO. xv 
 
 the fecond, their converfion to the Chriftian faith, and their life whea 
 Chriftians ; and in the third, he difcourfes of their genius, their arts, 
 and their cuftoms. Of this hiftory, which is completed in one vo- 
 lume, folio, there are fome copies to be found in Spain. He wrote 
 aho a work on the Mexican Calendar (the original of which is prc- 
 ferved in Mexico), and others not lefs ufeful to the Spaniards than the 
 Indians. 
 
 Andrea d' Ohiios. A Francifcan Spaniard, of holy memory. This 
 Indefatigable preacher acquired the Mexican, Totonacan, and Huax- 
 tecan languages, and compofed a Grammar and Di<ftionary of all three. 
 Befides other works written by him for the ufe of the Spaniards 
 and the Indiane, he wrote in Spanifli a Treatife on Mexican Antiqui- 
 ties ; and in the Mexican language, the exhortations which the anci- 
 ent Mexicans ufed to their children, of which there is a ipecimen in 
 the feventh book of this hiftory. 
 
 Bernardo Sahagun, a laborious Francifcan Spaniard. Having been more 
 thanjhxty years employed in inflrutìiing the Mexicans, he made great pro- 
 ficiency in their language and the knowledge of their hiftory. Befides fe- 
 veral works written by him, both in Mexican and in Spanifh, he com- 
 pofed in twelve great volumes in folio, a Univerlal Diótionary of the 
 Mexican Language, containing all that belonged to the geography, the 
 religion, and the political and natural hillory of the Mexicans. This 
 work, of immenfe erudition and labour, was fcnt to the royal hiftorio- 
 grapher of America, refident at Madrid, by the marquis of Villaman- 
 rique, viceroy of Mexico ; and we do not doubt, but it is Aill pre- 
 ferved in fome library of Spaiji, He wrote alfo the General Hiftory 
 of New Spain, in four volumes, which were preferred in manufcript 
 in the library of the convent of Francifcans in Tolofa de Navarra, ac- 
 cording to the affirmation of Juan de S. Antonio, in his Bibliotheca 
 Francifcana. 
 
 Alfonfo Zurita, a Spanifli lawyer and judge of Mexico. After hav- 
 ing, by order of king Philip II. made diligent refearches into the 
 civil government of the Mexicans, he wrote in Spanifli A compcn- 
 diom Relation of th'c Lords there were in Mexico, and their Difference : 
 
 of
 
 XVl 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE WRITERS ON THE 
 
 of the Laws, Ujages, and Cujloms of the Mexicans : of the tributes 'whkh 
 they paid y &c. The original manufcript in folio, is preierved in the 
 library of the college of St. Peter and St. Paul, of the Jefuits of Mexico. 
 From tliis work, which is well written, fome confiderable part of 
 M'hat \i-e have faid on the fame fubje(5l is extradted. 
 
 Juan de Tobar, a moft noble Jefuit of Mexico. He wrote on the 
 ancient hiftory of the kingdoms of Mexico, of Acolhuacan, and of 
 Tlacopan, after having made diligent enquiries, by order of the vice- 
 roy of Mexico, D. Martino Enriquez. By thefe manufcripts, P. Ac- 
 cofta was principally diredled in what he wrote concsrning Mexican 
 antiquities, as he himfelf acknowledges. 
 
 Jofeph D'Acoflaj a moft celebrated SpaniHi Jefuit, well known 
 in the literary world by hÌ5 writings.. This great man, after having 
 refidctl fomeyears in both the Americas, and informed himfelf, from 
 experienced people, of the culloms of thofe nations, wrote in Spanifh 
 the Natural and Moral Hiflory of the Indians, which was printed firil 
 in Seville, in 1589, reprinted afterwards in Barcelona in 1591, and 
 from thence circulated into various languages of Europe. This work Ì3 
 well written, particularly in regard to the phyfical obfervations on the 
 climate of America J but, it is too confined, defective in many articles^ 
 and there are lome miftakes concerning ancient hiftory, 
 
 Fernando Prmentel Ixtlilxochitl, ion of Coanacotzin , lail king of 
 Acolhuacan, and Antonio de Tobar Cano Motezuma Ixtlilxoqhitl,, 
 a defcendant of the two royal houfes of Mexico and Acolhuacan.. 
 Thcfe two nobles, at the requeft of the count of Benavente, and the 
 viceroy of Mexico D. Luis de Velafco, wrote letters on the gene- 
 alogy of the kings of Acolhuacan, and other points relative to the an- 
 cient hiftory of that kingdom, which, are preferv.ed in the above men- 
 tioned college of the Jefuits. 
 
 Antonio Plmentel Ixtlilxochitl, fon of D; Fernando Pimenctl. 
 He wrote Hiftorical Memoirs of the Kingdom of Acolhuacan, by 
 •which Torquemada was aflifled ; and from it we have taken the caicu-. 
 
 lation
 
 ANCIENT HISTOPvY OF MEXICO. xvii 
 
 latlon mentioned in the fourth book of our hiftory, of the annual ex- 
 pences incurred in the palace of the funous king Nezahualcojotl, great- 
 great-grandfather of that author. 
 
 Taddeo de Niza, a noble Indian of Tlafcala. He wrote in the year 
 1 548, by order of the viceroy of Mexico, the Hiilory of the Con- 
 quefl, which was fubfcribed by thirty other nobles of Tlafcala. 
 
 Gabriel d' Ayala, a noble Indian of Tezcuco. He wrote in the 
 Mexican language Hiflorical Commentaries ; containing an accolint of 
 all the affairs of the Mexicans from the year 1 243 of the vulgar ajra, 
 unto 1562. 
 
 Juan Ventura Zapata e Mendoza, a noble of Tlafcala. He wrote in 
 the Mexican language the Chronicle of Tlafcala j containing all the 
 events of that nation, from their arrival in the country of Anahuac, 
 to the year 1589. 
 
 Pedro Ponce, a noble Indian, reélor of Tzompahuacan. He wrote in 
 Spanifh, An Account of the Gods and the Rites of Mexican Paganifm. 
 
 The chiefs of Colhuacan. They wrote the Annals of the Kingdom 
 of Colhuacan. A copy of this work was in the above mentioned library 
 of the Jefuits. 
 
 Chriftoval del Caftillo, a Mexican Meftee. He wrote the Hiftory 
 of the Travels of the Aztecas, or Mexicans, to the country of Ana- 
 huac ; which manufcript was preferved in the library of the college of 
 Jefuits of Tepozotlan. 
 
 Diego Mucrnoz Cnmarfo, a noble Meftee of Tlafcala. He wrote in 
 Spanifh the Hiftory of the City and Republic of Tlafcala. Torque- 
 raada made ufe of this work, and there are copies of it both in Spain 
 and Mexico. 
 
 Fernando d'Alba Ixtlilxochitl, a Tezcucan, and defcendant, in a 
 
 right line from the kings of Acolhuacan. This noble Indian cx- 
 
 VoL. I. c trcmelv
 
 xviii ACCOUNT OF THE WRITERS OF THE 
 
 tremely converfant with the antiquities of his nation, wrote, at the re- 
 queil of the viceroy of Mexico, feveral very learned and valuable 
 works ; I . The Hiflory of New Spain ; 2. The Hiftory of the Che- 
 chemecan Lords; 3. An Epitome of tho Hiftory of the Kingdom 
 of Tezcuco ; 4. Hiftorical Memoirs of the Toltccas, and other na- 
 tions of Anahuac. All thefe work?, written in Spanifli, wcrepreferv- 
 ed in the library of St. Peter and St. Paul of the Jefuits of Mexico, 
 and from them we have extraded fome materials for this hiftory. The 
 author was fo cautious in writing, that, in order to remove any 
 grounds for fufpicion of fiótion, lie made his accounts conform exaftly 
 with the hiftorical paintings, which he inherited from his illuftrious 
 anceftors. 
 
 Juan Batifta Pomar, of Tezcuco, or Cholula, a defcendant from a 
 baftard of the royal houfe of Tezcuco. He wrote Hiftorical Memoirs 
 of that Kingdom, which Torquemada has made ufe of. 
 
 Domingo de San Anton Muiion Chimalpain, a noble Indian of 
 Mexico. He wrote in the Mexican language four works, much 
 tfteemed by the intelligent: i. American Chronicle, contairiing all 
 the "Events of that Nation, from the Year 1068, to the Year 1597 of 
 the vulgar era. 2. The Hiftory of the Conqueft of Mexico by the 
 Spaniards, ■^. Original Accounts of the Kingdoms of Acolhuacan, of 
 Mexico, and of other provinces. 4, Hiftorical Commentaries from the 
 year 1064 to 1521. Thefe works, which I moft ardently wifhed for, 
 were prelerved in the library of the college of St. Peter and St. Paul of 
 Mexico. Boturini had copies of them, as well as of almoft all tiie 
 works of the Indians, which I have mentioned ; there was a copy of 
 the Chronicle alfo in die library of the college of St. Gregory of the 
 Jefuits of Mexico. 
 
 Fernando d' Alvarado Tezozomoc, an Indian of Mexico. He 
 wrote in Spanilh a Mexican Chronicle, about the year 1598, which 
 was preforved in the above mentioned library of St. Peter and St. Paul* 
 
 Bartolomè de Las Calas, a famous Dominican Spaniard, firft bi- 
 ftiop of Chiapa, and highly wortliy of memory among the Indians. The 
 
 bitter
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY OF MEXICO. xix 
 
 bitter memorials prefented by this venerable prelate to king Ciiarles 
 V. and Philip II. in favour of the Indians, and againll; the Spanilh 
 conquerors, printed in Seville, and afterwards tranflated and reprinted, 
 in odium to the Spaniards, in various languages of Europe ; contains 
 foine particulars of the ancient hiilory ot the Mexicans, but fo al- 
 tered and exaggerated, we cannot rely on the authority of the author, 
 however othcrvvifc rcfpedtable. Thecxcefl'ive fire of his zeal fent forth 
 light and fmoke together, that is, he mixed truth with falfehood, not 
 becaufe he lludied an opportunity of deceiving his king and tlie world, 
 as a fufpicion of fuch guilt in him would be offering wrong to that 
 virtue which his enemies acknowledged and revered ; but becaufe, not 
 having been prefent at what he relates concerningMexico, he trufted too 
 much to information from others, which will be made to appear in fome 
 parts of this hiflory. We ihould have, probably, been much more 
 afìifted by two great works of the fame prelate never publifhed, the 
 one, A Hiliory of the Climate and Soil of the Countries of Ame- 
 rica; and the Genius and Manners, 6cc. of the Americans under Sub- 
 jection to the Catholic Xing, This manufcript, conlifting of 830 . 
 pages, was preferved in the library of the Dominicans of Valladolid, 
 in Spain, where it was put by Remefal, as he makes us credit in 
 his Clironicle of the Dominicans of Chiapa and Guatemala. The 
 other, A General Hiftory of America, in three volumes, folio ; a copy 
 of which was in the library of the count of V^illaumbrofa, in Madrid, 
 where Pinelo faw it, as he affirms, in his Bibliotheca Occidentali : two 
 - Volumes of this hiftory the above mentioned author faw in the cele- 
 brated archives of Simancas, which have been the fepulchre of many 
 precious manufcripts on Amcnca. Two volumes alfo were in the li- 
 brary of J. Kricio, at Amfterdam. 
 
 Aguftino Davila, and Padillo, a noble and ingenious Dominican of 
 Mexico, preacher to king fhilip III. royal hilloriographer of America» 
 and archbifhop of the ifland of St. Domingo. Befidcs the Chronicle 
 of the Dominicans of Mexico, printed in Madrid, in 1596, aod the 
 Hiftory of New Spain and Florida, printed in Valladolid, in 1632, he 
 wrote the Ancient Hiliory of the Mexicans, employing materials already 
 rolleftcd by Fernando Duran, a Dominican of Te2CU);9 ; but this 
 work has not been found. . :. 
 
 c 2 Dodor
 
 XX 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE WRITERS OF THE 
 
 Dodor Cervantes, dean of the metropolitan church of Mexico. 
 Herrera, the Chronicle-writer, praifes the Hillorical Memoirs of 
 Mexico, written by this authoi- ; but we have no other intelligence of 
 him. 
 
 Antonio de Saavedra Guzman, a ncble Mexican, during his voyage 
 to Spain, wrote in twenty cantos, the Hiilory of the Conquefl of 
 Mexico, and printed it in Madrid, under tlie Spanilh title of El Pe- 
 7- frr'ino Indiano, in 1599. This work ought to be reckoned amongfl 
 the hiftories of Mexico ^ for it has nothing of poetry but the meafure. 
 
 Pedro Guterrez de S. Chiara. Betancourt made ufe of the manu- 
 fcripts of this author in his Hiftory of Mexico ; but we know nothing 
 of the title or quality of the work, nor of the country of the author, 
 although we fufpe(fl he was an Indian. 
 
 In the Seventeenth Century. 
 
 Antonio de Herrera, royal hiftoriographer for the Indies. This 
 candid and judicious author wrote in four volumes in foho. Eight 
 Decades of the Hiftory of America, beginning from the year 1492, 
 together with a Geographical Defcription of the Spanifh Colonies 3 
 which work was printed for the firft time in Madrid, at the beginning 
 of the laft century, and afterwards reprinted in 1730 j alfo tranflated 
 and publiOied in other languages of Europe. Although the principal 
 defign of the author was to relate the aótions of the Spaniards, he does 
 not, however, omit the Ancient Hiflory of the Americans ; but in 
 what relates to the Mexicans, he copies for the moft part the accounts 
 of Acofta and Gomara. His method, however, like that of all rigid 
 annalifts, is difagreeable to the lovers of hiftory, becaufe at every fl:ep 
 the narration of fafts is interrupted with the account of other uncon- 
 nected occurrences. 
 
 Arigo Martinez, a foreign author, although of Spanifli fumarne. 
 After having travelled through the greateit part of Europe, and refided 
 many years in Mexico, where he made himfelf moft ufeful by his 
 great fkill in mathematics, he wrote the Hiilory of New Spain, 
 
 2 wiiich
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY OF MEXICO. rxi 
 
 which \\'as printed in Mexico in lóoó. In the Ancient Hiftory, lie 
 treads for the moft part in the footfteps of Acofta ; but there are aftro- 
 noniical and pli) lical obfervations in it of importance to the geography 
 and natural hiftory of thefe countries. 
 
 Gregorio Garcia, a Dominican Spaniard. His famous treatife on 
 the Origin of the Americans, printed in quarto, at Valentia, in 1607, 
 afterwards enlarged and reprinted in Madrid, in 1729, in folio, is a 
 work of vafl: erudition, but almoft totally ufelefs, as it gives little or 
 no àfìiftance in difcovering truth ; the foundation for the opinions 
 which he maintains concerning the origin of the Americans, are, for 
 the moft part, weak conjectures founded on the refemblance between 
 fome of their cuftoms and words, and thofe of other nations. 
 
 Juan de Torquemada, a Francifcan Spaniard. The Hiftory of Mexico, 
 written by him under the title of the Indian Monarchy, printed in Ma- 
 drid about I 614, in three great volumes in folio, is, without queflion, 
 the moft complete in refpedl to the antiquity of Mexico of any hitherto 
 publifhed. The author refided in Mexico from his youth to his 
 death ; knew the Mexican language well, converfed with the Mexicans 
 for upwards of fifty years, colledlcd a great number of ancient pidlures 
 and excellent manufcripts, and laboured at his work more than twenty 
 years ^ but in fpite of his diligence, and fuch advantages, he frequently 
 betrays want of memory, of critical fkill, and good tafte j and in -his. 
 hiftory there appear many grofs contradi^itions, particularly in chro- 
 nology, feveral childifli recitals, and a great deal of fuperfiuous learn- 
 ing, on which account it requires confiderable patience to read it ; 
 nevcrthclefs, there being many things of curiofity and value in it, 
 which would be fought for in vain in other authors, I was under the 
 neceflity to do with this hiftory what Virgil did with the works of En^ 
 nius, to fearch for the gems amongft the rubbifh. 
 
 Arrias Villalobos, a Spaniard. His Hiftory of Mexico carried on 
 from the foundation of the capital, to the year 1623, written in vcrfe, 
 and printed there in the above year, is a work of little value. 
 
 Chriftoval
 
 xx:i ACCOUNT OF THE WRITERS OF THE 
 
 Chriaoval Chaves Caflillejo, a Spaniard. He wrote, about the year 
 1632, a A'oluine in folio, on the Origin of the Indians, and their firft 
 Colonies in the Country of Anahiuc. 
 
 Carlos de Siguenza e Gongora, a celebrated Mexican profeffor of ma- 
 thematics in the univtrfity of his native country. This author has 
 been one of the moll comprehenfive writers on the Hiftory of Mexico, 
 as he made, at a great expence, a large and choice colledlion of ancient 
 pidures and manufcripts, and apphed himfelf with thegreatefl: diligence 
 iind afliduity to illuftrate tin antiquity of that kingdom. Befides many 
 inathematicil, critical, hillorical, and poetical works compoled by 
 him, iome of them manufcripts, fome of them printed in Mexico 
 .from the year 1680 to 1Ó93, he wrote in Spani(h, i. The Mexican 
 Cvchgrapl-y, a work of great labour, in which, by calculating eclipfes 
 and comets, marked in the hillorical pidures of the Mexicans, he ad- 
 iuftcd their epochs with ours, and by availing himfelf of good inftruc- 
 tion, explained the method they ufed to count centuries, years, and 
 months. 2. 'The H'Jlory of the Chechemecan Empire , in which he ex- 
 plains what he found in Mexican manufcripts and paintings concerning 
 the firll colonies which paffed from Afia to America, and the events of 
 the moft ancient nations ellablilhed in Anahuac. 3. A long and 
 learned DilTertation on the Announcing of the Gofpel in Anahuac ; 
 which was done there, as he believed, by the apoftle St. Tho- 
 mas, fupporting his opinion on traditions of the Indians, crofies 
 found, and formerly worOiipped in Mexico, and other monuments. 
 
 4. The Genealogy of the Mexican Kings ; in which he traced their 
 afcending line as far back as the feventh century of the Chriftian tera. 
 
 5. Critical Annotations on the Works of Torquemada and Bernal 
 Diaz; all thefe moft learned manufcripts which would have afforded 
 confiderable aid to this hillory, were lofi through the negligence of 
 the heirs of that learned author ; and there now remain only ibme frag- 
 ments of them preierved in the works of other contemporary writers, 
 namely, of Gemelli, Betancourt, and Florencia. 
 
 Aguftino de Betancourt, a Francifcan of Mexico : his Ancient and 
 Modern Hiflory of Mexico, printed in that capital, in 1698, in one 
 
 volume
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY OF MEXICO. xxiii 
 
 volume in folio, under the title of T^be Mexican Tbeaire, is nothing elfe 
 in refpedl to ancient hiftory, but an abridgment of Torquejnada done 
 in hafte, and written with little accuracy. 
 
 Antonio dc Solis, royal hiftoriographer of America. The Hiflory 
 of the Conqueft of New Spain, written by this poliflied and ingc- 
 genious Spaniard, is more a panegyric than a hiflory. His didlion is 
 pure and elegant, but his manner is rather affeóted ; the fentences arc 
 too much laboured, and the public fpeeclies are the work, of his own 
 fancy ; like one lefs ftudious of truth than embellifhment, he fre- 
 quently contradids authors the moll worthy of credit, and even Cortes 
 himfelf, whofe panegyric he undertook. In the laft books of this hif- 
 tory, we ihall take notice of fome of the miftakes of this famous 
 writer. 
 
 In the Eighteenth Century. 
 
 Pedro Fernandez del Pulgar, a learned Spaniard, fucceiTor to Solis 
 in the office of hifloriographer. The true Hijiory of the Conqueji of 
 New Spain, written by him, is found cited in the Preface of the mo- 
 dern edition of Herrera, but we have not feen it. It is to be believed,. 
 that he fet about writing it for the purpofe of correding the errors of 
 his predecelTor. 
 
 Lorenzo Boturini Benaducci, of Milan. This curious and learned 
 gentleman arrived in Mexico in 1736 j and, defirous of writing the hif- 
 tory of that kingdom, he made, during eight years he remained there, 
 the mod diligent refearches into its antiquity j acquired a confiderable 
 maftery of tlie Mexican language, entered into frienddiip with the In- 
 dians to obtain their ancient pictures irom them, and procured copies 
 of many valuable manufcripts wliich were in the libraries of the mo- 
 naflcries. The mufeum which he formed of paintings and ancient ma- 
 nufcripts, was the moil numerous and fele<5l ever feen in that king- 
 dom, excepting that of the celebrated Sigutnzaj but before he put 
 a hand to his work, the exceflive jealoufy of the Spanifli governnoent 
 ilripped him of all his literary efbte, and fent him into Spain, where,. 
 
 being
 
 XXIV 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE WRITERS OF THE 
 
 being entirely cleared from every fufpicion againft his loyalty and honour^ 
 but without recovering his manuicripts, he publilhed in Madrid, in 
 1746, in one volume in quarto, a ikach of the great hiftory he was 
 meditating. It was found to contain much important knowledge, ne- 
 ver before publiflied ; but there were alfo fome errors in it. The hiftorical 
 fyftem which he had formed to himfelf, was too magnificent for exe- 
 cution, and therefore fantaftical. 
 
 Befides thefe and other Spanilh and Indian writers, there are fome 
 anonymous writers whofe works are worthy of being recorded on account 
 of the importance of their fubjedl; fuch as, i. Certain Annals of the 
 Toltecan nation, p.unted on paper, and written in the Mexican lan- 
 guage, in which there is an account given of the pilgrimage and wars 
 of the Toltecas, of their king, of the founding of Tollan, their me- 
 tropolis, and other occurrences until the year 1 547 of the vulgar «era. 2. 
 Certain Hiftorical Commentaries in the Mexican Language on the Events 
 of the Aztecan, or Mexican Nation, from the year 1066 to 1 3 16 ; and 
 others alfo in the Mexican language from the year 1367 to 1509. 3. 
 A Mexican Hiftory in the Mexican language, carried back as far as the 
 year 1406. In this hillory, the arrival of the Mexicans at the city of 
 Tollan, is fixed at 1196, agreeable to what we report in our hiflory. 
 All thefe manufcripts were in the valuable mufeum of Boturini. 
 
 We {hall not here mention thofe authors who wrote on the anti- 
 quity of Michuacan, of Yucatan, of Guatemala, and of New Mexico; 
 becaufe, although manyat prefent believe all thefe provinces were com- 
 prehended in Mexico, they did not belong to the Mexican empire, the 
 hiftory of which we write. We have mentioned the writers on the 
 ancient hiftory of the kingdom of Acolhuacan, and the republic of 
 Tlafcala, becaufe their events are for the moft part connetìed with thofe 
 of the Mexicans. 
 
 If in enumerating the writers on Mexico, we meant to difplay 
 our erudition, we could add a long catalogue of French, Englifli, Ita- 
 lian, Dutch, Flemifli, and German writers, who have written either 
 defignedly, or accidentally, on the ancient hiftory of that kingdom ; 
 but after having read many of them, to obtain affiftance to this work, I 
 found none who were of fervice except the two Italians, Gemelli and 
 
 Eotu-
 
 . ANCIENT HISTORY OFMEXICO. xxv 
 
 Boturini, who having been in Mexico, and procured from tlie Mcx-icans 
 many of dieir paintings, and particular intelligence concerning their anti- 
 quity, have contributed in ibme meafure to illuftrate their hiftory. All 
 the others have either repeated what was already written by Spaiufh au- 
 thors mentioned by us, or have altered fads, at their own dilcretion, 
 to inveigh the more ftrongly againft the Spaniards, as has lately been 
 done by M. de Paw, in his Philofophical Enquiries concerning the 
 Americans, and Marmontel in his Romance of 'The Incas. 
 
 Amongll the foreign hiftorians of Mexico, none is more celebrated 
 by them than the Englilh writer, Thomas Gage, whom I obferve many 
 have quoted as an oracle, and yet there is no writer on America more 
 addiifted to falfehood. Some, under the influence of the palTions of ha- 
 tred, love, or vanity, have been induced to mix fables with their writ- 
 ings j but Gage appears to have delighted in the invention of falfehoods. 
 What motive or inierefl; could occafion this author to fay, that the Capu- 
 chins had a beautiful convent in Tacubaja, that in Xalapa there was a bi- 
 Ihop's palace eredled in his time, with an income of ten thoufand ducats ; 
 that from Xalapa, he went to Rinconada, and from thence in one day to 
 Tepeaca ; that there is in this city a great abundance of anotias and of 
 chicozapotes, that this fruit has a kernel larger than a pear ; that the 
 wildernefs of the Carmelites ftands to the north-well of the capital; 
 that the Spaniards burnt the city Tingucz, in Quivira ; that having 
 rebuilt it, they inhabited it at the time he was there ; that the Je- 
 fuits had a college in it ; and a thoufand other ridiculous lies, which 
 appear in every page, and excite in readers who are acquainted with thefc 
 countries both laughter and contempt ? 
 
 Amongfl: modern writers on American affairs, the mofl famous and 
 efteemed are the Abbé Raynal and Dr. Robertfon. I'he Abbé, befides 
 feveral grofs delufions, into which he has fallen refpcdling the pre- 
 fent ftate of New Spain, doubts of every tiling which is laid concern- 
 ing tlie founding of Mexico, and the ancient hiftory of the Mexi- 
 cans. " Nothing," fays he, " are we permitted to affirm, except that the 
 " Mexican empire was governed by Montezuma, at the time that the 
 ** Spaniards landed on the Mexican coaft." This is the manner of 
 fpeaking of a philofopher of the eighteenth century. Nothing more 
 Vol. I. d can
 
 xxvi ACCOUNT OF THE WRITERS OF THE 
 
 can we be permitted to affirm ? And why not doubt alfo of the exifl- 
 ence of Montezuma ? If we are permitted to aflirm this, as it is af- 
 certaincd by the teftimony of the Spaniards who faw that king, we 
 find the atteltation of the fame Spaniards to a vaft many other things 
 belonging to the ancient hiftory of Mexico which were feen by them, 
 and further confirmed by the depofitions of the Indians themfeives. 
 Such particulars therefore may be affirmed, as pofxtively as the esillence 
 of Montezuma, or we ought alfo to entertain a doubt of it. If there is 
 reafon, however, to doubt of all the ancient hiftory of the Mexicans, 
 the antiquity of moft other nations in the world will come equally in 
 queftion ; for it is not eafy to find another hiftory, the events of which 
 have been confirmed by a greater number of hiftorians than thofe of 
 the Mexicans j nor do we know that any people ever publiihed fo fe- 
 vere a law a?ainft falfe hiftorians as that of the Acolhuas mentioned in 
 our eighth book. 
 
 Dr. Robertfon, though more moderate than Raynal, in his diftruft 
 of their hiftory, and furniflied with more Spanifh books and manufcripts, 
 has fallen into more errors and contradictions while he endeavoured to 
 penetrate further into the knowledge of America and the Americans. 
 To make us defpair of being able to obtain any tolerable knowledge 
 of the inftitutions and cuftoms of the Mexicans, he exaggerates the 
 negligence of the conquerors, and the deftrudtion made of the hifto- 
 rical monuments of that nation by the fuperftition of the firft miffion- 
 aries. " In confequence," fays he, " of this fanatical zeal of the 
 " monks, we have totally loft every intelligence of the moft remote 
 " events contained in thefe rude monuments, and there does not re- 
 " main 2. Jingle trace of the policy and ancient revolutions of the eni- 
 " pire, excepting thofe which are derived from tradition, or from fome 
 " fragments of their hiftorical pictures which efcaped the barbarous fearch 
 "of Zumaraga. It appears evident from the experience of all na- 
 " tions, that the memory of paft events cannot be long preferved, 
 " nor tranfmitted with fidelity by tradition. The Mexican piclures, 
 •' v.hich are fuppofed to have ferved as annals of their empire, are 
 " few in numl^er, and of ambiguous meaning. Thus irom the un- 
 " certainty of the one, and the obfcurity of the others, we are obliged 
 " to avail ourielves of fuch intelligence as can be gleaned from the 
 
 '• imper-
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY OF MEXICO. xxv-ii 
 
 ♦* imperfed materials which are found fcattered in tlie Spanilh vvri- 
 '* ters." Dut in thefe aflcrdons this author is gricvouUy deceived; 
 for, I. The mslerials which we find in Spanilh hillorians are not fv> 
 imperfedt, bat v/e may form from them a probable, though not al- 
 together an authentic hillory of the Mexicans ; which will appear 
 evident to any ooe who impartially confults them; all that is ncccC- 
 fary is fo make a leleftion. 2. Nor in the writing fuch a hiftory is it 
 ncceffary to ufe the materials of the Spanilh writers, while there are 
 fo many hiftcries and memoirs written by the Indians the.r,felves, 
 of which Robertfon had no knowledge. 3. Nor are the hiflorical 
 pidlurps fo few in nu;nber, which cfcaped the fearch of tlie firfl 
 miliionaries, unlefs we compare thofe which remain v/ith the in- 
 ciedible quantity that formerly cxil^ed ; as may eailly bo undcrllooJ 
 from this hiftory, Torquem:da, and other writers. 4. Neither are 
 fuch pidures of ambiguous meaning, except to Robertfon and thofe 
 who do not underftand the charadlers and figures of the Mexicans, nor 
 know the method they ufed to rcprefent things. Our writings are of 
 doubtful fignification to thofe v/ho have not learned to read them. 
 At the time the miffionaries nude that unfortunate burning of the pic- 
 tures, many Acolhuan, Mexican, Tcpanecan, Tlafcalan, and other 
 hillorians were living, and employed themfelvcs to repair tlie lofs 
 of thefe monuments. This they ia part accompliilied by p.aintin"- 
 new pictures, or making ufe of our charaders which they had learn- 
 ed, and inflruiting, by v/ord of mouth, their preachers in their an- 
 tiquity, that it might be prcferved in their writings, ^vhich Motolinia, 
 Olmos, and Sahagun have done. It is therefore abfolutely falfc, that 
 every knowledge of the moft remote events has been totally loft. It is 
 falfe, befidcs, that there is not a fingle trace remaining of the political 
 government, and ancient revolutions of the empire, excepting what is 
 derived from tradition, ócc. In this hiftory, and chiefly in the difierta- 
 tions, we filali deted fome of the many mifreprefentations which oc- 
 cur in the hillory of the above mentioned author, and in the works of 
 other foreign writers, which we might fvvell into large voljines. 
 Some authors not contented with introduci, ig errors, trifles, and lies, 
 into the hiflory of Mexico, have confounded it with falfe images and .1- 
 gures, fuch as thofe of the faiijous Theodore Bry. In Gage's work, in 
 
 d 2 the
 
 XXVI 11 
 
 PAINTINGS. 
 
 the general hlftory of the travels of Prevoft, and others, is reprefent- 
 ed a beautiful road made over the Mexican lake, from Mexico to- 
 Tezcuco, which is certainly the greateft abfurdity imaginable. The 
 great work, entitled. La Gaierie agreable diiMond, fays that ambafladors 
 were fent in former times to the court of Mexico, mounted on ele- 
 phants. Such fidions belong to romance not hiflory. 
 
 OF PAINTINGS. 
 
 ■yx rE do not pretend here to give a regifter of all the Mexican plc- 
 ' ^ tures faved from the burning of the firfl mifiionaries, or exe- 
 cuted afterwards by the Indian hiftorians of the fixteenth century, of 
 which fome Spanifli writers have availed themfelves, as fuch an enu- 
 meration vv'ould not be lefs ufelefs than tedious to our readers j but will 
 only mention fome collcftions, the knowledge of which may be of 
 fervice to any one inclined to write the hiftory of that kingdom. 
 
 I. The colledlion of Mendoza. Thus we call the colledlion of fixty- 
 three Mexican paintings made by the firft bifliop of Mexico, D. An- 
 tonio Mendoza, to which he caufed to be added Ikilful interpretations 
 in the Mexican and Spanifh languages, for the purpofe of fending them 
 to the emperor Charles V. The vefìel in which they were fent was 
 taken by a French corfair, and carried into France. The paintings fell 
 into the hands of Thevcnot, geographer to his moft Chriftian ma- 
 jelly, of whofe heirs they were purchafed at a liigh price by Hak- 
 luit, tlien chaplain to the Englifh ambaflador at the court of France.. 
 Being from thence carried into England, the Spanifh interpretations 
 were tranflated into Englifh by Locke, but not the famous metaphyfi- 
 cian, by order of fir Walter Ralegh j and laflly, at the requefl of tlie 
 learned fir Henry Spelman, publifhed by Samuel Purch-is in the third 
 volume of his Colleftion. In 1692, they were afrefli printed in Paris,, 
 with a French intei-pretation by Thevenot, in the fecond volume of his 
 work, entitled. Relation de divers Voiages Curieux. The pidlures as 
 
 we 
 6
 
 PAINT INGS. 
 
 we have ' mentioned before, were fixty-three in number ; the tweh-e 
 firft containing the hiftory of the foundation of Mexico, the years and 
 eonquefls of the Mexican kings ; the thirty-fix following, reprefent- 
 ing the tributary cities of that crown, and tlie quantity and fpecies of 
 their tributes ; and the remaining fifteen, explained a part of the edu- 
 cation of their youth, and their civil government. But it is necef- 
 fary to obferve, that the edition by Thevenot is imperfedl ; for in the 
 copies of the eleventh and twelfth pi6tures, the figures of the years 
 are changed ; the figures which belong to the reign of Montezuma, 
 being applied to the reign of Ahuitzotl; and on the contrary: the 
 copies of the twenty-nrfl: and twenty-fecond picSlures are entirely 
 wanting, and alfo in great part the figures of the tributary cities. Kir- 
 ker republiflied a copy of the firfl painting from that of Purchas, in 
 his work, entitled, Oedipus /Egyptiacus. This colledlion of Mcn- 
 doza we have diligently fludied, and obtained much affiflance to our 
 hiilory from it. 
 
 II. The colle(flian of the Vatican. Acofta makes mention of feme 
 painted Mexican annals which were in his time in the library of tlie 
 Vatican. We have no doubt but they are flill there j confidering the 
 laudable curiofity and great attention of the Italian gentlemen to pre- 
 ferve fuch monuments of antiquity ; but we had not any opportunity 
 of applying there to confult them. 
 
 III. The colledion of Vienna. Eight Mexican paintings are pre- 
 lerved in the library of this court. " From a note," fays Dr. Robert- 
 fon, " to this Mexican code, it appears, that it was made a pre- 
 " fent by Emanuel,, king of Portugal, to pope Clement VII. After 
 *• having pafled through the hands of feveral illuft/joiis proprietors, it 
 " came into the pofTcllion of the cardinal of Saxe Eifenach, who pre- 
 "^ fented it to the emperor Leopold." The fame author, in his Hillory 
 of America, gives a copy of one of thefc paintings, the firfl part of 
 which reprefents a king, who makes war upon a city after having fent 
 an embaily to it. The figures of temples, and of Ibme years and days 
 appear in it ; but as it is a fingle copy without colours, or thofe 
 marks in the human figures, which, in other Mexican paintings, en- 
 able 
 
 XXIX
 
 x\x 
 
 PAINTINGS. 
 
 able U3 to diflinguifli perfons, it is not fimply difficult, but totally 
 impoflible to corapiehend its fignificatlon. If Dr. Robertfon, had 
 along M'ith it publiilied the other leven copies fent him from Vienna, 
 probably the meaning of them all might have been underflood. 
 
 IV. The colledion of Siguenza. This very learned Mexican hav- 
 ing been extremely attached to the ftudy of antiquity, collected a large 
 number of fcledl ancient paintings, part of v/hich he purchafed at a 
 preat exigence, and part were left him in legacy by the very noble Indian 
 D. Juan d'Alba IxtJilxochitl, who inherited them from the kings ofTez- 
 cuco, his ancertors. Thofe reprefentations of the Mexican century, and 
 iiiQ migration of the Aztecas ; and thofe portraits of the Mexican kings, 
 wliich Gen^.elli publiihed in his Tcwr of the World, are copies of the 
 paintings belonging to Siguenza, who was living in Mexico whenGe- 
 inelli landed Ù\<txz(a). The figure of the century, and the Mexi- 
 can year, is the fame in effcdl with that publiihed a century before 
 in Italy by Valades, in his CbrijUan Rhctorick. Siguenza, after hav- 
 ing made ufe of the above mentioned paintings in his learned v/orks, 
 left them at his death to the college of St. P>;ter and St. Paul of the 
 Jefuits of Mexico; together with his felcd: library, and excellent ma- 
 thematical instruments ; v/here we faw and confulted in the ye^r 1759, 
 fome volumes of fuch paintings, containing chiefly the penal laws of 
 the Mexicans. 
 
 {a) Dr. Robertfon fays, that the painting of the migration of the Mexicars, or Azecas, 
 was given to Gemelli by D. Chriftcial Guadala:;a:a ; tut in thar he contradifts Geir.elli h:m- 
 fcir, who profefle? hew as indebted to Siguenza for all the Mexican antiquities that are copied in 
 his relation. From Guadalasara he had only the chart of the INJexican lake. <■• But as 
 now," adds Robertfon, " it appears to be a generally received opinion, fupponed on I know 
 " not what evidence, that Carrerl never went out of Italy, and that his famous Tour of the 
 •' World was the narrative of fictitious travels, I have been unwiliing to make any mention of 
 " thofe pidlures." If \vc did not live in the eighteenth century, in which the moft extrava- 
 gant fcntimcnts have been adopted, I fliould be atloniftied that fuch an opinion was generally 
 received. Who can poffibly imagine, that any man who was never at Mexico fliould have been 
 c.ipable -of giving the mod circumftnntial account of the moll minute events of that time, of 
 the pcifons then living, of their tank and employments, of all the monafteries of Mexico and 
 other cities of the number of their religious, of the altars of every church ; and other par- 
 ticulars never before publiihed? On the contrary, we muft declare, injufliceto the merit 
 of this Itali in, that we have found no traveller more accurate and exaCi in relating all that he 
 faw himfclf, or learned by information from others. 
 
 V. The
 
 PAINTINGS. xxxi 
 
 V. The coUedlioa of Boturini. This valuable collefllon of Mexi- 
 can antiquities, feized upon formerly, and taken from that learned and 
 indullrious gentleman by the jealous government of Mexico, vv^as pre- 
 ferved chiefly in the archives of the viceroy. We faw fome of thefe 
 paintings, rep refen ting fome events of the conquefl:, and fome fine 
 portraits of the kings of Mexico. In 1770, were publiflied in 
 Mexico, along with the letters of Cortes, the figure of the Mexican 
 year, and thirty-two copies of paintings of tributes, which were paid 
 by difforent cities to the crown of Mexico, taken from the mu- 
 feum of Boturini. Thofe of the tributes are the fame with Men- 
 dofa's, publifhed by Purthas and Thevenot, but they are better exe- 
 cuted, and have the figures of the tributary cities, which are entirely 
 wanting in thofe of Purchas and Thevenot ; but ftill fix copies of thofe 
 reprefenting the tributes are wanting, and there are a thoufand blun- 
 ders in the interpretations, arifing from total ignorance of antiquity, 
 and the Mexican language. So much is necefiiiry to be obferved, that 
 they who fee that \vork publilhed in Mexico, under a refpedablc 
 name, may not be led into errors. 
 
 A D V E R-
 
 [ xxxii 3 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 "1 T r Herever we have occafion to make mention of perches, feet, or 
 ' inches, without any fpecification, they are to be underftoocl, 
 according to the meafures of Paris ; which, as they are more generally 
 known, will, therefore, not be fo apt to caufe ambiguity to the reader. 
 The perch of Paris (totfe) is equal to fix royal feet (pie clu roij. 
 Every foot is equal to twelve inches, or thumbs (pouces), and every inch 
 to twelve lines. A line is fuppofi^d to confifl: of ten parts, or points, in 
 order to be able the more caiily to exprefs the proportion which this foot 
 bears to others. The Toledan, or Spanifli foot, which is the third part 
 of aCaftilian 'uara (yard), is to the royal foot as 1240 to 1440 ; that is, 
 of the 1440 parts, of which the royal foot is confidered to be com- 
 pofed, the Toledan foot has 1 240 ; wherefore feven Toledan feet make 
 about fix royal feet, or a Parifian perch. 
 
 In the chart of the Mexican empire, we have thought it fufficient 
 to mark the provinces, and fome few places ; omitting a great many, 
 even confiderable cities, as their names are fo long, the infertion of 
 them would not have left room for the names of the provinces. 
 
 CON-
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 T^Il^ISION of the country of AnaJmaCy i .—Prortincti of tie kingdom of Mexico, 4.— /?i. 
 "^"^ vers, laket, and fountains, g.— Climate of Aiiahuac, l\.— Mountains, flones, and mine' 
 rail, \7,.^Plants efiecined for their Jlovjers, xf.-^Plants valued for their fruit, ig.^Plaits 
 valued for the:r roots, leaves, trunk, or xvood, 2j.—Pla/tts of tf e for their refn, gum, oil, 
 and juice, ■^l.—^adrupjeds of the kingdom of Anahuac, ■^b,-— Birds of Mexico, 46.— i?,-^- 
 tiles of Mexico, c^b.—FiJh of the feas, rivers, and lakes of Anahuac, (sl.^-The infeSs of 
 MexicOf (>•] .^-CharaBers of the Mexicans and other nations of Anahuac „ ,, „ -jy 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 Of the 7ol/eca.', &^,— Great civilization of the Toltecas, S6.—Ruin of the Toìtccm, 89.— 
 7he Chcchemecai, go.—Xololl I. king of the C'.echemecas in Anahuac, 9 1 .—Arrival of the Acol- 
 huai and other nations, (^■^.—Divijion of the fates and rebellion, g^.— -Death and funeral of 
 Xolotl, <)j,—Ki>fialtzJn II. king of the Checheiieca!, gy. — Tlolzin 111. king of the Cheche- 
 mccai, 100.— i^inaltzin IK, king of the Chc.hcmecas, \h,—The Olmccat and theOlomics, ic?. 
 Ihe Tarafcas, 10^.— Mazahuas, Matlatzincas, and ether nations, ih.—The Nahuatlacas, 107. 
 ^7'he Tlafcalans, lO^.—^Migration of the Mex\ais to anahuac, U2. — Slavery of the Mexi- 
 cans in Colhuacan, 11^, —Foundation of Mexico, izz.-^A. human ficrifce, • 134 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 Acamapilzin I. king of Mexico, iiG.—^iauquauhpitzahuacI. king of Tlafeloho, lij.— Taxes im- 
 pofed on the Mexicans, izS.—'Huitzilihuitl 11. king of Mexico, 131. — Techotlala, kitig of 
 Acolhuacai, \yz.— Enmity of Maxtlaton to the Mexicans, 134. — Tlacatcotl II. king of Tta- 
 tcUlco, 135, — Ixtlilxochill, king of Acolhuacai, 136. — Chimalfofoca III. king of Mexico, 
 \l^,— Memorable conduH of Cahuacuccuenolzin, lig.— Tragical death of Ixtlilxochitl, and 
 tyranny of Tizoxjimcc, 140.— AViu Taxes impofd ly the tyrant, \\i, —Death of the tyrant 
 Tezozomoc, \ ^^.—Ma.\tlatOH, tyrant of Acolhuacan, \\'i.— Injuries done to the king of Mexico, 
 \\i^.~- Imprifninent and death of king Chimalp^poia, i^c— Negotiations tf NttahiiaUojotl to 
 Vol. I. e ttiain
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 obtain tht cro'iun, i^i^.—Itzcoall, fourth king of AI ex tea, 156, — Oecurraicis to Moiilezuma 
 Hhinicam'tnn, i^S.—JCar agahijl the tyrant., 163. — Conquejl of JzcapoTCaLo, and death of t'e 
 tyrant Maxilato 11 , — ■■•• ' ■ ibb 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 Re-rfiallifhmcnt of the royal family of the Cheehemecas on tlx tlxrone of Acolhuacan, i.6<).—-CoiiqtieJl 
 of Cojohuaean and other piace s, 1 70. — Monarchy of Taenia, and alliance ^vith the three lingi^ 
 1 T 1 . — Aiii of king A'f zahuaLojoll, 1 7 2 .—Conqueji of Xoehimiteo, Cuitlahuac, and other placet, 
 173. — Montezuma I. fifth king of Mexico, 176. — Atrocious aB of the Chalchefe, 1 77. — Mar. 
 riage of Nezahualcyotl "with a princcf of Taciiba, 178. — Death of ^anhtlatoiit I'jg. — Coi^ 
 qucfls of Montezuma, ib. — Inundation of Mexico, 180. — Famine in Mexico, 1 8 1. — NeiV con- 
 quefis and death of Montezuma, 183. — Axayacatl, fxth king of Mexico, 186.— Death and 
 Eulogy of king Nezahualcojotl, 188. — Conqurf ofTlatelolco, and death of kÌ7ig Moquihuix, 192. 
 — Unv conquejti and death of Axi^acatl, 196. — Tizoc, feventh king of Mexico, iq-j.—lfar 
 letivren Tezcuco and Huexolzinco, 19S. — Marriage of Nezahualpilli ivith ttvo noble ivomen of 
 Mexico, 199.— 7»-flfif death ofTizoe, ib. — Ahuilzotl, eighth king of Mexico, 200 — Dedication 
 of the greater temple of Mexico, zoi. — Conquefis of king Ahuitzotl, zoi.—Nevj Inundation 
 of Mexico, ioi.—Ne%\.' Conquefis and death of Ahuitzotl, ■ — — 2Q5 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 Montezuma Ih ninth king of Mexico, lo"}'— Deportment and ceremonials of Montezuma TI. 210» 
 — Magufeence of the palaces and royal hoifes, 213. — The good and bad of Montezuma, 215. — 
 ll'ar of Tlafcala, il"] . — Tlahuicol, a celebrated general of the Tlafcalans, 221. — Famine i it 
 the empire, and public ivorks in thecapilal, 223. — Rebellion of the Mixtecas and Zapotecas, 224.— 
 Contefl betiveen Huexzotzinco and Cholula, \\).— Expedition againfl Atlixeo and other places, 226» 
 — Prefagei of the ivar ivith the Spaniards, 226. — Memorable event of a Mexican prineef, 228. 
 —Uncommon occurrences, 231. — New altar for facrifces and further expeditioiis, ib. — Death 
 and eulogy of Nezahualpilli, zi'^.-^Rcvolutions in the kingdom of Acolhuacan, — ^36 
 
 BOOK VI, 
 
 Rcl'giouifyfletn of the Mexicans, 1\\.— The gods of Providence and of heaven, 244. — The dei- 
 f cation of the fun and the moon, 246. — The god of air, 248. — The gods of mountains, ly.;- 
 ter, fire, earth, night, and hell, 2^\.~~T/je gotls of ii'ar, 2^2. — Thx gods of commerce, hunt- 
 ing, f/hing, isfc. 256. — Their idols, and the manner of iMorJhipping their gods, 259. — Trarf- 
 formations, 260.— The greater temple of Mtx'co, 260. — Buildings annexed to the greater temple, 
 2S\.— Other temples, 265. — Revenues of the temples, 269. — Kumler and different ranks of 
 the priefs, 27O. — The employments, drefs, and life of the pricjls, 272. — Tlie priefleffes, 274. 
 .^Different religious orders, 276. — Common facrifces of human viHims, Z'll .—1 he gladi ato- 
 rian facrifice, 2S0. — The number of facrifces uncertain, lil.— Inhuman faerif.ccs in Puauh- 
 titlan, 283. — Auferities andfafting of the Mexicans, 284. — Remarkable aBs of penitence of the 
 Tlafcalans, 2S7. — The age, century, and year of the Mexicans, 2%%.— The Mexican month, 
 
 8 2^1.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 tC)\,'—InttrcaìaTy Jays, 293. — Di-vinalion, 29^. — Figurti of tht century, the year and motlh, 
 ibid. — Years and months of the Chiapancfc., 296. — FiJIivnls of the four firjl monhs, 29 .— 
 Grand fijlival of the god Tczcatlipoca, rg?. — Grand fijtival of Huìlzìlopochtìi, 301. — Fejli' 
 ^ah of the fixtb, fiiicnti, eighth, aid ninth mouths, '^C^. — Fcjlii'als of the tenth, cle-veuth, 
 t'jjelfth, and thirteenth mouths, 306. — fe/iivah of the five lafl months, log. — Secularfefival, 
 3 1 3 . — Rites obferi'eJ at the birth of children ,315 . — Niiftial riles, 318. — Funeral riles, 322. — 
 Their fepukbres^ ■ ■ . 52; 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 EditcatioH of the Mexican youth, ■■,l%.—Expla>i<ttion of the fcven Mwican paintings on Educa- 
 tion, 330. — The exhortations of a Mexican to his fm, 33 1 .—Exhortations of a Mexican mother 
 to her daughter, • ^^.—P tibllc fchools and fminaries, 33Ó. — haws in the eleSiion of a king, 338. 
 —The pomp and ceremonies at the proclamation and tinSlion of the k'ng, 339. — The coronation^ 
 cro^fi, drefi, and other Infgnla of royallj, 04.1. — Prerogatives of ibc cro-jun, ^^2.— The rcyal 
 council and officers of the court, 343. — AmlaJJadors, 3^4. — Couriers, or pofts, -^^t^.—Thc no- 
 bility and rights of f,c.:fJlon, 346. — Divifion of the lands, and titles of paffejfion and properly, 
 348. — The tributes ai.-.i :.jxes laid on the fu>>jcfls of the croivn, 350, — Maglfirales of Mexico and 
 Acolhuacan, 352. — 1' cnnl larus, 355. — Lams concerning Jlaves, 35c. — Laivs of other countries 
 of Anahuac, 361. Puu'lhmenti and prifons, 363. — Officers of 'Mar and milltayy orders, 563. 
 —The military diefs of the king, ^6^. — The arms of the Mexicans, ibid. — Standards and mar- 
 tial mufic, 368. — The mode of declaring and carrying on ivar, 369. — Fortifications, 372 . — Floating 
 pelds and gardens of the Mexican lake, ^-^.— Manner of cultivating the earth, 376.— 77»v^- 
 ing-Jloors and granaries, 377. — Kitchen aiid other gardens and 'vaccds, 378. — Plants mo/i cul- 
 tivated by the Mexicans, 380. — .4 imali bred by the Mexicans, ih—Chacc of the Mexicans, 
 ^ii.—FiJhing, 384. — Commerce, ib. — Money, 386. — Regulations of the market, 387. — Cuf- 
 toms of the merchants In their journeys, 381*. — Roads, houfes for travellers, veffels, and bridges, 
 385. — Men '.^iho carried burdens, 390. — Mexican language, 391. — Eloquence and poeti y, 394.- 
 Mexican theatre, 396. — iV/*/fir, ^qS.-^Danclng, 399 — Games, 401. — Different kinds of Mexi- 
 can paintings, 405. — Cloths and Colours, 40;. — Charaéìer of their paintings, and mode of 
 reprefenting objeiis, 409. — Sculpture, 412. — Cajling of melals, 413. — Mofalc ivoris, 4I4> 
 —Civ.'l archltedure, 416. — elqueduHs and if'etys upon the. lake, 41 9. — Remains of ancient edi- 
 fices, 420. — Stone-cutters, engravers, Jetvellers, and potters, 421.! — Carpenters, Weavers, iffc. 
 
 ^153, Ll/l of the rarities fent by Cortes to Charles V. 4 54. — Kno-wledge of nature, and ufe of 
 
 medicinal fmj let, 426. — Oils, ointments, and Infufions, i^c. \l%. — Blood-letting and baths,. 
 U>id. — Temazcalll, or vapour-baths of ibt Mexicans, 429- — Surgery, 430. — Ailment of the 
 Mexicans, 431.— //7«f, 435. — iJrr/>, 436. — Ornaments, i{'^'j,—Domefilc furniture and em- 
 flo^ments, W). — Plants ufed Infl'ead of foap, ^j^c. — Appendix. ■ — 44 1: 
 
 T H lì

 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 Defer iptio?i of the Country of Anahuac, or a Jhort Account of the Soil, 
 Climate, Mountains, Rivers, Lakes, Minerals, Plants, Animals, 
 and People of the Kingdom of Mexico. 
 
 THE name of Anahuac, which was originally given to the book L 
 Vale of Mexico only, from its principal cities having been ^^^—-i^ 
 fituated on little iflands, and upon the borders of two lakes, 
 taking afterwards a more extenfive fignification, was ufed to denominate 
 almoft all that tracft of land, which is known at prefent by tiie Name 
 of 'Neii) Spain {a). " '^'^ 
 
 This vail country was then divided into the kingdoms of Mexico, Sect, u 
 Acolhuacan, Tlacopan, and Michuacan : into the republics of Tlaxcallan, ^'^'■''on of 
 
 ^ . ^ >■ ' the country 
 
 Cholollan, and Huexotzinco, and feveral other diftindt ftatcs. of Anahuac. 
 
 The kingdom of Michuacan, the moft wefterly of the whole, was 
 bounded on the eaft and fouth by the Mexican dominions, on the 
 
 (a) Anahuac fignifies near to ihc ii'aui; and from thence appears to be derived the name of 
 Anahuatlaca, or Nal'uatlaca, by which the polifticd nations occupying the banks of the Mexi- 
 can lake have been known. 
 
 Vol. I. B nortli
 
 2 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK T. north by the country of the Chichemecas, and other niore barbarous na- 
 tions, and on the weft by the lake of Chapallan, and fome independent 
 ftates. The capital Tzintzuntzan, called by the Mexicans Hukzitzilla, 
 was fitiiated on the eaftern fliorc of the beautiful lake of Pazcuaro. Be- 
 fides thefe two cities, there were others very confiderable ; namely, 
 Tir/pith, Zacapn, and Tarccuato. All this country was pleafant, rich, 
 and well inhabited. 
 
 The kingdom of Tlacopan, fituated between Mexico and Michua- 
 can, was of fo fmall extent, that, excepting the capital of that name, 
 it comprehended but a few cities of the Tepaneca nation, and the vil- 
 lages of the Mazahui, fituated in the mountains to the weft of the 
 vale of Pvlexico. 
 
 The court of Tlacopan was on the weftern border of the lake of 
 Tezcuco, four miles weft ward from that of Mexico (b). 
 
 The kingdom of Acolhuacan, the moft ancient, and in former 
 times the moft extenlive, was afterwards reduced to more narrow limits 
 by the acquifitions of the Mexicans. It was bounded on the eaft by 
 the republic of Tlaxcallan j on the fouth, by the province of Chalco, 
 belonging to the kingdom of Mexico; on the north, by the country of 
 the riuaxtecas ; and in the weft, it was alfo bounded by different ftates 
 of Mexico, and terminated in the lake of Tezcuco. Its length from 
 fouth to north was little more than tv/o hundred miles, and its greateft 
 breadth did not exceed fixty ; but in this fmall diftricl there were 
 large cities, and a numerous population. The court of Tezcuco, 
 fituated upon the eaftern bank of the lake of the lame name, fifteen 
 miles to the eaft ward of that of Mexico, was juftly celebrated not 
 lefs for its antiquity and grandeur than for the polifti and civilization 
 of its inhabitants. The three cities of Hiiexotla, CoatUchan, and 
 Ateneo, were fo near adjacent, they appeared like its fuburbs. Qtompan 
 was alfo a confiderable city, and likewife Acohnan, and Tepepoko. 
 
 The celebrated republic of Tlaxcallan orTlafcala, was bounded on 
 the weft by the kingdom of Acolhuacan, on the fouth by the repub- 
 
 (h) The Spaniards have altered the Mexican names, and adapted them to their own lan- 
 guage, faying Tacuba, Oculma, Otumaba, Guaxuta, Tcpeaca, Guatemala, Churabuico, &c. 
 in place of Tlacopan, Acolman, Otompan, Huexotla, Tepejacac, Quaulitemallan, and Huit- 
 zilopochco, whofc example we fliall imitate, as fa* as it is convenient, to avoid giving our 
 readers tioubh in pronouncing them. 
 
 lies
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Iks of Cholollan and Huexotzinco, and by the fiate of I'epejacac, be- 
 longing; to the crown of Mexico, on the north by the ftate of Zacat- 
 lari, and on the eafi: by other ftates under fubjedion to the fame crown. 
 Its length did not reach fifty miles, nor its breadth more than thirty. 
 Tlafcala, frorn whence the republic took its name, was fituated on 
 the lide of the great mountain Mattalcueye, towards the nerth-wefl, 
 and about feventy miles to the eaflward of the court of Mexico. 
 
 The kingdom of Mexico, although the mofl modern, was far more 
 extenfive than all the other mentioned kingdoms and republics, taken 
 together. It extended towards the fouth-wefl and fouth, as far as 
 the Pacific Ocean j towards the fouth-eàfl, as far as the neighbourhood 
 of Sluauh teìna Han ; towards the eaft, exclulive of the difhricls of the 
 three republics, and a fmall part of the kingdom of Acolhuacan, as 
 fir as the Gulf of Mexico ; towards the north, to the country of the 
 Huaxtecas ; towards the north-weft, it bordered on the barbarous 
 Chichemecas ; and the dominions of Tlacopan and Michuacan, were 
 its boundaries towards the eaft. The whole of the Mexican kingdom 
 was comprehended between the 14th and 21ft degrees of north lati- 
 tude, and between 271 and 283 degrees of longitude, taken from the 
 meridian of the illand of Ferro fcj. 
 
 The fineft: diftrid: of this country, in refpedt to advantage of 
 filuation, as well as population, was the vale itlelf of Mexico, crowned 
 by beautiful and verdant mountains, whofc circumference, meafured 
 at their bafe, exceeded a hundred and twenty miles. A great part of 
 the vale is occupied by two lakes, the upper one of fweet water, the 
 lov/er one brackiih, which communicate together by a canal. In the 
 lower lake, on account of its lying in the very bottom of the valley, 
 all the water running from the mountains colletìed ; from thence, 
 when extraordinary abundance of rains raifed the water of the lake over 
 its bed, it eafily overflowed the city of Mexico, which was fituated in 
 the lake ; which accident happened not lefs frequently under the 
 Mexican monarchy than in tlie time of the Spaniards. Thefe two lakes 
 the circumference of which is not lefs than ninety miles, rcprefentcd 
 
 C. ; De Soli?, and otlicr Spnnifli, French, and Englini writers, allow dill more extent to 
 the kinsjdom of Mexico ; and Dr. Robvrtfon favf, that the territories belon;;ing tj the chiefs 
 of Tezcuco and Tacuba, fcarccly yielded in extent to thofc of the foverei^n of Mexico ■ but 
 how far thel'd authors are diflant from the truth, will appear from our diflcrtations. 
 
 B 2 in
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 in Ibme degree, tlie figure of a camel, the head and neck of which 
 were formed by the lake of fweet water, or Chaico, the body by the 
 lake of brackifli water, called the lake of Tczcuco, and the legs and 
 feet were reprefented by the rivulets, and tojrents, which ran from the 
 mountains into the lake. Between the two lakes there is the little 
 peninfula of Itztapaiapan, v/hich divides them. Befides the three 
 courts of Mexico, Acolhuacan, and Tlacopan, there were forty 
 eminent cities, in this delightful vale, and innumerable villages and 
 hamlets. The cities moft noted next to thtfe courts were Xochimiico, 
 Chaico, Itztovaiapan, and ^auhtitlan, which now, however, fcarcely 
 retain a twentieth part of their former greatnefs (d). 
 
 Mexico, the moft renowned of all the cities of the new world, 
 and capital of the empire (the defcription of which we fhail give 
 in another place) was, like Venice, built on feveral little iflands 
 in the lake of Tezcuco, in 19 deg, and 26 min. of north latitude, 
 and in 276 deg. and 34 min. of longitude, between the two 
 courts of Tetzcuco, and Tlacopan, 1 5 miles to the well: of the one, 
 and four to the eaft of the other. Some of its provinces were inland, 
 others maritime. 
 Sect. II. The principal inland provinces to the northward were, the Otomies ; 
 
 Provinces of jq ^^ fouthweft, the Matlatzincas and the Cuitlatecas : to the fouth, 
 
 the kingdom . i i n 
 
 of Mexico, the Tlahuicas and the Cohuixcas ; to the fouth-ealt, after the ftates of 
 Itzocan, jauhtcpec, ^lauhquechollan, Atlixco, Tehiiacan, and others, 
 were the great provinces of the Mixtecas, the Zapotecas, and laflly, 
 the Chiapanecas. Towards the eaft were the provinces of Tepeya- 
 cac, the Popolocas, and the Totonacas. The maritime provinces of 
 the Mexican gulf were thofe of Coatzacualco and Cuetlachtlan, \\ hich 
 the Spaniards call Cotafta. The provinces on the Pacific Ocean were 
 thofe of Colhnan, ZacatoUan, Tototepec, T^ecuantepec, and Xoconochco. 
 The province of the Otomies commenced in the northern part of 
 the Vale of Mexico, and extended through thofe mountains to the 
 
 (a) The other rcfpetìable cities of the Vale of Mexico were, Mizqnh; Cuitlahuac, Azcapo- 
 y.fihoj Ti'.iayocan, Otompan, Coìhuacan,Mcxicaìt%i>iCO.,Huilx,ilopoc1xo-,Coyohuacan, Ateneo, Coatlichan, 
 Htiexolla, Chiautla, Acolman, Teotiijtiiacan, Itztapaioccati, 1 epetlaOTLtoc, Tcpepoko, Tizayocca», 
 Cilllallcpec-, Coyotcpec, T-zonipanco, Tdtillau, Xaltoccaii, Tctepanco, Khceatipec, Tequizquiac, 
 Huipochdani Tepotzodan, Tchuillojocean., Huckectoca, Atlacuihiiayan, &c. See our Sixth Bif- 
 fe rtatlon. 
 
 ( north.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 north, the diftance of 90 miles from the capital. The ancient 
 famous city of Tollariy now Tula, diftinguilhed itfelf over all ths 
 habited places, of which there were many ; alfo Xilotcpec, which after 
 the conqueft made by the Spaniards, was the metropolis of the Oto- 
 mies. Beyond the fettlements of this nation towards the north and 
 north-weft, there were no other places inhabited as far as New Mexi- 
 co. All this great track of land of more than a thoufand miles in 
 length, was occupied by barbarous nations, who had no fixed refi- 
 dence, nor paid obedience to any fbvereign. 
 • The province of the IVIatlatzincas, comprehended befides the val- 
 ley of Tolocan, all that fpace from /:hence to Tlaximaloyan (now 
 Taximaroa), the frontier of the kingdom of Michuacan. The fertile 
 valley of Tolocan from the fouth-eail to the nortli-weft is upwards of 
 forty miles long, and thirty in breadth where it is broadeft. Tolocan, 
 which was the principal city of the Matlatzincas, from whence the 
 valley took its name, was, as it ftill is, fituated at the foot of a high 
 mountain perpetually covered with fnow, thirty miles diftant from 
 Mexico. All the other places of the valley were inhabited partly by the 
 Matlatzincas, partly by the Otomies. In the neighbouring mountains 
 there were the ftates of Xalatlauhco, T-zovipahuacan, and Malinalco ; 
 at no great diftance to the eaftward of the valley the ftate of Ocuil- 
 lan, and to the weftward thofe of Tozantla and Zoltepec. 
 
 The Cuitlatecas inhabited a country which extended more than 
 two hundred miles from tlie north-v/eft to the fouth-eaft, from the 
 kingdom of Michuacan, as far as the Pacific Ocean. Their capital 
 was the great and populous city of Mcxcaltepec upon the coaft, the 
 r^^ins of which are now fcarcely vifible. 
 
 The capital of the Tlahuicas was the plealant and ftrong city of 
 Quauhnahuac, called by the Spaniards Cucrnabaca, about forty miles 
 from iMexico towards the foutli. Their province, which commenced 
 from the fouthern mountains of the vale of Mexico, extended almoft 
 fixty miles fouthward. 
 
 The great province of the Cohuixcas was hounded on the north by 
 the Matlatzincas, and Tlahuicas, on the weft by the Cuitlatecas, on 
 the eaft by the Jopi and Mixtecas, and to the fouthward it extended 
 itfelf as far as the Pacific Ocean, through that part where at prefent 
 
 the
 
 6 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK I. the port and city of Acapulco lie. This province was divided into 
 feveral diftindt ftates, namely, T-zomfanco, Chtlapan, Tlapan, and 
 Tcoitz.tia, now Tifila, a country for the moft part too hot, and un- 
 healthy. Tlachco, a place celebrated for its filver mines, either be- 
 lonp-ed to the above mentioned province, or bordered upon it. 
 
 Mixtecapan, or the province of the Mixtecas, extended itfelf from 
 Acatian, a place diftant an hundred and twenty miles from the court, 
 tov,-ards the fouth-eaft, as far as the Pacific Ocean, and contained fe- 
 veral cities and villages, well inhabited, and of confiderable trade. 
 To the eaft of the Mixtecas, were the Zapotecas, fo called from theh* 
 capital Teotzapotlan. The valley of Huaxyacac was in their diftridt, 
 called by the Spaniards Oaxaca, or Guaxaca. The city of Huaxyacac, 
 was afterwards conftituted a biflioprick, and the valley a marquifate 
 in favour of the conqueror D. Ferdinand Cortes fej. 
 
 To the northward of the Mixtecas was the province of Mazat- 
 lan, and to the northward and the eaftward of the Zapotecas was Chi- 
 ?nantla, with their capitals of the fame name, from whence their in- 
 habitants were called Mazatecas, and Chinantccis. The provinces of 
 the Chiapanecas, Zoqui, and Queleni were the lafl: of the Mexican 
 «mpire towards the fouth-eaft. The principal cities of the Chiapa- 
 necas were Tocbiapan (called by the Spaniards Chiapa de Indios), 
 Tochtia, Cbamolla, and Tziuacantia, of the Zoqui, Tecpantla, and of 
 the Queleni, Tcopixca. Upon the fide and around the famous moun- 
 tain Popocatepec, which is thirty-three miles diftant towards the 
 fouth-eaft from the court, were the great ftates Aiuaquemecan, Tepozt- 
 lan, yaiihtepcc, Hiiax tepee, Cbietlan, Itzocaii, Acapctlay ocean, 
 ^aiihquechollan, Atlixco, Cbolollan, and Hiiexotzinco ; thefe two laft, 
 which were the moft confiderable, having, with the afilftance of their 
 neighbours the Tlafcalans, fliaken ofl^ the Mexican yoke, re-eftabliflied 
 their former ariftocratical government. Cholollan, or Cholula, and 
 
 (e) Some believe, that anciently there was nothinj; in the place called Huaxyacac, but a 
 mere gnrrifon of the Mcxicjns, and that that city was founded by the Spaniards ; but befides 
 that it appears by the tribute-roll, that Huaxyacac was one of the tributary cities to the 
 crown of Mexico, we know that the NIexicans were not accuHoined to ellablifli any garrifon, 
 except in the moft populous places of their conquered provinces. The Spaniards were faid 
 to f«und a city whenever they gave a Spanidi name to an Indian fettlcmcnt, and gave it 
 Sn:\mii\ migiArncs ; Anliqutra va Hi''''>-y''ciic, and Segura ^clla FroiiUra, in Ttpcjacac were no 
 ftthtrwilc founded. I 
 
 Huexot-
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. j^ 
 
 Huexotzlnco were the largeft and moft populous cities of all that land, rook I. 
 The Cholulans poflelled a fmall hamlet called Cuitlaxcoapan, in the 
 very place where afterwards tlie Spaniards founded the city of Angelo- 
 poli, which is the fccond of New Spain (f). 
 
 To the eaft of Cholula there was the refpedable ftate of Tepeyacac ; 
 and beyond that, the Popolocas, whofe principal cities were Tcca- 
 machaico and ^echolac. To the fouthward of the Popolocas there 
 was tiie ilate of Tehuacati, bordering upon the country of the Mix- 
 tecas ; to the eaft the maritime province of Ciietlacbtlan, and to the 
 north the Totonacas. This great province, which was the lafl: in 
 that part of the empire, extended a hundred and fifty miles, begin- 
 ning from the frontier of Zacatlan, a fiate belonging to the crown 
 of Mexico, about eighty miles diftant from the court, and ter- 
 minating in the Gulf of Mexico. Befides the capital Mizquibuacan, 
 fifteen miles to the eaftward of Zacatlan, there was the beautiful 
 city of Cbempoalum upon the coaft of the Gulf, which was the 
 firil city of the empire entered by the Spaniards, and where, as 
 will hereafter appear, their fuccefs began. Thefe were the principal 
 inland provinces of the Mexican empire ; omitting the mention, at 
 prefent, of feveral other leller ftates, which might render our de- 
 fcription tedious. 
 
 Among the maritime provinces of the Pacific Ocean, the moft 
 northern was Coliman ; whofe capital fo called, lay in 19 deg. of 
 latitude, and in 272 deg. of longitude. Purfuing the fame coaft, 
 towards the fouth-eaft was the province of Zacatolan, with its ca- 
 pital of the fame name; then the coaft of the Cuitlatecas; and af- 
 ter it that of the Cohuixcas, in which diftrid: was Acapulco, at 
 prefent a celebrated port for commerce with the Philippine Iflands, 
 in 16 deg. 40 min. of latitude, and 276 of longitude. 
 
 Adjoining to the coail of the Cohuixcas, were the Jopi ; and 
 adjoining to that, the Mixtecas, kno'.vn in our time by the name of 
 Xtcnyan. Then followed the great province of Tccuan tepee ; and 
 laftly, that of Xoco:iochco. The city of Tecuantcpec, from which 
 the ftate derived its name, was fituated on a beautiful little ifland, 
 
 (f) The Spaniards fay Tufilo, Mt'cameca, I^^ucar, Airifto and ^eehula ill place of Tal tlan, 
 Ariaqucmiia/i, L'accan, AtUx^-o^ -.ind ^aholac. 
 
 formed
 
 8 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 B O O K I. formed by a river two miles from the {en. The province of Xoconochco, 
 which was the lafl and moft foutherly of the empire, was bounded on 
 the cart: and fouth-eart: by the country of Xochitepec, which did not be- 
 lonf^ to the crown of Mexico j on the weft, by that of Tecuantepec; 
 and on the fouth terminated in the ocean. Its capital^ called alfo Xo~ 
 conochcOy was fituated between two rivers, in ^deg. of latitude, and in 
 28 3 of longitude. Upon the Mexican Gulf there were, befides the coafl: 
 of the Totonacas, the provinces of Cuetlachtlan and Coatzacualco ; 
 this laft was bounded on the eart: by the vart; country of OiioJmalco, 
 under which name the Mexicans comprehended the ftates of Tabafco, 
 and the peninfula of Yucatan, which were not fubjeól to their do- 
 minion. Befides the capital, called alfo Coatzacualco, founded upon 
 the borders of a great river, there were other well-peopled places 
 amongft which Painalla merits particular mention by having been 
 the place of the nativity of the famous Malintzin, one of the moft 
 powerful inftruments of the conquert: of Mexico. The province of 
 Cuetlachtlan which had a capital fo called, comprehended all that 
 coaft which is between the river Alvarado, where the province of 
 Coatzacualco terminates, and the river Antigua fgj, where the province 
 of the Totonacas began. On that part of the coart: whicli the Mexi- 
 cans called Chalchicuecan, lie at prefent the city and port of Vera 
 Cruz, the m.ort: renowned of all New Spain. 
 
 All the country of Anahuac, generally fpeaking, was well peopled. 
 In the hirt:ory and in the differtations we Ihall have occallon to men- 
 tion feveral particular cities, and to give fome idea of the multi- 
 titude of their inhabitants. Almofi: all the inhabited fettlements with 
 their ancient names, are now flill exifting, though much altered ; 
 but all the ^ancient cities excepting thofc of Mexico or Orizaba and 
 fome others, appear fo reduced, they hardly contain the fourth 
 part of the number of buildings and inhabitants which they formerly 
 poU'efled ; there are many which have preferved but a tenth part, 
 and others hardly the twentieth part of their ancient greatnefs. 
 
 To fpealc in general of the Indians, and comparing the rtate of 
 their population, reported by the iirft Spanifh hiftorians, and their 
 
 (g) We give this river the Spanifl» name, by which it is known at prefent ; as we are 
 ignorant of its Mexican name, 
 
 native
 
 ains. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 native writers, with what we have feen ourfelves, we can aflirm 
 that at prefent there hardly remains one-tenth part of the ancient 
 inhabitants ; the miferablc confequence of the calamities they have 
 undergone. 
 
 The land is in great part abrupt and mountainous, covered with Sect. Iir. 
 thick woods, and watered by large rivers ; though not to be com- and fount- ' 
 pared with thofe of South America : fome of thefe run into the 
 Gulf of Mexico, and others into the Pacific Ocean. Amongft 
 the firil:, thofe of Papahapan, Coatzacualco, and Cbiapan are the 
 greateft. The river Papaloapan, which the Spaniards call Aharadoy 
 from the name of the firft Spanifli captain who failed into it, has its 
 principal fource in the mountains of the Zapotecas, and after making 
 a circuit through the province of Mazatlan, and receiving other 
 fmaller rivers and ftreams, is difcharged into the Gulf by three 
 navigable mouths, at thirty miles diftance from Vera Cruz. The 
 river Coatzacualco, which is alfe navigable, comes down from the 
 mountains of the Mixes, and croffing the province of which it takes 
 the name, empties itfelf into the ocean nigh to the country of Ono- 
 hualco. The river Chiapan begins its courfe from the mountains 
 called Ciichiimataneo, which feparate the diocefe of Chiapan from 
 that of Guatemala, erodes the province of its own name, and after- 
 wards that of Onohualco, where it runs into the fea. The Spaniards 
 call it 'TabafcOy which they alfo called that tradt of land which unites 
 the peninfula of Yucatan to the Mexican continent. They called it 
 alfo the river Gribaha, from the commander of the firft Spanifli fleet 
 who difcovered it. 
 
 Aniongft the rivers which run into the Pacific Ocean Tokhtlan is 
 the moft celebrated, called by the Spaniards Guadalaxara, or great 
 river. It takes its rife in the mountains of the valley of Toloccan, 
 crofles the kingdom of Miciiuacan and the lake of Chapallan, from 
 thence it waters the country of Tono'lun, where at prefent the city 
 of Guadalaxara, the capital of New Gallicia, ftands ; and after running 
 a courfe of more than fix hundred miles, difcharges itfelf into the 
 ocean, in the latitude of 22 degrees. The river Tccuantepcc 
 fprings in the mountains of the Mixes, and after a fhort courfe 
 empties itfelf into the ocean in the latitude of 15 ^ degrees. 
 
 Vol. I. C The
 
 IO HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK I. The river of the Jopi waters the country of that nation, and flows 
 
 ' ' out fifteen miles to the eaftward of the port of Acapulco ; forming 
 
 in that quarter the dividing Hne between the diocefes of Mexico and 
 AngelopoH. 
 
 There were befides, and flill are, feveral lakes, which did not lefs 
 cmbellifli the country than give convenience to the commerce/ of 
 thofe people. The lake of Nicaragua, of Chapallan, and Pazquaro, 
 which were the moft confiderable, did not belong to the Mexican 
 empire. Amongft the others, the moft important to our hiflory, are 
 thofe two in the vale of Mexico, which we have already fpoken of. 
 The lake of Chalco extended twelve miles from eail to weft, as fir 
 as the city of Xochimilco, and from thence taking, for as many miles, 
 a northerly direction, incorporated itfelf by means of a canal, with 
 the lake of Tetzcuco j but its breadth did not exceed fix miles. 
 
 The lake of Tetzcuco extended fifteen miles, or rather feventeen 
 from eaft to weft, and fomething more from fouth to north ; but at 
 prefent its extent is much lefs, for the Spaniards have diverted into 
 new channels many rivers which formerly ran into it. All the 
 water which afiembles there is at firft fv/eet, and becomes fait after- 
 wards, from the nitrous bed of the lake where it is received (b ) , 
 Befides thefe two great lakes, there were in the lame vale of Mexi- 
 co, and to the north of the coaft, two fmaller ones, named after 
 the cities of Tzompanco, and Xaltoccan. The lake of Tochtlan, 
 in the province of Coatzacualco, makes a fweet proipeft, and its 
 banks a moft delightful dwelling. With refpedt to fountains, there 
 are fo niany in that land, and fo different in quality, they would 
 deferve a feparate hiftory, efpecially if we had to enumerate thofe of 
 the kingdom of Michuacan. There are an infinity of nitrous, 
 fulphureous, vitriolic, and alluminous mineral waters, fome of which 
 
 (4) M. de Comare fays, in his Dii^ionary of Natural Hiftoiy, that the fait of the Mexican 
 l.tke may proceed from the waters of the ocean in the north being filtered through the 
 earth; and to corroborate his opinion he quotes Le Journal lies S^ava/is, of the year 1676. 
 But this is truly a grofs error, bccaufe that lake is one hundred and eighty miles dillaat 
 from the ocean ; belides, the bed of this lake is fo elevated, that it has at lead one mile of 
 perpendicular liciglit .bove the level of the fea. The ;.nonymous author of the work intitled, 
 Ohfervations curieiifcs fur le Lac de Mexique, (the work exprefsly from which the journalills 
 of Paris have made their extradlf,) is very far from adopting the error of M. de Bomare. 
 
 fpring
 
 HISTORYOF MEXICO. ii 
 
 fpring out (o hot, that in a few moments any kind of fruit or animal BOOK I. 
 
 food is boiled in them. There are alfo petrifying waters, namely '^ "^ ' 
 
 thofe of Tehuacan, a city about one hundred and twenty miles 
 
 diilant from Mexico towards the fouth-eaft, thofe of the fpring of 
 
 Pucuaro in the ftates of the Conte di Miravalles, in the kingdom of 
 
 Michuacan, and that of a river in the province of the Queleni. 
 
 With the water of Pucuaro they make little white fmooth flones, 
 
 not difpleafing to the tafte ; fcrapings from which taken in broth^ 
 
 or in Atolli fij are mofl: powerful diaphoretics, and are ufed with 
 
 remarkable fiiccefs in various kinds of fevers fkj. The citizens of 
 
 Mexico during the time of their kings, fupplied thcmfelves with 
 
 water from the great fpring of Chapoltepec, which was conveyed to 
 
 the city by an aqueduól, of which, we fliall fpeak hereafter. In 
 
 mentioning the waters of that kingdom, if the plan of our hiflory 
 
 would permit, we might defcrihe the ftupendous falls or cafcadcs 
 
 of feveral rivers (^/J, and the bridges which nature has formed over 
 
 others, particularly the Ponte di Dio : thus they call in that country 
 
 a vaft volume of earth tlirown acrofs the deep river Atoyaquc, cloie 
 
 to the village of Molcaxac, about one hundred miles to the fouth- 
 
 eafl: from Mexico, along which, coaches and carriages conveniently 
 
 pafs. It is probable, it has been a fragment of a neighbouring 
 
 mountain, thrown from it by fome former earthquake. 
 
 The climate of the countries of Anahuac varies according to their Sect.iv. 
 fituation. The maritime countries are hot, and for the moft part ^limite ot 
 moift and unhealthy. Their heat, which occafions fweat even in 
 January, is owing to the perfeiS flatnefs of the coafts compared 
 with the inland country ; or from the mountains of fand that 
 rather upon the Ihore, which is the cafe v/ith Vera Cruz my native 
 country. The molflure proceeds not lefs from the fea than froin 
 the abundance of waters defcending from the mountains which 
 
 (:) Atolli is the name given by the Mexicans, to a gruel made of maiz or Indian 
 corn ; of which «e fhall (peak in another place. 
 
 (k) The little lloncs of Pucuaro have been known but a fhort time. I have myfelf been 
 ^n eye witncfs of their wondeiful cffcL>, in the epidemic of i;6j. The dofe prefcribcd for 
 one v.ho is eafily brought to fwcat is one drachm of the fcrapings. 
 
 (/) Amongd the cafcades there is one famous, made by the great river Guadalaxara, in 
 a place called Tcmpizque, fifie'-n miles to the foiithward of that city. 
 
 C 2 command
 
 ti 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 command the coaft. In hot countries there is never any white froft, 
 and moft inhabitants of fuch regions have no other idea of fnow^ than 
 that which they receive from the reading of books, or the accounts 
 of Grangers. Lands which are very high, or very near to very 
 hi^'h mountains which are perpetually covered with fnow, are cold ; 
 and I have been upon a mountain not more than twenty-five miles, 
 removed from the capital, where there has been white frofl and ice 
 even in the dog-days. All the other inland countries, where the 
 greateft population prevailed, enjoy a climate fo mild and benign, 
 they neither feel the rigour of winter, nor the heats of fummer. 
 It is true, in many of thefe countries there is frequently white frofl: 
 in the three months of December, January, and February, and 
 fometimes even it fnows ; but the fmall inconvenience which fuch 
 cold occafions, continues only till the rifing fun : no other fire 
 than his rays, is necefliiry to give warmth in winter; no other relief 
 is wanted in the feafon of heat, but the Iliade; the fame clothing 
 which covers men in the dog-days, defends them in January ; and 
 the animals fleep all the year under the open fky. 
 
 This mildnefs and agreeablenefs of climate under the torrid zone, 
 is the effcft of feveral natural caufes, entirely unknown to the an- 
 cients, who believed it uninhabitable ; and not well underftood by 
 fome moderns, by whom it is efteemed unfavourable to thofe who 
 live in it. The purity of the atmofphere, the fmaller obliquity of 
 the folar rays, and the longer fl:ay of this luminary upon the horizon in 
 winter, in comparifon of other regions farther removed from the 
 equator, concur to leffen the cold, and to prevent all that horror 
 which disfigures the fice of nature in other climes. During that 
 feafon, a ferene fky and the natural delights of the country, are 
 enjoyed; whereas under the frigid, and even for the mofl part under 
 the temperate zones, the clouds rob man of the profpedl of heaven, 
 and the fnow buries the beautiful produdions of the earth. No lels 
 caufes, combine to temper the heat of fummer. The plentiful 
 fliowers which frequently water the earth after mid-day, from April 
 or May, to September or Oftober; the high mountains continually 
 loaded with fnow, fcattered here and there through the country of 
 Anahuae ; the cool winds which breathe from them in that feafon ; 
 
 and
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 13 
 
 and the fhorter ftay of the fun upon the horizon, compared with BOOK I. 
 the circumftances of the temperate zone, transform the fummer of *" -^'— ' 
 thofe happy countries into a cool and chearful fpring. 
 
 But the agreeablenefs of the climate is counterbalanced by thun-. 
 der ftorms, which are frequent in fummer, paiticularly in the vici- 
 nity o( Matlalcueje or the mountain of Tlafclala, and by earthquaices 
 which at all times are felt, although with lefs danger than terror. 
 Thefe firft and laft effecSts are occalioned by the fulphur and other 
 combuftible materials, depofited in great abundance in the bowels of 
 the earth. Storms of hail are neither more frequent nor more fevere 
 than in Europe. 
 
 1 ho file kindled in the bowels of the earth by the fulphureous and Sect. V. 
 bituminous materials, has made vents for itfelf in fome of the moun- Mountains, 
 
 Stones, and 
 
 tains or volcanos, from whence flames are often feen to iflue, and Minerals. 
 afhes and fmoke. There are five mountains in the diftrift of the 
 Mexican empire, where at different times this dreadful plifcnomenon 
 has been obferved. Pojauhtecatl, called by the Spaniard, Volcan d'Ori- 
 zaba, began to fend forth fmoke, in the year 1545, and continued to 
 do fo for twenty years : but after that, for the fpace of more than 
 two centuries, there lias not been obferved the fmalleil: fign of burning. 
 This celebrated mountain, which is of a conical figure, is indifputably 
 the higheft land of all Anahuac ; and on account of its height, is 
 the firft land defcried by feamen who are fteering that way, at the 
 diftance of fifty leagues fmj. Its top is always covered with fnow, 
 and its border adorned with large cedar, pine, and other trees of va- 
 luable v.ood, which make the profpedt of it every way beau- 
 tiful. It is diftant from the capital upwards of ninety miles to 
 the eaftward. 
 
 The Popocatepec and Iztaccihuatl, which lay near each other, but 
 thirty-three miles diftant from Mexico towards the fouth-call, are alfo 
 of a furprifing height. Popocatepec, for which they have fubllituted 
 
 {ni) Pojauhtecatl is higher than TaiJc or the Peak of Tcneriff--, according to I'. Tallac- 
 dicr the jcfiiit, who made obfcrvations on them both : vitìt Letires Edijlanies, &c. Thomas 
 Gage fays of the Popocatepec, it is as liigh as the higheft Alps : he might have aJded, 
 fomething higher, if he had calculated the elevated Itation on which this cclebra'ed 
 mountain rifcs. 
 
 the
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 tlie name Volcan, has a mouth or vent more than half a mile 
 wide, from which, in the time of the Mexican kings, it fre- 
 quently emitted flames ; and in the laft century many times threw 
 out great quantities of aflies upon the places adjacent ; but in this 
 century, hardly any fmoak has been obfervcd. Ixtaccihuatl, known 
 by the Spaniards under the name of Sierra Nevada, threw out alfo 
 at fometimes fmoke and aihes. Both mountains have their tops 
 always covered with fnow in fo great quantities, as to fupply with 
 what precipitates on the neighbouring rocks, the cities or Mexico, 
 Gelopoli, Cholula, and other adjoining places, to the diftance of 
 forty miles from thefe mountains, where an incredible quantity is 
 yearly confumed in cooling and congealing liquors (n). 
 
 The mountains of Coliman and Tochtlan, coniiderably di^lant 
 from the capital, and ftiil more fo from each other, have emitted fire 
 at different periods, in our time (o). 
 
 Belidcs thefe mountains there are likewife others, v/hich, thougli 
 not burning mountains, are yet of gi-eat celebrity for their height; 
 namely, Matlalcueye, or the mountain of Tlafcala; Nappaieuciii, 
 called by the Spaniards, from its figure, Co/re or trunk; Tentzort, 
 
 (n) The impoft or duty v\pon ice or congealed fnow confumed in the capital, amouned 
 in 1746, to 15,522 Mexican crowns; fomc years after, it rofe to 20,0:0, and at prefent «e 
 may believe it is a great deal more. 
 
 (0) A f^'W years ago an account was publ'flicd in Ital}', concerning the mount.iins of 
 Tochtlan or I ufila, full of curious, Imt loo ridiculous lies ; in which there was a defcrip- 
 tion of rivers of fire, of frightfvil elephants, Sjc. \Ve do not mention among the burnln"- 
 mountains, wxther Juruyo, nor Mamotomho, of Nicaragua ; nox timx. of Guatemala ; becaufe 
 neither of ihcfe three was comprehended under ihe Mexican dominions. That of Guate- 
 mala, laid in ruins with earthquakes, that great and beautiful city, the 29th of July, 
 '773- With refpeft to Juruyo, fituated in the valley of Urecho, in the kingdom of Mi- 
 chuacan, before the year 1760, there was nothing of it but a fmall hU whcic there was a' 
 fugar pluntation. But on the 29th of ; cptcmber, 1760, it burli with furious fliocks, 
 and entirely ruined the fugar work, and the neighbouring village of Guacana ; and from 
 that time has continued to emit fire and burning rocks, which have formed thenifclves 
 into three high mountain?, «hofc circumierence was nearly fix miles, in 1766, accordin'^ 
 to the account communicated to me, by Don Enimanuelle di Bullamantc, governor of 
 that province, and an cye-rtitnefs of the f.iCfl. The aflies at the eruption, were fjrccc! 
 as far as the city of Qiicretaro, one hundred and fifty mil- s dlflant from furu\o, a matter 
 almoll incredible, but public and notorious in that city; where a giMitleman fliewed me, in 
 a paper, the viftics which he had gathered. In the city of Val.idolid, fix{y mile; diflant, 
 it rained afhcs in fiich abundance they were obliged to fweep the yards of the houfes 
 two or three times during the day. 
 
 near
 
 V J 
 
 HISTORYOF MEXICO. 15 
 
 near to the village of Moacaxac, Toloccan, and others, which, being book r. 
 of no importance to the fubje(fl, I intentionally omit. Every one knows 
 that the famous chain of the Andes, or Alps of South America, are 
 continued through the ifthmus of Panama, and through all New 
 Spain till they lo fe themfelves in the unknown countries of the North. 
 The moft conliderable part of this chain is known in that kingdom 
 under the name of Sierra Madre, particularly in Cinaloa, and Tara- 
 humara, provinces twelve hundred miles diftant from the capital. 
 
 The mountains of Anahuac abound in ores of every kind of metal, 
 and an infinite variety of other folTils. The Mexicans found gold in 
 the countries of the Cohuixcas, the Mixtecas, the Zapotecas, and in 
 feveral others. They gathered this precious metal chiefly in grains 
 aniongfl the fand of the rivers, and the above mentioned people paid a 
 certain quantity in tribute to the crown of Mexico. Silver was dug 
 out of the mines of Tlachco, Tzompanco, and others ; but it was 
 not fo mucli prized by them as it is by other nations. Since the con- 
 queft:, fo many filver mines have been difcovered in that country, efpe- 
 cially in the provinces uhich are to the north-weft of the capital, it 
 is quite impollible to enumerate them. Of copper they had two forts, 
 one hard, which they ufed inftead of iron to make axes, hatchets, mat- 
 tocks, and other inftruments of war and agriculture ; the other flexible, 
 for making of bafons, pots, and other veffcls. This metal abounded 
 formerly more than elfcwhere in the provinces of Zacatollan, and the 
 Cohuixchas ; at prcfcnt it abounds in the kingdom of Michuacan. 
 
 They dug tin from the mines of Tlachco, and lead from the mines 
 of Izmiquilpan, a place in the country of the Otomies. Of tin tiiey 
 made money, as we fliall obferve in its place, and we know of lead 
 that it was fold at market, but we are entirely ignorant of the ufe it 
 was put to ; there were likewife mines of iron in Tlafcala, in Tl.ichco, 
 and other places ; but they eitiier did not find out thefe mines, or at 
 leaft did not know how to benefit themfclves by the difcovery. There 
 were alfo in Chilapan mines of quickfilver, and in many places mines 
 of fulphur, alum, vitriol, cinnabar, ochre, aud a white earth ftrongly 
 refembling white lead. Of quickfilver and vitriol we do not know 
 the ufe which they made; the other minerals were employed in paint- 
 ing and dying. Of amber and afphaltum, or bitumen of Judea, there 
 
 was
 
 \6 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK I. yvas and ftill is great abundance on both coafts, and they were both 
 paid in tribute to the king of Mexico from many places of the empire. 
 Amber they ufed to fet in gold for ornament ; afphaltum was employed 
 in certain incenfe offerings, as we fliall find hereafter. 
 
 With refped: to precious flones there were, and ftill are, diamonds, 
 though few in number ; amethyfts, cats-eyes, turquoifes, cornelians, 
 and fome green ftones refembling emeralds, and not much inferior to 
 them ; and of all thefe ftones, the Mixtecas, the Zapotecas, and Cohu- 
 ixcas, in whofe mountains they were found, paid a tribute to the 
 king. Of their plenty and eftimation with the Mexicans, and the 
 manner in which they wrought them, we fliall fpealc more properly 
 in another place. The mountains which lay on the coaft of the gulf 
 of Mexico, between the port of Vera Cruz and the river Coatzacu- 
 alco, namely, thofe of Chinantla, and the province of Mixtecas, 
 furniflied them with cryftal j and the cities of Tochtepec, Cuetlacht- 
 lan, Cozamaloapan, and others, were obliged to contribute annually 
 to the luxury of the court. 
 
 Thefe mountains did not lefs abound in various kinds of ftone, va- 
 luable in architecture, fculpture, and other arts. There are quarries 
 of jafper, and marble of different colours in the mountains of Calpo- 
 lalpan to the eaft of Mexico ; in thofe which feparate the two vallies 
 of Mexico and Toloccan, now called Monte de los Cruzes, and in thofe 
 of the Zapotecas : of alabafter in Tecalco (at prefent Tecak), a place 
 in the neighbourhood of the province of Tepeyacac, and in the coun- 
 try of the Mixtecas : of Tezontli, in the vale itfelf of Mexico, and 
 in many other places of the empire. The ftone Tetzontli is gene- 
 rally of a dark red colour, pretty hard, porous, and light, unites moft 
 firmly with lime and fand, and is therefore more in demand than 
 any other for the buildings of the capital, where the foundation is 
 marfliy and unfolid. There are befides entire mountains of load- 
 ftone, and among others one very confiderable between Teoitztlan and 
 Chilapan, in the country of the Cohubccas. Of ^letzalitztli com- 
 monly known by the name of the nephritic ftone, the Mexicans 
 formed various and curious figures, fome of which are preferved 
 in different mufeums of Europe. Chhnaltizatl, which is a kind of 
 talc, is a tranfparent white ftone, dividing eafily into thin leaves; 
 
 on 
 I
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 17 
 
 on calcination gives a fine plaillcr, which the ancient Mexicans ufed to BOOK i. 
 
 whiten their paintings. There are belides infinite quantities of plaiftcr 
 
 and talc ; but refpedting this lafl we do not know what ufe it was put 
 
 to. The Mezciiitlatl, that is, moon's-dung, belongs to that clafs of 
 
 ftoncs which, on account of their refiftance to the adtion of fire, are 
 
 called by cheniifts lapides refraSlarii. It is traniparent and of a rcddifh 
 
 pold colour. But no ftone was more common with the Mexicans 
 
 O 
 
 than the itztli, of which there is great abundance in many places of 
 Mexico. It is femitranfparent, of a glafly fubllance, and generally 
 black, but it is found alfo white and bluej they made looking-glafies 
 of this ftone, knives, lancets, razors, and fpears, as we fhall mention 
 when we treat of their militia ; and after the introduiflion of the gof- 
 pel they made facred flones of it which were much valued (p). 
 
 However plentiful and rich the mineral kingdom of Mexico may (. r^ y, 
 be, the vegetable kingdom is ftill more various and abundant. The Plantscfteem- 
 celebrated Dr. Hernandez, the Pliny of New Spain, defcribes in his flowers. 
 Natural Hiftory, about twelve hundred plants, natives of that country j 
 but his defcription, although large, being confined to medicinal plants, 
 has hardly comprifed one part of what provident nature has produced 
 there for the benefit of mortals. Of the medicinal plants we rtiould 
 give but an imperfcdt account if we applied to the medicine of the 
 Mexicans. With regard to the other clafles of vegetables, fome are 
 efteenied for their flowers, fome for their fruit, fome for their 
 leaves, fome for their root, fome for their trunk or their wood, and 
 others for their gum, refin, oil, or juice fqj. Among the many flow- 
 ers which embellifh the meads and adorn the gardens of the Mexicans, 
 there are fome worthy to be mentioned, either from the fingular beauty 
 of their colours, the exquifite fragrance which they exhale, or the ex- 
 traordinarinefs of their form. 
 
 The Floripundio which, on account of its fize, merits the firfl men- 
 tion, is a beautiful white odoriferous flower, monopetalous, or confift- 
 
 {p) Itztli is known in South America by the nnme of the Pietra del Galinazzo. The cele- 
 trated Rlr. Caylus proves, in a manufcript Diflertation, which Mr. Bomarc has cited, that the 
 objiiliana, ot wliich the ancients made their vafi murinl., which were {o much clleemed, was en- 
 tirtly fimllar to this done. 
 
 (^) \\ c h;i ve adopted this though imperfeft divifion of plants, as it appears the moft fuit- 
 ablc and adajitcd to the plan of our hiliory. 
 
 Vol. I. D ing
 
 i8 HISTORYOF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK 1. ing of one leaf, but fo large, in length it is full more than eight inches, 
 and its diameter in the upper part three or four. Many hang together 
 from the branches like bells, but not entirely round as their co- 
 rolla (r), has five or fix angles equidiflant from each other. Thefe 
 flowers are produced by a pretty little tree, the branches of which 
 form a round top like a dome. Its trunk is tender, its leaves large, 
 angular, and of a pale green colour. The flowers are followed by 
 round fruit as large as oranges, which contain an almond. 
 
 The JollocxochitI (s), or flower of the heart, is alfo large, and not 
 , lefs eftimable for its beauty than for its odour, which is fo powerful, 
 that a fingle flower is iufficient to fill a whole houfe with the moft 
 pleafing fragrance. It has many petals, which are glutinous, exter- 
 nally white, internally reddifh or yellowiili, and difpofed in fuch a 
 manner, that when the flower is open and its petals expanded, it has 
 the appearance of a flar, but when fliut it refembles in fome meafure 
 a heart, from whence its name arofe. The tree which bears it is to- 
 lerably large,, and its leaves long and rough. 
 
 The Coatzontecoxochitl, or flower with the viper's head, is of in- 
 comparable beauty ('Z^. It is compofed of five petals or leaves, pur- 
 ple in the innermofl; part, white in the middle, the reft red but 
 elegantly ftained with yellow and white fpots. The plant which bears 
 it has leaves refembling thofe of the iris, but longer and larger, its 
 trunk is fmall and Aim ; this flov/er was one of the moft efteem'ed 
 amongft the Mexicans. 
 
 The Oceloxochitl, or tyger-flower, is large, compofed of three 
 pointed petals, and red, but towards the middle of a mixed \yhite and 
 yellow, reprefenting in fome degree the fpots of that wild animal from 
 which it takes its name. The plant has leaves alio refembling thofe 
 of the iris, and a bulbous root. 
 
 (r) The coloured leaves of which the flower is compofed are called j*f/rt/( by Fabio Co- 
 lonna, and corolla by Linnaeus, to diftinguifli them from the real leaves. 
 
 (j) There is another Jolloxochitl alio exceedingly fragrant, but different in form. 
 
 (/) Flos forma fpeftabilis, et quam vix qsifpiam poilit verbis esprimere, aut penecillo pro 
 digiiitate imitali, a prineipibus Indorum ut natura: miraculum valde expetirus, et in magno 
 habitus prctio. Hernandez Hillor. Nat. N. Hifpanis, lib. viii. c. 8. The Lincean Academicians 
 of Rome, who commented on and publiflied this Hiilory of Hernandez in 165!, and law the 
 paintings ot this fluwcr, wiih its colours, executed in Mexico, conceived fuch an idea of its 
 beauty that they adopted it as the emblem of their very learned academy, denominating it Fior 
 di LìKce, 
 
 I The
 
 Fl.l. 
 
 Iff / /',i^, jfi 
 
 '■^>//r:n ',-///// 
 
 (l'I// :, ■///,■/?'./; 'f//// 
 
 ///f/i/M/r,ir/t///
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 '9 
 
 The Cdcaloxochitl, or raven-flower is fmall, but very fragrant, and 
 coloured white, red, and yellow. The tree which produces thefe 
 flowers appears covered all over with them, forming at the end of the 
 branches natural bunches not lefs pleafing to the fight than grateful 
 to the fenfe. In hot countries there is nothing more common than 
 thefe flowers j the Indians adorn their altars with them ; and the Spa- 
 niards make excellent conferves of them (u). 
 
 The Izquixochitl is a fmall white flower, refembling in figure 
 the cynorrhodo, or wood-rofe, and in flavour the garden-rofe, but 
 much luperior to it iii fragrance. It grows to a great tree. 
 
 The ChempoalochitI, or Cbempafcuhil, as the Spaniards fay, is that 
 flower tranfplanted to Europe which the French call Oeillet d'Inde, or 
 Indian carnation. It is exceedingly common in Mexico, where they 
 call it alfo Flower of the Dead ; and there are feveral kinds diffcrino- in 
 lize, in figure, and in the number of petals of which they are compofed. 
 
 The flower which the Mexicans call Xtloxochitl, and the Miztecas* 
 T'uitd, is entirely compofed of thin, equal, and flrait threads, but 
 pliant and about fix inches long, fpringing from a round cup 
 fomething refembling an acorn, but difterent in fize, in colour, and 
 fubflance. Some of thefe beautiful flowers are entirely red, others all 
 white, and the tree which bears them is moft beautiful. 
 
 The Macphalxochitly or flower of the hand, is like a tulip, but its 
 piftillum reprefents the form of a bird's foot, or rather that of an ape, 
 with fix fingers terminated with as many nails. The vulgar Spa- 
 niards of that kingdom call the tree which bears thefe curious flowers 
 Arbol de Mani t as. 
 
 Btfides thefe and innumerable'other flowers, natives of that coun- 
 try, which the Mexicans delighted to cultivate, the land of Mexico 
 has been enriched with all thofe wliich could be tranfported from Afia 
 and Europe, fuch as lilies, jclfamines, carnations of difitrcnt kinds, 
 and others in great numbers, which at prcknt in the gardens of 
 Mexico rival the flowers of America. 
 
 With regard to fruits, the country of Anahuac is partly indebted to Sect. vii. 
 the Canary Iflands, partly to Spain, for water melons, apples, peaches, loi'tlu'i! n'ùtt. 
 
 {u) It is probable that this tree is the fame which Bomaredefcribcs under the name of /"n/n- 
 
 g'qtanitr. 
 
 D 2 quinces.
 
 20 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK I. quinces, apricots, pears, pomegranates, figs, black-cherries, walnuts, 
 ^^*'' ^ almonds, olives, chefnuts, and grapes ; although thefe lafl: were 
 not altogether wanting in the country fxj. In Mizteca there are two 
 kinds of wild vine original in the country : the one in the fhoots and 
 figure of the leaves limilar to the common vine, produces red grapes, 
 lariie, and covered with a hard ikin, but of a fweet and grateful tafle, 
 which would certainly improve from culture. The grape of the other 
 .vine is hard, large, and of a very harfli tafle, but they make an excellent 
 conferve of it. 
 
 With reipedl to the cocoa-tree, the plaintain, the citron, orange, 
 and lemon, J am perfuaded, from the teftimony of Oviedo, Her- 
 nandez, and Bernal Dias, that they had the cocoa from the Phi- 
 lippine Iflands, and the reft from the Canaries fyj ; but as I know 
 there are many of another opinion, I decline engaging myfejf in any 
 difpute ; becaufe, befides its being a matter of no importance to me, 
 it would force me to deviate from the line of my hiftory. It is cer- 
 tain, that thefe trees, and all others which have been imported there 
 from elfewhere, have fuccefsfully taken root, and multiplied as much 
 as in their native foil. All the maritime countries abound with cocoa- 
 nut trees. Of oranges, there are feven different kinds, and of lemons 
 only four. There are as many of the plaintain, or platano, as the 
 Spaniards call \'i(%). The largeft, which is the zapalot, is from 
 
 fifteen 
 
 (;i) The places named P arras and Parrai in the diocefe of New Bifeaglia, had thefe names 
 from the abundance of vines which were found there, of which they made many vineyards, 
 which at this day produce good wine. 
 
 (y) Oviedo, in his Natural Hiltory, attefts, that F. J. Bulangas, a Dominican, was the firfl 
 who brought the Mufa from the Canaries to Hifpaniola, in 1516; and from thence it was tranf- 
 planted to the continent of America. Hernandez, in the iiid book, chap. 40. of his Natural 
 Hiltory, fpeaks thus of the cocoa : 'Nafàtur pajpm «^«</ Orientales et jam quoque apud Occi- 
 dentales Indos. B. Dias in his Hiftory of the Conqueft, chap. 17. fays, he fowed in the 
 country of Coatzacualco, feven or eight orange feeds ; and thefe, be adds, were the firft 
 or.inges ever planted in New Spain. With regard to the mufa, of the four fptcies which 
 there are of it, it is probable, one of them only is foreign, which is called Giihico. 
 
 (z) The mufa was not altogether unknown to the ancients. Pliny, in cting the account 
 which the foldiers of Alexander the Great gave of all that they faw in India, gives this dc- 
 fcription of it : Major et alia {arbos) pomo etfuavitate pracellentior., quo fapientes hidorum 1;'. 
 vunt. Folium avium alas imitatur-, longitudine cuhitorum trium, latitudine duum. FruFium cor- 
 tice emittit admiralikm Jucci dulcedine, ut uno quartcnos fatitt, Arhori nomcn paLr, pmno aitienr. 
 Hid. Nat. lib. xii. cap. 6. Bcfides thefe fpecific charaflers of the mufa l-.e fubjo'ns further 
 ,that the name Palan, which was given to the mufa in thofe remote times, is fiill preferved in Ma- 
 labar, as Garzia dell' Orto, a learned Poi tugiiefe phyfician, bears witnefs, who refided there 
 many years. It is to be fufpeded whether Platano or plantain has been derived from the word 
 
 Palaa
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 fifteen to twenty inches in length, and about three in diameter. It BO 
 is hard and little efteemed, and is only eat when roalled or boiled. 
 The Platano largo, that is long, is eight inches at the moll in length, 
 and one and a half in diameter. The fl^in at firft is green, then yel- 
 low, and when perfedly ripe, black or blackilh. It is a rcliOiing 
 and \vholefome fruit, whether boiled or raw. The Guinea is fmaller 
 than the other, but richer, fofter, more delicious, and lefs wholefome. 
 The fibres which cover the pulp are flatulent. This fpecies of plan- 
 tain has been cultivated in the public garden of Bologna, and we 
 have tafted it, but found it fo unripe and unpalatable on account of 
 the climate, that it might have been fuppofcd to be a quite different 
 fpecies. The Domhiico is the fmalleft and likewife the moft delicate. 
 The tree alfo is finaller tlian the others. In that country there are 
 whole woods of large extent not only of the plantain, but alfo of oranges 
 and lemons ; and in Michuacan there is a confiderable commerce with 
 the dried plantains, which are preferable to raifins or figs. 
 
 The iruits which are unqueilionably original in that cour.tryare the 
 pine-apple, which from being at firft view like to the pine-tree, was 
 called by the Spaniards Piha. The Mamei, Chirimoya (aj, Anona, 
 Cabeza di Negro, black Zapote, Chicozapote, white Zapote, yel- 
 low Zapote, Zapote di S. Dominico, Ahuacate, Guayaba, Capu- 
 lino, Guava, or Cuaxinlcuil, Pitah;iya, Papaya, Guanabana, Noce 
 Encarcelado, Plums, Dates, Chajoti, Tilapo, Obo or I lobo, Nance, 
 Cacahuate, and many others unimportant to be known by the reader. 
 Moll: of thefe fruits are defcribed in the works of Oviedo, Acofla, 
 Hernandez, Lact, Nieremberg, Marcgrave, Pifon, Barrere; Sloanc, 
 
 r 
 Palan. The name Bananas, which the French give it, is the lame as it bears in Guinea, and 
 the name Mula, which the Italians give it, is taken from tlie Arabic. By fome it has been 
 called the Fruit of Paradifc, and even fome are pcrfuaded it is the very fruit which made our 
 firft parents tranfgrcfs. 
 
 (a) Several European writers on the aftairs of America, confound the Chirimoya with the 
 Arcona and Guanabana : but they arc three diliinct fpecies of fruits ; although the two fini 
 arc fomewhat rcfcmblin^ each other. It is ncceflary alfo to guard an::linfl conf>onding the 
 pine-.ippk v/ith the Anona, which are more different fromcich other than the cucumber and 
 melon. Bomarc, however, makes two diliinrt fruits of the Chirininya and C'heriinolia, where- 
 as Cherimo'.ia is only the corruption of the firtl and original name of the fruit. The Ate 
 likewife, wliich fome judge a fiuit different from the Chcrimo_, a, is only a variety of the 
 fame fpecies. 
 
 Xi-
 
 22 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 COOK f, Ximenes, Ulloa, and many other naturalifts j wc fliall therefore only 
 take notice of thofe which are the leafl known in Europe. 
 
 All the fruits coniprehended by the Mexicans under the generic name 
 of Tzapotl, are round or approach, to roundnefs ; and all have a hard 
 ftone (b). The black Zapote, has a green, light, fmooth, tender 
 bark ; a black, foft, and moft exceeding favoury pulp, which at hrfl 
 fight looks like the Caffia (c). Within the pulp, it has flat, black- 
 ifn ftones, not longer than a finger. It is perfectly round, and its 
 diameter from one and a half, to four or five inches. The tree is 
 of a moderate iize and thicknefs, with fmall leaves. Ice of the 
 pulp of this fruit, feafoned with fugar and cinnamon, is of a mod 
 delicate tafte. 
 
 The white Zapote, which from its narcotic virtue, was called by 
 the Mexicans Cochitzapotl, is fomething fimilar to the black, in 
 fize, figure, and colour of the bark ; although in the white the 
 green is more clear j but in other refpecls they are greatly different. 
 Its flonc, which is believed to be poifonous, is large, round, hard, 
 and v/hite. The tree is thick, and larger than the black ; and its 
 leaves alfo are larger. Beiides, the black is peculiar to a warm cli- 
 mate ; but the white, on the contrary, belongs to the cold and 
 temperate climates. 
 
 The Chicozapote, (in Mexican, Chiclzapotl) is of a fpherlcal 
 fliape, or approaching thereto ; and is one and a half, or two inches 
 in diameter. Its fkin is grey, the pulp white, and the flones black, 
 hard, and pointed. Fron this fruit, when it is flill green, they 
 draw a glutinous milk, which eafily condenfes, called by the Mexi- 
 cans, Cb'iclli; and by the Spaniards, Chicle: the boys and girls chew 
 it ; and in Colima they form it into fmall llatues, and other fV.ncifu] 
 little figures (d). 
 
 {j!>\ The fniits comprchend^-d by the Mexicans under the nnmc of Tzaporl, are the jMam- 
 mei TelzcNtT^upoll, the Cinnmoy-i Mat-znpot!, the Anon;i ^ranhlziifo/l, ihc bhick Zapotl Tlilt- 
 .zapotl, &c. 
 
 (f) GertcUi fiys, the bhick Zapotl has :ilfo the laile of the Calila: but this is very far 
 from being- true, which all who have tafted it nnnt know. He fays alfo, that this fruit when 
 crude, is poifon to fifli, but it is wonderful thai fiich a faiii fliould be knov/n only to Gemelli, 
 who was not more than ten mor.lhi in Mexico. 
 
 {li) Gemelli is pet fuaded that chicle was a ccmpofition made nn purpofe ; but he is de- 
 ceived, for if is nothing clfe than the mere milk of the unripe fruit condenfed bv the air. 
 
 T«m. 6. lib. ii. cap. ic. 
 
 The
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO, 
 
 The Chicozapote, fully ripe, is one of the moil delicious fruits ; boo 
 and by many Europeans reckoned fupcrior to any rVuit in Europe. 
 The tree is moderately large, its wood fit for being wrought, and its' 
 leaves are round, in colour and confiilence like thofe of the orange. 
 It fprings without culture in hot countries ; and in Mixteca, Huax- 
 teca, and Michuacan, there are woods of fuch trees twelve and fif- 
 teen miles \ongfeJ. 
 
 The Capollino or Capulin, as the Spaniards call it, is the cherry 
 of Mexico. The tree is little different from the cherry tree of 
 Europe ; and the fruit is like it in fize, colour, and flone, but not 
 In tafte. 
 
 The Nance is a fmall, round fruit -, yellow, aromatic, and fa- 
 voury, with extremely fmali feeds, which grow into trees peculiar to 
 warm climates. 
 
 The Chayoti is a round fruit, fimilar in the huflc, with whic'i it is 
 covered, to tiie chelhut, but four or five times larger, and of a 
 much deeper green colour. Its kernel is of a green iih white, and 
 has a large flone in the middle, which is white, and like it in 
 fubflance. It is boiled, and the ftone eat with it. This fruit 
 is produced by a twining perennial plant, the root of which is alfo good 
 to e.it. 
 
 The imprifcned nut, commonly fo called, becaufe its kernel is 
 clofely fhut up within an exceeding hard flone. It is fmaller than 
 the common nut ; and its figure rcfcmblcs the nutmeg. Its flone is 
 fiiiooth, and its kernel lefs, and not fo well tailed as the common one. 
 This (J) tranfported from Europe, has multiplied and become as 
 common as in Europe itfelf. 
 
 The Tlakacahuatl, or Cacahuate as the Spaniards call it, is one of 
 the mofl fcarce plants which grow there. It is an herb, but very 
 thick, and flrongly fupplied with roots. Its leaves are fomcthing 
 
 (.•) Amonjjft the ridiculous lies told by Thomas Gage, is the following, that in the garden' 
 of S. Giacinto, (the holpital of the Dominicans of the Miirion from the I'hilippinc illc-, in' 
 the fiibiirbs of Mexico where he lodged fcvcral months,) ihcrc were Chicozapoti. Tliis fniit 
 could never be raifcd cither in the vale of Mexico or any other country fuhjcT to white frolt. 
 
 ( /") We only fpcak of the imprifoned nut of the Mexican empire, as the one of Nc\r 
 Mexico is larf;er :ind better tailed than the ccmmon one of Europe, as I have been in- 
 formai from rcfpcctable authority. Probably this of New Mexico u the fame with that 
 of Louifiana, called Facana, or i'ai:aria. 
 
 like
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 like purflain, but not lb grofs. Its flowerets are white, which 
 bring no fruit. Its fruit are not borne on the branches or item as 
 in other plants, but attached to the junftion of the roots, within a 
 white, greyilh, long, roundilh, wrinkled Iheath, and as rough as we 
 have reprefented it in our third figure of fruits and flowers. Every 
 Iheath has two or three Cacahuati, which are in figure like pine- 
 feeds, but larger and groflTer ; and each is compofed, like other feeds, 
 of two loÒ! ; and has its germinating point. It is fit for eating, 
 and well tafl:ed when not raw but only a little toafl:ed. If they 
 are much toafted, they acquire a fmell and tafte fo like cofl^ee, any 
 one may be deceived by it. Oil is made from the Cacahuati, which 
 is not ill tailed ; but it is believed to be unwholefome becaufe it is 
 very hot. It makes a beautiful light, but is eafily extinguifhed. 
 This plant would thrive, with certainty, in Italy. It is fown in 
 March or April, and the fruit is gathered in Oftober or November. 
 
 Among many other fruits, which I pafs over tp fhorten rny account, 
 I cannot difpenfe with the mention of the cocoa, the cocoa nut, 
 A-ainilla, chia, chilli or great pepper, Tomati, the pepper of Ta- 
 bafco, coton, grain, and leguminous plants which are molt common 
 with the Mexicans. 
 
 Of the Cocoa nuts, (a name taken from the Mexican word Ca- 
 cahuatli,) Hernandez enumerates four fpecies ; but the Tlalca- 
 cahuatl, the fmalleft of the whole, was the one mofl: ufed by the 
 Mexicans in their chocolate and other daily drink ; the other fpe- 
 cies ferved more as money to traffic with in the market, than 
 aliment. The Cocoa nut was one of the plants mofl: cultivated in 
 the warm countries of that empire ; and many provinces paid it in 
 tribute to the crown of Mexico ; and amongll; others the province 
 of Xoconocho, whole Cocoa-nut is excellent and better than that of 
 Maddalena. The defcription of this celebrated plant, and its cul- 
 ture, is to be found in many authors of every polifhed nation in 
 Europe. 
 
 The Vainilla or Vainiglia, fo-well known and much ufed in Eu- 
 rope, grows without culture, in warm countries. The ancient 
 Mexicans made ufe of it in their chocolate and other drinks which 
 they made of the cocoa. 
 
 The
 
 Pi 71. 
 
 ì'n/ . I. l'affe 2^ 
 
 t '///!/<■/// 
 
 'J/''//<//.j<'r//////, /:,//// 
 
 •^/ti/t ■//, /(//an//
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Tlie Chia is the fniall feed of a beautiful plant, whofe ftcin 
 is flrait and quadrangular; the branches extended in four diredions, 
 and fymmctrically placed oppofite each other, with blue floweret?. 
 There are two fpecies of it, the one black and finali, from which 
 there is an oil drawn admirable for painting ; the other white and 
 larger, of which they make a cooling beverage. Both were ufed 
 by the Mexicans for thefe atid other purpofes, which we fliall men- 
 tion hereafter. 
 
 Of Chilli or great Pepper (g), which was as much in ufc with 
 the Mexicans as fait in Europe, there are at leafl eleven fpecies, different 
 in their fize, figure and fliarpnefs. The Quauhchilli, which is the 
 fruit of a flirub, and Chiltecpin are the fmallell:, but alfo the moll 
 fharp. Of tiie Tornate there are fix fpecies, diflinguifhed by their 
 fize, colour, and tafle. The largeft, which is the Xi6lomatl or 
 Xitomate, as the Spaniards of Mexico call it, is now very common in 
 Europe, in Spain, and France, under the name of Tuoniate; and in 
 Italy, under the name of Pomo-d'oro. The Miltomatl is fmaller, 
 green, and perfectly round. How much both were ufed by the 
 Mexicans at their meals, {Ivall be mentioned wlicn we treat of 
 their diet. 
 
 The Xocoxochitl, vulgarly known by the name of Pepe di Tabafco, 
 from its abounding in that province, is larger than the pepper of 
 Malabar. It grows on a large tree, whofe leaves have the colour 
 and luftre of thofe of the orange ; and the flowers arc of a beautiful 
 red, and fimilar in figure to thofe of the pomegranate, and of a moft 
 penetrating and pleaiiag fcent, of which the branches alfo partake. 
 The fruit is round and borne in clufters which at firft a:': green, 
 afterwards become ah-noft black. This pepper, ufed formerly by 
 the ancient Mexicans, miy fupply the want of that of Malabar. 
 
 C )tton, from its utility, was one of the moft valuable produilions 
 of that country, as it fcrved inflead of flax (although this plant was 
 not wanting to them), and the inhabitants o'i Anahuac were gene- 
 rally clothed in it (h). There is v.hite and tawny-coloured cotton, 
 
 vulgarly 
 
 (j>) In other co'intrics of Ainciiia tlie-Chilli is called Axi ; in Fpain, Pimiciito ; in Fiance, 
 Poivre lie CJuincc, and by other names. 
 
 (/^) Michuican, New , csico, and Quivira produced flax in great abundance an! of the Wi 
 quality ; but we arc ignorant if theT; nations cultivated or made «fo of it. The Court of 
 
 Vol, I. E Spain,
 
 26 PIISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK I. vulgarly called Coyote. It is a plant common in warm countries, 
 but more cultivated by the ancients, than the moderns. 
 
 The Achiote, called by the French Rocou, ferved the Mexicans 
 in dying, as it now does the Europeans. Of the bark they made 
 cordage, and the wood was ufed to produce fire by fridtion, after 
 the mode of the ancient fliepherds of Europe. This tree is well 
 defcribed in the didionary of Bomare. 
 
 With ■ regard to corn and leguminous plsuits, that country had 
 from Europe, wheat, barley, rice, peafe, beans, lentils, and others j 
 all of which rooted themfelves fuccefsfully in foils fuited to their 
 nature, and multiplied accordingly as we fliall fliew in our differta- 
 tions (/). 
 
 Of grain, the chief, the moft ufeful, and mofl common was the 
 maize, called by the Mexicans, Tluolli ; of which there are feveral 
 fpecies, differing in fize, colour, weight, and tafle. There is the 
 large and the fmall fort, the white, the yellow, the blue, the purple, 
 the red, and the black. The Mexicans made bread of maize, and 
 other meats, of which we fliall treat hereafter. Maize was car- 
 ried from America to Spain, and from Spain into the other countries 
 of Europe, to the great advantage of the poor ; though an author 
 of the prefent day, would make America indebted to Europe for it> 
 an opinion the moft extravagant and improbable which ever entered 
 a human brain [k). 
 
 Spain, being made acquainted of the lands of Mexico being fit for the ciiltuie of flax and 
 hemp, fent, in the year 177?, twelve country families from Vega di Granata, to be employed 
 in that kind of agriculture. 
 
 (/) Dr. Hernandez, in hi« Natural Hiflory of Mexico, defcribes the fpecies of wheat found 
 in Michuacan, and boalls its prodigious fecundity : but the ancients either did not know, 
 or did not incline to ufe it, but gave preference then, as they flill do, to their own maize. 
 The firft perfon who fowcd European wheat in that country was, a Moorilh Have belonging to 
 Cortcz, having difcovered a few grains of it in a bag of rice, v.hich he carried for provifion 
 to the Spanifli foldiers. 
 
 {k) Here follow the words of Bomare, in his Diilionary of Nat. Hift. i-Uk Bli dc turquie. 
 
 On Jonnoit à cette piante cnrieiife àf utile, le noin de Ble d^ Inde ; parce quelle tire fon origine des 
 Indes, d'oli elle fùt apporti en Turqiiie, isl de la dans toutes Ics autrcs parlies dc ^Europe, de 
 CAfrique, tS de fjineriqiie. The name of Grano di Turchia, by which it is at prefent 
 known in Italy, mud certainly have been the only reafon of Bouiare's adopting an erroi- fo 
 contrary to the teftimony of all writers on America, and the univerfal belief of nation?. 
 The wheat is called by the Spaniards of Europe and America, M^Ize, taken from the Haitina 
 language, which was fouken in the illand now called Hifpaniola, or St. Domingo. 
 
 I The
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO, 
 
 27 
 
 The chief pulfe of the Mexicans, was the French bean, of which book I. 
 the fpecies are more numerous and more varied than thofe of maize. '— nr-*-» 
 The largeft fpecies is the AyacotU, which is the fize of a common 
 bean, and comes from a beautiful red flower; but the moft efteemed 
 is the fmall black heavy French bean. This pulfe, which in Italy is 
 of no value, becaufe it is not good there, is fo excellent in Mexi- 
 co, that it not only ferves as fuftenance to the poor clafs of people, 
 but is alfo efteemed a luxury by the Spanirti nobility. 
 
 Of plants which were valuable for their root, their leaves, their Sect.viii, 
 trunk, or their wood, the Mexicans had many which ferved them ^','?"'' ''^'"' 
 
 ' able for their 
 
 for food, namely, the Xicama, Camote, Huacamote, Cacomite, and root, tor their 
 others ; or which furniihed them with thread for their cloaths, or thcirtVunk 
 cordage, namely the Iczotl, and feveral fpecies of Maguei; or gave "r*"'' their 
 them wood for buildings and other works, as the cedar, pine, cyprcfs, 
 fir, and ebony, 6cc. 
 
 The Xicama, called by the Mexicans Catzotl, is a root the figure 
 and fize of an onion ; quite white, folid, frefli, juicy, and relifliing, 
 and always eat raw. 
 
 The Camote is another root, extremely common in that country, 
 of which there are three fpecies, one white, one yellow, and another 
 purple. When boiled they tafte well, efpecially thofe of Queretaro, 
 which are juftly prized over all the kingdom (/). 
 
 The Cacomite is the efculent root of the plant which bears the 
 beautiful tyger-flower, already defcribed. 
 
 The Huacamote is the fweet root of a fpecies of Jucca [m), 
 which is alfo eat boiled. The papa which is a root tranfplanted 
 into Europe, and greatly valued in Ireland, was alio brought from 
 South America, its native country, into Mexico, as many other roots 
 and falaJs were from Spain and the Canaries, namely, turnips, ra- 
 difhcs, carrots, garlic, lettuces, and afparagus, cabbages, &c. Oni- 
 ons were fold in the markets of Mexico, as Cortez mentions in liis 
 letters to Charles Vth. fo that there was no necelfity for importing 
 
 (/) Many call the Camoti, Batate or Patate ; but I have avoiditl this name bccaure it is 
 equivocal, and indifferently ufed by authors to fignify Camoti and Pape which are totally 
 diflferent roots. 
 
 (w) The Jucca is that plant of whofc root they make Cajava bread, in feveral countries 
 
 «f America. 
 
 E 2 them
 
 28 HISTORYOF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK I. them from Europe. Befides the name Xonacatl which is given to the 
 
 " " '' onion, and that of Xonocapetec, by which name a certain place has 
 
 been known fmce the time of the Mexican kings ; they let us under- 
 ftand that this plant was very ancient in that country, and never 
 tranfplanted there from Europe. 
 
 The Maguei called by the Mexicans, Meil; by the Spaniards, Pka-, 
 and by many authors, the American aloe, from its being very limilar 
 to the real aloe, is one of the moft common and moft ufeful plants of 
 Mexico. Hernandez defcribes nineteen fpecies, ftill more different in 
 their interior fubftance than in their external form and colour of 
 leaves. In the feventh book of our hiftory we Ihall have occafion to 
 explain the great advantages the Mexicans derived from thcfe plants, 
 and the incredible profit the Spaniards now make of them. 
 
 The Iczotl is a fpecies of mountain palm, pretty lofty, and gene- 
 rally with a double trunk. Its branches form the figure of a fan, and. 
 its leaves a fpear. Its flowers are white and odorous, which the Spa- 
 niards preferve ; and its fruit, at firfl: fight, refembles the mufa, 
 but is altogether ufeleis. Of its leaves they did formerly and flill 
 make fine mats ; and the Mexicans got thread from it for their manu- 
 faftures. 
 
 This is not the only palm of that country. Befides the Royal 
 Palm, fuperior to all others in the beauty of its branches, the cocoa- 
 palm, and the date-palms («), there are other fpecies v/orthy to be. 
 mentioned. 
 
 The Quauhcojolli, is a palm of middle fize,. whofe trunk is in- 
 acceflible to quadrupeds, from being armed round with long, hard, 
 and very fharp thorns. Its branches have the figure of an elegant 
 feather, between which its fruit hangs in cluflers, -being round, large 
 as the common walnut, and like it confifting of four parts, that is 
 a fkin at firll green and afterwards blackilh, a yellow pulp flrongly 
 adhering to the llone, a round and very hard fbone, and within the 
 Hone a kernel or white fubftance. 
 
 The Ixhuatl is finaller and has not more than fix or {c\e.n branches,, 
 for as foon as a new one buds, one of the old one's withers. Of 
 
 (?/) Befides the Date palm proper to that country, there is alfo the Barbary date-palip. 
 Dates are fold in the month of June, in the markets of Mexico, Angelopoli, and other 
 cities ; but notwithilanding their fweetnefs they are little in demand. 
 
 its
 
 HISTORYOF MEXICO. 2-9 
 
 its leaves they made bafl;ets and mats, and at pieient .they make BOOK I. 
 hats, and other conveniences of them. The bark to the depth of - ''- ' 
 three fingers, is nothing but a mais of membranes, about a foot 
 long, thin and flexible, but alfo ftrong ; of a number of which 
 joined together, the poor people make matrafles. 
 
 The palm Teoiczotl is alfo fmall. The fubftance of the trunk 
 which is foft, is furrounded with leaves of a particular fubitance, 
 round, grofs, white, fmooth, and iliining, which appears like fo many 
 iliells heaped upon each other, with which, formerly the Indians, 
 as they do now, adorned the arches of leaves which they made for 
 their feftivals. 
 
 There is another palm, which bears cocoas or nuts of oil, fo 
 called, (termed by the Spaniards Cocos de Aceite ;) becaufe they 
 obtain a good oil from it. The cocoa of oil, is a nut in figure and 
 in fize like the nutmeg ; within which there is a white, oily, e.itable 
 kernel, covered by a thin purple pellicle. The oil has a (wcct 
 fcent, but is too eafily condenfed, and then becomes a white mafs, 
 foft, and white as fnow. 
 
 For the excellence, variety, and plenty of its timber, that country 
 is equal to any in tiie world ; as there is no- Ibrt of climate wanting 
 in it, every one produces its peculiar wood. Befides oaks, firs, pines, 
 cyprefles, beeches, aflies, hazels, poplars, and many others common 
 in Europe, there are entire woods of cedars and ebonies, the two 
 fpecies moil valued by the ancients : there is an abundance of 
 Agalloco or wood of aloe, in Mixteca ; of Tapinzecan, in Michu- 
 acan ; Caoba, in Chiapan Palo Gateado; which we might c:\\ creeping 
 woody in Zoncoliuhcan, (now Zongolica) ; Cmnote in the mountains 
 of Tezcoco J. Granadillo or red ebony, in Mixteca and clfcwhere ; 
 Mizquitl or real Acacia, Tepehuaxin, Copti, Jabin, Guayacan or 
 holy wood, Ayaquahuitl, Oyametl, the wood of Zopilote, and in- 
 luimerable other woods valuable for their durability, their hardncfs, 
 and weight {p), their pliablenefs or eafincfs of being cut, the elegance of 
 
 {0') Piiny, in his Natural Hirtory, lib. x vi. cap. vj. mentions no other woods of great 
 fpccific weight, in water, than thefc four, ebony, box, larch, and barked cork ; hut in 
 Mexico there are many trees, whofc wood docs not float in water, as the Guajacan, 
 '1 ;ipinzeran, Jahin, Quilbrahacha, &c. The Quilhrahacha, which means brcuk-axc, is fo 
 crillcd becaufe in cutting it the a\c is frequently broke by the hardncfs of the wood. 
 
 their
 
 3=> 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK their colours, or the agreeablenefs of their odour. The Camote is 
 
 ' ' ' of a moft beautiful purple ; and the Granadillo, a dark-red colour ; 
 
 but the Palo gateado, Caoba, and Tzopiloquahuitl or wood of Zopi- 
 lot, are flill more admii-ablc. The hardnefs of the Guayacan is well 
 known in Europe; the Jabiu has the fame property in no lefs a 
 degree. The aloe-wood of Mixteca, although different from the true 
 Agalloco of the Eaft, according to the defcription given of it by 
 Garzia dell'Orto (/>) and < vher authors, is however, not lefs to be 
 efteemed for its delightful odour, efpecially when it is frefli cut. 
 There is alfo in that country, a tree whofe wood is precious, but 
 its nature is fo malignant as to occafion a fwelling in the fcrotum 
 of any one who manages it indifcreetly when frefli cut. The name 
 which the Michuacans give it (which I do not at prefent remember) 
 exprelTes diftintìly that noxious eifeót. I have never been a witnefs 
 of this fàól, nor have I feen the tree ; but I learnt it when I was 
 in Michuacan, from refpeilable authority. 
 
 Hernandez, in his Natural Hiftoiy, defcribes about one hundred 
 fpecies of trees ; but having, as v/e before mentioned, confecrated his 
 ftudy to the medicinal plants, he omits the greater part of thofe which 
 that fertile foil produces, and in particular thofe which are mofl 
 confiderable for their lize, and valued for their wood. There are 
 alfo trees, in height and largenefs fo prodigious, they are not at all 
 inferior to thofe v/hich Pliny boafls to be the miracles of nature. 
 
 Acoila makes mention of a cedar, which was in Atlacuechahuayan, 
 a place nine miles diflant from Antequera or Oaxaca, the circum- 
 ference of whofe trunk v.as fixteen fathoms, that is more than 
 eighty-two feet of Paris ; and I have feen in a houfe in the country a 
 beam, one hundred and twenty Caflilian feet, or one hundred and 
 feven Parifian feet long. In the capital, and other cities there are 
 very large tables of cedar to be feen, confifting of one fmgle piece. 
 In the valley of Atlixo there is ftill exifting a very ancient fir- 
 tree (^), fo large, that into a cavity of its trunk which was occafioned by 
 
 (/) Stoiia del Semplici, Aromati, &c. della India Orientale. 
 
 (y) The Mexican name of this tree is, Ahuehuetl ; and the common Spaniard of that 
 country calls it, Ahuehuete ; but thofe who would fpeak in Caftilian call it Sabino, that 
 is Savin, m which they are deceived ; for the Ahuehuetl, though very like to Savin, is not 
 onp, but a fir, as Hernandez dcmonftrates, in lib. iii. cap. 66, of his Nat. Hift. I iaw the 
 fir of Atlixco in my way through that city, in 1756, but not near enough to form a jull 
 idea of its bignefs, 
 
 lightning,
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 lightning, fourteen men on horieback could conveniently enter. 
 We are given a flill ftronger idea of its capacity fro;n a tcftimony 
 even fo relpedtable as his Excellency D. F. Lorenzana, formerly Arch- 
 bifhop of Mexico, now of Toledo. This Prelate, in the annota- 
 tions which he made on the letters of Cortez, to Charles Vth. and 
 printed in Mexico, in 1770, attelts that having gone himfelf, in com- 
 pany with the Archbilhop of Guatemala and the Bilhop of Ange- 
 lopoli, to view that celebrated tree, he made one hundred young lads 
 enter its trunk. 
 
 The Ceibas, which I faw in the maritime province of Xicayan, 
 may be compared with this famous fir. The largenefs of thefe trees 
 is proportioned to their prodigious elevation, and they afford a moft 
 delightful prol'pedt at the time they are adorned with new leaves 
 and loaded with fruit, in which there is inclofed a particular fpecies 
 of white, fine, and moll: delicate cotton. This might be, and 
 aótually has been made into vvcbs as foft and delicate, and perhaps 
 more fo, than filk (r) ; but it is toilefome to fpin, on account of 
 the finallnefs of the threads, and the profit does not requite the la- 
 bour, the web not being lading. Some ufe it lor pillows and mat- 
 traffeS which have the fingular property of fwelling enormoully 
 when expofed to the fun. 
 
 Amongft the great many trees worthy of notice for their peculiari- 
 ties, which I am however obliged to look over, I cannot omit a 
 certain fpecies of wood-fig, which grows in the country of the 
 Cohuixcas and in other places of the kingdom. It is a lofty, grofs, 
 thick tree, fimilar in leaves and fruit to the common hg. From 
 its branches, which extend horizontally, fpring certain filaments 
 which taking their direction towards the earth, increafe and grow 
 till they reach it; ftrike root and form fo many new trunks, 
 that from one fingle fig, a whole wood may be generated. The 
 fruit of this tree is altogether ufelcfs, but its timber is good (j-). 
 
 In 
 
 (r) Ds Bomare fays, that the Africans intikc of the thread of the Ccibn, the vc'^ctable 
 taffciy, which is fo fcarcc, and fo much tllocnicd in Europe. I do not wonder at the fearcity 
 of fucli cloth, confidcring the diificulty of making it. The name Ceiba i., taken, li\e many 
 others, from the language which was fpoke in the illand Haiti, or San Domingo. The Mexi- 
 cans call it, Pochotl ; and many Spaniards Pochotr. In Africa it has the name of Bentcn. 
 TliS Ceiba, fays the above author, is higher than ail the trees hitherto known. 
 
 [s) A. Perez de Ribas makes mention of this fingular fig, in his Hi (lory of the MIlHons, 
 from Ciu.ilija ; and Boniurf ir. IiÌn niifiionar) , unji-r tlie names of Figuicr des InJcs, Grande 
 
 Fi^uicr,
 
 3a H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK I. With refpedl laftly to plants which yield profitaM: refms, gums, 
 Sect, IX. oils, 01' juices, the country of Anahuac is mofl fingularly fertile, as 
 tb'thci"rc-'' Acofta in his Natural Hiflory acknowledges. 
 
 fins, gums, The Huitziloxit], from which a balfim diftils, is a tree of mode- 
 
 juices, rate height, lis leaves are fomething fimilar to thofe of the almond 
 
 tree, but larger; its wood is reddiih and odorous, and its bark grey, 
 but covered with a reddhh pellicle. Its flowers, which are pale, 
 fpring from the extremity of the branches. Its feed is fmall, 
 white, and crooked ; and likewife comes from the extremity of a 
 thin fhcll about a finger long. In whatever part an incifion is made, 
 efpecially after rains, that excellent refin diftils which is lb much 
 valued in Europe, and nowife inferior to the celebrated balfam of 
 Meccha {t)^ Our balfam is of a reddifh black, or a yeliowifh 
 white, as from an incifion it runs of both colours, of a iharp and 
 bitter tafte, and an intenfe but moil: grateful odour. The balfam 
 tree is common in the provinces of Panuco and Chiapan, and in 
 other warm countries. The kings of Mexico caufed it to be tranf- 
 planted into the celebrated garden of Huaxtepec, where it rooted 
 fuccefsfully, and multiplied confiderably in all thofe mountains. 
 Some of the Indians, to extraól a greater quantity of balfam, after 
 making an incifion in the tree, have burnt the branches. The 
 abundance of thefe valuable trees make theni regardlefs of the lofs 
 of numbers; by which means they are not obliged to wait the ilow- 
 nefs of the diftillation. The ancient Mexicans not only coiledred 
 the opoballam, or drop diftilled from the trunk, but alfo extradtcd 
 the xylobalfam from the branches by means of decodtion [u). From 
 the Iluacoiiex and Maripenda (a), they extracfled an oil equivalent 
 to the balf.im. The Huaconex is a tree of moderate height, and 
 
 Figuier, & Figiiicr admirable. The hifton;ins of Eaft India defcribe another tree, fimilar 
 to this, which is found there. 
 
 (/) The firrt balfam brought from Mexico to Rome was f. Id at one hundred ducats, by 
 the ounce, as Monardes attefts in his Hillory of the medicinal Simples ot .America, and was 
 declared by the Apollolic See, matter fit for chrifm, alihoiiyh it is diflerent from that of 
 Mc.cha, as Acoda and other writers on America obfcrve. 
 
 («) Tbcrc is an oil alfo drawn from the fruit of the Huitzlioxitl, fimilar in fmell and 
 <al1e to that of the bitter almond, but more acrimonious and intenfe, which is found highly 
 ufeful in medicine. 
 
 (.v) The names Huaconex and Maripenda are not Mexican, but adopted by the authors 
 who write of thefe trees. 
 
 of
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 of an aromatic and hard wood which keeps freOi for years though 
 buried under the earth. Its leaves are fmall and yellow, its flowers 
 likewife fmall and white, and its fruit funilar to that of the laurel. 
 They diftilled oil from the bark of the tree j after breaking it, keeping 
 it three days in fpring water, and then drying it in the fun. They 
 likewife extradled an oil from the leaves, of a pleafing odour. The 
 Maripenda is a (hrub, whofe leaves are like the iron of a lance ; 
 and the iVuit is hmilar to the grape, and grows in clufters which are 
 firft green, afterwards red. They extraiitcd the oil, by a decodtion 
 of the branches, with a mixture of fome of the fruit. 
 
 The Xochiocotzotl, commonly liquid amber, is the liquid Storax 
 of the Mexicans. It is a great tree (not a (hrub, as Pluche makes 
 it) ; its leaves are funilar to thofe of the maple tree indented, 
 white in one part, and dark in the other j and difpofed in threes. 
 The fruit is thorny and round but polygonous, with the furface and 
 the angles yellow. The bark of the tree is in part green, part 
 tawny. By incifion in the trunk, they extrait that precious reiin 
 called by the Spaniards, liquidawhar ; and the oil of the fame name, 
 which is ftill more odorous and eftimable. They alfo obtain liquid 
 amber from a decodtion of the branches, but it is inferior to that 
 which dilHls from the trunk. 
 
 The Mexican name Copalli, is generic, and common to all the 
 refms ; but cfpecially fignifies thofe which were made ufc of for 
 incenfe. There are ten fpecies of trees which yield thefe forts of 
 refin, and differ not only in their name, but in foliage and fruit, and 
 in the qu.dity of the refm. That fimply called Copal, as being 
 the principal, is a v/hite tranfparent refin, which diilils from a 
 large tree, wiiofe leaves refemble thofe of the oak, but are 
 larger, and the fruit is round and reddifli. This rcfin is well 
 known in Europe by the name of gum Copa/, and alfo tlie ufc 
 which is made of it in medicine and varnifhes. The ancient Mexi- 
 cans ufed it chiefly in burnt offerings which they made for the wor- 
 Ihip of their idols ; or to pay refpect to ambaffadors, and other perfor,;. 
 of the firft rank. At prefent tlicy confume a great quantity in tlie 
 worHiip of the true Cod, and his faints. The 'Tecopalli or Tepeco- 
 palH, is a refin finiilar in colour, odour, and tafte to the incenfe of 
 
 Vol. I. 1'' Arabia;
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Arabia; which diftils from a tree of moderate fize that grows in 
 mountains, the fruit of which is Uke an acorn, containing the 
 nut enveloped in a mucilage, within which there is a fmall kernel, 
 that is ufeful in medicine. Not only thefe two trees but all the 
 others of this clafs, which we cannot here defcribe, are peculiar to 
 warm climates. 
 
 The C arcigna, and the Tecatnaca, refins well known in the apo-- 
 thecaries fhops of Europe, diftil from two Mexican trees of rather' 
 large fize. The trunk of the Caragna (7), is tawny, fmooth,, 
 fhining, and odorous ; and its leaves, though round, not diffimilar 
 to thofe of the olive. The tree of the Tecamaca has large indented 
 leaves, and red, round, and fmall fruit, hanging from the end of 
 the branches. 
 
 The Mizquitl or Mezquite, as the Spaniards call it, is a fpecies 
 of true Acacia; and the gum which diftils from it is the true 
 gum arabic, as Hernandez and other learned naturalifts teftify. The 
 Mezquite is a thorny fhrub, whofe branches are moft irregularly 
 difpofed; and its leaves Imall, thin, and pinnated. Its flowers are 
 like thofe of the birch tree. Its fruits are fweet, eatable fhells, con- 
 taining a feed, of which anciently the barbarous Cicimecas made a 
 pafte, which ferved them for bread. Its wood is exceedingly hard 
 and heavy. Thefe trees are as common in Mexico as oaks in Europe, 
 particularly on hills in temperate countries (2). 
 
 Lac, or Gomma Laca (as it is called by the Spaniards), runs in 
 fuch abundance from a tree like the Mezquite, the branches are 
 covered with it {a). This tree, which is of moderate iize, has a 
 
 red- 
 
 {y) The Mexicans gave the Caragna tree, the name of Trahtieliloca^aahuitl, that is, 
 tree of malignity, not Haheliloca, as Dc Bomare writes it ; becaufe thry fuperllitioudy be- 
 lieved it to be feared by e-pil fpirits, and a powerful prefervative againft iorcery. Tht 
 name Tecamaca is taken from the Tecomac Ihiyac of the iVIexicans. 
 
 (c) 'I here is in Michuaean a fpecics of Mezquite or Acacia, without the lead thorn, and 
 with finer leaves ; but in every thing elfe like the other. 
 
 (rt) Garzia dell'Orto, in his hiltory of the fimples of India, mnintains, from the accounts 
 of u.mc perfons experienced in thefe countries, that Lac is produced by ants. This 
 opinion has been adopted by many authors ; and Soinare does him the honour to believe 
 the faft fully dcmonflrated ; but Ictus examine how far this is from trtith. firft, Thefe 
 boaftcd dcmonflrations are but equivocal proofs and fallacious conjcftuies, which any one will 
 be convinced of, who reads the above authors. Second, Of all the naturalifls who write of 
 Lac, no one has ever feen it on the tree, but Hernandez ; and th's learned and (inccre 
 author aftirm?, without the fmalleft diffidence, that the Lac is a gum diliilled from the 
 
 tree
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 red-coloured trunk, and is very common in the provinces of the Co- 
 huixcas and Tlahuica. 
 
 Dragon's blood runs from a large tree w^hofe leaves are broad and 
 angular. It grows in the mountains of Quauhchinanco, and in thofe 
 of the Cohuixca's {/>). 
 
 The Elajlic Gum, called by the Mexicans OUn or Olii, and by 
 the Spaniards of that kingdom, Ule, diftils from the Olquahuitl, 
 which is a tree of moderate fize ; the trunk of which is fmooth and 
 yellowifh, the leaves pretty large, the flowers white, and the fruit 
 yellow and rather round, but angular ; within which there are kernels 
 as large as filberds, and white, but covered with a yellowifh pellicle. 
 The kernel has a bitter tafte, and the fruit always grows attached to 
 the bark of the tree. When the trunk is cut, the Ule which diftils 
 from it is white, liquid, and vifcous ; then it becomes yellow, and 
 laftly of a leaden colour though rather blacker, which it always re- 
 tains. Thofe who gather it can model it to any form according to 
 the ufe they put it to. 
 
 The Mexicans made their foot-balls of this gum, which, though 
 heavy, rebound more than thofe filled with air. At prefent, belides 
 other ufes to which they apply it, they varnilh their hats, their 
 boots, cloaks, and great coats with it, in the fame way as wax is 
 ufed in Europe, which makes them all water proof: from Ule, 
 when rendered liquid by fire, they extradl a medicinal oil. This 
 tree grows in hot countries fuch as Ihualapan and Mecatlan, and is 
 common in the kingdom of Guatemala (f). The Quauhxiotl, is Ji 
 
 tree which the Mexicans call, Tzinacancuitla-quahuitl, and confutes the other opinion. 
 Thirdly, The country where Lac abounds, is the fertile province of the Tlahuixchns, 
 where all the fruits profper furprifingly ; and arc thence carried in great quantities to the 
 capital. But fuch a quantity of fruit could not be gatheied if there were fo many millions 
 of ants in that land as would be neceflary to produce fuch an cxceffive quantity of Lac, the 
 trc'cs being very numerous, and almoft all of them full of it. Fourthly, If the Lac is the 
 labour of ants, why do they produce it only in thcfe trees, and not in any other fpccics ì iic. 
 Lac was called by the Mexicans, Bat's Dung, frum fonie analogy which they difcovcrcd 
 between them. 
 
 (*) The Mexicans call dragon's blood Ezf>ùtll, which fignifies blood-coloured medica- 
 ment ; and the tree Ezquahuitl, that is blood-coloured tree. There is another tree of 
 the fame name in the mountains of Qiiauhnahuac, which is fomething fimilar, but it? 
 leaves are round and rough, its bark thick, and its root odorous. 
 
 (f) In Michuacan there is a tree, called by the Tarafcas Ta-antajna, of the fame fpecies 
 m the Olquahuitl ; but its leaves arc different. 
 
 F 2 middling
 
 36 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK I. midlino- tree, the leaves of which are round, and the bark rsdJifii. 
 
 " " ' There are two inferior fpecies of it, the one yields a white gum, 
 which, when put in water, gives it a milk colour. The other drops 
 a reddifli gum ; they are both very ferviceable in dyfenteries. 
 
 In this clafs of plants we ought to give a place to the fir, the Hi- 
 guerilla (which refembles the fig), and the Ocote, a certain fl^ecies of 
 pine that is very aromatic, on account of the oils which they yield ; 
 and Brafil wood, logwood, indigo, and many others, on account of 
 their juices ; but feveral of thefe plants are already known in Europe, 
 and the others we fhall have occafion to treat of elfewhere. 
 
 The fmall part of the vegetable kingdom of Anahuac which we 
 have here communicated, revives our regret that the accurate know- 
 ledge, which the ancient Mexicans acquired of natural hiftory, has 
 almoll: totally difappeared. We know its woods, mountains, and vai- 
 lies are fcattered with innumerable plants, valuable and ufeful, yet 
 hardly one naturalift has ever fixed his attention on them. Who can 
 help lamenting, that of the immenfe treafures wliich the period of 
 two centuries and a half has difcovered in its rich mines, no part 
 fhould have been deilined to the foundation of an academy of Na- 
 turalifts, who might have purfued the fteps of the celebrated Hernan- 
 dez, and imparted to fociety the knowledge of thefe precious gifts 
 which the Creator has there fo liberally difpenfed ! 
 Sect, X. The animal kingdom of Anahuac is not better known, although it 
 
 Quadrupeds ^^..^g attended to with equal diligence by Docior Hernandez. The dif- 
 
 of the king- .... . 
 
 domofAna- ficulty of diilinguilhing the fpecies, and the impropriety of appella- 
 tions taken from analogy, have rendered the hiftory of animals per- 
 plexed and indiftinft. The firfl Spaniards who gave them names,, were 
 more fkilful in the art of war than in the fludy of nature. Inftead of 
 retaining the terms which the Mexicans ufed, which would have been 
 the moil: proper, they denominated many animals, tygers, wolves, 
 bears, dogs, fquirrels, &c. although they were very different in kind, 
 merely from Ibme refemblance in the colour of their llcin, or firure, 
 or fome fimilarity in their habits and difpofition. I do not pretend to 
 correft their errors, and ftill lefs to illuflrate the natural hiftory of that 
 vaft kingdom ; but only to give my readers fome flight idea of the 
 quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, fiflaes, and infeóls, which inloabit the land 
 and waters of Anahuac. 
 
 Of
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Of tlie quadrupeds fome are ancient, fome modern. We call thofe 
 modern which were tranfported from the Canaries and Europe into 
 that country in the fixteenth century. Such are horfcs, afles, bulls, 
 (heep, goats, liogs, dogs, and cats, which have all fuccefsfuUy mul- 
 tiplied. In our fourth dilfertation we (hall evince this truth in confu- 
 tation of fome philofophers of tlie age, who have endeavoured to per- 
 fuade us that all quadrupeds degenerate in the new world. 
 
 Of the ancient (juidrupeds, by which we mean thofe that have from 
 time immemorial been in that country, fome were common to both 
 the continents of Europe and America, fome peculiar to the new 
 v/orld, in common however to Mexico and other countries of North 
 or South America, others were natives only of the kingdom of 
 Mexico. 
 
 The ancient quadrupeds common to Mexico and the old continent 
 are, lions, tygers, wild cats, bears, wolves, foxes, the common Itags, 
 and white {tags (d), bucks, wild goats, badgers, polecats, weazles-, 
 martens, fquirrels, Polatucas, rabbits, hares, otters, and rats. I am 
 well aware that Mr. Buffon will not allow a native lion, tyger, or rab- 
 bit, to Air.erica : but as in our diflertations we have combated this 
 opinion, which refts chiefly on the (light foundation of the imagined 
 impollibility of animals, which are peculiar to warm countries of the 
 old world, finding a paflage to the new continent; it is not necelTary 
 here to interrupt the courfe of our hiflory with confuting it. 
 
 The Miztlt of the Mexicans, is certainly no other than the lion 
 without hair mentioned by Pliny fej, and totally dirtindl from the 
 African lion ; and the Oce/otl is no way different from the African 
 ty^er, according to the tcftin:)ony of Hernandez, who knew both 
 the latter and the former. The Tochtli of Mexico is exaòlly the rab- 
 bit of the old continent, and at lead: as ancient as the Mexican ca- 
 lendar, in which the figure of the rabbit was the firfl: fymbolical cha- 
 
 (,/) Tlic wliitc flag, whether it is of the fame or a different f])ccics from the other liaj;, is un- 
 fjuetVionably coinmon to both continents. It was known to the Greeks and Romans. The 
 Mexicans called it king of the Stng*. Mr. Buffon is delirous of perfuading us that the white 
 colour of flags is the cfTcvft of their being in captivity; but as in the. mountains of New 
 Spain, the white flag is found, which was never made cajitive by man, fuch an idea can no 
 longer be entertained. 
 
 (,) Pliny, in lib. vili. cap. |6. dillinguifties the tivo -fpecies of lions, with and without 
 hair, and afcertains the niirtiber of each fpccies which Pompcy prcfenied at the Roman fpcc- 
 tacles. 
 
 rader- 
 
 *to« m^
 
 HISTORY OFMEXICO, 
 
 rafter of their years. The wild cats, iii fize much larger than the 
 domeflic cats, are fierce and dangerous. The bears are all black, and 
 more corpulent than thofe which are brought from the Alps into 
 Italy. The hares are diftinguiflied from thofe of Europe by their 
 longer ears, and the wolves by a grofler head. Both fpecies are plen- 
 tiful in that country. According to M. Buffon, we give the name 
 Point uca to the ^nmickpatlatj, or ^flying rat of the Mexicans. We 
 call it rat, becaufe it refembles it in the head, though it is much lar- 
 ger J and flying, becaufe in its natural fiate the Ikin of its fides is loofe 
 and wrinkled, which it diftends and expands together with its feet 
 like wings when it makes any confiderable leap from tree to tree. The 
 vulgar Spaniard confounds this quadruped with the common fquirrel 
 from their likenefs, but they are undoubtedly different. Mice were 
 brought to Mexico in European fliips ; the rat was not fo, but always 
 known in Mexico by the name of ^luimichin, which term they ufed 
 metaphorically to their fpies. 
 
 The quadrupeds which are common to Mexico and other regions of 
 the new world, are the Cojametl, Epatl, feveral fpecies of apes, com- 
 prehended by the Spaniards under the generic name of Monos, tJie 
 •Ajotochtli , Aztacojotl, Tlacuatzin, Techichi, Telalmototli, Techallotl, 
 Ami%tli, Mapach, and the Danta (f). 
 
 The Cojametl, to which, from its refemblance to the wild boar, 
 the Spaniards gave the name of Javali, or wild hog, is called in other 
 countries of America Pecar, Saino, and Tayajfu. The gland it has 
 in the cavity of its back from which a plentiful wheyifh flinking li- 
 quid dillils, led the firfl hifl:orians of the country, and fmce them 
 many others into the miflaken belief that it produced hogs with their 
 navels on their backs ; and many ftill credit the abfurdity, although 
 upwards of two centuries are elapfed fmce anatomifts have evinced the 
 
 (/) Many authors include the Pnco, or Peruvian ram, the Huanaco, the Vicogna, taruga, 
 and the floth, arnongft the animals of Mexico ; but all thcfe quadrupeds are peculiar to South 
 and none of them to North America. It is true, Hernandez makes mention of the Paco 
 amongft the quadrupeds of New Spain, gives a drawing of it, and makes ufe of the Mexican 
 name Peionichcatl ; but it was on account of a few individuals which were brought there from 
 Peru, which the Mexicans called by that name ; in the fame manner as he defcribes feveral 
 animals of the Philippine Ides, not that therefore they had ever been bred in Mexico or 
 found in any country of North America, unlefs it was fome individual carried there as a 
 curiofity as they are carried into Europe. j 
 
 error
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 error by difleftion of the animal. Such is the difficulty of rooting out 
 popular prejudices ! The flelhi of the Cojametl is agreeable to eat, pro- 
 vided it is quickly killed, the gland cut out, and all the flinking li- 
 quid cleaned from it ; otherwife the whole meat becomes infeóted. 
 
 The Epatl, by the Spaniards called Zorrillo, fmall fox, is lefs known 
 in Eurojie by the beauty of its fkin than the intolerable ftink it leaves 
 behind wiicn huntfmen are in clofe purfuit of it fg). 
 
 The Tlacuatziu, which in other countries bears the names of Chin- 
 cha, Sarigua, and Opoffiim, has been defcribed by many writers, and 
 is much celebrated on account of the double fkin to the belly in the 
 female, which reaches from the beginning of the flomach to the ori- 
 fice of the womb, covering its teats, has an opening in the middle to 
 admit its young, where they are guarded and fuckled. In creeping, or 
 climbing over the walls of houfes, it keeps the fkin diftended, with 
 the entrance lliut, fo that its young cannot drop out ; but when it 
 wiihes to fend them abroad to. begin to provide food for themfelves, or 
 to let them re-enter either to be fuckled or fecurcd from danger, it 
 opens the entrance by relaxing the fkin, difguifing her burden while 
 flie carries them, and her delivery every time flie lets them out. This 
 carious quadruped is the deftroyer of all poultry. 
 
 The Jìjotochtliy called by the Spaniards Armadillo, or Encobertado, 
 and by others Tatti, is well known to Europeans by the bony fcales 
 which cover its back, relembling the ancient armour of horfcs. The 
 Mexicans gave it the name of Ajotocbtli, from an imperfcdl likenefs it 
 has to the rabbit, when it puts out its head and throws it back upon 
 its neck, while it fhrinks under its fcales or ihell (h). 
 
 (_f) Mr. Buffon enumerates four fpecics of the Epatl under the generic name of Mon fetes. 
 He obfcrvts afterward.', that the two firft 'vhich he names CoaJ'o and Conipata, arc from North 
 America, and the C!i/«t/i<? and Zorrillo, which arc the two others, aie from South America. 
 We find no grounds to believe tliele four different fpecics, but only four varieties of the fime 
 fpecies. The name Coafo, or fquafs taken from Dampicr the navigator, who affiims the term 
 to be common in New Sfviin, was never heard of in all that country. The Indians of Yu- 
 catam, where that navi.;r.!f'r was, call that quadruped Pai. 
 
 {h) Ajotochtli is a woid compounded oi Ajoili, the back part of the head, and Techtli, rab- 
 bit. Buffon numbers eight fpecics of them under the name of Taiotu, tflimating their differ- 
 ence from the number of fcales and moveable fubftances which cover them. I cannot exactly 
 fay how many fpecics there may be in Mexico, havinjj b.it a few individuals ; as 1 did not think 
 at tlie tiii.e of writing on this fubjc.f, 1 was not curious to co'.mt their fcales, nor do ( 
 know of any body who ever attended to fuch a ftraugi; kind of diliinclion. 
 
 But
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 But it relembles no animal more than the turtle, although many 
 parts of its form are totally dilTimilar. We might give it the name of 
 the tellaceous quadruped. When this animal happens to be chaced 
 on level ground, it has no means of efcaping from the hands of its 
 purfuers ; but as it chiefly inhabits the mountains, when it meets with 
 any declivity it coils itfclf up in the form of a globe, and by rolling 
 itfelf down the defcent fools the hunter. 
 
 The Tcchichi, which had elfewhere the name of AIco, was a qua- 
 druped of Mexico, and other countries of America, which from its 
 refemblarxe to a little dog was called by the Spaniards Perro, which 
 fignifies dog. It was of a melancholy afpedl and perfectly dumb, from 
 whence the fabulous account propagated by many authors flill living 
 arofe, of dogs becoming mute when tranfported from the old to tlie 
 new world. The liefli of the Techichi was eat by the Mexicans, and 
 if we may credit the Spaniards who eat it, was agreeable and nourifli- 
 ing food. After the conquefl: of Mexico, the Spaniards having nei- 
 ther large cattle, nor iheep, provided their markets with this quadru- 
 ped J by which means the fpecies was foon extindl, although it had 
 been very numerous. 
 
 The •Tlalmototli, or land-fquirrel, called by Buffon Svizzero, is 
 like the real fquirrel in the eyes, in the tail, in fwiftnels, and in all 
 its movements ; but very different in colour, in fize, in its habitation, 
 and fome of its qualities. The hair of its btlly is quite white, and 
 the reiì; of it is white mixed with grey. Its lize is double that of the 
 fquirrel, and it does not dwell in trees, but in fmali holes which it 
 digs in the earth, or amongft the flones of ramparts which enclofe 
 fields, where it does confiderable damage by the grain which it car- 
 ries off. It bites mofl furioufly any one who approaches it, and can- 
 not be tamed, but has great elegance of form, and is graceful in its 
 movement. This fpecies is a very numerous one, particularly in the 
 kingdom of Michuacan. The Techallotlxi, no way different from the 
 preceding animal, except in having a fmaller and lefs haiiy tail. 
 
 The Amy%tli, or fea-lion, is an amphibious quadruped which in- 
 habits the liiores of the Pacific Ocean, and fome rivers of that king- 
 dom. Its body is three feet in length, its tail two. Its fnout is 
 
 long
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 long, its legs (hort, the nails crooked. Its fkin is valuable on ac- 
 count of the length and Ibftnefs of its hair (i). 
 
 The Mapach of the Mexicans is, agreeable to the opinion of Buffon, 
 the fame quadruped which is known in Jamaica by the name of iv^/'/<3;;, 
 rattoon, or Weft-Indian fox. The Mexican one is of the fize of a badger, 
 with a black head, a long Hiarp fnout like a greyhound, fmall ears, round 
 body, hair mixed with black and white, a long and hairy tail, and 
 five toes to every foot. It has a white ftreak over each eye, and like 
 the fquirrel makes ufe of its paws to convey any thing to its mouth 
 •which it is going to eat. It feeds indifferently on grain, fruits, infcdls, 
 lizards, and pullet's blood. It is eafily tamed, and entertaining with 
 its play, but perfidious like the fquirrel, and apt to bite its mailer. 
 
 The Dantii, or Antit, or Bcori, or Tapir, as it is differently 
 named in different countries, is the largeft quadruped of the king- 
 dom of Mexico (i), and approaches mod to the fea-horfe, not 
 however in fize, but in fome of its Ihapes and qualities. The 
 danta is about the fize of a middling mule. Its body is a little 
 arched like that of a hog, its head grofs and long with an appendage 
 to the Ikin of the upper lip, which it extends or contraifts at pleafure ; 
 its eyes are fmall, its ears little and round, its legs fliort, its fore feet 
 have four nails, the hind feet three, its tail fliort and pyramidical, its 
 fkin pretty thick and covered with thick hair, which at an advanced 
 age is brown ; its fet of teeth, which are compoled of twenty maxillary, 
 and as many incifors, is fo ftrong and fliarp, and it makes fuch terrible 
 bites with them that it has been feen, according to the teftimony of 
 Oviedo the hiftorim, and an eye-witnefs, to tear off at one bite two 
 or three handbreadths of Ikin from a hound, and at another a whole 
 leg and thigh. Its flefli is eatable (/), and its ikin valuable, from its 
 being fo ftout as to refift not only arrows, but even mulket-balls. 
 
 (;■) \Vc reckon the Att-.-zil- amori':^ the quadrupeds which arc common to other countries of 
 America, a» it ;ippcars to be the faine animal which Buffon dcCcribcs under the name of' Su- 
 ricoviennf. 
 
 (k) The Danta is much lefs than the TlacaNohitl defcribed by Hernandez ; l>ut wc do imt 
 kr.oiv of this great quadruped ever having been in the kingdom ot Mexico. 1 he fame may 
 be faid of the Hags of New ÌMcnìco, and of the Cibollc, or Bifomc, which are alfo larger than 
 the Danta. See our IVth Diflertation. 
 
 (/) Oviedo fivf, that the legs of the Tanta arc pretty good au.I reliflùtìg food, provided 
 they remain twcnty-foiir hours coi>ti.-.ua!!y at the fire. 
 
 Vol. I. G This
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 This quadruped inhabits the folitaiy woods of warm countries near t9 
 fome river or lake, as it lives not lefs in the water than on the land. 
 
 All the fpecics of monkies in that kingdom, are known by the Mexi- 
 cans under the general name of Ozomatli, and by the Spaniards under 
 that of Moms. They are of different fizes and figure, fome fmall 
 and uncommonly diverting; fome middling, of the fize of a badger; 
 and others large, flout, fierce, and bearded, which are called by 
 fome Zanibos. Thefe when they lland upright, which they do 
 upon two legs, often equal the ftature of a man. Amongft the mid- 
 ling kind there are thofe which from having a dogs-head, belong to 
 the ciafs of the cynocephali, although they are all furni/lied with a 
 tail (;.v). 
 
 With refpe«fl to the ant-killers, that is, thofe quadrupeds which are- 
 fo fingular for the enormous length of their fnout, the narrownefs of 
 their throat, and immoderate tongue, with which they draw the ants 
 out of their ant-hills, and from whence they have got their name; 
 I have never feen any in that kingdom, nor do I know that there are 
 any there; but I believe it is no other than the aztacojotl, that is, co- 
 jote, ant-killer, mentioned, but not defcribed by Hernandez (//). 
 
 The quadrupeds which peculiarly belong to the land of Anahuac, 
 whofe fpecies I do not know to have been found in South America,, 
 or in other countries of North America, exempt from the dominion 
 of Spain, are the Cojotl, the Tlalcojotl, XoloitzcuintJi, Tepeiizaihitii^ 
 ItzcuintepotxotU, Ocotochtli, Cojopoilin, Tuza, Abiiitzotl, Huitzthi'- 
 cuatzin, and perhaps others which we have not known. 
 
 The Cojotl, or Coyoto, as the Spaniards call it, is a wild beaft vo- 
 racious like the wolf, cunning like the fox, in form like a dog, and 
 in fome qualities like the Adive and the Chacal : from whence feveral 
 
 (/;;) The Cyiioccphalos of the ancient continent has no tail as every one knows. Their 
 having been monkies found in the New World, which have the head of a dog, and are fur- 
 niflicd with tails, Briflbn, in his clafs of apes, jullly applies to them of fhis clafs the name 
 of Cinoccphali Cercopitechi, an^l divides them into two fpecies. Buflbn, amongft the many 
 fpecies of monkies which he dcfciibes, omits this one. 
 
 (it) We call thofe quadrupeds, ant-killets, which the Spaniards rc\m Hormigucros, and the 
 French Fourmillicr ; but the bear, ant-killers, defcribed by Oviedo, are certainly different' 
 from the FoiirmiU'ievs of Buflbn ; for ah hough they agree in the eating of ant<:, and in their 
 enormous tongue and fnout, they are neverthelefs remarkably dillingu fhed from each other 
 as to tail, for thofe of Buflbn have an immenfe tail, but Oviedo's none at all. The defcrip» 
 don which Oviedo gives of their way of hunting the ants is moil fingular and curious. 
 
 hiflorians
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 hiftorians have at one time judged it of one fpecies, at another time of 
 another fpecies ; but it is unqueftionably different from all thofe, as 
 we fliall demonftrate in our Dillertations. It is Icfs than the wolf, 
 and about the fize of a malliff, but flenderer. It has yellow fparkling 
 eyes, fmall ears pointed and eredi, a blackifh fnout, flirong limbs, and 
 its feet armed with large crooked nails. Its tail thick and hairy, and 
 its fkin a mixture of bLxk, brown, and white. Its voice hath both 
 the howl of the wolf and the bark of the dog. The Coyoto is one of 
 the mofl; common quadrupeds of Mexico foj, and the moll dellruc- 
 tive to the flocks. It invades a iheepfold, and when it cannot find a 
 lamb to carry off, it feizss a fheep by the neck with its teetii, and 
 coupling with it, and beating it on the rump with its tail, conduéls it 
 where it pleafes. It purfues the deer, and fometimes attacks even 
 men. In flight it does nothing in general but trot; but its trot is (o 
 lively and fwift, that a horfe at the gallop can hardly overtake it. The 
 Cuetlachcojotl appears to us to be a quadruped of the fame fpecies with 
 the Coyoto, as it differs in nothing from it but being thicker in the 
 neck, and having hair like the wolf. 
 
 The Tlalcojotl, or Tlalcoyoto, is of the fize of a middling dog, 
 but groffer in make, and, in our opinion, the largefl quadruped of 
 thofe which live under the earth. In the head it is fomething like 
 the cat, and in colour and length of hair like the lion. It has a 
 long thick tail, and feeds on poultry, and other little animals, which 
 it hunts after in the obfcurity of the night. 
 
 The Itzcuintepotzotli, and Tepuitzcuintli, and XoIoltzcumtU, are 
 three fpecies of quadrupeds fmiilar to dogs. The Itzcumtapolzotli, 
 or hunch-backed dog, is as large as a Maltefan dog, the fkin of which 
 is varied with white, tawny, and black. Its head is fmall in propor- 
 tion to its body, and appears to be joined diredly to it on account of 
 the fliortnefs and greatnefs of its neck ; its eyes are pleafing, its ears 
 loofe, its nofe has a confiderable prominence in the middle, and its 
 tail fo fmall, that it hardly reaches halfway down its leg; but the 
 charadleriftic of it is a great hunch which it bears from its neck to its 
 
 (o) Neither BiiflTon nor Eoiinirc make mention of tlvc Coyoto, although the fpecies is one 
 of tlie moll common and moft numerous of Mexico, anii amply dcfcribcd by Hernandtz, 
 whofe Natural Hillory they frequently quote. 
 
 G 2 rump.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 rump. The plice where this quadruped mod abounds is the king- 
 dom of Michuacan, where it is called Ahora. The Tepeitzcuintli, 
 that is, the mountain -dog, is a wild beaft lb fmall, that it appears a 
 little dog, but it is lb daring that it attacks deer, and fometimes kills 
 them. Its hair and tail are long, its body black, but its head, neck, 
 and breaft are white fp). The Xohitzcuintli is larger than the two pre- 
 ceding; there being loine of them, whofe bodies are even four feet 
 long. Its face is like a dog, but its tulks like the wolf, its ears ere6t, 
 its neck grofs, and tail long. The greateft lingularity about this ani- 
 mal is its being totally deftitute of hair, except upon its fnout, where 
 it has fome thick crooked briftles. Its whole body is covered with a 
 fmooth, foft, alh-coloured Ikin, but fpotted in part with black and 
 tawny. Thelc three fpecies are almolt totally extinft, or at leali very 
 few of them remain (^). 
 
 The Ocotocbtli appears agreeable to the defcription given of it by 
 Hernandez, to belong to the clafs of wild cats ; but the author adds 
 fome circumftances to it which have much the air of a fable ; not 
 that he has been defirous of deceiving, but that he has truifed too 
 much to the informations of others (r). 
 
 The CojopoUin is a quadruped of the fize of a common moufe ; 
 but the tail is grolfer which it ufes as a hand. Its fnout and ears are 
 limilar to thofe of a pig : its ears are tranfparent, its legs and feet are 
 white, and its belly is of a whitifh yellow. It lives and brings up its 
 young in trees. When its young fear any thing, they cling clofely to 
 their mother. 
 
 (p) Buffon believes the Tepeitzcuiiitl! to be the glutton ; bat we contradi^'i this opinion in 
 our Difl'ertations. 
 
 ((y) Giovanni Fabri, a Linccan academician, publiflied at Rome a long and learned diflèr- 
 tation, in whicli he endeavoured to prove, that the xoloitzcuintli is the Cime with the wolf 
 of INIexico ; having without doubt been deceived by the original drawing of the xoloitzcuintli 
 which was fent to Rome with other pictures of Hern.mdcz ; but if he had read the defcription 
 which this eminent naturalill gives of that animal in the book ot the Quadrupeds of New Spain, 
 he would have fpared himfclf the labour of writing that Dilfcrtation and the expences of pub- 
 liiliing it. 
 
 (r) Dr, Hernandez fays, that when the Ocotochtli makes any prey it covers it with leaves, 
 and mounting after on fome neighbouring tree, it begins howling to invite other animals to eat 
 its prey ; and itfelf is always the lali to eat ; becaufe the poifon of its tongue is fo flron"-, 
 that if it cat firll the prey would be infected, and other animali who cat of it would die. This 
 fable is liill in the mouths of tr»c vulgar. 
 
 The
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 4^ 
 
 The To%an, or Tuza, is a quadruped of the bignefs of an European BOOK r, 
 mole, but very different othervvife. Its body which is well made is 
 ii:st\\ or eight inches long. Its fnout is like that of a moufe, its ears 
 fmall and round, and tail fhort. Its mouth is armed with very ftrong 
 teeth, and its paws are furnidied with flrong crooked nails, with which 
 it digs into the earth and makes little holes, where it inhabits. The 
 Tuzd is moil: dcftrudlive to the fields by ftealing the corn, and to the 
 highways by the number of holes and hollows which it makes in 
 them ; for when it cannot, on account of its little fight, find its 
 firll hole, it makes another, multiplying by fuch means the inco'.i- 
 veniences and dangers to thofe who travel on horfeback. It digs the 
 earth with its claws, and with two dogs-teeth which it has in the 
 upper jaw, larger than its others; in digging it puts the earth into 
 two membranes like purfes which are under its ear, which are fur- 
 niflied with mufcles necelFary for contradion or diftenfion. When 
 the membranes arc full, it empties them by ftriking the bottom of 
 the membranes with its paws, and then goes on to dig again iw the 
 fame manner, ufing its dogs-teeth and claws as a mattock, and its 
 two membranes as a little fack or bafket. The fpecies of the Tuza 
 is very numerous ; but we do not recolle(ft to have ever iiitx\ them in 
 the places where the land-fquirrels inhabit. 
 
 The Ahuitzotl is an amphibious quadruped, wliich for the moft 
 part dwells in the rivers of warm countries. Its body is a foot long, 
 its fnout long and Iharp, and its tail large. Its Ikin is of a mixed 
 black and brown colour. 
 
 The HuUztlacuaizin is the hedge-hog or porcupine of Mexico. It 
 is as large as a midling dog, which it rcfembles in the fiice, although 
 its muzzle is flat ; its feet and legs are rather grofs, and its tail in 
 proportion with its body. The whole of its body, except tlie belly, 
 the hinder part of the tail, and infide of the legs, is armed with 
 quills or fpines, which are empty, fliarp, and a fpan loug. On its 
 fnout and forehead it has long Ibait brillles, which rife upon its head 
 like a plume. All its Ikin, even between the fpines is covered with 
 a foft black hair. It feeds only on the fruits of the earth fsj. 
 
 (j) Buffon would make the Hiiitztlacuarzin the Coendu of Guiana, l>i't the Coendu h c.ii- 
 nivoruus, whereas the Huitztiacuntzin feeds on inii'.s. 
 
 The
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 The Cacomiztle is a quadruped, exceedingly like the martin in 
 its way of life. It is of the fize and form of a common cat; 
 but its body is larger, its hair longer, its legs fliorter, and its 
 afped: more wild and fierce. Its voice is a fliarp cry, and its food 
 is poultry and other little animals. It inhabits, and brings up its 
 young in places lefs frequented than houfcs. By day it fees little, 
 and does not come out of its hiding-place but at night, to fearch for 
 food. The TLzcuatzin, as well as the Cacomiztle, are to be feen in 
 ibme of the houfcs of the capital (/). 
 
 Befides thefe quadrupeds, there were others in the Mexican 
 empire, which I know not whether to confider as peculiar to that 
 country, or as common to other parts of America ; fuch as the 
 It-zcu'incuani or dog-eater ; the Tlalocelofl or little lion ; and the 
 %laliìii-ztlì or little tiger. Of thofe, which although not belonging to 
 tlie kingdom of Mexico are to be found in other parts of North 
 America fubjed to the Spaniards, we fliall take notice in our Diller- 
 tations^ 
 «Ecr. XI. We fliould find the birds a more difficult tafk than the quadru- 
 Mexico. peds, if we fliould attempt to give an enumeration of their different 
 
 fpecies, with a defcription of their forms, and manners. Their pro- 
 digious numbers, their variety, and many valuable qualities, have 
 occaiioned fome authors to oblerve that, as Africa is the country of 
 beafts, fo Mexico is the country of birds. Hernandez, in his Na- 
 tural Hiftory, defcribes above two hundred fpecies peculiar to that 
 kingdom, and yet palfes over many that deferve notice, flich as the 
 Cuitlacochl, the Zacua, and the Madrugadoi'. We fhall content 
 o'urfelves with running over fome claffes of them, and point out any 
 peculiarities, here and there, as they occur. Among the birds of 
 prey there are keflrels, gofshawks, and feveral fpecies of eagles, 
 falcons, and fparrow-hawks. The naturalifl; already mentioned, al- 
 lows the birds of this clafs a fuperiority over thofe of Europe; 
 and" the excellence of the Mexican falcons was fo remarkable, that 
 
 (/) I Ao not know the true Mexican name of the Cacomiztle, and have therefore ufed the 
 jname which the Spaniards in that kingdom, gave it. Hernandez does not mention this 
 -quadruped. It is true he defcribes one, nndcr the name of Cacamiztli, but this is evi- 
 dently ao error of the prefs, 
 
 by
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 47 
 
 by the define of Philip the Second, a hundred were every year fen t BOOK r, 
 to Spain, The largeft, the mofl beautiful, and the molt valuable 
 among the eagles is that named by the Mexicans, Itzquauhtli, which 
 not only purfues tl^e larger birds and hares, but vsrill even attack 
 men and beafls. There are two kinds of keflrel ; the one called 
 Ccnotzqui is particularly beautiful. 
 
 The Ravens of Mexico, called by the Mexicans Cacalotl, do not, 
 as in other countries, clear the fields of carrion, but are only em- 
 ployed in dealing the ears of corn. The bufmefs of clearing tlie 
 fields there, is referved principally for the Zopilots, known in South- 
 America by the name of Galluiazzi ; in other places, by that of 
 jiiire ; and in fome places, though very improperly, by that of 
 ravens («). There are two very different fpecies of thefe birds ; the 
 one, the Zopilote properly fo called, the other called the Cozen- 
 quauhtli: they are both bigger than the raven. Thefe two fpecies 
 refemble each other in their hooked bill and crooked claws, and by 
 having upon their head inflead of feathers, a wrinkled membrane 
 with fome curling hairs. They fly fo high, that although they arc 
 pretty large, they arc loft to the fight ; and efpecially before a hail 
 ftorm they will be feen wheeling, in vaft numbers, under the loftieft 
 clouds, till they entirely dilappear. They feed upon carrion, which 
 they difcovcr by the acutenefs of their fight and fmell, from the 
 greateft height, and defcend upon it with a majefi:ic flight, in a 
 great fpiral courfe. I'hey are both almoft mute. The two fpecies 
 are diftinguiihable, however, by their fize, their colour, their num- 
 bers, and fome other peculiarities. The Zopilots, properly fo called, 
 have black feathers, with a brown head, bill, and feet ; they go often 
 in flocks, and rooft together upon trees (.v). This fpecies is very 
 numerous, and is to be iound in all tlie diifcrent climates ; while on 
 
 (tt) Hcrnandcr, h.is, without any hcfit.ition, made the Zopilote a fpecies of raven ; but they 
 are, certuiiily, very diftcrcnt birds, not only in their lize, but in the fliapc of the head ; in 
 ihtir flight, and in their voice. Bomarc fays, that the j!:tra is the Cofqitaiith o( New ^pain,. 
 and the Tropilot of the Indians ; fo that the Cozcaijuauhiti, as well as the TzopHotl, are 
 Mexican names uled hy the Indian?, to denote not one bird only, but two ditletcnt kinds. 
 Some give the one fpecies the name of .'tura-, and the other that ot ZopUotc, or Gallinazzo. 
 
 {x] he Zopi'ots contra.iid the general rule, laid down by I'liny, lib. ix. cap. iq U»cos 
 uiifitcs habent'ta omnino «on congrrgaKtiir, \3f Jibi qiLTque prttdantur. The rule can Only apply 
 itrktly to real biids of prey, iuch as eagles, vultures, falcons, fparrow-hawks, ic. 
 
 tixe
 
 '48 Jl I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK I. tlie contrar)^ the-Cozcaquauhtli is far from numerous, and is pe- 
 culiar to the warmer climates alone. The latter bird is larger than 
 the Zopilot, has a red head and feet with a beak of a deep red 
 colour, except towards its extremity which is white. Its feathers 
 are brown except upon the neck and parts about the breaft, which 
 are of a reddilli black. The wings are of an afli colour upon the 
 infide, and upon the outfide are variegated with black and tawny. 
 
 The Cozcaqiiauhtii is called by the Mexicans, kiiig of the Zopi- 
 lot s (y) ; and they fay, that when thefe two fpccies happen to meet 
 together about the fame carrion, the Zopilot never begins to eat 
 till the Cozcaquauhtii has tafted it. The Zopilot is a mofl: ufcful 
 bird to that country, for they not only clear the fields, but attend the 
 crocodiles and deftroy the eggs which the females of thofe dreadful 
 amphibious animals leave in the fand to be hatched by the heat of 
 the fun. The deftrudlion of fuch a bird ought to be prohibited 
 under fevcre penalties. 
 
 Among the night birds, are feveral kinds of owls, to which we 
 may add the bats, although they do not properly belong to the clafs 
 of birds. There are great numbers of bats in the warm and woody 
 countries ; fome of them will draw blood, with dreadful bites, 
 from horfes and other animals. In fome of the very hot countries 
 bats are found of a prodigious fize, but not fo large as thofe of 
 the Philippine Ides, and other parts of the Eaft. 
 
 Under the title of aquatic birds I fliall comprehend, not only the 
 Palmipedes which fwim and live generally in the water, but the 
 HimaJitopadcs alfo; with other fifliing birds which live chiefly upon 
 .the fea fhore, upon the fides of hikes and rivers, and leek their food 
 
 {y) The bird which now goes bj- the name of King of the Zopllots, in New Spain, fccms 
 different from the one we arc now defciibingf. This modern king of the Zojiilots is a ilrong 
 bii'd, of the fize of a common eagle ; with a fiately air ; ftrnng claws ; fine, piercing eyes ; 
 and a beautiful black, white, and tawny plumage. It is remarkable, particularly, for a 
 certain fcarlct coloured, flefliy fubliance, which furrounds its neck like a collar, and comes 
 over its head in the form of a little tiown. I have had this defcription of it from a pcrfon 
 of knowledge and veracity, who afTures mc that he has fecn three different individuals of 
 this fpccies, and particularly that one which was fcnt from Mexico, in 1750, to the catholic 
 king, Ferdinand VI. He farther informs mc, that there was a genuine drawing of this 
 bird, publ:flied in a work called, the American CJazcitecr. The Mexican name Co-ica- 
 quauhlli, which means Ring Eagle, is certainly more applicable to this bird than to the 
 other. The ligure exhibited in our plate, if copied ftom that of the American Gazetteer. 
 
 ' in
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 49 
 
 in the water. Of birds of this kind there is a pi-odigious number BOOK r. 
 of geefe, at leafl; twenty fpecies of ducks, feveral kinds of herons 
 and egrets, with vaft numbers of fwans, gulls, water-rails, 
 divers, king's fifhers, pelicans, and others. The multitude of 
 ducks is fometimes fo great as quite to cover the fields, and 
 to appear, at a diftance, like flocks of flieep. Among the herons 
 and egrets, fomc are afh-coloured, fome perfedtly white ; and others 
 of which the plumage of the body is white, while the neck, 
 with the tips and upper part of the wings, and a part of the 
 tail, are enlivened with a bright fcarlet, or a beautiful blue. The 
 Pellican, or Onocrontalus, known to the Spaniards of Mexico by 
 the name of Alcatraz, is fufficiently known by that great pouch 
 or venter, as Pliny calls it, which is under its bill. There are 
 two fpecies of this bird in Mexico ; the one having a fmooth bill, 
 the other a notched one. Although the Europeans are acquainted 
 with this bird, I do not know whether they are equally well ac- 
 quainted with the fmgular circumflance of its affifting the fick or 
 hurt of its own fpecies ; a circumftance which the Americans fome- 
 times take advantage of, to procure fifh without trouble. They 
 take a live pelican, break its wing, and after tying it to a tree, con- 
 ceal themfelves in the neighbourhood ; there they watch the coming 
 of the other pelicans with their provifions, and as foon as they fee 
 thefe throw up the fifli from their pouch, run in, and after leaving a 
 little for the captive bird, they carry off the reft. 
 
 But if the Pelican is admirable for its attention to the others of 
 its fpecies, the ToalqiuichiUi, is no lefs wonderful on account of the 
 arms with which the Creator has provided it for its defence. This 
 is a fmall aquatic bird ; with a long, narrow neck, a fmall head ; 
 a long, yellow bill, long legs, feet, and claws, and a fliort tail. The 
 legs and feet are afh-coloured ; the body is black, with fome yellow 
 feathers about the belly. Upon its head is a little circle or coronet, 
 of a horny fubftance, which is divided into three very fliarp points ; 
 and it has two others upon the forepart of the wings (2). 
 
 In the other claffes of birds fome are valuable upon account of 
 their flefh, fome for their plumage, and fome for their fong 
 
 'to » 
 
 ■{%) In Brafil, alfo, there is an aquatic bird with weapon» of this kind ; but which, in 
 ether refpe<fts, is a very diffcrtnt bird, 
 
 Vol. I. H while
 
 '50 
 
 tìlSTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 LOOK I. while others engage our attention by their extraordinary inllinft, or 
 fome other remarkable quality. 
 
 Of the birds which afford a wholefome and agreeable food, I 
 have counted more than feventy fpecies. Befides the' common 
 fowls, which Were brought from the Canary Ifles to the Antilles^ 
 and from' thefe to Mexico, there were, and ftill are fowls peculiar 
 to that country -, which as they partly refemble the common fowl, 
 and partly the peacock, were called Ga/Iifavos^ by the Spaniards,, 
 and Hut'xohtl and Totolin by the Mexicans. Thefe birds being car- 
 ried, to Europe in return for the common fowls, have multiplied 
 very fait ; and efpecially in Italy, where, on account of their man- 
 ners and their fize, they gave them the name of Gallinacci («) ; but 
 the European fowl has increafed greatly more in Mexico. There 
 rire likewife wild fowls in great plenty, exadlly like the tame, but 
 larger, and in many places of a much fweeter flefh. There are 
 partridges, quails, pheafants, cranes, turtle-doves, pigeons, and a great 
 variety of others, that are efteemed in Europe. The reader will 
 form fome idea of the immenfe number of quails when we fhall come 
 to fpeak of the ancient facrifices. The pheafants are different frora' 
 the phealants of Europe, and are of three kinds [b). The CoxoUtU 
 and Tepctototl, which are both the fize of a goofe, with a creft' 
 upon their heads, which they can raife and deprefs at pleafure, are 
 diflinguifhable by their colour, and fome particular qualities. The 
 Coxolitli, called by the Spaniards, Royal Pheafant, has a Liwney- 
 coloured plumage ; and its flefh is more delicate than that of the 
 other. The Tepctototl will fometimes be fo tame as to pick from 
 its mafter's hand ; to run to meet him, with figns of joy, when he 
 comes home} to learn to fliut the door with its bill; and in every 
 thing fliow greater docility than could be expefted in a bird which, 
 is properly an inhabitant of the woods. ' I have feen one of thefe^ 
 pheafants which, after being fome time in a poultry yard, had leaf nt to 
 tight in the manner of cocks, and would fight with them, erefting ' 
 
 (a) In Bologna, they are called Tocchi and Tocchini, and in other places, Gaili d^b'idia^ 
 The French cull them Dinda, Dindons, and Coqs d'Inde. . . j 
 
 (i) Bomare reckons the Hnatzhi among the pheafants ; but for what reafon, I do not 
 know, as the Hiiatzin belongs with crows, zopilots and others, to the fecond clafs ; tl^c 
 birds of pr'ev. • In Englifli, the Turkey. 
 
 the
 
 HISTORY: G Fv M E X I C G. 
 
 the feathers of his creil, as the cocks do thofe of the neck. Its 
 feathers are of a fliiniiig black, and its legs and feet alh -coloured. 
 The pheaiants of the third fpecies, called by the Spaniards, Gritones, 
 that is, fcreaniers, are ftnallcr than the other two ; with a brown 
 body, and a black tail and wings. The Chachalaca, the flefh of 
 which is very good eating, is about the fize of the common fowl. 
 The upper part of the body is of a brown colour, the under part 
 whitidi, and the bill and feet blueiih. It is inconceivable what a 
 noife thefe birds make in the woods, with their cries; which, al- 
 though they fomewhat refemble the cackling of fowls, are much 
 louder, more conftant, and more difagreeable. There are fever^^l 
 fpecies of turtle-doves, and pigeons, fome common to Europe, others 
 peculiar to thofe countries. 
 
 The birds valuable for their plumage are fo many and lb beau- 
 tiful, that we fhould aftbrd a greater pleafure to our readers, if 
 we could bring them before their eyes, with all the colours which 
 adorn them. I have reckoned five and thirty fpecies of Mexican 
 birds, that are fupcrlatively beautiful ; of fome of which I muft take 
 particular notice. 
 
 The Huitzitz'din is that wonderful little bird fo often celebrated 
 by the hirtorians of America, for its fmallnefs, its adlivity, the An- 
 gular beauty of its plumage, the thinnefs of its^ food, and the length 
 of its fleep in the winter. That fleep, or rather fiate of immobility, 
 occafioned by the numbnefs or torpor of its limbs, has been often re- 
 quired to be proved in legal form, in order to convince fome incre- 
 dulous Europeans; an incredulity arihng from ignorance alone, as 
 the fame kind of torpor takes place in many parts of Europe, 
 in dormice, hedge-hogs, fwallows, bats, and other animals whofe 
 blood is of the fame temperature ; although perhaps it does not 
 continue fo long in any of them as in the Huitzitzilin, which 
 ili fome countries remains without motion from Odtober to 
 April. There arc nine fpecies of Huitzitzilin, differing in fize 
 and colour {c). 
 
 The 
 
 (c) The SpauiarJs of Mexico call this biid Chufamirte, bccaiifc it fucks chiefly tht 
 flowers ot" a plant known there, though very improperly, by the name of a Myrtle. In 
 
 H 2 other
 
 52 
 BOOK I. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 The Tlauhquechol is an aquatic bird of fome fize, with feathers of a 
 beautiful fcarlet colour, or a reddifli-white, except thofe of the neck, 
 which are black. It lives upon the fea-lhores, and by the fides of rivers i 
 and lives only upon live fifli, never touching any thing that is dead. 
 
 The Ncpapmitototl, is a wild duck which frequents the lake of 
 Mexico, and feems to have all the colours together afTembled in its 
 
 plumage. 
 
 The T^lacidloltototiy or painted bird, juftly deferves its name; for 
 its beautiful feathers are variegated with red, blue, purple, greenv 
 and black. Its eyes are black, with a yellow iris ; and the feet afli- 
 
 coloured. 
 
 The Tzinizcan is of the fize of a pigeon, with a fmall, crooked, 
 yellow bill. The head and neck are like thofe of a pigeon, but 
 adorned with fhining green feathers ; the breaft and belly are white 
 except near the tail, which is variegated with white and blue j the 
 tail is green upon the upper fide, and black underneath ; the wings 
 are partly black, and partly white; and the eyes are black, with 
 reddifh yellow irides. This bird lives upon the fea-coatVs. 
 
 The Mezcanauhtli, is a wild duck, about as large as a domeftic 
 fowl, but of Angular beauty. Its bill is pretty long and broad, 
 azure above, and black upon the underfide ; the feathers of the body 
 are white, and marked with numerous black fpots. The wings 
 are white and brown on the under-fide, and upon the upper-fide 
 variegated with black, white, blue, green, and tawny-colour. Its 
 feet are of a yellowifh red ; its head brown, and tawny-coloured, 
 and partly purple, with a beautiful white fpot betwixt the eyes and 
 bill : the eyes are black ; and the tail is blue above, brown below, 
 and white at its extrenlity. 
 
 The T^hiuhtototl is extremely like the I'kcuiloltototl in its colours, 
 but is fmaller. The Huacamaye and the Cardinals, fo much prized 
 by the Europeans, upon account of their fine colours, are very 
 common in this country. 
 
 All thefe beautiful birds and others peculiar to Mexico, befides 
 fome which have been brought thither from the countries adjacent, 
 
 oihcr parts of America, it is called Chitpajlor, Picaftor, Tominejo, CoUhre, &c. Among the 
 numerous authors who defcribe this precious little bird, no one gives a better idea of the 
 beauty of its plumage than Acofta. 
 
 arc
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 53 
 
 < — . — » 
 
 are of great value to the Mexicans, in their fingular works of Mofaic, book i. 
 which we fliall mention in another place. Peacocks have been car- 
 ried there from the old continent, but they have not been attended 
 to ; and have, therefore, propagated very flowly. 
 
 Many authors, who allow to the birds of Mexico a faperiority 
 jn the beauty of their plumage, have denied them th.u of fon»: 
 but we can with perfedt confidence affirm, that that opinioa has not 
 been formed upon real obfervation, but has proceeded from ignorance, 
 as it is more difficult for Europeans to hear the Mexican birds than 
 to fee them. 
 
 There are in Mexico, as well as in Europe, gold-finches and 
 nightingales, and at leafl: two-and- twenty fpecies befidcs, of fingine 
 birds, which are little or nothing inferior to thefe ; but all that we 
 are acquainted with are furpailed by the very famous Ccntzontli, fo 
 named by the Mexicans to exprefs the wonderful variety of its 
 notes {(1). It is impoffible to give any idea of the fweetnefs and 
 mellownefs of its fong, of the harmony and variety of its tones, 
 or of the facility with which it learns to imitate whatever it hears. 
 It counterfeits naturally, not only the notes of other birds, but 
 even the different no.fes of quadrupeds. It is of the fize of a com- 
 mon thrufh. Its body is white upon the under-fide, and grey above ; 
 with fome white feathers, efpecially iibout the head and tail. It 
 eats any thing, but delights chietiy in flies, which it will pick from 
 one's finger with figns of pleafure. The Centzontli is to be found 
 everywhere in great nunbers; yet they are fo much efteemed, that I 
 have feen five-and-twenty cro.viis paid for one. Attempts have often 
 been made to bring it to Europe, but I do not know if they ever 
 fucceeded : and I am ptrrfuaded that, although it could be brought 
 to Europe alive, yet it could not be, without injuring its voice 
 and other qualifications, by a change of climate and the hardlhips of 
 a voyage. 
 
 {d) Centro It I lato tie, (for that is the real name, and Centzouili is but an abbreviation) means 
 the many-Voiced. The Mexicans ufe the word Centzontli (four hundred) as the Latine 
 did mille i^ fcxcati, to exprefs -.m indefinite and innumerable muhitiide. The Greek name 
 cf Polyglotta, which fome modern Ornithologilh apply to it, corrtrp„nds to the Mexican 
 name. See fuiiher what we fay of Ccuzoutlii in our diflbrtations. 
 
 The
 
 H I S T O R Y O F MEXICO. 
 
 The birds called Cardinals, are not kfs delightful to the ear, 
 from the fweetnefs of their fong, than to the light, by the beauty 
 of their fcarlet plumage, and creft. The Mexican Calandra 
 fuT's very fweetly alfo, and its fong refembles that of the nightingale. 
 Its feathers are varied with white, y.lLnv, and grey. It weaves its 
 nefl in a wonderful manner, wiith hairs p-afted together with fome 
 kind of vifcid fubftance, and fufpending like a little bag, from the 
 bou<4i of a tree. The ^figrillo, or little Tiger, which is likewilè of 
 fome value upon account of its mufic, is fo named from its feathers 
 being fpotted like the fkin of a tiger. The Cuitlaccochi refembles 
 the Centzontli, in the exxellence of its fong, as well as in fize 
 and colour, as the Coztctot! exadtly does the Canary bird, brought 
 thither from the Canaries. The Mexican Sparrows, called Gorrioncs 
 by the Spaniards, are nothing like the real fparrows, except in their 
 fize, their manner of hopping, and in making their nells in the holes 
 of walls. Their body is white upon the under-fide, and grey upon 
 the upper; but at a certain age, the heads of fome become red, and 
 others yellow (r). Their flight is laborious, from the fmallnefs of 
 their wings, or the weaknefs of their feathers. Their fong is moft 
 delightful and various. There are great numbers of thefe finging 
 birds in the capital, and the other cities and villages of Mexico. 
 
 The talking birds too, or thofe which imitate the human voice, 
 are to be found in equal abundance, in the country of Anahuad. 
 Even among the finging birds there are fome which learn a few 
 words ; fuch as the celebrated Centzontli, and the Acolcbicbi, or 
 bird with the red back, which from that mark the Spaniards have 
 called the Commendador . The Ccbuan, which is bigger than a 
 common thrufli, counterfeits the human voice, but in a tone that 
 appears burlefqued ; and will follow travellers a great way. The 
 'Txanahniei refembles the magpie in fize, but is of a different colour. 
 It learns to fpeak, fteals cunningly whatever it can get, and in eveiy 
 refpetì fliows a kind of inftiniit fuperior to what we generally ob- 
 ferve in other birds. But of all the fpeaking birds, the parrots hold 
 the firft place ; of which they reckon, in Mexico, four principal 
 
 j(f) I have heart! it faid, that the Gorrioncs with icJ heads are the males; and thofe with 
 y«llow heads, the females. 
 
 \ fpecies.
 
 mSTORY OF 'M^E X I C O. 
 
 55 
 
 fpee'ie?, namely, the Huacamaya, the Toznenetl, the Cochotly and book t, 
 rfie ^(iltototl (f). 
 
 The Huacamaya, the lafgefl of all the parrots, is more valuable 
 for its beautiful feathers than for its fpeaking. It articulates words 
 indiftindtly, and its voice is harfh and difagreeable. The Tc^nenetl, 
 which is the beft of them all, is about the fize of a pigeon ; its 
 feathers are of a green colour, except upon the head, and fore-part 
 of the wings, which in fome of them are red, and in others yellow. 
 It learns any words or tune, and imitates thsm fiithfully. It natu- 
 rally imitates the laugh of a man, or other ridiculous found, the cries 
 of children, and the various noifes of different animals. Tliere 
 are three fpecies of the Cochotl differing from each other in fize 
 and plumage, which in them all is beautiful ; and the prevailing 
 colour is green. The largefl of the Cochotls is nearly as large as the 
 Toznenetl : the two other fpecies, called by the Spaniards, Catcrincy 
 are fmaller. They all learn to talk, though not lb perfectly as the 
 Toznenetl. The ^dltotot!, is the fmalleft kind of parrot, and the 
 leafl valuable for fpeaking. Thefe fmall parrots whofe plumage is 
 of the moft beautiful green, fiy always in large flocks, fometimes' 
 making a great noife in the air ; and at other times committing havoc 
 among the grain. When perched upon the trees they can hardlv 
 be diftinguifhed, by their colour from the leaves. All the other 
 parrots go generally in pairs, a male and female. 
 
 The Madrugadorcs fgj, which we fhall call the Awakeners, or 
 Twilight birds, and which are called by the Mexicans Tzacua, 
 although they are not (o remarkable for beauty or long, defcrve par- 
 ticular notice for fome other qualities. Thefe birds are the lafl 
 among the day birds to go to rooft at night, and the firfl to leave 
 it in the morning, and to announce the return of the fun. They 
 never ceafe to ling and frolic, till an hour after fun-fet ; begin again 
 long before the dawn, and never fèein fo happy as during the morning 
 
 (/) The Toznenetl and Cochotl, are called by the Mexican Spaniards, Pcricos and I.oròs^ 
 Tl'.e word Huiunmaya is from the Flaitinian language wlii-.h was fpokcn in Hifpaniola. Loroy 
 is from the Quichoan or Incan, and Toznenetl, Cochotl, and S^iltototl fioin the Mcvican. 
 
 {g>t Mailriig.iJur, in Spanifti means early rifer ; but as there is no word in Italian that, 
 anfwers to it ; the vuthor has employed that of iJ^/ra/e/Y or A'ivaketier. He fcems to thinl;, 
 however, that the name ol U^i.clto crepuJ\olare or Tvj.lijiht bird, woald be moie applicable. 
 
 and
 
 e 
 
 ^6 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK I. and evening twilight. About an hour before the break of day, one 
 — ' of them begins from the bough of a tree where he has pafled the 
 night along with many others of his fpecies, to call them, with a 
 flirill, clear note, which he continually repeats with a tone of glad- 
 nefs, till fome of his companions hear and anfwer him. When they 
 are all awake, they make a very chearful noife, which may be heard 
 at a great diftance. In the journies I have made through the king- 
 dom of Michuacan, where they abound, they were of fome ufe to 
 me, as they always roufed me in time, to allow me to fet out by the 
 break of day. Thefe birds are about as large as fparrows. 
 
 The Tzacua, a bird which refembles the above mentioned Calandra 
 in fize, in colour, and in the form of its nefl is ftill more fiirprifmg. 
 Thefe birds live in fociety ; and every tree is to them a village, com- 
 pofed of a great number of nefts, all hanging from the boughs. 
 One of them which does the office of the head or the guard of the 
 village, refides in the middle of the tree ; from which it flies about 
 from one ndi to another, vifiting them all, and after finging a little 
 while, returns to its place ; while the reft remain perfedlly filent. If 
 any bird of a different fpecies approaches the tree, he flies to it, and 
 endeavours, with his bill and wings, to drive it off; but if a man, or 
 any other large animal comes near, he flies fcreaming to another tree, 
 and if at that time any Tzactias belonging to the fame village happen 
 to be returning from the fields, he meets them, and changing his 
 note, obliges them to retire again : as foon as he perceives the danger 
 over, he returns happy to his wonted round of vifiting the nefts. 
 Thefe obfervations upon the Tzacua, made by a man of penetration, 
 learning, and veracity {h), fhould make us expert to find fome things 
 ftill more extraordinary in thefe birds, if the obfervations were re- 
 peated ; but we muft now leave thefe pleafant objetìs, and turn our 
 eyes upon fome that are of the moft difagreeable kind. 
 
 «irc XII T^"^^ reptiles of Mexico may be reduced to two orders or claffes ; 
 
 Utptiiesof namely, the four-footed, and the abodes or thofe without feet (/). In 
 
 i'k-xko. 
 
 (h) The Abbé D. Giufeppe Rafaelle Campoi. 
 
 (i) 1 am perfectly aware of the variety of opinioi\s entertained by different authors, with 
 refpett to the animals which ought to be clafled among the reptiles : bur as 1 do not under- 
 ' taiiC to give an exart arrangement, but merely to prefent them in feme order to the reader, 
 I take the terra of Reptiky in the fame fenfe in which it was commonly underftood of old. 
 
 the
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 the firft; clafs are crocodiles, lizards, frogs and toads : in the fecond 
 all kinds of ferpents. 
 
 The Mexican crocodiles refemble the African in fize, form, vora- 
 city, way of living, and in all the other peculiarities of their charac- 
 ter. They abound in many of the lakes and rivers in the hot coun- 
 tries, and dsrtroy men and other animals. It would be altogether 
 fuperfluous to give any dofcription of thcfe terrible animals, when (o 
 much has been written about them in other books. 
 
 Among the greater lizards we reckon the Acaltefepo?i, and the 
 Iguana. The yicalietapon, known to the Spaniards by the very im- 
 proper name of Scorpions, are two lizards which refemble each other 
 in colour and in form, but veiy different in their fize and tails. The 
 fmalleft is about fifteen inches, with a long tail, fliort legs, a red, 
 broad, cloven tongue, a grey rough fkin covered with white warts 
 like pearls, a fluggifli pace, and a fierce afpedl. From the mufcle» 
 of the hind-legs to the extremity of tlie tail, its fkin is ero fled with 
 yellow lines in the form of rings. The bite of this animal is pain- 
 ful, but not mortal as fome have imagined. It is peculiar to the 
 warmer climates. The other lizard is an inhabitant of the ffame cli- 
 mate, but twice as large, being, according to the report of fome who 
 have leen it, about two feet and a half long, and more than a foot 
 thick round the back and belly. It has a fliort tail, with a thick 
 head and legs. This lizard is the fcourge of rabbits. 
 
 The Iguana is a harmlefs lizard, fufiiciently known in Europe from 
 the accounts of American hiflorians. They abound in the warm 
 countries, and are of two kinds, the one a land animal, and the other 
 amphibious. Some of them have been found as long as tliree feet. 
 They run witli great fpecd, and are very nimble in climbing trees. 
 Their eggs and liclh are eatable, and praifed by fome authors, but their 
 fiefli is hurtful to thofe labouring under the French difeafe. 
 
 Of the fmaller lizards there are a great many fpecies, dillering in 
 fize, colour, and other circumflances ; of which fome are poifonous, 
 and others harmlefs. Among the latter the firft place is due to the 
 camcleon, called by the Mexicans ^^latapalcatl. This refembles the 
 common cameleon almoft in every refped:, but differs in having no 
 crefl, and in having large, round, open ears. Among the other lizards 
 
 ,. Vol. I. I of
 
 58 HISTORYOF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK I. of the harmlefs kind, there is none worth notice but the Tapayaxin 
 fkj, which is remarkable for its lliape and fome other pecuUarities. 
 It is perfedly round, cartilaginous, and feels very cold to the touch : 
 the diameter of its body is fix inches. Its head is very hard, and fpot- 
 ted with various colours. It is fo lazy and fluggifli, that it does not 
 move even although it is llraken. When its head is flruck, or its 
 eyes preffed, it darts out from them, to about two or three paces dif- 
 tance, a few drops of blood ; but is in every thing elfe an inoftenfive 
 animal, and feems to take pleafure in being handled. It would feem 
 as if, being of fo cold a conftitution, it received fonie comfort from 
 the heat of the hand. 
 
 Among the poifonous lizards, the worfl feems to be that one which, 
 from its being uncommon, got the name of Tetzaiihqiii with the 
 Mexicans. It is very fmall, of a grey colour, which is of a yellowilh 
 hue upon the body, and blueifli upon the tail. There are fome others 
 reckoned venomous, and known by the Spaniards by the name of Sa- 
 lamanqttefas, or that of Scorpions (for this name is applied to many 
 reptiles by the vulgar) : but I am certain, from many obfervations, that 
 thofe lizards are either entirely void of poifon, or at leaft, if they have 
 any, it is not fo aólive as is generally imagined. We may make the 
 fame remark with refpeól to toads, as we have never i^txx or heard of 
 any bad effects occafioned by their venom, although in many warm 
 and humid places the earth is entirely covered with them. In thofe 
 places there are fome toads of eight inches diameter. 
 
 In the lake of Chalco there are three very numerous fpecies of frogs, 
 of three very different fizes and colours, and very common at the ta- 
 bles in the capital. Thofe of Huaxteca are excellent, and will fome- 
 times weigh a Spanifh pound : but I never faw or heard in that coun- 
 try the tree frogs, which are fo common in Italy and other parts of 
 Europe. 
 
 The ferpents are of much greater variety than the reptiles already 
 mentioned, there being many of different fizes and colours, fome poi- 
 fonous and others innocent. 
 
 The moft confiderable in point of fize feems to have been one called 
 Canauhcoatl by the Mexicans. It was about three Parilian perches 
 
 {li) See this lizard in our plate. 
 
 long.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 long, and of the thicknefs of a middle fized man. One of the 77//- 
 coiis, or black ferpents, which Hernandez faw in the mountains of 
 Tepoztlan, was not quite fo large; which, although it was not equal 
 in thicknefs, yet was ten Spanifli cubits, or more than fixtecn Parifian 
 feet long. Such monftrous ferpents are feldom to be found now adays, 
 unlefs in fome folitary wood, at a diftance from the capital. 
 
 The mofl: remarkable of the poifonous ferpents are the AhueyaSlUy 
 the Cuiciiilcoatl, the TcixminanJ, the Ccncoatl, and the Tcotlacozaubqiii. 
 
 The Teotlaco-zaiibqni , of which there are feveral fpecies, is the fa- 
 mous rattle-fnake. Its colour and fize are various, but it is commonly 
 three or four feet long. The rattle may be confidered as an appendix 
 to the vertebrse, and confifts of rings of a horny fubftance, moveable, 
 and conne6ted with each other by means of articulations or joints, every 
 one being compofed of three fmall bones (I). The rattle founds 
 whenever the fnakes moves, and particularly when he is in motion to 
 bite. This fnake moves with great rapiditv, and upon that account 
 it likewife obtained among the Mexicans the name of Kbccacoatl, or 
 aerial ferpcnt. Its bite is attended with certain death, unlefs remedies 
 are fpeedily applied, among which the mofl: effectual is thought to be 
 the holding of the wounded part fome time in the earth. It bites 
 with two teeth pkced in the upper jaw, which as in the viper and 
 other fpecies of ferpents, arc moveable, hoUov.-, and pierced at the ex-: 
 tremity. The poifon, which is a yellowifli ciyflallizable liquor, is 
 contained in fome glands which lie over the roots of thofe two teeth. 
 Thefe glands being comprefled in the adion of biting, dart through 
 the hollow of the teeth the fatal liquid, and pour it by the apertures 
 into the v/ound and the mafs of blood. We fliould have been glad to 
 communicate to the public feveral other obfervations which we have 
 made upon this fubjecl, if the nature of this hiftory fiiould have per- 
 mitted it (m). 
 
 The AhiieyaSlli is not veiy different from the fnake jiifl: defcribcd, 
 except in having no rattle. This fnake, as we are told by Hernandez, 
 
 ([) Kcrnsndez fays, that a new ring is added every year, and tliat the nuiiiLer of the rings 
 corrcfpond with the years of the fnake 's age : but we do not know whethci' this is founJeJ 
 upon his OAn obfervations or the rQ|iorts of others. 
 
 {m) Father Iiiainma, a Jtfiiit miffionary of California, has made many experiments upon 
 fnakes, whith ferve to confirm thofc made by Mead upon vipers, 
 
 I 2 com-
 
 «o H I S T O R y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK T. communicates that kind of poilbn called by the ancients Hemorrhoos , 
 which occalions the blood to buril: from the mouth, nofe, and eyes 
 of the perfon who has received it. There are certain antidotes, how- 
 ever, which prevent thefe virulent eiFedts. 
 
 The Cuicuilcoail, fo named from the variety of its colours, is not 
 quite eight inches long, and of the thicknefs of the little finger ; but 
 its poifon is as atìive as that of the Teotlacozauhqui. 
 
 The T'eixminani is that kind of ferpent which Pliny calls yaculum. 
 It is of a long ilender form, with a grey-coloured back and a purple 
 belly. It moves always in a ftraight line, and never coils, but fprings 
 from the trees upon paflengers, and has thence derived its name fn), 
 Thefe fnakes are to be found in the m.ountains of Quauhnahuac, and 
 in other hot countries ; but I never knew any inflance of fuch a thing 
 happening to any traveller, although I lived fo many years in that 
 kiiigdom ; and I can fay the fame thing of the terrible efteils afcribed 
 to the Ahueyadli. 
 
 The Cencoatl foj, which is alfo a poifonous fnake, is about five feet 
 long, and eight inches round at the thickefl part. The moil remark- 
 able quality of this fnake is its fhining in the dark. Thus does the 
 provident Author of nature, by various impreflions on our fenfes, at 
 one time upon our ears by the noife of a rattle, at another time upon 
 our eyes by the impreffions of light, awake our attention to guard 
 againfl approaching danger. 
 
 Among the harmlefs fnakes, of which there are feveral kinds, we 
 cannot pafs over the T!%icatlinan, and the Maquhcoatl. Tiie Tzicat- 
 linan is very beautiful, about a foot in length, and of the thicknefs 
 of the little finger. It lives always in ant-hills ; and it takes fo much 
 pleafure in being among ants, that it will accompany thefe infeds 
 upon their expeditions, and return with them to their ufual neft. 
 The Mexican name Tzicatlinan, fignifies mother of ants, and that is the 
 name given it by the Spaniards ; but I fufpeft that all the attachment 
 which this little fiiake fhews to ant-hills, proceeds only from its liv- 
 ing upon the ants themfelves. 
 
 [») The Mexicans give this fnake the name alfo of Micoatl; the Spaniards that of S.ctiila, 
 both fignifying the fame thing with the Jacuhim of the Latins. 
 
 (fi) There are fome other fpecies of fnakes which having the fame colours with the Cencoatl, 
 go by the fame name, but they are all of a harmlefs nature. 
 
 The
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 6r 
 
 The Maquizcoatl \s, about the fame fize but of a flaining filveryhue. BOOK r. 
 The tail is thicker than the head, and this fiiake can move progref- 
 fively with either extremity at pleafure. It is called by the Greeks 
 Amph[(becena (p); it is a very rare fpecies, and has never been feen as far 
 as I know, in any other place than the valley of Toluca. 
 
 Of all the variety of fnakes which are found in the unfrequented 
 woods of that kingdom, I believe that no viviparous fpecies has been 
 difcovered, except the acoatl or water-fnake, which too is only fup- 
 pofed, but not certainly known, to be viviparous. That fnake is 
 about twenty inches long and one thick : its teeth are exceeding fmall, 
 tile upper part of the head is black, the fides of it are blue, and the 
 under part yellow. The back is ftriped with blue and black, the belly 
 is entirely blue. 
 
 The ancient Mexicans who took delight in rearing all kinds of ani- 
 mals, and who by long familiarity loll that horror which fuch ani- 
 mals naturally infpire, ufed to catch in the fields a little green harm- 
 lefs fnake, which being brought up at home, and well fed, would 
 fometimes grow to the fize of a man. It was generally kept in a tub, 
 which it never left but to receive its food from its mafter's hand >. 
 which it would take, either mounted upon his ihouldcr or coiled about 
 his legs. 
 
 If from the land we now turn our eyes to the rivers, lakes, and 
 feas of Anahuac, we fhall find in them a much greater variety of crea- 
 tures. Even the known fpecies of their filli are innumerable ; for of 
 thofe only which ferve for the nourilhment of man, I have counted 
 upwards of a hundred fpecies, without reckoning the turtle, crab, 
 lobfter, or any other teflaceous or cruftaceous animal. Of the fifli, 
 fome are common to both the feas ; fome are peculiar to the Mexican 
 gulf alone, others to the Pacific Ocean ; and fome are to be found 
 only in the lakes and rivers. 
 
 The fifh common to both the feas are whales, dolphins, fword-fifli, sect.xiil 
 faw-fifli, tiburones, manatis, mantas, porpoifes, bonitas, cod, mullets. The fifli of 
 
 *^ '^ the feas, 11- 
 
 (f) Pliny, in lib. viii. cap. 2^ gives the jimphijbt:ena two heads ; but the Greek name vers, and 
 means nothing more than the double motion. The two-headed ferpcnt of riiny has been fccn lakes ol A- 
 in Europe, and fome have alTerted that it is to be met with in Mexico, but I do not know that nahuac. 
 that any one has feen it. If it has been found in that country, it cannot be confidcrcd as a 
 natural fpecies, but rather as a monficr, like the two-licadcd c^gle found a few yeai-s fince in 
 Oaaca, and fent to the Catholic king. • 
 
 I thornbacks.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 thornbacks, barbels, flying-fifli, fhad, lobflers, foles, and a great ma- 
 ny others, together with feveral fpecies of tortoifes, polypus, crabs, 
 fpunges, &c. 
 
 The Mexican gulf, befides thofe already mentioned, affords ftur- 
 gcons, pike, congers, turbot, lampreys, cuttle-fi(h, anchovies, carp, 
 eels, nautilufes, &c. 
 
 In the Pacific Ocean, befides thofe common to the two feas, there 
 are falmons, tunnies, fea fcorpions, herrings, and others. 
 
 In the lakes and rivers, are three or four kinds of white fi lb, carp, 
 mullet, trout, barbels, eels, and many others. 
 
 As the particular defcription of thefe filli would be foreign to the ob- 
 jedt of our hiftory, and of little ufe to the European reader, we fhall 
 only take notice of a few of the more remarkable circumflances with 
 refpeft to them. 
 
 The T'lbwon belongs to that clafs of fea-animals called by the an- 
 cients Canicidce. Its great voracity, its fize, flrength, and fwiftnefs, 
 are well known. It has two, three, and fometimes more rows of 
 Iharp flrong teeth, and fwallows whatever is thrown to it ^vhether 
 eatable or not. A whole flieep's fl^in, and even a large butcher's 
 knife, has been found in its belly. This fifh frequently accompanies 
 velTels, and bv Oviedo's account there have been Tiburones, which have 
 kept up with a veflel in full fail with a fair wind, for five hundred 
 mules, and often fwimming round the fliip to catch any filth that was 
 thrown from it. 
 
 The Manati or Lai?ient:n, as it is called by fome, is a larger filli 
 than the T^iburon, and of a very different difpofition. Oviedo fays, 
 that Manatis have been catched of fach a fize as to require a cart, with 
 two pair of oxen to draw them. It is like the T^ibiiron viviparous, but 
 the female brings only one young one at a tim.e, which, however, is 
 of a great fize (7- J. The flefli of this animal is delicate, and fomething 
 
 like 
 
 ()■) Buffon agrees with Hernandez in faying that the Mana i brings but one young one 
 at a time ; but other perfons affirm th.it {he brings two. Perhaps the fame thing takes phicc 
 with the Manati as with the human fpecies ; which is commonly to have only one, but fome- 
 times to have two or more. Hernandez defcribes the copulation of thefe animals in thefe 
 words ; Hiimano more coit, famlna fupina fere tota In littore prccumbente-, et ceh-ritate quaJam fn- 
 ^erve/tiente mare. We do not wiik forno modern naturalifts rank the Manati among quadriv- 
 
 peds,
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 like veal. Some authors place the Manati in the clafs of amphibious 
 animals, but improperly, as it is never upon land ; but only raifes its 
 liead, and a part of its body, out of the water, to broufe upon the 
 Iierbage which grows along the banks of the rivers fsj. 
 
 The Mn?ita is that liat filh mentioned by Ulloa and others, which 
 is fo hurtful to the pearl-filhcrs, and which I have no doubt is the 
 fame with that which Pliny has defcribed, though he fcems not to 
 have been very well acquainted with it, under the name of Niibes or 
 Nebula ft). It is not improbable, that this fìlli has made its uay 
 into thcfe feas from thofe of the old world in the fame manner as fomc 
 others appear to have done. The flrength of this fifli is fo great that 
 it will not only ftrangle a man whom it embraces or winds itfclf about, 
 but it has even been feen to take the cable of an anchor and move it 
 from the place where it had been caft. It has been called Manta, 
 becaufe when it lies ftretched upon the fea, as it frequently does, it 
 feems like a fleece of wool floating upon the water. 
 
 The fword-fifli of thefe feas is quite difi^erent from that of Green- 
 land. The fword is larger, and in its figure more nearly refembling 
 a real fword ; and is not placed in the fame manner with that of the 
 Greenland fifli upon the hinder part, but upon the fore part of the 
 
 pcds, although it is viviparous ; becaufe every one by the name of quadruped underfiands an 
 animal with four feet, but the Manati has only two, and thcfc impcrfeiily formed. 
 
 (() Mr. de la Condaminc confirms our obfcrvation with lefpeft to the ÌManati's living 
 conllantly in «ater, and the fame thing had been Hiid two centuries before by two eye -wir- 
 ncflcs Oviedo and Hernandez. It is true, that Hernandez docs fccm to fay the contrary; 
 but this is owinjj merely to a typographical error, which is obvious to every reader. I fliould 
 mention likewifc, that the Manati, altliough i)roperly a fca-aiiinv.il, is fre<picntly to be 
 found in rivers. 
 
 (/) Ipji fcrunt (Urinatorcs) et nubem quandam crajfifcercfuper capita, planorutn pil'<:ÌHmJiinilem, 
 trotscntcm cos, arccnlcnique a rccìprocaniìo et ob iJJÌilos pr.rttcutos ii/ieis anncxos balere fejc ; quia 
 inj! pcrfojjlc ila, non recedant, caliginis et pavorii, ul arhilror, opere. l^ubcm cum five nehidant 
 (cuius nomine id malum appellant) inter animalia baud ullam reperii quifquam, Plin. Hlftor. Nat. 
 lib. is. cap. 46. The account given of this iloud by thofe divers is much the fame with that 
 which the divers in the American feas give of themanta, and the name of the cloud is per- 
 fcfily applicable to it, as it really feems to be a cloud to thofe who arc in the water b:low it ; 
 our fwiinmers likewifc carry loug knives, or fliarp flicks, for the purpofe of di'peifing this 
 animal. This obfcrvation which has efcaped all tlic interpreters of I'liny, was made by my 
 countryman and friend the Abbe D. Jof. Raf. Campoi, a man not Icfs diflinguiflied by his 
 manners and integrity, than by his eloquence and erudition, pirticularly in the Latin lan- 
 {;ua:;c, in Hiftory, in Criticifm, and in Geography. His death upon the aoth of December, 
 '777) prevented his finifliing fevcral very ufcful works which he had brgjii. 
 
 V h(xiy,
 
 HISTORY OP MEXICO. 
 
 body, like the faw-fifli. It moves this fword at pleafure, with great 
 force, and employs it as an offenfive weapon. 
 
 Of the two fpecies of faw-fiili to be found in thofe feas, the one is 
 that common one known to Pliny, and defcribed by fo m.any natu- 
 ralifts. The other, which is about a foot in length, has a row of 
 teeth or prickles like a faw, upon its back, which lias obtained it the 
 name of 'Tlatcco?ii, from the Mexicans, and from the Spaniards that 
 of Sierra. 
 
 The Roballo is one of the moft numerous fpecies, and affords the 
 moft delicate food, efpecially the kind peculiar to rivers. Hernandez 
 took this filli to be the fame with the Lupus of the ancients, and 
 Campoi imagined it to be the Afelius Minor ; but this mull ha\'e been 
 altogether conjecilure, for the defcriptions of tliofe fi(h left us by the 
 ancients are fo imperfed, that it is impollible to afcertain their iden- 
 tity. 
 
 The Gobbo (called by the Spaniards Corcoboda), was fo called from 
 a rlfing or prominence reaching from the neck to the mouth, which 
 latter part is exceedingly fmall. The Sfirena had likewife the name of 
 Piciida (which we might tranflate long-fuout), from the lower jaw 
 being longer than the upper. 
 
 The Rofpo is a very dilagreeable fi(h to look at j of a perfectly round 
 fliape, three or four inches in diameter, and without fcales. It af- 
 fords a pleafant wholefome food. 
 
 Among the eels there is one called Huitzitzilmicbin by the iVIexi- 
 cans, which is about three feet long and very llender. Its body is 
 covered with a fort of fmall plates, inftead of fcales. The fnout is 
 about eight inches in length, with the upper jaw longer than the 
 lower, in which it differs from all other eels, which tliis fpecies 
 likewife furpafles, as well in the delicacy of its lieih as in the lize of 
 its body. 
 
 The Bob©, is a very fine fifh, about two feet long, and four or 
 fix inches broad at the broadeft part ; and is in high efleem as an 
 •excellent food. The river Barbel, known by the name of Bagre, 
 is of the fame fize with the Bobo, and of exquilite flavour, but 
 unwholefome till it is cleanfed with lemon juice, or fome other acid, 
 from a certain kind of froth or vifcid litj^uor which adheres to it. 
 
 Tiie
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 65 
 
 The Bobos, I believe are got only in the rivers which fall into the BOOK!. 
 Mexican gulf, and the Barbels in thofe which difcharge themfelves 
 into lakes, or into the Pacific Ocean. The liefli of thefe two kinds, 
 although very delicate, does not equal that of the Pampano, and the 
 Colombella, which are defervedly efteemed fuperior to all others. 
 
 The Curvina is about a foot and a half long, of a flender, round 
 fhape, and of a blackifli purple colour. In the head of this fifli are 
 found, two fmall, white ftones like alabafler, each an inch and a half 
 long, and about four lines broad, of which three grains taken in water, 
 are thought to be ufcful in a floppage of urine. 
 
 The Botetto is a fmall filli, not more than eight inches in length, 
 but exceffively thick. This fifli, while it lies alive upon the beach, 
 immediately fwells, whenever it is touched, to an enormous fize ; and 
 boys often take pleafure in making it burft with a kick. The liver is 
 fo poifonous as to kill with flrong convulfions in half an hour after it 
 is eaten. 
 
 The Occhione (u), is a flat, round fifli of eight or ten inches di- 
 ameter. The underpart of the body is perfetìly flat, but the upper is 
 convex; and in the center, which is the higheft part, it has a fingle 
 eye as large as that of an ox, and furniflied with its neceflary eye-lids. 
 The eye remains open even after it is dead, which fonictimcs creates a 
 degree of horror to a fpediator ^^y. 
 
 The Iziacmichin, or white fifh, has always been in great repute in 
 Mexico, and is now as common at the Spanilh tables as it ufed to 
 be anciently at thofe of the Mexicans. There are three or four fpe- 
 cies. The Amilotl, which is the largefl and the moll efteemed, is 
 more than a foot in length, and has two fins upon the back, two 
 at the fides, and one under the belly. The Xaimicbin fcems to be 
 of the fame kind with the former, but not quite fo large. The 
 yacapitzahitac, which is the finallcfl: kind, is not more than eight 
 
 (a) This fifli, which is or.ly found in California, cither has no name, or we, at lead, 
 are not acquainted with it ; for which rcafon wc have given it one, we think, fufliciently 
 applicable, namely, that of Occhione. 
 
 (a-) Campol was pcrluadid that the Occhione is the Urano/lniot, or CaUionymos of Fliny : bur 
 Pliny has not left any dcfcription of that filh. The name of Uranorcofm, which was the only 
 foundation of Campoi's opinion, is equally applicable to all thofe lifli which, having eyci 
 cpon tht head, look upw.irds to the fty, fuel) as (katcs, and other fi.it fifli. 
 
 Vol. I. K inches
 
 66 HISTORYOF MEXICO. 
 
 COOK I. inches long, and one inch and a half broad. All thefe kinds have 
 
 ^— '■'^ — -* fcales, are a very delicate and vvholefome food, and are to be found 
 
 in great plenty in the lakes of Chalco, Pazcuaro, and Chapalla. The 
 
 fourth kind is the Xalmichin of Quauhnahuac, which has no fcales, 
 
 but is covered with a tender white fkin. 
 
 The Axolotl or Axolotc (j), is a great water-lizard of the Mexican 
 lake. Its figure and appearance are ridiculous and difagreeable. It 
 is commonly about eight inches long, but is fometimes to be found 
 of twice that length. The iTcin is foft and black, the head and tail 
 long, the moutli large, and the tongue broad, thin, and cartila- 
 ginous. The body gradually diminilhes in fize, from the middle to 
 the extremity of the tail. It fwims with its four feet which refem- 
 ble thofe of a frog. But the moft remarkable circumftance with 
 refpeét to this animal, which has been eflabliflied by many obferva- 
 tions, and confirmed by the opinion of Hernandez, is the uterus, and 
 a periodical evacuation of blood to which it is fubje6l ; in both whicli 
 it is faid to refemble the human fpecies (z). The Axolotl is whole- 
 fome to eat, and is of much the fame tafte with an eel. It is thought 
 to be particularly ufeful in cafes of confumption. 
 
 There are many other kinds of fmall fifh, in the lake of Mexico, 
 but they fcarcely deferve our notice. 
 
 As to Ihells, they are found in prodigious numbers, and of great 
 variety ; and fome of them of extraordinary beauty, efpecially thofe 
 of the Pacific Ocean. Pearls alfo have been fiflied, at different times, 
 along all the coafts of that fea. The Mexicans got them upon the 
 coafts of Tototepec, and of the Cuitlatecans, where we now get the 
 tortoife-fliell. Among the Sea-flars is one which has five rays, and 
 
 {y) Mr. Bomare could not light upon the name jf this fifh. He calls it A-zalotl, Axoìotì,, 
 Jl'zoìoti, and Axoloti ; and fays that the Spaniards call it Jiiguete del' agita : yet the Mexicans 
 call it Axolotl, and the Spaniards give it no other name but the Axo/otc. 
 
 {z) Bomare has fome hefitation in believing what is faid of the Axolotc ; but while we 
 may reft fecure upon the teftimony of thofe perfons, who have had thefe animals adually 
 under their own infpection, we need not pay much regard to the doubts of a Frenchman, 
 who, however verfed in Natural Hiftory, never faw the Axolotis, and is even ignorant of 
 their name : more efpecially, when we reflcft that the periodical evacuation of blood is not 
 confined to women alone, but has been obferved, likewife, in ape's ; for, as Mr. Bomare fays, 
 Les femelies dafingei out poitr la pluf art ifes menjirues commt iesfemmes, 
 
 one
 
 Fin'. 
 
 • yifj/,/ ,'^ //„■ 'Z,y„/,/., 
 
 '///lyi/n.i/; 
 
 Ytr/uf 
 
 .'■/f/Ni/i/.jy/, f'of./. Pii^ f>\ 
 
 <W/u. 
 
 y.,;./.-r/ 
 
 >''A///ru/t
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 67 
 
 one eye in each. Of Spunges, and Lithophyts, there arc many rare BOOK r- 
 
 and lingular fpecies. Hernandez gives us a print of a fpunge, fent ' ^-— ' 
 
 to him from the Pacific Ocean, which was of the fliape of a man's 
 hand, but with ten or more fingers ; of a clay colour, with black 
 points and red ftreaks, and was harder than the common fpunges. 
 
 Defcending, at length, to the fmaller creatures, in which the Sect.xiv. 
 pov/er and wifdom of the Creator efpecially appear ; we fhall divide ^,f ^icxiw.* 
 the innumerable multitude of Mexican infeds into three clafies, the 
 flying, the terreftrial, and the aquatic ; although there are land and 
 water infects which afterwards become flying infedts, and might be 
 confidered as belonging to difi'erent claflies, at difi"erent times. 
 
 Among the flying infedts are, beetles, bees, wafps, flies, gnats, but- 
 terflies, and grafshoppers. The beetles are of feveral kinds, and mofl:lv 
 harmlefs. Some of them are of a green colour, and called by the 
 Mexicans, Majatl ; which, by the great noife they make in flying, af- 
 ford amufement to children. There are others black, of a difagrceable 
 fmell and irregular form, which are called F'macatl. 
 
 The Cucujo or fhining beetle, which beft deferves our notice, has 
 been mentioned by many authors, but not hitherto, as far as I know, 
 defcribcd by any one. It is more than an inch in length ; and, like 
 other flying beetles, is furnifhed with double wings. Upon the 
 head, is a fmall, moveable horn, which is of great ufe to it; for if 
 at any time it happens to be turned over and laid upon its back, it is 
 by means of this horn, by thrufting and prefling it into a mem- 
 brane fomewhat like a bag, which it has upon the belly, that this 
 infedl recovers its natural pofition. Near the eyes are two fmall 
 membranes, and upon tiie belly one fomewhat larger, of a thin, 
 tranfparcnt fubfl:ance, which are full of luminous matter, aftbrding 
 a light flrong enough to read by, and to ihew the way to tliofe 
 who travel at night. It flicws mort: light when it flies ; but none 
 at all while it fleeps, as it is then covered with the other opaque 
 membranes. The luminous matter is a white, mealy, vifcid iub- 
 ilance, which prefervcs its luminous quality after it has been taken 
 from the body of the Ciicujo, and one may draw ihining charaders 
 with it, upon a hat. There are great numbers of thefe flying 
 pholphori upon the Ica-coaAs, and which form upon the neigh- 
 
 K 2 bouring
 
 6B H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK 1, bouring hills, at night, a very beautiful and brilliant fpeólacle. The 
 boys eafily catch them by waving a light in the evening, and the 
 beetles, drawn by the light, come into their hands. Some authors 
 have confounded this wonderful infedl with the glow-worm, but the 
 latter is much fmaller, and much lefs luminous ; is pretty frequent 
 in Europe, and perfedly common in Mexico. 
 
 The appearance of the fliining beetle is not more pleafing than 
 that of the T^emoUn is difagreeable. This is a large beetle of a 
 reddifh chefnut colour, with fix hairy feet, and four toes upon 
 each. There are two fpecies of the T'emolÌ7i : the one havings one 
 horn, in the forepart of the head ; and the other, two. 
 
 There are, at le.ifl:, fix different kinds of bees. The firft is the 
 fame with the common bee of Europe, with which it agrees, not 
 only in fize, fliape, and colour, but alfo in its difpofition and man- 
 ners, and in the qualities of its honey and wax. The fecond fpecies, 
 which differs from the firft only in having no fting, is the bee of 
 Yucatan and Chiapa, which makes the fine, clear honey of Efia- 
 hentun, of an aromatic flavour, fuperior to that of all the other kinds 
 of honey with v/hich we are acquainted. The honey is taken from 
 them fix times a year, that is, once in every other month ; but the 
 beft is that which is got in November, being made from a fragrant 
 white flower like Jeflamine, which blows in September, called in that 
 country EJiabentiin, from which the honey has derived its name (z). 
 The third fpecies refembles in its form, the winged ants, but is 
 fmaller than the common bee, and without a fting. This infedt, 
 v/hich is peculiar to warm and temperate climates, forms nefts, in 
 fize and fliape relembling fugar-loaves, and even fon:ietimes greatly 
 exceeding thefe in fize, which are fufpended from rocks, or from 
 trees, and particularly from the oak. The populoufnefs of thefe 
 hives are much greater than of thofe of the common bee. The 
 nymphs of this bee, which are eatable, are white and round, like a 
 pearl. The honey is of a greyifli colour, but ot a fine flavour. The 
 fourth fpecies is a yellow bee, fmaller than the common one, but, 
 
 (z) The honey of Eftabentùn, is in high eftimation with the Englifh and French, who touch 
 at the ports of Yucatan ; and I have known the French of Guarico buy it foinetimes tor the 
 purpofc of fending it as a prefent to the king. 
 
 like
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 69 
 
 like it, furnifhed with a fling. Its honey is not equal to thofe BOOK I. 
 already mentioned. The fifth, is a Imall bee without a fting, wlxich 
 conftrudts hives of an orbicular form, in fubterraneous cavities ; and 
 the honey is four, and fomewhat bitter. The 'Tlalpipiolli, which is 
 the fixth fpecie?, is black and yellow, of the fize of the common 
 bee, but has no fting. 
 
 Of wafps there are at leaft four kinds. The ^etzalmiahuatl is the 
 common wafp of Europe. The Tctlatoca or wandering wafp, is lb 
 called from its frequent change of habitation ; and is always found 
 employed in colledling materials to build it. This wafp has a fting, 
 but makes no honey or wax. The Xicotli or Xicote, is a thick, 
 black wafp, with a yellow belly ; which makes a very fweet honey, 
 in holes made by it in walls. It is provided with a ftrong fting, 
 which gives a veiy painful wound. The Cuicalmiabuati, has likev/ife 
 a fting J but whether it makes honey or not, we do not know. 
 
 The ^aubxicotU, is a black hornet, with a red tail, whofe fting 
 is fo large and ftrong, as not only to go through a fugar cane, but 
 even to pierce into the trunk of a tree. 
 
 Among the flies, befides the common fly which is neither fo trou- 
 blefome, nor in fuch numbers as in Italy during fummer (<z), there 
 arc feme luminous as the glow-worm. The Axay acati is a marlb- 
 fly, of the Mexican lake, the eggs of which being depofitcd in im- 
 menfe quantities, upon the rufties and corn-flags of the lake, form 
 large maffes, which are taken up by fiftiermen and carried to market 
 for fale. This caviare called Ahuaubtli, which has much the fame 
 tafte with the caviare of fifh, ufed to be eat by the Mexicans, and 
 is now a common diih among the Spaniards. The Mexicans eat 
 not only the eggs, but the flies tiiemfelves made up together into a 
 mafs, and prepared with faltpetre. 
 
 Gnats, which are fo common in Europe, and efpecially in Italy, 
 abound in the maritime parts of Mexico, and in all places wiiere heat, 
 
 (a) The fame obfcn-ation has btcn made before by Oviedo; " In the idands," faid he, 
 " and in terra firma, there arc very few flies ; and in comparifon of their numbers in F.iiropr, 
 " one might almoft fay there arc none." Nat. IJill. Ind. cap. 81. In Mexico, certainly there 
 are not lb few as Oviedo fays, but, gcncr.illy fpcaking, they aie nciihcr fo numerous nor fo 
 troublcfomc as in Europe. ,. 
 
 flandinr
 
 <^ 
 
 70 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK I. (landing water, and flirubs, encourage their propagation. They are 
 in inimenfe numbers in the lake of Chalco ; but the capital, although 
 near to that lake, is entirely free of that nuifance. 
 
 In the hot countries there is likev/ife a kind of frnall flies, which 
 make no buz in flying, but raife a violent itching by their puncSlure, 
 and an open wound is very ready to be made, if the part is fcratced. 
 
 In thofe hot countries alfo, but particularly in thofe next the fea, 
 Ciicarachas are found in great numbers. This is a large winged, fil- 
 thy, pernicious infedt, which fpoils all eatables, particularly any thing 
 fweet ; but in feme other refpedls is of great ufè in clearing houfes of 
 bugs. It has been remarked, that the fliips which come from Europe 
 full of bugs, return from New Spain quite freed of thefe fbinking in- 
 fefts, by means of the Cucarachas [Jj). 
 
 The Butterflies of Mexico, are much more numerous, and of greater 
 variety, than in Europe. It is impoflible to give any idea of their va- 
 riety and beauty, and the finefl; pencil is unable to imitate the exqui- 
 fite colouring and defign, which the Author of Nature has difplayed 
 in the embellilhment of their wings. Many refpedlable Authors have 
 celebrated them in their writings ; and Hernandez has made fome be 
 drawn, in order to give Europeans an idea of their beauty. 
 
 But the butterflies although numerous, are not to be compared 
 in that refpeft, with the locufl:s, which, fometimes darlccning the air 
 like thick clouds, fall upon the fea coafl;s, and lay walle all the ve- 
 getation of the country; as I have myfelf witnefled, in the year 1738, 
 or 1739, upon the coafls of Xicayan. From this caufe a great famine 
 was lately occafioned in the Peninfula of Yucatan : but no country 
 has been viflted by this dreadful fcourge fo often as the wretched 
 California [c). Among the land-infeds, befides the common ones, 
 about which nothing occurs to me worthy to be mentioned, there 
 
 (i) Tliis infeft is llkewifc an enemy of the ffudious, preying upon the ink, in the night- 
 time, unlefs it is carefully covered up. The Spaniards call it Cucaracha-, others call it 
 Kakerlaques, and others Dcrmcjlet, &c. 
 
 (r) In the hlltcry of California, which will be publiflied in a few months, will be found 
 a great many obfcrvations with rcfpeft to locufls, made by the Abbé D. Mich, del Barco, 
 who lived upwards of thirty years in that country, a country- not more famous than uadc- 
 ferving of the fame it has acquired, 
 
 I are
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 71 
 
 are worms of feveral kinds, fcolopendrae, fcorpions, fpiders, ants, BOOK f. 
 nigua chegoes or jiggers, and the cochineal. 
 
 Of the worms, fome are ufeful, and others pernicious; fome ferved 
 as food to the ancient Mexicans-, and others in the way of medicine, 
 as the Axin and the Pollin, which we fhall fpeak of in another place. 
 The Tleocuilin or burning worm, has the fame qualities with the Can- 
 tharides : its head is red, the brcaft green, and the reft of the body 
 is of a tawny-colour. The 'Tcinabuani, is a worm covered with 
 yellow, venemous prickles. The T'emiBli refemblea the filk-worm, 
 both in its operations and its metamorphofes. The fik-wonn was 
 brought from Europe, and was propagated with fuccefs. Great 
 plenty of good filk was made, efpecially in Mizteca fdj, where it be- 
 came a great article of trade; but the Miztecans being afterwards, 
 from political caufes, forced to abandon it, the rearing of the worms 
 was likewife negledled ; and at this time very few are employed in 
 that bufmefs. Befides that common filk, there is another excellent 
 kind, very white, foft, and ftrong, which is often to be found upon 
 trees, in feveral woods upon the fea coafls, particularly in thofe years 
 when there is little rain. But, unlefs by fome poor people, this 
 filk is not turned to any ufe, partly from inattention, to their interefts, 
 but chiefly from the obftruclions which would be cartainly thrown 
 in the way of any one who fhould attempt a trade of that kind. 
 We know from Cortes's letters to Charles Vth, that filk ufed to be 
 fold in the markets of Mexico ; and fome pidlure» are ftill preferved, 
 done by the ancient Mexicans upon a paper made of filk. 
 
 The Scolopendras are fometimes feen in the temperate parts, but 
 more frequently in the warm and moill. Hernandez fays, that he 
 has feen fome of them of the length of two feet, and two inches 
 thick : but fuch monftrous infefts can only have been feen in the 
 wetteft and moft uncultivated place ; for we who have been in a 
 great many places, through every variety of climate, never met witJi 
 any one of fuch extraordinary fize. 
 
 Scorpions are common throughout the whole kingdom, but in the 
 cold and temperate countries they are not numerous, nor very hurtful. 
 
 {J) Some places in Mizteca ftill prefcrvc the name which they obtained formerly, upon ac- 
 count of that trade; asyj/iè St. Frani is, Jtlk Itfext, 
 
 Thev
 
 72 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 ii OOK I. xhey abound in the hot parts, or v/here the air is very dry although 
 "" ' the heat is but moderate j and their poilbn is fo adlive as to kill 
 
 children, and occafion terrible pain to adults. It has been remarked, 
 that the poifon of the fmall, yellowhh fcorpion is more powerful 
 than that of the large brown one, and that their fting is the moft 
 dangerous during thofe hours of the day when the fun gives mofh 
 heat. 
 
 Among the great variety of fpiders, we cannot pafs over the Ta- 
 rantola and Cafampulga {e). The name of Tarantola is given very 
 improperly, in that country, to a veiy large fpider, the back and legs 
 of which are covered with a fine, foft, blackifl:i down, like that 
 upon young chickens. This fpider is peculiar to the hot countries, 
 and is found in houfes as well as in the fields. It is fuppofed to be 
 poifonous, and it is generally believed that if a horfe tramples upon 
 one, he very foon loofes his hoof ; but I have never known a fingle 
 inftance of this happening, although I was for five years in a very 
 hot country where thofe fpiders were in great numbers. The Ca- 
 fampulga is a finali fpider of the fize of a chick pea, with fliort 
 le?-s, and a red belly. This fpider is venemous, and common in the 
 diocefs of Chiapa, and elfewhere. It feems to anfwer to the defcrip- 
 tion of what is called the Ragno capuUino in other countries, but 
 I do not know whether it is the fam.e. 
 
 The moft common ants of that country are of three kinds : firfl, 
 the fmall black ants the fame with thofe of Europe ; next, the large 
 red ants called by the Spaniards bravas, or fierce, which give very 
 painful wounds with their ftings : and laftly, the large brown ants, 
 called by the Spaniards harrieras, or carriers, becaufe they are conti- 
 nually employed in carrying grain for tlieir provifion, and for that rea- 
 fon they are much more hurtful to the country than the common 
 ants. Thefe carrier ants have been fuffered by the careleffnefs of the 
 inhabitants in fome places to multiply to excefs ; and in the province 
 of Xicayan black lines are feen upon the earth for feveral miles, which 
 confili of nothing but of thofe ants going and coming. 
 
 ((•) I fufpei5t that the original name of this fpider has been Ca^.Tiiiga or flea-killtr, 
 corrupted in a manner cornmon to the vulvar, into Cafampulga. 
 
 Befidcs
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Befides the three fpecies already mentioned, there is a finguhr kind 
 of ant in Michuacan which, perhaps, is to be met with in other pro- 
 vinces. It is larger than the common ant, with a greyilhi-coloured 
 body and a black head. Upon its hinder parts it carries a little bag, 
 full of a very fweet liquor, wliich the children are very fond of, and 
 imagine it is a honey made by the ant like that made by the bee, but 
 I rather take it to be eggs. Mr. de la Barrere, in his Natural Hiilory 
 of Equinodlial France, takes notice of fuch ants being found in Cay- 
 enne; but thofe are winged ants, and ours are without wings. 
 
 The Nigua or Chegoe, called in other countries Pique, is an exceed- 
 ing fmall infedt, not very unlike a flea, which, in fome hot countries is 
 bred in the duft. It fixes upon the feet, and breaking infenfibly the 
 cuticle, it neftles bctwLxt that and the true fliin, which alfo, unlcfs it is 
 immediately taken out, it breaks, and pierces at lail to the flefli, multi- 
 plying with a rapidity almoft incredible. It is feldom difcovered un- 
 til it pierces the true fkin, when it caufes an intolerable itching. 
 Thefe infedts with their aftonilhing multiplication would foon dif- 
 people thole countries, were it kfs eafy to avoid them, or were the in- 
 habitants lefs dextrous in getting them out before they begin to fpread. 
 On the other hand, nature, in order to Icflen the evil, has not only de- 
 nied them wings, but even that conformation of the legs, and thofe 
 ftrong mufcles which he has given to the flea for leaping. The poor 
 however, who arc in fome meafure doomed to live in the duft, and 
 to a habitual neglecl of their perfons, fufter thefe infedts fometimes 
 to multiply fo far as to make large holes in their fledi, and even to oc- 
 cafiOn dangerous v.'ounds. 
 
 What the Niguas or Chcgocs do in houfes, is done in the fields 
 by the ticks, of which there are two fpecies or rather clafles. The 
 firll are common in the ncv,-, as well as the old world, which fix in 
 the fldns of flieep, horfes, and other quadrupeds, and get into their 
 ears, and fometimes into thofe of men. 
 
 The other abounds in the grafs of the hot countries, from which it 
 readily gets upon the cloaths, and from thefe to the flcin, upon which 
 it fixes with fuch force from the particular fliape of its feet, that it is 
 very diflicult to dct.ich it, and if it is not fpecdily removed makes a 
 wound like that made by tlie Nigua or Chegoe. At fiill it feems 
 Vol. I. L nothing
 
 74 
 
 H I S T O Pv Y OF M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK r. nothing more than a fmall black fpeck : but afterwards enlarges fo 
 quickly, and to luch a degree from the blood which it fucks, that 
 in a very Oiort time it becomes as large as a bean, and then takes the 
 colour of lead {/). 
 
 The celebrated cochineal of Mexico, fo well known and fo highly 
 efteemed over all the world, for the beauty of the colour which it af- 
 fords, is an infedt peculiar to that country, and the moll; ufeful of all 
 that the land of Anahuac produces. There particular pains have al- 
 ways been taken to rear it from the times of the Mexican kings [g) ;. 
 but the country in which it thrives the beft is that of Mizteca, where 
 it is the principal branch of commerce of that place (/6). In the 
 fixteenth century they ufed to rear it alfo in Tlafcala, Huexotzinco, 
 and other places, and it was a confiderable article of trade ; but thff 
 Indians (who have always been the perfons employed in that bufmefs), 
 opprefl'ed by the avaricious tyranny of fome Spanilh governors, were 
 forced to abandon that employm.ent which, of its own nature befides,. 
 was always very troublefome and tedious. The cochineal at its utmoft 
 growth, in fize and ligure refembles a bug. The female is ill pro- 
 portioned and lluggilh. The eyes, mouth, antenns, and feet, are fo 
 concealed among the wrinkles of its flcin, that they cannot be difco- 
 vered without the aflillance of a microfcope : and it is owing to that 
 circumftance, that fome Europeans have been fo pofitive in affirming it 
 to be a kind of feed and not an animal, in oppofition to the teflimony 
 of the Indians who reared it, and of Hernandez Vv'ho examined it as a 
 
 ( /") Oviedo fays, thnt fhe bell and faf'ell method of feparating it fpeedily, is to anojnt the 
 p.ut with oil, aud then to fcrape it with a knife. 
 
 {g) The hiftorian Herrera, in the Dec. IV. lib. vili, cap. 8. fays, that although the In- 
 dians had the cochineal, yet they knew nothing of its vii'tues till they were inftruiled by the 
 Spaniards, But what did the Spaniards teach them ? To rear the cochineal ? How were they 
 fitted to teach what they were ignorant of themfclvcs, while they took that to be a feed which 
 is in reality an infeft. They taivght the Indians perhaps, to ufe it as a dye ; but unlefs the 
 Indians ufed it as a dye, to what purpofe did they take fo much pains in rearing it ? Why were 
 Huaxyacac, Coyolopan, and feveral other places obliged to pay twenty bags of cochineal yearly 
 to the king of Mexico, as appears by the regilfer of taxes ? Is it poffible to imagine, that a 
 people (o given to painting even as they were, and who were befides well acquainted with the 
 «fe of the Achiote, the indigo, and of a great many mineral earths and ftones, fliould be 
 ignorant of the ufe nf the cochineal ? 
 
 (i) Several authors have reckoned that more than 2,500 bags of cochineal are font every 
 year from Mizteca to Spain. The trade in that article carried on by the city of Oaxaca, brings 
 in 200,0-0 crowns a-year. Bomare fays, there is a kind of cochineal called Mcjiecan^ becaufe 
 ic is got in Meteque, in the province of Honduras : but this is a miftake, for it comes from 
 Jilifleca, a province farther from Honduras than Rome is from Paris. 
 
 naturalift.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 naturalift. The males arc not fo numerous, and one fervcs for three 
 hundred females : they are likewife fmaller and thinner than the fe- 
 males, but more brilk and adlive. Upon the heads of this infe<fl are 
 two articulated antenna, in each articulation of which arc four fmall 
 briftles regularly difpofed. It has fix feet, each confining of three 
 parts. From the hinder part of the body grow out two hairs, which 
 are two or three times as large as the whole • infedl. The male has 
 two large wings, which are wanting in the female. Thefe wings are 
 ftrengthened by two mufcles ; one external, extending along the cir- 
 cumference of the wing ; the other internal, which runs parallel to 
 the former. The internal colour of this infcLÌ: is a deep red, but 
 darker in the female ; and the external colour a pale red. In the wild 
 cochineal the internal colour is flill darker, and the external whitidi 
 or afti-coloured. The cochineal is reared upon a fpecies of Nofal, or 
 Opuntia, or Indian fig, which grows to the height of about eight 
 feet, and bears a fruit like the figs of other Opuntias, but not eatable. 
 It feeds upon the leaves of that tree, by fucking the juice with a trunk 
 fituated in the thorax betwixt the two fore feet : there it pafles through 
 all the ftages of its growth, and at length produces a numerous off- 
 fpring. The manner of multiplying peculiar to thefe valuable infers, 
 the management of the Indians in rearing them, together with the 
 means employed to defend them from rain, which is fo hurtful to 
 them, and from many enemies which perfecute them, lliall be ex- 
 plained when we conie to fpeak of the agriculture of the Mexi- 
 cans fij. 
 
 Among the water inle^ls, the Jtetepitz is a marfh beetle refcmbling 
 in Ihape and fize the beetles that fly. It has four feet, and is covered 
 \vith a hard Ihell. The Atopinan is a marfli gralhopper, of a dark 
 colour, about 'ix)^. inches long and two broad. The Almihuttla is a 
 worm of the Mexican lake, four inches long, and of the thicknefs 
 
 (/) D. Ant. Ultoa fays, that the yopai, upon which the cochineal is reared, lias no prickle- ; 
 but in Mifleca, where I was for five years, 1 always faw it upon prickly nopals. Mr. d: 
 Raynal imagines, that the colour of the cochincil is to be afcribed to the red fig upon 
 which it ilvcs; but that author has bein mifmformed ; for neither does the cochineal feed 
 upon the fruit, but only upon the leaf, which is pcrfc.Jly green ; nor docs ihat nopal bear red 
 but while figs. It is true, it may be fcarcd upon the fpecies wiih a red fig, but tbut is not 
 ■the proper plant of the cochinral, 
 
 L a of
 
 76 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK r. of a goofe-qulll; of a tawiiy colour upon the upper part of the body, 
 
 ' ^— ' and white upon the under part. It ftings with its tail, which is hard 
 
 and poifonous. The OcuUi%tac is a black marfh-worm, which be.- 
 comes white on being roafled. All thefe infeds were eaten by the 
 ancient Mexicans. 
 
 Laflly, to omit other infeds the very names of which would fill an 
 immenfe catalogue, I fliall conclude this account with a kind of zoo- 
 phytes, or a-nimal plants, which I faw in the year 1751, in a houfe in 
 the country, about ten miles from Angelopoli, towards the fouth-eaffc. 
 Thefe were three or four inches long, and had four very flender feet, 
 and two antenna?; but their body was nothing more than the fibres 
 of the leaves, of the fame fliape, fize, and colour with thofe of the 
 other leaves of the trees upon which thefe infeds were found. Her- 
 nandez mentions them by the name of Quauhmecatl ; and Gemelli 
 defcribes another fomewhat fimilar which was found in the neighbour- 
 hood of Manila (k). 
 
 The flight account we have already given of the natural hiftory of 
 Anahuac, may ferve to fliew the differences that take place in the hot, 
 the cold, and the temperate countries, of which that vaft kingdom \s 
 compofed. Nature in the hot countries is more profufe, and in the 
 cold and temperate, more mild. In the former, the hills abound 
 more in minerals and fprings, the valleys are more delightful, and the 
 woods are thicker. There we meet with plants more ufeful for the 
 fupport of life (I). Trees of larger growth, more valuable woods, 
 more beautiful flowers, more delicious fruits, and more aromatic gums. 
 There too the animals are more numerous and of greater variety, and 
 the individuals of the different fpecies of greater beauty and fize ; the 
 birds have a finer plumage and a fweeter fong : but all thefe advan- 
 
 (i; I am awaie that modern naturalifts fcldom apply the name of zoopiytts, unlefs to cer- 
 tain marine bodies, which, with the appearance of vegetables, are really of the naiure of aui» 
 mais ; but I give it to thofe terrcftrial infetìs, becaufe it feems with as much, if not more pro- 
 priety applicable to them than to the marine bodies. In my Natural Philofoply, I think I 
 have given a vcrv probable explanation of the operation of nature in the produiftion of fuch 
 jnfcfis. 
 
 (/) It is irue, that generally neither corn grows there, nor many of the European fruits, 
 ' fuch as apples, peaches, pears, &c. yet what iignifies the want of a few of thofe vegetables, 
 compared with the unfpealvable profullon and variety of pUmts fcrvlng both for food and me- 
 dicine, which are to be found in thofe ccui.nric3 ? 
 
 tages
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 77 
 
 tagea are counterbalanced by equal inconveniencies ; for there the BOOK l- 
 
 beafts of prey are more terrible, the reptiles more poifonous, and the »— — %"*«-^ 
 
 infedls more pernicious. The earth there never feels the efFedls of 
 
 winter, nor is the atmofphere fubjefted to a hurtful viciditude of fea- 
 
 fons. A perpetual fpring reigns upon the earth, and a perpetual fuin- 
 
 mer in the air. The inhabitants are ufed to that exceflivo heat, but 
 
 from the conftant fweating which it occafions, together with the ufc 
 
 of thofc exquifite fruits which the bountiful earth prefents to them in 
 
 fuch abundance, they are often afFedtcd with diforders unknown in 
 
 other climates. The cold countries 'are neither fo fruitful nor fo 
 
 beautiful, but on the other hand they are more favourable to health, 
 
 and the animals are lefs hurtful to man. In the temperate countries 
 
 (at lead in many of them, and particularly in the vale of Mexico), 
 
 are enjoyed the advantages of the cold, and many of the pleafures of 
 
 the hot climates without the inconvenicncics of either. The moll 
 
 common difeafes of the hot countries are intermittent fevers, fpafms, 
 
 and confumptions ; and in the port of Vera Cruz, within thele few 
 
 years, the black vomiting (m) : in other parts, catarrhs, fluxes, plcu- 
 
 rifies, and acute fevers ; and in the capital, the diarrhcsa. Belides 
 
 thefc more frequent difeafes, certain epidemical diforders arife at times, 
 
 which feem in fome degree periodical, although not with much ex- 
 
 ad:nefs or regularity, fuch as thofe which appeared in 1546, 1576, 
 
 1736, and 1762. The fmall-pox brought thither by the SpaniHi 
 
 conquerors, is not fcen fo frequently in tliat country as in Europe; 
 
 but generally appears after an interval of a certain number of j'cars, 
 
 and then attacking all thofe who had not been afFci5led by it before, it 
 
 naakcs as much havoc at one time as it does fucceffively in Europe. 
 
 The nations which pofl*efled thofe countries before the Spaniards, Srcr. x\'. 
 although differing in language, and partly alfo in nunncrs, were yet 0/'"^^*^]^/,^.:. 
 nearly of the fame charadtcr. The moral and phyfical qualities of the cans imo o- 
 Mexicans, their tempers and difpofitions were the fime with thole of (,,- Anahj'ic. 
 the Acolhuicans, the Tepanceans, the Tlafcallans, and other, nations, 
 with no other difference than wliat arofe from tlicir different mode of 
 education ; fo that what we Ihall lay of the one, we lliouUI v;i(h tn 
 
 (/«) Ullon, and other hlllorinns of America, ilcfciibc the fpafms and ihc Mjck voiulting. 
 The latter «Jifcafe W.1S not known in thiit covintiy before ihc year 17.6. 
 
 be
 
 78 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 be underilood as equally applicable to the reH;. Several authors, an- 
 cient as well as modern, have undertaken a defcription of thele people, 
 .but I. have not met with any one which is, in every refpeói, fiiithful 
 and corredi. The paffions and prejudices of fome, and the imperfed: 
 information, or the weak underilandings of others, have prevented 
 their reprefenting them in their genuine colours. What we fliall fay 
 upon the fubjeól, is derived from a ferious and long rtudy of the hif- 
 tory of thefe nations, from a familiar intercourfe for many years with 
 the natives, and from the moll minute obfervations with refpedt to 
 their prefent fiate, maJe both by ourfelves and by other impartial per- 
 fons, I certainly have no bias upon my own mind which fliould make 
 me lean to one fide more than to the other ; as neither the feelings of 
 a fellow-countryman can fway my opinion in their favour, nor can I 
 be interefted to condemn them fi-om a love of my nation, or zeal for 
 the honour of my countiymen : fo that I fliall fpeak frankly and plainly 
 the good and the bad, which I have difcovered in them. 
 
 The Mexicans are of a good flature, generally rather exceeding than 
 falling fliort of the middle fize, and well proportioned in all their 
 limbs : they have good complexions, narrow foreheads, black eyes, 
 clean, firm, regular white teeth, thick, black, coarfe, gloffy hair, 
 thin beards, and generally no hair upon their legs, thighs, and arms. 
 Their flcin is of an olive colour. 
 
 ThiCre is fcarcely a nation, perhaps, upon earth in which there are 
 fewer perfons deformed, and it would be more difficult to find a fingle 
 hump-backed, lame, or fquint-eyed man amongfi; a thoufind Mexi- 
 cans, than among any hundred of any other nation. The unplealant- 
 nefs of their colour, the fmallnefs of their forehead, the thinnefs of 
 their beard, and the coarfenefs of their hair, are fo far compenfi-ied by 
 the regularity and fine proportions of their limbs, that they can nei- 
 ther be called very beautiful, nor the contrary, but feem to hold a 
 middle-place betv/een the extremes. Their appearance neither engages 
 nor difgufls ; but among the young women of Mexico, there are many 
 very beautiful and fair ; v;hofe beauty is at the fame time rendered 
 more winning by the fweetnefs of their manner of fpeak ing, and by 
 the pleafantnefs and natural modefly of tlieir whole behaviour. 
 
 I Their
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 79 
 
 Their fenfes are very acute, efpccially that of fight, which they en- book I. 
 joy unimpaired to the greateft age. Their conftitutions are found, and 
 tlicir health robuft. They are entirely free of many diforders which 
 are common among the Spaniards, but of the epidemical difeafes to 
 which their country is occafionally fubjcdl, they are the principal vic- 
 tims i with them thefe difeafes begin, and with them they end. One 
 never perceives in a Mexican that ftinking breath which is occafioned 
 in other people by the corruption of the humours or indigeftion. 
 Their conftitutions are phlegmatic ; but the pituitous evacuations from 
 their heads arc very fcanty, and they feldom fpit. They become grey- 
 headed and bald earlier than the Spaniards, and although mofl: of them 
 die of acute difeafes, it is not very uncommon among them to attain 
 the age of a hundred. 
 
 They are now, and have ever been very moderate in eating, but 
 their paflion for flrong liquors is carried to the greatefl excefs. For- 
 merly they were kept within bounds by the feverity of the laws ; but 
 now that thefe liquors are grown fo common, and drunkennefs is un- 
 punifhed, one half of the people feem to have loft their fenfes ; and 
 this, together with the poor manner in whicii they live, expofed to all 
 the baneful impreflions of difeafe, and deftitute of the means of cor- 
 redling them, is undoubtedly the principal caufe of the havoc whicli 
 is made among them by epidemical diforders. 
 
 Their minds are at bottom in every refpeift like thofe of the other 
 children of Adam,, and endued with the fame powers ; nor did the 
 Europeans ever do lefs credit to their own reafon than when they 
 doubted of the rationality of the Americans. The ftate of civilization 
 among the Mexicans, when they were firft known to the Spaniards, 
 which was much fuperior to that of the Spaniards themfelves, when 
 they were firft known to the Phccnicians, that of the Gauls when firft 
 known to the Greeks, or that of the Germans and Britons when firft 
 known to the Romans («), fliould of itfelf have been fully fufficient 
 
 to 
 
 («) D. Bernardo AUrcte, in his book upon the Origin of the Spanifli Tongue, would have 
 MS to believe that the Spaniards were lefs rude at the arrival of the Phocnicians.'than the IMcxi- 
 cnns were at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards ; but this paradox has been fufliciciitly 
 refuted by the learned authors of the Literary Hiliory of Spain. It is true, that the Spa- 
 niards in thofe remote ages were not fo barbarous as the Chichinriecans, the Californians, and 
 fomc other favage nations of Ainerica ; but neither their government was fo regular, nor their 
 
 arts
 
 So HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK I. to corredi fuch an error of man's mind, if it had not been the interefl 
 of the inhuman avarice of fome ruffians to encourage it (o). Their 
 underftandings are fitted for every kind of fcience, as experience has 
 atìually fliewn {p). Of the Mexicans who have had an opportunity 
 of engaging in the purfuits of learning, which is but a fmall. num- 
 ber, as the greateft part of the people are always employed in the pub- 
 lic or private works, we have known fome good mathematicians, ex- 
 cellent architedls, and learned divines. 
 
 Many perfons allow the Mexicans to poifefs a great talent, of imi- 
 tation, but deny them the praife of invention : a vulgar error, which 
 is contradicted by the ancient hlflory of that people. 
 
 Their minds are affeóled by the fame variety of paffions with thole 
 of other nations, but not to an equal degree. The Mexicans feldom 
 exhibit thofe tranfports of anger, or thole frenzies of love which are 
 to common in other countries. 
 
 They are flow in their motions, and fliew a wonderful tenacity and 
 (leadinefs in thofe works which require time and long continued at- 
 tention. They are moil patient of injury and hardfhip ; and where 
 they fufpeól no evil intention, are moft grateful for any kindnefs 
 fliewn ; but fome Spaniards, who cannot diftinguifli patience from in- 
 fenfibility, nor diftruft from ingratitude, fay proverbially, that the In- 
 dians are alike infenfible to injuries and to benefits |^^^. That habi- 
 tual diliruft which they entertain of all who are not of their own na- 
 tion, prompts them often to lie and betray; fo that good faith cer- 
 tainly has not been fo much refpedled among them as it dcferves. 
 
 arts fo much improved, nor, as fur as ue can judge, had they made fo much progrefs in the 
 knowledge of nature, as the Mexicans at the beginning of the lixtcenth century. 
 
 (o) Upon this fubjcCl I mud refer the reader to the bitter complaints made by the bifliop 
 Carets, in his letter to pope Paul III. and by the blfliop of las Cafas, in his Memorials to the 
 Catholic kings Charles V. and Philip II. but efpecially to the very humane laws made by 
 thofe moti Chriftian monarch», in favour of the Indians. 
 
 {p) We fliall, in the Dilfert.itions, produce the opinions of D. Giulian Carets, firft bifliop 
 of Tlafcalla ; of D. John di Zumarraga, firft bifliop of Mexico, and of D. Bartholomew de 
 las Cafas, firft bifliop of Chiapa, with refpeft to the capacities, underftandings, and other good 
 qualities of the Mexicans. The teflimony of thofe virtuous and learned prelates, who' had 
 fo much intcrcourfe with the Indians, weighs much more than that of any hiilorian whatever. 
 
 (q) Kxpcrience has proved the grateful difpolitions of the Mexicans, wherever they were 
 affuicd of the good-witl and finccrity of their benefadtors. 1 heir gratitude has been often 
 manitefted by open and loud dcmonftrations of joy, which publicly declare the falfliood of the 
 Spanifl) proverb. 
 
 They
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. Si 
 
 They are by nature taciturn, ferious, and auflere, and fliew more book r. 
 anxiety to punifli crimes than to reward virtues. 
 
 Gcnerolity and peifetil dilintereftednefs are the principal features of 
 their charailer. Gold with the Mexicans has not that value which 
 it enjoys elfewhere (r). They feem to give without reludlance what 
 has cofl: them the utmoft labour to acquire. The negledt of felfifli 
 intercfts, together with the dillike which they bear to their rulers, and 
 confequently their a\'erfion to the tafks impofed by them, feem to have 
 been the only grounds of that much exaggerated indolence with wliich 
 the Americans have been charged (s) ; and after all, there is no fet of 
 people in that country who labour more, nor whofe labours are more 
 ufeful or more neceffary (/). 
 
 The refpedl paid by children to their parents, and by the young to 
 the old, among thofe people, feem to be feelings that are born with 
 them. Parents are very fond of their children ; but the affeftion 
 which hulbands bear to their wi\'es, is certainly lefs than that borne 
 by tlie wives to their hufbands ; and it is very common for die men 
 to love their neighbours wives better than their own. 
 
 Courage and cowardice feem alternately fo to affetfl their minds, that 
 it is often difiicult to determine whether the one or the other predo- 
 minates. They meet dangers with intrepidity when they proceed from 
 natural caufcs, but they are eafily terrified by the ftern look of a Spa- 
 niard, That flupid indiffsrcnce about death and eternity, which 
 many authors have thought inherent in the charafter of every Ame- 
 rican, is peculiar only to thofe wiio are yet fo rude and uninformed as 
 to have no idea of a future fiate. 
 
 Their fin?ular attachment to the external ceremonies of religion is 
 very apt to degenerate into fuperfiition, as li.ippens v/ith the ignorant 
 of all nations of t'lc world ; but their proncncfs to idolatry is nothing 
 
 (;•) I Jo not fpcak of thofe iMcxic.ins, who, by a cop.Oant iiitcrcouife with covetous na- 
 tions, have been itifc.lcd by their avarice ; although, at the i"a;nc time, cvcd thofe appear to be 
 Icfs felfifli thin the generality of pcrfons of that difpofition. 
 
 (j) What we obfcrve upon ihc fubjcft of American indolence is not meant to apply to the 
 favagc nations in other parts of the nc-v/ world. 
 
 (/) In o.r DilTcrtations we (hall give an account of the works in which the Mexicans are 
 employed. Monfi;;n. Palafox ufid to fay, that if tvci the Indians failed thc:n, the SpiiiiarJ.i 
 voiild find the Iir.i'cs f.iil -.ilfo. 
 
 Vo^,. I. M nio.e
 
 82 H I S T O Pn. Y O F M E X I C O, 
 
 BOOK I. more than a chimera formed in the abllird imaginations of mifinform- 
 ed perfons. The inftances of a few mountaineers are not fufficient to 
 juflify a general afperfion upon the whole people fu). 
 
 To conclude, the character of the Mexicans, like that of every 
 other nation, is a mixture of good and bad ; but the bad is eafy to 
 be correéled by a proper education, as has been frequently demon- 
 llrated by experience fxj. It would be difficult to find, any where, 
 a youth more docile than the prefect, or a body of people more ready 
 than their ancellors \verc to receive the lights of religion. 
 
 I muft add, that the modern Mexicans are not in all refpedts fimi- 
 lar to the ancient; as the Greeks of thefe days have little refemblance 
 of thofe who lived in the times of Plato and of Pericles. The an- 
 cient Mexicans fliewed more fire, and were more fenfible to the im- 
 preffions of honour. They were more intrepid, more nimble, more 
 atìive, more induftrious ; but they were, at the fame time, more fu- 
 perftitious and cruel. 
 
 {u) The few examples that are to be found of idolatry are not altogether inexcufable, when 
 we confidar how naturally rude and unenlightened men may confound the idolatrous worfliip 
 of fomc unftiapely figure of flone or wood, with that which is due to the facred images alone. 
 And our own prejudices againft them have often been the caufe of our treating as idols what 
 were really the images, though rude ones, of the faints. In the year 1754, I faw fome little 
 images which had been found in a cave in a mountain, and were confidered as idols, but which. 
 I had no doubt were a£lual!y images reprefenting the myftery of the facred nativity. 
 
 {x) To be fenfible of the influence of education upon the Mexicans, we need only to be 
 made acquainted with the wonderful life led by the Mexican women of the Royal College of 
 Guadaloupe in Mexico, and thole of the monafleries of Capuchins in the fame capital, and 
 Valladolid in Michuacan. 
 
 BOOK
 
 [ S3 ] 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 Of the Toltccas, Chechcmccas, Acolhuas, Olmec as y and other Na^ 
 tions that inhabited the Country of Anahiiac before the Mexicans. 
 The Expedition of the Aztecas, or Mexicans, from their Native 
 Country of Aztlan. The Events of their Journey into the Country 
 of Anahuac j and their Settlements in Chapol tepee and Colhuacan. 
 The Foundation of Mexico and Tlaltelolco. Inhuman Sucrifce of 
 a Colhuan Girl. 
 
 TH E hillory of the firlt peopling of Anahuac is fo involved in book II. 
 fable, like that of other nations, that it is not merely dif- '^ v^~— ' 
 
 ficult but altogether impoffible to difcover the truth. It is certain, 
 however, both from the teftimony of the facred writings, and from 
 the conflant and univeruil tradition of thofe nations, that the in- 
 habitants of Anahuac are defcended of thofe few mortals whom 
 the Divine Providence faved from the waters of the deluge, in order 
 to prcfcr\-e llie race of man, upon earth. At the fame time there 
 cannot be a doubt, that the men who firfl: peopled that country, 
 came originally from the more northern parts of America, where 
 their anceftors had been fettled for many ages. All the hiftorians, 
 Toltecan, Chechemecan, Acolhuan, Mexican, and Tlafcalan, are 
 agreed upon thefe two points : but who thofe firfl inhabitants were, 
 the time of their emigration, the events of their journey, and their 
 firll eftabliflimcnts, arc entirely unknown. Several authors have en- 
 deavoured to pierce that chaos ; but trufting to flight conjedures, fan- 
 ciful combinations, and certain pidlures of very ambiguous authenti- 
 city ; and having recourfe in their difficulties, to puerile and roman- 
 tic narrations, have utterly loll themfelves in the thick darknefs of an- 
 tiquity. 
 
 There have been writers, who, building upon the tradition of Sect. r. 
 tlie natives, and upon the difcovery of bones, fculls, and entire Ike- ^* ''"^ ^"^" 
 Iftons of prodigious fize, which have been dug up, at differcat tinies, 
 
 M 2 iu 
 
 tccai
 
 84 HISTORYOI^MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK II. in many parts of New Spain {a), have imagined that the firfl inha- 
 bitants of that country were Giants. I, for my own part, have no 
 doubt of their exigence there, as well as in other parts of the New 
 World {Ò) ; bat we can neither form any conjedure as to the time 
 in which they lived, although vve have reafon to believe they muft 
 be very ancient j nor can we be perfuaded that there has ever been, 
 as thofe Vv'riters imagined, a whole nation of Giants, but only fingle 
 individuals of the nations which we now know, or of fome others 
 more ancient and unknown (r). 
 
 The Toltecas arc the oldeft nation of v/hich we have any knovs'-< 
 ledge, and that is very imperfeél. Being baniflied, as they tell us, 
 from their own country Huehuetapallan, which we take to iiavc 
 been in the kingdom of T^oUan (d), from which they derived their 
 name, and fituated to the north-weil of Mexico, they began their 
 journey in the year i. Tecpati, that is in the 596 of our. era. In every 
 place to which they came, they remained no longer than they liked 
 
 (rt) The places where gigantic Ikeletons have been found, arc Atlancatepec, a village in the 
 province of Tlafcala, Te-zcucOi Toluca, i^anhximaipan ; and in our days, upon a hill in 
 California, not far from Kad.i-Kaaman. 
 
 {h) I am well aware that many European philofophcrs, who laugh at the belief of giants, 
 will be ready to ridicule me, or at leaft to pity my credulity ; but I will not betray the truth 
 to avoid cenfure. I know that among the civilized nations of America, it was a current tra- 
 dition, that a race of men had exifted, in former times, of extraordinary height and bulk ; 
 but I cannot remember an inllance among any American nation, of there having ever been 
 any elephants, hippopotamufes, or other quadrupeds of uncommon fize. I know from the 
 reftimony of innumerable writers, and particularly of two eye-witnefles, of unqueftionable 
 ciedir, Hernandez, and D' Acofta, who were men of learning, correftnefs, and veracity, 
 that human ftulls have been found, and even whole flceletons, of aftonifliing fize ; but I do 
 not know, that in any of the vafl number of openings which have been made in the earth 
 in New Spain, any (kcleton of a hippopotamus has been found, or even a fingle tooth of an 
 elephant. I know, lalily, that fome of the great bones above mentioned, have been found in 
 tombs, which appear evidently to have been made on purpofe ; but I am yet to learn of 
 tombs ever having been conlirufled for fea-horfes and elephants. All this and more ought to 
 be weighed, before we prcfume to determine with fome authors who have afferted it, without 
 the leali hefitation, that all the large bones difcovcrcd in America, belonged to thofe, or 
 fome other fuch great animals. 
 
 (c) Many hiftorians of Mexico fay, that the giants were betrayed, and put to death by the 
 Tlafcalans ; but this idea, which has no foundation but in fome poems of the Tlafcalans, is 
 inconfilknt with the chrono!oo;y adopted by thofe hillorians themfclves ; making the giants 
 much too ancient, and the Tlafcalans too modern, in the country of Anahuac. 
 
 {it) Toltccot!, in Mexican fignifies a native of ToUan, as Tiatcahecatl docs a native of 
 Tlafcala, &c. 
 
 it,
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. gj 
 
 it, or were eafily accommodated with provifions. When they deter- BOOK ir, 
 mined to make a longer Hay, they credled houfes, and lowed the 
 land with corn, cotton, and other plants, the feeds of which they 
 had carried along with them to fupply their neceifitics. In this 
 wandering manner did they travel, always fouthward, for the fpacc 
 of one hundred and four years, till they arrived at a place, to which 
 they gave the name of TollaiU%incG, about fifty miles to the eaft of 
 that fpot where, fome centuries after, was founded the fimous city 
 of Mexico. They were led and commanded, upon the whole jour- 
 ney, by certain captains or lords, who were reduced to {Q\tn, by the 
 time tlicy arrived at Tollantzinco ('('j. They did not chufe, ho\\'ever, 
 to fettle in that country, although the climate is mild, and the foil 
 fruitful ; but in lefs than twenty years after, they went about forty 
 miles towards the weft, where, along the banks of a river, tliey 
 founded the city of Tollan or Tula, after the name of their native 
 country. That city, the oldeft, as far as we know, in Anahuac, is 
 one of the moft celebrated in the hiftory of Mexico, and was the ca- 
 pital of the Toltecan kingdom, and the court of their kings. Their 
 monarchy began in the year 8. Acati, that is in the year 607 of the 
 Chrijflian era, and lafted three hundred and eighty-four years. I 
 have fubjoincd the feries of tlieir kings with the year of the ChrilHaii 
 era in which they began to reign fj). 
 
 Chalchiutlatietzi?!, 
 
 Ixtlilcuechahuac, 
 
 Huetzin, 
 
 Totepeub, 
 
 Nacaxoc, 
 
 Miti, 
 
 Xiutzaltzin, Queen, 
 
 'Topiltzin, 
 It might appear extraordinary that jufl: eight monarchs fhould reign 
 in the courfe of four centuries, if it were not explained by a Angular 
 
 (f) The fcven Toltecan leaders ivcrc, Zacatl, Chakatzin, Ehccatzin, Cohitalzon, Tsihiiaceail, 
 2IctzolzÌ!i, and Tlapalmcfzotzin. 
 
 (./") ^^<^ have pointed out the year in which the Toltecan monarchs began their reigns, 
 by taking for guintcd the epoch of their leaving Huchuetlnpallan, which however, is very 
 uncertain. 
 
 law 
 
 in the 
 
 667 
 
 in the 
 
 719 
 
 in the 
 
 771 
 
 in the 
 
 823 
 
 in the 
 
 875 
 
 in the 
 
 927 
 
 in the 
 
 979 
 
 in the 
 
 1031,
 
 Cas 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 law of that people, according to which, no king was fuffered to 
 reign either longer or fliorter than a Toltecan age ; which, as v/e fliall 
 mention in another place, confided of fifty-two years. If a king 
 completed the age, upon the throne, he immediately refi.jned the go- 
 vernment, and another was put in his place: and if th- king hap- 
 pened to die before the age was expired, the nobles afl'umed the ad- 
 miniftratlon, and, in the name of the deceafed king, governed the 
 kingdom for the remaining years of the age. This was the cafe 
 with the Queen Xiutzaltzin, after whofe death in the fifth year of her 
 reign, the nobles held the government for the forty-eight years which 
 fucceeded. 
 Sect. II. The Toltecas were the mofl celebrated people of Anahuac, for 
 viiizatiou of' their fuperior civilization, and fldll in the arts ; whence, in after ages, 
 the Tolte- j^- j-^^g hscn common to diftinguilh the mofl: remarkable artifts, in an 
 honourable manner, by the appellation of Toltecas. They always 
 lived in fociety, colleéled into cities, under the government of kings, 
 and regular laws. They were not very warlike, and lefs turned to the 
 exercife of arms than to the cultivation of the arts. Tlie nations 
 tbat have fucceeded them, have acknowledged thenifelves indebted to 
 the Toltecas for their knowledge of the culture of grain, cotton, 
 pepper, and other moft ufeful fruits. Nor did they only pradlife 
 thofe arts which are diftated by necefiity, but thofe a!fo which mi- 
 nifler to luxury. They had the art of cafting gold and filver, and 
 melting them in whatever forms they pleafed, and acquired the 
 greateft reputation from the cutting of all kinds of gems : but no- 
 thing, to us, raifes their character fo high as their having been the 
 inventors, or at leaft the reformers of that fyAem of the arrangement 
 of time, which was adopted by all the civilized nations of Anahuac ; 
 and v/hich, as we fliall fee afterwards, implies numerous obfervations, 
 and a wonderfully corre6l aftronomy. 
 
 Cav. Boturini fgj, upon the faith of the ancient hiflories of the 
 Toltecas, fays, that obferving in their own country of Huebuetla- 
 pallan, how the folar year exceeded the civil one by which they 
 
 (ff) In a work of his, printed at Madrid, in 1 746, under the title of, Sketch of a general 
 Uifiory of Kc-iv S/iain, foitniied npon a great Number of Figures, Synijoh, Charaflers, Hiaog/j- 
 J>l>lci, Hjmiis, and Manufcr-pts of Indiar. Authors, lately difiovcred. 
 
 reckoned.
 
 K I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. Sj 
 
 reckoned, about fix hours, they regulated It by intcrpoiing the in- book ir. 
 tercalary day once in the four years ; which they did, more than 
 one hundred years before the Chriftian era. He fays befides, that in 
 the year 660, under the reign of Ixtlalcuechahuac, in Tula, a cele- 
 brated aftronomer called Huematzin, alfembled, by the king's confent, 
 all the wife men of the nation ; and with them painted that famous 
 book called Tconmoxtli or Divine Book, in which were reprefented, ii> 
 very plain figures, the origin of the Indians, their difperlion after the 
 confufion of tongues at Babel, their journey in Afia, their firft fet- 
 tlements upon the Continent of America, the founding of the king- 
 dom of Tula, and their progrefs till that time. There were defcribed 
 the heavens, the planets, the conftellations, the Toltecan calendar 
 with its cycles, the mythological transformations, in which were in- 
 cluded their moral philofophy, and the myfteries of their deities con- 
 cealed by hieroglyphics from common undcrflandings, together with 
 all that appertained to their religion and manners. The above men- 
 tioned author adds, that that eclipfe of the fun which happened at 
 the death of our Saviour, was marked in their paintings, in the year 
 7. tochtli (/j) J and that fome learned Spaniards, well acquainted 
 with the hiftory and the paintings of the Toltecas, having com- 
 pared their chronology with ours, found that they reckoned from 
 the creation of the world to the birth of Chrilt, five thoufmd one 
 hundred and ninety-nine years, which is exadily the computation of 
 the Roman calendar. 
 
 Whatever may be in thefè things mentioned by Boturini, upon 
 which I leave the prudent reader to form his own judgment, there 
 cannot be a doubt, with thofc v/ho have ftudied the hiftory of that 
 people, that the Toltecas had a clear and diflindl knowledge of the 
 univerfal deluge, of the confufion of tongues, and of the difpcrfioa 
 of the people ; and even pretended to give the names of their firft 
 anceftors who were divided from the reft of the families upon that 
 
 (i) All thofc who have fludicd carefully the hiflory of the nations of Anahuac, know 
 Tcry well that thofc people were accuftomcd to mark cclipfcs, comets, and other pha;no- 
 meiia of the henvcns, in their paintings. Upon reading Boturini I fet about comparing the 
 Toltecan years with ours, and 1 found the •; 4th year ot Chril}, or 30th of our era, to he 
 the 7. Tochtli: but I did this merely to fatisly my own curiofity, and I do not mean cither 
 to confirm or give credit to the things told us by that author. 
 
 univerfal
 
 88 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK IL univsrfal difperiion. It is equally certain, as we Ihall fhew ia an^ 
 other place, however incredible it may appear to the critics of Eu- 
 rope, who are accuftomed to look upon the Americans as all equally 
 barbarous, that the Mexicans and all the other civilized nations of 
 Anahuac regulated their civil year according to the folar, by means 
 of the intercalary days, in the fame manner as the Romans did- after 
 the Julian arrangement ; and that this accuracy was owing to the 
 fkill of the Toltecas. Their religion was idolatrous, and they ap- 
 pear by their hiftory to have been the inventors of the greateft part of 
 the mythology of the Mexicans, but \vc do not know that they 
 practifed thofe barbarous and bloody facrifices which became after- 
 wards fo common among the other nations. 
 
 The Tezcucan hiftorians believed the Toltecas the authors of that 
 y\ famous idol, reprefenting the god of water, placed on mount T/a/oc, 
 
 ^ of which we Ihall fpeak hereafter. It is certain that tliey built in 
 
 honour of their beloved god ^.etzalccat!, the higheft pyramid of 
 Cholula, and probably alfo thefe famous ones of Tcotihuacan in ho- 
 nour of the fun and moon, which are ftill in exiftence, though much 
 disfigured (/). Boturini believed the Toltecas built- the pyramid of 
 Cholula, to counterfeit the tower of Babel j but the painting on which 
 his error is fupported (futiiciently common with the vulgar of New 
 Spain), is the work of a modern and ignorant Cholulan, the whole 
 of it being a heap of abfurdities {k). 
 
 (/) Betancoiiit fays thefe pyramids were built by the iVIexicans ; this is certainly falfc, 
 and contrary to the opinion of all other authors, American as well as Spanifli. Dr. Seguenza 
 appears to think they were the work of the Olmccas ; but as we have no other remains of 
 the architefture of that nation, by which we might judge; and befides, thefe pyramids 
 feeing made after the model of that of Cholula, we are therefore induced to think that the 
 Toltecas were the arcliiteifls of them all, as Torquemada and other a'-ithòrs relate. 
 
 [k) The painting; alluded to by Boturini, rcprcfcnted the pyramid of Cholula, with this 
 Mexican infcription, ToUecall Chakhlhuall onazia Ehctsatepctl ; which he thus interprets : A 
 }}:onu:i:ent., or precicus Jlone of the Toltcca nation, ivhofe ntci /iaicf>cs into the rej^'ou of the air : 
 but independent of the inconeftnefs of the wntin^, and the barbar'rim Ch«khihuad, who- 
 ever is in the lead infaufted in the Mexican language, will Immediately perceive there could 
 not bea moie whimlìcaJ interpretation. At the foot of the piflure, fays Boturini, the author 
 put a note, in which, addrcffing himfelf to his countrymen, he lidinoniflicd them as follows : 
 Nobles, and gentlemen, behold your fcripnires, the image of your antacjuity, and the hiliory 
 of your ancertors.; who, moved by fear from the deluge, built this' afylum, for a ready 
 ictreat, in. cafe of being again vifitcd by fuch a calamity. Bnt to fpeak the truth, 
 she '1 citccas nuift have been utterly deprived of und.crftand;ug, if frcjn.ihc fear of the 
 
 J deluge
 
 H I S T O R Y O F xM E X I e O. 89 
 
 During the four centuries which the monarchy of the Toltecas BOOK ir. 
 lafled, they muUipHed confiderably, extending their population every ^^ — ^TTT* 
 way in numerous and large cities j but the direful calamities which R">n of the 
 happened to them in the firft years of the reign of Topiltzin, gave a 
 fatal Ihock to their profperity and power. For feveral years heaven 
 denied them the necefl'ary fhowers to their fields, and the earth the 
 fruits which fupported them. The air, infed:ed with mortal con- 
 tagion, filled daily the graves with the dead, and the minds of thofe 
 furviving with confternation, at the deflrudion of their countrymen. 
 A great part of the nation died by famine and ficlcnefs. Topiltzin 
 departed life in the fecond year Tecpati, the twentieth of liis reign, 
 which was probably the year 1052 of the vulgar era, and with him 
 the Toltecan monarchy concluded. The wretched remains of the 
 nation, willing to fave themfelves from the common calamity, fought 
 timely relief to their misfortunes, in other countries. Some diretfted 
 their courfe to Onohualco or Yucatan, fome to Guatemala, while 
 fome families flopped in the kingdom of Tula, and fcattered them- 
 felves in the great vale where Mexico was afterwards founded ; fome 
 in Cholula, Tlaximoloyan, and other places ; and amongft thefe were 
 the two princes fons of king Topiltzin, whofe defcendants, in courfe 
 of time, intermarried with the royal families of Mexico, Tezcuco, 
 and Colhuacan. 
 
 Thefe imperfeft accounts of the Toltecas are all that we think 
 proper to be told here, omitting many fabulous relations introduced 
 
 tlcluj^e they had undertaken, nt fo much cxpcnce and labour, the building of that ominom 
 pyramid, while in the highcll mountains, a little diftant from Cholula, they had a much 
 more fccure afyUim from inundations, with Icfs dan^^er of pcrifliing by want. In the fiime 
 work, Boturini fays, was rcprcfcntcJ the baptifm of Ilamatcuftii, Queen of Cholulii, con- 
 ferred upon her by Deacon Aguilar, the 2d of Augull, 1521, together with the .-ipparition of 
 the Virgin to a certain religious Francifcan, who was living at Rome, ordering him to depart 
 for Mexico ; where he was to place on a mountain built by art (that is, the pyramid of 
 Cholula), her image. But this is no more than a firing of dreams and lies ; for in Cholula 
 there never were cither kings, nor could fuch baptifm, t>f which no author fays a word, 
 have been celebrated on the 6th of Augull, 1521 ; as at that time Aguilar, with the other 
 Spaniards, was in the heat of the fiegc of the capital, which was to render itfclf up, ftvcu 
 days after, to the conquerors. Of the pretended apparition of the mother of God, there is 
 no memory among the Francifcan hillorians, who never omitted any thing of this kind in 
 «heir chronicles. We have deniondratcd the falfity of this relation, to caution thofe, with 
 Trgard to modern pictures, who tnav iu future undertake the hillory of Mexico. 
 
 Vol. I. ' N by
 
 go H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK ir. by other hiflorians ^^/j. We would require to have the Divine Book, 
 cited by Boturini, and by Sig. D. Ferdinand d'Alba Ixtlilxohitl in h.\i 
 moft valuable manufcripts to throw greater light on the hiflory of this 
 celebrated nation. 
 
 After the deflruAion of tlie Toltecas, for the fpace of one cen- 
 tury, the land of Anahuac remained folitary, and almoft entirely depo- 
 pulated, until the arrival of the Checheniccas (;«). 
 
 The Chechemecas, like the Toltecas who preceded them, and other 
 nations which came after them, were originally from the northera 
 countries, as we may call the North of America, like the North of 
 Europe, the feminary of the human race. From both, in fwarms, 
 have iffued numerous nations to people the countries in the South, 
 their native country, of the fituation of which we are ignorant, was 
 called Amaquemecan, where, according to their account, different mo- 
 narchs ruled their nation for many years («). The charafter of the 
 Chechemecas, as is fliewn by their hifloiy, was very fingular, as 
 a certain degree of civilization was blended with many traits of bar- 
 barism. They lived under the command of a fovereign, and the 
 chiefs and governors deputed by him, with as much fubmiffion as is 
 ufual among the moft cultivated nations. There were diftindtions 
 between the nobility and commonalty, and the plebeians were ac- 
 cuftomed to reverence thofe whofe birth, merit, or favour with the 
 
 (I) Torqucinada fays, that at a certain feilival-ball made by the Toltecas, the fad-Iookingf 
 devil appeared to them in a gigantic lizc, with immenfe arm?, and in the midft of the enter- 
 tainment he embraced and fufTocated them ; that then he appeared in the figure of a child 
 with a putrid head, and brought the plague ; and finally, at the perfuafion of the fame 
 devil they abandoned the country of Tula. But this good author underflood thefe fymbo- 
 lical figures literally ; whereas they were meant only to reprefcnt the famiiu and peliilence 
 which had befallen them, at the time when they were in the height of their profperity. 
 
 (m) In our fecond diflertation, we differ from Torquemada, who does not allow more than 
 eleven years of interval between the deflruftion of the Toltecas and the arrival of the Che- 
 chemecas. 
 
 (n) Torquemada names thefc Chechemecan kings of Amaquemecan, and to the firft he 
 gives one hundred and eighty years of reign ; to the fecond, one hundred and fifty-fix ; and 
 to the third, one hundred and thirty-three. See our fecond diflertation on the abfurd chro- 
 nology of this author. He alfo confidently affirms, that Amaquemecan was fix hundred 
 miles dillant from the fpot where the city of Guadalaxara is at prefcnt, but in more than one 
 thoufand two hundred miles of inhabited country beyond that city, there is not the leaf! trace 
 or memory of the kingdom of Amaquemecan ; from whence we believe it to be a country 
 ftill undifcovered, and greatly farther to the northward than Torquemada imagined. 
 
 princ
 
 HISTORY OF iM E X I C O. 
 
 prince raifed them above the other ranks. They dwelt in coni- 
 muniti ;. together, in places compofed, as we may imagine, of poor 
 huts (o) ; but they neither pradlifed agriculture, nor thole arts which 
 accompany civil life. They lived only on game, and fruits, and roots 
 ■which the earth fpontaneouily produced. Their clothing was the 
 rough fkins of the wild hearts they took in prey, and their arms no 
 other than the bow and arrow. Their religion was reduced to the 
 fimple worHiip of the fun, to which pretended divinity they offered 
 herbs and flowers which they found fpringing in the fields. With 
 refpedl to their cuftoms, they were certainly lefs difplealing and lefs 
 rude than thofe to which the genius of a nation of hunters gives birth. 
 
 Their motive for leaving their native country, is uncertain ; as like- 
 wife the etymology of the word Chcchemecatl [o). The lall king 
 whom they had in Amaquemecan, left his government divided be- 
 tween his two fons Achcauhtli and Xolotl ; the latter either not 
 brooking, as frequently happens, the divifion of regal authority, 
 was willing to prove whether fortune deftined him other territories, 
 Avhere he could govern without a rival ; or perceiving that tlie moun- 
 tains of his kingdom were not fuHicient to provide fupport for the then 
 probably increafed number of inhabitants, determined to eafe necefiity 
 by a timely departure. Having taken, therefore, fuch refolution 
 from the one or other motive, and having firft got intelligence, by his 
 emill-arics of a good fituation in the fouthern countries, he fet out 
 from his native land, with a large army of his fubjedls, who were 
 difpofed, from affeftion or intereft, to accompany him. In their 
 travels they encountered with the ruins of the Tokecan fettlements, 
 and in particular of the great city of Tula, where they arrived at the 
 end of eighteen months. From this they proceeded towards Chem- 
 
 (o) Torqucniada fays, tliat llic Chcclicmc>as had no lioufcs, but duck in tlie caverns of 
 mountains ; but in the fame chapter where he fays this, he affirms that t^ye cnpital city of their 
 kingdom was called Amaquemecan. 
 
 (o) Several authors have labinncd to gucfs at the etymology of the word ChtJ.'tmccall. 
 Torque. i.ada fays, that this name is derived from Tcchkhhufn, which lignifics fu.kin^, bc- 
 ciufc the Chcchcmccas fucked the blood of the aninals which they hunted. But ih.is is a 
 forced e:ym-jlogy, pariiciibrlv anion?; thofe nations, «ho did not alter derivative names ia 
 fuch a manner, Betancourt believed it to be derived from C.I.'J.nm'i, that is, dogs beans. 
 Thcv were fo calUd by other naiions, in contempt ; but had this be»n the cafe, thry ivoulJ 
 rot have boartcd, ut they did, of tlve name ChcchemccatL 
 
 N 2 poalla 
 
 9» 
 
 BOOK 11. 
 
 Sect. IV. 
 Xolotl, firft 
 king of the 
 Chccheme- 
 cas, ii\ Ana- 
 li uac.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 poalla and Tepepolco, forty miles diflant, towards the north, from the 
 fite of Mexico. From thence Xolotl fent the prince Nopaltzin, his 
 fon, to furvey the country. The prince croffed the borders of the 
 lakes, the mountains which furround the delightful vale of Mexico, 
 and having marked the whole country, from the top of a lofty 
 mountain, he fliot four arrows to the four winds in token of talcing 
 pofTeffion, in the name of his flither, of all that country. Xolotl 
 being made acquainted with the quality of the country, refolved to 
 eftablifli himfelf in Tenayuca, a place fix miles diftant from the fite 
 of Mexico towards the north, and diftributed his people among the 
 neighbouring lands ; but the greater population being towards the 
 north, and north-wefl:, that tradì of land had fmce the name of 
 Chechemecatlalli, that is, the land of the Chechemecas. Hiftorians 
 relate, that in Tenayuca there was a review of the people taken, and 
 therefore it was likewife' given the name of Nepohualco, which 
 means, the place of enumeration ; but what Torquemada adds, is 
 entirely incredible, that there were more than a million of Cheche- 
 mecas found at this review, and there remained even until his time, 
 twelve piles of the ftones which they continued to throw during the 
 review. Befides, neither is it probable that fo large an army lliould 
 fet out on fo long an expedition ; or does it appear pofTible that fo fmall 
 a diflridl could fupport a million of hunters. 
 
 The king being fettled in Tenayuca, which he deflined for the 
 place of his court, and having given proper orders for the forming 
 of other towns and villages, he commanded one of his captains, named 
 Achitomatl, to go and trace the fource of certain rivers which the 
 prince had obferved in his expedition. Achitomatl found in Cha- 
 poltepec, in Cojohuacan, and in other places, feveral Toltecan families, 
 from whom he learned the caufe and time of their defolation. The 
 Chechemecas, not only avoided to difturb thofe miferable relics of that 
 celebrated nation, but formed alliances with them, many of the nobles 
 marrying with the women of Tolteca ; and among others, prince 
 Nopaltzin married Azcaxochitl, a virgin defcended from Pochotl, 
 one of the two princes of the royal family of Tolteca, who fur- 
 vived the deftrudtion of their nation. This humanity brought its 
 recompence to the Chechemecas 3 for from their commerce with 
 
 that
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 93 
 
 that induilrious nation, they began to tafte corn, and other fruits of BOOK TL 
 induftry ; were taught agriculture, the manner of digging metals, and 
 the art of cafting them ; alfo to cut ftones, to fpin and weave cotton, 
 and other things, by which they improved their means of living, 
 their clothing, their habitations, and manners. 
 
 Nor did the arrival of other civilized nations contribute lefs to the 
 refinement of the Checehmecas. Eight years were fcarcely elapfed 
 from the time that Xolotl had eflablifhed himfelf in Tenayuca, 
 when there arrived in that country fix refpedable perfons, with a 
 confiderable retinue of people. They were from a northern countr)', 
 neighbouring to the kingdom of Amaquemecan, or a little diflant 
 from it, the name of which is not mentioned by hiftorians ; but we 
 have reafon to believe that it was the country of Aztlan, the native 
 country of the Mexicans, and that thele new colonies were the fix 
 famous tribes of Nahuatlachi, of which all the hiftorians of Mexico 
 make mention, and we fhall fliortly treat of. It is probable that 
 Xolotl fent advice to his native country, of the advantages of the 
 fituation where he was eftablifhed ; and that fuch information, fpread 
 among the adjoining nations, incited many families to follow his 
 fteps, and partake his good fortune. It is alfo to be imagined, that 
 fome famine or fcarcity having happened to the northern coun- 
 tries, fo many people were obliged to feek relief in lands to the 
 fouthward. However it was, the fix perfons arrived in Tenayuca 
 from the North, were gracioufly received by the Chechemecan king ; 
 and when he learned the purpofe of their travel, and their delire to 
 ftay in that country, he afligned them a diltriól which they might 
 inhabit with their people. 
 
 A few years after, there arrived three other princes, with a great ar- 
 my of the Acolhuan nation, natives of Teoacolhuacan, a country neigh- 
 bouring to, and not far diftant from the kingdom of Amaquemecan. 
 Thefe princes were named Acolhuatzin, C/jiconquauhili, and Tzon- 
 tecomatl, and were of the mofl: noble houfe of Citin. It was the 
 moft cultivated and moft civilized of all the nations which were in 
 that country fince the Toltecas. It may be eafily fuppofed, how 
 great a rumour was occafioned by fuch a novelty, in that kingdom, 
 and what difquiet fo great a multitude of lyiknown people raik\i 
 
 I among
 
 94 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK IL among the Chechemecas ; nor does it feem probable, that they would 
 have been permitted to enter the kingdom, without having previoufly 
 given information of their condition, and the motives of their vifit. 
 The king was at this time in Tezcuco, where he had removed his 
 ■court, either being tired of Tenayuca, or allured by the advantageous 
 fituation of that new place. Here the three princes arrived, and being 
 prefented to the king, after a profound bow, and that ceremony of 
 refpedl fo familiar to thefe nations of kilTing the hand after having 
 touched the earth with it, they addrefTed him in words to this pur- 
 pofe. " We are come, mighty king, from the kingdom of Teoacol- 
 " huacan, a Utile diflance only from your native country : we are all 
 " three brothers, and fons of a great lord ; but being acc[uainted with 
 " the happinefs which the Chechemecas enjoy under the rule of a 
 " prince fo humane, we have preferred to the advantages which we 
 " had in our native country, the honour of becoming your fubjeéls. 
 " We pray you, therefore, to give us place in your happy land, where 
 " we may live dependent on your authority and fubjedl to your com- 
 *' mand." The Chechemecan fovereign was pleafed with the lordly 
 a'ir and courtly manners of thefe noble youths, but ftill more with 
 the flattering vanity of feeing humbled, in his prefence, three princes 
 allured from fuch diftant countries by the fame of his clemency and his 
 power. He replied with complaifance to their addrefs, and offered to 
 comply with their defires ; but while he was deliberating in what man- 
 ner he fliould do it, he ordered his fon to lodge them, and take care of 
 their entertainment. 
 
 The king had two daughters who were marriageable, whom, from 
 the firft he had thought of marrying with the two eldeft princes ; 
 but he was unwilling to difcover this intention, until he lliould be ac- 
 quainted with their difpofition, and Ihould be Aire of the confent of 
 his fubjedts. When he was fatisfied in mind of both thefe points, he 
 called the princes to him, who remained anxious about their fate, and 
 opened his refolution to them, not only to grant them eftabli'hments in 
 bis kingdom, but alfo to marry two of them with his daughters, lament- 
 ing that he had no other, to avoid leaving any one excluded from, the 
 new alliance. The princes thanked him with warm expreHions of 
 gratitude, and proffered to ferve him with the utmofi: fidelity. 
 
 Whea
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 When the day appointed for the nuptials arrived, fuch a concourfe 
 of people flocked to Tenayuca, the place deftined for the folemniza- 
 tion, the city being unable to receive them, many remained in the 
 country. Acolhuatzin married the eldeft of the princefles, named 
 Cuetlaxochitl, and Chiconquautli the other. The third prince had 
 CoatctJ, a virgin born in Chalco of mofi: noble parents, in whom the 
 Toltecan and Chechemecan blood \\'ere both mixed. The public re- 
 joicings lafted iixty days, and the entertainments conlifted of w^reftling, 
 running, and combats with wild beafls, exercifes which were agree- 
 able to the genius of the Chechemecas, and in all of them the prince 
 Nopaltzin diftinguiflied himfelf. After the example of thefe royal 
 perfonages, the two nations continued to increafe their alliance by in- 
 ter-marriages until they became one, which taking its name from the 
 moft noble party, was called Acolhua, and the kingdom Acolhuacan j 
 the name of Chechemecas being left to thofe who, preferring the ex- 
 ercife of the chace to the toil of agriculture, or grown impatient of 
 fubordination, went off to the mountains, which are towards the 
 north and the north- weft of the vale of Mexico, where yielding them- 
 felves up to the impulfe of their barbarous liberty, without a chief, 
 without laws, without a fixed dwelling, or the other advantages of 
 fociety, they employed the day in purfuit of animals for prey, and 
 when fatigued funk down to fleep wherever night overtook them. 
 Thefe barbarians mingled with the Otomies, a nation which was at- 
 tached to the fame courfe of life, occupied a tradì of more than three 
 hundred miles of country, and the Spaniards were harrafled by their 
 defcendants for many years after the conquefl: of Mexico. 
 
 When the nuptial feftivities were at an end, Xolotl divided his king- pivifionof' 
 dom into fcveral diflind: ftates, and affi^ned the poflclTion of them to ^\ ftatcs^aa* 
 his fons in law, and the other nobles of each nation. He granted to 
 prince Acolhuatzin the fiate of Azcapozalco, eighteen miles to the 
 weft of Tezcuco, and from him defcended the kings under whofe go- 
 vernment the Mexicans continued more than fifty years. On Chicon- 
 quauhtli he conferred the ftate of Xaltocan ; and on Tzontecomatl, 
 that of Coatlichan. 
 
 The population daily encreafed, and with it the civilization of the 
 people ; but at the fame tiine ambition and other pafllons which had 
 
 lain
 
 96 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK ir. lain dormant from the want of ideas, in times of a favage life, began to 
 awaken in their minds. Xolotl, who, during the greateft period of 
 his reign, had exercifed great clemency in his government, had found 
 himfelf, in the laft years of his life, conflrained to ufe fevere meafures 
 to check the reftlefs difpofition of fome rebels, occafionally depriving 
 them of their offices, or punifliing the mofl criminal with death. 
 Thefe juft chaftifements, inftead of intimidating, exafperated them fo 
 much, that they formed the atrocious defign of taking the king's life, 
 for the execution of which an occafion fpeedily prefented itfelf. A little 
 time previous to this the king had exprefled a wifli to increafe the 
 waters of his gardens where he was accuftomed to take recreation, 
 and frequently alfo relieved his burden of years with fleep, to which 
 he was invited by the coolnefs and charms of the place. Being ac- 
 quainted with this, the rebels dammed up the little river which crofled 
 the city, and opened a ditch to conduft the waters to the gardens ; 
 waited the time at which the king was accuflomed to go to fleep, 
 then raifing the dam let all the water at once into the gardens, and 
 fuddenly overflowed them. They flattered themfelves that their vi- 
 cious aim would never be detected ; as the difaflier of the king might 
 be imputed to an accident, or to ill conduced meafures by his fubjeéts, 
 who fincerely defired to ferve their fovereign : but they deceived them- 
 felves, and their attempt proved abortive ; as the king had fecret in- 
 telligence of their confpiracy ; but diflembling his knowledge of it, he 
 retired at his ufual time into the garden, and went to fleep on an ele- 
 vated fpot, where he was expofed to no danger. When he afterwards 
 faw the v/ater enter, although the treafon was now apparent, he con- 
 
 . tinued his diflimulation to ridicule his enemies : " I," he then faid, 
 
 " was perfuaded that my fubjeóts loved me, but now I fee they love 
 " me fl:ill more than I believed. I was defirous of incrcafing the water 
 ■ " of my garden, and behold my fubjedls have done it without any 
 " expence : it is proper therefore to rejoice at my happinefs." He 
 then ordered there flwuld be rejoicings in the court, and when they 
 were concluded, he departed full of anguifli and difdain for Tenayuca, 
 refolved to inflidl exemplary punifliment on the confpirators ; but 
 tlaere he was fcized with a mortal difl:emper which moderated his 
 pafllon. 
 
 Being
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 97 
 
 Being now fenfible of an approaching death, he called prince No- book if. 
 paltzin to him, his daughters, and Acolhuatzin his fon-in-law, the sToT'Tin 
 other princes being now dead, and recommended to them concord i^f^th aud 
 among themfelves, the care of the people committed to their charge, xo'.oti. 
 the protedlion of the nobility, and clemency to all their fuhjcfts j 
 after which, a few hours, in the midfl of the tears and plaints of his 
 children, he ended his life in a very advanced age, having reigned in 
 that country, as appears, more than forty years. He was a robuft and 
 courageous man, but of a moft affedlionate heart to his children, and 
 mild to his people. His reign would have been more happy had its 
 duration been more Ihort (q) . 
 
 The news of the death of the king immediately fpread over the 
 whole kingdom, and fpeedy advice of it was given to the principal 
 lords, that they might attend at the funeral. They adorned the royal 
 corpfe with various little figures of gold and filver, which the Che- 
 chcmecas, having been inflrucfted by the Toltecas, had begun now to 
 work, and placed it in a chair made of gum cop.il and other aromatic 
 fubftances ; and thus it remained five days, while the lords fummon- 
 ed to the funeral arrived. After they were all aflembled, the corpfe 
 was burnt, according to the cuftom of the Chechemecas, and the aflies 
 gathered in an urn of the hardeft ftone. This urn was kept expofcd 
 ibr forty days in a hall of the royal manfion, where daily the nobility 
 thronged to pay tlieir homage of tears to their decealcd fovcreign, and 
 the urn was afterwards carried to a cave in tlie neighbourhood ot the 
 city with fimilar demonllrations of grief. 
 
 As foon as the funeral of Xolotl was concluded, they celebrated S-ct. ix. 
 the afcenfion of prince Nopal tzin to the throne with acclamations and i['''king "f 
 rejoicings for other forty days. When xh^ lords took leave of their 'he Chcdic 
 new king to return to t'icir refpefllve fl.ites, one of them made thii 
 fhort harangue: " Great king and lord, as your fubje<fls and fervants, 
 " we go in obedience to your commands, to govern the people you 
 " have committed to our charge, bearing in our hearts the pleafure of 
 "■ having fcen you on the throne, not Icfs due to your virtue than your 
 " birth. We acknovvlcge the good fortune unequalled which \rc 
 
 in) Torqucmada gives Xolotl one hiiiiJicd and thirteen years of reign, and more than twj 
 hundred years of life. On thii fee our Diffrtarion. 
 
 VpL. I. O IVV.C 
 
 lllCCiS.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 *' have in ferving fo illuftrious and powerful a lord j and we requeft 
 *' you to regard us with the eyes of a real father, and to proteót us 
 " with your might, that we may reft fecure under your fhadc. You 
 " are as well the water which rellores, as the fire which deftroys, and 
 *' in your hands hold equally our life and our death." 
 
 The lords having talcen leave, the king remained in Tenayuca, with 
 his fifler the widow of the prince Chiconquauhtli. He was then, aa 
 far as we can conjedture, about fixty years of age, and had fons and 
 grandfons. His lawful children by the Toltecan queen were Tlotzin, 
 Quauhtequihua, and Apopozoc. On Tlotzin, who was the firfl born, 
 he conferred the government of Tezcuco, that he might begin to^ 
 learn the difficult art of governing men j and the other two were placed 
 over the ftates of Zacatlan and Tenamitic (r). 
 
 The king palTed one year in the court of Tenayuca, arranging the 
 affairs of the ftate, which were not fo fettled as they had been at firft. 
 From thence he went to Tezcuco, to treat with his fon about the 
 moft convenient meafures to be taken to reftore the former tranquillity 
 of his kingdom. While he was there he went one day into the royal 
 gardens with his fon, and fome other lords of the court, and as they 
 were in converfation, he burfl fuddenly into a flood of tears ; being 
 requefled to explain the caufe, " Two caufes," laid he, " produce 
 " my tears, the one the memory of my late father, which is revived 
 *' by the fight of this place where he ufed to take recreation ; the 
 " other is the comparifon which I make of thefe happy days with the 
 " prefent bitter moments. When my father planted thefe gardens, 
 " he had quiet fubjedts, who ferved him with lincerity, and received 
 '• the offices which he conferred upon them, with humility and 
 " gratitude ; but at prefent aiiibition and difcord are every where pre- 
 " vailing. It troubles me to be obliged to ufe the fubjetìs as ene- 
 •' mies, whom I once in this place treated as friends and brothers. 
 " Do you, my fon," addreffing Tlotzin, " keep conflantly in your 
 
 ( r) If we are to adopt the chronology of Torqviemada, we mud give Nopaltzin when he 
 mounted the throne one hundred and thirty years of age; as when he arrived with his father 
 in the country of Anahuac, he was at leaU eighteen or twenty years, which added to the one 
 hundred and thirteen years, which, according toTorqucinada, Xolotl reigned in that country, 
 make one hundred and thirty-one, or one hundred and thirty-three. On this fee our Second 
 Diffjrtation. 
 
 ** eyes
 
 HISTORYOF MEXICO. 99 
 
 " eyes the image of your grandfather, and ftrive to imitate the exam- BOOK If . 
 ** pies of prudence and juftice which he left us. Strengthen your 
 ** heart with every virtue which you will have occafion for, to govern 
 " your fubje(fls." After condoling Ibme time with his fon, the king 
 departed for his court of Tenayuca. 
 
 The prince Acolhuatzin, who was ftill living, thinking the boun- 
 daries of his ftate of Azcapozalco too narrow, refolved to take poflef- 
 fion of Tepotzotlan, and in fadl took it by force, in fpite of the re- 
 finance made by Chalchiuhcua, lord of that fiate. It is to be believed, 
 that Acolhuatzin would not have done fo violent an aft without the 
 exprefs confent of the king, who was, probably, willing to revenge 
 himfelf in that manner of fome offence he had received from Chal- 
 chiuhcua. 
 
 The conteft was a" good deal more bloody which arofe a little after 
 from interefts of a very different nature. Huetzin, lord of Coatlichan, 
 fen of the late prince Tzontecomatl {s), was delirous of marrying 
 Atotoztli, a noble and beautiful virgin, and grand-daughter of the 
 queen. Jacazozolotl, lord of Tepetlaoztoc, made fimilar pretenfions ; 
 but either being more ftrongly enamoured, or more violent in temper, 
 not content with having demanded her of her father, he was willing 
 to render himfelf mafter of his beauty by arms ; and for this purpofe 
 collefled a fmall army of his fuhjefts, which was joined by Tochin- 
 teuólli, who had been lord of Quahuacan, but was difpolfefl'ed on ac- 
 count of his mifdeeds, and banilhed to Tepetlaoztoc. Huetzin, ap- 
 prized of this intent, went to meet him with a greater number of 
 troops, and gave him battle in tlie neighbourhood of Tezcuco, in 
 which fome of Jacazozolotl's people were llain along with himfelf, and 
 the refi of the army routed. Tochinteudtli faved himfelf by iiight, 
 (heltering himfelf in the city of Huexotzinco, on the other fide of 
 the mountains, Huetzin,, having got rid of his rival, with the con- 
 
 (j) Torquemada makes Huetzin, fon of Iiztnitl, and him fon of Tzontecomatl iu the thir- 
 teenth chapter of book the firft ; Imt in chapter 40, he fays, that Itzmitl was oneof thofc who 
 came with Xolotl from Amaijuemican, fo that he makes him born beiorc his either Tzonte- 
 comatl, as he was a yoimg man only when lie came to Anahuac ; and he did not come before 
 !the 47th year ot the reign of Xolotl, as the fame author affirms. Bcfides in one place, be 
 males Itzmitl a purcChichcmecan ; and in another place the fon ot an Acolhuaii But who is 
 capbleof marking all the contradictions and anachronifms of Torqucmada ? 
 
 (i 2 fcnt
 
 'loo HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK II. fent of the king took poffeffion of the niaid and the fiate of Teper- 
 *"*'^~ ~' laoztoc. 
 
 After thefe fmall wars of the feudatory princes, one more confider- 
 able arofe between the crown and the province of Tollantzinco, which 
 \\'as in rebelhon. The king himfelf took the field in perfon with a 
 large army ; but as the rebels were nunierous in force and well dif- 
 ciplined, the royal army was worfted during nineteen days which the 
 war lafted, until being reinforced by new troops, under the command 
 of Tlotzin, he defeated the rebels, and punifl:ied the heads of the rebel- 
 lion in the moft rigorous manner. Their evil example, when imitated 
 by other lords, met with the fame fate, 
 
 Nopaltzin had juft reftored tranquillity to his kingdom, when the 
 
 famous prince Acolhuatzin, firft lord of Azcapozalco, died, leaving 
 
 the fiate to his fon Tezozomoc. His funeral was celebrated with great 
 
 magnificence, the king and the nobility of both the nations of Acolhua 
 
 and Chechemeca attending. 
 
 S'^cT. X. The king himfelf did not long furvive, having reigned thirty-two 
 
 Tlotzin III. years, and declared Tlotzin, his firfl born, fuccefibr to his crown. The 
 
 Checheme- funeral rites were performed at the fame court, and with the fame form 
 
 cas. 
 
 and ceremonies as that of Xolotl, to whom he was fimilar not lefs in 
 difpofition than in robuflnefs and courage. 
 
 Among the lords who were prefent at the accefiion of the new king 
 to the throne, were his two brothers Quauhtiquehua and Apopozoc, 
 whom he entertained for one year in his palace. Tlotzin was of fo be- 
 nevolent and affedlionate a difpofition, he was the whole delight of his 
 vafials. All the nobles fought pretences to viiit him, and enjoy the 
 pleafure and charms of his converfation. Notwithflanding his natural 
 difpofition to peace, he took great care of the affairs of war, making 
 his fubjedls frequently exercife in arms, and he himfelf was fond of the 
 chace ; but we know no particular adls or events of his reign, during 
 thirty-fix years which he occupied the throne of Acolhuacan. He died 
 affiidled with the mofl fevere pains in Tenayuca. His afhes were de- 
 pofited in an urn of coflly flone, which was for forty days expofed to 
 the fight of the people under a pavilion. 
 Sect. Xf. Tlotzin v/as fucceeded in the kingdom by his fon Quinatzin, had 
 Qyinaitzin by Quauhcihuatzin, daughter of the lord of Huexotla. His exaltation 
 
 IV. kmg of ■' ° 
 
 to
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 lor 
 
 to the throne wr.s celebrated with greater folemnity than that of his book I^ 
 prcdeceflbrs ; not at Tennyuca, but at Tezcuco, where he eftahiilhed ^ — T" — ~* 
 
 is court, and trom that tune until the conquell of tlie Spaniards, that mecas. 
 city continued the capital of the kingdom of Acolhuacan. In his paf- 
 fage from the new to the old court, he made himfelf be tran (ported in 
 • a portable chair or open litter, borne on the flioulders of four princi- 
 pal lords, and under an umbrella which was carried by four others. 
 Until that time all the fovereigns had ufed to v/alk on foot, Tiiis 
 king was the firll to whom vanity fuggefted fuch a kind of pomp, and 
 his example was imitated by all tlic kings and nobles of tliat country, 
 who llrove to furpafs each other in oftentatious grandeur. An emula^ 
 tion not lefs pernicious to dates than to princes themfelves. 
 
 The commencement of his government was very tranquil ; but the 
 Aates of Meztitlan and Tototepec, which are fituated in the mountains 
 lying to the north ©f that capital, foon rofe in rebcllion. The mo- 
 ment the king received the advice, he marched with a great army, and 
 fent to tell the heads of the rebellion, that if their courage was equal 
 to their perfidy, they fliould defcend within two days to the plain of 
 Tlaximalco, where their fate would be decided by battle j if not, he 
 was reiblved to put flames to their city, without pardon to women or 
 children. The rebels, as they were already well prepared, came down 
 before the time appointed to the plain, to fhew their courage. The fig- 
 nal for battle being given, the attack became furious and obftinate on 
 both fides until ilight feparated the armies, leaving the vidory unde- 
 cided. They continued for forty days frequently engaging, the rebels 
 being no way dilcouraged by the advantages which the rovai troops 
 daily gained ; but perceiving at length, by the flaughter and diminution 
 of their forces, that their ruin was inevitable, they furrendered to their 
 fovereign, who, after rigorous punifliment of the ringleaders of the 
 rebellion, pardoned the crime of the people. The fame condudt was 
 obferved with Tepepolco, which had alfo rebelled. 
 
 This fpirit of rebellion fpread like contagion over all the kingdom; 
 and Tepepolco was fcarcely fubdued when Huchuitoca, Mizquic, To- 
 tolapa, and four other cities, declared a revolt. The king chofe to go 
 in perfon with a ftrong body of troops againft Totolapa, and fent a- 
 gainft the other fix cities as many detachments under command of brave 
 and faithful generals j his fuccefs was fuch, that in a very fliort fpace 
 
 of
 
 I02 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C Ò. 
 
 ^3^^l of time, and without any confiderable lofs, he brought all the Ceven 
 cities again under his obedience. Thefe victories were celebrated with 
 great rejoicings during eight days in the court, and rewards given to 
 the officers and foldiers who had diftinguiflied themfelves. As the 
 evil example of fome ftates had excited others to rebellion, fo did the 
 unfuccefsful ifTue ferve in future as a caution not to form new confpi- 
 racies againfl: the loyalty due to their fovereign ; from whence, during 
 the reft of his government, which, according to hiftorians, lafted fixty 
 years, Quinatzin enjoyed the utmoft tranquillity. 
 
 When he died they obferved ceremonies to him which had never 
 been pradlifed with his anceftors ; they opened his body, took out his 
 bowels, and prepared it with different aromatic fubftances, to keep it 
 fome time free from corruption. They afterwards placed it in a great 
 chair, clothed in royal habits, and armed with a bow and arrow, and 
 put at his feet a wooden eagle, and behind him a tyger, to fignify his 
 bravery and intrepidity. In this ftate it was expofed for forty days; 
 and after the ufual mourning, burnt, and the afhes buried in a cave of 
 the mountains neighbouring to Tezcuco. 
 
 Quinatzin was fucceeded on the throne by his fon Techotlalla ; but 
 the events of this and the following Chechemecan kings reigns being 
 connefted with thofe of the Mexicans, who had at this period (in the 
 fourteenth century of the vulgar era), founded their famous capita], we 
 referve the relation of them to another place, judging it futficient at 
 prefent to lay before the reader the feries of all the kings, annexing, as 
 far as is known, the year of the vulgar era in which they began their 
 reigns, that we may afterwards make fome mention of the nations 
 which arrived before the Mexicans in that country. 
 
 Chechemecan Kings. 
 Xo/otl, began to reign in the 12th century. 
 Nopaltzin, in the 13 th century. 
 
 Tlotziu, in the 14th century. 
 
 ^linatzin, in the 14th century. 
 
 Techotlalla, in the 14th century. 
 
 Ixtlilxochitl ftj, in the 1406. Be- 
 
 (/J We tlo not reckon Ixtlilxochitl among the Chechemecan kings, becaiifc he was only 
 created governor of Tezcuco by the Spaniards. It is therefore to be doubted, if Cuicuik- 
 
 calzin
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 102 
 
 Between this and the following kings reign, the tyrants Tezozo- BOOK t, 
 inoc and Maxtla occupied the throne of Acolhuacan. 
 
 Nezahualcoyotlt in the year 1426. 
 
 Nezahutilpilli, in the year 1470. 
 
 Cacavi J t%in, in the year 1516. 
 
 Cuicuitzcatdn, in the year 1520. 
 
 Coanacotzitij in the year 1520. 
 
 We cannot fix the year in which the five firft kings began to reign, 
 becaufe we do not know how long Xolotl and Techotlalla reigned ; 
 we, however, think it probable, that the Cliechemecan monarchy had 
 a beginning in Anahuac about the end of the twelfth century, and 
 lafled 330 years, until about 1521, at which time it ceafed with the 
 kingdom of Mexico. At leaft eleven lawful kings, and two tyrants 
 occupied the throne. 
 
 The Acolhui arrived in the country of Anahuac after the beginning 
 of the 13th century. With regard to other nations, there is an incre- 
 dible difference of opinion and confufion in hiftorians refpeóling their 
 origin, their number, and the time in which they fettled in Anahuac. 
 The great (ludy which 1 have made to trace trutli has ferved only to 
 incrcafe my uncertainty, and to make me defpair of ever knowing here- 
 after what is hitherto unknown. Leading afide, therefore, all fables, 
 we fhall adhere to what is certain, or at leaft probable. 
 
 The Olmecas and the Xicallancas, whether one nation, or two dif- -jh'E^Oim!^ 
 tindt nations, but conftantly alhed and connected toLcthcr, were (o an- c-'s ^^'^ «''• 
 
 r 1 I 1 1 Otoimes. 
 
 cient m the country of Anahuac, that many authors account them 
 prior to the Toltecas fuj. Of their origin wc know nothing, nor do 
 the ancient pictures tell us more than that they inhabited the countiy 
 circumjacent to the great mountain Matlalcueje, and that being driven 
 
 catzin is to be numbered amonp; thefe kings; as in fpitc of, and contrary to the liglit of Co- 
 anacotzin, he was intruded on the kingdom of Acolhuacan by Montezuma, through the in- 
 trigues of Cortes. 
 
 (k) Some authors, and among them the celebrated D. Sigiicnza, h.ive wrote that the 01- 
 micas palTcd from the Atlantic iflcs, and that they alone came to Anahua: from the quarter of 
 the Eall, all the other nations having come from the region u; the North : but wc know nu 
 foundation for this opinion. 
 
 I from
 
 10+ H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 roOKl. from thence by the Teochechemccas, or Tlafcalans, they tranfportcd 
 themfelves to the coaft of the gulf of Mexico {x). 
 
 The Otomies, who formed one of the moft numerous nations, were 
 probably one of the moft ancient in that country; but they continued 
 for many ages in barbarifm, living fcattered in the caverns of the moun- 
 tains, and fupporting themfelves by the chace, in which they were mofl: 
 ■dextrous. They occupied a tradì of more than three hundred miles of 
 land, from the mountains of Izmiquilpan towards the north-weft, 
 bordering in the eaft and weft on other nations equally favage. In the 
 fifteenth century, either being compelled by force, or ftimulated by the 
 example of other nations, they began to live in fociety, under fubjec- 
 tion to the crown of Acolhuacan. in the country of Anahuac, and like- 
 wife in the vale of Mexico, they fettled an infinite number of places ; 
 the greater, and efpecially the moft confiderable of them, fuch as thofe 
 of Xilotepec and Huitzapan, were in the vicinage of the country which 
 they occupied before ; the others were fcattered among the Matlatzin- 
 cas and Tlafcalans, and in other provinces of the kingdom, preferving 
 even down to our times, their primitive language in the infular colo- 
 nies, though furrounded by other nations. We are not, however, to 
 conclude, that the whole nation was then brought to a ftate of civil 
 life, as a great part, and poiTibly the moft numerous, were ftill left 
 together with the Chechemecas in the condition of favages. The 
 'barbarians of both nations, which were confounded together by the 
 Spaniards, under the name of Chechemecas, made themfelves famous 
 by their invafions, and were not finally fiabdued by the Spaniards until 
 the feventeenth century. The Otomies have always been reputed the 
 moft rude nation of Anahuac, not more from the diihculty eveiy body 
 finds in underftanding their language than their fervile llate of life ; 
 -as even in the time of the Mexican kings they were treated as flaves. 
 Their language is very difficult and full of afpirations, which they 
 make partly in the throat, partly in the noie ; but otherwife it is fuf- 
 ficicntly copious and exprelBve. Anciently they were renowntd for 
 tlicir dexterity in the chace ; at prefent they traffick in coarfe cloths 
 for the drefs of the other Indians. 
 
 (a) Botiiriui conjcfluref, that tl.c Olmccas, when driven from their country, went to t\\o 
 Awùlks, or Ciribbce IflanJs, and South Ameiica. This is no mors than topjcdure. 
 
 The
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 105 
 
 The nation of the Tarafcas occupied the vaft, rich, and pleafant B 00 K ii. 
 country of Michuacan, where they niukiphed conliderably, and fettled <!" — ^57777' 
 many cities and an infinite number of villages. Their kings were ri- ihcTaraf- 
 vals of the Mexicans, and had frequent wars with them. Their ar- 
 tifts excelled, or vied with thofe of other nations ; at leafl after the 
 conqueft of Mexico: the bert: Mofaic works were made in Michuacan, 
 and there only this valuable art was preferved unto our time. The 
 Tarafcas were idolatrous, but not fo cruel as the Mexicans in their 
 worlhip. Their language is copious, fweet, and fonorous. They 
 make frequent ufe of the foft R ; their fyllables, for the moil part, 
 confift of a fingle confonant, and a fingle vowel. Befides the natural 
 advantage of their country, the Tarafcas had the good fortune to have 
 D. Vafca di Qiiiroga for their firft bifhop, one of the moft diflin- 
 guifhed prelates Spain has produced, worthy of being compared with 
 the ancient fathers of the church, and whofe memory was preierved 
 frefli unto our time, and will lall perpetually among thefe people. 
 The country of Michuacan, which is one of the finefl of the New 
 World, was annexed to the crown of Spain by the free and fponta- 
 neous aél of its lawful fovereign, without cofting the Spaniards a drop 
 of blood, although it is probable that the recent example of the ruin 
 of the Mexican empire, intimidated and impelled that monarch to fuch 
 a concellion (y). 
 
 The Mazahuas v/ere once a part of the nation of the Otomies, as Sect.xiv. 
 the languages of both nations are but different dialcdts of the fame ^^l^ Matiat. 
 tonsue : but this diverfity between two nations fo jealous of preferv- z'"cas, and 
 ing their idioms uncorrupted, is a clear argument of the great anti- otu. 
 
 {y) Boturiui fays, that the Mexicans finding theinfclvcs bcfiegcd by tlie Spaniards, frnt 
 an cmbafly to the king of Michuacan, to procure his alliance ; that he aflcmblcd an hun- 
 dred thoufand Tarafcas, and as many Tfochechcmccas, in the province of Avalos ; but that, 
 being intimidated by certain vifions wliich his filler had, who was once dead but returned lo 
 life again, he dllchargcd tlic army, and abandoned the undertaking of fuccouring tl;e IVIexi- 
 canf, ns he had intended. But all this account is a firing of fables. As far as we know, 
 no author of that age makes mctition of fuch an event. Whence came thcfc hundred 
 thoufand Teochechcmccas, who were fo quickly aflcmbled ? Why was the army coUecfted 
 in the province moft diftant from Mexico ? Who has ever feen the king of France order his 
 troops to be aflcmbled in Flandcr?, to fuccour fomc city of Spain r The rcfurrei'tion of 
 •the princefs is a fable founded on the memorable occurrence, rcfpeóting the filler of Monti-- 
 «uma, of which we fliall fpeik hereafter. 
 
 Vol. I. P qiiity
 
 io6 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOO?: II' q»ity of their reparation. The principal places which they inhabited 
 
 ' ' were on the weftern mountains of the vale of Mexico, and formed the 
 
 province of Mazahuacan, belonging to the crown of Tacuba. 
 
 The Matlatzincas made a confiderable ftate in the fertile vale of 
 Toluca; and, however great, anciently, their reputation was for bra- 
 very, they were, notwithftanding, fubjeded to the crown of Mexico, 
 by king Axayacatl. 
 
 The Miztecas and Zapotecas peopled the vail countries of their 
 name, to the fouth-eaft of Tezcuco. The numerous ftates into which 
 thefe two countries were divided, continued a long time under feveral 
 lords or rulers of the fame nations, until they were fubdued by the 
 Mexicans. Thofe nations were civilized and induftrious ; they had 
 their laws, exercifed the arts of the Mexicans, and made ufe of the 
 fame method to compute time, and the fame paintings to perpetuate 
 the memory of events, in which they reprefented the creation of the 
 world, the univerfal deluge, the confufion of tongues ; although the 
 whole was intermixed with various fables fz). Since the conqueft, the 
 Miztecas and Zapotecas have been the moft induflrious people of 
 New Spain. While the commerce of filk lafted, they were the feeders 
 of the worms j and to their labours is owing all the cochineal, which 
 for many years, until the prefent time, has been imported from Mexi- 
 co into Europe. 
 
 The Chiapanefe have been the firft peoplers of the New World, if 
 we give credit to their traditions. They fay that Votan, the grandfon 
 of that refpedtable old man who built the great ark to fave himfelf and 
 family from the deluge, and one of thofe who undertook the building 
 of that lofty edifice which was to reach heaven, went, by exprefs com- 
 mand of the Lord, to people that land. They fay alfo that the firft 
 peoplers came from the quarter of the North, and that when they 
 arrived at Soconufco, they feparated, fome going to inhabit the country 
 of Nicaragua, and others remaining in Chiapan. This country, as 
 hiftorians lay, was not governed by a king, but by two military chiefs, 
 eleded by priefts. Thus they remained until they were fubjedled by 
 
 ( z) See the work of Fra Gregorio Garzia Dominicano, cniitled, the Origin of the Indians^ 
 in book V. chap, 4. concerning the mythology of the Miztecas, 
 
 the
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 107 
 
 the laft kings of Mexico to that crown. They made the fame ufe of book II. 
 paintings as the Mexicans, and had the fame method of computing ' " ' 
 time; but the figures with which they reprefented days, years, and 
 months, were totally different. 
 
 Of the Cohuixcas, the Cuitlatecas, the Jopas, the Mazatecas, the 
 Popolocas, the Chinantecas, and the Totonacas, we know nothing of 
 the origin, nor the time when they arrived in Anahuac. We fliall fay 
 fomething of their particular cuftoms when ever it will illuftrate the 
 hiltory of the Mexicans. 
 
 But of all the nations which peopled the region of Anahuac, the Sect. xv. 
 moft renowned and the mort fignalized in the hiftory of Mexico, were atl5c:.s. 
 thofe vulgarly called the Nahuatlacas. This name, the etymology of 
 which we have explained, in the beginning of this hiftory, was prin- 
 cipally given to thole feven nations, or rather thofe ftven tribes of the 
 lame nation, who arrived in that country after the Chechcmecas, and 
 peopled the little illands, banks, and boundaries of the Mexican lakes. 
 Thefe tribes were the Sochimilcas, the Chalchefe, the Tapanecas, the 
 Colhuas, the Tlahuicas, the Tlafcalans, and the Mexicans. The origin 
 of all thefe tribes was the province of Aztlan, from whence came the 
 Mexicans, or from fomc other contiguous to it, and peopled with the 
 fame nation. All hiftorians reprefent them as originally of one and 
 the fame countiy : all of them fpoke the -fame language. The dif- 
 ferent names by which they have been known, were taken from the 
 places which they fettled, or from thofe in which they efhabliflied 
 themfelvcs. 
 
 The Sochimilcas derived their name from the great city Xochimiko 
 which they founded on the fouthcrn fliore of the lake of fweet water 
 or Chalco ; the Chalchefe, from the city of Chalco, upon the eaflcnx 
 fliore of the fune lake; the Colhuas, from Colhuacan ; the Mexicans, 
 from Mexico ; the Tlalcalans, from Tlafcala ; and the Tlahuicas, from 
 the land where they eil.ihli Hied themfelves; which, from its abounding 
 in cinnabar, was called Tlahuican (a). The Tepanecas pollibly had 
 
 fjf) Tlahuiil, is the McNican name of cinnabar : and Tlahuican means the place or coi;ntiy 
 jof Cinnabar. Some authors call them Tlnihuitas, and derive the name from a place of that 
 land called Ttalluic ; but bcfidcs that wc never heard of fiich a place, the name docs not ap- 
 :pcar conforming with tlic language. 
 
 P 2 their
 
 io8 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK ir. their name from a place called Tepan (b), where they had been before 
 "* they fettled their famous city Azcapozalco. 
 
 It is beyond a doubt that thefe tribes did not arive together in that 
 country, but at different times, and in the order we have mentioned ; 
 but there is a great difference among hiftorians refpedbing the precife time 
 of their arrival in Anahuac. We are perfuaded, for the reafons fet 
 forth in our differtations, that the firfl fix tribes arrived under conduét 
 of the fix lords who made their appearance immediately after the 
 Chechemecas, and there was- not fo great an interval as Acofta fuppofes, 
 between their arrival and that of the Mexicans. 
 
 The Colhuas, whom in general the Spanifli hiftorians confound with 
 the Acolhuas, from the affinity of their names, founded the fmall mo- 
 narchv of Colhuacan, which was annexed afterwards to the crown of 
 Mexico, by the marriage of a princefs, heirefs of that ftate, with a 
 king of Mexico. 
 
 The Tepanecas had alfo their petty kings, among whom the firft 
 was prince Acolhuatzin, after having married the daughter of Xolotl. 
 His defcendants ufurped, as we fliall relate, the kingdom of Acol- 
 huacan, and governed all that country, until the arms of the Mexicans, 
 joined with thofe of the true heir of Acolhuacan, dcllroyed both the 
 tyrant and monarchy of Tepaneca. 
 S-.cT. XVI. The Tlafcalans, whom Torquemada and other authors call Teoche- 
 iaas '^''''^'" chemecas, and confider as a tribe of i\\tfn) Chechemecan nation, 
 
 eftabliflied 
 
 (f) Several authors call them Tapanccai ; both are Mexican. Tecfanecatl means the inha- 
 hitant of the palace; Tepanecatl, inhahkant of afony place. Others give it a very violent ety- 
 mology. 
 
 (c) Torquemada, not only fays that the Tlafcalans were Teochccliemecas, But likewife 
 affirms, in lib. iii. cap. ic. that thefe Teochechemccas, ivere Olomies. If the Tlafcalans were 
 Otomies, why did they not fpeak the language of the Otomies ? And if they ever did fpeak 
 it, why did they give it up for the Mexican ! Where is there an inftance of a free nation 
 abandoning its own native language, to adopt that of its enemies ? Nor is it lefs incredible 
 that ihe Chechemecas were Otomies, as the above author fuppofes, although in lib. i. 
 cap. 2. he afRrms the contrary. Who forced the Chechemecas to give up their primitive 
 language ? He only who was unacquainted with the charafler of thefe nations, and knew 
 not how conftant they were in retaining their national language, could be capable of per- 
 fuading us that the Chechemecas, by their communication and alliance with the Acolhuas, 
 abandoned the language of the Otomies for the Mexican. If the true Otomies have not, 
 during fo many ages, altered their idiom, neither under the dominion of the Mexicans, nor 
 under that of the Spaniards, how is it credible that the Chechemecas ftiould entiiely change 
 
 their 
 1
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 eftablifhed themfelves, originally, m Poyaubthin, a place fituated on B00r;.ir 
 the eaftern fliore of the lake of Tezcuco, between the court and the 
 village of Chemalhuacan, There they lived for fome time in great 
 mifery, fupporting themfelves folely by the chace, on account of the 
 want of arable foil ; but being multiplied in their numbers, and defirous 
 of extending the boundaries of their territory, they drew upon them- 
 felves the hatred of the furrounding nations. The Sochimilcas, the 
 Colhuas, the Tepanecas, and probably alfo the Chalchefe, who, by being 
 borderers on them, were mofl: expoled to injury, made a league toge- 
 ther, and equipped a confiderable army to drive fuch dangerous fettlers 
 from the vale of Mexico. The Tlafcalans, whom the confcioufnefs 
 of their ufurpations, kept always vigilant, came well arrayed for an en- 
 counter. The battle was one of the moft bloody and memorable 
 which appears in the hiftory of Mexico. The Tlafcalans, though in- 
 ferior in number, made fuch a ilaughter of the enemy, that they left 
 the field covered with carcafcs, and a part of the lake on the border 
 of which they had engaged, tinged with blood. Notwithflanding 
 they came off fo glorioudy in this battle, they determined to abandon 
 that quarter, being well perfuaded that while they remained there they 
 would be daily harraffcd by their neighbours ; for which reafon having 
 reviewed the whole country by means of their emiflaries, and finding no 
 fituation where they could jointly eftabliih tliemfelves, they agreed to 
 feparate, one part of them going towards the South, the other to the 
 North. The latter, after a fliort journey, fettled themfelves, wiih the 
 permifiion of the Chechemecan king, in Tollantzinco, and in Quauii- 
 
 thcir language, being madera of that country, and occupying the throne of Acolhuacan 
 from the time of Xolotl the founder of that kingdom, until the conquell of Mexico. I do 
 not doubt, however, ihat the proper language of the ancient Chechemccas was the fame 
 with that of the Acolhuas and Naljuailacas, that is, the Mexic.in. I am of the fame opinion 
 rcfpefting the Toltccas, whatever other authors may fay ; nor can I, after tlic moll diligent 
 ftudy of hiftory. alter my fentiments. We know that the names of the places from wlicnce 
 the Toltecas and Chechemecas came, and of tho e which they fettled in Anahuac, of the 
 perfons of both nations, and of the years which they ufed, were Mexican. We know that 
 the Toltccas and Chechemecas, the Chechemecas and Acolhuas, from the firft h.iJ communi- 
 cation with each other, and undcrftood each other reciprocally without an interpreter. The 
 Mexican langu.-ige having fpread as far as Nicaragua, is not to be afcribcd to any thing 
 rife than the difpcrfion of the Toltecas who fjioke it ; as it is known that the Nahuatlat as 
 ever went beyond Chiapan. In (hort, we find nothing to fupport the contrary opinion, al-^ 
 though it is fo common among our hirtoriaris. 
 
 chin.inco
 
 no H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 13 00K II. chinanco. The former travelling round the great volcano Popocate- 
 pec, through Tetella and Tochimilco, founded the city of Quauhque- 
 chollan, in the neighbourhood of Atrifco; and fonie, proceeding flill 
 farther, founded Amaliuhcan, and other villages ; and thus extended 
 thcmfelves as far as Foyaubtecatl or the mountain Orizaba, to which 
 they probably gave fuch a name in memory of the place in the vale 
 of Mexico which they had quitted. 
 
 But the moil numerous and refpedlable part of the tribe, diredted 
 their way by Cholula to the borders of the great mountain Matlalcueye, 
 from whence they drove the Olmecas and Xicallancas, the ancient in- 
 habitants of that country, and flew their king Colopechtli. Here 
 they eftabliflied themfelves under a chief, named ColbuatateuSlUy 
 contriving to fortify themfelves alfo, to be the more able to refiil: the 
 Heighbouring people if they Hiould incline to attack them. In fa6l 
 it was not long before the Huexozincas and other people, who knew 
 of the bravery and number of their new neighbours, fearing they 
 would, in time, become troublefome, levied a great army to expel 
 them wholly from the country. The attack was fo fudden, that the 
 Tlafcalans were forced to retreat to the top of that great mountain : 
 finding themfelves there in the greatefl perplexity, they fent amball'adors 
 to implore the protedlion of the Chechemecan king, and obtained from 
 him a large body of troops. The Huexozincas not having forces 
 fufficient to contend with the royal army, applied for affiflance to the 
 Tepanecas, who they believed would not let pafs fo fair an opportu- 
 nity of revenging themfelves ; but the tragic event of Pofauhtlan was 
 ftill in tlieir memories, and although they fent troops, thefe were en- 
 joined not to do hurt to the Tlafcalans ; and the Tlafcalans themfelves 
 were advifed not to efteem them as enemies, but to reft confident 
 that that nation was not fent for any other purpofe than to deceive 
 the Huexozincas, and not to dillurb the harmony which fubfified be- 
 tween them and the Tepanecas. By the aid of the Tezcucans, and the 
 perfidious inadlion of the Tepanecas, the Pluexozincas were defeated, 
 and obliged to return to their Hate in difgrace. The Tlafcalans being 
 ireed from fo great a danger, and having made peace with their neigh- 
 tours, returned to their firil eftabliiliment, to continue their fettlement 
 und population. 
 
 Such
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e e. ni 
 
 Such was the origin of the famous city and republic of Tlafcala, the BonK II 
 perpetual rival of the Mexicans, and occafion of their ruin. At firft ' "^ ' 
 they all obeyed one chief; but afterwards when their population was 
 confiderably advanced, the city was parted into four divilions, called 
 Tepeticpac, Ocotdoko, ^'uibuiztlan, and Tizatlan. Every divilion liad 
 its lord, to whom all the places dependent on fuch divilion were like- 
 wife fubjedt J fo that the whole fiate was compofed of four fmall mo- 
 narchies ; but thefe four lords, together with other nobles of the firfl 
 rank, formed a kind of ariftocracy for the general fiate. This diet or 
 fenate was the umpire of war and peace. It prefcribed the number 
 of troops which were to be raifcd, and the generals who were to com- 
 mand them. In the fiate, although it v/as circumfcribed, there were 
 many cities and large villages, in which, in 1520, there were more 
 than one hundred and fifty thoufand houfes, and more than five hun- 
 dred thoufand inhabitants. The diftri(fi: of the republic was fortified 
 on the weftern quarter with ditches and entrenchments, and on the 
 eafl with a wall fix miles in length ; towards the fouth it was, by na- 
 ture, defended by the mountain Matlalcueye, and by other mountains, 
 on the north. 
 
 The Tlafcalans were warlike, courageous, and jealous of their ho- 
 nour and their liberty. They prefervcd, for a long time, the fplendor 
 of their republic, in fpitc of the oppofition they fuffered from their 
 enemies ; until at length, being in confederacy with the Spaniards 
 againft their ancient rivals the Mexicans, they were involved in the 
 common ruin. They were idolatrous, and as fuperftitious and cruel 
 in their form of worfhip as the Mexicans. Their favourite deity was 
 Camaxtle, the fame which was worfhipped by the Mexicans, under 
 the name of Huitzihpochtli. Their arts were the fame as thole of 
 other neighbouring nations. Their commerce confifled principally in 
 maize and cochineal. From the abundance of maize the name of 
 Tlafcallan was given to the capital, which means the place of bread. 
 Their cochineal was efteemed above any other, and, after the conqucfl, 
 brought yearly to the capital a revenue of two hundred thoufand 
 crowns ; but they entirely abandoned this commerce, for rcafons wc 
 fhall mention elfewhere. 
 
 The
 
 112 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK II. The Aztecas or Mexicans, who were the lafl; people who fettled m 
 
 V — ^'"TT'r Anahuac, and are the chief fubjedt of our hiftory, lived until about the 
 
 Migradon of' year 1 1 6o of the vulgar era, in Aztlan, a country fituated to the north 
 
 to'hc coun"' of the gulf of California, according to what appears from the route they 
 
 try of Ana- puj-fued in their migration, and the conclufions made by the Spaniards 
 
 in their travels towards thefe countries fci). The caufe of abandoning 
 
 their native country may have been the fame which other nations had. 
 
 But vvhatever it Vvas, it will not be altogether ufelefs to leave to the 
 
 iree judgment of the reader that which the Mexican hiftorians them- 
 
 felves relate of the birth of fuch a refolution. 
 
 There was, fay they, among the Aztecas, a perfon of great autho- 
 rity called Huit-ziton, to whofe opinion all paid great deference. This 
 perfon exerted himfelf, though it is not known for what reafon, 
 to perfuade his countrymen to change their country, and while he 
 was meditating on his purpofe, he heard once, by accident, a little 
 bird finding on the branches of a tree, whofe notes imitated the Mexi- 
 can word libili, which means, let us go. This appeared a favourable 
 opDortunity to obtain his v/ifh of his countrymen. Taking, therefore, 
 aiiother refpeftable perfon with him, he conduced him to that tree 
 where tlic little bird ufed to fing, and thus addrefled him : " Do you 
 " not attend, my friend Tecpaltzin, to what this little bird fays, 
 " Tihui Tihui, which it repeats every moment to us ; what can it 
 " mean, but that we mull leave this country and find ourfelves an- 
 " other ? Without doubt, it is the warning of fome fecret divinity who 
 " watches over our welfare : let us obey, therefore, his voice, and 
 " not draw his anger upon us by a refufal." Tecpaltzin gave full af- 
 fent to this interpretation, either from his opinion of the wifdom of 
 Huitziton, or becaufe he was likewife prepofTelTed with the fame de- 
 
 {li} In our diflertaiions we fpeak of thefe travels from New Mexico towards the North. Bc- 
 tancourt makes mention of them in part ii. tratt. i. cap. lo. of his 7,-atro Mejficano. This 
 author makes Azthin two thoufand fcven hundred miles diliant from Mexico. Boturini fays, 
 Aztlan was a province of Afia. But I do not know what reafons he had for fo fingular an 
 opinion. In feveral charts, publiflied in the fixteenth century, (his province appears fituated 
 to the north of the gulf of California, and I do not doubt that it is to be found in that quar- 
 ter, though at a dilumce from the gulf, as the diftancc mentioned by Bctancourt fecms very 
 probable. 
 
 fire.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 1 1 
 
 fire. Two perfons, fo rcfpedable having agreed in fentiment, they BOOK li. 
 were not long in drawing the body of the nation over to their party. 
 
 Although we do not give credit to fuch an account, it does not, 
 however, appear altogether improbable ; as it is not diilicuk for a per- 
 fon who is reputed wife, to pcrfuade an ignorant and a fuperftitious 
 people, through motives of religion, to whatever he pleafes. It would 
 be a much harder talk to perfuade us of what the Spanifh hiltorians 
 generally report, that the Mexicans fet out on their migration, by ex- 
 prefs command of the demon. The good hiftorians of the fixteenth 
 century, and thofe who have copied them, fuppofc it altogetlier un- 
 queftionable that the demon had continual and familiar commerce 
 with all the idolatrous nations of the New World; and fcarcely recount 
 an event of hiftory, of which they do not make him the author. But 
 hoivever certain they may be, that the malignity of thofe fpirits impeli them 
 to do all the hurt they can to fnan, and that they have Jhewn tbemfhes 
 fometimes in vifble forms to feduce them, efpecially to thofe ii'ho have not, 
 by regeneration, entered into the bofom of the church ; it is not, however, 
 to be imagined that fuch apparitions vigere fo very frequent, or that their 
 intercourfe was fo familiar v/ith the above mentioned nations as thefe 
 hiftorians believe ; the Supreme Power who watches, with benign pro- 
 vidence, over all his creatures, commits to any fuch enemies of the hu- 
 man race no powers to hurt it. Our readers, therefore, who may have 
 read of like events in other authors, ought not to wonder if they do 
 not find us equally credulous. We are not difpofed to afcribe any 
 eftedt to the demon, on the bare tePcimony of fome Mexican hiftorians, 
 as they may eafily have fallen into errors, from the fupcrftitious ideas 
 with which their minds were darkened, or the impofitions of priefts 
 that are common among idolatrous nations. 
 
 Th.e mi ^ration of the Aztccas, however, which is certain, whatever 
 might have been their motive for undertaking it, happened, as near as 
 we can conjefture, about the year 1 160 of the vulgar era. Torque- 
 mada lays he has obfcrved an arm of the fea {e), or a great river, repre- 
 
 fented 
 
 (<■) I believe this pretended arm of the fen is no other than the rcprcfcnt.ntion of the uni- 
 vcrf.il deluge, painted in the Mexican pifliucs before the beginnintj of their migration, as ap- 
 jicars from tlic cojn-, publiflied by Grniclli, of a piflurc flieun to him by the celebrated Dott. 
 
 Vol. 1. Q^ Siijuenza.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 fented in all the Ancient paintings of this migration. If any river was 
 ever reprelented in fuch paintings, it muft have been the Colorado 
 or Red River, which difcharges itlelf into the gulf of California, in lati- 
 tude 32-;, as this is the meli: confiderable river of thole which lie in the 
 route they travelled. Having pafTed, therefore, the Red River from be- 
 yond the latitude of 35, they proceeded towards the fouth-eaft, as far 
 as the river Gila, where they flopped for fome time ; for at prefent 
 there are ftill remains to be feen of the great edifices built by them on 
 the borders of that river. From thence having refumed their courfe 
 towards the S. S. E. they flopped in about 29 degrees of latitude, at a 
 place which is more than two hundred and fifty miles diftant from the 
 city of Chihuahua, towards the N.N. W. This place is known by 
 the name of Caje grandi, on account of an immenfe edifice ftill ex- 
 ifting, which, agreeable to the univerfal tradition of thefe people, \vas 
 built by the Mexicans in their peregrination. This edifice is con- 
 flruded on the plan of thofe of New Mexico, that is, confifling of 
 three floors with a terrace above them, and without any entrance to 
 the under floor. The door for entrance to the building is on the fe- 
 cond floor, fo that a fcaling ladder is necefiary ; and the inhabitants of 
 New Mexico build in this manner, in order to be lefs expofed to the 
 attack of their enemies ; putting out the fcaling ladder only for thofe 
 to whom thev give admiihon into their houfe. No doubt the Aztecas 
 had the fame motive for raifing their edifice on this plan, as every mark 
 of a fortrefs is to be obfcrved about it, being defended on one fide by a 
 lofty mountain, and the reft of it being furrounded by a wall about feven 
 feet thick, the foundations of which are flill exifting. In this fortrefs 
 there are flones as large as mill-ftones to be feen ; the beams of the 
 roof are of pine, and well finilhed. In the centre of this vaft fa- 
 bric is a little mount made on purpofe, by what appears, to keep 
 guard on, and obferve the enemy. There have been fome ditches 
 formed in this place, and feveral kitchen utenfils have been found, 
 
 Siguenza. Boturini alleges this arm of the fea to be the gulf of California, as he is per- 
 fuaded that the Mexicans paffed from Aztlan to California, and from thence crofling the gulf 
 tranfported themfelves to Culiacan : but there being remains found of the buildings conftrufled 
 by the Mexicans in their migration, on the river Gila, and in Pimeria, and not in California, 
 there Is no reafon to believe that they croffeò the fea, but came by land to Culiacan. 
 
 fuch
 
 H I S T O R Y O F iM E X I e O. 1 1 - 
 
 fuch as earthen pots, dirties, and jars, and little loolcing-glalTes of the book ii. 
 flone Itztli (f). 
 
 From hence, traverllng the fleep mountains of Tarahumara, and 
 diredting their courfe towards the fouth, they reached Huiecolhuacan, 
 at prefent called Culiacan, a place fituated on the gulf of California, in 
 24 1 deg. of latitude, where they flopped three years (g). Here it i^ 
 probable, that they built houfes and cottages to dwell in, and fowed 
 luch feeds for their food as they carried with them, and ui'ually did in 
 every place where they flayed any confiderable time. There they 
 formed a flatue of wood reprefenting Huitzilopochtli the tutelar deity 
 of the nation, that he might accompany them in their travel, and 
 made a chair of reeds and rufhes to tranfport it which they called 
 Teoicpaia, or chair of God. They chofe priefls who were to carry hiin on 
 their ihoulders, four at a time, to whom they gave the name of Teotla- 
 inaca'z.qiic, or fervants of God, and the ad; itfelf of carrying him was 
 called T^eomama, that is to carry God on one's back. 
 
 From Huiecolhuacan journeying for many days towards tlie cafl, they 
 came to Chicomoztoc, where they flopped. Hitherto all the it\t\\ 
 tribes had travelled in a body together : but here they feparated, and 
 die Xochimilcas, the Tepanecas, the Chalchefe, the Tlahuicas, and 
 the Tlafcalans proceeding onwards, left the Mexicans there with their 
 idol. Thofe nations fliy the feparation was made by exprefs command 
 of their God. There is little doubt that fonie difagrcement amon"^ 
 themfelves was the occafion of it. The fituation of Chicomoztoc, 
 where the Mexicans fojourned nine years, is not known ; but it ap- 
 pears to be that place twenty miles diflant from the city of Zacatecas 
 towards the fouth where there are flill fome remains of an inimenfe 
 edifice, which, according to tiie tradition of the Zacatecas, the ancient 
 inhabitants of that country, was the work of the Aztccas in their 
 
 ( /') Thcfe arc the reports I received from two pcrfons who had fcen the Cafe grandi. We 
 Ihould wifh to have a plan of their fm 111 and dimenfions ; but wow it would be very ditficult to 
 be obtained, the whole of that country being depopulated by the furious incurlions of the Apa- 
 chas and otber barbarous nations. 
 
 {^) The Pay of the Aztecas in Huicolhuacan, is agreeable to the teflimony of all hidorians, 
 ai well as their feparation at Chicomoztoc. There is a tradition among the northern people of 
 their paflagc through Tarahumara. Near to Naiarit tliere arc trenches found which v.ere 
 made by the Cor^, to defend themfelves from the Mexicans in their route from Hucicolhuacau 
 to Chicomoztoc. 
 
 0^2 migra-
 
 Ilo H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK II. migration) and it certainly cannot be afcribed to any other people 3 
 the Zapatecas themlelves being lb barbarous as neither to Hve in houfes 
 nor to know how to build them. Their being reduced to a fmaller 
 number by the dilmemberment of the other tribes, may probably have 
 been the reafon that the Mexicans undertook no other buildings of 
 that kind in their peregrination. Proceeding from the country of the 
 Zacatecas towards the fouth, through Am.ica, Cocula, and Zayula, 
 they defcended into the maritime province of Colima, and from thence 
 toZacatulaj where turning to the eaflward, they afcended to Mali- 
 nalco, a place fituated in the mountains which furround the valley 
 of Toluca [h), and afterwards taking their courfe towards the north, 
 in the year 1 196 they arrived at the celebrated city of Tula fij. 
 
 In their journey from Chicomoztoc to Tula, they flopped a while 
 in Coatlicomac, where the tribe was divided into two factions, which 
 became perpetual rivals, and alternately perfecuted each other. This 
 difcord was occafioned, as they fay, by two bundles which miracu- 
 loufly appeared in the midfl: of their camp. Some of them advanc- 
 ing to the firft bundle to examine it, found in it a precious flone, 
 on which a great conteft arofe, each claiming to poffefs it as a prefent 
 from their god. Going afterwards to open the other bundle they found 
 nothing but two pieces of wood. At firft fight they undervalued them 
 as thinp-s which were ufelefs, but being made acquainted, by the wife 
 Huitziton, of the fervice they could be of in producing fire, they 
 prized them more than the precious flone. They who appropriated to 
 themfelves the gem were thofe, who, after the foundation of Mexico 
 called themfelves Tlatelolcas, from the place which they fettled near 
 to that city ; they who took the pieces of wood were thofe who in fu- 
 ture bore the name of Mexicans, or Tenochcas. This account how- 
 ever cannot be confidered in any other light than as a moral fable, to 
 
 {I) It is evident from the inanufcripts of P. Giovanni Tobar, a Jefuit exceedingly verfed 
 in the antiquities of thofe nations, that the Mexicans pafied through IMichuacan, and this 
 could only be by Colima and Zacatula, which probably then belonged to the kingdom, as 
 they now belong to the ecclefiaftical diocefs of Michuacan ; becaufe if they had performed 
 their journey any other way to Tula, they would not have touched at Malinalco. 
 
 (/) The epoch of the arrival of the ÌNIexicans at Tula in 1 196, is confirmed by a manu- 
 icript hiflory in Mexican, cited by Boturini, and in this point of chronology other authors 
 agree. 
 
 teach
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 teach that in all things the ufeful is preferable to the beautiful. Not- 
 withftanding this diffention both parties travelled always together for 
 their imaginary intereft in the protedtion of their god (k). 
 
 It ought not to exeite wonder that the Aztecas made fo great a cir- 
 cuit, and journeyed upwards of a thoufund miles more than was ne- 
 ceflary, to reach Anahuac : as they had no limits prefcribed to their 
 travel, and were in quell: of a countiy wliere they might enjoy all the 
 conveniences of life : neither is it furprifmg that in fome places they 
 eredleJ large fabrics, as it is probable, they confidered every place 
 where they flopped the boundary of their peregrination. Several 
 fituations appeared to them at firft, proper for their eftablifliment, 
 which they afterwards abandoned, from experience of inconveniences 
 they had not forefcen. \Vherever they ftopped they raifed an altar to. 
 their God, and at their departure left all their fick behind ; and, proba- 
 bly, fome others, who were to take care of them, and perhaps alfo, 
 fome who might be tired of fuch long pilgrimages, and unwilling to- 
 encounter frefli fatigues. 
 
 In Tula they flopped nine years, and afterwards eleven years in 
 other places not far diftant, until, in 1216, they arrived at Zumpanco, 
 a confiderable city in the vale of Mexico. Tochpanecatl, lord of this- 
 city, received them with fingular humanity, and not contenting him- 
 felf with granting them commodious dwellings, and regaling them 
 plentifully; but becoming attached to them from long and familiar inter- 
 courfe, he demanded from the chiefs of the nation, fome noble virgin 
 for a wife to his fon Ilhuitcatl. The Mexicans obliged by fuch proofs 
 of regard prefented Tlacapantzin to him, who was foon after mar- 
 ried to that illuftrious youth ; and from them, as will appear, the Mexi- 
 can kings defcendcd. 
 
 After remaining feven years in Zampanco, they went together witli 
 the youth Ilhuicatl to Tizayocan, a city a little diflant from it, where 
 Tlacapantzin bore a fon, named after Huitzilihuitly and at the fame time 
 they gave away another virgin to Xochiatzin, lord of Qiiauhtitlan. From 
 Tizayecan they palled to Tolpetlac and Tcpeyacac, where, at prefcnt, 
 
 {V) It is not to be doubted that the flory of the packets is merely a fable"; as the Aztecat 
 knew, fome centuries before, how to produce fire from two pieces of wood, by rii<51ion. 
 
 * lies
 
 ii8 H I S T O R Y OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK ir. ]Ì£g fi^j village and renowned fantìivary of the Holy Virgin of Guada- 
 loupe, places all fituated on the borders of the lake of Tezcuco, and 
 near the fite of Mexico, in which they continued for twenty- two years. 
 • As foon as the Mexicans appeared in that country, they were review- 
 ed by order of Xolotl then reigning ; who, having nothing to fear, per- 
 mitted them to eftablifli themlelves wherever they could: but thofe in 
 Tepeyacac finding themfelves harrafìèd by Tenancacahzin, a Cheche- 
 mecan lord, they were forced, in 1 245, to retire to Chapol tepee, a moun- 
 tain fituated on the weftern border of the lake, hardly two miles di- 
 ftant from the fite of Mexico, in the reign of Nopaltzin, and not of 
 Quinatzin, as Torquemada and Boturini imagine (/). 
 
 The perfecutions which they fuffered in this place from fome lords, 
 and particularly from the lord of Xaltocan, made them, at the end of 
 Icventeen years, abandon it, to feel; a more fccure afylum in Acocolcs, 
 which confifts of a number of fmall iflands at the fouthern extremity of 
 tJic lake. There for the fpace of fifty-two years they led the moft mifer- 
 able life ; they fubfifted on hfh, and all forts of infeóts, and the roots of 
 the marll^ies, and covered themfelves with the leaves of the amoxtli which 
 grows plentifully in that lake, having wore out all their garments, and 
 finding no means there of fupplying themfelves with others. Their 
 habitations were wretched huts, made of the reeds and ruflies which the 
 lake produced. It would be totally incredible that for fo many years 
 they were able to keep in exifience in a place fo difadvantageous, where 
 they were io ftinted in the necellaries of life, was it not verified by their 
 hiflorians and fucceeding events. 
 S g c T. But in the midil of their miferies they were free, and liberty al- 
 
 XVIII. leviated in fome degree their difi:refies. In 1^14, however, flaverv 
 
 Slavery oft ne _ ° _ . . 
 
 Mexicans in wiis added to their other diflirelTes. Hiftorians differ in opinion con- 
 cerning this event. Some fay, that the petty king of Colhuacan, a 
 city not far diftant from Acocolco, not willing to fuffer the Mexi- 
 cans to maintain themfelves in his territories without paying him tri- 
 bute, made open war upon them, and having fubdued, enflavcd them. 
 
 ( O Qi)inat7.in fiippofinsf to have been reigning at that time, the reign of him and his 
 fucccfTor mu(\ have comprehended a fpace of an hundred and llxty-one years and upwards ; 
 if the chronology of Torquemada is adopted, who fuppofcs Q^uinatzin reigning until the time 
 at which thp Mexicans entered the vs.le of Mexico. See our DifTertations 
 
 Others
 
 H I S T O Pv Y OF MEXICO. 
 
 Others affirm, that this petty king fcnt an embaffy to them, to in- 
 form them that having compalTion for the miferable Hfe which they led 
 in thofe iflands, he was willing to grant them abetter place where they 
 might live more comfortably; and that the Mexicans, who wiihed for 
 nothing more ardently, accepted inflantly the favour, and gladly quitted 
 their difigreeable fituation ; but they had fcarcely fet out when they were 
 attacked by the Colhuas and taken prifoners. Which ever way it was, 
 it is certain, that the Mexicans were carried flaves to Tizapan, a place 
 belonging to the ftate of Colhuacan. 
 
 After fome years flavery, a war arofe between the Colhuas and Xo- 
 chimilcas their neighbours, with fuch difadvantage to the former, that 
 they were worfted in every engagement. The Colhuas, being afflidled 
 with thefe repeated loffes, were forced to employ their prifoners whom 
 they ordered to prepare for war ; but they did not provide them with 
 the necellary arms, either becaufe thefe had been exhauflcd in pre- 
 ceding battles, or becaufe they left them at liberty to accoutre them- 
 felves as they chofe. The Mexicans being perfuaded that this was 
 a favourable occafion to win the favour of their lord, refolved to ex- 
 ert every effort of their bravery. They armed themfelves with long 
 flout ftaves, the points of which they hardened in the fire, not only 
 to be ufed againft the enemy, but to afllfl: them in leaping from 
 one bufti to another if it fhould prove neceffary, as, in fadt, they had 
 to combat in the water. They made themfelves knives of itzli, and 
 targets or fliields of reeds wove together. It was agreed among 
 them, that they were not to employ themfelves as it was ufual in 
 making prifoners, but to content themfelves with cutting off" an car, 
 and leaving the enemy without further hurt. With this difpofition 
 they went out to battle, and while the Colhuas and Xochimilcas were 
 engaged, either by land on the borders of the lake, or by water in tlieir 
 fliips, the Mexicans ruflied furiouily on the enemy, alTifted by their 
 ftaves in the water; cut off the ears of thofe whom they encountered, 
 and put them in a bafket which they carried for that purpofe; but when 
 they could not effed: this from the llruggles of the enemy, they killed 
 them. By the aliillance of the Mexicans, the Colhuas obtained fo 
 complete a vidlory that the Xochimilcas not only abandoned the field, 
 
 but
 
 120 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK II. but afraid even to remain in their city, they took refuge in the moun- 
 tains. 
 
 This adtion having ended with fomuch glory, according to the cuftom 
 of thofe nations, the foldiers of the Colhuas prefented themfelves with 
 their prifoners before their general ; as the bravery of the foldiers was 
 not eftirnated by the number of enemies which were left dead on the 
 field, but of thofe who were made prifoners alive, and fhevvn to the 
 genera]. It cannot be doubted, that this was a rational fentiment, and 
 a praftice conformable to humanity. If the prince can vindicate his 
 rights, and repel force without killing his enemies, humanity demands 
 that life iliould be preferved. If we are to take utility into our confide- 
 ration, a flain enemy cannot hurt, neither can he ferve us, but from a 
 prifoner we may derive much advantage without receiving any harm. 
 If we confider glory, it requires a greater effort to deprive an enemy 
 folely of his liberty, than to wrefl his life from him in the heat of 
 conted. The Mexicans were likewife called upon to make the fliew of 
 their prifoners ; but not having a fingle one to prefent, as the only 
 four which they had taken were kept concealed for a particular pur- 
 pofe ; they were reproached as a cowardly race by the general and the 
 foldiers of the Colhuas. Then the Mexicans holding out their baikets 
 full of ears, faid, " Behold from the number of ears which \vc prc- 
 *' fent, you may judge of the number of prifoners we might have 
 *' brought if we had inclined ; but we were unwilling to lofe time in 
 *' binding them that we might accelerate your vidlory." The Colhuas 
 remained awed and abaflied, and began to conceive apprehenfions from 
 the prudence as well as from the courage of their flaves. 
 
 The Mexicans having returned to the place of their refidence which, 
 as appears, was at that time Huitzolopochco, they ered:ed an altar to their 
 tutelary god ; but being dciirous at the dedication of it to make an offer- 
 ing of fomething precious they demanded fomething of their lord for that 
 purpofe. He fent them in dlfdain, in a dirty rag of coarfe cloth, a vile 
 dead bird, with certain filth about it, which was carried by the priells of 
 the Colhuas, who having laid it upon the altar without any falutation, re- 
 tired. Whatever indignation the Mexicans feltfrom fo unworthy an infult, 
 refcrving their revenge for another occafion, inftead of fuch filth they 
 
 placed
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. i2i 
 
 placed upon the altar a knife of itzli, and an odoriferous herb. The BOOK ir. 
 day of confecration being arrived, the petty king of Colhua, and his 
 nobihty, failed not to be prefent, not to do honour to the feftival, 
 but to make a mockery of his flaves. The Mexicans began this fundlion 
 with a folemn dance, in which they appeared in their beft garments, 
 and while the byltanders were moft fixed in attention, they brought 
 out the four Xochimilca prifoners, whom they had till then kept con- 
 cealed, and after having made them dance a little, they facrificed them 
 upon a ftone, breaking their breafl with the knife of itzli, and tearing 
 out their heart, which, whilft yet warm and beating, they offered to 
 their god. 
 
 This human facrifice, the firft of the kind which we know to have 
 been made in that country, excited fuch horror in the Colhu&s, that hav- 
 ing returned inftantly to Colhuacan, they determined to difmifs flaves 
 who were fo cruel, and might in future become deftruclive to the ftate ; on 
 which Coxcox, fo v/as the petty king named, fent orders to them to depart 
 immediately out of that diilridt, and go wherever they might be moil 
 inclined. The Mexicans willingly accepted their difcharge from fla- 
 very, and directing their courfe towards the north, came to Acat%itzint- 
 Ian, a place fituated between two lakes, named afterwards Mexkalt- 
 zinco^ which name is almoft the fame with that of Mexico, and was 
 given to it without doubt from the fame motive, as we fliall fee fhortly, 
 which made them give it to their capital ; but not finding in that fitua- 
 tion the conveniencies they defired, or being inclined to remove farther 
 from the Colhuas, they proceeded to Iztacalco, approaching ftill nearer 
 to the fite of Mexico. In Iztacalco they made a little mountain of 
 paper, by which they probably reprefcnted Colhuacan {m), and fpent 
 a whole night in dancing around it, finging their vi6bory over the Xo- 
 chimilcas, and returning thanks to their god for having freed them 
 from the yoke of the Colhuas. 
 
 After having fojourned two years in Iztacalco, they came at laft 
 to that fituation on the lake where they were to found their city. 
 There they fiaund a nopal, or opuntia, growing in a ftone, and over it 
 
 (»/) The Mexicans rcprcfentcd Colhuacan in their piif^urcs hy the figure of a hunchbacked 
 tnoontain, and the name has exaiftly thnc fi^nification. 
 
 Vol. I. R the
 
 122 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK ir. ^^^^ foot of an eagle. Gn this account, they gave to the place, and af- 
 
 ^ '- tenvards to their city, the name of Tenochtitlun («). All, or at leaft 
 
 all the hiftorians of IVIexico, fay, this was the precife mark given them 
 by their oracle for the foundation of their city, and relate various events- 
 concerning it, which as they appear out of the courfe of nature, we 
 have omitted as being fabulous, or at leall: uncertain. 
 S c XIX -^^ f°°" ^^ ^^^ Mexicaiis took pofTeffion of that place, they ereded a 
 Foundation -temple for their god Huitzilopochtli. The confecration of that fanftuary, 
 although miferable, was not made without the effuiion of human blood ; 
 for a daring Mexican having gone out in queft of fome animal for a 
 facrifice, he encountered with a Colhuan named Xomimitl ; after a 
 few words, the feelings of national enmity, excited them to blows ; 
 the Mexican was viólor, and having bound his enemy carried him to 
 his countrymen, who facrificed him immediately, and with great ju- 
 bilee prefented his heart torn from his breafl on the altar, exercilmg 
 fuch cruelty not more for the bloody worfliip of that faife divinity, than 
 the gratification of their revenge upon the Colhuas. Around the fanc- 
 •tuary they began to build their wretched huts of reeds and rufhes, be- 
 ing deftitute at that time of other materials. Such was the beginning 
 of the city of Tenochtitlan, which in future times was to become the 
 court of a great empire, and the largeft and molt beautiful city of the 
 new world. It was likewife called Mexico, the name that afterwards 
 prevailed, which denomination being taken from the name of its tute- 
 lar god, fignifies place of Mexitli, or Huitzilopochtli, as he had both 
 thefe names {o). 
 
 The 
 
 (li) Several authors, both Spanifh and of other nations, from ignorance of the Mexican 
 language have altered this name j and in their books it is read Tenoxtitlan, Tcmiltitan, Te- 
 mihtitlan, &c. 
 
 (o) There is a great difference of opinion among authors refpeding the etymology of the 
 word Mexico. Some derive it from Metzli, Moon ; bccaufe they faw the moon reprefented in 
 that lake as the oracle had predifted. Other fay, that Ulcxico means r/fo/i the fountaiii, from 
 having found one of good water in that fpot ; but thefe two etymologies are too violent, and 
 the firft befides is ridiculous. I was once of opinion, that the name was Mcxicco, which means 
 in the center oi Maguei, or trees of the Jlexican aloe ; but from the ftudy of the hiftory I have 
 been undeceived, and am now pofitive that Mexico fignifies the place of Mexitli, or Huitzi- 
 lopochtli, that is, the Mars of thelMexicans, on account of the famftuary there erefled to him ; 
 fo that Mexico with the Mexicans is entirely equivalent to Fanitm Martii of the Romans ; the 
 Mexicans take away the final fyllable tli, in the compounding of words of this kind. The :o 
 
 added
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 The foundntion of Mexico happened in the year 2. Calli, corref- 
 ponding with the year 1325 of the vulgar era, when Quinatzin, the 
 Chechemcca, was reigning in that country : but by changing their 
 fituation, the Mexicans did not fuddenly better their fortune ; for be- 
 ing infulated in the middle of a lake, without lands to cultivate, or 
 garments to cover them, and living in conftant diltrurt: of their neigh- 
 bours, they led a life as miferable as it was in other places, where 
 they had fupported themfelves folely on the animal and vegetable pro- 
 duce of the lake. But when urged by neceflity, of what is not human 
 induftry capable ? The greateft want which the Mexicans experienced 
 was that of ground for their habitations, as the little ifland of Tenoch- 
 titlan was not fufficient for all its inhabitants. This they remedied a 
 little by making palifades in thofe places where the water was ilial- 
 lowefl, which they terraced with ftones and turf, uniting to their princi- 
 cipal ifland feveral other fmaller ones at a little diftance. To procure 
 to themfelves afterwards ftone, wood, bread, and every thing neceffary 
 for tlieir habitations, their clothing, and food, they applied themfelves 
 with the utmoft affiduity to fifliing, not only of white fifh, of which 
 we have already fpoken, but alfo of other little fifli and infedts of the 
 marfhes which they made eatable, and to the catching of innumerable 
 kinds of birds which flocked there to feed in the water. By inftitut- 
 Ing a traffick with this game in the other places fituatcd on the bor- 
 ders of the lake, they obtained all they wanted. 
 
 But the gardens floating on the water which they made of the buflies 
 and mud of the lake, the flrudlure and form of which we fhall elfc- 
 whcre explain, difcovered the greateft exertion of their induftry ; on 
 thefe tliey fowed maize, pepper, chia, French beans, and gourds. 
 
 Thus the Mexicans paded the firft thirteen years, giving as much 
 order and form to their fettlement as pofiible, and relieving their dif- 
 trefies by dint of induftry : until this period, the whole tribe had con- 
 tinued united, notwithftandiag tiae difagreement of the two fadlions 
 ivhich had formed themfelves during their migration. This difcord, 
 which was tranfmitied from father to fon, at laft burft violently out in 
 
 added to it Is thcprcpofuion in. The word McxUaltzitit, means the place of the hnufc or temple 
 cf the god Mi-.vif/i ; lb that Huit7.ilopochco, Mtxicallzhuo and Mexico, the names of the thrcr 
 fil-Aces LucceHivcly inhabited by the 3Ic.\icaiij, mean the fame thinj in fiibllancc.^ 
 
 11 2 1338.
 
 Sect. XXI. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO, 
 
 1338. One of the faftions not being longer able to endure the otlicr, 
 refolvcd to feparate themfelves ; but not having it in their po-wer to 
 remove fo far as their rage fuggeiled, they went towards the North to 
 refide on a little ifland at a fmall diflance, which they named Xaltilolco^ 
 from finding a great heap of fand there, and afterwards, from a terrace 
 which tl>ey made, Tlatdolco, a name which it ftill preferves {p). Thofc 
 who eftabliflied themfelves on that fmall ifland, which was afterwards 
 united to that of 'Tenocbtitlan, had, at that time, the name of Tlat- 
 elolcas, and thofe who remained in the firfl fituation called themfelves 
 Tenochcas ; but we fliall call them Mexicans, as all hiflorians do. 
 
 A little before, or a little after this event, the Mexicans divided their 
 miferable city into four quarters, afTigning to each its tutelar god^ 
 befides the protefting god of the Vvhole nation. This divifion fubfills 
 at prefent under the names of St. Paul, St. Sebaflian, St. John, and St. 
 Mary fqj. In the centre of thefe quarters was the fanduary of Huit- 
 zilopochtli, to whom they daily performed adts of adoration. 
 
 In honour of that falle divinity at this period they made an abo- 
 Anothei- hu- minable facrifice which is not to be thought of without horror. 
 They fent an embafl'y to the petty king of Colhuacan, requeuing him 
 to give them one of his daughters, that fhe might be confecrated mo- 
 ther of their protetìing god, fignifying that it was an exprefs com- 
 mand of a god to exalt her to fo high a dignity. The petty king en- 
 ticed and infatuated by the glory which he would receive from the dei- 
 fication of his daughter, or intimidated by the difaflers which might 
 await him, if he refufed the demand of a god, granted quickly all that 
 v/as requel1:ed, efpecially as he could not well fufpedl what was to hap- 
 pen. The Mexicans conducted the noble damfel with great triumph 
 to their city ; but were fcarcely arrived, as hiflorians relate, when the 
 demon commanded that fhe fhould be made a facrifice, and after her 
 death to be flayed ; and that one of the bravefl youths of the nation 
 
 (a) The ancients reprefented Tlatelolco in their piélures by the figure of a heap of fand. 
 If this had been known by thofe who undertook the interpretation of the Mexican pidtures, 
 ■which were publilhed with the letters of Cortes at Mexico, in 1770, they would not have 
 called ihis place TlatUolco, which name they have interpreted oaten. 
 
 (q) The quarter of St. Paul was called by the Mexicans Tcopan and Xochlmilca ; that of Se- 
 baflian, Auacuaico ; that of St, John, Moyotb j and that of St, Mary, Cucpopan and Tlaqu-chiu- 
 chcan, , 
 
 fhould
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 125 
 
 Should be cloathed with her fkin. Whether it was an order of the de- BOOK il. 
 mon, or, what is more probable, a cruel pretence of the barbarous 
 priefts, all was puntìally executed. The petty king, invited by the 
 Mexicans to be prefent at the apotheofis of his daughter, went to be 
 a fpcdlator of that Ibleinnity, and one of the worfliippers of the new 
 divinity. He was led into the fandluary, where the youth flood up- 
 right by the fide of the idol, clothed in the bloody Ikin of the vidtim; 
 but the obfcurity of the place did not permit him to difcern what was 
 before him. They gave him a cenfer in his hand, and a little copal 
 to begin his worfliip ; but having difcovered, by the light of the flame 
 which the copal made, the horrible fpedlacle, his anguifli aiFefted his 
 whole frame, and being tranfported with tlic violent effeifts of it, he 
 ran out crying with diftradlion, and ordered his people to take re- 
 venge of fo barbarous a deed ; but they dared not to undertake it, as they 
 muft inftantly have been opprefTed by the multitude j upon whicli the 
 father returned inconfolable to his relidence to bewail his difafler the re- 
 mainder of his life. His unfortunate daughter was created goddefs and 
 honorary mother, not only of Huitzilopochtli, but of all their gods ; 
 which is the exadt meaning of Tetcoinan, by which name flie was af- 
 terwards known and worfhipped. Such were the fpecimens in this 
 new city of that barbarous fyftem of religion, which we fliall hereafter 
 explain. 
 
 BOOK
 
 [ 1^6 ] 
 
 BOOK IIL 
 
 Foundatìoìi of the Mexican Moiiarchy : Events of the Me.KÌcaJis under 
 their four fì-Jì Kings, until the Defeat of the Tepanecas and the Coti- 
 quejl of A%capo%alco. The Bravery and ilìujìrious ASfions of Mont e- 
 %uma Ilhulcamina. The Government and Death of Techotlalla, the 
 fifth Chechemecan King. Revolutions in the Kiiigdoni of Acolhuacan. 
 Death of King IxtUlxochitl, and the Tyrants Tezozomoc and Max- 
 t la ton. 
 
 V T TNT IL the year 1352, the Mexican government was arifiocra- 
 
 Aclm^' ^' ^^ ^''^■'^^' ^^^ whole nation paying obedience to a certain body, com- 
 7in, fii-ft king pofed of perfons the moft refpeólable for their nobility and wifdoin. 
 e.Mco. ^j^^ number of thofe who governed at the foundation of Mexico was 
 twentv frj ; among whom the chief in authority was Tenoch, as ap- 
 pears from their paintings. The very humble llate in which they felt 
 themfelves, the inconveniencies they fuftered from their neighbours, 
 and the example of the Chechemecas, the Tepanecas, and the Colhuas, 
 incited them to erecfl their little ftate into a monarchy, not doubing, 
 that the royal authority would throw fome fplendor on the whole body 
 of the nation ; and flattering themfelves that in their new chief they 
 would have a father v/ho would watch over the ftate, and a good ge- 
 neral who would defend them from the infults of their enemies. The 
 eleóHon fell, by common confent, on Acamapitzin , either from the ac- 
 clamations of the people, or the votes of fome eleftors, to whofe judg- 
 ment all were fubmiffive ; as was their mode afterwards. 
 
 Acamapitzin was one of the mofl famous and prudent perfons then 
 living amongfl them. He was the fon of Opocbtli, a very noble Az- 
 
 (r) The twenty lords who then governed the nation were named Taioch, Atzl/i, Acacith, 
 Ahuexotl or Ahitciotl, Oiclopan, Xominiit!, Xiufxac, Axolohua^ Ntinacat'zhi, ^/c/i/zirt, Tlalaln, 
 y-zonttiyayaiih. Cascati, TezcatI Todpaiif Miwich, Tctcpaii, Tczacatl-, Acohatl, and AJ/.tomecatl. 
 
 teca.
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X T e O. 127 
 
 teca (j), and Atozoztli, a princefs of the royal family of Colhuacan {t). BOOK in. 
 On the father's fide, he took his defcent from Tochpanecatl, that lord ' — 'y— — » 
 of Zumpanco, who fo kindly received the Mexicans when they ar- 
 rived at that city. He was yet unmarried; on v/hich account they 
 foon determined to deirand a virgin of one of the firfl: families of 
 Anahuac, and for that purpofe fent fucceflive embaffies to the lord of 
 Tacuba, and the king of Azcapozalco ; but by both their pretenfions 
 were rejedted with difdain. Without defpairing from fo difgraceful a rc- 
 fufal, they made the filine demand from Acolmiztli, lord of CoatHchan, 
 and a defcendant of one of the three Acolhuaa princes, requefling him 
 to give them one of his daughters for the^r queen. Acolmiztli com- 
 plied with their requcft, and gave them his daughter Ilancueitl, whoiii 
 the Mexicans conducted triumphantly away and celebrated the nuptials 
 with the utmoft rejoicings. 
 
 The Tlatelolcos who, from being neighbours and rivals, were con- c rr 
 
 ° ^ ' Sect. II, 
 
 ftantly obferving what v/as done in Tenochtitlan, that they might vie Quaquauh- 
 with it in glory, and prevent their being in future opprelTed by that kin" of^Tla- 
 power, alfo created themfdves a king : but not efteeming it advanta- ''^'o'*^"- 
 geous that he fliould be one of their own nation, they demanded of 
 Azcapozalco, king of the Tcpaneca nation, to which lord the lite of 
 Tlatelolco, as well as Mexico was fubjedl, one of his fons, that he 
 might rule over them as their monarch, and that they might obey him 
 as vafTals. The king gave theni his fon ^lajnauhpitzahuacy wlio was 
 immediately crowned firfl; king of Tlatelolco in 1353. 
 
 It is to be fufpedted that the Tlatelolcos, when they made fuch a de- 
 mand from that king, had, with a view to flatter and incenfe him againfl 
 their rivals, exaggerated the infolence of the Mexicans in creating a 
 king without his permiffion ; as in a few days after Azcapozalco allem- 
 
 (j) Some hiftorians report, that Acamapitzin whom they fuppofe to have been born whiJc 
 in llavcry at Colhuacan, w.is the fon of old Huitzilihuit! ; but this is not probable, as Huit- 
 zilihuitl, born while the Mexicans were in Tizaynca, was not lefs than ninety years of age 
 when the Mexicans were made flaves ; wherefore, Huitzilihuiil was not father, but ceitainly 
 grandf;uher of Acamapitzin. Torquemada makes this king fon of Cohuaizontli ; biu we ad- 
 here to the opinion oFSiguenzn, who has invclligatjd the genealogy of the Mexican kings with 
 more criticifm and diligence than Torquemada. 
 
 (/) It is much to be wondered at that Opochtli (houlJ marry a virgin fo illuftriouf, at a time 
 when his nation was fo reduced and degraded by (lavery ; but this marriage is jifcertained by 
 the pictures, of the Mexicans and Colhuns, fcen by the learned Siguenza. 
 
 bled
 
 123 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK III. bled his counfellors, and fpoke to them in the following words ; 
 
 ^-"^"-'^ << What is your judgment, nobles of Tepaneca, of this ad: of the 
 " Mexicans ? They have introduced themfelves into our dominions, 
 " and continue to increafe very confiderably their city and their com- 
 *' merce, and what is worfe have had the audacity to create one of their 
 " own nation a king, without waiting for our confent. If they pro- 
 " ceed thus in the beginning of their eftablifhment, what is to be ima- 
 " crined they will do hereafter when they have increafed their numbers 
 " and added to their ftrength ? Is it not to be apprehended that in fu- 
 " ture, inftead of paying us the tribute which we have impofed on 
 " them, they will pretend that we fhould pay it to them, and that the 
 '* petty king of the Mexicans will aim alfo at being monarch of the 
 '• Tepanecas ? I therefore confider it neceflary to multiply their bur- 
 " dens fo much, that in labouring to difcharge them they may be 
 " worn out, or on failure of paying us, that we harrafs them with other 
 ** evils, and at lafl conflrain them to abandon their fiate." 
 
 All applauded the refolution ; nor was it otherwife to be expefted ; 
 
 «;ec 
 
 T. HI. 
 
 rlxes ™" as the prince who in council difcovers his whh, rather looks for pane- 
 
 ?Iexican3, 
 
 pofed "'I = gvriils to Tecond his inclination, than counfellors to enlighten his un 
 
 derftanding : the king then fent to inform the Mexicans, that the tri- 
 bute which they had paid hitherto being too fmall, it was his pleafure 
 that they fhould double it in future ; that they were befides to cany fo 
 mary thoufands of willow and fir-plants to be fet in the roads and 
 gardens of Azcapozalco, and to tranfport to the court a great kitchen 
 garden, where ail the vegetables known in Anahuac were fown and 
 
 growing. 
 
 The Mexicans, who, until that time had paid no other tribute than 
 a certain quantity of fiHi, and a certain number of water-birds, were 
 greatly diflrefl'ed with thefe new grievances, fearing that they might 
 conftantly be increafing : but they performed ail that was enjoined 
 them, carrying at the appointed time along with their fifh and fowl, 
 the willows and floating garden. Whoever has not ièen thefc moft 
 beautiful gardens, which in our time were cultivated in the middle of 
 the water, and tranfported with eafe wherever they defircd, will not with- 
 out difficulty be perfuaded of the truth of fuch an event : but whoever 
 has feen them as we have, and all Xidio have failed upon that lake, where 
 
 ' the
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 the fenfes receive the nioft delightful recreation, will have no reafoii to 
 doubt of the authenticity of this hiftory. Having obtained this tri- 
 bute from them, the king ordered them to bring him the next year an- 
 other garden, with a duck and a fwan in it, both fitting on their eggs ; 
 but fo, as that on their arrival at Azcapozalco, the brood might be ready 
 to hatch. The Mexicans obeyed, and took their meafures fo well, 
 that the foolifh prince had the pleafure of feeing the chickens come out 
 of the eggs. They were ordered the fucceeding year to bring, befides 
 a garden of this kind, a live ftag : this new order was the more diffi- 
 cult to execute, as it was neceflary to go to the mountains on the con- 
 tinent to hunt the flag, where they were in danger of engaging with 
 their enemies j it was, however, accompliflied, that they might efcape 
 from wrongs more opprefTive. This hard fubjedlion of the Mexicans 
 lafted not lefs than fifty years. The hiftorians of Mexico affirm, that 
 the Mexicans in all their afflidions implored the proteftion of their god, 
 who rendered the execution of fuch orders eafy to them : but we are of 
 a different opinion. 
 
 The poor king Acamapitzin, in addition to thcfe difgufts, experi - 
 enced the flcrility of his queen Ilancueitl, and therefore married l'c%- 
 catla/niahucitl, daughter of the lord of Tetepanci, by whom he had 
 feveral fons, and among others Huitzilihuitl and Chimalpopoca, fuccef- 
 fors to him in the crown. He took this fecond wife without aban- 
 doning the firft ; they both lived in fuch harmony together that Ilan- 
 cueitl charged herfelf with the education of Huitzilihuitl. He had 
 other wives, although not honoured with the rank of queens j and among 
 the reft, a flave, who bore Itzccatl, one of the beft and moft renowned 
 among the kings of Anahuac. Acamapitzin governed his city in 
 peace, for thirty-feven years j his city, at that time, comprehending 
 the whole of his kingdom. In his time population increafed, build- 
 ings of ftone were ereded, and thofe canals which ferved as well for 
 the ornament of the city as for the convenience of the citizens, were 
 begun. The interpreter of Mcndoza's colleflion afcribes to this king, 
 the conqucft of Mizquic, Cintlahuac, Quauhnahiiac, and Xochimilco : 
 but is it poffible to believe that the Mexicans v.ould undertake the 
 conqueft of four fuch great cities, at a time when they had difficulty to 
 preferve their own territory. The pidure, therefore, in that coUeftion, 
 Vol. I. S reprefenting
 
 i30 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK III. reprefenting thofe four cities fubdued by the Mexicans, muft beunder- 
 " ' ' Hood to apply to the Mexicans, only as they were auxiliaries to other 
 ilates, in the fame manner, as a fhort time afterwards they ferved the 
 king of Tezcuco againft the Xaltocanefe. 
 
 A little before his death, Acamapitzin called together the great men 
 of the city ; when after exhorting them to maintain their zecd for the 
 public good, recommending to them the care of his wives and chil- 
 dren ; and declaring the pain it gave him at his death, to think of 
 leaving his people tributary to the Tepanecas, he faid, that, having re- 
 ceived the crown from their hands, he put it into their hands again, 
 in order that they might beftow it upon him who they thought would 
 do the ftate moft fervice. His death, which happened in the year 
 1 -^89, was greatly lamented by the Mexicans, and his funeral was ce- 
 lebrated with as much magnificence as the poverty of the nation would 
 admit. 
 
 From the death of Acamapitzin, until the eledion of a new king, as 
 we are informed by Siguenza, an interregnum took place, of four 
 months ; a circumftance which never happened again, as from that 
 time forward the new king was always chofen a very fev/ days after the 
 death of the preceding. Perhaps the eledion, at this time, might be 
 retarded, by the nobles being employed in regulating the number of the 
 eledtors, and in fettling the ceremony of the coronation which was then 
 beginning to be obferved. 
 
 The eledlors then, chofen by the nobles, being aflembled together, 
 the oldefl man among them addrefled them in this manner. *' My age 
 " emboldens me to fpeak firft. The misfortune, O Mexican nobles, 
 *' which we have fuffered by the death of our king, is very great; and 
 " none ought to feel it more than we who were the feathers of his 
 " wings, and the eye-lids of his eyes. Such a misfortune is ftill In- 
 " creafed, by the unhappy condition of dependence upon the power of 
 *' the Tepanecas, under which we live, to the reproach of the Mexl- 
 *' can name. Do you, then, whom it fo much concerns to find a re- 
 *' medy for our prefent diftreffes, do you refolve to choofe a king who 
 ** iliall be zealous for the honour of our mighty god Huitzilopochtli, 
 •' who filali avenge, with his arm, the injuries done to our nation; 
 " and who fliall take the aged, the widow, and the orphan under the 
 
 «' fhade
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 131 
 
 •* Hiade of his clemency." At the conclulion of this fpeech the dec- book in. 
 
 tors gave their votes, and their choice fell upon Huitzilihuitl, fon of ^T^^'T^ 
 
 the deceafed king Acamapitzin. Then they proceeded, in regular order, Huitzliihuiii 
 
 to the houfe of the eledted perfon, whom they placed in the middle of oV^Mexicof 
 
 them, and condufted to the Tlatocaicpalii, that is the rovai feat or 
 
 throne J upon which they feated him; and after anointing him in the 
 
 manner we ftiall defcribe in another place, they then placed upon his 
 
 head the Copilli or crown, and made him their fubmiflions one by one. 
 
 Then one of the moft confiderable perfons raifed his voice, and tliiis 
 
 addreffed the king. " Be not difcouraged, excellent youth, at receiv- 
 
 " ing that new employment, to which you are called, of reigning over 
 
 " a nation v>hich is inclofed among the reeds and ruflies of this lake. 
 
 " It is, indeed, unfortunate to polTefs fo fmall a kingdom within an- 
 
 " other's territory', and to be the chief of a people, who, originally free, 
 
 *' have now become tributary to the Tepanecas ; but be comforted, 
 
 *' and remember that we are under the protedion of the great god 
 
 " Huitzilopochtli, \\hofe image you are, and whofe place you fill. 
 
 " The dignity to which you have been raifed by him, fliould ferve, 
 
 " not as an excufe for indolence and effeminacy, but as a fpur to exer- 
 
 " tion. Have ever before your eyes the illullrious example of your 
 
 '* great father, who fpared no labour in the fervicc of the public. We 
 
 *' ihould wi!h, fir, to make you prefents worthy of your llation ; but 
 
 " fince our fituation will not admit of it, be pleafed to accept our pro- 
 
 " mifes of themoft inviolable attachment and fidelity." 
 
 Huitzililauitl was not yet married when he afccnded the throne : but 
 it was thought proper that he fliould take a wife, and the nobles willied 
 for a daughter of the kiiig of Azcapozalco. To avoid, however, 10 
 ignominious a denial as they met with in the time of Acamapitzin, 
 they refolved to make the requefl, upon this occafion, with the great- 
 eft demonftrations of humility and refpecl. Some of the nobles, there- 
 fore, went to Azcapozalco, and falling on their knees, when they were 
 prefented to the king, they declared their wiflies, in the following 
 words, " Behold, great lord, the poor Mexicans at your feet, humbly 
 " expedting from your goodnef?, a favour which is greatly beyond 
 " their merit ; but to whom ought we to have recourfe, except to you, 
 " who are our fixthcr and our lord. Behold us hanging upon your 
 
 S 2 " lips.
 
 132 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK III. " lips, and waiting only your fignals to obey. We bcfeech you, with 
 ^""■''V''-*^ " the moft profound refpeót, to take compaffion upon our mafter and 
 " your fervant Huitzilihuitl, confined among the thick ruflies of the 
 *' lake. He is without a wife, and we without a queen. Vouchfafe, 
 " fir, to part wth one of your jewels, or moft precious feathers. 
 " Give us one of your daughters, who may come to reign over us in 
 " a country which belongs to you." 
 
 Thefe expreflions, which are peculiarly elegant in the Mexican Ian»- 
 guage, fo foftened the mind of 'Te%ozo7noc (for that was the king's- 
 name), that he infi:antly granted his daughter Ajauhcihuatly to the 
 great joy of the Mexicans, who condudted her in triumph to Mexico, 
 where the much wiilied-for marria2:e was celebrated, with the ufual 
 ceremony of tying together the fkirts of the garments of the hulhand 
 and wife. By this princefs the king had a fon the firft year, who was 
 named Acoinahuacatl ; but being delirous to flrengthen his kingdom by 
 new alliances, he fought and obtained from the prince of Quauhna- 
 huac, one of his daughters called Miabuaxochitl, by whom he had 
 Motezuma Ilbiiicamma, the mofl celebrated of the Mexican kings. 
 Sect. V. At that time, in Acolhuacan, reÌ8;ned Techotlala, fon of king; Quimat- 
 
 Techotlala, . _, ^ ' , . r\- ■ r i t - 
 
 kingot'Acol- zm. The firn; thirty years of his reign were peaceful; but alterwards 
 iuiiean,_ T^%ompan, prince of Xaltocan, revolted, and finding his own force infuf- 
 
 ficient to oppofe his fovereign, he called to his alTiftance the ftates of 
 Otompan,Meztitlan,Quahuacan,Tecomic,Quauhtitlan, andTepozotlan. 
 The king promifed him pardon, provided he would lay down his arms 
 and fubmit j which clemency probably proceeded from refpeól to the 
 noble extraftion of the rebel, who was the laft defcendant of Chicon- 
 quauhtli, one of the three Acolhuan princes. But Tzompan confid- 
 ing in the number of his troops, rejefted the offer with contempt ; 
 when the king fent an army againft him, which was joined by the 
 Mexicans and Tepanecas, whofe fervice he had demanded. The war 
 was obflinate, and lafted for two months : but at length, vidtory de- 
 claring for the king, Tzompan, with all the chiefs of the revolted cities, 
 was put to death, and in him was extinguifhed the illufiirious race of 
 Chiconquauhtli. This v/ar, in which the Mexicans ferved as auxili- 
 aries to the king of Acolhuacan againft Xaltocan and the other confe- 
 derated ilates, is reprefented in the third pidture of Mendoza's collec- 
 
 I tion :
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 tion : but the interpreter of thofc pidlures was millaken when he in:u- 
 gined that thofe cities were fuhjeded to the Mexican crown. 
 
 After the end of the war the Mexicans returned to their city with 
 glory ; and Techotlala, in order to prevent other rebelUons in future, 
 divided his kingdom into fevcnty-five flates, giving each a chief to go- 
 vern them in fubordination to the crown. In each of them he Hke- 
 wife placed a certain number of the inhabitants of fomc other fiate ; 
 expedling that the natives would be more eafily kept in fubjedtion by 
 means of ftrangers who depended upon a foreign power ; a policy whicli 
 might, indeed, be ufeful in preventing rebellion, but which was very 
 opprefllve to the innocent fubjetìs, and created much trouble to the 
 chiefs who were entrufted with the government. At the fame time, 
 he conferred honourable offices upon many of the nobles. He made 
 Tediato general of his armies. Toltili entertainer and introducer of a-m- 
 balfadors, Tlami major-domo of the royal palace, Amechicht overfeer 
 of the cleaning of the royal houfes, and Cobuatl diredlor of the gold 
 workers of Ocolco. No perfon worked in gold or filver, for the ufe 
 of the king, except the directors own children, who had learnt the art 
 for that purpofe. The entertainer of amballadors had many Colhuan 
 officers under him ; the major-domo had a certain number of Chcche- 
 mecas; and the fuperintendant of the cleaning of the lioufes, an equal 
 number of Tepanecas. By fuch regulations he increafed the Iplendor 
 of his court, and flrengthened the throne of Acolhuacan ; altliough he 
 could not hinder thofe revolutions wliich we fliall foon have occafion 
 to mention. Thefe and other fuch inftances of wife policy, which v/ill 
 appear in the fequel of this hiflory, evidently ihew the Injufcice done to 
 the Americans by thofe who have confidercd them as animals of a dif- 
 ferent fpecies, or as incapable of civilization or improvement. 
 
 The new alliance formed by the king of Mexico with the king of 
 Azcapozalco, and the glory acquired by his fubje<^s in the war of Xal- 
 tocan, ferved both to ftrengthen their little ftate and to make themfclvcs 
 more refpedable in the eyes of their neighbours. Being enabled, 
 therefore, to extend their trade and carry it on with greater freedom, 
 they began, now, to wear deaths made of cotton, which they had been 
 entirely without, in their former ftatc of indigence, wlicn they had no- 
 thing but coarfe fluffs made of the threads of the wild palm. But 
 
 they
 
 cans. 
 
 134 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK ni. they had fcarcely time to breathe, when a ncvv enemy and bloody perfe- 
 ^^ — "^ — -' CLitor ftartcd up, in the liime royal family of Azcapazalco. 
 Sect. vf. Maxtluton pfince of Coyoacan, and fon of the king of Azcapozalco, 
 Maxtlaton ^ Cfuel, turbulent, ambitious man, and who was feared even by his fa- 
 to the i\;exl- tlier upon that account, had been difpleafed at the marriage of his fifter 
 Ayauhcihuatl with the king of Mexico. He concealed his difpleafure, 
 for fome time, out of refpedt to his fither; but in the tenth year of the 
 reign of Huitzilihuitl, he went to Azcapozalco, and aiTembled the no- 
 bility, in order to lay before them his complaints againft the Mexicans 
 jind their king. He reprefented the increafe of the population of Mexi- 
 co ; enlarged upon the pride and arrogance of that people, and upon 
 the fatal eftedlis which were to be feared from their prefent difpofitions ; 
 and efpecially complained of the great affront done to him by tiie Mexi- 
 can king, in depriving him of his wife. It is neceflary to obferve, that 
 Maxtlaton and Ayauchcihuatl^ although both children of Tezozomoc, 
 were yet born of diffei'ent mothers ; and perhaps fuch marriages were 
 in thofe times, permitted among the Tepanecas. Whether he ever 
 attually intended to many his lifter, or only made that a pretext to 
 cover his cruel defigns, is uncertain ; but, in the affembly of the no- 
 bles, it was determined to fummon Huitzilihuitl, to anfwer to the pre- 
 tended charge. The Mexican king went to Azcapozalco; nor will 
 this appear extraordinary, when we confider that it was no uncommon 
 thing, at that time, for princes to vifit one another ; and that, befides, 
 it was the duty of Huitzilihuitl, as a feudatory of that crown; for, al- 
 though from the birth of Acolnahuacatl, the queen of Mexico had pre- 
 vailed upon her father Tezozomac to relieve the Mexicans from the 
 opprelnons to which they had been fubjedied for fo many years before, 
 yet Mexico ftill continued in the nature of a fief of Azcapozalco, and 
 the Mexicans owed the Tepanecan king an annual prefent of a couple 
 of ducks by way of acknowledgement of his fuperiority. 
 
 Maxtlaton received Fluitzilihuitl in a hall of the palace, and after 
 having dined with him in the prefence of the courtiers who flattered 
 all his fchemes, he charged Huitzilihuitl in the fevereft terms, with 
 the pretended outrage done to him by the marriage of Ayauhcihuatl. 
 The Mexican king with the greateft refpeft afferted his innocence, and 
 faid, that he certainly would never have folicited the princefs, nor her 
 
 father
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 135 
 
 father have given her away to him, if flie had been bethrothed to an- BOOK lir. 
 other. But in fpite of the truth of his juftification and the weight of ' ""^—-^ 
 his reafons, Maxtlaton angrily replied, " I might now, without hear- 
 ** ing more, put you to inftant death, and fo punifh your boldnefs and 
 " avenge my own honour ; but I would not have it faid that a Tepane- 
 " can prince killed his enemy in a treacherous manner. Depart in 
 *' peace ; and time will give me an opportunity of taking a more ho- 
 " nourable revenge," 
 
 The Mexican went from him, filled with rage and vexation, and was 
 not long without feeling the effedts of his cruel kinfman's difpleafure. 
 The true caufe of Maxtlaton's enmity arofe from his fear of the crown 
 of the Tepanecas one day coming to his nephew Acolnahuacatl, by 
 which event his nation would become fubjedt to the Mexicans. To 
 remove the caufe of his fear, he formed the barbarous refolution of 
 putting his nephew to death, who was accordingly murdered a iliort 
 time after by fome perfons who hoped, by that aft of cruelty, to gain 
 the favour of their mafter j no prince ever wanting, about him, mer- 
 cenary men, who are ready to ferve his pafììons (j). Tezozomoc gave 
 no confent to the perpetration of this crime, but we do not know that 
 he fhewed any difapprobation of it. In the fequcl of this hiftory we 
 Avail fee that the haughtinefs, the ambition, and the cruelty of Maxtla- 
 ton rather encouraged than connived at by his indulgent fatiier, brought 
 ruin upon himfelf and his kingdom. Huitzilihuitl could ill brook 
 fuch a barbarous injury ; but he yet wanted fufficient power to take 
 revenge. 
 
 In the fame year with this tragical event (1399) died at Tlatelolco, Sect. VII. 
 the firfl king, Quaquauhpitzahuac, leaving his fubjeds much more ci- fcconTur!'-- 
 vilized, and the city greatly enlarged by handfome buildings and gar- of riatcioi- 
 dens. He was fucceeded by Tlacatcotl, of whofe origin hiftorians dif- 
 fer widely in their relations ; fome imagining he was a Tepanecan as 
 well as his predeceflbr, while others take him to have been an Acol- 
 
 (j) There is no author who gives any account of the circum (lances of this murder ; and it is 
 hardly to be conceived how the Tepanecas fliould be able to execute fuch a deed in Mexico ; 
 but we cannot doubt of the faéì, as it is confirmed by aU the national hiftorians ; but father 
 Acolla has committed a millakc in confounding the murder of this young prince Acolnahua- 
 catl, with the death of Chimalpopoca the third king of Mexico. 
 
 huan.
 
 1.6 HI3TORYOF MEXICO. 
 
 J 
 
 BOOK III. liuan, appointed by the king of Acolhuacan. The rivalfliip which 
 """"^ ^ lubfifled between the Mexicans and Tlatelolcas contributed greatly to 
 the aggrandizement of their relpedlive cities. The Mexicans had form- 
 ed fo many alliances, by marriage, with the neighbouring nations ; had 
 fo greatly improved their agriculture, and increafed the number of their 
 floating gardens upon the lake; and had built fo many more veflels to 
 fupply their extended commerce and iifliing, that they were enabled to 
 celebrate their fecular year i. T^ochtli, which anfwers to the year 1402 
 of OLir era, with greater magnificence than any of the four which had 
 elapfed fince their firfl leaving of the country of Aztlan. 
 
 At this time Techotlala, far advanced in years, ftill reigned in Acol- 
 huacan ; who perceiving his end approach, called to him his fon and 
 fucceiTor Ixtlilxochitl, and, among many inftruflions, particularly re- 
 commended to him the conciliating of the minds of his feudatory lords ; 
 icft the crafty and ambitious Tezozomoc, who, till that time, had only 
 been rertrained by the uncertainty of fuccefs, fhould attempt any thing 
 againfl the empire. Nor were the fears of Techotlala without founda- 
 tion, as will appear from the fequel. He died, at lalV, in the year 
 1406, after a veiy long reign, though not quite fo long as fome authors 
 have imagined (/). 
 vSscT.VlTl. After the funeral rites were performed with the ufual folemnitv, and 
 kiugofAcol- the attendance of the princes and lords, the feudatories of the crown, 
 hiLKii-i. ^j^^^ proceeded to celebrate the acceflion of Ixtlilxochitl. Among the 
 
 princes was the king of Azcapozalco; who, by his condudt, foon juf- 
 tified the fufpicions entertained of him by the deceafed Techotlala ; as, 
 without making the ufual fubmiffions to the new king, he fet out 
 for his own fiate with an intention to flir up the other feudatories 
 to rebellion agninft the empire. He called together the kings of Mexi- 
 co and Tlateiolco, and told them, that Techotlala, who had fo long 
 tyrannized over that country, being dead, his purpofe was to procure 
 freedom to the princes, fo that each might rule his own ftate with en- 
 tire independence upon the king of Acolhuacan : but in order to ob- 
 
 (/) Torqiicmnda and Bctancourt give one hundred and four years to the rei^n of Techot- 
 lala; and although it is not imponible that a prince fhould reign fo long, yet it is extremely 
 improbable, and would require the firongcrt evidence to authenticate it ; efpeciallv if we con- 
 sider the general abfurdity of thcit chronology, Eut fee our DiJertatlons, 
 
 tain
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 n? 
 
 tain fo glorious an obje>fl, he needed their afllflance ; and, upon their nooK iir. 
 
 fpirit, fo well known among all the nations, he relied for their taking 
 
 part with him hi the great cnterprife. He added, that in order to 
 
 ftrike their blow with the greater fecurity, he would undertake to unite 
 
 in their confederacy fome other princes whom he knew to be animated 
 
 with the fame defigns. The two kings, cither through fear of the 
 
 great power of Tezozomoc, or to increafe the reputation of their arms, 
 
 engaged to affifl him witli their troops, as did alfo the other chiefs 
 
 whom he folicited. 
 
 In the mean time IxtlLxochitl was employed in putting the affairs of 
 his court into order, and in gaining the minds of his fubjedls ; but h& 
 foon difcovered, to his gre.it difippointment, that already many had 
 withdrawn themfelves from their obedience to him, in order to place 
 themfelves under the command of the perfidious Tezozomoc. To 
 oppofe the progrefs of the enemy, he commanded the princes of Coat- 
 lichan, Huexotla, and fome other neighbouring flates, to arm all the 
 troops they could without delay. The king himfelf willied to lead his 
 army in perfon, but he was difì'uaded from it by fome of his courtiers, 
 who reprefcnted the neceflity of his prefence at the court, left in the 
 diftradlion of aftairs, fome concealed enemy, or friend of wavering fide- 
 lity ftiould be tempted, by the opportunity of his abfcnce, to make him- 
 felf niafter of the capital, and drive the king from his throne. To- 
 chinteuSlli, fon of the prince of Coatlichan, was made general of the 
 army, and in cafe of his death, or any other accident, ^lauhxilotl, prince 
 of Iztapallocan was appointed to fucceed him. The plain of Qiiauh- 
 titlan, fifteen miles north of Azcapozalco, was chofen for the theatre 
 of the war. The troops of the rebels were more numerous, but thofe 
 of the king better difciplined. The royal army, before it fct out for 
 Quauhtitlan, ravaged fix of the revolted ftates, in order both to weaken 
 the enemy, and to leave behind them none who fliould be able to do 
 them much injury. The war was fupported with great obftinacy; the 
 fuperior difcipline of the Tezcucans being counteradtcd by the fuperio- 
 rity of numbers on the fide of the Tepanccas, who v/ould certainly 
 have been quickly overcome if they had not been conftantly fupplied 
 with frefh troops. The allies of the rebels frequently fent out large 
 bodies to tnake incurfions ia the loyal ftates, where they met with little 
 Vol. I. T refiftance
 
 138 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK III. rcfiflance as the greateft part of the Tezcucan force was colle6ted at 
 ^ ^ Quuuhtitkn. Among the various difafters which they occafioned, the 
 
 lord of Iztapallocan Quauhxilotl was flain, who died with glory in de- 
 fence of his city after his return from the field cf Quauhtitlan, The 
 kingof Acolhuacan fawhimfelf ohliged, now, to divide his forces, and 
 appointed a confiderable part of the people, who came from many di- 
 ftant places to his affiftance, for the garrifon of the cities. Tezozomoc 
 perceiving in place of the advantages which he had promifed himfelf, 
 that his troops daily diminilhed, and that his people were become im- 
 patient of the fatigues and dangers of war after three years of continued 
 action, demanded peace, defigning to finifli, by fecret treachery, what 
 he had begun by open violence. The king of Acolhuacan, although 
 , he could not rely on the faith of the Tepanecan prince, neverthelels, 
 
 confented without infifting on any conditions vvhich might give him 
 fecurity for the future, as his troops were as much broken with fitigue 
 as thofe of his enemy. 
 Sect. IX. Juft as the war was concluded, or a little before its termination, 
 ?thirlfkfng after a reign of twenty years, in 1409, Huitzilihuitl died, having pub- 
 of Mexico. YiCned fome laws ufeful to the fiate, and leaving the nobility in pofTef- 
 fion of their right to chufe a fucceffor. Chimalpopoca, who was his 
 brother, was accordingly chofen, and by what appears, from thence it 
 became the efcablifhed law to make the eiedlion of one of the brothers 
 of the deceafed king, and on failure of brothers, of one of his grandfons. 
 This law was conftantly obferved until the fall of the Mexican empire. 
 
 While Chimalpopoca found means to fix himfelf fecurely on the 
 throne of Mexico, Ixtlixochitl begun to totter on that of Acolhuacan. 
 The peace which Tezozomoc had demanded was a mere artifice to lull 
 fufpicion while he was more effeftually purfuing his negociations. The 
 number of his party was daily obferved to increafe, while that of the 
 Tezcucan diminifhed. This unfortunate king found himfelf reduced 
 to fuch extremity, that thinking himfelf infecure in his own court, he 
 went wandering through the neighbouring mountains efcorted by a 
 fmall army, and accompanied by the lords of Huexotla and Coatlichan, 
 who were always faithful to him. The Tepanecas, that they might 
 diftrefs him to the utmofl, intercepted the provifions which were car- 
 rying to his camp 3 by which his neceffities became fo great that he was 
 
 compelled
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 139 
 
 compelled at laft to beg provifions of his enemies. So eafy ib it to fall book hi. 
 from the height of human felicity to the loweft fiate of mifcry. 
 
 He fent one of his grandfons named Cehnacuecueitotzin, to Otompan, 
 one of the rebel ftates, to requefl the citizens of it to fupply their king 
 with the provifions he flood in need of, and to admonifli them to 
 abandon the party of the rebels, and to call to their minds the loyalty 
 they had fworn. Cehuacuecuenotzin, well knew the danger of the 
 undertaking ; but fear being overcome by the generofity of his fcnti- 
 ments, his fortitude of mind, and fidelity to his fovereign, he fliewed 
 himfeif ready to obey: " I go my lord," he faid, " to execute your 
 " commands, and to facrifice my life to the obedience which I o\ve 
 ** you. You cannot be infenfible how much the Otompanefe are alien- 
 " ated from you by efpoufing the part of your enemy. The whole 
 " country is occupied by the Tepanecas, and every where dangerous ; 
 " my return is uncertain. But Ihould I periilTi in your fervicc, and if 
 " the facrifice which I make you of my life is worthy of any rccoin- 
 " pence, I pray you to protedl the two young children I leave beliind." 
 Thefe words, which were accompanied with flrong marks of feeling, 
 touched the king's heart, who, in taking leave of him, fud, " May 
 " our God accompany and return you fafe. Alas ! perhaps at your re- 
 " turn, you may find what you fear for yourfelf, will have happened to 
 *' me, the enemies being fo numerous who confpire againfl: my life." 
 Cihuacuecuenotzin proceeded without delay to Otompan, but before 
 he entered he knew that there were, at that time, Tepanecas in the 
 city, who were fent by Tezozomoc, to publilh a proclamation ; he was 
 not, however, difcourageJ, but went intrepidly to the public piace 
 where the Tepanecas had ailemblcd the people to hear the proclama- 
 tion, and after having falutcd them all gracioufly, he freely communi- 
 cated his embaliy. 
 
 The Otompanefe made a jeft of him and his demand, but none of 
 them dared to proceed firthcr, until a mean perfon among them threw 
 a ftone at him, exciting others at the fame time to put him r.o death. 
 The Tepanecas, who continued Itili and filent, to obferve what rcfo- 
 lution the Otompanefe would take, perceiving now that they openly 
 declared againfl the king of Acolhuacan, and his amballador, cried out. 
 Kill, lull, the traitor ! ;iccompanying their cries with throwing of floncs. 
 
 T 2 Cihuacuc-
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Ciluiacuccuenotzin, at firft, faced his enemies, but feeing himfelf over- 
 powered by numbers, and endeavouring to fave himfelf by flight, was 
 killed by a fhower of ftones. A charaólcr in titled to a better fate ! an 
 example of fidelity iboH worthy to be recorded, which had the hero 
 been Grecian or Roman, in place of American, would have been the 
 fubjed; of praife of both hiftorians and poets. 
 
 The Tepanecas became vain-glorious, of an acfl equally contrary to 
 humanity and the rights of nations ; and protefbed to the multitude 
 the great pleafure they would liave in being able to inform their chief, 
 from being eye-witneffes, of the inviolable fidelity of the Otompanefe. 
 They alfo declared, they had been fent exprefsly to intimate an order 
 not to give afliftance to the king of Tezcuco, under pain of profcrip- 
 tion, and to exhort them to take arms againft that king, and in defence 
 of their liberty. The lord of Otompan, and the heads of the nobi- 
 lity replied, they would willingly obey the order of the king of Azca- 
 pozalco, and offered to do every thing in their power to fecond his in- 
 tentions. 
 
 They gave fpeedy intelligence of this event to the lord of Acolman, 
 who was tlie fon of Tezozomoc, and communicated it to his father : 
 he believing it now time to put his defigns in execution, fent for the 
 lords of Otompan and Chalco, on whofe fidelity he chiefly relied, and 
 whofe ftates were moft: conveniently fituated for his purpofe, and charg- 
 ed them to levy, with all poflible fecrecy, a futficient army, and lay 
 themfelves in ambufcade in a mountain near to the camp of the Tef- 
 cucan king ; that from thence they ihould fend two of the moft brave 
 and able captains to the royal camp, who, under pretence of imparting 
 fome very important fecret to the king, fliould artfully lead him to as 
 preat a diftance as polTible from his people, and then without delay or 
 hcfitation to murder him. Every thing happened as the wicked prince 
 had defigned. The king then chanced to be in the neighbourhood of 
 Tragical Tlafcala, and entertaining no fufpicion of the two captains who came to 
 lisociilti. ^ ' ^''i""*> fell unwarily into the fnare. The deed was done at fome little di- 
 ilance, but yet in fight of the royal army. They ran up immediately 
 to chaftife the temerity of thofe two defperate captains, but the army 
 of the confpirators advancing, which was more numerous, they were 
 auickly defeated. The royal corpfe was with difficulty fiwed, to pay 
 
 it 
 
 Sect. XI.
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 141 
 
 it funeral honours, and the heir of the crown, who was a witncfs of book ill 
 the tragic end of his father, was obUged to hide himfelf in the buflies 
 to cfcape the fury of his enemies. Thus did the unfortunate king Ixt- 
 hlxochitl end his life in 1410, after a reign of feven years. 
 
 He left feveral fons, and among them Nezahualcojotl, heir to the tlirone, 
 whom he had by Matkkibuat-zin, daughter of Acamapitzin, king pf 
 Mexico (t). This prince was endued with a great genius, and an un- 
 paralleled magnanimity, and pre-eminently deferving of the throne of 
 Acolhuacan j but he was not able from the fuperiority of Tezozomoc, 
 to put himfelf in pofleflion of the throne which was due to him by fo 
 many titles, until many years had eiapfed, and many dangers and ob- 
 ftacles to it were furmounted. 
 
 The perfidious Tezozomoc had prepared great bodies of troops, that 
 when the premeditated blow on the perfon of the king (hould fucceed, 
 they might pour down upon the cities of Tezcuco, Huexotla, Coatli- 
 chan, Coatepec, and Iztapallocan, which had been the moft faithful to 
 their lord, and reduce them to alhes. The inhabitants of thofe cities 
 who were able to fave themfelves by flight, took ihelter on the other 
 fide of the mountains, among the Huexotzincas and Tlafcalans ; all 
 the reft died in defence of their country ; but they fold their lives 
 dearly, as the infinite blood fpilt on both fides attefted. If we (hould 
 be difpofed to trace the fource of fo many calamities, we fliould difco- 
 ver no other than the ambition of a prince. Heaven grant the facri- 
 fices to the paffions were more infrequent in the world and lefs violent ! 
 How calamitous is it that the avarice or ambition of a prince or his 
 miniftcr is fufficient to cover the plains with human blood, to deftroy 
 cities, to overturn kingdoms, and fpread confufion over this globe ! 
 
 The cruelty of the tyrant being appeafed by the oppreflion of his 
 enemies, the king of Acolhuacan was made to take an oath in the city 
 of Tezcuco, to grant to all thofe who had taken up arms againft him, 
 general pardon, and liberty to return to their Iiabitations. The city of 
 
 (/) Torquimada makes Matlalcihuatzin, daughter of Huitzilihoitl ; but how ? He fays, 
 that this kinj,' when he mounted the throne, was only feventeen years oF age, nor yet married : 
 and that he reigned twenty-two, or at m jII twenty-lix years. On the other hand, he rrprc- 
 fents Nezahualcojotl, at the death of his pretended grandfather, of an age able to go to war, 
 and make negotiations to fccure himfelf the crown : frof.. whence he would ni.ikc cut that 
 HuitzilihuitI, before he was twenty-fix years married, had grandfons at leal^ twenty years old. 
 
 I Tez-
 
 142 II I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK III. Tezcuco was given in fief to Chimalpopoca, king of Mexico, and that 
 of Huexotla to Tlacatcotl, king of Tlatelolco, as a reward for the 
 fervices which they had rendered during the war. He placed faithful 
 governors in other places, and proclaimed Azcapozaico the royal reii- 
 dence and capital of all the kingdom of Acolhuacan. 
 
 . At this folemnity were prefent, though in difguile, feveivd perfons of 
 diftindiion, enemies of the tyrant, and amongft thefe the prince Neza- 
 hualcojotl. The grief and rage which filled him aided by the ardour 
 of youth, was like to have urged him to a rafh action againft his 
 enemies, if a confidential friend, who accompanied him, had not with- 
 held him, by reprefenting the fatal confequences of fuch temerity, and 
 making him fenfible how much more prudent it would be to wait till 
 time prefented him a fitter opportunity for the recovery of his crown, 
 and revenge of his enemies ; that the tyrant was already worn out with 
 age, and that his death, which could not be very difi:ant, would en- 
 tirely change the ilate of affairs ; that the people themfelves would 
 come willingly to fubmit themfelves to their lawful fovereign, from a 
 fenfe of the injuftice and cruelty of the ufurper. Upcn this fame occa- 
 fion, a Mexican oihcer of refpecfl, (probably Itzcoatl, the brother of 
 the king, and general of the Mexican forces), either of his own ac- 
 cord, or by order of the king Chimalpopoca, afcended the temple, 
 which tlie Toltecas had at that court, and addrefled the multitude a- 
 found him, " Hear, Chechemecas, hear Acolhuas, and all ye who are 
 " prefent. Let no one dare to offer any hurt to our fon Nczahuaco- 
 " jotl, nor permit others to hurt him, if he is not willing to fubjecfl him- 
 " felf to fevere chaflifement." This proclamation contributed much 
 to the prince's fecurity, no body wifliing to draw upon himfelf the 
 anger of a nation whicli began now to make itfelf refped:ed. 
 
 A little time after, many of thofe nobles who had taken refuge in 
 Huexotzinco and Tlafcala, to avoid the fury of the Tepanecan troops, 
 afl'embled at Papalcthi, a place near to Tezcuco, to deliberate on the 
 conduól they fliould purfue in the prefent circumftances ; and they 
 all agreed to fubmit th.emlelves to the new lords whom the ufurper 
 had appointed to their cities, that they might be free from farther hof- 
 tilities, and attend |n peace to the care of their families and habi- 
 tations. 
 
 After
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 143 
 
 After having fatisfied his ambition with the ufurpation of the king- BOOK iir. 
 dom of Acolhuacan, and his cruelty with the llaughter he had com- sfct. xil. 
 mitted, the tyrant was defirous of gratifying his avarice by laying new ^"gf^jl" 
 taxes on his fubjedts. Befides the tribute which they had hitherto the tyrant, 
 paid their king of provifions, and a robe to array him, he enjoined them 
 to pay him another tribute of gold and precious floncs, without advert- 
 ing h®w much fuch burdens would tend to exafperate the minds of his 
 fubjects, which he fliould rather have endeavoured to gain by modera- 
 tion and lenity, to give himfelf more fecurity in the pofTeirion of a 
 throne founded on cruelty and injuftice. The Toltecan and Cheche- 
 mecan nobles anfwered the proclamation by defiring to prcfent them- 
 felves in perfon before the king, to be heard on the fubjedl. The arro- 
 gance of the tyrant appeared to them unbounded, and his conduct widely 
 different from the moderation of the ancient kings of whom he was 
 defcended. They agreed to fend to him two eloquent deputies the moft 
 learned among them, one a Toltec;i, the other a Chechemeca, that each 
 in the name of his nation might remonftrate with energy and force. 
 They both went to Azcapozalco, when being admitted to an audience 
 of the tyrant, the Toltecan orator in refpe<ft to the greater antiquity of 
 his nation in that country began firft, and reprefented to him the hum- 
 ble beginning of the Toltecas, the nccefiities they endured before 
 they rofe to that fplendour and glory which they had for fome time en- 
 joyed, and the mifery to which they were reduced fince their revolu- 
 tion ; he defcribed the deplorable difperfion in which they were found 
 by Xolotl, when he firft arrived in that country, and taking a review 
 of the two laft centuries, he made a pathetic enumeration of the hard- 
 fliips they had fuffered, to move the tyrant to compaffion, and get his 
 nation exempted from the new grievances. 
 
 The Tolteca had hardly finifhed his harangue when the Chechemeca 
 began his : " I, my lord, may fpeak to you with greater confidence 
 " and liberty ; as I am a Chechemeca, and addrefs myfelf to a prince 
 " of my own nation, who is a defcendant of the great kings Xolotl, 
 " Nopaltzin, and Tlotzin. You are not ignorant that thofe divine 
 " Chechemecas, your anceftors, fet no value on gold or precious ftoncs. 
 '* They wore no other crown on their heads than a garland of herbs 
 " and flowers of the field, nor adorned themfelves with any other bracc- 
 
 " le<s
 
 144 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 r.ooK III. " lets than the ftiff leather againfl which beat the firing of their bow 
 " in fhooting. Their food at firft was confined to raw flefli, and plain 
 " herbs, and their drefs was the fkin of the ftags and wild beails which 
 " they themfelves hunted. When they were taught agriculture by the 
 ** Toltecas, their kings themfelves cultivated the land to encourage by 
 " their example their fubjedls to fatigue. The wealth and glory to 
 " which fortune afterwards raifed them, did not make them more 
 " proud. As kings they certainly made ufe of their fubjedls, but as 
 *' fathers they loved them, and were contented to be requited by them 
 *' with the fimple gifts of the earth. I do not call to your memory 
 " thefe illuftrious examples of your anceftors, for any other reafon than 
 " that I may moll humbly entreat you not to demand more from us 
 "' now than they did from our predeceflbrs." The tyrant liftened to 
 each harangue, and although the comparifon drawn between him and 
 the ancient kings was odious, he difl'embled his difgull, and contented 
 himfelf with giving licence to the orators to confirm the order pub- 
 lilhed refpcóling the new tax. 
 
 In the mean time, Nezahualcojotl went anxioufly through many ci- 
 ties, to gain their affecflion, that he might replace himfelf on the throne. 
 But although his fubjects loved him, and were defirous of feeing him 
 in poflelfion of the kingdom, they durfl not openly favour his party 
 from their fear of the tyrant. Among the fubjedls who were the nearefl 
 related to him, and had abandoned him, were the lord of Chimalpan 
 his uncle, and Tecpanecatl the brother of his fecond wife Nezahtialxo- 
 chitl, of the royal line of Mexico. Perfevering in fuch negotiations, 
 he arrived one evening at a village of the province of Chalco, belong- 
 ing to a lady and widow named Tziltomiauh. He obferved that there 
 was a plantation of aloes, from which the widow extracted wine, not 
 only for the ufe of her family, but alfo for fale, which was ftriólly for- 
 bid by the Chechemecan code. He was fo fired with zeal for the laws 
 of his fathers, tha:t he felt no reftraint from the adverfity of his for- 
 tune, nor any other confideration, but with his own Iiand put the de- 
 linquent to death. An adtion moft inconfiderate and rcprehenfible, in 
 which prudence had a far lefs fhare than the intemperate ardour of 
 youth. This deed raifed a great rumour in that province, and the lord 
 pf Chalco, who was his enemy, and had been an accompjice in the 
 
 death
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 145 
 
 death of his father, ufcd the utmofl dihgencc to have him in his po\\"er; BOOK ill. 
 but the prince, who forefaw the confequences of his adt, had aheady 
 placed himfelf in fecurity. 
 
 Eight years were now elapfcd, during which Tezozomoc had pof- 5,^^., vnr. 
 fefied in peace the kingdom of Acolhuacan, claimed in vain by Neza- ^"''^ °* '*^e 
 huaicojotl, when latal dreams threw the tyrant into extreme pertur- zoraoc. 
 batioii. He dreamed that Nczahualcojotl transformed into an eagle, 
 opened his breall and eat his heart ; and at another time, changed 
 into a lion, licked his body, and fucked his blood. He was fo intimi- 
 dated with thefe ominous vifions, which were formed by the confciouf- 
 nefs of his own injuftice and tyranny, that he called together his three 
 fons Tajatzin, Teu5I%ititli, and Maxlaton, imparted to them his dreams, 
 and charged them to put Nezahualcojotl to death as fpeedily as pofìible, 
 provided they could do it fo fecretly that no perfon fliould fufped: the 
 author of it. He hardly furvived his dreams a year. He was now 
 become fo old, he was no more able to keep himfelf in neceflary warmth, 
 nor erafl in a chair, but was obliged to be wholly covered up in cotton, 
 in a great bafl-cet made of willows in the form of a cradle ; but fi-om 
 this cradle, or rather fepulchre, he tyrannifed over the kingdom of A- 
 colhuacan, and delivered oracles of injuftice. A little before his death, 
 he declared his fon Tajatzin his fucceflbr in the kingdom, and repeat- 
 ed his command refpeding the death of Nezahualcojotl, preferving to 
 his expiring moments his malicious defigns. In 1422, this monrter 
 of ambition, treachery, and injuftice, ended his life, after having ty- 
 rannifed over tlie kingdom of Acolhuacan for nine years, and polfcllcd 
 for a confiderable period the ftate of Azcapozalco (n). 
 
 Although the giving proper orders for the funeral of his father be- 
 longed to Taiatzin, as fucccHbr to the crown, ncverthclcfs his brother 
 
 (^u) Torqucmnd.1 makes Tezozomoc an imme<;iate dcfccndanr of the firft Acolliuan prince ; 
 by which he makes his reign one hundred and fixty, or one hundred and eighty years : but 
 Jroni the harangue made by the Chechemtcan orator, it is evident, that lezozomoc was dc- 
 Iccnded ol Xcloti Nopallzin and Tlotzin. The tiller of Nopaltzin married the prince .Acol- 
 huatzin, whence their children were coiifins cf Tlotzin, the Ion of Nopaltzin. In all this 
 Torqucmada' agrees with us. Whoever tht-n could be called the defcendant of his coulin ? 
 Whoever reads the genealogy of the Chechcmecan kings in the works of Toni'iemada, will 
 inllantly perceive the iiiiftakes made by this author. There may have been two or three lords, 
 «f Azcapozalco n nied Ttzozoniei., but the tyrant of Acolhuacan was at moft grcit-grandfou 
 .ol prince Acolluiatzin. 
 
 Vol.1. U Max-
 
 146 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK lir. Maxtlaton, being more forward and aftive, arrogated the right to him- 
 felf, and began to command with as much authority as if he had been 
 ah-eady in pofTeflion of the kingdom at which he afpired, imagining it 
 would be eafy to opprefs his brother, who was a man of no abilities, 
 and unfkilled in the art of government. He fent information to the 
 kings of Mexico and Tlatelolco, and other lords, that they might ho- 
 nour with their prefence and their tears the funeral of their common 
 lord. Nezahuacojotl, tliough not fummoned, was willing to be pre- 
 fent, as may ealily be imagined, to obferve with his own eyes the dif- 
 pofition of the court. He was accompanied by a confidential friend 
 and a fmall retinue j having entered the hall of the royal palace where 
 the corpfe lay expofed, he found the kings of Mexico and Tlatelolco,. 
 the three princes, fons of the late t}aant, and fome other lords. He 
 faluted them all one after another, according to the order in which 
 they fat, beginning with the king of Mexico, and prefented them 
 bunches of flowers, according to the cuftom of that country. Having 
 paid his compliments he fat down by the fide of king Chimalpopoca, 
 his brother-in-law, to accompany him in condolence. Teudlzintli, 
 one of the fons of Tezozomoc, who inherited his cruelty, conceiving 
 this a good occafion to execute the iniquitous charge of his father on 
 Nezahualcojotl, propofed it to his brother Maxtlaton. He, however, 
 though of no lefs inhuman a heart, had more underftanding and judg- 
 ment. " Banifh," he replied, " banifli from your mind fuch a thought. 
 " What would men fay of us if they fhould fee us plotting againfl the 
 " life of another while we ought to be employed in mourning for our 
 " father ? They would Tay, that the grief was not deep which gave 
 " way to ambition and revenge. Time will prefent us with an occa- 
 ** fion more favourable for the accompliOiLment of our father's purpofe, 
 " without incurring the odium of our fu bj efts. Nezahualcojotl is not 
 *' invifiblej unlefs he hides himfelf in fire, in water, or in the bowels 
 " of the earth, he will inevitably fall into our hands." This 
 happened on the fourth day after the death of the tyrant, when the 
 corpfe was burnt, and his afhes buried with unufual pomp and folem- 
 nity. 
 
 The next day the kings of Mexico and Tlatelolco returned to their 
 cities, and Maxtlaton began foon by lefs diffimulation to difcover his 
 
 ambi-
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 H7 
 
 ambitious defign of making himfelf mafter of the kingdom, fliev/ing book rii. 
 
 by his arrogance and daring temper, that where his arts would not be "^ * ' 
 
 fufficient, he would employ force. Tajatzin had not courage to oppofe 
 him, knowing the bold and violent difpofition of his brother, and the 
 advantage he had in having fubjedts accu domed to obey him. On fo 
 difficult a point, he took therefore the rcfolution of reforting to Mexico 
 to confult with king Chimalpopoca, to whom he had been chiefly 
 recommended by his father. This king received him with particular 
 marks of efleem, and, after the ufual compliments, Chimalpopoca ad- 
 dreffed him. " What are you doing, prince. Is not the kingdom 
 ** yours ? Did not your father leave it to you ? Why do you not exert 
 ** yourfelf to recover it, if you arc unjuflly robbed of it ?" " Becaufe 
 *' my rights avail but little, if my kibjedts do not alTifl me. My bro- 
 " ther has made himfelf mafter of the kingdom, and no perfon feems 
 " to give him oppolltion : it would be rafhnefs to oppofe him with no 
 " other power or forces than my defires, and the juflice of my caufe." 
 *' What is not to be done by force may be fupplied by induftry," re- 
 plied Chimalpopoca, " I will point out to you a method to get rid of 
 " your brother, and reilore yourfelf without danger to the pofTeffion 
 *' of the throne. Excufe yourfelf for not inhabiting the palace of your 
 " deceafed father, under pretence that your grief is revived by the re- 
 " membrance of his actions, and the love which he bore you, and 
 " that therefore you are willing to build yourfelf another palace for your 
 •' refidcnce. When it is finiflied, make a fplcndid entertainment, and 
 '* invite your brother to it, and there, in the midft of the rejoicings, it 
 " will be eafy to free your kingdom of a tyrant, and yourfelf of a rival 
 *' fo dangerous and unjufk; and that you may more certainly fucceed, 
 *' I ihall attend to affift you in perfon, with all the forces of my na- 
 •* tion." To fuch counfel Tajatzin made no reply, but looks of dark 
 melancholy, occafioned by the love he had to blood, or the bafenefs 
 of the adt fiiggefted to him. 
 
 To all this difcourfe a fervant of Tajatzin was privy, who had con- 
 cealed himfelf where he could eafily overhear them, and hoping to 
 make his fortune by betraying them, he departed kcretly at night for 
 Azcapozalco, went diredly to the palace, where having obtained an au- 
 dience, he revealed to Maxtlaton all he had heard. His mind was fud- 
 
 U 2 denly
 
 148 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK II r. denly I'eized with anger, fear, and vexation, which the relation had 
 ' "^ ' excited ; but being politic, and praftifed in difTembling his fentiments, 
 he afFeóted to delpife the whole, and feverely reprimanded the reporter for 
 his hardinefs and temerity in calumniating fuch refpe-ilable perfonages, 
 called him drunkard, and difmiffed him to digeii his wine at home. 
 The remainder of the night he paffed in deliberation what meafure he 
 fhould purfue, and determined at lail to anticipate his brother, and 
 catch him in his own fnare. 
 Sect. XIV. The morning of the enfuing day he aflembled the people of Azca- 
 tv^nt^oTA- pozalco, and told them, that having no right to remain any longer 
 coUiuacan. j^i his father's palace, as it belonged to prince Tajatzin, and having 
 befides occafion for a houfe at that court where he might be lodged, 
 when ever any bulinefs required him to come from his fiate of Co- 
 iohuacan, he defired they would fhew the love they bore him by the 
 mofl fpeedy conftrud:ion of fuch a refidence. Such was the diligence 
 of the Azcapozalchefe, and fo great the multitude of workmen who 
 were colledled, that Tajatzin, who only continued three days in Mexico, 
 found on his return the edifice already beo-un. He was ftruck with 
 wonder at this novelty, and enquiring the caufe at Maxtlaton, was an- 
 fwered by him, that finding it his duty to leave the royal manfion, in 
 juftice to Tajatzin's rights, he was eredling another where he might 
 refide when he fhould come to court. The good Tajatzin remained 
 latisfied with this anfwer, and eafily pcrfuaded himfelf that Maxtlaton 
 thought no more of ufurping the crown. A little time after the build- 
 ing being finifhed, Maxtlaton invited his brothers the kings of Mexico 
 and Tlatelolco, and other lords to an entertainment. Tajatzin being 
 totally ignorant of the treachery of his fervant, did not fufpedl the 
 fnare which was laid for him : but Chimalpopoca, who was more dif- 
 cerning and cautious, certainly was fufpicious of fome treachery, and 
 politely excufed himfelf from attendance. The day appointed for the 
 feflival being arrived, the guefls reforted to the new manfion, and at' 
 the time they were mofl engaged in jollity and mirth, and probably alfo 
 heated with wine, which is the mofl favourable time for deeds of this 
 nature, fuddenly people in arms entered, and poured with fuch vio- 
 lence on the unfortunate Tajatzin, that he had fcarcely lifted his eyes 
 to behold his murderers, when they were clofed in death. So unex- 
 
 peeled
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 pcdled a tragedy difturbcd, and fliocked the whole meeting ; but M;c<t- 
 laton quieted them by explaining the trealbn which was dcligned againft 
 him ; and protefting, that what he had done, was only to prevent the 
 blow which threatened himlelf. By thefc and limilar difcourfes, he 
 fo far altered their minds, that in place of revenging the death of their 
 lawful lord, they proclaimed the treacherous tyrant, king; but, although 
 injurtice railed him to the throne, it was only to precipitate him from 
 a greater height. 
 
 His indignation againft the king of Mexico was ftill greater ; but it 
 did not appear prudent to make any attempt againft his life until he 
 fliould feel himlelf firmly feated on the throne. In the mean while he 
 vented his rage by doing injuries to his perfon, and offering outrages 
 to his dignity. A little time after his intrufion on the kingdom, the Sscr.xv. 
 prefent which it was ufual to make, as a mark of acknowledgement of ^^•"'''^t°"' 
 
 * . •^ tyrant or A- 
 
 the high power of the king of Azcapozalco, was lent to him by the c'oihuacan. 
 king of Mexico. This prefent, which confifted of three balkets of 
 white-fiHi, craw -fi{h, frogs, and fome pulfe, was carried by refpedtable 
 perfons from the court of Chimalpopoca, with a polite addrefs, and 
 particular expreffions of fubmiflion and refpeift. Maxtlaton iliewed 
 himfelf pleafed ; but as it was proper, according to thecuftomof thofe 
 nations, to return fome gift, and being defirous, at the fame time, of 
 gratifying his pique, after conf lilting with his confidents, he caufed to be 
 delivered to the Mexican ambaiTadors for their king a Cuciti, that is 
 a woman's gown, and a HitcpUU, which is a woman's fhift, intimat- 
 ing by thefe that he efteemed their king an effeminate coward : an in- 
 fult the moft grofs to thole nations, as nothing was fo much in eftima- 
 tion with them as the boaft of being courageous. Chimalpopoca felt 
 fufficiently on the occafion, and would have revenged the outrage ; but 
 he was unable. 
 
 This difdainful adi was foon fucceeded by a moft heinous offence to 
 his honour. The tyrant knew that among the wives of the king of 
 Mexico, there was one Angularly beautiful : being inflamed by this oc- 
 cafion with wicked defires, he determined to facrifice both honour 
 andjuftice to his pafììon. To obtain his purpofe he employed fome 
 ladies of Tepaneca, and enjoined them when they vifited, as they were 
 accuftomed to do, that Mexican lady, to invite her to fpend fome days 
 
 of
 
 ICO 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK III. of pleafure with them at Azcapozalco. Such vifits being frequent 
 among perfons of the firft rank, of different nations, it was not diffi- 
 cult for the abandoned prince to gain the opportunity he fo much longed 
 for, to fatisfy his criminal paffion j neither the tears nor efforts made 
 by that virtuous Mexican in defence of her honour, were fufhcient to 
 reftrain him : flie returned to Mexico with ignominy, and pierced with 
 the mofr affefting anguifh to mourn with her hulbani. Tlie unfortu- 
 nate king, either that he might not furvive his diflionour, or that he 
 might not die in the hands of the tyrant, refolved to put an end to 
 his wretched life, by dying a facrifice in honour of his God, Huit- 
 zilopochtli, as many pretended heroes of his nation had do ■■::, believ- 
 ing fuch a death would cancel his difhonour, at leaft fave iiiui from 
 fome ignominious exit, which he dreaded from his enemy. He com- 
 municated this refolution to his courtiers, who applauded it, fiom 
 the extravagant ideas they entertained in matters of religion, and Ibme 
 of them even were willing to partake of the glory of fo barbarous a 
 facrifice. 
 
 The day appointed for this religious tragic fcene being come, the 
 king appeared drefled in the manner they ufually reprefented their God 
 Huitzilopochtli, and all thofe who were to accompany him were drefTed 
 alio in their befi: habits. This religious ceremony began with a fo- 
 lemn ball ; and while it lafled the priefts facrificed the unhappy vic- 
 tims one after another, referving the king to the laft. It was hardly 
 pofTible fuch a tranfadlion could remain unknown to the tyrant; he 
 knew it by anticipation, and that he might prevent his enemy efcaping 
 from his revenge by voluntary death, he lent a body of troops to take 
 him before he was facrificed. They arrived when there hardly re- 
 mained two vidlims, after whom the king himfelf was to follow. This 
 unhappy prince was feized by the Tepanecas, and conducted inflantly 
 to Azcapozalco, where he was put into a ftrong cage of wood, which 
 was the prifon ufcd by thefe nations, as we fhall mention hereafter, un- 
 der cuflody of firong guards. In this event many circumftances appear 
 difhcult to be credited : but we relate it as we find it told by the hifi:o- 
 rians of Mexico. It is certainly much to be wondered at, that the 
 Tepanecas fliould have dared to enter into that city and attempt fo dan- 
 gerous an ad; and that the Mexicans f}-»ould not have armed them- 
 
 felves 
 
 Sect. XVI 
 Imprifon- 
 ment and 
 death of kin 
 Chimalpo- 
 poca.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 »5» 
 
 felves in defence of their king ; but the power of the tyrant niay have, BOOK in, 
 
 of itfelf, been fufiicient to encourage the Tepanecas and intimidate ' ' 
 
 the Mexicans. 
 
 The taking of Chimalpopoca prifoner, excited frefli defire in the 
 mind of Maxtlaton to get the prince Nezahualcojotl alfo into his 
 power ; to effed this more eafily he fent for him under pretence of 
 being willing to come to an agreement with him, refpedting the crown 
 of Acolhuacan . The difcerning prince immediately penetrated the ma- 
 levolent intention of the tyrant ; but the ardour of youth, the courage 
 and confidence of his foul, made him prefent himfelf intrepidly before 
 the fterneft dangers. In pafling through Tlatelolco, he payed a vifit to 
 one of his confidents, named Chicbincatl, by whom he was informed, 
 that the tyrant was not only plotting againft his life and the king of 
 Tlatelolco, but, were it poffible, defired to annihilate the whole Acol- 
 huan nation. Notwithftanding this, in the evening the prince fet out 
 fearlefs for Azcapozalco, and went diredlly to the houfe of one of his 
 friends. Early in the morning he waited on Chachaton, a great favou- 
 rite of the tyrant, and by whom the prince himfelf was beloved, and 
 recommended to him to difiliade Maxtlaton from any defign againft his 
 perfon. They went together to the palace ; when Chachaton preceded 
 to acquaint his lord of the arrival of the prince, and to fpeak in hi* 
 favour. The prince entered after, and when he had paid his obeifance, 
 thus fpoke : " I know, my lord, that you have imprifoncd the king of 
 " Mexico, but I am ignorant whether you have made him fufferdeatli, 
 " or if he dill lives in prifon. I have heard, alfo, that it is your wifli 
 " to take away my life. If this is true, behold me before you ; kill mc 
 " with your own hands, and gratify the malice which you bear to a 
 " prince not lefs innocent than unfortunate." While he fpoke thefc 
 words, the memory of his misfortunes forced tears from his eyes. 
 " What is your opinion ?" faid Maxtlaton, then to his favourite, " Is it 
 " not ftrange that a youth, who has hardly begun to enjoy life, fliould 
 •* feek death fo daringly ?" Turning to the prince, he afTured him, that 
 he was forming no defign againft his life, that the king of Mexico wa? 
 not dead, nor would be put to death by him ; and endeavoured to juf- 
 tify the imprifonmcnt of that unfortunate king. He tiicn gave orders 
 that the prince Ihould be properly entertained. 
 
 I Chimal-
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Chimalpopoca being acquainted of the arrival of the prince who was 
 his coufin, at court, fent to requeft a vilit from him in prifon. The 
 prince having firft obtained the permiiTion of M.ixtlaton, went to him, 
 and upon his entering the prifon, embraced him, and both of them 
 flievved much tendernefs in their looks and expreffions. Chimalpopoca 
 related to him the feries of infuhs and wrongs which he had fuftered, 
 and convinced him of the malevolent defigns of the tyrant againft them 
 both, and entreated him not to return again to the court ; as their cruel 
 enemy would infallibly contrive his death, and the Acolhuan nation 
 would be utterly abandoned. At laft he faid, . " x^s my death is inevit- 
 " able, I befeech you moft earneflly take care of my poor Mexicans, be 
 " to them a true friend and father. In token of the iove which I bear 
 *' you, accept of this pendant which I had from my brother Huitzili- 
 *' huitl;" upon which he took a pendant of gold from his lip, and 
 prefented it with ear-rings and fome other jewels which he had preferved 
 in prifon ; and to a fervant of the prince he gave a few other things. 
 They then affetìionately took leave of each other, that they might not 
 excite fufpicion by a longer conference. Nezahualcojotl, uling the 
 advice which was given him, left the court without delay, and ne- 
 ver after prefented himfelf before the tyrant. He went to Tlatelolco, 
 where he took a veffel with good rowers, and got fpeedily to Tezcuco. 
 
 Chimalpopoca remained in comfortlefs folitude brooding over his 
 misfortunes. Imprifonment became daily more infupportable to him ; 
 he had not the fmalleil hope of recovering his liberty, nor of being of 
 any fervice to his nation daring the little time he had to live. " If at 
 " laft," he faid, "lam to die here, will it not be preferable, and more 
 " glorious to die by my own than by the hands of a cruel and perfidious 
 " tyrant ? If I can have no other revenge, I Ihall at lejft deprive him of 
 " the pleafure which he would take in appointing the time and mode 
 *' of death which muft finilh my unhappy days. I fliall be the difpofer 
 " of my own life, chufe the time and manner of my death, as it will 
 " be attended with fo much the lefs ignominy, the Icls the will of my 
 " enemy ihall influence and direft it (a-)." In this refolution, which 
 was entirely conformable to the ideas of thofe nations, he hanged him- 
 
 ^.r) Tlicfc i^ft worus of Chimalpopocn, handed down by the hillorians of INIexico, were 
 ^lou'ii from the dcpofitions of the guards who furroundcd the cage or piifon. 
 
 felf
 
 HISTORY OF M E X 1 C O. 15-3 
 
 felf upon a fmall beam of the cage or prifon, making uie, moft proba- BOOK II i^ 
 bly, of his girdle for that purpofe. 
 
 Thus tragic an end had the unfortunate life of tlie third king of 
 Mexico. W'e have no more particular accounts of his character, or the 
 j>rogrcfs the nation made during his reign, which lafted about thirteeji 
 years, being concluded in 1423, about a year after the death of Tezo- 
 zomoc. We know only that in the eleventh year of his reign, he or- 
 dered a great Hondo be brought to Mexico, to lerve as an altar for the 
 ordinary lacrifice of jYiifoners, and a larger round one, for gladiatoria!) 
 facrifices, of which we fliall fpeak hereafter. In the fourth painting of 
 Mendoza's colledllon, are reprefented the different vidories which the 
 Mexicans obtained during the reign of Chimalpopoca, the cities of 
 Chalco, and Tequizquiac, and the naval engagement which they had 
 with the Chalchefe, with tlie lofs of their people, and the velfels over- 
 fet by the enemy. The interpreter of that colleftion adds, that Chi- 
 malpopoca left many children whom he had by his concubines. 
 
 As foon as Maxtlaton knew of the death of his noble prilbner, he Sect. xvf. 
 rofc in wrath at the didippointment of his projedls; and left: that Ne- ment'and 
 zahualcojotl might alfo elude his revenge, he determined to anticipate '^eathofChi. 
 death to him by whatever means he could, which he would have done 
 before, could he have accompliflied it in the manner enjoined by his fa- 
 ther, or had he not been intimidated, as fome hiflorians affirm, by cer- 
 tain auguries of the priefts ; but his paffion now furmounted all re- 
 ftraints of religion; he ordered four of his moll able captains to go in 
 qucft: of the prince, and take his life, without remilhon, wherever they 
 Ihould find him. The Tepanecan captains fet out with a fmall party 
 onlv, that rumour might not prevent their coming up with their fpoil, 
 and proceeded diredlly to Tezcuco, where, as they arrived, Nezahual- 
 cojotl was diverting himfelf at foot-ball with one of his familiars, 
 named Ocelotl. Wherever the prince went to gain adherents to his par- 
 ty, he fpent great part of his time at balls, games, and other amufe- 
 ments, that the governors of thofe places, who watched his condud: 
 by order of the tyrant, and obferved all his ft:eps, feeing him taken up 
 with paftimes, might be perfuaded that he had dropt all thoughts of the 
 crown, and gradually ncgleft to attend to him. By thefe means he 
 caiTied on his negociations without creating the Higlitcft fufpicion. On 
 
 Vol. I. X thi.s
 
 154- HISTORYOF M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK III. this occafion, before the captains entered his houfe, he knew that they 
 ' — ■"" — ' were Teoanecas, and that they came armed : this made him apprehend 
 what they might intend, upon which he left off play, and retired to his 
 innermoft apartment. Being informed, afterwards, by his porter, 
 tliat the Tepanecas enquired for him, he ordered Ocelotl to receive 
 them, and to acquaint them that he would attend them as foon as they 
 had repofed and refrefhed themfelves. The Tepanecas did not ima- 
 gine that by delaying they would lofe the opportunity of ftriking their 
 blow, and poffibly alfo durft not execute their commifllon, as they 
 were uncertain whether there were not attendants in the houfe fufficient to 
 oppofe them ; after fome repofe, therefore, they fat down to table, and 
 while they were i-efre(liing, the prince fled by a fecret door, and travelled 
 fomething more than a mile to Coatitlan, a fmall fettlement of weavers,. 
 the people of which were all faithful and affedlionate to him, and "there- 
 concealed himiJdffyJ. The Tepanecas having waited a confiderable 
 lime without the prince or his domelHc making their appearance,, 
 they fearched over the whole houfe, but no perfon could give any ac- 
 count of him. At length being perfuaded of his flight, they fet out 
 inftantly in fearch of him, and being informed by a countryman, in the 
 road to Coatitlan, that he had taken refuge in tliat place, they entered 
 there with their arms in their hands, threatening the inhabitants with 
 death if they did not difcover the fugitive prince ; but no perfon was 
 found v/ho would make this difcovery ; and fo uncommon was their 
 example of fidelity, fome were put to death for the refufal. Amongfl; 
 thofe who made facrifices of their lives to preferve their prince, were 
 '^tochmraitzin the fuperintendant of all the looms of Coatitlan, and Mat- 
 lalintzin, a woman of noble rank. The Tepanecas not being able, not- 
 withfl:anding the utmoft diligence in their fearch, and the cruelty they 
 exercifed againfl: the inhabitants, to find out the prince, went in quefl 
 of him through the country. Nezahualcojotl let out alfo another way, 
 and took a directly contrary route to his advtrfaries ; but as they fought 
 
 {y) T«rquemada lays the prince went out of his hovife by a kind of labyrinth, through' 
 which no perfon unacquainted with it could find his way. The prince and fome of his moft 
 particular confidants only knew the fecret of it. It is not at all incredible that he fliould have 
 deligned fuch amaze, as his genius was fupcrior and himfelf dillinguiflied above all his coun- 
 trymen, in talents and penetration. 
 
 for
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 ^5S 
 
 for him every where, he was in great hazard of falling into tiicir hands, BOOK ill. 
 liad he not been hid by fome countrymen, under a heap of the herb 
 chia, which was lying upon athrelhing floor. 
 
 The prince finding himfelf lafe from this danger, went to pafs the 
 night at Tezcotzinco, apleaiant villa formed by his ancellors for recre- 
 ation. There he was v/aited for by fix lords, who had left their ftates, 
 and were traverfin;^ through the different cities of the kingdom. There Sbct. xvii. 
 they held a fccret counfel that night, and refolved to folicit the afllf- of'^NezahuaU 
 tance of the Chalchefe, althoueh they had been accomplices in the «^ojof'toob- 
 
 . , , 'a'" tile 
 
 death of king Ixtlilixochitl. The next morning early, he proceeded to crown. 
 Matlallan and other places, intiinating to thofe of his party to be 
 prepared with arms by the time of his return. Two days were em- 
 ployed in thefe negociations, and on the evening of the fecond he was 
 met at Apan by the ambalTadors of the Cholulans, who offered to affili 
 him in war againft the tyrant. Here he was joined alfo by two lords 
 of his party, who communicated to him the unfortunate intelligence of 
 the deatii of his favourite Huitzilihuitl, who was put to tiie torture by 
 the tyrant, that he might reveal fome fecrets ; but being too loyal 
 to his mafter to difcovcr them, he died a martyr to his fidelity. Full 
 of this difguft he paffed from Apan to Huexotzinco, the lord of 
 which was his relation, and received him with infinite affection and 
 kindnefs, and promifcd to affiff him alfo with all his forces. From 
 thence he went to Tlafcala, where he was moft nobly treated, and 
 in that city the time and place was agreed upon at which the troops of 
 Cholula, Huexotzinco, and Tlafcala were to be affembled. When he 
 departed from this lall city to go to Capollalpan, a place fituated about 
 half way between Tlafcala and Tezcuco, fo many nobles accompanied 
 him, he appeared more like a king who was going to take pleafure with 
 his court, than a fugitive prince who was endeavouring to render him- 
 felf mailer of the crown which was ufurped from him. In Capollal- 
 pan, he received the anfwer of the Chalchefe, in wiiich they declared 
 themfelves ready to affifl and ferve their lawful lordagainfl the iniquit- 
 ous uktrper. It is probable the cruelty and infolencc of the tyrant 
 alienated many from him ; the Chalcliele, befides, were verj- inconflant 
 and apt to attach themfelves fometimes to tlie one, and fometimcs to 
 the other party ; as will appear in the courfe of our hiftory. 
 
 X 2 Wliile
 
 ó JI I S T O R Y O F M É X I G Ò. 
 
 BOOK lir. While Nezahualcojotl continued roufing the nations to war, the 
 sì^T^xvui Mexicans finding themfelves without a king, and harrafled by the Tepa- 
 fou^nhtino- necas, refolved to appoint a chief to their nation, who would be capable 
 of iMexico" of checking the infolence of the tyrant, and revenging the many wrongs 
 they had fuffered. Having affembled, therefore, to eled a new king, 
 a refpeftable veteran thus addreffed the other electors . " By the death 
 " of your laft king, O noble Mexicans, the light of your eyes has foiled 
 " you; but you have ftill thofe of reafon left to chufe a fit fucceflbr. 
 " The nobility of Mexico is not extindt with Chimalpopoca ; his bro- 
 " thers are ftill remaining, who are moft excellent princes, among 
 " whom you may chufe a lord to govern you, and a father to proted: 
 "** you. Imagine that for a little time the fun is eclipfed, and that the 
 " earth is darkened, but that light will return again with the new king, 
 "It is of the greateft importance that, without long conferences, we 
 " eledt a prince who may re-eftablifli the honour of our nation, may 
 ** vindicate the wrongs done to it, and reftore to it its ancient liberty." 
 They proceeded quickly to the eledlion, and chofe by unanimous con- 
 fent prince Itzcoatl, brother, by the father's fide, to the two preceding 
 kings, and natural fon of Acamapitzin by a Have. Whatever the low 
 condition of his mother took from his claim, the nobility and reputa- 
 tion of his father, and, ftill more, his own virtues, fupplied; of thefe 
 he gave many proofs in the pofl of general of the Mexican armies, which 
 he had filled for more than thirty years. He was allowed to be the 
 moft prudent, juft, and brave perfon of all the Mexican nation. Being 
 placed on the Tlatocaicpalii, or royal feat, he was faluted as king by all 
 the nobles, with loud acclamations. One of their orators then held a 
 difcourfe on the duties of a fovereign, in which, among other things, he 
 faid, " All, O great king and lord, all now feel themfelves dependent 
 ** on you. On your fhoulders muft the orphans, the widows, and the 
 '■' aged be fupported. Will you be capable of laying down and aban- 
 *' doning this burden ? Will you permit the infants who are yet walking 
 -' on their four feet, to perifli by the hands of our enemies ? Courage, 
 " great lord, begin and fpread your mantle that you may carry the poor 
 " Mexicans on your back, who flatter themfelves they will live fecure 
 " under the frefb fliade of your benignity." The ceremony being con- 
 cluded, they celebrated the acceflion of the new monarch, with balls 
 
 and
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 dnd public diverfions. Nézahualcojotl and all his party did not give Icfs 
 applaufe, as no one doubted of the new king being the faithful ally of 
 the prince his relation ; and hoped to reap great advantages from his fu- 
 perior military Ikill and bravery; but the elediion was not a little dif- 
 pleafing to the Tepanecas and their allies, and efpecially to the tyrant. 
 
 Itzcoatl, who was zealoufly bent on relieving the dillrelles which 
 his nation fuftcred from the oppreilive dominion of the Tepanecas, feat 
 an ambaffador to the prince Nézahualcojotl, to acquaint him of his ex- 
 altation to the throne, and to give him aliuranccs of his determination 
 to unite all his forces with the prince againfl the tyrant Maxtlaton. 
 This embally, which was carried by a grandfon of the king, was receiv- 
 ed by Nézahualcojotl, after he had depaited from Capollalpan > upon 
 which he returned congratulations to his coufui, and gratefully accepted 
 the aid which he promifed. 
 
 The whole time which the prince remained in Capollalpan was employ- 
 ed in preparations for war. When it appeared to him to be time to put 
 all his defigns in execution, he fet out with his people and the auxiliary 
 troops of Tlafcala and Huexotzinco, having refolved to take the city of 
 Tezcuco by aflliult, and punifh its inhabitants for their infidelity to him 
 during his adverfity. He made a halt with his whole army in fight of 
 the city, at a place called Oztopolco. There he pafled the night order- 
 ing his troops, and making the necefliiry difpofitions for the attack, and 
 in the morning marched towards the city ; but before he reached it, the 
 inhabitants, from apprehenfions of the fevere chaftifement which 
 threatened them, came fubmillively to meet him ; to foften his refcnt- 
 ment they prcfented their aged fick, their pregnant women, and mothers 
 with infants in their arms, who, in the midfl of tears and other tokens 
 of diftrefs, thus addreflcd him : " Have pity, O moft merciful prince, 
 ** on thefe your afflided fervants, who tremble for their fate. In what 
 •* have they offended, who are feeble with age, or thefe poor women 
 " and thefe helplcfs children? Do not mix in ruin with the guilty 
 " thofe who had no part in the offences which you would revenge.'" 
 The prince, who was moved at the fight of fo many objcds of compaf- 
 fion, immediately granted a pardon to the city ; but at the fame time 
 detached a party of troops, and commanded their ofHcers to enter it 
 and put the governor and other fervants who had been ef^ablifhed there 
 
 by
 
 raiaa 
 
 158 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK III. by the tyrant, and eveiy Tepaneca they fiiould meet with, to death. 
 Whilil this Tevere punifliment was paflingat Tezcuco, the troops of the 
 Tlafcalans and Huex-otzincas, which had been detached from the 
 main army, made a furious attack on the city of Acoiman ; they made 
 a general flaiighter of all whom they met, until they advanced to the 
 houfe of the lord of that city, who was a brother of the tyrant ; he 
 having no forces fufficient to defend himfelf, was flain among the reft 
 of their enemies. On the fame day the Chalchcfe, who were alfo auxi- 
 liaries of the prince, fell upon the city of Coatlichan, took it without 
 oppofition, and put its governor to death, who had taken refuge in the 
 greater temple ; thus, in one fingle day, the capital and two other con- 
 fiderable cities of the kingdom of Acolhuacan, were reduced under obe- 
 dience to the prince. 
 Sect. XIX. The king of Mexico being acquainted v>^ith the fucceiTes of his cou- 
 t^^'Momczu- fill, fent another embaffy to congratulate him and confirm their alli- 
 m-n,-!'^'''""^" ance. He entrufted this embalTy to one of his grandfons, a fon of king 
 Huitzilihuitl, called Monteiic%07na, or Montezwììa, a youth of great 
 ftrenpth of body and invincible courage, whofe immortal adions ob- 
 tained him the name of Tlacaele, or Man of great Heart, and that of 
 Ilhuìcamìna, or Archer of Heaven ; and to diftinguifli him in the an- 
 cient paintings, they reprefented over his head, the heavens pierced 
 with an arrow, as appears in the feventh and eighth pidlures of Men- 
 doza's Colleftion, and as we fliall fhew among the figures of the kings 
 of Mexico. This is the fame hero of Mexico, whom Acofta has fo 
 much celebrated under the name of Tkcaellel, or rather Tobar, from 
 whom the other took his charadter, although miftaken in many ac- 
 tions which he attributes to him f%J. The king as well as his grand- 
 fon, fuv the danger of the enterprize ; as the tyrant, to obftrudl the 
 progrefs of his rival, and his communication with the Mexicans, had 
 made himfelf mafter of the roads ; but the king for this neither delayed 
 to fend the embafly, nor did Montezuma difcover the leaft cowardly 
 
 (z) Acofia, or Tobar rather, is not only mifiaken in many anions which he attributes to 
 this hero, but alfo in regard to his identity ; as he confulers Tlacaelell to be a different perfon 
 from Montezuma, who was called by two, and even three different names. He alfo makes 
 Tlacaellcl grandfon of Itzcoatl, and at the fame time uncle of Montezuma : which is evidently 
 abfurd ; as it is known that Montezuma was fon of Huitzilihuitl, brother of Itzcoatl ; of 
 courfc lie could not be the g'andfon of the grandfcn of Itzcoatl, 
 
 appre-
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO, 
 
 ^59 
 
 apprehenfions ; on the contrary, that he might execute the orders of BOOK lir. 
 liis Ibvereign more fpeedily, when he left the king he avoided return- ^ 
 
 ing to his houfe to equip himfelf with neceffaries for his journey, but 
 fet out immediately on his way, giving in charge to another noble, 
 who was to accompany him, the carrying of fuch cloaths as were nc- 
 cefl'ary to prelent himfelf before the prince. 
 
 Having fafely delivered his embaiTy, he took leave of the prince to 
 return to Mexico, but in the way fell into an ambufcade laid by his 
 enemies, was taken prifoner with all his attendants, conduvfled to C balco, 
 and prcfented to Toteotzin, lord of that city, and an inveterate enemy 
 of the Mexicans. Here he was immediately lliut up in a clofe prifon, 
 under the care of ^lateotzin, a very refpedlable perfon, who was or- 
 dered to provide no fuftenance for the prifoners but what his lord pre- 
 fcribed, until the mode of death was determined, by which their days 
 were to be concluded. Quateotzin revolting at the inhumanity of fuch 
 orders, fupplied them liberally at his own expence. But the cruel To- 
 teotzin, thinking to pay a piece of flattering homage to the Huexot- 
 zincas, fent his prifoners to them, that, if they judged proper, they 
 might be facrificed in Huexotzinco with the aiTiflance of the Chalchefc, 
 or in Chalco with the afllftance of the Huexotzincas. The Huexotzin- 
 cas, who were always more humane than the Chalchefe, rejefted the 
 propoli with difdain. " Why fl:ould we deprive men of their lives 
 " who have committed no crime, unlefs that of adling as faitliful mef- 
 " fengers to their lord ; and if they merited to die, we can deri\'e no 
 " honour from putting prifoners to death which do not belong to us. 
 *' Return in peace, and inform your lord that the nobility of Huexot- 
 " zinco will not render themfelves infainous by adls fo unworthy of 
 «.* them." 
 
 The Chalchefe returned with tlie prifoners and this anfwer to To- 
 teotzin, who being determined to procure himfelf friends by means of 
 his prifoners, gave information of them to Maxtlaton ; leaving it to 
 him to decide their fate, and trufting, by this refpedlful adulation, to 
 calm the anger and indignation which his treachery and inconftancy in 
 abandoning the party of the Tcpanecas, for the prince NezahualcojotI, 
 muft have excited in the tyrant. Wliile he waited the anfwer of Maxt- 
 laton, he ordered the prifoners to be Ihut up again in the fime prifon, 
 \ and
 
 i6o H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 15O0KIH. and under cullody of the fame Quateotzin. He compaflionating the 
 delliny of a youth fo ilkiftrious and brave, in the evening preceding the 
 day on which the anfvv'er from Azcapozalco was expected, called one 
 of his fervants to him, whole fidelity he could trull, and ordered him 
 to fet the prilbners at liberty that evening, and to acquaint Montezuma 
 from him, that he had come to the relblution of laving his life, al- 
 though at tlie vifible rifle of lofmg his own ; that if he Ihould die for 
 it, which he had reafon to fear would be his fate, Montezuma, he hoped, 
 would not fail to fliew his gratitude, by protecling the children whom 
 he left behind him ; laftly, he advifed him not to return by land to 
 iVIexico, otherwife he would again be taken by the guards which were 
 polled in the way, but to go through Iztapallocan to Chimalhuacan, 
 a-iid from thence to embark for his own city. 
 
 The faithful fervant executed the order, and Montezuma followed the 
 advice of Quateotzin. They went out of prifon that night, and cau- 
 tioully took the road to Chimalhuacan, where they remained concealed 
 all the next day, living on raw vegetables for want of other food ; at 
 night they embarked, and tranfported themfelves fwiftly to Mexico, 
 where, as it was fuppofed, they had already met with death from the 
 enemy, they wei'e received with lingular welcome and joy. 
 
 As foon as the barbarous Toteotzin was informed that the prifoners 
 were efcaped, he was tranfported with paffion, and as he did not in 
 the leali doubt that Quateotzin had been the author of their liberty, 
 he ordered inflant death to him, and his body to be quartered ; Iparing 
 neither his wife nor even his children ; only one fon and one daugh- 
 ter were faved. She took ilielter in Mexico, where fhe was greatly 
 rsfpedled on account of her father, who, by the generous forfeiture 
 of his life, had rendered fo important a fervice to the Mexican na- 
 tion. 
 
 Toteotzin experienced another galling difappointment from the an- 
 fwer of Maxtlaton. He being enraged againll the Chalchefe for the 
 afliflance they gave to Nezahualcojotl, and the flaughter they commit- 
 ted in Coatlichan^ fent a fevere reprimand to Toteotzin, calling liim a 
 Rouble-minded traitor, and ordering him to (et the prifoners at liberty 
 ■without delay. Such returns mufl perfidious flatterers expedl. Maxt- 
 Jaton .did iiot adopt this refolution with intent to favour the Mexicans 
 
 whom
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 whom he hated in the utmoft degree, but folely to ftiew his contempt 
 for the homage of Toteotzin, and to thwart his incUnation. So far 
 was he from a wilh to fivour the Mexican nation, that he was never 
 fo much bent on efFedting their ruin as at this time, and had already 
 coUedted troops to pour a decifive blow on Mexico, that from thence 
 he might proceed to regain all that Nezahualcojotl had taken from 
 him. This prince knowing fuch defigns of Maxtlaton, went to Mexi- 
 co to confult with its prudent king on the condud: of the war, and 
 the meafures that Ihould be taken to bafile the intentions of the tyrant, 
 and agreed to unite the Tezcucan troops, with thofe of Mexico, in de- 
 fence of that city, on the fortune of which the fuccefs of the war 
 feemed to depend. 
 
 The rumour of the approaching war fpread infinite confternation 
 among the Mexican populace ; conceiving themfclvcs incapable of re- 
 fifting the power of the Tepanccas, whom they had till now acknow- 
 ledged their fiiperiors, they went in crouds to the king, diffuading him 
 with tears aiid intreaties from undertaking fo dangerous a war, which 
 would infallibly occafion the downfal of their city and nation. " What 
 " can be done then," fiid the king, " to free us from thefe impending 
 " calamities." " Demand peace," replied the populace, " from the 
 " king of Azcapozalco, and make offers of fervice to him ; and to 
 " move him to clemency, let our god be borne on the flioulders of the 
 " priefls into his preience." So great was their clamour, accompanied 
 with threats, that the prudent king who feared a fcdition amongil the 
 people which might prove more fatal in its confcquences than the 
 war ^^•ith the enemy, was obliged, contrary to his wiflies, to yield to 
 their requeft. Montezuma who was prefcnt, and could not bear that 
 a nation, which boaflcd fo much of its honour, fliould purfue fo ig- 
 noble a courfe, fpoke thus to the people. '• O ye Mexicans, what 
 " would ye do ? Have ye loit all judgment ? How has fuch cowardice 
 " (tole into yoiir hearts ? Have you forgot poffibly that you are Mexicans^ 
 *' and defcendants of thofe heroes who founded this city, and of thofe 
 •' brave men who have protcfted it in fpite of all our enemies ? Change 
 " your opinions then, or renounce the glory you inherit from your an- 
 " cellors." Turning afterwards to the king ; " How, fir, will you pcr- 
 *' mit fuch ignominy to ftain the character of your people ? Speak to 
 
 Vol. I. ' Y " them 
 
 i6i 
 BOOK iir.
 
 i62 II I S T O R y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK in. " them again, and tell them, that there is another ftep to be taken 
 " before we fo weakly and difhonourably put ourielves into the hands 
 " of our enemies." 
 
 The king, who wiflied for nothing more ardently, addreflèd the po- 
 pulace, recommending the counfel of Montezuma, which was at laft 
 favourably received. The king, then addrefling the nobility, faid, 
 " Which of ye, who are the flower of the nation, will be fearlefs 
 " enough to carry an embafly to the lord of the Tepanecas ?" They 
 all looked at each other, but no one durft offer to encounter the dan- 
 ger; until Montezuma, whom youthful intrepidity infpired, prefented 
 himfelf, faying, " I will carry the embaffy; as death muft one time 
 " or other be met with, it is of little moment whether to-day or to- 
 " morrow; no better opportunity can prefent itfelf of dying with ho- 
 *' nour than the facrificing my life for the welfare of my nation ? Be- 
 " hold me, fir, ready to execute your commands : order, and I obey." 
 The king, much pleafed with his courage, ordered him to go and pro- 
 pofe peace to the tyrant, but to accept of no diflionourable conditions. 
 The valiant youth fet out inftantly, and meeting with the Tepanecan 
 guards, perfuaded them to let him pafs with an embaffy of the utmoft 
 importance to their lord. Having prefented himfelf before the tyrant, 
 in the name of his king and his nation, he demanded peace on ho- 
 nourable terms. The tyrant ar.fwered, that it was neceffary to deli- 
 berate with his counfellors, but on the day following he would return 
 a decifive anfwer, Montezuma having afked him for proteóìion and 
 fecurity during his flay, could obtain no other than his own caution 
 might procure him ; upon which he went back immediately to Mexi- 
 co, promifing to return the day after. The little confidence he had 
 in that court, and the fhortnefs of the journey, which did not exceed 
 four miles, muft unqueftionably have been his motive for not flaying 
 for the final anfwer of the tyrant. He returned, therefore, to Azca- 
 pozalco the next day as he had promifed, and having heard from the 
 mouth of Maxtlaton his refolution for war, he performed the ceremo- 
 nies commonly pradiifed by two lords who challenge each other, 
 namely, prefenting certain defenfive arms to him, anointing his head, 
 and fixing feathers upon it in the fame manner as is done with dead 
 perfons ; and laflly, protefling in the name of his king, that as he 
 
 would
 
 H r S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 163 
 
 would not accept the peace which was offered to him, he, and all the BOOK ill. 
 
 Tepanecas would inevitably be ruined. The tyrant, without manifcii;- * " — ^ 
 
 ing any difpleafure at fuch ceremonies, or at the threats ufed to him. 
 gave Montezuma alio arms to prefent to the king of Mexico, and di- 
 redled him, for the fecurity of his perfon, to return in difguife througli 
 a fmall outlet from his palace. He would not have obfer\'ed fo ftridly 
 at this time the rights of nations, if he could have forefeen that this 
 ambaffador, of whofe life he was fo careful, was to prove the chief in- 
 flrument of his downfal. Montezuma profited by his advice ; but as 
 foon as he faw himfelf out of danger he began to infult the guards, 
 reproaching them for their negligence, and threatening them with their 
 fpeedy deftrudlion. The guards ruflied violently upon him to kill him; 
 but he fo bravely defended^himlelf, that he killed one or two of them, 
 and on the approach of others he retreated precipitately to Mexico, 
 bearing the news that war was declared, and that the chiefs of the two 
 nations had challenged each other. 
 
 With this intelligence the populace were again thrown into confter- Sect. XXT. 
 nation, and repaired to the king to requefl his permiflion to abandon ^^^ agamft 
 their city ; believing their ruin was certain. The king comforted and 
 encouraged them with hopes of viólory. " But if we arc conquered," 
 faid the populace, " what will become of us ?" " If that happens," 
 anfwered the king, " we are that moment bound to deliver ourfelves 
 *' into your hands to be made facrifices at your pleafure." " £0 be it," 
 replied the populace, " if we are conquered : but if we obtain the vic- 
 " tory, we, and our defcendants are bound to be tributary to you, to 
 ** cultivate your lands, and thofe of the nobles, to build your houfes, 
 •" aad to carry for you, when you go to war, your arms and your bag- 
 ** gage." This contradl being made between the nobles and the peo- 
 ple, and the command of the Mexican troops being given to the brave 
 Montezuma, the king conveyed fpeedy advice to Nezahualcojotl, to 
 repair witli his army immediately to Mexico, which he did a day be- 
 fore the battle. 
 
 It cannot be doubted, that the Mexicans had before this time con- 
 ftrudted the roads which ferved for a more eafy communication to tlie 
 city with the continent ; as otherwife the movement and Ikirmilhes of 
 the two armies are not to be comprehended : we know from hirtor}-, 
 
 Y 2 that
 
 104 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK III. that fuch roads were interfeiled by ditches, with drawbridges over 
 them, but no hiftorian mentions the time of their conftruftion (a). 
 It is not a little wonderful, tliat the Mexicans, during a life of ib many 
 hardfhips, fliould have had the fpirit to undertake and conflancy to ex- 
 ecute a work of fuch magnitude and difficulty. 
 
 The following day, upon the arrival of the prince Nezahualcojotl at 
 Mexico, the Tepanecan army appeared in the field in great numbers 
 and brilliancy, being adorned with plates of gold, and wearing beau- 
 tiful plumes of feathers on their heads, to add to the appearance of 
 their flature. As they marched they made frequent Ihouts, in boaft- 
 ful anticipation of vidlory. Their army was commanded by a famous 
 general called Mazatl. The tyrant Maxtlaton, although he had ac- 
 cepted the challenge, did not think proper to leave his palace, either 
 becaufe he believed he would degrade himfelf by going to combat with 
 the king of Mexico, or, which is more probable, becaufe he dreaded the 
 event of the war. As foon as the Mexicans were informed of the mo- 
 tions of the Tepanecas, they went out well ordered to meet them, and 
 the fignal for engagement being given by king Itzcoatl, by the found 
 of a little drum which he carried on his fhoulder, the armies attacked 
 each other with incredible fury, each being firmly perfuaded that the 
 iflue of the battle would determine their fate. During the greatefl 
 part of the day it was not to be difcerned to which fide vidlory in- 
 clined, the Tepanecas lofing in one place what they gained in another. 
 But a little before the fetting fun, the Mexican populace obfcrving the 
 enemy continually increafed by new reinforcements, began to be dif- 
 mayed, and to complain of their chiefs, faying to each other, " What are 
 *' we about, O Mexicans, fhall we do well in facrificing our lives to 
 ** the ambition of our king and our general ì How much more prudent 
 '* will it be to furrender ourfelves, humbly acknowledging our raflinefs, 
 " that we may obtain pardon and the favour of our lives .''" 
 
 The king, who heard thefe words with much vexation, and perceived 
 his troops ftill more difcouraged by them, called a council of the prince 
 and general, to take their advice what fhould be done to dilTipate the 
 
 (a) I believe the Mexicans had before this time conllrufted the roads of Tacuba and Tepey- 
 acac, but not that of Iztapalljpan, which is larger than thofe, and where the lake is deeper, 
 
 fears
 
 Il I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 165 
 
 fears of the people. " What?" anfwered Montezuma; " To fight till BOOK iii, 
 " death. If we die with our arms in our hands, defending our Uberty, 
 " we will do our duty. If we furvive our defeat, we will remain covered 
 " with eternal confulion. Let us go then, let us fight till we die." The 
 cries of the Mexicans began already to prevail as if they had been con- 
 quered, fome of them being even fo mean-fpirited as to call out to their 
 enemies, " O ye brave Tepanecas, lords of the continent, calm your 
 ** indignation ; for now we furrender. Here before your eves we will fa- 
 " crifice our chiefs, to gain your pardon to our ralhnefs which tiicir am- 
 " bition has occafioned." The king, the prince, the general, and nobles, 
 were fo enraged at thefe fpeeches, that they would inflantly have pu- 
 niflied the cowards with death, had not the fear of giving vi*5torv to 
 the enemy reftrained them. Diflembling their difpleafure, they exclaim- 
 ed with one voice, " Let us die with glory," and rullied with fuch vi- 
 gour upon the enemy, that they repulled them from a ditch \\hicli they 
 had gained, and made them retreat. Seeing this advantage, the king 
 began to encourage his people, and the prince and general continued 
 to perform fignal afts of bravery. In the utmofl heat of the engage- 
 ment Montezuma encountered with the Tepanecan general, as he was 
 advancing full of pride from the terror his troops Ihuck to the Mexi- 
 cans, and gave him fo furious a blow on the head, that he fell down 
 lifelefs at his feet. The report of the vidlory fprcad immediately through 
 the whole field, and infpired the Mexicans with frefli courage : but 
 the Tepanecas were fo difconcerted by the death of their brave general 
 Mazatl, that they foon went into confufion. Night coming on pre- 
 vented the Mexicans from purfuing their fuccefs : upon which both 
 the armies withdrew to their cities, the Mexicans full of courage, and 
 impatient at not being able, froni the darknefs of the night, to complete 
 their vi<ftory ; the Tepanecas downcaft and dejedied, though not alto- 
 gether void of hope to be revenged the following day. 
 
 Maxtlaton, afflióted at the death of his general, and the defeat of his 
 troops, pafled that night the laft of his life, in encouraging his cap- 
 tains, and reprefenting to them on the one hand the glory of triumph- 
 ing over their enemies, and on the other the misfortunes which mull 
 enfue if they were vanquilhed ; as the Mexicans, who had liitherto 
 
 been
 
 i66 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK III. been tributaiy to the Tepanecas, if they remained vidtors, would com- 
 
 '^^"-''r--^ pel the Tepanecas to pay a tribute to them {/>). 
 Sect. xxri. The day at length arrived which was to decide the fate of three kings, 
 
 Conquea of Both armies took the field, and began battle with uncommon fury, 
 
 A.ZC3DOZ31 
 
 CO, and death which continued with much fiercenefs and heat till mid -day. The 
 rant m'^ r Mcxicans being; emboldened from the advantages obtained the pre- 
 kton, ceding day, as well as from a firm belief which pofTelTed them of 
 
 coming off viftorious, made fuch havock of the enemy, that they 
 flrewed the field with dead bodies, defeated them, put them to flight, 
 and purfued them into the city of Azcapozalco, fpreading death and 
 terror in every quarter. The Tepanecas, perceiving that even in their 
 houfes they could not efcape from the fury of the vidlors, fled to the 
 mountains, which lie from ten to twelve miles difl:ance from Azcapo- 
 zalco. The proud Maxtlaton, who, until that day, had looked with 
 contempt upon his enemies, and conceived himfelf fuperior to all 
 flrokes of fortune, feeing the Mexicans had entered his court, and 
 hearing the cries of the vanquiflied, unable to make any refifl:ance, and 
 fearing to be overtaken if he attempted to fly, hid himfelf in a tema%~ 
 calli, or ciftus ; but as the conquerors fought for him every where, 
 they at laft found him ; no prayers nor tears with which he implored 
 their mercy could prevail ; they beat him to death with flicks and 
 ftones, and threw his body out into the fields to feed the birds of prey. 
 Such was the tragic end of Maxtlaton before he had completed three 
 years of his tyranny. Thus did they put a flop to his injuflice, his 
 cruelty, his ambition, and treachery, and the heavy wrongs done by 
 him to the lawful heir of the kingdom of Acolhuacan, to his brother 
 Tajatzin, and to the kings of Mexico. His memory is odious and 
 execrable among the annals of thofe nations. 
 
 This memorable event which totally altered the fyflem of thofe 
 kingdoms, fignalized the year 1425, of the vulgar era, precifely one 
 century after the foundation of Mexico. 
 
 (J)) From thefe cxpreffions of the tj'rant it is to be inferred, that when he made himfelf 
 matter of the crown of Azcapozalco, by the aflaffination of his brother Tajatzin, he refumed 
 the impofition of that tribute on the Mexicans, which had been remitted them by his father 
 TezozoHioc, I 
 
 The
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 167 
 
 The next night the vidiors were employed in facking the city, in Booiciii. 
 deflroying the houfes, and burning the temples, leaving that once fo ^ — x" ■* 
 celebrated court in a fiate of defolation not to be repaired in many years. 
 While the Mexicans and Acolhuas were gathering the fruits of their 
 viftory, the detachment of Tlafcalans and Huexotzencas took the an- 
 cient court of Tenajuca by affault, and the day after joined the army 
 to take the city of Cuetlachtepec. 
 
 The fugitive Tepanecas, finding themfelves reduced to the utmoll 
 diftrefs in the mountains, and afraid of being perfecuted even there by 
 the vidtors, at lalt thought of furrendering themfelves and imploring 
 mercy ; and that they might be more certain of obtaining it, fent off 
 an illuftrious perfonage, in company with other nobles of the Tepane- 
 can nation, to the king of Mexico, This ambafiador humbly demand- 
 ed pardon of the king in the name of his countrymen, offered obedi- 
 ence to him, and promifed that all the Tepanecas would acknowledge 
 him as their lawful lord, and would ferve him as vaffals. He congra- 
 tulated them on their good fortune in the midft of the terrible fhock 
 which their nation had fuffered of being fubjedled to fo amiable a prince, 
 who was endued with fo many excellent qualities, and at lafl conclud- 
 ed his addrefs with an earneft prayer, that they might be granted the 
 favour of life, and liberty to return to their habitations. Itzcoatl re- 
 ceived them with the utmofl: complacency, granted them all they aflced, 
 profeffed himfelf ready to receive them, not only as his fubjedts but as 
 his children, and to difcharge all the offices of a true father to them ; 
 but at the fame time threatened them witli total extirpation if they vio- 
 lated the fidelity which they fwore to him. Their demand being 
 granted, the fugitives returned to rebuild their habitations and attend to 
 their families ; and from that time continued always fubjedl to the king 
 of Mexico, affording in their difafter another example of thofe changes 
 and viciffitude common to all human affairs. But tlie whole of the 
 Tepanecan nation was not reduced under obedience to the conqueror : 
 Cojohuacan, .1 confiderable ffate and city of that people, continued for 
 fome time rthadory in their condudl as will afterwards appear. 
 
 The king iczcoatl, after this famous conqueft, ordered a ratification 
 of the compudl entered into between the nobility and the populace ; 
 by which the laft were bound to perpetual ferviccs, which they ren- 
 dered
 
 i68 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK lir. dered regularly in future ; but thofe who by their clamours and com-- 
 plaints had been the caufe of difcouraging others during battle, were 
 difmemberea from the body of the nation and the ftate of Mexico, 
 and baniflied for their meannefs and cowardice for ever. To Monte- 
 zuma, and others, who had diftinguiflied themfelves in the war, he 
 gave a part of the conquered lands, and afligned a portion alfo to the 
 priefts for their fupport j and after having given proper orders for the 
 fecurity and eftablifhment of his dominion, he returned with his army 
 to Mexico, to celebrate the fuccefs of his arms with public rejoicings, 
 and to offer thanks to the gods for their fuppofed proted:ion. 
 
 BOOK
 
 [ ^69 ] 
 
 BOOK IV, 
 
 Rc-(Jìabìijhment of the Royal Family of the Chechemecas upon the Throiu 
 of Acolhuacan. Foundation of the Monarchy of 'Macuba. The Triple 
 Alliance of the Kings of Mexico, Acolhuacan, and Tacuba. Conquejh 
 and Death of King Itzcoatl. Cof^quejis and Events of the Mexicans 
 under their Kings A'lontezuma I. and Axajacatl. War between the 
 Mexicans and TLitelolcas. Ccnqucji of Tlateloko^ and Death of the 
 King Moquihuix. Government , Death, and Euhgiiim of Nezahtial- 
 cojotl, and AcceJJion of his Son Nezahualpilli. 
 
 AS loon as Itzcoatl found himfelf firm upon his throne, and in BOOK IV. 
 quiet pollcllion of Azcapozalco, that he might make a return Sect. I. 
 to the prince Nezahualcoiotl for the afliftance he eave in the defence Rc-eikbiidi- 
 
 ^^ ■ ° _ incnt of the 
 
 of Mexico, and the conquell of the Tepanecas, he determined to aid royal family 
 him in perfon in the recovery of the kingdom of Acolhuacan. If the "hcmccasnu 
 king of xMexico had been willing to lillen to ambition rather than the the throne of 
 calls of honour and juftice, he would not have failed to find pre- 
 tences to make himfelf maflcr alio of that kingdom. Chimalpopoca 
 had been put in pollofììon of Tezcuco, by the tyrant Tczozomoc, and 
 had commanded as lord of that court. Itzcoatl, who had entered into 
 all the rights of his predecclfor, might well have confidered tliat ftate 
 to have been incorporated for feme years paft with the crown of Mexi- 
 co. On the other hand he had lawfully acquired Azcapozalco, and 
 fubjckfled the Tepanecas, and appeared to have a title to all the riglits of 
 the conquered} which were thought to have been futliciently eiiablilh- 
 cJ by twelve years poiTclTion, and the general acquiefcence of the peo- 
 ple. But availing himfelf of no fuch pretences, he finceroly defired to 
 place Nez.diualcojotl on the throne which by lawful fucceirion was due 
 to him, and which he liad been deprived of for fo many years by the 
 «furpation of the Tepanecas. 
 
 V^oL. I. Z After
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO, 
 
 After the defeat of the Tepanecas there were feveral cities in the 
 kingdom which were unwiUing to fubmit to the prince, from appre- 
 henfions of the chaftifement they merited. Huexotla was one of this 
 number, in the neighbourhood of Tczcuco, the lord of which, tìuetzìia- 
 hiiatl{a), continued obflinately rebelhous. The confederate troops 
 left Mexico, and directing their courfe through the plains, which at 
 prefent go by the name of Santa Marta, made a halt in Chimalhuacan, 
 from whence the king and prince fent an offer of pardon to thofe citi- 
 zens if they would furrender, and threatening to fet fire to their city if 
 they perfifled in rebellion ; but the rebels, inftead of accepting the terms 
 offered them, went out in order of battle againft the royal army. The 
 contiidl was not lalling ; the lord of that city being taken by the invin- 
 cible Montezuma, the rebel force was put to flight, and afterwards 
 came humbly to afk pardon, prefenting according to cuftom, their 
 pregnant women, their children, and old people to the conqueror, to 
 move him to mercy. At length the way to the throne of Acolhuacaii 
 being laid open, and the prince being placed there, the auxiliary troops 
 of Huexotzinco and Tlafcala were difmilTed with many marks of gra- 
 titude and a confiderable fhare of the plunder of Axcapozalco. 
 Sect. II. From thence the army of the Mexicans and Acolhuas moved againft 
 Conqueft ot ^|^g rebels of Coiohuacan, Atlacuihuaian, and Huitzilipochco. The 
 
 Cojolniacan _ -^ _ •' ^ 
 
 and other Cojoacanefe had endeavoured to excite all the other Tepanecas to fhake 
 off the Mexican yoke. The above mentioned cities, and fome neigh- 
 bouring places, had complied with their folicitations ; but others, inti- 
 midated by the defbrudtion of Azcapozalco, were afraid of expollng 
 themfelves to new dangers. Before they declared their rebellion they 
 began to ill-treat the Mexican women who went to their market, and 
 alfo any of the men who happened occafionally to call at that city. 
 Upon this Itzcoatl ordered that no Mexican fhould go to Cojohuacan 
 until the infolence of thefe rebels was properly punillied. Having fi- 
 nifhed the expedition to Huexotla, he went againfl them. In the three 
 firfl battles which were fought, he gained fcarcely any other advantage 
 than making them retreat a little j but in the fourth whillf the two ar- 
 mies were fiercely engaged, Montezuma with a fet of brave troops which 
 
 (fl) The city of Huexotla had bren given hy Tczozomoc to the king of Tlatelolco, from 
 whom it is probable, therefore, Mastlaton took it to give to Huitznahuatl. 
 
 he
 
 HISTORY O F M E X I C O. 171 
 
 he had placed in ambufcade, fell with iuch fury on the rear-giuud of BOOK iv 
 the rebels that he foon difordered and forced theiii to abandon tlie field 
 and fly to the city. He purfued them, and obfcrving their intention to 
 fortify thenifelves in the greater temple, he prevented them by taking 
 polfelfion of it, and burnt the turret of that findtuary. This blow 
 threw the rebels into fuch confternation, that, quitting their city, they 
 fled to the mountains which lie to the fouth of Cojohuacan ; but even 
 there they were overtaken by the royal troops, and chafed for more than 
 thirty miles, until they reached a mountain to the fouthward of Quauh- 
 nahuac, where the fugitives exhauiled with fatigue, and, without any 
 hopes of efcape, threw down their arms in token offurrender, and de- 
 livered themfelves up to the mercy of the conquerors. 
 
 This vidlory made Itzcoatl mafter of all the ftates of the Tepanecas, 
 and crowned Montezuma with glory. It is not a little wonderful, fiy 
 hiflorians, that the greater part of the prifoners taken in that war with 
 Cojohuacan belonged to Montezuma and three brave Acolhuan officers ; 
 for all the four, in imitation of the ancient Mexicans in the war againlt 
 the Xochimilcas, had agreed to cut off a lock of hair from every one 
 they took, and moft of the prifoners were found with this mark upon 
 them. Having thus happily doled this expedition, and regulated the 
 affairs of Cojohuacan, and the other fubjedt cities, both the kings re- 
 turned to Mexico. It was judged proper by the king Itzcoatl to place one 
 of the family of their ancient lords over the Tepanecas, that they might 
 Jive more peaceably and with lefs reludlance under the Mexican yoke. 
 This dignity he conferred on Totoquihtiatzin, fon of a fon of the tyrant 
 Tezozomoc. It had not appeared that this prince had taken any part 
 in the war againft the Mexicans, owing either to fome fecret attachment 
 which he had to th:m, or his averfion to his uncle Maxtlaton. Itz- Sect. in. 
 coati fent for him to Mexico, and created him kingof Tlacopan, or ra- Ta°u^b]I,a.>d 
 ther Tacuba, a confidcrable city of the Tepanecas, and of all the places •I'li^nce of 
 to the weflward, including alio the country of Mazahuacan; but Cojo- kinss. 
 liuacan, Azcapozalco, Mixcoac, and other cities of the Tepanecas, re- 
 mained immediately fubjedl to the king of Mexico. That crown was 
 given to Totoquihuatzin, on condition of his ferving the king of Mexico 
 with all his troops whenever required, for which he was to receive a 
 f7fth part of tlie fpoils v.-hich they Ihould take from the eneniy. Nc- 
 
 Z 2 zahualcoiotl
 
 172 
 
 BOOK IV 
 
 Sect IV. 
 Judicious re- 
 gulations of 
 king Neza- 
 hualcojotl. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 zahualcojotl likewife was put in poffeffion of the throne of Acolhuacan, 
 on condition oF his eivin;^ affiftance to the Mexicans in war, for which 
 he was affigned a third part of the pkmder, after dedudting the fliare of 
 the king of Tacuba, the other tvvo thirds to be referved for the king of 
 Mexico, {b) Befides this, both the kings were created honorary electors 
 of the kings of Mexico ; which honour was limply confined to the rati- 
 fying the election made by four Mexican nobles, who were the real elec- 
 tors. The king of Mexico was reciprocally bound to afford fuccour to 
 each of the two kings wherever occafion demanded. This alliance oi tlie 
 three kings which remained firm and inviolate for the fpace of a century, 
 was the caufe of the rapid conquefts which the Mexicans made hereafter. 
 But this was not the only malferly ilroke in politics of the king Itz- 
 coati J he munificently rewarded all thofe who had diflinguidied them- 
 felves in the wars, not paying fo much regard to their birth or the Na- 
 tions which they occupied, as to the courage which they fhewed and the 
 fervices they performed. Thus it was the hope of reward animated theni 
 to the moft heroic enterprifes, being convinced, that the glory and the 
 advantages to be derived from them would not depend on any accidents 
 of fortune, but on the merit of their actions themfclves. By fucceed- 
 ing kings the fame policy was pracftifed with infinite fei'vice to the fl:ate. 
 Having formed this important alliance Itzcoatl fet out with the king 
 Nezahualcojotl for Tezcuco, to crown him with his own hand. This 
 ceremony was performed with all poflible folemnity in 1426. From 
 thence the king of Mexico returned to his refidence, while the other 
 beean with the utmoil diligence to make reformations in tlie court of 
 Tezcuco. 
 
 The kingdom of Acolhuacan was not then in fuch good order and 
 regulation as Techotlala had left it. The dominion of the Tepanecas, 
 and the revolutions which had happened in the laft twenty years had 
 changed the government of the people, weakened the force of the laws, 
 and caufcd a number of their cufhoms to fall into difufe. Nezahual- 
 cojotl, who, befides the attachment which he had to his nation was 
 gifted with uncommon prudence, made fuch regulations and changes 
 
 (I) Several Hlftovians have believed that the kings of Tezcuco and Tacuba were real elec- 
 tors, but the contrary appears evident from hiftory ; no occafion ever occurred where they in- 
 terfered or were prefent at an eledion, as we fliaJl fliew hereatter. 
 
 in
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 in the ftate, that in a little time it became more flourilliing than it had 
 ever been under any of his prcdecellbrs. He g:\ve a new form to the 
 councils v\hich had been eftablillied by his grandfather. He conferred 
 offices on perfons the fitteli for them. One council determined caufes 
 purely civil, in which, among others, five lords who had proved con- 
 rtantly faithful to him in his adverfity, atVilled. Another council judg- 
 ed of criminal caufes, at which the two princes his brothers, men of 
 high i.itegrity, prefided. The council of war was compof d of the 
 moll dillinguiihcd military charad:ers, among whom Icotihuacan, fon- 
 in-law to ttie king and alfo one of the thirteen nobles of the kingdom, 
 had the firfl rank. The treafury-board confided of the king's major- 
 domos, and the firfl merchants of the court. The principal major- 
 domos who took charge of the tributes and other parts of the royal 
 income, were three in number. Societies fimilar to academics were in- 
 flituted for poetry, ailronomy, mufic, painting, hiftory, and the art of 
 divination, and he invited the moil celebrated profelfors of his kingdom 
 to his court, who melon certain days to co amunicate their difcoveries 
 and inventions ; and for each of thefe arts and fciences, although little 
 advanced, fchools were appropriated. To accommodate the mechanic 
 branches, |he divided the city of Tezcuco into thirty odd divilions, 
 and to every branch afligned adillridl; fo that the goldfmitlis inha- 
 bited one divifion, the fculptors another, the weavers another, fee. 
 To cherifh religion he raifed new temples, created miniflers for the 
 worHiipof their gods, gave them houfes, and appointed them revenues 
 for their fupport, and the expences which were neceifary at fcllivals and 
 lacrifices. To augment the fplendor of his court he conftrufted noble 
 edifices both within and without the city, and planted new gardens and 
 woods, w hich were in prelervation many years after the conquefl, and 
 fhew flill fome traces of for.uer magnificence. 
 
 While the king of Acolhuacan was occupied in new regulations of Seer, v, 
 his court, the Xochimilcas, afraid left the Mexicans in future might he Xochimiico^ 
 defirous of makin? themfelves alfo mafters of their ftate, as well as of ofCuiilalm- 
 the Tepanecas, aflcnibled a council to deliberate on the mealures they ciiks. 
 iliould take to prevent fuch a difgrace. Some were of opinion they 
 Ihould voluntarily fubinit thcmfelves to the dominion of the Mexicans, 
 as at all events in time they would be obliged to fuccumb to tiiat power : 
 
 the
 
 174 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK IV. the judgment of others however prevailed, who thought it would be 
 better to declare war againfl them before new conquefts rendered them 
 more formidable. The king of Mexico no fooner heard of their refo- 
 lution than he fet out a large army, under com^mand of the celebrated 
 Montezuma, and fent advice to the king of I'acuba to join with his 
 troops. The battle was fought on the confines of Xochimilco. AI- 
 tjiough the number of the Xochimilcas was great, they did not how- 
 ever engage with fuch good order as the Mexicans, by which means 
 they were quickly defeated, and retreated to their city. The Mexicans 
 having purfued them, entered it, and fet fire to the turrets of the tem- 
 ples and other edifices. The citizens not being able to refifi; their at- 
 tack, fled to the mountains; but being even there befieged by the Mexi- 
 cans, they at laft furrendered. Montezuma was received by the Xo- 
 chimilchan priefls with the mufic of flutes and drums; and the whole 
 expedition completed in about eleven days. The king of Mexico 
 went immediately to take pofl!eifion of that city, which, as we have be- 
 fore mentioned, next to the royal refidence, was the moft confiderable in 
 the vale of Mexico, where he was acknowledged and proclaimed king, 
 received the obedience of thefe new fubjedls, and promifed to love them 
 as a father, and watch in future over their welfare. 
 
 The bad fuccefs of the Xochimilcas was not futlicient to intimidate 
 thofe of Cuitlahuac ; on the contrary, the advantageous fituation of 
 their city, which was built on a little ifland in the lake of Chalco, en- 
 couraged them to provoke the Mexicans to war. Itzcoatl was for 
 pouring upon them with all the forces of Mexico ; but Montezuma 
 undertook to humble their pride with a fmaller body; for which 
 purpofe he raifed fonie companies of youths, particularly thofe who 
 had been bred in the feminaries of Mexico ; and after having exercifed 
 them in arms, and inftrutìed them in the order and mode which they 
 were to follow in that war, he prepared a fuitabje number of veflels, and 
 fet out with this armament againft the Cuitlahuachefe. We are total- 
 ly ignorant of the particulars of this expedition ; but we know that in 
 feven days the city was taken and reduced under the obedience of the 
 king of Mexico, and that the youths returned loaded with fpoils, and 
 brought with tliem a number of prifoners to be facrificed to the god of 
 war, We do not know the year either in which this war happened, 
 
 nor
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 175 
 
 nor the time of that of Quauhnaliuac, but it appears to have been to- cook iv 
 \vards the end of the reign of Itzcoatl. 
 
 The lord of Xiuhtepcc, a city of the country of the Tlahuicas, more 
 than thirty miles to the Ibuthward of Mexico, had requeued of his 
 neighbour, the lord of Quauhnahuac, one of his daughters to wife, which 
 demand was granted. The lord of Tlaltexcal made afterwards the fame 
 pretenfions, to whom (lie was immediately given, notwithftanding the 
 promifes made to the firft, either on account of fome offence which he 
 had done to the father, or fome other reafon of which we are ignorant. 
 The lord of Xiuhtepec being highly offended at fuch an infult, defired to 
 be revenged; but being unable for this himfelf, on account of his infe- 
 riority in forces, he implored the affiftance of the king of Mexico, pro- 
 miling to be his conflant friend and ally, and to ferve him whenever he 
 Ihould require it with his perfon and his people. Itzcoatl efteeming the 
 war juft, and the occafion fit for the extenfion of his dominions, armed 
 his fubjedls, and called upon thofe of Acolhuacan and Tacuba. So great 
 an army was certainly necelHiry, the lord of Quauhnahuac being very 
 powerful, and his city very ftrong, as the Spaniards afterwards experi- 
 enced when they befieged it. Itzcoatl commanded that the whole ar- 
 my fhould attack the city at once, the Mexicans by Ocuilla on the 
 weft: lide, the Tepanecas by Tlatzacapulco on the north, and the Tez- 
 cucans together with the Xiuhtepechefe by Tlalquitenanco on the eaft: 
 and fouth. The Quauhnahuachefe truft;ing to the natural ftrength of 
 the city, were willing to ft:and the attack. The firfl who began it were 
 the Tepanecas, who were vigoroully repulfed; but all the other troops 
 immediately advancing, the citizens were forced to furrender and fub- 
 je(fl themfelves to the king of Mexico, to whom they paid annually, 
 from that time forward, a tribute in cotton, pepper, and other commo- 
 dities, which we (liall mention hereafter. By the conqueft: of that large, 
 pleafant, and ftrong city, which was the capital of the Tlahuicas, a great 
 part of that country fell under the dominion of the Mexican king ; a 
 little after to thefe conquefts were added Quantititlan and Toltitlan, 
 confiderable cities fifteen miles to the northward of Mexico ; but any 
 other particulars we know not. 
 
 In this manner a city, which fome ftiort time before was tributary 
 
 to the Tepanecas, and not much efteemed by other nations, in lefs than 
 
 I than
 
 Sect. VI. 
 Montezu- 
 ma I. fifth 
 {cinij of 
 i\Iexlco, 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 twelve years found itfelf enabled to command thofe wl o had ruled over 
 it and the people v/ho thought themfelves greatly fuperior. Of fuch im- 
 portance to the profpenty of a nation is the wifdom and bravery of its 
 chief. At length in the year 1436 of the vulgar era, in a very ad- 
 vanced age, after a reign full of glory, the great Itzcoatl died : a king 
 juflly celebrated by the Mexicans for his fingular endowments, and 
 the unequalled lervices he rendered them. He ferved the nation up- 
 wards of thirty years as general, and governed thirteen as their fove- 
 reign. Befides refcuing them from the fubjeftion of the Tepanecas, 
 extending their dominions, replacing the royal family of the Checheme- 
 cas on the throne of Acolhuacan, enriching his court with the plunder 
 of conquered nations, and having laid, in the triple alliance which he 
 formed, the foundation of their future greatnefs, he added to the noble- 
 nefs and fplendor of the nation by many new edifices. After the con- 
 queft of Cuitlahuac he built, among others, a temple to the goddefs 
 Cihuacoatl, and fome time afterwards another to Huitzilopochtli. His 
 funeral was attended with unufual pomp and the greateft demonflra- 
 tions of grief, and his aflies repofed in the fame fepulchre with his an- 
 ceftors. 
 
 The four electors did not long deliberate on the choice of a new king; 
 there being no furviving brother of the la!:e fovereign, the eledion con- 
 fequently fell on one of his grandfons ; and no one appeared more de- 
 ferving than Montezuma Ilhuicamina, fon of Huitzilihuitl, not Icfs on 
 account of his perfonal virtues than the important lervices he had done 
 the nation. He was elected with general applaufe, advice of which be- 
 ing given to the two allied kings, they not only confirmed the eled:ion, 
 but palled many praifes on the elefted, and fent him prefents worthy of 
 his rank and their eiceem. After the ufual ceremonies and the con- 
 gratulary fpeeches of the priells, the nobles, and the military, much re- 
 joicing took place, v/ith entertainments, balls, and illuminations. Be- 
 fore his coronation, either from an eftabliflied law of the country, or 
 his own particular delire, lie went to war with his enemies to make 
 prifoners for a facrificeon the occalion. He refolved that thefe fliould 
 be of the Chalchefe nation, to revenge the infults and the injurious 
 treatment he had received from them when returning from Tezcuco, in 
 the charaélcr jof amballiidor, he liad been taken and carried to the 
 
 priiòu
 
 II I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 177 
 
 prilbrv of Chalco. He went againfl: them therefore in perfon, defeated book iv. 
 
 them, and made many prifoners ; but did not then fubjcvft the whole of ' '* " ■-* 
 
 that llate to the crown of Mexico, that he might not retard his coro- 
 nation. On the day appointed for that folcmnity the tributes and pre- 
 fents which were fent to him from conquered places, were brought 
 into Mexico. The king's major-domos and the receivers of the royal 
 revenues preceded, after whom came thofe who carried the prefents, 
 who were divided into as many companies as there were people who 
 fent them, and fo regular and orderly in their proceffion as to afford in- 
 finite pleafure to the fpeólators. They brought gold, filver, beautiful 
 feathers, wearing apparel, great variety of game, and a vafl quantity of 
 provifions. It is more than probable, although hiftorians do not men- 
 tion it, that the other two allied kings and many other Grangers of 
 diii:indlion were prefent, befides a great concourfe of people from all the 
 places in the vale of Mexico. 
 
 As foon as Montezuma found himfelf on the throne, his firfl care 
 was to eredt a great temple in that part of the city which they called 
 Htiitznabuiic. The allied kings, whom he requefted to aflift him, fur- 
 niflied him with fuch plenty of materials and workmen, that in a fliort 
 time the building was finilhed and confecratcd. During the time of 
 its conftrudtion the new war againft Chalco appears to have happened. 
 The Chalchefe befides the injuries which they had already done to Mon- gg^,^ yjj 
 tczuma, provoked his indiiination afrelh by a cruel and barbarous adi. Atrocious act 
 
 ' ° . "^ . ot the Chal • 
 
 deferving the execration of all pofterity. Two of the royal princes of chcfc. 
 Tezcuco having gone a hunting on the mount.iins which overlook the 
 plains of Chalco, while employed in the chace and feparated from their 
 retinue with only three Mexican lords, fell in with a troop of Chal- 
 chefe foldiers, who thinking they would pleafe the cruel pafhons of 
 rheir mafter, made them prifoners and garried them to Chalco. Tlie 
 favage lord of tliat city, who was probably the fame Totcotzin by whom 
 Montezuma had been fo ill treated, paying no regard to the noble rank 
 of the prifoners, nor dreading the fatal confcquences of his inhuman 
 refolution, put all the five inflantly to death ; and that he might always 
 be able to gratify his fight with a fpedtacle in which his cruelty de- 
 lighted, h'' cayfed their bodies to be falted and dried ; and when they 
 were thus fufiiciently prepared, he placed them in a hall of liis houfc. 
 Vol.. I. A a to
 
 i;^ H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK IV. {Q ferve as fapporters of the pine torches which were burned to give 
 light in the evening. 
 
 The report of fo horrid an aft fpread immediately over all the coun- 
 try. The king of Tezcuco, whofe heart was pierced with the intelli- 
 gence, demanded the aid of the allied kings to revenge the death of 
 his fons. Montezuma determined that the Tezcucan army fliould at- 
 tack the city of Chalco by land, v/hilfl: he and the king of Tacuba with 
 their troops made an attack on it by water ; for which purpofe he col- 
 lefted an infinite number of velTels to tranfport his people, and com- 
 manded the armament in perfon. The Chalchei'e notwithllanding the 
 number of the enemy, made a vigorous refinance ; for beiides being 
 themfelves warriors, on this occafion defperation heightened their cou- 
 rage. The lord of that fiate himfelf, although fo old that he could 
 not walk, caufed himfelf to be carried in a litter to animate his fubjeils 
 with his prefence and voice. They were however totally defeated, the 
 city was facked, and the lord of it puniflied in a moft exemplary man- 
 ner for his many atrocious crimes. The fpoils, according to the agree- 
 ment made in the time of king Itzcoatl, were divided among the three 
 kings, but the city and the whole of the fiate remained from that 
 time fubjedl to the king of Mexico. This vidlory, as hiflorians relate, 
 was owing chiefly to the bravery of the youth Axoquentzin, a fon of 
 Nezahualcojotl. 
 
 This famous king, although he had in early life feveral wives and 
 many children by them, had not yet conferred on any of them the dig- 
 nity of queen, as they had been all flaves or daughters of his fub- 
 jedts {c) . Judging it now neceffaiy to take a wife worthy of being railed 
 to this high rank, and who might bear a fucceflbr to him in the crown 
 Sect. Vili, of Acolhuacan, he married Matlalcihuatzin daughter of the king of 
 Nczahualco- Tacuba, a beautiful and modeft virgin, who was condudled to Tezcu- 
 joti with a CO by her father and the king of Mexico. On ©ccafion of the nup- 
 
 piincefs of... ... ,., ^ ^ 
 
 1 acuba. tials there were rejoicings for eighty days, and a year after a fon was 
 born of this m-arriage, who was named Nezahualpilli, and fucceeded, as 
 will appear hereafter, to that crown. A little time after, equally great 
 
 (t) Nezahualcojotl married in his youth Nezahualxochitl, as we have already mentioned, 
 who, being of the royal family of Mexico, was entitled to the honour of being queen ; but flic 
 «lied before the prince recovered his crown from the iifurper. 
 
 rejoicings
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 179 
 
 rejoicings took place, on occafion of the building of the Hueiiccpan or ^^OK iv. 
 great palace being completed, of whofe magnificence the Spaniards were 
 witneiTes. Thcfe feftivals, at which the two allied kings were prcfent, 
 were concluded with a moft fumptuous entertainment to which the no- 
 bility of the three courts were invited. At this entertainment Neza- 
 hualcojoll made his muficians fing to the accompaniment of inftru- 
 ments, an ode which he had compofed himfclf, which began thus ; 
 " Xochiti viamani in ahuclnictitlan," the fubjed; of which was a com- 
 parifon of the Ihortnefs of life and of its pleafures, with the fleeting 
 bloom of a flower. The pathetic touches of the fong drew tears from 
 the audience ; in whom, according to their love of life, the anticipa- 
 tion of death made proportionate ideas of melancholy fpring in the 
 mind. 
 
 Montezuma having returned to his court, found liimfelf obliged to Sect. ix. 
 crudi an enemv, whofe neighbourhood and ahnofl: domeltic fituation 5*^*'^°,^ 
 
 ■' ^ Qiuuhtlatoa 
 
 might make him prove the more dangerous to the fiate, ^liiauh- kingofxia- 
 tlatoa, the third king of Tlatelolco, inlHgated by ambition to extend 
 his dominions, or from envy of the happinefs of his neighbour and 
 rival, had formerly been defirous of taking away the life of king 
 Itzcoatl, and that he might prove fuccefsful, having no fuflicient 
 forces of his own, had entered into a confederacy with other neigh- 
 bouring lords ; but all his attempts were vain, as Itzcoatl was ap- 
 prifed of his intentions, prepared in time for defence, and damped his 
 courage. From that time, fuch a diftruft and enmity fprung up be- 
 tween the Mexicans and Tlatelolcos, that they continued for years 
 without any intercourfe, except among fome of the common people, 
 who flole off occafionally to the markets. Under the reign of Mon- 
 tezuma, Quauhtlatoa refumed his hoflilc intentions j but they were not 
 again loft unpuniflied ; Montezuma having got advice of them, pre- 
 vented the blow by a vigorous attack on Tlatelolco, in which the petty 
 king was killed, although the city was not then made fubjeél to the 
 government of Mexico. The Tlatelolcos elcded the brave Moqui- 
 bu!x king, in the choice of whom the king of Mexico himfelf mufl 
 have had conhderable Influence, 
 
 Montezuma having rid hinifelf of this dangerous neighbour, fet out ,^^ '^^\ -^'• 
 
 ...... Conqucilsot 
 
 for the province of the Coliuixcas, which lies to the fouthward of Mcxi- Monuzutiu. 
 
 A a 2 CO,
 
 i8o H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK IV. CO, in order to revenge the lofs of fome Mexicans who had been put to 
 death by that people. This glorious expedition added to his crown the 
 ilates of Huaxtepec, Jauhtepec, Tepoztlan, Jacapichtla, Totolapan, Tlal- 
 cozauhtitlan, Chilapan, which were more than a hvindred and fifty 
 miles diftant from the court, Coixco, Oztomantla, Tlachmallac, and 
 many others ; then turning to the weft, he conquered Tzompahuacan, 
 bringing under fubjedlion to the crown of Mexico both the great coun- 
 try of the Cohuixcas, who had been the authors of the deaths above- 
 mentioned, and many other neighbouring ftates which had provoked 
 his refentment probably by fimilar infults. Upon his return to his 
 court he enlarged the temple of Huitzilopochtli, and adorned it with 
 the fpoils of thofe nations. Thefe conquefts were made in the nine 
 firft years of his reign. 
 Sect. XI. In the tenth year, which was the 1446 of the vulgar era, a great in- 
 
 tionof Mex- undation happened in Mexico, occafioned by excelfive rains, which 
 
 ico. fwelled the waters of the lake till they overflowed and laid the city fo 
 
 much under water as to deftroy many houfes ; and the flreets becoming 
 impaffable, boats were made ufe of in every quarter. Montezuma 
 much diftrefled by the accident, had recourfe to the king of Tezcuco, 
 hoping his penetration might fuggeft fome remedy to this calamity. 
 That difcerning king advifed a great dyke to be made to keep out the 
 water, and laid down a plan of it, and pointed out the place where it 
 fhould be made. His counfel was approved by Montezuma, who com- 
 manded it to be followed with inftant execution. He ordered the fub- 
 jedls of Azcapozalco, Cojohuacan, and Xochimilco, to provide fo many 
 thoufand large flakes, and the people of other parts to furnifli the ne- 
 ceflary ft ones. He fummoned alfo to this work the inhabitants of 
 Tacuba, Iztapalapan, Colhuacan, and Tenajuca, and the lords and the 
 kings themfelves, engaged themfelves firft in the fatigue ; frgni their 
 example, their fubjeds were animated to flich adtivity, that in a fliort 
 time the work was perfeólly completed which mufl otherwife have 
 been many years in accomp iifhing. The dyke was nine miles in length, 
 and eleven cubits in breadth, and was compofed of two parallel pali- 
 fades, thefpace between which was entirely filled up with floneand fand. 
 The greateft difficulty which occurred, was in being obliged occallonally 
 
 ^ to work within the lake, efpecially in fome places where it was of a con- 
 
 fiderable
 
 H I S T O R Y O F I\I E X I e O. i8i 
 
 fiderable depth ; but this was overcome by the fkill of the conductor, book I v. 
 and the porfeverance of tlie labourers. This dyke was certainly of ' ^ ' 
 great ufe to the city, although it did not entirely protedl it from inun- 
 dations ; that, however, is not wonderful, as the Spaniards, although 
 they emplo3'ed European engineers, were not able to effeft its fccurity 
 from them, after labouring two centuries and a half upon it, and ex- 
 pending many millions of fequins. Whilft this work was going on, 
 the Chalchcfc rebelled, but were quickly brought under obedience again, 
 although not without the lofs of fome Mexican officers. 
 
 The accident of the inundation was foon followed by a famine ; which ^^ini^,'„c in 
 arofe from the harveft of maize, in the years 144.8 and 1449, being ex- Mexico. 
 ceedingly ftinted ; the froft having attacked the ears while they were 
 young and tender. In the year 1450, the crop was totally left from 
 the want of water. In 1451, befides having unfavourable feafons, 
 there was a fcarcity of grain for feed, fo much of it being confumed on 
 account ot the fcarcity of preceding harvefts ; from which in 1452, 
 the necelììties of the people became fo great, that as the liberality of 
 their king and the nobles was not fufficient to relieve them, akiiough 
 they opened their granaries to aflift them, they were obliged to pur- 
 chafe the neceflaries of life, with the price of their liberty. Mon- 
 tezuma being unable to relieve his fubjedls from their diilrefs, permit- 
 ted them to go to other countries to procure their fupport; but knov/- 
 ing that fome of them made ilaves of themfelves for two or three days 
 fuftenance only, he publifhed a proclamation, in which he command- 
 ed that no woman ihould fell herfelf for lefs than four hundred ears of 
 maize, and no man for lefs than five hundred. But nothing could 
 flop the deftrudtive confequences of famine. Of thofe who went to 
 feek relief in other countries fome died of hunger on their way. Others 
 who fold themfelves for food, never returned to their native country. 
 The greater pait of the Mexican populace fupported themfelves like 
 their anceftors, on the water-fowl, the herbs growing in the marlhes, 
 and the infeds and fmall fifh which they caught in the lake. The 
 following year was not fo unfavourable, and at length, in 1454, which 
 was a fccular year, r.here was a moft plentiful harvelt of maize, and 
 likewife of pullc, and every fort of fruit. 
 
 But
 
 l82 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 Sect. XIH 
 
 New con- 
 (luefts and 
 ilcath of 
 3Io!Uczuina. 
 
 But the Mexicans were not permitted to enjoy the feafon of plenty 
 
 in quietnef?, being obhged to go to war againft Atonaltzin, lord of the 
 
 city and (late of Coaixtlahuacan, in the country of the Mixtecas, 
 
 This was a powerful lord, who, for fome reafons unknown, would not 
 
 allow to any Mexican a pallage through his lands, and whenever they 
 
 happened to come there flic.ved them the worlt treatment he could. 
 
 Montezuma being highly offended with fuch hoftility, fent an embaffy 
 
 to him, to know the motive of his condudl, and threatened him with 
 
 war if he did not make a proper apology. Atonaltzin received the em- 
 
 baily with fcorn, and ordering fome of his riches to be fet Jbefore.the 
 
 amballadors, " Bear," faid he, " this prefent to your king, and tell 
 
 " him, from it he may know how much my fubjedls give me, and 
 
 ■" how great the love is which they have for me ; that I willingly ac- 
 
 " cept of war, by which it fhall be decided whether my fubjeds are 
 
 " to pay tribute to the king of Mexico, or the Mexica:;s to me." 
 
 IVIontezuma immediately informed the two allied kings of this infolent 
 
 anfwer, and fent a confiderable army againft that lord, who was well 
 
 prepared, and met them on the frontiers of his ftate. As foon as the 
 
 armies came in fight of each other, they engaged ; but the Mixtecas 
 
 rufhed v/ith fuch fury on the Mexicans, that they were tlirowii into 
 
 diforder, and forced to abandon their enterprize. 
 
 The pride of Atonaltzin increafed with the vidtory, but forefeeing 
 that the Mexicans would return with a more numerous force, he de- 
 manded afliftance from the Huexotzincas and the Tlafcalans, who 
 readily, granted it, lejoicing in having an opportunity of interrupting 
 the fuccefs of the Mexican arms. Montezuma, who was much trou- 
 bled at the unhappy iflue of the war, meditated the re-eftablifliment of 
 the honour of his crown, for which purpofe he fpeedily colleiled a 
 numerous and formidable army, refolving to command it himfelf, to- 
 gether with his two royal allies ; but before they fet out on their march, 
 he received intelligence that the Tlafcalans and Huexotzincas had at- 
 tacked Tlachquiauhco, a place in Mixteca, had killed all the Mexican 
 garrifon there, and deprived fome of the citizens of their lives, and 
 others of their liberty. Montezuma, now warm with indignation, 
 marched towards Mixreca. Neither his own power, nor the affiftance 
 which he received from his friends, were of any avail to Atonaltzin. 
 I In
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 183 
 
 In the very firft conflidl his army was totally defeated, many of his BOOK IV. 
 foldiers were killed, and almofl all his confederates ; the lew who 
 efcaped the fury of the Mexicans fell by the hands of the Mixtecas, in 
 revenge for the unfortunate ifllie of the battle. Atonaltzin furrendereJ 
 to Montezuma, who not only remained in pollethon of the city, and 
 the Hate of CoaixtLihuacan, but proceeding farther made himfelf maf- 
 ter of Tochtepec, Tzapotlan, Tototlan, and Chinintla, and in the 
 two following years of Cozanialoapan, and Quauhtochto. The caufe 
 of thefe lall wars was the fame with many others, namely, the inha- 
 bitants of thefe places having in time of peace put fome merchants 
 and couriers of Mexico to death. 
 
 The expeditioii undertaken in 1457 ^g^i"^ Cuetliicbtian, or Cotafta, 
 proved far more difficult, and more celebrated. This province fitu- 
 ated as we mentioned before on the coall: of the Mexican gulf, and 
 founded, or at leaft inhabited, by the Olmecas, who were driven out by 
 the Tlafcalans, was extremely populous. We are ignorant of the oc- 
 cafion of the war J we know, however, that the Cotaftefe forefccing the 
 ftorm which threatened them, called the Huexotzincas and Tlafca- 
 lans to their afiiflance. The two lall: feeling high refentment for the 
 lofs of Coaixtlahuacan, and thirfting for revenge, not only agreed to 
 iiflill: the other, but perfuaded the Cholulans alfo to enter into the con- 
 federacy. Thefe three republics fent numerous forces to Cotafta to wait 
 for the enemy. Montezuma, on his part, raifed a great and brilliant 
 army, in which the flower of the nobility of Mexico, Acolhua, Tlat- 
 clolco, and Tepaneca enlifted. Among other pcrfons of difti notion in 
 this army were Axajacatl, the general, Tizoc, and AhuitzotI, all three 
 brothers, and of the royal family of Mexico, who fucceflively filled 
 the throne after Montezuma their coufin. There were alfo the lord« 
 of Colhuacan and Tenaycuca ; but the moft refpecflable charader was 
 Moquihuix, king of Tlatelolco, fuccellor to the unfortunate Quauh- 
 tlatoa. When the army left PJexico, intelligence had not arrived of 
 the confederacy of the three republics w ith the Cotaftefe ; as foon as 
 Montezuma knew it, he fent melfengcrs to his generals not to pro- 
 ceed, but to return inftantly to his court. The generals entered into 
 a confultation : fome were of opinion that they ought to obey the or- 
 der of their fovereign without hefitation ; others thought they were 
 
 not
 
 i84 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BO OK IV. not under obligation to lubmit to an order, which would throw fuch 
 refledion on their honour, as the nobles mufl be difgraced and de- 
 graded if they fhunned engaging upon an occalion which was fo fit to 
 fhew their bravery. The firfl opinion prevailed, as being the moft fafe ; 
 but in fetting out on their march to return to Mexico, Moquihuix the 
 king, addreffed them : " Let thofe return, whofe fpirit can fuffer them 
 " to turn their backs upon the enemy, v/hilft I with my people of 
 " Tlatelolco alone bear off the honour of the vidor}'." This refo- 
 liite determination of Moquihuix, fo roufed and fired the other gene- 
 rals, that they all refolved to meet the danger. At length they joined 
 battle with the enemy, in which the Cotaftefe although they fought 
 courageoufly, were neverthelefs vanquiOied, with all their allies: of 
 thefe lall, the greater part were left on the field ; of both, fix thoufand 
 two hundred were made prifoners, who were foon after lacrificed at the 
 feflival of the confecration of the S^iiaxicalco, or the religious edifice ap- 
 propriated for the prefervation of thefkulls of the vi6lims. The whole 
 of that province remained fubjedl to the king of Mexico, who efla-r 
 blifhed a garrifon there, to keep that people in obedience to the crown. 
 This great vid:ory was principally owing to the bravery of Moquihuix ; 
 and even until our day, a Mexican fong or ode has been preferved, 
 which was at that time compofed in his praife [c). Montezuma 
 more pleafed with the happy fortune of the war, than offended at the 
 difobedience to his orders, rewarded the king of Tlatelolco by giving 
 him one of his coulins to wife, who was the fifier of the above men-r 
 tioned princes, Axayacatl, Tizoc, and Ahuitzotl, 
 
 In the mean while the Chalchele were daily rendering themfelves more 
 deferving of chaftifement, not folely by rebellion, but alfo by the com- 
 inillion of other new offences. At this time they had the audacity to 
 take the brother of the king Montezuma himfelf, who was, according to 
 v/hat we can learn, lord of Ehecatepec, with fome other Mexicans, pri- 
 Ibners, A crime of this nature committed on a perfon fo nearly related 
 in blood to their fovereign, appears to have been a meafure contrived 
 by them to get rid of the power of the Mexicans, and make the city 
 of Chalco the rival of Mexico ; as they were defirous of making that 
 
 {/) Boturiiii makes mention of tliis ode, which he ha ', r.n.ong other mruiufciipts and paint- 
 ing?, in his very valuable mufeunj. 
 
 lord.
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. ,85 
 
 lord, king of Chalco ; and frequently, though in vain, propofed It to BOOK iv. 
 him. He perceiving them fixed in their rcfolution, told them he 
 would accept the crown they offered ; but, that the a<ft of his exalta- 
 tion might be the more folemn, he defired they would plant in the 
 market-place, one of the higheft trees, and place a fcaffold upon it, 
 from which he might be viewed by all. Every thing was done as he 
 requeued : having affembled the Mexicans around the tree, he afcended 
 the fcaffold with a bunch of riowers in his hand ; then from the height, 
 in the view of an immenfe concourfc of people, he thus addrcffed his own 
 people : " Ye know well, my brave Mexicans, that the Clialchefe wifli 
 " to make me their king ; but it is not agreeable to our God that I 
 " fliould betray our native country, I chufe rather to teach you by my 
 " example, to place higher value on fidelity to it, than upon life itfelf." 
 Having fpoke thus, he threw himfelf headlong from the fcaffold. This 
 aól, though barbarous, was agreeable to the ideas which the ancients 
 entertained of magnanimity, and was fo much lefs cenfurable than that 
 of Cato and others, celebrated by antiquity, as the motive was nobler 
 and the courage of the Mexican greater. The Chalchefe were fo en- 
 raged at the deed, that they fell inffantly on the other Mexicans and killed 
 them with their darts. The next evening they heard by chance the 
 melancholy fcreaming of an owl, which, as they were extremely addiifled 
 to fuperffition, was interpreted, a fatal omen of their approaching ruin. 
 They were not deceived in the anticipation of their difaffers ; for 
 Montezuma, highly provoked by their rebellion and their enormous of- 
 fences, immediately declared war, and caufed fires to be kindled on the 
 tops of the mountains, as a fignal of thepunifliment to which he con- 
 demned the rebels. He then marched with his army againft that pro- 
 vince, and made fuch havock of the enemy as to leave it almofl: depo- 
 pulated. Immenfe numbers were llaughtered, and thofe who efcapcJ 
 with life, fled into the caves of the niountains which rife above the 
 p-lains of Chalco ; fome, to remove themfelves flill further from dan- 
 ger, paffing to the other fide of the mountains, took refuge in Iluexot- 
 i^inco and Atlixco. The city of Chalco was facked and plundered. 
 The fury of revenge was fuccceded in Montezuma, as is ufual to noble 
 minds, by feelings of compaffion for the unfortunate. Ilo proclaimed 
 a general pardon to all the fugitives, particularly for the relief of tlie 
 . Vol. I. Jib ngcd,
 
 i86 H I S T O R y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK IV. oged, the women, and the children, inviting them to return without fear 
 to their native country ; nor content with that only, he ordered his 
 troops to traverie the mountains, to call back the wanderers who had 
 fled from man to find flielter among the v/ild hearts, and woods. Ma- 
 ny returned, who were diftributed in Amaquemecan, Tlalmanalco, and 
 other places J but many religncd themfelves to their fate in the moun- 
 tains, from diftrull: of the pardon, or the excefs of their defpair. One 
 part of the country of Chalco was divided by Montezum.a among the 
 officers who had the moll: diftinguilhed themfelves in the war. 
 
 After this expedition the Mexicans conquered Tamazollan, Piaztlan,. 
 Xilotepec, Acatlan, and other places. By fuch rapid conquefts Mon- 
 tezuma fo enlarged his dominions, that in the eail: he extended them 
 as far as the gulf of Mexico ; in the fouth-eafl:, to the centre of the 
 countr)' of the Mixtecas ; in the fouth, as far as Chilapan and fome- 
 thing beyond it ; in the v/efl, to the valley of Toluca ; in the north- 
 weft, to the centre of the countiy of the Otomies ; and in the north, 
 as far as the termination of the vale of Mexico. 
 
 But while fo attentive to war, this famous king neglefted not what 
 concerned internal polity and religion. He publi(hed new laws, added 
 to the fplendor of his court, and introduced there many ceremonials 
 not known to his predeceflbrs. He eredlcd a large temple to the god of 
 war, ordained many new religious rites, and increafed the number of the 
 priefts. The interpreter of Mendoza's colledlion adds, that Montezuma 
 was himfclf fober, and remarkably rigorous in punilhing drunkennefs ; 
 and that by his juftice and prudence, and the propriety of his adtions, he 
 made his fubjedls fear and love him. At lail:, after a very glorious reign 
 of twenty-eight years and fome months, in 1464 he died, univerfally 
 regretted. His funeral was celebrated Vvith more than ordinary fb- 
 lemnity, in proportion to the increafed magnificence of the court, and 
 the power of the nation. 
 S£CT. XIV Before his death he affembled the chief nobility of his court, and ei- 
 
 Axajacatl, horted them to agree among themfelves, and prayed of the eledlors 
 Mexico"^ that they would, after his death, chufe Axayacatl, whom he thought 
 the fitteft perfon to promote the glory of the Mexicans. Whether 
 it was from deference to the opinion of a king who had gained Co 
 much defert from his nation, or becaufe they knew the merit of Axayacatl, 
 
 the
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 the electors choie him in preference to his elder brother. He was the 
 fon of Tczozomoc, who had been the brother of the three kings who 
 preceded Montezuma, and a fon, as well as they, of king Acamapitzin. 
 
 After the feftiviJ of the eledion, the new king, after the example of 
 his predecefibrs, ^^■ent to war, to colled: vidims for a facrifice at his 
 coronation. He made his expedition againft the province of Tecuan- 
 tepec, fituated on the coaft of the Pacific Ocean, four hundred miles to 
 the fouth-eaft, from Mexico. The people of Tccuantepcc were well 
 prepared, and in confederacy with their neighbours, to oppofe the at- 
 tempts of the Mexicans. In the keen battle which took place, Axaya- 
 catl, who commanded as general, pretended flight, to lead the enemy 
 into an ambufcade. They purfued the Mexicans, triumphing in their 
 vicftory, when fuddenly they found themfelves att.icked behind by 
 one part of the Mexican army which came from their ambufh, and at- 
 tacked in front by thofe who were flying and had now faced about upon 
 them ; harrafled thus on both fides, they were foon totally defeated. 
 The enemy, who were able to five themfelves by flight, were purfued 
 by the Mexicans as far as the city of Tccuantepcc, to which they fct 
 ■fire, and taking advantage of the confufion and confternation of the 
 people, they extended their conquefls as far as Coatulco, a maritime 
 place, the port of which was much frequented by the veflels of the 
 Spaniards, in the next century. From this expedition Axayacatl re- 
 turned enriched with fpoils, and was crowned with the greatell pomp, 
 there being a procefllon of the tribute-bearers, and a facrifice made of the 
 prifoncrs. In the firfl: years of his reign, following the ftcps of his pre- 
 ilcceflbr, he applied himfelf to thcextenfion of his conqucils. In 1467 
 he re-conquerej Cotafta and Tochtepec. In 1468, he obtained a com- 
 plete viólory over the Hujexotzincas and Atlixcas ; and on his return to 
 Mexico, he undertook the building of a temple, v.hich he culled Cuat- 
 Uv,:. The Tlatelolcos ereded another in rivallliip, which they called 
 O.cixchtl i by which the difcord l^tween thefe two kings was revived, 
 which turned out, as we lindi fee hereafter, fatal to the Tlatelolcos. 
 In I469', Tctoquihuatzin, the firfl king of Tacuba, died, who, for up- 
 wards of forty year?, wliilehe held that fmall kingdom, was conftantly 
 faithful to the \Cnvz of Mexico, and ferved him in almofl all the wars 
 which he undertook again fl the enemies of the llate. He was fuccecd- 
 
 13 b 2 cd
 
 i88 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK IV, ed in the throne by his fon Chimalpopoca, who refembled him no lefs 
 SEcrrxv. i'^ ^is bravery than his fidehty. 
 Death, and fhe lofs which the Mexicans fuffered, in 1470, by the death of the 
 
 euloguirn of ' . . ' 
 
 kingNeza- great Nezahualcojotl king ofAcolhuacan, was far more afihdling. This 
 ua cojot . king was one of the moft renowned heroes of ancient x'\merica. His cou- 
 rage, which in his youth was rather fool-hardinefs, however great it ap- 
 peared, was ftill one of the lefs noble faculties of his foul. His forti- 
 tude and conftancy during the thirteen years which he continued de- 
 prived of the crov/n and perfecuted by the ufurper, were truly won- 
 derful. His integrity in the adminiflration of juflice was inflexible. 
 To make his nation more civilized, ahd to corredi the diforders intro- 
 duced into the kingdom in the time of the tyrant, he publiflied eighty 
 laws, which were afterwards compiled by his celebrated defcendant 
 D. Ferdinando D'Alba Ixtlìlxochìtl m his manufcript, entitled. Storia 
 de' Signori Cicimechi. He ordained that no fuit, civil or criminal, 
 fliould be prolonged more than eighty days, or four Mexican months. 
 Every eighty days there was a great affembly in the royal palace, at 
 which the judges and delinquents attended. Whatever caufes had been 
 left undecided in the four preceding months, were infallibly determin- 
 ed on that day ; and thofe who were convi(5ted of any crime, immedi- 
 ately and without any remiffion, received punilhment proportioned to 
 their offence, in prefence of the whole aflembly. To different crimes, 
 different punifliments belonged; fonie were punifhed with the utmoil 
 rigour, particularly adultery, fodomy, theft, homicide, drunkennefs, 
 and treafon to the fbate. If v/e are to credit the Tezcucan hiilorians,. 
 he put four of his own fons to death, for committing incefb with their 
 mother-in-law. 
 
 His clemency to the unfortunate was alfo remarkable. It v/as for- 
 bid, under pain of death, throughout the kingdom, to take any thing 
 from another's field; and fo flridl was this law, that the flealing of fe- 
 vcn ears of maize was fuliicient to incur the penalty. In order to 
 provide, in fome meafure, for necefTitous travellers, without breach of 
 this law, Nezahualcojotl commanded that both fides of the principal 
 highways fliould be fown v/Ith maize and other feeds, with the fruits 
 ot which thofe who were in want might fupply themfelves. A great 
 part of his revenue was fpent in relief of the poor, particularly thofe 
 
 who
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 189 
 
 who were aged, fick, and in widowhood. To prevent the confump- book iv 
 tion of the woods, he prefcribed limits to thofe who cut wood, and 
 forbid trefpafles on them, under fevere penalties. Being delirous of 
 knowing if this prohibition was ftridlly obfervcd, he went out one d\y 
 in difguife, with one of his brothers, and took the way to the foot of 
 the neighbouring mountains, where the boundaries prefcribed, com- 
 menced. There he found a youth employed in gathering the fmall 
 chips which remained of fome wood that had been cut, and afked him 
 why he did not go into the woods to cut fuel. Becaufe the king, iliid 
 the lad, has forbid the trefpafling on thefe limits, and if we do not obey 
 him he will punifh us feverely. Neither importunity nor promifes 
 which the king made, were fufficicnt to make him willing to tranfgrefs. 
 The companion excited in him by this poor youth, moved him to en- 
 large the former limits he had fixed. 
 
 He was pc^rticularly zealous in his attention to the faithful admini- 
 flration of juilice, and that none from their necelBties might plead an 
 excufe for being corrupted by any of the contending parties, he ordered 
 the fupport of all his minifters and judges, their clothing, and every 
 necefTary according to the rank and quality of the perfon, to be fup- 
 plied out of the royal treafury. So much was expended annually in 
 his houfliold, in the fupport of his minifters and magirtrates, and in 
 relief of the poor, it would be totally incredible, nor ihould we be 
 bold enough to write it, were it not certified by the original paintings, 
 fcen and examined by the firft religious milTionarics, who were em- 
 ployed in the convcrfion of thefe people, and confirmed by the tefti- 
 mony of a third grandfon of this fame king, who being converted to 
 chriftianity was baptized by the name of Don Antonio Pimentel ffj. 
 The annual expenditure made by Nezahualcojotl reduced to Caftilian 
 meafure, was therefore as follo\\'S : 
 Of Maize, _ _ - 4,900,300 Fanegas fgj. 
 
 Of Cocoa nuts, _ _ - 2,744,000 Fan. 
 
 Of Chili or common pepper and Tomate, 3,200 Van. 
 
 Of Chiltccpin, or finali pepper, - -4° l'-"^- 
 
 (/) Torquemada the hiftorian, hnd thefe painting» in his hnnds, by his own teliimony. 
 (g) The Tanega is a Spanlfti meafure for dry goods, containing about a hundit-d Spanilh 
 pounds, or one hundred and thirty Roman pounds.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Of fait, - - - - Ij30o large baflcets. 
 
 Of Turkeys, - - - 8, coo. 
 
 The quantity confumed of Chia, French beans, and other legumi- 
 nous plants i of deer ahb, and ducks, quails, and other birds, was in- 
 finite and numberlefs. Every perfon will eafily comprehend how 
 great the extent of population muft have been to araafs fuch a vail: 
 quantity of maize and cocoas ; particularly as it was neceffary to 
 procure this laft by commerce with Vv-arm countries, there being no 
 foil in all the kingdom of Acolhuacan fit for the culture of this 
 plant. During one half of the year or nine Mexican months, four- 
 teen cities furniihed fuch provifions, and fifteen other cities fupplied 
 them during the other half year. Young men were employed to carry 
 on their backs the fuel which was confumed in the royal palace, in 
 amazing quantities {g). 
 
 The progrefs made by this celebrated king, in tlie arts and fciences, 
 was fuch as is to be expedled from a great genius who is without books 
 to fiudy, or mafters to inftruit him. He excelled in the poetry of 
 thefe nations, and produced many compofitions which met with uni- 
 verfal applaufe. In the fixteenth century, his fixty hymns, compofed 
 in honour of the Creator of Heaven, were celebrated even aniong 
 the Spaniards. Two of his odes or fongs, tranflatcd into Spanilh 
 verfe by his defcendant Don Ferdinando d'Alba Ixtlilxochitl, have been 
 preferved unto our time {/j). One of thefe was wrote fonie time after 
 the ruin of Azcapozalco. The fubjedl of it was fimilar to the other 
 which we already mentioned ; it lamented the inconftancy of human 
 greatnefs, in the perfon of the tyrant Tezozomoc, whom he com.pared 
 to a large and ftately tree which had extended its roots through many 
 countries, and fpread the fl:jade of its green branches over all the lands 
 of the empire ; but at laft, worm-eaten and wailed, fell to the eartli, 
 never to refume its youthful verdure. 
 
 (^) The fourteen cities charged with furnifhing provifions for the firft half year were Ttz- 
 cuco, Huexot a, Coatlichan, Ateneo, Chiauhtla, Tezonjocan, Papalotla, Tepctlaoztoc, Acol- 
 inan, Tepechpan, Xaltocan, Chimaihuacan, Iztapalocan, and Coatepec. The other filt;en 
 were Otompan, Aztaquemecan, Teotihuacan, Cempoallan, Axapochco, Tlalauapan, 'J'cpepol- 
 co, Tizajocan, Ahuatepec, Oztoticpac, Quauhthitzinco, Cojoaj, Oztothitlauhcan, Acliichilla- 
 cachocan, and T ctliztacac. 
 
 {/j Cav. Boturini had two cdcc compored bv Nczahualcojotl ; \vc wiflicd much for them to 
 publifll them in this hiftory. 
 
 ' Nothing
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 191 
 
 Nothing, however, gave ib much delight to Nczahualcojotl, as the BOOK iv. 
 ftady of nature. He acquired Ibme ideas of allronomy, by tiie frc- ^~*"* "* 
 quent obfcrvations which he made of the courfe of the liars. He ap- 
 plied himfelf befides, to the knowledge of plants and animals ; but 
 finding he could not keep the natives of other climes alive at his court, 
 he caufed paintings to be made from the life, of all the plants and ani- 
 nials of the country of Anahuac ; to which paintings the celebrated 
 Hernandez bears teftimony, who faw and made ufe of them : paintings 
 more ufeful and more worthy of a royal palace than thofe which repre- 
 fent the dark mythology of the Grecians. He was a curious enquirer 
 into the caufes of the effedts by which nature excited his admiration, 
 and frequent obfervation in that way, led him to difcovcr the weak- 
 ncfs of idolatry. To his fons, he faid privately, that although in con- 
 formity with the people they paid external adoration to the idols, they 
 Ihould, yet, in their hearts detell the worfliip which was fo deferving of 
 mockery, as it was diredted to lifclefs forms ; that he acknowledged no 
 other God than the Creator of Heaven, and he did not forbid idolatry 
 in his kingdom, though inclined to do fo, that he might not be blamed 
 for contradidling the do<flrines of his anceftors. He prohibited the fa- 
 crifice of human vid:ims ; but perceiving afterwards how difficult it 
 was to make a nation change its ancient and long-rooted ideas in matters 
 of religion, he again permitted them, but commanded, under fevere pe- 
 nalties, that thefe fliould be none but prifoners of war. He ercded in 
 honour of the Creator of Heaven, a high tower, confifting of nine 
 floors. The laft floor was dark and vaulted, painted within of a blue 
 colour, and ornamented with cornices of gold. In this tower relidcd 
 conftantlv fome men whofe office was to llrike, at certain hours of the 
 day, plates of the finefl: metal, at which fignal the king kneeled down 
 to pray to the Creator of Heaven. In honour likewife of this God, at 
 a certain time of the year he always obferved a fart: {/:). 
 
 The elevated genius of this king, adtuated by the great love he 
 had to his people, produced fo enlightened his capital, that in fu- 
 ture times it was confidered as the nurfery of the arts and the centre of 
 
 (i) All the above mentioned anecdotes arc cxtMi^ed from the valuable manufeiipts of Don 
 FcrdinanJo d'Alba ; he being fourth grandfou of that king, received, probably, many tra- 
 ditions from his fathers and grand-fathers, 
 
 cultivation.
 
 192 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK IV. cultivation. Tezcuco was the city where the Mexican language was 
 ipoken in the greateft purity and perfedlion, where the beft artifts 
 were found, and where poets, orators, and hiftorians moft abounded (/). 
 The Mexicans and other nations adopted many of their laws ; and if 
 we may be allowed the application, Tezcuco was the Athens, and Ne- 
 zahualcojotl the Solon of Anahuac. 
 
 In his laft illnefs, having called all his fons into his prefence, he de- 
 clared Nezahualpilli his heir and luccefTor in the kingdom of Acolhua- 
 can, who, though the youngeft of them all, was preferred to the reft, 
 on account of his having been born of the queen Matlalcihuatzin, as well 
 as of his fmgular redlitude and great talents. He enjoined his firft born fon 
 Acapipiohzin to affift the new king with his counfel, until he fliould learn 
 the dithcult art of government. He v/armly recommended to Nezahual- 
 pilli the love of his brothers, the care of his fubjeifts, and a zeal for juftice. 
 At laft, to prevent any diforder which the news of his death might occa- 
 fion, he commanded them to conceal it as much as pofliblefrom the peo- 
 ple until Nezahualpilli fliould be fixed in quiet poffeffion of the crown. 
 The princes received with tears the laft advice of their father, and hav- 
 ing left hinij and come into the hall of audience where the nobility ex • 
 pecfted them, Nezahualpilli was proclaimed king of Acolhuacan, Aca- 
 pipioltzin declaring it to be the laft will of their father, who having a 
 long journey to make, chofe firft to nominate his fucceflbr. All paid 
 obedience to the new king, and in the morning after, Nezahualcojotl 
 died, in the forty-fourth year of his reign, and about the eightieth year 
 of his age. His fons concealed his death, and hid his body, burning 
 it fecretly, as is probable ; and inftead of rendering funeral honours to 
 it, they celebrated the coronation of the new king with uncommon 
 feftivity and i-ejoicing. But in fpite of their cautious fecrecy the news 
 of his death fpread fuddenly through all the land, and many lords came 
 to the court to condole with the princes. Neverthelefs the vulgar re- 
 mained perfuaded that their great king was tranflated to the company 
 of the gods in reward of his virtues. 
 Sect. XVI. Some little time after the exaltation of Nezahualpilli to the throne, 
 Conqucrtof tj^e memorable war happened between the Mexicans and their nei^h- 
 
 TlatL'lolco, ^ i *=■ 
 
 and death ot 
 ling Mo- 
 <]ui;:uii:. 
 
 (I) In the lid which we have given of tlie liiflorians of that kingdom, it appears many were 
 of the royal i.anliy of Tezcuco. 
 
 bours
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 hours and rivals, the Thtelolcos. Moqnihuix kingof Tlatelolco, be- 
 ing unable to endure the dazzling glory of the Mexican monarch, ukd 
 all his arts to darken it. He had married, as we have already mentioned, 
 a lifter of king Axayacatl, given him by Montezuma in reward for the 
 famous vidlory he obtained over the Cotaftefe. On this unfortunate 
 queen he frequently vented his malice againft his coufm ; nor content- 
 ed with that he clandeftinely formed leagues with other ftates, which 
 like himfelf bore unwillingly the Mexican yoke. Thefe were Chalco, 
 Xilotepec, Toltitlan, Tcnajucan, Mexicaltzinco, Huitzilopochco, Xo- 
 chimilco, Cuitlahuac, and Mizquic, which agreed to attack the Mexi- 
 cans in their rear, after the Tlatelolcos fliould begin battle with them. 
 The Quaupanchefe alfo, the Huexotzincas, and Matlatzincas, whofe aid 
 had been requefted, were to join their troops with thofe of Tlatelolco 
 in defence of the city. The queen knew of thefe negociations, and 
 either from the hatred flie bore to her hu(band, or from her love to her 
 brother and her native countr)', flie revealed them to Axayacatl, that he 
 might ward off a blow which would have ikaken his throne. 
 
 Moquihuix being afTured of the aid of his confederates aflèmblcd the 
 nobles of his court to encourage them to the undertaking. An old and 
 venerable prieft raifed his voice in theaffembly, and in the name of them 
 s\\ declared himfelf willing to fight to the laft againft the enemies of 
 his country; then toanimate them ftill more he wallicd the altar of the 
 iàcrifices, and prefcnted the water purple with human blood to the king 
 to drink, and afterwards to all his officers ; by v.hich they imagined 
 their courage would be increafed, and doubtlefs it hardened them to the 
 exercife of cruelty upon their foes. In the mean while the queen grew 
 impatient of the ill treatment (he fufFcrcd, and being alarmed at the dan- 
 gers of war, forfook her hulLand and came to Mexico with four fons, to 
 throw herfclf under the protedion of her brother. This it was ealy 
 for her to do from the very clofe neighbourhood of the two cities. An 
 incident of this uncommon nature increafed the mutual enmity and dil- 
 guft of the Mexicans and Tlatelolcos to fiich a degree, tliat whenever 
 they met, they abufed, fought, and murdered each otiicr. 
 
 The time ©f commencing the war drawing near, Moquihuix with 
 
 his oiTlcers and many of his confederates, made afjltma lacrifiee on the 
 
 mountain which was the neareft to the city, to obtain tlu: protediou 
 
 Vol. J. C c of
 
 194 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK IV. Qf (-j^eji- gods ; and there they fixed the day on which they were to de- 
 clare war againfl the Mexicans. A few days after, he fent notice to liis 
 alhes, to be well prepared to fuccour him whenever he fliould begin tlic 
 attack. Xiloman lord of Colhuacan, was to make the firfl onfet, and 
 afterwards to pretend flight, to induce the Mexicans to purfue him, when 
 the Tlatelolcos were to fall upon their rear The day after thefe em- 
 b.iilies were fent, Moquihuix performed the ceremony of arming his 
 troops, and then went to the temple of Huitzilopochtli to implore the 
 aid of that god, where the fame horrible draft was again taken which 
 Pojahuitl had given them at the firfl congrefs, and all the foldiers pafTed 
 before the idol, with a falutation of profound reverence. This cere- 
 mony was hardly finiihed when a troop of daring Mexicans entered the 
 market-place, killing every one they met j but the troops of the Tlate- 
 lolcos coming fuddenly up, repulfed them and took fome of them pri- 
 foners, who were facrifxed without refpite, in a temple called Tlillan. 
 That fame day, about fun-fet, fome women of Tlatelolco had the bold- 
 nefs to advance into the ftreets of Mexico, and to fet fire to the birch 
 trees at the doors of the houfes, cafting, at the fame time, impudent re- 
 proaches upon the Mexicans, and threatning them with approaching 
 ruin ; but they m^et with the contempt they deferved. 
 
 That night the Tlatelolcos armed themfelves, and in the morning 
 at break of day they began the attack on Mexico. They were in the 
 heat of the battle when Xiloman arrived with the Colhuas ; but per- 
 ceiving that the king of Tlatelolco had commenced the engagement 
 without waiting for his aid or caring for his counfel, that lord retired 
 in difguft ; but defirous of doing fome mifchief to the Mexicans, he 
 caufed feveral canals to be fliut up, to prevent their receiving any afllfl- 
 ance by water ; thefe however were foon opened again by order of Ax- 
 ayacatl. The whole of the day the combat lafted with the utmoft fury 
 on both fides, until night forced the Tlatelolcos to retire. Tlie Mexi- 
 cans burnt the houfes of the city which were the neareft to Tlatelolco, 
 perhaps on account of their {landing too much in the way in the time 
 of engagement; but in fetting fire to them, twenty were made pri- 
 soners and inflantly facrificed. 
 
 Axayacatl that night diflributed his army in all the roads which led 
 to Tlatelolco, and at the dawn of day began to march from every quarter 
 
 towards
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 195 
 
 towards the market-place, which was to be the point where they were EOOK iv. 
 to meet. The Tlatelolcos finding themfelves attacked on all fides, 
 retreated to the public market-place to colledt tliere all their force, and 
 make the better refinance ; but when they reached it, they found them- 
 felves ftill more incommoded and embarraifed by their numbers. The 
 words and cries with which Moquihuix endeavoured, from the top 
 of the great temple, to encourage his troops, were of no avail. The 
 Tktclolcos were beat down and killed, while thofe who fell, vented their 
 rage in reproaches againft the king : " Delccnd from thence, you 
 " coward," they faid, " and take arms j it is not the part of a brave 
 " man, to ftand calmly looking at thofe who ar.^ fi -;hting and falling in 
 " the defence of their country." But thefe complaints, occalioned by 
 the frnarting of their wounds and the agonies of death, were altogether 
 unjuft, as Moquihuix neither failed in the duties of a general nor of a 
 king. It was proper for him not to expofe his life fo much as the fol- 
 diers did themfelves, as he could be more ufeful to them by his counfeJ, 
 and could encourage them by his prefence. In the mean time the Mexi- 
 cans advanced to the iTieps of the temple, afcended them, and came to 
 the upper balcony where Moquihuix was calling out to his people, and 
 made a defperate defence of himfelf ; but a Mexican captain, named 
 Quetzal hua, with a thruft puflied him backwards down die fleps («/), 
 when fome foldiers took up his body in their arms, and prefented it to 
 Axayacatl, who opened his breaft, and tore out his heart. An aft cer- 
 tainly horrid, but done without the feelings of horror, from its being fo 
 frequent at their facrifices ! 
 
 Thus fell the brave Moquihuix, and thus was the petty monarchy of 
 the Tlatelolcos, which had been governed by four kings in the fpace of 
 about one hundred and eighteen years, difiblved. The Tlatelolcos, after 
 the death of their king, foon fell into diforder, and attempted to fave 
 themfelves by flight, by palfmg acrofs their enemies ; but four hundred 
 and fixty reinained dead on the market-place, among whom were fome 
 officers of diftindlion. After this defeat the city of Tlatelolco was 
 united with the city of Mexico, and was no longer confidered as adiflindl 
 
 (m) The interpreter of McnJoza's collection fajs, that after the lofs of the battle, Moquihuix 
 fled to the top of the temple, and threw himfelf head-long from it, being unable to endure the 
 reproaches of one of the pricfts ; but the account of other hiiiorians appears to us more con- 
 fiflcnt with the character of this kiug. 
 
 C C 2 Citv
 
 196 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 » ,, > 
 
 Sect. XVII. 
 
 Neu' con- 
 quelts and 
 I'eath of 
 Axajacatl. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 city, but as a part, or rather as the fuburbs of Mexico, v/hich it is at 
 prelent. The king of ?vlexico conftantly maintained a governor there, 
 and the Tlatelolcos, befides the tribute which they annually paid of 
 maize, robes, arms, and armour, were oWiged to repair the lemple cf 
 Huitznahuac as often as it became neceffary. 
 
 We are ignorant whether the Quauhpanchefe, the Husxotzincas, 
 and the Matlatzincas, who were the confederates of the Tlatelolcos-, 
 did aótually affiilin this war. Of their other allies, hiftorians lay, that 
 having come to the fuccour of the Tlatelolcos, after the king Moqui- 
 luiix was killed and the confiid over, they returned without adtion. 
 The moment that Axayacatl found himfelf victorious, he condemned 
 Pojahuitl, and Ehecatzitzimitl, both of them Tlatelolcos, to the laft 
 punifliment, for having been tlie perfons who moll keenly excited the 
 citizens againll; the Mexicans, and alfo put the lords of Xochimilco, 
 Cuitlahuac, Colhuacan, Huitzilopochco and others, to death, for en- 
 tering into a confederacy with his enemies. 
 
 To take revenge of the Matlatzincas, a numerous and powerful na- 
 tion, eftabliflied in the valley of Toluca, and ftill unfubjecled to the 
 Mexicans, Axayacatl declared war againfl them, and marching with the 
 two allied kings he took in his palTage, Atlapolco, and Xalatlauhco j and 
 afterwards he conquered in the fame valley, Toluca, Tetenanco, Mete- 
 pec, Tzinacantepec, Calimaja, and other places in the fouth divilion of 
 the valley, which continued, from that time forward, tributary to the 
 crown of Mexico. Some time after, he returned into the fame province, 
 to fubdue, likewife, the north part of the valley, at prefent called Valk 
 irixtlabuacan, and in particular Xiquipilco, a eonfiderable city and fiate 
 of the Otomies, whole lord, called Tlilcuezpalin was famous for his 
 bravery. Axayacatl, who likewife boafted of his courage, was anxious to 
 engage him in fingle combat during the battle, which took place ; but 
 the event proved difaftrous to Axayacatl himfelf; he received a violent 
 wound on the thigh, and two captains of the Otomies advancing, brought 
 him, with a few ftrokes more, to the ground, and would have made him 
 prifoner, if fome young Mexicans had not, when they law theii king in 
 fuch danger, refolutely defended his liberty and his life. NotwithHand- 
 ing this misfortune and dlfgrace, the Mexicans obtained a complete vic- 
 tory, and, according to what hiftorians fay, made eleven thouland and fix- 
 ty prifoners, among whom were Tlilcuezpalin and the two captains who 
 
 had
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 had attacked the king. By this glorious vidtory Axayacatl added Xlqui- 
 pilco, Xococitlan, AtJacomalco, and all the other places compi ehended'in 
 the viilley which we: e ncc before fubdaed, to the crown of Mexico. 
 
 As foon as Axayacatl had recovered of his wound, which made liim 
 halt in one leg during the reft of his life, he gave a great entertainment to 
 the allied kings, at which he put Tlilcuczpalin and the two other cap- 
 tains to death. The execution of fuch a pun^ihrnent did not appear to 
 thofe people unfeafonable, ami'.lft the feftivitytif an entertainment; from 
 being ufed to llied human blood, the horror naturally ariling from it, 
 changed into recreation. So ftrong is the force of cuftom, and fo ealy 
 is it to familiarize our minds to the moll horrible objeds. 
 
 In the laft years of his reign, the bounds of his empire appearing ra- 
 ther too confined towards the weft, he again took the field; and paf- 
 fing through the valley of Toluca, and crofling the mountains, he 
 conquered Tochpan and Tlaximalojan, which was afterwards the fron- 
 tier of the kingdom of Michuacan. From thence returning towards 
 the eaft he made himfelf mafter of Ocuilla and Malacatepec. The pro- 
 grefs of his conquefts and vidlories were now interrupted by his death, 
 which happened in the thirteenth year of his reign, or the 1 477 of 
 the vulgar era. He had a genius for war, and was rigorous in punilh- 
 ing the tranfgreflbrs of the laws which his predecefibr had eftablilh- 
 ed. Pie left a numerous offspring by his different wives, among which 
 was the celebrated Alontezuma of whom we fl;iall ihorily have occahon 
 to fpeak. 
 
 In the room of Axayacatl, Tizoc was eledled, who was his elder bro- 
 ther and ha', ferved in the poft of general of the army («). We do not 
 find where lie made his firft expedition to procure the vidims necefiary 
 at the cereii'.ony of his coronation. His reign was fliort and obfcure. 
 In the tenth paiiitine, however, of Mendoza's collcdlion there is a re- 
 prefentation of fourteen cities fubduedby him, among which are Toluca 
 and Tecaxic, which having rebelled againft the crown, occafioned the 
 neceftity of re-conquering them; alfo Chilian, Jancuitlan, in'tiie coun- 
 
 Sfct.XVJII 
 Tizoc, fe- 
 vcnth king 
 of Mexico. 
 
 (n) AcoHa makes Tiioc fon of Montezuma I. and the interpreter of Mendoza's colleéìion, 
 makes him iVn of Axayacatl ; hut both arc dcmon!'r,,tcd to be wrong, by other hiliotians. 
 Acolb was wronr alfo in the order of tlie kin^s, as he phiced Tizot's reign before Axayacatl. 
 See our Diflciiatians on this head. 
 
 try
 
 Huexotzin- 
 cas 
 
 198 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK III. try of the Mixtecas, Mazatlan, Tlapan, and Tair.apachco. Torque- 
 
 * '' ' mada makes mention of a viftory which he obtained over Tlacotepec. 
 
 Sf.ct. XIX. It was in the time of this king, that the war between the Tezcucan 
 
 AVarbetwccii j^^jjo,-; a^d the Hucxotzincas happened. This war took its rife from 
 
 the Tczcu- -^ -^ 
 
 cans and the the ambition of the princes the brothers of king NezahualpiUi. Al- 
 though they fliewed no difcontent, in the beginning, at the exaltation 
 of their younger brother, yet as the memory of their late father be^an 
 to die avvay, they felt themfelves unable to endure the controul of 
 one v/hom, in point of age, they had a right to command; and for. ned 
 a fecret confpiracy againtl him. To help them in their wicked dc;i-,.;s 
 they applied full to the Chalchefe, who were always the fitteU .md 
 readieil for fuch undertakings ; but failing in all the means employed 
 by them, they made folicitations to the Huexotzincas for the fame pur- 
 pofe. NezahualpiUi being apprifed of their confpiracy, raifed fpeediiy a 
 flrong army, and marched againft the Huexotzincas. The .-cr.cial of 
 that fiate had procured intelligence of the marks of Nezahu.apiiii's per- 
 fon. that he might diredl all his blows againft him, and nad pro/iiifed 
 rewards to any perfon who fliould produce the king to him alive, or 
 dead. There vvere not wanting others, who intimated all this to the 
 king; upon which, before he entered into battle he changed garments 
 with one of his captains. This unfortunate officer, being taken for the 
 king, was quickly fet upon by the multitude, and killed. As the ene- 
 my were giving to vent their fury on him, NezahualpiUi made his at- 
 tack on the Huexotzincan general, and killed him, though not with- 
 out the greateft rilk of being cut to pieces by the foldiers who flew to 
 the defence of their general. The Tezcucan people, who fell into the 
 fame miftake with thofe of Huexotzinco, by not knowing the exchange 
 of drefs which had been made, began to be difpirited ; but fuddenly 
 again recognizing the king, they ran up eagerly to refcue him ; and after 
 defeating the enemy, they facked the city of Huexotzinco, and returned 
 triumphant with fpoils to Tezcuco. Hiftorians are lilent refpeifling the 
 fate of the princes who were the authors of this confpiracy. It is pro- 
 bable they were either flain in the battle, or efcaped by flight from the 
 chaftifement they deferved. NezahualpiUi, who, a little before had 
 built himfelf a new palace, defirous of leaving a perpetual monument 
 of this vidory, ordered likewife the conftrudlionof a wall, which fhould 
 I inclofe
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 199 
 
 inclofe exactly fo much fpace of ground as was occupied by the Huex- book iv. 
 
 otzincas when they came up to the defence of their general, and gave * " — "* 
 
 the place the name of that day on which he had obtained the vidory. 
 Thus did thofc, who arc thought by many to have no views of futurity, 
 feek to immortalize their name and the glory of their aftions. 
 
 The king of Tezcuco had already fe\eral wives, who were defcendcd Srcr. xx'. 
 of noble houfes ; but he had not declared any of them his queen, having kingNcz.a- 
 referved that honour for one whom he was to take of the royal family of '^"■^''"'^'."^'l 
 Mexico. He demanded her of king Tizoc, who gave him one of his disiofMcii- 
 grand-daughters, and daughter of Ts^/zi^c^/z/w. The nuptials were fo- 
 lemnized in Tezcuco, a gre.tt concourfe of the nobiUty of both courts 
 being prefent. This lady had a fifter polTcilcd of fingular beauty, who was 
 named Xocot%'m. They loved each other lb much, that not being able 
 to endure a feparation, the new queen obtained permifhon from her fa- 
 ther, to take her fifter along with her to Tezcuco. By frequently view- 
 ing and converfing with his beautiful coufin, the king became fo en- 
 amoured, that he refolved to wed her alio, and raife her to the dignity 
 of queen. Thefe fecond nuprials, according to the account given by 
 hiflofians, were the moft folemn and magnificent which were ever ce- 
 lebrated in that country. A ihort time after, the king had by his 
 firft queen, a Ion named Cacamatzin, who fucceeded him in the crown, 
 and being afterwards made prifoner by the Spaniards, died unhappily. 
 By the fecond he had Hiiexotzincatzin {0), of whom we lliall fpeak prc- 
 fently, Coanacotzin, who was alfo king of Acolhuacan, and, Ibme time 
 after the conqueft by the Spaniards, ordered to be hanged by the con- 
 queror Cortes, and Ixtlilxochitl, who became a confederate of the Spa- 
 niards againft the Mexicans, and was converted to chriftianity, r.nd bap- 
 tized by the name and fumarne of that conqueror. 
 
 Wliilft Nezaiiualpilli continued to multiply his defcendants, enjoy- 
 ing great peace and tranquillity in his kingdom, the death of the king of 
 Mexico was plotted by forne of his feudatory fubjed^. Tecliotlalla, Secr.xyr. 
 lord of Iztapalapan, either in refentment of fome affront he had received, „7k1!iV''^'"'' 
 or grown impatient of fubordination to Tizoc, conceived the guilty pur- Tizoc. 
 pole of attempting the king's life, but difcovcred it to thofe only whom 
 
 {o) The name Huesotzincatl given to that prince, was certainly on account of his viùìory 
 ever the Huexotzincas, 
 
 he
 
 200 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 r.ooK IV. 
 
 Sect. XXII. 
 AhuitzotI, 
 eiirhth kine: 
 ot Mexico. 
 
 Sect. 
 XXI 11. 
 Dedication 
 ofthegt eater 
 •temple of 
 Mexico. 
 
 he thought capable of putting it in execution. He and Maxtlaton 
 lord of I'lachco, agreed upon the manner in which they were to accom- 
 plifh the dangerous deed. Hiftofians are not of one opinion on this head. 
 Some of them relate that they employed forcerelles, who, by means of 
 their arts, took his life from him ; but this is evidently a popular fa- 
 ble. Others affirm that they adminiftered poifon to him. Which 
 ever was his mode of death, it is certain that their machinations were 
 fuccefsful. Tizoc died in the fifth year of his reign, the I482d of the 
 vulgar era. He was a perfon of a circumfpeól, feriojr;, charaóter; 
 and rigorous, like his predeceflbrs and fucceflbrs, in pup.illiing delin- 
 quents. During his time the power and wealth of the crowti had ar- 
 rived to fuch a height, that he undertook to conftrucfl a temple to the 
 tutelary god of the nation, which was to have furpaffed in grandeur and 
 magnificence, all the temples of that country ; he had prepared a vaft 
 quantity of materials for that purpofe, and had begun the liiruiilure when 
 death interrupted his projeds. 
 
 The Mexicans, well knowing their king had not fallen by any natu- 
 ral death, fought revenge before they proceeded to a new eledlion. They 
 were fo diligent in their inquiries and fearch, that they foon detedled 
 the perpetrators of the adi, and executed fentence upon them in the 
 greater public place of the city of Mexico, in prefencc of the two al- 
 lied kings, and of all the Tezcucan and Mexican nobility. The electors 
 being affembled to appoint a new king, they chofe AhuitzotI, the brother 
 of their two preceding kings, who was already general of the army ; 
 for, from the time of Chimalpopoca the cuflom had prevailed of ex- 
 alting no one to the throne who had not firfi: occupied that poll, it be- 
 ing judged highly requifite that he who was to become the chief of fo 
 warlike a nation, fhould firft give proofs of his bravery, and that 
 while he commanded the army, he might learn the art of governing the 
 kingdom. 
 
 The firfl objeft to which the new king paid attention, was the fi- 
 niihing of that magnificent temple, which had been defigned and be- 
 gun by his predeceffor. It was refumed with the utmoft fpirit and ac- 
 tivity, an incredible number of workmen being aiTembled, and Vv'as 
 completed in four years. While the building was conflrufting, the king 
 went frequently to war, and all the prifoners v/hiich were taken from 
 
 the
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 2oi 
 
 the enemy, werereierved for the felHval of its confecration. The wars book iv. 
 of thefc four years were cai ried -jn ^jjainll the Alazahuas, a few miles 
 diilant towards of the well, wiio had rabelled againfl the crown of Tacu- 
 ba J againll the Zapotecas, three hundred miles diftant in the fouth-eaft; 
 and againll feveral other nations. When the tabric was completed, the 
 king invited the two allied kings, and all the nobility of both kingdoms, 
 to its dedication. The concourfe of people was by far the moft nume- 
 rous ever ken in Mexico (y) ; as this famous folemaity drew Ipedlators 
 from the moft diftant places. The feftival lafted four days, during which 
 they facrificed, in the upper porch of the temple, all the prifoners 
 which they had made in the four preceding years. Hiftorians are not 
 agreed concerning the number of the victims. Torquemada fays, that 
 they amounted to feventy-two thoufand three hundred and forty-four. 
 Others affirm they were lixty-four thoufand and fixty in number. To 
 make thefe horrible facrifices with more fliew and parade, they rang- 
 ed the prifoners in two files, each a mile and a half in length, which 
 began in the roads of Tacuba and Iztpalapan, and terminated at tiie 
 temple (r), where, as foon as the vidims arrived, they were lacrificed. 
 After the feftival the king made prefents to all whom he had invited, 
 which muft certainly have been attended with an enormous expence. 
 This event happened in i486. 
 
 In that fame year, Mozauhqui lord of Xalatlaucho, in imitation of 
 his king to whom he bore much affedtion, dedicated anotlier temple, 
 which had been built a little before, and facrificed likewife a great num- 
 ber of prifoners. So much flaughter and blood did the cruel and bar- 
 barous fuperftition of thefe nations occafion. 
 ^ The year 1487 was no way memorable, except on account of a vio- 
 
 lent earthquake, and the death of Chimalpopoca king of Tacuba, who 
 was fucceeded by Totoquihuatzin tiie Second. 
 
 (q) Some authors affirm, that the number of perfons at this fertival amounted to fix millions. 
 Although it appears cxa'^^crated yet it does not feem altogether improbab!e, confidering the 
 populoufnefs of that country, the grandeur and n velty of the fcllival, and the cafe with which 
 rliofe pcopit; moved from place to place, being accuftomed to travel on foot without the hinJ- 
 r.iiKC of baggage or equipage. 
 
 (r; Bctanourt fays that the file of prifoners ranged on the road of tztapalnpan, began at 
 the pl.-icc which is now called La Caniiflaria MaLmtlapiUo, and was given this n :mc on that ac- 
 count, as the word Malcuitlapilco fignities the tail, point, or the extremity of the prifoners. 
 This conjcfture is pretty probable ; neither is it cafy to trace a better origin of the name. 
 
 Vol. I. D d Ahuitzotl,
 
 202 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK IV, Ahuitzotl, whofe warlike genius did not permit him to enjoy peace, 
 '■"r"^'~*^ went again to war againfl: Cozcaquauhtenanco, and obtained a complete 
 XXIV. viftorv ; but havina; met with an obftinate refiftance, he treated them 
 kin"^Ahuk-° ^^'y^ great feverity. Afterwards he fubdued Quapilollan, and paffed from 
 20tl. thence to make war on Qiietzalcuitlapillan, a large province peopled with 
 
 a warlike nation (s) ; and laftly turned his arms againfl ^auhtla, a place 
 fituate on the coaft of the gulf of Mexico, in which war Montezuma, 
 the fon of Axayacatl, and the fucceffor of Ahuitzotl in the kingdom di- 
 flinguiihed himfelf. A little time after, the Mexicans together with the 
 Tezcucans, went againfl the Huexotzincas, in which war Tezcatzin, the 
 brother of the above mentioned Montezuma, and Tliltototl, a nc^ole 
 Mexican officer, who afterwards became general of the army, gained 
 great renown. We do not find in hiflorians either the caufe or par- 
 ticulars of this war. The expedition againfl the Huexotzincas be- 
 ing concluded, Ahuitzotl celebrated the dedication of a new temple 
 called Tlacatecco, at which the prilbners made in the preceeding wars 
 were facrificed j but the rejoicings of this feflival were diflurbed by the 
 burning of the temple of Tlillan. 
 
 Thus this king continued in conflant wars until 1496, in which 
 the war of Atlixco happened. The entry of the Mexican army into 
 this valley was fo unexpefted, that the firil intimation which the At- 
 lixchefe nation had of it was the fight of them when they entered. 
 They took up arms immediately in their defence ; but finding they 
 had not forces fufficient to refifi: any length of time, they applied to the 
 Huexotzincas, their neighbours, for afliflance. When the Atlixchefe 
 ambafladors arrived at Heuxotzinco, they found a famous captain named 
 To/Zt'm// playing at football, whofe great courage was ftill lefs remarkable 
 than the extraordinary flrength of his arm. As foon as he was informed 
 concerning the Mexican army, he quitted play to repair with auxiliary 
 troops to Atlixco, and entering into the battle unarmed to fhew his 
 bravery, and the contempt he entertained of liis enemies, he knocked 
 down the firfl Mexican he met with his fift, and took his arms from 
 him, with which he began to make great flaughter. The Mexicans being 
 
 (j) Torrjuemada fays, that Ahuitzotl having frequently attempted the conqueft of Quetzal- 
 cuitlanpillan, did never yet fucceed ; but among the conquells of this king in the eleventh 
 painting of Mcndoza's CoUeiStion, this province is reprefentej. 
 
 I unable
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 203 
 
 unable to overcome the rehllance of their enemies, abandoned the field BOOK IV. 
 and returned to Mexico covered with ignominy. The Huexotzincas, in 
 reward of the fingular bravery of Tohecatl, made him the chief of 
 their republic. This itate however was afterwards fubjeded to the domi- 
 nion of the Mexicans whom they again provoked by frelli infults ; but as the 
 conquered nations only bore the yoke while they could not Ihake it off, 
 whenever tlie Huexotzincas found themfelves able to refift, they rebelled ; 
 and the greater part of the provinces fubdued by the Mexican arms did 
 the fame, which forced the Mexican army to keep jn continual motion, 
 to regain what their king occafionally loft in this way. Toltccatl ac- 
 cepted tlie dignity and poft conferred upon him ; but a year had 
 hardly elapfcd when he was conftrained to abandon not only his charge 
 but his country. The priefts and other minifters of the temples mak- 
 ing an abufe of their authority, entered into private houfes and took 
 away the maize and turkeys which they found in them, and commit- 
 ted other excefles unbecoming their dignity. Toltecatl endeavoured 
 to put a ftop to fuch injuftice ; but the priefts rofe in arms. The po- 
 pulace lupported them j another party oppofed their violence, and a 
 war kindled between the two fad:ions, which, like all other civil wars, 
 brought on the greateft evils. Toltecatl weary of governing a people 
 fo untradlable, or afraid of perifliing in the ftorm, removed from the 
 city with fome other nobles, and pafling the mountains arrived at Tlal- 
 manalco. The governor of that city gave fpeedy advice of them to the 
 king of Mexico, who inftantly put all the fugitives to death in punilla- 
 ment of their rebellion, and lent their dead bodies to Huexotzinco to 
 intimidate the rebels. 
 
 In the year 1498, it appearing to the king of Mexico, that the in- Sect. xxv. 
 viration of the lake was become difficult from the fcarcity of water, lie ^"'^^ <nunii i- 
 was defirous of incre^ifingitfrom the fountain of Huitzilopochco which to. 
 fupplicd the Cojoaciinefe, and called on Tzotzomatzin, lord of Cojoa- 
 can, to give his orders for that purpofe. Tzotzoinatzin reprefented to 
 him that that fpring was not conilant ; that fometimes it was dr}', and at 
 other times ran in fuch abundance, that it niiqht caafe fome dilafter to 
 his court. Ahuitzotl imagining that tliefe realons were mere pretences 
 to be excufed from doing what he was commanded, repeated liis iirft 
 order, but hearing the difficulty firft mentioned infifted un, difmiflal 
 
 D d 2 him
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 him in anger, and made him be put to death. Such is too often the 
 recompence of good counfel when princes are obllinate in their ca- 
 prices, and negiedt to attend to the fincere remonllrances of their laith- 
 ful fubjeds. Ahuitzotl being unwilHng on any account to abandon his 
 projeds, caufed a large and fpacious aqnedud to be formed (t) from 
 Cojoacan to Mexico, by which the water was conveyed with many lu- 
 perftitious ceremonies ; fome of the priefts offering incenfe, others fa- 
 crifiCing quails, and anointing the hp or border of the aqueduct with 
 the blood ; others founding mufical inftruments, and otherwife folem- 
 nizing the arrival of the water. The high-prieft wore the fame habit 
 with which they reprefented Chalcbihuitlicne, goddefs of the water («). 
 
 With fuch congratulations the water v/as received at Mexico j but the 
 prevailing joy was not long of being changed into lamentations : as the 
 rains of that year were fo plentiful, the waters of the lake rofe and 
 overflowed the city j the ftreets were filled with failing veflels, and 
 fome houfes wafhed away. The king happening to be one day in the 
 lower chambers of his palace, the water entered fuddenly in fuch abun- 
 dance, that as he haftened to get out at the door, which was low, he 
 received a violent contufion on his head, which fome time after oc- 
 cafioned his death. Diftreffed equally with the accident of the inun- 
 dation, and the clamours of his people, he called the king of Acol- 
 huacan to his alTiflance, who, without delay, ordered the dyke to be 
 repaired, which had been built by the advice of his father in the reign 
 £)f Montezuma. 
 
 The Mexicans were fcarcely delivered from the calamity of the in- 
 undation, when a year after, the fuperabundance of v>^ater having rotted 
 ♦ill their maize, they were afflided with a fcarcity of corn ; but in this 
 year they had the fortune to difcover a quarry of tetzontli in the vale 
 of rvlexico, which proved fo ufeful for the buildings of that city. 
 The king immediately made ufe of this kind of ftone for temples ; and 
 after his example, private individuals built their houfes of it. He or- 
 
 (t) This aqueduft was entitely dclhoyed by Aluiitzoil hiinfclf, or his fucccflbr, for on the 
 arrival of the Spaniards nothing remained of it. 
 
 («; Acoda tertifies that the conveyance of the water of Huitzilopochco to Mexico, and t'.ie 
 oerenionies performed by the priefts were reprefented in a Mexican paicting, which ic hb time 
 •|V^s, and may be ftill, in the library of the Vatican. 
 
 dered
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 205 
 
 Sect. 
 XXVI. 
 Nc'v con» 
 qucHs and 
 death oi \' 
 buitzotl. 
 
 dered all ruinous edifices to be pulled down and rebuilt in a better form ; Bo ck iv 
 adding much to the beauty and magnificence of his court. 
 
 He palfed the lalt years of his life in conftant wars, namely, thofe 
 of Izquixochitlan, Amatlan, Tlacuilollan, Xaltepec, Tecuantepec, and 
 Huexoth in Huaxteca. Tliltototl, the Mexican general, having finifli- 
 ed the war of Izquixochitlan, carried his vidorious arms as far as 
 Qu^htemallan, or Guatemala, more than nine hundred miles to the 
 fouth-eaft from the court, in which campaigns, according to the hifto- 
 rians, he performed prodigies of valour, but none of them relate the par- 
 titular adions of this renowned general ; nor do we know \vhether 
 that great trad of country remained fubjedl to the crown of Mexico. 
 
 At length in the year 1502, after a reign of about twenty years, 
 Ahuitzotl died of an Ulnefs occafioned by the abovementioned contufion 
 on his head. He was a very warlike king, and one of thofe who ex- 
 tended moll confiderably the dominions of thecxown. At the time of 
 his death, the Mexicans were in pofTefllon of all which they had at the 
 iirrival of the Spaniards. Befides courage, he had two other royal virtues, 
 which made him celebrated among his countrymen ; thefe \\ere mag- 
 nificence and liberality. He embellilhed Mexico with fo many new 
 and magnificent buildings, that it was already become the firll city of the 
 new world. When he received the provincial tributes he aflembled the 
 people in a certain fquare of the city, and pcrfonallydillributed provi- 
 fions and cloathing to the necefiitous. He rewarded his captains and 
 foldicrs who dillinguilhed themfelves in war, and the minifters and of- 
 ficers of the crown who fervcd him with fidelity, with gold, lilver, 
 jewels, and precious feathers. Thefe virtues were put to the foil by fomc 
 vices, as he was capricious, vindidive, and ibmetimes cruel, and lo 
 inclined to war, that he appeared to hate peace ; from which the name 
 Ahuitzotl was ul'ed proverbially by the Spaniards of that kingdom to 
 iigniiy a man whole troublelbme vexatious temper would not permit 
 another to live (.v). But he was in other reipcds good humoured, and 
 delighted lb much in mufic, that lie never wanted, neither by night nor 
 day this amulcment in his palace ; but it murt: have been prejudicial to 
 the public good, as it robbed him of a great part of that time which ihould 
 
 (y) The f paniarcis fay, X. li mio Ahuitzctc ; Quefli c» l'Ahi-iizote di N. a ninno manca 
 
 il luo Ahuitzotf, Skt 
 
 have-
 
 2o6 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK IV. have been dedicated to the important concerns of his kingdom. He 
 was not lefs attached to the company of women. His predeceflbrs had 
 many wives, from an opinion that their authority and grandeur would 
 be heightened in proportion to the number of perfons who contributed 
 to their pleafures. Ahuitzotl having fo much extended his dominions, 
 and encreafed the power of the crown, was defirous aUb of llnewing the 
 fuperiority of his grandeur over that of his anceftors, in the exceffive num- 
 ber of his wives. In this ftate was the court of Mexico at the beginning 
 of the fixteenth century ; of that century fo fruitful in great events, 
 during which that kingdom was to put on a quite different afpeft, and 
 the whole order and fyftem of the new world was to be reverfed. 
 
 BOOK
 
 l'ir. 
 
 Vol.l.Faqe ìo-^ 

 
 f 207 ] 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 Events under Montezuma II. the ninth King of Mexico, until the Tear 
 1519. Particulars of his Life, his Government, and the Magnifi- 
 cence of his Palaces, Gardens, and Woods. 'The War of Tlafcala^ 
 and fome Account of Tlahuicole, a Tlafcalan Captain. Death and 
 Eulogium ofNezahualpilli, King of Acolhuacan, and neiv Revolutions 
 in that Kingdom. Prefages of the Arrival of the Spaniards. 
 
 A 
 
 ICO. 
 
 Hiaitzotl being dead, and his funeral celebrated with extraordi- book v. 
 
 nary magnificence, they proceeded to the elecftion of a new fo- '^~~- ' 
 
 vereign. No brother of the preceding kings furvived ; on which ac- i^iontczmnJ, 
 count, according to the law of the kingdom, one of the grandfons k'ing"o"'Mcx- 
 of the laft king, who were fons of his predecelTors, had the right of fuc- 
 cefiion ; of thefe there were many; for of the fons of Axayacatl, Mon- 
 tezuma, Cuitlahuac, Matlatzincatl, Pinahuitzin, Cecepa<flicatzin, were 
 flill living, and of thole of king Tizoc, Imaéllacuijatzin, Tcpehuat- 
 zin, and others, whofe names we do not know. Montezuma, who 
 was called by the name of Xocojotzin, to diftingniHi him from the other 
 king of tliat name, was elefted in preference to all the others fa). 
 
 (s) Belides the bravery which he had difplayed in feveral battles, 
 in which he held the pofl: of general, he was likewifc a priefl, and 
 much revered for his gravity, his circumfpcdtion, and religion. He 
 was a man of a taciturn temper, extremely deliberate, not only in 
 words, but alfo in his adions ; and whenever he fpoke in the royal 
 council, of which he was a member, he was lillened to with rcfped. 
 
 (a) The author of the Annotations to Cortes's Letters, printed in Mexico iu the year 1770 
 fays, that Montezuma II. was fon of Montezuma I. This is a grofi millake, as wc kuow 
 from aH the hillorians, both Mexican and Spanidi, that he was the fon of Axayacatl. Sec 
 Tori|iicm::da, Bernal Diaz, the interpreter of Mcndoza's Collection, &c. 
 
 The tint Montezuma was calltd bv the Mexicans Ilncliiu- Moiuz.oma, and the fccond Motcnc 
 zema Xeojotzit/, names which arc e<iuivalcnt to ihc /c/iitr and Jmu'er oj the Latins, 
 
 Notice
 
 ao8 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK V. Kotice of the eledion being fent to tlic two allied kings, they repaired 
 inftantly to the court to pay their compliments. Montezuma, being 
 apprized of it, alfo retired to the temple, appearing to think him- 
 lelf unworthy of fo much honour. The nobility went there to ac- 
 quaint him with his being elefted, and found him fweeping the pavement 
 of the temple. He was conducted by a numerous attendance to the 
 palace, where the electors, with due folemnity, intimated the ele(!lIon 
 had fallen on him as the fitteft perfon to fill the throne of Mexico. 
 From thence he returned to the temple to perform tlie ufual ceremo- 
 nies, and as foon as they were finiihed he received on the throne the 
 homage of the nobility, and heard the congratulatory harangues of 
 the orators. The firll fpeech was made by Nezahualpilli, king of A- 
 colhuacan, which we prefent to our readers fuch as it is preferved to 
 us by the Mexicans. 
 
 " The great good fortune, "^ he fald, ** of the Mexican monarchy is 
 " made manifelt from the unanimity in your election, and the uncommon 
 '* applaufe with which it is celebrated by all. All have in truth rea- 
 " fon to celebrate it, for the kingdom of Mexico is arrived at fuch 
 " greatnefs, no lefs fortitude than your invincible heart pofTelTes, no 
 " lefs wifdom than that which in you we admire, would be fuffi- 
 " cient to fupport fo great a load. It is moft evident, how ilrong 
 "the love is which the omnipotent God bears to this nation; as 
 " he has enlightened it, that it may difcern and chufe that which can 
 " be mofl beneficial to it. Who is able to perfuade himfelf that he, 
 " who, as a private individual, has fearched into the myfteries of h?a- 
 " ven (a), will not now, when king, know the things of this earth, 
 " which will prefer ve the happinefs of his fubjedls ? That he who on fo 
 " many occafions has difplayed the greatnefs of his foul, will not now re- 
 " tain it when it is become mofl necelTary to him ? Who can believe, 
 " that where there is fo much courage, and fo much wifdom, the widow 
 " or the orphan will ever apply without relief? The Mexican empire 
 " has unquefliionably attained the height of its power, as the Creator of 
 " heaven has inverted you with fomuch authority as to infpire all thole 
 " v/ho behold you with awe and refpeft. Rejoice, therefore, (5 happy 
 
 (rt) This faying of Nezahualpilli appears to imply that Montezuma was engaged in the lU\dy 
 of aftronomy. 
 
 •' land.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO 
 
 209 
 
 *' land, that you are deftined to have a prince who will not only be thy BOOK v. 
 
 " fupport, but will by his clemency prove a father and brother to his fub- 
 
 *' jedts. Thou haft, indeed, a king who will not feize the occafion of his 
 
 ** exaltation to give himfelf up to luxury, and lie fluggilhly in bed, aban- 
 
 ** -doned to paftimes and effeminate pleafures ; his anxiety for thee rather 
 
 " will Wi^ke and agitate his bofoni in the fofteft hour of repofe, nor 
 
 *' will he be able to tafte food, or relilli the moft delicious morfei, while 
 
 ** thy interefts are opprefled or negleóted. And do you, noble prince and 
 
 " moft powerful lord, be confident, and truft that the Creator of hea- 
 
 " ven, who has raifed you to fo high a dignity, will give you ftrength 
 
 " to difcharge all the obligations which are annexed to it. He who 
 
 " has hitherto been fo liberal to you, will not now be niggardly of his 
 
 " precious gifts, having himfelf raifed you to the throne on which I 
 
 " wilh you many years of happinefs." 
 
 Montezuma heard this harangue with much attention, and was fo 
 greatly affedted by it, that he attempted three times to anfwer it, but 
 could not, from the interruption of the tears, which the fecret pleafure 
 he felt produced, and gave him the appearance of much humility ; 
 but, at laft after checking his emotions, he replied in few words, declar- 
 ing himfelf unworthy of the ftation to which he was exalted, and 
 returning thanks to that king for the praifes which he beftowed on 
 him; and after hearing the other addrelfes on this occafion, he returned 
 to the temple to keep faft for four days, at the end of which he was 
 re-conduited with great ftate to the royal palace. 
 
 He thought now of going to war to procure vidlims to be facri- 
 ficed at his coronation. This dilafter fell upon the Atlixchefe, who 
 fome time before had rebelled againft the crown. The king, accordingly, 
 fct out liom the court, witli the flov^'er of the nobility, his brotliers 
 and coufins being amongft the number. In this war the Mv^xicans 
 loft fome brave officers ; but, notwithftanding, they reduced tiie rebels 
 under their former yoke, and Montezuma returned viélorious, bring- 
 ing along v/ith him the prifoners whicli he required at his corona- 
 tion. On this occafion was difplayed fo much pomp of games, dances, 
 theatrical reprefentations and illuminations, and with fuch va- 
 riety and richnefs of tributes fent from the different provinces of the 
 kingdom, that foreigners never known before in Mexico, came to fee 
 Vol. I. • E e it.
 
 210 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK V 
 
 Sect. II. 
 Ufportment 
 aiiJ ceiemo- 
 nials of king 
 Montezunui. 
 
 it, and even the enemies of the Mexicans, namely, the Tlafcalans a-nd 
 Michuacanefe were prefent in difguife at the fpedacle ; but Montezuma 
 having intelHgence of this, wiitli a generofity becoming a king, ordered 
 them to be properly lodged and entertained, and caufed feveral fcaffolds 
 to be ereded where they might with eafe and conveniency view the whole 
 of the folemnity. 
 
 The firft ad of this king was to reward a renowned captain, named 
 TlUxocbitl^ with the fiate of Tlachaucho, for the great fervices he had 
 rendered his anceflors during feveral wars : a truly happy commence- 
 ment of a reign, had his fucceeding conduól been correfpondent to it. But 
 he had fcarce begun to exercife his authority when he difcovered the 
 pride which had hitherto lain concealed under an exterior of feeming 
 humility. All his predecefTors had been accuftomed to confer offices 
 on perfons of merit, and thofe who appeared the mofl able to difcharge 
 them, honouring, without partiality, the nobility or thofe of the clafs 
 of plebeians occafionally, notwithltanding the folemn agreement entered 
 into by the nobility and plebeians in the reign of Itzcoatl. Monte- 
 zuma as foon as he feized the reins of government fliewed quite differ- 
 ent fentiments, and difapproved of the condudl of his predecefibrs, un- 
 der pretence that the plebeians fliould be employed according to their 
 rank, for that in all their aólions the bafenefs of their birth, and the 
 meannefs of their education were apparent. Being biafled by this 
 maxim, he ftripped the plebeians of thofe offices which they held either 
 in his royal manfion, or about the court, and declared them incapable 
 of holding any fiach in future. A prudent old man, who had been his 
 tutor, reprefented to him that this refolution would alienate the minds 
 of the people from him ; but no remon (trances were fufficient to di- 
 vert him from his purpofe. 
 
 All the fervants of his palace confilled of perfons of rank, Befides 
 thofe who conftantly lived in it, every morning fix hundred feudatory- 
 lords and nobles came to pay court to him. They pafled the whole day 
 in the anti- chamber, where none of their fervants were permitted to 
 enter, converfing in a low voice, and waiting the orders of their fovereign. 
 The fervants who accompanied thofe lords, were fo numerous as to oc- 
 cupy three fmall courts of the palace, and many waited in theftreets. The 
 V/omen about the court were not lefs in number, including thofe of rank, 
 
 ' fervants, 
 
 i
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 211 
 
 fervants, and flaves. All this numerous fema' • tribe, lived fliut up in a BOOK v, 
 kind of feraglio, under the care of fonie noble matrons, who watched over 
 their conduft ; as thefe kings were extremely jealous, and every piece of 
 mifconduót which happened in the palace, however flight, was feverely 
 punidied. Of thefe women the king retained thofe who pleafed him {d) ; 
 the others he gave away, as a recompence for the fervices of his vaflals. 
 All the feudatories of the crown were obliged to rcfide for fome months 
 of the year, at the court ; and at their return to their ftates, to leave 
 their fons or brothers behind them, as hoftages, which the king de- 
 manded as a fecurity for their fidelity ; on which account they required 
 to keep houfes in Mexico. 
 
 The forms and ceremonials introduced at court, were another effeft 
 of the defpotifm of Montezuma. No one could enter the palace, either 
 to ferve the king, or to confer with him on any bufinefs, without pull- 
 ing off his (lioes and flockings at the gate. No perfon was allowed 
 to appear before the king in any pompous drefs, as it was deemed a want 
 of refpeil to majefty ; confequently the greatefl: lords, excepting the 
 nearelt relations of the king, ftripped themfelves of the rich drefs which 
 they wore, or at leafl covered it with one more ordinary, to fhew their 
 humility before him. All perfons on entering the hall of audience, and 
 before fpeaking to the king, made three bows, faying at the firft, lord ; 
 at the fecond, my lord ; and at the third, great lord (e). They fpoke 
 low, and with the head inclined, and received the anfwer which the king 
 gave them by means of his fecretaries, as attentively and humbly as if 
 it had been the voice of an oracle. In taking leave, no perfon ever turned 
 his back upon the throne. 
 
 The audience hall ferved alfo for his dining room. The table was a 
 large pillow, and his feat a low chair. The table cloth, napkins, and 
 towels were of cotton, but very fine, white, and always perfeftly clean. 
 The kitchen utenfils were of the earthen ware of Cholula j but none of 
 thefe things ever ierved him more than once, as immediately after he 
 gave them to one of his nobles. The cups in which they prepared his 
 
 {{/) Some hidorians affirm that Montezuma Tiad a hundred and fifty of his wives pregnant at 
 •once ; but it is certainly not very credible. \ 
 
 (e) The Mexican words are, TUioani, lord ; Notlatecatxi/t, my lord ; and Huitlatoani, great 
 lerd. 
 
 E e 2 chocolate
 
 ^ ' 
 
 212 H I S T O R Y O r M E X I C O. 
 
 < 
 
 BOOK V. cliocoliite, and other drinks of the cocoa, were of gold, or fome beai>- 
 tiful fea-fliell, or naturally formed veifels curioufly varniilied, of which 
 we filali fpeak hereafter. He had gold plate, but it was ufed only on 
 certain feftivals, in the te;nple. The number, and variety of dilhes at 
 his table amazed the Spaniards who faw them. The conqueror Cor- 
 tez, lays, that they covered the floor of a great hall, and that there 
 were dilhes of every kindx^f game, filh, fi'uit, and herbs of that coun- 
 try. Three or four hundred noble youths carried this dinner in form ; 
 prefented it as foon as the king fat down to table, and immediately re- 
 tired; and that it might not grow cold, every dilli was accompanied 
 with its chafiiig-dilh. The king marked with a rod, which he had in 
 his hand, the meats which he chofe, and the reft were diftribirted 
 among the nobles who were in the anti-chamber. Before he fat down, 
 four of the moll beautiful women of his feraglio, prefented water to him 
 to walli his hands, and continued ftanding all the time of his dinner, 
 together with fix of his principal minillers, and his carver. 
 
 As foon as the king fat down to table, the carver lluit the door of the 
 hall, that none of the other nobles might fee him eat. The minifters 
 flood at a diftance, and kept a profound filence, unlefs when they made 
 anfwer to what the king fud. The carver and the four women ferved. 
 the diflies to him, belides two others who brought him bread made of 
 maize baked with eggs. He frequently heard mufic, during the time 
 of his meal, and was entertained with the humorous, fayings of fome 
 deformed men whom he kept out of mere Hate. He Ihewed much fa- 
 tisfaftion in hearing them, and obferved that amongft their jells, they 
 frequently pronounced fome important truth. When his dinner was 
 over he took tobacco mixed with liquid amber, in a pipe, or reed beau- 
 tifully varniilied, and with the fmoke of it put himfelf to fleep. 
 
 After having flept a little, upon the fame low chair he gave audi- 
 ence, and liftened attentively to all that was communicated to him ; 
 encouraged thofe who, from embarralTment, were unable to fpeak to 
 him, £tnd anfwered everyone by his minifters or fecretaries. After giv- 
 ing audience, he was entertained with mulic, being much delighted 
 with hearing the glorious adtions of his anceftors fung. At other 
 times he amufed himfelf with feeing various games played, of which 
 we fhall fpeak hereafter. When he went abroad, he was carried on the 
 
 flaoulders
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O, 213 
 
 fnoulders of the nobles in a litter covered with a rich canopy, attended book v. 
 
 by a numerous retinue of courtiers ; and wherever he paflcd, every per- " ' 
 
 fon flopped with their eyes flmt, as if they feared to be dazzled with 
 
 the fplendor of majefty. When he alighted from the litter to walk o.m 
 
 foot, they fpread carpets, that he might not touch the earth with his 
 
 feet. 
 
 The grandeur and magnificence of his palaces, houfes of pleafure, ^^^J, ^^^ 
 woods, and gardens, were correfpondent to this majeily. The palace of of the pai.i,:ci, 
 his ufual refidence was a vail edifice of ftonc and lime, which had ^^f^°^^ 
 twenty doors to the public fquare andftreets; three great courts, in one 
 of which was a beautiful fountain, feveral halls, and more than a 
 hundred chambers. Some of the apartments had walls of marble 
 and other valuable kinds of ftone. The beams were of cedar, cyprefs, and 
 other excellent woods, well finiflied and carved. Among the halls 
 there was one fo large, that, according to the teflimony of an eye- 
 witnefs of veracity (/), it could contain three thoufand people. Be- 
 fides this palace, he had others, both within and without the capital. In 
 Mexico, befides the leraglio for his wives, there was lodging for all his 
 minifters and counfellors, and all the officers of his houfliold and 
 court ; and alfo accommodation for foreign lords who arrived there, and 
 particularly for the two allied kings. 
 
 Two houfes in Mexico he appropriated to animals ; the one for 
 birds, which did not live by prey ; the other for thofe of prey, qua- 
 drupeds, and reptiles. There were feveral chambers belonging to 
 the firll, and galleries fupported on pillars of marble, all of one piece.. 
 Thele galleries looked towards a garden, where, in the midll of fome 
 ihrubbery, ten filh-ponds were formed, fome of them of frefli water 
 for the aquatic birds of rivers, and others of fait- water for thofe of the 
 fea. In other parts of the houfe were all forts of birds, in fuch number 
 and variety, as to flrike the Spaniards with wonder, who could not be- 
 lieve there was any fpecies in the world wanting to the colledlion. They 
 Avere fupplied with the fame food which they fed upon while they en- 
 joyed their liberty, whether feeds, fruits, or infedts. For thofe birds 
 
 (/) The anonymous conqueror, in his vnluable relation or narrative. lie fays alfo, that he 
 went four different timcs into that great palace, and ranged over it till he was fatigued, but 
 could not fee it all. 
 
 which.
 
 tìi4 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK V. who lived on fifh only, the daily confumption was ten Caftilian pefos 
 of filli, (according to the teftimony of the conqueror Cortez, in his let- 
 ters to Charles V.) which is more than three liundred Roman pounds. 
 Three hundred men, fays Cortez, were employed to take care of thofe 
 birds, befides their phyficians, who obferved their diftempers, and ap- 
 plied timely remedies to them. Of thofe three hundred men, fome 
 procured them their food, others diilributed it, others took care of 
 their eggs at the time of their incubation, and others picked their plu- 
 mage at certain feafons of the year ; for, befides the pleafure which 
 the king took in feeing fo great a multitude of animals collected toge- 
 ther, he was principally careful of their feathers, not lefs for the fake of 
 the famous Mofaic images, of which we Ihall fpeak hereafter, than of the 
 other works which were made of them. The halls and chambers of thofe 
 houfes, were fo many in number, as the conqueror above mentioned at- 
 tefls, that they could have accommodated two great princes with all 
 their retinue. This celebrated houfe was fituated in the place where, at 
 prefent, the great convent of St. Francis ftands, 
 
 The other houfe appropriated to the wild animals, had a large and 
 handfome court, with a chequered pavement, and was divided into va- 
 rious apartments. One of them contained all the birds of prey, from 
 the royal eagle to the keftrel, and many individuals of every fpecies. 
 Thefe birds were diftributed, according to their fpecies, in various fub- 
 terraneous chambers, v/hich were more than feven feet deep, and up- 
 wards of feventeen in length and breadth. The half of every cham- 
 ber was covered with flat flones ; and flakes were fixed in the wall, 
 on which they might fleep, and be defended from rain. The other 
 half of the chamber was only covered with a lattice, through which 
 they enjoyed the light of the fun. For the fupport of thefe birds, 
 were killed, daily, near five hundred turkeys. In the fame houfe 
 were many low halls filled with a great number of ftrong wooden 
 cages, in which, lions, tygers, wolves, coyotoo, and wild cats were 
 confined, and all other kinds of wild beafls, which were fed upon 
 deer, rabbits, hares, techiciiis, and other animals, and the inteflines of 
 human facrifices. 
 
 The king of Mexico not only kept all the fpecies of animals, which 
 other princes do for fiate, but likewife fuch as by nature feemed ex- 
 empted
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 21^- 
 
 empted from flavery, namely, crocodiles, and ferpents. The ferpents BOOK V. 
 were kept in large cafks or veffels ; the crocodiles in ponds, which 
 were walled round. There were alfo, various ponds for fifli, two of 
 which, that are remaining and llill beautiful, we have {ccn in the palace 
 of Chapoltepec, two miles from Mexico. 
 
 IVIontezuma, who was not fatisfied with having every fort of animal 
 in his palace, alfo colledted there all irregularly fornicd men, v>ho either 
 from the colour of their hair, or of their iTiin, or fome other deformity 
 in their perfons, were oddities of their fpecies. A humour this, how- 
 ever, not unattended with beneficial confequences, as it gave maintenance 
 to a number of miferable objeéts, and delivered them from the inhu- 
 man infults of their other fellow-creatures. 
 
 All his palaces were furrounded with beautiful gardens, where there 
 was every kind of beautiful flower, odoriferous herb, and medicinal 
 plant. He had, likewife, woods inclofed with walls, and furnilhed 
 with variety of game, in which he frequently fported. One of thofe 
 woods was upon an ifland in the lake, known at prefent, among the 
 Spaniards, by the name of Phio?i. 
 
 Of all thefe palaces, gardens, and woods, there is now remaining 
 the wood of Chapoltepec only, which the Spanifli viceroys have pre- 
 ferved for their pleafure. All the others were deftroyed by the con- 
 querors. They laid in ruins the moil magnificent buildings of anti- 
 quity, fometimes from an indifcreet zeal for religion, fometimes in re- 
 venge, or to make ufe of the materials. They negleóled the cultiva- 
 tion of the royal gardens, cut down the woods, and reduced that coun- 
 try to fuch a ftate, the magnificence of its former kings could not now 
 find belief, were it not confirmed by the teftimony of thofe who were 
 the caufes of its annihilation. 
 
 Not only the palaces, but all the other places of pleafure, were kept 
 in exquifite order and neatnefs, even thofe which were fcldom or never 
 vifited ; as there was nothing in which he took more pride than the 
 cleanlinefs of his own per fon, and of every thing elfe which was his. He 
 bathed regularly every day, and had baths, therefore, in all his palaces. 
 Every day he wore four drefles ; and that which he once put off, he ne- s e c t. R". 
 ver after ufed again : thefe were refcrved as largefics for the nobles who ..^.jj^^Tof 
 ferved him, and the foldiers who behaved gallantly in war. Every Montczunw, 
 
 morning.
 
 2i6 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 EOOK V. morning, according to the accounts given by fome hlftorians, upwards 
 of a thoufand men were employed by him in fweeping and watering the 
 ilreets of the city. 
 
 In one of the royal buildings was an armory filled with all kind 
 of ofienfive and defenfive arms, which were made ufe of by thofe na- 
 tions, with military ornaments, and enfigns. He kept a furprifing num- 
 ber of artificers at work, in manufodiuring thefe and other things. He 
 had numerous artifts conftantly bufied likewife, namely, goldfmiths, 
 Mofaic work-men, fculptors, painters, and others. One whole dili:ri(n: 
 confilted folely of dancing-mafters, who were trained up to entertaia 
 him. 
 
 His zeal for religion was not lefs confpicuous than his magni- 
 ficence. He built feveral temples to his gods, and made frequent 
 lacrifices to them, obferving with great pun£tuality the eftablilhed rites 
 and ceremonies. He v/as extremely careful that all the temples, and 
 in particular the greater temple of Mexico, fliould be well kept, and 
 exquihtely clean ; but his vain fear of the auguries and pretended ora- 
 cles of thofe falle divinities totally debafed his mind. 
 
 He was anxioully attentive to the execution of his orders, and the 
 laws of the kingdom., and was inexorable in punifliing tranfgrellors. 
 He tried, frequently, by fecret prefents, the integrity of his magiflrates, 
 and whenever he found any of them guilty, he punifhed them without 
 remiflion, even if they v/ere of the firll rank of the nobility. 
 
 He was an implacable enemy to idlenefs, and, in order to banifh it as 
 much as pofiible from his dominions, he kept his fubjedls perpetually 
 employed ; the military, in conflant warlike exercifes j the others, in 
 the culture of the fields, and in the conftruclion of new edifices, and 
 other public works ; and even beggars, that they might not be totally 
 idle, were enjoined to contribute a certain quantity of thofe filthy infeds 
 which are the breed of naftinefs and adherents of v/retchednefs. 
 
 The oppreflion which he made his vafl'nls feel, the heavy burdens he 
 impofed on them, his own arrogance and pi"ide, and exceffive feverity 
 in punifliments, difgufted his people ; but, on the other hand, he gained 
 their love by his liberality in fupplying the necelTities of individuals, as 
 well as rewarding his generals and minifters. Amongfl other things 
 worthy to be recorded with the highell praifes, and to be imitated by all 
 
 princes, 
 
 i
 
 HISTORY OF M E X I C O. 21 
 
 / 
 
 princes, he allotted the citv of Colhuacan as an hoipitalfor all invalids, ROOK v. 
 who, after having done faithful fervice to the crown, either in military 
 or civil employments, required a provifion for their age or infirmi- 
 ties. They were there maintained, and attended to at the expence of 
 the king. Such were the good and bad qualities of the celebrated Mon- 
 tezuma ; which we have thought proper to lay before the reader here, 
 before we go on to detail the events of his reign. 
 
 In the beginning of his government, he put to death Malinalli, lord 
 of Tlachquiauhco, for rebellion againil the crown of Mexico ; he re- 
 duced the rtate again under his obedience, and conquered, alfo, that ot 
 AchiotliVi. A little time after, another war broke out more ferious and 
 dangerous, in which he was not fo fuccefsful. 
 
 Amonglt the many provinces which either voluntarily fubjedled them- Sect. V. 
 felves to the Mexicans from fear of their power, or were conquered by ^^ "*'' 
 force of arms, the republic of Tlafcala remained ahvays unfubdued, hav- 
 ino- never bowed to the Mexican yoke, although fo little diftant from the 
 capital of that empire. The Huexotzincas, Cholulans, and other neigh- 
 bouring ftates, who were formerly allied with the republic, growing jeal- 
 ous afterwards of its profperity, exafperated the Mexicans againft it, 
 by infinuating that the Tlafcalans were defirous of making themfelves 
 mafters of the maritime provinces on the Mexican gulf, and th^t by their 
 commerce with thofe provinces, they were daily increafing their power 
 and their wealth, and were gaining the minds of the people with whom 
 they had traffick. The commerce of the Tlafcalans, of which the Huex- 
 otzincas complained, was both juftifiable and necelVary ; becaufe, be- 
 ftdcs that the greater part of the people of thefe coafts were originally of 
 Tlafcala, and confidcred cich other as kindred and relations ; the Tlal- 
 calans were under the neceffity of providing themfelves from thence. 
 with what cocoas, cotton, and liilt they wanted. Ncverthelefs the 
 reprefentations of the Huexotzincas had fuch influence on the Mexi- 
 cans, that fince the tin.e of Montezuma I. all the kings of Mexico had 
 treated the Tlafcalaiis as the greatell enemies of the empire, and had al- 
 ways maintained ftrong garrifons on the frontiers of Tlafcala, to obltruct 
 their commerce with the maritime parts. 
 
 The Tlafcalans finding themfelves deprived of their freedom of com- 
 merce, and confequently of the means of obtaining fomc ol the ncceil.u-i.;s 
 Voi. I. Ff ut"
 
 2iS H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O, 
 
 BOOK IV. of life, refolved to fend an embafìy to the Mexican nobility, (probably in 
 the time of king Axayacatl) complaining of the wrong done them through 
 the falfe infmuations of their rivals. The Mexicans who were become 
 infolent from profperity, replied, that the king of Mexico was lord 
 of all the world, and all mortals were his vaflals ; and that as fuch, 
 the Tlafcalans Ihould render him due obedience, and acknowledge him 
 by tribute, after the example of other nations ; but if they refufed fub- 
 jedlion, they mufl perifli without remedy, their city would be lacked, 
 and their country given to be inhabited by another race of people. To 
 fo arrogant and weak an anfwer, the anibalfador returned thofe fpirited 
 words : " Mofb powerful lords, Tlaicala owes you no fubfcription, nor 
 " have the Tlafcalans ever acknowledged any prince with tributes fince 
 " their anceftors left the countries in the North, to inhabit this land. 
 " They have always preferved their liberty, and being unaccuflomed to 
 " the flavery to which you pretend to fubjedl them, rather than fub- 
 " mit to your power, they will ùied more blood than their fathers 
 " Ihed in the famous battle of Pojauhtlan." 
 
 The Tlafcalans alarmed at the arrogant and ambitious pretenfions of 
 the Mexicans, and defpairing of being able to bring them to any ami- 
 cable agreement, refolved at laft to fortify their frontiers to prevent an 
 invafion. They had already inciofed the lands of the republic with in- 
 trenchments, and eftablifhed good garrifons on their frontiers : the 
 threats of the Mexicans made them increafe their fortifications, and 
 rtrengthen their garrifons, and conftruft that famous wall fix miles in 
 length, which prevented the enemy from entering in the quarter of the 
 weft, where danger was chiefly to be apprehended. They were frequently 
 attacked by the Huexotzincas, the Cholulans, the Itzocanefe, the Te- 
 camachalchefe, and other ftates which were neighbouring, or but little 
 diflant from Mexico j but they never could wreft a foot of land from 
 the republic, owing to the watchful attention of the Tlafcalans, and the 
 bravery with which they refifted their invaders. 
 
 A great many fubjedls of the crown of Mexico had taken refuge in 
 the country of Tlafcala, particularly fome of the Chalchefe nation, and 
 the Otomies of Xaltocan who fled from the ruin of their native coun- 
 tries, in the wars above-mentioned. They bore an inveterate hatred to 
 the Mexicans, from the evils which they had fuffered, and appeared, 
 
 tkere-
 
 HISTORY OF M E X I C O. 
 
 219 
 
 J 
 
 therefore, to the TlafcaLins, to be the fitteft people to give vigorous op- BOOK V, 
 polition to their enemies ; in this they were not deceived ; for the Mexi- 
 cans found no refiflance more powerful than that which they met with 
 from thefe exiles, efpecially the Otomies compofing the frontier gar- 
 rifons, who ferved the republic with great fidelity, and were reward- 
 ed with the higheft honours and employments. 
 
 All the time that Axayacatl and his fuccelTors reigned, the Tlafcal.ms 
 continued to be obftrudlcd in their commerce with the maritime pro- 
 vinces, by which means the common people were fo mucli in want of 
 fait, that they grew accuftomed to eat their food without that feafon- 
 ing, and did not return to the ufe of it for many years after the con- 
 quelT: ; but the nobles, or at leaft fome of them, had fecret correfpond- 
 ence with fome Mexican lords, and got a fupply of what was ncceffary, 
 without the populace of either country having any knowledge of it. Every 
 perfon knows that in all general calamities, the poor are thofe who 
 fuffer the greatefl hardlhips, while thofe of better circumftances efcape, 
 or at leali find means by their wealth to foften and relieve them. 
 
 Montezuma being unable to endure a refufal of obedience and hom- 
 age from the little republic of Tlafcala, while fo many nations, even 
 the mofl diflant, were tributary to him, ordered in the beginning of 
 his reign, the flates in its neighbourhood to mufter their troops, 
 and attack the republic on every fide. The Huexotzincas, in con- 
 federacy with the Cholulans, quickly raifed their forces, under com- 
 mand of Tecajahuatzin, the chief of the Itate of Iluexotzinco j 
 but confiding more in their arts than their flrength, they tried to 
 draw over to their party, by bribes and promiles, the inhabitants of 
 Huejotlipan, a city of the republic, fituated on the frontiers of tlie king- 
 dom of Acolhuacan, and the Otomies, who guarded the other frontiers ; 
 but neither would be prevailed upon : on the contrary, they declared 
 they were refolved to die in defence of the republic. I'pon which 
 the Huexotzincas, being obliged to make ule of their ftrengtJi, en- 
 tered with fuch fury into the boundaries of Tlafcala, that the frontier 
 garrifon was not able to withftand them : they committed great (laughter, 
 and advanced as far as Xiloxotbitla, which was only three miles diflant 
 from the capital. There they met with a flout refiflance from Tezat- 
 lacatzin, a celebrated TJafcnlan captain, who fell at laft however, being 
 
 F f 2 over-
 
 220 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK V. overcoiiie bv the multitude of his enemies. Findina; themlelves fo near 
 the capital, they conceived fuch a dread of the vengeance of the Tlafca- 
 lans, that they retreated precipitately to their own territories. Such was 
 the commencement of the continual battles and the hoftilities which fub- 
 firted between the two Ifates until the arrival of the Spaniards. We arc 
 uninformed by hiiiory whether the other flates in the neighbourhood 
 of Tlafcala were engaged in the war : perhaps, the Huexotzincas and 
 and C'holulans were unwilling to let any other have a (hare in their 
 glory. 
 
 The Tlafcalans were now lb enraged againfl; the Huexotzincas, that 
 they did not confine themfelves any longer to the defence of their ll:ate; 
 but frequently lallied out upon the enemy. At one time they attacked 
 them at the foot of the mountains, which lie to the well of Huexot- 
 zinco, and reduced them to fuch difficulties, that finding themfelves 
 unable for refiftance, they demanded aiTirtance from Montezuma, 
 who immediately ordered an army under the command of his firft- 
 born fon to their relief. This armv marched acrofs the fouthern 
 border of the mountain and volcano Popocatepec, where it was in- 
 cre.ifed with the troops of Chietlan and Itzocan, and from thence it 
 entered by Quauhquechollan into the valley of Atlbcco. The Tlafca- 
 lans having intelligence of this route, pofted themfelves in the way to 
 fall upon the Mexicans before they could join the Huexotzincas. The 
 attack was fo ludden and unexpected on the Mexicans that they were de- 
 feated, and the Tlafcalans taking advantage of their diforder, made a con- 
 fiderable havoc of them. Amongft others who were flain, the prince the 
 general was one, on Avhom fo important a poft had been conferred pro- 
 bably more from an intention to add this honour to the noblenefs of 
 his birth than from refpeél to his flcill in the art of war. The reft of 
 the army was put to flight, and the conquerors returned to Tlafcala 
 loaded with fpoils. It is much to be wondered at that they did not 
 pour immediately upon the city of Iluexotzinco, as they might have 
 expeded it would have eafily lurrendered ; but, perhaps, the vidory 
 was not fo complete, but that many of their people fell in the battle, 
 and that they thought it more prudent to enjoy the immediate fruits of 
 viiflory, and return afterwards with more forces to the war. They 
 quickly returned, but they were repulfed by the Huexotzincas, who 
 
 were
 
 li I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 221 
 
 were now fortified, fo that they retreated to Tlalcala without any other BOOK v. 
 advantage than laying warte the fields of the Huexotzincas and Cholu- ' ^ ' 
 lans ; by which thefe people were fo reduced as to be forced to feek pro- 
 vifion in Mexico and other places. 
 
 Montezuma was deeply afieded with the death of his firfl-born 
 fon, and the defeat of his army : upon which he commanded another 
 army to be railed in the provinces furrounding Tlafcala, to block up 
 the \\-hole republic ; but the Tlafcalans forefeeing the hoftility of 
 the Mexicans, had made extraordinary fortifications, and ftrength- 
 encd all their ganifons. The conteft became vigorous on both 
 fides ; but at lall the royal troops were repulfed, leaving no fmall fliare 
 of riches in the hands of their enemies. The Tlafcalans celebrated 
 this vidtory with great rejoicings, and rewarded the Otomies, to whom 
 it was chiefly owing, by advancing the moll: refpedtable among them 
 to the dignity of Texetli, which was in the greateft eileem among 
 them, and giving daughters of the moll noble Tlafcalans in marriage to 
 the heads of that nation. 
 
 It is not to be doubted that if the king of Mexico had been ferioufly 
 bent on the reduction of the Tlafcalans, he would in the end have fub- 
 jedted them to his crown ; becaufe although the llrength of the republic 
 was confiderable, its troops warlike, and its places ftrong, they were flill 
 inferior to the Mexicans in refources and power. From which it appears 
 probable, as hiftorians affirm, that the kings of Mexico, although they 
 had conquered the moll diitant provinces, defignedly let the republic of 
 Tlafcala exifi:, which is fcarcely fixty miles dillant from that capital ; 
 not only that tliey might have an enemy at hand againil whom they 
 might exercife their troops ; but likewife that they might always be 
 able to procure with eafe vidlims for their lacrifices. The frequent at- 
 tacks which they made on the different places of Tlafcala, ferved for 
 both thefe purpofes. 
 
 Among the Tlafcalan vidims in the hiftory of Mexico, a very fa- Sect. vr. 
 mous general, named Tlahuicol, is extremely worhy of memory {g). Plis ^^J;!{^ratc"j' ^ 
 courage, and the uncommon llrength of his arms, were unequalled general of 
 and wonderful. The maquabuitl, or Mexican fword, with which he ia„s, 
 
 (j-) The event refpe>fting this ofli cr happened in the Lift years of Montezuma's reijjn ; but on 
 account of it« connection with the ww of Tlafcala wc have thought piopci- to introduce it hire. 
 
 fought
 
 222 HISTÓPvY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK IV. fought, was fo weighty, that a man of ordinary ftrength could hardly 
 raife it from the ground. His name was a terror to the enemies of 
 the republic, and wherever he appeared in arms, they fled before 
 him. In an affault which the Huexotzincas made upon a garrifon of 
 the Ottomies, he got inadvertently, during the heat of the engagement, 
 into a marili, where not being able to move with fufficient agi- 
 lity, he was made prifoner, confined in a ftrong cage, carried to Mexi- 
 co, mid prefented to Montezuma. The king, who could efteem merit 
 even in his enemies, inftead of putting him to death, gracioufly grant- 
 ed him liberty to return to his native country ; but the proud Tlaf- 
 calan would not accept the favour, pretending that as he had been made 
 prifoner, he had not confidence to prefent himfelf after fuch difhonour 
 before his countrymen. He faid he defired to die like the other prifoners, 
 in honour of their god. Montezuma obferving his averfion to return 
 to his country, and at the fame time being unwilling to deprive the 
 world of a man who was fo renowned, continued to entertain him at 
 his court, in hopes of making him a friend to the Mexicans, and gain- 
 ing his fervices to the crown. In the mean time a war broke out with 
 the Michuacanefe, the reafons and particulars of which we know not, 
 when Montezuma committed the command of the army which he fent to 
 Tlaximalojan, the frontier as we have already mentioned of Michuacan, 
 to Tlahuicol. Tlahuicol correfponded faithfully with the truft repofed 
 in him ; for although he could not diflodge the enemy from the place 
 \vhere they were fortified, yet he made many prifoners, and brought offa 
 great quantity of gold and filver. Montezuma was fenfible of his fervices, 
 and again made him offers of liberty ; but this being refufed as formerly, 
 he was offered the honourable poff of Tlaciitccatl, general of the Mexi- 
 can arms. To this the TIafcalan nobly anfwered, that he would never 
 be a traitor to his country, that he defired pofitively to die, provided it 
 might be in the gladiatorian fiicrifice, which as it was referved for the 
 mofl refpedtable prifoners, would therefore be more honourable to him. 
 This celebrated general pafled three years in Mexico with one of his 
 wives, who came there from Tlafcala to live with him. It is probable, 
 that the Mexicans brought her to him that he might leave them fome 
 poftcrity, to ennoble with his virtues the court and kingdom of Mexi- 
 co. The king perceiving at laft the obftinacy with which he re- 
 
 1 fufed
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 22 
 
 J 
 
 fufed every offer which was made him, yielded to his barbarous incli- BOOK V. 
 nation, and appointed tlie day of the facrifice. Eight days before the ar- 
 rival of that day, they began to celebrate the occafion with entertainments 
 of dancing; after which, they, in prefence of theking, the nobility, and 
 an immenfe croud of people, put the Tlafcalan prifoner, tied by one 
 foot, upon the T'emalacatl, or the large round llone on which fuch fa- 
 crifices were made. Several brave men came on, one at a time, to fight 
 with him, of whom, according to report, he killed eight and wounded 
 twenty, until at laft falling almoll dead from afevere blow which he re- 
 ceived on the head, they carried him before the idol of Huitzilopochtli, 
 where the priefls opened his breall and took out his heart, and threw 
 the body down the llair of the temple according to the eftablifhed rites. 
 Thus fell this famous general, whofe courage and fidelity to his country, 
 had he lived in more enlightened times, would have raifed him high in 
 the rank of heroes. 
 
 During the time in which war was carrying on againft the Tlafca- Sect. VII. 
 lans, fome provinces of the empire were diftrefled with a famine, occa- p?^.^"cc" o"/ 
 fioned by two years of dry weather. All the grain which indivi- the empiic-, 
 duals pofi'efled being confumed, the king had an opportunity of fhew- woiks in the 
 ing his liberality ; he opened all his granaries, and diftributed among *-''P''^'- 
 his fubjedls all the maize which was in them ; but this not being ftif- 
 ficient to relieve their neceffities, in imitation of Montezuma I. he per- 
 mitted them to go to other countries to procure their fubfirtence. The 
 following year, 1505, having had an abundant harvcft, the Me.vi- 
 cans went to war againft Guatemala, a province upwards of nin<i 
 hundred miles diftant from Mexico in the fouth-eaft. During the 
 continuance of this war, occafioned probably by fome hoftilities offered 
 to fome of the fubjcifts of the crown, the building of a temple, ereói- 
 ed in honour of the goddefs Centiotl, was finilhed at Mexico, the con- 
 fecration of which was celebrated with the fa^ifice of the prifoner:; made 
 in that war. 
 
 They had, during this feafon alfo, enlarged the road upon the lake 
 from Chapoltepec to Mexico, and repaired the aquedudt \\ hich was 
 upon that road, but the rejoicings which the conclufion of fuch a la- 
 bour excited were interrupted by the turret of another temple, called 
 ZoiiwUi, being fet on fire by lightning. The inhabitants of that part 
 
 ot
 
 cas 
 
 224 HISTORY OF ME X I C O. 
 
 BOOK V. of the city which was moil diflant from the temple, and efpeciall)- 
 the Tlatelolcos, having perceived no lightning, were perluaded that the 
 burning was caufed by enemies come unexpectedly into the city, upon 
 which they immediately rofe in arms to defend it, and ran in troops 
 towards the temple. Montezuma being fufpicious that it was a mere, 
 pretence of the Tlatelolcos to raife a fedition, as he was always diffident 
 of them, was fo provoked at their dillurbance, that he deprived them 
 of all the public offices which they held, and even forbade their appear- 
 ance at court, neither protcftations of their innocence, nor prayers with 
 which they implored the royal mercy, having lufficient weight to make 
 him alter his refolution ; but as foon as the firft heat of his paflion was 
 over, they were reinftated in their employments and his favour. •, 
 Sect. VIII. In the mean while the Mixtecas and Zapotecas rebelled againfllhe 
 the Mixtecas crown. The principal leaders of the rebellion, in which all the lords 
 und Zapote- of cach uatiou had engaged, were Cctecpatl, lord of Coaixtlahuacan, 
 and Mocbulxochitl, lord of Tzotzollan. Firfl of all they treacheroufly 
 murdered all the Mexicans in the garrifons of Huayjacac and other 
 places. As foon as Montezuma had information of the rebellion, he 
 fent a large army againlt them, compofed of Mexicans, Tezcucans, 
 and Tepanecas, under the command of prince Cuitlahuac, his brother 
 and fucceffor in the crown. The rebels were totally defeated, a great 
 many of them taken prifoners with their chiefs, and their cities lacked. 
 The army retunied to Mexico loaded with fpoils, the prifoners were 
 facrificed, and the ftate of Tzotzollan was given to Cozccquauhtli^ the 
 brother of Nahuixochitl, for his fidelity to the crown, preferring the 
 duties of a fubjedl to the ties of blood ; but Cctecpatl was not facri- 
 ficed, as he had not yet difcovercd all liis accomplices in the rebellion, 
 and the deiigns of the rebels. 
 
 Some little time after this expedition, a difpute and quarrel arole between 
 Conteft be- the Hucxotziucas and the Cholulans their friends and neighbours, which 
 Huexot/.in- ^s it was left to be decided by arms, occafioned a pitched battle to be. 
 r:\i md Cho- fo^aht. The Cholulans being-more verfed in the fornis of religion, in 
 commerce, and the arts than ikilled in the fcience of war, were foon de- 
 feated, and forced to retreat to their city, where their enemies purfued 
 them, killed fome of their people, and burned fome of their houfes. The 
 Huexotzincas had hardly gained the vitìory Nvhen they found caule to 
 
 repent 
 
 Seot. IX. 
 
 luhins.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 repent it, on account of the chaftifcment which they apprehended would 
 follow it; that they might prevent this, they lent two refpedlable perlbns 
 to king Montezuma, whofe names were Tolimpmiecatl, and Tzo^icoztli, 
 who were to juftify them, and lay the blame on the Cholulans. Thefe 
 ambafl'adors, either with a delign to magnify the courage of their citizens, 
 or from fome other motive, exaggerated the flaughtcr made of the Cho- 
 lulans to fuch a degree, that the king believed they were all cut to pieces, 
 or that the iz\w whole lives had been faved had abandoned the city. On 
 hearing this account Montezuma was extremely afflidted, and dreaded the 
 revenge of the god Quelzalcoatl, whofe fanftuary, which was one of the 
 rnoft celebrated and moll honoured of all that land, he conceived to have 
 been profaned by the Huexzotzincas. Having confulted, therefore, with 
 the two allied kings, he fent ibme perfons from his court to Cholula, to 
 gain iuft information of this tranfaétion ; and having found it very dif- 
 ferent from the reprefentation given by the Huexotzincas, he uas fo 
 enraged at their deceit to him, that he fuddenly dilpatched an army, 
 with orders to his general, to punilh them feverely if they did not make 
 a luitable apology and fubmiilion. The Huexotzincas, forefeeing the 
 ftorm which was likely to pour upon them, went out in order of bat- 
 tle to meet the Mexicans ; but the Mexican general advanced towards 
 them to explain his commiffion in the following words : " Our lord 
 " Montezuma, who has his court in the middle of the water, Neza- 
 *' hualpilli, who commands upon the borders of the lake, and Toto- 
 *' quihuatzi who reigns at the foot of the mountains, have ordered us 
 " to tell you, that having learned from your ambalTadors that you have 
 *' ruined Cholula and killed its inhabitants, they feel the utmofl: af- 
 " fiiftion, and are under an obligation to revenge the violent outrage 
 " which has been offered to the venerable fanftuary of Quelzalcoatl." 
 The Huexotzincas protefted that the account given by their ambafliidors 
 was extravagant and falle, and that a body of nien fo refpedlable as tlie ci- 
 tizens of Huexotzinco, could not be the authors of it, and declared them- 
 felves ready to fatisfy all the three kings by punidiment of the guilty. 
 Upon which having fummoned their ambaffadors, and cut off their 
 ears and nofes, that being the punidiment deflined for thofe who 
 told falfehoods pernicious to the fiate, they delivered them up to the 
 general. Thus they efcaped the evils of war, which otherwile would 
 have been inevitable. 
 
 Vol. I. G g ' The
 
 226 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 ^_^^,_^^ The Atlixchefe, who had rebelled againil: the crown, n:iet with a very 
 bK c T. X. difterent fate ; they were defeated by the Mexicans, and many of them 
 againrt At- made prifoners. This happened precifcly in the month of February, 
 ''the° ^ h^es ^5°^' when, on account of the termination of the century, the great 
 fellival of the renewal of the fire was celebrated with flill greater pomp 
 and folemnitv than under the reii?n of Montezuma I. or in other fecu- 
 
 ^ù' 
 
 arti? 
 
 lar years. This, which was the moil folemn, was alfo the laft fefti- 
 val of the kind celebrated by the Mexicans. A great number of pri- 
 foners were facrificed at it ; a great many alfo \\ere referved for the fc{~ 
 tival of the dedication of T'-zompantU, which, as we have obferved above, 
 was an edifice clofe to the greater temple, where the fkulls of the vic- 
 tims were ftrung together and preferved. 
 Sect. XI. This fecular year appears to have part W"ithout war; but in 1507, 
 I'refages of tJ^g Mcxicans made an expedition af^jainfì: TzoUan and Midilan, two 
 
 the war with titit- \ r • \ t 
 
 the SpanU Itatcs 01 the Mixtccas, whofe inhabitants ned to the mountains, and 
 left the Mexicans no other advantage than that of making a few pri- 
 foners of thofe who remained in their houfes. From thence they pro- 
 ceeded to fubdue Quauhquechollan which was in rebellion, in which 
 war the prince Cuitlahuac the general of the army, made a difplay of 
 his courage. Some brave Mexican officers fell in this expedition ; 
 but the rebels were reduced under the yoke, and three thoufand two 
 hundred taken prifoners, who were facrificed, one part of them at the 
 feflival Tlacaxipc/jualiztli, which took place in the fecond Mexican 
 month ; and another part of them at the dedication of the fanftuary 
 Zomolli, which was rebuilt after the burning of it before mentioned, 
 with greater magnificence than it was at firft. 
 
 In the year following the royal army of the Mexicans, Tezcucans, 
 and Tepanecas, fet out againft the dillant province of Amatla. On their 
 march, which lay over a very lofty mountain, they were attacked by a 
 furious north wind, accompanied with fnow, which made great havoc 
 in the army, as fome of them who were accuflomed to a mild cli- 
 mate, and travelling almoft without cloathing, perilhed with cold, and 
 others were beat down by the trees which were rooted up by the wind. 
 Of the remainder of the army which continued their journey but 
 feebly, to Amatla, the greater part died in battle. 
 
 Thefe and other calamities together with the appearance of a comet 
 at tliat time, threw all the princes of Anahuac into the utmofl: confterna- 
 
 tion.
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 227 
 
 / 
 
 tion. Montezuma, who was too fuperftitious to look with inditference book v. 
 on lb uncommon a phenomenon, confulted his aftrologers upon it; but ■" 
 
 they being unable to divine its meaning, applied to the king of Acolhuacan, 
 who was reputed able in aftrology, and in the art of divination. Thefe 
 kings, although they were related to, and perpetual allies of, each other, 
 did not live in much harmony together, the king of Acolhuacan hav- 
 ing put to death his ion Huexotzincatzin, as we Ihall fee prefently, pay- 
 ing no regard to the prayers of Montezuma, who, as the uncle of that 
 prince, had interfered in his behalf. For a long time paft they had 
 neither met with their ufual frequency, nor confidence ; but on this 
 occafion the myllcrious dread which feized the mind of Montezuma 
 incited him to profit by the knowledge of the king Nezahualpilli, for 
 which reafon he intreated him to come to Mexico to confult with him 
 upon an event which appeared equally to concern them both. Neza- 
 hualpilli went, and after having conferred, at length, with Montezu- 
 ma, was of opinion, according to the account of hiftorians, that the 
 comet predidled the future difaflers of thofe kingdoms, by the arrival 
 of a new people. This interpretation, however, being unfatisfiidlory 
 to Montezuma, Nezahualpilli challenged him at the game of foot-ball, 
 wliich was frequently played at even by thofe kings themfelves ; and it 
 was agreed between them that if the king of Mexico gained the party, 
 the king of Acolhuacan fhould renounce his interpretation, adjudging 
 it to be i'-A\k; but if Nezahualpilli came off vidor, Montezuma ihould 
 acknowledge and admit it to be true : a folly though truly ridiculous in 
 thofe men, to believe the truth of a prediction could depend on the 
 dexterity of the player, or the fortune of the game j but Icfs pernicious, 
 however thin that of the ancient Europeans, who decided on truth, 
 innocence, and honour, by a barbarous duel and the fortune of arms. 
 Nezahualpilli !-emr.ined vidtor in the game, and Montez.uma difconfo- 
 late at the lols and the confirmation of fo fatal a prognolKc : he was 
 \viUing, however, to try other methods, hoping to find fomc more fa- 
 vourable interpretation which might counterbalance that of the king of 
 Acolhuacan, and the dilgrace he had fuftered at play : he confulted 
 therefore a very famous aArologer who was much verlèd in the fuper- 
 ftitious art of divination, by which he had rendered his name fo cele- 
 brated in that land, and acquired fo great a refptft, that without ever ftir- 
 ring abroad from his houle he was confidered and confulted by the kings 
 
 G g 2 them-
 
 228 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK V. themfelves as an oracle. He knowing, without doubt, what had hap- 
 *" — v""*-* pened between the two kings, inftead of returning a propitious anfwer 
 to his fovereign, or at leaft one which was equivocal, as luch prognof- 
 ticators generally do, confirmed the fatal prophecjj of the Tezcucan. 
 Montezuma was fo enraged at the anfwer^ that in return he made his 
 houfe be pulled to pieces, leaving the unhappy diviner buried amidll; 
 the ruins of his fanftuary. 
 
 Thefe and other fimilar prefages of the fall of that empire appear re- 
 prefented in the paintings of the Americans, and are related in the hii- 
 tories of the Spaniards. We are far from thinlving that all that which 
 has been wrote on this fubjed: is deferving of credit; but neither can 
 we doubt of the tradition which prevailed among the Americans, that 
 a new people totally diiferent from the native inhabitants, were to ar- 
 rive at that kingdom and make themfelves mafters of tliat country. 
 There has not been in the country of Anahuac any nation more or lefs 
 polifhed which has not confirmed this tradition either by verbal tef- 
 timony or their own hiilories. 
 
 It is impofiible to guefs at the origin of a tradition io universal as 
 this ; but the event which I am going to relate, is laid to have been 
 public, and to have made a confiderable noife ; to have happened alfo 
 in the prefence of the two kings and the Mexican nobiUty. It is re- 
 prefented in fome of the paintings of thofe nations, and a legal attef- 
 tation of it even was fent to the court of Madrid {/j). Though in com- 
 pliance with the duty of a hiftorian, we give a place to many of the 
 memorable traditions of thofe nations ; on thefe, however, we leave 
 our readers to form their own judgment and comments. 
 Sect xir Papantzin, a Mexican princefs, and lilì:er of Montezuma, was mar- 
 
 >iemorable ried to the govemor of Tlatelolco, and after his death lived in his palace 
 Mexican until the year 1 509, when (he likewife died of old age. Her funeral 
 pr.uceis. ^y^g celebrated with magnificence fuitable to her exalted birth, the 
 king her brother, and all the nobility of Mexico and Tlatelolco be- 
 ing prefent. Her body was buried in a fubterraneous cavern, in the 
 garden of the fame palace, near to a fountain where fhe had ufed to bathe, 
 and the mouth of the cave was fhut with a itone. The day following, 
 a child ot five or fix years of age happened to pafs from her mother's 
 apartment to that of the major-domo of the deceafed princefs, v/hich 
 
 (/) Sec Torqucmada, lib. ii. cap. 91, and Betencoiirt, Part iii. Trat. i. cap.g. 
 
 was
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 229 
 
 was on the other fide of the garden ; and in pafling faw the princefs fit- 
 ting upon the fteps of the fountain, and heard herfelf called by her by the 
 word Cocoton (/), which is a word of tendernefs ufed to children. 
 The little child not being capable, on account of its age, of relieving 
 on the death of the princefs, and thinking that flie was going to bathe 
 as ufual, approached without fear, upon which flie fent the child to call 
 the wife of her major-domo ; the child went to call her, but the woman 
 fmiling and careffing her, told her, " My little girl, Papantzin is dead, 
 *' and was buried yefterday ;" but as the child infifted, and pulled her 
 by her gown, ilie, more to pleafe, than from belief of what was told her, 
 followed her ; but was hardly come in fight of the princefs, when flie 
 was feized with fuch horror that llie fell fainting to the earth. The little 
 girl ran to acquaint her mother, who, with two other companions 
 came out to give afliftance ; but on feeing the princefs they were fo 
 affeded with fear, that they would have fvvooned away if the princefs 
 herfelf had not endeavoured to comfort them, alTuring them fhe was 
 ftill alive. She made them call her major-domo, and charged him to 
 go and bear the news to the king her brother ; but he durft not under- 
 take it, as he dreaded that the king would confider the account as a 
 fable, and would punilh him with his ufual feverity for being a liar, 
 without examining into the matter. Go then to Tezcuco, faid the 
 princefs, and intrcat the king Nczahualpilli, in my name, to come here 
 and fee me. The major-domo obeyed, and the king having received 
 the information, fet out immediately lor Tlatelolco. When he arrived 
 there, the princefs was in a chamber of the palace ; though full of alì:o- 
 nilhment, the king laluted her, when fhe requefted him to go to 
 •Mexico, to tell the king her brother that fhe was alive, and had occa- 
 iion to fee him, to com.municate fonie things to him of the utmofl im- 
 portance. The king fet out for Mexico to execute her commiliion ; buf 
 Montezuma would hardly give credit to what was told him. However, 
 that he might not do injnftice to fo refpedlable an amballador, he went 
 along with him, and many of the Mexican nobility to Tlatelolco, and 
 having entered the hall where the princefs was, he demanded of her 
 if ihe was his fifter. " I am, indeed, fir," anfwered the princefs, 
 " your fifter Papantzin, whom you buried yefterday ; I am truly aKvc, 
 
 {:) Co.aton mcins little girl, only that it is .in exprcirion of moie tenJetnrfs. 
 
 * •' and
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 " and wiili to relate to you what I have feen, as it deeply concerns you." 
 Upon this the two kings fat down, while all the other nobles con- 
 tinued {landing full of admiration at what they faw. 
 
 The princefs then began to fpeak as follows : " After I was dead. 
 " or if you will not believe that I have been dead, after I remained be- 
 *' reft of motion and of fenfe, I found myfelf fuddenly placed upo,. 
 " an extenfive plain, to which there appeared no boundaries. In the 
 *' middle of it 1 obferved a road which I afterwards law was divided 
 " into a variety of paths, and on one fide ran a great river whofe wa- 
 " ters made a frightful noife. As I was going to throw myfelf into the 
 " river to fwim to the oppolite bank, I faw before me a beautiful youth 
 " of handfome Mature, clothed in a long habit, white as fnow, and 
 " dazzling like the fun ; he had wings of beautiful feathers, and upon 
 *' his forehead, this mark," (in faying this the princefs made the lign 
 of the crofs with her two fore fingers, *' and laying hold of my hand, 
 " laid to me, Stojy, for it is 7iot yet time to pnjs this river. God loves thee, 
 " though thou knowcjl it not. He then led me along by the river-fide, 
 " upon the borders of which I faw a great number of hum.an llculls 
 " and bones, and heard molT: lamentable groans that waked my utmoft 
 " pity. Turning my eyes afterwards upon the river, I faw fome large 
 ** veflTels upon it filled with men of a complexion and drefs quite dif- 
 " ferent from ours. They were fair and bearded, and carried fland- 
 " ards in their hands, and helmets on their heads. The youth then 
 " faid to me, // is the il-HI of God that thou Jhalt Uve to be a icitnsj's 
 " of the revolutions ivhich are to happen to thefe kingdojiis. The groans 
 " ivhich thou hajl heard among thefe bones, are from the fouls of your 
 " ancejlors, 'which are ever atid 'ivill be tormented for their crimes. 
 " The men whom you fee coming in thefe veffels, are thofe who who by 
 *' their arms will make themjehes majlers of all thefe kingdoms, and 
 " ivith them will be introduced the knowlege of the true God, the creator 
 " of heaven and earth. As J0071 as the war Jhall be at an end, and the 
 " bath publijhed and made known which will waJJj away fn, be thou the 
 ** frfi to receive it, and guide by thy example the natives of thy country. 
 " Having fpoke this the youth diliippeared, and I found myfelf re- 
 \J' called to life ; I rofe from the place where I lay, raifed up the ilone 
 
 " ©f
 
 Uncomtiion 
 occurrences. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 *' of my fepulchre, and came out to the garden where I was found by 
 *' my domeftics." 
 
 Montezuma was ftruck with aftonillinient at the recital of fo ftrange 
 an adventure, and feeHng his mind diftradled with a variety of appre- 
 hcnfions, rofe and retired to one of his palaces which was deftined for 
 occafions of grief, without taking leave of his fifter, the king of Ta- 
 cuba, or any one of thofe who accompanied him, although fome of 
 his flatterers, in order to confole him, endeavoured to perfuade him that 
 the illnefs which the princefs had futfcred, had turned her brain. He 
 avoided for ever after returning to fee her, that he might not again 
 hear the melancholy prefages of the ruin of his empire. The princefs, 
 it is fiid, lived many years in great retirement and abflinence. She 
 was the firft who, in the year 1524, received the facred baptifm ia 
 Tlatelolco, and was called from that time. Donna Maria Papant%in. 
 
 Among the memorable events, in 1510, there happened without any Sect. xir. 
 apparent caufe, afudden and furious burning of the turrets of the greater 
 temple of Mexico, in a calm, ièrene night ; and in the fuccecding year, 
 fo violent and extraordinary an agitation of the waters of the lake, that 
 many houfes of the city were deflroycd, there being at the fame time 
 no wind, earthquake, nor any other natural caufe to which, the accident 
 could be afcribed. It is faid alfo, that in 151 1, the figures of armed 
 men appeared in the air, who fought and flew each other. Thefe 
 and other fimilar phenomena, recounted by Acofta, Torquemada and 
 ethers, are found very cxadly delcribed in the Mexican and Acolhuan 
 hillories. 
 
 Theconflernation which thefe fad omens raifed in the mind cf Mon- 
 tezuma did not, however, turn afide his thoughts from war. His ar- 
 mies made numerous expeditions in 1508, particularly againft the Tlaf- 
 calans and Huexotzincas, the Atlixchefe, Icpatepec, and Malinaltepec, 
 in which they made five thoufand prifoners, which were afterwards fa- 
 crificcd. In i 509, the war againft Xochitepec happened, that ftate having 
 rebelled. In the year following, Montezuma thinking the altar for Sect. xiir. 
 the facrificcs too finali, and unproportioned to the magnificence of the ne^i altar for 
 temple, he caufed a proper ftone of excefilve fize, to be fought for, !'^'^/*\"^"'' 
 which was found near to Cojoacan. After ordering it to be polifhed pcditions of 
 and cut, he commanded it to be brought in due form to Mexico. A 
 
 vaa
 
 232 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 KOOK y. y^(\- number of people went to drag it along, but in paffing a wooden 
 bridge over a canal, in the entry to the city, the ftone by its enormou» 
 weight, broke through the bridge and fell into the canal, drawing foinc 
 men after it, and among the refi, the high priefl:, who was accompany- 
 ing it, and fcattering incenfe. The king and the people were a good 
 deal difconcerted by this misfortune ; but without giving up the un- 
 dertaking, they drew the flone, with prodigious labour and fatigue, out 
 of the water, and brought it to the temple, where it was confecrated 
 with the facrifice of all the prifoners that had been refsrved for this 
 great feftival, which was one of the moft folemn ever celebrated by the 
 Mexicans. The king invited the principal nobility of all his kingdom, 
 to it, and expended a great deal of his treafure in prefents which he made 
 to the nobles and populace. In this finie ye;ir the confecration of the 
 temple Tlamat%'mco was celebrated, and alfo that of Quaxicalco, of 
 which we fliall fpeak elfewhere. The viftims facrificed at the confe- 
 cration of thefe two edifices, and the altar of the facrifices, were, ac- 
 cording to the account of hiftorians,- twelve thoufand two hundred and 
 ten, in number. 
 
 To have been able to furniih fuch a number of vidims, they muft 
 have been continually at war. In 251 1, the Jopas rebelled, and de- 
 ligned to kill all the Mexican garrifon in Tlacotepec ; but their inten- 
 tions being feafonably difcovered, they were puniihed accordingly, and 
 two hundred of them carried prifoners to Mexico. In 151 2, an army 
 of the Mexicans marched towards the north, againft the Q.uitzalapa- 
 nefe, and with the lofs only of ninety-five men, they made one thoufand 
 and three hundred prifoners, which were alfo carried to Mexico. By 
 thefe and other conquefts made in the three following years, the Mexi- 
 can empire was extended to its utmoft limits, five or fix years previous 
 to its fall, to which the very great rapidity of its conquefls contributed. 
 Every province, and place which was conquered, created a new enemy 
 to the conquerors, who became impatient of the yoke to which they 
 were not accuftomed, and irritated by injuries, only waited for an op- 
 portunity of being revenged, and reftoring themfelves to their wonted li- 
 berty. It would appear that the happinefs of a kingdom confifls not in 
 the extenfion of its dominions, nor in the number of its vafials ; but on the 
 contrary, that it approaclies at no time nearer to its final period, than 
 
 when
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 2^; 
 
 when on account of its vaft and unbounded extent, it can no longer cook v. 
 maintain the necefiary union among its parts, nor tlvat vigour which ^■' ^ *^ 
 is requifite to withftand the multitude of its enemies. 
 
 The revolutions which happened at this time, in the kingdom of s«ct. xi\'. 
 Acolhuacan, occafioned by the death of kin? Nezahualpilli, did not lefs ^■'"''^- "'"^ . 
 
 t . r , ciilogiuDi of 
 
 contribute to the rum of the Mexican empire. This celebrated king king Nez.i- 
 after having poflefled the throne for forty-five years, either wearied of ^''''i""'" 
 governing, or troubled with melancholy, from the fatal plienomena he 
 had witnelfed, left the reins of government in the hands of two of the 
 royal princes, and retired to his palace of pleafure in Tezcotzinco, car- 
 rying with him his favourite Xocotzin and a few fervants, leaving orders 
 to his fons not to leave the court, but to wait there for his farther com- 
 mands. During the fix months of his retirement, he amufed him- 
 felf frequently with the exercife of the chace, and at night ufed to 
 employ himfelf in obferving the heavens, and for that purpofe had con- 
 flrudled, on the terrace of his palace, a little obfervatory, which was 
 preferved for a century after, and was feen by fome Spanifh hiftorians 
 who mention it. He there not only ftudied the motion and courfe 
 of the ftars, but converfed with thofe who were intelligent in aftro- 
 nomy : that fcience having always been in efteem among them, they ap- 
 plied ftill more to it when excited by the examples of the great Neza- 
 hualcojotl, and his fon and fucceflbr. 
 
 After living fix months in this private manner, he returned to his 
 court, ordered his beloved Xocotzin to retire with her children into 
 the palace of Tecpilpan, and fhut himfelf up in the palace of his ufual 
 refidence, without letting himfelf be feen by any perfon but one of 
 his confidents, defigning to conceal his death in imitation of his fii- 
 ther. Accordingly, neither the time nor the circumftances of his 
 death have ever been known. All that is certain is, that he died in 
 1 5 16, and that before his death he commanded his confidents who 
 were about him to burn his body fecretly. From hence it iiappened 
 that many of the vulgar, and even feveral of the nobles, were per- 
 fuaded that he was not dead, but had returned to the kingdom of Ama- 
 quemecan where his anceftors fprung, as he had frequently refolved 
 to do. 
 
 Vol. I. . II h Li
 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 >:ooK V. In matters of religion he was of the fame opinion with his great 
 "^ " ' father Nezahualcojotl. He fecretly defpifed the worlliip of the idols, 
 although he appeared to conform to it with the people. He refembled 
 his fxther alfo in his great zeal for the laws, and in the rigorous admi- 
 niftration of juftice, of which he afforded a ftriking example in the 
 laft years of his reign. There was a law which forbid, on pain of 
 death, the fpeaking of indecent words in the royal palace. One of 
 the princes his fons, who was named Huexotzincalzon, to whom he 
 bore more affetìion than to any of the reft, not lefs on account of his 
 difpofition, and the virtues which ihone out even in his youth, than 
 of his having been the firft born of his fons by his favourite Xocotzin, 
 violated this law ; but the words made ufe of by the prince were ra- 
 ther the efte(5t of youthful indifcretion than of any culpable intention. 
 The king was informed of it by one of his miftreffes to whom the 
 words had been addrelfcd. He enquired of her if ihey had been fpoke 
 before any other perfons, and finding that the prince's tutors had been 
 prcfent, he retired to an apartment of his palace, deftined for occafions 
 of mourning and grief. There he fent for the tutors to examine them. 
 They being afraid of meeting with fevere punilliment if they concealed 
 the truth, confefled it openly, but at the lame time endeavoured 
 to exculpate the prince, by faying, that he neither knew the perfon to 
 whom he fpoke, nor that the words were obfcene. But notwithftand- 
 ing their reprefentations, he ordered the prince to be immediately ar- 
 refted, and the fame day pronounced fentence of death upon him. 
 The wliole court was aftoniihed at fo rigorous a judgment, the nobles 
 pleaded with prayers and tears in his behalf, and the mother of the 
 prince herfelf, relying on the king's particular affeiflion for her, pre- 
 fented herfelf as a plaintiff before hlni, and in order to move him to 
 compaffion, led all her children along with her. But neither reafon- 
 ing, prayers, nor tears, could bend the king. " My fon," he fiid, 
 " has violated the law. If I pardon him, it will be faid, the laws are 
 " not binding upon every one. I will let my fubjedts know that no 
 " one will be pardoned a tranfgrefllon, as I do not even pardon the fon 
 ■** whom I dearly love." The queen pierced with the moft lively grief, 
 and defpairing of being able to fliake the conftancy of the king, told 
 him, " Since you have banifhed from your heart all the affe<^ÌDns of a 
 
 " fuher
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 *' father and a hulband for Co flight a caufe, why do you hefitate to put me 
 " to death and thefe young princes whom I have borne to you ?" The king 
 then \\ith a grave aipedt commanded lier to retire, as the cafe was with- 
 out a remedy. The difappointed queen retreated to her apartment, and 
 there, in company with fome of her attendants who went to confole 
 her, abandoned herfelf to grief. In the mean while, thofe who were 
 charged with the puniOiment of the prince, continued to delay it, that 
 time might foften the rigour of juftice, and give opportunity for the 
 return of parental affedlion and mercy ; but the king perceiving their 
 intention, commanded that they fliould immediately do their duty, 
 which accordingly followed, to the general difplcaiure of the kingdom, 
 and the utmoll difguft to Montezuma, not only on account of the re- 
 lation between himfelf and the prince, but likewife of the interfer- 
 ence which he made in the prince's favour, having been unfuccefsful in 
 procuring a repeal of the fentence. After the punifliment was exe- 
 cuted, the king (hut himfelf up for forty days in a hall, without let- 
 ting himfelf be feen by any one, while he fecretly vented his grief, 
 and made the door of his fon's apartment be clofed up with a wall, to 
 hide from his fight any remembrancer of his forrows. 
 
 His feverity in punifhing tranfgrelTors was compenfated by the com- 
 pafiion which he flicwed for the accidental diftreffes of any of his fubjeóts. 
 There was a window in his palace which looked towards the market- 
 place, covered with blinds, from which he ufed to obferve, without being 
 feen, the people that affembled there ; and whenever he faw any ill 
 clothed woman he made her be called, and after informing himfelf 
 of her life and condition, he fupplied her with what was neceflary for 
 herfelf and family if flie had any. Every day at his palace alms were 
 given to the fick and to orphans. There was an hofpiral at Tezcuco 
 for all thofe who had loft their eycGght in war, or had become 
 from any other caufe unfit for fervice, where they were fupported at the 
 royal cxpence, according to their ftations, and frequently vifited by the 
 king himfelf. In fuch beneficent adts a groat part of his revenues was 
 expended. 
 
 The genius and talents of this king have been highly extolled by the 
 hiftorians of that kingdom. He endeavoured to imitate, both in his 
 iludies and in the condudl of his life, the e.xample of his father, and 
 
 H h 2 his
 
 236 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Sect. XV. 
 Re^•olutions 
 in the king- 
 dom of Acol- 
 huacan. 
 
 BOOK V. Ills refemblance to him was remarkable. The glory of the Cheche- 
 mecan kings may be faid to have ended with him, as the difcord which 
 took place among his children, diminiflied the fplendour of the court, 
 weakened the force of the fiate, and tended to bring on its final ruin. 
 Nezahualpilli did not declare who was to be his fucceflbr in the crown, 
 which all his anceftors had done. We are ignorant, however, of the 
 motive that caufed this omiffion, and which proved fo prejudicial to the 
 kingdom of Acolhuacan. 
 
 As foon as the fupreme council of the deceafed king were certain of 
 his death, they confidered it necefiary to eled: a fucceflbr to him in 
 imitation of the Mexicans. They aflembled therefore in order to de- 
 liberate on a point of fuch importance, and the oldeft and mofl ref- 
 peftable perfbn among them taking the lead in the alTembly, reprefent- 
 ed the great difaflers which might accrue to the fiate of Acolhuacan, 
 if the eledtion was retarded : he was of opinion, that the crown fell 
 to the prince Cacamatzin ; fince, befides his prudence and his cou- 
 rage, he was the firfl-born of the firli; Mexican princefs whom the late 
 king married. All the other counfellors concurred in this opinion, 
 which was in itfelf fo jufl: and came from a perfbn of fuch authority. 
 The princes who waited in a hall adjoining for the refolution of the 
 counfel, were defired to enter there to hear it. When they were all in- 
 troduced, the principal feat was given to Cacamatzin, who was a youtla 
 of twenty-two years, and his brothers Coanocotzin, who was twenty, 
 and Ixthilxochitl who was eighteen, were placed on each fide of him. 
 The fame aged counfellor, who had firft addrefled the afiembly, then 
 rofe, and declared that the refolution of the council, which included alfb 
 that of the kingdom, was to give the crown to Cacamatzin, on account 
 of the right of primogeniture. Ixtlilxochitl, who was an ambitious 
 and enterprifing youth, oppofed it, by faying, that if the king was 
 really dead, he would certainly have named his fuccefTor ; that his not 
 having done it was a clear evidence of his life, and while the lawful 
 fovereign was living it was criminal in his fubjefts to name a fucceflbr. 
 The council who knew the difpolition of Ixtlilxochitl, durft not openly 
 contradict him, but defired Coanocotzin to deliver his opinion. This 
 prince approved and confirmed the determination of the council, and 
 pointed out the inconveniencies which would enfue if the execution of 
 
 it
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 237 
 
 it was delayed. He was contradidled, and taxed with being light and book v. 
 inconfiderate by Ixtlilxochitl, and that he could not perceive while he em- 
 braced fuch an opinion that he was fiwouring the defigns of Montezuma, 
 who was much inclined to Cacamatzin, and ufed his endeavours to put 
 him on the throne, becaufe he trufted he would find in him a king of 
 wax, to whom he might give what form he pleafed. " It is by no 
 " means reafonable, dear brother," replied Coanocotzin, " to oppofe 
 " a refolution which is fo prudent and fo juil ; are you not aware that 
 " if Cacamatzin was not to be king, the crown would belong not to 
 " you but to me." " It is true," faid Ixtlilxochitl, " if the right of 
 *' fuccefllon is to be determined by age only, the crown is due to Ca- 
 " camatzin, and in failure of him to you ; but if regard is paid, as it 
 *' ought to be, to courage, to me it belongs." The counfellors per- 
 ceiving that the princes were growing gradually more vehement and 
 warm in their altercation, impofed filence on them both, and difmifled 
 the affembly. 
 
 The two princes went to their mother the queen Xocotzin to con- 
 tinue their cavil, while Cacamatzin accompanied by many of the nobi- 
 lity, fet out immediately for Mexico to inform Montezuma of what 
 had happened, and to demand his affiftance. Montezuma, who, befides 
 the attachment he had to the prince, faw the juftice of his claim, and 
 the confent of the nation to it, advifed him in the firfl: place to fecurc 
 the royal treafures, and proniifed to fettle the difpute with his brother, 
 and to employ the Mexican arms in his behalf if negociations for that 
 purpofe fhould not prove fufficient. 
 
 Ixtlilxochitl, as foon as he knew of the departure of Cacamatzin, 
 and forefaw the confequences of his application to Montezuma, fet out 
 from court with all his partizans, and went to the ftates which belong- 
 ed to his tutors in the mountains of Meztitlan. Coanocotzin fent im- 
 mediate advice to Cacamatzin to return without delay to Tezcuco, and 
 maJce ufe of that favourable opportunity for being crowned. Cacamat- 
 zin availed himfelf of this wife counfel, and came to the court accom- 
 panied by Cuitlahuazin the brother of Montezuma, and lord of Izta- 
 palapan, and many of the Mexican nobility. Cuitlahuazin, without 
 lofnig any time, affembled the Tezcucan nobility in the Huei&ccpan, 
 or the great palace of the king of Acolhuacan, and prefented prince 
 
 Caca-
 
 2 
 
 8 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK V. Cacamatzin to be acknowledged by them as their lawful Ibverelgn. He 
 was received as fucli by them all, and the day for the ceremony of the 
 coronation was fixed ; but this was interrupted by intelligence arriving 
 at court, that the prince Ixtlilzochitl was defcending from the moun- 
 tains of Meztitlan at the head of a great army. 
 
 This turbulent youth as foon as he arrived at Meztitlan, afTembled 
 all the lords of the places fituated in thofe great mountains, and made 
 them acquainted with his defign of oppofing his brother Cacamatzin, 
 pretending that it was his zeal for the honour and liberty of the Cheche- 
 mecan and Acolhuan nations which moved him ; that it would be dif- 
 graceful, and even dangerous, to pay obedience to a king, fo pliant to 
 the will of the monarch of Mexico ; that the Mexicans had forgot what 
 they owed to the Acolhuan nation, and were defirous of increafing 
 their unjuft ufurpations with the kingdom of Acolhuacan ; that he for 
 his part was refolved to exert all the courage which God had given 
 him, to defend and fave his country from the tyranny of Montezuma. 
 With thefe arguments, which were probably fuggefled to him by his 
 tutors, he fo fired the minds of thofe lords, that they all profefied 
 themfelves willing to ferve him with all their forces, and raifed fo many 
 troops that when the prince defcended from the mountains his army it 
 is faid am.ounted to upwards of one hundred thoufand men ; whether 
 it was from the dread of his power, or from an inclination to favour his 
 pretenfions, he was well received in all the places through which he 
 pafTed. He fent an embaffy from Tepepolco to the Otompanefe, com- 
 manding them to do obedience to him as their proper king ; but thej 
 replied, that as Nfzahualpilli was dead, they would acknowledge no 
 other fovcreign than Cacamatzin, who had been peaceably accepted at 
 court, and was already in pofi^efiion of the throne of Acolhuacan. 
 This anfwer fo exafperated the prince, that he went in great wrath 
 againft their city. The Otompanefe met him in order of battle ; but 
 although they for fome time refifted the army of their enemy, they 
 were at laft vanquifhed, and their city was taken by the prince. The 
 lord himfelf of Otompan fell among the flain, which accident foon 
 accelerated the vidlory. 
 
 This event threw Cacamatzin and all his court into the utmoft un- 
 eafinefs, fearing the enemy might even befiege the capital ; he prepared 
 
 forti fi-
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 2 ?9 
 
 fortifications againft them ; but the prince being contented with feeing BOOK v. 
 himfelf ref^teóled and feared, did not move from Otompan ; but placed 
 guards on the roads, with orders, however, to hurt no perfon, to hin- 
 der no individuals from paffing from the court to any other place, and 
 to fnew refpedl and civility to all pallengers of rank. Cacamatzin, 
 knowing the forces, and the refolutions of his brother, and confidering 
 it would be better for him to facrifice even a great part of his kingdom 
 than to lofe it altogether, with the coufent of his brother Coanacotzin, 
 difpatclied an embalfy to treat of an accommodation with him. He 
 fent to tell him, that he might, if he chofe, retain all the dominions in 
 the mountains, as he was contented with the court and the territory 
 of the plain ; that he was willing alfo to fliare the revenues of his 
 kingdom with his brother Coanacotzin ; but at the fame time he re- 
 queued him to drop every other pretenfion, and not to difturb the pub- 
 lic tranquillity. The prince anfwered, that his brothers might adi as 
 they thought proper ; that he was pleafed that Cacamatzin was in pof- 
 feihon of the kingdom of Acoihuacan, that he had no defigns againii: 
 him nor againft the fiate j that he had no other view in maintaining 
 his army than to oppofe the ambitious deligns of the Mexicans, who 
 had given grounds for the greateft difgufl and fufpicions to his father 
 Nezahualpilli ; that if at that time the kingdom was divided for the 
 common intereil of the nation, he hoped to fee it again united ; that 
 above all things it was neceilary to guard againft falling into the fnarcs 
 of the crafty Montezuma. Ixtlilxochitl was not deceived in his diffi- 
 dence of Montezuma, as this king was the very perfon who, as we 
 llull find hereafter, gave the unfortunate Cacamatzin into the hands of 
 the S[)aniards, in fpite of the attaciiment he pretended to him. 
 
 This agreement being made with his brother, Cacamatzin remained 
 in peaceable nofieflion of the crown of Acolhuacan ; but with greatly 
 iliininilhed dominions, as he had ceded a very conf derablc part ot the 
 kingdom. Ixtlilocxhitl kept his troops conftantly in motion, and 
 i'requently appeared with his army in the environs of Mexico, daring 
 Montezuma to a fingle combat with him. Hut this king was no lon- 
 ger in a ftate fit to accept fuch a challenge. The fire which he had 
 in his youth had already began to die away with age, and domellic lux'- 
 ury had enervated his mind ; nor would it have been prndent to have 
 
 expo fed
 
 240 II I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK V. expofed himfelf to a rencounter of this kind with fo adventurous a 
 youth who had already, by lecret negociations, drawn over a great part 
 of the Mexican provinces to his intereft. The Mexicans, however, 
 frequently engaged with that army, being fometimes vanquiflied, and 
 at other times vi(5torious. In one of thole battles a relation of the king 
 of Mexico was taken prifoner, who had gone out to the war with an 
 cxprefs refolution to make a prifoner of the prince, and to carry him 
 bound to Mexico according to a promife which he had made to Mon- 
 tezuma. Ixtlilxochitl knew of this boaftful promife, and in order to 
 be fully revenged, commanded him to be bound and covered with dry 
 reeds, and burned alive in the fight of the whole army. 
 
 In the courfe of our hillory it will appear how much this turbulent 
 prince contributed to the fuccefs of the Spaniards, who began about 
 this time to make their appearance on the coaft of the Gulf of Mexico : 
 but before we undertake the relation of a war which totally reverfed 
 the order of thofe kingdoms, it will be neceflary to give fome ac- 
 count of the religion, the government, the arts, and manners of the 
 Mexicans. 
 
 ^t 
 
 f 
 
 GENE-
 
 Genealogy of the Mexican kings» 
 
 Deduced from the Beginning of the Thirteenth Century'. 
 
 Ilhuicatl — Tlacapantzin. 
 about A. D. 
 
 1220. 
 
 Huitzilihuitl, the Elder . 
 
 Opochtli— Atozoztli* 
 
 i. 
 Acflmapitzin, 
 Firft Kinjr of Mexico. 
 
 r 
 
 HuitzilihuitI, 
 Second K. of Mexico. 
 
 Chimalpopoca, Tezozomodliz=MatUIatzin, 
 
 Third K. of Mexico. 
 
 Afatlalchihuatzin, 
 mother of Neza- 
 hualcojotl, K.of 
 Alcolhuacau. 
 
 Mo'euczoma Ilhuicamina, 
 Fifth King of Mexico. 
 
 his uiecc. 
 
 ItzcoatI, 
 Fourth K. of Mexico. 
 
 Matlalatxin — Tczozomoiflli» 
 
 Tzotzocatzin. 
 
 Axajacatl, 
 Sixth K. of Mexico. 
 
 N. wife of Ncza- 
 hualpilli K. of Acol- 
 huacan. 
 
 : TTN 
 
 Xocoizin, wife 
 
 of Nezahual- 
 
 pilli. 
 
 Tizoc, Ahuitzot!, 
 
 Seventh K.of Mexico. Eighth K. of Mexico, 
 
 Ixtlalcuechahuac, 
 Lord of Tollan. 
 
 Moteuczoma Xocojotzin,~Miahuaxochit]. Cuiitahuatzin, 
 
 Ninth K. of Mcxicoi 
 
 MiahuaxochitI, wife 
 to her uncle king 
 Moteuczoma. 
 
 Tenth K. of Mexico. 
 
 N 
 
 AhuitzotI, 
 
 Quauhtemotzin, 
 Eleventh K. of 
 Mexico. 
 
 Tlacahuepan Johualicahuatzin ; 
 or. Don Pedro Motezuma. 
 
 t)on Diego Luis IhuitemOiTzin 
 Motczuma. Married in Sp^in 
 with Donna Francifca de la Cu- 
 èva ; of whom the counts of 
 Motezuma and Tula, the Vif- 
 counts of Iluca, &c. are dfc- 
 fcended. 
 
 Tecuichpotzin ; or. Donna Eliiabeta Mo- 
 tezuma, wife of King Cuitlahuatzin, her 
 uncle ; and King Quauhieinotzin, her 
 coufin; and afterwards lucceflively of three 
 noble Spaniards, of whom the two cele- 
 brated houfes of Cano Motezuma and 
 Andrea Motciuma are dcfccnded» 
 
 (To face Page «40, Vol. I)
 
 [ 241 3 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 The Religion of the Mexicans : namely, their Gods, Temples, Priejis, Sa- 
 crijices, and Offerings: their Fajis and Aiijierities, their Chronology, 
 Calendar, and Fejiivals ; their Ceremonies upon the Birth of Chil^ 
 dren, at Marriages, and Funerals. 
 
 THE religion, government, and oeconomy of a fiate are the three BOOKVi, 
 things which chiefly form the charadler of a nation, and with- 
 out being acquainted with thefe, it is impoflible to have a perfedt idea 
 of the genius, difpofitions, and knowledge of any people whatever. 
 The religion of the Mexicans, of which we are to give an account in 
 this book, was a heap of errors, of fuperftitions, and cruel rites. Such 
 weaknefles of the human mind, of which we have had but too many 
 examples even in the moft enlightened nations of antiquity, are infepa- 
 rable from every religion that takes its fource in the fantaftical ima- 
 ginations and fears of mankind. If we compare, as we fliall do in 
 another place, the religion of the Greeks and Romans with that of the 
 Mexicans, we Ihall find the former more fuperllitious and ridiculous, 
 the latter more cruel. Thefe celebrated nations of ancient Europe, 
 from the unfavourable opinion which they entertained of the power of 
 their gods, multiplied their number to excefs, confined their influence 
 within narrow bounds, imputed to them the moft atrocious crimes, 
 and ftained their worftiip with the moft fcandalous impurities ; for 
 which they have been juftly reproached by the advocates of Chrillianity. 
 The Mexicans imagined their gods more oerfedt, and in their worlhip, 
 however fuperftitious it might be, there was nothing repugnant to 
 decency. 
 
 The Mexicans had fonie idea, though a very imperfeft one, of a Sect. I. 
 fupreme, abfolute, and independent Being, to whom they acknow- ''•"'"cipirs of 
 ledged to owe fear and adoration. They reprefented him in no external gion. 
 
 Vol, I. I i form.
 
 242 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK VI. form, becaufe they believed him to be invifible; and named him only 
 by the common appellation of God, in their language 'Teot/, a word 
 refembling flill more in its meaning than in its pronunciation the 
 T/jt'os of the Greeks: but they applied to him certain epithets which 
 were highly expreflive of the grandeur and power which they con- 
 ceived him to polfels. They called him Ipalnemoani, that is. He. by 
 whom we live ; and T'loque Nahuàqiw, He who has all in himfclf. 
 But their knowledge and woriliip of this fupreme Being was obfcured 
 and in a manner lolt in the crowd of deities invented by their fuper- 
 
 flition. 
 
 They believed in an evil fpirit, the enemy of mankind, which they 
 called Tlacatecolototl, or Rational Owl, and faid that he often appeared 
 to men for the purpofe of terrifying or doing them an injury. 
 
 With refped; to the foul, the barbarous Otomies, as they tell us, be- 
 lieved that it died together with the body : while the Mexicans, with 
 all the other polilhed nations of Anahuac, conlidered it as immortal ; 
 allowing, at the fame time, that bleiring of immortality to the fouls of 
 brutes, and not rellraining it to rational beings alone (rt). 
 
 They diftinguifhed three places for the fouls when leparated from 
 the body. Thofe of Ibldiers who died in battle or in captivity among 
 their enemies, and thofe of women who died in labour, went to the 
 houfe of the fun, whom they confidered as the Prince of Glory, where 
 they led a life of endlefs delight ; where, every day, at the firft ap- 
 pearance of the fun's rays they hailed his birth with rejoicings ; and 
 with dancing, and the mufic of infbruments and of voices, at- 
 tended him to his meridian ; there they met the fouls of the women, 
 and with the fame feftivity accompanied him to his fetting. If reli- 
 gion is intended only to ferve the purpofes of government, as has been 
 imagined by mofl of the free-thinkers of our times, furely thofe na- 
 tions could not forge a fyftem of belief better calculated to infpire their 
 foldiers with courage than one which promifed fo high a reward after 
 their death. They next fuppofed that thefe fpirits after four years of 
 that glorious life, went to animate clouds, and birds of beautiful fea- 
 thers and of fweet fong; but always at liberty to rife again to heaven, 
 
 {a) The ideas htre afcribjd to the Mexicans, with refpcift to the fouls of brutes, will appear 
 more fully wheii we fhall come to fpeuk of their fiincrjl rites. 
 
 I or
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 or to defcend upon the earth to warble and fuck the flowers. The 
 people of Tlafcala believed that the fouls of perfons of rank went, 
 after their death, to inhabit the bodies of beautiful and fweet finging 
 birds, and thofe of the nobler quadrupeds j while the fouls of inferior 
 perfons were fuppofcd to pafs into weazles, beetles, and fuch other 
 meaner animals. Whence we fee that the abfurd fyfbem of the Pytha- 
 gorean tranfmigration, which has been fo firmly fettled, and fo widely 
 propagated throughout the countries of the Eaft, has not wanted its 
 advocates in thofe of the Weft (i). The fouls of thofe that were 
 drowned, or ftruck by lightning, of thofe who died by dropfy, tu- 
 mors, wounds, and other fuch difeafes, went, as the Mexicans believed, 
 along with the fouls of children, at leaft of thofe which were facri- 
 ficed to Tlaloc the god of water, to a cool and delightful place, called 
 Tlalocan, where that god refided, and where they were to enjoy the moft 
 delicious repalls, with every other kind of pleafure. In the inner part 
 of the greater temple of Mexico there was a particular place where 
 they fuppofed that on a certain day of the year all the children which 
 had been lacrificed to Tlahc, came, and invifibly affifted at the ceremo- 
 ny. The Mi'^teccis had a perfuafion, that a great cavern ii\ a lofty moun- 
 tain, in their province, was the entrance into paradife ; and their nobles 
 and great men, therefore, always took care to be buried near the ca- 
 vern, in order to be nearer that place of delight. Laftly, the third 
 place allotted for the fouls of thofe who fuffered any other kind of 
 death, was the MiEilan, or hell, which they conceived to be a place 
 of utter darknefs, in which reigned a god, called MitllantcnSlli (lord 
 of hell), and a goddefs named Mictlnncihuatl. I am of opinion tliat 
 they believed hell to be a place in the centre of the earth (f) ; but 
 they did not iniagine that the fouls underwent any other puniflimcnt 
 there than what they fuffered from the darknei's of their abode. 
 
 (^) Wlio would believe that a fyrtcm fo prcpofterous and improbable as that of the Pytha- 
 gorean tranfmigration, ihoiild be fupjiortcd by a nhilofophcr of the cnlightcucj eighteenth 
 century. Yet it has been ftrioiilly maintained, l.ilcly, by a Frenchman, in a book printed 
 at Paris, under the title of " 'I'he Year Two thoufand four hundred and forty." 
 
 (c) Dr. Sijciienza w.-k of opinion, that the Mexicans placed hell in the northern part of the 
 earth ; as the V.wwv word Mii'-llumfn:, li;^'niricd lowanii the North, and tov.'.inh ILll. But, I rather 
 think they placed it in the center, for that is the nieanin;^ of the name of TLil.xicco, which thev 
 ^'avc to the temple of the jfod of hell, \uv\- all it \i poifible that the 31exiearii thcnWelves 
 mi^'lit hold ditlereiu opinions Upon the fubjc(5i. 
 
 I i 2 The
 
 244 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK VI. The Mexicans, with all other civilized nations, had a clear tradition, 
 though fomewhat corrupted by fable, of the creation of the world, of 
 the univerfal deluge, of the confufion of tongues, and of the difper- 
 fion of the people ; and had aifliially all thefe events reprefented in their 
 piftures {d). They laid, that when mankind were overwhelmed with 
 the deluge, none were preferved but a man called Cqxcox (to whom 
 others give the name of T'eocipaBli), and a woman called Xochiquetzal, 
 who faved themlelves in a little bark, and having afterwards got to 
 land upon a mountain called by them Colhuacan, had there a great 
 many children : that thele children were all born dumb, until a do\'e 
 from a lofty tree imparted to them languages, but differing fo much 
 that they could not underftand one another. The Tlafcalans pretend- 
 ed that the men who furvived the deluge were transformed into apes, 
 but recovered fpeech and reafon by degrees {e ). 
 
 Among all the deities worlhipped by the Mexicans, and which were 
 very numerous, although not near fo much fo as thole of the Romans, 
 and of Hea- there were thirteen principal and greater gods, in honour of whom 
 they confecrated that number. We fhall give an account of what 'we 
 have found in the Mexican mythology with relpeft to thefe and the 
 other gods, without regard to the pompous conjectures and abfurd fyf- 
 tem of Cav. Boturini. 
 
 T^ezceitlipoca. This was the greateft god adored in thefe countries, 
 after the invifible God, or fupreme Being, whom we have already men- 
 tioned. His name means Shining Mirror, from one that was affixed 
 to his image. He was the god of providence, the foul of the world, 
 the creator of heaven and earth, and mailer of all things. They re- 
 prefented him always young, to denote that no length of years ever 
 diminilhed his power ; they believed that he rewarded with various 
 benefits the j ufi, and punifhed the wicked with diieafes and other af- 
 flidlions. 1 hey placed flone feats in the corners of the ftreets, for 
 that god to rell upon when he chole it, and upon which no perfon 
 was ever allowed to lit down. Some faid, that he had deicendcd from 
 
 Sect. II. 
 The gods of 
 Providence 
 
 TSn. 
 
 ((/) Their idea of the deUig^e appears from the rcprefentation in the plate annexed, which 
 is copied from an original painting of the Mexican. 
 
 (r) For an account of the opinions of the INIiztec.is and other nations of America, with 
 lefpei't to the creation of the world, I muft refer the reader to Father Gregorio Garcia, a Do- 
 minican, in his work entitled, The Orign of toe Indiani, 
 
 heaven
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 2^. 
 
 heaven by a rope made of fpiders webs, and had perfecuted and driven BOOK vi. 
 from thefe countries, the grand prieft of Tula ^litzalcoatl, who was 
 afterwards confecrated as a god. 
 
 His principal image was of teotetl (divine ftone) which is a black 
 fhining Hone like black marble, and was richly dreffed. It had gol- 
 den ear-rings, and from the under lip hung a cryftal tube, within 
 which was a green feather, or a turquoife flone, which at firlt fight 
 appeared to be a gem. His hair was tied with a golden firing, from 
 the end of which hung an ear of the fame metal, with the appearance 
 of afcending fmoke painted on it, by which they intended to reprefent 
 the prayers of the diftrelfed. The whole breaft was covered with 
 mafly gold. He had bracelets of gold upon both his arms, an emerald 
 in the navel, and in his left hand a golden fan, fct round with beauti- 
 ful feathers, and polilhed like a mirror, in which they imagined he 
 faw every thing that happened in the world. At other times to de- 
 note his jullice, they reprefented him fitting on a bench covered with 
 a red cloth, upon which were drawn the figures of fkulls, and other 
 bones of the dead : upon his left arm a iliield with four arrows, and 
 his right lifted in the attitude of throwing a fpear : his body dyed 
 black, and his head crowned with quail-feathers. 
 
 OmeteuBli and Omedhuatl{f). The former was a god, and the lat- 
 ter a goddefs, who they pretended dwelt in a magnificent city in hea- 
 ven, abounding with delights, and there watched over the world, and 
 gave to mortals their wilhes : OmcteublU to men, and Omecihnatl to 
 women. They had a tradition that this goddefs having had many chil- 
 dren in heaven, was delivered of a knife of flint ; upon which lier 
 children in a rage threw it to the earth, from which when it fcil, 
 fprung fixteen hundred heroes, who, knowing tlieir high origin, and 
 having no fervants, all mankind having perirtied in a general calamity, 
 (^) agreed to fend an cmbalfy to their mother, to intrcat her to grant 
 them power to create men to ferve them. The mother anfwered, that 
 if they had had more exalted fcntiments, they would have made them- 
 
 ( /■) They likewife gave thcfe gods the names of Ciilallatoiiac, aiiJ Cii/nlnue, upon account 
 of the liars. 
 
 (^) Thnfc people, as wc fliall mention in another place, believed that the earth haJ fufltiid 
 thicc great univerfal calamities by which all mankind had been defiruycj. 
 
 fclves
 
 246 HISTORY OF M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VI. ièlves worthy to live with her eternally in heaven : but fmce they chofe 
 to abide upon the earth, flie defired them to go to Micllantendlli, god 
 of hell, and afk of him one of the bones of the men that had died ; to 
 fprinkle this with their own blood, and from it they would have a 
 man and a woman who would afterwards multiply. At the fame 
 time rtie warned them to be upon their guard againft Mi5llanteu6llì, 
 who after giving tlie bone might fuddenly repent. With thefe in- 
 ilrudions from his mother, Xolotl, one of the heroes, went to hell, 
 and after obtaining what he fought, began to run towards the upper 
 furface of the earth : upon which MiBlantcuSlli enraged purfued him, 
 but being unable to come up with him, returned to hell. Xolotl in 
 his precipitate flight llumbled, and falling broke the bone into unequal 
 pieces. Gathering them up again, he continued his courfe till he ar- 
 rived at the place where his brothers awaited him ; when they put the 
 fragments into a vell'el, and fprinkled them with their blood which 
 they drew from diiferent parts of their bodies. Upon the fourth day 
 they beheld a boy, and continuing to fprinkle with blood for three 
 days more, a girl was likewife formed. They v/ere both configned to 
 the care of Xolotl to be brought up, who fed them with the milk of 
 the thiille. In that way, they believed the recovery of mankind was 
 eftedled at that time. Thence took its rife, as they affirmed, the prac- 
 tice of drawing blood from different parts of the body, which as we 
 ihall fee was fo common among thefe nations : and they believed the 
 differences in the dature of men to have been occafioned by the in- 
 equality of the pieces of the bone. 
 
 Cibuacohuatl (woman fcrpent) called likewife ^ila%tli. This thev», 
 
 believed to have been the firft woman that had children in the world; 
 
 and file had always twins. She was efteemed a great goddefs, and they 
 
 faid that fhe would frequently fliew herfelf, carrying a child in a cradle 
 
 upon her back. 
 
 S CT III Tofiatricli 2.nà Mextli, names of the fun and moon, both deified by 
 
 Deification thcfe nations. They faid, that after the recovery and multijilication 
 
 ami moon. ^-^ mankind, each of the above mentioned heroes or demigods, had a- 
 
 mong the men, his fervants and adherents : and that there being no 
 
 fun, the. one rhat had been, having come to an end, the heroes affem- 
 
 bled in 'leotibuatan around a great fire, and faid to tliè men that the 
 
 lirft
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 247 
 
 firil of them that fliould throw himlelf into the fire would have the book vi. 
 glory to become a fun. Forthwith one of the men, more intrepid ""^ ' "^ 
 than the reft, called Nana/juazfin, threw himfelf into the flames, and 
 defcended to hell. In the interval while they all remained expeding 
 the event, the heroes made wagers with the quails, locufts, and other 
 animals, about the place of the fky where the fun would firft appear > 
 and the aninials being miftakcn in their conjedtures were immediiitely 
 ùcrificed. At lengtii the fun arofe in that quarter which from that 
 time forward has been called the Levant; but he had fcarcely rifeii 
 above the horizon when he ftopped ; which the heroes perceiving, fent 
 to defire him to continue his courfe. The fun replied, that he would 
 not, until he lliould fee them all put to death. The heroes were no 
 lel^ enraged than terrified by that anfwer : upon which one of them 
 named Citli, taking his bow and three arrows, fliot one at tlie fun ; 
 but the fun faved himfelf by ftooping. Citli aimed two other arrows, 
 but in vain. The fun enraged turned back the laft arrow, and fixed 
 it in the forehead of Citii, who inftantly expired. Tlie reft intimi- 
 dated by the fate of their brother, and unable to cope with the fun, 
 refolved to die by the hands of Xolotl, who after killing all his bro- 
 thers, put an end to his own life. The heroes before they died left 
 their cloaths to their fervants ; and fince the conqueft of thefc coun- 
 tries by the Spaniards, certain ancient garments have been found, 
 which were preferved by the Indians with extraordinary veneration, 
 under a belief that they had them by inheritance from tliofe ancient 
 heroes. The men were affe^fted with great n.itjlaiicholy upon lofing 
 tiieir mafters ; but Tezcatlipoca commanded one of them to go to t\\c 
 houfe of the fun, and from thence to bring mufic to celebnite his fcf- 
 tival : he told him that for hi? journey which was to be by fca, he 
 would prepare a bridge of wliales and tortoifes, and defired him to ling 
 always as he went, a fong which he gave him. This the Mexicans 
 faid, was the origin of the mufic and dancing with whicli tlxey cele 
 bratcd the feftivals of tlieir gods. They afcribcd the daily ficrifice 
 which they irude of quails to the fun, to that which the heroes made 
 of thole birds J and the barbarous facrifices of human vidims, lb com- 
 mon afterwards in thefe countiics, they afcribcd to the example of Xo- 
 htl with his brethren. 
 
 They
 
 24-8 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VI. They told a fimilar fable of the origin of the moon. Tezcociztecal, 
 ^ another of thofe men who aflembled in T'eotthuacaJi, following the ex- 
 
 ample of Nanahuatzitz, threw hlmfelf into the fire : but the flames 
 being fomewhat lefs fierce, he turned out lefs bright, and was tranf- 
 formed into the moon. To thefe two de'ties they confecrated thofe 
 two famous temples eredled in the plain of TeotiLmacan, of which we 
 filali give an account in another place. 
 Sect. IV. ^h'tzalcoatl. (Feathered ferpent.) This was among the Mexicans, 
 ^ii.' ^ and nil the other nations of Anahiiac, the god of the air. He was faid 
 
 to have once been high-prieft of T^ula. They figured him tall, big, and 
 of a fair complexion, with an open forehead, large eyes, long black 
 hair, and a thick beard. From a love of decency, he wore always a 
 long robe ; he was fo rich that he had palaces of filver and precious 
 ftones ; he was thought to polfefs the greateft induftry, and to have in- 
 vented the art of melting metals and cutting gems. He was fuppofed 
 to have had the moil profound wifdom, which he difplayed in the 
 laws which he left to mankind ; and above all to have had the moil 
 rigid and exemplary manners. Whenever he intended to promulgate 
 a law in his kingdom, he ordered a crier to the top of the mountain 
 Tzatzitepec (the hill of ihouting) near the city of Tula, whofe voice 
 was heard at the diflance of three hundred miles. In his time, the 
 corn grew fo flrong that a fingle ear was a load for a man : gourds 
 were as long as a man's body : it was unneceil'ary to dye cotton, for it 
 grew naturally of all colours : and all other fruits and feeds were in 
 the fm:ie abundance and of extraordinary fize. Then too there was an 
 incredible number of beautiful and fweet finging birds. All his fubjevlts 
 were rich, and to fum up all in one word, the Mexicans imagined as 
 much happinefs under the priefthood of ^etzalcoatl, as the Greeks 
 did under the reign of Saturn, whom this Mexican god likewife refem- 
 bled in the exile which he fuffered. Amidft all this profperity, Tez- 
 catUpoca, I know not for what reafon, wifliing to drive him from that 
 country, appeared to him in the form of an old man, and told him 
 that it was the will of the gods that he ftiould be taken to the king- 
 dom of Tlapalla. At the fame time he offered him a beverage, which 
 ^letzalcoatl readily accepted, in hopes of obtaining that immortality 
 after which he afpired. He had no fooner drank it than he felt him-
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 249 
 
 fclf lb ftrongly inclined to go to Tlapalla, that he fet out immediately, BOOK vi, 
 accompanied by many of his fubjedls, who, on the way, entertained 
 him with mufic. Near the city of ^aubtitlan he felled a tree with 
 ftones, which remained fixed in the trunk ; and near 'Tlalnepantla he 
 laid his hand upon a ftone and left an impreflion, which the Mexicans 
 fljewed the Spaniards after the conqueft. Upon his arrival at Chohila, 
 the citizens detained liim, and made him take upon him the govern- 
 ment of their city. Befides the decency and Aveetnefs of his manners, 
 the averfion he (liewed to all kinds of cruelty, infomuch that he 
 could not bear to hear the very mention of war, added much t» the 
 affedtion entertained for him by the inhabitants of Cholula. To him 
 they faid they owed their knowledge of melting metals, their laws by 
 which they were ever afterwards governed, the rites and ceremonies 
 of their religion, and even, as fome affirmed, the arrangement of their 
 feafons and calendar. 
 
 After being twenty years in Cholula, he refolved to purfue his jour- 
 ney to the imaginary kingdom of Tlapalla, carrying along with him 
 four noble and virtuous youths. In the maritime province of Coatza- 
 coalco, he difmilfed them, and deiired them to afflire the Choliilans 
 that he would return to comfort and diredt them. The Cbolulans 
 out of rcfped: to their beloved Sluctzalcoatl, put the reins of govern- 
 ment into the hands of thofe young men. Some people faid that he 
 fuddenly dilappeared, others that he died upon that coafl: ; but, how- 
 ever it might be, 9iuetzalcoatl was confecrated as a god by the Tol- 
 tccas of Chohilan, and made chief guardian of their citv, in the cen- 
 ter of which, in honour of him, they railed a great eminence and built 
 a fanfftuary upon it. Another eminence with a temple, was after- 
 wards eredted to him in Tula. From Cliolula his worlhip was pro- 
 pagated over all that country, where he was adored as the god of tlie 
 air. He had temples in Mexico, and elfewhere; and Ibme nation^, 
 even enemies of the Cbolulans, had, in the city of Cholula, tc.aples 
 and prielis dedicated to his worlliip; and people came from all coun,- 
 tiies thither, to pay their devotions and to fulfil their vows., I'he 
 CholuUms preferved with the higheft veneration fome,l\iia|l grce^i 
 ftones, very well cut, which they liiid had belonged, jtq hi'», .iliie 
 ppf.nV- of Yin ;itiii boafled that their nobles were d<.i-:cnd' d lem h > >-.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Barren women offered up their prayers to him in order to become 
 fruitful. His feftivals were great and extraordinary, efpecially in Cho- 
 lula, in the 'Teoxilmiti, or divine year ■■, and were preceded by a fevere 
 faft of eighty days, and by dreadful aufterities pradlifed by the priefls 
 confecraied to his worfliip. Quetzalcoatl, they faid, cleared the way 
 for the god of water ; becaufe in thefe countries rain is generally pre- 
 ceded by wind. 
 
 Dr. Siguenza imagined that the ^ctzalcoatl, deified by thofe people, 
 was no other than the apolfle St. Thomas, who announced to them the 
 Gofpel. He fupported that opinion with great learning, in a work (/6), 
 which, with many other of his ineftimable writings, has been unfortu- 
 nately loft by the negledt of his heirs. In that work he inftituted a 
 comparifon betwixt the names of Didymos and ^letzalcoatl [i), their 
 drefs, their dodtrine, and their prophecies ; and examined the places 
 through which they went, the traces which they left, and the mira- 
 cles which their refpeólive difciples related. As we have never ictu. 
 the manufcript above mentioned, we fliall avoid criticiling an opinion 
 to which we cannot fubfcribe, notwithftanding the refpedl which we 
 bear for the great genius and extenfive learning of the author. 
 
 Some Mexican writers are perfuaded that the Gofpel had been 
 preached in America fome centuries before the arrival of the Spaniards. 
 The grounds of that opinion are fome crolTes [k) which have been 
 
 found 
 
 [h) This work of Siguenza is mentioned by Betancourt, in his Mexican Theatre ; and by 
 Dr. Eguiera, in his Mexican Bibliotheca. 
 
 (/■) Betancourt obferves, when he is comparing- together the names of Dii!ymos and S^uct- 
 zakoatl, that the latter is compofed oi Coati a twin, and .'Iluetzalli a gem ; and that it fignifies 
 a Precious Twin. But Torquemada, who perieètly underllood the Mexican hmguage, and 
 had thofe names interpreted to him by the ancient peopl'', fays that Quetzalcoatl means, fer- 
 pcnt furniflied with feathers. In faft, Coati does perfecfbly fignify Jerfient, and i^ietzalli, ^recn- 
 feather, and have been applied to t-M» and gem, only metaphorically. 
 
 (i) The crofTes the moft celebrated are thofe of Yucatan, of Mizteca, Queretaro, Tepique, 
 and Tianquiztepec. f hofe of Yucatan are mentioned by Father Cogolludo, a Francifcan, in 
 his Hidory, book ii. chap 12. The crofs of .vizteca is taken notice of by Boturini in his 
 work, and in the chronicle of Father Burgoa, a Dominican. There is an account of the crofs 
 pf Queretaro, written by a Francifcan of the college of Propaganda in that city ; and of that 
 of Tepique by the learned Jefuit Sigifmund Tanibal, whofe manufcripts are preferred in the 
 Jefuit college of Guadalajora. That of Tianquiztepec was difcovered by Boturini, and 
 is mentioned in his work. The croffes of Yucatan were worfliippcd by the Yucatanefc, in 
 obedience, as they fiid, to the infiru(^ions of their great prophet Chilam-Camhal, who defired 
 th.it when a certain race of men with beards fiiould arrive in that country from the Eaft, and 
 
 iliould
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 25» 
 
 found at different times, which feem to have been made before the ar- BOOK vi. 
 rival of the Spaniards : the faft of forty days obferved by the people of ^ 
 
 the new world (I), the tradition of the future arrival of a ftrange peo- 
 ple, with beards, and the prints of human feet impreffed upon fome 
 ftones, which are fuppofed to be the footftcps of the apoftle St. Tho- 
 mas (n). We never could reconcile ourfelves to this opinion ; but the 
 examination of fuch monuments and remrans, would require a work of 
 a ve ry different kin^i from that which we have undertaken. 
 
 Tlaloc, otherwife Tlalocatcu&ii (mafter of paradife), was the god of 
 water. They called him fertilizer of the earth, and protetìor of their 
 temporal goods. They believed he refided upon the highefl: moun- 
 tains, where the clouds are generally formed, fuch as thofe of Tlaloc, 
 Tlafcala, and Toluca ; whither they often went to implore his pro- 
 te(flion . 
 
 The native hiftorians relate, that the Acolhuas having arrived in that Sect. v. 
 country in the time of Xolotl, the firft Chechemecan king, found at the mountains, 
 top of the mountain of Tlaloc, an ima^e of that god, made of a white and **'*'?' '"•'^^I. 
 
 X ' O £> ' earth, "ignt, 
 
 very light ftone, in the fliape of a man fitting upon a fquare ftone, with and hell, 
 a veffel before him, in which was fome elaftic gum, and a variety of 
 feeds. This was their yearly offering, by way of rendering up their 
 thanks after having had a fiu'ourable harveft. That image was 
 reckoned the oldeft in that country ; for it had been placed upon that 
 hill by the ancient Toltecas, and remained till the end of the XVth 
 or beginning of the XVIth century, when Nezahualpilli, king of Acol- 
 huacan, in order to gain the favour of his fuhjeds, carried it away, and 
 placed another in its ftead, of a very hard black ftone. The new image, 
 however, being defaced by lightning, and the priefts declaring it to be 
 a punifhment from heaven, the ancient ftatue was reftored, and there 
 
 ihould be fecn to adore that fign, they flioiild embrace the doflrinc of thofe Grangers. We 
 (hall have an opportuniiy of fpcaking more particularly conccrnini; thcfe monuments, in the 
 Rcdefiafticaì llijtor'i of Mexico, if Heaven vouchfafe to favour ourdclign. 
 
 {Ì) The fuft of forty days proves nothing, as rliolc nations likewife obferved fads of three, 
 four, five, twenty, eighty, a hundred and lixty days, and even of four years ; nor was that of 
 forty days, by any means the moft common. 
 
 (h) Not only the maiks of human feet have been found printed or ratlier cut out in ftoncs, 
 but thofe likcvvifc of animals have been found, without our being able to form any conjevlure 
 of the purpofe had in view by thofe who hnve taken the trouble to cut them. 
 
 K k 2 continued
 
 252 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VI, continued to be preferved and worfhipped, until the promulgation of 
 the Gofpel, when it was thrown down and broken by the order of the 
 iirft bifhop of Mexico. 
 
 The ancients alfo believed that in all the high mountains there re- 
 fided other gods, fubaltern to Tlaloc. They all went under the fame 
 name, and were revered, not only as gods of water, but alfo as the gods 
 of mountains. The image of 'Tlaloc was painted blue and green, to 
 exprefs the different colours that are obferved in water. He held in 
 his hand a rod of gold, of an undulated and pointed form, by which 
 they intended to denote the lightning. He had a temple in Mexico, 
 .within the inclofure of the greater temple, and the Mexicans celebrated 
 feveral feftivals in honour to him every year. 
 
 . Chalchiuhcueje, otherwife Chalchihiiitlicue, the goddefs of water, 
 and companion of Tlaloc. She was known by fome other very ex- 
 preflive names (oj, which either lignify the effefts which water pro- 
 duces, or the different appearances and colours which it alTumes in 
 motion. The Tlafcalans called her Matlalcueje, that is, clothed in a 
 green robe ; and they gave the fame name to the highefl mountain of 
 Tlafcala, on whofe fummit are formed thofe ftormy cloLids which ge- 
 nerally burft over the city of Angelopoli. To that fummit the Tlaf- 
 calans afcended to perform their lacrifices, and offer up their prayers. 
 This is the very fame goddefs of water, to which Torquemada gives 
 the name of Xochiqiietzal, and the Cav. Boturini that of Macuilxochi- 
 quetzalll. 
 
 Xiuhteudlli (mafter of the year and of the grafs), was among thefe 
 nations the god of fire, to whom they likewife gave the name of Ixco- 
 •zauhqid, which expreffes the colour of fire. This god was greatly re- 
 vered in the Mexican empire. At their dinner they made an offering 
 to him of the firfl morfei of their food, and the fìrfì: draught of their 
 beverage, by throwing both into the fire ; and burned incenfe to him 
 at certain times of the day. In honour of him they held two fixed 
 feftivals of the mofl folemn kindi one in the tenth, and another in the 
 eighteenth month ; and one moveable feaft at whicfa they created the 
 
 (») Apo%onailotl and Acuecuejotl exprefs the fwelling and fluiftuation of water : Atlacamanz, 
 ftorms excited on it : Ahuk and Aiati/>, its motions fomeiimes to one fide and fometimes to an- 
 other ; XixiquipiUhiii, the alternate rifing and falling of the waves, &c. 
 
 ufuai
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 253 
 
 ufual maglflrates, and renewed the ceremony of the inveftlture of the BOOK vi. 
 fiefs of the kingdom. He had a temple in Mexico, and fome other 
 palaces. 
 
 Centeotl, goddefs of the earth and of corn, called likewife. Tona- 
 cajohua (pj, that is, llie who fiipports us. She had five temples in 
 Mexico, and three feflivals were held on her account, in the third, 
 eighth, and eleventh months : (lie was particularly revered and honour- 
 ed by the Totonacas, v/ho efleemed her to be their chief protedtrefs ; 
 and eredted to her, upon the top of a high mountain, a temple, where 
 Ihe was ferved by a great number of prlefts folely devoted to her wor- 
 ihip, and adored by the whole nation. They had an extraordinary 
 love for her, being perfuaded that flie did not require human vidtims, 
 but was contented with the facrifice of doves, quails, leverets, and 
 fuch animals, which they offered up to her in great numbers. They 
 exped:ed fhe was at lail to deliver them from the cruel flaveiy they 
 were under to the other gods, who conftrained them to ficrifice fo 
 many human creatures. The Mexicans entertained very different kn- 
 timents of her fhedding a great deal of human blood at her feftivals. 
 In the above mentioned temple of the Totonacas, was one of the mofl 
 renowned oracles of the country. 
 
 Midlanteudtli, the god of hell, and MiEllancihuatl his female com- 
 panion, were much honoured by the Mexicans. Thefe deities were 
 imagined to dwell in a place of great darknefs in the bowels of the earth. 
 They had a temple in Mexico, in which they held a feflival in the 
 eighteenth month. Sacrifices and offerings were made to them by 
 night, and the chief minifter of their uorfliip was a priefl called Tlil- 
 hintlcnamacac, who was always died of a black colour, in order to 
 perform the functions of his prieflhood. 
 
 Joalteudtli, the god of night, who feems to us to have been the 
 fame with Meztli or the moon. Some think him the fame with Tona- 
 tiuh, or the fun, while others imagine him to have been quite a diftindt 
 deity. They recommended their children to this god, to give them 
 fleep. 
 
 (p) They gave her likewife the names of Tziittcoil (original goddefs), Xiloatn, Ixtacaceuteotl 
 and Tlailauhtjuicenieoil, changing her name according to the different llatcs of the grain in 
 the progrcfs of its growth. 
 
 Joalticitl
 
 =54- 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK Vf. Joalticltl (nightly phyfician), goddefs of cradles ; to whom they like- 
 
 ' ' ^ wife recommended their children to be taken care of, particularly in 
 
 the ni'j^ht time. 
 Sect. VI. Huitzilopochtli, or Mexitli, was the god of war ; the deity the moil 
 1 he gods honoured by the Mexicans, and their chief protedtor (qj. Of this god 
 fome faid he was a pure fpirit, others that he was born of a woman, 
 but without the affiftance of a man, and defcribed his birth in the fol- 
 lowing manner. There lived, faid they, in Coatepec, a place near to 
 the ancient city of Tula, a woman called Coathcue, mother of the 
 Ceut-zonhuhnahu'ts , who was extremely devoted to the worfhip of the 
 gods. One day as flie was employed, according to her ufual cuftom, 
 in walking in the temple, flie beheld defcending in the air, a ball made 
 of various feathers. She feized it and kept it in her bofom, intending 
 afterwards to employ the feathers in decoration of the altar ; but when 
 file wanted it after her walk was at an end, fhe could not find it, at 
 which flie was extremely furprifed, and her wonder was very greatly 
 increafed when flie began to perceive from that moment that flie was 
 pregnant. Her pregnancy advanced till it was dilcovered by her chil- 
 dren, who, although they could not themfelves fufped: their mother's 
 virtue, yet fearing the difgrace flie would fufFer upon her delivery, de- 
 termined to prevent it by putting her to death. They could not take 
 their refolution fo fecretly as to conceal it from their mother, who 
 while flie was in deep afiiiiftion at the thoughts of dying by the hands 
 of her own children, heard an unexpected voice ifTue from her womb, 
 fiiying, " Be not afraid mother, for I fhall fave you with the greatefl 
 honour to yourfelf, and glory to me." Her hard-hearted fons, guid- 
 ed and encouraged by their lifter Cojolxauhqui, who had been the moft 
 keenly bent upon the deed, were nowjuft upon the point of executing 
 their purpofe, when Huitzilopochtli was born, with a fliield in his 
 
 {q) HuimiopochtU is a compound of two words, viz. Huitzili?i, the humming bird, and 
 OfochtU, left. It was fo called from his image having the feathers of the little bird upon its 
 left foot. Boturini knowing little of the Mexican language, derives the name from Huitxhon 
 the leader of the Mexicans in their pilgrimage, and takes this leader and the god to have been 
 the fame perfon. Bcfidcs that fuch an etymology is over-ftrained, that pretended identity is 
 quite unknown to the Mexicans themfelves, who when they began their pilgrimage under the 
 conduft of Huitziton, had long before, from time immemorial, uorfliipped the god of war : 
 the Spaniards being unable to pronounce the word, called him Huietilcbes, 
 
 left 
 
 I
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O 255 
 
 left hand, a fpear in his right, and a creft of green feathers on his head ; b OOK vr. 
 his left leg aderned with feathers, and his face, arms, and thighs ' 
 
 llreakcd with blue lines. As foon as he came into the world he dif- 
 played a twilled pine, and commanded one of his foldiers called T^o~ 
 chancalqui, to fell with it Cojolxauhqui, as the one who had been the 
 moft guilty ; and he himfelf attacked the reft with fo much fury that, 
 in I'pite of their eftbrts, their arms, or their intreaties, he killed them all, 
 plundered their houfes, and prefented the fpoils to his mother. Man- 
 kind were fo terrified by this event, that from that time they called 
 him Tetzahultl, terror, and Tetzauhteotl, terrible god. 
 
 This was the god who, as they laid, becoming the protedlor of the 
 Mexicans, condudled them for fo many years in their pilgrimage, and 
 at length fettled them where they afterwards founded the great city of 
 Mexico. There they railed to him that fuperb temple fo much cele- 
 brated even by the Spaniards, in which were annually holden three 
 folemn feftivals in the fifth, ninth, and fifteenth months ; befides thofe 
 kept every four years, every thirteen years, and at the beginning of 
 every century. His llatue was of gigantic fize, in the pofture of a 
 man feated on a blue-coloured bench, from the four corners of which 
 ilfued four huge fnakes. His forehead was blue, but his face was co- 
 vered with a golden malk, while another of the fame kind covered the 
 back of his head. Upon his head he carried a beautiful creft, Ihaped 
 like the beak of a bird ; upon his neck a collar confifting of ton figures 
 of the human heart ; in his right hand, a large, blue, twilled club ; 
 in his left, a Ihield, on which appeared five balls of feathers difpofed 
 in the form of a crofs, and from the upper part of the fhield role a 
 golden flag with four arrows, which the Mexicans pretended to have 
 been lent to them from heaven to perform thofe glorious aólions which 
 we have feen in their hiftory. His body was girt with a large golden 
 fnake, and adorned with various lelfer figures of animals made of gold 
 and precious ftones, which ornaments and infignia had each their po- 
 culiar meaning. They never deliberated upon ma.king war without 
 imploring the protedion of this god, with prayers and facrihces ; and 
 eftered up a greater number of human vidlims to him than to any other 
 
 of the gods. 
 
 Tlaoa-
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Tlacahuepancuexcotzin, likewife a god of war, the younger brother 
 and companion of Iluitzilopochtli. His image was worfliipped along 
 with his brother's, in the chief fanftuary of Mexico ; but no where 
 with greater devotion than at the court of Tezcuco. 
 
 Painalton (fwift or hurried), a god of war, and Heutenant of Huit- 
 zilopochtli. As they invoked the latter in thofe wars which were un- 
 dertaken after ferious deliberation, fo they called upoii Painalton upon 
 fudden occafions, fuch as an unexpected attack of the enemy. Then 
 the priefts ran about the city v/ith the image of the god, which was 
 worfliipped together with thofe of the other gods of war, calling upon . 
 him with loud cries, and making faerifices to him of quails, and other 
 animals. All the men of war were then obliged to run to arms. 
 SicT. vn. Jacateuftli (the lord who guides), the god of commerce frj, for 
 The gods o .^yj^Q,^-, the merchants celebrated two ereat annual feftivals in his tem- 
 
 commeice, o 
 
 hunting, fidi- pie at Mcxico ; one in the ninth, and another in the feventeenth month, 
 ^' ' * with many facrifices of human vidims, and fuperb repafts. 
 
 Mixcoatl, the goddefs of hunting, and the principal deit\' of the 
 Otomies, who, living among the mountains, were for the moft part 
 hunterf. The Matlatzincas likewife worlhipped her with peculiar re- 
 verence. She had two temples in Mexico, and in one of them called 
 'Teotlalpan, was held a great kflival with numerous facrifices of the 
 wild animals, in the fourteenth month. 
 
 Opochtli, the god of filliing. He was believed to be the inventor 
 of nets and other inftruments of filhing, whence he v.-as particularly, 
 revered by filhermen, as their protector. In Cuitlahuac, a city upon a 
 little idand in the lake of Chalco, there was a god of fifliing highly 
 honoured, named Amimitl, who probably differed from Opochtli no 
 otherwife than in name. 
 
 Huixtocihuatl, the goddefs of lalt, was worfliipped by the Mexicans 
 upon account of the iiilt works which they had at a little diftance from 
 the capital. A feaii: was celebrated to her in the feventh month. 
 
 Tzapotlatenan, the goddefs of phyfic. She was fuppofed to have 
 been the inventrefs of the oil called OxitI, and other moft ufeful drugs. 
 She was yearly honoured with the facrifice of human vidtims, and with 
 particular hymns compofed in her praife. . , 
 
 {t) jacatcui'ili '.v:i5 nlfo called Xiacateu.^l: nn 1 Jaa-coiiuhjHt. 
 
 Tczc.it-
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 257 
 
 Texcatzcncatl, the jjod of wine: known lilcesvifs bv other names BOOK Vi. 
 fs), from the elFedls produced by wine. He had a temple in Mexico, 
 In which four hundred priefts were confecrated to his worfliip, and 
 where for him, and the other gods his companions, a yearly feaft was 
 held in the thirteenth month. 
 
 Ixtlilton (the black-ficed) feems to have been a god of phyfic ; for 
 they ufed to bring fick children to his temple, to be cured. Their fa- 
 thers brought them, and diótating to them the prayers with which 
 they were to alk for health, made them dance before the image; and 
 then gave them a water to drink which had been blelTed by the priefts 
 confecrated to the god. 
 
 Coatlicue, or Coatlantona, was the goddefs of flowers. She had a 
 temple in Mexico called Jopico, where a feftival was celebrated to her 
 by the Xocijivianqni , or compofers of nofegays of flowers, in tlie third 
 month which falls in fpring. They prefented her among other things 
 with beautiful braids of flowers. We do not know whether this god- 
 defs was the fame with the mother of Huitzilopochtli. 
 
 Tlazolteotl was the god whom the Mexicans invoked to obtain par- 
 don of their fins, and to be freed from the difgrace to which the guilty 
 are expofed. The principal devotees of this falfe deity were luilful 
 men, who courted his proteftion with ficrifices and with offerings (/). 
 
 Xipe is the name given by hilforians to the god of the goldfmiths, 
 {lì) who was greatly revered among the Mexicans. They were per- 
 fuaded that all thofe who neglected his v/orfliip, would be puniflied 
 with difeafes, particularly with the itch, boils, and fevere pains in the 
 eyes and the head. They took care, therefore, to diftinguiHi them- 
 felves by the cruelty of their facrifices, which were made at a feftival 
 ufually celebrated in the fecond month. 
 
 Nappateuttli (four times lord) was the god of the mat- weavers. 
 He was faid to be a benign god, eafy to pardon injuries, and generous 
 
 (j) Such ?s Tequtchmecaniani the (Iranglcr, and Teatiahulani the tltowner. 
 
 (/) Bolurhii alTcrts, that Tlazolteotl was the immodcrt and Hcbci;m goddefs ; and it/rfr»;7- 
 xoi.hiiiutfz.aUi, the Venus Pronuba. But the Mexicans never attributed to their gods thofc 
 ftinmcful irregularities, which the Greeks and Romans imputed to theirs. 
 
 (ft) Xipc has no meaning; fo that I imagine the Spanili» wr'ters not knowing the Mexican 
 name of this god, applied to him the two firft fyllables of the name of his fcaft Xipehualitztli. 
 
 Vol. I. L 1 to-
 
 258 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK VI. towards all. He had two teniples in Mexico, where a feftival was 
 held in the thirteenth month. 
 
 Omacatl was the god of mirth. Upon occafion of any public re- 
 joicing, or any great feaft of the Mexican lords, they imagined they 
 would certainly meet with fome difafter if they negleiled to bring the 
 image of this god from the temple and fet it up at the feaft. 
 
 Tonantzin (our mother) I take to be the fame with the goddefs 
 Centeotl, whom w^e have mentioned before. She had a temple upon 
 a mountain, about three miles from Mexico towards the north, whither 
 the nations came in crowds to worlhip her, with a wonderful number 
 of facrifices. At the foot of that hill is now the moft famous lanc- 
 tuary in the new world, dedicated to the true God ; where people from 
 the moft remote countries afl'emble to worlhip the celebrated and truly 
 miraculous image. of the moft Holy Lady of Giiadaloupe ; thus convert- 
 ing a place of abomination into a mercy-feat, where religion has diftri- 
 buted its favours, for the benefit of thofe nations, in the place that has 
 been ftained with the blood of fo many of their anceftors. 
 
 Teteoinan was the mother of the gods, which the word itfelf fig- 
 uifies. As the Mexicans called themfelves the children of the gods, 
 they gave to this goddefs the name likewife of T'ockzin, that is, our 
 grand-mother. I have already fpoken of the origin and deification of 
 this pretended motlier of the gods in the fecond book, where I gave 
 an account of the tragical death of the princefs of Colhuacan. This 
 goddefs had a temple in Mexico, where a moft folemn feaft was held 
 in the eleventh month. She was particularly adored by the Tlafca- 
 lans J and mid wives worfhipped her as their proteftrefs. Almoft all 
 the Spanifh writers confound her with Tonantzin, but they are cer- 
 tainly different. 
 
 Ilamateudlli, for whom the Mexicans had a feaft upon the third day 
 of' the feventeenth month, feems to have been the goddei's of age. Her 
 name means nothing more than Old Lady. 
 
 Tepitoton (little ones), was the name given by the Mexicans to 
 their penates, or houftiold gods, and the images that reprefented them. 
 Of thefe little images, the kings and great lords had always fix in their 
 houfes, the nobles four, and the lower people two. They were to be 
 {ttn every where in the public ftreets. 
 
 Befides
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 259 
 
 Befides thefc gods which were the moft confiderable, and foine others BOOK vi. 
 which we omit, tliat we may not tii-e the reader, there were two hun- ^ ' 
 
 dred and lixty, to whicli as many days were confecrated. Thole days 
 take their names from them, and are thofe we find in the firft thirteen 
 months of their calendar. 
 
 The Mexican gods were generally the flime with thofc of the other 
 nations of Anahuac j differing only in their greater or lefs celebrity, 
 in feme of their rites, and fometimes in their names. The god the 
 molt celebrated in Mexico was Hiiitzihpochtli; in Cholula and Huexot- 
 zinco, Sluet%alcoatl ; among the Totonacas, Centeotl ; and among 
 the Otomies, Mixcoatl. The Tlafcalans, although the conftant ene- 
 mies of the Mexicans, adored the fame gods ; and even their moO: fa- 
 voured deity was the very Huitilopochtli of the Mexicans, but under 
 the name of Camaxtk. The people of Tezcuco, as allies, friends, and 
 neighbours, conformed almoft entirely with the Mexicans. 
 
 The number of the images by which thole falle gods were repre- Sect. x\\\. 
 fented, and worlliipped in the temples, the houles, the ftreets, and and'^thc'^i''' 
 the woods, vvere inlinite. Zumarraga, firft bifliop of Mexico, aliirms, ne'ofwor- 
 that the Francifcans had, in the courfe of eight years, broken more than gods.. 
 twenty thoufmd idols ; but that number is trifling compared to thofc 
 of the capital Oiily. They were generally made of clay, and certain 
 kinds of (lone and wood ; but fometimes too of gold and other metals : 
 and there were lome of gems. In a high niountain of Achiauhtla, in 
 Mizteca, Bcnedidt Fernandez, a celebrated Dominican miliionary, found 
 a little idol called by the Miztecas the heart of the people. It was 
 a very precious emerald, four inches long and two inches broad, upon 
 which was engraved the figure of a bird, and round it that of a little 
 fnake. The Spaniards offered fifteen hundred fequins for it j but the 
 zealous milTionary before all the people, and with great folemnity re- 
 duced it to powder. The moft extraordinaiy idol of the Mexicans was 
 that of Huitzilopochtli, which was made of certain feeds pafled to- 
 gether with human blood. Almoft all their idols were coarfe and hi- 
 tleous from the fantaftical parts of which they were cqmpofed in order 
 to reprcfent their attributes and employmeiits. 
 
 The divinity of thole falfe gods were acknowledged by praycis, 
 kneeling and proftrations, v.'ith vows, fafts, and otlier aufterities, 
 
 L 1 2 v.iih 
 
 lliippingtùtii
 
 200 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK VI. with facrlfices and ofFerings, and various rites, fome common to other 
 nations, and others pecuhar to the Mexican rehgion alone. They prayed 
 generally upon their knees, with their faces turned towards the eaft, and 
 therefore made their lanftuaries with the door to the weft. They 
 made vows for their children as well as for themfelves, and frequently 
 dedicated them to the fervice of their gods in fome temple or monaf- 
 teiy. Thofe v/ho happened to be in danger from ftumbling or flipping» 
 upon a journey, made vows to vifit the temple of the god Omacatl, and 
 to offer up incenfe and paper. They made frequent ufe of the name of 
 God to confirm the trufh ; and their oaths were in this form ; Cuix 
 à mo iiechitta in 'Toteot%in ? Does not our god fee me now ? Then 
 naming the principal god, or any other they particularly reverenced, 
 they kilfed their hand, after having touched the earth with it. Great 
 faith was put in oaths of this kind by way of purgation when any one 
 was accufed of a crime ; for they thought no man could be fo rafli as 
 to venture to abufe the name of God, at the evident rifk of being 
 mofl feverely puniflied by heaven. 
 
 Metamorphofes, or transformations, were not wanting to the mytho- 
 logy of the Mexicans. Among others they related one of a man 
 named "Jappan, who having undertaken to do penance upon a moun- 
 tain, yielded to the temptations of a woman, and fell into the lin of 
 adultery. He was immediately beheaded by yaotl, to whom the gods 
 had given the charge of watching over his condutft, and by the gods 
 themfelves was transformed into a black fcorpion. Jaotl, not latisfied 
 with that punilhment, executed it likev/ife upon 'Tlahiiit%in, the wife 
 of Jappan, who was transformed into a white fcorpion, while Jaotl 
 himfelf, for having exceeded the bounds of his commifiion, was turned 
 into a locuft. They faid it was from the fhame of that crime that fcor- 
 pions fhun the light, and hide themfelves under flones. 
 
 The Mexicans, and other nations of Anahuac, like all civilized na- 
 tions, had temples or places allotted for the purpofes of religion, where 
 the people alTembled to worfliip their gods, and implore their protec- 
 tion. They called the temple ^cocalli, that is, the houfe of god, and 
 T'eopan, the place of God ; which names they applied with greater 
 propriety to the temples erecfled in honour of the true God, after they 
 embraced Chriltianity. 
 
 The 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 Their traiil- 
 formations. 
 
 Sect. X. 
 The greater 
 temple of 
 Mexico.
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 261 
 
 The city and kingdom of Mexico began with the building of the book vi. 
 lànótuary of Huitzilopochth or Mexitlì, whence it has derived its name. 
 That editice was then a miferable hut. Itzcoatl, the firft king and 
 conqueror of that nation, after the taking of Azcapozalco, enlarged it. 
 Montezuma I. his fucceflbr, built a new temple, which had fomc 
 fhew of magnificence ; and, at length Ahuitzotl railed and dedicated 
 that immenfc temple which his predecefTor Tizoc had planned. This 
 was the temple which the Spaniards celebrated fo highly after they had 
 dellroyed it. It were to be wirtied that their accuracy in dcfcribing 
 its dimenfions had been but equal to their zeal in deftroying that fu- 
 perb monument of fuperllition : but fuch is the variety of iheir ac- 
 counts, that, after having laboured to reconcile them, I have found it 
 impofiible to afcertain its proportions ; nor fliould I ever have been 
 able to form an idea of the architeóture of that temple \fithout the fi- 
 gure prefented to us by the Anonymous Conqueror ; a copy of which I 
 have here fubjoined, although I have paid lefs regard in it to his deli- 
 neation than his defcription. I fhall mention therefore all that I think 
 may be depended upon, after a very tedious comparifon of the defcrip- 
 tions given by four eye-witnefies, and negled: what I have been unable 
 to extricate froai the confufion of different authors (.v). 
 
 (.v) The four eye-witnclTcs whofc defciiptions we have conncifled together are the conqueror 
 Cortes, Bernal Diaz, the Anonymous Conqueror, and Sahagun. The three firil lived for fe- 
 deral months in the palace of king Axajacatl, near the temple, and therefore faw it every day. 
 Sahatjun, although he never faw it cniirc, yet faw fome part of it, and could difcover what 
 ground il had occupied. Gomara, who did not himfelf fee the temple, nor ever was in Mexi- 
 co, received the different accounts of it from the conquerors thcmfelvcs who faw it. Acofln, 
 whofc defcription has been copied by Hcrrera and Solis, inllead of the gieat temple defcribes 
 one pcrftdily different. This author, although in other refpc(fls deferring of credit, was not 
 in Mexico till fixty years after the conquefl, when there were no remains of the temple. 
 
 In a Dutch edition of Solis, was given an incorrect print of the great temple, which was af- 
 terwards giccn hy the aiithors of the General Hiftoy\ of f^oya^es, and is fiill to be met with in 
 an edition of the conqueror Cortes's Letters, publiflied at !Mexico in 1-70 : but the cartleff- 
 ncfs of the editors of that edition will appear from comparing the print in it with Cortes's own 
 defcription. He fays, in his firft letter, though fomcvvhat hypcrbolically, that the great tciii- 
 plc of Mexico was higher than the tower of the cathedral church of Seville, while in the 
 print mentioned it fcarcely appears to he feven or eight perches or toifcs. Cortes declare»! 
 that five hundred Mexican nobles fortified themfelve, in the upjier area, whereas that fpacc as 
 reprcfcnted in the print could not contain more than feventy or eighty men. Lafìly, omitting 
 maiiv other contradictions, Cortes fays, that the temple confided of three or four bodies, and 
 that each body had, as he defcribes it, its corridorcs or balconies ; yet in the print it is rcpre- 
 frnied as coufilUng of one body only, without any of ihofc corridores at all. 
 
 This
 
 202 II I S T O P. Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VI. This great temple occupied the centre of the city, and, together 
 with the other temples and buildings annexed to it, comprehended all 
 that iDJce upon which the great cathedral church now flands, part of 
 the greater market-place, and part likewife of the ftreets and buildings 
 around. Within the inclofure of the wall which encompaffed it in a 
 fquare form, the conqueror Cortes affirms that a town of five hundred 
 houfes might have ftood {y). The wall, built of ftone and lime, was 
 very thick, eight feet high, crowned with battlements, in the form of 
 niches, and ornamented with many ftone figures in the fliape of ferpents, 
 whence it obtained the name of CoatepantH, or the wall of ferpents. 
 It had four gates to the four cardinal points : the eaflern gate looked 
 to a broad ftrcet which led to the lake of Tezcuco : the reft corref- 
 ponded to the tliree principal ftreets of the city, the broadeft and the 
 ftraightelf, which formed a continuation with thofe built upon the lake 
 that led to Iztapalapan, to Tacuba, and to Tepejacac. Over each 
 of the four gates was an arfenal filled with a vaft quantity of ofFenfive 
 and defenfive weapons, where tlie troops went when it was neceflary, 
 to be fupplied with arms. The fpace within the walls was curioufly 
 paved with fuch fmooth and polillied ftones that the horfes of the Spa- 
 niards could not move upon them without flipping and tum.bling down. 
 in the middle was raifed an immenfe folid building of greater length 
 than breadth (:•), covered with fquare equal pieces of pavement. The 
 building confuted of five bodies nearly equal in height, but differing 
 in length and breadth ; the higheft being narroweft. The firft body, or 
 bafis of the building, was more than fifty perches long from eaft to 
 weft, and about forty-three in breadth, from north to fouth (<;.'). The 
 
 fecond 
 
 ( y) The Anonymous Conqueror fays, that what was within the wall was like a c'tv. Gc- 
 Riara affirms, that the wall was a very long bowfliot in lengih upon every fide. Torqueinada, 
 although agreeing with Gomara in book viii. chap. 2. fays afterwards In ch. xix. that the cir- 
 cumference of the wall was above three thoufand paces, which is plainly a miflakc. Dr. Her- 
 nandez., in his prolix dcfcription of the temple, preferred in manufcript in the library of the 
 Efcurial, and which Father Niercmberg has made ufe of in his Natural Hiliory, allows to ihe 
 the wall, of every fide, two hiindred Toledan cubits, which is about cightv-fix perches. 
 
 (a) Sahagun makes the temple perfeflly fquare, but the Anon\mous Conqueror, both in 
 the defcriprion and in the figure which he has left us, reprefents it to have been of greater 
 length than breadth, like thofe of Teotihuacan which fcrvcd as models for all the reft. 
 
 (a) Sahagun ;^ivcs to the iirrt bodv upon every fide three hundred and fix'y Toledan feet, 
 and that is the nieafure cf its length. Gomara gives it fifty brazas, which is the nieafure <:f 
 its breadth. Thicc hundred and fixty Toledan feet make three hundred and eight Pariiian, or 
 
 a lit-
 
 /'/ n 
 
 ì'ol.I.Paof ifia 
 
 , /Af a/'fit/i/- >' // //i/i/r // '//l/.rft'r.
 
 .1. 
 
 i
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 26 
 
 fecond body was about a perch lefs in length and breadth than the BOOK 
 filli ; the third as much Icfs than the Iccond ; and the reft in pro- 
 portion, fo that upon each body there remained a free fpace or plain 
 which would allow three, or even four men abreaft to walk round the 
 next body. 
 
 The flairs, which were upon the fouth-fide, were made of large 
 well formed floncs, and confilled of a hundred and fourteen Heps, each 
 a foot high. They were not, however, one iingle flair-cafe continued 
 all the way, as they have been reprefented by the authors of the Gene- 
 rerai Pliflory of Travels, and the Publlihers of Cortes's Letters, in 
 Mexico ; but were divided into as many feparate flair-cafes as there 
 were bodies of the building in the manner fhewn in our plate ; io that 
 after getting to the top of the firft flair-cafe, one could not mount 
 the fecond, without going along the firft plain round the fecond ; nor 
 the third, without going along the fecond plain, and fo of the reft. 
 This will be better underftood by confulting the plate, which is copied 
 from that of the Anonymous Conqueror {l>), but corrected as to the di- 
 menfions, from that author's own defcription, and other hiftorians. 
 
 Upon the fifth body was a plain, which we ftiall call the upper area, 
 which was about forty three perches long (c), and thirty-four broad, 
 and was as well paved as the great area below. At the eaftern extre- 
 mity of this plain were railed two towers to the height of fifty-fix 
 feet, or nearly nine perches. Each was divided into three bodies, of 
 which the lower was of ftone and lime, and the other two of wood 
 very well wrought and painted. The inferior body or bafis of each were 
 properly the fandtuaries, where, upon an altar of ftone, five feet high, were 
 placed their tutelary idols. One of thefe two fandluaries was confe- 
 
 a little more than fifty perches. Fifty brazas, or eJlaJos make two hundred and fifty-fcveu 
 Parifmn feet, or about forty-two perches. 
 
 (h) A copy of the drawing of the temple made by the Anonymous Conqueror, is to be 
 found in the colleétjon of Jo. Ramulio ; and another in Father Kircher's work, entitled, OcJl- 
 fui uSgyftiaciu. 
 
 (r) Sahagun, whofe meafures have been adopted by Torquemada, allows no more than fe- 
 ■vcnty Tolediin feet fquare, which is about ten perches, to the upper area ; but it is impoffiblc 
 that five hundred McNican nobles, as Cortes aflcrts, could have flood to fight aoainll the Spa- 
 niards, in fuch a narrow fpace ; efpecially if we believe Bernard Diar,, who fays, that four 
 thoufand Mexicans fortified thcmfclves in that temple, and that numbers hud got up before 
 the nobles afcendcd. 
 
 crated 
 
 3
 
 204 II I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK IV. crated to Huitzilopochtli, and the gods of war ; and the other to Tez- 
 catlipoca. The other bodies were deflined to the keeping of fome things 
 belonging to the worlhip, and the aflies of fome kings and lords v/ho, 
 through particular devotion, deiired that to be done. The doors of 
 both fanétuaries were towards the weft, and both the towers terminat- 
 ed in a very beautiful wooden cupola. There is no author who has 
 defcribed the internal difpolition and ornaments of the fantìuaries ; nor 
 indeed the fize of the towers ; fo that what is reprefented in our plate 
 is only delineated from conjefture. I believe, however, we may ven- 
 ture to fay without danger of miftake, that the height of the building 
 witliout the towers, was not lefs than nineteen perches, and with the 
 towers exceeded twenty-eight. From that height one might fee the 
 lake, the cities around, and a great part of the valley ; and it has been 
 affirmed by eye-witneffes to be the fineft profpedt in the world. 
 
 In the upper area was the altar for the common facrifices, and in 
 the lower that for the gladiatorial. Before the two fanóluaries were 
 two ftone iloves of the height of a man, and of the fliape of our holy 
 pyx, in which they preferved a conftant fire, night and day, with the 
 utmort care ; fearing that if ever it went out, they fliould fufFer the 
 moft dreadful punifliment from heaven. In the other temples and 
 religious buildings comprifed within the inclofure of the great wall, 
 there were fix hundred ftoves, of the fame fize and figure, which in 
 the night time, when they ufed all to be burning, prefented a very pleaf- 
 ing fight. 
 Sect. XI. I'"* ^he fpace betwixt the wall and the great temple, there were, be- 
 
 BuiiJingsHn- £(jgg ^ place for their religious dances, upwards of forty lefiTer temples, 
 
 nexed to the ^ ° ' r / t > 
 
 great temple, confecrated to the other god?, feveral colleges of priefts, fome femi- 
 naries for youth and children of both fexes, and many other buildings 
 fcattered about, of which, for their fingularity, it will be necefìàry to 
 
 Rive lome account, 
 
 o 
 
 The moft remarkable were the temples of Tezcatlipoca, Tlaloc, 
 and Quetzalcoatl. They all refembled one another in form, but were 
 of different fizes, and all fronted the great temple ; while the other 
 temples without this area were built with the front towards the 
 weft. The temple of Qjiietzalcoatl alone differed from the reft in 
 .form J it being round, the others all quadrangular. The door of 
 
 ' this
 
 HISTORY OF Ivi E X I C O. 265 
 
 this fiinduary was the mouth of an enormous ferpent of ftone, armed book vi. 
 v/ith fangs. Some Spaniards tempted by curiofity to go into that dia- 
 bohcal temple, afterv/ards confelled the horror which they felt upon 
 entering it. Among other temples there was one called IlkiiicatitUwy 
 tledicated to the planet Venus, in which was a great pillar with the 
 figure of that ftar painted or engraved upon it; near which, at the time 
 of her appearance, they facrificed prifoners. 
 
 The colleges of priefts, and the feminaries were various; but v.-e 
 particularly know only of five colleges or monafleries of priefts, and 
 three feminaries of youth, although there mufl certainly have b^en 
 more, from the prodigious number of perfans that were found there 
 confccrated to the worlhip of the gods. 
 
 Among the remarkable buildings v>'ithin this area, befides the four 
 arfcnals over the four gates, there was another near the temple Tczca- 
 calli (houfe of mirrors), fo called fi'om its walls being covered with 
 mirrors on the infide. There was another fmall temple called Tccciz- 
 caUi, all adorned with fliells which liad a houfe annexed to it, into 
 which, at certain times, the king of Mexico retired for the purpofcs 
 of farting and prayer. The high-priefl had likewife a houfe of retire- 
 ment called Pojauhtlc!?i, and there were feveral others for other perfons. 
 There was alfo a crreat houfe of entertainment to accommodate ftranr- 
 ers of diftinftion who came upon a devout vifit to the temple, or from 
 curiofity to fee the grandeurs of the court. There were ponds in 
 M'hich the priefi:s bathed ; and fountains, the water of which they 
 drank. In the pond called Tczcapint, many bathed in obedience to 
 a particular vow m.adc to the gods. The water of one of the foun- 
 tains called Toxpalatl was efteemed holy : it was drank only at the moft 
 folemn feafiis, and no pcrfon was allowed to tafi:e it at any other time (r/). 
 There were places allotted to the bringing up of birds for the facrificcs, 
 gardens in which flowers and odoriferous herbs were raifed for tlie deco- 
 ration of the altars ; and ev.en a little wood in which were artificially 
 
 (r/) The fountain Toxl<ai,ul, the water of which was excellent, was ftopped up, at the time 
 when the Spaniards dcllroyeJ the temple ; it was opened again in i 582, in the liitlc f(|uare of 
 the iVIarqiiis (which at prcfent is called el Empciiradillo), r.ear to the cathedral ; but lor Ibmc 
 rcafon or other, of which we arc ignorant, it was a fccond time flopped up. 
 
 Vol. I. M m reprs-
 
 206 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK VI. i-eprefented hills, rocks, and precipices, and from which they ilTued 
 to that general chace which we flaall defcribe in another part of this 
 work. 
 
 Particular apartments were deftined for the keeping of the idols, the 
 ornaments, and all the furniture of their temples ; and among them 
 were three halls fo large, that the Spaniards were aftonifhed upon fee- 
 ing them. Among the buildings moft ftriking from their fingularity, 
 was a great prifon like a cage, in which they kept the idols of the 
 conquered nations as if imprifoned. In fome other buildings of this 
 kind they preferved the heads of thofe who had been ficrificed, fome 
 of which were nothing but heaps of bones piled upon one another. 
 In others the heads were arranged in regular order upon poles, or fixed 
 againfl the walls, forming, by the variety of their difpofition, a fpec- 
 tacle not lefs curious than horrid. The greateic of thefe buildings 
 called Huitzcmpafi, although not within the great ..all, was but a little 
 way from it, over againft the principal gate. This was a prodigious 
 rampart of earth, longer than it was broad, in the form of a half py- 
 ramid. In the lovvefl part it was one hundred and fifty-four feet long. 
 The afcent to the plain upon the top of it was by a ftair-cafe of thirty 
 fleps. Upon that plain were creeled about four feet afunder, more than 
 feventy very long beams, bored from top to bottom. By thefe holes, 
 flicks were parted acrofs from one beam to another, and upon each of 
 them a certain number of heads were flrung by the temples. Upon 
 the fteps alfo of the flair-cafe there was a head betwixt every flone ; 
 and at each end of the fame edifice wals a tower which appeared to have 
 been made only of fkulls and lime. As fbon as a head began to crum- 
 ble with age, the prieils fupplied its place with a frefli one from the 
 bone-heaps in order to preferve the due number and arrangement. The 
 fkulls of ordinary vitìims were ftripped of the fcalp ; but thofe of men 
 of rank, and great warriors, they endeavoured to prcferve whh. the 
 flcin and beard and hair entire, which ferved only to render more fright- 
 ful thofe trophies of their barbarous fuperfiition. The number of 
 heads preferved in this and fuch other buildings is fo great, that fome 
 of the Spaiiilii conquero!-s took the trouble of reckoning up thofe 
 
 upon
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 267 
 
 upon the fteps of this building, and upon the files betwixt the beams, BOOK vi. 
 and found them amount to one hundred thirty-fix thoufand (t-). They *— -^'~~— * 
 who wi(h for a more minute detail of the buildings within the wall of 
 the great temple, may read the relation of Sahagun in Torquemada, and 
 the defcription of the feventy-eight edifices there by Dr. Hernandez, in 
 the Natural Hiftory of Nieremberg. 
 
 Befides thefc temples there were others fcattered in different quarters Sect, xn, 
 of the city. Some authors make the number of temples in that capi- pi.j'^" 
 tal (comprehending, as may be imagined, even the fmalleft) amount to 
 two thoufand ; and that of the towers to three hundred and lixty, but 
 we do not know that any one ever adtually counted them. There 
 can be no doubt, however, that they were veiy numerous, and among 
 them Cevcn or eight diftinguifhablc for their fize ; but that of Tlate- 
 lolco, confecrated likewife to Iluitzilopochtli, rofe above them all. 
 
 Out of the capital, the moil celebrated were thofe of Tezcuco, 
 Cholula, and Teotihuacan. Bernal Diaz, who had the curiofity to 
 number the fteps of their flairs, fays, that the temple of Tezcuco had 
 one hundred and feventeen, and that of Cholula one hundred and 
 twentv. We do not know whether that famous temple of Tezcuco 
 was the fame with Tezcutzinco, fo celebrated by Valadès in his CAri- 
 Jiian Rhetoric, or the fame with that renowned tower of nine bodies, 
 credlcd by the king Nezahualcojotl, to the Creator of heaven. Tlie 
 great temple of Cholula, like many others of that city, was dedicated 
 to their protedtor Quetzalcoatl. All the old hillorians fpeak with 
 wonder of the number of the temples in Cholula. Cortes wrote to 
 the emperor Charles V. that from the top of one temple he had counted 
 more than four hunded towers of others ( / ). The lofty pyramid raifetl 
 hy the Toltecas remains to this day, in that place wliere there was 
 
 (e) Andrea de Tapia, an officer belonging to Cortes, and one of then'. \vI\o coiintcJ lli- 
 IkuUs, gave this information to Gomara the hiftorian, according to hid own leftimony in ciiji. 
 l\x\ii. of his Hiftory of Mexico. 
 
 (f) " Certifico a vuellra Alteza que yo conte dcfdcr una mezquita quatro cientas y tanta<i 
 " torrcs en la dicha tiudad (de Cholulaj y todas fon de mezquitas." Letter to Charles V. Oi.'t. 
 30, I 520. The anonymous conqueror affirms, that he counted one hundred and ninety tower* 
 of the temples and palaces. Bernal Diaz fays, that they exceeded a hundred ; but it is pro- 
 bable, that the two authors counted tliofc only which were remarkable for their height. Some 
 i.'.'cr authors have faid that thefc towers were as many in number as the days of the year. 
 
 M m 2 for-
 
 268 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VI. formerly a temple confecrated to that falfe deity, and now a holy fanc- 
 tuary of the mother of the true God ; but the pyramid from its great 
 antiquity is fo covered with earth and buflies, that it feems more like a 
 natural eminence than an edifice. We are ignorant, indeed, of its di- 
 menfions, but its circumference in the lower part is not lefs than half 
 a mile {g.) One may afcend to the top by a path made in a fpiral direc- 
 tion round the pyramid, and 1 went up on horfeback in 1744, This 
 is that famous hill about which fo many fables have been feigned, and 
 which Hoturini believed to have been raifed by the Toltecas as a place 
 of refufjc in the event of another delude like Noah's. 
 
 The famous edifices of Teotihuacan, about three miles fouth from 
 that place, and more than twenty from Mexico, towards Greco, ftill 
 fubfiiill; : thofe immenfe buildings which ferved as a model for the tem- 
 })lc'S of that country, were two temples confecrated the one to the fun 
 and the other to the moon, reprefented by two idols of monftrous bulk, 
 imade of flone and covered with s;old. That of the fun had a great 
 concavity in the breaft, and an image of that planet of the pureft gold 
 fixed in it. The conquerors pofieiled themfelves of the gold, the idols 
 were broken by order of the firft bidiop of Mexico, and the fagments 
 remained in that place till the end of the laft century, and may, per- 
 liiips be there flill. The bafe, or inferior body of the temple of the 
 fun, is iu'enty-eight perches long, and eighty-fix broad, and the height 
 of the whole building is in proportion {/j). That of the moon is eighty- 
 fix perches long in the bafe, and fixty-three broad. Each of thefe 
 temples is divided into four bodies, and as many flair-cafes, which are 
 arranged in the fame maiiner v/ith thofe of the great temple of Mexico; 
 but cannot now be traced, partly from their ruinous condition, and 
 jxirtly fro.m the great quantity of earth with which they are every where 
 covered. Round thefe edifices are fcattered feveral little hills, which 
 are fuppofed to have been as many lefier temples, dedicated to the other 
 
 (g) Betancourt fays, that the height of the pyramid of CholuUi was upwards of forty 
 efiados-i that is, more than two hundred and five Far.lian feet ; but this author has been too 
 fp iring in his nieafure, as that height unquelVion-iblc exceeds five hundred feet. 
 
 (h) Gemelli meafurcd the length and breadth of thofe temples, but had no inftrumcnl to 
 nifafurc their height. Cav. Boturini meafured their height, but when he wrote his work he 
 had not the meafurc by him, yet he thinks he found the temple of the fun to have been two 
 hundred Callillan cubits high, that is, cighty-fix perches. 
 
 planets
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 269 
 
 planets and ftars ; and from this place being fo full of religious build- book vi. 
 ings, antiquity gave it the name of 'Teotihiiacan. " — — v— — . 
 
 The number of temples throughout the whole Mexican empire was 
 very great. Torquemada thought there might be above forty thou- 
 land ; but I am perfuaded they would far exceed that number, if we 
 ihould take the leiler ones into the account ; for there is not an inha- 
 bited place without one temple, nor any place of anv extent without a 
 conliderable number. 
 
 I'he architecture of the great temples was for the mofl: part the 
 fxme with that of the great temple of Mexico ; but there were many 
 likewife of a different ftrudture. Many confided of a fingle body in 
 the form of a pyramid, with a ftair-cafe ; others of ordinary bodies, 
 with fimilar flair-cafes, as appears in the fuhjoined plate, wliich is co- 
 pied from one publilhed by Didaco Valadès in his Chrijiian Rhe- 
 toric {{). 
 
 The luperdition of thofe people not contented with fuch a great 
 number of temples in their cities, villages, and hamlets, erected mr.nv 
 altars upon the tops of the hills, in the woods, and in the ftreets, not 
 only for the purpofe of encouraging the idolatrous worlhip of travel- 
 lers, but for the celebration of certain facrifices to the gods of moun- 
 tains and other ruftic deities. 
 
 The revenues of the great temple of Mexico, like thofe of the other 
 temples of the court and the empire, were very large. Each temple 
 had its own lands and poffellions, and even its own peafants to culti- 
 vate them. Thence was drawn all that was neceffary for the mainte- 
 nance of the pricfls, together with the wood which was confumed 
 in great quantities in the temples. 
 
 The pricfts that were the ftewards of the temples frequently viiited sfct. xili. 
 their poffelTions, and thofe who cultivated them, thouoht themfelves l^evcnues ot 
 happy in contributing by their labour to the wonliip of the gods and 
 the fupport of their miniftcrs. In the kingdom of Acolhuacan, thofe 
 nine and twenty cities which provided necelfaries for the royal palace, 
 
 (/; Didaco Valadcs Francifcano, after having been employed many years in the converfinu 
 of the Mexicans, came to Uomc, «•here he uas made procuiator-pcncr.il of his order, A I t- 
 tle time after he publiflicd his learned and valuable work in Latin, intiiled, Rhelmka Chr-JiiaHa, 
 dedicated to pope Grcyoiy the Xllltji, adorned with many reprclcntation» of BJexican anti- 
 tiuitics, 
 
 were
 
 II I S 7^ O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 were likewiie obliged to provide for the temples. There is reafon to 
 believe that that traél of country, which went under the name of Teot- 
 lalpan (land of the gods), was fo named from being among the poffef- 
 fions of the temples. There were befides great numbers daily of free - 
 offerings, from the devout of every kind, of provinons and firll fruits, 
 which were prefented in returning thanks for feafonable rains and other 
 blelilngs of heaven. Near the temples were the granaries v/here all 
 the grain and other provifions, necelfiry for the maintenance of the 
 priefts, were kept j and the overplus was annually diftributed to the 
 poor, for whom alfo there were hofpitals in the larger towns. 
 Sect. XIV. The number of the prieils among the Mexicans correfponded with 
 Number and jj-jg multitude of gods and temples : nor was the homage which they 
 
 different ° * ... 
 
 ranks of the paid to the deities themfelves much greater than the veneration in which 
 ^"^ ^* they held their minifters. We may form fome conjeflure of the im- 
 
 menfe number of prieils in the Mexican empire, from the number 
 within the area of the great temple, which fome ancient hiftorians tell 
 us, amounted to five thoufand. Nor will that calculation appear fur- 
 prifing, when we confider that in that place there were four hundred 
 priefls confecrated to the fervice of the god Tezcatzoncatl alone. Every 
 temple, indeed, had a confiderable number, fo that I iliould not think 
 it rath to affirm, that there could not be lefs than a million of priefls 
 throughout the empire. Their number could not fail to be increafed 
 from the great refpedl paid to the priefthood, and the high opinion they 
 conceived of the office of ferving in the worfliip of the gods. The 
 great men even vied with one another in confecrating their children for 
 fome time to the fervice of the temples ; while the inferior nobility 
 employed theirs in works without, fuch as carrying wood, feeding and 
 keeping up the fire of the floves, and other things of that kind ; all 
 confidering the honour of ferving in the worihip of the gods as the 
 greateft to which they could afpire. 
 
 There v/ere feveral difi^erent orders and degrees among the prieils. 
 The chief of all were the two high priefts, to whom they gave the 
 names of TectetiSili (divine lord), and Hueiteopixqui (great priefi:). 
 That eminent dignity was never conferred but upon fuch as were dif- 
 tinguifhed for their birth, their probity, and their great knowledge of 
 every thing connefted with the ceremonies of their religion. The 
 
 high-
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 high-priefts were the oracles whom the kings confulted in all the moft 
 important affairs of the ftate, and no war was ever undertaken without 
 their approbation. It belonged to them to anoint the king after his 
 election, and to open the breaft, and tear out the hearts of the human 
 vidHms, at the moft folemn facrifices. The high-prieft in the king- 
 dom of Acolhuacan was, according to fomc hiftorians, always the fe- 
 cond fon of the king. Among the Totonacas he was anointed with 
 the elaftic gum mixed with children's blood, and this they called the 
 divine unBion (ij. Some authors fay the fame of the high-prieft of 
 Mexico. 
 
 From what is faid it appears, that the high-priefts of Mexico were 
 the heads of their religion only among the Mexicans, and not with 
 refpedl to the other conquered nations : thefe, even after being fubjedt- 
 ed to the crown of Mexico, ftill maintaining their priefthood indepen- 
 dent. 
 
 The high -priefthood was conferred by eledilon ; but we are igno- 
 rant whether the eledtors were of the prieftly order, or the fame witii 
 thofe who chofe the political head of the empire. The high-priefts of 
 Ì Mexico were diftinguiflied by a tuft of cotton which hung from their 
 
 breaft ; and at the principal fcafts they were dreffed in fplendid habits, 
 upon which were reprefented the infignia of the god whofe feaft they 
 celebrated. On folemn feftivals, the high-prieft of the Mixtecas was 
 clothed in a fliort coat, on which the principal events of their mytlio- 
 lo^ was reprefented ; above tliat he had a ùirplice, and over all a large 
 capuchin ; on his head he wore plumes of green feathers, curioufly in- 
 terwoven with fmall figures of their gods ; at his flioulder hung one 
 tafiel of cotton, and another hung at his arm. 
 
 Next to this fupreme dignity of the priefthood, the moft refpcdlable 
 charge was that of the Mcxicoteohuatzin, which was conferred by the high- 
 priefts. The employment of this oflicer was to attend to the due obferv- 
 ance of the rites and ceremonies, and to watch over the conduci: of thofe 
 priefts who had the charge of feminarics, and to punilh them when 
 guilty of a mifdcmeanor. In order to enable him to difcharge all the 
 
 (k) Acofta confounds the divine unrtion of the hÌ!;h-prieft with that of the king ; but it was 
 fotally difterciit ; the Iving did not anoint liimltlt" with elaftic gum, but « ith a particular fiat 
 oi ink. I 
 
 duties
 
 272 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VI. duties of fo extenfive an appointment, he was allowed two curates or da- 
 piities, the one named the Hmt%nabuateohuat%in, the other the Tepaiieo- 
 htiatzin. The Mexicoteohimtzin was the fuperior-general of all the feini- 
 naries ; his chief badge of diftindion was a little bag of copah which 
 lie always carried along ^vith him. 
 
 The T'latquhnihlteuBii managed the oeconomy of the fandtuarics, the 
 Ometochtli was the chief compofer of the hymns which were fung at 
 feftivals; the Epcoacuiltzi:i (/), the mafter of the ceremonies ; the I'la- 
 pixcatzin the mafter of the chapel, who not only appointed the mullc, 
 but fuperintended the finging and corredled the fingers. Others, whofe 
 names we omit, to avoid growing tedious to our readers, were the im- 
 mediate fuperiors of the colleges of the priefls which were confecrated 
 to different gods (;«). The name T'eopixqiii ss'is alfo given to thepriefts, 
 which means the guard or miniller of God. 
 
 To every divifion of the capital, and probably, of every other great 
 city, belonged a priefh of fuperior rank, who adted in the quality of 
 recSor to that diftridt, and appointed every ail of religion which was 
 to be performed within the bounds of his jurifdid:ion. All thefe rec- 
 tors were fubjeft to the authority of the Mcxicotcohitatzm . 
 Sect. XV. ^^ the offices of religion were divided among thepriefts. Some 
 The employ- ^vrere the facrificers, others the diviners ; fome were the compofers of 
 
 meats, dre(s, ' _ ^ ^ 
 
 and life of hymus. Others thofe who fung. Amongft the fingers fome lung at 
 prie s. certain hours of the day, others fung at certain hours of the night. 
 Some priefts had the charge of keeping the temple clean, fome took 
 care of the ornaments of the altars ; to others belonged the inftrudling 
 of youth, the corredling of the calendar, the ordering of fefiivals, and 
 the care of the mythological paintings. 
 
 Four times a day they offered incenfe to the Idols, namely, at day- 
 break, at mid-day, at fun-fet, and at mid-night. The laft offering 
 was made by the prieft whofe turn it v/as to do fo, and the mofi: ref- 
 peftable officers of the temple attended at it. To the fun they made 
 daily new offerings, four times during the day, and five times during 
 
 (I) Torqiiemada calls this ^nzH Epqualiztli, and Hernandez Epoaijuacuiltztli ; but both of 
 of them are miliaken. 
 
 (m) Whoever is defiroiis of knowing the other offices and names of the prieds, may confiilt 
 the 8th book of Torqueniada, and the account given by Hernandez, which Nieremberg in- 
 ferred in his Natural Hiftory. 
 
 the
 
 H I S T O R Y O F AI E X I e O. 275 
 
 the night. For incenfe they generally made ufe of copal, or fome BOOK VI. 
 other aromatic gum ; but on certain feilivals they employed Chapopotli, 
 or bitumen of Judea. The cenfers were commonly made of clay; but 
 they had alfo cenfers of gold. Every day the priefts, or at leaft fome 
 of them, dved their whole bodies with ink made of the foot of the 
 Ocotl, which is a fpecies of pine very aromatic, and over the ink they 
 painted themfelves with ochre or cinnabar, and every evening they 
 bathed in ponds which were within the inclofure of the temple. 
 
 The drefs of the Mexican priells was no way difièrent from the drefs 
 of the common people, except a black cottoli mantle, which they 
 wore in the manner of a veil upon their heads ; but thofe who 
 in their monafleries profelTed a greater aullerity of life, went al- 
 ways clothed in black, like the common priells of other nations of 
 the empire. They never fhaved, by which means the hair of many of 
 them grew fo long as to reach to their legs. It was twifted witli thick 
 cotton cords, and bedaubed with ink, forming a weighty mafs not lefs 
 inconvenient to be carried about with them than difgufting and even 
 horrid to view. 
 
 Behdes the ufual undtion with ink, another extraordinary and more 
 abominable one was praólifcd every time they went to make facrifices 
 on the tops of the mountains, or in the dark caverns of the earth. 
 They took a large quantity of poifonous infedts, fuch as fcorpions, fpi- 
 ders, and worms, and fometimes even fmall ferpents, burned them over 
 fome ftove of the temple, and beat their aflies in a mortar together 
 with the foot of the Ocotl, tobacco, the herb Ololiubqui, and fome live 
 infe<fts. They prcfented this diabolical mixture in fmall veflels to their 
 gods, and afterwards rubbed their bodies with it. When thus anoint- 
 ed, they became fearlefs to every danger, being perfuaded they were 
 rendered incapable of receiving any hurt from the mort: noxious reptiles 
 of the earth, or the wildell: beafts of the woods. They called it Teo~ 
 patii, or divine medicament, and imagined it to be a powerful remedy 
 for feveral diforders ; on which account thofe who were fick, and the 
 young children, went frequently to the prierts to be anointed with it. 
 The young lads who were trained up in the feminaries were charged 
 with the colleding of fuch kind of little animals ; and by being ac- 
 cuflomed at an early age to that kind of employment, they foon loll 
 
 Vol. I. N n the
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 the horror which attends the firfl familiarity with fuch reptiles. The 
 priefts not only made ufe of this undlion, but had likewiie a ridiculous 
 fuperftitious practice of blowing with their breath over the fick, and 
 m;'.de them drink water which they had bleifed after their manner. 
 The pr lefts of the god Ixtlilton, were remarkable for this cuftom. 
 
 The priefts obferved many fafts and great aufterity of life ; they ne- 
 ver were intoxicated with drinking; and feldom even tailed wine. The 
 priefts of Tezcatzoncatl as foon as the daily finging in praife of their 
 god was over, laid a heap of three hundred and three canes on the 
 ground, correfponding to the number of fmgers, of which heap only 
 one was bored ; every perfon lifted one, and he who happened to take 
 up the cane which was bored, was the only perfon who taifed the wine. 
 All the time that they were employed in the fervice of the temple, 
 they abftained from all other women but their wives ; they even affcil- 
 ed fo much modefty and referve, that when they met a woman, they 
 fixed their eyes on the ground that they might not fee her. Any in- 
 continence amongft the priefls was feverely punifh"d. The priefl who, 
 at Teohuacan, was convided of having violated his chaftity, was deli- 
 vered up by the priefls to the people, who at night killed him by the 
 baftinado. In Ichcathn, the high-prieft was obliged to live conflantly 
 within the temple, and to abftain from commerce with any woman 
 whatfoever ; and if he unluckily failed in any of his duties, he was cer- 
 tain of being torn in pieces, and his bloody limbs were prefented as an 
 example to his fucceffor. They poured boiling water on the head of 
 thofe who, from lazinefs, did not rife to the nodurnal duties of the 
 temple, or bored their lips and ears, and if they did not corred that, 
 or any other fuch fault, they were ducked in the lake and baniihed 
 from the temple during the feftival, which was made to the god of 
 water in the fixth month. The priefls in general lived together in com- 
 munities, fubjed to fuperiors who watched over their condud. 
 
 The office and charader of a prieft among the Mexicans was not in its 
 The piieil- ' nature perpetual. There were certainly fome who dedicated their whole 
 cflbs, ijygg jQ jj-jg fervice of the altars ; but others engaged in it only for a cer- 
 
 tain time, to fulfil fome vow made by their fathers, or as a particular ad 
 of devotion. Nor was the priefihood confined to the male fex, fome 
 women being employed in the immediate fervice of the temples. They 
 
 offered
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 275 
 
 offered incenfe to the idols, tended the facred fire, fwept the area, book vi. 
 prepared the dally offering of provilions, and prefented it with their 
 hands to the idols ; but they were entirely excluded from the ofKce of 
 fcicrihciiig, and the higher dignities of the prieffhood. Among th» 
 priel^lelfcs, fome were deftined by their parents from their infancy to the 
 fervice of the temples ; others on account of fome particular vow which 
 they had made during ficknefs, or that they might enfure from their 
 gods a good marriage, or the profperity of their families, entered upon 
 fiich offices for one or two years. 
 
 The confecration of the firll was made in the following manner. As 
 foon as the girl was born, the parents offered her to fome god, and in- 
 formed the redlor of that dillrict of it ; he gave notice to the Tepan- 
 tcohuatzin, who, as we have already mentioned, was the fuperior ge- 
 neral of the feminaries. Two months after they carried her to the 
 temple, and put a fmall broom, and a fmall cenfer of clay in her lit- 
 tle hands, with a little copal in it, to ihew her deflination. Every 
 month they repeated the vilit to the temple and the offering, together 
 with the bark of fome trees for the facred fire. When the child at- 
 tained her fifth year, the parents configned her to the Tepanteohuatzin, 
 who lodged her in a female feminary, where children were inff rudled in 
 religion, and the proper duties and employments of their fox. The 
 fiifl thing done to thofe who entered into the fei'vice on account 
 of foiiie private vow, was the cutting off their hair. Both the latter 
 and the former lived in great purity of manners, filence, and retire- 
 ment, ur.der their fuperiors, without having any communication with 
 men. Some of them rofe about two hours before midnight, others at 
 midnight, and others at day-break, to flir up and keep the fire burn- 
 ing, and to offer incenfe to the idols ; and although in this fundion 
 tliey aifembled with the pricfts, they were feparated from eacli otiier, 
 the men forming one wing and the women another, both under the 
 view of their fupcriors, v>ho prevented any diibrder from happening. 
 Every morning they prepared the offering of provilions which was 
 prefented to the idols, and fwept the lower area of the temple, and 
 the time which was not occupied in thcfe, or other religious duties, 
 was eiiiploycd in fpinning and weaving beautiful cloths lor the drefs 
 of the idols, and the decoration of the fancStuaric^. Nothing was more 
 
 N n 2 ze;iloafly
 
 276 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 Sect. XVII. 
 
 Difterent re- 
 ligious or- 
 ders. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 zealoufly attended to than the chaftity of thefe virgins. Any trefpafs 
 of this nature was unpardonable ; if it remained an entire lecret, the 
 female culprit endeavoured to appeafe the anger of the gods by fafting 
 and auflerity of life ; for fhe dreaded that in puniihment of her crime 
 her flefli would rot. When a virgin, deflined from her infancy to the 
 worfliip of the gods, arrived at the age of lixteen or eighteen, at which 
 years they were ufually married, her parents fought for a hufband to 
 her, and after they found one, prefented to the Tepanteohuatzin a 
 certain number of quails in plates curiouily varniOied, and a certain quan- 
 tity of copal, of flowers and provifions, accompanied with a fludied ad- 
 drefs, in which they thanked him for the care and attention he had 
 fhewn in the education of their daughter, and demanded his permillion 
 to fettle her in marriage. The Tepanteohuatzin granted the requeft, 
 in a reply to the addrefs, exhorting his pupil to a perfeverance in virtue, 
 and the fulfillment of all the duties of the married fiate. 
 
 Amon^ìft the different orders or con^resrations both of men and wo- 
 men, who dedicated themfelves to the worlliip of fome particular gods, 
 that of Quetzalcoatl is worthy to be mentioned. The life led in the 
 colleges or monafteries of either fex, which were devoted to this ima- 
 ginary god, was uncommonly rigid and auftere. The drefs of the 
 order was extremely decent j they bathed regularly at midnight, and 
 watched until about tvv'o hours before day, finging hymns to their 
 god, and obferving many rules of an auftere life. They were at li- 
 berty to go to the mountains at any hour of the day or night, to fpill 
 their blood ; this was permitted them from a refpeft to the virtue 
 which they were all thought to polTefs. The fuperiors of the monaf- 
 teries bore alfo the name of Quetzalcoatl, and were perfons of fuch 
 high authority, that they vifited none but the king when it was necef- 
 fary. The members of this religious order were deftined to it from 
 their infancy. The parents of the child invited the liiperior to an en- 
 tertainment, who ufually deputed one of his fubjecfts. The deputy 
 brought the child to him, upon which he took the boy in his arms, and 
 offered him with a prayer to Quetzalcoatl, and put a collar about his neck, 
 which was to be worn until he was feven years old. When the boy 
 completed his fecond year, the fuperior made a fmall incifion in his 
 breafl, which, like the collar, was another mark of his deftination. As 
 
 foon
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 foon as tlie boy attained his feventh year, he entered into the monaftery, 
 having firll: heard a long dilcourfe from his parents, in which they ad- 
 vertifed him of the vow which they had made to Quetzalcoatl, and ex- 
 horted him to fulfil it, to behave well, to fubmit himfelf to his 
 prelate, and to pray to the gods for his parents and the whole nation. 
 This order was called T^Uimacaz-cajotl, and the members of it Tlania- 
 cazque. 
 
 Another order which was called Telpochtliztii, or the youtlis, on 
 account of its being compofed of youths and boys, was confecrated to 
 Tezcatlipoca. This was alfo a deftination from infancy, attended with 
 almoft the fame ceremonies as that of Quetzalcoatl ; however, th.ev did 
 not live together in one community, but each individual had his own 
 home. In every diftridl of the city they had a fuperior, who governed 
 them, and a houfc where they affembled at fun-fet to dance and fing" 
 the praifes of their god. Both fexes met at this dance, but without 
 committing the fmallefl: difordei-, owing to the vigilance of the fupe- 
 riors, and the rigour with which all mifdemeanors were punilhed. 
 
 Amono; the Totonacas was an order of monks devoted to their roddefs 
 Centeotl. They lived in great retirement and auflerity, and their life, 
 excepting their fuperftition and vanity, was perfecftly unimpeachable. 
 None but men above fixty years of age who were widowers, eftranged 
 from all commerce with women, and of virtuous life, were admitted 
 into this monaflery. Their number was fixed, and when any one died 
 another was received in his flead. Thefe monks were fo much efleem- 
 ed, that they were not only confulted by the common people, but like- 
 wife by the firft nobility and the high-prieft. They liftened to con- 
 fultations fitting upon their heels, with their eyes fixed upon the 
 ground, and their anfwers were received like oracles even by the kings 
 of Mexico. They were employed in making hiftorical paintings, 
 which they gave to the high-prieft that he might exhibit them to 
 the people. 
 
 But the moft important duty of the priefthood, and the chief cere- 
 mony of the religion of the Mexicans, confifi:ed in the facrifices which 
 they made occafiunally to obtain any favour from heaven, or in grati- 
 tude for thofe favours which they had already received. This is a fub- 
 jed: v/hich we would willingly pafs over, if the laws of hiftory per- 
 mitted. 
 
 277 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 S F r T. 
 
 XVIll. 
 
 Common fa- 
 
 ciiticc ot lui- 
 
 man victim».
 
 278 II I 3 T O R Y O F M E X I e O, 
 
 ■/ 
 
 BOOK Yl. niitted, to prevent the dilgufl which the defcription of fuch abomin- 
 able a6ts of cruelty muft caufe to our readers; for although there has 
 hardly been a nation which has not pradtiied fimilar facrifices, it would 
 be ditiicult to find one which 'has carried them to fo great an excefs 
 as the Mexicans appear to have done. 
 
 We are ignorant what fort of facrifices may have been praftifed by 
 the ancient Toltecas. The Chechemecas continued long without ufmg 
 them, having at firfl neither idols, temples, nor priefts, nor offering any 
 thing to their gods, the Sun and Moon, but herbs, flowers, fruits, and 
 copal. Thofe nations never thought of facrificing human viftims, un- 
 til the example of the Mexicans banilhed the firff imprelTions of nature 
 from their minds. What they report touching the origin of fuch bar- 
 barous facrifices we have already explained ; namely, that which ap- 
 pears in their hiftory concerning the firft facrifice of the four Xochi- 
 milcan prifoners which they made when in Colliuacan. It is pro- 
 bable, that at the time when the Mexicans were infulated in the lake, 
 and particularly v/hile they remained fubjeft to the dominion of the 
 Tepanecas, the facrifice of human vi6tims muft have happened very 
 feldom, as they neither had prifoners, nor could purchafe flvives for fa- 
 crifices. But when they had enlarged their doniinions, and multiplied 
 their vidlories, facrifices became frequent and on fon.e fefiivals the vic- 
 tims v.'cre numerous. 
 
 The facrifices varied with refpect to the number, place, and mode, 
 according to the circumftances of the feltival. In general the vidtims 
 fuflered death by having their breafts opened ; but others v/cre drown- 
 ed in the lake, others died of hunger fliut up in caverns of the moun- 
 tains, and laflly, feme fell in the gladiatorian ficrifice. The cuftom- 
 ary^ place was the temple, in the upper area of which ftood the altar 
 deftined for ordinary facrifices. The altar of the greater temple of 
 Mexico was a green ftone (probably jafper) convex above, and about 
 three feet high, and as many broad, and more than five ieet long. 
 The ufual miniflers of the facrifice were fix prieils, the chief of whom 
 was the Topi/tzh?, whofe dignity was pre-eminent and hereditary; but 
 at every facrifice he allumed the name of that god to whom it v/as 
 made. For the performance of this fundlion, he was clothed in a 
 red habit, fimilar in make to the fcapulary of the moderns, fringed 
 
 with
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 279 
 
 with cotton ; on his head he wore a crown of green and yel- BOOK vi. 
 low feathers, at his ears hung golden ear-rings and green jewels, 
 (perhaps enieralds), and at his under-lip a pendant of turquoifc. The 
 otlier five minifters were drelled in white habits of the fame make, but 
 embroidered with black j their hair was wrapped up, their heads were 
 bound with leathern thongs, their foreheads armed with little (hiclds 
 of paper painted of various colours, and their bodies dyed all over 
 black. Thefe barbarous minifters carried the vidlim entirely naked to 
 the upper area of the temple, and after having pointed out to the 
 byftanders the idol to whom the facrifice was made, that they might 
 pay their adoration to it, extended him upon the altar ; four priefts 
 held his legs and arms, and another kept his head firm with a wooden 
 inftrument made in form of a coiled ferpent, which was put about his 
 neck } and on account of the altar being convex, the body of the vic- 
 tim lay arched, the breaft and belly being raifed up and totally prevent- 
 ed from the leaft movement. The inhuman Topiltzin then approached, 
 and with a cutting knife made of flint, dexteroufly opened his breaft 
 and tore out his heart, which, while yet palpitating, he offered to the 
 fun, and afterwards threw it at the feet of the idol ; then taking it up 
 again he offered it to the idol itfelf, and afterwards burned it, preferv- 
 ing the alhes with the utmofl veneration. If the idol was gigantic 
 and hollow, it was ufual to introduce the heart of the vidlim into its 
 mouth with a golden fpoon. It was culT:omary alfo to anoint the lips 
 of the idol and the cornices of the door of the fancfluary with the vic- 
 tim's blood. If he was a prifoner of war, as foon as he was I'acrificed 
 they cut off" his head to preferve the fkull, and threw the body down 
 the ftairs to the lower area, where it was taken up by the officer or 
 foldier to whom the prifoner had belonged, and carried to his houfe to 
 be boiled and drefled as an entertainment for his friends. If he was not 
 a prifoner of war, but a flave purchafed for a facrifice, the proprietor 
 carried off" the carcafe from the altar for the fame purpofe. They eat 
 only the legs, thighs, and arms, and burned the reft, or prefcrved it 
 for food to the wild beafts or birds of prey which were kept in the royal 
 palaces. The Otomies, after having killed the vidim, tore the body in 
 pieces, which they fold at market. The Zapotecas facrificed men to 
 
 their
 
 28o H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK VI. their gods, women to their goddefles, and children to fome other di- 
 minutive deities. 
 
 This was the moft common mode of facrifice, but often attended 
 with fome circumflances of flill greater cruelty, as we fliall fee hereafter; 
 other kinds of facrifices which they ufed were much lefs frequent. At 
 the feftival of Teteolnan, the woman who reprefented this goddefs was 
 beheaded on the flioulders of another woman. At the fellival of the 
 arrival of the gods, they put the viftims to death by fire. At one of 
 the feflivals made in honour of Tlaloc, they facrificed two children of 
 both fexes by drowning them in a certain place of the lake. At another 
 feftival of the fame god, they purchafed three little boys of fix or feven 
 years of age, fliut them up inhumanly in a cavern, and left them to die 
 of fear and hunger. 
 Sr-cT.XIX. Xhe moft celebrated facrifice among the Mexicans was that called 
 toria/facrt- by the Spaniards with much propriety the gladiatorian. This was a very 
 'i'-"'=- honourable death, and only prifoners who were renowned for their bra- 
 
 very were permitted to die by it. Near to the greater temple of large cities, 
 in an open fpace of ground fufiicient to contain an immenfe croud of 
 people, was a round terrace, eight feet high, upon which was placed 
 a. large round ftone, refembling a mill-ftone in figure, but greatly lar- 
 ger, and almoft three feet high, well polillied, with figures cut upon 
 it(«). On this ftone, which was called the Temalacatl, the prifoner 
 was placed, armed with a fhield and a fhort fword, and tied by one foot. 
 A Mexican ofHcer or foldier, better accoutred in arms, mounted to 
 combat with him. Every one will be able to imagine the efforts made 
 by the delperate viftim to defend his life, and alfb thofe of the Mexi- 
 can to fave his honour and reputation, before the multitude of people 
 that aflembled at fuch a fpeólacle. If the prilbner remained van- 
 quiilied, immediately a prieft named Chakhiuhtepehua, carried him dead 
 or alive to the altar of the common facrifices, opened his breaft, and 
 took out his l:eart, while the vitìor was applauded by the aflembly, and 
 rewarded by the king with fome military honour. But if the prifoner 
 
 in) The form of the edifices reprefented in the plate of the gladiatorian facrifice is a mere 
 caprice of the defigner ; there never was any thing elfe than the terrace and the battlements. 
 
 * con-
 
 ot lacririces 
 uncertain. 
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 281 
 
 conquered fix different combatants, who came fuccefllvely to fight with G OOK vi. 
 him, agreeable to the account given by the conqueror Cortes, he was '"''^ "* 
 granted his hfe, his Uberty, and all that had been taken from him, and 
 returned with glory to his native country (^). The liime author 
 related, tiiat in a battle between the Cholulans and Huexotzincas, the 
 principal lord of Cholulagrew fo warm in the contell, that having inad- 
 vertently removed to a great diftance from his own people he was made 
 prifoner in fpite of his bravery, and coiidu(5ted to ilucxotzinco, where 
 being put upon the gladiatorian ftone, he conquered ievcn combatants 
 which were oppofed to him, and gained his liberty ; but the Huexot- 
 zincas forefeeing, that on account of his fingular courage he would be- 
 come the caufe of many difaflers to them if they gi anted him his liberty, 
 put him" to death contrary to univerfal culiom ; by which adi they ren- 
 dered themfelves eternally infamous among thofe nations. 
 
 With refped: to the number of the viftinis which were annually fa- c w 
 crificed we can affirm nothing; the opinions of hiflorians on that head be- 'f '>*: number 
 ing extremely different (/» ) , The number of twenty thoufand, which is 
 conjedtured to approach the nearefl to truth, docs not appear to us im- 
 probable, if we include in it all the vidims which were facrificed 
 throughout the whole empire ; but if that number comprehends, as 
 fome hiftorians aficrt, the infants only, or the vidtims which were fa- 
 crificed on the mountain Tepeyacac, or in the capital, wc think it al- 
 together incredible. It is certain, that the number of facrifices was 
 
 (<?) Several hiflorians fay, that when the firfl combatant was oveicomc the prifoner became 
 free ; but we are rather inclined to credit the Conqueror j for it is not probable, that they 
 would liberate a prifoner for fo fmall a rifk who might fiill prove deftruitivc to them, or th.it 
 they would deprive their gods of a vii'tim fo acc<ptable to their cruelty. 
 
 (^i Zumarraga, the firft bifliop of Mexico, fays, in a letter of the i2thof June, 1531, 
 addrefled to the general ch ptcr of his order, that in that capital alone twenty thoufand hu- 
 man victims were annually facrificed. Some authors, quoted by Gomara, affirm, that the 
 number of the facrifict-d amounted to fifty thoufand. Acofta writes that there was a certain 
 day of the year on which live thoufand were facrificed in diifercnt pla.cs of the empire ; and 
 another day on which they facrificed nventy thoufand. Some author» b.lieve, that on the 
 mountain Tcpeyacisc alone, twenty thoufand were facrificed to the goJdefs 'I'ommtzin. Tor- 
 «jucmada, in quoting, though unfaithfully, the letter of Zuinarraga, fays, that there were 
 twenty thoufand infants auuu.iUy f, crificed. Put on the confiary. Las Cafas, in his refuta- 
 tion of the bloody book, wiotc by T5r. Se]>ulvcda, reduces the facrifices to fo fm.nll a num- 
 ber, that wc arc left to believe, they amounted not to fifty, or at mod not to a hundred. We 
 arc llroagly of opinion, that all thefo authors have erred in the number, Las Cafas by dimi- 
 nution, the rert by exaggeration of the truth. 
 
 Vol. I. Go not
 
 282 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VI. not limited, but always proportioned either to the number of prifoners 
 winch were made in war, to the necelTities of the ftate, or the nature 
 of the feftivals, as appears from the dedication of the greater temple 
 of Mexico, on which occafion the cruelty of the Mexicans exceeded 
 all bounds of belief. It is not, however, to be doubted, that the fa- 
 crifices were very numerous ; the conquefls of the Mexicans having 
 been extremely rapid, and as their aim in war was not fo much to kill 
 as to make prifoners of the enemy for this purpofe. If to thefe vic- 
 tims we add the flaves which were purchafed for the fame end, and many 
 criminals v/ho were condemned to expiate their crimes by the facrifice 
 of their lives, we fliall find the number greatly exceed that com- 
 puted by Las Cafas, who was too anxious to exculpate the Americans 
 of all the excefTes of which they were accufed by the Spaniards (^). 
 The facrifices multiplied in Divine years, and ftill more in Secular 
 years. 
 
 The Mexicans were accuftomed at their feftivals to clothe the vic- 
 tim in the fame drels and badges in which they dreffed that god to 
 whom the ficrifice was made ; thus habited, the vi6lim went round 
 the city demanding alms for the temple, accompanied with a guard 
 of foldiers. If any one accidentally made his efcape, the corporal of 
 the guard was fubftituted in his fhead as a punifhment for his carelefT- 
 nefs. They ufed alfo to feed and fatten the vidtiais, as they did feveral 
 animals for the table. 
 
 The religion of the Mexicans was not confined to thefe facrifices ; 
 offerings were made of various kinds of animals. They facrificed 
 quails and falcons to their god Huitzilopochtli, and hares, rabbits, 
 deer, and coyotos to their god Mixcoatl. They daily made an offer- 
 ing of quails to the fun. Every day as the fun was about to rife, fe- 
 veral priefts, ftanding on the upper area of the temple, with their 
 faces towards the eafl:, each with a quail in his hand, faluted that lu- 
 minary's appearance with mufic, and made an offering of the quails after 
 cutting off their heads. I'his lacrifice was fucceeded by the burning 
 of incenfe, with a loud accompaniment of mufical inftruments. 
 
 {q ) We cannot account nhy L:is Calas, who, in his writings makes ufe of the teflimony f>f 
 Zumarraga, and other churchmen, againll the conqueiois, fliould atterwards io openly ton- 
 tradid them rcfptoting the number oi' the facrifices. 
 
 In
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 283 
 
 In acknowledgment of the power of their gods, they alfo made of- BOOK vi. 
 ferings of various kinds of plants, flowers, jewels, gums, and other ' " 
 inanimate fubftances. To their gods Tlaloc and Coatlicue they offered 
 the firft-blown flowers ; and to Centeotl, the firfl maize of every year. 
 They made oblations of bread, various partes, and ready drefTed vidluals 
 in fuch abundance, as to be fufficient to fupply all the miniflers of the 
 temple. Every morning were feen at the foot of the altars innumerable 
 diflies and porringers of boiling food, that the fteams arifmg from them 
 might reach the noftrils of the idols, and nourifh their immortal gods. 
 
 The mofl: frequent oblation, however, was that of copal. All daily 
 burned incenfe to their idols ; no houfe was without cenfers. The 
 priefts in the temple, fathers of families in their houfes, and judges in 
 their tribunals, whenever they pronounced fentence in an important 
 caufe, whether civil or criminal, ofi^ered incenfe to the four principal 
 winds. But incenfe-ofl"ering among the Mexicans, and other nations 
 of Anahuac, was not only an aft of religion towards their gods, but 
 alfo a piece of civil courtefy to lords and amball'adors. 
 
 The fuperfl:ition and cruelties of the Mexicans were imitated by all the 
 nations which they conquered, or that were contiguous to the empire, 
 without any difl^erence, except that the number of facrifices amongfl: thofe 
 nations was lefs, and that particular circumfl:ances fometimes attended 
 them. The Tlafcalans, at one of their feftivals, fixed a prifoner to a 
 high crofs, and fliot arrows at him ; and upon another occaiion, they 
 tied a prifoner to a low crofs, and killed him by the baflinado. 
 
 The facrifices celebrated every fourth year by the QuauhtitLuis in Sf.ct. xxr. 
 honour of the god of fire, were inhmnan and dreadful. A day before ^".''/""^'.' *•'■ 
 
 o ' ^ J ciihccs in 
 
 the feftival, they planted fix very lofty trees in the under area of the Quauhtitian. 
 temple, facrificed two flaves, ftripped their Ikins off, and took out 
 the bones of their thighs. The next day two eminent priefts, clothed 
 themfelves in the bloody flcins, took the bones in their hands, and de- 
 fcended with folemn fleps and difmal bowlings, down the fliairs of 
 the temple. The people who were afiembled in crouds below, called 
 out in a loud voice, " Behold there come our gods." As foon as they 
 reached the lower area, they began a dance to the found of mufical 
 inftrumcnts, which lafted the greatelt part of the day. In the mean- 
 while, the people facrificeJ an incredible quantity of quails, the num- 
 
 O o 2 ber
 
 «ans 
 
 284 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VI. ber of them being never lefs than eight thoufand. When thefe facrl- 
 fices were over, the priefts carried fix prifoners to the tops of the trees, 
 and after tying them there, defcended ; but they had hardly time to 
 reach the ground, before the unhappy victims were pierced with a 
 multitude of arrows. The priefts mounted again to cut down the 
 dead bodies, and let them drop from the height ; immediately their 
 breafts were opened, and their hearts torn out, according to the cuf- 
 tom of thofe people. The viftims as well as the quails were fliared 
 among the priefts and nobles of that city, for the banquets which 
 crowned their barbarous and deteftable feftival. 
 Sect. XXII. While they were thus cruel to others, it is not wonderful that they 
 fndfaiìinaof likewife praftifcd inhumanity towai'ds themfelves. Being accuftomed 
 the Mexi- to bloody facrifices of their prifoners, they alfo failed not to Ihed abun- 
 dance of their own blood, conceiving the ftreams which flowed from 
 their viélims infufficient to quench the diabolical thirft of their gods. 
 It makes one fliudder to read the aufterities which they exercifed up- 
 on themfelves, either in atonement of their tranfgreffions, or in prepa- 
 ration for their feftivals. They mangled their flefli as if it had been 
 infenfible, and let their blood run in fuch profufion, that it appeared 
 to be a fuperfluous fluid of the body. 
 
 The effulion of blood was frequent and daily with fonie of the 
 priefts, to which praftice they gave the name of 'Thv7iaca%qui. They 
 pierced themfelves with the Iharpeft fpines of the aloe, and bored fe- 
 veral parts of their bodies, particularly their ears, lips, tongue, and 
 the fat of their arms and legs. Through the holes which they made 
 with thefe fpines, they introduced pieces of cane, the firft of which 
 were fmall pieces, but every time this penitential fuffering was repeat- 
 ed, a thicker piece was ufed. The blood which flowed from them 
 was carefully colleded in leaves of the plant acxojatl (r). They fixed 
 the bloody fpines in little balls of hay, which they expofed upon the 
 battlements of the walls of the temple, to teftify the penance 
 which they did for the people. Thofe who exercifed fuch feverities 
 upon themfelves within the inclofure of the greater temple of Mexico, 
 
 (r) Acxojatl is a tree of feveral upiiglit flems, with long leaves, which are flrong and fyin- 
 Hietvlcally difpofcd. They made foimeily aud ftiU make excellent brooms of this plant. 
 
 bathed
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M .E X I e O. 2S5 
 
 bathed themfelves in a pond that was formed there, which from be- book vi. 
 ing always tinged with blood was called Ez.ipan. There was a cer- 
 tain fixed number of canes to be made ufe of on this occalion, which, 
 after being once ufcd were preferred as atteftations of their penitence. 
 Befides thofe and other auftcre praftices of which we fliall treat Ihortly, 
 watching and falling was very frequent amongft the Mexicans. A fef- 
 tival hardly occurred for which they did not prepare themfelves with 
 fafting for fome days, more or lefs, according to tlie prcfcriptions of 
 their ntu;il. From all that is to be inferred from their hiftory, their 
 failing confifted in abflaining from flefh and wine, and in eating but 
 once a day ; this fome did at mid-day, others after that time, and fome 
 tailed nothing till evening. Failing was generally accompanied with 
 watching and the eifulion of blood, and then no perlbn was permitted 
 to have commerce with any woman, not even with his own wife. 
 
 Some fails were general and obferved by the whole people ; namely, 
 the fail of five days before the feilival of Mixcoatl, which was ob- 
 ferved even by children ; the fail of four days before the feilival of Tez- 
 catlipoca, and alio, as we fufpcdl, that which was made previous to the 
 feilival of the fun (j). During this fail tlie king retired into a certain 
 place of tlie temple, where he watched and ilicd blood, according to the 
 cuilom of his nation. Any other fails bound only particular individuals, 
 fuch as that which was obferved by the proprietors of viiflims the day 
 before a facrifice. The proprietors of priibners which were facrificed 
 to the god Xipe, failed twenty days. The nobles as well as the king 
 had a houfe within the precindls of the temple, containing numerous 
 chambers, where they occafionally retired to do penance. On one of 
 the feflivals, all thofe perfons who exercifed public oilices, after their 
 daily duty was over, retired there at evening for this purpofe. In the 
 third month the TIamacazqui, or penance-doers watched every night; 
 and in the fourth month they were attended in their duty by the no- 
 bility. 
 
 In Mixteca, where tliere were many monaileries, the firil-born fons 
 of lords, before they took polfeihon of their eilates, were fubje^led to a 
 
 (j) The faft which was held in honour of the fun was called Nctonatiulj^ahiialo, or Netona- 
 tiuhzahualitzli. Dr. Hernandez fays, it was held every two hundred, or three hundred days. 
 We fufpeifl that it was kept on the day I Oli/i, which occurred every two hundred and fixty 
 days. 
 
 rigorous
 
 286 HISTORYOFMEXICO, 
 
 i?ooK VI. ngorous penance during a whole year. They conduced the heir 
 with a nunierous attendance to a monaftery, where they ftripped off 
 his garments, and clothed him in rags daubed over with olii, or elaf- 
 tic gum, rubbed his face, belly, and back, with {linking herbs, and de- 
 livered a fmali lance of itzili to him, that he might draw his own blood. 
 They reftrifted him to a very abftemious diet, fubjedled him to the hardeft 
 labours, and puniflied him feverely for any faikue in duty. At the 
 end of the year, after being waflied and cleanfed by four girls, with 
 fweet fcented water, he was recondudled to his houfe with great pomp 
 and mufic. 
 
 In the principal temple of Teohuacan, four priefts conftantly reflded, 
 who were famous for the aufberity of their lives. Their drefs was the 
 fame with that of the common people ; their diet was limited to a loaf 
 of maize of about two ounces in weight, and a cup oi atolli, or gruel, 
 made of the fame grain. Every night two of them kept watch, em- 
 ploying their time in finging hymns to their gods, in offering incenfe, 
 which they did four times during the night, and in fhedding their blood 
 upon the flones of the temple. Their faffing was continual during the 
 four years which they perfevered in that life, except upon days of fef- 
 tival, one of which happened every month, when they were at liberty 
 to eat as much as they pleafed ; but in preparation for every feffival, 
 they praftifed the ufual auftere rules, boring their ears with the fpines 
 of the aloe, and pafling little pieces of cane through the holes to the 
 number of fixty, all of which differed in thicknefs in the manner 
 above mentioned. At the end of four years, other four priefts were 
 introduced to lead the fame kind of life ; and if before the completion 
 of that term any one of them happened to die, another was fubftituted 
 in his place, that the number might never be incomplete. Thefe 
 priefts were fo high in refpedl and efteem as to be held in veneration 
 even by the kings of Mexico : but woe unto him who violated his 
 chaftityj for, if after a ftricfl examination the crinic was proved, he 
 was killed by baftinados, his body was burned, and his aflies fcattered 
 to the winds. 
 
 Upon occafion of any public calamity, the Mexican high-pricft al- 
 ways obferved a moft extraordinary hi\.. Vov this purpofe he retired 
 to a wood, where he conftruded a hut for himfelf, covered with 
 
 branche?.
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 287 
 
 branches, which were always frcfh and green ; as whenever the firft BOOK vi. 
 became dry, new ones were fpread in their place. Shut up in this hut 
 he palled nine or ten months in conftant prayer and frequent efFulions 
 of blood, deprived of all communication vvith men, and without any 
 other food than raw maize and water. Tiiis faft was not indifpenfible, 
 nor did all the high-priefts obferve it j nor did thofe who attempted it 
 ever do it more than once in their lives ; and certainly it is not proba- 
 ble, that thole who furvived fo rigorous and long an abftincnce, were 
 ever able to repeat it. 
 
 The fall obferved by the Tlafcalans every divine year, at which pe- Sect. 
 riod they made a mod folemn feftival in honour of their god Camaxtlcy ]^e^ai'kVbie 
 was likewife very fingular. When the time of commencing it was ar- ^^^^ °t P^"'- 
 rived, all the TUimacazqiiis were aflemblcd by their chief ArchcaubtU, Tlafcalans^ 
 who made them a ferious and grave exhortation to penitence, and fore- 
 warned them if any one of them lliould find that he was incapable of per- 
 forming it, that he Ihould declare fo within five days ; for that if, after that 
 fpace of time was elapfed, and the faft was once begun, he fliould hap- 
 pen to fail and renounce the attempt, he would be deemed unworthy of 
 the company of the gods, his priellhood would be talcen from him, and 
 his eftate lequeftered. At the expiration of the five days, which was 
 allowed for the purpofe of deliberation, the chief, attended by all thofe 
 who had courage to attempt this penitential duty, the number of whom 
 ufed to exceed two hundred, alcended the very lofty mountain Matlal- 
 cueje, on the top of which was a fandluary, confecratcd to the goJ- 
 dcfs of water. The Arhcaubtli mounted to the top to make his ob- 
 lation of gems, precious feathers, and copal, while the others waited 
 in the middle of the afcent, praying their goddefs to give them ftrcngth 
 and courage to go through their penance. They afterwards defcended 
 from the mountain, and caufed a number of little knives of itzli, and 
 a great quantity of fmall rods of difterent thickncfles to be made. The 
 labourers upon thofe inftruments faded five days before they began 
 their work, and if any little knife or rod happened to break, it was 
 accounted a bad omen, and the workman was confidered to have broke 
 the faft. The TIamacazqui then began their fiifl:, which did not lull 
 Icfs than one hundred and lixty days. The firft day they bored holes 
 in their tongues, through which they drew the little rods, and notwith- 
 
 ^ Handing
 
 Sect. 
 
 of the Mex 
 caus 
 
 H I S T O Pv Y OF MEXICO. 
 
 flanding the exceffive pain and lofs of blood which they fuffered, they 
 were obHged all tlie while to fing aloud fongs to their god, and every 
 twenty days this cruel operation was repeated. When the firft eighty 
 days of the fift of the priefts were elapfed, a general faft, from which 
 even the heads of the republic wcvt not exempted, began with the 
 people, and continued an equally long time. During this period, no 
 perfon was allowed to bathe, nor to eat pepper, which was the ufual 
 feafoning of all their dirties. To fuch excell'es and cruelty did fanati- 
 cifm carry thofe nations. 
 
 All that we have hitherto related does not fo much make known the 
 XXIV. religion of the Mexicans, and the extravagance of their horrible fu- 
 tuiy and year perftition, as the number of their feftivals, and the rites which 
 were obferved at them ; but before we enter more deeply into this 
 fubjeft, it is neceflary to give fome account of their mode of dividing 
 time, and the method which they adopted to meafure days, months, 
 years, and centuries. What we have to communicate on this head has 
 been carefully inveiligated and certified by intelligent men, who are 
 worthy of the utmofl credit, who have applied with the utmofh afll- 
 duity to this ftudy, and who have diligently examined the ancient 
 paintings, and obtained information from the bell: inftrudied pcrfons 
 among the Mexicans and Acolhuans. We are particularly indebted 
 to the religious mifììonaries Motolinia and Sahagun, from whofe 
 writings Torquemada has taken all that is valuable in his work, and 
 to the very learned Mexican D. Carlo Seguenza, whofe opinions we 
 have found to be juft and accurate by the examination whicli we have 
 made of feveral Mexican paintings, in which months, years, and cen- 
 turies, are diflindlly reprelented by their proper figures. 
 
 The Mexicans, the Acolhuans, and all the other nations of Ana- 
 huac, diftinguillied four ages of time by as many funs. The firft 
 named At07iathih, that is the fun, or the age of water, comnienced 
 with the creation of the world, and continued until the time at which 
 all mankind almoft perilhed in a general inundation, along vv^ith the 
 firft fun. Tlie fecond T'laltonatiah, the age of earth, lafted from the 
 time of the general inundation undl the ruin of the giants, and the 
 great earthquakes, which concluded in like manner the ll'cond fun. 
 The third, Ehlxatonatiub, the age of air, lafted from the deftru£lioii 
 
 of
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O 289 
 
 of the giants until the great whirlwinds, in which all mankind perirtied BOOK vi. 
 along with the third fun. The fourth Tletonatiuh, the age of fire, be- 
 gan at the laft reftoration of the human race, and was to continue as 
 we have already mentioned in their mythology, until the fourth fun, 
 and the earth v.'cre dellroyed by fire. This age it was fuppofcd would 
 end at the conclufion of one of their centuries ; and thus we may account 
 for thefe noify feftivals in honour of the god of fire, which were cele- 
 brated at the beginning of every century, as a thankfgiving for his re- 
 flraining his voracity, and deferring the termination of the world. 
 
 The Mexicans, and the other polKhed nations of Anahuac, ufed the 
 fame method to compute centuties, years, and months, as the ancient 
 Toltecas. Their century confified of fifty-two years, which were fub- 
 divided into four periods of thirteen years each, and two centuries 
 formed an age, which was called by them Huehuctiliztii, that is, old 
 age, of a hundred and four years {t). They gave to the end of the 
 century the name of 'Toxiuhmolpici, which fignifies, the tying of our 
 years ; becaufe by it the two centuries were joined together to form an 
 age. Their years had four names, which were Tocht/i, rabbet ; Acad, 
 cane or reed ; Tecpatl, flint ; and Calli, houfc ; and of thefe with dif- 
 ferent numbers their century was compofed. The firft year of the 
 century was i. TochtU, the fecond, 2. Acati, the third, 3. Tecpatl, the 
 fourth, 4. Calli, the fifth, 5. Tochtli, and fo on to the thirteenth year, 
 which was 13. Totbtli, and terminated the firft period. They began 
 the fecond period with i. Acati, which was fucceeded by 2. Tecpatl, 
 3. Calli, 4. Tochtli, until it was completed by 13, Acati. In like 
 manner the third period began with i. Tecpatl, and finiflied with 13. 
 Tecpatl ; and the fourth commenced with i. Calli, and terminated to- 
 gether with the century in 13. Calli; fo that there being four names 
 and thirteen numbers, no one year could be confounded with another («). 
 
 All 
 
 (/) Though foinc authors have given ihc name of century to their aj^e, and that of half 
 century to their century, it is of little coiifci^ucncc, as their mattei of computing years and 
 ilillrihutintj time is not in the kart alicrcJ by it. 
 
 (k) Boturini aflirms, in contraditìion to the frenerai opinion of authors, that thry did not 
 be"in all their centuries with \. Tochtli, but fometimes with i. /iuiil ; I. Tc.fr.i!, or i. Calli, 
 He is miflaken, ho^rcver, for it appears both from the bed infonneJ ancient authors, and th? 
 pnintin;;s examined by ourfelves, that the Mexican Century began always with i. Tochili. 
 This author fays alfo, that in the couifc of four centuries the fame name or chuimficr was ije- 
 VoL. 1. ' P P Ter
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 All this will be more clearly underftood in the table of the century, 
 which we lliall afterwards fubjoin. 
 
 The Mexican year confilled like ours, of three hundred and fixty- 
 five days ; for although it was compofed of eighteen months, each of 
 which contained twenty days, which make up only three hundred and 
 lixty, they added after the lalt month five days, which they called Nt'- 
 montemi, or ul'elefs ; becaufe in thefe days they did nothing but re- 
 ceive and return vifits. The year i Tochtli, the fir ft of their century, 
 began upon the twenty-fixth day of February (.v) ; but every four 
 years the Mexican century anticipated one day, on account of the odd 
 day of our bilfextile, or leap-year ; from whence in the lall years of the 
 Mexican century, the year began on the fourteenth of February, on 
 account of the thirteen days which intervene in the courfe of fifty-two 
 years. But at the expiration of the century, the commencement of the 
 year returned to the twenty-fixth of February. 
 
 The names which they gave their months were taken both from the 
 employments and feftivals which occurred in them, and alfo from the 
 accidents of the feafon which attended them. Thefe names appear dif- 
 ferently arranged among authors j becaufe, in fai^ their arrangement 
 v/as not only different among different nations, but even among the 
 the Mexicans themfelves it varied. The following was the moft com- 
 mon : 
 
 1 . AtlacahualcQ (y). 
 
 2 . Tla cax'tpehualiztli. 
 1. To%o%tontli. 
 
 4. Hucitozoztlt. 
 
 5. Toxcatl. 
 
 6. Etzalcualiztli, 
 
 ver repeated with the fame number; but how is it polTible, that this could happen in the pe- 
 riod ol' two bundled and eight years, while the charaifters were only four and the numbers 
 ufcd but thirteen, as he himfelf allows. 
 
 (x) Authors differ in opinion refpefting the day on which the Mexican year commenced. 
 The rcafon of this was unqueliionabl)' the diftcrence which is occalioncd by our leap years, to 
 which probably thefe authors did not advert. It ni;iy alio have been the cafe, that feme 
 of them fpoke of the allronomical year of the Mexicans, and not of the religious, of which we 
 tieat. 
 
 ( v) Gomara, Valadès, and other authors make TlacaxipchualixtU^ the firft month of the 
 Mexican year, which in our table is the fccond. The authors of the edit on of the Letters of 
 Cortes, publifhed at Mexico in 178c, make ^/fOTca///' the firl>, which is the 16th in our tabic, 
 E ut INIotolinia, whofe authority has moft weight, has put, as we do, Atlahuaho for the firft 
 fnosth ; and Torrjucmad.i, Betancnurt, and Martino di Leon, a Dominican, thinks as he does. 
 T o avoid troubling our readers, wc omit the ilrong rcafon s which have induced us to adopt 
 cur ptefent opinion. 
 
 7. Tccutl-
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 7. TecuilhuitontU. 
 
 8. Hueitecuilhuitl. 
 
 9. T'laxocbimaco, 
 
 10. Xocohuetzi. 
 
 1 1 . OcbpaniztU. 
 I 2. Teotleco. 
 
 I J. Tepeilhuitl. 
 
 14. ^ec bolli. 
 
 15. Panquetzalitzli. 
 
 16. Atemoztli. 
 
 17. T/W//, 
 
 18. Izcalli. 
 
 Their month confifted as we have already mentioned of tv/cntj' ^ect. xxv, 
 
 days, the names of which are thefe : 
 
 month. 
 
 I. 
 
 cipaau. 
 
 2. 
 
 Ehecatl. 
 
 3- 
 
 Calli. 
 
 4- 
 
 Cueizpalin. 
 
 5- 
 
 Coati. 
 
 6. 
 
 Miquitzli. 
 
 7- 
 
 Mazatl. 
 
 S. 
 
 Tcchtli. 
 
 9- 
 
 Atl. 
 
 10, 
 
 Itzcuintli. 
 
 1 1 . 
 
 12. 
 
 14. 
 15- 
 
 Ozomatli. 
 
 Malinalli. 
 
 ylcatl. 
 
 OcdotL 
 
 ^auhtli. 
 
 1 6 . Cczcaqtiabtli (z) . 
 
 17. O/m tonatiuh. 
 
 18. Tccpatl. 
 
 19. ^iabutll. 
 
 20. Xocbill. 
 
 Although the figns or characters, which are fignlfied by thefe names, 
 fliould be diRributed among the twenty days, according to the order 
 above, neverthelefs in their mode of reckoning, no regard was paid to 
 the divifion of months, nor that of years, but to periods of thirteen 
 days (fimilar to thofe of thirteen years in the century), which run on 
 without interruption from the end of a month or year. The firil day 
 of the century was i. CipaclU ; the fecond, 2. Ebecdtl, or wind; the 
 third; 3. Ciilli, or houfe; and fo on to thirteen, which was 13. 
 Acati, or reed. Tlie 14th day began another period, reckoning 
 I. O celotl [tyger), 2. .'^/Vrtw/'/// (eagle), fee. until the completion of 
 the month 7. Xct:bit I {{lower), and in the next month they continued 
 to count 8. Cipaclli, 9. Ebhatl, 6cc. Twenty of thefe periods made 
 in thirteen months a cycle of two hundred and lixty days, and during 
 the whole of this time, the fame fign or charadkr was not repeated 
 
 (=) Cozcaquaulitli is the name of a biul which we defirih«d in our firfl book. Cav. Botu- 
 ritM puts inftcad of it Tcmctlatl, or tlic Jlojie ufed to grijvd inj ze or coccas. 
 
 1' p 2 with
 
 292 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VI, with the lame number, as will appear from the calendar which we 
 ' " ' fliall give hereafter. On the firli: day of the fourteenth month, another 
 cycle commenced in the fame order of the characters, and of the fame 
 number of periods, as the firfl. If the year had not, befides the eigh- 
 teen months, had the five days called Nemontemi, or if the periods had 
 not been continued in thefe days, the firft day of the fecond year of 
 the century would have been the fame with that of the preceding, i . 
 Cipaftli ; and in like manner, the laft day of every year would always 
 have been Xochitl ; but as the period of thirteen days was continued 
 through the days called Nemontemi, on that account the figns or cha- 
 railers changed place, and the fign Miquiztli, which occupied in all 
 the months of the firft year the fixth place, occupies the firft in the 
 fecond year ^ and on the other hand, the fign CipaSili, which in the 
 firft year had occupied the firft place, has the fixteenth in the fecond 
 year. To know what ought to be the fign of the firft day of any 
 year, there is the following general rule. Every year Tochtli begins 
 with CtpaBliy every year Acati with Miqueztli, every year Tecpatl 
 with Ozomatli, and every year Calli with CG%caqiiaiihtli, adding always 
 the number of the year to the fign of the day ; as for example, die 
 year i. 'Tochtli has for the firft day i . CipaSlli ; lb the 2. Acati has- 
 2. Miquiztli ; The 3 'TepaSll has 3. Ozomatli, and 4. Calli h^s 4. Coz- 
 caquauhtU,. 6cc. (a). 
 
 From what we have already faid it will appear, that the number 
 tifirteen was held in high eflimation by the Mexicans. The four 
 periods of which the century confifled, were each of thirteen years ^ 
 thirteen months formed their cycle of two hundred and fixty days ; and 
 thirteen days their fmaller periods, which we have already mentioned» 
 The origin of their efleem for this number was, according to what Si- 
 guenza has faid, that thirteen was the number of their greater gods.. 
 The number four leems to have been no lefs efteemed amongll: them. As 
 they reckoned four periods of thirteen years each to their century, they 
 alfo reckoned thirteen periods, of four years each, at the expiration of 
 
 (a) Cav. Botiirini fays, that the year of the Rabbet began unlformty with the day of the 
 Rabbet, the year of the Cane with the day of the Cane, &c. and never with the days which 
 wc have mentioned ; but we ought to give more faith to Siguenza, who was certainly better 
 informed in Mexican anticpity. The fyflem of this gentleman is fantallical and full of con- 
 trad'uSlLona. 
 
 each 
 
 I
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 293 
 
 each of which they made extraordinary feftivals. We have already BOOK vi. 
 mentioned both the fail of four months, and the NappapohuallatolH, 
 or general audience which was given every four month^. 
 
 In refpefl to civil government, they divided the month into four 
 periods of five days, and on a certain fixed day of each period their fair 
 or great market was held ; but being governed even in political matters 
 by principles of religion in the capital, this fair was kept on the days 
 of .the Rabbet, the Cane, the Hint, and the Houfe, which were 
 their favourite figns. 
 
 The Mexican year confifled of feventy-three periods of thirteen days, 
 and the century of feventy-three periods of thirteen months, or cycles 
 of two hundred and fixty days. 
 
 It is certainly not to be doubted, that the Mexican, or Toltecan Sect, 
 iyflem of the diftribution of time was extremely well digefted, though jj^t^c I 'v 
 at firft view it appears rather intricate and perplexed ; hence we may days. 
 infer with confidence, it was not the work of a rude or unpolillied 
 people. That however which is moft furprifing in their mode of com- 
 puting time, and which will certainly appear improbable to readers 
 who are but little informed with refpedl to Mexican antiquity, is, that 
 havin!^ difcovered the excefs of a few hours in the folar above the civil 
 year, they made ufe of intercalary days to bring them to an equality j 
 but with this difference in regard to the method eftablilhed by Julius 
 Caefar in the Roman calendar, that they did not interpofe a day eveiy 
 four years, but thirteen days, (inaking ufe here even of this favourite 
 number) every fifty-two years ; which produces the fame regulation of 
 time. At the expiration of the century they broke, as we fhall men- 
 tion hereafter, all their kitchen utenfils, fearing that then aUb the 
 fourth age, the fun and all the world were to be ended, and the lafl 
 night they performed the famous ceremony of tlie new fire. As foon 
 as they were afilired by the new fire, that a new century, according to 
 their belief, was granted to them by the gods, they employed the thir- 
 teen following days, in fupplying their kitchen utenfils, in furnilhing 
 new garments, in repairing their temples and houfes, and in making 
 every preparation for the grand feflivals of the new century. Thefc 
 thirteen days were the intercalary days reprefented in their paintings by 
 blue points; they were not included in the centurj' jull expired, nor 
 
 -. in
 
 294 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK VI . in ti^at which was j ufi commencing, nor did they continue in them their 
 periods of days which they always reckoned from the firft day to the laft 
 day of the century. When the intercalary days were elapfed, they began 
 the new century with the year i. Tochtli, and the day i. Cipadtli, 
 upon the 26th day of our February, as they did at the beginning of 
 the preceding century. We would not venture to relate thefe particu- 
 lars, if we were not fupported by the teflimony of Dr. Siguenza, who, 
 in addition to his great learning, his critical Ikill and fmcerity, was 
 the perfon who moli: diligently exerted himfelf to illuflrate thefe points, 
 and confulted both the beft inftrud:cd Mexicans and Tezcucans, and 
 ftudied their hiftories and paintings. 
 
 Boturini affirms, that a hundred and more years before the Chriftian 
 era, the Toltecas adjufted their calendar, by adding one day every four 
 years, and that they continued to do fo for feveral centuries, until the 
 Mexicans eftabliflied the method we have mentioned : that the caufe 
 of the new method was, that two feftivals concurred upon the fame 
 day ; the one the moveable feftival of Tezcatlipoca, the other that of 
 Huitzilopochtli, which was fixed ; and that tiie Colhuan nation had 
 celebrated the latter, and pafTed over the former ; upon which Tezcat- 
 lipoca in anger predifted, that the monarchy of Colhuacan would foon 
 be diflblved; that the worfliip of the ancient gods of the nation would 
 ceafe, and that it would remain confined to the worfhip of one fole di- 
 vinity, which was never {'ten nor underftood, and fubjedkd to the 
 power of certain ftrangers who would arrive from diftant countries ; 
 that the kings of Mexico being made acquainted with this predifrion, 
 ordered, that whenever two feftivals concurred upon the fame day, the 
 principal feftival was to be celebrated on fuch day, and the other on 
 the day after ; and that tlie day which was ufually added every four 
 years, ihould be omitted ; and that at the end of the century, the thir- 
 teen days fhould be added inftead of them. But we are not willing to 
 give credit to this account. 
 
 Two things muft appear truly ftrange in the Mexican iyftem, the 
 one is, tliat they did not regulate their months by the changes of the 
 moon J the other that they ufed no particular charafter to diftinguiOi 
 one century from another. But with refpeil to the firft, we do not 
 mean that their aftronomical months did not accord with the lunar 
 
 periods ^
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 295 
 
 Sect. 
 
 xxvir. 
 
 Divination. 
 
 periods; becaufe we know that their year was juftly regulated by book vi. 
 the fun, and becaufe they ufed the fame name, which was Metztli, in- 
 differently for month or moon. The month now mentioned by us 
 is their religious month, according to which they obferved the celebra- 
 tion of fertivals, and pradifed divination ; not their aftronomical 
 month, of which we know nothing unlefs that it was divided into two 
 periods, that is, into the period of the '■^patching, and into that of the 
 Jleep of the moon. We are however perfuaded, that they muft have 
 made ufe of fome charadlers to diflinguifh one century from another, 
 as this diil:in(!!l:ion was fo very eafy and necelfary j but we have not 
 been able to afcertain this upon the authority of any hiftorian. 
 
 The diftribution of the ligns or charadters, both of days and years, 
 ferved the Mexicans as fuperftitious prognoftics, according to which 
 they predidted the good or bad fortune of infants from the fign under 
 which they were born ; and the happinefs or misfortune of marriages, 
 the fuccefs of wars, and of every other thing from the day on which 
 they were undertaken or put in execution ; and on this account alfo 
 they confidered not only the peculiar charader of every day and year, 
 but likcwife the ruling charader of every period of days or years ; for 
 the firft fign or charader of every period, was the ruling fign through 
 the whole of it. Of merchants we find, that whenever they willied 
 to undertake any journey, they endeavoured to begin it on fome day of 
 that period, during which the fign Coati (ferpcnt) ruled, and then 
 they.promifed themfelves much fuccefs in their commerce. Thoie 
 perfons who were born under the fign ^auhtli (eagle), were fufpeded 
 to prove mockers and flanderers, if they were males ; if females, loqua- 
 cious and impudent. The concurrence of the year with the day of 
 the Rabbet was efteemed the mofl fortunate feafon. 
 
 To reprefent a month they painted a circle or wheel, divided into 
 twenty figures fignifying twenty days, as appears in the plate we have 
 given, which is a copy from one publiflied by Valadòs, in his Rctto- 
 rka Crijiiiina, and the only one hitherto publilhed. To reprefent the month 
 year they painted another, which they divided into eighteen figures of the 
 eighteen months, and frequently painted within the wheel the image 
 of the moon. The reprefentation which we have given of this image, 
 was taken from that publilhed by Gemelli, which was a copy from an 
 
 ancient 
 
 Sect. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 Figures of 
 the century, 
 the year, and
 
 296 
 
 BOOK VI, 
 « ^ ' 
 
 Sect. 
 
 xxi-x. 
 
 Years and 
 months of 
 the Chiupa- 
 nele. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 ancient painting in the poffelllon of Dr. Siguenza (/^). The century 
 was reprefented by a wheel divided into fifty-two figures, or rather by 
 four figures which were thirteen times defigned. They ufed to paint 
 a ferpent twifted about the wheel, which pointed out by four twills 
 of its body the four principal winds, and the beginnings of the four 
 periods of thirteen years. The wheel which we here prefent, is a copy 
 of two others, one of which was publillied by Valadès, and the other 
 by Gemelli, within which we have reprefented the fun, as was gene- 
 rally done by the Mexicans. In another place we fliall explain the fi- 
 gures of thefe wheels in order to fatisfy our curious readers. 
 
 The method adopted by the Mexicans to compute months, years, 
 and centuries, was, as we have already mentioned, common to all the 
 poliflied nations of Anahuac, without any variation among them ex- 
 cept in the names and figures {c). The Chiapanefe, who, among the 
 tributaries to the crown of Mexico,- were t-lie moft diftant from the 
 capital ; inftead of the names and the figures of the Rabbet, the Cane, 
 Flint, and Houle, made ufe of the names Fotan, Lambat, Been, 
 and Chinan, and inftead of the names of the Mexican days, they a- 
 dopted the names of twenty illuilrious men among their anceftors, 
 among which the four names above mentioned, occupied the lame 
 place that the names Rabbet, Cane, Flint, and Houfe, held amongft 
 the Mexican days. The Chiapanefe names of the twenty days of tlie 
 month were the following: 
 
 c 
 
 1. Mox. 
 
 2. Igh. 
 
 3. vot:an. 
 
 4. Ghanan. 
 
 5. Abagh. 
 
 6. Tox. 
 
 7. Moxic. 
 
 8. LAMBAr. 
 
 9. Mòlo, or Multi. 
 IO. Elab. 
 
 1 I . Batz. 
 
 I 2 . Enoh. 
 
 {h) Three copies of the Mcxicnn year hnve been piiblillied. The fu ft that of Valadcs, the 
 fccond that of Sigucnza, publilhed by Gemelli, aiiJ the thud that of Botiirini, publiflied at 
 Mexico, in 1770. In that of Siguenza, within the wheel of the century, appears that of 
 the year ; and in that of Valadcs, «ith'in both wheels, that of the month is reprefented. We 
 have fcparatcd them to make them more intelligible. 
 
 (i) Boturini fays, that the Indians of the dioccl-: of Gitaxaca made their year confirt of 
 thirteen months ; but it mull have been their iubonomical or civil year, and not their religi- 
 ous year. 
 
 13. BEEN. 
 
 I
 
 /y .17 
 
 l'iti / /',/<//■ jif/) 
 
 '////-.r/iui/i ^ / ////<n/ .
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO, 
 
 297 
 
 13. BEEN. 
 
 1 4. Hix. 
 
 I 5 . 'Tziquin. 
 
 16. Chabin 
 
 17. Cbix, book: vr. 
 
 18. CHIN AX, ' ' ' 
 
 19. Cabogh. 
 
 20. AghuaL 
 
 There was no moTith in which the Mexicans did not celebrate fomc 
 feftival or other, which was either fixed and eflabliflied to be held on a 
 certain day of the month, or moveable, from being annexed to fome 
 figns which did not correfpond with the fame days ia every year. The 
 principal moveable feftivals, according to Boturini, were fixteen in 
 number, among which the fourth was that of the god of wine, and 
 the thirteenth, that of the god of fire . With refpeft to thofe feftivals 
 which were fixed, we fliall mention as concifely as poffible, as much 
 as we judge will be futScient to convey a competent idea of the reli- 
 gion and the fupeiftitious difpofition of the Mexicans. 
 
 On the fecoad day of the firll month, they made a great feftival to Rect. xxx", 
 Tlaloc, accompanied with ficrifices of children, which were purchafed fcfiivais of 
 for that purpofe, and a gladiatorian facrifice ; thefe children, which months. 
 were purchafed, were not ficrificed all at once, but fucceflively fo, in 
 the courfe of three months, which correfponded to thofe of Marcii 
 and April, to obtain from this god the rains which were neceflary for 
 their maize. 
 
 On the firfl: day of the fecond month, which, in the firfl year of 
 their century, correfponded to the i8th of March (d'), they made a 
 moft folemn feftival to the god Xipe, the facrifices offered at which 
 were extremely cruel. They dragged the vidliais by their hair to the 
 upper area of the temple, where, after they were facrificed in the 
 iifual manner, they llciiincd them, and the priefts clothed themfclvcs 
 in their fkins, and appeared for fome days in thefe bloody coverings. 
 The owners of prifoners that were facrificed, were bound to faft lor 
 twenty days, after which they made great banquets, at which they 
 drefted the flefli of the vidims. The fte&lers of gold or filver were 
 facrificed along with prifoners, the law of the kingdom having or- 
 dained that punifliment for them. The circumftance of fkinning the 
 
 (,y) Whenever we mention the corrcfpondcncc of the Mexican months with ours, it is to be 
 undernood of thofe of the firft year of their century. 
 
 Vol. I. Q^q vidlims,
 
 298 H I S T O R Y O F ME X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VI. vldims, obtained to this month the name of 'Tlacaxipehualhtli, or the 
 flcinning of men. At this feflival, the military went through leverai 
 exercifes of arms and pradtices of war, and the nobles celebrated with 
 fongs the glorious aftions of their anceftors. In Tlafcala,^ the nobles, 
 as well as the plebeians had dances, at which they were all dreffed in 
 fliins of animals, and embroidery of gold and filver. On account of 
 thefe dances, which were common to all ranks of people, they gave 
 the fellival as well as the month the name of Coailhiiitl, or the gene- 
 ral fellival. 
 
 In the third month, which began on the 7th of April, the fecond 
 feftival of Tlaloc was celebrated with the facrifice of fome children. 
 The fkins of the viólims, which were facrificed to tlie god Xipe, in 
 the preceding month, were carried in proceflion to a temple called 'Jo- 
 fico, v.'hich v/as within the inclofure of the greater temple, and there de- 
 polited in a cave. In this fame month the Xochimanqiii, or thofe who 
 traded in flowers, celebrated the feftival of their goddefs Coatlicue, and 
 prefented her garlands of flowers curioufly woven. But before this of- 
 fering was made, no perfon was allowed to fmell thefe flowers. The 
 minifters of the temples watched every night of this month, and on 
 that account made great fires ; hence the month took the name of 
 'Tozo%tonU, or little watch. 
 
 The fourth month was called Hueitozoztli, or great watch ; be- 
 caufe, during this month, not only the priefts, but alfo the nobility 
 and populace, kept watch. They drew blood from their ears, eye- 
 brows, nofe, tongue, arms, and thighs, to expiate the fliults committed 
 by their fenfes, and expofed at their doors leaves of the fword-grafs, 
 coloured with blood, but with no other intention, probably, than to 
 make oftentation of their penance. In this nianner they prepared 
 themfelves for the feftival of the goddefs Centeotl, which was cele- 
 brated with facrifices of human viflims and animals, particularly of 
 quails, and with many warlike exercifes, which they performed before 
 the temple of this goddefs. Little girls carried ears of maize to the 
 temple, and after offering them to that falfe divinity, carried them to 
 granaries, in order that thefe ears, thus hallowed, might preferve all the 
 reft of the grain from any deftrudtive infe<5t. This month commenced 
 on the 27th of April. 
 
 The
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 299 
 
 The fifth month, which began upon the 17th of May, was almoft book vr. 
 wholly feftival. The firfl, which was one of the four principal fcl'- s ect. 
 tivals of the Mexicans, was that which they made in honour of ^j^m^ fdii- 
 their great god Tezcatlipoca. Ten days before it a priell drelled him- vai of the 
 felf in the fame habit and badges which diilinguifhed that god, and went Upoca, 
 out of the temple with a bunch of flowers in his hands, and a little flute 
 of clay which made a very flirill found. Turning his face firft towards 
 the eaft, and afterwards to the other three principal winds, he founded 
 the flute loudly, and then taking up a little dufl: from the earth with 
 his finger, he put it to his mouth and fwallowed it. Upon hearing 
 the found of the flute, all kneeled down ; criminals were thrown into 
 the utmoil terror and confternation, and with tears implored that god 
 to grant a pardon to their tranfgreflions, and hinder them from being 
 difcovered and detcfted ; warriors prayed to him for courage and 
 flrength againft the enemies of the nation, fuccefsful vidtories, and a 
 multitude of prifoners for {iicrifices ; and all the reft of the people, 
 ufing the fime ceremony of taking up and eating the duft, fupplicated 
 with fervour the clemency of the gods. The found of the little flute 
 was repeated every day until the feftival. One day before it, the 
 lords carried a new habit to the idol, which the priefts immediately 
 put upon it, and kept the old one as a relique in fome repofitory of 
 the temple ; they adorned the idol with particular enfigns of gold and 
 beautiful feathers, and raifed up the tapeftry, which always covered 
 the entrance of the fandluary, that the image of their god might be 
 feen and adored by the multitude. When the day of the feftival ar- 
 rived, the people flocked to the lower area of the temple. Some 
 priefts painted black, and drefl"ed in a limilar habit with the idol, car- 
 ried it aloft upon a litter, which the youths and virgins of the temple, 
 bound with thick cords of wreaths of crifp maize, and put one of thefe 
 wreaths round the neck, and a garland on the head of the idol. This 
 cord, the emblem of drought, uhich they defired to prevent, was 
 called ^oxcatl, which name v/as likewiie given to the month on ac- 
 count of this ceremony. All the youths and virgins of the temple, 
 as well as the nobles of the court, carried fimilar wreaths about tiieir 
 necks and in their hands. Then follow^ed a procelTion through the 
 lower area of the temple, where flowers and odoriferous herbs were 
 
 Q^q 2 fcattered ;
 
 300 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 50 OK IV. fcattered; two priefls offered incenfe to the idol, which two others 
 carried upon their fhoulders. In the mean while the people kept kneel- 
 ing, striking their backs with thick knotted cords. When the pro- 
 celfion finilhed, and alfo their difcipline, they carried back tlie idol to 
 tiie altar, and made abundant offerings to it of gold, gems, flowers, 
 feathers, animals, and provifions, Vv'hich were prepared by the virgins 
 and other women, who, on account of fome particular vow, affifled. 
 for that day in the fervice of the temple. Thefe provifions were car- 
 ried in proceffion by the lame virgins, who were led by a refpedable 
 prieft, dreffed in a Itrange fantaftical habit, and laftly the youths car- 
 ried them to the habitations of the priefts for whom they had been 
 prepared. 
 
 Afterwards they made the facrifice of the vidlim rcprefenting the 
 god Tezcatlipoca. This vidlim was the handfomeft and bell: Ihaped youth 
 of all the prilbners. They feledled him a year before the feftival, 
 and during that whole time he was always dreffed in a fmiilar habit 
 with the idol ; he was permitted to go round the city, but always ac- 
 companied by a ftrong guard, and was adored every where, as the liv- 
 ing image of that fupreme divinity. Twenty days before the feftival, 
 tliis youth married four beautiful girls, and on the five days preceding 
 the feftival, they gave him fumptuous entertainments, and allowed 
 him all the pleafures of life. On the day of the feftival, they led him 
 with a numerous attendance to the temple of Tezcatlipoca, but before 
 they came there they difmiffed his wives. He accompanied the idol 
 in the proceffion, and when the hour of facrifice was come, they 
 ftretched him upon the altar, and the high prieft with great revepence 
 opened his breaft and pulled out his heart. His body was not, like the 
 bodies of other vii^ims, thrown down the ftairs, but carried in the arms 
 of the priefts and beheaded at the bottom, of the temple. Plis head was 
 ftrung up in the 7'-zompantii, among the reft of the Ikulls of the vic- 
 tims which v/ere facrificed to Tezcatlipoca, and his legs and arms 
 were dreffed and prepared for the tables of the lords. After the facri- 
 fice, a grand dance took place of the collegiate youths and nobles who 
 were prefent at the feftival. At lun-fet, the virgins of the temple made 
 a new offering of bread baked with honey. This bread, with fome 
 other things unknown to us, v/as put before the altar of Tezcatlipoca, 
 
 and
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 and was dcfiined to be the reward of the youths who lliould be the 
 vidlors in the race which they made down the ftairs of the temple j 
 they were alfo rewarded with a ganr.ent, and received the praife and 
 applaufe of the priefts as well as the people who were fpedtators. The 
 feftival was concluded by difmilTing from the feminaries all the youths 
 and virgins who were arrived at an age fit for marriage. The youths 
 who remained, mocked the others with fatirical and humorous raillery, 
 and threw at them handfuls of ruilies and other things, upbraiding 
 them with leaving the fervice of god for the pleafures of matrimony ; 
 the priefts always granting them indulgence in this emanation of youth- 
 ful vivacity. 
 
 In this fame fifth month, the fir ft feftival of Huitzilopochtli was Sect, 
 celebrated. The priefls made a ftatue of this 2:od of the resfular fta- ^u^^h\ 
 
 ■T o o I ine gvantX- 
 
 ture of a man ; they made the flefh of a heap of Tzohualli, which fe nival of 
 is a certain eatable plant, and the bones of the v/ood M'rzquitl. They pochtli.- 
 drefl'ed it in cotton with a mantle of feathers : put on its head a fmall 
 parafol of paper, adorned with beautiful feathers, and above that a 
 bloody little knife of flint-ftone, upon its breaft a plate of gold, and 
 on its garment were feveral figures reprel'enting bones of the dead, and 
 the image of a man torn in pieces ; by which they intended to fignify 
 either the power of tiiis god in battle, or the terrible revenge, which, 
 according to their mythology, he took againft thofe v/ho confpired 
 againft the honour and life of his mother. They put this ftatue in a 
 litter made on four wooden ferpents, which four principal officers of 
 the Mexican army bore from the place where the ftatue was formed, into 
 the altar where it was placed. Several youths forming a circle, 
 and joining themielves together by means of arrows, which they 
 laid hold of with their hands, the one by the head, the other by the 
 point, carried before the litter a piece of paper more than fifteen perches^ 
 long, on which, probably, the glorious adlions of that falfc divinity 
 were reprefented, and which they fung to the found of mufical inftru- 
 ments. 
 
 When the day of the feftival was arrived, in the morning they made 
 a great facrifice of quails, which after their heads were twilled off, they 
 threw at the foot of the altar. The firft who made this iacrifice was the 
 king, after him the priefts, and laftly, the people. Of this great pro- 
 fu fion
 
 302 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK VI. fuRon of quails, one part was drefìed for the king's table, and thofe 
 of the priefls, and the remainder was referved for another occafion. 
 Every perfon who w'as prefent at the feftival, carried a clay cenfer, and 
 a quantity of bitumen of Judea, to burn in offering to their god, and 
 all the coal which was made ufe of was atterwards collected in a 
 large ftove called TkxiSlli. On account of this ceremony they called 
 this feftival the mcenjing of Huit%ilopocbtll. Immediately after fol- 
 lowed the dance of the virgins and prielts. The virgins dyed their 
 faces, their arms were adorned with red feathers, on their heads they 
 wore garlands of crifp leaves oi maize, and in their hands they bore 
 canes which were cleft, with little flags of cotton or paper in them. 
 The faces of the prielts v^'er£ dyed black, their foreheads bound with 
 little fliields of paper, and their lips daubed with honey, they covered 
 their natural parts with paper, and each held a fceptre, at the extre- 
 mity of v/hich was a flower made of feathers, and above that another 
 tuft of feathers. Upon the edge of the Hove two men danced, bear- 
 ing on their backs certain cages of pine. The priefhs in the courfe of 
 their dancing, from time to time, touched the earth with the extre- 
 mity of their fceptres, as if they refted themfelves upon them. All 
 thefe ceremonies had their particular lignification, and the dance on 
 account of the feftival at which it took place was called Toxca- 
 chocbolla. In another feparate place, the court and military peo- 
 ple danced. The mufic;d inftruments, which in fome dances were 
 placed in the centre, on this occafion were kept without and hid, fo 
 that the found of them was heard but the m.uficians were unfeen. 
 
 One year before this feftival, the priloner who was to be facrificed 
 to Huitzilopochli, to which prifoner they gave the name of Ixteocale, 
 which fignifies. Wife Lord of Heaven, was feleded along with the vic- 
 tim for Tezcatlipoca. Both of them rambled about the whole- year j 
 with this difference however, that the vidtim of Tezcatlipoca was 
 adored, but not that of Huitzilopochtli. When the day of the feftival 
 was arrived, they dreffed the prifoner in a curious habit of painted pa- 
 {v;r, and put on his head a mitre made of the feathers of an eagle, 
 with a plume upon the top of it. He carried upon his back a fmall net, 
 and over it a little bag, and in this drefs he mingled himfelf in the 
 diince ol the courtiers. The moft lingular thing refpesfting this prifoner 
 
 was.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 303 
 
 was, that although he was doomed to die on that day, yet he had the BOOK vi. 
 liberty of fixing the hour of the lacrifice himfclf. Whenever he chofe 
 he prefented himfelf to the priefls, in whofe arms, and not upon the 
 altar, the facrificer broke his breart, and pulled out his heart. When 
 the facrifice was ended, the priefls began a great dance, which conti- 
 nued all the remainder of the day, excepting fome intervals, which 
 they einployed to repeat the incenfe-offerings. At this fame fellival, 
 the priclls made a flight cut on the breaft and on the bellv of all 
 the children of both foxes which were born v/ithin one preceding 
 year. This was the fign or charadter, by which the Mexican na- 
 tion fpecially acknowledged itfelf confecrated to the worfliip of its 
 protecting god ; and this is alfo the reafon why feveral authors have 
 believed, that the rite of circumcifion was eflabliilied among the 
 Mexicans ( e). But if poffibly the people of Yucatan and the Toto- 
 
 nacas 
 
 (1) F. Acofia fays, that " i Mcfficam/acrl/iiai'^no ne' lor fanciulli c 1' cicchie e il membro ge- 
 nitale nel che in qualche in:iniera contra ffacevano la circoncifionc de'Giiidci." Kut if tliis au- 
 thor fpcaks of the true Mexicans, that is, the defccndaiits of the ancient Aztecas who founded 
 the city of Mexico, whofe hiftory we write, his aflertion is abfolutely falfe ; for after the moft 
 diligent fcarch and enquiry, there is not the fmallert veliige of fuch a rite to be found 
 among thcin. If he fpcaks of the Tutonacas, who, by having been fubjei5ls of the king of 
 Mexico, arc, by feveral authors, cal;ed Mexicans, it is trje, that they made fuch an inciiion 
 on children. 
 
 The indecent and lying author of the work, entitled, " Rei/.cn/jfi Phllofophiquei fur let 
 Americaitis" adops the account given by Acofla, and makes a long difcouri'c on the origin 
 of circumcifion, which he believes to have been invented by the Egyptians, or the Ethiopi-' 
 ans, to preferve themfclves, as he fays, frojn worms, wliieli trouble inhabitants of the torrid 
 zone who are not circumcifed. He aiiirms, that the Hebrews learned it from the Ep-yptians 
 and that at firft it was a mere phj-fical remedy, but was afterwards by fanaticifm conliiiuted a 
 religious ceremony : tiiat the heat of the torrid zone is the caufe of this dil'order, and that 
 the Mexicans, and other nati-)ns of America, in order to free themfclves from it, adopted cir- 
 cumcifion. But leaving alide the falfcncfs of his principles, and his fonduefs to difcufs mi- 
 nutely every fubjc/t which has any connexion with obfccnc pleafure-, that we may attend to 
 that only which concerns our hi'.ory, we aflcrt that no traces of the pr:n''ticc of ciicumcilion 
 have ever been found among the Mexicans, or among the nations fubieiftcd by them, except 
 the Totonacas ; nor did we ever he.ir of any fuch diliempcr of worms in thefe countries, thouo-h 
 they are all fitu.-.tcd under the torrid zone, and we vifited for thirteen years all kinds of fick 
 perfons. Befidcs, if heat is the caufe of fuch a dillcmper, it ought to have been more fre- 
 quent in the native country of that author than in the inland piovinces of Mexico, «here 
 the climate is more tcmpcr.ite. M. Mailer, who is quoted by the fame author, made no lefs 
 a miftake ; iii his Difcourfe on Circumcifion, infcrted in the Encyclopedia, he, from not hav- 
 ing underliood the cxpredions of AcoHa, believed that they cut the ears and the parts of ge- 
 neration, of all the Mexican children entirely off; in wonder at which he ai'ks, if it was 
 polTible thit m.any of them could rrmain ;ilivc after fo ciuel an opeiaiion r Eut if we Had 
 believed what M. iMallei believed, we would rather have alkcd how there came to bt anv Mexi- 
 
 caas
 
 304 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK vr. nacas ufed this rite, it was never praftifed by the Mexicans, or any 
 ^^""^ ^ other nation of the empire. 
 Sect, I" the lìxth month, which began upon the fixth of June, the third 
 
 xxvill. feftival of the god Tlaloc was celebrated. They ftrewed the temple 
 oftheilxth, in a curious manner with rudies from the lake of Citlaltepec. The 
 dÒluh'''and pnelts who went to fetch them, toinmitted various hoftilities upon all 
 ninth paffengers whom they met in their way, plundering them of every 
 
 thing they had about them, and fometimes even ftripping them quite 
 naked, and beating them if they made any reiiflance. With fuch im- 
 punity were thele priefls, turned allaffins, favoured, that they not 
 only robbed the common people, but even carried off the royal tributes 
 from the colleólors of them, if they chanced to meet with them, no 
 private perfons being allowed to make complaint againft them, nor the 
 king to puniih them for fuch enormities. On the day of the fcftival, 
 they all eat a certain kind of gruel which they called Eiza///, from 
 which the month took the name of Etzalpm'htli. They carried to 
 the temple a vali; quantity of painted paper and elaftic gum, with which 
 they befmeared the paper and the cheeks of the idol. After this ridi- 
 culous ceremony, they facrificed feveral prifoners who were clothed in 
 habits the fame with that of the god Tlaloc, and his companions, and 
 in order to complete the fcene of their cruelty, the priefts, attended by 
 a great 'croud of people, w^ent in veflcls to a certain place of the lake, 
 where in former times there was a whirlpool, and there ficriiiced two 
 children of both fexes, by drowning them, along with the hearts of 
 the prifoners who had been facrificed at this feftival, in order to obtain 
 from their gods the neceiliiry rains for their fields. Upon this occa- 
 fion, thofe minifters of the temple, who, in the courfe of that year, 
 had either been negligent in office, or convióted of fome high mifde- 
 meanor which was not, however, deferving of capital puniiliment,. 
 were ftripped of their priefi:hood, and received a chaftifement fimilar 
 to the trick which is pradiifed on feamen the firft time they pafs the 
 
 cnns nt all in the world ? That no future mifiakes may be committed by th-jfc who read the 
 ancitut Sp.milh hiftorians of Amciica, it is necclfary to he obfervcd, that when thele hiHorians 
 fay that the Mexicans, or other WAtions fucnjiccd the tongue, the ears, or any other member 
 of the body, all they mean by it is, that they made feme ilight incilion in thefe member», and 
 drew fome blooJ from them, 
 
 S line. 
 
 I
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 305 
 
 line, but more fevere, as by being repeatedly ducked in the water they BOOK vi. 
 were at laft lb exhaulted, it became neceflary to carry them home to 
 their houfes to be recovered. 
 
 In the leventh month, which began upon the 26th of June, the fellival 
 of Huixtocihuatl, the goddels of lalt, was celebrated. A day before the 
 feftival there was a great dance of women, who danced in a circle, joined 
 to each other by ftrings or cords of different flowers, and wearing gar- 
 lands of wormwood on their heads. A female prifoner, clothed in 
 the habit of the idol of that goddefs, was placed in the centre of the 
 circle. The dancing was accompanied with finging, in both of whicli 
 two old relpedlable priefts took the lead. This dance continued the 
 whole night, and in the morning after, the dance of the priefls began, 
 and laftcd the whole day, without any other interruption than the la- 
 crificc of prifoners. The priefts wore decent garments, and held in 
 their hands thofe beautiful yellow flowers which the Mexicans called 
 Cempoalxochitl, and many Europeans Indian Carnations ; at fun-fet 
 they made the facrifice of the female prifoner, and concluded the fefli- 
 vai with fumptuous banquets. 
 
 During the whole of this month the Mexicans made great rejoic- 
 ings. They wore their belt dreffes j dances and amufements in their 
 gardens were frequent ; the poems which they fang were all on love, or 
 fome other equally pleafmg Ibbjeft. The populace went a hunting in 
 the mountains, and the nobles ufed warlike exercifes in the field, and 
 fometimes in velTels upon the lake. Thefe rejoicings of the nobility 
 procured to this month the name of Tecuiihuit!, the feftival of the 
 lords, or of Tecuilhuitontli, the finali feflival of the lords, as it was 
 truly fo, in comparifon of the fellival of the following month. 
 
 In the eighth month, which began upon the i6th day of July, they 
 made a folemn feftival to the goddefs Centeotl, under tiae name of Xi- 
 lonen ; for as we have already mentioned, they changed the name ac- 
 cording to the fiate of the maize. On this feftival they called her Xi~ 
 lonen ; becaufe the ear of maize, while the grain was ftiill tender, was 
 called Xilotl. The feftival continued eight days, during which there 
 was conftant dancing in the temple of that goddefs. On fuch days, the 
 king and the nobles gave away meat and drink to the populace, both 
 of which were placed in rows in the under area of the temple, and there 
 Vol. I, R r the
 
 3o6 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O; 
 
 BOOK VI. the Chiampmolli, which was one of their moft common drinks, was 
 given, and alfo the Tamalli, which was pafte of maize, made into fmall 
 rolls, and alfo other provifions, of which we fhall treat hereafter. Pre- 
 fents were made to the priefts, and the nobles invited each other reci- 
 procally to entertainments, and prefented each other with gold, filver, 
 beautiful feathers, and curious animals. They fung the glorious ac- 
 tions of their anceftórs, and boafted of the noblenefs and antiquity of 
 their families. At fun-let, when the feafting of the populace was 
 ended, the prlefts had their dance which continued four hours, and on 
 that account there was a fplendid illumination in the temple. The 
 laft day was celebrated with the dance of the nobility and the military, 
 among whom danced alfo a female prifoner, who reprefented that god- 
 defs, and was lacrificed after the dance along with the other prifon- 
 ers. Thus the feflival, as well as the month, had the name of Huei- 
 tccuilhiiitl, that is, the great feflival of the lords. 
 
 In the ninth month, which began on the 5th of Augufl:, the fecond 
 feftival of Huitzilopochtli was kept ; on which, befides the ufual cere- 
 monies, they adorned all the idols with flowers ; not only thofe which 
 M'ere worfliippsd in the temples, but likewife thofe which they had 
 for private devotion in their houfes ; from whence the month was 
 called 'Tlaxochimaco. The night preceding the feftival was emploved 
 in preparing the meats which they eat next day with the greaf.eft ju- 
 bilee. The nobles of both fcxes danced together, the arms of the 
 one refting on the Ihoulders of the other. This dance, which Lifted 
 until the evening, finiOied with the facrifice of fome prifoners. In 
 tliis month aUo the feflival of Jacateuótli, the god of commerce, v/as 
 held, accompanied with facritices. 
 
 In the tenth month, the beginning of which was on the 25th of 
 
 xxxiv. Auguft, they kept the feftival of Xhihtcudlli, god of fire. In the 
 
 the tenth dc- preceding months, the prielis brought out of the woods a large tree, 
 
 veiith, v.'hich they fixed in the under area of the temple. The day before 
 
 thirteenth the feftival they ftript off its branches and bark, and adorned it with 
 
 HK.iiths. painted paper, and from that time it was reverenced as the image of 
 
 Xiuhteudtli. The owners of the prifoners which were to be facrificed 
 
 on this occalion, dyed their bodies with red ochre, to refemble in fome 
 
 meafure the colour of fire, and were drelled in their beft garments. 
 
 They 
 
 S
 
 II r S T O R Y a F M E X I e O. 307 
 
 They went to the temple, acconipiinied by their prilbners, and palled eook vr. 
 the whole night in linging and dancing with thciii. The day ot' the ^-— -v-^J 
 feltival being arrived, and alfo the hour of the lacrifice, they tied the 
 hands and feet of the victims, and fprinkled the powder oVyauhtli (fj 
 in their faces, in order to deaden their fenfes, that their torments might 
 be lefs painful. Then they began the dance, each with his viflim 
 upon his back, and one after the other threw them into a large fire 
 kindled in the area, from which they foon after drew them with 
 hooks of wood, to complete the facrifice upon the altar in the ordi- 
 nary way. The Mexicans gave to this month the name of Xocohuetzi, 
 which lignifies the maturity of tlie fruits. The Tlafcalans called the 
 ninth month Miccaìlbeuìtl, or the feftival of the dead ; bec.iufe in it 
 they made oblations for the fouls of the deceafed ; and the tenth month 
 Huciiniccailbintl, or the grand feftival of the dead ; becaufe in that they 
 wore mourning, and made lamentation for the death of their anceftors. 
 Five days before the commencement of the eleventh month, which 
 began on the 1 4th of September, all feftivals ceafed. During the firft 
 eight days of the month, was a dance, but without mufic or iingingj 
 every one dire^fling his movements according to his own pleafure. Af- 
 ter this period was elapfed, they clothed a female prifoner in the habit 
 of Teteoinan, or the mother of the gods, wliofe feftival was cele- 
 brating; the prifoner was attended by many women, and particularly 
 by the midwives, who for four whole days employed themfelves to a- 
 mufe and comfort her. When the principal day of the feftival was 
 arrived, they led this woman to the upp^r area of the temple of that 
 goddefs, where they facrificed her ; but this was not performed in the 
 ufual mode, nor upon the common altar whore other vi6lims were fii- 
 crificcd, for they beheaded her upon the rtioulders of another woman, 
 and ftripped her fkin of, which a youth, with a numerous attend- 
 ance, carried to prcfent to the idol of Huitzilopochtli, in memory of 
 the inhuman facrifice which their anceftors had made of the priiicefs 
 
 (/) The Jauhtii is a plant whofc llcm is about a cubit long, its Icives arc fiinilar to thofc 
 lit ihe willow, but indented, its flowcri arc yellow and the rouls thin. 'I'he flowers, as well 
 as the other parts of the plant, have the fame fincU and tallc as thofc of the anife. It is very 
 ufeful in medicine, and the Mexican phyficians applied it in different diilempcrs ; it was allo 
 piade ufc of for many fupcrllitious ends, 
 
 R r 2 of
 
 3o8 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VI. of Colhuacan ; but before it was preiented, they focrificed in the ufual 
 
 mode four prifoners, in memory, as is probable, of the four Xochi- 
 
 milcan prifoners which they had facrificed during their captivity in 
 
 Colhuacan. In this month they made a review of their troops, and 
 
 enlifted thofe youths who were deftined to the profeffion of arms, and 
 
 who, in future were to ferve in war when there fliould be occafion. 
 
 All the nobles and the populace fwept the temples, on which account 
 
 this month took the name of Ocbpani%tli, which fignifies, ajhveeping. 
 
 They cleaned and mended the ftreets, and repaired the aquedudts and 
 
 their houfes, all which labours were attended with many fuperftitious 
 
 rites. 
 
 In the twelfth month, which began upon the 4th of Odtober, they 
 
 cebrated the feftival of the arrival of the gods, which they exprefled 
 by the word Teotkco, which name alio they gave to both the month 
 and the feftival. On the i6th day of this month, they covered all the 
 temples, and the corner ftones of the ftreets of the city with green 
 branches. On the 18th, the gods, acording to their accounts, began 
 to arrive, the firft of whona was the great god Tezcatlipoca. They 
 fpread before the door of the fanftuary of this god a mat made of the 
 palm-tree, and fprinkled upon it fome powder of maize. The high- 
 prieft ftood in watch all the preceding night, and went frequently to 
 look at the mat, and as foon as he difcovered any footfteps upon the 
 powder, which had been trod upon, no doubt, by fome other deceit- 
 ful prieft, he began to cry out, " Our great god is 7iow arrived." All 
 the other priefts, with a great croud of people, repaired there to adore 
 him, and celebrate his arrival with hymns and dances, which were 
 repeated all the reft of the night. On the two days following, other 
 gods fucceiiively arrived, and on the twentieth and laft day, when they 
 believed that all their gods were come, a number of youths dreffed in 
 the form of various monfiers, danced around a large fire, into which, 
 from time to time, they threw prifoners, who were there confumed as 
 burnt lacrifices. At fun-fet they made great entertainments, at which 
 they drank more tlian ufual, imagining, that the wine with which 
 they tilled their bellies, would ferve to wafli the feet of their gods. 
 To fuch excefies did the barbarous fuperflition of thofe people lead ! 
 Nor v/à& the ceremony which they pradlifed, in order to prcferve their 
 
 children
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 children from the evil which they dreaded from one of their gods, lefs 
 extravagant : this w^as the cuftom of fticking a number of feathers on 
 their flioulders, their arms, and legs, by means of turpentine. 
 
 In the thirteenth month, which began on the 24th of Oftober, 
 the feftival of the gods of water and the mountains, was celebrated. 
 The name TcpcHhuit!, which was given to this month, fignified only 
 the feftival of the mountains. They made little mountains of paper, 
 on which they placed fome little ferpents made of wood, or of roots 
 of trees, and certain fmall idols called Ehecatotontin, covered with a 
 particular pafle. They put both upon the altars and worfliipped them, 
 as the images of the gods of the mountains, fung hymns to them, and 
 prefented copal and meats to them. The prifoners who were facrificed 
 at this feftival were five in number, one man and four women ; to each 
 of whicli a particular name was given, alluding, probably, to fome 
 myftery of which we are ignorant. They clothed them in painted 
 paper, which was befmeared withelaftic gum, and carried them in pro- 
 celTion In litters, after which they facrificed them in the ufual manner. 
 In the fourteenth month, which commenced on the 1 3th of Novem- 
 ber, was the feftival of Mixxoatl, goddels of the chace. It was pre- 
 ceded by four days of rigid and general fafting, accompanied with the 
 effufion of blood, during which time they made arrows and darts for 
 the fupply of their arfcnals, and alfo certain fmall arrows which they 
 placed together with pieces of pine, and fome meats, upon the tombs 
 of their relations, and after one day burned them. When the faft was 
 over, the inhabitants of Mexico and Tlatelolco went out to a general 
 chace in one of the neighbouring mountains, and all the animals which 
 they caught were brought, with great rejoicings to Mexico, where they 
 were facrificed to Mixcoatl ; the king himfelf was prefent not only at 
 the facrifice, but likewife at the chace. They gave to this month the 
 name of ^ecbolli, becaufe at this feafon the beautiful bird which went 
 amongft them by that name, and by many called Jiammingo, made its 
 appearance on the banks of the Mexican lake. 
 
 In the fifteenth month, the beginning of which was on the 3d day 
 of December, the third and principal flftival of Hultzilopochtli and 
 his brother, was celebrated. On the firft day of the month, the priefts 
 formed two ftatues of thofe two gods, of different feeds pafted toge- 
 ther, 
 
 Sect. 
 XXXV. 
 
 The if Ili va Is 
 of the fivclall 
 months.
 
 310 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK VJ. ther, with the blood of children that had been facrificed, in which 
 in the place of bones they fubftituted pieces of the wood of acacia. 
 They placed thefe ftatues upon the principal altar of the temple, and 
 during the whole of that night the priefts kept watch. The day fol- 
 lowing-, they gave their benediólion to the ftatues, and alfo to a fmall 
 quantity of water which \\'as preferred in the temple for the purpofe 
 of being fprinkled on the face of any new king of Mexico, and of the 
 general of their armies after their eleftion ; but the general, befides be- 
 ing befprinkled, was required to drink it. As foon as the ftatues were 
 confecrated by this benediction, the dance of both fexes began, and 
 continued all the month for three or four hours every day. During 
 the whole of the month a great deal of blood was flied j and four days 
 before the feftival, the mafters of the prifoners which were to be facri- 
 ficed, and which were feledled for the occafion, obferved a faft, and 
 had their bodies painted of various colours . In the morning of the 
 twentieth day, on which the feftival was held, a grand and folemn pro- 
 ceffion was made. A prieft bearing a ferpent of wood, which he raifed 
 high up in his hands, called Ezpamitl, and which was the badge of the 
 gods of war, went firft, v/ith another prieft bearing a ftandard, fuch as 
 theyufed in their armies. After them came a third prieft,, who carried 
 the ftatue of the god Painalton, the vicar of Huitzilopochtli. Then came 
 the viftims after the other priefts, and laftly, the people. The pro- 
 ceffion fet out from the greater temple, towards the diftricft of Teot' 
 lachco, where it ftopped, while two prilbners of war, and fonie pur- 
 chafed flaves, were facrificed ; they proceeded next to Tlatelolco, Po- 
 potla, and Chapoltepec, from whence they returned to the city, and 
 after having paffed through other diftricfts, re-entered the temple. 
 
 This circuit of nine or X.z\\ miles, which they performed, confumed 
 the greateft part of the day, and at all the places where they ftopped, they 
 facrificed quails, and, probably, fome prifoners alfo. When they ar- 
 rived at the temple, they placed the ftatue of Painalton, and the ftand- 
 ard, upon the altar of Huitzilopochtli j the king offered incenfe to the 
 two ftatues of feeds, and then ordered another proceifion to be made 
 round the temple, at the conci ufion of which they facrificed the reft 
 of the prifoners and flaves. Thefe facrifices were made at the clofe of 
 day. That night the priefts kept watch, and the next morning they 
 
 carried
 
 II I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 311 
 
 carried the ftatue in pafle of Huitzilopochtli to a great hall, which BOOK VI. 
 
 was within the precindls of the temple, and there in the prefence only 
 
 of tlie king, four principal priefts, and four fuperiors of the femina- 
 
 naries, the prieft Quetzalcoatl, who was the chief of the Tlamacaz- 
 
 qui, or penance-doers, threw a dart at the ftatue, which pierced it 
 
 through and through. They then faid, that their god was dead. One 
 
 of the principal priefls cut out the heart of the ftatue, and gave it to 
 
 the king to eat. The body was divided in two parts ; one of which 
 
 was given to the -people of Tlatelolco, and the other to the Mexicans. 
 
 The (hare was again divided into four parts, for the four quarters of 
 
 the city, and each of thefe four parts into as many minute particles 
 
 as there were men in each quarter. Tiiis ceremony they expreffed by 
 
 the word T'eocuah, which fignifies, the god to be eat. The women 
 
 never tafted this facred pafle, probably, becaufe they had no concern 
 
 with the profeflion of arms. We are ignorant, whether or not they 
 
 made the lame ufe of the ftatue of Tlacahuepan. The Mexicans gave 
 
 to this month the name of Panquctzali-ztli, which fignifies, the raifing 
 
 of the fìandard, alluding to the one which tliey carried in the above 
 
 procefilon. In this month they employed themfelves in renewing the 
 
 boundaries, and repairing the inclofures of their fields. 
 
 In the fixteenth month, which began upon the 23d of December, 
 the fifth and lafl fcftival of the gods of water, and the mountains, took 
 place. They prepared for it with the ufual auftcrities, by making ob- 
 lations of copal and other aromatic gums.' They formed little figures 
 of the mountains, which they confecrated to thofe gods, and certain 
 little idols made of the parte of various eatable feeds, of which when 
 they had worHiipped them, they opened the breafts, and cut out the 
 hearts, with a weaver's Shuttle, and afterwards cut off their heads, in 
 imitation of the rites of the flicrifices. The body was divided by the 
 heads of families amongft their doaieftics, in order that by eating them 
 they might be prefervcd from certain dillcmpers, to which thofe perfoiis 
 who were negligent of worHiip to thofe deities conceived themfelves 
 to be fubjecl. They burned the habits in which they had drefied the 
 fmall idols, and preferved the allies with the utmoft care in tiieir ora- 
 tories, and alfo the vefiels in which the images had been formed. Be- 
 fidcs thofe rites, which were ufually obferved in private houfcs, they 
 
 made
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 made fome facrifices of human vldlims in the temple. For four days 
 preceding the felHval, a flridl fal^ was obferved, accompanied with the 
 cffufion of blood. This month was called Atcmo-zth, which lignifies 
 the defcent of tlie water, for a reafou which we will immediately 
 mention (g). 
 
 In the feventeenth month, which began upon the I2th of January, 
 they celebrated the feftival of the goddefs Ilamateutìli. A female pri- 
 foner was felefted to reprefent her, and was clothed in the habit of her 
 idol. They made her dance alone to a tune which fome old priefls 
 fung to her, and flie was permitted to exprefs her afflidion at her ap- 
 proaching death, which, however, was efteemed a bad omen .from 
 other vidlims. At fun-fet, on the day of the feftival, the priells adorned 
 with the enfigns of various gods, facrificed her in the ufual manner, 
 and afterwards cut off her head, when one of the priells, taking it in his 
 hand, began a dance, in which he was joined by the reft. The priefts, 
 during this feftival, made a race down the ftairs of the temple; and the 
 following day the populace entertained themfelves with a game funilar 
 to the Lupercalia of the Romans ; for running through the ftreets, 
 they beat all the women they met with little bags of hay. In this 
 fame month they kept the feftival of Mi<ltlanteud:li, god of hell, on 
 which they made a nodturnal facrifice of a prifoner, and alfo the fe- 
 cond feftival of Jacateutìli, god of the merchants. The name Trititi, 
 which they gave to this month, fignifies the conftringent power of the 
 feafon which the cold occafions (Jj) . 
 
 In the eighteenth and laft month, which began on the firft of Fe- 
 bruary, the fecond feftival of the god of fire was held. On the loth 
 day of this month, the whole of the Mexican youth went out to the 
 chace, not only of wild beafts in the woods, but alfo to catch the birds 
 of the lake. On the fixteenth, the fire of the temple and private 
 houfes was extinguiflied, and they kindled it anew before the idol of that 
 
 ('^1 Martino di Leone, a Dominican, makes Alemorjll fignify, the altar of the gods ; but the 
 name of the altar is Tcomonwztli, not AteiiwztU. Boturini pretends that the name is a contrac- 
 tion of Atcomoinoztlt, but fuch contractions obtained not among the Mexicans ; befides the 
 figure of this month which reprefents water falling obliquely upon the fleps of an edifice, ex-, 
 preflcs exaftly the defcent of water fignified by the word Aiemo-z,tli, 
 
 (/>) The aSove author fays, that Titltl fignifies our belly ; but all thofe who underfiand 
 the Mexican language know that fuch a name would be a folccifni. 
 
 5 god.
 
 H I 3 T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 313 
 
 god, which they adorned on the occafion, with gems and beautiful BOOK VI 
 feathers. The hunters prefented all their fpoils to the priefls, one 
 part of which was confumed in burnt-offerings to their gods, and the 
 other was facrificed, and afterwards drelTed for the tables of the nobi- 
 lity and priefts. The women made oblations of Tamalli, which they 
 afterwards diftributed among the hunters. One of the ceremonies ob- 
 ferved upon this occafion was that of boring the ears of all the chil- 
 dren of each fex, and putting ear-rings in them. But the greatefb fin- 
 gularity attending this feftival was that not a fingle human vidtim was 
 facrihced at it. 
 
 They celebrated likewife in this month the fecond feftival of the mo- 
 ther of the gods, refpefting which, however, we know nothing ex- 
 cept the ridiculous cuftom of lifting up the children by the ears into 
 the air, from a belief that they would thereby become higher in ftature. 
 With regard to the name Izcalli, which they gave to this month, we 
 are unable to give any explanation (/). 
 
 After the eighteen months of the Mexican year were completed on 
 the 20th of February, upon the 2 1 ft the five days called Nemontemi com- 
 menced, during which days no feftival was celebrated, nor any enter- 
 prife undertaken, becaufe they were reckoned dies infanjlt, or unlucky 
 days. The child that happened to be born on any of thefe days, if it 
 was a boy, got the name of Nemoquichtli, ufelefs man 3 if fhe was a girl, 
 received the name of Ncncihiiatly ufelefs woman. 
 
 Among the feftivals annually celebrated, the mcft folemn were thofe 
 of Teoxihuitl. or divine years, of which kind were all thofe years 
 which had the rabbit for their denominative charadler. The facrifices 
 were on fuch occafions more numerous, the oblations more abtmdant, 
 and the dances more folemn, efpecially in Tlafcala, in Huexotzinco, 
 and Cholula. In like manner, the feftivals at the beginning of every 
 period of thirteen years, were attended with more pomp and gravity ; 
 that is, in the years i Tochtli, i Acati, 1 Tecpntl, and i Calli. 
 
 But the feftival which was celebrated every fifty-two years, was by far Sect. 
 
 . XXX\*1 
 
 the moft fplcndid and moft folemn, not only among the Mexicans, but Sciuiar ici. 
 
 tival. 
 
 (/) Izctilli fignlfics, Behold the houfc. The interpretations given by Torquemada .ind 
 Leone are too violent. 
 
 Vol. I. Ss like-
 
 w. 
 
 314 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK VI. likewife among all the nations of that empire, or who were neighbour- 
 ■"^ ing to it. On the laft night of their century, they extinguiihed the 
 fire of all the temples and houfes, and broke their velleis, earthen pots, 
 and all other kitchen utenfils, preparing themfelves in this manner for 
 the end of the world, which at the termination of each century they ex- 
 pected with terror. The priefts, clothed in various drefTes and enfigns 
 of their gods, and accompanied by a vaft croud of people, iffued from 
 the temple out of the city, direóling their way towards the mountain 
 Hiiixachtla^ near to the city of Iztapalapan, upwards of lix miles di- 
 flant from the capital. They regulated their journey in Ibme meafure 
 by obfervation of the flars, in order that they might arrive at the 
 mountain a little before midnight, on the top of which the new fire was 
 to be kindled. In the mean while, the people remained in the utmoft 
 fufpence and folicitude, hoping on the one hand to find from the new 
 fire a new century granted to mankind, and fearing on the other hand, 
 the total deftrudtion of mankind, if the fire, by divine interference,, 
 fhould not be permitted to kindle. Hufbands covered the faces of their 
 pregnant wives with the leaves of the aloe» and fliut them up in gra- 
 naries ; becaufe they were afraid that they would be converted into 
 wild beafts and would devour them. They alio covered the flices of 
 children in that way, and did not allow them to fleep, to prevent their 
 being transformed into mice. All thole who did not go out with the 
 priefts, mounted upon terraces, to obferve from thence the event of 
 the ceremony. The office of kindling the fire on this occafion be- 
 longed exclufively to a prieft of Copoko, one of the dillrióts of the 
 city. The infbruments for this purpofe were, as we have already men- 
 tioned, two pieces of wood, and the place on which the fire was produced 
 from them, was the breafl of fome brave prifoner whom they facri- 
 ficed. As foon as the fire was kindled, they all at once exclaimed 
 with ioy ; and a great fire was made on the mountain that it might 
 be ke,n. from afar, in which they afterwards burned the vidlim whom, 
 they had lacrificed. Immediately they took up portions of the facred 
 fire, and llrove with each other who fliould carry it molt fpeedilv ta 
 their houfes. The priefts carried it to the greater temple of Mex- 
 ico, from whence all the inhabitants of that capital were fupplied with 
 it. During the thirteen days which followed the renewal of the fire, 
 
 which
 
 HISTORYOF MEXICO. 315 
 
 which were tlie intercalary days, interpofed between the paft andenTu- EOOK VI. 
 ing century to adjull: the year with the courle of the fun, they em- 
 ployed themfelves in repairing and whitening the public and private 
 buildings, and in furnifhing themfelves with new drefles and domeftic 
 utcnfils, in order that every thing might be new, or at leafl appear 
 to be fo, upon the commencement of the new century. On the firft 
 day of that year, and of that century, which as we have already men- 
 tioned, corrcfponded to the 26th of February, for no perfon was it 
 lawful to tafte water before mid-day. At that hour the facrifices be- 
 gan, the number of which was fuited to the grandeur of the fedival. 
 Every place refounded with the voice of gladnefs and mutual congra- 
 tulations on account of the new century which heaven had granted to 
 them. The illuminations made during the firft nights were extremely 
 magnificent ; their ornaments of drefs, their entertainments, dances, 
 and public games, were fuperiorly folemn. Amongfl the laft, amidft 
 an immenfe concourfe of people, and the moft lively demonftrations 
 of joy, the game of the flyers, which we Ihall defcribe in another 
 place, was exhibited ; in which the number of flyers were four, and 
 the number of turns which each made in his flight, thirteen, which 
 fignified the four periods of thirteen years, of which the century was 
 compofed. 
 
 What we have hitherto related concerning the fefl:ivals of the Mexi- 
 cans, clearly evinces their fuperftitious charader ; but it will appear 
 ftill mo^ evident from the account we are now to give of the rites 
 which they obferved upon the birth of children, at their marriages, and 
 at funerals. 
 
 As foon as a child was born, the midwife, after cutting the navel- s e e 
 ftring, and burying the fecundine, bathed it, faying thefe words j ]>'^'^^ ur'^' 
 Receive the water ; for toe goddefs Ciialchiuhcueje is thy mother. May «^■'j upon the 
 this bath cleanfe the fpots which thou beareji from the womb of thy mo- jicn. 
 thery purify thy heart and give thee a good and perfeSl life. Then ad- 
 drefling her prayer to that goddefs, flie demanded in fimilar words the 
 fame favour from her; and taking up the water again with her right 
 hand, fhe blew upon it, and wet the mouth, head, and breafl: of the 
 child with it, and after bathing the whole of its body, (he faid : May 
 the invijible God defend upon this water ^ and cleanfe thee of every fin 
 
 S s 2 and
 
 3i6 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VI. and impurity, and free thee from evi! fortune : and then turning to the 
 child, ihe Ipoke to it thus : Lovely child, the gods OmeteudlU mid 
 Omecihuatl have created thee in the highcfi place of heaven, in order to 
 fend thee into the world ; but kno-jo that the life on which thou art en- 
 tering is fad, painful, and full of uneafincfs and miferies : iior will thou 
 be able to eat thy bread without labour : May God ajjijl thee in the many 
 adverjities which await thee. This ceremony was concluded with con- 
 gratulations to the parents and relations of the child. If it was the 
 Ion of the king, or of any great lord, the chief of his fubjeóls came to 
 congratulate the father, and to wiih the higheft profperity to his 
 child {k). 
 
 When the firft bathing was done, the diviners were confulted con- 
 cerning the fortune of the child, for which purpofe they were in- 
 formed of the day and hour of its birth. They confidered the na- 
 ture of the lign of that day, and the ruling fign of that period of 
 thirteen days to which it belonged, and if it \^'as born at midnight, 
 two figns concurred, that is, the fign of the day which was juft con- 
 cluding, and that of the day which was juft beginning. After having 
 made their obfervations, they pronounced the good or bad fortune of 
 the child. If it was bad, and if the fifth day after its birth-day, on 
 which the fecond bathing was ufually performed, was one of the dies 
 infaujli, the ceremony was poilponed until a more favourable occafion. 
 To the fecond bathing, which was a more folemn rite, all the relations 
 and friends, and fome young boys were invited ; and if the parents 
 were in good circumftances, they gave great entertainments, and made 
 prefents of apparel to all the guefts. If the father of the child was a 
 military perfon, he prepared for this ceremony a little bow, four 
 arrows, and a little habit, refembling in make that which the child, 
 when grown up, would wear. If he was a countryman, or an artill, 
 
 {ii) In Guatemala, and other furrounding provinces, the births of male children were cele- 
 brated with much foltmnity and fuperflition. As foon as the fon was born a turkey was fa- 
 crificed. The bathing was performed in fome fouEtain, or river, where they made oblations 
 of copal, and facrifices of parrots. The navel llring was cut upon an ear of maize, and with 
 a neiv knife, which was immediately after call into the river. They fowed the feeds of that 
 ear, and attended to its growth with the utmofl care, as if it had been a ficred thing. What 
 wa» reaped from this feed was divided into three parts ; one of which was given to the di- 
 viner ; of another part they made pap for the child, and the reft was preferred until the 
 fame child Ihoulj be old enough to be able to fo.v it. 
 
 he 
 9
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 he prepared fome inftruments belonging to his art, proportioned in fize 
 to the infancy of the child. If the child was a girl, they furnidied a lit- 
 tle habit, fuitable to her fex, a fmall fpindle, and fome other little inftra- 
 ments for weaving. They lighted a great number of torches, and th-3 
 midwife taking up the child, carried it through all the yard of the 
 houfe, and placed it upon a heap of the leaves of fword grafs, clofe by 
 a bafon of water, which was prepared in the middle of the yard, and 
 then undrelììng^it, faid: il^<:Z»/A/,/Zi£'^i>rt'j-Omemeteu6lli ^WOmecihuatl, 
 lo7-ds of heaveiiy have Jent thee to this dijinal and calamitous vcorld. 
 Receive this ivater which is to give thee life. And after wetting its 
 mouth, head, and breaft, with forms fimilar to thofe of the firft bath- 
 ing, fhe bathed its whole body, and rubbing every one of its limbs, 
 faid. Where art thou ill Fortune ? In ivhat limb art thou hid ? Go far 
 from this child. Having fpoke this, flie raifed up the child to offer it 
 to the gods, praying them to adorn it with every virtue. The fini 
 prayer was offered to the two gods before named, the fecond to the 
 goddefs of water, the third to all the gods together, and the fourth to 
 the fun and the earth. Toufun, flie faid, father of all things that live 
 upon the earth, our mother, receive this chili, and protesi him as your own 
 fon ; andfince he is born for war (if his father belonged to the army)> 
 may he die in it, defending the honour of the gods ; fo may he enjoy in hea- 
 ven the delights which are prepared for all thofe who facrifice their lives 
 in fo good a caufc. She then put in his little hands the iniiiruments of 
 that art which lie was to exercife, with a prayer addreffed to the pro- 
 teding god of the fame. The inftruments of the military art were bu- 
 ried in fome fields, where, in future, it was imagined the boy would 
 fight in battle, and the female inftruments were buried in the houfe it- 
 fclf, under the ftone for grinding maize. On this fame occafion, if 
 we are to credit Eoturini, thc-y obfervcd the ceremony of paffing the 
 boy four times through the fire. 
 
 Before they put the inftruments of any art into the hands of the 
 child, the midwife rcquefted the young boys who had been invited, to 
 give him a name, which was generally fuch a name as had been fuggefted 
 to them by the father. The midwife then clothed him, and laid him 
 in the cozcl'i, or cradle, praying Joalticitl, the goddefs of cradles, to 
 
 warm
 
 3i8 K I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O, 
 
 BOOK VI. warm him and guard him in her bofom, and Joalteudtli, god of the 
 
 ' " ' night, to make him fleep. 
 
 The name which was given to boys, was generally taken from the 
 fign of the day on which they were born (a rule particularly praftifed 
 ■among the Mixtecas), as Nahuixochitl, or IV Flower, MacuUcoatI, 
 or V Serpent, and Omccalli, or II Houie. At other times the name 
 was taken from circumftances attending the birth ; as for inftance, one 
 of the four chiefs who governed the republic of Tlafcala, at the time 
 of the arrival of the Spaniards, received the name of Citlilpopoca, 
 fmoking ftar ; becaufe he was born at the time of a comet's appear- 
 ance in the heavens. The child born on the day of the renewal of the 
 iire, had the name of Molpilli, if it \\'as a male ; if a female ihe was 
 called Xiuhneneti, alluding in both names to circumftances attending 
 the fertival. Men had in general the names of animals ; women thofe 
 of flowers ; in giving which, it is probable, they paid regard both to 
 the dream of the parents, and the counfel of diviners. For the moft 
 part they gave but one name to boys ; afterwards it was ufual for them 
 to acquire a furname from their adtions, as Montezuma I. on account 
 of his bravery was given the furnames of Ilhuacamina and Tlacaeli. 
 
 When the religious ceremony of bathing was over, an entertain- 
 ment was given, the quality and honours of which correfponded with 
 the rank of the giver. At fuch feafons of rejoicing, a little exxefs in 
 drinking was permitted, as the diforderlinefs of drunken perfons extended 
 not beyond private houfes. The torches were kept burning till they 
 were totally confumed, and particular care was taken to keep up the 
 fire all the four days, which intervened between the firft and fecond 
 ceremony of bathing, as they were perfuaded that an omifilon of fuch 
 a nature would ruin the fortune of the child. Thefe rejoicings were 
 repeated when they weaned the child, which they commonly did at 
 three years of age (IJ. 
 S 5 c T. With refpeét to the marriages of the Mexicans, although in them, 
 
 XxxviiL as well as in all their cuftoms, fuperflition had a great fhare, nothing. 
 
 Nuptial 1 1 1 1 • 1 
 
 ritcj. however, attended them which was repugnant to decency or honour. 
 
 Any marriage between perfons related in the firft degree of confan- 
 
 (/) In Guatcjnala it was tifual to make rejoicings as foon as the child began to walk, and 
 for feven years they contiaued to celebrate the anniverfary of its birth. 
 
 guinity
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 3,19 
 
 guinity or alliance, was ftridly forbid, not only by the laws of Mexico, book viv 
 but alfo by the laws of Michuacan, unlefs it was between coufins (/«). 
 The parents were the perfons who fettled all marriages, and none were 
 ever executed without their confent. When a fon arrived at an age 
 capable of bearing the charges of that ftate, which in men was from 
 the age of twenty to twenty-two years, and in women from fixteen 
 to eighteen, a fuitable and proper wife was fingled out for him ; but 
 before the union was concluded on, the diviners were confulted, who, 
 after having confidered the birtii-day of the youth,, and of the young 
 girl intended for his bride, decided on the happinefs or unhappiniefs of 
 the match. If from the combination of figns attending their births, 
 they pronounced the alliance unpropitious, that young maid was aban- 
 doned, and another fought. If, on the contrary, they predidled hap- 
 pinefs to the couple, the young girl was demanded of her parents by 
 certain women amongfl them called Cihuatianquc, or folicitors, who 
 were the moft elderly and refpeftable amongfl the kindred of the youths 
 Thefe women went the firft time at midnight to the houfe of the dam- 
 fel, carried a prefent to her parents, and demanded her of them in a. 
 humble and refpeótful ftyle. The firft demand, was, according to tlie. 
 cuflom of that nation, infallibly refufed, however advantageous and 
 eligible the marriage might appear to the parents, who gave Ibme plau- 
 fible reafons for their refufil. After a few days were pafl, thofe wo- 
 men returned to repeat their demand, ufing prayers and arguments alfo, 
 in order to obtain theii" requeft, giving an account of die rank and 
 fortune of the youtli, and of what he would make the dowry of his 
 wife, and alfo gaining information of that which, llie could bring to 
 the match on her part. The parents replied to this feconJ requeii:, 
 
 (»/) In the ivth book, tit. 2. of the third provincial council of Mexico, it is fiippofcd that 
 ihc Gentiles of that new world married with their fillers ; but it oiijht to be iinderlluoJ, that' 
 the Zeal of thofc fathers uas not confined in. its exertions to the nations of the Mexican em- 
 pire, aitioiiglì wliom fiich mariagcs were not fufTercd, but extended to the barbarous Clicchc- 
 iiv.xas, the I'anuchefe, and to other nations, which were extremely- uncivilized in their cuf- 
 toms. There is not a doubt, that the council alluded to thofc barbarians, who were then (in 
 1 5.-: 5), in the pro^;refs of their coinerfioii to Chrii'tianity, and not to the Mexic.ins and the na- 
 tion'; under fubjcllion to them, who many years before the council were already converted, 
 rxfides, in the interval of four years, between the conqucrt of the Spani irJs and the |!r inul- 
 j'lition of the gofpcl, many -.ibufive practices liad been introduced among thofc nations never 
 btfure tylera;u4jjndcr (heir kings, .ns the religious milfionaiics cinpl-jycd in their co.Tvcrfion 
 stte.l.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 that it was neceflary to confaU their relations and ccnnedtions, and to 
 find out the inclinations of their daughter, before they could come to 
 any refolation. Thefe female folicitors returned no more ; as the pa- 
 rents themfelves conveyed, by means of other women of their liindred, 
 a dccifive anfwer to the party. 
 
 A favourable anfwer being at lafl obtained, and a day appointed for 
 the nuptials, the parents, after exhorting their daughter to fidelity 
 and obedience to her hufband, and to fuch a conduft in life as would 
 do honour to her fjmily, conduóled her with a numerous company and 
 mufic, to the houfe of her father-in-law ; if noble, flie was carried in 
 a litter. Tlie bridegroom, and the father and mother-in-law, received 
 her at the gate of the houfe, with four torches borne by four women. 
 At meeting, the bride and bridegroom reciprocally offered incenfe to 
 each other; then the bridegroom taking the bride by the hand, led 
 her into the hall, or chamber which was prepared for the nuptials. 
 They botii fate down upon a new and curioufly wrought mat, which 
 was fpread in the middle of the chamber, and clofe to the fire whicii 
 w-as kept lighted. Then a prieft tied a point of the buepilH, of gown 
 of the bride, with the tilmatU, or mantle of the bridegroom, and in 
 this ceremony the matrimonial contradl* chiefly confifted. The wife 
 now made fome turns round the fire, and then returning to her mat, 
 flie, along with her hufband, offered copal to their gods, and exchang- 
 ed prefents with each other. The repafl followed next. The mar- 
 ried pair eat upon the mat, giving mouthfuls to each other alternately 
 and to the guefls in their places. When thofe who had been invited 
 were become exhilarated with wine, which was freely drank on Ilich 
 occafions, they went out to dance in the yard of the houfe, while the 
 married pair remained in the chamber, from which, during four days, 
 they never flirred, except to obey the calls of nature, or to go to the 
 oratory at midnight to burn incenfe to the idols, and to make obla- 
 tions of eatables. They pafied thefe four days in prayer and failing, 
 drefled in new habits, and adorned with certain enfigns of the gods of 
 their devotion, without proceeding to any ad: of lefs decency, fearing 
 that otherwife the punifliment of heaven would fall upon them. Their 
 beds on thefe nights were two mats of rulhes, covered with fmall 
 Iheets, with certain feathers, and a gem of Chalchihiiitl in the middle 
 
 of
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 of them. At the four corners of the bed green canes and fpines of the 
 aloe were laid, with which they were to draw blood from their tongues 
 and their ears in honour of their gods. The priefts were the perfons 
 who adjufted the bed to fanólify the marriage; but we know nothing 
 of the myftery of the canes, the feathers, and the gem. Until the 
 fourth night the marriage was not conkimmated; they believed it would 
 have proved unlucky, if they had anticipated the period of confum- 
 mation. The morning after they bathed themfelves and put on new 
 drefl'es, and thofe who had been invited, adorned their heads with 
 white, and their hands and feet with red feathers. The ceremony was 
 concluded by making prefents of dreiles to the guells, which were pro- 
 portioned to the circumftances of the married pair ; and on that fame 
 day they carried to the temple the mats, fhcets, canes, and the eatables 
 which had been prefented to the idols. 
 
 The forms which we have defcribed, in the marriages of the Mexi- 
 cans were not fo univerfal through the empire, but that fome provinces 
 obferved other peculiarities. In Ichcatlan, whoever was defirous of 
 marrying prefented himfelf to the priefts, by whom he was condudled 
 to the temple, where they cut oft' a part of his hair before the idol 
 which was worlhipped there, and then pointing him out to the people, 
 they began to exclaim, faying, this man iv'ijhes to take a wife. Then 
 they made him defcend, and take the firft free woman he met, as 
 the one whom heaven deftined to him. Any woman who did not like 
 to have him for a huft)and, avoided coming near to the temple at that 
 time, that fhe might not fubjeft herfelf to the neceflity of marrying 
 him : this marriage was only fingular therefore in the mode of feeking 
 for a wife. 
 
 Among the Otomies, it was lawful to ufe any free woman before 
 they married her. When any perfon was about to take a wife, if on 
 the firft night he found any thing about his wife which was difagree- 
 able to him, he was permitted to divorce her the next day ; but if he 
 ihcvved himfelf all that day content with having her, he could not af- 
 terwards abandon her. The contrad: being thus ratified, the p?.ir re- 
 tired to do penance for paft offences twenty or thirty day?, during 
 which period they abftained from moft of the pleafures of the fenfes, 
 drew blood from themfelves, and frequently bathed. 
 
 Vol. I. T t Among
 
 322 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK-\-l. Among the Miztecas, befides the ceremony of tying the married. 
 
 ' "^ ' D.iir to-ether by the end of their garments, they cut off a part of their 
 hair, and the hufband carried his wife for a little time upon his back. 
 They permitted polygamy in the Mexican empire. The kings and 
 lords had numerous wives ; but it is probable, that they obferved all the 
 ceremonies with their principal wives only, and that v/ith the refi the 
 effential rite of tying their garments together was fufficient. 
 
 The Spanifii theologifts and canoiiifts, who went to Mexico imme- 
 diately after the conqueft, being unacquainted with the culloms of 
 tliofe people, raifed doubts about their marriages ; but v/hen they had 
 learnt the language, and properly examined that and other points of 
 importance, they acknov/ledged fuch marriages to be juft and lawful. 
 Pope Paul III. and the provincial council of Mexico, ordered, in 
 conformity to the facred canons, and the ufage of the church, that all 
 thofe who were v.'illing to embrace Chriftianicy, fljould keep no other 
 wife but the one whom they had firft married. 
 Sect. However fuperftitious the Mexicans were in other matters, in the 
 
 Funein/^' = ""^^^^ Vvhich they cbferved at funerals they exceeded themfelves. As foon 
 as any perfon died, certain maflers of funeral ceremonies were called, 
 who were generally men advanced in years. They cut a number of 
 pieces of paper, with which they dreffed the dead body, and took a 
 glafs of water witli wdiich they fprinkled the head, laying, that that 
 was the water ufed in the time of their life. They then drelTed it in 
 a habit fuitable to the rank, the wealth, and the circumftances attend- 
 ing the death of the party. If the deceafed had been a warrior, they 
 clothed him in the habit of Fluitzilopochtli; if a merchant, in that 
 of Jacatuctli ; if an artift, in that of the protecting god of his art or, 
 trade : one who had been drowned was drefled in the habit of TIaloc j 
 ore who had been executed for adulteiy, in tliat of Tlazolteotl; and a 
 drunkard in the habit of Tezcatzoncatl, god of wine. In liiort, as 
 Gomara has well obferved, t!iey wore more garments after they were 
 dead than while they were living. 
 . With the habit they gave the dead a jug of water, which was to 
 ferve on the journey to the other world, and alfo at fuccefllve different 
 times, different pieces of paper, mentioning the ufe of each. On con- 
 figning the firfl piece to the dead, they faid : By means of this you 'will
 
 H I S T O R Y O F AI E X I e O. 323 
 
 ,fafs ivithont danger bcticeen the two mountains ivhich f.gbt againjl each book VI. 
 other. With the fccond they ilxid : By rmans of this you will walk 
 without obJiruSlim along the road which is defended by the great ferpent . 
 With the third : By this you will go fecurely through the place, where 
 there is the crocodile Xochitonal, The fourth was a fafe pafTport through 
 the eight deferts j the fifth tlirough the eight hills ; and the fixth was 
 given in order to pafs without hurt through the iliarp wind ; for 
 they pretended tliat it was neceikiry to pafs a place called Itzehccajan, 
 where a wind blew fo violently as to tear up rocks, and fo fharp that 
 it cut like a knife ; on which account they burned all the habits which 
 the deceafed had worn during life, their arms, and fome houlliold 
 goods, in order that the heat of this fire might defend them from the 
 cold of that terrible wind. 
 
 One of the chief and moft ridiculous ceremonies at funerals was the 
 killing a techichi, a domellic quadruped, which we have already men- 
 tioned, refembling a little dog, to accompany the deceafed in their jour- 
 ney to the other world. They fixed a firing about its neck, believ- 
 ing that nsceflary to enable it to pafs the deep river of Chiu/mahuapan, 
 or New Waters. They buried the techichi, or burned it along with the 
 body of its mader, according to the kind of death of which he died. 
 Wliile the mailers of the ceremonies were lighting up the fire in which 
 the body was to be burned, the other priefls kept finging in a melan- 
 choly firrain. After burning the body, they gathered the arties in an 
 earthen pot, amongfl which, according to the circumftances of the de- 
 ceafed, they put a gem of more or lefs value ; which they faid would 
 ferve him in place of a heart in the other world. They buried this 
 earthen pot in a deep ditch, and fourfcore days after made oblations of 
 bread and wine over it. 
 
 Such were the funeral rites of the common people ; but at the death 
 of kings, and that of lords, or perfons of high rank, fome peculiar 
 forms were obferved that are wortiiy to be mentioned. When the king 
 fell fick, fays Gomara, they put a maili on the idol of Huitzilopochtli, 
 and alio one on the idol of fezcatlipoca, which they never took off 
 until the king was either dead or recovered ; but it is certain, that the 
 idol of Huitzilopochtli had always two mafks, not one. As foon as a 
 king of Mexico happened to die, his death was pubiilhed in great 
 
 T t 2 form.
 
 J24 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK VI. form, and all the lords wlio refided at court, and alfo thofe who wei:e 
 but a little diftant from it were informed of the event, in order that 
 they might be prefent at the funeral. In the mean time they laid the royal 
 corpfe upon beautiful curioufly wrought mats, v/hich was attended 
 and watched by his domellics. Upon the fourth or fifth day after, 
 when the lords were arrived, who brought with them rich dreffes, 
 beautiful feathers, and flaves to be prefented, to add to the pomp of 
 the funeral, they clothed the corpfe in fifteen, or more, very fine habits 
 of cotton of various colours, ornamented it with gold, filver, and 
 gems, hung an emerald at the under lip, which was to ferve in place 
 of a heart, covered the face with a mafli, and over the habits were 
 placed the enfigns of that god, in whofe temple or area the afiies were 
 to be buried. They cut off fome of the hair, which, together with 
 fome more which had been cut off in the infancy of the king, they 
 preferved in a little box, in order to perpetuate, as they laid, the me- 
 mory of the deceafed. Upon the box they laid an image of the deceafed, 
 made of wood, or of ftone. Then they killed the flave who was his 
 chaplain, who had had the care of his oratory, and all that belonged 
 to the private worlhip of his gods, in order that he might ferve him 
 in the fame office in the other world. 
 
 The funeral procefiion came next, accompanied by all the relations 
 of the deceafed, the whole of the nobility, and the wives of the late 
 king, who teftified their forrow by tears and other demonffrations of 
 grief. The nobles carried a great ftandard of paper, and the royal arms 
 and enfigns. The priefts continued finging, but without any mufical 
 inftrument. Upon their arrival at the lower area of the temple, the 
 high-prieft, together with their fervants, came out to meet the royal 
 corpfe, which, without delay, they placed upon the funeral pile,, 
 which was prepared there for that purpofe of odoriferous refinous woods, 
 together with a large quantity of copal, and other aromatic fubftances. 
 While the royal corpfe, and all its habits, the arms and enfigns were 
 burning, they facrificed at the bottom of the ftairs of the temple a 
 great number of flaves of thofe which belonged to the deceafed, and 
 alfo of thofe which had been prefented by the lords. Along with the. 
 flaves, they likewife facrificed fome of the irregularly formed m^en, whom 
 the king had colleded in his palaces for his entertainment, in order 
 
 that
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 325 
 
 that they might give him the fame pleafure in the other world; and BOOK vr. 
 for the fame reafon they ufed alfo to facrihce fome of his wives («), * '■ 
 
 The number of the vidtims was proportioned to the grandeur of the fune- 
 ral, and amounted fometimes, as feveral hillorians affirm, to twohundred. 
 Among the other facrifices the techichi was not omitted ; they were 
 firmly perfuaded, that without fuch a guide it would be impoffible to 
 get througli fome dangerous ways whicli led to the other world. 
 
 The day following the aihes v/ere gathered, and the teeth which re- 
 mained entire; they fought carefully for the emerald which had been 
 hung to the under lip, and the whole were put into the box with the 
 hair, and they depoiited the box in the place deflined for his fepulchre. 
 The four following days they made oblations of eatables over the fe- 
 pulchre ; on the fifth, they facrificed fome flaves, and alfo fome others 
 on the twentieth, fortieth, fixtieth, and eightieth day after. From 
 that time forward, they facrificed no more human viftims ; but every 
 year they celebrated tiie day of the funeral with facrifices of rabbits, 
 butterflies, quails, and other birds, and with oblations of bread, wine, 
 copal flowers, and certain little reeds filled with aromatic fubflances, 
 which they called acajetl. This anniverfary was held for four years. 
 
 The bodies of the dead were in general burned ; they buried the bo- 
 dies entire of thofe only who had been drowned, or had died of dropfv, 
 and fome other difeafes ; but what was the reafon of thcfe exceptions 
 we knov/ not. 
 
 There was no fixed place for burials. Many ordered their aflies to sect xr 
 be buried near to fome temple or altar, fome in the fields, and others Their fepuU 
 
 chrcs. 
 
 in thofe facred places of the mountains where facrifices ufed to be 
 ilìade. The afhes of the kings and lords, v/ere, for the mofl part, de- 
 pofited in the towers of the temples (0), efpecially in thofe of the 
 
 («; Acofla fnys (lib. v. cap. 8.) that :it the funerals of lords, all the members of his fa- 
 mily were nicrificcd. But tliis is grolly falle and in itfclf incredible ; for had this been the 
 late, the nobles of Mexico would have foon been exterminated. There is no record in the 
 niltory of Mexico, that at ihc death of tlic king' of Mexico, any of his brothers were liicri- 
 ficed, as this author would Intimate. How ii it pofTulc they could praftife fuch cruelty when 
 the new king was ufually elci'lcd from among the brothers of the dcceafed. 
 
 (p) Soils, in his f lillory of the Conquert of Mexico, alhrnis, that the aflies of the kings 
 were depoiited in Chapoltepec ; but this is falfe, and contradicts the report of the conqueror 
 Cortes, whofc panegyric be wrote, of Ecrnal Dias, and other eye-witneflcs of the contrary. 
 
 greater
 
 320 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O 
 
 BOOK VI. pTcater temple. Cloie to Teotihuacan, where there were many tem- 
 ples, there were alio innumerable fepulchres. The tombs of thofe 
 whofe bodies had been buried entire, agreeable to the teftimony of the 
 anonymous conc.ueror who faw them, were deep ditches, formed with 
 ftone and lime, within which they placed the bodies in a fitting pof- 
 fare upon icpalH, or low feats, together with the inftruments of their 
 art or profeillon. If it was the, fepulchre of any military perfon, they 
 laid a Ihield and fword by him ; it of a woman, a fpindle, a weaver's 
 fliuttle, and a xicalli, which was a certain naturally formed veffel, of 
 which we filali fay more hereafter. In the tombs of the rich they put 
 gold and jewels, bnt ail were provided with eatables for the long jour- 
 ney which they had to make. The Spanifh conquerors, knov.'ing of 
 the gold which was buried with the Mexican lords in their tombs, 
 dug up feveral, and found confiderable quantities of that precious me- 
 tal. Cortes fay in his letters, that at one entry which he made into 
 the capital, when it was befieged by his army, his foldiers found fif- 
 teen hundred CaJieUanos (pj, that is, two hundred and forty ounces of 
 gold, in one fepulchre, which was in the tower of a temple. The 
 anonymous conqueror fays alfo, that he was prefent at the digging up 
 of another fepulchre, from which they took about three thouland Caf- 
 lellanos. 
 
 The caves of the mountains were the fepulchres of the ancient 
 Chechemecas j but, as they grew m.ore civilized, they adopted in tills 
 and other rites, the culloms of the Acolhuan nation, which were 
 nearly the fame with thofe of the Mexicans. 
 
 The Miztecas retained in part the ancient ufage of the Chechemecas, 
 but in fome things they were fingular in their cuftoms. When any 
 of their lords fell lick, they offered prayers, vows, and facrifices for 
 the recovery of his health. If it was reflored, they made great re- 
 joicings. If he died, they continued to fpeak of him as if he was 
 ftill alive, and conduced one of his flaves to the corpfc, drefled him 
 in the habits of his mafter, put a maflc upon his face, and for one 
 whole day, paid him all the honours which they had ufed to render to 
 
 {p) The Spauifli goldfmiths divide the pound weight of gold into two Marchi, or into fix- 
 teen ounces, or a hundred Cajlellams ; confequently, an ounce contains i>\ Cajlellanos. 
 
 the
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 327 
 
 the deceafed. At midnight, four priefts carried the corpfe to be buried BOOK vi. 
 in a wood, or in lome cavern, particularly in that one where they be- 
 lieved the gate of paradile was, and at their return they facrificed the 
 flave, and laid him, with all the ornaments of his tranfitory dignity, 
 in a ditch ; but without covering, him with earth. 
 
 Every year they held a feflival in honour of their laft lord, on which 
 they celebrated his birth, not his death, for of it they never fpoke. 
 
 The Zapotecas, their neighbours embalmed the body of the prin- 
 cipal lord of their nation. Even from the time of the firft Cheche- 
 mecan kings aromatic preparations were in ule among thofe nations to 
 preferve dead bodies from fpeedy corruption ; but we do not know 
 that theie were very frequent. 
 
 We have now communicated all that we know concerning the reli- 
 gion of the Mexicans. The v/eaknefs of their worfliip, the fuperlli- 
 tion of their rites, the cruelty of their facrifices, and the rigour of 
 their auflerities, will the more forcibly manifeft to their defcendants,. 
 the advantages which are derived from a mild, challe, and pure reli- 
 gion, and will difpofe them to thank eternally the Providence which 
 has enlightened them, while their ancefcors were left to perifh in dark- 
 nefs and error. 
 
 COOK
 
 [ 3^^§ 3 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 "The political and military Government of the Mexicans, that Is, the 
 Kings, Lords, Electors, Amhafjadors, Dignities, and Magijirates ; 
 the Judges, Laws, and Pimljlnnents ; the Military Force ; Agriculture, 
 Cbacc, Fljhlng, and Commerce ; the Games ; the Drefs, Food, and 
 Hoiijloold Fwitlture ; the Language, Poetry, Mufic, and T)anàng -, 
 Medicine, Hljlory, and Painting; Sculpture, Mojalc Works, and 
 Cajllng of Metals ; Architecture, and other Arts of that Nation. 
 
 BOOK vn . -|- ]^^ ji^g public as well as private ceconomy of the Mexicans, the 
 \ traces which remain of their political difcernment, of their zeal for 
 juftice, and love of the public good, would meet with little credit, 
 were they not confirmed both by the evidence of their pr.hitiiigs, and 
 the atteflations of many faithful and impartial authors, wlio were eye- 
 .witneiTes of a great part of that which they have written. Thofc who 
 are weak enough to imagine they can know the ancient Mexicans in 
 their defcendants, or from the nations of Canada and Louiiiana, will 
 be apt to confider the account we are to give of their refinement, their 
 laws, and their arts, as fables invented by the Spaniards. But chat we 
 may not violate the laws of hiftory, nor the fidelity due to the public, 
 we fliall candidly fet forth all that which we have found to be authen- 
 tic, without any apprehenfion of cenfure. 
 Ik' I The education of youth, which is the chief fupport of a ftate, and 
 which befl unfolds the charafter of every nation, was amongft the 
 Mexicans of fo judicious a nature as to be of itfelf fufficient to retort 
 the fupercilious contempt of certain critics upon themfelves, who be- 
 lieve the empire of reafon to be circumfcribed to the boundaries of Eu- 
 rope. In whatever we fay on this fubjedl we fliall be guided by the 
 paintings of thofe nations, and their befl informed hiflorians. 
 Sect. I. Nothing, fays F. Acofla, has furprifed me more, or appeared more 
 the Mexican worthy of memory and praife, than the care and method which the 
 ^°"*- Q Mexicans
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 329 
 
 Mexicans obferved in the tuition of youth. It would be difficult, in- \book VII. 
 deed, to find a nation that has bellowed more attention on a point fo "'" 
 important to every ftate. It is true, they mixed luperllitlon with their 
 precepts ; but the zeal they manifefted for the education of their chil- 
 dren, upbraids the negligence of our modern fathers of families; and 
 many of the leflbns which they taught to their youth might ferve as 
 inftru^ftion to ours. All the Mexican children, even thofe of the 
 royal family, were fuckled by their own parents. If the mother was 
 prevented from doing this by ficknefs, flie did not employ a nurfe till 
 Ihe was well informed both of her condition in life, and the quality of 
 her milk. They were acculfomed from infancy to endure hunger, 
 heat, and cold. When they attained five years of age, they were either 
 configned to the priefts, in order that they might be brought up in 
 the feminaries, which was the general praótice with the children of 
 nobles, and even with thofe of the kings themfelves ; or if they were 
 to be educated at home, their parents began at that period to inftrudt 
 them in the worfliip of their gods, and to teach them the forms by 
 which they were to pray and implore their protedtion. They were 
 led frequently to the temple, that they might become attached to reli" 
 gion. An abhorrence of vice, a modefty of behaviour, refpeél to fu-' 
 periors, and love of fatigue, were flrongly inculcated. They were even 
 made to flcep upon a mat ; and were given no more food than the necef- 
 fities of life required, nor any other clothing than that which decency 
 demanded. When they arrived at a certain age, they were inflruóted in 
 the ufe of arms, and if their parents belonged to the army, they were 
 led to the wars along with them, that they might learn the military art, 
 and to banirii fear from their minds, by habituating themfelves to danger. 
 If their parents were hulbandmen, or artifts, they taught their children 
 their own profefiion. Girls were learned to fpin and weave, and ob- 
 liged to bathe frequently, that they might be always healthy and cleanly, 
 and tlie univerfal maxim was to keep the young of both fexes con- 
 flantly employed. 
 
 One of the precepts moft warmly inculcated to youth was, truth 
 in their words ; and whenever a lie was detcdled, the lip of the de- 
 linquent was pricked with the thorns of the aloe. They tied the 
 feet of girls who were too fond of walking abroad. Tiie fon, w -o 
 Vol. I. U u 
 
 was
 
 Sect. II. 
 Explanation 
 of the feven 
 K'e^-ican 
 paintings on 
 education. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 was difobedlent or quarrelfome, Avas beat with nettle?, or received pu- 
 nifliment in fome other manner proportioned, according to their judg- 
 ment, with the fault he had committed. 
 
 ' The fvftem of education agreeable to which the Mexicans trained up 
 their children, and the conftant attention with which they watched 
 their actions, may be traced in the feven paintings of the colleélion of 
 Mendoza, included between the numbers forty-nine and fifty- feven. 
 In thefe are expreffed the quantity and quality of the food, which was 
 allowed them, the employments in which they were occupied, and 
 the punjlliments by which their vices were corrected. In the fiftieth 
 painting is reprefented a boy of four years, who is employed, by. his. 
 parents in fome things that are eafy to do, in order to inure him to fa- 
 tigue i another of five years, who accompanies liis father to market, 
 carrying a little bundle on his back ; a girl of the fame age who begins 
 to learn to fpin j and another boy of fix years whofe father employs 
 him to pick up the ears of maize, which happen to lie on the ground 
 in the market-place. 
 
 In the fifty-firfi: painting are drawn a father who teaches his fon of 
 {even years of age to fifh ; ai^d a mother, who teaches her daughter of: 
 the fame age to fpin ; fome boys of eight years, who are threatened with 
 punifliment if they do not do their duty ; a lad of nine years, whofe 
 tather pricks feveral parts of his body, in order to corred: his^ indoci- 
 lity of teniper ; and a girl of the fame age, whofe mother only pricks 
 her hands j a lad and a girl of ten years, whofe parents beat them with 
 a rod, becaiife they refufe to do that which they are ordered. 
 
 The fifty-fecond painting reprefents two lads of eleven years, who,- 
 not being amended by other punifliments, are made by their fathers 
 to receive the fmoke of Chilli, or great pepper up their nofe j a lad 
 of twelve years, whofe father, in order to punifli him for his faults, 
 keeps him a whole day tied upon a dunghill, and a wench of the fame 
 age v>hofe mother makes her walk, during the night, all over the 
 houfe and part of the flreets ; a lad of thirteen years, whofe father makes 
 him guide a little vefiel laden with rufhes -, and a wench of the fame 
 age grinding maize by order of her mother ; a youth of fourteen years 
 employed by his father in filhing, and a young woman fet to v/eave 
 by her mother. 
 
 In
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 331 
 
 In the fifty-third painting, are reprefented two youths of fifteen BOO K vi . 
 years, the one configned by his father to a prieft, to be inflrudted in 
 the rites of reHgion ; the other to the Achcaubtìì, or officer of the nii- 
 litii, to be inftriidled in the inihtary art. The fifty-fourth, lliews the 
 youth of the feminaries employed by their fuperiors in fweeping the 
 temple, and in carrying branches of trees and herbs to adorn the fanc- 
 tuarics, wood for the ftoves, rufhes to make feats, and ftones and lime 
 to repair the temple. In this fame painting, and in the fifty-fifth, the 
 ditferent punilhme.its inflicted on youth, who have committed trcfpaf- 
 fes, by their fuperiors, are alfo reprefented. One of them pricks a 
 youth witli the fpines of the aloe for having negledted his duty : two 
 priefts throw burning firebrands on the head of another youth, for hav- 
 ing been caught in familiar difcourfe with a young woman. They 
 prick the body of another with iharp pine ftakes, and another for dif- 
 obedience is punilhed by having his hair burned. Laflly, is exhibited 
 a youth carrying the baggage of a prieft, who goes along with the 
 army to encourage the foldiers in war^ and to perform certain fuperfl'i- 
 tious ceremonies. 
 
 Tiieir children were bred to ftand fo much in awe of their parent's, 
 that even when grown up and married, they hardly durft fpeak before 
 them. In Hiort, the niflruiftions and advice which they received 
 were of luch a nature, that I cannot difpenfe with tranfcribing forne 
 of the exhortations employed by them, the knowledge of which was 
 obtained from the Mexicans themfelves by the firll religious miiilon- 
 aries who were employed in their converlion, particularly Motolinia, 
 Olmos, and Sahagun, wlio acquired a perfedl knowledge of the Mexi- 
 can language, and made the mofi: diligent inquiry into their manners 
 and cuftoms. 
 
 " My fon," faid tlie Mexican father, " who art come into the light s e c t. ir . 
 
 " from the womb of thy mother like the chicken from the eg?:, arid 'i^cc.'jhoita- 
 
 1111 """^ °' '' 
 
 *' like it art preparing to fly through the world, we know not how iMcxkan to 
 
 " long heaven will grant to us the enjoyment of that precious gem "^ ''"'• 
 
 " which we pofiefs in thee j but, however Ihort the period, endeavour 
 
 " to live exactly, praying God continually to aflift thee. He created 
 
 " thee J i!iou art his property. He is thy Father, and loves thee (till 
 
 " more tlian I do ; repofe in him thy thoughts, and day and nigiit di- 
 
 U u 2 " rea
 
 V 
 
 332 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VT. " re(5l thy fighs to him. Reverence and falute thy elders, and hold 
 ' " no one in contempt. To the poor and the diftrefled b- not dumb, 
 
 *' but rather ufe words of comfort. Honour all perfons, particularly 
 *' thy parents, to whom thou owed; obedience, refpedl, and fervice. 
 " Guard againft imitating the example of thofe wicked fons, who, like 
 " brutes that are deprived of reafon, neither reverence their parents, lif- 
 " ten to their inflruiftion, nor fubmit to their corredtion ; becaufe, who-- 
 *' ever follows their fteps will have an unhappy end, will die in a dcfperate 
 •' or fudden manner, or will be killed and devoured by wild beafts. 
 
 " Mock not, my fon, the aged or the imperfedl. Scorn not him 
 " v/hom you fee fall into fome folly or tranfgrelTion, nor make him re- 
 •' proaches j but reftrain thyfelf, and beware left thou fall into the 
 " fame error which offends thee in another. Go not where thou art 
 " not called, nor interfere in that which does not concern thee. En- 
 *' deavour to manifeft thy good breeding in all thy words and adiions. 
 ** In converfation do not lay thy hands upon another, nor fpeak too 
 " much, nor interrupt or difturb another's difcourfe. If thou heareft 
 ** any one talking fooliflily, and it is not thy bufmefs to correft him, 
 " keep filence j but if it does concern thee, confider firfl what thou art 
 ^* to fay, and do not fpeak arrogantly, that thy corredion may be well 
 
 (St 
 
 recei 
 
 ived. 
 
 " When any one difcourfes with thee, hear him attentively, and 
 *' hold thyfelf in an eafy attitude ; neither playing with thy feet, nor 
 ** putting thy mantle to thy mouth, nor fpitting too often, nor look- 
 " ing about you here and there, nor riling up frequently if thou art 
 " fitting; for fuch adlions are indications of levity and low-breeding. 
 
 " When thou art at table do not eat voracioufly, nor fliew thy dif- 
 ** pleafure if any thing difpleafes thee. If anyone comes unexpededly 
 " to dinner with thee, fiiare with him what thou haft; and when any 
 " perfon is entertained by thee, do not fix thy looks upon him. 
 
 " In walking, look where thou goeft, that thou mayft not pufh a- 
 " gainft any one. If thou feeft another coming thy way, go a little 
 " afide to give him room to pafs. Never ftep before thy elders, un- 
 •• lefs it be necefi^ary, or that they order thee to do fo. When thou 
 " fitteft at table with them, do not eat or drink before them, but attend 
 ** to them in a becoming manner, that thou mayft merit their favour. 
 
 «' When
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 " When they give thee any thing, accept it with tokens of grati- 
 " tude : it the prelent is great, do not become vain or fond of it. If 
 *' the gilt is hnail do not delpil'e it, iior be pruvokcJ, nor occafion dif- 
 *• plealure to them who lavour thee. If thou becomeft rich, do not 
 " grow infolent, jior Icotn the poor; for thofe very gods who deny 
 " riches to others in order to give tliem to thee, offended by thy pride, 
 •' will take them from thee again to give to others. Support thy- 
 *' felf by thy own labours j ibr then thy food will be fweeter. I, my 
 " fon, have fuppoitcd thee hitherto with my fweat, and have omitted 
 " no duty of a father ; I have provided thee with every thing necef- 
 " fary, without taking it from others. Do thou fo likewife. 
 
 " Never tell a falfehood ; becaufc a lie is a heinous fin. When it 
 " is necelfary to communicate to another what has been imparted to 
 " thee, te:l the fimple truth without any addition. Speak ill of no- 
 " body. Do not take notice of the failings which thou obferveft in 
 " others, if thou art not called upon to correft them. Be not a news- 
 '• carrier, nor a fower of difcord. When thou beareft any embaffy, and 
 " he to whom it is borne is enraged, and Ipeaks contemptuoufly of thofe 
 *' who fent thee, do not report fuch an anfwer, but endeavour to fof- 
 " ten him, and diflemble as much as poflible that which thou heardil:, 
 " that thou mayeft not raife difcord and fpread calumny of which 
 " thou mayefl: afterwards repent. 
 
 " Stay no Ioniser than is neceffary in the market-place ; for in fuch 
 " places there is the greateft danger of contracting vices. 
 
 " When thou art offered an employment, imagine that the propofal 
 " is made to try thee ; then accept it not haftily, although thou knowefl 
 " thyfelf more fit than others to exercife it; but excufe thyfelf until 
 ** thou art obliged to accept it ; thus thou wilt be more efleemed. 
 
 " Be not diffolute ; becaufe thou wilt thereby incenfe the gods, and 
 •* they will cover thee with infimy. Reftrain thyfelf, my fon, as thou 
 " art yet young, and wait until the girl, whom the gods delHne ibr 
 " thy wife, arrive at a fuitable age : leave that to their care, as tliey 
 " know how to order every thing properly. When the time for tliy 
 " marriage is come, dare not to make it without the confent of thy 
 ** parents, othcrwife it will have an unhappy iffue. 
 
 " Steal not, nor give diyfclf up to gaming; otherwife thou wilt be 
 ** a difgrace to thy parents, whom thou ought rather to honour for 
 
 " the
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 " the education they have given ihee. If thou v/ilt be virtuous, thy 
 " example will put the wicked to fliame. No more, my fon; enougli 
 " has been fiiid in dilcharge of the duties of a father. With thefe 
 " counfels I wifli to fortify thy mind. Refufe them not, nor a6t in 
 " contradidion to them j for on them thy life, and all thy happinefs, 
 " depend." 
 Sect. IV. Such Were the inftruftions which the Mexicans frequently inculcated 
 Exhoi-tation j-q tlicir fous. Huibandmen and merchants gave their fons other ad- 
 
 ot a fllexican _ _ '^ 
 
 mother to her vice regarding their particular profeffion, which we, however, omit, 
 ■*"S ter. ^^j. ^^ prove tedious to our readers ; but I cannot difpenfe with tran- 
 fcribing one of the exhortations made ufe of by mothers to their daugh- 
 ters, as it illuftrates their mode of education and manners. 
 
 " My daughter," laid the mother, " born of my fubftance, brougiit 
 ** forth with my pains, and nouriflied with my milk, I have endea- 
 " voured to bring thee up with the greatell: poliible care, and thy 
 " father has wrought and polilhed thee like an emerald, that thou 
 " mayeft appear in the eyes of men a jewel of virtue. Strive ;.l- 
 " ways to be good ; for otherwife who will have thee for a wife ì thou 
 " wilt be rejedted by every one. Life is a thorny laborious path, and 
 " it is neceflary to exert all our powers to obtain the goods which. the 
 ** gods are willing to yield to us ; we mufi; not therefore be lazy or 
 " negligent, but diligent in every thing. Be orderly and take pains 
 -*' to manage the oeconomy of thy houle. Give water to thy hulband 
 " for his hands, and make bread for thy family. Wherever thou goell:, 
 *' go with modefly and compofure, without hurrying thy fleps, or 
 " laughing with thofe whom thou meeteft, neither fixing thy looks 
 " upon them, nor cafting thy eyes thoughtleQy, firft to one lide, 
 " and then to another, that thy reputation may not be iullied ; but 
 *' give a courteous anfvver to thofe who falute and put any quefiion 
 " to thee. 
 
 " Employ tbyfelf diligently in fpinning and weaving, inlewingand 
 •" embroidering ; for by thefe arts thou wilt gain efleem, and all 
 " the neceffaries of food and clothing. Do not give thyfelf too 
 " much to (leep, nor feek the Ihade, but go in the open air and there 
 " repofe thyfelf j for effeminacy brings along with it idlenefs and 
 ^' other vices. 
 
 " In
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 335 
 
 " In whatever thou doeft, encourage not evil thoughts ; but at- eook ^'II. 
 " tend folely to the fervice of the gods ; and the giving comfort to 
 " thy parents. If thy father or thy mother calls thee, do not (lay to be 
 " called twice; but go inftantly to know their pleafure, that thou 
 " mayfl: not diibblige them by flownefs. Return no infolent anfwers, 
 " nor fhew any want of compliance ; but if tliou canfl not do what they 
 *' command, make a modell excufe. If another is called and does not 
 " come quickly ; come thou, hear what is ordered, and do it well. 
 " Never offer thyfelf to do that which thou canfl; not do. Deceive 
 " no perfon, for the gods fee all thy adions. Live in peace with every 
 " body, and love every one fincerely and honefl;ly, that thou mayefl; be 
 " beloved by them in return. 
 
 *' Be not greedy of the goods which thou hafl. If thou feefl: any 
 " tiling prefented to another, give way to no mean fufpicions ; for the 
 "■ gods, to whom every good belongs, difl:ribute every thing as they 
 " pleafe. If thou woulalt avoid the difplcafure of others, let none 
 " meet with it from thee. 
 
 " Guard againfl: improper familiarities with men ; nor yield to the. 
 " guilty wilhes of thy heart; or thou wilt be the reproach of thy fa- 
 " mily, and will pollute thy mind as mud does water. Keep not com- 
 '^pany with diffolute, lying, or idle women; otherwife they will in- 
 " tallibly infeft thee by their example. Attend upon thy family, and.do 
 " not go on flight occaflons out of thy houfe, nor be fecn wandering . 
 " through the fl:reets, or in the market-place ; for in fuch places thou . 
 " wilt meet thy ruin. Remember that vice, like a poifonous herb, , 
 '^brings death to thofe wb.o talle it; and when it once harbours in 
 " the mind it is dilHcult to expel it. If in palling through the flreets 
 " thou meetcfl: with a forward youth who appears agreeable to tii^e, , 
 '* give him no corrclpDndence, . but diflemble and pafs on. If he lays 
 " any thing to thee, take no heed of him nor his words; and if 
 " he follows thee, turn not your face about to look at him, Icfl: that 
 " might inflame his paflion more. If thou behavefl: fo, he will foon . 
 " turn and let thee proceed in peace. 
 
 " Enter not, without fome urgent motive, into another's houfe, 
 "^ thit nothing may be either faid or thought injurious to thy lionour ; 
 •' but if thou cnterell into the houfe of tliv relations, falute them with- 
 
 " refpedt
 
 3 
 
 6 HISTORYOF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOp: vir. " refpefl and do not remain idle, but inimediately take up a fpindle to 
 ^"^ '^ "' " fpin, or do any other thing that occurs, 
 
 " When thou art married, relpeól thy huihand, obey him, and dili- 
 " gently do what he commands thee. Avoid incurring liis diipleallire, 
 " nor fliew thyfelf pailionate or ill-natured ; but receive him fondly 
 " to thy arms, even if he is poor and lives at thy expence. If thy 
 *' hufband occafions thee any difguft, let him not know thy difpleafare 
 " when he commands thee to do any thing ; but difleiiible it at that 
 " time, and afterwards tell him with gentlcnefs what vexed thee, 
 " that he may be won by thy mildnefs and offend thee no farther. 
 " Di (honour him not before others ; for thou alfo wouldfl: be difho- 
 " noured. If any one comes to vilit thy hufband, accept the vilit 
 " kindly, and Ihevv all the civility thou canft. If thy huihand is 
 *' foolilh, be thou difcreet. If he fails in the management of wealth, 
 " admonifli him of his failings ; but if he is totally incapable of tak- 
 " ing care of his eftate, take that charge upon thyfelf, attend carefully 
 " to his pofleflions, and never omit to pay the workmen pundually. 
 " Take care not to lofe any thing through negligence. 
 
 " Embrace, my daughter, the counfel which I give thee; I am al- 
 " ready advanced in life, and have had futiicient dealings with the 
 " world. I am thy mother, I wifli that thou mayefl live well. Fix 
 *' my precepts in thy heart and boivels, for then thou wilt live happy. 
 *' If, by not liflening to me, or by negledting my inflrudtions any mif- 
 " fortunes befall thee, the fault will be thine, and the evil alfo. Enough, 
 " my child. May the gods profper thee." 
 S « c T. V ^ot contented with fuch inftrucflions and domeftic education, the 
 Public Mexicans fent their children to public fchools, which were clofe to 
 
 feminaries. the temples, where they v/ere inlfrufted for three years in religion and 
 good cuftoms. Befides this, almoft all the inhabitants, particularly 
 the nobles, took care to have their children brought up in the femi- 
 naries belonging to the temples, of which there were many in the cities 
 of the Mexican empire, for boys, youths, and young women. Thofe 
 of the boys and young men were governed by priefts, who were Iblely 
 devoted to their education ; thofe for young \vomen were under the 
 diredion of matrons equally refpeftable for their age and for their 
 manners. No communication between the youth of both fexes was 
 
 9 per-
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 337 
 
 permitted ; on the contrary, any tranfgrelTion of that nature was fe- BOOK vii. 
 
 verely punlfiied. There were diiliiivfl Icminaries for the nobles and 
 
 plebeians. The young nobles were employed in offices which were 
 
 rather internal, and more immediately about the fandluary, as in fweep- 
 
 ing the upper area of the temple, and in ftirring up and ittaiding to 
 
 the fires of the ftoves which ^vere before the fandtuary. The others 
 
 v/ere employed in carrying the woad which was required for the Itoves, 
 
 and the itone and liaie ufed in repairing of facred edifices, and in 
 
 other fimilar talks : both were under the direction of fuperiors and 
 
 maliers. Who inllrudted them in rehgion, hillory, pj';ìtÌ!-,r^ mafic, and 
 
 other arts aereeable to their rank and circumftancei 
 
 Tiie girls fwept tiie lower area of tlie tcaiple, rofe three times in 
 the night to burn copal in tlie ftoves, prepared the meats which were 
 daily ofi"cred to the idols, and w ove difierent kinds of cloth. They 
 were taught every female duty ; by which, befidcs banlfliing idlenefs 
 from tfiem which is fo dangerous to the age of youth, they were ha- 
 bituated to domeftic labours. Tht-y flept in large halls in the fight of 
 the matrons, who governed them, and who attended to nothing more 
 zealoufly than the modefty and decency of their adtions. When any male 
 or female pupil went to pay their refpedls to their parents, and which 
 cafe happened very feldom, they were not allowed to go by themfelves, 
 but were always accor^ipanied by other pupils and their fuperior. After 
 liftening for a few moments with filence and attention to the inftrudtions 
 and advices which their parents gave them, they returned back to the 
 feminary. There they were detained until the time of marriage, which, 
 as we have already mentioned, was with young men from the age of 
 twenty to twenty-two, and with girls at eighteen or fixtecn years. 
 When this period arrived, either the young man himfelf requefied 
 leave of the fuperior to go and get himfelf a wife, or, what was more 
 common, his parents demanded him for the fame purpofe, returning 
 thanks firft to the fuperior for the care he had taken of his inftrudtion. 
 The fuperior, upon the difmifiion which he gave at the grand fertival 
 ©f Tezcatlipoca, to all the young men and women who were arrived 
 at that age, made them a difcourfc, exhorting them to a pericverancc 
 in virtue, and the difcharge of all the duties of the new Itate. The 
 virgins educated in thefe fcminaries were particularly fought after for 
 wives, not only on account of their principles, but likcwife of the 
 Vol. I. X X fiiill
 
 338 HISTORY OF M F X t r q. 
 
 BOOK VII. fkill whicli they acquired there in the arts heloiigmg to their fex. The 
 '^ "^ youth v/ho when arrived at the age of t .venty-two, d'd not marry was 
 
 CiKenied to have devoted himfelf ior ever to the fervice of the tenioles,. ' 
 and if after fuch confccration of himfelf he repented of celibacy, and 
 defired to marry-; he became infamous for ever, and no woman would 
 accept him for a hufuand. In Tlafcala, thofe who, at the age lie for 
 marriage, refufed taking a wife were fliaven, a mark of the higheft dif- 
 honour with that nation. 
 
 The fons in general learned the trades of their fathers, and embraced 
 their profeffions. Thus they perpetuated the arts in families to the 
 advantage of the ftate. The young men who were deftined to the ma- 
 giftracy, were condudled by their fathers to tribunals, where they heard 
 the laws of the kingdom explained, and obferved the praftice and forms 
 of judicature. In the fixtieth picture of Mendoza's colledlion, are re- 
 prefented four judges examining a caufe, and behind them four young 
 TeteuB'm, or Gentlemen, who are liftening to their decifion. The fons 
 of the king, and principal lords, were appointed tutors who at- 
 tended to their condudl, and long before they could enter into polTef- 
 fion of the crown, or their flate, they were entrufted with the govern- 
 ment of fome city, or fmaller ftate, that they might learn by degrees 
 the arduous tafk of governing men. This was the cuftom as early as 
 the time of the firfl Chechemecan kings ; for Nopaltzin, from the 
 time that he was crowned king of Acolhuacan, put his firft-born fon 
 Tlotzin in pofTefìion of the city of Tezcuco. Cuitlahuac, the laft king of 
 Mexico, obtained the ftate of Ixtapalapan, and the brother of Monte- 
 zuma that of Ehecatepec, before they afcended the throne of Mexico. 
 Upon this bafè of education the Mexicans fupported the fabric of their 
 political fyftem which we are now to unfold. 
 Sect. VT. From the time that the Mexicans, after the example of other neigh- 
 «fthe^rkW^. houring ftates, placed Acamapitzin at the head of their nation, invert- 
 ing him with the name, the honours, and authority of royalty, the 
 crown of their kingdom was made ekdlive ; for which purpofe they 
 created fome time after four eledtors, in whofe judgment and decifion 
 all the fufFrages of the nation were comprehended. Thefe were four 
 lords of the fird: rank of nobility, and generally of the royal blood, 
 pofl'efled likewile of prudence and probity adequate to the difcharge of 
 fb important a fundion. Their office was not perpetual ; their eleóforal 
 
 power
 
 "-59 
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 3.^, 
 
 power terminated with the nrft eledlion, and new eledlors were immedl- BCO:c vii. 
 ately nominated, or the firfl were re-chofen by the votes of the nobi- *"" ^ ^ 
 lity. If a deficiency happened in their number before the king died, 
 it was fupplied by a new appointment. In the time of king Itz- 
 coatl, two other c^edlors were added, which were the kings of Acol- 
 huacan and Tacuba; but their title was merely honorary. They ufu- 
 ally ratified the choice which was made by the four real eledors ; but 
 we do not know that they ever interfered otherwife with the eledion. 
 That the eledtors might not be left too much at liberty, and in or- 
 der to prevent the inconveniencies arifing from parties and fadions, 
 they fixed the crown in the family of Acamapitzin ; and afterwards 
 eftablilhed a law, that when the king died he fhould be Tucceeded by 
 one of his brothers, and on failure of brothers by one of his nephews ; 
 or on failure of them by one of his coufins, leaving it in the option of 
 the eledlors to chufe among the brothers, or nephews of the decealed 
 king, the perfon whom they Ihould think befl qualified to govern ; 
 by means of which law, they avoided numerous inconveniencies that 
 we have already mentioned. This law was obferved from the time of 
 their fccond, until the time of their laft king. Huitzilihuitl, the fon 
 of Acamapitzin, was fucceeded by his two brothers Chimalpopoca aiid 
 Itzcoatl } Itzcoatl by his nephew Montezuma Ilhuicamina; Monte- 
 zuma by his coufin Axajacatl ; Axajacatl by his two brothers Tizoc 
 and Ahuitzotl ; Ahuitzotl by his nephew Montezuma II; Monte- 
 zuma II. by his brother Cuitlahuatzin, to whom laftly his nephew 
 Quauhtemotzin fucceeded. This feries of kings will appear morp 
 dilHndtly in the table of genealogy which we have fubjoined. 
 
 In the eledion of a king no regard was paid to the right of primo- 
 geniture. At the death of Montezuma I. Axajacatl was eledted in 
 preference to his elder brothers Tizoc and Ahuitzotl. 
 
 No new king was eledted until the funeral of his predcceflbr was Stcr. vir. 
 celebrated with due pomp and magnificence. As foon as the cleflion , "*?"'"{'■ 
 
 r r o ^ ana ctieino- 
 
 was made, advice was fent to the kings of Acolhuacan and Tacuba, in "'^'s at the 
 order tliat they might confirm it, and alfo to the feudatory lords who had and un.-tiuH'* 
 been prefent at the funeral. Thefe two kings led the new chofea fo- "^ ''"^ *""«• 
 vereign to the greater temple. The feudatory lords went firit, with 
 the enfigns of their flates ; then the nobles of the court with the badges 
 
 X X 2 of
 
 HISTORY OF M E X I C a. 
 
 of their dignity and offices; the two allied kings followed next, and 
 behind them the king eledl, ftript naked, without any covering except 
 the maxtlatl, tlie girdle, or large bandage, about his middle. He af- 
 cended the temple, refting on the arms of two nobles of the court, 
 where one of the high-priefts, accompanied by the mod: refpeftable 
 officers of the temple, received him. He worihipped the idol of Huit- 
 zilopochtli, touching the earth with his hand, and then carrying it to 
 his mouth. The high-prieft dyed his body with a certain kind of ink, 
 and fprinkled him four times with water which had been blefied, ac- 
 cording to their rite, at the grand felli vai of Huitzilopochtli, making 
 ufe for this purpofe of branches of cedar and willow, and the leaves 
 of maize. He was clothed in a mantle, on which were painted flculls 
 and bones of the dead, and his head was covered with two other 
 cloaks, one black, and the other blue, on which fimilar figures were 
 reprefented. They tied a Imall gourd to his neck, containing a certain 
 powder, which they efteemed a llrong prefervative againil; dileafes, for- 
 cery, and treafon. Plappy would that people be whole king could carry 
 about him fuch a prefervative. They put afterwards a cenier, and a 
 bag of copal in his hands, that he might give incenfe to tlie idol with 
 them. When this aét of religion was performed, during which the 
 king remained on his knees, the high-prieft fat down and delivered a 
 difcourfe to him, in which after congratulating him on his advance- 
 ment, he informed him of the obligation he owed his fubjedts for hav- 
 ing raifed him to the throne, and warmly recommended to him zeal 
 for religion and jullice, the protedlion of the poor, and the defence of 
 his native country and kingdom. The allied kings and the nobles next 
 addrelfed him to the fame purpofe ; to which the king anfwered with 
 thanks and promifes to exert himfelf to the utmoft of his power for 
 the happinefs of the ftate. Gomara, and other authors who have co- 
 pied him, affirm, that the high-prieft made him Avear to maintain 
 their ancient religion, to obferve the laws of his anceftors, and to make 
 the fun go his courfe, to make the clouds pour down rain, to m.ake 
 the rivers run, and all fruits to ripen. If it is true, that they made 
 the king take fo extravagant an oath, it is probable, that they only 
 meant to oblige him to maintain a conduft worthy of thefe favours 
 from heaven. 
 
 9 After
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 341 
 
 After hearing thefe addrefles, the king defcended with all his attend- BOOK vii. 
 ants to the lower area, where the reft of the nobility waited to make ^"^^ ~ 
 their obedience, and pay him homage in jewels and apparel. He was 
 thence conduded to a chamber within the inclofure of the temple 
 called Tlacatecco, where he was left by himfelf four days, during which 
 time he was allowed to eat but once a day ; but he might eat tielh or any 
 other kind of food. He bathed twice every day, and after bathing he 
 drew blood from his ears, which he offered together with fonie burnt 
 Gopal to HuitzilopochtU, making all the while conftant and earneft- 
 prayers to obtain that enlightenment of underftanding which was requi- 
 llte in order to govern his monarchy with prudence. On the fifth, 
 day, the nobility returned to the temple, conducting the new king 
 to his palace,, wiiere the feudatory lords came to renew theinveftiture of 
 their fiefs. Then followed the rejoicings of the people, entertainments,. 
 dances, and illuminations. 
 
 To prepare for the coronation it was necefiiir)-, according to the law Sect. viir. 
 of the kinsniom, or the cuftom introduced by Montezuma 1. that the ]■ '"^ '•'°''°"''- 
 
 '-' ' J tion, crown, 
 
 new elcfted king lliould go out. to war, to procure the victims which were j'-'t's ;, ar^ 
 neceliary for tlie facrifices on fuch an occaiion. They never were with- rovalty. 
 out enemies on v/hom war might be made ; either from fome province 
 of the kingdom "having rebelled, or from fome Mexican merchants 
 having been unjuftly put to death, or on account of Ibme infult having 
 been offered to the royal ambaffadors, of which cafes hiflory fliews 
 many examples. The arms and enfigns which the. king wore up-- 
 on going to war, the parade with which his prifoners were con- 
 ducted to the court, and the circumllances which attended the fa- 
 cxifice of them, ihall be explained when we come to treat of the 
 militaiy elliabliihmerit of the Mexicans ; but we are entirely i<;no- 
 rant of the particular ceremonies which were ufcù at his coronation. 
 The king of Acolliuacan was the perfon who put the crown upon his- 
 head. The crown which was called by the Mexicans copi/li, ^vas a 
 fort of fmall mitre, the fore-part cf which was raifed up, and termi- 
 nated iix a point, and the part b::hind was lowered down, and liung. 
 over tiie iieck in the fame manner as is reprefented in the figures of 
 the kings given in this hiftory. It was compofcd of different mate- 
 rials, according to the plcallire of the kings ; fometimes made of thin 
 
 plates
 
 >"S- 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 plates of gold, fometimes wove with golden thread, and figured with 
 beautiful feathers. The drefs which he ufually wore in the palace was 
 tlie xiuhiilmatii, which was a mantle of a blue and white mixture., 
 Whèti he went to the temple he put on a white habit. That which 
 he wore to aflift at councils, and other public fundlions, varici ac- 
 cording to the nature and circumllances of the occafion ; one v/as ap- 
 propriated for civil cauivS, and another for criminal caufes ; one for 
 adts of julHce, and another for times of rejoicing : upon all thefe occa- 
 lions he regularly wore his crown. Every time he went abroad, he 
 was attended by a great retinue of nobility, and preceded by a noble, 
 who held up three rods made of gold and odorous wood, by which he 
 intimated to the people the prefence of their fovereign. 
 Skct. I.y. The power and authority of the kings of Mexico was different at 
 kine "^ different periods. In the beginning of the monarchy their power was 
 
 much circumfcribed, and their authority truly paternal, their conduct 
 more humane, and the prerogatives which they claimed from their fub- 
 jeCls extremely moderate. With the enlargement of their territory 
 they gradually increafed their riches, their magnificence, and pomp, 
 and in proportion to their wealth were likewife multiplied, as generally 
 happens, the burthens on their fubjefts. Their pride occafioned them 
 to trefoafs upon the limits, which the confent of the nation had al- 
 lowed to their authority, until they arrived at that pitch of odious 
 defpotifm which appears to have marked the reign of Montezuma II. 
 but notwithftanding their tyranny, the Mexicans always preferved the 
 refpedt which was due to the royal charadler, except that in the laft 
 year but one of the monarchy, as will be related hereafter, when they 
 were no longer able to endure the meannefs of their king Montezuma, 
 his exceffive cowardice, and low fubmiffion to his enemies, they treated 
 him with contempt, and wounded him with arrows and ftones. The 
 pageantry and oftentatious grandeur of the lail Mexican kings may be 
 conceived from what we have faid of tlie reign of Montezuma, and 
 what we fhall farther fay in our account of the conqueft. 
 
 The kings of Mexico were rivalled in magnificence by the kings of 
 Acolhuacan, as the latter were by the former in politics. The go- 
 vernment of the Acolhuan nation was almoft the fame with that of the 
 Mexicans ; but with refpedt to the right of fucceillon to the crow« 
 
 they
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 343 
 
 they were tot.illy difterent; lor in the kingdom of Acolhuacan, and COOK VII , 
 the fame is to be uuderftood of Tacuba, the fons fucceeded to their 
 fathers, not according to their birth, but according to their rank; the 
 fons which were born of the queen, or principal wife, having been always 
 preferred to tlie rcic. This rule was obferved from the time of Xo- 
 lotl, the firll Chechcmecan king, until the time of Cacamatzin,; who 
 was fucceeded by his brother Cuicuitzcatzin, through the intrigues of 
 Montezuma and the conqueror Cortes. 
 
 The king of Mexico, as well as the king of Acolhuacan, had three g ^ ^ ^ v 
 fupreme councils, compofed of perfons of the iirft nobility, in which The royal 
 they deliberated upon atfairs relating to the government of the pro- officers of the 
 vinces, the revenues of the king, and to war, and in general the king ^oun. 
 refolved upon no meafure of importance without having firft heard the 
 opinion of his counfellors. In the hillory of the conqueft we fliall 
 find Montezuma in frequent deliberation with his council on the 
 pretenfions of the Spaniards. We do not know the number of mem- 
 bers of each council, nor do hiflorians furnifh us with the lights ne- 
 celfary to illuftrate fuch a fubjedl. They have only preferved to us the 
 names of fome counfellors, particularly thofe of Montezuma II. In 
 the fixty-firft painting of the colledtion of Mendoza, are reprcfented 
 the coiincil-halls, and fome of the lords who compofed them. 
 
 Amongft the different ininiflers and officers of the court there was a 
 treafurer-general, whom they called Hueicalpixqui, or great major- 
 domo, who received all the tributes which were colledted by the offi- 
 cers of the revenue in tlie provinces, and kept an account of his receipts • 
 and difburfements in paintings, agreeable to the teftimony of Bernal Di.iz, . 
 v/iio faw them. There was another treafurer for the gems and arti- 
 cles of gold, who was, at the fame time, direflor of the artifts who • 
 wrouglit tliem ; and another for the works which were made of fea- 
 thers, the artifts of which laft employment had their work-ffiops in . 
 the royal palace of birds. There was befides a provider -general of 
 animals, whom they called Huejaminqui ; he had tlic charge of the 
 royal woods, aiid took care that game was never wanting there; and 
 that the royal palaces v/ere never unprovided with every fort of ani- 
 mal. Concerning the other royal minifters and officers, we have 
 mentioned enough when we treated of the magnificence of Monte- 
 
 zumA.
 
 344 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK VII. zuma II. and of the government of the kings of Acolhuacan, Te~ 
 r- — ' — ri chotlala, and Nezahualcojotl. 
 
 S F C T. XI. •' 
 
 Ambafladors. For the office of ambailadors, they always employed perfons ^vho were 
 both noble and eloquent. Three, four, or more perfons were ufuklly 
 joined in this ofiice, and, to procure refpeft, they wore certain badges by 
 which they were every where known, particularly a green habit made 
 like the fcapulary, or little cloak, which fome religious people wear, from 
 which hung fome locks of cotton. Their hair was twifted with beau- 
 tiful feathers, from which alfo hung funilar locks of different colours. 
 In their right hands they carried an arrow with the point downwards ; 
 in the left a fhield, and hanging at the fame arm a net, in which they 
 carried their provifion. In all the places through which tliey paffcd, 
 they were well received, and treated with that diftindtion v/hich their cha- 
 racter demanded, provided they did not leave the gre it road which led to 
 the place of their deftination j but if they ever devi itcd from it, they loll 
 their rights and privileges as ambafiadors. Wheji they arrived at the 
 place where they were to deliver their enibafly, they Hopped before 
 they made entrance, and waited until the nobility of the city came 
 out to meet them, and condud: them to the Houfe of the Public, where 
 they were lodged and well entertained. The nobles burnt incenfe to 
 them, and prefcnted nofegays of flowers, and after they had repofed, 
 led them to the palace of the lord of that fiate, and introduced them into 
 the hall of audience, where they were received by the lord himfelf, 
 and his counfellors, who were all feated in their places. After having 
 made a profound reverence to the lord, they fat down upon their heels 
 in the middle of the hall, and without faying a word, or lifting up 
 their eyes, they waited until a fign was made for them to fpeak. When 
 jthe fignal was given, the moft refpecftable amongft the ambafladors, 
 after having made another bow to the lord, delivered his embally with 
 a low voice, in a fludied addrefs, which was attentively heard by the 
 lord and his counfellors, who kept their heads fo much inclined, that 
 they appeared almoft to touch their knees. When the ambafiadors 
 had finifhed their interview, they returned to the houfe where they were 
 lodged. In the mean while, the lord entered into confultation with 
 his counfellors, and communicated his anfwer to the ambafiadors by 
 means of his minifters ; provided them abundantly with provifions for 
 
 their
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 345 
 
 their journey, made them alio Ibme prcfents, and caufed them to be BOOK vii, 
 
 eicorted out of the city by the lame perfons who had received them ^"""^ ^ 
 
 upon their arrival. If the lord, to v/hom the embaliy was lent, was 
 
 a friend to the Mexicans, it was conlidered as a great dilhonour not 
 
 to accept his prelents ; but if he was an enemy, the ambalTadors could 
 
 not receive them without the exprefs order of their mailer. All thefe 
 
 ceremonies were not invariably obferved in embalTies, nor were all em- 
 
 balTies lent to the lords of cities or flates ; for fome of them, as we 
 
 fhall mention hereafter, were fent to the body of the nobility, or to 
 
 the people. 
 
 The couriers whom the Mexicans frequently employed, made ufe skct. xri. 
 of different enfigns according to the nature of the intelligence, or affair ^°^^"«f* *«"* 
 with which they were charged. If it was the news of the Mexicans 
 having loll a battle, the courier wore his hair loofe and dilbrdered, and, 
 without Ipeaking a word to any perfon, went flr^ight to the palace, 
 where, kneeling before the king, he related what had happened. If it was 
 the news of a vidory which had been obtained by the arms of Mexico, 
 he had his hair tied with a coloured llring, and his body girt with a 
 white cotton cloth ; in his left hand a lliield, and in his right a fword, 
 which he brandidied as if he had been in the aift of engagement ; 
 cxprelhng by fuch gellures his glad tidings, and iinging the glojrious 
 adions of the ancient Mexicans, while the people, overjoyed at feeing 
 him, led him with many congratulations to the royal palace. 
 
 In order that news might be more fpeedily conveyed, there were upon 
 all the highways of the kingdom certain little towers, about lix miles 
 diflant from each other, where couriers were always waiting in readinefs 
 to fet out with dilpatches. As loon as tiie firll courier was fent off", he 
 ran as fwiftly as he could to the firfl ftage, or little tower, where he 
 communicated to another his intelligence, and delivered to him the 
 paintings v/bich reprefentcd the news, or the affair which was the lub- 
 jecl of his embaliy. The fecond courier polled witliout delay to the 
 next llage, or little tower ; and thus by a continued and uninterrupt- 
 ird fjiecd of conveyance, intelligence was carried fo rapidly from place 
 to place, that fometimes, according to the affirmations made by feve- 
 rul authors, it reached the dillance of three hundred miles in one day. 
 It was by this means that freOi filli were daily brought to Monte- 
 VoL. I. Y y zuma
 
 346 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VII. zuma II. from the gulf of Mexico, which is at kafl upwards of 
 
 ^••''^^v^''^ two hundred miles diftant from the capital. Thofe couriers were ex- 
 
 ercifed in running from their childhood ; and in order to encourage 
 
 them in this exercife, the priefls, under whofe difcipline they were 
 
 trained, frequently beftowed rewards on thofe who were viftors in a 
 
 race. 
 
 Sect, xiil With refpedt to the nobility of Mexico and of the whole empire» 
 
 The nobility -^^ ^g divided into feveral clafles, which were confounded totrether by 
 
 and right or _ o / 
 
 fucceffion. the Spaniards under the general name of caziques [q). Each clafs had 
 its particular privileges and wore its own badges, by which means, 
 although their drefs was extremely fimple, the charafter of every per- 
 fon was immediately underftood. The nobles alone were allowed to- 
 wear ornaments of gold and gems upon their cloaths, and to them ex- 
 clufively belonged, from the reign of Montezuma II. all the high of- 
 fices at court, in the magiftracy, and the moll: confiderable in the army. 
 The higheft rank of nobility in Tlafcala, in Huexotzinco, and in 
 Cholula, was that of TcuBli. To obtain this rank it was neceffary to 
 be of noble birth, to have given proofs in feveral battles of the utmoft 
 courage, to be arrived at a certain age, and to command great riches 
 for the enormous expences which were neceffary to be fupported by 
 the poffeffor of fuch a dignity. The candidate was obliged befldes to 
 undergo a year of regular f>enance, confifting in perpetual failing and fre- 
 quent effufions of blood, and an abftinence from all commerce what- 
 foever with women, and patiently enduring the infults, the reproaches,, 
 and ill-treatment, by which fortitude and conflancy are put to the teft. 
 They bored the cartilage of his nofe, in order to fufpend from it cer- 
 tain grains of gold, which were the principal badge of this dignity. 
 On the day on which he came to the poffeffion of it, they ftripped him. 
 of the difmal habit which he had worn during the time of his pe- 
 nance, and dreffed him in moil magnificent attire : they tied his hair 
 with a leathern ribband, died of a red colour, at which hung beauti- 
 ful feathers, and fixed alfo the grains of gold at his nofe. This ce- 
 remony was performed, in the upper area of the greater temple, by a 
 
 {q) The name cazlrjiie, which fignifies lord or pri.uc, is derived from the Haicin tong\ie,. 
 which was fpokc in the lihind of HifpanioLi. The Mexica;is called a lord llutoan'., and a noble 
 Filli and Tt^iaU. 8 
 
 priefl.
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 347 
 
 prlefl, who, after having conferred the dignity, made him a congratu- BOOK v.l, 
 latory harangue. From thence he defcended to the lower area, where 
 he joined with the nobihty in a grand dance that v/as made there, and 
 which was fucceeded by a magnificent entertainment, which was given 
 at his expence to all the lords of the ftate, for whom befides the innu- 
 merable drelfes which were made in prefents to them, fuch an abund- 
 ance of meats were prepared, there were confumed upon the occafion, 
 agreeable to the accounts of fome authors, from one thoufand to lixteen 
 hundred turkies, a vafl: number of rabbits, deer, and other animals, 
 and an incredible quantity, of cocoas in different forts of beveridge, and 
 of the moft choice and delicate fruits of that country. The title 
 Teu&li was added in the manner of a furname to the proper name of 
 perfons advanced to this dignity, as Cbechemeca-teu6ili, Pil-teuSlli, and 
 others. The Teuclll took precedency of all others in the fenate, both 
 in the order of fitting and voting, and were permitted to have a fer- 
 vant behind them with a feat, which was efteemed a privilege of the 
 higheft: honour. 
 
 The titles of nobility amongii the Mexicans were for the moft part 
 hereditary. Even until the downfal of the empire many families that 
 were defcended of thofe illuftrious Aztecas who founded Mexico, pre- 
 ferved themfelves in great fplendour, and feveral branches of thofe moft 
 ancient houfes are ftill exifting, though reduced by misfortunes, and 
 obfcured and confufcd amongft the vulgar (r). It is not to be doubted 
 that it would have been more wife policy in the Spaniards, if, inftead 
 of condudling women from Europe, and flaves from Africa, to Mexi- 
 co, they had endeavoured to form by marriages, between the Mexicans 
 and themfelves, one fingle individual nation. \{ the nature of this hif- 
 tory would permit, we could here give a demonftration of the advan- 
 tages whicli would have been derived to both nations from fuch an 
 
 (r) It is impolliblc to behold without regret, the ftate of degradation to which fonie illullri- 
 ous families of thst kingdom have been reduced. Not very long ago was executed a lockfmith, 
 .who was a defendant of the ancient kings of Michuacan: wc knew a poor taylor in Mexico, 
 who was defcended of a very noble houfc of Coyoacan, but had been deprived of the poflef- 
 iions which he inherited from his ilhillrious anccftors. Examples of this kind arc not infre- 
 (]uent even among the royal families of Mexico, Acolhuacan, and Taciiba; the repeated or- 
 ders, which the juliicc and clemency of the Catholic kings caufed to be made in tJieir favour, 
 have not been fufticicnt to protesi them from the general ciilamity of their nation. 
 
 Y y 2 union.
 
 feffion and 
 property 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 union, and the misfortunes which were occafioned by the oppofite 
 
 conduft. 
 
 In Mexico, and through the whole empire almoft, excepting in the 
 
 royal family as we have already mentioned, the fons fucceeded to all 
 
 the rights of their fathers; and on failure of fons the rights fell to 
 
 brothers, and if thefe were wanting, to nephews. 
 Sfct. XIV. The lands of the Mexican empire were divided between the crown, 
 Divihon of ^YiQ nobility, the communities, and the Temples, and there were 
 
 the lands, and -' ' ' -T _ ' 
 
 t»tiesofpof- paintings in which the property of each was diftindly reprefented. 
 The lands of the crown were painted of a purple, thofe of the nobi- 
 lity of a fcarlet, and thofe of the communities of a yellow colour. 
 In thefe, at firft fight, the extent and boundaries of the different eftates 
 were diflinguirtied. After the conqueft, the Spanifh magistrates made 
 ufe of thefe inftruments to decide all difputes among the Indians con-r 
 cerning the property or pofTefiion of lands.. 
 
 Of the lojids of the crown, which were called by the Mexicans Tec- 
 fantlalli, although the property was always veiled in the king, certaia 
 lords called Tecpanpouhquey ox: T'ecpojitlaca, that is, people of the pa- 
 lace, enjoyed the temporary ufe and profits. Thefe lords did not pay 
 any tribute, nor gave any thing eife to the king than nofegays of flow- 
 ers and difl^erent kinds of birds, which they prefented to him in token 
 of their vafi"alage every time that they made him a vifit ; but they were 
 obliged to repair and rebuild the royal palaces whenever it was ne- 
 cefiTary, and to cultivate the gardens of the king, by afhfting with 
 their dii-edions the populace of their diftrift in that labour. They were : 
 obliged beiides to pay court to the king, and to attend upon him every 
 time that he appeared in public, and were therefore highly efleemed 
 by all. When any of thofe lords died,, his firft-born fon entered into 
 pofi^elfion of the lands, and into all the obligations of his father ; but 
 if he went to eftablifh himfelf in another place, he loft thefe rights, 
 and the king then granted them to another ufufru(5luary ; or left the 
 choice of one to the judgment of the community in whofe diftridl the 
 lands were fituated. 
 
 The lands which they called piilalH, that is, lands of the nobles., 
 were the ancient pofleffions of the nobles, tranfiiiitted by inheritance 
 from father to fon, or were rewards obtained from the king in recom- 
 
 penfe
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 349 
 
 penfe of Icrvices done to the crown. The firft and the lall could for book vh. 
 the moft part ah'enate their pofiefTions, but they were not allowed to ' ' 
 
 give away or fell them to plebeians j we fay for the moft part, becaufe 
 amongft thefe lands there were fonie granted by the king under a con- 
 dition not to alienate them, but to leave them in inheritance to their 
 fons. 
 
 Refpedling the inheritance of ftates, regard was paid to priority of. 
 birth ; but if the firrt-born fon was incapable of managing the poflef- 
 fions» the father was entirely at liberty to appoint any other fon his 
 heir, provided that he fecured a provifion for the reft. The daughters, 
 at leale in Tlafcala, were not allowed to inherit, that the fiate might 
 never fall- under the government of a ftranger. Even after the con- 
 queft of the Spaniards, the Tlafcalans were fo jealous of preferving the 
 flates in their families, that they refufed to give the invcftiture of one 
 of the four principalities of tlie republic to D. Francifco Pimentcl, 
 nephew of Coanacatzin, king of Acolhuaean (j-), married with donna 
 Maria Maxicatzin, niece to prince Maxicatzin, who, as we flvoll af^ 
 terwards find, was the chief of the four lords that governed that re^ 
 public at the arrival of the. Spaniards. The fiefs commenced in that 
 kingdom at the time that king Xolotl divided the lands of Anahuac 
 among the Chcchemecan and Acolhuan lords, under the feudal condi- 
 tions, that they would preferve inviolable fidelity, acknowledge his fu- 
 preme authority, and their obligation to affift their fovereign whenever 
 it fliould be neceifary with their perfons, with their property, and their 
 vafTals. In the Mexican empire, as far as we can find, real fiefs were 
 few in number; and if we are to fpeak m the ftridl fenfe of the civil 
 law, there were none at all ; for they were neither perpetual in their 
 nature, as every year it was neccflary to repeat the form of inveftiture, 
 nor were the vaflals of feudatories exempted from the tributes wliich 
 were paid to the king by the other valTals of the crown. 
 
 The lands which were called AltepctlaUi, that is, thole of the com- 
 munities of cities and villages, were divided into as many parts as there 
 
 (i\ Coanacotzin, king of Acolhuaean, was the father of don Ferdinando Pimentel, who had 
 don Franccfco born to him by a Tlafcalan lady. It is to be obfcrvcd, that many of the Mexi- 
 cans, particularly the nobles, upon being baptifcd, added to their Chriftian name a Spanifti . 
 funiame. . 
 
 were.
 
 350 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VII. were diflrifts in a city, and every diftrlft poflefied its own part entirely 
 ^'~^~' -* (iiftinól from, and independent of the others. Thefe lands could not 
 be alienated by any means whatever. Some of them were allotted to 
 furnilh provifions for the army in time of war ; thofe were called Mel- 
 chimiTlli, or CacalomiUi, according to the kind of provifions which they 
 fupplied. The catholic kings have afiigned lands to the fettlements of 
 -the Mexicans (/), and made proper laws to fecure to tliem the perpe- 
 tuity of fuch poflefllons ; but at prefent many villages have been de- 
 prived of them by the great power of fonie individuals, allifted by the 
 iniquity of fome judges. 
 Sect. XV. -^11 the provinces that were conquered by the Mexicans were tribu- 
 Thc tributes j^p, j-q ^j^g crovvn, and contributed fruits, animals, and the minerals 
 
 and tsxes laid •' 
 
 on the full- of the country, accorduig to the rate prefcribed them ; and all mer- 
 crown. ^ "^ chants befides paid a part of their merchandizes, and all artifi:s a cer- 
 tain portion of their labours. In the capital of every province was a 
 houfe allotted for a magazine to contain the corn, garments, and all the 
 other effeds, which the revenue officers colleded in the circle of each 
 difl:ri<S. Thcfe officers were univerfally odious on account of the dii)- 
 trefies which they brought .on the tributary places. Their badges of 
 diflinftion were a little rod which they carried in one hand, and a fan 
 of feathers in the other. The treafurers of the king had paintings, 
 in which were defcribed all the tributary places, and the quantity and 
 quality of the tributes. In the colleilion made by Mendoza, there 
 are thirty-fix paintings of this kind («), and in each of thefe are repre- 
 fented the principal places of one, or of many provinces of the empire. 
 Belides an exceffive number of cotton garments, and a certain quan- 
 tity of corn and feathers, which were the ufual taxes laid on almoft all 
 tributary places, marty other different things were paid in tribute ac- 
 cording to the produce of diffi;rent countries. In order to give 
 
 (/) The royal laws grant to every Indian vilhi'^e, or fettlemcnt, the territory which fur- 
 rounds them to the extent of fix hundred Caftilian cubits, which are equal to two hundred 
 and fifty feven Parifian perches. 
 
 {u) The thirty-fix paintings begin with the 13th, and end with the 48th. In the copy of 
 them publiflied bv Thevenot, the 2 ift and 2 2d are wanting, and for the nioft part the figures 
 of the tributary ciiics. The copy p.iblidicd in Mexico in 1770, is dill lefs perfci-t, for it wants 
 the 2ift, 22d, 38th, 39th, and 40th of Mendoza's Collft'lion, befides a number of errors in 
 the interpretations ; but it has the advantage over Thevenot's of having the figures of the ci- 
 ties, and of being all executed on plates. 
 
 our
 
 II I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 351 
 
 our readers fornc idea of them, we fliall mention fome of the taxes BOOK vii. 
 which are reprefented in thefe paintings. 
 
 The cities of Xoconocho, HuchuetUin, Mazatlan^ and others upori 
 the coaft, paid annually to the crown, befides the drefTcs made of cot- 
 ton, four thoufand handfuls of beautiful feathers of different colours, 
 two hundred bags of cocoas, forty tygers fkins, and a hundred and 
 lixtv birds of certain particular colours. Huaxjacac, Cojolapan. 
 Atliicucc'iahuajariy and other places belonging to the Zapotecas, paid 
 in tribute forty plates of gold of a certain fize and thicknefs, and 
 twenty bags of cochineal. Tlccbquiauchoy Azof Ian, twenty vafes of 
 a certain mealure full of gold in powder. 'Tochtepec, Otlatitlajiy Co- 
 zamalloapan, Michapan, and other places upon the coafl of the Mexi- 
 can gulf, befides the garments of cotton, gold, and cocoas, were ob- 
 liged to contribute feventy-four thoufand handfuls of feathers, of dif- 
 ferent colours and qualities, fix necklaces, two of the finefl emeralds, 
 and four of thofe which were ordinary ; twenty ear-rings of amber, 
 adorned with gold, and as many of cryflal ; a hundred fmall cups or 
 jugs of liquid amber, and fixteen thoufand balls of iile, or elaflic gum. 
 T'cpejacac, ^lecholac, Tecamachalco, Acatzinco, and other places of 
 thofe regions, furnifhed four thoufand facks of lime, four tlioufand 
 loads ol atatliy or folid canes, fit to be ufed in buildings, and as many 
 loads of the fame canes of a fmaller fize, fit for making darts, and eight 
 thoufand loads of acajetl, or little reeds, full of aromatic fubftances. 
 MalinaltepcCy Tlalcozauhtitlan, Olìnalìim, Ichcatlan, ^aiac, and 
 other places of fouthern hot countries, fix hundred cups of honey, 
 forty large bafons of tecozahuitl, or yellow ochre, fit for painting, a 
 hundred and fixty axes of copper, forty round plates of gold, of a cer- 
 tain diameter and thicknefs, ten fmall meafures of fine turquoifts, and 
 ©ne load of ordinary turquoifes. ^auh)iahitai\ Fancbimalco, Atla- 
 choloajan, Xiuhtepec, Huitzilac, and other places belonging to the Tla- 
 huicas, fixteen thoufand pieces, or large Iheets of paper, and four 
 thoufand xicalli (natural vales, of which we fhall treat hereafter), of 
 different fizes. ^lauhtitLvc, Tclmillojocan, and other places wliich 
 were neighbouring to them, eight thoufand mats, and as many feats 
 or chairs. Other places contributed fuel, flone, a certain number of 
 beams and planks fit for buildings, and a certain quantity of copal, Sec. 
 
 Some
 
 352 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VII. Some tributary people were obliged to fend to the royal palaces and 
 "■"""^ ' woods a certain number of birds and quadrupeds, namely, the people 
 of Xilotepec, Michmalajan, and other places in the country of the Oto- 
 mies, which laft were obliged to fend the king every year fc^ty live 
 eagles. Concerning the Matlatzincas we know that when they were 
 brought under fubjedlion to the crown of Mexico by king Axajacatl, 
 befides the tribute which they are reprefented to have paid, iw the 
 twenty-feventh painting of the colleftion of xMendoza, the further 
 burthen was impofed on them of cultivating a field about feven hun- 
 dred perches long and half as broad, for the purpofe of furnifhing the 
 royal army with provifions. To conclude, a part of every thing ufe- 
 ful, which was found in the kingdom, either amongii: the produdlions 
 of nature or art, was paid in tribute to the king of Mexico. 
 
 Thefe large contributions, the great prefents which the governors 
 of provinces, and the feudatory lords made to the king, together with 
 the fpoils of ^^'ar, formed the great riches of his court which ex- 
 cited fo much admiration in the Spanilh conquerors, and occafioned fo 
 • much mifery to his unfortunate fubjeóts. The tributes which were at 
 firft moderate and ealy, becam.e at laft excelTive and enormous j for the 
 pride and pomp of the kings kept pace with their conquefts. It is 
 true, that a great part, and perhaps the greatell part of thefe reve- 
 nues was expended for the benefit of the fame fubjefts in the fupport 
 of a great number of minifters and magiiT:rates for the adminillration 
 of jufiice, in the reward of thofe who had done fcrvices to the fiate, 
 in the relief ot the indigent, particularly widows and orphans, and 
 men grown feeble with age, v/hich were the three clafies of people 
 moft compafilonated by the Mexicans, and alfo by opening the royal 
 granaries in times of great fcarcity to the nation ; but how many of 
 thofe unhappy people who were unable to pay the tributes demand-r 
 ed from them mufl have funk under the weight of their mifery, while 
 the royal beneficence did not reach them ? To opprefiive taxes were 
 added the greatefl rigour in collefting them. Whoever did not pay the 
 tribute prefcribed was fold for a flave, in order to purchaie with liis 
 liberty what he could not gain by his induftry. 
 
 For the adminiftration of juftice, the Mexicans had various tribunal* 
 and judges. At court, and in the more confiderable places of the 
 
 king- 
 
 4
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 353 
 
 kingdom, there was a fupremc magiftrate named CibuacoatI, whofe au-- cooK vii. 
 thority was fo great that from the fentences pronounced by him, either 
 in civil or criminal caufes, no appeal could be made to any other tri- 
 bunal, not even to majefty. He had the appointment of the inferior 
 judges, and the receivers of the royal revenues within his diftridl:, ren- 
 dered in their accounts to hicp. Any one who either made ufe of his 
 enfigns, or ufurped his authority, was punilhed with death. 
 
 The tribun ;1 of the Tlacatecatl, though inferior to the firft, was ex- 
 tremely refpedlable, and compofed of three judges, namely of the T/.^- 
 catecatl, who was the chief, and from whom the tribunal took its 
 name, and of two others who were called ^auhnochtli and Tlanotlac. 
 They took cognizance of civil and criminal caufes in the firft and fe- 
 cond inflance, although fen fence was pronounced in the name only of 
 the Tlacatecatl. They met daily in a hall of the houfe of the public, 
 which was called Tlat-zontccojan, that is, the place where judgment is 
 given, to which belonged porters and other officers of juftice. TJierc 
 they liftened with the utmofl: attention to litigations, diligently examined 
 into caufes, and pronounced fentence according to the laws. If a 
 caufe was purely civil, there v/as no appeal from tiiat court ; but if 
 the caufe was of a criminal nature, an appeal lay to the Cihuatcoatl. 
 The fentence was publilhed by the Tcpojotl, or public cryer, and was 
 executed by the Quaunochtli, who, as we have already mentioned, was 
 one of the three judges. The public cryer, as well as the executive 
 minifter of juftice, was held in high efteem amongfl: the Mexicans, 
 becaufe they were confidered to be the reprefentatives of the king. 
 
 In every diftrift of the city refided a bendili, who was deputy of the 
 tribunal of Tlacatecatl, and was eleded annually by the commons of 
 that diftriifl:. He took cognizance, in the firfi inflance, of the caufes 
 within his diftridl, and daily waited upon the Cihuacoatl, or the Tla- 
 catecatl, to report to him every thing which occurred, and to receive 
 his orders. Belides thefe Teudlli, there were in every diftridt certain 
 commilfaries, eletìed in the fame manner by the commons of the diftridl, 
 and named CenteBlapixque ; but they, from what appears to us, were 
 not judges, but only guardians, charged to obferve the conduct of a 
 certiiin number of families committed to their care, and to acquaint tiic 
 magiftratt'S with every thing that palled. Next to the Teudli v.cre 
 
 Vol. I. Z z tlie
 
 H I S T O Pv Y OF MEXICO. 
 
 the Taquitlatoqite, or the runners, who carried the notifications of tiie 
 magiftrates, and fummoned guilty perfons, and the Topiili or the of- 
 ficers who apprehended and made prifoners. 
 
 in the kingdom of Acolhuacan, the judicial power was divided a- 
 mongft feven principal cities. The judges remained in their tribunals 
 from fun-rife until evening. Their meals were brought to them in 
 the tribunal-hall, and that they might not be taken off from their em- 
 ployment, by giving attendance upon their families, nor have any 
 excufe for being corrupted, they were, agreeable to the ufage in the 
 kingdom of Mexico, afllgned pofieiiions and labourers, who cultivat- 
 ed their fields. Thofe poffefiions, as they belonged to the office, not 
 to the officer, did iiot pafs to his heirs but to his fucceffors in that ap- 
 pointment. In caufes of importance they durfl not pronounce fen- 
 tcnce, at leaft not in the capital, without giving information to the 
 king. Every Mexican month, or every twenty days, an afl'embly of 
 all the judges was held before the king, in order to determine all caufes 
 then undecided. If from their being much perplexed and intricate, 
 they were not finifhed at that time, they were referved for another ge- 
 neral afi"embly of a more folemn nature, which was held every eighty 
 days, and was therefore called NappapJhllatolH^ that is, the Conference 
 of Eighty, at which all caufes were finally decided, and in the prefence 
 of that whole afibmbly, punifhment was inflidled on the guilty. The 
 king pronounced fentcnce by drawing a line with the point of an arrow 
 upon the head of the guilty perfon, which was painted on the procefs. 
 
 In the tribunals of the Mexicans the contending parties made their 
 own allegations : at leali we do not know that they employed any other 
 advocates. In criminal caufes the accufer was not allowed any other 
 proof than that of his witnefies ; but an accufed perfon could clear 
 himfelf from guilt by his oath. In difputes about the boundaries of 
 pofleffions, the paintings of the land were confulted as authentic 
 writings. 
 
 All the magiftrates were obliged to give judgment according to the 
 laws of the kingdom which were reprefented by paintings. Of thefe 
 we have feen many, and have extrafted from them a part of that whick 
 we ffiall lay before our readers on the fubje^5t. The power of making 
 laws in Tezcuco belonged always to the kings, wlio made thofe which 
 
 they
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 355 
 
 they publiflied, be rigoroufly obferved. Amongfl the Mexicans, the BOOK V]I. 
 firft laws were made, from what we can difcover, by the bo ly of the no- '— —v— w 
 biHty ; but afterwards the kings became the legiflators of the nation, 
 and while their authority was confined within moderate limits, they 
 were zealous in the obfervance of thofe laws which they or their an- 
 ceftors had promulgated. In the laft years of the monarchy defpotifm 
 altered, and changed them at caprice. We fliall here enumerate thofe 
 which were in force at the time the Spaniards entered into Mexico. 
 In fome of them, much prudence and humanity and a ftrong attach- 
 ment to good cuiloms will be difcovered ; but in others an excefs of 
 rigour which degenerated into cruelty. 
 
 A traitor to the king- or the Hate was torn in pieces, and his rcla- Sect.xvu. 
 tions who were privy to the treafon, and did not difcover it, were de- 
 prived of their liberty. 
 
 Whoever dared in war, or at any time of public rejoicing, to make 
 tjfe of the badges of the kings of Mexico, of Acolhuacan, or Ta- 
 cuba, or of thofe of the Cihuacoatl, was punidied with death, and 
 his goods confifcated. 
 
 Whoever maltreated an ambalTador, minifter, or courier belonging 
 to the king, fuft'ered death ; but ambalTadors and couriers were forbid 
 on their part to leave the higli road, under pain of lofing their pri- 
 vileges. . 
 
 The punifliment of death was infliifted alfo on thofe perfons who oc- 
 cafioned any fedition amongfl the people ; on thofe who carried off, or 
 changed the boundaries placed in the fields by public authority ; and 
 likewife on judges who gave a fentence that was unjuft, or contrary to 
 the laws, or made an unfaithful report of any caufe to the king, or a 
 fuperior magiflrate, or allowed themfelves to be corrupted by bribes. 
 
 He who in war committed any hoftility upon the enemy without 
 the order of his chief, or attacked them before the fignal for battle was 
 given, or abandoned the colours, or violated any proclamation publilli- 
 ed to the army, was infallibly beheaded. 
 
 He who at market altered the meaùues eftablidied by the magif- 
 trates, was guilty of felony, and was put to death without delay in the 
 fame place. 
 
 Z z 2 A mur-
 
 350 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK vir. A murderer forfeited his own liie for his crime, even although the 
 perfou murdered was but a flave. 
 
 He who killed his wife, although he caught her in adultery, fufFered 
 death ; becaufe, according to them, he ufurped the authority of the 
 magiftrates, whofe province it was to take cognizance of mifdeeds, and 
 puniih evil-doers. 
 
 Adultery was inevitably puniflied with death. Adulterers were 
 floned to death, or their heads were bruiled between two ftones. This 
 law which prefcribed that adulterers lliould be floned to death, is one 
 of thofe which we have feen reprefented in the ancient paintings which 
 were preferved in the library of the f upreme college of Jefuits at Mexi- 
 co. It is alfo reprefented in the lafl painting of the colledion made 
 by Mendoza, and is taken notice of by Gomara, Torquemada, and 
 other authors. But they did not confider, nor did they punifli as adul- 
 tery, the trefpafs of a hufband with any woman who was free, or not 
 joined in matrimony : wherefore the hufband was not bound to fo much 
 fidelity as was exadted from the wife. In all places of the empire this 
 crime was punifhed, but in fome places with greater feverity than in 
 others. In Ichoatlan, a woman who was accufed of adultery was 
 fummoned before the judges, and if the proofs of her crime were fatif- 
 fadlory, fhe received punilhment there immediately ; flie was torn in 
 pieces, and her limbs divided among!! the witnefles. In Itztepec in- 
 fidelity in a woman was punifhed according to the fentence of the ma- 
 giftrates by her hufband, who cut off her nofe and her ears. In fbme 
 parts of the empire the punifhment of death was inflidled on the huf- 
 band, who cohabited with his wife, after it was proved that fhe had 
 violated her fidelity. 
 
 No divorce was lawful without the permiùion of the judges. He 
 who defired to divorce his wife, prefented hijnfelf before the tribunal, 
 and explained his reafons for it. The judges exhorted him to concord, 
 and endeavoured to dilluade him from a feparation j but if he perfiflied in 
 his claim, and his reafons appeared juft, they told him that he might 
 do that which he fhe aid judge moft proper, without giving their au- 
 thority for a divorce by a formal fentence. If niter all he divorced 
 her, he never could recover her nor be uiiited to her agam. 
 
 Thofe
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Thofe who were guilty of incfft with their neareil of blood, or rela- 
 tions, were lianged, and all marriages between perfons i'o nearly con- 
 nefted were ftriiilly forbid by la.v, c;:cepting marriages between brothers 
 and fiftcrs-in-law -, for amongft the Mexicans, as well as amongfl: the 
 Hebrews, it was the cuftoai that the brothers of the deceafed hu(band 
 might marry with their widowed filì:ers-in-law ; but there was great 
 difference in this pra(5lice of thefe two nations ; for amongfl: the He- 
 brews fuch a marriage could only happen in one cafe, that was where 
 the hulband died without iiVue ; amongll the Mexicans on the contrary, 
 it was nc^clFary that the deceafed ihould leave children, of whofe edu.- 
 cation the brother was to take charge, entering into all the rights of a 
 father. In fome places which were dillant fro.n the capital, the nob- 
 bles were accufl.onied to many their widowed mothers-in-law, pro- 
 vided their fathers had not had children by them ; but in the capitals 
 of Mexico and Tczcuco, and the places neighbouring to then^, fuch 
 marriages were deemed incefl;uoiJs, and pimilhed with leverity. 
 
 Any pcrfon guilty of a deteftable crime was hanged ; if a priefl:, he 
 was burnt alive. Amongfl: all the nations of Anahuac, excepting the 
 Panuchefe, this crime was held in abomination, and was puniflied by 
 them all with rigour. Neverthelefs, vicious men, in order to jufl:ify 
 their own excefles, have defamed all the nations of ^America with this 
 horrid vice ; but this calumny, which feveral Europeans authors have 
 too readily admitted to be jull:, is proved to be falfe by the tefti- 
 mony of many other authors, who. are more impartial, and better in- 
 formed (at). 
 
 The prieft, who, during the time that he was dedicated to the fer- 
 vice of the temple,, abufed any free woman, was deprived of the priefi:- 
 hood and banillied. 
 
 If any of the young nien, or young women, who were educating in 
 the feminaries, were guilty of incontinence, they were liable to a feverc 
 punilhment, and even to fuffer death, according to the report of fome 
 autho;s. But, on the otJier hand,, there was no punilhment whatever 
 prefcribed for limple fornication, although the evil tendency of an ex- 
 eefs of this kind was not unknown to them ; and fathers frequently 
 
 (x) Sec what wc have faid in our DiflcrtatioiiS refpctaing the author who has re\ived this, 
 atrocious calumny upon the Amcricaos. 
 
 adm,j»
 
 358 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VII. admonifhed their children to beware of it : the) burned the hair of a 
 bawd in the market-place with pine torches, and fmeared her head 
 with the refin of the fame wood. The more refpedlable the perfons 
 were to whom flie ferved in this capacity, fo much the greater was the 
 punifliment. 
 
 According to the laws, the man who drefled himfelf like a woman, 
 or the woman who dreffed herfelf like a man, was hanged. 
 
 The thief of things of fmall value met with no punifliment, except- 
 ing that of being obliged to reftore what he had ftolen ; if the things 
 were of great value, he was made the flave of the perfon whom he had 
 robbed. If the thing fliolen did no longer exifl:, nor the robber had 
 any goods by which he could repay his robbery, he was lloned to death. 
 If he had flolen gold or gems, after being conduced through all the 
 ftreets of the city, he was facrificed at the fefl;ival which the gold- 
 fmiths held in honour of their god Xipe. He who Hole a certain 
 number of ears of maize, or pulled up from another's field a certain 
 number of ufeful trees, was made a flave of the owner of that field (y) ; 
 bur every poor traveller was permitted to take of the maize, or the fruit- 
 bearing trees, which were planted by the fide of the highway, as much 
 as was fufficient to fatisfy immediate hunger. 
 
 He who robbed in the market, was immediately put to death by the 
 bafl:inado, in the market-place. 
 
 He alfo was condemned to death, who in the army robbed another 
 of his arms or badges. 
 
 Whoever upon finding a fl:rayed child, made it a flave, and fold it to 
 another, as if it were his own, forfeited by that crime his liberty and 
 his goods, one half of which was appropriated to the fupport of the 
 child, and the other half was paid to the purchafer that he might fet 
 the child at liberty. Whatever number of perfons were concerned in 
 the crime, all of them were liable to the fame punifliment. 
 
 To the fame punifliment of fervitude, and to the lofs of his goods, 
 was every perfon liable who fold the pofl*cflions of another, which he 
 only had in farm. 
 
 (.v) The anoiiymoii'; conqueror fays, that {tealiii'; of three or four cars of maize was fufH- 
 cient to incur tht penalt)-. Torqujmada adds, that the penalty was death : but this was the 
 law in the kingdom of /\co!hiincan only, not in the rcalni of Mexico. 
 
 8 Tutors
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. ^5^ 
 
 Tutors who did not give a good account of the eftates of their pu- BOOK vii. 
 pils, were hanged without pardon. '~ 
 
 The fame punirtiment was inflided on fons who fquandered their 
 patrimony in vices ; for they faid it was a great crime not to fet a higher 
 value on the labours of their fathers. 
 
 He who praillifcd forccry was facrificed to the gods. 
 
 Drunkennefs in youth was a capital offence; young men were put 
 to death by the baltinado in prifon, and young women were ftoned to 
 death. lu men advanced iii years, although it was not made capital, it 
 was punirtied with fcverity. If he was a nobleman, he was ftripped 
 of his office and his rank, and rendered infimous ; if a plebeian, they 
 fhaved him (a punilhment very fejifibly felt by thein), and demoli(hed 
 his houle, faying, that he who could voluntarily bereave himfelf of his 
 fenfes, was not worthy of a habitation amongft men. This law did 
 not forbid conviviality at nuptials, or at any other times of feftivity : 
 on fuch occafions it being lawful, in private houfcs, to drink more than 
 ufual ; nor did the law afFed: old men of feven ty years, who, on ac- 
 count of their age, were allowed to drink as much as they pleafed ^ 
 which appears reprefented in the forty-third painting of the colledlion 
 made by Mendoza. 
 
 He who told a lie to the particular prejudice of another, had a part 
 of his lip cut off, and fometimes his ears. 
 
 Of the Mexican laws concerning flaves it is to be obferved, that there s e c t 
 were three forts of flaves among them. The firfl were prifbners of xviir. 
 war ; the fecond were thofe whom they purchafcd for a valuable confi- cerning 
 deration; and the third were malefadors, who were deprived of their ^'*^''''- 
 liberty in punilhment of their crimes. 
 
 The prifbners of war were generally ficrificed to their gods. He 
 who in war took another's prifoner from him, or let him at liberty, 
 was punilhed with death. 
 
 The fale of a flave was not valid, unlefs it was made in the prefence 
 of four lawful witnefles. In general, they afTenibled in greater num- 
 bers, and celebrated contrafts of that nature with great folemnity. 
 
 Among the Mexicans a flave was allowed to have cattle, to acquire 
 property, and even to purchafe flaves who lerved him ; nor could his 
 owner hinder him, nor have fervice from fuch flaves ; for flavery was 
 
 only
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 only an obligation of perfonal fervice, and even that was under certain 
 i;eftri(fi:ions. 
 
 Nor was flavery entailed upon the defcendants of flaves. All Mexi- 
 cans were bprn free, although their mothers were flaves. If a free 
 man impregnated another perlon's Have, and fhe died during her preg- 
 nancy, he became the ilave of the owner of the female (lave ; but if 
 flie was happily delivered, the child as well as the father remained both 
 free. 
 
 Ncceflitous parents were allowed to difpofe of any one of their chil- 
 dren, in order to relieve their poverty ; and any free man might lell him- 
 felf for the fame purpofe ; but owners could not fell their flaves without 
 their confent, unlefs they were Have? with a collar. Runaway, rebel- 
 lious, or vicious llaves, had two or three warnings given them by their 
 owners, which warnings they gave for their better juftification in pre- 
 fence of fome witnefles. If, in fpite of thefe admonitions the flaves 
 did not mend their behaviour, a wooden collar was put about 
 their necks, and then it was lawful to fell them at market. If, 
 after having been owned by two or three mafters, they flill conti- 
 nued intradable, they were fold for the f^crifices > but that happen- 
 ed very rarely. If a flave, who was collared in this manner, hap- 
 pened to efcape from the prifon where his owner confined him, and 
 took refuge in the royal palace, he remained free ; and the peribn who 
 attempted to prevent his gaining this afylum, forfeited his liberty for 
 the attempt, except it it was the owner, or one of his children, who 
 had a right to feize him. 
 
 The perlbns who fold themfelves were generally gamefters, who did 
 fo in order to game v/ith the price of their liberty ; or thofe who by 
 lazinefs, or fome misfortune, found themfelves reduced to mifery, and 
 proftitutes, who wanted cloaths to make their appearance in public j 
 for women of that clai's among the Mexicans had no intercfl: in general 
 in their protcflion, but the gratification of their paiiions. Slavery 
 amongfl: the Mexicans was not fo hard to be borne, as it was among 
 other people ; tor the condition of a flave among them was by no means 
 oppreflive. Their labour was moderate, and their treatment humane; 
 when their mafters died, they generally became free. The common 
 price of a flave was a load of cotton garments. 
 
 There
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X r e O. 361 
 
 There was among the Mexicans another kind of Ilaver}', which they BOOK vir. 
 called Hurhuctatlacolli, which was, where one or two families, on ac- 
 count of their poverty, bound themfelves to furnilTi fome lord perpe- 
 tually with a flave. They delivered up oiie of their fons for this pur- 
 pofe, and after he had ferved for fome years they recalled him, in order 
 to let him marry, or for fome other motive, and fubllituted another in 
 his place. The change w.:s made without giving any offence to the 
 patron ; on the contrary-, he generally ^xy^ fome confideration for a 
 new flave. In the year 1506, on account of a great fcarcity which 
 happened then, many families were obliged to this kind of fervitude ; 
 but they were all freed from it by the king of Acolhuacan, Nezahual- 
 pilli, owing to the hardlhips they fuffered from it ; and, after his exam- 
 ple, the fame thing was done by Montezuma II. in his dominions. 
 
 The conquerors, who imagined they entered into all the rights of the 
 ancient Mexican lords, had, at firfl:, many flaves of thofe nations ; but 
 when the Catholic kings were informed of it by perfons of credit 
 who were zealous for the public good, and well acquainted with the 
 manners and cuftoms of thofe people, they declared all thofe flaves 
 free, and forbid, under fevere penalties, any attempt againfl: their li- 
 berty. A law infinitely jufl:, and worthy the humanity of thofe mo- 
 narchs ; for the firfl: religious milfionaries who were employed in 
 the convcrfion of the Mexicans, amongfl whom were men of much 
 learning, declared, after diligent examination, that they had not been 
 able to find one amongll the flaves wlio had been jufl;ly deprived of his 
 natural liberty. 
 
 We have now laid all that we know of the Mexican Icgiflature. 
 More complete information on this head, and in particular concern- 
 ing their civil contradts, their tribunals, and fupremc councils, might 
 have proved extremely valuable ; but the unfortunate lofs of the greater 
 part of their paintings, and of fome manufcripts of the firfl: Spaniards, 
 has deprived us of the only lights wliich could have illuflratcd this 
 fubjtft. 
 
 Although the laws of the capital were generally received through- Sect. xix. 
 cut the whole empire, yet in fome of the p.tjvinces many variations from J'^'^ntrics'o" 
 them took place ; for as the Mexicans did not oblige the coijquered Aiwhuac. 
 liations to fpeak the language of their court, neither did they compel 
 
 Vol. I. A a a them
 
 362 H I S T O R y O F M È X I e O. 
 
 BOOK VII. them to adopt all their laws. The legillature of Acolhuacan was the 
 mofl: fimilar to that of Mexico ; but ftill they differed in many parti- 
 culars, and the former was far more fcvere than the latter. 
 
 The laws publilhed by the celebrated king Nezaliualcojotl ordained, 
 that a thief Ihould be dragged through the ftreets, and afterwards 
 hanged. Murderers were beheaded. The agent in the crime of fo- 
 domy was fuffocated in a heap of aflies j the patient liad his bowels 
 torn out, after which his belly was filbd with a(hes, and then he was 
 burned. He who maliciouily contrived to fow difcord between two 
 ftates, was tied to a tree and burned alive. He who drank till he loft 
 his fenfes, if a nobleman, was immediately hanged, and his body was 
 thrown into the lake, or into fome river ; if a plebeian, for the firft 
 offence, he loft his liberty, and for the fecond his life. And when 
 the legiflator was alTced, why the law was more fevere upon nobles, 
 he anfwered, that the crime of drunkennefs was lefs pardonable in 
 them, as they were more bound in duty to fet a good example. 
 
 The lame king prcfcribed the punhliment of death to hiftorians 
 who publilhed any fallhood in their paintings ^^y^. He condemn- 
 ed robbers of the fields to the fame puniihment, and declared 
 that the ftealing feven ears of maize was fufficient to incur the pe- 
 nalty. 
 
 The Tlafcalans adopted the greater part of the laws of Acolhuacan. 
 Among them, fons, who were wanting in refpecfl and duty to their 
 parents, were put to death by order of the fenate. Thofe perfons 
 who were authors of any public misfortune, and yet did not deferve to 
 be punirtied with deiith, were banifhed. Generally fpeaking, among 
 all the polifhed nations of Anahuac, murder, theft, lying, adultery, 
 and other fimilar crimes of incontinence, were rigoroufly puniihed, and 
 that which we have already obferved, when fpeaking of their charac- 
 ter, appears to be verified in every thing, namely, that they were (as 
 they ftill are) naturally inclined to feverity and rigour, and more vigi- 
 lant to punifh vice than to reward virtue. 
 
 (^•) This law againrt falfe hirtorians isattefledby D. Ferdinando d'Alba Ixtlilxochitl (wbo 
 
 wui a dcfceudant of that legHlator), in his valuable maiiufcripts. 
 
 Among
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 363 
 
 Among the punilliments prefcribcd by the legiflators of Mexico againft BOOK vii. 
 malefadors, that of the fork or gallows was reckoned the mofl ignomi- sTTì-^XX 
 nious. That of banilhment was ahb thought infamous, as it fuppofed Hunifhmcnts 
 the guilty perfon polfelfed of an infedlious vice. That of whipping is 
 not found among their laws ; nor do we know that it was ever made 
 ufe of except by parents to their children, or mailers to their pupils. 
 
 They had two forts of prifons ; one iimilar to modern prifons, called 
 Teilpilojan, which was appropriated for debtors who refufed to pay 
 their debts, and for fuch perfons as were guilty of crimes not deferving 
 death ; the other called ^auhcalli, refembling a cage, was ufed to 
 confine prifoners who were to be facrificed, and perfons guilty of capi- 
 tal offences. Both of them were well watched and ftrongly guarded. 
 Thofe who were to be capitally puniihed were fed very fparingly, in 
 order that they might talle by anticipation the bitterncfs of death. The 
 prifoners on the contrary were well nouriflied, in order that they might 
 appear in good flefh at the facrifice. If through the negligence of the 
 guard, any prifoner efcaped from the cage, the community of the dif- 
 tridt, whole duty it was to fupply the prifons with guards, was oblig- 
 ed to pay to tlije owner of the fugitive, a female Have, a load of cotton 
 garments, and a fliield. 
 
 Havintj treated thus far of the civil, it is now become nccelTary to c. ^r 
 
 Sect. XXI. 
 
 fay fomething of the n;ilitary government of the Mexicans. No pro- Orticers of 
 fellion was held in more efleem amongll them than the profeflion of tai y orders.' 
 arms. The deity of war was the mofl revered by them, and regarded 
 as the chief protestor of the nation. No prince was elected king, un- 
 til he had, in feveral battles, difplayed proofs of his courage and mili- 
 tary flvill, and merited the fplendid poll: of general of the army ; and 
 no king was crowned, until he had taken, with his own hands, the 
 vid;ims which we;e to be facrificed at the feltival of his coronation. 
 
 All the Mexican kings, from IizcoatI the firfl, down to Quautemotzin, 
 who was their lafl, role from the command of the army to the govern- 
 ment of the kingdom. Thofe who died for the fake of their country, 
 with the r arms in their hands, were imagined to be the happieft fouls in 
 another life. From the great efteem in which the profeflion of arms was 
 held amonglt them, they were at much pains to make their cliildren 
 courageous, and to enure them from the carlicft: infancy to the hai-dHiips 
 
 A a a 2 of
 
 364 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK VII. of ^yar. It was this elevated notion of the glory of arms, which formed 
 thofe heroes, whofe illuftrious atìions we have already related : which 
 made them ilvake off the yoke of the Tepanecas, and eredt on fo hum- 
 ble a foundation, fo famous and celebrated a monarchy : and laftly, 
 which produced the extenfion of their dominions from the banks of 
 the lake to the fhores of the two oppofite feas. 
 
 The higheft military dignity was that of general of the army ; but 
 there were four different ranks of generals, of which the moft refpecfl- 
 shle was that of 7^/iicoc/jca/cat/ [z), and each rank had its particular 
 badges of diftindtion. We are uncertain in what degree the other 
 three ranks were fubordinate to the firft; nor can we even tell their 
 names, on account of the different opinions of authors on this head [a). 
 Next to the generals were the captains, each of whom commanded a 
 certain number of foldiers. 
 
 In order to reward the fervices of warriors, and give them every 
 kind of encouragement, the Mexicans devifed three military orders, 
 called Achcauhtin, ^lauhtin, and Oocelo, or Princes, Eagles, and Ty- 
 gers. The perfons belonging to the order of princes, who v/cre called 
 ^achì6ìin, were the moff honoured. They wore their hair tied on 
 the top of their heads with a red firing, from which hung as many 
 locks of cotton as they had performed meritorious aftions. This ho- 
 nour was fo much efteemed among them, that the kings themfelves, 
 as well as the generals, were proud of having it conferred upon them. 
 Montezuma II. belonged to this order, as Aco/la affirms, and alfo 
 king Tizoc, as appears in the paintings of him. The Tygers were dil- 
 tinguifhed by a particular armour which they wore, it being fpotted 
 like the fkins of thefe wild animals ; but fuch inlignia were only made 
 ufc of in war : at court all the officers of the army wore a drefs of 
 mixed colours, which was called Tlachquaubjo. No perfons on the 
 firft time of their going to war, were allowed to wear any badge of dif- 
 
 (z; Some authors fay that Tlacochcalcatl, fignifies prince of the darts ; but unc][ueftionablj 
 it means only, inhabitant of the arfenal, or boufe of the darts. 
 
 («) The interpreter of Mendoza's CoUefiion fays, that the names of the four ranks of ge- 
 nerals, were TlacochcaLati, Jltemfan'^catl-, Ezhuacaicait!, and TUllancalqni. Acofla, inftead of 
 AtcmpanccatU i^ysTlacatccat!, and inllcad oi E7.huacatccatl, E%lti«hiiacnil ; and adds, that thefc 
 were the names of the four clccSlors. Torqiiemada adopts the name of Tlacatccai!, but fome- 
 times he makes his rank inferior to the Thicochcakatl, and at other times he confounds them 
 together. 
 
 tindlion 3
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 2(>5 
 
 tindlion ; they were drefTed in a coarfe white habit, of cloth made from BOOK VII. 
 the aloe ; and this rule was fo ftrictly obferved, that it was even necef- 
 fiiry for the princes of the royal blood to give fome proofs of their cou- 
 rage before they could be entitled to change that plain drefs for an- 
 other more coftly, called 'Teucalhihqui. The members of thofe mili- 
 tary orders, befides the exterior marks of diflindtion which they wore, 
 were allotted particular apartments in the royal palace, whenever they 
 waited upon the king as guards. They were allowed to have furniture 
 in their houfes made of gold, to wear the fineil cotton drefs, and finer 
 ihoes than thofe of the common people ; but no foldier had permiffion 
 to do this until he had gairved, by his bravery, fome advancement in 
 the army. A particular drefs called Tiacat%iuhqui was given as a re- 
 ward to the foldier, who, by his example, encouraged a difpirited army 
 to renew battle with vigour. 
 
 When the king went to war, he wore befides his armour, particular 
 badges of diftindion ; on his legs, half boots made of thin plates of 
 gold J on his arms, plates of the fame metal, and bracelets of gems ; 
 at his under lip hang an emerald fet in gold ; at his ears, ear-rings of 
 the fame ftone ; about his neck a necklace, or chain of gold and gems, 
 and a plume of beautiful feathers on his head ; but the badge mod ex- 
 j)reffive of majeftv, was a work of great labour made of beautiful fea- 
 thers, which reached from the head all down the back {b). The 
 Mexicans were very attentive to diflinguilh perfons, particularly in war,, 
 by dilFcrent badges.. 
 
 The defenlive and offenfive arms which were made ufe of by the 
 Mexicans, and the other nations of Anahuac, were of various forts. 
 The defeniive arms common to tlie nobles and plebeians, to the ofh- 
 cers and foldiers, were fliields, which they called C.biinalli (^c), and 
 were made of different forms and materials. Some of them were per- 
 fei5tly round, and others were rounded only in the under part. Some 
 
 Sect.XXIL 
 The military 
 drefs of the 
 
 kin.?. 
 
 Sic T.. 
 
 XXIII. 
 The aiiii> of 
 the Mexi- 
 cans. 
 
 {b) All thefe royal infignia had their particular name;. The boots were called co:ifliuat!, 
 the brachials niaUrnicati, the brace!ets mal^opczlii, the emerald at the lip toilcil. the earrinq;;, 
 Tiacochlii the necklace cozcaprtlail, and the principal badge of feathers quach-Hli. 
 
 (i) So'iis pretends, that the (liield was ufcd only by lords ; but the anonymous conqueror, 
 who frequently faw the Mexicans in arms, and was enijaged in many battles a;;ainft them, af-' 
 forts c.sprcfly, that this armour was common to all ranks. No author has informed us more 
 accurately than he of the Mexican armour. 
 
 were-
 
 306 H I S T O R y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VII. were made of otatU, or fólid elaftic cines, interwoven widi thick cot- 
 ^^ ' ton threads, and covered with feathers ; thofe of the nobles with thin 
 plates of gold; others were made of large tortoife-fliclls, adorned with 
 copper, filver, and gold, according to the wealth of the owner, or his 
 rank in the army, Thefe were of a moderate fize; but others were 
 fo cxceffively large, that they could occafionally cover the whole body ; 
 but when it was not necefliiry to ufe them, they could comprefs tnem, 
 and carry them under their arms like the parafols of the moderns ; it 
 is probable, they were made of the (kins of animals, or cloth waxed 
 with nie, or elaftic gum (d) . On the other hand, many of their 
 fliields were very fmall, more beautiful than ftrong, and adorned with 
 fine feathers ; thefe were not employed in war, but only at the enter- 
 tainments which they made in imitation of a battle. 
 
 Thedefenfive arms peculiar to the officers were breafl-plates of cotton, 
 one and fometimes two fingers thick, which were arrow-proof; and 
 on this account the Spaniards themfelves made ufe of them in the war 
 againft the Mexicans. The name Ichcahiiepììlì, which the Mexicans 
 gave to this fort of breaft-plate, was changed by the Spaniards into 
 the word EfcaupiL Over this fort of cuirafs, which only covered part 
 of the breaft, they put on another piece of armour, which, befides the 
 chert, covered the thighs, and the half of the arms, figures of which 
 appear in the plate reprefenting the Mexican armour. The lords were 
 accuflomed to wear a thick upper coat of feathers, over a cuirafs made 
 of feveral plates of gold, or filver gilt, which rendered them invul- 
 nerable, not only by arrows, but even by darts or Iwords, as the ano- 
 nymous conqueror affirms. Befides the armour which they wore for 
 the defence of their cherts, their arms, their thighs, and even their 
 legs ; their heads were ufually cafed in the heads of tygers, or fer- 
 pents, made of wood, or fome other fubftance, with the mouth open, 
 and furnifhed with large teeth that they might infpire terror, and fo 
 animated in appearance, that the above mentioned author fays, they 
 feemed to be vomiting up the foldiers. All the officers and nobles wore 
 a beautiful plume of feathers on their heads, in order to add to the 
 appearance of their rtature. The common foldiers went entirely naked, 
 
 (</) Thefe large fliicIds ;.rc mentioned by ihe snotiymous conq-cror, Didaco Godoi, and 
 Bernal Di.is, who were allpreftnt at the couqucir. 
 
 except 
 
 I
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 except the maxtlatl, or girdle, which covered the private parts ; but 
 they counterfeited the drefs which they wanted by different colours, 
 with which they painted their bodies. The European hiflorians, v/ho 
 exprels lb much wonder ?.t this, have not obferved how common the 
 lame practice was among the ancient nations of Europe itlelf. 
 
 The offenlive arms of the Mexicans were arrows, flings, clubs, 
 fpears, pikes, fwords, and darts. Their bows were made of a v/ood, 
 which was elaflic and difficult to break, and the flring of the linews 
 of animals, or the hair of the flag. Some of their bows were fo large 
 (as they are at prcfent among fome nations of th .t continent), that 
 they required more than five feet length of firing. Their arrows 
 were made of hard rods, pointed with the fiiarp bone of a fifh, or other 
 animal, or a piece of flint, or it%!i. They were extremely expert at 
 drawing the bow, and very dextrous markfmen, being exercifed in it 
 from childhood, and encouraged by rewards from their maflers and 
 parents. The Tehuacanefe nation was particularly famous for their 
 liiill in riiooting two or three arrows together. The furpriling feats of 
 dexterity, whi^h have been exhibited even in our time by the Tarau- 
 marcle, the Hiaquefe, and other people of thofe regions, who ftill ufc 
 the bow and arrow, enable us to judge of the expertnefs and excellence 
 of the ancient Mexicans in that way (t"). No people of the country 
 of Anahuac ever made ufe of poifoned arrows ; this was probably ow- 
 ing to their defire of taking their enemies alive for the purpofe of la- 
 crificing them. 
 
 The Miiqiiabiiitl, called by the Spaniards Spnda, or fword, as it was 
 the weapon among the Mexicans, which was equivalent to the fword of 
 the old continent, was a flout flick three feet and. a half long, and about 
 four inches broad, armed on each fide with a fort of razors of the Hone 
 itzli, extraordinarily fliarp, fixed and firmly faflened to the flick with 
 gum lack (fj^ which were about three inches long, one or two inches 
 
 broad, 
 
 (<•) The dexterity of thofc people in (hooting arrows would not be credible, were it not well 
 aftertaincd by the depofitions of a variety of eye-witnefles. It was ufuiil for a number of 
 archers to aflcmble together, and throw up an car of niaÌ7x into the air, at which they iminc- 
 òiatcly fliot with fuch quickr.ifs and dexterity, that before it could reach ihc ground it was 
 tiripped of every grain. 
 
 ( f) Hernandez f.iys, that one ftroke of the maquiihuitl was fuflicient to cut a man through 
 the middle ; and the anonymous conqueror attcils, that he fa^v ia an engagement a Mcxic.m, 
 
 8 with
 
 368 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VII. broad, and as thick as the blade of our ancient fwords. This weapon 
 * ^ ^ was lb keen, that once it entirely beheaded a horfe at one llroke, ac- 
 cording to the afiirmation of Acofla ; but the firfl ftroke only was to 
 be feared ; for the razors became foon blunt. They tied this weapon 
 by a firing to their arm, left they might lofe it in any violent conflidl. 
 The form of the maquahuitl is defcribed by feveral hiflorians, and is 
 reprefented in one of the plates of this hiflory. 
 
 The pikes of the Mexicans, inftcad of' iron, were pointed with a 
 large flint, but fonie of th.in alfo with copper. The Chinantecas, 
 and fome people of Chiapan, made ufe of pilies fo monftrous, that they 
 exceeded three perches, or eigliteen feet in length, and the conqueror 
 Cortes employed them againfl: the cavalry of his rival Panfilo Navaez. 
 
 The T^lacocbtU, or Mexican dart, was a fmall lance of otatli, or fonie 
 other ftrong wood, the point of which was hardened by fire, or (h.od 
 with copper, or Z/^//, or bone, and many of them had three points, 
 in order to make a triple wound at every ftroke. 
 
 They fixed a ftring to their darts fgj, in order to pull them back 
 again, after they had launched them at the enemy. This was the wea- 
 pon which was the moft dreaded by the Spanidi conquerors ; for they 
 were fo expert at throwing them, that they pierced the body of an 
 enemy through and through. The foldiers were armed in general with 
 a fword, a bow and arrows, a dart, and a fling. We do not know, 
 whether in war, they ever made ufc of their axes, of which we fliall 
 fliortly fpeak. 
 
 They had alfo ftandards and mufical inftrunients proper for war. 
 Their ftandards, which were more like the Sigmim of the Romans than 
 our colours, were ftaves from eight to ten feet long, on which they 
 carried the arms or enfigns of the ftate, made of gold, or feathers, or 
 fome other valuable materials. The armorial enfign of the Mexican 
 empire, was an eagle in the a6t of darting upon a tyger ; that of the 
 republic of Tlafcaia, an eagle with its wings fpread (-Ó) -, but each of 
 
 with one tlroke which he gave a horfe in the bellv, make his intellincs drop out ; and antthcr, 
 who with one ftroke which he gave a horfe upon the head, laid him dead at his feet. 
 
 [g) The Mexican dart was of that kind of darts which the Romans ufcd to call Hafiih; Jc- 
 culum, or Telimi cttiuntatiini, and the Spauifil name Amento or A.aeiuto, which the hillori.ins cf 
 3Mc.\ico have adopted, means the fame thing as the Amentum of the Romans. 
 
 (/') Gomara fay?, that the armoiial enlign of the republic of Tlafcaia was a crane ; bue 
 other hillorians, better informed than he Vvas, ufhrm that it was an eagle. 
 
 the 
 
 Sect. 
 XXIV. 
 
 Slandardi 
 and martial 
 luulic.
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 369 
 
 the four lordHiips which compofed the repubUc, had its proper enfign. book vii. 
 That of Ocotelolco, was a green bird upon a rock ; that of Tizatlan, ^-^ -'" 
 a heron upon a rock alfo ; that of Tepeticpac, a fierce wolf, holding 
 fome arrows in his paws ; and that of Quiahuiztlan, aparafol of green 
 feathers. The flandard which the conqueror Cortes took in the fa- 
 mous battle of Otompan, was a net of gold, which, in all probability 
 was the ftandard of fome city lituated on the lake. Befides the com- 
 mon and principal ftandard of the army, every company, confining of 
 two or three hundred foldiers, carried its particular ftandard, and was 
 not only diftinguifhed from others by it, but likewife by the colour of 
 the feathers, which the officers and nobles bore upon their armour. 
 The flandard-bearer of the army, at leaft in the lalf years of the em- 
 pire, was the general, and thofe of the companies, mofl probably, were 
 borne by their commanding officers. Thole flandards were fo firmly 
 tied upon the backs of the officers, that it was almoft impofiible to 
 detach them without cutting the ftandard-bearers to pieces. The 
 Mexicans always placed their ftandard in the centre of their army. The 
 Tlafcalans, when they marched their troops in time of peace placed 
 it in the van, but in the time of war, in the rear of their army. 
 
 Their martial mufic, in which there was more noife than harmony, 
 confifted of drums, horns, and certain fea-iliells which made an ex- 
 tremely flirill found. 
 
 Previous to a declaration of war, the fupreme council examined into Sect. XXV. 
 the caule which induced them to undertake it, which was for the moll aeckdn/and 
 part the rebellion of fome city or province, the putting to death un- carrying on 
 lawfully fome Mexican, Acolhuan, or Tepanecan couriers, or mer- 
 chants, or fome grofs infult offered to their ambaffadors. If the re- 
 bellion originated in fome of the chiefs, and not among the people, 
 the guilty perfons were conduced to the capital and punifhcd. But if 
 the people were alfo in fault, fatisfadtion was demanded from them in 
 the name of the king. If they fubmitted, and manifefted a fincerc re- 
 pentance, their crime was pardoned, and they were advifed to better 
 conduct ; but if, inflead of fubmiffion, tliey anfwered with arrogance, 
 and perfifted in denying the latisfi(5tion demanded, or offered any new 
 infult to the meffengers which were lent to them, the affair was dif- 
 cufied in the council, and if war was refolved upon, proper orders were 
 
 Vol. I. B b given 
 
 war.
 
 HISTORY OF Pv'IEXICO. 
 
 given to the generals. Sometimes the kings, in order to juftify their 
 conduóì more fully before they made war upon any ftate or place, fen: 
 three different embaffies ; the firfi: to the lord of the ftate which had 
 given offence, requiring from him a fuitable fatisfaftion, and alfo pre- 
 fcribing a time for the fame, on pain ot" being treated as an enemy ; 
 the fecond, to the nobles, that they might perfuade their lord to make 
 a fubmiffion, and efcape the punifhment which threatened him ; and 
 the third to the people, in order to make them acquainted with the 
 occafion of the war ; and very often, as a certain hiftorian afferts, the 
 arguments made ufe of by the ainbaffadors were fo powerful, and the 
 advantages of peace, and the diltreffes of war, were fo forcibly repre- 
 fented, that an accommodation took place between the parties. They 
 ufed alfo to fend along with ambailadors the idol of Huitzilopochtli, 
 enjoining the people who were ftirring up a war to give it a place 
 among their gods. If they on the one hand found themfclves ftrong 
 enough to refift, they rejeóted the propofition, and difaiiffed the itrange 
 god ; but if they thought themfelves unable to fuilain a war, they re- 
 ceived the idol, and placed it among their provincial gods, and anfwer- 
 ed to the embaffy with a large prefent of gold, gems, or beautiful fea- 
 thers, acknowledging their fubjedtion to the fovereign. 
 
 If war was to be commenced, previous to every thing elfe they fent 
 advice of it to the enemy, that they might prepare for defence, confi.- 
 dering nothing more mean and unworthy of brave people than to at- 
 tack the unguarded : for this purpofe therefore, they fent before them 
 feveral fhlelds, which were the fignals of a challenge, and likewife 
 fome cotton dreffes. When one king was challenged by an.other, they 
 ufed alfo the ceremony of anointing, and fixing feathers upon his head, 
 which was done by the ambaffador, as happened at the challenge given by 
 king Itzcoatl to the tyrant Maxtlaton ; they next difpatched fpies, who 
 were called ^r/mic/jlm, or forcerers, and were to go in dil_^:uile into the 
 country of the enemy, to obferve tiieir number and motions, and the 
 quality of the troops which they muftered. If they were fuccefsful 
 in this commiffion they were amply rewarded. Laftly, after having 
 made fome facrifices to the god of war, and to the tutelar deities of 
 the ffate or city on which the war was made, in order to m.crit their 
 protedion, the army marched, but not formed into wings, or ranked 
 
 in
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 371 
 
 in files, but divided into companies, each of which had its leader, and KOOK vn. 
 its llandard. When the army was numerous it was reckoned by Xiqni- 
 pilli ; and each xiquipilli con(\{\:cà of eight thoufand men. It is extremely 
 probable, that each of thefe bodies was commanded by a Tlacatecatl, 
 or other general. I'lie place where the firft battle was ufually fought was 
 afield appointed for that purpofe in fome province, and called y^o/ A////, 
 or land or field of battle. They began battle (as was ufual in ancient 
 Europe, and among the Romans), with a moft terrible noife of war- 
 like inilruments, (houting and whiftling, which flruck terror to thofe 
 who were not accullomed to hear it, as the anonymous conqueror declares 
 from his own experience. Amongft the people of Tezcuco, and like- 
 wife, moll probably, amongft thofe of other ftates, the king, or the 
 general, gave the lignal for battle, by the beat of a little drum which 
 hung at his fhoulder. Their firft onfet was furious ; but they did 
 not all engage at once, as fome authors have reported j for they were 
 accuftomed, as is manifell from their hiftory, to keep troops in refcrve, 
 for preinng emergencies. Sometimes they began battle with iliooting 
 arrows, and fometimes v/ith darts and flinging of flones ; and wlieu 
 their arrows were exhaufled, they made ufe of their pikes, clubs, and 
 fwords. They were extremely attentive to keep their troops united 
 and firmly together, to defend the ftandard, and to carry off the dead 
 and the wounded from the fight of the enemy. There were certain 
 men of the army who had no other employment than to remove from 
 the eyes of the enemy eveiy object which could heighten their courage 
 and intiame their pride. They made frequent ufe of ambufcades, con- 
 ceahng them.felves in bulhy places or ditches made on purpofe, of whicii 
 the Spaniards had often experience ; and frequently alfo they pretended 
 flight, in order to lead the enemy in pnrfuit of tliem into fome dan- 
 gerous fituation, or to charge tiiem behind with fre/h troops. Their 
 great aim in battle was not to kill, but to make prifoners of their ene- 
 mies for facrifices ; nor was the bravery of a foldier eftimated by the 
 number of dead bodies which he left on the field, but by the number 
 of prifoners which he prefented to the general after the battle, and this '' 
 was unqueflionably the principal caufe of the prefervation of the Spa- 
 niards, ni the midil of the dangers to which they were expofed, and 
 
 B b 2 parti-
 
 372 ir I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VII. particularly on that memorable night when they were defeated, and ob- 
 liged to retreat from the capital. When an enemy, whom they had 
 once conquered, attempted to fave himfelf by flight, they hamftring him 
 to prevent his efcape. When the ftandarJ of the army was taken by 
 the enemy, or their general fell, they all fled, nor was it pofllble then 
 by any human art to rally or recall them. 
 
 When the battle was over, the vidtors celebrated the victory with 
 great reioicings, and rewarded the officers and foldiers who had made 
 fome prifoners. When the king of Mexico in perfon, took an enemy 
 prifoner, embaffies came from all the provinces of the kingdom to con- 
 gratulate him upon the occafion, and to offer him fome prefent. This 
 prifoner was clothed with the fineft habits, adorned with jewels, and 
 carried in a litter to the capital, where the citizens came out to meet 
 him, with mufic and loud acclamations. When the day of the facri- 
 fice arrived, the king having failed the day before, according to the 
 cuftom of owners of prifoners, they carried the royal prifoner, adorned 
 with the enfigns of the fun, to the altar for common facrifices, where 
 he was facrificed by the high-prieft. ' The prieft fprinkled his blood 
 towards the four principal winds, and fent a velfel full of the fame to 
 the king, who ordered it to be fprinkled on all the idols within the 
 inclofure of the greater temple, as a token of thanks for the vidlory 
 obtained over the enemies of the fiate. They hung up the head in 
 fome very lofty place, and after the fkin of the body was dried, they 
 filled it with cotton, and hung it up in the royal palace, in memory of 
 the glorious deed ; in which circumftance however, their adulation to 
 him was confpicuous. 
 
 When any city was to be bcfieged, the greateli: anxiety of the ci- 
 tizens was to fecure their children, their women, and fick perfons j 
 for which purpofe they fent them off, at an early opportunity, to another 
 city, or to the mountains. Thus they faved thofe dcfencelefs indivi- 
 duals from the fury of the enemy, and obviated an unneceffary con- 
 fumption of provifions. 
 Sect. For the defence of places they made ufe of various kinds of fortifi- 
 
 r ■^Y .' cations, fuch as walls, and ramparts, with their breafl:-works, palifa- 
 tions. does, ditches, and iiitrenchments. Concerning the city of Qiiauhque- 
 
 8 chollan.
 
 j'/.xm. 
 
 f////'///'/- /(■?■/// 1'/ ^ /,///// /i 
 
 I'et.I Pat/f j^j 
 
 A> 
 
 f>llfrt7///y /■/ f/ll : //rf->r<l/ffH .'/v77AVY^l>.
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 373 
 
 chollan, we know that it was fortified by a ftrong (lone v/all, about BOOK vji. 
 twenty-feet high, and twelve feet in thicknefs fi). 
 
 The conquerors, who defcribe to us the fortifications of this city, 
 make mention Hkewife of feveral others, amon;; which is the celebrated 
 wall which the Tlafcalans built on the eaflern boundaries of the repub- 
 lic, to defend themfelves from the invalion of the Mexican troops, 
 which were g.irrifoned in Iztacmaxtitlan, Xocotlan, and other places. 
 This wall, which ftretched from one mountain to another, was fix 
 miles in length, eight feet in height, befides the breafl-work, and eigh- 
 teen feet in thicknefs. It was made of llone, and ftrong fine mortar (/■). 
 There was but one narrow entrance of about eight feet broad, and 
 forty paces long ; this was the fpace between the two extremities of the 
 wall, the one of which encircled the other, forming two femicircles, 
 with one common centre. This will be better imderftood from the 
 figure of it which we prefent to our readers. There are llill fome re- 
 mains of this wall to be feen. 
 
 There are alfo to be feen ftill the remains of an ancient fiartrefs built 
 upon the top of a mountain, at a little diftance from the village of Mol- 
 caxac, furrounded by four walls, placed at fome diflance from each 
 other, from the bafe of the mountain unto the top. In the neigh- 
 bourhood appear many finali ranvparts of ftone and lime, and upon a 
 hill, two miles diflant from that mountain, are the remains of fome 
 ancient and populous city, of which, however, there is no memory 
 among hiflorians. About twenty-five miles from Cordova, towards 
 the north, is likewife the ancient fortrefs of ^auhtocho, (now Giici- 
 tufco), furrounded by high walls of extremely hard ftone, to which 
 there is no entrance but by afcending a number of very high and 
 narrow fleps ; for in this manner the entrance to their fortreflcs was. 
 formed. From among the ruins of this ancient building, which is 
 now over-run with bulhes, through the negligence of thofe people, a 
 Cordovan gentleman lately dug out feveral well-finifhed llatues of Hone, 
 
 (/) In the ninth book \vc filali give a ilcfcription of the fortificntions of Qu.nuliquccholl.in. 
 
 \ii) Bernal Dias fays, that the Tlafcaian wall was built of ftonc and lime, and with a bitu- 
 men fo Ih-ong it was nccrflary to iilc pick-axes to undo it. Cortes, on the other hand aflirni?, 
 that it was built of dry ftoncs. We arc difpofed rather to give credit to Bernal Dias; bccaufc 
 he aflerts, he had attentively examined this wall, although like an illiterate perfon, he give» 
 the name of bitumen to the mortar or cement made ufc of by thofc nations. 
 
 for
 
 H I S T O p. Y OF I\I E X I C O. ■ 
 
 for the ornament of his houfe. Near to the ancient court of Tezcuco, 
 a part of the wall which furrounded the city of Coatlichan, is ftili 
 preferved. We wiili that our countrymen v/ould attend to the prelcr- 
 vation of thofe few remains of the military architeilure of the Mexi- 
 cans, particularly as they have fuffered fo many other valuable remains 
 of their antiquity to go to ruin (!) . 
 
 The capital of Mexico, though fuiticiently fortified by its natural 
 fituation for thofe times, was rendered impregnable to its enemies by 
 the induftr)' of its inhabitants. There was no accefs to the city but 
 by the roads formed upon the lake ; and to make it dill more dithcult 
 in time of v/ar, they built many ramparts upon thefe roads, which 
 were interfered with fevsral deep ditches, over which they had draw- 
 bridges, and thofe ditches were defended by good entrenchnients. 
 Thofe ditches were the graves of many Spaniards and Tlafcalans, on 
 the memorable night of the firtl of July, of which we fliall fpeak here- 
 after ; and the caufe which retarded the taking of that great city, by fo 
 numerous and v.'ell equipped an army, as that whicli Cortes employed 
 to befiege it ; and v»hich, had he not been aflifted by the brigantines, 
 would have delayed it much longer, and occafioned the lofs of a great 
 deal more blood. For the defence of the city by water, they had 
 many thoufand fmall veffels, and frequently exercifed themfelves in na- 
 val engagements. 
 
 But the moll fmgalar fortincations of Mexico were the temples 
 themfelves, and efpecially the greater temple, which refembled a cita- 
 del. The wall which furrounded the whole of tlie temple, the five 
 arfenals there which were filled with every fort of ofFenfive and defen- 
 five arms, and the architeóture of the temple itfelf which rendered the 
 afcent to it fo dithcult, gives us clearly to underfland, that in fuch 
 buildings, policy, as well as religion, had a fliarej and that they con- 
 ftrudted them, not only from motives of fuperftition, but likewife for 
 the purpofe of defence. It is well known from their hillory, that they 
 fortified themfelves in their temples when they could not hinder the 
 
 (/) Thefe imperfeiS accounts of thofe remains of Mexican antiquities, obtained from eye- 
 w'ltncfles worthy of the utmoft credit, perfuade us, that there are ftill many more of which 
 we have no knowledge, owing to the indolence and negleci of our counti vmen. See what \i 
 faid in our diflertations refpeding thofe antiquities againft Slg. de P. and Dr. Robcrtfon. 
 
 cnemv,
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 375 
 
 enemy from entering into the city, and from thence harrafìed them with BOOK vii. 
 arrows, darts, and ftones. In the laft book of this hiftory, will ap- 
 pear how long the Spaniards were in taking the greater temple, where 
 live hundred Mexican nobles had fortified themfelves. 
 
 The high efteem in which the Mexicans held every thing relating 
 to war, did not divert their attention from the arts of peace. Firft, 
 agriculture, which is one of the chief occupations of civil life, was, 
 from time immemorial, exercifed by the Mexicans, and almoft all the 
 people of Anahuac. The Toltecan nation einployed themfelves dili- 
 gently in it, and taught it to the Chechemecan hunters.. With rcfpedt 
 to the Mexicans, we know that during the whole of their peregrina- 
 tion, from their native country Aztlan, unto the lake where they 
 founded Mexico, they cultivated the earth in all thofe places where 
 they made any conliderable flop, and lived upon the produce of their 
 labour. When they were brought under fubjeflion to the Colhuan 
 and Tepanecan nations, and confined to the miferable little iflands on 
 the lake, they ceafed for fome years to cultivate the land, becaufe they 
 had none, until necefhty, and induftry together, taught them to form 
 ir.oveable fields and gardens, which floated on the waters of the lake. 
 The method which they purfued to make thofe, and which they flill 
 pradtvfe, is extremely limple. 
 
 They plait and twifl: willows, and roots of marfh plants, or other 
 materials togetiier, which are light, but capable of fupporting the earth XXVII. 
 of the garden firmly united. Upon this foundation they lay the light fieids'"and 
 bullies which float on the lake, and over all, the mud and. dirt wlilch ga'dcis of 
 they draw up from the bottom of the fame laice. Their regular figure lake. 
 is quadrangular ; their length and breadth various ; but as fiir as we can 
 judge, they are about eight perches long, and not more than three in 
 breadth, and have lefs than a foot of elevation above the furface of the 
 water. Thefe were the firfl fields which the Mexicans owned after 
 the foundation of Mexico; there they firft cultivated the maize, gre.\t 
 pepper, and other plants, neceflary for their fiapport. In progrefs of 
 time 1.8 thole fields grew numerous from the induflry of thole people 
 there were among them gardens of flowers and odoriferous plants, which 
 were employed in the worfliip of their gods, and ferved for the recrea- 
 tion of the nobles. Atprefent they cultivate flowers, and every fort of gar- 
 den.
 
 Sect. 
 XXVIIL 
 
 Manner of 
 cultivating 
 the earth. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 den herbs upon them. Every day of the year, at fun -rife, innumerable 
 veffels loaded with various kinds of flowers and herbs, which are culti- 
 vated in thofe gardens are feen arriving by the canal, at the great mar- 
 ket-place of that capital. All plants thrive there furprifmgly ; the mud 
 of the lake is an extremely fertile foil, and requires no water from the 
 clouds. In the largeft gardens there is commonly a little tree, and even 
 a little hut to fhelter the cultivator, and defend him from rain, or the fun. 
 When the owner of a garden, or the Chifianipci, as he is ufually called, 
 wifhes to change his lltuation, to remove from a difagreeable neighbour, 
 or to come nearer to his own family, he gets into his little veflel, and by 
 his own flrength alone, if the garden is fmall, or with the affiftance of 
 others, if it is large, he to\\'s it after him, and conduits it wherever he 
 pleafes v^^ith the little tree and hut upon it. That part of the lake 
 ■where thofe floating gardens are, is a place of infinite recreation where 
 the fenfes receive the higheft pofTible gratification. 
 
 As foon as the Mexicans had fliaken of the Tepanecan yoke, and 
 had gained by their conquefts lands fit for cultivation, they applied 
 themfelves with great diligence to agriculture. Having neither ploughs, 
 nor oxen, nor any other animals proper to be employed in the culture 
 of the earth, they fupplied the want of them by labour, and other more 
 Ample infl:ruments. To hoe and dig the ground they made ufe of the 
 Coati (or Coo), which is an infl:rument made of copper, with a wooden 
 handle, but different from a fpade or mattock. They made ufe of an 
 axe to cut trees, which was alfo made of copper, and was of the fame 
 form with thofe of modern times, except that we put the handle in the 
 eye of the axe, whereas they put the axe into an eye of the handle. 
 They had feveral other infl:ruments of agriculture ; but the negligence 
 of ancient writers on this fubjedt has not left it in our power to attempt 
 their defcription. 
 
 For the refrefhment of their fields they made ufe of the water of ri- 
 vers and fmall torrents which came from the mountains, raifing dams 
 to colledl them, and forming canals to conduct them. Lands which 
 were high, or on the declivity of mountains, were not fown every year, 
 but allowed to lie fallow until they were over-run with bufhes, which 
 they burned, to repair by their aflies, the fait which rains had wafhed 
 away. They furrounded their fields with ftone inclofures, or hedges 
 made of the inetl, or aloe, which make an excellent fence ; and in the 
 
 month
 
 Il I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. ^jy 
 
 month Panquetzaliztli, which began, as we have already mentioned, book: vii. 
 on the third of December, they were repaired if neceflary (w). """ •' ' 
 
 Tlie method they obferved in fowing of maize, and which tliey ftill 
 pradlife in fome places, is tliis. The fo.ver makes a fmall hole in the 
 earth, with a flick or drill probably, the point of which is hardened 
 by fire ; into this hole he drops one or two grains of maize from abaf- 
 ket which hangs from his flioulder, and covers them with a little earth 
 by means of his foot ; he then pafles forward to a certain diflance, 
 which is greater or lefs according to the quality of the foil, opens an- 
 other hole, and continues fo in a ftrait line unto the end of the field ; 
 from thence he returns, forming another line parallel to the firft. The 
 rows of plants by thefe means are as ftrait as if a line was made ufe of, 
 and at as equal diftances from each other as if the fpaces between were 
 meafured. This method of fowing, which is now ufed by a few of 
 the Indians only, though more flow («), is, however of fome advantage, 
 -as they can more exadlly proportion the quantity of feed to the ftrength 
 of the foil ; befides, that there is almoft none of the feed loft which is 
 fown. In confequence of this, the crops of the fields which are cul- 
 tivated in that manner are ufually more plentiful. When the maize 
 fprings up to a certain height, they cover the. foot of the plant round 
 with earth, that it may be better nourilhed, and more able to withftand 
 fudden gufts of wind. 
 
 In the labours of the field the men were aftlfted by the women. It 
 was the bufinefs of the men to dig and hoe the ground, to fow, to 
 heap the earth about the plants, and to reap ; to the women it belong- 
 ed to ftrip oft" the leaves from the ears, and to clear the grain ; to 
 weed and to fhell it was the employment of both. 
 
 They iiad places like farm yards, where they ftripped off" the s f c t. 
 leaves from the ears, and ftielled them, and granaries to preferve the ^ -^^!-^- 
 
 • ■■re J 11 r Thrcfliiiig. 
 
 grain. Their granaries were built in a fquarc form, and generally of floors and 
 wood. They made ufe of the ojametl for this pur|)ofe, which is a very S''»"'»"^»- 
 lofty tree, with but a few flcnder branches, and a thin fmooth bark ; 
 the wood of it is extremely pliant, and difficult to break or rot. Thcfc 
 
 (ni) This is called z. penguin fencexn Jamaica, and the windward iflands. 
 («) This manner of fowing is not fo flow as might be imajincd, as the country people ufuJ 
 to this method do it with wonderful c]uickncfs. 
 
 Vol. I. C c c grana-
 
 3/8 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOCK VII. granaries were formed by placing the round and equal trunks of the 
 ojam-:tl in a fquare, one upon the othrr, without any labour except thai 
 of a fmall nitch tovvards their extremities, to adjuft and unite them fo 
 perfectly as not to fuffer any pailage to the light. When the flruc- 
 ture was raifed to a fufficient height, they covered it with another let 
 of crofi-beams, and over thefe tlie roof was laid to defend the grain 
 from rains. Thofe granaries had no other door or outlet than two 
 v/indòws, one belov/ which was fmall, and another fomewhat wider 
 above. Some of them were fo large as to contain five or fix thoufand, 
 or fometimes more fanegas (o) of maize. There are fome of this 
 fort of granaries to be met with in a few places at a diftance from the 
 capital, and amongfl: them fome fo very ancient, that they appear to 
 have been built before the conqueft ; and, according to the information 
 we have had from perfons of intelligence, they preferve the grain bet- 
 ter than thofe which are conftruóled by the Europeans. 
 
 Clofe to fields which were fown they commonly eredted a little tower 
 of wood, branches and mats, in which a man defended from the fun 
 and rain kept watch, and drove away the birds which came in flocks 
 to confume the young grain. Thofe little towers are fi:ill made ufe of 
 even in the fields of the Spaniards on account of the excefiive number 
 of birds. 
 Sect. XXX. The Mexicans were alfo extremely well lliilled in the cultivation of 
 Kitchen and jj^ifcJ^eri and Other eardens, in which they planted with CTeat regularity 
 
 other gardens _ ° ' J " n i 
 
 aad woods. and taftc, fru;t-trees, and medicinal plants and flowers. The laft of 
 thofe were much in demand, not lefs en account of the particular plea- 
 fure taken in them, than of the cuftom which prevailed of prefenting 
 bunches of flowers to their kings, lords, ambafl!adors, and other per- 
 fons of rank, befides the excefiive quantity which were made ufe of in 
 the temples and private oratories. Amongil the ancient gardens, of 
 which an account has been handed down to us, the royal gardens of 
 Mexico and Tezcuco, which we have already mentioned, and thofe of 
 the lords of Iztapalapan and Huaxtepec, have been much celebrated. 
 Among the gardens of the great palace of the lord of Iztapalapan, 
 there was one, the extent, difpofition, and beauty of which excited the 
 
 (o) A Caililian msalure of dry goods, formerly meutioned by us. 
 
 admi-
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 adn-iiratioci of the Spanilli conquerors. It was laid out in four fquares, 
 and planted with every variety of trees, the fight and fcent of whicli 
 gave infi nits pleafure to the fenfes ; througli thofe fquares a nu;nb:r 
 of roads and paths led, [oaic formed by fruit-bearing trees, and others 
 by efpaiiers of flowering ihrubs and aromatic herbs. Sevenil canals from 
 the lake watered it, by one of which their barges could enter. In the 
 centre of of the garden was a fiili-pond, the circumference of which 
 insafured fixteen hundred paces, or four hundred from fide to fide, 
 where innumerable water-fowl leforted, and there were fteps on every 
 fide to defcend to the bottom. This garden, agreeable to the tefti- 
 mony of Cortes and Di.-z, who faw it, was planted, or rather extend- 
 ed and improved by Cuitlahuatzin, the brother and fuccefibr in tiie 
 kingdom to Montezuma II. He caufed many foreign trees to be 
 tronfplantcd there, according to the account of Plernandez, who faw 
 them. 
 
 The garden of ITuaxtepec was flill more extenfive and celebrated 
 than the laft. It was fix miles in circumference, and watered by a 
 beautiful river which crolil'd it. Innumerable fpecies of trees and plants 
 v/cre reared there and beautifully difpofcd, and at proper diftances ho.n 
 each othwT ditFercnt pleafure houfcs were ercvfted. A great number 
 of ftrange plants imported from foreign countries were colle«5led in it. 
 The Spaniar.ls for many years preferved this garden, where they culti- 
 vated every kind of medicinal herb belonging to that clime, for tlie ufe 
 of the hofpital which th'iy founded there, in which the remarkable 
 hermit, Gregorio Lopez, ferved a number of years fpj. 
 
 They paid no lefs attention to the piefcrvation of the woods which 
 fupplied them with fuel to burn, timber to build, and game for the 
 d.verf.on of the king. We have formerly mentioned the woods of 
 
 (^) Cortes, in his letter to Charles V. of the i ^th uf >r3y, 1^22, told liini, that the gar- 
 den of Huaxtepcc w;is the moft cxtciilive, the mull beaiitilul, anJ moll ilclightful «hich haj 
 ever been beheld. Bernal Dias, in chap, cxlii. of his hi'lory fays, that the garden wa'i lno(i 
 wonderful, and truly worthy of a great prince. Hirnaudoi frequently innVes incitt!on 
 of ii in his N.itural Hillcry, and names fcveral pi nts which were ira:'.lplantcd tlicrc, and a- 
 min^^ft o'her? the hallam-tree. Cortes alfo, in liii letter to Charles V. of the ^oth of Orto- 
 btr, i^jo, relates, that having requetied kin;,' iSI ntezunia t^ caifc a villa to be made in Ma- 
 linaltcpec for that cmpiror, two months «ere hardly elapfcd wh< n tl ere were crerted at that 
 place four jood houfes ; fixiy fanegas of maize fown, ten of French beans, two thoufand feet 
 of ground planted with ca, ao, and a vail pond, where five liuiulred ducks were breedinjj, and 
 fifteen hundred turkies were rearing in houfes. 
 
 C c c 2 king
 
 :So 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 bogk vii. 
 
 Sect. 
 XXXI. 
 
 Plants molt 
 cultivated by 
 the iMexi- 
 cans. 
 
 Sect. 
 XXXII. 
 
 Animals bred 
 by the Mexi- 
 cans. 
 
 king Montezuma, and the laws of king Nczahualcojotl conceniing 
 the cutting of them. It would be of advantage to that kingdom, that 
 thofe laws were ftill in force, or at leaft that there v/as not fo much 
 liberty granted in cutting without an obligation to plant a certain num- 
 ber of trees ; as many people preferring their private intereft and con- 
 venience to the public welfare, deftroy the wood in order to enlarge 
 their pofieffions {q). 
 
 Among the plants moil: cultivated by the Mexicans next to maize, 
 the principal were thofe of cotton, the cacao, the 7iu't/, or aloe, the 
 chia, and great pepper, on -iccount of the various ufes which they made 
 of them. The aloe, or maguei alone, yielded almofl: every thing ne- 
 ceflary to the life of the poor. Befides making excellent hedges for 
 their fields, its trunk ferved In place o^ beams for the roofs of their 
 houfes, and its leaves inflead of tiles. From thofe leaves they obtain- 
 ed paper, thread, needles, clothing, flioes, and ftockings, and cord- 
 age ; and from its copious juice they made wine, honey, fugar, and 
 vinegar. Of the trunk, and thickeft part of the leaves, when well 
 baked, they made a very tolerable dilh of food. Laflly, it was a power- 
 ful medicine in feveral diforders, and particularly in thofe of the urine. 
 It is alfo at prefent one of the plants the mofl valued and moft profit- 
 able to the Spaniards, as we lliall fee hereafter. 
 
 With refpetì to the breeding of animals, which is an employment 
 afTociated with agriculture, although among the Mexicans there were 
 no fliepherds, they having been entirely delfitute of flieep, they bred 
 up innumerable fpecies of animals unknow^n in Europe. Private per- 
 fons brought up techichis, quadrupeds, as we. have already mentioned,, 
 fimilar to little dogs ; turkeys, quails, geefe, ducks, and other kinds 
 of fowl. In the houfes of lords were bred filh, deer, rabbits, and a. 
 variery of birds ; and in the royal palaces, almofl: all the fpecies of qua- 
 drupeds, and v/inged animals of thofe countries, and a prodigious num- 
 ber of water animals and reptiles. We may fay, that in this kind of 
 magnificence Montezuma II. furpafTed all the kings of the world, and 
 that there never has been a nation equal in fkill to the Mexicans in the 
 
 (y^ Many places Hill feel the pernicious cfFcQs of the liberty to cut the woods. The city 
 Queretaro was formerly provided with timber for builJins; from the w:c>d which w.is upon the 
 neighbouring mountain Cimatario. At prefent it is obliged to be brou^iit froni a j^rcat dillancc, 
 as ihi; mountain is entirely f.ript of its wood. 
 
 care
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 381 
 
 care of fo many different fpecies of animals, which had fo much know- BOOK vii. 
 ledge of their difpofitions, of the food which was moft proper for each, 
 and of all the means necefliiry for their prefervation and increafe. 
 
 Among the animals reared by the Mexicans, no one is more worthy 
 of mention than the tiochiztli, or Mexican cochineal, defcribed by us 
 in our firft book. This infeft, fo greatly valued in Europe on account 
 of its dyes, and efpecially thofe of fcarlet and criaifon, being not only 
 extremely delicate, but alfo perfecuted by feveral enemies, demands a 
 great deal more care from the breeders than is necelTary for the filk- 
 worm. Rain, cold, and llrong winds deflroy it. Birds, mice, and 
 worms, perfecute it furioufly and devour it ; hence it is neceffary to 
 keep the rows of opuntia, or nopal, where thofe infedts are bred al- 
 ways clean ; to attend conftantly to drive away the birds which are de- 
 flruftive to them, to make nefts of hay for them in the leaves of the 
 opuntia, by the juice of which they are nourirtied, and when the fea- 
 fon of rain approaches, to raife them from the plants together with the 
 leaves, and guard them in houfes. Before the females are delivered they 
 caft their flcin, to obtain which fpoil the breeders make ufe of the tail of 
 the rabbit, brufliing molt gently vvith it that they may not detach the in- 
 fers from the leaves, or do them any hurt. On every leaf they make 
 three nefts, and in every neft they lay about fifteen cochineals. Every 
 year they make three gatherings, referving however each time a certain 
 number for the future generation ; but the laft gathering is leaft valued,, 
 the cochineals being fmaller then, and mixed with the fhavings of the 
 opuntia. They kill the cochineal moft commonly with hot water.. 
 On the manner of drying it afterwards the quality of the colour which 
 is obtained from it chiefly depends. The heft is that which is dried 
 in the fun. Some dry it in the comaUi, or pan, in which they bake 
 their bread of maize, and others in the teiiuizcalli, a fort of oven, of 
 which we diali fpeak elfewhere. 
 
 The Mexicans would not have been able to afi'enible fo many forts Sect.. 
 
 XX'XII 
 
 of animals, if they had not had great dexterity in the exercife of the chace of the 
 chace. They made ufe of the bow and arrow, darts, nets, fnares, and Me-"^"^-»"- 
 Cerbottane* . The cerbottane which the kings and principal lords made 
 
 * Cerlottane, arc long tubes, or pipes, through which they flioot, by blowing with thè 
 mouth little balls at birds, &:c, 
 
 ufe.
 
 HISTORY OF M E X I C O. 
 
 life of were curioufly carved and painted, and likewife adorned with 
 gold and lilver. Belides the exercife of the chace which private indi- 
 viduals took e'ther for amufement, or to provide food for thcmfelvcs, 
 there were general chaces, which were either thofe eflahliflied by cuf- 
 toni to procure a plenty of vidlims for facrifices, or others occafionally 
 appointed by the king. For this general chace they fixed on a large 
 wood, which was generally that cf Zacatepec, not far diftant from the 
 capital ; there they chofe the place moft adapted for fetting a great 
 nun::ber of fnares and nets. With fome thoufands of hunters they 
 fonned a circle round the wood of fix, feven, eight, or more miles, 
 according to the number of animals they intended to take : they fet 
 fire every where to the dry grafs and herbs, and made a terrible noife 
 with drums, horns, fliouting, and whiftling. The animals, alarmed 
 by the noife and the fire, fled to the centre of the wood, which was 
 the very place v/here the fnares were fet. The hunters approached to- 
 wards the fame fpot, and flill continuing their noife, gmdually con- 
 trad:ed their circle, until they left but a very fmall fpace to the game, 
 which they all then attacked with their arms. Some of the animals 
 were killed, and fome were taken alive in the fnares, or in the hands 
 of the hunters. The number and variety of game which they took 
 was fo great, that the firft viceroy of Mexico, when he was told of i^, 
 thought it fo incredible, that he defired to make experience of the me- 
 thod himfelf. For the field of the chace, lie made choice of a great 
 plain which lies in the country of t!ie Otomies, between the villages 
 of Xilotepec and S. Giovajuii del Rio, and ordered the Indians to pro- 
 ceed in the fame manner as they had been ufed to do in the time of 
 their paganifm. The viceroy, with a great retinue of Spaniards repair- 
 ed to the plain, where accomaiodations were prepared for them in houiès 
 built oi wood, eredted there on purpofe. Eleven thoufand Otomies 
 formed a circle of more than fifteen miles, and after pradtifing all the 
 means above mentioned, adembled fuch a quantity of game on the plain, 
 that the viceroy, who was quite aftoniHied at the fight, commanded that 
 the greater part of them fliould be fet at liberty, which was accordingly 
 dene ; notwithflanding the number of animals taken would be altoge- 
 ther incredible, if the circumflance had not been publicly known and 
 atLef.ed by maiiy, aid aniong others by a witnefs worth}' of the hightft 
 
 credit.
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 383 
 
 credit (rj. They killed more than fix hundred deer and wild goats, BOOK vii. 
 upwards of a hundred cojotes, and a furpriling number of hares, rab- 
 bits, and other quadrupeds. The plain ftill retains the Spanilh name 
 CazuilerOy or pl.ice of the chace, which was then given it. 
 
 Befidss the ufual method of pravftifing the chace, they had other par- 
 ticular devices for catching particular kinds of animals. In order to 
 catch young apes, they m.ide a fmall lire in the woods, and put among 
 the burning coals a particular kind of flone which they called Cacalo- 
 tetl, (raven, or black ftone), which burfts with a loud noife when it 
 is well heated. They covered the fire with earth, and fprinkled around 
 it a little maize. The apes, allured by the grain, alfembled about it 
 with their young, and while they were peaceably eating, the flone 
 burft ; the old apes fled away in terror leaving their young behind them ; 
 the hunters, who were on the watch, then feizcd them before their 
 dams could return to carry them off. 
 
 The method alfo which they had, and ftill ufe, to- catch ducks, is 
 artful and curious. The lakes of the Mexican vale, as well as others 
 of the kingdom, are frequented by a prodigious multitude of ducks, geefe, 
 and other aquatic birds. The Mexicans left fome empty gourds to 
 float upon the water, where thofe birds reforted, that they might be 
 accuflomed to fee and approach them without fear. The bird-catcher 
 went into the water fo deep as to hide his body, and covered his head 
 with a gourd ; the ducks came to peck at it, and then he pulled them 
 by the feet under water, and in this manner fccured as many as he 
 pleafed. 
 
 They took ferpents alive either by twlftlng them with great dexter- 
 ity, or approaching them intrepidly, they fcized them with one hand 
 by the neck, and fewed up their mouths with the other. They ftiil 
 take them in this way, and every day in the apothecary's fliops of the 
 capital, and other cities, may be feen live ferpents which have been 
 taken in this manner. 
 
 But nothing is more wonderful than their quicknefs in tracing the 
 flcps of wild beads. Although there is not the fmallcfl print of thein 
 to be (^cn from the earth being covered with herbs or dry leaves which 
 
 (r) P. Toribio di Benavcn'i, or MoColinia. 
 
 fall
 
 384 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 JUiOK VII. fall from the trees, they 11:111 track them, particularly u^ they are v/ound- 
 ^-"^ -^ cd, by obferving mofc attentively fometimes the drops of blood which 
 fall upon the leaves as t]>ey pafs, fometimes the herbs which are broken 
 or beat down by their feet fsj. 
 Sec t. From the lituation of their capital, and its vicinity to the lake of 
 
 Fifhhic!^ ' Chalco, which abounded with fiih, the Mexicans were flill more in- 
 vited to fifliing than the chace. They employed themfelves in it from 
 the time of their arrival in that country, and their art in filhing procured 
 them all other necellaries. The inflruments which they moft com- 
 monly made ufe of in fiflilng were nets, but they alfo employed hooks, 
 harpoons, and weals. 
 
 The fiiliers not only caught fi(h, but even took crocodiles in two 
 different methods. One was by tying them by the neck, which, as 
 Hernandez afferts, was very common ; but this author does not ex- 
 plain the manner in which they performed an adt ib daring againft fo 
 terrible a creature. The other method, which is ftill ufed by fome, 
 was that which the Egyptians formerly pradlifed on the famous croco- 
 diles of the Nile. The filher prelented himfelf before the crocodile, 
 carrying in his hand a flrong ftick, well fliarpened at both ends, and 
 when the animal opened its mouth to devour him, he thruO: his armed 
 hand into its jaws, and as the crocodile fluit its mouth again, it was 
 transfixed by the two points of the ftick. The filher waited until it 
 grew feeble from the lofs of blood, and then he killed it. 
 
 Filliine, Imnting;, agriculture, and the arts, furnillied the Mexicans 
 
 Sect. ° o' o ' ' 
 
 XXXV. feveral branches of commerce. Their commerce in the country of 
 Commerce, ^nj^i^^i^c began as foon as they were fettled upon the little iflands in 
 the Tezcucan lake. The filli which they caught, and the mats which 
 they wove of rulhes which the fame lake produces, was exchanged for 
 maize, cotton, ftones, lime, and the wood, which they required for 
 their fiipport, for their clothing, and their buildings. In proportion 
 to the powei- which their arms acquired, their commerce increafed ; 
 fo that from having been at fini confined to the environs of their own 
 
 (s) The account which \vc h;nc of the Turauimrefc, the Opates, and other nati')ns beyond 
 the Tropic, when puifucd by thtir enemies the Apacci, is ftill more wonderful ; for by the 
 touch and obfervations of the footllcps of their enemies, they can tell the time at which they 
 paded there. The fame thing we underfland is reported of the people of Yucatan. 
 
 8 city. 
 
 I
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 city, it extended at lafl to the moft diftant provinces. There were in- 
 numerable Mexican merchants, who inceOiintly travelled from one city 
 to another to exchange their goods to advantage. In every place of 
 the Mexican empire, and of all the extenfive country of Anahuic, a 
 market was opened every day ; but every five days they held one which 
 was m')re confiderable and general. Cities which were near to?-e- 
 ther had this market on different days, that they might not prejudice 
 each other ; but iu the capital it was kept on the days of the Houfe, the 
 Rabbet, the Reed, and the Flint, which, in the firftyear of the cen- 
 tur\', were the third, the eighth, the thirteenth, and eighteenth of every 
 month. 
 
 In order to convey fome idea of thofe markets, or rather fairs, v/hicli 
 have been fo much celebrated by the hiftorians of Mexico, it will be 
 futficient to defcribe that held in the capital. Until the time of king 
 Axajacatl, it was kept in a fpace of ground before the royal palace ; 
 but after the conqueft of Tlatelolco, it was removed to that quarter. 
 The public place of Tlatelolco was, according to the account of the 
 conqueror Cortes, twice as large as that of Salamanca, one of the moft 
 famous in Spain (/), and furrounded by porticos for tlie convenience 
 of the merchants. Ev^ery fort of merchandize had a particular place 
 allotted to it by the judges of commerce. In one ftation were goods 
 of gold, and filver, and jewels ; in another, manufiilures of cotton ; 
 in another, thofe of feathers, and fo forth ; and no change of fituation 
 was allowed to any of them ; but although the fquare was very large, 
 as all the merchandizes could not be lodged in it without interrupting 
 the tranfadlion of bufmefs, it was ordered that all large goods, fuch as 
 beams, ftones, &c. fliould be left in the roads and canals near to the 
 market-place. The number of merchants who daily ail'embled there, 
 according to the aifirmation of Cortes himfelf, exceeded fifty thou- 
 fand(«). The things which were fold or exchanged there, were fb 
 
 {/) In three editions of the Utters of Cortes which wc have fecn, we hr.ve read, that the 
 fquare of Tlatelolco ■xi.'js tiviie as large as ihe city of Salamanca, whereas it ought to read, as 
 that of the city of Salamanca. 
 
 («) Although Cortes affirmed that there affembled daily in the market-place of Tlatelolco 
 fiftv thoufand people, it appears that it oUj;ht to be undcrftood of the gnat market which was 
 held every five days ; for the anonymous conqueror, who fpcaks more difiintìly of it, fays, 
 that at the markets there were from twenty to twcniy-fivc thoufand, but at the great markets 
 from forty to fifty thoufand. 
 
 Vol. I. D d d numerous
 
 386 H I S T O R Y O F M E X 1 C O. 
 
 BOOK VII. numerous and {o various, that hiftorlans who faw them, after making 
 ^ ^~^ a long and tedious enumeration, conclude with laying, it is impof- 
 fible to exprels them all. Without contradiding their adertion, and 
 to avoid prolixity, we will endeavour to comprehend them in a few 
 words. To that fquare were carried to be fold or exchanged all the 
 produdions of the Mexican empire, or adjacent countries, which 
 could ferve for the neceflaries of life, the convenience, the luxuries, 
 the vanity, or curiofity of man {x) ; innumerable fpecies of animals, 
 both dead and alive, every fort of eatable which was in ufe amongft 
 them, all the metals and gems which were known to them, all the 
 medicinal drugs and fimples, herbs, gum, relins, and mineral earths, 
 as well as the medicines prepaixd by their phyficians, fuch as beve- 
 ridges, eleftaries, oils, plafters, ointments, &c. and every fort of ma- 
 nufaóì;ure and work of the thread of the metl, maguei, or aloe, of the 
 mountain palm, of cotton, of feathers, of the hair of animals, of v/ood, 
 of ftone, of gold, filver, and copper. They fold there alfo flaves, 
 and even whole velTels, laden with human dung, for dreiììng the flcins 
 of animals. In ihort, they fold in that fquare every thing which could 
 be fold in all that city ; for they had no mart elfewhere, nor was any 
 thing fold out of the market-place except eatables. The potters and 
 jewellers of Cholula, the goldfmiths of Azcapozalco, the painters of 
 Tezcuco, the ftone-cutters of Tenajocan, the hunters of Xilotepec, 
 the filhers of Cuitlahuac, the fruiterers of hot countries, the mat- wea- 
 vers and chair-makers of Quauhtitlan, and florifts of Xochimilco, all 
 affembled there. 
 Sect. Their commerce was not only carried on by way of exchange, as 
 
 XXXVI. niany authors report, bat likewile by means of real purchafe and fale. 
 They had five kinds of real money, tliough it was not coined, which 
 fèrved them as a price to purchafe whatever they wanted. The firft 
 was a certain fpecies of cacao, different from that which they ufed in 
 their daily drink, which was in conftant circulation through the hands 
 of traders, as our money is amongfl us. They counted the cacao by Jf/- 
 quepilliy (this as we have before obferved, was equal to eight thoufand), 
 
 (x) Whoever will take the trouble to read the defcriptlon which Cortes, Bernal Diaz, and 
 the anonymous conqueror have given of their market, will be convinced there is no exagge- 
 ration made he;e of the variety of their merchandizes. 
 
 and
 
 II I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 387 
 
 and to fave the trouble of counting them when the incrchandize was BOOK xu. 
 of great value, they reckoned them by facks, every fack having been 
 reckoned to contain three xiquipilli, or tw^enty-four thouland nuts. 
 The lecond kindof money was certain fmall cloths of cotton, \vliich they 
 cAìtà patolquachtli, as being folely dellined for the purchafe of mer- 
 chandizes which were immediately necedary. The third fpecies of money 
 w:;s gold in duft, contained in goofe-quills, which, by being tranfparent, 
 (hewed the precious metal which filled them, and in proportion to 
 their fize were of greater or lefs value. The fourth, which moil re- 
 fembled coined money, was made of pieces of copper in the form of 
 a T, and was employed in purchafes of little value. The fifth, of which 
 mention is made by Cortes, in his laft letter to the emperor Charles, 
 the Vth, confided of thin pieces of tin. 
 
 They fold and exchanged merchandizes by number and meafure ; 
 but we do know that they made ufe of weights, either becaufe they 
 thought them liable to frauds, as fome authors have fud, or becaufe 
 they did not find them necefiary, as others have afiirmed, or becaufe if 
 they did ufe them the Spaniards never knew it fyj. 
 
 To prevent fraudulent contracts and diforder amonofi: the traders. Sect. 
 . . , . - XXXN'II. 
 
 there were certain commifiioners who were continually traverfing the Reg'ulation-i 
 
 market to obferve what happened, and a tribunal of commerce, com- ^^ '''^ "'" * 
 pofed of twelve judges, refiding in a houfe of the fquare, was appoint- 
 ed to decide all difputes between traders, and take cognizance of all 
 trefpafies committed in the market-place. Oi all the goods whicii 
 were brought into the market, a certain portion was paid in tribute to 
 the king, who was on his part obliged to do juflice to the merchants, 
 and to protedt their property and their pcrfons. A theft feldom hap- 
 pened in the market, on account of the vigilance of the king's offi- 
 cers, and the feverity with v.hich it was inftantly punillied. But it is 
 not the leaft furprifing, that theft was fo rigoroufly punilhed, where 
 the fmallell diforders were never pardoned. The laborious and mort: 
 
 ( V ) Gomara believed, that the Mexicans made no ufe of fcales or weights ; becaufe they 
 were ignorant of fuch a contiivaiicc ; but it is very improbable, tliat a nation lb induflrious 
 and commercial (lioiild not have known the manner of afcertaiiiing the weight of goods, when 
 among other nations ot America, Icfs acute than the Mexicans, ilil) ards were in.adc ufe of, ac- 
 cording to the report of the fame author, to weigh gold. Of how many circumftanccs rela- 
 tive to Amcriean antiquity are we flill ignorant, owing to the want of piopcj- examination and 
 enquiry ! 
 
 D d d 2 fincere
 
 388 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK VII. fincere F. Motclinia relates, that a quarrel having arilen once between 
 two women in the market of Tezcuco, and one of them having gone fo 
 far as to beat the other with her hands, and occafion the lofs of fome 
 blood, to the amazement of the people, who were not accuftomed to 
 fee fuch an outrage committed there, (he was immediately condemned 
 to death for the offence. All the Spaniards who faw thofe markets 
 extolled them with the highell praifes, and were unable to exprefs in 
 words the admirable difpofition, and the wonderful order which was 
 maintained among fo great a multitude of merchants and merchandizes. 
 
 The markets of Tezcuco, Tlafcala, Cholula, Huexotzinco, and 
 other large places, were ordered in the fame manner as that of Mexico. 
 At the market of Tlafcala, Cortes affirms, more than thirty thouland 
 merchants and others affembled (s). At that of Tepeyacac, which 
 was not one of the largeft cities, Motolinia above mentioned fays, he 
 has known twenty-four years after the conqueft, when the commerce 
 of thofe people was greatly declined, that at the market held every 
 five days, there were not lefs than eight thouland European hens fold, 
 and that as many were ibid at the market of Acapitlayocan. 
 
 When young merchants were defirous of undertaking a long journey, 
 they gave an entertainment to the old mercliants, who were no longer 
 able on account of their age to travel, and alfo to their own relations, 
 and informed them of their defign, and the motive which induced 
 them to travel into diflant countries. 
 
 Thofe who were invited praifed their refolutlon, encouraged them 
 to follow the fteps of their anceflors, particularly if it was their firft 
 journey which they were going to perform, and gave feveral advices to 
 them how they Were to conduit themfelves. In general, many of them 
 travelled together for greater fafety. Each of them carried in his hand 
 a fmooth black flick, which, as they faid, was the image of their god 
 Jacateudlli, with which they imagined themfelves fecure againftall the 
 dangers of the journey. As loon as they arrived at any houle where 
 they made a halt, they aflembled and ti^d all the flicks together and 
 worfhipped them j and twice or thrice, daring the night, they drew 
 
 (z) That which Cortes has faid refpeiJiing the number of merchants and dealers which af- 
 fcmblcd at the market of Tlafcala, ought mo!> probably to be underllood of the market of 
 every five days, in the fame manner as we have obferved above refpeding that of Mexico. 
 
 blood. 
 
 Sect. 
 XXXVIII 
 Cuflom of 
 the mer- 
 chants in 
 their joiir- 
 niee.
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 389 
 
 blood from themfelves in honour of that god. All the time that a BOOK VII. 
 merchant was abfent from home, his wife and children did not wadi "*-— v~— «^ 
 their heads, although they bathed, excepting once every eighty days, 
 not only to teftify their regret of his abfence, but alfo by that fpecies 
 of mortification to procure the protection of their gods. When any 
 of the merchants died on their journey, advice of his death was imme- 
 diately fent to the oldefl merchants of his native country, and they 
 communicated it to his relations ar.d kindred, who immediately formed an 
 impcrfedt ftatue of wood to rerrcfent the deceafcd, to which thev paid all 
 the funeral honours which they would have done to the real dead body. 
 
 For the convenience of merchants, and other travellers, there were Sect. 
 public roads, which were repaired every year after the rainy feafon. '^'^'^^'^• 
 
 ,.-., . ]-ii-i Roads, 
 
 They had likewile in the mountains and uninhabited places, houfes houiis for 
 erecfted for the reception of travellers, and bridges, and other vefTels ò^tnive^iers" 
 for palTins rivers. Their velTels were oblong and flat-bottomed, with- fife's» :iiid 
 
 t"n /-■! 1 1- -11 bridges. 
 
 out keel, malts, or fails, or any other thing to guide them but oars. 
 They were of various fizes. The fmalleii: could hardly hold two or 
 three people, the largert; could carry upwards of thirty. Many of them 
 were made of one fingle trunk of a tree. The number of thole which 
 were continually traverfing the Mexican lake, exceeded, according to 
 the account of ancient hiflorians fifty thoufand. Befides the vellHs, 
 or flats, they made ufe of a particular machine to pafs rivers, which 
 was called vti/Jli, by the Spaniards of America. This is a fquare plac- 
 foriri; of about five feet, compofed of otatli, or folid canes, tied firmly 
 upon large, hard, empty gourds. Four, or fix paflèngers feated them- 
 felves upon this machine, and were conducted from one fide of a river 
 to the otlier by two or four fwimmers, who laid hold of one corner of 
 the machine with one of their hands, and fv/am with the other. This 
 fort of machine is ftill ufcd on fome rivers dillant from the c.ipital, 
 and we ourfelves pafl'ed a large river on one of them in 173V9. it is 
 perfcdly fafe where the cui-rent of the water is equal and fmooth, but 
 d-angerous in rapid and impetuous rivers. 
 
 Their bridges were built either of ftons or v/ood, but tliofc of ftone 
 we are of opinion were extremely few in number. The mofl fingular 
 kind of bridge was that to v/hich the Spaniards gave the n:.me of 7/,/- ~ 
 vuica. This was a number of the ropes, or natural ligatures of a tree, 
 
 more
 
 390 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK vir. more pliant than the willow, but thicker and ftronger, called in Ame- 
 Lii— ^,r-.^ ^-^^^ JSywroj, twifted and wove together, the extremities of which were 
 tied to the trees on each fide of rivers, the trefs or net formed by them 
 remaining fufpended in the air in the maniier of a fwing [a). There 
 are fonie rivers with fuch bridges ftill. The Spaniards durll not pafs 
 them, but the Indians pafs them with as much confidence and intre- 
 pidity as if they were crofiing by a flone bridge, perfedlly regardlefs 
 of the undulatory motion of the hamaca, or the depth of the river. 
 But it is to be obferved, that the ancient Mexicans having been excel- 
 lent fwimmers, had no need of bridges, unlefs where from the rapi- 
 dity of the current, or the weight of fome burden, they could not fwim 
 acrofs. 
 
 The Mexican hiflorians tell us nothing of the maritime commerce 
 of the Mexicans. It is probable that it was very trifling, and that their 
 vcflels, which were feen coafting on both feas, were chiefly thole of 
 filhermen. Their greateft traffick by water was carried on in the lake 
 of Mexico. All the ftone and wood for building, and for fire, the 
 fifh, the greater part of the maize, the pulfe, fruit, flov/ers, 6cc. was 
 brought by water. The commerce of the capital with Tezcuco, Xo- 
 chimilco, Chalco, Cuitlahuac, and other cities fituated upon the lake, 
 was carried on by water, and occafioned that wonderful number of vef- 
 fels to be employed which we have already mentioned. 
 Sect. XL Whatever was not tranfported by water was carried upon men's 
 Men who backs, and on that account there were numbers of men who carried 
 dens. burdens, called 'Tlamama or Tlanieme. They were brought up from 
 
 childhood to this bufinefs, which they continued all their lives. A 
 regular load was about fixty pounds, and the length of way they daily 
 walked was fifteen miles ; but they made alfo journeys of two hun- 
 dred and three hundred miles, travelling frequently over rocky and 
 fleep mountains. They were fubjccitcd to this intolerable fatigue 
 from the want of beafts of burden ; and even at prefent, although 
 thofe countries abound in animals of this fort, the Mexicans are ftill 
 often ittn making long journeys with burdens upon their backs. They 
 carried cotton, maize, and other things in petlacalli, v/hich were baf- 
 
 (a) Some bridges are fo tight drawn that the}- have no undulatory motion, and all of tKcm 
 have their fide fupport made of the fame parts of tlu; tree. 
 
 8 kets
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 391 
 
 kets made of a particular kind of cane, and covered with leather, which BOOK vn. 
 were light and defended their goods fuiliciently from the rain or the - . -^ 
 
 fun. Thefe halkets are ftill a good deal ufed for journeys by the Spa- 
 niards, who corrupt their name mio pet acas. 
 
 The commerce of the Mexicans was by no means embarrafTed, either Sect. xli. 
 
 by the multitude or variety of lan^uages which were fpokcn in thofe ^^'-'^'c:»» '»"• 
 
 . . . . gi'age. 
 
 countries i for the IVIexican tongue which was the moil prevailin'>-, 
 
 was undeiftood and fpoken every where. It was the proper and natural 
 
 language of the Acolhuas and the Aztecas {ó), and as we have ob- 
 
 ferved elfewhere, iikewife of the Chechemecan and Toltecan nations. 
 
 The Mexican language, of which we wifh to give our readers fome 
 idea, is entirely delHtute of the confonants B, D, F, G, R, and S, and 
 abounds with L, X, T, Z, Tl, Tz ; but although the letter L is fo 
 familiar to this language, there is not a lingle word in it beginning 
 with that confonant. Nor is there a word of an acute termination, 
 except fome vocatives. Almofl all the words have the penult fyllable 
 long. Its afpirates are moderate and loft, and there never is occafion 
 to m.ike the leaft nafal found in pronunciation. 
 
 Notwithftanding the want of thofe fix confonants it is a mofl copi- 
 ous language ; tolerably polilhed, and remarkably exprcfilve j on which 
 account it has been highly valued and praifed by all Europeans who have 
 learned it, fb as to be eileemed by many fuperior to the Latin, and even 
 to the Greek [c) ; but although we know the particular excellencies of 
 the Mexican language, we can never dare to compare it with the lafl. 
 
 Of tiie copioulliefs of this language we have an exceeding good de- 
 monflration in the Natural Hiitory of Hernandez j for in def'cribing 
 twelve iiundred plants of the country of Anahuac, two hundred and 
 more Ipecies of birds, and a large number of quadrupeds, reptiles, 
 infers, and minerals, he hardly found a fingle animal, herb, or fub- 
 
 {l) Botuiiiii Hiyr, that the excellence of the lanjuagc which we call the Miwiian, was the 
 rcaloii of its being adopted by the Chechemecan, the IVIexican, and Teochechemccan nations, 
 and of their ielinc[uifliing their native tongue ; but bcfidcs this opinion being diftcrent fron» 
 that (jf :4ll other •.\ritcrs, and of the Indians thcmfelves, there are no traces in liiftory of the 
 event of fuch a change. W'htrc h.is there ever been n mtion known to ab.injoti its native 
 i lioni to adopt a better, and particularly a nation fo tenacious as the Mexicans, and all the 
 other nations of thofe countrici of tlicir particular language ? 
 
 (c) Among the admirers of the Mexican language there have been fume Frenchmen and Fle- 
 mings, and many Germans, Italians, and Spaniards. 
 
 fiance.
 
 392 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK ML fiance, without its diftindl and proper appellation. But it is not the 
 leali: iurprilìng, that it abounds in words which fignify material objedts, 
 wlien there are hardly any wanting of thofe which are necellary to 
 f^xprefs fpiritual ideas. The higheft mylleries of our religion can be 
 well exprefìed in Mexican, without any necefiity of introducing foreign 
 terms. Acofta wonders, that the Mexicans who had an idea of a fu- 
 preme Being, creator of heaven and earth, had not alfo in their lan- 
 guage a word to exprefs it equivalent to Di'js of the Spaniards, Deus 
 of the Romans, 'Toeos of the Grecians, £/ of the Hebrews, and yl/a 
 of the Arabs : on which account their preachers were obliged to make 
 life of the Spanifh term DL^s. But if this author had had any know- 
 ledge of the Mexican language, he would have known that the Teo^/ 
 of the Mexicans fignifies the fame thing as the T/jeos of the CJreeks, 
 and that there was no other reafon for introducing the Spanilh word 
 Dios, but the excedive fcruples of the firft milTionaries, who, as they 
 burned the hillorical paintings of the Mexicans, becaufe they lufpeded 
 them to be full of fuperftitious meanings, (of which alfo Acofta him- 
 felf juflly complains), likewife reje6led the Mexican word Tl'j//, be- 
 caufe it had been ufed to exprefs the flilfe gods whom they worfliipped. 
 But it would have been better to have imitated the example of St. Paul, 
 who, when he found that in Greece the name Tiótw was ufed to fignify 
 certain falfe deities, more abominable ftill than thofe of the Mexicans, 
 did not compel the Greeks to adopt the £/, or Adojiai, of the Hebrews, 
 but retained the ufe of the Greek term, making it be underflood from 
 that time, to fignify a fupreme, eternal, and infinitely perfeél Being. 
 However, many difcerning men who have wrote in the Mexican lan- 
 guage, have not fcrupled to make ufe of the name 'Tcotl, in the fame 
 manner as they all make ufe of the Ipainemoani, of the Tloque Nahua- 
 que, and other names fignificative of the Supreme Being, which the 
 Mexicans applied to their invifible God. In one of our DiHertations 
 we fliall give a lift of the authors who have wrote in the Mexican lan- 
 guage on the Chriftian religion and morality, and alfo a lift of terms, fig- 
 nifying metaphyfical and moral ideas, in order to expofe the ignorance 
 and weaknefs of an author (il) who has had abfurdity enough to publifh 
 
 {^O The ii'.ill.or uf the work entitled, Rcchcrcbes Philofophiques fur ks .'\merlc;iiiis. 
 
 that 
 
 I
 
 II I S T O Ts. Y OF MEXICO. 
 
 393 
 
 that the Mexicans had no words to count above the number three, or BOOK vii. 
 to exprefs any metaphyfical or moral ideas, and that on account of its ^ '~ 
 harfhnefs no Spaniard had ever learned to pronounce it. We could 
 here give the numeral words of this language, by which the Mexicans 
 tould count up to forty-eight millions at lead, and could fliew how com- 
 mon this language was among the Spaniards, and how well thofe who 
 have written in it have underfhood it. 
 
 The Mexican language, like the Hebrev/ and French, wants the 
 fuperlative term, and like the Hebrew, and moll of the living lan- 
 guages of Europe, the comparative term, which are fupplied by cer- 
 tain particles equivalent to thofe which are ufed in other fuch languages. 
 It abounds more than the Tufcan in diminutives and augmentatives, 
 and more than the Englilli or any other language we know in verbal 
 and abflrad terms ; for there is hardly a verb from which there arc 
 not many verbals formed, and fcarccly a fubflantive or adjedlive from 
 which there are not fome abflradls formed. It is not Icfs copious in 
 verbs than in nouns ; as from every fingle verb others are derived of 
 different fignifications. Chihiia, is to do, Chichibtia, to do laith dili- 
 gence, or often ; Chihuilia, to do to another ; ChiJmaltia, to caufe to be 
 done ; Chihuatiuh, to go to do ; Cbibuaco^ to come to do ; Chiiihtinh, 
 to be doing. Sec. We could fay a great deal more on the fubjedl, if it 
 was permitted in the rules of hiftory. 
 
 The ftyle of addrefs in Mexican varies according to the rank of 
 the perfons, with whom, or about whom, converfation is held, add- 
 ing ro the nouns, verbs, prepofitions, and adverbs, certain particles ex- 
 prelTive of rcfpedt : 'Tat li, incans fat ber ; A7nota, your father ; Amo- 
 tatzin, your "worthy father. Tleco, is to afcend ; if a perfon commands 
 his fervant to afcend a certain place, he lays fimply Xitleco ; but if he 
 alks fome refpedtable perfon to do fo, he will fay Ximotlicahiii ; and if 
 he wiHies to ufe ftill more ceremony and refpetì: MaxiniotUcahuitzino . 
 This variety, which gives fo much civilization to the language, does 
 not, however, make it difficult to be fpoken ; becaufe it is fubjedtcd 
 to rules which arc fixed and eafy ; nor do we know any language that 
 is more regular and methodical . 
 
 The Mexicans, like the Greeks and other nations, have the advan- 
 tage of making compounds of two, three, or four fimple words ; but 
 
 Vol. I. E e e they 
 
 £>
 
 394 H I S T O R y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VII. they do it with more ceconomy than the Greeks did ; for the Greeks 
 made ufe c*^ the entire words in compoiition, whereas the Mexicans 
 cut off lyllables, or at leaft fome letters from them. T/azot/r', fignifies 
 lalued or loved ; Mabuitztic, honoured or reve7-ed ; 'T'eJ{:;xquiy prieji ; 
 a word itfelf too compofed of '^eotl, god; and the verb Pia, which 
 fignifies to hold, guard, or keep ; Tatli is father, as we have already 
 iaid. To unice thofe five words in one, they take away eight confo- 
 nants and four vowels, and fay for inftance Notlazomahuitzteoptxcatal- 
 ztn, that is, tny very worthy father, or revered prieji ; prefixing the 
 
 ^- 710, which correfponds to the pronoun my, and adding tzm, which is 
 
 a particle expreffive of reveretice. A word of this kind is extremely 
 common with the Indians when they addrefs, and particularly when 
 they confefs themfelves, which although it is complex, is not, how- 
 ever one of the longeft ; for there are fome compounded of fo many 
 terms as to have fifteen or lixteen fyllables. 
 
 Such compounds were made ufe of in order to give the definition, 
 or defcription, of a thing, whatever it was, in one word. This may be 
 difcovered in the names of animals and plants, which are to be found 
 in the Natural Hiftory of Hernandez, and in the names of places 
 which occur frequently in this hiftory. Almoft all the names which 
 the) gave to places of the Mexican empire are compounds, and fignify 
 the fituation or properties of the places, and that fome memorable ac- 
 tion happened there. Many of their exprefTions are fo ftrong, that the 
 ideas of them cannot be heightened, particularly on the fabjedt of love. 
 In Iliort, all tliol'e who have learned this language, and can judge of 
 its copioufnefs, regularity, and beautiful modes of fpeech, are of opi- 
 nion, that fuch a language cannot have been fpoken by a barbarous 
 people. 
 
 Sect. XLll. -^ nation pofiefTed of {o powerful a language, could not want poets 
 
 Eloquence g^^id orators. Thofe two arts were much exercifed by the Mexicans, 
 
 and Poetry. 
 
 although they were very far from knowing all their excellencies. Thofe 
 who were deftined to be orators, were inftrucled irom their infancy in 
 fpeaking properly,, and learned to repeat by memory the moft celebrated 
 orations of their anceftors that had been handed dov/n from father to 
 fon. Their eloquence was employed principally in delivering cmbaf- 
 iies, in councils, and congratulatory addreffes, which they made to new 
 
 kings^
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 395 
 
 kings. Although their moft celebrated fpeakers are not to be com- BOOK vil. 
 pared with the orators of the poHlhed nations of Europe, it is lut to ^ 
 
 be denied that their difcourfcs were found, judicious, and elegant, as 
 may be perceived from thofe fpecimens of their eloquence which are 
 ilill eJvtant. Even at prefent, when they are reduced to a fiate of great 
 humiliation, and retain not their ancient inftitutions, they make ha- 
 rangues in their aflemblies, which are fo full of good fenfe and pro- 
 priety, as to excite the admiration of all thofe who hear them. 
 
 The numbvir of their public fpeakers was exceeded by that of their 
 poets. In their verfes ihey were attentive to the cadence and meafure. 
 Among the remains which we have of their poetiy, are fome verfes 
 in which between words that are fignificative, interjeiftions, or fylla- 
 bles, are interpofed, devoid of any meaning, and only made ufe of by 
 what appears to adj ufi: the meafure; but this praélice was, probably, 
 only a vice of their bad poets. The language of their poetry was bril- 
 liant, pure, and agreeable, figurative, and embellifhed with frequent 
 comparifons to the moft pleafmg objedts in nature, fuch as flowers, \ 
 trees, rivers, 6cc. It was in poetry chiefly where they made ufc of 
 words in compohtion, which became often fo very long, that a fingle 
 one made a verfe of the longeft meafure. 
 
 The fubje-ft of their poetical compofitions was various. They com- 
 pofcd hymns in praife of their gods, to obtain from them thofe favours 
 they fi:ood in need of, which were fung in the temples and at their fa- 
 cxed dances. Some were hillorical poems, reciting the events of the 
 nation and the glorious adlion of tlieir heroes, which were fung at pro- 
 fane dances. Some were odes, containing fome moral or leflbn ufeful 
 in the condudt of life. Lafily, fome v/ere poems on love, or fome 
 other plealing fubjeft, fuch as the chace, which were fung at the pub- 
 lic rejoicings of the feventh month. The priefts were the chief com- 
 pofcrs of thofe pieces, and taught them to young boys, that they 
 might fing them when they were grown up. We have already men- 
 tioned the celebrated compolitions of king Nezahnalcojotl. The 
 efl:eein in which poetry was held by that king, excited his fubjeds to 
 cultivate that art, and multiplied the number of poets of his court. 
 It is related of one of thofe poets, that having been condemned to 
 die ior fome crime, he made a compofition in prifon, in which he 
 
 E e e 2 took
 
 396 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 XT.ni. 
 
 Me;vican 
 theatre. 
 
 BOOK VII, took leave of the world in lb tender and pathetic a manner, that the 
 muiicians of the palace, who were his friends, advifed him to fing it to 
 the king ; the king heard it, and was fo much affedled, that he grant- 
 ed the culprit a pardon. This was a fingular event in the hiftory of 
 Acolhuacan, in which we read in general, examples of the greatell fe- 
 verity of government. We fliould be happy, if it were in our power, 
 to produce here fome fragments which we have {een of the poetry of 
 thofe nations, to fatisfy the curious among our readers (e). 
 
 Dramatic, as well as lyric poetry, was greatly in repute among the 
 Mexicans. Their theatre, on which thofe kind of compofitions were 
 reprefented, was a fquare terras uncovered, railed in the market-place, 
 or the lower area of fome temple, and fuitably high, that the adlors 
 might be feen and heard by all. That v/hich was conftrudled in the 
 market-pl.ice of Tlatelolco, was madeofftone and lime, and, agreeable 
 to what Cortes affirms, thirteen feet high, and thirty paces in length 
 every way. 
 
 Cav. Boturini fays, that the Mexican comedies were excellent, and 
 that among the antiques which he had in his curious mufeum, were 
 two dramatic compofitions on the celebrated apparitions of the mother 
 of God to the Mexican Neophyte Gio. Didaco, in which a particular 
 delicacy and harmony in the expreffions was difcernible. We have 
 never feen any compofition of this nature, and although we do not 
 doubt of the delicacies of the language of them, wc cannot readily be- 
 lieve that their comedies were much according to the rules of the drama, 
 or deferving of the exceffive praife of that annalift. The dcfcription which 
 Acolta has left us of their theatre and reprefentations, in which he 
 mentions thofe which were made at Cholula at the great feftival of the 
 god 9^et%alcoati , is much more vcuthy of credit, and more confiftent 
 v/ith the character of thofe natioi\s : " There was," he fays, " in the 
 " area of the temple of this god a fmall theatre, thirty feet fquare, 
 " curioufly whitened, which they adorned with boughs, and fitted up 
 " with the utmoft neatnefs, furrounding it with arches made of flowers 
 " and feathers, from which were fufpendcu many birds, rabbits, and 
 
 (e^ P. Onizio Carocci, a karned Milanefe jefuit, publiflied fome elegant verfes of the an- 
 cient Mexicans, in his admirable grammar of the Mexican language, printed in Mexico about 
 the middle of the laft century. 
 
 fi " Other
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 397 
 
 " other pleafing obje(fls ; where, after having dined, the whole of the BOOK vil 
 " people aflembled, the adtors appeared, and exhibited burlefque cha- 
 *' rasters, feigning themfclves deaf, fick with colds, lame, blind, crip- 
 " led, and addrefling the idol for a return of health : the deaf people 
 " anfwering at crofs purpofes, tliofe who had colds, coughing, and 
 " fpitting, and the lame halting ; all recited their complaints and mif- 
 " fortunes, which produced infinite mirth among the audience. Others 
 " appeared under the names of different little animals, feme in the dif- 
 *' guife of beetles, fome like toads, fome like lizards, and upon en- 
 " countering each other, reciprocally explained their employments, 
 " which was highly fatisfadory to the people, as they performed 
 " their parts with infinite ingenuity. Several little boys alfo belong- 
 " ing to the temple, appeared in the difguife of butterflies, and birds 
 " of various colours, and mounting upon the trees which were fixed 
 ** there on purpofe ; the priefts threw little balls of earth at them, with 
 " llings, occafioning incidents of much humour and entertainment to 
 " thefpedators. All thefpedlators then made a grand dance which termi- 
 " nated the fellival. This took place at their principal feftivals only f/'J." 
 The dcfcription which Acofta here gives, calls to our recollecflion 
 the firft fcenes among the Greeks, and we doubt noi, that if the Mexi- 
 can empire had endured a century or two longer, their theatre v/ould 
 liave been reduced to a better form, as the Grecian theatre improved 
 itfelf but flowly and by degrees. 
 
 Ihe firft religious milfionaries who announced the gofpel to thofe 
 nations, obferving their attachment to mufic and poetry, and the lu- 
 perlHt^ou.; notions which charafterifed all their native compofitions as 
 pagans, compofed many fongs and odes in the Mexican language in 
 praife of the true God. The laborious Francifcan, Bernardino Saha- 
 gun, compofed in pur^ and elegant Mexican, and printed at Mexico, 
 three hundred and fixt '-five hymns, one for each day of the ye^r f'g J y 
 and the Indians theiiAclvcs compofed many others in praife of the 
 true God. 
 
 (/) /Scorta Stor. Nat. a Mor. delle Indie, lib. v. cnp. 29. 
 
 C.f ) ih;igan's work was printed, according to the bed of our knowledge, in 1540. Dr. 
 Eguiaia complains in his Biblioleca M.Jjicana, that he was never able to find one copy of it. 
 We faw one in a library of the college of St. Franccfco Saverio of the Jefuits of Angelopoli. 
 
 Botu-
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Boturini makes mention of the compofitions of D. Franclfco Pla- 
 cido, governor of Azcapozalco, fu ng by him at the fkcred dances, 
 which he, along with other Mexican nobles, made before the famous 
 image of the Virgin of Guadaloupe. Thofe zealous Francifcans 
 wrote alfo feveral dramatic pieces in Mexican, relative to the myf- 
 teries of the Chriftian religion. Amongil others was celebrated 
 that of the univerfil judgment, compofed by the indefatigable mif- 
 fionary Andrea d' Olmos, which was reprefented in the church of 
 Tlatelolco, in the prefence of the firfl governor, and the firfl arch- 
 biihop of Mexico, and a great afiembly of the Mexican nobility and 
 people. 
 Sect. Their mufic was filli more imperfeift than their poetry. They had 
 
 XLIV. j^Q ftringed inftrunients. All their mufic confifled in i\\t Hue/juetL 
 
 JMulic. ... . 
 
 the '\['epo?iaztli, horns, fea-fliells, and little flutes or pipes, which made 
 a fiirill found. The Huebiietl, or Mexicaii drum, was a cylinder of 
 wood, more than three feet high, curioully carved and painted on the 
 outiide, covered above with the Ikin of a deer, vv'el! drelfed and flretch- 
 ed, which they tightened or flackened occalionally, to make the found 
 more Iharp or deep. They ftruck it only with their fingers, but it 
 required infinite dexterity in the fi;riker. The TepoiiaztH, which is ufed 
 to this day among the Indians, is alfo cylindrical and hollov.-, but ail 
 of wood, having no ficin about it, nor any opening but two flits 
 lengthways in the middle, parallel to, and at a little diilance from each 
 other. It is founded by beating the fpace between thofe two flits 
 with tv/o little fl:icks, fimilar to thofe which are made ufe of for mo- 
 dern drums, only that their points aie covered v/ith ule, or claftic gum, 
 to foften the found. The fize of this infl:rument is various j fome are 
 fo fmall as to be hung about the neck ; fome of a middling fize, and 
 others fo large as to be upwards of five feet long. The found which 
 they yield is melancholy, and that of tiie largefl: is fo loud, that it may 
 be heard at the diftance of two or three miies. To the accompany- 
 ment ot thcfe infliruments, the figure of which we here prefeut to our 
 readers, the Mexicans fang their hymns and facred mufic. Their iing- 
 ing was harfh and oftenfive to Europer.n cars ; but they took fo much 
 pleafure in it themfelves, that on fefl:ivals, they continued finging tlie 
 
 whole
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 399 
 
 whole day. This was unquefuonably the art in which the Mexicans EOOK vir. 
 were leaft fuccei'siul. ^^—^ 
 
 However imperfcft tliey were in mufic, their dances in which they ^ect. xlv. 
 exerciied theiiiielves from childhood, under the dirediion of the priefts. Dances, 
 were moft graceful. They were of various kinds, and were differently 
 named, according to the nature of the dance, or the circumflances of 
 the feftival on which they were made. They danced fometimes in a 
 circle, and fometimes in ranks. At fome dances only men, and at 
 others, only women danced. On fuch occaiions, tlie nobles put on 
 their moft pompous drefles, adorned themfelves with bracelets, ear- 
 rings, and various pendants of gold, jewels, and fine feathers, and car- 
 ried in one hand a Ihield covered with the moft beautiful plumes, or a 
 fan made of feathers ; and in the other an yljacaxtli, which is a cer- 
 tain little veflel, which we diali mention hereafter, refembling a hel- 
 met, round or oval in (hape, having many little holes, and containing 
 a number of little ilones which they fhook together, accompanying the 
 found, which is not difagreeablc, with their mufical inftruments. The 
 populace dilguifcd themfelves, under various figures of animals, in drelfes 
 made of paper, of feathers, or fkins. 
 
 The little dance, which was made in the palaces for the amufement 
 of the lords, or in the temples, as a particular a6l of devotion, or in 
 private houfe?, when they celebrated nuptials, or made any other do- 
 meftic rejoicing, confifted of but a few dancers, who formed themfelves 
 in two parallel lines, dancing fometimes with their faces turned to the 
 one, fometimes towards the otiier extremity of their lines; fometimes the 
 pcrfon of one line faced thoi'e correfpoiulent to them in the otlier, each 
 line occafionally crofiing and intermingling with the other, and fome- 
 times one of each line, detaching themfelves from the reft, danced in 
 the fpace between both, while the others ftooJ ftill. 
 
 The great dance, which was made in large open fpaces of ground, 
 or in the area of the greater temple, differed from the other in the or- 
 der, form, and number of the dancers. This dance was fo numerous 
 that fome hundreds of people uied to join in it. The mufic was placed 
 in the middle of the area or fpace ; near to it the lords danced, fonning 
 tv/o, three, or more circles, according to the number of them which 
 was prefcnt. At a little diftance from them were formed other circles of 
 
 dancers
 
 400 
 
 HISTORY OF M E X I C O. 
 
 KOOK VII. dancers of lefs rank j and, at a finali interval from them, other circles 
 proportionably larger were formed, which were cooipofed of youths. 
 All thcfe circles had for their centre the Huehuctl znd the "Teponaztli. 
 The defign which we have given of the order and difpofition of this 
 dance, reprefenls it in the form of a wheel, in which the points denote 
 the dancers, and the circles fliew the figure which they defcribed in 
 their dance. The radii of the wheel are as many in number as there 
 M-ere dancers in tlie fmallefl circle neareft to the mufici All the dan- 
 cers defcribed a circle in their dancing, and no perfon departed from 
 the radius or line to which he belonged. Thofe who danced clofe to 
 the mufic, moved with flownefs and gravity, as the circle which they 
 had to make was fmallcr, and on that account it was the place of the 
 lords and nobles rnoft advanced in age ; but thofe who occupied the 
 flation moft diltant from the mufic, moved with the utmofl velocity, 
 that they might neither lofe the direftion of the line to which they be- 
 lonsed, nor the meafure in which the lords danced. 
 
 Their dances were almoft always accompanied with finging; but 
 the finging was like all the movements of the dancers, adjuifed by the 
 beating of the inftruments. Two perfons fung a verfe, to which all 
 the reft anfwered. In general the mufic began with a grave tone, and 
 the fingers in a low voice. The longer the dance continued, the more 
 chearful tone was founded by the mufic, the fingers raifed their voices, 
 their movements became fwifter, and the fubjeóì: of their fong more 
 joyful. In the fpace between the different lines of dancers, fome buf- 
 foons danced, who counterfeited the drefs of other nations, or difguifed 
 themfelves like wild beafts and other animals, exciting the mirth of 
 the people with their buffooneries. When one fet of dancers was 
 wearied, another was introduced, and thus they continued the dance 
 for iix, and fometimes eight hours. 
 
 This was the form of their ordinary dance ; but they had others that 
 were very different, in which they reprefented either fome myftery of 
 their religion, fome event of hiftory or war, the chace, or agriculture. 
 
 Not only the lords, the priefts, and the youth of the colleges danced 
 but likewife the kings in the temple in performance of their devotion, 
 or for their amufement in the palaces, but on fuch occafions they had 
 always a diftindl place for themfelves in refped to their charader. 
 
 Among
 
 PI. ATI. 
 
 Ih/./.Piiifi' loo 
 
 Jj/ff/l ,'/ //ir- 
 
 
 '9?teaura^ /y-^/y /V //<•// r//i/
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 40T 
 
 Among others there was one extremely curious dance which is ftill r.001: vii. 
 kept up by the people of Yucatan. I'hey fixed in the earth a tree, ' 
 
 or ftrong port:, fifteen or twenty feet high, from the top of which, ac- 
 cording to the number of dancers, they fufpendcd twenty or more 
 fmall cords, all long and of different colours. When each dancer had 
 taken hold of the end of his cord, they all began to dance to the found of 
 mufical inftrumcnts, crolTing each other with great dexterity until they 
 formed a beautiful net-work of the cords round the tree, on which the 
 colours appeared chequered in admirable order. Whenever the cords, 
 on account of the twifting, became fo Ihort, that the dancers could hardly 
 keep hold of them with their arms raifed up, by crolTing each other 
 again, they undid and unwound them from the tree. There is like- 
 wife pra^Sifed by all the Indians of Mexico an ancient dance commonly 
 called T'ootin, which is i<ò graceful, decent, and folemn, that it has 
 become one of the facred dances performed on certain feftivals in our 
 time. 
 
 The amufements of the Mexicans were not confined to the theatre Sect. 
 and dancing. Thev had various games, not only for certain fixed fea- xi.vi. 
 fons and public occahons, but alfo for the diverfion and relaxation of 
 private individuals. Amongft the public ganics, the race was one in 
 which they exercifed themfelves from childhood. In the fecond month, 
 and polTibly alfo at other tim:s, there were military games, among which 
 the warriors reprefented to the people a pitched battle. All thofe fports 
 were mod ufeful to the ftitc, for befides the innocent partirne which 
 they afforded to the people, they gave agility to their limbs, and ac- 
 cuftomed them to the llitigues of war. 
 
 Theexhi'-iition of the flyers which was made on certain great feftivals, 
 and particularly in fecular years, was, t!iough of lefs public benefit, more 
 celebrated than all others. They fouglit in the woods 'or an extremely 
 lofty tree, v/hich, after ftripplng it of its branches aiid bark, they 
 brought to the city, and fixed in the centre of fome large Iquare. 
 They caf(;d the point of the tree in a wooden cylinder, v.hich, on ac- 
 count of fome refcmbiance in its fhape, the Spaniards called a mortar. 
 From this cylinder liung four Jlrong ropes, which ferved to fupport a 
 fquare frame. In the fpace between the cylinder and the frame, they 
 fixed four other thick ropes, which they twifted as nuny times round 
 
 Vol. I. F f f the
 
 402 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 OOK VII. the tree as there were revolutions to be made by tlie fliers. Tliefe ropes 
 were drawn through four holes, made in the middle of the four planks 
 of which the frame confilled. The four principal flyers difguifed like 
 eagles, herons, and other birds, mounted the tree with great agility, 
 by means of a rope which was laced about it from the ground up to 
 the frame ; from the frame they mounted one at a time fucceflively 
 upon the cylinder, and after having danced tiiere a little, they tied 
 themielves round with the.ends of the ropes, which were drawn through 
 the holes of the frame, and launching with a fpring from it, began 
 their flight with their wings expanded. The adlion ot their bodies put 
 the frame and the cylinder in motion; the frame by its revolutions gra- 
 dually untwifl:ed the cords by which the flyers fwung ; fo that as the 
 ropes lengthened, they made fo much the greater circles in their flight. 
 Whilfl: thefe four were flying, a fifth danced upon the cylinder, beat- 
 ing a little drum, or waving a flag, without the fmalleft apprehenfion 
 of the danger he was in of being precipitated from fuch a height. The 
 others who were upon the frame (there haviiig been ten or twelve perfons 
 generally who mounted) as foon as they faw the flyers in their lafl; revo- 
 lution, precipitated themfelves by the lame ropes, in order to reach the 
 ground at the fame time amidfl: the acclamations of the populace, 
 Thofe who precipitated themfelves in this manner by the ropes, that 
 they might make a ftill greater difplay of their agility, frequently pafled 
 from one rope to another, at that part where, on account of the little 
 difl:ance between them, it was poffible for them to do fo. 
 
 The mofl; eflential point of this performance conflfl:ed in proportioning 
 fo juflily the height of the tree with the length of the ropes, that the 
 flyers Ihould reach the ground with thirteen revolutions, to reprefent 
 by iuch number their century of fifty-two years, conipofed in the man- 
 ner we have already mentioned. This celebrated diverfion is fl:ill in ufe 
 in that kingdom ; but no particular attention is paid to the number of the 
 revolutions, or the flyers ; as the frame is commonly fexagonal, or oc- 
 tagonal, and the flyers fix or eight in num.ber. In fome places they 
 put a rail round the frame, to prevent accidents which were frequent 
 after the conquefl: ; as the Indians became much given to drinking, 
 and uftd to mount the tree when intoxicated with wine or brandy, and 
 were unable to keep their fl:ation on fo great a height, which was ufu- 
 ally fixty feet. &
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 403 
 
 Amongft the private games of the Mexicans, the moll common and BOOK vii. 
 n-'.oft cfteemed was one refembling football. The place wliere they played 
 at it, wliich they called Tlachco, was, according to the defcription given 
 us by Torquemada, a plain fquare fpace of ground, about eighteen 
 perches in length, and proportionably broad, enclofed within four 
 walls, which were thicker below than above, and the fide walls were 
 built higher than the others, and well whitened and polifhed. They 
 were crowned all round with battlements, and on the lower wall flood 
 two idols, which they placed there at midnight with different fuperfli- 
 tious ceremonies, and before they ever played in it the place was blefTed 
 by the priefls, with other forms of the fame nature. 
 
 Thus Torquemada defcribes it ; but in four or more paintings which 
 we have feen, the draught of this game reprefents it liich as we have given 
 it in our figures, which is totally different from the defcription of Tor- 
 quemada. It is probable, that there were varieties of the fame game. 
 The idols placed upon the walls were thofe of the gods of game, of 
 whofe names we are ignorant ; but fufpedl the name of one of them 
 to have been Omacatl, the God of Rejoichigs. The ball was made 
 of ule, or elaftic gum, three or four inches in diameter, which, al- 
 though heavier, rebounds more than thofe made of air. They played 
 in parties, two againfl: two, or three againfl three. The players were 
 entirely naked exxept the maxtlatl, or large bandage, about their middle. 
 It was an eflential condition of the game not to touch the ball, unlefs 
 it was with the joint of the thigh, or the arm, or elbow, and who- 
 ever touched it with his hand or foot, or any other part of the bodv, 
 lofi one of the game. The player who made the ball reach the op- 
 pofite wall, or made it rebound from it, gained a point. Poor people 
 played for ears of maize, or if they had nothing elle they played for 
 the price of their liberty ; others ftaked a certain number of dreffes of 
 cotton ; and rich perfons played for articles of gold, precious feathe;s, 
 and jewels. There were in the fpace between t':e players two large 
 ftones, refembling in ligure our mill-flones, each of which had a hole 
 in the middle, a little larger than the ball. Whoever flruck the ball 
 through this hole, which was extremely uncommon, was not only 
 vidtor in the game, but according to the eftablillied law, became tlic 
 
 F f f 2 pro-
 
 404 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VII. proprietor of the dreffes of all thofe who were prefent, and flich a feat 
 was celebrated as an immortal deed. 
 
 This game was in high eftimation with the Pvlexicans, and the other 
 nations of that kingdom, and much praólifed, as is to be concluded 
 from the furprifing number of balls which the cities of Tochtepeci 
 Otatitian, and otiier places, paid in tribute to the crown of Mexico, 
 the nuniber of which, as we have already mentioned, was not lefs than 
 fixteen thoufììnd. The kings themfelves played and challenged each 
 other at this game; as Montezuma II. did Neznhualpilli. At prelent 
 it is not in life among the nations of the Mexican empire j but it is 
 ftill kept up among the Najarites, the Opates, the Taraumarefe, and 
 other nations of the North. All the Spaniards who have (ten this 
 game were furprifcd with the uncommon agility of the players. 
 
 The Mexicans took great delight alfo in another game, which fome 
 writers have czWtA patolli {h). They defcribed upon a fine mat made 
 of the palm-tree, a fquare, within which they drew two diagonal and 
 two crofs lines. Inftead of dice they threw large beans, marked with 
 fmall points. According to the points which their dice turned up, 
 they put down, or took up, certain little ftones from the juntìion of 
 the lines, and whoever had three little ilones firft in a feries, was 
 vidtor. 
 
 Bernal Diaz makes mention of another game at which king Monte- 
 zuma ufed to amufe himfelf v/ith the conqueror Cortes, during the 
 time of his imprifonment, which he informs us was called Totoloqiic. 
 That king, he fays, threw from a diftance certain little balls of gold, 
 at certain pieces of the fime metal, which were placed as marks, and 
 whoever made the firft five hits won the jewels for which they played. 
 
 Among the Mexicans .there were perfons extremely dexterous at 
 games with the hands and feet. One man laid himfelf upon his back 
 on the ground, and raifing up his feet, took a beam upon them, or a 
 piece of wood, which was thick, round, and about eight feet in length. 
 He tofled it up to a certain height, and as it fell he received and 
 tofled it up again with his feet; taking it afterwards between his feet, 
 he turned it rapidly round, and what is more, he did fo with two 
 
 ijj) Patolli is a generic term lignifying every fort of game. 
 
 men
 
 I! I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 405 
 
 ir.en fitting aftride upon it, one upon each extremity of the beam. This book vii. 
 feat was peribnned at Rome before pope Cloiiient VII. and many Ro- ^ "* 
 
 man ^ rinces, by two Mexic ms fent over there by Cortes from NL-xico, to 
 the fmgular latisludlion of t!ie fpedtitors. The excrcifcs alio whi^h, in 
 fome countries are called the powers of Hercules, were extremely com- 
 mon amon^^il theiii. One man began to dance j another, placed upright 
 on his ihoulders, accompanied him in his movements ; while a third, 
 rtanding upnglit upon the head of the fecond, danced and dilplayed 
 other initances of agility. 1 hey placed alfo a beam upon the ihould- 
 ers of two dancers, while a third danced upon the end of it. The 
 firft Spaniards, who were witnefles of thofe and other exhibitions of tiie 
 Mexicans, were fo much aftoniOicd at their agility, that they fufpedled 
 fome fupernatural power adilled them, forgetting to make a due allow- 
 ance for the progrefs of the human genius when affilicd by applicatioa 
 and labour. 
 
 Though games, dances, and mufic, conduced lefs to utility than Srct, 
 pleafure, this was not the cafe v/ith Hiftory and Painting; two arts, ^^^^vil. 
 which ought not to be feparated in the hiilory of Mexico, as they had kinasotMcx- 
 no other hillorians than their painters, nor any other writings than |"" l*^"^'" 
 their paintings to commemorate the events of the nation. 
 
 The Toltecas wore the firft people of the new world v/ho employed 
 the art of painting for the ends of hiilory ; at leaft we know of no 
 other nation which did fo before them. The fame prad:ice prevailed, 
 from lime immemorial, among the Acolhuas, the Icven Aztecan tribes, 
 and among all the polillied nations of Anahuac. The Chechemecas 
 and the Otomies were taught it by the Acolhuas and tlie Toltecas,. 
 when they deferted their favage life. 
 
 Among the paintings of the Pv/lexicans, and all thofe nations, there 
 were many which were mere portraits or images of their gods, their 
 kings, th-ir heroes, their animals, and their plants. With thefe the 
 royal palaces of IVIexico and Tezcuco both abounded. Others were 
 hiftorical, containing an account of particular events, fuch as are the 
 firrt: thirteen paintings of the coUcdion of Mendoza, and that of the 
 journey of the Aztecas, which appears in the work of the traveller 
 Gemelli. Others were mythological, containing the myfteries of their 
 religion. Of tills kind is the volume which is prefcrvcd in the great 
 
 library
 
 4o6 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VII. library of the order of Bologiia. Others were codes, in which \vei'£ 
 compiled their laws, their rites, their cuftoms, their taxes, or tributes ; 
 and fuch are all thofe of the above mentioned colledion of Mencoza, 
 from the fourteenth to the fir.ty-third. Others were chronological, 
 aftronomical, or aftrological, in which was reprefented their calendar, 
 the pofition of the ftars, the changes of the moon, eciipfes, and prog- 
 noftications of the variations of the weather. This kind of painting 
 was called by them T'onalamatl. Siguenza makes mention (?) of a 
 painting reprefenting fuch like prognoftications which he inferted in his 
 Ciclographia Mexicana. Acoila relates " that in the province of Yu- 
 ** catan, there were certain volumes, bound up according to their 
 " manner, in which the wife Indians had marked the diftribution of 
 " their feafons, the knowledge of the planets, of animals, and other 
 " natural produdlions, and alio their antiquity ; things all highly cu- 
 *' rious and minutely defcribed :" which, as the fame author fays, were 
 loft by the indifcreet zeal of an ecclefiaftic, who, imagining them to 
 be full of fuperftitious mxanings, burned them, to the great grief of the 
 Indians, and the utmoft regret of the curious amongfl the Spaniards. 
 Other paintings were topographical, or chorographical, which ferved . 
 not only to fhew the extent and boundaries of poileffions, but likewife 
 the fituation of places, the diredtion of the coafts, and the courfe of 
 rivers. Cortes fays, in his firft letter to Charles V. that having made 
 enquiries to know if there was any fecure harbour for veiTels in the Mexi- 
 can gulf, Montezuma prefented him a painting of the whole coaft, 
 from the port of Chalchhihcuecan , where at prefent Vera Cruz lies, to 
 the river Coatzacualco. Bernal Diaz relates, that Cortes alfo, in a 
 long and difficult voyage which lie made to the Bay of Honduras, made 
 ufe of a chart which was prefented to him by the lords of Coatzacu- 
 alco, in which all the places and rivers were marked from the coafi: of 
 Coatzacualco to Huejacallan. 
 
 The Mexican empire abounded with all thofe kinds of paintings ^ 
 for their painters were innumerable, and there was hardly any thing 
 left unpainted. If thole had been preferved, there would have been 
 nothing wanting to the hiftory of Mexico ; but the firft preachers of 
 
 (i) III his work entitled, l.ihra AJlroncmka^ prii.ted in i\Ie.\ico, 
 
 the
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 407 
 
 the gofpel, fufpicious that luperflition was mixed with all their paintings, BOOK VII, 
 made a furious defl:ru<5tion of thetn. Of all thofe which were to be '- " 
 found in Tezcuco, where the chief fchool of painting was, they col- 
 leded fuch a mafs, in the fquare of the market, it appeared like a little 
 mountain ; to this they fet lire and buried in the a(hes the memoiy of 
 many moll interefliing and curious events. The lofs of thofe monu- 
 ments of antiquity was inexpreflibly afflióling to the Indians, and re- 
 gretted fufficiently afterwards by the authors of it, when they became 
 fenlible of their error j for they were compelled to endeavour to re- 
 medy the evil, in the firft place by obtaining information from the 
 mouths of the Indians ; fecondly, by colledting all the paintings which 
 had efcaped their fury, to ilkillirate the hiftory of the nation ; but al- 
 though they recovered many, thefe were not fufficient ; for from that 
 time forward, the poflcflbrs of paintings became lb jealous of their 
 prefervation and concealment from the Spaniards, it has proved dif- 
 ficult, if not impoflible to make them part with one of them. 
 
 The cloth on which they painted was made of the thread of the Sect. 
 maguei, or aloe, or the palm Jcxotl (k), drelled fkins, or paper, cf^^lnd' 
 They made paper of the leaves of a certain fpecies of aloe, llceped to- colours. 
 gether like hemp, and afterwards wallied, ftretched, and Imoothed. 
 They made alio of the palm Icxotl, and the thin barks of other 
 trees, when united and prepared with a certain gum, both filk and cot- 
 ton ; but we are unable to explain any particulars of this manufadlure. 
 We have had in our hands leverai Iheets of Mexican paper : it is limi- 
 lar in the thicknefs to the pafteboard of Europe, but loiter, fmoother, 
 and ealy for writing. 
 
 In general they made their paper in very long flieets, which they 
 preferved rolled up like the ancient membranes of Europe, or folded up 
 like bcd-lkreens. The volume of Mexican paintings, which is pre- 
 ferved in the library of Bologna, is a thick fkin ill-drelTed, compofed . 
 of different pieces, painted all over, and folded up in that manner. 
 
 The beautiful colours which they employed both in their paintings 
 and in their dyes, were obtained from wood, from leaves, and the 
 
 (h) The coarfe cloth on which the famous image of the Virgin of Guadaloup is painted, is 
 of the palm IcxotU 
 
 flowers
 
 HISTORY O F MEXICO. 
 
 llowcrs of differeat plants, and various animals. White they obtained 
 from the ftone Chinialtizatl, which, on calcination, becomes like a 
 fine plaifier, or from the Tizatlalli, another mineral,, wliich after be- 
 ing ii:iade into a pafle, worked like ciiv, and forme4 into fmall balls, 
 takes in the fire a white colour rcfembling Spanifh white. Black 
 they got from another mineral, which, on account of its ftinking fmell, 
 was called TlaUhijac, or from the foot of the Ors//, ^vhich is a certain 
 aromatic fpecies of pine, collected in little earthen yeljels. . Blu^» and 
 azure colours were obtained from the flower of the Mi.it lalxihtrit!, and 
 the. XiubqiiHipilzahuac, which is indigo /^/y, although their mode of 
 making them was very different from the way of the' moderns. Xhey 
 put the branches of this plant into hot, or rather liikevyarm water j 
 and after having ftirred them about lor a futlicient time with a ftick 
 or ladle, they paffed the water when impregnated with the àye into 
 certain pots or cups, in which they let it remain until the folid part of 
 the dye was depoiited, and then they poured ofr the water. This lee or 
 fediment w^as dried in the. fun, and afterwards it was placed between 
 two plates near a fire, until it grew hard. The Mexicans had another 
 plant of the fame name, from which they likewife obtained an azuj-e 
 colour, but of an inferior quality. Red they got from the feeds of the 
 Acbiot or Ruocou, boiled in water ; and purple from the NochiztH, or 
 cochineal. Yellow from the Tecozahuitl, or ochre ; and likewife from 
 the Xoghipalli, a plant, the leaves of which refemble thofe of the 
 Artemifia. The beautiful flowers of this plant, boiled in water vvith 
 nitre, furnifhed them a fine orange-colour. In the fame manner as 
 they made ufe of nitre to obtain this colour, they employed alum to 
 obtain others. After grinding and dilfolving the aluminous earth in 
 water, which they called T^lafficocotl, they boiled it in earthen veffels ; 
 
 (/■) The J;fv.'riptiòn of the inJigo J)t;ihf iS found in many authors, particiihirly in Hernan- 
 dez, lib. iv. cap. 12. which is total y diftlrcnt from that defcribed by Raynal, in the (ixth 
 hook of his Philofophical and Political Hilìoiy. This author affirms, that indigo was tranf- 
 planted from the Eaft-Indici to America, and that experiments having been made of it in fe- 
 veral countries, the culture of it was efl-abliOicd in Carolina, Hifpaniola, and Mexico. 'Ih's 
 however is one of the man}' miftakes of that philofopher. ]t is certain, from the teftimony 
 of Ferdinand Columbus, iii cap. l\i. of ihe Life of his famous parent Chrillopher Cohimbii-, ; 
 that one of the plant.!, native to the iflanà of Hifpaniola, was the indigo. We ktiow alfofrom 
 the hiftorians of Mexico, and particularly Hernandez, that the ancient ]\Ie:;lcaaà made ufe of 
 indigo. 
 
 thea
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 409 
 
 BOOK vjr. 
 
 Sect. 
 XLIX. 
 
 The charac. 
 ter of their 
 paimings, 
 and mode of 
 
 then by diftillation, they extradeJ the allum pure, white, and tranfpa- 
 rent, and before they hardened it entirely, they parted it in pieces to 
 fell it in the market. To make their colours hold better together, 
 they made ule of the glutinous juice of the Tzauhtli (w), or the fine 
 oil of Chian («). 
 
 The figures of mountains, rivers, buildings, trees, and minerals, 
 and, above all, thofe of men, which appear in the paintings ftill extant 
 of the ancient Mexicans, are for tlie moft part unproportioned and de- 
 formed ; this, however, we think is not to be afcribed {o much to their 
 ignorance of the proportions of obje>5ls, or thsir want of abilities, as 0^"'!^ "^'"* 
 to their hafte in painting, of which the Spanifh conquerors were wit- 
 ncfles : for as they folely paid attention to make a faithful reprcfcnta- 
 tion of things, they negledted making their images perfed, and on tiiat 
 account frequently contented themfelves with mere iketches or outlines. 
 However, we have fttn among the ancient paintings, many portraits 
 of the kings of Mexico» in which befides the fmgular beauty of the 
 colours, the proportions were moft accurately obferved ; but we will, 
 notwithrtanding, confefs, that the Mexican painters were by no means 
 arrived at much perfection of defign, or in mixing fliade and light. 
 
 The Mexicans ufed in painting not only to reprefent the fimplc 
 images of objeds, as fome writers have reported, but alfo employed 
 hieroglyphics and chara(flers (0). They reprcfentcd material things by 
 their proper figures, but in order to abridge and (ave labour, paper, and 
 colours, they contented themfelves with reprefenting a part of an ob- 
 je6t which was futhcient to make it be underflood by the intelligent ; 
 and as we cannot underftand the writings of others, until we have 
 learnt to read them, in like manner thofe American authors required 
 to have been firfl inilruiSted in the Mexican manner of reprefenting 00- 
 jcdts, in order to have been able to underftand the paintings which 
 
 (m) The Tr.a:ihtii is a plant vei v conimoii in that country. Iti leave» are fimilar to thofi» 
 of the leek, its (lem is ftrait and knotty, its Howeis tinged with a yellowifli green, its root 
 Khite and fibrous. To extmA its juice they broke it and dried it in the fun. 
 
 («) Thinking; to render a fcrvicc to the Italian painters, we cultivated with great attention 
 three jilants of the Chian fprung from feed fent fiom Mexico ; they took root fuccefsfully, and 
 we had the plcafurc of feeing them loaJed uith flowers in Scptenilur 1-77 ; but the froft of 
 that year coming more early than ufual, nipped them entirely. 
 
 (0) Such authors are cffci^ually refuted by Dr. Eguiara, in Uie li arned preface to hi» Bi- 
 bliotheca Mcllicana, and by us in our Uilfertatii^ns. 
 
 Vol. I. 
 
 G g 
 
 fervei
 
 4IO H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VII. ferved them in place of writings. For things which are even by na- 
 ture totally devoid of figure, or were difficult of reprefentation, they 
 fubftituted certain charaólers ; but thefe were not verbal, or deftined 
 to form words like our letters, but real characters immediately fignifi- 
 cative of the things, fuch as the charailers of aftronomers and alge- 
 braifts. That our readers may form fome idea of them, we have fab - 
 joined the Numeral charaólers of the Mexicans, alfo thofe of Time, the 
 Heavens, the Farth, Water, and Air (pj. 
 
 When they would reprefent a!iy perfon, they painted a man, or a 
 human head, and over it a figure exprelfing the meaning of his name, 
 as appears in the figures of the Mexican kings. To exprefs a city, or 
 a village, they painted in the fame manner a figure, which fignified the 
 fame thing with its name. "To form their hiftories or annals, they 
 painted on the margin of the cloth or paper, the figures of the years 
 iri;fo many fquares, and at the fide of each fquare the event or events 
 v/hich occurred in that year; and if, on account of the number of 
 years the hiftory of which they meant to relate, tlaey could not all be 
 contained in one canvas, they were continued in another. With ref- 
 peft to the order of rcprefcnting the years and events, it was at the li- 
 berty of the hiftorian to begin at which ever angle of the piece he 
 pleafed; but at tRe lame time confl:antly obferving, that if the painting 
 began at the upper angle on the right hand, he proceeded towards the 
 left. If it began, which was mofl: common, at the upper angle on 
 the left hand, he proceeded fi;rait downwards. If he painted the firfi; 
 year at the lower angle on the left, he continued towards the right ; 
 but if he began at the lower angle on the right, he proceeded llrait up- 
 wards ; fo that on the upper part of his canvas he never painted from 
 left to right, nor ever on the lower part from right to left ; never ad- 
 vanced upwards from the left, nor downwards by the right. When this 
 method of the Mexicans is underllood, it is e.iiy to difcover at firfl 
 
 {p) Refpefting the numeral charatìers, it is to be obfei-v-ed, they painte 1 as many points as 
 there were units unto twenty. This nvimbcr has its proper charafler. Then they doubled it 
 for 20 t'mes, that is 400. This charafter was 'Joubled iu like manner, thac is to 8000. Thtn 
 they began to double the chara„ier of 8000. With thole three charatflers, ajid the points, they 
 expreflcd whatever number the\ chofe, at leali to twenty times 8000, or 160, qoo. But it is 
 probable this number had its characters alio. 
 
 fight,.
 
 JV.XJ.V 
 
 /Aff/i,/,// (7i<i>fit/,r.>. ,\- J i^//i/r//rt// ://'^ttf<.>. ì;.{ I J 
 
 iitir .J If 
 
 
 firi' 
 
 1fOI> 
 
 A'./i'v-' 
 
 .fOK 
 
 ilion 
 
 fj/>a 
 
 /h,,/'/ 
 
 
 • •••• e « 
 
 • '^/tf J/lflHf/f ,\ <-i/l/lt.l/<'ll 1^ .'A'/l)lll/\>.
 
 HISTORY OF M E X I C O. 41 f 
 
 fight, which is the beginning and which Is the end of any hiftorical BOOK vil. 
 painting. ^''' »— — ' 
 
 It cannot be denied that this method of exprefìlng tilings was im- 
 perfcdt, perplexed, and equivocal ^ but praifo is due to tlie attenij->t of 
 thofc people to perpetuate the memory of events, and to their iiiduftry 
 in fupplying, though Imperfeilly, the want of letters, which it is 
 probable they would have invented, in their progrefs to refinement, 
 had their empire been of longer duration ; at lead they v^ould have a- 
 bridged and improved their paintings by the multiplication of chara(5lers. 
 
 Their paintings ought not to be conlidered as a regular full hiftory, 
 but only as monuments and aids of tradition. We cannot exprefs too 
 ftrongly the care u'hich parents and mailers took to inftru(5l their chil- 
 dren and pupils in the hiftory of the nation. They made them learn 
 fpeeches and difcoarfes, which they could not exprefs by the pencil ; 
 they put the events of their anceflors into verfe, and taught them to 
 ling them. This tradition difpellcd the doubts, and undid the ambi- 
 guity which paintings alone might have occafioned, and by the afiift- 
 ance of thofe monuments perpetuated the memory of their heroes, and 
 of virtuous examples, their mythology, their rites, their laws, and 
 their cuftoms. 
 
 Nor did that people make ufe only of tradition, of paintings, and 
 fongs, to preferve the memory of events, but alfo of threads of dif- 
 ferent colours, and differently knotted, called by the Peruvians ^?pu, 
 and by the Mexicans Nepohualtziizin. This curious method of the re- 
 prefentation of things, however much ufcd in Peru, does not appear 
 to liave been emjiloyed in the province of Anahuac, if not in the moft 
 early ages; forno traces of fuch monuments are now to be found. 
 Boturini fays, tliat after the mofl diligent fearch, he, with difficulty, 
 found one in a place of TIafcala, the threads of which were already 
 wafled and confumed by time. If thofe who peopled South America 
 ever paffed the country of Anahuac, they poffibly might have left tlicrc 
 this art, which was afterwards abandoned for that of painting, intro- 
 duced by the Toltecas, or fome other nation ftill more ancient. 
 
 After ihe Spaniards communicated the ufe of letters to them, fcve- 
 ral able natives of Mexico, Tezcuco, and TIafcala, wrote their hiflo- 
 ries partly in Spanilli, and partly in an elegant Mexican (lylc, which 
 
 (» g g 2 hiftories 
 
 ;s
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 hiftorles are ftill preferved in fome libraries of Mexico, as we have al- 
 ready mentioned. 
 
 Sect. l. The Mexicans were more fuccefsful in fculpture, in the art of caft- 
 Scuipture. j^^ metals and mofaic works, than in painting. They expreiled the 
 images of their heroes, and of the works of nature in ftone, wood, 
 gold, filver, and feathers, better than on paper, either becaufe the 
 greater difficulty of thofe labours ftimulated greater diligence and exer- 
 tions, or becaui'c the high efteem in which they were held among that 
 people, excited genius and encouraged indudry. 
 
 Sculpture was one of the arts exercifed by the ancient Toltecas. 
 Until the time of the conqueft feveral ftatues of ftone were preferved 
 which had been cut by the artifts of that nation ; in particular the idol 
 of Tlaloc, placed upon the mountain of the fame name, which was fo 
 much revered and worfliipped by the Chechemecas and Acolhuas, and 
 the gigantic ftatues eredled in the celebrated temples of Teotihuacan. 
 The Mexicans had fculptors among them when they left their native 
 country Aztlan, for we know that they had at that time formed the idol 
 of Huitzilopochtli, which they carried along with them in their long 
 peregrination. 
 
 The ufual materials of their flatues were ftone and wood. They 
 wrought tlie ftone without iron, fteel, or any other inftrument than a 
 chiflel made of flint ftone. Their unparalleled phlegmatic nature and 
 conftancy in labour, were both necefTary to overcome the difficulty, and 
 endure the tedioufnefs of fuch labours ; and they fucceeded in fpite of 
 the unfitnefs of their inftruments. They learned to exprefs in their 
 ftatues all the attitudes and poftures of which the human body is ca- 
 pable ; they obferved the proportions exadlly, and could, when necef- 
 lary, execute the moft delicate and minute ftrokes with the chiflel. They 
 not only made entire ftatues, but likewife cut out in ftone, figures 
 in baflb relievo, of which kind are thofe ofMontezuma II. and one of 
 his fons, recorded with praifes by Acofta. They alfo made ftatues of 
 clay and wood, employing for thefe a chiffel of copper. Thefurprif- 
 ing number of their ftatues may be imagined from that of their idols, 
 which we mentioned in the preceding book. In this refpcd; we have 
 alfo to lament the furious zeal of the firft biftiop of Mexico, and the 
 firft preachers of the goipel ; v.ho, in order to remove from the fight
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 413 
 
 of their converts all incentives to idolatry, have deprived us of many BOOK VH. 
 valuable monuments of the fculpture of the Mexicans. The founda- ^^^~ 
 tion of the firft church, which was built in Mexico, was laid with 
 idols, and fo many thoufand flatues were then broke in pieces and de- 
 ftroyed, that although the kingdom was mofl abounding in works of 
 that kind, at prefent the molt diligent fearch can hardly find any of 
 them remaining. The conduct of thofe miffionaries was no doubt laud- 
 able both in caufe and effedt, but they fliould have diftinguiftied be- 
 tween the innocent ftatues of thofe people, and their fuperftitious 
 images, that fome of the former might have been kept entire in fomc 
 place where no evil confequence would have attended their prefer- 
 vation. 
 
 The works which they executed by calting of metals were in more Sect. lt. 
 efteem with the Mexicans than the works of fculpture, both on ac- ^^''''ps of 
 
 <- 1 • nictali. 
 
 count of the greater value of the materials, and the excellence of the 
 art itfelf. The miracles they produced of this kind would not be cre- 
 dible, if befides the teftimony of thofe who favv them, curiofities in 
 numbers of this nature had not been fcnt from Mexico to Europei 
 The works of gold and filver lent in prefents from the conqueror Cortes 
 to Charles V. filled the goldfiniths of Europe with aflonifhmcnt ; who, 
 as feveral authors of that period attefl, declared [q] that they were al- 
 to'^ether inimitable. The Mexican founders made both of gfold and 
 filver the molt perfecft Imasres of n.itural bodies. They made a fid^ in 
 this manner, which liad its fcales alternately one of filver and the other 
 of gold ; a parrot with a moveable head, tongue, and wings, and an 
 ape with a moveable head and feet, having a fpindle in its hand in the 
 attitude of fpinning. They fet gems in gold and filver, and made 
 moll curious jewellery ol great value. In Ihort, thefe fort of works 
 were fo admirably finiflied, that even the Spmiih foldiers, all ftung 
 with the lame wretched thirfl: for gold, valued the workmanfhip above 
 the materials. This wonderful art, formerly pradlifed by the Toltecas, 
 the invenfion of which they afcribed to the god Quetzakoatl, \\?.s been 
 entirely loft by the debafemcnt of the Indi-ins, and the indolent n^g- 
 
 (,j) Sec \n paiiicvhir wh;.i ii f;i\l of iliofc n'oiks by tlic lii'.lori.in Go'inri, who h;id ihcin ia 
 hib iiuiii'si and heard what the jjolJlnviths ot Seville f.iid upon feting th'.;in. 
 
 leA
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 left of the Spaniards. We are doubtful if there are any remains of 
 thofe curious works ; at leali we appre'iend, it woaki be more eafy to 
 find fome in the cabinets of Europe than in all New Spain. Covetouf- 
 nefs to proiit by the materials muft unqueftionably have conquered all 
 delire to preferve thern as curiolities. 
 
 The Mexicans alio wrought with the hammer, but in an inferior 
 manner, and not at all to be compared with the goldfmiths of Europe; 
 for they had no other inftruments to beat metals than flones. How- 
 ever, it is well known that they wrought copper well, and that the 
 Spaniards were much pleafed with their axes and .pikes. Tlie Mexi- 
 can founders and goldlh^ths formed a refpeftable body of people. They 
 rendered particular worlhip to their prote6*:ing god Xtpt', and in lionour 
 of him held a L'reat feftival in the fecond month, at which human vic- 
 tims were ficrificed. 
 Sect. LIT. Nothing, howevcr, was more highly v-alued by the Mexicans than 
 M'viaic their molale works, which were made of the moft delicate and beau- 
 
 tiful feathers of birds. They railed for this purpofe various Ipecies of 
 birds of fine plumage v/ith which that country abounds, not only in 
 the palaces of the king, where, as we have already obferved, there 
 were all forts of animals, but likev/ife in private houfes, and at certain 
 fealbns they carried off their feathers to make ufe of them on this land 
 of work, or to fell them at market. They fet a high value on the fea- 
 thers of thofe wonderful little birds which they call Huitzitz-ili?!, and 
 the Spaniards Ficaflores, on account of the fmallnefs, the finenefs, and 
 the various colours of them. In thefe and other beautiful birds, na- 
 ture fupplied them with all the colours which art can produce, and 
 alio fome which art cannot imitate. At the undertaking of every mo- 
 laic work feveral artills alTembled ; after having agreed upon a defign, 
 and taken their meafures and proportions, each artifl: charged himfelf 
 with the execution of a certain part of the image, and exerted himfelf 
 lo diligently in it with llich patience and application, that he frequently 
 fpent a whole day in adjufting a feather ; firlT: trying one, then another, 
 viewing it fometimes one way, then another, until he found one which 
 gave his part that ideal perfedion propofed to be attained, WJien tlie 
 part which each artift undertook was done, they alTembled again to 
 form the entire image from them. If any part v/as accidentally the 
 
 «> leali:
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 IfrtlV deranged, it \vas wrought again until it was perf-ftly finiilied. 
 They laid hold of the t'eathcrs with fmall pincers, that they might not 
 dp them the leali injury, and pulled them on tha cloth with T'zaubtli,^ 
 or fome other glutinous matter; then they united all the parts upon a 
 alitele table, or a plate of copper, and flattened them foftly until they 
 left <he ruriv;ce of the image fo equal and fmoolh it appeared to be the 
 work ot a pegcil, 
 
 Thefe were the jmages fo much celebrated by the Spaniards and 
 ofher European nations. Whoever beheld them was at a lofs whether he 
 Qught to hive praacd moll the life and beauty of the natural colours, 
 or the dexterity of the artill, and the ingenious difpolition of art. 
 " Thele images," fiys Acolla, " are defervedly admired; for it is won- 
 " derful how it was poiilble, with the feathers of birds, to execute 
 " works fo fine and fo equal, that they appear the performance oi the 
 " pencil ; and what neither the pencil nor the colours in painting can 
 " efifed:, they have, when viewed from a fide, an appearance fo beauti- 
 " fui, fo lively, and animated, they give delight to the fight. Some In- 
 *' dians, who are able artifts, copy whatever is painted v\ith a pencil 
 " fo perfedly with plumage, that they rival the bell painters of Sp^in." 
 Thefe works of feathers were even fo highly efleemed by the Mexicans 
 as to be valued more than gold. Cortes, Bernal Diaz, Gomara, Tor- 
 quemada, and all the other hillorians who law them, were at a lofs 
 for exprellions fufficient to praife their perfedlion (/•). A little time 
 ago was living in Pazcuaro, lormerly the capital of the kingdom of 
 Michuacan, where this art chiefly flouriflied lìnee the conquell, the 
 lall furviving artill of Mofaic works, and with him poflibly is now, or 
 will be, liUidied this admirable art, although for thofe two, lad cen- 
 turies pdc, it has fallen much fliort of its ancient perfedlion. Se- 
 veral works of tliis kind are dill preferved in the niufeums of Eu- 
 rope, and many in Mexico, but few we appreliend belong to the fix- 
 er) Stor. Nat. e Mor. lib. iv. c. 37. 
 
 (j) Gio. Lorenzo d'Ati.T,-nia, a learned Italian of the fixtecnth century, treating of tliofc 
 iinay;es of the Mpxivuns, obferve» : " Amon^njli others 1 was greatly alloiiiflicd at a San Gi- 
 " rolanio wi'h a crui.i(ix and a I'on, which La !r"ig. Diana LofFreda flicwed mc, difcovcrino 
 «' fo much beauty f r m the livclinefs of the natural colours, fo well and fojiillly placed, that 
 «« I imagined I could never fee an equal to it, fur Icfs a better, among tlic ancient or evcu the 
 " moll onlncat modern painters." 
 
 teenth
 
 4i6 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOCK vir. teenth century, and none of thofe which we know of, were made' be- 
 fore the conqueft. The mofaic works alfo which they made of 
 broken fliells was extremely curious ; this art is ftill praftifed in 
 Guatemala. 
 
 In imitation of thofe fkilful artifts there were others, who formed 
 with flowers and leaves upon mats many beautiful works made ufe of 
 at feftivals. After the introduction of Chriftianity they made thefc 
 works for ornament ; they were fought after moft eagerly by the Spa- 
 nifli nobility, on account of the fingular beauty of the artifice. At 
 prefent there are many artifts in that kingdom, who employ themfel\e» 
 in counterfeiting with filk the images of feathers ; hut their perform- 
 ances are by no means comparable with thofe of the ancients. 
 Sect. LUI. A nation fo induftrious in thofe arts which could only ferve for cu- 
 civii archi- rlofity and luxury, could not be wanting in thofe which were necef- 
 tcc till e of the f^rv to life. ArchitCillure, one of thofe arts which the necefllty of 
 
 Mexicans. ^ . . ^ 
 
 man firft invents, was exercifed by the inhabitants of the country of 
 Anahuac, at leafl from the time of the Toltecas. Their fucceffors the 
 Chechemecas, the Acolhuas, and all the other nations of the king- 
 doms of Acolhuacan, of Mexico, and Michuacan, of the republic of 
 Tlafcala, and other provinces, except the Otomies, built houfcs and 
 formed cities from time immemorial. When the Mexicans arrived 
 in that country, they found it full of large and beautiful cities. They 
 who before they left their native country were Ikilled in architedure, 
 and ufed to a fecial life, conftruftcd in their pilgrimage many edifices 
 in thofe places where they ftopped for fome years ; fome remains of 
 which are ftill exifting as we have already mentioned upon the banks 
 of the river Gila, in Pimeria, and near to the city of Zacatecas. Re- 
 duced afterwards to greater hardfliips upon the little iflands of the 
 Tezcucan lake, they built humble huts with reeds and mud, until by 
 the commerce of their fi(h they were able to purchafe better materials. 
 In proportion as their power and riches increafed, they enlarged and 
 improved their habitations ; fo that when the conquerors arrived, they 
 found no lefs to be admired with their eyes than to be deftroyed with 
 their hands. 
 
 The houfes of the poor were feuilt of reeds, or unburned bricks, 
 * or (lone and mud, and the roofs made of a long kind of hay which 
 
 grows
 
 J 
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 417 
 
 grows thick, and is common in the fields, particularly in hot coun- BOOK, vii 
 tries, or of the leaves of the maguei, or aloe, placed in the manner of ' 
 .tiles, to which they bear fome reijbinblance both in thicknefs and fliape. 
 One of the columns or fupports of tliefe houfcs was generally a tree 
 of a regular groA'th, by means of which, beildes the pleafure they 
 took in its foliage and fliade, they faved themfeives fome labour and 
 expence. Thefe houfes had for the moft part but one chamber, where 
 the family and all the animals belonging to it, the fire-place, and fur- 
 niture, v/ere lodged. It the family was not very poor, there were mora 
 .chambers, an ajauhcalli, or oratory ; a temazcalli, or bath, and a little 
 granary. 
 
 The houfes of lords, and people of circumftances, were built of 
 ftone and lime; they confifted of two floors, having halls, large court- 
 yards, and the chambers fitly difpofeil ; the roofs were flat and ter- 
 4-acedj the walls were fo well whitened, poliflied, and fhining, that 
 they appeared to the Spaniards when at a diftance to have been filver. 
 The pavement or floor was plaifler, perfedtly level, plain, and fmooth. 
 
 IVIany of thefe houfes were crowned with battlements and turrets ; 
 a-nd their gardens had filh-ponds, and the walks of them fymmetrically 
 laid out. The large houfes of the capital had in general two entrances, 
 the principal one to the flreet, the other to the canal : they had no 
 wooden doors to their houfes, perhaps, becaufe they thought their ha- 
 bitations fufficiently lecure without them from the fe verity of the laws 
 againfl: robbers ; but to prevent the inipedlion of pafl"engers, they co- 
 vered the entrance with little reeds, from which they fufpended a ftring 
 of cocoas, or pieces of broken kitchen utenfils, or fome other thing 
 fit to awake by its noife the attention of the family, when any perfon 
 lifted up the reeds to enter the houfe. No perfon was permitted to 
 enter wltiiout the confent of the owner. When nccefhty, or civility, 
 or family connedtions did not juflify the entrance of any perfon who 
 came to tlie houfe, he was liftened to without and immediately dif- 
 mifled. 
 
 The Mexicans underflood the building of arches and vaults (/), as 
 appears from their baths, from the remains of the royal palaces of 
 
 Tez- 
 
 (.<; Torqucm.iila fays, that when the Sp.iniarJs took away the roof from an arch built in 
 
 the fini church of Mexico, the Mexicans from terror durft not enter the church, expecting 
 
 Vol. I. H h h every
 
 41 8 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BCOli VII. Tezcuco, and other buildings which elcaped the fury of" the conquer- 
 '"'"''^ ' ors, ;ind al fo from leverai paintings. Cornices, and other ornarneats of 
 architecture, were likewife in ule among them. They took great delight 
 in making ornaments of ù.ont, which had the appearances of Ihares, 
 about their doors and windows, and in fome buildings there was a large 
 I'erpent made of itone in the adi of biting his tail, alter having twiftcd 
 his body through all the windows of the houle. The vv^alls of their 
 buildings were upright and perpendicular ; they mull: have made ufe 
 of the plunimit, or ibme other inftrurnent of its nature, although 
 owing to the negligence of hiftorians, we are ignorant of the tools 
 which they employed in building, as well as many other things be- 
 longing to this and other arts. Some are of opinion, that the Mexi- 
 can malbns in building walls, filled them up with earth on both fides, 
 and that as the wall was raifed, they railed likewife the heaps of earth 
 fo high, that, until the building was completed, the walls remained 
 entirely buried and unfcen ; on which account the malbns had no oc- 
 cafion for planks or fcafFolding. But althougli this mode of building 
 may appear to have been in pradice among the Miztecas, and other 
 nations of the Mexican empire, we do not believe that the Mexicans 
 ever adopted it, from the great expedition with which they finilhed 
 their buildings. 1 heir columns were cylindrical, or fquare ; but we 
 cannot fay whether they had either bales or capitals. They endea- 
 voured at nothing more anxioufly than to make them of one lingle 
 piece, adorning them frequently with figures in baffo relievo. The 
 foundations of the large houfes of the capital were laid upon a floor of 
 large beams of cedar fixed in the earth, on account of the want of fo~ 
 Unity in the foil, which example the Spaniards have imitated. The 
 roofs of fuch houfes were made of cedar, of fir, of cyprefs, of pine, 
 or of ojametl ; the columns were of common Hone ; but in the royal 
 palaces they were of marble, and lome even of alabafier, which many 
 Spaniards mifiook for jafper. Before the reign of Ahuitzotl, the walls 
 of houfes were built of common ftone j but as they difcovered in the 
 
 every moment to fee the arch fall. But if they were feizeJ v.ih .ny fuch apprehenfion, it 
 was certainly not occafioncd by feeing the arch, which was iii ufo among themfelves, but pof- 
 fibly from feeing the fcafFolding taken away quickly, or fome other circiuni^ance which ex- 
 cited their admiration. 
 
 time
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e Ó. 419 
 
 time of that king the qu.irries of the ftone Tetzontli, upon the banks book vii. 
 of the Mexican lake, it was afterwards preferred as the mofl fit for the 
 buildings cf the capital, it being hard, light, and porous like a fpunge: 
 on which account lime adheres very firmly to it. For théfe properties 
 and its colour, which is a blood red, it is at prefent valued above any 
 other ftone for buildings. The pavements of their courts and tem- 
 ples were in general of the ftone of Tenajoccan ; but fome alfo were- 
 chequered with marble and other precious lloncs. :...■:■ 
 
 Although the Mexicans are not to be compared with the Europeans 
 in regard to tafte in architedlure, yet the Spaniards were fo ftruck 
 with admiration and furprize on feeing the royal palaces of Mexico, 
 that Cortes, in his firft letter to Charles V. unable to find v.ords to 
 defcribe them, fpeaks thus : " He had," he fays, fpeaking of MontS-' 
 zuma, *' bL'fides thofe in the city of Mexico, other fuch admirable hoafeis 
 " for his habitation, that I do not believe 1 ihall ever be able to exprefs 
 " their excellence and grandeur ; therefore 1 fliall only fay that there are 
 " no equals to them in Spain." Such expreffions are made ufe of by 
 Cortes in other parts of his letters ; by the anonymous conqueror in 
 his valuable relation, and by Bernal Diaz in his mofl faithful hillory, 
 who were all three prefent at the conqueft. 
 
 The Mexicans alfo conftruóted, for the convenience of inhabited o,^^ it,- 
 places, feveral excellent aqueducfts, Thofe of the capital for conduct- Aqucdutì^ 
 ing the water from Chapoltepec, which was two miles diftant, were on the 'lake 
 two in number, made of ftone and cement five feet high, and two 
 paces broad upon a road raifed for that purpofe upon the lake, by whicii 
 the water was brought to the entrance of the city, and from thence it ' 
 branched out through fmaller channels to fupply fcvcral fountains, and 
 particularly thofe of the royal palaces. Although there were two aque-^ 
 ducfts, the water was only brought by one at a time, as in the inter- 
 val they cleared the other that they might always have the water pure. 
 At Tezcutzinco, formerly a palace of pleafuie of the kings of Tcz- 
 cuco, may ftill be feen an aquedutt by which water was conveyed to 
 the royal gardens. 
 
 The above mentioned road of Chapoltepec, as well as others made 
 upon the lake, and frequently taken notice of in this hiftory, are in- 
 contertible proofs of the indullry of the Mexicans ; but it is Hill 
 
 II h h 2 more
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 more manlfefted in the foundation of their city j for whereas other 
 architeils have no more to do than to lay a foundation upon fohd earth, 
 to raife an edifice, the Mexicans were obliged to make the foil on 
 which they built, uniting by terraces feveral little iflands together. Be- 
 fides this prodigious fatigue, they had to raife banks and palliiìidoes to 
 render their habitations fecure. But if in thefe works their induftry 
 is confpicuous, in many others the Mexicans Ihew their tafte for mag- 
 nificence. Aniongft the monuments of ancient architeélure which 
 are extant in the Mexican empire, the edifices of Miellan, in Mizteca, 
 are very celebrated ; there are many things about them worthy of ad- 
 miration, particularly a large hall, the roof of which is fupported by 
 various cylindrical columns of itone, eighty feet high, and about twenty 
 in circumference, each of them confifling of one fingle piece. 
 Sect. lv. But this, or any other fabric of Mexican antiquity now remaining,- 
 aifcTent'ed'- canuot be compared with the famous aqueduifl of Chempoallan. This 
 ^'•^e»- large work, worthy of being ranked with the greateft in Europe, was 
 
 done about the middle of the fixteenth century. The Francifcan mif- 
 fionary Francifco Tembleque, direded, and the Chempoallefe executed 
 it with wonderful perfection. Moved with compaffion for the diftrefs 
 which his profelytes fuii-ered from a fcarcity of water, as all that could 
 be gathered in trenches and ditches was confumed by the cattle of the 
 Spaniards, that pious father undertook to relieve the neceffities of his 
 people at all events. The water was at a great diltance, and the coun- 
 try through which it was neceflary to conduci it, was mountainous 
 and rocky; but every difficulty was overcome by his zeal and adlivity, 
 aided by the indullry and toil of his converts. They confl:rud:ed 
 an aquedu(!l of flone and lime, which, on account of the frequent 
 turnings they were obliged to make in the mountains, was upwards of 
 thirty miles long. The greatelt difficulty confifted in croliing three 
 great precipices which intercepted tlieir progrefs ; but this was got 
 over by three bridges, the firft confifting of forty-feven, the fecond 
 of thirteen, and the third, which is the largeft and moft wonder- 
 ful of all, having fixty-feven arches. The largeft arch, which was in 
 the middle, fituated in the greateft dspth of the precipice is one hun- 
 dred and ten geometrical feet in height, and fixty-one in breadth, fo 
 that a large veflel could pafs under it. The other fixty-fix arches, 
 
 fitwated
 
 II I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 421 
 
 fituated on each fide of the largeft, diminiilied gradually on each fide BOOK vii. 
 unto the edge or top of the precipice, fo as to leave the ground level 
 \vith the courfe of the aquediidt. This large hridge is 3,178 geome- 
 trical feet, or upwards of half a mile in length. The; work of it occu- 
 pied the fp.ice of rive years, and the whole aquedufl feventecn. We have 
 deemed it not improper to infert the defcriplion of this fuperb fabrick ; 
 as although it was the undertaking of a Spaniard, after the conquell, 
 it was. executed by the Chempoallefe, who furvived the downfal of thtir 
 empire,/ ,,, , 
 
 The ignorant Mr. de P. denies that the Mexicans h.id either the 
 knowledge, or made ufe of lime ; but it is evident from the teflimony 
 of all the hillorians of Mexico, by tribute rolls, and above all from 
 the ancient buildings iìììì remaining, that all thofe nations made the 
 £\me ufe of lime as the Europeans do. The vulgar of that kingdom 
 believe, that the Mexicans mixed eggs with lime to render it more te- 
 nacious ; but this is an error, occafioned by feeing the ancient walls of 
 a jellowifli call. It is manifefi: alfo, from the teflimony of the firft hif- 
 toiians, that burnt tiles or bricks were ufed by the Mexicans, and that 
 they fold tliem like all other things in the market-place. 
 
 The ilone-cutters, who cut and wrought ftones for building, did not Sect. LVI. 
 make ufe of pickaxes, nor iron chiiTels, but only of certain inftruments P'""*^*'"'" „ 
 
 r ' 'J ters, engiav» 
 
 of flint-ftone ; with thefe, however, they executed beautiful works and vers, jcwd- 
 engravings. But thofe fort of labours without iron do not raife fo tcrs! '^ 
 much wonder as the ftones of flupendous fize and weight which were 
 found in the capital and other places, tranfported from great diftances, 
 and placed in high fituations without the aid of machines which me- 
 chanilm has invented. Befides common ftone they wrought marble, 
 alfo jafper, alabafter, itztli, and other v.Juable ftones. Of itztli, they 
 made beautiful looking-glafles fet with gold, and thofe extremely fharp 
 razors which they fixed in their fwords, and which their barbers madó 
 ufe of. They mad? thofe razors with fuch expedition, that in the 
 fp.ice of one hour an artificer could finilh more than a hundred (u). ' 
 The Mexican jewellers not only had flcill in gems, but likewife 
 underftood how to polifli work and cut them, and formed them into 
 
 («) Hernandez TorqucmaJa and Betaneourt, dcfcribc tlic manner In wliich thofe artid» 
 mad» their razors of the Hone itztli. 
 
 s -what-
 
 I 
 
 422 H I S T O R Y O F M E X 1 e O. 
 
 BOOK VII. whate\'er fiijures th^y chofe. Hiilcrians affirm, that thcfe works^ 
 were done with a particular find; but it is moli: certain, they could 
 not do them w.thout Ibme inftrument of flint, or hard copper, which 
 is found in that country. The gems moft common among the Mexi- 
 cans were emeralds, amethyfts, conielians, turquoifes, and fome others 
 not known in Europe. Emeralds were lb common, that no lord or 
 noble wanted them, and none of them died without having one fixed 
 to his lip, that it might ferve him as they imagined inftead of a heart. 
 An infinite number of them were fent to the court of Spain in the firfi: 
 years after the conqueft. When Cortes returned the firft time to Spain, 
 he brought along with him, air.ongll: other ineilimable jewels, five 
 emeralds, which, as Gomara, who was then living, bears teftimony, were 
 valued at a hundred thoufand ducats, and for one of them fome Ge- 
 noefc merchants offered him forty thoufind, in order to fell it again to 
 the grand fignor (.y) ; and alio two emerald vafes, valued, as the celebrated 
 P. Mariana ( j) fays, at three hundred thoufand ducats, which vafes Cor- 
 tes lofi by the fliipwreck which he fufFered in the unfortunate expedition 
 of Charles V. againfl Algiers. At prefent no more fuch gems are 
 wrought, nor is even the place of the mines known where they were 
 formerly dug : but there are ftill fome enormous pieces of emerald re- 
 liiaining, nan;iely, a lacred ftone in the cathedral church of Angelopoli, 
 .and another in the parochial church of Qjiechula (unlefs this is the 
 fame tranfported from thence to Angelopoli), which the priefts keep 
 fecured with chains of iron, as Betancourt fa3's, that no one may 
 carry it oft'. 
 
 The potters not only made the necefiary family utenfil? of clay, but 
 alfo other things of mere curiofity, which they embellilhed with 
 
 (x) With regard to Cortes's emeralds, the firlt was made in fo m of a rofo, the fecond like 
 a. horn, thè third like a fifh, with eyes of gold ; the fourth was a little bell, with a fine pearl 
 for a clapper, and upon the lip th s infcription in Sp.niili, BentHto quicn tc crìi), that is, Blcjfcd 
 h.-, =tvòo cicatcil. ihee. The fitlh, which was the moft valuabh, and for which the Gcnoefe 
 merchants would have uiven forty thou and ducat?, was a finali cup with a foot of gold, and 
 four little chains alfo of gold, which united in a pcail in the foim of a button. The lip of the 
 cup was gitt with a ring of gold, on which was ent;raved this Latin fentence, hacr natos niu' 
 lUrum nanfuncxit major. Thefe five emeraldf, wrought by the Mexicans at the order of Cor- 
 tes, were prefentcd by him to his fccoinl wife, the daughter of the count of AguUar ; jewels, 
 fays Gomara, who faw them, 1 ct cr than any oth.r uornaa whatlbcver had in all Spain. 
 
 (y) Mariana in the Summary, or Supplement of the Hillory of Spain. 
 
 various
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 various colours ; but they did not undciftand, by what we can difcover, 
 the art of making gLifs. The moH: fdinous potters formerly were the 
 Cholaljl";, whole vcliels were rn.ich prlfed by the Spaniards ; at pre- 
 fcnt the moft reputed are the potters of Quauhtitlan. 
 
 Their carpenters wrought fever al kinds of wood with inftruments Sect.LVII. 
 made of copper, of which there are ftill fomc remains of tolerable ^^'■P''"'^'''- 
 
 ti ' weavers, &c. 
 
 workman Hii p. 
 
 Manufadturcs of various kinds of cloth were common every where; 
 It was one of thofc arts which almoil every perfon learned. They had 
 no wool, nor common filk, nor lint, nor hemp, but they fupplied the 
 want of wool with cotton, that of filk with feathers, with the hair of 
 the rabbit and hare, and that of lint and hemp with icxutl, or moun- 
 tain-palm, with the quetzalicbili, the pati, and other fpecies of the 
 maguei. Of cotton they made large webs, and as delicate and fine as 
 thofe of Holland, which were with much realbn highly efteemed in 
 Europe. A (c\v years after the conquefl:, a (acerdotal habit of the 
 IVIexicans was brought to Rome, which, as Boturini affirms, was un- 
 commonly adm.ired on account of its fincnefs and beauty. They wove 
 thefe cloths with different figures and colours, reprefenting different 
 animals and flowers. Of feathers, interwoven v/ith cotton, they made 
 mantles and bed curtains, carpets, gowns, and other things not lefs 
 foft than beautiful. We have (can fome beautiful mantles of this kind 
 which are prefer ved ftill by fome lords ; they wear them upon extraor- 
 dinary feflivals, as at thofe of the coronation of the Spaniih kings. 
 With cotton alfo they interwove the fineft hair of the belly of rabbits 
 and hares, after having dyed and fpun it into thread ; of thefe they made 
 moft beautiful cloths, and in particular winter waiftcoats for the 
 Jords. From the leaves of the Pati and ^ctza/ichtn two fpecies of the 
 inaguei, they obtained a fine thread, with which they made cloths 
 equal to thofc made of lint ; and from the leaves of other kinds of the 
 maguei, namely, thofe of the mountain-palm, they drew a coarfer 
 thread, fimdar to hemp. The method they ufcd to prepare thofe ma- 
 terials was the fame which is pra^flifed by the Europeans for lint and 
 hemp. They foaked the leaves in water, then cleaned them, put them 
 in the firn, and beat, them until they were fit to fpin. 
 
 Of
 
 424 II I S T O R Y O F .CO. 
 
 BOOK VIÌ. Of the fame leaves of the mountain-pah-ii; and alio of thofe of the 
 ' — "v— — ' i'z.hticitl, another fpscies of palm, they made extremely fine mats of dif- 
 ferent colours. They made others iViore coarfe of the ruflies which 
 crew in abundance in the lake. 
 
 Of the thread of the maguei they iivade alfo ropes, (lioes, and other 
 things. 
 
 They drefled the fkins of animals tolerably well, both of quadrupeds 
 and birds, leaving upon fome of them the hair or piumage, according 
 to the ufe which they propofed to make of them. 
 
 Laftly, to convey fome idea of the tafte of the Mexicans in arts, 
 we have thought proper to tranfcribe here the lift of the firft things 
 which Cortes fent from Mexico to Charles V. a few days after he ar- 
 rived in that country {z). 
 
 Sect. Two wheels, ten hands in diameter, one of irold with the image of the 
 
 LVIII. - . 
 
 Liil of the fun, and the other of filver with the image of the moon upon it ; both 
 
 rareties fent formed of plates of thofe metals, with different fig-ures of animals and 
 
 by Loites to ... . . 
 
 Charles V. Other things in baffo relievo, finished v«'ith great ingenuity and art (a). 
 
 A gold necklace, compofed of feven pieces, with a hundred and 
 eighty-three fmall emeralds fet in it, and two hundred and thirty-two 
 gems fimilar to fmall rubies, from which hung twenty-feven little bells 
 of gold, and fome pearls. 
 
 Another necklace of four pieces of gold, with one hundred and two 
 red gems like fmall rubies, one hundred and feventy-two emeralds, 
 and ten fine pearls fet in it, with twenty-fix little bells of gold. 
 
 A headpiece of wood covered with gold, and adorned with gems, 
 from which hung twenty-five little bells of gold; inftead of a plume 
 it had a green bird with eyes, beak, and feet of gold. 
 
 A bracelet of gold. A little rod like a fceptre, \\\\h two rings of 
 gold at its extremities, fet with pearls. 
 
 Four tridents, adorned with feathers of various colours, with pearl 
 points tied with gold thread. 
 
 {%) This lilt is taken from the hiflory of Gomapa, then living in Spain, fome things only 
 omitted which were of little importance to be mentioned. 
 
 (a) The wheel < f gold was unqucfiionabiy the figure of their century, and that of filver 
 the figure of their year, according to what Gomara fay?, but he did not know it with cer- 
 tainty. 
 
 Several 
 
 4
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. ^::5 
 
 Several fhoes of the (Idn of the deer, fewcd with gold thread, the BOOK \if. 
 foles of which were made of blue and white ftone of Itztli, extremely 
 - thin {Ò). 
 
 A fliield of wood and leather, with little bells hanging to it, and 
 covered with plates of gold in the middle, on which was cut the imac^e 
 of the god of war between four heads of a lion, a ty^er, an eagle, and 
 an owl, reprefented alive with their hair and feathers. 
 
 Several drelled llvins of quadrupeds and birds with their plumage 
 and hair. 
 
 Twenty-four curious and beautiful fliields of gold, of feathers, and 
 very fmall jicarls, and other four of feathers and filver only. 
 Four fidies, two ducks, and fome other birds of cart; gold. 
 Two fea-rtiells of gold, and a large crocodile girt with threads of 
 gold. 
 
 A large mirror adorned with gold, and many fnialj mirrors. Several 
 mitres and crowns of feathers and gold, ornamented with pearls and 
 gems. 
 
 Several large plumes of beautiful feathers of various colours, fretted 
 with gold and fmall pearls. 
 
 Several fans of gold and feathers mixed together ; others of feathers 
 only, of different forms and fizes, but all nioft rich and elegant. 
 
 A variety of cotton niantles, fome all white, others chequered with 
 white and black, or red, green, yellow, and blue; on the outfide 
 rough like a Ihaggy cloth, and within without colour or nap. 
 
 A number of under wairtcoats, handkerchiefs, counterpanes, tapef- 
 tries, and carpets of cotton. 
 
 All thofe articles were, according to Gomara, more valuable for the 
 v/orkmanlhip than the materials, . T/je colours, he fays, of the cotton, 
 'ivere estretnelyjinc, atifi thofe of the feathers natural. 'Their works of 
 caJl.meto.J, are not to be comjrrcheuded hy our goJiifniiths. Tliis prefent, 
 which was a part of that which Montezuma made to Cortes, a few 
 days after he had difembarked at Chakhiuhcuecan, was fent by Cortes 
 to Charles V. in July I5i'9, and this was the firfl gold and the firft 
 
 (i) Gomara docs not exprefs that the foles were made of the ftone Itztli, but it is to, be un< 
 derftood from h!» account. 
 
 Vol. I. I i i filver
 
 426 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 * ^ ' 
 
 Sect. 
 LIX. 
 
 Knowledge 
 of nature and 
 life of medi- 
 cinal limplcs. 
 
 H I S T O R V O F M E X { C O. 
 
 filver which was fent from New to Old Spain ,; a fmall prelage of the 
 immenfe treafurts it was to lend in future. 
 
 Amongft other arts exercifed by the Mexicans, th.u of medicine 
 has been entirely overlooked by the SpanilTi hillorians, .ilthough it is 
 certainly not the lead elfcntial part of their hillory. They have con- 
 tented themfelves with laying, that the Mexican phyficians had a great 
 knowledge of herbs, and that by means of thefe they performed mira- 
 culous cures ;' but do not mark the progrefs which they made in an art 
 fo bejiehcial to the human race. It is not to be doubted, tliat the 
 fame neceihties which Simulated the Greeks to make a colle(ftion of 
 experiments and obfervations on the nature of difeafes, and the virtue 
 of limples, would alfo have in time led the Mexicans to the know- 
 ledge of thofe two moft important parts of medicine. 
 
 We do not know whether they intended by their paintings, like the 
 Greeks by their writings, to communicate their lights to pofterity. 
 Thofe who followed the profellion of medicine inftrudfed their fons in 
 the nature and differences of the difeafes to which the human frame is 
 fubjedl, and of the herbs which Providence has created for their re- 
 medy, the virtues of which had been experienced by their anceftors. 
 They taught them the art of difcerning the fymptoms and progrefs of 
 different diftempers, and to prepare medicines and apply them. We 
 have ample proofs of this in the natural hiffory of Mexico, written by 
 Dr. Hernandez [c). This learned and laborious v/riter had always the 
 Mexican phyficians for his guides in the rtudy of natural hiftory, which 
 
 (c) Hernnndcz who wns pliyfician to Philip II. king of Spain, and much renowned for the 
 works he publiflicd concerning the Natural Hiliory ot i'liny, was fent by that monarch to 
 Mexico, to ftiidy the ni»tural hiftory of that kingdom. He employed himfelf there with other 
 able learned natiiralilis for feveral years, affiled by the Mexic.in phyficians. His work, wor-^ 
 thy of the cxpence which it coft of fixty thoufand ducats, conlifted of twenty-four books of 
 hiftory, and elcveii volumes of excellent figures of plants and animals ; but the king thinking 
 it too voluminous, gave orders to his phyfician Nardo Antonio Ricchi, a Neapolitan, to abridge 
 it. This abridgement was publifticd in Spaniftl by Francifco Ximcnes, a Dominican, in 1615, 
 and af.erwards in Latin, at Rome, in 1651, by the Linccan academicians, with notes and 
 learned differtations, though rather long and unintercfling. The manufcripts of Hernandez 
 were prefcrved in the library of the Efcurial, from which Nuremberg extrafled, according to 
 his own confeffion, a great part of what he has written in his Natural Hiftory. F. Claude 
 Clement, a French Jcfuit, difcourling of the manufcript of Hernandez, fays thus : " Qui 
 •' omncs libri, & comment irii, fi prout afiVv'l! funt, ita forent perfeilli, & abfoluti, Philippus 
 " II. & Francifcus Hernandius haud qii:iquam Alexandre, & Arilloteli hac in parte conce- 
 " derent." 
 
 8 he
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 lie profecuted in that empire. They communicated to him the know- 
 ledge of twelve hundred plants, \vith their proper Mexican names ; 
 more than two hundred fpecies of birds ; and a large number of qua- 
 drupeds, reptiles, fiihes, infedls, and minerals. From this moit valu- 
 able, though imperfedt hirtory, a fyftem of pradtical medicine may be 
 formed for that kingdom ; as has in part been done by Dr. Farfan, 
 in his Book of Cures, by Gregorio Lopez, and other eminent pbyfi- 
 cians. And if fince that time the ll.udv of natural hillorv had not 
 been negledled, nor fuch a prepoffellion prevailed in favour of every 
 thing which came from beyond the feas, the inhabitants of New Spain 
 would have faved a great part of the expences they have beer, at in pur- 
 chafnig the drugs of Europe and of Afia, and reaped greater advan- 
 tages from the productions of their own country. Europe has been ob- 
 liged to the phyficians of Mexico for tobacco, American balfam, gum 
 copal, liquid amber, farfaparilla, tecamaca, jalap, barley, and the pur- 
 gative pine-feeds, and other limples, which have been much ufed 
 in medicine : but the number of thofe of which flie has been de- 
 prived the benefit by the ignorance and negligence of the Spaniards, is 
 infinite. 
 
 Among the purgatives employed by the phyficans of Mexico, be- 
 fides jalap, pine-feed, and the fmall bean, the Mechoacan, fo well 
 known in Europe fdj, was extremely cominon, alfo the Izticpatli, 
 much celebrated by Hernandez, and the Amamaxtla, vulgarly called 
 the Rhubarb of the Brothers. 
 
 Aniongft other emetics the Mexicans made ufe of the Mexochitl, 
 and the Neixcotlapatli ; and among diuretics the Axixpatli, and the 
 Axixtlacotl, which is fo highly prailed by Hernandez. Amongrt: their 
 antidotes the famous Contrahierba was defervcdly valued, called by 
 them on account of its figure, CoanenepilU, Tongue of Serpent, and 
 on account of its effedls CoapatU, or remedy ciga'mjl ferpents. Amongft 
 their errhines was the Zozojatic, a plant fo efficacious, that it was 
 
 {d) The celebrated root of Mechoacan is called Tacuachc by the Tanifcas, and Tlalantla- 
 ci:itl.ipilli by the Mexicans. The knowledge ot it was coininunicai-d by a phylican of the ■• inp 
 of Michiiacaii to the Hril reliijiuiis nùirioiiaiics who went there to prc.ich the gofpel ; he cured 
 them with it of certain fevers of a putrid nature. By them it was made known to the Spa- 
 ciarrif, a;id from the Spaniards to all Europe. 
 
 I i i 2 fuffi-
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 fufficient to hold the root to the noie to produce fneezing. For In- 
 termittent fevers they generally employed the ChataUmic, -xvA in other 
 k'nd of fevers the ChuiiitzolH, the I-ztacxaUi, the Huehuct%onticomatl y 
 and above all the Izticpatli. To prevent the illnefs which frequently 
 followed too much exercile at the game of the ball, they ufed to er.t 
 the bark, of the Apitzaìpatlì foaketl in water. We fliould never finiili 
 if we were to mention all the plants, gum?, minerals, and other me- 
 dicines, both fimple and compound, which they employed againft all 
 the diliempers whicli were known to them. Wlioever defires to be 
 more amply informed on this fubjedl may conluit the above mentioned 
 work of Hernandez, and the two treatifcs publiihed by Dr. Monardes, 
 a Sevillian phyfician, on the medicinal articles, which ufed to be brought 
 from America to Europe. 
 Sect. LX. The Mexican phyficians made uie of ii^fufions, decoftions, oint- 
 Oils, oint- lyienf;, and oils, and all thof^ things were fold at market, as Cortes 
 
 meats, anJ ' . . , 
 
 iu.'aiions, and Bernal Diaz, both eye-witnellcs, ailirm. The mod: common oils 
 were thofe of ule, or elufic gum, TIapatI, a tree fmiilar to the lig, 
 Chii!'/, or great pepper, Chian, and Ocotl, a fpecies of pine. The lall 
 they obtained by diftillation, the others by dccodlion. That of Chian 
 \vas more ufed by painters than phyficians. 
 
 They extracted from the Huitziloxitl, as we have already mentioa- 
 ed, thofe two forts of balfam defcribed by Pliny and other ancient na- 
 turalills. that is, the opobaifam, or baUam diftilled from the tree, and 
 the xylobaljam obtained by decoftion of the branches. From tlie bark 
 of the Huaconex, foaked four days continually in water, they extraift- 
 ed another liquor equal to ballam. From the plant called by the Spa.- 
 ifiards fnaripefidii, (a name taken it appears from the language of the 
 Tarafcas, they obtained alfo a liquor equal to balfam,. as much in its 
 odour as wonderful effeds, by putting tiie tender ftones of the plant, 
 to"-ether with the fruit, to boil iii water, until tlie water became as 
 thick as muft. In the lanie manner they obtained many other valuable 
 oils and liquors, namely, that of liquid amber, and that of the fir. 
 Blood-letting, an operation which theirphyficians performed with great 
 iiijoJieuing dexterity and lafety with lancets of //z///, was extremely common among 
 anj baths. ^j^^ Mexicans, aiid other nations of Anahuac. The country people 
 ufed to let thcmfclvcs blood as they ftill do with thepriciiles of the ma- 
 gaci»
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 429 
 
 guei, without employing another perlbn, or interrupting the labour in EOOK vil. 
 which they were occupied. They alio ufed the quills of the Huitztla- " ' 
 
 ciiiìtzhì, or Mexican porcupine, which are thick, and have a fmall hole 
 at their points. 
 
 Among the means which the Mexicans employed for the preferva- 
 tion of health, that of the batli was very frequent. They bathed 
 themfelves extremely often, even many times in the fame day in the 
 natural water of rivers, lakes, ditches, and ponds. Experience has 
 t.\ught the Spaniirds the advantages of bathing, in tliat climate, and 
 particularly in the hot countries. 
 
 The Mexicans, and other nations of Anahuac, made little lefs fre- stcr. LXU. 
 quent ufe of the bath TemazcuUi. Although in all its circumftances T^'mazciÉlli, 
 it is dcfcrvin? of particular mention in the hiitorv of Mexico, none of baths of the 
 the hiftorians of that kingdom have defcribed it, attending more fre- * ^'^"-'^''^S' 
 quently to defcriptions and accounts of lefs importance, fo much that 
 if Ibme of thofe baths had not been ftill preferved, the memory of 
 them mud have totally psriOied. 
 
 The 'TciiiazcaHi, or Mexican vapour-bath, is ufually built of raw 
 bricks. The form of it is fimilar to that of ovens for baking bread ; 
 but with this ditference, that the pavement of the Temazcalli is a lit- 
 tle convex, and lower than the furface of the earth, whereas that of 
 moft ovens is plain, and a little elevated for the accommodation of 
 the baker. Its greateft diameter is about eight feet, and its greatefl: 
 height fix. The entrance, like the mouth of an oven, is wide enough 
 to allow a man to creep eafily in. In the place oppofite to the entrance 
 there is a furnace of ftone or raw bricks, with its mouth outwards to 
 receive the fire, and a hole above it to carry off the fmoke. The part 
 which unites the furnace to the bath, and which is about two feet and 
 a half fquarc, is lliut with a dry ftone of Tetzontli, or fome other ftone 
 porous like it. In tlie upper part of the vault there is an air hole, 
 like that to tlie furnace. This is the ufual ftrudture of the Temaz- 
 calli, of which we have fubjoined a figure; but there are others that 
 are without vault or furnace, mere little fquare chambers^ yet well co- 
 V ..;d and defended from the air. 
 
 When any pcrfon goes to bathe, he firli: lays a mat (t') within the 
 . .zcalli, a pitcher of water, and a bunch of herbs, or leaves of 
 
 1 he Spaniards, when they bathed, made ufc of a maitiafi for more convenience. 
 
 maize.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 maize. He then caufes a fire to be made in the furnc.ce, which is kept 
 burning, until the flones which join the T'emazcaln and furnace are 
 quitchot. The perfon who is to ufe the bath enters commonly naked, 
 and generally accompanied for the fake of convenience, or on account of 
 infirmity, by one of his domeflics. As foon as he enters, he iliuts 
 the entrance clofe, but leaves the air-hole at top for a little time open, 
 to let out any fmokc which may have been introduced through t!ie 
 chinks of the Hone ; when it is all out he likewife Hops up the air- 
 hole. He then throws water upon the hot Hones, from which imme- 
 diately arifes a thick fleam to the top of the Temazcalli. While the 
 fick perion lies upon the mat, the domeftic drives the vapour dov/n- 
 wards, and gently beats the fick perfon, particularly on the ailing part, 
 Avith the bunch of herbs, which are dipped for a little while in the wa- 
 ter of the pitcher, which has then beconie a little warm. The lick 
 perfon falls immediately into a foft and copious fweat, which is en- 
 creafed or diminiflied at pleafure, according as the cafe requires. When 
 the evacuation defired is obtained, the vapour is let off, the entrance 
 is cleared, and the lick perfon clothes himfclf, or is tranfported on the 
 mat to his chamber ; as the entrance to the bath is ufually within fome 
 chamber of his habitation. 
 
 The Temazcalli has been regularly ufed in feveral diforders, parti- 
 cularly in fevers occafioned by coHivenefs. The Indian women ufe it 
 commonly after child-birth, and alfo thofe perlbns who have been 
 flung or wounded by any poifonous animal. It is, undoubtedly, a 
 powerful remedy for all thofe who have occafion to carry off grofs hu- 
 mours, and certainly it would be mofl ufeful in Italy where the rheu- 
 inatifm is fo frequent and affiidting. When a very copious fweat is 
 defired, the fick perfon is raifed up and held in the vapour ; as he fweats 
 the more, the nearer he is to it. The Temazcalli is fb common, that 
 in every place inhabited by the Indians there are many of them. 
 
 With reipedf to the furgcry of the Mexicans, the Spaniih conquer- 
 
 XLlil. (j,.g ^tjefi; their expedition and fuccefs in dreffmq and curine; wounds //7. 
 
 Befides the balfam and maripenda, they employed the milk of the 
 
 ( /") Cortes himfelf being in great danger of liis life from a 'voiind he received on his head 
 in ihe famoub battle of Otoinpan, was greatly relieved, and at laft perfectly cured by the Tlaf- 
 calan art of furgery. 
 
 Itzon- 
 
 S E c T. 
 icry.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 43» 
 
 Itzontecptitli f /pedes of thiftkj, tobacco, and other herbs. For ulcers b .'^ok: vii. 
 they ufed the Na?iahuapatli, the Zacatlipatli, and the Itzcim2pai/i ; *— ^"v -^ 
 for abfcefles and feveral fwelHngs, the 'T/a/amat/, and the milk of the 
 Chilpatli ; and for fradlures the Nacazol, or Tdoatzin. After drying, 
 and reduchig the feed of this plant to powder, they niixed it with a cer- 
 tain gum, and applied it to the affefted part, covered the part with 
 feathers, and over it laid little boards to fet the bones. 
 
 The phyficians were in general the perfons who prepared and applied 
 medicines ; but they accompanied their cures with feveral fuperftitious 
 ceremonies, v/itli invocations to their gods, and imprecations againll 
 diftempers, in order to render their art more myfterious and eftimable. 
 The phyficians held the goddefs T%apotlatenan in veneration, as the 
 protedhrefs of their art, and believed her to have been the difcoverer of 
 many medicinal fecrets, and amongft others of the oil which they ex- 
 tradted by diftillation from the Ocotl. 
 
 It is wonderful that the Mexicans, and efpecially the poor among <; ^ 
 
 C T. 
 
 them, were not fubjcdt to numberlefs difeafes, confidering the quality .y^^^' 
 of their food. This is an article in which fmgular circumftances at- the Mesi- 
 tended them ; for having been, for many years after the foundation of *^^"^' 
 Mexico fubjecled to the moft miferable kind of life upon the little 
 iflands of the lake, they were conftrained by neceffity to feed upon 
 whatever they could find in the waters. During that difaftrous time, 
 they learned to eat, not only the roots of the marfh plants, water fer- 
 pents, which abounded there, the Axolotl, Atetepiz, Atopinan, and 
 other fuch little animals, inhabitants of the water ; but even ants, 
 marlh flies, and the very eggs of the fame flies. They fiflied fucli 
 quantities of thofe flies, called by them Axajat/, that they eat them, 
 fed feveral kinds of birds with them, and carried them to market. 
 They pounded them together, and made little balls of them, which 
 they rolled up in leaves of maize, and boiled in water with nitre. Some 
 hiftorians who have tailed this food, pronounce it not difigreeable. 
 From the eggs, which thofe flies depofit in great abundance on the 
 rufhes in the lake, they extradted that Angular fpecies of caviare, 
 which they called Abuauhtli. 
 
 Not contented with feeding upon living things, they eat alfo a cer- 
 tain muddy fubftance that floats upon the waters of the lake, which 
 
 they
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 they dried in the fun, and prefervedAto make ule of it as cheefe, 
 which it refeinbled in flavour and tafle. They gave this fubftance the 
 name of Tecuilhitl, or excrement of ftones. Accuftomed thus to thofc 
 vile articles of food, they were unable to abandon them in the feafon 
 of their greatefl plenty; on which account the market was a-lways (c^xx 
 full of innumerable fpecies of raw, boiled, fried, and roafted little ani- 
 mals, which were fold there particularly to the poor. However, as 
 foon as by their commerce with filli they were able to purchafe better 
 aliment, and to cultivate by the exertions of their induftry the floating 
 gardens of the lake, they entertained themfelves with better provifions, 
 and at their meals there was nothing wanting, as the conqueror fays, 
 eitlier in refpetì to the plenty, variety, or nicety of their dirties (g). 
 
 Among the eatables, the firft place is due to maize, which they 
 called T'laoUi, a grain granted by Providence to that part of the world, 
 inftead of the corn of Europe, tlie rice of Afia, the millet of Africa, 
 over all which it poflefles fome advantages ; as befidss its being whole- 
 fome, relifliing, and more nutritive, it multiplies more, thrives equally 
 in different climes, does not require fo much culture, is not fo delicate 
 as corn, iVands not in need, like rice, of a moift foil, nor is it hurtful to 
 the health of the cultivator. They had feveral fpecies of maize, dif- 
 fering in fize, colour, and quality from each other. Of maize they 
 made their bread, which is totally different from that of Europe in 
 tafle and appearance, and in the manner of making it, which they for- 
 merly had, and ftill continue to ufe. They put the grain to boil in 
 water with a little lime ; when it becomes foft, they rub it in their 
 hands to ftrip off the Ikin ; then pound it in the Metlatl [h), take out 
 a little of the pafte, and flretching it by beating it with both hands, 
 they form the bread, after which they give it the laft preparation in the 
 Comailt. The form of the bread is round and flat, about eight inches in 
 .diameter, and one line or more in thicknefs ; but they make their loaves 
 or cakes Itill fmaller and tliinner, and for the nobles they make them as 
 thin as o,ur thickeft paper. It was cuflomary alfo to mix fomething 
 
 {^) See the full letter of Cortes, the hlilory of Bernal Diaz, and the relation of the ano- 
 nymous conqueror. 
 
 (lì) The Spaniards call (ho Jlctlitl melate, the Conialli cornai, of which we fhall prefently 
 fpcaV, and tlie Atolli afclt. 
 
 elfe
 
 HISTORY OF M E X I C O. 433 
 
 elfe with the bre;id to make it flill more wholefome and reUlhing. For BOOK. v;i. 
 pjrfoiis of ranA and circumllances, they ufed to make brcid ot red maize, 
 m'xing with it th- beautiful flovver coatzmtecoxocbhl, and feveral me- 
 dicinal h^rbs, to diminish its heat to the ftomach. This is the fort of 
 bread which the Mexicans, and all the other nations of thofe extenfivc 
 regions, have ufed until our time, preferring it to tlie befl: bread of 
 wheat. Their example has been i nitated by many Spaniards ; but 
 to fpeak impartially, this bread, although it is extremdy wholcfoinc 
 and fubll.'.atiàl, and when frcfh mule of a good taft.-, becomes rather 
 dlfigree ible when ftale. The making of bread, as well as the prepar- 
 ing and drelTing of every kind of meat, h;^s always among thofe nations 
 been tlie peculiar occupation of th^ir women. They were the perfons 
 who made it for tlieir families, and who fold it in the market. 
 
 Befides bread, they made many other meats and drinks of maize, 
 with different ingredients and preparations. The atolli h a gruel of maize, 
 after it has been boiled, well-ground, dilfolved in water, and flraincd. 
 They put the ilrained liquor over a fire, and give it another boiling 
 until it becomes of a certain thicknefs. The Spaniards think it infi- 
 pid to the tafle, but they give it commonly to fick perfons, as a mofl 
 falutary food, fweetening it with a little fugar, inftead of honey, which 
 is ufed by the Indians. To them it is fo grateful they cannot live witli- 
 out it. It was formerly and ftill is their breakfaft, ami with it thev 
 bear the fatigues of agriculture, and other fervile odices in which they 
 are employed. Hernandez defcrihcs eighteen fpecies of atolli, which 
 differ both with regard to the feafbning ingredients, and the manner of 
 preparing them. 
 
 Next to maize, the vegetables moft in ufe were the cacao, the cliia, 
 and the French bean. Of the cacao they made fever*! common drinks, 
 and among others that which they called Choco.'ati. They ground 
 equal quantities of the cacao and the feeds of Pocòotl, put them both 
 with a proportionable quantity of water into a little pot, in which they 
 Jlirred and turned them with that littl; indented initrument of wood, 
 which the Italians call frullo, the Spaniards irulinillo, and the Eng- 
 liih milUng-jUck ; then they poured o^ the floating oily part into an- 
 other vcfTel. 
 
 Vol. I. Jv k k Into
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Into the remainder they put a handful of pafte of boiled niaize, and 
 boiled it for a certain time, after which they mixed it with the oily 
 part, and took it when it was cool. This is the origin of the famous 
 chocolate, which the cultivated nations of Europe have ufed in imita- 
 tion of them, as well as the name and inftruments for making it ; al- 
 though the name is a little corrupted, and the drink altered according 
 to the language and tjfte of each nation. The Mexicans ufed to put 
 in their chocolate, and other drinks whicli they made of the cacao, the 
 'Tlììxochitl, or vaniglia, the flower of the XoclnnacaztU {ji) , and the fruit 
 of the MccaxochitliJ), and fom-Stimes alfo honey, as the Europeans put 
 fugar, both to render it palatable and more wholefome. 
 
 Of the feed of the chia they made a moft refrefliing drink, which 
 is ftill very common in that kingdom ; and of this feed alfo, with maize, 
 they made the chianzotzoolatelli, which was an exquifite drink much 
 ufed by the ancients, particularly in time of war. The foldier, who 
 carried with him a little bag of flour of maize and chia, thought himfclf 
 amply provided. When necelTary, he boiled the quantity he wifhed for, 
 mixing, a little honey of the maguei with it ; and by means of this de- 
 licious and nourifliing beverage (as Hernandez calls it), endured the 
 ardour of the fun and the fatigues of war. 
 
 The Mexicans did not eat fo much fledi as the Europeans ; never- 
 thelefs, upon occafion of any banquet, and daily at the tables of the 
 lords, different kinds of animals were ferved up ; fuch as deer, rabbets, 
 Mexican boars, Tz<z^, Techichi, which they fattened as the Europeans 
 do hogs, and other animals of the land, the water, and the air, but the 
 moft common were turkeys and quails. 
 
 The fruits moft ufed by them were the mamei, the tlilzapoti, the 
 cochitzapotl, the chictzapotl, the ananas, the chirionoja, the ahuacatl, a 
 anona, the pitahaja, the capoliu, or Mexican cherry, and different 
 
 [k) The tree of the Xoch-nacaztli has long, ftrait, narrow leaves, of a dark green colour.. 
 Its flower confifts of fix petals, which are purple within, green without, and plealingly odor- 
 ous. From the rofemblance of their figure to an tar, they were called by this name among 
 the Mexicans, and by the Spaniards orejucla, or little car. The fruit is angular, and of a 
 bloody colour, and grows within a pod of fix inches in length, and about one inch thick. It 
 is peculiar to hot countries. The fiower was greatly valued, and never wanting in the markets. 
 
 (I) The Mecaxochitln a fmall flexible plant, whofc leaves are large and thick, and the fruit 
 «fcnibles long pepper. 
 
 fpe-
 
 Wine. 
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 435 
 
 fpecles of Tune, or Indian figs, which fruits well fupplicd the want of book vii. 
 pears, apples, and peaches. ' "^ ^ 
 
 Amongll: all their plenty of foods the Mexicans were deftitute of 
 milk, and fat, as they had neither cows, flieep, goats, nor h.ogs. 
 With refpedl to eggs, we do not know that they eat any, except thofe 
 of turkeys and iguanas, the flefli of which they likewil'e did and flill 
 eat. 
 
 The ufual feafoning to their food, befides fait, was great pepper and 
 tornate, which have become equally common among the Spaniards of 
 that country. 
 
 They drank alfo feveral forts of wine, or beverages fimilar to them, Sect.lxv 
 of the maguei, the palm, of the rtems of maize, and of the grain alfo, 
 of which lafl, called chicha, almoll all the hiftorians of America make 
 mention, as it is the kind mod generally ufed in that new world. The 
 moft common with the Mexicans, and alfo the beft was that of the ma- 
 guei, called o£ili by them, and by the Spaniards pulque (w). The me- 
 thod of making it is this. When the maguei, or Mexican aloe, arrives 
 at a certain height and maturity, they cut the ftem, or rather the leaves 
 while tender, of which the ftem is formed, fituated in the centre of 
 the plant, after which there remains a certain cavity. They fhave the 
 internal furface of the large leaves which furround the cavity, and col- 
 Ibfl the fwect juice which diftils from them in fuch abundance, that 
 one lingle plant generally yields, in the fpace of fix months, fix hun- 
 dred, and in the whole time of its fruitfulnefs more than two thou- 
 fand pounds of juice («). 
 
 They gather the juice from the cavity with a long narrow gourd, 
 which ferves inftead of a more artificial contrivance, and pour it into 
 a veflel until it ferments, which it ufually docs in lefs than twenty- 
 
 {m) Pulque is not a Spanifli nor Mexic.in word, but is taken from tlie Araucan language 
 which is fpokc ill Chili, in which the Pulcu is the general name for the beverages thefe In- 
 dians ufe to intoxicate themfclvcs ; it is difficult to fay how the term has parted to Mexico. 
 
 {ti) BetancOurt fays, that a maguei makes in fix months twenty arrohai of pulque, which 
 are more than fix hundred Italian pounds. He might know this well, having been lor many 
 years a recior among the Indians. Hcrnandcx afliims, that from one finglc pl.int are cxtraifled 
 fifty rtw/ori-. The Caftilian anfora, which is fmallcr than the Roman, contains according to 
 the calculation of Mariana, five hundred and twelve ounces of wine, or common water, ."-up- 
 pofing that the pulque does not weigh more than water, fifty o'lforc will be more than two 
 thoufand poundi. 
 
 K k k 2 four
 
 436 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VII. four hours. To aflift the fermentation, and make the beverage ftronger, 
 ^"^ "' ~~' they infufe a certain herb which they name Ocpatli, or remedy of wine. 
 The colour of this wine is white, the tafle a little rough, and its 
 ftren^th fufficient to intoxicate, though not fo much as that of the 
 grape. In otiier refpcd1:s it is a wholfome Hquor, and valuable on 
 nuny accounts as it is an excellent diuretic, and a powerful remedy a- 
 gainrt: the diarrhoea. The confumption made of this liquor is furprif- 
 ing as it is uleful. for the Spaniards become rich by it. The revenue 
 produced by that alone which is confumed in the capital amounts an- 
 nually to three hundred thoufand crowns ; one Mexican rial only- 
 being paid for every twenty-five Caftilian pounds. The quantity of 
 pulque, which was confumed in the capital in 1774, was two millions 
 two hundred and fourteen thoufond, two hundred ninety-four and half 
 arrobas, or upwards of fixty-three millions eight hundred thoufand 
 Roman pounds, exclufive of that which was fniuggled in there, and 
 that which the privileged Indians fell in the great market-place, 
 o ^ The Mexicans were lefs fingular in their drefs than in their food, 
 
 Lxyi. Their ufual habit was quite fimple, confifting folely of the niaxtlatl 
 and tiimatliin the men, and of the cuciti, and the hiiepUU, in the women. 
 The maxtlatl was a large belt or girdle, the two ends of which hung 
 down before and behind to cover the parts of Ihame. The tihnatli 
 was a fquare mantle, about four feet long ; the two ends were tied up- 
 on the breaft, or upon one Ihoulder, as appears in our figures. The 
 cuciti, or Mexican gown, was alfo a piece of fquare cloth, in which, 
 the women wrapped themfelves from their waifts down to the middle, 
 of the leg. The hue fìlli was a little under veft, or waiftcoat, without 
 flceves. 
 
 The drefs of the poor people was made of the thread of the maguei, 
 or mountain palm, or at beft the cloth of coarfe cotton ; but thofe of 
 better flation wore the fineft cotton, embellilhed with various colours, 
 and figures of animals, or flowers, or wove with feathers, or the fine 
 hair of the rabbit, and adorned with various little figures of gold and 
 loofe locks of cotton hanging about the girdle or maxtlatl. The men 
 ufcd to wear two or three mantles, and the women three or four vefts, 
 and as many gowns, putting the longed undermoft, fo as that a 
 part of each of them might be i'ctw. The lords wore in winter waift- 
 
 coats
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 437 
 
 coats of cotton, interwoven with foft feathers, or the hair of the rab- book. vir. 
 bit. Women of rank were, bcfides the huepilli, an upper veil, fome- " — " — -~' 
 thing hke the furplice or gown oi our ecclefiaftics, but larger and 
 with longer lleeves (5). 
 
 Their ihoes were nothing but foles of leather, or coarfe cloth of the 
 maguei, tied with llrings, and only covered the under part of the foot. 
 The kings and lords adorned the llrings with rich ribbands of gold 
 and jewels. 
 
 All the Mexicans wore their lidir long, and were diihonoured by Sect. 
 
 TWIT 
 
 being Ihaved, or having it clipped, except the virgins confecrated to ornaments, 
 the fervice of the temples. The women wore it loofe, the men tied 
 in different forms, and adorned their heads with fine plumes, both 
 when they danced and when they went to war. 
 
 It would be difficult to find a nation which accompanied fo much 
 fitnplicity of drefs, with fo much vanity and luxury in other ornaments of 
 their perfons. Befides feathers and jewels, with which they ufed to 
 adorn their cloaths, they wore ear-rings, pendants at the under-lip, 
 and many likewife at their nofes, necklaces, bracelets for the hands and 
 arms, and alfo cei tain rings like collars about their legs. The ear- 
 rings and pendants of the poor were fliells, pieces of cryllal, amber,, 
 or fome other fhining little flone } but the rich wore pearls, e.iieralds, 
 amethyfls, or other gems, fet in gold. 
 
 Their houfhold furniture was by no means correfpondent to this paf- Sect. 
 fion for perlbnal finery. Their beds were nothing elfe than one po^Jj^l!}* 
 or two coarfe mats of rufhes, to which the rich added fine palm mats, "«"'c and 
 and fheets of cotton ; and the lords, linen wove with feathers. The ni(;ms!,^" 
 pillow of the poor was a ftone or piece of wood ; that of the rich, pro- 
 bably of cotton. The common people did not cover themfelves in bed 
 with any thing elfe than the tilmatli, or mantle, but the higher ranks 
 and nobles made ufe of counterpanes of cotton and feathers. At 
 diiiner, inflead of a table, they fprcad a mat upon the ground ; and 
 they ufed napkins, plates, porringers, earthen pots, jugs, and other 
 veflels of fine clay, but not, as we can difcover, either knives or forks. 
 Their chairs were low feats of wood and ruflies, or palm, or a kind 
 
 (0) Wc have fpokcn elfewhere of the h.ibits of the kings, prici^s, and military perfons. 
 
 of
 
 438 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VII. of reed called icpaiU (p). No houfe wanted the met^.ati, or comalU. 
 The metlatl was the floiie in which they ground their maize, and 
 the cacao, as is reprefentsd in our figure of their mode of making 
 bread. This inftrument is ftill extremely common in all New Spain, 
 and over the greateft part of America. The Europeans have alfo a- 
 doptcd it, and in Italy and elfewhere the chocolate- makers ufe it to 
 grind the cacao. The com.alli was, and fWl is, being as much ufed as 
 the nictlatl_ a round and rather hollow pan, which is about an inch, 
 thick and about fifteen in diameter. 
 
 The drinking vellels of the Mexicans were made of a fruit fimilar 
 to gourds, v/hich grow, in hot countries, on trees of a middi'ing fize. 
 Some of them are large and perfeilly round, which they call Xica!li{q), 
 and others fmalk-r and cylindrical, which they give the name of Teco- 
 matl. Both thefe fruits are folid and heavy : their rind is hard, woody, 
 and of a dark green colour, and the feeds are like thofe of gourds. 
 The xicalli is about eight inches in diameter j the tecom.atl is not fo 
 long, and about four fingers in thicknefs. Each fruit when divided in 
 the middle made two equal vefl'els ; they cut out all the feed, and gave 
 them a varnilh with a particular mineral earth, of a pleafing fmell, 
 and of dltTerent colours, particularly a fine red. At prefent they are 
 frequently gilt with filver and gold. 
 
 The Mexicans made ufe of no candlefticks, nor wax, nor tallow \ 
 
 candles, nor of oil to make light ; for although they had many kinds ' 
 
 of oil, they never employed it otherwife than in medicine, in paint- 
 ing, and in varniflies ; and although they extracted a great quaiitity of 
 wax from the honey-combs, they either did not know, or were not at 
 the pains to mike lights with it. In maritime countries they made 
 iife of ihining beetles for that purpofe ; but in general they employed 
 torches of ocotl, which, although they made a fine light, and yielded 
 
 (f) The Spaniards corrupt the word into Eijuipales, 
 
 (q) The Spaniards of Mexico called the Xicalli Xicara. The Spaniards of Europe adopt- 
 e J this word to fignify the little cup for taking chocolate, and thence came tl>e Italian Chicchera. 
 Bomare makes mention of the tree Xicalli, under the name of Calebaffier d' Ameriqiie, and 
 fays, that in New Spain, it is known under the names of Choynr, Cujcte, and Hygttero ; 
 but this is a miftake. The name Hibucro (not Hygncro) was that which the Indians of the 
 liland of Hifpaniola gave to this tree ; the Spanifli concjucrors made ufe of it formerly, but no 
 ufe was made oi it afterwards in New Spain. None of the other trees were ever heard of 
 by us in ihole countries. 
 
 an
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 an agreeable odour, fmokcd and foiled their habitations with foot. 
 One of the European cuiloms which ihey chiefly prized upon the ar- 
 rival of the Spaniards, was that of candles ; but ihofe people had cer- 
 tainly little occafion for candles, as they devoted all the hours of the 
 night to repofe, after employing all thofe of the day in bufinefs and 
 toil. The men laboured at their different profelTions, and the women 
 baked, wove, embroidered» prepared vidtuals, and cleaned their houfes. 
 All daily made orifons to their gods, and burned copal in honour of 
 them, and therefore no houfe, however poor the ppireifor, wanted idols 
 or cenfers. 
 
 The method which the Mexicans and other nations pniiftifed to kin- 
 dle fire, was the fanie which the ancient fhcpherds of Europe em- 
 ployed (r), by the fridtion of two pieces of wood. The Mexicans 
 generally ufed the achiote, which is the rjucou of the French. Botu- 
 rini athrms, that they ftruck fire alfo from flint. 
 
 After a few hours of labour in the morning they took their brcak- 
 faft, which was mofl commonly atolli, or gruel of maize, and their 
 dinner after mid-day ; but among all the hiftorians of Mexico, we Iiave 
 found no mention of their fupper. They ate little, but they drank 
 frequently, either of the wine of the maguei, or maize, or of chia, er 
 fome other drink of the cacao, and fometimes plain water. 
 
 After dining, the lords ufed to compofe themfelves to fleep witli the S n c t. 
 fmoke of tobacco {s). This plant was greatly in ufe among the Mexi- The ufe of 
 cans. They make various plaflers with it, and took it not only in 
 fmoke at the mouth, but alio in fnuff at the nofe. In order to fmoke 
 it, they put the leaves with the gum of liquid amber, and other hot, 
 warm, and odorous herbs, into a little pipe of wood, or reed, or fume 
 
 {r) Caiiilit )7!oru!f laitnis ; heJcrx., is! om/ia ev qiilliis i^nlarla fitnit. F..\pioratonii:t hoc iifus in 
 cajiris Pajior unique reperii ; quoniam ad excuticndtim ignem nan fimpcr lapidis eft occa'io. Territur 
 trgo Uvnum I'g'io, ignemque concipit altritii, cxcipientc materia aridi fomitis, f:-iigi, I'cl foliorum fa- 
 cilimè concptum. I'linius Hift. Nat. lib. xvi. c.40. The fame thing is obfcrvcd in the fcconil 
 book of the Qiicftiones Naturalcs of Seneca, and alfo in other ancient writers. 
 
 (s) T'rtw./ftf, is a name taken from the /7rt/V/«f language. The Mcxicaiiò had two fpccies of 
 tobacco, very different in the fizc of the plant and the leaves, in the figure of the flower and 
 the colour of the. feed. The fniallcft, which is the common one, was called by thom Picie//, 
 and the largali i^aujeiì. This laft becomes as high as a moderate tree. Its flower is not di- 
 vided into five parts like, that of the PA7f//, but only cut into fix or fcvcn angles. Thcftr 
 plants vary much according to clime, not only in the qu;ilif. I'f thr tobacco, but alfo in the 
 lue of the leaves and other circumiiauccs, on which account fcvcral authors iiave multiplied 
 the fpccits. 
 
 8 oilier 
 
 tub. u'co.
 
 440 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 IJOOK ^'II. other more valuable iublLince. They received the fmoke by fucking 
 the pipe and (hutting the noftrils wich t'leir finger?, ih that it might 
 pafs by the breath more eafily towards the lungs. Who would have 
 believed that the u!e of tobacco, which neceffity made thofe phlegma- 
 tic nations invent, would have beconie the vice or cuftom of al.nofi: all 
 the nations of the world ; and that fo humble a plant, of which the 
 Europeans v/rote and fpoke- fo unfavourably, would have made one of 
 the greateft revenues of the kingdoms of Europe ? But what ought to 
 excite f!:ill greater wonder, is, that although the ufe of tobacco is nov/ 
 fo common among thofe nations who formerly defpifed it, it is now fo 
 rare aniong its inventors, that there are extremely few of the Indians 
 of New Spain v/ho take it in fmoke, and none at all who ufe it in fnuff. 
 c^ p (. ^, As the Mexicans wantei cmdles to make light, they alfo were with- 
 
 LXX. Quf fQ^p to vv-a!h with, although tliere were animals from which they 
 
 iiirtead oF mi<-^ht have obtained it (t) ; but they fupplied that deficiency by a fruit 
 '^' and a root. The fruit v/as that of the copalxocoti, a tree of mode- 
 
 rate fize, which is found in Michuacan, Yucatan, Mizteca, and elfe- 
 where (.v). The pulp, that is under the rind of the fruit, which 
 is white, vilcous, and very bitter, makes water white, raills a froth, 
 and ferves like foap to wafli and clean linen. The root is that of th? 
 amolli, a Imall plant, but very common in that country, for whicii 
 Saponaria Americana feems to be a more proper nam.e, as it is not ver/ 
 dilììmilar to tlie Saponaria of the old continent; but the amolli is more 
 ufed to wadi the body now, and more particularly the head, than for 
 cloaths (-V.) . 
 
 We have now given all that we think worthy of credit and public 
 relation concerning the political ceconomy of the Mexicaos. Such 
 was their government, their laws, their cufLoms, and their arts, when 
 the Spaniards arrived in the country of Anahuac, the war and memor- 
 able events of which make the fubjed: of the following books. 
 
 (t") We have beard that an excellent foap is obtained fr im the (pail, or Zorri^iio. 
 
 («) Hernandez makes mention of i: under the name of C pulxocoit, but (ays nothing of 
 its detergent ([uality ; Betancourt fpeaks of it under the name ot the fonf-tree, by which it is 
 known among the Spaniards ; and V^ilmont defcribes it undrr the name of Saz>«>iiir, and Sa- 
 ponaria Americana, The root of this tree alfo is ufed inrtcad of foap, but it is not fo good as 
 the fr;iit. 
 
 (x) There is a fpecies of amolli, the root of which dyes hair the colour of gold. We faw 
 tkis fingular cffeiS produced upon the hair of an old man. 
 
 APPEN-
 
 PENO 
 
 X. 
 
 THE MEXICAN CENTURY. 
 
 ears. 
 
 I. TOCHTLI. 
 
 II. Acati. 
 
 III. Tecpatl. 
 
 IV. Calli. 
 
 V. Tochtli. 
 
 VI. Acati. 
 
 VII. Tecpatl. 
 
 VIII. Calli. 
 
 IX. Tochtli. 
 
 X. Acati. 
 
 XI. Tecpatl. 
 
 XII. Calli. 
 
 XIII. Tochtli. 
 
 I. ACATL. 
 
 II. Tecpatl. 
 
 III. Calli. 
 
 IV. Tochtli. 
 
 V. Acati. 
 
 VI. Tecpatl. 
 
 VII. Calli. 
 Vili. Tochtli. 
 
 IX. Acati. 
 
 X. Tecpatl. 
 
 XI. Calli. 
 
 XII. Tochtli. 
 
 XIII. Acati. 
 
 Years. 
 
 I. TECPATL. 
 
 II. Calli. 
 
 III. Tochtli. 
 
 IV. Acati. 
 
 V. Tecpatl. 
 
 VI. Calli. 
 
 VII. Tochtli. 
 
 VIII. Acati. 
 
 IX. Tecpatl. 
 
 X. Calli. 
 
 XI. Tochtli. 
 
 XII. Acati. 
 
 XIII. Tecpatl. 
 
 I. CALLI. 
 
 II. Tochtli. 
 
 III. Acati. 
 
 IV. Tecpatl. 
 
 V. Calli. 
 
 VI. Tochtli. 
 
 VII. Acati. 
 Vili. Tecpatl 
 
 IX. Calli. 
 
 X. Tochtli. 
 
 XI. Acati. 
 
 XII. Tecpatl. 
 
 XIII. Calli. 
 
 The years wrote with large charadlers are thofe from which the four 
 CmM periods of thirteen year^, of which their century was compofed. 
 
 began. 
 Vol. I. 
 
 L 1 1 
 
 MEXI-
 
 442 
 
 A 
 
 N 
 
 D I X. 
 
 MEXICAN YEARS 
 
 From the Foundation to the Conqueft of Mexico, compared 
 
 with Chriftian Years. 
 
 Thofe printed with large Charav51ers are the firft of eveiy Period. 
 Thole marked with an Afteriik are fecular Years. 
 
 Mexican Years. 
 
 Cliriflian Years. 
 
 II. Oalh 
 
 III. lochth 
 
 IV. Acati 
 
 V. Tecpatl - 
 
 VI. Calli 
 
 VII. Tochtlì 
 
 VIII. Acati - 
 
 IX. Tecpatl 
 
 X. Calli 
 
 XI. Tochtli 
 
 XII. Acati - 
 
 XIII. Tecpatl 
 
 I. CALLI - 
 lì. Tochtli - 
 
 III. Acati 
 
 IV. Tecpatl 
 
 V. Calli 
 
 VI. Tochtli - 
 
 VII. Acati 
 
 VIII. Tecpatl 
 
 IX. Calli 
 
 X. Tochtli - 
 
 XI. Acati - 
 
 XII. Tecpatl 
 
 XIII. Calli - 
 *I. TOCHTLI 
 
 II. Acati 
 
 326 
 
 327 
 328 
 
 329 
 
 330 
 
 331 
 
 332 
 
 333 
 
 334 
 
 335 
 
 336 
 
 337 
 
 33BrV 
 
 339 
 
 340 
 
 341 
 
 342 
 
 343 
 
 344 
 
 345 
 
 347 
 
 347 
 348 
 
 349 
 350 
 351 
 
 Mexican Years. Chrill 
 
 ian Years. 
 
 111. Tecpatl - 1 
 
 352^^; 
 
 IV. Calli - - ] 
 
 ISl(d) 
 
 V. Tochtli - 
 
 '354 
 
 VI. Acati - 
 
 ^Z^S 
 
 VII. Tecpatl 
 
 ^35^ 
 
 VIII. Calli 
 
 ^357 
 
 IX. Tochtli 
 
 1358 
 
 X. Acati 
 
 1359 
 
 XI. Tecpatl 
 
 1360 
 
 XII. CalH - 
 
 1361 
 
 XIII. TochtU 
 
 1362 
 
 I. ACATL 
 
 '3^3 
 
 II. Tecpatl 
 
 1364 
 
 III. Calli - - ] 
 
 '365 
 
 IV. Tochtli 
 
 1366 
 
 V. Acati 
 
 [367 
 
 VI. Tecpatl 
 
 1368 
 
 VII. Cain - 
 
 1369 
 
 Vili. Tochtli 
 
 ^37° 
 
 IX. Acati - 
 
 ^37^ 
 
 X. Tecpatl 
 
 1372 
 
 XI. Calli - 
 
 '373 
 
 XII. Tochtli 
 
 '374 
 
 XIII. Acati 
 
 '375 
 
 I. TECPATL 
 
 [376 
 
 II. Calli . - 
 
 '377 
 
 III. Tochtli 
 
 1378 
 
 (a) Foundation of Mexico. (l>) Divilìon of thofe of Tenochcho and Tlatelolco. 
 
 (i) Acamapiizin, firft king of Mexico, (</) Quarjuauhpitzahuac, firftking of Tlatelolco, 
 
 IV. Acati
 
 A P 
 
 N D I X. 
 
 443 
 
 Mexican Years. 
 
 Cliriliiau Years. 
 
 Mexican Years. Chiifl 
 
 iaii Yeari. 
 
 IV. Acati - 
 
 - '379 
 
 XII. Calli - 
 
 '4' 3 f'J 
 
 V. Tecpatl - 
 
 VI. Calli - 
 
 - 1380 
 
 - 1381 
 
 Xni. Tochtli 
 I. ACATL - 
 
 I4I4 
 I4I5 
 
 VII. Tochtli 
 Vili. Acati 
 
 - 1382 
 
 - 1383 
 
 II. Tecpatl 
 
 III. Cali - 
 
 I4I6 
 
 I4I7 
 
 IX. Tecpatl 
 
 X. Calli 
 
 - 1384 
 
 - 13^5 
 
 IV. Tochtli - 
 
 V. Acati 
 
 I4IS 
 
 1 41 9 
 
 XI. Tochtli 
 
 XII. Acati - 
 
 - 1386 
 
 - ^3^7 
 
 VI. Tecpatl 
 
 VII. Calli 
 
 1420 
 1421 
 
 XIII. Tecpatl 
 
 I. CALLI - 
 
 II. Tochtli - 
 
 III. Acati - 
 
 - 1383 
 
 - 1389 r^y 
 
 - 1390 
 
 - 1391 
 
 VIII. Tochtli 
 
 IX. Acati 
 
 X. Tecpatl 
 
 XI. Calli - 1 
 
 '423 fU 
 [424 
 
 425 fm) 
 
 IV. Tecpatl - 
 
 V. Calli 
 
 - 1392 
 
 - 1393 
 
 XII. Tochtli 
 
 XIII. Acati 
 
 [426 fn) 
 [427 
 
 VI. Tochtl - 
 
 - '394 
 
 I. TECPATL 
 
 [428, 
 
 VII. Acati - 
 
 VIII. Tecpatl 
 
 IX. Calli - 
 
 - '395 
 
 - 139Ó 
 
 - '397 
 
 II. Calli 
 
 III. Tochtli 
 
 I v.. Acati - 
 
 '425 
 '430 
 '43' 
 
 X. Tochtli - 
 
 - '398 
 
 V. Tecpatl - 
 
 '432 
 
 XI. Acati - 
 
 - ' 399 f/J 
 
 VI. Calli 
 
 '433 
 
 Xn. Tecpatl 
 XIII. Calli - 
 
 1400 
 - 1 40 1 
 
 VII. Tochth 
 
 VIII. Acati - 1 
 
 '434 
 435 
 
 *I. TOCHTLI 
 
 II. Acati 
 
 III. Tecpatl 
 
 IV. Calli 
 
 V. Tochtli - 
 
 VI. Acati - 
 
 - 1402 
 
 - 1403 
 
 - 1404 
 
 - 1405 
 
 - '407 
 
 IX. Tecpatl - ] 
 
 X. Calli - - 1 
 
 XI. Tochtli - ] 
 
 XII. Acati - - ] 
 
 XIII. Tecpatl - ] 
 I. CALLI - - 1 
 
 436 fo) 
 
 437 
 438 
 
 439 
 440 
 
 '44' fpj 
 
 VII. Tecpatl 
 Vili. CilU - 
 
 IX. Tochtli - 
 
 X. Acati 
 
 1408 
 - 1409 
 
 141 1 
 
 II. Tochtli - - ] 
 
 III. Acati - - ] 
 
 IV. Tecpatl - - 1 
 
 V. Calli - - 1 
 
 442 
 
 443 
 444 
 445 
 
 XI. Tecpatl 
 
 1412 
 
 VI. Tochtli - - I 
 
 446 (y) 
 
 (r) Hiiitiilihuitl, fccond king of Mexico. (/) Tlac.itcotl, feconJ king of Tiatclolco. 
 
 (g) Ixtlilxochitl, king of Acolhuacan. {h) Chimnlpopoca, third king of Mexico. 
 
 (/) Tczozonioc, the tyrant. {I) Maxthiton, the tyrant. 
 
 (/) Itzcoatl, fourth king of Mexico. (m) Conquell of Azcapozalco. 
 
 («; Nczahualcojotl, kinj; of Acolhuacan, and Totocjuihuatzin king of Tacuba. 
 
 (0) Montezuma llhuicamina, fifth king of Mexico. 
 Tiatclolco. (<^) Inundation of Mexico. 
 
 L 1 I 2 
 
 {p) Moquihuix, fourth king of 
 
 VII. Acati
 
 444 
 
 E 
 
 N D I X. 
 
 Mexican Years. 
 
 Chriùian Years. 
 
 Mexican Years. 
 
 Chrllìian Vc*ri!, 
 
 VII. Acati - 
 
 - H47 
 
 II. Calli 
 
 - 1481 
 
 Vili. Tecpatl 
 
 - 1448 
 
 IH. Tochtli - 
 
 - 1482 00 
 
 IX. Calli - 
 
 - 1449 
 
 IV. Acati - 
 
 - 1483 
 
 X. Tochtli - 
 
 - 145° 
 
 V. Tecpatl - 
 
 1484 
 
 XI. Acati - 
 
 - 1451 
 
 VI. CaHi 
 
 . 1485 
 
 Xn. Tecpatl 
 
 - 1452 
 
 VII. Tochtli 
 
 - i486 («) 
 
 XIII. Calli - 
 
 - 1453 
 
 Vili. Acati - 
 
 - h87(^) 
 
 *I. TOCHTLI 
 
 - H54 
 
 IX. Tecpatl 
 
 - 1488 
 
 II. Acati 
 
 - H5S 
 
 X. Calli 
 
 - 1489 
 
 III. Tecpatl 
 
 - 1456 
 
 XI. Tochtli 
 
 - 1490 
 
 IV. Calli 
 
 - 1457 (0 
 
 XII. Acati - 
 
 - H91 
 
 V. Tochtli - 
 
 - HS^ 
 
 XIII. Tecpatl 
 
 - 1492 
 
 VI. Acati - 
 
 - 1459 
 
 I. CALLI - 
 
 - H93 
 
 VII. Tecpatl 
 
 1460 
 
 IL Tochtli - 
 
 - M94 
 
 VIII. Calli - 
 
 1461 
 
 HI. Acati - 
 
 - H95 
 
 IX. Tochtli 
 
 1462 
 
 IV. Tecpatl - 
 
 - 1496 
 
 X. Acati 
 
 - H(>3 
 
 V. Calli 
 
 - H97 
 
 XI. Tecpatl 
 
 - 14^4 0) 
 
 VI. Tochtli - 
 
 - 1498 (£) 
 
 XII. Calli - 
 
 - 1465 
 
 VII. Acati - 
 
 - H99 
 
 XIII. Tochtli 
 
 1466 
 
 VIII. Tecpatl 
 
 1500 
 
 I. ACATL - 
 
 - 1467 
 
 IX. Calli - 
 
 1501 
 
 II. Tecpatl - 
 
 - 1468 
 
 X. Tochtli - 
 
 - 1502(C) 
 
 III. Calli 
 
 - 1469 (0 
 
 XL Acati - 
 
 - ^503 
 
 IV. Tochth - 
 
 - 1470 {") 
 
 XII. Tecpatl 
 
 - 1504 
 
 V. Acati 
 
 - I47I 
 
 XIII. CaUi - 
 
 - 1505 
 
 VI. Tecpatl - 
 
 - H72 
 
 1. TOCHTLI 
 
 - 1506 
 
 VII. Calli - 
 
 - H73 
 
 IL Acati 
 
 - ^5°7 
 
 Vili. Tochtli 
 
 - H74 
 
 IH. Tecpatl 
 
 - 1508 
 
 IX. Acati - 
 
 - H75 
 
 IV. Calli 
 
 - ^S09{D) 
 
 X. Tecpatl 
 
 - H7Ó 
 
 V. Tochtli - 
 
 1510 
 
 XI. Calli 
 
 - 1477 W 
 
 VI. Acati - 
 
 - 1511 
 
 XII. Tochtli 
 
 - 1478 
 
 VII. Tecpatl 
 
 1512 
 
 XIII. Acati - 
 
 - 1479 
 
 Vili. Calli - 
 
 - 1513 
 
 I. TECPATL 
 
 - 1480 
 
 IX. Tochtli - 
 
 - 1514 
 
 (r) F.imous war of Cuctlachthin. (j) Axajaeatl, fixtli king of Mexico. 
 
 (/) Chimalpopoca, king of Tacuba («) Nezahualpilli, king of Acolhuacan. 
 
 (.»■; Tizoc, feventh king of Mexico. (y) Ahuitzotl, eighth king of Mexico, 
 
 (z) Dedication of the greater temple. (j) Tot. quihuarzin, fecond king of Tacuba. 
 
 (B) New inundation of IMexico. (C) IMonteiuma Xocojutzin, ninth king of Mexico. 
 (jD) Memorable event of the princefs I'apantzln. 
 
 8 X. Acati
 
 N D I X, 
 
 445 
 
 X. Acati 
 
 XI. Tecpatl - 
 
 XII. Calli - 
 
 XIII. Tochtii 
 
 I5I5 
 
 I. ACATL 
 
 1516(E) 
 
 II. Tecpatl 
 
 I5J7 
 
 III. Calli 
 
 I5I8 
 
 
 1520 (G) 
 1521(H) 
 
 The exa(Stnefs of this Table will appear from our Second Difler- 
 tation. 
 
 (£' Cacamatzin, king of Acolhuacan. (F) Entry of the Spaniards into Mexico. 
 
 [(G) Cuitlahuatzin, tenth king, and Qiuuhtemotzin, eleventh king of Mexico, death of 
 Montezuma, and defeat of the Spaniards. (//) The taking of Mexico, and fall of 
 
 ìLi. empire. 
 
 MKXl-
 
 446 
 
 N 
 
 D I X. 
 
 MEXICAN CALENDAR, 
 From the Year I Tochtli, the firft of the Centut7. 
 
 Modern Style 
 
 ATLACAHUALCO Firfl Month. 
 
 Feflivals. 
 
 February 26 
 
 27 
 
 28 
 
 March i 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 4 
 
 5 
 6 
 
 7 
 8 
 
 9 
 10 
 
 1 1 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 15 
 ]6 
 
 17 
 
 Mexican Days. 
 
 I. CIPACTLI 
 
 II. Ehècatl 
 
 III. Calli 
 
 IV. Cuetzpalin 
 
 V. Coati 
 
 VI. Miquiztli _ 
 
 VII. Mazatl 
 
 VIII. Tochth 
 
 IX. Atl 
 
 X. Itzcuintli 
 
 XI. Ozomatli 
 
 XII. Mahnalli 
 
 XIII. Acati 
 
 I. OCELOTL 
 
 II. Quauhtli 
 
 III. Cozcaquauhtli 
 
 IV. Olin 
 
 V. Tecpatl 
 
 VI. Quiahuitl 
 
 VII. Xochitl 
 
 The great fecular feftival. 
 
 Feflival of TlalocateuSlU, and 
 the other gods of water, with 
 the facrifice of infants, and 
 the gladiatorian facrifice. 
 
 Nodurnal facrifice of fattened 
 prifoners. 
 
 TLACAXIPEHUALIZTLI Second Month. 
 
 I» 
 
 19 
 20 
 
 21 
 
 22 
 
 23 
 
 24 
 
 VIII. Cipadtli 
 
 IX. Ehècatl 
 
 X. Calli 
 
 XI. Cuetzpalin 
 
 XII. Coati 
 
 XIII. MiquiztH 
 I. MAZATL. 
 
 The great feftival of Xipe, god 
 of the goldfmiths, with fa- 
 crifices of prifoners and mi- 
 litary exercifes. 
 
 Fail of the owners of prifoners 
 for twenty days. 
 
 The days marked in large chara<fi:ers are thofe which began the fmall 
 
 periods of thirteen days. 
 
 March
 
 N D 
 
 Modern Style. 
 
 
 Mexican Days. 
 
 March 25 
 
 II. 
 
 Tochtli 
 
 26 
 
 Ill 
 
 Ad 
 
 27 
 
 IV. 
 
 ItzcuintU 
 
 28 
 
 V. 
 
 Ozomàtli 
 
 29 
 
 VI. 
 
 Malinalli 
 
 30 VII. Acati 
 
 31 I Vili. Ocelotl 
 
 April I ; IX. Quiuhtli 
 
 2 X. Cozcaquauhtli 
 
 3 XI. Olin 
 
 4 XII. TecpatI 
 
 5 XIII. C^Liiahuitl 
 
 6 1. XOCHITL. 
 
 I X. 
 
 Fedivate. 
 
 447 
 
 Feftival of the god Chicoma- 
 
 catl. 
 Feflival of the god Tcqu'tztli- 
 
 matchuatl. 
 
 Feflival of the god Chancoti^ 
 with nodlurnal facrifices. 
 
 TOZOZTONTLI Third Month. 
 
 7 
 
 II. Cipadli 
 
 8 
 
 III. Ehècatl 
 
 9 
 
 IV. Calli 
 
 10 
 
 V. Cuetzpalin 
 
 1 1 
 
 VI. Coati 
 
 12 
 
 VII. Miquitzli 
 
 '3 
 
 Vili. Mazatl 
 
 H 
 
 IX. Tochtli 
 
 15 
 
 X. A ti 
 
 16 
 
 XI. Itzcuintli 
 
 ^7 
 
 XII. Ozomatli 
 
 18 
 
 XIII. Malinalli 
 
 19 
 
 I. ACATL 
 
 20 
 
 II. Ocelotl 
 
 21 
 
 III. Quauhtli 
 
 22 
 
 IV. Cozcaquauhtli 
 
 23 
 
 V. Olin 
 
 24 
 
 VI. TecpatI 
 
 25 
 
 VII, Quiahuitl 
 
 26 
 
 VIII. Xochitl. 
 
 Watch kept by the miniflers of 
 the temples every night of 
 this month. 
 
 The fecond fellival of tiie gods 
 of water, with facrifices of 
 children, and oblations of 
 flowers. 
 
 Feflival of theVoddefs Coatli- 
 cue, with oblations of flow- 
 ers, and a procefTion. 
 
 HUE I-
 
 44» 
 
 N D 
 
 X» 
 
 HUEITOZOZTLI Fourth Month. 
 
 Wodcin St) It. 
 
 April 
 
 May 
 
 27 
 28 
 29 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 
 7 
 8 
 
 9 
 10 
 
 1 1 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 H 
 
 15 
 16 
 
 Mexican Days. 
 
 IX. CipaaU 
 
 X. Ehècatl 
 
 XI. Calli 
 
 XII. Cuetzpalin 
 
 XIII. Coati 
 
 I. MIQUIZTLI 
 
 II. Mazatl 
 
 III. Tochtli 
 
 IV. Atl 
 
 V. Itzcuintll 
 
 VI. Ozoaiatli 
 
 VII. Malinalli 
 
 VIII. Acati 
 
 IX. Ocelotl 
 
 X. Quauhtli 
 
 XI. Cozcaquauhtli 
 
 XII. Olin 
 
 XIII. Tecpatl 
 
 I. QUIAHUITL 
 
 II. Xochitl 
 
 Fedirai». 
 
 Watch kept in the temples, and 
 a general fall. 
 
 Feftival of Ccnteot!, with facri- 
 fices of human viólims ani 
 
 quails. 
 
 Solemn convocation for the 
 grand feftival of the follow- 
 ing month. 
 
 Fail in preparation of the fol- 
 lowing fellival. 
 
 T O X C A T L Fifth Month. 
 
 ^7 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 20 
 
 21 
 
 22 
 
 23 
 24 
 
 25 
 26 
 
 27 
 28 
 
 29 
 30 
 
 III. Cipadtli 
 
 IV. Ehècatl 
 
 V. Calli 
 
 VI. Cuetzpalin 
 
 VII. Coati 
 
 VIII. Miquiztli 
 
 IX. Mazatl 
 
 X. Tochth 
 
 XI. Atl. 
 
 XII. Itzcuintli 
 
 XIII. Ozomatli 
 
 I. MALINALLI. 
 
 II. Acati 
 
 III. Occlotl 
 
 IV. Quauhtli 
 
 The grand feftlval of T'ez-catlì- 
 poca, with a folemn peni- 
 tential procelfion, the làcri- 
 fice of a prifoner, and dif- 
 miffion of all the marriage- 
 able youth from the temple. 
 
 The firft feftival of Htiitzilo- 
 pocbtli. Sacrifices of human 
 viiftims and quails. Solemn 
 incenfe-offering of Chapo- 
 potli, or bitumen of Judea. 
 Solemn dance of the king, 
 the priefls, and the people. 
 
 June
 
 N D I 
 
 X. 
 
 449 
 
 Modem Style. 
 
 June I 
 
 n 
 
 3 
 4 
 5 
 
 Mexican Days. 
 
 V. Cozcaquauhtli 
 
 VI. Olin 
 
 VII. Tec pati 
 
 IX. Xochitl 
 
 Fedivals. 
 
 ETZALCUALIZTLI Sixth Month. 
 
 7 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 o 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 :> 
 4 
 
 5 
 6 
 
 7 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 20 
 21 
 
 22 
 
 23 
 24 
 
 25 
 
 X. Cipaftli 
 
 XI. Ehècatl 
 
 XII. CalU 
 
 XIII. Cuctzpalin 
 
 I. COATL 
 
 II. MiquiztU 
 
 III. Mazatl 
 
 IV. TochtU 
 
 V. Atl 
 
 VI. Itzcuintli 
 
 VII. Ozomàtli 
 Vili. Malinalli 
 
 IX. Acati 
 
 X. Ocelotl 
 
 XI. Quauhtli 
 
 XII. Cozcaquauhtli 
 
 XIII. Olin 
 
 I. TECPATL 
 
 II. Qulahuitl 
 
 III. Xochitl 
 
 The third feftival of the gods 
 of water, with facrilices and 
 a dance. 
 
 Punifliments of priefts negli- 
 gent in the fervice of the 
 temple. 
 
 TECUILHUITONTLI Seventh Month. 
 
 July 
 
 26 
 27 
 28 
 29 
 
 30 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 4 
 5 
 
 IV. Cipadlli 
 
 V. Ehècatl 
 
 VI. Calli 
 
 VII. Cuetzpalin 
 
 VIII. Coati 
 
 IX. MiquiztU 
 
 X. Mazatl 
 
 XI. Tochtli 
 
 XII. Atl 
 
 XIII. Itzcuintli 
 
 Fcrtival of Huixtocihuatl, with 
 facrifices of prifoncrs, and a 
 dance of the priefts. 
 
 Vol. I. 
 
 M ni ni 
 
 July
 
 45° 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Modern Style. 
 
 July 6 
 
 7 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 IO 
 
 1 1 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 15 
 
 Mexican Days. 
 
 I. OZOMATLI 
 
 II. Malinalli 
 
 III. Acati 
 
 IV. Ocelotl 
 
 V. Qnauhtli 
 
 VI. Cozcaquauhtli 
 
 VII. Olia 
 
 VIII. Tecpatl 
 
 IX. Qiiiahuitl 
 
 X. Xochitl 
 
 Feftivals 
 
 HUEITECUILHUITL 
 16 
 
 Eighth Month. 
 
 O 
 
 Auguft 
 
 17 
 18 
 
 19 
 20 
 
 21 
 
 22 
 
 23 
 24 
 
 25 
 26 
 
 27 
 
 28 
 
 29 
 
 30 
 
 31 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 4 
 
 XI. Cipaftli 
 
 XII. Ehècatl 
 
 XIII. Calli 
 
 I. CUETZPALIN 
 
 II. Coati 
 
 III. Miquiztli 
 
 IV. Mazatl 
 
 V. Tochtli 
 
 VI. Atl 
 
 VII. Itzcuintli 
 
 VIII. Ozomatli 
 
 IX. Malinalli 
 
 X. Acati 
 
 XI. Ocelotl 
 
 XII. Quauhtli 
 
 XIII. Cozcaquauhtli 
 
 I. OLIN 
 
 II. Tecpatl 
 
 III. Quiahuitl 
 
 IV. Xochitl 
 
 The fecond feftival of Centeofl, 
 with the facrifice of a female 
 flave ; illumination of the 
 temple, dance, and alms- 
 
 giving. 
 
 Feflival of MaciditochtU. 
 
 TLAXOCHIMACO Ninth Month. 
 
 Feflival of MacicilcipaBli. 
 
 V. Cipaaii 
 
 VI. Ehècatl 
 
 VII. Calli 
 Vili. Cuctzpalin 
 IX. Coati 
 
 Augufl
 
 N D 
 
 X. 
 
 45' 
 
 MoJoin St 
 
 •le. 
 
 Mexican Days. 
 
 Augull 
 
 IO 
 
 X. Mlquizili 
 
 
 I I 
 
 XI. ALiz.,tl 
 
 
 12 
 
 XII. To.hJi 
 
 
 13 
 
 XIII. Atl 
 
 
 H 
 
 I. rrzcuiNTLi 
 
 
 15 
 
 II. Ozomàtli 
 
 
 1Ó 
 
 III. Malindli 
 
 
 17 
 
 IV^ Acati 
 
 
 18 
 
 V. Ocelotl 
 
 
 19 
 
 VI. Quauhtli 
 
 
 20 
 
 VII. Cozcaquauhtli 
 
 
 21 
 
 VIII. Olili 
 
 
 22 
 
 IX. Tecpatl 
 
 
 23 
 
 X. Qiiiahuitl. 
 
 
 24 
 
 XI. Xochitl 
 
 Fc'iv.:ls. 
 
 The fecond feftival of H7iit%i- 
 hpochtli, with facrifices of 
 prifoncrs, oblations of flow- 
 ers, renerai dance, and fb- 
 lemn banquet. 
 
 Feitival of yacatcuJlIiy god of 
 the merchants, with facri- 
 fices and entertainments. 
 
 XOCOHUETZI Tenth Month. 
 
 September 
 
 25 
 26 
 
 27 
 
 28 
 
 29 
 
 30 
 
 31 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 6 
 
 7 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 1 1 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 XII. Cipaaii 
 
 XIII. Ehècatl 
 
 I. CALLI 
 
 II. Cuetzpalln 
 
 III. Coati 
 
 IV. Miquiztli 
 
 V. Mazatl 
 
 VI. Tochtli 
 
 VII. Atl 
 
 VIII. Itzcuinth 
 
 IX. Ozoniatli 
 
 X. Malinalli 
 Xf. Acati 
 
 XII. Ocelotl 
 
 XIII. Quauhtli 
 
 I. COZCAQUAU- 
 TLI 
 
 II. Olin 
 
 III. Tecpatl 
 
 IV. Quiahuitl 
 
 V. Xochitl 
 
 Tlie feflival of XhihteuSlU, 
 god of fire, with a folemn 
 dance, and facrifice of pri- 
 foners. 
 
 All feftivals ceafe during thofe 
 five days. 
 
 M m m 2 
 
 O CH-
 
 452 
 
 ry 
 
 N D I X. 
 
 OCHPANIZTLI Eleventh Month. 
 
 Modern St}le. 
 
 September 
 
 Odober 
 
 H 
 
 15 
 16 
 
 17 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 20 
 
 21 
 
 22 
 
 23 
 24 
 
 25 
 26 
 
 27 
 
 28 
 
 29 
 
 30 
 1 
 
 Mexican Days: 
 
 VI. Cipadli 
 
 VII. Ehècatl 
 Vili. Calli 
 
 IX. Cuetzpalin 
 
 X. Coati 
 
 XI. Miquiztli 
 
 XII. Mazatl 
 
 XIII. Tochtli 
 
 I. ATL 
 
 II. Itzcuintli 
 
 III. Ozomatli 
 
 IV. Malinalli 
 
 V. Acati 
 
 VI. Ocelotl 
 
 VII. Quauhtli 
 
 VIII. Cozcaquaiihtli 
 
 IX. Olin 
 
 X. Tecpatl 
 
 XI. Quiahuitl 
 
 XII. Tochtli 
 
 Feflivals. 
 
 Dance preparatory to the fol- 
 lowing feftival. 
 
 Feftival of Tetcohian, mother 
 of the gods, with the facri- 
 fice of a female flave. 
 
 The third feafl of the goddefs 
 Caiteotl'm the temple Xiuh- 
 calco, with a procelhon and 
 facrifices. 
 
 TEOTLECO Twelfth Month. 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 6 
 
 7 
 8 
 
 9 
 10 
 
 1 1 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 16 
 
 ^7 
 18 
 
 XIII. Cipaaii 
 
 I. EHECATL 
 
 II. Calli 
 
 III. Cuetzpalin 
 
 IV. Coati 
 
 V. Miquiztli 
 
 VI. Mazatl 
 
 VII. Tochtli 
 
 VIII. Atl 
 
 IX. Itzcuintli 
 
 X. Ozomatli 
 
 XI. MaUnalli 
 
 XII. Acati 
 Xin. Ocelotl 
 
 I. QUAUilTLI 
 
 Feftival of Cbhtcnahiiitzcuintli, 
 Nahiiaìpì//i, and Centcotl, gods 
 of the lapidaries. 
 
 Odober
 
 Modem Stvlc. 
 
 Otìober 
 
 19 
 
 20 
 
 21 
 22 
 
 23 
 
 Mexican Days. 
 
 II. Cozcaquauhtli 
 
 III. Olili 
 
 IV. Tecpatl 
 
 V. Quiahuitl 
 
 VI. Xochitl 
 
 N D I X. 
 
 1 FeTivalt. 
 
 Watch kept for the following 
 
 feftival. 
 Feftival of the arrival of the gods, 
 
 with a great fupper and facri- 
 
 fices of prilbners. 
 
 453 
 
 TEPEILHUITL Thirteenth Month. 
 
 November 
 
 24 
 
 25 
 26 
 
 27 
 
 28 
 
 29 
 
 30 
 
 31 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 4 
 
 5 
 6 
 
 7 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 1 1 
 
 12 
 
 VII. Cipadlli 
 
 VIII. Ehòcatl 
 
 IX. Calli 
 
 X. Cuetzpalin, 
 
 XI. Coati 
 
 XII. Miquiztli 
 
 XIII. Mazatl 
 
 I. TOCHTLI. 
 
 II. Atl 
 
 III. Itzcuintli 
 
 IV. Ozomatli 
 
 V. Malinalli 
 
 VI. Acati 
 
 VII. Ocelotl 
 Vili. Quauhtli 
 
 IX. Cozcaquauhtli 
 
 X. OHn 
 
 XI. Tecpatl 
 
 XII. (^iahuitl 
 
 XIII. Xochitl* 
 
 Feftival of the gods of the mouh - 
 tains, with the facrifices of four 
 female Haves and a prifoner. 
 
 Fellival of the god Tochinco, 
 with the facrifice of a pri- 
 foner. 
 
 Feftival of NappateuSlU, with 
 the facrifice of a prifoner. 
 
 Feftival oi Ccfitzontotochtin, god 
 of wins, with the facrifice 
 of three flaves of three difi'er- 
 ent places. 
 
 Q^U E C H O L L I Fourteenth Montii. 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 16 
 
 17 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 I. CIPACTL 
 
 II. Ehècatl 
 
 III. Calli 
 
 IV. Cuetzpalin 
 
 V. Coati 
 
 VI. Miquiztli 
 
 VII. Mazatl 
 
 The faft of four days, in prepa- 
 ration for tlie following fef- 
 tival. 
 
 Feftival of MixcoatI, god of the 
 chace ; a general chace ; pro- 
 cefìion and facrifice of ani- 
 mals. 
 
 * Here ends the firft cycle of two hundred and fixty days, or twenty periods of thirteen days. 
 
 November
 
 454 
 
 A 
 
 E N D I X. 
 
 Mole'rn Style. 1 
 
 November 
 
 20 
 
 
 21 
 
 
 22 
 
 
 23 
 
 
 24 
 
 
 25 
 
 
 2Ó 
 
 
 27 
 
 
 28 
 
 
 29 
 
 
 3° 
 
 December 
 
 I 
 
 
 2 
 
 Mexican Daj-s. 
 
 VIII. Tochtli 
 
 IX. At!. 
 
 X. Itzcuintli 
 
 XI. Ozomatli 
 
 XII. Maliiralli 
 
 XIII. Acati 
 
 I. OCELOTL 
 
 II. Quauhdi 
 
 III. Cozcaquiiuhtii 
 
 IV. Olin 
 
 V. Tecpatl 
 
 VI. (^aiahuitl 
 
 VII. Xochitl 
 
 Fi-fl'iviih. 
 
 Feftival of T^lamatz'mcatl, 
 laci'ifices of prifoners. 
 
 wi 
 
 th 
 
 PAN QJU ETZALIZTLI Fifteenth Month. 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 6 
 
 7 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 1 1 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 16 
 
 17 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 20 
 
 21 
 22 
 
 VIII. Cipadlli 
 
 IX. Ehècatl 
 
 X. Calli 
 
 XI. Cuetzpalin 
 
 XII. Coati 
 
 XIII. Miquiztli 
 
 I. MAZATL 
 
 II. Tochtli 
 
 III. Atl 
 
 IV. Itzcuintli 
 
 V. O^omatli 
 
 VI. Malinalli 
 
 VII. Acati. 
 
 VIII. Ocelotl 
 
 IX. Quauhtli 
 
 X. Cozcaquauhtli 
 
 XI. Olin 
 
 XII. Tecpatl 
 
 XIII. Quiahuitl 
 I. XOCHITL 
 
 The third and principal felii'/al 
 of H.u'U%uopochtU and his 
 companions. Severe faft, fo- 
 lemn proceffion. Sacrifices of 
 prifoners and quails, and t'le 
 eating of the llatue of palle 
 of that god. 
 
 ATE-
 
 E N D I X. 
 
 A T E M O Z T L I Sixteenth Month. 
 
 Fellivals. 
 
 Modern St) 
 
 Ic. 
 
 iMexican Days. 
 
 L?ccember 
 
 23 
 24 
 
 II. Cipadlli 
 
 III. Ehècatl 
 
 
 25 
 
 IV. Calli 
 
 
 26 
 
 V. Cuctzpalin 
 
 
 27 
 
 VI. Coati 
 
 
 28 
 
 VII. Miquiztli 
 
 
 29 
 
 Vili. Mazatl 
 
 
 3° 
 
 IX. Tochtli 
 
 
 31 
 
 X. Atl 
 
 January 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 Xf. Itzcuintli 
 XII. Ozomatli 
 
 
 3 
 
 XI li. Malinalli 
 
 
 4 
 
 I. ACATL 
 
 
 5 
 
 II. Ocelotl 
 
 
 6 
 
 III. Quauhtli 
 
 
 7 
 8 
 
 IV. Cozcaquauhtli 
 
 V. Olin 
 
 
 9 
 10 
 
 VI. Tecpatl 
 
 VII. Quiahuitl 
 
 
 II 
 
 Vili. Xoohitl 
 
 Faft of four days in preparation 
 of the following felHval. 
 
 The fourth feftival of the gods 
 of water, with a proceliion 
 and facrifices. 
 
 T I T I T L Seventeenth Month. 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 H 
 
 15 
 16 
 
 ^7 
 18 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 21 
 
 22 
 
 23 
 24 
 
 IX. Cipadlli 
 
 X. Ehècatl 
 
 XI. CaUi 
 
 XII. Cuctzpalin 
 
 XIII. Coati 
 
 I. MIQUIZTLI 
 
 II. Mazatl 
 
 III. Tochtli 
 
 IV. Atl 
 
 V. Itzcuintli 
 
 VI. Ozomatli 
 
 VII. Malinalli 
 
 VIII. Acati. 
 
 Fedirai of the goddefs Ilama- 
 tciiciH, with a dance and {x- 
 facrifice of a female llavc. 
 
 Fcftival of MiBlanteuBliy god 
 of hell, with the nodlurnal 
 facrifice of a prilbner. 
 
 The fccond feftival of JiWa- 
 tencìlìy god of tlie merchants, 
 with the facrifice of a prilbner. 
 
 January
 
 45^ 
 
 
 A P P E N 
 
 D I X. 
 
 Rlodern Style. 
 
 Mexican Days. 
 
 Feflivals 
 
 January 25 
 
 IX. Occlotl 
 
 
 2Ó 
 
 X. Quauhtli 
 
 
 27 
 
 XI. Cozcacjuauhtli 
 
 
 28 
 
 XII. Olili ' 
 
 
 29 
 
 3° 
 31 
 
 XIII. Tecpatl 
 I. OyiAHUITL. 
 IL Xochitl 
 
 
 I Z C A L L I 
 
 Eighteenth Montli. 
 
 February i 
 2 
 
 III. Cipadli 
 
 IV. Ehècatl 
 
 
 
 V. Calli 
 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 VI. Cuetzpalin 
 
 VII. Coati 
 
 
 6 
 
 VIII. Miquiztli 
 
 
 7 
 
 IX. Mazatl 
 
 
 8 
 
 X. Tochtli 
 
 
 9 
 
 XI. Ad 
 
 
 10 
 
 XII. Itzcuintli 
 
 General chacc for the lacrifices 
 
 1 1 
 
 XIII. Ozomatli 
 
 of the next feilival. 
 
 12 
 
 I. MALINALLI 
 
 
 13 
 
 II. Acati 
 
 
 14 
 
 III. Ocelotl 
 
 
 • 15 
 16 
 
 IV. Quauhtli 
 
 V. Cozcaquauhtli 
 
 
 17 
 
 VI. Olin 
 
 The fecond feftlval of Xiu.b- 
 
 18 
 19 
 
 VII. Tecpatl 
 Vili. Qi-iiahuitl 
 
 tcuBli, god of fire, with fa- 
 crifices of animals. 
 
 20 
 
 IX. Xochitl. 
 
 Renewal of fire in the houfes. 
 
 N E M O N T E M I, or ufelefs Days. 
 
 21 
 
 X. Cipadli 
 
 During thefe days there was no 
 
 22 
 
 XI. Ehècatl 
 
 fertival. 
 
 23 
 
 XII. Calli 
 
 
 24 
 
 Xill. Cuetpalln 
 
 
 25 
 
 I. COATL 
 
 
 The following year II. Acati, begins with II. Miquiztli, and conti- 
 nues in the fame order. 
 
 E XP LA-
 
 E N D I X. 457 
 
 3. 
 
 EXPLANATION of the Oblcure FIGURE 
 
 I. Cf the fgures of the Mexican Century. 
 
 IN the wheel of the Mexican century are four figures, thirteen times 
 repeated, to fignify, as we have already mentioned, the four periods 
 (by fome authors called indiBions), of thirteen years, of which their 
 century confiftcd. The four figures are, firil, the head of a rab- 
 bet, cxprelTive of that quadruped; fecondly, a reed; thirdly, a knife 
 or the point of a lance, reprefenting a flint ftone ; fourthly, a part of a 
 building, fignifying a houfe. The years of the century are counted by 
 beginning at the upper twift of theferpent, and defcending towards the 
 left. The I. figure, with a fmall point, denotes I. rabbet; the fecond, 
 with two points, fignifies II. reed ; the third, with three points, fignifics 
 III. flint ; the fourth, with four points, IV. houfe ; the fifth, with five 
 points, V. rabbet ; and (o it continues until the twift upon the left, 
 where the fecond period begins with the figure of the reed, and termi- 
 nates in the lower twifl: ; and theii the third period commences. 
 
 II. Of the figures of the year. 
 
 The firfi: figure is that of water, fpread upon a building to denote 
 tl)c firft inonth, whofe name Acahualco, or Atlacahualco, fignifies, 
 the ceafing of water; becaufe, in the month of March the winter rains 
 ceafe in northern countries, where the Mexican or Toltecan calendar 
 took its origin. They called it alfo ^uabuitiehua, which fignifies the 
 budding of trees, which happens at this time in hot countries. The 
 Tlafcalans called th.is month Xiloinaniliztii, or the oblation of ears of 
 maize; becaufe in it they offered to their gods thole of the pail year, 
 to obtain profperity to the feed, which abuut this time began to be 
 fown in high grounds. 
 
 The figure of the fecond month, appears at firrt fight to be a pavi- 
 lion, but v.e believe it is rather a human ikin ill defigned, to exprefs 
 that which is meant by the name Tlacaxtpehualitzli, v/hich they gave 
 to this month, or ilclnning of men, on account ot the barbarous rite 
 
 Vol. I. N n n of
 
 45 
 
 S APPENDIX. 
 
 of fkinning human viftlms, at tlie feftival of the god of the goldfmiths. 
 Tlie Tlafcalans called this month Coailhuit!, or general feftival, and 
 reprefented it by the figure of a ferpent wound about a fan, and an 
 AjaccxtU. The fan and tlie Ajacaxth denote the dances which were 
 then made, and the coiled ferpent lignifies their generality. 
 
 Tlie figure of the third month is that of a bird upon a lancet. The 
 lancet fignifies the fpilling of blood, which was made during the nights 
 of this month; but we do not know what bird it is, nor what it 
 means. 
 
 The fourth monili is reprefented by the figure of a fmall building, 
 upon which appear fome leaves of ruHies, fignifying the ceremony 
 which they performed in this month of putting rulhes, fword-grafs, 
 and other herbs, dipped in blood, which they Ihed in honour of their 
 gods, over the doors of their houfes. 
 
 The Tlafcalans reprefented the third month by a lancet, to fignify 
 the fame kind of penance ; and the fourth month by a large lancet, to 
 denote that during it they did fiill greater penance. 
 
 The figure of the fifth month is that of a human head, with a neck- 
 lace under it, reprefenting thofe chaplets or wreaths of crifp maize 
 which they wore about their necks, and with which they adorned alio 
 the idol of Tezcatlipoca, from whence the month took the name of 
 "Toxcatl, as we have faid above. 
 
 The fixth month is reprefented by an earthen pot or jug, fignifying 
 a certain gruel, which they took then called Etzalii, from which the 
 month took the name of Etzaiquahztli. 
 
 The two figures of the feventh and eighth months, appear defigned 
 to fignify the dances which they made then, and becaufe the dances of 
 the eighth month were the greateft, the figure alfo which reprefents it 
 is greater. Near to thefe figures appear lancets, denoting the aufteri- 
 rlties pradlifed preparatory to thefe feftivals. The Tlafcalans repre- 
 fented thofe two months by the heads of two lords, that of the month 
 Teaiilhuitontliy or little fellival of the lords, appears a young nian, 
 and that of the month Huchcciiilhultly or grand fellival of the lords, 
 feems an old man. 
 
 The figures of the nintli and teiith months, are evidently expreflive 
 of the mourning which they put on, and the lamentation which they 
 
 made..
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Biade for their dead, which obtained the ninth month the name of 
 Mkcailhuit], or fellival of the dead, and the tenth Hiicuniccailhuitl, or 
 great feflival of the dead ; and becaufe tlie mourning of the tenth 
 month was the greater, the figure of it alfo is larger. The Tlafcalans 
 painted for each of thele two months a ikuU with two bones, but the 
 ikiill of the tenth was the hirger. 
 
 The figure of the eleventh month is a broom, by which is fignified 
 the ceremony of fweeping the pavement of the temples, which was in 
 this month performed by all ; from whence the name Ochpaniztli. The 
 Tlafcalans painted a hand grafping a broom. 
 
 The figure of the twelfth and thirteenth months is that of a parajite 
 plant, called by the Mexicans pachili, which in this feafon twines 
 about oaks, and from them the twelfth month took its name; becaufe 
 in the next month this plant is grown up, the figure of it is larger, 
 and the month takes the name of Hueipncbtli. Thefe names, although 
 more ufed by the Tlafcalans, were alfo employed by the Mexicans ; 
 we have, however, adopted the names Teotleco and Tepcilhuitl in this 
 hiilory, as being more commonly ufed by the Mexicans. 
 
 The figure of the fourteenth month is very fimilar to that of the fe- 
 cond ; but we know nothing of its meaning. 
 
 The Tlafcalans ufed to reprefent this month by the figure of that 
 bird which fome have called Fhi?nni!/igo, and the Mexicans ^ecby/li, 
 which name the Mexicans gave alfo to the month ; becaufe, at this 
 time, thefe birds reforted to the ?vlexican lake. 
 
 The figure of the fifteenth month is a piece of a Mexican ftandard, 
 fignifying the one which was carried at the Iblemn proceffion of Huit- 
 zjlopochtli, made in this month. The name Fanqiict-zaUt-xtU, by which 
 it was called, fignifies no more, as we have already faid, than the mount- 
 ing the ftandard. 
 
 The figure of the fixteenth is that of v/.iter upon a ftair, fignifying 
 the defcent of water, expreffed by the name Atemoztii, which was 
 given to this month, either becaufe this is the feafon of rain in north- 
 ern countries, or becaufe at this time they held the feftival of the gods 
 of the mountains and water, to obtain the neceflary (bowers. 
 
 '1 he figure of the fevcnteenth month, is two or three pieces of wood 
 tied with a cord, and a liand, which, pulling the cord forcibly, binds 
 
 N n n 2 tlic 
 
 459
 
 46o APPENDIX. 
 
 the wood, denoting the confriiftion occafioned by the cold of this fca- 
 fon, which is the meaning of the name lititl. The Tkfcalans paint- 
 ed two flicks cafedj and firmly fixed in a plank. 
 
 The figure of the eighteenth month is the head of a quadruped up- 
 on an altar, fignifying the facrifices of animals which were made dur- 
 ing this month to the god of fire. The Tlafcalans reprefented it by 
 the figure of a man holding up a child by the head ; this makes an in- 
 terpretation which fome authors give of the name IzcaHiy very proba- 
 bly, as they fiy that word means, rij'en from the dead, or jicw crea- 
 tion. 
 
 The figure of the moon, which is in the centre of the wheel, or 
 circle of the year has been copied from a Mexican painting, from 
 which it appears, that thofe ancient Indians knew well tliat the moon 
 has her light from the fun. 
 
 In fome wheels of the Mexican year which we have feen, after the 
 figures of the eighteen months, there followed five large points or dots 
 denoting the five days called Nemontemi. 
 
 III. Of the figures of the month. 
 
 Authors differ greatly in opinion concerning the fignification of Ci~ 
 ~ fatili, the name of the firft day. According to Boturini, it fignifies a 
 ferpent ; with Torquemada, the fword-fi(h ; and with Betancourt, the 
 tiburon. In the only wheel yet publifhed of the Mexican month, 
 which is that by Valades, the figure reprefenting the firft day, is al- 
 moft totally fimilai- to that of a lizard, which appears in the fourth 
 day. As we do not know the truth, we have put the head of a tibu- 
 ron, according to Betancourt. 
 
 The fecond day is called EhecatJ, or wind, and is reprefented by a 
 human head blowing witli the mouth. 
 
 The third day is called Calli, or houfe, reprefented by a final! building. 
 
 The name of the fourth day is Cuetzpaii?i, or lizard, and the figure 
 is that animal. 
 
 The name of the fifth day is Coati, or ferpent, and the figure is that 
 animaL 
 
 The
 
 N D I X. aO 
 
 401 
 
 The name of the fixth month is Miquiztl/, that is, death, reprefent- 
 eii by a Ikull. 
 
 The feventh day is called Mazatl, or flag, reprefented by the head 
 of that quadruped, as the eighth day is by that of the rabbet 'tochtll, 
 and fo it is called. 
 
 The name of the ninth day is Atl, or water, and is reprefented by 
 the figure of that element. 
 
 The tenth day is named ItzcuintU, that is, a certain Mexican 
 quadruped, fimilar to a little dog, and the figure of it is that little 
 animal. 
 
 The eleventh day was called Ozo/natli, or ape, reprefented alfo by the 
 figure of that animal. 
 
 The twelfth day was called MaiinalH, the name of a certain plant 
 of which they made brooms, and is reprefented by the figure of the 
 fame plant. 
 
 The thirteenth day is named Acati, or reed, and is reprefented by a 
 reed. 
 
 The fourteenth day is named Ocelot!, tyger ; and the fifteenth ^auhtU, 
 eagle, reprefented by the heads of thefe animals. 
 
 The fixteentli day is Cozcaquauhtli, the name of a Mexican bird, de- 
 fcribed in the firfl book of this hiftory, and reprefented by the figure 
 of it, though it is very imperfeft. 
 
 The feventeenth day is Olin tonatiuh, or motion of the fun, repre- 
 fented by the figure of the fame luminary. 
 
 The eighteenth day is Tecpatl, or flint, and the figure of it is the 
 point of a lance, which ufed to be made of flint. 
 
 The nineteenth day is ^iahu'ttl, rain, and is reprefented by a cloud 
 raining. 
 
 The twentieth day is Xcchkl, flower, and the figure that of a flower. 
 
 In the centre of this wheel we have put the figure of the fifteenth 
 month, in order to reduce it to a determined month. 
 
 I v. Of the figures of cities. 
 
 The firft figure is that of an opuntia, or nopal upon a flonc, the 
 fyn.bol ci the city of Tenochtitlatiy or Mexico. Tcnocbtitlan means 
 
 the
 
 402 APPENDIX. 
 
 the place where the opuntia is in the llone, alkiding to what we have 
 ah'eady faid refpeding the foundation of this great city. 
 
 The fecond figure is that by which tliey expreil'ed a gem. The 
 name Chalco means in or upon the gem (y). 
 
 The third figure is the hinder part of a man clofe to a rufli plant, 
 and the fourth is the fanie clofe to a flower, fignifying the cities of 
 'Tollantzwco and Xocbitzincho, the names of which fignify, at the 
 end of the place full of ruflies, and at the end of the flowers, or flow- 
 ery field : and almoll: all the names of places which have tiie termina- 
 tion in tzinco, and which are numerous, have a fimilar fignification, 
 and are reprefented by fimilar figures. 
 
 The fifth figure is a little branch of the tree Hiiaxin upon a nofe, 
 in order to reprefent the city of Huaxjacac, a name compofed of Hu- 
 axhi iwàjacatl, and means upon the point or extremity of the little 
 tree Huaxi?i ; becaufe although» jc'cai!, fignifies pioperly the nofe, it 
 alio is ufed to fignify any other point. As 1'epejacac, the name of 
 two places means, upon the point of the mountain. 
 
 In the fixth figure appears an earthen pot upon three ftones, as the 
 Indians ufed to place it, and ftill do fo, in order to keep it over fire, 
 and in the mouth of the pot is the figure of water, to reprefent the 
 city of Atotonlico (.^), v/hich n;ime fignifies, in hot water, or the place 
 of the baths. 
 
 The feventh figure is that of water, in which appears a m.an with 
 liis arms opened, in token of rejoicing, reprcfenting the city of Ahui- 
 lis,-a:pan, called by the Spaniards Oriz.iba, the name of which means, 
 in the water of pleafure, or in tlic chcariul river. 
 
 The eighth figure is ahb that of water in a mouth, reprcfenting the 
 city of Ateneo [a). This nam.e is compounded of At!, water, of Tcntli', 
 lip, or m.etaphorically bank, Ihore, edge, 6cc. &c. and tlie pre- 
 poution, or article co, which means i/i, fo that Ateneo n\eans upon 
 
 (y) Acofta fays, that CAi/co ir.cans, in the mcKUhs, but the JJoxican nnmc fiunifying the 
 mouih is Carnati, and when rhey wr.iild lav, in the moutfs, thry expitfs it Ciimac. 
 
 (s) 'I'heic were, and ate many phicc.-, c.iUcd Ateneo, but the moll confidcrablc was that 
 whieh appears clofe to Tezctico, in ourchait ot the l.ikco w Me>.ico. 
 
 (rt) On the -.6th day of Februaiy of the above mt-ntioncd year, the year according to ihc 
 meridian of Alexandria, which was built three centuries alter, properly began. (^^ Curt, 
 lib. tv. c. 2 1. l;. i' La Lande Alhonomic, n. 1597. 
 
 the
 
 APPENDI. 463 
 
 the bank, fliore, or edge of tlic water; and ali the places which have 
 fuch a name are fitiiated upon the bank, ol: Ibme lake or river. 
 
 The ninth figure is that of a "vkxican mirror, to repre]"eiit the city 
 of Tehuillojoccan, which term fignifies, place of the mirrors. 
 
 The tenth figure is tiiat of a hand in the adt of counting by the fin- 
 gers, to reprcfent the village of Nrpohualco, wliich word lignifies, the 
 place where they count, or the place of enumeration. 
 
 The eleventh figure is that of an arm holding a filli, reprefenting the 
 city of Michmalojan, which word fignifies, place \yhere the filli are 
 taken, or place of filhing. 
 
 The twelfth is a piece of an edifice, with the head of an eagle 
 within it, to reprcfent the city of ^aubtincban, which fignifies, houle 
 of eagles. 
 
 The thirteenth figure is that of a mountain, fuch as they ufed to paint 
 in their pidtures, and a little above a fmall knife, to reprcfent the city 
 of Tlacotepec, which name fignifies, the cut mountain. 
 
 The fourteenth figure is that of a flower, and beneath it five of thofe 
 points by which they ufed to exprel's numbers from one to twenty. 
 With fuch a figure they reprefented the place called Maciiilxocbitl, 
 which fignifies, five flowers.. This name is ftill ufed to fignify a day 
 of the year ; and it is probable, that the foundation of that place hav- 
 ing been laid on fuch a day it obtained fuch a name. 
 
 The fifteenth figure is the game of football, reprefenting the city of 
 I'lachco, called by the Spaniards T'^z/Z-^?, which name fignifies the place 
 where they played at this game. Thofe two fmall round figures in 
 the middle are two mill-flones, pierced in the center, which were 
 ufed in that game. There were at lead two cities or villages of this 
 name. 
 
 The figure of the fixteenth, reprefents the place oiTecotzaiihtla^. 
 fignifying the place abounding with ochre.. 
 
 V. Of tbc fgiires of the Mexican kiiigs.. 
 
 Thefe figures are not portraits of the kings, but fymbols of their 
 
 eames. In all of them appears a head, crowned in the Mexican fiiyle, 
 
 and each has its mark to fhew the name of the king reprefented by it. 
 
 8 Accwia^
 
 464 APPENDIX. 
 
 Acamapìtxìny the name of the firli: king of Mexico, l-gnifies, he 
 who has reeds in his fiit, which ahb appeals in the figure. 
 
 Huitzilihpiti, the name of the fccond king fignifies, feather of tlie 
 little flower-fucking bird j and therefore the head of that little bird is 
 reprefented, though imperfeftly, with a feather in its mouth. 
 
 Chimalpopoca, name of the third king, means, fìnoaking fliield, 
 which is reprefented in his figure. 
 
 • Itzcoatl, name of the fourth king, means, ferpcnt of itzli, or armed 
 with lancets, or razors of the ftone itzli, which is reprefented by the 
 fourth figure. 
 
 Ilhuicamina, the fumarne of Montezuma I. the fifth king of Mexi- 
 co, means, he who flioots into the iky, and theretore an arrow is 
 reprefented fliot at that figure, by which tiic Mexicans ufed to fignify 
 the iky. 
 
 Axajacatl, the name of the fixth king, means alfo a miarlh-fly, and 
 fignifies the face or afpedi; of water, and therelore a face is reprefented, 
 above which is the figure of water. 
 
 T^i%oc, the name of the feventh king, fignifies, pierced, and therefore 
 he is reprefented by a perforated leg. 
 
 ylhuhzotl, the name of the eighth king, is alfo that of an amphi- 
 bious quadruped, mentioned in our firil book, and is therefore repre- 
 fented by the figure of that quadruped ; and to Ihew that this animal 
 lives in the water, the figure of that element appears on its back and 
 tail. 
 
 Moteuc%oma, the name of the ninth king, means, angry lord j but 
 we do not underftand the figure of it. 
 
 The figures of the two lafh kings Cuitlahimt-zin and Sli!auhtemot%iit, 
 a;- wanting ; but we do not doubt but that that of ^laubtemotzm, fig- 
 nifies, a dropping eagle, as the name has that meaning. 
 
 VI, Of the figure of the ddiigc, and the confu/wn of tongues. 
 
 The water fignifies the deluge ; the human head, and the bird in the 
 water, fignify the drowning of men and animals. The ihip, with a 
 man in it, denotes the vefTel in which, according to their tradition, 
 
 one
 
 APPENDIX. 465 
 
 one man, and one woman, were fiived to prefervc tlie human race. The 
 figure in one corner is that of the mountain Colhuacin, near to whicli, 
 according to their account, the man and the woman who were faved 
 dilembarkcd from the deluge. In all the Mexican paintings, in which 
 mention is made of that mountain, it is reprefented by the lame figure. 
 The bird upon the tree reprefents the pigeon, which, as they fay, com- 
 municated fpeech to men, as they were all born dumb after the deluge. 
 Thofe rods which iflue from the mouth of the pigeon towards men, 
 are the fymbols of languages. Wherever the Mexican paintings al- 
 lude either to languages or words, they employ thefe rods. The 
 multitude of them in one figure, fignifies the multitude of thofe which 
 were thus communicated. Thofe fifteen men, who receive the lan- 
 guages from the pigeon, reprefent fo many families feparated from the 
 reft of mankind, from whom, as they account, defcended the nations 
 of Anahuac. 
 
 LETTER from Abbe Don Lorenzo Hervas, to the 
 Author, upon the Mexican Calendar. 
 
 Ab. Hervas, author of the ii:ork entitled^ Idea of the Univerfe, hav- 
 ing read this ivork in mannjcript , and made fome curious and learned 
 obfervations on the Mexican Calendar y communicated them in thefol" 
 loiving letter, which we trujl will prove acceptable to our readers. 
 
 T7ROM the work of your Reverence I learn with infinite pain, how 
 much the lofs of thofe documents which afliflcd the celebrated 
 Dr. Siguenza to form his Ciclography ; and the Cav. Boturini to pub- 
 lilh his Idea of the General Hijiory of New Spain, is to be regretted; 
 and at the fame time I am farther confirmed in my opinion, that the 
 ufe of the folar year was contemporary, or, perhaps, anterior to the 
 Deluge, as I attempt to prove in the eleventh volume of my work, in 
 which is inferted The Extatic Journey to the Planetary World, where- 
 in I propofe fome reflexions on the Mexican Calendar, which I /hall 
 here anticipate and fubmit to your cenfure. 
 
 Vol. I. O o o The
 
 466 APPENDIX. 
 
 The year and century have, from time immemorial, been regulated 
 by the Mexicans with a degree of intelHgence which does not at all 
 correfpond with their arts and fciences. In them they were certainly 
 extremely inferior to the Greeks or Romans ; but the difcernment 
 which appears in their Calendar, equals them to the moft cultivated 
 nations. Hence we ought to imagine, that this Calendar has not been 
 the difcoveiy of the Mexicans, but a communication from fome more 
 enlightened people ; and as the laft are not to be found in America, we 
 muft feek for them elfewhere, in Afia, or in Egypt. This fuppofition 
 is confirmed by your affirmation ; that the Mexicans had their Calen- 
 dar from the Toltecas (originating from Afia), whofe year, according 
 to Boturini, was exactly adjufted by the courfe of the fun, more than 
 a hundred years before the Chriflian era ; and alfo from obferving that 
 other nations, namely, the Chiapanefe, made ufe of the fame Calendar 
 with the Mexicans, without any difference but that of their iymbols. 
 
 The Mexican year began upon the 26th of February, a day cele- 
 brated in the era of Nabonaflar, which was fixed by the Egypti- 
 ans 747 years before the Chriftian era ; for the beginning of their 
 month 'Totò, correfponded with the meridian of the fame day. If 
 thofe prlefts fixed alfo upon this day as an epoch, b^caufe it was cele- 
 brated in Egypt {a), we have there the Mexican Calendar agreeing with 
 the Egyptian. But independent of this, it is certain, that the Mexi- 
 can Calendar conformed greatly with the Egyptian. 
 
 On this fubjedt Herodotus fays {è)y that the year was firfl regulated 
 by the Egyptians, who gave to it twelve months, of thirty days,, and 
 added five days to every year, that the circle of the year might revolve 
 regularly : that the principal gods of the Egyptians v/ere twelve in 
 number, and that each month was under the tutelage and protection of 
 one of thefe gods. The Mexicans alfo added to every year, five days, 
 which they called Nemontemi, or ufelcfs ; becaufe during thefe they 
 did nothing. Plutarch lays {c), that on fuchdays the Egyptians cele- 
 brated the feftival of the birtii of their godi*. 
 
 (0) On the 26th day of February, of the above mentioned year, the year according to the 
 meridian of Alexandria, which was built three centuries after, properly be^an. Q. Curt.'Kb, 
 iv. c. 21. See La Lande A'.Ironomic, n. 1597. 
 
 (^) Herod, lib. ii. cap. i. aad 6. (c) Tlut. de Ifidc & OfiriJe. 
 
 It
 
 APPENDIX. 467 
 
 It Is certainly true, that the Mexicans divided their year into eigh- 
 teen months, not into twelve like the Egyptians; but as they called 
 the month miztli, or moon, as you have oblerved, it feems undeniable, 
 that thefr ancient month hud been lunar, as wjll as that of the Egypti- 
 ans and Chinefe, the Mexican month verifying that which the fcrip- 
 tures tell, that the month is obliged for its name to the moon. The 
 A'lexicans, it is probable, received the lunar month from their an- 
 ceftors, but for certain purpofes afterwards inflituted another. You 
 have affirmed in your hiftory, upon the faith of Boturini, that the 
 Miztecas formed their year into thirteen months, which number was fa- 
 .cred in the Calendar of the Mexicans, on account of their thirteen 
 principal gods, in the fame manner as the Egyptians confecrated the 
 number twelve, on account of their twelve greater gods. 
 
 The fymbols and periods of years, months, and days in the Mexi- 
 can Calendar, are truly adniirable. With refpedt to the periods it ap- 
 pears to me, that the period of five days might not improperly be 
 termed their civil week, and that of thirteen their religious week. In 
 the fame manner, the period of twenty days might be called their civil 
 
 month : that of twentv-fix their relÌ2Ìous month ; and that of thirty 
 
 ^ -, 
 
 their lunar and aftronomical month. In their century, it is probable^ 
 that the period of four years was civil, and that of thirteen religious. 
 From the multiplication of thefe two periods they had their century, 
 and from the duplication of their century, their age of one hundred 
 and four years. In all thofe periods an art is difcovered not lefs ad- 
 mirable than that of our indiótions, cycles, &c. The period of civil 
 weeks was contained exadly in their civil and agronomical nionth , 
 the latter had fix, the former four, and the year contained feventy- 
 three complete weeks ; in which particular our method is excelled by 
 the Mexican ; for our weeks are not contained exadlly in the month, 
 nor in the year. The period of religious weeks was contained tvvice 
 in their religious month, and twenty-eight times in the year ; but in 
 the latter there remained a day over, as there is in our weeks. Froni 
 the periods of thirteen days, multiplied by the twenty characters of the 
 month, the cycle of two hundred and fixty days was produced, of 
 which you have made mention ; but as there remained a day over the 
 twenty-eight religious weeks of the (blar year, there arofe another cycle of 
 
 O o o 2 two
 
 468 
 
 A P P E N D I X. 
 
 two hundred and fixtv d.iys, in fuch a manner, that the Mexicans could, 
 from the firil day of every year, diflinguHh what year it was. The pe- 
 riod of civil months, mukiphed by the nuniber of days, (that is eigh- 
 teen by twenty), and the period of Kmar months, innkiphed by the 
 number of days, (that is, twelve by thirty), give the fame produól, 
 or the number three hundred and fixty ; a number certainly not lefs 
 memorable, and in ufe among the Mexicans than among the moft an- 
 cient nations; and a number, which from time immemorial, has 
 ruled in geometry and aftronomy, and is of the utmofl particularity on 
 account of its relation to the circle, which is divided into three hun- 
 dred and fixty parts, or degrees. In no nation of the world do we meet 
 with any thing fimilar to this clear and diftind method of Calendar. 
 From the fmall period of four years, multiplied by the above men- 
 tioned cycle of two hundred and fixty years, arofe another admirable 
 cycle of one thoufand and forty years. The Mexicans combined the 
 fmall period of four years with the period above named week of thir- 
 teen years ; thence refultcd their noted cycle or century of fifty-twa 
 years ; and thus with the four figures, indicating the period of four 
 years, they had, as we have from the dominical letters, a period, which, 
 to fay the truth, exceeded ours ; as it is of twenty-eight years, and the 
 Mexican of fifty-two; this was perpetual, and ours in Gregorian years 
 is not fo. So much variety and fimplicity of periods of weeks, months, 
 years, and cycles, cannot be unadmired ; and the more fo, as there is im- 
 mediately difcovered that particular relation which thefe periods have to 
 many different ends, which Boturini points out by faying : " TheMexi- 
 " can Calendar was of four fpecies ; that is, natural, for agriculture j 
 •' chronological, for hiif or/ ; ritual, for feftivals ; and aftronomical, 
 " for the courfe of the ftars; and the year was lunifolar." This year, 
 if we do not put it at the end of three Mexican ages, after feveral cai - 
 culations I am not able to find it. 
 
 Boturini determines by the Mexican paintings the year of the con- 
 fufion of tongues, and the years of the creation of the world ; which 
 determination appears not to be difficult, becaufe as the eclipfes are 
 noted in the Mexican paintings, there is not a doubt but the true epoch. 
 
 (</) A luna figQum dici fefti ► , . Menfis fccundura nomen ejus eft. Eccl. xllil. 
 
 of
 
 APPENDIX. 469 
 
 of chronology may be obtained from them, as P. Souctet obtains 
 the Chinefe from the folar ecHplb which he fixed in the year 2155, be- 
 fore t!ie Chriftian era. An ecHpfe well circumftantiated, as P. Briga 
 (e) Romagnoli proves at length, may aflift us to fix the epoch of 
 chronology in the fpace of twenty thoufand years, and although in the 
 Mexican paintings, all the circumflances of eclipfes are not defcribed, 
 yet the defedi of them is remedied by many eclipfes which are marked 
 there. The Mexican lords therefore, who ftill preferve great number 
 of paintings, might by lludy of them adduce many lights to chro- 
 nology. 
 
 Reipefting tiie fymbols of the Mexican months and year, they dif- 
 cover ideas entirely conformable with thofe of the ancient Egyptians. 
 The latter diflingui/hed, as appears from their monuments, each month 
 or part of the zodiac, where the fun flood, with charadleriftical figures 
 of that which happened in every feafon of the year. Therefore we 
 fee the ligns of Aries, Taurus, and the two young Goats (which now 
 are Gemini), uled to mark the months of the birth of thofe animals j 
 the figns of Cancer, Leo, and Virgo, with the ear of corn, for thofe 
 months, in which the fun goes backward like a crab ; in which there 
 is greater heat, and in which the harvefts are reaped. The fign of 
 the Scorpion (which in the Egyptian fphere occupied the fpace 
 which at prefent is occupied by the fign of Libra), and that of Sagitta- 
 rius, in the months of virulent, or contagious dillempers, and the 
 chace j and laflly, the figns of Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pifcis, in 
 thofe months in which the fun begins to afcend towards others ; in 
 which it rains much, and in which there is abundant fifliing. Thefe 
 ideas at leaft are fimilar to thofe which the Mexicans alfociatcd with their 
 clime. They called their firft month Acahnalco, that is, the ceffation 
 of the waters, which began on the 26th of February, and they fym- 
 bolize this month by a houfc, with the figure of water above it; they 
 gave alfo to the fame month the name of ^lahiiiilchua, that is, the 
 moving or budding of trees. The Mexicans afterwards diftinguifhed 
 their firfl month by two names, of which the firll Acahuaico, or the 
 cef&tion of the waters, did not corrclpond with their climate where the 
 
 (c) Scicntia Eclipfium ex Europa in Sinas, Pars iii. c. z, fctfl. 20. 
 
 rains
 
 4/0 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 rains came in OAober ; but it agrees with tlie fields of Sennaar, and 
 the northern climes of America, from whence their anceflors came ; 
 and from that the origin of this name appears evidently to be very an- 
 cient. The fecond name, that is, Qiiahuitlcluia, or budding of the 
 trees, agrees much with the word Ktmatb, ufed by Job to fignify the 
 Pleiades (f)., which, in his time announced the fpring, when tlie 
 trees begin to move. The fymbol of tlie fecond Mexican month was 
 a pavilion, which indicated the great heat prevalent in Mexico in April, 
 before the rains of May come on. The fymbol of the third month 
 was a bird which appeared at that time. The twelfth and thirteenth 
 month had for their fymbol the plant paSlU, which fprings up and ma- 
 tures in thefe months. The lymbol of the fourteenth month was ex- 
 preiTed by a cord, and a hand which pulled it, expreflive of the bind- 
 ino- power of the cold in that month, which is January j and to this 
 iame circumftance the name Tititl, which they gave it alludes. The 
 conftellation Kejil, of which Job fpeaks to fignify winter, fignifies in 
 the Arabic root (which is Kefal) to be cold and ajleep, and in the text 
 of Job it is read, " Couldft thou break the cords or ties of Kefil ?" 
 
 Leaving a-part the evident conformity which the fvmbols and ex- 
 preffions of Ipring and winter have with thofe of Job, who, in my 
 opinion, flourilhed a lliort time after the Deluge (as I fay in my ele- 
 venth volume), it ought to be noted, that thefe fymbols, which are 
 excellent for preferving the year invariable, demonflrate the ulè of 
 the intercalary days of the Mexicans ; otherwife it would happen that 
 in two centuries, the fymbol of the month of cold would h\\ in the 
 month of heat. Thus it is found, from the Mexican paintings, that 
 in them the conqueft of Mexico was marked in the ninth month called 
 Tlaxochlmaco ; from thence it ought to be concluded, that the interca- 
 lary days were in ufe. The fame deduftion might be made from fee- 
 ing that the Mexicans, at the entry of the Spaniards, preferved that 
 order of months, which, according to the fignification of their names, 
 agreed with the feafons of the year, and the produtìions of the earth. 
 Farther, to afcertain how the Mexicans regulated their leap years, and 
 •if their year was juflj an exadl examination and comparifon ought to 
 
 i/) J"^> '^^'■'P' '^' '*'• 9' *"^ chiip. xxxv'iii. V. 31. 
 
 be
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 be made of fome event known to us, which has been marked by them. 
 You have, for example, fixed the death of Montezuma on the 29th 
 of June, 1520 : if in the Mexican paintings this is found in the fe- 
 venth day, Cuet%palin, of the feventh month, we muft infer their year 
 to be juft, and that the leap years were interpofcd eveiy four years ; if 
 it correlponds to the fourth day CipaSilJ, it would be a fign that their 
 year was juft, and that the leap years were added after the century ; if 
 it Ihould correfpond with the feventh, Ozomatlì, then it mufl hz con- 
 cluded that their leap years were put after the century, and their year 
 was as eroneous as ours was at that time. The propofed example is 
 grounded upon the Calendar, at the end of your fecond volume ; this 
 I did for the fake of perfpicuity : but to make an exacft calculation, it 
 would be necertary to fee that your Calendar corrcfponds with the firll 
 year of the Mexican century, and that the year 1520, was the four- 
 teenth year of tlie century ; whence the name of days would have 
 taken a very diAerent order from that which is propofed for more 
 clearnefs. 
 
 Laftly, the fymbol which you have put for the Mexican century,, 
 convinces me, that it is the fame which the ancient Egyptians and Chal- 
 deans had. In the Mexican fymbol, we fee the fun as it were eclipfed 
 by the moon, and furrounded with a ferpent, which makes four twills, 
 and embraces the four periods of thirteen years. This very idea of tlie 
 ferpent with the fun has, from time immemorial in the world, figni- 
 fied the periodical or annual courfe of the fun. We know that in 
 aflronomy, the points where eclipfes happen have, from time imme- 
 morial been called, (as P. Briga fg) Romagnoli has noted), the head 
 and tail of a dragon. The Chinefe, from falfe ideas, though conform- 
 able to this immemorial allufion, believe that at eclipfes a dragon is 
 in the a<fl of devouring the fun. The Egyptians more particularly 
 agree with the Mexicans ; for to fymbolize the fun they employed a 
 circle, with one or two ferpcnts ; but ftill more the ancient Perfians, 
 among whom their Mitras (which was certainly the fun), was fymbo- 
 lized by a fun (b) and a ferpent ; and from P. Montfaucon (ij, we are 
 
 (j) Vol. cited, p, 4. luv, iii. c. 2. 
 
 (A) Sco Banicr Mjtliy logic, vol. ii, book \s-, cap. Iv, vol. iii. bcok vii. c. xii. Pluche, 
 HJllory of the Heavens, vol, i. c. ii, ftct. I. Goguct, Origin of Sciences, &c. vol, i. Diflert, 2. 
 (;•) Tom. i. p. J78. 
 
 given^ 
 
 471
 
 472 
 
 A P P E N D .. X. 
 
 given, in his Antiquities, a iriOJiument of a fcrpent which furround- 
 ing the ligns of the Zodiac, cuts them, by lOiinig iticif in v.irious 
 modes about them. In addition to thefe inconteftible examples, the 
 following reflexion is moft convincing. There is not a doubt that the 
 fymbol of the ferpent is a thing totally arbitrary to fignify the fun, 
 with v.'hich it has no pln'Hcal relation ; wherefore then I aik, have fo 
 many nations difperfed over the globe, and of which fome have had 
 no reciprocal intercourfe, unlefs in ti^e firft ages after the deluge, 
 agreed in ufmg one fame fymbol fo arbitrary, and chofe to exprefs by 
 it the fame objeiH ? When we find the v/ord facco in the Hebrew, 
 Greek, Teutonic, Latin languages, &c. it obliges us to believe that it 
 belongs to tlie primitive language of men after the deluge, and whea 
 \ve fee one fame arbitrary fymbol, fignifying the fun and his courfe, 
 ufed by the Mexicans, the Chinefe, the ancient Egyptians, and Per- 
 fians, does it not prompt us to believe the real origin of it was in the 
 time of Noah, or the firfl men after the deluge ? this fair conclufion 
 is flrongly confirmed by the Chiapanefe Calendar (which is totally 
 Mexican), in which the Chiapanefe, according to Monfig. Nugnez de 
 la Vega, bifhop of Chijpa, in his Preface to his Synodal Conftitutions, 
 put for the firft fymbol or name of the firft year of the century a Vo- 
 tali, nephew of him who built a wall up to heaven, and gave to men 
 the languages which they now fpeak. Here is a fadl connedled with 
 the Mexican Calendar, relative to the building of the tower of Babel 
 and the confufion of tongues. Many fimilar reflexions are fuggefted 
 by the obfervations and remarks which occur in your hiftory, &c. 
 Cefena, July 31, 1780. So far the letter of Sig. Ab. Hervas. What- 
 ever may have been the truth refpedling the ufe of the folar year among 
 thefe firft men, in which difpute I do not mean to engage, I cannot be 
 perfuaded that the Mexicans, or the Toltecas, have been indebted to 
 any nation of the old continent for their Calendar, and their method 
 of computing time. From whom did the Toltecas learn their age of 
 one hundred and four ye rs, their century of fifty-two, their year of 
 eighteen months, their months of twenty days, their periods of thir- 
 teen years and thirteen days, their cycle of two hundred and fixty days, 
 and in particular their thirteen intercalary days, at the end of the cen- 
 tury, to adjuft the year with the courfe of the fun ? The Egyptians 
 
 8 were
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 were the greatefl: ailronomers of thofe remote times, but they adopted 
 no intercalary fpace to adjuft the year with the annual retardation of 
 the foJar courfe. If the Tohecas of themfeh'es difcovered tliat re- 
 tardation, it is not to be wondered at if they difcovered other things 
 which did not require fuch minute and proHx aftronomical obferva- 
 tions. Boturini, of whofe teftimony Ab. Hervas avails himfelf, fays 
 exprefly ^upon the faith of the annals of the Toltecas, which he 
 faw, that the ancient aftronomers of that nation having obferved in 
 their native country Huehuetlapallan, (a northern country of America), 
 the excefs of about fix hours of the folar, over the civil year which 
 was obferved among them, corredted it by the ufe of intercalary days, 
 more than one hundred years before the Chriltan era. With refpeA to 
 the conformity between the Mexicans and Egyptians, we fliall treat of 
 it in our Diil'ertations. 
 
 Anmadverfions of the Author on the Work entitled. Lettere Ame- 
 ijiiCANE, or American Letters. 
 
 Some of the obfervations made by Ab. Hervas have alfo been made 
 by the learned author of the American Letters, a work full of erudi- 
 tion, recently publiflied in the Literary Magazine of Florence, and come 
 to us at the time the laft iheets of this volume were printin»;. The 
 author, in oppofing the abfurd opinions of M. de Paw, from a jull 
 though imperfed: idea of the culture of the Mexicans, difcourfes iii ge- 
 neral very intelligently of their cuftoms, their arts, and, above all, 
 their aftronomical knowledge, explains their calendar and their cycles, 
 and in thefe points compares them with the ancient Egyptians, as was 
 done in the laft century by the learned Mexican, Siguenza, to prove 
 their conformity and the antiquity of the population of America. In 
 the perufal of thefc letters, I have had the pleafure of feeing fome of 
 my own fentiments fupported and explained ; although the author has 
 committed mahy miftakes, and fljewn more acrimony againft the Spa- 
 nifti nation than is confiftent with candour and impartiality. Tiic 
 alteration of the Mexican names in his work, is a trcfpafs upon 
 all the rules of literary propriety and accuracy with rerpe>5l to ety- 
 moloev. 
 
 Vol.. L P p p In 
 
 47:
 
 4? 4 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 In the ninth letter of the fecond part, where he fpeaks of the MexU 
 can year, he cites Gemelli, and accnfes him, though falfely, of arx 
 error. Gemelli fays, that the Mexican year at the commencement of 
 their century, began upon the loth of April j but that every four years 
 it anticipated one day on account of our biffextile ; fo that at the end 
 of four years it began upon the 9th of that month ; at the end of 
 eight years it began upon the 8th, and fo it went on anticipating every 
 four years, one day, unto the end of the Mexican century, where by 
 the intcrpofition of the thirteen intercalary days, omitted in the pro- 
 grefs of the century, the year returned to begin upon the loth of April^ 
 This, adds the author of the Letters, is a contradicflion of fadt, as the 
 year at the end of the four years fliould have begun upon the i ith,. and 
 not the ninth, and thus every four years it ought to have increafed a 
 day ) and in fuch cafe, the corredlion of thirteen days after the end of 
 fifty-two years became fuperfluous, or without the retroceffion of a day 
 every four years, the difference of the folar year, at the end of the 
 cycle fhould have been double, that is twenty-fix days. 
 
 We wonder much that an author, who appears to be a good calcu- 
 lator, fliould err in a calculation fo fimpleand clear. The year 1506, 
 was a fecular year among the Mexicans. Let us fuppofe for the fake 
 of perfpicuity, that their year began as ours on the firft day of Janu- 
 ary. This firfi; year of the Mexican century, compofed like ours of 
 ■565 days, ended as ours on the 3 ill of December, and in like man- 
 ner the fecond year correfponding to 1507; but in 1508, the Mexican 
 year ought to finilh a day before ours ; becaufe ours being biflextile, 
 or leap year, had 366 days, whereas the Mexican had only 365 y 
 therefore the fourth year of the Mexican century correfponding to 1 509, 
 ought to commence a day before ours, that is on the 3 1 fi: of December 
 1508. In the fame manner, the eighth year, correfponding to 151 3, 
 ought to commence on the 30th of December, 1512, for the fame 
 rcafon of that year having been biflextile. The twelfth year, corref- 
 ponding to 1 517, ought to begin on the 29th of December 1516, and 
 fo forth, unto the year 1557, the lafi: of the Mexican century, in 
 which the Mexican year ought to anticipate ours as many days as there 
 were biflextile years. Thus in the 52 years of the Mexican century, 
 
 there
 
 POSTERITY OF KING MOTEZUMA. (44O 
 
 MOTEZUMA IX. king of Mexico, married with Miahuaxochitl 
 
 his niece. 
 
 Don Pedro ycf.ualrcahuatzin Motezuma, married Donna Caterina 
 
 Sluauxochitl his niece. 
 
 i 
 
 D. Diego Luis Ihmfemotzin Motezuma, married in Spain Donna 
 
 Francifca de Cueva. 
 
 D. Pedro Tefifon Motezuma de Cueva I. Count of Motezuma, and 
 Tula, and vifcount Iluca, married Donna Jeroma Porras. 
 
 D. Diego Luis Motezuma and 
 Porras IL Count of Mote- 
 zuma, 6cc. married Donna Luifa 
 Jofre Loaiia and Carilla, daugh- 
 ter of the count of Arco. 
 
 I 
 
 Donna Maria Jeroma Motezuma 
 
 Jofre de Loaifa III. coun- 
 tefs of Motezuma, &c. mar- 
 ried to D. Jofeph Sarmiento 
 de Valladares, who was viceroy 
 of Mexico, and I. duke of A- 
 trifco. 
 
 Donna Faufta 
 Dominica Sar- 
 miento, Mo- 
 tezuma IV. 
 countefs of 
 Motezuma, 
 died a child in 
 Mexico in 
 J 697. 
 
 Donna Melchi- 
 orra Sarmiento 
 Motezuma, V. 
 countefs of Mo- 
 tezuma, died 
 without ilfue, in 
 17 17, by which 
 the eftates of 
 Motezuma re- 
 verted to Donna 
 Tcrcfa Nieto de 
 Sylva, daughter of 
 the I. marquis of 
 Tenebron. 
 
 Donna Terefa Francifca Motezu- 
 ma aiid Porras, married to D.Die- 
 go Cifncros de Guzman. 
 
 Donna Jeroma de Cifneros Mo- ■ 
 tezuma, married to D. Felix 
 Nieto de Silva, I. marquis of 
 Tenebron . 
 
 I 
 
 Donna Terefa Nieto de Sylva and 
 
 Motezuma, II. marchionefs of 
 Tenebron, and VI. countefs of 
 Motezuma, married to D. Gaf- 
 par d'Oca Sarmiento and Zuniga. 
 
 D. Jerom d'Oca Motezuma, 6cc. 
 III. marquis of Tenebron, and 
 VII. count of Motezuma, mar- 
 ried Donna Maria Jolepha dc 
 Mendoza. 
 
 I 
 
 D. Jerom d'Oca Motezuma and 
 
 Mendoza, VIII. count of Mo- 
 tezuma, IV.. marquis of Tene- 
 bron, and grandee of Spain, now 
 living. 
 
 There are other branches of this moft noble line in Spain as well 
 as Mexico. 
 
 Vol. I. (K k k) DE 3-
 
 <442) 
 
 DESCENDANTS OF FERDINAND CORTES. 
 
 T^ Fernando Cortez, conqueror, governor, and captain-general of 
 ■*~^* Mexico, I. marquis of the valley of Oaxaca, had, in fecond 
 marriage, Donna Jeroma Ramirez d' Arrellano and Zuniga, daughter of 
 D. Carlos Ramirez d' Arrellano, II. count of Aguilar, and Donna 
 Jeroma de Zuniga, daughter of the count of Benares, eldefl fon of D. 
 Alvaro de Zuniga, I. duke of Bejar. Their fon was 
 
 I. 
 
 D. Martinez Cortez Ramirez d'Arrellano, II. marquis of the Val- 
 lev, married his niece. Donna Anna Ramirez d' Arrellano. Their 
 ifl'ue were 
 
 II. 
 
 D. Fernando Cortez Ramirez d'Arellano, III. marquis of the 
 Valley, married Donna Mencia Fernandez de Cabrera and Mendoza, 
 daughter of D. Pedro Fernandez Cabrera and Bobadilla. II. count of 
 Chinchon, and Donna Maria de Mendoza andCerda, fifter of the prince 
 of Melito. D. Ferdinand had but one fon, who died in childhood ; 
 and was fucceeded by his brother. 
 
 2. D. Pedro Cortez Ramirez d'AiTcllano, IV. marquis of the Valley, 
 married Donna Anna Pacheco de la Cerda, lifter of the II. count of 
 Montalban. Died without illue, and was therefore fucceeded by his 
 fifter, 
 
 3. Donna Jeroma Cortez Ramirez d'Arrellano, V. marchionefs of 
 the Valley, married to D. Pedro Carillo de Mendoza, IX. count of 
 Priego, afliftant, and cap tain -general of Seville, and great major domo 
 to queen Margaret of Auftria. Their daughter was 
 
 III. 
 
 Donna Stephania Carillo de Mendoza and Cortez. VI. marchionefs 
 of the Valley, was the wife of D. Diego of Arragon.. IV. duke of 
 Terranova, prince of Cartel Vetrano, and of S. R. J. marquis of 
 Avola and Favora, conftable and admiral of Sicily, commander of 
 Villafranca, viceroy of Sardinia, knight of the illuftrious order of To- 
 fon d'Oro. Their only daughter was 
 
 IV. Donna
 
 DESCENDANTS OF FERDINAND CORTES. (443) 
 
 IV. 
 
 Donna Juana d'Arragon Carilla de Mcndoza and Cortcz, V. Da- 
 chefs of Terranova, and VII. marchionefs of the Valley, great cham- 
 bermaid to queen Luifa of Orleans, and afterwards to queen Ma- 
 riana of Aulirla, married to D. Heólor Pignatelli, V. duke of 
 Montelione, princ-e of Noja, marquis of Cerchiara, count of Borelloi 
 Catalonia, and Santangelo, viceroy of Catalonia, grandee of Spain, 
 6cc. Their only fon was 
 
 v.. 
 
 D. Andrea Fabrizio Pignatelli d'Arragon Carillo de Mendoza and 
 Cortez IV. duke of Montelione. VI. duke of Terranova. VIII. mar- 
 quis of the Valley, grandee of Spain, great chamberlain of the 
 kingdom of Naples, knight of the order of Tofon d'Oro, married 
 Donna Terefa Pimentel and Benavides, daughter of D. Antonio Al- 
 fonfo de Quinones, XI. count of Benavente, of Luna, and Ma- 
 jorca, grandee of Spain, &c. and Donna Elifabetta Francifca de Bena- 
 vides, III. marchionefs of Javalquinto, and Villareal. Their daugh- 
 ter was 
 
 VI. 
 
 Donna J Pignatelli d'Arragon Pimentel, Carillo de Men- 
 
 doza and Cortez, VII. duchefs of Montelione, VII. duchefs of Terra- 
 nova, IX. marchionefs of the Valley, grandee of Spain, &c. v/ife of 
 D. Nicolas Pignatelli, of the princes of Noja and Cerchiara, prince 
 of S. R. I. knight of Tofon d'Oro, &c. viceroy of Sardinia and Siw 
 cily, &c. Their fon was 
 
 VII. 
 D. Diego Pignatelli d'Arragon, &c. VIII. duke of Montelione, 
 VIII. duke of Terranova, X. marquis of the Valley,, great admiral 
 and conftable of Sicily, knight of Tofon d'Oro, grandee of Spain, and- 
 prince of S. R. I. 6cc. married Donna Margarita Pignatelli, of the 
 Dukes of Bellolguardo. Their fon was 
 
 VIII. 
 
 D. Fabrizio Pignatelli d'Arragon, &c. IX. duke of Montelione, 
 IX. duke of Terranova, XI. marquis of the Valley, grandee of Spain, 
 prince of S. R. I. &c. married Donna Coflanza Medici, of the princes 
 of Otajano. Their fon was 
 
 IX. D. IIcc-
 
 (444) 
 
 DESCENDANTS OF FERDINAND CORTES. 
 
 IX. 
 
 D. Hedor Pignatelli d'Arragon, &c. X- duke of Montellone, X. 
 ,duke of Terranova, XII. marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca, grandee 
 of Spain, prince of S. R. I. living at prefent in Naples, and married 
 with Donna N. Piccolomini, of the dukes of Amalfi. 
 
 Of that noble couple whom we have placed under Number VI. 
 were born four fons, Diego, Fernando, Antonio, and Fabrizio ; and 
 ,as many daughters, Rofa, Maria Terefa, Stephania, and Caterina. 
 I. Don Diego was heir of the marquifate of the Valley, and the 
 dukedoms of Montelionc and Terranova. 2. Don Ferdinand mar- 
 ried Donna Lucretia Pignatelli, princefs of Strongoli, whofe fon 
 D. Salvatore took to wife donna Julia Maftrigli, of the dukes of Ma- 
 rigliano. 3. D. Antonio, married in Spain, an only daughter of 
 ■the count of Fuentes. Of this marriage was born D. Jerom Pig- 
 jiatclli d'Arragon, Moncayo, &c. count of Fuentes, marquis of Gofco- 
 Juela, grandee of Spain, prince of S. R. I. knight of Tofon d'Oro, of 
 St. Jago, ecc. anìbafìador from the court of Spain to the courts of 
 England and France, and prefident of the royal council of military or- 
 ders ; whofe Ion, now living, has married the only daughter and heii- 
 «fs of Calimiro Pignatelli, count of Egniont, duke of Bifaccia, &c. 
 knight of Tofon d'Oro, and lieutenant-general of the armies of his 
 molt Chriflian majefty. 4. D. Fabrizio took to wife Virginia Pignatelli, 
 filler to the princefs of Strongoli, whofe fon, D. Michael, is marquis 
 of Salice and Guagnano. 5. Rofa was given in marriage to the prince 
 ,of Scalea,. 6.. Maria Terefa, to the marquis of Weflerlo, Seiior Boe- 
 mo. 7. Stephania, to the prince of Bifignano. S. Caterina, to the 
 •count of Acetra. 
 
 A P P E N- 

 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 there are thirteen biilextile ; the laft year of -the century, therefore, 
 ought to anticipate ours by thirteen days, and not twenty-fix. Cori-- 
 fequcntly, the interpofitioh of the thirteen days to adjull the year at the 
 end of the century with the courfe of the fun was net fn perfiuous. So' 
 that Gemelli faid properly as to the anticipation of the day, although he 
 erred in fiying that the Mexicans began the year upon the i oth of April, 
 as it began aa vv£ have often repeated on the 26th of February. 
 The author of the Letters believes, that the Mexicans began their year 
 at the vernal equinox. Wc are of the fame opinion as totlitir agro- 
 nomical year ; but we have not ventured to affirm it as we do not 
 know it. The ancient Spanifli hiftorians of Mexico were not allrono-- 
 nomers, and were lefs attentive to explain in tlieir hiftories the pro- 
 grefs of the Mexicans in fciences than their fuperftitious rites. The 
 Mexican Cyclograpby, compofed by the great aftronomer Siguenza, af- 
 ter a diligent ftudy of the Mexican paintings, and various calculations 
 of the eclipfes and comets marked in their paintings, has not reached- 
 us. 
 
 We cannot pardon the Author of the Letters the injuflice he does 
 this great Mexican in his third Letter of the fecond volume, where he- 
 fpeaks, on the fliith of Gemelli, of the pyramids of Teotihuacan. 
 Carlos Siguenza, fays that author, imagines thefc pyramids anterior to 
 the deluge. This is not true ; how could Siguenza imagine thcfe pyra- 
 mids anterior to the deluge, if he believed the population of /\merica 
 pofterior to the confufion of tongues, and the firlt fettlers defcendants of 
 Nephtuim, grand nephew of Noah, as Boturini attefts, whofiw fome 
 of the works of Siguenza ? Gemelli alfo, on whofe teftimony the author 
 of the Letters refts, gives exprefs contradidion to this particular in his 
 fixth volume, fecond book, and eighth chapter. " No Indian bijlorian,. 
 fays this traveller, " has been able to in-uejiigate the time of the ereSlion 
 " of the pyramids of America-, but D. Carlos Siguenza imagined them' 
 " very ancient, and built a little time after the Deluge." Nor has Ge-- 
 melli properly explained the opinion of Siguenza; for Dr. Eguiara, 
 treating in the Biblioteca Mexicana, of the works of Siguenza, and 
 amongft others of that which he wrote upon the peopling of America,, 
 fays, that in that work he fixed the firfl peopling of the new world- 
 
 paulo' 
 
 475
 
 476 
 
 N D 
 
 X. 
 
 pallio pojl Babylonkam confufionem» that is, a little after the time which 
 Gemelli has mentioned. 
 
 With refpedt to fome other more important points treated of in thofb 
 Letters, we fhall fpeak of them in our Diflertations, in which we 
 iliall fometimes concur, and at other times differ in opinion with the 
 author. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 MEXICO. 
 
 COLLECTED FROM 
 
 SPANISH and MEXICAN HISTORIANS, 
 
 FROM 
 
 MANUSCRIPTS, and Ancient PAINTINGS of the INDIANS. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 C H A R T Sj and other COPPER PLATES. 
 
 TO WHICH ARK ADDED, 
 
 CRITICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 LAND, the ANIMALS, and INHABITANTS of MEXICO. 
 By Abbé D. FRANCESCO SAVERIO CLAVIGERO. 
 
 Tranflated from the Original Italian, 
 
 By CHARLES CULLE N, Efq. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 V O L. II. 
 
 LONDON, 
 Printed for G. G. J. and J. Robinson, No. 25, Pater-nofter Row. 
 
 MDCCLX-XXVri.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK VIII. 
 
 JTIRST veyagcs of the Spaniards to the coajl of Anahuac, I. — CharaHtr of the pr'nuifial con- 
 queror i of Mexico, 4. — ViSlory of the Spaniards in Taha/io, 7. — Armament and Koyage 
 of Cortes, 8. — Account af the famous Indian Donna Marina, 9. — Arrival of ihi armament at 
 the pert of Chakbicuechaii, II. — Montezuma's uueajine/i, embajfy, and prtfcnts to Cortes, ir. 
 "—Prefent from Montezuma to the Catholic king, i 7. — Emhajfy from the lord of Chcmpoalla, and 
 its cotfcquences, 18. — Imprifonment of the royal lainijlirs in Chiahititxlla, 22. — Confederacy of 
 the Tolonacas ivith the Spaniards, 2'^.—~Fou'idation of Vera CruTi, 24. — Nczv embajjies and 
 prefents from Montezuma, 2^.— Breaking of the idols of Chempoulla, z6. — L: tiers from the 
 armament lo the Catholic king, 28. — Signal ccndu^ of Cortes, 29. — .March of the Spaniards to 
 Tlafca'a, ib. — Alteration in the Tljfalans, their refolition concerning the Spaniards, 3 1 . — War 
 of Tlafala, 35. — Ne".\} embajics and prefents from Monte-^uma ta Cortes, jq.— Peace and con- 
 federacy of the Tlafcalans ivith the Spaniards, 4 ) .^EmbaJJy of prince Ixllilxochitl, and league 
 nuith the HurxotrJncus, 43. — StibmiJ/ion of Tlafala to the Catholic king, ib. — Entry of the Spa- 
 niards into TLifcala, 44. — Enmity between the Tlnfcalans and Cholulans, 47. — Entry of the 
 Spaniards into Cholula, ^i.^— Slaughter committed in Cholula, 50. — Submijjion of the Cholulans 
 and 7cpeacl.'ifc, 53. — Xnv embafy and prifent from the king of Mrxico, 54. — Revolutions in 
 Jotonacapan, ^^.—M.irch of the Spaniards to Tlalina'ialco, 56. — f'ift of the king of Tezcuco 
 10 Cortes, 59. — f'ift of the princes of Tezcuco, and entry of the Spaniards into that court, 6 1 .— 
 Entry of the Spaniards into Iztapalapan, 62 —Entry of the Spaniards into Mexico, — — ()■> 
 
 B O O K IX. 
 
 Firfl conference, and ne'M prcfents from Montezuma, 6-j. —-F'ift of Cortes to the king, yo.—De- 
 fcripiion of the cily of Mexico, jl. — EffeOs of Cortes' s zeal for religion, 74. — Imprifonment 
 ef Montezuma, "j^.— Life of the king in pri fon, 80. — Punijhment of the lord of Nauhtlan, and 
 neiu iufults to Montezuma, ii. ^Attempts of the king of Acolhuacan againfl the Spaniards, 8c. • 
 —Imprifonment of that king and other lords, 8&.—Submifion of Montezuma and the nobles to the 
 king of Spain, 90. — F irfl homage of the Mexicans to tie croivn of Spain, 91.^ — Uneafntfs of 
 the nobler, and neiv fears of Munlezuma, 92. — Armament of the governor of Cuba againfl 
 Cvrtes, (j^.—yiilory over Narvaez, 97. — Slaughter of the nobles and infurreSion of the people^ 
 <)(),— Skirmifres between the Mexicans and Spaniards, 103. — Speech of the king to the peojle, 
 and its effcH, 105. — Terrible engagement In the temple, 107. — Death of Montezuma, and other 
 lords, 1 10. — Dffeat tf the Spaniards in their retreat, I x^.— Fatiguing mai ch of the Spaniards, 
 I X"].— Famous battle of Otompan, ib. — Retreat of the Spaniards to Tlafcala, 1 20. — EleHion if 
 a king in Mexico, 121. — Embajfy from king Cuitlahuatzin to Tlafcala, 123 — Baptfm of the 
 fur lords of Tlafcala, 125. — Dfconlent among the Spaniards, I 26. — War of the Spaniards 
 etgai.i/l the Ttpeaehefe, ib. — War of ^auhquechollan, 128. — War of Itzocan, 131. — War of 
 X<datzincc, Tecamachalcc, and Tochtrpcc, 132. — Havoc made by tbe f mall-pox. Death of 
 Cuiilahuatiin,andprince Maxixcalz.in, andelcBion of ^uauhlemotzin, in.— Exaltation of prince 
 Ccanacotziu, and dtath of Qmuitzcatzin, ■ — — 13^ 
 
 Al BOOK
 
 O N T E N T S. 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 ReviciM aiiii march of the Spanijii army to Tczcuco, j^^.'— Entry of the Spaniards info that court. 
 RcTolulioni there, 139. — Dangerous expedition agninj} Iztapalapaa, 142. — Confederacy of Otom- 
 fan, and other cities, ivilh the Spaniard', \\i, — Traifporting cf the materials of the hrigan- 
 tincs, 146. — Expeditions againji Xaltocan and Tlacnpan, \\-],— -Expeditions eigainfi Huax- 
 tfpcc, Jaubtepec, and Jacapichtia, 149. — Friiitlcfs ncgocialion ivith the court of Mexico, 151. 
 —March of the Spaniards through the fottthern mountains, 152. — Conqueji of ^aithnahuac, 
 153- — Conqueft of Xochimilco, 154. — March of the Spaniards round the lakes to Tezcuco, 157. 
 — Confpiracy againft Cortes, 157. — Laft preparations for the ftege of Mexico, 1 58. — Di/pof- 
 tion of the artny in the fcge of the capital, l^q.'^PiiniJl?me>!t of Xicotcncatl, 160. — Firf Hof- 
 tilities and beginning of the fege, \i:z. — Tirfl entry of the befiegers into the capital, 163. — /«- 
 creafe of the auxiliary troops of the Spaniards, \6y .—Neiv entries into the city, 168. — Confediracy 
 of fever al cities of the lake agaixfi the Spaniards, i8g. — Operations of Aivarado, and brafe'y 
 cf Tzilacat^in, \~l.— Treachery of the Xcchimilcas, and other people, lyz.—P'iffo'y of the 
 Mexicans, ib. — Engagement cf the briganlines andflratagems of the Mexicans, 1 76. — Fruitlefs 
 embajfy to the king of Mexico, 177. — Expeditious agaivfi the Malinalclefe and Matlazincas, 
 178. — Memorable anions of tie general Chechemecail, 181. — Slaughter made in Mexico, and 
 bravery of fame ivomen, 18:. — Dcp'.oralle fiate of the Mexicans, 185. — Fruitlefs attempts to 
 tnake them furrendcr, 1S6. — 'Nev; confici and horrid flaughtcr of the Mexicans, 187. — l.afl 
 ajfautt, and taking of the city and kings, 188, — Prferity of Montezumiu, \ . — Poftcrity of 
 
 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 /^ Oncertiing the firfl peopling-of Jinterica, and in particular that of Mexico, 200.— Who ivere its 
 
 firfl peopler:-, zo't,, — Howi men and animals pajjid to /imcricn, 210 
 
 Dissert. II. On the principal epochs in the bijlory of Mexico, ___.. - . 225 
 
 DiSEEKT. III. On the land of Mexico, 2-13. — The pretended inundation of America, 245.— '/"/»« 
 
 climate and foil of Mexico, ■ 254 
 
 Dissert. IV. On the animals ofMexicc, 277. — The animals native to Mexico, and thofe Iranfported 
 there from Europe, 505. — Catalogue of American quadrupeds, 3:6. — Species acknoivlcdged hy 
 Bujon, ibid. — '■Jhe jpe>.ies ivhich he has 7iot dijlinguijhed, hut cotfufed <ivith others jlmilar to 
 
 them, 322. — 'The Jpccics of luhich he is ignorant, or unjufily denies to America, 323 
 
 Dissert, V. On the phyfiial and moral conftitution of the Mexicans, 327. — Their corporeal and 
 
 me/.tal qualities, - - ■ — _____ . yi% 
 
 Dissert. VI. On the degree of civilization and refinement of the Mexicans, 363.— 7/># txiant of 
 money, 364. — The ufe of iron, 367. — T he art of building Jhips, bridges, and (f making lime, 370. 
 The rxaut of letters, 372 — The arts of the Mexicam, 383. — The language and laivs of tic 
 Mexicans, 394. — Catalogue of European and Creole authors ivho have written in the languages 
 ef New Spain, 412. — Authors of Grammars and Visionaries of the/e languages, — ^ 4 14 
 
 DisstRT. VII, On the boundaries and population oj the kingdoms of /Ivahuac, 4J6 
 
 Dtiil.s.T.Ylll. On the religion of tie Mix'eam, - ■-- . ■ ■ 4.36 
 l,li!l.ViT.lX. 0,1 the Origin of tie French evil, • • 448 
 
 THE
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 M E X I 
 
 O. 
 
 BOOK VIII. 
 
 The arrival of the Spaniards upon the Coaji of Anahnac. The uneaji- 
 nefs, embajjies, and prefents of Montezuma, Confederacy of the Spa- 
 niards with the Nation of the Totonacas, their War and Alliance 
 •with the Tlafcalans j their Severity to the Cholulans, and their folemn 
 Entry into Mexico. Account of the celebrated Indian Donna Marina. 
 Foundation of Vera Cruz, thefrji Colony of the Spaniards. 
 
 THE Spaniards, who ever fince the year 1492, had difcovered BOOK vili, 
 
 the New World, under the conduft of the celebrated Genoefe ' ^ ' 
 
 Chrillopher Columbus ; and, in the fpace of a few years, fubjeélcd to the Fini voyage 
 
 crown of Cadile the principal iflands of the Antilles, nwde frequent <^[ the Spa- 
 
 • • r \ J-/- niards to the 
 
 cruiles from thence to difcover new countries, and barter E uro|Kan toys coaftof Ana- 
 tor American gold. In the year 1517, amongft other adventurers, Fran- '""''^.' 
 cifco Hernandez, of Cordova, weighed anchor from the port of Ajaruco, 
 now called the Havanna, with one hundred and ten foldicrs, and proced- 
 ing to tlie wellward by the advice of Antonio Alaminas, one of the mofl- 
 *oL- ^^' B famous
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK VIII, famous and Ikilful pilots of that time, and then veering to the fouthward, 
 difcovered, in the beginning of March, the eaftern cape of the pen- 
 infula of Yucatan, which they called Capo Catoche. They coafted 
 along a part of that country, admiring the beautiful edifices and lofty 
 towers which appeared upon the coall, and the (^) different coloured 
 habits which the Indians wore ; objects never before feen in the New 
 World. The Yucatanefe, on their part, marvelled at the fize, the 
 form, and decorations of their veflels. At two places where the Spa- 
 niards landed, they had fome fkirmifljes with the Indians, in whichj 
 and by other diftrefles that attended them, they loft the half of their 
 foldiers, and their captain himfelf received twelve wounds, which in a 
 few days occafioned his death. Having returned precipitately to Cuba, 
 with the accounts of their expedition, and fome gold which they had 
 robbed from a temple and brought with them for fliew, they awoke the 
 avaricious paffions of Diego de Velafquez, formerly a conqueror, and 
 then governor of that iiland ; upon which he next year fitted out his 
 relation Juan de Grijalva, with four veffels, and two hundred and forty 
 foldiers. This commander, after haviiig difcovered the iiland of Co- 
 '/umel, a few miles dillant from the eaftern fhore of Yucatan, coafted 
 along all that country, which lies from thence to the river Panuco, 
 exchanging little glafs balls, and fuch like trifling wares, for gold,, 
 which they anxioully fought, and the provifions they required. 
 
 (a) Dr. Robertfon fays, in book iii. that the Spaniards lanJeJ, and aihuiiicitig into the 
 tffvntry {of Yucatan), ohj'ervai, ivitf> amazement, large bùufes built of Jtone. 'Ihus he fpeaks 
 where he recounts the voya},'e of Hernandez. But a few pages after, fpeaking of the 
 voyage of Grijalva, he writes thus : Many -vil'ages iwre faltered along the Jl.'ore, among 
 K^h'u-h, they (the Spaniards) could difcern houfes of jli>ne, -ivhieh at a diflance appeared i\<hite 
 *nd mavnificent. In the heat of their imagination, they reprcfented to themfelves that thefe ivcre 
 Jo many cities adorned <ivith toivers and eupotai. Among all the hiliorians of IMexico, we 
 have not found one who has faid, that the Spaniards imagined there «ere cupolas in Yu- 
 catan. This idea belongs to Robertfon» not to them. They thought they faw high' 
 towers and large houfes, as, in facf, they were. The temples of Yucatan, like thofe of Ana- 
 huac, were built for the moft part in the form of towers, and were very lofty. Bernal Diaz, 
 an author of the utmoll veracity, aad an eye-witnt-fs of all that happened to the Spaniards in 
 tiitir firft voyages to Yucatan, when he fpeaks of the difcrabarkment they made in their 
 firft voyage to the coall of Campeachy, fiys thus : Theyy the hidians, conduHed us to fome 
 hcufs, "Mhich ivere large and tolerably well built of jlonc and lime. From which it appears. 
 they not only faw the buildings at a diOancc, but approached to them and entered them. The 
 ufc of liine h;iving bci-n fo common .nmong thofe nations, it is not wonderful that the prai'iice 
 of whitenng them alfo WMS common. Sec our fcventh book. At any rate we cannot com- 
 prehend, how a hoiLfc at a dilbnce fliould fcem white if it really was not lo. 
 
 When
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 When they arrived at that little illand, which they called Sf. Juan BOOKViii. 
 de Ulna fò), httle more than a mile diftant from the fliore of Ch.il- 
 chiuhcuecan ; the Mexican governors of thofe coafts, confounded at 
 the fight of velfels fo large, and men of fo Arange an afpedt and 
 figure, confulted together what they fhould do on the occafion, and 
 determined to repair in perfon to the court to give intelligence to the 
 king of fo extraordinary an occurrence. But in order to convey to him 
 a more perfed: idea of the particulars, they caufed the veli'els, artillery, 
 arms, drefs, and appearance of the new people to be reprefented in 
 fonie meafure by their painters ; after which, they fet off without 
 farther delay to the court, to relate what had arrived upon the coall, 
 prefenting to the king, along with the paintings, fome little balls of glafs, 
 which they had got from the Spaniards. Montezuma was extremely 
 difturbed on hearing their account ; but, to avoid any ralh ftep in an 
 affair of fuch confequence and alarm, he held a council with Caca- 
 matzin, king of Acolhuacan, his nephew, Cuitlahuatzin, lord of Iz- 
 tapalapan, his brother, and other twelve perfonages, his ordinary 
 counlèllors. After a long conference they concluded unanimoufly, that 
 he who had landed upon that Ihore, with fo great an army, could be no 
 other perfon than ^letzalcoatl, the god of air, who had for many years 
 been expedled in that country j for there prevailed among thofe nations, 
 as we have already mentioned, an ancient tradition, that fuch a deity, 
 after having, by his beneficence and innocence of life, acquired the 
 efteem and veneration of the people in Tollan, Cholula, and Onohu- 
 alco, had difappeared to them, promifing to return after a certain pe- 
 riod, to govern them in peace, and render them happy. The kings 
 of thofe countries confidered theinfelves the viceroys of that god, 
 and truftees of the crown, which they were to cede to him whenever 
 he made his appearance. This immemorial tradition, a variety of 
 
 (b) They gave to this illand the name of S. Junn ; becaufe they arrived there on the 
 day of S. Precurfor, and bccaufc this was the name of the commander. They called it Ulua 
 alfo, becaufe thoy found there two human victims recently facrificcd, and upon demanding-, 
 by means of ligns, the reafon of fuch barbarity, the Indians pointing towards the country of 
 the wcl>, anfwcred Jcolhua, jlioU-ua, meaning to be undcrrtood, that they did it by order of 
 the Mexicans ; as all the inhabitants of the Mexican vale were called Acolhuas by the people 
 at a dillancc from the capital. On this liitlc idand there is at prefent a good fortrefs to de- 
 fend the cjury into the port of f'lra Cruz. 
 
 B 2 marks
 
 4 HISTORYOFxMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK vili, marks obferved by them in the Spaniards conforming with thofe which 
 their mythology afcribed to Quetzalcoatl, the furprifmg largenels of the 
 vefìels compared with their Uttle Ikiffs and canoes, the loud noife and 
 force of the artillery, refembling fo ftrongly that of the clouds, all 
 together awed and infpired them to believe it was the god of air who 
 had arrived upon their coafls, with all the apparatus of thunder, light- 
 ning, and divinity. Moved by this perfuafion, Montezuma ordered five 
 perfons of his court to repair immediately to Chalchiuhcuecan, to make 
 congratulations, in the name of him and the whole kingdom, to this 
 fuppofed power of the air, on his happy arrival in that land, and to of- 
 fer him in homage a large prefent ; but, before he difpatched them, he 
 previoully fent orders to the governors of the coafts, to place centinels 
 on the high mountains of Nauhtlan, Quauhtla, Mid:lan, and Tocht- 
 lan, that they might obferve the motions of the armament, and fend 
 fpeedy advice of every thing which happened to the court. The Mexi- 
 can ambaifadors were unable, in fpite of their utmoft expedition, to 
 overtake the Spaniards, who, when they had finiflied their commerce 
 on that coaft, continued their courfe along fhore, as far as the river of 
 Panama, from whence they returned to Cuba with ten thoufand fequins 
 in gold, part acquired in exchange for toys, part obtained in a prefent 
 made to the commander by a lord of Onohualco. 
 Sect II The governor of Cuba was much difpleafed that Grijalva did not 
 
 Charatìers of plant a colony in that new country, which was reprefented by all to 
 tonqiierors be the moft rich and happy in the world. Upon this he immedi- 
 «f ^ieilco. g^^jy £tte(] out another larger armament, for the command of which 
 feveral of the principal colonifts of that ifland contended; but the go- 
 vernor, by the advice of his confidants, committed it to Ferdinand 
 Cortes, a perfon of noble birth, and fufficiently rich to be able to 
 fupport, with his own private capital, and the afTiftance of his friends, 
 a confiderable (hare of the expences of the expedition. lie was born 
 in Medellin, a fmall city of Eftremadura, in the year 1485. By the 
 father he was Cortes and Monroi, and by his mother Pizarro arid Altami- 
 rano, uniting in himfelf the blood of thofe four lineages, which were 
 the moft renowned and ancient of that city. At the age of fourteen, 
 he was fent by his parents to Salamanca, 'va order tliat by learning the 
 Latin tongue, and the civil law, at that famous univerfity, he might 
 
 become
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 5 
 
 become the fiipport of his family which was reduced to poverty j but BOOKVUI. 
 it was not loa:- oc.ore his mihtary genius diverted him froai ftudy, and 
 led him to the New World, aittr the example of many illuftrious 
 youths of his nation. He accompanied Diego V^elafquez, in the 
 conqueft of the iHdnd of Cuba, where he gained much wealth and ac- 
 quired confiderable authority. He was a man of great talents, dilcern- 
 ment, and courage, dextrous in the ufe of arms, fruitful in expedients 
 and refources to carry his projeds into execution, and highly ingenious 
 in making himfelf be obeyed and refpedted even by his equals ; great 
 in his dchgns and aólions, cautious in operations, modefl: in fpeech, 
 fteady in his enterprifes, and patient in adverfity. His zeal in religion 
 was by no means inferior to his conilant and inviolable fidelity to his 
 fovereign j but the fplendor of thofe and other good qualities which 
 placed him in the rank of heroes, was fuUied and darkened by fonie 
 actions unworthy of his greatnefs of foul. His immoderate love of 
 the fex engaged him perpetually in criminal connexions, and had for- 
 merly been attended with many difficulties and much danger. His 
 too great ardour, or rather obftinacy, in enterprifes, and the fe:ir of 
 fruflrating his hopes of fortune, made him fometimes wanting in jus- 
 tice, gratitude, and humanity; but, perhaps, there never was a gene- 
 ral and conqueror, brought up in the fchool of the world, in v/hom 
 the virtues were not foiled by his vices. Cortes was of a good dature 
 and well proportioned, robuil and aflive. His chefl: was rather pro- 
 minent, his beard black, and his eyes fparkling and amorous. Such 
 is the portrait of the fiimous conqueror of Mexico, which the fiiit 
 hiftorians who knew him have left us. 
 
 As foon as he found himfelf honoured with the poft of general of 
 the expedition, he ufed the utmofl diligence in preparing for the voy- 
 age, and began to allume the flyle of a great lord, both in his carriage 
 and in his attendants ; fully fenlible of the influence fuch a conduct 
 has in dazzling the vulgar, and creating authority. He immediately 
 ereifted the royal ftandard before his houfe, and publifli.'d a proclama- 
 tion through the iQancl to enlift foldiers. Men, the mort: confpicuou^j 
 of ill that country, both in rank and office, were emulous to put 
 thcmlelves under his command, namely, Alonzo Hernandez dc 
 
 forto-
 
 6 . H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOKViri, Portocarrero, coufin of the count de Medellin, Juan Velafquez de 
 Leon, a near relation to the governor, Diego Ordaz, Francifco de 
 Montejo, Francilco de Lugo, and others, whom we fliall name in the 
 courfe of our hiftory. Amongft all thefe, Pedro de Alvarado de Bada- 
 jos, Chrifloval de Olid de Baeza, in Andalulia, and Gonzales de San- 
 doval de Medellin, merit particular mention, as they were the firfl 
 commanders of the troops employed in that conqueft, and thofe who 
 made the mofl diftinguilhed figure : all three warriors, extremely cou- 
 rageous, enured to the fatigues of war, and fkilled in the military art, 
 though otherwife different in charadler. Alvarado was a young man 
 of handfome fliape, and extreme agility, fair, graceful, lively, popular, 
 addided to luxuries and pleafures, greedy of gold, of which he flood 
 in need to fupport his love of grandeur, and, as fome authors affirm, 
 unlcrupulous how he obtained it, inhumane and violent in his con- 
 dudt in fome expeditions. Olid was flout limbed, dark, and double. 
 Both of them were very ferviceable to Cortes in the conqueft ; but 
 they proved ungrateful to him afterwards, and met with a tragical end. 
 Alvarado died in New Gallicia, killed by a horfe which tumbled from 
 a precipice. Olid was beheaded by his enemies in the fquare or mar- 
 ket-place of Naco, in the province of Honduras. Sandoval, a youth 
 of a good family, was fcarcely twenty-two when he enlifled in the ex- 
 pedition of his countryman Cortes. He was well-fliaped, manly in 
 flature, and of a robufl complexion, his hair was of a chelhut colour 
 and curly, his voice flrong and thick ; a perfon of few words but ex- 
 cellent deeds. Cortes lent him on the molt difficult and dangerous 
 expeditions, in all of which he came off" with 1 uccefs and with honour. 
 In the v/ar againft the Mexicans, he headed a part of the Spanifh army, 
 iind at the fiege of the capital, he had more than thirty thoufand men 
 under his command, continually enjoying from his good conduct the 
 favour of the general, the refpeól of the Ibldiers, and even the love of 
 his enemies. He founded the colony of Medellin, on the coafl of 
 Chalchiuhcuecan, and that of Spirito Santo, on the river Coatzacualco. 
 He was commander of the garrifon of Vera Cruz, and ibme time go- 
 vernor of Mexico; and in all his employments his equity was confpi- 
 cuous. He was conftant and affiduous in labour, obedient and faith- 
 ful 
 8
 
 History of m e x i c o. , 7 
 
 fui to his general, kind to the foldiers, humane {c) to his enemies, and BOOKViil. 
 entirely free from the prevailing contagion of avarice. In fhort, in all '"^ "*^ ^ 
 the feries of conquerors, we do not find a mere accompliiiied or praife- 
 worthy charader, as there was no one among them who knew fo well 
 how to unite prudence and difcretion with the ardour of* youth, bra- 
 very and intrepidity with humanity, modefty with merit, and humility 
 with fuccefs. He died in the flower of his age at a place of Andalufia, 
 on his way to tlie court of Spain with Cortes. 
 
 As foon as all the preparations for the voyage were made, the gover- Sect. III. 
 nor of Cuba, from the fu^eeftions and infinuations of the rivals of Anmmcnt 
 
 ' oo _ ^ ami voyage 
 
 Cortes, recalled liis commiffion, and ordered him to be imprifoned ; oi Cortes. 
 
 but thofe who were charged with his apprelienfion had not courage to 
 
 attempt it, from feeing fo many refpedlable and brave men united to 
 
 fupport the part of their new general ; lb that Cortes who had not 
 
 only fpent all his own capital in preparations, but alfo contradted large 
 
 debts, retained his poll in fpite of his enemies ; and having all things 
 
 in order and readincfs, weighed anchor from the port of Ajaruco upon 
 
 the loth of I'ebruary, 1519. The armament confifted of eleven vef- 
 
 fels, five hunJrcd and eight foldiers, divided into eleven companies, 
 
 one hundred and nine feamen, fixteen horfes, ten pieces of cannon, and 
 
 four falconets. They fteered under the dire>5tion of the pilot Alami- 
 
 (c) Dr. Robinfbn accufes Sandoval of that horrid txample of feverity made of the Par:u- 
 chefi, where the Spaniards burned li\ty lords and four hundred nobles, under the eyes of their 
 children and kiiidrod, and cites the teliimony of Cortcz and Goinara ; but Cortes neither af- 
 lirnis that Sandoval executed that punilhment, nor even names it. Bernal Diaz, whofe autho- 
 rity in this point is more to be depended on than Gomara, fays, that Sandoval after he had 
 conquered the Panucliefe, and taken twenty lords, and feme other perfons of note prifoncrs, 
 wrote to Cortes tij know his determination with rcl'peft to thrm ; and Cortes, in order to make 
 their condemnation more julliliable, fubinitted the procefs to Diego de Ocampo, juclj^e of that 
 province, who, after having lieard their confcfiion, fcntenced them to be buincd, which judg- 
 ment was executed. Bi-rnal Dial does not e.vprefs the number ot thofe who were condemned; 
 Cortes fays, that including lords ard other principal peifons» four hundred were burned. Such 
 a Icntenec w,is no doubt cruel .ukI fevere ; but Robcrtfon, who calls many reproaches on the 
 Spaniards, ou^ht to have evinced his Impartiality by dcclarint; the motives which they had to 
 adt fo violently againil the Panuchcfc. 'I he latter having fubjerìed themfelves to the crown of 
 Spain, renounced their obedience, and, rur.ning to arms, difturbcd that whole province ; thej^ 
 killed four hundred Spaniards, forty of wliom they burned alive and eat the others. Such 
 atrocious doings arc not fufficicnt to excufc the Spaniards, but they certainly extenuate the fc- 
 verity of their condu.'>. Robertfon read etjually in Gomara of the rebellious deeds of the 
 Panuchrj'e, and the rigour of the Spaoiardst but ha conceals the former and cxaggerate3 the lat- 
 ter. 
 
 nos.
 
 8 HISTORY OFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK VIII. nos, to the ifland of Cozumcl, where they recovered Jerom de Aguilar, 
 
 " ' ' a Spaniih dean, who, in going from Darien to the ifland of Hifpaniola 
 
 a few years before, had been fliipwrecked on the coafl of Yucatan, 
 
 and was mads a (lave to the Indians. Hearing of the arrival of the 
 
 Spaniards at Cozumel, he obtained liberty from his mafler, and joined 
 
 the fleet. From long commerce with the Yucatanefe, he had learned 
 
 the Maja language which is fpoken there, on which account he ob~ 
 
 taincd the office of interpreter to Cortes. 
 
 Si-cT. IV. From Cozumel they proceeded along the coafi: of the peninfula of 
 
 yiftory of Yucatan to the river Chiana, in the province of Tabafco, by which 
 
 the Span lavds . : 
 
 in Tabaico. they advanced into the country, in barges and the fmallell'veflels, un- 
 til they reached a grove of palm-trees, where they landed under pre- 
 tence of wanting water and provifions, direded their courfe to a large 
 village, which was not quite two miles dillance, combating all the 
 way with a croud of Indians, who annoyed their progrefs with arrows, 
 darts, and other offcnfive weapons, and forcing through the paliliidoes 
 which they had placed for their defence. The Spaniards having made 
 themielves mafters of the village, made frequent excurfions aniong the 
 neighbouring places, in which they had many dangerous fkirmiOies, 
 until at lalt there happened a decilive engagement on the 25th day 
 of March. The battle was fought on the plains of Ceutla, a village 
 but a little dillance from the other. The army of the enemy was 
 much fuperior in number; but in fpite of their multitude they were 
 entirely defeated, on account of the fuperior difcipline of the Spaniards, 
 the advantage of their arms, and the terror ftruck into the Indians by 
 the iize and fire of their horfes. Eight hundred of the enemy remain- 
 ed dead upon the field. Of the Spaniards, one was killed, and more 
 than fixty wounded. This viftory was the beginning of the fuccels 
 of the Spaniards, in memory of which they founded a finali city there, 
 which they named Madonna dcUn Vìtlorìa (J J, and \\ms afterwards for 
 a long time the capital of that province. They endeavoured to jufiify 
 their hofiilities by the repeated proteflatlons which ihcy made to the 
 
 {,!) Tic city of \i.'>ori:i wus dcpopiil:i;rd entirely :ib(ii t th ' n iddic of the laft century, en 
 account of the frequent invufions of the F.nglifli. Another fmalL city was -.Lficrw.irds founded 
 at a greater dirtance from the coi rr, which tlicy culled /7//rt/?'('/'/.7_/'( ; but the capital of this 
 j; pvince, where the govf rnor rclidcsj is Tliuoiialja/i. 
 
 natives
 
 HISTORYOF MEXICO. 9 
 
 natives before they came to any engagement, that they were not come EOCKm;:. 
 
 into their co*intry to do them any injury as enemies, but Iblely as na- ^-^"^^"^^ 
 
 vigators necelTitateJ to procure, by the exchange of their merchandizes, 
 
 the provifions which they required to continue their voyage; to which 
 
 protefts, the Indians anfwered with a rtiower of arrows and darts. 
 
 Cortfs took fclemn poirethon of that country in the name of his Ibve- 
 
 reign, with a flrange ceremony, though agreeable to the cavalier cuf- 
 
 toms and ideas of that century. He put on his fhield, un/lieathed his 
 
 fword, and gave three Rubs with it to a large tree which was in the 
 
 principal village, declaring, that if any perfon durll oppofe his polfef- 
 
 fion, he would defend it with tliat fword. 
 
 To conhrm more formally the dominion of his king, he al^embled 
 the lords of that province, and perfuad.-d them to render him obedience, 
 and to acknowledge him as their lawful fovereign ; and to imprefs them 
 with an elevated idea of the power of his king, he made before them 
 a difcharge of the artillery, and by artifices impofed upon them the be- 
 lief, that the neighing of the horfes was a mark of their indignation 
 at the enemies of the Spaniards. They all appeared to acquielce in the 
 propofals of the conqueror, and liftened with wonder and pleafure to 
 hear the firfl truths of the Chriflian religion, which Bartolomeo de 
 Olmedo, a learned divine, and chaplain to the expedition, declared to 
 them by the interpreter Aguilar. They prcfented afterwards to Cortes, 
 in token of their fubmiflion, fome little articles of geld, feveral gar- 
 ments of coarfe liiien, as they made ufe of no others in that province, 
 and twenty female Haves, which were divided among the officers of 
 his troops. 
 
 Amcng thefe was a young girl of noble birth, beauty, quick genius, «; e ct. v. 
 and ereat fpirit, a native of Painalla, a village of the Mexican pro- ^'^'■"«"nt "^ 
 
 ^ ^ ' 1 /- I TT r t 111 - 1 the tamous 
 
 Vince or Coatzacualco/'ty. Her lather had been a feudatory of the ln.i;an Don- 
 crown 
 
 nj \j 
 
 uniui. 
 
 fr) la a manufc-ript hirtory, which was in the library of the collen;? of Sr. Peter .nad St. 
 P.iiil of the Jtùiits of Mexico, it is faid, that 1). Marina was born in ll'.iilurhi, a village of 
 Co.it zac iialco. Gomara, who is copied by Hcrrcni and Torquemada, lay 5, flie was a naiiie ot 
 X.ilixco, and taken from thence by fome merchants of Xicallanco, and carried to their coii(v 
 (ry ; but this i; mod probably falfc ; as. Xallxco is more than nine hundred miles dillant fiom 
 Xicallanco, and it is not known tliat there was any commerce between thefe two provinces fo 
 remote from each other. Bernal Diaz, who lived a lon,:r time in Coatzaciialco, and knew tlie 
 inother and brother of Marina, confirms the truth of our atwinir, and avers to have heard it 
 
 Vol. H. C from
 
 IO H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK vili, crov/n of Mexico, and lord of feveral places. Her mother having 
 been left a widow, married another noble, by whom fhe had a fon. 
 The love which they bore to this fruit of their marriage, induced thena 
 to pretend the death of their firft-born child, thit the inheritance 
 might fall wholly to the lafi. To make it appear credible, they deli- 
 vered her up privately to ibme merchants of Xicallanco, a city iituated 
 upon the borders of Tabafco, at a time when the daughter of one of 
 their flaves had died, for Vv'hofe death they made as much mourning 
 as if it had been the death of their own. Thefe merchants gave her 
 av/ay, or fold her to their neighbours of Tabafco, who, laflly, pre- 
 fented her to Cortes, unfufpicious that that fingular flave fhould con- 
 tribute by her fpeech to the conquell of aU that land. Befides the na- 
 tive language of her own country, Ihe underflood the Maja language 
 which was fpoke in Yucatan and in Tabafco, and in a little time fhe 
 learnt the Spanifli. Infl:ru(5ted readily in the tenets of the Chriflian 
 religion, flie was folemnly baptifed with other flaves by the name of 
 Marina ((/y. She was always faithful to the Spaniards, and her fer- 
 vices to them can never be over- rated ; as fhe was not only the inftru- 
 ment of their negociations with the Mexicans, the Tlafcalans, and the 
 other nations of Analauac, but frequently faved their lives, by warn- 
 ing them of dangers, and pointing out the means of efcaping them. 
 She accompanied Cortes in all his expeditions, ferving fometimes as aa 
 interpreter, fometimes as a counfellor, and fometimes to her misfortune 
 .'.s a miflrefs. The fon which fhe had by that conqueror, who was 
 called Don Martin Cortes, knight of the militar) order of St. Ja- 
 go, on account of fome ill-grounded fufpicions of rebell'on, was 
 put to the torture in Mexico, in the year 1568; his iniquitous and 
 barbarous judges paying no regard to the memory of the unequalled 
 fervices rendered by the parents of that illuflrious fufTerer to the Ca- 
 tholic king and all the Spanifli nation (gj. After the conquef\ fhe 
 
 was 
 
 from Marina herfelf. A tradition alfo, which is (lill prcferved in Coatv.acuaico, conforms to 
 
 what we have faid. 
 
 (/) Ihe Mexicans adapt the name Marina to their language, ani hy Mali/itziii, whente 
 -came the name Malimhi, by which (he is known among the Spaniards of Mexico. 
 
 (?) Thole nho gave the torture to Don Martin Cortes, and put the marquis of the Vale, 
 his 'brother, in prifon, were two formidable judges fent to Mexico by Philip II. The chief 
 of thofc judges called Mugnoz, made fuch barbarous decifions, that the king being moved by 
 
 S the
 
 PI I S T O Pv Y O F M E X I e O. ii 
 
 was married to a refpeiftable Spaniard, named Juan de Xaramillo. Dur- bookvi i. 
 ing the long and hazardous voyage which rtie made in company witli 
 Cortes to the province of Honduras, in 1524, (he had occalion in 
 palling through her native country to fee her mother and her brother, 
 who prefented themfelves before her, bathed in tears and covered with 
 confufion, as they dreaded that from her being in power and profper- 
 ity, under the prote<ftion of the Spaniards, flie would revenge the wrongs 
 which had been done to her in her infancy ; but llie received and ca- 
 refied them with great afFeóUon, from the naturally generous difpofi- 
 tion of her temper, which equalled the other excellent talents llie pof- 
 felled. We have tliDught proper not to omit thofe incidents of a wo- 
 man who \vas the hrll Chriilian of the Mexican empire, who makes 
 fo dillinguifhed a figure in the hiftory of the conqueft, and whofe 
 name has been and is fbill fo celebrated, not lefs among the Mexicans 
 than the Spaniards. 
 
 Cortes having made himfelf fecure of the tranquillity of Tabafco, 
 and perceiving that it was not the country to yield gold, refolved to 
 profecute his voyage and feek for a region more rich than it ; but as 
 the kllival of the palms drew near, he was defirous of giving the na-, 
 tives of Tabafco fome idea of the folemnity of the Chrifhian religion. 
 That day mafs was celebrated with all the poflible forms of facred 
 duty ; the branches were blefled, and a folemn procefTion, with mar- 
 tial mufic, was made, at all which the Indians were prefent, and lif- 
 tened with iiftonin:iment and awe. 
 
 This function being performed, and leave taken of the lords of Ta- 
 bafco, the armament put to fea, and fleering to the weflward, after 
 coarti ng along the province of Coatzacualco, and crolli ng the moutii 
 of the river Papaloapan, it entered the port of St. Juan de Ulua, on 
 Holy Thurfday, the 2irt: of April. They liad hardly caft anchor, 
 when they faw from the fliore of Chalchiuhcuecan two large canoes 
 rowing towards their admiral, in which were many Mexicans fent by 
 the governor of that coaft, to know who they were who had arrived 
 in that ne;v armament, and what they wanted, and to offer them all 
 
 rhe complaints of the Mexican» againft him, recalled him to the court, and gare him fo fevere 
 and fo harfli a reprimand, that he grew melancholy and died. 
 
 C 2 the
 
 ,2 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VIII. the affiftance which they required for the profecution of their voyage: 
 a piece of attention which (hewed the vigilance and hofpitahty of that 
 nation. Having come on board of the commander's ihip, and pre- 
 fented themfelves to Cortes in forms of ci\iHty, they explained their 
 comniillion by means of Donna Marina and Aguilar, as from her not 
 underltanding the Spanifh, nor he the Mexican, it was necelTary at 
 thefe firft conferences with the Mexicans, to employ three languages 
 and two interpreters. Donna Marina explained to Aguilar in the 
 Maja tongue what the Mexicans faid to her in their language, and 
 Aguilar repeated it in Spanifh to Cortes. This general courteoufly re- 
 ceived the Mexicans, and knowing how acceptable the European toys 
 had been to them the year before, anfwercd, that he had come into 
 that country for no other purpofe than to traffick with them, and to^ 
 treat with their king about fome affairs of the utmoft importance, and 
 in order to conciliate their favour, he made them tafte fome Spanifli' 
 wine, and prefented them with fome fmall trifles which he judged 
 would be worthy their acknowledgment {/j). 
 
 On the firft day of Eafler, after the Spaniards had landed, and dif- 
 embarked their cavaliy and artillery, and had, with the afììftance of the 
 Mexicans, made barracks of the branches of trees upon that fandy 
 fhore, where at prefent Ifands the city of new Vera Cruz, two Mexi- 
 can governors of tliat coaft, named Teuhtlile and Cuitlalpitoc (/), ar- 
 
 (^h) Torquemada fays, that Montezuma having been apprifeJ of the new armament which 
 hii centincls, who were placed on the m untains, hud obferved, immediately difpatchcd hn 
 ambaifadors to pay worfliip to the imagined god Qiietzalcoatl ; they proceding with the utmoll 
 expedition to the port of Chalchiiihcuecan, went inllantly on boaxd of the admiral, on the 
 very day of the arrival of the Spaniards ; that Cortes, attending to their error and willing to 
 profit by it, received them fitting upon a high throne that had haftily been formed, where he 
 iuffered himfelf to be adored, to be cl ithed in the faccrdotal habit of Quetzalcoatl, a neck- 
 lace of gems to be put about hij neA, and a helmet or vizor of gold, fet with gems, to be put 
 on his head, &c. but this is unquelHonably filfe. The fleet departed from the river of Ta- 
 bafc) on Holy Monday, and ai rived on Thurfday at the port of Ulua. The inoun'ains of, 
 T'lchtlan and Miiftlan, from whence the fleet could moft quickly be difcovcred, are not lefs 
 than three hundred miles diftant from the capital, nor are they lefs than two hundred from 
 the pore of Ulua : fo that hiul it even been poffible to have difcried the fleet the verv dav on 
 which it left Tabufco, it was impodible tor the ambair.id:)rs to ha^c arrived thereon ! huriday. 
 Befidcs, there is no memorv' of fucban event in any author, it lather appear» from the account 
 ct Bernal Diaz to be tot illy fal'c, and that the Mexicans uere now fenfible of their error into 
 which they had been led hy tiie (ini fleet which had appeared there. 
 
 (.7 Bernal Diaz writes TeiiJdi inftead of Teuhilile, and Fitulpiioqnl in place of Cuitlelpi- 
 toe, Keneia callo it P::alj>:tocy and Soils, and Robcrtfun, who thouL^ht to amend it, FJi/.i/ac. 
 
 rived
 
 IT I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 13 
 
 rived there with a great retinue of attendants. Ceremonies of civility BOOKVJir. 
 and refpe<ft being exchanged on hotli fides, before any conference took 
 pLice, Cortes, not kls for the lake of profpering his future defigns, 
 than of giving that idolatrous nation fonie idea of the Chriftian reli- 
 gion, ordered that mafs ihould be celebrated in tl^eir prefence. On 
 this occafion, therefore, it was fung with all poflible folemnity for the 
 firfl time in the dominions of Mexico. 
 
 He invited them afterwards to dine with him and his officers, in 
 order to obtain their good will towards him by courtefies. As foon 
 as they rofe from table, he led them afide to communicate his preten- 
 fions to them. He told them that he was a fubjeél of Don Carlos of 
 Auftria, the greateft king of the Eaft, whofe bounty, grandeur, and 
 power, he extolled with mofb magnificent praifes ; and added, that this 
 great monurch knowing of that land, and of the lord who reigned 
 there, fent him to make him a vifit in his name, and to communicate 
 to him in perfon fome affairs of great importance ; and that therefore 
 he would be glad to know when it would ple:ife their lord to hear his 
 embafly. " You are fcarcely arrived in this land," anfwered Teuht- 
 lile, " and yet you delire immediately to fee our king. I have liftened 
 *' with plcaiure to what you have told me concerning the grandeur and 
 " bounty of your fovereign,. but know, that our king is not lefs boun- 
 '* tiful and great ; I rather wonder that there fliould exifl another in 
 " the world more powerful than he ; but as you alfert it, I will make 
 ** it known to my fovereign, from whofe goodnefs I trufi:, that he will 
 " not only have pleafure ia receiving intelligence of that great prince, 
 *' but will likewife do honour to his ambalfador. Accept in the mean 
 " time this prefent which I offer you in his name." Upon which tak- 
 ing out from ^ petlacalli, or little bafket of v.oven reeds, feveral ad- 
 mirable pieces of workmanihip of gold, he prefented them to Cortes, 
 with various works of feathers, ten loads of garments of fine cotton, 
 and a confiderable quantity of provifions (kj.. 
 
 {k) Solis and Robertfon ma'<c Tciihtlilc general of -he aim'ts, anil deprive Viim of the ci- 
 vil government of that cial>, whereas wc know the cont':iry from Bernal Diaz, Gomara, and 
 wher ancient hiftorims. Thofc authors fay bflidcs, that in the bcginr/ing Tciihtlilc oppofed 
 Cortes in his defign of going to the covirt, bat it api :e;ir3 from the teftimony of ancient and 
 better hiùorians, he did not oppofc him until he had a pofitive order fiom his king to that pur- 
 pofe.. 
 
 Cor tea
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Cortes accepted the prefent with lingular demonftrations of gr.iti- 
 tiide, and returned for them thin^^s of fmall value, though equally 
 prifed by them, either becaufe they were entirely new in that country, 
 or from the brilliancy of their appearance. Teuhtlile had brought 
 many painters with him, in order that by dividing the objecils among 
 them of which the armament confifted, they might in a fliort time copy 
 them all ; and that\their king might have the pleafurc of beholding, 
 with his own eyes, all the wonders which they had to relate to him. 
 Cortes perceiving their intention, in order to furni/li their painters 
 with a fubject capable of making a grander impreffion on the mind of 
 their king, commanded his cavalry to mufter on the beach, and go 
 through fome military evolutions, and tlie artillery to be difcharged in 
 a volley. Both orders were obferved, and the exhibition attended to 
 with all the flupor and amazement imaginable by the two governors, 
 their numerous retinue, and croud of follov/ers, which as Gomara 
 alfirms, confifted of more than four thouland Indians. Teuhtlile took 
 notice of a gilded vifor, or mask, which, from its refemblance to that 
 belonging to one of the principal idols of Mexico, he demanded from 
 Cortes that they might ihew it to their king ; and Cortes granted it, 
 on condition of having it returned to him full of gold dml, under 
 a pretence that he defired to fee whether the gold, which was dug 
 from the mines of Mexico, was the fame as that of his native coun- 
 try(/). 
 
 As foon as the paintings were fini(hed, Teuhtlile took a friendly 
 leave of Cortes, propofing to return in a few days with the anfvver of 
 his fovereign, and deputing Cuitlalpitoc in his place, that he might pro- 
 vide the Spaniards with every thing neceflary, he departed for Cuit- 
 lachtlan, the place of his ufual relidence ; from whence he carried in 
 perfon the intelligence, the paintings, and prefent from the Spanilh 
 general, as Bernal Dias and Torquemada affirm, or he fent them all as 
 Solis conjeiftures by the pofts, or couriers, who were ftationed on the 
 highways, always ready to run v/ith difpatches. 
 
 (/) Some hifloriins fay, that Cortes in dcnvinding the vifor to he filled with tjold, pretend- 
 cà that he and his companions fuffered a certain dileafe of the heart, which they i'aid, could 
 not be cured by any other remedy than this precious metal, but that imports little as to the 
 fubflancc of the fad.
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 15 
 
 It is eafy to imagine tiie u.-ieajinefs and perplexity into which Mon- BOOKViir. 
 
 tezuma was tlirown by the news of that armament, and the diflindl in- UneiifinciTóf 
 
 formation he had of the character of thole Itrangcis, the fire of their Montezuma, 
 
 horfes, aid rhe deli:rud:ive violence of their lams. As he w>:s emi- , ^"l*''^^^/ 
 
 ' and prcUnt 
 
 nently f jperftitious, he made his gods be confulted with refpedl to 'ent by iiim 
 their preteniions, and he received for anfwer as is reported, that he 
 ought never to admit that new people into his court. Whether this 
 oracle, as fome authors are perfuaded, came from the devil, who deli- 
 vered it, in order to keep every path lliut to the gofpel, or as we ap- 
 prehend from the prieil?, for the common benefit of themfelves and 
 the nation, Tvlontezuma refolved from that time to refute admifiion to 
 tlie Spaniards ; but that he might appear to ait with propriety, and to 
 follow the diótates of his own genius, he fent an embalTy to them witii 
 a prefent entirely worthy of his royal magnificence. The ambaflador 
 was a great perfonage of the court, not a little fimilar in flature and 
 ihape to the Spanilh general, as an eye-witnefs has reported {m). Seven 
 days were hardly elapfed after the departure of Teuhtlile, before he re- 
 turned, accompanying the ambaflador, conducing alfo more than an 
 hundred men of burden, who carried the prcfcnt («). As foon as the 
 ambaflador was come into tlie prcfence of Cortes, he touched the earth 
 with his hand, and then lifted it to his mouth, according to the cuf- 
 tom of thofe nations, offered {0) incenfe to the general and other ofii- 
 cers who were befide him, laluted them refpedlfully, and fitting down 
 
 {m) Bernal Diaz. 
 
 {n) Bernal Pi:iz calls ih's amhaffsinr .^jn/ifailor., but fuch a name neither is nor can be 
 Mexican. Robcrtlun fays, that the lami- officers who had liithcrto treated with Cortes, were 
 charged to bear ihe royal anfwer to him, and makes no mention of the ambaffador; but both 
 Bernal Diaz, an cyc-witnes, and other Spmifli and Indian hiftoriaiis affirm wh.it we have faiJ. 
 Solis, in conlidcration of the flioit interval of fcvcn days, and the diliance of fcvcnty leagues 
 between that port and the capital, could n it be perfuaded that an ambaflador came at that 
 time ; but having f;;!d a little bciore, that the Mexican pofts weie more diligent than the Eu- 
 ropean pods, it is not wonderful that in one day, or a little more, they fliculd have carried 
 intelligence of the fleet <> ihe court, and tlie ambalfador fliould have come in four or five days 
 after in a litter, borne on the fiH)uldcrs of the fame pofts, as was the cuHom amon<^ thofe peo- 
 pi'. As the tad is not improbabl.-, wc oiiglit rather to believe Bernal Diaz, who was an eye-- 
 witnefs. 
 
 (<•) The offering of incenfe to the Spani ird-, although it was merely apiece of civil cour- 
 tcfy, and the name Tricu^in (lord, or gcnilcnicn), by M'liivh they are addrefled, being fome- 
 what fimilar to that ot Teteo '.jjodsj, ir.adc them believe that they were imagined to be gods b/ 
 the JNIexicans.. 
 
 upon
 
 i6 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOKVIII. upon a feat which Cortes placed for him, pronounced his harangue, 
 which was a congratulation to that general in the name of his king, 
 upon his happy arrival in that coanrry, an intimation of the pleafure 
 he had received in knowing that men fo gallant and brave hi\d landed 
 in his kingdom, and in hearing the news which they had brought 
 from fo great a monarch, and to exprefs how acceptable his gift had 
 been : upon which, in token of his royal pleafure he had fent him that 
 prefent. Having faid this, he made fome fine mats and cotton cloths 
 be fpread upon the ground, upon which were placed in order and form 
 the whole fubftance of the prefent. It coniiiled of various works of 
 gold and fdver, llill more valuable on account of the wonderful work- 
 manfhip than of thofe precious metals, among which fome vvcre gems 
 admirably fet, and others figures of lions, tygers, apes, and other ani- 
 mals; of thirty loads or bales of the very finsfi: cotton, ot v.;rious co- 
 lours, and in part interwoven with the moil beautilul feathers ; of fe- 
 veral excellent works of feathers, embelliflied with many little figures 
 of gold, and a vifor full of gold in dull, as Cortes defired, valued at 
 fifteen hundred fequins ; but the moft valuable things of the whole 
 were two wheels, the one of gold, the other of filver ; that of gold, 
 reprcfenting, as we have faid already, the Mexican century, had thj2 
 image of the fun engraved in the middle, round which were difi^erent 
 figures in bafs relief. The circumference ot it was thirty palms of 
 Toledo, and the value of it ten thoufand fequins fpj. The one of 
 filver, in which the Mexican year was reprefented, was ftill larger, 
 with a moon in the middle, furrounded alio v/ith figures in bafs re- 
 lief. The Spaniards v\ere not lefs amazed than pleafcd v/ith the view 
 of fuch riches. " This prefent," added the ambaflador, addreffing 
 himfelf to Cortes, " my fovereign fends for you and yoar companions ; 
 " as for your king, he will in a fliort time fend fome jewels of inefii- 
 " mable value. In the mean while, you may remain upon this iliore 
 " as long as it may be agreeable, to repofe after the fatigues of fo long 
 " a voyage, and to provide yourfeives with necelTaries to return to 
 " your native country. If you defire any other thing of this country 
 
 (f) Tl ere is a great difTcicncc amen;; authors refpefling the value of tlic plate ; hut we 
 give II ore f:ii;h to fcrnal Diaz who knew it well, than tv one whc u;-.p to hiive his (hare in 
 {he pieltnt from Montezumu. 
 
 "for
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. ,7 
 
 ** for your fovereign, it diali be given you immediately ; but cvith ref- BOOKVin. 
 
 " pedi to your demand of vifiting our court, I am charged to dilluade vou ' ^ ' 
 
 " from fo dilHcult and hazardous a journey, as the way to it lies through 
 
 " uninhabited defarts, and the countries of enemies." Cortes received 
 
 the prefent with the mort: particular expreflions of gratitude for the 
 
 royal beneficence, and made the bert: returns to it in his power; but 
 
 without abandoning his requelì:, he begged of the ambaflador to repro- 
 
 fent to the king the dangers and dirtreiles which they had fufFcred in 
 
 their navigation, and the dlfpleafure which his fovereign would leel 
 
 when he found his hopes frullrated ; that befides, neither dangers nor 
 
 fatigues were fuflicient to divert the Spaniards from their undertakings. 
 
 The ambadador agreed to make this report to the king, and politely took 
 
 leave of Cortes along with Teuhtlile ; Cuitlalpitoc being left behind 
 
 with a vail number of people, in a hamlet which they had formed of 
 
 fmall huts, at a little diilance from the camp of the Spaniards. 
 
 Cortes, in the midft of all that profperity which he had hitherto 
 met with, perceived that he could not long remain at that ftation ; for 
 belides the inconvenience of heat and infed:s, whicli fwarm upon that 
 ihore, he was apprehenfive of fome damage to his fliips from the north 
 wind, to which that harbour is cxpofed ; on which account he dif- 
 patched two veflels, under the command of Montejo, to coall along 
 the fliore, towards Panuco, and find another more fecure port. Tiiey 
 returned in a few days with the intelligence of having found, thirty-fix 
 miles from Ulu.i, a fufficicnt harbour, near to a city placed in a Ibong 
 fitu.ition. 
 
 In the mean time, Teutlhlle returned to the camp of the Spaniards, 
 and after takinj^ Cortes afide with the interpreters, he told him, that nr'"V^'"^' 
 his lord Montezuma gratefully accepted the new prefent which he had '"'''* preiKnt 
 lent liim ; and that that which he hatl lent on his part now was de- licking, 
 ftined for the great king of Spain ; that he wifhed him all fort of hap- 
 pinefs, but that he defired no more melfages to be lent to him, nor to 
 hear any farther propofitions of a vifit to his court. The prefent for 
 the Catholic king confifted of various works of gold, which were elli- 
 mated to be worth fifteen hundred fequins, ten bales of moll curious 
 robes of feathers, and of four gems, fo highly valued by the Mexicans, 
 Vol. II. D that.
 
 i8 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOKVIII. that, accordiiiG; to what TeuhtHle himfelf aflinned, each was worth a 
 load of gold. That undifcerning king flattered himtelf that he (hould 
 induce the Spaniards by his liberality to abandon that country, and did 
 not refleél that the love of gold is a paffion which grows by what it 
 feeds on. Cortes was mortified with the refufal of the king ; but he 
 did not give up his intention, tlie native conftancy of his temper being^ 
 ftrengthened by the alluring profpeót of riches. 
 
 Teuhtlile, before he departed, obferved, that the Spaniards on hear- 
 ing the Ihoke of the bell for Ave Mary, kneeled down before a holy 
 crofs, and in wonder at it, aiked why they adored that piece of wood. 
 Upon this Olmedo took occafion to explain to him the firft articles of 
 the Chriftian religion, and reprefented to him the abomination of wor- 
 fliipping idols, and the inhumanity of their facrifices. But his dif- 
 courfe was not comprehended, and the attempt proved fruitlefs. 
 
 The following day the Spaniards found themfelves fo deferted by the 
 
 Mexicans, that there was not one to be feen on all the coaft ; this was 
 
 unqueflionably the effed: of the order given by their king to recall all 
 
 the people with the provifions deftined for thofe flrangers, if they per- 
 
 fifted in their daring refolution. A novelty of this kind caufed a fud- 
 
 den confternation among the Spaniards, as they dreaded every moment 
 
 the whole power of that vaft empire might pour down upon their mi- 
 
 ferable camp. Upon which, Cortes made their provifions be fecured 
 
 ill the fliips, and ordered his troaps to be armed for their defence. 
 
 It is certain that Montezuma, upon this as well as on many other oc- 
 
 cafions, might eafily have totally deftroyed thofe few ftrangers who 
 
 were to bring fo many misfortunes upon him ; but providence pre- 
 
 ferved them to become the infìiruments of his views in that new world. 
 
 We do not mean to juftify the delign and condud: of the conquerors, 
 
 but neither can we avoid tracing in the feries of the conqueft the def- 
 
 tiny which prepared the ruin of that empire. 
 
 Sect IX ^'^ ^^^ ^^"^^ ^^y' during this ftate of fufpence of the Spaniards, two 
 
 EmbaflTy of foldiers who kept guard without the camp, faw five men coming to- 
 
 Chempoaila, wards them, different in fome degree from the Mexicans in their drefs 
 
 and Its coil- ^^^ j^ their ornaments, who upon bein? conducted to the Spanifh ee- 
 
 lequences, ... r & 
 
 neral, faid in Mexican, as their own language was not underftood, that 
 they were of the nation of the Totanacas, and fent by the lord of Chem- 
 
 poalla»
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 poalla, a city twenty-four miles diftant from that place, to pay his re- 
 fpedts to them, to know who they were and whence they came, and to 
 requeft them to repair to that city, where they would be kindly re- 
 ceived ; adding, that they had not approached the camp fooner for fear 
 of the Mexicans. The lord of Chempoalla was one of thofe feuda- 
 tories, who lived impatient under the Mexican yoke. Having heard 
 of the vidtory obtained by the Spaniards in Tabafco, and their arriva^ 
 at that port, he thought the occafion the mofl favourable to throw off 
 the Mexican yoke, with the affiftance of fuch brave people. Cortes, 
 who wiflied for nothing more earneftly than fuch an alliance, after in- 
 forming himfelf fufficiently of the fiate and condition of the Totona- 
 cas, and the wrongs they fuffered from the great power of the Mexi- 
 cans, anfwered, with thanks to the Chempoallefe chief for his cour- 
 tefy, and a promife to vifit him without delay. 
 
 He immediately publiflied his departure for Chempoalla ; but be- 
 fore that, it was necefTary to overcome fome obftacles to it, which his 
 own foldiers threw in the way. Some adherents to the governor of 
 Cuba, tired out with the hardlhips which they fuffered, intimidated by 
 the dangers which now prefented themfelves, and become defirous of 
 repofe, and longing for the conveniencies and comforts of their homes, 
 moft earneftly conjured the general to return to Cuba, exaggerating 
 the fcarcity of their provifions, and the raflinefs of fo great an un- 
 dertaking, as to oppofe, with fo fmall a number of foldiers, the vaft 
 power of the king of Mexico ; efpecially, after they had loft on thofe 
 fands thirty-five men, part of thofe by the wounds received in the bat- 
 tle of Tabafco, part from the unwholfomenefs of the air of that fhore. 
 Cortes, by means of prefents and promifes, and alfo by means of a lit- 
 tle feverity opportunely exerted, and other arts fuggefted to him by his 
 fertility of genius, fo well managed his corps, that he not only paci- 
 fied the difcontented, and induced them to remain willingly in that 
 country; but, proceeding farther in his negotiacions, brought it about 
 that the army, in the name of the king, and without any dependance 
 on the governor of Cuba, fliould confirm him in the fuprcme civil 
 and military command ; and that on account of the expences already, 
 and hereafter to be laid out by him upon the armament, a fifth part 
 of the gold which might be acquired fhould be affigned to him ; 
 
 U 2 after
 
 20 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK VIII. after the fhare belonging to their king was deduced. He alfo created 
 map-iftrates, and appointed all other officers proper for a colony, which 
 he intended to plant on that coaft. 
 
 Having furmounted thcfe difficulties, and taken fuitable meafures 
 for the execution of his great defigns, he began his march with the 
 trooDS. His intention was not only to recruit the (Ircngth of his fa- 
 tif^ued people, who had fuffered from that unhealthy fiiore, and to feek 
 new alliances, but likewife to chufe a good fituation for the foundation 
 of the colony, as Chenipoalla was upon the way to Chiahuitztia {q), the 
 new harbour difcovered by Montejo. The little army marched with 
 a part of the artillery towards Chempoalla in cautious order, well pre- 
 pared to defend itfelf, if they ftiould chance to be attacked either by 
 the Totonacas, of whole fincerity they were not perfeólly fccure, or by 
 the Mexicans whom they fuppofed they had offended by their refolu- 
 tion ; a caution which no good general ever thought fuperfluous, and 
 which was never neglected by Cortes in times of the greateft profper- 
 ity, always of ufe to maintain military difcipline, and in general necef- 
 fary for fecurity. The fhips proceeded along fliore to the port of 
 Chiahuitztia. 
 
 When they arrived within three miles of Chempoalla, twenty re- 
 fpedable Chempoallefe inhabitants came out to meet the army, and 
 prefentcd to Cortes a refreffiment of ananas, and other fruits, in the 
 hame of their lord, and made his excule that he had not come in per- 
 fon to meet him, as he was prevented from doing fo. They entered 
 the city, in the order of battle, being fufpicicus of fome treachery 
 from the inhabitants. A light horfeman having advanced as far as the 
 greater fquare of the city, and feeing a baftion of the palace of that 
 lord, which, on account of its having been frefh whitened and well 
 polKhed, made a bright reflexion of the fun, he imagined it was filver, 
 and returned full fpeed to acquaint the general of it. This incident is 
 fufficient to fliew, how much the mind may be deceived and deluded 
 by the predominence of any particular paffion. The Spaniards pro-, 
 ceeded through the ftreets, not lefs delighted than amazed at feeing 
 
 {q) Solis and Robertfon give to Chiahuitztb the name of ^liabijlan, which neither is nor 
 san be Mexican... 
 
 fuch.
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 21 
 
 fiich a city, the largeft which they had feen in the New V/odd, fofull BOOKVIII. 
 of inhabitants and beautiful gardens. Some, on account of its large- 
 nefs, called it Seville, and others Fillaviciojh, on account of its plea- 
 fan tnefs (/•) 
 
 \Vhen they arrived at the greater temple, the lord of that flate came 
 to receive them at the entrance j though inaifliveon account of his im- 
 moderate fatnefs, he was a perfon of difccrnment and fome genius. Af- 
 ter having faluted according to the cuftom of that country, and offered 
 incenfe to the general, he took, leave, promifing to return as foon as 
 they had repofed after the fatigues of their journey. The whole Spa- 
 nifli troop were lodged in large handfome buildings, within the enclo- 
 fure of the temple, which were either built on purpofe for the accom- 
 modation of ftrangers, or deftined for the habitation of the minifters 
 of the idols. Here they were well entertained, and provided with 
 every thing they wanted at the expence of that lord, who returned to 
 them after dinner, in a portable chair or litter, accompanied by a num- 
 ber of nobility. In the fecret conference which he had with him, 
 Cortes, by means of his interpreters, boafled the grandeur and power 
 of his fovcreign, by whom he was fent into that country, and charged 
 with leverai commifilons of the utmofl importance, and amongfl: 
 others, an injundlion to fuccour and relieve opprefTed innocence. " If 
 " therefore," he added, " I can ferve you in any thing with my per- 
 " fon and my troops, name it to me, I will do it chearfully." On 
 hearing thefe propofals, the Chempoallcfc chief fetched a deep- figh, 
 which was followed by a bitter complaint of the misfortunes of his 
 nation. He told him, that the fiate of the Totonacas had, from time 
 immemorial, been free, and governed by lords of their own nation ; 
 but within a few years fi nee, had been oppreffed with the rigorous 
 yoke of the Mexicans, who, on the contrary, from a humble com- 
 mencement, had raifcd themfelves to fuch a pitch of grandeur, by a 
 
 (»•) VVc cannot iloubt of the ancient grcatnefs of Chcmpoalla, confidering the tcftimony of 
 authors who faw it, and the extent of its ruins, it is iinpi ifible to conclude any thing about 
 it, from the account given by i orquemadn, as in one place he makes the inhabitants a- 
 mount to twenty or thirty thoufand, in another place to lifty thoufanJ one hundred and eleven, 
 and in the Index to \ i,\. I. to an hundred and (ifiv ihonfand. To L'iieMipo;illa the fame thing^ 
 occurred which happened to all the other citi-;s ot i.^ Nca orld, that is, that with difcaf'-s, 
 and rhc vexations of tàje fixtetiiih century, it graiiuail; dwindled uutil at lail it was eutiieiy 
 depopulated. 
 
 flrni
 
 22 
 
 tìiSTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK vili, 
 
 Sect. X. 
 Imprifon- 
 ment of five 
 royal minif- 
 ters in Chia- 
 huitztla. 
 
 firm and ftcady alliance with the kings of Acolhuacan and Tlacopan ; 
 that they had rendered themfelves mafters of all that land ; that their 
 power was exceflive, and their tyranny in proportion ; that the king 
 of Mexico engroffed to himfelf the gold of his fubjeds, and that the 
 receivers of the tributes, befides other cruelties and oppreflion, de- 
 manded of the tributaries their Tons for facrifices, and their daughters 
 for violation. Cortes appeared moved with compafTion for his misfor- 
 fortunes, and offered to give him his affiitance in every thing ; defer- 
 ring until another occafion to treat of the manner of doing it ; as he 
 was then preflèd to go to Chiahuitztla to examine into the ftate of his 
 veflels. At this vilit the Chempoallefe chief made him a prefent of 
 fojne works of gold, which it is faid were worth a thoufand fequins. 
 
 The next day four hundred men of burden prefented themfelves to 
 Cortes, being fent to him by that lord to tranfport his baggage ; and 
 it was then he learned from donna Marina the cullom which prevailed 
 among thofe nations, to furnifli of their own accord, without any mo- 
 tive of interefl, fuch people of burden to every refpeóbable perfon who 
 pafled through their city. 
 
 From Chempoalla, the Spaniards advanced to Chiahuitztla, a fmall 
 city, fituated upon a fleep and rocky mountain, a little more than 
 twelve miles from Chempoalla towards the north, and three from the 
 new port. Here Cortes had another conference with the lord of that 
 city, and the lord of Chempoalla, who, for this purpofe, made him - 
 felf be tranfported hither. At the fame time that they were deliber- 
 ating upon the means of releafing themfelves from the Mexican yoke, 
 there arrived at that city, with a great retinue, five noble Mexicans, 
 the receivers of the royal tributes, who exprefled the utmoft indigna- 
 tion againfi: the Totonacas, for having dared to receive thefe ftrangers 
 without the royal confent, and demanded twenty human vidlims to fa- 
 crifice to their gods in expiation of their crime. The whole city was 
 difturbed, and particularly the two lords, who confidered themfelves 
 the mod guilty. Cortes having learned from donna Marina the caufe 
 of their difquiet, found an extraordinary expedient to relieve them from 
 their embarraflment. He fuggefted to the two lords the bold defign 
 of apprehending the royal receivers and putting them in prifon ; and 
 though at firfl they refufed to do fo, from its appearing too rafh and 
 
 dangerous
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 23 
 
 dangerous an attempt, they at lafl: yielded to his entreaties. Theyac- BOOKVin. 
 cordingly imprifoned thofe five nobles, who hid entered their city with ^— ~^' ^ 
 Co much pride and with lb much dildain for the Spaniards, that they 
 had not even deigned to looic at them as they paffed by them. 
 
 The Totonacas had hardly taken this ftcp, when, encouraged by it, 
 they almoft would have proceeded to Tacrifice them that very night, 
 had they not been difl'uaded from it by Cortes, who having conciliated 
 by that mcafare the love and refpedt of the Totonacas, intended to 
 gain the good- will of the Mexicans by liberating the prifoners. His 
 artful double condudl lays open his difpofition j but it cannot be com- 
 mended, except by thofe courtiers who know no other fyftem than the 
 art of deceit, and who, regardlefs of honour, purfue interefl alone in 
 their adions. Cortes gave orders therefore to his guards, to take at 
 night two of the Mexicans out of the prifon, and bring them fecretly 
 before him, (o as they might not be obferved by any of the inhabi- 
 tants of the city. The order was obeyed, and the Mexicans found 
 themfelves fo much obliged to the Spanifli general, that they made 
 him a thoufand acknowledgments, and advifed him not to truft to the 
 barbarous and perfidious Totonacas. Cortes charged them to explain 
 to their fovereign his great difpleafure at the attempt of thofe moun- 
 taineers againft his minifters ; but as he had put them two at liberty, 
 he would alfo fet the others free. They departed immediately for the 
 court, efcorted by fome Spaniards, in a vefi'el from thence to the bor- 
 ders of the province ; and Cortes, the day after, pretended extreme 
 anger at the guards through whofe negledl the prifoners had efcaped; 
 and that the fame accident might not happen again, he propofed to 
 fecure the others in a more clofe prifon ; and to make this be believed, 
 he made them be conduced in chains aboard his vefi"els, from which 
 he foon after fet them at liberty like the firft. 
 
 The report foon fprcad through all the mountains of the Totonacas, Sect. XI. 
 that they were relieved from the tribute which they paid to the King 0^"^^^^'^^ 
 of Mexico, and that if there were any other receivers of the tributes. "=*"s with 
 there they lliould let it be known immediately, that they might be ards. '^^^' 
 feized. At the found of this intelligence, the fwcet liope of liberty 
 revived in the whole nation, and feveral other lords came fpeedily to 
 that city to thank their fuppofcd deliverer, and dehberate upon meafures 
 
 8 to
 
 24 n I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O, 
 
 r.00K\'Ill. to fecure their liberty. Soirse perfons, vv'ho had not yet baniihied from 
 > ^ . their minds the fear of the Mexicans, propofed that they fliould alk 
 pardon of tlie king for the outrage committed upon his minifters; but 
 from the fiiggeftions of Cortes, and the lords of Chcmpoalla and 
 Chiahuitztla, the oppoiite fcntimcnt prevailed : it was refolved there- 
 fore to free themfclves from the tyrannical dominions of the Mexicans, 
 with the afllllance of thofe brave llrangers, by putting a formidable 
 army under the command of the Spanidi General. 
 
 Cortes, having fufficiently aflhred himfelf of the fincerity of the 
 Totonacas, and informed himfelf of their force, feized this favourable 
 moment to brins: that numerous nation under obedience to the Catho- 
 lie king. This ait was celebrated in the prefence of the notary of the 
 army, and with every other legal folemnity. 
 Sect. XII. This affluir being happily concluded, Cortes took leave of thofe lords. 
 
 Foundation • r, • • r i i • i • i 
 
 otVeiaCruz. to put another project HI execution, ot the greateit miportance, which 
 he had formed fome time before ; that was, to plant a flrong colony 
 on this coaft, which (liould be a retreat for them in times of dilafter, a 
 fortrefs to hold the Totonacas to the fidelity which they had fworn to 
 the Spaniards, a place of defcentfor the new troops which might arrive 
 there either to their affiftance from Spain, or the Antilles, and a maga- 
 zine for the ftores which might be lent to them by their countrymen, 
 or which they might defire to fend to Europe. This colony was 
 ■ founded therefore in the country of the Totonacas, in a plain which 
 lies at the foot of the mountain of Chiahuitztla, twelve miles from Chem- 
 poalla towards the north, and adjoining to the new harbour (j). They 
 called it Villarica (or rich city) of Yttà Cruz, on account of the great 
 appearance of riches they had (ctn there, and becaufe they had dif- 
 embarked them on Holy Friday ; and this was the firlf colony of the 
 
 (i) Almoft all Hiftorians have committed a miftake concerning the founding of Vera Cruz ; 
 as they fay the firft colony of the Spaniards was Ant'igna, or the ancient iettlcmcnt on the river 
 of that name ; and believe that there were only two places of that name, that is, ancieut 
 Vera Cruz and the new Vera Cruz, fettled on the fame fahds where Cortes difcmbarked : but 
 without doubt there have been three places of the name of \'era Cruz. The firil fettled in 
 1 5 19, clofe to the port of Chiahuitztla, which retained afterwards only the name of/7/- 
 larka; the fecond, the ancient Vera Cruz, fettled in I'^i'i, or 4; and the third, the New 
 Vera Cruz, which ftill preferves the name of Vera Cruz, and was fettled, by order of the Count 
 of Monterus, Viceroy of Mexico, towards the end of the i6th, or the beginning of the 17th 
 century, and had from Philip III. the title of city given it in 1615. 
 
 Spaniards
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 2S 
 
 Spaniards on the continent of North America. Cortes was the firfl BOOKViir, 
 
 *■ » 
 
 who put a hand to the fettlement to encourage his people by his own 
 example ; and, in a fliort time, with the afliftance of the Totonacas, 
 they built a fufficient number of houfes, and a fmall fortrefs capable of 
 refifting the arms of the Mexicans. 
 
 In the mean time the two receivers, whom Cortes fet firfl: at liberty, sp^t. xili. 
 had arrived at Mexico, and h.id informed the kina: of all that had hap- Ne^embaffy 
 
 ,.^•1-1 • r i>- ^" prefent 
 
 pened, befliovving high praifes on the SpaniOi general. Montezuma, from Monte. 
 who was preparing to fend an army to chaltife the infolence and teme- ^"""^* 
 rity of thofe ftrangers, and drive them out of his dominions, be- 
 came pacified with the intelligence, and feeling his obligations to the 
 Spanilh general for the fervice done to the royal miniflers, fent two 
 princes, his nephews, accompanied with a numerous retinue of nobi- 
 lity and others, with a prefent of works of gold worth upwards of à 
 thouiìxnd fequins. They returned thanks in the name of the king to 
 Cortes, and at the Hime time complained of him for having entered fo 
 fiir into friendfliip with the rebellious Totonacas, that that nation had 
 had the infolence to refufc to pay the tribute which they owed to their 
 fovereign. They added, that folelyon account of fuch guefls, an army 
 had not been fent to punifli the rebellion of thofe people, but that in the 
 end they would not remain unchallifed. Cortes, after having fignified 
 his gratitude in the mofl: becoming exprefTions, endeavoured to vindicate 
 himfelf from the accufation of fricndHiip with the Totonacas, by the 
 necellity he was under of fèeking provifions for his troops, after he 
 was abandoned by the Mexicans. He faid alfo, that with refpedl to 
 the tribute, it was impofTible that a nation could ferve two mafl:crs ; 
 that he hoped foon to be at court to fatisfy the king more completely, 
 and make him fenfible of the fincerity of his condudt. 
 
 The two princes, after having beheld \Vith great wonder a'id delight 
 the military exerciles of the Spanifli cavalry, returned to the court. 
 The lord of Chempoalla, who was extremely difpleafed with that em- 
 bafly, in order to ftrengthen the alliance with the Spaniards, prcfented 
 eight virgins richly drefled to Cortes, that they might marry with his 
 ofliccrs ; and amongti: them was one of his nieces, which he deligned 
 for the general himfelf. Cortes, who had frequently difcourll-d with 
 him on the fubjedl of religion, told him, he could not accept them. 
 
 Vol. II. E unlcfs
 
 26 
 
 HISTORY O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOKVIII. 
 
 Breaking of 
 the idols of 
 Chempoalla. 
 
 unlefs they fliould firft renounce idolatry, and embrace Chriilianify , 
 and upon this occafion explained to him anew the principles of the 
 Chriftian religion, and reafoned with all his ftrength on the abfurd 
 worihip of their falfe deities, and efpecially againft the horrid cruelty 
 of their facrifices. To this warm expoftulation the Chempoallefe chief 
 replied, that although they moll; highly valued his friendfliip, they could 
 not however comply with his rcqueft, to abjure the worlhip of their 
 gods, from whofe hand they received health, plenty, and all the blelT- 
 ings they had, and from whole anger, when provoked by ingratitude, 
 they mull: dread the fevereft puniihment. 
 
 The military fire of Cortes was ftill more inflamed by this anfwer.; 
 upon which, turning to his foldiers, he faid to them, " Come on, foldiers; 
 " what do we wait for ? How can we fuffer men, who pretend to be 
 " our friends, to pay that worlhip to ftatues and bale images, which 
 ♦* is due to the only true God ? Courage, foldiers ; now is the 
 " time to fliew that we are Spaniards, and that we have, inherited 
 " from our anceftors, an ardent zeal for our holy religion. Let us 
 " break the idols, and take from the fight of thole infidels fuch vile 
 *' incentives to their fuperftition. If we obtain that end, we will do 
 " our God the greateft poffible fcrvice in our power. If we die in the 
 " attempt, eternal glory will recompenfe the facrifice of our lives." 
 
 The Chempoallefe chief, who from the countenance of Cortes, and the 
 movements of his foldiers, clearly perceived their intention, made a 
 fign to his people to prepare themfelves for the defence of their gods. 
 The Spaniards already began to afcend the flairs of the temple, when 
 the Chempoallefe chief, confufed and enraged, cried out to them to guard 
 againft that attempt, unlefs they defired that the vengeance of their 
 gods fhould immediately pour down upon them. Cortes, incapable 
 of being intimidated by thefr threats, anfwered, that he had already 
 frequently admoniflied them to abandon their abominable fuperftition y 
 that fince they had not chofen to take his counfel, which was fo advan- 
 tageous for them, he would no longer hold their friendfhip ; that if 
 theTotonacas themfelves were not refolvcd to take away thofe detell- 
 able images, he and his people would brea!: tlicm, and that they 
 muft guard cautioully againft fhevving any hoftility towards the Spa- 
 niards, otherwife they would immediately charge upon them with 
 
 fuch
 
 II I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 27 
 
 fuch fury, that they would not leave a native ahVe among them. To book vili, 
 thefe threats Marina added another mere efficacious, which was, that " — "^ ' 
 if they oppofcd the intention of ihofe (Grangers, inftead of being alHed 
 with the Totonacas againfl tlie Mexicans, they would join the Mexi- 
 cans in alliance againfl the Totonacas, and then their ruin would be 
 inevitable. This motive diverted the chief from the firft diftates of his 
 zeal, and the fear of the Mexican amis prevailing over the fear of his 
 gods, he told Cortes he niight do as he pleafed, for they had not cou- 
 rage themfelves to put a facrilegious hand to their images. The Spa- 
 niards no fooner obtained this permilTiou, than fifty of the foldiers 
 mounting rapidly into the temple, took up the idols from the altars, 
 and threw them down the ftairs. The Totonacas in the mean while 
 filed a fhower of tears, and covered their eyes that they might not fee 
 the facrilege ; praying their gods at the fame time, in a mournful voice, 
 not to punifh the nation for the temerity of thofe ftrangers, as they 
 were unable to prevent it, without falling a facrifice to the fury of the 
 Mexicans. Neverthelefs fome of them, either lefs timid and cowardly, 
 or more jealous of the honour of their deities, difpofed themfelves to 
 take revenge of the Spaniards, and would certainly have engaged with 
 them, if the Spaniards, by feizing the lord of Chempoalla and four 
 principal pricfts, had not compelled them to rellrain the fury of 
 their people. 
 
 After this daring a(5l, where prudence was blinded by enthufiafm, 
 Cortes commanded the priefts to bring the fragments of the idols be- 
 fore him, and throw them into a fire. He was immediately obeyed ; 
 upon v/iiith, being full of joy and triumph, as if, by breaking the 
 idols, he had entirely banifhed idolatry and fuperftition from thofe 
 people, he told their chief he was now willing to accept the eight vir- 
 gins which had been offered him ; that from that time he would con- 
 fider the Totonacas as his friends and brothers, and in all their exi^n- 
 cjes would aflift them againft their enemies ; that as they could never 
 more adore thofe deteftable images of the demon their ene ny, he 
 would place in the fame temple an image of the true mother of God, 
 that they might worfliip and implore her protedion in all their necef- 
 fities. He then expatiated, in a long difcourfe, upon the fandity of 
 the Chrillian religion ; after which he ordered the Chempoallefe mafons 
 
 E 2 to
 
 28 
 
 H I S T O p. Y OF iM E X I C O. 
 
 iiOOKViii. to cleanfe the walls of the temples of thole difgaftful flains of human 
 blood, which they preferred there as trophies of their religion, and to 
 polifh and whiten them. He caufed an altar to be made after the 
 mode of Christians, and placed the image of the moft holy Mary there. 
 He committed the care of this fanftuary to four Chempoallcfe priefls, 
 provided they (hould go always drefled in white, iuftead of that black 
 melancholy habit which they wore in virtue of their former office. In 
 order that they might never want lights before that facred image, he 
 taught them the ufe of wax, which the bees wrought in their moun- 
 tains ; and that they might not in his abfence replace the idols, or 
 otherwife profane that fanftuary, he left one of his foldiers, named 
 Juan Torres, behind, who, on account of his age, was of little fer- 
 vice in war. The eight virgins, as foon as they were fufflciently in- 
 flrudled, received holy baptiim. 
 
 From Chempoalla Cortes returned to the new colony of Vera-Cruz» 
 where he had the good fortune to recruit his little army with two 
 other officers and ten foldiers, who had landed there from Cuba j 
 and a little time after he was joined by fix other men, who had been 
 taken by a vefTel belonging to Jamaica, 
 
 Cortes, before he undertook the journey to Mexico, thought pro- 
 per to tranfmit to his fovereign an account of all that had happened to 
 him ; and that the news might be more welcome, he fent at the fame 
 time all the gold which had been acquired by the armament, inducing 
 all the foldiers and officers to yield up their fhares for that purpofe. 
 In this letter Cortes aimed at prepoffeffing the king againft the repre- 
 fentations which might be made by the governor of Cuba, Two 
 other letters were alfo written to tlie king, one fubfcri!)ed by the 
 magiftrates of the new colony, the other by the principal officers of 
 the expedition, in which they requeued his acceptance and approbation 
 of what they had done for him, and to confirm the offices ot General 
 and chief judge, already conferred by their fuffiages, on Cortes, whom 
 they recommended with the mofl warm praifes. Thole two letters,^ 
 with the prefent of gold, were fent to Spain by the two captains 
 Alonfo Hernandez de Portocarrero and Francifco de Montejo, who fet 
 fail on the lóthof July, 1539. 
 
 Sect, XV, 
 Letters of 
 Cortes and 
 the armament 
 to the catho- 
 lick king- 
 
 The
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 29 
 
 The two commiffioners above mentioned were hardly departed when BOOK viir. 
 Cortes, who was continually revolving fonie creat delÌ2;n in his mind, o*~'''"^vT7t 
 
 ' , _ ' _ ^ o & ^ » Sect, XVI. 
 
 put a plan in execution, which alone would have been fufficient to Celebrated 
 have proved his magnanimity of foal, and immortalifcd his name. In Coìt"s" 
 order to deprive his foldiers of every means, and coniequently of every 
 hope of return to Cub^, and to reinforce his little army with all tht; 
 failors, after punifhing two foldiers with death, who had treacheroufly 
 confpired to fly off in one of the vellels, and inflicted a lefs rigorous 
 chaftifement on three of their accomplices, he prevailed by argument 
 and entreaty on fome of his confidents, and one of the pilots, in whom 
 he placed the utmofb trult, to pierce one or two of the veU'els fecretly, 
 to perfu.ide every one that they had foundered from being worm-eaten, 
 and to make a report to him that the others were no longer fit for fer- 
 vice on the fame account, having lain three months clofe in port. 
 Cortes availed himfelf of this deceit that his people might not confpire 
 againft him, finding hin.felf reduced to the hard necefiity to conquer or 
 die. Every thing was done according to his command, and with the 
 confent of all his people, after having brougiit the iails, cordage, and 
 every thing elfe which could be of uie, on iliore. '* Thus," fays Ro- 
 bertfon, " by an effort of magnanimity, to which there is nothing 
 " equal in hlflory, five hundred men agreed of their own free-will to 
 " fhut themfelves up in an enemy's country, full of powerful and un- 
 " known nations, deprived of every means of efcape, having no 
 *' other refource left than their perfeverance and valour." We do not 
 doubt, that unlefs Cortes had executed this defign, the bold un- 
 dertaking which he was then meditating would have been impoffi- 
 ble J for the foldiers would have been led to ihun the obftacles of 
 danger which every way encountered them, by flight, and tlie ge- 
 neral himfelf mufl have been compelled to follow them. 
 
 His mind being relieved from this anxiety, having ratified the alliance g,,,j.^ XVII. 
 with the Totcnacas, and given proper orders for the fecurity and ad- ^l;u-ch of the 
 
 ,, ..... <\f- bpaniaids to 
 
 vancement or the new colony, he prepared ior his journey to Mexico, tin- country 
 He left fifty men in Vera-Cruz under the command of Juan d'Efca- 
 lantc, one of tlie beft officers of the annament, charged the Chem- 
 poallefe to aflifl: the Spaniards to complete the building of tlie fortrefs, 
 and to fupply them with all the provifions they required. He fet out 
 himfelf on the i6th of Auguft with four hundred and fifteen Spani(h 
 
 in fan- 
 
 oft he 'f laJf»
 
 so H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 r.ooKV II. infantry, fixteen horfes, two hundred T7(2;;;j;;;(7, or men of burden, to 
 tranfport his baggage and artilkiy, and fome troops of Totonacas, 
 amongft which were forty nobles, whom Cortes carried with him as 
 auxiliaries in war, and lioflages of that nation. 
 
 He travelled through Xalapan and Texotla, and after having crofied 
 with infinite fatigue ÙHVie dclart mounta-ns, of a fevere temperature of 
 air, he arrived at Xocotla (/'), a large city, conufting of beautiful 
 buildings, among which arofe thirteen temples, and the pAlace of its 
 lord, which was built of ftone and lime, and compofed ox a number 
 of excellent halls and chambers, being the moft complete fabrick they 
 had as yet fecn in the New World. The king of Mexico owned iu 
 this place, and the hamlets contiguous to it, twenty thoufand vafials, 
 and had five thoufand Mexicans garrifoned in it. Olintetiy which wùs 
 the name of the lord of Xocotla, came out to meet the Spaniards, 
 and lodged them commodioufly in that city ; but with refped: to pro- 
 vifions, there appeared at firll fome fcarcity, until from the informa- 
 tion of the Tctonacas they received a high opinion of their bravery 
 and the power of their arms, and tlieir horfes. In the conference 
 which he had with the Spanilh general, each boafted to the other of 
 the grandeur and power of their refpeftive Sovereigns. Cortes incon- 
 iiderately demanded of him to acknowledge obedience to the Catholic 
 king, and to pay homage to his Sovereignty in fonìe quantity of gold. 
 •' I have enough of gold," anfwered Oiintetl, " but cannot give it 
 *' without the exprefs order of my king." " I will foon," laid Cortes, 
 make him order you to give it, and all that you have. If he lliall 
 command me, returned Olhitetl, I will not only render up my gold, 
 and all my eftate, but even my perfon. But that vs'hich Cortes could 
 not obtain by threats from this chief, he got through pure liberality 
 from two other refpedtable perfons of that valley, who having come on 
 purpofe to vifit him, prefented Idrii fome necklaces of gold, and {t\tn 
 or eight flaves. Cortes found himfelf in ibme perplexity here with re- 
 gard to the route he lliould purfue to Mexico. The lord of Xocotla 
 and the commander of the Mexican garrifon advifcd him to proceed 
 through Cholula ; but he judged the advice more fmcere which the 
 
 (/) Bernal Diaz and Soils call this citv Zocotinn, which couKI eafilv occafion an error, as it 
 would be eafy to confound it with Zacntian, fituateJ at the diftancc of thirty miles from Tlaf- 
 cala, towards the north. 
 
 Toto-
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 31 
 
 Totonacas gave him, to pals through Tlafcala. And in fadl it will booKVIII. 
 appear, that if he had gone llraight to Cholula, he and his whole force * — "^ ' 
 muft have been deftroyed. In order to obtain permifTion from the 
 Tlafcalans to pafs through their country, he fcnt four of the Chem- 
 poalefe, whom he carried with him, as mcfTingers to their fenate; but 
 they, as appears hereafter, did not dehver their emball.iy in the name 
 of the Spaniards, but of the Totonacas, either becaule they had been 
 fo ordered by the Spanilh general, or becaufe they themlelvcs con- 
 fidered it moil proper to do fo. 
 
 From Xocotla the Spanilh army proceeded to Iztac/naxt it/an, the po- 
 pulation of which extended for ten or twelve miles in two uninter- 
 rupted lines of houfes upon the two oppofite banks of a fniall river, 
 which runs through the bottom of that long and narrow valley ; but 
 the proper city of Lztacmaxtiilati, compofed of good buildings, and in- 
 habited by fix thoufand people, occupied the top of a lofty fteep moun- 
 tain, the Lord of v.hich w?s one of thofe two perfons who vilited and 
 made prefents to Cortes in Xocotla. To the naturally difficult accefs 
 of the place were added flout walls, with barbacans and ditches (,7) ; 
 for, on account of its being 0:1 the frontiers of the Tlafcalans, it was 
 more expofed to their invahoas. There the Spaniards were well re- 
 ceived and entertained. 
 
 In the mean while the requeft of their embafTy was difcufling in the S>.ct.xviil. 
 fenate of Tlafcala. All that great city was in alarm at the intelligence ot the lenate 
 of fuch ftranirers, and particularly at the account of which the Chem- »* «he ikf- 
 
 11 /- r Ì • r I - c.ilaus upon 
 
 poallefe gave of their afpect, their bravery, the fize of their vefl'els, the the affairs of 
 agility and ftrength of their horfes, and the dieadful thunder and de- ^aL *'^"'" 
 flru'ilive violence of their artillery. Xicotencatl Maxicatzin, General 
 of the army of tlie republic, Tlekul, Xolotzin, and Citlalpocatzin, 
 were the four lords or chiefs wlio at that time governed the republic. 
 The ChempoalLefemeirengers {x) weregracioully received, and lodged in 
 the houle appropriated for amb lifidors ; and after they had repofed and 
 dined were introduced into the fenate to explain their embally. There, 
 
 (11) Cones, iir his fecoiid letter, compares the fortrefs of h.incmaxtitin» to the bcft in Sp:iin. 
 
 (a) Bernal D-iz fays, that the mefTciigcrs were on'.y tivo in number, and that as foou a% 
 tlcy arrived at Tl.ifcala they were put in prifon ; but Cortes liinifelf, who f.nt them, affirms,^ 
 that they were four in number ; and from the context of his letter, it appcrirs tliat Bernal 
 Diaz was ill iiiturmed ot what paflcd in 'ilafcala. The account given by this writer bcin<'- 
 contrary to th;it of other ancient hiftorians, both Spaniflj and Indian, has k'd many ;;uthori» 
 and Robertfon among die reft, into errors. 
 
 after
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 after having bowed mod profoundly, and faluted with all the other ne- 
 ceffary ceremonies, they delivered themfelves to this purpofe : " Moll 
 *' great and valiant chiefs, may the gods profper you, and grant you vic- 
 *• tory over your enemies. The lord of Chempoalla, and all the nation 
 " of Totonacas, offer their rcfpeds to acquaint you, that from the quar- 
 " ter of the Eafl: there are arrived in our country in large (hips certain 
 '* bold adventurous heroes, by the affiilance of whom we are now freed 
 " from the tyrannical dominion of the king of Mexico. They acknow- 
 *• ledge themfelves the fubjedls of a powerful monarch, in wliofe name 
 " they come to vifit you, to communicate intelligence to you of a true 
 " God, and toafilft you againfl your ancient and inveterate enemy. Our 
 " nation, following the didates of that ftri£l friendlliip which has always 
 " fubfilled between it and this republic, counfel you to receive thofe 
 *' ftrangers as friends, who, though few in number, are equal in wortli to 
 " many." Maxicatzin anl'wered, in the name of the fenate, that they 
 thanked the Totonacas for tlieir intelligence and counfel, and thofe 
 brave Grangers for the afliftance which they offered them, but that 
 they required fome time to deliberate upon a point of fuch importance j 
 that in the mean time they would be pleafed to return to their abode, 
 where they would he treated with the diftindtion due to their charadler 
 and birth. The amballadors having returned, the fènate entered into 
 confideration of the embafly. 
 
 Maxicatzin, who was highly efteemed among them, both for his 
 prudence and benevolence of difpolition, fiiid. That they ought not 
 to refufe the advice given them by friends lb faithful to them, and fo 
 hoftile to the greateft enemy of the republic ; that thofe ftrangers, 
 according to the marks which the Champoallefe gave of them, ap- 
 peared to be thofe heroes, who, agreeable to their tradition, were to 
 arrive in that country ; that the earthquakes which had been felt a 
 little before, the comet which was then feen in the heavens, and 
 feveral other events of thofe Lift years, were indications that the time 
 of the fulfilment of that tradition was at hand ; that if they were 
 immortal, it would be in vain for the republic to oppofe their 
 entry. " Our refulal," he added, " may be produótive of the moft 
 " fatal misfortunes, and it would be a fLibjed of malicious pleafure to 
 *• the king of Mexico, to lee thofe whom the republic would nor 
 " gracioufly receive into their dominions, introduce themfelves by force : 
 
 8 " that
 
 HISTORY OF M E X I C O. 33 
 
 " th?.t he was therefore of opinion thev Hiould be friendly received." — EOOKVITT. 
 Although this opinion was liftcned to with great applaiife, it was im- 
 mediately oppjied by Xkotsncatl, an old chiff of great authority on 
 account of his long experience in civil and military affairs. " Our 
 '' l-.iw," he faid, " enjoins us to receiveftrangers, but not eneinits, 
 " who may c;.ulè dilaOers to the ftite. Thofe men who demand en- 
 ** trance into our city, appear to bs rather monflers calf up from the 
 ** fea, becaufe it could not endure them in its waters, than gods de- 
 " fcended from heaven, as fome have vainly imagined. Is it pofnbje 
 '* they can be gods, who fo greedily covet gold and pleafures.? And 
 " what ought we not to dread from them in a country fo poor as this 
 *' is, where we are even deftitute of fait? He wrongs the honour of 
 '* the nation cin thinks it will be overcome by a handful of adven- 
 " turers. It they are mortal, the arms of the TlafcaJans will tell it to 
 " all the regions round ; if they are immortal, there will always be tinie 
 " to anp;.ife their anger by homage, and to iniplore their mercy by 
 " repentance. Let their demand, therefore, be rejeded ; and if they 
 " dare to enter by force, let our arms repel their temerity." — This 
 contrariety of fentiment in two perfons of fo great refpecft divided the 
 li^inds of the other fenators. Thofe who were the friends of com- 
 merce, and attached to a life of peace, adhered to the opinion of 
 Maxicatzin, while thofe who were of a military difpofition embraced 
 the propofal of Xkotenccztl. Temihltecatl, one of the fenators, fu»- 
 gefted a middle courfe, which would reconcile the tv/o parties. He 
 propofed that a civil and friendly anfwer fliould be fent to the chief of 
 thofe Grangers, granting them permiffion to enter; but at the fame 
 time that orders fliould be given to Xicotencati, the fon of the old 
 Xiotcncdtl, to go out with the troops of the Otomics belonging to 
 the republic, to oppofe their paiiage, and to try their ftrcn^th. — • 
 " If we remain vidtors," laid ^rewiloltecatl, " we will do our arms im- 
 " mortal honour; if we are vanquiflied, we will ;,ccufe the Otomies, 
 " and charge them with having undertaken the war without our or- 
 " ders {y) ." Such refources and expedients though frequent, efpe- 
 cially among cultivated nations, are not the lefs contniry to the good 
 
 (y) W'c have mentioncJ fwinci ly, that many Ctomies had taken refuge in TIafcula, from 
 thctvrannv of the ^Icsicans, and h-.id fcrveJ the republic fait'ifcilh-. 
 
 ' Vol. 11. F. ' faith
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 faith reciprocally due between men. — The fenate agreed to the coun- 
 fel of Temiloltecati ; but before the mellengers were difpatched with 
 their anfwer, the propofed orders were given to Xicotencatl. This was 
 an intrepid youth, an enemy to peace, and enthufiaftic for military glory, 
 who eagerly accepted of the commiffion, as it furnifhed him with a 
 moft eligible opportunity to difplay his bravery. 
 
 Cortes, after having waited eight days for the determination of the 
 fenate, imagining that the delay was the confequence of that flownefs 
 attending the majefty of potentates, and not doubting, from what the 
 Chempoallefe had told him of being well received by the Tlafcalans, 
 left Iztacmaxtitlan with all his army, which, befides the Totonacas and 
 Spaniards, was compofed of a confiderable number of Mexican troops 
 of the garrifon of Xocotla, and marched in regular order as ufual to 
 the great wall, which on that quarter feparates the ftates of Tlafcala 
 from thofe of Mexico; the defcription and dimenfions of which we 
 have given in the preceding book, where we treated of the fortifica- 
 tions of the Mexicans. It was conftrufted by the Tlafcalans to defend 
 themfelves from the invafions of the Mexicans on their eaftern frontiers, 
 in the fame manner as they had formed ditches and entrenchments for 
 the fame purpofe in the quarter of the weft. The entrance of the 
 walls, which was wont to be guarded by the Otomies, at this time 
 when it was moft neceflary, upon fome account or other, of which we 
 are ignorant, was left without any garrifon, by which accident the Spa- 
 nici army entered without any oppofition into the territory of the re- 
 public, which they could not otherwife have done without fpilling a 
 sreat deal of blood. 
 
 This day, which was the 31ft of Auguft, fome armed Indians 
 fliewed themfelves at a diftance. The cavalry, which was advanced 
 before the army, in endeavouring to come up with them to gain intelli- 
 o-ence of the refolution of the fenate, had two horfes killed, and three- 
 others and two men wounded ; a lofs moft fenfibly felt in fo fmall a 
 troop of horfe. A body then appeared, imagined to confift of about 
 four thouland men, which was immediately charged upon by the Spa- 
 niards and allies, and in a (liort time defeated, with the death of fifty 
 Otomies. A little after arrived two of the Chempoallefe meflengers, 
 with fome Tlafcalans, who paid their compliments to Cortes in the 
 
 8 name
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 35 
 
 name of the fenate, and made him acquainted with the permiflion BOOKViii. 
 which was granted him to go with his army to Tkfcala, blaming the * ' ' 
 Otomies for the hoflihties which they had fuffered, and offering to pay 
 him for the ho.fes which they had killed. Cortes pretended to believe 
 them, and declared his gratitude to the fenate. The Tlafcalans took 
 their leave, and carried their dead off the field to burn them. Cortes, 
 on his part, buried the two horfes which had been killed, that the 
 fight of them might not encourage the enemy to new hoftilities. 
 
 The following day the Spanifh army marched to the neighbourhood 
 of two mountains, where there were fome fteep grounds and preci- 
 pices. There the other two Chempoallefe meffengers, who had re- 
 mained flill in Tlafcala, arrived bathed in fweat and tears, accufing the 
 Tlafcalans of treachery and cruelty ; for that, regardlefs of the rights 
 of nations, they had ill ufed, imprifoned, and deftined them for facri- 
 fices, which fate they efcaped by fetting each other free. This ac- 
 count of the Chempoallefe was certainly falfe, as it was altogether 
 impoflible, not to fay difficult, for victims to liberate themfelves, not 
 only on account of the clofenefs of the cage which confined them, but 
 alfo the vigilance of the guards which watched them ; and ftill more 
 fo, becaufe there is no memory among thofe nations that the Tlafcalans 
 had ever failed in the refpedt due to the charadters of ambaffadors, and ef- 
 pecially where they were lb ibiótly conneóled in friendrtiip as they were 
 with the Totonacas. What appears more probable is, that the fenate, 
 after it h^d fent back the two firft meflengers, detained the other 
 two to difpatch them after they had tried the ftrength of the Spanifli 
 troops ; but that the two lad, grown impatient of delay, abfented 
 fecretly, and endeavoured to excufe their flight with thefe pretences. 
 
 The Chempoallefe had hardly finidied their ftory, when a Tlafcalan Sect. XIX, 
 fquadron, confifting of about a thoufand men, made their appearance; ^^j^'*'^^^*'' 
 and, as they drew near the Spaniards, began to throw flones, darts, and 
 arrows at them. Cortes, after having protefted to them, before the 
 notary royal of the army, by means of three prifoners, that he liad not 
 come to do them any hurt, and having entreated them not to treat, 
 him as an enemy, perceiving that nothing would avail, he gave orders 
 to repulle them. The Tlafcalans retreated gradually until they brought 
 the Spaniai^ds to the fteep grounds where they could not make ufe of 
 
 F 2 their
 
 36 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VIII. their horl'es, and where a large army ox"" the enemy expefted them, con- 
 cerning the number of which authors have been various in their opi- 
 nioiis {z). There a terrible contefl began, in which the Spaniards 
 thought they mull have been totally dellroyed. But having formed 
 themfelves afreih, in the bell manner they could, and being encouraged 
 by the example and exhortations of their genrral, they extricated them- 
 felves from that dangerous fituation ; and coming again into the plain, 
 they made fuch havock of the enemy \vith their artillery and horfes, 
 that they forced them to retreat. Of the Tlafcalans a vaft number 
 were wounded, and not a few lay dead on the field. Of the Spaniards, 
 although fifteen were dangeroufly wounded, one only died the next day. 
 On this occafion a famous duel happened between an officer of the 
 Tlafcalans and one of the Chempoallefe nobles, who had been fent 
 with the mefliige from Cortes to the Tlailalans. They fought for 
 fome time moll bravely in fight of the two armies, until at lafl: the 
 Chempoallefe noble prevailed ; and having thrown his antagonifl to 
 the ground, cut off his head, and bore it in triumph to his camp. 
 The victory was celebrated with acclamations and martial mufic. The 
 place where the battle was fought was called Teoatzinco, or place of 
 the Divine Water, and is ilill known in that country. , 
 
 That night the Spanilh army fixed their camp upon a hill, where 
 there was a tower, about eighteen miles from the capital of Tlafcala. 
 They eredted barracks for the accommodation of the troops, and formed 
 entrenchments for their defence. In this place the Spaniards remained 
 encamped until the peace with the Tlafcalans. 
 
 Cortes, in order to compel the Tlafcalans, by hoftilities, to accept 
 of peace and the friendlliip which he offered, made an excurfion on the 
 -^d of September, with his cavalry, a hundred Spanifh infantry, three 
 hundred Chempoallas, and three hundred Mexicans of the garrifon of 
 l-zltcmaxtitlan, fet fire to five or \\x hamlets, and made four hundred 
 prifoners, whom, after having carelfed and entertained them, he fet at 
 liberty, charging the principal perfons among them to go and ofier 
 
 (2;) Bunal Diaz fays, that the army of the Thucalans c< ndlled of about forty thouHuui 
 men. To Cortes they appeared to exceed a hundred thoufand. OtNer hilioiiaiis have faid 
 thirty thoufand. It is difficult to coinptue the number of a hirge army by the eye, efDecially 
 u'hen they do not prefcrve the order of European troops» la order to avoid an error, we liave 
 faid fiiiiply that the army was numerous. 
 
 peace.
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 37 
 
 peace, in his name, to the chiefs of that nation. They immediatdy EOOKViir. 
 
 went to the young Xicotencatl, who was encamped, with a large army, ' ^ ' 
 
 fix miles dillantfrom that hill. This fiery youth anfwered, that if the 
 
 Spaniards wilh-d to treat of peace, they might go to the capital, where 
 
 they would be lacrificed as vidtims to their gods, and their fielh he 
 
 made food for the flafcahns ; that, as to himieif, he would come the 
 
 next day in perfon, to give them a decilive anfwer. This refoliition 
 
 being communicated to the Spaniards by the fame melfenger, railed 
 
 fuch an alarm among them, that they prepared themfelves that night 
 
 for death by the confeilion of the facrament, without however omitting 
 
 the necellary difpofitions for their defence. 
 
 The following day, the 5th of Septen^.ber, the Tlafcalan army 
 appeared not Itfs terrible, from the immenfc multitude of their num- 
 bers, than beautiful to view, from the infinite variety of their plumes, 
 and other military ornaments. It was divided into ten fquadrons, each 
 of ten thoufand men ; every one carried its proper ftandard. In the 
 rear-guard, according to the cuftom of thai nation, was placed the 
 common llandard of the republic, which, as we have already men- 
 tioned, was a golden eagle with expanded wings. The prince Xico- 
 ttncall, in or(!er to make it underflood how little he valued the arms 
 of the Spaniards, and that he fcorned to take them by famine, but meant 
 to conquer them by battle, font them a refrelhment of three hundred 
 turkeys and two hundred ball^ets oiTa-ncilIi, to recruit their flrength 
 for the engagement. A little after he detached two thoufind brave men 
 to enter the camp of the Spaniards by affault. This attack was fo violent 
 ar.d fudden, that they forced the entrenchments, entered the camp, and 
 encountered man to man with the Spaniards. 1 he Tlafcalans might 
 now have proved conquerors, not only from the fuperiority of their 
 numbers, but alfo from their bravery ai^d the nature of their arms, 
 which were pikes, lances, fwords, and darts, with double and triple 
 points, if a difcord among themfelves had not rendered the vidtory 
 eafv to their enemies. The fon of Chichimeca Teui^li, who com- 
 manded a body of troops belonging to his father, having received fome 
 infulc in words from tlie arrogant Xicotencatl, conceived fo much in- 
 dignation againft him, that he challenged him to a fingle combat, 
 which (hould determine their courage and their fortune ; but having 
 
 been
 
 38 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOKVIII. been refufed this latisfaftion, in order to be in fome meafure revenged, 
 he withdrew from the field with the troops which were under his com- 
 mand, and prevailed upon thofe of Tlehuexolotzin to follow him. In 
 fpite of this disjuntìion of the army, the battle was obftinate and 
 bloody. The Spaniards after having bravely repulfed the force which 
 had aflaulted their camp, marched in order of battle again ft the body 
 of the Tlafcalan army. The havock made by the artillery upon the 
 crouded multitude of the enemy, was not fudicient to put the Tlafca- 
 lans to flight, nor prevent them from filling up with expedition all the 
 vacancies left by the dead ; on the contrary, by their fteadinefs and in- 
 trepidity, they threw the Spaniards into fome confufion, notwithlland- 
 ing the cries and reproaches of Cortes and his captains. At length, 
 after fome hours of engagement, the Spaniards returned vidlorious to 
 their camp, although the Tlafcalans did not defift from frequent 
 aflaults upon them during the whole of that day. Of the Spaniards, 
 one man was miffing, andfixty were wounded; likewife all the horfes. 
 Of the Tlafcalans, great numbers were killed, but not a fingle dead 
 body was to be feen by the Spaniards, owing to the diligence and adli- 
 vity with which they carried them otf the field of battle. 
 
 Xicotencatl, difgufted at the unhappy ilTue of this expedition, con- 
 fulted the diviners of Tlafcala, who reported that thole ftrangers being 
 the children of the fun were invincible during the dayj but, as foon 
 as night arrived, by want of the genial heat of that luminary, they 
 were deprived of ftrength to defend themfelves. In confequence of this 
 oracle, that general refolved to make another afiault upon the Spanish 
 camp during the night. In the mean while, Cortes fallicd out afrefh 
 to commit hoftilities in the neighbouring villages, of which he burned 
 ten, and among thofe one of three thoufand houfes, and returned with 
 feveral prifoners. 
 
 Xicotencatl, that the blovv might not fail which he meditated upon 
 the Spaniards, took pains firft to gain information of the ftrength and 
 difpofition of their camp. He fent therefore fifty men to Cortes with 
 a prefent, accompanied with many expreflions of kindnefs and cour- 
 tefy, charging them to obferve every thing minutely : but they were 
 unable to do this with diffimulation fufficient to prevent its being dif- 
 covered by Teuch, one of the three principal Chempoallefe, who im- 
 
 mediatey
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 39 
 
 mediately intimated his fufpicion to Cortes. This general having call- BOOKViri 
 ed fome of the Ipies afide, forced them by means of threats to reveal 
 that Xicotencatl was preparing to attack them the following night, 
 and that they were fent on purpofe to obferve, at what part of the 
 camp they could moft eafily make their entry. Cortes having heard 
 this confefTion («), made the hands of all the fifty be cut off, and fent 
 them back to Xicotencatl, defiring them to let him know that come 
 when he would, by day or by night, he would always make him fcn- 
 fible that they were Spaniards j and the circumftances appearing to fa- 
 vour the battle expe(5ted before the army had made all their prepara- 
 tions for the alTault, he fct out about the clofe of the night with a con- 
 fiderable number of troops and his horfcs, to v/hich he ordered little 
 bells to be hung at the armour of their breafts, and went to meet the 
 enemy, who were jufl beginning their march towards the Spanifh 
 camp. The fight of the punilhment executed upon the fpies, and 
 the found of the little bells in the filence and darknefs of the night, 
 raifed fuch a tremor among the Tlafcalans, that they fuddenly flarted 
 into confufion and diforder, and fled different ways, while Xicoten- 
 catl himfelf, deferted and alone, returned in fliame to Tlafcala. Upon 
 this Maxixcatzin took occafion to inculcate his firft counfel, adding to 
 the arguments he had already uled, the lad experience of fo many ex- 
 peditions which had ended unfuccefsfuUy -, he accordingly moved 
 their minds to peace. 
 
 While this affair was agitating in Tlafcala, the Mexicans were deli- 
 berating what courfe fhould be taken with thofe ftrangers. Monte- 
 zuma having heard of the vidtories of the Spaniards, and apprehcnfive 
 of their confederating with the Tlafcalans, fummoned the king of 
 Tczcuco, his nephew, the prince Cuitlahuatzin. and his other coun- 
 fcllors, explained the ftate of aff"airs to them, difclofed his fears, and 
 demanded their advice. The king of Tezcuco adhered to his former 
 opinion J which was, that thofe ftrangers fhould be courtcoufly treat- 
 ed in every place through which they paffed ; that they fhould be 
 kindly welcomed at court, and their propofitions heard, as well as thofe 
 of any other vailal, the king ftill preferving his fupreme authority, and 
 exacting the decorum and refpeót du3 to the majefty of the throne j 
 
 (a) Some hiftoii.ms fi)', that the fing'ts only of the TIafcalan fplcs were cut OiT; but Cor- 
 tes himfelf fuys, that he made their haiiJ> be cut off. 
 
 that 
 
 8fct. XX. 
 New embuf- 
 fici iiiid pre- 
 fents from 
 Montezuma 
 to Cortes.
 
 40 
 
 HISTORY O I' M E 
 
 B0OKVi;i. t|-iat if' they fhould defign any thing againit the psi the kiiig, or 
 
 the flute, force and Ibverity fliould then he empio id-againll: them. 
 "File prince Ciiitlahuatzin repeated what he had i'lld in the tirH: coii- 
 i'ercnce, vvliich was, that it did not leem expedient to admit thole 
 llrangcrs into the court.; that a valuaDie prefent iiiould bi lent to their 
 chief, that he fhouid be alktd v\hat things of that country he demand- 
 ed for the great lord in wliofe name he came, and that lie ftiouid be 
 oifered the friendlhip and correlpondence of the Mexicans, but at the 
 fame time he lliould again be importuned to return to tus n.itive coun- 
 try. Among the reft of the counfellors, Ibnie adopted the opinion ot 
 the king of Tezcuco, [omc that of the lord of ìztapalapan, whiie 
 others fided with Montezuma. This unibrtunate king law every v/here 
 objedfs and motives of terror. Tlie coni'ederacy which he dreaded of 
 the Thfcalans with the Spmiards kept him in the utmofc uneafinels. 
 On the other hand, he was apprehend ve of the alli.ince of Cartes with 
 the prince Ixtlilxochitl, his nephew and Kvorn enemy, who Ircm the 
 time that he had confpired againd the king of Tezcaco his brother, 
 had never laid dow.i his arms, and was at this very junifture at the 
 head of a formidable army at Otompan. Thole caufes of alarm were 
 ftill m.ore augmented by the rebellion of feveral provinces who had fol- 
 lowed the example of the Totonacas. 
 
 He fent therefore fix ambaffadors to Cortes, with a thoufand curious 
 cotton drellcs, and a large quantity of gold and beautiiul feathers, and 
 charged them to congratulate hììv. in his name upon his vidories, to 
 make him offers of ftill more confiderable prefents, and to diduade 
 him from the journey to Mexico, by reprefenting to him the ditlicuity 
 of the way, and other obftacles not eafy to be furmounted. The am- 
 bailadors immediately departed, with a retinue of more than two hun- 
 dred men, and having arrived at the Spanilli camp, executed with 
 puntìuality the whole of their commilììon. Cortes received them 
 with all the refpedf due to their characSter, and acknowledged himfelf 
 infinitely oliged to the bounty of fo great a monarch j but he purpofely 
 detained the ambaiiadors, in hopes that in the time of their ftay fome 
 occaiion of engaging with the Tlafcalans might prefent itfelf, by which 
 the Mexicans might be imprelied with an idea of the brave-.y of his 
 troops, and the iupcriority of the European arms ; or that if peace 
 liiouid be made with tlie republic, they ndght be witrieiTes of the fo- 
 
 verity
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 4' 
 
 verity with which, he intended to reprimand the Tlafcalans for their ob- BOOKViir. 
 llinacy. It w.is not long before tiic occafioii which he lb much de- 
 fired prefented itfelf. Three divifions of the enemy came down upon 
 the Spanilh camp with terrible howls, and a tempcft of darts and ar- 
 rows. Cortes, although he had that day taken a purgative medicine, 
 mounted on horfeback, and went intrepidly again it the Tlafcalans, who 
 were defeated without much trouble in the light of the Mexican am- 
 bafì'adors. 
 
 The partisans of the old Xicotencatl being at lafl perfuaded that Sect. XXI. 
 the war with the Spaniai-ds was by no means advantageous to the re- coii'fl^deracy 
 public, and fearing befides that they might form an alliance with the "^ '''^ Tiaf- 
 
 *. -I /-111 ^ 1 r y ^ calnns with 
 
 Mexicans, unanimoully relolved to make peace, and chofe the fame the Spani- 
 general who had fought again ll them to mediate between them. Xi- 
 cotencati, though at lirft he refufcd to do fo, from being afliamed of 
 the unhappy iiiue of the war, was at laft obliged to charge himfelf 
 with the commidion. He was accompanied to the camp by a noble 
 and numerous retinue, ialuted Cortes in the name of the republic, ex- 
 cufed themfelves for the hollilities already fliewn, from having believed 
 him to be the ally of Montezuma, not only on account of the fuperb 
 prefents fent him from Mexico, but aho the large troop of Mexicans 
 who followed him ; promifed him a firm peace, and an eternal alliance 
 with the 1 lalcalans, and prefented him a little gold, and fome bales 
 of fine cotton, apologifing for the fcantinefs of their offers, with the 
 poverty of their country occafioned by their conftant wars with the 
 Mexicans, who prevented their commerce with other provinces. Cor- 
 tes omitted no demonllration of refpcdl towards Xicotencatl ; he niade 
 an appearance of being latisfied with his excufes, but required that the 
 peace fliould be hncerc and permanent ; for that if they ever broke it, 
 he would take fuch revenge as would make an example of them to 
 other nations. 
 
 Peace being concluded, and Xicotencatl having taken his leave, 
 Cortes ordered mafs to be celebrated as a thankfgiving to the Almighty. 
 Every one will be able to imagine the difpleafure the Mexican anibaf- 
 fadors mu(l have received in feeing fuch an accommodation take place. 
 They complained of it to Cortes, and blamed his ealy credulity in the 
 promiles of men fo perfidious as the Tlafcalans. They told him, that 
 
 Vol. II. G ' thofe
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 thofe appearances of peace were defigned for no other purpofe than to 
 infpire him with confidence to enter their capital, that they might 
 there, without hazard, execute that which they had not b^en able to 
 accomplifh by arms in the field ; that it was fit he fhould contrafl: the 
 condudl of their fenate with that of the court of Mexico : the Tlaf- 
 calans after having, with the femblance of peace, granted them per- 
 miflion to enter their country, had yet not defifted from making war 
 upon them, until they found all their aims and oppofition fruitlefs. 
 From the Mexicans, on the contrary, they had fuffered no hoflilities, 
 had rather met with the moft different reception, the greateft refpedt 
 and attention in every place of their dominions where they had pafled, 
 and from their fovereign the moft diftinguilhed proofs of benevolence 
 and friendfliip. Cortes anfwered, that he never meant by fuch con- 
 nexion to do wrong to the court of Mexico, to which he acknow- 
 ledged himfelf under high obligations ; as he was defirous of peace 
 with all parties ; that befides he did not fear any thing from the Tlaf- 
 calans, if they chofe to become his enemies ; that as for him and the 
 other Spaniards, it was the fame thing whether they were attacked in 
 a city or in the country, by night or by day, as they were Ikilled to 
 conquer at all times, and in all places ; that even on account of that 
 very infinuation which they had thrown out againft the Tlafcalans, he 
 was defirous of repairing to their city, to have an opportunity there of 
 taking exemplary vengeance on their perfidy. 
 
 The Tlafcalans were extremely diftant from any fuch difingenoufnefs 
 as was imputed to them by the Mexicans ; for from that moment in 
 which peace was decreed by the fenate, they continued the moft faith- 
 ful allies of the Spaniards, as will appear in the fequel. The fenate 
 defired to have Cortes at Tlafcala with all his troops, to confirm more 
 effedtually their ftipulated friendlliip, and to treat ferioufly of a confe- 
 deracy againft the Mexicans, and had already, by means of their mef- 
 fengers, invited that general to accept of accommodation in their city ; 
 profefllng the utmoft regret at feeing fuch illuftrious friends of the re- 
 public fuflfering fo many inconveniences. 
 
 The alliance with the Tlafcalans was not the only fruit which the 
 Spaniards reaped from their vidtories. In the fame camp where he had 
 received the Tlafcalan ambaffador, he was favoured with two other 
 
 embaf-
 
 43 
 
 BOOK. vili. 
 StcT. XXII. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 embaflies from the republic of Iluexotzinco, and the prince Ixthlxo- 
 chitl. The Huexotzincas, who had formerly been vaffils of the 
 crown of Mexico, and the enemies of the Tlafcalans, had deUvered 
 themfelves from the dominion of the Mexicans, and confederated with 
 •the Tlafcalans their neÌ2;hbours, and now they imitated their example 
 in making offers of alliance and confederacy to the Spaniards. The 
 prince Ixtlilxochitl fent ambafladors to Cortes, to congratulate him on 
 his vidtories over the Tlafcalans, and to invite him to make a journey 
 to Teotlalpan, where he propofed to unite his forces with thofe of 
 the Spaniards againft the king of Mexico. Cortes, as foon as he was 
 informed of the rank, pretentions, and forces of that prince, readily 
 accepted his alliance, and engaged to afiifl: to place him upon the throne 
 of Acolhuacan. 
 
 At the fame time the ambafllidor, who was expefted from Mexico, 
 returned from that court with a prefent of jewels and gold, worth fif- 
 teen hundred fequins, two hundred coftly habits of feathers, and new 
 fuggeftions from that monarch to divert the Spanifh general from his 
 journey to Mexico, and from any friendfliip with the Tlafcalans. Such 
 were the vain efforts of pufillanimity in Montezuma, while the great 
 quantity of gold he daily expended in prefents to thofe ffrangers, was 
 but fo much more in purchafe of the chains which were foon to fetter 
 his liberty. 
 
 Six days had elapfed fince the peace made with Tlafcala, when the 
 four lords of that republic, in order to induce the Spaniards to remove 
 to Tlafcala, made themfelves be tranfported in portable chairs or lit- the republic 
 ters, with a numerous attendance to their camp. The mutual demon- ^^^^ catholic" 
 ftrations of joy and refpedl were extraordinary on both lldes. That •""S- 
 famous fenate, not contented with ratifying the alliance, of their own 
 accord acknowledged obedience to the Catholic king, which was the 
 more acceptable to the Spaniards, the more the Tlafcalans had prized 
 their liberty, which they had enjoyed from time immemorial. They 
 complained with much fhew of affedlion, of the diffidence of Cortes, 
 and prevailed upon him by their entreaties to refolve upon his depar- 
 ture for Tlafcala the next day. 
 
 There was now a deficiency of fifty-five Spaniards of the number 
 who had enlirtcd in Cuba, and thofe remaining were for the moft part 
 
 G 2 wounded 
 
 Sect. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 SubmilJlon of
 
 44 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 to 1 lalcala. 
 
 BOOKVIII. wounded and difpirited ; and fuch difcontent and apprehenfions began 
 •*— ""v — -^ to Icize the fokliers, that they not only fpoke dilrefpedltully of their 
 chief in private, but alfo conjured him to return to Vera Cruz; but 
 Cortes encouraged them, and by powerful arguments toucliing their 
 honour, and his own example of iortitude and lirmnefs in dangers and 
 fatigue, he rekindled in them frefh zeal for his undertakings. At length 
 they all feemed to conceive hopes of fuccefs, from the confederacies 
 they had made, to the projedls of their general. 
 Sect. The Mexican ambalfadors whom Cortes Ifill detained with him, re- 
 
 ■p ^.^'Y'k fi-ded to accompany him to Tlafcala ; but he perfuaded them to go along 
 Spaniards in- With him, promifing them, that they (hould be perfedily fecure under 
 his proteftion. Having removed their doubts, he marched his army 
 in good order and preparation for every event. In the cities of Te- 
 compantzinco and Atlihuetzian, they were received with all poflible 
 courtefy, though not in a ftyle equal to the magnificent entiy they 
 made into the capital, from which the four lords of the republic came 
 out to meet the Spaniards with a numerous concourfe of the nobility, 
 and fo great a croud of inhabitants, that fome have affirmed they a- 
 mounted to a hundred thoufand people; a calculation, by no means 
 improbable, confidering tlie populoufnefs of Tlafcala, and the fur- 
 priling novelty of thofe extraordinary ftrangers, who awakened the cu- 
 riolity of all that extenfive region. In all the flreets of the city were 
 formed, according to the ufage of thofe nations, arches of flowers and 
 branches, and a confufed mulic of inflruments and acclamations re- 
 founded from all fides, accompanied with fuch jubilee and rejoicing, 
 that it appeared to be rather the celebration of the triumph of the re- 
 public than of that of its enemies. This day, ftill commemorated 
 in Tlafcala, was the 23d of September, 151 9. 
 
 That city was then one of the moft confiderable in the country of 
 Anahuac, Cortes, in his letters to Charles V. affirms, that in gran- 
 deur, populoufnefs, buildings, and abundance of the neceflaries of life, 
 it exceeded Granada when that was taken from the Moors ; and 
 that at the market, of which he gives a defcription, there daily all'em- 
 bled about thirty thoufand merchants and people of bufinefs. The 
 fame conqueror attefts, that having obtained an order of the fenate to 
 make the houfes and inhabitants be numbered which were in tlie city, 
 
 the
 
 IirSTORYOFMEXICO. 45 
 
 the villages, and humlets of the republic, there were found upwards BOOKVIII. 
 of fifty thouliind houfes, and more than five hundred thoufand inha- 
 bitants. 
 
 The Tlafcalans had prepared, for the Spaniards and all their allies, a 
 handibme and commodious dwelling. Cortes delired that the Mexi- 
 can amballiidors might be lodged in apartments near to his own, not 
 only in refptdl to them, but alfo to banifh from their minds any dif- 
 truft of the Tlafcalans. The chiefs of the republic, in order to give 
 the Spaniards a new proof of the fincerity of their friendfliip, prefent- 
 ed to Cortes thirty beautiful young women. Cortes refufcd them at 
 firft, alledging, that the Chriftian law forbid polygamy ; but after- 
 wards, to avoid giving offence, he accepted fomeof them as companions 
 to Marina. In fpite of this refuHil, tiiey prefented him fbon after five 
 virgins of the firft nobility, whom Cortes accepted for the fake of 
 rtrengthening his friendlhip with the republic. 
 
 Encouraged by this fuccefsful beginning, Cortes became deiirous of 
 perfuading the chiefs of the republic and the nobles, to abandon their 
 fuperftitious rites, and acknov/ledge the only true divinity ; but al- 
 though his reafons were periualive, and they confefled the power of 
 that God whom the Spaniards adored, they could not, however, be 
 induced to renounce their abfurd deities, bccaufc they believed them dit- 
 penfers of human felicity. " Our god Camaxtle," theyfaid, " grants us 
 " victory over our enemies ; our goddefs Matlalcueje lends rain to our 
 " fields, and defends us from the inundation of Zahuapan [ó). To each 
 " of our gods we are indebted for a part of the happinefs of our lives, 
 " and their anger, if provoked, might draw down upon the fiate the 
 " mod fevere punifliment." Cortes, ftimulatcd by a zeal too ardent and 
 violent, was defirous of treating the idols of Tlafcala in the fame man- 
 ner as he had fuccefsful ly done thole of Chempoallan ; but Olmcdo, 
 and other perfons of relpedl, dilluaded him from fo ralli an attempt, 
 reprefenting to him, that fuch an a<lt of violence, befides not being 
 conducive to the promulgation of tlae gofpel, might prove the ruin cf 
 the Spaniards in a city lb populous, and attached to fupcrftition. Nc- 
 verthelefs, he d.d not ceafe, during twenty days which he flopped 
 
 (A) A liver of Tl.ifcala. 
 
 there
 
 40 
 
 HISTORY OF M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK VIII. there, to reproach them with the cruehies of their liicrificcs, and to 
 *.— -v—.^ inculcate the purity of his fyftem of moraUty, the faUenefs of their dei- 
 ties, ..and the exiftence of a fupreine Being, who governs all natural 
 caufes, and" watches with moil admirable providence over the preferva- 
 tion of his creatures. Thoie exhortations, made by a perfon of fo 
 great authority, and of whom the Tlafcalans had formed a very elevat- 
 ed idea, although they did not produce all the effeit defired, had con- 
 fiderable influence, and lo far moved the fenate, that they confented 
 to break, the cages, and fet at liberty all the prifoners and flaves which 
 were to be facriiiced to their gods on folemn feflivals, or other public 
 occafions of the fiate. 
 
 Thus every day the alliance with the Tlafcalans was more firmly 
 eflablilhed, in fpite of the repeated fuggeftions of the Mexican ambaf- 
 fadors to break it. Cortes, though well perfuaded of the iincerity of 
 the Tlafcalans, had given orders to his troops to hold themfelves ai- 
 wavs prepared for whatever might happen. The fenate was offended 
 at this, and complained bitterly of his diffidence, after fo many mani- 
 fefl proofs of their good faith ; but Cortes excufed it, by protefling, 
 that he did not fo from any diffidence of the Tlafcalans, but becaufe it 
 was the pradfice of the Spaniards : this anfwer fatisfied the fenate, and 
 the difcipline of his foldiers pleafed them fo much, that Maxixcatzin 
 propofed to introduce it among the troops of the republic. 
 
 At length Cortes having procured, during the time he flayed in 
 Tlafcala, a diftinft information of the city of Mexico, of the forces of 
 that kingdom, and every other particular which could farther his pro- 
 jedts, determined to continue his journey ; but before he fèt out, he 
 prefented a great number of the moft beautiful habits which he had 
 received from Montezuma, to the Tlafcalans. He was doubtful of the 
 route he fhould purfue to that city. The Mexican ambaffadors pro- 
 pofed that he fliould go by Cholula, where there was good accommo- 
 dation prepared for all his people. The Tlafcalans oppofed that inten- 
 tion, by reprefenting the perfidy of the Cholulans, and advifed him to 
 proceed by Huexotzinco, a fiate confederated equally with them and the 
 Spaniards, but Cortes refolved to go by Cholula, not only to pleafe the 
 ambaffadors, but alfo to fhew the Tlafcalans the little regard he paid 
 to the force of his enemies. 
 
 The
 
 H I S T O R Y O F xM E X I e O. 47 
 
 The Cholulans had been formerly the allies of the Tlafcalans ; but BOOK.VJII. 
 upon the arrival of the Spaniards were confederated witli the Mexicans, ^"sl^TTf 
 and the fworn enemies of that repablic. The caufe of fo ereat an ,- ^.^Y- 
 
 ' o linimty l)C* 
 
 enmity had been the iieifidy of the Cholulans. In a battle with the twenthc 
 Mexicans, while they were yet the allies of the Tlafcalans, being in andcThoru- 
 the vanguard of the army, by a fudden evolution they put themfelves '*"'*• 
 in the rear, and, attacking the Tlafcalans behind while the Mexicans 
 were upon their front, made a great flaughter of them. The hatred 
 which this deteftable treachery had raifed in the breafts of the Tlafca- 
 lans made them anxious for an opportunity of revenge, and no time had 
 appeared more favourable than now, when they were become confe- 
 derated with the Spaniards. In order to infpire Cortes with diilike to 
 them, and induce him to make war upon that fiate, they acquainted him 
 with its condudt towards him ; that they had not fent any meflengers 
 with compliments to him, whereas the Hucxotzincas had done fo, al- 
 though their fiate was at a much greater diflance. They informed 
 him alfo of the meflage which they faid they had received from the 
 Cholulans, reproaching them for their alliance with the Spaniards ; 
 calling them bafe and cowardly, and threatening them, that if they 
 fhould attempt any thing againft their facred city they (hould all perifh 
 by being drowned j for among their other errors, they were perfuaded, 
 that whenever they chofe they could, by rafing the walls of the fanc- 
 tuary of Qiietzalcoatl, make fuch large rivers fpring from thence, as 
 would in a moment overflow the city ; and although the Tlafcalans 
 dreaded fuch a cataftrophe, the defire of revenge overcame their 
 fears. 
 
 Cortes, moved by thefe fuggeftions, ient four noble Tlafcalans to 
 Cholula, to know why they had not paid the fame regard which was 
 fhevvn to him by the Hucxotzincas. The Cholulans laid their excule on 
 the ennùty of the Tlafcalans, in whom they never could repofe any 
 confidence fcj. This anfwer was brought by four common people, 
 
 (f) Torquemada adds, that the Cholulans retained the principal meflèngcr of the Tlafca- 
 lans, and with favate cruelty fl-.iytd his face and arms, and cut off his handi ; but this ac- 
 count is unqueHionably fali'e, for fo atrocious a proceeding could not remain unknown to the 
 Spaniards ; but neither Cortes, Uernal Diaz, nor any other of the fird hillorians mention it. 
 Cortes would not ha. e omitted it in his letter to Charles V. to judify the fevcrity of his chaf- 
 tifemcDi of the Cholulans, 
 
 8 which
 
 48 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOKVIir. which was confidered as a manifeft demonftration of dilrefped. Cortes 
 being advertifed of it by the Tlafcalans fent four of the Chempoallefe, 
 to tell the Cholulans that the embafly of a monarch fo great as the 
 king of Spain, ought not to have been entrufted to fuch low meflen- 
 gers, nor were they themfelves worthy to hear it ; to let' them know, 
 that the Catholic kino- was the true lord of all that country, and that 
 in his name he came to demand homage of thofe people ; that thole 
 who fliould fubmit to him would be honoured, and the rebels puniihed 
 according to their defert ; that therefore they ihould make their ap- 
 pearance within three days in Tlafcala, to give obedience to their fove- 
 reign, otherwife they would be treated as enemies. The Cholulans, 
 although it is to be fuppofed they treated fo arrogant an embafly with 
 burlefque, in order to diffemhle their malicious intention, prefented 
 themfelves the next day to Cortes, requefting him to cxcufe their omif- 
 fion, occafioned by the enmity of the Tlafcalans, declaring themfelves 
 not only the friends of the Spaniards, but alfo the valfals of the king 
 of Spain. 
 
 Having determined his route through Cholula, Cortes fct out with 
 all his people, and a confiderable number of Tlafcalan troops {d), 
 all which he foon difcharged, exxept fix thoufand men, whom he 
 chofe to accompany him. A little way before they arrived at Cholula, 
 the principal lords and priefls, with cenfers in their hands and mufical 
 inftruments, came out to meet him, and after having paid the ufual 
 ceremonies of refpeót, they told the general, that he might enter with 
 all his people and the Totonacas j but they could not admit their ene- 
 mies the Tlafcalans. To this Cortes confented through complaifance, 
 and the Tlafcalans remained encamped without the city, imitating in 
 the difpofition of their camp, the order of their centinels, and other 
 things, the military difcipline of the Spaniards. At the entry of the 
 Spanhli army into Cholula, a fimilar croud of people was colleded, 
 and the fame ceremonies, acclamations, and refped, were obferved, 
 though not with the fame fmcerity, as in Tlafcala. 
 
 (,/) Cortes fays, that this army of the Tlafcalans confirted of more than one hundred and 
 forty-nine thojfand men. Bernal Diaz affirms, as an undoubted faOi, which was well known to 
 him, that it confilled only of fifty thoufand men. This number appears the moft probable. 
 
 Sect. 
 XXVI. 
 
 Entry of the 
 Spaniards in- 
 to Cholula. 
 
 Cholula
 
 H I S T O Pv Y O F M E X I e O. 49 
 
 Cholula was then a populous city, eighteen miles diftant from Tbfcala BOOK viii. 
 towards the Ibuth, and about lixty from Mexico towards the call, and 
 not lefs celebrated for the commerce of its inhabitants than its religion. 
 It was fituated, as it is at prefent, in a beautiful plain, and at a fmall 
 diftance from that group of mountains which furround the valley of 
 Mexico towards the eaft. Its population at that time, as Cortes afiirms, 
 occupied about forty thoufand houfes, and there were as many in the 
 circumjacent villages which were in the nature of fuburbs to it. Its 
 commerce confided in manufactures of cotton, gems, and plates of clay, 
 and it was much famed for its jewellers and potters. With refpedl 
 to religion, it may be faid, that Cholula was the Rome of Anahuac. 
 The celebrated Quetzalcootl having palled fo rriany years in that city, 
 and fhewn fo much afFed:ion to his fubjedls, was the caufe that after 
 his apotheoiis, it was confecrated by the moft particular worfliip. 
 The furprillng multitude of tejnples which were there, and in particu- 
 lar the greater temple, ere<fled upon an artificial mountain, which is 
 flill exifting, drew innumerable pilgrims, not only from the neigh- 
 bouring cities, but likewife from the moft diilant provinces, to per- 
 form their devotions at that imagined holy fpot. 
 
 Cortes was lodged, with all his troops, in fome large buildings, 
 where, during the two firft days, they were abundantly fupplied with 
 provifions j but very foon they began to grow fcanty, until at laft there 
 was nothing furniflied by the, city but wood and water. This was 
 not the only proof of their fccret machinations and intentions ; 
 for every moment they difcovered new indications of the treachery 
 which they meditated. The Champoallefe allies obferved, that they had 
 made holes and dug pits in the ftreets of the city, in which they had fixed 
 fharp ftakes, and covered them with earth, which it appeared was 
 done for no other purpofe than to wound and difable the liorfes. Eight 
 men, who came from the camp of the Tlafcalans, apprifcd them that 
 they had feen crouds of women and children coming out of the city; 
 a certain fign among thofe nations of fome impending commotion. 
 Befides, it was found out, that in fome of the flrcets they had formed 
 entrenchments, and coUedled great heaps of flones upon the tops of the 
 houfes. Laftly, a Cholulan woman of rank, Avho had become enamoured 
 of the beauty, the fpirit, and difcretion of Marina, intreated her to fave 
 Vol. II. . II herfelf
 
 Sect. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Slaughter 
 muJe inCho- 
 lula. 
 
 HISTORY OF M E X I C O. 
 
 herfclf in her houfe from the danger which threatened the Spaniards ; 
 upon which Marina took occalion to inform herfelf of the whole plan 
 of the confpiracy, and imrnediately told Cortes of it. He heard from 
 the muLith of the fame perfon, that the Cholulans, with the alTiftance 
 of twenty thouiand Mexicans {e), who were encamped near the city, had 
 concerted to malfacre all the Spaniards. Not contented with thefe dif- 
 c©\'eries, he charged Marina to ufe all her art to bring two priefts to 
 his dwelhng, who coniirmed all that had been communicated to her 
 bv her female friend. 
 
 Cortes, finding himfelf in fuch hazard of utter deftrudlion, refolved 
 to adopt the moll effectual means for his fafety. Pie ordered the prin- 
 cipal perlons of the city into his prefence, and told them, that if they 
 had any quarrel againft the Spaniards, to declare it frankly, as became 
 men of honour, and he would give them fuitable fatisfaftion. They 
 replied, that they were already fatisfied with his conduót, and ready to 
 ferve him ; that v^'henever he chofe to depart, he lliould be abundantly 
 ■provided with every thing that was neceffary for his journey, and alfo 
 troops of war for his fecurity. Cortes accepted their offer, and fixed 
 the next day for his departure. The Cholulans were content, as it 
 appeared that every thing would turn out favourable to their treacher- 
 ous defign ; but in order to enfure that ftill more, they facrificed to 
 their gods ten children, five of each fex. Cortes called together his 
 ofiicers, unfolded to them the perfidious intentions of the Cholulans, 
 and ordered them to give their fentiments. Some were of opinion that 
 their danger fliould be fliunned, by retreating to the city of Huexotzrnco, 
 which was hardly nine miles diftant, or to Tlafcala ; but the m.ijority 
 referred thcmfelvcs to the determination of the general. Cortes gave 
 the orders which feemed to him moft fuited to his purpofe, protefling 
 that they could never be fecure in Mexico unlefs they puniihed that de- 
 ceitful city with feverity. He ordered the auxiliary troops of Tlaf- 
 cala to ftorm the city at fun -rife the next day, and to cut off every citi- 
 zen without pardon to any one except women and children. 
 
 The day at length arrived, which wreaked difafter on Cholula. The 
 Spaniards prepared their horfes, their artillery, their arms, and formed 
 
 (,) Bernal Diaz fays, that the Mexican army, according to what be knew, confifled of 
 twenty thou fand men. Cortes affirms, that the lords of Cholula conteded to him, that that 
 army was not compofed of lefs than fifty thoufind men. 
 
 them-
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 51 
 
 themlelvcs in order, in a fquare of their dwelling, which was defigned BOOK^'III. 
 for the principal theatre of the approaching tragedy. The Cho- 
 lulans repaired thither at break of day. The chiefs, with about forty 
 nobles, and tiie baggage men entered into the halls and chambers to 
 lift up the equipage, when fuddenly guards were placed to prevent 
 their efcape. The Chohilan troops, or at leaft great part of them, 
 entered into the fquare along with the principal lord of that city, at the 
 requell, it is probable, of Cortes himfelf, who, mounting on horfc- 
 back, fpoke to them in this manner : " Cholulans, I have endeavoured 
 " to make you my friends ; I have entered peaceably into your city, 
 " and here you have received no wrong from me, nor any of mv 
 '* friends ; but, on the contrary, that you might have no fubieót of 
 '* complaint, I confented that the auxiliary troops of the Tlafcalans 
 " ihould not be admitted here : befides, I have requefted you to fay freely, 
 " if we had done you any injury, that you might have fatisfadlion ; but 
 " you have, with deteflable perfidy, under the appearance of friend- 
 " ihip, laid a fcheme to betray me, and deflroy me and my people. I 
 " know the whole depth of your bloody defigns." Then calling afide 
 fcur or five Cholulans, he alked them what had induced them to re- 
 folve on fo execrable an attempt ? They replied, that the Mexican 
 ambafllidor, to render an aL;reeable fervicc to their fovereign, had en- 
 ticed them to meditate their deftrudiion. Cortes then, with a counte- 
 nance full of indignation, thus addrcfied the ambafiadors who were 
 preftnt : " Thofe wretches, to excufe their crimes, impute the trea- 
 " chery to you and your kiiTg ; but I neither believe you capable of 
 " fuch infamy, nor can I perfuade rayfelf that the great monarch Mon- 
 " tezuma would treat me like a cruel enemy, at the very time he is 
 " giving me the fincereft: proofs of his fricndfhip j r.nd as he could op- 
 " pofe me with open force, that he would employ traitors to anticipate 
 " him ! Be allured, that I will pay regard to your perfons in the flaugh- 
 " ter and blood we ihall flied. To-dav, thofe traitors fhall perifl), 
 " and their city Hiall be convulfed. I call heaven and earth to witnefs, 
 " that it is their perfidy which arms our hands for revenge, unnatural 
 '* to our hearts." 
 
 Having Ipoke this, and made the fignal of attack by the difcharge of 
 a mufkct, the Spaniards fell with fuch fury upon thofe niifcrable vic- 
 
 II 2 tims.
 
 HISTORY OF M E X r C O. 
 
 . tims, that they did not leave one alive of all thole who were in the 
 fqaare. The ftreanis of blood which flowed about, and the painful 
 yeds of the wounded and dying enemy, would have been futììcient 
 to have Ihocked and waked pity in every breall; that was not fired with 
 the fury of revenge. Having terminated the tragic fcene within, the)' 
 illued out to the ftreets, and flieathed their fwords in the bodies of all 
 the Cholulans they met. The TIafcalans, on their part, entered the 
 city like fiimiilied lions, their fiercenefs growing with the thirfl of the 
 blood of their enemies, and eagernefs to pleafe their new allies, A 
 ftroke, fo keen and unexpected, put the citizens immediately into dif- 
 order; but having formed themfelves into feveral different fquadrons,. 
 they made for fonie time a vigorous refiftance, until at laft, perceiving 
 the havock which the artillery made, and feeling the fuperiority of the 
 European arms, they went again into confufion. The greater part of 
 them fought their lafety in flight ; fome had recourfe to the fuperfti- 
 tious hope of razing the walls of the temple to deluge the city : but, 
 finding that expedient totally fruitlefs, they endeavoured to fortify 
 themfelves in their houfes and temples. But neither did this avail, 
 for the enemy fet inirant fire to every houfe where they met with any 
 refillance. The houfes and towers of the temples were in flames ; the 
 flreets difcovered nothing but bloody or half-burnt carcafes, and no- 
 thing was heard but the infulting menacing clamours of the confede- 
 rates, the feeble groans of dying men, curfes, and imprecations on the 
 victors, and complaints to their gods why they had abandoned them in 
 fuch calamities. Amongfl: the many who fled to the towers of the 
 temples, there was but one which furrendered to the vidlorsj all the 
 refi: were either burnt to allies, or met a death lefs painful, by precipi- 
 tating themfelves from thofe heights. 
 
 By means of this horrid flaughter, in v/hich upwards of fix thoufand 
 Cholulans (f) perilhed, the city became depopulated. The temples and 
 lioufes were plundered, the Spaniards feizing all the gems, gold, and 
 filver, and the TIafcalans all the apparel, feathers, and fait. This tra- 
 
 (f) Las Cas has grofly disfigured this event of Cholula. The revenge of the Spaniards 
 was perhaps too rigorous, but their provocations were flrong. He relates it, as we find it» 
 among the moft faithful hiftorians who were prefent, or were informed by the ancient Spaniards 
 and Indians, 
 
 gedy
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 S3 
 
 g^dy was hardly fini/hed, when there appeared near Cholula an army 
 of twenty thoul'and men, fent by way of fuccour by the republic of 
 Tlafcalii, under the command of general Xicotencatl. It was proba- 
 ble that this was owing to Tome difpatcli having been fent the night 
 before to the fenate, by the chiefs of the Tlafcalan troops, cncamptd 
 without the city. Cortes returned thanks for the fupply, prcfcnted to 
 Xicotencatl and his officers a part of the booty, and requefted him to 
 return with his army to Tlafcala, as it was not now neceffary ; but he 
 retained the fix thoufand men who had aflifted him in the punifliment 
 of Cholula, that they might accompany him in his journey to Mexico. 
 Thus did the alliance of the Spaniards with the Tlalcalans become 
 gpadually more firm and eftablilhed. 
 
 Cortes having returned to his dwelling, where forty of tlie Cholulan 
 -nobility remained in a manner prifoners, he was requefted by them to 
 give way to mercy, after fo much rigour, and to permit one or two of 
 them to go and recall the women, children, and other fugitives, who 
 were wandering in terror and difmay through the mountains. Cortes, 
 being now moved to pity, commanded a cefliition of arms, and pub- 
 lilhed a general pardon. Upon the report of this proclamation, fud- 
 denly fome were feen to rife from among the dead wl">o had counter- 
 feited death in order to efcape it, and troops of fugitives coming from 
 the mountains to the city, fome bewailing the lofs of a fon, fome a 
 brother, and fome their hu(bands. Cortes ordered the dead bodies to 
 be carried off from the temples and the llrcets, and fet the nobles who 
 were prifoners at liberty. A few days after, that city was again fo well 
 peopled it appeared to want none of its inhabitants. Here Cortes 
 received the compliments of the Huxeotzioncas and theTlafcalans, and 
 an oath of allegiance to the crown of Spain from the Cholulans thcm- 
 felves, and the Tepejachefc nation, he adjufled the differences between 
 the two republics of Tlafcala and Cholula, and re-cftabliflied their 
 ancient friendfhip and alliance, which continued firm ever after. At 
 length, in order lo comply with the duties of humanity and religion, 
 he made all the cages of the temples he broke, and iet all the prifoners 
 and ilaves at liberty who were deftincd for the facrifices. He ordered 
 the greater temple to be cleaned, and railed tliere the llandard of the 
 crofs, after giving the Cholulans, as he did to all the other people 
 among whom he ftopped, fome idea of the Chriflian religion. 
 
 8 The 
 
 r.ooKviii. 
 
 S F C T^ 
 
 XXVIII. 
 Subiniffion of 
 the f.'holu- 
 l:ins and 
 Tepcpfachefe 
 fo the crow I» 
 of Spain.
 
 54 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOKVIII. The Spanirti general, elated by his fucceffes, or pei^haps defirous of 
 Sn-T.xxix. intimidating Montezuma, charged the Mexican ambaffadors to tell their 
 Newembafly niaflcr, that notvvithftandinP' he had formerly intended to enter peace- 
 from the king ably iuto Mexico, On feeing and conlidering what had happened in 
 Cholula, he was now determined to enter as an enemy, and to do him 
 every evil he could. The ambafladors anfwered, that before he took a 
 refolution of that kind, he ought to make a more lì:ri6t enquiry into the 
 condudl of the Cholulans, to certify himfelf of the good intentions of 
 their fovereign ; that, if he thought proper, one of them would go to 
 the court, and lay his complaints beiorc the king. Cortes confented 
 to it, and after fix days the amballador returned, bringing a large pre- 
 fent to the general, coniilling of ten plates of gold, worth five thoufand 
 lequins j one thoufand five hundred habits, and a great quantity of 
 provifions; thanking him, in the name of his fovereign, for the puniih- 
 ment inflióted on the perfidious Cholulans ; and protefling, that the 
 army raifed to furprile the Spaniards on their journey, conlilled of the 
 Acatzinchefe and Itzocanefe nations, the allies of Cholula, who, 
 although the fubjeóls of the crown of Mexico, had taken up arms 
 without any order from their fovereign. This was confirmed by the 
 afi'everations of the ambafladors, and Cortes made an appearance of 
 being perfeólly fatisfied. 
 
 It is not an eafy matter to clear up the truth in this particular, neither 
 can we avoid blaming the forwardnefs of fome authors in aiferting fo 
 freely what they do not know. Why fliould the Cholulans, who 
 were allowed by all to be a falfe deceitful nation, be given more credit 
 than the Mexicans, and Montezuma himlelf, who from the eminence of 
 his rank and charafter, was more worthy of faith ? The invariably pacific 
 difpofition of that monarch towards the Spaniards, having attempted 
 no holliile ftroke on many and thofe favourable occafions which occur- 
 red, to opprefs them ; and the nioderation with which he always 
 fpoke of them, which no authors deny, make the excufe made by tlie 
 Cholulans improbable : but, on the other hand, it aflumes an air of 
 truth from fome, though indirect proofs, of the enmity of Montezuma, 
 and in particular from hoftilities committed upon the garrifon of Vera 
 Cruz by a powerful feudatory of the crown of Mexico.
 
 HISTORY O F M E X I C O. 55 
 
 ^laubpopoca, lord of Nauhtlaii (called by the Spaniards Alincri.i), a bookviii. 
 city lituated upon t'ne coaft of the Mexican gulf, thirty-fix miles to- sTct^XXX 
 wards the north from Vera Cruz, and cle>le to t'ne confines of the Revolutions 
 ivlexican empire in tnat quarter, had orders rrom iVlontezuma to reuuce pa„. 
 the Totonacas to their wonted obedierice, as foon as Cortes had retired 
 from that coaft. He, in compliance with thofe orders, demanded of 
 thofe people with threats, the tribute which they were accufiomed to 
 pay to their fovereign. The Totonacas, rendered infolent from the 
 favour of their new allies, anfwered with arrogance, that they would 
 no longer pay homage to him who was no longer their king. Quauh- 
 popoca, perceiving that his requeils had no influence in bringing 
 again under fubordination men who had fo much confidence in their new 
 allies, and no refpeóì for their fovereign, having put himfelf at the head 
 of the Mexican troops which were in the garrifons of thofe frontiers, 
 began to make incurfions into the fettlements of Totonacapan, pu- 
 nilhing them by holVilities for their rebellion. The Totonacas 
 made their complaints to Juan de Efcalante, governor of the garrifon 
 of Vera Cruz, and intreated him to put a Itop to the cruelty of the 
 Mexicans, engaging alfo to afllft him with a large number of troops. 
 Efcalante fent an embaffy to the Mexican chief to difiliade him from 
 hoftilities, which he imagined could not be approved of by the king 
 of Mexico, who had Hicwn fo much defire to favour the Spaniards, the 
 proteftors of the Totonacas. Quauhpopoca anfwered, that he knew 
 better than him whether the punifhment of thofe rebels was or was not 
 agreeable to the Mexican king ; that if the Spaniards intended to fup- 
 port them, he, with his troops, would meet him on tiie plain of 
 Nauhtlan, that arms might decide their contefl:. The governor could 
 not brook this anfwer ; upon which he marched immediately to the 
 appointed place with two horfes and two fniall pieces of cannon, fifty 
 Spanilli infantry, and about ten thoufand Totonacas. Upon the firfl 
 onfet of the Mexicans, the Totonacas were inflantly thrown into con- 
 fufion, and the greater part took to flight ; but to the utter fliame of 
 their cowardice, the fifty Spaniards courageoufly continued the battle, 
 doing no little damage to the Mexicans. They, having never expe- 
 rienced the violence of the artillery and the European mode of engage- 
 ment, retreated in terror to the neighbouring city of Nauhtlan. The 
 
 Spaniards
 
 56 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOKVIII. Spaniards purfued them with fury, and fet fire to fonie houfes ; but 
 
 the vidtory coft the Spaniards the Hfe of the governor, who died of his 
 
 wounds in three days after ; and of fix or {even foldiers, and a number 
 
 of Totonacas. One of thefe foldiers^ who had a large head and fierce 
 
 afpect, was taken prifoner and fent to Mexico by Quauhpopoca, but 
 
 having died of his wounds in his way to that city, they only carried his 
 
 , head to Montezuma, the appearance of which fo fliocked and daunted 
 
 that king, that he would not have it oftered to his gods in any temple 
 
 of the court. 
 
 Cortes received intelligence of thefe revolutions before he left C ho - 
 
 lula fgj } but did not think proper to mention them nor difcover his 
 uneafinefs, left it might have dilcouraged his foldiers. 
 Sect. XXXI. Having nothing more to do in Cholula, he purfued his journey to 
 theSpankirds ^^^^-^^ico with all his Spaniards, fix thoufand Tlafcalans, and fome 
 toTlalitia. Huexotzincan and Cholulan troops. At Izcalpan, a village of 
 Huexotzinco, fifteen miles diftant from Cholula, the chiefs of Huex- 
 otzinco, came again to pay their refpetìs to him, and to advertife him, 
 that there were two ways of going to Mexico ; the one, an open and 
 well-made road, which led to fome precipices where there was reafon 
 to apprehend fome ambufcades of the enemy 3 the other was newly 
 ilopped up, and obllrudted with trees cut down on purpofe, which 
 however was of the two the Ihorter and more fecure route. Cortes availed 
 himfelf of tliis intimation, and in Ipite of the Mexicans, made the ob- 
 llacles in tliis way be removed, under pretence that the difficulty was 
 rather an incitement to the courage and fpirits of the Spaniards ; and 
 continued his journey through that great wood of pines and oaks, until 
 he afcended to the top of a high mountain, called Ithuaico, between the 
 two volcanos Popocatepec and Iztaccihuatl, where they found fome 
 large houfes built for the accom.modation of the merchants of Mexico. 
 There they were able to judge of the bold undertaking of the captain 
 Diego de Ordaz, who a few days before, in order to difplay to thofe 
 people the courage of his nation, mounted, along with nine other 
 foldiers, to the highefl fummit of Popocatepec, although he could 
 not fee its mouth, or the vent of that great volcano, on account of 
 
 (ff) All, or nearly all hiftorians fay, that intelligence of this revolution reached Cortes 
 when he was in Mexico ; but Cortes affirms, that he had it in Cholula. 
 
 the
 
 H I S T O R V O F M E X I e O. si 
 
 the deep fnow which lay there, and the clouds of fmoke and aflies BOOKViii. 
 which it threw up from its bowels. (/6) 
 
 From the top of Ithualco the Spaniards got their firfl: view of the 
 beautiful valley of Mexico, but with very different imprellions from 
 the profpeft ; feme of them delighted in the fight of its lakes, its plea- 
 fant lying plains, its verdant mountains, and numerous and fplendid 
 cities, which were fituated within and around thofe lakes ; others re- 
 vived their hopes of enriching iheiiifelves with the plunder of fo great 
 an extent of country as they there difcovercd; but the more prudent of 
 thofc adventurers, on beholding fo populous a territory, retie^fled on 
 the temerity of encountering the perils before rhem, and were fud- 
 denly fo checked by their apprehenfions, that they would have imme- 
 diately returned to Vera Cruz, had not Cortes, by making uie of his 
 authority and the reafons fuggcfted by his fruitful genius, infufed into 
 them frefh ardour for the undertaking. 
 
 In the mean while Montezuma, in confternation at the event of 
 Cholula, retired to the palace Tlillancalmecatl, deflined for occaiions 
 of grief, and continued there eight days, fafling and obferving the 
 ufual auflerities, in order to obtain the prote<flion of his gods. Froni 
 this place of retirement he fent four perfons of his court with a prefent 
 to Cortes, and new prayers and entreaties to difluadc him from his 
 journey; offering to pay an annual tribute to the king of Spain, and 
 to give four loads of gold to the Spanilh general (/), and one to each 
 of his captains and foldiers, if they would, from that place where they 
 might be found by his amballadors, depart for their native country. 
 In fuch apprehenfions and terror did the fmall body of Spaniards keep 
 this fuperftitious prince ! He could not have made ule of more dili- 
 gence and arts to Ihun their fight, had he forefeen all the misfortunes 
 
 (^') Bernal Di.iz, .inJ :iiinort all hiflori.ins, fay tliat Ordaz afccnded to the top of Popoca. 
 tcpec, and obfcrvcd the mouth of that famous mountain ; bi;t Cones, who knew better, fays 
 not. Nothwithll.inding Oidaz obtained fiom the Catholic king a volcano to be put ia his 
 fliicld of arms. This great undertaking was referred for Montajjiio, r.nd others Spaniards, 
 who, after the conqucll of Mexico, not only obfervcd the dreadful mouth of tliat volcano, 
 but entered there, at the utmoll rifk of their lives, and got out from it a large quantity of fu'- 
 phur to make powder for their fire-armi. 
 
 (; ) The ordinary load of a Mexican having been about fifty SpaniHi pounds, or ri?l;t 
 hundred ouncc=, we may conjeéVure, conlidcring the number of the Spaniards, that w'hnt 
 Montezuma was willing to give f.hem to difluade them from their journey to the court, was 
 equal to more than three millions of fequins. 
 
 Vol. II. I they
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 they were to bring upon him. The ambaffadors joined Cortes at 
 Ithualco ; the prefent they brought him confiiled of leverai worKs of 
 gold, which v/ere valued at fifteen hundred fequins. Corles lliewed 
 them every Dollible refpeA and attention, and anfwered by returning 
 thanks to the king for the prefent and his magnificent promilès, to 
 which he would be able to return good fervices ; but at the fame time 
 declaring, that he could not return back without making himfelf 
 blameable for difobedience to his fovereign, and promihng not to be 
 the means on his part of the finallefl: injury to the ftatc ; and that, if 
 after having explained to his majeity the embaffy which he bore, and 
 which he could not truft with any other perfon, he fliould not ap- 
 prove of the longer ftay of the Spaniards in his dominions, he would 
 without delay fet out on his return to his native country. 
 
 Montezuma's uneafinefs was increafed by the fuggellions of the 
 priefts, and particularly by the account which they gave of fome fay- 
 in'TS of their falle oracles, and fome terrible vifions which they faid 
 they had during this time. He was at laft thrown into fuch alarm and 
 conflernation, that, without waiting for the ifiue of the laft embafiy 
 to the Spaniards, he held a new council with the king of Tezcuco, 
 his brother Cuitlahuatzin, and fome other perlbns whom he ufed to 
 advife with, all of whom maintained their former opinions ; Cuitla- 
 huatzin, that of not admitting the Spaniards to enter the court, and 
 to make them by gentlenefs or force to quit the kingdom ; while 
 Cacamatzin was for receiving them as ambafladors, as the king had 
 ftrength enough to crufh them, if they Ihould militate either againfl: 
 his royal perfon or the ftate. Montezuma, who had hitherto con- 
 llantly adhered to the opinion of his brother, now embraced that of 
 the king of Tezcuco, but at the fame time he charged this fame king 
 to go to meet the Spaniards, and to endeavour to difiuade the general 
 from his journey to the court ; Cuitlahuatzin then turning to the king 
 his brother, faid, " The gods defire, O king, that you do not rcceive 
 " into your houfe thofe who will drive you from it, and that you 
 •' would remedy the evil while you ftill have time and means to do it." 
 " What Ihall we do," returned the king, " if our friends, and what 
 " is more our gods, inftead of favouring us, profper our enemies ? I 
 " am refolved, and wilh that all would be relolute, not to fly nor 
 
 Hiew
 
 n I S T O R V O F xM E X I e O. 59 
 
 " fiiew any cowardice, happen what will — but I pity the aged and bookviii. 
 *' the young, who have no flrength and can make no defence !" 
 
 Cortes having diiiniired the Mexican ambafliidors, moved with his 
 troops from Ithualco, and proceeded through Amaquerriccan and Tlal- 
 man, Ico, two cities about nine miles diftant from each other, and fitu- 
 ated near the b.ife of thofe mountains. Amaquemecan, with its ad- 
 jacent hamlets, contained two thoufand inhabitants {k). At thofe 
 places the Spaniards were well received, and feveral chiefs of that pro- 
 vince vihted Cortes, and prefented him gold and fome Haves ; they 
 complained bitterly of the oppreflion they fuffered from the king of 
 Mexico and his minifters, in the fame terms made ufe of by thole of 
 Chempoalla and Chiahuitztla, and at the fuggeftion of the Chempoallefe 
 and Tlafcalans, who accompanied Cortes, entered into a confederacy 
 v/ith the Spaniards for the recovery of their liberty. In Hiort, the 
 farther the Spaniards advanced into the country, the more they con- 
 tinued to increafe their forces ; like a rivulet, which, by the accef- 
 fion of other ftreams, fwells in its courfe by degrees into a large river. 
 
 From Tlalmanalco the army marched to Ajotzinco, a village fituated 
 upon the fouthern bank of the lake of Chalco (/), where there was a 
 harbour for the vefTels of merchants who trafficked with the countries 
 to the fouthward of Mexico. Curiofity to view the quarters of the 
 Spaniards coil very dear to fome of the Mexicans, for the Spaniih cen- 
 ti nels imagining them to be fpies, from the apprehenfions they were 
 conftantly under of fome treachery, fliot about fifteen of them that 
 night. The following day, juft as they were ready to marcii, fome 
 Mexican nobles arrived with intelligence, that the king of Tezcuco S e 
 
 C T. 
 
 VYYIT 
 
 was come to vifit the Spanilli general in the name of the king of viiitoifthe 
 Mexico his uncle. It was not long before the king himfelf ioined """^ °^ T"' 
 
 ^ ° -' ciico to Cor- 
 
 them, borne in a litter, adorned with fine feathers, on the flioulders ^"' 
 of four of his domeftics, and accompanied by a numerous and brilliant 
 
 (/■) Amaquemecan, called by the Spaniards Mecamcca, is at prefent a village no otherwifc 
 noted ihan for having been the birih-placc of the celebrated nun Joan Agnes of the Crofs, 
 a woman of uondcrful genius and uncommon learning. 
 
 (/) Solis confounds Amaquemecan with Ajotzinco ; Amaquemecan was never fituated, as he 
 fjys, on the border of the lake, but at twelve milci diTtsiice from it, upon tlie lide of a moun- 
 tain. 
 
 I 2 retinue
 
 6ù H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK vili, retinue of Mexican and Tezcucan nobility. As foon as he came in 
 fight of the Spaniih general, he alighted from the litter and began 
 walking on foot, preceded by fome of his fervants, who induftrioufly 
 removed out of his way every thing which could either offend his feet 
 cr his fight. The Spaniards were aflonillied at this pomp, and from 
 thence began to form conjedures of the parade and grandeur which 
 muft attend the king of Mexico. Cortes went to the door of his dwel- 
 ling to meet him, and faluted him with a profound bow, which was 
 returned by the king in touching the earth with his right hand and 
 then lifting it to his mouth. He entered with an air of lordlinefs and 
 majefty into one of the halls, fat himfelf down, congratulated the ge- 
 neral and his officers on their happy arrival, and iignified the particular 
 pleafure his uncle the king of Mexico had in forming a friendfliip and 
 correfpondence with the monarch of the Eaft, by whom they were fènt 
 into that country ; but at the fame time, he exaggerated the difficulties 
 neceflary to be overcome in order to go to court, and requefted Cortes 
 to change his refolution if he defired to pleafe the king. Cortes an- 
 fwered, that if he returned back without delivering his embafly he 
 would fail in his duty, and would give the utmoft difpleafure to his 
 fovereign who had fent him, and particularly when he had found him- 
 felf fo near to the court after having furmounted the dangers of fo long 
 a journey. If it is Jo, faid the king, loe will fee each other at court ; 
 upon which taking polite leave, after being prefented with fome Eu- 
 ropean toys, he left behind him a part of the nobility, that they might 
 attend Cortes on his journey. 
 
 From Ajotzinco the Spaniards marched to Cuitlahuac, a city found- 
 ed upon a little ifland in the lake of Chalco, which, though fmall, 
 was accounted by Cortes the moft beautiful he had hitherto feen. 
 This city communicated with the main land by means of two large 
 commodious roads, conflrudled on the lake ; the one to the fouth, 
 which was two miles in length ; the other to the north, which was 
 more than tv/o miles in length. The Spaniards paffed along, delighted 
 to fee the multitude and beauty of the cities fituated on the lake, the 
 temples and towers which rofe above the other buildings, the trees 
 and fhrubbery which beautified the inhabited places, the fields and 
 
 floating
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 6i 
 
 floating gardens of the lake, and the innumerable little veflels plying bOoKVIII. 
 upon it; but at the lame time, not a little timorous at feeing them- ' '>'~— ' 
 felves furrounded by an iinmenfe crowd of people, which coUeóted 
 there from all places to obferve them ; on which account Cortes com- 
 manded his people to proceed in good order and to be prepared for 
 accidents, and cautioned the Indians not to obftrudt the way nor come 
 too near the ranks, unlefs they chofe to be treated as enemies. In 
 Cuithhuac they were well accommodated and entertained. The lord 
 of that city complained in fecret to Cortes of the tyranny of the king 
 of Mexico, entered into a confederacy with him, and informed him of 
 the moft convenient way to go to the court, and the confternation 
 into which the oracles of the gods, the phenomena in the heavens, 
 and the fuccefs of the Spanifli arms, had thrown Montezuma. 
 
 From Cuitlahuac they proceeded by the other road of the lake Sect. 
 
 . XXXIII. 
 
 towards Iztapalapan, but in the way Cortes was entertained with a new Viikolthe* 
 
 piece of good fortune. The prince Ixlilxochitl finding that Cortes Tezcuco^and 
 was not to make his journey through Calpolalpan, where he was entrance of 
 
 • • r 1 • /- 1 ] f ■ 1 IT . 'h* Spaniards 
 
 waitmg tor him, reiolved to meet him on the road to Iztapalapan : into thit 
 he marched with a confiderable number of troops, and paffed clofe to '^°"'^'* 
 Tezcuco : this having been known to the prince Coanacotzin, his 
 brother, who, fince the rupture which, as we have already mentioned, 
 happened three years before between them, had been totally alienated 
 from him, either moved by fraternal affedlion, or led on by the hopes 
 of the greater advantages to be derived from the union of both their 
 interefts, came alfo to meet with him upon this road : here they mutu- 
 ally exchanged fentiments, were reconciled, and united together in order 
 to make a confederacy with the Spaniards. They travelled together 
 until they came to Iztapalatenco, where they joined the ilrangers. 
 Cortes, upon feeing fo many armed troops, was a little unealy, but 
 being informed of the rank of the perfons who were come to find him, 
 and the motive of their coming, he went out to meet them, and the 
 ufual compliments having palled between them, the two princes in- 
 vited him to the court of Tezcuco, to which he allowed himfelf to 
 be ealily perfuaded to go, from the great fervicc he liopcd to gain by the 
 
 prince
 
 62 HISTORY OFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK VIII.' prince Ixtlilxochitl, whofe attachment to the Spaniards was now 
 flrongly apparent. 
 
 Tezcuco then, though fomewhat inferior to Mexico in fplendour 
 and magnificence, was the largeft and moft populous city of the coun- 
 try of Anahuac : its population, including the cities of Huexotla, Co- 
 atlichan, and Ateneo, which were fo near as to appear like its luburbs, 
 occupied one hundred and forty thouland houfes : to the Spaniards it 
 feemed twice as large as Seville. The grandeur of the temples and 
 royal palaces, the beauty of the ftreets, the fountains and gardens^ 
 furnifiied ample variety of fubjedl for their admiration. Cortes entered 
 into this great city accompanied by the two princes and many of 
 the Acolhuan nobility, amidll: an infinite concourfe of people. He 
 
 " . was lodged with all his army in the principal palace of the king, where 
 
 the treatment to his perfon was fuitable to the dvvelling. There the 
 prince Ixtlilxochitl explained his pretended right to the kingdom of 
 Acolhuacan, and his complaints againll his brother Cacamatzin and 
 the king of Mexico his uncle. Cortes promifed to put him in pof- 
 fefilon of the throne, as foon as he had finished his negociations in 
 Mexico ; and, without Hopping in that court, he marched towards 
 Iztapnlapan. 
 Sect. Iztapalapan was a large and beautiful city, fituated toward? the point 
 
 Entiyofthe of that finali peninfula which is between the two lakes of Chalco to 
 
 Spaniards ^^^ foutli and Tczcuco to the north : from this peninfula a road led 
 
 into Iztapa- _ ^ 
 
 lapan. fo the little ifland of Mexico, which was paved for more than {even 
 
 miles, and made on the lake masiy years before. The population of 
 Iztapalapan confiiled then of more than twelve thouland houfes, built 
 chiefly on feveral little iflands contiguous to each other and the fame 
 peninfula, clofe to which were innumerable floating fields and gardens. 
 This city was then governed by the prince Cuitlahuatzin, brother of 
 Montezuma, and his immediate fucceflbr in the crown of Mexico, 
 who, together v.'ith his other brother Matlatzincatzin lord of the city 
 of Cojohuacan, received Cortes with the fame ceremonies ufed by the 
 other lords through whofe cities he pafled. He was complimented in 
 an elegant harangue, and he, and his troops which accompanied him, 
 lodged in his own palace. This was an cxtcnfive and molt cap.icious 
 
 8 edifice
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 edifice of flone and lime, freili built, and not yet completed : bcfides 
 many ludls and chambers of excellent accoinmoddtion, the roofs of 
 which were cedar, and the walls covered with fine cottoi tapeflry, and 
 bolides many large fquares where the allied troops weie quartered, it 
 had a garden of furprizing extent and btauty, already defcril)ed by us 
 when we treated of the agriculture of the Mexicans. After dinner the 
 prince condudled his guefts to this garden, where they received great 
 recreation, and were imprefied with a very elevated idea of .Mexican 
 magnificence. In this city the Spaniards obfervcd, that inilead of 
 murmurings and complaints as elfewhere, they heard nothing but 
 praifes of the government ; fuppofed to have been owing to the 
 neighbourhood of the court, which made the inhabitants more cau- 
 tious in fpeaking. 
 
 The next day the Spaniards marched along that road which united, 
 as we have already mentioned, Iztapalapan with Mexico, which was 
 interfedied by feven fmall canals for the paflage of boats from one lake 
 to tke other, and over thefe were wooden bridges for the convenience 
 of paffengers, which lifted up eafily when it was neceOary to obftrud: 
 the paiTage of an enemy. After having pafled through Mexicaltzinco,, 
 and viewed Colhuacan, Huitzilopocho, Cojohuacan, and Mixcoac, 
 cities all fituated upon the borders of the Lke, they arrived, amidll: aa 
 immenfe concourfe of people, at a place called Xoloc, where this and 
 the road of Cojohuacan met each other. In the angle formed by 
 thefe two roads, which is not more than half a league diftant from the 
 capital, there was a baftion with two little towers, furrounded by a 
 wall more than ten feet high, with battlements, two entrances,, and a. 
 draw-bridge ; a place moft memorable in the hiftory of Mexico, from: 
 having been the camp of the Spanilh general in the fiege of that great 
 city; there the army made a halt, to receive the compliments of more 
 than a thoufand Mexican nobles, all uniformly dreflèd, who, in palling 
 before the Spanilh general, made a bow with the ul"u.d ceremony of 
 touching the earth and killing the hand. 
 
 Thele compliments being over, in which the fpace of an hour wns. cect. 
 
 confumed, the Spaniards continued their courfe, all in as regular order Eut-v ott'he 
 
 as if they had been going to the field of battle. A little way before Spaniards 
 
 J ° '^ ' into Mexico J 
 
 tiijy
 
 64 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK vili, they reached the city, Cortes was informed that the king of Mexico 
 reception was coming to meet him; and a Httle after he appeared, with a mofl 
 a'i"d no^bililvf numerous and nobie attendance. Three nobles preceded, each holiing 
 
 • up in his hand a golden rod, as the infignia of inajefty, by which the 
 people were advertifed of the prefence of their fovereign. Montezuma 
 came richly clad in a litter covered with plates of gold, which four 
 
 • nobles bore on their (houlders, under the Iliade of a parafol of green 
 feathers embroidered with fancy v/orks of gold; he wore hanging 
 
 ' from liis llioulders a mantle adorned with the richefl: jewels of gold 
 and precious ftones, on his head a thin crown of the fame metal, and 
 upon his feet fhoes of gold tied with firings of leather worked witli 
 gold and gems ; he was accompanied by two hundred lords, drell in a 
 ftyle fuperior to the other nobles, but all barefooted, two by two, 
 keeping clofe on each fide to the walls of the houfes, to fliew the 
 refpedl they bore to their fovereign. As foon as the king and the 
 Spanidi general i'lw each other, both alighted, Cortes from his horfe, 
 and the king from his litter, who began to walk leaning on the arms 
 of the king of Tczcuco and the lord of Iztapalapan. Cortes, after 
 having made a profound bow to the king, approached him to put about 
 his neck a fmall cord of gold, on which were fbrung glafs beads which 
 appeared like gems, and the king bowed his head to receive it (;;/) ; 
 Cortes was alfo going to embrace him, but the two lords did not per- 
 
 . mit it. The general expreffeJ in a fliort fpeecli, as the circumflances 
 required, his benevolence, his refpeól, and the pleafure he had in the 
 knowledge of fo great a monarch. Montezuma anfwered him in few 
 words, and having performed the ufual ceremony of touching the e.irth 
 and killing the hand, he in returii for the prefent of the glafs beads, 
 gave him two necklaces of beautiful mother of pearl, from which hun-f 
 fome large cray-filh of gold in imitation of nature: he charged the 
 prince Cuitlahuatzin to condu<5l Cortes to his dwelling, ani lie him- 
 felf retired with the king of Tezcuco. 
 
 {/!i) Soli», in his account of that meeting, makes four miilakcs : i. He fays, that the pre- 
 fent made by Cortes was not a band or chain of glafs. 2. That thofc two lords who accompa- 
 nied Montezuma did net permit Cortes to put it about his neck. 3. That they did it with fnme 
 difdaii , 4. That they were reprimanded by the king. The whole vt this is falfc, invented at 
 capric, and contrary to the account given by Coites hiinfclf. 
 
 They
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 6$ 
 
 The nobility as well as the populace, who, from the tops, doors, BOOKViif. 
 and x^àndowi of the houfes, were cblerving all that palTed, were equally "^ •— •^ 
 furprized and aftoniflied at the fight of fo many cxtr<K)rdinary objc^fts 
 prefented to their eyes, and the unheard of complaifonce of the king, 
 which contributed much to raife the chara<fler of the Spaniards. Tlie 
 latter, full of wonder at feeing the grandeur of the city, the magnificence 
 of the buildings, and the multitude of inhabitants, marched along 
 that grand and fpacious way, which, without varying the leafl from a 
 right line, continued the road of Iztapalapan, built upon the lake, to 
 the fouthern gate of the greater temple, admiration alternately giving 
 way to fear in their minds for their fate, feeing £o fmall a number 
 of them in the center of a ftrange and populous kingdom. Thus they 
 travelled on for near a mile and a half within the city, unto the palace 
 deftined for their reception, which formerly belonged to king Axaja- 
 catl, not far diflant from the weftern gate of the fame temple. Here 
 Montezuma, who had gone before, waited for them. When Cortes ar- 
 rived at the gate of that palace, Montezuma took him by the hand, 
 led him into a large hall, made him fit down upon a foot-ftool fimilar 
 in form to thofe of the altars of the moderns, and covered with a fine 
 tapeftry of cotton, and clofe to a wall alfo covered with a tapeftry 
 embroidered with gold and gems ; and, taking leave of him, faid to him 
 " You and your companions are now in your own houfe, refrefli and 
 " repofe yourfelves ; I will return fliortly." 
 
 The king went to his palace, and Cortes immediately ordered a 
 volley of all the artillery to be fired, in order to awe and intimidate 
 the Mexicans by the found : in the mean while, he went to fee all th« 
 chambers of the palace where his people were to lodge. This edifice 
 was fo large, that both the Spaniards and their allies, who, together with 
 their women and fervants whom they brought with them, exceeded fe- 
 ven thoufand in number, were accommodated in it ; every where there 
 was the greateft cleanlinefs and neatnefs, almoft all the chambers had 
 beds of mats, of rurties, and palm, according to the cuftom, and other 
 mats in a round form for pillows, with coverlets of fine cotton, and 
 feats made of fingle pieces of wood ; fome chambers had the floor co- 
 vered with mats, and the walls alfo covered with tapeftries of cotton 
 of various colours. The walls were moderately thick, and at certain 
 Vol. II. jK, dillances
 
 66 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK vili. <Jjftances there were little towers ; the Spaniards therefore found every 
 thing which, they could wifli for their fecunty. The indefatigable 
 and cautious general immediately diftributed his guards, placed a bat- 
 tery of his cannon facing the gate of the palace, and took as much 
 care to fortify himfelf as if he had expedled to be allaulted that night 
 by his enemies. That day there was a magnificent entertainment 
 prepared for Cortes and his officers, and ferved by the nobility, and 
 for the reft of the army were brought various and abundant provifions^ 
 though of an inferior quality. This day, not more memorable to 
 the Spaniards than to the Mexicans, was the eighth day of November, 
 1519, feven months after their arrival in the country of Anahuac. 
 
 B O OK
 
 [ 67 ] 
 
 BOOK IX. 
 
 Conferences of king Montezuma with the Spantjh general ; imprifonment 
 of the kmgs of Mexico and Acolhuacan, and other lords', cruel puijhment 
 of Sluauhpopoca ; attempts of the governor of Cuba againjl Cortes, and 
 the defeat of Panflo Narvaez ; the killing of many of the nobles, and 
 infurreSlion of the people againji the Spaniards ; battle of Otompan, 
 and retreat of the Spaniards to Tlafcala ; eleBion of king Cuitla- 
 huatzin ; vitlories of the Spaniards in Tepejacac, in Xaltatzinco^ in 
 Tecamachalco, and in ^cauquechollan ; havoc made by the fmall-pox ; 
 death of king Cuitlahuatzin, and the princes Maxizcatzin and Cui- 
 cuitzcatzin ; elcSlion in Mexico of the king ^aubtemotzin. 
 
 A 
 
 FT ER the Spcniards had dined and ordered eveiy thing necef- BOOK IX. 
 fary for their fecurity, the king returned, acccompanied by nianv Sect. i. 
 of the nobiUty to vifit them. Cortes came to meet him alon? with FiriUonter- 
 
 ■' _ _ _ ° enee and ncv/ 
 
 his officers, and both parties entered together into the principal hall, prefents ot 
 where they quickly placed another footftool clofe to that of the Spa- Montezumi, 
 nifli general. The king prefented to him many curious pieces of 
 work of gold, filver, and feathers, and more than five thoufind very 
 fine drefles of cotton. Having atlaft fat himfelfdown, he made Cor- 
 tes fit down alfo, while every other perfon remained ftanding. Cortes 
 in lofty expreflions protefted his gratitude to him, and as he was pro- 
 ceeding in his difcourfe Montezuma interrupted him, with thefc 
 words : " Brave general, and you his companions, all my domeflics 
 " and courtiers are witnefTes of the pleafure I have received from your 
 " happy arrival at this court ; and if, hitherto, there has been any 
 " appearance of a wifh to oppofe it, (o much has only been done to hu- 
 " mour my fubjeds. Your fame has enlarged objedts and alarmed 
 " minds. It was reported that you were immortal gods; that you 
 " came mounted on wild hearts of tremendous fize and fiercenefs; 
 
 K 2 " and
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 and, that you darted thunder with: Vi^hkh the\earth trembled : Come 
 rekted, that you were mcufter^ thrown up by the {ex ; that the 
 inlatiable thirft-.of gold made you abandon your native country; 
 tliat you were gc^^tjy addided -to p.lealureS ; and luch gluttons, that 
 one of you eat as. much, as ten of us : but all thefc errors are difli- 
 pated by the experience wliich my fubjefts have had of you ; now 
 it is known tlaat you. are mortili men like us, although differing in 
 complexion and beard ;; we have now feen with our own eyes that 
 thofe wild beafts fo renowned, are only flags more corpulent than 
 ours ; and, that your pretended thunder and lightning are only a 
 more artificial fpccies of Ihooting tubes, whofe balls are puftied with 
 more force, and do more hurt than ours : with regard to your per- 
 fonal qualifications, we are -well informed by thofe who have had 
 communication with you, that you are kind and generous, that you 
 patiently endure misfortunes, that you are not difpofed to feverity, 
 unlefs againfl thofe who provoke your anger by hoftilities, nor 
 make ufe of your arms but in defence of your perfons. 
 " I do not doubt that you will in like manner have baniflied from 
 your minds, or that you foon will banifii, thofe falfe ideas with which 
 you may have been imprefled by the flattery of my vaflals or the adu- 
 lation of my enemies : fome of them may have told you that I am 
 one of the gods, and that I put on at pleafure the form of a lion, 
 a tyger, or any other animal j but now you fee (taking hold with 
 his fingers of the Ikin of his arm) that I am of fleOi and bone like 
 other mortals, although more noble by birth and more powerful 
 from the elevation of my rank. The Chempoallefe, who, under 
 your protection, have renounced obedience to me (although their 
 rebellion fhall not pals unpunilhed) will have made you believe, 
 that the walls and roofs of my palaces are of gold, but your own eyes 
 have now undeceived you : this is one of my palaces, and you here 
 fee that the walls are made of ftoneand lime, and the roofs of wood. 
 I will not deny that my riches are great, but they are exaggerated by 
 my fubjeds : fome of them will have complained to you of my 
 cruelty and tyranny j but they term the lawful exercife of the fu- 
 preme authority tyranny, and call that cruelty which is but the ne- 
 
 ceflary rigour of juilice. 
 
 " Abandoning,
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. $9 
 
 " Abandoning therefore all faJfe conceptions occafioned to either BOOK IX, 
 **^ of us by unjuft reprefentations, I accept the embaily of your kin^ 
 *' who fends you ; I refpedt his friendlhip, and offer all my kingdom 
 *• to his obedience ; fince from the figns we have obferved in the hea- 
 " vcns, and what we have feen in you, the psriod feems to be arrived 
 ** when th? prediftions of our anceftors are to be fulfilled, that is, that 
 *' there were to come from the quarter o£ the Eaft, certain men dif- 
 ** ferent in habit and in cuftoms from us, who were to becoaie lords 
 ** of all tliis countr)' ; for we are not the original people of this land.' 
 ** It is not many years fince our anceftors came here from the regions 
 ** of the North, and we have not ruled thefe people but as the vice- 
 ** roys of Quetzalcoatl our god and lawful fovereiga," 
 
 Cortes anfwered, by th^mking him warmly for the fingular kind- 
 nefles he had hitherto received from him, and for the honourable idea 
 he had formed of the Spaniards. He told hin\ he was fent by the 
 greateft monarch of Europe, who, although he might afpire to fome 
 thing higher in virtue of his being the defcendant of Quetzalcoatl, 
 neverthelefs, he contented himfelf with ertablilliing a confederacy and 
 perpetual friendlhip with his majefty and his fucceffors ; that the end 
 of his embafly was not to take away from any one that which he pof- 
 feffed, but that of announcing a true religion, and communicating fome 
 important information which would improve his government, and ren- 
 der his valfals happy ; this he would do upon another occafion, if his 
 majefty would vouchfafe to hear him. The king afiented to his propo- 
 fal, and having informed himfelf of the rank and condition of every 
 one of the Spaniards, he took leave, and fome little time after he fent 
 them a large prefent, confifting of fome works of gold, and three 
 bales of fine feathers, drefles for each of the officers, and two bales of 
 drefVes of fine cotton for each of the foldiers. This profperous beginning 
 might have fecured to the Spaniards the quiet poffeffion of all that vaft 
 monarchy, if they had conducted themfelves with prudence equal to 
 their courage (n). 
 
 («) The learned and judicious Acofta, treating of the firft confcrcncfc with Jlontczuma,' m 
 book vii. chap. 15. of his Hiftory fays, " M:itty are of opinion, that confidering the ftatq of 
 " things on that firft day, it would have been eaiy for the Spaniards to h;ivcdonc with the kirig , 
 " and the kingdom whatever they pleafid, and to have communicated to them the law of Jéfus 
 " Cbrid with peace and contentment to all." &c. 
 
 8 The
 
 H I S T O r! Y O F MEXICO. 
 
 The next day Cortes being defirotis fo pay his vilit to the king, fent 
 '^TT'JTìì'. to demand an audience, and obtained' it fo fpeedily, that thole who 
 Viikof Coi-- brought him the anfwer of the king were the perfons themfelves 
 king. appointed to introduce ambalTadors, and were to conduci him and in- 
 
 ftrudt him in the ceremonials of that court. Cortes drelled himleh" in 
 his moft fplendid habit, and took along with him the captains Alva- 
 varado, Sandoval, Velafquez, and Ordaz, and alfo five foldiers. They 
 proceeded to the royal palace, amidll an immenfe multitude of people, 
 and as foon as they reached the firil gate, the perfons who accompa- 
 nied them ranged themfelves in two files, one on each fide of them, 
 as it was deemed a want of refpedl to majefty to enter in a crowded 
 manner. After pafling through three courts, and fome halls, to the 
 lafl antichamber in order to come at the hall of audience, they were 
 politely received by feveral lords who kept guard, and were forced to put 
 off their flioes, and to cover their pompous dreflTes with fome coarfe 
 •garments. When they entered the hall of audience, the king made 
 fome fteps towards Cortes and took him by the hand, and giving a 
 look of kindnels to all the refi, he made them all fit down. Their 
 conference was long on different fubje*5ls. The king alked feveral 
 quefi:ions concerning the government and natural productions of Spain ; 
 and Cortes, after having fatisfied him in every thing, artfully led the 
 difcourfe upon matters of religion. He explained to him the unity of 
 God, the creation of the world, the feverity of the judgments of God, 
 the glory with which he rewards the iuft, and the eternal punithments 
 to which he condemns the wicked. Then he fpoke of the rites of 
 Chrillianity, and in particular of the pure and unbloody facrifice of the 
 mafs ; to draw a comparilbn between it and the inhuman facrifices of 
 the Mexicans, declaiming warmly againfi: the barbarous cruelty of facri- 
 ficing human viólims, and feeding on their flefli. Montezuma anfwer- 
 ed, that with refpedl to the creation of the world they were of one 
 fentiment ; as that which Cortes had jufi: faid had been communicated 
 to him by his ancefi;ors ; that as to the rell: he had already been in- 
 formed by his anibafladors of the religion of the Spaniards. I, how- 
 ever, he added, do not doubt of the goodnefs of the God whom you 
 adore; b ;t if he is kind to Spain, our gods are equally fo to Mexico, 
 • as the experience of many centuries has fliewn to us. Spare your- 
 
 u felves
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 felves therefore the trouble of endeavouring to induce me to leave their 
 worlhip. With regard to our facrificcs, 1 do not know why we are 
 to be blamed for facrificing to the gods thofe men who, either on ac- 
 count of their own crimes, or from their fate in war, are deftined to 
 death. But although Cortes did not fucceed in converting him to the 
 Chriftian religion, he obtained a promife, as has been affirmed, that there 
 never fliould be any human flelh prepared for the royal table, either be- 
 caufe the reafon urged by Cortes againfl it, wakened in his mind the hor- 
 ror natural at fuch food, or becaufe he was defirous of fhewing compli- 
 ance with the Spaniards infome of their demands. On this occafion alfo 
 he difplayed the royal beneficence towards them, prefenting to Cortes, 
 and his four officers, feveral labours of gold, and ten bales of fine 
 dreffes of cotton, and a golden necklace to every foldier. 
 
 Cortes having returned to his quarters (for thus we may hereafter, 
 name the palace of Axajacatl where the Spaniards were lodged, he be- 
 gan to refleft on the danger which furrounded him in the heart of a 
 city fo ftrong and populous, and rcfolved to conciliate the minds of the 
 nobles by good condu(fi, obfequious and kind manners, and ordered 
 his people to behave themfelves with fo much guard and difcretlon that 
 the Mexicans might have nothing to complain of : but while he appeared 
 to watch with diligence to keep peace, he was revolving in his mind 
 mofl daring and ralh defigns, totally adverfe to tranquillity j and in or- 
 der to bring them to maturity,, it being necefTary to inform himfclf 
 with his own eyes of the fortifications of Mexico, and the forces of tho 
 Mexicans, he demanded permiflion of the king to vifit the royal pa- 
 laces, the greater temple, and the fquare of the market. The king 
 chearfully granted his requeft, unfulpicious of the crafty general, nor 
 forcfaw tiie confequences of his great indulgence. The Spaniards fiw 
 all they wiihed to fee, and found every where new fubjedls of admi- 
 ration. 
 
 The city of Mexico was then fituated, as we have already faid, upon Sf. ct. hi.. 
 a fmall ifland in the lake of Tezcuco, fifteen miles to the weftward 5'f{',;^'Pi|^"^f , 
 from that court, and four to the eaftward from that of Tlacopan. Mexico.. 
 For the convenience of pafling to. the main land, there were three 
 great caufcvays of earth and ftone, raifed in the lake. That of Iztapa- 
 
 lapan.
 
 'fz H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK IX. lapan, towards the fouth, upwards of feven miles j that of Tlacopaii, 
 towards the weft, about two miles ; and that of Tepejacac, towards 
 the north, of three miles in length (/>) ; and all three fo broad, that 
 ttn men on horfeback could pafs abreaft. Belides thefe three roads, 
 there was another fomewhat narrower for the two aqueduds of Cha- 
 poltepec. The circumference of the city, exclufive of the fuburbs, 
 meafured more than ten miles, and the number of houfes were at leaft 
 fixty thoufand ( j-). The city was divided into four quarters, and each 
 quarter into feveral diflridts, the Mexican names of which are flill pre- 
 fcrved among the Indians. The dividing lines of the four quarters, were 
 the four broad roads, leading from the four gates of the area of the greater 
 temple. The firft quarter called Tecpan, now St. Paul, comprehend- 
 ed all that part between the two roads leading from the fouthern and 
 eaftern gates. The fecond Mojotla, now St. John, the part between 
 the fouthern and weftern roads. The third Tlaquechiuhcari, now St. 
 Mar}', the part between the weftern and northern roads ; and the 
 fourth Ahacualcoy now St. Sebaftian, the part of the city between the 
 roads which led from the northern and eaftern gates. To thofe four 
 parts into which the city was divided from the time of its foundation, 
 the city of Tlatelolco was added as a fifth, fituated towards the north- 
 weft, having been united after the conqueft of king Axajacatl to Te- 
 nochtitlan, and both together formed Mexico. 
 
 (/) Dr. Robcrtfon puts inflead of the road of Tepejacac, that of Tezcuco, which, in the 
 part where he dcTcribes Mexico, he jilaces towards the north-weft, and when he fpcaks of the 
 polis of the Spanifli forces at the fiege of that capital, he places it towards the eaft : though 
 he has alieady faid, that there was no road upon the lake towards the eaft : but there never 
 was, nor could be, any road on the lake from !\Iexico to Tezcuco, on account of the prodigi- 
 ous depth of its bed in that part ; and if there could have been any, it would not have been only 
 three miles as this author affirms, but fifteen miles in length, which is the diliance between 
 them. 
 
 (^) Torquemada affirms, that the population of the capital amounted to one hundred and 
 twenty thoufand hoifes ; but the anonymous conqueror, Gomara, Hcrrera, and other hillo- 
 rians, agree in the number of fixty thoufand houfes, not that of fixty thoufand inhabitant-, 
 as Robertfon fays ; for no ancient author computed them fo few in number. It is true, that 
 in the Italian tranllation of the relation of the anonymous conqueror we read fcjfaitte mila abi- 
 tanti; but this has been, without doubt, a millake of the tranflator, who having, perhaps, 
 found in the originaly>/&«/a w/V A'/W/jo/, tranflated it fixty thoufand abitanti, vihtn he ought 
 to have iAA fuochi ; becaufe, othenvife Cholula, Xochomilco, Iztapalapan, and other fuch 
 cities would be made greater than Mexico. But in the above mentioned number the fuburbs 
 are not included. It appears that Torquemada included the fuburbs, but flill his calculation 
 appears cNCClfive. 
 
 Around
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. ■ y-^^ 
 
 Around the city there were many dykes and refervoirs for collecfting BOOKVIII. 
 water when it was necefliiry ; and within it fo many canals, that there 
 was hardly a diflridl wliich could not be approached by boats ; a cir- 
 cumftance which did not lefs contribute to embellifli the city, and to 
 make the tranfportation of provifions, and all other commodities of 
 trafHck eafy, than to give the citizens fecurity from the attempts of 
 their enemies. Although the principal ftrcets were broad and ftrait, 
 of many others, fome were mere canals, where there was no pall- 
 ing but in boats ; others were paved and free of water, and fome had 
 a fmall channel between two terrailès, which ferved for the conveni- 
 ence of palfengers, and for the unloading of vellels, or were little gar- 
 dens planted with trees and flowers. 
 
 Among the various buildings of the city, befides n»ny -temples and 
 magnificent royal palaces, of which wc have already fpoken, there 
 were other palaces, or great houfes, which the feudatory lords had con- 
 ilruded for their habitation during the time which they were occafion- 
 ally obliged to refide at court. Almofl: all the houfes, except thofe of 
 the poor, had balconies with parapets, and fome of them even battle- 
 ments and towers, though much fmaller than thofe of the temples : 
 fo that upon the whole, the Mexicans provided for their defence in their 
 Hreets and houfes as well as their temples. 
 
 Befides the large and famous fquare of Tlatelolco, where the prin- 
 cipal market was held, there were other little market-places diflributed 
 through the city, where they fold ordinary provifions. There were 
 alfo in diiferent places fountains and filli -ponds,' particularly near to 
 the temples, and many gardens, part laid out on the natural level of 
 the earth, and part railed into high terrafles. 
 
 The many and great buildings, neatly v*'hitened and polillied, the 
 lofty towers of the temples, fcattered through the four quarters of tlie 
 city, the canals, trees, and gardens, foniicd an aflemblage of objedls fo 
 beautiful, that the Spaniards appeared never latisfied v/ith viewing it, 
 particularly when they beheld it from the upper area of the greater 
 temple, which not only commanded a profpedt of all the extent of 
 Mexico, but alio of the lake, and the beautiful and populous cities 
 around it. They were not lefs aftonillied at feeing the royal palaces, 
 and the wonderful variety of plants and anim.als which were reared 
 
 Vol. II. L there]
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 there ; but nothing flruck their rninds with more amazement than the 
 large fquare of the market. There v/as not a Spaniard who did not 
 extol it with fingular praifes, and fome of them, who had travelled 
 through almoft all Europe, declared, as Bernal Diaz reports, that they 
 had never feen in any place of the world, either fo 'great a number of 
 merchants, or fuch variety of merchandize fo well ordered and dif- 
 pofcd. 
 Sect. IV. When the Spaniards mounted the greater temple, they found the 
 Effefts of kins there, who had anticipated their arrival, in order to prevent, by 
 gious zeal, HIS prelcncc, any attempt or violence agamit his gods, Arter navmg 
 obferved the city from that great height, at the inftance of the king 
 himfelf, Cortes demanded permiflion to fee the fandtuaries which the 
 king granted to him after confulting the prierts. The Spaniards en- 
 tered there, and contemplated, not without compaffion and horror, 
 the blindnefs of thofe people, and the horrid {laughter which fuperfti- 
 tion committed at their facrifices. Cortes then turning to the king, 
 faid, " I wonder, prince, that a monarch, fo wife as you are, can adore 
 thofe abominable figures of the devil as gods." " If I had known," 
 anfwered the king, " that you would have fpoken difrefpeflfully of our 
 " gods, I fliould not have yielded to your requeft." Cortes, feeing 
 him fo much incenfed, begged his excufe, and took leave to withdraw 
 to his quarters. " Go in peace," faid the king; " for I will ftay here 
 " to appeafe the anger of our gods, which you have provoked by your 
 " blafphemy." 
 
 Notwithftanding this circumftance of difguft, Cortes not only ob- 
 tained psrmiffiion from the king to build within the enclofure of his 
 quarters a chapel in honour of his god, but alfo the workmen and ma- 
 terials for the building, in which they celebrated mafs, although with- 
 out wine, and the foldiers daily afTembled there to perform their devo^ 
 tions. He fixed alfo, in the principal court, a great crofs, that the 
 Mexicans might fee the high veneration in which they held that fym- 
 bol of their religion. He was nioreover defirous of confecrating the 
 very fandluary of Haitzilopochrli to the worfliip of his god, but at 
 that time he was reftrained by refpeft for the king and thepricftsj but 
 he accompliilied this purpofe fome months after, having acquired a 
 
 greater
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 greater authority by the imprifonment of the king, and other actions not 
 more prudent or lets rafli, as will prefently appear. 
 
 H^ broke the idols which were worfliipped there, made them clean 
 and adorn the fandluary, placed a crucifix and an image of the mother of 
 God in it, and placing himfelf upon his knees before thofe facred images, 
 he thanked the Almighty for having granted leave to adore him in 
 that place, fo long deftined to cruel and deteftable idolatry. His 
 pious zeal made him frequently repeat to Montezuma his arguments 
 for the truth of his religion ; but although Montezuma was not dif- 
 pofcd to embrace it, moved however by his fuggeflions, he com- 
 manded that from that time forward no human victims fliould be facri- 
 ficed ; and although he did not agree with the Spanifh general in re- 
 nouncing idolatry, he continued to carefs him, and no day pafled without 
 his making fome prefent to, and fliewing new civilities to tlie Spaniards. 
 The order which the king gave refpedling the facrifices were not 
 flridly obferved, and that great harmony, which had hitherto fubfill:ed, 
 was difturbed by the daring attempts of the Spanifh general. 
 
 Six days were hardly elapfed after the entr)'* of the Spaniards into Skct. \\ 
 Mexico, when Cortes, finding himi'elf, as it were, ijifulated in the ,!||,',^t o7k"in 
 centre of an immenfe myriad of people, and confidering how danger- ^Moiuczum: 
 ous their fituation would become, if the mind of the king fliould ever 
 change, which event might happen, was perfuaded there was no otlier 
 condudl to be followed for their fecurity than to make himfelf mafter of 
 the perfon of the king; but fuch a meafure being extremely repugnant 
 to jurtice and reafon, which demanded from him both refpedl to the ma- 
 jefty of that monarch, and gratitude for his great beneficence, he fought 
 for pretences to quiet his confcience, and to fliield his honour; for which 
 purpofe he found none fo fitting as the revolutions at Vera Cruz, the 
 intelligence of which he had kept fecret in his breafl: till this time, but 
 being willing now to avail himfelf of it, he revealed it to his officers, 
 that they might take into their ferious confideration v/hat would be 
 moft proper and effeólual to deliver themfelvcs from fuch imminent 
 danger; and, in order to juftify his attempt, and excite the Spaniards 
 to execute it, he made fome principal perfons of the allies be called 
 (whofe information ought always to be fufpicious, on account of their 
 bitter enmity to the Mexicans), and demanded of them if they had ob- 
 
 L 2 ferved
 
 -?6 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK IX. lerved any thing new in the inhabitants of that court ? They reph'ed, 
 that the Mexican populace was then amufed with the pubh'c rejoicings, 
 which the king had ordered, to celebrate the arrival of fuch noble 
 Grangers ; but that amongll the nobility they perceived a fufpicious 
 look ; and, among other thing?, they had heard them fiiy, that it 
 would be eafy to lift up the bridges upon the canals, which feemed to 
 indicate fome fecret confpiracy againft the Spaniards. 
 
 Cortes could not lleep from uncàfmefs that whole night, and pafTed 
 it traverfmg his quarters in deep meditation. A centinel told him,^ 
 that in one of the chambers there was a door which had been frefli 
 walled up. Cortes made it be opened, and upon entering they found 
 feveral chambers, where the treafure of the deceaied king was depofited. 
 He faw there many idols, a great quantity of works of gold, of gems, of 
 feathers, of cotton, and feveral other things which were paid by the tri- 
 butary provinces, or prefented by the feudatory lords to their fbvereign. 
 After beholding with amazement fo much riches, he made the door 
 be again walled up, and left in its former ftate. 
 
 The next morning he called together his captains, reprefented to 
 them the hoftilities committed by the lord of Nauhtlan upon the 
 garrifon at Vera Cruz and the Totonacas their allies, which the allies 
 themfelves laid would not have been oiFered without the expreis order 
 or permiffion of the king of Mexico, He painted, in flrong colours, 
 the danger in which they then flood, and declared his defign to them, ex- 
 aggerating the advantages which were to be expeifted from the execution 
 of it, and diminifhing the evils which it might occafion. Their opinions 
 were various. Some of them rejedted the proportion of the general as 
 rafh and impradticable, and faid, that it would be fitter to afk permifllon 
 from the king to retire from the country, lìnee as he had endeavoured,, 
 with fo much earneflnefs, and fuch large prefents, to turn them from 
 their refolution of coming to Mexico, he would promptly conlent to 
 their departure. Some of them thought, that although it was neceflary 
 for them to depart, yet they imagined that it would be proper to do 
 it fecretly, in order to give the Mexicans no opportunity of betraying 
 them in any manner ; but the greater part of them having, it is pro- 
 bable, been previoufly bialTed by the general, embraced his propofal, 
 rejecting the others as more dangerous and ignominious. " What will 
 
 ." they
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 " they fay of us ?" they allced, " when they fee us'gofuddenly from a 
 " court where we have been crowned with honour j who will not be 
 " perfuaded that it is fear which chafes us away ? If we ever lofe the 
 " reputation of courage, what fecurity can we promife ouifelvcs, 
 " either in thofe places of the Mexicans through which we mufl pafs, 
 " or among our allies, who will no longer be reftrained by refped: for 
 " our arms ?" At laft, the refolution v/as formed to take Montezuma 
 in his palace, and to bring him prifoner to their quarters ; a refolution 
 moft barbarous, however, and wild to exccfs, fuggefted by apprehen- 
 fions for their fate, and their part uniform experience of fuccefs, 
 which, more than any thing elfe, encourages men, and leads them 
 gradually on always to fome flill more daring undertaking. 
 
 For the execution of this dangerous plan, Cortes put all his troops 
 in arms, and ftationed them at proper places. He commanded five of 
 his officers and twenty-five of his foldiers, in whom he placed chief 
 confidence, to repair two by two to the palace, but in fuch a manner 
 that they might all meet there at once, as if by accident ; and having 
 previoufly obtained leave of the king, he v/ent himfelf with his inter- 
 preter Marina, at the ufual hour of his vifit to him. He was 
 introduced with the other Spaniards into the hall of audience, where the 
 king, far from fufpedting what was to happen, received them with his 
 wonted kindnefs. He made them fit down, prefented them to fome works 
 of gold, and befides prefented one of his daughters to Cortes. Cortes, 
 after having exprcfi'ed his gratitude, in the moft polite terms., apolo- 
 gifed for not accepting her, alledging that he was married in Cuba, and 
 according to the ChrilHan law, he was not permitted to have tw'o 
 wives ; but at laft he received her into his company, to avoid giving 
 difguft to- the king, and to have an opportunity of making her a 
 Chriftian, as he afterwards did. Ta the other officers al fo he gave 
 fome daughters of Mexican lords of thofe he had in his feragllo. 
 They converfed afterwards, for fome time, on various fubjedls ; but 
 Cortes, leeing that thofe difcourfes diverted him from his objed:, told 
 the king that his vifit then was mide to communicate to him the pro- 
 ceedings of his vafial the lord of Nauhtlan : he complained of the 
 hoftililios committed by that lord on the Totonacas, on account of 
 their fricndfhip witli the Spaniards ; of the war made on the Spaniards 
 
 at.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO, 
 
 at Vera Cruz, and the death of Efcalante the governor, and lix foldiers 
 of that garrifon. " I (he added) muft- give an account to my fovereigii 
 " of the death of thofe Spaniards ; and in order to be able to give him 
 " proper fatisfaition, I have made enquiry into fo fmgular an event. 
 " All confider you the principal author of thofe revolutions ; but I 
 " am far from thinking fo great a monarch capable of fuch perfidy as 
 ** to perfecute me as an enemy in that province, while at the fame time 
 *' you are heaping favours upon me in your court." " I do not 
 *' doubt (replied the king) but thofe who accufe me of the war of 
 " Nauhtlan are the Tlafcalans, my fworn enemies j but I proteft I had 
 " no influence in it. Quauhpopoca has proceeded to do fo without my 
 " orders, and rather againft my inclination ; and that you may be 
 " aflured of the truth, I wall make him immediately come to court, 
 " and put him into your hands." He immediately called two of his 
 courtiers, and delivering to them a certain gem, which he always wore 
 hanging at his arm, and ferved in place of a feal as a fign of his com- 
 mands, he ordered theni to go with all pollible fpeed to Nauhtlan to 
 bring Quauhpopoca from thence to court, and the other principal 
 perfons who were concerned in the death of the Spaniards, and gave 
 them authority to raife troops, and take them by force if they fhould 
 refufe to obey. 
 
 The two courtiers departed immediately to execute their conimiffion, 
 and the king (aid to Cortes, " What can I do more to affure you of 
 *' my fmcerity?" " I have no doubt of it (anfwered Cortes) ; but 
 " in order to clear up the error into which your vaffals have likewife 
 " fallen, that the affair of Nauhtlan had been executed by your orders, 
 " we wilh for a ftrong proof of it, which will manifefl: your benevolence 
 " towards us; and no one feems more adapted for this purpofe than that 
 ** of your condefcending to live with us until the guilty perfons appear, 
 " and manifefl: your innocence by their confeffion. That will be fuf^ 
 *' ficient to fiitisfy my lovereign, to juftify your conduifl, to honour 
 " and Hielter us under the Ihide of your maiefl:y." In fpite of 
 the artful words in which Cortes endeavoured to dilguife his daring 
 and injurious pretenfion, the king immediately penetrated his mean- 
 ing, and was cufturbed. " When was there ever an inftance (he faid) 
 " of a king tamely fuffering himfelf to be led into prifon ? And although 
 
 '* I was
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 " I was willing to debafe m} felf in (o vile a manner, would not all my 
 " valliils in:mediately arm themiclves to let nie tree ? I am not a man 
 *' who can hide myfelf, or fly to the mountains; without fubjedling 
 " mylelf to fuch iiitamy, I am here now ready to latisfy your com- 
 *' plaints." " The houle, prince (returned Cortes), to which we invite 
 " you, is one of your palaces ; nor will it excite the wonder of your fub- 
 *' jedts, who are accuftomed to your change of habitation, to fee 
 " you now go to inhabit the palace of your deceafed father Axajacatl, 
 *' from a- motive of fliewing your benevolence towards us. In cafe 
 " your fubjedts afterwards fliould dare to do any thing againfl you or 
 " us, we have enough of courage, ftrong arms, and good weapons, to 
 " repel their violence. In other refpcds I engage my faith you 
 " (hall be as much honoured and attended upon by us as by your own 
 " fubjedts." The king perfevered in his refulal, and Cortes in his im- 
 portunity ; until at laft, one of the Spanifh officers, extremely daring 
 and impetuous, not brooking this delay to the execution of their pro- 
 ject, faid, in paflion, that they fliould leave difcourfing, and refolve to 
 take him by force, or put him to death. The king, who difcerned in 
 the afpedt of the Spaniard, what was his purpofe, eagerly demanded of 
 Marina what that furious ftranger faid? " I, prince (flie anfwered 
 with mildnefs and difcretion), " as your fubjeót, defireyour happincfs; 
 " but as the confidant of thofe men, know their fecrets, and am ac- 
 " quainted with their chara«fter. If you condefcend to do what they 
 " require, you will be treated by them with all the honour which is 
 *' due to your royal perfon ; but if you perfift in your refufal, your life 
 " will be in danger." That unhappy king, who from the time that 
 he had the firft intelligence of the arrival of the Spaniards, had been 
 ftruck with a fuperftitious panick, and had become daily more pu- 
 fillanimous, feeing himfelf in fuch ditiiculty, and being perfuaded that 
 before his guards could come to his fuccour he might perifli by the 
 hands of men fo daring and rcfolute, at lad yielded to their importu- 
 nity. " I am vvilling to trufl myfelf with you ; let us go, let us go, 
 " lìnee the gods thus intend;" and immediately he ordered his litter to 
 be prepared, and he got into it, in order to be tranfported to the quar- 
 ters of the Spaniards. 
 
 8 Our
 
 8'o H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O, 
 
 BOOK IX. Our readers will probably, on reading and confiderlng all the cir- 
 
 '""'"'"'^'^ cutnflances of this extraordinary event, icel the fame diipleilure we feel 
 in giving the relation ; as the Spaniards cannot but appear to have been 
 the feverefl inftruments fate ever made uie of to tarther the ends of 
 Providence in the difcovery and connetition of the new with the old 
 continent. ' 
 
 Montezuma, at length, left his palace never to return to it again. 
 He departed, declaring to his courtiers, for certain realbns, after con- 
 fultation with his gods, he was going to pafs fonie days, of his own free 
 will, with thofe ftrangers, commanding them to publifh it through 
 all the city. He went with all the pomp and magnificence with 
 which he ufually appeared in public, and the Spaniards kept clofe to 
 him, guarding him, under pretence of doing him honour. The news 
 this lingular event immediately fpread through the whole capital, and the 
 people affembled in crowds ; fome were affcòled fo as to weep, and others 
 threw themfelves upon the ground in defpair. The king attempted to 
 confole them, telling them, that it was with his own pleafure, that he 
 went to be among his friends ; but being apprehenfive of fome dif- 
 order, he gave orders to his minillers to chace the rabbis from the 
 flreets, and threatened death to any one who caufed any commotion or 
 dillurbance. Having arrived at the quarters, he careffed the Spaniards, 
 and took the apartments that pleafed him moft, which his domeflics 
 quickly decorated with the fineft tapeflry of cotton and feathers, and 
 the bed furniture of the royal palace. Cortes placed guards at the 
 entry to thofe apartments, and doubled thofe which were ufual for the 
 fecurity of their quarters. He intimated to all the Spaniards and all 
 the allies, that they were to treat him and ferve him with all the 
 refpefl: which was due to majcfty, and permitted the Mexicans to 
 vifit him vvhenever they pleafed, provided there were but few at a 
 time; fo that he wanted nothing that he had in his own palace but 
 liberty. 
 Sect. VI. Here Montezuma was allowed to give free audience to his vailals, 
 , . "' . heard their petitions, pronounced fentences, and governed the kine- 
 
 kinv; in pn- . ' b o 
 
 foil. dom with the affiftance of his minifters and counfellors. His domef- 
 
 tics fcrved him with the lame diligence and punduality as ufual. A 
 band of nobles waited upon him at table, ordered in ranks of four at 
 
 a time. 
 
 I
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 a tini'", carrying the difhes railed up in their hands for the fiiki of BOOKIY. 
 crte.it.ition ; alter havhig chofe what he hked, he divided the reft 
 among the Spaniards who alTifted and the Mexican nobles wlio attend- 
 ed him : not contented with this, his generofity made him diftribute 
 frequent and magnificent prdents among the Spaniards, 
 
 Cortes, on his part, fhewed fo much earneftncfs that his people 
 n^ould pay him tlie refpecfi: which was due, that he ordered a Spaniard 
 to be whipped for anfwering die king rudely, and would have made 
 him be hanged, as fome hiilorians affirm, if the king himfelf h.id not 
 interpofed in his behalf. But if the foldier was deferving of cliaftife- 
 ment for infulting the majefty of that king by a rude word, what pu- 
 nilliment did he merit who had fo outrageouHy deprived him of his 
 liberty ? Every time that Cortes went to vifit him he obferved the 
 fame ceremony, and paid him the fam^ compliments which lie had 
 been ufed to do when lie went to the royal palace. In order to amufe 
 him in prifon, he made the foldiers go through the military exercifc, 
 or made them play at games before him ; and the king himfelf fre- 
 quently condcfcended to play with Cortes and the captain Alvarado, 
 at a game which the Spaniards called bodoque, and fliewed himfelf 
 happy to lofe in order to have an opportunity of exercifing his libe- 
 rality : once after dinner he loft forty pieces of unwrought gold, 
 which, as near as we can guefs, was equal to one hundred and fixty 
 ounces at leaft. 
 
 Cortes perceiving his liberality, or rather prodigality, told him one 
 day that feme knavifli foldiers had ftolen fome pieces of gold from the 
 treafury of his deceafed father Axajacatl, but that he would make them 
 immediately reftore the whole of their theft. " Provided," faid the 
 king, " they db not touch the images of the gods, nor any thing dc- 
 " ftined for their worfhip, they may take as much as they pleafc." 
 Having got this permilfion, the Spaniards took out foon after more 
 than a thoufand fine habits of cotton ; Cortes commanded them to be 
 replaced, but Montezuma oppofed it, faying he never took back what 
 he had once given away. Cortes alfo imprifoned fome foldiers, becaufc 
 they had taken out of the fame treafiire a certain quantity of liquid 
 aniber ; but, at the defirc of the king, they were again fet at liberty. 
 Montezuma, not contented with yielding up his riches to the Spani- 
 VoL. II. M ards.
 
 82 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK IX. ards, prcfented to Cortes another of his daughters, whom the general 
 accepted, in order to marry her to Chriftopher Olid, camp-m.iiter to 
 tiie Spanifli troops. This princels, as well as the other formerly pre- 
 fented, were immediately inllrudcd and baptized, without any oppo- 
 fition from their father. 
 
 Cortes, having no longer any doubt of the friendly difpofition of 
 the king, which had been manifefled not only by his extraordinary 
 liberality, but alfo by the pleafui-e he took in living among the Spani- 
 ards, after fome days of confinement allowed him to go out of the 
 quarters, and exhorted him to go as often as he pleafsd to amufe him- 
 felf with the chace, of which he was immoderately fond. That de- 
 bafed monarch did not refufe this miferable ufe of his liberty ; he went 
 frequently, fometimes to the temples to perform his devotions, fome- 
 times to the lake to catch water-fowl, fometimes to the wood of 
 Chapoltepec, or fome other place of pleafure ; always guarded, how- 
 ever, by a ftrong company of Spanifh foldiers. When he went upon 
 the lake, he was efcorted by a vafl: number of boats, or by two brigan- 
 tines, which Cortes had caufed to be built as foon as he entered that 
 capital (r). When he reforted to the woods, he was accompanied by 
 two thoufand Tlafcalans, befides a numerous retinue of Mexicans, 
 who always were in attendance to ferve him ; but he never paiTed a 
 night out of the quarters. 
 Sect. VTT. Upwards of fifteen days had elapfed fince the imprifonment of the 
 o"th^lor'd of king, when the two meffengers returned from Nauhtlan, conducing 
 Nauhtlan, . Quauhpopoca, his fon, and fifteen other nobles, accomplices in the 
 fuitstothe death of the governor Efcalante. Quauhpopoca came richly drefTed, 
 ^'^'^' in a litter : when he arrived at the quarters he pulled off his flioes, 
 
 according to the ceremony of the palace, and covered himfelf with a 
 coarfe habit ; he was introduced to the audience of the king, and 
 having obferved the ufual forms of refpeil, he faid, ** Behold, mod 
 " great and powerful prince, your fervant obedient to your commands, 
 " and ready to comply in every thing with your defire." " You 
 " have condudled yourfelf not a little ainifs in this point," returned 
 
 (r) In order to fct forth at once the life of Montezuma while in prifon, we recount here- 
 fome events which happened poflerior to otliers, v.hich aie full to be related. 
 
 the
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 8^ 
 
 the king, with difdain, " by treating thofe ftrangers, whom I have book tx. 
 " received hke friends into my court, as enemies; and your temerity 
 " has been excelììve, in blaming me as the author of fuch proceedings j 
 " you (hall therefore be punilhed as a traitor to your fovereign." 
 Quauhpopoca endeavoured to excufe himfelf, but the king would not 
 liften to him, and made him be immediately delivered up to Cortes, 
 with his accomplices, that, after the crime was examined into, he might 
 punifh them as he fliould think proper. Cortes put the neceflary 
 queftions, and they openly confeflcd the fadl, without at firft blaming 
 the king ; until being threatened with the torture, and believing their 
 punilhmcnt inevitable, they declared that what they had done v/as 
 enjoined by the king, without whofe orders they would not have dared 
 to attempt any thing againft the Spaniards. 
 
 Cortes, after hearing their confeffion and pretending not to believe 
 their excufe, condemned them to be burned alive before the royal 
 palace, for being guilty of treafon to the king. He repaired immedi- 
 ately to the king's apartment, with three or four of his officers, and a 
 foldier who carried irons in his hands ; and, without omitting even 
 upon this occafion the ufual ceremony and compliments, he faid to the 
 king, •' The delinquents, prince, have now been examined, and all of 
 " them have confefl'ed their guilt, and blame you as the author of the 
 *' death of my Spaniards : I have condemned them to the punifhment 
 " which they, and which you alfo, deferve, agreeable to their confef- 
 " fion ; but, in confideration of the many kindnefles you have rendered 
 " us hitherto, and the regard you have manifefted for my fovereign 
 " and towards my nation, I am willing to grant you the favour of your 
 " life, although I cannot avoid making you feel a part of the punifhment 
 " which you merit for your crime." Upon faying this, he, in an 
 angry tone, commanded the foldier to put the irons upon his legs, and 
 without deigning to hear a word from him, turned about and de- 
 parted. The ftupcfadtion of the king at feeing this outrage offered to 
 his perfon was fo great, that it left him no power of refiftance nor any 
 words to exprefs his afflidtion : he remained for fome time in a ftate of 
 infenfibility ; his domeftics who attended fignified their grief in filent 
 tears ; and throwing themfelves at his feet, eafed the weight of the 
 irons with their hands, and endeavoured to prevent their contaft with 
 
 M 2 his
 
 84 H I S T O R Y O F IVI E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK IX. his legs by placing bandages of cotton between them. As he returned 
 to hiinfelf, he broke out into fome expreiiions of impatience, but he 
 foon calmed again, attributing his mileries to the fupreme difpenfations 
 of his gods. 
 
 This bold aftion was hardly performed, when Cortes proceeded to 
 execute another not lels prefumptuous. After having given orders to 
 the guards not to admit any Mexican to fee the king, he commanded 
 Quauhpopoca, his fon, and the reft of his accomplices, to be led to 
 puniihment ; they were conducted by the Spaniards themfelves, all 
 armed and formed in order of battle, to keep the people in awe in 
 cafe they fhould be willing to oppofe the execution of their fentence. 
 But what could that fmall troop of men have done againft the immenfe 
 multitude of Mexicans who alfembled to be fpeiflators of the event? 
 The fire was kindled before the principal palace of the king. The 
 fuel made ufe of was a great quantity of bows, arrows, darts, lances, 
 fwords, and iliields, which were taken from an armoury ; for Cortes 
 had demanded thefe of the king, that he might rid himlelf of the 
 uneafinefs which the fjghtof fo many arms occaiioned. Quauhpopoca, 
 tied hand and foot and placed upon the pile where he was to he burned, 
 again protefted his iruiocence, and repeated tlxat what he had done was 
 by the exprefs order of his king j he then made prayers to his gods, 
 and encouraged his companions to bear their fufferings. The fire 
 being kindled they were all in a few minutes confumed, {s) in fight of a 
 numerous multitude, who made no commotion becaufe they were 
 perfuaded as is probable that this punifhment was executed by order 
 of the king : and it is to be imagined that the fentence had been, 
 publiihed in his naiBe. 
 
 (.j) Solis, when he makes mention of the fentence of Cortes againft Quauhpopoca, fpeaks^ 
 thus : " Juzgofe militarmente la caufa, y fe Ics dio fenfencia de inuerte, con la circunliancia, 
 " de q«e fuiiTen CjtienWos pHblicamente fus cuerpos." Wherein, without mentioning the 
 fpecics of punlflmient to which they w ere condemned, he makes it be underilood, that the pri- 
 foners were not burned, but their dead bodies only. This is not at all confident with the 
 fincerity which is requifite from an hiflorian. He ftudicd to diffembk whatever did not con- 
 form with the panegyric of his hero ; but his dillimulatron-is of but little confequencc, while 
 not only other hillorians, but even Cortes himfclf ailinns it opeily, in his letter to Charles W 
 Sec in particular Herrera, in his Lecad II. book viii. chap. 9.. 
 
 This
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 85 
 
 This ccndu(fi: of Cortes is by no means to be juftified, fince befidcs book IX. 
 arrogating to himfclf an authority which did not belong to him, if he *" ^'*"*^ 
 believed the king had been the antho;- of the revolutions at Vera Cruz, 
 why condemn to death, and to io cruel a death, men who had no other 
 guilt than that of executing pundually the orders of their fovereiga? 
 If he did not bJieve the king guilty, why fubjeól him to fo much 
 ignominy, in contradidlion 'to the refped: due to his character, the 
 gratitude which might naturally have been felt for his bounty, and 
 the jullice claimed by his innocence ? It is probable, that C^uauhpo- 
 poca had an exprefs order from the king to bring the Totonacas again 
 under obedience to his crown, and that being unable to execute that 
 order without embroiling himfclf with the Spaniards, who protected 
 the rebels, he carried things to the extremity which we have fsen. 
 
 As foon as the criminals were puniihed, Cortes went to the apart- 
 ment of the king, and laluting him with exprelfions of affedtion, and 
 boafting the favour which he had done him in granting him his life, 
 he made his fetters be taken off. The joy which Montezuma then 
 felt, was proportioned to the anguiOi the ignominy had excited ; he 
 loft all his fears of having his life taken from him, and received this 
 phantom of liberty as an incomparable benefit j he was Co fallen in 
 dignity and fpirit, that he embraced Cortes with the utmofl afFeftion, 
 cxprelTcd his gratitude to him in the ftrongeft terms,, and that day 
 rtiewed extraordinary complaifance to the Spaniards and his own vallals. 
 Cortes took off his guard, and told the king that whenever he pleafed 
 he might return to his palace ; well allured, however, the king would 
 not accept his offer ; for he had frequently heard him fay, that it 
 would not be fitting for him to return to his palace while the Spaniards 
 were in his court. He was unwilling to quit the quarters, on accourkt 
 of the dangers the Spaniards would be in whenever he abandoned them ; 
 but it is alfo probable, that his own perfonal danger likcwjfe prevented 
 him from refuming his liberty, for he was not ignorant how much he 
 had offended and difguflcd hi^ vaffals, by his debafenient of fpirit and 
 excefs of fubmiffion to the SpanLirds. 
 
 It is alfo probable, that the puniOiment of Qnauhpopoca excited Sfct. viir 
 feme ferment among the nobility,- for, a few days after, Cacamatzin -'^"f"ips"f 
 king of Acolhuacan, unable to brook the authority which the Spani- Acoihat.acaa 
 
 J againil the 
 ardS Spaiùaidi.
 
 86 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK IX, ards were gaiiiing in Mexico, and afliamed to fee the miferab'e fitua- 
 tion of his uncle Montezuma, fent to tell him, — that he fliould re- 
 member that he was a liing, and not to make himfelf the ilavc of 
 thofe ftrangers : but finding that Montezuma refufed to attend to his 
 counfel, refolved himfelf to make war upon the Spaniards. Their 
 ruin would have been inevitable, if the efleem of Cacamatzin with 
 the Mexican and Tezcucan fubjefls had been eqvxal to his intrepidity 
 and i-efolution ; but the Mexicans fufpeóled, that under findion of zeal 
 for the honour of his uncle he difguifed fome lurking ambition and 
 defign to ufurp the crown of Mexico ; among his own fubje«5ts of 
 Tezcuco he was not very popular, on account of his pride and the 
 injury he dad done his brother the prince Cuicuitzatzin, who, to fliua 
 being perfecuted, had taken fhelter in Mexico, and was more accej>t- 
 able to the people on account of his more affable difpofition. 
 
 Cacamatzin therefore went to Tezcuco, and having called together 
 his counfellors and the moft refpedlable perfons of his court, reprefent- 
 ed to them the deplorable ftate of Mexico, owing to the unequalled 
 audacity of the Spaniards, and pufillanimity of the king his uncle; 
 the authority which thofe flrangers were acquiring, the outrages offer- 
 ed to the king by the imprifonment of his perfon as if he had been 
 a flave, and the infult rendered to their gods by the introdudion of 
 the worfliip of a flrange deity into that kingdom j he exaggerated the 
 evils which might refult from fuch beginnings to the court and king- 
 dom of Acolhuacan : " It is time now," he faid, " to fight for our 
 " religion, for our country, for our libertv, and for our honour, be- 
 " fore the power of thofe men is increafed by reinforcements from 
 " their own country or new alliances in this." At lall he enjoined 
 them all to fpeak their opinions freely. The majority of his 
 counfellors declared for war, either in complaiiance to their king or 
 becaufe they were all of the lame opinion, but fome aged refpediable 
 perfons told the king plainly, that he fhould not fuffer himfelf to be 
 led away by the ardour of youth ; that before any refolution was taken 
 it ought to be remembered, that the Spaniards were warlike refolute 
 men, and fought with arms lliperior to their's ; that he fhould not 
 confider the relation between himfelf and Montezuma fo much as 
 the alliance of the latter with the Spaniards ; that a fnendfhip of that 
 8 nature.
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 87 
 
 nature, of which there were the cleareft and moft certain proofs, would BOOK IX 
 nuke him facrifice ajl the interefls of his family and his country to " ' 
 
 the ambition of thofe Grangers. 
 
 ■ In fpite of thofe reprefentations war was refolved upon, and imme- 
 diately they began to make preparations for it with the utmoll fecrecy ; 
 but ftill not fufficient to prevent the intelligence of it from reach- 
 ing Montezuma and Cortes : this general became extremely uneafy 
 at it, but refledling that all his daring dcfigiis h>.d fucceeded, he 
 refolved to v/ard off the blow, by marching with his troops to make 
 an aflault upon Tezcuco. Montezuma diii'auded him from fo dan- 
 gerous a flep, informing him of the ftrength of that capital and the 
 immenfe number of its inhabitants. Cortes determined, therefore^ 
 to fend an cmbafly to that king, calling to his recolleiStion the friend- 
 fliip formerly agreed u.ion between them in Ajotzinco when he came 
 to meet him in tlie name of his uncle, and alio to tell him to refletì: 
 that it was not eafier to undertake war than difficult to fucceed in it, 
 and that it would turn out to better account for him to keep up a good 
 correfpondence with the king of Caftile and the Spanifh nation. Ca- 
 camatzin anfwered, that he could not regard men as friends who 
 injured his lionour, wronged his blood, difdained his religion, and 
 opprelTed his country ; that he did not know who the king of 
 Caftile was, nor was it of any importance for him to know it ; that if 
 tliey would efcape the ftorm which was now ready to pour upon them 
 they (hould immediately quit Mexico, and return to their native 
 country. 
 
 Notwithflanding this firm anfwer, Cortes repeated his embally; 
 but being again anfwered in the fame tone» he complained to Mon- 
 tezuma ; and, in order to engage him in the affair, he feigned to luf- 
 ped even him of having fome influence in the bollile defigns of his 
 nephew. Montezuma cleared himfelf from fufpicion by the mofl 
 fincere proteflations, and offered to interpofe his authority. He fent 
 to tell Cacamatzin to come to Mexico to vifit him, and that he would 
 find means to accommodate the difTercncc. Cacamatzin, amazed at 
 feeing Montezuma more intercffcd in favour of thofe who deftroyed 
 his liberty, than of his own relation who was zealous to rcilore it to 
 him, anfwered, that if after fuch infamous treatment he had a fpark 
 
 r.f
 
 88 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK IX. of honour left, he would be afliamed of fesiiig himfelf made the Have 
 of four ruffians, who, while they cajoled with fair words, heaped 
 a<5ls of aftVont upon him ; that fince neither zeal for the Mexican 
 religion and the gods of the Acolhuans, whom thofe flrangers had 
 blafphemoufly infulttd, nor the glory of his anceitors, obicured and 
 debaled by his own pulillanimity, could move him, he himfelf was 
 difpofed to aid his religion — to vindicate his gods — to preferve the 
 kingdom, and recover the honour and liberty of him and every Mexican 
 fubjedt; that he would indeed fee him at Mexico, not however with his 
 hands in his bofom, but weilding his fword, to wipe off and cancel with 
 the blood of the Spaniards the difgrace which flained the nation. 
 E^i"ition of Montezuma was extremely alarmed by this anfwer, fearing that, 
 the prime either from the revenge of the Spaniards or the fury of king Cacamat- 
 
 Ciiiciiitzcac- ., til I--- /-I Ì ■ n 
 
 zia. zm, he would become the vidbm or the approaching Irorm ; upon 
 
 which account he refolved to adopt t!ie lad refource to prevent it, and 
 fave his ow:ì life by treachery. He therefore gave fecret orders to 
 fome Mexican officers, who ferved in the guard of his nephew the 
 king of Acolhuacan, to exert their utmoft efforts, and without delay, 
 to feize his perfon and condudl him with the greateft care to Mexico, 
 becaufe it was of importance to the nation at large. He fuggefted to 
 them the manner of doing it, and probably alfo made them fonie gift 
 and promifed them fome reward to encourage them in the undertak- 
 ing. They again folicited other officers and domeliics of the king 
 Cacamatzin, whom they knew to be difpofed to fuch a faction, and 
 by the affiftance of the lafl they obtained all that Montezuma defired. 
 Among other palaces of the king of Acolhuacan, there v/as one built 
 upon the edge of the lake, in fuch a manner that by a canal, which ran 
 under it, velTels could come out or go in to it. There, as Cacamatzin 
 was then refiding at this palace, they placed a number of veflels with 
 armed men, and in the darknefs of the night, which favours all con- 
 fpiracies, they fuddenly feized upon the king, and, before any perfons 
 could come to his affiflance, put him into a veflcl and conveyed him 
 with the utmoft expedition to Mexico. Montezuma, without paying 
 any refpedt to the charader of fovereign nor his relation with Cacamat- 
 zin, delivered him up immediately to Cortes. This general, by what 
 appears from his condudl, had not the leafl idea of the refpeiSt which 
 
 ^ is
 
 V ^ > 
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 89 
 
 is due to majefty even in the perfon of a barbarian, put him in irons, BOOKix. 
 and confined him under a ftron^^ guard. The reflexions to be made 
 on this, and other extraordinary events in this hiftory, are too obvious 
 to require any interruption of the courfe of our relation with them. 
 
 Cacamatzin, who began his unhappy reign with the dilTenfion of 
 his brother Ixthlxochitl and the difmemberment of the ftate, con- 
 cluded it with the lofs of his crown, his liberty, and his life. Mon- 
 tezuma determined, with the confent of Cortes, that the crown of 
 Acolhuacan fhould be given to the prince Cuicuitzcatzin, who had 
 been entertained by Montezuma in his palace from the time that, in 
 order to avoid the perfecutions of his brother Cacamatzin, he had 
 taken refuge in Mexico and put himfelf under his protedtion. This 
 eleótion did great wrong to the princes Coanacotzin and IxtlilxochitI, 
 who, by having been born of the queen Xocotzin, had a better right 
 to the crown. The motive does not appear which made Montezuma 
 refufe Coanacotzin, although with refpedl to IxtlilxochitI it is certain 
 that he was afraid of increafmg the power of fo troublefome an enemy. 
 However it was, Montezuma made Cuicuitzcatzin be acknowledged 
 king- by the nobles of Tezcuco, and accompanied him, along with 
 Cortes, to the velici in which he was to crofs the lake, and recom- 
 mended to him the conftant friendlhip of the Mexicans and the 
 Spaniards, as he was indebted to them bath for his crown. 
 
 Cuicuitzcatzin repaired to Tezcuco, accompanied by many nobles 
 of each court, and was received there with acclamations» triumphal 
 arches, and dances, the nobility tranfporting him in a litter from the 
 veiTel to tlie royal palace, where the cldeft noble made him a long 
 difcourfe in the nauie of the whole nation, congratulating him and 
 exhorting him to love all his vafTals, and promifing to treat him as a 
 f.ither and to revere him as their fovereign. It is impoffible to exprcfs 
 the grief which this event occafioned to Cacamatzin, who found 
 himlelf in the flower of youth, being ftiil no more than twenty-five 
 years of age, deprived of the crown which three years before he h.^d 
 inherited from his father, and reduced to the confinement and Iblitudc 
 of a prifon by the very king whom he had purpofed to make free, and 
 thofe Grangers whom he had dcfigned to drive out of the kingdom. 
 ' Vol. II. N Corles
 
 S CT. X. 
 
 Suhmi^notTof 
 jV'onteEiimii 
 ani the Mex- 
 Kaii nobility 
 tT the crown 
 of Spain. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Cortes had now got into Jiis ppvver the two rooft potent kings of 
 Anahuac, and it was not long before he took alfo the king of Tlaco- 
 pan, the lords of Iztapalapan and Cojohuacan, both brothers of Mon- 
 tezun;?> two fons of this fame king, Itzquauhtzin lord of TIatelolqo, 
 a high-priefl: of Mexico, and feveral more of the moft refpedable 
 perfonages into cuftody, although we do not know the particu-lars of, 
 their iniprifonment ; but it is probable, that he proceeded to take them 
 one after another, as. they came to vilit Montezuma. 
 
 The general, encouraged by his varipus fuccefl'es, and feeing the 
 king of Mexico totally devoted to his will, told him, it wasnow time.- 
 for his fubjeds to acknowledge the. king of Spain their lawful fov©^. 
 reign, who was defcended from the king and god Quetzalpoatl. Mon- 
 tezuma, who had not courage to contraditì: him, aflembled the principal 
 nobility of the court and the neighbouring cities ; they cameall readily 
 to receive his orders, and being met in a large hall, of the Spanifli 
 quarters, the king made them. a long difcourfe, in which he declarpd. 
 the affection he bore them as a father, from .whom confequently they . 
 ought not to fear that he would propofe any thing to them which 
 was not juft and advantageous : he called to their memory the ancient 
 tradition concerning the devolution of the Mexican empire on, the. 
 c'efcendants of Quetzalcoatl, whole viceroys he and his aiceftors had 
 been, and the phenomena obferved in the elements, which, according ta 
 the interpretation of the priefts and divines, fignified that the time was 
 now arrived when the oracles were to bi fulfilled : he then proceeded to - 
 compare the marks obferved in the Spaniards with thofe of the tradi- 
 tion, from whence he concluded that the king of Spain was evidently 
 the lawful defcendant of Quetzalcoatl, to whom therefore he yielded 
 \ip the kingdom and owned obedience, and exhorted them all to do 
 thq fame (j) . In pronouncing himfelf the fubjeit of another king he 
 
 felt 
 
 (i) The cii-cumftances of the above mentioned aflTembly., of the homagq .rendered to tha... 
 ling ot Sp.iin, -and of the ord«,r intirnatcJ f om Montezuina to Cortes to depart from the. 
 court, is related by hi ori. us with inch variety, that nj two o.t them are 'oiind to agree, in 
 the narration of theie events wc chiefly iollr),v tUe accounts of Cortes and Be n.il Diaz, who 
 were b th e\ e witnefles. Solis affiriu.s,,»hat .tnc acknowleà^mcpt mad? \yy Montezivma jvas,* 
 jne^_^f U(l(jc, iò..t Ix hcvcr lad any mtcTttion \pjulj. I vjhat be^Tomi/eJy that his aim was to bafiett 
 
 the
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 felt his fpirit fb wounded, that his voice failed him and teafs Ti'cre fub- 
 ftitutcd for words. The forrows of the king were flicceeded by fuch 
 bitter fobs from the whole alfembly, ■ that they a^edled and drew the 
 pity of the Spaniards. To thefe emotions a melancholy filcnce fuc- 
 ceeded, which was at length broken by one of the mofl refpedlabie 
 Mexican chiefs, with thefe words : " Since, the time,. O prince, is ar- 
 '* rived when thofe ancient oracles are to be fulfilled, and the gods 
 " incline and you command that we become the fubjedls of another 
 *' lord, what elfe have we to do but to fubmit to the fovereign will of 
 *' heaven intimated to us from your mouth." 
 
 Cortes then th.anked the king and all the lords who were prefent for 
 their ready and fmcere fubmilfion, and declared that his fovereign did 
 not prefume to take the crown from the king of Mexico, but only to 
 make his fupreme dominion over that kingdom be acknowledged, that 
 Montezuma would not only continue to govern his fubjedts, but would 
 alfo exercife the fame authority over all thofe people who fhould fub- 
 mit themfelves to the Spaniards. Having difmilfed the affembly, 
 Cortes ordered a public memorial of that adt to be made with all the 
 folemnity which he thought neceflary, in order to fend it to the court 
 of Spain . 
 
 • Having thus happily accompliflied his purpofe, he reprefented to p^^(,*^/[^' ''^* 
 Montezuma, that fmce he had acknowledged the dominion of the king of the isiex. 
 =of Gallile over thofe countries, it was neceflary to manifefl his fub- croJn ot 
 miffion by the contribution of fome gold and filver, in confequence ^P*'"* 
 of the right which fovereigns had to exadt fuch homage from their 
 Tafl'als, in order to fupport the fplendor of the crown, to maintain 
 their minifliers, the expences of war, and the other nccefllties of the ftate. 
 Montezuma, with truly royal munificence, gave him up the treafure 
 
 tht àtparlure of the Sfanitnds, and to tempo'izc for the fccrcl purporcs of bis ambition, ivi hout any 
 rigardfor his v.-ords or engagement ; "but if the act of Montezuma was a mere artifice, anJ he 
 did not mean to efiecfl what he promifcd, <vhy in owhing himfclt'thc vafTal of another monarch 
 did he ficl (o much anguilh, tliat it cut his voice fliort and drew tears from his cyt's, as this 
 author hinifelf fays. If he only meant to hallen the departure of the Spaniards, thrre was no 
 occafion for fitch a faint. How often, with a finglc becV to his vafliih, could he have facri- 
 ijccd the Spaiùarde to his gods, or fpaiing thcirlives, have made them be bound and conducted 
 to the porr, that thence they might refumc their courfe to Cuba ? The whole of Montezuma's 
 iconduct wis entirely inctinlirtenl withtht intcrrtiotrs which Solis afcribes jo him. 
 
 N 3 of
 
 Sect. XII. 
 
 Difcontent 
 of the Mex- 
 ican nobles, 
 and new fears 
 of Montezu- 
 ma. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 of his father Axajacatl, which was preferved, as we have already fard, 
 in the fame palace, from which nothing had been taken by Cortes 
 hitherto, although it had been exprefsly permitted him by the king to 
 take whatever he pleafed. The whole of this treafure fell into the 
 hands of the Spaniards, together with all that had been contributed by 
 the feudatoiy lords of that crown, which amounted to fo much, that, 
 after deducing a fifth part for the king of Spain, Cortes had as much 
 as was neceffary to pay all his debts, contracted in Cuba in raifing his 
 corps and equipping the armament, and to reward his officers and fol- 
 diers, leaving flill behind enough for future expences. For the king 
 they appropriated, befides a fifth part of the gold and filver, fome par- 
 ticular pieces of w^ork preferved entire on account of their wonderful 
 workmanfliip, which, according to the valuation made of them by 
 Cortes, were worth more than one hundred thoufand ducats ; but the 
 greater part of this wealth was loft, as we fliall find hereafter. 
 
 The Spaniards exulted to fee tliemfelves the mailers of fo much wealth; 
 at fo fmall a coft ; and a kingdom fo great and opulent, fuhjedied to their 
 fovereign with fo little trouble; but their profperity was now at its height, 
 and, according to the condition of human affairs, it was neceflary that 
 their fuccefles fhould be chequered with adverfities. The Mexican 
 nobility, who had hitherto pwreferved a refpedlful filence in deference ta- 
 the will of their fovereign, feeing him thus fallen and degraded, the king 
 of Acolhuacan and other perfons of rank put in chains, and the nation 
 fubjedled to the dominion of a ftrange monarch whom they knew not, 
 began firft to whifper, then to fpeak out with, more freedom, to blam.e 
 their own patience, to hold afiemblies, and. at laft» as is reported, to 
 levy troops to free their king and their nation from fuch ignominious 
 oppreffion. Montezuma was fpoken to by fome of his- favourites,, 
 who reprefented to him the pain his misfortunes and difgrace gjve his 
 vaflals, who confidered his power to be almoft expiring and the fplen- 
 dour of his dignity obfcured, and the ferment which began to rifè 
 not only among the nobles but alfo among the common people, who 
 were grown impatient of feeing themfelves fubje:i:ed and condemned 
 to facrifice to a ftrange king the harveft of their labours : they exhort- 
 ed him to difpel the fears which had taken pofleffion of him, and
 
 HISTORY OFMEXICO. 93 
 
 to refume his wonted authority j fince, if he would not do it, his valTils BOOK IK. 
 
 would, as they were determined to drive thofe infolent and deltrudive 
 
 guefts from the kingdom. On the other hind, the priefts exaggerated 
 
 the injuries which religion fufFered, and intimidated him with the 
 
 threats which, they faid, the gods in anger had made, to deny the ne- 
 
 ceflary rain to the fields, and their proteftion to the Mexicans, if he 
 
 did not difmifs thofe men who were fo difdainful of their worlhip* 
 
 Montezuma moved by thofe reprefentations of his favourites, and 
 menaces of his gods, afliamed of being reproached for his cowardice, 
 and afFe(5led by the difgrace of his nephew Cacamatzin, whom he had 
 always loved with particular tendernels, and the difhonour which had 
 befallen his brother Cuitlahuatzin, and other perfons of the firfl: nobi- 
 lity, although he did not confent to the defign of taking away the lives 
 of the Spaniards, to which fome advifed hiin, refolved, however, to 
 tell them openly, that they mufl depart from that kingdom; He one 
 day, therefore, fent for Cortes, who being apprifed of the fecret confer- 
 ences which the king had had with his minifters, his nobles, and priefts,, 
 felt many apprehenfions ; but diflembling his uneafinefs of mind,, 
 he repaired immediately to the king accompanied by twelve Spaniards. 
 Montezuma received him with lefs cordiality than ufual, and freely 
 laid open his refolution. " You cannot," he faid, " doubt of the great 
 " attachment I bear you, after fo many and clear demonftrations of it. 
 " Hitherto I have willingly entertained you in my court, have even 
 *' been fo delirous of the pleafure of your company and converfation, 
 " as to remain here and live amongftr you. As for my own part, I 
 " would retain you here- without any change, daily making you expe- 
 ** rience fome frefh proofs of my good will towards you ; but it can*. 
 •* not be done ; neither will my gods permit it, nor will my fubjedts 
 " endure it. I find I am threatened with the heavleft puniftiments of 
 " heaven if I let you remain any longer in my kingdom ; and fuch 
 " difcontent already prevails among my vafTals, that unlefs I quicklv 
 " remove the caule, it will be altogether impoflible to pacify them.. 
 " Wherefore it is become necefiary for my own, as well as yours, and 
 " the good of all the kingdom, that you prepare yourfelves to return to 
 " your native country." Cortes, although extremely mortified and 
 diftrefTed, diflcmbled yet his feelings, and affumsd great ferenity of 
 
 COUHr-
 
 94 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BO ox. IX. countenance, anfwered, that he was extremely ready to obey him; 
 but as they wanted velTels to tranfport them, on account of thofe 
 which they had come in from Cuba having become ufelefs, they re- 
 quired time, workmen, and materials, to make others. Montezuma, 
 full of joy at the readinefs with which he was obeyed, embraced him, and 
 told him, that it was not necelfary to precipitate his departure ; that he 
 might build his veifels ; that he would fupply him with the necellàr)' 
 timber, and people to cut it, and tranfport it to the harbour. Immediately 
 he gave orders to a number of carpenters to cut the neceffary timber from 
 a grove of pines, which was at a fmall diftance from the port of Chia- 
 huitztlan, and Cortes, on his part, fent fome Spaniards there to fuper- 
 intend the woodcutters, expedling, in the mean time, that fomething would 
 change the iT:ate of affairs in Mexico, or that fome new reinforcement 
 of Spaniards would be fent to him from the iflauds or from Spain (/). 
 Eight days after this refolution had been taken, Montezuma fent for 
 Cortes a fecond time, and this general was again rendered uneafy. The 
 king told him, that it was no longer necelfary to build veilels, for that 
 a fliort tiuie ago eighteen veilcls, limilar to thofe which had been de- 
 ftroyed, had arrived at the port of Chalchiuhcuecan, in which he 
 might embark with all his troops ; that he iliould therefore haflen his 
 departure, as it was of importance to the welfare of the kingdom. 
 Cortes dilfembled the joy which he received from fuch intelligence, 
 and offering fecret thanks to heaven for having fent him fuch timely 
 afliftance ; he anfwered the king, that if that fleet was making 
 its voyage towards Cuba, he was ready to depart, but that otherwil,e 
 it would be requifite to continue the building of his veffels. He fiw 
 and examined the paintings which had been fent to the king of this 
 new armament by the governors upon the coaft, and he did not doubt 
 that it was Spanilh ; but very far from imagining that it was fent a- 
 gainft him, he perfuaded himfelf that it was his commiflioners whom 
 he had lent home the year before to the court of Spain, who were re- 
 
 (/) Almoft all tlie Spanifii hiftoriatis fay, that wlttn the king made Cortes be cslled to 'inti- 
 mate to him the order to depart, he had levied an army to make him be obeyed by force if ne- 
 celfary ; but there is a great ditfcreiicc of opinion amoufj them, tis fome affimi that there were 
 an liuiidred thoufiind men in arms ; others fay, only half that number ; and others laflly fay 
 onl Jive thoufand. We are perfuaded that fome troops were in readinefs, but not by the order 
 of the king, but of fame of the nobles, who had taken a more aftlve part in this matter. 
 
 turned.
 
 galnftCoiKi. 
 
 HISTORY OF M'''E^ X'l CO; 9^? 
 
 turned, and brought with them the royai difpatthèSi and a large nutn- book ix. 
 ber of troops for the conqueft. v— -v— ^ ' 
 
 This pleafing confolation lafted until the letters of Gonzalez de Sail- Sect. xiii. 
 doval, governor of the colony of Vera Cruz arrived, which acquainted ^e"!^erno' 
 him that that armament, confifting of eleven (hips, and {evdn. brigan- of Cuba a- 
 tines, of eighty-five horfcs, eight' hundred infantry, and upwards ofi 
 five hundred feamen, with twelve pieces of artillery, and plenty of wàr^ 
 like ammunition under the command of Panfilo Narvaez, was fen t byi 
 Diego Velafquez, governor of Cuba, againft Cortes himfelf, as a rebel;' 
 vafTal, and traitor to his fovefeign. He received this unexpefted blow ia' 
 the prefence of the king Montezuma, but, without (hewing the fmalleft 
 marks of emotion in his countenance, he gave the king to undetftand, 
 that thofe who had arrived at the port of Chilchiuhcuecan were new 
 companions fent him from Cuba. He made ufe of the fame diflimulation 
 to his own Spaniards, until their minds were prepared for the truth. 
 
 It is beyond a doubt, that this was one of thofe fingular occafions 
 on which Cortes difplayed his unfhaken fortitude and magnanimity. 
 He found himfelf on the one hand threatened by all the power of the 
 Mexicans if he remained at the court ; and on the other, he faw an 
 army levied againft himfelf, compofed of his own countrymen, far fu- 
 perior to his own force ; but his fagacity, his unremitting activity and 
 induftry, and wonderful courage, diverted all the evils which hung over 
 him. He endeavoured, by means of letters, and fome mediators in 
 whom he chiefly trufted, to gain the mind of Narvaez, and to bring 
 him to refledtion ; propofing various meafures to him, and reprefent- 
 ing to him the advantages which the Spaniards would derive from the 
 union of their armies and the co-operation of their forces ; and, on the 
 contrary, the difafters which might be occafioned by difcord to them 
 both : Narvaez, by the advice of three deferters from Cortes, had al- 
 ready difembarked with all his fleet upon the coaft of Chempoalla, and ' 
 put himfelf in quarters in that city ; the lord of which, knowing them' 
 to be Spaniards, and believing that they came to unit? with Cortes his 
 fnend, or fearful of their power, received them with the greateft ho- 
 nour, and proviJjJ them every thing they wanted. Montezuma alfo 
 believing the fimc thing in the bejinning, fent rich prefects to Nar- 
 vaez, and gave orders to hiS govenio.s to offer hiiu the fame civilities 
 
 8 which
 
 96^ HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK IX. which they had already fliewn .to Cartes; but in a few days after; in, 
 fpite of the great diffimulation of Cortes, and although he ufed every 
 eifcrt to hihder fuch intelhgence- from- reaching the king or his vaffals, 
 the want of harmony between them was dil'cerned. 
 
 Montezuma had now the fairefl opportunity to deflroy them both, 
 if he had harboured in his breaft thofe bloody defigns which fevenil hif- 
 torians have imputed to him. Narvaez endeavoured to alienate him 
 from Cortes, and thofe of his party, accufmg them all of treafon, and 
 promifing to puniih their unheard of audacity in imprifoning fo great a 
 king, and to free not only the king himfelf, but the whole nation from 
 their opprelTion ; but Montezuma was fo far from plotting any thing 
 againft Cortes from thefe fuggeftions, that, on the contrary, when this 
 general made him acquainted with the expedition he intended againrt: 
 Narvaez, Montezuma expreffed great unealinefs at the danger to which 
 he expofed himfelf with troops fo inferior in number, and offered to 
 raife immediately a great army to his afliftance. 
 
 Cortes had now ufed every pofTible means to bring about a peaceable 
 accommodation, which would unqueflionably have been advantageous 
 for both armies, but without any other effed than that of producing 
 fteHi menacee and dii'dain from the fierce and arrogant Narvaez. Find- 
 ing himieif therefore x:ompelled to make war upon his countrymen, 
 and not willing, on account of his diffidence and diftruft of the Mexi- 
 cans to avail himfelf of the affiftance which Montezuma offered, he 
 requefted the fenate of Tlafcala to raife four thoufand warriors to go 
 along with him, and fent one of his foldiers, named Tobilla, a man 
 well iTcilled in the art of war, to Chinantia, to demand two thoufand 
 men from that warlike nation ; and alfo to procure three hundred pikes 
 of the kind made ufe of by thefe Indians for the purpofe of refifl- 
 ing the cavalry of Narvaez, as they were both longer and flronger than 
 thofe of the Spaniards. He left in Mexico one hundred and forty fol- 
 diers (*), with all their allies, under the command of Pedro d'Alva- 
 rado, recommending it to them to guard and treat the king well, and to ' 
 
 (?/) Bernal Diaz fays, that the Spaniards left behind in Mexico were eighty-three in num- 
 ber. In the modern editions ut Cortes's letters, they are laid to have been five hundred ; but 
 the ancient editions fay one hundred and forty, which appears to have been the truth, conli- 
 derlng the total amount of the Spanilli troops. The number of live bundled is evidently falfc, 
 and coatradittts Cortes in his own account. 
 
 main-
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 mMiitaia harmony between them and the Mexicans, particularly the 
 •royal ianiily and the nobility. Upon taking leave of the king, he told 
 ii-ihi, that he left in his place the captain ^Tonatiuh (as Aivarado was 
 eaMed by this name of the fun among the Mexicans, becaufe he was 
 -fair), who was charged to ferve his majefty in every thing ; that he 
 reque'flcd him to continue his protedlion to the Spaniards ; that he was 
 going to find that captain who was lately arrived, and to do every thing 
 poilible for putting his royal commands into execution. Montezuma, 
 after having made new proteftations to him of his good-will and at- 
 tachment, furnilhed him plentifully with provifions and men of bur- 
 then to tranfport his baggage, and took leave of him with the utmofl 
 frien'dlliip. 
 
 Cortes fet out from Mexico in the beginning of May, in the year 
 1520, after having been fix months in that capital, with feventy Spa- 
 niards, and fome Mexican nobles, who chofe to accompany him a part 
 of the way. Several hiftori.ms are perfuaded that the Mexicans went 
 to become fpies, and to give the king an account of every thing which 
 happened j but Cortes did not confider them as fuch, although neither 
 did he place much confidence in them, tie made his journey tlirough 
 Cholula, where be was joined by the captain Velafquez, who was re- 
 turned from Coatzacualco, having been fent there by Cortes to fearch 
 for a more commodious harbour for the fliips. There Cortes alio re- 
 ceived a confiderable fupply of provifions, which were fent him by the 
 fenate of Tlafcala ; but he had not the four thoufand men he demand- 
 ed ; either becaufe they durfl not enter into new wars againft tlie Spa- 
 niards, as Bernal Diaz ariirms, or becaufe they v/ere unwilling to re- 
 move themfelves fo far from their native country, as is reported by 
 othe;- hiftonans ; or from feeing Cortes with forces fo inferior in num- 
 b:;r to thofc of his enemy, they dreaded another defeat in the expedi- 
 tion. Some days before he arrived at Chempoalla, Cortes was joined 
 by the foldier Tobilla, with three hundred pikes from Chinantla, and iu 
 Tapanacuetla, a village about thirty miles diliant from that city, hd 
 was joined by the famous captain Sandoval with fixty foldicrs from the 
 garrifon of Vera Cruz. 
 
 At length after having made new propofals to Narvaez, and having Sbct. xiv. 
 didributcd fome gold among the partisans of this arrogant general, còrtf7over 
 
 Vol. II. O Cortes Nuivac».
 
 98 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK IX. Cortes entered into Chempoalla at midnight with two hundred and fifty 
 (a-) men, without horfes, or any other arms than pikes, fwords, (hields 
 and daggers, and marching without the fmalled noife or rumour to the 
 greater temple of that city, where his enemy were quartered, he made 
 fo furious an aflault, that, before break of day, he rendered himfelf 
 mafter of the temple, of all his enemies, the artillery, arms, and horfes, 
 only four of his foldiers being killed, and fifteen of the enemy, though 
 many on both fides were wounded (j). He made himfelf be acknow- 
 ledged captain -general and fupreme magiftrate by them all, put Nar- 
 vaez and Salvatierra, a refpedlable officer, and fworn enemy of Cortes, 
 both in irons in the fort of Vera Cruz, and made the fails, rudders, 
 and compafTes of the (liips, be brought on fhore. The light of the 
 morning of that day, which was Whitfuntide, the 27th of May, had 
 hardly appeared, when the two thoufand troops from Chinantla arrived 
 in good order, and wxU armed (z), but they came only to, be witnefTes 
 of the triumph of Cortes, and the ihame of the party under Narvaez, 
 to fee themfelves conquered by fo few enemies, who were lefs 
 armed than they. The fuccefs of this attack was in a great meafure 
 owing to the unparalleled bravery of Sandoval, who, with eighty men, 
 mounted into the temple in the midft of a ftorm of arrows and balls, 
 attacked the fandluary where Narvaez was fortified, and feized his 
 perfon. 
 
 Cortes now finding himfelf mafter of eighteen vefTels, and almoft 
 two thoufand men of Spanilh troops, with nearly a hundred horfes, 
 and great fufficiency of ammunition, thought of making new expedi- 
 tions on the coaft of the Mexican gulf, and had already appointed the 
 commanders who were to head them, and the people who were to be 
 under their orders, when unlucky news arrived from Mexico, which 
 obliged him to repair in haAe to that capital. 
 
 (a) Bernal Diaz fays, that Cortes v/cnt to Chempoalla with two hundred and fix men ; 
 Torquemada makes two hundred and fixty-fix, befides five captains ; but Cortes, who knew 
 better than them, affirms, they were two hundred and fifty. 
 
 (y) Authors are not agreed as to the number killed in that affault, we put the number 
 which appears the moft probable, according to the account of the different authors. 
 
 (z) tome authors fay, that the Chhitintlans were prefent at the alTault made on the quarter» 
 of Narvaez ; but Bernal Diaz, who was prefent, affirms the contrary. Cortes does not make 
 laention of them. 
 
 D 
 
 uring
 
 I 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 During the time Cortes was abfent from Mexico, the feftival of tlic 
 incenfing of HuitzilopochtH happened, which was held in the month ^^^Tr xv 
 Toxcaf/, which that year began on the 13th of May. This feftival, MaiTacre of 
 the moft folemn of all which yearly occurred, was ufually celebrated nohiiity, ml 
 with dances by the king, the nobles, the priefts. and the people. Tlie of'thj'^*"e"'"e 
 nobility requefted captain Alvarado to confent that the king might go 
 to the temple on this occafion to perform his devotion. Alvarado ex- 
 cufed himfelf from granting the requeft, on account of the orders 
 given him by Cortes, or becaufe he fufpedled the Mexicans would me- 
 ditate fome revolution when they iud the king with them, well know- 
 ing how eafily public rejoicings are changed into tumults and diforder. 
 They adopted the defign, therefore, of making that religious dance in 
 the court of the palace {a), or quarter? of the Spaniards, either by the 
 diredion of that captain, or by the order of the king himfelf, that he 
 might be prefent according to cuftom. When the day of the feftival 
 arrived, many men of the firft nobility aflembled in the court, (the 
 number [b) of whom is not known), adorned with various ornaments 
 of gold, gems, and feathers. They began to dance and to fing to the 
 found of mufical inftruments ; and in the meanwhile, Alvarado fta- 
 tioned fome foldiers at the gate. When he faw the Mexicans become 
 heated, and pofTibly alfo weary with dancing, he gave a fignal to his 
 men to attack them ; they immediately charged with tiie utmoft fury 
 upon thofe unfortunate vi^ftims, who were unable to make any reiift- 
 ance, as they were unarmed and fatigued, nor was it poflible for them 
 to efcape by flight, as the gates were guarded. The flaughter was ter- 
 rible, and the cries piteous which t!ie dying uttered, and the copious 
 blood which was ftied. This fatal blow was moft fenfibly felt by the 
 Mexicans, for they loft by it the flower of their nobility ; and, to per- 
 
 (<j) The hiftorinns of the conqueft fay in general, that the dance was made in the lowi r 
 area of the greater temple, but it is not probable, that the immenfe crowd of people which 
 muft have alTemblcd there, would have permitted fo horrid a llaughicr to have been made of 
 the nobility, efpecially, as the armories were there from whence they could have taken out 
 as many arms as they required to oppofc the attr-mpt of thofe lew I'raigers ; nor is it cndiliie, 
 ihat the Spaniards would run fuch an evident riik of their oW'i detlruifiion. Cortes and Ber- 
 nal Diaz, make no mention of the place of the dance. Acof^a ftys, that it was made in the 
 palace, nor could it have been in any other than that which the king was then inhabitioir. 
 
 (b) By Gomara, the nobles who were prc-fcnt at th:." dance a^e reckoned fix h'.indrcd, by 
 •thcr hii^orians more than a thojf^nJ, and by Las Cafai i.iore than f.vo thoufand. 
 
 O 2 pctuatc
 
 ,ioo HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK IX. petuate the memory of it among their defcendants, they compofed 
 dirges and elegies on the fubjedl, which they preferved for many years 
 after the conqueli:. When the horrid tragedy was ended, the Spani- 
 ards ftripped the dead bodies of all the riches with which they were 
 adorned. 
 
 The motive is not known which induced Alvarado to commit an ac- 
 tion fo abominably inhuman. Some have faid he was influenced alone 
 by his infatiable thirft for gold {c). Others affirm, and which is more 
 probable, that it having been whifpered that the Mexicans defigned at 
 this feilival to flrike a decifive ftroke on the Spaniards, to deliver them- 
 fclves from opprellion, and fet their lord and king again at liberty 
 whom the Spaniards had imprifoned, he prevented them, thinking, 
 according to the vulgar adage, he vv-ho attacks, conquers. However 
 the cafe was, his conduci cannot be defended neither from the charge 
 of imprudence nor cruelty fJJ. ■ 
 
 The common people were irritated by a blow which touched them 
 fo deeply, and treated the Spaniards ever after as the mortal enemies of 
 their country. Some Mexican troops aiTaulted their quarters with fuch 
 impetuolity, that they broke down a part of the wall, undermined the 
 palace in different places, and burned their ammunition, but they were 
 repelled by the fire of the artillery and mufketry, by which the Spa- 
 niards had an opportunity of repairing the wall. That night the Spa- 
 niards repofed purely from the f^tigues of the day, but the day after tiie 
 aflault was fo furious, that they thought they mufh have perifhed, 
 and certainly not one of them would have remained alive, five or fix 
 
 (i) The Mexican hiflorians, Sahagun, in his hilloiy, Las Cafas, in his formidable ac- 
 count ot the deflruttion of the Indies, and Goniara, in his Chronicle, affirm, that the ava- 
 rice of Alvarado was the caufe of the fluughter committed on the Mexican nobility ;. but we 
 cannot believe it without ftror/ger proofs. Gomara and Las Cafas have unqueflionably fol- 
 lowed Sahagun in this opinion, and he mu(l have received it from the Mexicans, who, being the 
 enemies of the Spaniards, are not to be frufted in this matter. 
 
 {d) It is altogether incredible that the Mexicans (he u Id upon occafion of the dance, have 
 plotted againft the Spaniards, that treafon which foms hillorians have fnppofed, arni fl-ill more 
 that they had adlually prepared the vcflels in which they were to boil the tirih of th^■ Spani- 
 ards, as Torqtiemada fays. Thefe are lablcs invented to jultify Alvarado. ^Vhat ap,' irs the 
 mod probable folution of this event is, that the Tlafcalans out of the gnat ha'":^ they 
 
 bore to the Mexicans, infpired Alvar.ido with fufpicions of this pretended tiL- 1 ■ - , -"rhe 
 hiftory of the conqueli furniflies us with m.-my examples of fuch kind of artful uefigning. con- 
 duit in the Tlafcahuis. ^
 
 li I 3 T O R Y O F M E X I e O. Joi 
 
 of them being already killed, had not the king fliewn himlelf to the ^^^^l^^' 
 croud of afl'dulters, and by his authority reflrained their fury. Refpecit 
 to the prefence of their fovereign checked the multitude from con- 
 tinuing the attack upon the Spaniih quarters ; but it did not make 
 them defili from other hoftilitics j they burned the four brigantines 
 which Cortes had ordered to be built, in order to fave himfelf in them 
 provided he could not at any time make his efcape by the roads made 
 upon the lake, and refolved to deftroy the Spaniards by famine de- 
 nying them provifions, and contriving to hinder the introdudion of 
 any to them, by drawing a ditch all round their quarters. 
 
 In this fituation the Spaniards found themfèlves in Aiexico, when 
 Alvarado fent advice to Cortes, requefting him by two different mef- 
 fàges, carried by the Tlafcalans, to halten his return, unlefs he chofe to 
 let them all perifli. The fame thing was defired by Montezuma, who 
 acquainted him how diftreifed he was at the infurredlion of his vaffals, 
 which, however, had been occafioned by the rafh and bloody attempt 
 of the captain Tonatuih. 
 
 Cortes after having given orders to tranfplant the colony of Vera 
 Cruz to a more convenient fituation, near the port of Chalchuihcue- 
 can (although this was not then executed), marched with his people 
 by long journeys towards the capital. In Tlafcala, he was magni- 
 ficently lodged in the palace of the prince Maxixcatzin. There he 
 made a review of his troops, and found them coniifl of ninety-fix 
 horfes, and thirteen hundred Spanifh infantry, to which two thoufand 
 Tlafcalans were added by the republic. With this army he marched 
 into Mexico on the 24th of June. He met with no oppofition to his 
 entry, but very foon he was fenfible of a ferment among the people, 
 not only from feeing few or none of them in the flreets, but alfo by 
 their having raifed fonie bridges from the canals. When he entered in- 
 to the quarters with the rejoicing which is eafy to be imagined on both 
 fides, Montezuma came to meet him in the court with the moli: ob- 
 fequious demon ftrations of friendlhip ; but Cortes, either grown info- 
 lent from the victory obtained over Narvaez, the number of people 
 under his command, or being perfuaded that it was neccffary to affedt 
 to believe the king blameable for the difturbance made by his vaffals, 
 
 8 palled
 
 102 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK IX. pafTed along without paying any attention towards him. The king, 
 pierced to the heart at feeing himfelf [o dildainfuUy treated, retired 
 to his apartment, where his affliftion was ftill increafed by the infor- 
 mation brought by his fervants that the Spanilh general had exprelTcd 
 himfelf in words moft injurious to his majeily {e). 
 
 Cortes reprimanded the captain Ah'arado with great feverity, and 
 would certainly have infli(5ted upon him the punifliment he deferved, if 
 the circumftances of the time and the perfon had permitted. He forefaw 
 the great ftorm which was now to pour upon them, and he thought it 
 would have been imprudent to have created himfelf an enemy, upon 
 an occafion of fo much danger, of one of the bravefl captains he had 
 in his army. 
 
 With the new troops which Cortes brought to Mexico, he had an 
 army of nine thoufmd men, but there not being accommodation for 
 them all in the quarters, they occupied fome of thofe buildings which 
 were within the enclofure of the greater temple, and the neareft to the 
 quarters. From their multitude alfo the fcarcity of provifions, already 
 occafioned by the want of a marlcet, was augmented, for the Mexicans, 
 in hatred to the Spaniards, would no longer hold any. Cortes there- 
 fore fent to tell Montezuma, with ftrong threats, that he fhould give 
 orders for a market to be held, that they might provide themfelves 
 with every thing neceffary. Montezuma anfwered, that the perfons 
 of the greatelt authority to whom he could trufl the execution of fuch an 
 order, were all, as he was, in prifon j that fome of them muft be fet 
 at liberty, that his wilh might be accompliibed. Cortes let the prince 
 Cuitlahuatzin, the brother of Montezuma, out of confinement, not 
 
 (c) The hiflorian Solis is not difpofed to believe that this mark of contempt was (lieirn by 
 Cortes to Montezuma ; and in order to vindicate that general, he wrongs B. Diaz, who 
 affirms, it as having been an eye-witnels ; snd Herrera, who relates it on the fupport of good 
 documents. He iindefervedly accufes B. Diai of partiality againft Cortes ; and ofHeirera 
 he fays, that it is to be fufpecfted that he ehofe to adopt the account of B. Diaz, for the pur- 
 pofe of making ufe of a fcntencc of Tacitus ; ambition, he adds, àangerous to hijiorians, but to 
 none more than Solis himself; for every impartial and well-itiformed perf(jn in the hiilory of 
 Mexico will perceive, in reading the works of Solis, that this author, inliead of adiufling the 
 fer.tcnces to the relation, on the contrary, adjulls the relation tq the fentences. Laftly, as 
 he adduces no better reafons than thofe offsred by B. Diai, we ought to give more credit to 
 the latter as an eye-witncfs of the h.(\, 
 
 forefeeing
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 103 
 
 forefeeing that the liberty of that prince would be the caufc of ruia to BOOK ix. 
 the Spaniards. Cuitlahuatzin never returned to the quarters, nor rc- 
 eftablirticd the maricct, either becaufe he would not favour the Spaniards, 
 or becaufe the Mexicans would not confent to it, but com|^>eHed him 
 toexercife his poft of general. In hO:, it was he who from that time 
 commanded the troops, and direfted all the hodilities againft t!ie 
 Spaniards, until at lall:, by the death of his brother, he was elodcJ 
 king of Mexico. 
 
 On the day on which Cortes entered into Mexico, there was no move- Sect. xvi. 
 ment made by the people; but the day after they began to fling ,„-ccn"the' 
 and fhoot fo many llones at the Spaniards, that they appeared, as l^ieNìc^nsnnd 
 
 -, ^ 11 -> ,- 11 thcSpaniarns 
 
 Cortes fays, like a tempelt ; and lo many arrows, that they covered huhecapiul. 
 the pavement of the court and the terraces of the palace; and the num- 
 ber of the afìliulters was fo great, that they co\'ered all the ground of 
 the ftreets. Cortes did not think, it proper to fland wholly upon his 
 defence, left thatfliould be afcribed to cowardice, and infpire the enemy 
 ■with more courage. He made a fally out upon them with four hun- 
 dred men, part Spaniards and part Tlafcalans. The Mexicans retired 
 with little lofs, and Cortes, after having made fire be fet to fome of the 
 houfes, returned to his quarters ; but finding that the enemy continued 
 their hoftilities, he made the captain Ordaz go out with two hundred 
 foldlers againft them. The Mexicans affedled to be put into confu- 
 fion, and to fly, in order to draw the enemy to a diflance from their 
 quarters, in which they fucceeded ; for fuddenly the Spaniards found 
 themfelves furrounded by the Mexicans on all fides, and attacked by a 
 body of troops in front and another behind, but in fuch a tumultuous 
 manner, that their diforder impeded tlieir action. At the fame time 
 appeared a numerous rabble on the tops of the houfes, who kept up a 
 conftant fhower of arrows and ftones. The Spaniards found them- 
 felves now in imminent danger, and this occafion was certainly one of 
 thofe on which the brave Ordaz difplayed his fkill and courage. The 
 conteft was moft bloody, but with no great lofs to the Spaniards, who, 
 with their guns and crofs-bows cleared the terraces, and with their 
 pikes and fwords repelled the multitude which deluged the ftrects, 
 and at Lift were able to retiic to their quatters, leaving many Mexicans, 
 though not more than ei^jiit vi' thiir own people, killed; but they 
 
 wore
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 were almoft all wounded, and even Ordaz himfelf. Àmongft the dlflrelTes 
 luffered by the Spaniards from the Mexicans that day, the fetting fire 
 to different parts of the quarters was one, and the fire was fo violent in 
 fome places, that the Spaniards were obliged to throw down the v.-all, 
 and defend the breach with the artillery, and a number of foldiers 
 whom they ftationed there, till night, when the enemy gave them op- 
 portunity to rebuild the wall and take care of the v/ounded. 
 
 The following day, the 26th of June, the affault was more terrible, 
 and the fury of the Mexican's Hill greater. The Spaniards defended 
 themfelves with twelve pieces of artilleiy, which committed uncom- 
 mon havock upon their enemy; but as the nuniber of them was in- 
 finite, they covered the fight of tlie dead v/ith frefli fubflitutes in 
 their nlace. Cortes perceiving their obftinacy, fallied out v/ith the 
 greater part of his troops, and proceeded fighting his way through one 
 of the principal flreets of the city, took pofieffion of fome of the 
 bridges fet fire to fome houfes, and after continuing in aftion almoft 
 the whole day, he returned to the quarters with more than fifty Spa- 
 niards wounded, leaving innutnerable Mexicans dead in the ftreets. 
 
 Experience had made Cortes fenfible, that the gieatefi: annoyance 
 his troops met with was from the terraces of the houfes ; to fhun 
 which in future he ordered three machines of war to be confìrruóted, 
 called by the Spaniards Mantas, fo large that each of them would carry 
 twenty armed foldiers, covered with a ftrong roof to defend them from 
 the ftones thrown from the terraces, furni(hed v/ith wheels alfo to 
 make them eafy to move, and little windows or port-holes for the 
 difcharge of their guns. 
 
 V/hile thofe machines were conflrutìing, great changes took place 
 at court. Montezuma, having afcended one of the towers of the 
 palace, obferved from it one of the above mentioned engagements, 
 ;;nd amongft the multitude his brother Cuitlahuatzin, commanding the 
 Mexican troops. At the fight ot fo many objcds of misfortune, his 
 mind was feized with a croud of melancholy thoughts. On the one 
 hand, he faw the danger he was in of lofing both his crown and his 
 life; and on the other, tlie deftrudlion of the buildings of his capital, 
 the ilaughter of his vaffals, and the fuccefs of his enemies j and found 
 there was no other remedy to all tlaofe evils but the immediate depar- 
 ture
 
 II I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 105 
 
 tuie of the Spuniards. In tliefe meditations he palled the night, a.ud book ix, 
 
 the d.'y following he fent ciuly for Cortes, and fpoke to him on the ' ' 
 
 fubjeiV, praying him earneltly not to defer any longer his removal 
 from that city. Cortes required no fuch in treaty to relblve upon his 
 retreat from it. He found provifions were fcanty in extreme; food 
 •was given to the foldiers by meafure, and that fo little, it was 
 fuHicient only to fupport life, not the ftrength neceflaiy to oppofe fuch 
 enemies as inceilantly hr.ralfed them. In lliort, he faw it was impof- 
 fible to render himfelf mafter of that city as he intended, nor could 
 he even fubfift: there. But, on the other hand, he felt no fmall regret 
 to abandon the undertaking he had begun, lofing in one moment, by 
 his departure all the advantages which his courage, his indufliy, and 
 his good fortune had gained him; but fubniitting to the circumilances 
 of his lituation, he anfwered the king, that he was ready to depart for 
 the peace of the kingdom, provided his fulijcds would lay down their 
 arms. 
 
 This conference was hardly ended, when " To arms" was cried ^':''-'^: ^y^- 
 through the quarters, on account of a general affault of the Me.xicans. aUiieistothe 
 On every fide they attempted to mount the walls, on purpofe to enter P^°^''^* 
 while fome troops of archers, conveniently ported, fhot an immenfs 
 multitude of arrows, to check the oppofition made by the befieged, 
 while fome of the befiegers puflied fo llrenuoufly forward, that, in 
 fpite of the artillery and mufkets, they got wi^thin the quarters, and 
 began to fight man to man with the Spaniards, who, thinking them- 
 felves now almoft vanquiflied and overpowered by the multitude, 
 fought with defperation. Montezuma, obferving this moment of the 
 conflirt, and his own immediate danger, rcfolved to let himfelf be 
 feen, in order to reftrain by his prefence and hii voice the fury of his 
 fubjerts. Having for this purpofe put on the royal enfigns, and :».t- 
 tended by fome of his minifters and two hundred Spaniards, he mount- 
 ed on a terrace and fliewed himfelf to the people, his minirters mak- 
 ing a figrial for filence, that they might hear the voice of their fove- 
 vereign. At the fight of the king the affault ceafed, all were mute, 
 and fome in reverence kneeled down. He fpoke in an audible voice, 
 and addrefied them to the following eftedt : " If the motive which 
 " induces you to take arms again H: thofe ftrangers is your zeal for my 
 
 Vol. II. P " liberty.
 
 o6 
 
 HISTORY OF M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK IX. 
 
 liberty, I thank you for the love and fidelity you fliew me ; but you 
 deceive yourfelves in thinking mc a prilbner, for- it is in my own 
 option to leave this palace of my late father, and return to my own, 
 whenever I chufe it. If your refentment is caufed by their ftay in 
 this court, I acquaint you that they have given me afTurance, and I 
 aflure you, that they will depart as foon as you will lay down your 
 arms. Quiet therefore your emotions ; let your fidelity to me ap- 
 pear in this, unlefs what I have heard is true, that you have fworn 
 to another that obedience which you owe to me ; which I cannot 
 believe, nor can you ever do, without drawing the vengeance of 
 heaven down upon you." 
 The people remained filent for fometime, until a Mexican {^f), more 
 daring than the reft, raifed his voice, calling the king cowardly and 
 effeminate, and fitter to manage a fpindle and a iliuttle than to govern 
 a nation (o courageous ; and reproaching him for having, from his 
 cowardice and bafenefs, fufi:'ered himfelf to be made the prifoner of 
 his enemies : and not content with reviling him with words, taking 
 a bow in his hand, he fliot an arrow at him. The common people, 
 who are always apt to be moved by the firft impuife which is given 
 them, quickly followed his example ; reproaches and contumelious 
 language were heard on every fide ; and lliowers of ftones and arrows 
 poured tov/ards the quarter where the king ftood. The Spanifh 
 hiftorians f^y, that although the perfon of the king v/as covered with 
 two fliields, he was wounded by a blow from a ftone on the head,, by 
 another in the leg, and by an arrow in the arm. He was immediately 
 carried by his fervants to his chamber, more wounded in foul by anger 
 and vexation, than hurt by the facrilegious weapons of his fubjeds. 
 
 In the mean while, the Mexicans perfifted in their attacks, and 
 the Spaniards in their defence, until fome nobles called Cortes to that 
 faine place where the king had received his wounds, in order to treat 
 with him about certain articles, of which we do not find any hiftorian 
 give a proper and clear account. Cortes demanded of them why they 
 were inclined to treat him as an enemy, having done them no wron^-? 
 " If you would avoid farther hoftilities (faid they), depart immediately 
 
 (/) Acoda fays, that the Mexican who fpoke thcfe infults to the king was Qiiauhtcmotziu, 
 his nephey/, and the lati king of Mexico. 
 
 " from
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO, 
 
 107 
 
 " from this cityj if not, we are rcfolved to die, or to kill you all." bookix. 
 Cortes replied, that he did not complain to thcixi becauCe he was afraid ' ^ ' 
 of their arms, but becaufe he was pained to be obliged to kill fo many, 
 of them and deftroy fo beautiiul a city. The nobles went away, 
 repeating their menaces. 
 
 The three warlike machines being at length finirtied, Cortes went 
 out with them early on the 28th of June, and proceeded through one 
 of the principal ftreets of the city with three thoufand Tlafcalans and 
 other auxiliary troops, with the greater part of the Spaniards, and ten 
 pieces of artillery. When tliey came to the bridge over thf firft canal, 
 they drew the machines and fcaling-ladders near to the houfcs, in order 
 to drive the crowds from the terraces ; but the llones were fo many and 
 fo large which were thrown at the machines, that they broke through 
 them. The Spaniards fought courageoufly until mid-day, without 
 being able to take pofleffion of the bridge ; on which account they re- 
 turned in fliame to their quarters, leaving one man killed, and carry- 
 ing back many wounded. 
 
 The Mexicans having been greatly encouraged by this laft event, Skct.xvII. 
 five hundred nobles fortified themfelves in the upper area of the greater ^'^"'^''^ *"?*• 
 
 •i r o rragcmcnt in 
 
 temple, well furniflied with arms and proviiions, and from thence the tc-mpie. 
 began to do great damage to the Spaniards with ftones and arrows, 
 while other Mexican troops attacked them by the ftreets. Cortes fent 
 a captain with a hundred foldiers to drive the nobles from that flation, 
 which, being fo very high and neighbouring, entirely commanded the 
 quarters ; but having made three different attempts to afcend there, 
 they were vigoroufly repulfed. The general then determined to make 
 the affault upon the temple himfelf, although he itili fuffered from a 
 ffvere wound he had received in his left hand ever fince the firft 
 engagement. He tied his fliield to his arm, and having caufed the 
 temple to be furrounded by a luflicient number of Spaniards and 
 Tlafcalans, began to afcend the ftairs of it with a great part of his 
 people. The nobles who were now befieged difputed their afcent 
 with great courage, and overturned fome of the Spaniards ; in the 
 mean while, other Mexican troops having entered the lower area, 
 fought furioufly with thofe who furrounded the temple. Cor:es_, 
 though not without the utmoft fatigue and difficulty, at laft gained 
 
 P a the
 
 io8 II I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK IX. the upper area along with his party. Now came on the greateft heat 
 ^'—^'v- — and danger of the conteft, which lalled upv/ards of three hours. Part 
 of the Mexicans died by the point of the fword, and part threw 
 themfelves down to the lower floors of the temple, where they con- 
 tinued the fight until they were all killed. Cortes ordered the fandlu- 
 ary to be fet on fire, and returned in good order to the quarters. 
 Forty-fix Spaniards loft their lives in this adion, and all the reft 
 came off wounded and bathed in blood. This fpirited affault was 
 one of thofe in which the opponents fought with the greateft courage 
 en both fides, and on that account the Tlafcalans as well as the Mexi- 
 cans reprefented it in their paintings after the conquefi:(^). 
 
 Some hirtorians have added the circumftance of the great danger in 
 which, according to their account, Cortes was of being precipitated 
 from the upper area by two Mexicans, who being refolved to facrifice 
 their lives for the good of their country, feized Cortes in their arms 
 upon the edge of it in order to drag him along with themfelves in their 
 filli from thence, trufling to put an end to the war by the death of that 
 general ; but this fadt, of which neither Cortes nor Bernal Diaz, nor 
 Gomara, nor any other of the more ancient hiftorians make mention, 
 is rendered fill! more improbable by the circumflances added to it by 
 fome modern authors (/'). 
 
 Cortes having returned to the quarters, had a frefh conference 
 with fome refpedlable perfons among the Mexicans, reprefenting 
 to them the lofTes they fuftained from the Spanifli arms. They 
 anfwered, that it was of no importance to them provided the Spani- 
 ards were deflroyed ; tliat if they were not all cut off by the Mexicans, 
 
 {g) The difTcrcnces of opinion nmong hillorians refpei'iing the order and circiiinftances of 
 the engagements which happened in thole days, is incxprellible. We follow the account givea 
 by Cortes, conCdering him the bell authority. 
 
 (/j) Solis fays, that the two IVIexicans approached ou their knees to Cortes, in the «.<? of implor- 
 ing his mercy, and 'ivithout JeLiy threiu theml'clves Jo',.vir.Viiri!s iviththeir prev in their hands iii- 
 cre.iftng the 'violence of the effort 'with their itat'iral '-.veigl'! ; that Cortes gut clear of them and rebnlfcd 
 them, though not ivilhoiit diffìciiìiy. We find it rather diflicult to believe Cortes poflelTed of fiuh 
 furpriling force : the very humane gentlemen Raynal and Robertlbn, moved with compailion 
 it would appear, for the danger Cortes was in, have provided feme kiiiJof nnknown battlements 
 and iron rails, by which he faved himfelf until he got clear of the Mexicans ; but neither did 
 the Mexicans ever make iron rails, nor had that temple any battlements. It is wondrriul that 
 thefe author?, fo incredulous concerning what is attclled by the Spanifli and Indian writers 
 fliould yet believe what is neither to be fouud among the ancient authors nor r-robable h\ 
 itiel:, 
 
 they
 
 HISTORYOF MEXICO. 109 
 
 they would infallibly perifh by famine fliut up in their quarters. Cor- BOOK IX. 
 tes having obferved that night Ibme inattention and waiit of vigilance 
 among the citizens, fallied out with fome companies of foldiers, and 
 proceeding through one of the principal ftreets of the city, he fct fire 
 to more than three hundred houfes (/). 
 
 The next day his machines being repaired, he went out with them 
 and the greateft part of his troops, and diresTted his courfe along the 
 great road of Iztapalapan with more fuccefs than before ; for in fpite 
 of a vigorous reliftance from the enemies in their intrenchments made 
 to defend them from the fire of the Spaniards, he took pofTeflion of 
 the four firft bridges, and fet fire to fome of the houfes upon that 
 road, and made ufe of the ruins to fill up the ditches and canals, 
 that there might be no difiiculty of pafTage if the Mexicans Hiould 
 raife the bridges. He left a futhcient garrifon upon the polls which 
 he had taken, and returned to quarters with many wounded, leaving 
 ten or twelve dead behind him. 
 
 The day after he continued his attacks upon the fame road, took 
 the three bridges which remained, and charging the enemy wiiicii 
 defended them, he at lall: got upon the main land. Whilft he was at- 
 tending to fill up the laft ditches, to facilitate as is probable his re- 
 treat from that capital by means of that fame road by which he had 
 been now feven months entered, he was told that the Mexicans were 
 Willing to capitulate ; and, in order to hear their propofitions, he 
 returned in halle to tlie quarters with the cavalry, leaving the in- 
 fantry to guard the bridges. The Mexicans intimated that they were 
 ready to defili from all hollilities ; but, that the capitulation might 
 take place, it was necelTary to have the high-pried, who had been 
 made prifoner by the Spaniards when they made the afiault upon the 
 temple : Cortes fet him at liberty, and a fulpenfion of arms took place. 
 This appears to have been a mere flratageni of the eJedtors to recover 
 the chief of their religion, for whofe pcrfon they had occafioa to 
 anoint the new king whom they had chofcn, or were going now to 
 chufe ; for Cortes had hardly obtained a ceflation of arms, when 
 fome TlalCalans arrived with the news that the Mexicans had retaken 
 
 (;) licrnal Diai fays, that it was a gre it fatigue to make them burn, from their being covered 
 with terraces imd Itp-iratcJ iroin ';ach othtr. 
 
 the
 
 no 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK IX. the bridges and killed fonie Spaniards, and that a great body of war- 
 riors were coming againft the quarters; Cortes v/ent immediately to 
 meet them with the cavalry, and making way through them with the 
 utmoft difficulty and danger, he recovered the bridges, but whillì: he 
 was retaking the laft, the Mexicans had again taken the four iirft, 
 and had began to draw out the materials with which the ditches had 
 been filled up by the Spaniards. The general returned at length to 
 regain them, and then retired to the quarters with his people, who were 
 now all weary, melancholy, and wounded. 
 
 Cortes, in his letter to Charles V. reprefents the great danger he was 
 in, that day, of lofing his life, and afcribes it to particular provideffce 
 that he efcaped from among fuch a multitude of enemies. It is cer- 
 tain, that from the moment they rofe againft the Spaniards, they 
 'ivould have been able to have deftroyed them with all their allies, if 
 they had obferved a better order in fighting, and it there had been 
 more agreement amonc^ the inferior officers who led on the attacks ; 
 but they could not agree among themfelves, as will appear hereafter, 
 and the populace were merely adluated by their tumultuous fury. On 
 the other hand, it is not to be doubted, that the Spaniards muft have 
 appeared to them to have been made of iron ; for they neither yielded 
 to the diftrefs of famine, nor to the neceffity of fleep, nor to continual 
 fatigue and wounds ; after having employed all tlie day in combating 
 with their enemies, they fpent the night in burying the dead, curing the 
 wounded, and repairing the damages done to their quarters during the 
 day by the Mexicans, and even in the little time which they allowed 
 for repofe, they never quitted their arms, but were always ready to 
 rife before their enemy. But the hardinefs of their troops will appear 
 ftill more extraordinary in thofe terrible engagements which we fhall 
 prefently relate. 
 
 On one of thofe days, probably the thirtieth of June, died, in the 
 
 Deathofkino- Quarters of the Spaniards, the king Montezuma, in the fifty-fourth 
 
 Montezuma, year of his age, in the eighteenth of his reign, and the feventh month 
 
 lords. cf his imprifonment. With regard to the caufe and the circumftances 
 
 of his death, there is fo great a difference and contradidion among 
 
 hiflorians, it is altogether impoffible to afcertain the truth. The 
 
 Mexican hiitorians blame the Spaniards, and the Spanilh hiflorians 
 
 accufe 
 
 XIX.
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. ui 
 
 accule the Mexicans of it (4), We cannot be perfuaJed that the BOOK IX. 
 
 Spaniards fhould refolve to take away the life of a king to whom they 
 
 owed fo many benefits, and from whofe death they could only expcdt 
 
 new misfortunes. His lofs was lamented, if we are to credit Bernal Diaz, 
 
 an eye-witnefs and moft faithful writer, not lefs by Cortes and every 
 
 one of his officers and foldiers, than if he had been their father. He 
 
 (hewed them infinite favour and kindnefs, whether it had been from 
 
 natural inclination or fear ; he always appeared to them to be their 
 
 friend at heart, at leafl there is no reafon to believe the contrary, nor 
 
 was it ever known that he fpoke like an enemy of them, as they 
 
 themfelves protefled. 
 
 His good and bad qualities may be gathered from an account of his 
 anions. He was circumfpeft, magnificent, liberal, zealous for juftice, 
 and grateful for the fervices of his fubjecfls ; but his referve and di- 
 stance made the throne inaccellible to the complaints of his people. 
 His magnificence and liberality were fupported by the burdens laid on 
 his fubjeds, and his jullice degenerated into cruelty. He was exa6l 
 and punctual in every thing appertaining to religion, and jealous of the 
 worfliip of his gods and the obfervance of rites (/). In his youth he 
 was inclined to war and courageous, and came oiF conqueror, accord- 
 ing to hiflory, in nine battles ; but in the laft year of his reign, do- 
 meftic pleafurcs, the fame of the firft vidories of the Spaniards, and, 
 above all, fuperftition, weakened and debafed his mind to fuch a degree, 
 that he appeared, as his fubjefts reproached him, to have changed his 
 fex. He delighted greatly in mufic and the chace, and was as dex- 
 trous in the ufe of the bow and arrow as in that of the fhooting-tube. 
 He was a perfon of a good fiatare, but of an indifferent complexion, 
 and of a long vifage with lively eyes. 
 
 (i) Cortes and Gomara affirm, that Montezuma died of the blow from the (lone u-Ith vvhich 
 his people hit him on the head, Solis fuys his denth was occaiiont-d by his not having his 
 ■wound drefled. Bernal Diaz adds to this oinilTion and ncj^lcft, his voluntary abftincncc from 
 food. The chronicler Herrcra fays, tha» the wound was not mortal, but that he died oi a broken 
 heart. Sahagun, and other Mexican hiftorians, affirm, that the Spaniards killed him, and one 
 of them mentions the circumflance of a foidicr ha hig pierced liim with an ccl-fpcar. 
 
 (/) Solis fays that Montezuma hiiiiily bnit his nai-, ihat is bowed his head to his gods ; that 
 he had a higher idea of himfelf than of them, &c. He adds alfo, that the ile-vil fwvcurcd !-im 
 ^viiL'freijuittt vijits. Such credulity does not become the greater hilloriographor of tht Indies. 
 
 a He
 
 112 " HIS T O R Y O F hi E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK IX. He left at his death fcveral fon?, of whom three periiheJ that un- 
 lucky night of the defcit'ofthe Spaniards, either by the hands of the 
 ■' SparfiarHs themfelve^,' as the Mexicans a*firm, or by the hands of the 
 * Mexicatis, as the Spaniards report. Of thofe who furvived, the moft 
 remarkable was Johiiàlicahuatzin, or Don Pc^ro Mctc-^uma, and of 
 ' hlai defcended tlie Counts Montezuma and Tula. Montezuma hai 
 ^this fon by Miahiiaxochitl, the daughter of Ixtlilcuechahuac, lord 
 of Tollan, By another wifp-he had Tecuichpotzin, a beautiful priu- 
 cefs, from whom defoènded the two noble houles of Cano Montezuma 
 and Andreda Montezuma. The Catholic kings granted fingular 
 privileges to the poflerity of Montezuma, on account of the unparal- 
 leled fervice rendered^ by that monarch in voluntarily incorporating a 
 kingdom fo great and rich as Mexico with the crown ot Cailile. 
 Neither the repeated importunities made to him by Cortes, nor the 
 continual exhortations of Olmedo, particularly in the lall days of 
 his life, were futlicient to prevail upon him to embrace Chriftianity. 
 
 As foon as the king died, Cortes communicated intelligence of his 
 death to the prince Cuitlahuatzin, by means of two illullrious perfoas 
 who had been prefent ?t his death, and a little after he made the 
 royal corpfe be carried oat by fix nobles, attended by leverai prielb, 
 who had likewife been in prifon (;/;). The fight of it excited much 
 mourning among the people; the lall; homage which they pay to their 
 fovereign, extolHng his virtues to the Itars, whom a fliort time before 
 they could find pofleffed of nothing but weaknelles and vice. The 
 nobility, after fliedding abundance of tears on the cold body of their 
 unfortunate king, carried it to a place of the city called Copaico (;/), 
 where they burned it with tiie ufual ceremonies, and buried the allies 
 
 ('n) Torqiiemada, and other authors, lay, that Montezuma's dead body was thrown into 
 the Tci'majoc, along with others; but from the accounts of Cunes and B. Diaz, it is certain that 
 it was carried out of the quarters by the nobles. 
 
 («) Herrera conjeflures that Montezuma was buried in Chupoltepec, becaiife the Spaniards 
 heard a gieat mourning towards that quarter, Solis affirms pofitivcly, that it was bur'cd in 
 Chapojtcpec, and that the kpulchre of the kinps was there ; but thi» is totally contrary to the 
 truth, bccaufe Chapoltepec was not Icfs than ihrec miles dilLint from the Spanifli quarters : 
 it U"as therefore iii)po!iible that the Spaniards flioulj have overheard the mourning which was 
 made there, efpecially when they were in ihe center of a populous city, and at a time of fo 
 r.iuch tumult and noife. The kings, bclide^, had no fixed place of burial ; and it i> alio cer- 
 tain, from the depofitions of the ^le.xicans, that Montezuma's afties were buried at Capaico, 
 
 of
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. X13 
 
 with the utmoft relpcd and veneration, although ibme low illiberal BOO'C ix. 
 Mexicans treated the ceremony with ridicule and abiife. 
 
 Upon this fame occafion, if there is any truth in what hilk)rians 
 relate, Cortes ordered the dead bodies of Itzquauhtzin lord of Tlate- 
 lolco, and other imprifoned lords, of whofc names there is no mention, 
 to be thrown out of the quarters into a place called Tehuajoc, all of 
 whom had been put to death, as they affirm, by order of Cortes, 
 although none of them afllgn a reafon for fuch a condudt, which, 
 even if it was juft, can never be cleared from the charge of impru- 
 dence, as the fight of fuch llaughter muft necefTarily have exafperated 
 the anger of the Mexicans, and induced them to fufpedt that the fo- 
 vereign likewife had been facrificed by his command [0). However it 
 was, the people of Tlatelolco carried off' the dead body of their chief 
 in a veflel, and celebrated his funeral rites with great lamentation and 
 mourning. 
 
 In the mean time, the Mexicans continued their attacks with flilJ 
 more ardour. Cortes, although he made great flaughter of them and 
 came off" always conqueror, yet faw that the blood fpilt of his own 
 foldiers was a greater lofs than the advantages obtained by his vidtories 
 compenfated ; and that at laft the want of provifions and ammunition, 
 and the multitude of his enemies, would prevail over the bravery of 
 his troops and the fuperiority of his arms : believing, therefore, the 
 inimediate departure of the Spaniards indifpenfibly neceffary, he called 
 a council of his captains, to deliberate upon the method and time for 
 executing fuch refolution. Their opinions were different. Some of 
 them faid that they ought to depart by day, forcing their way by arms, 
 if the Mexicans oppofed them : others thought that they fliould de- 
 part by night ; this was the fuggeftion of a foldier named Roteilo, who 
 pretended fkill in aftrology, to whom Cortes paid more deference than 
 was proper, having been induced to do fo by having feen fome of his 
 predictions accidentally verified. It was refolved, therefore, tlie vain 
 obfervations of that wretched foldier being preferred to the dictates ol 
 
 (tfl Cooccruiiig the death of thofe lords, no mention »s mnde by Cortes, 6. Diaz, Gomaii, 
 Hcrrcrii, andSolis ; but Sahagun, Torqucmeda, Betancourt, and ttif Mexican hiiloriuns, rcpoii 
 it as certain. .In rcfpc^l to the latter, and the fidelity due to hiflory, wc recite the event, 
 though one of great imprububility. 
 
 Vol. II. Q^ military
 
 Sect. XX. 
 Terrible de- 
 feat fuffered 
 by the Spa- 
 niards in their 
 letrear. 
 
 HISTORYOF MEXICO. 
 
 military flcill and prudence, to depart during the night, with all poffible 
 ferrecy : as if it had been poffible to conceal the march of nine thou- 
 fand men, with their arms, their horfes, their artillery, and baggage, 
 from the detedlion of fo numerous and watchful an enemy. They 
 fixed the night of the firft of July for their departure {/>), a night the 
 Biort: unlucky and memorable to the Spaniards, from the great {laugh- 
 ter they fuffered, on which account they gave it the name of nache 
 trijie, by which it is liill known in their hiftories. Cortes ordered a 
 bridge of wood to be made, which could be carried by forty men, to 
 ferve for the paffing of ditches. He then made all the gold, filver, 
 and gems, which they had hitherto amaffed, to be brought out, took 
 the fifth part of it which belonged to the king, and configned it to the 
 officers belonging to his majefty, declaring the impoffiibility which he 
 found of preferving and faving it. He left the refi to his officers and 
 foldiers, permitting each of them to take what he pleafed ; bu-t at 
 the fame time, he warned them how much fitter it would be to abandon 
 it all to the enemy ; for, when free of that weight, they would find 
 lefs difficulty to fave their lives. Many of them, rather than be dif- 
 appointed of the principal obje(5l of their defires, and the only fruit of 
 their labours, loaded themfèlves with that heavy burden, under the 
 weight of which they fell victims at once to their avarice and the re- 
 venge of their enemies. 
 
 Cortes ordered his march in the greatefl filence of the night, which 
 was rendered flill darker by a cloudy Iky, and more troublefome and 
 dangerous by a fmall rain which never ceafed falling. He committed 
 the van guard to the invincible Sandoval, with fome other officers, 
 and two hundred infantry and twenty horfes ; the rear guard to Pedro 
 de Alvarado, with the greater part of the Spanifh troops. In the 
 body of the army the pritbners were conduced, with the fervants and 
 baggage people, where Cortes took alio his ftation, with five horfes 
 and an. hundred infantry, in order to give fpeedy relief wherever it 
 ihould be neceffary.. The auxiliary troops of Tlafcala,, Chempoalla^ 
 
 {p) B. Diaz fays, that the defeat of the Spaniards happened on the night of the tenth of 
 July ; but we believe this to have been a millakc of the printer, as Cortes affiims, that in their 
 retieat, they arrived at Tlafcala on the tei.th of July ; and from the journal of their march 
 kept by this conqurror, it is evident that their defeat could not have happened on any other 
 day than the firli of July, 
 
 and^
 
 V 
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 115 
 
 and Cholula, which amounted then to more than feven thoufand men» EOOK IX. 
 were diftributed among the three divilions of the army. Having firft 
 implored the prote(5tion of Heaven, they began to march by the way 
 of Tlacopan. The greateft part of them palled the firft ditch or canal 
 by the afliftance of the bridge which they carried with them, without 
 meeting any other refiftance than the little which the centinels 
 who guarded that poft were able to make; but the priefts who 
 watched in the temples having perceived their departure, cried loudly 
 " to arms," and roufed the people with their horns. In an inilant 
 the Spaniards found thcmfclves attacked by water and by land, by 
 an infinity of enemies, who impeded their own attack by their number 
 and confuhon. The encounter at the fecond ditch was moft terrible 
 and bloody, the danger extreme, and the efforts of the Spaniards 
 to efcape moft extraordinary. The deep darknefs of the night, the 
 founds of arms and armour, the threatening clamours of the com- 
 batants, the lamentations of the prifoners, and the languid groans of 
 the dying, made impreflions both horrid and piteous. Here was heard 
 the voice of a foldier calling earneftly for help from his companions, 
 another imploring in death mercy from Heaven : all was confufion, 
 tumult, wounds, and flaughter. Cortes, like an adlive feeling gene- 
 Tal, ran intrepidly here and there, frequently paffing and repafling 
 the ditches by fwimming, encouraging fome of his men, afiifting 
 others, and preferving the remains of his harraffcd little army, at the 
 utinoft rilk of being killed or made prifoncr, in as much order as poffible. 
 The fecond ditch was fo filled with dead bodies, that the rear guard 
 paffed over the heap. Alvarado, who commanded it, found himfelf at 
 the third ditch fo furioufly charged by the enemy, that, not being able 
 to face about to tliem, nor fwim acrofs without evident danger of pe- 
 riftiing by their hands, fixed a lance in the bottom of the ditch, grafji- 
 ing the end of it with his hands, and giving an extraordinary fpring to 
 his body, he vaulted over the ditch. This leap, confidered as a pro- 
 digy of agility, obtained to that place the name which it ftill prcferves 
 of Salto à' Alvarado, or Alvarado's leap. 
 
 The lofs fuftained by the Mexicans on this unlucky night was un- 
 queftionably great : concerning that of the Spaniards, authors are, as 
 
 Qj2 in
 
 ii6 ri I S T O R Y T-O F M E X I C O. 
 
 1BOOKIX. Jii other affnirs, of various opinions {^)j wc are apt to think the com- 
 putation true which has been made by Goniara, who appears to have 
 made the moft diHgent enquiries, and to have informed himfelf both 
 fròiti Cortes and rlie other conquerors-; that is, there fell, befides 
 four hundred and fifty Spaniards, more than four thoufand auxiliaries, 
 and among them, as Cortes lays, all the Cholulans : almoft all the pri- 
 foners the men and women who were in the fervice of the Spaniards, were 
 killed {/•), alfo forty-fix horfes ; and all the riclies they had amafled, 
 all their artillery, 2nd all rhe manufcripts belonging to Cortes, 
 containing an account of every thing which had happened to the 
 Spaniards until that period, were loft. Among the Spaniards who were 
 mifììng, the moft coniiderable perfons were, the captains Velafquez 
 de Leon, the intimate friend of Cortes, Amador de Laviz, Francifco 
 Moria, and Francifco de Saucedo, all four, men of great courage and 
 merit. Among the prilbners who v/ere killed was Cacamatzin, that 
 unfortunate king, and a brother and fon, and two daughters of Mon- 
 tezuma [s), and a daughter of prince Maxixcatzin. 
 
 In fplte of his greatnefs of foul, Cortes could not check his tears at 
 the fight of fuch calamity. He lat down upon a ftone in Popotla, a 
 village near Tlacopan, not to repofe after his toil, but to weep for 
 the lofs of his friends and companions. In the midft of fo many dif- 
 afters, however, he had at leaft the comfort of hearing that his brave 
 captains Sandoval, Alvarado, Olid. Ordaz, Avila, and Lugo, his inter - 
 
 (fl) Cortes fays, that one hundred and fifty Spaniards perillied ; but he either defiynedly 
 kflened the number for particular endì, or there «as fome millake made by the copylll or firlt 
 printer of that letter. B. Diaz numbers eight hundred and fevent)^ to have fallen ; but in 
 this account he includes, not only thofe who were killed on that unlucky night, but alfo thole 
 who died before he reached Tlafcala. Soils reckons only upon two hundred, and Torquemada. 
 tivo hundred and ninety. Concerning- the number of auxiliary troops which periflied then, 
 (Honiara, Herrera, Torquemada, and Betancourt, are .igreed. Solis fays only, that more than 
 two thoufand Tlafcalans were milled ; but in this he docs not agree with the computation made 
 by Cortes, or other authors. 
 
 (r) Ordaz affirms, that all the prifoners were killed ; but he ought to have excepted Cui- 
 cultzcatzin, whom Cortes had already placed on the throne of Acolhuacan ; bccaufe we know, 
 from the account of Cortes, that he was one of the prifoncrs, and on the other hand,, it is certain 
 that he was killed afterwards in Tezcuco. 
 
 (j) Torquemada affirms, as a well certified point, that Corte=, a few days after he took Ca- 
 camatzin, made him be ftrangled in prifon. Cortes, B. Diaz, Betancourt, and others, fay that 
 he was killed along with the other prifoners on that memorable night, 
 
 8 preters
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 p'reters Aguilar and Donna Marina, were fafe, by means of whom he 
 chicHy trulled to be able to repair liis honour and conquer Mexico. 
 
 The Spaniards found themfclves io deje<ftcd and enfeebled with Sect. XXI. 
 fatigue, and with their wounds, that if the Mexicans had purfued them, m^'ch o/^the 
 not one of them could have efcaped with life ; but tiie latter had hardly Spuim; Js. 
 arrived at the laft bridge upon that road, when they returned to their city, 
 either becaufe they were contented with the flaughter already committed, 
 ór having found the dead bodies of the king of Acolhuacan, the royal 
 princes of xMexico, and other lords, they were employed in mourning 
 for their death and paying them funeral honours. They would have ob- 
 ferved the fame condudt with their dead relations or friends ; for they 
 left the flreets and ditches entirely clean that day, burning all the 
 dead bodies, before they could infe(fl the air by corruption^ 
 
 At break of day the Spaniards found themfelves in Popotla, fcattercJ 
 about, wounded, wearied, and affli*!led. Cortes having allemhledand form- 
 ed them in order, marched through the city of Tlacopan, ftill harrafTed 
 by fome troops of that city and of Azcapozalco,, until they came to- 
 Otoncalpolco, a temple fituated upon the top of a fmall mountain nine 
 miles to the weft of the capital, where at prefent ftands the celebrated 
 Cindtuary or temple of the Virgin de los remedies, or fuccour. Here 
 they fortified themfelves as well as they could, to defend themfelves 
 with the lefs trouble from the enemy, who continued to annoy them 
 the whole day. At night they repofed a little, and had fome refredi- 
 ment furnillied them by the Otomies, v/ho occupied two neighbouring 
 hamlets, and lived impatient under the yoke of the Mexicans. From 
 this placis they direfted their ccnufe towards Tlafcala, their only re- 
 treat in their misfortunes, through Quauhtitlan, Citlaltepec, Xoloc, 
 and Zacamolco, annoyed all the way by flying troops of the enemy. 
 In Zacamolco they were fo famidwd, and reduced to fuch dillrels, 
 that at fupper they eat a horfe which had been killed that day by the 
 enemy, of which the general himfclf had his part. The Tlafcalans 
 threw themfelves upon the earth to eat the herbs of it, praying for 
 afliftance from their gods > 
 
 The day following, when they had juft began their march by the Sect. xxn,. 
 mountains of Aztaquemecan, they faw at a diftance in the plain of tic ot'Ocom^ 
 Tooan, a little way from the city of Otompan, a nunaerous and bril- P-^''- 
 
 liant
 
 ng HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK IX. liant army, either of Mexicans, as authors generally report, or, as we 
 think, probable, coinpoled of tlie troops of Otompan, Calpolalpan,. 
 Teotihuacan, and other neighbouring places, affembled at the defire 
 of the Mexicans. Some hillorians make this army confifl of two 
 hundred thoufand men, a number computed folely by the eye, and 
 probably increafed by their fears. They were perfuaded, as Cortes 
 himfelf attefts, that that day was to have been the lafl of all their 
 lives. This general formed his languid troops, by enlarging the front 
 of his maimed and wretched army, in order that the flanks might be 
 in fome manner covered by the fmall wings of the few cavalry he had 
 left ; and with a countenance full of fire he addrefTed them : " In 
 " fuch a difKcult fituation are we placed, that it is neceffary cither to 
 " conquer or die ! Take courage, Callilians ! and truft, that He who 
 " has hitherto delivered us from lb many dangers, will preferve us alfo 
 "in this !" At length the battle was joined, which was extremely 
 bloody, and lafled upwards of four hours. Cartes feeing his troops di- 
 minilli andina great meafure dlfcouraged, and the enemy advance ftill 
 more haughtily notwithflanding the lofs they fuftered from the Spanifh 
 arms, formed a bold and hazardous refolution, by which he gained the 
 viftory and put the mlferable remains of his army in fecurity. He re- 
 colledled to have often heard, that the Mexicans went into diforder 
 and fled whenever their general was killed or they had lofi their ftand- 
 ard. Cihuacatzln, general of that army, clothed in a rich military 
 habit, with a beautiful plume of feathers on his helmet, and a gilded 
 fhield upon his arm, was carried in a litter upon the llioulders of fome 
 foldiers ; the flandard which he bore was, according to their ufage, a 
 net of gold fixed on the point of a IhifF, which was firmly tied upon his 
 back, and rofe about ten palms above his head (/) : Cortes obferved it 
 in the center of that great multitude of enemies, and refolved to fl:rike 
 a decifive blow; he commanded his brave captains Sandoval, Alvarado, 
 Olid, and Avila, to follow behind, to guard him from attack, and 
 immediately, with others who accompanied him, he pulhed forward 
 through that quarter where his attempt appeared mort prai51:icable with 
 fuch impetuofity, that he threw many down with his lance and others 
 with his horfe. Thus he advanced through the lines of the enemy, 
 
 (/) This f>.rt of f an.lard \va; called by the Mexicans TìabuixmalìaxefìllU 
 
 until
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 119 
 
 until he came clofe up with the general, who was accompanied by fomé BOOK IX. 
 of his orficers, and with one ftroke of his lance extended him on th6 
 ground. Juan de Salamanca, a brave foldier, who attended Cortes, 
 difmounting quickly from his horfc, put an end to his life, and feiz- 
 ing the plume of feathers on his head prefented it to Cortes («). The 
 army of the enemy, as foon as they faw their general killed, and the 
 ftandard taken, went into confulion and fled. The Spaniards, encou- 
 raged by this glorious a(5tion of their chief, purfued, and made great 
 flaughter of the fugitives. 
 
 This was one of the moll famous vldiories obtained by the Spanifh 
 arms in the New World; Cortes dirtinguiflied himfelf in it above all 
 the reft ; and his captains and foldiers fald afterwards, that they had 
 never feen more courage and aftivity difplayed than upon that day ; 
 but he received a fevere wound on the head, which daily growing worfe, 
 brought his life into the utmoft danger. Bernal Diaz juftly praifes the 
 bravery of Sandoval, and fiiews how much that gallant officer contri- 
 buted to this vid:ory, encouraging them all not lefs by his example than 
 his words. The Spanirti hiftorians have alfo highly celebrated Maria 
 de Eftrada, the wife of a SpaniHi foldier, who, having armed herfelf 
 with a lance and fliield, ran among the enemy, wounding and killing 
 them with an intrepidity very extraordinary in her fex. Of the Tlaf- 
 calans, Bernal Diaz fays, that they fought like lions, and amongft 
 them Calmecahua, captain of the troops of MaxJxcatzin, particularly 
 diftinguifhed himfelf. He was not, however, lefs remarkable for his> 
 bravery than for his longevity,, living to the age of one hundred and 
 thirty years. 
 
 The lofs of the enemy was undoubtedly great in this defeat, but 
 greatly lefs than feveral authors repreient it, who make it amount to 
 twenty thoufand men ;. a number rather incredible, according to the 
 miferable ftate to which the Spaniards were reduced, and the want of 
 artillery and other fire-arins. On the contrary, the lofs of the Spani- 
 ards was not fo fmallas Solis reports it (x), for almoft all the Tlafca^ 
 
 lans 
 
 (u) Charles V. granted fome privileges to Juan dc Salamanca, and ainonj others a fhicld 
 of arms for his houle, which had a pUimc upon it in memory of the one which he had take» 
 from the general Cihuacatzin. 
 
 (a) Solis, in order to exaggerate the vii'iory of Otonipan fays, that amongft die troops un- 
 der Cortes fomc were wounded, of whom two or three Spaniards died in Tlafcala: but this 
 
 author
 
 120 H r S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK IX. lans periflied, and many of the Spaniards in proportion to the number 
 '""""^'^'"^ of their troops, and all of them came off wounded. 
 
 The Spaniards, tired at length with purfuing the fugitives, refumed 
 their n)arch towards Tlafcala hy the eaflern part of that plain, remain- 
 ing that night under the open Iky, where the general himfelf, after 
 the fatigue and wounds he had received, kept guard in perfon for their 
 greater fecurity. The Spaniards were now not more than four hundred 
 and forty in number. Befides thofe who had been llain in the en- 
 gagements, preceding the unfortunate night of their departure from 
 Mexico, there perhhed during it and the fix days follo\^'ing, as Bernal 
 Diaz, an eye-witnefs affirms, eight hundred and feventy, many of 
 wiiom h3^•ing been made prifoners by the Mexicans, were inhumanly 
 facrificed in the greater temple of the capital, 
 s K c r. The next day, the 8th of July, i C2o, they entered, making 
 
 Keturn'of'the ejaculations to heaven, and returning thanks to the Almighty, into 
 .^panianis m- ^^ dominions of Tlafcala, and arrived at Hueiotlipan (r), a confider- 
 able city of that republic. They feared flill to find fonie change ia 
 the fidelity of the Tlafcalans, well knowing how common it is to fee 
 men abandoned in tlieir misfortunes by their deareft friends : but they 
 Avere ioow undeceived by meeting with the molT: fincere demonftrations 
 of efteem and compaflion for the difafters they had undergone. The 
 four chiefs of that republic had no fooner intelligence of their arrival, 
 than they came to Huejotlipan to pay their compliments to them, ac- 
 companied by one of the principal lords of Huexotzinco, and many 
 of the nobility. The prince Maxixcatzin, though fevèrely afflióted by 
 the death of his daughter, endeavoured to confole Cortes with hopes 
 
 iuthor, folely attentive to the ornament of his rtyle, and the panegyric of his hero, took lit. 
 tie note of numbers. He athriiis, that Cortes, after the defeat of Narvaez, carried eleven 
 hundred men with him to Mexico, who with other eighty that, according to his account, re- 
 mained with Alvar.ido, make eleven hundred and eighty. In the engagements, preceding 
 the defeat of the Spaniards at Mexico, he makes no mention of any death. In the defeat he 
 reckons two hundred only to have been killed ; and, in his account of their iourncy to Tluf- 
 cala, he fpeaks of no other but the two or three who died in Tlafcala of the wounds they had 
 received at Otompan. Where then arc, or how have the other five hundred nnen and upwards 
 difappcared, which are wanting to make up the number of eleven hundred and eighty. \Vc 
 have a very different idea given us of the battle of Otompan from thofe who were prcfent at it, 
 as appear- from the letters of Cortes, and the Hiiicry of Berna! Diaz. 
 
 ( y ) Huejotlipan is called by Cortes and Hcrrcra Ci,alipar., by Bernal Diaz Gnaiiap^r, and 
 by Solis Gualifar. 
 
 of
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X 1 e O. 121 
 
 of revenge, which he allured him he might obtain from the courage of BOOK ix. 
 the Spaniards and the forces of the republic, which from that time he 
 promifcd him, and all the other chiefs made offers to the fame purpofe. 
 Cortes returned them thanks for their kind wifhes and offers, and lay- 
 ing hold of the llandard which he had taken the day before from the 
 Mexican general, he prefented it to Maxixcatzin, and gave to the other 
 lords fome other valuable fpoils. The Tlafcalan women conjured 
 Cortes to revenge the death of their fons and relations, and vented 
 their grief in a thoufand imprecations againft the Mexican nation. 
 
 After repofmg three days in this place, they proceeded to the capital of 
 the republic, diilant about fifteen miles, for the more fpeedy cure of their 
 wounded, of whom, however, eight foldiers died. The concourfe of 
 people at their entry into Tlafcala was great, and perhaps greater than 
 when they made their firfl: entry into that city. The reception which 
 Maxixcatzin gave them, and the care he took of them were becoming 
 his generofity of mind, and demonftrative of the llncerity of his friend- 
 lliip. The Spaniards acknowledged themfelves every day more and 
 more obliged to that nation, the friendlhip of which, by being pro- 
 perly cultivated, proved the moll effectual means not only for the con- 
 quell of the capital of the Mexican empire, but alio of all the pro- 
 vinces which oppofed the progrefs of the Spanilh arms, and for the 
 fubduing of the barbarous Chichimecas and Otomies, by whom the 
 conquerors were long harraffed. 
 
 While the Spaniards were rcpofing after their fatigues and recover- Sect.xxiv. 
 ing of their wounds in Tlafcala, the Mexicans were employed in re- pioccedines 
 pairing the evils done to their capital and their kingdom. The loffes °* •*"^ '''"S 
 
 !••• 1-11 11-1- 1- r • Cuitlalniat- 
 
 and mjuries which they had lullained m the fpace ot one year, were zininMLxi- 
 truly heavy and diflreffing ; for, befides immenfe fums of gold and fil- 
 ver, gems, and other precious things, expended partly in prefents 
 to the Spaniards, partly in homage to the king of Spain, of which 
 they recovered but little, the fimc of their arms was obfcured, and 
 the refpe'fl of the crown of Mexico diminillied ; the Totonacas, and 
 other people, had renounced their obedience ; all their enemies had 
 grown more infolent ; their temples were materially damaged, and their 
 religion fpurned at ; many houfes of the city were totally demoliflied, 
 and above all other grievances, they had lofl: their king, feveral royal 
 Vol. II. R per- 
 
 co.
 
 122 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK IX. perfonages, and a great part of the nobility. To thofe reafons for 
 defpondence and difguft at the Spaniards, thofe which were caufed by 
 their own civil war were added, for the knowledge of which we are 
 indebted to the manufcripts of a Mexican hiftorian who happened to 
 be at this time in the capital, and furvived a few years the ruin of the 
 empire. At the time the Spaniards were fo much diftreffed in the ca- 
 pital by famine from the hoftilities of the Mexicans, feveral lords of 
 the firft nobility, either in order to favour the party of the Spaniards, 
 or, what is fully more probable, to give fuccour to the king, who, by 
 being among them was necelliirily an equal fufferer with them, fscretly 
 fupplied them with provifions, and perhaps, declared themfelves openly 
 in their favour, in confidence of their own perfonal authority. From 
 this caufe arofe a fatal diffeniion among the Mexicans, which could 
 not be terminated without the death of many illaftrious perfons, and 
 particularly fome of the fons and brothers of Montezuma, according to 
 the account of the above hillorian. 
 
 The Mexicans found the neceflity of placing at the head of their na- 
 tion a man capable of re-eflablifhing its honour, and repairing the lolTes 
 fuftered in the laft year of the reigi of Montezuma. A little before, 
 or a little after the defeat of the Spaniards, the prince CuitLhuatzin 
 was eleiled king of Mexico. He, as we have faid already, was lord 
 of Iztapalapan, the particular counfellor of his brother Montezuma, 
 andTlachcocalcatl, or general of the army. He was a perfon of great 
 talents and fagacity, agreeable to the teftimony of Cortes his rival, and 
 liberal and magnificent like his brother. He took great delight 
 in architecture and gardening, as appears from the fplendid palace 
 he built in Iztapalapan, and the celebrated garden which he planted 
 there, in whofe prailes no ancient hiftorian is filent. His bra- 
 very and militury fkill acquired him the higheft efteem amongft the 
 Mexicans; and fome authors affirm, from particular information of his 
 character, that if he had not met an early death, t'le capital would ne- 
 ver have been taken by the Spaniards (z). It is probable, that the fa- 
 
 crifices 
 
 (z) SoUs gives Ciiitlahuatzin the name of !^itdahaca, and fays, that he lived on the throne 
 but a few days, and thofe were futlicieiit to make the- memory of his name amongft his coun- 
 trymen be for ever cancelled from his cowardice ani infignificance. But this is falfe, and con- 
 trary to the accounts given by Cones, Eernal Diaz, Gomara, and Torquemada, authors who 
 
 were
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 123 
 
 crifices made at the feftival of his coronation were thoic Spaniards BOOKix. 
 whom he liimfelf had taken prilbncrs in the ni:^ht of their defeat. 
 
 As foon as the feilival of his coronation was over, he employed |Jl„*ì,yj;;y^f^ " 
 himfelf to remedy the difafters fiiffered by the crown and the empire, the kin- Cu- 
 
 TT 1 -11 11 J iijij itlaluiatziii to 
 
 He gave orders to repair the damaged temples, and to rebuild the de- theihifca- 
 moliOied houies, augmented and improved the fortifications of the capi- '''"^• 
 tal, fent embalTies to the different provinces of the empire, cncoura:^- 
 ing them to tlie common defence of the frate againll thole hoftiic 
 Grangers, and promifed to relieve thofe who would take up arnis in 
 behalf of the crown, from all their tributes. He fent alfo ambadadors 
 to the republic of TUfcala, with a confiderable prefcnt of line feathers, 
 habits of cotton, and fome fait, who were received with due honour, 
 according to the laws eftabliOied aniong the polifhed nations of that 
 country. The purport of the embafiy was to reprefent to that fenate, 
 that altliough the Mexicans and TIalcalans had hitherto been the inve- 
 terate enemies of each other, it was now become neceffary to unite 
 themfelves together as the inhabitants originally of one country, as peo- 
 ple of the fame language, and as worfliippers of the fame deities, againfl 
 the common enemy of their country and religion ; that they had al- 
 ready fcen the bloody flaughter which had been committed in Mexico, 
 and other places, the lacrilege to the fandbuarics, and the venerable 
 images of the gods, the ingratitude and perfidy fliewn to his brother and 
 predeceifor, and the moft refpedlable perfonages of Anahuac ; and laftly, 
 that infatiable thirft in thofe ftrangers for gold, which impelled them to 
 violate every facrcd law of friendlhip ; that if the republic continued to 
 favour the perverfe defigns of fuch monflers, they would in the end 
 meet with the fame recompence which Montezuma had for the huma- 
 nity with which he received them into his court, and the liberality 
 which he excrciled fo long towards them : the TIalcalans would be 
 execrated by all nations for giving aid to fuch iniquitous ufurpers, and 
 
 were better informed than Solis. How could the memory of his name ainongrt the Mexicans 
 be cancelled, while it was prefervcd indelibly among the Spaniards, they having confiderej 
 him as the pcrfon who was the caufc of their defeat on the firll of July, as they themfelves 
 tcilify ? Cortes was fo mindful of him, and felt fo muih rcfcntmcnt tor thofe difalkrs, that 
 when he found he had forces fufficient to undertake the liege of Mexico, being deiir'us (( re- 
 venging himfelf on that king, but not being able to get revenge on his perlbn, he took it upon 
 his favourite city. This was the motive, as Cortes himfelf fays, of his expedition agiiinll 
 Iztapalapun. 
 
 R 2 the
 
 124 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK IX. the gods would pour down all the vengeance of their anger upon them 
 for confederating with the enemies of their worfliip. If, on the con- 
 trary, they would as he prayed, declare themfelves the enemies of thofe 
 men who were abhorred by heaven and earth, the court of Mexico 
 would form a perpetual alliance with them, and from that time for- 
 ward have a free commerce with the republic, by which they would 
 efcape the mifery to which they had been hitherto fubjedted : all the 
 nations of Anahuac would acknowledge their obligation to them for fo 
 important a fervice, and the gods, appeafed with the blood of thofe vic- 
 tims, would fhower down the nccertliry rain upon their fields, ftamp 
 fuccefs upon their arms, and celebrate the name of Tlafcala through all 
 that land. 
 
 " The fenate, after having llftened to the embafTy, and difmifTed the 
 ambaffadors from the hall of audience, according to their cuftom, en- 
 tered into confultation upon that important queftion. To fome among 
 them the propofols of the court of Mexico appeared juft and confiftent 
 with the fecurity of the republic ; they exaggerated the advantages which 
 were offered to them ; and on the other hand, the unlucky iffueof the 
 undertaking of the Spaniards in Mexico, and the flaughter made o5 the 
 Tlafcalan troops which had been under their command. Amongft the 
 reft the young Xicotencatl, who had always been the bitter enemy of 
 the Spaniards, raifed his voice, and endeavoured, with all the reafons he 
 eould urge, to perfuade the fenate to the Mexican alhance ; adding, that 
 it would be much better to preferve the ancient cuftoms of their 
 fathers than to fubmit to the new and extravagant policy of that 
 proud and imperious nation ; that it would be impofllble to find a fitter 
 opportunity to rid themfelves of the Spaniards than then, when they were 
 reduced in number, feeble in ftrength, and dejecfted in mind. Maxix- 
 catzin, who, on the contrary, was fincerely attached to the Spaniards,, 
 and poffeffed of more difcernment of the laws of nations, alio of a dif- 
 pofition more inclined to obferve them, arraigned the fentiments of Xi- 
 cotencatl, charging him. with abominable perfidy in counfelling the fe- 
 nate to facrifice to the revenge of the Mexicans, men who had juft felt 
 the rod of adverfity, and fought an afylum in Tlafcala, trulting in ths 
 promifes and proteftations of the fenate and the nation. He continued, 
 that if they flattered themfelves with receiving the advantages which 
 
 the.
 
 II I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 125 
 
 the Mexicans offered, he on the contrary hoped for greater from the bravery BOOK IT. 
 of the Spaniards ; that if there was no motive to place confidence in them, 
 they ought Hill lefs to confide in the Mexicans, of whofe perfidy they 
 had fo many examples ; laftly, that no crime would be capable of pro- 
 voking fo llrongly the anger of the gods, and obfcuring the glory of 
 the nation, as fuch impious treachery to their innocent guefls. Xico- 
 tencatl prefled his counfel upon the fenate, prefenting to them an odious 
 pidure of the genius and cuftoms of the Spaniards. So great an alter- 
 cation enfued, and tlieir minds became fo much heated, that Maxix- 
 catzin, tranfported with paflion, gave a violent pufli to Xicotencatl,. 
 and threw him down fome fteps of the audience chamber, calling him 
 a feditious traitor to his country. Such an accufation made by a per- 
 fon fo circumfpevSl, fo refpedted and loved by the nation, obliged the 
 fenate to imprifon Xicotencatl. 
 
 The refolution which they came to was, to anfwer to the embaffy 
 that the republic was ready to accept the peace and friendfliip of the 
 court of Mexico, when it did not require fo unworthy an adt, and a 
 crime fo enormous, as the ficrifice of their guefts and friends ; but 
 when the ambafTadors were fought for, to have the anfwer of the fenate 
 delivered to them, it was found they had already departed in fecret 
 from Tlafcala : for having obferved the people a little unquiet upon 
 their arrival, they were afraid that fome attempt might have been 
 made againft the refpedt due to their charadler. It is therefore proba- 
 ble that the fenate fent Tlafcalan meffengers with their anfwer to the 
 court. The fenators endeavoured to conceal from the Spaniards the 
 purport of the embaffy, and all that had happened in the lenate j but, 
 in fpite of their fecrecy, Cortes knew it, and with juftice thanked 
 Maxixcatzin for his good offices, and engaged to confirm him in the 
 favourable idea he entertained of the bravery and friendfliip of the Spa- 
 niards. 
 
 The fenate, not content with thofe proofs of its great fidelity, ac- 
 knowledged frefli obedience to the Catholic king ; and what was ilill 
 more flflttering to their guefts, the four chiefs of the republic re- 
 nounced idolatry, and were baptized, while. Cortes and his officers 
 flood their godfathers, and the fundion was celebrated by Olmedo with, 
 great rejoicing and jubilee through all Tlafcala.. 
 
 Cortes
 
 HISTORY O F 
 
 I C O. 
 
 BOOK IX. 
 
 S.CT.XXVI. 
 
 New difcon- 
 tents and 
 tears among 
 fome of the 
 Spaniards . 
 
 Sect. 
 
 XXVII. 
 War of the 
 Spaniards a- 
 gainll Tepe- 
 jacac. 
 
 Cortes was now freed from the danger to which his life was expofed 
 from the blowhe had received on his head in the laft batik ; and the reft of 
 the Spaniards, except a few who died, were cured of their wounds by tlie 
 affiftance of the Tlafcalan furgeons. During the time of his ficknefs, 
 Cortes thouj^ht of nothing eUe than the means he muft ufe to conduft 
 his undertaking of the conqueft of Mexico to a profperous end ; and 
 to further this, he had ordered a coaliderable quantity of timber to be cut 
 for the conftrudion of thirteen biigantinesj but while he was forming 
 thofe grand projefts, many of his foldiers were indulging very different 
 thoughts in their minds. They beheld their number diminifhed, them- 
 felves poor, ill accoutred, and unfurnifhed with horfes as well as arms. 
 They could not chafe from their thoughts the terrible conflid: and tra- 
 gic night of the lirll of July, and were unwilling to expofe themfelves 
 any more to new adventures. Their prefent ideas, and future appre- 
 henfions, were both too much for them -, and they blamed their general 
 for his obftinacy in fo raih an undertaking. From murmurs in private, 
 they proceeded to make a legal requeft to him, defirous of prevailing 
 on him, by a variety of arguments, to return to Vera Cruz, where 
 they could procure frefli troops, and a fupply of arms and provifions, 
 for the purpofe of attempting the conqueft with greater hopes, as at 
 prefent they deemed it impoffible. Cortes was much troubled at this 
 alteration of their fentiments, which threatened to fruftrate all his 
 deftgns ; but exercifing his talent to perfuade his foldiers to his own 
 pleafure, he made them a pointed energetic fpeech, which , had effed 
 enough to make them give up their pretenfions. He reproached them 
 for that bud of cowardice he faw fpringing in their minds, awakened 
 their fentiments of honour, by a flattering recital of their glorious 
 actions, and the proteftations full of ardor and courage which they had 
 frequently made him. He made them fully fenfible how much more 
 difficult it would be for them to return to Vera Cruz than to remain at 
 Tlafcala ; afllued them of the fidelity of that republic, of which they 
 feemed a little doubtful. Laftly, he prayed them to fufpend their 
 refolution, until they (hould fee the event of the war, which he de- 
 figned to make upon the province of Tepejacac, in which he hoped to 
 find new proofs of the fincerity of the Tlafcalans. 
 
 The lords of the province of Tepejacac, which bordered on the 
 republic of Tlafcala, had declared themfelves the friends of Cortes, and 
 
 fubjeds
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 127 
 
 fubjecls of the court of Spain, ever fmce that terrible mafllicre which BOOK IX. 
 the Spaniards had made in Cholula ; but feeing afterwards that the Spa- 
 niards were worfted, and the Mexicans vidlorious, they put thcm- 
 felves again under obedience to the king of Mexico ; and, in order to 
 conciliate his fav-Our, they killed fome Spaniards who were on their 
 journey from Vera Cruz to Mexico, and unapprifed of the tra- 
 gedy which had happened to their companions there ; they admit- 
 ted a Mexican garrifon into their territory, and occupied the road which 
 led from Vera Cruz to Tlafcala ; and, not even contented with that, 
 they made fome incurfions into the lands of that republic. Cortes 
 propofcd to make war upon them, not lefs to punifh their perfidy 
 than to fecure the road from that pori for the fuccours he expedled 
 from thence. He was infligated ?Jfo to this expedition by the young 
 Xicotencatl, who had been fet at liberty by the mediation of the Spa- 
 nili! general himfelf, and that he might remove every fufpicion 
 againfi: him concerning what had pafled in the fenate, offered to 
 affift him in that war with a ftrong army. Cortes accepted his offer ; 
 but before he took up arms, he in a friendly manner demanded fatif- 
 fadion of the Tepejacans, and advifed them to quit the Mexican caufe, 
 promifing to pardon the trefpafs they had committed in murdering thofe 
 Spaniards ; but his propofition having been rejefted, he marched againll 
 them with four hundred and twenty Spaniards and llx thoufand Tlafcalan 
 archers, while Xicotencatl was levying an army of fifty thoufand men. 
 In Tzimpontzinco, a city of the republic, fo many troops afTcm- 
 bled from the ftates of Huexozinco, and Cholula, that it was ima- 
 gined their number amounted to a hundred and fifty thoufand. 
 
 The firft expedition was againft Zacatepec, the place of the confe- 
 deracy of the Tepejacans. The inhabitants of it laid in ambufcade for 
 the Spaniards. They fought on both fides with great courage and 
 obftinacy, but at laft tiie Spaniards were viiflors, and a confiderablc 
 number of the enemy left dead on the field {a). From thence the army 
 marched againft Acatzinco, a city ten miles to the fouthward of 
 
 (a) Several lirtcrians fay, that the night after the battle o^ Zaialcfitc the allies of the Spa- 
 niards had a grrat flipper of human flcih ; part roailcd on fpits of wood, part boiled in fifty 
 thoufand pots. But this appears a comi'lete f.iblc. It is not probable that Cortes, or Bernal 
 V>\:\z, flioiild have oinitted an event in thrir relations of fo remarkable a nature, particularly 
 Diaz, who is gcaerally too prolix and tedious in his recital of fuch afis of inhumanity. 
 
 Tepejacac,
 
 r2S H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK IX. Tepejacac, into which the Spaniards entered triumphant, after gaining 
 a battle little lefs ditiicult than that of Zacàtepec. From Acatzinco 
 Cortes fent detachments to burn feveral places in that neighbourhood, 
 and to fubjeit others to his obedience ; and when it appeared to be 
 time to attack the principal city, he fet out with all his army for 
 Tepejacac, where he entered without any reiiftance from the citizens. 
 Here he declared many prifoners taken in that province to be flaves, 
 and made the mark of a feal upon them ^^•ith a hot iron, according to 
 the barbarous cuftom of that century, allotting the fifth part of them 
 to the king of Spain, and dividing the reft among the Spaniards and the 
 allies. He founded there, according to the manner of fpeaking of the 
 Spaniards in thofe days, a city which he called Segura della Frontera, 
 the founding of which confifted in eftablifliing Spanifli magiftrates 
 there, and eredting a fmall fortification {b.) 
 Sect. The Mexican troops, garrifoned in that province, retreated from it, 
 
 A\^f o/^^' "°^ having fufficient ftrength to refift the power of their enemies ; but, 
 Quauhque- at the fame time, there appeared at the city of Quauhquechollan {c), 
 diftant about four miles from Tepejacac, towards the fouth, an army 
 of Mexicans fent there by king Cuitlahuatzin, to hinder t]:ie paflage of 
 the Spaniards by that quarter to the capital, if they now fliould attempt 
 it. Quauhquechollan was a confiderable city, containing from five to 
 fix tboufand families, pleafantly fituated, and not lels fortified by 
 nature than by art. It was naturally defended on one fide by a fleep 
 rocky mountain, and on another fide by two parallel running rivers. 
 The whole of the city was furrounded by a ftrong wall of ftone and 
 lime, about twenty feet high and twelve broad, with a breaft-work all 
 round, of about three feet in height. There were but four ways to 
 enter, at thofe places where the extremities of the wall were doubled, 
 forming two fenaicircles, as we have already reprefented in the figure 
 given in our eighth book. The difiiculty of the entrance was increafcd 
 by the elevation of the fite of the city, which was almoft equal to the 
 height of the wall itfelf ; fo that in order to enter, it was necefiary to 
 afcend by fome very deep fteps. 
 
 {h) The city of Tepejacac, or Tepcaca, as tha Spaniards call it, is Oil! exiiling ; but the 
 name o^ Scgiira della Frontera was foon forgotten. Charles V . gave it the title and honour of 
 SpariilhCity in 1545. At prefent, it belongs to the marqulfatc of the valley. 
 
 (f ) QnauhquechoUan is called by the Spaniards Guaqueechula, or Huacachula. At prefent, 
 it is a plcalant Indian village, abounding with good fruits. 
 
 The
 
 HISTORY O F M E X I C O. 
 
 The lord of that city, who was partial to the Spaniards, feiit an 
 cmbaffy to Cortes, declaring his lub:iìi["iìon to the king of Spain, who had 
 been already acknowled-^eJ fovcrcign of all that land, in the celebrated 
 aflcmbly held by king Montezuma with the Mexican nobility, in the 
 prefence of Cortes ; that» although defirous, he was not permitted by the 
 Mexicans to manifefl his fidelity ; that, then there were a great number 
 of Mexican officers in Quauhquechollan, and thirty thouland men of 
 war partly in that city, partly in the places around it, for the purpofe 
 of preventing any confederacy with the Spaniards : neverthelefs, he re- 
 quefted him to come to his ailiftance, and free him from the vexations 
 which he fuffered from thofe troops. Cortes was plcafed with the 
 intelligence, and immediately fent with the fame meffengers a party of 
 thirteen horfes, two hundred Spaniards, and thirty thoufand auxiliary 
 troops, under the commatid of captain Olid. The meflengers, ac- 
 cording to the order of their lord, undertook to conduci the army 
 by a "way little travelled, and appriied captain Olid that when they 
 came near to the city, the Qnauhquecheilans were to attack with fome 
 armed bodies the quarters of the Mexican officers, and to endeavour 
 to feize or kill them, in order that when the Spanifh army entered the 
 city, it might be eafy for tiiem to defeat the enemy without their lead- 
 ers. But twelve miles before the army reached Quauhquechollan, the 
 Spanish commander became fufpicious that the Huexotzincas might be 
 fecretly confederated with the Quauhquechollans and the Mexicans, in 
 order to deftroy the Spaniards. His fufpiciòn, occafioned by fecret 
 information, and rendered ftill more ftrong by the numbers of the 
 Huexotzincas, who of their own accord joined the army, obliged him 
 to return to Cholula, where he made fome of the moft refpedlable per- 
 fons among the Huexotzincas and the ambalTadors of Qiiauhquechollan 
 be feized, and fent them under a fl:rong guard to Cortes, that he might 
 make enquiry into this fuppofed flratagem. 
 
 Cortes was extremely vexed at this proceeding againft fuch faithful 
 friends as the Huexotzincas : neverthclefs he carefully examined them, 
 difcovered the innocence and fidelity of both parties, and obferved, that 
 the late difafters had made the Spaniards more timorous, and that fear, 
 as ufual, had induced them to carry their fufpicion farther than was 
 proper or neccflary. He gave kind treatment and made prefents to the 
 
 Voi,. II. S Quauh-
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Quauhquechollans and the Huexotzincas ; and, accompanied by them, 
 he marched for Cholula, with a hundred Spanlfh infantry and ten horfes, 
 having refolvcd to execute this enterprife in perfon. He found the Spa-^ 
 niards in Cholula apprehenfive, but he foon encouraged them, and then 
 marched for Quauhquechollan, with all his army, which confilled now of 
 three hundied Spaniards and upwards of a hundred thoufand allies : fuch 
 Avas the readinefs of thofe people in taking arms to free themfelves from 
 the yoke of the Mexicans. Before he arrived at Quauhquechollan, 
 Cortes was informed by the chief of that city, that all the purpofed 
 meafures had been taken ; that the Mexicans were confiding in their 
 centinels polled upon the towers of the city, and on the road ; but that 
 the centinels had already been fecretly feized and confined by the citi- 
 zens. 
 
 The Quauhquechollans no fooner faw the army which was coming 
 to their affiltance, than they attacked the quarters of the Mexican offi- 
 cers \vith fuch fury, that, before Cortes entered the city, they prefeated 
 him forty prifoners. When the general entered, three thoufand citi- 
 zens were affaujting the principal dwelling of the Mexicans, who, 
 though greatly inferior in number, defended themfelves fo bravely that 
 they could not take the houfe, although they had rendered themfelves 
 mafters of the terraces. Cortes made the aiTault, and took it ; but in 
 fpite of the efforts lie made to feize any one of them, from whom he 
 might learn fome intelligence of the court, the Mtxicans fought with 
 fuch obAinacy, that they were all killed, and he with ditficulty obtain- 
 ed fome few particulars from a dying officer. The other Mexicans, 
 who were fcattered through the city, fled out precipitately to incor- 
 porate themfelves with the body of the army, encamped on a high ground 
 which commanded all the environs. They immediately formed in order 
 of battle, entered the city, and began fetting fire to the houfes. Cor- 
 tes affirms, that he never faw an army make a more beautiful appear- 
 ance, on account of the gold and the plumes with which their armour 
 was adorned. The Spaniards delend^d the city with their cavalry and 
 many thoufands of allies, and forced them to retreat to a high and aimofl 
 inacceffible ground ; but being likewife thither purfued by their enemies, 
 they betook themfelves to the fummit ot a very lofty mountain, leav- 
 ing numbers dead on the field. The conquerors, after having facked 
 the Mexican camp, returned to the city loaded with fpoils. 
 
 The
 
 f f ! S T () R Y OF M E X I C O. 131 
 
 The army refted thrte cbys in Qj^jauhqiitc'noìlan, and on the fourtli B-.OK l>:.- 
 niarciicd tovvaidi Itzocan (J), a city contaiiung from fhrc^ to tour sTc-^KXDC 
 thoufarjd families, funate- o,i the fide ot a mountain, about ten miles Waiofltjj- 
 
 CIA* 
 
 from Qu.mhqueclioilin, Surrounded by a deep river and a fmail wall. 
 It llreeti were well difpofed, and its temples (o numerous, that Cortes 
 imagined them, including fmall and large, to be more than a hundred in 
 nuniber. The air of it is hot, from being fituated in a deep valley, 
 flmt in by high mountains ; and its fo'l, like that ofQuauhquecIioUiUi 
 fertile, and fliaJcd by trees bearing tlie mod beautiful blofl'oins and 
 excellent fruits. A prince of the royal blood of Mexico governed the 
 ùitc at this time, to whom Montezuma had given it in fief, after 
 having put its lawful lord to death, for fome mifdemeanor of which 
 we are ignorant; and there was now in it a garrifon of from five to fix 
 thoufand Mexican troops. All thefe particulars having been commu- 
 nicated to Cortes, he was induced to make an expedition againfl Itzo- 
 can. Plis army was fo much increafed, that it amounted, according 
 to his own arìirniation, to about the number of a hundred and fifty 
 thoufand men. He ftonned the city on that fide where the entrv 
 was lead ditnculf. The Itzocanefc, feconded by the royal troops, made 
 at firft fome rciiffcance ; but having been at lafl overcome by fuperiority 
 of force, they went into confufion, and fled by the oppofite part of 
 the city : and, having crofild the river, they raifcd the bridges to 
 prevent the purfiiit of the enemy. The Spaniards and the allies, in 
 rpite of the ditticulty of getting acrofs the river, chafed them four 
 miles, killing fome, making others prifoners, and funking terror and 
 difmay to the whole, Cortes, having returned to the city, made all 
 the iandhii^rits be fet on fire, and by means of fome prifoncrs recalled 
 the citizens who were fcattered through the mountains, and invited 
 them to return without fear to inhabit their houfcs. The lord of 
 Irzocm had abfent^'d from the city, and fet out for Mexico, whenever 
 the army of the enemy came in fight. That was fuHicitnt to the nobi- 
 lity to declare the fiate vacant, particularly as in all prob.ibilit) he was 
 not very acceptable to them ; on which account they agreed, with the 
 authority and under the protei5tion of Cortes, to give it to a fon of the 
 lord of Qnauhcjuechollan and a daughter of that lord who was put to 
 
 (</) Iczocan U cnlleJ Izucai' by the Spnniuixis. 
 
 S 2 death
 
 132 
 
 HISTORY OF IVI E X I C O. 
 
 Sect. XXX 
 War of X;i- 
 latzinco, Te- 
 cam .chalco, 
 and i ochte- 
 pec. 
 
 BOOK IX. death by Montezuma ; and bccaufc he was flill a youth of few years, 
 his father, his uncle, and two other nobles, were appointed his tutors, . 
 , The fame of the vidlories of the Spaniards fpread fuddenly through 
 all the country, and drew the obedience of many to the Catholic king. 
 Befides QuauhquecholLin,,Itzocan, and Ocopetlajoccan, a large city at a 
 little diflance from the two firft, fome lords came to pay homage to 
 the crown of Cadile, from eight places of Coaixtlahuacan, a pai-t of the 
 great province of Mixtecapan, more than a hundred and twenty miles 
 diftant towards the fouth from the city of Quauhquechollan, courting 
 with emulation the alliance and friendfhip of fuch brave flrangers. 
 
 Cortes, having returned to Tepejacac, made war, by means of his 
 captains, on fome cities who had fhewn hoftilities to the Spaniards. 
 The inhabitants of Xalatzinco, a city at a litle diftance from the road of 
 Vera Cruz, were conquered by the brave Sandoval, and the principal 
 perfons carried prifoners to Cortes, who, upon feeing them humble 
 and penitent, fet them at liberty again. Thofe of Tecamachalco, a 
 city of confiderable fize, of the Popolocan nation, made a (lout refift- 
 ance ; but at laft they furrendered, and two thoufand of them were 
 made flaves. Againft Toch tepee, a large city upon the river Papa- 
 loapan, where tliere was a Mexican garrifon, he fent a captain, named 
 Salcedo, with eighty Spaniards, of whom not one returned alive to 
 bring the general the news of their defeat. This lofs was fenfibly 
 felt by Cortes, and on account of the few Spaniards he then had, was a 
 very heavy one; but, in order to revenge it, he fent two brave cap- 
 tains,. Ordaz and Avila, with fome horfes and two thoufand allies 
 againfl the garrifon, who, notwithftanding the great courage with 
 which the Mexicans defended themfclves, took the city, and killed a 
 number of the enemy. 
 
 The lofs of thofe eighty foldiers was not the only thing which 
 diftrciTed Cortes. Thofe who a little time before had conjured him to 
 return to Vera Cruz, perfifled now fo obftinately in their demand, that 
 he was obliged, to grant them permiffion -not to return to Vera Cruz, 
 to wait for fome reinforcement, but to Cuba, in order to be at a greater 
 diftance from the dangers of war, it appearing a lefs evil to that judi- 
 cious and dilccrning leader to diminiiii the number of his troops than 
 to keep dlfcontented men, who, by their want of fpirit, would relax 
 8 the
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 the courage and damp the minds of the reft j but this lofs was quickly 
 and abundantly fupplied by a confiderable number of foldiers, who 
 arrived witli horfes, arms, and ammunition, at the port of Vera Cruz ; 
 one party being fent by the governor of Cuba to the alTidance of Nar- 
 vaez, the other by the governor of Jamaica, to the expedition of 
 Panuco : who all willingly joined themfelves to Cortes, converting 
 thofe very means, which were employed by his enemies for his ruin, 
 into inftruments of his fuccefs. 
 
 The conquefts of the Spaniards, and the number of their allies, fo Sect.xxxi. 
 aggrandifed their name, and procured fuch authority to Cortes among bv^the'fmafl^ 
 thofe people, that he was the umpire in all their differences, and they i".'^': ^^^}^ 
 repaired to him as if he had been the fovereign lord of all the region, lahuuzin and 
 to obtain confirmation of the inveftiture of vacant ftates, and in parti- Mailxcauin 
 cular thofe of Cholula and Ocotelolco in Tlafcala, both vacant by deaths ^"J*^ fic'^^ion 
 occafioned by the fmall-pox. This fcourge of the human race, totally Quauhtemot- 
 unknown hitherto in the new world, was brought there by a Moorilli ^"^ 
 flave belonging to Narvaez. He infeded the Chempoallefe, and from 
 thence the infedion fpread through all the Mexican empire, to the 
 irremediable dertrudion of thofe nations. Many thoufands periflied 
 and fome places were utterly depopulated. They whofe conftitu- 
 tion furmounted the violence of the diftemper, remained fo disfigured 
 and marked with fuch deep pits in the face, that they raifed horror in 
 every pcrfon who viewed them. Among other difafters occafioned by 
 this diforder, the death of Cuitlahuatzin, after a reign of three or four 
 months, was moft fenfibly felt by the Mexicans, and the death of 
 prince Maxixcatzin by the Tlafcalans and Spaniards. 
 
 The Mexicans chofe Quauhtemotzin, nephew of the deceafed Cuit- 
 lahuatzin, for their king, as no brother of the two laft kings was fur- 
 viving. This was a youth of about twenty-five years, of great fpirit j 
 and although not much pradifcd in the art of war, on account of his 
 age, he continued the military difpofitions of his predecefibr. He 
 married his coufin Tecuichpotzin, daughter of Mojitezuma, and for- 
 merly wife to his uncle Cuitlahuatzin. 
 
 The death of Maxixcatzin was greatly lamented by Cortes, as much 
 on account of the particular friendlhip formed between tbem, as to 
 him it had been principally owing that there was fo much harmony 
 
 between
 
 134 
 
 H I S T O R Y O F MEXICO. 
 
 KOpH IX. between tlie TLifcahiiis and the Spaniards. H-ivin^; rendered the road 
 * ^ ■ of Vera Cruz pen'ctftly lecure, ar-d f'-nt the captai a Ordaz to the court 
 of Spain, with a diiìinót account in writing, uddrerièd to Charles V. 
 of all that had hitherto happened ; ' and the captain Avila to the ifland 
 of Hifpaniola, to iolicit new fuccours for tiie conqiuft of Mexico, 
 lie departed from Tcpejacac for Tiafcaia, entered there, dreffed in 
 mourning, and made other demonlbations of grief lor tlie death of 
 his friend the prince. At the requeft of the Tialcalans thcmfelves, and 
 in the name of the Catholic king, he conferred the vacant ftate of Oco- 
 telolco, one of the four principal flatcs of that republic, on the fon of 
 the late prince, a youth of twelve years, and, in honour of the merits 
 of his father, he armed him as a knight according to ihe cullom of 
 Cadile. 
 v^JvVt About this fame time, though from a very different caufe, the death 
 
 Exaltation of of the priucc Cuicuitzcat;:in happened, vv'hon Montezuma and Cortes 
 nacouin °ai'd had placed on the throne of Acolhuacan in the room of his unfortunate 
 death of tu). brother Cicamatzin. He was not permitted to enjoy Ion >; his borrowed 
 dignity, for he who had given him the crown very fooii deprived hiiii 
 of his liberty. He departed from Mexico among the other prifóiiérs 
 that night of the defeat of the Spaniards j but he had then the fortune, 
 or perhaps rather misfortune to efcape, as he was foon tolofe his life in 
 amore ignominious manner. He accompanied the Spaniards in their 
 engagements as far as Tlafcala, where he remained, until having become' 
 either impatient of oppreffion or defirous of recovering the throne, he 
 fied in fecret toTezcuco. At this court his brother Coanacotzin was then 
 reigning, to whom, after the death of Cacamatzin the crown in right 
 belonged. Cuicuitzcatzin had hardly made his appearance when he 
 was made prifoner by the royal minilfcrs, who gave fpeedy advice to 
 their king of it, who was then abfent at^lexico. He communicated 
 it to king Quauhtemotzin his coufin, who cpnfidering that fugitive 
 prince a Ipy of the Spaniards, thought. he ihould be put to death. 
 Coanacotzin, either to pleafe that monarch, or to take away irom Cui- 
 cuitzcatzin any opportunity of attempting to recover the crown to 
 the prejudice of his own right and the peace ot the kingdom, executed 
 that fentence upon him. 
 
 BOOK
 
 [ 135 ] 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 March of the Spaniards to Tezcuco ; their negociations with the Mexi- 
 cans ; their excurjions and battles in the environs of the Mexican 
 lakes ; expeditions againjl Ixcapichtlan, Slyauhnahuac, and other cities • 
 conJiru6l:'jn of the brigantines ; confpiracy of fame Spaniards again/i 
 Cortes J revieiv, divifion, and pofts^ of the Spanifj army ; fiege of 
 Mexico J iniprifonment of king ^tauhtenntzin, and fall of the Mexican 
 empire. 
 
 CORTES, who never quitted the thought of the conqueH: of BOOK x. 
 Mexico, attended moft diligently, while in TLifcala, to the buildin» "secV f' 
 cf the brigantines and to the difcipline of his troops. He obtained of ^^^^'^^ and 
 the fenate a hundred men of burden, for the tranfportation of the fails, Spaniniarmy 
 cordage, iron, and other materials of tlie veflels, which he had unri"-o-ed ^^ ^«^^"'-'"• 
 the preceding year on purpofe to equip the brigantines j for tar he 
 extraded a large quantity of turpentine from the pines on the great 
 mountain Matlalcueje. He gave notice to the Huexotzincas, Cho- 
 lulans, Tepeiachefe, and other allies, to prepare tlieir troops and 
 coUeil a large ftorc of provifions of every kind for a numerous army, 
 which was to be employed in befieging Mexico. When it appeared 
 to him to be time to march, he made a review of his troops, 
 which confirted of forty horfe and five hundred and fifty infantry. 
 He divided this fmall body of cavalry into four troops and the infantry 
 into nine companies, fonie of tiiem armed with guns, fome with crofs- 
 bows, fome with fwords and (Lields, and others with pikes. From 
 the horfe on which he was mounted, while he was reviewing his troops 
 and orderi.ig the ranks, he made them this fpecch : " My friends and 
 " brave companions ! any difcourfe which I might make to animate 
 " your zeal would be altogether fuperfluous, as we all acknowled'J-e 
 " ourfelves bound to repair the honour of our arms, and to revenge 
 
 *' the
 
 HISTORY O 
 
 MEXICO. 
 
 the death of tlie Spaniards and our allies : let us gu to the conqueft of 
 Mexico, tlie mcft glorious enterprize which can prelent itfclf to us 
 through life; let us go, to punilii, with one ftroke, the perfidy, 
 the pride, and the cruelty of our enemies ; to extend the dominions 
 oi our fovereign, by adding this large and rich dom.iin to them ; to 
 pave the way to religion, and open the gates of heaven to many millions 
 of fouls ; to gain with the labour of a few days a competence for 
 our families, and to render all our names immortal ; motives all ca- 
 pable of encouraging even the moft daftardly minds, as well as your 
 generous and noble hearts : I fee no difficulty before us, which your 
 bravery may not overcome : our enemies are indeed numerous, but 
 we are fuperior to them in courage, in difcipline, and in arms ; be- 
 fides, v.x have fuch a number of auxiliaries under our command, that 
 we might conquer with their affiftance not one only, but many cities 
 equal to Mexico : however fbrong it may be, it is not yet fo powerful 
 as to withlland the attacks we fliall make upon it by land and water : 
 laftly, God, for whofe glory we fight, has fliewn a difpofition to 
 profper our defigns ; his providence has preferved us in the midfi; 
 of all our difafters and dangers, has fent us new companions in the 
 room of thofe we have loft, and converted to our benefit the means 
 which our enemies employed for our ruin : what may we not expeft 
 in future from his mercy ? let us confide in him, and not render 
 ourfelves unworthy of his pi'otedtion by diffidence and pufiUani- 
 mity." 
 
 The Tlafcalans, who endeavoured to imitate the difcipline of the 
 Spaniards, thought proper alfo to make a review of their troops before 
 Cortes. The army was preceded by their martial mufic of horns, 
 iea-fliells, and other fuch wind-inftruments, after which came the 
 four chiefs of the republic, armed with fword and fliield, and adorned 
 with- moft rich and beautiful plumes, which rofe more than two feet 
 above their heads ; they wore their hair tied with fillets of gold, pen- 
 dants of gems at their lips and ears, and fhoes of great value upon 
 their feet ; behind them came their four fhield-bearers, armed with 
 bows and arrows ; next the four principal ftandards of the republic 
 appeared, each with its proper enfign wrought of feathers ; then pafied 
 in regular ranks of twenty each the troops of archers, carrj'ing at certain 
 
 diftances,
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 diftances the particular ftandards of their companies, every one of 
 which was conipofed of three or four hundred men. They were 
 followed by the troopi, armed with fwords and fhields, and lalUy, by 
 the pikemen. Herrera and Torquemada affirm, that the archers 
 amounted to fixty, the pikemen to ten, and the others armed with 
 fwords to forty thoufand in number. Xicotencatl, the younger, made 
 alfo an addrefs to his troops, after the example of Cortes, in which 
 he told them, that ihe next day, as had already been intimated, they 
 were to march with the brave Spaniards againfl: the Mexicans, their 
 inveterate enemies; that although the Tlafcalan name was fufficient 
 to intimidate all the nations of Anahuac, they mufl exert themfelves to 
 acquire new glory from their adtions. 
 
 Cortes, oa his part, alTembled the principal lords of the allied flates, 
 and exhorted them to conftant fidelity to tlie Spaniards, exaggerating 
 to them the advantages they might hope for, from the ruin of their 
 enemy, and the evils they might dread, if ever from the fuggeftions 
 of the Mexicans, or the fear of war, or ficklenefs of mind, they fliould 
 violate their promifed faith. He then publiihed a military proclama- 
 tion for the condudt of his troops, containing the following articles : 
 
 I ft. No perfon fhall blafpheme againft God, nor the bleffed Virgin, 
 nor againft the faints. 
 
 zd. No perfon fliall quarrel with another, nor put his hand to his 
 fword, nor any other weapon, to ftrike him. 
 
 3d. No perfon fhall game with his arms, or his horfe, or iron tools, 
 
 4th. No perfon (hall force any woman, under pain of death. 
 
 5th. No perfon fliall take away the property of another, nor punifli 
 any Indian, unlefs he is his flave. 
 
 6th. No perfons fliall make excurfions from the camp without our 
 permiflion. 
 
 7th. No perfon fliall make any Indian prifoner, nor plunder his 
 houfe, without our pemiiflion. 
 
 8th. No perfon fliall ill ufe the allies, but, on the contrary, mufl: 
 exert every means to maintain their friendfliip. 
 
 And becaufe it is of no fervice to publKh laws, if the obfervance of 
 them is not zealoufly attended to, and delinquents puniflied, he ordered 
 
 Vol. II. ' T two
 
 J38 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK X. two Moors, his flaves, to be hanged, becaufe they ftole a turkey and 
 two cotton mantles. By thefe, and other limilar punifhments, he 
 made his orders be regarded, which greatly contributed to the prefer- 
 vation of his troops. 
 
 After he had made all the difpofitions which he thought would con- 
 duce to the happy ilfue of his enterprife, he at length marched with all 
 his Spaniards, and a conliderable number of the allies, on the 28th of 
 December, 1520, having firft heard mafs, and invoked the Holy Spirit. 
 Ide did not then choofe to take the whole army of the allies with him, 
 which had been reviewed the day before, both on account of the diffi- 
 culty which there would be to maintain fo numerous an army in 
 Tezcuco, and becaule he thought it necefliiry to leave the greater part 
 of them in Tlafcala to guard the brigantines, when it fliould be time 
 to tranfport them. Of the three roads, which led to Tezcuco, Cortes 
 chofe the moft difficult, being wifely perfaaded that the Mexicans 
 would not expert him there, and his march would confequenily be more 
 fafe. He proceeded therefore by Tetzmellocan, a village belonging to 
 the fiate of Huexotzinco. On the 30th, they difcovered, from the 
 higheft fummit of thofe mountains, the beautiful vale of Mexico, 
 partly with gladnefs, becaufe there lay the objedt of their defires ; partly 
 with fome difguft,, from the remembrance of their difafters. In be- 
 ginning to defcend towards that vale, they found the way obftruóled 
 with trunks and branches of trees laid acrofs it defignedly, and were 
 obliged to employ a thoufand Tlafcalans to clear it. As foon as they 
 reached the plain, they were attacked by fome flying troops of the 
 enemy ; but upon fome of them being killed by the Spaniards, the reft 
 fled. That night they quartered in Coatepec, a place about eight 
 miles diftant from Tezcuco ; and the day following, as they wers 
 marching towards that capital, in fome doubt and anxiety concerning 
 the difpofition of the Tezcucans, but at the fame time refolved not to 
 return without having taken fome revenge of their enemies, they faw 
 coming to them four refpedlable perfons unarmed, one of them with a 
 little golden flag in his hand j and Cortes recoliefting that this was 
 an enfign of peace, he advanced to confer wiih them. Thefe four 
 meffengers were fent by king Cainacotzin to compliment the Spanifh 
 general, to invite him to the court, and to requeft him not to com- 
 mit
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 139 
 
 mit any hoftilities in his flates, which prefented him the R^g, contain- rooK K. 
 ing thirty -two ounces of gold. Cortes, notvvithflanding this <hew of '" — v-— ' 
 friendlliip, reproached them for the death they had a few months be- 
 fore been the caufe of to forty- five Spaniards, five horfes, and three 
 hundred Tlafcalans, who accompanied them loaded with gold, filver, 
 and arms for the Spaniards who were then in Mexico, and executed 
 with fuch inhumanity, that they had hung up the Ikins of the Spa- 
 niards, with their arms and habits, and thofe of the horfes with their 
 armour, as trophies in the temples of Tezcuco. He added, that although 
 it was impofiible to compenfite the lofs of his people, they muft at lead 
 pay the gold and filver which they had robbed from them ; that if they 
 did not make the due fatisfadion, he would, for every Spaniard they had 
 killed, flay a thoufand Te^cucans. The mefl'engers anfwered, that 
 the Mexicans, and not the Tezcucans, under whofe orders the Zolte- 
 pechefe had adled, were blameable for that ; but, notwithftanding, they 
 would ufe every endeavour to make all be reflored to him ; and leav- 
 ing taken polite leave of the Spanifh general, returned ia hafle to 
 Ttzcuco with the news of the near arrival of the Spaniards at that 
 court. 
 
 Cortes entered with his army into Tezcuco, on the laft day of that Sect. u. 
 year. Some nobles came out to meet him, and condu«5led him to one ,?""T °| '.''* 
 
 ' , _ _ _ opaniards la- 
 
 of the palaces of the late king Nezahualcxjjotl, which was fo large, that to Tezcuco, 
 not only the fix hundred Spaniards were lodged in it, but, according t,ons7n'tiut: 
 to what Cortes fays, it could have accommodated fix hundred more, couit. 
 That general foon perceived the concourfe of people in the flreets 
 remarkably diminilhed, as he thought he did not fee the third part of 
 of the inhabitants which he had fcen upon former occafions, ar.d par- 
 ticularly obferved that the women and children were out of the way, 
 which was a raanifell token of fonie evil difpofition in that court. Ja 
 order to Icllen the diftruft of the citizens, and avoid any accident to 
 his own people, he pubiiflied a proclamation, in v.hich he forbad, 
 under pain of death, any of his foldicrs to leave their quarters without 
 his perminion. After dinner, they cbferved from the terraces of the 
 palace a great number cf people r.bandcning the city, fome witlidrav/- 
 ing to the neighbouring woods, and ethers to different places around 
 the lake. The night following, tlic king Coanacotzin ubfcntcd, 
 
 T 2 tranfport-
 
 140 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK X. tranfporting himlelf to Mexico by water, in Ipite of Cortes, who de 
 figned to have taken him, as he had formerly done, his three bro ■ 
 thers Cacamatzin, Cuiciiitzcatzin, and Ixthlxochitl. Coanacotzin 
 could not purfue any other meafure; for how was it poflible he could 
 think himfelf fecure among the Spaniards, after having k.t\\ what had 
 happened to his brothers, and Montezuma his uncle ? And particu- 
 larly being apprehenfive that many of his own fubjefts would take 
 occaficn to declare themfelves his enemies, fome from their fear of the 
 Spaniards, or the particular interelT: of their families ; others, to revenge 
 the death ot Cuicuitzcatzin, and place Ixthlxochitl on the throne. 
 
 The revolutions which happened in that court fufficiently juilified 
 the refolution he formed. Cortes was hardly three days in Tezcuco, 
 when the lords of Huexotla, Coatlichan, and Ateneo, three cities fo 
 near, as we have already mentioned, to Tezcuco, that they appeared 
 like its fuburbs, prefented themfelves to him, intreating him to ac- 
 cept their alliance and friendlliip. Cortes, who dehred nothing more 
 earncftly than to augment his party, received them kindly, and pro- 
 mifed his proteftion. The court of Mexico, as foon as it knew of 
 this change, fent a fevere reprimand to thofe lords, telling them, that 
 if their motive for adopting fo bafe a meafure was the fear which they 
 had of the power of their enemies, it was fit for them alfo to know, 
 that the Mexicans had ftill greater forces, by which they would foon 
 fee the Spaniards, with their favourite allies the Tlafcalans, totally 
 cruQied; that if they had been obliged to it, for the intereft of the 
 ftates and polTeihons which they owned in Tezcuco, they might come 
 to Mexico, where they would be alTigned better lands. But thofe 
 lords, inftead of being intimidated with the reprimand, or yielding to 
 the promifes made them, feized the meffengers, and fent them to 
 Cortes, He demanded of them the purport of their embafly ? To 
 \vhich they anfwcred, that as they knew thofe lords to be in his favour, 
 they had come to intreat them to be mediators for peace between the 
 Mexicans and the Spaniards. Cortes affefted to believe what they 
 told him, fct them at liberty and charged them to tell their fovereign, 
 that ae did not wi(h for war, nor v/ould not wage it, if he was not 
 compelled by hoftilities from the Mexicans ; that therefore the king 
 ihould attend, and guard againil offering any injury to the Spaniards, 
 
 otherwife
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. H.» 
 
 cthcnvife thev would become his enemies, and infallibly ruin his BOOK X. 
 capital. 
 
 The alliance of thofe cities was of no fmall importance to Cortes, 
 but of all things it was mofl neceflary to bring that court in his favour, 
 both on account of the numerous nobility which it contained, and 
 their influence on the other cities of the kingdom. From the firft 
 moment he entered that city he fludied to gain their minds by every 
 civility and courtefy, and enjoined the fame thing to his people, for- 
 bidding mofi: foverely all kinds of hollility towards the citizens. He 
 difcovered, from the beginning, a party of the nobility favourable to 
 the prince Ixtlilxochitl, whom he ilill kept confined for fome pur- 
 pofe in Tlafcala. He made him be brought to court by a ftrong party 
 of Spaniards and Tlafcalans, prefented him to the nobility, and got 
 them to acknowledge him king, and crown him with the fame 
 ceremonies and rejoicings ufually made for their lawful fovereign. 
 Cortes promoted his advancement as much to revenge himfelf of the 
 lawful king Coanacotzin, as becaufe the kingdom was dependent 
 upon him. The people accepted him, either becaufe they durll not 
 oppofe the Spaniards, or perhaps becaufe they were tired of the govern- 
 ment of Coanacotzin. Ixtlilxochitl was a youth of about twenty- three 
 years j from the time of the firft entry of the Spaniards into Tlafcala 
 he had declared himfelf openly for the Spaniards, had prefented him- 
 felf to Cortes with offers of his army, and invited him to make his jour- 
 ney to Mexico by Otompan, where he was then encamped ; but, in 
 fpite of his friendly intentions and obfequioufnefs, he was made pri- 
 foner by the Spaniards, when they came off in defeat from Mexico, and 
 was confined in Tlafcala until he was called to the throne. The cir- 
 cumftances of this event makes us believe, that his imprifonment was 
 an honourable opprefTion of his liberty, coloured with one of thofc 
 fpecious pretexts, which are ufually invented by artful politicians, when, 
 on account of fome particular diffidence and diftruft, they wifli to render 
 thcmfelves fecure. From long habit with the Spaniards he had become 
 fimiliarifed with their cuftoms and manners. On the throne he had 
 but the appearance of majefty; he was much lefs the lord of his fub- 
 jeóts than minifter of the pleafure of the Spaniards, to whom he rendered 
 grc.it fervices, not only in the conqueit of Mexico, in which he 
 
 8 ferved
 
 142 
 
 HISTORY OF M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK X, ftrved with his perlbn and troops, but alfe in the rebuilding of that 
 ^"-""^''—^ capital, for which he lurnifiiv^d Ionie thoufaPids of architeds, mafons, 
 and labourers. He died extremely young, in 1523, and was fuc- 
 ceeded in the fovereignty of Tezcuco by liis brother Don Carlos, of 
 whom afterwards we Ihall make honourable mention. By the ad- 
 vancement of Ixtlilxochitl, and the civilities lliewn him by Cortes, 
 the party of the Spaniards was confiderably augmented, and all thofe 
 families of Tezcuco which had abfented from tear of hoftilities from 
 thofe flirangers, finding themfelves now fecure, gladly returned to their 
 hcufes. 
 
 Cortes was refolved to keep his quarters in Tezcuco, and had there- 
 fore bufied himfelf in fortifying the royal palace, where his troops were 
 lodged. He could not take any meafure more conducive to his pur- 
 pofes. Tezcuco, the capital of the kingdom of Acolhuacan, and a 
 city of great extent, abounded with every fort of provifion for the fup- 
 port of an army. It had good houfes for their habitations, excellent 
 fortifications for their defence, and plenty of artificers for every kind 
 of labour they required. The dominions of Tezcuco alfo, from bor- 
 dering on thofe of Tlafcala, rendered the neceffary communication 
 with that republic more eafy ; the neighbourhood of the lake was of 
 great importance for the conrtruftion of the brigantines, and the advan- 
 tageous fituation of that court gave the Spaniards a knowledge of all 
 the movements of their enemies, without expofing them to their at- 
 tacks. 
 Sect. Ill, After having arranged matters in Tezcuco, Cortes refolved to make 
 Dangerous ^^ aflault ou thc city of Iztapalapan, to revenge himfelf upon it and 
 gainii izta- its citizens, for the offences received from their ancient lord Cuitla- 
 pa apan. huatziu, whom he knew to be the author of the memorable defeat of 
 the firll of July. He left a garrifon of more than three hundred Spa- 
 niards, and many allies, under the command of Sandoval, in Tezcuco, 
 and marched himfelf v/ith upwards of two hundred Spaniards, and more 
 than three thoufand Tlafcalans, and a great many of the Tezcucan no- 
 bility. Before they arrived at Iztapalapan, they were met by fome 
 troops of the enemy, who feigned to oppofe their entry, fighting partly 
 on land, and partly by water, but retiring as they fought, with a rtiew 
 of not being able to withfland the attack. The Spaniards and Tlaf- 
 calans
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 H3 
 
 calans thus employed in driving the enemy before them, entered the rook X. 
 
 city, the houfes of which they found in a great meafure unpeopled, the ^ v—— < 
 
 citizens having withdrawn wit'i their wives and children, and the 
 greater part of their goods, to the houfes which they had upon the lit- 
 tle iflands in the lake; but there they were purfued by their enemies, 
 who fought alfo in the water. The night was now well advanced, and 
 the Spaniards, who were rejoicing at the vidlory which they believed 
 they had obtained, were bufied in facking the city, and the Tlafcalans 
 were fetting fire to the houfes ; but their gladnefs foon changed into 
 terror, for by the fame light of the burning of the city, they obferved 
 the water overflow the canals, and begin to lay the city under water. 
 As foon as the danger was difcovered, a retreat was founded, and the 
 city was in hafte abandoned, in order to return to Tezcuco ; but in 
 fpite of their diligence they came to a place where there was fo much 
 water that the Spaniards paffed it with difficulty, and fomc of the 
 Tlafcalans were drowned, and the greateft part of the booty loft. 
 Not one of them would have efcaped with life, if, as Cortes affirms, 
 they had continued three hours longer in the city; for the citizens, in 
 order to drown all their enemies, broke the mole of the lake, and en- 
 tirely deluged the city. The next day they continued their march along 
 the lake, ftill harrailed by the enemy. This expedition did not prove 
 very agreeable to the Spaniards; b-ut although they loft their plunder, 
 and many were wounded, only two Spaniards and one horfe died. The 
 lofs of the enemy was a great deal more ; for, befides the ruin of their 
 houfes, upwards of fix thoufand of them, agreeable to the account 
 made by Cortes, were flain. 
 
 The difguft, which tliis expedition gave to Cortes was foon com- sect. iv. 
 Denfated by the obedience which he received by means of their ambaf- ^'^w confe- 
 
 r J ■' deiacic» with 
 
 fadors from the cities of Mizquic, Otompan, and others in that quar- the Spani- 
 ter, alledging, in order to obtain his favour, that thofe ftates having 
 been folicited by the Mexicans to take arms againft the Spaniards, 
 would never confent. Cortes, who was continually increafing his au- 
 thority, the more he augmented his part}', required from them, as a 
 necellary condition for the obtainmcnt of his alliance, that they rtiould 
 fcize all the meflcngers which were fent to them from Mexico, and all 
 the Mexicans who arrived at their cities. They, though not without 
 
 the
 
 H I S T O H V MEXICO. 
 
 the greatert: difficulty, bound themfcives to do Co, and from that time 
 forward were conftantly faithful to the Spaniards. 
 
 This confederacy was immediately followed by that with Chalco, a 
 ccnfiderable city and ftate on the eaftern border of the lake of fvveet 
 water; for Cortes knowing that the Chalchefe were difpofed to adhere 
 to his party, but dared not declare themfelves for fear of the Mexican 
 garrifon in their ftate, fcnt Sandoval there with twenty horfes, two 
 hundred Spanifli infantry, and a number of allies ; but, previoufly, he 
 ordered fomc Tlafcalan troops to march, who were defirous of carry- 
 ing home to their own country that part of the booty which they had 
 brought off from Iztapalapan.and from thence to return towards Chalco, 
 and drive the Mexicans from that ftate. Sandoval gave the van-guard 
 to the Tlafcalans ; fome Mexican troops, who were in ambufli, charged 
 fudderily upon them, threw them into diforder, killed fome of them, 
 and took their booty ; but the Spaniards coming up, defeated the Mexi- 
 cans and put them to flight. Having recovered their booty, the Tlaf- 
 calans continued their journey in fafety, and Sandoval marched towards 
 Chalco ; but long before he arrived at the city, the greateft part of the 
 Mexican garrifon came to meet him, which, as fome hillorians af- 
 firm, confifted of twelve thoufand men. A battle was fought, which 
 lafbed two hours, and concluded with the flaughter of many Mexicans, 
 and the flight of the reft. The Chalchefe, apprifed of the viftory, 
 came with great rejoicing to meet the Spaniards, and introduced them 
 in triumph into their city (e). The lord of that ftate, who had died 
 a fliort time before of the fmall-pox, had, in the laft moments of his 
 life, warmly recommended it to his two fon s to confederate with the 
 Spaniards, to cultivate their friendfliip, and adopt Cortes for a father. 
 In confequence of his laft defire, thofe two youths repaired to Tez- 
 cuco, accompanied by the Spanifh army, and many Chalchefe nobles, 
 prefented the value of one hundred and fifty fequins in gold to Cortes, 
 and eftabliftied the alliance, to which they were always faithful. The 
 
 (<•) Solis, in his account of this event, cninmits two geographical errors : firft, he fuppofes 
 the city of Chalco coiitif;iious to Otoinpan, whereas the court of Tezcuco, and other confiiler- 
 able cities of the kingdom of AcoUmacan are between them, as we have fliewn in our geo- 
 _griiphiciil chart of the Mexican lakes. Secondly, he fays, that the flatcs of Chalco and Tlaf- 
 cah bordered upon each other, whereas there is a wood of fifteen mil«s ioiig, und a part of 
 the dominions of Hvieaotzinco between them. 
 
 caufe
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 145 
 
 caufe of rebellion, fo frequent among the people of that empire, was book x. 
 in fome the fear of the Spaniili arms, and the power of their allies ; 
 and in others, their hatred to, and impatience under, the Mexican 
 yoke. It is mipoliible to expcdt conflant fidelity from fubjedls who 
 are rather influenced by terror than kindnefs. No throne can be 
 more unliable than that which is fupported by force of arms more than 
 by the love of the people. Cortes, after careding the two Chalche/e 
 youths, divided the flute between them, either at their own requell, 
 or the fuggeftions of the nobility. He conferred on the eldefl: the prin- 
 cipal city, and fome other places ; and on the youngeft he fettled I'lal- 
 manalco, Chimalhuaca, and Ajotzinco. 
 
 The Mexicans did not ceafe to make incurfions into the flates which 
 had confederated with the Spaniards, but the diligence ufed by Cortes 
 in' fending fuccour to them, made their attempts generally fruitlefs. 
 Amongft others, the Chalchefe came in the fpace of a few days to re- 
 queft the affiflance of the Spaniards ; for they had learned that the 
 Mexicans were preparing to ftrike a fevere blow upon that fiate which 
 had recently renounced fubjedlion to them. Cortes could not at this 
 time comply with their demand j for having now finifhed all the labour 
 of the mads, the planks, and other apparatus of the brigantines, he had 
 occafion for all his troops to tranfport them fafely to Tezcuco., He 
 advifed the Chalchefe, however, to make an alliance with the Huexot- 
 zincas, theCholulans, and theQiiauhquechollans. They objeéled to fuch 
 a confederacy, on account of their ancient enmity to thofe people. The 
 Chalchefe were hardly departed, when three meffengers came feafon- 
 ably to Tezcuco from Huexotzinco and QuauhquechoUan, fent by thofe 
 lords to exprefs their apprehenfions, on account of certain fmoke, 
 obfervcd by the centincls whom they had pofled on the tops of the 
 mountains, which was a ftrong indication of war, and to offer their troops 
 to his command whenever he chofe to make ufe of them. Cortes 
 availed himfelf of this favourable opportunity to unite thofe flates in 
 alliance with that of Chalco, obliging them to lay afide for their com- 
 mon benefit any refentment fubfifling between individuals. This alli- 
 ance was fo firm, that from that time forward they mutually afilfled 
 each other againfl the Mexicans. 
 
 Vol. II. U It
 
 tiaes 
 
 146 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOIiL X. It being now time to tranfport the timber, fails, cordage, and iron, 
 
 sfc^iC^. for the brigantines, Cortes fent Sandoval with two hundred Spa- 
 
 Traniport of nijjf^Js ap^j fifteen horfes for that purpofe, charo;ing him to go firft 
 
 the materials . . 
 
 ofthebrigau- to Zoltcpec, and take ample revenge on thofe citizens for the flaughter 
 of the forty-five Spaniards and three hundred Tiafcalans, of whom 
 we have already made mention. The Zoltepechefe, when they per- 
 ceived this ftorm coming upon them, deferted their houfes to fave 
 their lives by flight, but they were purfued by the Spaniards, and many 
 of them killed, and others made (laves. From thence Sandoval march- 
 ed to Tlafcala, where he found every thing ready for the tranfport 
 of the finifhed materials of the brigantines. The firfl brigantine was 
 built by Martino Lopez, a Spanifh foldier, who was an engineer in 
 the army of Cortes, and was put to proof in the river Zahuapan. 
 After that model the other twelve were built by the Tiafcalans. The 
 tranfport of them was executed with great rejoicing and expedition by 
 the Tiafcalans, the load appearing to them of little weight, which was 
 to contribute to the ruin of their enemies. Eight thoufand Tiafcalans 
 carried on their backs the beams, lails, and other materials, necellàry 
 for the conftrudiion of the brigantines ; two thoufand were loaded with 
 provifions, and thirty thoufand were armed for defence, under the 
 command of the three chiefs Chichimecatl or Chichimecateudlli, Ajo- 
 tecatl, and Teotepil or Teotlipil. This convoy occupied, according 
 to Bernal Diaz, upward of fix miles of fpace, from van to rear. 
 When they fet out from Tlafcala, Chichimecatl commanded the van- 
 guard, but whenever they got without the dominions of the republic, 
 Sandoval gave him the rear-guard, fearing fome attack from the enemy. 
 This occafioned great difgufi: to the TIafcalan, who boafted of his bra- 
 very, alledging, that in all the battles in which he had ever been con- 
 cerned, he had always, in example of his ancellors, takea the moil 
 dangerous poil ; and Sandoval was obliged to make ufe of argimients 
 and entreaties to pacify him. Cortes, arrayed in his mofl fplendid 
 apparel, and accompanied by all his othcers, cartie to meet them, and 
 embraced and thanked thofe TIafcalan lords lor their kind fervices. 
 Six hours were ipent in entering into Tezcuco in the beil order, and 
 
 with.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 with t'ac ciyof C.jlli!:! GajiUe! T I afe ala ! Tlafcala ! in the midlT: of 
 the jiyjfc of the mihtary inufic. 
 
 The general Chichimecatl was hardly arrived, when, without tak- ^^^'^:. y^- 
 
 Expedition 
 
 ing any rell after the fatigue of his journey, he requelted Cortes to agaimi the 
 employ him and his troops againft the enemy. Cortes, who waited for tòcan°and* 
 nothing elfe than the arrival of the auxiliary troops of Tlafcala, to exe- Tlacopan, 
 cute an expedition which he had been meditating for fome time, after 
 leaving a ftrong garriibn in Tezcuco, and giving the proper orders for 
 the completing of the brigantines, fet out on his march in the beginning 
 of fpring 1 52 1, with twenty-five horfes, and fix fmall pieces of artil- 
 lery, three hundred and fifty Spaniards, thirty thoufand Tlafcalans, 
 and a part of the Tezcucan nobility ; and becaufe he was afraid that the 
 Tezcucans, whom he did not altogether trufi, might give fccret advice 
 to the enemy and frullrate his defigns, he left Tezcuco without pub- 
 lilhing the objeòl of his expedition. The army travelled twelve miles 
 towards the north, and remained that night under the open fky. The 
 next day it proceeded to attack Xaltocan, a flrong city fituated in the 
 middle of a lake, with a road leading to it, cut like thofe of Mexico, 
 with feveral ditches. The Spanilh infantry, aflifi:ed by a confiderable 
 number of the allies, pafied the ditches, through a thick fhower of 
 darts, arrows, and ftones, by which many were wounded ; but the 
 citizens not being able to endure longer the flaughter which the Spa- 
 nilh arms made of them, abandoned the city, and faved themfelves by 
 flight. The conquerors plundered the city, and fet fire to fome of the 
 houfes. 
 
 The day following tliey proceeded towards the large and beautiful 
 city of (^auhtitlan, as Cortes juftly calls it, but they found it depo- 
 pulated J the citizens having been terrified by what had happened to 
 Xaltocan, and betaken themfelves to fonie place of fecurity. 
 
 From thence they pafied to Tenajocca, and to Azcapozalco, and be- 
 caufe they met with no refift:ance from any of thofe three cities they 
 did them no hurt. At laft they came to the court of Tlacopan, the 
 limit which Corte? had propofed to himfelf for the expedition, where 
 he meant to folicit fome accommodation with the court of Mexico, 
 and if that lliould not fucceed, to inform himfelf in the neighbour- 
 hood of its defigns and preparations. He found the citizens of that 
 
 U 2 place
 
 148 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK X. place difpofed to difpute his entrance. They attacked the Spaniards 
 
 ' ' with their ullial fury, and fought courageoufly for fome time ; but at 
 
 length becoming unable to withftand the fire of their guns, and the 
 impetuofity of the horfes, they retreated to the city. The Spaniards, 
 on account of its being late, lodged in a large houfe of the fuburbs. 
 The next day the Tlafcalans fet fire to many houfes of the city, and, 
 during fix days, which the Spaniards remained there, they had conti- 
 nual flcirmiflies, and fome famous duels were fought between the Tlaf- 
 calans and the citizens of Tlacopan ; but they both fought with ex- 
 treme bravery, and vented the hatred which they bore each other in a 
 thouland reproaches, Thofe of Tlacopan called the Tlafcalans the 
 damfels of the Spaniards, without whofe proteftion they never would 
 have dared to advance fo near to that city. The Tlafcalans anfwered 
 in their turn, that the Mexicans, and all their partizans, rather ought 
 to have the name of women given them ; being lo fuperior in number 
 and yet never able to fubdue the Tlafcalans. The Spaniards themfelves 
 did not efcape from infults of this kind. They were ironically invited 
 to enter Mexico to command there like lords, and to enjoy all the 
 pleafures of life. " Do you think Chriftian," they faid to Cortes, 
 ** that things will go on in the fame way as they did laft time ì Perhaps 
 " you imagine there is another Montezuma reigning in Alexico de- 
 " voted to your pleafures ? Enter, enter the court, where you will 
 " all be made a lacrifice to the gods." During the engagements, 
 which they had in thofe fix days, the Spaniards entered that fatal 
 road and approached to thofe memorable ditches, where, nine months 
 before they had been fo cruelly defeated. They found there a terrible 
 refinance, and in an inftant they apprehended to be utterly deftroyed ; 
 for by being bufied in purfuing fome Mexican troops who had come 
 defignedly to infult tliem, and lead them into danger, they found 
 themfelves unexpedledly attacked, from both quarters on the road, by 
 fuch a numerous enemy, that they with difficulty retreated, combat- 
 ing moft furloufiy until they came to the main land. In this conflidt 
 five Spaniards were killed and niany wounded. Of the Mexicans, 
 many were flain in this and the other engagements. Cortes, difo-ufl- 
 «d with the ill fuccefs of his expedition, returned with his army by the 
 fame road to Tezcuco, fuffering new infults from the enemy in his 
 
 8 march.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 149 
 
 march, who afcribed his retreat to fear and cowardice. The Tlafca- BOOK X. 
 lans, who accompanied the Spaniards in their expedition, having a- ^^ '^ ^ 
 mall'ed a large quantity of fpoils, demanded permiffion ot Cortes to 
 carry them into their own country, which was readily granted. 
 
 Sandoval, who, in the abfence of Cortes, had taken care of that Stcr. vil. 
 poft, departed from it two days after the arrival of that general with ^'^^''ainft h'u. 
 twenty horfes, three hundred Spaniards, and a great number of allies, axtepcc. 
 to the fuccour of the Chalchefe, who were apprehenfive of a flrong 
 aflault from the Mexicans ; but having found a great number of the 
 troops of Huextotzinco and Quauquechollan, who were come to their 
 alliftance, and knowing that the greateft damage was done to that city 
 by the Mexicans, who were in the garrifon of Huaxtepec, a city fitu- 
 ated in the mountains, fifteen miles to the fouthward of Chalco, he 
 proceeded there. On their march they were attacked by two great bo- 
 dies of the enemy, but they quickly defeated them ; this was owing 
 in a great meafure to the immenfe multitude of allies, whom the Spa- 
 niards took with them. They entered into Huaxtepec, and lodged 
 themfelves in fome great houfes of that city, to reft themfclves and 
 cure their wounded ; but immediately they had a new alTault from the 
 Mexicans, and were compelled to take up arms again to repulfe them. 
 Having defeated and purlued them upwards of three miles until they 
 were entirely routed, they returned to the city, where they halted two 
 days. Huaxtepec was a city at that time famous not only for its ex- 
 cellent manufad:ures of cotton, but alfo for its wonderful garden, of 
 which we have already made mention. 
 
 From Huaxtepec Sandoval fent meffengers to offer peace to the In- 
 habitants of Jacapichtla, a very ftrong place about fix miles diftant, 
 fituated on the top of a mountain, almoft inaccefiible to cavalry, and 
 defended by a competent garrifon of Mexicans ; but his propofals be- 
 ing rejeded, he marched towards tiiat city, determined to ftrike a blow 
 there, which would humble their pride, and for ever deliver the Chal- 
 chefe from the evils which harralled them continually from that quar- 
 ter. The Tlafcalans, and other allies, were intimidated by the fight 
 of fo much dilHculty and danger ; but Sandoval, animated by that great 
 fpirlt which dilplayeJ itfclf in all his adions, refolved to conquer or 
 die. He began to afccnd with his infantry, having to furmount at tiie 
 
 fame
 
 150 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK X. fame time both the ruggednefs of the mountain, and the multitude of 
 the enemy, who defended it with a fliowcr of darts, and frones, Ibme 
 of which were of immoderate fize, and although they broke in filling 
 on the rocks between, wounded the Spaniards with the fragments ; but 
 nothing could reftrain them from entering the city bathed in fvveat and 
 blood, after which example the aUies did the fame. The fatigue and 
 their wounds inflamed their indignation {o much, that they attacked 
 the enemy with the utmoft fury ; who, to efcape from their (Words, 
 fled down the precipices of the mountain. So much blood was fpilt, 
 tliat it purpled a little ftream which ran there, and changed its waters 
 fo, that for more than an hour the conquerors could not ufe it 
 to quench the thirft which diftrelTed them {/) ; " This," fliys Cortes, 
 ** was one of the moft Tignai victories, in which the Spaniards gave the 
 " ftrongefl: proofs of their courage and conftancy." This day coll the 
 life of Gonzalo Dominguez, one of the braveft foldiers Coi-tea, had, 
 and whofe lofs was mofl: feniibly felt by them all. 
 
 The Mexicans were fo enraged at the flaughter committed at Jaca- 
 pichtla, that they fent twenty thoufand armed men, in two thoufand 
 veffels, againft Chalco. The Chalchefe implored as before the affift- 
 ance of the Spaniards, and their mefl!engers arrived juft as Sandoval 
 returned from Jacapichtla, with his army fatigued, exhaufled, and 
 wounded. Cortes, afcribing too inconfiderately thofe repeated hofliilities 
 of the Mexicans againft the Chalchefe to fonie negledl of that unparal- 
 leled commander, without firft enquiring into his conduót, hearing, or 
 allowing him a moment of repofe, commanded him to march immedi- 
 ately to Chalco with the foldiers who were leaft wounded, to the alTift- 
 ance of thofe allies. Sandoval was extreniely dilgufl:ed with the flight 
 offered him by his general, at the tiine he ought rather to invc expell- 
 ed the greateft praifes ; but he had as much prudence in diflemblino- 
 his fenfe of this injury, and as much readinefs to obey, as he had fhewn 
 courage in that arduous enteprize. He fet out without delay for 
 
 (/) Bernal Diaz ridicules Gomara for this account of the waters having been fo difcolourcd 
 with blood : but Diaz was not prefent at this expedition, and we ought therefore to "ive more 
 faith to Cortes, who fays, the (laughter which the Spaniards made of the enemy and 
 which the enemy made of themfelves by precipitating themfelvcs from that eminence was 
 fo great, that all who were prefent affirm, that a little river which furrounded almoft all that 
 place, remained for upwards of an hour fo tinged with blood that they could not drink of it. 
 
 Chalco :
 
 HISTORYOF MEXICO. 151 
 
 Chalco ; but when he arrived there he found the buttle over, in whicli BOOK I\. 
 
 the Chalchd'e remained vidlorious, with the aflillance of their new 
 
 allies of Heuxotzinco and Qnauhquechoilan ; and although they fuf- 
 
 tained a confiderable lofs, they killed a number of the enemy and made 
 
 forty prifoners, among whom were a general of the army and two 
 
 perfons of the firft nobility, who were configned by the Chalchefe to 
 
 Sandoval, and by him fent to Cortes. This general having difcovered 
 
 his error, and being well informed of the irreprehejifible conduci of 
 
 Sandoval, endeavoured to appeafe his jull refentment by particular 
 
 marks of honour and efleem. 
 
 Cortes being defirous of an accommodation with the court of Sect.vhi, 
 Mexico, both in order to avoid the fatigue and dillrefles of war, and ^ochtìon of' 
 to make himfelf mailer of fo beautiful a city without ruining it, re- Cortes with 
 folved to fend thofe two perfons who were prifoners with a letter to Mexico, 
 king Quauhtemotzin ; which, although it could not be underllood by 
 the court, as they were totally ignorant of the charadlers of it, would 
 however be a credential and token of his embafly. He explained the 
 contents of the letter to the melTengers, and charged them to reprefent 
 to their fovereign, that he pretended to nothing more than that the 
 king of Spain fhould be acknowledged lord of that land, agreeable to 
 what had been granted by the Mexican nobility in that refpedlable 
 aflembly which was held in Mexico, in prefence of Montezuma ; that 
 they fliould remember the homage which the Mexican lords then did 
 to the great monarch of the Eaft ; that he wiflied to eflablilh a peace, 
 and to make a perpetual alliance with them, and was not difpofed ta 
 war unlefs conftrained to it by their hoflilities ; that it would grieve 
 him to fpill fo much Mexican blood, and deftroy fuch a large and beau- 
 tiful city J that they thenifelves were witnelTcs of the bravery of the 
 Spaniards, the fupcriority of their arms, the multitude of their allies, 
 and the fuccefs of their enterprizes -, that they fliould finally refledl 
 within themfelves, and not oblige by their obftinacy a war to be con- 
 tinued to the utter ruin of the court and the empire. 
 
 The fruit of this embaffy was foon difcovered in the lamentations of 
 the Chalchefe, who knowing of the great force which was levying 
 againft their Hate, came to implore the alllftance of the Spaniards i 
 
 ilxewing
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 fliewing to Cortes, painted on a cloth, the cities which were arminj; 
 
 againft them by order of the king, and the routes which they were 
 
 to take. While Cortes was preparing his troops for this expedition, 
 
 melTengers arrived at Tezcuco from Tuzapan, Mexicatlzinco, and 
 
 Nauhtlan, cities fituated on the coafi: of the Mexican gulf beyond the 
 
 colony of Vera Cruz, to offer obedience in the name of their chiefs to 
 
 the king of Spain. 
 
 Sect. IX. On the fifth of April Cortes fet out from Tezcuco, with thirty 
 
 SpM'in"army horfes, three hundred Spanilh infantry, and twenty thonfand allies, 
 
 through the leavino the command of that place and the care of the brigantines to 
 
 iouthern ° . ^ - , 
 
 iiiountaiiis. Sandoval. He went llrait to Tlalmanalco, and irom thence to Chi- 
 malhuacan {g), where he increafed his army with other twenty thou- 
 fand men, and who, to revenge themfelves on the Mexicans, or from 
 the hopes of fpoil, or from both motive-Sj came froni different places 
 to ferve in that war. Direding his way according to the route marked 
 in the Chalchefe paintings, he travelled through the fouthern mountains 
 towards Huaxtepec ; he law near to the road a fleep mountain, the top 
 of which was occupied by a vaft number of women and children, and 
 the fides by innumerable warriors, who, trufting to the natural ifrength 
 of that place, made game of the Spaniards with howling and whifiling. 
 Cortes, unable to endure this mockery, attacked the mountain on three 
 fides i but they were hardly begun to afcend with the greateft difficulty 
 through a Ihower of darts and flones, than he ordered a retreat j for, 
 befides that he perceived the attempt to be rafli and more dangerous 
 than fruitful, an army of the enemy came in fight, marching towards 
 the fame place, with an intent to attack tiie Spaniards behind, when 
 they were moll engaged in the aflault. Cortes immediately made againft 
 them, with his troops v/ell formed. The battle lafted a Ihort time, 
 for the enemy foon finding their inferiority of ftrength, quickly aban- 
 doned the field. The Spaniards purfued them upwards of an hour and 
 a half, until they were entirely routed. Tlie lofs of the Spaniards on 
 this occafion was almoft nothing, but in the affault of the mountain 
 eight were killed and many of them wounded. 
 
 (g) There were, and (1111 are, two places of this name ; the one fituated upon the borderof 
 the lake of Tezcuco, clofe to the peninfuh of Ir-tapalapan, and c:illed fimply Chimalbuacan ; 
 the other, which is in the mountains tc the fouthwaid of the vale of Mexico, is called Chimal- 
 hiiasan Qhako\ and it was to this laft phico that Cortes wont. 
 
 The
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 153 
 
 The thirll which dilireflcd the army, and the intimation \7hich rook; X'. 
 Cortes had of another mountain three miles off limilarly occupied, ' ' ' 
 forced him to march towards that part. He obferved on one fide of 
 the mountain two lofty rocks, defended by many warriors ; but they, 
 thinking that tlie Spaniards would attempt the alfault on the fide 
 oppolite, abandoned the rocks, and repaired where they apprehend- 
 ed molt danger. Cortes, who knew well how to profit by all con- 
 junftures which either fortune, or the imprudence of his enemies 
 prefentcd, ordered one of his captains to endeavour to occupy one of 
 the rocks with a competent number of men, while he employed the 
 befieged on the oppofite quarter. He began then to afcend, thougli 
 not without the utmofl: difficulty ; but when he had reached a poft as 
 high as that taken by the enemy, he fiw the Spanilh {i.-\g hoilled 
 upon one of the rocks. The enemy finding themfelves attacked on 
 both fides, and having already began to feel the lofs wiiich the fire- 
 arms occafioned aniong them, fiuTcndered. Cortes treated them with 
 the utmofl: humanity ; but demanded from them, as a condition necef- 
 fary to obtain his pardon, that they Ihould induce thofe alfo wlio 
 occupied the firfl: mountain to furrender alfo, v/hich they accordingly 
 did. 
 
 Cortes, finding thefe obllacles removed, proceeded through Huaxte- Sect. x. 
 pec, Jauhtepec, and Xiuhtcpec, to the large and pleafant city of Quauii- Q^'àùhnu -" 
 nahuac (/' ), the capital of the nation of the Tlahuicas, upwards of thirty '*"^^'- 
 miles diftant from Mexico, towards the fouth. This city was very 
 flrong from its natural fituation j being on one fide furrounded by lleep 
 mountains, and on the other by a hollow about (even perches deep, 
 through which ran a little river. The cavalry could not enter there 
 except by two ways, which were unknown to the Spaniards, or by the 
 bridges which had been raifed as foon as they had appeared. Wiiile 
 they were feeking a convenient place to begin the aflìiult, the Quauh- 
 
 (/)) The name Quauhnaluiac has been ftranc^cly altered by th-: Spaniards ; Cortes calls this 
 city CoaJuabateJ, iHinal Uiaz Comijtl/aca, Solis 'Jluottabacn, &c. That oi Vu^ina'.uiia prcvaik-J 
 afterwards, by which it ii known among the Spaniards at prclVnt ; but the Indians llill retain 
 the old name Q^iauhnahuac. It is one of the thirty piaci s which Charles V. gave to Cortes, 
 a[»J if at prcfcnt part o! the ellaies of the duke of Montclcon, at marijuis of tlie valle} of 
 Oaxaca. 
 
 Vol. II- X nahuachefe
 
 HISTORY OF M E X I CO. 
 
 nahuachefe fliot an incredible number of arrows, darts, and flones at 
 them. But a courageous Tlafcalan having obferved, that two great 
 trees, which grev/ on the oppolite fides of the hollow inclining towards 
 each other, had crolfed and mutually interwoven their branches, he 
 made a bridge of them to pafs to the other fide j and his example was 
 quickly followed, though with great difficulty and with great danger, 
 by fix Spanifh foldiers, and afterwards by many Spaniards and Tlaf- 
 calans(/). This a6l of intrepidity fo intimidated thofe who defended' 
 the afiault in that quarter, that they immediately retreated, and went to 
 join the other citizens, who, at another part of the city, were oppofing 
 the troops led by Cortes ; but while moft employed in the defence, 
 they found themlclves unexpedtedly attacked by thofe troops, who, 
 following that courageous Tlafcalan, were now entered by the unde- 
 fended part into the city. Terror made the citizens give up refiftance, 
 and put them to flight precipitately tiirough the mountains j while the 
 allies, without any oppofition, burned a great part of the city. The 
 lord of it, who had fled with the refi:, fearing to be overtaken ia 
 the mountains by the Spaniards, took occafion to furrender himfelf,, 
 declaring that he had not done it before becaufe he waited till the 
 rage of the Spaniards fliould be exhaufted on the city, and by being 
 fatisfied with other hoftilities, might abftain from treating his perfon 
 cruelly. 
 Sect. XT. After fomc repofe the army left Ouauhnahuac, loaded with fpoils, 
 
 ConqueO of -f ' 1111 ^ r 
 
 Xochimilco. direfting their way towards the north, through a large wood of pines,, 
 where they endured a great thirft, and the. day following found them- 
 felves near the city of Xochimilco. This beautiful city, the largeft 
 next to the three royal refidences of all thofe in the Mexican vale, was 
 founded upon the border of the lake of Chalco, a little more than 
 twelve miles diftant from the capital : its inhabitants were numerous, 
 its temples many, its buildings magnificent, and its gardens floating 
 on the lake Angularly beautiful, from whence it took its name of Xo- 
 
 (/) Soils, without mnking mention of that Tlafcalan, attributes all the glory of that aflion to- 
 Bernal Diaz ; in which particuhir he contradids Cones, and other hillorian:,. Bernal Diaz 
 himfelf, who, in the relation of this event, djes himfelt all the honour he can, boalis of having 
 been one of thofe who did not rcg.ird the ri(k of their lives, and palled the depth on the 
 branches of the trees ; but by no means tajtes the honour to himfelf of having been the firll 
 who paired or fuggelled the attempt. 
 
 chimi] CO
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 155 
 
 Ghimilco [i] : it had, like the capital, many canals or ditches, and for 
 fear of the Spaniards, they had now feveral entrenchments. As foon 
 as they faw the enemy approach, they railed the bridges of the canals, 
 to make the entry more dithcult. The Spaniards divided their army 
 into three fqiiadrons, to attack the city by as many places, but every 
 where they met with a flout refiftancc, and could not take the firft 
 ditch until after a terrible engagement of more than half an hour, in 
 v/hich two Spaniards were killed and many wounded; but having at 
 laft overcome thofe obftaclcs, they entered the city, purfuing the in- 
 habitants, v/ho perfevered till night, fighting in the veflels in which 
 they had made their retreat. Tliey frequently heard voices among the 
 combatants who demanded peace, but the Spaniards underflanding that 
 thofe cries were made with no other view than to gain time to place 
 their fimilies and goods in fecurity, and to receive the fuccour which 
 they expedled from Mexico, preiTed them ftill harder; until, finding 
 all refiftance dropt, they retired to repofe and cure the wounded : but 
 they had hardly began to draw their breath a little, when they faw 
 themfelves attacked by a great number of enemies, who came formed 
 in order of battle by the fame road by which the Spaniards had entered. 
 They were now reduced to great difficulties, and Cortes himfelf was 
 in imtninent danger of becoming a prifoner of the enemy; for his 
 horfe having fallen from fatigue, as he fiys, or being cut down by the 
 blows from the Xochimilcas, as fome hiftorians report, he continued 
 fighting on foot with his lance ; but being overpowered by the enemy, 
 he would not have been able to have faved himfelf from ruin, if a brave 
 Tlafcalan (/), and after him tvvo of his own fcrvants, had not feafon- 
 ably come to his relief. 
 
 The Xochimilcas teiig at laft defeated, the Spaniards had leifure to 
 repofe a little after the fatigues of the day, in which fome of their foldiers 
 had been killed, and alinoft all of them wounded, and the general 
 himfelf and the principal officers Alvarado and Olid among the reft. 
 
 {i) Xochimiko means gardens anJ fields of flowers. 
 
 (/) Hcrrera and Torcjuemada fiiy, that the day after the great hazard Cortes liad been in of 
 being made prifoiu-r, hf fought for the Tlafcalan who had refcucd him, but could not find him 
 either dead or alive ; on which hccoiuu, from the devotion which the general paid to St. Peter, 
 he became pcrfuadcd that, that apolilc had been the perfon who faved him. 
 
 X 2 Fquj. 
 
 BOOK X.
 
 156 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 EOOK X. Four Spaniards, made prifoners, were conduced to the capital, and fa- 
 crificed witliout delay, and their arms and legs lent to different places to 
 encourage the iubjedts againrt: the enemies of the fiate. It is beyond 
 a doubt, that on this, as well as on other occafions, Cortes might ealily 
 have been put to death by the enemy, if they had not had fb much 
 anxiety to take him alive to facrifice him to their gods. 
 
 The news of the taking of Xochimilco threw the court of M,\\ico 
 into great ccnfternation. KingQuauhtemotzin affembled fbme military 
 chiefs, and reprefented to them the lofs and danger occafioned to Mexi- 
 co by the capture of fo confiderable a place, the fervice they would render 
 their gods and the nation in retaking it, and the courage and flrength 
 which was neceflary to overcome thofe daring and deftruólive flrangers. 
 They immediately gave orders, therefore, to raife an army of twelve 
 thouland men, to be lent by land, and another to be fent by water; 
 which were fb fpeedily executed, that the Spaniards had hardly repofed 
 after the fluigues of the preceding day, when Cortes was advifed by his 
 centinels of the march of the Mexicans towards that city. This gene- 
 ral divided his army into three divifions, and gave his captains the 
 neceflary orders ; he left fome troops to garrifon the quarters, and 
 commanded that twenty horfe with five hundred Tlafcalans fliould pafs 
 acrofs the enemy's front, to occupy a neighbouring little mountain, 
 and wait there his final orders for the attack. The Mexican com- 
 manders advanced full of pride, making great oftentation of fome Eu- 
 ropean fwords which had been taken from the Spaniards on the night 
 of the firfl of July. The battle was begun without the city, and when 
 it appeared proper time, Cortes ordered the troops poflied on the little 
 mountain to attack the rear of the Mexicans. They finding them- 
 felves attacked on every fide, went into diforder and fied, leaving five 
 hundred dead on the field. The Spaniards, on their return to their 
 quarters, found that the body of men left there had been in great 
 danger from the great number of Xochimilcas who had encountered 
 them. Cortes, after having been for three days in Xochimilco in fre- 
 quent fkirmiihes with the enemy, made the temples- and houfes be fet 
 on fire, and went to the market-place, which was without the city, to 
 order his people for their march. The Xochimilcas being perfuaded 
 that his departure was the eftedt of fear, fell upon the rear-guard with 
 
 great
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. i^y 
 
 great clamour ; but tliey were foon fo feverely repulfed by the Spaniards, BOOK x. 
 
 that they never dared again to attack them. "" ^ ' 
 
 Cortes advanced with his army as far as Coiohuacan, a large city Sect.xii. 
 
 . , ' b J March ot the 
 
 fituated upon the bank or the lake, fix miles diftant from Mexico to- Spaniards 
 wards the fouth, with a view to obferve all thole poits, and make the hke^to'xtz- 
 fitter difpofitions for the fiegc of the capital. He found the city eva- ^uco. 
 cuated, and the next day he fet out from it, to examine the road which 
 led from that city to the road of Iztapalipan. He found an entrench- 
 ment made there by the Mexicans, and ordered his infantry to attack 
 it, who, in fpite of the terrible refiftance of the enemy who defended 
 it, took it ; ten Spaniards being wounded, and fome Mexicans killed. 
 Cortes having mounted the trench, fuv the road of Iztapalapan dark- 
 ened with an innumerable enemy, and the lake covered with fome 
 thoufands of boats, and after having obfervcd every thing necefTary to 
 his purpofe, he returned to the city, whofe houfes and temples he 
 caufed to be fet on fire. 
 
 From Cojohuacan he marched the army to Tlacopan, though har- 
 rafled on the way by fome Hying troops of the enemy, who attacked 
 the baggage. In one of thofe fcufHes, where Cortes was in great dan- 
 ger, they took two of his fervants prifoners, who were conducflcd to 
 Mexico and immediately facrificed. Cortes arrived at Tlacopan in af- 
 flidion at this misfortune, but his difpleafure was greatly increafed 
 when he beheld from the upper area of the greater temple of that court, 
 along with fome other Spaniards, that fatal road wherein fome months 
 before he had loft fo many of his friends and foldiers, and confidercd 
 attentively the great difficulties which muft be overcome before he 
 could render himfelf mafter of the capital. Some of his oriicers fug- 
 gefted to him, to fend his troops by that road to commit fome hofti- 
 lities on the Mexicans; but he did not chufe to expofe them to fa 
 great rilk ; and, witliout remaining longer in that city, he returned by 
 Tenajoccan, Quauhtitlan, Citlaltepec, and Acolman, to Tezcuco, 
 having made a circuit in this expedition roivnd all the lakes of the 
 Mexican vale, and obfervcd what eftbrts and exertions were neceflary 
 to execute the great enterprize in his mind with luccefs. 
 
 In Tezcuco Cortes continued all the preparations for the fiege. The ^'"'J-.'^^'^» 
 
 ' ., Ill- Confpiracy 
 
 brigan tines were equipped, and a. canal formed, a mile and a half long, a-aiuii Cor»- 
 
 fulHcicntly '"'•
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 fufllciently deep, and furniflied on both fides with a fence, to receive 
 the water of the lake into which the brigantir.es were to be launched, 
 and a machine conftrudted to launch them. The troops which Cortes 
 had under his command were almoft without number, and likewife 
 that of the Spaniards was confiderably augmented by fome who a 
 few days before had arrived at the port of Vera Cruz, in a veflel from 
 Spain loaded with horfes, arms, and ammunition. Every thing ap- 
 peared to promife a happy ilTue, at the moment the enterprize was in 
 the greatefl danger of being totally fruflrated and ruined. Some Spanifh 
 foldiers, p;irtirans of the governor of Cuba, incited either to hatred of 
 Cortes, or envious of his gloi-y, or, what feems ftill as probable, from 
 fear of the dangers which threatened them in the liege of the capital, 
 fecretly agreed to take away his life, and thofe of his captains Alvarado, 
 Sandoval, and Tapia, and all thofe who appeared to be mofl attached 
 to the party of the general. The confpiratois had not only determined 
 the time and manner of fecurely executing the blow, but elefted alfo 
 thofe on whom the vacant ports of general, judge, and captains were 
 to be conferred ; when one of the accomplices, having repented of the 
 deed, feafonably revealed the treafon to Cortes. This general immedi- 
 ately made Antonio de Villafaua, the chief of the confpirators, be feized, 
 committed his examination to a judge, and he having freely confefl'ed the 
 crime, was according to juftice hanged from a window of the quarters. 
 With refpeót to his accomplices, Cortes prudently dilfembled, alTedting 
 not to believe them culpable, and afcribing the infatr.y imputed to them 
 by the confelTion, to the malice of Villafnia ; but, in order that in future 
 he might not be expofed to lb inuch rilk of his life, he formed a body- 
 guard of feveral foldiers whofe fidelity and courage he had tried, who 
 attended him day and night, and watched continually over the fafety 
 pf his perfon. 
 Kect. XIV. Having thus crufhed, by the punilhmcnt of the ringleader, that per- 
 '^ar^tionfr* ^^^^°"^ confpiracy, Cortes applied himfelf with the utmolT; a<flivity to 
 thcficgcof put the lafi: hand to his great undertaking. On the twenty-eighth of 
 April, after the celebration of the mats of the Holy Spirit, at which all 
 the Spaniards communicated, and the brigantincs were given benedic- 
 tion by a prieft, they were launched into the water, and immediately 
 difplaying th:;ir fails, began to plough the lake under a diicharge of the 
 
 artillery 
 
 Mexico.
 
 II I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 159 
 
 artillery and fmall arms, which was followed by the finglng of Te book x. 
 
 Deum to the mufic of military inftrunients. All thofe demonftrations '^ -'——' 
 
 of fatisfadlion were in confequence of the great conndence Cortes had 
 in the brigantines for the fuccefs of his enterprise, without which 
 perhaps he would never have been able to have conduifled it to a happy 
 end. He afterwards made a review of his army, and found it to con- 
 fifl of eighty-fix horfes, and more than eight hundred infantry, three 
 large iron cannon, fifteen fmaller of copper, a thoufand Caftilian 
 pounds of gunpowder, and a large quantity of balls and arrows^* the 
 number and flrength of his little army having been doubled by the 
 fupplies of that year from Spain and the Antilles. In order to encou- 
 rage them, he made them an harangue fimilar to that which he had. 
 delivered to them when he left Tlafcala. He fent meiTengers to this 
 republic, to Cholula, Huexotzinco, and other cities, to let them know 
 that the brigantines were now completed, and requefting them to fend 
 within ten daya as many chofen troops as they could mufler, for that 
 now the time was come for giving {xtgt to that proud city, which had 
 for fo many years opprefTcd their liberty. Five days before the feaft of 
 Pentecoft, the army of Thfcala arrived at Tezcuco, confiding, accord- 
 ing to wh.it Cortes affirms, of more than fifty thoufand men, under 
 the command of feveral famous chiefs, among which came the young 
 Xicotencatl and the brave Chichimecatl ; who were met by Cortes and 
 his people. The troops of Huexotzinco and Cholula pafied thither 
 through the mountains of Chalco, agreeable to tlie orders given 
 them. In the two following days came other troops from Tlafcala and 
 other neighbouring places, v.hich, together with thofe above mentioned, 
 made more than two hundred thouland men, as is attelled by their 
 leader and conductor Alfonfo d'Ojeda. 
 
 On the Monday of Pentecoft, twentieth of May, Cortes muftered Sect. xv.. 
 his people in the greater market-place of Tezcuco, to make a divifion of tC'a'my 
 of his army, to appoint tlie commanders, to afllgn to each the ft.ition intiiefic^^cof 
 where they were to form their camp, and the troops which were to be 
 immediately under them, and to publilh afrcfli the military proclamation 
 formerly puhlilhed in Tlafcala. He ordered Pedro de Alvara.lo to re- 
 main in camp in the city ot Tlacopan, to prevent any alfiftance coming 
 through that quarter to the Mexicans, and affigned.him thirty horfes 
 8 and. 
 
 the capilal.
 
 HISTORY OF M E X I C O. 
 
 and one hundred and fixty-elght foot Ibldiers, difliibuted into three 
 companies under as many captains, with twenty thouland Tlafcalans 
 and two .pieces of artillery, , . Chriftopher Olid was created qamp- 
 maller, and chief of the divifion deflined for, the ,c^t)r, of Cojohuacan-, 
 and alTigned thirty -three horfes, one hundred and iixty-eight foot loldiers, 
 under three other captains, with two pieces of artillery, and more than 
 twenty-five thouland allies. To Gonzales de Sandoval he gave twenty- 
 four horfes, one hundred and. fixty-three Spanjih infantry, under two 
 captains with two cannons, and the allies of Chalco, Huexotzinco, and 
 Cholula, who were more than thirty-thouland in number, and ordered 
 him firft to go and deflroy the city of iztapalapan, and then to encamp 
 himfelf wherever he thought he could molt effeólually hem in the Mexi- 
 cans. Cortes, in fpite of the remonllrances made iiim by his captains 
 and foldiers, took the command of the brigantines, where he thought 
 his aflillance would be moft necellary. He diftributed among the 
 thirteen brigantines three hundred and twenty-five Spaniards and thir- 
 teen falconets, afligning to each brigantine a captain, twelve foldiers, and 
 as many rowers ; Jo that the whole army deftined to begin the fiege of 
 the capital, confiJled of nine hundred and feventeen Spaniards, and more 
 than feventy-five thouland auxiliary troops (//v) ; which number was fooa 
 after increafed, as we Ihall find, to two hundred thouland and more.. 
 All the other troops which had repaired to Tezcuco, either remained 
 there to be employed when it was necellary, or returned to their own 
 places of abode, as they were not too dillint from the capital to be 
 fpeedily fummoned whenever it was requihte. 
 
 Olid and Alvarado departed together with their troops from Tezcuco, 
 Puniniment to go to thclr refpctìive pofls affigned them by the general. Among 
 catl."^° ^"" the higher ranks of Tlafcalans who accompanied Alvarado, were the 
 young Xicotencatl, and his coufin Pilteuctli. In a quarrel which 
 happened, the latter was wounded by a Spaniard, who, regardlels 
 of the orders publilhed by the general, or the refped: due to that perfon, 
 was near occafioning the defertion of the Tlafcalans. This outrage dif- 
 
 (m) Solis fnys, thnt Bernal Dinz complains often that tlie allies gave them more hidrance 
 than alTillance ; but this i; totali)' falle-, for Bernal Diaz on the contraiy frequently favs, that 
 the allies were of great affiilance, and fought couraseoullv ngainrt the INIcxicans ; " The Tluf- 
 •• calanB our friends," he fays, in chap, 151. " alilfled us greatly during; the whole war, like 
 •' brave people." 
 
 gufied 
 
 Sect. XVI.
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. i6i 
 
 guftei them extremely, and made them exprefs their difl'atisfadion in BOOK X. 
 an open manner. Ojcda, their leader, endeavoured to pacify them, and 
 gave permillion to Piltcudtli to return to be cured in his native countiy. 
 Xicotencatl, who, on account of his rank as well as his relation to Pil- 
 teudtli, was moftfenlibleof the infult, finding nootherway to be revenged, 
 fecretly abandoned the army, and, with Ibme other Tlafcalans, took the 
 road to Tlafcda. Alvarado gave immediate advice of this to Cortes, 
 who ordered Ojeda to overtake and feize him ; and after being taken 
 made him be publicly hanged in the city of Tezcuco («), as Herrera and 
 Torquemada fay, or in a place near to it as Bernal Diaz affirms ; it 
 having been firfl: publiflied by a herald, that the caufe of his condemn- 
 ation was his having deferted, and excited the Tlafcalans againft the 
 Spaniixrds. It is probable that Cortes would not have rilked the execu- 
 tion of fuch a fentence, if he had not firfl obtained, as Herrera ex- 
 prefsly affirms, the confent of the fenate of Tlafcala ; which was not 
 ditlicult, confidering their feverity in punilhing crimes even when 
 committed by the moft eminent perfons, and the particular hatred alfo 
 which they bore to that prince, whofe pride and arrogance of charaóler 
 they could not endure. So alarming a punilhment, which ought na- 
 turally to have inflamed the minds of the Tlafcalans againll the Spaniards, 
 Intimidated tliem to fuch a degree, as well as the other allies, that from 
 that time forward they obferved more pundlually the articles of war, 
 and kept under more fubordination to thofe ftrangers who were their 
 leaders ; the Spaniards profiting even from their faults and mifconducft : 
 but the Tlafcalans were not afraid to make many demonftrations of their 
 clleem and veneration for that prince, bewailing his death and diftribut- 
 ing his cloaths as precious relics among themfelves, and celebrating, 
 as is probable, his funeral with ufual honours. The family and pro- 
 perty of Xicotencatl were adjudged to the king of Spain, and brought 
 
 (n) Cortes docs not make mention of this event : it is jirobiible he had particuLir motive» for 
 concialing it. Solis thinks it impolllblc that Xicottncatl was pimiftied in Tczcuco ; " Bccaiifc 
 " Cortes would have rifkcJ too much by the cxectitionof fo violent a Icntence under the eyes 
 •' of fo many I lafcalans, who would naturally liavc been fliocked and difguftcd at fo i^iio- 
 ♦« miniuus a punilhment being infliified on one of the firft men of their nation." But Cor- 
 tes rifkcd a great deal mure, when he imprifoncd Monteiuma in his own court, and under 
 the eyes of a much fuperiot n'.nnber of Mexicans, who inuU have been ctjually fenlible ol tlic 
 outrage done to the full m.:n of theii n tion. 
 
 Vol. II. Y to
 
 i62 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK X. to Tezciico. In his family were thirty wives, and amongft his pro- 
 perty a large quantity of gold. 
 
 Alvarado and Olid continued their march towards Tlacopan, where 
 
 their objeft was to break the aqueducSl of Chapoltepec, to cut off the 
 
 water from the Mexicans : but they were unable to execute this mea- 
 
 fure without furmounting a powerful refiflance from the enemy, who, 
 
 having forefeen the blow, had made preparations both by land and 
 
 water for their defence. They were foon defeated, and the Tlafcalans 
 
 Sect. XVII. in purfuiug them killed twenty, and m.\de feven or eight prifoners. 
 
 ties of °thè'' Having fo fuccefsfully accomplilhed this flep, thofe two commanders 
 
 Spaniards, rcfolved to go by the way of Tlacopan, to take fome ditch by affaultj 
 
 ningofthe but fo great was the multitude of Mexicans who came againil them, 
 
 ficge of ^^ ^Q thick the fhower of arrows, darts, and ftones, which were 
 
 Mexico. ' 
 
 fhot at them, that eight Spaniards were killed and more than fifty 
 wounded, and they with difficulty were able to retreat in fhame to 
 Tlacopan, where Alvarado encamped, according to the order of the 
 general, and Olid marched to Cojohuacan on the thirtieth day of May, 
 confecrated that year to the folemnity of Corpus Domini, on which 
 day began, according to the coaiputation made by Cortes, the fiege 
 of Mexico. 
 
 While Alvarado and Olid were employed in filling up fome ditches 
 which were made upon the border of the lake, and were repairing fome 
 palTages for the convenience of the cavalry, the commander Sandoval, 
 with the number of Spaniards above mentioned, and with more than 
 thirty-five thoufand allies, marched from Tezcuco on the thirty-firft of 
 May, with an intent to take the city of Iztapalapan by allault, againil 
 which Cortes was particularly bent. Sandoval made his entry there, 
 committing terrible devaflation and havoc by fire upon the houfes and 
 by his arnis upon the inhabitants, who in terror attempted to fave their 
 lives by water. Cortes, in order to attack at the fiune time that part 
 of the city which was contiguous to the water, after having made the 
 whole lake be founded, embarked with his people in his brigantines, 
 and proceeded by means of fùls and oars towards Iztapalapan. He 
 flruck ground near to an infulated little mountain, at a finali diftance 
 from that city, the top of which was occupied by a numerous enemy, 
 refolved to defend themfelves and annoy the Spaniards as much as pol- 
 
 8 fible.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 fible. Cortes difcmbarked there, and, with. one hundred and fifty men, 
 furmounting the lleepnefs and difficuhy of theafcent and the refinance of 
 the enemv, took the mount and killed all tlie Mexicans who defended it. 
 But they had hardly taken poirclhon of it, when they perceived a fleet 
 of boats coming againfl them, which had been fummoned there by a 
 fignal of fmoke, that, on the firft appearance of the brigantines, 
 was made from that little mountain and from fome temples in tliat 
 neighbourhood. The Spaniards immediately re-embarked and ftood 
 without moving upon their defence, until at length b,-ing favoured 
 with a frelli breeze which fprung up fuddenly, and increafing the velo- 
 city of the brigantines, with the impiilfe of the oars, they rulTied vio- 
 lently upon the boats, breaking fome of them to pieces and overfetting 
 others. Some of the enemy were killed by balls and many were 
 drowned ; all the others fled, and were purfued for eight miles by the 
 brigantines, as far as the capital. 
 
 The commander Olid, as foon as he difcovered from a temple of 
 Cojohuacan the engagement of the brigantines, marched with his troops 
 in order of battle along the road which led to Mexico, took fome 
 ditches and trenches, and killed a number of the enemy. Cortes, on 
 his part, colleóted that night all his brigantines, and went with them to 
 attack the baftion, which, as we have already mentioned, was eredled 
 in that angle which was formed by the jun(f]:ion of the road of Cojo- 
 huacan with the road of Iztapalapan. He made the attack by land as 
 well as water, and in fpite of the bravery with which it was defended 
 by the Mexican garrifon pofted there, he took it, and made a horrid 
 flaughter, with two large pieces of cannon, of the multitude which co- 
 vered the lake as well as the road. That place, called by the Mexicans 
 Xoloc, appeared extremely advantageous to Cortes for the eftablifliment 
 of his camp, and it certainly would not have been eafy to have found 
 another more fuitable to his defigns ; for, by means of it he became 
 mafter of the principal road and that part of the lake where the greatefl 
 fuccours could enter to the city, and befides that of the road of Cojo- 
 huacan which formed a communication with the camp of Olid. The 
 fmall diftance of that place from the camps of Cojohuacan and Tlaco- 
 pan was of great importance to Cortes, in giving his orders with expe- 
 
 '^' z dition.
 
 i64 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 BOOK X". dition, and to render affiftance when it proved neceflary. In fhort, its 
 vicinity to Mexico contributed to make every attack, more eafy. 
 
 There he affembled his brigantines, and abandoning the expedition 
 againil Iztapalapan, formed a refolutlon to give very foon a commence- 
 ment to his operations. He ordered to his camp one half of the troops of 
 Cojohuacan, and fifty chofen foldiers from the troops under Sandoval. 
 That night he heard a great body of enemies coming towards his 
 camp. The Spaniards, knowing that the Mexicans were not ufed to 
 combat by ni'ht unlefs when they were fecure of vidlory, were at firfl 
 appreheniive ; but, although they received fome hurt from the enemy, 
 they obliged them by the fire of their artillery and mufkets to retire to 
 the city. The next day they found themfelvcs attacked by a prodigi- 
 ous multitude of warriors, who enlarged their number in the imagination 
 of the Spaniards with dreadful howls. The fupply expefted from Co- 
 johuacan being arrived, Cortes made a fally with his people in order of 
 battle. They fought with great courage and obftinacy on both fides, 
 but the Spaniards and their allies took one ditch and an intrencliment, 
 and did fo much damage to the Mexicans with their artillery and horfes, 
 that they were compelled to retreat to their city ; and becaufe, by that 
 part of the lake which was to the weft of the road, they were much 
 annoyed by the veffels of the Mexicans, Cortes made one of the ditches 
 be enlarged, that the brigantines might pafs there, which immediately 
 charged impetuoufly upon them, purfued them as far as the capital, and 
 fct fire to fome houfes of the fuburbs. ^ •'''^ ^'- 
 
 In the meanwhile, Sandoval having fuccefsfully terminated, though 
 not without infinite peril, the expedition of Iztapalapan, marched with 
 his troops towards Cojohuacan. On his way thither, he was attacked 
 by the troops of Mexicaltzinco, but he defeated them, and let fire to 
 the city. Cortes, apprifed of his march, and alfo of a great ditch 
 which had been recently made in that road, fent two brigantines to 
 facilitate the paffage to the army. It marched towards Cojohuacan, and 
 Sandoval came with ten cavalry to the camp of Cortes. When he ar- 
 rived there he found the Spani;u-ds in combat with the Mexicans : the 
 fatigue of the journey and the battle of Mexicaltzinco was not fufficient 
 to reftrain him from engaging : he joined battle with his ufual courage, 
 but while fighting he was pierced in the leg by a dart, and many other 
 
 Spaniards
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M. E X I e O. 165 
 
 Spaniards were wounded with him. Thofe advantages, if we may call BOOK x. 
 them fo, are little in comparifon with the lofs which the Mexicans ful'- 
 taincd tliat day, or the dread which the fire of tTie artillery excited in them ; 
 which was fo great, that for fome days they dui ft not come near theSpanifh 
 camp. The Spaniards continued for fix days in continual Ikirmilhes j the 
 brigantines failing round the capital, fct fire to many houfes of thefuburbs, 
 and in their expeditions difcovered a large and deep canal, by whicii 
 they could eafily enter the city. This was in futiu-e a circumftanc.e of 
 great advantage to the Spaniards. 
 
 Alvarado, on his part, hemmed in the Mexicans as much as pofliblc, 
 by taking at different encounters fome ditches and intrenchments on 
 the road of Tlacopan ; but fome of his men were killed, and many 
 wounded. He obferved, that by the road of Tepejacac, fituatcd to- 
 wards the north, provifions were continually introduced to the city, 
 and perceived alfo, that by that road the befieged could eafily efcape, 
 when they found they could no longer refift the befiegers. He com- 
 municated this obfervation to Cortes, who commanded Sandoval to go 
 with one hundred and eighteen Spaniards and a very ftrong army of 
 allies to occupy that place, and intercept the fupplies which fhould 
 come that way to the enemy. Sandoval obeyed, though ftill unreco- 
 vered of the wound in his leg, and took poffeflion without oppofition 
 of that ftation, by which meiins every communication of the Mexicans 
 with other cities by land was cut off (tf). 
 
 This being done, Cortes determined to make an entry the next day 
 into the city, with more than five hundred Spaniards and more than 
 eighty thouland allies from Tezcuco, Tlafcala, Chalco, and Huexot- 
 zinco, leaving fome cavalry with ten thoufand allies to guard the 
 camp ; ordering Sandoval and Alvarado to enter there at the fame 
 
 time, each by his different road, with tlicir troops, which were not Ids 
 
 :'jinv; 
 
 (<•) Doftor Robcrtfon fays, that Cortes dcfi-rcd to attack the city at three difl'ercnt places ; 
 from Tezcuci-, on the call tide of the lake ; from 'I'acuba, on tlie well ; and Iron» Cuzocan, 
 (that is, Cojohuacan), in the fouth ; thofc cities, he add;, commanded the principal caufé-' 
 ways which led to tiic capital, and were built tor its dt fence : but this is an error ; becaufe m , 
 the ealhvard there was not, nor could be, any nad which led to tlie capital, on account of the 
 depth ot the lake. Sandoval did not encamp in Tcicuco, fiom whence it was impolfiblc to" 
 Mtack Mexico, but in Tepejacac, tuwar.is the north. 
 
 than 
 
 Sect. 
 
 XVIII. 
 Firft entry of 
 the befiegers 
 into Mexico.
 
 i66 H I S T O R Y F :M. E :^ I C O. 
 
 BOOK X. i[y2.n eighty thoufand in number. Cortes marched along his road, with 
 his numerous army well marfhalled and flanked by the brigantines ; but 
 had advanced only a fliort way when they met with a broad deep ditch 
 and intrenchment more than ten feet high. The Mexicans courage- 
 oufly oppofcd their paflage, but being beat back by the artillery ftotn 
 the b'-igantines, the Spaniards palled, purfuing the enemy as far as the 
 city, where they found another great ditch and a flrong and high in- 
 trenchment. The force of the water in this ditch, the monllrous 
 fwarms of the enemy who allembled to defend it, their dreadful and 
 menacing airs and the unceafing lliower of arrows, darts, and ftones, 
 which they difcharged, llaggered for fome time the refolution of the 
 Spaniards ; but having at length, with the fire of all the artillery and 
 other arms, driven thofe from the intrenchments who defended them, 
 the army palled and advanced, taking other ditches and intrenchments, 
 unto the principal fquare of the city, which was full of people. In 
 fpite of the havoc they faw made on the multitude by a large cannon 
 planted in the entrance of the fquare, the Spaniards dared not to enter 
 there, until the general himfelf, reproaching them for their ignominious 
 fear and charging intrepidly upon the enemy, infufed new courage into 
 his foldiers. The Mexicans, intimidated by fuch great intrepidity, 
 fled for (helter within the inclofure of the greater temple, and finding 
 themlelves attacked there alio, they took refuge in the upper area of 
 the temple, whither they were Hill purfued ; but all on a fudden the 
 Spaniards found themlelves attacked behind by other Mexican troops, 
 and reduced to fuch difficulty, that not being able to withftand the fury 
 of the enemy neither within the inclofure nor without in the fquare, 
 they were obliged to retire to the road by which they had entered the 
 city, leaving the piece of artillery in pofleffion of the enemy. A little 
 time after, three or four horfes came fealbnably into the fquare, and 
 the enemy being perfuaded that the whole cavalry was coming againft 
 them, went into confufion from the fear they had of thofe large and 
 fiery animals, and ignominioufly abandoned the temple and the fquare, 
 which were immediately occupied by the Spaniards. Ten or twelve 
 Mexican nobles, were fortified in the upper area of the great temple; 
 but, in fpite of their obftinate refiftance, they were vanquifhed and 
 killed by thofe who attacked them. The Spaniili army in its retreat 
 
 fot
 
 troops. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 fet lire to the largeft and mofl beautiful hoiifes on the road of Iztapa- 
 lapan, though not without thautmofl danger, on account of the im- 
 petuofity with which the Mexicans attacked the rear, and the annoy-f 
 ance they lUffered from the terraces. x'Uvarado and Sandoval made 
 great havoc of the Mexicans with their troops, and the allies received 
 on this day great encomiums from the Spanifh general. 
 
 Tlie forces of the Spaniards were daily fo much increafed with frefh Sect. xix. 
 fupplies, and with the alliance of new cities and whole provinces ; tiò'u^of "he" 
 that although there were not in their three camps at firft more than auxiliary 
 ninety thoufand men, in the fpace of a few days they amounted to 
 two hundred and forty thoufand. The new king of Tezcuco, in order 
 to manifefl his gratitude to Cortes, endeavoured to gain the whole 
 nobihty of his kingdom to his party, and equipped an army of fifty 
 thoufimd men, which he fent to the affiftance of the Spaniards, under 
 the command of a prince, his brother j a youth, of whofe bravery all 
 ancient hiftorians give tellimony, and, amongfl others, Cortes himfelf, 
 who boafts of the feafonablenefs and importance of his aid. That 
 prince remained with thirty thoufand men in the camp of Cortes, and 
 the other twenty thoufand were diftributed in the camps of S.^ndoval and 
 Alvarado. This fupply of the king of Tezcuco was quickly followed 
 by the confederacy of the Xochimilcas and the Otomies, the moun- 
 taineers, with the Spaniards, which new troops added twenty thoufand 
 men to the army of Cortes. 
 
 There was nothing wanting to this general for the completion of 
 the fiege, but the prevention of the fupplies which were introduced 
 by water into the city. Retaining feven of the brigantines, he there- 
 lore fent the other fix towards that part of the lake which was between 
 Tlacopan and Tcpejacac, that there they might be ready to aflìft the 
 camps of Sandoval and Alvarado, when thofe commanders ihould re- 
 quire it i but while not employed by them, they were to cruize two 
 by two, and endeavour to intercept all the velfels which were tranf-^ ' 
 porting either men or provi lions to the city. 
 
 Cortes, finding he had now a fulficient number of allied troops, de- 
 termined, in the courJe of three days to n-ake an entry into the city. 
 He gave the ncceliary orders lor this purpofc, anil on ;he d.iy appointed 
 he niaixhcd v/ith the greater part oi his cavali}, with three hundred 
 
 infantry.
 
 i68 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK X, 
 » , ' 
 
 SgcT. XX. 
 
 New entries 
 into the city. 
 
 infantry, {even brigantines, and innumerable multitudes of allies. 
 They found the ditches open, the intrenchments thrown up, and the 
 eneniy well prepared to refill them ; but notwithftanding this, they 
 took all the ditches and intrenchments, which were formed between 
 them and the principal fquare of Tenochtltlan. Here the army made 
 a halt, Cortes not permitting them to proceed forward, without leaving 
 all the difficult pafles which they had taken levelled ; but while ten 
 thoufand of the allies were bufied in filling up the ditches, others fet 
 fire to and demolilhed fome of the temples, houfes, and palaces, and, 
 amongft others, that of king Axajacatl, where the Spaniards were for- 
 merly quartered, and the celebrated palace of birds of Montezuma. 
 After having committed thofe holfilities with great difficulty and dan- 
 ger, on account of the efforts which the Mexicans made to hinder 
 them, Cortes founded a retreat, which was happily effedled, although 
 the rear-guard was inceflantly harralfed by the troops of the enemy. 
 The fame thing was performed by Sandoval and Alvarado in their 
 quarter. This was indeed a day of great fiitigue to the Spaniards and 
 their allies, but likewife of unfpeakable affliftion to the Mexicans, as 
 much on account of fo many beautiful edifices which were deftroyed. 
 as the fcorn and mockery they fuffered from their own vafTals who were 
 leagued with the Spaniards, and from their mortal enemies the Tlafca- 
 lans, who, while they combated, fhewed the arms and legs of the 
 Mexicans whom they had (lain, and threatened to eat them that night 
 to their fupper, as in fadl they did. 
 
 The next day, in order to give no time to the Mexicans to dig the 
 ditches which had been filled up, or repair the intrenchments which 
 had been beat down, Cortes fet out early from his camp, in the fame 
 manner as the preceding day ; but, in fpite of his diligence, the Mexi- 
 cans had already renewed the greater part of the fortifications, and de- 
 fended them fo obftinately, that the army of the befiegers could not 
 take them till after a moft furious engagement of five hours. The 
 army puflied forward, and took two ditches on the road of Tlacopan ; 
 but the day being now near finilhed, they retired to their camp, fight- 
 ing all the way with the troops of the enemy, who fell upon the rear- 
 guard. The armies of Sandoval and Alvarado had fimilar contefts, the 
 befieged being obliged to oppofe, at the fame time, three moll numer- 
 ous
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 ous armies, fuperior to them in arms, in horfes, in the brigantines, and 
 ill military dilcipline. Alvarado, on h;s fide, had now demoliflied all 
 the houfes, from one end to ;he other, on bpth fides of the road of 
 Tlacopan {e), for the habitations of the capital were continued on that 
 road unto the continent or main land, according to the accounts both 
 of Cortes and Bernal Diaz. 
 
 Cortes \vould willingly have faved his troops the trouble and fatigue 
 of daily repeating their engagements to take the fame ditches and 
 intrenchments, but he could not leave a garrifon to preferve thofe acqui- 
 fitions, without facrificing it to the fury of the enemy, nor was he 
 willing to encamp within the city, as fome of his captains advifed him ; 
 for, befides the incellant afiault which they mull: have endured 
 from the enemy, they could not from thence fo eafily as from the poll 
 of Xoloc prevent fupplies from coming into the city. 
 
 While fuccours were daily diminiihing to the befieged, thofe of the be- 
 fiegers were gradually increafingj and at this very juncture they received 
 one which was as advantageous for them as it was hurtful to the 
 enemy. The inhabitants of the cities fituate upon the border and lit- Spaniards 
 tie iflands of the lake of Chalco, had been hitherto the enemies of the 
 Spaniards, and could have done much damage to the camp of Cortes, 
 if their troops had attacked it from one part of the road, while at the 
 fame time the Mexicans had attacked it from another ; but they had 
 not attempted any hoftilities againfl: the Spaniards, perhaps becaufe they 
 referved thcmfelves for fome very favouring occahon. The Chalchefe, 
 and other allies, who did not like the neighbourhood of fo many 
 enemies, endeavoured to draw them over to their party, fometimes by 
 promifes, fometimes by threats and vexations ; and their importunity, 
 and perhaps alfo the fear of revenge from the Spaniards, had fo much 
 influence, that the nobles of Iztapalan, Mcxicaltzinco, ColhuBcan, 
 Huitzilopochco, Mizquiz, and Cuitlahuac, which cities formed a con- 
 fiderable part of the Mexican vale, came to the camp to make a con- 
 federacy with the Spaniards. Cortes was extremely glad of their alliance. 
 
 Sect. XXI. 
 Confederacy 
 of fcveral ci- 
 ties on the 
 lai, e with the 
 
 (f) Thefe houfes were not built on the road Itft-lf, but upon little illaiids near to it, on both 
 fides. We do not find that there was any othvr buikiin»; upon the road bv.t a temple, lltu.ited 
 on that part where the road broadened out, and formed a little fiiuare. This tcmplt was taken 
 \)y Alvarado, who kept a garrifon there almoft the whole time of the ficgc. 
 
 Vol. II. Z and
 
 ijo H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e a. 
 
 BOOK X. an4 requeued of them that they would not only aflift him with their 
 ^""'''^^^ ' troops, and veflels, but likewife tranfport materials for the eredtion of 
 huts along that road j for it being now the i^ea[on of rain, his people 
 fufFered much from the want of habitations. 
 
 His demand was fo readily complied with, that they fènt immediately 
 a large body of troops, the number ot which is not known, to be under 
 the command of Cortes, and three thoufind veflels to aflift the brigan- 
 tines in their operations. In thefe they tranfported the materials, with 
 which they built fuch a number of barracks, that all the Spaniards, and 
 two thoufand Indians employed in their fervice, were conveniently ac- 
 commodated ; for the majority of the allied troops were encamped in 
 Cojohuacan, four miles diilant from Xoloc ; and, not content with 
 giving this afliftance, they brought many provifions to the camp, par- 
 ticularly filh and cherries in great quantities. 
 
 Cortes, finding himfelf fo well reinforced with troops, entered two 
 or three days fucceflively into the eity, making dreadful flaughter cf 
 the citizens. He was inclined to imagine that the befieged would 
 necefTarily furrender, feeing fuch an exceflive number of troops armed 
 againfl them, and having experienced the ruinous effects of their ob- 
 ftinacy : but in this he was miftaken, for the Mexicans were deter- 
 mined to lofe their lives fooner than their liberty. He refolved there- 
 fore to make continued entries into the city, in order to compel them 
 by hoflilities to afk for that peace which they had refufed. He formed 
 two armaments of his velfels, each confifting of three brigantines and 
 fifteen hundred fmall boats, ordering them to proceed towards the 
 city, to fet fire to its houfes, and do the Mexicans all the mifchief in, 
 their power. He gave orders to Sandoval and Alvarado to do the fame 
 on their fide, while he with all his Spaniards, and eighty thoufartd. 
 allies, by what appears, marched as. ufual by the road of Iztapalapan. 
 towards the city, but virithout being able to gain, neither in this nor 
 other entries which he made in thofe particular days, any other advan- 
 tage than that of gradually reducing the number of the enemy, de- 
 molhhing fome of their buildings, and advancing daily fome little way 
 farther for the purpofe of opening a communication with the camp of 
 Alvarado, although then it was not in his power toelTeót it. 
 
 Alvarada
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 171 
 
 Alvaradoard all his troops, feconded by the brigan tines, had already taken BOOK I Y. 
 polletTion of a temple, which flood in a little fquare in the road of 11a- sTct.xxii. 
 copan, in which he maintained from that time a garrifon, in fpite of the ^J^ "ad"" 
 violent alìàults of the Mexicans. He had alfo taken fome ditches and and braverv 
 entrenchments, and knowing that the greatell force of the enemy was zin. 
 in Tlatelolco, where the king Qnauhtemotzin refided, and numbers of 
 the inhabitants of Tenochtitlan had reforted, he directed his operations 
 towards that quarter; but although he fought frequently with all his 
 force both by land and water, he could not advance where he wiOied, 
 from the gallant oppofition of the befieged. In thofe engagements many 
 perilhed on both fides. In one of the firlt contells a ftrong and cou- 
 rageous warrior of Tlatelolco, difguifcd like one of the Otomies-, with 
 an Ichcabtipilii, or breaft-plate of cotton, and with no other arms 
 than a ihield and three ftones, made his appearance, and running mofl 
 fwiftly towards the befiegcrs, he threw his three Hones fucceflively 
 with fuch dexterity and with fuch force, that with each he knocked 
 down a Spaniard, exciting no lefs indignation among them than fear 
 and wonder in the allies. They endeavoured, by every means, to get 
 him into their hands, but could never take him, for in every engage- 
 ment he appeared differently drefled, and in each occafioned much lofs 
 to the bcfiegers, having as much fwiftncfs in his feet to make his 
 efcape as force in his arms to ftrike his blows. The name of this 
 celebrated hero of Tlatelolco was T-zilacatzin. 
 
 Alvarado, elated with fome advantages obtained over the Mexicans, 
 ftrove one day to puHi forward as far as the market-place : he had al- 
 ready taken fcvcral ditches and intrenchments, and among others, one 
 which was fifty feet broad, and more than fcven feet deep; but for- 
 getting, through his luccefs, to make it be filled up, as his general had 
 enioincd, he advanced with forty or fifty Spaniards, and fome allies. 
 The Mexicans having obferved this negleól, foon poured in numbers 
 upon them, and defeated and put tliem to fiight, and in repaffing the 
 ditch, killed fome of the allies and made four Spaniards prifoners^ who 
 were inftantly facrificed in fight of Alvarado and his people, in the greater 
 temple of Tlatelolco. Cortes was extremely troubled at this dififter, as 
 it mufl: have increafed the courage and pride of the enemy, and went im- 
 mediately to Tlacopan, to give a fevere reprimand to Alvarado for his 
 
 Z 1 difobe-
 
 172 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 Sect. XXIII. 
 
 Treachery of 
 the Xochi- 
 milcas ;ind 
 Other people. 
 
 Sect XXIV. 
 
 ViiStoiy of 
 tlicMeiicans. 
 
 diibbedience and raflmefs j but when he was informed how couragcoufly 
 he had conduded hiinfelf that day, and taken pollcihon of the moll 
 difficult polls, he gave him only a kind admonition, and inculcated his 
 former orders refpeóling the manner of making his entry. 
 
 I'he troops of Xochimilco, Cuitlahuac, and other cities on the lake, 
 which were in the camp of Cortes, willing to profit by the opportu- 
 nity wliich prefented itfclf in the entries which the Spaniards made, to- 
 plunder the houles of the capital, availed themfelves of a mod abo- 
 minable piece of treachery. They fent a fecret embafly to king Quauh- 
 temotzin, declaring their inviolable fidelity to the crown, and com- 
 plaining of the Spaniards, becaufe they had forced them to take arms 
 againft their natural lord^ and adding, that they defigned on their 
 next entry to unite with the Mexicans againft thofe enemies of their 
 country, to kill them all, and thus put an end to his calamities. 
 The king praifed their refolution, appointed them the pofts which 
 they were to occupy, and alfo returned them gifts in reward of their 
 pretended fidelity. Thofe traitors entered the city as ufual, and feign- 
 ing at firll to turn their arms againft the Spaniards, began afterwards 
 to plunder the houfes of the Mexicans, killing thofe who oppofcd them, 
 and imprifoning the women and children ; but the Mexicans foon dc- 
 tedling their perfidy, fell upon them with fuch mercilefs fury, that al- 
 moft every one of them atoned for his treachery with his life. A great 
 many of them were killed in the conteft, and the others, who venere made 
 prifoners, were immediately facrificed by order of the king. This 
 treafon appeal's to have been both defigned and executed by the very 
 loweft of the populace of thofe cities^ who are always guilty of fuch 
 meannefTes. 
 
 Twenty days were now paft In which the Spaniards had made con- 
 tinual entries into the city. Some captains and foldiers weary of fo^ 
 many repeated engagements, the fruits of which appeared ftill very di- 
 ftant to them, complained to the general, and earneftly conjured him, 
 to exert all the forces he had in one decifive blow» which would end 
 all his dangers and fatigues. The defign formed by them was to ad- 
 vance as far as the center of Tlatelolco, where the Mexicans had af- 
 fembled all their forces, and attempt to ruin them in one night, or at 
 leali bring them to a furrender» Cortes, who well knew the immi- 
 
 8 nent
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 nent danger of this enterprize, flrove to divert them from it with all 
 his arguments ; but thole being of no avail, nor being able to rcjedt a 
 meafure which had been almoll generally adopted, yielded at laft to 
 their importunities. He ordered Sandoval to join Alvarado with one 
 hundred and fifteen Spaniards and ten horfes, to put the cavalry in 
 ambuicade, and carry off the baggage under pretence of making a de- 
 parture, and abandoning the ficge of the city, in order that the Mexi- 
 cans, by being induced to purfue them, might be attacked by the ca- 
 valry in their rear ; to aim at gaining pod'eiiion, by the afllftance of fix 
 brigantines, of that great diich where Alvarado was defeated, making it 
 be filled up and levelled ; to advance not a fiep without leaving the 
 road well accommodated for a retr^-at, and then to enter in a body into 
 the fquare of the market. 
 
 On the day fixed for the general aflault, Cortes marched with twenty- 
 five horfes, with all his infantry, and more than an hundred thoufand 
 allies. His brigantines, with more than three thoufand canoes, form- 
 ed the two wings of his army on both fides of the road. He entered 
 the city without oppofition, and quickly divided his army into three 
 parts, that they might each, by three difi'ercnt roads, arrive at the fame 
 time in the fquare of the market. The command of the firfl divifion 
 was given to Julian Alderete, treafurer to the king, who was the per- 
 fon that had moft earneflly prefled Cortes to undertake this expedition ; 
 and he was ordered to proceed through the principal and largefl road 
 with feventy Spaniards, {even horfes, and twenty thoufand allies. Of 
 the other two roads, which led from the great road of Tlacopan to the 
 fquare of the market, the lead confined, was affigned to the captains 
 Andrea de Tapia, and George Alvarado, brother of P. de Alvarado, 
 with eighty Spaniarus, and upwards of ten thoufand allies; and the 
 narrowed and moft difficult, the general charged himfelf with, having 
 one hundrcu foldiers, and the body of the auxiliary troops, leaving the 
 cavalry and artilleiy in the entry to each road. The parties entered all 
 at one time, and engaged courageoufly. In tlie beginning the Mexi- 
 cans made foir.e refiftance, but afterwards feigning cowardice, they re- 
 trcited, ' VnJoning the ditches to the Spaniards, in order tliat, allured 
 by the liopcs of victory, they might run themfelves into greater dan- 
 gers. Some Spaniarus puihed forward to the flreets near to the fquare 
 
 of
 
 174 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK X. of the market, unwarily leaving behind them a broad ditch badly fill- 
 ed up, and when they were mofl ardently advancing, and ftriving who 
 fhould firft enter into that fquare, they heard the formidable found of 
 the horn of the god Painalton, which was blown by the priefts in 
 cafes of public and preiìing necelfity, to excite the people to arms. 
 Immediately fuch a multitude of Mexicans aflembled, and poured with 
 fuch fury upon the Spaniards and allies, that they threw them into 
 confufion, and compelled them to return precipitately back towards 
 the ditch, which was apparently filled up with faggots, and other light 
 materials ; but when they attempted to pafs, it funk witli the weight and 
 violence of the multitude. Here the diarpeil con Aid: and greatefi: peril of 
 the fugitives happened ; for being unable at the fame time to defend them- 
 felves and pafs by fwimming, they were wounded and taken by the Mexi- 
 cans. Cortes, who with the ufual diligence of a good general, had advanc- 
 ed to the ditch when his defeated troops arrived there, endeavoured to 
 flop their flight by his cries, that their diforder and confufion might not 
 increafe the flaughter made of them by the enemy ; but words are not 
 capable of reftraining the flight of a difordered multitude to whom fear 
 adds wings. Pierced with vexation at the difafters of his people, and 
 regardlefs of his own perfonal danger, he approached to the ditch to 
 fave all thofe he could. Some were got out difarmed, fome wounded, 
 and fome almofl: drowned. He at lad put them into fome order to 
 proceed towards the camp, he himfelf remaining behind with from 
 twelve to twenty men to guard their rear ; but they had hardly began 
 to march, when he found himfelt in a narrow pafs furrounded by the 
 enemy. That day would certainly have been his laft, in fpite of the 
 extraordinary bravery with which he defended himfelf, and with his-> 
 life all hopes would have fled of the conquefl of Mexico, if the Mexi- 
 cans, inftead of vviihing to kill him, which was frequently in their 
 power, had not eagerly ftrove to take him alive, to honour their gods 
 with the facrifice of fo illuftrious a violini. They had already feized 
 him, and were leading him off for this piirpofe, when his people, ap- 
 prifed of his being a prifoner, came fpeedily to relieve him. Cortes 
 owed his life and his liberty to a foldier of his guard, called Chriftoval 
 de Olea, a man of infinite courage and great dexterity in arms ; who, 
 upon another occafion, had refcued him from fimilar danger, and up- 
 on
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 on this favcd him at the rilk of his own life, by cutting off with one 
 ftroke of his fword, the arm of that Mexican who had taken him. 
 Cortes was indebted in hke manner for his liberty to the prince D. C. 
 Ixtlilxochitl, and to a brave Tlafcalan, named Temacatzin. 
 
 The Spaniards at lafl, though not without the greatell difficulty, 
 and a number of wounds, got upon the great road of TIacopan, wheji 
 Cortes was able to rally them, and took himlelf the rear-guard with 
 the cavalry ; but the boldnefs and fury with which the Mexicans pur- 
 fued them were fuch, that it appeared impoffible for them to efcape 
 with their lives. The divifions which had entered by the other two 
 roads, had alfo had terrible encounters; but, becaufe they had been 
 more careful in filling up the ditches, their retreat was lefs difficult 
 when Cortes ordered them to march to the greater fquare of Tenoch- 
 titlan, v/hcre they all colleéted. From thence they difcovered, with 
 the utmofl mortification, the fmoke of copal arifing from the ftoves 
 of the greater Temple, which the Mexicans were burning as a thankf- 
 giving for the victory they had obtained ; but the vexation was flill 
 llronger, when they faw the heads of fome Spaniards thrown towards 
 them by the Mexicans, to difpirit them, and when they heard a report 
 that the commanders Alvarado and Sandoval were (lain. From the fquare 
 they proceeded by the road of Iztapalapan, to their camp, ftill purfued 
 by a multitude of the enemy. 
 
 Alvarado and Sandoval had made an effort to enter into the fquare of 
 the market by a road, which led from that of TIacopan to Tlatelolco, 
 and had advanced their operations fo far as to a poft at a little diftance 
 from that fquare, but upon feeing the facrifices of the Spaniards, and 
 having heard the Mexicans fay, that Cortes and his captains were kill- 
 ed, they retired, though with the greateft difficulty ; for the enemy, 
 with whom they had been engaged, were joined by thofe who had de- 
 feated the troops of Cortes. 
 
 The lofs fuftained by the befiegers on that day was ieven horfes, a 
 number of arms and boats, and a piece of artillery, upwards of one 
 thoufand allies, and more than fixty Spaniards, part killed in battle, 
 part made prifoners, and immediately lacrificed in the greater temple 
 of Tlatelolco, in fight of the troops of Alvarado. Cortes received a 
 
 wouadi
 
 176 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOOK. X. wound in his leg, and not one of the bcfiegers hardly came off with- 
 '^"^ '^^"^ out bein^ either wounded or otherwife difcomftted. 
 
 The Mexicans celebrated the viftory for eight fucceflive days with 
 illuminations and mufic in their temples ; they fpread the fame of it 
 through all the kingdom, and fent the heads of the Spaniards through 
 all the provinces of the empire who had rebelled again 11: the crown, to 
 recall them to obedience, to which many were induced. They dug 
 the ditches again, repaired the intrenchmentSj and put the city, ex- 
 cepting the temples and houfes ruined by the enemy, info the fiate 
 it was in before the fiege commenced. 
 Sect. XXV. In themean while the Spaniards kept themfelves upon the defence 
 Engagements j,., their camps, curing their wounded, and recruiting themfelves for 
 gjntinjs and futurc combats ; but in order alfo that the Mexicans might not avail 
 thTMesi-°'^ themfelves of their idle lefs, Cortes ordered the brigantmes to go two 
 cans. i3y two to cruize upon the lake. The Mexicans, fenfible of the 
 
 fuperiority of the Spanifh vellels and arms, and though not able to 
 equal the lalT;, they endeavoured in fome meafure to match the brigan- 
 lines. They had for this purpofe conllruded thirty large vellels, called 
 by the Spaniards periaguas, well finiflied, and covered with thick 
 planks, to enable them to combat in them without fo much danger of 
 being damaged. They determined to lay an ambufcade for the brigan- 
 tines in one of the fmall woods, or thickets of reeds, formed by the 
 floating fields of the lake, and fixed in leverai places large ftakes under 
 water, that the brigantines might llrike upon them and founder, or at 
 leali be made lefs capable of defence. Having prepared their ambuf- 
 cade, they fent out two or three little ordinary velfels from among the 
 reedy places of the lake, that they might, by attrafting the notice of 
 the brigantines, lead them in their flight towards the place of the 
 ambufcade. The Spaniards, as foon as they faw them, gave them 
 chace, but while they were in the heat of the purfuit, the brigantines 
 ftruck upon the ftakes, and at the fame time, the thirty large veflels 
 came out, and attacked them on every quarter. The Spaniards were 
 in great danger of lofing not only their velTels, but their lives ; but 
 ■while the fmall guns kept the enemy in play, fome expert fwimmers 
 had time to clear the flakes, upon which being freed from this hin- 
 drance.
 
 HISTORY OF xM E X I C Q. 
 
 drance, they were able to make ufe of their artillery to drive off the 
 enemy.* The brigantines were a good deal damaged, the Spaniards 
 wounded, and of the two captains who commanded them, one was 
 killed in the fight, and the other died in three days of his wounds. 
 The Mexicans refitted their veiTels to repeat the ftratagem, but Cortes 
 being fecretly informed of the place where they lay, difpofed himfelf 
 a countcr-ambufcade of fix brigantines, and profiting by the exa'mple of 
 the enemy, he ordered one brigantine to cruize near the place where the 
 Mexican veffels were in ambulh. Every thing fucceeded as he had 
 planned, for the Mexicans, upon feeing the brigantine, puilied out im- 
 mediately from their ambufcade, and when they imagined themfelves 
 moft certain of their prev, the other five brigantines came out impe- 
 tuoufly againft them, and began to play off their artillery, with the firfl: 
 fire of which they oveifet fomc of the enemy's veffels and routed the 
 reft. The greater part of the Mexicans perilhed in the attack, fome 
 were made prifoners, and aniong them fome nobles, whom Cortes 
 thought immediately of employing to follicit fome accommodation 
 with the court of Mexico. 
 
 Thofe noble prifoners were accordingly fent to tell king Quauhte- 
 inotzin that he fliould reflect how much the forces of Mexico were 
 daily diminiffiing, while, at the fame time, thofe of the Spaniards were 
 augmenting : that at the laft they would be obliged to yield to fuperior 
 ftrength ; that although the Spaniards did not enter the capital to com- 
 mit hoftilities, in order to reduce them, it would be fufficient alone to 
 hinder them from receiving any fupplies ; that they might ftill Ihun 
 the difafters which awaited them ; that if they would accede to pro- 
 pofitions of peace, he would immediately ceafc all hoftilities ; the 
 king Ihould remain in quiet poffeflion of his crown, with all his gran- 
 deur, power, and authority, which he had hitherto enjoyed ; that his 
 fubjeds fliould remain free, and mafters of all their property, without 
 any thing being demanded from his majefty, or his fubjcfts, but the 
 homage due to the king of Spain, as the fupreme lord of all that em- 
 pire, whofe right had been already acknowledged by the Mexicans 
 themfelves, as founded on the ancient tradition of their anceftors ; 
 that if on the contrary he perfifted in war, he would be deprived of his 
 crown, tlie greater part of his vaflàls would lofe their lives, and their 
 
 Vol. II. A a large 
 
 Sect.XXVI. 
 
 Fruklefs cm- 
 bafly to the 
 kingot MciU 
 
 CJ.
 
 178 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 S P CT. 
 
 XXVI I, 
 
 Expedition» 
 againft the 
 Malinalchefe' 
 and Matla- 
 
 zincas. 
 
 large and beautilul city totally deftroyed. The king confulted with 
 his coLinfellors, with the generals of the army, and the heads of their 
 religion ; he explained to them the fubjecfl of the embaffy, the fiate 
 of the capital, the fcarcity of provifions, tlie afflictions of his people, 
 and the ftill greater evils which threatened them, and commanded tlveia 
 to fpeak their opinions freely. Some of them, forefeeing the illue of 
 the war, were inclined to peace j others, inlligated by hatred to the 
 Spaniards, or the fen timents of honour, adviled war. The priefts, 
 whofe authority in this, as well as in other matters, was highly ref- 
 peóted, declared flrongly againft peace ; alledging feveral pretended ora- 
 cles of their gods, whofe indignation ought to be dreaded if they yield- 
 ed to the claims of thofe cruel enemies of their worrtiip, and whofe 
 protedlion ought to be implored with prayers and facrifices. This opi- 
 nion at laft prevailed, from the fuperftitious fear which had feized their 
 minds ; and, accordingly, they anfwered the Spanifli general, that they 
 would continue the war, for they were determined to defend themfelves 
 to the lafl breath. If they had not been moved to this refolution by 
 fuperflition, but by a fenfe of honour, from the love of their country 
 and native liberty, they would not have been fo blameable ; for, al- 
 though they faw their ruin inevitable in continuing the war, they had 
 not much hope of bettering tlieir fortune by means of peace. The 
 experience of pafl: events did not permit them to confide in the pro- 
 mifes which were made them ; on which account they mufk have re- 
 prefented to themfelves, that it was more confiflent with ideas of ho- 
 nour to die with their arms in their hands in defence of their native 
 country and liberty, than to abandon all to the ambition of thofe 
 ftrangers, and reduce themfelves by a furrendex to a wretched fiate o£ 
 flavery. 
 
 Two days after the defeat of the Spaniards, fome melTengers fent 
 from the city of Quauhnahuac arrived at the camp of Cortes, to com- 
 plain of the great injuries done them by their neighbours the Malinal- 
 chefe, who, according to tlieir affirmations, were going into confede- 
 racy with the Cohuicas, a very numerous nation, on purpofe to de- 
 flroy Quauhnahuac, becaufe they had become the allies of the Spani- 
 ards, and afterwards to pafs the mountains to make an afTault, with a 
 large army, on the camp of Cortes. This general, although he felt 
 
 him-
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 !iimfelf rather in a fiate to demand afllftance than to give it, neverthe- 
 lefs, for the reputation of the Spani(h arms, and to prevent the blow 
 which was threatened, fent the captain Andrea de Tapia with the mef- 
 fengers, two hundred Spanidrds, ten horfes, and a large number of 
 allies, with orders to unite thetnfejves with the troops of Quauhna- 
 huac, and to do every thing wliich he thought would conduce to the 
 fervicc of his king, and the fecurity of the Spaniards. Tapia exe- 
 cuted all that was enjoined him by the general, and in a place fituated 
 between Qiiauhnahuac and Malinalca, had a pitched battle with the 
 enemy, defeated, and piirfued them to the foot of the mountain, on 
 whofe top the city of Malinalco flood. He could not, according to 
 his wifh, make an affault upon it, as it was inaccelfible to his cavalry, 
 but he laid the country wafle, and the ten days being now expired, 
 which was the time of abfence prefcribed him, he returned to the 
 camp. 
 
 Two days after, mefTengers from the Otomies of the valley of Tol- 
 loccan arrived at the fame camp, praying aid againfl the Matlatzincas, 
 a powerful and warlike nation of the fame valley, who kept them con- 
 tinually at war, had burned one of their fettlements, made many of 
 them prifoners, and befides had agreed with the Mexicans to attack 
 with all their forces the camp of Cortes, by the way of the main land 
 while the Mexicans attacked them from the city. In the entries which 
 th? Spaniards had made into Mexico, they had fometimes heard the 
 Mexicans threaten them with the power of the Matlatzincas, and Cortes 
 now perceived, from the account of the Otomies, the great danger he 
 would run, if he fhould give the enemy an opportunity of putting their 
 defign in execution. He would not trufl this expedition to any other 
 than the brave and gallant Sandoval. This indefatigable officer, al- 
 though he had been wounded on the day of the defeat of Cortes, had 
 adted for fome days as general, inceifantlv going round the three camps, 
 making the befl difpofition for their fecurity. Scarcely fourteen days 
 elapfed after the defeat of Cortes, when he marched towards the valley 
 of Tolloccan with eighteen horfes, a hundred Spanilli infantry, and 
 fixty thoufand allies. In their way they faw fome marks of devaflation 
 committed by the Matlatzincas, and when they entered the valley, they 
 found a kttlemcnt newly laid in ruins, and faw the troops of tlie enemy 
 
 A a 2 loaded
 
 i9.o HISTORY OF M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK X. loaded with fpoils, which however they quickly abandoned as loon as 
 ' " ' the Spaniards appeared, in order to be fooner ready for b:ittle. They 
 palied a river which crofles the valley, a);d Hood upon its border wait- 
 ing lor the Spaniards. Sandoval forded it intrepidly with his army, 
 attacked the enemy, put them to flight, and chaced them for nine 
 miles into a city, where they took refuge, leaving more than a thou- 
 fand of them dead on the field. Sandoval laid fiege to the city, and 
 forced the enemy to abandon it, and betake themfelves to a fortrefs 
 built on the top of a fteep mountain. The viftorious army entered the 
 city, and, after having plundered it, fet fire to the buildings ; and be- 
 caufe it was then late in the day, and the troops wearied, they referved 
 the allault of the fortrefs till the following morning, when, however,, 
 although expeding to meet with a ftrong oppofition, they found 
 the fortrefs evacuated. Sandoval determined, as he returned, to pafs 
 through fome fettlements whicli had alfo declared themfelves hoftile to 
 the allies of the Spaniards ; but he had no occafion to make ufe of 
 arms againft them, for they were fo intimidated at feeing fo great an 
 army, which was much augmented by numerous troops of the Oto- 
 mies, that they immediately furrendered. Sandoval treated them with 
 the greateft mildnefs, and requeued of them that they would perfuade 
 the nation of the Malatzincas to enter into friendlhip with the Spa- 
 niards, by reprefenting to them the advantages which they would, 
 derive from it ; and, on the contrary, the misfortunes which might 
 fpring from their enmity to them. Thofe expeditions proved of the 
 utmoil: importance, for four days after Sandoval had returned, feveral 
 Matlatzincan, Malinalchefe, and Cohuixcan lords, arrived at the camp 
 of Cortes, to make an excufe for their hoftilitics, and to eflablifli a 
 confederacy, which was moft flrengthening to the Spaniards, and 
 eminently prejudicial to the Mexicans. 
 
 From the fide of the main land, or continent, the Spaniards had no 
 more enemies to alarm them, and Cortes had under his diredtion fuch an 
 exceffive number of troops, that he was able to have employed in the 
 fiege of Mexico more people than Xerxes fent againft Greece, if from 
 the nature of the lite of that capital, fuch a multitude of befiegers 
 would not have been rather a hindrance. The Mexicans, on the con- 
 trary, found themfelves forfaken by their friends and their fubjedts, 
 
 furrounded
 
 HISTORT OF MEXICO. 
 
 i8i 
 
 furrounded by enemies, and opprefled by famine. That unfortunate BOOK X, 
 capital had armed againft it, the Spaniards, the kingdom of Acolhua- 
 can, the republics of Tlafcala, liuexotzinco, and Cholula, almofl all 
 the cities of the Mexican vale, and the populous nations of the To- 
 tonacas, Mixtecas, Otomies, Tlahuicas, Cohuixcas, Matlatzincas, and 
 others ; fo that, befides external enemies, more than half of the em- 
 pire had confpired againft its ruin, and the other part flood neuter in 
 its caufe. 
 
 While the commander Sandoval vva? difplaying his courage againfl 
 e M.I 
 again ft 
 
 Sect. 
 
 theM.t! 'zincas, the general Chichimecatl gave a fignal inilance of his Memorable 
 the Mexicans. This famous general, when he faw that tlie ^''^"'" °U^.* 
 
 ° general Chi- 
 
 Spaniards, after their defeat, ftood upon the defeniive only, refolved to chimecatl. 
 make an entry into Mexico with his Tlafcalans alone. Hefet out with 
 this view from the camp of Alvarado, where he had conftantly been, 
 ftationed fmce the beginning of the liege, accompanying the Spaniards 
 in all their engagements, and every "where fignalizing his bravery.. 
 He took on this occafion all the ditches in the road of Tlacopan, and 
 leaving four hundred archers as a guard to the moft dangerous pafs, 
 that they might fecure his retreat, entered with the main body of his 
 troops into the city, where he bada terrible encounter with the Mexicans, 
 in which many were killed and wounded on both fides. The Mexicans 
 flattered themfelves they would have been able to have defeated them 
 in their retreat, as they pafied the ditch ; but by the arms of the arch- 
 ers pofted there on the oppofite bank, he pafTed it fafcly with his 
 Tlafcalans, and returned full of glory to the cam.p. 
 
 In order to revenge this audacious attempt of the Tlafcalans, the 
 Mexicans one night attacked the camp of Alvarado ; but having been 
 heard in their approach by the centinels, the Spaniards and allies ran 
 to arms. The engagement lafted three hours, during which time 
 Cortes having heard from his camp the cannonade, and fufpeding the 
 caufe of it, it appeared to him to be a proper time to make an entry 
 into the city with his people, who were now cured of their wounds. 
 The Mexicans, who had gone to Tlacopan, not being able to over- 
 com.e the refiftance made by the Spaniards, returned to :hc city, where 
 they found Cortes with hio army : they f ught with fpirit, but with- 
 out any conliderable advantage bung gaiiicd by either party. 
 
 At
 
 l82 
 
 • VP 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK X. At tKIs fame time, when there was the greatefl neceflity of arms and 
 ammunition, a vefTel arrived at Vera Cruz, and which brought new^ 
 fupplies to the Spaniards, by which they were put in a fiate fit to con- 
 tinue their operations. The prince D. C. Ixtlilxochitl had advifed the 
 Spanifli general not to exhaufl: himfelf in new aflaults, in which his 
 army might fufFer too much ; that without expofing himfelf to fuch 
 an evil, or ruining the beautiful edifices of the capital, he would be 
 able to make himfclf mafter of it, merely by hindering the introduftion 
 of any fupplies i for the more numerous the befieged were, the fooner 
 they would confume the few provifions they had left. Cortes was not 
 inattentive to the acutenefs of this advice, and valued it the more, as 
 it came from a perfon, who from youth and intrepidity of temper, 
 might rather have defired an occafion of difplaying his bravery : but he 
 could only adhere to it for a few days. Becoming foon weary of the tedi- 
 oufnefsof thefiege, he re-commenced former hoftilities, though not with- 
 out firft making propofitions of peace to the Mexicans, drawing a com- 
 parifoa to them between his and their forces, and repeating the rea- 
 fons which he had formerly urged. The Mexicans anfwered, that 
 they would never lay down their arms until the Spaniards fet oft to 
 their own country. , 
 
 Cortes now feeing the refolution of the Mexicans, after forty-five 
 ^. days of liege, and that the more he made overtures of peace the more 
 
 niadeinMex- obfliuately they rejeded them, determined not to make another flep 
 bravery o/ ^"*° ^^^ ^^^Y* without dcflroying every building on either fide of the 
 fonje women, road, not only to prevent the mifchief which the troops fuffered from 
 the terraces, but likewife to force the befieged, by conflant hoflilities, 
 to accept of his propofitions. He applied, therefore, and obtained from 
 his allies, fome thoufands of their villagers and pcafants, furnlflied 
 with inflruments fit for demolifhing buildings and filling up ditches. 
 For fome days following he made leverai entries into the city, with 
 his Spaniards and brigantines, and upwards of a hundred and fifty 
 thoufand allies, demolifliing every houfe, filling up all the ditches, 
 and diminifliing the number of his enemies by death, although not 
 without the utmofl peril to his own perfon and his people ; for he was 
 nearly made a prifoner, when he was relieved by his own foldiers, and 
 his troops were fometimes obliged to efcape the fury of the enemy 
 
 by 
 
 Sect. 
 XXIX.
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O, 183 
 
 by flight. Some Spaniards and allies perished in thofo encounters, and BOOK. X. 
 two brigantines were almoft captured by a fleet of canoes j but a third 
 coming up to their afìiftance, extricated them from the danger. 
 
 In thole entries leverai Spanifh womea made themfelves famous by 
 their bravery (^) : they voluntarily accompanied their hufbands to war, 
 and, from the continual hardOiips they underwent and the examples of 
 valour which they had always before their eyes, were in a manner be- 
 come foldiers : they kept guard, marched along with their huftxinds, 
 armed with breaft-plates of cotton, fliields,- and fwords, and threw 
 thtmfelves intrepidly into the midft of the enemy, adding in fpite of 
 their fex to the number of the befiegers. 
 
 On the twenty-fourth of July they made a new entry into the city 
 with a greater number of troops than on the preceding days ; and, 
 vigoroufly bent on conqueft, the Spaniards at lafl: got poflefiion of that 
 road by which the large road of Iztapalapan communicated with that 
 of Tlacopan ; the objedt which Cortes had fo ardently longed to ac- 
 complilli, for the free communication of his with the camp of Alva- 
 rado. They took by aflault and afterwards filled up feveral ditches, 
 and burned and deftroyed many buildings ; among others, a palace of 
 king Quauhtemolzin, which was a vail: and ftrong edifice furrounded 
 with intrenchments. The Spaniards that day remained mafters of three 
 of the four quarters of the capital, the befieged being now reduced to 
 the part of Tlatelolco, which, on account of there being more water in 
 it, was more ftrong and fecure. 
 
 From a Mexican woman of rank, taken in the laft aflault, the Spa- 
 rirti general learned the miferable fiate of the city, through the fcarcity 
 of provifions and the difcord prevailing among the befieged : for the 
 king, and his relations, and many of the nobles, were determined to 
 die rather than furrender ; while the people were difcouraged and weary 
 of the fiege. Her account was confirmed by two deferters of inferior 
 rank, who were impelled by hunger to come to the camp of Cortes. 
 
 Upon gaining this intelligence, Cortes refolved not to let a day pafs 
 without entering the city, until he took or ruined it ; he therefore re- 
 turned with his army on the twenty-fifth, and got poflclfion of a large 
 
 (y) Thofe «omen were Maria dc Ellrada, whofe courage we have formerly mentioned, 
 Beatrice Bcnoudcz de Valafco, Juanna Martin, Elizabcta Rodtrigucz, aud Beatrice PaUcios. 
 
 road,
 
 184 H I ST O R Y OF MEXICO. 
 
 BOOK x: road, ia which there was fo gfe:^t a^ditch that the -whole day was not 
 time lufficicnt to ilop or fill it up. They demoliflied or burned all the 
 lioufes of that quarter, in fpite of the refiilance of the enemy. The 
 Mexicans, on beholding the allies bufied in rafing the houfes, cried 
 put to them;, .".Demoliih, ye traitors ! lay thofe houfes . in ruin, foj: 
 *' afterwards you ;will have the labour of repairing them." " We,-" 
 anfwered the allies, *' will unquellionably rebuild them, if you fhoul4 
 "be conquerors; but if you fliould be conquered, yourfelves mufl re- 
 ^' build tliem, and your enemies inhabit them." The Mexicans being 
 «nable toj-epair the buildings, made little fortifications of wood on the 
 roads to annoy the befieged from them as they had done from the terraces f 
 and to impede the motions of the Cavalry, they ftrowed tlie fquare 
 with large ftones ; but the befiegers made ufe of them to fill up the 
 ditches. 
 
 In the entry which was made on the twenty-fixth, two large ditches 
 were taken, which had been recently dug by the Mexicans. Alvarado 
 in his quarter was daily advancing firther into the city, and on the 
 twenty-feventh puflied fo far, taking leverai ditches and intrenchments, 
 that he came at laft to occupy two towers neighbouring to the palace 
 where king Quauhtemotzin refided ; but he could' proceed no fiirther 
 on account of the great difficulty he found from other ditches, and the 
 gallant reliftance of the enemy, who obliged him to retreat, charging 
 furioufly upon his rear-guard. Cortes having obferved an extraordinary 
 fmoke which arofe from thofe towers, made by way of fignal, and fuf- 
 pedling that which had adlually happened, entered as ufual into the city, 
 and employed the whole day in repairing every bad ftep. He wanted 
 but one canal and one intrenchment to come at the fquare of the mar- 
 ket; he determined to pufh on until he got there, which at laft he ef- 
 fedled ; and then, for the firft time after the commencement of the fiege, 
 his troops met with thofe of Alvarado, to the inexpreflible latisfadlion 
 of both. Cortes entered with fome cavalry into the fquare, and found 
 innumerable people there, lodged in the porticos, the houfes of that 
 diftrift not being fufficient to contain them. He mounted the temple, 
 from whence he obferved the city, and perceived, that of the eight 
 parts of which it confifted, only one remained to be taken. He ordered 
 his people to fet fire to the lofty and beautiful towers of that temple, 
 8 where.
 
 Mexicans.- 
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 185 
 
 where, as in the greater temple of Tcnochtitlan, the Idol of the god of BOOK X. 
 war was adored. The Mexican populace, on feeing the great flame 
 which arofs from tlience and feemed to reach the clouds, uttered deep 
 lamentations. Cortes, moved with pity at feeing fo great a body of 
 people reduced to the utmolt diftrelTes, commanded all holHlities to ceafe 
 for that day, and new propofals to be made to the befieged, if they 
 would furrender ; but they anfwered, that they never would, and that 
 while but one Mexican remained alive he would continue the defence 
 till death. 
 
 Four days having; palled without hoftilities, Cortes entered anew '^^ct-Xxx. 
 
 J o r ' Lamentable 
 
 into the city, and encountered with a large croud of miferable creatures, ftate ot the 
 of men, women, and young children, emaciated and almoft dying of 
 hunger; the famine being fo great, that many of them lived folely 
 upon herbs, marfli roots, infedts, and even the bark of trees. The ge- 
 neral, compaffionating fuch wretches, ordered his troops not to do thevn 
 any hurt, and pafled on to the fquare of the market, where he found 
 the porticos filled with people who were unarmed ; a certain token of 
 the defpondcncy of the people and their difpleafure at the obllinacy 
 of the king and the nobles. The greater part of that day was em- 
 ployed in negpciations for peace ; but Cortes finding that nothing 
 would avail, ordered Alvarado to advance with an armed body through 
 a great road where there were more than a thoufand houfes, while he 
 with all his army made an attack in another quarter. The llaughter 
 which they made of the befieged that day was fo great, that there were 
 upwards of twelve thoufand killed and taken prifoners. The allies 
 raged fo cruelly againft thefe unhappy vidims, that they fpared neither 
 age nor lex, the fevere orders of the general being of no effect to con- 
 trol them. 
 
 The next day Cortes returned with all his forces, but commanded 
 them to do no hurt to the befieged, moved not lei's by the compafiion 
 whicli the fight of their mifery excited than the hope lie had of in- 
 ducing them to furrender. The Mexicans feeing fuch a hoft of ene- 
 mies come againft them, and among them their own fubjedls who had 
 formerly ferved them and now threatened them with ruin, finding 
 themfclves reduced to the moll dillrefilng fituation, and viewing before 
 their eyes fo many objeds of afflidion, having hardly a place to fet a 
 Vol. II. Db foot
 
 iSó H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 BOO K X, foot upon, except the dead bodies of their citizens, vented their anguifh 
 ^ "•" -^ in horrid cries, and demanded death as the only cure for their pitch' 
 of mifery. Some of the common people requefted Cortes to treat with 
 fome nobles who defended an intrenchment about an accommoda- 
 tion : Cortes went to them, but with little hopes of fuccefs to his pro- 
 pofnions t they happened to be fome of thofe perfons who could no- 
 longer endure the feverity of the liege. When they faw Cortes advancing 
 towards them, they called out with the accents of defperation, " If you 
 " are the child of the fan, as fome do imagine, when your father is S> 
 *' fwift that in the fliort fpace of a day he finifhes his airy courfe, why 
 " are you fo tedious in delivering us from all our calamities by death ? 
 " We would die, that we may pafs to heaven, where our god Huitzilo- 
 " pochtli waits to give us the repofe and reward ourfatigaes andfervices 
 " and facrihces to him have earned." Cortes made ufe of varioas 
 aro-uments to move them to a furrendcr ; but, as they anfwered that it 
 was not ir» their power, nor had they any hop*i of perfuading the king 
 to it, he withdrew, in order to make a folicitation to the fame purpofe- 
 by means of an illuflrious perfon whom he had three days before made 
 a prifoner ; he was an uncle of the king of Tezcuco ; him he charged, 
 though wounded, to go to Tlatelolco to confer on the fubjeift with the 
 king : but he faw no other fruits of his embaffy than the clamours of 
 the people repeated, with which they demanded their deaths.. Some. 
 Mexican troops made a- defperate aflault on the Spaniards, but they 
 were fo enfeebled by the want of common fuftenance, that their effort», 
 made little imprellion,. and the repulfe of their enemies was too Urong 
 to be with flood'. 
 Sect.XXXI. Cortes returned tiie day following to the city, expecting every mo- 
 Furtherfnm- ,yjgpj. ji-j^j; the Mexicans would furrender : and, without allowing any 
 
 lels attempt CO _ . 
 
 brinrr the fii^irt to be done them-, he diredled his way to fome prrfoas of emi- 
 a ruarender? nence ftatioued in an intrenchment, who were krrown to hi.ii from the 
 firft time he had been' at that court, and demanded of them why they 
 would defend thcmieves fo-obftinately, being unable for inore reiiftaace, 
 and finding themklves in luch a fiate that with oae blo.v h^coulJ take 
 away every life among them-. They anfwered, that they faw mofc clear- 
 ly that their ruin' was iniìvit.'lle, and they would willingly have pre- 
 vented it, but it did not lie with them to determiiie the point. They 
 
 o^cred
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 187 
 
 oftered however to petition the king to hllen to propolitions of peace, book X. 
 They accordingly went inin-iediately to the palace, and in a Ihort time ^ ^ 
 
 alter returned, faying that it was fo late in the day, the king could not 
 come, but that they did not doubt he would meet with Cortes in the 
 fame place to-morrow. There was in the center of this place a large 
 fquare terrace, where the Mexicans made their theatrical reprefcnta- 
 tions, as we have already mentioned." Cortes ordered tapeftries and 
 little ftools or chairs to be placed on this theatre, on piirpofe to hold 
 t!ie delired conference, and a good entertainment to be provided for 
 the king and the nobility who might accompany him. The day being 
 arrived, he fent notice to the king that he waited for him at that 
 place ; but the king returned five refpcdtable perfons, to apologife for 
 his not coming in perfon, on account of an indilpofition he had, and 
 becaufe he could not place confidence in the Spaniards. Cortes received 
 them with the greateft bsnignity, gave them an elegant banquet, and 
 fent them back to the king, to requeft him in Cortes's name to come 
 to that interview without fear ; as he pledged his faith to pay due rc- 
 fpeót to his royal perfon, that his prefence was abfolutely neceflary, 
 and nothing could be concluded without him ; and accompanied this 
 cmbaflv with a prefent of provifions, which at this juntìure was the 
 more valuable. The ambafladors, after difcovering in the courfe of 
 the entertainment the great necefilties they fufFercd, retired, and about 
 two hours after returned, bearing Cortes a pjel'cnt of the fmcil gar- 
 ments, which were fent him by the king, and a repetition of his former 
 cxculcs. Three days were fpent in thofe ncg x'iations, to no eft'cdt. 
 
 Cortes had given orders to the allies to remain wifhout the city, as Sict. 
 the Mexicans had requefted him not to allow tb.em to be prefent when Teinbie ton- 
 he held a conference with the king ; but liavine now left ever\' hope of «' f> a"J '">•'- 
 
 ° '-' . •'. ' , lut ih.f.i'liicr 
 
 an accommodation, he recalled all the troops of his cjmp, in which ot theMcxi- 
 there were upwards of one hundredi and fifty thoufand men, and thofc 
 aUo of the camp of Alvarado ; and with all thoic forces colleded he 
 began to ftorm fome ditches and intrenchments, v.hich were the 
 ilrongeft fortifications remaining to the Mexicans, and at the fame 
 time Sandoval with his army attacked the city in the quarter of the 
 nofth. Of all days this was the moll unfortunate for that tity, as 
 pn it the Mexican blood was moft laviih.ly jpilt ; the wretched citi^ 
 
 inoii.,1 ^ b 2 . z*^"«» 
 
 cans.
 
 i88 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 BOOK X. zens having now neither arms to repel the muhitude and fury of their 
 
 ^"^ ^ ~^ enemies, flrength to defend theinfelves, nor fpace to fight upon ; the 
 
 ground of the city was covered with dead bodies, and the water of 
 
 every ditch and canal purpled with blood. Nothing was to be feen 
 
 but flaughter and ruin, and nothing was heard but piteous moans and 
 
 cries of defperation. The allies grew ftill more cruel againft that 
 
 miferable people, and gave the Spaniards more trouble to check their 
 
 fiercenefs and inhuman rage, than to combat with the enemy. The 
 
 havoc made of the Mexicans that day was fo great, that, according to the 
 
 account of Cortes himfelf, the number of vió1:ims exceeded forty thoufand. 
 
 ÌSect. The intolerable flench arifine from fo many unburied dead carcafes. 
 
 Lad anhiiit' obliged the befiegers at this time to withdraw from the city : but the 
 
 andtakin;- of j^y after, being; the thirteenth of i.^u2;un:, they returned, to siive thelafl 
 
 tlie city and J ' t> to > ./ » t> 
 
 king; alTault to that diftrid of Tlatelolco which yet remained in the pofTef- 
 
 fion of the Mexicans. Cortes carried three pieces of artillery with him, 
 affigned to each captain the place where he was to make the aflault, 
 and commanded them to make every exertion to force the befieged to 
 throw themfelves upon the water towards towards that place where he 
 expedted Sandoval with the brigantines, which was a fort of harbour en- 
 tirely furrounded with houfes, where the veflels of the merchants ufed 
 to come on fhore when they came to the market of Tlatelolco ; and, 
 above all, to endeavour to feize the king Quauhtemotzin, as that was 
 fufficient to render them maflers of tlie city, and to put an end to the 
 war: but, before he proceeded to this decillve blow, he made new 
 attempts to bring about an accommodation. He was induced to this, 
 not only from compaflion on fo many wretched people, but likewife 
 from the defirc of making himfelf mafter of the royal treafures and thofe 
 of the nobility ; for if this laft part of the city was taken by aiTault, 
 the Mexicans, when bereft of every hope of faving their riches, might 
 throw them into the lake, that the victors might not enjoy them ; and 
 in cafe that was not done, they would be feized by the allies, who, 
 from being innumerable and more acquainted with the houfes, would 
 leave little or nothing to the Spaniards in the diforder and confufion of 
 the affault. He, for this purpofe, went to an eminence to fpeak with 
 fome refpeftable Mexicans who were well known to him, reprefented 
 to them their extreme danger, and requefted them to make new appli- 
 cations
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 189 
 
 cations to the king, to confent to that conference v/lijch he Co much BOOK 
 defired for the good of the kingdom, himfelf, und all his fubjefls ; for 
 that, if he perfifted in his purpofe of defending hiinfiJf, he was dcterinin- 
 ed not to leave a Mexican alive that day among th^m. Two of thofe 
 nobles took upon them to perfuade the king, but ihey were no fooner 
 gone tlian they returned, accompanying the Clhiiacoatl, or fupreme 
 magiftrate of the court. He was received by Cortes with m ;ny tokens 
 of cordi;.lity and refped:; but, with an air of fovereignty, by which it 
 appeared he defigned to fliew his mind fuperior to all calamities, he laid 
 to Cortes, " Spare me, O general ! the trouble of foliciting a confer- 
 " enee for you vvith my king and lord Quauhtemotzin : he is refolved 
 " to die rather than appear before you : I cannot exprefs to you how 
 " painful his refolutioa is tome; but there is no remedy : you, how- 
 ** ever, will follow the counfel you think proper, and adt agreeable 
 " to your defigns." Cortes told him to go and prepare the citizens 
 for the death which they would foon fuffer. 
 
 In the mean time, numerous bodies of women and children and low 
 people came to furrender themfelves to the Spaniards, haftening to 
 extricate themfelves from the impending danger ; fome of them, how- 
 ever, periflied, in attempting to fwim acrofs the ditches, for want of 
 {Irength. Cortes ordered no injury to be offered to thofe who furrender- 
 ed, and ftationed fome Spaniards in different places, to check by their 
 authority the barbarous cruelty of the allies ; but in fpite of his orders, 
 more than fifteen thoufand men, women, and children, periflied in the 
 hands of thofe furious and inhuman troops. 
 
 The nobles and warriors who remained obflinate in their refolution 
 to defend themfelves to the laft moment, occupied the terraces of the 
 houfes and fome of their paved roads. Cortes obferving that it was 
 late, and that they did not chufe to furrender, made fome fhots of ar- 
 tillery be fired upon them ; but that not being fufficient, he difcharged 
 an arquebufe as a fignal for the affault. All the befiegers made the 
 attack at once, and preffed fo hard upon the feeble and harraffed citi- 
 zens, that finding no place within the city to fly to, to defend them- 
 felves from the fury of fo numerous an enemy, many threw themfelves 
 into the water, and others came to furrender themfelves to the con- 
 querors. The Mexicans had prepared vcffels, to fave themfelves by 
 
 flight
 
 HISTORYOF MEXICO. 
 
 flight from the fury of the enemy ; but Cortes having been aware of 
 this refource for efcape, had given orders to S .ndoval to take po^relTioh 
 with the brigaiitines of the port of Tlatelolco, and to feize every bark. 
 In fpite of the utmofh dihgence employed by SandovJ, inM^y ekapcd, 
 and among others, the one which carried the royal pcrfonagco. This 
 aófive commander hiving difcovered it, ordered Garcia de Ilolguin, the 
 captain of the fwifteft brigantine, to give chace ; he m ide fuch fpeeJ that 
 in a ihort time he came up with it, and the Spaniards were preparing 
 to fire into it, when they ceafed their oars and threw down t leir arms 
 in token of furrender. In that large vefTel^'or piragua, were the king 
 of Mexico Quauhtemotzin, the queen Tecuichpotzin his wife, Coana- 
 cotzin the king of Acolhuacan, Tetlepanquetzaltzin the king of Tla- 
 copan, and other perfons of rank. The brigantine boarded them, and 
 the king of Mexico advancing towards the Spaniards, faid to' the cap- 
 tain, " I am your prifoner : I have no favour to afk, but that you will 
 '* fliew the queen my wife and her attendants the refpcdl due to their 
 " fex and rank." And, taking hold of the queen by the hand, he 
 paffed with her into the brigantine. Obferving afterv\'ards, that the 
 Spanilh captain looked anxioully after the other veflels, he told him 
 that he needed not doubt, that as foon as they all knew that their 
 fovereign was prifoner they would come to die with him. 
 
 The captain Holguin condudlcd thofe illuftrious perfons to Cortes, 
 who was then upon the terrace of a houfe in Tlatelolco. He received 
 them with every mark of refpeft and humanity, and made them fit 
 down. Quauhtemotzin, with much greatnefs of mind, told him ^ 
 (** 1 have done, brave general ! in defence of myfelf and my fubjeéls, 
 :**lEvery thing which the honour ol- my crown and regard for my peo- 
 *' pie demanded ; but, as my gods have been againll me, I fee myfelf 
 '* jiow deprived of my crown and my liberty : I am now your prifoner ; 
 ** at ^your pleafure difpofe of my perfon :" and putting his hand upon 
 a dagger which Cortes wore at his girdle, he added, " with this dag- 
 *• ger take that life from me which I have not lolT: in the defence of 
 " my kingdom." Cortes ftrove to confole him, with many arguments, 
 declaring that he did not confider him as his prifoner, but the prifoner 
 of the greateft monarch of Europe, from whofe clemency he ought to 
 trull, that-, not only the liberty which he had loll, bi'it alfo the throne 
 ;'i';_j'a of
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 191 
 
 .of his llluftrious anceftors, which he had fo worthily occupied and B- O 
 defended, would be rertored to him. But what folace could he have 
 from fuch declarations, or what confidence could he put in the words 
 cf Cortes, who h.id always been his ene.iiy, and aitcr having feen that 
 though the friend and protestor of Montezuma, both were not fuffici- 
 cnt to fave to that monarch his crown, his liberty, or his life ? He 
 dtfired of Cortes, that he would do no hurt to his fubjeds ; and Cor- 
 tes in return defired of him, that he would command them all to fur- 
 render. Both gave their orders, and both were inftantly obeyed. It 
 was ordered alfo, that all the Mexicans fhould leave the city without 
 arms or baggage ; and, according t®- the affirmation of an eye-witnefs 
 of the utmoft fmcerity (;), for three days and three nights all the three 
 roads leading from the city were feen full of men, wDmen, and chil-, 
 dren j feeble, emaciated, and dirty, who went to recover in other places 
 of thè empire. The fetid fmell, which fo many thoufand putrid bodies 
 emitted, was fa intolerable, that it occafioned fome ficknefs to the 
 general of the conquerors. The houfes, the flreets, and the canals, 
 were £ui\ of disfigured carcafes ; the ground of the city was in fome 
 places found' dug up by the citizens, who fearched under the earth for 
 roots to feed on, and many trees were fliipped' of their bark, to fupply 
 the exigencies of famine.. Tiie general caufed the dead bodies to be 
 buried, and large quantities of wood, to be burned through all the 
 city, as much in order to purify the infe(£ted air as to celebrate his 
 vidory. ' 
 
 The news or tRe taking of the capital fpread quickly through all 
 the bnd ; moll of the provinces of the empire acknowleged obedience 
 to Cortes, though fome few for two years after continued to war upoa. 
 
 (r) '» Es Tcrdad y juro amen que toda la laguna y cafas y baibacoas eftaban llenas dc 
 cucrpos y cabczas lie homlT.'s muerfos ; que yo no sò.de que maiieja lo efcriba ; pues en 
 las calle» y en Ics mlfmos patios de Tlatelolco no habia ctras colas y no podiamos andar, fino, 
 crtre ciicrp 's y cabcrz:is di- Indios'muertos. Yo iie Icido la dcftnicion de [crufalem ; mas fi 
 cfi dia hu o tinta mortanlad corno i-fta ya no lo sì-, ""&>.■. B^ rn:il Diaz, chap. icb. ot hi» 
 hiOory. Such 'xprciTions, froi i an cyc-witnefs of great linceriiv, who was not given to fxaff.' 
 geratl'iD, convey -i» us a jull idea cf hat horrid flau^hter. 'v\ c fuipeifl that the- Mcvicans Icff 
 thc dead bodies inhuricd, that tlic ftench of them might drive away the belicgcrs ; as otherwife 
 it is prcbabl. that, on account of their llriCt attention to funeral litcb, they would hava re- 
 Qovcd thcjn all. 
 
 the
 
 kfz H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 •?00K X. the Spaniards. The alUes returned to their native dillrióìrs, joyful be- 
 yond mesiiure with their prey, and gratified in extreme to have fliaken 
 and convuUed that court whofe dominion they never could brook, and 
 whole arms kept them in perpetual uneaiinefs ; never perceiving, that 
 with their own hands they had been forming the cliains wiiich were 
 to fetter their liberty, and that when that empire was flillen, all the 
 other nations of the region niuft be degraded and enflaved. 
 
 The plunder was greatly inferior to the hopes and expeilations of 
 the conquerors. The garments and apparel which they found in the 
 capital were divided among the allies : thofe works of gold, filver, and 
 feathers which, on account of the fingularity of their workmanfhip 
 were preferved entire, were fent as prefents to the emperor Ciiarles V. 
 all the reft of the gold, which was melted, hardly amounted to nine- 
 teen thoufand two hundred ounces {s) ; not only becaufe the Mexicans 
 threw the greater part into the lake (/), but alfo becaufe individuals 
 both Spaniards and allies, endeavoured in plundering, to recompenfe 
 themfelves fecretly for their hardfliips and toils. 
 
 The taking of that capital happened on the thirteenth of Auguft, 
 1 52 1, one hundred and ninety-fix years after the foundation of it by 
 the Aztecas, one hundred and fixty-nine years after it was eredted into' 
 a monarchy, which was governed by eleven kings. The fiege of 
 Mexico, fomething refembling in the difafters and flaughters with 
 which it was attended that of Jerufalem, lafted feventy-five days ; 
 during which time, of two hundred thoufand and more allies, fome 
 thoufands periflied ; and of nine hundred Spaniards, more than one 
 hundred were killed and facrificed. The number of the Mexicans 
 killed is not known ; but according to the account of Cortes and Ber- 
 nal Diaz, and what other hiftorians fay on that fubje(5t, it appears that 
 
 (;) Corti»s fays, that the gold which was meked down weighed one hundred and thirty 
 thoufand cafillanos, equal to nineteen thoufand two hundred ounces. There were among the 
 fpoils fent to Charles V. pearls of an enormous fize, mofl valuable gems, and fome curious 
 works of gold. The fiiip in which they were carried was taken by I. Florin, a famous French 
 pirate, and the treafure was fent to the court of France ; which authorifed fuch depredations, 
 under the not lefg famed than frivolous pretence, that the moil Chriftian king was a fon of 
 Adam as well as the Catholic king. 
 
 (/) Bernal Diaz fays, that he faw fome thisgs of gold got up out of the lake, and amongft 
 others, a fun fimiiar to that which Montezuma feut to Cortes when he was on the coail of 
 Chalchiuhcuecan. 
 
 8 the
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 the flain exxeeded one hundred thoufand in number, \^'ith rerpe(fl to 
 tliofe who died by famine, or ficknefs occafioned by the brackilli water 
 which they drank and the infeótion of the air, Cortes himfelf atfirms 
 they were more than fifty thoufand. The city appeared one complete 
 ruin. The king of Mexico, in fpite of the magnificent promifes of 
 the Spanidi general, was in a few days put ignominioufly to the torture, 
 which he bore with unlhaken firmnels, that he might declare where 
 the immenfe riches of the court and temples were depolited («) ; and, 
 in three years after, was hanged, together with the kings of Tczcuco 
 and Tlacopan, on account of fome fufpicious circumftances in their 
 condudt (to). The Mexicans, and all the nations that contributed to 
 their ruin, notwithftanding the humane and benevolent difpofitions 
 of the Catholic kings, reinained abandoned to mifery and opprelfion, 
 and the contempt not only of the Spaniards, but even of the lowed 
 African flaves and their infamous defcendantG. 
 
 Thus, it has been faid, in conducing the Spaniards, a polifhcd 
 nation of Europe, to overturn the rude monarchy of the Mexicans, in 
 America, did Providence punifii the latter for the injuflice, cruelty, and 
 fuperftition of their anceftors. But there the vivStors, in one year of 
 mercilefs malTacre, facrificed more human viiflims tp avarice and am- 
 bition, than the Indians during the exirtence of their empire devoted 
 
 (») The torture given to king Quauhtemotzin, was burning his feet flowly after they vrcr» 
 anointrd with oil. An intimate friend of the king votuntarily fliarcd his fuffcrings, and died 
 under the torment. Bernal Diaz alfo adds, that the king of Thicopan was tortincd along with 
 him. Cortes, in fpite of his abhorrence oi this aci, was driven to it by the fiiggciiions and 
 infinuations of fomc avaricious Spaniards, who fufpecied that he had intended not to put the 
 king to the torture in order to poflcfs hinilclf fecrctly of all the royal trtafure. 
 
 (•.!•) Quauhtemotzin king of Mexico, Co.inacotzin king of Acolhuacan, and Tetlcpanquet- 
 zaltzii) king of 1 lacopan, were hanged upon a tree in Izancanac, the capital of the province 
 of ^callan, on one of the three days preceding Lent of the year 1525. 1 he occafion of their 
 death was, fomc difcourfe tliey had among thtmfclves relative to their misfortunes, in which 
 they ir.linuated how eafy it would be for them if ihey inclined to kill Cortes and the Spaniards 
 and to recover their liberty and their crowns. A Mexican traitor, in order to gain the favour 
 of the Spanifli general, c imniunicatcd what had been faid, b.it altered the fenfe of the words, 
 and rcprefentcd the cafual remarks of converf ition as a formed confpiracy againft him. Cortes, 
 who was then on his journey towards the province of Coniajahua, with a few Spani.ud- almoft 
 exhauftcd by fatigue, and upw.ads of th'ce thoufand Mexicans whom he carried along with 
 him, was pcrfuaded there was no way of fliunning the danger which thrc.itcned him, but putlin'^ 
 the three kings ro death, " This li'ntcncc, ' fays Bernal Diaz, " was extremely uiijull, and 
 *• much blamed by all who v.rrc travelling v.iih him that day." It occalioned fomc wafchin"-8 
 and melancholy to Cones. 
 
 Vol. II. C c in
 
 H I S T O Pv y OF MEXICO. 
 
 in chafte worfliip to their native gods : there the legiflative art of Eu- 
 rope correóled the bloody pohcy of American tribes, and introduced 
 the minillry of jiilHce, by defpoihng Indian caziques of their territories 
 and tributes, torturing them for gold, and enilaving their polfcrity : 
 and there the mild parental voice of the Chrillian religion was fuborn- 
 ed to terrify confounded fwages with the malice of a ftrange, and by 
 them unprovoked, God ; and her gentle arm in violence lifted up, to 
 raze their temples and hofpitable habitations, to ruin every fond relic 
 and revered monument of their anceftry and origin, and divorce them 
 in an:!;uilh from the botom ot their country. 
 
 A P P E N-
 
 APPENDIX: 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 DISSERTATIONS 
 
 O N 
 
 THE I,AND, THE ANIMALS, AND THE INHABITANTS OF 
 
 MEXICO: 
 
 IN WHICH 
 
 The Ancient History of that Country is confirmed, many Points of 
 Natural History ilkiflrared, and numerous Errors retutcd, which 
 have been publifhcd concerning America by ibmc celebrated modern 
 Authors. 
 
 C c 2 INTRO-
 
 [ ^v ] 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 TH E DifTertations which we enter upon are both ufeful and nc- 
 cedary, to illuflrate the ancient hiftory of Mexico, and confirm 
 the truth of many points maintained in it. The firft Diirertation is 
 requifite, to fupply the defective knowledge we have refpedling the 
 fiifl population of that new woild. The fccond, though tedious and 
 kfs calculated to interefl, ought not to be omitted, in order that we 
 may know the foundations of our chronology ; and will prove ufeful 
 to whoever may hereafter write the hiftory of M.xico. All the others 
 are equally important, to guard incautious readers from the miftakes 
 and deceptions they would otherwife be led into, by the crowd of 
 modern authors, who, without pofTeffing fufficient knowledge, have 
 not been aihamcd to write on the land, the animals, and inhabitants 
 of America. 
 
 Any perfon who reads the work of M. de P. mud entertain a thou- 
 fanJ ideas contraiy to the fincerity of our hiftory. He is a philofo- 
 pher of the prefent fafhion, and learned ; particularly on certain fub- 
 je<fi:s, where it is his misfortune to be wife ; and ignorance \^'ould have 
 been his blifs. He mingles infult and buffconry in his difcourfes ; 
 enters without refpedt into the houfe of God, and fheds malevolence 
 and invedlive from his pen without reverence for truth or feelings for 
 innocence. He decides railily, and in a magifterial tone -, incelfantly 
 cites the writers of America, and declares his work to be the fruit of 
 ten years toil. This he means (hould recommend him with many 
 readers of this philofophic age, who efteem nothing but philofophy, 
 and think thofe men philofophers only who latirize religion and talk in 
 the language of impiety. 
 
 The attempt made by M. de P. is to perfuade the world, that in the 
 
 vaft region of America all nature has degenerated ; in the plants, in the 
 
 animals, and in the inhabitants. The er.rth, incumbered with lofty 
 
 mountains and rocks, and in the plains deluged witli ftagnant a;:d cor- 
 
 8 • rupted
 
 98 H I S T O R Y OF M E X I C O. 
 
 rupted waters, or covered witli woods fo vafb and {o thick, that the 
 fun's rays never penetrate them, is, he fays, generally barren, and more 
 abounding in poifonous plants than all the reft of the world : the air 
 unwholefome, and more cold than that of the other continent : the 
 climate unfavourable to the propagation of animals : all the animals 
 native to thefe countries were fmallcr, more deformed, feeble, cow- 
 ardly, and flupid, than thofe of the ancient world ; and thofe which 
 were tranfported there foon degenerated, as well as all the plants tranf- 
 planted there from Europe : the men hardly differed from the beafts, 
 except in figure ; but even in this, many marks of degeneration ap- 
 pear ; their colour olive, their heads extremely hard and armed with 
 coarfe thick locks, and the whole of the reft of their bodies totally 
 deftitute of hair : they are brutal and weakly, and fubjecft to many vio- 
 lent diforders, occafioned by the infaliibrity of their climate ; but how- 
 ever their bodies may be foimed, their minds are ftill more imperfeifl ; 
 they are fo irretentive in memory, that tliey forget to-day what they 
 did yefterday ; they can neither refleft nor order their ideas, nor are 
 capable of iniproving them, nor of thinking, becaufe their brains cir- 
 culate only grofs vifcous humours ; they are infenfible to the defires 
 of love, or any other palTion ; their floth holds them funk in a favage 
 ftate J their cowardice was made manifeft at the conqueft ^ their moral 
 vices are correfpondent to their phyfical defefts ; drunkennefs, lying, 
 End pederafty, were comn^on in the iflands, in Mexico, Peru, and over 
 all the new continent ; they lived without laws ; the few arts they 
 knew were very rude; agriculture was totally neglefted by them, 
 their architedure pitiful, and their utenfils ftill more imperfeft : 
 in the whole new world were only two cities, Cuzco in North, and 
 Mexico in South America, and even thefe conftituted but miferable 
 hamlets, &c. 
 
 This is a flight fketch of the monftrous picture which M. de P. 
 draws of America : we do not give it at length, nor fay how other au- 
 thors, as ill informed or ftrongly prejudiced as he is, have reprefentedit : 
 it would wafte too much time to copy their abfurdities and errors • 
 neither do we intend to mi.ke the apology of America or the Ameri- 
 cans ; that would require a very voluminous work : to write an error, 
 two lines are futiicient ; two pages, or two flieets Uiay not be fufficient 
 
 to
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 to refute it : wc fhall, tlierefore, reply to thofe only which afFcft the 
 truth of our hiftory : we have chofen the work of M. dc P. becaule 
 in it the errors of moft others are coIle(ftcd. 
 
 Although M. de P. is the principal author to whom we dired: our 
 animadverfions, we (lull have occafion to remark upon others, and, 
 among thofe, on Count de Buffon. We have the utmoft efteem 
 for this celebrated author, and confider him the moO: diligent, the 
 mcft accurate, and moft eloquent naturalift of the age ; perhaps there 
 never was in the world one who made fuch progrefs in the knowledge 
 of animals as he has done ; but as the fubjedt of the work he has un- 
 dertaken is fo vaft and fo various, it is not wonderful that he has 
 fometime s erred, or forgot what he has written with refpeft to America, 
 where nature is fo inexhauftible ; the miftakes, therefore, or proofs we 
 may adduce of his errors, can have no influence on the reputation of 
 one fodefervedly refpedted by the learned world. 
 
 In the quotations of the Kiftory of Quadrupeds of count de Buffon, 
 we made ufe of the Paris edition, in thirty-one volumes, twelves, con- 
 cluded in the year 1 768. In thofe of the work of M. de P. we have 
 ufed the London edition of } 771, in three volumes, including the 
 anfwcr made him by Don Pernety, and reply of M. de Paw. 
 
 199 
 
 DIS-
 
 DISSERT. 
 I. 
 
 ( 200 ) 
 
 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 On the Population of America, and in particular that of 
 
 Mexico. 
 
 NO problem in hiliory has been more difficult of folution than the 
 population of America, or has occafioned a greater diverfity of 
 opinions. Ancient philofophers were not more divided concerning 
 the fuprcme good than the moderns about this. To examine them all 
 would be a fruitlels labour. Neither do we intend to eftabliih a new 
 fyftem, having no foundation to fupport one : we mean fimply to 
 oiter and fubmit to the judgment of the learned a few conjeftures, 
 which we prefume may not be ufelefs. In order to proceed with 
 clcarnels and precihon, we fhall divide our general fubjedt into feveral , 
 parts, and explain our fentiments on each feparately. 
 
 SECT. I. 
 At -what Teriod America began to be peopled. 
 
 BETANCOURT, and other authors, are perfuaded, that the new 
 world began to be peopled before the deluge. That certainly might 
 have happened, becaufe the fpace of one thoufand fix hundred and fifty- 
 fix years elapfed from the creation of the firft man until the deluge, 
 according to the chronology of the Hebrew text of Genefis, and our 
 common reckoning; and flill more, the fpace of two thoufand two 
 hundred and forty-two, or two thoufand two hundred and fixty-two 
 years, according to the computation of the Seventy, was certainly 
 enough to people oil the world, as has been already demonftrated by 
 fome writers ; at leafl after ten or twelve centuries, fome of thofe 
 families which fcattered themfelves towards the mofi: eaftern parts of 
 Afia, might pafs to that part of the world which we call at prefent 
 America, whither it was, a8 we believe, united to the other, or fepa- 
 
 rated
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 201 
 
 rated by a finali arm of the fea from it. But how do thofe authors DISSERT- 
 prove that America was peopled before the deluge? Becaufc they fay 
 there were giants in America, and the race of giants was antideluvian. 
 Becaufe God, others will fay, did not create the earth to remain unin- 
 habited ; and it is not probable that, after creating America for that 
 purpofe, he would leave it fo long without inhabitants. Admitting 
 the facred text to be taken in the vulgar fcnfe, and that the giants 
 were men of extraordinary fize and bignefs, this would by no means 
 confirm fuch opinion, becaufe we read in the facred writings alfo 
 of giants pofterior to the deluge. Neither does the text of Ifaiah 
 prove any thing in favour of that opinion, becaufe although God 
 created the earth to be inhabited, no one can divine the time prefixed 
 by him for the execution of his defigns. 
 
 The traveller Gemelli fays, on the evidence of fome ancient pidures 
 of the Mexicans, that the city of Mexico was founded in the year 
 II Calli, correfponding to the year 1325 of the creation of the world, 
 that is, more than three hundred years before the deluge ; but this 
 erroneous abfurdity was not an error of his mind, but a flip of his pen, 
 as' plainly appears from the context of his narration ; wherefore he is 
 unjuftly reprobated by Mr. de P. who alfo accufes Siguenza of the 
 fame error, whereas we are very certain this mofi: learned Mexican was 
 of a very difl^erent opinion. It is true, that the city of Mexico was 
 founded in the year II Calli, and that that was the year 1325, not of 
 the world, however, but . of the vulgar era, which the above men- 
 tioned traveller certainly meant to have written. 
 
 It is therefore ufelefs to inveftigate whether America was peopled 
 before the deluge, becaufe on one hand although we were able to dif- 
 cover it, on the other we are certain, that all men perifhed in the 
 deluge. We are therefore obliged always, after that general inundation, 
 to feek for new peoplers of America. We know that fome writers cir- 
 cumfcribe the deluge to a certain part of Afia; but we know alfo that 
 that opinion is contrary to the Sacred Writings, to the traditions of the 
 Americans, and phyfical obfervations. 
 
 Dr. Siguenza believed the population of America began not lon^ 
 
 after the difperfion of nations. As we have not the manufcripts of 
 
 that celebrated Mexican, we are ignorant on what foundation he rerted 
 
 Vol. II. Dd his'
 
 2 IO II I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT, his opinion, which was very conformable to the tradition of the Chla- 
 panefe. Other autliors, on the contrary, beUeve that population very 
 modern, bccaufe the writers of the hiftory of the Mexicans and Peru- 
 vians did not find among thofe nations any memory of their particular 
 events farther back than eight centuries. But thofe authors con- 
 found the population of Mexico made by the Chichimecas and the 
 Aztecas, with that which their anceftors had made many ages before 
 in the northern countries of America, nor diflinguifli the Mexicans 
 from other nations who occupied that country before them. Who 
 can afcertain when theOtomies, Olmecas, Cuitlatecas, and Michuacanefe 
 entered into the country of Anahuac ? It is not fuprifing that fome 
 writers of Mexico could not find any memorials more ancient than 
 eight centuries ; Cmce, befides the lofs of tlie greater part of the hiftorical 
 monuments of thofe nations, as they did not know how to adjufl: 
 the Mexican years with ours, they frequently committed grofs ana- 
 cronifms; but they who had procured greater abundance of the ancient 
 and feledl paintings, and knew a little better how to trace the chrono- 
 logy of thofe people, fuch as Seguenza and Ixtlilxochitl, found records 
 certainly more ancient, and ufed them in their valuable manufcripts. 
 
 We do not doubt tliat the population of America has been very 
 ancient, and more fo than it may feem to have been to European au- 
 thors. I . Becaufe the Americans wanted thofe arts and inventions, fuch, 
 for example, as thofe of wax and oil for light, which, on the one hand, 
 being very ancient in Europe and Afia, are on the other mofl: ufeful, not to 
 fay necefiary, and when once difcovered, are never forgotten. 2. Becaufe 
 the polidied nations of the new world, and particularly thofe of Mexico, 
 preferve in their traditions and in their paintings the memory of the 
 creation of the world, the building of the tower of Babel, the confu- 
 fion of languages, and the difperfion of the people, though blended 
 with fome fables, arud had no knowledge of the events which hap- 
 pened afterwards in Afia, in Africa, or in Europe, although many of 
 them were fo great and remarkable, that they could not eafily have 
 gone from their memories, 3. Becaufe neither was there among the 
 Aniericans any knowledge of the people of the old continent, nor 
 among the latter any account of the palTagc of the former to the ncv 
 world. Thefe reafons, we prefume, give fome probability to our 
 opinion. 
 
 SECT.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 zri 
 
 SECT. 
 
 II. 
 
 DISSERT. 
 I. 
 
 Who ivere the Feopkrs of America. 
 
 THOSE who queftion the authcrity of the facred writings fay the 
 Americans derive not their origin from Adam and Noah, and beheve, 
 or feign to beUeve, that as Gpd created Adam that he might be the 
 father of the Afiatics, alfo made before or after him other men, that 
 they might be the patriarchs of the Africans, Europeans, and Ameri- 
 cans. This does not arraign the authority of the facred writings, fays 
 ajnodern author [a), becaufe although Mofcs makes mention of no 
 other firfl patriarcli than Adam, it was owing to his having undertaken 
 to write the hidory of no other people than the Ifraelitcs. But tiiis is 
 contrary to the tradition of the Americans, who in their paintings and 
 in their hymns called themfelves the defcendants of thofe men who 
 efcaped from the general deluge. The Toltecas, Mexicans, Tlafca- 
 lans, and all the other nations were agreed on this point. They all 
 fiid that their anceftors came from clfewiiere into thofe countries ; 
 they, pointed out the road they had come, and even preferved the 
 names, true or falfe, of thofe their firll progenitors, who, after the 
 eonfuilon of languages, feparated from the reft of men. 
 
 F. Nunez de la Vega, bifliop of Chiapn, fiys, in the preface to his 
 Synodal Cofijli tut ions, that in the vifit whicli he made to his diocefc 
 towards the end of the laft century, he found many ancient calendars 
 of the Chiapanefe, and an old manufcript in the language of that 
 country, made by the Indians themfelves, in which it was laid, ac- 
 cording to their ancient tradition, that a certain perfon n^^mtàVotan (^l>), 
 was prefent at that great building, which was made by order of his 
 uncle, in order to mount up to heaven; that then every people was 
 given its language, and that Votan himfelf was charged by God to 
 iruike the divilion of the lands of Anahuac. The prelate adds after- 
 wards, that tlicrc was in his time in Teopixca a great fettlcir.ent of 
 
 {a) Tlie niitlior of a mifcniMc little performance, entitled, Le P/jilc/oflr Dc-~reur, printed 
 at Brrlin, in the year 1775. 
 
 (b) Votan is the chief of thofe twenty famous men who<e names were given to the twenty 
 d^iys of the Ciiiapar.cfc month. 
 
 D d 2 that
 
 204 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 DISSERT. ti;jat diocefe, a family of the fumarne of Votan, who were the reputed 
 delcendants of that ancient populator. We are not here endeavour- 
 ing to give antiquity to the populator of America on the fiith of the 
 Chiapanefc, but merely to fliew that the Americans conceived thein- 
 felveij the defcenuents of Noah. 
 
 Of the ancient Indians of Cuba feveral hiftorians of America relate, 
 that when they were interrogated by the Spaniards concerning their 
 origin, they anlwered, they liad heard froin their anceflors that God cre- 
 ated the heavens, the earth, and all things ; that an old man, having 
 forefeen the deluge with which God defigned to chaflife the fins of 
 men, built a large canoe, and embarked in it with his family, and many 
 animals ; thi.t when the inundation ceafed, he fent out a raven, which, 
 becaufe it found carrion to feed on, never returned to the canoe ; that 
 he then fent out a pigeon, which foon returned, bearing a branch of 
 Hoba, a certain fruit of America, in its mouth ; that when the old 
 man faw the earth was dry, he difembarked, and having made himfelf 
 fome wine of the wood-grape, he became intoxicated and fell afleep ; 
 that then one of his fons made ridicule of his nakednefs, and that another 
 fon pioufly covered him ; that, upon awaking, he blelled the latter, and 
 curfed the former. Laltly, that they drew their origin from the 
 curfed fon, and therefore went almoft naked j that the Spaniards, as 
 they were well clothed, defcended perhaps from the other. 
 
 The Mexicans ufed to call Noah Coxcox, and I'eocipaBli ; and the 
 Michuacanefe, Te%pi. They ufed to fay, " That there was once a 
 great deluge, and that Tezpi, in order to fave himfelf from being 
 drowned, embarked in a fhip formed like an ark, with his wife, hia 
 children, and many different animals, and feveral feeds of fruits; and 
 that as the v/.^tcr abated, he fent out that bird which bears the name 
 of aura, which remained eating dead bodies, and then fent out otiicr 
 birds, who did not return either, except that little bird (the flovver- 
 fucker) which was much prized by them on account of the variety of 
 the colours of its feathers, that brought a fmall branch with it ; and 
 from this family they all believed they drew their origin. If therefore 
 we refer to the facred writings, or the traditions of thofe Americans, 
 we muft fcek for the peoplers of America among the defcendanis of 
 Noah. 
 
 But
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X r e O. 205 
 
 But who were they ? Which of the fbns of Noah was the root of LIS ERT. 
 the American nations ? D. Siguenzn, and the very ingeaious Mexican 
 Siller J. Agnes de la Cruz, believed or conjcdlored, tlut the Mexi- 
 cans, and other nations of Arahuac, were the defcendants of Naph- 
 tuhim, fon of Mczraim, ard nephew of Cham. Boturini was of opi- 
 nion, that they duicended not only from Naphtuhim, but likewifc from 
 h:s other five brothers. The learned Spaniard Arias Montano was 
 perfuaded that the Americans, and particularly the Peruvians, be- 
 longed to the pofterity of Ophir, fourth fon of Shem. The reafons 
 of this author arc fo weak that they do not merit niention. Of thofe 
 of Siguenza we (hall fpeak prefently. 
 
 The other authors, who have not been willing to carry their inqui- 
 ries fo far into antiquity, have fouglit for the origin of the Americans 
 in different countries of the world. Their opinions are fo numerous 
 and different, it is not eafy to recite them. Some think they find the 
 anceftors of the Americans in Afia, others trace them in Africa, and 
 others from Europe. Among thofe who imagine they have found 
 them in Europe, fomehave fuppofed their anceflors the Grecians, others 
 the Romans, others the Spaniards, others the Irilh, others the Cour- 
 l2nders,and fome the Ruffians. Among thofe v/ho report them originally 
 from Africa, fome make them the defcendants of the Eg)'ptians, fome 
 of the Carthaginians, and fome of the Numidians. But there is no 
 where greater variety of fentiment than among thofe who believe the 
 population of America due to Afia. The Ifraelites, the Canaanites, 
 the AfTyrians, the Phoenicians, the Perfians, the Tartars, the Eaft 
 Indians, the Chinefe, the Japaiiefe, all have their advocates among the 
 hiflorians and philofophers of the two lart centuries. Some, however, 
 not content to look for the populators in tlie known countries of 
 the world, draw the famous ille Atlantida out of the waters of the ocean, 
 to fend colonies from it to America. But this is not extraordinary ; 
 iince there are authors who, in order to do wrong to no people, believe 
 the Americans tlie defcendants of all the nations of the world. 
 
 So great a variety and extravagance of opinion is owing to a perfuafion, 
 that to make one nation be believed to have fprung from another, 
 no inore is neccfliiry than to find fome affinity in the words of their lan- 
 guages, and fome fiinilarity in their rites, culloms, and manners. Such 
 
 R arc
 
 2Q4 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 ,DIS9ERT. are the foundations of tiie above mentioned opinions, collrded and 
 illultrated with a great Ihew of erudition, by the Dominican Garcia, 
 and thofe learned Spaniards who reprinted his work with additions : 
 which thofe who pleafe may confult, as we have no time to refute 
 tlicm. r 
 
 iVVe cannot, however, dilpenfe with the mention of the opinions of 
 D. Siguenza, adopted alfo by the fimous bifhop F. P. Daniel Huet, 
 as it appears to us to be the beli: founded. Siguenza was perfuaded, 
 that the nations which peopled the Mexican empire belonged to the 
 poflerity of Naphtuhim, and that their ance(]:ors, having left Egypt not 
 long after the confufion of tongues, travelled to wards, America. The. 
 reafons on which he grounds this opinion ace mentioned only in the 
 Bibliotheca Mexicaiia. As we are deprived of his excellent manu- 
 fcripts, we can only cite them, as Eguiara did, in the Bibliotheca. 
 above mentioned. ■ . 
 
 Thofe reafons, from what appears, are firft, the confQrmity of thofe Ame- 
 rican nations with the Egyptians in the conilruftion of pyramidal edi- 
 fices, and the ufe of hieroglyphics in the method of computing time, in 
 their drefs, and in fome of their cuftoms ; and, lallly, the refemblance of 
 the word Teotloi the Mexicans to the Theuth of the Egyptians, which 
 occalioned bilhop Huet to adopt the fame fentiment v/ith Siguenza. 
 If this opinion is propofed as a conjeiilure, we fliall not contradidt it ; 
 but if it is offered as a truth on \vhich we are to depend, the proofs 
 do not appear fufhcient. 
 
 Siguenza conceived that the children of Naphtuhim fet out from 
 Egypt towards America not long after the confufion of tongues j it 
 would therefore be necelfary to make the comparifbn of the cuf- 
 toms of the Americans with thole of the firfl Egyptians, not of their 
 defcendants who dwelt in Egypt many years after, and Irom whom the 
 Americans are not believed to be defcended. But who can imagine 
 that the Egyptians, immediately after the difperfion off the people, be- 
 gan to build pyramids, and make ufe of hieroglyphics, and that from», 
 thenceforvv'ard they ordered and arranged their years and months in 
 tlxe form they had afterwards ? All thofe things were certainly po- 
 fterior to that epoch, nor was it necelliiry to have kin the pyr.utiids of 
 Egypt to make the Americans think of building fuch kind yf edifices; 
 
 _ for '
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 207 
 
 for the mountains alone were futficient to fuggefl them : whoever defire'- DISSERT, 
 
 to build an edifice to imniortahze his name, will eafily think of making ^^^ ^' 
 
 it in the form of a pyramid; becaufe no other fort of building can be 
 raifed to the fame height with fo little expence and trouble, as tiie 
 higher it rifes the tewer materials in proportion are required. Befides, 
 . tlie Mexican edifices were entirely different from thofe of Egypt. The 
 latter were truly pyramidal, the former not; they were compofed of 
 three, four, or five fquareor oblong bodies, of which the higher was lefs 
 in amplitude than the lower; thofe of the Egyptians were in general 
 hollow, thofe of the Mexicans folid ;. thefe ferved for the bafes of their 
 fanftuaries, thofe for the fepulchres of their kings. The temples of 
 the Mexicans and other nations of Anahuac, were of a fpecies fo fiji- 
 gular, that we do not know they were ever ufed by any other peo- 
 ple of the world : on which account they ought to be confidered as 
 •an original invention of the Toltecas or fome other people more ancient 
 than them. 
 
 In the mode of computing time, the Mexicans were much more 
 fimilar to the Egyptians j that is, of the latter Egyptians, not of the 
 former, of whofe method ws know nothing. The Egyptian folaryear 
 was compofed of tjiree hundred and fixty-five days, like that of the 
 Mexicans : the one and the other contained three hundred and fixty-five 
 days in their months, and as the Egyptians added five days to their laft 
 month Mejbri, fo did the Mexicans to their month Izcalli, in which 
 particular they agreed with the Perfians j but in other refpedls, there 
 was a great difierence between thenxj the Egyptian year confifled of 
 twelve n;onths and thefe of thirty days, the Mexican year confided of 
 eigi>teen months and thefe of twenty days {c). The Egyptians, like 
 many other nations of the old continent, counted by weeks; the 
 Mexicans by periods of five days in their civil and thirteen days in their 
 religious year. 
 
 Tiie iMexicans, like the Egyptians, employed hieroglyphics ; but 
 how many other nations have done the fame to conceal the myfterics 
 of their religions ; and if the Mexicans learned hieroglyphics from the 
 Egyptians, ,vhy had they not alfo the ufe of letters from them ? Be- 
 
 (f) We fpeak of the religious year of the Mexicans, for of their civil or aftronomlcal year 
 wc have no account, 
 
 caufe
 
 ^(,S H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 DISSERT, caufe letters, it may be faid, were invented after their fcparation ; but 
 
 ;_ I' ^ how is it known that before they feparated they had made the inven- 
 
 tion of hieroglyphics ? 
 
 The drefs of the firft Egj'ptians may have probably been the fame as 
 that of the other fons and nephews of Noah; at leaft we have no rea- 
 fon to think otherwife. Refpe£ting the political cuftoms of thofe firfl 
 men we know nothing. The moft ancient Egyptians, of whom we have 
 anv certain marks, were thofe who lived in the times of the patriarch 
 Jofeph. If we mean to make a comparifon of their ufages mentioned 
 in the facred books with thofe of the Mexicans, inftead of any fimi- 
 larity, we fhall find the ftrongeft difference between them. Laftly, we 
 do not pretend to demonftrate the opinion of Siguenza to be falfe, but 
 only to Ihew that it is not a truth upon which we can fafely rely. 
 
 The extravagant M. de P. fays, that the Mexicans derive their origin 
 from the fouthern Apalachites ; but he neither does nor can oiFer any 
 reafon to make fuch a fuppofition probable j and, although it were 
 true, the difficulty would remain ftill unrefolved with regard to the 
 origin of the Apalachites themfelves. It is true, that author finds 
 little difficulty, as he fometimes gives us to underftand that he is not 
 unfavourable to the romantic fyftem of La Peyrere. 
 
 With refpeél to the opinion we have ventured to form ourfelves, 
 we (liall explain it in the following conclufions. 
 
 I. The Americans defcended from different nations, or from different 
 fimilies, difperfed after tlip confufion of tongues. No perfon will 
 doubt of the truth of this, who has any knowledge of the multitude 
 and great diverfitv of the American languages. In Mexico we have 
 already found thirty-five: in South America there are ffill more 
 known. In the beginning of the lafl: century the Portuguefe counted 
 fifty in Maragnon. It is true, that there is a great affinity between 
 fome of thofe languages, which fhews that they are fprung from 
 the lame parent, namely, the Eudeve, Opata, and Tanahumara, in 
 North America, and the Mocobi, Toba^ and Abipona in South 
 America ; but there are many others alfo, as different from each 
 other as the Illyrian from the Hebrew. We can fafely affirm, that 
 there are no living or dead languages which can differ more among 
 each other than the languages of the Mexicans, Otomies, Tarafcas, 
 
 Mayas,
 
 H I $ T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 209 
 
 Mayas, and Miztecas, five languages prevailing in different pro- dissert. 
 vinces of Mexico. It would therefore be abfurd to fay, that Ian- . _^ ' 
 guages fo different were different dialeóls of one original. How is it 
 poffible a nation fhould alter its primitive language to fuch a degree, 
 or multiply its dialedls fo varioufly, that there fliould not be, even 
 after many centuries, if not fome words common to all, at leaff an 
 affinity between them, or fome traces left of their origin ? 
 
 Who can ever believe what we read in the hiffory of Acofca ? That 
 the Aztecas, or Mexicans, having arrived after their long peregrination 
 in the kingdom of Michuacan, were allured by the agreeablenefs of the 
 country, and became defirous of eftablifliing themfelves in it ; but as 
 the whole nation could not fettle there, their god Huitzilopochtli con- 
 fen ted that fome of them might ftay, and fuggefted to the others, 
 when thofe who were to remain went to bathe in the lake of 
 Pazcuaro, to fteal their cloaths from them and purfue their journey ; 
 that thofe who bathed finding themfelves robbed of their garments 
 and fooled by their companions, were fo provoked, that they not only 
 refolved to remain there, but to adopt a new language j and that thence 
 arofe the Tarafca language. The account adopted by Gomara, aiid 
 other hiflorians, is ftill more incredible : that, of an old man called 
 Iztac Mixcoatl and his wife Itancueitl were born fix children, each with 
 a different language, called Xol/jua, Tenoch, Ohnecatl, Xicallancatly 
 Mixtecatl, and Otomitl, who were the founders of as many nations, 
 which peopled the country of Anahuac. This allegory by which the 
 Mexicans fignified that all thofe nations drew their origin from one 
 common flock, was made a fable of by the above mentioned authors, 
 from ignorance of its meaning. 
 
 II. The Americans do not derive their origin from any people now 
 cxifting in the ancient world, or at lead there is no grounds to affirm 
 it. This inference is founded on the fame argument with the pre- 
 ceding, fincé if the Americans defcended of any of thofe people, it 
 would be poffible to trace their origin by fome marks in their lan- 
 guages in fpite of the antiquity of their feparation : but any fuch traces 
 have not been difcovered hitherto, although many authors have fearched 
 with the utmofl attention, as appears from the work of tiie Dominican 
 Garcia. We have Icifurely compared the Mexican and other Americaii 
 Vol. II. E e languages"
 
 210 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, l.'.nguages witia many others which are now living, and with thofe 
 which are dead, but have not been able to difcover the leaft affinity 
 between any of them. The refemblance between the 'Teotl of the 
 Mexicans and the Theos of the Greeks, has induced us fometimes to 
 couipare thofe two languages, but we have never found any agreement 
 between them. This argument is ftrong in refpeót to the Americans, 
 as tliey iliew great firmnefs and conflancy in retaining their languages. 
 The Mexicans preferve their language among the Spaniards, and the 
 Otomies retain their difficult dialeót among Spaniards and Mexicans, 
 after two centuries and a half of communication with both. 
 
 If the Americans defcended from different families difperfed after 
 the confufion of tongues, as we believe, and have been feparated lìnee 
 then from thole others who peopled the countries of the old continent, 
 authors will labour in vain, to feek in the language or cufloms of the 
 Afiatics for the origin of the people of the new world. 
 
 SECT. III. 
 
 From what part and how the inhabitants ajid animals paffed to 
 
 America. 
 
 THIS is the fecond and moft difficult point in the problem of the 
 population of America, on which, as on others, authors are va- 
 rious in opinion. Some of them attribute the population of the 
 new world to certain Phoenician merchants, who, in traverfing 
 the ocean, landed there by accident. Others imagine that the fame 
 people, whom they fuppofe to have paffed from the old continent t8 
 the ifle Atlantida, from thence got eafily to Florida, and from that 
 great country gradually fcattered themfelves over America. Others 
 believe that they paffed there from Alia, by the Straits of Anian; and 
 others, that they were tranfported there from the northern regions of 
 Europe, over fome arm of the frozen fea. 
 
 Feijoo, a Spanifh Benedidtine, thought a few years ago to propofe 
 to the world a new fyffcem ; and what is this new fyftem ? That 
 America was united in the north to the old continent, by which both 
 
 mea
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 211 
 
 nien and animals paiTed there. But this opinion is as ancient as Acofla, DISSLKT. 
 who, one hundred and forty-four years before Feijoo, puhHlhed it iu t ' ,.._> 
 his Hi flory of America: befidcs, it is not fufficient to fulve all the 
 diiliculties refpefting the paflage of animals, as we Hiall fee hereafter. 
 
 The count de Buffon, notwithftanding his great genius and pointed 
 accuracy, contradi(5ts himfclf openly in this point. He fuppofes the 
 two continents united by oriental Tartary, and affirms that by it the 
 firfl inhabitants palled to America, and alfo all thofe animals which 
 have been found common to both continents ; fuch as I'uffabs, 
 called in Mexico cibolos, wolves, foxes, martins, deer, and other qua- 
 drupeds, which agree with cold climes j but that there could not be in 
 America neithe lions, tygers, camels, elephants, nor any of thofe eighteen 
 fpecies of apes which are found in the old continent ; and, in fliort, no 
 quadruped peculiar to hot climes could be common to both con- 
 tinents, bccaufe they were not able to refift the cold of northern coun- 
 tries, by which they muft pafs from one to the other world. This he 
 repeats incelTantly through all his natural hiftory, and on this account 
 he denies antelopes, goats, and rabbits to America. He thinks thofe 
 quadrupeds American only which live in the hot countries of the 
 new world, among which he numbers thirteen or fourteen fpecies of 
 American apes, divided by him into the two claffes oi Scpayus ■\x\iX 
 Sagomi ; of thofe, he adds, there were none in the old continent, as 
 there were none of the eighteen fpecies of the old continent in the 
 new world. What then was the origin of thofe and other quadrupeds 
 really American ? This doubt, which occurs frequently in the natural 
 hiftory of that great philofopher, remains undecided until the laft 
 volume but one of the hiftory of quadrupeds, in which he fays (a'), 
 ♦' As it cannot be doubted that all animals in general were created in 
 ** the old continent, we muft admit them to have pafled from it to the 
 " new; and muft fuppofc alfo, that thofe animals, the deer, wild- 
 ** goat, "^wàìHouffettcs, inftead of having degenerated like others in the 
 V new world, have on the contrary ariived at perfedHon there, and from 
 *' the fuitablenefs of the clime excelled their own nature. There havin^^ 
 
 * O 
 
 " been fo many animals found in the new world, which have no likc- 
 
 (./) inn. N;u. torn, x^ix, Difcouifc on the Defeneration of Animals. 
 
 R e 2 «' nefs
 
 212 HISTORYOFMEXICO, 
 
 DISSERT. « nefs to any of the old world, fliews fufficiently clear, that the 
 ^ " origin of thofe animals which are proper to the new world ought 
 " not to be afcribed to fimple degeneration. However great and pow- 
 " erful we may fuppofe its effedts, we cannot realonably be perfuaded 
 " that thefe animals have been originally the fame as thofe of the old 
 " continent j and unqueftionably it is more confiftent with reafon to 
 *' believe, that the two continents were formerly contiguous and 
 " united, and that thofe fpecies which retired into the regions of the 
 ** new world, becaufe they found its climate and produftions more 
 " agreeable to their nature, were there fliut up and feparated from the 
 ''others, by the irruptions of- the fea which divided Africa from 
 " America ((")," &c. &c. From this difcourfe of count de Buffon we 
 conclude, i . That there is no animal properly American j becaufe all 
 of them went from the old continent, where they were created. 2. 
 That the argument founded on the nature of the animals repugnant 
 to cold, is of no weight to fliew that the animals could not pafs to 
 the old continent ; becaufe thofe animals which could not pafs by the 
 northern countries from their nature, could pafs by that part where 
 , America and Africa were formerly united, as that author believes. 3. 
 That by the way in which the Sapayus and Sagoini paffed to the new 
 world, in like manner could elephants, camels, lions, tygers, ecc. 
 
 Omitting many other opinions unworthy of mention, we fhall fub- 
 init our own i not with a view to eftablilh any new fyflem, but to 
 offer materials for other abler pens, and to llluilrate fome points of 
 our hiftory. 
 
 I. The men and animals of America pafled there from the old con- 
 tinent. This IS confirmed by the facred writings. Mofes, who de- 
 clares Noah the comn^on ftock cf all men after the deluge, fays ex- 
 prefsly, that in that general inundation of the earth all its quadrupeds, 
 
 [e) We rcqueft our readers to compare what the count dc Buffon Hiys concerning the an- 
 cient union Oi Af'iica and America, uith tliat which he writes in the eighteenth volume, «here 
 helpcaVs cf the iion. " The American lion," he fays, " cannot be defcended from the lion 
 of the old continent, becaufe the latter only inhabits between the tropics ; and nature hav- 
 ing, it appears, fliut up all the paflages by the north, it could not pafs from the fouthcriv 
 parts ot Alia and Africa into America, as thefe two continents are feparated by immenfe feas ; 
 «xn which account we otight to infer, that the American lion is an animal proper and peculiai' 
 to the new world." 
 
 birds.
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 213 
 
 birds, and reptiles, perilhed, except a few individuals which were dissert 
 faved in the ark, to generate their I'pecies. The repeated expreffions !• 
 
 which the lacred hiftorian ufes to fignify its univerfaUty, do not permit 
 as to doubt, that all quadrupeds, birds, and reptiles, which are in the 
 world, delbended from thofe few individuals which were faved from 
 the general inundation. 
 
 II. The firft peoplcrs of America might pafs there in vefTcls by fea, 
 or travel by land, or by ice. 1. They might either pafs there in 
 veflels defignedly, if the arm of the fea which feparated the one conti- 
 nent from the other was fmall j or be accidentally carried upon it by 
 winds. There is not a doubt that the firfl peoplcrs of the new world 
 might arrive there in the fame manner in which, many centuries after, 
 the pilot or mariner did to whom, in the opinion of many authors, 
 Columbus owed the firft hints which incited him to his glorious 
 and memorable difcovery (/"). 2. They might pafs there by land 
 on the fuppofition of the union of the two continents. 3. They might 
 alfo make that paffage over the ice of fome frozen arm of the fea. 
 No perfon is ignorant how vaft and durable the frozen parts of the 
 northern feas are : it would not therefore be wonderful, that a ftrait of 
 the fea between the two continents lliould have been frozen for fome 
 months, and that men had paffed over it, either in fearch of new coun- 
 tries or in purfuit of wild beafts. We are, however, only mention- 
 ing what could have happened, not what pofitively did happen. 
 
 III. The anceftors of the nations which peopled the country of 
 Anahuac, of which alone we are treating, might pal's from the nor- 
 thern countries of Europe into the northern parts of America, or rather 
 from the mofl: eaftern parts of Afia to the moft wefterly part of Ame- 
 rica. This conclufion is founded on the conftant and general tradition 
 of thole nations, which unanimoully fiy that their anceftors came into 
 Au.-hu.ic liom the countries of the north and north- welt. Tliis tra- 
 dition is confirmed by the remains of many ancient edifices built by 
 thoic p;;ople in their migrations, which we have already mentioned, 
 
 (/) Some authors affimi, that the mariner who gave intelligence to Columbus of the new 
 countries in tl e c/, was a native of Andaluli;i : fome fay he was of I'ifcay, and others that 
 he wa a l'ortu-rucre ; others de y the i,\(\ entiv I ■. ! lowcver the cafe was, it is certain that 
 hii'ory rccoril,, I'lany inftauces ol vellcls ha. 1:13 been driven by '.vinds ai;d carried many de- 
 grees out of their touifc, 
 
 8 cni
 
 I. 
 
 214 H I S T O R Y O F M E XI C O. 
 
 DISSERT, and the coiniiiou belief of the people in the north. Befides, from 
 Torquemada and Betancourt we have a clear proof of it. In a journey 
 made by the Spaniards, in the year 1606, from New Mexico unto the 
 river which they call T^hzon, fix hundred miles from that province, to- 
 wards the north-wefl, they found there fome large edifices and met with, 
 feme Indians who fpoke the Mexican language, from whom they were 
 told, that a few days journey from that river towards the north was 
 the kingdom of ToUan, and many other peopled places, from whence 
 came thofe who peopled the Mexican empire ; and that by the fame 
 peoplers thefe and other like buildings had been erected. In faft, the 
 whole people of Anahuac have ufually affirmed, that towards the north- 
 wefl; and the north, there were the kingdoms and provinces of Tollan, 
 Teocolhuacan, Amaquemecan, Aztlan, Tehuajo, and Copalla, names 
 v/hich are all Mexican, and the difcovcry of which, if the population 
 of the Spaniards fliould fpread into thofe parts, will throw great light 
 on the ancient hiftory of Mexico. Boturini foys, that in tlie ancient 
 paintings of the Toltecas, was reprefented the migration of their ancef- 
 tors through Afia and the northern countries of America, until they 
 cilaUiflied themfelves in the country of Tollan, and even endeavours 
 to afcertain in his General Hifliory the route they purfued in their tra- - 
 vel ; but as he had not opportunity to compofe the hiflory which he 
 defigned, we can fay no more of this matter. 
 
 Thofe countries in which the ancellors of thofe nations eftablinied 
 themfeh'es, being lituated towards that part where the moft weflerly 
 coaft of America approaches to the mofl eafterly part of Afia, it is 
 probable that by that part they palled from the one to the other con- 
 tinent; either in veflels, if the ilrait of the fea then divided them 
 which is there at prefent, according to the diicoveries of the Ruffians, 
 or by land, if the continents were united, as we Ihall prefently find. 
 The traces which thofe nations left of themlelves from time to 
 time, lead us to that very Itrait which is undoubtedly the lame which 
 was difcovered by the navigators of the fixteenth century, and called 
 by them the Straits ofAniaìi {£) . 
 
 (g) In the charts of America publifticd in the Lift century, the flrait of Ani;in was iifually 
 ilcfcribcd, though with much Jift'ercnce in the reprclcntation of it. For fome years paft it 
 iva been omiited, from an opinion that the account of it was fabulous ; but fince the difcove- 
 rics of the Ruffians fome geographers have begun again to give it a plate. 
 
 With
 
 HISTORYOF MEXICO. 215 
 
 With refpe6t to the other nations of America, as there is no tra- dissert. 
 dition among them concerning the way by which their anceftors came 
 to the new world, we can f,\y nothing of them. It is poiiible, that 
 they all pafTed by the lame:;way in which the anceftors of the Mexi- 
 cans pafled ; and yet perhaps they may have paded by foaie other very 
 different route. We coi>jcd:ure, that the anceftors of the nations which 
 peopled South America went there by the way in wh'ch the annnals 
 proper to hot countries paffed, and that the anceftors of thofe nations 
 inhabiting all the countries which lie between Florida and the moft 
 northern part of Ajiierica,, palled t-here from the north of Europe. 
 The difference of charadter which is dilcoverable in the three above 
 mentioned clafles of Americans, and the fituation of the countries 
 which they occupied, make us fufpe(5l that they had different origins, 
 and that their anceftors came there by different routes ; but ftill this 
 is a mere fufpicion and conjedlure. 
 
 Some authors affign another part for the paffage of the firft peoplers, 
 which is the iiland Atlantida ;. the exiftence of which, contradidled by 
 Acofta, was maintained by Siguenza, by what appears from the ac- 
 count of Gemelli, and lately fupported with great fliew of erudition by 
 the celebrated author of tlie American Letters. If there were not fo 
 many fables mixed with the account of that, ifland which Plato gives 
 in Timeus,. the authority, of fo grave a philofopher might induce us to 
 alient to his opinion. We Ihall, therefore, omit this conteft, and 
 come to the moft difficult point of our problem. 
 
 IV. The quadrupeds and reptiles of the new world paffed there by 
 land. This fadt will be made moft manifeft, by demonftrating the 
 improbability and inconfiftcncy of other opinions. 1 he great dodlor. 
 of the church Auguftin, was of opinion, that the wild beafts and. 
 deftrudlive animals which are in the illands might have been tranfported 
 there by the angels. But this folution, although it cuts off every, 
 difficulty in the paffage of wild beafts to the new world, would jiOt be 
 acceptable in the century in which we live. 
 
 The fame dodtor fuggefts three other folutions to the difficulty : the 
 wild beafts, he liiys, mi^ht pafs by fwimming to the ifles ; they might 
 be tranfported there by men for the ùke of hunting ;,and they might, 
 alfo have, been formed there by nature as they were in the bcginnning,. 
 
 But
 
 2IÓ H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT. But none of tliefe folutions are fufficient to remove the difficulties 
 which are in the way of the paflage of the wild beads to the new 
 world; for as to the firft, it is certain that whatever ftrait there was 
 between the two continents, it is quite ridiculous to think that animals 
 which are not deftined to go into the water or accuftomed to fwim- 
 ming, would attempt fuch a pafTage : it is true, that fome might have 
 paffed by fvvimming, as the bears go from Corfica to France ; but who 
 would believe this of fo many American apes, that are totally unfitted 
 for fwimming ; or the Perico ligero, or floth, which is fo flow and dif- 
 ficult to move ? Befides, what could induce fo many wild animals to 
 abandon the land and encounter the dangers of the fea? 
 
 It is not lefs incredible, that thofe animals were tranfported there by 
 men in fliips, efpecially if we fuppofe their arrival on the coafts of Ame- 
 rica to have been accidental and fortuitous. If fuch voyage was under- 
 taken from defign, they might have carried fome fquirrels and curious 
 apes with them for amufement, fome rabbits, hares, and techichis, that, 
 after multiplying, they might ferve for food, and fome deer, martins, and 
 even tygers, for their iTcins to clothe them; but to what purpofe carry 
 wolves, foxes, American lions, &c. which, inftead of being of any ufe, 
 might prove deftrudive to them ? For the chace ? But might they 
 not have enjoyed this recreation without any injury from animals lefs 
 ferocious ? And if, laftly, we fuppofe thofe firft peoplers fo foolifla as 
 to carry fuch pernicious animals to new countries to hunt them, we 
 cannot ftill think them to have been fo mad as to take alfo fo many 
 fpecies of ferpents, for the pleafure of killing them afterwards. 
 
 With refpeft to the third folution, that God had created the animals 
 in America, as he had created them in Afia, that would unqueftionably 
 cut off every difiiculty, were it not contradiótory to facred hiftory. 
 
 There remains another folution of the paffage of beafts, which is the 
 fame that we mentioned in treating of men. It may be imagined that 
 beafts might pafs over fome frozen ftrait of the fea ; but can any perfon 
 perfuade himfelf, that feveral fpecies of voracious animals ftiould tranf- 
 port themfelves to thofe regions deftitute of every thing which could 
 ferve for their food ; and that others, whofe natures were repugnant to 
 cold, fliould dare to venture, in die rigor of v.'inter, over regions of 
 ice ? 
 
 J».
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 217 
 
 As it is not probable t' at the beafts of the new world pafled to it DISSERT, 
 hy fwimming, or over ice, nor that they were tranfported either by 
 men, or by angels, nor created afrefli by God, we ought to believe 
 that the quadrupeds, as well as the reptiles vvhiJi are tbund in A:ne- 
 rica, pafled to it by land, and of courfe that the two continents were for- 
 merly united. This is the opinion of Acofta, Grotius, Buffon, and other 
 great men. We are far from adopting the fyftem of count de Buffon 
 in its full extent : he cannot perfuade us, however eloquent his philo- 
 Ibphy and great his learning, that that which is now land has once 
 been the bed of the fea ;, or, that the old continent has been fabjedl to 
 a general, inundation, diftindt from that of Noah, and more larting than 
 it. In the feries of forty centuries and upwards, comprehended in 
 the hiflory of the lacred writings, there is no chafm or void by which 
 \;'e could account for this fuppofed inundation. In our third Diller-. 
 tation we fliall fhew there are no grounds to believe that the new con- 
 tinent has fuffered any inundation different from that of Noali. 
 
 There is not a doubt, however, that our planet has been fubjedl to 
 great viciiTitudes fince the deluge ; ancient and modern hilWies con- 
 firm the truth which Ovid has lung in the name of Pythagoras :— 
 
 FUi ego quodfuerat quondam fohdijjijna Ullusy. 
 Ejfe /return ; "oidifaSlas ex cequore terras. 
 
 At prefent they plough thofe lands over which fhips formerly failed, 
 and now they fail over lands which were formerly ploughed : earth- 
 quakes have fwallowed fome lands, and fubterraneous fires have 
 thrown up others : the rivers have formed new foil with their mud : 
 the fea retreating from the fliores, has lengthened the land in fbme 
 places ; and advancing in others, has diminiflied it : it has feparated 
 fome territories which were formerly united, and formed new flreights 
 and gulfs. We have examples of all thefe revolutions in the p.ift cen- 
 tury. Sicily was united to the continent of Naples, as Eube;i, now 
 the Black Sea, to Bocotia. Diodorus, Strabo, and other ancient authors, 
 fay the f.ime thing of Spa'n. and Africa, and atììrm that by a violent 
 irruption of the ocean upon the land between the mou'-tains Abyla and 
 Calpe, that communication was broken, and the Mediterranean fea was 
 
 Vol. II. F f formedi
 
 ii8 H I S T O R y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT, ibrmed. Among die people of Ceylon there is a tradition, that a fimi- 
 . ' , liir irruption of the fea feparated their ifland from the peninfula of 
 India. The fame thing is believed by thofe of Malabar, with refpe(ft 
 to the ifles of Maldivia, and by the Malayans with refpedt to Sumatra. 
 It is certain, fays the count de Buffon, that in Ceylon the earth has lofi 
 thirty or forty leagues, which the fea has taken from it j on the con- 
 trary, Tongres, a place of the Low Countries, has gained thirty leagues 
 of land from the fea. The northern part of Egypt owes its exigence 
 to inundations of the Nile (-6). The earth which this river has 
 brought from the inland countries of Africa, and depofited in its in- 
 undations, has formed a foil of more than twenty-five cubits of depth. 
 In like manner, adds the above author, the province of the Yellow 
 River in China, and that of Louifiana, have only been formed of 
 the mud of rivers. Pliny, Seneca, Diodorus, and Strabo, report in- 
 numerable examples of fimilar revolutions, which we omit, that our 
 Diflertation may not become too prolix; as alfo many modern revo- 
 lutions, which are related in the theory of the earth of the count de 
 Buffon, and other authors. In our America, all thofe who have ob- 
 ierved with philofophic eyes the peninfula of Yucatan, do not doubt 
 that that country has once been the bed of the fea; and, on the con- 
 trary, in the channel of Bahama many indications fhew the ifland of 
 Cuba to have been once united to the continent of Florida. In the 
 ftreight which feparates America from Afia many iflands are found, 
 which probably were the mountains belonging to that tracSt of land 
 which we fuppofe to have been fwallowed up by earthquakes ; which 
 is made more probable by the multitude of volcanos which we know 
 of in the peninfula of Kamtfchatka. We imagine, however, that the 
 finking of that land, and the feparation of the two continents, has been 
 occafioned by thofe great and extraordinary earthquakes mentioned 
 in the hiifories of the Americans, which formed an sra almofl as 
 
 (/)■) Faro or Farion, an ifland of Egypt, which, according to what Homer mentions in his 
 Odyfley, was diftant one day and one night's fail from the northern land of Egypt, uas fo 
 iKar to it in the times of the celebrated Cleopatra, that it was hardly {even furlongs off: for 
 fo much was the length of the bridge which that queen ordered to be made for the Rhodians, 
 in order to facilitate the communication between that ifland and the continent. Herodotus, 
 Ariftotle, Seneca, Pliny, and other ancient authors, make mention of this remarkable augmen- 
 tation of the territory of Egypt. 
 
 memorable
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 219. 
 
 I. 
 
 memorable as that of the deluge. The hiftories of the Toltecas fix DISSERT, 
 fuch earthquakes in the year 1 Tecpatl ; but, as we know not to what 
 century that belonged, we can form no conjedure of the time that 
 great calamity happened. If a great earthquake Ihould overwhelm the 
 ifthmus of Suez, and there fhould be at the fame time as great a fear- 
 city of hiftoiians as there were in the firft ages after the deluge, it would 
 be doubted in three or four hundred years after, whether Ada had ever 
 been united by that part to Africa, and many would firmly deny it. 
 
 V. The quadrupeds and reptiles of America pafl'ed by different places 
 from the one continent to the other. Amongft the American beafts, 
 there are fome whofe natures arejaverfe to cold; fuch as apes, dantes, 
 crocodiles, ecc. There are others, whofe difpofitions lead them to cold 
 countries, as martens, rein-deer, and gluttons. The former could not 
 go to America by the frigid zone, becaufe in that cafe they would be 
 afling violently againft their genius, and would notfurvive the paffage. 
 The apes which are in New Spain pafi'ed there certainly by South 
 America (/). The center of their population is the country under the 
 equator, and between it and the fourteenth or fifteenth degree of lati- 
 tude J in proportion to the diflance from the equator their numbers de - 
 creafe, and beyond the tropics there are none to be found, except in 
 fome diftrióts which from fome particularity of fituation are as hot as 
 the equinocflial lands. Who, therefore, can imagine tliat fuch fpecies 
 ©f animals iiiould have travelled to the new world through the rigid 
 climate of the north ? It may be fiid, that it is not improbable that 
 they were tranfported by men, as they were valued for their extravagant 
 refemblance and ridiculous imitations of men. But befides that, the 
 argument which this forms in regard to apes, may be adduced with 
 refpeifl to many other quadrupeds which have no value to make them 
 be coveted, but rather many bad qualities to make them be avoided ; it 
 is not to be believed, that men would have conduced with them fo 
 many fpecies of apes as there are in America ; and far lets, fome, 
 
 (/) Don Ferdinand d'Alba Ixtlilxochìtl, an Indian well informed in the antiquities of his 
 nation, fays in hÌ3 Univerfal Hiltory of New Spain, that there were no apes in the country 
 of Anahuac ; that the tirfl which appeared there came from the quarter of the South, after the 
 period of the j^reat winds. The Tlafcalans ma' e a lable of this event, and fay, that the world 
 was deftroyed once by wind, and that the tew men who furvived were transformed into apes. 
 
 F t 2 which
 
 220 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, which iniì:eLid of being agreeable, are on the contrary of a brutal afpe*5t 
 and ferocious difpofition, namely, thofe called zamhos ; and, provided 
 men had been determined to have taken two individuals at leaft of every 
 fpecies, they could never arrive either by the feas or the countries of the 
 north, although their condudlors had endeavoured to defend them from 
 the cold. They muft, therefore, have tranfported them from the hot 
 countries of the old continent to the warm countries of the new world, 
 over a fea fubje<fl to a clime not dilTimilar to that of the native country 
 of thofe quadrupeds, that is by the countries of the fouth of Afia to 
 the fouth of America, over the Indian and Pacific Oceans, or from the 
 weflern countries of Africa to the eaftern countries of America, over 
 the Atlantic Ocean. If men, therefore, tranfported thofe beafts from 
 the one to the other world, they did it acrofs thofe feas. But was this 
 navigation cafual or defigned ? If cafual, how and wherefore did tiiey 
 conduci fo many animals with them ? If it was defigned, and with a 
 determined purpofe to pafs from the one to the other world, who gave 
 them intelligence of it ? Who fliewed them the fituation of thofe 
 countries ? Who pointed out their courfe ? How did they venture to crofs 
 fuch vafh feas without the compafs ? In what veffels ? If they landed 
 there happily, why does there not remain among the Mexicans fome 
 niem.ory of their conftrudtion ? 
 
 Befides, in the torrid zone of the new world crocodiles are common 
 animals which require a hot or temperate clime, and live alternately 
 on land or in fweet water; how did fuch animals pafs there ? Not by 
 the north, certainly ; becaufe their nature is ftrongly averfe to cold- 
 neither were they tranfported by men, we may fafely fay ; as little can 
 we think by fwimming two thoufand miles through the fait waters of 
 the ocean. 
 
 There remains no other folution, but that of admitting an ancient 
 union between the equinodial countries of America and thofe of Africa, 
 and the continuation of the northern countries of America with thofe 
 of Europe or Afia; the latter for the paffage of beafls of cold climes, 
 the former for the paffage of quadrupeds and reptiles peculiar to hot 
 climes. For the reafons we have already fubmitted, we are perfuaded, 
 that there was formerly a great trad of land which united the now moft 
 
 eaftern
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO, 221 ' 
 
 eaflern part of Brazil to the mort: we/lern part of Africa ; and that all DlSSERT. 
 that fpace of land may have been funk by fome violent earthquakes, 
 leaving only fome traces of it in the ides of Cape de Verd, Fernando 
 de Norona, Afcenfion, St. Matthew, and others; and many f^uid- 
 banks difcovered by different navigators, and in particular by de 
 Buache, v/ho founded that fea with great care and exaftnefs [k), 
 Thofe iflands and fand-banks may probably have been the higheft part5 
 ■of that funken continent. In like manner we believe that the moft 
 weflerly part of America was formerly united by means of a fmaller con- 
 tinent to the mofl eaflerly part of Tartary, and perhaps America was 
 united alfo by Greenland with other northern countries of Europe. 
 
 Upon the whole, from all we have faid, vve cannot but believe that 
 the quadrupeds and the reptiles of the new world parted there by land, 
 and by different parts, to that continent. All other fyrt:ems are fub- 
 jeót to heavy difficulties ; even this is not without fome, but they arc 
 not altogether infurmountable. The greatell confifts in tlie apparent 
 improbability of an earthquake fo great as to fink a fpace of land of 
 more than one thoufand five hundred miles, which, according to our 
 fuppofition, was that which united Africa to America, and funk it fo 
 much as to the depth, obferved in fome of the places of that fea. But 
 we do not afcribe that flupendous revolution to one fingle fliock, as 
 there are in the bowels of the earth fuch extenfivemafi"cs of combuftible 
 matter, the inflammation of one could eafily communicate to others, " 
 (in the fame mannner as Gafl'endus explains the propagation of light- 
 ning) and the violent concuffion of the air, contained within thofe 
 natural mines, could at once fliake, agitate, and overwhelm a fpace of 
 land of two or three thoull^nd miles. This is not iinpoflible, nor im- 
 probable, nor is hiflory unfurniflied with examples of it. The earth- 
 quake which v/as felt in Canada, in the year 1663, overwhelmed a chain 
 of mountains of freellone more than three hundred miles long, the 
 whole of that immenfe trac^t remaining changed into a plain. How 
 great then muft the, convulfion have been' which was occafioned by 
 
 (i) M. de Buaclic, in the year 1737, prefcntcd tothe Royal Academy ofSciencca of Pnris the • 
 hydrographical charts of that fea, made according to his (^bfervatioiji, which were examined' > 
 and approved of by the Academy. The celebrated author of th.aAmctic0>i Lelters has iuftrtcd 
 a draft of tHofc charts in the fccond voluiiie of Im work/ ' ' '" 
 
 ■ciJiii thofe
 
 222 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT, thofe extraordinary and memorable earthquakes, mentioned In the hlf- 
 .^^ '_ ^ tories of America, when the world was thought to have been coming 
 to an end ! 
 
 It may be objedled to our fyflcm, that if beafls pafTed by land from 
 the one continent to the other, it is not eaiy to divine the caufe 
 why fome fpecies paffed there without leaving a lingle individual in 
 the old continent ; and, on the contrary, that fome entire fpecies fliould 
 remain in the old continent, and not a iingle individual of them pafs 
 to America. Why, for exaniple, did the fourteen fpecies of apes, 
 which are now in ,AmericaV pafs there, and not the eighteen fpecies 
 whi(-h count Buìffon enumerates in Afia and Africa, although they arc 
 all of one clime, and were equally at liberty and freedom to pafs ? 
 How came the lloths to pafs, which are fo fluggifli, and not the antelopes 
 which are fo fwift ? If the beafts proceeded from Armenia towards 
 America, the fpecies deflined for America mufl: neceiTarily have per- 
 formed a journey of fix thoufand miles, fpreading from Armenia 
 through Mefopotomia and Syria to Egypt, from thence through the 
 center of Africa to the fuppofed fpace of land which formerly united 
 the two continents, and from that, laflly, to Brafil ; and although to 
 other beafls there appears no difficidty of their having made that pro- 
 grefs in ten, twenty, or forty years, neverthelefs with refpedl to the 
 floths, it is not to be comprehended how they could, even in conftant 
 motion, execute this in lefs than fix centuries. If we give credit to the 
 count de Buffon, the floths cannot advance more than a perch in an hour 
 or fix Parifian feet, wherefore, to make a progrefs of fix thoufind miles, 
 they would require about fix hundred and eighty years and more, if we 
 believe what Maffei, Herrera, and Pifoii have written, who affirm, that 
 that miferable quadruped can hardl) go the length of a flonethrow 
 in fifteen days or a fortnight. 
 
 This is what may be objedied to our fyflem, but fome of the above 
 mentioned arguments are more forcible again ft all the other opinions, 
 except the one which employs the angels in the tranfportation of 
 beafls. If they were men who tianfported beafls, why, inflead of 
 wolves and foxes, did they not carry horfes, oxen, flieep, and goats ? 
 And why did not they leave a fpecies of each individual in the old 
 continent ? If fuch animals are fuppofed to have pafled by fw^immin 
 
 g> 
 
 then.
 
 H I S T O R Y O F xM E X I e O. 223 
 
 then the dlfikulty of the fea paflage to land animals conies in the way. DISSERT. 
 If all the animals are fuppoled to have pafied, even thofe of South 
 America by the north, then, inflead of making a journey of fix thou- 
 iànd miles, they mufl have mi-de one of more than fifteen thouland, 
 for which length of way their floth would have h^d occallon for more 
 than one thoufand feyen hundred and forty years. 
 
 We anfwer then to the above objedions, i . That as all the quadru- 
 peds of the earth are not yet known, we cannot fay how many are in the 
 one or in the other continent. The count de Buffon numbers only two 
 hundred fpecies of quadrupeds. Bomare, who wrote a little after that 
 author, makes them two hundred and fixty-five ; but to fay how many 
 4nore there niay be, until we have examined the inland regions of 
 Africa, of a great part of Tartary, the country of the Amazons, North 
 Louifiana, the countries beyond the river Colorado, the country of the 
 Apaches, the Salamon ifles. New Holland, 6cc. which countries make 
 a confiderable part of our globe. It is not wonderful that the animals 
 of thefe unknown countries are flill flrangers to us, when thofe of 
 countries which have been known, and inhabited for thefe two hun- 
 dred and fixty years by the Europeans, are yet unnoticed by zoologifls. 
 The count de Buffon, although he is the mofl informed on this fubjeft, 
 omits fome quadrupeds of Mexico, places many out of their native 
 country, and confounds others together, as we fliall fhew in our Differ- 
 tation on animals. But with relpedl to the animals which are cer- 
 tainly not original in America, fuch as camels, elephants, and horfes, 
 feveral reafons may be afligned for this want. PolTibly thofe animals 
 did pafs to the new world, but were deftroyed by other wild beafls, 
 or extirpated by fome diflemper. Perhaps they never did pafs there. 
 Some, fuch as elephants and rhinocerofes, the multiplication of which 
 is flow, flopped in the fouthcrn parts of Afia and Africa, becaufe they 
 found a cimiate agreeable and fuitable to their natures, and had not 
 occafion therefore to go further for paflures or food. It is true, that 
 many authors are perfuaded that the great bones dug up near the river 
 Ohio, and other places of America, have belonged to elephants, which 
 would argue their ancient exiflence in that continent ; but as modern 
 zoologifls are not agreed with refpetll to the fpecies of quadruped to 
 which fuch bones may have belonged, no argument from them can 
 
 8 be
 
 224 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 be deduced againft us (/). Laftly, other beads did not pafs to the new 
 world, perhaps becaufe men detained them. But however the mat- 
 ter may be, the pafìage of fome beafls and not of others proves nothing 
 againft our fyftem. 
 
 With refpeél to the calculation above mentioned, of what time the 
 floth would require to move from America to Brazil, it raifes no 
 inconvenience ; for if it had occafion for more than a thoufand years, 
 on the fuppofition we made of the union of the two continents con- 
 tinuing all that time it might arrive there at laft. The count de 
 Buffon declares, that authors have exaggerated rhe flownefs of the 
 floth j and Mr. Aubenton acknowledges, that it was not fo flow as the 
 turtle. Befides, it being a harmlefs animal, it may have been traniJ- 
 ported by men. 
 
 (/) MuUer faid, that thofe bones belonged to certain large quadrupeds, which he called 
 Mammouts. The count de Buifon, trufting too much to him, computed that thofe quadrupeds 
 were feven times larger than elephants. Some have believed that thofe bones belonged to the 
 fea-horfes, fome to other fea-animals ; and, laftly, fome have thought they belonged to fome 
 unknown quadrupeds that iire now extindi : but they may, from what appears, hive belonged 
 to giants of the human as well as of any other race. 
 
 DISSEi^,
 
 [ 225 ] 
 
 DrISSERTATION II. 
 
 On the Principal Epochs of the Hijlory of Mexico. 
 
 TH E different opinions of authors concerning the chronology 
 of the hiftory of Mexico, obhge us to examine with attention 
 the epochs of the principal events. If we had done this in the body 
 of our hiftory, it would have interrupted the narration with unfeafon- 
 able difputes. The variety of fentiments among writers on this 
 head, arifes from their not having adjufted the Mexican years with 
 ours. We have laboured with great diligence to inveftigate the truth, 
 and we think we have in great p:irt fucceeded, as we fliall endeavour to 
 iliew in the prefent differtation, which will, however, prove little in- 
 terefting to thofe who have no tafte for, or curiofity in points of chro- 
 nology. 
 
 SECT. I. 
 
 On the Epoch of the Arrival of the Toltecas^ and other Nations in the 
 
 Country of Anahuac, 
 
 WE do not treat now of the firft peoplers, but only of thofe nations 
 who make a confpicuous figure in our hiftory. Authors in the firfl 
 place difagree about the order of the arrival of fuch nations ; as the 
 Chechemecas for example, who, according to Acoftj, Goniara, and 
 Siguenza, were the firft to arrive in that country, and, according to 
 Torquemada, the third were the fourth, if we believe Boturini. Nor 
 are they lefs difcordant about the arrival of every other nation. 
 
 None of them doubt that the Toltecan nation was very ancient. It 
 appears from the hiftories of the Chechemecas, that they did not ar- 
 rive in Anahuac until after the ruin of the Toltecas, whofe buildings 
 they met with in their travels, and remains of whom t'ley found on 
 the banks of the Mexican lakes, and other places. In this point To- 
 rquemada, Betancourt, and Boturini are agfved. Acofta and Gomira 
 make no mention of the Toltecas, becaufe perhaps thofe auchois wiiotn 
 
 Vol. II. G g they
 
 226 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT, they confulted omitted to fpeak of them, as their knowledge of them 
 was but httle aiiu oblcure. 
 
 With refpedl to the time of their arrival in Anahuac, Torquemada 
 fays, in book III. of his hiflory, that it happened in the year 700 
 of the vulgar era ; but from what he writes in book I. it appears to 
 have happened in 648. Boturini makes them one century more an- 
 cient, as he believed that in 660 Ixtlalcuechahuac, tlie fecond king 
 of that nation, was reigning in Tula. From their pictures we 
 know, that they left Huehuetlapalhn in the year I Tecpatl ; that, 
 after having travelled one hundred and four years, they fettled in 
 Tollantzinco, and then in Tula ; and that their monarchy commencing 
 in the year VII Acati lafted three hundred and eighty-four years. Aftec 
 comparing thefe epochs of theToltecas with thofe of the Chechemecas, 
 their fucceflbrs, we are perfuaded that the departure of the former 
 from Huehuetlapallan happened in 544, and that their monarchy began 
 in the year 667. Whoever will trace back towards that time, the 
 feries of Mexican years contrafled with Chriftian years, fet forth at 
 the end of our firft volume, will find the year 544 of the vulgar 
 era to have been I Tecpatl, and the year 667 to have in like manner 
 been VII Acati. There is no reafon to anticipate thefe epochs, nor 
 can they be poftponed without confounding thofe of other later nations. 
 That monarchy having begun then in 667, and lafted three hundred 
 and eighty-four years, the end of it, and ruin of the Toltecas, ought 
 to be fixed in the year 1051. 
 
 Between the ruin of the Toltecas and the arrival of the Chechemecas; 
 Torquemada allows but nine years ; this interval is too fmall, becaafe 
 the Chechemecas found, as the fame author fays, the edifices of' the 
 Toltecas in ruins ; and it is improbable that they would have gone to 
 ruin in only nine years. Befides, we cannot fix the beginning of the 
 Chechemecan monarchy in that century, without increafing the num- 
 ber of their kings, or prolonging their lives immoderately, as Tor- 
 quemada has done. Who can beUeve that Xolotl reigned a hundred 
 and thirteen years, and hved two hundred ? That Nopaltzin his foa 
 lived one hundred and feventy ; that Techotlala, his great great grandlbn 
 fhould reign one hundred and fourj and Tezozomoc, his dcfcendant, 
 fhould reign in Azcapozalco one hundred and fixty, or one hun- 
 dred
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 227 
 
 dred and eighty j'cars ? It is true, that a man of rohuft conftitution, ^^"'?,'-'^^i; 
 
 affiftcd by fobriety of life, and fo mild u clime as that of Mexico, might ^. — v-—^ 
 
 arrive at fo advanced an age; and in that countiy there are not a 
 
 very few examples of men who have prolonged their life beyond the 
 
 regular time prefcribed to mortals. Calmecahua, one of the- Tlafcalan 
 
 captains who aiTifted the Spaniards in the conquell of Mexico, lived one 
 
 hundred and thirty years. Pedro Nieto, a Jcfuit, died in the year 1536 
 
 at the age of one hundred and thirty-two years. Diego Ordoiiez, a 
 
 Francifcan.. died in Sombrerete aged one hundred and feventcen (w), 
 
 making preachings to the people until the laft month of his life^. Wc 
 
 could make a long catalogue of thofe v/ho in the two centuries pafl. 
 
 have exceeded one hundred years of life in thefe countries. Particu-" 
 
 larly among the Indians there are not a few who reach ninety and one 
 
 hundred years, prefcrving to old age their hair black, their teeth firm, 
 
 and their countenance frefli ; but as there have been fo very few who 
 
 fince the tv/enty- third century of the world have prolonged their lives 
 
 to one hundred and fifty years, that they are regarded as prodigies, wx; 
 
 cannot affent to the extravagant chronology of Torquemada, fupport- 
 
 ed only perhaps on the evidence of fome painting or hillory of the 
 
 Tezcucans, and particularly as that author himfelf confelfes that that 
 
 nation kept no account of years. We believe, however, without hefi- 
 
 tation, that the arrival of the Chechemecas in Anahuac happened in 
 
 the twelfth century, and probably towards the year 1 170. 
 
 Eight years had fcarcely elaj-)(èd after Xolotl, the firfl Checliemecan 
 king, was eftabliOied inTenajuca, when new people arrived there, con- 
 ducted, as we have already faid, by fix chiefs. We do not doubt 
 that thefe new people were the fix tribes of the Xochlmilcas, Te- 
 panecas, Colhuas, Chalchefe, Tlahuicas, andTlafcalans, feparated from 
 the Mexicans in Chicomoztoc, and arrived in the vale of Mexico not 
 all at once, but in the order and diflance of time we have mentioned. 
 It is certain that when the Acolhuas arrived a few years after, they 
 found the city of Azcapozalco already founded by the Tcpanecas, and 
 Colhuacan by the Colhuas. It is known befides, that thefe tribes 
 came to that country after the Chechemecas, as their arrival happened 
 
 {m) Diego Ordonez lived in religion one hundred and four years, and in the pricflhood al- 
 moil nincty^Hve. In his kft preaching he took leave of the people of Sembrerete with tliofe 
 ^y'ords of St. Pu.il ; " Bonum certamen ccrtavi, curfum confummari, 8cc." 
 
 ' ■ . G g 2 in
 
 228 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT, in that interval between the arrival of the Chechemecas and that of the 
 
 If. 
 1. V / Acolhiias. 
 
 There is no memory of any other people who came into Anahuac 
 
 about that time, except thofe tribes concluded by the above mentioned 
 
 chiefs. Acofta makes thefe tribes almoft three centuries more ancient, 
 
 as he fays they arrived on the banks of the Mexican lake in the year 
 
 902, after a peregrination of eighty years; but this chronology does 
 
 not accord well with hiltory, from which it appears that when Xolotl 
 
 arrived at the vale of Mexico with his colony of Chechemecas, he found 
 
 the banks of that lake depopulated, and the arrival of this colony could 
 
 not happen before the middle of the twelfth century, according to what 
 
 we have faid. 
 
 The year of the arrival of the Acolhuas is not known ; but we do 
 not doubt that it has been towards the end of the twelfth century, 
 becaufe they came a few years after the arrival of thofe fix tribes ; and 
 befides, it is evident from hiflory itfelf, that Xolotl furvived their ar- 
 rival fome years. 
 
 The lafl; nation, or tribe, which arrived at Anahuac was that of the 
 Mexicans. Among fo many hiilorians confulted by us, we have not 
 found one of a contrary opinion except Betancourt, who makes the 
 Qtomies come after them. 
 
 Acofta fixes the arrival of the Mexicans on the banks of the Mexi- 
 can lake in the year 1208, becaufe he affirms that they arrived there 
 three hundred and fix years after the Xochimilcas, and other tribes 
 of the Nahuatlaca?, who he believes arrived in 902. Torquemada, 
 according to the calculation made by Betancourt founded on his account, 
 dates the arrival of the Mexicans in Chapoltepec in the year 1269. An 
 anonymous Mexican Hiflory cited by Cav. Boturini, fixes the arrival 
 of that tribe in Tula in the year 11 96, and upon that epoch it appears 
 that feveral Indian hiflorians are agreed. Befides, this chronology 
 agrees perfectly with all the other epochs ; on which account we have 
 adopted it as the moll probable, and almoft certain. On this fuppo- 
 fition it is neceflary to fay, that the Mexicans arrived at Tzompanco in 
 the year 1216, and at Chapoltepec in 1245 ; becaufe it is known that 
 they flayed at Tepexic in Tula nine years, and in other places, before 
 they arrived at Tzompanco, eleven years. In Tzompanco they fojourn- 
 
 8 ed
 
 HISTORY OF M E X I C O. 229 
 
 cd fevcn years, and in other places, before they arrived at Chapoltepec, Dissert. 
 twenty-two years. After having been eighteen years in Chapoltepec, 
 they paflcd to Acolcb, in 1262, where they remained fifty-two years, 
 and from thence they were condu(fled ilaves to Colhuacan in 1314. 
 
 With refpedt to the Otomies tliere is a great difference of opinion 
 among authors : fome confound them with the Chechemecas, namely 
 Acofta, Gomara, and the greater part of the Spanifh authors. Tor- 
 quemada, in book I. diftinguilhes them exprefsly, but in other places 
 he confounds them together. Betancourt, after having copied the re- 
 lation of Torquemada, in every thing relative to the Toltecas, the 
 Chechemecas, and other nations, fpeaking of the reign of Chimal- 
 popoca, third king of Mexico, fiiys, that in his time the Otomies ar- 
 rived in Anahuac, and eftablifhed themfelves principally in Xaltocan. 
 This anecdote from Betancourt is deferving of notice ; for he un- 
 doubtedly took it from the writings of Siguenza, although he docs not 
 ufuiilly depart from Torquemada, unlefs it is to follow that learned 
 Mexican ; but he errs in chronology when he fixes the arrival of the 
 Otomies in the year VI Tecpatl, which he believes to have been the 
 year 1381. He is certainly deceived, for as it appears from the chro- 
 nological table put at the end of our fecond volume, the year 1381 
 was not VI. Tecpatl, but VI Calli 3 neitherwas Chimalpopoca reigning 
 at that time, but Acamaptizin, as we fliall fhortly fliew. If the arrival 
 of the Otomies in the Mexican vale (not in the country of Anahuac, 
 where they were fettled many years before) happened in tlie year VI 
 Tecpatl, and under the reign of Chimalpopoca, that mufl: certainly 
 have been in the year 1420. There being no mention of the Ototnies 
 before this epoch, and they having been found lefs civilifed than other 
 nations, fcattered about in feveral provinces, and in places furrounded 
 by other nations of different languages, inclines us to believe, that 
 they began to live in fociety under the dominion of the Tepanecas 
 exadlly at that time, and afterwards under that of the Mexicans and 
 Tlafcalans. We are perfuaded tlwt on account of having found the 
 land occupied by other nations, they could not, like the others, eflab- 
 liih themfelved all in one country, although the greater part of that 
 nation peopled that part of land which is to the north-wefl, and north 
 of the capital, where at firft they lived fcattered about like the wild 
 beafls.. 
 
 The
 
 II. 
 
 2;o HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT. The caufe of the Otomies having been confounded with the Che- 
 chemecas by many hiftorians, may be gathered from the fame hiftory. 
 At the time the ancient Chechemecas were rendered civiUzed by the 
 Toltecas and Nahuatlacas, many famiUes of that nation abandoned 
 themfelves to a favage hfe in the country of the Otomies, chufing the 
 exercife of the ciiace rather than the fatigues of agriculture. They 
 retained the name of Chechemecas, and the others who were brought 
 to civiHzation began to be called AcoUnias, honouring themfelves 
 with the name of a nation which was efleemed the moll polilhed. 
 Of the Otomies, thofe who adopted a civil life retained the name of 
 Otomies, by which they are known in hiftory ; but the others, who 
 were fpread in the woods, and mingled with the Chechemecas, would 
 never give up their barbarous liberty, and were by many called Che- 
 chemecas, from the name of that celebrated nation ; on which ac- 
 count fome writers, treating of thofe barbarians, who for more thaa 
 a century after the conqueft, harafled the Spaniards, diftinguifti the 
 Mexican Chechemecas from the Chechemecas of the Otomies ; for 
 the one fpoke the Mexican language, and the others that of the 
 Otomies, according to the nation whence they drew their origin. 
 
 From all that we have hitherto laid, we may conclude with the 
 greateft probability poflible in fo obfcure a fubjeót, that the order and 
 time of the arrival of thofe nations in the country of Anahuac was as 
 follows : 
 
 The Toltecas, in the year 648. 
 
 The Chechemecas, about the year 1170. 
 
 The firft Nahuatlacas, about 1 178. 
 
 The Acolhuas, tov\'ard the end of the twelfth century. 
 
 The Mexicans arrived at Tula in the year 1 19Ó, at Tzompanco in 
 the year 121 6, and at Chapol tepee in the year 1245. 
 
 The Otomies entered the vale of Mexico, and began to form into fo- 
 cieties in the year 1220. ' 
 
 We know well that the Tepanecas boafted of their city of Azca- 
 pozalco being fo old, that according to Torquemada they counted 
 .one thoufand five hundred aad fixty-one years from the foundation of 
 it to the beginning of the laft century : fo that they imagined it to 
 .have bjsen founded immediately after the death of our Saviour % but 
 
 the
 
 II. 
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 231 
 
 the error of this opinioa appears manifeft, from the hiftories of DISSERT, 
 other nations, which make the Tepanecas Uttle more ancient in Ana- 
 huac than the Mexicans, and alfo from the feries itfclf of the chiefs of 
 Azcapozalco, whofe portraits were preferved unto our time in an an- 
 cient edifice of that city. They did not count more than ten princes 
 from the foundation of their city, unto the memorable deftruftion of 
 their fiate, occafioned by the combined arms of the Mexicans and 
 Acolhuas, which happened, as we fliall find, in the year 1425 : on 
 which account it would be neceiTary to allow to each of their fove- 
 reigns one hundred and forty years of reign to fill up that period. 
 
 The Totonacas, on their part, reported themfelves more ancient thaa 
 the Chechemecas ; for the boall: of antiquity is a weaknefs common to 
 all nations. They relate, that having been at firft, for Ibme time, ef- 
 tablilhed on the banks of the Tezcucanlake ; from' thence they went 
 to people thofe mountains, which took from them the name of Tote - 
 nacapan j that there they were governed by ten lords, each of whom 
 governed the nation precifely eighty years, until the Chechemecas hav- 
 ing arrived in Anahuac, in the time of the fecond- lord of that nation; 
 named Xatoncan, at length fùbjetìed them to their dominion ; and that 
 laftly they were the fubjedts of the kings of Mexico. Torquemada, 
 who relates this account of the Totonacas, in the third book of his 
 Indian Monarchy, adds, that this is certain and confirmed by authentic 
 hiftories worthy of faith ; but whatever he may fay, it is certain that 
 tlie time of the arrival of that nation in Anahuac, neither is nor can be 
 known, and that the ftoiy of the ten lords, who governed the nationi 
 each precilely eighty years, is only fit to amufe children. 
 
 Still lefs is it known when the Olmecas and Xicallancas arrived^ 
 Boturini fays, that he could find.neither pidlure nor monument concern- 
 ing thefe nations, although he believes them more ancient than the: 
 Toltecasj, but Itili it is unqueftionable that they were not the moft' 
 ancient. 
 
 We do not here make mention of any other nations, becaufe their 
 
 antiquity is abfolutely unknown ^ but we do not doubt, confidcring 
 
 what we have already explained and fet forth, that the C'liapa- 
 
 nefc were amongfl tlie moft ancient, and perhaps the firft of all lajfe- 
 
 who f copied the country of Anahuac. 
 
 SECT..
 
 434 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 DIS ERT. 
 U. 
 
 SECT. II. 
 
 Concerning the Correfpondence of the Mexican Tears with ours, and the 
 Epoch of the Foundation of Mexico. 
 
 ALL the Mexican as well as Spanifli writers, who have made men- 
 tion of the Mexican chronology, are agreed refpedting the method which 
 thofe nations had of computing their centuries and their years, ex- 
 plained by us in book VL of our hiflory, and in the latter part of the 
 end of vol. IL Whenever, therefore, we find the correfpondence of 
 any one Mexican year with any one Chriftian year, the correfpondence 
 of all the reli will eafily be known. If, for example, we know that 
 the year 1780 was the II Tecpatl, as it really was, we are certain that 
 the year 1781 was the III Calli; the year 1782, was IV Tochtli, &c. 
 All the difficulty confifls in finding a Mexican year the correfpondence of 
 which with a Chriflian year is abfolutely certain and indubitable ; but 
 we find this difficulty furmounted, by being affijred not lefs from the 
 ancient pidlures of the Indians than by the teftimony of Acofta, Tor- 
 quemada, Siguenza, Betancourt, and Boturini, that the year 151 9, in 
 which the Spaniards entered into Mexico, was I Acati, and of confe- 
 quence that the year 151 8 was XIII Tochtli, the year 15 17 XII Calli, 
 6cc. fo that there is no room for doubt of theexadtnefs of our table, 
 put at the end of volume IL refped:ing the correfpondence of Mexi- 
 can with ChrLftian years. Thofe authors who difagree with it, have 
 erred in their calculation, and contradidled themfelves. Betancourt, in 
 order to make us comprehend the manner which the Mexicans had of 
 computing years, prefents us with a table of Mexican years, contrafted 
 with Chriftian years, from the year 1663 unto 1688, but this table is 
 erroneous from beginning to end ; for the author fuppofes the year 
 1663 to have been the year I Tochtli, which is demonflrated to be falfc 
 by the continuation of our table to that year. He affirms that 1 5 1 9 was 
 a fecular year ; by the admiffion of this error, his chronology cannot but 
 be lalfe throughout. If the year 151 9 was I Acati, as he fuppofes, 
 with other writers, we ffiall find, by going backwards in our table, 
 that 1507 was not a fecular year, but 1506 was. In order to confirm 
 
 his
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 -Jv> 
 
 his chronology, he adduces the teftimony of his friend and fellow- DISSERT, 
 countryman Sigaenza, who, he fays, found that the year 1684 hid ^^• 
 
 been IX Acati. If this -was the cafe, his calculation would certainly 
 be right; but although we do not doubt his veracity in the citation 
 of Siguenza, we have reafon to believe that this learned Mexican cor- 
 redted his chronology ; nor could he do otherwife, when he knew 
 that the year 1519 had been I Acati, a certain foundation and begin- 
 ning on which all the Mexican chronology ought to reft, and from 
 which it is clearly deducible that the year 1684 had not been IX 
 Acati, but X Tecpatl. Torquemada, in his third book, treating of 
 the Totonacas, fays of a noble of that nation, that he was born in 
 the year II Acati, and that the year before 151 9, in which the Spa- 
 niards arrived in that country, was, among the Mexicans, the year I 
 Acati. When Torquemada wrote this he was either dreaming, or 
 abfent in mind ; for he knew well that the year among the Mexicans 
 which comes after I Acati, is not II Acati, but II Tecpatl, and fuch 
 was the year 1520, of which he fpeaks. 
 
 Suppofing then that the year 15 19 was I Acati, and that the corref- 
 pondence of the Mexican with the Chriftian years is known, it is not 
 very difficult to trace back the epoch of the foundation of Mexico. All 
 hiftorians who have confulted the paintings of the Mexicans, or who 
 have been informed by them by words, agree in faying, that that cele- 
 brated city was founded by the Azetcas, in the 14th centuiy j but they 
 differ a little as to the year. The interpreter of Mendoza's colledtion 
 fixes the foundation of it in the year 1324. Gemelli, following Siguen- 
 za, makes it in i 325. Siguenza, cited by Betancourt and an anonymous 
 Mexican, cited by Boturini, in 1327. Torquemada, according to the 
 calculation made by Betancourt, from his account, in 1341 ; and Arrigo 
 Martinez, in 1357. The Mexicans make the foundation in the year 
 II Calli, as appears from the firft painting of the collef^ion of Men- 
 doza and others, cited by Siguenza. It being certain, therefore, that 
 that city was founded in the a 4th century, and in the year II Calli, 
 that cannot have been in 1324, nor in the year 1327, or 1341, 
 or 1357, becaufe none of thofe years was II Calli. If we go 
 back from the year 1519 to the 14th century, we Ihall find in it 
 two years II Calli: that is 1325, and 1377. But the foundation 
 could not have happened in this laft year; for then it would be ne- 
 VoL. II. H h ccflary
 
 234 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, ceflary to fhorten very much the reign of the Mexican monarchs, in 
 
 V I , contradidion to the chronology of the ancient paintings. Nothing 
 
 remains to be offered therefore but that that celebrated capital was 
 founded in 1325 of the vulgar era: and this was moil certainly the 
 opinion ofSiguenza; for Gemelli, who had no other inftruótion on this 
 fubjedl but that which was given him by that learned Mexican, places 
 the foundation of this city in 1325, which he fays was the year II Calli, 
 If at iirft he was of a different opinion, he changed it afterwards on 
 perceiving that it would not have agreed witli that fixed principle, 
 namely, that the year I Acati was certainly the year 15 19. 
 
 SECT. 
 
 III. 
 
 Oil the Chronology of the Mexican Kings, 
 
 IT is difficult to illuftrate entirely the chronology of the Mexican 
 kings, on account of the difagreement between authors. We will 
 avail ourfelves of fome certain points, to clear up thofe which are 
 uncertain. In order to give our readers fome idea of the divcrfity of 
 opinions, it will be fufficient to prefcnt the following table, where we 
 mark the year in which, according to Acofta, the Interpreter of Men- 
 doza's colledlion, and Siguenza each of the kings began to reign. 
 
 Acofta. 
 
 
 
 The Interpreter. 
 
 Siguenza 
 
 , 
 
 Acamapitzin 
 
 13S4 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1375 
 
 3 May 
 
 1361 
 
 Huitzilihuitl 
 
 1424 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1396 
 
 19 April 
 
 1403 
 
 Chimalpopoca 
 
 1427 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1417 
 
 24 February 
 
 1414 
 
 Itzcoatl 
 
 H37 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1427 
 
 _ _ _ 
 
 1427 
 
 Montezuma I. 
 
 1449 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1440 
 
 13 Auguft 
 
 1440 
 
 Axaj acati - 
 
 1481 
 
 - 
 
 _ _ - 
 
 1469 
 
 21 November 
 
 1468 
 
 Tizoc 
 
 ^M7 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1482 
 
 30 Odiober 
 
 1481 
 
 Ahuitzotl 
 
 1492 
 
 - 
 
 - - - 
 
 1480 
 
 13 April - 
 
 148Ó 
 
 Montezuma II. 
 
 ^S°Z 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1502 
 
 15 September 
 
 1502 
 
 Acofta, and after him Arrigo Martinez, and Herrera, not only difigree 
 with other authors in chronology, but alfo in the order ot the kuigs, 
 pkc.ng Tizoc on the throae before Axajacatl; whereas the contr ry is 
 evident, not lefs from the teftnnony of the Mexicans tlian tliac oi other 
 
 Spanilh
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 235 
 
 SpaniHi authors. Gomara perplexes the reigns of the lords of Tula DISSF.rt^ 
 with thofc of the kings of Colhuacan and the Mexican kings. Tor- v-— ^-^.^ 
 quemada points out the years of botli, and his chronology difagrees 
 with that of other authors. Solis makes Montezuma II. the eleventh 
 of the Mexican kings; but v/e know not how lie fupportcd fo 
 flrange a paradox. De Paw, in order to ihew his extravagance of 
 genius even in this does not ennumerate more than eight kings of 
 Mexico, but it is certain and indubitable that the Mexicans had the 
 nine kings above mentioned, and after them Cuitlahuatzin and Quauh- 
 temotziii. Some authors do not reckon the two Lft among their 
 kings, becaufe they reigned for fo fhort a time; but having been law- 
 fully elecTted and peaceably accepted by the nation, they have as much 
 right to be counted among the kings of Mexico as any of their an- 
 cellors. Acofla lays, he does not make mention of them becaufe they 
 had nothing but the name of king, as in their time the whole of the 
 kingdom almoft was fubjetl to the Spaniards ; but this is abfolutely 
 falfe, becaufe when Cuitlahuatzin was eledted, the Spaniards had only 
 the province of the Totonacas under them, and they even were rather 
 allies than fubjeds. When Quauhtemotzin was eleded, they had 
 added to that province five other flates, and fome fmall places in that 
 neighbourhood ; but all thofe dates, compared with the reft of the 
 Mexican empire, were lefs to it than Bologna is to tiie whole papal 
 territory. 
 
 To invcftigate the chronology of thefe eleven kings, it is neccfTary 
 to adopt another method, beginning with the laft, and continuing in 
 a retrogade courfe to the commencement of the monarchy. 
 
 Quauhtemotzin. This king finiflied his reign on the thirteenth 
 of'Auguft, 1521, having been made prifoncr by the Spaniards juft as 
 Mexico was taken. The day of his cleilion is not known, but from 
 the accounts of Cortes it is to be inferred, that he was elcdlcd in 
 October or November of the preceding year; wherefore he could not 
 have reigned more than nine or ten months. 
 
 . Cuitlahuatzin. This king, fucceflbr of,his brother Montezu- 
 rtia.afcended tlic throne on the beginning of July, 1520, as appears by 
 the account given by Cortes. Some SpaniOi authors fay that he did not 
 i^ign above Ibrty da)'S ; others fay, that he reigned fixty ; but froiu tliat 
 
 H h 2 which
 
 236 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 DISjEIIT. which Cortes heard faid by a Mexican ofiicer in the war of Quauh- 
 ^,^-^-1^^ quechoUan, it is to be conckided, that that king was alive in October. 
 We do not therefore doubt that his reign was at leaft three months. 
 
 Montezuma II. It i? known that he reigned feventeen years and 
 more than nine months, and that he began to reign in September, 1 502, 
 and died in the latter end of June, 1 520. The reafon why fome authors 
 have fixed the beginning of his reign in 1503 was, becaufe they knew 
 that he had reigned feventeen years, and made no account of the nine 
 months after them. 
 
 Ahuitzotl. Acofla allows this king eleven years of reign. Mar- 
 tinez, twelve; -Siguenza, fixteen ; and Torquemada, eighteen. I be- 
 lieve we can trace back the years of his reign, and the time of his 
 exaltation, from the epoch of the dedication of the greater temple. 
 This happened, without doubt, in i486, as feveral authors agree. 
 On the other hand it appears, that king Tizoc having hardly began 
 this building, Ahuitzotl continued and finifhed it, which he could 
 not do in the fame year in which he began it, nor in two or three years, 
 it having been fo vaft an edifice as we know it was. Neither could he, 
 in fo fhort a time, have made the war which he did in countries fo diftant 
 from each other, and procure that furprifing number of vidims which 
 were facrificed on that great feftival. We believe, therefore, that the 
 commencement of his reign cannot be fixed after 1482, and neither 
 can it be anticipated without confounding the epochs of his predecef- 
 fors, as we fhall prefently fee. Having begun therefore to reign in 
 1482, and finifhed in 1502, we ought to allow him nineteen years 
 fome months, or about twenty years of reign. 
 
 Tizoc. No perfon doubts that the reign of this monarch was 
 extremely fhort, and no author gives him more than four years and a 
 half of life upon the throne. We could refolve the time of his 
 reign, and that alfo of his predeceffor, from that of Nezahualpilli,. 
 king of Acolhuacan ; for that king having been fo celebrated, and had 
 fo many hiftorians at his court, we have certain accounts of his reign. 
 Nezahualpilli died in 15 16, after having reigned in Acolhuacan forty- 
 jfive years and fome months ; the commencement of his reign therefore 
 muft be fixed in 1470. It is known alfo, that the eighth year of the 
 reign of Nezahualpilli vi^as the firft of Tizoc, fo that tliis laft mufl 
 
 8 have
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 237 
 
 have begun his reign in 1477, and reigned four years and a half, as DT'sert. 
 
 feveral hiflorians fay. Torquemada fays, that he reigned lefs than 
 
 three years ; but this author contradids himfclf openly, not only in 
 
 this but in many other parts of his chronology, for as he adopts the 
 
 above mentioned calculation of the reign of Tizoc, he ought to have 
 
 fixed his death in 1480, and confequently to have given Ahuitzotl not 
 
 eighteen but twenty-two years of reign. 
 
 AxALACATL. it is known that this king began to reign fix years 
 before Nezahualpilli, that is, in 1464, and that he finiihed, as we have 
 faid, in I477> when his fuccelTor Tizoc afcended the throne. From 
 that it is deducible that he reigned thirteen years, as Siguenza and 
 other hiflorians affirm. Acofla does not give him more than eleven 
 years, nor the interpreter of Mendoza's coUedtion more than twelve. 
 It is moft probable that the thirteen years were not completed. 
 
 Montezuma I. All affirm, that this famous king completed twen- 
 ty-eight years on the throne. Some give him a year more, becaufethey 
 reckon the months which he reigned more than the twenty-eight years, 
 another year, which has not been reckoned by others. He began 
 therefore to reign in 1436, and finiflied in 1464. In his time the 
 Toxihumolpia, or fecular year, was celebrated, not in the fixteenth 
 year of his reign, as Torquemada fays, but in the eighteenth, or 
 
 1454- 
 
 Itzcoatl. Almofl all hiftorians give thirteen years of reign to this 
 
 great king. Acofta and Martinez only give him twelve. The rcafon 
 of this difference is the fune as that above mentioned, that is, Itzcoatl 
 not having completed the thirteen years on the throne, Acofta and 
 Martinez paid no attention to the odd months over the twelve years, 
 whereas the others made a complete year of them. He began to reign 
 in 1323 j he could not begin either fooner or later, for he afcended 
 ,the throne a year after Maxtlaton ufurped the throne of Acolhuacan. 
 Maxtlaton reigned three years, and with him the reign of the Tepa- 
 necas finilhed. The following year, that is, three years after Itzcoatl 
 had began to reign, Nezaliualcojotl was eftabliflied on the throne of 
 Acolhuacan, which had been ufurped by the Tepanecas. It is known 
 befides, thatNezahualcojotl reigned forty-three years and fome months; 
 he having finilhed therefore in 1470, it appears that the commence- 
 ment
 
 238 II I S T O 11 Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 DISSERT, ment of his reign ought to be fixed in 1420, the ruin of the Tcp.inecas 
 in 1425, the beginning of the reign of Itzcoatl in 1423, and that of 
 the tyranny of Max t lato n in 1422. 
 
 Chimalpopoca. This unhappy king was confounded by Acofla, 
 Martinez, and Herrera, with his nephew Acohiahuacatl, fon of Huitzi- 
 lihuitl ; from whence thefe authors allow Chimalpopoca only ten 
 years of reign, and make him die by the hands of the Tepanecas ; but 
 the contrary appears from the paintings and relations of the Indians, 
 cited by Torquemada, and partly feen by ourfelves. Siguenza, by 
 inattention, falls into a contradidion ; for he fays that Chimalpopoca 
 was the younger brother of Huitzilihuitl : of this king he affirms, 
 that he began to reign at eighteen years of age, and that he reigned 
 lefs than eleven, fo that he muft have died before he was twenty-nine 
 years of age; and Chimalpopoca, who immediately fucceeded him, 
 muft have been at leafl twenty-eight when he began to reign ; not- 
 withftanding Siguenza makes him afcend the throne at forty years and 
 upwards. In the colledtion of Mendoza this king is not given more 
 than ten years of reign. Torquemada and Siguenza give him tliirteen, 
 which account is certainly the moll probable, confidering the feries of 
 his actions and events : but Betancourt following Torquemada, makes 
 many notable anacronifms on this fubjeél. He fixes the eledlion of 
 Chimalpopoca in the time of Techotlalla, king of Acolhuacan ; let 
 • us fuppofe that it was in the laft year of this king : Techotlalla was 
 fucceeded by Ixtlilxochitl, who reigned feven years. Ixtlilxochitl by 
 Tezozomoc, who tyrannifed over that empire nine years, and to him 
 Maxtlaton fucceeded, in whofe time Chimalpopoca died. According 
 to thofe fuppofitions adopted by Torquemada and Betancourt, we mull 
 give Chimalpopoca at leali fixteen years of reign, refulting from the 
 {even of Ixtlilxochitl and the nine of Tizozomoc ; which is contrary 
 to their own chronology and that of other hiftorians. If we chufe to 
 combine the chronology of the kings of Mexico with that of the kings 
 of Tlatelolco, agreeable to the calculation of the above mentioned 
 authors, there will hardly remain nineteen years to be divided between 
 the two kings Chimalpopoca and Itzcoatl, as we fliall afterwards find. 
 Granting therefore thirteen years of reign to Chimalpopoca, according 
 to the opinion of mofb hiflorians, we ought to fix the beginning of it 
 
 in
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 239 
 
 in 1410. Maxtliiton fucceeded to Tizozomoc, his father, a year before DI^sert^ 
 
 ' IT 
 
 the death of Chimalpopoca, that is, in 1422. Tizozomcc kept the 
 crown of Acolhuacan nine years ; having died in 1422, his tyranny 
 began therefore in 1413. With refpedl to IxtHIxochitl, the lawtul 
 king of Acolhuacan, we know that he reigned feven years until 141 3, 
 when his life, together with his crown, was taken from him by the 
 tyrant Tizozomoc j he began therefore to reign in 1406. 
 
 HuiTziLiHUiTL. Refpedting the number of years which this mo- 
 narch reigned hiftorians are extremely different in opinion. Siguenza 
 fays, ten years and ten months. Acofta and Martinez give him thir- 
 teen ; the Interpreter, twenty-one. Toqucmada attefls, that among the 
 Mexican hiftorians whom he confulted, fome give him twenty-two 
 years and others twenty-fix ; but we have no doubt that the true 
 number of years is that mentioned by the Interpreter; becaufe we know,, 
 from the kiftorical paintings of the Mexicans, that the thirteenth year 
 of this king was a fecular year, which, according to our chronological 
 table, muft have been the year 1402; he began therefore to reign in 
 1380. Plaving died in 141 o, as appears from what we have faid con- 
 cerning the reign of Chimalpopoca, we ought to allow Huitzilihuitl 
 twenty-one years of reign. 
 
 AcAMAPiTziN. Suppofingthe chronology of the preceding kings 
 to be juft, and the epoch of the foundation of Mexico to be eftablifhed, 
 we have little to fiiy with regard to the reign of this king. Torque- 
 inada affirms, that the paintings and manufcript hiftories fix the elec- 
 tion of Acamapitzin in the twenty-eighth year after the foundation of 
 Mexico. He was eledted therefore in 1352, or in the beginning of 
 1353, and his reign muft have laded thirty-feven years, or fomething 
 lefs. The interregnum which happened after the death of this king 
 was of four months, as Siguenza lays; whereas all the others were 
 but of a few days.. 
 
 SECT. IV. 
 
 Concerning the Epochs of the Events of the Conquef. 
 
 I T is not very difficult to trace the epochs of the events of the con- 
 quefl:, becaufe we find them in general mentioned by the conqueror 
 
 Cortes,
 
 240 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 DIS?ERT. Cortes, in his letters to Charles V. but many anacronifms being com- 
 mitted by the Spaniih hillorians, either becaufe they did not confult 
 . thole letters, or becaufe they were indifferent about knowing on what 
 days the moveable feftivals happened in thofe years of which Cortes 
 fometimes made mention, it is neceffary to fix fome points of chro- 
 nology, omitting others of fmaller importance, to avoid proving tedi- 
 ous to our readers. 
 
 The arrival of Cortes's armament on the coaft of Chalchicuecan 
 happened, as every one knows, on Holy Thurfday, 15 19. This was 
 on the 2 1 ft of April, for Eafter was that year on the 24th. 
 
 The entry of the Spaniards into the city ofTlafcala did not happen, 
 as Herrera and Gomera fay, on the 23d of September, but on the i8th, 
 as Bernal Diaz, Betancourt, and Solis write. This is eafily demon- 
 ftrated by making a calculation according to the account given by 
 Cortes of the days which the Spaniards ftaid in Tlafcala and Cholula, 
 and thofe which they employed in their journey to Mexico. Bernal 
 Diaz iays, that before they entered Tlafcala they were twenty-four 
 days in the territories of that republic, and afterwards twenty in that 
 city; as is alfo confirmed by the letters of Cortes. They entered 
 Cholula on the 14th of Oftober, and into Mexico on the 8th of 
 November. Six days after Montezuma was made prifoner, as Cortes 
 himfelf affirms. This general remained in the capital until the begin- 
 ning of May following, at which time he went to Chempoalla, to 
 oppofe Narvaez. He aflaulted and gained a victory over his enemy on 
 the Sunday of Pentecoft, which that year (i 520) happened on the 27th 
 of May. The infurreclion of the Mexicans, caufed by the violent 
 proceedings of Alvarado, happened on the great feftival of the month 
 Toxcatl, which began that year on the 13th of Mav. Cortes returned 
 to the capital after his viftory, on the 24th of June, as everyone 
 attefts. In the accounts of the events which occurred in the laft 
 days of June, and the firft days of July, we find fome confufion and 
 anacronifms among hiftorians. We have followed Cortes in his letters, 
 which contain the moft authentic account of the conqueft. 
 
 The death of Montezuma appears to have happened on the 30th 
 of June, for he died, according to Cortes, tliree days after he received 
 the wound from a ftone. This happened while thofe two machines 
 
 of
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 241 
 
 of war were conftrudiiip, of which wc have made mention in our hif- DLSSiniT- 
 
 . II. 
 
 tory : thefe were conflrudted on the night of the 26th of June and the 
 
 day following, as is to be gathcied from the account of this conqueror. 
 
 We cannot fj.x the death of Montezuma therefore later nor fooner than 
 
 the 30th, without perplexing the feries of events. 
 
 The firft of July we make the noche trijie, tiut is, the night when 
 the Spaniards came off defeated, for Cortes gives feven days to their 
 journey from Mexico to Tlafcala, and affirms that they entered there 
 on the 8th of July. Diaz and Bctancourt fay, that the Spaniards left 
 Mexico on the loth, and entered on the lóth into the lands of that 
 republic ; but in this particular the greatefb faith is due to Cortes. The 
 events which happened from the 24th of June to the iirft of July will 
 appear many, conlidering the Ihortnefs of the time : but it is not won- 
 derful that in circumftances of fuch didiculty and danger atìions fiiould 
 multiply, as the faving of lives called forth the greatefl efforts. 
 
 The war made by the Spaniards in Quauhquechollan happened in 
 the month of October, by what appears from the account of Cortes. 
 This epoch becomes of importance to us, in order to know the time 
 which Cuitlahuatzin reigned, for a Mexican captain, of whom Cortes 
 gained information of the fiate of the court, gave him intelligence of 
 the diligence ufed by that king in preparations againft the Spaniards. 
 Thofe who do not allow Cuitlahuatzin to have reigned more than 
 forty days, rejedl that information as a fiillehood ; but as they alledge 
 no reafon to convince us of its fliUity, we ought to believe it. 
 
 Concerning the day on which the ficge of Mexico began, and the 
 time of its duration, authors in general are miftaken. They fay for 
 the fi rft part that the fiege lafled ninety-three days; but they have 
 not made the calculation cxadlly, for Cortes made the review of his 
 troops in tlie great fquare of Tezcuco, and anigned the ports which 
 the three divinons were to occupy on the Monday of Pentccolt, in tiie 
 year 1521. But although we fliould fuppole, contrary to the truth of 
 hirtory, that on the lame day of the review the fiege was begun, tiiere 
 would not be ninety-three, but only eighty-five days j for that Mon- 
 day happened on the 20th of May, and it is univerflilly known that the 
 fiege terminated with the taking of the capital on the 13th of Au-^ult. 
 if they reckon the holUUtics committed on the cities of the lake to 
 
 V^oL. II. I i be
 
 242 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT, be part of the fiege, they ought to fix the beginning of the fiege on the- 
 _J.^_^ firft day of January, and count not ninety-three days, but feven months 
 to it. Cortes, who in this point merits more faith than any other 
 hiftorian, fays exprefsly, that the fiege commenced on the 30th of May,, 
 and lafted feventy-five days. It is true, that the letter itfelf of Cortes 
 might occafion an error, for there it is given to be underilood, that 
 on the 14th of May the divilions of Alvarado and Olid were in- Tacuba,. 
 from whence the fiege began ; but this is a manifeil error in the 
 cyphers, for it is certain that thofe two officers did not go to Tacuba till 
 after the review of the troops j and we know from Cortes, and other 
 hillorians, that this happened on Monday of Pentecofl, the 20tli of 
 May. "''' 
 
 Torquemada fays, in book IV. cap. 46. that the Spaniards entered 
 into Mexico, for the firft "time, on the 8th of Novea:iber ; but in. 
 chap. 14. of the fame book he affirms, that this entry happened on 
 the 22d of July 3 that they remained there one hundred and fifty days,, 
 ninety-five days in friendfliip with the Mexicans, and forty at war. with 
 them, which was occafioned by the {laughter made there by Alvarado,, 
 on the feflival of the month Toxcatl, correi^ionding, as he believes, to 
 our April, &c. The feries of anachronifms, errors, andcontradidlions, 
 contained in the chapter above cited of this author, is fufiicient to give, 
 us an idea of his prepolicrous chronology. 
 
 DISSER-
 
 [ '43 ] 
 
 DISSERTATION III, 
 
 Ofi the Land of Mexico, 
 
 WHOEVER reads the horrid defcription which fomc Euro- 
 peans give of America, or hears the injurious flandcr with 
 which they fpeak of its foil, its climate, its plants, its animals, and 
 inhabitants, will eafily be perfuaded that malice and unnatural ran- 
 cour have armed their pens and their tongues, or that the new world 
 is truly a curfed land, and deftined by heaven for the punifliment 
 of malefatìors. If we reft faith in count de Buffon, America is an 
 entirely new country, fcarcely arifen out of the waters which over- 
 whelmed it («), a continual marfli in its plains, a land uncultivated 
 and covered with woods, even aftefhaving been peopled by Euro- 
 peans more induftrious thajj- -Americans, or incumbered with moun- 
 tains that are inacceflible,.and leave but a fmall territory for cultivation 
 and the habitations of men ; an unhappy region, lying under a fordid 
 flcy, where all the animals that have been tranfported from the old 
 continent are degenerated, and thofe native to its clime are fmall, 
 deformed, weak, and deftitute of arms for their defence. If wc credit 
 Mr. de Paw (who in a great meafure copies the fentiments of count 
 de Buffon, and where he does not copy, multiplies, and exaggerates 
 errors) America has been in general, and is at prejent a very barren 
 country, in which all the plants of Europe have degenerated, ex- 
 cept thofe which are aquatic and fucculcnt. Its ftinking foil bears 
 a greater number of poifonous plants than all tha other parts of tlie 
 world. Its lands, either overloaded with mountains, or covered with 
 woods, prefent nothing to the eye but a vaft and barren defert ; its 
 climate is extremely unfavourable to the greater part of quadrupeds, and 
 XTVoft of all pernicious to, men who arc degenerated, debilitated, and 
 vitiated in a furprifing manner in all the parts of their organization (;/;). 
 
 •(») H.ft. Natur. torn. vi. (r.) Rcchcrclies Plijlofophiques, parte i. 
 
 I i 2 The
 
 244 
 
 HISTORY O F M E X I C 0. 
 
 DISSERT. The hiftoriographer Herrera, although In many refpc^s jadlclous 
 end moderate, when lie makes a comparifon of the chmate and foil of 
 Europe with America, fhews himfelf emiitently ignorant even of the 
 firft elements of geography, and utters futh abfurdities as v^-Duld not 
 be tolerated in a child. " Our hemijphere, he fays, is better than the 
 new one with rcJ'peSi to clime. Our pole is mo?- e embeUiJl:j:d \cith JtarSy 
 becaufe it has the north to 2i degrees, with many refpkndantjlars. By 
 which he fuppofes, firft, that the fouthern hemifphere is new, though 
 fo many centuries are pad fince it has been known in Afia and Africa. 
 Secondly, that all America belongs to the fouthern hemifpl:kere, and that 
 North America is not connedied with the fame pole and flars of the 
 Europeans. We have, lie adds, another pre-eminence, which is, that 
 the fun is Jeven days longer toivards the tropic of Cancer than- towards 
 that of Capricorn ; as if the excefs of the fun's ftay in the mortheni 
 hemifphere was not the lame in the new as in the old continent. It 
 appears that our good hifloriographer was perfuaded, that the greater 
 love which that luminary bears to beautiful Europe, was the caufc of 
 his longer ftay in the northern heniifphere. A thought truly gallant, 
 and fit for a French poem, and from \\hence it comes, proceeds 
 our chronicler, that the Ardile is colder than the Antarólic ' part, 
 becaufe It enjoys lefs of the fun. But how can there be lefs of the fun 
 enjoyed in the Ardlic part, v>ihen this luminary is (tvtn days longer in 
 the northern hemifphere ? Our land extends from weji to eaji, and is 
 therefore more accommodating to human life than the other, which grow- 
 ing narrow from weji to eajiy. enlarges too much from one to the other 
 pole ; for the land which lengthens itfelf from wef to eajl is at a more 
 equal dijiance from the cold of the north, and the heat of the fouth. But 
 if the north is the region of cold, and the fouth that of heat, as our 
 chronicler fuppofes, the equinoctial countries, according to his prin- 
 ciples, would certainly be the beft calculated for human life, from 
 being thofe which are equidiftant from north and fouth. In the other 
 hemifphere our author concludes, there were no dogs, afles, flieep, 
 or goats, and no lemons, oranges, figs, nor quinces, Sec. 
 
 Thefe, and other fuch abfurd notions of leverai authors, are the 
 effects of a blind and Immoderate partiality to their own country, which 
 makes them afcrlbe to it certain Imaginary pre-eminences over all others 
 
 in
 
 II I S T R Y O F M E X I e O. 245 
 
 in the world. It would not be difficult to oppofe to their Inveftives dissert. 
 the great praifes which many veiy celebrated Europeans, better in- 
 formed than them, have beftowed on thofe countries; but befides that, 
 it would be foreign to our purpofe, it would be difguftful to our read- 
 ers • we fliali therefore content ourfelves with examining in this Dif- 
 Icrtatioa tiliat which has been written againfl the land of America m 
 general, or againft thct of Mexico in particular. 
 
 SECT. L 
 
 On the pretended Inundation of Ameriea. 
 
 . ALMOST all that M. Buffon and M. de P;|w have written 
 againll the land, of America, refpeding its plants, its animals, audits 
 inhabitants, is founded on the fuppofition of a general inundation, 
 different from that which happened in the time of Noah, and much 
 more recent, on account of which that vail country remained a long 
 time under water. From this recent inundation arifes, fays M. 
 Buffon, the malignity of the climate of America, tlie fferility of its 
 foil, the imperfeftion of its animals, and the coldnefs of the Ameri- 
 cans. Nature had not had time to put her defigns in execution, nor 
 to take all her extenfion. Tiie lakes and. the marfhes left by that 
 inundation, according to the affirmation of M. de Paw, occafion the 
 cxceffive humidity of the air which is the caufe of its inialubrity, of the 
 extraordinary multiplication of infedts, of the irregularity and fmallnefs 
 of the quadrupeds, of the fterility of the foil, of the barrennefs of 
 the women, of the abundance of milk in the breads of the men, of 
 the flupidity of the Americans, and a thouland other extraordinary 
 pha:nomena which he- has obferved much more diftinftly from his 
 clofet in Berlini than; we who have paffed fo many years in America. 
 Thefe twoauthorS) thoitgh they are agreed with refpcdt to an inundation, 
 differ with refpeft. to the time of it ; for M. de Paw believes it to 
 have been much more ancient than M. Buffon does. 
 
 This fuppofition; however, is ill founded, and the inundation pre- 
 tended to have happened to the new v/orld is a chimera. M. de 
 
 Paw
 
 ^5 H rs T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT. Paw endeavours to fupport it on the teftimony of Acofta, on the 
 }^y_, ahnoft infinite number of lakes and marllaes, on the veins of heavy me- 
 tals, which are found almoil on the furface of the earth, on the marine 
 bodies which are found heaped together lying in the mod Fow inland 
 places, on the deftrudlion of the great quadrupeds, and, laftly, on tlie 
 unanimous tradition of the Mexicans, Peruvians, and all the favages 
 from the land of Magellan to the river St. Lawrence, who all teftify 
 of their anceftors on the mountains during the time the valleys were 
 
 laid under water. 
 
 It is true that Acofta, in book I. chap. 25 of his hiftory, doubts 
 
 whether that which the Americans fay of the deluge ought to be un- 
 derftood of that of Noah, or of fome other particular one which hap- 
 pened in their land, as thofe of Deucalion and Ogyges in Greece; and 
 it appears alio that he inclines to adhere to this opinion, which he 
 fays has been adopted by fome judicious men : but, notwithflanding, in 
 book V. chap. 19, fpeakingof the firft conqueft of the Incas, he gives 
 us tounderftand that he firmly believed, that it ought to be underflood 
 of the deluge of Noah. " The pretext, (he fays) under which they, 
 conquered and rendered themfelves mafters of the land was that of 
 feigning that after the imiverjal dehge (of which all thofe Indians had 
 knowledge) they had new peopled the world, itvtn of them ifluing 
 from the cave of Pacaritambo, and that all other men therefore ought 
 to render them homage as their progenitors." Acofta, therefore, knew 
 that that tradition of the Americans rcfpeded the univerfal deluge, and 
 that the fobles with which it was blended had been invented by the 
 Incas to eftablifli the right of their empire. What would that author 
 have faid, if he had had thofe proofs in favour of the tradition which 
 we have ? The Mexicans, as their own hiftorians affirm, make no 
 mention of the deluge, without commemorating alfo the confufion of 
 tongues and the difperfion of the people, and thofe three things were 
 reprefentcd by them in a fingle painting, as appears from that picture 
 which Siguenza had from D. F. d'Alba Ixtliixochitl, and he from 
 his noble anceflors, a copy of which has been given in our hiftory. 
 The fame tradition has been found among the Chiapanefc, the XJaA- 
 Cfllans, the people of Michuacan, of Cuba, and the Indians of the 
 continent, with the circumilance of a few men, with fiime animals 
 
 havino:
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 24f 
 
 having been £ived in a veflel from the deluge, and to have fct at Uberty DISSERT, 
 firft a bird, which did not return again to the vcffel, becaufc it re- ^^^' 
 mained eating carrion, and afterwards another, which returned with 
 a green branch in its mouth : this renders it evident, that they did 
 not fpeaic of any other deluge than that which drowned all the earth 
 in the time of the patriarch Noah. All the circumflances which 
 have difguifed or changed this moit ancient and univerfal tradition 
 among nations, have either been allegories, fuch as thofe of the feven 
 caves of the Mexicans, to fignify the (even different nations which 
 peopled the countiy of A;,ahuac, or the fidions of ignorance or am- 
 bition. None of thofe nations believed that men were faved upon the 
 mountains,, but in an. ark or velfcl, or, if pollible, any one thought 
 otherwile, it was certainly becaufe the tradition of the deluge, after 
 fo many centuries, had been changed. It is therefore abfolutely 
 falfe that there was an unanimous tradition of an inundation peculiar 
 tx) America, among all thofe people who dwelt between the land of 
 Magellan and the river St, Lawrence.. 
 
 The lakes and the marflies which appear to Mr. Buffon and Mr. 
 de Paw inconteftible marks and traces of this- pretended inundatien, 
 are unqueftionably the effedls of the great rivers, the innumerable 
 fountains, and the very plentiful rains of America. If thofe lakes and 
 marlhes had been made by that inundation, and not by the caufes wc 
 have athgned, they would, after fo many ages, have been confumed and 
 dried up by the continual evaporation) which the heat of the fun 
 produces, particularly under the torrid zone; or at lead: they would 
 have been confiderably diminilhed ; but no diminution is obfervable, 
 except in thofe lakes, from which human indultry has diverted the 
 rivers and torrents which difcharged themfelvcs into them, as in thofe' 
 of the vale of Mexico. We have Ccen and obferved the five principal- 
 lakes of New Spain, which are thofe of Tezcuco, Chalco, Cuifco, Paz- 
 cuaro, and Chapalla, and are confident that they have not been formed, 
 nor are preferved, . but by plentiful rain-waters, rivers, and fountains. 
 All the world is acquainted, that no rains are more copious and violent 
 nor any rivers fo great, as thofe of America. Why then invent inun- 
 dations while we have caufes at hand more natural and certain ? If 
 the lakes were proofs of an inundation,, wc ought rather to believe it 
 
 to 
 8
 
 248- H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DÌ5SR11T. to have happened in the old than in the new continent, becaufe 
 }}'__^ all the lakes of America, including even thofe of Canada, which are 
 the largeft, arc not comparable to the Black, White, Baltic, and Caf- 
 pian feas, \vhich though vulgarly called feas, are, however, according 
 to Buffon himfelf, true lakes, formed by rivers Vv'hich pour into them. 
 If to thofe we add the lakes of Lemano, Onega, Plellcow, and many 
 others, extremely large, of Ruffia, Tartary, and other countries (/>), we 
 will foon difcover how much they, who have fo exaggerated the lakes 
 of America, had forgotten the nature of their own continent. The 
 lake of Chapalla, which, in the geographical maps, is honoured with 
 the magnificent name of Mare Chapallicum, or fea of Chapalla, which 
 we have alfo fcen and coafted round three times, is hardly a hundred 
 miles in circumference. But if the rivers Don, Wolga, Borylthenes, 
 Danube, Oder, and others of the ancient continent, though lefs by 
 far than the Maragnon, the river of Plata, that of Maddalena, St. 
 Lawrence, Oroonoko, Millillippi, and others of the new world, are 
 neverthelefs extremely fufficient, according to what Buffon fays, to 
 form thofe lakes which are fo great, that they have always been efleemed 
 feas, wlrat wonder is it that the monftrous rivers of America make 
 fmaller lakes and marihes ? Mr. de Paw fays, that thofe lakes appear 
 receptacles of water, which have not yet been able to iffue from thofe 
 places formerly overflowed by a violent agitation given to all the ter- 
 raqueous globe. The ni:merous volcanos of the Afidcs, or American 
 Alps, and of the hills of Mexico, and the earthquakes which are in- 
 ceffantly felt in one part or other of thofe Alps, let us fee that that 
 land is not vet at repofe even in our day. But if that violent agitation 
 Avas general over the terraqueous globe, how came the lands of Peru 
 and Mexico to be inundated, which are fo highly elevated above the 
 level of the fea, as Buffon and de Paw both confefs, and not the 
 lands of Europe, which are fo very much lower ? Whoever has 
 obferved the ftupendous elevation of the inland countries of America, 
 will not eafily perfuade himfelf that the water could rife io as to 
 cover them without inundating Europe. Befides, we may alfo £iy, 
 
 {,j) Bom.irc enumerates thirty- eight hikes in the cmtons of Su-itzcrhmJ, and fays, that 
 into that of Harlem vcflels of great fuc enter. The lake of Aral Iri Tartary has, according 
 to the fumi; a>uhor, a hunilrexi tcagues of length and iifty of breadth. 
 
 that
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 249 
 
 that Vefuvlus, Etna, Hecla, and the numerous volcanos of the Mo- DISSERT, 
 luccas, the Philippine iflands, and Japan, and thefrequentearthquak.es 
 of thofe iflands, and of China, Perfia, Syria, Turkey, 6cc. let us alfo fee 
 that even the old world is not yet at repofe in our day (r). 
 
 The veins of metals, adds de Paw, which are found in fome places 
 on the furface of the earth, appear to indicate, that the foil was once 
 overflowed, and that the torrents carried away part of it. But would 
 it not be better to fay, that fome violent eruptions of fubterraneous 
 fires, which appear manifefl: in the many volcanos of the Cordilleras, 
 deflroying the furface of fome foils, left the veins of metals almofl 
 naked ? 
 
 The finding of marine bodies heaped together in fome inland places 
 of America, if it Ihould prove the pretended inundation would prove 
 ftill more ftrongly a greater inundation of the old continent; for 
 whereas there are few places in America in which thefe maflfes of fea- 
 fliells, and other petrified marine bodies, are found ; Europe, on the 
 contrary, is almofl: full of petrifications of fuch bodies, which demon- 
 flrates with certainty that it was formerly overflowed by the fea (j-).. 
 Every perfon knows the wonders and the calculations which feveral 
 French natural philofophers have made of that immenfe quantity of 
 fhells which arc I'cen in Tourain, and nobody is ignorant either that 
 fuch kind of petrified marine bodies are found alfo in the Alps. Why 
 then ought we to conclude, from fome marine bodies having been found 
 in fonìe places of America, that that country lufl^ered an inundation, 
 and not fl:ill more confidently conclude, thatEurope has fufi"eredan inun- 
 dation from fuch bodies having been found in i\ìì\ greater abundance 
 in many places of it ? If the tranfportation of tliofe bodies to inland 
 places of Europe is to be afcribed to the waters of the univerfal deluge, 
 
 (r) M. dc Paw himfelf, after having made mention of Vefuvius, Etna, Hecla, and the 
 volcanos of Liparis, fpeaks thus : " Amontfft the great volcanos arc reckoned the Paranucitn, 
 in the iflund of Java; the Canapis, in the iUand of Banda ; the Balaluaii, in the ifland of 
 Sumatra. The ifland of Ternate lias a flaming mountain, the irruptions of which are not • 
 inferior to thofe of Etna. Of all the iflands, fmall and large, which compofc the empire of" 
 Japan, there is not one which has not a volcano that is not more or lefs confiderable ; and 
 alfo the Philippine iflcs, the Azores, the Cape de VcrJ iflands, &c." Letter III. Sur Ics 
 ykìjjìliidei tin noire Globe. 
 
 (j) Burguct, in his Trcatijl- en Pttrcjicattons, and Torribia, in his IntroJu8ion to tl/c Naturnl 
 Hijiory ofy.paiii, gives US a very lonjj account of the places of Europe and Afia, where petri- 
 fied marine bodies arc found. 
 
 . Vol. II. K k why
 
 III. 
 
 250 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 DISSERT, why ought they not to be afcribed to the fame caufe in America {f)i 
 On the contrary, if the waters of the univerfal deluge were not thofe 
 which carried the above mentioned marine bodies into the inland places 
 of Europe, but thofe of a pofterior inundation : if Europe is in ge- 
 neral, according to what Buffon fays [u ), z new countiy : if it is 
 not long fmce it was covered with woods and marflies, why do we not 
 fee in Europe, and why were there not feen two thoufand years ago, 
 thofe flupendous effedls of the inundation which thofe authors fee in 
 America ? Why have the animals of Europe degenerated like thofe of 
 America ? Why are not the Europeans cold in conftitution like the 
 Americans ? Why are or have not the women of both the one and the 
 other part of the world been equally barren ? Why, if Europe was 
 overflowed like America, and more fo, and for a much longer time 
 than it, as is clearly deducible from the arguments of Buffon, has 
 its foil remained fertile, and that of America barren ? Why are the fkies 
 of Europe fo mild, thofe of x'lmerica fo inclement ? Why to Europe 
 fhould all the bleffmgs have been deftined, to America all the evils ? 
 Whoever would be better informed refpeóting thofe difficulties, may 
 read Buffon on the inundation of Europe. 
 
 The laft argument of M. de Paw is taken from the extindlion or de- 
 flruftion of the great quadrupeds in America, which he fays are the 
 firfl to perifli in water. This author believes that anciently there were 
 elephantSj camels, fea-horfes, and other large quadrupeds in America, 
 but that they all pcriihed in this fuppofed inundation. But what per- 
 fon will not wonder that elephants and camels, who are fo fwift, fliould 
 
 (t) One of the highefl mount;iiiis of America is the 'Dc%cal>i-zàclo, fituated among the alps of 
 Chili, upwards of five hundred miles from the fea. Its perpendicular height above the level of 
 the fea is, according to Molina, a learned and diligent hiliorian of that kingdom, more than 
 three miles. On the top of this very lofiy mountain is found a great quantity of petrified 
 marine bodies, which certainly iCould not have been carried to that ftupendous height bv the 
 waters of any partial inundation, different from the deluge which happened in the time of 
 Noah. Neither can it be faid that that fummit might formerly have been the bed of the fea, 
 and gradually have been r-ifed by fubtcrraneous tires, bfaiini; along with it thofe marine 
 bodies ; bec;mfc although this cafe is not improbable in ibme places, which we fee but a little 
 elevated above the level of the fea, and we e-i^n think it may frequently have happened, not- 
 wiihdanding, in a height fo extraordinary as this, it appears eritirely incredible : fo that thofe 
 marine bodies, found on that fummit, ought to be confidered as unqucltionable proofs and 
 indubitable traces of the univerfal deluge. 
 
 («) Tom. Theorie dc la Terre. , 
 
 perifli.
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 251 
 
 perifli, and that thelloth, which is fo flow, and unable to move, llioulJ DISSERT, 
 efcape ? that they could not, as well as men, betake themfelves to the «_v-^ 
 mountains, either by fwimming, at which they are moft dexterous, or 
 by availing themfelves of the fwiftnefs of their feet, which is fo great, 
 that in one day, according to the account of Buffon, they go one 
 hundred and fifty miles ; and yet the floths could find leifure to afcend 
 to the tops of the mountains, which, according to the account of the 
 fame author, can hardly move a perch in an hour ? Although we 
 fhould admit that fuch quadrupeds have been formerly in America, 
 we are not obliged to believe that their deftrucllon has been occafioned 
 by the fuppofed inundation, becaufe it might be afcribed to other 
 caufes very different. M. dc Paw himfelf afiinns (a-), that if 
 elephants were tranfportcd to America, as the Portuguefe have at- 
 tempted, they would meet with the fame fortune with camels ; that 
 they would not propagate, although they were left in the woods to 
 iheir ov/n inftindt ? becaufe the change of aliment and clime is infi- 
 nitely more fenfibly felt by elephants than all other quadrupeds of the 
 largefl kind. He likewife declares in another place, that the caufes 
 which operate to the deftrudtion of thofe animals, that is, the quadru- 
 peds of the new world, are difticulties of a high degree, and at the fame 
 time one of the mod interefting fubjetìs of the natural hillory of the 
 terraqueous globe. Why then does he decide fo pofitively, tliat the 
 fuppofed inundation was the caufe of their extirpation ? 
 
 Buffon endeavours to pcrfuade us of the recent inundation of Ame- 
 rica by feveral arguments, to which we will anfwer in a few words ► 
 If this cont'ment is as ancient as the other, he fnys, fpeaking of Ame- 
 rica, why have fo few men been found there ? The men who have been 
 found there cannot be called few, but in refpe^fl to the very extenfive 
 country which they have inhabited. Thole who lived in focieties, as 
 the Mexicans, the natives of Michuacan, the Acolhuas, and others 
 who occupied all that very extenfive traft of the country, which lies 
 between nine and twenty-three degrees of latitude, and two hundred 
 and feventy-one and two hundred and ninety-four of longitude, were 
 bodies of people as numerous as thoie of Europe, which we (hall flievv 
 
 ( .V ) Rechcrchcs riiilofophlqucs, parte i. 
 
 K k 2 in
 
 252 H I S T O Tv Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT, in another diflertation (v). Thofe who lived mdre difperfed, formed 
 fmaller nations or tribes, becaufe their fmalkr multiplication has 
 been always a neceflary effed: of favage life in all countries in the 
 world. " If favages are Ihepherds, fays Montefquieu, they require a 
 " great country to be able to fubfift in a certain number. If they are 
 *' hunters, as the favnges of America were, they exift in flill fmaller 
 ** numbers, and in order to maintain themfelves, form a ftill lefs popu- 
 *' lous nation." 
 
 Why returns Mr. Buffon to afk, were they almoft all favage and 
 difperfed ? It is not fo. How can it be faid they were all favage and 
 difperfed ; whilft we know that the Mexicans, the Peruvians, and all 
 the people fubjeól to them, lived in focieties ; which, as Mr. Buffon 
 himfelf confefles, were extremely numerous, and cannot be called new. 
 The other nations continued favages, from a violent attachment to li- 
 berty or feme other caufe of which we are ignorant. In Alia, al- 
 though it is a moil ancient country, there are itili many nations that 
 are favage and diiperfed. Why, he fays, have thofe who were united 
 in focieties, hardly counted two or three hundred years iince they af- 
 fembled ? This is another error. The Mexicans hardly counted 
 two hundred years from the foundation of their capital ; the Tlaf- 
 calans fomething more from the eilabliihment of their republic, 
 but tjiofe nations, and the others fubjecfted to them, lived in fo- 
 ciety from time immemorial, as well as the Toltecas, Acolhuas, and 
 Michuacanefe. Neither Buffon, de Paw, nor Dr. Robertfon, can 
 diflinsuiih the eilabliihment of thofe nations in Anahuac, from 
 the fettlements which they had many centuries before in the northern 
 regions of the new world. 
 
 " Why, he again afks, were thofe nations who lived in fociety igno- 
 " rant of the art of tranfmitting to pofterity the memory of events by 
 ** means of durable figns, conlldering that they had found the manner 
 
 {y) Thefe argviments of the count de Buffon againfl the antiquity of America, are found 
 in the lixth volume of his Natural Hiftory ; but a little before, in the fame volume, he fays 
 thus : " There have been difcovered in Mexico and Peru, civilized men, and cultivated people, 
 fubjeft to laws, and governed by kings ; they pofleflcd indù dry, arts, and a fpecies of religion ; 
 they lived in cities in which order and government were maintained under the authority of a 
 fovcreign. Thefe people, are certainly very numerous, and cannot be faid to be new," &c. 
 
 " of
 
 II I S T O R Y O P M E X I e O. 253 
 
 ** of communicating together at a diftance by means of knots on cords ?" f^lSSERT, 
 What then were the pitìures and characters of the Mexicans, and the 
 other pohOied nations of Anahuac, if not durable figns, deftined to per- 
 petuate the memory of events ? See what Acofta has faid on this fub • 
 jed:, in the vith book of chap. 7. of his hiftory, and what we fay in 
 our dilTertation on the culture of the Mexicans. 
 
 Why, he continues, had they not domefticated animals, nor em- 
 ployed any other than the Llama (z) and Paco, which were not do- 
 meftic, faithful, and docile, like ours ? Becaufe there were no others 
 which could be domeflicated. Does Mr. Buffon think that they 
 fhould have domefticated tygers, Pume, wolves, and other fucli wild 
 hearts ? M. de Paw reproaches the Americans for their little in- 
 duftry, in not having employed the rein-deer as the Laplanders have ; 
 but thofe animals were not to be found but in countries extremely 
 dillant from Mexico j and the favages in whole lands thofe animals were 
 found, would not make ufe of them, becaufe they had no occafion for 
 them, or it did not come into their minds to domefticate them. Befides, 
 the propofition of Mr. Buffon taken in fo general a fenfe, is certainly 
 falfe ; as he himfelf fays that the alco, or techiche, a quadruped fimi- 
 lar to a little dog, which is common to both Americas, was do- 
 mefticated by the Indians. In the fiime manner the Mexicans domef- 
 ticated rabbits, ducks, turkeys, and other animals. 
 
 " Laftly, their arts, concludes Mr. Buffon, were as rude as their 
 *' fociety, their talents inferior, their ideas not yet developed, their ov-r 
 " gans rough, and their language barbarous:" the errors contained in 
 thofe words we fliall effeftually refute in the following differtations." 
 
 We mufl, therefore, upon the whole, deny that pretended inun- 
 dation, as one of thole philolbphical chimeras invented. by the unquiet 
 geniufes of our century : fince among the Americans there has been no 
 memory of any other inundation than that univerfal deluge of which 
 the Scriptures make mention. We would, on the contrary, fay, that if 
 it was true that the deluge of Noah did not overflow the whole earth, 
 
 (r) Llama, not Lama was, according to what Acofta fays, the generic name of the four 
 fpccics ot quadrupeds of that kind ; but at prcfcnt it is ufed only to fijnify the one which the 
 Spaniards called Carnus, that is, the ram of Peru. The other three fpeeies arc the Paco, the 
 Guanaco or Huannacp, and the Ficugna. The name Llama is pronounced Lyama, 
 
 no
 
 254 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT, no country might be fooner fuppofed to have been exempted from that 
 '^' calamity than Mexico ; for befides its great elevation above the level 
 of the fea, there is no inland country where petrified marine bodies 
 are more rare. 
 
 SECT. II. 
 
 On the Climate of Mexico, 
 
 IF we were to employ ourfelves to refute all the abfurd notions 
 which M. de Paw has written againfl; the climate of America, a large 
 volume, inflead of a differtation, would beneceflary. Let it fuffice to 
 fay, he has colledled all that has been faid by feveral authors, right or 
 wrong, againfh different particular countries of the New World, in or- 
 der to prefent his readers with an alTemblage of ficftions that is mon- 
 flrous and horrid, without confidering, that if we were to follow his 
 fleps, and undertook to make a fimilar reprefentation of the different 
 countries of which the old continent is compofedj. (which w^ould not 
 be difficult) we would make a defcription flill more hideous than his j 
 but as it would be foreign to our purpofe we will confine ourfelves 
 to treat of the climate of Mexico. 
 
 This country, as it is extremely extenfive, and divided into fo many 
 provinces, different in their fituation, is neceffarily fubjedied to a va- 
 riety of climates. Some of its lands, fuch as the maritime, are hot, 
 and in general moifl and unhealthy ; others are like all inland places, 
 temperate, dry, and healthy. The latter are extremely high, the for- 
 mer very low. In fome the fouth wind, in others the eaff, and in 
 others the north wind prevails. The greatefl cold of any of the in- 
 habited places, does not equal that of France or even Caflile ; nor can 
 the greatefl heat be compared to that of Africa, or the dog-days in 
 many countries of Europe. The difference betwen winter and fummer 
 is fo little in any p.ut, that the moft delicate perfons wear the fame 
 cloaths in Augufb and January. This and a good deal more which 
 we have already faid, refped:ing the mildnefs and fweetnefs of that 
 climate is fo notorious, that there is no need of arguments to fup- 
 port it. 
 
 M. de
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 255 
 
 M. de Paw in order to demonftrate the malignity of the Amc- DISSFRT. 
 rican climate, adduces firft the fmaUnefs and irregularity of the animals 
 of America. Secondly, the fize and enormous multiplication of the 
 infedls, and other little animals. Thirdly, the difeafes of the Ameri- 
 cans, and particularly the venereal diforder. Fourthly, the defedls of 
 their natural conflitution. Fifthly, theexcefs of cold in the countries 
 of America, in comparilbn of thofe of the old continent, fituatcd at an 
 equal dirtance from the equator. 
 
 But this fuppofed fmallnefs and lefs ferocity of the American ani- 
 mals, of \vhich we lliall treat hereafter, inftead of the malignity, de- 
 monftrate the mildnefs and bounty of the clime, if we give credit to 
 Builbn, at whofe fountain Sig. de Paw has drank, and of whofe 
 teftimony he has availed himfelf againtt Don Pernetty. Buffon who 
 in many places of his Natural Hiilory produces the fmallnefs of the 
 American animals as a certain argument of the malignity of the cli- 
 mate of America ; in treating afterwards of favage animals, in torn. 
 II. fpeaks thus : " As all things, even the moft free creatures, are 
 fubjedl to natural laws, and animals as well as men are fubjedted to the 
 influence of climate and foil, it appears that the fame caufes which 
 have civilized and polilhed the human fpecies in our climates, may 
 have likewife produced fmiilar effedis upon other fpecies. The wolf, 
 which is perhaps the fierceft of all the quadrupeds of the temperate 
 zone, is however incomparably lefs terrible than the tyger, the lion, 
 and the panther of the torrid zone ; and the white bear and hyena of 
 the frigid zone. In America, where the air and the earth are more 
 mild than thofe of Africa, the tyger, the lion, and the panther, are not ter- 
 rible but in the name. They have degenerated, if fiercenefs joined to cru- 
 elty, made their nature; or, to fpeak more properly, they have only fuffcr- 
 ed the influence of the climate : under a milder iky their nature ahb has 
 become more mild. From climes which are immoderate in their temper- 
 ature are obtained drugs, perfumes, poifons, and all thole plants whofe 
 qualities are ftrong. The temperate earth on tlie contrary, produces 
 only things which arc temperate; the mildeft herbs, the moft wholc- 
 fo.nie pulfe, the fweetcft fruits, the mofl: quiet animals, and the moil hu- 
 mane men are the natives of this happy clime. As the earth inakcs the 
 
 plants.
 
 256 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, plants, the earth and plants make animals ; the earth, the plants, and the 
 ^^^1_ J animals make man. The phy ficai qualities of man, and the animals 
 which feed on other animals, depend, though more remotely, on the 
 fame caufes, which influence their difpofitions and cuftoms. This 
 is the greateft proof and demonftration, that in temperate climes every 
 thing becomes temperate, and that in intemperate climes every thing 
 is exceffive ; and that fize and form which appear fixed and deter- 
 minate qualities, depend notwithftanding, like the relative qualities, 
 on the influence of climate. The fize of our quadrupeds cannot be 
 compared With, that of an elephant, the rhinoceros, or fea-horfe. The 
 largeft of our birds are but fmall if compared with the oflrich, the 
 condore, and cafoare." So far Mr. Buffon, whofe text we have co- 
 pied, becaufe it is of importance to our purpofe, and entirely contrary 
 to what M. de Paw writes againft the climate of America, and 
 Buffon himfelf in many other places. 
 
 If the large and fierce animals are natives of intemperate climes, and 
 fmall and tranquil animals of temperate climes, as Mr. Buffon has 
 here effablillied ; if mildnefs of climate influences the difpofition and 
 "cufloms of animals, Mr. de Paw does not well deduce the malignity 
 of the climate of America from the fmaller fize and lefs fiercenefs o£ 
 its animals ; he ought rather to have deduced the gentlenefs and fweet- 
 nefs of its climate from this antecedent. If, on the contrary, the 
 fmaller fize and lefs fiercenefs of the American animals, with refpedt 
 to thofe of the old continent, are a proof of their degeneracy, arifing 
 the malignity of the clime, as Mr. de Paw would have it, we ought 
 in like manner to argue the malignity of the climate of Europe from 
 the fmaller fize and lefs fiercenefs of its animals, compared with thofe 
 of Africa. If a philofopher of the country of Guinea (hould under- 
 take a work in imitation of M. de Paw, with this title, Recherches 
 PbiloJ'ophiquis Jlir les Eiiropeens, he might avail himfelf of the fame 
 argument which M. de Paw ufes to demonffrate the malignity 
 of the climate of Europe, and the advantages of that of Africa. 
 The climate of Europe, he would fay, is very unfavourable to the 
 produftion of quadrupeds, which are found incomparably fmaller, and 
 more cowardly than ours. What are the horfe and the ox, the largefi: 
 of its animals, compared with our elephants, our rhinocerofes, our 
 
 fea-
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 257 
 
 fea-horfcs, and our camels ? What are its lizards, either in fize or DISSERT. 
 
 . . III. 
 
 intrepidity, compared with our crocodiles ? Its wolves, its bears, the 
 
 moft dreadful of its wild beafls, when befide our lions and tygers ? 
 Its eagles, its vultures, and cranes, if compared with our oftriches, 
 appear only like hens. In order to avoid prolixity, we omit other 
 fuch obfervations which might be made againfl Europe, ftill adhering 
 to the materials and words of M. de Paw. What Buffon and de 
 Paw would anfwer to that African philofopher, we will now anfvver 
 to thofe philofophers of Europe; fince their arguments either do 
 not prove, that the climate of America is bad, or lay that the cli- 
 mate of Europe is bad, or at leali that the African is better than 
 the European climate. 
 
 From the fcarcity and fmallnefs of quadrupeds M. de Paw pafìes 
 to the enormous fize, and prodigious multiplication of the infe(5ls, and- 
 other noxious little animals. " The furface of the earth, he fays,.in- 
 " fedled by putrefadtion, was over-run vv'ith lizards, ferpents, reptiles, 
 '* and infetìs monftrous for fize, and the activity of their poiion, which 
 " they drew from the copious juices of this uncultivated foil, that was 
 " corrupted and abandoned to itlJf, where the nutritive juice became 
 " Iharp, like the milk in tiie breaflof animals which do not exercife the. 
 " virtue of propagation. Caterpillars, crabs, butterflies, beetles, fpi- 
 " ders, frogs, and toads, were for the moll: part of an enormous cor— 
 " pulence in their fpecies, and multiplied beyond what can be imagined. 
 " Panama is infefted with ferpents, Carthagena with clouds of enor- 
 " mous bats, Portobello with toads,, Surinam with kakerlacas 01 cuca- 
 " racbas, Guadaloupe, and the other colonies of the iflands, with bee- 
 " ties, Quito witli niguas or chegoes, and Lima with lice and bugs.. 
 " The ancient kii.gs of Mexico, and the emperors of Peru, found no 
 " other means of ridding their liibjedts of thofe infects, which fed upon 
 " them, than the.impofition of an annual tribute, of a certain quantity 
 " of lice. Ferdinand Cortes found bags full of thciii in the palace of 
 " Montezuma." But this argument, lull tliroughout of fallity and ex- 
 aggerations, proves nothnig agamft the climate of America in general,, 
 much Icfs againfl that of Mexico. There being fome lands in Ame- 
 rica,, in which, on account of their heat, humidity, or want of in- 
 habitants, large infedts are found, and cxccliively multiplied;, will 
 Vol. II. L 1 prove
 
 258 II I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 DISSERT, prove at moft that in fome places the furface of the earth is infeded, 
 
 TIT 
 
 as he fays, with putrefaftion ; but not that the foil of Mexico, or that 
 of all America is ftinking, uncultivated, vitiated, and abandoned to 
 itfelf, as is weakly averted by IVI. de Paw. If fuch a deduction 
 were juft, he might alfo fay, that the foil of the old continent is bar- 
 ren, and flinksj as in many countries of it there are prodigious mul- 
 titudes of monftrous infeéts, noxious reptiles, and vile animals, as in 
 the Philippine Illes, in many of thofe of the Indian archipelago, in 
 feveral countries of the fouth of Afia, in many of Africa, and even in 
 fome of Europe, The Philippine Illes are infefted with enormous 
 ants, and monftrous butterflies ; Japan with fcorpions ; South of Afia 
 and Africa, with ferpents; Egypt, with afpsj Guineaand Ethiopia, with 
 armies of ants ; Holland with field-rats ; Ukrania, with toads, as M. àe 
 Paw, himfelf affirms ( / ). In Italy, the Campagna di Roma (although 
 peopled for fo many ages), with vipers, Calabria with tarantulas, the 
 fhores of the Adriatic fea with clouds of gnats ; and even in France, 
 the population of which is fo great and fo ancient, whofe lands are fo 
 well cultivated, and whofe climate is fo celebrated by the French, there 
 appeared, a few years ago, according to Mr, Buffon, a new fpecies of 
 field mice, larger than the common kind, called by him Surmulots, 
 which have multiplied exceedingly, to the great damage of the fields. 
 Mr. Bazin, in his Compendium of the Hiftory of Infeóts, numbers 
 feventy-feven fpecies of bugs, which are all found in Paris and its 
 neighbourhood. That large capital, as Mr. Bomare lays, fvvarms 
 with thofe difguflful infedts. It is true that there are places in 
 America where the multitude of infeéls, and filthy vermin, make 
 life irkfome ; but we do not know that they have arrived to fuch 
 excefs of multiplication as to depopulate any place, at leaff there 
 cannot be fo many examples produced of this caule of depopulation 
 in the new as in the old continent, which are attefled by Theo- 
 phraftus, Varrò, Pliny ( /' ), and other authors. The frogs depopu- 
 lated one place in Gaul, and the locufts another in Africa. One of 
 the Cyclades, was depopulated by mice; Amiclas, near to Taracina, 
 
 (/) Defenfe des Recherches Philofophiques, fur les Americains, chap. 15. 
 i^k) Pliny Hill. Natur. lib. viii. cap. ig. 
 
 by
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 259 
 
 by ferpents ; another place, near to Ethiopia, by fcorpions and poifon- DISSERT. 
 ous ants ; and another by fcolopendras ; and not fo diftant from our 
 own times, the Mauritius was going to have been abandoned on ac- 
 count of the extraordinary multiphcation of rats, as we can remember 
 to liave read in a French author. 
 
 With rcfpeft to the fize of the infe(fl:s, reptiles, and fuch animals, 
 M. de Paw makes ufe of the teftimony of Mr. Dumont, who, in his 
 Memoirs on Louiliana, fays, tliat the frogs are fo large there that they 
 weigh thirty-feven French pounds, and their horrid croaking imitates 
 the bellowing of cows. But who can trufl to that author, particular- 
 ly after knowing what Mr. de Paw fays, (in his anfwer to Don Pernetty, 
 cap. 1 7) that all thofe who have written about Louifiana from 1 lene- 
 pin, Le Clerc,and Cav. Tonti, to Dumont, have contradicted each other 
 fometimes on one and fometimes on another fabje<ft. We wonder how- 
 ever, that M. de Paw Ihould have had the boldnefs to write that thefe 
 monfters do not exift in the reft of the world. We know extremely 
 well that there are neither in the old nor new continent frogs of 
 thirty-feven pounds in weight ; but there are in Afia and. Africa fer- 
 pents, buttertlies, ants, and other animals of fuch monftrous fize, that 
 they exceed all thofe which have been difcovered in the new world. 
 In what place of America has a ferpent of fifty Roman cubits in length, 
 been [ten, fuch as that which was ihewn by Augullas to the Romaa 
 people at the public fpedlacles, as hillorians affirm (/), or fo grofs as 
 that which was killed in the Vatican in the time of the emperor Clau- 
 dius, and attefted by Pliny, an author almoll cotemporary, in the 
 belly of which an entire child was found. But, above all, where has 
 there been feen, even in the inoft folitary woods of America, a ferpent 
 which can in any manner be compared with that mofi: enormous and 
 prodigious one of one hundred and twenty feet in length, (ccn in 
 Africa at the time of the firft Punic war, and killed with war ma- 
 chines by the army of Attihus Regulus, the lldn and jaw-bones of 
 wliich were preferved in a temple of Rome, until the war of Numan- 
 tia, according to the teftimonics of Livy, Pliny, and other Roman 
 hiftorians ? We know very well that fomc American hiftorian fays,, 
 
 (/) Suetcnius in Oi-'lav'uno Csf-irc. 
 
 L 1 2 that
 
 26o K I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 DiSvSERT. that a certain gigantic fpecies of ferpents is to be found in the woods, 
 . _' . which attratfc men with their breath, and fvvallow theirs up; but we 
 know alfo that feveral hiftorians, both ancient and modern, report tlie 
 fame thing of the f:?rpents of Afia, and even fomething more. iSlegaf- 
 thenes, cited by PHny, faid, that there were ferpents found in Afia, fo 
 iarge, that they fwallowed entire ftags and bulls (-•;?). Metrodorus, 
 cited by the fame author, affirms, that in Aiia there were ferpents 
 which, by their breath, attrafted birds, however high they were, or 
 quicJc their flight. Among the moderns, GemelU, in vol. V". of his 
 Tour of the World, when he treats of the animals of the Philippine 
 ifles, fpeaks thus: " There are ferpents in thefeiflands of immoderate 
 ** fize ; there is one called Ibkin, very long, which fufpending itfelf 
 '* by the tail from the trunk of a tree, waits till ftags, bears, and alfo 
 ^* men pafs by, in order to attradt them with its breath, and devour 
 " them at once entirely :" from whence it is evident, that this very 
 ancient fible has been common to both continents («). 
 
 Mr. de Paw would perhaps fay, that thefe monftrous animals were 
 formerly feen in the old continent when its clime was not yetperfeded. 
 But when that which the ancients wrote is compared with that which 
 we know of Afia and Africa at prefent, who is there that will not perceive 
 that the climate of thofe countries is at prefent, for the moft part, 
 what it was two thoufand years ago ; that there is the fame heat, the 
 fime drynefs or humidity, the fame kind of plants, animals, and men, 
 &:c. Befides, even in our days, various forts of monftrous animals have 
 been feen in thofe regions which infinitely furpafs thofe analagous to 
 them in the new world. In what country of America could M. de Paw 
 find ants to equal thofe of the Philippine iflands, called Sulum, refpeéling 
 which Hernandez {o) affirms, that they are fix fingers broad in length, 
 
 (w) Megafthenes fcribit, in India ferpentcs in tantam magnitudinem adolefcere, utfolidos 
 .hauriant cervos taurofque. Metrodorus circa Rhyndacum amnem in ponto ut fupervolan- 
 tes quamvis alte perniciterque, allies hauftu raptas abforbeant. Notaelt in Puiiicis bcUis ad 
 flunien Bagradam anRegulo imper. baleftis tormentifque ut oppidum aliquod espugnata Terpens 
 CXX pedum longitudinis. Pellls ejus maxilloequc ufque ad bellum Numantinum duravere 
 Romse in temple. Faciunt his fidem in Italia appellatx bos in tantem amplitudincm exe- 
 untes ut Divo Claudio, princ'pe otcifa; in Vaticano folidus in alvo fpedatus fit infans. I'fin. 
 Hift. Nat. lib. viii. cap. 14. 
 
 («) See Bomare on the Minia of Africa, and the Reiulerah of Ceylon. 
 
 (») Hern, Hift. Infeftor. N. Hifp. cap, 30. 
 
 and
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 261 
 
 'and one in breadth ? Who lias ever leen in America butterflies Co krcre DISSKRt. 
 
 I TT 
 
 as thofe of Bourbon, Ternate, the Philippine illes, and all the Indian 
 Archipelago ? The largcfl: bat of America (native to hot fliady 
 countries) which is that called by Button vampiro, is, according to 
 him of the fize of a pigeon. La Rovgcttc, one of the fpecies of Ada, 
 is as large as a raven ; and the Rcajl'ttc, another fpecies of Afia, is as big 
 as a large hen {p). Its wings, when extended, meafure from tip to 
 tip three Parifian feet, and according to Gemelli, who meafured it 
 in the Philippine illes [q), f: x palms. Mr. DufFon acknowledges the 
 cxcefs in fize of the Aliatic bat over the American fpecies, but denies 
 it as to number. Gemelli fays, that thofe of the Ifland of Luzon were 
 fo numerous that they darkened the air, and that the noife which they 
 made with their teeth, in eating the fruits of the woods, was heard at 
 the diflance of two miles (/). M. de Paw fays, in talking of fer- 
 pents (-f), *' it cannot be alHrmed that the new world has fliewn any 
 " ferpents larger than thofe which Mr. Adanfon faw in the deferts of 
 " Africa." The greateft ferpent found in Mexico, after a diligent fearch 
 made by Hernandez, was eighteen feet long; but this is not to 
 be compared with that the Moluccas, v/hich Bomare fays, is 
 thirty-three feet in length (/) ; nor with the Atiacandaja of Ceylon, 
 which the fame author fays is more than thirty-three feet long [ti) ; 
 nor with others of Afia and Africa, mentioned by the fame author. 
 Laftly, the argument drawn from the multitude and fize of the Ame- 
 rican infeds is fully as weighty as the argument drawn from thefinall- 
 nefs and fcarcity of quadrupeds, and both defedi the fame ignorance, 
 or rather the fame voluntary and ftudied forgetfulnefs of the things of 
 the old continent. 
 
 With refpedl to what Mr. de Paw has fiid of the tribute of lice In 
 Mexico, in that, as well as in many other things, he difcovers liis 
 ridiculous faith. It is true that Cortes found bags of lice in the maga- 
 
 [p) BufTon, Hill. Nat. torn. xix. 
 {q) Gemelli, torn. V. 
 
 (r) What Gemelli fays rcfpefting the fuiprifing noife of the bats of the ifhinil of Luzon 
 is confirmed by fcveral perfons worihy of credit, who have been foine years in that iilaud. 
 (;) Defcnfc des Recherch. Philofoph. chap. zz. 
 (/) Bomare Didiion. Univ. d' Hillolre N;itur, W.Coukuvre. 
 (k) là, \ , Anacandaja, 
 
 zLnes
 
 202 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, zines of the palace of king Axajacatl, It is alfo true, that Montezuma 
 K-^-^^^-L^^ impofed fuch a tribute, not on all his fubjefts however, but only on 
 thofe who were beggars, not on account of the extraordinary multitude 
 of thofe infedls, as Mr. de Paw affirms, but becaufe Montezuma, 
 who could not fuffer idlenefs in his fubjeóts, refolved that that mifer- 
 able fet of people, who could not labour, fhould at leafl be occupied 
 in loafing themfelves (x). This was the true reafon of fuch an extra- 
 vagant tribute, as Torquemada, Betancourt, and other hiflorians relate, 
 and nobody ever before thought of, that v»^]iich Mr. de Paw affirms 
 merely becaufe it fuited his prepofterous fyftem. Thofe difgufting 
 infedls poinbly abound as much in the hair and cloaths of American 
 beggars, as of any poor and uncleanly low people in the world ; but 
 tliere is not a doubt that if any fovereign of Europe was to exadt 
 fuch atribute fremi the poor in his dominions, not only bags but great 
 veffels might be filled with them. 
 
 Laflly, to referve the examination of the proofs of the bad climate 
 of America, founded on the difeafes and defedls of the phy ficai con- 
 ftitution of the Americans to another Difitrtation, in which we will 
 demon ftrate the errors and puerile prejudices of Mr. de Paw, let us 
 attend to what he fays on the excefs of cold in the countries of the 
 new world with refpedt to thofe of the old, which are fituate at aa 
 equal diflance from the equator. " Comparing," he fays, " the ex- 
 *' periments made with thermometers in Peru, by MefT. Condamine and 
 " d'Ulloa with thofe of the indefatigable Mr. Adanfon in Senegal, it- is 
 " eafily underftood, that the air is lefs hot in the new than in the old 
 " world. Upon calculating, with the greateft poffible exaélnefs, the 
 " difference of temperature, I believe it will be found equal to twelve 
 " degrees of latitude ; that is, it is as hot in Africa at thirty degrees 
 *' from the equator as at eighteen degrees from the fame line in Ame- 
 " rica. The liquor did not mount to (o great a height in Peru in the 
 " torrid zone as it mounted in France at the greateft heat of the fummer. 
 " Quibec, although it is in 'the fame latitude almofl with Faris, has an 
 ** incomparably niore fevere and cold climate than it. The difference 
 
 (a) It is certiiirv that Montezuma was extremely attentive to cle.mlinefs, as well as an. 
 cntniy lo idkncfs ; it is theiefore extremely probable that from both thefe motives he was 
 induced to impofc that exiraordiiiary tiibutc. 
 
 ** between
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 263 
 
 " between Hudfon's Bay and the Tliames, fituate both in the fame dissert. 
 " latitude, is equally fenlible." 
 
 Although we flioulJ grant all this to Mr. de Paw, it would 
 not alTifl him to demonftrate the malignity of the American clijne. 
 Why would he deduce the badnefs of clime from the excels of cold in 
 the lands of x^merica, and not rather deduce the badnefs. of climate of 
 the old continent from the excefs of heat in countries equidiftant from 
 the equator ? Mr. de Paw can form no argument in this point 
 againft America, which the Americans cannot powerfully retort againil 
 Europe, or againft Ahica. But all the obfervations made by him are 
 not futHcient to eftablilh, as a general principle, that the countries of 
 the new world are colder than thofc of the old continent fituatedin the 
 fame latitude ; and flill lefs to make it be believed that there is as much 
 heat in the old continent at thirty degrees of latitude as in the new 
 world at eighteen degrees. Mr. de Paw fays ("yj, that the cold be- 
 yond the eightieth degree in the old continent ought to become in No- 
 vember fo deftru(5tive to men that no mortal could live there; there- 
 fore no men fhould be able to live in America beyond the feventy- 
 feventh degree. How then does he affirm, that in the country of the 
 Efquimeaux there are inhabitants found beyond the feventy-fifth de- 
 gree of latitude ? And if the feeble Americans can fubfift in that la- 
 titude, we may believe that the hardieft Europeans would be able to 
 bear the cold of the eightieth degree. Farther, if this principle were 
 true, it would be as cold in Jerufalem, lituated in little kfs than thirty- 
 two degrees, as in Vera Cruz, which is fituated in little lefs than 
 twenty degrees ; which idea none but iMr. de Paw is capable of 
 entertaining. In like manner other abfurd confequences mip-ht be 
 deduced, particularly if we were to adopt the calculation of Dr. 
 Michel), who, according to what Dr. Robertfon fays, concluded, 
 after thirty-three years obfervation, that the difference between the 
 climate of the old and that of the new world is from fourteen to fifteen 
 degrees, that is, it is as hot in the countries of the old continent at 
 twenty-nine or thirty degrees as in the countries of the new continent, 
 which arc at fifteen degrees. It is certain that as there arc niany 
 
 (_)■) Rccherchcs Philofophiqucs, partili, fcift.i. p. milii 304. 
 
 C countries
 
 III. 
 
 264 II I S T O p. Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 DISSERT, countries in America more cold than others of the old continent equi- 
 diftant from the equator, there are alfo others more hot. Agra, the; 
 capital of Mogul, and the port of Loretto in California,, are nearly in 
 the fame latitude, and ftill the heat of that Afiatic city is not compa- 
 rable to that of the Ameri-can port. Hue, the capital of Cochin- 
 china and Acapulco, are almofl; equidiflant from the equator, and. 
 yet the air of Hue is cool in comparifon of that of Acapulco., 
 That other proportion of Mr. de Paw is equally falfe and impro- 
 bable, namely, that in the center of the torrid zone the liquor of the. 
 thermometer does not rife to fo great a height as it does in Paris in the 
 greateft heat of funimer. If that was true,, the difference between the. 
 American and European climates would, not be only twelve degrees, as, 
 Mr, de P. would make it, but forty-nine, that is as much as the differ- 
 ence of latitude between the center of the torrid zone and Paris. It 
 is true, that according to the obfervations made in Quito and compared, 
 with thofe made in Paris, the heat of that equinoftial city never, 
 equals that of Paris in the. fummer ; but it is equally certain, that^ 
 according to the obfervations- made by the fame academicians with the. 
 fame thermometers, in the city of Carthagena, which is not the cen- 
 ter of the torrid zone, but ten degrees from it, that the ufual heat of 
 this city is equal to the greateft heat of Paris, agreeable to the tefli- 
 mony of Ulloa, one of the obfervers (2;). 
 
 There are many reafons, beiides vicinity to or diffance from the 
 equator, which make a country hot or cold. The elevation of the 
 foil, the neighbourhood of fome lofty mountain covered with fnow,, 
 abundance of rains,^ &c. contribute much to the coolnefs of the at- 
 mofphere, ;. and, on the contrary, low ground, fcarcity of water,, 
 drowths, 6cc. muftincreafe the heat. Cividad Real, the capital of the 
 diocefe of Chiapa, becaufe it is fituated on a high ground, is cool ; and. 
 the city of Chiapa, of the Indians, at a little diliiance from it, is ex- 
 tremely hot, becaufe it is fituated very low. Chachicomula, a large. 
 village, fituated at tb^ foci.t of the very lofty mountain. Ozizaba, . i& 
 
 (z) In the year 1735, at Cartha;;;ena, the liquor of the thermometer of Reaiiiiiur kept at 
 102- J, without any variation, except that fnm'-times itfdl to 102.J, or rofe to 1026. At- 
 Paris, the lame year, it never rofe higher than J025 j, in the greateft heats of July and Aiigulh 
 VUta Reiat-kn del Fia^-e a la Amer'ua Meridional-, part i. tora t, 
 
 coo].
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 265 
 
 cool, but Vera Cruz, placed in the fame latitude, is very hot ; and what dissert. 
 
 is more, the air of Cividad Real is cool in the latitude of 16Ì, and that v ^J > 
 
 of Loreto, in California, in lat. 25^-, is very hot. 
 
 The obfervations made by M. de Paw convince us that the 
 climate of America is not fo various as that of Europe j that the in- 
 habitants of the new world are not like thofe of the greater part of 
 Europe, obliged to endure the alternate extremes of exceflive cold, and 
 intolerable heat. The more uniform a climate, the more eafily are 
 men familiarized to it, and efcape thofe pernicious effe^Sls which fol- 
 low a vicitiitude of feafons. In Quito the thermometer does not 
 rife fo high as it does in Paris in the fummer; but neither does it fall 
 fo low as it does in the temperate climes of Europe in winter. What 
 can be more defirable in a climate than a temperature of air which is 
 equally diftant from either extreme, fuch as that of Quito, and the 
 greater part of Mexico ? What climate more fweet and kind to life 
 than that in which the delights of the country are enjoyed all the year, 
 and the earth is continually adorned with herbs and flowers ; where the 
 fields are covered with corn, and the trees loaded with fruit ; the herds 
 and the flocks fpare man his fatigues, and have no need of his pro- 
 vifion to maintain them, or his roof to refift the inclemency of the wea- 
 ther } neither fnow nor froft compel him to keep near a fire, nor do 
 burning heats in fummer check his increafe ; but conflantly experi- 
 encing- the bounty of nature towards him, he enjoys equally in all fea- 
 fons the focial converfe of his fellow-creatures, or the innocent recre- 
 ations of the country. This is the idea entertained by man of a per- 
 fect climate ; and the poets, therefore, when they flrove to extol 
 the happinefs of certain countries, ufed to fay, that a' perpetual fpring 
 reigned in them ; as Virgil faid of his Italy, ( ^7 ) and Horace of the 
 Fortunate Ifles (^), to which he invited his countrymen. Thus the an- 
 cients reprefented the Elyfian fields ; and alfo in the Holy Writings, 
 in order to convey fome idea of the felicity of heavenly Jerufalem, it 
 is faid, that there, there is no heat nor cold. 
 
 (a) Hie ver aflidiuim atquc albinis mcnfibus xftas ; 
 Bis gravida pecudes, bis poniis utilis arbos. Virg. Georg, ii. 
 
 (i) Ver ubi longum, tcpidafquc pracbct 
 Jupiter brumas. Horat. lib. ii. ode 4. 
 
 Vol. II. M m Acorta,
 
 266 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT; Acofla, whofe hiltory is called by M. de Paw an excellent ivork, 
 ^'^' and who was acquainted with the climes of both continents, and at the 
 fame time was not partial to America, nor had any interefl in extolling 
 it, treating of the American clime, he fpeaks thus {c) : " When I per- 
 " ceived the mildnefs of the air, and fweetnefs of the climate of many 
 " countries of America, where it is not known what thing winter is 
 " that contrails, or fummer which relaxes with heat ; where a mat is 
 " fufficient for defence from every inclemency of the weather ; where 
 " it is fcarcely necellary to alter cloathing through the whole yearj 
 " confidering, I fay, all this, I have many times thought, and I even 
 " think at this moment, that if men would difengage themfelves from 
 " the fnares which avarice lays for them, and abandon ufelefs and vexa- 
 •' tious pretenfions, they might lead in America a life ©f tranquillity 
 " and pleafure ; for that which the poets fing of the Ejylian fields, or 
 " the famous Tempe, and that which Plato told, or feigned, of his 
 " iiland Atlantida, are both to be found in thofe lands, &c," Qther 
 hiftorians fpeak the fame thing as Acofta of America, and particular- 
 ly of Mexico and its furrounding provinces, the inland countries of 
 which, from the illhmus of Panama unto the 40th degree of latitude 
 (for thofe beyond that degree of latitude have not yet been difcovered), 
 enjoy a mild air, and a climate favourable to life, excepting a few 
 places, whichj either by their being low, are moifl and hot, or by be- 
 ing very high, are rather fevere in climate. But how many in the old 
 world are not fevere and noxious ? 
 
 SECT. III. 
 
 On the ^ialities of the Land of Mexico. 
 
 IT is certain, fays Mr. de Paw, th>it America in general has been, 
 and is at prefent, a very barren country ; but it is rather more certain 
 that this is in general a grofs error; and if M. de Paw wifhes to alTure 
 himfelf of it, he may obtain information from many Germans, lately 
 
 (f) Stor. Nat. e Mor, lib. ii. cap, 34. 
 
 come
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 267 
 
 come from America, where fome of them have been for many years, 
 and are at prefent in Auflria, in Bohemia, in the Palatinate of the 
 Rhine, and even in Priiflia ; or he may re- perù fe that excellent work 
 of Acofta, and he will find there, in book ii. chap. 14. that if there 
 is any land in the world to which the name of Paradife may be ap- 
 plied, it is that of America. This is the expreflion of a learned, ju- 
 dicious, and impartial European, born in Spain, one of the bell coun- 
 tries in Europe j and fpeaking, in book iii of the countries of the 
 Mexican empire, he fays, that New Spain is the beft country of all 
 thofe which the fun furrounds. Certainly Acofla would not fpeak 
 thus of America in general, and of New Spain in particular, under 
 which name the continent of Spanilli North America is comprehended, 
 if America were in general a barren country. Many other Europe- 
 ans fpeak not lefs favourably of America, and particularly of Mexico, 
 whofe teftimony we muft omit, to avoid feeming prolix to our read- 
 ers {a). From the fame motive we (hall omit alfo what Mr. de Paw 
 has written againft other countries of the new world, as it would be 
 impoflible to examine the complaints made by him againft each of 
 them, without filling a large volume; we Ihall therefore confine our- 
 felves to what belongs to Mexico. 
 
 MelTieurs Buffon and de Paw are perfuadcd that all the territo- 
 ry of America is compofed of inacceOible mountains, impenetrable 
 woods and waftes, watry plains and marflies. Thofe philofophers have 
 read in the defcriptions of America, that the famous Andes, or Ameri- 
 can Aljis, formed two large chains ,of lofty mountains, covered in part 
 wfth fnow; that the vaft defart of the Amazons confifts of thick 
 woods; that Guayaquil, and fome other places, are moift and marlliy; 
 and fo much they have thought fufficient to warrant them to fav, that 
 America is nothing but mountains, woods and marlhes. Mr. de 
 
 (,/) Thomas Gages, the oracle of the Englifli and French, with refped to America, fpeaking 
 of Mexico, fays as follows. " 11 ne manque ricn a Mcxiquc de tout ce qui jicnt rendrc une 
 ville heurufc ; et fi ccs ecrivains qui ont employe leurs plumes a louer Ics ]>iovince» dc Gre- 
 nade en Kfpa_c;nc ct dc Lombardie et de Tofcanie en Italie dont lis font despaiadis tencflrps^ 
 auroient vu ce nouveau monde et la ville dc Mcxiquc, lis fc di'diroiont i)iiiitot de tout ce 
 qu'ils ont dit cn faveur dc ces licux la." Parte i. chai). 22. Thus docs an author who could 
 fcarccly fpeak favourably of any thing, reprefcnt Mexico. 
 
 M m 2 Paw 
 
 DISSERT, 
 III.
 
 268 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT. Paw read in the hiftory of Gumilla that which the author fays 
 about the method which the Indians of Oroonoko had of preparing 
 the terrible poifon of their arrows ; and in the hiilory of Herrera, or 
 other authors, that the Canibals, and other barbarous nations, made ufe 
 of poifoned arrows ; and this was enough for him to fay, that the new 
 continent produces a greater number of poifonous herbs than all the 
 refi of the world. He read that neither corn nor the fruits of Europe 
 grow in very hot countries j atid that was fufficient for him to fay, 
 that peaches and apricots have only borne fruit in the ifland of Juan 
 Fernandez {e), and that corn and barley have not thriven but in a 
 few countries of the North. Such is the logic adopted by Mr. de 
 Paw through all his work. 
 
 But of all that he fays againfl America, nothing holds true with 
 refpedl to Mexico. There are certainly very lofty mountains in Mexi- 
 co, eternally covered with fnow : there are large woods, and alfo fonie 
 marfhy places in it ; but the fertile and cultivated foil forms beyond 
 comparifon the far greater part of it, as is well known to all thofe 
 who have vifited that country. In all that immenfe fpace of land, 
 where wheat, barley, maize, and other kind of grain and pulfe with 
 which that country abounds, are fown at prefent ; they formerly lowed 
 maize, pepper, beans, cacao, chia, cotton, and fuch hke plants, which 
 ferved for the fuftenance, clothing, and luxuries of thofe people, who 
 having been fo numerous as we have already mentioned, and fliall 
 elfewhere demonftrate, could not have been able to have provided for 
 their neceflities, if the country had been nothing but mountain, wood, 
 and marfii. Mr. de Buffon, who in his hrft vol. lays, that America 
 is nothing but a continued marlh, and in vol. v. affirms, that the 
 inaccefiible mountains of America fcarcely leave any fmall fpaces for 
 agriculture, and the habitation of men, in the fame vol. v. confefles 
 
 (t-) In order tc fliew liow extremely diftant Mr. de Paw is from the truth, we mud 
 here obferve, that on the mifciaMf iil.aid of Juan Fuiiandez, where he fays that peaches ripen 
 well, they on the contrary are fmall, and very indift'erent, according to the information we 
 have had from Abbé D. G. Garcia, who was there fcven months, and particularly while 
 the feafon of fruit lafied. On the other hand, in almoft all the temperate and cold 
 countries of Spanifii America, where he imagines peaches do not grow, they thrive furprif- 
 ingly ; and in many place?, pirticalarly of Chili, audit» fons of New Spain, they ripen 
 better than in Europe, 
 
 that
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 269 
 
 that the people of Mexico and Peru were very numerous. But if dissert. 
 thofc people who occupied a very large part of America were very nu- 
 merous, and lived as he fays in Ibcietics, and under the controul of 
 laws, America is certainly not a continued marlh : if thofe people 
 fupported theinfelves, as is certain they did, on corn and fruits which 
 they cultivated, the fpaccs are not fmall which the mountains leave 
 for agriculture, and the habitation of men. 
 
 The multitude, variety and excellence of the plants of Mexico, 
 leave us in no doubt of the very fnigular fertility of its lands. The 
 pafture grounds, fays Acofta, of New bpain are excellent, and 
 breed, accordingly an innumerable quantity of horfes, cows, fheep, 
 and other anhnals. It is ahb as abundant in fruit as in any kind of 
 grain. In ftiort, there is no grain, pulfe, kitchen-herbs, or fruit, 
 which does not thrive in that fuil. The wheat, which Mr. de Paw" 
 fcarcely allows to fome countries of the North, does not grow in ge- 
 neral in the hot lands of New Spain, as it it does not in the greater 
 part of Africa, and many other parts of the old continent ; but in 
 the cool and temperate lands of that kingdom it thrives well, and 
 is more abundant than it is in Europe. 
 
 It is futHcient to fay, that the quantity gathered in the diocefe of 
 Angelopoli is fo great, that with what remained, after all its numer- 
 ous inhabitants were provided, they fupplied the Antilles, and the 
 fleet of fhips which formerly came to Havanna, under the name of 
 Armata de Earlovento. In Europe there is but one feed-time, 
 and one harveft. In New Spain there are feveral. ♦• In thofe 
 " lands," fays the European author Torquemada, who was there 
 many years, and travelled through the whole kingdom, " where they 
 " cultivate wheat, in every feafon of the year may be k.Qi\ one crop 
 " reaping, another ripening, another flill green, and another fow- 
 ijig," which plainly demonftrates the wonderful fertility of the foil. 
 The fame author makes mention of feveral lands which yielded 
 feventy, eighty, or an hundred for oncj and as great a multiplication 
 of wheat has been itQVi in fome fields of thofe countries by us (f) -, 
 
 which, 
 
 [f) We have been in a country of America, where the land yielded cotnmonlv fifty for 
 one, and fomctimes an hundred for one. In Cinaloa, although it it a cold country, the 
 laiid, we have been credibly infoiiiicJ, yields two hundred for one. Our learned irienJ, 
 
 the
 
 270 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 DISSERT, which, fpeaking in general, is certainly greater than that of Europe, 
 
 III 
 < ' 
 
 and with lefs cultivation, as is well known to European fuperinten- 
 
 dants of agriculture who have been in that part of America. What 
 
 we fay of wheat we can alfo fay of barley, although this is not fown 
 
 but in proportion to the confuniption there is made of it, in the fup- 
 
 port of horfes, mules, and hogs. We might fay ftill more of maize, 
 
 - which is tlie grain peculiarly native to America. 
 
 Mr. de Paw pretends that all the plants of Europe have dege- 
 nerated in America, except aquatic and juicy plants ; and to prove 
 this abfurd notion, he lays that peaches and apricots have borne fruit 
 in the illand of Juan Fernandez only. Although we fliould grant that 
 thofe fruits grow in no country of America, it would not avail him 
 to prove what he intends to prove, but even this particular is as falfe 
 as his general propofition. Acolfa, treating of thofe fruits in par- 
 ticular, fays, " Peaches, quinces, and apricots grow well in Ame- 
 rica, but beft in New Spain /^^^y." In all New Spain, except the 
 hot countries, thofe fruits, and all others tranfplanted from Europe, 
 have thriven and grow in abundance [/.>). " Laftly," lays Acofta, 
 fpeaking of America in general, " Almolt every thing good which is 
 " produced in Spain grows there, fometimes better, and fometimes 
 " not J wheat, barley, lallads, kitchen-herbs, pulfe, 6cc.V(/) If 
 he had Ipoke only of New Spain, he would have omitted that 
 almoji. 
 
 " There is alfo another advantage," fays Acofta, " which is, that 
 " the things of Europe are better in xA.merica than thofe of America 
 *' are in Europe." But this may appear but a fmall advantage to 
 Mr. de Paw. It alone would be fufficieat however to demonftrate 
 that, if there is any preference, it is to be given to America. In 
 New Spain, many European authors attefl, and all who have been 
 
 the Abbé Molina in his Hiftory of Chili, fays, that the land of that kingdom ufimlly yitlds 
 an hundred and fifty for one. The plenty of grain is fo great, that it is fold at five paoli 
 the foncvn, and every year about thirty veffcls loaded wiih it come to Peru. 
 
 (?) Àcofta, lib. iv. cap. 31. Peaches arc fo plentiful in New Spain, that they are fold 
 by twenties ; and for the fmulleft currency there, two, three, or four twenties are given. 
 In the kingdom of Chili, they count twelve different fpecics of peaches, fome of which are 
 fo large as to weigh a pound Spanifli, or fixtecn ounces. Molina Stor del Chili. 
 
 (i; Pears are alfo fold in twenties at Mexico ; .and there are upwards of fifty fpecies of 
 .them. 
 
 (;') Acofla, lib. iv. cap. 31. 
 
 there
 
 III. 
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 271 
 
 there know, that wheat, barley, and every grain of Europe ; peas, dissert, 
 beans, and every other pu he; lettuces, cabbages, turnips, afparagus, 
 and other fullads and root.-, and every fort of kitchen herbs ; peaches, 
 apples, pears, quinces, and other fruits ; carnations, rofes, violets, jef - 
 famines, fweet-bafil, mint, marjoram, balm gentle, and otlier flowers 
 and odorous plants brought from Europe, all profper there : but in 
 Europe the plants of America do not, nor cannot in general coiiie 
 to perfe(Stion. Wheat grows in the lands of Europe, but much 
 fmaller, and not fo good as that of America. Of the n^any delicious 
 fruits of the new world, fome, fuch as the mufa and ananas, have 
 thriven in the gardens of the princes of Europe, by means of hot- 
 houfes, and great care and attention, but not fo well flavoured, or in 
 fuch abundance, as in their native climes. Others ftill more valu- 
 able than thefe, fuch as the chirimoya, the maniey, and chicoza- 
 pote have not yet, as far as we know, been made to grow, notwith- 
 flanding the ftudied efforts of European induftry for that purpofe. 
 The caufe of this great difference between America and Europe is that 
 which Acolla mentions : that in America there is a greater variety 
 of climate than in Europe; from whence it is more eaiy to give 
 each plant a temperature proper for it. As it is not an argument 
 of the flerility of Europe, that the plants proper to America do not 
 thrive in it, neither is it an argument of the fterility of fome coun- 
 tries of America, that fome plants of Europe do not thrive in 
 thein J becaufe tton omnia fert omnia tellus. Hie fegctes ibi proveniunt 
 felicitis uva. On the contrary, the hot countries in which wheat 
 and European fruits do not ripen, are yet the moft plcafant and fruitful. 
 We do not doubt that if a comparifon is made of America with 
 the old continent, they will be found equal in their produdions : for 
 Afia and Africa have lands and climes luited to all the plants of America, 
 which, on account of the differences of their nature, could not fuc- 
 ceed in Europe. But what advantage is it to Europeans that Alia 
 has abundance while it is at fo great a diftance ? On the contrary, 
 the Mexicans being furrounded by countries of every fort of climate, 
 enjoy all their different fruits. The market of Mexico, hke that of 
 many other cities of America, is tlie emporium of all the gifts of na- 
 ture. There we find apples, peaches, apricots, pears, grapes, cher- 
 ries»
 
 272 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, j-jgg^ camotes, xicamcs, and other numerous fruits, roots, and fa- 
 vory herbs, which cool and temperate climes yield ; ananas, mu- 
 fas, cocoas, anonas, chirimoyas, mameys, chicozapotes, zapotes, and 
 many others which hot countries produce; melons cucumbers, 
 oranges, pomegranates, and others which cold or hot countries 
 equally produce. At all feafons of the year their market is abun- 
 dantly provided with variety of excellent fruits, even at thofe times 
 when the Europeans mufl: content themfelves with their chef- 
 nuts, or at mdfl with apples and grapes, which their induflry has 
 preferved. Through all the year, even in the feverity of winter, veflels 
 enter their market by one of the innumerable canals of the city, load- 
 ed with fuch variety of fruits, flowers, and herbs, that it feems as if 
 all the feafons of the year offered their pVodudlions at once ; the. moft 
 valuable plants of Europe, as well as all the native producftions of 
 Mexico being colledled there; which all Europeans who have vifited 
 that part can teftify. 
 
 Nor is that land lefs abundant in plants of medicinal nature. 
 To be fatisfied of this truth, it will be fufficient to look into the 
 work of the celebrated naturalifl Hernandez ; in which nine hundred 
 plants, that are for the moll; part produced in the neighbourhood of 
 Mexico, are defcribed and defigned, whofe virtues have been afcer- 
 tajned by experience ; befides three hundred others, the ufes of which 
 are not mentioned ; and without doubt there are innumerable others 
 yet undifcovered. Mr. de Paw, on the contrary, fays that America 
 produces a greater number of poifonous plants than all the reft of the 
 world. But what does he know of the plants which are bred in the 
 inland countries of Africa and Afia, to enable him to make a compari- 
 fon ? The foil of America is fo fertile, that it is not to be wondered at 
 if there is abundance of every fort in it. But to mention the truth, 
 we do not know that one twentieth part of thofe poifonous plants 
 which are produced in the old continent have been difcovered in New 
 Spain. 
 
 With refpecft to gums, refms, oils, and other juices which the 
 trees yield either fpontaneoufly or with the aid of human induftry. 
 New Spain, fays Acofta, excels : there are whole woods of acacia, 
 which yields the true Arabian gum; but from its plenty it is not 
 
 fufficiently 
 5
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 273 
 
 lufficlently valued. There is bcfides balllim, iiicenfe, copal of many DIS'^ERT. 
 fpecies, liquid amber, tecamaca, oil of fir, and many other juices va- 
 luable for their fragrant odours, and medicinal virtues. 
 
 Even thofe very woods with which the land of America is 
 covered, as Buffon and de Paw affirm, dcmonftrate its fertility. 
 There have been, and there are iHll, in thefe moll; extenfive 
 regions, great woods ; but there are not fo many as that a journey of 
 five or fix hundred miles may not be made without meeting one of 
 them ? And what kind of woods are they ? for the moft part confift- 
 ing of fruit-bearing trees, fuch as the mufa, mamey, apple, orange, and 
 lemon, in tlie woods of Coatzacualco, Mifteca, and Michuacan ; or 
 of trees valuable for their wood or their gums, fuch as thofe which 
 feparate the vale of Mexico from the diocefe of Angelopoli, and thofe 
 of Chiapa, of the Zapotecas, dec. ; befides pines, oaks, adies, ha- 
 zels, firs, and a great many others, common to both continents. 
 The trees peculiar to that land are in ftill greater number, and 
 of more value. There are whole woods of cedar, as we have already 
 mentioned. The conqueror Cortes was accufed by his rivals before 
 Charles V. of having ufed for the palace which he made be built in 
 Mexico, feven thoufand beams of cedar; and he excufed himfelf by fay- 
 ing that it was a common wood in that country. It is in fadt fo very 
 common, that they make the flakes for the foundation of houfes in 
 the marfliy places of the capital, of this wood. There are alfo woods 
 of ebony, that fo juflly celebrated tree, in Chiapa, Yucatan, and Co- 
 zumel ; of brafil wood in hot countries, and the odorous wood of 
 aloes in Mifteca. The Tapincoi-en, the Granadillo or red ebony, the 
 Camote, and others which we have mentioned in our hiflrory, afford 
 better timber than is to be had in Europe. Laftly, to avoid a tedi- 
 ous enumeration, we refer the reader to Acofla, Hernandez, Xime- 
 nes, and other European authors who have been in New Spain, al- 
 though all they fay is not fufficient to convey a competent idea of the 
 fertility of that land. Acofla affirms, that " as well in refpedl to 
 " number as to variety of trees produced by nature, there is a greater 
 *' abundance in America than in Afia, Africa, and Europe. "(X) 
 
 (*) Acofla, lib. iv. cap. 30. 
 
 Vol. II. N n The
 
 274 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 I^ISSERT. T|-je nature and quality of a foil is beft difcovered by the plants 
 which it fpontaneoufly produces witiiout the afiiftance of art. Let us 
 compare, then, the produdtions of Europe with thofe, not of Ame- 
 rica, but only of New Spain. " The reafon of there being fo many 
 " favages in America," lays Montefquieu(/), " is that the land there 
 " produces of itfelf many fruits on which they can feed." I believe 
 that thole advantages would not be obtained in Europe if the land 
 were left to itfelf without culture ; it would produce nothing biit 
 woods of oaks and other ulelefs trees. " Examining," fays M. de Paw, 
 " the hiftory and origin of our plants, our kitchen-herbs, our fruit- 
 " trees, and alio our grains, we find they are all foreign, and have 
 " been traiifplanted from other climes to our own. We can eafily 
 " imagine the mifery of the ancient Gauls, and even that of the 
 " Germans, in whofe land no fruit-trees were produced in the time of 
 " Tacitus. If Germany was to reftore the foreign vegetables which 
 " are not originals of its foil or climate, almofl none would remain, 
 " nor would it preferve among its feeds which ferve for nourilhiment 
 " any but the wild poppy and the wild Vena[^m)." What Mr. de 
 Paw openly confelles refpefting Germany and Gaul, might alfo be 
 faid of the other countries of Europe, and alfo of Greece and Italy, 
 which fupplied the ethers. If Italy was obliged to reftore all thofe 
 fruits which do not belong originally to its foil, what would remain 
 but acorns ? Thele terms, f malum PerJIcum, malum Medicum, Ajjyriumy 
 Piinicum ,Cidonium , mix Pontica, &c.J ferve to keep us in remembrance 
 that thofe fruits came from Afia and from Africa. " It is known," 
 fays Mr. Bufching («), " that the bell and moft beautiful fruits pafled 
 " from Italy into thofe countries which produce them at prefent. 
 " Italy received them from Greece, from Afia, and from Africa. 
 " Apples came to her from Egypt, and Greece; apricots from 
 " Epirus J the pear from Alexandria, Numidia, and Greece; 
 " the lemon and orange from Medea, Allyria, and Perfra ; the fig 
 " from Alia; the pomegranate from Carthage; the chefnut from 
 " Catania in Magnelia, a province of Macedonia; almonds from 
 " Afia to Greece, and thence to Italy; the walnut from Perfia; 
 
 " olives 
 
 (/) Montefquieu L'Efprit des Loix, lib. xviii. chap. g. [m) Reclierch Thilifoph. 
 
 part i. (?/) Bufching Gcogvaph. torn. i.
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 27^ 
 
 " filberts from Ponto ; olives from Cyprus ; plums from Armenia'; DISSEUT. 
 " the peach from Perfia ; quinces fcom Cidonia in Candia to Greece, 
 " and thence to Italy." 
 
 Pliny fays, that men at firrt: fed upon nothing but acorns {0). This, 
 though falfe with refpcvfl to men in general, appears to be true with 
 refpedl to the firft peoplcrs of Italy, at leaft fuch was the opinion of 
 the ancients, as their writings fliew. Pliny adds, that even in his 
 time many people, from the want of grain, were efteemed rich in pro- 
 portion to the qua:,tity of acorns which they had, of the flour of 
 which they made bread, as they do at prefent in Norway of the bark 
 of the pine, and in other northern countries of bones of fifhcs ; 
 which is no fmall indication of their mifery. Bomare declares that 
 all the beauties of European gardens are foreign (/>), and that the 
 inoft beautiful flowers they have come from the Eaft (q). Mr. de 
 Paw makes a more general confellion of the ancient mifery of the 
 Europeans, where he affirms that the ufeful plants which they have 
 at prefent paffed from the fouth of Afia into Egypt, from Egypt to 
 Greece, from Greece into Italy, from Italy into Gaul, and from 
 thence into Germany (r) ; fo that the foil of Europe, with refped: 
 to native and original produdlions, is one of the pooreft and mofl: 
 barren in the world. On the contrary, how fruitful and abundant 
 the American foil is, and efpecially that of Mexico, in native plants 
 proper for nouriOiment and cloathing, and the other necefTaries of life, 
 may be learned from reading the European authors who have written 
 of the natural hiflory of that new world. 
 
 This is the anfwer to that ridiculous comparifon which Herrera 
 makes in his firft Decad mentioned in the beginning of this diflerta- 
 tion. " In America," " he fays, " there were not, as in Europe, 
 ** either lemons, oranges, pomegranates, figs, quinces, melons, 
 " grapes, olives, fugar, rice, or wheat." The Americans will then 
 fay, firft, that Europe had none of thofe fruits until they were tranf- 
 planted there from Afia and Africa; fecondly, that at prefent thefe 
 fruits grow in America as well as in Europe, and in general better of 
 
 (0) Plin. Hid. Nat. lib. ii. 2. cap. 56. {/>) Bomare Didtion. Univ. d'Hiftoric Nat. 
 
 V. Piante. (^)Id V. Flcur. (r) Recherch. Pliilifoph. part i. 
 
 N n 2 their
 
 276 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 DISSERT, their kind and in greater plenty, particularly oranges, lemons, me- 
 lons, and fugar canes ; thirdly, that if America had not wheat, Eu- 
 rope had not maize, which is not lefs ufeful or wholefome ; if Ame- 
 rica had not pomegranates, lemons, &c. it has them now : but 
 Europe never had, has, nor can have, chirimoyas, Ahuacates, mufas,, 
 chicozapotes, 5cc. 
 
 Finally, Mr. de Buffon, and Mr. de Paw, and other European 
 philofophers and hiflorians, who inveigh fo much again ft America for 
 its barrennefs, its woods, its marlhes, and delerts, will pleafe to re- 
 member, tliat the miferable countries of Lapland, Norway, Iceland, 
 Nova Zcmbln, Spitzbergen, and the vaft horrid deferts of Siberia, 
 Tartary, Arabia, Africa, and others are countries of the old conti- 
 nent, and make at leaft the fourth part of its extent. Yet what 
 countries are thofe ? Let us attend to the eloquent defcription which 
 Buftbn gives of the deferts of Arabia : " a country, he fays, without 
 " verdure, and without water ; a fun always burning, an atmofphere 
 " always dry, fandy plains, mountains ftill more parched, over which 
 " the eye roams in vain to fix upon a fingle living objeól; a land, if we 
 " may fay fo, pale and excoriated with the winds, which prefents no- 
 " thing to the fight but bones, fcattered ftones, and rocks in pyramids 
 " or in ruins ; a dcfert entirely bare, in which the adventurous travel- 
 " ler never bates under the iliade, where there is nothiag that can be 
 " made companiable to him, or preferve his remembrance of living 
 " nature: a folitude greatly more frightful than that of the woods; for 
 " the trees are at leaft animated fubftances, which afford fome con- 
 " folation to man, but here he finds himfelf alone, detached, more 
 *' naked and more bewildered, in places that are wafte and without 
 " boundary ; all the foil which he views appears to him like his fe- 
 ** pulchre ; the light of the day, more melancholy than the fliades of 
 " night, does not return but to make him fee his nakednefs and impo- 
 " tence, and fet before him his horrible fituation, lengthening to his 
 " fight the limits of the void, and enlarging around him the abyfs of 
 " immenfity which feparate him from the habitable world ; a fpace fo 
 " immeafurable, that in vain he would attempt to pafs it; for hun-. 
 .V:ger, thirft, and- burning heat, fliorten the moments which remain tot 
 •* him between ddperation and death {s)." 
 
 (i) BiifTon Hiih Nat. torn. sxii. 
 
 DISSER-
 
 e ^77 3 
 
 DISSERTATION IV. 
 
 Of the A7iimals of Mexico, 
 
 ON E of the arguments moft infifled on by Buffon and de Paw, to 
 illuftrate the unhappy nature of the American foil, and tlie malig- 
 nity of its dime, is the pretended degeneracy of animals, both of thofe 
 which are native to that land, and thofe which have been tranfported 
 there from the ancient continent. In the prefent Dili'ertation we 
 fhall examine their proofs, and detedl fome of their errors and coa- 
 tradidions. 
 
 SECT. I. 
 
 Of the Animals proper to Mexico.. 
 
 ALL the animals which are found in the new, have pafled there 
 from the old world, as we have eftabliflied in the firft Diilertation j 
 and it is confeffed alfo by Mr. Buffon himfelf, in the twenty-ninth 
 volume of bis Natural Hifl:oryj and it ought likewife to be credited, 
 if we rely on the authority of the facred writings in this point. 
 We call thofe animals proper to Mexico which were found there- 
 by the Spaniards; not becaufe they draw their origin from that land, 
 as we are given to underftand by Mr. de Paw in all his work, and by 
 Mr. Buffon in the firft twenty-eight volumes of his Hiftory; but only 
 to diffinguifh thofe animals which, from time immemorial, were bred 
 in thofe countries, from thofe others which were afterwards tranfported 
 there from Europe : we fhall therefore call the latter European, the 
 former American. 
 
 The firll: ground of difparagement to America, with the count de 
 Buffon, is the fmall number of its quadrupeds, compared with thofe of 
 the old continent. He reckons two hundred fpecies of quadrupeds 
 hitherto djfcovered over all the globe, of which one hundred and 
 thirty belong to the old continent, and only fcventy to the new world. 
 
 And 
 S
 
 273 II I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT. y^,-|(-| jf y^,^ j.jj|^g from this number the fpecies which are common to 
 both continents, w<: (hall hardly find, he fays, forty fpecies of quadru- 
 peds properly American. From thefe premifes he infers that in Ame- 
 rica there has been a great fcarcity of matter (^?). 
 
 But why would he take from the feventy fpecies of quadrupeds 
 America has, tiiofe thirty which are common to both continents, as 
 they, from their very ancient habitation in thofe countries, are as 
 much American as the others ? Befides, if thofe animals, which he calls 
 properly American, had been created originally in America, witli 
 greater (hew of probability he might have athrmed the fuppofed fcarcity 
 of matter in that part of the world. But all hearts having been Afiatic 
 in their origin, as he himfclf confelfes, we do not fee his grounds for 
 drawing fuch a conclufion. " Every animal," fays Buffon, " when 
 abandoned to its own inflinfl, feeks a zone and a region adapted to 
 its nature [/j)." Hence the caule of the fmall number of fpecies of 
 quadrupeds in America ; becaufe, upon fuppofition that animals after 
 the deluge, when abandoned to their own inftin(5l, fought a zone and a 
 region fuitable to their natures, and found it in the countries of the 
 old continent, they had no occafion to make fo long a journey as to 
 America : if the animals, inftead of being faved on the mountains of 
 Armenia, had been colledled on the American Alps, by the fame way 
 of reafoning the number of Ipecies of quadrupeds in the old continent 
 would have been lefs, and the American philofopher would have been 
 liable to cenfure, who, from fuch an incident, would have endeavoured 
 to infer the prodigious fcarcity of matter, and barren niggard llcy of 
 that which we call the old continent. 
 
 But although all thofe quadrupeds were adlually original in America, 
 we ought not from thence to infer the fuppofed fcarcity of matter, 
 becaufe a country cannot be faid to have a fcarcity of matter which 
 has the number of fpecies of its quadrupeds proportioned to its extent. 
 The extent of America is the tliird part of the whole earth, therefore 
 it cannot be faid that there is a fcarcity of matter there, when it has 
 a third part of all the fpecies of quadrupeds. The fpecies of quadru- 
 peds, according to Buffon, are two hundred, of which America has 
 
 (a) Hift, Nat. torn, ixiii. (i) Ibid. toir. xxir, 
 
 feventy.
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 279 
 
 feventy, which is fomething more than a third ; it cannot therefore be 
 faid that there is a Icarcity of matter there. 
 
 Hitherto we have reafoned on the fuppofition that what Mr. Buffon 
 has faid was true with relpetì: to the number of fpecies of quadru- 
 peds ; but who is certain of this, as the real diftinguilhing charatìer 
 of fpecies has not yet been difcovered ? Mr. Buffon, as well as feve- 
 ral other naturalilts who have written aftt-r him, believe, that the 
 fole indubitable proof of the fpecific difference of two animals, fimilar 
 to each other in many circumllances and properties is, that of the male 
 not being able to cover the female, and of producing by means of ge- 
 neration another individual that is fruitful and fimilar to themfelves. 
 But this proof of diverfity of fpecies, bcfides. that it fails in fomc 
 animals, is, with refpecft to others, very ditlicult to be determined. 
 To ihew the incertainty of it, let us put an afs and a mare together, 
 and a mafliff and a greyhound together, two breeds of dogs extremely 
 different. From this laff couple is bred a dog, which partakes of maftiff 
 and greyhound ; from the firfl: is produced a mule, which partakes 
 alfo of the afs and the mare. I wilh to know why the afs and the 
 marc are two different fpecies of quadrupeds, and the maftiff and 
 the greyhound are only varieties of one fpecies. Becaufe this lall 
 couple, fays Buffon, generates a fruitful individual, the other not. 
 But how? Mr. Buffon, in the twenty-ninth volume of his Hillory,. 
 freely affirms, that the mules not being able to conceive is not be- 
 caufe they are abfolutely impotent, but only on account of the e.\ceffive 
 heat and extraordinary convulfions which they fuffer in coition. Mr. 
 Bomare (c), after having cited the teftimony of Ariftotle, who 
 reports, in his Hillory of Animals, that in his time the mules of 
 Syria fpringing from horfes and affes, produced young mules fimi- 
 lar to themfelves, adds, " This fatff, related by a philofopher fo 
 worthy of faith, proves that mules are animals fpccifically fruit- 
 ful in themfelves, and in their pofterity." Similar cafes, fliew- 
 ing the fruitfulnefs of mules, are to be found attefted by many 
 authors, ancient as well as modern, worthy of credit ; and fome cafe» 
 
 {e) Diction, d' Hiftoirc N.it. V. Mulct. 
 
 have 
 
 DISSERT. 
 IV.
 
 28o H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 DIS-ERT, have happened of this kind in our own time in Mexico {d). There 
 ^^' is no other dinimilarity therefore between thofe two pair of qua- 
 drupeds, except that the births of the bitches generated by that 
 couple of dogs are more frequent than thofe of the mules. 
 
 Befides, who has informed Mr. Buffon, that the Gibboii and Ma- 
 goto, the Mammon and Pappion (four forts of apes), do not copulate 
 together, and produce a fruitful individual ? The author has not 
 made any experiment of it, nor cited any otber naturalift who had ; 
 and notwithftanding he decides that all the above mentioned quadru- 
 peds are fo many different I'pecies. The diftin-ftion of the fpecies of 
 quadrupeds adopted by him is tlicrefore very doubtful and uncer- 
 tain, and we cannot know whether certain quadrupeds, which he rec- 
 kons different fpecies, are not one fmgle fpecies ; and on the contrary, 
 if others which he believes to be one fpecies, may not be fpecifically 
 different. 
 
 But leaving this afide, it would be fufficient to caufe a great diffi- 
 dence of the divifion which Mr. Buffon has made of quadrupeds, to 
 perceive the contradidlions which appear in this and the other parts of 
 his hiilory, though in other refpeóts it is extremely valuable. In the dif- 
 courfe which he gives in the twenty-ninth volume, on the Degeneracy of 
 Animals, he affirms, that if we are to enumerate the quadrupeds proper 
 to the new continent, we fhall find fifty different fpecies ; and in the 
 enumeration which he makes of the quadrupeds of both continents, 
 he fays, that thofe of America hardly make forty fpecies. In the 
 above enumeration he reckons the tame goat, the fliamois goat, 
 and wild goat, three different fpecies ; and in vol. xxiv. treating of 
 thofe animals, he fays, that thofe three quadrupeds, and the other fix 
 or feven fpecies of goats which are diftinguilhed by different names, 
 are all of one and the lame ipecies. So that we ought to abate the 
 eight or nine fpecies from the one hundred and thirty which he num- 
 bers in the old continent. In the above mentioned enumeration he 
 counts the dog, the moufe, and marmotte ; and adds, that no one of 
 
 (^d) Amongfl; others worthy of mention are the repeated binhs of a mule got by an afs 
 and a mare, on the farm called Forcjl ofZurittt, near to the city of Lagos, thr property of 
 D. F. G. Riibalcaba. This mule conceived by an afs, and brought forth a mule in 1762, and 
 another in 1763. 
 
 thofe
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 281 
 
 thofe quadrupeds was in America ; but treating afterwards of the ani- dissrrt. 
 mais common to both continents, he fays, that the marmots and ^• 
 
 mice are common to each continent, ahhough it is difficult to decide 
 if fuch American quadrupeds are of the fame fpecics with thofe of the 
 old continent; and in vol. xvi. he affirms, that mice were carried to 
 America in European veflels. With refpedl to dogs, which, in the 
 above enumeration, he denies to America, he grants them to it in 
 vol. XXX. for he affirms that the XohitzcuintU , the Itzcuhitepot'ZyOtlty 
 and Tcchichi, were three different breeds of the fame fpecies of dogs 
 with thofe of the old continent. This llcetch is fufficient to fliew 
 that Mr. Buffon, notwithftanding his great genius and great diligence, 
 fometimes forgets what he l>as written. 
 
 Amongfl the one hundred and thirty fpecies of quadrupeds of the old 
 continent, he enumerates feven fpecies of bats common in France and 
 other countries of Europe, five of which, that were hitherto unknown 
 and confounded with others, were lately difcovered and diliinguiffied by 
 Mr. Daubenton, as he affirms in vol. xvi of his Hiftory. If then in learn- 
 ed France, where fo many centuries have been paffed in the (ludy of natural 
 hiftory, five fpecies of bats were hitherto unknown, what wonder is it 
 that in the vail; regions of America, where no fuch able naturalifls have 
 gone yet, and where but lately that fludy has been in elleem, fliould 
 remain many fpecies of quadrupeds ftill unknown ? We do not doubt 
 that if there had been fome Buffons and Daubentons in the new world, 
 they would have been able to have counted a few more quadrupeds 
 than he numbers from Paris, where he cannot be informed refpeding 
 American animals, as he is about thofe which are European. We feel 
 extreme regret that a philofopher fo celebrated, fo ingenious, fo 
 learned, and fo eloquent, who has endeavoured to write of all the qua- 
 drupeds of the world, diftinguiihes their fpecies, families, and breeds, 
 defcribes their character, difpofition, and manners, numbers their 
 teeth, and even meafures their tails, iliould at the fame time ffiew 
 himfelf ignorant of the mofl: common animals of Mexico. What qua- 
 druped is more common or more known in Me:4ico than the coyote Ì 
 All the hiftorians of that kingdom make mention of it, and Hernandez 
 gives an exadt and minute defcription of it in his Hirtoryj which is 
 moft frequently cited by Buffon ; yet this author makes not the Icafl 
 
 Vol. II. O o mention
 
 282 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT, niention of it under that or any other name {e). Who does not know 
 that the rabbit was a quadruped exceflively common in the provinces 
 of the Mexican empire, under the name of Hochtli ? That the figure 
 of it was one of the four charadlers of the Mexican years, and that the 
 hair of its belly was woven into waiftcoats for the ufe of the nobles in 
 winter ? Notwithflanding Mr. Buffon will make the rabbit one 
 of thofe quadrupeds which were tranfported from Europe to America ; 
 but, among all the European hiftorians of Mexico, we have not found 
 one who thinks fo -, on the contrary, all fuppofe, that it has from time 
 immemorial inhabited thofe countries, and we do not doubt that the 
 Mexicans, as often as they read this fingular anecdote, muft fmile at the 
 count dc Buffon. 
 
 Hernandez enumerates, in his Hiflory of Quadrupeds, four Mexi- 
 can animals of the clafs of dogs, mentioned by us in book I. of this 
 hiftory : the firft, the Xoloitzcuintli, or hairy dog ; the fecond, the 
 Itzcumtepozotli, or hunch -back dog; the third, the Techichi, or eat- 
 able little dog } and the fourth, the Tepeitzcuintli, or little mountain 
 dog. Thefe four very different fpecies of dogs have been reduced by 
 the count de Buffon to one fingle fpecies. He fays, that Hernandez 
 was deceived in what he wrote of the XohitzciiintU, for no other 
 author makes mention of it, and therefore it ought to be believed that 
 that quadruped was tranfported there from Europe, fince Hernandez 
 himfelf affirms, that he iaw it firfl in Spain, and that it had no name 
 in Mexico, as Xoloitzcuintli is the proper name of the wolf, given by 
 Hernandez to that other quadruped ; that all thofe dogs were known 
 in Mexico by the generic name of AIco^ Here, in a few words, we 
 have a mafs of errors. The name AlcOy or Alleo, neither is Mexican, 
 nor ever was ufed in Mexico, but in South America. That of 
 Xoloitzcuintli is not the name of the wolf, nor do we know that it 
 was ever called fo by any one at Mexico. The Mexicans call the 
 
 {è) The iiiiimals of the o!d continent, whicli moft referable the Cojote, are the Chacal, 
 the Adive^ and the Ij'atis; but it is different from them. The Chacal is of the fize of a fox, 
 the Cojote is twice a^ large. The Chacals go always in herds of thirty or forty together ; the 
 Cojotes, in general, alone. The Adive is ftill fiiialler and weaker than the Chacai. The Ifatis 
 is pecular to the frigid zone, and fhuns the woods ; but the Cojote loves the woods, and inhar 
 bits warm and temperate countries. 
 
 wolf
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 283 
 
 wolf Cuetlachtli, and in fome places where they do not fpeak Mexican dissert. 
 properly, they call it Tecuarii, which is a generic name for wild ^'" 
 hearts. It is evident befides, from the very text of Hernandez, which 
 we here fubjoin ffj, that neither the Xoloitzcuintii was tranfported 
 from Europe to Mexico, nor was fuch a name given to it by Hernan- 
 dez, but that it was the name by which the Mexicans tliemfelves ufed 
 to call it. Hernandez had ken that quadruped in Spain, becaufe it 
 had been tranfported therefrom Mexico, as he mentions himfelf, where 
 he had alfo feen in the gardens of Philip II. feveral Mexican plants. 
 But why has no author made mention of the Xoloitzcuintii ? becaufe 
 neither before nor fincc his time has any one undertaken to write a hi - 
 flory of Mexican quadrupeds ; and the hillorians of that kingdom have 
 been contented to mention fome of the commoneft animals. Moreover 
 every wife and impartial perfon (hould necelfarily give more credit 
 to Hernandez in the Natural Hiftory of Mexico, as he employed him- 
 felf in it fo many years by order of king Philip II. and as he obferved 
 with his own eyes the animals of Mexico, of which he wrote and in- 
 formed himfelf from the fpeech of the Mexicans themfelves, whofe 
 language he learned, than to the count de Buffon, who, although more 
 ingenious and more eloquent, had no other lights concerning Mexican 
 animals than thofe which he procured from the works of Hernandez, 
 or from the relations of fome other author, not fo deferving of credit 
 as that learned and fkilful naturalifl. 
 
 The count de Buffon would make the Tept'ifzcuinfh' o£ Hernandez, 
 the glutton, a quadruped which is common in the northern countries 
 of both continents ; but whoever will compare the defcription which 
 the count de Buffon makes of the glutton with that which Hernandez 
 gives of the Tepeitzcuintli, will inmiediately difcern the mofl: ftriking dif- 
 ference between thofe two quadrupeds {g). The glutton is, according to 
 the count de Buffon, a native of the cold countries of the North, the 
 tepeitzcuintli, of the torrid zone ; the glutton is, according to count 
 
 (f) Piter canes notos noflro orbi qui omncs pene ab Hifpanis tranflati ab Indis in his 
 plagis hodie educantur, tua alia offcndas genera, quorum priinuni antequam hue nic confu- 
 rcm, vidi in Patria, cateros vero ne<]uc confpexcrain ncque adhuc to delates puto. Primus 
 Xoloitzcuintii vocatus alios corporis vincit magnitudine, &:c. Hern. Hill. Quadiup. N. Hifp. 
 tap. 20. 
 
 {£) Buffon, Hift. Nat. torn, xxvii. Hernandez, Hifl. Quadrup. N Hifp. cap. sxi. 
 
 O O ^ de
 
 284 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 DISSFRT. (^e Buffon twice as large as the badger. The tepeitzcuintli is, as 
 Hernandez fays, parvi cams magnitudine The glutton is fo named 
 on account of its incredible and dreadful voracity, which even im- 
 pels it to dig up dead carcaffes to eat them; Hernandez fays 
 nothing of any fuch quality in the tepeitzcuintli, and he certainly 
 would not have omitted what conftitutes its chief charadler : on the 
 contrary, he affirms that the tepeitzcuintli becomes domeftic, and 
 feeds upon the yolks of eggs and bread foaked in hot water ; but a 
 beaft fo carnivorous as the glutton could never fupport itfelf on fuch 
 diet. In fhort, to omit other arguments of their diverfity, the 
 fldn of the glutton is, as count de Buffon fays, as valuable as that of 
 the zibelline {IS)-, but we do not know that the ikin of the tepeitz- 
 cuintli was ever efteemed or made ufe of. 
 
 The xoloitzculntli therefore being different from the wolf and the 
 tepeitzcuintli from the glutton, and thofe four American quadrupeds 
 of the clafs of dogs, being very different from each other in fize, in 
 difpofition, and many other remarkable circumftances, notwithftanding 
 that they couple together, and can procreate a third individual, which 
 is fruitful, we ought to conclude that they are four different fpecies ; 
 and therefore ihefe three fpecies, which count de Buffon has unjuffly 
 taken from America, ought to be reftored to it. 
 
 We fhould never finiih if we were to mention all the miftakes 
 of this author refpedingAmerican quadrupeds : but merely to fliew 
 that the number of feventy fpecies afcribed by him to America is not 
 juft, but different, and even contrary to what he has written in the 
 courfe of his Hiflory, we fhall fubjoin to this differtation a \A. of 
 American quadrupeds taken from that hillory, to which we Hiall add 
 the quadrupeds which he confounds with others which are different, 
 and thofe which he has entirely omitted ; from which it will appear 
 how far he has been from the truth, in fiying that in America there has 
 been a prodigious fcarcity of matter. For in order to determine fuch a 
 fcarcity, it is not enough to know that the f^iecies are few in number, 
 but it would be neceffary alfo to demonftrate that the individuals of 
 
 (/•) Bomare fays, that the fkin of the glutton is more valued by the people of Kamtfchatka 
 than the zibelline ; and that in Sweden it is much in demand, and very dear, 
 
 fuch
 
 IV 
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 285 
 
 fuch fpecies are alfb few in nuaiber ; for if the individuals of the DISSERT, 
 feventy fpecies of American quadrupeds arc more numerous than thofc 
 of the one hundred and thirty fpecies of the old continent, although 
 the nature of them were lefs various, ftill it -would not prove a great- 
 er fcarcity of matter. It would be necellary, bcfides, to demonlìratc, 
 that the fpecies of reptiles and birds are fewer, and alfo the individu- 
 als lefs numerous, as both of thefe ferve to fliew the abundance or fcar- 
 city of matter ; but no one is fo ignorant of the country of America, as 
 to need to be informed of the incredible variety and furprifmg number of 
 American birds. We lliould wilh to know why nature, which has been 
 fo nigardly of quadrupeds to America, as count de Buffon and Mr. de 
 Paw report, has been fo prodigal of birds ? 
 
 Thele authors, not contented with diminifliing the fpecies of Ameri- 
 can quadrupeds, attempt alfo to lefTen their Itature : " All the animals 
 ** of America," fays count de Buffon (/), " both thofe which have 
 " been tranfported by man, fuch as horfes, ailes, bulls, flieep, goats,. 
 " hogs, dogs, &c. and thofe which palled there by themfelves, fuch. 
 " as wolves, foxes, deer, and alcos, are confiderably fmaller in 
 fize than they are in Europe :" and this, he adds, is the cafe ivii/j- 
 out any exception. This aflonifhing effecfl he afcribes to the niggard 
 flcy of America, to the combination of the elements, and other natural 
 eaufes. " There was not," fays Mr. de Paw, " one large animal 
 " under the torrid zone of the old continent. The largeft quadruped 
 " amongft the natives of that country which exifls at prefent in the new 
 " world between the tropics, is the tapir, which is about the fize of 
 a calf ('^)." " The moft corpulent beaft of the new continent," 
 lays count de Buffon, " is the tapir, which is about the fize of a 
 " fmall mule ; and next to it the cabiai, which is about the fize of 
 " a middling hog." 
 
 We have already demonflrated, in the preceding Differtation, that 
 although we llìould grant to thofe philofophers the fuppofed fmnlliiefs 
 of American quadrupeds, nothing could from thence be concluded 
 againft the land or climate of America : as according to the princi- 
 ples cftablilhed by Mr. de Buffon already , quoted by us, the larger 
 
 (/) Hift. Nat. torn xviii. {k) Rechcrch. Philofoph. part Hi. feft. z, 
 
 kind
 
 286 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT, kind of animals are peculiar to intemperate climes, and the fmaller 
 kind to climes which are mild and temperate ; and if the advan- 
 tages of climate are to be deduced from the fize of quadrupeds, 
 we would unqueftionably fay, that the climate of Africa and the 
 fbuth of Afia is much better than that of Europe. But if in 
 America, when it was firft dilcovered by the Europeans, there were 
 no elephants, rhinocerolTes, fea-horfes, camels, &c. they were how- 
 ever once there, if we give credit to de Paw, Sloane, Du Pratz, 
 Lignay, and feveral other authors, who affirm the ancient exif- 
 tence of thefe great quadrupeds in America, founded on the dif- 
 covery of bones, and entire fkeletons of immenfe fize, which were dug 
 up in different places of the new world ; likewife, it we believe what 
 count de Buffon has written in the eighteenth volume of his Hiftory, 
 there was formerly an animal feven times larger than the elephant, 
 called by Mr. MuUer the Maminont {/) ; but in Europe there never 
 was, nor can there be, any quadruped of luch a fize. There were 
 no horfes, affes, or bulls [m) in America until they were tranf- 
 ported there from Europe ; but neither were thefe in Europe until 
 they were tranfported there, or brought from Afia. All animals 
 drew their origin from Afia, and thence fpread through other coun- 
 tries j the neighbourhood of Europe, and the commerce of the Afia- 
 tics with the Europeans, facilitated the paflage of thefe animals into 
 Europe ; and with thefe alfo were introduced there fonie cuffoms and 
 inventions ufeful to life, of which the Americans were deprived, on ac- 
 count of their diftance from thofe countries, and the want of commerce. 
 When count de Buffon affirmed, that the largefl quadruped of the 
 new world was the tapir, and the next the cablai, he had entirely loft 
 memory of the morfe, fea-calves, bufflers, rein-deer, alcos, bears, and 
 
 {!) According to the account given by Muller of this quadruped, it fliould be one hun- 
 dred and thirty-three feet in length, and one hundred and five in height. The count de 
 Buflbn i'peaks thus of it in vokime xvi. "The mon&rous m^mmotrf, whole enormous bones 
 « we have frequently confidered, and which we have conceived to be at Icaltfix times larger than 
 " thofe of the biggeft elephant, exills no more." In volume xxii. he fays, that he is afflired 
 that thofe immenfe bones have belonged to elephants feven or eight times larger than the' one 
 whole Ikelcton he had examined in the royal mufeum of Paris : but in his new work entitled 
 Epothes {it: la Nature, he again affirms the former exigence of that enormous quadruped in 
 America. 
 
 4ni) When we fay there were no bulls in America, we allude only to the common fpecjes 
 employed in agriculture ; for there were hifontes ; which the count de Buffon fometimes thinks 
 to be the common fpecies ; at other times he is doubtful of it. 
 
 the
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 287 
 
 others. He himfelf confefles («) that the fea-calf feen by lord HISSERT. 
 Anion and Rogers in America, and by them called the fea-lion, was 
 incomparably larger than all the fea-calves of the old world. Who 
 would compare the cabiai, which is not larger than a middling hog, 
 with the buftlers and alcos ? The bufflers are equal in general to the 
 common bulls of Europe, and often exceed them in fizc. Let us at- 
 tend to the defcription which Bomare makes of one of thefe quadru- 
 peds tranfported from Louifiana to France, and meafured exactly by 
 that naturalift at Paris, in the year 1769 {0). There was an immcnfe 
 multitude of thefe large quadrupeds in the temperate zone of North 
 America. The alcos of New Mexico are of the fize of a norie. 
 There was a gentleman in the city of Zacatecas, who made ufe of 
 them for his chariot inftead of horfes, according to the teflimony of 
 Betancourt ; and fometimes they have been feiit as prefents to the 
 king of Spain. 
 
 The univerfal pofition of the count de Buffon, that all the quad- 
 rupeds common to both continents are fmaller in America without any 
 exception, has been proved falfc by fevcral European authors who 
 have feen thefe animals j and even by count de Buffon himfelf, ia 
 other places of his Hiftory. Dr. Hernandez fays of the mjztli, or 
 American lion, that it is larger than the lion of the fame fpecies of 
 the old continent. Of the tyger lie affirms the fame(/>). Neither 
 the count de Buffon, nor Mr. de Paw have a juft idea of this wild 
 animal. We faw one a few hours after it was killed by nine fliots : 
 but it was much larger in fizc than we are made to believe by Mr.. 
 Buffon. Thofe authors, fince they do not truft the accounts of 
 Spaniards, ought at lealt to give credit to Mr. Condamine,, the learn- 
 ed and impartial French author, who fays that the tygers k^n. by him 
 in the hot countries of the new world did. not appear to him to differ 
 
 (a) Hiff. Nat. toin. xxvii. 
 
 {0) D'^'tion. d'Hill. Niit. V. BUbn. Bonmre calls that Ainei'ic.in animal on account of its. 
 great fiac the fololT.il cjuatlnipcj ; he fays that its length from its fnout to the beginning oif. 
 its tail m- afuieit by its flanks w.is nine feet and two inches ; its height ftom ihe fuinmit ot it» 
 back to its hoot", five fee: and four inches ; its thicknefs meafured over the hunch of its bick 
 ten feet in circumference. He adds that he underllood from the owner of that animal, that 
 the females were itili larger. 
 
 (/) Vulgar!» eft huic orbi tygris, fed noftrate major. Hlil. Quad. N. Hifj'. cip. x, 
 
 from-.
 
 288 H ì S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT, from the African tygers, neither in the beauty of their colours, nor 
 ^^" in their fize. Of the Mexican wolf Hernandez fays, that in figure, 
 colour, and difpofition, as well as in fize it refembles the European 
 wolf, except that it has a larger head ( 5' ) . The fame thing he af- 
 firms of the common deer, and Oviedo alfo of both the common and 
 other deer. The count de Buffon, notwithflanduig the univerfality of 
 the pofition which he has laid down without any exception, concerning 
 the fmaller fize of American quadrupeds, treating, in volume xxix. 
 of the degeneracy of animals, he fays, that deer are among the 
 quadrupeds common to both continents thofe alone which are more 
 large and ftrong in the new than they are in the old world ; and fpeak- 
 ing, in volume xvii. of the hdra of Canada, he confeffes that they 
 are larger than thofe of Europe ; and the fame thing he fays of the 
 American beaver : although he allowed no exception to his prin- 
 ciple, he {lill admits thofe of the deer, lodra, beavers, and fea- 
 calves. If to thefe we add the tygers, the lions without hair, and 
 the flag, according to the teflimony of Hernandez and Oviedo, we 
 ihall find at lead eight fpecies of quadrupeds common to both conti- 
 nents which are larger of their kind in the new than they are in the 
 old world. To thofe above mentioned we ought alio to add thofe 
 quadrupeds which are equally large in both continents ; as the latter 
 as well as the former demonftrate the falfity of fuch a general prin- 
 ciple. Hernandez affirms, that the Mexican wolf is of the lame fize 
 with the European. Count de Buffon fays, that there is no differ- 
 ence between them, except that the Mexican wolf has a finer Ikin, 
 and five toes in its fore feet, and four in its hind feet. With refpedl 
 to bears, there are at prefent many perfons in Europe who have feen 
 the bears of Mexico and thofe of the Alps. We do not believe that 
 among all of thefe witneffes there will be found one who has ac- 
 knowledged that the European bears are the larger of the two. For 
 ourfelves at leafi: we can declare, that all thofe we have it^w in Mexi- 
 co appeared to be larger than thofe which we have feen in Italy (;•). 
 
 (<■/) Forma, colore, moribus, ac mole corporis Lupo Noftrati limilis eft Cuctlachtll, atqueacco 
 ejus, ut mihi videtur, Ipecici, fed ampliore capiti. Ibid. cap. xxiii. 
 
 (r) The count de Buffon dillinguiflies the fpecies of black from that of brown bears, and 
 i\ftirms. that the black bears are not at all ferocious; but the Mexican bears, which arc "all 
 black, are extremely tierce, as is notorious in Mexico, of which alfo we can bear tcftimony. 
 
 c It
 
 IV. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO., 289 
 
 It is therefore no juft alTertion that all the animals of the new DISSERT. 
 
 world are without exxeption Imallcr than thofe of the old. The 
 
 count de Buffon fpoke at random when he affirmed in another place 
 
 that the animals were all nmc/j fmaller, and that nature had in the 
 
 new world made ufe of a different fcale of dimenfions («). It is eafy 
 
 alfo to demonftrate the miftake of Mr. de Paw, when he fays that 
 
 all the quadrupeds of America are a lixth lefs than their correfpon- 
 
 dents in the old continent. The Tuza of Mexico is analogous to the 
 
 European mole, but is larger according to what count de Buffon fays. 
 
 That Mexican quadruped called by count de Buffon coquaìiine, and 
 
 liy us tlalmototii, is analogous to the European fquirrel, and yet according 
 
 to the lame author is of twice its fize. Tlie cojote, analagous to the 
 
 chacal, is of twice its fize. The llama, or ram of Peru, analogous 
 
 to the European ram, is beyond comparilbn larger, 6cc. But thofe 
 
 philofophers are fo eager to depreciate and undervalue its animals, that 
 
 they even find fubjeél for cenfure in their tails, in their feet, and 
 
 in their teeth. " Not only," fays count de Buffon, *' has their 
 
 *' been a fcarcity of matter intime new continent, but likewife the 
 
 " forms of its animals are imperici:, and appear to have been neo-- 
 
 " le<5led. The animals of South America, which are thofe that 
 
 " properly belong to the new continent, are almoll all deprived of 
 
 " tulks, horns, and tails : their Ihape is extravagant, their limbs dif- 
 
 " proportionate, and ill fct ; and fome of them, like the ant-killcrs 
 
 •' and floths, are of fo miferable a nature, that they have hardly abi- 
 
 " lity to move, and to eat." '* The animals native to the new 
 
 " world," fays Mr. de Paw, " are in general of an ungraceful form; 
 
 " fome of them fo aukwardly made, that thofe who firft made defigns 
 
 " of them could hardly exprefs their charaders. It has been obferved 
 
 •' that the greater p.rt of them want the tail, and have a particular 
 
 " irregularity in their feet. This is remarkable in the tapir, the ant- 
 
 " killer, the llama of Margraf, in the lloth, and the cabcay. The of- 
 
 " triches, which in our continent have not more than two toes, 
 
 " united by a membrane, all have four in America, and thofe fepa- 
 
 " rated." 
 
 (/() Ilift. Nut. torn xxviii. 
 
 Vol. II. P p Such
 
 ago 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 IV 
 
 DISSERT. Such a mode of reaibning is rather a cenfure of the condudt of pro- 
 vidence than of the clime of America, and not unhke the fceptical opi- 
 nions attributed to king Don Alphonlb the Wile, refpedting the difpo- 
 iition of the heavenly bodies. If the firfl individuals of thofe ani- 
 mals came not fo from the hand of the Creator, but the clime of 
 America has been the caufe of their fuppofed irregularity, whenever 
 thofe animals fliould be tranfported to Europe their forms would 
 o-row perfect, and their difpofition aud inilind: alfo ; at leaft after 
 ten or twelve generations thofe miferable animals which the ma- 
 lio-nant clime of America has deprived of their tails, their horns, and 
 tlieir tulks, would recover them under a more benignant clime. No, 
 thofe philofophcrs would fay, becaufe it is not fo eafy to recover from 
 nature what is loft, as to Iole what Ihe has given ; fo that although 
 thofe poor animals would not in the old continent recover their tails,, 
 their tulks, or their horns, ftill it mull be allowed that the climate 
 of America has been the caufe of their lofmg them. Be it fo. At 
 prefent, however, we Ihall not treat of irregularities which confili ia 
 any deficiency but of thofe where there is an excefs of matter. We 
 allude at prefent to the oftriches, which, according to Mr. de Paw {x), 
 have from a vice of nature, two extraordinary toes in each of their feet ; 
 but that we may not quit the quadrupeds, we lliall mention the 
 Unau, a fpecies of American lloth, which amongft other of its irregu- 
 larities, has got forty-fix ribs. " The number of forty-fix ribs ia 
 " an animal of fo fmall a body," fays Mr. de Buffon, " is a kind of 
 " error or excefs of nature ; for no animal even among the largeft, 
 " or among thofe which have the longell body in proportion to their 
 " thicknefs, has fo many. The elephant has not more than forty, the 
 " horfe thirty- fix, the badger thirty, the dog twenty-fix, and man 
 " twenty-four." If the firll Unau which ever was, had the fame 
 number of ribs given it by the Creator which its pollerity have at 
 prefent, the reafoning held by Mr. de Buffon is a cenfure of Provi- 
 dence ; and when he fays that that exceffive number of ribs has been 
 an error of nature, he means an error of Providence, who is efficient 
 
 (.r) Mr. de Paw is deceived with regard to the number of toes of the oflrich of America, for 
 it h:u no more than three ; alrhcugh in the hinder part of its feet it has a round and callous 
 iwelling «liich fervei ìd plr.cc of a talon, and by the vulgar is thought to be a toe. 
 
 nature. 
 
 r' 
 
 lì
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 291 
 
 nature. We are certain fuch an idea is far from the elevated mind of DISSERT, 
 the count de Buffon; but the fpirit of philofophy, which runs through 
 all his works, leads him fonietimes into rather exceptionable expref- 
 fions {a). If, on the contrary, thofc philofophers believe, that the 
 Unau held originally a number of ribs proportioned to the fize of its 
 body, and that the malignant clime of America did increafe them 
 gradually afterwards, we oughtto believe, that if that fpecies of quadru- 
 ped was tranfported to the old continent, and was bred under .a more 
 favouring (ky, it would at lad be reftored to its primitive perfection. 
 Let the experiment be made ; let two or three males of this ungrace- 
 ful fpecie«, and as many females, be tranfported there, and if, after 
 twenty or more generations, it is found that their number of ribs begins 
 to diminifh, then we fliall acknowledge th.Jt the land of America is 
 the moft unhappy, and its clim.itc the moll baneful in all the world. 
 If it happens otherwife, we will lay, as we fhall henceforward fay, 
 that the logic of thefe gentlemen is more contemptible than that qua- 
 druped, and that their reafonings are mere paralogifms. In other re- 
 fpedts it is truly to be wondered at in a country where there has been 
 fuch a fcarcity of matter, that nature ihould have made a tranf- 
 greflion by an excefs of it in tiic ribs of lloths, and in the toes of 
 oftriches. 
 
 But to fliew that thofe philofophers, while exerting themfelves to 
 fix the charadler of malignity on the climate of the new world, had 
 totally loft recolledion of the miferies of their own continent ; let us 
 alk them what is the moft miferable animal in America, they will 
 immediately anfwcr, the lloth ; becaufe this animal is the moft im- 
 perfect in its oganization, the moft incapable of motion, the moft 
 unprovided with arms for its defence, and above all, that it appears to 
 have lefs fenfations than any other quadruped ; an animal, truly wretch- 
 ed, condemned by nature to inadiivity, liftlelfiiefs, famine, and melan- 
 choly, by which it continually excites the compaffion and horror of 
 
 (<j) The count de Buffon, dcfirous of affigning a reafon why man reiilis the influence of cli- 
 mate better than the animals, fay?, in volume xviii. " Man is altngctlicr the work of 
 •' heaven, the animals in many refpc^^s are but produifiions of the earth." This proportion 
 appears a little too bold ; but we meet with many llill ftronger in his Epochcs dc la Nature. 
 
 P p 2 other
 
 292 
 
 HISTORY O F M E X I C O. 
 
 IV 
 
 DISSERT, other Ipecies. But this clais of quadrupeds, fo famous for their mlf- 
 I ery, is common to both ccntinents. Count de Buffon will not believe it, 
 becanfs it does not fuit his fyftem, and fays, that if any floth is found 
 in Afia, it mufl have been tranfported there from America; but 
 v/hatever he m.ay fay, it is certain, from the atteflations of Klein, Lin- 
 nseus, BrilTon, the publiiher of the Cabinet of Seba, and above them 
 all Vofmaer, a learned and diligent natiiralifl of Holland {a), that 
 the Unau, one of the fpecies of floths, is an Afiatic animal. The 
 Unau of Bengal, which has been feen, bred, and exadly defcribed by 
 this naturaliii:, cannot have been tranfported from America ; for no 
 commerce between South America and Afia has ever fubfifled. Be- 
 fides, the Unau of Bengal differs from that of America : the former 
 has five, the latter only two toes to its feet. If the count de Buffon 
 is perfuaded that the climate of Afia could increafe the number of toes 
 of the American quadruped, we would then fay to thofe quadrupeds 
 that the climate of the old continent would be capable of reftoring the 
 tails, horns, and tufks, of which the pernicious climate of America 
 has deprived them. Whoever will read the eloquent defcription 
 given of the American floth by the count de Buffon, and compare it 
 with that given by Mr. Vofmaer of the floth pentadaSlykis of Ben- 
 gal, will foon perceive that this Afiatic quadruped is as miferable as 
 • thofe of America. 
 
 But let us philofophically examine v/hat thofe authors fay refpeóting 
 the fuppofed irregularity of thofe quadrupeds. Real irregularity in ani- 
 mals is feme difproportion of their limbs, or fingularity in the form, 
 or in the difpofitions of fome individuals with refpedt to the generality 
 of their fpecies, not that which is obfcrved in a new fpecies com- 
 pared with one which is known. It would be extremely abfurd to 
 confider the techichi an irregular animal, becaufe it does not bark. 
 This is an American quadruped, which, from its refemblance to Eu- 
 ropean dogs, was called dog by the Spaniards : not becaufe it was of 
 the fame fpecies : and from thence role the fable propagated by not a 
 few authors, that in America dogs were mute. Wolves are extreme- 
 
 (<; Dejhlftloti de plujiaas Animau.x. A work iirinted at Amflerdam.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 29: 
 
 IV 
 V .^ ' 
 
 ly fimilar to dogs, but they do not bark. If the firfl Spaniards who dissert. 
 
 went to Mexico had not feen wolves in Europe, when they faw thofe 
 
 of Mexico they would have reported, that there were large dogs there 
 
 wliich could not be tamed, and that tiiey did not bark, but howled. 
 
 And this would have furnilhed count de Buffon and- Mr. de Paw 
 
 witli a new argument to prove the degeneracy and irregularity of 
 
 American animals. 
 
 The argument of Mr. de Paw concering American oflriches has 
 no more weight. The Toiiyoii is an American bird fpecifically dif- 
 ferent from the oftrich ; but becaufe it is large, and very fimilar lo 
 that African bird, it has been vulgarly called oftrich. This is fuffi- 
 cient to make Mr. de P.iw affirm that there is irregularity in tliofe 
 American birds; but if we fhould allow that the Touyou is truly an 
 oftri'^h he could not make out his pofition. He would make us be- 
 lieve the American oftrich irregular, becaufe inftcad of having only 
 two toes united by a membrane like the African, it has four feparate 
 toes. But an American might fay that the African oftrich is rather 
 irregular, becaufe inftead of having four feparate toes, it has only 
 two, and thofe united by means of a membrane. " No," Air. de 
 Paw would reply in rage, " it is not fo : the irregularity is certainly 
 " in your oftrichcs, becaufe they do not conform with thofe ,of the 
 ** old world which are the original fpecies ; nor with ths reprefentation 
 " which the moft famous naturalifts of Europe have left us of fuch 
 " birds." " Our world," the American would return, " which you 
 " call new, becaufe three centuries ago it was not difcovered by you^ 
 " is as ancient as yours, and our animals are cotemporary with yours. 
 ** They are under no necefiity of conforming with your animals, nei- 
 *' their are we to blaiiie that the fpecies of our animals have been un- 
 " known to your naturalifts, or confounded by a fuperficial know- 
 ".ledge of them. Therefore either your.oftriches are irregular bc- 
 " caufe they do not conform with ours ; or at Icaft ours ought not 
 " to be called irregular becaufe they do not conform with yours. 
 " Until vou demonftrate to us by inconteftible proofs, that the firft 
 •' oilriches came from the hand of the Creator with only two toes 
 
 (c ) In Peru the oftrich is known by the name of Suri, 
 
 ** united
 
 294 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT. " united by a membrane, you v/ill never perfuade us of the irregu- 
 t ^ ' ■ " larity of our Touyou." This mode of argument, whicli is with- 
 out doubt unanfwerable, is fufficient to defeat the fyftems adopted by 
 thofe philofophers, arifing from flight and indigeiled ideas, and flrong 
 prepofleflions in favour ot the old continent. 
 
 Thofe philofophers are not more happy in their difcourfes on the 
 tails of quadrupeds than in their obfervations on the feet of oftri- 
 ches. They fay direftly, and without any regard to truth, that the 
 greater part of the quadrupeds of the new continent are totally defti- 
 tude .of tails ; which, like all the other effedbs obfcrved by them in 
 thofe unfortunate countries, they afcribe to the mifery of the American . 
 fky, to the infancy of nature in that part of the world, to the fatality of 
 the climate, and other combinations of the elements. ' Thus thofe 
 celebrated philofophers of this enlightened century reafon. But there 
 being, according to count de Buffon, feventy fpecies of American 
 quadrupeds, it v/ould be neceflary that at leali forty of them were 
 without tails in order to verify what Mr. de Paw has faid, that the 
 majority of them were deprived of this member ; and many more 
 would be requifite to prove true, that almoft all the quadrupeds were 
 unfurnifhed with tails as count de Buffon afHrms. However, ani- 
 mals of this defcription in America, as we fhall prefently find, are 
 only fix in number, therefore the propofition is a monftrous hyper- 
 bole, not to fay an idle falfshood. 
 
 It appears that in the time of Pliny no other animals were known 
 to be without tails but man and the ape. If fince that time there 
 had been no other animal unfurnifhed with fuch member difcovered 
 in the old continent, count de Buffon and M. de Paw would have 
 been right in taxing the American quadrupeds with it j but from the 
 Hiflory of count de Buffon it is evident, the fpecies without tails are 
 n")ore numerous in the old continent than in America. Here follows 
 a lift of both, extrad:ed from the Hiflory of count de Buffon. 
 
 Quadrupeds without tails in the old continent. 
 
 1 . The Pongo, or Orang Outang, or Satyr or Man of the Woods. 
 
 2. The Pithecus, or Proper Ape. 
 
 ■3. The
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 3. The Gibbon, another fpecles of ape. 
 
 4. The Cynocephalus, or Magoto. 
 
 5. The Turkilh dog. 
 
 6. The Tanrec of Madagafcar. 
 
 7. The Loris of Ceylon. 
 
 8. The Indian Pig. 
 
 9- 
 
 10. 
 
 II. 
 
 295 
 
 12. 
 
 14. 
 
 I. 
 2. 
 
 3- 
 
 4- 
 
 5- 
 6. 
 
 The Rofg!n\ '^'^° ^P'^^"' °^ S'-eat bats of Afia. 
 The golden mole of Siberia, 
 
 To which the three following fl:iould be added : 
 The five- toed floth of Bengal, defcribed by Vofmaer. 
 The Klipda, or baftard marmot, of the Cape of Good Hope^ 
 
 defcribed by Vofmaer. 
 The Capiverd, or Capivard of the Cape of Good Hope, defcribed 
 . by Bomare. 
 
 In America. 
 The Unau fpecies of floth. 
 The Cabeay, or amphibious hog. 
 The Aperca of Brafil. 
 The Indian pig. 
 The Saino, Pecar, or Cojamet/. 
 The Tapeto. 
 
 DISSERT. 
 
 IV. 
 < .^ » 
 
 Therefore in the old continent there are at leaft fourteen fpecies or 
 quadrupeds {d) unfurnilhed with tails, and in Anierica only fix, of 
 which we might except the two laft, as they are uncertain {e). In all 
 the thirty volumes of the Hiflory of Quadrupeds of count de Buffon, 
 
 (d) To the fourteen fpecies above mentioned we might add the Unau Dydaflylus of Ceylon 
 mentioned by fcvf ral authors, and the Porte-mufc, defcribed by Mr. Aubenton and Bomare - 
 but we omit the firll, bccaufe we are not certain that it is difteient from the Loris of Buftbn - 
 wc pafs the fecond alfo, bccaufe it may have fome little tail, although the diligent M. d' Au- 
 benton did not find it. 
 
 (e) The Pecar is d< fcribcd by OviedtS, Hernandez, and Acolla, under the names Saino and 
 Cojametl ; but they fay nothing of its want of a tail. We have been informed by accurate and 
 diiìintì perfons, who have fccn many Pecars, that they had a tail, although it was fmall. 
 With rcfpctft to the Tapcto, the ccunt de Buffon believes it to be the CitH of Hernandez. But 
 all Mexicans know that the Cidi of Hernandez is the hare of Mexico, and we are certain it 
 -bas a tail like the common hare of Europe. 
 
 we
 
 296 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT.' we have found no other American animal without a tail except 
 
 ^ J , thofe above mentioned : and notwithftanding he ventured to affirm that 
 
 in the new world almoft all the animals were deprived of tails ; it 
 appears from hence that fuch univerfal propofitions are as eafily offered 
 as they are difficult of proof. 
 
 If the clime of America is fo pernicious to the tails of animals, how 
 comes it that while four fpecies of apes of the old continent are depri- 
 ved of fuch a member, namely, the Pongo, the Pithecus, the Gibbon, and 
 the Cyjiocephalus , all the fpecies of apes of the new world have them, and 
 fom.e, fuch as the Saki, have tails fo long that they are twice the length 
 of their bodies ; why do fquirrels, Coquallims, ant-killers, and other 
 fuch quadrupeds, abound in. America, which are furnillied with fuch 
 enorn:ious tails in proportion to their bodies ? Why has the marmot 
 of Canada, although it is of the fame fpecies with that of the Alps, 
 a larger tail, as count de Buffon himfelf confefles ? Why have the deer 
 of America, although fm.aller than thofe of the old continent, a longer 
 tail, as the fame author affirms ffj ? If the climate of America was 
 ever poilefled of feme principle deftrudlive to tails of animals, thofe 
 which Columbus tranfported there from Europe, and the Canary Ifles, 
 in 1493, would have by this time lofi all tail, particularly hogs, which 
 carried fuch fliort tails there, or at leaft they would have been remark- 
 ably fhortcned after two hundred and eighty-eight years ; but among 
 all the Europeans who have kti\ the fheep, horfes, oxen, &c. bred in 
 America, and thofe which were bred at the fame time in Europe, there 
 has not been one writer who could find any difference between the 
 tails of the one and the other. 
 
 This fame argun^ent is equally valid againfl what count de Buffon 
 fays upon the want of horns, and tufks in the greater part of American 
 quadrupeds, as the oxen, the ffieep, and goats, preferve v>ithout change 
 their horns, the dogs and hogs their teeth, and the cats their nails, as 
 all thofe who have i'^ttn and compared them with thofe of Europe can 
 teflify. If the clime of America was fo deflrudtive to the teeth and 
 horns of animals, a number of them would have been lofi, at leali: by 
 the pofterity of thofe quadrupeds of Europe, v/hich were tranfported 
 
 (/) Hift, Nat. torn, xviii. 
 
 there
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 29,7 
 
 there almofl three centuries ago, and much more the generations of dissep,T. 
 wolves, bears, and other fimilar quadrupeds, which pafied there from 
 Afia, perhaps in the firft century after the dckige. If, on the contrary, 
 the temperate zone of Europe is n^ore propitious to the teeth of animals 
 than the torrid zone of the new world, why did nature give to the 
 latter, and not to the former, the tapir and crocodile, which in num- 
 ber, fize, and Iharpncfs of their teeth, exceed all the quadrupeds and 
 reptiles of Europe ? 
 
 Lafhly, If there are fome animals in America without horns, with- 
 out teeth (g), and without tails, it is not owing to the climate or 
 niggard ficy of Anierica, or any imaginary combination of the elements, 
 but becaufe the Creator, whofe works and whofc counfels we fhould 
 humbly revere, chofe it fo, that fuch variety might ferve to embellilli 
 the univerfe, and maice his wifdom and his power more confpicuous. 
 What gives beauty to fome animals would i-ender others deformed. It is 
 perfedlion in a horfe to have a large tail, in the ilag to have a fmall 
 one, and in the Pongo to have none at aii. 
 
 With refpeil to wh-t cUr philofophers fay of the uglinefs of the ani- 
 mals cf America, it is true, that among fo many, there are fome whofe 
 forms do not correfpond with the ideas which we entertain of the 
 beauty of bealls ; but who has allured us, that our ideas are juft, and 
 not imperfeft, and occafioned by the narrownefs of our minds ? And 
 how many animals could wc not find in the old continent fliill worfe 
 formed than any beafc of America ? What quadruped is there in 
 America which can be compared, in the deformity and difpropo; tion, 
 of its limbs with the elephant, called by the count de Buffon a mo/i- 
 Jler of matter \Jj)i Its vaft mafs of flelh, higher than it is long, its 
 
 (o) Amonc; ;ill the quadrupeds of tlic nru' world, the ant-killcrs alone arc deflitute of teeth, 
 like the Pangolino and Taiagino of the Eall Indies, which quadrupeds are covered with fcales 
 in ead of hair. All thofe quadrupeds which feed on nothing but ants have no occafion for 
 teeth ; but they are furnillicd by the Creator with a long tongue, with which ihey can dcxter- 
 oufly lick up the ants and fwallow them. 
 
 (h) En confidcrant cet animal, (f.iys Eomarc of the elephant) relativcment à l'idee, qui 
 nous avons de la julìcflè des proportions, il fumble mal-proportloné a caufe de fon corps gres 
 et court, des fes jambes roides ct mal-formécs, des fes pieds rends ct tortus, de fa tcte groflb, 
 dc fes petits ycux ct des fcsgrandes orcilles ; on pourroit d ri auffi que I'habit dont il cfl couvcrt 
 eft encore plus mal taillc et plus mal fair. S.i trompc, fes dcfenfes, fes picds Ic rcndent aufli 
 extraordinaire que la grandeur de fa taillc. 
 
 Vol. IL Q^q difgufi:-
 
 IV 
 
 298 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, difeuftful flcin without hair and farrowed with wrinkles ; its enor- 
 nious trunk inftead of a nofe ^ its long teeth placed without its mofl 
 hideous mouth, and turned upwards, contrary to what is obferved in 
 other animals, in order to increafe the deformity of its face j its vaft 
 polygonous ears ; its thick, crooked, and proportionably fmall legs ; 
 its unformed feet, with toes fcarcely diftinguifhed j and laftly, its 
 diminutive eyes and ridiculoufly fmall tail to a body fo immenfe, are all 
 circumflances which render the elephant a mofl: irregular quadruped. 
 We challenge our phllofophers to find in the new world an animal 
 more difproportianed, or whofe form is more ungraceful. Similar 
 refledlions arife from viewing the camel, the Macaco, of which 
 count de Buffon fays that it is hideovjly deformed, and more fo than all 
 other animals of the old continent ; we dare not, however, blame the 
 clime to which they belong, nor cenfure the Supreme Artificer who 
 formed them. 
 
 What our philofophers fay with refpefl to the fmaller ferocity of 
 American wild beafiis, inftead of aifiiling them to prove the malignity 
 of that clime, ferves only to demonftrate its mildnefs and bounty. 
 ** In America," fays count de Buffon, " where the air and the land are 
 " more mild than thofe of Africa, the tyger, the lion, and the pan- 
 " ther are terrible only in name . . . They have degenerated, it fierce- 
 " nefs joined to cruelty made their nature; or, to fpeak more pro- 
 " perly, they have only fuffered the influence of the climate." What 
 more can be defired in favour of the climate of America? Why, 
 therefore, does he ever adduce the fmaller ferocity of American animals 
 as an argument of their degeneracy occafioned by the malignity of that 
 clime? If the climate of the old continent fliould be efteemed better 
 than that of the new world, becaufe under the former the wild beafts are 
 found more terrible, for the fame reafon the climate of Africa ought to 
 be efteemed incomparably more excellent than that of Europe. This 
 argument, which we have already made ufe of, might be carried much 
 farther to the confufion of our philofophers. 
 
 But thofe authors have not a juft idea of American animals. It is 
 true that the Miztii, or Mexican lion, is not to be com.pared with the 
 celebrated lions of Africa. The latter fpecies either never did pafs 
 into the new world, or was extirpated by man ; but the former does 
 
 not
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 299 
 
 not yield to thofe of its fpecies, or the lion without hair of the old DISSERT, 
 continent, according to the teftiniony of Hernandez, who knew both 
 the one and the other. The Mexican tyger, whether it is or is not 
 of the fame fpecies with the royal tyger of Africa, as that is of no 
 importance, has furprifmg ftrength and ferocity. There is no qua- 
 druped, among thofe of Europe or America, which can be oppofed 
 to it. It intrepidly attacks and tears men, deer, horfes, bulls, and 
 even the moft monftrous crocodiles, as Acofta affirms. This learned 
 author vaunts both its intrepidity and fwiftnefs. G. de Oviedo, 
 who had travelled through many countries of Europe, and was not 
 ignorant of natural hiftory, fpeaking of thofe American tygers, fays, 
 " They are animals very flrong in the legs, well armed with 
 " claws, and fo terrible, that, in my judgment, none of the greateft 
 " royal lions can rival their ftrength and ferocity." The tyger is the 
 terror of the American woods ; it is not poffible to tame it or catch it 
 when it is grown up : thofe which are taken when young are not to 
 be kept without danger, unlefs they are fliut up in the ftrongeft 
 cages of wood or iron. Such is the character of thofe animals which 
 are called cowardly by Mr. de Paw and other authors, who were un- 
 able to diftinguifla the fpecies of quadrupeds with fpotted ll^ins. 
 
 It is however certain, that thofe authors fliew themfelves as cre- 
 dulous of everything they find written concerning the fize, ftrength, 
 and intrepidity of the royal tygers of the old continent, as they are ob- 
 ftinate in denying faith to what eye-witneifes fay of American tygers. 
 Count dc Buffon believes, upon the attcftation of we do not know what 
 author, that the royal tyger is from thirteen to fourteen feet in length, 
 and five in height ; that it will engage with three elephants, kill a buffii- 
 loe, and drag it wherever it pleafes, and other fimilarabfurdities, which 
 can only gain belief from thofe who are prejudiced in favour of the 
 old continent. If fome authors deferving of faith lliould relate of the 
 American tygers a fev/ of the particulas which are told of Aliatic ty- 
 gers they would be confidered as idle exaggerating boafters (/). The 
 account which Pliny(^) gives of the artifices of hunters in robbing the 
 
 (/■) It is fufficient to obffivc the little cndit given hy tlicfc autliors to tlic tcllitnony ot' 
 Mr. Caiidamine, notwithrtanding the elleciii in which they held that learned inathamati- 
 cian. 
 
 (i) Nat. Hill. lib. viii. cap. 18. 
 
 Q^q 2 tyger
 
 30O H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O, 
 
 DISSERT, tyger of its young, and the coolnefs of temper with which it carries them 
 
 IV 
 
 of again one by one, and that which Bomare relates [i) of ihe combat 
 in the year 1764, in Windfor foreft, in England, between the flag and a 
 tyger brought from India to the duke of Cumberland, in which the 
 flag came off conqueror, fliews us that the ferocity of thofe Aliatic 
 wild bealls is not fo great as count de Buffon and Mr. de Paw repre- 
 fent it. 
 
 The American wolves are not lefs flrong nor bold than thofe of the 
 old continent, as all who have had any experience of them both know. 
 Even flags, which as Pliny fays, are very tranquil animals, are fo daring 
 in Mexico, that they frequently attack the hunters ; this fadl is tefli- 
 fied by Hernandez, and is notorious in that kingdom ; we have feen 
 in our own dwelling the vicious nature of a flag, which had be- 
 come almofl domeflic, fhew itfelf moft cruelly upon an American girl. 
 
 But let the American quadrupeds be fmaller in fize, more ungrace- 
 ful in form, and more pufillanimous in their nature ; let us grant to 
 thofe philofophers tliat from fuch a pofition the happinefs of the cli- 
 mate of the old continent is to be deduced ; they will not flill per- 
 fuade us, that it is a full proof and a certain argument of the ma- 
 lignity of the American climate, while they do not fhew us in the rep- 
 tiles and birds of America (/) the fame degeneracy which they 
 fuppofe in quadrupeds. Mr. de Paw fays of American crocodiles,, 
 whofe ferocity is notorious, that it appeats from the obfervations of 
 Mr. du Pratz, and others, that they have not the fury and impetu- 
 ofity of thofe of Africa. But Hernandez, who knew both the one 
 and the other, found no difference between them (/;/). Acofla fays, 
 that thofe of America are extremely fierce, but flowj but this 
 llownefs is not in a progrefiive line forwards, in which motion they are 
 
 (/t) Bomare Diftion. d'Hlftorie Nat. V. Tigre. 
 
 (/) The count de Buffon might fay, as he obferves in vol. xviii. that we ought not to 
 confider the birds wilh refpeft to climate in this particular, becaufe it being eafy for them to 
 pafs from one climate to another, it would be almoft impollible to determine which belonged 
 properly to the one or to the other. But as the caufe of the pafTage of birds is the cold 
 or the heat of the feafons, which they wifti to avoid, on this account the American birds 
 have no occafion to leave their continent, becaufe there they have countries of every fort 
 of clime to flielter themfelves from every hurtful fcafon, and where they can always find 
 their food. We ar<; altogether certain, that the Mexican birds do not travel to the old 
 continent. 
 
 (m) Hern. Hift. Nat, Ub.ix. cap. 3. 
 
 mofl
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 301 
 
 moft fwlft and adive, but in turning only, or bending from one fide DISSERT, 
 to another, as is the cafe with the crocodiles of Africa, on account of 
 the inflexibility of their vertebra. Hernandez affirms that the Acu- 
 etzpalin or Mexican crocodile flies from thofe who attack it, but pur- 
 fues thofe who fly from it, although the former cafe h:ippens more 
 feldom than the latter. Pliny fays the fame thing of African croco- 
 diles (;z). In fliort, if we compare what Pliny fays of the latter with 
 what Hernandez fays of the former, it will appear that there is not 
 even a difference of fize between them [0). 
 
 Witli regard to birds, Mr. de Paw makes mention only of oftri- 
 ches, and that (o negligently as we have fliewn. He certainly ds- 
 figned to be filent on this fubjedt, difcovering that on this fide his 
 caufe was loft, for whether we confider number or variety of fpecies, 
 intrepidity, or beauty of plumage, and excellence of fong, the old 
 continent cannot be compared with America as to birds. Of their 
 furpriling multitude we have already fpoken. The fields, the 
 woods, the rivers, the lakes, and even inhabited places are filled 
 with innumerable fpecies. Gemelli, who had made the tour of the 
 world, and kcw the beft countries of Afia, Africa, and Europe, de- 
 clares that there is not a country in the world which can compare, 
 with New Spain in the beauty and variety of its birds (/>). See what 
 is faid by the hiftori.ins of New France, Louifiana, Brafil, and other 
 countries of the new world, on this fubje<5t. 
 
 Of the ftrcngth and courage of American birds many European 
 authors worthy of credit make mention. Hernandez, who had (o 
 much experience of birds of prey, in the court of Philip II. king of 
 Spain, at the time when hawking was moft in vogue, and had obferv- 
 ed alfo thofe of Mexico, confefTes when he talks of the Slnaubtotliy. 
 or Mexican falcon, that all the birds of this clafs are better and more 
 
 (n) Terribilis hacc contra fu2;aces belkia eft, fugax contra infequcntes.- Plin. Hift. Nat. 
 lib. viii. cap. 25. 
 
 (») Pliny fays that the African crocodile is ofrcn more than eighteen cubits, or twenty- 
 fcven Roman feet in length. Heniande/. affinns tliat the Mexican crocodile is ufually more 
 tfian feven paces long. It he fpeaks of Caftilian paces, they :nake almoft twenty-eight Roman 
 feet; if he fpeaks of Roman paces, they will make thirty-five feet, fo that the difl'erence is 
 trifling, or it there is any it is in favour of the American crocodile. 
 
 (^) Ella e tanta la 'vaghezza e la •varietà degli uccelli della N. Spagna cha non v*e paefe al 
 mondo, the nt abbia pari. Giro del Mondo, tom. vi. lib. ii. cap. g, 
 
 coara-
 
 302 
 
 HISTOP.Y OF MEXICO. 
 
 DlSSErvT. courageous in New Spain, than they are in the old continent (^). On 
 ^^ ■ account of the excellence of the Mexican falcons having been known 
 and acknowledged, Charles the V. ordered that every year fifty hawks 
 fhould be fent to him from New Spain, and as many from the ifland 
 of Hifpaniola, as the hiftorian Herrera attefts ; and Acofta relates, 
 that the falcons of Mexico and Peru, becaufe they were much 
 efteemed, were fent in prefents to the grandees of Spain. Acofta alfo 
 fays, that the condors, or Mexican vultures, are of an inmienfe 
 fize, and have fo much ftrength, that they not only tear a ram, but 
 even a calf ^ and D. A. Ulloa teftifies, that a ftroke of their wing 
 will knock down a man (r). Hernandez fays, that the Itzqimuhtli, or 
 royal eagle of Mexico, attacks men, and even the fiercefl quadrupeds. 
 If the climate of America had taken from the quadrupeds their 
 flrength and courage, it would without doubt have produced the fame 
 efFed on birds : but from the teftimony of the above mentioned writ- 
 ers, and other European authors, it is manifeft that they are not 
 feeble or pufillanimous, but that they excel thofe of the old continent 
 in intrepidity and ftrength. 
 
 With refpeót to the beauty of birds, thofe authors do not refufe the 
 fuperiority to America, although in other refpeóts they have fo eager- 
 ly depreciated the new world. Whoever would form to himlelf a 
 competent idea of them, may confult Oviedo, Hernandez, Acofta, 
 Ulloa, and other European authors, who have i^CQn the birds of Ame- 
 rica. In New Spain, fays Acofta, there is a great plenty of birds 
 adorned with fuch beautiful plumage, that they are not equalled by 
 any in Europe. 
 
 It is true, fay many European authors, that American birds are fu- 
 perior in beauty of plumage', but not in excellence of fong, in which they 
 are exceeded by thofe of Europe. So think two modern Italians (j-) : 
 
 but 
 
 (y) Fatcor accipitrum omne genus apud banc r.ovam Hifpaniam, Jucatanicamve proviiiciam 
 repertum pra;flantuis effe atque animofius vetere in orbe natia. Hernandez de Avibiis N. Hifp. 
 eap. 92. 
 
 (r) Tlie condor is fo large as to meafure from fourteen to fixteen feet from tip to tip of the . 
 wings when extended. Bomare fays it is common to both continents ; and that the Swifs 
 call it the iaemmcr-geycr ; but notwithftanding this, it is certain that no bird of prey has been 
 found yet on the old continent equal in fize and ftrength to the condor of America. 
 
 (s) The author of a certain Differtation metaphyfical and political, Sulla Proportzione tie' 
 
 Talenti
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 203 
 
 but however learned they are in certain fpeculative fubjefts, they are DISSERT» 
 equally ignorant of the produdlions of America : it will be fufficicnt, 
 in order to confute thofe authors, to fubjoin the teftiuiony of Hernan- 
 dez to this point (/) ; who, after having heard the finging of the belt 
 nightingales at the court of Philip II. heard for many years the cent- 
 %ontU or polyglots, the cardinals tigrcts, the cuitlaccochis, and other in- 
 numerable fpecies of vulgar linging birds in Mexico unknown in Eu- 
 rope, beiides the nightingales, calderines calandras, and others com- 
 mon to both continents. Among the finging birds moft efteemed in 
 Europe the nightingale is the moft celebrated, but it fings ftill better 
 in America, according to the affirmation of Mr. Bonure. The night- 
 ingale of Louifiana is, he fays, the fame with that of Europe ; but 
 it is more tame and familiar, and lings the whole year, and has a 
 more varied fong. Thele are three coaliJcrable advantages which it 
 poflefles over the European bird. But although there were not in 
 America either nightingales, calandras, or any one of thofe birds which 
 areefteemed in Europe for their fong, the centzontii or polyglot alone 
 would be fufficient to excite the envy of any country in the world. We 
 are free to declare to our Anti-american philofophers, that what Her- 
 nandez fays of the excellence of the polyglot over the nightingale is 
 extremely true, and agreeable to the opinion of many Europeans who 
 have been in Mexico, and alfo of many Mexicans who have been in 
 Europe. Befides the fingular fweetnefs of its fong, the prodigious va- 
 riety of its notes, and its agreeable talent in counterfeiting the differ- 
 ent tones of the birds and quadrupeds which it hears [li) ; it is lefs 
 
 Talenti e del loro Ufo, in which he has written mod prcpofterous particulars refpeeTing America, 
 and (hewn hiinfclf as ignorant as a child of the land, the eli. nate, the animals and the inhabi- 
 tants of that new world. The other is the author of fome beautiful Italian f ibles in one of 
 which an American bird holds a difcourfe uith a nightingale. 
 
 (/) In cavcis quibus detinctur, fuavlffimecantat ; nee c(l avis ulla, ai'.iinalvc cujus vocem non 
 rcddat luculi:ntillime ct cxquillitillime aemulctur. ()uid ? Philoniclairi noltram longo finiciat in- 
 tervallo, cujus fuavillimum concentum tantoperc laudant celcbrantquc, vttulli auftores, et 
 quidquid avicularum apud noflrum orbem cautu auJitur fuaviinaium. Hernandez dc Avibus 
 N. Hifp. cap. 30 de centzontlatole five centzontii. 
 
 Linnjcus calls the centzontii orphcus. Otlier authors call it mocquenr, the mocking-blrJ, or 
 Bellardo. 
 
 {11) Mr. B.irrington, vice-prcfiJent of the Royal Society of London, fays, in a curious work 
 he has written on the linging of birds, and prclcntcd to that learned academy, that he heard a 
 polyglot w. ich C'-unterfcited in the fpacc of one finglc minute, the linging of the lar!., thej 
 chaffinch, the black-bird, the fparro'.v, and the thrufli.
 
 3°4 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, fliy than the nightingale, and more common, as its fpecies is one of 
 the moft numerous. If we were difpofed to reafon in the manner of 
 Mr. de Paw, we could, in order to demonflrate the benignity of the 
 American chme, add, that feme birds which are not valued in Eu- 
 rope for their finging, fing much better in America. The fparrows, 
 fays \^aldecebro, an European author, which do not fmg in Spain, are 
 in New Spain better than calderines {x). 
 
 What we obferve of finging birds may be applied alfo to thofe 
 which imitate the human voice ; for in Afia and Africa the fpecies 
 of parrots are neither lb many nor fo numerous as they are in Ame- 
 rica. 
 
 But as we are difcourfmg of birds, we will, before we end this fub- 
 je<St, make an obvious reflection. There is not an American animal 
 which draws fo much reproach upon it from our philofophers as the 
 (loth, on account of its aftonifhing indolence and inability of motion. 
 But what would they fay if there was a bird of this nature ? This 
 would certainly be the moft irregular animal in the world, for fuch 
 an inadivity or flownefs is more prepofterous in a bird than a quad- 
 ruped. But where is this bird ? In the old continent, and has been 
 defcribed by count de Buffon ; who fays that the Dronte, a bird of the 
 Eail: Indies, larger than the fwan, is among birds what the lloth is 
 among quadrupeds : it appears, he (ays, a turtle in the cloathing of a 
 bird; and nature in granting it thofe ufelefs ornaments, wings and 
 tail, fecms to have intended to add embarraffment to its weight, and 
 irregularity of motion to the inaftivity of its body, and to make 
 its cumbrous largenefs flill more afflicting, by putting it in remem- 
 brance that it is a bird. 
 
 From what we have fiid we cannot avoid concluding, that the fliy 
 of America is not niggardly, nor its climate unfavourable to the genera- 
 tion of animals ; that there has been no fcarcity of matter, nor has 
 nature made ufe of a different fcale of proportions in that region : that 
 what count de Buffon, and Mr. de Paw have faid of the fmallnefs, of the 
 irregularity and defetìs of American quadrupeds is erroneous, or rather a 
 ferics of errors : and tliough it was true, it would be of no affillance 
 
 (.v) In a work entitled Goiierno tic las Airs, lib. v. cap. 29. But we haye alicady obferr- 
 td, thai the Mexican fjxirrow, though refcjiiblin^, is dittticnt from, the true fparrow. 
 
 to
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 305^ 
 
 to prove the malignity of the climate of America. But we fliall now dissert. 
 
 IV 
 
 enquire whether they have done lefs wrong to the new world in what v ^J » 
 
 they fay of the fappofed degeneracy of quadrupeds tranfported there 
 from Europe. 
 
 SECT. II. 
 
 Of the Animals tranj^orted from Europe to America. 
 
 ALL the animals tranfported from Europe to America, fuch as 
 horfes, afles, bulls, iTieep, goats, hogs, and dogs, are, fays count de 
 Buffon, conf der ably f mailer there than they are in Europe, and that, with- 
 out onefngle exception. If we feek for the proof of fo general, or rather 
 an univerfal alTertion, we fliall find no other in all the hiftory of that 
 philofopher, than, that cows, flieep, goats, hogs, and dogs are fmaller 
 in Canada than they are in France. The European or Afiatic animals, 
 fays Mr. de Paw, that were tranfported to America immediately after its 
 difcovery, have degenerated, their corpulence has diminiflied, and they 
 have loft: a portion of their inft:in6t and genius : tlie cartilages or fibres 
 of their flefh have become more rigid and more grofs. Such is the gener- 
 al conclufion of Mr. de Paw. Let us now attend to the proofs. Firft:, 
 The flefli of oxen in the ifland of Hifpaniola is fo fibrous than it can 
 hardly be eaten ; fecondly, the hogs in the ifland of Cubagua changed in 
 a fliort time their forms to fuch a degree, that they could hardly be 
 known again ; their nails grew fo much that they were half a palm 
 in length. Thirdly, Sheep fufl'ered a great alteration in Barbadoes. 
 Fourthly, Dogs tranfported from tlieir own countries lofe their voice, 
 and ceafe to bark, in the greater part of the regions of the new con- 
 tinent. Fifthly, The cold of Peru incapacitated camels carried there 
 from Africa, in their organs of generation. Such are the arguments 
 which thofe philofophers ufe to afccrtain the degeneracy of animals of 
 the old continent, in the new world ; arguments which, if they were 
 true, would not be fufficient to prove fo univerfal a pofition : becaufe 
 of what importance is it that the flefli of oxen is fo fibrous in the 
 ifland of Hifpaniola, if in all the other parts of America it is good, and 
 
 R r in
 
 3o6 H I S T O R Y O F ' M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT. ;,^ many, particularly in all thofe of Mexico which are fituated on 
 u -i^-.i.^ the coall of the Pacific Ocean, equal to the befl: in Europe, and 
 poffibly better ? What fignifies it that flieep have undergone ibmc 
 change in Barbadoes, and other hot countries, if, in the temperate 
 countries of Mexico and South America they continue the fame as they 
 came there from Spain ? What does it avail that hogs have become dif- 
 iigured in Cubagua, a miferable little ifland, deprived of water and 
 every thing neceflary for life, if in other parts of America they have 
 acquired, as Mr. de Paw fays himfelf, an extraordinary corpulence 
 and their flefh has become fo improved, that the phyficians there, pre- 
 fcribc it to the fick in preference to all other meat. If the hogs^ 
 having grown disfigured in Cubagua, it does not prove that the clime 
 of America is not the mofl fuitable to them, why fliould the flieep 
 having fuffered fome change in Barbadoes, the flefh of oxen having 
 become more fibrous in Hifpaniola, and fome quadrupeds having 
 grown lefs in Canada, ferve to prove that the clime of America in. ge- 
 neral is unfavourable to the generation of animals, to their corpulence 
 and inn:in(5l ? 
 
 If fuch logic was to be tolerated, we could adduce much ftronger 
 arguments againft the climate of the old continent without making ufe 
 of any other materials than thofe that are furnifhed to us by count dc 
 Buffon In his Natural Hiftory. Camels have never multiplied, as he 
 fays, in Spain, although that clime of all the climes of Europe is 
 the leaft contrary to their nature. Oxen have degenerated in Barbary, 
 and in Iceland they have loft their horns. Sheep, fays count de Buf- 
 fon, have degenerated in our country from their firft exiftence in it^ 
 and in all the hot countries of the old continent they change their wool 
 into hair. Goats have grown fmall in Guinea and other countries. 
 In Lapland dogs have become extremely fmall and deformed, and thofe 
 of the temperate climes when tranfported into cold climes ceafe ta 
 bark, and after the firft generation are born with ftrait ears. From the 
 accounts of travellers it is certain that maftiffs, grey-hounds, and 
 ether breeds of dogs of Europe tranfported to Madagafcar, Calcutta». 
 Madeira, and Malabar, degenerate after the fecond or third genera- 
 tion, and that in excefiive hot countries, fuch as Guinea and Senegal, 
 this degeneration is more rapid ; as in the fpace of three or four years 
 
 they
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 507 
 
 tliey lofe their hair, and their voice. Stags in mountainous coun- D1SSER.T; 
 tries which are hot and dry, fuch as thole of Corlica and Sar- . _ ' 
 dinia, have lofi a half of their corpulence. If to thefe and other 
 accounts given us by count de Buffon w^e were to add thofe of many 
 other authors, what examples fliould we not have of the degeneracy of 
 animals in the old continent, more numerous and true than thofe of 
 our philofophers ? But that we may expofc the exaggeration and fal- 
 fity which belong to their examples let us examine one by one the 
 fpecies of Afiatic and European animals tranfported into the new world 
 which by them are faid to have degenerated. 
 
 CAMELS. 
 
 AMONG all the quadrupeds tranfported to America, fays Mr. 
 de Paw, the camels are unqueftionably thofe which have thriven the 
 leaft. In the beginning of the fixteenth century fome of them were 
 tranfported from Africa to Peru, where the cold difablcd the organs 
 neceflary for their production, and they left no pofterity. Setting 
 afide the chronological error into which he falls, as being immaterial 
 to our purpofe (%), if it was cold that deliroyed the fpecies of camels 
 in America, the fame thing would have happened in the European 
 northern countries, where the cold is beyond comparifon greater than 
 in any country whatever of Peru. If cold was the caufe of their ex- 
 tirpation, let Mr. de Paw blame thofe who fettled thofe quadrupeds 
 in places unfuitable to their nature, and not America, where there gre 
 lands that are hot and dry, and proper for the fubfiftence of Ca- 
 mels. The fame experiment which was made in Peru with camels, 
 was alfo made in Spain, and with the fame want of fuccefs j but ftill 
 there are no perfons who will doubt that the clime of the latter is 
 one of the molt mild and temperate in Europe. Count de Buffon 
 fays, that if proper precautions were taken, thofe animals would fuc- 
 ceed not only in America but in Spain : and there is no doubt that 
 they would profper very well in New Gallicia. Bcùdes, it is flilfe 
 
 (a) Hid. Nat. torn, xviii. ()<) Rcchcich. Philofoph. part. i. 
 
 {%) Camels were not tranfported to Peru in the beginninsj of the fifteenth century, bccaufe 
 that country was not then difcovcrcd ; but towards the niiJdlc of that century, as Hcrrera 
 (bcwi in his Dccadcj. 
 
 R r 2 that
 
 3o8 II I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 ^^^n/^"^*' *^^' ^^^ camels which were tranfported to Peru did not leave any pof- 
 terity; for Acofta, who went there fonie years after, found that they 
 had multiplied, though but a little {z), 
 
 OXEN. 
 
 THIS is one of thofe fpecies of animals which our philofophers 
 imagine to have degenerated in America ; which effeót they attribute 
 to the clime. But if poflibly in Canada the oxen have loft part of 
 their corpulence, as count de Buffon affirms, and if their flefh has be- 
 come fibrous in Hifpaniola, as Mr. de Paw would inlinuate, this at 
 lealt is not the cafe in the greater part of the countries of the new 
 world, in which the multitude and fize of thofe animals, and the 
 goodnefs of their flefli, demonflrate how favourable the climate is to 
 their propagation. Their prodigious multiplication in thofe countries 
 is attelled by many authors both ancient and modern. Acofta re- 
 lates (5), that in the fleet in which he returned from New to Old 
 Spain, in 1587, about fixty years after the firil bulls and cows had 
 been tranfported to Mexico, they carried with them from that 
 country fixty-four thouùnd three hundred fixty ox hides; and from 
 Hifpaniola alone, which Mr. de Paw believes fo unfavourable to the 
 propagation of thofe quadrupeds, thirty-five thoufand four hundred and 
 forty-four ox hides. We do not doubt, that if the number of bulls and 
 cows carried from the old continent to the new, was compared with 
 the number of hides returned by America to Europe, there would be 
 found more than five millions of hides for every one of thofe animals. 
 Valdeobro, a Dominican Spaniard, who lived fome years in Mexico, 
 towards the middle of the laft century, relates, as a fad: which was no- 
 torious that the cows belonging to D. G. Ordugna, a private gentleman, 
 yielded him in one 3'ear thirty-fix thoufand calves [a), which produce 
 could not arife from a herd of lefs than two hundred thoufand bulls and 
 cows taken together. At prefent there are many private perfons who 
 are owners of herds of fifty thoufand head of cattle. But nothing can 
 ihew the allonidiing multiplication of thofe quadrupeds fo well as the 
 cheapnefs of them in thofe countries in which they areneceffary for the 
 
 {z) Hiftor. Nat. y Mor. lib. iv. cap. 33. 
 ^a) In his work entitled Gnhlerno de Animales-, lib. iv. cnp. 34. 
 
 5 fubfift-
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 309 
 
 iubfiftence of man, and the labours of the field, and where, on account DESSERT. 
 of the abundance of filver, every thing is fold dear(f). In fliort, v,.„,_l 
 oxen have multiplied in Mexico, in Paraguay, and other countries of 
 the new world more than in more ancient Italy («'). 
 
 With refpedl to the fize of American oxen it is eafy to gain perfecft 
 information, as Ihips loaded with their flcins frequently arrive at Lilbon 
 and at Cadiz {e). Let Mr. de Paw, therefore, or any perfon who 
 maintains the degeneracy of European animals in the new world, mea- 
 fure fifty or one hundred of thofc hides, and if they are found fmallcr 
 than thofe of the common oxen in Europe, we fliall immediately con- 
 fefs, that the climate of America has fhortened their bodies, and there is 
 a fcarcity of matter there ; on the contrary, they ought to confefs that 
 their information and intelligence is falfe, their obfervations ill found- 
 ed, and their fyftem vifionary and chimerical : but that they may under- 
 flnad why we ought not to truft to their kp.owledge, G. Oviedo, who \Vas 
 one of the firfl: peoplers of the ifl.md offliipaniola, and fojourned there 
 fome years, difcourfing of the oxen of that illand, the flefli of which, 
 Mr. de Paw fays cannot be eaten becaufe it is fo fibrous, fays that 
 " the herds there are more numerous, and more beautiful, than any 
 " in Spain ; and as the air in thofe regions is mild and never cold, the 
 ** oxen never become meagre, nor is their flelh ever of a bad talte." 
 Count de Buffon aHìrms that cold countries are more favourable than 
 
 ((■) In the country round Mexico, the capital of New Spain, although it is well peopled, 
 a pair of oxen for the plough are fold for, icn fecjuins, and bulls by wholefale at forty-live 
 paolis each. In the country round Guadalaxara, the capital of New Galicia, a pair of good 
 oxen arc worth from fix to feven fequins, a cow twenty-five paoli. In many other countries of 
 that kingdom, thofc animals arc fold for lefs. In many places of the provinces on the river of 
 Plata a cow is to be had for five paoli. According to an account wc have obtained from a per- 
 fon of credit, well acquainted with the jirovinccs on the above river, the oxen which aie in 
 herds amount to about five millions in number, and it is computed there are about two millions 
 running wild in the woods. 
 
 {•I) Timeus, a Greek author, and Varrò, both cited by Aulu8 Gellius (Noi>. Attic; lib. ii. 
 cap I.) have faid that Italy was fo called from t' e abundance of oxen in it, which in the ancieiu 
 Greek language were called iVaXoi : whence (Jcllius affirms that italia fignifics armcniojijjima. 
 
 (t) Every perfon knows that no country has more commerce with Spain in ox-hidcs than 
 P.araguay, from whence vcflels are fent erti rely loaded with them. We have been inforn-.cd 
 by pcrfonsot credit who were experienced in that country, that the (kins that were carried from 
 (hence to Spain, are at leaft three zfaras (a Spanili» nieafure) long, and many are four, or more 
 than ten Parifian feet. There arc not, wc conceive, three countries in Europe where oxen 
 jjrow to fuch a fize. 
 
 hot
 
 3IO H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DIS^SERT. hot to oxen ; but this is not the cafe in New Spain : as although 
 
 ^ V ' the oxen of cold and temperate countries may be excellent, yet the 
 
 oxen of warm countries are better. The flefli of thefe animals in 
 maritime lands is fo admired, that it is fent to the capital by way of 
 prelent from places at tuo and three hundred miles diAance. 
 
 SHEEP. 
 
 COUNT dc Buffon confefTes (e) that flieep have not fucceed- 
 ed fo well in the hot as in the cold countries of the new continent ; 
 but lie adds, that although they have multiplied confiderably, they 
 are, notwithflanding, more meagre, and their flefh is lefs juicy, and 
 lefs tender than it is in J^urope, from which it appears that he has 
 «ot been well infornicd. In the hot countries of the new world 
 flieep in general do not thrive, and the flelh of wethers is not good ; 
 at this, however, we need not wonder, as the hot climes in the old 
 continent are fo pernicious to flieep that, as count de Buffon himfelf 
 fays, they become clothed with hair inftead of wool. In the cold and 
 temperate countries of New Spain they have multiplied fuperiorly to 
 bullSj their wool in many places is as fine as the wool of the flieep in 
 Spain, and their tlefli as well tailed as any in Europe; which all thofe 
 who liave vifited thole countries can teftify. The multiplication of 
 flieep in America has been furpriling. Acoflia relates ffj that before 
 he went to America, there were in that countiy individuals polfeffing 
 feventy, and fometimes one hundred thoufand flieep ; and at prefent 
 there are perfons in New Spain who own four and five and even feven 
 hundred thoufand flieep fg). Valdebro fays {6) that D. Diego 
 Muiioz Camargo, a Tlafcalan noble, of whom we have made men- 
 tion in our account of the v/riters of the ancient Hifliory of Mexico, 
 obtained from ten flieep an increafe of forty thouland in the fpace 
 
 (e) Hift. Nat. torn, xcvii. 
 
 (f) Stor. Nat. c Mor. lib. iv. 33. 
 
 (g) The Europeans who have not been in Amenca are extremely apt to be incredulous with 
 regard to what we fay of the number of oxen, horfes, flieep, and goats, which many American 
 farmers have upon their ellates ; but having been long in that country, we afiert no more than 
 we know to be truth, 
 
 (A) In his work of Gob-icruo tic Anlmaic-, lib. iv. cap. 34. 
 
 of
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 311 
 
 often years. How therefore could the climate be pernicious to their DISSERT, 
 propagation, if they multiplied fo exceflively ? With refpedl to fize, 
 we declare fincerely, we have iccn no rams in Europe larger tlian 
 thofe of Mexico. 
 
 GOATS. 
 
 THE count de Buffon, altiiough fo much difpofed to revile the 
 animals of America, confelfes, notwithllanding, that the goats have 
 profpered well in the climes of America, and that their multiplication 
 is greater tiiere than in Europe {/j) ; for whereas in Europe they bring 
 but a fmgle kid, or two at mofh, at a birth, in America they bring 
 three, four, and fometimes five. Mr. de Paw, who very juftly gives to 
 the count de Buffon the title of the Pliny of France, and refers to his 
 authority on the fubjedt of animals, as to one who has made a review 
 of all the animals of the earth, ought to have confidered and weighed 
 thefe and other confeffions of that learned philofopher, before he un- 
 dertook to write or fpeculate concerning the animals or the produd:ions 
 of America. 
 
 HOGS 
 
 »- • 
 
 OUR philofophers are not agreed upon this fubjed: ; for whereas 
 the count de Buffon places hogs among the animals which have dege- 
 nerated in America, Mr. de Paw on the contrary affirms, that thefe are 
 the only animals which have acquired in the new world an extra- 
 ordinary corpulence, and whofe flefh has been improved. This con- 
 tradicftion arofe without doubt from the not diftinguifliing as they ought 
 to have done the different countries of America. It may be, there are 
 fome places u'.ikown to us where the hogs have loft fomething of their 
 fize : but it is certain that in New Spain, the Antilles, Terra-firma, 
 and other places of America they are as large as thofe of Europe; and 
 in the ifland of Cuba there is a breed of hogs twice as large as thofe of 
 Europe ; which all who have been in thofe countries muft have witneff- 
 ed. Our philofophers may, if they ple.\fe, have information from many 
 European authors, who have feen the hogs of Toluca, of Angeloooli 
 
 (A) Hift. Nat. tow Nvlii. 
 
 in
 
 312 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT. In Jifew Spain, of Carthagena, of Cuba, &c. refpedting their excef- 
 five multiplication, and the excellence of their flelli(/). 
 
 OF HORSES AND MULES. 
 
 O F all the refledtions thrown out by the count de Buffon and 
 Mr. de Paw againft the animals of the new continent, there is no 
 inftance where they have done flronger injuftice to America, and to 
 truth, than in the fuppofed degeneracy of horfes there. Of them 
 Acofta fays {k), " that in many countries of America, or in the greater 
 ** part, they have profpered and profper well, and fome breeds are as 
 " good as the befl: of Spain, not only for the courfe and for parade, 
 " but alfo for journeys and labour." A teftimony of this kind from a 
 European fo critical, fo impartial, and fo well verfed in the things of 
 America and Europe, is of more weight than all the declamations of 
 thefe philofophers againft the new world. The lieutenant general 
 D. Antonio Ulloa, a learned Spanifh mathematician ft ill living f/J 
 fpeaks with aftoniihment of the American horfes which he faw in 
 Chili and Peru ; and celebrates thofe of Chili for their pace, thofe 
 which are called aguilillas for their extraordinary velocity, and thofe 
 called farameros for their wonderful agility in running in chace of the 
 ftag with riders upon them, down the fides, and up the fteepeft 
 rocky parts of the mountains. He relates, that on one of thofe horfes 
 called agiiUUlas which, he adds, was none of the fleeteft of his kind, 
 he has frequently gone upwards of fifteen miles in fifty-feven or fifty- 
 eight minutes. In New Spain there is an incredible plenty both of 
 horfes and mules. The multitude of them may be conjeftured from 
 their price j at the time of the conqueft an ordinary horl'e was worth 
 a thoufand crowns, at prefent a good one may be purchafed for ten or 
 
 ((■) It will fuflice to read what Acofta has written in lib. iv. cap. 38. of his Hiftory. " It 
 " is certain," favs he, " that hogs have multiplied nbundantiy through all America, Their 
 •' flefli is eat frefli in many places, and cileemed very wholelbme, and as much fo as that of 
 " the flieep ; namely in Carthagena. ... In fome places they are fattened with corn, and be- 
 ♦' come estremelv fat. In others they make excellent lard :;nd bacon of them, namely in To- 
 *' luca of New Spain, and in Paria." The count de Buffon, in the fame, volume xviii. in 
 which he clafles the hog among the animal? which have degenerated in America, fays pofitively, 
 that the hogs tranfporteJ to America have thriven there well, 
 
 l^k) Hift. Nat. y Mor. lib. iv. cip. 33. 
 
 (/) Voyage to South America, part. I. lib. vi. cap. 9. 
 
 twelve
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 3'3 
 
 twelve (/;;). Their fize is the fame as that of the common horfes of dissf.rt. 
 Europe. In Mexico there is feldoni a horfe to be fcen (o fmaJl as the ^"^ ' 
 breed of Sclavonia which we fee in Italy, and ftill feldomer fo fmall as 
 thofe of Iceland and other countries in the Noith, as Andcrfon, or 
 thofe of India as Tavernicr and other authors reb.te. Their hardinefs 
 is fuch, that it is a frequent cullom with the inhabitants of thofe coun- 
 tries to make journies of feventy, eighty, or more miles at a good 
 pace the whole way, without flopping or changing their horfes, how- 
 ever fatiguing the road. Saddle hoifc?, although they are geldings 
 for the moft part, have a prodigious fpiiit. Mules, which through 
 the whole of that country ferve for carriages, and for burdens, are 
 equal in fize to thofe of Europe. Thofe for burdens which are cort- 
 dudled by drivers, carry a load of about five hundred pounds weight. 
 They do not travel more than twelve or fourteen miles a-day, accord- 
 ing to the cuflom of that country; but in this manner they make 
 journies of eight hundred, a thoufand, and fifteen hundred miles. 
 Carriage mules go at the rate of the pofts of Europe, although they 
 draw a great deal more weight on account of the baggage of paflengers. 
 Saddle mules are made ufe of for very long journeys. It is common 
 to make a journey on a mule from Mexico to Guatemala, which is 
 about a thoufand miles diftance, over a track of country that is moun- 
 tainous and rough, at the rate of three or four ftages a-day. The 
 above fads which we have inferted to Ihew the miftakes of our philo- 
 fophers, are public and notorious in that kingdom, and agreeable to 
 the report of feveral European authors. But nothing in our judgment 
 can be a flronger indication of the plenty and excellence of American 
 horfes than the following obfervation which we have had occafion to 
 make. Among the various things which arc oidcred from Spain, at 
 great expence, by the Spaniards eftablilhcd in America, from the at- 
 tachment they preferve to their native country,' we do not know (at 
 leaft with regard to Mexico) that for thefe two hundred years part;, 
 
 - (m) In New Gallicia a middling horfc is to bshad for two fcqiiins, a mule for three, or two 
 and a half, and a herd of twenty-four mares with a llallion for twenty-five fcquins. In Chili, for 
 h.ili ;i feqitin or a crown may be purchafcd one of thofe horfes that trot, \*hidi are much ndniircd 
 for their h;udincf3 and activity in running', nnd a marc may be bought for^ n t'j',:allv fmall 
 confidcralion. ) .Lji^uyiil ( , 
 
 Vol. II. 
 
 Ss 
 
 th<rv
 
 314 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, they have imported any horfes j and on the contrary, we are certain 
 that American horfes have frequently been fent to Spain as prefents to 
 the grandees of the court, and fometimes to the catholic king himfelf. 
 
 DOGS. 
 
 AMONG the abfurd opinions entertained by Mr. de Paw, which 
 arc not a few, his ideas refpedting dogs are not the leaft extraordinary : 
 *' Dogs," he fays, (//) " when tranfported from our countries, imme- 
 " diately lofe their voice, and ceafe to bark in the greater part of the 
 *' regions of the nevv continent." The Americans meet a number of 
 things to make them fmile in the work of Mr. de Paw, bat in read- 
 ing this paffage it may provoke their loud laughter. Although we 
 fhould grant to Mr. de Paw that dogs have degenerated in many 
 places, nothing could from thence be inferred againft the new, which 
 could not be equally well applied to the old world : for, according as 
 Mr. de Buffon affirms, dogs when tranfported from the temperate 
 into the cold climes of the old continent lofe their voice, and when 
 tranfported into extremely hot climes, they lofe not only their voice, 
 but alfo their hair. This affertion of the count de Buffon is fupport- 
 ed by the experiment made on European dogs tranfported into Afia 
 and Africa, whofe degeneracy, he fiys, is fo quick in Guinea and 
 other very hot countries, that after three or four years they remain en- 
 tirely mute and bald. Mr. de Paw does not dare to fay fo much of 
 the dogs tranfported to America; but even that which he affirms Is 
 moil: falfe. In what countries of America have dogs loft their voice ? 
 On the faith of what author has he dared to. publifh fuch a fable ? 
 The greater part of the countries of America to which European 
 dogs have bsen tranfported are fubjeifled to the king of Spain, and In 
 none of them has fuch an accident happened to dogs. Neither 
 among the European authors who have obferved and noted the pecu- 
 liarities of America, nor among the many Americans lately arrived 
 from the countries of Spaniih America, have we found one to confimi 
 this anecdote from Mr. de Paw. That, however, which we know both 
 
 ('/) Rcch«rch. Philofoph. part i, 
 
 2 fron^
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 315 
 
 from fevcral writers of America, ami many perfons acquainted with r)issERT. 
 thofe countries, is, that dogs never run mad either in Peru, Qu^ito, 
 or in other countries of the new world. Mr. de Paw perhaps read, 
 that in fome countries of America there were dogs which did not bark, 
 and this was enough for him to publilh that European dogs when 
 tranfported to America foon loft their voice. In like manner it might 
 be faid, that figs when tranfplanted from Europe to America become 
 immediately thorny, becaufe the nocbtli or tuna has thorns, and from 
 fome refemblance to the fig was called by the Spaniards Indian fig, in. 
 the fame way as they called the techichi, the little dog of Mexico, be- 
 caufe it refembled a little dog ; but neitluer is this quadruped a real 
 dog, nor that fruit a true fig. It is eafy to be betrayed into fuch 
 errors when the ideas of men wander in fpeculation, and the pafilons 
 help their going aftray. The count de Buffon, on the contrary, 
 afiirms (<?) that European dogs have profpered in the hot as well as 
 the cold countries of the new world : in which affirmation he grants 
 certainly a great fuperiority to the clime of America over that of the 
 old world. 
 
 CATS. 
 
 OUR philofophers fay nothing in particular concerning the dege- 
 neracy of cats in America : but they ought to be comprehended in theiF 
 univerfal afl"ertion. Neverthelefs count de Buffon, who in the paffage 
 above quoted does not admit any exception in that which he fays of 
 the degeneracy of animals in America, treating afterwards of cats ia 
 particular, after boafting thofe of Spain as the beft of all, he afBrms 
 that thefe Spanifii cats tranfported to America liave preferved their fine 
 colours, and have not in the leafl degenerated (/»). 
 
 Thefe are the quadrupeds (^) tranfported from the old to the 
 new continent, all of which, except caincls, have multiplied excefiive- 
 
 (0) Hiftoire Nat. torn. x. 
 
 (p) Id. toni. xi. 
 
 {q) The count dc Buflfon ailds to the above incniioncd quadrupeds tranfportfd to Americii 
 the Guinea pig and the rabbet; but alfirms that thofe two fpccics have profpered. With 
 refped to mice it would certainly be a grCiU diftrcfs to America it' they could not live in that 
 cliinnte. 
 
 S S 2 ly,
 
 3i6 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT. ly> 3nd have preferved without alteration their corpulence, their figure, 
 ^^'' and the perfedion of their originals ; which is confirmed partly by 
 the coiifeffion of thefe philofophers themfelves, partly by the de- 
 pofitions of European authors who are impartial, judicious, and well 
 experienced in thofe countries ; and partly by the notoriety alfo of 
 what we have alledged, and which we truft cannot be confuted. 
 We do not doubt that candid readers will be fenfible from what we 
 have fet forth of the miftakes and contradidions of thefe philofophers 
 occafioned by their ridiculous attempt to difcredit the new world, the 
 fallacy of their obfervations, the infufficiency of their arguments, and 
 the rafhnefs of their cenfure. 
 
 CATALOGUE OF AMERICAN QUADRUPEDS. 
 
 S E C T. I. 
 
 Species acknowledged and admitted by the Count de Buffon,. 
 
 (The Number added to each Species refers to the Volume in which- 
 
 the author fpeaks of it.) 
 
 AcouTi, a fmall quadruped of Paraguay and Brazil, fimilar to the 
 
 rabbet. The tioie name in the Paraguefe tongue is Acuti, ij. 
 Ai, a fpecies of floth furnifhed with a tail, 26. 
 Akouchi, a fmall quadruped of Guiana, 30. 
 Alce, vulgarly called Greai-beaji [a), by the French Elan, by the. 
 
 Canadians Orignae, 24. 
 Al CO, amongft the Peruvians Alleo, among the Mexicans Tecbichiy. 
 
 a mute eatable quadruped fimilar to a Httle dog. 
 Apar, fpecies of Tatù or Armadillo, furnifhed with three moveable 
 
 bands, 21. 
 Ape RE A, a quadruped refembling the rabbet, but without a tail, 30. 
 BuFFLER, or hanch-backed bull, called in Mexico Cibolo, a large 
 
 quadruped of North America, 23. 
 
 {a) In America they call the Tapir or Danta the Great-leali, 
 
 Ca-
 
 HISTORY OFMEXICO; , 317 
 
 Cabassou, a fpecles of Tatù, covered with two plates or fliells, and DISSERT, 
 twelve moveable ban Js, 21. . 
 
 Cascai, or capibara [/>) , an amphibious quadruped fimilar to the 
 hog, 25. 
 
 Cachicamo, a fpecles of Tatù, covered with two plates, and nins 
 moveable bands, 2 1 . 
 
 Chamois, 24. 
 
 Chevrueil, 29. 
 
 Beaver, 17. 
 
 Stag, h. 
 
 Chinche, a fpecies of American polecat (r), 27, 
 
 Go ait A, a fpecies of cercopithcctis, or ape furnilhed with a tail, ^o, 
 
 Co A so, a fpecies of polecat. 
 
 Coati, or rather Cuatiy a fmall and curious quadruped of thefouth- 
 ern couiitries of America, 17. 
 
 Coendu', or r^thcr Ciiandu, the porcupine of Guiana or Paraguay, 
 called in Oronoko Arura, 25. 
 
 CojoPOLLiN, (not Cayopollin, as count de Buffon writes it) a fmall 
 quadruped of Mexico, 21. 
 
 CoNEPATA, in Mexican conepatl, the fmallefl: fpecies of polecat, 27.- 
 
 CoQUALLiNO, (thefe count de Buffon calls the Co%ocotecuillm of Mexi- 
 co) a quadruped fimilar to the Squirrel, but different, 26. 
 
 CoucuAR, ox Cuguar, a Ipotted wild heart: of the tyger kind, 19, 
 
 Fallow-deer, 12, 29. 
 
 Encobertado, Tatù, covered with two plates or fhells and lì» 
 
 bands, 21. 
 ExQuiMA, ■3.i\^t(:\t% oi cercopithecus, 30; 
 
 Falanger, the name given to a fmall quadruped, fimilar to the 
 moufe, 2Ó. 
 
 (3) The Cablai of Buffon is called Capibara or Capiguara by the Tucumanefe nation, Ca'- 
 pliba or Capibara by the Paraguefe, Cappiva by the Tamanachefe, by the Chiquitani Oijuisr 
 and by otbernations C/'/rtco, Ci^uiri, Irabubi. 
 
 (f) Chinchcw the Spanifli for bug ; from whence it feems the name of this infefl was given, 
 likcwi.e to the polecat, on account of the intolerable fmell it emits behind; but wc do not 
 doubt that count de Buffon has rather altered the name Chimhe, by which the polecat is 
 known in Chili ; for we do not find the name Chincht ufed to fignify that quadruped in any; 
 country of America. 
 
 FeRv
 
 3i8 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSER.T. F®i^ ^E Lance, a fpecies of Ht fo called by Buffon, on accouirt 
 J^* . of a membrane which it has fimilar to the iron of a lance, 27. 
 
 Filandro of Surinam, a quadruped fimilar to the Marofa and Tla~ 
 
 ciiatzin, but different, 30. 
 Ant-killer {J), a quadruped of the hot countries of America, 20. 
 Glutton, called by the Canadians Carcaju, a wild beali ox north- 
 ern coutries, 27. 
 Jaguar (7)', or American tyger, 19. 
 Jaguarete fgj, or rather Jaguarete, a wild beali of the tyger 
 
 kind, 18. 
 IsATis, a wild beali of cold countries, 27. 
 
 Lam EN TIN, fo the French call the Maiiati, a large animal of thefea, 
 of lakes, and rivers, claffed by Buffon among quadrupeds, although 
 it can hardly be called bipes, or rather bimaniis, 27. 
 
 Sea-lion, fo Lord Anfon called the greater fea-calf, which in 
 Chili has the name of Lame, 27. 
 
 Common hare, 13. 
 
 Lynx, 19. 
 
 Llama, not lama, as Buffon writes it, wox glama, as Mr. de Paw 
 
 writes, the Peruvian ram, 26. 
 Lontra, called by the Peruvians Miquih, 14. 
 Common Wolf, called by the Mexicans Cz^f/Zr/f-^///, 14, 19. 
 Sea-wolf, or fmaller fea-calf, 27. 
 Black-wolf, different from the common wolf, 19. 
 Mapach, a curious quadruped of Mexico, 17. 
 Marcai, or Tyger-cat. This name may have been taken from the 
 
 Mbaracaja of the Paraguefe, 27. 
 Marikina, or lion-ape, 2. {pedes of cercopit/jecus, 30. 
 Marmosa, a fmall and curious quadruped of hot and temperate 
 
 countries of America, 21. 
 
 [e) The Ant-killer is called by the Spaniards efo ormigi/ero, or ant-bear, although it is as 
 unlike to a bear as a dog is to a cat. Buffon diftinguiflies the fpecies of them in America. The 
 firft is called by him fimply Fóurmillur, the fecond lammannoir^ and the third Tamantlua, 
 The Peruvians call them Hucumari. 
 
 ( f) y^K"" ^" *^^ Guarani language is the common name for tygers and dog). The Pcruvl- 
 »nt call the tygers Uturuncu, and the Mexicans Ocelotl. 
 
 (^) Tke generic name for tygers in the Guarani language is Jaquar-ctt, 
 
 Mar-
 
 IV. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 319 
 
 Marmot, called by the Canadians Mi/i?*', 26. DISSERT. 
 
 Mi CO, the fmallefl: fpecies of the cercopttheci (/6), 30. 
 
 Morse, a large amphibious animal of the fea, 27. 
 
 OcELOTL, or leopard-cat of Mexico, 27. 
 
 Ondatra, (rat jiiiifque du Canada) a quadruped iimikr to tlie 
 
 moufe, 20. 
 B:iowN-BEAR, 17. 
 
 Black-bear, fpecifically different from the brown, 17. 
 Paca, a quadruped fimilar to the pig in hair and grunting, but in 
 head like a rabbet. In Brazil PacUy in Paraguay Pag, Quito P/f«- 
 rii, and Oronoko Acciiriy 2 1 . 
 Pa CO, a quadruped of South America of the fame kind, not however 
 of die fame fpecies, with the Llama. The Indian name is All- 
 paca, 26. 
 Pecari, a quadruped which has upon its back a humorous gland 
 which ftinks, by many fuppofed to be its navel. The true names 
 of it in different countries of America, are thofe oi faina y cojametl, 
 tatabro, and pachira (/) 20. 
 Pekan, or American marten, 27. 
 Petit-gris a quadruped of cold countries fimilar to the fquirrel, io 
 
 called by Buffon, 20. 
 Pilori, [rat muj'que des Antilles) a fmall qnadruped fimilar to the 
 
 moufe, and different from the Ondatra, 20. 
 PiNCHis, (with Buffon, Finche) a fpecies of fmall cercopithecus, 30. 
 Pol at uc A, a quadruped partly like a fquirrel, called by the Mexi- 
 cans ^limichpatlan, or flying- rat, 20. 
 Indian-pig, (in French pore de IndcJ a fmall quadruped of South 
 
 America refembling the pig and rabbet, without a tail, 16. 
 Puma, or American lion, called by the Mexicans Miztli, and in Chili 
 Pagi, 18. 
 
 (h) Meo in Spanifii is the generic name of the cercopithtci, but Buffon only applies it to the 
 fmalleft fpecies. 
 
 (;) Oiclotl ill Mexican is the name of the tyger ; but Buffon applies it to the Leopard cat. 
 
 (/; It is not improbable that the Pecari has been To called by Buffon Irom piichira, which is 
 the name given to this (juadruped in Oronoko. Buffon calls it alfo TayaJJou, but TnjazH, as it 
 fliould be written in the Guarani tongue, is the common name for all the fpecies of hogs, 
 
 QuiR-
 
 -20 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 J 
 
 DISSERT. QuiRQuiNCHo, a fpccies of Tatù covered with a lliell and eighteen 
 bands {m). 
 Rein -DEER, in Canada Caribu, 24. 
 Sai (/»/), a. fpec'ies of cercopk/jecus, 30. 
 
 Saimiri, or rather Crt/w/r/, a curious fpecles of cereopithccus, 30. 
 Saki, a fpecies of a';r<5/>/V/6trz/j with a long tail, 30. 
 Saricovienne, particular Lontra of Paraguay, Brazil, Guiana, and 
 
 Oronoko. In Paraguay it is called Kija, and in Oronoko Cairo, 
 
 and Nevi, 27. 
 Sayu, (perhaps C^w) ^ {ptc'izs of cercopitheciis, 30. 
 Water-rat, 30. 
 Suricate, quadruped of South America, which, like the Hyena, has 
 
 four toes to every foot, 26. 
 Svizzero, called by the Mexicans 'TLjlmQtotH, a quadruped in form 
 
 like the fquirrel, but different in its mode of life, and almofl twice 
 
 as large, 20. 
 Taira, or weafel of Guiana. 
 Tamandua, or rather 'Tamanduciy the middling fpecies among the 
 
 Ant- killers, 26. 
 Tamannoir, the largefl fpecies of the Ant-killers, 26. 
 Tapet, or Tapeto, a quadruped of South America, refembling both 
 
 the hare and rabbit. The true name in the Guarani language is Ta- 
 
 piiti, 30. 
 Tapir {a\ a large quadruped of America, called by the Spaniards 
 
 Anta, Dania, and Granbejìia, and in other American languages, 
 
 Tapii, Tapiira, Bcori, 'Tlacaxolotl, &c. 23. 
 Tarsie RE, a quadruped fomething like the Marmofa and Tiacuatzin, 
 
 29- 
 
 {'") ^irqu'.ncho, amongft the Peruvians, Ajotochtli, amongft the Mexicans, Tatù amongfl 
 the Paraguefe, [and armadillo among the Spaniards, are all generic names of thefe fpecies of 
 quadrupeds. Buffon confines the name ^urchintho not Cirquhicon as he wiites it to one fingle 
 ^ecies ; as alfo that of Ajotochtli. 
 
 («) Cai, not Sai as Buffon writes it, is in the Guarani tongue the generic name of all the 
 Cercopithecus ; but he confines it alfo to one fpecies. 
 
 (0) We willingly adopt the name Tapir, becaufe it is already in ufe among modern zools- 
 giils, and is not otherwifc equivocal. That of Great-hcajl is proper to the Alee ; that of Anta 
 et Daflta is likewife given to the Zebu, a tjuadruped ef Africa very different from the Tapir. 
 
 Tatu^
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 3^^' 
 
 Tatueto, a name given by count de Buffon to that fpecies of Tatù dissert. 
 which is covered with two fhells and eight bands, 21. 
 
 Tlaguatzin, a curious quadruped, the female of which carries its 
 young, after having brought them forth, in a bag or membrane 
 which it has under its belly. In different countries of America it 
 has the following names, C/juc/ja, Churcha, Mucamuca, Jariquc, 
 Fara, and Auare. The Spaniards of Mexico call it Tlacuache. Some 
 naturalifls have given it the improper name oi Filandro, and others, 
 the extremely proper one of Diaelfus. Count de Buffon calls it 
 Larigue and Carigue, changing the name Jarique, by which it is 
 known in Brafil. 2 1 . 
 
 Toporagno (in the Spanifh mufarana). 30. 
 
 TuzA, not Tucan, as count de Buffon writes (/>) ; in Mexican, Tozan ; 
 a quadruped of Mexico, of the mole kind, but larger and more 
 beautiful. 30. 
 
 Vampiro, great bat of America. 
 
 Uarina, with Buffon, Ouarine [q] i great-bearded cercopithecus ^ 
 called in Quito Omeco. 30. 
 
 VisoN, or American polecat. 27. 
 
 UiSTiTi, fpecies of fmall cercopithecus, 30. 
 
 Unau, a fpecies of floth without tail, (r) 26. 
 
 Common Fox. 14. 
 
 Urson, quadruped of cold countries, fimilar to but different from 
 the beaver. 25. 
 
 ZoRRiLLo, or Zorriglio, a fpecies of polecat (j). 27. 
 
 {f) We know not if the Tuza is of the fame fpecies of quadruped which the Peruvians call 
 7upu tupu. 
 
 {q) The count dc Buffon doubts whether the Alitala which is a cercopithccus of a large 
 fize, is of the fame fpecies with the Uarina ; but we alFure him it is certainly of the fame fpe- 
 cies, and therefore wc have not put down the Alunta, (which he writes Alouate^ in this cata- 
 logue. 
 
 (r) The count de Buffon juflly dillinguiflies two fpecies of the floth, the one fiirniQicJ wiili 
 a tail, the other not ; becaufe befidcs this they bear other different charaificrs. In Quito they 
 cai! the floths i^uillac or ^ligUac, and in Oronoko Proto. The Spaniards call them P^ris^^^ 
 which means flothfulnefs, and Perico ligtro, or fwift dog, by w ay of antiphrafii. 
 
 (j) Zorrilh, or little fox, is the yjcneric name which the Spaniards give to Polecats. T)i« 
 TVJexicans call tliem Epaii, In Chili Chinghc-, and in other countries of South America M.iju- 
 rito, Agnaluja, &C. 
 
 Vol. II. T t From
 
 322 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT. From this catalogue v/e fee that the count de Buffon, who could 
 not find more than feventy fpecies of quadrupeds in all America, in 
 the progrefs of his Natural Hiflory acknowledges and diflinguifhes at 
 leaft ninety-four ; we fày at leaji, as befides thofe above mentioned we 
 ought to mention the common hog, the ermine, and others, which, 
 deitied by Buffon to America in fome places of his hiffory, are granted 
 to it in others. 
 
 SECT. IL 
 
 Species which Count de Buffon has confounded with others that are 
 
 different. 
 
 The Guanaco with the Llama or Gliama (/). 
 
 The Vicugna with the Paco. 
 
 The Citli with the Tapete or Tapiiti («). 
 
 The Huiztlacuatzin, or Mexican porcupine, with the Cuandu or 
 porcupine of Guiana (a"). 
 
 The Tlacocelotl with the Ocelot! fyj. 
 
 The Tepeitzcuintli, or mountain dog of Mexico with the Glut- 
 ton fz). 
 
 The Xoloitzcuintli, or bald dog with the Wolf. 
 
 (t) Befides other charafleis of dil1in£lion between the Llama, the Guanaco, the Vicugna, 
 and Paco, they have never been known to copuhitc though put together in one phicc. If this 
 circumftance is fufficient to allow us to infer a difference of fpecies between the dog and tkc 
 wolf, quadrupeds very fimilar in external figure and internal organization, what ought we to 
 conclude refpefting four quadrupeds which are more diflerent from each other than the dog is 
 from the wolf? 
 
 (u) To render ourfclves certain of the diiference between the CitU and the Tapete it is fuffi- 
 cicnt to compare the dcfcriptions which Hernandez and Buffon give of each, 
 
 {x) See what we have faid in the firft book of our Hiftory concerning the differcnca between 
 the Mexican oflrich and that of Guiana. 
 
 (yj The count de Buffon is defirous of perfuading us that the Tlacocelotl and Occlotl are but 
 one fame animal ; the Infl the male, the other the female ; that Occlotl is the fame name with 
 Tlacocelotl excepting the fyncope. We might as well lay that Cam's is not difTercnt from 
 Semicanis, and that T^rii is the fame as Semitygrii, becaufe tha Mexican Orc/o// is the fame thing 
 with T\:^ris and 77rtri«ir/<j// means nothing but Scmltygris. The count de Buffon is not bhmieabls 
 for not knowing the IMexican language; but neither ought he to be excufed' for deciding on 
 matters in which he was ignorant. Hernandez, who faw and examined as a natnralili both 
 thofe two wild animals, certainly deferves the greater credit. 
 
 {%) See what we have faid rcfpcfting thefc thr^e laft quadrupeds in our fourth Diflbrtation. 
 
 The
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 323 
 
 The Itzcttintcpozotli, or hunch-backed dog, with the Ako or TecliI- DISSERT, 
 chi. We ought therefore to add thefe eight fpecies, which he has 
 confufed with others, to the ninety-four above mentioned, which will 
 make one hundred and two. 
 
 SECT. III. 
 
 Species mikno^ion, or unjujlly denied by the the Count de Buffon to 
 
 America. 
 
 AcHUKi, cercopithecus of Quito, furniflied with a long fnout and 
 very lliarp teeth, and covered with hair like briftles. Manufcript 
 in our poflefì'ion. 
 Ahuitzotl, fmall amphibious quadruped of Mexico, defcribed by 
 
 us in our firiT: book. 
 Amiztli, an amphibious quadruped of Mexico, defcribed by 
 
 us (a). 
 Cacomiztle, a quadruped of Mexico, fimilar to the pole-cat in its 
 
 mode of living, but different in fliape, defcribed in our firft book. 
 Dog of Cibola, or dog of burden, a quadruped of the country of Cibola, 
 fimilar in form to a mafliff, which the Indians employ to carry bur- 
 dens. Several hiftorians of Mexico mention this flron? animal. 
 Ch I CH I CO, cercopithecus of Quito, fo fmall that it can be held ixi the 
 
 hand. It is found of different colours. MS. 
 Chillihueque, a large quadruped of Chih', fimilar to the Guanaco, 
 
 but different. Hiftory of Chili, by Molina. 
 Chinchilla, fpecies of woolly field-rat, mentioned by many hif- 
 
 torians of South America. 
 Chin CHI MEN, or fca-cat, an amphibious quadruped of the fea of 
 
 Chili. Nat. Ilifl. of Chili. 
 CiNocEPHALUs Ccrcopithecus, a quadruped of Mexico, of which 
 
 Hernandez, Briffon, and others make mention. 
 CojoTE, (in Mexico Cojotl) a wild bcaft defcribed in this hiftory. 
 
 («■) In 3 note of the Jìrft book of our Hlilory we f.iij that the Awh./li appeared to us the fame 
 qiradriiprd with thut called by Buffon Saricoiùe-r:c ; but on farther reflection and confìderatlon 
 we have found ihofe two quudruped; fpecifically different, 
 
 T t 2 Com-
 
 ^24 H I S t O R Y O F M E X I e O, 
 
 ly^ Common Rabbet, called by the Mexicans Tó<r^///. 
 
 CuL, or Peruvian rabbet, a fmall quadruped, fimilar to the Indian pig, 
 of which feveral hiftorians of Peru make mention. 
 
 CuLPEU, a particular fpecies of large fox in Chili. Hiil. of Chili. 
 
 Degù, or dormoufe of Chili. Ibi3. 
 
 Sea-hog, a particular fpecies of amphibious hog of Chili. Ibid. 
 
 Ferret of Chili and Paraguay, called in Guumi Jaguaro/.'ajie. Ibid, 
 and MS. with us. 
 
 Honey-cat. Thus the Spaniards name a quadruped of the province 
 of Chaco, in South America, fimilar in form to the cat, which lies 
 in watch for birds upon trees, and is extremely fond of the honey 
 of bees. MS. with us. 
 
 Guanque, a fpecies of field-rat, of a blueifii cafl, in Chili. Nat, 
 Hifi:. of Chili. 
 
 HoRRo, great ccTcopif/ji'cus of Quito and Mexico, all black but the 
 neck, which is white. It cries loudly in the woods, and when 
 upright on its feet meafures the height of a man. MS. wi;h us. 
 
 Huemul, cloven footed horfe of Chili. Hifi:. of Chili. 
 
 Jaguaron, in Guarani Jaquarzf, an amphibious wild animal of 
 Paraguay, called by Ibme naturalifi:s the water- tyger. MS. with 
 us. 
 
 KiKi, quadruped of Chili, of the weazel kind. Hifi;. of Chili. 
 
 Ma J AN, quadruped fimilar to a hog, which has a round body, and its 
 brifi:les fticking up. It inhabits Paraguay. MS. with us. 
 
 Pisco-CusHiLLo, or avis cercopithecus^ cercopithecus of Quito, 
 which is covered from the neck to the tail with a certain kind 
 of feathers. MS. with us. 
 
 Common Hedge-hog of Paraguay. MS. with us. 
 
 Rat, mofi: common in America before the Spaniards landed there, 
 and called by the Mexicans Sluimichin. Defcribed by us. 
 
 The common Field-rat of Mexico and other countries of Ame- 
 rica. 
 
 Taje, a quadruped of California, of which mention is made both 
 in the printed hifiory and in manufcripts of that peninfula. The 
 I'aje is unqueflionably the Ibexoi Pliny, defcribed by count de Buf- 
 fon under the name Bouquetin, 
 
 Taitetu
 
 HISTORYOFMEXrCO. 325 
 
 Taitetu a quadruped of Paraguay, of the hog kind, the female dissert. 
 
 of which brings forth two young which are united together by ^^' 
 
 means of the navel-ftring. MS. by us. 
 White Badger of New York, defcribed by Briflbn. 
 Thopel-lame, an amphibious quadruped of the fea of Chili, a fpe- 
 
 cies of fea-calf, more fimilar ftill to the lion than that fecn by lord 
 
 Anfon. Hiftory of Chili. 
 Tlalcojote, in Mexico Tlalcojotl, a common quadruped of Mexi- 
 co, defcribed in book i. 
 Common Wiute Field Mouse of Mexico. 
 Common Field Mouse of Mexico and other countries of America. 
 Mouse of Maule, a quadruped of that province, in the kingdom of 
 
 Chili, fimilar to the Marmot, but twice as large. Hift of Chili. 
 Tree LE, or Trefoil, a large quadruped of North America, defcribed 
 
 by Domare. 
 Viscacha of the fields, a quadruped fimilar to the rabbet, but fur- 
 
 nifhed with a large tail turned upwards. Acofla and other hiftorians 
 
 of South America mention it. 
 Viscacha of the mountains, a quadruped extremely beautiful, of the 
 
 fame kind with that of the fields, but different in fpecies. MS. 
 
 by us. 
 UsN AG UA, ov Cercopitbecus noSiurnus oi Quito. MS. &c. 
 
 Thefe forty fpecies, added to thofe one hundred and two above 
 mentioned, inake one hundred and forty-two fpecies of American 
 quadrupeds. If ,we add to thofe, horfes, affes, bulls, fheep, goats, 
 common hogs, and Guinea-pigs, dogs, cats, and houfe mice, tranf- 
 ported there fince the conquefi:, we (hall have at prefent an hundred 
 and fifty-two fpecies in America. Count de Buffon, who in all his Na- 
 tural Hiftory does not enumerate more than two hundred fpecies of 
 quadrupeds in the countries of the world hitherto difcovered, in his 
 work entitled, Epoches de la Nature, reckons now three hundred; fo 
 large has the increafe been In the fpace of a few years ! But now that 
 they are three hundred, America, although it does not make more than 
 a third part of the globe, has notwithflanding almofl one half of the 
 fpecies of its quadrupeds. We repeat almojl, becaufe we have omitted 
 
 2 all
 
 IV. 
 
 326 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT- all thofe of which we are in doubt whether they are different from 
 thofe defcribed by Buffon. Our principal aim in forming this cata- 
 logue has not been to flaew the miflakes of the count de Buffon in his 
 enumeration of American quadrupeds, and the error of his opinions 
 concerning the imagined fcarcity of matter in the new world, but 
 to be of fome fervice to European naturalifls by pointing out to them 
 fome quadrupeds hitherto unknown, and removing in fome degree 
 thofe difficulties which have been occafioned by indiftinil appellations 
 of them. They might defire to have exadl defcriptions along with 
 them, and even in this we fhould be willing to contribute every thing 
 in our power, were it not foreign to our purpofe.In order to make this 
 catalogue, belides the great ftudy in which it has engaged us, we have 
 obtained written informations from perfons of learning and accuracy 
 of knowledge, experienced in different countries of America, for whofe 
 obliging communications we owe them the greateft acknowledge- 
 rncnts. 
 
 D I S S E R-
 
 I IV J 
 
 DISSERTATION V, 
 
 On the Fbyfical afid Moral Conjiitution of the MeKicans, 
 
 IN Mexico and the other countries of America four clafles of men 
 may be diftinguiflied. Firfl, The proper Americans, commonly 
 called Indians, or thofe who are defcended of the ancient peoplers of 
 that new world, and have not mixed their blood with the people of 
 the old continent. Secondly, The European Afiatics and Africans 
 eftabliflicd in thofe countries. Thirdly, The fona or defcendants of 
 them who have been called by the Spaniards Criollos, that is Creoles, 
 although the name principally belongs to thofe defcendants of Euro- 
 peans whofe blood has not been mixed with that of the Americans, 
 Afiatics, or Airicans. Fourthly, The mixed breeds called by the 
 Spaniards cajias, that is thofe who are born or defcended of an Euro- 
 pean and an American, or from, an European and an African, or from 
 an African and American, &c. All thofe clafTes of men have been 
 fated to meet with the contempt and defamation of Mr. de Paw. 
 He fuppofes or feigns the climate of the new world to be fo malignant 
 as to caufe tlie degeneracy of not only the Creoles and proper Ameri- 
 cans who are born in it, but alfo thofe Europeans who refide there, 
 although they have been born under a milder Iky, and a climate more 
 favourable, as he imagines, to all animals. If Mr. de Paw had wrote 
 his philofophical refearches ia America,, we might with reafon appre^ 
 bend the degeneracy of the human fpecies under the climate of Ame- 
 rica ; but as we find that work and many others of the fame flamp 
 produced in Europe, we are confirmed by tliem in the truth of the 
 Italian proverb taken from the Greek, Tutto il mondo e pacfe. But leaving 
 afidcthe prejudices and prepofleflions ofthatphilofopherandhis partizans 
 apainft the other clafles of men, we IhaU only treat of that which he 
 has written againft the native Americans, as they are the moft injured 
 and the lead defended. If in tlie writing of this Difiei tation we had 
 
 givea
 
 328 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, given way to interefl or paffion, we would rather have undertaken the 
 ^' defence of the Creoles, which, befides that it would have been more 
 eafy, fhould naturally have intereiled us more. We are defcended of 
 Spanifli parents, we have no affinity or relation to the Indians, nor can 
 we hope for any recompence from their mifery-: our motive is the 
 love of truth, and the caufe of humanity. 
 
 SECT. I. 
 
 Of the Corporeal ^alitics of the Mexicans. 
 
 MR. de Paw, who finds fault with the ftature, the formation, and 
 the fuppofed irregularities of the animals of America, has not been 
 more indulgent towards its men. If the animals appeared to him a 
 fixth part lefs in fize than thofe of Europe, the men, as he reports, are 
 alfo fmaller than the Caftilians. If in the animals he remarked the 
 want of tail, in the men he complains of the want of hair. If in the 
 animals he found many flriking deformities, in the men he abufes the 
 complexion and fnape. If he believed that the animals there, were not 
 fo ftrono- as thofe of the old continent, he affirms, in like manner, that 
 the men are feeble in extreme, and fubjedl to a thoufand diilempers oc- 
 cafioned by the corruption of the air and the flench of the foil. 
 
 Concerning the flature of the Americans he %s, in general, that al- 
 though it is not equal to the ftature of the Caflilians, there is but lit- 
 tle difference between them. But we are confident, and it is notorious 
 through the whole of New Spain, that the Indians who inhabit thofe 
 countries, lying between nine and forty degrees of north latitude, 
 which are the limits of the difcoveries of the Spaniards, are more than 
 five Parifian feet in height, and that thofe who do not reach that fta- 
 ture are as few in number amongft the Indians as they are amongft the 
 Spaniards. We are certain befides, that many of thofe nations, as the 
 Apaches, the Htaqueje, the Pimefe, and Cochrmies, are at leaft as tall as 
 the talleft Europeans ; and we are not confcious, that in all the vaft 
 extent of the new world, a race of people has been. found, except the 
 Efquimaux, fo diminutive in fiatare as the Laplanders, the Samyeds, 
 
 and
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 329 
 
 and Tartars, in the north of the old continent. In this refpeól, there- dissert. 
 fore, the inhabitants of the two continents are upon an equality. ._ _ '_ ^ _^ 
 
 In regard to the regularity and proportion of the limbs of the Mexi- 
 cans, we do not need ^to fay more than wc have already faid in our 
 firfl: book. We are perfuaded, that among all thofc who may read 
 this work in America, no one will contradict the defcription we have 
 given of the fliape and charaftcr of the Indians, unlefs he views them 
 with the eye of a prejudiced mind. It is true, that Ulloa fays, in 
 fpeaking of the Indians ef Quito, he had obferved, " that imperfedl peo- 
 *' pie abounded among them, that they were either irregularly diminutive, 
 *' or monftrous in fome other refpeft, that they became either infenfible, 
 *' dumb, or blind, or wanted fonie limb of theif body :" but having 
 ourfelves made fome enquiry refpeéling this Angularity of the Quitans, 
 we were informed by perfons dcfcrving of credit, and acquainted with 
 thofe countries, that fuch defedts were neither caufed by bad humours, 
 nor by the climate, but by the miftaken and blind humanity of their 
 parents, who, in order to free their children from the hardlhips and 
 toils to which the healthy Indians are fubjedled by the Spaniards, fix 
 fome deformity or weaknefs upon them, that they may become ulelefs : 
 a circumftance of mifery which does not happen in other countries of 
 America, nor in thofe places of the fanie kingdom of Quito, where 
 the Indians are under no fuch oppreffion. M. de Paw, and, in agree- 
 ment with him. Dr. Robertfon, fays, that no deformed perfons are to 
 be found among the favages of America j becaufe, like the ancient La- 
 cedemonians, they put to death thofe children which are born hunch- 
 backed, blind, or defeftive in any limb ; but that in thofe countries 
 where they are formed into focieties, and the vigilance of their rulers 
 prevent the murder of fuch infants, the number of their deformed 
 and irregular individuals is greater than it is in any other country of 
 Europe. This would make an exceeding good folution of the ditfi- 
 cn1ty if it were true : but if, poflibly, there has beei\ in America a 
 tribe of favages who have imitated the barbarous example (a) of the 
 celebrated Lacedemonians, it is certain that thofc authors have no 
 
 (</) That inhuman practice of killing children which were born deformed, was not only per-: 
 mitted in Rome, but was prefcribcd by the laws of the Twelve Tables. Paler infignm ad fit- 
 Jormitatcm fiicrum cito nccato, ; 
 
 Vol. II. U u grounds
 
 33< 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, grounds to impute fuch inhumanity to the reft of the Americans ; for 
 t__ J , ^ that it has not been the practice, at leaft with the far greater part of 
 thofe nations, is to be demonftrated from the atteftations of the authors 
 the beft acquainted with their cuftoms. Befides, in all the countries 
 of Mexico, or New Spain, which make at leaft one fourth of the new 
 world, the Indians lived in focieties together, and afl'embled in cities, 
 towns, and villages, under the care of Spaniih or Creole magiftrates 
 and governors, and no fuch inftances of cruelty towards their infants 
 are ever feen or heard of; yet deformed people are fo uncommon, 
 that all the Spaniards and Creoles, who came from Mexico to 
 Italy, in the year 1768, were then, and are ftill much furprifed ta 
 obferve the great number of blind, hunch-backed, lan^e, and other- 
 wife deformed people, in the cities of that cultivated peninfula. The 
 caufe of this phenomenon, which fo many writers have obferved 
 among the Americans, muft therefore be different from that to which 
 the above mentioned authors would impute it. 
 
 No argument againft the new world can be drawn from the colour 
 of the Americans ; becaufe their colour is lefs diftant from the white 
 of the Europeans than it is from the black of the Africans, and a great 
 part of the Afiatics. The hair of the Mexicans, and of the greater 
 part of the Indians, is, as we have already faid, coarfè and thi'ck ; 
 on their face they have little, and in general {i>) none on their arms 
 and legs : but it is an error to fay, as M. de Paw does, that they are 
 entirely deftitute of hair in all the other parts of their body. This is 
 one of the many paflages of the Philofophical Refearches, at which 
 the Mexicans, and all the other nations, muft fmile to find an Euro- 
 pean philofopher fo eager to diveft them of the drefs they had from 
 nature. Ke read, without doubt, that ignominious defcription, which 
 Ulloa gives of fome people of South America (r), and from this iin- 
 gle premife, according to his logic, he deduces his general conclufion. 
 
 {i) We fay, in genera!, becaufe there arc Americans in IMexico who are bearded, and 
 have hair on t!icir :>.rrrs and liiiibs. 
 
 (f) Ulloa, in the defcription which he gives of the Indians of Quito, fays, that hair nei- 
 ther groH s upon the men nor upon the women when they arrive at puberty, as it dees on 
 the reft of mankind ; but whatever fingularlity may attend the Quitans, or occafinn this ciicum- 
 fiance, there is no doubt that among the Americans in general, the period of puberty is accom- 
 panied with the fume fyinptoms as it is among other nations of the world. 
 
 The
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 331 
 
 The very afped of an Angolan, Mandingan, or Congan, would have dissert. 
 Hiocked Mr. de Paw, and made him recall that cenfure which he pafl'cs 
 on the colour, the make, and hair of the Americans. What can be 
 imagined more contrary to the idea we have of beauty, and the perfec- 
 tion of the human frame, than a man whofe body emits a rank fmell, 
 whofe ikin is as black as ink, whofe head and face are covered with 
 black wool, inftead of hair, whofe eyes arc yellow and bloody, whofe 
 lips are thick and blackifli, and whofe nofe is flat ? Such are the in- 
 habitants of a very large portion of Africa, and of many illands of 
 Aha. What men can be more imperfedt than thofe who meafure no 
 more than four feet in flature, whofe faces are long and flat, the nofc 
 comprefled, the iricies yellowilli black, the eyelids turned back to- 
 wards the temples, the cheeks extraordinarily elevated, their mouths 
 monftroufly large, their lips thick and prominent, and the lower part 
 of their vifages extremely narrow ? Such, according to count de Buf- 
 fon {(/), are the Laplanders, the Zemblans, the BoratiJines, the Sa- 
 mojeds, and Tartars in the Eall:. What objects more deformed than 
 men whofe faces are tt)0 long and wrinkled even in their youth, their 
 nofes thick and comprefl'ed, their eyes fmall and funk, their cheeks 
 very much raifed, the upper jaw low, their teeth long and difunited, 
 their eye-brows fo thick, that they Ihade their eyes ; the eye -lids thick, 
 fome brillles on their faces inflead of beard, large thighs and fmall legs ? 
 Such is the pidure count de Buffon gives of the Tartars, that is of thole 
 people who, as lie fays, inhabit a tradt of land in Afla, twelve hun- 
 dred leagues long and upwards, and more than (c\q.v\ hundred and fifty 
 broad. Amonglh thefe the Calmucks arc the mofl: remarkable for 
 their deformity, which is fo great, that, according to Tavernier, they 
 are the moll brutal men of all the univerfe. Their faces are lb broad 
 that there is a fpace of five or fix inches between their eyes, according 
 as count de Buffon himfelf affirms. In Calicut, in Ceylon, and other 
 countries of India, there is, fay Pyrard and other writers on thofe re- 
 gions, 3 race of men who have one or both of their legs as thick as the 
 body of a man ; and that this deformity among them is almoll here- 
 ditary. The Hottentots, befides other grofs imperfedions, have that 
 
 f<^ Hift. Nat. torn. vi. 
 
 U U 2 lUOil-
 
 332 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT, inonftrous irregularity attending them, of a callous appendage extend- 
 ing from the os pubis downwards, according to the teftimony of the 
 hiftorians of the Cape of Good Hope. Struys, Gemelli, and other 
 travellers affirm, that in the kingdom of Lambry, in the iflands of 
 Formofa, and of Mindoro, men have been found with tails. Bomare 
 fays {e), that a thing of this kind in men is nothing eke than an 
 elongation of the as coccygis ; but what is a tail in quadrupeds but 
 the elongation of that bone, though divided into dillindl articula- 
 tions (f) ? However it may be, it is certain, that that elongation 
 renders thole Aliatics fully as irregular as if it was a real tail. 
 
 If we were, in like manner, to go through the nations of Afia and 
 Africa, Ave fliould hardly find any extenfive country where the colour 
 of men is not darker, where there are not ftronger irregularities obferved, 
 nnd groffer defedls to be found in them, than M. de Paw finds fault with 
 in the Americans. The colour of the latter is a good deal clearer than that 
 of almoii all the Africans, and the inhabitants of fouthern Afia. The 
 fcantinefs of beard is common to the inhabitants of the Phillippine 
 Illands, and of all the Indian Archipelago, to the famous Chinefe, Ja- 
 panefe, Tartars, and many other nations of the old continent. The 
 imperfedlions of the Americans, however great they may be reprefented 
 to be, are certainly not comparable with the defeéls of that immenle 
 people, whofe charaéìer we have fketched, and others whom we 
 omit. All thefe circumftances might have retrained the pen of 
 M. de Paw, but they flipped his memory, or he lliut out the recollec- 
 tion of them. 
 
 M. de Paw reprefents the Americans to be a feeble and difeafed fet of 
 nations : Ulloa, on the contrary affirms, that they are healthy, ro- 
 buft, and flrong. Which of the two merits the greater credit ? M. 
 de Paw, who undertook at Berlin to review the Americans without 
 knowing them ; or Ulioa, who refided amongft them for fome years, 
 and converfed with them in different countries of South America ; 
 M. de Paw, who employed himfelf to degrade and debafe them, in order 
 to eftablilh his abfurd fyftem of degeneracy, or Ulloa, who, though 
 
 (e) Dii^ion. de Hiftoire. Nat. v. Homme. 
 (_/■) Ste Heilier. Aiv.a, i\e Oj/iiu: trunci. 
 
 by
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 333 
 
 by no means favourable in general to the Indians, was not bent on DISSERT.r 
 forming any fyftem, but only on writing what he judged to be true ? 
 The impartial reader will decide this queilion. 
 
 M. de Paw, in order to demon (Irate the weaknefs and diforder of 
 the phyfical conftitution of the Americans, adduces feveral proofs, 
 which we ought not to omit. Thele are, i . That the firfl: Americans 
 who were brouglit to Europe went mad during their voyage, and their 
 madnefs continued till death. 2. That grown men in many parts cf 
 America have milk in their breafts. 3. That the American women 
 are delivered with great facility, have an extraordinary plenty of milk, 
 and the periodical evacuation of blood is Icanty and irregular. 4. That 
 the leafl: vigorous European conquered in wreftling any American 
 whatever. 5. That the Americans could not bear the weight of a 
 light burden. 6, That they were fubjetft to the venereal diftemper, 
 and other endemic difoafcs. 
 
 With regard to the firfl proof, we deny it as being altogether fiilfe 
 and inconiiflent. Mr. de Paw fays, on the faith of the Fleming Dap- 
 pers, that the firft Americans whom Columbus brought with him in. 
 1493, were going to kill themfelves during the voyage, but that having 
 been bound in order to prevent them from doing fo, they run mad, and 
 their madnefs laded while they lived ; that when they entered into Bar- 
 celona, they frightened the citizens to fuch a degree with their howls, 
 their contorlion?, and their convulfive motions, that they were thought 
 to be delirious. We have never {een the work of Dappers, but we have no 
 doubt that his account is a firing of fables ; for we do not find, that either 
 any of his cotemporary authors, nor thofe who wrote in the years imme- 
 diately following, make any mention of fuch an event ; but, on the 
 contrary, from what they fa^, it is ealy to demonftrate the falfity of 
 his llory. Gonzalez Hernandez Oviedo, who was in Barcelona 
 when Columbus arrived, faw, and knew thofe Americans, and was- 
 an eye-witnefs of what happened, fays nothing of their madnefs, their 
 howls, and contorfions, which he would not naturally have omitted 
 had they been true, as he was rather unfavourable to the Indians, as 
 we have laid before, particularly when he was minutely relating their 
 entry into that city, their baptifm, their names, and in part their end. 
 He fays, that Columbus brought with him, from the illand of Ilif- 
 
 pani ola,.
 
 334 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT, paniola, ten Americans, one of which died on the paflage, three re- 
 mained fick in Palos, a port of Andalufia, where, as he imagines, 
 they died foon after, and the other fix came to Barcelona, where the 
 court was then held , that they were well inftrudled in the Chriftian 
 dodlrines and baptifed : Peter Martyr, of Aighera, who was alfo in 
 Spain when Columbus arrived, makes mention of the Indians (/J) 
 which that famous admiral brought with him, but does not fay a word 
 about their madnefs : on tlie contrary, he relates, that when Cortes 
 returned to Hilpaniola, he carried back three of the Indians with him, 
 2.S all the others had died by tiiat time, from change of air and food (/) ; 
 and that he employed one of them to gain information of the (bate of the 
 Spaniards whom he had left in that ifland. Ferdinand Colombus, a learned 
 and diligent writer of the life of Chrillopher Columbus his father, who 
 happened alfo to be in Spain at that time, makes a minute detail of the 
 voyages and anions of his glorious parent, fpeaks of the Indians whom 
 he had feen, and relates nothing more of them than P. Martyr. The 
 account given by Dappers, therefore, is flilfe, or at leaft we will fay, 
 that madmen learned the Spanifli language, that the Catholic kings 
 chofe madmen to be with them, to amufe them with their horrible 
 howls J and laftly, that Columbus, the prudent Columbus, made uic 
 of one of thefe madmen, to gain information of all that had happened 
 to the Spaniards in Hifpaniola while he had been abfent. 
 
 The anecdote of milk in the breafls of the Americans is one of the 
 moft curious which we read in the Philofophical Refearches, and mofl 
 worthy to excite our fmiles, and the mirth of all the Americans : but 
 
 ( i) Sommar, della Stor. delle Ind. Occid. cap. 4. 
 
 (/) To the caiifes of the death of thofe Americans, mentioned hy P. Martyr, may be add- 
 .ed the extraordinarj' hardfliips they futlered in that horrid voyage, the circumftances of which 
 arc to be found in the letters of Columbus, publiflicd by his Ion. From the number of thofe 
 who died, mentioned by Martyr, an exception ought to be made of that American whom the 
 prince Don John retained with him, as he did not die till two years after, according to the 
 teftlmony of Oviedo. But although they had all died on the voyage, or become frantic and 
 mad, it fliould not caufe any wonder, confidcring what is recited by M. dc Paw himfelf, in Part 
 iil. feft. 2. of his Refearches : " Les academiciens Francois," hcfays, enleverent au de lade 
 " Torneo deux Lappons, qui, obfcdps et martyrises par ces philofophes, moururent de de- 
 " fcfpoir en route." Neither the country which the Laplanders left, nor the voyage which they 
 had to make, can be comp.ired with the country and the voyage of thofe Americans ; nor can 
 we imagine the Spanlfli failors, of the fifteenth century, fo humane as the French academi- 
 cians of the eighteenth» 
 
 it
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 335 
 
 it is neceflary to confcfs, that Mr. de Paw has ftiewn more moderation DISSERT, 
 than many others whom he has quoted. The celebrated naruralift j 
 
 Johnfton, affirms, in his Thaumatographia, on the faith of we know 
 not what travellers, that in the new world almoft all the men abound 
 with milk in their breafts. In all Brafil, fays the author of the Hif- 
 torical Refearches, the men alone fuckle children, for the women have 
 hardly any milk. We do not know whether moft to admire the ef- 
 frontery and impudence of thofe travellers who invent and publifli 
 fuch fables, or the excefs of fimplicity in thofe who repeat them. If 
 there had ever been a nation of the new world, in which fuch a phe- 
 nomenon had been obferved (which M. de Paw cannot prove), that cer- 
 tainly would not have been fufficient to fay, that in many places of 
 America milk abounds in the breafts of men j and much lefs to af- 
 firm, as Johnfton does, of almoft all the men in the new world. 
 
 Thofe lingularities, which Mr. de Paw remarks in the Americr.n 
 women, would be moft acceptable to them if they were true; for no- 
 thing certainly could be moie defirabk to them, than to be freed 
 from the pains and difficulties of child-bearing, to abound with that 
 liquor which nourilhes their children, and to be fpared the inconve- 
 niencies which are occafioned by thofe periodical and difagreeable 
 evacuations ? But that which would be efteemed by them a circum- 
 ftance of happinefs, is reported by M. de Paw as a proof of their de- 
 generacy ; for that eafe of delivery, he fays, fhews the expanfion of 
 the vaginal pafTage, and the relaxation of the mufcles of the matrix, 
 on account of the fluids being-too copious : their abundance can only 
 proceed from the humidity of their conftitutions, and that, otherwife, 
 they do not conform with the women of the old continent ; whereas 
 thej', according to IVI. de Paw's legiflation, are the model of all the 
 world. Surely it muft excite the v.onder of every ont, that whereas 
 the author of the Hiftorical Refearches remarks fuch a IcarcJty of 
 milk in the American women, that the men are obliged to fuckle their 
 own children j the author of the Philofophical Refearches on the con- 
 trary, ftiould attribute to them fuch an extraordinary abundance of it ; 
 and who is there, that ia reading thele and other fimilar contradic- 
 tions and tales puhHlhed in Europe, particularly a few years back, 
 will not difcover that the travellers, hiftorians, naturalifts,. and philo- 
 
 fophers-
 
 33' 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 SISSERT. fophers of Europe, have made America the magazine of their fables 
 and fiitions ; and in order to render their works more entertaining, 
 from the marvellous novelty of their pretended obfervations, have af- 
 cribed to all the Americans, whatever fingularities have been obferved 
 in one individual, or perhaps in none ? 
 
 The American women are fubjeól to the common fentence of nature, 
 and are not delivered without pains ; poffibly, not with fo much appa- 
 ratus as attends the women of Europe ; becaufe they are lefs delicate, 
 and more accuftomed to the inconveniencies of life. Thevenot fays, 
 that the Mogul women are delivered with great eafe, and that the day 
 after they are feen going through the ftreets of the cities, and yet 
 there is no reafon to find fault with their fruitfulnefs, or their confti- 
 tution. 
 
 The quantity and quality of milk in the American women in Mexi- 
 co, and other countries of America, are well known to the European 
 and Creole ladies, who take them commonly as wet-nurfes to their 
 children ; they find that they are wholfome, faithful, and diligent, in 
 fuch fervice. Nor does it matter to fay, that the ancient Americans 
 are talked of, and not the moderns, as M. de Paw has fometimes re- 
 plied to his adverfary Don Pernety ; fince befides, that his propofitions 
 againfl: the Americans are all meant of the prefent day, as it is manifeft 
 to every one who has read his work, that diflinftion has no place in 
 many countries of America, and particularly in Mexico. The Mexi- 
 cans ufe, for the mofl part, the fame food which they fed upon before 
 the conquefl. The climate, if poflibly it is changed in fome regions, 
 from the cutting down of the woods, and the draining of ftagnant wa- 
 ters, in Mexico is fiill the fame. Thofe who have compared, as we 
 have, the accounts of the firft Spaniards, 'with the prefent ftate of that 
 kingdom, know that the fame lakes, the fame rivers, and, in general, 
 the fime woods, ftill fubfilt. 
 
 With refpedl to the tnefifes of the American women, we can give 
 no account, nor do we know who can. M. de Paw, who has from 
 Berlin feen fo many things of America, has, perhaps, found, in fome 
 French author, the manner of knowing that which we neither can, 
 nor chufe to enquire into. But granting that the menftrual evacuation 
 of the American women is fcanty and irregular, it argues nothing 
 
 againfl 
 
 5
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 '■37 
 
 againH; their conftitution, as the quantity of that evacuation depends, DISSERT, 
 as count de BufFon juflly obferves, on the quantity of tlaeir aliinent, aid 
 infenfible perfpiration. Women who eat much, and take little excr- 
 cile, have abundant menfes. In hot countries, where perfpiration is 
 more copious than it is in cold, that evacuation is more fparing. If 
 the fcantinefs of fuch evacuation can proceed from fobriety in eating, 
 from the heat ot the chme and exercif^, why produce it as an argu- 
 ment of a bad conlHtution ? Befidcs, we do not know how to recon- 
 cile that fcantinefs of the meiifes with the fuperabundance of fluids, 
 which M. de Paw fuppofes in the women of America, to be a confequcnce 
 of the diforder of their phyiical conftitution. 
 
 The proofs abovementioned of the weaknefs of the Americans, are 
 not better fupported. M. de Paw fays, that they were overcome in 
 wreftUng by all the European?, and that they funk under a moderate 
 burden ; that by a computation made two hundred thoufand Americans 
 were found to have perifhed in one year from carrying of baggage. 
 With refpedl to the firft point, it would be necelfary that the experi- 
 ment of wreftling was made between many individuals of each conti- 
 nent, and that the vidtory ihould be atteited by the Americans as well 
 as the Europeans. But however that may be, we do not pretend 
 to maintain, that the Americans are fhonger than the Europeans. 
 They may be lefs ftrong without the human fpecies having degenerated 
 in tiiem. The Swifs are ftronger than the Italians, and flill we do 
 not believe the Italians are degenerated, nor do we tax the climate of 
 Italy. The inllance of two hundred thoufand Americans havii:g died 
 in one year, under the weight of baggage, were it true, would not 
 convince us fo much of the weaknefs of tlie Americans, as of the in- 
 humanity of the Europeans. In the fame manner that thofe two hun- 
 dred thoufand Americans perifhed, two hundred thoufand Pruffians 
 would alfo have perifhed had they been obliged to make a journey of 
 between three and four hundred miles, with a hundred pounds of 
 burden upon their backs ; if they had collars of iron about their necks, 
 and were obliged to carry that load over rocks and mountains; if thoic 
 who became exhaufted with fatigue, or wounded their feet fo as to im- 
 pede their progrefs, had their heads cut off that they might not retard 
 the pace of .the reft; and if they were not allowed but a fmall morfei 
 
 \ OL, II. X X of
 
 IV. 
 
 338 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 DISSERT, of bread to enable them to fuppoit fo fevere a toil. The fame au- 
 thor {m) from whom M. de Paw got tjie account of the two hundred 
 thoufand American.? who died under the fatigue of carrying baggage, 
 relates alfo all the above mentioned circumftances. If that author there- 
 fore is to be credited in the laft, he is alfo to be credited in the firft. 
 But a philofopher who vaunts the phyfical and moral qualities of the 
 Europeans over thofe of the Americans, would have done better, we 
 think, to have iupprefTed fadls fo opprobrious to the Europeans them- 
 felves. It is true, that neither Europe in general, nor any nation of it 
 in particular, can be blamed for the excefles into which fome individuals 
 run, efpecially in countries fo diftant from the metropolis, and when they 
 ad againft the exprefs will and repeated orders of their fovereigns; but 
 if the Americans were difpofed to make ufe of M. de Paw's logic, they 
 mif^ht from luch premifes deduce univerfal conclufions againft the old 
 continent in the fame manner, as he is continually forming arguments 
 againft the whole of the new world, from what has been obferved. in 
 fome particular people, or poflibly only in fome individuals. 
 
 He allows the Americans a great agility of body,, and fwiftnefs ia 
 running ; becaufe they are accuftomed from childhood to this ex- 
 ercife : neither then ought he to deny them ftrength ; for, as it is 
 clear from their hiftory and from their paintings, that as foon as they 
 could v.alk, they were habituated to carry burdens, in which occupa- 
 tion they were to be employed all their lives ; in like manner no other 
 nation ought to be more vigorous in carrying burdens, becaufe no 
 other exercifed itfelf fo much as the Americans in carrying loads on 
 their backs, on account of their want of beafts of burden («), with 
 which other nations were provided. If Mr. de Paw had feen, as we 
 have, the enormous weights which the Americans fupport on their 
 flioulders, he would never have reproached them with feeblenefs. 
 
 But nothing demonftrates fo clearly the robuftnefs of the Americans 
 as thofe various and lafting fatigues in which they are continually en- 
 gaged. Mr. de Paw fays [0), that when the new world was difco- 
 
 (?«) Las Cafas. 
 
 (>i) Although the Peruvians had beafts of burden thefe were not fuch as could ferve them in 
 tranfporting- thofe large (lones which were found in fome of their buildirg?, and in thofe of 
 Mexico : having no machines cither for aflifting them in that work, it inufl have been done 
 folely by the ftrength of men. 
 
 (a) Defence de Recherches. cap. xii. 
 
 vered.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 339 
 
 vered, nothing was to be Ceen but thick woods -, and that at prefeiit DISSERT 
 there are fome lands cultivated, not by the A.mericans however, but by v__-v-~-. 
 the Africans and Europeans ; and that the foil in cultivation is to the 
 foil which is uncultivated as two thouland to t^vo millions. Thefe 
 three ailertions are preci fely as many errors. To referve, however, what 
 belongs to the l.ibours of the ancient Mexicans for another Dificrtation, 
 and to fpeak only of latter times, it is certain that fince the conquell 
 the Americans alone have been the people who have fupported all the 
 fatigues of agriculture in all the vaft countries of the continent of 
 South America, and in the greater part of thofe of South America 
 fubjedl to the crown of Spain. No European is ever to be Ccen em- 
 ployed in the labours ot the field. The Moors, who, in compari- 
 fon of the Americans, are very few in number in the kingdom of New 
 Spain, are charged with the culture of the fugar-cane and tobacco, 
 and the making of fugar ; but the foil deilined for the cultivation of 
 thofe plants is not with refpeél to all the cultivated land of that coun- 
 try in the proportion of one to two thoufand. The Americans are 
 the people who labour on the foil. They are the tillers, the fowers, 
 the wecders, and the reapers of the wheat, of the maize, of the rice, of 
 the beans, and other kinds of grain and pulfe, of the cacao, of the va- 
 nilla, of the cotton, of the indigo, and all other plants ufeful to the 
 fuftenance, the clothing, and commerce of thofe provinces ; and with- 
 out them fo little an be done, that in the year 1762, the harvefl of 
 wheat was abandoned in many places on account of a ficknel's wiiicli 
 prevailed and prevented the Indians from reaping it. But this is not 
 all ; the Americans are they who cut and tranfport all the necelfary tim- 
 ber from the woods ; who cut, tranfport, and work the ftones ; who 
 make lime, plaifter, and tiles ; who con l1:ru6l: all the buildings of that 
 kingdom, except a few places where none of them inhabit; who 
 open and repair all the roads, wlio make tiie canals and fluices, and 
 clean the cities. Tiiey work in many mines of gold, of filvcr, of 
 copper, &c. they are the flicpherds, hcrdfmen, weavers, potters, 
 balket-makers, bakers, couriers, day-labourers, &c. ; in a word, they 
 are the perfons who bear all the burden of public labours. Thefe are 
 the employments of the weak, dallardly, and ufclefs Americans, while 
 
 X X 2 the
 
 V. 
 
 340 HISTORY OFMEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, the vigorous M. de Paw and other indefatigable Europeans are occu- 
 pied in writing inveftives againft them. 
 
 Thefe labours, in which the Indians are continually employed, cer- 
 tainly atteft their healthinefs and ftrength ; as, if they are able to 
 undergo fuch fatigues, they cannot be difeafed, nor have an exhaufted 
 flream of blood in their veins, as M, de Paw infinuates. In order to 
 make it believed that their conftitutions are vitiated, he copies what- 
 ever he finds written by hillorians of America whether true or falfe, 
 refpedling the difeafes which reign in fome particular countries of that 
 great continent j and efpecially concerning the venereal diftemper, 
 which he conceives to be truly American. With refpeót to the vene- 
 real diforder, we fliall treat of it at large in another Diifertation : con- 
 cerning other difeafes, we grant, that in fome countries in the wide coni- 
 pafs of America men are expofed more than elfewhere to the diftempers 
 which are occafioned by the intemperature of the air, or the pernicious 
 quality of the aliments ; but it is certain according to the aflertion of 
 many refpedlable authors acquainted with the new world, that the Ame- 
 rican countries are for the moft part healthy ; and if the Americans were 
 difpofed to retaliate on M. de Paw and other European authors who write 
 as he does, they would have abundant fubjedt of materials to throw dif- 
 credit on the clime of the old continent, and the conftitution ot its inhabi- 
 tants in the endemic diflem.pers which prevail there, fuch as the elephan- 
 tiaf.s and leprofy of Egypt and Syria (/>), the verben of fouthern Afia, 
 the dragoncello or worm of Medina, the pircal of Malabar, the yaws 
 or Guinea-evil, the tiriaji or morbus pedicularis of Little Tartary, 
 the fcurvy and dyfentery of northern countries, the plica of Poland, 
 the goitiers of Tyrol and many alpine countries, the itch, rickets, the 
 fmall-pox [q), and above all the plague, which has fo often depopu- 
 lated 
 
 {p') The elephant I (if, s, an endemic diieafe of Eg3'pt, and entirely unknown in America, was 
 fo common in Europe in the thirteenth century, that there were, according to what Mathew 
 Paris fay?, an exaft writer of that time, nineteen thoufand hofpiials for it, 
 
 (j) i he fmali pox was carried to America by the Europeans, and made as great a havoc 
 there as the venereal difeafe did in Europe. The rickets is a diftemper unknown in the new 
 world ; this we conceive the principal caufe of there being fewer deformed and imperfeft 
 fliaped people there than in Europe. The itch exilis either not at all, or fo rarely, that dnring 
 many yearò refidence in different countries of Mexico, we never faw one infeftcd with that dif- 
 eafe, nor ever heard of any one who was. The vomito prletOtWiHui appears to be an endemic dif- 
 temper
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 341 
 
 lated whole cities and provinces of the old continent, and which DISSERT, 
 annually commits immenfc havoc in the Eaft : the moft terrible fcourge v ' . > 
 of the human race, but hitherto warded off from the new world. 
 
 Laftly, The fuppofed fecblenefs and unfound bodily habit of the A- 
 mericans do not correfpond witli the length of their lives. Among 
 tliofe Americans whofe great fatigues and excellive toils do not anticipate 
 their death, there are not a few who reach the age of eighty, ninety, 
 and an hundred years ; and, v.'hat is more, without there being ob- 
 ferved in them that decay which time commonly produces in the hair, 
 in the teeth, in the flcin, and in the mufcles of the human body. 
 This phenomenon, fo much admired by the Spaniards who refide in 
 Mexico, cannot be afcribed to any other caufe than the vigour of 
 their conftitutions, the temperance of their diet, and the falubrity of 
 their clime. Hillorians, and other perfons who have fojourncd there 
 for many years, report the lame thing of other countries of the new 
 world. But if poilibly there is any region where life is not fo much pro- 
 longed, at lead there is no one where it is fo much fhortened as in Guinea, 
 in Sierra Leona, in the Cape of Good Hope, and other countries of 
 Africa, in which old age commonly begins at forty j and he who 
 arrives at fifty is looked upon as an odtogenary is with us (r). Of 
 them it might be faid with fome fhew of reafon, that their blood is 
 wafled, and their phylical conftitution is overthrown. 
 
 temper alfo, is extemfly modern, and is not felt except in fome places of the torrid zone fre- 
 quented by Europeans. The fir't who were feized with it were the failors of fome European 
 veflels, who iiumcdiutely after the bad diet they had during their voyage, eat greedily of fruit, 
 and dran:^ i nmoderatcly of brandy. Ulloa affirms, that in Carthagena, one of the moft un- 
 healthy phices of America, this diftemper was not known before the yrar 1729, and that it be- 
 gan among the crews of the European vcfleU, which arrived there under the command of D. 
 D. Giui'iniani. 
 
 (r; The Hottentots, fays Buffon, arc fliort livers, for they hardly exceed forty years of 
 age, Drack attcfts that certain nations inhabiting the frontiers of the Ethiopian diftri<5ls, on ac- 
 count of the fcarcity of aliment, feed on falted locufts, and that this wretched food produces a 
 horrid efTeCt; when they arrive at the age of forty, certain flying infefls breed upon their bodies, 
 which ioon occafion their deaths, by devouring firii their belly, then ihcir bicaft, and lalily 
 their very bones. Thefe, and the kind of infefls by which, as M. de Paw himfclf confcflcs,. 
 the inhabitants of Little Tartary are dedroycd, arc certainly greatly worfe than thofe worms- 
 which, he fays, arc found amongft fome people of America. 
 
 SECT.
 
 342 
 
 DISSERT. 
 V. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 SECT. II. 
 
 On the mental ^alkies of the Mexicans. 
 
 HITHERTO we have examined what M. de Paw has laid con- 
 cerning the corporal qualities of the Americans. Let us now fee 
 Vv'hat are his fpeculations concerning their minds. He has not been 
 able to difcover any other charaders than a memory fo feeble, that to- 
 day they do not remember what they did yellerday ; a capacity fo blunt, 
 th.tt tliey are incapable of tliinking, or putting their ideas in order; a 
 difpofition fo cold, that they feel no excitement of love ; a daftardly 
 fpirit, and a genius that is torpid and indolent. In (hort, lie paints 
 the Americans in fuch colours, and debafes their fouls to fuch a degree, 
 that although he foaietimes inveighs againfl: them, that they put their 
 very rationality in doubt, we do not doubt, that if he had then been 
 confulted, he would have declared hiuifelf contrary to the opinion of 
 rationaiijis. We know well that many other Europeans, and, what is 
 ftill more wonderful, many of thofe children or defcendants of Euro- 
 peans who are born in America, think as M. de Paw does ; fome from 
 ignorance, fome from want of refledtion, and others from hereditary 
 pirejudice and prepoiltlTion. But all this and more would not be fuf- 
 ficient to belie our own experience and the teftimony of other Euro- 
 peans whofe authority have a great deal more weight, both becaufe they 
 were men of great judgment, learning, and knowledge of thefe coun- 
 tries, and becaufe they gave their tellimony in favour of flrangers a- 
 gainft their own conntrymen. The alteflations and arguments which 
 we could adduce in favour of the mental qualities of the Americans 
 arefo numerous, that they would fill a great volume; we fhall, how- 
 ever, to avoid prolixity or confufion, confine ourfelves to a few, which 
 are worth a thoufand others. 
 
 Zummarraga, firfi: bilhop of Mexico, a prelate of happy memo- 
 and highly efleemed by the catholic kings, for his learning and ir- 
 reproachable life, his paftoral zeal and apoftolic labours, in his let- 
 ter written in the year 1531, to the general chapter of the P. P. 
 
 Fran-
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 343 
 
 Franclfcans, afìembled in Tolofa, fpeaks thus of the Indians : " They J^ISSERT. 
 " are temperate and ingenious, particularly in the art of painting. 
 " They are not ungifted with mental talents. The Lord be praifed 
 " for all." If M. de Paw does not value the teflimony of this moft 
 venerable prelate, whom he calls a bigot and barbarian, in right of that 
 authority wliich he has arrogated to himfclf to injure thofe whofe {cn~ 
 timents are not conformable to his extravagant fyftem of degeneracy, 
 let him read what Las Cafas, the firft bifliop of Chiapa, has written, 
 who knew them well, from having rcfided many years in different 
 parts of America. He in a memorial prefented to Philip II. fpeaks of 
 them thus : " The Americans alfo are people of a bright and lively 
 *' genius, eafy to be taught and to apprehend every good do6trine, ex- 
 " tremely ready to embrace our faith and virtuous cufloms, and the 
 " people of all others in the world who feel leali: embarraffment in it." 
 He makes ufc almofl of the fame expreflions in his refutation of the 
 anfwers of Dr. Sepulveda ; " The Indians have," he fays, " as good 
 " an underftanding and acute a genius, as much docility and capacity 
 ** for the moral and fpeculatlve fciences, and are, in moft in (lances, as 
 ** rational in their political government, as appears from many of their 
 *' extremely prudent laws, and are as far advanced in the knowledge of 
 " our faith and religion, in good cufloms and civilization where they 
 " have been tutored by perfons of religious and exemplary life, and 
 " are arriving at refinement and polifli as fafl as any nation ever did 
 ** fmce the times of the apoftles." Since M. de Paw believes all that 
 which this learned exemplary prelate wrote againft the Spaniards, al- 
 though he was not prefent at the greater part of the fadis which he 
 relates, he ought much more to believe that which the lame bilhop, 
 depofes in favour of the Americans, as an eye-witnefs and refident among 
 them J as there is much lefs requifite to make us believe that the 
 Americans are people of a good genius and difpoiition, than to per- 
 fuade us of thofe horrid and unheard of cruelties of the Spanilh con- 
 querors. 
 
 But if he does not admit the teflimony of that great bifhop, becaufe- 
 he efleems him, though wrongfully, to have been a cheat, and ambi- 
 tious hypocrite, he may read the dcpofition concerning them of the 
 firfl billiop of Tbfcala, Garces, a mofl learned man, and highly and 
 
 juflly
 
 344 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, juflly efteemed by his famous patron Ant. de Nebrija, the rcllorer of 
 Y , letters in Spain. This renowned prelate in his Latin Letter to pope 
 Paul IIL written in 1536, after ten years continual commerce with, 
 and obfervation of the Americans, among many- praifes which he be- 
 ftows on their difpofitions, and the gifts of their minds, he extols 
 their genius, and in fome degree raifes it above that of his country- 
 men, as may appear from the palTage of his letter which we have fub- 
 joined here below (j). What perfon is there -who would not give 
 greater faith to thofe three bilhops, who, befides their probity, 
 their learning, and charadter, had long commerce with the Ame- 
 ricans, than to other authors who either never faw the Americans, 
 or viewed them v/ithout refleilion, or paid improper and unjuft de-- 
 ference to the informations of ignorant, prejudiced, or interelled men ? 
 
 But laftly, if M. de Paw refufes the depolitions of thefe three wit- 
 nefles, however refpedlable, becaufe they were ecclefiaifics, to whom 
 he thinks \veaknefs of mind attached, he cannot, but fubmit to the 
 judgment of the famous biihop of Angelopoli, Palafox. Mr. de 
 Paw, though a Prulfian and a philofopher, calls that prelate the ve- 
 nerable fervant of God. If he gives fo much faith to this venei'abkfer^ 
 vant of God in what he wrote againft the Jefuits in his own caufe, 
 why not believe him in what he has written in favour of the Ameri- 
 cans ! Let him read the work of this prelate, compofed in order to 
 demonftrate the difpofition, genius, and virtues of the Lidians. 
 
 Notwithllanding the implacable hatred which M. de Paw bears to 
 the ecclefiaftics of the Roman church, and to the Jefuits in particular, 
 he praifes the Natural and Moral Hiifory of Acofta, and calls it very 
 julfly an excellent work. This judicious, impartial, and very learned 
 Spaniard, who faw and obferved with his own eyes the Americans in 
 Peru as well as Mexico, employs the whole fixth book of this ex- 
 cellent work in demonftrating the good fenfe of the Americans by 
 
 Is) " Nunc vero de horum figillatim hominum ingenio, quos vidimus ab hinc decennio, 
 " quo ego in Patria convefatus eorum potui perfpicere mores ac ingenia perfecutari, teftifieans 
 " coiam te, Beautiffime Pater qui Chriili in terris Vicariuni agis quod vidi qucd audivi et ma- 
 " nus noftrx contreiTtaveiunt de his piogenitis ab ecclelia per qualecumque minifterium meum 
 '' in verbo vita: quod fingula fmgulis refcrendo, id eft paribus paiia, rationis optima» compotes 
 " funt ct integri feiifus ac capitis fed infupcr noftratibus pueri iftorum et vigore fpiritus et fenfu- 
 " um vivacitate dcxteriore in omni agibili et intclligibli pi-xllantiorcs reperiti ntur.". 
 
 an 
 
 5
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 345 
 
 lun explanation of their ancient government, their laws, their hlllories DISSERT.- 
 in paintings and knots, calendars, &;c. To be informed of his opi- ^^ 
 
 iiion on this fubjed, it will be hilficient to read the firll chapter of 
 that book. We requeft M. de Paw, as well as our readers, to read it 
 attentively, as there are matters in it worthy of being known. M. de 
 Paw will difcover there the origin of the error into whicli he, and 
 many Europeans, have fallen, and will perceive the great difference 
 there is between viewing things while the fight is dimmed by paflion 
 and prejudices, and examining them with impartiality and cool judg- 
 ment. M. de Paw thinks the Americans are belHal ; Acofta, on the 
 other hand, reputes tliofe perfons weak and prefumptuous who think 
 them lo. M. de Paw fays, that the moll acute Americans were infe- 
 rior in induftry and fagacity to the rudeft nations of the old continent. 
 Acofta, extols the civil government of the Mexicans above many re-v 
 publics of Europe. M. de Paw finds, in the moral and political con- 
 dudl of the Americans, nothing but barbarity, extravagance, and bru- 
 tality ; and Acofla finds there, laws that are admirable and worthy of 
 being preferved for ever. To which of thefc t\s'o authors our greateft 
 faith is due, the impartial reader will decide. 
 
 We cannot here avoid the infertion of a paflage of the Philofophical 
 Refearches, in which the author difcovers his turn for defamation as well 
 as enmity to truth. " At firft, he fays, the Americans were not be- 
 *' lieved to be men, but rather ilityrs, or large apes, which might be 
 ** murdered without remorlc or reproach. At lafl, in order to add in- 
 ** fult to the oppreflion of thofe times, a pope made an original bull, 
 " in which he declared, that being defirous of founding bilhopricks 
 •' in the richeft countries of America, it pleafed him, and the Holy 
 •' Spirit, to acknowledge the Americans to be true men : in fo far, that 
 " without this decifion of an Italian, the inhabitants of the new world 
 *' would have appeared, even at this day, to the eyes of the faithful, a 
 " race of equivocal men. There is no example of fuch a deciiion, 
 " fince this globe has been inhabited by men and apes." We fliould 
 rejoice that there was no other example in the world of fuch calum- 
 nies and infolence as thofe of M. de Paw, but that we may put the 
 complexion of this pafl'age in its true light, we ihall give a copy of 
 that decifion,. after having. explained, the occafion of It. 
 
 Vol. II. Y y Some
 
 340 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT. Some of the firft Europeans who eftabliflied themfelves in x\merica, 
 not lefs powerful than avaricious, defirous of enriching themfelves to 
 the detriment of the Americans, kept them continually employed, and 
 made ufe of them as flaves ; and in order to avoid the reproaches which 
 were made them by the bhhops and miffionaries who inculcated huma- 
 nity, and the giving liberty to thofe people, to get themfelves inllruded 
 in religion, that they might do their duties towards the church and their 
 families, alledged, that the Indians were by nature flaves and incapable 
 of being inftrutìied ; and many other falflioods of which the Chronicler 
 Herfera makes mention againft them. Thofe zealous ecclefiaftics being 
 unable, either by their authority or preaching, to free thofe unhappy 
 converts from the tyranny of fuch mifers, had recourfe to the Catholic 
 kings, and at lafl obtained from their juftice and clemency, thofe laws 
 as favourable to the Americans as honourable to the court of Spain, 
 that compofe the Indian code, which were chiefly due to the in- 
 defatigable zeal of the bilhop de las Cafas. On another lide, Garces, 
 bifliop of Tlafcala, knowing that thofe Spaniards bore, notwithftand- 
 ing their perverfity, a great refpecft to the decifions of the vicar of 
 Jefus Chrift, made application in the year 1 586, to pope Paul III. by that 
 famous letter, of which we have made mention ; reprefenting to him the 
 evils which the Indians fuffered from the wicked Chriftians, and pray- 
 "ing him to interpofe his authority in their behalf. The pope, moved 
 by fuch heavy remonflrances, difpatched the next year the original 
 bull, a faithful copy of which we have here fubjoined (/), which was 
 
 not 
 
 (r) Paukis p-.ipn III univerfisChriliiFidelibus prefentesLitterns inlpccTiiris Salutem &; Apol>o- 
 licam Benedictionem — " Veritas ipfa, qux nee falli, nee falltrc poteii, ciiin Pntdicatoics Fidei 
 •' ad officium pia;dic.itionis dellinaret, dixiflc dignnfcitur : Euu'cs docete omnes gentrs: omiies d'xit 
 " abfque omni deleft», cum omnes Fidei difciplina c:ipaces exiflant. Quod vidcns & invidens 
 '* ipiius humani genesis a:mukis, qui bonis opcribu.-, ut pereant, fcmptr adi'crfatur, nioduir» 
 •« excogitavil hai'tenus inauditum, quo impediict, ne Verbum Dei Gentil us, ut falvae licrcnt, 
 *♦ pra:dicaretur : ut quofdam fuos fatcUites commovit, qui faara cupiditatem adimplcre cupi- 
 •• entes. Occidentales & Meridionales Indos, &c alias Gentcs, qua; temporibus idis ad nof- 
 " tram notitiam pervenerunt, fub pratextii quoJ Fidel Catholic.-e expertes exifiiint, uti brut.» 
 " animatia, ad noilra oblequia redi^endos cfTc, paiiim alTerere pr.-efumant, & cos in fcrviiutem 
 •* redigunt tantis affliOtionibus illos urgentes, quantis vix bruta animalia illis fcrvientla iirgeant, 
 -" Nos igitur, qui cjuldem Domini no'.iri vices, licet indigni, gerimus in terris, & Ovcs gregis 
 •• fui nobis commiffas, qux extra ejus Ovile flint, ad ipfum Ovile foto nixu exquirimtis, at- 
 " tendentes Indos ipfoi, utpotc veros homines, non fohini Chriftianae Fidei capaces exilìere 
 ** fed, ut nobis inuotuit, ad Fideni ipf.im promptiffinie currcie, ac volentes fimer his congrtiis 
 ♦• remediis providuc, pra:di(ftos Ir.dos & omnes alias gent^:? i;d noiìtianri Chriflianorum in poftc- 
 
 •' ruta
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO 
 
 347 
 
 not made, as is manifeA, to declare the Americans free men ; for fuch DISSERT. 
 
 a piece of weaknefs was very diftant from that or any other pope : but v ^J » 
 
 folely to fupport the natural rights of the Americans againll the at- 
 tempts of their oppreffors, and to condemn the injullice and inhu- 
 manity of thofe, who, under the pretence of fuppofing thofe people 
 idolatrous, or incapable of being inftrudted, took from them their pro- 
 perty and their liberty, and treated them as Haves and hearts. The 
 Spaniards, indeed, would have been more pitiable than the rudeft fa- 
 vages of the new world, if tliey had waited for a decifion from Rome 
 before they would acknowledge the Americans to be true men. It is 
 well known, that long before the pope difpatched that bull, the Ca- 
 tholic kings had earneftly recommended the inflrudiion of the Ameri- 
 cans, had given the mofl: careful orders that they Ihould be well treat- 
 ed, and that no wrong fliould be offered either to their property or their 
 perfons ; and had fent feveral bilhops to the new world, and fome 
 hundreds of miffionaries at the royal expence, to teach thofe fatyrs the 
 faith of Jefus Chrift, and train them in the Chriftian mode of life. In 
 1531, fix years before that bull was out, the French mifuonaries alone 
 had baptized in Mexico more than a million of thofe fatyrs j and in 
 1534, the feminary of the Holy Crofs was founded in Tlatelolco, for 
 the inftrucftion of a confiderable number of thofe large apes, where 
 they learned the Latin language. Rhetoric, Philofophy, and Medicine. 
 If at firfl the Americans were elleemed fatyrs, no body can better prove 
 it than Chriftopher Columbus their difcoverer. Let us hear, there- 
 fore, how that celebrated admiral fpeaks, in his account to the Catho- 
 lic kings Ferdinand and Ifabella, of the nrft fatyrs he faw in the 
 illand of Haiti, or Hifpaniola. " I fwear," he fays, " to your ma- 
 •.' jefties, that there is not a better people in the world than tiiefe, 
 " more affedlionate, affable, or mild. They love their neighbours as 
 " themfelvcs ; their language is the fwecteil, the foftefl, and the mofl 
 
 «' rum deventuras, licet extru (idem Chiifti exiftant, fua libertate & dominio luijufmodi uti, &.- 
 •' potiri, & gauderc libere & licite poflc, nee in i'er\itutcm redigi dcberc, ac tiuicqiiid fcciis 
 •« fieri coiitigi-rit irritum & inane, ipfofque Indos, &i alias Gcntcs Verbi Dei pratdicationc, & 
 «• excmplo bona; vitae ad dirtam Fideni Cluifti invitandos fore. Audoritate Apoflolica per pr«- 
 " fcntcs litems decernimus, i- drclaiainus, nou obftantibiu pr.tmiflis, cnelcrifqvie contiariis qiii- 
 '• biifcunqxie." — Datum Roma; anno i^jy- IV. Kon. luii. Pontilicatiis aoftii ;inno III. Quella, 
 fi non altra e quella famofii bolla, per la quale s'è tytto un iì grande Ichianwzzo. 
 
 y V 2 chcar-
 
 OT 
 
 8 tì' I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 lilSSERT. «< chearful 'f for they always fpeak fmiling ; and although they go 
 " naked, let your naajefties believe me, their cufloms arc very be- 
 <* coming ; and their king, who is ierved with great majelty, has 
 " fuch engaging manners, that it gives great plealure to fee him, and 
 " alfo to confider the great retentive faculty of that people, and their 
 *• defire of knowledge, which incites them to afk the caufes and the 
 '• effefts of things («)." As M. de Paw employed ten continued years 
 to fearch into the aftairs of America, he ought to have knowii, that 
 in the countries of the new world lubjed:ed to the Spaniards, no other 
 biihopricks are founded there than thole which the Catholic king has 
 conftituted. To him belong, from the patronage given him over 
 American churches by pope Julius II. in 1508, the foundation of bi- 
 fliopricks, and the prefentation of bifhops. To affirm, therefore, that 
 Paul III. would acknowledge the Americans to be true men, in order 
 to found biihopricks in the richeft countries of the new world, is but 
 the calumny of an enemy of the Roman church ; for if he was not 
 blinded by enmity, he would rather have perceived the zeal and hu- 
 manity which the pope difplays in that bull. 
 
 Dr. Robertlbn, who, in a great meafure, adopts the extravagant 
 notions of M. de Paw, fpeaks thus of the Americans, in the Vlllth 
 book of his Hiftory of America. " Some miffionaries aftonillied 
 " equally at their llownels of comprehenfion, and at their infenlibility, 
 •' pronounced them a race of men fo brutirti, as to be incapable of un- 
 " derllanding the firli: principles of religion." But what miffionaries 
 thefe were, and how mudi their judgment is to be trufted, can be 
 underftood from no body better than Garces, in the above men- 
 tioned letter to pope Paul III. Let the pallage which we have here 
 fubjoined be read (.v), it will appear from it, that the realbns of luch 
 
 an 
 
 (..:) Cap. xxxii. of the Hiftory of Chr. Columbus, written by his fon. 
 
 {x) Qiiis tarn impudenti animo ac perfricata fronte incapaces fidei aflbrere .ludet, quos mc- 
 clianlcaram artium capacilTimos intucmur, ac quos etiam ad niiniflcriuni nollrum redados bo- 
 iix indolis» fidclis, Si folertes experimur ? Et fi quando. Beiuinimc Pa?cr, Tua SatK'Utas ali- 
 <luem rclijjiofinn virum in hanc dcclii»arc fentcntiam audieiit, ctfi e.\imia intepjritate viti, vcl 
 dignitatc fulgere vidcat;u- is, non ideo quicquam ilii liac in re pra;llet aurtoritatis, fid euni- 
 dem parum aut nihil infudafle in illorum converfione certo certius arbitrciiM-, ac m eorum ad- 
 difccnda lingua, aut invcftigandis ingeniis parum ftudtiiflc perpcndat : nam qui in his caritats 
 chriftiana laborarunt, non fruftra in cos jaftave retia caritatis affirmant ; iilì vero quf folitu- 
 dini dediti, aut ignavia pracpediti nt-mlnem ad Chrifti eultum fiu induflria redu:xerunr, ne in- 
 
 citjparì 
 2
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 349 
 
 an error, were the igjiorance and floth of tliofe mirtioiuries ; and we DrsSERT. 
 add, the fahe ideas tliey had imbibed from their infancy. Las Cafis, 
 AcolVa, and other grave writers on America, lay the fame thing as 
 Garces. 
 
 " A council held at Lima," continues Dr. Robertfon, " decreed, 
 ** that on account of this incapacity they ought to be excluded from 
 " the fjcrament of the Eucharift. And though Paul III. by his fam- 
 " ous bull, ilfued in the year 1537, declared them to be rational crea- 
 ** tures, entitled to all the privileges of Chriftians ; yet, after the lapfe 
 " of two centuries, during which they have been members of the 
 " church, fo imperfedt are their attainments in knowledge, that very 
 " few pollcfs fuch a portion of fpiritual difcerment, as to be deemed 
 
 " worthy of being ad nittcd to the holy communion Even after 
 
 " the moft careful infbrudtion, their faith is confidered feeble and du- 
 " bious, and though fome of them have been taught the learned lan- 
 " guages, and have gone through the ordinary courfe of academic edu- 
 *• cation with applaufe, their frailty is fo much fufpeiled, that no In- 
 " dian is ever ordained a prieft, or received into any religious order." 
 In a few words, here are four errors at leaft. i. That a council of 
 Lima had excluded the Indians from the ficrament of the Eucliarift, 
 on account of their imbecility of mind. 2. That Paul III. declared 
 the Indians rational creatures. 3. That very few Indians poflcfs fuch 
 a portion of fpiritual difcernment as to be judged worthy to approach 
 to the facred table. 4, That no Indian is ever ordained a prieft. 
 
 With refpedt to the firfl, it is true, that in an aflen.bly held at Lima, 
 in the year 1552, which was called Prhmiin conciUnm Limce, though 
 it was not a council, nor had ever any authority of a council, it was 
 ordained that the Eucharift flxould not be adminiilered to the Indians 
 until they were perfectly inftruiled and perfuadcd in things of faith; 
 
 cnlpnri pofiiiit quod iiiutiles fucrjnt, quod proprii ncgligcntl.-c vitium eft, id InfiJeriiiin imbe- 
 cillitati iidfcribiiiit, vcramqiic fuam dcfidiain falHc incapatitatli iinpolitionc dcfendunr, ac noa 
 niiiiorcm tulpam in excufatione coinnnttiint, <|iK\m eiat ilia, a qua libciari conantur. Lsdit 
 nainque Uimmc iftud liomiuiiin gcii'.is talia aHcicntium liane Iiuloium mircrriinam tmbam t 
 nam aliquos rt li^iidloi viros ritrahiint, nc ad cddcni in fide inftrucndos proficifcantur : «juam- 
 obrcm nonnulli Hilpanuium q\ii ad illos dtliillandos acccdunt, hoium frcti judicio illos neg- 
 ligerò, perdere, ac macìarc opinari folcnt non clic llajiti^'m. ^.v i-t'c<-b Jiil'ani Gareès F.f. 
 TLij'. ad Paul/im III. Pout, Max. 
 
 id bc^
 
 33° 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, becaufe that lacrament is the food of the perfcd, but not becaufe they 
 ^1 . were elleeuied weak, of uiiderllanding. This is clear from the hrll 
 provincial council vulgarly called the fecond, held in Lima in the year 
 l^6j, which ordered priefts to adminifter fuch lacrament to all the 
 Indians who found themfelves difpofed for it {y). But notwithltand- 
 ijig that order to make thoie eccieiiallics comply, of which Acofla 
 j-uilly complained, the fecond council of Lima held in 1583, at which 
 S. Toribio Mogrobejo prefided, endeavoured to remedy thofe difor-r. 
 ders by the decrees which we here fubjoin (s), from which it is to 
 be feen, that they for the lame realbns equally denied ti\e eucharjft. 
 to the Indians and to the Moors, who were llaves brought from Afri- 
 ca : that the true reafons for denying it were, in the judgment of the, 
 council, the negligence or lloth, and the indifcreet and milaplied . 
 zeal of thole ecclefiaftics, and that the council found itfelf obliged to 
 put a remedy to lo great a dilorder by new decrees and levere punirti- 
 ments. We know well alfo, that thofe refpetìable decrees were not 
 exadllv executed, and it became neceflary for the diocefan fynod of 
 Lima, Plata, Paz, Arequipa and Paraguay, to inculcate them afrefli; 
 
 ( v) Qiiamquam omncs Chiirtiani adulti utriufque fexus teneantiir Santiffimuin Euchiiiftix 
 Sacramentum accipere fingulis annis fai te m in Pafchate, hiijus tamen Provincix Antillites cum 
 aiiiinadvertereiit ^entem banc Indoruni & reccntem effe Se infantilen in fide, atque id illorum 
 faluti expcJire judicarent, flatncrunt ut ufcjiie dum tidem perfcrie tencrcnt, hoc divino (iicra- 
 niento, quod eft pcrfeftorum oibus, non communicaientiir, excepto fi quis ei percipicndo latis 
 idoneus videretur. . . . Placuit huic Santìa; Synodo monete, piout ferie monet, omaes Indoruni 
 Parochos, ut quos audita jam confeffione perfpexerint, huic ca;lellcm cibum a reliquo corpomli 
 difcernere, atque eumedcm devote cuperc & pofcere, quoniam fine caufa ncmincm divino iili- 
 minto privare poffiimus, quo tempore c-eteris Chriftianis folent, Indis omnibus adminiltreut. 
 Cone. Lim. I. vulgo II, cap. 58. 
 
 (=) C.-Elerte viaticum, quod nulli ex hac vita migranti ncgat ]\Iatcr Ecclefia, multis abhinc- 
 annis Indis atque jEthiopibus, caeterifque perfonis mifcrabilibus praebcri debere Concilium 
 Limenfe confliuit. Sed timen Sacerdotum phiiium vel negligentia, vel zelo quodam prapof- 
 tero atque intempeftlvo ill s nihilo magis hodic prxbetur. Quo fit, ut imbecilles anims- tanto 
 boiio, tamque neceffirio priventur. Volcns igitur S.nifta Svnodus ad executionem perducere, 
 qiix Chrifto duce ad falutem Indorum ordinata funt, feverc praecipit omnibus Parochis, ut ex- 
 treme laborantibus Indis atque i'Ethiopibus viaticum niinillrarc non pra;tcrmittant, dummodoin 
 eis debitam difpofitionem agnofcant, nempe fidcm in Chriflum, & pocnitcntiam in Deum fuo 
 modo ..... I'orro Parochos qui a prima hujus decreti promulgatione negligentes fticrint, 
 novcilat fc, prastcr divina; ultionis judicium, ctiam poenas Arbitrio Ordinarioi uni, in quo confci- 
 entix onerantur, daturos : atque in Vifitationlbus in illos dc hujus flatuti obfervatione fpcciali- 
 ter inquirendum. Cone. Lim. II. tv/'^o III. Aft. z. cap. ig. 
 
 Ja Pafchate iiiltem eucharilliam minifirare Parochus non pr;ttermittat lis, quos & f^tis in- 
 flruftos, & correzione vitae idoneos judicaverit : ne & ipfc alioqui ecclefiafticJ prscepti viola- 
 ci reus fit. Ibid, cap, 20< 
 
 but
 
 V. 
 
 H I S T O R Y O F MEXICO. ^p 
 
 but that demon ftrates the obftinacj' of the eccleliaftics, not the want DISSHRT, 
 of capacity in the Americans. 
 
 With refpedt to the bull of Paul III. we have already fhewn that it 
 was not intended to declare the Americans men, but, on account of 
 their right to all the privileges of men, to condemn their oppreffors. 
 
 In regard to the third errorof Dr. Robertfon which we have mentioned 
 
 above, omitting p.t prefent what belongs to other countries of America 
 
 as it is not neceifary here j it is certain and notorious, that in all New 
 
 Spain the Indians are obliged as much as the Spaniards to receive the 
 
 Eucharill at E.iftcr, except thofe of remote countries, who are admit- 
 
 niitted or not to the facred table according to the judgment of the mif- 
 
 fionaries. In the three audiences into which New Spain is divided, 
 
 there are, fays l<.obertfon, at lead two millions of Indians {a). We 
 
 are confident that this number is much inferior to the truth ; but be 
 
 it fo and no more. The Indians therefore, are not very few in number 
 
 who poflefs fo great a portion of fpiritual dif(:ernment as to be judged 
 
 worthy of approaching to the facred table, unlefs two millions appear 
 
 very few to him, or he thinks thofe bilhops and priefts ra(h, who not 
 
 only admit but even oblige thofe Indians to communicate. But when 
 
 we add to thofe the Indians of many provinces of South America who 
 
 are equally obliged to receive the facred Eucharift, the number will be 
 
 greatly increafed. 
 
 His fourth error, in which he affirms that no Indian is ever ordained 
 prieft is not lefs grofs, It is fubjed of wonder, that a writer who 
 colleifted fo great a library of writers on America, and for whom fo 
 many accounts of the things of the New World were obtained from 
 Madrid, fhould have been fo ill informed on this as well as on other 
 points. Dr. Robertfon will pleafe to know, therefore, that although 
 •the firft provincial council held in Mexico in the year 1555 forbid 
 that the Indians fhould be ordained, not on account of their inca- 
 pacity, but becaiife it was thought the lownefs of their condition 
 might draw fome dii'credit on the ecclefiaftical fiate, neverthelefs 
 the third provincial council, held in 1585, which was the moft cele- 
 brated of all, and whofe decifions are ftill in force, permitted them 
 to be ordained ^riefts, provided there was great care taken in admit- 
 
 i~> 
 
 (a) Hiftory of Ainc(ic3, Book viii. 
 
 ting
 
 352 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, ting them into facred orders. But it is neceiliuy to obfei've, that 
 ^' the decrees of each council comprehend equally, and under the fame 
 
 conditions, both the Indians and Mulattoes that are there, who are 
 born or delcended of a European father and an African mother, or on 
 the contrary; and nobody, we believe, doubts of the talents and capa- 
 city of the Mulattoes to learn all the fciences. Torquemada, who 
 wrote his hiilory in the firil years of the lafh century, fays, that 
 they did not uie to admit the Indians into religious orders, nor to or- 
 dain them priefls, on account of their violent inclination to drinking ; 
 but he himfelf attefts [J) that in his time Indian priefts were extremely 
 fober and examplary : lb that it is at leaft a hundred and feventy years ago 
 fnice the Indians began to be made priells. From that unto the pre- 
 fent time the American priells have been fo numerous in New Spain, 
 that they might be counted by hundreds : among thofe there have been 
 many hundreds of redtors, feveral canons and doólors, and as re- 
 port goes, even a very learned bifhop. At prefent there are many 
 priefts, and not a few redtors^ among whom have been three or four our 
 own pupils. If in a point of this nature fuch grofs errors have been 
 committed by Dr. Robertfon, what may we not apprehend from him 
 in others which cannot fo eafily be cleared up and certified to an au- 
 thor, who writes at fo great a diftance from thofe countries without 
 ever having feen them ? 
 
 We have had intimate commerce with the Americans, have lived for 
 fome years in a feminary deftined for their inftruólion, fiiw the erec- 
 tion and progrefs of the royal college of Guadaloupe, founded in 
 Mexico, by a Mexican Jefuit, for the education of Indian children, 
 had afterwards fome Indians amongft our pupils, had particular know- 
 ledge of many American reftors, many nobles, and numerous artifts ; 
 attentively obferved their charai51er, their genius, their diipofition, 
 iind manner of thinking ; and have examined befideswith the utmoft 
 diligence their ancient hiftory, their religion, their government, tlieir 
 laws, and their cuftoms. After fuch long experience and ftudy of 
 .them, from which we imagine ourfelves enabled to decide without 
 danger of erring, we declare to M. dc Paw, and to all Europe, tiiat 
 the mental qualities of the xA.mericans are not the leaft inferior to thofe 
 
 (^) Toiqucm.iila, lib. xvji. can. n. 
 
 of
 
 HISTORY OFMEXICO. 353 
 
 of the Europeans, that they are capable of all, even the moil abftraft dissert. 
 fciences, and that if equal care was taken of their ediication, if they 
 we^e brought up from childhood in feminaries under good maftcrs, 
 were protedted and ftimulated by rewards, we fliould fee rife among 
 the Americans, philofophers, mathematicians, and divines who would 
 rival the firil in Europe. But it is a little difficult, not to fay impof- 
 fible, to make great progrefs in the fcier.ces, in the midfl of a life 
 of mifery, fervitude, and opprelTion. Whoever contemplates the pre- 
 fent ftate of Greece will not be apt to believe that thofe great men 
 flouriflied there whom hiftory records, were we not convinced of it 
 by their immortal works, and the voice of all ages. But the obflacles 
 which the people of Greece have to furmount before they can be- 
 come learned are not comparable to thofe which the Americans al- 
 ways had, and Hill have to overcome. Neverthclefs, we wilh M. de 
 Paw, and fome other perfons who think as he does, could be prefent 
 without being obferved in thofe allemblies or councils which are held 
 by the Americans on certain days to deliberate on public affairs, that 
 they might hear how thofe fatyrs of the new world difcourfe and 
 harangue. 
 
 Laflly, The whole ancient hiftory of the Mexicans and Peruvi- 
 ans evinces to us, that they knew how to think and order their 
 ideas, that they are fufceptible of all the paffions and imprelìions of hu- 
 manity, and that the Europeans have had no other advantage over them 
 tlian that of having been better inftrudtcd. The civil government of 
 the ancient Americans, their laws, and their arts evidently demon - 
 ftratc they fuffered no want of genius. Their wars Ihew us that their 
 fouls are not infenfible to the excitements of love, as count de Buffon 
 and M. de Paw think ; fince they fometimes took up arms in his caufe. 
 
 In regard to their courage, we have explained, when' we fpoke of 
 their charadler, what we have obferved in the prefent, and what we 
 judge of tlie ancient Americans on this head. But as Mr. de Paw 
 ulledges the conqueft of Mexico as a convincing proof of their cowar- 
 dice, it may be proper to ciilightcn his ignorance, or rather to 
 ilrcn2:thcn his little faith. 
 
 " Cortes," he fays, " conquered the empire of Mexico with 
 
 " four hundred and fifty vagabonds and fifiecn horfes, badly arincd ; 
 
 Vol. II. Zi: his
 
 V. 
 
 354 n I S T O R Y OF MEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT. " his miierable artillery confifted of ùx falconets, which would not 
 " at the prefent day be capable of exxiting the fears of a fortrefs de- 
 •'' fended by invalids. During his abfence the capital was held in awe 
 " by the half of his troop?. What men ! what events !" 
 
 " It is coniimied," lis adds, " by the depohtions of all hiflorians 
 " that the Spaniards entered the firffc time into Mexico without mak- 
 *"' ing one fmgle difcharge of their artillery. If the title of hero is 
 *' applicable to him who has the difgrace to occafion the death of a 
 ** great number of rational animals, Ferdinand Cortes might pretend 
 " to it ; otherwife I do not fee what true glory he has acquired by the 
 " overthrow of a tottering monarchy, v.'hich might have been deftroyed 
 " in the fame manner by any other affaffin of our continent." Thofe 
 pafiages of the Philofophic Refearches detect that M. de Paw was igno- 
 rant of the hiftory of the conqueft of Mexico, or that he fuppreffes 
 what would openly contradidt- his fyftem ; fince all who have read 
 that hiftory know well, that the conqueil of Mexico was not made ^\'ith 
 four hundred and fifty men, but with more than two hundred thou- 
 fand. Cortes himfelf, to whom it was of more importance than to 
 M. de Paw to make his bravery confpicuous, and his conqueft appear 
 glorious, confefl'es the exceflive number of the allies who were under 
 his command at the fiege of the capital, and combated with more 
 fury againft the Mexicans than the Spaniards themfelves. Accord- 
 ing to the account which Cortes gave to the emperor Charles 
 V. the fiege of Mexico began with eighty-feven horfes, eight hun- 
 dred and forty-eight Spanifli infantry, armed with guns, crofs-bows, 
 fwords, and lances, and upwards of feventy-five thoufand allies, 
 of Tlafcala, Huexotzinco, Cholula, and Chalco, equipped with va- 
 rious forts of arms ; with three large pieces of cannon of iron, fif- 
 teen fmall of copper, and thirteen brigantines. In the courfe of the 
 fiege were affembled the numerous nations of the Otomies, the Co- 
 huixcas, and Matlazincas, and the troops of the populous cities of the 
 lakes J fo that the army of the befiegers not only exceeded tvfo huji- 
 dred thoufand but amounted to four millions according to the letter 
 from Cortes ; and befides thefe, three thoufand boats and canoes, 
 came to their affiftance. We therefore afk M. de Paw if it appears to 
 him to have been cowardice to have fuftained, for full feventy-fivc days, 
 
 the
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 355 
 
 the fiege of an open city, engaging daily with an army Co large, and in DISSERT, 
 part provided with arms fo fuperior, and at the fame time having to 
 withftand the ravages of famine? Can they merit the charge ©f 
 cowardife, who, after having loft feven of the eight parts of their city, 
 and about fifty thoufand citizens, part cut off by the fword, part by 
 famine and ficknefs, continued to defend themfelves until they were 
 furiouQy affaultcd in the laft hold which was left them (/>). 
 
 " It is certain," lays M. de Paw, " by the depolitions of all 
 " hiftorians, that the Spaniards entered the firft time into Mexico with- 
 " out making a fmgle difcharge of their artillery." If this argument 
 is peculiar to the logic of M. de Paw ; if the Mexicans were cow- 
 ards becaufe the Spaniards entered into Mexico without a fingle dif- 
 charge of their artillery, it might as well be faid that the Prufììans are 
 cowards becaufe the ambaffadors of feveral courts of Europe enter 
 into Berlin without difcharging even a fufil. Who does not know 
 that the Spaniards were admitted into that city as the ambaffadors of 
 the monarch of the Eaft ? Hiftorians all recount this as well as Cor- 
 tes himfelf, who feigned himfelf the ambaffador of the Catholic king. 
 If the Mexicans had been willing to oppofe him then as they did the 
 fecond time, how would the Spaniards have been able to enter witii 
 only fix thoufand men, when their fecond entry was fo difficult with 
 two hundred thoufand {^) ? 
 
 With refpedt to what M. dc Paw adds againft Cortes, we do not 
 mean to make the apology of this conqueror, neither can we endure 
 the panegyric which Solis has written in place of a hiftory ; but as 
 an impartial perfon, well informed of all his military aótions, we 
 muft confefs, that in courage, conftancy, and military prudence, he 
 rivals the moft famous generals ; and that he poffeffed tliat fpecies of 
 heroifm which we acknowledge in Alexander and the Cicflirs, in 
 
 ( f>) All that we have here faid rcfpcrting the ficge and conqucll of Mexico is taken from the 
 letter of the conqueror Cortes to Chailcs V. 
 
 (j) " It is not Icfs certain," f;iys Acofta, " that it was the aid of the Tiafcalans which ob- 
 " taincd to Cortes his vi(floric6, and the conqucrt of Mc:;ico ; anJ-without them it would have 
 " been impolTilile to have made Iilmfelf inader of that place, nor to have contini.cd longer 
 " there. Thofe who make little of the Indian.-, ai'.J think tlie Spaniards could have conquered 
 " any country or nation by the fupcriority of their arms, valour, and horl'es, arc jjrofslv dc- 
 " ceived." 
 
 Z Z 2 \vhoin
 
 3 56 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT.' whom we praife their magnanimity in fpite of the vices with which it 
 was blended. 
 
 The caufe of the rapidity with which the Spaniards conquered Ame- 
 rica has been partly mentioned by M. de Paw : " 1 confefs," he fays, 
 " that the artillery was a deftrudlive and all-powerful engine, which ne- 
 " cefTarily fubdued the Mexicans," If to the artillery we add the other 
 fuperior arms, horfes, and difcipline on the part of the conquerors, and 
 the divifions which prevailed among the conquered, it will be feen that 
 there is no reafon to charge the Americans with pufillanimity, or to 
 wonder at the violent convulfion of the nev/ world. Let M. de Paw 
 imagine, that at the time of the noify and cruel faftions of Sylla and 
 Marius the Athenians had invented artillery and other fire arms, and 
 equipped only fix thoufand men with them, joining themfelves not to 
 thearmy of Marius, but only to fome part of his troops, and underta- 
 ken the conquefl of Italy; does not M. de Paw think that they 
 would have fucceeded in fpite of all the power of Sylla, the courage 
 and difcipline of the Roman troops, their numerous legions and caval- 
 ry, the multitude of their armies, their machines and the fortifications 
 of their city ? What terror would the horrid found of the artillery, 
 and the deftrudive violence of the balls, not have ftruck to the minds 
 of the boldeil centurions, when they faw whole ranks of men carried 
 off by them ? What then muft the effedl have been on thofe nations 
 of the new world who had no arms nor cavalry, no difcipline, ma- 
 chines, or fortifications like the Romans ? That, on the contrary-, which 
 is truly to be wondered at, is, that the brave Spaniards, with all their 
 difcipline, artillery, and arms, have not been able, in two centuries, 
 to fubdue the Araucan warriors of South America, though armed only 
 with clubs and lances, nor x\\& Apaches ^^Vi. North America, armed with 
 bows and arrows; and above all, what appears incredible, but is not- 
 withftanding certain, five hundred men of the nation of the Seris, 
 have for many years been the fcourge of the Spaniards of Sonora and 
 Cinaloa. 
 
 Lafi:ly, omitting many other abfurd opinions of M. de Paw againfl: 
 the Americans, we fliall only now take notice of the injury which 
 he does them of the groflefi; kind in regard to their cuftoms. There 
 are four principal vices with which he charges the Americans, glutr- 
 tony, drunkennefs, ingratitude, and pederafty. 
 
 We
 
 HISTORY O F M E X I C O. 357 
 
 We never heard of the Americans being reproached with gluttony DISSERT, 
 until w'c met with that paffage in Mr. Condamine, cited and adopted 
 by M. de Paw. We have found no author, who was the leail in- 
 ftrudted in the affairs of America, who did not praife the temperance 
 of the A morirà lis in eating. Whoever pleales may on this point con-» 
 fult Las Cafas, Garces, the anonymous conqueror, Oviedo, Gomara, 
 Acofta, Herrera, Torquemada, Betancourt, &c. All hiftorians mention 
 the wonder of the Spaniards at the temperance of the Indians ; and, 
 on the contrary, the wonder of the Indians to fee the Spaniards eat 
 more in one day than they did in a week. In Ihort, the fobriety of 
 the Americans is fo notorious, that to defend them on this fubjcft 
 would be fuperfluous. Mr. Condamine perhaps faw in his travels on 
 the river Maragnon, fome famiilicd Indians eat very greedily, and 
 from them was perfuaded, as happens often to travellers, that all the 
 Americans were gluttons. It is certain that UUoa, who was in Ame- 
 rica with Mr. Condamine, remained there a longer time, and got 
 more knowledge of the cuftoms of the Indians, fpeaks of them in a 
 manner quite contrary to that French mathematician. 
 
 Drunkcnnefs is the prevailing vice of thofe nations. We confefs it 
 fincerely in the firft book of this hiftory, explain its effetfts, and 
 point out the caufe of it ; but we add alfo, that it did not prevail in 
 the country of Anahuac before the Spaniards came there, on account 
 of the great feverity with which that vice was punilhed, though in 
 the greater part of the countries of the old continent it is ftill incor- 
 rccfled, and ferves as an excufe for more heinous crimes. It is cer- 
 tain, from the inquiries made by authors into the civil government of 
 the Mexicans, that tlicrc were feveral laws againft drunkenneis in 
 Mexico as well as Tezcuco, in Tlafcala, and other ftates, which wc 
 have Cecn reprefented in their ancient paintings. The fixty-third 
 painting of the colledlion made by Mendoza reprefents two youths of 
 both fcxes condemned to death for having intoxicated themfclvcs, and 
 at the fame time an old man of feventy, whom the laws permit, on 
 account of his age, to drink as much as he pleafi."3. There are few 
 ftates in the world whofe fovereigns have Ihewn greater zeal to prevent 
 excefi'es of this kind. 
 
 In
 
 V. 
 
 3^8 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Dlss^ERT. Ill the above mentioned book alfo we have reported the common 
 error refpeding the gratitude of the Indians : but as what was faid 
 there will not be fufficient to convince thofe who are prepofTefled 
 againft them, we liiall here relate an inflance of gratitude which will 
 of itfelf be enough to diffipate this prejvidice. In the year 1556 died, 
 In Uruapa, a confiderable place of the kingdom of Michuacan, on a 
 vifit to his diocefe at the age of ninety-five, Vafco de Quiroga, foun- 
 der and firft bifliop of that church, who, after the example of St. 
 Anibrofe, was tranflated from the fecular jurifdidlion to the epifcopal 
 dignity. This celebrated prelate, worthy of comparifon with the 
 firfi: fathers of Chriftianity, laboured indefatigably in favour of the 
 people of Michuacan, inftrucSling them as an apoflle, and loving them 
 as a father J he ereóted temples, founded hofpitals, and affigned to 
 each fettlement of the Indians a branch of coinmerce, that the mutual 
 dependance upon each other might keep them in ftronger bonds of 
 union, perfeA the arts, and provide a manner of life for every one. 
 The memory of fuch benefits is, after more than two ages, preferved 
 as fredi in the minds of the Americans, as if their benefador was 
 yet living. The firft care of the Indian women, as foon as their 
 children begin to have any judgment, is to give them an account of 
 their Tata Don Vafco : for fo they ftill call him on account of the pi- 
 ous refped they bear to his memory. They communicate a know- 
 ledge of him by means of pidtures of him, explaining all that he did 
 in favour of their nation, and never pafs before his image without 
 kneeling. This prelate alfo founded, in 1540, a feminary in the city 
 of Pazcuaro for the inftruftion of youth ; and enjoined the Indians of 
 Santa Fe, a place fettled by him on the bank of the lake Pazcuaro, 
 to fend every week a man to ferve in the feminary. He was obeyed, and 
 for two hundred and thirty years paft an Indian has never been wanted 
 to attend upon the feminary without any neceflity to force or even call 
 them, from their zeal to make a return by fuch fervice for the benefits 
 which that worthy prelate conferred on them. They preferve his 
 bones with fuch veneration in the city of Pazcuaro, that once as the 
 chapter of the cathedral of Valladolid attempted to tranfport them 
 there, the Indians became uneafy, and prepared to oppofe it by force 
 of arms, which they would have certainly done had not the chapter, 
 
 9 in
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X r e O. 359 
 
 in order to prevent any fuch dllbrder, abandoned their refolution. DISSERT, 
 Can there be imagined a more conclulivc proof of the gratitude of a » - \ .. ^ 
 nation ? Similar demonftrations of the fame difpofition have been 
 given by the Indians in many places of tlie kingdom, where they 
 wilTied to retain the mifTionaries who had inflrudted them in their 
 faith. Thofe inflances, which happened in the two lafl centuries, may 
 be learned from the third volume of Torquemada, and the Mexican 
 Theatre of Betancourt. Of thofe which have occurred in our own 
 times there are many living witnelfes ; and we can teflify fome our- 
 felves. If the Americans ever fliew themfelves ungrateful to their 
 patrons, it is becaufe the continual experience of evils from them 
 renders even their benefits fufpicious : but whenever they are convin- 
 ced of the fmcere benevolence of their benefadlors, they are capable of 
 making a facrifice of all their pofleffions to gratitude. All who have 
 ihcn and obferved with impartiality the manners of the Americans 
 confirm this charadler. 
 
 But of all the remarks made by M. de Paw againft the Americans, 
 nothing has been more injurious than his affirmation that pederafty 
 was much a vice in the iflands, in Peru, in Mexico, and in all the 
 new continent. We cannot conceive how M. de Paw, after having" 
 vented fo horrid a calumny, had confidence to fay in hi» reply to Don 
 Pcrnety, that all his work of Philofophical Rejearches breathes huma- 
 nity. Can it be humanity unjuftly to defiime all the nations of the 
 new world with a vice fo opprobrious to nature ? Is it humanity to be 
 enraged againft the Inca GarcilafTo becaufe he defends the Peruvians 
 from fuch a charge ? Although thofe were refpecfted authors who 
 afcribed this crime to all the people of America, there being many 
 refpedled authors who fay the contrary, M. de Paw, according to the 
 laws of humanity, ought to have abftained from fo grofs an accufation. 
 But Jiovv much more ought he to have avoided it when there is not 
 £ny writer of authority on whofc tcftimony he can fupport fo univerfal 
 an afiertion. He may find fornc authors, as the anonymous conqueror, 
 (iomara, and Herrera, who have accufed fome Americans of fuch a 
 vice, or at moft fomc people of America 3 but he will find no hiftori- 
 an of credit v/ho has dared to fay that pederafty was much a vice in 
 the ijlivids, in Peru, in Mexico, and in all the new continent > Oa 
 
 the
 
 360 H I S T-O R Y OF MEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, the contrary, all the hiftorians of Mexico fay unanimoufly, that fuch 
 a vice was held in abomination by thofe nations, and make mention of 
 the fevere puniiliments prefcribed by the laws againft it, as appears 
 from the works of Gomara, Herrera, Torquemada, Betancourt, and 
 others. Las Cafas, in his memorial to Charles V. prefented in 1542, 
 attefts, that having made a diligent enquiry in the Spanifli iflands, 
 Cuba, Jamaica,- and Porto Rico, he found there was no memory of 
 fuch a vice among thofe nations. The fame thing he affirms of Perii, 
 Yucatan, and all the countries of America in general ; in fome one 
 place or other, he fays, there may be fome addidled to that crime ; but he 
 adds, the whole new world, however, mufl not be taxed with that 
 vice. Who then has authorifed M. de Paw to defame, in a point fo 
 injurious, the whole of the new world ? Although the Americans 
 were, as he believes, men without honour, and without fliame, the 
 laws oi" humanity forbid him to calumniate them. Sucli is the excefs 
 into which his ridiculous eagernefs to depreciate America leads him, 
 and fuch are the confequences of his unnatural logic, that he con- 
 ftantly.^^deduces from particular premifes univerfal concluilons ! If pof- 
 fibly the Panuchefe, or any other people of America, were infeifled with 
 that vice, is it from thence to be affirmed that pederally was much a 
 vice in all the«new world ? The Americans might as well defame in 
 the fame manner the whole old continent, becaufe among fome ancient 
 people of Afia and among the Greeks and Romans it was a notorious 
 vice. Befides, it is not known that there is any nation at prefent in 
 America infeóled with that vice ; whereas we are informed by feveral 
 authors, that fome people of Afia are flill tainted with it ; and that 
 even in Europe, if what Mr. Locke and M. de Paw iay is true, among 
 Turks of a certain profeffion, another vice more execrable, of the fame 
 kind, is common ; and that inftead of being feverely punithed for it, 
 they are held, by that nation, in the light of faints, and receive the 
 higheft marks of refpecl and veneration. 
 
 Amongft the crimes charged to the Americans by M. de Paw 
 fuicide is included. It is true that at the times of the conquefl many 
 hanged themfelves, or threw themfelves down precipices, or put an 
 end to themfelves by abftinence ; but it is not thcleafl wonderful that 
 men who had become defperate from continual harallaaent and vexa- 
 tions.
 
 » PS T OR Y O F M E .X I C O. 3Ó1 
 
 tions, tvlio thought their gods had ah:indoned, and the elements con- DISSERT, 
 fpired againft them, (hould do that which was frequent with the Ro- 
 mans, the Franks, and ancient Spaniards, the modern E nglilh [x), 
 French, and Japanefe, for a llight motive ; for fome falfc idea of ho- 
 nour, or fome caprice of paffion ? Who could perfuade himfelf that a 
 European would reproach the Americans with fuicide in an age in 
 which it is become a daily event in England and France (j/), where 
 the jufl: ideas we have from nature and her religion, are banillied from 
 the mind, and arguments inveated, and books publilhed, to vindicate 
 it ? So great is the rage for defaming. America and the Americans. 
 - A iiraite paffion feems to have affedled that Spaniard who formed 
 the general Index of th& Decads of Herrera, inconfideratcly imputing 
 to all the Americans what Herrera fays in his work of fome individuals, 
 with various exceptions. We copy here what we have read in tiiat 
 Index. " The Indians," he fays, " are very flothful, very full of vices, 
 "great drunkards, by nature lazy, weak, lyars, cheats, fickle, inconltant, 
 *' have much levity, cowardly, nafty, mutinous, thievifli, ungrateful, 
 " inexorable, more vindidlive than any other nation, of fo low a nature, 
 " &c. that it is doubtful if they are rational creatures j barbarous, bef- 
 *' tial, and led like the brutes by their appetites." This is the language 
 of M. de Paw, and other moft humane Europeans ; fo it appears they 
 do not think themfelves obliged to believe the truth with regard to 
 the people of the new world, nor obferve the laws of fraternal charity, 
 publiflied by the fon of their own God in the old world. 
 
 But it would be eafy for any American of moderate genius, and fome 
 erudition, who was defirous of retaliating upon thofe authors, to com- 
 pofe a work with this title, Philofophical Enquiries concerning the In- 
 habitants of the Old Continent. In imitation of the method purfued 
 by M. de Paw, he would colled whatever had been written of the 
 barren countries of the old world, of inaccelfible mountains, of marfhy 
 plains, of impenetrable woods, of fandy deferti, and malignant climes ; 
 ©f difguflful and noxious reptiles and infeds, of ferpents, of toads, 
 
 (;i:) We have been informed by a peifon who was at the fame time in London, that afuicide 
 left in writing, that he killed himfelf to get free of the tiouble of di effing and undrefling him- 
 felf every day. 
 
 (ji) Wc know in one of thefe laft years, there have been one hundred and fifty fuicides com- 
 mltied in the city of Paris alone. 
 
 Vol. II. A a a ef
 
 362 HISTORY O-'F M EjXiI C O; 
 
 DISSERT, of fcorpiohs, of'knbi' of fì-Ogs, of fcblopendras, of beetles, of bugs 
 ^' and lice ; of quadrupeds, irregular, fmall, without tails, imperfect and 
 pufiilanimous ; of people, degenerated, ill-coloured, irregular in fla- 
 tufé, deformed in fliape, of bM-'<:oìilì:itutions, daflardly minds, dull 
 genius, and cruel difpohtions. - When he came to the article of vices, 
 ivhat abundance of materials would -bee. ready foe his, work ! What 
 examples of bafenefs, perfidy, cruelty, fupérffition, and debauchery; 
 what exceffes in every kind of vice. The.hiilory of the Romans 
 alone, the mofi: celebrated nation of the ancient world, would furnifli 
 him with an incredible quantity of the moft horrid depravities. He 
 would be fenfible, that fuch defeóts and vices were not common to all 
 the countries, nor all the inhabitants of the. ancient continei^t ; but 
 that would not fignify, as he muft follow his model .in M. de Paw, 
 and make application of his logic. This work would, unqueftion-i 
 ably, be more valuable, and more worthy of Ifaith than that of M: de 
 Paw i for as this philofopher does not cite againll America and the 
 Americans any but European authors, that American writer, on the 
 contrary, would, in his curious work, refer to, and quote only the 
 authors of the fame continent againft which he wrote. 
 
 ri ob . 
 
 J JÌrùxIj . 
 
 lo Sui io 
 
 D I S S E R.
 
 e 363 ] 
 D -^ SSERTATION VI. 
 
 Of the Culture of the Mexicans, 
 
 MR. de Paw, perpetually incenfed agalnfl the new 'world, dissert. 
 terms all the Americans barbarians and favages, and efteems ^^' 
 them inferior in induftry and fagacity to the coarfeil and rudeft nations 
 of the old continent. If he had confined himfelf to fay, that the 
 American nations were in great part uncultivated, barbarous, and 
 beaftly in their cufloms, as many of the moft cultivated nations of 
 Europe were formerly, and as feveral people of Afia, Africa, and even 
 Europe are at prefcnt j that the mofl civilized nations of America were 
 greatly lefs poliilied than the greater part of the European nations ; 
 that their arts were not nearly perfeded, nor their laws /o good, or 
 fo well framed ; and that their facrifices were inhuman, and fome of 
 their cufloms extravagant, we would not have reafon to contradidl him. 
 But not to diftinguifli between the Mexicans and Peruvians, and the 
 Caribs and Iroquefe, to allow them no merit or virtues, to under- 
 value their arts, and to depreciate their laws, and place thofe induftrious 
 nations below the coarfeil; nations of the old continent, is obftinate per- 
 fjflence in an endeavour to revile the new world and its inhabitants, 
 inftead of purfuing, according to the title of his book, the inveftiga- 
 tion of truth. ^ "»^"^->' 
 
 We call thofe men barbarous and favage, vvhò, led more" by caprice 
 and natural will than guided by reafon, neither live in fociet}',' nor 
 have laws for their government, judges to determine their differences, 
 fuperiors to watch over their conduct, nor exercife the arts which 
 are neceflary to fupply the wants, and remedy tlie miferies of life j 
 thofe, in ihort, who have no idea of the Divinity, or, " at leafl, 
 have not eftabliflied any worfliip by which they acknowledge. him. 
 The Mexicans, and all the other nations of Anahuac, as well' as tiie 
 Peruvians, confefled a fupreme omnipotent Being, although their belief 
 
 A a a 2 was
 
 3-64 HISTORY Ò F " M E X I C O. 
 
 ^^SSERT. ■^vas like that of other idolatrous people, mixed with errors and fupcr- 
 ftitioii. They had priefts, temples, lacrifices, and eltablifhed rites,. 
 for the uniform worfhip' of the Divinity. They had a king, gover- 
 nors, and magiftrates; they had numerous cities, and amoflexten- 
 five population, as we fliall make appear hereafter. They had laws 
 and cuftoms, the obfervance of. which was attended to by their magi- 
 ftrates and governors. They had commerce, and took infinite care to- 
 enforce juftice and equity in contradls. Their lands were diilributed,. 
 and" every individual was fecured in the property and poifeffion cf his 
 foil. They exercifed agriculture and other arts ; not only thofe necef- 
 I'ary to life, but alfo thofe which contributed, to luxury and pleafure 
 alone. What more is neceflary to defend nations from the imputation 
 of being barbarous and favage ? Money, iiiys M. de Paw, the ufe o£ 
 iron, the art of writing, and thofe of building flyips, conftruéìing 
 bridges of ftone, and making lime. Their arts were imperfeóland rude; 
 their language extremely fcarce of numeral terms and words fit to ex^- 
 prefs univerfal ideas, and their laws muft be reckoned nonej for laws, 
 cannot be where anarchy and defpotifm reign. 
 
 SE C T. L 
 
 Of the Want of Money. ^ 
 
 MR. de Paw decides that no nation of America was cultivated or 
 civilized, becaufe no one. made ufe of money ; and to fupport this af- 
 ièrtion he quotes a paflage from Montefquieu : " Ariftippus," fays this 
 politician [a), " having been fliipwrecked, made by fwimming to the 
 " neighbouring fhore ; he faw upon the fand fome figures of Geometry 
 " drawn, and became full of joy,, being perfuaded that he was thrown 
 " among a Greek people, and not any barbarous nation. Imagine to your- 
 *' felf that by fome accident you are placed in an unknown country ; if 
 *' you find any money there, do not doubt that you are arrived among 
 *,' a polifhed people." But if Monteiquieu juflly infers the civiliza- 
 tioa of a country from the ufe of money, M. de Paw does not well. 
 
 )(rt) Efpiit des Loix, liv, xviij. chap; 13. 
 
 deduce
 
 fi I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 365 
 
 deduce the want of civilization from the deficiency of money. If we dessert, 
 
 are to underftand by money, a piece of metal, with the ftamp of tlie 
 prince, or tiie public, it is certain that the want of it in a nation is 
 no token of barbarity. " The Athenians," favs the fame author, Mon- 
 tefquieu, " becaufe they had no ufe of the metals, employed oxen for 
 *' money, as the Romans did iheep j" and from thence took its origin, 
 as we all know, the word /»a'«/zAz ; as the Romans put the ftamp of 
 a iheep on the firft money they coined, which they employed after- 
 wards in their contradls. The Greeks were certainly a very cultivated 
 nation in the times of Homer, lìnee it was impoflible that in the midft 
 of an uncultivated nation, a man fhould fpring up capable of compof- 
 ing the Iliad and the OdyfTey, thofe two immortal poems, which, after 
 twenty-feven centuries, are ftill admired, but have never been equalled. 
 The Greeks, however, at this period, did not know the ufe of coined 
 money, as appears from the works of that renowned poet, who, when- 
 ever he means to fignify the value of any thing, exprefles it no other- 
 wife than by the number of oxen or flieep which it was worth ; as 
 in the Vllth book of the Iliad, when he fays, that Glaucus gave hix 
 arms of gold, which were worth an hundred oxen, for thofe of 
 Diomede, which were of copper, and not worth more than nine. 
 Whenever he fpeaks of any purchafe by contrae, he mentions it no 
 otherwife than by barter, or exchange. And therefore in that ancient 
 controverfy between the Sabinians and Proculians, two feills of law- 
 yers, the firft infifted that a real purchafe and fale could be made 
 without a price, fupporting this pofition by certain paffages of Honier, 
 where thofe are laid to buy and fell who only exchange. The Lace- 
 demonians were a civilized nation of Greece, although tiaey did not 
 ufe money j and among the fundamental laws publilhed by Lycurgus, 
 was that law of not carrying on commerce otherwile than by means 
 of exchange (i!^). The Romans had no coined money until the time of 
 Servius Tullius ; nor the Perfians until the time of Darius Hyftafpes ; 
 and yet the nations which preceeded thofe epochs were not called bar- 
 barous. The Hebrews were civilized at leaft from the time of their 
 judges, but we da not find that ftamped money was in ufe among 
 
 {b) Era) Ungula non pecunia fed compcnfatione mcrcium /ufTit. Juftin, lib. iii. 
 
 tliera 
 
 VI.
 
 VI. 
 
 366 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, them until the time of the Maccabees. The want of coined money, 
 therefore, is no argument of barbarity. 
 
 If by money is underftood a fign reprefenting the value of all mer- 
 chandize, as Montefquieu defines it (c), it is certain, that the Mexi- 
 cans, and all the other nations of Anahuac, except the barbarous 
 Chechemecas and Otomies, employed money in their commerce. 
 What was the cacao, of which they made conftant ufe in the market 
 to purchafe whatever they wanted, but a fign reprefenting the value of 
 all merchandize. The cacao had its fixed value, and was reckoned by 
 numbers ; but to fave the trouble of counting it, when the merchan- 
 dize was of great value and worth, many thoufands of the nuts, they 
 knew that every bag of a certain fize contained three Xiquipilli, or 
 twenty-four thoufand nuts. Who will not acknowledge, that the ca- 
 cao is much fitter to be made ufe of as money than oxen or flieep, 
 vv'hich the Greeks and Romans made ufe of, or the fait which is at 
 prefent employed by the Abyfiinians ? The oxen and flieep could not 
 be employed to purchafe any thing of fmall value, and any ficknefs, 
 or other misfortune, which might befall thofe animals, would impo- 
 verifli thofe who had no other capital. " Metal has been adopted for 
 " money," fays Montefquieu, " that the fign may be more durable. 
 *' The fait which the Abyfiinians ufe has this defedi that it is conti- 
 *' nually diminifliing." Cacao, on the contrary, could pafs for any 
 merchandize, was tranfportable, and guarded more eafily, and preferved 
 with lefs danger and with lefs care. 
 
 The ufe of cacao in the commerce of thofe nations, will appear, 
 perhaps, to fome perfons, a mere exchange ; but it was not fo : for 
 there were leverai fpecies of cacao, and the Tlalcacahuatl, fmall cacao, 
 which they ufed in their diet and beverages, was not ufed as money: 
 they employed other fpecies, of inferior quality and lefs ufeful for food, 
 which were in confl:ant circulation as money [d'), and ufed in no other 
 way al moll then in commerce. Of this fort of money, all hif- 
 torians of Mexico, Spanifh, as well as Indian, make mention. Of the 
 
 (f) L'Efprit de Loix. 
 
 (</) In the capital itfclf of Mexico, wheic from eighteen to tv.enty thoufand crowns (pefos, 
 fuci-tes) annually coined in gold and lilver, the poor people iVill make ufe of the cacao to pur- 
 chafe fm:ill articles in the market. 
 
 6 Other
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 367 
 
 other four fpecies, which v/e fpoke of in our Vllth book of this hif- i^issert. 
 tory, Cortes and Torqueniada both give an account. Cortes, in his 
 hù. letter to the emperor Charles V. athrms, that having made inqui- 
 ries concerning the commerce of thofe nations, he found that in 
 Tlachco, and other provinces, they trafficked with money. If he had 
 not meant to be underftood to fpeak of coined money, he would not 
 have reflrióted the ufe of it to Tlachco, and fome other provinces ; 
 becaufe, he knew very well, without making fuch enquiries, that at 
 the mnrkets of Mexico, where he had been frequently prefent, they 
 employed, inftead of money, the cacao, and certain little cloths of cotton, 
 called by them Fatolquachtli^ and gold in duft enclofed in goofe quills. 
 It is therefore fomewhat fufpicious, notwithftanding what we have 
 faid in our former book, that there was alfo coined money among 
 them, and that both thofe thin pieces of tin which Cortes mentions, 
 and thofe pieces of copper, in form of T, mentioned by Torque- 
 mada, as two fpecies of money, had fome ftamp upon them autho- 
 rlfed by the fovereign, or his feudatory lords. 
 
 To hinder any frauds in commerce, nothing but common articles of 
 food could be fold out of the market-place, which was kept, as we 
 have already faid, in the greateft order that can be imagined. There 
 were mcafures fixed by the magiftrates ; the commiffaries we mention- 
 ed formerly, were continually obferving all that happened ; and the 
 judges of commerce were charged to take cognifance of all difputes be- 
 tween the merchants, and punirti every trefpafs which was committed; 
 arid notwithftanding it muft be faid, that the Mexicans were inferior 
 in induftry to the rudeft people of the old continent ; among whom 
 are fome, that after fo many centuries, and the example of other na- 
 tions of their own continent, do not yet know the advantages of 
 money. 
 
 SECT. II. 
 
 On the Vfe of Iron. 
 
 The ufe of iron is one of thofe things which M. de Paw requires 
 to call a nation cultivated ; and from the want of it he believes all the 
 Americans barbarians. So that if God had not created this metal, all 
 
 men
 
 368 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT. i-,^g,^ mulT-, according to the fentiments of this philofopher, have o£ 
 'leceility remained barbarous. But in the fame place of his work 
 where lie reproaches the Americans with barbarity, he furniflies us all 
 tlie ar2:uments we could delire to refute it. He affirms, that in all the 
 extent of America there are found but few mines of iron, and thofc 
 fo inferior in quality to thofe of the old continent, that it cannot even 
 be iTiadc ufe of for nails. He tells us, that the Americans were in 
 pofl'elTion of the fecret, now loft in the old continent, of giving cop- 
 per a temper equal to that of fteel : that Godin fent, in 1727 (proba- 
 bly I747> as in 1727, he was not gone to Peru), to the count de 
 Maurepas, an old ax of hard Peruvian copper ; and that count Caylus 
 having obferved it, he difcovered that it equalled the ancient arms of 
 copper in hardnefs, of which the Greeks and Romans made ufe, who 
 did not employ iron in many of thofe works in which we employ it at 
 prefent ; either becaufe then it was more fcarce, or becaufe their tem- 
 pered copper was better in quality than our fteel. Laftly, he adds, that 
 the count de Caylus, being furprifed at that art, became perfuaded that 
 (though in this he is oppofed by Mr. de Paw), it was not the work of 
 the beaftly Peruvians, whom the Spaniards found there in the times of 
 tlie conqueft, but of fome other more ancient and more induftrious nation. 
 From all this, obferved by M. de Paw, we draw thefe four important 
 conclufions : i. That the Americans had the honour of imitating the 
 two mofi: celebrated nations of the old continent in the ufe of copper. 
 2. That their conduft was wife in not making ufe of an iron fo bad, 
 that it was not even fit for making nails, but by making ufe of a fort of 
 copper to which they gave the temper of fteel. 3. That if they did not 
 know the very common art of working iron, they were in polleffion 
 of that more Angular fl-iill of tempering copper like fteel, which the 
 European artifls of this enlightened century have not been able to re- 
 ftore. 4. That the count de Caylus was as much deceived in the judg- 
 ment which he formed of the Peruvians, as M. de Paw has been in his 
 refpedting all the Americans. Thefe are the lawful inferences to be 
 drawn from the do6trine of this philofopher, on the ufe of iron, and not 
 that of want of induftry which he pretends to deduce. We fliould be 
 glad to know from him, if there is more induftry required to work 
 iron as the Europeans do, than to work without iro.i every fort of 
 
 itone
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O/ 369 
 
 ftonc and wood, to form feveral kinds of arms, and to make without r)lSSERT.' 
 
 iron, as the Americans ufed to do, the moft curious works of gold, of 
 
 filver, and of gems. The particular afe of iron does not prove great 
 
 induftry in the Europeans. Invented by the firfl men, it pafTed eafily 
 
 from one to another; and as the modern Americans received it from 
 
 the Europeans, in the fame manner the ancient Europeans had it from 
 
 the Afutics. The firlt peoplers of America certainly knew the ufe of 
 
 iron, as the invention of it was cotemporary with the world ; but it 
 
 is probable, that that happened which we have conjedured in our firfl 
 
 Dilfertation, that is, not having found at firfl the mines of that metal in 
 
 the northern countries of America where they had fettled themfelves, 
 
 the memory of it was loft to their defcendants. 
 
 But, finally, if thofe are barbarians who know not the ufe of iron, 
 what mufl they be who know not the ufe of fire ? In all the vafl re- 
 gion of America, no nation has been found, nor, tribe fo rude, which 
 did not know the art of kindling fire, and employing it for the 
 common purpofes of life; but in the old world people have been 
 found fo barbarous, that they neither ufed nor had any knowledge 
 of fire. Such have been the inhabitants of the Marian Iflands, to 
 whom that element was totally unknown until the Spaniards arrived 
 there, as the hifi:orians of thofe ides attefl : yet M. de Paw would ' 
 perfuade us that the American people are more fivage than all the fa- 
 vagcs of the old world. 
 
 In other rcfpeds, M. de Paw is as wrong in what he fays of the 
 iron of America as in what he thinks of the copper. In New Spain, 
 Chili, and many other countries of America, numerous mines of good 
 iron have been difcovered, and if it was not prohibited to work them, 
 in prejudice of the commerce of Spain, America could furnirti Europe 
 all the neceffary iron in the fame manner as flie fupplies it with gold and ' 
 filver. If M. de Paw had known how to make his enquirias concern- ' 
 ing America, he would have learned from the chronicler Herrera, that ■ 
 even in the ifiandof Hifpanibla, there is a better iron there than in Bif- 
 cay. He would have found alfo from the fame author, that in Zaca-. 
 tula, a maritime province of Mexico, there. are two forts of copper; ^ 
 the one hard, which is ufed ihilead of iron, to make a,ve3, hatchets, andijs 
 other inflruments of war and agriculture,- and the other flexible and more- '' 
 
 Vol. II. B h b com-
 
 -37« 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 riSSERT, common, which they ufe to make pots, bafons, and. other vefl'els, for 
 dome/lie ufe; fo that they had no occaTion for the boafted fecrct of 
 hardening copper. Our fincerity alfo compels us to defend in the fame- 
 manner the true progrefs of American induftry, and to rejedl. thofe 
 imaginary inventions wliich are attributed to the new world. The 
 fecret of which the Americans wore really in poffeilion of is tiiat which: 
 we read in Oviedo, an eye witneis, and a perfon Ikilled and. intelligent 
 in metals. " The Indians," he lays, " know very well how to 
 "; gild coppeir velfels^ or thole of low gold,, and to give them fo ex- 
 "j.^dlent and bright, a iColour, that they appear to. be gold of twenty- 
 *'.two carats f,nd more : this they do by means of certain herbs. The 
 ** gilding is fo well executed,, that if a goldfmith of Spain or Italy pof— 
 " failed the fecret he would efleena himfelf very rich," 
 
 S- E C T. in. 
 
 On the Art of building Ships., end Bridges, and of inaking Lime.. 
 
 ^IF'0.ther nations deferve the reproach of being ignorant how to 
 build fliips, it is certainly not due to. the Mexicans ; as not having ren- 
 dered themfelves mafters of the fea-coafts, until the lafl years of their 
 monarchy they had no occafion nor convenience for contriving, any fuch 
 flrucftures. The other nations, who occupied the fhores of both feas be- 
 fore the Mexicans gained dominion over them, were fatisfied with the 
 boats which were in ufe among them,, for filhing,.and comjTierce with:- 
 the neighbouring provinces,; becaufe, being free from ambition and; 
 avarice, which have been the hrft incentives to long navigations, they 
 did not think of ufurping the ftates lawfully poflelTed by other nations, 
 nor defired to tranfport from diilant countries thofe precious metals 
 for which tliey had no demand. The Romans, although they had 
 founded their metropolis near to the lea, remained five hundred years 
 without conllrudting large vcflels(t'), until the. ambition of enlarging 
 
 (0 Appius ufed every poffible dilligence to come to the aid of the Mamertines. In order 
 to accoraplifli this he thought of paffiiig the. flralt of Meffina, but the enterprife was rafli, even 
 dangerous, and according to all prudent appearances impoffible. The Romans had no naval 
 armament, but mere barge;, or veffels coariely conftrufled, v.'hich might be compared with 
 the. canoes of the Indians, RpUin, Rom. Hift. lib, ii, 
 
 tlieir
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 371 
 
 their dominions, and making themfelves maflers of Sicily, prompted them DISSERT, 
 to build fliips to pais the ftrait which divided them from it. What won- , ^^' 
 der is it then if thofe nations of America, who felt no fuch impulfes 
 to abandon their native country, did not invent veficls to tranfport 
 themfelves to diflant lands ? It is certain, that the not having con- 
 ftrudled Hiips does not argue any want of indullry in them who had no 
 interefl; in the invention. ''■ ''^ - 
 
 Thus it is with regard to the invention of bridges. M. de Paw af- 
 firms, that there was not a Angle ftone bridge in America at the 
 time it was difcovcred, becaufc the Americans did not know how to 
 form arches ; and that the fccret of makino; lime was alto'^ether 
 unknown in America. Thefe three affertions are three very grofs 
 errors. The Mexicans did know how to make bridges of flone, and 
 among the rcm?.ins of their ancient architedturc are to be (cen at pre- 
 fent the large and flrong pilallers which fupported the bridge wliich 
 was upon the river Tula. The remains of the ancient palaces of 
 Tezcuco, and ftill more their Temazea/ù'^ or vapour baths, fliew us the 
 ancient ufe of arches and vaults among the Mexicans, and the other 
 nations of Anahuac. Diego Valades, who went to Mexico a few years 
 after the conqueft, and remained there thirty years, gives us, in his 
 Cbrijiian Rhetoric, the image of a fmall temple which he faw, and 
 therefore leaves no fort of doubt in this matter. 
 
 \Vith refpeél to the ufe of lime, it requires the forwardnefs of M. 
 •de Paw to be able to aflirm, as he does, that the fecret of making lime 
 was totally unknown in all America j fince it is certain, from the tef- 
 timony of the Spanifli conquerors as well as the firfl miflionaries, 
 that the nations of Mexico not only made ufe of lime, but that tl^ey had 
 the art of whitening and curioufly fmoothing and polifliing the walls 
 of their houfes and temples. It appears from the hiilones of B. Diaz, 
 Gomara, Hcrrera, Torquemada, and others, that the wall of the prin- 
 cipal palace of Mexico appeared to the firfl: Spaniards who entered the city 
 to be made of filver, from their being fo finely whitened, and Ihining with 
 polilh, . It Is certain, laftly, from the paintings of the Tributes which 
 are in Mendoza's colledion, that the cities of Tepejacac,..Tech:ima- 
 chalco, Quecholac, 6cc. were obliged to pay annually to the king of 
 Mexico four thoufand facks of lime. But although we had none of 
 thefe proofs, the remains of ancient edifices, ftill cxt.int in Tezcuco, 
 
 E b b 2 Miaian.
 
 ij^a H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT, rvlidlan, Guatufco, and many other places of that kingdom, would bs 
 
 , _y i , fuflicient to evince the truth of what we have afferted, and make M. 
 
 de Paw blufli at his ralhnefs and indifcretion. 
 
 In regard to Peru, although Acolla confefles that lime was not in 
 ufe there, and that its natives neither conftrudted arches nor bridges of 
 flone ; which circumflances proved fufficientfor M. de Paw to fay, that 
 the ufe of lime was totally unknown in all America ; notwithflanding 
 Acofla, who was no vulgar man, and neither exaggerated nor extenuat- 
 ed fads with refpedl to the Americans, gives much praife to the won- 
 derful induilry of the Peruvians for their bridges of to^ora or reeds at 
 the mouth of the lalce of Titicaca, and in other places, where the im- 
 menfe depth, or the extraordinary rapidity of the rivers, did not permit 
 them to make bridges of itone, or made the ufe of boats dangerous. He 
 affirms to have paffed fuch kind of bridges and boats, and a!fo the eall- 
 nefs and fecurity of the pafTage. M. de Paw takes upon him to fay, that, 
 the Peruvians did not know the ufe of boats, that they did not make 
 windows to their houfes, and even fufpefts that their houfes had 
 no roofs. Thefe are the abfurd fpeculations in the clofet of a writer 
 on America : he makes it very clear, that he does not know any 
 thing of the bejiccos of the Peruvian bridges, and that he lias formed 
 no idea of the rivers of South America. 
 
 SECT. IV, 
 
 Cn the Want of Letters. 
 
 N O nation in America knew the art of writing, if by it we are tO' 
 underfland the art of exprefllng on paper, on fkins, on cloths, or on 
 fome other fimilar fubftance, any fort of words by the different com- 
 binations of certain characters : but if the art of writing is taken for 
 that of reprefenting and explaining any fubjedt to abfent perfons, or 
 pofterity, by means of figures, hieroglyphics, and charaólers, it is 
 certain that fuch an art was known and much ufed by the Mexicans, 
 the Acolhuas, the Tlafcalans, and all the other polifhed nations of 
 Anahuac. The count de Buffon, in order to demonftrate that Ame- 
 rica
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 373 
 
 fica was a country entirely new, and the people who inhabited it alio DISSERT. 
 
 new, has alledged, as we have already faid elfewhere, that even the 
 
 nations who lived in focieties were ignorant of the art of tranfmitting 
 
 their events to poflerity by means of durable figns, although they had 
 
 found the art of communicating together at a diflance, and of writing 
 
 by making knots on cords. But this fame art which they made ufo of to 
 
 treat with thofe who were abfent could not ferve alfo to fpeak to pofterity. 
 
 What were the hiflorical paintings of the Mexicans but durable figns 
 
 to tranfmit to poflerity the memory of events to.diftant places and di- 
 
 ftant ages ? The count do Buffon fliews himfelf truly as ignorant of 
 
 the hiflory of Mexico as he is acquainted with the hiftory of naturei 
 
 M, de Paw, although he grants that art- to the Mexicans which tha 
 
 count de Buffon unjuftly denies them, makes, however, fevcral remarks 
 
 to depreciate it ; and among others- fome lb lingular we mull mention 
 
 them. 
 
 He fays that» the Mexicans did not ufe hieroglyphics ; that their 
 paintings were nothing but the coarfe drafts of objedls ; that, in order 
 to reprefent a tree they painted a tree ; that their paintings no where 
 fliew any undeiflanding of light and Iliade, any idea of perfpedtive, 
 or imitation of nature ; that they had made no progrefs in that art, by 
 means of which they attempted to perpetuate the memory of events- 
 and things pafTed ; that the only copy of hiflòrical painting faved from 
 the burning which the firfl miflionaries made of them, is that which 
 the firft viceroy of iMexico fent to Charles V. which was afterwards 
 publifhed by Thevenot in France, and Purchas in England; tlut this 
 painting is fo coarfe and ill executed, that it is not to be difceracd 
 whether it treats, as the interpreter fays, of eight kings of Mexico, 
 or eight concubines of Montezuma, &c. 
 
 M. dc Paw (hc-vvs his ignorance throughout here, and from thence 
 proceeds his forwardnefs in writing. Shall we give more faith to a 
 PrufTian philolbphcr, who has fuen only the grofs copies by Purchas, 
 than to thofe who have feen and carefully ftudied many origirul paint- 
 ings of the Mexicans ? M. de Paw will not allow the Mexicans to 
 have made ufe of hieroglyphics, becaufe he would not have it thought 
 that he grants them any refemblance to the ancient Egyptians. Kir- 
 
 cher.
 
 374 
 
 H I S T O Pv Y OF MEXICO, 
 
 DISSERT, cher, that celebrated enquirer into, and praifer of Egyptian antiquities, in 
 ^^' his work entitled Oedipus Egyptiacus, and Adrian Walton in his pre- 
 
 face to the Polyglott Bible, are of the fame opinion with M. de Paw; 
 but their opinion has no other fupport than the fame copy by Parchas : 
 but Motolinia, Sahagun, Valades, Torquemada, Arrigo, Martinez, 
 Siguenza, and Boturini, who knew the Mexican language, converfed 
 with the Indians, faw and diligently ftlidied many ancient paintings, 
 fay, that among the different modes pradbifed by the Mexicans to re- 
 prefent objefts, that of hieroglyphics was o;ie, and that of fymbolical 
 pidlures another. The lame point is attefted by Acofta and Gomara, in 
 their hiftories J by Eguiara, in the learned preface to the Mexicana Bibli- 
 otheca; and by thofe learned Spaniards who publilhed, with new ad- 
 ditions, the work of Garcia on the Origin of the Indiufis. Kircher was 
 flrono-ly refuted by Siguenza in his work entitled 'Theatre of Political 
 Virtues. It is certain that Kircher contradids himfelf openly ; for in 
 the firft volume of the Oedipus Egyptiacus, where he compares the 
 relio-ion of the Mexicans with that of the Egyptians, he freely con- 
 feffes that the parts of which the image of the God Huitzilopochtli 
 was compofed, had many fecret and myfterious fignihcations. Acofta, 
 whole hiftory is juilly elleemed by M, de Paw, in the defcription 
 which he gives of that image, lays, '' all this ornament which we have 
 *' mentioned, and the reft, which was confiderable likewile, had its 
 *' particular fignihcations, according to what the Mexicans declared f 
 and in the defcription of the idol of Tezcatlipoca expreffes himfelf' 
 in thefe terms : " His hair was tied with a golden cord, from the ex- 
 *• tremity of which hung an ear-ring of the liuiie metal, with clouds of 
 *' fmoke painted upon it, which lignified the prayers of the afflidled and 
 *' finners, who were liftened to by that God when they recommended 
 *' themfelves to him. In his left hand he had a fan of gold, adorned 
 ** with beautiful green, blue, and yellow feathers, lb bright that it feemed 
 *' a mirrour ; by which they intimated, that in that mirrour he faw every 
 *' thing which happened in the world. In his right hand he had four 
 ■** arrows to fignify the punifliment he gave to criminals for their mif- 
 *• deeds." What are all thofe, and other infignia of the Mexican 
 idols, of which we have made mention in the hxth book of this hi- 
 
 ilory, 
 
 3
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 375 
 
 ftory, but fymbols and hieroglyphics, very fimilar to thofe of the DISSERT. 
 Egyptians ? 
 
 M. de Paw fays, that the Mexicans did nothing elfe to reprefent a 
 tree but paint a tree : but what did they to reprefent day and night, the 
 month, the year, the century, the names of perfons ? How could they 
 reprefent time and other tilings which have no figure, without making ufe 
 cf fymbols or chara6ters ? " The Mexicans," fays Acofta, " had 
 *' their figures and hieroglyphics, by which they reprefentcd things in 
 " this manner ; that is, thofe things which had a figure were reprefented 
 ** by their proper figures ; and for thofe which had no proper image 
 ** they made ufe of other charailers to fignify them ; thus they repre- 
 " fented whatever they would ; and to mention the time in which 
 " any event happened, they employed painted wheels, each of which 
 " comprehended a century of fifty-two ye.irs, &c. (f)" 
 
 But here we have another piece of infult from the ignorance of 
 M. de Paw. He ridicules the fecular wheels of the Mexicans, the ex- 
 planation of which he fays Carreri ventured to give, in imitation of a 
 Caflilian profeffor called Congara, v.'ho did not dare to publifli the work 
 which he hadpromiled on this llibjeft : becaufe his relations and friends 
 affured him that it contained many errors. It would np^iear that M. 
 de Paw cannot write without committing errors. That profeffor whom. 
 Carreri or Gemelli imitates, was not a Caflili.in, but a Creole, born in 
 the city of Mexico ; nor was he called Coiigara, but Siguenza and Gon~ 
 gora : he did not print his Mexican ciclography, which was the work 
 Gemelli made ufe of, not becaufe he feared any cenfure from the public, 
 but becaufe of" the exceffive expences of printing in thofe countries ; 
 which have alfo prevented the publication of nwny other excellent 
 works, not only of Siguenza, but other moli: learned authors. To 
 fiiy that the relations and friends of Siguenza difluadcd him from the 
 publication of that work becaufe they found many errors in it, is not 
 a mere mifiake occafioned by inattention, but appears a fidtion devifed 
 to abufe and miflead the public. Who has communicated to M. de 
 Paw fo flrange an anecdote which is altogether unknown to New 
 Spain, where the memory and fame of that great man is fo celebrated, 
 
 (f) Stor.N.-it. e Mor. lib. vi. cap. 7,
 
 ::,76 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e 0> 
 
 DISSERT, and where the learned lament the lofs of that and many other works 
 _J.„, of the fame author ? What could Siguenza fear from the publication 
 of -the Mexican wheels, publiflied already by Valades in Italy a cen- 
 tury before him, and defcribed by Motolinia, Sahagun, Gomara, 
 Acofta, Herrera, Torquemada, and Martinez, all Europeans, and 
 by the Mexican, Acolhuan, and Tlafcalan hiftorians, Iztlilxochitl, 
 Chimalpain, Tczozomoc, Niza, Ayala, and others ? All thofe au- 
 thors are agreed with Siguenza in that which refpeds the Mexicaa 
 .wheels of the century, the year, the month, and only differ refpedling 
 the beginning of the year, and the name of fome months, for the rea- 
 fons which we hav-e mentioned iu thefixth book of this hiftory. Be- 
 fides, all authors who have wrote on this fubjeft, both Spanifli and 
 American, who are many in ji umber, agree in fiying that the Mexi- 
 cans and other nations of thofe countries made ufe of fuch wheels to 
 I'eprefent their century, their year, and their month ; that their cen- 
 tury confilted of fifty-two years, their year of three hundred and fixty- 
 five days, divided into eighteen months of twenty days each, and five 
 days which they called nemontani ; that in their century they counted 
 four pei'iods of thirteen years, and that the days alfo were counted by 
 periods of thirteen j that the names and characters of the years were 
 only four, that is thofe of the rabbit, the cane or reed, the flint, and the 
 hoiife, which without interruption were alternately ufed with different 
 numbers. 
 
 This cannot be, fays M. de Paw, becaufe it would fuppofe them to 
 have made a long feries of aftronomical obfervations, and thereby at- 
 tained a knowledge fufficient to enable them to regulate the folar year, 
 iind thefe could not happen to be united with that profound ignorance 
 which thofe people were immerfed. How could they perfedt their 
 chronology while tliey had no terms to count a higher number than 
 three ? Therefore, if the Mexicans had really that method of re- 
 gulating time, they ought not to be called barbarians and favages, 
 but rather a cultivated and polilhed people ; becaufe a nation mult be 
 moil cultivated which has made a long feries of accurate obfervations 
 and acquired exadt knowledge in aftronomy. But the certainty of 
 the regulation of time among the Mexicans is fuch as not to ad- 
 mit of the fmalleff doubt : becaufe, if the unanimous teftimony of 
 the Spanilh writers refpeding the communion of the Mexicans is not to 
 
 be
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 zn 
 
 be doubted, which M. de Paw himfelf Hws is not (g), how can \vc disskrt. 
 doubt of the method which thole nations had to compute years and i . ^ 
 centuries, and its conformity to the folar courfc, both fadls being at- 
 tefted unanimouily by the Spani (h, Mexican, Acolhuan, and Tlafca- 
 lan hillorians ? Befides, the depofition of the Spaniards in this matter is 
 of very great weight, as tliey were, as M. de Paw fays, rather inchncd 
 to degrade the nations of America fo far as even to doubt of their 
 rationaUty. It is necefliiry, therefore, to beUeve what hillorians lay of 
 thole wheels, and to confefs tiiat the Mexicans were not immerfed in 
 that profound ignorance which M. de Paw pretends. Witii regard to 
 what he lays of the fcarcity of words to exprefs numbers in the Mexi- 
 can language, we Ihall, in another place, demunllrate his error as well 
 as his ignorance. 
 
 It cannot be known, rcfumes M. de Paw, what was contained in the 
 . Mexican paintings J becaufe the Spaniards themfelves could not under- 
 lland them, until they were explained by the Mexicans, and none of the 
 latter have kno^vn hitherto enough to be able to tranllate a book ! In 
 order that the Spaniards Ihould have underftood the Mexican paintings, 
 it was not necellary that riic Mexicans Ihould know the Spanifli lan- 
 guage, becaufe it was fufficicnt that the Spaniards comprehended the 
 Mexican ; nor is there lo much neceliary to explain a piólure as tp 
 tranllate a book. M. de Paw fiys, that on account of the roughnefs 
 of the Mexican language, no Spaniard has ever learned to pronounc it, 
 and that, from the incapacity of the Mexicans, none of them have yet 
 leai"ned the Spanilh tongue : but both the one and the other aflcrtiou 
 are fir from being true. Of the Mexican language we fliall treat in its 
 place. The Caiblian has always been very common anioug the Mexi- 
 cans, and there are m»any amongft them who can fpeak it as well as the 
 Spaniards. Many of thcui have wrote their ancient hifloiy in Calti- 
 lian, and alio that of the Conqueft of Mexico j ibmc of whom we 
 have mentioned in the Catalogue prefixed to this hiftory.' Others have 
 tranflated Latin books into Callilian, Caltilian into Mexican, and xMexican 
 
 (Z^ " J'-' ^'"*" !»vou(\ que Ic confcntcineiit Je tous Ics Hiftortena Efpaguols uc pcrmet gueres 
 «'ill.' iloiitvr qiip ces diux pciiplfs Aini'i-icains '(/!<■ /1/m7(<»Aì «fi.f /\*xt';r»oj> n'culTànt duns 1* 
 <• fuiiwnc imincwlc lic laurs rgpi;Htition3.groiIliiM, Jt ■.|uclniies ufajjci qui ae ditlciujeiit pa» 
 
 '• bcuucouu lie tc iiu'oii nommc lu Cwnmiwiioii paiml nous." Tom. 1^, Letter I. 
 
 ' ^ ' " ' ....;,■ I'. ' ; . ; v\t ( iiiij..,, :■/! ;■] , . 
 
 j/.V:oL. II. ., ^- ^ '^ ' into
 
 SjS HISTORYOFMEXICa 
 
 ^^^^;f ^'^ ■ ^^'^^ Caftilian : amongfl others deferving of mention, are D. F. Ixtlil- 
 xochitl, whom we have fo often cited ; D. A. Valerianes, of Azca- 
 pozalco, the mafter in the Mexican language to the hillorian Tor- 
 quemada, 6cc. We know from the Hiftory of the Conqueft, that the 
 celebrated Indian donna Marina, learned with great quicknefs and faci- 
 lity the Caftilian language, and that iTie fpoke the Mexican, and alfo 
 the Maya language well, which are more different from each other than 
 the French, the Hebrew, and the Illyrian. There having been at all 
 times, therefore, very many Spaniards who have learned the Mexican, 
 as we fhall ihew, and very many Mexicans who have learned the Spa- 
 nilTi, why might not the Mexicans have been able to inftrudl the Spa- 
 niards in the fignifications of their pictures ? 
 
 With refpeét to the copies of the Mexican paintings, publilhed by 
 Purchas and Thevenot, it is true that the proportions, or laws of per- 
 fpeftive, are not obferved in them ; but thofe grofs coarfe copies hav- 
 ing been cut in wood, thefe authors have poffibly increaled the defedts 
 of the originals ; nor ought we to wonder if they have omitted fome 
 things contributing to the perfed:ion of thofe piólures ; as we know 
 that they omitted the copies of the twelfth and twenty-fecond paint- 
 ings of that collediion altogether, and the images of the cities in moft 
 of the others ; and befides, they change the figures of the years cor- 
 refponding to the reigns of Ahuitzotl and Montezuma II. as we have 
 ah-eady mentioned. Boturini, who faw in Mexico the original paint- 
 ings of thofe annals, and of the regifter of the tributes which were 
 contained in the copies publilhed by Purchas and Thevenot, laments 
 the great defedis of thofe editions. It is fufficient to compare the co- 
 pies publiihed in Mexico, in 1770, by Lorenzana, with thofe pub- 
 lifhed in London by Purchas, and in Paris by Thevenot, to perceive and 
 know the great difference there is between copy and original. But we 
 do not mean to maintain the perfediion of the original, copied by Pur- 
 chas ; we rather doubt not that they have been imperfeft, as all the 
 hiftorical paintings were, in which the painters contented themfelves 
 with outlines, regardlefs of the proportions or colouring of objefts, 
 the light and fhade, or rules of perfpedfive. Nor was it poflible they 
 fhould obferve thofe laws of the art, on account of their extraordinary- 
 expedition in making pidures, as Cortes, Diaz and other eye-witnefTes 
 
 9 have
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 379 
 
 have attefled. But let us obferve the conckifions M. de Paw deduces dissert. 
 
 VI 
 
 from thence. His arguments are thefe : the Mexicans did not ob- 
 ferve the laws of perfpedtive in their paintings ; they could not there- 
 fore, by means of them, perpetuate the memory of events : the Mexi- 
 cans were wretched painters, therefore they could not be good hifto- 
 rians ; but at the lame time that he makes ufe of this fpecies of logic, 
 he ought alfo to have faid, that all thofe who in writing do not make 
 good characters cannot be good hiftorians ; for that which letters are 
 to our hiftorians, were the figures of the Mexican hiftorians ; and as 
 good hiftories niay be written with a bad charader, fo may fafts be 
 well reprefented by coarfe pidlures ; it is fufficient that either hiftorian 
 make himfelf underftood. 
 
 But this is what Mr. de Paw cannot find in the copies made by 
 Purchas. He declares that having compared the figures of them in dif- 
 ferent manners with the interpretations annexed, he could never difcover 
 any connedion between them ; that which they interpret to be eight kings 
 of Mexico, they might equally well interpret to be eight concubines of 
 Montezuma. But the fame thing might be faid byM. de Paw, if the book 
 Chiin-yum of the philofopher Confucius, written in Chinefe charadters, 
 was prefcnted to him, with the interpretation in French befide it. He 
 would compare in various modes thofe charafters with the interpretations, 
 and fuppofing that he could not find any connexion between them, he 
 might fay, that as they interpret that book of the nine qualifications which 
 a good emperor ought to have, they might alfo interpret it of nine con- 
 cubines, or nine eunuchs of fome ancient emperor, bccaufe he under- 
 flands almoft full as much of the Chinefe charatìers as of the Mexican 
 figures. If we had an interview with M. de Paw, we could explain to 
 him what connexion thefe figures have with their interpretation j but, 
 as he does not know it himfelf, he ought to take the judgment of thofe 
 who underft.ind them. 
 
 He believes, or would make us believe, that thofe piiflures alone 
 which Purchap, copied, were faved from the burning made by the firft 
 miiilonaries ; but this is moft erroneous, as we have already made ap- 
 pear againft Robertlbn in the beginning of the firll volume. The paint- 
 ings faved from that burning were fo many in number, that they fup- 
 plied the materials for the ancient hiftory of Mexico, not only to the 
 
 C c c 2 Spartifh
 
 o8o II I S T O R Y OF M E X I C O. 
 
 J 
 
 DiSSKRf . SpdniHi writers, but alio to the Mexicans themfelves. All the works 
 V ' , ., of don Ferdinand Alba Ixtlilxochitl, of don Dominic Chimulpain, • 
 and others named in the catalogue of writers, at the beginning of this 
 hiftory, liave been compofed by the aihftance of a great number of an- 
 cient paintings. The indefatigable Sahagun, confulted an inhnity of 
 paintings for his hilfory of New Spain. Torquemada often cites the 
 pictures which he examined for his work. Siguenza inherited the 
 manufcripts and paintings of Ixtlilxochitl, and procured many others 
 at a great expence, and after having made his extradls from them, left 
 them at his death, together with his valuable library, to the college of 
 St. Peter and St. Paul, of the Jefuits of Mexico j in which library we 
 faw and iludied Ibme of thofe paintings. During the two laft centu- 
 ries, ancient paintings were frequently produced at tribunals by the 
 Mexicans, as titles of property, and the poifellion of lands ; and on that 
 account, interpreters lldlled in the fignitications of fucli paintings were 
 confulted. Gonzalez Oviedo makes mention of that cuflom at tribu- 
 nals in the times of Sebaftiano Ramirez de Fuenleal, prefident of the 
 royal audience of Mexico ; and as the knoxK'ledge of fuch titles was of 
 great importance to the decifion of fuits, there was formerly a profef- 
 for in the univerlity of Mexico, appointed to teach tlie fcience of 
 Mexican paintings, hieroglyphics, and charafters. The many pic- 
 tures colledted a tew years ago by Boturini, and mentioned in the Ca- 
 talogue of his Mufeum, publiihed at Madrid, in 1 746, demonllrate, 
 that not quite lb few as M. de Paw and Dr. Robertfon imagine, have 
 efcaped the burning by the miilionaries. 
 
 In fliort, to confirm what we have written in this hiftory, and 
 let M. de Paw underlfand the variety of Mexican paintings, we fhall 
 mention here briefiy what Dr. Eguiara has written in his learned Pre- 
 face to his Bibliotheca Mexicana. " I'hcre were," he fays, " among 
 " the Mexican pidlures thofe of the lunar courfe, called by them To- 
 " nalamatl, in which they publifhed their prognoflics refpedting the 
 " changes of the moon. One of thofe pidures is introduced by Si- 
 " gueriza, in his Ciclographia Mexicana, as he himlelf acknowledges 
 " in liis work, entitled, Libra Ajironomka. Others contained the , 
 " horofcopes of children, in which they reprefented their names, the 
 " day and fign of their birth, and their fortune. Of this fort of 
 
 *' paint-
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 381 
 
 " paintins:, mention is made by Jerom Roman, in his Republic of the DISSF.rt. 
 
 *' IVorid, Part II. Tom. ii. Others were dogmatical, containing the 
 
 *' lyrtem of their religion ; others hiftorical, otliers geographical," 6cc. 
 
 •' It is true," adds the lame author, " that thofe paintings which were 
 
 " made for familiar and common ufc, were clear and intelligible to 
 
 *' every one : but thofe which contained the fccrets of religion were 
 
 " lull of hieroglyphics, the meaning of which could not be compre- 
 
 " hended by the vulgar. There was great difference in their paintings, 
 
 ** both with refpe(5l to their authors, and tlic method of doing them, 
 
 " and the delign and ufe of them. Thofe which were made for the 
 
 " ornaments of the palaces were perfedj but in others containing 
 
 ** Ibme fecret meaning, particular charadlers, and fome monllrous and 
 
 *' horrible figures were employed. The painters were numerous ; but 
 
 " the writing of charadters, the compoling of annals, and the treat- 
 
 " ing of matters concerning religion and politics, were employmenti 
 
 " peculiar to the priells." So far Eguiara. 
 
 M. de Paw will pUafe to know therefore, that among the Mexican 
 paintings fome were mere images of objedlis ; they had alfo charac- 
 ters not compofing words as ours do, but figniiicative of things like 
 thofe of allronomers and algebraills. Some paintings were lolely in- 
 tended to exprefs ideas or conceptions, and, if we may fay fo, to write ; 
 but in thofe they paid no regard to proportion or beauty, becaufe they 
 were done in halte, aiui for the purpofe of inftrudfing the .mind, not gf 
 pleafing the eye : in thofe, however, where they ftrove to imitate n^i,- 
 ture, and which they executed with that leifure which works of fuch 
 kind require, they Ib'idly obferved the diiliances, proportions, attitudes, 
 and rules of the art, though not with the perfedlion which we admire 
 in tiic good painters of Europe. In liiort, we wifli M. ài Pa,w would 
 ihew us ibme rude or half-poli(hed people of the old continent whicli 
 has exerted fo much induftry and diligence as tlie Mexicans to perpe- 
 tuate the memory of events. 
 
 Dr. Robertlbn, where he treats of the culture of the Mexicans \\\ 
 the feventh book of his Hillory, explains the progrefs which human 
 iadullry makes to arrive at the invention of letters, by the combinations 
 of which are exprelled all the different founds of difcourfe. This fuccef- 
 fi,ve progrefs, according to him, proceeds from adual painting to iim- 
 
 7 P^^
 
 J 
 
 82 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, pie hieroglyphic, from it to allegorical fymbols, from thence to ar- 
 ^ ^'^' J bitrary characters, and laftly to the alphabet. If any perfon would 
 wilh to know from his hiftory to what degree the Mexicans were arrived, 
 he certainly will not be able to find it ; as that hillorical reafoner fpeaks 
 with fo much ambiguity, that fometimes it appears that he believes 
 they were hardly arrived at the fecond degree, that is fimple hieroglyphic ; 
 and fometimes it feems that he judges them arrived at the fourth de- 
 gree or at arbitrary character. But, independent of what he fays, it is 
 certain, that all the above mentioned ways of reprefenting ideas, except 
 that of the alphabet, were ufed by the Mexicans. Their numeral cha- 
 rafters, and thofe fignifying night, day, the year, the century, the hea- 
 vens, the earth, the water, &c. perhaps were not truly arbitrary cha- 
 rad:ers. The Mexicans were arrived then as far as the famous Chinefe, 
 after many ages of civilization. There is no difference between the 
 one and the other, except that the Chinefe charaélers are multiplied 
 to fuch excefs, that a whole life-time is not enough to learn them. 
 
 Dr. Robertfon, far from denying, like Mr. de Paw, the fecular 
 wheels of the Mexicans, confefTes their method of computing time, 
 and fays, that their having obferved, that in eighteen months, of 
 twenty days each, the courfe of the fun was not completed, they added 
 the five days Nemontemi, " This near approach to philofophical accu- 
 *' racy is a remarkable proof that the Mexicans had bellowed fome 
 " attention upon enquiries and fpeculations to which men in their rude 
 " ftate never turn their thoughts {ò)." What would he have faid had 
 he known, as appears from the chronology of the Mexicans, that they 
 not only counted three hundred fixty-five days to the year, but alfo 
 knew of the excefs of about fix hours in the folar over the civil year, 
 and remedied the difference between them by means of thirteen inter- 
 calaiy days, which they added to their century of fifty-two years. 
 
 (bj Hift. of America, book \ii. 
 
 SECT.
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 383 
 
 DISSERT. 
 VII. 
 
 S E C T. V. 
 
 On the Arts of the Mexicans. 
 
 MR. de Paw, after having given a contemptuous defcription of Peru, 
 and the barbarity of its inhabitants, fpcaks of Mexico, of which Hate, 
 he fays, there are as many falfities and miracles related as of Peru ; but 
 it is certain, he adds, that thofe two nations were upon an equality; 
 whether we confider their government, their arts, or their inftruments. 
 Agriculture was abandoned by them, and their architedlure moft 
 wretched : their paintings were coarfe, and their arts very imperfedt ; 
 their fortifications, their palaces, and their temples, are mere fidions 
 of the Spaniards. If the Mexicans, he fays, had had fortifications, 
 they would have sheltered themfelves from the mufketry, and thofe 
 fix poor pieces of cannon, which Cortes carried with him, would 
 not have overthrown in a moment fo many baftions and entrench- 
 ments. The walls of their buildings were only great flones, laid 
 loofely, one upon another. The boarted palace, where the kings of 
 Mexico refided, was a mere hut ; on which account, F. Cortes, find- 
 ing no fuitable habitation in all the capital of that fiate, was obliged 
 to ereil a palace for himfelf in h.ifte, which flill exifts. It is not eafy 
 to enumerate the abfurdities thrown out by M. de Paw on this fubjedt : 
 omitting, however, what belongs to Peru, we fliall exaniine wliat he 
 has written againfl the arts of the Mexicans. 
 
 Of their agriculture we have fpoken in other places, where we have 
 fhewn, that the Mexicans not only cultivated moft diligently all the 
 lands of their empire, but likewife by wonderful exertions of induftry, 
 created to themfelves new territory for cultivation, by forming thoie 
 floating fields and gardens on the water, which have been fo highly ce- 
 lebrated by all the Spaniards and foreigners, andare (till the admiration 
 of all who fail upon thofe lakes. We have demonftrated that not only 
 all the plants which were necefiary for food, for clothing and n;iedi- 
 ctne, but likewife the flowers and other vegetables which contributed 
 iblely to luxury and pleafure,. were all mod plentcoufly cultivated 
 by them. Cortes,, in his letters to Charles V. and Bernal Diaz, fpeak 
 
 with
 
 VI. 
 
 J84 HISTORY O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT; with aflojiilliment of the famous gardens of Iztapalapan and Huax- 
 tepee, whicli they iinv ; and they are aUb mentioned by Hernandez, in 
 his Natural Hiftory, who ùw thefe gardens forty years after. Cortes, 
 in a letter to Charles V. of the 30th of Odtober, 1520, fpeaks thus : 
 " The multitude of inhabitants in thofe countries is fo great, that there 
 " is not a foot of land left uncultivated." It is being very obftinatc 
 to refute faith to the unanimous telHmony of the Spanilh authors. 
 
 We have fet forth, on tlie fupport of the fame teftimony, the 
 great Ihill of the Mexicans in bringing up animals, in which kind of 
 magnificence Montezuma furpalled all the kings of' the world. The 
 Mexicans could not have bred up. fuch an infinite variety of quadru- 
 peds, reptiles, and birds, without having great knowledge of their na- 
 tures, their inftinól, their habits of life, ócc. 
 
 Their architeilure is not to be compared with that of the Euro- 
 peans, but it was certainly greatly fuperior to that of molT: of .the peo- 
 ple of Afia and Afnca. Who would form a comparifon between the 
 houles, palaces, temples, baflions, aquedudls, and roads of the ancient 
 Mexicans, with the miferable huts of the Tartars, Siberians, Arabs, 
 and other wretched nations, which live between ilhe Capeode- Verd, 
 and the Cape of Good Hapej or the buildings of Ethiopia^, of a gres^t 
 part of India, and the Afiatic and African illes, except thofe of Japan ? 
 
 M. de Paw fays, the boailed palace of Montezuma was nothing elfe 
 than a mere hut. But Cortes, Diaz, and the anonymous conqueror, who 
 faw this palace lb often, affirm the dirceli contrary. " He had," lays Cor- 
 tes, talking of Montezuma, *' in this city of Mexico, fuch houfes for 
 " his habitation, lb deferving of admiration, that I cannot fuiiiciently 
 •' exprefs their grandeur and excellence ; I Ihall therefore only lay, that 
 " there are none equal to them in Spain." Thus writes this conqueror 
 to his king, without fear of being contradióled by his officers or foldiers, 
 who had alfo themfelves viewed the palaces of Mexico. The anony- 
 mous conqueror, in his curious and faithful relation, fpeaking of the 
 buildings of Mexico, writes thus : " There were beautiful houfes b?- 
 *' longing to the nobles, lb grand and numerous in their apartments, 
 " with lljch admirable gardens to them, that the fight of them filled us 
 " with aftonifliment and delight. I entered from curjofity four times 
 ** into a palace belonging to Montezuma, and having pervsaded.ivijnti) 
 
 " I was
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 385 
 
 ** I was weary, I came away at lafl: without having feen it all. Around dissert. 
 " a large court they ufed.to build fumptuous halls and chambers ; but 
 " there was one above all (o large that it was capable of containing up- 
 ** wards of three thoufand perfons without the lead inconvenience: it 
 ** 'was fuch, that in the gallery of it alone a little fquare was formed, 
 *' where thirty men on horfe-back might exercife." It is certain from 
 the affirmation of all the hiflorians of Mexico, that the army under 
 Cortes, eonfifting of fix thoufand four hundred men and upwards, in- 
 cluding the allies, were all lodged in the palace formerly poflclTed by 
 king Axajacatl.j and there remained ftill fufficient lodging for Monte- 
 zuma and his attendants, befides the. magazine of the treafures of king 
 Akàjaòatl. The lame hiftorians attefl the moft beautiful difpofition of 
 the palace of birds ; and Cortes adds, that in the apartments belonging 
 to it two princes might have been lodged with all their fuit, and mi- 
 nutely defcribes its porticos, lodges, and gardens. He fays alfo to 
 Charles V. that he lodged in the palace of Nezahalpilli, at Tezcuco, 
 with fix hundred Spaniards, and forty horfes, and that it was fo large 
 it could eafily have lodged fix hundred more. He fpeaks in a fimilar 
 manner of the palaces of Iztapalapan, and other cities, praifing their 
 ftrufture, their beauty, and magnificence. Such were the outs of the 
 kings and chiefs of Mexico. 
 
 M. de Paw fays, that Cortes made a palace be confi:ru6ted in hafl:e for 
 his own habitation, becaufe he could not find any one in all that capi- 
 tal fufficiently commodious ; but M. de Paw is in a great miftake, or ra- 
 ther he sfferts without truth, and condemns without reafon. It is 
 true that Cortes, during the fiege of Mexico, burnt and demolillied 
 the greater part of that great city, as he himfelf relates ; and for that 
 end he had demanded and obtained from his allies fome thouftnds of 
 country people, who had no other employment than to pull down and 
 deftroy the houfes and buildings as the Spaniards advanced into the 
 city, that there might not remain behind them any houfe from which 
 the Mexicans could annoy them. It is therefore not very wonderful 
 that Cortes did not find a convenient habitation for himfelf in a city 
 which he had himfelf deftroyed ; but the ruin of it was not fo ge- 
 neral, but that there remained a confiderable number of houfes in the 
 divifion of Tlatelolco, where the Spaniards might have loJged con- 
 VoL. II. Ddd venicntlv,
 
 386 HISTORYOF MEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, veniently, with a good number of allies. " Since it has pleafecJ Our 
 
 , ^^' . Lor.'," lays Cortes in his hii letter to Charles the V. " that this great 
 
 " city of Tlatelolco iliould be conquered, 1 have not thought proper 
 
 " to refide in it on account of many inconveniences ; I liave therefore 
 
 " gone, with all my pieople, to ftay at Cuyoacan." Had what M, de 
 
 Paw favs been true, it would have been fufficient for Cortes to have 
 
 faid that he did not remain in Mexico becaufe there were no houfes 
 
 left fit to be inhabited. The palace of Cortes was ereded in the fame 
 
 place where formerly that of Montezuma flood. If Cortes had not 
 
 ruined this palace, he might have lodged conveniently in it, as that 
 
 monarch had done, with all his court. It is falfe that the palace e- 
 
 redted for Cortes is ftill in exigence 3 it was burnt in the time of a 
 
 popular fedition, in 1692. But it is flill falfer that the walls of the 
 
 Mexican houfes were only loofe ilones laid one upon another without 
 
 any cement, as the contrary is proved by the teftimony of all hiftorians, 
 
 and by the remains of ancient buildings, of which we fliall fpeak in 
 
 their place. From hence it appears, that the whole pafiage above cited 
 
 from M. de Paw, is idle and fiólitious. 
 
 M. de Paw, not contented with annihilating the houfes of the Mexi- 
 cans, engages alio with their temples ; and in anger againft Solis, 
 becaufe he affirms that the temples of Mexico were not lefs than two 
 thoufand in number, including large and fmall, writes thus, " There 
 " never has been fo great a colle(flion of houfes in any city from Pe- 
 *' kin to Rome, on which account Gomara, lefs raili or more dif- 
 " cerning than Solis, fays, that computing feven chapels, there were not 
 " more than eight places deflined for the repofitories of the idols of 
 " Mexico." In order to ihew the unfaithfulnefs of M. de Paw in cit- 
 ing authors, we fhall infert the paf&ge from Gomara to which he al- 
 ■ ludes. " There v/ere," fays Gomara, in chapter eighty of his 
 Chronicle of New Spain, " many temples in die city of Mexico, 
 ** fcattered through the difièrent diftrifts, that had their towers, in 
 " which were the chapels and altars for the repofitories of the idols . . . 
 '* They had almoil all the fame form, fo that what we fliall fiy of the 
 " principal temple will fuffice to explain all the others." And after 
 making a minute defcription of that great temple, of which he boafts 
 the height, largenefs, and beauty, he adds, " Befides thofe towers, 
 
 *' which
 
 VI. 
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 387 
 
 ** which were formed with their chapels above the pyramid, there were dissert. 
 *' more than forty other towers, great and fmall, in other laiallcr 
 Teocalli {i), which were within the inclofure of that principal tern- 
 ** pie, all of which were the fame in form . . . There were other Teo- 
 " calli or Cues in other places of the city . . . All thofe temples liad 
 *' houfes belonging to them, their priefts, and their gods, together 
 *' with every thing neceffary for their worfliip and fervice." So 
 that Gomara, who, according to M. de Paw, docs not enumerate in 
 Mexico more than eight places deflined for the repofitories of the idols, 
 including feven chapels, reckons clearly more than forty teniples within 
 the inclofure of the principal temple, befides many others fcattered 
 through the other diftridls of the city. Can we give any faith to M. 
 de Paw after fo manifeft a falfification ? 
 
 It is true that Solis was inconfiderate in afferting that number of tem- 
 ples for a certainty which the firfl: hiftorians mentioned only from con- 
 je6ture. But M. de Paw Ihews himfclf not very difcerning in including 
 amongft the public buildings thofe chapels alfo which the Spaniards 
 call temples. Of thefe the quantity was innumerable ; all thofe who 
 faw that country before the conqueil teilify unanimoully, that not 
 only in the inhabited places, but on the roads and mountains they 
 faw fuch kinds of buildings, which, although fmall and totally 
 different from our churches, were yet called temples, becaufe they 
 were confecrated to the worfhip of the idols. From the letters of 
 Cortes, as well as from the hiflory of Diaz, we know that the con- 
 querors hardly went a ftep in their expeditions without meeting with 
 fome temple or chapel. Cortes fays he numbered more than four 
 hundred temples in the city of Cholula alone. But there was a great 
 difference in the lize of the temples. Some were nothing elfe than 
 fmall terralTcs of little height, upon which was a little chapel for the 
 tutelar idol. Others were of flupendous dimenfions. Cortes, where 
 he fpeaks of the greater temple of Mexico, declares to the emperor, 
 that it is difficult to defcribe its parts, its grandeur, and the things 
 contained in it ; that it was fo large, that within the inclofure of that 
 ftroug wall which furrounded it, a village of five hundred houfes might 
 
 (/■ ) 7'eocaWf the hcufc of God, was the name which the Mexicans gave to their temple. 
 
 D d d 2 be
 
 388 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I G O. 
 
 DISSERT, be contained. This and the other temples of Mexico, Tezcuco, Cho- 
 VI. . . . . 
 
 hila, and other cities, are fpoken of in the fame ftile by B. Diaz, the 
 
 anonymous conqueror, Sahagun, and Tobar, who faw them, and the 
 Mexican and Spanifli hiilorians, who wrote after them and inform- 
 ed themfelves accurately on the fubjeft. Hernandez defcribed one 
 by one, the feventy-eight parts of which the greater temple was 
 compofed. Cortes adds, that among the high towers which adorned 
 that great capital were forty, fo elevated that the fmalleft of them was 
 not inferior in height to the famous Giralda {k) of Seville. D. F. de 
 A.Ixtlilaochitl makes mention in his manufcripts of the tower of 
 nine floors, that his famous anceftor Nezahualpilli, erredled to the 
 Creator of 'heaven, which appears to have been that famous temple of 
 Tezcutzinco, fo much extolled by Valades in his work. 
 
 All this cloud of witnefles depofe againfl M. de Paw. Notwith- 
 flanding he cannot believe in that great multitude of temples in Mexi- 
 co, becaufe he fays Montezuma I. was he who gave the form of a 
 city to that village : from the reign of this monarch until, the arrival 
 of the Spaniards, no more than forty-two years elapfed, which fpace 
 of time is not lufficient to build two thoufand temples. Thefe three 
 aflerticns, make, as is ufual with this author, as many errors, i . It 
 is falfe that Montezuma I. gave the form of a city to Mexico, be- 
 caufe we know from hiftory that that court had the form of a city 
 from the time of Acamapitzin the flrft king. 2. It is falfe, belides, 
 that there intervened but forty-two years between the reign of Mon- 
 tezuma and the arrival of the Spaniards. Montezuma began to reign, 
 as we have Ihewn in Diflertation fecond, in the year 1436, and died in 
 1465, and the Spaniards did not come to Mexico before 1519. 
 Therefore, from the beginning of that reign until the arrival of the 
 Spaniards elapfed eighty-three years, and from the death of that king 
 till then fifty-five. 3. M. de Paw dilcovers his total ignorance of 
 the flrudlure of the Mexican temples, nor does he know what mul- 
 titude of workmen alTembledfor the conftrudtion of the public edifices, 
 and what expedition they made in building. In thofe times a whole 
 village has been raifed, though compofed of huts of wood, covered. 
 
 (^) The very lofty and famous fieeple of the Dome of SQville. 
 
 or
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O 389 
 
 or thatched with hay or ftraw, and the new fettlers have conduced DISSERT. 
 their families, their animals, and all their other property to it, in one 
 fingle night. 
 
 As to their fortifications it is certain and indubitable, from the 
 depofitions made by Cortes and all thofe who faw the ancient cities of 
 that empire, that the Mexicans, and all the other neighbouring nations 
 living ill focieties, railed walls, baftions, palifades, ditches, and intrench- 
 mcnts for their defence. But without the atteflations of tliofe eye-wit- 
 nelies, the ancient fortifications which flill exift in ^auhtochco or Gua- 
 atufco, and near to Molcaxac, would be fufficient to fhew the error of M. 
 de Paw. It is true that fuch fortifications were not comparable to thofe 
 of the Europeans, becaufe neither was their military archi'tedure per- 
 fedled, nor had they occafion to cover themfelves from artillery, of 
 which they had no experience or conception : but they gave plain proofs 
 of their induftry in inventing many different kinds of expedients to defend 
 themfelves from their native enemies. Whoever will read the unani- 
 mous depofition of the conquerors, will not entertain a doubt of the great 
 ditficulty they found in taking the ditches and intrenchments of the- 
 Mexicans during the fiege of that capital, although they had fuch an ex- 
 cefTive number of troops of allies, and the advantages of fire arms, and 
 the brigantines. The terrible defeat the Spaniards met with when 
 they meant to have retired in fecret from Mexico, will not fufler 
 a doubt to remain concerning the fortifications^ of that capital. It was 
 not furrounded by walls, becaule its fituation was rendered fecure by 
 ditches which interfered all the roads by which an enemy could ap- 
 proach ; but other cities which were not placed in fo advantageous a 
 fituation, had walls and other means of defence. Cortes himfelf gives 
 an exa<fl defcription of the walls of Quauqucchollan. 
 
 But it is not necefl'ary to confume time in accumulating teftimonics 
 and other proofs of the archite(5ture of the Mexicans, while they have- 
 left, in the three roads which they farmed upon the lake itfelf, and 
 the very ancient aquedudt of Chapoltepec, an immortal monument. of 
 their induflry. 
 
 The fame authors who atteft the architedlural fliill of the Mexi- 
 cans, witncfs alio the ingenuity of their gold-lmiths, their weavers-,, 
 their gem-cutters, and their artificers of works of feathers. Many 
 
 Euroj^^eans-
 
 390 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT. Europe.ins who faw fuch kind of works were aftonifhcd at the abilities 
 ^^' of the American artifts. Their art in cafting metals was admired by 
 the goldfmiths of Europe, as many European writers, then Hving, have 
 faid ; and amongft others the hiftorian Gomara, ' who had the works 
 in his hands, and heard the opinion of the SevilUan gold-fmiths con- 
 cerning them, who defpaired of ever being able to imitate them. 
 When {hall we find any one capable of making thofe wonderful works 
 already mentioned by us, in Book viii. Scot. 5 1 . of this hiftory, and atteft- 
 ed by many writers, namely that, for inftance, of carting a fifli, which 
 lliould have its fcales alternately, one of gold and the other of filver ? 
 Cortes fays, in his fecond letter to Charles V. that the images made 
 of gold and feathers were fo well wrought by the Mexicans that no 
 workman of Europe could make any better ; that in refped to jewels, 
 he could not comprehend by what inftruments their works were made fo 
 perfe(ft ; and their feather-works could not be imitated neither by wax 
 nor filk. In his third letter, where he fpeaks of the plunder of Mexi- 
 co, he fays, that among the fpoils of Mexico he found there certain 
 wheels of gold, and feathers, and other labours of the fame matter, fo 
 wonderfully executed, that being incapable to convey a juft idea of them 
 in writing, he fent them to his majefty that he might be aflured by his 
 own fight of their excellence and perfedlion. We are certain that 
 Cortes would not have fpoke in that manner to his king of thofe works, 
 which he fent him in order that he might view them, if they had not 
 been fuch as he reprefented. Bernal Diaz, the anonymous conqueror, 
 Gomara, Hernandez, and Acofla, and all thofe authors who faw them, 
 of them in the fame Manner. 
 
 Dr. Robertfon (/) acknowledges the teftimony of the ancient 
 Spanifh hiflorians, and believes that they had no intention to deceive 
 us J but he affirms that they were all induced to exaggerate from the 
 illufion of their fenfes produced by the warmth of their imagination . 
 Such a folution might be made ufe of to deny faith to all human 
 hiflorians. All therefore muft have been deceived, without excepting 
 even the celebrated Acofta, or the learned Hernandez, the gold-fmiths 
 of Seville, king Philip II. or Pope Sextus V. who were all admirers, 
 
 (/) Hiflory of America, book yii, 
 
 and-
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 391 
 
 and pralfed thofe Mexican labours (w) ! their imaginations were all DISSERT, 
 heated, even thofe who wrote fome years after the difcovery of Mexi- 
 co ! Robertfon the Scotfman, and de Paw the PruOian, after two cen- 
 turies and a half have alone that temperance of imagination which is re- 
 quired to form a juft idea of things, perhaps, becaufe the cold of their 
 climes has checked the heat of their imaginations. " It is not from 
 *' thofe defcriptions," adds Robertfon, " but from confidering fuch fpe- 
 ** cimens of this art as are flill preferved, that we mufl decide concern- 
 *' ing their degree of merit . . . Many of their ornaments in gold and 
 '* filver, as well as various utenfils employed in common life, are de~ 
 " pofited in the magnihcent cabinet of natural and artificial produc- 
 *' tions, lately opened, and lam informed, by perfons on whofe judg- 
 " ment and tafte I can rely, thafthefe boafted efforts of their art are 
 ** uncouth reprefentations of common objedls, or very coarfe images 
 " of the human and fome other forms, deftitute of .grace and pro- 
 ** priety." And in a note he lays, " in the armory of the royal palace 
 " of Madrid are fliewn fuits of armour, which are called Montczu- 
 " ma's. They are compafed of thin lackered copper-plates. In 
 " the opinion of very intelligent judges they .are evidently eaflern. 
 " The forms of the filver ornaments upon them may be conlidered as 
 *• a confirmation of this. They arc infinitely fuperior in point of work- 
 •' manlhip to any effort of American art. Tiie only unqueliionable 
 ** fpecimen of Mexican art that I know of in Great Britain, is a cup 
 " of very fine gold, which is faid to have belonged to Montezumai 
 " A man's head is reprefentcd on this cup. On one fide the full face, 
 " on another the profile, and on a third the bacie parts of the head. 
 " The features are rude, but very tolerable, and certainly too rude 
 *' for Spanifli vvorkmanfhip. This cup Wiis purchafed by Edward 
 *' Earl of Oxford, v/hile lie lay in the harbour of Cadiz." Thu3 far 
 Robertfon, to whom we anfwer, firll:, That there is no reafon to be- 
 lieve that thofe rude works are really Mexican ; Iccondly, That neither 
 do we know whether thofe perfons in whofe judgment he could confide, 
 maybe perfons fit to merit our faith: becaufe we have obfervcd that 
 Robertfon trufls frequently to the tefiimony of Gages, Corral, Ibaguez, 
 
 {m) Sec our Seventh, book k£i, 51, 
 
 Ó and
 
 3.92 H I' 3 T O R Y O F\ M E X I C O. 
 
 •SiSBÈRT. and other fucli authors, who are entirely undcfervuig of credit. 
 Pofììbly thole perlbns who gave their judgment of fuch labours liad 
 their imaginations heated allb ; as it is eaiier, according to the ftate of 
 ■of our degenerate nature, to, feel the imagination heated againft a na- 
 tion thari^iii -favour, ©fi iti r.o.vThirdly, It is more probable that thofc 
 arms of coppdr, believed by intelligent judges to be certianly orierir 
 tal, are really Mexican, becaufe. we are' «.certain, from the tcftimpny of 
 all the writers of Mexico, that tho'fe nations ufed fuch pktes of cop- 
 per in war, and that they covered their brealts, their apris, and thighs 
 v/ith them, to defend' themfelves from arrows j whereas we do 
 not know that fuch were ever in ule among th,e; inhabitants of the 
 Philippine illes (n), or among any other people jwhq, h'ad commerce 
 with them. The dragons reprefented in thQf©.^rms,,,inli:ead of con- 
 firming, as Robertfon thinks, the opinion, ©I", thofe who think them 
 oriental, rather flrengthen our- opinion, becaufe there never was any 
 nation in the world which ufed the images of terrible animals on 
 their arms fo much as the Mexicans. Nor is it matter of wonder 
 that they had an idea of dragons while' they had ideas of griffins, 
 as Gomara attefts (o). Fifthly, That although the images formed 
 in thefe works of gold and filver. are rude, they might Itili be ex- 
 cellent, wonderful, and inimitable ; becaufe in thofe works two dif- 
 tind: points ought to be confidered; that of the defign, and that of 
 the calling ; fo that the fifh, of which we have made mention above, 
 might be ill formed as to figure, and yet wonderful and furprifing in that 
 alternation in the fcales of gold and filver, done by caft work. Sixth- 
 ly and lafiily. The judgment of fome perlbns entirely unknown upon 
 thofe few doubtful works which are in the royal cabinet of Madrid, 
 fliould not avail againft the unanimous depofitions of all ancient wri- 
 ters, who certainly faw innumerable labours of this kind which were, 
 really Mexican. 
 
 From what we have faid, it is manifeft that M. de Paw has done 
 the greateft' injuftice to the Mexicans, in believing them inferior in in- 
 duftry and fagacity to the rudeft people of the old continent. Acofta, 
 
 {>0 Dr. Robertfcn fays, that the Spaniards had thofe arms poffibly from the Philippifte 
 tfles. 
 
 («) Chronicle of New Spain, ch'p, xsi. 
 
 where
 
 HISTORY O- F M E X 1 C O. 
 
 393 
 
 when he treats of the induflry of the Peruvians fp&iks thus : " If thofe DESSERT. 
 " men are beafts, let who will judge; fince I am certain, that in that 
 " to which they apply themfelves, they excel us." This ingeni- 
 ous confeffion of a European of fo much criticifm, fo much experi- 
 ence, and fo much impartiality, is certainly of more weight than the 
 airy fpeculations of any Prufllan philofopher, or all the reafoning of a 
 Scottifli hiftorian ; the one and the other ill informed in the affairs of 
 America, or prejudiced againfl it. But although we Ihould grant to 
 M. de Paw, that the induftry of the Americans in the arts is inferior 
 to that of other people in the world, he can infer nothing from 
 them againft the talents of the Americans, or the clime of America; 
 as it is certain and indubitable, that the invention and progrefs of arts 
 are generally more owing to chance, avarice, and neceihty, than genius. 
 The men the mofl induftrious are not always the moft ingenious in 
 arts, but often the molt neceflitous, or eager for gold, are fo. The 
 barrennefs of the earth, fays Montefquieu, makes men induftrious (^). 
 It is neceflary that they procure to themfelves that which the earth does 
 not yield them. The fertility of a country from the facility with 
 which he is fupported, begets indolence in man. " NecefTity," fays 
 Robertfon, " is the fpur and guide of the human race to inventions." 
 The Chinefe certainly would never have been lo induftrious, if the ex- 
 ceihve populoufnefs of their country had not rendered tlieir fupport 
 difficult J nor would Europe have made fuch progrefs in the arts, if 
 artirts had not been encouraged by rewards and the hopes of acquiring 
 fortune. Neverthelefs, the Mexicans could boaft of many inventions 
 worthy of immortalizing their name, fuch as, befides thofe of calling 
 metals and molale works of feathers and (liells, the art of making pa- 
 per (y) ; thole of dying with indelible colours, fpinning and weav- 
 ing the finali hair of the rabbets and hares ; making razors of Itztli (/) ; 
 breeding lb induftrioully the cochineal to make ufe of its colours ; 
 jiuking cement for the pavements of their houfes, and many others 
 
 (fi) Efprit lies Loix, !iv. x\iii. thap. j. 
 
 (,y) The invcntioh of paper is certainty inorc ancient In America thaa in Eg:ypt, from 
 wliencc it was communicated to Europe ; it is true, that the paper ot the Mcxlc.tns was not 
 comparable to the paper of the Europeans ; but it ought to be obfervcJ that tlic lormer did not 
 make theirs for wiiting but painting. 
 
 ((•) See Hook VII. (ed. 56. of this biftory, refpefling that art. 
 
 Vol. II. E e e . not
 
 ;94 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 VI 
 
 PISSERT. not lefs valuabk, as may be known from the works of the hiftorians 
 of Mexico. Bat where is the wonder that fuch inventions were found 
 among thofe civilized nations, while, amongil other people of America, 
 lefs polilhed, arts of the mofl fingular nature have been difcovered ? 
 What art more wonderful, for example, than that of taming fca-filh, 
 and employing them to chace other larger iiili, as the inhabitants of 
 the Antilles ufed to do. This art alone, of which Oviedo (j-), Gomara, 
 and other authors make mention, would be fufficient to refute the 
 charge of want of induflry among the Americans. 
 
 SECT. VI. 
 
 Of the Languages of the Americans. 
 
 " THE languages of America, %s M. de Paw, are fo limited, and 
 " fo fcarce of words, that it is impofllble to exprefs any metaphyfical 
 ** idea in them. In no one of thofe languages can they count above 
 *' the number three (z^). It is impoffible to tranflate a book either in- 
 ** to the languages of the Algonquines, or Paraguefe, or even into 
 " thofe of Mexico or Peru, on account of their not having fufficient 
 ** plenty of proper terms to exprefs general ideas." Whoever reads 
 thofe dogmatical decifions of M. de Paw, will be perfuaded, undoubt- 
 edly, that he determines after having travelled through all America, 
 after having had commerce with all thofe nations, and after having exa- 
 mined all their languages ? But it is not fo, M. de Paw, without 
 moving from his clofet at Berlin, knows the things of America better 
 than the Americans themfelves, and in the knowledge of their different 
 languages even excels thofe who fpeak them. We have learned the 
 Mexican, and have heard it fpoken by the Mexicans for many years ; 
 
 (i) Oviedo Stor. Gener. e Nat, lib. xiii. cap. lo. Sommario della Stor. &c, cap. 8. Go- 
 mara Storia Geiief. cap. 2c. The fpecies of fifii which the Indians trained to chace large 
 fifli, as they train hawks in Europe, to chace other birds was rather fmall, called by them 
 Cualcan, and by the Spaniards Rcvcrfo. Oviedo explains the manner in which they made 
 ufe of the fifh to ch.ice others. 
 
 (/) In the fame fctìion i. of the 5th part of the Recherches Philofophiqiics, in which he 
 affirms, that no language of America had terms to count more than three, he fays the Mexi- 
 caBS could conut as high as ten. 
 
 but
 
 fì I S T O R Y OF xM E X I C O. 
 
 395 
 
 but never knew that it was deficient in numerical terms, and words 
 fignifying univerfal ideas, until M. de Paw gave us that information. 
 We know that the Mexicans gave the name of Cent-zontli (four hun- 
 dred), or rather that oiCent'z.ontlatalc (he who has four hundred words), 
 to that bird which is fo renowned for its fweetnefs and matchlefs va- 
 riety of fong. We know befides that the Mexicans anciently counted 
 by Xìquìpilli\ and the nuts of the cacao, in their commerce, and in 
 numbering their troops of war; that X'jiv i pilli wxs eight thonfand ; fo 
 that when they faid that an army confifted of forty thoufand, they ex- 
 preffed that it had five Xiquipil/i. We know laftly, that the Mexicans 
 had numeral words to exprefs as many tlioufands, or millions, as they 
 pleafed j but M. de Paw knows the diredl contrary, and there is not a 
 doubt but he knows better than us ; becaufe we had the misfortune to 
 be born under a clime lefs favourable to the operations of the intelleft. 
 Neverthelefs, we fliall fubjoin, to fatisfy the curiofity of our readers, 
 the feries of numerical terms which the Mexicans have always em- 
 ployed (u). It will appear thence, that thofe who had not, according 
 
 DISSERT. 
 VI. 
 
 to 
 
 (u) Numeral Terms of the Mexican Language. 
 
 Ce I. Nahui 
 
 4- 
 
 Chicome. 7. 
 
 Matlachtli 10. 
 
 Oiiw 2. Mocuilli 
 
 5. Chicuci 8. 
 
 ChaxtoUi iq. 
 
 Jei 3. Chicuace 
 
 6. Chiucnahui 9. 
 
 
 
 With thcfc terms differently combii 
 
 ed together with thefe three following, 
 
 
 Tohualli or PoaiU 20, Tuonili 400, 
 
 and XiqulpilU 8000, they cxprcf» 
 
 any quantity, thus : 
 
 Cem poalli 
 
 20 
 
 Nauhpo:illi 
 
 
 80 
 
 Ompoalli 
 
 40 
 
 Macuilpoalli 
 
 
 100 
 
 Epoalli 
 
 60 
 
 Chicuactmpoalli 
 
 
 12-, &C- 
 
 ISIathcpoalli ten times 20 
 
 
 
 200 
 
 Caitolpoalli fifttrn times 'o 
 
 
 
 3OJ 
 
 1 hus they proceed until they come 
 
 to 400. 
 
 
 
 Cciitzonili 
 
 400 
 
 Kachtzontli 
 
 
 l603 
 
 Ontzonill 
 
 8co 
 
 Macuilzontli 
 
 
 2000 
 
 Etzontll 
 
 IJOO 
 
 Cbicuacentzontii 
 
 
 8400, &C. 
 
 M;itlaczontli ten times 400 
 
 
 
 4000 
 
 Caltoltzoiitli fifteen times 4C0 
 
 
 
 6000 
 
 Thus they go on to 8000. 
 
 
 
 
 Ce-xiquipilli 
 
 8 .00 
 
 Nauhxiquipilli 
 
 
 32,000 
 
 Onxi'iuipilli 1 
 
 6000 
 
 Mucuilxiqiiipilli 
 
 
 40,000 
 
 Kxicjuipilli 
 
 24000 Cliicuacmxiijuipilli 
 
 
 48,000, &c, 
 
 Matlacxiquipim ten tiroes 8000 
 
 
 
 8o,coo 
 
 Caxtolxiquipilli fifteen times 8000 
 
 
 
 I 20,000 
 
 Cempoalsiquipilii twenty times 8coq 
 
 
 
 160,000 
 
 
 E c 
 
 e 2 
 
 
 Otnpt>i<I-
 
 39Ó H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT, to M. de Paw, numeral words to count above three, had, in fpite 
 ^''' of his ignorance, words to count to at leaft forty-eight millions. In 
 like manner, we could expofe the error of M . Condannne and M. de 
 Paw, in many other languages of America, and even in thofe which 
 are reckoned the moft barbarous ; as there are in Italy at prefent per- 
 fous acquainted with the new world, and capable of giving an ac- 
 count of more than fixty American languages. Among the materials 
 we colletìed for this work, we have the numeral words of the Araucan 
 language, which although it is a niore warlike than civilized nation, 
 has words to exprefs millions. 
 
 M. de Paw is not lefs wrong in affirming, that the languages of Ame- 
 rica are fo poor, that they cannot exprefs a metaphyfical idea ; which 
 opinion M. de Paw has learned of M, Condamine. Time, fays this 
 philofopher, treating of the languages of America, duration, fpace,. 
 being, fubflance, matter, body, all thefe words, and many others, 
 have no equivalents to them in their languages ; and not only the 
 names of metaphyfical beings, but alfo thofe of moral beings cannot 
 be exprefled, unlefs imperfeélly and by long circumlocutions. But 
 M. Condamine knew as much of the language of America as M. de 
 Paw J and he certainly gained his information from fome ignorant 
 perfon, which is a ufual^ cafe with travellers. We are perfedlly fure 
 that many American languages have not that poverty Mr. Condamine 
 afcribes to them ; but without attending to that we fhall examine the 
 ilate of the Mexican. 
 
 It is very true, that the Mexicans had no words to exprefs fuch con- 
 ceptions, as matter, fubflance, accident, and the like; but it is equal- 
 ly lb, that no language of Afia, or Europe, had fuch words before the 
 Greeks began to refine and abftrad: their ideas, and to create new terms 
 to exprefs them. The great Cicero, who knew the Latin language fo 
 well, and flouriflied in thofe times when it was at its greatefl perfec- 
 
 Ompoalxiquipilli forty times 8coo 320,000, &c. 
 
 Centzonxi'juipilli four hundred times Sooo J.zocjOOO 
 
 Ontzonxiciuipilli eight hundred times Sooo 6,400,000 
 
 Matiact7.qnsi()uipiUi four thoufand times 8000 32,000,000 
 
 Caltoltzonxiriuipilli fix thoufand times 8000 48,000,00?, &c. 
 We mentioned that they had words to count as far as forty-eight millions at leaft, but thofe 
 above are fufliclein to confute M. de Paw. 
 
 tion.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 597 
 
 tl«n, alchougli he efteemed it more copious than the Greek, is often DISSERT* 
 at the greateft ditHculty in his philofophical works, to find words cor- ^'' 
 relponding to the metaphylical ideas of the Greeks. How often was 
 he conftrained to create new terms equivalent in fome manner to thofe 
 of the Greek, bccaufe he could not find any fuch in ufe among the 
 Romans ; but even at this day, after that language has been enriched 
 by Cicero, and other learnexi Romans, who, after his example, ap- 
 plied themfelves to the ftudy of philofophy, many terms are wanting to 
 exprefs metaphylical notions, unlefs recourfe is had to the barbarous 
 Latin of the fchools. None of thofe languages which are fpoken by 
 the philofophers of Eiu-ope, had words fignifying matter, fubftance, 
 accident, and other fimilar ideas ; and therefore it was neceffary that 
 philofophers ihould adopt the words of the Latin, or the Greek. The 
 ancient Mexicans, becaufe they had no concern with the ftudy of me-- 
 taphyfics, are very excufable for not having invented words to exprefs 
 thofe ideas j their language, however, is not wanting in terms fignify- 
 ing metaphyfical and moral things, as Condamine affirms thofe of 
 South America to be ; we, on the contrary, affirm, that it is not eaiy 
 to find a language more fit to treat on metaphyfical fubjeóts than the 
 Mexican ; as it would be difficult to find another which abounds fo 
 much as it in abftradl terms ; for there are few verbs in it from which 
 are not formed verbals correfponding with thofe in io of the Romans ; 
 and but few fubftantive or adjective nouns from which are not form- 
 ed abftradls expreffing the being, or as they fay in the fchools, the 
 quiddity of things : eq^uivalents to which we cannot find in the He- 
 brew, in the Greek, in the Latin, in the French, in the Italian, in 
 the Engliffi, in the SpaniHi, or Portugnefe ; of which languages, we 
 prefume, at leaft, to have fufficient knowledge, to make a compa- 
 rifon. In order to give fome fpecimen of this language to the curious 
 among our readers, we fubjoin fome words fignifymg metaphyfical and 
 moral ideas, which are underftood by the rudeft Indians (x). 
 
 The 
 
 (<•) Specimen of words in the Mexican langu.ngc, fignifying moral and metaphyficarcon- 
 
 ccptions. 
 
 Tlamantli 
 Jeliztii 
 Qiialloti 
 Ntltiliitli 
 
 King 
 
 NcjoInonotzalÌ7.tli 
 
 Reflexion 
 
 Efftnce 
 
 Tlachtopaittali/.tli 
 
 Forcfi«;ht 
 
 Goodnds 
 
 Ncjoltzotzonaliztli 
 
 Doubt 
 
 Truth 
 
 Tlalnamiquiliztli 
 
 Remcn,br;mcc 
 Ceti.
 
 59? 
 
 DISSERT. 
 VI. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 The excefllve abundance of words of this nature has been the rM- 
 fon that the deepefl myfteries of rehgion have been explained in the 
 Mexican language without great difficulty, and that fome books of 
 ,Xhe Holy Writings have been tranflated into it ; among which are thofe 
 of the Proverbs of Solomon, and the Apoflles ; which like thofe of 
 Thomas Kempis, and others, tranflated into Mexican, could not have 
 -^een done into thofe languages which are wanting in terms of meta- 
 phyfical and moral ideas. The books publillaed in Mexico on religion 
 are fo numerous, that of them alone might be formed a large library. 
 !I'o this DilTertation we fhall add a Ihort catalogue of the principal 
 Mexican authors, in gratitude to their labours, as well as to illuftratc 
 what we have advanced. 
 
 What we have faid of the Mexicans, we may, in great part, affirm 
 alfo of the other languages fpoken in the dominions of Mexico ; as 
 there are Diftionaries and Grammars of them, as well as of the 
 Mexican, and treatifes in religion laave been publiihed in them all. 
 
 Cetiliztti 
 
 Ometiliztli 
 
 Jcitilktli 
 
 Ttotl 
 
 Teojotl 
 
 TloqUc ) 
 
 Nahuique J 
 
 Jpalnemoani 
 
 Auiacicacaconi 
 
 Cemicacjcni 
 
 Cenniancanjelitz,li 
 
 Cahuitl 
 
 Ccnjoco-ani 
 
 Cenhuclitini 
 
 Cenhueliciliztli 
 
 T lacatl 
 
 TlacajoU 
 
 Taiotl 
 
 Nanjotl 
 
 Tlalticpafthcajod 
 
 Tejolia 
 
 Teixtlamatia 
 
 TlaiTKuili/.tlt 
 
 Ixtlamachillztli 
 
 Ixuxiliztli 
 
 TIaiximarilizti 
 
 Tlancmilizcii 
 
 Unity 
 Eiiiity 
 Trjuity,, &c, 
 
 God 
 Divinity 
 He who has every thing 
 within himfflt. 
 
 Him by whom we live 
 
 Inconiprehenfible 
 
 Eternal 
 
 Eternity 
 
 Tiijie 
 
 Creator of all 
 
 Omnipotent 
 
 .Omnipotence 
 
 Perfnn 
 
 Perfonality 
 
 Fatherhood 
 
 Motherhood 
 
 Humanity 
 
 Soul 
 
 Mind 
 
 Wiidnm 
 
 Rcafon 
 
 Comprehcnfion 
 
 Knowledge 
 
 Thought 
 
 TIalcahualitz.li 
 Tlazotlaliztli 
 Tlacocoiiztli 
 Tlamauhtiliztli 
 Netemnchiliztli 
 Necocoliztli 
 NejoltequipachoUztU 
 Eilehutliztli 
 Qualtihuani J 
 Jeftihuani J 
 Aqnallotl 
 Tolchicahualiztli 
 Tlaixjtjecoliztli 
 jollomachiliztii 
 Tlamelahiracachicahualiztli 
 JoUuiciliztli 
 Tlapaccaihijohuiliztli 
 Tlanemafliliztli 
 Paccancmiliztli 
 T l.itlacajotl 
 Nccno.matiliztli 
 Tlazocamatiliztli 
 Nepohualiziii 
 Teojthuacatiliztli 
 N'cxicolitli 
 Tlatsihuiliztli 
 
 Forgetfulnefs 
 
 Lovo- 
 
 Hatred 
 
 Fear 
 
 Hops 
 
 Pain 
 
 Repentance 
 
 Defire 
 
 Virtue 
 
 Malice 
 
 Strength 
 
 Temperance 
 
 Prudence 
 
 Juftice 
 
 Magnanimity 
 
 Patience 
 
 Libcral.'ty 
 
 Gentlenefs 
 
 Benign'ty 
 
 Humility 
 
 Gratitude 
 
 Pjide 
 
 Avarice 
 
 Envy 
 
 Sioth 
 
 Thofe
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 m, 
 
 Thofe Europeans who have learned the Mexican tongue give it the DISSERT. 
 
 higheft praifes, and equal it to the Latin ; foinc to the Greek, as we 
 have already oblerved. Boturini affirms, that in urbanity, politenefs,. 
 nnd fublimiry of expreflions, no language can be compaj-ed with the 
 Mexican. This author was not a Spaniard, but Milanefe,. learned and 
 critical. He knew at leail tiie Latin, Italian, French, and Spanilh,, 
 and of the Mexican fo much as to be able to make the comparative 
 judgment. Let M. de Paw, therefore, obferve his error, and learn 
 not to decide on matters of which he is ignorant. 
 
 Among the proofs on which count de Buffon would reft his fy-ftem 
 of the i-eccnt organization of the matter of the new world, he fays, that 
 the organs of the Americans were rude, and their language barbarous. - 
 *• Obferve," he adds " the liA of their animals, their names arefo didicult 
 ** to be pronounced, it is wonderful that any European ever took the 
 " trouble of writing them>" but we do not fo much wonder at their 
 taking the trouble of writing them as at their negligence in copying 
 them. Among all the European authors who have written the natural 
 and civil hiilory of Mexico, in Europe, we meet with no one who has- 
 not fomuch altered the names of perfons, animals, and cities, that it is 
 impofBble to guefs at what they mean. The hidory of the animals of 
 Mexico parted from the ha,nds of Hernandez to N. A. Recchi, who 
 knew nothing, of the Mexican ; from Recchi, to the Lincean academi- 
 cians at Rome, who have publillied it with notes and diilcrtations ; 
 and count de Buffon made ufe of this edition. Among the hands of 
 fb many Europeans ignorant of the Mexican language, the names of 
 the animals could not at leaft efcape alteration. To (hew the altera- 
 tions which they have fuffered in the hands of count de Buffon, it v.ill 
 be fufficient to compare the Mexican names in the hiftory of that 
 philofopher, with thofe of the Roman edition of Hernandez. It is 
 certain, that the difficulty which we find to pronounce a language to 
 which we are not accuftomed, and particularly if the articulation of it 
 is different from that of our own, is no proof that it is barbarous. 
 The fame difficulty which count de Buffon finds to pronounce tlie 
 M(-Xtcan names, would be felt by a Mexican who would pronounce 
 the French names. Thofe who are accuflomed to the Spanilh lan- 
 guage, find great difficulty to pronounce the German and Poiii)!, 
 
 and 
 
 VI.
 
 400 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, .jnd ellcem them the moft tough and harAi of all languages. The 
 Mexican language has not been our mother tongue, nor did we 
 learn it in infancy '; yet the Mexican names produced by count de Buf- 
 fon as an argument of the barbarity of that .tongue, appear to us be- 
 yond comparifon more eafy to be pronounced than many others taken 
 from other European languages, which he adopts in his Natural 
 Hiilory (_)') J and, perhaps, will appear fo to many Europeans who 
 are not ufed to either of the languages ; and there will not be wanting 
 perfons who will wonder that count de Buffon has taken the trouble 
 to write thofe names which are capable of terrifying the moll 
 courageous readers. In fhort, with rcfpeótto the American languages, 
 he out^ht to repofe in the judgment of thofe Europeans who have 
 known them, rather than in the opinion of thofe who have not. . 
 
 SECT. VII. 
 
 Of the haws of the Mexicans. 
 
 MR. de Paw, defirous of oppofmg that antiquity which Gemelli, 
 by miftake, has attributed to the court of Mexico, alledges the anarchy 
 of their government y and the fear city of their laws ; and treating of the 
 government of the Peruvians, fays, that there cannot be laws in a 
 itate of defpotlfm ; and although they may have once been, it is impollible 
 to make an analyfis of them, becaufe we do not know them ; nor can 
 we know them, becaufe they were never written, and the memory of 
 tliem neceffarily terminated with the death of thofe who knew them. 
 
 No body has made mention of the anarchy of the kingdom of Mexi- 
 co till M. de Paw came to the world, whofe brain feems to have a 
 particular organization to underftand things in a manner contraiy to all 
 other men. No perfon is fo ignorant of the hiilory of Mexico, as 
 not to know that thofe people were fubjeded to particular heads and 
 
 (y) The le-.iiler will pleafe to lead and compare the following names uliich the count de 
 Burtou has adiiptcJ with thofe which he has taken and altered from the iNIexican lan^ua-c : 
 
 ■Baurct nianet-jc3 
 JSrand hirts 
 .dicmik-lkarzccfek 
 • ildgiers diur 
 
 Mifzcwchovva 
 Staclu 1-fch vveia 
 Scebeufchlafer 
 Sterzeczleck 
 
 Nicdr.vvicdz 
 Przavvlafka 
 Meer-fchvvein 
 Sczurcz, ice. 
 
 the
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e D. 401 
 
 the whole ftate to a chief who was kins: of Mexico. All hiftorians dissert. 
 record the great authority of that fovcreign, and the high refpeit his u— \'-~-j 
 vaflals bore him : if this is anarchv, then all the ftates of the world 
 are furely anarchifed. 
 
 Defpotifm was not introduced into Mexico until the laft years of 
 the monarchy : in prior times the kings had always refpeded the laws 
 eftablilhcd by their anceiiors, and attended zealoufly to the obfervance 
 of them. Even in the reign of Montezuma II. who was the only 
 truly defpotic king, the magiftrates governed according to the laws, 
 and Montezuma himfelf puniflied tranfgreflbrs feverely ; and abufed 
 his power only in things which ferved to increafe his wealth and his 
 authority. 
 
 Thofe laws were never written, but they were perpetuated in the 
 memories of men, not only by tradition but alfo by paintings. No fub- 
 jedl was ignorant of them, becaufe fathers of families did not fail to in- 
 ftru(ft their children in them, that they might avoid tranfgreflion, and 
 cfcape punifhment. The copies of the paintings of the laws were un- 
 queftionably infinite in number, becaufe, although they underwent a 
 furious perfecution from the Spaniards, we have feen many of them. 
 The underflanding of thofe paintings is not difficult to any perfon, who 
 has a knowledge of the manner in which the Mexicans ufually reprelbnted 
 things, tlie charadlers which they made ufe of, and their language ; but 
 to M. de Paw they would be as unintelligible as thofe of the Chinefe ex- 
 preffed in the proper characters of that nation. Befides, after the con- 
 quell many intelligent Mexicans wrote in European charadlers the laws 
 of Mexico, Acolhuacan, Tczcuco, Michuacan, &cc. ; amongrt: others, 
 D. F. de Alba Ixtlilxochitl, wrote in Spnnifh the eighty laws former- 
 ly publilhed by his anceftor king Nezahualcojotl, as we have already 
 mentioned. The Spaniards afterwards inveftigated the laws of thole 
 nations with more diligence than any other part of their hiftory, be- 
 caufe the knowledge of them v.'as eflentially requilite to tlic chriftian 
 government civil and ecclefiaftical ; particularly in refpciit to mar- 
 riages, the privileges of the nobility, the conditions of vaflalage, and of 
 Haves. They gained information from the mouths of the Indians who 
 were the bell: inilrudted, and they ftudied tlieir ancient paintings. 
 Belidcs the firlV miifionaries, who laboured fuccefsfully in this under- 
 Vot.. II. Fff ' taking,
 
 402 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 DiS'^i'.RT- takinrr, D. A. Zurita one of the principal judges of Mexico, learned 
 ^ ■ on the fubjed: of the law, and acquainted with thofe countries, made 
 diligent enquiry, by order of the catholic king, into their government 
 and compofed that very ufeful work, which we have mentioned in our 
 catalogue of writers of the ancient hiftory of Mexico. Thus the laws- 
 of the Mexicans came to be known although they were never written. 
 
 But what fort of laws ? " Many of them worthy," fays Acofla, 
 " of our admiration, and according to which thofe nations Ihould ftiU 
 " be governed in their Chriftianity." The conftitution of their fiate, 
 with refpeft, to the fucceffion to the crown, could not have been 
 better framed, as by means of it they not only avoided the inconveni- 
 encies of hereditary fucceffion, but thofe of elecftion alfo. An indi- 
 vidual of the royal family was always chofen king, both to preferve 
 the dignity and fplendour of the crown, and to hinder the throne 
 from ever being occupied by a man of low birth. As a fon did not 
 fucceed but a brother, there was no danger of fo high and important 
 a charge being expofed to the indiicretion of a youth, or the llratagems 
 of an ambitious regent. 
 
 If the brothers had fucceeded according to the order of their birth^ 
 the crown would neceffarily have fometimes fallen to a perfon unfit to- 
 govern; and it could have happened befides, that the prefumptive heir- 
 might plot againft the life of the fovereign. Both thofe inconveni- 
 cncies were obviated by the elecflion. The eledlors chofe firil among 
 the brothers of the deceafed kings ; and on failure of brothers, among 
 the fons of former kingSj the fitteli perfoa for the command of 
 the nation. If it hxad been in the power of the king to have named 
 the eledors, he could have chofen thofe who would, have been moil 
 'hivourable to his defigns, and procured their votes in favour of that: 
 brother who was moft dear to him, or perhaps in favour of a fon,, 
 without adhering to the fundamental laws of the ftate j but it was 
 otherwife, for the eledtors themfelves were eledted by the body of the 
 nobility, which included the fuffrages of the whole nation. If the 
 office of the eleftors bad been perpetual, they uiigiit,, by an abufe of 
 their authority, have become the patrons of the monarchy ; but as their 
 declorai power finiffied with the firlf eledlion, and other new elctìors 
 were thofen for the next eledion, it was not eafy for ambition to ulur^ 
 
 2 authority.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 4^3 
 
 authority. Laftly, To avoid other inconveniences, the real eledors were- DT^^SF.RT. 
 not more than four in number, men of the firfl nobihty, of known pro- ^"" 
 
 bity and prudence. It is true, that after all thofe precautions, difor- 
 ders could not always be avoided : but what government amongll men 
 has apt been exjiofed to greater evils ? , 
 
 The Mexican nation was warlike, and required a ciiief who was in^\ 
 trepid, and experienced in the art of war ; what culloni, therefore,, 
 could be more conducive to fuch end, than that of not eledinj any one 
 king who had not, by his merits, obtained the charge of general of tlie 
 army ; and of not crowning him who had not, after his eledion, taken 
 himelf the vi(5tims which, accordine!: to their fyllem of religion , were 
 to he facrificed at the feflival of his coronation. 
 
 The fpeed with which the Mexicans threw off the Tepanecan yoke, 
 and the glory they acquired by their arms in the conquell of Azcapo- 
 zalco, naturally excited the rivahhip and jealoufy of their neighbours, 
 and particularly the king of Acolhuacan, who had been, and. was at 
 that time, the greateft king of all that land ; but the throne of Mexico, 
 being ftill in a tottering condition, required a firm prop to fupport 
 it. The king of Acolhuacan, who had recently recovered, by the aid 
 of the Mexicans, that crown which had been ufurped by the tyrant 
 Tezozomoc, had reafon to apprehend fome powerful fubjedt, following; 
 the fteps of that t\'rant, might excite a rebellion in his kingdom, and 
 deprive him, like his father, of his crown and hisdife. 1'hc king of 
 Tlacopan, who was on a newly elhiblilhed throne not very power-i 
 fui, had ftill more to fear. Kach of thofe kings by himlèlf. Wi)S.,Ì5! 
 no fiate of fecurity, and had reafon to be diffident of the other two ; bup 
 by uniting together, they could form an invincible power. Thev 
 theretbre made a triple alliance, which rendered each ot them Iccurc 
 with refpe<ft to the other two, and all three fo with regard to their 
 fubje(fh. This was the alhance which fortified the thrones of Acol- 
 huacan andTacuba, and paved the way for the conquells of the Mexi- 
 cans ; an alliance fo firm and well concerted, that it larted, until th« 
 arrival of the Spaniards. This fingle political arrangen^nt is fuf- 
 ficient to evince the difcernnicnt and figacity of thofe nations. 
 
 The judicial forms of the Mexicans aiid Tezcucans afrbrd in.uiy 
 ufcful political lefTons;' The diV<rt}ty ot rank in..the magiikaies .con-, 
 
 1-' fi" ?. . tribù ted
 
 404 H I S T O R y O F jM E X I C O. , 
 
 DIbSF.RT. tributed to good order -, their attendance in the tribunals, from the break 
 of day until the evening fliortened the procefs of caufes, and prevented 
 many clandeftine pratì:ices which might have interefled their de- 
 cifions. The capital punifhments prefcribed againft prevaricators of 
 juftice, the pundluality of their execution, and the vigilance of the 
 fovereigns, kept the magiftrates in check ; [and that care vv^hich was 
 taken to fupply them with every neceffary at the expence of the king, 
 rendered any mifcondud: in them inexcufable. Thole alfemblies which 
 were held before the fovereign every twenty days, and particularly that 
 general affembly of the whole of the magiftrates every eighty days, to ter- 
 minate all caufes then depending, behdes avoiding all the evils occa- 
 fioned by the delay of juftice, were produtShive of a con:imunication 
 between the magiftrates of their different lights, made the king 
 know thofe whom he had conftituted the delegates of his authority, 
 innocence had more refources, and the form of judicature rendered 
 juftice ftill more refpeftable. That law which permitted an appeal 
 from the tribunal of the Tlacatecatl to that of the Cihuacoatl in cri- 
 minal but not in civil caufes, evinces that the Mexicans, refpeding 
 the laws of humanity, difcerned, that there was more required to 
 prove a man guilty of fuch crimes than to declare him a debtor. In 
 the trials of the Mexicans they admitted no other proof againft 
 the accufed than that of witneffes. They never made ufe of the 
 torture to make the innocent declare themfelves guilty, nor thofe 
 barbarous proofs by duel, fire, boiling-water, and fucli like, that were 
 formerly fo frequent in Europe, and which we now read of in hi- 
 ftory with amazement and abhorrence. " There will be no perfon 
 *' who will not wonder," fays Montefquieu, fpeaking on this fub- 
 jeft, " that cur anceftors made the fame, fortune, and property 
 ** of citizens depend on certain things which belonged lefs to law and 
 " reafon than to chance, and that they lliould have ufed conftantly 
 •^ *' thofe proofs which were neither connected with innocence nor 
 " guilt : what we now fay of thofe proofs pofterity will fay of tlie 
 " torture, and will never ceafe to wonder that fuch a kind of proof 
 " was generally in ufe, for fo many centuries, in the moft enlighten- 
 ■" ed part of the world." An oath v/as of great weight in the trials 
 ef the Mexicans, as we have already faid ; becaufe, as tlaey were con- 
 vinced
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 405 
 
 vlnced of the terrible punlfliments inflidted by the gods on thofe who DISSERT, 
 perjured thcmlelves, they conceived no one would dare to oftend 
 againft them ; but we do not know that this kind of proof was permit- 
 ted to the profccutors againft the accuied, but only to the accufed to 
 clear hinifelf from the crime imputed to him. 
 
 The Mexicans puniOied with fcverity all the crimes which are par- 
 ticularly repugnant to nature, or prejudicial to a ftate, fuch as high 
 treafon, murder, theft, adultery, inceft, and other excelTes of this 
 kind ; facrilege, drunkennefs, and lying. So tar they conducted them- 
 felves wifely in punifliing mifdeeds j but they erred in the meafure of 
 the punifliment, which in fome cafes was excefllve and cruel. We 
 do not attempt to palliate the failings of that nation, but neither can 
 we avoid obferving, that the molt famous people of the old continent 
 have afforded fuch examples of error and vice in their legiflature, as 
 make the laws of the Mexicans appear comparatively more mild 
 and conformable to reafon. " The celebrated laws of the Twelve 
 *' Tables are full," fays Montefquieu, " of the moft cruel ordina- 
 " tions ; attend to the punilhment of fire, and other fentences, 
 "which are always capital." Yet this is that mofh famous com- 
 pilition which the Romans made from the befl they found among 
 the Greeks, If then tiie beA; laws of greatly poliilicd Greece were 
 fuch, what muft thofe have been which were not fo good .-* What 
 fort of legillature muft thofe people have had whom they called, 
 bcirbarous ? What can be more inhuman and cruel than that law of 
 the Twelve Tables which permitted creditors to divide the body of a 
 debtor who did laot pay, and each creditor to take a portion of in fatis- 
 fa<lHon of his debt ? This law was not publifhed in the rude be- 
 ginning of that renowned city, but three hundred years after its 
 foundation. What could be more iniquitous than that law of 
 the famous legiflator I.ycurgus, which permitted theft to the Lacede- 
 monians ? The Mexicans puniihed this pernicious crime, but not 
 capitally, except where the thief was unable to pay for the offence 
 with his liberty or with his goods. But this law was not the fame in 
 cafes of robbery iVom the fields ; becaule, thefe lying more expofed to 
 be plundered, required to be n:\ore guarded by the laws : but this very 
 bw which prefcribed capital punilhment againft the perfun who rob- 
 
 b-d. 
 7
 
 4o6 n I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DlSSETxT, tied a certain quantity of fruit or maize, permitted neceflltous travel- 
 lers to eat as much as was neceilary to fupply prefent want. How 
 much more reafonable and juft was this law than that of the Twelve 
 Tables, which condemned without diftindtion every perfon to be hang- 
 ed who ftole any thing from the field of another. 
 
 Lying, that pernicious crime to fociety, was left unpunirtied in moft 
 countries of the old continent, but in Japan was frequently punilhed 
 with death. The Mexicans kept at an equal diflance from both ex- 
 tremes. Their legiflators, who difcerned the genius and turn of the 
 nation, perceived, that if they did not prefcribe a heavy pain againll 
 lying and drunkennefs, truth would be wanting at trials of julticc, 
 and fliith difregarded in contraóls. Experience has fhewn how pre- 
 iudicinl impunity in thofe two crimes has been to thofe nations. 
 
 But in the midft of their feverity the Mexicans were cautious not to 
 involve the innocent in punirtiment with the guilty. Many laws of Eu- 
 rope and Afia prefcribed the lame punifhmentagainll: thofe guilty of high 
 treafon, and their families. The Mexicans made the crime capital ; they 
 did not, however, deprive the relations of the traitor of life, but only 
 of liberty ; and not all of them neither, but only thofe who, con-' 
 fcious of the treafon, had not made a difcovery, and thereby made 
 themfelves criminal. How much more hnmane is this than the law 
 of japan. " Thofe laws," fays Montcfqueu, " by which they punifli 
 " a whole family for a fingle crime, or a whole diftrióì: j thofe laws 
 *' which do not difcriminate the innocent where there are any guilty." 
 We do not know that the Mexicans prefcribed any punifliment againll 
 thofe who fpoke ill of the government ; it appears that they did not 
 pay niuch regard to that liberty of fpeech in the fubjedts, which is fo 
 much feared in other countries. 
 
 Their laws concerning marriage were unqueflionably more decent 
 and becoming than thofe ol tlie Romans, the Greeks, the Perfians, 
 the Egyptians, and ether people of the old continent. The Tartars 
 marry their daughters • the ancient Perlians and Allyrians took their 
 mothers to wifej the Athenians and Egyptians their lifters. In 
 ?VIexico every marriage was forbid between perfons connefted in the 
 firft degree of confanguinity or attinity, except thofe between brothers 
 2j]d fifters in law, where the brotlier in dying left a fon. That pro- 
 hibition
 
 H I 3 T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 407 
 
 hibition fhews, that the Mexicans judged more juftly of matrimony DISSKRT. 
 than all the above mentioned nations. That exception demon llirates \_.-,- * 
 their humanity of fentiments. If a widow married a fecond time, lli^ 
 had frequently the difpleafure of feeing her children little beloved by a 
 lather who did not give them biith : the new hivlbund little refpec^ed 
 by his children, who confidcred him as a flranger ; and the children of 
 each marriage as difcordant among themfelves, as if they were born of 
 different mothers. What better meafure could thole nations have 
 adopted, than that of marrying widows with their brothers-in-law. 
 Many ancient nations of Europe, imitated by not a itw of the 
 modern people of Afia and Africa, bought their wives ; and, on that 
 account, exercifedover them an authority greater thaa the Author of na- 
 ture has intended, and treated them more like Haves than companions. 
 The Mexicans did not obtairv their wives but by lawful and honour- 
 able pretenfions ; and though they prefented gifts to' the parents, thofe 
 were not given as a price for the daughter whom tliey courted, but 
 merely a piece of civility to gain their good will, and difpofe the pa- 
 rents to the contradl. The Romans, although they did not fcruple 
 to lend their wives (i), had, notwithftanding, a right by law to take 
 away their lives whenever they found them out in adultery. This ini- 
 quitous law, which made the hufband judge and executioner in his- 
 own caule, inflead of hindering adulteries, increafed parricides. A- 
 mong the Mexicans, that infamous commerce with wives- was not per- 
 mitted ; nor had they any authority over their lives. He who took 
 away his wife's life, was, although he caught her iu adultery, pu- 
 nillied with death. Tliis, they faid, wa^ to ufurp the authority of 
 the magiftrates, to whom it belonged to take cogniJancc of crimes, and 
 to chaftife criminals according to lav/. Before tliat law Julia dc Adul- 
 teriis was made by Auguffus, we do not know, fays Fives {a),, that a 
 caufe of adultery was ever tried in Rome j as much as to fay, that 
 that celebrated nation failed in juHice in a point oi this importance for 
 feven centuries. 
 
 (z.) In Rome, fays IMontcfquteUj the hufband was- permitted to lenJ his wife to another 
 pcffon. It is kiiou-n thut Cato I-nt his wife to Hortenlius, an.il Cito was incapable of vi<i- 
 latinj^ the laws of his coiiptry. Liv. xxv, 
 
 {al L'Efprit de Loi.x, liv. xx. chap. 14. 
 
 If
 
 4o8 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT. If, after making a companion of the laws, we fliould alfo compare 
 
 the nuptial rites of the tv/o nations, we fliould find in them both 
 a great deal of fuperflition ; but in other refpeóls a ftrong difference 
 between them ; thofe of the Mexicans were decent and becoming, 
 thofe of the Romans indecent and reproachable. 
 
 In regard to the laws of war, it is feldom we meet with them jufl, 
 among a warlike people ; the great efleem of valour and military glory» 
 creates enemies of thofe who are not otherwife hoftile ; and ambition 
 to conquer inftigates them to trefpafs on the limits prefcribed byjul- 
 tice. Neverthelefs, in the laws of the Mexicans, traits appear which 
 would do honour to more cultivated nations. They never declared 
 war until they had examined the motives for it in full council, and 
 received the approbation of the high-prieft. Bcfides, they generally 
 endeavoured by embafiies and mellliges, to thofe on whom war was de- 
 ligned, to bring about what they wiflied by peaceable meafures, before 
 they proceeded to a rupture. Thofe kinds of delay gave their enemies 
 time to prepare themfelves for defence ; and befides, the juflification 
 of their condudl, contributed to make it attended with honour ; as it 
 was efteemed very bafe to make war on an unguarded enemy without 
 having firll challenged them, that vidoiy might never be afcribed to 
 any thing elfe than their bravery. 
 
 It is true, that thefe laws were not always obferved, but they were 
 not therefore lefs juft ; and if there was any injuflice in the conquefts 
 of the Mexicans, it was certainly not lefs in thofe of the Grecians, 
 Romans, Perfians, Goths, and other celebrated nations. One of the 
 great evils attending on war is that of famine, from the wade com- 
 mitted by enemies on the fields. It is not poiTible totally to prevent 
 this evil J but if there ever has been any thing capable of moderating 
 it, it was certainly that ufage of the Mexicans, and other nations of 
 Anahuac, of having in every province a place appointed for the field 
 of battle. The other cullom which they had of making every fifth 
 day, in time of war, a day of truce and repofe, was not lefs dicftated 
 by humanity than reafon. 
 
 Thofe nations had formed a fpecics of Jus gc7ìtìum, by virtue of 
 which, if the chief, the nobility, and people, rejected the propofitions 
 made them by another people, or nation, and left the decifion of a point 
 
 to
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 409 
 
 to arms; if they were conquered, the chief loft his fovereign power j DISSERT, 
 the nobility, the fupreme right which they had over their poflelTions ; ^^' 
 the common people were fubjeded to perfonal fervicej and all thofe who 
 had been made prifoners in the heat of battle were, quafi ex delitlo, de- 
 prived of liberty, and the right of life. This is certainly contrary to 
 our ideas of humanity; but the general agreement of thofe people in 
 fuch cufloms rendered their inhumanity lefs culpable, and examples 
 much more barbarous among the moft cultivated nations of the old con- 
 tinent, diflipate the horror which on firft confideration is occafioned by 
 the cruelty of thofe people of America. Among the Greeks, fays Mon- 
 tefquieu («), the inhabitants of a city taken by force of arms loft their 
 liberty, and were fold as flaves. Certainly, the inhumanity which the 
 Mexicans fliewed to the prifoners of their enemy, is not to be com- 
 pared with that which the Athenians ufed towards their own citizens. 
 A law of Athens, fays the f\me author, ordained, that whenever tlie 
 city was befieged, all ufelefs people fliould be put to death. We fhall 
 not find among the Mexicans, er any other polidied nation of the new 
 world, a law fo barbarous as this of the moft cultivated people of an- 
 cient Europe. The greateft anxiety, on the contrary, of the Mexicans, 
 and other people of Anahuac, whenever any of their cities was be- 
 fieged, was to lodge their women, children, and invalids, in a place of 
 fecurity, by fending them to other cities, or into the mountains. By 
 thefe means, they protected the defencelefs members of the com- 
 munity from the fury of the enemy, and prevented all unneceflary 
 confumption of provilions. 
 
 The tribute which they paid to the king of Anahuac was exorbi- 
 tant, and the laws which enforced them were tyrannical ; but thofe 
 laws were the effeifls of delpotifm, introduced in the laft years of the 
 Mexican monarchy; which, at its greateft height, never reached that 
 excefs of monopolizing the lands of an empire, and the property ot 
 the fubjedls, which we juftly condemn in Afiatic monarchs ; nor were 
 there ever laws publillied refpedling tributes fo extravagant and fe- 
 vere as thofe which have been publilhcd in the old world ; as for exam- 
 ple, by the emperor Anaftafius, who laid a tax even on breathing ; 
 ** Vt unufquifque pro haujlu aris pendat." 
 
 (a) L'Efpiit dc loix, Liv. XX. ch. 14. 
 
 Vol. II. G g s - But
 
 410 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT. But if we cenfure the tyrannical ambition of thofe monarchs in the 
 *— >-^/— ^ laws on tributes, we cannot at leali but admire and praife the refine- 
 ment of thofe nations, and the prudence of their legiflators in the laws 
 of commerce. They had, in every city or village, a public place or 
 fquare, appropriated for the traffic of every thing which could fupply 
 the Heceffities and pleafures of life ; where all merchants aflembled for 
 the more fpeedy difpatch of bufmefs, which they tranfadted under the 
 eyes of infpeiflors, or commiflaries, in order that frauds niight be pre- 
 vented, and all diforder in contracts avoided. Every merchandize had 
 its particular place, which preferved order and convenience to thofe 
 who wiflied to make purchafes. The tribunal of commerce, efta- 
 blilhed in the fame fquare, to determine difputes between dealers, 
 and to punifh inftantaneoufly every offence committed there, pre- 
 ferved tile rights of juftice inviolate, and fecured the public tran- 
 quillity. To thefe wife difpofitions was owing that wonderful order, 
 which, in the midft of fuch an immenfe crowd of merchants and 
 merchandize, raifed the admiration of the firft Spaniards. 
 
 Laflly, in the laws refpeóting flaves, the Mexicans were fuperior to 
 all the moft cultivated nations of ancient, and perhaps, modern Eu- 
 rope. If we compare the laws of the Mexicans with thofe of the Ro- 
 mans, Lacedaemonians, and other celebrated people, we fhall perceive 
 in the latter a barbarity that is fliocking and cruel ; in the former, the 
 greatefl humanity and refpeft to the laws of nature. We do not fpeak 
 here of prifoners of war. What could be more humane tlian that law 
 Ashich made men born of flaves free ; which allowed a flave a property 
 in his goods, and in whatever he acquired with his own indufl:ry and toil ; 
 which exafted of the owner to treat his flaves like men, and not like 
 beafl:s ; which gave him no authority over his life, and even deprived 
 him of the power of felling him at market, unlefs it was after he had, 
 in a lawful manner, declared him intradlable and incorrigible : how 
 different were the Roman laws ? They, from the high authority grant- 
 ed to them by the laws, were not only owners of all tlie property of 
 their flaves, but .likevvife of their lives, of wliich {ò) tliey deprived 
 
 (Ò) It IS not wonderful that the Romans granted that b.iibaroiis authority to owners over 
 their flaves, fince they granted it to fathers over their lawful chiklrcn r Etdo Hbiris jiijiijat 
 v./ff , meis, vatuinda?idiqi(t fotefias FatTÌ% 
 
 them
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 411 
 
 them at pleafure ; treated them with the greatefl inliumanity, and PISSKRT. 
 made them fulTcr the mofl cruel torments ; and what rtill fliews 
 niore ftrongly the inhuman difpolltion of this nation, while they en- 
 larged the authority of owners of flaves, they reftrained whatever was 
 in their fiivour. The law Pv/m Caninia, forbid owners to free by will 
 more than a certain number of flaves. By the SHanian law it \vas or- 
 dered, that whenever an owner was killed, all the flaves who inhabit- 
 ed the fame houfe fliould be put to death, or in any place near where 
 they could hear his voice. If he was killed on a journey, all the flaves 
 Tvho were with him, and alfo all thofe who fled, however manifeil their 
 innocence, were put to death. The Aquilian law made no diftinftiou 
 between the wound given to a flave, and that given to a beali:. So far 
 was the barbarity of the very poliflied Romans carried.- The laws of 
 the Lacedaemonians were not more humane, which permitted no flave 
 to have redrefs at law againfl; thofe \x\\o infulted or injured him. 
 
 If, in addition to what we have faid hitherto, we fliould compare 
 the fyflem of education of the Mexicans with that of the Greeks, it 
 would appear that the latter did not inftrud: their youth fo feduloufly 
 in the arts and fciences as the Mexicans taught their children the 
 cufl:oms of their nation. The Greeks endeavoured to inform the 
 mind, the Mexicans to form the heart. The Atiienians proftituted 
 their youth to the moft execrable obfcenities in thofe very fchools \vhich 
 were deftined for their infl:ru(ftion in the arts. The Lacedicmonians 
 tutored their children according to the prefcriptioiis of Lycurgus, in 
 ftealing, in order to make them crafty and adtive, and whipped them 
 feverely when they caught them in any theft ; not for the theft, but 
 for their want of dexterity, and being detected. But the Mexicans 
 taught their children, together with the arts, religion, modelly, ho- 
 nefty, fobriety, labour, love of truth, and refpedt tofuperiors. 
 
 Thus we have given a fliort but true pidlure of the progrefs in refine- 
 ment of the Mexicans taken froni their ancient hiftory; from their paint- 
 ings, and the accounts of the moli corredi Spanilh hillorians. Thus were 
 thofe people governed whom M. de Paw thinks the moll favage in the 
 world. Thus were thofe people governed who are inferior in induftry 
 and fagacity to the rudeft: people of the old continent. Thus were 
 thofe people governed of whoic rationality fome Europeans have 
 doubted. 
 
 (; g g 2 C A T A-
 
 [ 412 1 
 
 DISSERT. 
 VI; 
 
 CATALOGUE 
 
 OF SOME 
 
 European and Creole Authors, who have written on the Doctrines; 
 of Christianity and Morality, in the Languages of 
 New Spain. 
 
 A. &aads {or ^ugu^inia/t. T>. ior Dominican. Y . ii>r Francifcan. ]. ior J^r/uit. T, ioi Se 
 ciilar Piicfi ; and (*) denotes, that the Author printed fame of his Works. 
 
 In the Mexican Language. 
 
 * A G. de Betancurt, F. Creole. 
 
 Al. de Efcalona, F. Span. 
 AL de Herrera, F. Spaniard. 
 
 * Al. Molina, F. Spaniard. 
 Al. Range], F. Spaniard. 
 Al. de Truxillo, F. Creole. 
 And. de Olmus, F. Spaniard. 
 Ant. Davila Padilla, D. Creole. 
 Ant. de Tovar Montez. P. Cr. 
 Ara. Baflace F. Frenchman. 
 Baldadlire del Caftillo,-F. Sp. 
 Bald. Gon-zalez, J. Creole. 
 Barn. Pacz, A. Creole. 
 
 Barn. Vargas, P. Creole. 
 
 Bart, de Alba, P. Creole. 
 
 Ben. Fernandez, D. Spaniard. 
 
 Ber. Pinelo, P. Creole. 
 * Ber. de Sahagun, F. Spaniard. 
 ^ Car. de Tapia Ccnteno, P. Cr. 
 
 Fil. E'iez. F. Spaniard. 
 
 Fran. Gomez, F. Spaniard. 
 
 Fran. Ximenez, F. Spaniard. 
 
 Garcia de Cifneros, F. Spaniard- 
 
 Juan de la Anunciacion, A. Sp. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Juan de Ayora, F. Spaniard. 
 Juan Battifla, F. Creole. 
 Juan de S. Francifco, F. Span, 
 Jean Focher, F. Frenchman. 
 
 * Juan de Gaona, F. Spaniard. 
 
 * Juan Mijangos. 
 
 Juan de Ribas, F. Spaniards 
 Juan de Romanones, F. Sp. 
 Juan de Torquemada, F. Sp-, 
 Juan de Tovar, J. Creole. 
 Jerom Mendieta, F. Spaniards 
 
 * Jof. Perez, F. Creole. 
 
 * Ign. de Paredes, J. Creole. 
 
 * Louis Rodriguez, F. 
 
 * Mart, de Leon, D. Creole. 
 
 * Mat. Gilbert, F. Frenchman. 
 Mich. Zarate, F. 
 
 * Pierre de Gante, F. Fleming. 
 Pedro de Oroz, F. Spaniard. 
 
 ■* Tori bio de Benavente, F. Sp. 
 
 In the Otomjse Language,. 
 Al. Rangel. 
 Barnaba de Vargas 
 
 * Fran, de Miranda, J. Creole, 
 Gio. di Dio Callro, J. Creole. 
 
 Orazio
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 4»3 
 
 Orazio Carochi, J. Milanefe. 
 Pedro Palacios, F. Spaniard. 
 Pedro de Oroz. 
 Scb. Ribero, F. 
 N. Sanchez, P. Creole. 
 In theTarascan Language 
 
 * Mat. Gilbert. 
 
 Juan Battifta Lagunas, F. 
 
 * Angelo Sierra, F. Creole. 
 
 In the Zapotecan Lan- 
 guage. 
 Bernardo de Albuquerque D. Sp. 
 
 and bifhop of Guajaca. 
 Al. Camacho, D. Creole. 
 Ant. del Pozo, D. Creole. 
 Crlft. Aguero, D. Creole. 
 In theMiztecanLanguage. 
 Ant. Gonzalez, D. Creole. 
 
 * Ant. de los Reyes, D. Span. 
 Ben. Fernandez, D. Spaniard. 
 
 In the Maya Language. 
 Al. de Solana, F. Spaniard. 
 And. de Avendaiio, F. Creole. 
 Ant. de Ciudad Real,. Span. 
 Bern, de Valladolid, F. Span. 
 Car. Mena, F. Creole. » 
 Jof. Dominguez, F. Creole. 
 
 In the Totonacan Lan- 
 guage. 
 And. de Olmos. 
 Ant. de Santoyo, P. Creole. 
 Crift. Diaz de Anaya, P. Creole. 
 In the Popoluc an Language. 
 Fran.Toral, F. Sp.bp. of Yucatan. 
 
 In the Matlazincan Lan- dissert. 
 
 VI. 
 GUAGE.' . 
 
 Andrea de Caftro, F. Span. 
 
 In the Huaxtecan Lan« 
 guage. 
 And. de Olmos. 
 
 * Car. de Tapia Centeno. 
 
 In the Mixe Language, 
 
 * Ag. Quintana, D. Creole. 
 
 In the Kiche' Language. 
 Bart, de Anleo, F. Creole. 
 Ag. de Avila. F. 
 
 In the Cakclquel- Lan- 
 guage. 
 Bart, de Anleo. 
 ALv. Paz, F. Creole. 
 Ant. Saz, F. Creole. 
 Ben. de Villacana*;, D. Cr«ole, ' 
 
 In the Taraumaran Lan- 
 guage. 
 Ag. Roa, J. Spaniard. 
 
 In the Tepehuanan Lan- 
 guage. 
 Ben. Rinaldini, G. Neapolitan.- 
 
 There are many other languages, 
 as alfo many other writers ; but 
 we omit mentioning any but 
 thofe vvhofe works have been, 
 printed, or at leaft particularly 
 elleemcd by the learned. 
 
 AU*
 
 414 
 
 DISSERT. 
 VI. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 AUTHORS of GRAMMARS and DICTIONARIES of 
 the above mentioned Languages. 
 
 Of the Mexican. 
 "CRAN. Ximenes, Gram, and 
 
 ^ Dia. 
 
 And. de Olmos, Gram, and Dift. 
 Bern, de Sahagun, Gram, and 
 Did. 
 
 * AL de Molina, Gram, and Didl, 
 
 * Car. de Tapia Centeno, Gram. 
 
 and Did. 
 Al RangH, Gram. 
 
 * Ant. del Rircon, J. Cr. Gram. 
 
 * Orazio Carochi, Gram. 
 Bern. Mercado, J. Cr. Gram. 
 Ant. Davila Padilla, Gram. 
 
 * Ag. de Betancurt, Gram. 
 Barnaba Paez, Gram. 
 
 Ant. de Tovar Montezuma, Gra. 
 
 * Ign. de Paredes, Gram. 
 
 * Ant. de Caflelu, P. Cr. Gram. 
 
 * Jof. Perez, Gram. 
 
 Gaetano de Cabrera, P. Cr. Gram. 
 
 * Ag. de Aldana y Guevara, P. Cr. 
 
 Gram. 
 JeanFocher,F. Frenchm.Gram. 
 
 * Ant. Cortes Canal, Indian Prieft, 
 '"' Gram. 
 
 Of the Otomee. 
 Juan Rangel, Gram. 
 Pedro Palacios, Gram. 
 Orazio Carochi, Gram. 
 N. Sanchez, Did. 
 
 Seb. Ribero, Did. 
 Giov. di Dio Caftro, Gram, and 
 Did. 
 
 Of the Tarascan. 
 
 * Mat. Gilbert, Gram, and Did. 
 
 * Ang. Sierra, Gram, and Did. 
 Juan Battiftade Lagunas, Gram. 
 
 Of the Zapotican. 
 
 Ant. del Pozo, Gram. , 
 Crift. Aguero, Did. 
 
 Of the Miztecan. 
 Ant. de los Reyes, Gram. 
 
 Of the Maya. 
 
 And. de Avendaiio, Gram, and Did. 
 Ant. de Ciudad Real, Did. 
 Louis de Villanpando, Gram, and 
 Did. 
 * Pedro Beltran, F. Cr. Gram. 
 
 Of the Totonacan. 
 And. de Olmos. Gram, and Did. 
 Crift. Diaz de Anaya, Gram, and 
 Did. 
 
 Of the Populucan. 
 Franc. Toral, Gram, and Did. 
 
 Of the Matlazincan, 
 
 And. de Caftro, Gram, and Did. 
 
 Of
 
 HISTORY 
 
 Of the Huaxtecan. 
 And. de Olmos, Gram, and Di<fl. 
 Car. de Tapia, Gram, and Didt. 
 
 Of the Mixe. 
 * Ag. Quintana, Gram, and Did. 
 
 Of the Cakchiq^el. 
 Bcn.deVillacanas,Gram. andDifl, 
 
 OF MEXICO. 
 
 Of the Taraumaran. 
 Jerom Figueroa, J. Cr. Gram, and 
 
 Dia. 
 
 Ag. de Roa, Gram. 
 
 Of the Tepehuanan. 
 Jeroni Figueroa, Gram, and Di(5l. 
 Tom. deGuadalaxara, J. Gr. Gram. 
 Ben. Rinaldini, Gram. 
 
 415 
 
 DESSERT. 
 VI. 
 
 D I S S E R.
 
 DISSERT. 
 VII. 
 
 [ 416 1^ ^ ^ 
 
 DISSERTA fi ON VII. 
 
 Of toe Boundaries and Population of t^k Kingdoms of Anahuac. 
 
 T.HE miftakes of many Spanifli authors concerning the bounda- 
 ries of the Mexican empire, and the romantic notions of M. dc 
 Paw, and other foreign authors, refpefting the population of thofc 
 countries, have compelled us to engage in this Dillertation to afcertain 
 the truth ; which we fliall do as briefly as poflible. 
 
 S E C T. I. 
 
 Of the Boundaries of the Kingdoms of Anahuac. 
 
 SOLIS, following feveral ill-informed Spanifli authors, affirms that 
 the Mexican empire extended from the ifthmus of Panama to the 
 cape of Mendocina in California j Touron, a French Dominican, de- 
 firous, in his General Hiftory of Auierica, of enlarging thofe bounda- 
 ries, fays, that all the difcovered countries in North America were 
 fubjeól to the king of Mexico ; that the extent of that empire, from 
 eaft to weft, was 500 leagues, and fi'om north to fouth 200, or 250 
 leagues : that its boundaries were on the north, the Atlantic ocean ; 
 in the weft, the gulf of Anian ; in the fouth, the Pacific Ocean ; 
 and in the eafl, the illhmus of Panama ; but befides the geographical 
 errors of this defcription, there is alfo a contradiction in it ; becaufe, 
 if it ever were true, that that empire extended from the ifthmus of 
 Panama to the gulf or ftrait of Anian, the extent of it would not be 
 only 500, but 1000 leagues, as it would not comprehend lefs thaiì 
 50 degrees. 
 
 The origin of this error Is, that thofe authors were perfuaded that 
 there was ito other fovereign in Anahuac, but that of Mexico : that 
 the kings of Acolhuacan and Tlacopan were his fubjeds, and that the 
 Michuacanefe and Tlafcalans, alfo depending en that crown, had lat- 
 terly
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 417 
 
 terly rebelled. But none of thofe ftates ever belonged to the kin?- dissert. 
 
 A' T T 
 
 dom of Mexico. This appears evident from the teflimony of all the ^^ ' 
 
 Indian hiftorians, and all the Spaniih writers who received their in- 
 formation from them ; namely, Motolinia, Sahagun, and Torquema- 
 da. The king of Acolhuacan had always been the ally of Mexico, 
 from the year 1424, but was never the fubjed. It is true, that when 
 the Spaniards arrived there, the king Cacamatzin appeared to depend 
 on his uncle Montezuma ; becaufe, on account of the rebellious fpirit 
 of his brother Ixtlilxochitl he required the protei ion of the Mejcicans. 
 The Spaniards afterwards fiiw Cacamatzin corneas ambafiò.dor from the 
 king of Mexico, and ferve hjrn likewife in other capacities. They faw 
 him ahb led prifoner to Mexico, by order of Montezuma. All this ren- 
 ders the errors of the Spaniards, in great meafure, very excufible; but 
 it is certain, that thofe demonilrations of fervices towards Montezuma 
 were not thofe of a vaflal to his king, but thofe of a nephew to his 
 uncle ; and that Montezuma, in ordering him to be taken to pleafe the 
 Spaniards, arrogated to himfelf an authority which did not belong to 
 him, and did that king a heavy injury, of which he afterwards repented. 
 As to the king of Tlacopan, it is true, that he was created a fovereign 
 by the king of Mexico, but he had abfolute and fupreme dominion 
 over his ftates, on the fingle condition of being the perpetual ally of 
 the Mexicans, and of giving them alliftance with his troops whenever it 
 was neceflary. The king of Michuacan, and the republic of Tlafcala, 
 were always rivals and profelTed enemies of the Mexicans, and there 
 is no memory that either the one or the other was ever fubjed to the 
 crown of Mexico. 
 
 The fame thing might be f.iid of many other countries which the 
 Spaniih hiftorians believed to be provinces of the Mexican empire. 
 How was it pofiible that a nation, which was reduced to a fingle city, 
 under the dominion of the Tepanecas, fhould, in lefs than a century, 
 fubdue fo many people as were between the iflhmus of Panama and 
 California ? What the Mexicans really did, though far iefs than the 
 above mentioned authors report, was truly furpriling, and would not 
 be credible, if the rapidity of their conquefts had not been confirmed' 
 by Lnconteftible proof. Neither in the narratives of the Indian hillo- 
 rians, nor in the enumeration of the ftates conquered by the kings of 
 Vol. II. H h ]i Mexico,
 
 41 
 
 HISTORY OF M E X I C O. 
 
 VI 
 
 DISSERT-: Mexico, which is found in the colledion of Mendoza, nor in the re- 
 gifter of the tributary cities explained in that colledlion, can \ve find 
 any foundation for afl'enting to that arbitrary enlargement of the Mexi- 
 can dominions ; but, on the contrary, it is entirely contradidted by 
 gernal Diaz. He, in the xciii' chapter of his hiftory fays, *' the great 
 " Montezu'.ria had feveral garrifons and people of war on the frontiers 
 •* of his ftates. He had one in Soconufco, to defend himfelf on the 
 *^' fide of Guatimala and Chiapa; another to defend himfelf from the 
 " Panuchefe, between Tuzapan and that place, which we csM^/meria ;, 
 " another in Coatzacualco, and another in Michuacan (<:).'' 
 
 We are certain, therefore, in the firfl place, that the Mexican do- 
 minions did not extend in the fouth beyond Xoconocho, and that none 
 of all the provinces which at prefent are comprehended in the diocefes 
 of Guatimala, Nicaragua, and Honduras, belonged to the Mexican 
 empire. In our iv'^ book we have laid, that 'Tliltototl, a celebrated 
 Mexican general, in the laft years of king Ahuitzotl, carried his vic- 
 torious arms as far as Guatimala j but there we alfo add, that it is not 
 known that that country remained fubjedt to the crown of Mexico ; 
 the contrary appears rather from hiftory to be the truth, Torquemada,. 
 in book ii. c. 8i. makes mention of the conqueft of Nicaragua by the- 
 Mexicans, but what he affirms there of an army of the Mexicans in the. 
 time of Montezuma, is in book iii. c. i o. attributed by him to a colony 
 which had gone out many years before, by order of the gods, from, 
 the neighbourhood of Xoconocho j wherefore his account is not to be 
 depended upon. 
 
 Bernal Diaz, in chap, clxvi. expreffly affirms, that the Chiapanele. 
 were never fubdued by the Mexicans ; but this is not to be underftood 
 of their whole country, but of a part only ; becaufe we know from 
 Remezal, Chronicler of that province, that the Mexicans had a garri- 
 fon in Tzinacantla ; and it is certain from the tribute liil, that Tocht- 
 lan, and other cities of that country, were tributaries of the Mexicans.. 
 In the north, the Mexicans did not advance farther than Tuza- 
 pan, as we are told in the laft quoted pafTage of Diaz ; and we know 
 for certain, that the Panachefe were never fubjedled to them. In 
 
 {c) What we have to fay of the boundarks of the kingdoms of Anahuac will be better uo- 
 derflood by confulting our chart», 
 
 the
 
 VII. 
 
 II I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 419 
 
 ihe ead, we have already fixed their boundaries at the river Coatzacu- r^is^Ein, 
 alco. Diaz fiiys, that the country of Coatzacualco was not a province 
 of Mexico ; on the other hand we find, among the tributary ci- 
 ties of that crown, Tochtlan, Michapan, and other places of that 
 province. We are, however perfiiaded, that the Mexicans poflelTed 
 all that was to the weft of the river Coatzacualco, but not that which 
 was to the eaft of it ; and that this river was their boundary in that 
 quarter. Towards the north, their poffefilons were bounded by the 
 country of the Huaxtecas, who were never fubdued by the Mexicans. 
 Towards the north-wefl, the empire did not extend beyond the province 
 of Tulba i all that great traft of land which was beyond this province^ 
 was occupied by the barbarous Otomies and Chechemecas, who had 
 no fociety, nor obeyed any fovercign. In the weft it is known tliat the 
 empire terminated at TIaximalojan, the frontier of the kingdom of Mi- 
 chuacan ; but on the fea-coaft is extended as far as the weftern extre- 
 mity of the province of Coliman, and no farther. In the catalogue of the 
 tributaiy cities, Coliman, and other places of that province appear, but 
 none that are beyond it : nor are they mentioned in the hiftory of Mexico. 
 The Mexicans had nothing to do with California, nor could they ex- 
 peft any advantage from the conqueft of a country fo diftant, fo un- 
 peoplad, and miferable. If that dry and rocky peninfula had ever 
 been a province of the Mexican empire, fome population would have 
 been found there ; but it is certain, that there was not a fingle hoiifc met 
 with upon it, nor the leaft remains or traces of inhabitants. Laftly, in 
 the fouth, the Mexicans had made themfclves mafters of all thofe great' 
 ftates, which were between the Vale of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. 
 The grcateft length of their dominions was on the fea coaft from Xo-' 
 conochco to Coliman. 
 
 Dr. Robertfon fays, tliat the territories belonging to the chiefs of 
 Tezcuco and Tacuba, fcarcely yielded in extent to thofe of the fo- 
 vereign of Mexico (d') . But this is very far from being true, and 
 contrary alfo to what all tiie hiftorians of Mexico fay. The kingdom 
 of Tezcuco, or Acolhuacan, was bounded on the weft partly by the 
 
 (,!) There were three places of tlic name ot Ttthlion, (called by the Spaniards Tiiftia), the 
 fiift in the province of Chiapa, the fecond \n Xoconocho, or Soconufv'O, and the thir4 iiiiCo- ^ 
 atzacuako. 
 
 H h h 2 lake
 
 420 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 V 
 
 DISSERT, lake of Tezcuco, partly by Tzompanco, and other Mexican flates j 
 ^ ^^' J and in the eaft, by the dominions of Tlafcala; fo that it could not 
 extend from vvefl to eafl, above fixty miles ; on the fouth it was bound- 
 ed by the Itate of Chalco, belonging to Mexico; and in the north by 
 the independent fiate of the Huaxtecas. From the frontier of this 
 country to that of Chalco, the diilance is about two hundred njiles, 
 which is the whole extent of the kingdom of Acolhuacan, but does 
 not make one eighth part of that of the Mexican dominions. The ftates 
 of the petty king of Tlacopan, or Tacuba, were fo fmall, that they did 
 not merit the name of a kingdom 3 for from the Mexican lake in^the 
 call, to the frontier of the kingdom of Michuacan in the weft, the extent 
 was not more than eighty miles j nor from the valley of Toloccan in the 
 fouth, to the country of the Otomies in the north, more than fifty. 
 The comparifon therefore made by Robertfon, of the dominions of 
 Acolhuacan and Tacuba, with thofe of Mexico, is erroneous. 
 
 The republic of Tlaicala, furrounded by the Mexican and Tezcu- 
 can dominions, and by the ftates of Cholula and Huexotzinco, was fo 
 confined, that from eaft to weft it had fcarcely fifty, and from fouth to 
 north not above thirty miles of extent. We have met with no author who 
 gives a greater latitude to this ftate except Cortes, who lays, that tlae 
 dominions of this republic were ninety leagues in circumference; but 
 this is a manifeft error. 
 
 With refpeól to the kingdom of Michuacan, no one, as far as we 
 know, has mentioned all its ancient boundaries except Boturini. This 
 author fays, that the extent of that kingdom, from the valley of Ix- 
 tlahuacan, near Toloccan, to the Pacific Ocean, was five hundred 
 leagues ; and from Zacatollan to Xichu, one hundred and fixty leagues j 
 and that in the dominions of Michuacan, were comprehended the pro- 
 vinces of Zacatollan, Colinian, and that province which the Spaniards 
 called Frovencia d' Avalos, fituate to the north- weft of Coliman. But 
 this author was wholly deceived in his account; for it is certainly known,, 
 that the kingdom of Michuacan had not its boundaries in Ixtlahuacan, 
 but Tlaximalojan, where the Mexican dominions reached. We know 
 from the lift of tributes, that the maritime provinces of Zacatollan 
 and Coliman, belonged to Mexico. Laftly, the Michuacanefe could 
 not extend their dominions as far as Xichu, without fubduing the bar- 
 barous
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. ' 421 
 
 barous Chechamecas, who occupied that quarter ; but we know that DISSERT, 
 the Lift were not fubdued till many years after the conqueft by the "^"- 
 Spaniards. The kingdom of Michuacan, therefore, was not fo lar^-e 
 as Boturiai believed it ; its extent did not comprehend more than three 
 degrees of longitude, and about two of latitude. 
 
 What we have faid hitherto, tends to Ihew the exadnefs of our de- 
 fcription, and of our geographical charts with refpecfl to the boundaries 
 of thofe kingdoms, founded on the hiftory of them, the regifter of the 
 tributes, and the teftimony of the ancient writei-s. 
 
 SECT. II. 
 
 On the Population of Aiiahuac. 
 
 WE do not propofc here to treat of the population of all America ; 
 that would be too large a fubjedtand foreign to ourpurpofe ; but /olely 
 of that of Mexico which belongs to this hiftory. There were and there 
 are in America, many populous countries, and there are alfo vaft: 
 deferts ; and they are not lefs diftant from the truth who imagine the 
 countries of the new world as populous as thofe of China, than they 
 who believed them as unpeopled as thofe of Africa. The calculation 
 of P. Riccioli is as uncertain as thofe of Sufimilch and M. de Paw. 
 Riccioli gives three hundred millions of inhabitants to America. 
 The political arithmeticians, fay M. de Paw, do not reckon more than 
 one hundred million. Sufnnilch, in one part of his work, computes 
 them at one hundred, and in another at one hundred and fifty millions. 
 M. de Paw, who mentions all thefe calculations, fays, there are not 
 of real Americans, more than from thirty to forty millions. But we muft 
 repeat, that all thofe calculations are moft uncertain as they are not 
 founded on any proper grounds j for if we do not know hitherto the 
 population of thofe countries in which the Europeans have eftabliflied 
 themfelvcs, fuch as thofe of Guatimala, Peru, Quito, Terra Firma, 
 Chili, who is capable of gueffing the number of inhabitants of the 
 numerous countries little or not at all known to the Europeans, fuch 
 as thofe which are to the north and north-weft of Coahuila, New 
 Mexico, California, and the river Coloradoy or Red River, in North 
 
 Ame-
 
 422 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT. America ? Who can number the inhabitants of the new world, while 
 he does not know the number of provinces and nations which it con- 
 tains ? Leaving afide therefore fuch calculations which cannot be under- 
 taken with the leaft degree of certainty, we fhall content ourfelves 
 with examining what M. de Paw and Dr. Robertfon fay on the popu- 
 lation of Mexico. 
 
 *' The population of Mexico and Peru," fays M, de Paw, " has 
 ** undoubtedly been exaggerated by the Spanifli writers, w:ho are ufed 
 *' to reprefent objeifls with immoderate proportions. Three years after 
 *' the conqueft of Mexico, the Spaniards had occafion to bring fome 
 *' people from the Lucayos, and afterwards from the coaft of Africa, to 
 *' people the kingdom of Mexico. If Ihis monarchy contained in 
 " 151 8, thirty millions of inhabitants, why in 1521 was it depopu- 
 " pulated ?" We fliall never deny, that among the Spanifli writers there 
 are many addicted to exaggerating, as there are alfo among the Pruffians, 
 the French, the Englifli, and other people ; becaufe the immoderate 
 defire to magnify things which they defcribe is a paflion common to all 
 nations in the world, from which M. de Paw himfelf is not free, as he 
 demonflrates through the whole of his work : but to cenfure all the 
 Spaniards together is an indifcriminate charge moft injurious to that na- 
 tion, which, like every other, has a mixture of good and bad in it. 
 After having read, at leaft, the beft hiftorians of the cultivated nations 
 of Europe, we have not found two who appear comparable as to fince- 
 rity with the two Spaniards Mariana and Acofla, who are highly 
 efteemed therefore, and extolled by all writers. Among the anci- 
 ent hiftorians of Mexico, there have been fome, fuch as Acofta, 
 Diaz, and Cortes himfelf, of whofe fmcerity of relation there is no 
 doubt. But although each of thefe authors had not been poiTelTed of 
 thofe qualities which are required to merit our belief, neverthelefs, the 
 uniformity of their teftimonies would be an undeniable proof of the 
 fidelity of their accounts. Authors of little veracity dilagree among 
 themfelves, except when they copy each other; but this does not 
 happen to thofe hiftorians, who, intent only on relating what they have 
 themfelves feen, or found probable from information, did not regard 
 what others had written ; on the contrary, it appears from their works, 
 that at the time they they were writing, they had not the writings of 
 
 others
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO 423 
 
 others under their eyes. M. de Paw himicK ff J, fpeaking in one of DISSER: 
 his letters of that rite of the Mexicans of confecrating and eating the 
 llatue of palle of HiiU%ilopochtli, by him called Vitzilipulizi, and of 
 the rite among the Peruvians at their feftival Capac-rni/nc, writes thus 
 to his corrcfpondent : " I conlefs to you, that the unanimous tellimony 
 " of die SpanilTi writers does not allow us to doubt of it." If the 
 confent then of the Spanilli hiilorians, concerning what they did not 
 fee, does not allow us to doubt of it,, how fliould he doubt of that 
 which they depofe as eye-w itnellcs ? 
 
 Let us enquire therefore what the ancient Spanidi writers fay of tha 
 population of America. All agree in affirming,' that thofe countries 
 were well peopled, that there were very many large cities, and an infinite 
 number of vilbges and hamlets; thatraanythoufands of merchants alicm- 
 bled at the markets of populous cities : that they muftcred moft nume- 
 rous armies, &c. Cortes, in his letters, and the anonymous conqueror, 
 Alfonfo de Ojeda, and Alfonfo de Mata, in their memoirs. Las Cafas 
 in his work, entitled, the DcJlruBion of the Indies ; B. Diaz, in his 
 hiltory, Motolinia, Sahagun, and Mendieta, in their writings ; all eye- 
 witneflcs of the ancient population of America : Herrera, Gomara, 
 Acofla, Torquemada, and Martinez, are all of the lame opinion with 
 refpeift to the great populatioa of thofe countries. M.de Paw cannot 
 produce a lingle ancient author who does not confirm it by his tefti- 
 mony ; whereas, we can cite feveral authors who do not make any 
 mention of that fuperflitious rite of the Mexicans, namely, Cortes, 
 Diaz, and the anonymous conqueror, the three moft ancient Spanifh. 
 writers on Mexico. Notwithftanding M. de Paw affirms, that we can- 
 not doubt of fuch a rite, becaufe of the unanimous teftimony of the 
 Spaniards ; who tlien would doubt of the great population of Mexico, 
 or rather deny it fb ftrongly againft the uniform depofitions of all the 
 ancient hiftorians ? But if the population of Mexico was fo great in 
 15 1 8, why in 152 1 was it necelTary to bring people there from the 
 Lucayos, and afterwards from the coaft of Africa, to people it ? We: 
 confefs ingenuoully we cannot read this objedlion of M. de Pau-, with- 
 out being extremely offended at his affirming with, fuch hardinefs, that 
 
 (/) Tom. II. Letter i» 
 
 whichi
 
 424 H I S T O R Yf O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT, which is diredly falle, and contraiy to the accounts of authors. Where 
 has M. de Paw read that it was necellary to tranlport people from the 
 Lucayos to people Mexico ? We defy hiin to produce a fingle author 
 who lays lb ; we know rather the contrary from many writers. We 
 know from Herrera and others, that from 1493, when the Spaniards 
 eftabliflied themfelves in Dominica, to 1496, the third part of the in- 
 habitants of that large ifland periflied in war, and through other dif- 
 trelles. In 1507, there did not remain more than the tenth part of 
 the Indians which were in 1493, according to Las Cafas, an eyc-wit- 
 nefs ; and from that time the population of that ifland diminilhed to 
 fuch a degree, that in 1540, there hardly remained two hundred In- 
 dians ; on which account, from the beginning of the fifteenth century, 
 the Spaniards began to tranfport thoufands of Indians from the Lu- 
 cayos, to recruit the population of Hilpaniola; but thofe having like- 
 wife died, they began before the conqueft of Mexico to carry people 
 from Terra Firma, and other countries of the continent of America, 
 according as they difcovered them. It is known from a letter written 
 to the council of the Indies by the firft bilhop of Mexico, fent by Las 
 Cafas to the emperor Charles V. that the cruel governor of Panuco, 
 Nugno Guzman, fent from thence twenty-eight vellels loaded with 
 Indian flayes to be fold in the iflands : fo that it is far from being true, 
 that the Spaniards carried people from the iflands to inhabit the con- 
 tinent of North America ; that on the contrary they carried people from 
 the continent to inhabit the ifles, which the above authors exprelDy relate. 
 It is true, that after the conquefl: of Mexico, flaves were imported 
 there from Africa ; not becaufe there was any want of people; but 
 becaule the Spaniards required them to ferve in the making of fugar, 
 and to work in the mines, to which they could not compel the Ame- 
 ricans, on account of the laws then recently publilhed : it is, there- 
 fore falfe, and contrary to tiie depolition of thofe above mentioned au- 
 thor?, that Mexico was depopulated three years after the conqueft ; or 
 that it vv'as necefl^ary to bring people there from the Lucayos and Africa 
 Jo recruit its inhabitants. We arc rather certain, that fome colonies 
 were fent a few years after the conqueft, from the countries fubjed: to 
 the king of Mexico, and the republic of Tlafcala, to people other 
 lands, namely, Zacatecas, Suis, Potoli, Saltillo, &c. ecc. 
 
 8 But
 
 H I S T O R Y O F IVI E X I e O. 425 
 
 But let us fee what thofe ancient writers fay in particular of the D'SI^F.rt. 
 population of Mexico. We do not know that any one of them has had > - / . 
 the boldnefs to exprefs the number of the inhabitants of Mexico ; whe- 
 ther it did or did not contain thirty millions, could have been known 
 from the kings of Mexico and their miniliiers ; and although the Spa- 
 niards might have informed themlclves from them of this particular, wc 
 do not find that any one of them has done fo. That which feveral of 
 them affirm is, that among the feudatories of the king of Mexico were 
 thirty who had each about an hundred thoufind fubjedts, and other three 
 thoufand lords who had a fmaller number of vaffals. Laurentius Surius 
 affirms (f) that this is certain from records which were in the royal ar- 
 chives of the emperor Charles W . Cortes, in his firft letter to that em- 
 peror, fpeaks thus : " The multitude of inhabitants in thofe countries is 
 " fo great, that there is not a foot of foil left uncultivated ; but notwith- 
 " ftanding there are many who, for want of bread, go begging through 
 *' the ilreets and markets." B. Diaz, the anonymous conqueror, Mo- 
 tolinia, and other eye-witneffes, give us fimilar ideas of the population 
 of Mexico. To come to the particular countries of Anahuac, we are 
 certain, from the depofitions of the above mentioned, and almoft all 
 the ancient authors, of the great population of the Mexican vale, of 
 the countries of the Otomies, of the Malatzincas, Tlahuicas, Cohuix- 
 cas, Miztecas, Zapotecas, and Cuitlatecas ; of the province of Coat- 
 zacualco ; of the kingdoms of Acolhuacan, and Michuacan, and the 
 ftates of Tlafcala, Cholula, Iluexotzinco, &c. 
 
 The vale of Mexico, although that a great part of it was occupied 
 by the lakes, was at leaft as well peopled as the mofl populous coun- 
 try of Europe. It contained forty confidcrable cities, wifich we have 
 already named, and are mentioned likcwife by the ancient writers. The 
 other inhabited places of it were innumerable, the names of which we 
 could alfo give, if we were not afraid of tiring our readers. The very 
 fincere B. Diaz, defcribing, in chap. viii. of his Hiftory, what he faw 
 in hi^ way through the vale towards the capital, fpeaks thus : " When 
 " we beheld things fo wonderful we knew not what to fay, nor whe- 
 '* tlier the objects before our eyes were real ; wc faw fo many great cities 
 
 (/) Siirius ia Commentino brevi rfium in oibe geilanim ab anno ijoo ad 156S. 
 
 . Vol. II. lii " fitiKucd
 
 420 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e a 
 
 DISSERT. " fituated on the main land, and many otliers in the lake, and an in- 
 , ^"' ^ " finity of little veflels upon it." He fays farther, that fome foldiers, 
 his companions, in wonder beyond meafure at feeing fo great and 
 beautiful a territory, were in doubt whether what they law was the 
 effed of a dream, or inchantment. Ihofe and many other can- 
 did confeliions of Diaz are fufficient to anfwer Robertfon, who avail- 
 ed himfelf of certain words of that author, which he did not well com- 
 prehend, to make his readers believe that the population of Mexico 
 was not fo great as it certainly was. 
 
 Concerning the population of the ancient capital there are various- 
 opinions ; nor can the cafe be otherwife where an attempt is made to 
 judge of the populoufnefs of a great city by the eye : but all the writers- 
 who faw it, or were informed by eye-witnelles, are agreed in faying that 
 it was very great. Herrera fays it was twice as large as Milan. Cortes, 
 affirms that it was as large as Seville and Cordova; Surius citing 
 certain records which were in the royal archives of Charles V. 
 fays, that the population of Mexico amounted to an hundred and 
 thirty thouland houfes. Torquemada, following Sahagun and other 
 Indian hiflorians, reckons an hundred and twenty thoufand houfes ; 
 and adds, that in each houfe were from four to ten inhabitants» 
 The anonyinous conqueror fpeaks thus of it : " tliis city of Tcmif- 
 " titan may be about two leagues and a half or near three leagues, more 
 " or Isfs, in circumference; the greater part of thofe who have feea 
 " it judge that there are upwards of fixty thoufand fires in it, and ra- 
 " ther more than lefs." . This calculation, adopted by Gomara and 
 Herrera, appears to us to come neareil the truth, confidcring the ex- 
 tent of the city, and the manner of dwelling of thofe people. 
 
 But the whole of tliis is contradifted by M. de Paw. He calls the. 
 defcription exceffive and exaggerated, which is given of tiiis city of 
 America ; " which contained, according to fome authors, feventy thou- 
 *' fand houfes in the time of Montezuma II. fo that at that time it muft. 
 " have had three hundred and fifty thoufand inhabitants ; whereas it is 
 " notorious, that the city of Mexico, confiderably increafed' under the 
 " dominion of the Spaniards, has not at prefent above fixty thoufand 
 " inhabitants, including twenty thouH^nd negroes and mulattoes." This 
 is another pafi'ige of the Recherches Philojopbiqiies which will make 
 
 tlie
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 427 
 
 the Mexicans fmile. But who can avoid fmiling when they fee a DISSERT. 
 PrufTian philofopher, fo bent on diininidxing the populoufnefs of that . \ _ ^ 
 American city, and angry at thofe wlio reprefent it greater than he 
 wiOies it ? Who will not be furprifed to hear that the number of 
 the inhabitants of Mexico is notorious in Berlin, when it is not many 
 years fince it has been known to the ecclefiaftics, who every year make 
 an enumeration ; we fliall therefore give M. de Paw fome certain in- 
 formation concerning that city of America, that he may in future 
 avoid thofe errors into which he has fallen in fpcaking of its popu- 
 loufnefs. 
 
 Mexico, he muft know, is the mofl: populous city of all thofe 
 which the catholic King has in his vaft dominions. From the 
 bills of mortality publiihed daily in the cities of Madrid and Mexico, 
 it appears that the number of the inhabitants of Madrid is a fourth 
 lefs than that of Mexico; for example, if Madrid has a hundi-ed 
 and fixly thoufand inhabitants, Mexico has witliout doubt two hun- 
 dred thoufind. There has been a great difference of opinions refpedl- 
 ing the number of fouls of the modern city of Mexico, as there was 
 alfo refpcding the ancient city, and all other cities of the firll rank; 
 but there being an enumeration made with great accuracy of late vears, 
 partly by the priells, and partly by the magiftrates, it has been found 
 that the inhabitants of that capital exceeded two hundred thoufand, 
 although they have not afcertained how much more. We may form 
 fome idea of its populoufnefs from the quantity o^ pulque (^) and to- 
 bacco which is daily confumed there (/•). Every day are brought into it 
 upwards of fix thoufand arrobas of pulque, that is a hundred and ninety 
 thoufand Roman pounds; in the year 1774, there were two millions, 
 two hundred and fourteen thoufand two hundred and ninety-four and 
 an half arrobas entered, that is more than feventy-three millions of 
 Roman pounds ; but in this computation we do not comprehend what 
 is introduced by fmuggling, nor that which the Indians who are pri- 
 
 (^) i'«/^«t- is the ufual wine, or rather beer, of the Mexicans, made of the fcrmcntcil juice 
 of the Maguei. This liquor will not keep above one day, and therefore what is made is daiJy 
 confumed. 
 
 ( i^> ) Our account of the daily confuraption of pulque and tobacco in Mexico is taken from 
 .«he Icttrv of orieof thcchifi'accomptaiiis of that cufloin-houfe, ofthr 23d of February, 17-;. 
 
 I i i 2 vilegcd.
 
 VII. 
 
 428 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT; vilegcd, fell in the principal fqiiare of the cits'. This amazing quan- 
 tity of pulque is almoft folely confumed by the Indians and Mulattoes, 
 the number of which is furpaffed by that of the Whites and Creoles, 
 few of whom make ufe of this beverage. The tax upon it amounts 
 annually, in the capital alone, to about two hundred and eighty thou- 
 fand crowns (pefos fuertes). The daily confumption of tobacco for 
 fmoaking, in that capital, is reckoned at one thouland, two hundred 
 and fifty crowns, or thereabouts; which in one year makes the furr» 
 of four hundred and fifty thoufand crowns and more. But it is ne- 
 celfary to be underflood, that among the Indians very few ufe tobacco ; 
 among the Europeans and Creoles very many do not ufe it, and fome 
 of the Mulattoes do not. Who will put greater faith in the calcula- 
 tions made by M. de Paw than in the regifters of the capital ? or who 
 will place more value on the judgment of a modern Pruffian, who is 
 fo extravagant refpefting the ancient populoufiiefs of that city,^ than, 
 on that of fo many ancient writers ^who faw it. 
 
 With regard to the city and court of Tezcuco, we know from the- 
 letters of Cortes to Charles V. that it contained about thirty thoufand 
 houfes ; but this ought to be underftood folely of the court ; for in- 
 cluding the other three cities of Coatlichan, Huexotla, and Ateneo, 
 which, as Cortes atteffs, appeared to form a leparate population, it was, 
 by a great deal, larger than Mexico-. Torquemada, following Saha- 
 gun, and the accounts of the Indians, aflirms, that the populatioa 
 of thofe four cities, contained an hundred and forty thoufand houfes 3 
 from which number, although we dedu6l an half, a confiderable 
 population would remain. No hillorian has told us the population of 
 Tlacopan, although all affirm it was confiderable. Of Xochimilca' 
 we know, that next to the tliree royal refidences it was the largefl 
 of all. Of Iztapalapan, Cortes atfirnTS, it had from twelve to fifteen 
 thouland fires ; of Mixcoac, he fays, that it had about fix thoufand j 
 Huitzilopochco from four to five thouland ; Acolman and Otompan. 
 each four thoufand ; and Mcxicaltzinco, three thoufand. Chalco, 
 Azcapozalco, Cojoacan,, Quauhtitlan, were, without comparilbn, larger 
 than thefe Lift; mentioned cities. All thefe, and a great many others, 
 were comprehended in the vale of Mexico alone : the fight of whicli 
 
 caufed 
 
 c>
 
 H I S T O R Y O F ìM E X I e O. 429 
 
 caufed no lefs admiration than fear to the Spaniards when they firfl: DISSERT, 
 obferved them from the top of the mountains of that deUghtful valley. ^ 
 They Iclt the fame aftonifliment when they faw the population of 
 Tlafcala. Cortes, in his letter to Charles V. fpeaks thus of that city ; 
 ** It is fo large and wonderful, that although I omit a great deal of 
 *' what I could fay, I believe that little which I fay will appear incre- 
 " dible ; for it is much larger and more populous than Granada wheu 
 " it was taken from the Moors, more ftrong, has as good buildings, 
 ** and more abundance of every thing." 
 
 The anonymous conqueror fpeaks of it in the fame manner, " There 
 " are," he fays, " great cities, and among others that of Tlafcala, 
 *' which, in fonie refpedls, refemblcs Granada, and in others, Sego- 
 " via, but it is more populous than either." Of Tzimpantzinco, a city 
 of the republic, Cortes affirms (/), that the enumeration of the houfes 
 having been made at his delire, there were found to be twenty thou- 
 fand. Of Huejotlipan, a place of the fame republic, he fays, that it 
 had from three to four thoufand fires. Of Cholula Cortes affirms, 
 that it had about twenty thoufand houfes, and as many in the neigh- 
 bouring villages, which were like its fuburbs. Huexotzinco and Te- 
 peyacac were the rivals of Cholula in greatnefs. Thefe are fonie of 
 the peopled places which the Spaniards faw before the conqueft ; we 
 omit many others, of the greatnefs of which we are certified by the 
 teftimony of thefe and otlier authors. 
 
 We are not lefs convinced of the population of thofe countries from, 
 the innumerable concourfe of people which were Ceca at their mar- 
 kets, from the very numerous armies which they raifed whenever it 
 was neceflary, and the furprifmg number of baptiilns immediately af- 
 ter the conqucft. With refped to the numbers at their markets, and 
 of their armies, we have faid enough in our hiftory on the faith of 
 many eye-witneffes. We might fufpe6l, that the conquerors had ex- 
 aggerated the number of the Indian troops, in order to make their 
 «onquefl appear more glorious, but tliis would appear only when they 
 reckoned the number of the troops of the enemy, not when they 
 counted their own allies, as the more the number of the latter was 
 
 ( i ) Cortes fpeaks of this city without naming it, but it appears £iom the context to hav» 
 b<en the fame ; and Torc^vRniada mentions it exprefsiy, 
 
 increaifd
 
 43° 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 VI 
 
 « . — J 
 
 DISSERT, increafed, their conquefts became the lefs difficult and glorious. The 
 conqueror Ojeda, however, numbered an hundred and fifty thou- 
 fand men among the allied troops of Tlafcala, Cholula, Tepeyacac, and 
 Pluexotzinco, in the review which was made of them in Tlafcala, 
 as they were going to the fiege of Mexico. Cortes himfclf affirms, 
 that the allied troops who accompanied him to the war of Quauque- 
 choUan exceeded an hundred thoufand, and that thofe which affifted 
 him in befieging the capital, exceeded confiderably two hundred thou- 
 fand in number. On the other hand, the befieged were fo numerous, 
 that although an hundred and fifty thoufand died during the fiege, 
 as we have already faid, when the capital was taken by the Spaniards, 
 and it u'as ordered that all the Mexicans fliould leave it, for three fuc- 
 ceffive days and nights the flreets and roads were filled with people 
 who were leaving the city to take refuge in other places, according to 
 the teflimony of B. Diaz, an eye-witnels. With relpedt to the num- 
 ber of baptifms, we are aflured, by the teftimony of the religious 
 milTionaries themfelves, who were employed in the converllon of thofe 
 people, that the children and grown perfons baptifcd by the Francilcan(/(') 
 fathers alone, from the year 1524 to the year 1540, were upv/ards of 
 fix millions in number ; who v/ere, for the mofi: part, inhabitants of 
 the vale of Mexico and the circumjacent provinces. In this number 
 are not comprehended thofe who were baptifed by the priefls, Domi- 
 nicans, and Augullinians, amongfl whom, and the Francifcans, were 
 divided thofe moft abundant harvefts ; and befides, it is certain that 
 the Indians were innumerable who remained obflinate in their pagan- 
 ifm, or did not receive the Chrifi:ian faith till many years after the 
 conqueft. We know alfo, from the noify contVoverfies excited there 
 by fome religious, and reported to the pope Paul III. that on account 
 of the extraordinaiy and before unfeen multitude of catechumens, the 
 miffionaries were obliged to omit fome ceremonies of the baptifm, and 
 amongfl: others the ufe of their fpittle, becaufe, from doing it fo much 
 they dried up and almofi: excoriated their mouths, their tongues, and 
 their throats. 
 
 From the difcovery of Mexico till now the number oi the Indians 
 has been gradually diminifhing. Befides the many thoufands which 
 
 {k) MotoHuia, one of the leligious miffionaries, baptifcd more than foiir huadrcd thoufand 
 Indians ; an account of which he left in writing. 
 
 perifhed
 
 VII. 
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 431 
 
 perifhed by the firiì contagion of the fmall-pox, carried there in 1520, DISSERT. 
 and in the war of the Spaniards, in the epidemic of 1545 eighty 
 thoufand perilled, and in that of 1 576 upwards of two milHons, in 
 the diocefes alone of Mexico, Angelopoli, Michuacan, and Guaxaca, 
 which is known by the bills of mortality pretented by every curate to 
 the viceroy. Notvvithrtanding Herrera, who wrote towards the end 
 of the fixteenth century, reports, on the faith of authentic documents 
 fent him by the viceroy of Mexico, that in the diocefes alone of 
 Mexico, Angelopoli, and Guaxaca, and in thofe provinces of the 
 diocefe of Mexico which were circumjacent to the capital, there were,, 
 at that time, fix hundred and fifty-five principal fettlements of In- 
 dians, and innumerable other fmaller ones dependent upon them ; in 
 which were contained ninety thoufand Indian families of tributaries. 
 But it is necefi'ary to be known, in thofe are not included the nobles,, 
 nor the Tlafcalans, and other Indians who aflifted the Spaniards in 
 the conqueft ; for in refpedl to their birth, or the fervices which they 
 rendered the conquerors, they were exempted from tributes. Herrera, 
 xvho was well informed on this fubjeft, aifirms, that in thofe times, four 
 thoufand Spanifh families, and thirty thoufand Indian houfes were 
 counted in the capital. From that time the number of Indians has 
 gradually been diminifhing, and the namber of the Whites or Spa- 
 niards has been increafing. 
 
 M. de Paw will anfwer according to his ftyle, that all the proofs 
 which we have adduced to demonflrate the population of Mexico, are 
 of no weight, for they are obtained from foldiers who were rude and 
 illiterate, or from ignorant and fuperftitious ccclefiaftics j but if this was 
 the charafter of all the writers we have quoted, their teftimony would 
 be flill of great force becaufe of their uniformity. Who can believe 
 that Cortes, and the other officers who fubfcribed his letters, fliould 
 deceive their king, where they could have been fa eafily detefted by 
 hundreds of witneffes, and not a few enemies ? is it poffible that fO' 
 many Spanifla and Indian writers fliould all agree to exaggerate the 
 population of thofe countries, and not one amongfl: them ihew fome 
 lefpeil for poflerity ? Of the veracity of the firft miffionaries there 
 can be no doubt. They were men of cxamplary life, and much learn- 
 ing, felefted from amongft many to promulgate the gofpel in the new 
 8 world»
 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, world. Some of them had been profellbrs in the mofl celebrated uni- 
 VII- verlities of Europe; had obtained the firft rank in their orders, and 
 merited the favour and confidence of the emperor Charles V. Thofe 
 honours which they refigned in Europe, and thofe which they never 
 received in America, clearly demonftrated their difinterefled zeal ; 
 their voluntary and rigid poverty, their continual treaty with the great 
 Being of nature, their incredible fatigues in fo many long and diffi- 
 cult journeys on foot, without provifions, in laborious fervice, and 
 ftill more their exceffive charity, mildncfs, and compatTion, towards 
 thofe afflided nations, will make their memory ever venerated in that 
 kingdom. In the writings of thofe immortal men, fo many cha- 
 racters of fincerity are difcovered, that we are not permitted to inter- 
 tain the leaft doubt of their accounts. It is true, they committed a 
 heavy fin, in the judgment of JVL de Paw, in burning the greater 
 part >of the hiftorical paintings of the Mexicans, becaufe they thought 
 them full of fuperflition. We valued ftill more than M. de Paw 
 thofe paintings, and lament their lofs ; but we neither defpife the 
 authors of that unfortunate burning, nor curfe their memory ; becauie 
 the evil which their intemperate and heedlefs zeal made them com.mit 
 is not to be compared with the good which they did ; befides, they 
 endeavoured to repair the lofs by their works, particularly Motoli- 
 nia, Sahagun, Olmos, and Torquemada. 
 
 M. de Paw has gone fo far to lefien the population of thofe coun- 
 tries, that he has dared to affirm (who could believe it) in a dec-ifive 
 magifterial tone, that in all thofe regions there was no city but Mexico. 
 Let us attend to him purely for amufement. " So that as there are 
 *' not," he fays, " the leaft veftiges of the Indian cities in all the 
 " kingdom of Mexico, it is manifeft that there was no more than 
 " one -place which had any appearance of a city, and this was Mexi- 
 " CO, which the Spaniffi writers would call the Babylon of the Indies, 
 " but it is now a long time fince they have been able to deceive us 
 *' with the magnificent names they gave to the mifbrable hamlets of 
 *' America." 
 
 But all the authors who have written on Mexico unanimoufly affirm, 
 t^at all the nations of that vaft empire lived in focieties ; that they had 
 many well-peopled, large, well -laid out fettlemeAtSj name the cities 
 
 which
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 An 
 
 VII. 
 
 which theyfaw; and they who travelled through thofe regions two DISSERT, 
 centuries and a half after the conquefl, faw the fame fettlements i^ the 
 places mentioned by thofe writers ; fo that M. de Paw is either per- 
 fuaded that thofe writers prophetically announced the future popu- 
 lation of thofe places, or he mufl confefs that they have been froni 
 that time where they are at prefent. It is true that the Spaniards 
 founded many fettlements, fuch as the cities of Angelopoli, Guada- 
 laxara, Valadolid, and Veracruz, Zelaja, Potofi, Cordova, Leone, 
 ecc. but the fettlements made by them in the diftrifts of the Mexican 
 empire with refpedl to thofe made by the Indians are as one to a thou- 
 fand. The Mexican names given to thofe fettlements are flill preferv- 
 ed to this day, and demonftrate that the original founders of them 
 were not Spaniards but Indians. That thofe places of which we have 
 made frequent mention in this hiftory were not miferable villages, but 
 cities, and large well formed fettlements, fuch as thofe of Europe, is 
 certified by the united tcllimony of all writers who faw them. 
 
 M. de Paw is defirous of being fhewn the veftiges of thefe ancient 
 cities ; but we could fliew him more than that, the ancient cities now 
 exifting. However, if he chufes to fee traces of them he may go 
 to Tezcuco, Otumba, Tlafcala, Cholula, Huexotzinco, Chempo- 
 alla, Tulla, &c. where he will find fo many that he will have no 
 doubt of the ancient greatnefs of thofe American cities. 
 
 This great number of towns and inhabited places, although fo many 
 thoufands perifhed annually in the facrifices and continual wars of thofe 
 nations, gives us «learly to underftand the vafl: population of the 
 Mexican empire, and the other countries of Anahuac; but if all this 
 which we have faid is not fufficient to convince M. de Paw, in charity 
 we advife him to enter into an holpital. 
 
 What we have applied againfl M. de Paw may ferve likewife to re- 
 fute Dr. Robertfon, who, feeing fo many eye-witnelfes contrary to him 
 in opinion, recurs to a fubterfuge fimilar to that of the warmth of the 
 imagination which he made ufe of to deny faith to the Spanilji hifto- 
 rians refpe^Sling what they fiid of the excellence of the Mexican la- 
 bours of caft metal. Treating of the wonder which the fight of the 
 cities of Mexico caufed to the Spaniards in his leventh book, he fays, 
 " In the firlt fervcKir of their imagination, they compared Chempoalla, 
 Vol. II. Kkk " though
 
 434 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT. « though a town only of the fecond or third fize, to the cities of 
 " gfeateil: note in their own country. V/hen afterwards they vifited 
 " in fuccelTion Tlafcala, Cholula, Tacuba, Tefcuco, and Mexico itfelf, 
 " their amazement was fo great that it led them to convey ideas of theii* 
 ** magnitude and populoufnefs bordering on what is incredible . . . For 
 " this reafon fome confiderable abatement ought to be made from their 
 " calculation of the number of inhabitants in the Mexican cities ; and 
 " we may fix the ftandard of their population much lower than they 
 " have done." 
 
 Thus Robertfon commands, but we are not difpofed to obey him. 
 If the Spaniards had written their hiflories, letters, or relations in toe 
 Jirji fervour of their admiration, we might then jultly fufpeil that 
 flupefaftion had led them to exaggerate ; but it was not lb ; for Cortes» 
 the moft ancient of thofe writers, did not write his firfl letter to 
 Charles V. till a year and an half after his arrival in that country ; the 
 anonymous conqueror wrote fonie years after the conqueftj B. Diaz, 
 after forty years continual refidcnce in thofe countries, and the others 
 in like manner. Is it poflible that \}^\% fervour of their admiration fliould 
 endure for one, twenty, and even forty years afterwards ? But whence 
 arofe fuch wonder in them ? Let us hear it from Dr. Robertfon himfelf. 
 *' The Spaniards, accuftomed to this mode of habitation among all 
 " the Indians with which they were then acquainted, were aflonifhed, 
 " on entering New Spain, to find the natives refiding in towns of 
 *' fuch extent as refembled thofe of Europe." But Cortes and his 
 companions, before they went to Mexico, knew very "well that thofe 
 people were not favage tribes, and that their houfes were not huts ; 
 they had heard from thofe who, a year before, had made tiie fame 
 voyage with Grijalva, that there were beautiful fettlements there, con- 
 fifting of houfes of fione and lime, with high towers to them ; as 
 Bernal Diaz attefls, who was an ej'e-witnefs. That, therefore, was 
 not the occafion of their wonder, but it was the real largenefs and 
 multitude of the cities which they faw. " It is not furprifing, then," 
 adds Robertfon, " that Cortes and his companions, little accuftomed to 
 " fuch computations, and powerfully tempted to magnify, in order to 
 " exalt the merit of their own difcoveries and conquefts, fliould have been 
 *' betrayed into this common error, and have raifed theii- defcriptions 
 
 con-
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 435 
 
 " confiderably above truth." But Cortes was not fo weak, and faw DISSERT, 
 very well that the exaggeration of the number of his allies, far from 
 raifing the merit, ferved rather to diminifli the glory of his conquefts. 
 He often confen'es that he was affifted in the fiege by eighty, and 
 fometimes an hundred, and two hundred thoufand men ; and as thofc 
 ingenuous confellions difcover his fmcerity, in the fame manner thofc 
 numerous armies demonftrate the population of thofe countries. Be- 
 fides, Dr. Robertfon fuppofes, when the Spanifli writers wrote con- 
 cerning the number of the houfes of the Mexican cities, it was only 
 exprefled by conjecture, and the judgment which they had formed 
 by the eye -, but this was not the cafe, for Cortes affirms, in his firft 
 letter to the emperor Charles V. that he ordered the houfes, which be- 
 longed to the diftridt of Tlafcala to be numbered, and found there was 
 an hundred and fifty thoufand, and in the fingle city of Tlafcala more 
 than twenty thoufand. 
 
 Kkkf DISSER.
 
 I 436 ] 
 
 DISSERTATION Vili. 
 
 On the Religion of the Mexicans. 
 
 WE have nothing to Isy in this Differtation as we had in the others 
 to M. de Paw, as he ingenuoufly acknowledges the refem- 
 blance there is between the delirium of the Americans, and that of 
 other nations of the old continent in matters of religion. " As," he 
 fays, " the religious fuperftitions of the people of America (1) have 
 " had a fenfible refemblance to thofe which other nations of the old con- 
 " tinent have entertained, he has not fpoken of thofe abfurdities, but 
 " to make a compàiifon of them, and in order to obferve that, not- 
 " withftanding the diverfity of climes, the weaknefs of the human 
 " fpirit has been conflant and unv:riable." If he had delivered him- 
 felf with the fame judgment in other refpedts, he would have faved 
 much contention, and preferved his work from thofe heavy cenfures 
 which have been made on it by many wife men of Europe. We di- 
 rect this Differtation, therefore, to thofe who, from ignorance of what 
 has paffed and pafles at prefent in the world, or from want of refledlion, 
 have made much wonder in reading in the hiflory of Mexico at the cru- 
 elty and fuperftition of thofe people, as if fuch things had been never heard 
 of among mortals. We fhall make their error confpicuous, and (hew 
 that the religion of the Mexicans was lefs fuperftitious, lefs indecent, 
 lefs childifh, and lefs unreafonable than that of the moft cultivated 
 nations of ancient Europe ; and that there have been examples of cru- 
 elty, perhaps more cruel, amongft all other nations of the world. 
 
 The fyftem of natural religion depends principally on that idea 
 which is formed of the Divinity. If the fupreme Being is conceived 
 to be a Father full of goodnefs, whofe providence watches over his 
 creatures, love and refped: will appear in the exercife of fuch religion. 
 
 ( i ) In the preface to Rccherchcs PhilofopliK^ues, 
 
 If,
 
 VII. 
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 437 
 
 If, on the contrary, he is imagined to be an inexorable tyrant, his DISSI'RT. 
 tvorfliip will be bloody. If he is conceived to be omnipotent, vener- 
 ation will be paid to one alone ; but if his power is conceived to be 
 confined, the objefts of worfhip will be multiplied. If the fanftity 
 and perfeiHiion of his being is acknowledged, his protection will be 
 implored in a pure and holy fervice ; but if he is fuppofed fubjedt 
 to imperfedlions, and the vices of men, religion itfelf will iiindlify 
 crimes. 
 
 Let us compare the idea, therefore, which the Mexicans had of 
 their gods with that which the Greeks, Romans, and other nations 
 from whom thev learned their religion, had of their deities, and we 
 fhall difcover the fuperiority of the Mexicans, in this matter, over all 
 thofe ancient nations. It is true, that the Mexicans divided power 
 among various deities, imagining the jurifdi<ftion of each to be reflridt- 
 ed, " I do not doubt," Montezuma ufed to fay to Cortes, in their 
 conferences on religion, " I do not doubt of the goodnefs of the God 
 " whom you adore, but if he is good for Spain our Gods are equally 
 *• To for Mexico. 
 
 " Our God Camaxtle," the Tlafcalans ufed to fay to Cortes^ 
 " grants us victory over our enemies ; our goddcfs Matlalcueje fends 
 " the ncceffary rain to our fields, and defends us from the inunda- 
 *' tion of Zahuapan. To each of our gods we are indebted for a part 
 ^' of the happlnefs of our life." But they never believed their gods fo 
 impotent as the Greeks and R-omans believed theirs. The Mexicans 
 had more than one deity under the name of Centeotl who took care 
 of the country and the fields, and although they were fo fond of their 
 children they had but one god for their protedlion. The Romans, be- 
 fides the goddefs Ceres, had a crowd of deities for the care of the fields 
 alone (/«), and for the guard and education of their children upwards of 
 twenty, befides a number which were employed, in the generation and 
 
 (m) Sejii was charged with the graio which was newly fovvn, Proftrpina with the grain which 
 was iuft fprung, Norlvtus with the knots on the Ik-m, roiatirui with the eyes on buds, PattUita 
 with the leaves which were fprcad, Flpr^t with the flowers, SegcJIa with the new grains, La!ian- 
 Aa with the-graiii yet milky, j1/<»/7</<j with the ripe f; rain, Tuianus ox Tutilhia with the grain in 
 Ihe granar)- V to all whom we ought to add the god Surculus y.vho attended the manuring of the 
 Selds, Pruifui who defended the grain from the birds, Rubigo who defended it from Lnfciis, 
 aiMÌ the nymphs N-ifij^ who had the i.aro of its Buuitivcjuiccs. 
 
 birth.
 
 43^ HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, birth of infants (/z). Who would believe that they would have occa« 
 
 V II 
 
 fion for their Gods merely to guard their doorg ? Forculus was char- 
 ged with the door pofts, Carna with the hinge, and Lamentinus with 
 the threfhold. " Ita," exclaims St. Auguftin, " ita non poterai, For- 
 " cuius fimul fores, et cardinem limenqiie fervare." So wretched was 
 the power of the gods in the judgment of the Romans ! Even the 
 names by which fonie of them were called fliew the pitiful conception 
 entertained of them by their adorers. What names more unworthy of 
 divinity than thofe of Jupiter Pitlor, Venus Calva, Pecunia Caca, 
 Subigus and Cloacina ? Who would ever think that a ftatue formed 
 by Tatius in the principal fmk of Rome was to become a goddefs with 
 the name of Cloacina ? This was certainly a mockery of their religion, 
 and rendering the very gods whom they adored, vile and contempt- 
 ible. 
 
 But the Greeks and Romans iliewed the opinion they had of their 
 gods in nothing more flrongly than the vices which they afcribed to 
 them. Their whole mythology is a long feries of crimes : the whole 
 life of their gods was compofed of enmities, revenge, incefl, adultery, 
 and other bafe palTions, capable of defaming the moft degenerate of 
 men. Jove, that omnipotent father, that beginning of all things, 
 that king of men and of gods as the poets call him, appears fometimes 
 difguifed as a man to treat with Alcumena, fometimes as a fatyr to enjoy 
 Antiope, fometimes as a bull to ravifh Europa, fometimes as a fwari 
 to abufe Leda, and fometimes in a fliower of gold to corrupt Danae, 
 and at other times aflumes other forms to accomplifh his guilty de- 
 figns. In the mean time the great goddefs Juno, mad with jealoufy, 
 thinks of nothing but having revenge of her difloyal hufband. Of the 
 fame flamp were the other immortal gods ; efpecially the dii majores, 
 or feledt gods, as they were called by them ; feleól, fays St. Auguftin, 
 
 (?/) The goddefs O/iis was charged with giving affiftance to the child which was delivering, 
 and to receive it in her lap, yaticanus to open its mouth to cry, Lcvnna to raiie it from the 
 ground, Cun'nia to watch the cradle, the Carmentesto announce its deliiny, J^ortuna to favour 
 it ill all accidents. Rumina to introduce the nipple of the mother'sbreaft into the mouth of the 
 child, Pot'na took care of its drink. Educa of its pap, Faventia wiped its flabberings, Venilia 
 had to cherifh its hopes, Volupia to attend its plcafures, ji^cnoria to watch its motions, Stimula 
 to make it active, Strciui to make it courageous, Numiria to teach it numbers, Camena finging. 
 Confi to give it counfel, Senlca refolution, Juventa had charge of its youth, and FortH'ia Bar- 
 ia/rt was enjoined that important oflice of making hair grow upon adults 
 
 for
 
 H I 3 T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 439 
 
 for the funeriority of their vices, not for the excellence of their virtues. DISSERT. 
 
 ■* VIII. 
 
 But what good examples could thofe nations imitate in the gods, who, 
 while they boafted to teach virtue to men, had nothing confecrated 
 but their vices ? What merits obtained deification to Leena among 
 the Greeks, and to Lupa Faula and Paula among the Romans, but 
 that of having been famous courtezans ? From thence fprung various 
 deities, charged with the moft infamous and fliameful employments. 
 
 But what Ihall we fay of the Egyptians, who were the firfl: authors 
 of fuperftition (c) ? They not only paid worHiip to the ox, dog, cat, 
 crocodile, hawk, and other fuch animals, but likewife to leeks, oni- 
 ons, and garlick, which was "the occafion of that fatyrical faying of 
 Juvenal, fa^iSl as gente s quihus hie Jiafcimtur in hortis Numina ! and, 
 not contented with that, they deified likewife the moll indecent things. 
 That cuflom of marrying with their fifters was imagined to be author- 
 ized by the example of their gods. 
 
 The Mexicans entertained very different ideas of their deities. We 
 do not find, in all their mythology, any traces of that excefs of depravi- 
 ty which charafterifed the gods of other nations. The Mexicans ho- 
 noured the virtues not the vices of their divinites ; the bravery of Huit- 
 zilopochtli, the beneficence of Centeotl, T-zapotlatnian, and Opochtli, 
 and others, and the chaftity, juftice, and prudence of C^etzalcoatl. 
 Although they feigned deities of both fexe?, they did not marry them, 
 nor believe them capable of thofe obfccne pleafures which were fo 
 common among the Greeks and Romans. The A4exicans imagined 
 they had a ftrong averfion to every fpecies of vice, therefore their wor- 
 (liip was calculated to appeafc the anger of their deities, provoked by the 
 guilt of men, and to procure their protedlion by repentance and reli- 
 gious refpedl. 
 
 The rites obferved by thofe nations were entirely agreeable to the 
 idea they had of their gods. Supcrftition was common to them all, 
 but that of the Mexicans was lefs, and not fo puerile ; this the com- 
 parifon of their auguries will be fufficient to fhew. The Mexican di- 
 viners oblerved the figns or charaders of the days concerning marriages,' 
 journeys, 6cc. as the European aftrologers obferved the pofition of the 
 
 {0) i^os in Tcmp!a tuam Romana acccpimus Ifin. , 
 
 Semicanefque Dcos et bilìia raovciuia lutituin. Lncanui, 
 
 flars,.
 
 vili. 
 
 440 HISTORYOFMEXICO- 
 
 DISSERT. flars, to foretel from thence the fortunes of men. Both of them were 
 equally fearful of eclipfes and comets, as they fufpeóted them the 
 forerunners of great calamities. This fuperllition has been common 
 to all the people of the world. They were alfo all afraid of the voice 
 of the owl, or any other fuch bird. Thefe and other fuch fuperftitions 
 have been generalj and are ftill common to the vulgar of the old and 
 new continents, even in the center of moil cultivated Europe. But 
 all which we know of thofe American nations in this matter, is not 
 to be compared with that which we are told of the ancient Romans 
 by their poets and hiftorians. The works of Livy, Pliny, Virgil, 
 Suetonius, Valerius Maximus, and dther judicious authors, which 
 cannot be read without fmiling, lliew us to what excefs the childifh 
 fuperilition of the Romans arrived. No animal among the quadru- 
 peds reptiles and birds was not employed to foretel future events. If 
 a bird flew towards the left hand, if the raven croaked, if they heard 
 the voice of the crow, if a moufe tafted honey, if a hare pafled acrofs 
 the road, all thole incidents were prognoflics of fome great calamity. 
 Formerly there was a luflration made of all Rome for no other reafon 
 than becaufe an owl entered the Capitol {p). Not only anunals, but 
 alfo trivial and contemptible circumilances were fufficient to excite fu- 
 perilitious dread; as the fpilling of wine or fait, or the falling of fome 
 meat from table. Who would not have been amazed to contemplate 
 the arufpices perfons of fuch high refped; ferioufly occupied in examin- 
 ing the movements of the vidlims, the rtate of their intrails, and colour 
 of their blood, to prognofticate from thofe figns the principal events 
 of that famous republic ? '* I wonder," faid the great Cicero, " that 
 ** an arufpex does not fmile when he views another of his own profef- 
 fion." V/hat can be more ridiculous than that kind of augury which 
 was called tripudhim ? Who would have imagined that a nation in fome 
 refpeft^ fo enlightened, and alfo fo warlike, fliould carry along vi'ith 
 their armies, as the mofl important thing to the fuccefs of their arms, 
 a cage of chickens, and dare not to begin the battle without confulting 
 them ? If the chickens did not tafle the food which was put before 
 
 (^) Bubo funebris et maxime abominatus publicis precipue aufpiciis. . . Capitolii ccHam ip- 
 fam intravit. Sex. PapcUio lilro L.. Pedanis Cofl'. piopter <juod nonis JNIurdis urbs hiftrata 
 «1 £0 anno. Plin. Hill. Nat. lib. X. capi 12. 
 
 them
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 441 
 
 them it was a bad omen ; if, befidcs not eating it, they efcaped out of DISSFRT. 
 the cage, it was vvorfej if, on the contrary, they eat greedily, the 
 augury was mofl happy ; fo that tlie -moft efì'eótual means to fecurc 
 viólory would have been to keep* the chickens without food, until 
 they were confulted. 
 
 To fuch excefles is the fpirit of man led, svhen refigned to the ca- 
 pricious diftates of paflion, or ftimulated by fears ariling from a fenfc 
 of his own weaknefs. 
 
 But Americans, Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians were all fuper- 
 ftitious and puerile in the pradlice of their religion ; not fo how- 
 ever, in the obfcenity of their rites, becaufe we find not the leafl 
 traces in the rites of the Mexicans, ofthofe abominably culloms which 
 were fo common among the Romans and other natiojis of antiquity. 
 What could be more indecent than the Eleufinian feafls which the 
 Greeks made, or thofe which the Romans celebrated in honour of Ve- 
 nus, in the calends of April, and above all others thofe very obfcene 
 games which they exhibited in honour of Cybele, Flora, Bacchus, and 
 other fuch falfe deities ? What rite could be more obfcene than that 
 which was obferved on the ilatue of Priapus, among the nuptial cere- 
 monies ? How could they celebrate the feflivals of fuch inceltuous and 
 adulterous gods but with fuch obfcene pradlices ? How was it poiribl,e 
 they fliould have been aHwrned of thofe vices which they faw fanc- 
 tioned by their own divinities ? 
 
 It is true, that although nothing obfcene mingled with the rites of 
 the Mexicans, fome of them were fuch, as on the fuppofition of tlie 
 Divinity of their gods would have been very indecent, namely that of 
 anointing the lips of the idols with the blood of the vitìims : but 
 would it not have been more indecent to have given them blows, as the 
 Romans gave the goddefs Matuta at the Matral feafls ? Confidering 
 the error of both, the Mexicans were certainly more rational by giving 
 their gods a liquor to tafte which they imagined was acceptable to them, 
 than the Romans by executing an artion upon their goddefs which has 
 been efteemed highly infulting among all nations of the world. 
 
 What we have faid hitherto, though fufficicnt to fl)cv/ that the re- 
 ligion of the Mexicans was lefs exceptionable than that of the Romans, 
 Vol, II. L 1 1 Greeks
 
 442 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT, Greeks, or Egyptians, we are fenfible that the comparifon between 
 them ought not to have been folely with refped: to the above articles, 
 but rather with refpedl to the nature of their facrifices. We confefs, 
 that the reh'gion of the Mexicans was bloody, that their facrifices were 
 mofl cruel, and their aufterities beyond meafure barbarous; but when- 
 ever we confider what other nations of the world have done, we are 
 confounded at viewing the weaknefs of the human mind, and the 
 feries of errors into which they have fallen from their miferable fyf- 
 tems of religion. 
 
 There has been no nation in the world which has not at fome time 
 facrificed human vi<fl:ims to that god whom they adored. We know 
 from the facred writings, that the Ammonites burned fome of their 
 fons in honour of their god Moloch, and that other people of Canaan 
 did the fame, whofe example was followed by the Ifraelites. It ap- 
 pears from the fourth book of the Kings, that Achaz and Manaffeh, 
 kings of Judea, ufed that pagan rite of pafllng their fons through the 
 fire. The expreffion of the facred text appears rather to fignify a mere 
 luftration or confecration, than a burnt-offering, but the hundred and 
 fifth Pfalm does not leave a doubt that the Ifraelites ilicrificed their 
 children to the gods of the Canaanites. Of the Egyptians we know, 
 from Manetho, a prieft and celebrated hiflorlan of that nation, cited 
 by Eufebius Csfarienfis, that daily three men were facrificed in Elio- 
 polls to the goddefs Juno alone, in like manner as the Ammonites fa- 
 crificed human vi6tims to their Moloch, and the Canaanites to their 
 Beelfegor ; the Perfians facrificed to their Mitra or fun,, the Phoenicians 
 and Carthaginians to their Baal or Saturn, the Cretans to Jove, the 
 Lacedaemonians to Mars, the Phocians to Diana, the Lefbians to Bac- 
 chus, the Theflalians to the Centaur Chiron and Peleus, the Gauls to 
 Efb and Scutate (^), the Bardi of Germany to Tuijion, and other na- 
 tions 
 
 (q) A certain French author, through a blind attachment to his native country, Hardily 
 denies that human victims were ever faciificed by the Gauls ; but he adduces no authority tf> 
 confute the tellimony of Pliny, Seutonius, Diodorus,. and in particular Cafar, who was well 
 acquainted with the Gauls, and knew their cuftoms. " Natio eft omnis Gallorum," he fays, 
 »' admodiim dedita rcligionibus, atque ob earn eaufain qui funt affedi gravioribus morbis, qui- 
 "■ quein prselio periculilque verfantur, aut pro viftimis homines immolant, aut fe immolaturos 
 *' vovent, adminitiris ad ea facrificia Druidibus ; qusd pro vita horainis, nifi vita homlnis red- 
 '* datur, non polTe aliter deorura "unmortaliunr numea placar! arbitrantur, publiceque ejufdein 
 
 gemiis
 
 HISTORYOFMEXICO. 443 
 
 tions to their tutelar gods. Philon fays that the Phoenicians in public dissert, 
 
 calamities offered in lacrifice to their inhuman I3aal their dearefl ions, 
 
 and Curtius affirms that fuch facritices were in ule among the Tyrians 
 
 until the ruin of their famous city. The fame did the Carthaginians 
 
 with their countrymen in honour of Saturn the cruel. We know th.it 
 
 when they were vanquilhed by Agathocles, king of Syracufe, with a 
 
 view toappeafe their deities, whom they believed incenfed, tliey lacrificed- 
 
 two hundred noble children, befides three hundred youths who fpon- 
 
 taneoufly offered themfelves for facrifice, to ihew their bravery, their 
 
 piety towards the gods, and their love to their country ; and, as Ter- 
 
 tullian affirms, who was an African, and lived little latter than that epoch 
 
 of which we are fpeaking, and therefore ought to know it well, facri- 
 
 fices were ufed in Airica untd the time of the emperor Tiberius, as in 
 
 Gaul till the time of Claudian, as Suetonius reports. 
 
 The Pelafgians, the ancient inhabitants of Italy, facrificed a tythe of 
 their children, in order to comply with an oracle, as is related by D. 
 Halicarnafleus. The Romans, who were as fanguinary as they were fu- 
 perflitious, did not ablbin from fuch kind of facrilices. All the time 
 they were under the government of their kings, they facrihced voj"- 
 children to the goddd's Mania, mother of the Lcinrs, fertile prolperitv 
 of their houfes, to which they were direcfted by a certain oracle of Apollo, 
 as Macrobius fays ; and we know from Pliny, that human facrifices were 
 not forbid until the year 657 of Rome ; but notwithtlanding this pro- 
 hibition, thofe examples of barbarous fuperllition did not ceale; fince 
 Auguflus, as authors cited by Suetonius aiHrm, after the taking of Pe- 
 fufia, where the conful, L. Antony, had fortified himfelf, facrificed in 
 honour of his uncle Julius Csfar, who was by this time dciried by the 
 
 *' t;enuis habent inftituta facritii-ia. Alii immani ma;5;iiiti.iJiiie fnnuluCia halicnf j quorum co.i- 
 •' texta vimiiiibus membra vivis hoininibus complcnt qu-bus fuccenlii circaniventi liamin.i cx- 
 " aminantui' homines. Siipplicia cDrum cjui in . nto aut Latilcinio aut aliqua noxa lint com- 
 •' comprchenfi gratiora liiis immortalibiis efTc arb'irranrur. Scd cum ejus generis cojii.i deficit, 
 ptian) ad iniioccntiam fiijiplicia defccndunt. Lib. vi, de Belio Gallico, cap. j. Froni this it ap- 
 pears the Gauli were more cruel than the Mexicans. 
 
 (r) DCLVII. dcraum anno urbis Cu. Corn Leiituto, P. Licinio Cofi. Senatas confultu.n 
 factum ell, ne homo inwiolarctur. Plin. Hid. Nat lib. xxx. cap. i. 
 
 (/) Herufia capta in pUirimos anitandvcrtlt ; orare veni. ini, vel cxcufare fe conantibus una 
 voce occvirrcns, nioricndum clTe. t'cribunt quidam treieiitos ex JeJititiis clc^los uiriui'.jue 
 otdinis ad arani D. Julio cx{lrn>Stiro Idlb. MartHs vicliinaruiu more madUtos. Suciouius in 
 pi^aviano. 
 
 L 1 1 2 Romans,
 
 444 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 ^^ssniT. Romans, three hundred men, partly fenators and partly Roman knights, 
 upon an altar ereded to that new deity. Ladlantius, who was a man 
 well inilrudled in the affairs of the Romans, who flouriflied in the 
 fourth century of the church, iays expreflly, that even in his time, thofe 
 facrifices were made to Jupiter Latialis(^). Nor were the Spaniards free 
 from this barbarous fuperflition. Strabo recounts, in book iii. that the 
 Lufitanians facrificed prifoners, cut off their right hand to confecrate 
 it to their gods, obferved their entrails, and examined them for augu- 
 ries ; that all the inhabitants of the mountains ufed to facrifice prifon- 
 ers as well as horfes, offering their vidlims by hundreds at a time to 
 the god Mars ; and fpeaking in general, he fays, it was peculiar to the 
 Spaniards to facrifice themfelves for their friends. This is not very 
 different from what Silius Italicus reports of the Betki, his anceftors, 
 which is, that after they had paffed the age of youth, grown weary of 
 life, they committed fuicide j and which he praifes as an heroic 
 aftion. Who would believe, that ancient cuftom of Betica would 
 be revived at this time in England and France. To come to later 
 times, Mariana, in fpeaking of the Goths, who occupied Spain, 
 writes thus : " Becaufe they were perfuaded that the war would 
 " never be profperous when they did not make an offering of human 
 " blood for the army, they facrificed the prifoners of war to the god Mars, 
 •' to whom they were principally devoted, and ufed alfo to offer him 
 ' ' the firft of the fpoils, and fufpend from the trunks of trees the ikins 
 «' of thofe whom they had flain." If thofe Spaniards who wrote the 
 hlllory 'of Mexico, had not forgotten this, which happened to their 
 own peninfula, they would not have wondered fo much at the facrifices 
 of the Mexicans. 
 
 Whoever would wifli to fee more examples, may confult Eufebius 
 of Caefarea, in book iv. de Freparattone Evangelica, where he gives a 
 long detail of the nations by whom fuch barbarous facrifices were prac- 
 til'ed : what we have faid is enough to fhew that the Mexicans have 
 done nothing but trod in the fleps of the moft celebrated nations of the 
 old continent, and that their rites were neither more cruel, nor lefs 
 rational. It is, perhaps, greater cruelty and inhumanity to facrifice 
 
 {t\ LatSantius, Inilit. Divin. lib. i. cap. ir. 
 
 fel-
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 445 
 
 ftllow-citizens, children, and themfelves, as the greater part of DISSERT* 
 thofe nations did, than to facrifice prifoncrs of war as was pradtifed 
 among the MexicAns. The Mexicans were never known to facrifice 
 Éheir own countrymen, unlefs it was tbofe who forfeited their lives by 
 their crimes ; or the wives of nobles, that they might accompany their 
 hufbands to the other world. That anfwer which Montezuma gave to 
 Cortes, who reproached him for the cruelty of the Mexican facrifices,. 
 lliews us that although their fentlments were not juft, they were lefs in- 
 eonfillent-than thofe of other nations who had fallen into the fame fuper- 
 ftitions. " We," he faid, " have a right to take away the life of our; 
 " enemies j We could kill them in the heat of battle, as you do your 
 " enemies. What injuftice is there in making them, who are con- 
 " demned to death, die in honour of our gods." 
 
 The frequency of fuch facrifices was certainly not lefs in Egypt, Italy,, 
 Spain, and Gaul, than in Mexico. If in the city of Eliopolis alone, 
 they annually facrificed, as Manetho fays^more than a thoufand vidiims to 
 the goddefs Juno ; how many muft have been £icrificed in the other ci- 
 ties of Egypt to the famous goddefs Ifis, and other innumerable deities, 
 adored by that moft fuperftitious nation ? How frequent muft they 
 have been among the Pelafgians, who facrificed a tenth part of their 
 children to their gods ? What numbers of men muft have been con- 
 fumed in th»ofe hecatombs of the ancient Spaniards ? And what fliall 
 we fay of the Gauls, who, after having facrificed prifoners of war and 
 malefadtors, made alfo innocent citizens die in facrifice, as Casfar relates ? 
 The number of the Mexican facrifices has certainly been exaggerated 
 by the SpaniOi hiftorians, as we have already obferved. 
 
 The very humane Roman Sj who had Icruples in obferving human 
 entrails, although at the end of fix centuries and a half after the 
 foundation of their famous metropolis they forbid the facrifices of 
 men, ftill permitted with great frequency the gladiatorian facri- 
 fices. So we call thofe barbarous combats, which, as well as fcrving 
 for the amufement of that fierce people, were likewife prefcribed by 
 their religion. Befides the great quantity of blood fpilt at the Circenfian 
 games, and at banquetSj there was not a little alfo llied at the fu- 
 nerals of wealthy perfons, either of gladiators, or prifoners v/ho were 
 put to death to appeafc the maiies of the deccafed; and they were 
 
 fo 
 J
 
 446 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT, fo firmly perfuaded of the neceflity of fome human blood being fpilt 
 ^ '^^' for this purpofe, that when the circumftances of the dead could not 
 bear the expence of gladiators or prifoners, freficce were paid, that 
 they might draw blood from their cheeks with their nails. How many 
 vidtims muft thus have fldlen by the fuperilition of the Romans, at 
 their funerals, efpecially as they vied with each other who fhould ex- 
 ceed in the number of gladiators and prifoners whofe blood was to 
 celebrate the funeral pomp ? It was this bloody difpofition of the Ro- 
 mans which made fuch havoc on the people of Europe, Afia, and 
 Africa, and which, befides overflowed Rome with the blood of its 
 own citizens, efpecially during thofe horrid profcriptions which ful- 
 lied the glory of that famous republic. 
 
 The Mexican were not only inhuman towards their prifoners, but 
 likewife towards themfelves, by their barbarous aullerities mentioned 
 in this hiftory. But the drawing of blood with the prickles of the 
 aloes from their tongues, arms, and legs, as they all did, and the bor- 
 ing their tongue with pieces of cane, as the moft auftere amongft them 
 ufed to do, will appear but flight mortifications compared with thofe 
 dreadful and unheard of aufl:erities executed upon themfelves by peni- 
 tents of the Eafl:-Indies and Japan, which cannot be read without 
 horror. Who will ever think of comparing the inhumanities of the 
 mofl: famous Tlamacazqui of Mexico, and Tlafcala, with tliofe of the 
 prieflis of Bellona and Cybele («) ? When did the Mexicans tear their 
 limbs, .or their flefh, with their teeth, or cafl:rate themfelves in honour 
 of their gods., as thofe prieflis did in honour of Cybele ? 
 
 Laftly, the Mexicans, not content with facrificing human vidims, 
 .eat alfo their flefli. We confefs in this their inhumanity furpafl'ed other 
 
 '':.■) Dcx jNIaojnx Sacerdotes, qui G«1H vocaliaiitur, vilitia fi' i amputabant, & furc)re perciti 
 caput rorabant cr.Itiif.jue faciem mufculofque totius corporis diflecabant : niotlibus quo-nie fe 
 iplos impettbant. AiiguJ}. ,le Cfj. Dc. lib. ii. cap. -, 
 
 lUe viriles fibl p.irtes aijiputat, ills lacertos fccar. Ubi iratos Deos timcnf, qui fic propitios 
 werentur? . . . Tantiis efl perturbata; mentis & fedibus fuis pull'ie furor, ut fic Dii placentur, 
 <);iemad.moUuin nc lioinines (^uLicui fa;viunt teterrimi, Se iu tabuias traditi ciudciitacis Tyralini 
 I.iccraveruiU aliqyorum niembra ; ;ieinÌHcm faa lacerare juiicruiu. .In regia libidinis volupta- 
 ' tern call rati funt quidam ; fed nemo fibi. no vir effct, jubeiTC domino maiius intullt. Se ipfi 
 -iji tc nplis contrucidanr, vulncrlbus i'uis ac faivguijie fupplicant. Si cui int-ucri vacct qua? 
 ,faciunt, qusquc patiuntur, iiiveniet tani indccor;j honertis, tarn i uligna Uberis, tiiin diliimllla 
 fanis, lit nemo fucrit dubitaturus furere eos, fi cum pauciorlbus furerentj nunc faiiitatis pa- 
 irodniu;n4i)fanici-uium turba eft. Seneca, Uli, D-e Suprjiii. 
 
 nations ;
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 447 
 
 nations ; but examples of this kind have not been fo rare even among dessert. 
 cultivated nations of the old continent, as to make the Mexicans be , ^!il 
 clalTed with nations abfolutely barbarous. That horrible cuftoin, fays 
 the hiftorian Solis, of men eating each other, was feen firft among the 
 barbarians in our hcmilphcre, as is confefled by Gallicia, in his Annals. 
 Belides the ancient Africans, whofe defcendants at this day are in part 
 canibals, it is certain, that many of thofe nations which were formerly 
 known by the name of Scythians, and alfo the ancient inhabitants of Si- 
 cily, and the continent of Italy,, as Pliny and other authors fay, were 
 men-eaters likewife. Of the Jews, who lived in the times of Antio- 
 chus i/jc illujlrious Appion, an Egyptian, not Greek writer, as M. 
 de Paw fays,, has written, that they ufed to keep a Greek prifoner 
 to eat him at the end of one year. Livy fays of the famous Hannibal, 
 that he made his foldiers eat human flefh to encourage them to war. 
 Pliny feverely cenllires the Greeks for their cuftom of eating all the 
 parts of the human body, to cure themfelves of different diflempers {x). 
 Is there any wonder then that the Mexicans fliould do that from a 
 motive of religion, which the Greeks obferved as a rule of medicine? 
 But we do not pretend to apologife for them on this head. Their 
 religion, with refpeft to Canibalifm, was certainly more barbarous 
 than that of the Romans, Egyptians, or thofe other cultivated nations; 
 but, at the fame time, in other points, it is not to be denied, that it 
 was lefs fuperffitious, lefs abfurd, and lefs indecent. 
 
 {x) Quis invenit fingula membM humana manderc ? Qua conjeflura Indudus ? Quani po» 
 teft medicina ilia originem habuifle .'■ Quis veneficia innocentiora fecit quara remedia ? Efto,. 
 barbari exicrnique ritus invcncnnt ; ctiatn ne Grsci fuas fecere has artes r" &c. PUn,. 
 }LJi. Nat. lib. sxviii. cap. i. 
 
 D I 8 S E R-
 
 t'ìSSERTi 
 
 i 448 1 
 
 DISSERTATION IX. 
 
 On the Origin of the French Evil. 
 
 IN the prefent Differtation we have not only to difpute with M. dc 
 Paw, but alfo with almofl all Europeans, who are general'ly per- 
 fuaded that the French evil had its origin in America ; for fome nations 
 of Europe having reciprocally accufed each other of propagating this 
 opprobrious diftemper, at lafl agreed to charge it upon the new world. 
 We fhould certainly deferve to be taxed with rafhnefs in combating fo 
 univerfal an opinion, if the arguments which we are to offer, and the 
 example of two modern Europeans, did not render our attempt par- 
 donable (^). As among the fupporters of the common opinion, the 
 principal, the moil renowned, and he who has written mofl; copiouily 
 and learnedly upon the fubjeót, is Mr. Aftruc, a learned French phy- 
 fician, he will neceflarily be principally oppofed by us, for which pur- 
 pofe we (hall make ufe of thofe very materials which his work prefents 
 tous((^). 
 
 JS E C T. I. 
 
 ^he Opmian oftkejirji Fhyficians concerning the Origin of the French Evih 
 
 DURING the firfl thirty years after the French evil began to be 
 known in Italy, there was not a fingle author, as we fhall mention after- 
 wards, who afcribed the origin of it to America. All the authors 
 
 {a) Thefe two authors are William Becket, a Surs^con of London, and Antonio Ribero San- 
 chez. Becket wrote three Differtations, which were inferted in vol. xxx. aad xxxi. of the Phi- 
 fofophicLil TraufaLÌions, to prove, that the French evil was known in England as far b ick as 
 the fourteenth century. Ribero wrote a Difiertation, which was printed in Paris, with this 
 title, J): Ter tat hit fur rOrigln tk la Maladie Vcnerlenne, dans la quelle on frouve quell n'a 
 point Hi porti'e tie V Ameriquc. Having read the title of this DilTcrtatioii in the Catalogue of 
 Spanifh books and manufcripts, prefixed to Dr. Rolertfon's Hiftory of America, we fought 
 •for it in Rome, in Genoa, and Venice, but without fucccfs. 
 
 (i; De Morbis Venereis, vol. ii. Vcuicc Edition. 
 
 who
 
 HISTORY O^F .-MEXICO. 44.' 
 
 ,„H eve., foine of thofe who wrote ,^ . 
 w1,o «rote upon it. before 'S^v^f _^ „^^„,^„„ of ,vhich will ex- 
 rf-ter attributed it to diifereut .iulcs. 
 eite Ihe fnules and pity of our r^^er . ^^^^^._,„ Ci,,,,. 
 
 riisstrrsii, -.•"- 
 
 which happened in .+83- . ;„„ ^f ^We celebrated Nicolaus 
 
 Others, in agreement «uh be op^ ^_^^^^^^^ ^.^^^ ,„d ,n„ndat.on, 
 Leonicenus (r), «"'bated it o the ve y ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^.^_^ ^^g^„. 
 
 «hich happened m Italy *« J^^ "^f .,,, ,„Wernty of Ferrara afcn- 
 G. Manardi. a learned ptofelte o ^^^^^^^^ of a Vale .tun 
 
 bed the origin of the ev,l to the mpa ^^^^^^^_^ ^ ^__^ ^^ 
 gentleman «ho «as 1=^- ' «'^^^ „.,„ „,„3 alfo leprous «ah 
 to the commerce of a F'»* ?" "^ , ie,„ed Ferrarefe. athrms. 
 e profti.ute. , Antonia ""& Brafavola .^^^^^„_ ,^ ^^^^ 
 
 'iS:^^rrpr«tfrr:.r-efsinthcmou.hofthe 
 
 -gi;;. Pallopio. . celebrar. -aen^^^^>'-^^^^ 
 
 Spaniards, being fe« i" "un^ '-J^^ ^,^ ,„.„ of the «ells, of 
 
 ex'tremely numerous, one n.ght «^ ^^^^ f^„„, „,,„„ the dU- 
 
 vvhich their enemies «ere to dun 
 
 temper arofc. ,.„ ,„ element VIII. fays, he kne« from 
 
 , A^^ea Cefalpino, phyl.c»n '«^^J „,,„ ,,e Trench be-_ 
 
 ,hofe who «ere prelent at the war o P^^^^ .^ ^ g,.,, abundance of 
 
 fieged Somn», a place "f/' ?:" ;;,„j, ,fcaped one night m lecret. 
 
 dam, &c- o/"/'"' ' r^X irv m 
 
 Vol. ^I-
 
 450 
 
 HIST OP. Y OF MEXICO. 
 
 pisf ERT» Leonardo Fioravanti, a learned Bolognefe phyficia.n, fays in his work,. 
 ^^* entitled, Capricci Mediciimli^ that he was informed by the fon of one 
 who had been futler to the army of Ahbnfo, king of Naples, about 
 the year 1456, that the army of the king, as well as the French, be- 
 coming fliort ofprovifions froin the length of the war, the futler fup- 
 plied them both with dreffed human flelh, and that from thence fprung 
 the French evil. The celebrated chancellor Bacon, lord Verulam,, 
 adds [d],. that the flclh fupplied them^ was of men killed in- Barbary^ 
 which they prepared like the tunny fiih. 
 
 As no body knew, nor could know, who v/as the firft in Europe 
 that fuftered that great evil, neither can we know the gaufe of it : but 
 let us attend to. what may have happened. 
 
 S E C T., II. -" 
 
 'The French Evil could be commimicated to 'Europe from other Countries 
 
 of the old Continent. 
 
 TO prove that the French evil could be communicated by means 
 of contagion to Europe, from other countries of the fame continent, 
 it is neceflary, but will be alfo fufficient to fhew that that evil was 
 firll felt in forne of thofe countries, and that they had commerce with 
 Europe before the new world was difcovered. Both of thefe points 
 fhall be fully demonflrated. 
 
 Vatablo, Pineda, Calmet, and other authors, have maintained, that 
 among the dillempers with which Job was aftlided, the French evil 
 was one. This opinion is fo ancient, that as foon as that evil appear- 
 ed in Italy, fome called it the evil of Job, as Battifta Fulgofio, an au- 
 thor then living, atteils (c'). Calmet attempts/^)' to prove his opinion 
 with a great deal of erudition j but as we know nothing of the com- 
 plaints of Job, except what is mentioned in the facred books, which 
 may eafily be conceived to fpeak of other diflempers then known, or 
 of fome one entirely unknown to us, we can therefore build little on 
 this opinion. 
 
 {d) Sylva Sylvarum. ccntur. i. ait. 2'. 
 
 («; In a work eatitled, Ditta Fatìar^ue Memorabilia, lib, i. c. ^, 
 
 (/) Diflert. in Morbum Jobi. 
 
 Andre
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 451 
 
 Andre Thevet, a French geographer (g), and other authors affirm, DISSERT, 
 that the French evil was endemic in the internal provinces of Africa, 
 fituate on both fides of the river Senegal . 
 
 And Cleyer, firil phyfician of the Dutch colony, in the ifland of 
 Java, fays (/>), that the venereal difeafe was proper and natural to that 
 ille, and as common as the quotidian fever. Thuanus has aflirmed 
 the fame thing (/). 
 
 J. Bonzius, phylician to the Dutch in the Ealt-Indies, teftifies, that 
 (/é) that dilliemper was endemic in Amboyna and the Moluccas, and 
 that it was not neceffary to have any previous carnal commerce to catch 
 the infeftion. This was confirmed in part by the account of the com- 
 panions of Magellan, the firft who made the tour of the world in the 
 famous veflel, ViBory, who attcfted, as Herrera fays(/), that they 
 found in Timor, an illand of the Moluccan Archipelago, a great num- 
 ber of the iflanders infedled with the French evil ; which was cer- 
 tainly neither carried tliere by the Americans nor Europeans, previoully 
 difeafcd. 
 
 Forneau, a French Jefuit, learned, accurate, and experienced in 
 the affairs of China, having been afked by Mr. Aftruc (w), if the phy- 
 ficians of China thought the venereal diflemper originated in their 
 country, or brought there from other places ; anfwered, that the Chi- 
 nefe phyficians whom he had confulted were of opinion, that that dif- 
 temper was luffered there fmce the earliell antiquity; and that the 
 Chinefe books written in Chiiiefe charadters, which were eflcemed by 
 them to be ancient, faid nothing of the origin of that difeafe, but make 
 nicntion of it as a diftemper very ancient even at that time, in which 
 thefe books were written j that alfo it was neither known, nor 
 probable, that the diftemper was carried there from other countries. 
 
 Laftly, Dr. Aftruc fays, according to iiis opinion («), after having 
 examined and weighed the teftimonies of authors, that the venereal 
 
 {g) Cofmojjiaphie Univcrfclle, liv. i. cip. ii. (/>) Epift. ad Clirift. Mentzaliuin. 
 
 (/) Hift. Sui Teinporis, cap. 71. 
 
 {k) In Mtthodo mcdcntli quo in Indiis Orientalibus oportet uti lu cura morborum iilic vulgo 
 ac popniaritcr graflantium. 
 (/) Dec. III. lib. iv. cap. 1. 
 
 (m) Diflirt, de Origine Morborum Venercorura inter Siirias. Ad Cale. toni. i. 
 (u) DcMorbis Vcnereis, lib. i. cap. 11. 
 
 M m n) 2 dilcifc
 
 452 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 DISSERT, dileifè was not peculiar folely to the ifland Haiti, or Hifpaniola, but 
 alfe common to many regions of the old continent, and, perhaps, to 
 alitile equinoiSial countries of the world in which it prevailed from 
 antiquity. This ingenuous confefTion, from a perfon fo well informed 
 on this fubjeifl, and befides fo prejudiced againfl America, as well as the 
 teftinionierabove mentioned, are fufficient to demonftrate, that although 
 we fuppofe the French evil to have been anciently exifting in the new 
 world, nothing can be adduced on this fubjed: by the Europeans againft 
 America, that cannot be laid by America againfl many countries of the 
 old world, and that if the blood of the Americans was corrupted, as 
 M. de Paw would argue, that of the Aliatics and Africans was not- 
 more wholfome. 
 
 Dr. Aftruc adds, that from thofe countries of Afia and Africa, in 
 which the French evil was endemic, it might be communicated by 
 commerce to the neighbouring people, though not to the Europeans ; 
 becaufe, the torrid zone having been deemed uninhabitable, there was 
 no commerce between thofe countries and Europe. But who is igno- 
 rant of the commerce which Egypt had for many centuries with the 
 equinodlial countries of Afia, and on another fide with Italy ? Why there- 
 fore, might not the Afiatic merchants have brought along with their drugs 
 the French difeafe into Egypt, and from thence the Venetians, Genoefe, 
 and Pilans, carry it into Italy, as they had for along time a continual 
 commerce v/ith the city of Alexandria, . in the fame manner as other 
 Europeans carried into Italy from Soria and Arabia, the leprofy and 
 fmall-pox Ì Befides, among the many Europeans, who, from the twelfth 
 century forward, undertook to travel into the fouthern countries of 
 Afia, namely B. di Tudela, Carpini, Marco Polo, and Mandeville ; 
 amongft whom fome, as M, de Paw fays, advanced as- far as China, 
 might not one bring with him on his return to Europe, the infediion 
 from thofe Afiatic countries ? Here we do not treat of what adually 
 did happen, but only of that which might have happened. 
 
 The French evil might not only pafs from Afia, but alfo from A- 
 frica into Europe, before the difcovery of America j as the Portuguefe, 
 thirty years before the glorious expedition of Columbus, had difcovered 
 a, great piirt of the equinoftial countries of Africa, and carried on com- 
 merce there. Might not fome Portuguefe, therefore, infeóted thence with 
 
 the
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O^ 353 
 
 the French evil, communicate it to his country people, and in courfe DISSIUIT. 
 to other nations of Europe, as poflibly did happen from what we lliall 
 fay prefently ? Dr. Aftruc may thus obferve, by how many channels the 
 French ev<il might be communicated to Europe without the interven- 
 tion of America, aidiou^h the. ancients conceived the torrid zone in- 
 acceiTible. 
 
 SECT. III. 
 The French Evil might arife in Europe ivithout Contagiati. 
 
 BEFORE we handle this argument, it is neceflary to fay a little oa- 
 the nature and phyfical caufe of this diftemper. The French diftemper 
 is, according to phyficians, a fpecies of cachexia, in which the lymph, 
 and particularly the wheyifli part of it, aflumes a fingular thicknefs- 
 and acrim.ony. The venereal poifon, fays Aftruc (.0), is of a fait, or 
 rather acid fait, corrofive, and fixed nature. It occafions the conden- 
 fation and acrimony of the lymph, and from thence proceed the in- 
 flammations, warts, ulcers, erofions, pains, and all the other horrid 
 iymptoms known to phyficians. 
 
 This poifon, when communicated to a found man, ought not to be 
 confidered, fays this author, as a new humour added to the natural 
 humours, but rather as a mere dyfcrajia, or vicious quality of the na- 
 tural humours, which degenerating from their natural fiate, are changed 
 into acid falts. 
 
 Almofl all phyficians have been perfuaded, that this evil cannot 
 arife otherwite than by means of contagion communicated by the femi- 
 nal liquor, or by milk, or faliva, or fweat,, or by contadt with vene- 
 real ulcers, &c. But we prefume to maintain, that the French evil' 
 can pofitively be produced in man, without any contagion or commu-- 
 nication with thofe infeded; becaufe it can abfolutely be generated in 
 die fame manner as it was generated in the firft perfon-who fuffered 
 it; fuch perfon could not get it by contagion, becaufe he would not 
 in that cafe been the firft who fuffcred it,, but from another caufe 
 very different ; therefore, by a fimilar caufe, whatever it was, forno 
 
 <'t) Ib'd. Lib. ii. cap. 2.- 
 
 cachexia^
 
 .454 
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 DlSsraiT. cachexia might have been produced without contagion, in other indi- 
 viduals of the human fpecies. This is true, fiiys Aftruc in America, 
 .or another fuch country, but not in Europe. But wherefore exempt 
 Europe? Becaufe, fays this author, the caufes which could at firft 
 have occafioned this evil in America, do not tuke place there j and 
 what are thofe caufes ? Let us examine them. 
 
 In the firft place Dr. Aftruc fays (/>) that the air ought not to be 
 jiumbered among the caufes, as although it might occafion other difor- 
 ,ders in the iiland of Hifpaniola, it could not caufe the venereal dif- 
 eafe, becaufe the Europeans who for two hundred years and upwards 
 inhabited that illand have not contracted that diflemper but by means 
 .of contagion J and the air is not at prefent different to what it was 
 three hundred years ago : and if it fliould be different at prefent, at 
 leaft it was not fo in the beginning of the fifteenyth century. We 
 ought, therefore, to make no conclufions from the air in treating of 
 .the origin ©f this evil. Although Dr. Aftruc excludes the air from 
 the number of the caufes of the French evil, he has recourfe to it in 
 open contradidion to himfelf, in another place. 
 
 Two caufes alone are afligned by Dr. Aftruc ; thefe are food and 
 
 heat. As to food, he fays, that the inhabitants of HifpAniola, when 
 
 .their maize, cafava, ecc. was fcarce, fed on frogs, worms, bats, and 
 
 /uch like fmall animals. With refpcd to heat he affirms, that the 
 
 women of hot countries are much afflidled with .acrid, and, as it were, 
 
 -virulent courfes, particularly if they eat unwholefome food. On that 
 
 fuppofition the author fpeaks thus : " Multis ergo & graviffimis inorbis 
 
 " indigence infuls Haiti affici olim debuerunt, ubi nemo a menftruatis 
 
 ■** mulieribus fe continebat : ubi viri hbidine impotentes in venerem 
 
 -*• obviam belluarum ritu agebantur : ubi mulieres, quoi impudentiffimas 
 
 *' erantj viros promitcue admittebant, ut teftatur Confalvus de Oviedo 
 
 " Hift. Indiar, lib. v. cap. 3. immo eofdem & piures impudentius 
 
 ••* provocabant nienftruationis tempore, cum tunc incalefcente utero 
 
 (a) \ iJctur qulikm e numero caufarum expungenJus aer, qui in Hifpaniola mnrbos alios 
 forfan inferre poiuit, at vere luem veneream minime. Uti()ue conftar. Europrcos, qui earn 
 jnCulain jama :oo annis {immo f cue -ioo) incolunt luem veiicream ibidem nunquam contraxiffe 
 nifi coiit;i2.ionc. Eurcpxl tamen acrem ibiJc-m ducunt & eundcni, quein olim ducebant indioe- 
 .na?, & dubio jjrocul eodem jnodo. temperatura & conllitutum, Allruc De Morbis Vencreìs, lib. i. 
 
 .C. 12.. i 
 
 " Jibi-
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 455 
 
 ** libidfne magis infanirent pecudum more. Quid igitur mirum varia, DISSERT. 
 
 ** heterogenea, acria multorum virorum femina una confuta, cum a- 
 
 ** cerrimo & virulento menflruofanguine mixta intra uteriim asftuantem 
 
 *' & olidum fpurcifllmarum mulierumcoercita, mora, h&terogeneitate, 
 
 ** calore loci brevi computruiffe,. ac prima morbi venerei leminia con- 
 
 *' ftiturfle, quas in alios, fi qui forte continentiores erant, dimana-' 
 
 '* vere?" 
 
 This is the whole difcourfe of Dr. Aftrue on -the origin of the vene- 
 real diflemper, and is full from Ijeginning to end of fallity, as we ihall 
 prefently- demonftrate: but allowing that it was true what he fays 
 happened in Hifpaniola, the famo thing might have happened in 
 Europe ; becaufe as thofe Americans when they were in want of 
 maize and other food fed on frogs, worms,. &c. in like manner the 
 Europeans, when they were in want of wheat and other good ali- 
 ment, have been obliged to eat rats, lizards, and fueh little 
 animals, the excrements of other animals, and even bread made of 
 human bone», which- brought them various difordcrs. It is fufficient 
 to call to mind the horrid famine formerly fuffered in Europe, partly 
 lay fevere weather, partly by war. There have been men too there who 
 have, likebeafts, allowed themfelves to be led away by intemperate lu(t 
 to the moft execrable excefles. Tliere have always been abandoned 
 and jfilthy women too,-and what Plautus faid might be affirmed with re- 
 fpe<fl to them, Plus Jcortofum- ibi eji, quam mufcarumtum, cum ca!m- 
 etur maxume. Extreme acrid feminal fluids, uteri efluantes and virulent 
 courfes, have never been wanting either. Such caufes therefore could 
 have produced the French evil in Europe, as they produced, it accord- 
 ing to Aftruc, in America. 
 
 " No," anfwers this author ; " they could not ; becaufe the air being 
 ** more temperate in Europe, (he has recourfe to the air, after he had ex- 
 ** eluded it from the number of caufes of the French evil) >/j?« adeji eadem 
 " in virorum femine acrimonia, eadem in menjlricojanguine virulentia, idem 
 ** in utero mulicrum fervor, quales in infula Haiti fitijjeprobatum eft : (the 
 " proofs of Dr. Aftruc are no others than thofe above, fet forth whence 
 *' he adds,) that thofe fymptoms cannot be produced there from a hmilar 
 " concourfe of caufes. Of difcafcs, and their caufes alfo, we ought to* 
 "judge, as of the generation of animals and plants. As lions are not 
 
 bvcd
 
 456 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I C O. 
 
 DISSERT. *' bred in Europe, nor apes propagate, nor parrots build theii* ncils nor, 
 
 v,=— V-! » " many Indian or American plants grow in Europe, although they are 
 
 *' fown there J in like manner, the French evil could never be pro- 
 *-* duced in Europe by thefe caufes, from whence, as we have already 
 " laid it was, produced in Hifpaniola; becaufe every clime has its par- 
 ^' ticular properties, and thofe things which arife in one dime fpon- 
 *' taneouily can by no art be produced in another ; for as the poet fays, 
 ■«< non omnis fert omnia tellus".. ' 
 
 We ihall grant many things to Dr. Aflruc which would not be 
 -granted to him by any other perfon. We grant that there has never 
 'been in Europe xhatdhM^t oi f emini arum menjlruatarum, nor thatacrif 
 mony nor virulence in the fluids of the human body, nor that heat in 
 the uterus which he fuppofes in the ifland of Hifpaniola ; although 
 ■the contrary appears from the books of medicine publiflied in thefe 
 lafl: two hundred years. We grant to him that they have no examples 
 -there of luxurious exceiì'es ; becaufe to liim it appears too much to 
 •confefs therri to have been in Europe (y) ; and we grant to him alfo, 
 diat all the women of Europe have been mofl healthy and chafte. All 
 ■that we grant to him, though it is contradifted by hiflory, and the 
 ■common opinion of Europeans themfelves. Notwithflanding, we af- 
 firm, that the French evil could be generated in Europe without con- 
 tagion ; becaufe all thole diforders which Aflruc fuppofes to belong to 
 4he ifland of Hifpaniola, could alfo take place in Europe, although 
 .they never had been known there. Thofe chafl:e women induced by 
 violent pafTions, which are common to all the children of Adam, 
 ■might become as incontinent and abandoned as that author fuppofes the 
 ^Americans of Hifpaniola were. Thofe found and healthy men might 
 ■find an aliment as pernicious as that which was the food of the natives 
 oi Haiti. The human fperm, which of itfelf is very acrid, as Ailruc 
 ■lays, might, by reafon of unwholefomefood, become more and more fo, 
 until it hjid that degree of acrimony, which produces the venereal ail- 
 ■ment. The menfes might become virulent, either from fuppreffion, 
 -or plethora, or many other caufes in the fluids or the vefl'els. It ap- 
 
 (<j) Sed eflo : demus in Europa veiwrem i-qiie iinpuram, atqiic in Hifpaniola exerceri; 
 .neqiic enim contra pugnare placej;, (juan^iiam ea tamf;n nimia videanuir. j^Jiruc De Morbis 
 Vtnerris, lib. j, cap. u. 
 
 pears
 
 IX. 
 
 HIS TORYOP MEXICO. 457 
 
 pears from the letters of Chriftopher Columbus, quoted by his learn- dissert. 
 cd fon D. Ferdinand, that he landed the firfl time in Hifpaniola, on 
 the 24th of December, 1492, becaufe a veflfel of his miferable fleet had 
 ftruck upon a fand bank ; that all the time he remained there from the 
 24th of December to the 4th of January, they were employed in get- 
 ting the wood and timbers of the vefTel up from the fand, to eredt a 
 little fortrefs, in which he left forty men, and embarked that fame day 
 with the reft of his people for Spain, to bear the news of the difco- 
 very of that new world. All the circumftances of their arrival in that 
 ifland do not allow us to fufpedt, that the Spaniards had opportunity 
 to have fuch commerce with any of the American women as to 
 depart infedted by them. Tlieir mutual admiration of each other, the 
 fight of fo many new objeóls, and the very ihort ftay of only eleven 
 days, which were employed in the great fatigue of getting up the 
 wreck, and ere<5ling that fort in fo much hafte, after the inconveni- 
 encies of the longeft and the moft dangerous voyage which had ever 
 been performed, make a conjedlure of this kind entirely improbable. 
 It is not lefs improbable, from the filence of Columbus himfelf, his 
 fon D. Ferdinand, and of Peter Martyr d'Angheira, who in defcrib- 
 ing the fufferings of that voyage, lay nothing of fuch a diflempcr. 
 
 But although we fliould grant, that thofe Spaniards who returned 
 from the firfl: voyage were infected by the French evil, we fhould fl:ill 
 fay, that the contagion of Europe did not proceed from them, ac- 
 cording to the teftimony of fome refpedable authors then living. Gaf- 
 pare Torrella, a learned phylician above mentioned, fays, in his work, 
 entitled, Aphrodyjiacum (r), that the French evil began in Alverne, a 
 province of France, very difl:ant from Spain, in 1493. ^- Eulgofio or 
 Fregofo, doge of Genoa, in 1478, in his curious u'ork, entitled, D'lSla 
 Fattaque Memorabilia t and printed in 1509, affirms (j), that theFrench 
 evil began to be known two years before Charles VIII. came into Italy. 
 
 (r; Incepit I11C maligna atgritudo in Alvernii snno M.CCCCXCIII. & fi*: per contagio 
 nem pervenit, &c. 
 
 (j) Biennio antequam in Italiam Caroliis (VIII.) yenirct, nova legiitudo inter inoitalcs de- 
 teft:i fuit, cui ncc noincn, nee remcdia Medici ex veteriiin Aiictori:m diftiplina invenicbant, 
 varie, ut rcgiones erant, appellata. In Gallia Neapolitanum dixcrunt morbum, at in Italia 
 Gallicum appellabant. Lib. i. cap. 4. fcCt. ultimo. 
 
 Vol. II. N n n He
 
 458 H I S T O R Y O F M E X.I C O. 
 
 DISSERT. He came Into Italy, in September 1494, therefore that evil was knows 
 ever lìnee 1492, or at the lateft in 1493, ^^^^ '^^> ^0"^^ years before 
 Columbus returned from his firft voyage. Juan Leone, once a Maho- 
 inetan, a native of Granada in Spain, vulgarly called Leone Africano, in 
 his defcription of Africa, written in Rome, under the pontificate of Leo 
 X. after he was converted, lays, that the Hebrews, when driven from 
 Spain, in the times of Ferdinand the Catholic, carried the French evil 
 into Barbary, and infedted the Africans ; on which account it was ' 
 then called the Spanijh cvilij). The edi(5t of the Catholic kings ref- 
 pe(fling the expulfion of the Hebrews, was publilhed in March 1492, 
 as Mariana fays, allowing them no more than four months to fell all 
 their efFedls, if they did not chufe to carry them along with them ; 
 and in the following month, another edidl was publifhed by T. Tor- 
 quemada, inquifitor-general, in which it was prohibited to Chriflians, 
 under the heavieft penalties, to treat with the Hebrews, or to furnifh 
 them with provifions after the term prefcribed by the king ; fo that all 
 but thofe who became, or feigned to be Chriftians, were compelled to 
 quit Spain, before Columbus fet out to difcover America, as he did 
 not weigh anchor before the 3d of Auguft that year ; the French 
 evil, therefore, began in Europe before America was difcovered. We 
 find befides, among the poetry of Pacificus Maximus, a poet of Af- 
 coli, publiflied in Florence, in 1479, fome verfes, in which he de- 
 fcribes the gonorrhcea virulenta and venereal ulcers which he fuffered, 
 occafioned by his excefles (z/). 
 
 Oviedo, not content with afiirming, that the French evil came from 
 Ilifpaniola, attempts to prove it. Behold his firfl proof, i. That 
 horrid complaint of the biles is cured by the guaiacum better than any 
 other medicine ; and Divine mercy ivhere it permits evil for our /ins, 
 provides there, in compajjion to us, a remedy. If this argument could 
 
 {t) Hujus mali ne nomcn quklem ipfis Africaiiis notiim erat aiitequam Hifpaniaium Rex 
 FcrJinaiidus Judaeos onines ex Hifpania piofligaHet : qui ubi in patriam jam rcdiifl'ent, caepcrunt 
 miferi quidam ac fceleratiffiini .^ithiopcs cum illorum mulieiibus habere commefcium, ac fie 
 tandem veluti per manui peliii hxc per totam fc fparfit regioriem, ita ut vis fit familia, quse 
 ab hoi: malo runa-ferit libera. Id aiiteui fibi firinillime atque indubitate perfuaferunt ex Hif- 
 pania ad illos tt, fiiiigraffe. Quamobrem 5c illi morbo Malum Hiffauicum ^ne nomine deflitue- 
 rettir) indiderunt. Lib. i, 
 
 (u) Hccatalegil, lib. iii. Ad Priapum et lib. viii. ad Mentulara. We Jo not copy the 
 \f rfes on account ot their iudecci-cy. 
 
 hold.
 
 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 459 
 
 hold, we rtiould conclude, that Europe, rather than Hifpaniola, Was DISSERT. 
 the native country of the French eviJ : as many perfons know that ^^ ' 
 the mofl powerful remedy againft that diforder is mercury, which is 
 common in Europe, but has not been found in Hifpaniola, nor known 
 by the Indians : it is certain, that as foon as the French difeafe ap- 
 peared in Europe mercury was employed, and that Carpi, Torcila, 
 Vigo, Hoock, and many other famous phyficians of that time, made 
 ufe of it, although it was difcredited afterwards by the indifcretion of 
 fome empyrics, and grew for fome time into dilufe. Guaiacum was 
 not firft made ufe of until 1517, twenty-five years after the difcovery 
 of the French evil. Sarfaparilla began to be employed in 1535, and 
 China root about the fime time; and fa(fafras a little after. 
 
 The other proof by Oviedo, for he only offers two, is, that among 
 the Spaniards who returned with Columbus from his fecond voyage in 
 1496, was D. P. Margvirit, a Catalonian, " wha," he fays, " wasfoail- 
 *' ing, and complained fo much, that I do believe he felt thofe pains 
 '• which perfons infedled with fuch diftempers feel, though I never faw 
 " a pimple in his face. A few months after in the fame year, this ail- 
 " ment began to be felt amongft feme proftitutes ; for, at firll, the dif- 
 *' temper was confined to low people. It happened afterwards, that the 
 " great captain was fent witii a large and fine army into Italy, . . . and 
 " among thofe Spaniards who went in this force were many infedled with 
 *' this diftemper ; from whom, by means of women, &c." fuch are Ovi- 
 edo's proofs, which have not merited even this mention. 
 
 M. dc Paw thinks he has gained the argument, and demonftrated 
 the truth of the common opinion, from the teftimony ot Roderigo 
 Diaz de Ida, a phyfician of Seville, whom he calls a contemporary 
 author, as he thinks his teftimony detifive ; but Diaz was neitlier a 
 contemporary author, having wriiten fixty years after the difcovery of 
 the French evil, nor does his account merit any faith. He fiiys, that 
 the firll: Spaniards, when they returned with Columbus from Hifpa-- 
 niola, in 1493, carried the contagion to Barcelona where the court 
 was then held ; that this city v\as the firft infected ; that it niade fucJl 
 havoc there, that prayers, falling, and almfgiving were appointed to 
 appeafe the anger of God; that Charles of France, having gone 
 the year after into Italy, certain Spaniards who were infedled there, 
 
 N n n 2 or
 
 46o HISTORY OF MEXICO.' 
 
 DISSFRT. or many regiments, as M. de Paw fays, fent by Spain, to repel the 
 . invafion of king Charles, gave the French the infedion. But we 
 know from hiflory, that no regiment, either found or infeéled, nor 
 any other Spaniard were fent into Italy before Charles went out of Na- 
 ples with his army, then infeéled, to return into France. With ref- 
 ped to the contagion of Barcelona, we know that when Columbus 
 arrived, Oviedo was then at that place. But if that which the Se- 
 villian phyfician relates is true, Oviedo, who was fearching every 
 where for proofs to confirm his extravagant opinion, w'ould moft un- 
 queftionably have alledged the havoc occafioned there, thofe prayers,, 
 faftings, and charities, and not have made ufe of thofe miferable proofs 
 oi guaiacuWi and the complainings of Margarit. But befides, the French: 
 evil is ftil! more ancient than that epoch in Europe, as we have al- 
 ready explained. 
 
 It appears, that the phyficians of Seville in thofe times were the 
 worft informed with refpedl to the origin of the French evil ; as Ni- 
 colas Monardes, a phyfician alfo of that city, and contemporary of Diaz, 
 gives fo fabulous an account of it, that we cannot read it without lof- 
 ing all patience. He fays, " that in the year 1493, ^" ^^ ^^^ o^ 
 *' Naples, between the Catholic and the French kings, Columbus ar- 
 •' rived after his firll difcovery of the ifland of Hifpaniola, and brought 
 ** with him from that ifland a multitude of Indians, men and women, 
 " whom he cai-ried to Naples, where the Catholic king then was,, af- 
 " ter the war was over. And as there was peace between the two 
 *' kings, and the armies communicated, together,, when Columbus 
 " came there with hi& Indian men and women, the Spaniards began 
 " to have commerce with the Indian women, and the Indians with the 
 ** Spaniili women, and in that manner the Indian men and women, 
 *■' infedted the Spanifli army, the Italians, Germans, &c." Who 
 could believe, that a literary Spaniard would disfigure the public fafts 
 of his own nation, which occurred not more than eighty years before, 
 fo. much that not one of his propofitions is corredi ; but when he means 
 to difparage America he lofes alJ regard to truth. It is certain and 
 notorious, that there was no war between Spain and France in 1493 5 
 that the Catholic king was not then in Naples, but in Barcelona, nor 
 recovered of his wounds which he had received from a mad perfon ^ 
 
 that
 
 TT r S T O R Y O F M E X r e 0\ 461' 
 
 that Columbus did not brine; with liim a multitude of Indian men and DIS^f.rt. 
 
 • IX 
 
 women, but only ten men ; that Columbus did never come into Italy 
 after his glorious expedition ; that the Indians he brought with him 
 tiever favv Italy. 
 
 After having made the moft diligent enquiry, we difcover no 
 grounds for believing the French evil came from America into Eu- 
 lOpe ; we rather find ourfelves induced to believe it as well as the fmall- 
 pox, was brought from Europe to America, i. Becaufe, neither Co- 
 lumbus, in his journal^ nor his fon, in the life of his renowned fa- 
 ther, who faw thofe countries, and noted their peculiarities, make 
 mention of the French evil, although fhey relate minutely the hard- 
 ships and fufferings of the firlì: voyages. Neither is there any men- 
 tion made of it in the hiftories of thofe countries written by Peter 
 Martyr of Anghcira (x), an author contemporary with Columbus, and 
 well-informed, having been prothonotarv to the council of the Indies, 
 and abbot of Jamaica. Oviedo, the hrft who attributed that diftem- 
 per to America, did not go there till twenty years after the ifland 
 Haiti had been inhabited by the Spaniards. What we fay of the li- 
 lence of tliefe authors refpecfting the Antilles, we may alfo fay of that 
 of the firft hiftorians of the other countries of America. 2. If Ame- 
 rica had been the real native country of the French evil, and if the 
 Americans had been the firft who fuffered it, it would have been more 
 prevalent there than in any other country, and the Americans would 
 have been more fubjeft than any other nation to that evil ; but this 
 is not the cafe. Of the Indians of the Antilles we can fay nothings 
 for it is now two centuries fince they have been totally extinft : but 
 among the prefent inhabitants of thofe iflands, that contagion is lefs 
 frequent than among the people in Europe, and fcldom appears but 
 where there are a great concourfe of foldiers and feamen. In the ca- 
 pital of Mexico, fome Whites and Indians are infeded with the vene- 
 real diforder, but very few in proportion to the number of the inha- 
 bitants. In other great cities of that vart: kingdom, the contagion is 
 extremely rare, and in fome it is hardly known ; but in thofe fettle- 
 
 (x) Of :iU things which were biou^ht ffom the Weft Indies belorginj; to the art of medi- 
 tiae. Pitrc i.- cap. 9. 
 
 I meots
 
 402 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 
 
 DISSERT, ments of Americans, where there is no refort of Teamen ©r foldiers. 
 
 IX 
 
 ^J , the diflemper is never feen or heard of. With refped: to South A- 
 
 merica, we have been informed by perfons of accuracy, ilncerity, 
 and great acquaintance with thofe countries, befides what we have 
 known ourfelves, that in the provinces of Chih, and thofe of Para- 
 guay, that diftemper is extremely uncommon among the whites, and 
 never feen among the Americans. Some millionaries who have re- 
 fided fome twenty, others thirty years among different nations of A- 
 merica, agree in affirming, that they have never feen a perfon infedted 
 with that difeafe, nor ever known that any was. 
 
 As to the provinces of Peru and Quito, Ulloafays {y\ that although 
 in thofe countries the venereal diftemper is common among the whites, 
 and other races of men, it is very rare to fee an Indian infeóted. Ame- 
 rica, therefore, is not the parent of that difeafe, of that evil, as has 
 been vulgarly faid, nor ought fuch a diflemper, as M. de Paw would 
 infinuate, to be, conlidered as a confequence of the corrupted blood, 
 and vitiated conflitution of the Americans. 
 
 What then is the native country of the French evil ; as it neither 
 derives its origin from Europe nor America ? We do not know. But 
 in the rnidft of uncertainty if we may be allowed to conjeóture, we ì\ii~ 
 petì that contagion to have come from Guinea, or fome other equi- 
 nodial country of Africa. The verv learned Englifli phyiician Syden- 
 hrm was of this opinion (s), and it is ftrengthened by what is affirmed 
 by Battifta Fulgofio, an eye-witnefs of the beginning of the French 
 evil in Europe. He fays, in the work which we have already cited (^), 
 -that :the French evil was brought from Spain into Italy, and from E- 
 
 ( J ) It appears, th;it this aiitlicrlias confoLiiided the French evil with the fcurvy ; for we 
 
 'Icnow that Dr. Giulio Rondoli Pefarefe, a famous phyfician of Sièira, affirmed to a perfon of 
 
 credit, that amongft many who were thought infeiTtcd with the French evil, and whom he 
 
 curcdj he had not found any who was really infc(.'"ted with that dillempc r ; but that all were fcor- 
 
 "batic, and thit he had fuccceded in curinjy th- m, bv ulin'; the rcincdies' for the fcurvy. 
 
 {^) Sydenham aHiriiis in one of his Icttfrf, that the French evil is as foreign-to Aniericn as to 
 Euiope, ai;d that it was brought there by the Moois from Guinea ; but ii is not true, that the 
 "Moors brought it to .america, for the didcmpcr was known before theywéré ferou'ìit to HiV- 
 paniola. .._ 
 
 («) (J_i_i;e pciiis {ita filini vifa ell.l primo ex Hlfpania in Italiani aliata ad Hifjxinos ex /Ethio- 
 pia^' brevi totani terrarum orbcni comprehcndit. Falgo. Dli't. l'adorunn^ue JMemorab. lib. 
 i. cap. 4. ' 
 
 thlopia
 
 H I S T O R Y O F M E X I e O. 463 
 
 thiopla into Spain. Aftruc pretends that Fulgoiio means America, DISSERT. 
 
 under the name of Ethiopia. This is a curious method of folving a y ' j 
 
 difficulty. But who ever called Ethiopia America ? We know, on 
 
 the contrary, that it was common among the authors of that century, 
 
 to give the name of Ethiopia to any country inhabited by black men, 
 
 and to call fuch men Ethiopians ; Co that the natural fenfe of the 
 
 words of Fulgofio is, that the French evil was brought from the equi- 
 
 nodlial countries of Africa into Lufitanian Spain, or Portugal j but 
 
 this we dare not take upon us to maintain, unlefs we had made more 
 
 enquiries, and obtained ftronger proofs from authors of faith and 
 
 authenticity. 
 
 N I S.
 
 "Mg i,
 
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