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Show ro6 H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. qnity of their feparation. The principal places w~ich they inhabited were on the weil:ern mountains of the vale of Mexico, and formed the province 'of Mazahuacan, belonging to the crow1: of Tacub~. The Matlatzincas made a confidcrable fl:ate m the fertile vale of Toluca; and, however great, anciently, their reputation was for bravery, they wen~, notwithfbnding, fllbjeCl:ed to the crown of Mexico, by king Axayacatl. . . The Miztecas and Zapotccas peopled the vaft countncs of th en· name, to the fouth-eaft of T ezcuco. T he numerous il:ates into whi h 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 ch:ilized and induil:rious ; ihey h ad 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 ( z ). Since the conqtie.il:, the Miztecas and Zapotecas have been the moil: indufi:rious people of New Spain. While the commerce of filk lail:ed, they were the fee~ers of the worms ; and to their labours is owing all the cochineal, which for many years, until the prefent time, has been imported from Mexico 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 refpeCl:able 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 command of the Lord, to people that land. They fay alfo that the firfl: 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 fay, was not governed by a king, but by two military chiefs, eleCted by priefts. Thus they remained until they were fubjected by ~ ( z) See tl1e work of Fra Gregorio Garzia Dominicano, entitled, the Origi11 of the It~dit11111 \n book v. chap. 4• concerning the mythology of the Miztecas, • tho HISTORY OF ME X I C 0. 107 the laft kirigs of Mexico to that crown. They made the fame ufe of BooK It. 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 Chin:mtecas, and the Totonacas, we know nothing of the origin, nor the time when they arrived in Anahuac. W c 01all fity fomething of their particular cuil:oms when ever it will illnll:ratc the hiil:ory of the Mexicans. But of all the nations which peopled the region of Anahuac, the moil: renowned and the moft fignalized in the hifi:ory of Mexico, were t-hofe vulgarly called the Nahuatlacas. This name, the etymology of which we have explained, in the beginning of this hiil:ory, was prin-cipally given to thofe feven nations, or rather thofe feven tribes of the fame nation, who arrived in that country after the Chechemecas, and peopled the little iflands, banks, and boundaries of the Mexican lakes. Thefe tribes were the Sochimilcas, the Chalchcfe, 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 Mcxic:ms, or from fome other contiguous to it, and peopled with the fame nation. All hill:orians reprefent them as originally of one and the. fame country : all of them fpoke the fame language. The dif-ferent names by which th y have been known, were taken from the places which they fettled, or from thofc in which they ell:abli!hed themfel ves. The Sochimilcas derived their name from the great city Xochimi/co which they founded on the fouthcrn fhore of the Jake of fweet water· or 'halco ; the 'halchefe, from the city of Chalco, np n the eail:ci·n 1l1ore of the fune bke; the Colhnas, from Colhuacan; the Mexicans, from M . ico ; the Tlnfcabns, from Tbfc ala; and the Tlahuicas, from the land where they cll:abli{hed thcmfelves ; which, from its abounding in cinnabar, was calkd 'l'lahuican (a). The Tepanecas poffibly had (g) 7'/n/.•uitl, is the l\1cxi.::tn name of cinnabar; nnd 'l'la/;u icall means the place or couutry of 'i nnnhat·. Some authors call rh ·m 7"/n!Lui.·aJ, and derive the name from n p!ncc of rhut lnnd called r'lnl/;ui•· ; but befides th;lt we )lever heard of fu ch a plnce, the name dora not "P• :?f:ll' conforming with the l:tll gll:lgc, Pz .their SEcT. XV. The Nahuatlacns. |