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Show 4 HOOK I. S llCT. It. ]'ruvlm:cs of the kingdom of 1\lcxi\:o, HIS T 0 R Y O ·F ME X I C 0. it'l !orne degree, the figure of a camel, t head and neck of which were formed by the lake of fwect wat<.!r, or Chalco, the body by the bke of bracki{h w.tter, called the lake of :fezcuco, and the legs and . feet were rcprefen ted by the rivulet , and torr~n ts, which 1~11 from. the mountains into the lake. Between the tvvo lakes there IS the .little peninfula of Itztapalapmz, which Jivides them. Befides the three: courts of Mexico, Acolhuacan, and Tla opan, there were forty emin nt cities, in this delightful val , and innum rable villages and h mlets. The cities mofl: noted next to thcfc courts were X ocbimilco, Chalco, Itztapalaprm, and .~aui.Jtr'tlrm, which now, however. fcarccly retain a twentieth part of their form r grca tn c~ (d). Mexico, the mofl: renowned of all the cities of the new world, and capital of the empire (the d fc tiption of which we {hall give in another place) was, like V nice, built on fcveral little iOands 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, 15 miles to the wefl: of the one, and four to the eafi of the other. Some of its provinces were inland, others maritime. The principal inland provinces to the northward were, the Otomies; to the fouthwefi, the Matlatzincas and the Cuitlatecas ; to the fouth, the Tlahuicas and the ohuixcas; to the fou th-eafl:, after the fl:ates of Itzown, ')' aui.Jtep~c, ~taubquecboflan, Atlixco, Tehuacrm, and others, were the great province of the Mixtccas, the Zapotccas, and lail:ly, the hiapanecas. Tow rds the eafi wc:re the provin es of Tepey•\cac, the Popolocas, and the Totonacas. The maritime provinces of the Mexican gulf were thofe of Coatzacuako and Cuetloci.Jtlan, which the Spaniards call otafia. The provinces on the Pacific Ocean were thofe of Cofiman, Zacatolfan, Tototelec, Tecuantepec, and Xoconot:hco. The province of the Otomies commencc.:d in the northern pf\rt of the Vale of Mexico, and extendea through thofe mountains to the (a) The other rcfpeCl:ablc ci1 ies of 1 he Vale of Mexico were, Miz']uic1 Cuitlnl•unr, A zrnpo· ~n/,·o, 'limayornll, Otompau, Colbunrmi,~Mt·.ricaltziuco, lluitzilopor&o, Coyobun((111, Atcnco, Contlicbm1, H1w;ot/a, Chiautla, A.t·olmrw1 <Ji.•otibtuaetl/11 ltztapnlorca11 1 9:/'j>t'llaoztoc, 'llpapolco, '1/z.nyocrau, Cilllalupcr, Coyotcprr, T'zompai/CO, rJ'oltitlrm, X altou n/1, rriwpmtco, Ebemtrprc, T'ttjlli'Zijllitll'• Huiporhtla11, 7"epotzotla111 rJ'ehuillojorran, Hucimtora, Atlaruihllayall, &c. See our Sixth Diffoeltation, nonh, • • H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. north, the difi:mce of 90 miles fr~m the capital. The ancient and famous city of 'l'ollan, now :fula, difl:ing~tifhed itfelf over all the inhabited places, of which there were many; alfo Xi'lotcpu, which after the conquefi: made by the Spaniards, was the metropolis of the Otomics. Beyond the fettlernents of this nation towards the north and north-weft, there were no other places inhabited as far as New Mexico. All this great track of land of more than a thoufand miles in length, was occupied by barbarous nations, who had no fixed refidence, nor paid obedience to any fovereign. The provin e of the Matlatzincas, comprehended befides the valley of Tolocan, all that fpace fi·om then e to 'l'laxt'maloyan (now 'l'aximaroa), the frontier of the kingdom of Michuacan. The fertile valley of Tolocan from the fouth-eafl: to the north-wefl: is upwa,.ds of forty mile long, and thirty in breadth where it is broadefi. Tolocan, which was the principal city of the Matlatzincas, ft·om whence the valley took its name, was, as it il:ill is, fituated at the foot of a high mountain perpetually covered with fi1ow, thirty miles diil:ant 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 fi:ates of Xalatlaui.Jco, 'l'zompahuacmz, and Malina/co; at no gr at difl:ance to the eafiward of the valley the fl:ate of Ocuillan, and to the wefiward thofe of 'l'ozantla and Zoltepec. The Cuitb.tecas inhabited a country which extended 1 ore than two hundred miles from the north-wefl: to the fouth-eafl:, from the kingdom of Michuacan, as f.1r as the Pacific Ocean. Their capital was the great and populous city of Mexcaltepec upon the coa11:, the ruins of which are now fcarcely vifiblc. The capital of the Tlahuicas was the pleafimt and il:rong city of ~auhnahml ', called by the paniards Cuernabaca, about forty miles from Mexico t·owards the fouth. Their province, which commenced from the fouthcrn mountains of the vale of Mexico, extended almoil: fi:xty miles fouth ward. The great province of the Cohuixcas was bounded on the north by the Matlatzincas, and Tlahuicas, on the wefl: by the Cuitlatecas, on the eafi by the ]opi and Mixtecas, and to the fouthward it extended it.k:lf as f.1r a~ the Pacific Ocean, through ,that p.art wher~ at pr.e(ent the 5 BOOK I ~· • |