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Show H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. nooK u. in many parts of New Spain (a), have imagined that the firft inha- ~ bitants of that country were Giants. I, for my own part, have no doubt of their exifi:encc there, as well as in other parts of the N t:w World (b); but w" can neither form any conjeCture ~s to the time in which they lived, although we have reafon to beheve they mufl be very ancient; nor can we be perfuaded that thei'e has ever been, as thofe writers imagined, a whole nation of Giants, but only fingle individuals of the nations which we now know, or of fome others more an ien t and unknown (c). The Toltecas are the oldefi: nation of which we have any know-ledge, and that is very imperfeCt:. Being banin1etl, as they tell us, from their own country Huebuetapallan, which we take to have been in the kingdom of Tollan (d), from which they derived their name, and fituated to the north-wcfl: of Mexico, they began theit journey in the year 1. Tecpatl, that is in the 596 of our era. In every place to which they came, they remained no longer than they liked (n) The places where gig-antic lkclctons have been found, ar: Atlnllcattpcr, a village i~ t~e province of Tlafcala, rt:r.t'l!co, r'olucn, !Zftaubxi11ut!ptrtt; and 111 our days, upon a l11ll 111 Califomia, not far trom Kada-Kaaman. (b) I am well a\varc that many European philofophcrs, who lnugh at the belief of giants, will be rcaJy to ridicule me, or nt lca[t to pity my credulity; but l will not betray the truth to avoic\ ceafltrc. 1 know thnt :unong the civilized nations of Amcri a, it wns a current tm· clition, that a race of men had cxlficd, in former times, of cxtraordiMry height nnd bulk ; but I cannot remember an inlluncc among any American nation, of there having ever becr1 any elephants, hi11popotamufe!, or other quadrupeds of uncommon fiz e. I know from the tellimony of innumet·able writers, and particularly of two eye-witne!lcs, of unquellion:tble credir, Hernandez, and D' Acofla, who were men of leaming, corre9-nefs, and veracity, that human lkulls have been found, and even whole fkcletons, of allonifhing fize ; but [ do not knnw, that in any of tho vall number of openings which have bccl\ made in the cart!\ in New Spain, uny 1keleton of a hippopotamus has been found, or even n finglc tooth of :on elephant. 1 know, lailly, that fomc of the great bones above mentioned, have been found iJ'l tombs, which appear evidC'n tly to have been made on purpofe ; but I am yet to !cam of tombs ever having bce11 conllruftcd for fea-horfcs and elephants. All this :md more ought to be weighed, before we prcfurnc to determine with fome authors who have affcrtcd it, without th~ lca1t hclit:ttion, that all the large bones difcovcrcd in America, belonged to thofc, or fome other fuch grcM animals. (t·) Many hillorians of Me ico fay, that the giants were betrayed, and put to death by the !lafcalans ; ~ut this idea, which has no foundation but in fome poems of the Tlafcalans, is Jllconfifrcnt w.tth ~h e chron.ology adopted by thofc ~ifiorians th cmfelves ; making the giants much too anc!Gnt, and the Tlafcalans too modern, II\ the country of Anahuac. (tl) 'Tolt~corl, in Mexican f1gnilies a native of 'l'oll:m, as r'lazwltealll docs a native of Tlafcala, &c. it, .. H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. it, or were eafily ac·commodated with provifions. ·when they ·determined to make a longer ftay , they erected houft:s, and fowed the land wit~ corn, cot~on, and other plants, the feeds of which they had earned along WJth them to fupply their neceffi ties. In this wandering manner did they travel, always fouthward, for the .lj)ace of one hundred and four years, till they arrived at a pbce, to which they gave the name of Tol/antzinco, about .fifty miles to the eaft of that fpot where, fome centuries after, was founded the £tmdus city of Mexico. They were led and commanded, upon the whole journey, by certain captains or lords, who were reduced to [even, by the time they arrived at Tolla11tzinco ( e). They did not chufe, however, to fettle in that country, although the climate is mild, and the foil fr~titful; but in lefs than twenty years after, they went about forty m1les towards. the. wei1:, where, along the banks of a river, they founded the c1ty of Tollan or Tula, after the name of their native country. T hat ity, the oldeft, as f:1r as we know, in Anahuac, is one of the mofl: elcbrated in the hifi:ory of Mexico, and was the capital of the Toltecan kingdom, and the court of their kings. Their mon.ar~hy began in the year 8. Acatl, that is in the year 6o7 of the Chnfha~ .era, and lafl:ed three hundred and eighty-four years. I have fubJomed the ferics of their l·ings with the year of the Chrifi:iaa era in which they began to reign (f). Chalchiut/amtzin, in the 667 Ixtlilcuechahuac, in the 7 r 9 1-Iuetzi'n, in the 77 1 Totepeub, in the 823 Nacaxoc, in the 87 5 Mit/, in the 927 Xiutzaltzin, ~een, in the' 979 Topiltzin, inthe 1031. . It might appear extraordinary that jufl eight monarchs fhould reign m the courfe of four centuries, if .it were not explained by a fingular (t) The fcven Toltccan leaders were, Zncntl, Cbnlcatzi", Eb(cntzi11 CoiJ11ntz01/ r'zilmncontl ~"'I ' d 'T' ' 1 J•JC' zotzm, an lnpnlmclzotzilz, ' (.f). We hnvo pointed out the year in which the Toltccan monarchs bc ,.an their reigns by tnkn.lg for granted the epoch of their le:1ving Huehuetbp:tl!an1 which t1owcver1 is vcr~ uncertmn. Jaw ss BOOK. II. .. • |