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Show . H l S T 0 R Y b F M E X I C ·o. BOOK JI. by other liifiorians (!). We would require to have the Di1Jint Book, ~ cited by Boturini, and by Sig. D. Ferdinand d'Alba Ixtlilxohitl in his moft valuable manufcripts to ~hrow greater light on the hiftory ef this celebrated nation. After the deftruCl:ion of the Toltecas, for the fpace of one cen'- tury, the land of Anahuac· remained folitary, and almofr entirely depopulated, until the arrival of the Chechemecas (m). . The Chechemecas, like the Toltecas who preceded· them, .and other nations which ~arne after them, were originally from tlie n01·them countries, as we may call- the N otth of America, like the N erth of Europe, t11e feminary of the human race. From both; in fw:.mns, have iffucd numerous· nations to people the countries in the South. their native country, of the fituation of which we· are ignorant, was called Amaquernecan, where, according to· their account, different monarchs ruled their nation for many years ( n). '};he charaCter of the Chechemecas, as is {hewn by· their hifiery, was very fingular, as a certain degree of civilization was blended· with many traits of bar.barifm. They lived under the command of a fovereign, and the chiefs and goveraors· deputed by him, with as · much fubmiffion as, is ufual among the mofb culti¥ated nations. There were diil:inCl:ions between the nebility and c0mn10nalty., and the plebeians were accufi: omed to reverence thofe whofe birth, merit, or fav:our with the f'/) Torqucmadi fays, that at a certain fenival-ball made by the Toltecas, the fad · looking devil appeared to them in a gigantic fi1.c, with immenfe arm~, and irf the midfi· of rhc entertainment he embraced and fuffocated them; that. then he :1ppearcd in the figure of a child with n putrid head, and brought the plague; and finally; at the pcrfualion of the fame devil they abandoned the country of 'fula. But this good author undedlood thefe fymbolical figures literally; whereas they were meant only to reprcfent the famine and pefiilcnce which had befallen them, at the time when they were in the height of their profperity. (m) In our fecond difi"ertation, we differ from Torquemada, who docs not allow more than eleven yean of interval between the dellruetion of the Toltccas and the arrival of the Che· chcmccas. • (n) Torquemada nam.cs thefe Chechemccan kings of Amaquemec:m, and to the firfi he g1vehs ohn~ hdundrcd and c1ghty years of reign; to the fecond, one hundred and fifty-fix ; and to t c t 1r , one htmdrcd and thirty-three. Sec our fecond difi"ertation on the abfu rd chron~ l ogy. of this author. He alfo confidently affirms, that Amaquemcca11 was fix htllldrcd m1les d1nant from the fpot where the city of Guadalaxara is at prefent but in more than one thouf:md two hundr~d ~niles of inhabitctl country beyond that city, th~re ia not the leafl: trace o~ mem?ry of the kmgdom of Amaquemecan; from whence we believe it to be a country {h\1 undJfcovercd, and greatly farther to the nonhward than Torqucmada imagined. . • pnnc HISTORY 0 F ME X I C 0. pril}ce raifed therh above the other ranks. They dwelt in com~ BooK 11. munities together, in. places. compofed, as we may imagine, of poor ~ huts (o); but they ne1ther praCl:ifed agriculture, nor tho1e arts which <\CC~mpany civil life. They lived only on game, and fruits, and roots which, t~e earth fi)o~taneoufly produced. Their clothing was the ~ough .fkms of the w1ld beafis they took in prey, and their arms 110 Qther thau the bow and arrow. Their religion was reduced to the fimple worfl1ip of the. fun, to which pretended divinity they offered herbs and flowers wh1ch they found fpringing in the fields. With refpeCl: to their cufi?ms, they ~ere certainly lefs difpleaiing and lefs rude th~n tho:e to whtch. the ge?ms of a nation of hunters gives birth. The1r mottve for leavmg thetr native country, is uncertain; as likewife the etymol~gy of the word Chechemecat! (o). The hfi king whom they had m Amaquemccan, left his government divided between his two fons Achcauhtli and Xolotl; the latter either not brookit~g~ as frequently happens, the diviiion of regal autho;ity, was w1lhng to prove whether fortune defiined him other territories w~1ere he .cot~ld govern without a rival; or perceiving that the moun~ tams of h~s kmgdom were not fufficient to provide fupport for the then probabl~ mcreafed numbe~· of it~l};l.bitants , determined to eafe nece!Iity by a tlmely dep1rture. Hav1ng taken, therefore, fuch refolution frot:n:t~e" on~ or other moti~e, a.nd having firfl: got intelligence, by his . emdJ.,u1~" of .a good fituatJOn 111 the fouthcrn countries, he fct out . ft~om his nat1ve bnd, with a large army of his fubjeCl:s, who were d1fpofed, from affettion or intcrefi, to accompany him. J1) their travels they encountered with the ruins of the Toltecan fettJcments and in. p~rticular of the gre.at city of Tula, where they arrivet;i at th; end of etghtcen months~ From this they pro ecded towards Chenh (11} ·~or'lu c ma.tla fay s, thnt the Chrchcmc•as ha,lno houfcs, bt~t dwelt in the caverns of 1~<lllntmns; bLtt Ill the f:une l ~>l pte r where he fays this, he aflirms .th;~t 11;, arpital city of theil' ~111 gdo m 11 as called ,\ maq ucmccan. To(ron)u cS c1·cr1:1 l authors h:11'c laboured to gucfs at the Ct)'molo"'v of the word CL . ' 1 1 · 1 1 . . :o; . .. tJtmcral . . , •l l :ll a nys, t 1:1t t lis name ·IS dt>riv ~d from 'f'rt·birbillatli whi h fi o·11ifi •s r. ·'· · " c· ~· th Ch 1 · ' o " .1"'~'"!:• uC• ;~u l: e cc 1cmec:1s iuckcJ the blood of the ~n : mal s which thc·y huutcd. llut rhis is a ~o rccd e:ymology, panicul:u:ly among thofc n~tions, who did not alter dcriv ati i'C umncs j;1 uch a manner. Hcrancomt believed it to be deri ved from Cl'·L · · th · t · j t. • They II'C'I'C fo c·lll' I b I . . .. ~" ~""'' ·' 13, 'og-s uc.me, , • ct Y ot '.cr 11a11011S, m co11tcmpt ; lntt hnJ d.is btCII rhe cn 'i.·, thl·y wou111 J,ot luvc boa Qed, ~~~they .d1~, of the nall\c C'h cr ilclllec;ltl • · N 2 ro.1lla SEcT. lV. Xolotl, fir fl: king of the Chcchcme, cr~s, in Ana. huac. |