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Show H l S 'f 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. ·ntcd in all the ancient paintings of this migration. If any river was t.:vcr rcprefented in fu h painti.ngs, . it muft have beet~ the. C~/o~a~o . R d R' . wh1'ch difcharges 1tfelf 111to the gulf of Caltforma, mlatl - OJ C I Vet, · }' • h d ' as this is the moft confiderable river of thofe wh1ch 1e m t c tu e 3 2 'f , • • f b route they travelled. Having paficd, therefore, the Red River rom ~~ yond the latitude of 3 5, they proceeded towards t~1e fouth-eafi, as far as the river Gila, where they fl:opped for fome tune; . for at prefen t there are ftill remains to be feen of the great cdifi es bUllt by ~hem on the borders of that river. From thence having refumed t~etr conrfi.; towards the S. s. E. they ftopped in about 29 dcgr~es o~ latitude, at a place which is more than two hundred and fifty m1lcs dtftant from the city of Chihuahua, towards the N. N. W. '!his place ~s kno~n b,y the name of Cafe grandi, on account of an 1mmenfe edifice filii exifting, which, agreeable to the ~niverfal .tra~ition of ~hefe .Pc~p~e, was built by the Mexicans in their peregnnat10n. Tlu~ ed1fice 1~ conftruCl: ed on the plan of thofe of New Mexico, that Is, confifhng 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 fccond floor, fo that a fcaling ladder is neceifary; and the inhabi!ants of New Mexico build in this manner, in order to be lefs expofcd to the attack of their enemies; putting out the fcaling ladder only for thofe to whom they give admiffion 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 obferved about it, being defended on one fide by a lofty mountain, and the re.ll: of it being furrounded by a wall about feven feet thick, the foundations of which are fiill exifiing. In this fortrefs there are fiones as large as mill-ftones to be feen ; the beams of the roof are of pine, ·and well finiilied. In the centre of this vafl: £'lbric 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, Sigucnza. Boturini alleges thia arm of the fca to be the gulf of California, as he is perfunded that the Mexicans pait'ed ft'OI\1 A:z.tlan to Californi:t, and from thence crolling the gulf tranfportcd thcmfclvcs to Culiacan: but tltcrc being remains found of the buildings conftrthqcd by the Mexicans in their migration, on the riyer Gila, and in Pimeria, and not in California, there is no reafon to beijeve that they croired tbe fea1 but came by land to Culiacnn. fuch , .H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. fuch as earthen pots, diihes, and jars, and little looking-glalres of the ftone ltztli (f). From hence, traverfing the 1l:eep ineuntains of Tarahumara, and directing their courfe towards the fouth, they reached 'Huiecolhuacan, at prefent called Culiacan, a place fituated on the gulf of California, in 24 ~ deg. of latitude, where they ftopped three years (g). Here it is probable, that they built houfes and cottages to dwell in, and [owed fuch feeds for their food as they carried with them, and ufually did in every place where they fl:ayed any confiderable time. There they formed a ftatue 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 .ruG1es to tranfport it which they called 'Ieoicpalli, or chair of Go l. They chofe priefis who were to carry him on their i11oulders, four at a time, to whom they gave the name of Teotlamacazque, or fervants of God, and the act itfclf of carrying him was called TeomatJW, that i to carry God on one's back . . From Huiecolhuacan journeying for many days towards the eail, they came to Chicomoztoc, where they .ll:opped. Hitherto all the [even tribes had travelled in a body to ge ther : but here# they feparatecl, and the Xochimilcas, the Tepanecas, the Chalchcfe, the Tlahuicas, and. the Tbfcalans proceeding onwards, left the Mexicans there with their idol. Thofe nations £.1y the feparation was made by exprefs command of their God. There js little doubt that fome dif<lgreement among thcmfdves was the occaiion of it. The fitu ation of Chicomoztoc, where the Me. icans fojourned nine years, is not known; but it appears to be th at place twenty miles difl:ant from the city of Zacatecas towards the fouth where there are fiill [ome remains of an immenfc edifice, which, according to the tradition of the Zacatecas, the ancic11t inhabitants of that country, was the work of the Aztecas in their (1 ) Thcfc arc the reports 1 rc ci1·ed from two perfons who ltaJ fe cn the Cafe grandi. We 01ould wifh to have a plan of tliL'ir f, rlll and dimenfions; but now it WOttld he very di!Hcult to be obtained, the whole of th :tt country being depopulated by tltc furious incurlions of the Al?:I· chas and othc.;r barbarous nations. ( ){)The flay of the A7.tccas in ITuicolhuac:tn, is agr~cable to the tcfiimony of nlll1iflorians1 ns well as their fcpar.ttion nt Chicomozto.c. There is :t tradition among t.he northem people of th eir pa!Etge throttgh Tarahum~m. Near 1:0 Naiarit there ure trencllc.s found wh-ich wero mmlc by the Cori, to defend themfcln:s from the Mexicans in their route from Hucicolhuncnn to hi~omo7. tot·, ' J Q t ·'l"" 115 BOOK 1{. "--V'--J |
