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Show • 120 ~0 OK II. ~ H I S T 0 R y 0 F M E X I C 0. but afraid even to remain in their city, they took refuge in the moun-tamTsh · is aCtion having ended with fo mu c1 1 g1 o ry' accor d m· g to the cufio. m of thofe nations, the foldiers of the Colhuas prefentcd themfclv.es w1th h · · r. . before their general · as the bravery of the fold1ers was t e1r pruoner s ' . . 1 f d d 1 not efi:imated by the number of enemtcs whtcl: were e t ea on t 1e fi ld b t of thofe who were made prifoners ahve, and lhewn to the e' u . . lr. . d 1 It cannot be doubted, that thts was a rat10na 1ent1ment, an genera . . · d' 1 · a prai....Lo.l· Ce COnri.O fffi able to humanity ' If the pn. nce can v·m d1 cate 1d1 s .· ht and repel force without killing his enem1es, humamty eman s ng s, '1' . . . fid that life Q1ould be preferved. If we are to take ut1 1ty mto OLU con 1 e-ration, a flain enemy cannot hurt, neither can he ferv~ ~s, but from a prifoner we may derive much advantage without rece1v1~1g any harm. If we confider glory, it requires a greater effort to dep:tve an enemy folely of his liberty, than to wrcfi his life from him m the heat of contcfi:. The Mexicans were like wife called upon to make the fhew of their prifoners; but not having a fingle one to prefent, ~s the only four which they had taken were kept concealed for a part1cular purpofc; they were reproached as a cowardly race by _the general: and the foldi ers of the Colhuas. Then the Mexicans holdmg out thetr bafkets full of ears faid " Behold from the number of ears which we pre·· " fent, yo~ ma; judge of the number of prifo!1~rs we migh~ ha:e " brought if we had inclined; but we were unw11lmg to lofe t1me m " binding them that we might accelerate your viCtory." The Colhuas remained awed and abafhed, and began to conceive apprehenfions from the prudence as well as from the courage of their il~ves. . The Mexicans having returned to the place of th 1r refidence whtch, as appears, was at that time H uitzolopochco, they ereCted an altar to tl~eir tutelary god ; but being defirot'ls at the dedication of it to make an offering of fomething precious they demanded fomething of their lord for t]~at purpofc. He fent them in difdain, in a dirty rag of coarfe cloth, a vtle dead bird, with certain filth about it, which was carried by the priefts of the Colhuas, who having laid it upon the altar without any falutation, re.tired. Whatever indignation the Mexicans felt from fo unworthy an inful t, ref<;rving their revenge for another occnfion, inftead of fnch filth they · placed H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. 121 placed upon the altar a knife of itzli, and an odoriferous herb. The B 0 0 K It. day of confecration being arrived, the petty king of Colhua, and his ' • ' nobility, failed not to be prefent, not to do honour to the fcfiival, / but to make a mockery of his !laves. The Mexicans began this funCl:io1\ with a folemn dance, in which they appeared in their befi: garments, and while the byftanders were moil: fixed in attention, they brought out the four Xochimilca prifoners, whom they had till then kept con-cealed, and after having made them dance a little, they facrificed them upon a ftone, breaking their breaft with the knife of itzli, and tearing out their heart, which, whilfi yet warm and beating, they offered to their god. This human facrifice, the .firft of the kind which we know to have been made in that country, excited fuch horror in the Colhuas, that having returned inftantly to Colhuacan, they determined to difmifs aaves who were fo cruel, and might in future become deftrucrive to the ll:ate; on which Coxcox, fo was the petty king named, fent orders to them to depart imme~iately out of that diftriet, and go wherever they might be moil: inclined. The Mexicans willingly accepted their difcharge fi·om rtavery, and diretl:ing their courfe towards the north, came to Acatzitzint. /an, a place fituated between two lakes, named afterwards Mexz'caltzinco, which name is almoft the fame with that of Mexico, and was given to it without doubt from the fame motive, as we /hall fc e fhortly, which made them give it to their capital; but not finding in that fituation the conveniencies they de!ired, or being inclined to remove farther from the Colhuas, they proceeded to Iztacalco, approaching ftill nearer to the · fite of Mexico. In Iztacalco they made a little mountain of paper, by which they probably reprefented Colhuacan (m), and [pent a whole night in dancing around it, finging their viCtory over the Xochimilcas, and returning thanks to their god for having freed them from. the yoke of the Colhuas. After having fojourned two years in lztacalco, they came at la!l to that fituation on the lake where they were to found their city. There they found a nopal, or opuntia, grow~ng in a ftone, and over it (m) The Mexicans rcprcfentcd Colhuacan in their pi~hu'Ci by the figure of n hunchbacked 'mountain, nnd the name has ·cxntt'ly t·hat fignification. V.oL. l. R the |