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Show l22 BOOK IT. .....___,__.~ SscT. XIX. 1; ou ndation of Mexico. H I S T 0 R y 0 F M E X I C 0. h r f le On this account they gave to the pbce, and af- t e 100t o an eag · ' 1 !l: terwards to their city, the name of Tenochtitlan (.n). All, .or. at ea . all the hifiorians of Mexico, fay, this w~s ~he preclfe mark ~tven them by their oracle for the foundation of their ctty, and relate .vanous events concern·m g ·t t, w h1'c h as they appear out of the c. ourfe of nature, we have omitted as being fabulous, or at leafi uncertam. As foon as the Mexicans took pofiefEon of that place, they erected a temple for their god Huitzilopochtli. The confecrat10n of that fanctuary, a1 t I1 0ug I1 1111·r ce ra ble , wa' s 11ot made withou. t the effufion of hum.a n. blood. ,; for a daring Mexican having gone out ·m queft of fom~ a~1mal f01 a facrifice he encountered with a Colhuan named Xomumtl; after a few wo;ds, the feelings of national enmity. excited them. to b~ows ; the Mexican was victor, and having bound his enemy ca.rned htm. to his countrymen, who facrificed him immediately, and w1th great. JU-b'l efented his heart torn from his breaft on the altar, exerc1fing 1 ee pr r. [c d' · · h fuch cruelty not more for the bloody wodhip of that 1al e lVtmty, t an the gratification of their revenge upon the Colhuas. Around the fanctuary they began to build their wretche~ .huts of reeds and rnfh~s, ?eing deftitute at that time of othe_r m~tenals. ~uch was the begmnmg of the city of Tenochtitlan, wh1ch m future tunes was ~o be~ome the court of a great empire, and the large!\: and moft beautlf~tl cxty of the new world. It was likewife called Mexico, the name that afterwards prevailed, which denomination ?e.ing take~ f~om the. name of its tu telar god, fignifies place of Mexztlt, or Huztztlopochtlt, as he had both thefe names ( o). The (n) Several authors, both Spani{h and of other nations, from igno.rance of t~e. Mcxi,c:m language have altered this name; and in their books it is read Tcnoxtttlan, Tcmdlttan, l emihtitlan, &c. (o) There is a great difference of opinion among authors refpeCling the etymology of t1.1e word Mexico. Some derive it from Metzli, Moo11; becaufe they faw the moon rcprcfentcd 111 ·that lake as the oracle had prediCted. Other f.1y, that Mexico means upo11 the fo'~"taill, from ltaving found one of good water in that fpot ; but thefe two etymologies are too vw.lcnt, anJ the fir!l belides is ridiculous. I was once of opinion, that the name was Mc~:iuo, wh1ch means iiJ the rmur of Maguei, or trees of the Mexic;\n nloc ; but from the fiudy of th.c ?iilory I t:a~c been undeceived, and am now pofitive that Mc.>:ico fignifiea the place of Mexlth, or Hn~t7. 1· }Qpochtli, that is, the Mars of the Mexic:~ns, on account of the fanCluary there ercCled to hun ; fo that Mi:xico with the Mexicans is entirely equivalent to Famuu Martis of t~e ~omans ,; tho . M~xica ns take away the final fyllable tli1 in the compounding of words of tlua kmd. 1 he co addeJ H 1 S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. The foundation of Mexico happened in the year 2. Calli, con·efponding with the year 1325 of the vulgar era, when ~inatzin, the Chechemeca, was reigning in that country: but by changing their fitu~ti0n, the Mexicans did not fuddenly better their fortune ; for being infulated in the middle of a lake, without lands to cultivate, or garments to cover them, and living in con.fl:ant diftruft of their neighbours, they led a life as miferable as it was in other places, where they had fupported themfelves folely on the animal and vegetable produce of the lake. But when urged by necefiity, of what is not human induftry capable? The greate.fl: want which the Mexicans experienced was that of ground for their habitations, as the little ifland of Tenochtitlan was not fufficient for all its inhabitants. This they remedied a little by making palifades in thofe places where the water was fhal lowefi:, which they terraced with .fl:ones and turf, uniting to their princicipal iiland feveral other fmall er ones at a little difrance. To procure to themfelves afterwards .fl:one, wood, bread, and every thing neccffary for their habitations, their ,clothing, and food, they applied themfelves with the utmoft affiduity to .fii11ing, not only of white .fii11, of which we have already fpoken, but alfo of other little .fi!h and infects of the madhes which they made eatable, and to the catching of innumerable kinds of birds which flocked there to fc::ed in the water. By inftituting a traffick with this game in the other places fituated on the borders of the lake, they obtained all they wanted. But the gardens floating on the water which they made of the bun1cs an1 mud of the bke, the .fl:ruCl:ure and form of which we fhall eliewhcre .exph1in, dif~ overed the gre:-~teJ1: exertion of their induftry; on thefe they fowed maize, pepper, chia, French beans, and gourds. Thus the Mexicans paffed the firfi: 'thirteen years, giving as much order and form to their fettlement as pofiiblc, and relieving their diftrefies by dint of induil:ry: until this period, the whole tribe had continued united, notwith.fl:anding the difagreemen t of the tv;o faction which had formed themfelves during their migration. This difcord, which was tranfmitted from father to fon, at lafi: burft violently out in :oddcd to it is the prcpofitic>n in. The word lt1l'.).·it·n!tzhu:o1 me.tns the phlcc of the hmtfc or tc 111ple <>f the god .W..witli ; fo that liuit~.il o pochco, Jdi·.l'it'trltz inl'o anJ }.ft·.,'ico, the names tlf the th ree places fuc ccffively inhabjtcd by the Mexicans, mean the fume thing in fuLO :mce., R 2 I 3 3 8. 1 2 3 DOOK I : '---v--J |