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Show 228 DISSERT. II. '---v---J • n I s T 0 R Y 0 F M E X. I. C O. in th:1t interval between the arrival of the Chcdrcr 1ecns and thllt 6! the Acolhuas. .. There is no memory of any other people who came mto An~huac about that time, except thofc tribes conducted by the .above men.t1?ned 1 · c. A ofta makes thefc tribes almoft three con tunes more anc1ent, C llCl S. C • 1 k · h as he fays they arrived on the banks of th'e Mextc.an a e m t c ye<tr 02 after a peregrination of eighty years; but thts chronology does ~ot ~ccord well with hill:ory, from which it appears that when Xolotl arrived at the vale of Mexico with his colony of Cheche~ecas, he feund the banks of that lake depopulated, and the arrival of thts c~lony could not happen before the middle of the twelfth century, accordmg to what we have faid. The year of the arrival of the Acolhuas is not known.; but we do not doubt that it has been towards the end of the tw~lfth century, becaufe they came a few years after the arrival of thofe ~x tribes! and befides, it is evident from hiftory itfelf, that Xolotl furv1~ed the1r arrival fome years. The lafi nation, or tribe, which arrived at Anahuac was that of the Mexicans. Among fo many hiftorians confu~ted by u~, we have not found one of a contrary opipion except Betancourt, who makes the, Otomies come after them. Acofia fixes the arrival of the Mc;xicans on the banks of the Mexican lake in the year 1 ~o8, becaufe he affirms that they arrived therethr~ e hundred and fix years after the Xochimilcas, and other tribes of the Nah~~tlacas, who he believes arrived in 902. Torquemada,. ~ccording to ·the calculation made by Betancourt founded on'his account,. dates the arrival of the Mexicans in Chapoltepec in the year J269• ' An . anonymous Mexican Hiftory cited by Cav. Boturirli, fixes the .arrival of that tribe in Tula in the year 1196, and upon that epoch it appears that feveral Indian hiftorians are agreed. Befides, this chronology agrees perfetl:ly with all the-"~her epochs; on which account we have. adop~ed it as the mofi probable, and almotl: certaio. On this fup,po .. fition it is ne.cefiary to fay, that the Mexican& arrived at Tzompanco in the year 121 6, and at Chapoltepec in 1 24 5; becaufe it is known that they ~ayed at !epexic in ';I'~la ·nin~ years, and in other places, ?efore they arrived at 'FzOipp~nc.o, ele\len ye<lrs. In ':fztnnp:lAc~ tl)ey (OJOU.rD• s., ed H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0 . cd (even years, and in other places, before they arrived at Chapoltcpec, twenty-two years. After having been eighteen years in Chapoltepec, they patTed to Acolco, in I 262, where they remained fifty-two years, and from thence they were conduCted ilaves to Colhuacan in I 3 I 4• With l'efpeCl: to the Otomies there is a . great difference of '?Pinion among a:uthors : fome confound tl~em with the Chechemecas, namely Acofia, GomarJ, and the greater part of the Spanilh authors·. Toro~ quemada, in book I. diftinguilhes them exprefsly, but in other places he confounds them together. Betancourt, after having copied the re .. lation of Torquemada, in every thing relative to die Toltecas, the ,Chechemecas, and other nations, fpe01king of the reign of Chimalpopoca, third king of Mexi~o, fays, that in his time the Otomies arrived in Anahuac, and efiablilhed themfelves principally in Xaltocan. This anecdote from Betancourt is deferving of notice ; for he un':' doubtedly took it 'from the writings of Siguenza, although he does not ufually depart from Torquemada, unlefs it is to follow that learned Mexican ; but he errs in chronology when he fixes the arrival of the Otomies in the year VI Tecpatl, which he believes to have Been. the year 138r. He is certainly deceived_, for as it appears fi·om the chronological table put at the end of our fecond volume, the year 138 r was pot VI. Tecpatl, but VI <Alii; neitherwas Chimalpopoca reigning at that time_, but Acamaptizin, as we fhall 1b:ortly lhew. If the arrival of the Otomies in the Mexican vale (not in the country of ~nahuac, where they were fettled many years before) happened in th~ year VI Tecpatl, and under the reign of Chimalpopoca, that muft certainly have been in the year 1420. There being no mention of the Otomies before this epoch, and they having been found lefs civilifed than other nations, 'foattered ~bout in feveral provinces, and in places furrounded by other nations of ditfetent languages, inclines us to. believe, that tliey beg:m to live in fo.ciety Wlder the . dominion of the Tepanecas exaCtly at that time, and afterwards under that of the: Mexicans and Tlafcalans. We are penuaded that vn account of having. found the· land occupied by o~her nations, they could not,, like the o.thers,, eftablHh themfelved all in ez>ne country, although the: gueater- part of that nation peopled ~hat part. of land wdlich is to the north-w~ft, and north. o£ the capital, w.here at nrft they lived fca.ttc.ced abou.t like the wild. ~s~ . The • I 229· DISSJmT. II. ~ |