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Show 2 0 H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. The caufc of the Otomies having been confounded with the Chechemecas by many hiflorians, mn.y be gathered from th~ 0 _me hifiory. At the time the ancie nt Chechemecas were rendered ClVtltzed by the To1tccas and Nahuathlcas, many families of that nation abandoned thcmiclvcs to a favt1.gc life in tl~e country of the Otomies, chufing the ex rcife of the chace rather than· the fatigues of agricul ture. They ·retained the name of Chechemecas, and ·the others who were brought to civili zation began to be called Acolhuas, honouring th e tnfdv~s with the name of a nation which was eftecmed the moit poli{hed. Of the Otomies, thofe who adopted a civil life retained the name of Otomies, by which they are known in hifiory; but the others, who were fpread in the woods, and mingled with the Chcchemccas, would never · give up their b~rbarou ' liberty, and were by many called Chechein ecas, from the name of that celebrated nation; on which ac .• cout1t fame writers, treating of thofe barbarians, who for more thall a century 3-fter the conquefi, haralTed the Spaniards, difl:inguilh the Me:X:ican Chechemecas from the Chechemecas of the Otomies ; for the one fpoke the Mexican language, and the others that of the ·O tomics, according to the nation whence they drew their odgin. F rom all that we have hitherto faid, we may conclude with the greateft probability poffible in fa obfcure a fubject, that the order an cl time of the arrival of thofe nations in the country of Anahuac. was ai follows: The Toltecas, in the year 64R. The Chechemccas, about the yeat· 1 I 70. The firft Nahuatlacas, about 1178. The Acolhuas, toward the end of the twelfth century: The Mexicans ar~ived at Tula in the year I r96, at Tzompanco ln the year I 2 I 6, and at Chapol tepee in the year l 24 5. The Otomies entered the vale of Mexico, and began to form into fo .. cieties in the ydr I 220. . We know well that the Tepanecas hc:>afted . of their city of Azca ·pozalco being fo old, that according to Torquemada they ·counted .one thoufand five hundred and fixty-one years from the foundation of it to the beginning of the laft century: fo that they imagined. it t<;> have been founded imll'.U,:diately after the death of our Sav_iour; but the H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. 231 the error of this opiniorJ appears manifeft, from the hiftories of DISSERT. other nations, which make tqe·Tepanecas little more ancient in Ana- ~ huac than the Mexicans, and alfo from the feries itfelf of the chiefs of Azcapozal o, whofe portraits were preferved unto our time in an an- . I cien t edifice of that city. They did not count more than · ten princes from the foundation of their city, tmto the memorable de.ftrucrion of tl1cir ftate, occafioncd by the combined arms of the · Mex~cans and Acolhuas, which happened, as we fhnll find, in the year I 42 5 : on which aceount ir would be· neceffary to allow to each of their [avereigns one hundred and forty years of reign tb fill up that· period. The Totonacas, on their part, reported thcmfelves m0re ancient than the Chcchemecas; for tHe boaft of antiquity is a weaknefs common to all nations. 1 hey relate; ' that having been at firfl:, for ferne time, ef.. . tabli!hed'' on the banks of the Tezcucan lake,; from· thence they went .tb people thofe mountains, which took f1:om the'm the rJame of Toto" nacapan; that there thtry. were governed by ten· lords, each of whom governed the nation precifdy eighty years; until the Chechemecas hav.:. ing arrived in .A:'nahuac, in the time ·of the fecond lord of that nation; named Xatoncrrn, at' length fubjetl:ed them to ·their· dominion; and that laftly tHey were the fubj etl:s of the kings · of• Mexico. ,. Torquemada-, wlio rebtes this account· of the Totonacas:, in the third book of his Indian Monarchy, adds, that this· is certain and confirmed by authentic liifl:ories worthy of faith; but whatever he may fay, it is certain that the time of the arrival of that nation in Anahuac, neither 'i5 nor cap be known, and that the fiery of the ten lords, who governed the natioa each precifely eighty years; is only fit to amufe children, Still H:fs is it l<nown when the· Olmecas and Xioallancas arrivedl Boturini f.'lys, .tliat ·he could find neither pitl:llre nor monument concern .. ing tllefe nations, although he believes th~m more ancient than the T.olte ~as ,;, but.ftill it is unq~eftionable that they: were net the moft' ancient. We d6 not here maKe mention of'' any odier ·nations, becaufe their antiquity is abfolutely unknown ; but we do not doubt, confi J~.:ring . what we have already explained and fet forth, · th,lt the Chiap.t..:. nere wen= amorJ gO: the mofr ancient, and perhaps the firft of all thofe - who peoP.led the country of· Anahuac •• S E.C T •. |