CHAPTER V.

THE CHICHIMEC PERIOD.

THE CHICHIMECS IN AMAQUEMECAN-MIGRATION TO ANÁHUAC UNDER XOLOTL-THE INVADERS AT CHOCOYAN AND TOLLAN-FOUNDATION OF XOLOC AND TENAYOCAN-XOLOTL II., EMPEROR OF THE CHICHIMECS-DIVISION OF TERRITORY-THE TOLTECS AT CULHUACAN— RULE OF XIUHTEMOC AND NAUHYOTL III.-POCHOTL, SON OF ACXITL-CONQUEST OF CULHUACAN-DEATH OF NAUHYOTL-HUETZIN, KING OF CULHUACAN-MIGRATION AND RECEPTION OF THE NAHUATLACA TRIBES THE ACOLHUAS AT COATLICHAN AND THE TEPANECS AT AZCAPUZALCO-NONOHUACATL, KING OF CULHUACAN -REVOLT OF YACANEX-DEATH OF XOLOTL II.-NOPALTzin, King AT TENAYOCAN, AND EMPEROR OF THE CHICHIMECS—Reigns of ACHITOMETL AND ICXOCHITLANEX AT CULHUACAN-TENDENCIES TOWARD TOLTEC CULTURE.

The Chichimec occupation of Anáhuac begins with the traditional invasion under Xolotl, but in order to properly understand that important event, it will be necessary to glance at the incidents which preceded and led to it.

The little that is known of the early history of the Chichimecs has been told in a former chapter; I will therefore take up the narrative at the time of King Tlamacatzin's death at Amaquemecan,' which

1 Whether this Amaquemecan was the original home of the Chichimecs or not is uncertain. According to Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 355, it certainly was not, since he states that it was founded in 958 by Xolotl Tochinteuctli. The ancestors of the Xolotl who invaded Anáhuac, he adds, tom. ii., p. 199, 'sortis de Chicomoztoc, avaient conquis le royaume d'Amaquemé, où ils avaient établi leur résidence.' Concerning the (289)

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event occurred in the same year as the final destruction of Tollan. As I have already explained sufficiently my idea of the nature of the migrations by which Anáhuac is represented as having been repeopled, I may relate these migrations literally, as they are given by the authorities, without constantly reminding the reader of their general signification. Tlamacatzin left two sons, Acauhtzin' and Xolotl," who, after wrangling about the succession for some time, finally agreed to divide the kingdom between them.*

Now, for a great number of years a harassing system of border warfare had been carried on between the Chichimecs and the Toltecs; the former doubtless raided upon their rich and powerful neighbors for purposes of plunder, and the latter were probably not slow to make reprisals which served as an excuse for extending their already immense territory. When the Toltec troubles arose, however, and the direful prophecies of Hueman began to be fulfilled, the people of Anáhuac found that they had enough to do to take care of themselves, and that their legions could be better employed in defending the capital than in waging aggressive wars upon the

location and extent of Amaquemecan the authorities differ greatly. Thus Ixtlilxochitl gives its area as 2000 by 1000 leagues, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 335. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 40, places its frontier 200 leagues north of Jalisco, which Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 132, thinks too near, since no traces of it exist, he says, within 1200 miles. Boturini, Idea, p. 141, places Amaquemecan in Michoacan. Arlegui, Chrón. Zacatecas, p. 7, among the wild tribes north of New Mexico. Cabrera, Teatro, p. 58, in Chiapas.

2 Spelled also Achcauhtzin, and Axcauhtzin.

3 'L'étymologie du nom de Xolotl offre de grandes difficultés, Dans son acceptation ordinaire, il signifie esclave, valet, servant, et cependant on le voit appliqué à plusieurs princes comme un titre très-élevé. Lorenzana, dans ses annotations aux Lettres de Fernand Cortès, le traduit par Ojo, œil, et on le lui donna, dit-il, à cause de sa vigilance. Mais dans quelle langue a-t-il cette signification? Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 199.

4 So says Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 39; but according to Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 231, Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 337, and Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., 200, Acaultzin reigned alone. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom í., p. 133, affirms that the old king divided the kingdom equally between his

two sons.

p.

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distant frontiers of the empire. They therefore recalled their troops, and the Chichimec border was left undisturbed. It was not long before the brother monarchs of Amaquemecan began to wonder at this sudden cessation of hostilities, and determined to find out the cause, for they were ignorant of the struggles and final overthrow of the Toltec empire. They at once dispatched spies into the Toltec territory. În a short time these men returned with the startling announcement that they had penetrated the enemy's country for a distance of two hundred leagues from Amaquemecan, and had found all that region deserted, and the towns, formerly so strong and populous, abandoned and in ruins.

Xolotl, who seems to have been of a more ambitious and enterprising disposition than his brother, listened eagerly to this report, which seemed to promise the fulfillment of his dreams of independent and undivided sway. Summoning his vassals to the capital, he told them what his spies had seen, and in an eloquent speech reminded them that an extension of territory was needed for their increasing population, expatiated on the richness and fertility of the abandoned region, pointed out to his hearers how easy it would be to avenge on their crippled enemies. the injuries of many years, and concluded by requiring them to be ready to accompany him to conquest within the space of six months.

5

5 Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 40-1, gives in full Xolotl's speech to his lords. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 337, relates that he appointed Oyome as the rendezvous. Brasseur de Bourbourg, as before stated, does not suppose Xolotl to have shared the Chichimee throne with his brother Acauhtzin; he therefore tells the story as if Xolotl induced the great nobles to favor his project of invasion by his eloquence and argument, but used no kingly authority in the matter.

Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 302-3, tom. ii., pp. 3-4, 13, assigns an altogether different cause for the Chichimec invasion of Anáhuac. He affirms that when Topiltzin (Acxitl), the Toltec monarch, fled from Tollan, he went to Acauhtzin, the Chichimec sovereign, to whom he was distantly related, told him his sorrows, and ceded in his favor all rights to a land which he refused to revisit; whereupon Acauhtzin invested his brother Xolotl with the sovereignty of Tollan.

The date of the events recorded above is very uncertain. Veytia states that the Chichimees left their country for Anáhuac in 1117, one year after

It is difficult to credit the statements of the old authors respecting the number of Chichimecs that expoused Xolotl's cause. Ixtlixochitl and Veytia

state that no less than three million two hundred and two thousand men and women, besides children, rallied to his standard, leaving one million six hundred thousand subjects of Acauhtzin, and thus making it not a mere expedition, but a decided emigration. Torquemada, who fears he will not be believed if he states the actual number who took part in the exodus, takes pains to assure us that the historic paintings mention over a million warriors, commanded by six great lords, and over twenty (two?) thousand inferior chiefs and captains, and as each of these had under him more than a thousand men, the total number would approach nearer to the larger numbers than to Torquemada's unwontedly modest statement. The number was ascertained by census, taken at five different places to check the increase or decrease caused by leaving colonists along the route, by new arrivals, and especially by deserters. The counting was effected by each plebeian casting a small stone into a heap set apart for his class, and each lord or officer a larger stone into another heap. Ixtlilxochitl mentions two of these nepohualcos, or 'counting-places,' one near Oztotipac in Otompan district, and another three leagues from Ecatepec, near Mexico; while Torquemada refers to twelve similar hillocks near Tenayocan.6

the fall of the Toltec dynasty. Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 7. Ixtlilxochitl allows a period of four to six years to elapse before their arrival at Tollan; as usual, this writer is not consistent with himself in different parts of his work, and places the arrival in various years between 962 and 1015. Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 208, 337, 395, 451. Torquemada, always avoiding exact dates, gives on one page an interval of five years between the destruction of the Toltec empire and the arrival of the Chichimecs, and on another page an interval of nine years between the former event and the departure from Amaquemecan. Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 45-6. Clavigero places the Chichimec arrival at Anáhuac in 1170. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 132, tom. iv., pp. 46-51. Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 233, allows a lapse of nine years between the Toltec fall and the Chichimec arrival.

6 Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 44; Boturini, in Doc. Hist.

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Having taken leave of his brother Acauhtzin, Xolotl started on his journey. Halts were made at a number of stations to gather supplies, and when camp was broken, settlers were left-generally selected from among the old and feeble-and their places filled by fresh recruits. Owing to these detentions it took the army some time to reach Chocoyan, or 'place of tears,' in Anáhuac, where many Toltec ruins were found. After After proceeding some distance farther, and making several halts, Xolotl dispatched the six principal chiefs of his army, each with an appropriate force, in various directions, with instructions to explore the country, and reduce the inhabitants, if they found any, to subjection; at the same time he recommended these officers to use the people kindly, except where they offered resistance, in which case they were to be treated as enemies."

Xolotl himself proceeded with the body of the army, and after halting in several places, he finally reached Tollan. But the ancient splendor of the Toltec capital was departed, its streets were deserted and overgrown with vegetation, its magnificent temples and palaces were in ruins, and desolation reigned where so lately had been the hum and bustle of a mighty metropolis. The site of Tollan being too important to be abandoned, Xolotl established

Mex., série iii., tom. iv., pp. 231-2; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 337, 375; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 4, 8–9. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 134, expresses his disbelief in the numbers given.' Rien ne justifie les millions que lui assignent les auteurs; ils ont compris évidement sous ce chiffre exagéré les diverses émigrations qui se succédèrent depuis lors sans interruption dans la vallée jusqu'à la fondation du royaume d'Acolhuacan.' Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 202.

7 Brasseur gives the names of these six chiefs, as: Acatomatl, Quautlapal, Cozcaquauh, Mitliztac, Tecpan, and Itzaquauh, giving Ixtlilxochitl and Torquemada as his authorities; the latter writer, however, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 44, distinctly affirms that only one chief, Acatomatl, was sent in advance.

8 Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 134, states that they reached Tollan in eighteen months from the time of their departure from Amaquemecan. Ixtlilxochitl gives the date as 5 Tecpatl. Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 395.