was danger that the whole of Anáhuac would be involved in war.

Xolotl and Nopaltzin now began to feel seriously alarmed. Tochin Tecuhtli, who, as we have seen, had been previously disgraced," and who had therefore joined the rebels, was secretly sent for, and induced by fair promises to desert Yacanex and take command of the imperial troops. He immediately proceeded to join Huetzin, and the two with their united forces then marched against the rebels. But Yacanex had taken up an unassailable position in the mountains, and for some months could not be drawn into an engagement. At length, his strength being greatly increased by the numbers that flocked to his standard, he decided to risk a battle and descended into the plain. The engagement, which lasted an entire day and was attended with great loss on both sides, ended in the rout and almost total annihilation of the rebels. Yacanex, with his ally Ocotox and a small remnant of his followers, escaped to the mountains in the east; and Huetzin's two sons73 fled to Huexotzinco.

At this time Nopaltzin, with his son Tlotzin and his grandson Quinantzin, then about nine or ten years old, were sojourning in the forest of Xolotl, near Tezcuco. Ocotox, who had escaped with Yacanex, conceived the bold idea of capturing this royal party. But the princes were secretly informed of the plot, and, gathering what men they could, they rushed suddenly upon the concealed enemy with such fury that but few escaped. Quinantzin, though so young, is said to have been foremost in the melée and to have fought so valorously that Xolotl rewarded him with

72 See note 70.

73 Ixtlilxochitl, p. 212, says he fled toward Pánuco, and afterwards, p. 343, states that he was pardoned and re-instated. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 65, affirms that the rebel chief was slain in battle, and that his allies fled to Huexotzinco, where they died in misery. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 142-3, follows Torquemada. We must accept the former version, however, as Yacanex subsequently re-appears upon the scene.

74 Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 277.

the lordship of Tezcuco, and ceded him its revenues.75 Tochin Tecuhtli was well rewarded for his services; he received in marriage the hand of Tomiyauh, daughter or grand-daughter of Upantzin, king of Xaltocan, and was made lord of the seigniory of Huexotla, which comprised the towns of Teotihuacan and Otompan; Huetzin returned to Coatlichan and there married the Helen of the war, Atotoztli, daughter of Achitometl." Thus was this rebellion brought to an end in the year 1151.7

76

A few years after these events Xolotl II. expired at Tenayocan in the arms of his son Nopaltzin, to whom he left the crown, exhorting him to maintain peace in the empire if possible.78

After the body of the late emperor had been interred with the customary ceremonies, Nopaltzin was crowned Chichimecatl Tecuhtli, and formally received the homage of his vassals. The coronation fêtes were on a scale of unusual magnificence, and lasted forty days.79

In spite of the wishes of the late emperor, Nopaltzin's reign was anything but a peaceful one. Anáhuac was at this time divided into a great number of states, many of which had their peculiar languages,

75 'Para que en ella y su contorno mandase en calidad de soberano.' Veytia, tom. ii., p. 56. He could scarcely have been sole lord of Tezcuco, for Veytia himself says that Tlotzin reigned there.

76 Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 212, 396-7; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 50-8; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 65; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 278; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 271-7.

17 Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 277.

78 The exact year in which Xolotl II. died is uncertain. Brasseur, whose chronology I have followed, does not give the date, though he says it occurred some years after the death of Huetzin, which occurred in 1154. Xolotl, says this author, at his death, 'ne pouvait guère avoir plus de cent ou cent dix ans, et, en calculant les années de son règne, à commencer de son arrivée dans l'Anahuac, il aurait pu durer tout au plus de soixante à soixante-cinq ans.' Hist., tom. ii., pp. 277-8. Veytia, tom. ii., p. 69, writes that Xolotl died in 1232. Torquemada, tom. i., p. 60, says that he was nearly 200 years of age when he died. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 212, 343, 397. 452, says, 117 years after his departure from Amaquemecan, in the 112th year of his reign in Anahuac, and gives, as usual, several dates for Xolotl's death, namely: 1075, 1127, 1074, and 1121. Rios, Compend. Hist. Mex., p. 7, says that he died at the of 160, after a reign of 99 years.

79 Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 61-2, gives the speeches delivered on the

occasion.

manners, and customs. The principal of these divisions were Tenayocan, Coatlichan, Azcapuzalco, Xaltocan, Quauhtitlan, Huexotla, and Culhuacan. Each of these communities was exceedingly watchful of its own interests and regarded all the others with more or less jealousy. In the early part of his reign the people of Tulancingo rebelled, and Nopaltzin marched in person to subdue them; it is doubtful, however, if he would have succeeded had not Tlotzin opportunely come to his aid, when, after a campaign of nineteen days, victory was obtained. On another occasion, Aculhua, King of Azcapuzalco, usurped the lands of Chalchiuhcua, lord of Tepotzotlan, at a time when Nopaltzin was too busy to prevent it.

80

81

In 1171 Nonohualcatl, king of Culhuacan, died and was succeeded by Achitometl, or Ameyal. This prince, whose life had been such an eventful one, labored hard to advance civilization, and during his life the city of Culhuacan made great progress. But his reign was a short one, and he had been on the throne but a few years, when he died, and was succeeded by his son Icxochitlanex.

Nopaltzin, following the example set by his father, did all in his power to further Toltec culture. Great attention was paid to agriculture; masters were appointed in the several towns to teach the various arts, new laws were made and old ones revised, and civilization began to assume a higher phase than it had hitherto done since the fall of the Toltec empire.

80 Torquemada, tom. i., p. 66; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 212-13; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 140-2; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 71-3, 78; Rios, Compend. Hist. Mex., p. 8; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 281-8.

81 We have seen that according to the account given by Veytia, and others, of the events which led to the first trouble between the Chichimees and the people of Culhuacan, Achitometl succeeded to the throne immediately after the death of Nauhyotl, no mention being made of the reigns of Huetzin or Nonohualcatl. See pp. 303-4.

CHAPTER VI.

THE CHICHIMEC PERIOD. - CONTINUED.

MIGRATION OF THE AZTECS-NATIONS OF ANÁHUAC AT BEGINNING OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY-THE AZTECS SUBMIT TO THE TEPANECS -REIGN OF THE EMPEROR TLOTZIN-QUINANTZIN, KING OF TEZCUCO AND CHICHIMEC EMPEROR-TRANSFER OF THE CAPITAL-TENANCACALTZIN USURPS THE IMPERIAL THRONE AT TENAYOCANTHE USURPER DEFEATED BY TEPANECS AND MEXICANS-ACOLNAHUACATL PROCLAIMED EMPEROR-QUINANTZIN'S VICTORIES BATTLE AT POYAUHTLAN-QUINANTZIN AGAIN EMPEROR-TOLTEC INSTITUTIONS AT TEZCUCO-EVENTS AT CULHUACAN - MEXICANS DRIVEN FROM CHAPULTEPEC-ALLIANCE BETWEEN MEXICANS AND CULHUAS-RELIGIOUS STRIFE-FOUNDATION OF MEXICO-REIGN OF THE EMPEROR TECHOTL-POLITICAL CHANGES-RUIN OF THE CULHUA POWER-TEZOZOMOC, KING OF AZCAPUZALCO-SEPARATION OF MEXICANS AND TLATELULCAS - ACAMAPICHTLI II., KING OF MEXICO QUAQUAUHPITZAHUAC, KING OF TLATELULCO.

The last of the so-called foreign tribes that came into notice in Anáhuac, from out the confusion that followed the downfall of the Toltecs, was the Aztec, or Mexican, which settled at Chapultepec in the last years of the twelfth century. According to their traditions they set out on their migration from Aztlan together with the Nahuatlaca tribes, whose arrival has already been noticed; but were left behind by those tribes at Chicomoztoc, one of their first stopping-places. The migration of the Aztecs

11194, Codex Chimalpopoca; 1140 or 1189, Ixtlilxochitl; 1245, Clavigero; 1331, Gondra; 1298, Veytia, Gama, and Gallatin.

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from Chicomoztoc is described much more fully than that of the tribes that preceded them; but in the details of this journey, so far as dates, names, and events are concerned, the traditions are inextricably confused. I have already expressed my opinion that some of these traditions may refer very vaguely to the pre-Toltec events in Nahua history, but that they chiefly refer to the movements of the Nahua, or Chichimec, tribes which occupied the Toltec provinces during the continuance of the empire, and which after a long struggle became powerful in and about the Valley of Mexico. We have no means of determining in a manner at all satisfactory whether Aztlan and Chicomoztoc were in Central America or in the region of Zacatecas and Jalisco; nor indeed of proving that they were not in Alaska, New Mexico, or on the Mississippi, although there is absolutely no evidence in favor of the latter locations; but we know at least that all the halting-places of the migrating tribes after Chicomoztoc were in the immediate vicinity of Anáhuac. The record as a whole is exactly what might be expected, were the traditions of half a dozen kindred bands respecting their wanderings about the central plateau, and efforts to establish themselves in permanent homes, united in one consecutive narrative; and I have little doubt that such was substantially the process by which the Spanish version of the Aztec migration was formed. Whatever the cause of the confusion that reigns in that version, it is utterly useless to attempt its clearingup; and I dispose of the whole matter by simply presenting in a note the dates and successive haltingplaces attributed to this migration by the principal authorities; the opinions of these authorities respecting the location of Aztlan and Chicomoztoc have been previously given.2

I give here as compactly as possible the course of the Aztec migration as given by the leading authorities:-Leave Aztlan 1 Tecpatl, 1064 A. D., and travel 104 years to Chicomoztoc, where they remain 9 years; thence to