176 AZTECS Ian was to be looked for in a northern latitude. The palm certainly points southward as the direction whence the traditional migration took place ; and this indication is supported by the fact that a people speaking the same language with the Aztecs (the Nahuatl), and having identical habits, laws, and religious observances, existed as far south as Nicaragua, and at the time of the conquest occupied nearly the whole of the present state of San Salvador in Central America. The next question concerns the date of the departure of the seven tribes from Azt- lan. According to Gemelli's painting, this event happened in the year 1038 of our era ; accord- ing to the astronomer Gama, in 1064. Veytia follows Gama; but Clavigero fixes the period nearly a century later, in 1160. But great un- certainty is attached to all dates previous to the foundation of the city of Tenochtitlan or Mexico, which all accounts concur in fixing in the year 1324 or 1325. Tradition and the paintings represent that various halts and stop- pages took place after leaving Aztlan, before the seven tribes reached the valley of Mexico ; and the time occupied is variously estimated from 56 to 163 years. According to the paint- ing obtained by Boturni representing this mi- gration, they made not less than 22 stoppages, varying from 4 to 28 years in length alto- gether occupying 162 years, before reaching Chapultepec. It does not appear that the va- rious tribes all arrived at the same time in the valley of Mexico, but came in and took up their positions successively. They found the coun- try rich and attractive, and occupied by only a remnant of an anterior and powerful people, who had left numerous monuments of their greatness. From these they learned many of the arts of life, the cultivation of the soil, and the working of metals. At first they seem' to have lived in harmony with each other ; but gradually the stronger tribes began to encroach upon the weaker, which led to combinations for defence among the latter, and to a long se- ries of bloody forays and wars. The Mexicans (subsequently so called from Mexi, one of their war chiefs) ranked as the seventh tribe, and seem to have assumed the name of Aztecas par excellence. They were established first at Chapultepec, but gradually encroached upon the Ohalcos, and finally, under the lead of a succession of military chiefs, became the most powerful tribe in Anahuac, and established their imperial city in the lake of Chalco. This event took place in 1324 or 1325, under the reign of Tenuch, and the city was called Tenochtitlan, the place or seat of Tenoch or Tenuch. The site, like that of Venice a few low islands in a great lake was admirably chosen for de- fence, and the Mexicans exhausted their art in strengthening the position. It could only be approached over long and narrow causeways, easily defended, and which even the Spaniards were not successful in forcing. Commanding the lake with numerous fleets of boats, they were unassailable from the water. From this stronghold they gradually reduced their neigh- bors, their companions from Aztlan, or forced them into a kind of dependent alliance, which served still further to build up their power and influence ; so that, at the time of the arrival of Cortes, the Mexican emperor exercised a qual- ified dominion over nearly all the aboriginal nations embraced within the present bounda- ries of the republic of Mexico. This power was often exercised without mercy, and many thousands of their captured enemies were sacrificed on the altars of their sanguinary divinities. How severely their yoke was felt, and how eagerly it was thrown off, is shown by the readiness with which the Tlascalans, their own kindred, joined the Spaniards in their attack on the Mexican capital. The form of government among the Mexicans was an elective monarchy ; and the legislative power resided wholly with the king. The ad- ministration of the laws belonged to certain judicial tribunals, and was conducted with great regularity and with Draconic sternness. Their religion was sanguinary in most of its practices ; yet it combined the elements of a milder system, probably, than that of their Tulhuatecan predecessors, whose religion was closely allied to the Buddhist system of India. As essentially a warlike nation, they made the highest beatitudes of their faith the rewards of the bravest soldiers ; and while the soul of the common citizen after death was believed to be subject to a purgatorial existence, that of the warrior who fell in battle was caught up at once to the abode of the gods, to the bosom of the sun, the heaven of eternal de- lights. In the arts, and especially in their architecture, the Mexicans achieved an advance corresponding with their numerical and politi- cal growth ; and the islands, which at the out- set supported only rude huts of cane and thatch, came finally to be covered with imposing edi- fices of stone and lime. Metallurgy was ex- tensively practised, and gold and silver, cop- per, and a species of brass were well known and elaborately worked ; but iron, except in its meteoric form, was unknown. For accounts of the political, social, and religious practices, customs, and organization of this interesting people, whose subversion forms the most dra- matic incident in the history of this continent, see the works of Sahagun, Solis, Clavigero, Prescott, and Baldwin. The following chro- nological table is from an unpublished Mexican painting or MS., hi the possession of Mr. E. G. Squier : Aztecs leave Aztlan A. D. 1164 Arrive in Valley of Mexico 1216 Tenotzinlatoani. founder of Mexico, commences to reign 13 Acamapichtle, second king 1373 Huitzilihuitzin 1394 Chimalpopoca 1415 Itzcohuatzin 1423 Hue Monctecumatzin (Montezuma I.) 1438 Axayacatzin, king 1471 Ticocicatzin (' Tizoc ") 1480 Ahuitzotzin 1484 Monctecumatzin (Montezuma II.) 1502 Entry of the Spaniards 1519
