CHAPTER IV.
THE AZTECS, OR MEXICANS.
[A. D. 1160.] Where was the land of Aztlan? the "country of herons," from which the seven tribes invaded Anahuac? We know not; various writers have assigned it as various positions, ranging all the way from the Gulf of California to the Gulf of Mexico. The preponderance of opinion, however, seems to be in favor of locating it in the north. Not that this was the original country of the Nahuatlacas, for it is believed, with great reason, that this—the birthplace of the race—was in the south! Migrating northward, they reached a point somewhere in Southern California, and thence they went no farther northward; they may have dwelt there for ages, until this great impulse came over them to return to the south, to the birthplace of these "children of the sun." But so much of their tradition as has been accepted as history, tells us only of Aztlan as their place of residence when the great migration commenced which was to re-populate the country deserted of the Toltecs.
[A. D. 1160.] Among the Aztecs, who dwelt in Aztlan, was a person of authority named Huitziton, who was desirous that his people should leave that country and seek another. One day, sitting beneath a tree, he heard—or pretended he heard—a little bird, constantly repeating in the Aztec tongue, "tihui, tihui—let us go! let us go!"
Now, Huitziton took this to be a message from the gods, directing him and his companions to change their place of
