j LIBRARY OF CONGRESS DD00imH2E3 V Young Folks' History of Mexico. BY / FREDERICK A. OBER, AUTHOR OF "CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES," ETC. FULL Y ILLUSTRA TED. BOSTON: ^'55^^J!!!!ashiS^;J^ PUBLISHED BY ESTES AND LAURIAT, 301-305 Washington Street. 1883. Copyright^ rS82, By Estes and Lauriat. F/a2Lb ^^^9/9 University Press: John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. / ilL CONTENTS. lu^i CHAPTER. PAGE. I, Geographical Distribution 13 11.^ The Ancient Mexicans 25 III. The Chichimecs 44 IV. The Aztecs, or Mexicans 48 V. The Rival Powers of Anahuac 65 VI. The Triple Kingdom 76 VII. Nezahualcoyotl, King of Tezcoco .... 89 VIII. Mexico in her Glory 97 IX. Last Years of the Mexican Empire .... 109 X. The Beginning of the End 125 XL A Glance at the Aztec at Home 142 XII. Religion. Gods and Goddesses . . . . . 155 XIII. The Discovery of Mexico 186 XIV. Voyage of Hernando Cortez . . . . , 197 XV. From Tabasco to Cempoalla 209 XVI. Destruction of the Ships and March Inland . 226 XVII. Tlascala, Cholula, and Mexico 245 XVIII. In the Aztec Stronghold ...... 2^ XIX. Montezuma a Captive 274 XX. The Disastrous Retreat from Mexico . . . 284 XXI. The Siege of Mexico 297 XXII. The Destruction of the City . . . . . 311 XXIII. After the Overthrow 325 XXIV. The Reign of the Viceroys 340 VI Contents, CHAPTER. PAGE. XXV, DlSCOVEI^Y AND CONQUEST OF YuCATAN . . . 349 XXVI. Details of the Conquest 361 XXVII. The Reign of the Viceroys {continued) . . . 371 XXVIII. The Reign of the Viceroys {concluded) . . 390 XXIX. The Great Revolution 409 XXX. Mexico Still Struggling 421 XXXI. War with the United States . . . . . 431 XXXII. The March upon the Capital .... 444 XXXIII. The Era of Reform 468 XXXIV. The French Intervention 483 XXXV. Mexico after the Empire . . . ... 504 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Cathedral of Mexico Front. Map of Mexico Sub. Front. Cacti . . . . ■ 15 A Pueblo 18 Phoenecian Vessel 20 Phoenecian Architecture 21 Mound-Builders . 27 Mexican Symbols 3^-33 Pyramid of Teotihuacan 37- Pyramid of Cholula 42 Valley of Mexico 49 Aztec God, Huitzilopochtli 55 Floating Gardens . . 61 Mexican Warrior . 66 Mexican Priest "J*] Mexican Weapons 85 Armor and Shields ........... 90, 91 Montezuma's Bath . 96 Teocalli 100 Another Form of Tempi 3 ^03 Grand Chamber, Mitla 105 Species of Cacti 108 Montezuma . , . . . . iii Sacrifice to the Gods 115 Gladiatorial Combat . . .119 Mexican Century 123 Guatemalan Idol 127 Sacrificial Stone 133 Picture Writing 139 Mexican Dress 144 Aztec Idols 156, 160 Aztec Ornaments 162 viii List of Illustrations. PAGE Aztec Idol 165 Men Flying i^j-i Vapor Baths x-^^j Making Bread igi Urn 185 Yucatan Ruins 137 Map of Yucatan jgg Cortez I Vera Cruz 221 Ruins of Papantla 220 Map — Route of Cortez 2-24. View in Tierra Caliente .... ^.^ Cholula 248 Volcanoes as seen from Mexico .... o--. ... ^j Map — Valley of Mexico 2-7 Cortez and Montezuma . . . • 261 Alvarado 2g2 Tree of La Noche Triste 29-: Sandoval ^q- Christoval de Olid -^lo Bust of Guatemotzin -,26 Ruins of Mitla ^^2 Church in Mexico -jnA Aztec Hut 04J New Mexican Pueblo ■74- Palenque Cross -ir^ Governor's House ■^t>j Tower of Palenque '.50 House of Nuns, Chichen 363 Bas-Relief of Tigers 367 Philip of Spain 37? Cattiedral of Guadalajara 377 Mission at Monterey 383 Mines 387 At the Fountain ... 394 Termination of Aqueduct 398 Virgin of Guadalupe 397 Fa§ade of Casa de las Monjas 407 A Hacienda 415 Scene in Texas 423 Portrait of Zachary Taylor 432 Battle of Monterey 435 Table-land of Mexico 440 List of Illustrations. ix PAGE Portrait of General Scott 442 Map showing Seat of War 445 Map of Mexican Valley 447 Gate of St. Antonio 451 .Volcanoes, from Tacubaya 457. Chapultepec . 460 Mexico at Peace 461 Sagrario, or Parish Church of Mexico . . . ' . . , . 471 Mexican Priests of the Past 475 Portrait of Juarez 478 Portrait of Maximilian 492 Portrait of Carlota 493 Portrait of Romero . . . 498 Queretaro 499 Execution of Maximilian . . . , 502 Street Scene in Mexico 505 Portrait of Lerdo de Tejada 508 Mexican Saw-Mill 509 Scene in the Tierra Templada . 512 Portrait of Diaz 519 Market Scene, city of Mexico. 525 Canal of La Viga, city of Mexico 531 Indian Peon 534 HISTORY OF MEXICO. MEXICO. CHAPTER I. GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION. South of the United States, stretching away towards Cen- tral America, lies the countiy of Mexico. It has a large extent of territory, being fifteen hundred miles in length, and quite eight hundred miles in width in its broadest part. It has a coast line of nearly five thousand five hundred miles, and lies between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. Being so much farther to the south than the United States, its climate would naturally be much hotter, yet such is not the case all over Mexico. Though it ex- tends into the tropics more than six degrees, yet the greater portion of its territory enjoys a temperate climate. This is due to the fact that it is a mountainous country. We know that in going up a high mountain the temperature gets lower, or colder, the higher we ascend. So it is that Mexico, though extending far down into the torrid zone, has the cool climate of the temperate zone, except along its coasts and in the far south. We might say that the backbone of Mexico is a long mountain-ridge, with ribs of hills spreading away on either side to the Gulf of IV^exico and the Pacific, or that the mountain system of the Andes stretches along its entire length. In speaking of the Andes we naturallv think of 14 Mexico. South America and its ranges of volcanoes ; but if we take a map and trace this vast system up through Central Amer- ica, we shall see that it rises into great prominence in Mexico, and even in the United States, where it is known as the Rocky Moinitains. We shall see that it spreads itself into two great chains ; one approaching the eastern and the other the western coast, and running northward parallel to them. These are t-he Cordilleras — or chains — of the Andes. They enclose between them a vast plain, or plateau, not always level, but broken by hills and dotted with other mountains or volcanoes. This plateau, the Mexican table- land, is several hundred miles in length, and from one to three hundred miles in breadth. It is this table-land that possesses the temperate climate and produces the plants of our own zone, while the plains that lie between the bases of the mountains and the coast are hot, and have a tropical vegetation. To complete this broad sketch of Mexico, take your map again, and note the shape of the country. Does it not resemble a cornucopia, a horn of plenty ? That is what it is, a veritable horn of plenty, with its hills and mountains containing great stores of silver, and its lowlands filled with forests of valuable woods. You will see that the throat of this horn of plenty is the most mountainous, and that great plains spread out in the north towards the United States, and a low, flat peninsula terminates its eastern por- tion — the peninsula of Yucatan. This much for a broad, general view of the physical features of the country whose history we purpose to read. You will see that it is no small portion of this North American cojitinent that we shall examine. It is a very important portion, lying, as it does, — as the great Hum- boldt has expressed it — in the highway of commerce be- tween the two hemispheres. Geographical Description. 15 It has other considerations, also, than those of a com- mercial character, to entitle it to our closest attention. The wisest of our learned men have looked upon this region as MEXICAN CACTI. the seat of American civihzation, — that is, that here the wild Indian first forsook his habits of savagery and settled down to a peaceful life. Here he became civilized^ in fact, 1 6 Mexico. built cities and cultivated land, instead of always fighting and wandering about from country to country. We shall come to those wonderful cities they built by and by, for their ruins fill the forests of the southern portion of Mexico and Yucatan. It is difficult to choose whether to follow first the history of these most ancient of people, or to commence with those that have filled a more prominent place in more recent times. Let us go up into that vast table-land and seek out the abiding-place of the nation that ruled Mexico when first this country was discovered by Europeans, by white men. We shall find ourselves in the valley of Mexico, enclosed on all sides by spurs of mountains from that mighty chain that strides the whole length of the continent. We shall find a valley sixty miles in length and thirty in breadth, surrounded by a mountain wall two hundred miles in cir- cumference. We shall find it a delightful region of lakes and valleys and wooded hills, bathed in tropic sunshine, yet with the pure atmosphere of the temperate zone. For it is the centre of that region lying in the tropics, yet at an altitude so high as to remove it from tropic heat. In the distance you may see the glittering domes of two great snow- crowned volcanoes. The valley itself is- over seven thousand feet above the sea, while the volcanoes are more than seven- teen thousand ! If we could occupy some commanding position, we should not fail to note the numerous lakes that stretch along this beautiful valley and form a glistening chain its entire length. It is they that have given it its Indian name, Afidhuac* or by the water side, since the eailier towns and cities were built near their margins, or upon the islands in them. And when were these first cities built ? * " Ana/tuac, quiere decir cerca del agua.^'' — Clavigero. First Settlement. \7 Rather, let us ask, when was this valley first populated ? We are not the first who have asked this question ; we are not the last who will ask it. Constantly, to the inquiring mind that searches into the history of our country, this question arises : " Whence came these people, and when ? " Even yet, with all the light shed by science, we go groping about in the dark, asking of ourselves and of one another : " When and whence ? " The origin of the American people is enveloped in mystery ; but our knowledge of that portion that resided in Mexico extends farther into the past than of any other, for they were more civilized when discovered than any others They had records extending back hundreds of years. They had cities and white-walled temples and palaces, even so long ago as when Columbus sailed into this New World ; yes, even when the Northmen coasted our northern shores, eight hundred years ago. You may add yet another thousand years to those eight hundred, and yet not reach the period in which those cities were built and to which their records carry us. Nobody knows whence came the first populators of Mexico. Some historians think that they came from a region in the north ; others believe that they originated in the south; others say they came from the west, and yet others that they came from the east. From the north might have come the Jews, the lost tribes of Israel, by the way of Behring's Straits to the northwest coast of America, and thence, gradually moving southward, have reached finally Mexico. They might have come this way, and at that remote time the islands between Asia and America may have been nearer together, or the sea may have been frozen over and have given them a safe passage. They may have brought with them their flocks and herds, and also all those strange i8 Mexico. birds and beasts that we find to-day peculiar to Mexico and South America. Those historians who beUeve this have found many things in support of their theory ; they have found Jewish manners and customs among the Indian tribes A PUEBLO. in the north, and have even found some tribes speaking the dialect. From the west may have appeared the Japanese, the Malays, or the Chinese. It would, indeed, seem easier for Early Civilization. 19 these people, any or all of them, to cross to the western shore of our continent by sea than by land. There is a great " river in the sea " called the Kuro Siwo, or Black Stream, similar to our Gulf Stream, that crosses the Pacific Ocean from Japan to our northwest coast, and sweeps southward along the western shores. By means of this ocean river, with its steady current, Japanese junks have been drifted across the Pacific to the coast of California. One writer, who has given the subject great attention, says that a drifting wreck would be carried eastward by the Kuro Siwo at the rate of ten miles a day. Cast upon our coast, the Japanese sailors may have exerted some influence upon the civilization of the Indians already there, but they could not have come in this way in sufficient numbers to people the country. The Malays were bold navigators, and may have vis- ited the west coast, but it is a question if any of them stayed. Looking east, how would it be possible for any people to cross the wide expanse of ocean that Columbus first crossed in modern times ? It would seem difficult, yet it does not seem so to those who believe that from this direction Amer- ica first received her people. Did you ever hear the story of Atlantis ? Atlantis was a great island that is said to have existed in the Atlantic ocean ages and ages ago. According to some ancient historians it was fertile and beautiful, with exten- sive forests and rivers, hills, mountains, valleys — in short, a good-sized continent. It was peopled by an intelli- gent and warlike race, who even invaded the neighboring coast of Africa and perhaps passed into Spain. Some Phoenecian navigators claimed to have sailed beyond the Pillars of Hercules — the Strait of Gibraltar — and to have discovered it. It was claimed that this was more than an 20 Mexico. island — that it was a continent — and was an extension of Central America away out into the Atlantic and over towards Africa. The peninsula of Yucatan is considered, by the people who hold this theory, as part of that continent which sank at some remote age of the world, and left the West India islands as mountains, sticking up above the sea to remind us of its former existence. This continent, or great island, Atlantis, is said to have PHCENECIAN VESSEL. had just such temples and palaces of stone as we find in Yucatan to-da\^ lyii^g ii^ ruins in the wilderness. Did the Phoenecians visit this country by coasting the shores of Atlantis, or did part of the Atlantides themselves escape to Central America and there build the cities buried in the vast forest there now ? It has not been proven that they did, any more than that the Jews came from the north, or the Malays and the Japanese from the west. And what has been proven by all our study of the ruins and the records of this people ? PHCENECIAN ARCHITECTURE. Various Theories. 23 Only this, that there has long existed in Central America — in which we would embrace Southern Mexico and Yu- catan — an American civilization superior to any other on this continent at the time of its discovery. There remains still one more theory to consider : Was it possible for this civilization to have been developed by the people placed here by the Creator ? Was it possible for the Creator to place men and women here originally, without making them pass over from the other continent? It was possible, was it probable ? Some there are who think that this was done ; who claim that our continent is oldest, according to its geological for- mation, and that it was as likely that people passed to the eastern hemisphere from the western as that they should have passed to the western from the eastern. It is difficult for those who hold this theory to account in any other way for the many peculiarities in American ar- chitecture, for the totally different aspect of the natives of this country from every other. They hold that it would have been impossible for all the animals of this so-called New World to have originated from the Old World : the tapirs, boa-constrictors, pumas, etc., that seem to belong to the warmer parts of America alone, — that they would have frozen in coming down from the north by way of Behring's Straits, with the Jews, even if they had originally been created in Europe or Asia. Many wise men have at last concluded that our great continent was originally settled by two different peoples. One was an indigenous race, — created here, belonging ex- clusively to this country ; and the other came to North America from Asia by way of Behring's Straits, or the Aleutian islands. In support of this they call our attention to the great difference between the northern and the south- 24 Mexico. em Indians. The Indians of Mexico and Central America are totally different from those of the United States, Canada and Labrador, with the exception of the Mound Builders, the Cliff Dwellers and the Pueblo Indians, who belong to the south and have strayed away. They are so unlike, that only this difference of origin seems to explain the reason why it is so. While those Indians now living mainly south of the Mexican border have great similarity amongst them- selves, and have no representatives in the Old World, those of the north seem to have a resemblance to some Indians in Eastern Asia. But these are all speculations, with more or less of proof in favor of the last theory. We will go on to describe the Indians found in Mexico at the coming of the white men, and then the reader may judge whether these people had a foreign origin ; or whether they commenced existence in southern Mexico and founded there a great empire, which will be mentioned in its proper place. The Ancient Mexicans. 25 CHAPTER 11. THE ANCIENT MEXICANS. [1000 B. C] Perhaps the principal reason why so many have sought to find a birthplace for this race in a foreign country is because their own traditions are so obscure. Yet great historians tell us that they are no more so than those of many nations of the Old World. They do not ex- tend back so far, that is all. Their earliest traditions reach only to about one thousand years before the coming of Christ. And where the exact line of division occurs between tradition and history it is difficult to determine. But we may say pretty positively that their annals may be accepted as history so far back as the sixth century. [Sixth Century, A. D.] Though the ancient history of Mexico commences with the annals of the Toltecs, it is believed the country was inhabited by a wild people before this race came into prominence. There were the Olmecs and Xicalancas, the Otomies andTepanecs — we are speak- ing now of the Mexican valley. Then, also, if we may be- lieve the traditions, there were giants in those days. But we may find that the history of every people begins with fables and traditions regarding giants, and a great flood that may have occurred before or after the arrival of the giants upon the earth. We shall see, later on, that all these different tribes living in Mexico preserved traditions of a flood, or deluge, that covered their portion of the world, and destroyed the inhabitants of their country. Now, these giants may have been fabled monsters, but the early Indians 26 Mexico. believed that they Uvea here in Mexico. They were good- natured men, but very lazy, and when the strangers arrived among them from the south they enslaved them. Tired at last of the disgusting habits of the giants, the Indians turned upon them and slew them, first having put them to sleep by drugging their wine. Thus Mexico was freed from these worthless giants ; but another monster was to stride over the land for many hundred years and make its fair valleys to be desolate more than once, this was the demon war. THE TOLTECS. [596-1050.] Our first certain knowledge is of the race known as the Toltecs, — Toltecas^ artificers, or architects, — who were really quite civilized when they first appeared in the images of history. They understood and practised agriculture and many arts. Being driven from a country in which they had been long settled, by invading savages, they commenced a journey southward, halting at intervals long enough to plant corn and cotton and gather the crops. [596.] Their annals tell us that they began their migra- tion in the year " i Tecpatl," or 596 of our Christian era. The country they left, supposed to be in the north, they called Huehue Tlapaltan, or the old Tlapaltan. Here again enters speculation, upon the location of that country of the Toltecs. No one knows certainly where it was, but everything points to its having been in the north. If you are acquainted with the early history of the United States, you will remember that the oldest remains of civili- zation there are those of the Mound Builders. You will recall the descriptions given of the great earthworks lying in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys ; works so vast that it must have taken many generations to complete them, and The Moimd Builders. 29 erected so long ago that not even the faintest tradition remains to tell who built them. They were a very civilized race, these Mound Builders, very different from the savages who surrounded them, or who have since swept over the country they once occu- pied. They extended their sway, we know, as far north as Lake Superior, because old shafts have been discovered in the copper mines there, and detached masses of copper ore, with the wedges and chisels they used at their work. This was but an outpost of theirs, for their great works were in the south. Everything seemed to indicate, also, that they came from the south. Besides axes, adzes, lance-heads, knives, etc., found in these mounds, explorers have also unearthed pottery of elegant design, ornaments of silver, bone and mica, and of shell- from the Gulf of Mexico. But there have been found there implements of obsidian^ a volcanic product once used by the ancient Mexicans for spear-heads, arrow-heads, and knives. This shows that this people had connection with Mexico, if they had not origin- ally come from there, since this volcanic glass, obsidian, " is found in its natural state nowhere nearer the Missis- sippi valley than the Mexican mountains of Cerro Gordo." There are evidences, likewise, that they possessed the art of spinning and weaving, which was unknown to the Indians of the north, but practised years ago by those of the south — of the West Indies and Mexico. Now, it would seem that these great Mound Builders, when they were driven from this country, took a southerly direction, and at last arrived in Mexico. It is much pleasanter to think this than that they were crushed out of existence entirely ; and there is a great deal to prove that this was actually the case, and that they were identical with those Toltecs who came down into Mexico twelve hundred and fifty years ago. 30 Mexico. In doing this, in performing this migration southward, they were, it is said, only returning to their old homes, from which their ancestors had strayed, it may be, in the first years of the world's history. [700.] Well, the Toltecs came into Mexico; suddenly appearing from the darkness that had enveloped their past, and settled finally at Tollantzingo, in the year 700, where, twenty years later, they founded the city of Tollan, or Tula. It is said by some that Tula already existed, under the name of Alan-ke-mi, and was merely rebuilt and re-named by the Toltecs. Be this as it may, the ruins of this capital city of the Toltecs now remain on the northern edge of the Mexican valley, to point out to the visitor the site of an an- cient empire. The writer of this history has seen them — a scattered line of earthen-walled houses and temples, occupy- ing a ridge of hills overlooking a lovely valley. On the face of a cliff is sculptured one of their heroes, and in the market-place of the present town of Tula may be seen sculptured pillars and great stones, taken from the ancient city of Tollantzingo. The Toltec monarchy commenced in the year 607 of the Christian era, and lasted till about the year 1000, each monarch reigning fifty-two years ; or if he died before this period was completed, his successor was not appointed until its completion. They were more given to the arts of peace than those of war, and their civilization was, perhaps, of a higher grade than that of any Indian nation that has succeeded them. They invented, or reformed, that wonderful calendar system which was used by all the people of the valley, and which required great knowledge of astronomy in its construction. * In about the year 660 they assembled all their wise men, prophets and astrologers, and painted a famous book, which they called Teoamoxtli, or Divine Book. In this sacred * Clavigero; year S12-S20, ace. to Bancroft. The Toltecs. 31 book was represented the origin of the Indians and (according to Span- ish writers) the confu- sion of tongues at the building of the tower of Babel, the eclipse of the sun that occurred at the death of Christ, as well as prophecies concerning the future of the empire. [1000.] Eight sov- ereigns had reigned in Tula before the empire began to weaken. It was during the reign of the emperor Topiltzin, some time in the tenth century, that this hap- pened. And it is said to have come about by means of the love of the king for strong drink, and for a woman he had no right to love. The legend runs somewhat in this wise : One of the Toltec nobles (who had such a long name that it would be difficult for us even to i Bi' ^> j H ■il ~o ^^ MEXICAN SYMBOLS. 32 Mexico. pronounce it) had a lovely daughter called Xochitl. One day this noble suc- ceeded in preparing a delicious kind of a drink — supposed to be the pulque^ made from the maguey plant, and now so much drank in Mexico. Charmed with his success, he sent some as a pres- ent to his sov- ereign by the hand of the beautiful Xochitl — pro- nounced Hocheetl, and signifying the flower of ToUan. The emperor was so delighted with the pulque that he or- dered a large sup- ply, and he was so enamored of Xochitl that he kept her a prisoner in his pal- ace for many years and would not let her return to her people. Things came to such a pass after a while that his subjects began to murmur and many rose in rebellion. @ tsi « «:l ^*^ Most Ancient Ruins, 35 [A. D. 1050.] And so it happened that, what with civil wars, famine and pestilence, there was but little of the great Toltec empire left by the middle of the eleventh century, and it perished from the earth. The famished and plague- stricken people scattered over a wide expanse of territory to the southward, leaving their capital city because they thought it accursed of their gods. But it was only as a nation that the Toltecs disappeared, for many of them continued to live in the country, and exerted an important influence upon the tribes that afterward invaded the valley of Anahuac. It is with a feeling of deep regret that we see this cultured race swept into oblivion, and the land they occupied once more given over to savages. RUINS IN ANAHUAC. There are many ruined structures in the valley of Mexico that arc attributed to the Toltecs, and were either built by them or by the people who preceded them, the Olmecs, or the Totonacs. The oldest of these ruins, apparently — older even than those of Tula, or Tollan — are those of Teotihiiacan^ — the "City of the Gods," situated in the valley of Anahuac, about twenty-five miles from the present city of Mexico. There are two great pyramids here, called the " Pyramid of the Moon " and the " Pyramid of the Sun ; " and, besides these, there are long rows, some miles in length, of mounds and smaller pyramids. The pyramid of the moon measures 426 feet long on one side at the base, by 511 feet on another, and is 137 feet high. There is a gallery leading in to a deep well in the centre of the pyramid, which is thought to contain treasure. About 2700 feet from the pyramid of the moon is that of the sun, larger than the former, being about 735 feet square at the base and 203 feet high. It was called by the 36 Mexico. ancients, Tonatiuh Itzacual, or " house of the sun." Both pyramids are built in terraces and have broad platforms at their summits, upon one of which was borne a statue of the sun and upon the other that of the moon, both covered with gold and glistening in the sun so that worshipers com- ing to this valley could see them many miles away. It is thought that the Spanish soldiers stripped off the golden coverings of the idols, and the statues themselves have long since disappeared ; though there are yet some large carved blocks of stone to be found at the base of one of the pyramids. It is said that this was the site of a great city, a holy place, w^here the priests of the people resided. The most perplexing and peculiar feature of these ruins is the broad avenue, lined on either side with mounds, two hundred and fifty feet wide, called in the native traditions, Micaotli, or " path of the dead." Many traditions refer to this place as a holy city, and not only the dwelling-place of the gods and priests, but that to which the kings of the different people came to be crowned. One historian relates what is said to have happened here once, towards the destniction of the Toltec empire. "The gods were very angry^ with the Toltecs, and to avert their wrath, a meeting of all the wise men, priests and nobles, was called at Teotihuacan, where the gods from most ancient times had been wont to hear the prayers of men. " In the midst of the feasts and sacrifices an enormous demon with long bony arms and fingers, appeared dancing in the court where the people were assembled. Whirling through the crowd in every direction he seized upon the Toltecs that came in his way and dashed them at his teet. He appeared a second time, and the people perished by hundreds in his clutches. At his next appearance the demon assumed the form of a white and beautiful child, sitting on a rock and gazing at the holy city from a neighbor- The God of the Air. 39 ing hill-top. As the people rushed in crowds to examine this strange creation, it was discovered that the child's head was a mass of corruption, the stench from which smote with death all who approached it. Finally the devil, or the god, appeared again and warned the Toltecs that their fate was sealed as a nation, and that they could only escape destruction by flight." The visitor to this city of the gods to-day will find, scattered all over the surface of the pyramids and mounds, along the road of the dead and in the adjacent fields, numerous heads of clay, or terra cotta. They are grotesque in feature and singular in design. It is not known what use was made of them, why they were made in such quantities, nor why only heads are found, instead of entire figures having a body as well. It is thought by some that these idols were given by the priests, or holy men, to the crowds of worshipers who used to resort to this city of sanctuaries in these early times. Whether those pyramids are Toltec, Olmec, or Totonac, it is very certain that they were built by a people who inhabited Anahuac long before the Aztecs arrived in it. QUETZALCOATL, GOD OF THE AIR. Before passing on to the people that succeeded the Toltecs in the valley of Mexico, let us glance at another pyramid of the past, belonging to this epoch, and at a great hero mentioned in Toltec traditions. We have seen that Tula was their capital and that there they lived in peace for many years. It was some time during their residence there that Quetzalcoatl, the " Feathered Serpent," appeared amongst them. He was a beneficent deity, who seemed to have taken the shape of a man in order to improve the con- dition of the people of earth. His name is constructed from two words, Quetzal, a bird of beautiful plumage found 40 Mexico. in the forests of southern Mexico, and Coatl, a serpent, also found there — Quetzalcoatl, the "Plumed Serpent."'" The traditions, or legends, paint him as a tall, white man with a large beard, in complexion and general appearance very different from the Indians, among whom he lived, in Tula, as " God of the Air." Everything prospered exceedingly during his stay, and the people wanted for nothing. He created large and beautiful palaces of silver, precious stones, and even of feathers. In his time corn grew so strong that a single ear was a load for a man, gourds were as long as a man's body, pumpkins were a fathom in circumference, while cot- ton grew on its stalks of all colors, red, yellow, scarlet, blue, and green. He taught the people all their wonderful arts : how to cut the precious green stone, the chalchiuite^ and the casting of metals. He also had an incredible number of beautiful and sweet-singing birds, the like of which has not been seen in the country since his time. But all this prosperity was to come to an end. There came amongst the people an evil-minded god called Tezcatlipoca, who wished to drive Quetzalcoatl from the country. So he appeared to him in the form of an old man, and told him that it was the will of the gods that he should be taken to Tlapalla. After drinking a beverage the old man offered him, the Plumed Serpent felt so strongly inclined to go that he set out at once, accompanied by many of his subjects. Near a city yet pointed out in the valley of Mexico, that of Quauhtitlan, he felled a tree with stones, which remained fixed in the trunk ; and near Halnepantla he laid his hand on a stone and left an impression which the Mexicans showed the Spaniards after the conquest. Finally, on his way to the coast, he passed through the valley of Cholula, where the inhabitants detained him and made him ruler over their city. The Pyramid of C ho hi la. 41 He did not approve of the sacrifice of human beings, which some of the tribes performed in their worship, but he was a mild and benevolent being, and ordered that they offer to the gods only fiowets and fruits. After twenty years, he continued his journey, though the sorrowing Cholulans would have detained him longer. Taking with him four noble and virtuous youths, he set out for the province of Coatzcoalcos, on the Gulf of Mexico. Here he dismissed his attendants and launched upon the waters of the gulf alone, while they returned and ruled over Cholula for many years. It is said that Quetzalcoatl appeared upon the coast of Yucatan, where he was wor- shiped under the name of Kukulcan ; and his image may be seen to-day, cut in the wall of one of the vast ruined edifices of Yucatan. He promised his followers of Tula and of Cholula that he would some time return, and bring back to them the prosperity that had attended his coming. For everything changed when he left, and even the sweet-singing birds he sent before him to that mysterious kingdom in the east, the land of Tlapallan. Now, this is but a tale of the priests, a legend of those early Mexicans, yet their descendants firmly believed in it, and looked for the promised return of the Feathered Ser- pent for hundreds of years. We shall find, farther on in this history, that the Aztecs believed in his coming and at first took the cruel Spaniards to be messengers from the mild and beneficent Quetzalcoatl. They thought they were messengers of life, these fierce and bloodthirsty de- mons of death ! THE PYRAMID OF CHOLULA. Even at the arrival of the Spaniards, the city of Cholula was considered a holy place, the residence of the priests. 42 Mexico. Its inhabitants raised here an immense mound in honor of Quetzalcoatl, with a temple on its summit dedicated to his worship. It was more than a mound, it was 2. pyramid, the largest in America, with a broader base even than any of those of Egypt. It covers a surface of more than fortv PYRAMID OF CHOLULA. acres, is 1440 feet square at its base, and rises to a height of nearly two hundred feet. Though some ignorant writers have called this Pyramid of Cholula merely a natural hill, it has been proven to be wholly artificial. It is constructed of adobe, or sun-baked bricks, and is built in terraces with a broad platform at the top about two hundred feet square. It The Hill of Shouting. 43 is said that the bricks used in its construction came from Tlamanalco, several leagues distant, and were passed from hand to hand, along a long line of men. This statement, however, may well be questioned. But that it is built of bricks, any one who has seen it can testify. The writer of this history has himself examined it, and wondered at the evidence here shown of past labor, skill and patience. He has climbed its terraced sides and has looked over the plain that once held the city of the priests, across the fer- tile fields to the great volcanoes that reach the clouds with their crests of snow. When Quetzalcoatl was alive — when^ indeed — he issued his orders to the inhabitants of Tula by means of a crier, who ascended a mountain near by, called the " hill of shouting," and proclaimed the high priest's orders. The hill was so high, or the crier could shout so loud, that his voice could be heard for one htmdred leagues around. It was very convenient for Quetzalcoatl to have such a crier as that, in those old days before the invention of telephones and railroads. It is possible that he took this same great shouter with him to Cholula, and that he sent his marvelous voice far and wide over the valley, even to the crests of the surround- ing mountains. We have diverged from our description of the different tribes, or nations, that invaded Anahuac, in order to describe these pyramids, these monuments of those most ancient of Mexican people, because they were the work, probably, of their hands. We will now take leave of the Toltecs and glance at the next tribe that occupied the valley. 44 Mexico. CHAPTER III. THE CHICHIMECS. [A. D. iioo.] Nearly an age, or cycle (fifty-two years), passed after the scattering of the Toltecs before their ter- ritory was invaded by another tribe. Then came the Chichimecs into Anahuac. They were said by some histo- rians to be the oldest nation in Mexico ; but this is not so, though they had long existed there. Chichimec was a term also applied to all the unknown savage tribes, hence the confusion. At one time they were a barbarous people, and wandered about half-naked in the mountains, living in miserable huts. They took possession of all territory which they discovered unoccupied, became more civilized in the course of time, and established a monarchy which counted fourteen kings, and which lasted from 1120 to the coming of the Spaniards in 1520 — four hundred years. Let us see how this powerful monarchy commenced. It was not long after those disasters that had overtaken the Toltecs, before the Chichimecs, living around the borders of that empire, found out that something had happened. They no longer saw the Toltecs on expeditions, nor met them in battles and skirmishes. Then they sent scouts into their territory, who returned with the astonishing tidings of the destruction of the nation and the abandonment of Tula. A little later they prepared to invade the land of their once powerful foes, who had ranked so high above them in the arts of civilization. They advanced cautiously, but wherever they settled they had come to stay, and so The Chichimecs. 45 they progressed until they reached the great valley of Ana- huac. It belonged to them. They did not even have to conquer it, only to march in and possess themselves of it. The few Toltec families and bands of Toltecs they encoun- tered they strove to incorporate into their society, and thus gained their good-will and the great advantage of their supe- rior knowledge. [12th Century.] Finally they established themselves on the eastern shore of Lake Tezcoco, the largest in the val- ley, and here commenced their capital city, under their leader, Xolotl (Holotl), whom they recognized as their king. They intermarried with the Toltecs, and thus grad- ually became more and more refined, learning from these unfortunate people the advantages to be derived from agri- culture and mining, and the art of casting and working metals, spinning, weaving, and many other things, by which they improved their means of living, their clothing, their habitations and their manners. Not many years had elapsed before another powerful tribe came into the valley, from a region not far distant from the original home of the Chichimecs. They were princes of the Acolhua nation, with a great army. Though their coming created much disturbance at first, King Xolotl received them kindly, and assigned them land on the west- ern side of the lake. He also married two of the princes to his two daughters, and gave to the third a lady borri of noble parents. So it came about, in the end, that the more refined of the Chichimecs dropped their old name, and came to be known as Acolhuas, and their kingdom as Acolhuacan. Those only were called Chichimecs who still pursued a savage life, and preferred the wandering life of a hunter to that of the peaceful agriculturist. They gradually strayed away, joining the barbarous Otomies, and formed those wild bands that worried the Spaniards for many years after they had conquered the others. 46 Mexico. [13th Century.] After reigning about forty years, Xolotl died, and his son, Nopaltzin, occupied the throne ; and he, after a period of disturbance, was succeeded by his son Holtzin. The most conspicuous of these Chichimec mon- archs of that age was the next, the fourth. King Quinantzin. Until his time the court had not been held at Tezcoco entirely, but divided between that city and Tenayuca, on the other side of the lake. Now it was transferred to Tez- coco, and the king was borne on the shoulders of four of the principal lords of his kingdom, in a litter. He was the first to introduce such style and ceremony, and was much hated for it in consequence. He had a stormy reign, but at the last his kingdom was united and powerful. When King Quinantzin died his body was embalmed, clothed in royal raiment, and placed in a chair, with bow and arrow in his hand, an image of an eagle at his feet and a tiger at his back, to signify his bravery, and exposed in this state to the people for forty days, after which he was burnt, and his ashes deposited in a cave in the moun- tains back of Tezcoco. This Chichimec, or Tezcocan, dynasty really lasted for over four hundred years, and only ended in 1520, when the Spaniards invaded Mexico. Eleven chosen kings and two usurpers occupied the throne, including among them at least three so famous in the annals of Mexico as to deserve especial mention. These will be named in their proper place. Meanwhile, we must interrupt the chrono- logical sequence, as relates to the kingdom of Tezcoco, to notice the arrival in the valley of Anahuac of other tribes destined to play important parts in the working out of the destiny of the Mexicans as a nation. The Acolhuas (of whom mention has been made, and who were incorporated into the Chichimec confederacy) were followed by several other tribes, or nations, who were The Nahuatl Ti'ibes. 47 assigned by the king at Tezcoco various places of resi- dence about the great lake. Of the Otomies, Xicalancas, and Tepanecs, we have already spoken. If we should go beyond the limits of the great Mexican valley, we should find that there were yet other peoples. There was the powerful nation of Michoa- can, which, though the period of its foundation is not exactly known, is thought to have been contemporary with that of Anahuac. The people of this kingdom were the Tarascos, who were in no way less refined than the Acol- huans. Away down in Southern Mexico dwelt several other civilized nations : the Zapotecs, the Miztecs, the Chiapans, and the Mayas of Yucatan, whose history will be dwelt upon at length as we reach them in the course of events. If we confine ourselves to mentioning only the most powerful, and those which figured prominently in the subsequent wars with the Spaniards, it will be sufficient, without confusing the memory with a multitude of long Indian names of comparatively insignificant peoples. At various times during the twelfth and thirteenth centu- ries, different tribes came straggling into the valley of Ana- huac. The most powerful of these belonged (it is thought) to one great nation, and spoke the same language. They were called JVahuatlacas, and came from the land of Aztlan. There were seven tribes : the Sochimilcas, the Chalchese, Tepanecas, Colhuas, Tlahuicas, Tlascallans, nad Mexicans. 48 Mexico. CHAPTER IV. THE AZTECS, OR MEXICANS. [A. D. 1 160.] 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 Nahu- atlacas, 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 tradi- tion as has been accepted as histor}^, tells us only of Aztlan as their place of residence when the great migration com- menced which was to re-populate the country deserted of the Toltecs. [A. D. 1 160.] Among the Aztecs, who dwelt in Aztlan, was a person of authority named Huitziton, who was desir- ous 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 The Aztecs, or Mexicans. 5 1 residence. In those days people must have paid more atten- tion to the voices of the birds than now, or must have given their utterances more significance. Who of us cannot recall some bird of our^ own land that would give us a similar message, if we would but construe it so ? The singular thing about these bird-voices is, that they always speak in the language of the people they dwell amongst, and seem not to have an universal language of their own ! Well, this was enough for Huitziton and the deluded people who listened to him, and so they packed up what few things comprised their household effects, and began to travel. It is thought that all the seven tribes started together, or about the same time, but all had got into the valley of Mexico and comfortably settled before the Aztecs finally reached it. It is thought that they crossed the river Colorado near the head of the Gulf of California, and thence went southeastwardly. There are in that part of Mexico the ruins of great stone buildings, called the casas grandes, or great houses, which it is believed the Aztecs built in the halts during this migration. They were con- structed on the same plan as those of New Mexico, where the Pueblo people live, with terraces, each floor, or story, reached only by ladders. They still kept marching south- ward in an aimless sort of way, impelled by an irresistible instinct, and we next hear of them at Chicomoztoc, or the Place of Seven Caves, which one writer thinks was near the present city of Zacatecas, where there are the remains of ancient buildings. Here six of the tribes separated from the Mexicans and went off independently, though they all subsequently met again in the Mexican valley. Here, or at some previous stopping-place, the Mexicans had made them- selves a god of wood, which they called Huitzilopochtli. naming him probably from their leader, Huitziton, who was now dead. Four crafty men appointed themselves priests, 52 Mexico. and gave out that it was by the orders of Huitziton, who they said was now an immortal god, that they had made the idol. They called themselves Teomana, or god-bearers, and ever after bore this senseless image on their shoulders. Particular attention should be paid to these events, because from this time dated three important things : the change of the name of the people from Aztec to Mexican ; the manufacture of that image of the god Huitzilopochtli^ whose worship afterwards called for the sacrifice of mil- lions of human beings ; and the establishment of the priest- hood — that curse to Mexico from that day to this! The priests were not at all behind the Romish priests of the present day in craft and cunning, and had a communi- cation ready from their god whenever the interest of their deluded subjects seemed to flag. It must have been hard work for those god-bearers, this carr}'ing of that heavy image (some writers think it was of stone, even at that time), but they were well rewarded for their pains in the respect and devotion of their followers. They had a message from Huitzilopochtli right away, to the effect that he had selected them as his own and only people, for whom he destined a glorious future — provided they always minded the priests, who delivered this message; and he ordered them to abandon the name of Aztec and adopt that of Mexican, and to wear upon their foreheads and ears a patch of gum and feathers as marks of their distinction. They were then presented with a net and bunch of arrows as insignia. About this time, the legend runs, there mysteriously appeared two small bundles in the Mexican camp, which were the cause of the tribe being divided into two parties. One party secured in their bundle a very precious stone, and they thought they had the best of it when it was found that the bundle of the other party only contained Aztec Migration. 53 two sticks. From these two sticks, however, they obtained fire, which was far more useful to them than the gem, and which the other party would gladly have bargained their precious stone to obtain. This story the historians regard in the light of a fable, to teach us that the useful is always preferable to the beautiful. It served to account, also, for the division of the Mexicans into two parties, wj:iich remained distinct and jealous of one another for many years, held together only by their mutual interest in that worthless wooden god. [A. D. 1 196.] Finally, it is said, they reached the city of Tula, the ruined capital of the Toltecs, which had been abandoned nearly one hundred and fifty years before. During all these years of travel they had moved, leisurely ; for, though they may have heard of the famous valley of Mexico, they had no special reason for reaching it at any particular time. It was as if we might set out on a voyage of discovery, looking for a place that suited us in its climate, soil, and appearance, and lingering on our way wherever the fancy struck us. It must also be borne in mind that it was necessary at times to make long halts, in order to plant and gather corn and cotton, and such things as they needed for food and apparel. They stopped at Tula nine years. Here they had at last reached the northern verge of the Mexican valley ; before them lay the promised land they were in future years to govern, where they were to erect an empire, the greatest, perhaps, in the New World, the fall of which was to include millions in its overthrow. [A. D. 12 16.] During the first years of the thirteenth century they advanced farther into the valley, which had become the objective point of so many tribes. At the city of Zumpango they were very well received by the lord of that place, Tochpanecatl, who not only entertained them 54 Mexico. well, but married one of their noble virgins to his son, Ilhuicatl. From this union descended those famous kings of Mexico, who iTiled the valley over a hundred years later. It was during the reign of one of the first Chichimec kings, who, you will remember, entered Anahuac a century earlier, in about the year iioo. The king then in power, either Xolotl, or his son Nopaltzin, let them wander where they liked and settle where they would, having nothing to fear from such a wretched band of savages as the Mexicans were at that time. Ah ! if he could have foreseen the height which those despised Aztecs were to attain, and that even his own kingdom was one day to lie prostrate at their feet, do you not think he would have killed them, then and there ? As it was, however, he afforded them no protection — as, indeed, why should he ? — and they suffered much from the persecutions of petty tribes established in the valley before them. They wandered from point to point about the great Lake Tezcoco, and finally made a stand at Chapultepec, a rocky hill, situated on the western border of the lake. [A: D. 1245.] In the annals of the Mexicans, Chapulte- pec is called the " hill of the grasshopper" — ^//^/^/ mean- ing grasshopper, and tepee hill. They gave it this name either because they found grasshoppers there in abundance, or because they were obliged to subsist upon them as their principal food. This place, Chapultepec, became famous in later years as the resort and the burial-place of the Mexican kings, and just about six hundred years later a decisive battle was fought there between the soldiers of two nations that at that time had not been heard of, - the troops of the Repub- lic of Mexico and the United States ! ^if^-- MEXicAN war-got;, huitzilopochxli. Mexicans in Slavery. ^'j Let us try to recall the date of Chapultepec's first ap- pearance in history, when we shall, at a later period, wander beneath its cypress groves, with Montezuma, or heroes of a later generation. [A. D. 1260.] After seventeen years at Chapultepec the Mexicans were driven thence to the southern borders of the lake, Tezcoco, where they existed for fifty years in a state of misery, feeding on fish and insects and reptiles of the marshes. They clothed themselves in garments of leaves, and their huts were made of the reeds and rushes surrounding the lake. They were free, however, and it is thought that they willingly endured these hardships rather than ally themselves with any other tribe. But in the year 13 14, they were made slaves by the Col- huas, who lived near the junction of the fresh-water lake of Chalco, or Xochimilco, with the salt-water lake of Tezcoco. [A. D. 1320.] After they had been slaves some years a war broke out between the Colhuas and the Xochimilcas, both of whom were tribes that had separated from the Mexicans at the Place of the Seven Caves. The Colhuas were very willing the Mexicans should assist them in this war, but they provided them with no arms. Then the Mexicans armed themselves : they provided long poles, hardening their sharpened ends in the fire, knives of itzli^ or obsidian (that volcanic glass peculiar to the country) and shields of reeds woven together; thus armed, they rushed upon the enemy. They had resolved to take no prisoners, as that would waste their time and retard their victory ; but to cut off an ear from every man they captured and then to let him go. The Xochimilcas were terrified at the savage attacks of these fierce Mexicans, for they were fighting for freedom and fought their best^ and they fled to the mountains. When the Colhua soldiers came to show their captives, 58 Mexico. after the battle, they laughed at the Mexicans because they had none. But when these artful savages opened their baskets of rushes and showed the great number of ears they had cut off, and explained that each ear represented a prisoner, and that they had done this in order to assure a more speedy victory, the Colhuas were silenced. They were so terrified at the prospect of having such terrible people among them as slaves, that they gave them their freedom and ordered them out of their country. Perhaps they were all the more ready to do this when they were called upon by the Mexicans to witness a sacrifice in honor of their god, who had given them the victory. They had asked of the Colhuas something to place on the altar as an offering, and they had sent them a filthy bird. The Mexicans said nothing, but placed in its stead a knife and a fragrant herb. Then, after the King of the Colhuas and all his nobility were assembled, they brought out four Xochimilcan prisoners, whom they had concealed, and throwing them upon the altar cut out their hearts and offered them to their god, HuitzilopochtU. This event excited such horror that the Mexicans were at once driven forth to seek a new place of abode. This should be noted as the first human sacrifice among them of which there is any record. It was the beginning of that terrible slaughter of men that afterwards drenched the altars of the Mexican god with blood . The Mexicans left the south shore of Lake Tezcoco, and came at last to a point — an island, or a marshy spot — in the lake, not far from the former tarrying-place of Chapul- tepec, which they had left full sixty years before. It must be remembered that we are not narrating the travels of a mighty nation, but of a battered tribe perhaps not large in number, and the petty fights and squabbles of insignificant clans, or bands ; their greatness was of the future. The Founding of the City. 59 The Aztecs have been justly called the pests of Ana- huac, for they seemed unwilling to live at peace with any other tribe. Owing to their fierce character and their bloody religious rites they were hated by all. The King of the Colhuas was a follower of the prophet of peace, Quetzalcoatl, and could not agree with the priests of the god of the Mexicans. We shall see by following this his- tory to its termination how these priests brought final destruction to this people ; such as has been the fate of all kingdoms founded in superstition and ruled by priests. [A. D. 1325.] We now come to that period when the Mexicans were to cease their wanderings and to have a fixed abode. It was in the year 1325. They had tried to exist at many points about the lake, but had been driven from them all. They now fixed upon an island two or three miles from Chapultepec, in the lake Tezcoco. There the priests discovered an eagle, or bird of prey, perched upon a nopal, or prickly-pear, which grew out of the crev- ices of a rock on this small island. This the priests de- clared to be in accordance with an oracle communicated to them by their god, Huitzilopochtli, and here they built a hut of rushes and reeds to serve temporarily as a temple for their cherished idol. Some say that the nopal grew in the middle of a lovely pool, into which two of the priests dove down and had an interview with old Tlaloc, the god of waters, who told them they had at last reached the spot predicted by their oracle, and there to build their city. In this manner was founded the city of Tenochtitlan, " which in future times was to become the court of a great empire, and the largest and most beautiful city in the new world." Around the temple of their idol they built their rude huts of grass and reeds, and called this nucleus of a city, Mex- ico, or the place of Mexitli, their war-god, this being an- other name for the god Huitzilopochtli. Their first human 6o Mexico, sacrifice had been attended with such good results that they resolved to celebrate the building of the new temple — humble though it was — by the taking of another vic- tmi's life. They captured one of their enemies, and cutting out his heart with a sharp knife of flint, or obsidian, offered it to their god. Thus was baptized with blood the founda- tion stone of Mexico, a city that two centuries later was to be wrested from the race that built it, attended by the slaughter of thousands. The condition of the Mexicans was yet very wretched, for they had made enemies of all the tribes in Anahuac, and had to depend upon their sole exer- tions. Their island, in the first place, was too small, and to remedy this they dug ditches and canals, and banked up the marshy places to form gardens and building spots. For food, they depended upon fish and the reptiles and insects of the lake, and at the end of the rainy season the lake was covered — even as at the present day — by innu- merable water-fowl. It was at this period, or a little pre- vious, that tliey constructed those \\on