142 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I02 



400. At the end of this time, Acamapixtli having grown up and 

 become the twentieth king in the woods and in Cuauhtitlan, they 

 brought him to Mexico City in the year 1382 ; and since he was legiti- 

 mate lord of the house of Culhua, the noblest gentlemen of Mexico 

 gave him their daughters to be his wives. He chose up to 20 of them, 

 and from the children he had by them are descended the greatest 

 aristocrats of that country. He went back to Culhuacan, which had 

 been abandoned at the death of his father and grandfather, and built 

 it up again, and left his son Nauhiocin the lordship and kingdom in 

 Mexico, and was lord of Culhuacan as his father and grandfather 

 had been. He reigned 40 years as a great prince and with much suc- 

 cess ; with him, the empire of Mexico began its extension, and he 

 ennobled the city of Mexico. He died in the year 1422 and was suc- 

 ceeded by his eldest son, by name Viciliuitl, whom the Mexicans 

 obeyed as king and lord ; he married the lady and heiress of Cuauh- 

 nauac. Viciliuitl means rich feather. After reigning 12 years and 

 defending his vassals from their enemies, he died of illness in the 

 year 1434. He was followed by his brother Chimalpopoca ; and in 

 the third year of his reign, in the year 1437, he was treacherously 

 murdered by the Tapanecas, which resulted in their destruction and 

 subjection, and in the exaltation of the Mexican people, who at this 

 cruel treachery, took up arms and conquered and subdued all their 

 enemies, making themselves masters of all those tribes, who always 

 paid them tribute thereafter. 



401. He was succeeded in the kingdom and lordship by his illegiti- 

 mate brother Izcoatl, which means tusked serpent. With this king 

 the Mexican empire began to be very powerful through the victories 

 he won over his enemies ; through the instrumentality of Tlacalleelt, 

 a valiant general of the Mexican people, he conquered and subdued 

 many provinces and tribes ; he embellished and enlarged the city of 

 Mexico, and after reigning 12 years, he died in 1449. 



402. At his death he was succeeded in the kingship by Motezuma, 

 his nephew and Tlacalleelt's, son of Viciliuitl his elder brother, be- 

 cause sons did not succeed to the royal position held by their fathers, 

 if there were father's brothers living, till their uncles' death. Mote- 

 zuma reigned 28 years, during which time he won great victories 

 which brought him many wealthy provinces, with which he enlarged 

 his empire, ennobled the city of Mexico and embellished it with sump- 

 tuous and imposing temples which he built to his false gods. He 

 added splendid buildings to the city, and established tribunals for 

 good government and the dispensation of justice ; and being beloved 

 by his vassals and feared by his enemies, he died in the year 1477. 



I 



