148 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 102 



and to this Doiia Maria, a cloak of Santiago as dowry for who- 

 soever should marry her. 



416. Besides these favors above enumerated, in consideration of 

 the dignity of this Don Pedro Tesifon Motezuma, and of the wel- 

 come given by his great-grandfather the Emperor Motezuma to 

 Cortes and his Spaniards, and of the formal transfer which he made 

 of his empire into the hands of this Fernando Cortes, first Marques 

 del Valle, for the Spanish Crown — in order that this Don Pedro 

 Tesifon Motezuma might worthily represent the name and the high 

 esteem of his ancestors, King Philip IV our Lord, after confirming 

 him in the entailed primogeniture established by Prince Don Pedro 

 Motezuma and in the possession of the Province of Tula as sole suc- 

 cessor and heir of that royal house of the Emperor Motezuma, 

 gave him the title of Vizconde de Ylucan on February 24, 1627, and 

 later in the same year as a greater favor, the title of Conde de 

 Tultengo de Motezuma, on September 13. 



Chapter XVI 



Of the Great City of Mexico, Its Foundation, and the Omens 

 Which Took Place, up to the End of the Mexican Monarchy. 



417. The great city of Mexico was named Tenoxtitlan, which 

 means prickly pear on a rock ; the Indians of the Mexican tribe bore 

 this name because the captain or chief who led and governed them, 

 was named Mexi ; so they called themselves Mexicanos and the city 

 they founded, Mexico. Now it came to pass that their god or idol 

 Vitzilipuztli commanded those of this tribe to leave their native home, 

 assuring them of a land of promise, rich in gold, silver, and other 

 valuable commodities, and abounding in food, and that he would 

 make them masters of it and subject its princes to them. So they 

 left their country and wandered many years, during which they suf- 

 fered great hardships ; their idol was borne all this time with great 

 veneration in a casket or reliquary of reeds on the shoulders of four 

 of their false priests; thus it appears that the treacherous enemy of 

 the human race desired to imitate God our Lord when He commanded 

 His people to go up out of Egypt, announcing the Land of Promise. 



418. Vitzilipuztli solved problems and oracles for that blind heathen 

 folk, and in their afflictions and hardships he encouraged and com- 

 forted them, telling them what they were to do ; and at the same time 

 he taught them superstitious rites with most cruel human sacrifices 

 and other diabolical ceremonies, as is related by various writers of 

 Mexican history ; for the Devil always aims at injury to mankind, 



