178 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vor. VI. 
towards the south. Support is given to this by their dialect, which is 
most closely akin to that of the Tzendals of Tobasco, the nearest Maya 
race to the south of them, and also by very ancient traditions of the 
Aztecs. 
“ At a very remote period, the Mexicans, under their leader Mecitl, 
from whom they took their name, arrived in boats at the mouth of the 
river Panuco, at the place called Panotlan, which name means ‘where 
one arrives by sea. With them were the Olmecs under their leader 
Olmecatl, the Huastecs under their leader Huastecatl, the Mixtecs and 
others. They journeyed together and in friendship southward, down the 
coast, quite to the volcanoes of Guatemala, thence to Tamoanchan, which, 
is described as the terrestrial paradise, and afterwards, some of them at 
least, northward and eastward toward the shores of the Gulf’ During 
“this journey, the intoxicating beverage made from the maguey, called 
octlt by the Aztecs, czz by the Maya, and pulgue by the Spaniards, was 
invented by a woman, whose name was Mayauel, in which we can 
scarcely err in recognizing the national appellation aya. Furthermore, 
the invention is closely related to the history of the Huastecs. Their 
leader, alone of all the chieftains, drank to excess, and in his drunkenness 
threw aside his garments and displayed his nakedness. When he grew 
sober, fear and shame impelled him to collect all those who spake his 
own language, and leaving the other tribes, he returned to the neigh- 
bourhood of Panuco, and settled there permanently. 
“ The annals of the Aztecs contain frequent allusions to the Huastecs. 
The most important contest between the two nations took place in the 
reign of Montezuma the First (1440-1464). The attack was made by 
the Aztecs, for the alleged reason that the Huastecs had robbed and 
killed Aztec merchants on their way to the great fairs in Guatemala. 
The Huastecs are described as numerous, dwelling in walled towns, 
possessing quantities of maize, beans, feathers, and precious stones, and 
painting their faces. They were signally defeated by the troops of 
Montezuma, but not reduced to vassalage. 
“At the time of the Conquest the provinces of the Huastecs were 
densely peopled; ‘none more so under the sun, remarks the Augustini- 
an friar Nicolas de Witte, who visited it in 1543; but, even then, he 
found it almost deserted and covered with ruins,for a few years previous, 
the Spaniards had acted towards its natives with customary treachery 
and cruelty. They had invited all the chiefs to a conference, had 
enticed them into a large wooden building, and then set fire to it and 
& = 
