THE AMERICAN MIGRATION. 339 



had contested the fact. But Don Francisco Pimentel* has lately vindicated 

 the opinion of these tAVO writers, and proved that the Chirhimecs possessed an 

 entirely peculiar language ;+ consequently they could not have belonged to tlu- 

 Toltec family. In view ol this now admitted fact, I can but deem it highly 

 improbable that the Chichimecs arrived in northern Mexico by the same route 

 with the other immigrating tribes, which were all related to one another, being 

 members of the same race, and having probably inhabited a common land of 

 nativity. But if the home of the Chichimecs was a different one from that of 

 the o'her wandering populations, this circumstance would have naturally pre- 

 scribed to them a different path to the south. Perhaps they constitute the 

 branch Avhich, in the opinion of many, advanced, as has been already mentioned, 

 on the further side of the Eocky mountains to the banks of the Gila. 



The Chichimecs had scarcely established themselves in Mexico when the im- 

 migration of those seven tribes took place, which are known by the common 

 name of Nahuatlacas, and which spoke the same tongue as the Toltecs, to 

 whose family also they belonged Of these seven tribes, six first made their 

 appearance, following closely on one another, namely, the Xochimilcos, Chalcas, 

 Tepanecas, Tlahuicas, Colhuas,and Tlaxcaltecas ; while the seventh, the cele- 

 brated Aztecs, arrived after a longer interval. In the mean time the Acolhuas 

 also had appeared upon the theatre, but had soon become intermingled with the 

 Chichimecs, who already possessed tjie country, forming by this union the 

 kingdom of Acolhuacan. 



It was in 1090 that the Aztecs, the seventh of the Nahuatlaca race, and 

 speaking the Nahuatl tongue,f issued from Aztlan, their original but unknown 

 home, which, as above stated, is to be sought in the region of the great Ameri- 

 can lakes. The Aztec annals which have come down to us enable us partially 

 to trace this family in its wanderings, even if it be not possible for us to identify 

 the geographical sites to which tradition gives a name. The year 1091 finds 

 the Aztecs at Quahuitllcacan. In 1116 they are at Quinehuayan-Oztotl and 

 Quinehuayan-Chicomoztoc. Hence they made their way to Teo-Culhuacan, . 

 though it is impossible to distinguish the intermediate places which they visited. 

 Their history begins to clear up with their arrival in Acahualtzinco, where they 

 sojourned nine years, (1143.) Their onward march brought them into the 

 province of Cohuatlycamac, not far from the ancient Tollan, then to Coatepec, 

 which they reached in 1174, and where they settled for some time. Finally, 

 between the years 1186 and 1194, about a century after they had issued from 

 their home of Aztlan, the Aztecs appeared on the table land of Anahuac, never 

 more to forsake it. It falls not within the scope of this essay, which deals 

 merely with the migration, to speak of the further history of the Aztec king- 

 dom, whose splendor and power are otherwise well known. § 



In the south of Mexico, as before remarked, there existed an ancient civiliza- 

 tion, which we would designate as the palencan, and which, agreeably to the 

 latest researches, is to be regarded as the oldest in America. The regions 



* lu his valuable work, Cxiadro descriptito y comparatiro dc lus Icnguas indigtnas de 

 Mexico, (Mexico J862-'6i, ) of which two volumes have appeared. 



t A grammar of the Chu-himec language was composed by the monk Diego Diaz Pangua, 

 who was born in Durarigo, and died in the year iCiil ; it was entitled Arte dc la Icnguu Chi- 

 cluiiteca. He was the author also of a Chichimec dictionary, and a catechism in the same 

 language; his works, however, have remained in manuscript. 



+ Biasseurnotices the similarity of sound between the words Nahuatl and the English 

 Know-all, their signification, moieover, being the same. 



^ B asseur de Bourboui-g, Hist, de Nations Civ. du Mexique, vol. I. Since the study of 

 the remains of Mexican constructions is of the highest importance for the history of the 

 count) y, I enumerate the following places where the most remarkable ruins of this kind 

 occur: The districts of Papantla, Cholula, and Teotihuacan, where terraced pyramids are 

 found ; Mapilca, Tusapan, Isla de Sacnficios, Puente Nacional, Misantla, in the State of 

 Vera Cruz, Tezcuco, Tezcocingo, Xochicalco in the State of Mexico, Quiotepec, Zachila, 

 Coyula, S.J uan de los Cu6s, Mitla in Oaxaca. 



