

ajo 



s 





The firft 

 Foundation of 

 the City of 

 Mtxito. 



*A M E%I C A. Chap. V. 



and Allom gotten there. The Village Ocotlan is alfo maintain'd by the fame : But 

 TuculaU by Gold-Mines, and fruitful Lands, which are twice a year fhaken by 

 Earthquakes . wherefore the Inhabitants live not in Stone Houfes, but in little 



Straw Huts. 



South.Eaftward from Neradais excellent Sugar to be had, and on the Mountain 

 it felf the famous Gum Amine, which drops out of a Tree call'd Jetaiba, which is al- 

 ways green, with hard white Wood, a pale yellow fpeckled Bark, three long fofc 

 Leaves hanging one over another on one Stalk, and the Fruit on the middle of the 

 Body. After the rainy Seafon is paft in Otlober, then they cut a Hole in the Body 

 of the Tree, out of which the Gum drops : it hath a plcafant fmell, and is exceed- 

 ing good againft the Head-ache occafion'd by Colds, 



Not far from hence appears the Valleys Matalzjngo and At%pmpam, which have 

 excellent Paftures, in which Diego Njmnez^de Camargo bred forty thoufand Sheep out 

 of two in ten years time. 



And thefe are the chiefeft Towns, Villages, and Countreys, which furroundthc 

 famous City Mexico. 



Concerning the erecting of this City, the Indians relate thus : That the feventh 

 Family of the Navatlacas, Extracted out of the Countrey Aztlan, rang'd up and 

 down not without thoufands of Inconveniences, from one Countrey to another, 

 according to the Information which their Sages had given their Spirit Vi^tliputU y 

 till at laft fomeofthe Priefts (haying from the Army, or rather Multitude,got into 

 a Wildemefs, full of Brambles and Thorns, and came at length to a Place where 

 was a Spring of clear Water, in which the Fifties glitter'd like Silver- where ta- 

 king up their repofe that Night, their Spirit informed the oldeft of them in a 

 Dream, that they fhould find thereabouts a Tunal Tree (whofe Leaves grow out of 

 one another) under which, on a Stone, lay the Heart of the famous Sorcerer Qofil : 

 This Tunal Tree fhould be difcover'd by a Crane on the top of it, which in one 

 Foot fhould hold a Bird, and in the other a Bough of the Tree, near which they 

 were to build a City : The old Prieft waking, and relating his Dream, every one 

 endeavor'd to find out the fore-mention'd Tree \ at laft they found it, by difcover- 

 ingonthe top a Crane, with fpread-out Wings looking up towards the Sun, and 

 holding in his Claws a fmall Bird, invefted with curious Feathers: Whereupon 

 they with all fpeed built a Chappel of Turf and Clods of Earth, and cover'd the 

 fame with Canes, to keep their Idol from the Weather, refolving, fo foon as they 

 could, to build him a better Temple. 



The Lake on whofe Ifles they fetled, abounded with Fifli and Fowls, which they 

 exchang'd with the neighboring People for Stone and Mortar for the building of a 

 Temple for Vi^tliput^li ,and a new City j to which they made a Cawfey in the Lake 

 Laguna, and divided it into four great Wards or Divifions, and fubdivided them 

 again into lefler - over which they plac'd peculiar Idols, and ordcr'd a Crane like 

 that which they had feen on the Tunal Tree to be their City Arms. The dividing 

 of the Wards occafion'd great diflikc amongft the Grandees, judging thofe to whofe 

 lot they fell, not to be worthy of them ; wherefore deferting the fame, and tra- 

 velling along the Lake Laguna, they fetled themfelves at laft in a fandy Soil, which 

 they call'd Tlattellulco, and entertained a bitter hatred againft their Countrey*men 

 who kept the four Wards of the new Tenujlitan, doing them all the mifchief they 

 could ; wherefore the Affaulted wcreneceffitated to chufe a King, that they might 

 be the better able to oppofe their Enemies : But that they might not raife a Dif- 

 content amongft themfelves about electing a Governor, they judg'd it fitteft to take 

 a Foreigner 5 amongft whom they found none fo capable of fo great an Office as 



Acamapixtly, 



