THE AZTECS 181 
“In this same vear (10 House, 865) died Tactli who 
was the king of Quauhtitlan where he reigned 62 years: 
he was a king unacquainted with the sowing of grain for 
food neither did he know how to make shelters for his 
subjects. He wore only a simple garb. The people ate 
only birds, serpents, rabbits and deer: as yet they had 
no houses and came and went in all directions.” The 
early life in the open is pictured interestingly in several 
other documents including the Map of Tlotzin and the 
Map of Quinatzin. 
We have already seen how the splendid culture of the 
Toltecan cities broke down under the weight of decad- 
ence and civil war during the twelfth and thirteenth 
centuries A.D. To be sure, Cholula appears to have 
kept alive the flame of Toltecan religion and art up to 
the advent of the Spaniards. Perhaps Atzcapotzalco 
and other towns near the lakes that had been established 
during the Toltecan period were able to hold their own 
for a time against the newer order. But the sturdy 
Chichimecas made rapid progress. Tezcoco became 
their most prominent city only to be eclipsed by Tenoch- 
titlan, the island capital of the Aztecs. 
Aztecan History. The history of the Aztecs has a 
mythological preamble in common with other nations of 
Mexico. The Chiconoztoc or Seven Caves must not be 
considered historical but simply man’s place of emer- 
gence from the underworld. The general conception of 
an existence within the earth that preceded the exist- 
ence upon the earth is found very widely among North 
American Indians. It is likewise impossible to locate 
the Island of Aztlan, that served, according to several 
codices, as the starting place of the Mexican migration. 
The northern origin for the Aztecan tribe to which so 
much attention has been paid need not have been far 
