148 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



The Aztecas or Mexicans, who were the laft people 

 who fettled in Anahuac, and are the chief fubje6]: of our 

 hiftory, hved until about the year 1160 of the vulgar 

 era, in Aztlan, a country fituated to the north of the 

 gulf of California, according to what appears from the 

 route they purfued in their migration, and the conclu- 

 fions made by the Spaniards in their travels towards thefe 

 countries (J). The caufe of abandoning their native 

 country may have been the fame which other nations had. 

 But whatever it was, it will not be altogether ufelefs to 

 leave to the free judgment of the reader that which 

 the Mexican hiflorians themfelves relate of the birth of 

 fuch a refolution. 



There was, fay they, among the Aztecas, a perfon 

 of great authority called Huitzlton, to whofe opinion all 

 paid great deference. This perfon exerted himfelf, 

 though it is not known for what reafon, to perfuade his 

 countrymen to change their country, and v/hile he was 

 meditating on his purpofe, he heard once, by accident, a 

 little bird finging on the branches of a tree, whofe notes 

 imitated the Mexican word Tihuiy which means, let us 

 go. This appeared a favourable opportunity to obtain 

 his wifli of his countrymen. Taking, therefore, another 

 refpe^lable perfon with him, he conducted him to that 

 tree where the little bird ufcd to fing, and thus addreff- 

 ed him ; " Do you not attend, my friend Tecpaltzin, to 



what 



(cl) In our diflertations we fpeak of thefe travels from New Mexico towards 

 the North. Betancourt makes mention of them in part ii. tratt. i. cap.- lo. of 

 his T eatro MeJJicauo. This author makes Aztlan two thoufand feven hundred 

 miles diftant from Mexico, Boturini fays, Aztlan was a province of Afia. But 

 I do not know what reafons he had for fo Angular an opinion. In feveral 

 charts, publifhed in the fixteenth century, this province appears fituated to the 

 north of the gulf of California, and I do not doubt that it is to be found in that 

 quarter, though at a diftance from the gulf, as the diftance mentioned by Betan- 

 court feems very probable. 



