172 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



erected, and thofe canals which ferved as well for the or- 

 nament of the city as for the convenience of the citizens, 

 were begun. The interpreter of Mendoza's colle^iion 

 afcribes to this king, the conqueft of Mizquic, Cintla- 

 huac, Quauhnahuac, and Xochimiico : but is it poffible 

 to believe that the Mexicans would undertake the con- 

 quefl: of four fuch great cities, at a time when they had 

 difficulty to preferve their own territory. The pidure, 

 therefore, in that colle6i:ion, reprefenting thofe four cities 

 fubdued by the Mexicans, muft be underflood to apply 

 to the Mexicans, only as they were auxiliaries to other 

 flates, in the fame manner, as a ffiort time afterwards 

 they ferved the king of Tezcuco again ft the Xaltocanefe. 



A little before his death, Acamapitzin called together 

 the great men of the city ; when after exhorting them to 

 maintain their zeal for the public good, recommending 

 to them the care.of his wives and children ; and declar- 

 ing the pain it gave him at his death, to think of leaving 

 his people tributary to the Tepanecas, he faid, that, hav- 

 ing received the crown from their hands, he put it into 

 their hands again, in order that they might beftow it 

 upon him who they thought would do the ftate moft fer- 

 vice. His death, which happened in the year 1389, 

 was greatly lamented by the Mexicans, and his funeral 

 was celebrated with as much magnificence as the poverty 

 of the nation would admit. 



From the death of Acamapitzin, until the ele^lion of 

 a new king, as we are informed by Siguenza, an inter- 

 regnum took place, of four months ; a circumftance which 

 never happened again, as from that time forward the 

 king was always chofen a very few days after the death 

 of the preceding. Perhaps the.ele6lion, at this time, 

 might be retarded, by the nobles being employed in re- 

 gulating 



