HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



249 



fober, and remarkably rigorous in punifhing drunkennefs; 

 and that by his juftice and prudence, and the propriety 

 of his actions, he made his fubje^s fear and love him, 

 Atlaft, after a very glorious reign of twenty-eight years 

 and forae months, in 1464 he died, univerfally regretted. 

 His funeral was celebrated with more than ordinary fo- 

 lemnity, in proportion to the increafed magnificence of 

 the court, and the power of the nation. 



Before his death he alTembled the chief nobility of his 

 court, and exhorted them to agree among themfelves, 

 and prayed of the electors that they would, after his 

 death, choofe Axayacatl, whom he thought the fitteft 

 perfon to promote the glory of the Mexicans. Whether 

 it was from deference to the opinion of a king who had 

 gained fo much defert from his nation, or becaufe they 

 knew the merit of Axayacatl, the ele£i:ors chofe him in 

 preference to his elder brother. He was the fon of Te- 

 zozomoc, who had been the brother of the three kings 

 who preceded Pvlontezuma, and a fon, as well as they, of 

 king Acamapitzin. 



After the feftival of the ele6]:ion, the new king, after 

 the example of his predeceiTors, went to war, to colledt 

 vi6lims for a facrifice at his coronation. He made his ex- 

 pedition againft the province of Tecuantepec, fituated on 

 the coaft of the Pacific Ocean, four hundred miles to the 

 fouth-eaft, from Mexico. The people of Tecuantepec 

 were well prepared, and in confederacy with their neigh- 

 bours, to oppofe the attempts of the Mexicans. In the 

 keen battle which took place, Axayacatl, who commanded 

 as general, pretended flight, to lead the enemy into an 

 ambufcade. They purfued the Mexicans, triumphing in 

 their vi^iory, when fuddenly they found themfelves at- 

 tacked behind by one part of the Mexican army which 

 Vol. I. I i came 



