^74 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



buildings of that city. The king immediately made ufe 

 of this kind of ftone for temples ; and after his example, 

 private individuals built their houfes of it. He ordered 

 all ruinous edifices to be pulled down and rebuilt in a 

 better form 5 adding much to the beauty and magnifi- 

 cence of his court. 



He paffed the laft years of his life in conflant wars, 

 namely, thofe of Izquixochitlan, Amatlan, Tlacuilollan, 

 Xaltepec, Tecuantepec, and Huexotia in Huaxteca. 

 Tliltototl, the Mexican general, having finiftied the war 

 of Izquixochitlan, carried his victorious arms as far as 

 Quauhtemallan, or Guatemala, more than nine hundred 

 miles to the fouth-eaH: from the court, in which cam- 

 paigns, according to the hiftorians, he performed prodi- 

 gies of valour, but none of them relate the particular 

 ^ftions of this renowned general; nor do we know 

 whether that great tra61: of country remained fubje6i: to 

 the crown of Mexico. 



At length in the year 1 502, after a reign of about twen- 

 ty years, Ahuitzotl died of an illnefs occafioned by the 

 above mentioned contufion on his head. He was a very 

 warlike king, and one of thofe who extended moil con- 

 liderably the dominions of the crown. At the time of 

 his death, the Mexicans were in poffeffion of all which 

 they had at the arrival of the Spaniards. Befides cour- 

 age, he had two other royal virtues, which made him 

 celebrated among his countrymen ; thefe were magniii* 

 cence and liberality. He embelliihed Mexico with fa 

 many new and magnificent buildings, that it was already 

 become the firll: city of the new world. When he re- 

 ceived the provincial tributes he affembled the people in 

 a certain fquare of the city, and perfonally diftributed 

 provifions and clothing to the necelfitous. He reward- 

 ed 



