28 
that inhabit the north of the Isthmus of 
Panama. The annals of the Mexican em- 
pire appear to go as far back as the sixth 
century of our era, since at that period we 
find the epochas of the migrations, the 
causes which produced them, the names of 
the chiefs descended from the illustrious 
house of Citin, who led, from the unknosvn 
regions of Aztlan and Teocolhuacan, the 
northern nations into the plains of Ana- 
huae. The foundation of Tenochtillan, 
like that of Rome, goes back to the heroic 
ages ; and it is only from the twelfth century 
that the annals of the Aztecks, like those of 
the Chinese, and the people of Thibet, give 
an uninterrupted account of secular fes- 
tivals, the genealogy of their kings, the 
tributes iniposed on the conquered, the 
foundation of cities, celestial phenomena, 
the minutest events even which have in- 
fluenced the state of societies in their 
infancy. 
Though no traditions point out any 
direct connexion between the nations of 
