52 
State) south of Veracruz and S. E. 
of Mexico; it was formed in 1580 
by the union of the 2 provinces of 
Zapotecas and Miztecas: the name 
being given by the city of Guaxaca 
formerly Huacxyacac. and now soft- 
ened into Oaxaca, capital of the es- 
tate of Cortez, who was made Mar- 
quis of Guaxaca in reward of his 
conquest or rather invasion of Mex- 
ico. 
The Miztecas dwelt between the 
Zapotecas and Mexico; they were a 
fierce nation, yet at war with the 
Spaniards and Zapotecas in 1 572, 
and only subdued between 1572 
and 1580 (Laet). Their name has 
been spelt also Mixtecas, Mictec, 
Mixes, Mixos,Micos, Mecos, Miges, 
&c. All these names, leaving off 
tecas which means people, imply 
Lion or rather Cuguar, are animal 
of the tiger genus, which was the 
emblem or progenitor of the nation 
(Miz tiger genus in Azteca.) But the 
Mexicans changed it by cbntempt 
probably into Mic, Mix, or Mec 9 a sin- 
gle word meaning 4 things in Azteca, 
which are connected in the language, 
1. North, 2. Hell, 3. Devil, 4. Apes, 
This is evidently the root of Mictla , 
tla being the article or an abbrevia- 
tion of tlan a place. 
It is by this apparently trivial 
examen and etymology that I have 
come to the important conclusion that 
the Miztecas and Zapotecas are the 
modern remains of the ancient na- 
tions of Olmecas and Xicallancas, 
mentioned in Mexican history as 
anterior to the Tol tecas in Anahuac; 
and that the Otomis and Chichime- 
cos were also consimilar tribes. 
Here it will be needful to refer to 
ancient traditions, which are not all 
lost. Although Zumaraga, first 
bishop of Mexico, and extolled for 
his zeal bf the monks, behaved in 
Mexico as Omar had done in Egypt, 
by burning the libraries of Tezcuco, 
the Athens of Anahuac, (those of 
Mexico itself had been lost in the 
siege) he could not destroy all the 
books scattered through the whole 
of Anahuac. Many are yet extant, 
Herrera and Garcias have given 
some of the traditions of the Zapo- 
tecas and Miztecas, neglected by 
Clavigero and Humboldt. An En- 
glish Lord has lately published a 
splendid work on some Mexican 
Antiquities and manuscripts. The 
Library of the Philosophical Society 
of Philadelphia, has the fac simile 
of an Azteca manuscript which I 
have decyphered. 
The Zapotecas boast of being anti- 
diluvian in America, to have built 
the city of Coatlan (snake place in 
Azteca) 327 years before the flood, 
and to have escaped the flood with 
their king Petela (Dog) on the moun- 
tain of Coatlan (Garcias.) Which 
of the two floods of the Aztecas this 
was, whether that of Xelhua or of 
Coxcox is hard to say. The Petela 
or Dog dynasty ruled over them ever 
since till the Spanish conquest. 
The Coatlatecas (snake people) 
or Cuitlatecas, the Cuycatecas (sing- 
ing people) or Cuiscatecas, and the 
Popaloavas are tribes of Zapotecas, 
speaking dialects of the same lan- 
guage, of which Clavigero says there 
is a grammar, but Vater has not gi- 
ven any words of it. I have been 
able to collect only 12 words of it 
out of 6 authors. 
God or Creator 7 A L , , .. 
of all things 5 Ahcabohiul. 
Spirit Vinac 
^place° r ^ ^ aa * n ^^teca. 
Brother Hun Cuhua do. 
Dog Petela 
Heaven 
Earth 
Hell or 
Evil 
Woman Yxca. 
Eve or first Woman Xtmana. 
Adam or first Man Xchmel. 
Whereby it is seen that out of 6 
words which I have to compare in 
Mizteca 4 are similar and 2 not very 
different. Therefore the just con- 
clusion is that the Mizteca and Za~ 
potecci are also dialects of each oth- 
do. 
Andevui do. 
Gnuagnuay do. 
Chevan Kuachi do. 
Avan 
Baca 
