Link to enlarge K6042 (Las Bocas - Ceramic Vessel) THE FOUNDATION RESEARCH DEPARTMENT
 

History of the Mexicans as Told by Their Paintings
Translated and edited by Henry Phillips Jr.
Read before the American Philosophical Society, October 19, 1883
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society XXI:616-651, 1883.
Edited by Alec Christensen

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter   1
Chapter   2
Chapter   3
Chapter   4
Chapter   5
Chapter   6
Chapter   7
Chapter   8
Chapter   9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23

Notes 1-16
Note 17
Note 18
Notes 19-48
Notes 49-62
CHAPTER 11TH [p.625]

Of the Road they journeyed and of the Places they went, and of the Time they tarried in each Place where they were.

All having departed they came to two lofty mountains, in whose midst they encamped and remained there two years, and as the days are not painted that they occupied in reaching this spot, nothing appears more clearly than that up to the time of their resting in these sierras they reckon one year, and two years they spent there sowing what they had to eat and carry off with them, and here they erected their first temple to Vchilobo, according as they had done in that city.

These two mountains stood opposite each other, and their habitation was in their middle.

After three years had passed since their departure from Astla (sic), from when the Mexicans came forth, as has been told, they left the place or site of the two hills where they had remained two years, after having built a temple to Uchilogos (sic), as has been said, and came to a valley where there were many great trees, which they named Quausticaca, 38 on account of the many pine trees that were there, and there they stayed a year, which completed the four years since they had left their homes. [626] Thence they traveled onward till they came to a place which they named Chicomuxtoque, 39 and they settled there and remained nine years, and so here they completed the thirteen years from the time of their departure and when they left there they laid the place waste; and there was born in this place, Tlacuxquin, and Mançamoyagual and Minaqueciguatle, who were the two males, and one woman, their chief personages, and here was accomplished the thirteenth year of their exodus, and they began to reckon the second thirteen.

When they had departed from Chicomuztoque (sic), they came to a plain, which is the spot where at the time dwelt the Chichimecas, whose home was in front of Panuco, and here they remained three years, and to this valley they gave the name of Cuatlicamat. At the end of the three years they went forth and came to a ranche which they called Matlauacala, where they dwelt three years, and erected a temple to Vchilogos, thence they came to another ranche, named by them near the one where the Otomies lived, the indigines of the land; and here they rested five years, and erected another temple to Vchilogos, and here was fulfilled eleven years of the second thirteen since their departure.

From this sojourning place they came to a mountain opposite Tula named Coatebeque, 40 and when they came the Maçeguales held in great veneration the mantas of the five women whom Tezcatlipuca made, and who died the day the sun was created, as has been said, and from these mantas the aforesaid five women came again to life, and wandered in this mountain, doing penance, drawing blood from their tongues and ears; and when four years of their penance had passed by, one named Quatlique 41 who was a virgin, took a small quantity of white feathers and placed them in her bosom, from which she conceived without having known a man, and there was born of her Vchilogos, for a new birth, in addition to his other nativities, for he was a god all-powerful, and could do whatever he wished.

And here came again to life the 400 men whom Tezcatlipuca created, and who died before the sun was made, and when they saw the woman was pregnant, they sought to burn her, but Vchilogos was born of her fully armed, and slew the whole of the 400 men; and this the feast of his nativity and the slaughter of the 400 men they celebrate every year, as will be narrated in the chapter relating to their festivals; and before the feast there is a great general fast who shall participate, lasting eighty days, during which they only eat once a day; and these 400 men whom Vchilogos slew, the inhabitants of the province of Cuzco 42 burnt up and took for their gods, and reverence as such down to the present day, and in this way they celebrated for the first time the festival of the birth of Vchilogos and the massacre of the 400 men by him.

When thirty-three years had elapsed since their departure from their home, they went forth from Coatebeque and came to Chimalcoque, where they remained three years; thence they came to Ensicox, where they dwelt another three years, and built a temple and placed the mast of Vchilobos (sic); and after the thirty-ninth year from their departure they [627] drew out the mast of Vchilobos (sic), and gave it to Vingualti, to carry it with the greatest veneration on their journey, and they came to Tlemaco, which is near to Tula, and raised a temple to Vchilogos (sic), and remained there twelve years, and these twelve years being passed, they departed thence and took up the mast of Vchilogos, and gave it to Caçiçi to carry. And after all this had happened, they came to Tlitlalaquia, a well known town, and it was on the borders of Tula, where they rested two years and built a temple to Vchilogos; and after these two years the Mexicans came to the town of Tula itself, which in these days was peopled with its aborigines, who were the Chichimecas, and when they came to the said town they erected a temple to Vchilogos, and placed before it the candelabras that are now in use, in which they placed cepal and other savory things; and as soon as the Mexicans had come Vchilogos appeared to the inhabitants of the country in a black form, and they heard Vchilogos wailing beneath the earth, and they asked wherefore the god of the Mexicans was weeping below the ground, and the answer because every inhabitant of Tula was doomed to death. Four years later, an old woman, a native of Tula, went about giving out flags of paper fastened to rods, and making it manifest to them that they should get ready to die, because their time had come; and presently they all cast themselves upon the stone on which the Mexicans were wont to offer up their sacrifices, and the one of them who took charge of the temple which was in Tula, by name Tequipuyul, who was a stranger and a vagabond without employ, and whom they believed to be the devil, slew them all; and before the Mexicans erected their temple, that stone was a temple to the inhabitants of Tula; and so were put to death all the inhabitants of Tula, so that not one remained alive, and the Mexicans were lords of Tula.

Departing afterwards from Tula they came to the place where now stands the town of Atotoniltengo, where they remained one year, and thence they came to the town of Tecuzquiciac where they rested four years; thence they came to the town of Apazco, and from Pazco (sic) to Zumpango, where they stayed three years, and as they arrived near the town of Çumpango (sic), they encountered one sole Chichimeca, named Tlacizcal Potongui, who went out to meet the Mexicans, as he saw them coming; and they sacrificed to Vchilogos, god of the Mexicans another Chichemeca, whom they had made prisoner in battle, and they placed his head upon a pole for which reason this town is called Zumpango, which signifies a pole that transfixes human heads. Thence after four years they departed and came to Tlilac, where they tarried seven years, and leaving there as they were on their road to Clautitlan, they lost one of their women who had been captured by the Chichimecas, and taken to Michuacan, and from her were born all the dwellers in Michuacan, who before that time were all Chichimecas, and they pursued their road to Quatitlan, where they were one year. Thence they proceeded and come to Ecatebeque, where they stayed one year, and when they left Catebeque (sic), they reached Nepopoalco, [628] which signifies a narrow passage where a shepherd can count his flocks for here they took the number of those who came; and no one knows how many there were of them, nor is there any memorial of the number in their paintings. Here they built a house to Cipan and to Xincaque, who were those who took the census of the people as they came, and from here went forth three Mexicans, one named Navalci, another Tenaçi, and the third Chiautotolt; and these three went forth to settle Marinalco, a town that exists at this day; and being there the Mexicans built a temple to Vchilogos at Çimalpal, two leagues from the City of Mexico, and then the Mexicans gave the name of Tlatlatevique to a mountain near Chimalpa, and thence they came to another mountain named Quatitlan which is two leagues from Mexico, where they rested four years, and thence they came to a mountain named Visachichitlan, where at the present the inhabitants of the suburb of Santiago live, thence they came to the mountain called Teubulco, thence to Tenayucan, and here a leading Mexican died, Tepayuca or Tehayuco, which was his name, and they found a Chichimeca in this place for their ruler named Tloçi; here they raised a temple to Vchilogos, and sacrificed a woman and made a grand festival, taking her there highly ornamented, as was their custom when they offered up a woman-sacrifice. Having made the feast to Vchilogos, they departed and came to a mountain named Tepexaquilla where they settled for nine years; and when the nine years were passed, they descended from this mountain, and dwelt near a lofty rock which issues warm water, now known as El Peñolcillo, which divides the suburbs of Mexico and Santiago, and all was barren up to the said rock, and there flowed the stream of Chapultepeque, and they made a certain enclosed place of chalk and stone to keep these waters, and they dwelt by them for four years; thence they came to Chapultepeque, where they gave a direction to the stream, and placed behind it many rods with pennons such as the old woman gave to the people of Tula, when they wished to sacrifice themselves, for which see what has been already narrated; then the Mexicans ceased being in Chapultepeque, and went forward and came to Tlachetongo, which is now San Lázaro, near to Tianguez [marketplace] of the Mexicans, and thence they proceeded to the suburb called Aqualcomac, which is nigh to the said Tianguez, and thence to Vetetlan, and thence to Ixocan, which is the road of Cuyacan, and thence they came to Tenculuacan, where at the present they make salt, and thence to a mountain named Tepetocan, which is near to Cuyoacan (sic), and thence to Vchilobusco, distant two short leagues from Mexico, named Ciaxuhilat in the Chichimeca tongue, because it was peopled by them, and in their religion they worship Vbuchilti, who was the god of water; and this god of water met  *  the Indian who carried the mast and plumes of Vchilogos, and as he did so he gave him certain arms which are those with which they slay the water fowl, and a dart; and because Vchilogos, was left handed as well [629] as was the god of water, they said that it must be his son, and the four were close friends, and they changed the name of the town where they had met with him; which was formerly called Vichilat, so that for the future it was known as Vchilobusco.

 

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