Chapter II: General View of the Civilized Nations (2)

If we may credit the general statements of early authors, who give us but few details, in their institutions, their manners, wealth, and power, the Tarascos were at least fully the equals of the Aztecs, and in their physical development were even superior. That they successfully resisted and defeated the allied armies of Anáhuac is sufficient proof of their military prowess, although they yielded almost without a struggle to the Spaniards after the fall of Mexico. With respect to their civilization we must accept the statements of their superiority as the probably correct impression of those who came first in contact with this people, notwithstanding which I find no architectural or artistic relics of a high culture within their territory. All that is known on the subject indicates that their civilization was of the Nahua type, although the language is altogether distinct from the Aztec, the representative Nahua tongue. The history of Michoacan, in the form of any but the vaguest traditions, does not reach back farther than the thirteenth century; nevertheless, as I have said, there is some reason to suppose that it formed part of the Toltec empire. The theory has even been advanced that the Tarascos, forming a part of that empire, were not disturbed by its fall, and were therefore the best representatives of the oldest Nahua culture. Their reported physical superiority might favor this view, but their distinct language on the contrary would render it improbable. A careful study of all that is known of this people convinces me that they had long been settled in the lands where they were found, but leaves on the mind no definite idea of their earlier history. Their later annals are made up of tales, partaking largely of the marvelous and supernatural, of the doings of certain demi-gods or priests, and of wars waged against the omnipresent Chichimecs. Branches of the great and primitive Otomí family are mentioned as having their homes in the mountains, and there are traditions that fragments of the Aztecs and other tribes which followed the Chichimecs into Anáhuac, lingered on the route of their migration and settled in the fertile valleys of Michoacan. Between the Tarascos and the Aztecs, speaking a language different from either but allied more or less intimately with the former, were the Matlaltzincas, whose capital was in the plateau valley of Toluca, just outside the bounds of Anáhuac. This was one of the tribes that have already been named as coming traditionally from the north-west. For a long time they maintained their independence, but in the last quarter of the fifteenth century were forced to yield to the victorious arms of Axayacatl, the Aztec warrior king.

Immediately below the mouth of the Mexcala, on the border of the Pacific, were the lands of the Cuitlatecs, and also the province or kingdom of Zacatollan, whose capital was the modern Zacatula. Of these two peoples absolutely nothing is known, save that they were tributary to the Aztec empire, the latter having been added to the domain of Tezcuco in the very last years of the fifteenth century.

The provinces that extended south-westward from Anáhuac to the ocean, belonging chiefly to the modern state of Guerrero and included in what I have described as the Aztec empire proper, were those of the Tlahuicas, whose capital was Cuernavaca, the Cohuixcas, capital at Acapulco, the Yoppi on the coast south of Acapulco, and the province of Mazatlan farther inland or north-east. The name Tlapanecs is also rather indefinitely applied to the people of a portion of this territory in the south, including probably the Yoppi. Of the names mentioned we have met those of the Tlahuicas and Cohuixcas among the tribes newly springing into notice at the beginning of the Chichimec period. It is probable that nearly all were more or less closely allied in race and language to their Mexican masters, their political subjection to whom dates from about the middle of the fifteenth century.

[Sidenote: MIZTECS AND ZAPOTECS.]

The western slope of the cordillera still farther south-west, comprising in general terms the modern state of Oajaca, was ruled and to a great extent inhabited by the Miztecs and Zapotecs, two powerful nations distinct in tongue from the Aztecs and from each other. Western Oajaca, the home of the Miztecs, was divided into Upper and Lower Miztecapan, the latter toward the coast, and the former higher up in the mountains, and sometimes termed Cohuaixtlahuacan. The Zapotecs in eastern Oajaca, when first definitely known to history, had extended their power over nearly all the tribes of Tehuantepec, besides encroaching somewhat on the Miztec boundaries. The Miztecs, notwithstanding the foreign aid of Tlascaltecs and other eastern foes of the Aztec king, were first defeated by the allied forces of Anáhuac about 1458; and from that date the conquerors succeeded in holding their stronger towns and more commanding positions down to the conquest, thus enforcing the payment of tribute and controlling the commerce of the southern coast, which was their primary object. Tehuantepec and Soconusco yielded some years after to the conquering Axayacatl, and Zapotecapan still later to his successor Ahuitzotl; but in the closing years of the fifteenth century the Zapotecs recovered their country with Tehuantepec, leaving Socunusco, however, permanently in Aztec possession. The history of the two nations takes us no farther back than the fourteenth century, when they first came into contact with the peoples of Anáhuac; it gives a record of their rulers and their deeds of valor in wars waged against each other, against the neighboring tribes, and against the Mexicans. Prior to that time we have a few traditions of the vaguest character preserved by Burgoa, the historian of Oajaca. These picture both Miztecs and Zapotecs as originally wild, but civilized by the influence of teachers, priests, or beings of supernatural powers, who came among them, one from the south, and others from the direction of Anáhuac. Their civilization, however received, was surely Nahua, as is shown by the resemblances which their institutions, and particularly their religious rites, bear to those of the Aztecs. Being of the Nahua type, its origin has of course been referred to that inexhaustible source, the dispersion of the Toltecs, or to proselyting teachers sent southward by that wonderful people. Indeed, the Miztec and Zapotec royal families claimed a direct Toltec descent. It is very probable, however, that the Nahua element here was at least contemporaneous in its introduction with the same element known as Toltec in Anáhuac, rather than implanted in Oajaca by missionaries, voluntary or involuntary, from Tollan. I have already remarked that the presence of Nahua institutions in different regions is too often attributed to the Toltec exiles, and too seldom to historical events preceding the sixth century. The Oajacan coast region or tierra caliente, if we may credit the result of researches by the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, was sometimes known as Anáhuac Ayotlan, as the opposite coast of Tabasco was called Anáhuac Xicalanco. Both these Anáhuacs were inhabited by enterprising commercial peoples, whose flourishing centres of trade were located at short intervals along the coast. Material relics of past excellence in architecture and other arts of civilization abound in Oajaca, chief among which stand the remarkable structures at Mitla.

[Sidenote: NATIONS OF TEHUANTEPEC.]

Although Tehuantepec in the later aboriginal times was subject to the kings of Zapotecapan, yet within its limits, besides the Chontales,--a name resembling in its uncertainty of application that of Chichimecs farther north,--were the remnants of two old nations that still preserved their independence. These were the Mijes, living chiefly by the chase in the mountain fastnesses of the north, and the Huaves, who held a small territory on the coast and islands of the lagoons just east of the city of Tehuantepec. The Mijes, so far as the vague traditions of the country reveal anything of their past, were once the possessors of Zapotecapan and the isthmus of Tehuantepec, antedating the Zapotecs and perhaps the Nahua culture in this region, being affiliated, as some believe, in institutions and possibly in language, with the Maya element of Central America. While this connection must be regarded as somewhat conjectural, we may nevertheless accept as probably authentic the antiquity, civilization, and power of this brave people. The Huaves were traditionally of southern origin, having come to Tehuantepec by sea from Nicaragua or a point still farther south. In navigation and in commerce they were enterprising, as were indeed all the tribes of this southern-coast Anáhuac, and they took gradually from the Mijes, whom they found in possession, a large extent of territory, which as we have seen they were finally forced to yield up to their Zapotec conquerors.

Crossing now to the Atlantic or Gulf shores we have from the past nothing but a confused account of Olmecs, Xicalancas, and Nonohualcas, who may have been distinct peoples, or the same people under different names at different epochs, and who at some time inhabited the lowlands of Tehuantepec and Vera Cruz, as well as those of Tabasco farther south. At the time of the conquest we know that this region was thickly inhabited by a people scarcely less advanced than those of Anáhuac, and dotted with flourishing towns devoted to commerce. But neither in the sixteenth nor immediately preceding centuries can any one civilized nation be definitely named as occupying this Anáhuac Xicalanco. We know, however, that this country north of the Goazacoalco River formed a portion of the Aztec empire, and that its inhabitants spoke for the most part the Aztec tongue. These provinces, known as Cuetlachtlan and Goazacoalco, were conquered, chiefly with a view to the extension of the Aztec commerce, as early as the middle of the fifteenth century, notwithstanding the assistance rendered by the armies of Tlascala.

[Sidenote: THE TLASCALTECS.]

The plateau east of Anáhuac sometimes known as Huitzilapan was found by the Spaniards in the possession of the independent republics, or cities, of Tlascala, Huexotzinco, and Cholula. The people who occupied this part of the table-land were the Teo-Chichimecs, of the same language and of the same traditional north-western origin as the Aztecs, whom they preceded in Anáhuac. Late in the thirteenth century they left the valley of Mexico, and in several detachments established themselves on the eastern plateau, where they successfully maintained their independence of all foreign powers. As allies of the Chichimec king of Tezcuco they aided in overturning the Tepanec tyrant of Azcapuzalco; but after the subsequent dangerous development of Aztec ambition, the Tlascaltec armies aided in nearly every attempt of other nations to arrest the progress of the Mexicans toward universal dominion. Their assistance, as we have seen, was unavailing except in the final successful alliance with the forces of Cortés; for, although secure in their small domain against foreign invasion, their armies were often defeated abroad. Tlascala has retained very nearly its original bounds, and the details of its history from the foundation of the city are, by the writings of the native historian Camargo, more fully known than those of most other nations outside of Anáhuac. This author, however, gives us the annals of his own and the surrounding peoples from a Tlascaltec stand-point only. Before the Teo-Chichimec invasion of Huitzilapan, Cholula had already acquired great prominence as a Toltec city, and as the residence of the great Nahua apostle Quetzalcoatl, of which era, or a preceding one, the famous pyramid remains as a memento. Outside of Cholula, however, the ancient history of this region presents but a blank page, or one vaguely filled with tales of giants, its first reputed inhabitants, and of the mysterious Olmecs, from some remaining fragments of which people the Tlascaltecs are said to have won their new homes. These Olmecs seem to have been a very ancient people who occupied the whole eastern region, bordering on or mixed with the Xicalancas in the south; or rather the name Olmec seems to have been the designation of a phase or era of the Nahua civilization preceding that known as the Toltec. It is impossible to determine accurately whether the Xicalancas should be classed with the Nahua or Maya element, although probably with the former.

The coast region east of Tlascala, comprising the northern half of the state of Vera Cruz, was the home of the Totonacs, whose capital was the famous Cempoala, and who were conquered by the Aztecs at the close of the fifteenth century. They were probably one of the ancient pre-Toltec peoples like the Otomís and Olmecs, and they claimed to have occupied in former times Anáhuac and the adjoining territory, where they erected the pyramids of the sun and moon at Teotihuacan. Their institutions when first observed by Europeans seem to have been essentially Nahua, and the abundant architectural remains found in Totonac territory, as at Papantla, Misantla, and Tusapan, show no well-defined differences from Aztec constructions proper. Whether this Nahua culture was that originally possessed by them or was introduced at a comparatively late period through the influence of the Teo-Chichimecs, with whom they became largely consolidated, is uncertain. The Totonac language is, however, distinct from the Aztec, and is thought to have some affinity with the Maya.

North of the Totonacs on the gulf coast, in the present state of Tamaulipas, lived the Huastecs, concerning whose early history nothing whatever is known. Their language is allied to the Maya dialects. They were a brave people, looked upon by the Mexicans as semi-barbarous, but were defeated and forced to pay tribute by the king of Tezcuco in the middle of the fifteenth century.

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[Sidenote: NATIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA.]

The difficulties experienced in rendering to any degree satisfactory a general view of the northern nations, are very greatly augmented now that I come to treat of the Central American tribes. The causes of this increased difficulty are many. I have already noticed the prominence of the Aztecs in most that has been recorded of American civilization. During the conquest of the central portions of the continent following that of Mexico, the Spaniards found an advanced culture, great cities, magnificent temples, a complicated system of religious and political institutions; but all these had been met before in the north, and consequently mere mention in general terms of these later wonders was deemed sufficient by the conquerors, who were a class of men not disposed to make minute observations or comparisons respecting what seemed to them unimportant details. As to the priests, their duty was clearly to destroy rather than to closely investigate these institutions of the devil. And in the years following the conquest, the association between the natives and the conquerors was much less intimate than in Anáhuac. These nations in many instances fought until nearly annihilated, or after defeat retired in national fragments to the inaccessible fastnesses of the cordillera, retaining for several generations--some of them permanently--their independence, and affording the Spaniards little opportunity of becoming acquainted with their aboriginal institutions. In the south, as in Anáhuac, native writers, after their language had been fitted to the Spanish alphabet, wrote more or less fully of their national history; but all such writings whose existence is known are in the possession of one or two individuals, and, excepting the Popol Vuh translated by Ximenes as well as Brasseur de Bourbourg, and the Perez Maya manuscript, their contents are only vaguely known to the public through the writings of their owners. Another difficulty respecting these writings is that their dependence on any original authority more trustworthy than that of orally transmitted traditions, is at least doubtful. The key to the hieroglyphics engraved on the stones of Palenque and Copan, and painted on the pages of the very few ancient manuscripts preserved, is now practically lost; that it was possessed by the writers referred to is, although not impossible, still far from proven. Again, chronology, so complicated and uncertain in the annals of Anáhuac, is here, through the absence of legible written records, almost entirely wanting, so that it is in many cases absolutely impossible to fix even an approximate date for historical events of great importance. The attempts of authors to attach some of these events, without sufficient data, to the Nahua chronology, have done much to complicate the matter still further.

The only author who has attempted to treat of the subject of Central American civilization and antiquity comprehensively as a whole is the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg. The learned abbé, however, with all his research and undoubted knowledge of the subject, and with his well-known enthusiasm and tact in antiquarian engineering, by which he is wont to level difficulties, apparently insurmountable, to a grade which offers no obstruction to his theoretical construction-trains, has been forced to acknowledge at many points his inability to construct a perfect whole from data so meagre and conflicting. Such being the case, the futility must be apparent of attempting here any outline of history which may throw light on the institutions of the sixteenth century. I must be content, for the purposes of this chapter, with a mention of the civilized nations found in possession of the country, and a brief statement of such prominent points in their past as seem well-authenticated and important.

[Sidenote: THE ANCIENT MAYA EMPIRE.]

Closely enveloped in the dense forests of Chiapas, Guatemala, Yucatan, and Honduras, the ruins of several ancient cities have been discovered, which are far superior in extent and magnificence to any seen in Aztec territory, and of which a detailed description may be found in the fourth volume of this work. Most of these cities were abandoned and more or less unknown at the time of the conquest. They bear hieroglyphic inscriptions apparently identical in character; in other respects they resemble each other more than they resemble the Aztec ruins--or even other and apparently later works in Guatemala and Honduras. All these remains bear evident marks of great antiquity. Their existence and similarity, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, would indicate the occupation of the whole country at some remote period by nations far advanced in civilization, and closely allied in manners and customs, if not in blood and language. Furthermore, the traditions of several of the most advanced nations point to a wide-spread civilization introduced among a numerous and powerful people by Votan and Zamná, who, or their successors, built the cities referred to, and founded great allied empires in Chiapas, Yucatan and Guatemala; and moreover, the tradition is confirmed by the universality of one family of languages or dialects spoken among the civilized nations, and among their descendants to this day. I deem the grounds sufficient, therefore, for accepting this Central American civilization of the past as a fact, referring it not to an extinct ancient race, but to the direct ancestors of the peoples still occupying the country with the Spaniards, and applying to it the name Maya as that of the language which has claims as strong as any to be considered the mother tongue of the linguistic family mentioned. As I have said before, the phenomena of civilization in North America may be accounted for with tolerable consistency by the friction and mixture of this Maya culture and people with the Nahua element of the north; while that either, by migrations northward or southward, can have been the parent of the other within the traditionally historic past, I regard as extremely improbable. That the two elements were identical in their origin and early development is by no means impossible; all that we can safely presume is that within historic times they have been practically distinct in their workings.

There are also some rather vague traditions of the first appearance of the Nahua civilization in the regions of Tabasco and Chiapas, of its growth, the gradual establishment of a power rivalling that of the people I call Mayas, and of a struggle by which the Nahuas were scattered in different directions, chiefly northward, to reappear in history some centuries later as the Toltecs of Anáhuac. While the positive evidence in favor of this migration from the south is very meagre, it must be admitted that a southern origin of the Nahua culture is far more consistent with fact and tradition than was the north-western origin, so long implicitly accepted. There are no data by which to fix the period of the original Maya empire, or its downfall or breaking-up into rival factions by civil and foreign wars. The cities of Yucatan, as is clearly shown by Mr Stephens, were, many of them, occupied by the descendants of the builders down to the conquest, and contain some remnants of wood-work still in good preservation, although some of the structures appear to be built on the ruins of others of a somewhat different type. Palenque and Copan, on the contrary, have no traces of wood or other perishable material, and were uninhabited and probably unknown in the sixteenth century. The loss of the key to what must have been an advanced system of hieroglyphics, while the spoken language survived, is also an indication of great antiquity, confirmed by the fact that the Quiché structures of Guatemala differed materially from those of the more ancient epoch. It is not likely that the Maya empire in its integrity continued later than the third or fourth century, although its cities may have been inhabited much later, and I should fix the epoch of its highest power at a date preceding rather than following the Christian era. A Maya manuscript fixes the date of the first appearance in Yucatan of the Tutul Xius at 171 A. D. The Abbé Brasseur therefore makes this the date of the Nahua dispersion, believing, on apparently very slight foundation, the Tutul Xius to be one of the Nahua fragments. With the breaking-up of this empire into separate nations at an unknown date, the ancient history of Central America as a whole ceases, and down to a period closely preceding the conquest we have only an occasional event preserved in the traditions of two or three nations.

[Sidenote: MAYA NATIONS OF YUCATAN.]

Yucatan was occupied in the sixteenth century by the Mayas proper, all speaking the same language, and living under practically the same institutions, religious and political. The chief divisions were the Cocomes, Tutul Xius, Itzas, and Cheles, which seem to have been originally the designations of royal or priestly families, rather than tribal names proper of the peoples over whom they held sway. Each of these had their origin-traditions of immigrating tribes or teachers who came in the distant past to seek new homes, escape persecution, or introduce new religious ideas, in the fertile Maya plains. Some of these stranger apostles of new creeds are identified by authors with Toltec missionaries or exiles from Anáhuac. The evidence in favor of this identity in any particular case is of course unsatisfactory, but that it was well-founded in some cases is both probable,--commercial intercourse having undoubtedly made the two peoples mutually acquainted with each other,--and is supported by the presence of Nahua names of rulers and priests, and of Nahua elements in the Yucatec religion, the same remark applying to all Central America. The ancient history of Yucatan is an account of the struggles, alliances, and successive domination of the factions mentioned. To enumerate here, in outline even, these successive changes so vaguely and confusedly recorded would be useless, especially as their institutions, so far as can be known, were but slightly affected by political changes among people of the same blood, language, and religion.

The Cocomes were traditionally the original Maya rulers of the land, and the Tutul Xius first came into notice in the second century, the Itzas and Cheles appearing at a much later date. One of the most prosperous eras in the later history of the peninsula of Yucatan is represented to have followed the appearance of Cuculcan, a mysterious stranger corresponding closely in his teachings, as in the etymology of his name, with the Toltec Quetzalcoatl. He became the head of the Cocome dynasty at Mayapan, and ruled the country as did his successors after him in alliance with the Tutul Xius at Uxmal, the Itzas at Chichen Itza, and the Cheles at Izamal. But later the Cocomes were overthrown, and Mayapan destroyed by a revolution of the allies. The Tutul Xius now became the leading power, a position which they held down to the time, not long before the conquest, when the country was divided by war and civil dissensions into numerous petty domains, each ruled by its chief and independent of the rest, all in a weak and exhausted condition compared with their former state, and unable to resist by united effort the progress of the Spanish invaders whom individually they fought most bravely. Three other comparatively recent events of some importance in Yucatec history may be noticed. The Cocomes in the struggle preceding their fall called in the aid of a large force of Xicalancas, probably a Nahua people, from the Tabascan coast region, who after their defeat were permitted by the conquerors to settle in the country. A successful raid by some foreign people, supposed with some reason to be the Quichés from Guatemala, is reported to have been made against the Mayas with, however, no important permanent results. Finally a portion of the Itzas migrated southward and settled in the region of Lake Peten, establishing their capital city on an island in the lake. Here they were found, a powerful and advanced nation, by Hernan Cortés in the sixteenth century, and traces of their cities still remain, although it must be noted that another and older class of ruins are found in the same region, dating back perhaps to a time when the glory of the Maya empire had not wholly departed.

[Sidenote: CHIAPAS AND GUATEMALA.]

Chiapas, politically a part of the Mexican Republic, but belonging geographically to Central America, was occupied by the Chiapanecs, Tzendales, and Quelenes. The Tzendales lived in the region about Palenque, and were presumably the direct descendants of its builders, their language having nearly an equal claim with the Maya to be considered the mother tongue. The Chiapanecs of the interior were a warlike tribe, and had before the coming of the Spaniards conquered the other nations, forcing them to pay tribute, and successfully resisting the attacks of the Aztec allies. They also are a very old people, having been referred even to the tribes that preceded the establishment of Votan's empire. Statements concerning their history are numerous and irreconcilable; they have some traditions of having come from the south; their linguistic affinity with the Mayas is at least very slight. The Quelenes or Zotziles, whose past is equally mysterious, inhabited the southern or Guatemalan frontier.

Guatemala and northern Honduras were found in possession of the Mames in the north-west, the Pocomams in the south-east, the Quichés in the interior, and the Cakchiquels in the south. The two latter were the most powerful and ruled the country from their capitals of Utatlan and Patinamit, where they resisted the Spaniards almost to the point of annihilation, retiring for the most part after defeat to live by the chase in the distant mountain gorges. Guatemalan history from the Votan empire down to an indefinite date not many centuries before the conquest is a blank. It recommences with the first traditions of the nations just mentioned. These traditions, as in the case of every American people, begin with the immigration of foreign tribes into the country as the first in the series of events leading to the establishment of the Quiché-Cakchiquel empire. Assuming the Toltec dispersion from Anáhuac in the eleventh century as a well-authenticated fact, most writers have identified the Guatemalan nations, except perhaps the Mames by some considered the descendants of the original inhabitants, with the migrating Toltecs who fled southward to found a new empire. I have already made known my scepticism respecting national American migrations in general, and the Toltec migration southward in particular, and there is nothing in the annals of Guatemala to modify the views previously expressed. The Quiché traditions are vague and without chronologic order, much less definite than those relating to the mythical Aztec wanderings. The sum and substance of the Quiché and Toltec identity is the traditional statement that the former people entered Guatemala at an unknown period in the past, while the latter left Anáhuac in the eleventh century. That the Toltecs should have migrated en masse southward, taken possession of Guatemala, established a mighty empire, and yet have abandoned their language for dialects of the original Maya tongue is in the highest degree improbable. It is safer to suppose that the mass of the Quichés and other nations of Guatemala, Chiapas, and Honduras, were descended directly from the Maya builders of Palenque, and from contemporary peoples. Yet the differences between the Quiché-Cakchiquel structures, and the older architectural remains of the Maya empire indicate a new era of Maya culture, originated not unlikely by the introduction of foreign elements. Moreover, the apparent identity in name and teachings between the early civilizers of the Quiché tradition and the Nahua followers of Quetzalcoatl, together with reported resemblances between actual Quiché and Aztec institutions as observed by Europeans, indicate farther that the new element was engrafted on Maya civilization by contact with the Nahuas, a contact of which the presence of the exiled Toltec nobility may have been a prominent feature. After the overthrow of the original empire we may suppose the people to have been subdivided during the course of centuries by civil wars and sectarian struggles into petty states, the glory of their former greatness vanished and partially forgotten, the spirit of progress dormant, to be roused again by the presence of the Nahua chiefs. These gathered and infused new life into the scattered remnants; they introduced some new institutions, and thus aided the ancient people to rebuild their empire on the old foundations, retaining the dialects of the original language.

[Sidenote: NICARAGUANS AND PIPILES.]

In addition to the peoples thus far mentioned, there were undoubtedly in Nicaragua, and probably in Salvador, nations of nearly pure Aztec blood and language. The former are known among different authors as Nicaraguans, Niquirans, or Cholutecs, and they occupied the coast between lake Nicaragua and the ocean, with the lake islands. Their institutions, political and religious, were nearly the same as those of the Aztecs of Anáhuac, and they have left abundant relics in the form of idols and sepulchral deposits, but no architectural remains. These relics are moreover hardly less abundant in the territory of the adjoining tribes, nor do they differ essentially in their nature; hence we must conclude that some other Nicaraguan peoples, either by Aztec or other influence, were considerably advanced in civilization. The Nahua tribes of Salvador, the ancient Cuscatlan, were known as Pipiles, and their culture appears not to have been of a high order. Both of these nations probably owe their existence to a colony sent southward from Anáhuac; but whether in Aztec or pre-Aztec times, the native traditions, like their interpretation by writers on the subject, are inextricably confused and at variance. For further details on the location of Central American nations I refer to the statement of tribal boundaries at the end of Chapter VII., Volume I., of this work.

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I here close this general view of the subject, and if it is in some respects unsatisfactory, I cannot believe that a different method of treatment would have rendered it less so. To have gone more into detail would have tended to confuse rather than elucidate the matter in the reader's mind, unless with the support of extensive quotations from ever-conflicting authorities, which would have swollen this general view from a chapter to a volume. As far as antiquity is concerned, the most intricate element of the subject, I shall attempt to present--if I cannot reconcile--all the important variations of opinion in another division of this work.

In the treatment of my subject, truth and accuracy are the principal aim, and these are never sacrificed to graphic style or glowing diction. As much of interest is thrown into the recital as the authorities justify, and no more. Often may be seen the more striking characteristics of these nations dashed off with a skill and brilliance equaled only by their distance from the facts; disputed points and unpleasing traits glossed over or thrown aside whenever they interfere with style and effect. It is my sincere desire, above all others, to present these people as they were, not to make them as I would have them, nor to romance at the expense of truth; nevertheless, it is to be hoped that in the truth enough of interest will remain to command the attention of the reader. My treatment of the subject is essentially as follows: The civilized peoples of North America naturally group themselves in two great divisions, which for convenience may be called the Nahuas and the Mayas respectively; the first representing the Aztec civilization of Mexico, and the second the Maya-Quiché civilization of Central America. In describing their manners and customs, five large divisions may be made of each group. The first may be said to include the systems of government, the order of succession, the ceremonies of election, coronation, and anointment, the magnificence, power, and manner of life of their kings; court forms and observances; the royal palaces and gardens. The second comprises the social system; the classes of nobles, gentry, plebeians and slaves; taxation, tenure, and distribution of lands; vassalage and feudal service; the inner life of the people; their family and private relations, such as marriage, divorce, and education of youth; other matters, such as their dress, food, games, feasts and dances, knowledge of medicine, and manner of burial. The third division includes their system of war, their relations with foreign powers, their warriors and orders of knighthood, their treatment of prisoners of war and their weapons. The fourth division embraces their system of trade and commerce, the community of merchants, their sciences, arts, and manufactures. The fifth and last considers their judiciary, law-courts, and legal officials. I append as more appropriately placed here than elsewhere, a note on the etymological meaning and derivation, so far as known, of the names of the Civilized Nations.

ETYMOLOGY OF NAMES.

ACOLHUAS;--Possibly from _coloa_, 'to bend,' meaning with the prefix _atl_, 'water-colhuas,' or 'people at the bend of the water.' Not from _acolli_, 'shoulder,' nor from _colli_, 'grandfather.' _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, pp. 85, 89. '_Coloa_, encoruar, o entortar algo, o rodear yendo camino.' '_Acolli_, ombro.' '_Culhuia_, lleuar a otro por rodeos a alguna parte.' _Molina_, _Vocabulario_. _Colli_, 'grand-father,' plural _colhuan_. _Colhuacan_, or _Culiacan_, may then mean 'the land of our ancestors.' _Gallatin_, in _Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., pp. 204-5. 'El nombre de _aculhuas_, ó segun la ortografía mexicana, _aculhuaque_, en plural, y no _aculhuacanes_, ni _aculhues_.' _Dicc. Univ._, tom. i., p. 39. 'Col, chose courbe, faisant _coloa_, _colua_, ou _culhua_, nom appliqué plus tard dans le sens d'ancêtre, parce que du _Colhuacan_ primitif, des îles de la Courbe, vinrent les émigrés qui civilisèrent les habitants de la vallée d'Anahuac.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Quatre Lettres_, p. 407. '_Colhua_, ou _culhua_, _culua_, de _coltic_, chose courbée. De là le nom de la cité de _Colhuacan_, qu'on traduit indifféremment, ville de la courbe, de choses recourbées (des serpents), et aussi des aïeux, de _coltzin_, aïeul.' _Id._, _Popol Vuh_, p. xxix.

AZTECS;--From _Aztlan_, the name of their ancient home, from a root _Aztli_, which is lost. It has no connection with _azcatl_, 'ant,' but may have some reference to _iztac_, 'white.' _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, pp. 5-6. 'De _Aztlan_ se deriva el nacional _Aztecatl_.' _Pimentel_, _Cuadro_, tom. i., p. 158. '_Az_, primitif d'_azcatl_, fourmi, est le mot qui désigne, à la fois, d'une manière générale, la vapeur, le gaz, ou toute chose légère, comme le vent ou la pluie; c'est l'aile, _aztli_ qui désigne aussi la vapeur, c'est le héron dans _aztatl_. Il se retrouve, avec une légère variante, dans le mot nahuatl composé, _tem-az-calli_, bain de vapeur, dans _ez-tli_, le sang ou la lave; dans les vocables quichés _atz_, bouffée du fumée, épouvantail, feu-follet.... Ainsi les fourmis de la tradition haïtienne, comme de la tradition mexicaine, sont à la fois des images des feux intérieurs de la terre et de leurs exhalaisons, comme du travail des mines et de l'agriculture. Du même primitif _az_ vient _Aztlan_ "le Pays sur ou dans le gaz, _az-tan_, _az-dan_, la terre sèche, soulevée par les gaz ou remplie de vapeurs."' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Quatre Lettres_, p. 311.

CHALCAS;--'Il nome _Chalcho_ vale, Nella gemma. Il P. Acosta dice, che _Chalco_ vuol dire, Nelle bocche.' _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 253. Buschmann believes Acosta's definition 'in the mouths' to be more correct. _Ortsnamen_, p. 83. 'Chalca, Ce qui est le calcaire; c'est l'examen de tous les vocables mexicains, commençant en _chal_, qui m'a fait découvrir le sens exact de ce mot; il se trouve surtout dan _chal-chi-huitl_, le jade, littéralement ce qui est sorti du fond du calcaire.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Quatre Lettres_, pp. 403, 406.

CHELES;--'Le _Chel_ dans la langue maya est une espèce d'oiseaux particuliers à cette contrée.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 19.

CHIAPANECS;--_Chiapan_, 'locality of the chia' (oil-seed). _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, p. 187. '_Chiapanèque_, du nahuatl _chiapanecatl_, c'est-à-dire homme de la rivière Chiapan (eau douce), n'est pas le nom véritable de ce peuple; c'est celui que lui donnèrent les Mexicains.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 87.

CHICHIMECS;--'_Chichi_, perro, o perra.' _Molina_, _Vocabulario_. _Chichi_, 'dog'; perhaps as inhabitants of _Chichimecan_, 'place of dogs.' _Mecatl_ may mean 'line,' 'row,' 'race,' and _Chichimecatl_, therefore 'one of the race of dogs.' _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, pp. 79, 81. 'Chichimèque veut dire, à proprement parler, homme sauvage.... Ce mot désigne des hommes qui mangent de la viande crue et sucent le sang des animaux; car _chichiliztli_ veut dire, en mexicain, sucer; _chichinaliztli_, la chose que l'on suce, et _Chichihualli_, mamelle.... Toutes les autres nations les redoutaient et leur donnaient le nom de Suceurs, en mexicain, _Chichimecatechinani_. ... Les Mexicains nomment aussi les chiens chichime, parce qu'ils lèchent le sang des animaux et le sucent.' _Camargo_, _Hist. Tlaxcallan_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 140. '_Teuchichimecas_, que quiere decir _del todo barbados_, que por otro nombre se decian Cacachimecas, ó sea hombres silvestres.' _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii., p. 116. '_Chichimec_ ou _chichimetl_, suceur de maguey, et de là les Chichimèques.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., pp. 171, 56. Other derivations are from _Chichen_, a city of Yucatan, and from _chichiltic_ 'red,' referring to the color of all Indians. _Id._, _Popol Vuh_, p. lxiii. '_Chi_ ... selon Vetancourt, c'est une préposition, exprimant ce qui est tout en bas, au plus profond, comme _aco_ signifie ce qui est au plus haut.... _Chichi_ est un petit chien (_chi-en_), de ceux qu'on appelle de Chihuahua, qui se creusent des tanières souterraines.... _Chichi_ énonce tout ce qui est amer, aigre ou âcre, tout ce qui fait tache: il a le sens de sucer, d'absorber; c'est la salive, c'est le poumon et la mamelle. Si maintenant ... j'ajoute _me_, primitif de _metl_, aloès, chose courbée, vous aurez _Chichime_, choses courbes, tortueuses, suçantes, absorbantes, amères, âcres ou acides, se cachant, comme les petits chiens terriers, sous le sol où elles se concentrent, commes des poumons ou des mamelles.... Or, puisqu'il est acquis, d'après ces peintures et ces explications, que tout cela doit s'appliquer à une puissance tellurique, errante, d'ordinaire, comme les populations nomades, auxquelles on attacha le nom de _Chichimeca_.' _Id._, _Quatre Lettres_, pp. 111-12.

CHOLULTECS;--From _choloa_, meaning 'to spring,' 'to run,' 'to flee,' or 'place where water springs up,' 'place of flight,' or 'fugitives.' _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, p. 100. 'C'est du lieu d'où ils étaient sortis primitivement, ou plutôt à cause de leur qualité actuelle d'exilés, qu'ils prirent ensuite le nom de _Cholutecas_.' '_Cholutecas_, mieux _Cholultecas_, c'est-à-dire, Exilés, et aussi, Habitants de Cholullan.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 79.

CHONTALES;--'_Chontalli_, estrangero o forastero.' _Molina_, _Vocabulario_; _Orozco y Berra_, _Geografía_, p. 21; _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, p. 133; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 47.

COCOMES;--'_Cocom_ signifie écouteur, croyant.' _Landa_, _Rel. de las Cosas de Yucatan_, p. 39. 'Cocom est un nom d'origine nahuatl; il est le pluriel de cohuatl, serpent.... Dans la langue maya, le mot cocom a la signification d'écouteur, celui qui entend; cette étymologie nous paraît plus rationnelle que la première.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 78.

COHUIXCAS;--Ayala translates the name of their province Cuixca, 'tierra de lagartijas.' _Orozco y Berra_, _Geografía_, p. 48.

CUITLAHUACS;--'_Cuitlatl_, excremento, y genéricamente cosa sucia.' _Orozco y Berra_, _Geografía_, p. 47. '_Cuitlahuac_, Dans celui qui a les Excréments, de cuitlatl, excrément, déjection de l'homme ou de l'animal, mais que le chroniste mexicain applique ici aux déjections du volcan voisin de la Grande-Base ... de là le nom de _teo-cuitlatl_, excréments divins, donné aux métaux précieux, l'or avec l'adjectif jaune, l'argent avec l'adjectif blanc.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Quatre Lettres_, p. 407. Cuitlatlan, 'locality of dirt.' _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, p. 15. '_Cuitlatl_, mierda.' _Molina_, _Vocabulario_. The name of the Cuitlatecs seems to have no separate etymological meaning.

CULHUAS;--See Acolhuas. The two people are not supposed to have been the same, but it is probable that they are identical in the derivation of their names.

HUASTECS;--'_Huaxtlan_ es una palabra mexicana que significa, "donde hay, ó abunda el _huaxi_," fruto muy conocido en México con el nombre castellanizado de _guaje_. Compónese aquella palabra de _huaxin_, perdiendo _in_ por contraccion, muy usada en mexicano al componerse las palabras, y de _tlan_, partícula que significa "donde hay, ó abunda algo," y que sirve para formar colectivos. De _huaxtlan_ es de donde, segun parece, viene el nombre gentilicio _huaxtecatl_, que los españoles convirtieron en _huaxteca_ ó _huaxteco_.' _Pimentel_, _Cuadro_, tom. i., pp. 5-6; _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, pp. 12-13. 'El que es inhábil ó tosco, le llaman ... _cuextecatl_.' From the name of their ruler, who took too much wine. 'Así por injuria, y como alocado, le llamaban de Cuextecatl.' _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 134-5, 143-4.

HUEXOTZINCAS;--Diminutive of _huexotla_, 'willow-forest.' _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, p. 100.

ITZAS;--From the name of Zamná, the first Yucatan civilizer. 'Le llamaban tambien Ytzamná, y le adoraban por Dios.' _Cogolludo_, _Hist. de Yucathan_, p. 196. '_Itzmat-ul_, que quiere dezir el que recibe y posee la gracia, ó rozio, ó sustancia del cielo.' '_Ytzen caan, ytzen muyal_, que era dezir yo soy el rozio ó sustancia del cielo y nubes.' _Lizana_, in _Landa_, _Rel. de las Cosas de Yucatan_, p. 356. 'Suivant Ordoñez, le mot itza est composé de itz, doux, et de hà, eau.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 15.

MALINALCAS;--'_Malina_, nitla, torcer cordel encima del muslo.' '_Malinqui_, cosa torcida.' _Molina_, _Vocabulario_. '_Malinal_ est le nom commun de la liane, ou des cordes tordues.' '_Malina_, tordre, qui fait _malinal_, liane ou corde. Ou bien plus littéralement de choses tournées, percée à jour, de _mal_, primitif de _mamali_, percer, tarauder, et de _nal_, de part en part, tout autour.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Quatre Lettres_, pp. 407-8.

MAMES;--'El verdadero nombre de la lengua y de la tribu es mem, que quiere decir tartamudos porque los pueblos que primero les oyeron hablar, encontraron semejanza entre los tardos para pronunciar, y la manera con que aquellos decian su lengua.' _Orozco y Berra_, _Geografía_, p. 24. 'A esta lengua llaman _Mame_, é indios _mames_ á los de esta sierra, porque ordinariamente hablan y responden con esta palabra _man_, que quiere decir _padre_.' _Reynoso_, in _Pimentel_, _Cuadro_, tom. i., pp. 83-4. '_Mem_ veut dire bègue et muet.' '"Mem", mal à propos défiguré dans Mame par les Espagnols, servit depuis généralement à désigner les nations qui conservèrent leur ancienne langue et demeurèrent plus ou moins indépendantes des envahisseurs étrangers.' Mam 'veut dire ancien, vieillard.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 119. Mam sometimes means grand-son. _Id._, _Popol Vuh_, p. 41.

MATLALTZINCAS;--'El nombre _Matlalcincatl_, tomóse de _Matlatl_ que es la red con la cual desgranaban el maiz, y hacian otras cosas.... Tambien se llaman _Matlatzincas_ de hondas que se dicen _tlematlate_, y así _Matlatzincas_ por otra interpretacion quiere decir, honderos ó fondibularios; porque los dichos _Matlatzincas_ cuando muchachos, usaban mucho traer las hondas, y de ordinario las traían consigo, como los _Chichimecas_ sus arcos, y siempre andaban tirando con ellas. Tambien les llamaban del nombre de red por otra razon que és la mas principal, porque cuando à su idolo sacrificaban alguna persona, le echaban dentro en una red, y allí le retorcian y estrujaban con la dicha red, hasta que le hacian echar los intestinos. La causa de llamarse _coatl_ (Ramirez) dice que "debe leerse _cuaitl_ (cabeza). Coatl significa culebra," cuando es uno, y _qüaqüatas_ cuando son muchos és, porque siempre traían la cabeza ceñida con la honda; por lo cual el vocablo se decia _qüa_ por abreviatura, que quiere decir _quaitl_ que es la cabeza, _yta_ que quiere decir _tamatlatl_ (Molina says 'Honda para tirar es _tematlatl, tlatematlauiloni_') ques es la honda, y así quiere decir _quatlatl_ hombre que trae la honda en la cabeza por guirnalda: tambien se interpreta de otra manera, que quiere decir hombre de cabeza de piedra.' _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii., lib. x., p. 128, and _Orozco y Berra_, _Geografía_, pp. 29-30. '_Matlatzinia_, dar palmadas.' '_Matlatepito_, red pequeña.' _Molina_, _Vocabulario_. From _matlatl_, 'net', meaning therefore 'small place of nets'. _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, p. 13. 'De _Matlatl_, le filet, les mailles.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Quatre Lettres_, p. 408. '_Matlatzinco_ es una palabra mexicana que significa "lugarcito de las redes", pues se compone de _matlat_, red, y la partícula _tzinco_ que expresa diminucion. Fácilmente se comprende, pues, que _matlatzinca_ viene de _matlatzinco_, y que la etimología exige que estas palabras se escriban con _c_ (mejor _k_) y no con _g_ como hacen algunos autores', _Pimentel_, _Cuadro_, tom. i., p. 500.

MAYAS;--'"_Mai_", une divinité ou un personnage des temps antiques, sans doute celui à l'occasion duquel le pays fut appelé _Maya_.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, in _Landa_, _Rel. de las Cosas de Yucatan_, p. 42. '_Maya_ ou _Maïa_, nom antique d'une partie du Yucatan, paraît signifier aussi la terre.' _Id._, p. lxx. 'Maayhà, non adest aqua, suivant Ordoñez, c'est-à-dire, Terre sans eau.' _Id._, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 76. The terminations _a_ and _o_ of this name are Spanish. _Pimentel_, _Cuadro_, tom. ii., p. 35.

MIZQUICAS;--'_Mizquitl_, arbol de goma para tinta.' _Molina_, _Vocabulario_. _Mizquitl_, a tree yielding the pure gum arabic, a species of acacia. _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, p. 104.

MIZTECS;--'La palabra mexicana _Mixtecatl_, es nombre nacional, derivado de _mixtlan_, lugar de nubes ó nebuloso, compuesto de _mixtli_, nube, y de la terminacion _tlan_.' _Pimentel_, _Cuadro_, tom. i., p. 39. _Mixtlan_, 'place of clouds.' _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, p. 18. '_Mixtecapan_ ... pays des brouillards.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 146.

NAHUAS;--'Todos los que hablan claro la lengua mexicana que les llaman _nahóas_, son descendientes de los Tultecas.' _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii., lib. x., p. 114. '_Nahoatl_ ó _nahuatl_, segun el diccionario de Molina, significa _cosa que suena bien_, de modo que viene à ser un adjetivo que aplicado al sustantivo _idioma_, creo que puede traducirse por _armonioso_.' _Pimentel_, _Cuadro_, tom. i., p. 158. Something of fine, or clear, or loud sound; _nahuatlato_ means an interpreter; _nahuati_, to speak loud; _nahuatia_, to command. The name has no connection whatever with _Anáhuac_. _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, pp. 7-8. 'Molina le traduit par Ladino, instruit, expert, civilisé, et lui donne aussi un sens qui se rapporte aux sciences occultes. On n'en trouve pas, toutefois, la racine dans le mexicain. La langue quichée en donne une explication parfaite: il vient du verbe _Nao_ ou _Naw_, connaître, sentir, savoir, penser; _Tin nao_, je sais; _Naoh_, sagesse, intelligence. Il y a encore le verbe radical _Na_, sentir, soupçonner. Le mot _Nahual_ dans son sens primitif et véritable, signifie donc littéralement "qui sait tout"; c'est la même chose absolument que le mot anglais _Know-all_, avec lequel il a tant d'identité. Le Quiché et le Cakchiquel l'emploient fréquemment aussi dans le sens de mystérieux, extraordinaire, merveilleux.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., pp. 101-2, 194.

NONOHUALCAS;--The Tutul-Xius, chiefs of a Nahuatl house in Tulan, seem to have borne the name of _Nonoual_, which may have given rise to _Nonohualco_ or _Onohualco_. '_Nonoual_ ne serait-il pas une altération de _Nanaual_ ou _Nanahuatl_?' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, in _Landa_, _Rel. de las Cosas de Yucatan_, p. 420.

OLMECS;--Olmecatl was the name of their first traditionary leader. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 152. _Olmecatl_ may mean an inhabitant of the town of _Olman_; but as _mecatl_ is also used for 'shoot', 'offspring', 'branch', the word probably comes from _olli_, and means 'people of the gum'. _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, p. 16.

OTOMÍS;--'El vocablo _Otomitl_, que es el nombre de los _Otomies_, tomáronlo de su caudillo, el cual se llamaba _Oton_.' _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii., lib. x., p. 122. Not a native word, but Mexican, derived perhaps from _otli_, 'road', and _tomitl_, 'animal hair', referring possibly to some peculiar mode of wearing the hair. _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, pp. 18-19. '_Otho_ en la misma lengua othomí quiere decir _nada_, y _mi_, quieto, ó sentado, de manera que traducida literalmente la palabra, significa nada-quieto, cuya idea pudiéramos expresar diciendo _peregrino_ ó _errante_.' _Pimentel_, _Cuadro_, tom. i., p. 118; _Náxera_, _Disertacion_, p. 4. 'Son étymologie mexicaine, Otomitl, signifie la flèche d'Oton.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 158.

PIPILES;--A reduplication of _pilli_, which has two meanings, 'noble' and 'child', the latter being generally regarded as its meaning in the tribal name. _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, pp. 137-8. So called because they spoke the Mexican language with a childish pronunciation. _Juarros' Hist. Guat._, p. 224.

POKOMAMS;--'_Pokom_, dont la racine _pok_ désigne une sorte de tuf blanc et sablonneux.... La termination _om_ est un participe présent. De _Pokom_ vient le nom de Pokomam et de Pokomchi, qui fut donné à ces tribus de la qualité du sol où ils bâtirent leur ville.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 122.

QUICHÉS;--'La palabra _quiché_, _kiché_, ó _quitze_, significa _muchos árboles_.' _Pimentel_, _Cuadro_, tom. ii., p. 124. 'De _quï_ beaucoup, plusieurs, et de _che_, arbre, ou de _queche_, _quechelah_, _qechelah_, la forêt.' _Ximenez_, in _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Popol Vuh_, p. cclxv.

TARASCOS;--'Tarasco viene de _tarhascue_, que en la lengua de Michoacan significa suegro, ó yerno segun dice el P. Lagunas en su Gramática.' _Pimentel_, _Cuadro_, tom. i., p. 273. '_Taras_ en la lengua mexicana se dice _Mixcoatl_, que era el dios de los _Chichimecas_.' _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii., lib. x., p. 138. 'Á quienes dieron el nombre de tarascos, por el sonido que les hacian las partes genitales en los muslos al andar.' _Veytia_, _Hist. Ant. Mej._, tom. ii., p. 105; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. des Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 57.

TEPANECS;--_Tepan_, 'stony place', from _tetl_, or _tecpan_, 'royal palace'. _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, p. 92. '_Tecpantlan_ signifie auprès des palais.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Popol Vuh_, p. cx. 'Cailloux roulés sur la roche, _te-pa-ne-ca_, littéralement ce qui est mêlé ensemble sur la pierre; ou bien _te-pan-e-ca_, c'est-à-dire avec des petites pierres sur la roche ou le solide, _e_, pour _etl_, le haricot, frijol, étant pris souvent dans le sens d'une petite pierre sur une surface, etc.' _Id._, _Quatre Lettres_, p. 408.

TLAHUICAS;--From _tlahuitl_, 'cinnabar', from this mineral being plentiful in their country. _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, p. 93. _Tlahuilli_, 'poudres brillantes.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Quatre Lettres_, p. 422. '_Tlauia_, alumbrar a otros con candela o hacha.' _Molina_, _Vocabulario_.

TLAPANECS;--'Y llámanlos tambien tlapanecas que quiere decir _hombres almagrados_, porque se embijaban con color.' _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii., lib. x., p. 135. From _tlalpantli_, 'ground'; may also come from _tlalli_, 'land'. _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, p. 162. _Tlapallan_, 'terre colorée'. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Popol Vuh_, p. lxiii. Tla, 'feu'. _Id._, _Quatre Lettres_, p. 416. '_Tlapani_, quebrarse algo, o el tintorero que tiñe paños.' _Molina_, _Vocabulario_. Probably a synonym of Yoppi, q. v. _Orozco y Berra_, _Geografía_, pp. 26-7.

TLASCALTECS;--'_Tlaxcalli_, tortillas de mayz, o pan generalmente.' _Molina_, _Vocabulario_. _Tlaxcalli_, 'place of bread or tortillas', the past participle of _ixca_, 'to bake or broil'. _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, p. 93.