Chichimecs

“ Bancroft (ii. 126) gives the etymology of Chichimec and of other tribal designations. Cf. Buschmann’s Ueber die Aztekischen Ortsnamen (Berlin, 1853) . Bandelier (Archæol. Tour, 200; Peabody Mus. Repts., ii. 393) says he fails to discover in the word anything more than a general term, signifying a savage, a hunter, or a warrior, Chichimecos, applied to roving tribes. Brasseur says that Mexican tradition applies the term Chichimecs generically to the first occupants of the New World. ”

“ Nearly an age, or cycle (fifty-two years) , passed after the scattering of the Toltecs before their territory was invaded by another tribe. Then came the Chichimecs into Anahuac. They were said by some historians to be the oldest nation in Mexico; but this is not so, though they had long existed there. Chichimec was a term also applied to all the unknown savage tribes, hence the confusion. At one time they were a barbarous people, and wandered about half-naked in the mountains, living in miserable huts. ”

“ The precise value of these traditional reports is uncertain; but, if accepted as vague historical recollections, they could be explained by supposing the civilized people called Colhuas came from South America through the Caribbean [199] Sea, and landed in Yucatan and Tabasco. They are uniformly described as the people who first established civilization and built great cities. They taught the Chichimecs to cook their food, cultivate the earth, and adopt the ways of civilized life; and the Chichimecs civilized by their influence are sometimes called Quinames. ”

“ No less than 3,202,000 people composed this migration, and only 1,600,000 remained in the Chichimec territory.
The Chichimecs occupied most of the ruined cities, many of which they rebuilt. Those Toltecs who remained became peaceful subjects, and through their knowledge of commerce and handicrafts amassed considerable wealth. A tribute was, however, demanded from them, which was peremptorily refused by Nauhyotl, the Toltec ruler of Colhuacan ”

“ The several tribes of the Chichimecs acknowledged no authority, other than obedience to the warrior they themselves selected to lead them to battle. Their wives were their slaves; and though they limited themselves to one wife at a time, they reserved to themselves the liberty of changing one for another at any moment. ”

“ Still less is it possible to give these strange names any definite location; instance the Toltecs and the Chichimecs, and indeed almost all early designations, very common names used to denote very uncommon people. Sahagun is the only one of the oldest writers who mentions the name of Toltecs, which in later years was used by Ixtlilxochitl and Boturini, and after them bandied about more freely by modern writers. After the conquest, the name Chichimecs was applied to all uncivilized and unsettled people north of the valley of Mexico, extending to the farthest discovered region. ”

“ It is this Chichimec people under some name or other who are always starting up and overturning something. At one time they unite with the Colhuas and found Colhuacan, and nearly subjugate the lake region. Then the Toltec tarriers at Huehue-Tlapallan come boldly to the neighborhood of the Chichimecs and found Tollan; and thus they turn a wandering community into what, for want of a better name, is called a monarchy. They strengthened its government by an alliance with the Chichimecs, [823] and placed their seat of power at Colhuacan. ”

“ The reign of Tlotzin, the Chichimec emperor, was, for the most part, one of great prosperity, although his enemies were constantly on the watch for an opportunity to overthrow his power. He seems to have used his influence against a tendency exhibited by the Chichimecs to a rudeness of manners, and independence of all control, which threatened, in his opinion, a relapse into comparative barbarism. He favored rather the elegance of Toltec manners, and the strictness of Toltec discipline. In his efforts for reform he was seconded, or even excelled, by his son, Quinantzin, lord of Tezcuco. ”

“ But the very beauty and simplicity of the conception of this god seem to have operated against the popularity of his worship. The people needed a less shadowy personification of their ideas, and this they found in Curicaneri, originally the patron divinity of the Chichimec rulers of the country, and by them exalted over Xaratanga, the former head god of the Tarascos. Brasseur de Bourbourg thinks Curicaneri to be identical with the sun, and gives as his reason that the Chichimecs presented their offerings first to that luminary and then to the inferior deities. ”

“ They intermarried with the Toltecs, and thus gradually became more and more refined, learning from these unfortunate people the advantages to be derived from agriculture and mining, and the art of casting and working metals, spinning, weaving, and many other things, by which they improved their means of living, their clothing, their habitations and their manners.
Not many years had elapsed before another powerful tribe came into the valley, from a region not far distant from the original home of the Chichimecs. They were princes of the Acolhua nation, with a great army. ”

“ The Toltecs are said to have come into the country about a thousand years before the Christian era. Their supremacy appears to have ceased, and left the country broken up into small states, two or three centuries before the Aztecs appeared. They were preceded by the Colhuas, by whom this old civilization was originated and developed. The most ancient people, those found in the country by the Colhuas, are called Chichimecs. They are described as a barbarous people who lived by hunting and fishing, and had neither towns nor agriculture. ”

“ Such conduct inclines students of this remote period to think that these Chichimecs were not the barbarous tribe who lived in caves and ate lizards, but a later arrival from the mysterious north.
During the reign of Xolotl new tribes came wandering down from these remote regions. These successive waves of emigration give the idea of a constantly renewed struggle for supremacy far off in the unknown Amaquemecan, resulting in the migration of the conquered side. Xolotl received these new arrivals with benign hospitality, gave them lands to plant, and encouraged them to settle in his realm. ”

“ Chichihuatzin, lord of Tulancingo, v., 349. Chichilop, South California tribe, i., 402-22; location, i., 459. Chichilticale, name of Casa Grande, Arizona, antiq., iv., 621-2. Chichimecas Vanáceos, v., 511; See Wanacaces. Chichimecatlalli, a district of Mexico, v., 298. Chichimecatl, Chichimec king, iii., 249-50; v., 219-20. Chichimecatlalpayatzin, high-priest of Cholula, v., 349. Chichimecatl Tecuhtli, Chichimec imperial title, v., 319. Chichimecs, Nahua nation, i., 617-44; ii., 133-629; location and name, i., 617-18, 670, 673 ”

“ And from that misty void there could be seen glimmering only the delicate outlines of the bewitching maiden. Somehow her exquisite shape reminded him of an ivory toy, in such fair, white, transparent relief did it stand out against the dull blur of the surrounding throng.
Herein we see a phenomenon not infrequently observed--the phenomenon of the Chichikovs of this world becoming temporarily poets. At all events, for a moment or two our Chichikov felt that he was a young man again, if not exactly a military officer. ”

“ In a grove of tall fir trees, close to the placid waters of the Grand River, Yamanatz erected his tepee, where in the soft, balmy air, fragrant with balsam and cedar, Chiquita could rest and watch the clouds as they made great shadow pictures on the mountain and stream. Like a sentinel, a lone peak stood beyond the cleft in the great divide, whose precipitous sides rose in towering splendor all clad in verdure green. ”

“ Yamanatz, Antelope, Jack, and the mother of Chiquita stood by, while the fairest of the White River maidens told them of the great happiness which awaited her in the Happy Hunting Ground of the Utes which lay just beyond the sky.
"If my father and my mother were only there," said Chiquita, as she pointed beyond the cleft above the river. "And, Jack," she continued, "you must beg leave of absence from the heaven of the white man and visit Chiquita in her happy home. You will find birds that sing and the bounding deer and flowers that bloom. ”

“ Nearly every Indian had some cast-off garment which had served its mission for a white man. Hunters, freighters, army men, etc., contributed old socks, trousers, coats, gloves, hats, caps, and even women helped bedeck these children of the forest in the glory clothes, but the "medicine" each and every one possessed was of the same general character—otter, beaver and mountain lion skins woven into the hair, constituting a charm to scare away evil spirits.
Yamanatz was by the camp fire of his tepee as Chiquita threw herself from the back of "Bonito." ”

“ Even white and long bearded men had made her presents and offered her their tributes and homage. He had raised the fame of their beautiful capital far above that of any other cities in Mayapan and Xibalba. He had opened the country to the commerce of the whole world, and merchants of Asia and Africa would bring their wares and receive in exchange the produce of their factories and of their lands. In a word, he had made Chichen a great metropolis in whose temples pilgrims from all parts came to worship and even offer their own persons as a sacrifice to the Almighty. ”

“ The Olmecs and other pre-Toltec nations are represented as having voluntarily offered their allegiance, new towns founded by colonists sent out from Tollan and Tulancingo became of course tributary to the new kingdom, and it is even admitted that powerful Chichimec nations were established not far distant, and were regarded with some anxiety in view of probable future events until the danger was averted by the selection of a Chichimec prince as king, and the consequent transformation of their rivals into allies. ”

“ The paleface has spread out as the wings of an eagle until the lands are gone. The smoke rises from the tall stacks and long ago have we been forgotten by the old Ute warriors who have passed into the great Happy Hunting Ground, there to live on pots of savory flesh while we slave in the sage brush or eat army rations and wear army blankets, which are brought to us on the cars. This is civilization and it is so that Chiquita is to learn what her white sister does in civilization, and Antelope is asked to be patient and wait for Chiquita while she may see the fair sister unto the end. ”

“ All in Uxmal proclaims the decadency of art, the relaxation of morals, the depravity of customs, the lewdness of the inhabitants. In Chichen they represent the life-giving power of the universe under the emblems of the Sun and Kukulcan. In Uxmal they worshipped the phallus, which is to be seen everywhere, in the courts, in the ornaments of the temples, in the residences of the priests and priestesses, in all the monuments except the house of the governor, built by Aac, the younger brother and assassin of Chac-Mool. ”

“ And when Antelope is big chief then Chiquita will be the mother of many tribes, and our people will again hunt the buffalo which shall be as the needles in the pine forest, and no more shall the white man drive the noble Ute away from the paradise the Great Spirit has made for them. ”

“ It is but one moon since Chiquita's pony did paw the deep snow and carry Chiquita on the big divide to meet the Ute braves coming from the Grand River. One sleep, and the white man Jack must get his ponies, and two sleeps before the sun shall show on top of the high mountain. Chiquita will be ready at the tepee of Yamanatz to lead the white man over big divide, where make 'em one camp for Chiquita and one camp for white man Jack. One sleep and Chiquita say adios to white man, then come back Indian village on same day. ”

“ Descending from the koliaska with features attuned to deference, Chichikov inquired for the master of the house, and was at once ushered into his presence. Bowing with head held respectfully on one side and hands extended like those of a waiter carrying a trayful of teacups, the visitor inclined his whole body forward, and said:
“I have deemed it my duty to present myself to your Excellency. I have deemed it my duty because in my heart I cherish a most profound respect for the valiant men who, on the field of battle, have proved the saviours of their country.” ”

“ However, less able in arms than the invaders, they fell to no great force.
The Chichimec, according to the prevailing accounts, were a congeries of wild hunting tribes, cave-dwellers by preference, who vaguely and imperfectly absorbed the culture that had preceded them in the Valley of Mexico. Ixtlilxochitl has it that, under the leadership of a chief named after the celestial dog Xolotl, they entered the Toltec domain a few years after the fall of Tollan, peaceably possessing themselves of an almost deserted land. ”

“ Chichikov stood rooted to the spot, like a man who, after issuing into the street for a pleasant walk, has suddenly come to a halt on remembering that something has been left behind him. In a moment, as he struggles to recall what that something is, the mien of careless expectancy disappears from his face, and he no longer sees a single person or a single object in his vicinity. In the same way did Chichikov suddenly become oblivious to the scene around him. ”

“ Others have exalted their culture to a pitch far above, one might almost say, the human, and have credited them with a knowledge transcending that of latter-day civilization. I do not propose to plunge into the welter of controversial theories, but to regard the matter from a strictly practical point of view, which seems to me to be as follows. The Aztec and their immediate forerunners the "Chichimec" were merely nomadic hunters when they settled in the valley, and their knowledge of arts and crafts, which need a settled life for development, had not advanced beyond a very primitive stage. ”