Xochimilco

“ Tezcuco was taken possession of by Nezahualcoyotl as his ancient inheritance, and his confederate Itzcoatl placed the crown on his head. Together they made war north and south. Xochimilco, on the lake next south of Mexico, yielded; and the people of Chalco, which was on the most southern of the string of lakes, revolted and were suppressed more than once, as opportunities offered. The confederates crossed the ridge that formed the southern bound of the Mexican valley and sacked Quauhnahuac. ”

“ The water has not a ripple, save what is made by the oars, and the big-hatted boatman gracefully swings them until you come suddenly upon the village of Santa Anita. Here you may refresh yourself with a Mexican luncheon. Lake Xochimilco, sixteen miles distant, is the main outlet of this canal. But we may come and go as oft as we will, and still find the floating gardens purely legendary. The nearest approach to a realization of the legend consists of a space of earth forming a bed for vegetables, fruits, and flowers, having on either side a ditch from which the garden is irrigated. ”

“ The fighting in and around Xochimilco lasted from the 1 5th of April until the morning of Friday the 20th, when the Spaniards arrived in Tlacopan (Tacuba) , and, though Cortes says little about the events of those days, his men suffered considerably. While a small division was engaged in pillaging some storehouses near Xochimilco, the Mexicans attacked them; wounding a number and taking Juan de Lara, Alonso Hernandez, and two other soldiers of Andres de Monjaraz's company prisoners. ”

“ Small bodies of the enemy were seen occasionally at a distance, but they did not venture to attack the army on its march, which before noon brought them to Cojohuacan, a large town about two leagues distant from Xochimilco. One could scarcely travel that distance in this populous quarter of the valley without meeting with a place of considerable size, oftentimes the capital of what had formerly been an independent state. ”

“ Lake Xochimilco, celebrated for its chinampas, or “floating gardens” (see Mexico, Federal District of) , is supplied very largely by fresh-water springs opening within the lake itself, which the city has partially diverted for its own water supply. Lake Chalco is also greatly reduced in size by railway fillings and irrigation works, to the great distress of the natives who have gained their living by fishing in its waters since long before the Spanish conquest.
The climate of the city is temperate, dry and healthful. ”

“ There is no hotel in the village, and the market-place is almost always desolate. This town once stood on the borders of the great lake of Chalco, the body of fresh water that poured a volume into Lake Tezcoco, through the lake and canal of Xochimilco. But now the lake is miles away, and only reached by canals cut through the sea of marshes. The inhabitants of the place have commerce with Mexico by canoes, and carry there fruits and flowers, though it is a day's journey distant. Fields of pulque, gardens, and trees surround Chalco on three sides, and in front is the marsh. ”

“ North, beyond the fortified hacienda and head-quarters of Santa Anna at San Antonio, the country opened. A line of field works, the lake of Xochimilco, a few cultivated farms, and vast flooded meadows, were on its right to the east, but from the hacienda, a road branches off to the west, leading around the northern edge of the Pedregal or lava field through Coyoacan and San Angel, whence it deflects southwardly to Contreras. ”

“ They made a brave resistance, but Itzcoatl's forces crossed their moat by filling it with bundles of sticks and brambles, and entered the town, driving the army to the mountains, where they soon surrendered. Authorities differ as to the treatment of the people and the government imposed, as they do in the case of most of the conquered cities; but Xochimilco was certainly made tributary to the Mexican king. The Cuitlahuacs were conquered in a later expedition. The cause of the war, as Tezozomoc tells us, was the refusal to send their young girls to take part in a festival at Mexico. ”

“ The fight had been fierce, and the soldiers had exhausted all their ammunition, capturing in return two Spanish swords. These victories brought little satisfaction, however, for the captives gave information that the forces so far sent were but detachments of the armies destined for Xochimilco, which must be recovered, and the Spaniards driven forth, if it cost the lives of all the men in Mexico. The Spaniards might defeat force after force, but even victory must so weaken them that the Mexicans would finally triumph. ”

“ Tezozomoc and Duran, the people of Xochimilco with those of Coyuhuacan were ordered to furnish material and build a causeway, the first, it is said, which led from Mexico to the mainland. Herrera and Acosta tells us that after the conquest of Cuitlahuac, Nezahualcoyotl, seeing that it was useless to resist the destiny of the Mexicans, voluntarily offered his allegiance to Itzcoatl and retired to the second rank in the alliance. The latter adds that to content the monarch's subjects with such a measure, a sham battle was fought, in which the Acolhua armies pretended to be defeated. ”

“ The gods were indignant at the outrages of the strangers. Arms 605 must be employed more manfully, and, these failing, the loyal ones must let their nails grow, as the last means of protection. The first step should be the recovery of Xochimilco. That very night two thousand canoes were sent with some twelve thousand warriors, and a similar force by land, all approaching stealthily, without music. [1097]
The rumor of a probable night attack kept the Spanish camp on the alert, and advised of this, the enemy made no attack. ”

“ Make the most of the maise and other provisions we have still left, and let us all die sword in hand! Let no man presume, from this moment, to mention the word peace in my presence! He who dares so to do I will put to death with my own hand."
Every one present then swore that they would exert themselves unceasingly day and night, and sacrifice their lives in the defence of the metropolis. They likewise found means to provide for their most pressing wants by making arrangements with the inhabitants of Xochimilco and other townships to provide them with water ”

“ Seeing them thus bent on their purpose, the general did not care to baulk their inclinations. He ordered the baggage to the centre, and placed a few of the cavalry over it; dividing the remainder between the front and rear, in which latter post, as that most exposed to attack, he also stationed his arquebusiers and crossbowmen. Thus prepared, he resumed his march; but first set fire to the combustible buildings of Xochimilco, in retaliation for the resistance he had met there. ”

“ The nations that encompass the Aztecs ascribe the introduction of human sacrifice to the latter people; a statement accepted by most of the early historians, who relate that the first human victims were four Xochimilcos, with whose blood the newly erected altar of Huitzilopochtli was consecrated. ”

“ Xochitl is, really, an Aztec maiden who, when the Spaniards first appeared, was serving in the temple; Gonzalo, wounded, was brought a prisoner to the temple, where he is nursed by Xochitl, between whom and himself ardent love arises. After the capture of the city, they are separated and Xochitl is sent, as a slave to Tabasco, a present to Marina’s unknown sister. Marina summons her sister to Mexico; she starts but dies upon the journey and Xochitl, substituted for her, reaches the city and is taken at once into Cortes’ house, by her supposed sister. ”

“ Fiercely charged the white men in answer to the battle-cry, carrying all before them. Dashing up the stairways and round the terraces of the teocalli, some of the more daring soldiers gained the summit, tore down the new image of Huitzilopotchli, hurled the frantic priests over the dizzy brink, and descended in triumph only to find their comrades below flying in confusion. The Aztecs had rallied, and the Spaniards were driven headlong across the square, leaving the cannon in the hands of the enemy. ”

“ The ruins of Xochicalco, doubtless the finest in Mexico, are about fifteen miles 13° west of south from Cuernavaca, and about seventy-five miles south-west from the city of Mexico. The first published description was written by Alzate y Ramirez, who visited the locality in 1777, and published his account with illustrative plates as a supplement to his Literary Gazette in November, 1791. ”

“ The man is variously called Coxcox, Teocipactli, Tezpi, and Nata; the woman Xochiquetzal and Nena. The following has been usually accepted as the ordinary Mexican version of this myth: In Atonatiuh, the Age of water, a great flood covered all the face of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof were turned into fishes. Only one man and one woman escaped, saving themselves in the hollow trunk of an ahahuete or bald cypress; the name of the man being Coxcox, and that of his wife Zochiquetzal. On the waters abating a little they grounded their ark on the Peak of Colhuacan, the Ararat of Mexico. ”

“ At this time, according to legend, Nopaltzin, the successor of Xolotl, was ruling at Tenayocan, and the commencement of his reign cannot be put much earlier than 1225, since we are told that Tlotzin, his successor (called Huetzin by Ixtlilxochitl) , died in the year in which Tenochtitlan was founded. Xolotl, the founder of the “Chichimec” power, seems to have reigned long, and indeed the Mexican rulers as a whole seem to have been singularly long-lived. But in any case Xolotl cannot have led his followers into the Mexican valley much before the second half of the twelfth century. ”

“ We were off early in the morning with a wizened old mestizo to guide us to the ruins of Xochicalco, which are on this very estate of Temisco. The estate is forty miles across, however, and it is a long ride to the ruins. After we leave the fields of sugar-cane, we see scarcely a hut, nor a patch of cultivated ground. At last we get to Xochicalco, and find ourselves at the foot of a hill, some four hundred feet in height, extraordinarily regular in its conical shape, more so than any natural hill could be, unless it were the cone of a volcano. ”

“ Coxcoxtli thus saw his power in Anáhuac largely increased, but he was continually annoyed with petitions from the Mexicans for larger territory and permission to settle at various points in his dominions, and at the same time harassed by the encroachments of the Xochimilcas, particularly in the lake fisheries. He at last proposed to grant the requests of the Aztecs on condition that they would aid him in chastising the insolent and powerful Xochimilcas. The services of the followers of Huitzilopochtli were always in demand when there was fighting to be done. ”

“ The grand causeway was eight yards wide, and ran straight to Mexico. In good order, the Spaniards marched over it between the assembled thousands of Indians. At about a mile from the city this causeway was joined by another from the town of Coyoacan, and at their juncture was a small, though strong, fortress, with walls ten feet high, battlements, two entrances, and a drawbridge. This point was called Xoloc, and was occupied by Cortez in the following year as his military headquarters, whence he directed the siege of the city. ”

“ Xolotl, the Chichimec king, summoned his chieftains to his capital, and, acquainting them with what the spies had said, proposed an expedition for the purpose of annexing the abandoned land. 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Dupaix made a drawing of the ruins at Xochicalco in 1805, which is to be found in Lord Kingsborough’s ‘Antiquities of Mexico,’ and among the sculptures of the upper tier of blocks is represented a reed, with its leaves set in a square frame, with three small circles underneath; the whole forming, in the most unmistakable way, the sign 3 Acatl (3 Cane) of the Mexican Astronomical Calendar. ”

“ For the first half-century after their establishment at Tenochtitlan, the Aztec were ruled by a council, composed no doubt of the heads of clans; but in the year 1376 they elected a king. Nothing illustrates better the idea among the Mexicans that kingly power was inherent in certain families, than the fact that they elected Acamapitzin, whose mother was a daughter of the ruler of Colhuacan, Coxcoxtli, and therefore of Toltec descent. Simultaneously the inhabitants of Tlaltelolco elected a ruler, Quaquapitzauac, said to be connected with the ruling family of Azcapotzalco. ”