Owing to the ineffectiveness of the Mexican time count Aztecan chronology is far from fixed. The year was known by the day with which it began and as this day ran the permutation of four names and thirteen numbers a cycle was fifty-two years in length. No method of keeping the cycles in their proper order seems to have been devised except the laborious one of putting down every year in sequence whether or not an event occurred in it. According to different authorities the year 1 Stone which begins the historical account in the Aubin Codex was 648, 1064, or 1168 in the European calendar, each date differing from the others by multiples of fifty-two years. The last base, 1168, is correct; this being the epoch of the Toltec Era established by Quetzalcoatl.
[Plate XL.]
Serpent Head at Bottom of Balustrade, Great Pyramid, Mexico City. The same excavations showed that the Great Pyramid was enlarged several times and this sculpture seems to have been buried under the walls long before the coming of the Spaniards. Compare Serpent Balustrade at Chichen Itza.
The wandering tribes, among which may be mentioned the Chalca, Xochimilca, Tlahuica, Huexotzinca, Tepaneca, and Azteca, pushed their way into the region of the lakes and were allowed to live in less desirable locations as vassals to the established tribes. The “peregrinations” relate the succession of stops and the length of each stop. The Aztecs themselves made twenty or more stops lasting from two to twenty years. Finally, about 1325, they reached Chapultepec and for a number of years lived in comparative peace and quiet. Their bad manners and growing power excited the enmity of several nearby towns and in 1351 the Aztecs, under their chieftain Huitzilihuitl, were worsted in a fierce battle. Remnants of the tribe, including Huitzilihuitl and his daughter, sought the protection of Cozcoztli, king of Colhuacan. They soon were able to repay his support in a war with Xochimilco. The first actual settlement on the site of the future Tenochtitlan was made in 1364 and in 1376 Acamapictli, a noble allied to the royal house of Colhuacan, was elected to be the first war chief of the new city.
Fig. 70. Pictographic Record of fighting near the Springs of Chapultepec, “Hill of the Grasshopper.” Aubin Codex.
One of the first improvements undertaken by the new city was in the matter of water supply. Rights were secured to the famous spring of Chapultepec, an important gain because the brackish waters of the lake were not fit to drink. A double water main of terra cotta was laid from the springs to the town. New land was made, probably after the manner still to be seen in the famous floating gardens of Xochimilco by throwing the soil from the bed of the shallow lake into enclosed areas of wattle work. Gradually a Venice-like city, traversed by canals and admirably protected from attack, rose from the lake. At the coming of the Spaniards there were three causeways leading to the shores of the lake and each of these was protected by drawbridges. There was a city wall upon which were lighthouses for the guidance of homecoming fishermen. There were palaces and market places and a great central plaza called the Tecpan, where were situated the principal temples.
The Spaniards destroyed the ancient city, blocking up the canals with the débris of temples, and building the new City of Mexico over the leveled ruins. Ancient relics are brought to light wherever excavations are made. In 1900 many sculptures and ceremonial objects were uncovered in Escalerillas street near the Cathedral. Recently a building near the National Museum was torn down for replacement and in digging for new foundations part of the base of the great pyramid was found. This had been enlarged several times, as could be seen by the stairways successively buried under new walls. At the bottom of the balustrade of one stairway a great serpent head of stone was found in its original position ([Plate XL]).
The Aztecs count their history as a great people from their first war chief Acamapichtli who commenced his rule in 1376 (Codex Aubin). The names and the order of the succeeding war chiefs are the same in several records, but the dates are found to vary slightly.