The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 5, Primitive History / The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 5

by Hubert Howe Bancroft

MONTEZUMA INVADES MIZTECAPAN.

In 1506, Miztecapan was invaded by Montezuma's armies, and the cities of Tilantongo, Achiuhtla, and Tlachquiauhco were taken. In the same year the Miztecs made a determined effort to regain their independence, but, as has been seen, only succeeded in making their burdens heavier than before.[X-104] From this time until the coming of the Spaniards Miztecapan may be regarded as virtually subject to the Mexican empire.

By his marriage with the faithful Pelaxilla, Cociyoeza had a son named Cociyopu. It is related that during the feasts with which the birth of this prince was celebrated, fiery rays of light were seen to dart across the sky. Such ominous phenomena did not escape the notice of the soothsayers, and the downfall of the kingdom was predicted. When Cociyopu had reached the age of twenty-four years, his father conferred upon him the crown of Tehuantepec.[X-105] It was at this time, says Brasseur, that the news of the conquests of the Spaniards reached Cociyoeza's court at Teotzapotlan.[X-106] Upon this the nobles of Tehuantepec besought Cociyopu to inquire of the gods what the meaning of these things was, and if the ancient prophecies concerning the introduction of a new religion and the conquest of the country by a race of white men, were about to be fulfilled. Cociyopu did as they desired, and was told by the oracle that the time had come for the fulfillment of the prophecies. Then an embassy was sent to Coyuhuacan, where Cortés then was, with instructions to announce to the Spanish chief that according to the directions of their oracles the people of Zapotecapan and Tehuantepec acknowledged his right of sovereignty.[X-107]

THE PUEBLOS OF NEW MEXICO.

In the subdivision of my present subject, given in an early chapter of this volume,[X-108] I named as one of its divisions the Historical Traditions of the Wild Tribes of the North, to which topic I intended to devote a short chapter. On further research, however, I find that there is absolutely no material for such a chapter. Some of the wild tribes had vague traditions of how the world was created and peopled, generally by the agency of a bird or beast; others told wonderful tales of supernatural adventures of their fathers many moons ago; a few named the direction, north, south, east, or west, whence their fathers came. Such traditions have been given in those portions of this work relating to the subjects of Mythology and Origin. There is great confusion among the different versions of these traditions, and even if we knew in each case which was the authentic version, they would shed not a ray of light on general aboriginal history; the very most that could be hoped from them would be slight information respecting modern tribal history. All the speculations of modern travelers and writers on primitive history in the north have been founded, so far as they have had any foundation at all, on the material relics of antiquity, fully described in volume IV. of this work; on the traces of the Aztec tongue in the north, a subject fully disposed of in volume III.; and on the theory of the Spanish writers respecting a general migration from the north, duly considered in the present volume. Consequently all that could be said on the history of the northern tribes here would be but a repetition of what has already been said; a collection of a few valueless speculations resting on foundations already proven to be unsound; and a renewed argument against the theory of a migration from the north, a theory that has already received more attention than it deserves. It may be thought that the reported Montezuma-tradition of the Pueblos in New Mexico deserves some investigation; but besides the fact that all the force of evidence and probability indicates that the myth was an invention of white men, it is also true that if the worship of Montezuma and the hope of his coming from the east, were actually found among the Pueblos, this would only prove what is not at all improbable, that the fame of Montezuma I. and of the great Aztec power had reached this northern region. It has been seen that the Nahuas a few centuries after the beginning of our era were driven northward and established themselves in Anáhuac and the region immediately north-west of that valley, but that their possessions never extended farther north than Zacatecas. Yet it is altogether probable that they came more or less into contact with tribes further north, and it is best to attribute to this contact at this period the Nahua linguistic traces that have been pointed out in the north. The Pueblos, who in ancient times occupied the country as far south as northern Chihuahua, were not Aztecs, as is clearly proven by their language, their monuments, and their institutions. The very slight Nahua analogies that have been pointed out in their manners and customs, do not necessarily imply any connection whatever with the civilized peoples of the south; yet I regard it as not improbable that the Pueblo tribes were slightly influenced by Nahua contact at the period referred to; and not altogether impossible that the Nahua seed sown at this time fell into good ground in some wild people of the north, and thus originated Pueblo agriculture and later culture. In favor of any closer connection between these peoples, there is absolutely no evidence.

THE MOUND-BUILDERS.

When we come to the Mound-Builders of the Mississippi Valley, the matter presents far greater difficulties. We know nothing of their language or manners and customs, since they have become locally extinct; but their material monuments, and their religious rites as indicated by those monuments, bear a very striking resemblance to those of the civilized nations of the south. I have already expressed an opinion that the Mound-Builders were in some way connected with the civilized nations; the nature of the connection is involved in difficulties, from which there is no escape save by conjecture. We have seen that the Aztec traces in the New Mexican region, and possibly the Pueblo culture, may be attributed to the migrating Nahua tribes after their overthrow in Central America; but there is little or no reason to attribute the establishment of the Mound-Builders of the eastern states to the same influence and the same epoch. The few Nahuas that were scattered in the north are not likely to have exerted so slight an influence in the Pueblo region, and so powerful a one on the Mississippi; besides, the Mississippi monuments bear marks of a much greater antiquity than can be attributed to the Pueblo buildings. Yet we have seen that it is much more reasonable to believe that the culture of the Mound-Builders was introduced by a colony or by teachers from the south, than to regard the Mississippi Valley as the original birth-place of American civilization. The Natchez of the gulf states are said to have been superior at the coming of Europeans to other aboriginal tribes of the eastern states, and presented some slight analogies in their institutions to what the Mound-Builders may be supposed to have been. It is also the opinion of several authorities entitled to considerable credit, that their language shows a very strong resemblance to those of the Maya family. Without attaching very great importance to the last argument, I am inclined to believe that the most plausible conjecture respecting the origin of the Mound-Builders, is that which makes them a colony of the ancient Mayas, who settled in the north during the continuance of the great Maya empire of Xibalba in Central America, several centuries before Christ. We have seen that the ancient Mayas, under the name of Quinames, probably occupied eastern Mexico at that epoch, and in later times we find the Huastecs in southern Tamaulipas speaking a Maya dialect. It is not at all unlikely that a colony of these people passed northward along the coast by land or water, and introduced their institutions in the Mississippi Valley, building up a power which became very flourishing as the centuries passed, but was at last forced to yield to the presence of environing barbarism. I offer this not as a theory which can be fully substantiated by facts, but simply as the most plausible conjecture on the matter which has occurred to me.

CHAPTER XI.
THE QUICHÉ-CAKCHIQUEL EMPIRE IN GUATEMALA.

No Chronology in the South—Outline View—Authorities—Xbalanque at Utatlan—The Migration from Tulan—Balam-Quitzé and his Companions—Sacrifices to Tohil—the Quichés on Mt Hacavitz—The Tamub and Ilocab—First Victories—Qocavib Founds the Monarchy at Izmachi—the Toltec Theory—Imaginary Empire of the East—Different Versions of Primitive History—The Cakchiquel Migration—Juarros and Fuentes—Lists of Kings—Cakchiquels under Hacavitz—Reigns of Balam-Conache, Cotuha, and Iztayul, at Izmachi—War against the Ilocab—The Stolen Tribute—Gucumatz, Quiché Emperor at Utatlan—Changes in the Government—Reigns of Cotuha II., Tepepul, and Iztayul II.—Cakchiquel History—Conquests of Quicab I.—Revolt of the Achihab—Dismemberment of the Empire—Cakchiquel Conquests—Reigns of the last Guatemalan Kings—Appearance of the Spaniards under Alvarado in 1524.