e other cause," their distinguishing
features were easily recognized, their speech being nearly identical
with the native speech heard in the Valley of Mexico. Oviedo said of
them: "The Niquirans who speak the Mexican language have the same
manners and appearance as the people of New Spain (Mexico)." In the
neighboring districts, communities closely related to the Mayas are
found, and others that appear to belong to the Toltec family. Aztecs are
found still farther south, and there appear to be conclusive reasons for
believing that Montezuma's people went from the south to Anahuac or
Mexico.

According to the native histories as reported by Clavigero, the Aztecs
began their migration northward from Aztlan about the year 1160 A.D.,
and founded the more important of their first settlements in the Valley
of Mexico about the year 1216 A.D., a little over three hundred years
previous to the Spanish invasion. Another result of investigation adds a
century to this estimate. This result is reached as follows: the
Mexicans stated constantly that their calendar was reformed some time
after they left Aztlan, and that in the year 1519 eight cycles of
fifty-two years each and thirteen years of a ninth cycle had passed
since that reform was made. This carries back the beginning of their
migration considerably beyond the year 1090 A.D.

Their sway seems to have been confined for a long time to Anahuac. They
grew to supremacy in part probably by the arrival of new immigrants,
but chiefly by conquest of the small states into which the country was
divided. They could learn from their more cultivated neighbors to reform
their calendar, compute time with greater accuracy, and make important
improvements in other respects. They must also have modified their
religious system to some extent, for it does not appear that they had
adopted the worship of Kukulcan (whose name they transformed into
Quetzalcohuatl) before they came to Mexico. But they brought with them
an effective political organization, and very likely they were better
fitted than most of their new neighbors for the rude work of war.

Before the city of Mexico was built, the seat of their government was at
Tezcuco. The character of their civilization after they rose to
pre-eminence was shown in their organization, in their skill as
builders, in the varied forms of their industry, and in the development
of their religious ceremonies. It is manifest that they adopted all the
astr