MIGRATION OF THE NAHUAS

the absoluts identity of the word Arnaques and Moquis, who are living today in the inidst of a moutainland of immense extend; should hitherto hâve escaped observation. For the prefix « A » of A-maques is well enough known as an abbreviation of the Nahua « atl » water, so that « Amaquis » would simply mean the Maquis living near the water (river, lake, etc., etc.), just as « ylcolhuas » means the « Gulhuas » near the water and « Anahuac » the « Nahuac » that isthe Nahualand on the water. Now the Moquis say, in the very tradition already referred to (1), that they formerly lived ou the river to the North-east of their présent home, which is in the midst of the désert. Living- there, they would of course be called : Amaquis, dSiàVae land, they inhabited, which is a wild mountainland : Amaque-mecan or Anmque-tepec.

But the Moquis are by no means the whole of the « Amaques ■). There are distinct traces of other remnants of that nation. On the lower Colorado^ there lives a tribe c^enerally called « Mojaves. » They call themselves « Amockhaves » or « Hamockhaves » (2). Salmeron^ an early spanish writer locales tho « Amacavas » in the saine place. And if the name be spelled « Amacahuas » its composition and Nahua affiliation will appear, as « hua » is the typical sufflx of Nahua tribal names even more than « man » of Germanie ones.

Thèse Amaca-liuas, corruptly called Mojaves, bave a tradition (3), that formerly a certain Ma-te-vil (or Mathovelia) lived with Ihem in a « casa grande », that is in one of the village bouses, in use among the settled agricultural tribes of New Mexico and Arizona. This habitation was by some untoward event broken down, and Mathovelia departedeastward. Some however say^ that he also lives on top of a mountain

(1) Bancroft IV, 730. ^''^^ '-' ' '^^';

(2) Pacific Ra. Rep. III, ladiau tribes P. 16 and 103. •''-

(3) Bancroft III, 175. A)-.i- :»\o-04''-'.*v.» : >i,m.u'ti;-. ;iii:'.?r:]

336 CO.XGUÈS DES AAIKKIC.VMSTES. 1"J

wheiice LIil; dcad vvarrioiv-; probably i^-o ; aiid iL is iiiterestiny to point out, that there is a Matillija sierra in southern Galifornia, and a tribe of MatiUija Indians living- near it (1). Thèse Matillija Indians belong to the Cahuilîo group of Prof. Bushmann's socalled « Sonora Aztec » family of languages, which exhibits strong affinities to the Mexico-Nahua tongue.

As Matevil, the Mojave leader, departet eastward (2), I call attention to the fact, that Haeinan, the great migration leader of the Toltecs is also called Matlac Xochitl (S), and that Matln-Coalt (i) is given as the name of a king ofthe Toltecs.

In the immédiate neighborhood of the i/a/i77;/as however^ and belonging to the same Aztec-Sonoru group lives a very * remarkable tribe, not only because somebody (5) gathered its myths more earefully than usual, but because the tribal name ai well as the names occuring in the myths points to curions connections. The name A-cagche-men has a suspicious affinity with Cakchi- quels, which is the name of a Toltec tribe, that after its flight from Anahuac southward, gained an ascendency in southern Guatemala and Honduras, and founded the kingdom of the Gakchiquel comiuered by the Spaniards. Thèse Gakchiquels had a God Ouencch, one of the original tive leaders ofthe Toltec or Nahua race. The Acagchemens adore a God, called : Chinig-chinich, a reduplication of the former name. The same word by the way, in the form Kinick-Kinick is used to signify the tohaeco burned by the degraded Shoshones of the northern désert in honor of thoir gods, and the word has latterly been adopted by tobacco

(1) Bancroft, I, 489.

(2) Ibid. III, 175. ■■-- ,

(3) Ibid. V, 261. < ,- ' "

(4) Ibid. V, 266.

(5) Boscana Hioronimo : Chinig-chinick, New- York, 1846.

l.'} MIGRATION OF TilK NAHUAS. 337

iiiaiiufacLui'ei-s in the Unilod-States, to distinguish a peculiar brand of the weed. Sic transit gloria mundi !

But thèse Acagcheinnns tell us, that their god « Ghinigchiuich » is not their original god, but an invading deily, who a long tiine ago came from a distant country in theEast, and overpowered and replaced the family of their tonner God. This personage in called Sirout, which name is wortliy of attention, not only because it contains the saine éléments as Saturnus, but because Surîtes is the great apostle and lawgiver of the Matla-tzincas (1), who figure as one of the tribes of the Ghichimec invasion, and were afterwards and are to this very day settled towards the Northwest of the central plateau of Anahuac. Their neighbors in Michoacan are the Tarascos, and thèse also acknowledge Siiritcs as their high-priest,

If this should not suftîce, it may be added that Matlatzin (2) is named as the leader of the Toltec rebels in the latter days of the Toltec empire ; that Amaciii is given as another name of Xochotl, the great Ghichimec emperor who established the new realm in Anahuac, and that many other inames of Toltec and Ghichimec grandees point to the same affinity.

Finally : the Aztecs afler leaving (Jztolhui, the land of grottoos, made as the first station (in Sahagun's account). Matla-hua-callan, meaning the land of the housesofthe Mnthhuas. The différence between Ma-tla and Ma-qui appears to be mainly dialectic, the former being an Aztec-Nahua form, while the latter seems to be a preferred Toltec or perlaps Maqui form. Further confirmation of this is given by ,he Aztec tradition, stating that during their stay at Oztotlan

(1) Bancroft, V, nsr, ot III 44G. ,nc.,. - ,^^,,, ,,

[2) Ibid. V, 283. .' , "■■ .'■■ -r-i'i* ■■.*^

3ii!,. CONGRÈS DES AMÉRICANISTES. 14

they received another God « Mexi » (1) alongside their ovvn : (Huitzilopochtii). At the time when the new God Mexi was introduced to them, tradition says (2; that the original cause of the dissension was sown, which later, in the valley of Anahuac, led to séparation of their tribe by the sécession of the TMelulcos. And in the war, that finally reunited the city of Tlatelulco with Tenochtithn (Mexico), Mor/;/ihuix (3), was the king of the TIatelulcos. This indicates very plainly, that the original cause of the dispute was an ethnical diversity between the original Aztec élément of the tribe, and a Moqai élément, which together with the God Mexi, had united with the Aztecs during their stay at Oztotlan.

To sum up : It would appear from the foregoing évidence that the Maqiii nation formerly inhabited the mountain highland of New Mexico and Arizona, that they were attaqued conquered and made subjects alreadyby the Toltecs Nahuas, that however their langnage prevailed to a great extenteven after the conquest, that some of the Ghichimec tribes who| invaded Anahuac spoke thaï language ; that even the Aztecs , absorbed a considérable Maqui élément ; and that the présent Mojaves, Gahuillos , Ghemehueves, (ail belonging to the « Sonora- Aztec » linguistic family) as well as the Moquis proper, and probably many of the other tribes are remnants of this original Maqui population, though considerably mixed with Nahua éléments.

It may also be worthy of notice, that « Oyome » (4) stated to be one of the capilals of the Ghichimec empire, may easily