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54 these original Aztec clans, or kins, seceded in some family quarrel and proceeded to set up for itself on the mainland. In 1473 these divided clans had a fierce struggle on the battlefield; the Aztecs were finally left masters. In punishment for their offence against the tribe, the Tlatilucos, as the seceders were called, were degraded by the tribal council to the rank of women; no male Indian could fall lower than that. Their young men were denied the rank of warriors and became mere burden-bearers for their victorious brethren. In the peace which followed, the vanquished men were set to work on the great teocallis which the Aztecs were then building. After years of alienation the Tlatilucos were conditionally restored tu their former rank and allowed their birthright as warriors, but the two parties never ceased to be bitter enemies. The old hatred was only smothered, and broke out afresh in the time of the Spanish invasion, when an opportunity was taken to pay off old scores, with interest, and those who had been seceders were in league with the enemies of the Aztecs.

Among the tribes which had settled in the valley before the Aztecs built their island-city were the Alcohuans, afterward called Tezcucans, after their city, Tezcuco. They were a more humane and cultivated people than the Aztecs, upon whom, from the first, they seem to have looked down as an inferior race. As they advanced in wealth and civilization they extended their conquests toward the north.

About one hundred years before the Europeans made their appearance in the valley, the Tezcucans—who were on the losing side in a conflict with their neighbors, the Tepanacs, who appear at that time to have been masters of the table-land—entered into a league with the Aztecs