Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/57

Rh offshoot of this great race, descended according to one tradition from the mighty Quetzal coatl, since in Miztecapan, the 'region of clouds,' lay Tlalocan, the terrestrial paradise. Another account traces to the Apoala Mountains the source of Toltec culture. The more favored province of the mystic prophet was Zapotecapan, where he left tokens of his presence on Mount Cempoaltepec, and on the enchanted island of Monapostiac, and where his disciples founded the sacred city of Mitla, revered even now in its grand ruins. Miztecapan claimed a founder hardly less illustrious in the person of a dryad-sprung youth, who, challenging the sun, compelled him, after a day's hard combat, to retreat in confusion beneath the western waters, while he remained triumphant on the field of clouds. The earlier glimpses reveal two hierarchic powers in the provinces, seated respectively at Achiuhtla and Mitla, out of which emerge in the clearer history of the fourteenth century three kingdoms, one centred at Teotzapotlan, and equalling in power and extent the two MistecMixtec [sic] monarchies of Tilantongo and Tututepec. Attracted by the wealth of the latter, which stretched for sixty leagues along the shores of the southern sea, and encouraged by jealousies between the three powers, the Aztecs absorbed in the following century the more accessible districts, and entered soon after into sacred Mitla itself, while in 1506 Montezuma's armies added the last free state of Tilantongo to his domains.

Attracted by the golden sands of the rivers, Spanish explorers had early entered the province, and met with a friendly reception, Cohuaixtlahuacan among others sending submissive embassies to the chief of