Page:Young Folks History Of Mexico.pdf/51

 Rh they progressed until they reached the great valley of Anahuac. It belonged to them. They did not even have to conquer it, only to march in and possess themselves of it. The few Toltec families and bands of Toltecs they encountered they strove to incorporate into their society, and thus gained their good-will and the great advantage of their superior knowledge.

[12th Century.] Finally they established themselves on the eastern shore of Lake Tezcoco, the largest in the valley, and here commenced their capital city, under their leader, Xolotl (Holotl), whom they recognized as their king. They intermarried with the Toltecs, and thus gradually became more and more refined, learning from these unfortunate people the advantages to be derived from agriculture and mining, and the art of casting and working metals, spinning, weaving, and many other things, by which they improved their means of living, their clothing, their habitations and their manners.

Not many years had elapsed before another powerful tribe came into the valley, from a region not far distant from the original home of the Chichimecs. They were princes of the Acolhua nation, with a great army. Though their coming created much disturbance at first, King Xolotl received them kindly, and assigned them land on the western side of the lake. He also married two of the princes to his two daughters, and gave to the third a lady born of noble parents. So it came about, in the end, that the more refined of the Chichimecs dropped their old name, and came to be known as Acolhuas, and their kingdom as Acolhuacan. Those only were called Chichimecs who still pursued a savage life, and preferred the wandering life of a hunter to that of the peaceful agriculturist. They gradually strayed away, joining the barbarous Otomies, and formed those wild bands that worried the Spaniards for many years after they had conquered the others.