5. Atloyantepetl; this name possibly means “the mountain of the place of the water-falcons” (atl, water; tlatli, falcon; yan, place-ending; tepetl, mountain).  I have not found it in other writers. (See Index.)

8. tlaylotlaqui; Simeon, on the authority of Aubin, explains this term as the name of a tribe living near Tezcuco.  In derivation it appears to be a term of contempt, “workers in filth or refuse,” scum, offscourings.  It also appears in Song XV.

10.  The construction of this verse is so obscure, or the text so imperfect, that the translation is doubtful.

NOTES FOR SONG XIV.

This poem, chanted in 1551 before the Governor of Azcapotzalco, by Francisco Placido, a native of Huexotzinco, is a Christian song in the style and metre of the ancient poetry.  See the Introduction, p. 51.

1. impetlatl; the ordinary meaning of petlatl is a mat or rug; it is here to be taken in its figurative sense of power or authority, chiefs and other prominent persons being provided with mats at the councils, etc.

NOTES FOR SONG XV.

This extremely difficult composition seems to be a war song, in which the bard refers to the traditional history of the Nahuas, names some of their most prominent warriors, and incites his hearers to deeds of prowess on the battle field.  I do not claim for my version more than a general correspondence to the thought of the original.  In several parts, especially verse 18, the text is obviously defective.

1. tzihuactitlan; “the land of the tzihuac bushes.”  The tzihuactli is a small kind of maguey which grows in rocky localities.  The tenth edifice of the great temple at Tenochtitlan was a wall surrounding an artificial rockery planted with these bushes.  Sahagun, who mentions this fact, adds that the name of this edifice was Teotlalpan, which literally means “on holy ground.” (Hist. de la Nueva Espana, Lib.  II, App.) The mizquitl is the common Mimosa circinalis.

Chicomoztoc; “at the Seven Caves,” a famous locality in Mexican legend, and the supposed birthplace of their race.

2. Colhuacan is probably for Acolhuacan; the early rulers of the latter were of the blood of the Chichimec chiefs of the Tepanecas.

4. Hueytlalpan, “at the ancient land,” perhaps for Huetlapallan, a 1ocality often referred to in the migration myths of the Nahuas.

5. Atloyan; see note to XIII, 6.

9.  The ceiba and cypress trees were employed figuratively to indicate protection and safeguard.  See Olmos, Gram. de la Langue Nahuatl, p. 211.

12.  On tlailotlaqui, see note to XIII, 8.  The interjectional appendages to this and the following verse are increased.

15.  Tepeyacan was the name of a mountain on which before the Conquest was a temple dedicated to the “Mother of our Life,” Tonantzin.