th were, in the language of
the valley-confederates, "Chichimecas,"--a word yet undefined,
but apparently synonymous, in the conceptions of the
"Nahuatl"-speaking natives, with fierce savagery, and ultimately
adopted by them as a warlike title.

Indistinct notions, indeed, of an original residence, during
some very remote period of time, at the distant north, have
been found among nearly all the tribes of Mexico which speak
the Nahuatl language. These notions even assume the form
of tradition in the tale of the _Seven Caves_,[1] whence the Mexicans
and the Tezcucans, as well as the Tlaxcaltecans, are said
to have emigrated to Mexico.[2] Perhaps the earliest mention
of this tradition may be found in the writings of Fray Toribio
de Paredes, surnamed Motolinia. It dates back to 1540 A.D.[3]
But it is not to be overlooked that ten years previously, in
1530, the story of the _Seven Cities_, which was the form in
which the first report concerning New Mexico and its sedentary
Indians came to the Spaniards, had already been told to
Nuno Beltran de Guzman in Sinaloa.[4] The parallelism between
the two stories is striking, although we are not authorized
to infer that the so-called seven _cities_ gave rise to what
appeared as an aboriginal myth of as many _caves_.[5]

The tale of the Seven Caves, as the original home of the
Mexicans and their kindred, prevailed to such an extent that,
as early as 1562, in a collection of picture-sheets executed in
aboriginal style, the so-called "Codex Vaticanus," "Chicomoztoc,"
and the migrations thence, were graphically represented.
All the important Indian writers of Mexico between
1560 and 1600, such as Duraro, Camargo, Tezozomoc, and
Ixtlilxochitl, refer to it as an ancient legend, and they locate
the site of the story, furthermore, very distinctly in New Mexico.
Even the "Popol-Vuh," in its earliest account of the
Quiche tribe of Guatemala, mentions "Tulan-Zuiva, the seven
caves or seven ravines."[6]

While it is impossible as yet to determine whether or not
this legend exercised any direct influence on the extension
of Spanish power into Northern Mexico, another myth, well
known to eastern continents from a remote period, became
directly instrumental in the discovery of New Mexico. This
is the tale of the _Amazons_.

About 1524 A.D., Cortes was informed by one of his officers
(then on an expedition about Michhuacan) that towards
the north there existed a region called Ciguatan ("Ci