Note 344 — Chapter X · FOOD OF THE NAHUA NATIONS.

'Su comida era toda especie de caza, tanto cuadrúpeda como volátil, sin distincion ni otro condimento que asada, y las frutas ... pero nada sembraban, ni cultivaban.' Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 6. 'No sembraban, ni cocian, ni asaban las Carnes de la caza.' Their kings and nobles kept forests of deer and hare to supply the people with food, until in Nopaltzin's reign they were taught to plant by a descendant of the Toltecs. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 32, 38-9, 67, 279. They were the first inhabitants of the country and 'solo se mantenian de caça.' 'Caçauan venados, liebres, conejos, comadrejas, topos, gatos monteses, paxaros, y aun inmundicias como culebras, lagartos, ratones, langostas, y gusanos, y desto y de yeruas rayzes se sustentauan.' Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 453-5. And to the same effect Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 132-3; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 203; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, p. 74; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 140, 151; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 12. They began to till the ground in Hotzin's reign, but before that they roasted their meat and did not, as many claim, eat it raw. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 213-14; Id., Relaciones, p. 335. Agriculture introduced in Nopaltzin's reign. Id., p. 344. But Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 115, says some of the Chichimecs 'hacian tambien alguna sementerilla de maíz.'