The characters introduced, with the exception of Hualcoyotl and Maxtla, which are historical, are fictitious, created to meet the exigencies of the situations. The pronunciation of names will be greatly simplified by the reader bearing in mind that x and ch are convertible, the sound of sh being substituted, as in Ix, which is pronounced Ish; Teochma--Te-osh-ma; Xochitl--Zosh-itl, and Ixtlilchoatl--Ish-thlil-sho-atl. S being an unused letter, z is frequently given a soft sound, as in tzin, which is pronounced tsin; Euetzin--U-et-sin; Oza--Os-a; Itzalmo--I-tsal-mo, and Itlza--I-tel-sa. H is silent, as in Hualcoyotl, which is pronounced U-al-co-yotl; Hualla--U-al-la, and maquahuitl--ma-ka-u-itl. With these brief explanations we conclude our preface, hoping that our labor has not been in vain, but that the production of it may furnish some instruction and a few hours' pleasurable pastime. THE AUTHOR. INTRODUCTION. The great valley of Anahuac--the valley of Mexico--if not now, was once a grand and beautiful spot, such as is rarely found upon the face of our terraqueous globe. When nearest its natural state, in the time when its inhabitants directed their efforts to beautifying and not to marring it, it might well have been denominated an Eden. We refer to that period in its transition which covered a century or two prior to the fall of Montezuma. The majority of the people of Anahuac were not, strictly speaking, Aztecs, but became so by centralization: the Montezumas and their immediate predecessors becoming, by the trend of events, masters of the situation. The great Aztec empire had scarcely a half century of existence, and was preceded by a condition of things in which tribal distinction prevailed, the Aztec being only one of many tribes, and not greatly superior, if superior at all, to some of its neighbors. In fact, the Aztecs, prior to the overthrow of the Tepanec empire, unquestionably occupied a position of inferiority. From this time on, however, their power and influence may be said to have rapidly increased, until their supremacy was assured in the formation of an empire with their ruling prince at its head. That the reader, who is not informed with respect to the Anahuacans and the conditions which prevailed among them, may be better prepared for an intelligent perusal of our story, the following brief account of them is presented. They were a remarkable people, in many respects; and, when the lack of opportunities which hindered, and the peculiar conditions which influenced them, are taken into account, were wonderfully intelligent and well advanced in civilization. Although of the Indian race, they had nothing in common with their red brethren of the north in their habits and manners.