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Francesco S. Clavigero (1721-1787) History of Mexico, Vol. II Richmond: Wm. Prichard, 1806 |
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Acosta's Natural & Moral History (1604) | Southey's Madoc (1805) | Robertson (1812 ed)
Von Humboldt's Researches (1814) | Del Rio's Ruins (1822) | View of the Hebrews (1823)
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C O N T E N T S OF VOLUME II. __________ BOOK VI. 1 Religious system of the Mexicans 6 The gods of Providence and of heaven 9 The deification of the sun and the moon 11 The god of air 15 The gods of mountains, water, fire, earth, night, and hell 18 The gods of war 22 The gods of commerce, hunting, fishing, &c. 26 Their idols, and the manner of worshipping their gods 27 Transformations 28 The greater temple of Mexico 33 Buildings annexed to the greater temple 36 Other temples 40 Revenues of the temples 40 Number and different ranks of the priests 43 The employments, dress, and life of the priests 46 The priestesses 48 Different religious orders 50 Common sacrifices of human victims 54 The gladiatorian sacrifice 55 The number of sacrifices uncertain 58 Inhuman sacrifices in Quauhtitlan 59 Austerities and falling of the Mexicans 63 Remarkable acts of penitence of the Tlascalans iv CONTENTS. 66 Divination 66 Figures of the century, the year and month 68 Years and months of the Chiapanese 69 Festivals of the four first months 71 Grand festival of the god Tezcatlipoca 75 Grand festival of Huitzilopochtli 78 Festivals of the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth months 82 Festivals of the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth months 86 Festivals of the five last months 92 Secular festival 94 Rites observed at the birth of children 98 Nuptial rites 103 Funeral rites 108 Their sepulchres BOOK VII. 111 Education of the Mexican youth113 Explanation of the seven Mexican paintings on Education 116 The exhortations of a Mexican to his son 119 Exhortations of a Mexican mother to her daughter 122 Public schools and seminaries 125 Laws in the election of a king 127 The pomp and ceremonies at the proclamation and unction of the king 129 The coronation, crown, dress, and other insignia of royalty 130 Prerogatives of the crown 132 The royal council and officers of the court 133 Ambassadors 134 Couriers, or posts 136 The nobility and rights of succession 138 Division of the lands, and titles of possession and property 141 The tributes and taxes laid on the subjects of the crown 145 Magistrates of Mexico and Acolhuacan 148 Penal laws 154 Laws concerning slaves 157 Laws of other countries of Anahuac 158 Punishments and prisons 159 Officers of war and military orders CONTENTS. v 162 The military dress of the king 162 The arms of the Mexicans 166 Standards and martial music 168 The mode of declaring and carrying on war 172 Fortifications 176 Floating fields and gardens of the Mexican lake 177 Manner of cultivating the earth 179 Threshing-floors and granaries 180 Kitchen and other gardens and woods 182 Plants mod cultivated by the Mexicans 183 Animals bred by the Mexicans 184 Chase of the Mexicans 187 Fishing 188 Commerce 191 Money 192 Regulations of the market 193 Customs of the merchants in their journeys 194 Roads, houses for travellers, vessels, and bridges 196 Men who carried burdens 197 Mexican language 202 Eloquence and poetry 204 Mexican theatre 207 Music 208 Dancing 211 Games 216 Different kinds of Mexican paintings 219 Cloths and Colours 221 Character of their paintings and mode of representing objects 225 Sculpture 227 Casting of metals 228 Mosaic works 231 Civil architecture 235 Aqueducts and Ways upon the lake 236 Remains of ancient edifices 238 Stone-cutters, engravers, jewellers, and potters 240 Carpenters, weavers, &c. 242 List of the rarities sent by Cortes to Charles V. 244 Knowledge of nature, and use of medicinal simples 247 Oils, ointments, and infusions 247 Blood-letting and baths vi CONTENTS. 248 Temazcalli, or vapour-baths of the Mexicans 250 Surgery 251 Aliment of the Mexicans 256 Wine 258 Dress 259 Ornaments 259 Domestic furniture and employments 262 The use of tobacco 262 Plants used instead of soap BOOK VIII. 265 First voyages of the Spaniards to the coast of Anahuac269 Character of the principal conquerors of Mexico 273 Armament and Voyage of Cortes 274 Victory of the Spaniards in Tabasco 276 Account of the famous Indian Donna Marina 278 Arrival of the armament at the port of Chalchiuhcuecan 283 Montezuma's uneasiness, embassy, and presents to Cortes 286 Present from Montezuma to the Catholic king 288 Embassy from the lord of Chempoalla and its consequences 293 Imprisonment of the royal ministers in Chiahuitztla 295 Confederacy of the Totonacas with the Spaniards 295 Foundation of Vera Cruz 296 New embassies and presents from Montezuma 298 Breaking of the idols of Chempoalla 301 Letters from the armament to the Catholic king 302 Signal conduct of Cortes 303 March of the Spaniards to Tlascala 305 Alteration in the Tlascalans, their resolution concerning the Spaniards 311 War of Tlascala 316 New embassies and presents from Montezuma to Cortes 319 Peace and confederacy of the Tlascalans with the Spaniards 321 Embassy of prince Ixtlilxochitl, and league with the Huexotzincas 322 Submission of Tlascala to the Catholic king 323 Entry of the Spaniards into Tlascala 326 Enmity between the Tlascalans and Cholulans CONTENTS. vii 328 Entry of the Spaniards into Cholula 332 Slaughter committed in Cholula 335 Submission of the Cholulans and Tepeachese 336 New embassy and present from the king of Mexico 337 Revolutions in Totonacapan 339 March of the Spaniards to Tlalmanalco 344 Visit of the king of Tezcuco to Cortes 346 Visit of the princes of Tezcuco, and entry of the Spaniards into that court 347 Entry of the Spaniards into Iztapalapan 349 Entry of the Spaniards into Mexico 349 Reception from the king and nobility BOOK IX. 353 First conference, and new presents from Montezuma357 Visit of Cortes to the king 359 Description of the city of Mexico 362 Effects of Cortes's zeal for religion 364 Imprisonment of Montezuma 371 Life of the king in prison 374 Punishment of the lord of Nauhtlan, and new insults to Montezuma 378 Attempts of the king of Acolhuacan against the Spaniards 381 Imprisonment of that king and other lords 384 Submission of Montezuma and the nobles to the king of Spain 386 First homage of the Mexicans to the crown of Spain 387 Uneasiness of the nobles and new fears of Montezuma 390 Armament of the governor of Cuba against Cortes 394 Victory over Narvaez 396 Slaughter of the nobles and insurrection of the people 401 Skirmishes between the Mexicans and Spaniards 404 Speech of the king to the people, and its effect 407 Terrible engagement in the temple 412 Death of Montezuma, and other lords 417 Defeat of the Spaniards in their retreat 420 Fatiguing March of the Spaniards 421 Famous battle of Otompan 425 Retreat of the Spaniards to Tlascala viii CONTENTS. 426 Election of a king in Mexico 428 Embassy from king Cuitlahuatzin to Tlascala 432 Baptism of the four lords of Tlascala 432 Discontent among the Spaniards 434 War of the Spaniards against the Tepeachese 436 War of Quauhquechollan 439 War of Itzocan 441 War of Xalatzinco, Tecamachalco, and Tochtepec 442 Havoc made by the small-pox. Death of Cuitlahuatzin, and prince Maxixcatzin, and election of Quauhtemotzin 444 Exaltation of prince Coanacotzin, and death of Cuicuitzcatzin |
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
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In the public as well as private economy of the Mexicans, the traces which remain of their political discernment, of their zeal for justice, and love of the public good, would meet with little credit, were they not confirmed both by the evidence of their paintings, and the attestations of many faithful and impartial authors, who were eye-witnesses of a great part of that which they have written. Those who are weak enough to imagine they can know the ancient Mexicans in their descendants, or from the nations of Canada and Louisiana, will be apt to consider the account we are to give of their refinement, their laws, and their arts, as fables invented by the Spaniards. But that we may not violate the laws of history, nor the fidelity due to the public, we shall candidly set forth all that which we have found to be authentic, without any apprehension of censure. The education of youth, which is the chief support of a state, and which best unfolds the character of every nation, was amongst the Mexicans of so judicious a nature 112 HISTORY OF MEXICO. as to be of itself sufficient to retort the supercilious contempt of certain critics upon themselves, who believe the empire of reason to be circumscribed to the boundaries of Europe. In whatever we say on this subject we shall be guided by the paintings of those nations, and their best informed historians. Nothing, says F. Acosta, has surprised me more, or appeared more worthy of memory and praise, than the care and method which the Mexicans observed in the tuition of youth. It would be difficult, indeed, to find a nation that has bestowed more attention on a point so important to every state. It is true, they mixed superstition with their precepts; but the zeal they manifested for the education of their children, upbraids the negligence of our modern fathers of families; and many of the lessons which they taught to their youth might serve as instruction to ours. All the Mexican children, even those of the royal family, were suckled by their own parents. If the mother was prevented from doing this by sickness, she did not employ a nurse till she was well informed both of her condition in life, and the quality of her milk. They were accustomed from infancy to endure hunger, heat, and cold. When they attained five years of age, they were either consigned to the priests, in order that they might be brought up in the seminaries, which was the general practice with the children of nobles, and even with those of the kings themselves; or if they were to be educated at home, their parents began at that period to instruct them in the worship of their gods, and to teach them the forms by which they were to pray and implore their protection. They were led frequently to the temple, that they might become attached to religion. An abhorrence of vice, a modesty of behaviour, respect to HISTORY OF MEXICO. 113 superiors, and love of fatigue, were strongly inculcated. They were even made to sleep upon a mat; and were given no more food than the necessities of life required, nor any other clothing than that which decency demanded. When they arrived at a certain age, they were instructed in the use of arms, and if their parents belonged to the army, they were led to the wars along with them, that they might learn the military art, and to banish fear from their minds, by habituating themselves to danger. If their parents were husbandmen, or artists, they taught their children their own profession. Girls were learned to spin and weave, and obliged to bathe frequently, that they might be always healthy and cleanly, and the universal maxim was to keep the young of both sexes constantly employed. One of the precepts most warmly inculcated to youth was, truth in their words; and whenever a lie was detected, the lip of the delinquent was pricked with the thorns of the aloe. They tied the feet of girls who were too fond of walking abroad. The son, who was disobedient or quarrelsome, was beat with nettles, or received punishment in some other manner proportioned, according to their judgment, to the fault he had committed. The system of education agreeably to which the Mexicans trained up their children, and the constant attention with which they watched their actions, may be traced in the seven paintings of the collection of Mendoza, included between the numbers forty-nine and fifty-seven. In these are expressed the quantity and quality of the food, which was allowed them, the employments in which they were occupied, and the punishments by which their vices were corrected. In the fiftieth painting is represented a boy of four years, who is employed by his parents in 114 HISTORY OF MEXICO. some things that are easy to do, in order to inure him to fatigue; another of five years, who accompanies his father to market, carrying a little bundle on his back; a girl of the same age who begins to learn to spin; and another boy of six years whose father employs him to pick up the ears of maize, which happen to lie on the ground in the market-place. In the fifty-first painting are drawn a father who teaches his son of seven years of age to fish; and a mother, who teaches her daughter of the same age to spin; some boys of eight years, who are threatened with punishment if they do not do their duty; a lad of nine years, whose father pricks several parts of his body, in order to correct his indocility of temper; and a girl of the same age, whose mother only pricks her hands; a lad and a girl of ten years, whose parents beat them with a rod, because they refuse to do that which they are ordered. The fifty-second painting represents two lads of eleven years, who, not being amended by other punishments, are made by their fathers to receive the smoke of Chilli, or great pepper up their nose; a lad of twelve years, whose father, in order to punish him for his faults, keeps him a whole day tied upon a dunghill, and a wench of the same age whose mother makes her walk, during the night, all over the house and part of the streets; a lad of thirteen years, whose father makes him guide a little vessel laden with rushes; and a wench of the same age grinding maize by order of her mother; a youth of fourteen years employed by his father in fishing, and a young woman set to weave by her mother. In the fifty-third painting, are represented two youths of fifteen years, the one consigned by his father to a HISTORY OF MEXICO. 115 priest, to be instructed in the rites of religion; the other to the Achcauhtli, or officer of the militia, to be instructed in the military art. The fifty-fourth, shews the youth of the seminaries employed by their superiors in sweeping the temple, and in carrying branches of trees and herbs to adorn the sanctuaries, wood for the stoves, rushes to make feats, and stones and lime to repair the temple. In this same painting, and in the fifty-fifth, the different punishments inflicted on youth, who have committed trespasses, by their superiors, are also represented. One of them pricks a youth with the spines of the aloe for having neglected his duty: two priests throw burning firebrands on the head of another youth, for having been caught in familiar discourse with a young woman. They prick the body of another with sharp pine flakes, and another for disobedience is punished by having his hair burned. Lastly, is exhibited a youth carrying the baggage of a priest, who goes along with the army to encourage the soldiers in war, and to perform certain superstitious ceremonies. Their children were bred to stand so much in awe of their parents, that even when grown up and married, they hardly durst speak before them. In short, the instructions and advice which they received were of such a nature, that I cannot dispense with transcribing some of the exhortations employed by them, the knowledge of which was obtained from the Mexicans themselves by the first religious missionaries who were employed in their conversion, particularly Motolinia, Olmos, and Sahagun, who acquired a perfect knowledge of the Mexican language, and made the most diligent inquiry into their manners and customs. 116 HISTORY OF MEXICO. "My son," said the Mexican father, "who art come into the light from the womb of thy mother like the chicken from the egg, and like it art preparing to fly through the world, we know not how long heaven will grant to us the enjoyment of that precious gem which we possess in thee; but, however short the period, endeavour to live exactly, praying God continually to assist thee. He created thee; thou art his property. He is thy Father, and loves thee still more than I do; repose in him thy thoughts, and day and night direct thy sighs to him. Reverence and salute thy elders, and hold no one in contempt. To the poor and the distressed be not dumb, but rather use words of comfort. Honour all persons, particularly thy parents, to whom thou owest obedience, respect, and service. Guard against imitating the example of those wicked sons, who, like brutes that are deprived of reason, neither reverence their parents, listen to their instruction, nor submit to their correction; because, whoever follows their steps will have an unhappy end, will die in a desperate or sudden manner, or will be killed and devoured by wild beasts. "Mock not, my son, the aged or the imperfect. Scorn not him whom you see fall into some folly or transgression, nor make him reproaches; but restrain thyself, and beware lest thou fall into the same error which offends thee in another. Go not where thou art not called, nor interfere in that which does not concern thee. Endeavour to manifest thy good breeding in all thy words and actions. In conversation do not lay thy hands upon another, nor speak too much, nor interrupt or disturb another's discourse. If thou hearest any one talking foolishly, and it is not thy business HISTORY OF MEXICO. 117 "to correct him, keep silence; but if it does concern thee, consider first what thou art to say, and do not speak arrogantly, that thy correction may be well received. "When any one discourses with thee, hear him attentively, and hold thyself in an easy attitude; neither playing with thy feet, nor putting thy mantle to thy mouth, nor spitting too often, nor looking about you here and there, nor rising up frequently if thou art sitting; for such actions are indications of levity and low-breeding. "When thou art at table do not eat voraciously, nor shew thy displeasure if any thing displeases thee. If any one comes unexpectedly to dinner with thee, share with him what thou hast; and when any person is entertained by thee, do not six thy looks upon him. "In walking, look where thou goest, that thou mayest not push against any one. If thou seest another coming thy way, go a little aside to give him room to pass. Never step before thy elders, unless it be necessary, or that they order thee to do so. When thou sittest at table with them, do not eat or drink before them, but attend to them in a becoming manner, that thou mayest merit their favour. "When they give thee any thing, accept it with tokens of gratitude: if the present is great, do not become vain or fond of it. If the gift is final, do not despise it, nor be provoked, nor occasion displeasure to them who favour thee. If thou becomest rich, do not grow insolent, nor scorn the poor; for those very gods who deny riches to others in order to give them to thee, offended by thy pride, will take from thee again to give to others. Support thyself by thy own 118 HISTORY OF MEXICO. "labours; for then thy food will be sweeter. I, my son, have supported thee hitherto with my sweat, and have omitted no duty of a father; I have provided thee with every thing necessary, without taking it from others. Do thou so likewise. "Never tell a falsehood; because a lie is a heinous fin. When it is necessary to communicate to another what has been imparted to thee, tell the simple truth without any addition. Speak ill of nobody. Do not take notice of the failings which thou observest in others, if thou art not called upon to correct them. Be not a news-carrier, nor a sower of discord. When thou bearest any embassy, and he to whom it is borne is enraged, and speaks contemptuously of those who sent thee, do not report such an answer, but endeavour to soften him, and dissemble as much as possible that which thou heardst, that thou mayest not raise discord and spread calumny of which thou mayest afterwards repent. "Stay no longer than is necessary in the market-place; for in such places there is the greatest danger of contracting vices. "When thou art offered an employment, imagine that the proposal is made to try thee; then accept it not hastily, although thou knowest thyself more fit than others to exercise it; but excuse thyself until thou art obliged to accept it; thus thou wilt be more esteemed. "Be not dissolute; because thou wilt thereby incense the gods, and they will cover thee with infamy. Restrain thyself, my son, as thou art yet young, and wait until the girl, whom the: gods destine for thy wife, arrive at a suitable age: leave that to their care, as they HISTORY OF MEXICO. 119 "know how to order every thing properly. When the time for thy marriage is come, dare not to make it without the consent of thy parents, otherwise it will have an unhappy issue. "Steal not, nor give thyself up to gaming; otherwise thou wilt be a disgrace to thy parents, whom thou oughtest rather to honour for the education they have given thee. If thou wilt be virtuous, thy example will put the wicked to shame. No more my son; enough has been said in discharge of the duties of a father. With these counsels I wish to fortify thy mind. Refuse them not, nor act in contradiction to them; for on them thy life, and all thy happiness, depend." Such were the instructions which the Mexicans frequently inculcated to their sons. Husbandmen and merchants gave their sons other advice regarding their particular profession, which we, however, omit, not to prove tedious to our readers; but I cannot dispense with transcribing one of the exhortations made use of by mothers to their daughters, as it illustrates their mode of education and manners. "My daughter," said the mother, "born of my substance, brought forth with my pains, and nourished with my milk, I have endeavoured to bring thee up with the greatest possible care, and thy father has wrought and polished thee like an emerald, that thou mayest appear in the eyes of men a jewel of virtue. Strive always to be good; for otherwise who will have thee for a wife? thou wilt be rejected by every one. Life is a thorny laborious path, and it is necessary to exert all our powers to obtain the goods which the gods are willing to yield to us; we must not therefore 120 HISTORY OF MEXICO. be lazy or negligent, but diligent in every thing. Be orderly and take pains to manage the economy of thy house. Give water to thy husband for his hands, and make bread for thy family. Wherever thou goest, go with modesty and composure, without hurrying thy steps, or laughing with those whom thou meetest, neither fixing thy looks upon them, nor casting thy eyes thoughtlessly, first to one side, and then to another, that thy reputation may not be sullied; but give a courteous answer to those who salute and put any question to thee. "Employ thyself diligently in spinning and weaving, in sewing and embroidering; for by these arts thou wilt gain esteem, and all the necessaries of food and clothing. Do not give thyself too much to sleep, nor seek the shade, but go in the open air and there repose thyself; for effeminacy brings along with it idleness and other vices. "In whatever thou doest, encourage not evil thoughts; but attend solely to the service of the gods; and the giving comfort to thy parents. If thy father or thy mother calls thee, do not stay to be called twice; but go instantly to know their pleasure, that thou may not disoblige them by slowness. Return no insolent answers, nor shew any want of compliance; but if thou canst not do what they command, make a modest excuse. If another is called and does not come quickly; come thou, hear what is ordered, and do it well. Never offer thyself to do that which thou canst not do. Deceive no person, for the gods see all thy actions. Live in peace with every body, and love every one sincerely and honestly, that thou mayest be beloved by them in return. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 121 "Be not greedy of the goods which thou hast. If thou seest any thing presented to another, give way to no mean suspicions; for the gods, to whom every good belongs, distribute every thing as they please. If thou wouldst avoid the displeasure of others, let none meet with it from thee. "Guard against improper familiarities with men; nor yield to the guilty wishes of thy heart; or thou wilt be the reproach of thy family, and wilt pollute thy mind as mud does water. Keep not company with dissolute, lying, or idle women; otherwise they will infallibly infect thee by their example. Attend upon thy family, and do not go on slight occasions out of thy house, nor be seen wandering through the streets, or in the market-place; for in such places thou wilt meet thy ruin. Remember that vice, like a poisonous herb, brings death to those who taste it; and when it once harbours in the mind it is difficult to expel it. If in passing through the streets thou meetest with a forward youth who appears agreeable to thee, give him no correspondence, but dissemble and pass on. If he says any thing to thee, take no heed of him nor his words; and if he follows thee, turn not your face about to look at him, lest that might inflame his passion more. If thou behavest so, he will soon turn and let thee proceed in peace. "Enter not, without some urgent motive, into another's house, that nothing may be either said or thought injurious to thy honour; but if thou enterest into the house of thy relations, salute them with respect and do not remain idle, but immediately take up a spindle to spin, or do any other thing that occurs. 122 HISTORY OF MEXICO. "When thou art married, respect thy husband, obey him, and diligently do what he commands thee. Avoid incurring his displeasure, nor shew thyself passionate or ill-natured; but receive him fondly to thy arms, even if he is poor and lives at thy expense. If thy husband occasions thee any disgust, let him not know thy displeasure when he commands thee to do any thing; but dissemble it at that time, and afterwards tell him with gentleness what vexed thee, that he may be won by thy mildness and offend thee no farther. Dishonour him not before others; for thou also wouldst be dishonoured. If any one comes to visit thy husband, accept the visit kindly, and shew all the civility thou canst. If thy husband is foolish, be thou discreet. If he fails in the management of wealth, admonish him of his failings; but if he is totally incapable of taking care of his estate, take that charge upon thyself, attend carefully to his possessions, and never omit to pay the workmen punctually. Take care not to lose any thing through negligence. "Embrace, my daughter, the counsel which I give thee; I am already advanced in life, and have had sufficient dealings with the world. I am thy mother, I wish that thou mayest live well. Fix my precepts in thy heart and bowels, for then thou wilt live happy. If, by not listening to me, or by neglecting my instructions any misfortunes befall thee, the fault will be thine, and the evil also. Enough, my child. May the gods prosper thee." Not contented with such instructions and domestic education, the Mexicans sent their children to public schools, which were close to the temples, where they HISTORY OF MEXICO. 123 were instructed for three years in religion and good customs. Besides this, almost all the inhabitants, particularly the nobles, took care to have their children brought up in the seminaries belonging to the temples, of which there were many in the cities of the Mexican empire, for boys, youths, and young women. Those of the boys and young men were governed by priests, who were solely devoted to their education; those for young women were under the direction of matrons equally respectable for their age and for their manners. No communication between the youth of both sexes was permitted; on the contrary, any transgression of that nature was severely punished. There were distinct seminaries for the nobles and plebeians. The young nobles were employed in offices which were rather internal, and more immediately about the sanctuary, as in sweeping the upper area of the temple, and in stirring up and attending to the fires of the stoves which were before the sanctuary. The others were employed in carrying the wood which was required for the stoves, and the stone and lime used in repairing of sacred edifices, and in other similar tasks: both were under the direction of superiors and masters, who instructed them in religion, history, painting, music, and other arts, agreeably to their rank and circumstances. The girls swept the lower area of the temple, rose three times in the night to burn copal in the stoves, prepared the meats which were daily offered to the idols, and wove different kinds of cloth. They were taught every female duty; by which, besides banishing idleness from them which is so dangerous to the age of youth, they were habituated to domestic labours. They slept in large halls in the sight of the matrons, who governed 124 HISTORY OF MEXICO. them, and who attended to nothing more zealously than the modesty and decency of their actions. When any male or female pupil went to pay their respects to their parents, and which case happened very seldom, they were not allowed to go by themselves, but were always accompanied by other pupils and their superior. After listening for a few moments with silence and attention to the instructions and advice which their parents gave them, they returned back to the seminary. There they were detained until the time of marriage, which, as we have already mentioned, was with young men from the age of twenty to twenty-two, and with girls at eighteen or sixteen years. When this period arrived, either the young man himself requested leave of the superior to go and get himself a wife, or, what was more common, his parents demanded him for the same purpose, returning thanks first to the superior for the care he had taken of his instruction. The superior, upon the dismission which he gave at the grand festival of Tezcatlipoca, to all the young men and women who were arrived at that age, made them a discourse, exhorting them to a perseverance in virtue, and the discharge of all the duties of the new state. The virgins educated in these seminaries were particularly sought after for wives, not only on account of their principles, but likewise of the skill which they acquired there in the arts belonging to their sex. The youth who when arrived at the age of twenty-two did not marry, was esteemed to have devoted himself for ever to the service of the temples, and if after such consecration of himself he repented of celibacy, and desired to marry, he became infamous for ever, and no woman would accept him for a husband. In Tlascala, those who, at the age HISTORY OF MEXICO. 125 fit for marriage, refused taking a wife were shaven, a mark of the highest dishonour with that nation. The sons in general learned the trades of their fathers, and embraced their professions. Thus they perpetuated the arts in families to the advantage of the state. The young men who were destined to the magistracy, were conducted by their fathers to tribunals, where they heard the laws of the kingdom explained, and observed the practice and forms of judicature. In the sixtieth picture of Mendoza's collection, are represented four judges examining a cause, and behind them four young Teteuctin, or Gentlemen, who are listening to their decision. The sons of the king, and principal lords, were appointed tutors who attended to their conduct, and long before they could enter into possession of the crown, or their state, they were entrusted with the government of some city, or smaller state, that they might learn by degrees the arduous talk of governing men. This was the custom as early as the time of the first Chechemecan kings; for Nopaltzin, from the time that he was crowned king of Acolhuacan, put his firstborn son Tlotzin in possession of the city of Tezcuco. Cuitlahuac, the last king of Mexico, obtained the state of Ixtapalapan, and the brother of Montezuma that of Ehecatepec, before they ascended the throne of Mexico. Upon this base of education the Mexicans supported the fabric of their political system which we are now to unfold. From the time that the Mexicans, after the example of other neighbouring states, placed Acamapitzin at the head of their nation, investing him with the name, the honours, and authority of royalty, the crown of their kingdom was made elective; for which purpose they 126 HISTORY OF MEXICO. created some time after four electors, in whose judgment and decision all the suffrages of the nation were comprehended. These were four lords of the first rank of nobility, and generally of the royal blood, possessed likewise of prudence and probity adequate to the discharge of so important a function. Their office was not perpetual; their electoral power terminated with the first election, and new electors were immediately nominated, or the first were re-chosen by the votes of the nobility. If a deficiency happened in their number before the king died, it was supplied by a new appointment. In the time of king Itzcoatl, two other electors were added, which were the kings of Acolhuacan and Tacuba; but their title was merely honorary. They usually ratified the choice which was made by the four real electors; but we do not know that they ever interfered otherwise with the election. That the electors might not be left too much at liberty, and in order to prevent the inconveniences arising from parties and factions, they fixed the crown in the family of Acamapitzin; and afterwards established a law, that when the king died he should be succeeded by one of his brothers, and on failure of brothers by one of his nephews; or on failure of them by one of his cousins, leaving it in the option of the electors to choose among the brothers, or nephews of the deceased king, the person whom they should think best qualified to govern; by means of which law they avoided numerous inconveniences that we have already mentioned. This law was observed from the time of their second, until the time of their last king. Huitzilihuitl, the son of Acamapitzin, was succeeded by his two brothers Chimalpopoca and Itzcoatl; Itzcoatl by his nephew HISTORY OF MEXICO. 127 Montezuma Ilhuicamina; Montezuma by his cousin Axajacatl; Axajacatl by his two brothers Tizoc and Ahuitzotl; Ahuitzotl by his nephew Montezuma II; Montezuma II, by his brother Cuitlahuatzin, to whom lastly his nephew Quauhtemotzin succeeded. This series of kings will appear more distinctly in the table of genealogy which we have already given. In the election of a king no regard was paid to the right of primogeniture. At the death of Montezuma I, Axajacatl was elected in preference to his elder brothers Tizoc and Ahuitzotl. No new king was elected until the funeral of his predecessor was celebrated with due pomp and magnificence. As soon as the election was made, advice was sent to the kings of Acolhuacan and Tacuba, in order that they might confirm it, and also to the feudatory lords who had been present at the funeral. these two kings led the new-chosen sovereign to the greater temple. The feudatory lords went first, with the ensigns of their states; then the nobles of the court with the badges of their dignity and offices; the two allied kings followed next, and behind them the king cleft, stripped naked, without any covering except the maxtlatl, the girdle, or large bandage, about his middle. He ascended the temple, resting on the arms of two nobles of the court, where one of the high-priests, accompanied by the most respectable officers of the temple, received him. He worshipped the idol of Huitzilopochtli, touching the earth with his hand, and then carrying it to his mouth. The high-priest dyed his body with a certain kind of ink, and sprinkled him four times with water which had been blessed, according to their rite, at the grand festival of Huitzilopochtli, making use for this purpose of 128 HISTORY OF MEXICO. branches of cedar and willow, and the leaves of maize. He was clothed in a mantle, on which were painted skulls and bones of the dead, and his head was covered with two other cloaks, one black, and the other blue, on which similar figures were represented. They tied a small gourd to his neck, containing a certain powder, which they esteemed a strong preservative against diseases, sorcery, and treason. Happy would that people be whose king could carry about him such a preservative. They put afterwards a censer, and a bag of copal in his hands, that he might give incense to the idol with them. When this act of religion was performed, during which the king remained on his knees, the high-priest sat down and delivered a discourse to him, in which after congratulating him on his advancement, he informed him of the obligation he owed his subjects for having raised him to the throne, and warmly recommended to him zeal for religion and justice, the protection of the poor, and the defence of his native country and kingdom. The allied kings and the nobles next addressed him to the same purpose; to which the king answered with thanks and promises to exert himself to the utmost of his power for the happiness of the state. Gomara, and other authors who have copied him, affirm, that the high-priest made him swear to maintain their ancient religion, to observe the laws of his ancestors, and to make the sun go his course, to make the clouds pour down rain, to make the rivers run, and all fruits to ripen. If it is true, that they made the king take so extravagant an oath, it is probable, that they only meant to oblige him to maintain a conduct worthy of these favours from heaven. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 129 After hearing these addresses, the king descended with all his attendants to the lower area, where the rest of the nobility waited to make their obedience, and pay him homage in jewels and apparel. He was thence conducted to a chamber within the inclosure of the temple called Tlacatecco, where he was left by himself four days, during which time he was allowed to eat but once a day; but he might eat flesh or any other kind of food. He bathed twice every day, and after bathing he drew blood from his ears, which he offered together with some burnt copal to Huitzilopochtli, making all the while constant and earnest prayers to obtain that enlightenment of understanding which was requisite in order to govern his monarchy with prudence. On the fifth day, the nobility returned to the temple, conducting the new king to his palace, where the feudatory lords came to renew the investiture of their fiefs. Then followed the rejoicings of the people, entertainments, dances, and illuminations. To prepare for the coronation it was necessary, according to the law of the kingdom, or the custom introduced by Montezuma I, that the new-elected king should go out to war, to procure the victims which were necessary for the sacrifices on such an occasion. They never were without enemies on whom war might be made; either from some province of the kingdom having rebelled, or from some Mexican merchants having been unjustly put to death, or on account of some insult having been offered to the royal ambassadors, of which cases history shews many examples. The arms and ensigns which the king wore upon going to war, the parade with which his prisoners were conducted to the court, and the circumstances which attended the sacrifice 130 HISTORY OF MEXICO. of them, shall be explained when we come to treat of the military establishment of the Mexicans; but we are entirely ignorant of the particular ceremonies which were used at his coronation. The king of Acolhuacan was the person who put the crown upon his head. The crown which was called by the Mexicans copilli, was a sort of small mitre, the fore-part of which was raised up, and terminated in a point, and the part behind was lowered down, and hung over the neck in the same manner as is represented in the figures of the kings given in this history. It was composed of different materials, according to the pleasure of the kings; sometimes made of thin plates of gold, sometimes woven with golden thread, and figured with beautiful feathers. The dress which he usually wore in the palace was the xiuhtilmatli, which was a mantle of a blue and white mixture. When he went to the temple he put on a white habit. That which he wore to assist at councils, and other public functions, varied according to the nature and circumstances of the occasion; one was appropriated for civil causes, and another for criminal causes; one for acts of justice, and another for times of rejoicing: upon all these occasions he regularly wore his crown. Every time he went abroad, he was attended by a great retinue of nobility, and preceded by a noble, who held up three rods made of gold and odorous wood, by which he intimated to the people the presence of their sovereign. The power and authority of the kings of Mexico was different at different periods. In the beginning of the monarchy their power was much circumscribed, and their authority truly paternal, their conduct more humane, and the prerogatives which they claimed from HISTORY OF MEXICO. 131 their subjects extremely moderate. With the enlargement of their territory they gradually increased their riches, their magnificence, and pomp, and in proportion to their wealth were likewise multiplied, as generally happens, the burthens on their subjects. Their pride occasioned them to trespass upon the limits, which the consent of the nation had allowed to their authority, until they arrived at that pitch of odious despotism which appears to have marked the reign of Montezuma II, but notwithstanding their tyranny, the Mexicans always preserved the respect which was due to the royal character, except that in the last year but one of the monarchy, as will be related hereafter, when they were no longer able to endure the meanness of their king Montezuma, his excessive cowardice, and low submission to his enemies, they treated him with contempt, and wounded him with arrows and stones. The pageantry and ostentatious grandeur of the last Mexican kings may be conceived from what we have said of the reign of Montezuma, and what we shall farther say in our account of the conquest. The kings of Mexico were rivalled in magnificence by the kings of Acolhuacan, as the latter were by the former in politics. The government of the Acolhuan nation was almost the same with that of the Mexicans; but with respect: to the right of succession to the crown they were totally different; for in the kingdom of Acolhuacan, and the same is to be understood of Tacuba, the sons succeeded to their fathers, not according to their birth, but according to their rank; the sons which were born of the queen, or principal wife, having been always preferred to the rest. This rule was observed from the time of Xolotl, the first Chechemecan king, 132 HISTORY OF MEXICO. until the time of Cacamatzin, who was succeeded by his brother Cuicuitzcatzin, through the intrigues of Montezuma and the conqueror Cortes. The king of Mexico, as well as the king of Acolhuacan, had three supreme councils, composed of persons of the first nobility, in which they deliberated upon affairs relating to the government of the provinces, the revenues of the king, and to war, and in general the king resolved upon no measure of importance without having first heard the opinion of his counsellors. In the history of the conquest we shall find Montezuma in frequent deliberation with his council on the pretensions of the Spaniards. We do not know the number of members of each council, nor do historians furnish us with the lights necessary to illustrate such a subject. They have only preserved to us the names of some counsellors, particularly those of Montezuma II. In the sixty-first painting of the collection of Mendoza, are represented the council-halls, and some of the lords who composed them. Amongst the different ministers and officers of the court there was a treasurer-general, whom they called Hueicalpixgui, or great major-domo, who received all the tributes which were collected by the officers of the revenue in the provinces, and kept an account of his receipts and disbursements in paintings, agreeably to the testimony of Bernal Diaz, who saw them. There was another treasurer for the gems and articles of gold, who was, at the same time, director of the artists who wrought them; and another for the works which were made of feathers, the artists of which last employment had their work-shops in the royal palace of birds. There was besides a provider-general of animals, whom they called Huejaminqui; he had the charge of the royal woods, and HISTORY OF MEXICO. 133 took care that game was never wanting there; and that the royal palaces were never unprovided with every sort of animal. Concerning the other royal ministers and officers, we have mentioned enough when we treated of the magnificence of Montezuma II, and of the government of the kings of Acolhuacan, Techotlala, and Nezahualcojotl. For the office of ambassadors, they always employed persons who were both noble and eloquent. Three, four, or more persons were usually joined in this office, and, to procure respect, they wore certain badges by which they were every where known, particularly a green habit made like the scapulary, or little cloak, which some religious people wear, from which hung some locks of cotton. Their hair was twisted with beautiful feathers, from which also hung similar locks of different colours. In their right hands they carried an arrow with the point downwards; in the left a shield, and hanging at the same arm a net, in which they carried their provision. In all the places through which they passed, they were well received, and treated with that distinction which their character demanded, provided they did not leave the great road which led to the place of their destination; but if they ever deviated from it, they lost their rights and privileges as ambassadors. When they arrived at the place where they were to deliver their embassy, they stopped before they made entrance, and waited until the nobility of the city came out to meet them, and conduct them to the house of the Public, where they were lodged and well entertained. The nobles burnt incense to them, and presented nose-gays of flowers, and after they had reposed, led them to the palace of the lord of that state, and introduced them 134 HISTORY OF MEXICO. into the hall of audience, where they were received by the lord himself, and his counsellors, who were all seated in their places. After having made a profound reverence to the lord, they sat down upon their heels in the middle of the hall, and without saying a word, or listing up their eyes, they waited until a sign was made for them to speak. When the signal was given, the most respectable amongst the ambassadors, after having made another bow to the lord, delivered his embassy with a low voice, in a studied address, which was attentively heard by the lord and his counsellors, who kept their heads so much inclined, that they appeared almost to touch their knees. When the ambassadors had finished their interview, they returned to the house where they were lodged. In the mean while, the lord entered into confutation with his counsellors, and communicated his answer to the ambassadors by means of his ministers; provided them abundantly with provisions for their journey, made them also some presents, and caused them to be escorted out of the city by the same persons who had received them upon their arrival. If the lord, to whom the embassy was sent, was a friend to the Mexicans, it was considered as a great dishonour not to accept his presents; but if he was an enemy, the ambassadors could not receive them without the express order of their master. All these ceremonies were not invariably observed in embassies, nor were all embassies sent to the lords of cities or states; for some of them, as we shall mention hereafter, were sent to the body of the nobility, or to the people. The couriers whom the Mexicans frequently employed, made use of different ensigns according to the nature of the intelligence, or affair with which they were charged. If it was the news of the Mexicans having HISTORY OF MEXICO. 135 lost a battle, the courier wore his hair loose and disordered, and, without speaking a word to any person, went straight to the palace, where, kneeling before the king, he related what had happened. If it was the news of a victory which had been obtained by the arms of Mexico, he had his hair tied with a coloured string, and his body girt with a white cotton cloth; in his left hand a shield, and in his right a sword, which he brandished as if he had been in the act of engagement; expressing by such gestures his glad tidings, and singing the glorious actions of the ancient Mexicans, while the people, overjoyed at seeing him, led him with many congratulations to the royal palace. In order that news might be more speedily conveyed, there were upon all the highways of the kingdom certain little towers, about six miles distant from each other, where couriers were always waiting in readiness to set out with dispatches. As soon as the first courier was sent off, he ran as swiftly as he could to the first stage, or little tower, where he communicated to another his intelligence, and delivered to him the paintings which represented the news, or the affair which was the subject of his embassy. The second courier posted without delay to the next stage, or little tower; and thus by a continued and uninterrupted speed of conveyance, intelligence was carried so rapidly from place to place, that sometimes, according to the affirmations made by several authors, it reached the distance of three hundred miles in one day. It was by this means that fresh fish were daily brought to Montezuma II, from the gulf of Mexico, which is at least upwards of two hundred miles distant from the capital. Those couriers were exercised in running from their childhood; and in order to encourage 136 HISTORY OF MEXICO. them in this exercise, the priests, under whose discipline they were trained, frequently bestowed rewards on those who were victors in a race. With respect to the nobility of Mexico and of the whole empire, it was divided into several classes, which were confounded together by the Spaniards under the general name of caziques. (q) Each class had its particular privileges and wore its own badges, by which means, although their dress was extremely simple, the character of every person was immediately understood. The nobles alone were allowed to wear ornaments of gold and gems upon their clothes, and to them exclusively belonged, from the reign of Montezuma II, all the high offices at court, in the magistracy, and the most considerable in the army. The highest rank of nobility in Tlascala, in Huexotzinco, and in Cholula, was that of Teuctli. To obtain this rank it was necessary to be of noble birth, to have given proofs in several battles of the utmost courage, to be arrived at a certain age, and to command great riches for the enormous expenses which were necessary to be supported by the possessor of such a dignity. The candidate was obliged besides to undergo a year of regular penance, consisting in perpetual fasting and frequent effusions of blood, and an abstinence from all commerce whatsoever with women, and patiently enduring the insults, the reproaches, and ill-treatment, by which fortitude and constancy are put to the test. They bored the cartilage of his nose, in order to suspend from it certain grains of gold, which were the principal badge of this dignity. On the day on which he came to the possession __________ (y) The name cazique, which signifies lord or prince, is derived from the Haitin tongue, which was spoken in the island of Hispaniola. The Mexicans called a lord Tlatoani, and a noble Pilli and Teuctli. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 137 of it, they stripped him of the dismal habit which he had worn during the time of his penance, and dressed him in most magnificent attire: they tied his hair with a leathern riband, dyed of a red colour, at which hung beautiful feathers, and fixed also the grains of gold at his nose. This ceremony was performed, in the upper area of the greater temple, by a priest, who, after having conferred the dignity, made him a congratulatory harangue. From thence he descended to the lower area, where he joined with the nobility in a grand dance that was made there, and which was succeeded by a magnificent entertainment, which was given at his expense to all the lords of the state, for whom besides the innumerable dresses which were made in presents to them, such an abundance of meats were prepared, there were consumed upon the occasion, agreeably to the accounts of some authors, from one thousand to sixteen hundred turkies, a vast number of rabbits, deer, and other animals, and an incredible quantity of cocoas in different sorts of beverage, and of the most choice and delicate fruits of that country. The title Teuctli was added in the manner of a surname to the proper name of persons advanced to this dignity, as Chechemeca-teuctli, Pil-teuctli, and others. The Teuctli took precedency of all others in the senate, both in the order of sitting and voting, and were permitted to have a servant behind them with a seat, which was esteemed a privilege of the highest honour. The titles of nobility amongst the Mexicans were for the most part hereditary. Even until the downfal of the empire many families that were descended of those illustrious Aztecas who founded Mexico, preserved themselves in great splendour, and several branches of those 138 HISTORY OF MEXICO. most ancient houses are still existing, though reduced by misfortunes, and obscured and confused amongst the vulgar. (r) It is not to be doubted that it would have been more wise policy in the Spaniards, if, instead of conducting women from Europe, and slaves from Africa, to Mexico, they had endeavoured to form by marriages, between the Mexicans and themselves, one single individual nation. If the nature of this history would permit, we could here give a demonstration of the advantages which would have been derived to both nations from such an union, and the misfortunes which were occasioned by the opposite conduct. In Mexico, and through the whole empire almost, excepting in the royal family as we have already mentioned, the sons succeeded to all the rights of their fathers; and on failure of sons the rights fell to brothers, and if these were wanting, to nephews. The lands of the Mexican empire were divided between the crown, the nobility, the communities, and the Temples, and there were paintings in which the property of each was distinctly represented. The lands of the crown were painted of a purple, those of the nobility of a scarlet, and those of the communities of a yellow colour. In these, at first sight, the extent and boundaries of the different estates were distinguished. __________ (r) It is impossible to behold without regret, the state of degradation to which some illustrious families of that kingdom have been reduced. Not very long ago was executed a locksmith, who was a descendant of the ancient kings of Michuacan: we knew a poor taylor in Mexico, who was descended of a very noble house of Coyoacan, but had been deprived of the possessions which he inherited from his illustrious ancestors. Examples of this kind are not infrequent even among the royal families of Mexico, Acolhuacan, and Tacuba; the repeated orders, which the justice and clemency of the Catholic kings caused to be made in their favour, have not been sufficient to protect them from the general calamity of their nation. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 139 After the conquest, the Spanish magistrates made use of these instruments to decide all disputes among the Indians concerning the property or possession of lands. Of the lands of the crown, which were called by the Mexicans Tecpantlalli, although the property was always vested in the king, certain lords called Tecpanpouhque, or Tecpantlaca, that is, people of the palace, enjoyed the temporary use and profits. These lords did not pay any tribute, nor give any thing else to the king than nosegays of flowers and different kinds of birds, which they presented to him in token of their vassalage every time that they made him a visit; but they were obliged to repair and rebuild the royal palaces whenever it was necessary, and to cultivate the gardens of the king, by assisting with their directions the populace of their district in that labour. They were obliged besides to pay court to the king, and to attend upon him every time that he appeared in public, and were therefore highly esteemed by all. When any of those lords died, his first-born son entered into possession of the lands, and into all the obligations of his father; but if he went to establish himself in another place, he lost these rights, and the king then granted them to another usufructuary; or lest the choice of one to the judgment of the community in whose district the lands were situated. The lands which they called pillalli, that is, lands of the nobles, were the ancient possessions of the nobles, transmitted by inheritance from father to son, or were rewards obtained from the king in recompense of services done to the crown. The first and the last could for the most part alienate their possessions, but they were not allowed to give away or fell them to plebeians; we say for the most part, because amongst these lands 140 HISTORY OF MEXICO. there were some granted by the king under a condition not to alienate them, but to leave them in inheritance to their sons. Respecting the inheritance of states, regard was paid to priority of birth; but if the first-born son was incapable of managing the possessions, the father was entirely at liberty to appoint any other son his heir, provided that he secured a provision from the rest. The daughters, at least in Tlascala, were not allowed to inherit, that the state might never fall under the government of a stranger. Even after the conquest of the Spaniards, the Tlascalans were so jealous of preserving the states in their families, that they refused to give the investiture of one of the four principalities of the republic to D. Francisco Pimentel, nephew of Coanacotzin, king of Acolhuacan, (s) married with donna Maria Maxicatzin, niece to prince Maxicatzin, who, as we shall afterwards find, was the chief of the four lords that governed that republic at the arrival of the Spaniards. The fiefs commenced in that kingdom at the time that king Xolotl divided the lands of Anahuac among the Chechemecan and Acolhuan lords, under the feudal conditions, that they would preserve inviolable fidelity, acknowledge his supreme authority, and their obligation to assist their sovereign whenever it should be necessary with their persons, with their property, and their vassals. In the Mexican empire, as far as we can find, real fiefs were few in number; and if we are to speak in the strict sense of the civil law, there were none at all; for they were neither perpetual __________ (s) Coanacotzin, king of Acolhuacan, was the Father of don Ferdinando Pimentel, who had don Francesco born to him by a Tlascalan lady. It is to be observed, that many of the Mexicans, particularly the nobles, upon being baptized, added to their Christian name a Spanish surname. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 141 in their nature, as every year it was necessary to repeat the form of investiture, nor were the vassals of feudatories exempted from the tributes which were paid to the king by the other vassals of the crown. The lands which were called Altepetlalli, that is, those of the communities of cities and villages, were divided into as many parts as there were districts in a city, and every district possessed its own part entirely distinct from, and independent of the others. These lands could not be alienated by any means whatever. Some of them were allotted to furnish provisions for the army in time of war; those were called Melchimalli, or Cacalomilli, according to the kind of provisions which they supplied. The catholic kings have assigned lands to the settlements of the Mexicans, (t) and made proper laws to secure to them the perpetuity of such possessions; but at present many villages have been deprived of them by the great power of some individuals, assisted by the iniquity of some judges. All the provinces that were conquered by the Mexicans were tributary to the crown, and contributed fruits, animals, and the minerals of the country, according to the rate prescribed them; and all merchants besides paid a part of their merchandizes, and all artists a certain portion of their labours. In the capital of every province was a house allotted for a magazine to contain the corn, garments, and all the other effects, which the revenue officers collected in the circle of each district. These officers were universally odious on account of the distresses which they brought on the tributary places. __________ (t) The royal laws grant to every Indian village, or settlement, the territory which surrounds them to the extent of six hundred Castilian cubits, which are aqual to two hundred and fifty-seven Parisian perches. 142 HISTORY OF MEXICO. Their badges of distinction were a little rod which they carried in one hand, and a fan of feathers in the other. The treasurers of the king had paintings, in which were described all the tributary places, and the quantity and quality of the tributes. In the collection made by Mendoza, there are thirty-fix paintings of this kind, (u) and in each of these are represented the principal places of one, or of many provinces of the empire. Besides an excessive number of cotton garments, and a certain quantity of corn and feathers, which were the usual taxes hud on almost all tributary places, many other different things were paid in tribute according to the produce of different countries. In order to give our readers some idea of them, we shall mention some of the taxes which are represented in these paintings. The cities of Xoconocho, Huehuetlan, Mazatlan, and others upon the coast, paid annually to the crown, besides the dresses made of cotton, four thousand handfuls of beautiful feathers of different colours, two hundred bags of cocoas, forty tygers skins, and a hundred and sixty birds of certain particular colours. Huaxjacac, Cojolapan, Atlacuechahuajan, and other places belonging to the Zapotecas, paid in tribute forty plates of gold of a certain size and thickness, and twenty bags of cochineal. Tlachquiaucho, Azotlan, twenty vases of a certain measure full of gold in powder, Tochtepec, Otlatitlan, Cozamalloapan, Michapan, and other places upon __________ (u) The thirty-fix paintings begin with the 13th, and end with the 48th. In the copy of them published by Thevenot, the last and 2nd are wanting, and for the most part the figures of the tributary cities. The copy published in Mexico in 1770, is still less perfect, for it wants the 21st, 22d, 38th, 39th, and 40th of Mendoza's Collection, besides a number of errors in the interpretations; but it has the advantage over Thevenot's of having the figures of the cities, and of being all executed on plates. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 143 the coast of the Mexican gulf, besides the garments of cotton, gold, and cocoas, were obliged to contribute seventy-four thousand handfuls of feathers, of different colours and qualities, six necklaces, two of the finest emeralds, and four of those which were ordinary; twenty ear-rings of amber, adorned with gold, and as many of crystal; a hundred small cups or jugs of liquid amber, and sixteen thousand balls of ule, or elastic gum. Tapejacac, Quecholac, Tecamachalco, Acatzinco, and other places of those regions, furnished four thousand sacks of lime, four thousand loads of atatli, or solid canes, fit to be used in buildings, and as many loads of the same canes of a smaller size, fit for making darts, and eight thousand loads of acajetl, or little reeds, full of aromatic substances. Malinaltepec, Tlalcozauhtitlan, Olinallan, Ichcatlan, Qualac, and other places of southern hot countries, six hundred cups of honey, forty large basons of tecozahuitl, or yellow ochre, fit for painting, a hundred and sixty axes of copper, forty round plates of gold, of a certain diameter and thickness, ten small measures of fine turquoises, and one load of ordinary turquoises. Quauhnahuac, Panchimalco, Atlacholoajan, Xiuhtepec, Huitzilac, and other places belonging to the Tlahuicas, sixteen thousand pieces, or large sheets of paper, and four thousand xicalli (natural vases, of which we shall treat hereafter), of different sizes. Quauhtitlan, Tehuillojocan, and other places which were neighbouring to them, eight thousand mats, and as many seats or chairs. Other places contributed fuel, Hone, a certain number of beams and planks fit for buildings, and a certain quantity of copal, &c. Some tributary people were obliged to send to the royal palaces and woods a certain number of birds and quadrupeds, namely, the people of Xilotepec, Michmalajan, 144 HISTORY OF MEXICO. and other places in the country of the Otomies, which last were obliged to send the king every year forty live eagles. Concerning the Matlatzincas we know that when they were brought under subjection to the crown of Mexico by king Axajacatl, besides the tribute which they are represented to have paid, in the twenty-seventh painting of the collection of Mendoza, the further burthen was imposed on them of cultivating a field about seven hundred perches long and half as broad, for the purpose of furnishing the royal army with provisions. To conclude, a part of every thing useful, which was found in the kingdom, either amongst the productions of nature or art, was paid in tribute to the king of Mexico. These large contributions, the great presents which the governors of provinces, and the feudatory lords made to the king, together with the spoils of war, formed the great riches of his court which excited so much admiration in the Spanish conquerors, and occasioned so much misery to his unfortunate subjects. The tributes which were at first moderate and easy, became at last excessive and enormous; for the pride and pomp of the kings kept pace with their conquests. It is true, that a great part, and perhaps the greatest part of these revenues was expended for the benefit of the same subjects in the support of a great number of ministers and magistrates for the administration of justice, in the reward of those who had done services to the state, in the relief of the indigent, particularly widows and orphans, and men grown feeble with age, which were the three classes of people most compassionated by the Mexicans, and also by opening the royal granaries in times of great scarcity to the nation; but how many of those unhappy people who HISTORY OF MEXICO. 145 were unable to pay the tributes demanded from them must sink under the weight of their misery, while the royal beneficence did not reach them? To oppressive taxes were added the greatest rigour in collecting them. Whoever did not pay the tribute prescribed was sold for a slave, in order to purchase with his liberty what he could not gain by his industry. For the administration of justice, the Mexicans had various tribunals and judges. At court, and in the more considerable places of the kingdom, there was a supreme magistrate named Cihuacoatl, whose authority was so great that from the sentences pronounced by him, either in civil or criminal causes, no appeal could be made to any other tribunal, not even to majesty. He had the appointment of the inferior judges, and the receivers of the royal revenues within his district, rendered in their accounts to him. Any one who either made use of his ensigns, or usurped his authority, was punished with death. The tribunal of the Tlacatecatl, though inferior to the first, was extremely respectable, and composed of three judges, namely of the Tlacatecatl, who was the chief, and from whom the tribunal took its name, and of two others who were called Quauhnochtli and Tlanotlac. They took cognizance of civil and criminal causes in the first and second instance, although sentence was pronounced in the name only of the Tlacatecatl. They met daily in a hall of the house of the public, which was called Tlatzontecojan, that is, the place where judgment is given, to which belonged porters and other officers of justice. There they listened with the utmost attention to litigations, diligently examined into causes, and pronounced sentence according to the laws. If a cause was 146 HISTORY OF MEXICO. purely civil, there was no appeal from that court; but if the cause was of a criminal nature, an appeal lay to the Cihuacoatl. The sentence was published by the Tepojotl, or public cryer, and was executed by the Quauhnochtli, who, as we have already mentioned, was one of the three judges. The public cryer, as well as the executive minister of justice, was held in high esteem amongst the Mexicans, because they were considered to be the representatives of the king. In every district of the city resided a Teuctli, who was deputy of the tribunal of Tlacatecatl, and was elected annually by the commons of that district. He took cognizance, in the first instance, of the causes within his district, and daily waited upon the Cihuacoatl, or the Tlacatecatl, to report to him every thing which occurred, and to receive his orders. Besides these Teuctli, there were in every district certain commissaries, elected in the same manner by the commons of the district, and named Centectlapixque; but they, from what appears to us, were not judges, but only guardians, charged to observe the conduct of a certain number of families committed to their care, and to acquaint the magistrates with every thing that parted. Next to the Teuctli were the Taquitlatoque, or the runners, who carried the notifications of the magistrates, and summoned guilty persons, and the Topilli or the officers who apprehended and made prisoners. In the kingdom of Acolhuacan, the judicial power was divided amongst seven principal cities. The judges remained in their tribunals from sun-rise until evening. Their meals were brought to them in the tribunal-hall, and that they might not be taken off from their employment, by giving attendance upon their families, nor have HISTORY OF MEXICO. 147 any excuse for being corrupted, they were, agreeably to the usage in the kingdom of Mexico, assigned possessions and labourers, who cultivated their fields. Those possessions, as they belonged to the office, not to the officer, did not pass to his heirs but to his successors in that appointment. In causes of importance they durst not pronounce sentence, at least not in the capital, without giving information to the king. Every Mexican month, or every twenty days, an assembly of all the judges was held before the king, in order to determine all causes then undecided. If from their being much perplexed and intricate, they were not finished at that time, they were reserved for another general assembly of a more solemn nature, which was held every eighty days, and was therefore called Nappapsallatolli, that is, the Conference of Eighty, at which all causes were finally decided, and in the presence of that whole assembly, punishment was inflicted on the guilty. The king pronounced sentence by drawing a line with the point of an arrow upon the head of the guilty person, which was painted on the process. In the tribunals of the Mexicans the contending parties made their own allegations: at least we do not know that they employed any other advocates. In criminal causes the accuser was not allowed any other proof than that of his witnesses; but an accused person could clear himself from guilt by his oath. In disputes about the boundaries of possessions, the paintings of the land were consulted as authentic writings. All the magistrates were obliged to give judgment according to the laws of the kingdom which were represented by paintings. Of these we have seen many, and have extracted from them a part of that which we shall lay before our readers on the subject. The power of 148 HISTORY OF MEXICO. making laws in Tezcuco belonged always to the kings, who made those which they published, be rigorously observed. Amongst the Mexicans, the first laws were made, from what we can discover, by the body of the nobility; but afterwards the kings became the legislators of the nation, and while their authority was confined within moderate limits, they were zealous in the observance of those laws which they or their ancestors had promulgated. In the last years of the monarchy despotism altered, and changed them at caprice. We shall here enumerate those which were in force at the time the Spaniards entered into Mexico. In some of them much prudence and humanity and a strong attachment to good customs will be discovered; but in others an excess of rigour which degenerated into cruelty. A traitor to the king or the state was torn in pieces, and his relations who were privy to the treason, and did not discover it, were deprived of their liberty. Whoever dared in war, or at any time of public rejoicing, to make use of the badges of the kings of Mexico, of Acolhuacan, or Tacuba, or of those of the Cihuacoatl, was punished with death, and his goods confiscated. Whoever maltreated an ambassador, minister, or courier belonging to the king, suffered death; but ambassadors and couriers were forbid on their part part to leave the high road, under pain of losing their privileges. The punishment of death was inflicted also on those persons who occasioned any sedition amongst the people; on those who carried off, or changed the boundaries placed in the fields by public authority; and likewise on judges who gave a sentence that was unjust, or contrary to the laws, or made an unfaithful report of any cause HISTORY OF MEXICO. 149 to the king, or a superior magistrate, or allowed themselves to be corrupted by bribes. He who in war committed any hostility upon the enemy without the order of his chief, or attacked them before the signal for battle was given, or abandoned the colours, or violated any proclamation published to the army, was infallibly beheaded. He who at market altered the measures established by the magistrates, was guilty of felony, and was put to death without delay in the same place. A murderer forfeited his own life for his crime, even although the person murdered was but a slave. He who killed his wife, although he caught her in adultery, suffered death; because, according to them, he usurped the authority of the magistrates, whose province it was to take cognizance of misdeeds, and punish evil-doers. Adultery was inevitably punished with death. Adulterers were stoned to death, or their heads were bruised between two stones. This law which prescribed that adulterers should be stoned to death, is one of those which we have seen represented in the ancient paintings which were preserved in the library of the supreme college of Jesuits at Mexico. It is also represented in the last painting of the collection made by Mendoza, and is taken notice of by Gomara, Torquemada, and other authors. But they did not consider, nor did they punish as adultery, the trespass of a husband with any woman who was free, or not joined in matrimony: wherefore the husband was not bound to so much fidelity as was exacted from the wife. In all places of the empire this crime was punished, but in some places with greater severity than in others. In Ichoatlan, a woman who was 150 HISTORY OF MEXICO. accused of adultery was summoned before the judges, and if the proofs of her crime were satisfactory, she received punishment there immediately; she was torn in pieces, and her limbs divided amongst the witnesses. In Itztepec infidelity in a woman was punished according to the sentence of the magistrates by her husband, who cut off her nose and her ears. In some parts of the empire the punishment of death was inflicted on the husband, who cohabited with his wife, after it was proved that she had violated her fidelity. No divorce was lawful without the permission of the judges. He who desired to divorce his wife, presented himself before the tribunal and explained his reasons for it. The judges exhorted him to concord, and endeavoured to dissuade him from a separation; but if he persisted in his claim, and his reasons appeared just, they told him that he might do that which he should judge most proper, without giving their authority for a divorce by a formal sentence. If after all he divorced her, he never could recover her nor be united to her again. Those who were guilty of incest with their nearest of blood, or relations, were hanged, and all marriages between persons so nearly connected were strictly forbid by law, excepting marriages between brothers and sisters-in-law; for amongst the Mexicans, as well as amongst the Hebrews, it was the custom that the brothers of the deceased husband might marry with their widowed sisters-in-law; but there was great difference in this practice of these two nations; for amongst the Hebrews such a marriage could only happen in one case, that was where the husband died without issue; amongst the Mexicans on the contrary, it was necessary that the deceased should leave children, of whose education the brother was to HISTORY OF MEXICO. 151 take charge, entering into all the rights of a father. In some places which were distant from the capital, the nobles were accustomed to marry their widowed mothers-in-law, provided their fathers had not had children by them; but in the capitals of Mexico and Tezcuco, and the places neighbouring to them, such marriages were deemed incestuous, and punched with severity. Any person guilty of a detestable crime was hanged; if a priest, he was burnt alive. Amongst all the nations of Anahuac, excepting the Panuchefe, this crime was held in abomination, and was punished by them all with rigour. Nevertheless, vicious men, in order to justify their own excesses, have defamed all the nations of America with this horrid voice; but this calumny, which several European authors have too readily admitted to be just, is proved to be false by the testimony of many other authors, who are more impartial and better informed. (x) The priest, who, during the time that he was dedicated to the service of the temple, abused any free woman, was deprived of the priesthood and banished. If any of the young men, or young women, who were educating in the seminaries, were guilty of incontinence, they were liable to a severe punishment, and even to suffer death, according to the report of some authors. But, on the other hand, there was no punishment whatever prescribed for simple fornication, although the evil tendency of an excess of this kind was not unknown to them; and fathers frequently admonished their children to beware of it: they burned the hair of a bawd in the market-place with pine torches, and smeared her head with __________ (x) See what we have said in our Dissertations respecting the author who has revived this atrocious calumny upon the Americans. 152 HISTORY OF MEXICO. the resin of the same wood. The more respectable the persons were to whom she served in this capacity, so much the greater was the punishment. According to the laws, the man who dressed himself like a woman, or the woman who dressed herself like a man, was hanged. The thief of things of small value met with no punishment, excepting that of being obliged to restore what he had stolen; if the things were of great value, he was made the slave of the person whom he had robbed. If the thing stolen did no longer exist, nor the robber had any goods by which he could repay his robbery, he was stoned to death. If he had stolen gold or gems, after being conducted through all the streets of the city, he was sacrificed at the festival which the goldsmiths held in honour of their god Xipe. He who stole a certain number of ears of maize, or pulled up from another's field a certain number of useful trees, was made a slave of the owner of that field; (y) but every poor traveller was permitted to take of the maize, or the fruit-bearing trees, which were planted by the side of the highway, as much as was sufficient to satisfy immediate hunger. He who robbed in the market, was immediately put to death by the bastinado, in the market-place. He also was condemned to death, who in the army robbed another of his arms or badges. Whoever upon finding a strayed child, made it a slave, and sold it to another, as if it were his own, forfeited by that crime his liberty and his goods, one half of which was appropriated to the support of the child, and the __________ (y) The anonymous conqueror says, that stealing of three or four ears of maize was sufficient to incur the penalty. Torquemada adds, that the penalty was death: but this was the law in the kingdom of Acolhuacan only, not in the realm of Mexico. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 153 other half was paid to the purchaser that he might set the child at liberty. Whatever number of persons were concerned in the crime, all of them were liable to the same punishment. To the same punishment of servitude, and to the loss of his goods, was every person liable who sold the possessions of another, which he only had in farm. Tutors who did not give a good account of the estates of their pupils, were hanged without pardon. The same punishment was inflicted on sons who squandered their patrimony in vices; for they said it was a great crime not to set a higher value on the labours of their fathers. He who practiced sorcery was sacrificed to the gods. Drunkenness in youth was a capital offence; young men were put to death by the bastinado in prison, and young women were stoned to death. In men advanced in years, although it was not made capital, it was punished with severity. If he was a nobleman, he was stripped of his office and his rank, and rendered infamous; if a plebeian, they shaved him (a punishment very sensibly felt by them), and demolished his house, saying, that he who could voluntarily bereave himself of his senses, was not worthy of a habitation amongst men. This law did not forbid conviviality at nuptials, or at any other times of festivity: on such occasions it being lawful, in private houses, to drink more than usual; nor did the law affect old men of seventy years, who, on account of their age, were allowed to drink as much as they pleased; which appears represented in the forty-third painting of the collection made by Mendoza. 154 HISTORY OF MEXICO. He who told a lie to the particular prejudice of another, had a part of his lip cut off, and sometimes his ears. Of the Mexican laws concerning slaves it is to be observed, that there were three sorts of slaves among them. The first were prisoners of war; the second were those whom they purchased for a valuable consideration; and the third were malefactors, who were deprived of their liberty in punishment of their crimes. The prisoners of war were generally sacrificed to their gods. He who in war took another's prisoner from him, or set him at liberty, was punished with death. The sale of a slave was not valid, unless it was made in the presence of four lawful witnesses. In general, they assembled in greater numbers, and celebrated contracts of that nature with great solemnity. Among the Mexicans a slave was allowed to have cattle, to acquire property, and even to purchase slaves who served him; nor could his owner hinder him, nor have service from such slaves; for slavery was only an obligation of personal service, and even that was under certain restrictions. Nor was slavery entailed upon the descendants of slaves. All Mexicans were born free, although their mothers were slaves. If a free man impregnated another person's slave, and she died during her pregnancy, he became the slave of the owner of the female slave; but if she was happily delivered, the child as well as the father remained both free. Necessitous parents were allowed to dispose of any one of their children, in order to relieve their poverty; and any free man might sell himself for the same purpose; HISTORY OF MEXICO. 155 but owners could not sell their slaves without their consent, unless they were slaves with a collar. Runaway, rebellious, or vicious slaves, had two or three warnings given them by their owners, which warnings they gave for their better justification in presence of some witnesses. If, in spite of these admonitions the slaves did not mend their behaviour, a wooden collar was put about their necks, and then it was lawful to sell them at market. If, after having been owned by two or three masters, they still continued intractable, they were sold for the sacrifices; but that happened very rarely. If a slave, who was collared in this manner, happened to escape from the prison where his owner confined him, and took refuge in the royal-palace, he remained free; and the person who attempted to prevent his gaining this asylum, forfeited his liberty for the attempt, except it was the owner, or one of his children, who had a right to seize him. The persons who fold themselves were generally gamesters, who did so in order to game with the price of their liberty; or those who by laziness, or some misfortune, found themselves reduced to misery, and prostitutes, who wanted clothes to make their appearance in public; for women of that class among the Mexicans had no interest in general in their profession, but the gratification of their passions. Slavery amongst the Mexicans was not so hard to be borne, as it was among other people; for the condition of a slave among them was by no means oppressive. Their labour was moderate, and their treatment humane; when their masters died, they generally became free. The common price of a slave was a load of cotton garments. 156 HISTORY OF MEXICO. There was among the Mexicans another kind of slavery, which they called Huehuetatlacolli, which was, where one or two families, on account of their poverty, bound themselves to furnish some lord perpetually with a slave. They delivered up one of their sons for this purpose, and after he had served for some years they recalled him, in order to let him marry, or for some other motive, and substituted another in his place. The change was made without giving any offence to the patron; on the contrary, he generally gave some consideration for a new slave. In the year 1506, on account of a great scarcity which happened then, many families were obliged to this kind of servitude; but they were all freed from it by the king of Acolhuacan, Nezahualpilli, owing to the hardships they suffered from it; and, after his example, the same thing was done by Montezuma II, in his dominions. The conquerors, who imagined they entered into all the rights of the ancient Mexican lords, had, at first, many slaves of those nations; but when the Catholic kings were informed of it by persons of credit who were zealous for the public good, and well acquainted with the manners and customs of those people, they declared all those slaves free, and forbid, under severe penalties, any attempt against their liberty. A law infinitely just, and worthy the humanity of those monarchs; for the first religious missionaries who were employed in the conversion of the Mexicans, amongst whom were men of much learning, declared, after diligent examination, that they had not been able to find one amongst the slaves who had been justly deprived of his natural liberty. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 157 We have now said all that we know of the Mexican legislature. More complete information on this head, and in particular concerning their civil contracts, their tribunals, and supreme councils, might have proved extremely valuable; but the unfortunate loss of the greater part of their paintings, and of some manuscripts of the first Spaniards, has deprived us of the only lights which could have illustrated this subject. Although the laws of the capital were generally received throughout the whole empire, yet in some of the provinces many variations from them took place; for as the Mexicans did not oblige the conquered nations to speak the language of their court, neither did they compel them to adopt all their laws. The legislature of Acolhuacan was the most similar to that of Mexico; but still they differed in many particulars, and the former was far more severe than the latter. The laws published by the celebrated king Nezahualcojotl ordained, that a thief should be dragged through the streets, and afterwards hanged. Murderers were beheaded. The agent in the crime of sodomy was suffocated in a heap of ashes; the patient had his bowels torn out, after which his belly was filled with ashes, and then he was burned. He who maliciously contrived to sow discord between two states, was tied to a tree and burned alive. He who drank till he lost his senses, if a nobleman, was immediately hanged, and his body was thrown into the lake, or into some river; if a plebeian, for the first offence, he lost his liberty, and for the second his life. And when the legislator was asked, why the law was more severe upon nobles, he answered, that the crime of drunkenness was less pardonable in 158 HISTORY OF MEXICO. them, as they were more bound in duty to set a good example. The same king prescribed the punishment of death to historians who published any falsehood in their paintings. (y) He condemned robbers of the fields to the same punishment, and declared that the stealing seven ears of maize was sufficient to incur the penalty. The Tlascalans adopted the greater part of the laws of Acolhuacan. Among them, sons, who were wanting in respect and duty to their parents, were put to death by order of the senate. Those persons who were authors of any public misfortune, and yet did not deserve to be punished with death, were banished. Generally speaking, among all the polished nations of Anahuac, murder, theft, lying, adultery, and other similar crimes of incontinence, were rigorously punished,and that which we have already observed, when speaking of their character, appears to be verified in every thing, namely, that they were (as they still are) naturally inclined to severity and rigour, and more vigilant to punish vice than to reward virtue. Among the punishments prescribed by the legislators of Mexico against malefactors, that of the fork or gallows was reckoned the most ignominious. That of banishment was also thought infamous, as it supposed the guilty person possessed of an infectious vice. That of whipping is not found among their laws; nor do we know that it was ever made use of except by parents to their children, or masters to their pupils. __________ (y) This law against false historians is attested by D. Fcrdinando d' Alba Ixtlilxochitl (who was a descendant of that legislator), in his valuable manuscripts. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 159 They had two sorts of prisons: one similar to modern prisons, called Teilpilojan, which was appropriated for debtors who refused to pay their debts, and for such persons as were guilty of crimes not deserving death; the other called Quauhcalli, resembling a cage, was used to confine prisoners who were to be sacrificed, and persons guilty of capital offences. Both of them were well watched and strongly guarded. those who were to be capitally punished were fed very sparingly, in order that they might taste by anticipation the bitterness of death. The prisoners on the contrary were well nourished, in order that they might appear in good flesh at the sacrifice. If through the negligence of the guard, any prisoner escaped from the cage, the community of the district, whose duty it was to supply the prisons with guards, was obliged to pay to the owner of the fugitive, a female slave, a load of cotton garments, and a shield. Having treated thus far of the civil, it is now become necessary to say something of the military government of the Mexicans. No profession was held in more esteem amongst them than the profession of arms. The deity of war was the most revered by them, and regarded as the chief protector of the nation. No prince was elected king, until he had, in several battles, displayed proofs of his courage and military skill, and merited the splendid post of general of the army; and no king was crowned, until he had taken, with his own hands, the victims which were to be sacrificed at the festival of his coronation. All the Mexican kings, from Itzcoatl the first, down to Quauhtemotzin, who was their last, rose from the command of the army to the government of the kingdom. 160 HISTORY OF MEXICO. Those who died for the sake of their country, with their arms in their hands, were imagined to be the happiest souls in another life. From the great esteem in which the profession of arms was held amongst them, they were at much pains to make their children courageous, and to inure them from the earliest infancy to the hardships of war. It was this elevated notion of the glory of arms, which formed those heroes, whose illustrious actions we have already related: which made them shake off the yoke of the Tepanecas, and erect on so humble a foundation, so famous and celebrated a monarchy: and lastly, which produced the extension of their dominions from the banks of the lake to the shores of the two opposite seas. The highest military dignity was that of general of the army; but there were four different ranks of generals, of which the most respectable was that of Tlacochcalcatl, (z) and each rank had its particular badges of distinction. We are uncertain in what degree the other three ranks were subordinate to the first; nor can we even tell their names, on account of the different opinions of authors on this head. (a) Next to the generals were the captains, each of whom commanded a certain number of soldiers. __________ (z) Some authors say that Tlacochcalcatl, signifies prince of the darts, but unquestionably it means only, inhabitant of the arsenal, or house of the darts. (a) The interpreter of Mendoza's Collection says, that the names of the four ranks of generals, were Tlacochcalcatl, Atempanecatl, Ezhuacatecatl, and Tlillancalqui. Acosta, instead of Atempanecatl, says Tlacatecatl, and instead of Ezhuacatecatl, Ezhuahuacatl; and adds, that these were the names of the four electors. Torquemada adopts the name of Tlacatecatl, but sometimes he makes his rank inferior to the Tlacochcalcatl, and at other times he confounds them together. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 161 In order to reward the services of warriors, and give them every kind of encouragement, the Mexicans devised three military orders, called Achcauhtin, Quauhtin, and Oocelo, or Princes, Eagles, and Tygers. The persons belonging to the order of princes, who were called Quachictin, were the most honoured. They wore their hair tied on the top of their heads with a red string, from which hung as many locks of cotton as they had performed meritorious actions. This honour was so much esteemed among them, that the kings themselves, as well as the generals, were proud of having it conferred upon them. Montezuma II belonged to this order, as Acosta affirms, and also king Tizoc, as appears in the paintings of him. The Tygers were distinguished by a particular armour which they wore, it being spotted like the skins of these wild animals; but such insignia were only made use of in war: at court all the officers of the army wore a dress of mixed colours, which was called Tlachquauhjo. No persons on the first time of their going to war, were allowed to wear any badge of distinction; they were dressed in a coarse white habit, of cloth made from the aloe; and this rule was so strictly observed, that it was even necessary for the princes of the royal blood to give some proofs of their courage before they could be entitled to change that plain dress for another more costly, called Teucaliuhqui. The members of those military orders, besides the exterior marks of distinction which they wore, were allotted particular apartments in the royal palace, whenever they waited upon the king as guards. They were allowed to have furniture in their houses made of gold, to wear the finest cotton dress, and finer shoes than those of the common people; but no soldier 162 HISTORY OF MEXICO. had permission to do this until he had gained, by his bravery, some advancement in the army. A particular dress called Tlacatziuhqui was given as a reward to the soldier, who, by his example, encouraged a dispirited army to renew battle with vigour. When the king went to war, he wore besides his armour, particular badges of distinction; on his legs, half boots made of thin plates of gold; on his arms, plates of the same metal, and bracelets of gems; at his under lip hung an emerald set in gold; at his ears, earrings of the same stone; about his neck a necklace, or chain of gold and gems, and a plume of beautiful feathers on his head; but the badge most expressive of majesty, was a work of great labour made of beautiful feathers, which reached from the head all down the back. (b) The Mexicans were very attentive to distinguish persons, particularly in war, by different badges. The defensive and offensive arms which were made use of by the Mexicans, and the other nations of Anahuac, were of various sorts. The defensive arms common to the nobles and plebeians, to the officers and soldiers, were shields, which they called Chimalli, (c) and were made of different forms and materials. Some of them were perfectly round, and others were rounded only in the under part. Some were made of otatli, or solid elastic canes, interwoven with thick cotton threads, __________ (b) All these royal insignia had their particular names. The boots were called cozebuatl, the brachials matermcatl, the bracelets matzopoztli, the emeralds at the lip tentetl, the ear-rings nacochtli, the necklace cozcapetlatl, and the principal badge of feathers quachictli. (c) Solis pretends, that the shield was used only by lords; but the anonymous conqueror, who frequently saw the Mexicans in arms, and was engaged in many battles against them, asserts expressly, that this armour was common to all ranks. No author has informed us more accurately than he of the Mexicans.
[follows 162]
HISTORY OF MEXICO. 163 and covered with feathers; those of the nobles with thin plates of gold; others were made of large tortoise-shells, adorned with copper, silver, and gold, according to the wealth of the owner, or his rank in the army. These were of a moderate size; but others were so excessively large, that they could occasionally cover the whole body; but when it was not necessary to use them, they could compress them, and carry them under their arms like the parasols of the moderns; it is probable, they were made of the skins of animals, or cloth waxed with ule, or elastic gum. (d) On the other hand, many of their shields were very small, more beautiful than strong, and adorned with fine feathers; these were not employed in war, but only at the entertainments which they made in imitation of a battle. The defensive arms peculiar to the officers were breast-plates of cotton, one and sometimes two fingers thick, which were arrow-proof; and on this account the Spaniards themselves made use of them in the war against the Mexicans. The name Ichcahuepilli, which the Mexicans gave to this sort of breast-plate, was changed by the Spaniards into the word Escaupil. Over this sort of cuirass, which only covered part of the breast, they put on another piece of armour, which, besides the chest, covered the thighs, and the half of the arms, figures of which appear in the plate representing the Mexican armour. The lords were accustomed to wear a thick upper coat of feathers, over a cuirass made of several plates of gold, or silver gilt, which rendered them invulnerable, not only by arrows, but even by darts or swords, as the anonymous conqueror affirms. __________ (d) These large shields are mentioned by the anonymous conqueror, Didaco Godoi, and Bernal Dias, who were all present at the conquest. 164 HISTORY OF MEXICO. Besides the armour which they wore for the defence of their chest, their arms, their thighs, and even their legs; their heads were usually cased in the heads of tygers, or serpents, made of wood, or some other substance, with the mouth open, and furnished with large teeth that they might inspire terror, and so animated in appearance, that the above mentioned author says, they seemed to be vomiting up the soldiers. All the officers and nobles wore a beautiful plume of feathers on their heads, in order to add to the appearance of their stature. The common soldiers went entirely naked, except the maxtlatl, or girdle, which covered the private parts; but they counterfeited the dress which they wanted by different colours, with which they painted their bodies. The European historians, who express so much wonder at this, have not observed how common the same practice was among the ancient nations of Europe itself. The offensive arms of the Mexicans were arrows, slings, clubs, spears, pikes, swords, and darts. Their bows were made of a wood, which was elastic and difficult to break, and the string of the sinews of animals, or the hair of the stag. Some of their bows were so large (as they are at present among some nations of that continent), that they required more than five feet length of string. Their arrows were made of hard rods, pointed with the sharp bone of a fish, or other animal, or a piece of flint, or itztli. They were extremely expert at drawing the bow, and very dextrous marksmen, being exercised in it from childhood, and encouraged by rewards from their masters and parents. The Tehuacanese nation was particularly famous for their skill in shooting two or three arrows together. The surprising feats of dexterity, which have been exhibited even in our time HISTORY OF MEXICO. 165 by the Taraumarese, the Hiaquese, and other people of those regions, who still use the bow and arrow, enable us to judge of the expertness and excellence of the ancient Mexicans in that way. (e) No people of the country of Anahuac ever made use of poisoned arrows; this was probably owing to their desire of taking their enemies alive for the purpose of sacrificing them. The Maquahuitl, called by the Spaniards Spada, or sword, as it was the weapon among the Mexicans, which was equivalent to the sword of the old continent, was a stout stick three feet and a half long, and about four inches broad, armed on each side with a sort of razors of the stone itztli, extraordinarily sharp, fixed and firmly fastened to the stick with gum lack, (f) which were about three inches long, one or two inches broad, and as thick as the blade of our ancient swords. This weapon was so keen, that once it entirely beheaded a horse at one stroke, according to the affirmation of Acosta; but the first stroke only was to be feared; for the razors became soon blunt. They tied this weapon by a string to their arm, lest they might lose it in any violent conflict. The form of the maquahuitl is described by several historians, and is represented in one of the plates of this history. __________ (e) The dexterity of those people in shooting arrows would not be credible, were it not well ascertained by the depositions of a variety of eye-witnesses. It was usual for a number of archers to assemble together, and throw up an ear of maize into the air, at which they immediately shot with such quickness and dexterity, that before it could reach the ground it was stripped of every grain. (f) Hernandez says, that one stroke of the maquahuitl was sufficient to cut a man through the middle; and the anonymous conqueror attests, that he saw in an engagement a Mexican, with one stroke which he gave a horse in the belly, make his intestines drop out; and another, who with one stroke which he gave a horse upon the head, laid him dead at his feet. 166 HISTORY OF MEXICO. The pikes of the Mexicans, instead of iron, were pointed with a large flint, but some of them also with copper. The Chinantecas, and some people of Chiapan, made use of pikes so monstrous, that they exceeded three perches, or eighteen feet in length, and the conqueror Cortes employed them against the cavalry of his rival Panfilo Navaez. The Tlacochtli, or Mexican dart, was a small lance of otatli, or some other strong wood, the point of which was hardened by fire, or shod with copper, or itztli, or bone, and many of them had three points, in order to make a triple wound at every stroke. They fixed a string to their darts, (g) in order to pull them back again, after they had launched them at the enemy. This was the weapon which was the most dreaded by the Spanish conquerors; for they were so expert at throwing them, that they pierced the body of an enemy through and through. The soldiers were armed in general with a sword, a bow and arrows, a dart, and a sling. We do not know, whether in war, they ever made use of their axes, of which we shall shortly speak. They had also standards and musical instruments proper for war. Their standards, which were more like the Signum of the Romans than our colours, were staves from eight to ten feet long, on which they carried the arms or ensigns of the state, made of gold, or feathers, or some other valuable materials. The armorial ensign of the Mexican empire, was an eagle in the act of darting upon a tyger; that of the republic of Tlascala, an __________ (g) The Mexican dart was of that kind of darts which the Romans used to call Hastile, Jaculum, or Telum amentatum, and the Spanish name Amento or Ameinto, which the historians of Mexico have adopted, means the same thing as the Amentum of the Romans. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 167 eagle with its wings spread; (h) but each of the four lordships which composed the republic, had its proper ensign. That of Ocotelolco, was a green bird upon a rock; that of Tizatlan, a heron upon a rock also; that of Tepeticpac, a fierce wolf, holding some arrows in his paws; and that of Quiahuiztlan, a parasol of green feathers. The standard which the conqueror Cortes took in the famous battle of Otompan, was a net of gold, which, in all probability, was the standard of some city situated on the lake. Besides the common and principal standard of the army, every company, consisting of two or three hundred soldiers, carried its particular standard, and was not only distinguished from others by it, but likewise by the colour of the feathers, which the officers and nobles bore upon their armour. The standard-bearer of the army, at least in the last years of the empire, was the general, and those of the companies, most probably, were borne by their commanding officers. Those standards were so firmly tied upon the backs of the officers, that it was almost impossible to detach them without cutting the standard-bearers to pieces. The Mexicans always placed their standard in the centre of their army. The Tlascalans, when they marched their troops in time of peace placed it in the van, but in the time of war, in the rear of their army. Their martial music in which there was more noise than harmony, consisted of drums, horns, and certain sea-shells which made an extremely shrill sound. Previous to a declaration of war, the supreme council examined into the cause which induced them to undertake __________ (h) Gomara says, that the armorial ensign of the republic of Tlascala wat a crane; but other historians, better informed than he was, affirm that it was an eagle. 168 HISTORY OF MEXICO. take it, which was for the most part the rebellion of some city or province, the putting to death unlawfully some Mexican, Acolhuan, or Tepanecan couriers, or merchants, or some gross insult offered to their ambassadors. If the rebellion originated in some of the chiefs, and not among the people, the guilty persons were conducted to the capital and punished. But if the people were also in fault, satisfaction was demanded from them in the name of the king. If they submitted, and manifested a sincere repentance, their crime was pardoned, and they were advised to better conduct; but if, instead of submission, they answered with arrogance, and persisted in denying the satisfaction demanded, or offered any new insult to the messengers which were sent to them, the affair was discussed in the council, and if war was resolved upon, proper orders were given to the generals. Sometimes the kings, in order to justify their conduct more fully before they made war upon any state or place, sent three different embassies; the first to the lord of the state which had given offence, requiring from him a suitable satisfaction, and also prescribing a time for the same, on pain of being treated as an enemy; the second, to the nobles, that they might persuade their lord to make a submission, and escape the punishment which threatened him; and the third to the people, in order to make them acquainted with the occasion of the war; and very often, as a certain historian asserts, the arguments made use of by the ambassadors were so powerful, and the advantages of peace, and the distresses of war, were so forcibly represented, that an accommodation took place between the parties. They used also to send along with ambassadors the idol of Huitzilopochtli, enjoining the people who were stirring up a war to give it a place HISTORY OF MEXICO. 169 among their gods. If they on the one hand found themselves strong enough to refill, they rejected the proposition, and dismissed the strange god; but if they thought themselves unable to sustain a war, they received the idol, and placed it among their provincial gods, and answered to the embassy with a large present of gold, gems, or beautiful feathers, acknowledging their subjection to the sovereign. If war was to be commenced, previous to every thing else they sent advice of it to the enemy, that they might prepare for defence, considering nothing more mean and unworthy of brave people than to attack the unguarded: for this purpose therefore, they sent before them several shields, which were the signals of a challenge, and likewise some cotton dresses. When one king was challenged by another, they used also the ceremony of anointing, and fixing feathers upon his head, which was done by the ambassador, as happened at the challenge given by king Itzcoatl to the tyrant Maxtlaton; they next despatched spies, who were called Quimichtin, or sorcerers, and were to go in disguise into the country of the enemy, to observe their number and motions, and the quality of the troops which they mustered. If they were successful in this commission they were amply rewarded. lastly, after having made some sacrifices to the god of war, and to the tutelar deities of the state or city on which the war was made, in order to merit their protection, the army marched, but not formed into wings, or ranked in files, but divided into companies, each of which had its leader, and its standard. When the army was numerous it was reckoned by Xiquipilli; and each xiquipilli consisted of eight thousand men. It is extremely probable, that each of these bodies was commanded by a Tlacatecatl, 170 HISTORY OF MEXICO. or other general. The place where the first battle was usually fought was a field appointed for that purpose in some province, and called Jaotlalli, or land or field of battle. They began battle (as was usual in ancient Europe, and among the Romans), with a most terrible noise of warlike instruments, shouting and whistling, which struck terror to those who were not accustomed to hear it, as the anonymous conqueror declares from his own experience. Amongst the people of Tezcuco, and likewise, most probably, amongst those of other states, the king, or the general, gave the signal for battle, by the beat of a little drum which hung at his shoulder. Their first onset was furious; but they did not all engage at once, as some authors have reported; for they were accustomed, as is manifest from their history, to keep troops in reserve, for pressing emergencies. Sometimes they began battle with shooting arrows, and sometimes with darts and slinging of stones; and when their arrows were exhausted, they made use of their pikes, clubs, and swords. They were extremely attentive to keep their troops united and firmly together, to defend the standard, and to carry off the dead and the wounded from the sight of the enemy. There were certain men of the army who had no other employment than to remove from the eyes of the enemy every object which could heighten their courage and inflame their pride. They made frequent use of ambuscades, concealing themselves in bushy places or ditches made on purpose, of which the Spaniards had often experience; and frequently also they pretended flight, in order to lead the enemy in pursuit of them into some dangerous situation, or to charge them behind with fresh troops. Their great aim in battle was not to kill, but to make prisoners HISTORY OF MEXICO. 171 of their enemies for sacrifices; nor was the bravery of a soldier estimated by the number of dead bodies which he left on the field, but by the number of prisoners which he presented to the general after the battle, and this was unquestionably the principal cause of the preservation of the Spaniards, in the midst of the dangers to which they were exposed, and particularly on that memorable night when they were defeated, and obliged to retreat from the capital. When an enemy, whom they had once conquered, attempted to save himself by flight, they hamstrung him to prevent his escape. When the standard of the army was taken by the enemy, or their general fell, they all fled, nor was it possible then by any human art to rally or recall them. When the battle was over, the victors celebrated the victory with great rejoicings, and rewarded the officers and soldiers who had made some prisoners. When the king of Mexico in person, took an enemy prisoner, embassies came from all the provinces of the kingdom to congratulate him upon the occasion, and to offer him some present. This prisoner was clothed with the finest habits, adorned with jewels, and carried in a litter to the capital, where the citizens came out to meet him, with music and loud acclamations. When the day of the sacrifice arrived, the king having fasted the day before, according to the custom of owners of prisoners, they carried the royal prisoner, adorned with the ensigns of the sun, to the altar for common sacrifices, where he was sacrificed by the high-priest. The priest sprinkled his blood towards the four principal winds, and sent a vessel full of the same to the king, who ordered it to be sprinkled on all the idols within the inclosure of the greater temple, as a token of thanks for the victory obtained 172 HISTORY OF MEXICO. over the enemies of the state. They hung up the head in some very lofty place, and after the skin of the body was dried, they filled it with cotton, and hung it up in the royal palace, in memory of the glorious deed; in which circumstance however, their adulation to him was conspicuous. When any city was to be besieged, the greatest anxiety of the citizens was to secure their children, their women and sick persons; for which purpose they sent them off, at an early opportunity, to another city, or to the mountains. Thus they saved those defenceless individuals from the fury of the enemy, and obviated an unnecessary consumption of provisions. For the defence of places they made use of various kinds of fortifications, such as walls, and ramparts, with their breast-works, palisadoes, ditches, and intrenchments. Concerning the city of Quauhquechollan, we know that it was fortified by a strong stone wall, about; twenty feet high, and twelve feet in thickness. (i) The conquerors, who describe to us the fortifications of this city, make mention likewise of several others, among which is the celebrated wall which the Tlascalans built on the eastern boundaries of the republic, to defend themselves from the invasion of the Mexican troops, which were garrisoned in Iztacmaxtitlan, Xocotlan, and other places. This wall, which stretched from one mountain to another, was six miles in length, eight feet in height, besides the breast-work, and eighteen feet in thickness. It was made of stone, and strong fine mortar. (k) There was but one narrow entrance of about eight __________ (i) In the ninth book we shall give a description of the fortifications of Quauhquechollan. (k) Bernal Dias says, that the Tlascalan wall was built of stone and lime,
HISTORY OF MEXICO. 173 feet broad, and forty paces long; this was the space between the two extremities of the wall, the one of which encircled the other, forming two semi-circles, with one common centre. This will be better understood from the figure of it which we present to our readers. There are still some remains of this wall to be seen. There are also to be seen still the remains of an ancient fortress built upon the top of a mountain, at a little distance from the village of Molcaxac, surrounded by four walls, placed at some distance from each other, from the base of the mountain unto the top. In the neighbourhood appear many small ramparts of stone and lime, and upon a hill, two miles distant from that mountain, are the remains of some ancient and populous city, of which, however, there is no memory among historians. About twenty-five miles from Cordova, towards the north, is likewise the ancient fortress of Quauhtocho, (now Guatusco) surrounded by high walls of extremely hard stone, to which there is no entrance but by ascending a number of very high and narrow steps; for in this manner the entrance to their fortresses was formed. From among the ruins of this ancient building, which is now over-run with bushes, through the negligence of those people, a Cordovan gentleman lately dug out several well-finished statues of stone, for the ornament of his house. Near to the ancient court of Tezcuco, a part of the wall which surrounded the city of Coatlichan, is still preserved. We wish that our countrymen would attend to the preservation of those few remains of the military architecture of the Mexicans, particularly as they have suffered __________ and with a bitumen so strong it was necessary to use pick-axes to undo it. Cortes, on the other hand affirms, that it was built of dry stones. We are disposed rather to give credit to Bernal Dias; because he asserts, he had attentively examined this wall, although like an illiterate person, he gives the name of bitumen to the morter or cement made use of by those nations. 174 HISTORY OF MEXICO. so many other valuable remains of their antiquity to go to ruin. (l) The capital of Mexico, though sufficiently fortified by its natural situation for those times, was rendered impregnable to its enemies by the industry of its inhabitants. There was no access to the city but by the roads formed upon the lake; and to make it still more difficult in time of war, they built many ramparts upon these roads, which were interfered with several deep ditches, over which they had drawbridges, and those ditches were defended by good entrenchments. Those ditches were the graves of many Spaniards and Tlascalans, on the memorable night of the first of July, of which we shall speak hereafter; and the cause which retarded the taking of that great city, by so numerous and well equipped an army, as that which Cortes employed to besiege it; and which, had he not been assisted by the brigantines, would have delayed it much longer, and occasioned the loss of a great deal more blood. For the defence of the city by water, they had many thousand small vessels, and frequently exercised themselves in naval engagements. But the most singular fortifications of Mexico were the temples themselves, and especially the greater temple, which resembled a citadel. The wall which surrounded the whole of the temple, the five arsenals there which were filled with every fort of offensive and defensive arms, and the architecture of the temple itself which rendered the ascent to it so difficult, gives us clearly to understand, that in such buildings, policy, as well as religion, had a share; and that they constructed them, not __________ (l) these imperfect accounts of those remains of Mexican antiquities, obtained from eye-witnesses worthy of the utmost credit, persuade us, that there are still many more of which we have no knowledge, owing to the indolence and neglect of our countrymen. See what is said in our dissertations respecting those antiquities against Sig. de P. and Dr. Robertson. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 175 only from motives of superstition, but likewise for the purpose of defence. It is well known from their history, that they fortified themselves in their temples when they could not hinder the enemy from entering into the city, and from thence harrassed them with arrows, darts, and stones. In the last book of this history, will appear how long the Spaniards were in taking the greater temple, where five hundred Mexican nobles had fortified themselves. The high esteem in which the Mexicans held every thing relating to war, did not divert their attention from the arts of peace. First, agriculture, which is one of the chief occupations of civil life, was, from time immemorial, exercised by the Mexicans, and almost all the people of Anahuac. The Toltecan nation employed themselves diligently in it, and taught it to the Chechemecan hunters. With respect to the Mexicans, we know that during the whole of their peregrination, from their native country Aztlan, unto the lake where they founded Mexico, they cultivated the earth in all those places where they made any considerable stop, and lived upon the produce of their labour. When they were brought under subjection to the Colhuan and Tepanecan nations, and confined to the miserable little islands on the lake, they ceased for some years to cultivate the land, because they had none, until necessity, and industry together, taught them to form moveable fields and gardens, which floated on the waters of the lake. The method which they pursued to make those, and which they still practice, is extremely simple. They plait and twist willows, and roots of marsh plants, or other materials together, which are light, but capable of supporting the earth of the garden firmly 176 HISTORY OF MEXICO. united. Upon this foundation they lay the light bushes which float on the lake, and overall, the mud and dirt which they draw up from the bottom of the same lake. Their regular figure is quadrangular; their length and breadth various; but as far as we can judge, they are about eight perches long, and not more than three in breadth, and have less than a foot of elevation above the surface of the water. these were the first fields which the Mexicans owned after the soundation of Mexico; there they first cultivated the maize, great pepper, and other plants, necessary for their support. In progress of time as those fields grew numerous from the industry of those people there were among them gardens of flowers and odoriferous plants, which were employed in the worship of their gods, and served for the recreation of the nobles. At present they cultivate flowers, and every sort of garden herbs upon them. Every day of the year, at sun-rise, innumerable vessels loaded with various kinds of flowers and herbs, which are cultivated in those gardens, are seen arriving by the canal, at the great market-place of that capital. All plants thrive there surprisingly; the mud of the lake is an extremely fertile soil, and requires no water from the clouds. In the largest gardens there is commonly a little tree, and even a little hut to shelter the cultivator, and defend him from rain, or the sun. When the owner of a garden, or the Chinampa, as he is usually called, wishes to change his situation, to remove from a disagreeable neighbour, or to come nearer to his own family, he gets into his little vessel, and by his own strength alone, if the garden is small, or with the assistance of others, if it is large, he tows it after him, and conducts it wherever he pleases with the little tree and HISTORY OF MEXICO. 177 hut upon it. That part of the lake where those floating gardens are, is a place of infinite recreation where the senses receive the highest possible gratification. As soon as the Mexicans had shaken off the Tepanecan yoke, and had gained by their conquests lands fit for cultivation, they applied themselves with great diligence to agriculture. Having neither ploughs, nor oxen, nor any other animals proper to be employed in the culture of the earth, they supplied the want of them by labour, and other more simple instruments. To hoe and dig the ground they made use of the Coatl (or Coa), which is an instrument made of copper, with a wooden handle, but different from a spade or mattock. They made use of an axe to cut trees, which was also made of copper, and was of the same form with those of modern times, except that we put the handle in the eye of the axe, whereas they put the axe into an eye of the handle. They had several other instruments of agriculture; but the negligence of ancient writers on this subject has not left it in our power to attempt their description. For the refreshment of their fields they made use of the water of rivers and small torrents which came from the mountains, raising dams to collect them, and forming canals to conduct them. Lands which were high, or on the declivity of mountains, were not sown every year, but allowed to lie fallow until they were over-run with bushes, which they burned, to repair by their ashes, the salt which rains had washed away. They surrounded their fields with stone inclosures, or hedges made of the metl, or aloe, which make an excellent fence; and in the month Panquetzaliztli, which began, 178 HISTORY OF MEXICO. as we have already mentioned, on the third of December, they were repaired if necessary. (m) The method they observed in sowing of maize, and which they still practice in some places, is this. The sower makes a small hole in the earth, with a stick or drill probably, the point of which is hardened by fire; into this hole he drops one or two grains of maize from a basket which hangs from his shoulder, and covers them with a little earth by means of his foot; he then passes forward to a certain distance, which is greater or less according to the quality of the soil, opens another hole, and continues so in a straight line unto the end of the field; from thence he returns, forming another line parallel to the first. The rows of plants by these means are as straight as if a line was made use of, and at as equal distances from each other as if the spaces between were measured. This method of sowing, which is now used by a few of the Indians only, though more slow, (n) is, however of some advantage, as they can more exactly proportion the quantity of feed to the strength of the soil; besides, that there is almost none of the seed lost which is sown. In consequence of this, the crops of the fields which are cultivated in that manner are usually more plentiful. When the maize springs up to a certain height, they cover the foot of the plant round with earth, that it may be better nourished, and more able to withstand sudden gusts of wind. In the labours of the field the men were assisted by the women. It was the business of the men to dig and hoe the ground, to sow, to heap the earth about the __________ (m) This is called a penguin fence in Jamaica, and the windward islands. (n) This manner of sowing is not so flow as might be imagined, as the country people used to this method do it with wonderful quickness.
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HISTORY OF MEXICO. 179 plants, and to reap; to the women it belonged to strip off the leaves from the ears, and to clear the grain; to weed and to shell it was the employment of both. They had places like farm yards, where they stripped off the leaves from the ears, and shelled them, and granaries to preserve the grain. Their granaries were built in a square form, and generally of wood. They made use of the ojametl for this purpose, which is a very lofty tree, with but a few slender branches, and a thin smooth bark; the wood of it is extremely pliant, and difficult to break or rot. These granaries were formed by placing the round and equal trunks of the ojametl in a square, one upon the other, without any labour except that of a small nitch towards their extremities, to adjust and unite them so perfectly as not to suffer any passage to the light. When the structure was raised to a sufficient height, they covered it with another set of cross-beams, and over these the roof was laid to defend the grain from rains. Those granaries had no other door or outlet than two windows, one below which was small, and another somewhat wider above. Some of them were so large as to contain five or six thousand, or sometimes more fanegas (o) of maize. There are some of this sort of granaries to be met with in a few places at a distance from the capital, and amongst them some so very ancient, that they appear to have been built before the conquest; and, according to the information we have had from persons of intelligence, they preserve the grain better than those which are constructed by the Europeans. Close to fields which were sown they commonly erected a little tower of wood, branches and mats, in which __________ (o) A Castilian measure of dry goods, formerly mentioned by us. 180 HISTORY OF MEXICO. a man defended from the sun and rain kept watch, and drove away the birds which came in flocks to consume the young grain. Those little towers are still made use of even in the fields of the Spaniards on account of the excessive number of birds. The Mexicans were also extremely well skilled in the cultivation of kitchen and other gardens, in which they planted with great regularity and taste, fruit-trees, and medicinal plants and flowers. The last of those were much in demand, not less on account of the particular pleasure taken in them, than of the custom which prevailed of presenting bunches of flowers to their kings, lords, ambassadors, and other persons of rank, besides the excessive quantity which were made use of in the temples and private oratories. Amongst the ancient gardens, of which an account has been handed down to us, the royal gardens of Mexico and Tezcuco, which we have already mentioned, and those of the lords of Iztapalapan and Huaxtepec, have been much celebrated. Among the gardens of the great palace of the lord of Iztapalapan, there was one, the extent, disposition, and beauty of which excited the admiration of the Spanish conquerors. It was laid out in four squares, and planted with every variety of trees, the sight and scent of which gave infinite pleasure to the senses; through those squares a number of roads and paths led, some formed by fruit-bearing trees, and others by espaliers of flowering shrubs and aromatic herbs. Several canals from the lake watered it, by one of which their barges could enter. In the centre of the garden was a fish-pond, the circumference of which measured sixteen hundred paces, or four hundred from side to side, where innumerable water-fowl resorted, and there were steps on every side HISTORY OF MEXICO. 181 to descend to the bottom. This garden, agreeably to the testimony of Cortes and Diaz, who saw it, was planted, or rather extended and improved by Cuitlahuatzin, the brother and successor in the kingdom to Montezuma II. He caused many foreign trees to be transplanted there, according to the account of Hernandez, who saw them. The garden of Huaxtepec was still more extensive and celebrated than the last. It was six miles in circumference, and watered by a beautiful river which crossed it. Innumerable species of trees and plants were reared there and beautifully disposed, and at proper distances from each other different pleasure houses were erected. A great number of strange plants imported from foreign countries were collected in it. The Spaniards for many years preserved this garden, where they cultivated every kind of medicinal herb belonging to that clime, for the use of the hospital which they founded there, in which the remarkable hermit, Gregorio Lopez, served a number of years. (p) They paid no less attention to the preservation of the woods which supplied them with fuel to burn, timber to build, and game for the diversion of the king. We have __________ (p) Cortes, in his letter to Charles V. of the 17th of May, 1521, told him, that the garden of Huaxtepec was the most extensive, the most beautiful, and most delightful which had ever been beheld. Bernal Dias, in chap. cxlii. of his history says, that the garden was most wonderful, and truly worthy of a great prince. Hernandez frequently makes mention of it in his Natural history, and named several plants which were transplanted there, and amongst others the balsam-tree. Cortes also, in his letter to Charles V, of the 30th of October, 1520, relates, that having requested king Montezuma to cause a villa to be made in Malinaltepec for that emperor, two months were hardly elapsed when there were erected at that place four good houses; fifty fanegas of maize sown, ten of French beans, two thousand feet of ground planted with cacao, and a vast pond, where five hundred ducks were breeding, and fifteen hundred turkies were rearing in houses. 182 HISTORY OF MEXICO. formerly mentioned the woods of king Montezuma, and the laws of king Nezahualcojotl concerning the cutting of them. It would be of advantage to that kingdom, that those laws were still in force, or at least that there was not so much liberty granted in cutting without an obligation to plant a certain number of trees; as many people preferring their private interest and convenience to the public welfare, destroy the wood in order to enlarge their possessions. (q) Among the plants most cultivated by the Mexicans next to maize, the principal were those of cotton, the cacao, the metl, or aloe, the chia, and great pepper, on account of the various uses which they made of them. The aloe, or maguei alone, yielded almost every thing necessary to the life of the poor. Besides making excellent hedges for their fields, its trunk served in place of beams for the roofs of their houses, and its leaves instead of tiles. From those leaves they obtained paper, thread, needles, clothing, shoes, and stockings, and cordage; and from its copious juice they made wine, honey, sugar, and vinegar. Of the trunk, and thickest part of the leaves, when well baked, they made a very tolerable dish of food. Lastly, it was a powerful medicine in several disorders, and particularly in those of the urine. It is also at present one of the plants the most valued and most profitable to the Spaniards, as we shall see hereafter. With respect to the breeding of animals, which is an employment associated with agriculture, although among the Mexicans there were no shepherds, they having been __________ (q) Many places still feel the pernicious effects of the liberty to cut the woods. The city Queretaro was formerly provided with timber for building from the wood which was upon the neighbouring mountain Cimatario. At present it is obliged to be brought from a great distance, as the mountain is entirely stripped of its wood. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 183 entirely destitute of sheep, they bred up innumerable species of animals unknown in Europe. Private persons brought up techichis, quadrupeds, as we have already mentioned, similar to little dogs; turkeys, quails, geese, ducks, and other kinds of fowl. In the houses of lords were bred fish, deer, rabbits, and a variety of birds; and in the royal palaces, almost all the species of quadrupeds, and winged animals of those countries, and a prodigious number of water animals and reptiles. We may say, that in this kind of magnificence Montezuma II, surpassed all the kings of the world, and that there never has been a nation equal in skill to the Mexicans in the care of so many different species of animals, which had so much knowledge of their dispositions, of the food which was most proper for each, and of all the means necessary for their preservation and increase. Among the animals reared by the Mexicans, no one is more worthy of mention than the nochiztli, or Mexican cochineal, described by us in our first book. This insect, so greatly valued in Europe on account of its dyes, and especially those of scarlet and crimson, being not only extremely delicate, but also persecuted by several enemies, demands a great deal more care from the breeders than is necessary for the silk-worm. Rain, cold, and strong winds destroy it. Birds, mice, and worms, persecute it furiously and devour it; hence it is necessary to keep the rows of opuntia, or nopal, where those insects are bred always clean; to attend constantly to drive away the birds which are destructive to them, to make nests of hay for them in the leaves of the opuntia, by the juice of which they are nourished, and when the season of rain approaches, to raise them 184 HISTORY OF MEXICO. from the plants together with the leaves, and guard them in houses. Before the females are delivered they cast their skin, to obtain which spoil the breeders make use of the tail of the rabbit, brushing most gently with it that they may not detach the insects from the leaves, or do them any hurt. On every leaf they make three nests, and in every nest they lay about fifteen cochineals. Every year they make three gatherings, reserving however each time a certain number for the future generation; but the last gathering is least valued, the cochineals being smaller then, and mixed with the shavings of the opuntia. They kill the cochineal most commonly with hot water. On the manner of drying it afterwards, the quality of the colour which is obtained from it chiefly depends. The best is that which is dried in the sun. Some dry it in the comalli, or pan, in which they bake their bread of maize, and others in the temazcalli, a sort of oven, of which we shall speak elsewhere. The Mexicans would not have been able to assemble so many sorts of animals, if they had not had great dexterity in the exercise of the chace. They made use of the bow and arrow, darts, nets, snares, and Cerbottane. * The cerbottane which the kings and principal lords made use of were curiously carved and painted, and likewise adorned with gold and silver. Besides the exercise of the chace which private individuals took either for amusement, or to provide food for themselves, there were general chaces, which were either those established by custom to procure a plenty of victims for sacrifices, or others occasionally appointed by the king. For this general chace they fixed on a large wood, which __________ * Cerbottane, are long tubes, or pipes, through which they shoot, by blowing with the mouth little balls at birds, &c. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 185 was generally that of Zacatepec, not far distant from the capital; there they chose the place most adapted for setting a great number of snares and nets. With some thousands of hunters they formed a circle round the wood of fix, seven, eight, or more miles, according to the number of animals they intended to take: they set fire every where to the dry grass and herbs, and made a terrible noise with drums, horns, shouting, and whistling. The animals, alarmed by the noise and the fire, fled to the centre of the wood, which was the very place where the snares were set. The hunters approached towards the same spot, and still continuing their noise, gradually contracted their circle, until they left but a very small space to the game, which they all then attacked with their arms. Some of the animals were killed, and some were taken alive in the snares, or in the hands of the hunters. The number and variety of game which they took was so great, that the first viceroy of Mexico, when he was told of it, thought it so incredible, that he desired to make experience of the method himself. For the field of the chace, he made choice of a great plain which lies in the country of the Otomies. between the villages of Xilotepec and S. Giovanni del Rio, and ordered the Indians to proceed in the same manner as they had been used to do in the time of their paganism. The viceroy, with a great retinue of Spaniards repaired to the plain, where accommodations were prepared for them in houses built of wood, erected there on purpose. Eleven thousand Otomies formed a circle of more than fifteen miles, and after practising all the means above mentioned, assembled such a quantity of game on the plain, that the viceroy, who was quite astonished at the sight, commanded that the greater part 186 HISTORY OF MEXICO. of them should be set at liberty, which was accordingly done; notwithstanding the number of animals taken would be altogether incredible, if the circumstance had not been publicly known and attested by many, and among others by a witness worthy of the highest credit. (r) They killed more than six hundred deer and wild goats, upward of a hundred coyotes, and a surprising number of hares, rabbits, and other quadrupeds. The plain still retains the Spanish name Cazadero, or place of the chace, which was then given it. Besides the usual method of practising the chace, they had other particular devices for catching particular kinds of animals. In order to catch young apes, they made a small fire in the woods, and put among the burning coals a particular kind of stone which they called Cacalotetl, Craven, or black stone, which bursts with a loud noise when it is well heated. They covered the fire with earth, and sprinkled around it a little maize. The apes, allured by the grain, assembled about it with their young, and while they were peaceably eating, the stone burst; the old apes fled away in terror leaving their young behind them; the hunters, who were on the watch, then seized them before their dams could return to carry them off. The method also which they had, and still use, to catch ducks, is artful and curious. The lakes of the Mexican vale, as well as others of the kingdom, are frequented by a prodigious multitude of ducks, geese, and other aquatic birds. The Mexicans lest some empty gourds to float upon the water, where those birds resorted, that they might be accustomed to see and approach them without fear. The bird-catcher went into the water so deep as to hide his body, and covered his head __________ (r) P. Toribio di Benaventi, or Motolinia. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 187 with a gourd; the ducks came to peck at it, and then he pulled them by the feet under water, and in this manner secured as many as he pleased. They took serpents alive either by twisting them with great dexterity, or approaching them intrepidly, they seized them with one hand by the neck, and sewed up their mouths with the other. They still take them in this way, and every day in the apothecaries shops of the capital, and other cities, may be seen live serpents which have been taken in this manner. But nothing is more wonderful than their quickness in tracing the steps of wild beasts. Although there is not the smallest print of them to be seen from the earth being covered with herbs or dry leaves which fall from the trees, they still track them, particularly if they are wounded, by observing most attentively sometimes the drops of blood which fall upon the leaves as they pass, sometimes the herbs which are broken or beat down by their feet. (s) From the situation of their capital, and its vicinity to the lake of Chalco, which abounded with fish, the Mexicans were still more invited to fishing than the chace. They employed themselves in it from the time of their arrival in that country, and their art in fishing procured them all other necessaries. The instruments which they most commonly made use of in fishing were nets, but they also employed hooks, harpoons, and weals. The fishers not only caught fish, but even took crocodiles in two different methods. One was by tying them __________ (s) The account which we have of the Taraumarese, the Opates, and other nations beyond the Tropic, when pursued by their enemies the Apacci, is still more wonderful; for by the touch and observations of the footsteps of their enemies, they can tell the time at which they passed there. The same thing we understand is reported of the people of Yucatan. 188 HISTORY OF MEXICO. by the neck, which, as Hernandez asserts, was very common; but this author does not explain the manner in which they performed an act so daring against so terrible a creature. The other method, which is still used by some, was that which the Egyptians formerly practiced on the famous crocodiles of the Nile. The fisher presented himself before the crocodile, carrying in his hand a strong stick, well sharpened at both ends, and when the animal opened its mouth to devour him, he thrust his armed hand into its jaws, and as the crocodile shut its mouth again, it was transfixed by the two points of the stick. The fisher waited until it grew feeble from the loss of blood, and then he killed it. Fishing, hunting, agriculture, and the arts, furnished the Mexicans several branches of commerce. Their commerce in the country of Anahuac began as soon as they were settled upon the little islands in the Tezcucan lake. The fish which they caught, and the mats which they wove of rushes which the same lake produces, was exchanged for maize, cotton, stones, lime, and the wood, which they required for their support, for their clothing, and their buildings. In proportion to the power which their arms acquired, their commerce increased; so that from having been at first confined to the environs of their own city, it extended at last to the most distant provinces. There were innumerable Mexican merchants, who incessantly travelled from one city to another to exchange their goods to advantage. In every place of the Mexican empire, and of all the extensive country of Anahuac, a market was opened every day; but every five days they held one which was more considerable and general. Cities which were near together had this market on different days, that they might not prejudice each other; HISTORY OF MEXICO. 189 but in the capital it was kept on the days of the House, the Rabbit, the Reed, and the Flint, which, in the first year of the century, were the third, the eighth, the thirteenth, and eighteenth of every month. In order to convey some idea of those markets, or rather fairs, which have been so much celebrated by the historians of Mexico, it will be sufficient to describe that held in the capital. Until the time of king Axajacatl, it was kept in a space of ground before the royal palace; but after the conquest of Tlatelolco, it was removed to that quarter. The public place of Tlatelolco was, according to the account of the conqueror Cortes, twice as large as that of Salamanca, one of the most famous in Spain, (t) and surrounded by porticos for the convenience of the merchants. Every fort of merchandize had a particular place allotted to it by the judges of commerce. In one station were goods of gold, and silver, and jewels; in another, manufactures of cotton; in another, those of feathers, and so forth; and no change of situation was allowed to any of them; but although the square was very large, as all the merchandizes could not be lodged in it without interrupting the transaction of business, it was ordered that all large goods, such as beams, stones, &c. should be lest in the roads and canals near to the market-place. The number of merchants who daily assembled there, according to the affirmation of Cortes himself, exceeded fifty thousand. (u) The things which __________ (t) In three editions of the letters of Cortes which we have seen, we have read, that the square of Tlatelolco was twice at large as the city of Salamanca, whereas it ought to read, as that of the city of Salamanca. (u) Although Cortes affirmed that there assembled daily in the market-place of Tlatelolco fifty thousand people, it appears that it ought to be understood of the great market which was held every five days; for the anonymous conqueror, who speaks more distinctly of it, says, that at the markets there were from twenty to twenty-five thousand, but at the great markets from forty to fifty thousand. 190 HISTORY OF MEXICO. were sold or exchanged there, were so numerous and so various, that historians who saw them, after making a long and tedious enumeration, conclude with saying, it is impossible to express them all. Without contradicting their assertion, and to avoid prolixity, we will endeavour to comprehend them in a few words. To that square were carried to be fold or exchanged all the productions of the Mexican empire, or adjacent countries, which could serve for the necessaries of life, the convenience, the luxuries, the vanity, or curiosity of man; (x) innumerable species of animals, both dead and alive, every sort of eatable which was in use amongst them, all the metals and gems which were known to them, all the medicinal drugs and simples, herbs, gums, resins, and mineral earths, as well as the medicines prepared by their physicians, such as beverages, electuaries, oils, plasters, ointments, &c. and every sort of manufacture and work of the thread of the metl, maguei, or aloe, of the mountain palm, of cotton, of feathers, of the hair of animals, of wood, of stone, of gold, silver, and copper. They fold there also slaves, and even whole vessels, laden with human dung, for dressing the skins of animals. In short, they fold in that square every thing which could be sold in all that city; for they had no mart elsewhere, nor was any thing fold out of the market-place except eatables. The potters and jewellers of Cholula, the goldsmiths of Azcapozalco, the painters of Tezcuco, the stone-cutters of Tenajocan, the hunters of Xilotepec, the fishers of Cuitlahuac, the fruiterers of hot countries, the mat-weavers and __________ (x) Whoever will take the trouble to read the description which Cortes, Bernal Dias, and the anonymous conqueror have given of their market, will be convinced there is no exaggeration made here of the variety of their merchandises. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 191 chair-makers of Quauhtitlan, the florists of Xochimilco, all assembled there. Their commerce was not only carried on by way of exchange, as many authors report, but likewise by means of real purchase and sale. They have five kinds of real money, though it was not coined, which served them as a price to purchase whatever they wanted. The first was a certain species of cacao, different from that which they used in their daily drink, which was in constant circulation through the hands of traders, as our money is amongst us. They counted the cacao by Xiquipilli, (this as we have before observed, was equal to eight thousand), and to save the trouble of counting them when the merchandize was of great value, they reckoned them by sacks, every sack having been reckoned to contain three xiquipilli, or twenty-four thousand nuts. The second kind of money was certain small cloths of cotton, which they called patolquachtli, as being solely destined for the purchase of merchandizes which were immediately necessary. The third species of money was gold in dust, contained in goose-quills, which by being transparent, shewed the precious metal which filled them, and in proportion to their size were of greater or less value. The fourth which most resembled coined money, was made of pieces of copper in the form of a T, and was employed in purchases of little value. The fifth, of which mention is made by Cortes, in his last letter to the emperor Charles the Vth, consisted of thin pieces of tin. They sold and exchanged merchandizes by number and measure; but we do not know that they made use of weights, either because they thought them liable to frauds, as some authors have said, or because they did 192 HISTORY OF MEXICO. not find them necessary, as others have affirmed, or because if they did use them the Spaniards never knew it. (y) To prevent fraudulent contracts and disorder amongst the traders, there were certain commissioners who were continually traversing the market to observe what happened, and a tribunal of commerce, composed of twelve judges, residing in a house of the square, was appointed to decide all disputes between traders, and take cognizance of all trespasses committed in the market-place. Of all the goods which were brought into the market, a certain portion was paid in tribute to the king, who was on his part obliged to do justice to the merchants, and to protect their property and their persons. A theft seldom happened in the market, on account of the vigilance of the king's officers, and the severity with which it was instantly punished. But it is not the least surprising, that theft was so rigorously punished, where the smallest disorders were never pardoned. The laborious and most sincere F. Motolinia relates, that a quarrel having arisen once between two women in the market of Tezcuco, and one of them having gone so far as to beat the other with her hands, and occasion the loss of some blood, to the amazement of the people, who were not accustomed to see such an outrage committed there, she was immediately condemned to death for the offence. All the Spaniards who saw those markets extolled __________ (y) Gomara believed, that the Mexicans made no use of scales or weights; because they were ignorant of such a contrivance; but it is very improbable, that a nation so industrious and commercial should not have known the manner of ascertaining the weight of goods, when among other nations of America, less acute than the Mexicans, stillyards were made use of, according to the report of the same author, to weigh gold. Of how many circumstances relative to American antiquity are we still ignorant, owing to the want of proper examination and enquiry. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 193 them with the highest praises, and were unable to express in words the admirable disposition, and the wonderful order which was maintained among so great a multitude of merchants and merchandizes. The markets of Tezcuco, Tlascala, Cholula, Huexotzinco, and other large places, were ordered in the same manner as that of Mexico. At the market of Tlascala, Cortes affirms, more than thirty thousand merchants and others assembled. (z) At that of Tepeyacac, which was not one of the largest cities, Motolinia above mentioned says, he has known twenty-four years after the conquest, when the commerce of those people was greatly declined, that at the market held every five days, there were not less than eight thousand European hens sold, and that as many were sold at the market of Acapitlayocan. When young merchants were desirous of undertaking a long journey, they gave an entertainment to the old merchants, who were no longer able on account of their age to travel, and also to their own relations, and informed them of their design, and the motive which induced them to travel into distant countries. Those who were invited praised their resolution, encouraged them to follow the steps of their ancestors, particularly if it was their first journey which they were going to perform, and gave several advices to them how they were to conduct themselves. In general, many of them travelled together for greater safety. Each of them carried in his hand a smooth black stick, which, as they said, was the image of their god Jacateuctli, with __________ (x) That which Cortes has said respecting the number of merchants and dealers which assembled at the market of Tlascala, ought most probably to be understood of the market of every five days, in the same manner as we have observed above respecting that of Mexico. 194 HISTORY OF MEXICO. which they imagined themselves secure against all the dangers of the journey. As soon as they arrived at any house where they made a halt, they assembled and tied all the sticks together and worshipped them; and twice or thrice, during the night, they drew blood from themselves in honour of that god. All the time that a merchant was absent from home, his wife and children did not wash their heads, although they bathed, excepting once every eighty days, not only to testify their regret of his absence, but also by that species of mortification to procure the protection of their gods. When any of the merchants died on their journey, advice of his death was immediately sent to the oldest merchants of his native country, and they communicated it to his relations and kindred, who immediately formed an imperfect statue of wood to represent the deceased, to which they paid all the funeral honours which they would have done to the real dead body. For the convenience of merchants, and other travellers, there were public roads, which were repaired every year after the rainy season. They had likewise in the mountains and uninhabited places, houses erected for the reception of travellers, and bridges, and other vessels for passing rivers. Their vessels were oblong and flat-bottomed, without keel, masts, or sails, or any other thing to guide them but oars. They were of various sizes. The smallest could hardly hold two or three people, the largest could carry upwards of thirty. Many of them were made of one single trunk of a tree. The number of those who were continually traversing the Mexican lake, exceeded, according to the account of ancient historians fifty thousand. Besides the vessels, or flats, they made use of a particular machine to pass rivers, which HISTORY OF MEXICO. 195 was called valsa, by the Spaniards of America. This is a square platform, of about five feet, composed of otatli, or solid canes, tied firmly upon large, hard, empty gourds. Four, or six passengers seated themselves upon this machine, and were conducted from one side of a river to the other by two or four swimmers, who laid hold of one corner of the machine with one of their hands, and swam with the other. This sort of machine is still used on some rivers distant from the capital, and we ourselves passed a large river on one of them in 1739. It is perfectly safe where the current of the water is equal and smooth, but dangerous in rapid and impetuous rivers. Their bridges were built either of stone or wood, but those of stone we are of opinion were extremely few in number. The most singular kind of bridge was that to which the Spaniards gave the name of Hamaca. This was a number of the ropes, or natural ligatures of a tree, more pliant than the willow, but thicker and stronger, called in America Bejucos, twisted and woven together, the extremities of which were tied to the trees on each side of rivers, the tress or net formed by them remaining suspended in the air in the manner of a swing. (a) There are some rivers with such bridges still. The Spaniards durst not pass them, but the Indians pass them with as much confidence and intrepidity as if they were crossing by a stone bridge, perfectly regardless of the undulatory motion of the hamaca, or the depth of the river. But it is to be observed, that the ancient Mexicans having been excellent swimmers, __________ (a) Some bridges are so tight drawn that they have no undulatory motion, and all of them have their side support made of the same parts of the tree. 196 HISTORY OF MEXICO. had no need of bridges, unless where from the rapidity of the current, or the weight of some burden, they could not swim across. The Mexican historians tell us nothing of the maritime commerce of the Mexicans. It is probable that it was very trifling, and that their vessels, which were seen coasting on both seas, were chiefly those of fishermen. Their greatest traffick by water was carried on in the lake of Mexico. All the stone and wood for building, and for fire, the fish, the greater part of the maize, the pulse, fruit, flowers, &c. was brought by water. The commerce of the capital with Tezcuco, Xochimilco, Chalco, Cuitlahuac, and other cities situated upon the lake, was carried on by water, and occasioned that wonderful number of vessels to be employed which we have already mentioned. Whatever was not transported by water was carried upon men's backs, and on that account there were numbers of men who carried burdens, called Tlamama or Tlamcme. They were brought up from childhood to this business, which they continued all their lives. A regular load was about sixty pounds, and the length of way they daily walked was fifteen miles; but they made also journies of two hundred and three hundred miles, travelling frequently over rocky and sleep mountains. They were subjected to this intolerable fatigue from the want of beasts of burden; and even at present, although those countries abound in animals of this sort, the Mexicans are still often seen making long journeys with burdens upon their backs. They carried cotton, maize, and other things in petlacalli, which were baskets made of a particular kind of cane, and covered with leather, which were light and defended their goods sufficiently HISTORY OF MEXICO. 197 from the rain or the sun. These baskets are still a good deal used for journeys by the Spaniards, who corrupt their name into petacas. The commerce of the Mexicans was by no means embarrassed, either by the multitude or variety of languages which were spoken in those countries; for the Mexican tongue which was the most prevailing, was understood and spoken every where. It was the proper and natural language of the Acolhuas and the Aztecas, (b) and as we have observed elsewhere, likewise of the Chechemecan and Toltecan nations. The Mexican language, of which we wish to give our readers some idea, is entirely destitute of the consonants B, D, F, G, R, and S, and abounds with L, X, T, Z, Tl, Tz; but although the letter L is so familiar to this language, there is not a single word in it beginning with that consonant. Nor is there a word of an acute termination, except some vocatives. Almost all the words have the penult syllable long. Its aspirates are moderate and soft, and there never is occasion to make the least nasal sound in pronunciation. Notwithstanding the want of those six consonants it is a most copious language; tolerably polished, and remarkably expressive; on which account it has been highly valued and praised by all Europeans who have learned it, so as to be esteemed by many superior to the Latin, __________ (b) Boturini says, that the excellence of the language which we call the Mexican, was the reason of its being adopted by the Chechemecan, the Mexican, and Teochechemecan nations, and of their relinquishing their native tongue; but besides this opinion being different from that of all other writers, and of the Indians themselves, there are no traces in history of the event of such a change. Where has there ever been a nation known to abandon its native idiom to adopt a better, and particularly a nation so tenacious as the Mexicans, and all the other nations of those countries of their particular language? 198 HISTORY OF MEXICO. and even to the Greek; (c) but although we know the particular excellencies of the Mexican language, we can never dare to compare it with the last. Of the copiousness of this language we have an exceeding good demonstration in the Natural History of Hernandez; for in describing twelve hundred plants of the country of Anahuac, two hundred and more species of birds, and a large number of quadrupeds, reptiles, insects, and minerals, he hardly found a single animal, herb, or substance, without its distinct and proper appellation. But it is not the least surprising, that it abounds in words which signify material objects, when there are hardly any wanting of those which are necessary to express spiritual ideas. The highest mysteries of our religion can be well expressed in Mexican, without any necessity of introducing foreign terms. Acosta wonders, that the Mexicans who had an idea of a supreme Being, creator of heaven and earth, had not also in their language a word to express it equivalent to Dios of the Spaniards, Deus of the Romans, Theos of the Grecians, El of the Hebrews, and Ala of the Arabs: on which account their preachers were obliged to make use of the Spanish term Dios. But if this author had had any knowledge of the Mexican language, he would have known that the Teotl of the Mexicans signifies the same thing as the Theos of the Greeks, and that there was no other reason for introducing the Spanish word Dios, but the excessive scruples of the first missionaries, who, as they burned the historical paintings of the Mexicans, because they suspected them to be full of superstitious meanings (of which also Acosta himself justly complains), likewise __________ (c) Among the admirers of the Mexican language there have been some Frenchmen and Flemings, and many Germans, Italians, and Spaniards HISTORY OF MEXICO. 199 rejected the Mexican word Teotl, because it had been used to express the false gods whom they worshipped. But it would have been better to have imitated the example of St. Paul, who, when he found that in Greece the name Theos was used to signify certain false deities, more abominable still than those of the Mexicans, did not compel the Greeks to adopt the El, or Adonai, of the Hebrews, but retained the use of the Greek term, making it be understood from that time, to signify a supreme, eternal, and infinitely perfect Being. However, many discerning men who have written in the Mexican language, have not scrupled to make use of the name Teotl, in the same manner as they all make use of the Ipalnemoani, of the Tloque Nahuaque, and other names significative of the supreme being, which the Mexicans applied to their invisible God. In one of our Dissertations we shall give a list of the authors who have written in the Mexican language on the Christian religion and morality, and also a list of terms, signifying metaphysical and moral ideas, in order to expose the ignorance and weakness of an author (d) who has had absurdity enough to publish that the Mexicans had no words to count above the number three, or to express any metaphysical or moral ideas, and that on account of its harshness no Spaniard had ever learned to pronounce it. We could here give the numeral words of this language, by which the Mexicans could count up to forty-eight millions at least, and could shew how common this language was among the Spaniards, and how well those who have written in it have understood it. __________ (d) The author of the work entitled, Recherches Philosophiques sur let Americains, 200 HISTORY OF MEXICO. The Mexican language, like the Hebrew and French, wants the superlative term, and like the Hebrew, and most of the living languages of Europe, the comparative term, which are supplied by certain particles equivalent to those which are used in other such languages. It abounds more than the Tuscan in diminutives and augmentatives, and more than the English or any other language we know in verbal and abstract terms; for there is hardly a verb from which there are not many verbals formed, and scarcely a substantive or adjective from which there are not some abstracts formed. It is not less copious in verbs than in nouns; as from every single verb others are derived of different significations. Chihua, is to do, Chichihua, to do with diligence, or often; Chihuilia, to do to another; Chihualtia, to cause to be done; Chihuatiuh, to go to do; Chihuaco, to come to do; Chiuhtiuh, to he doing, &c. We could say a great deal more on the subject, if it was permitted in the rules of history. The style of address in Mexican varies according to the rank of the persons, with whom, or about whom, conversation is held, adding to the nouns, verbs, prepositions, and adverbs, certain particles expressive of respect: Tatli, means father; Amota, your father; Amotatzin, your worthy father. Tleco, is to ascend; if a person commands his servant to ascend a certain place, he says simply Xitleco; but if he asks some respectable person to do so, he will say Ximotlicahui; and if he wishes to use still more ceremony and respect Maximotlicahuitzino. This variety, which gives so much civilization to the language, does not, however, make it difficult to be spoken; because it is subjected to rules which are fixed HISTORY OF MEXICO. 201 and easy; nor do we know any language that is more regular and methodical. The Mexicans, like the Greeks and other nations, have the advantage of making compounds of two, three, or four simple words; but they do it with more economy than the Greeks did; for the Greeks made use of the entire words in composition, whereas the Mexicans cut off syllables, or at least some letters from them. Tlazotli, signifies valued or loved; Mahuitztic, honoured or revered; Tespixcqui, priest; a word itself too composed of Teotl, god; and the verb Pia, which signifies to hold, guard, or keep; Tatli is father, as we have already said. To unite those five words in one, they take away eight consonants and four vowels, and say for instance Notlazomahuitzteopixcatalzin, that is, my very worthy father, or revered priest; prefixing the no, which corresponds to the pronoun my, and adding tzin, which is a particle expressive of reverence. A word of this kind is extremely common with the Indians when they address, and particularly when they confess themselves, which although it is complex, is not, however, one of the longest; for there are some compounded of so many terms as to have fifteen or sixteen syllables. Such compounds were made use of in order to give the definition, or description, of a thing, whatever it was, in one word. This may be discovered in the names of animals and plants, which are to be found in the Natural History of Hernandez, and in the names of places which occur frequently in this history. Almost all the names which they gave to places of the Mexican empire are compounds, and signify the situation or properties of the places, and that some memorable action happened there. Many of their expressions are so 202 HISTORY OF MEXICO. strong, that the ideas of them cannot be heightened, particularly on the subject of love. In short, all those who have learned this language, and can judge of its copiousness, regularity, and beautiful modes of speech, are of opinion, that such a language cannot have been spoken by a barbarous people. A nation possessed of so powerful a language, could not want poets and orators. Those two arts were much exercised by the Mexicans, although they were very far from knowing all their excellencies. Those who were destined to be orators, were instructed from their infancy in speaking properly, and learned to repeat by memory the most celebrated orations of their ancestors that had been handed down from father to son. Their eloquence was employed principally in delivering embassies, in councils, and congratulatory addresses, which they made to new kings. Although their most celebrated speakers are not to be compared with the orators of the polished nations of Europe, it is not to be denied that their discourses were sound, judicious, and elegant, as may be perceived from those specimens of their eloquence which are still extant. Even at present, when they are reduced to a state of great humiliation, and retain not their ancient institutions, they make harangues in their assemblies, which are so full of good sense and propriety, as to excite the admiration of all those who hear them. The number of their public speakers was exceeded by that of their poets. In their verses they were attentive to the cadence and measure. Among the remains which we have of their poetry, are some verses in which between words that are significative, interjections, or syllables, are interposed, devoid of any meaning, and HISTORY OF MEXICO. 203 only made use of by what appears to adjust the measure; but this practice was, probably, only a vice of their bad poets. The language of their poetry was brilliant, pure, and agreeable, figurative, and embellished with frequent comparisons to the most pleasing objects in nature, such as flowers, trees, rivers, &c. It was in poetry chiefly where they made use of words in composition, which became often so very long, that a single one made a verse of the longest measure. The subject of their poetical compositions was various. They composed hymns in praise of their gods, to obtain from them those favours they stood in need of, which were sung in the temples and at their sacred dances. Some were historical poems, reciting the events of the nation and the glorious actions of their heroes, which were sung at profane dances. Some were odes, containing some moral or lesson useful in the conduct of life. Lastly, some were poems on love, or some other pleasing subject, such as the chace, which were sung at the public rejoicings of the seventh month. The priests were the chief composers of those pieces, and taught them to young boys, that they might sing them when they were grown up. We have already mentioned the celebrated compositions of king Nezahualcojotl. The esteem in which poetry was held by that king, excited his subjects to cultivate that art, and multiplied the number of poets of his court. It is related of one of those poets, that having been condemned to die for some crime, he made a composition in prison, in which he took leave of the world in so tender and pathetic manner, that the musicians of the palace, who were his friends, advised him to sing it to the king; the king heard it, and was so much affected, that he granted the culprit a pardon. 204 HISTORY OF MEXICO. This was a singular event in the history of Acolhuacan, in which we read in general, examples of the greatest severity of government. We should be happy, if it were in our power, to produce here some fragments which we have seen of the poetry of those nations, to satisfy the curious among our readers. (e) Dramatic, as well as lyric poetry, was greatly in repute among the Mexicans. Their theatre, on which those kinds of compositions were represented, was a square terras uncovered, raised in the market-place, or the lower area of some temple, and suitably high, that the actors might be seen and heard by all. That which was constructed in the market-place of Tlatelolco, was made of stone and lime, and, agreeably to what Cortes affirms, thirteen feet high, and thirty paces in length every way. Cav. Boturini says, that the Mexican comedies were excellent, and that among the antiques which he had in his curious museum, were two dramatic compositions on the celebrated apparitions of the mother of God to the Mexican Neophyte Gio. Didaco, in which a particular delicacy and harmony in the expressions was discernible. We have never seen any composition of this nature, and although we do not doubt of the delicacies of the language of them, we cannot readily believe that their comedies were much according to the rules of the drama, or deserving of the excessive praise of that annalist. The description which Acosta has left us of their theatre and representations, in which he mentions those which were made at Cholula at the great festival of the god __________ (e) P. Orazio Carocci, a learned Milanese Jesuit, published some elegant verses of the ancient Mexicans, in his admirable grammar of the Mexican language, printed in Mexico about the middle of the last century. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 205 Quetzalcoatl, is much more worthy of credit, and more consistent with the character of those nations: "There was," he says, "in the area of the temple of this god a small theatre, thirty feet square, curiously whitened, which they adorned with boughs, and fitted up with the utmost neatness, surrounding it with arches made of flowers and feathers, from which were suspended many birds, rabbits, and other pleasing objects; where, after having dined, the whole of the people assembled, the actors appeared, and exhibited burlesque characters, feigning themselves deaf, sick with colds, lame, blind, crippled, and addressing the idol for a return of health: the deaf people answering at cross purposes, those who had colds, coughing, and spitting, and the lame halting; all recited their complaints and misfortunes, which produced infinite mirth among the audience. Others appeared under the names of different little animals, some in the disguise of beetles, some like toads, some like lizards, and upon encountering each other, reciprocally explained their employments, which was highly satisfactory to the people, as they performed their parts with infinite ingenuity. Several little boys also belonging to the temple, appeared in the disguise of butterflies, and birds of various colours, and mounting upon the trees which were fixed there on purpose; the priests threw little balls of earth at them with slings, occasioning incidents of much humour and entertainment to the spectators. All the spectators then made a grand dance which terminated the festival. This took place at their principal festivals only." (f) The description which Acosta here gives, calls __________ (f) Acosta Stor. Nat. a Mor. dells Indie, lib. v. cap. 29. 206 HISTORY OF MEXICO. to our recollection the first scenes among the Greeks, and we doubt not, that if the Mexican empire had endured a century or two longer, their theatre would have been reduced to a better form, as the Grecian theatre improved itself but slowly and by degrees. The first religious missionaries who announced the gospel to those nations, observing their attachment to music and poetry, and the superstitious notions which characterised all their native compositions as pagans, composed many songs and odes in the Mexican language in praise of the true God. The laborious Franciscan, Bernardino Sahagun, composed in pure and elegant Mexican, and printed at Mexico, three hundred and sixty-five hymns, one for each day of the year, (g) and the Indians themselves composed many others in praise of the true God. Boturini makes mention of the compositions of D. Francisco Placido, governor of Azcapozalco, sung by him at the sacred dances, which he, along with other Mexican nobles, made before the famous image of the Virgin of Guadaloupe. Those zealous Franciscans wrote also several dramatic pieces in Mexican, relative to the mysteries of the Christian religion. Amongst others was celebrated that of the universal judgment, composed by the indefatigable missionary Andrea d' Olmos, which was represented in the church of Tlatelolco, in the presence of the first governor, and the first archbishop of Mexico, and a great assembly of the Mexican nobility and people. __________ (g) Sahagun's work was printed, according to the best of our knowledge, in 1540. Dr. Eguiara complains in his Biblioteca Messicana, that he was never able to find one copy of it. We saw one in a library of the college of St. Francesco Saverio of the Jesuits of Angelopoli.
HISTORY OF MEXICO. 207 Their music was still more imperfect than their poetry. They had no stringed instruments. All their music consisted in the Huehuetl, the Teponaztli, horns, sea-shells, and little flutes or pipes, which made a shrill found. The Huehuetl, or Mexican drum, was a cylinder of wood, more than three feet high, curiously carved and painted on the outside, covered above with the skin of a deer, well dressed and stretched, which they tightened or slackened occasionally, to make the sound more sharp or deep. They struck it only with their fingers, but it required infinite dexterity in the striker. The Teponaztli, which is used to this day among the Indians, is also cylindrical and hollow, but all of wood, having no skin about it, nor any opening but two slits lengthways in the middle, parallel to, and at a little distance from each other. It is sounded by beating the space between those two slits with two little sticks, similar to those which are made use of for modern drums, only that their points are covered with ule, or elastic gum, to soften the sound. The size of this instrument is various; some are so small as to be hung about the neck; some of a middling size, and others so large as to be upwards of five feet long. The sound which they yield is melancholy, and that of the largest is so loud, that it may be heard at the distance of two or three miles. To the accompaniment of those instruments, the figure of which we here present to our readers, the Mexicans sung their hymns and sacred music. Their singing was harsh and offensive to European ears; but they took so much pleasure in it themselves, that on festivals, they continued singing the whole day. This was unquestionably the art in which the Mexicans were least successful. 208 HISTORY OF MEXICO. However imperfect they were in music, their dances in which they exercised themselves from childhood, under the direction of the priests, were most graceful. They were of various kinds, and were differently named, according to the nature of the dance, or the circumstances of the festival on which they were made. They danced sometimes in a circle, and sometimes in ranks. At some dances only men, and at others, only women danced. On such occasions, the nobles put on their most pompous dresses, adorned themselves with bracelets, ear-rings, and various pendants of gold, jewels, and fine feathers, and carried in one hand a shield covered with the most beautiful plumes, or a fan made of feathers; and in the other an Ajacaxtli, which is a certain little vessel, which we shall mention hereafter, resembling a helmet, round or oval in shape, having many little holes, and containing a number of little stones which they shook together, accompanying the sound, which is not disagreeable, with their musical instruments. The populace disguised themselves, under various figures of animals, in dresses made of paper, or feathers, or skins. The little dance, which was made in the palaces for the amusement of the lords, or in the temples, as a particular act of devotion, or in private houses, when they celebrated nuptials, or made any other domestic rejoicing, consisted of but a few dancers, who formed themselves in two parallel lines, dancing sometimes with their faces turned to the one, sometimes towards the other extremity of their lines; sometimes the person of one line faced those correspondent to them in the other, each line occasionally crossing and intermingling with the other, and sometimes one of each line detaching themselves from the rest, danced in the space between both, while the others flood still.
HISTORY OF MEXICO. 209 The great dance, which was made in large open spaces of ground, or in the area of the greater temple, differed from the other in the order, form, and number of the dancers. This dance was so numerous that some hundreds of people used to join in it. The music was placed in the middle of the area or space; near to it the lords danced, forming two, three, or more circles, according to the number of them present. At a little distance from them were formed other circles of dancers of less rank; and, at a small interval from them, other circles proportionably larger were formed, which were composed of youths. All these circles had for their centre the Huehuetl and the Teponaztli. The design which we have given of the order and disposition of this dance, represents it in the form of a wheel, in which the points denote the dancers, and the circles shew the figure which they described in their dance. The radii of the wheel are as many in number as there were dancers in the smallest circle nearest to the music. All the dancers described a circle in their dancing, and no person departed from the radius or line to which he belonged. Those who danced close to the music, moved with slowness and gravity, as the circle which they had to make was smaller, and on that account it was the place of the lords and nobles most advanced in age; but those who occupied the station moil distant from the music, moved with the utmost velocity, that they might neither lose the direction of the line to which they belonged, nor the measure in which the lords danced. Their dances were almost always accompanied with singing; but the singing was like all the movements of the dancers, adjusted by the beating of the instruments. Two persons sung a verse, to which all the rest answered 210 HISTORY OF MEXICO. In general the music began with a grave tone, and the singers in a low voice. The longer the dance continued, the more cheerful tone was founded by the music, the singers raised their voices, their movements became swifter, and the subject of their song more joyful. In the space between the different lines of dancers, some buffoons danced, who counterfeited the dress of other nations, or disguised themselves like wild beasts and other animals, exciting the mirth of the people with their buffooneries. When one set of dancers was wearied, another was introduced, and thus they continued the dance for six, and sometimes eight hours. This was the form of their ordinary dance; but they had others that were very different, in which they represented either some mystery of their religion, some event of history or war, the chace, or agriculture. Not only the lords, the priests, and the youth of the colleges danced, but likewise the kings in the temple in performance of their devotion, or for their amusement in the palaces; but on such occasions they had always a distinct place for themselves in respect to their character. Among others there was one extremely curious dance which is still kept up by the people of Yucatan. They fixed in the earth a tree, or strong post, fifteen or twenty feet high, from the top of which, according to the number of dancers, they suspended twenty or more small cords, all long and of different colours. When each dancer had taken hold of the end of his cord, they all began to dance to the sound of musical instruments, crossing each other with great dexterity until they formed a beautiful net-work of the cords round the tree, on which the colours appeared chequered in admirable order. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 211 Whenever the cords, on account of the twisting, became so short, that the dancers could hardly keep hold of them with their arms raised up, by crossing each other again, they undid and unwound them from the tree. There is likewise practiced by all the Indians of Mexico an ancient dance commonly called Tocotin, which is so graceful, decent, and solemn, that it has become one of the sacred dances performed on certain festivals in our time. The amusements of the Mexicans were not confined to the theatre and dancing. They had various games, not only for certain fixed seasons and public occasions, but also for the diversion and relaxation of private individuals. Amongst the public games, the race was one in which they exercised themselves from childhood. In the second month, and possibly also at other times, there were military games, among which the warriors represented to the people a pitched battle. All those sports were most useful to the state, for besides the innocent pastime which they afforded to the people, they gave agility to their limbs, and accustomed them to the fatigues of war. The exhibition of the flyers which was made on certain great festivals, and particularly in secular years, was, though of less public benefit, more celebrated than all others. They sought in the woods for an extremely lofty tree, which, after stripping it of its branches and bark, they brought to the city, and fixed in the centre of some large square. They cased the point of the tree in a wooden cylinder, which, on account of some resemblance in its shape, the Spaniards called a mortar. From this cylinder hung four strong ropes, which served to support a square frame. In the space between the cylinder and the frame, they fixed four other thick ropes, 212 HISTORY OF MEXICO. which they twisted as many times round the tree as there were revolutions to be made by the fliers. these ropes were drawn through four holes, made in the middle of the four planks of which the frame confided. The four principal flyers disguised like eagles, herons, and other birds, mounted, the tree with great agility, by means of a rope which was laced about it from the ground up to the frame; from the frame they mounted one at a time successively upon the cylinder, and having danced there a little, they tied themselves round with the ends of the ropes, which were drawn through the holes of the frame, and launching with a spring from it, began their flight with their wings expanded. The action of their bodies put the frame and the cylinder in motion; the frame by its revolutions gradually untwisted the cords by which the flyers swung; so that as the ropes lengthened, they made so much the greater circles in their flight. Whilst these four were flying, a fifth danced upon the cylinder, beating a little drum, or waving a flag, without the final least apprehension of the danger he was in of being precipitated from such a height. The others who were upon the frame (there having been ten or twelve persons generally who mounted) as soon as they saw the flyers in their last revolution, precipitated themselves by the same ropes, in order to reach the ground at the same time amidst the acclamations of the populace. Those who precipitated themselves in this manner by the ropes, that they might make a still greater display of their agility, frequently passed from one rope to another, at that part where, on account of the little distance between them, it was possible for them to do so.
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HISTORY OF MEXICO. 213 The most essential point of this performance consisted in proportioning so justly the height of the tree with the length of the ropes, that the flyers should reach the ground with thirteen revolutions, to represent by such number their century of fifty-two years, composed in the manner we have already mentioned. This celebrated diversion is still in use in that kingdom; but no particular attention is paid to the number of the revolutions, or the flyers; as the frame is commonly sexagonal, or octagonal, and the flyers six or eight in number. In some places they put a rail round the frame, to prevent accidents which were frequent after the conquest; as the Indians became much given to drinking, and used to mount the tree when intoxicated with wine or brandy, and were unable to keep their station on so great a height, which was usually sixty feet. Amongst the private games of the Mexicans, the most common and most esteemed was one resembling football. The place where they played at it, which they called Tlachco, was, according to the description given us by Torquemada, a plain square space of ground, about eighteen perches in length, and proportionably broad, enclosed within four walls, which were thicker below than above, and the fide walls were built higher than the others, and well whitened and polished. They were crowned all round with battlements, and on the lower wall stood two idols, which they placed there at midnight with different superstitious ceremonies, and before they ever played in it the place was blessed by the priests, with other forms of the same nature. Thus Torquemada describes it; but in four or more paintings which we have seen, the draught of this game represents it such as we have given it in our figures, 214 HISTORY OF MEXICO. which is totally different from the description of Torquemada. It is probable, that there were varieties of the same game. The idols placed upon the walls were those of the gods of game, of whose names we are ignorant; but suspect the name of one of them to have been Omacatl, the God of Rejoicings. The ball was made of ule, or elastic gum, three or four inches in diameter, which, although heavier, rebounds more than those made of air. They played in parties, two against two, or three against three. The players were entirely naked except the maxtlatl, or large bandage, about their middle. It was an essential condition of the game not to touch the ball, unless it was with the joint of the thigh, or the arm, or elbow, and whoever touched it with his hand or foot, or any other part of the body, lost one of the same. They player who made the ball reach the opposite wall, or made it rebound from it, gained a point. Poor people played for ears of maize, or if they had nothing else they played for the price of their liberty; others staked a certain number of dresses of cotton; and rich persons played for articles of gold, precious feathers, and jewels. There were in the space between the players two large stones, resembling in figure our mill-stones, each of which had a hole in the middle, a little larger than the ball. Whoever struck the ball through this hole, which was extremely uncommon, was not only victor in the game, but according to the established law, became the proprietor of the dresses of all those who were present, and such a feat was celebrated as an immortal deed. This game was in high estimation with the Mexicans, and the other nations of that kingdom, and much practised, as is to be concluded from the surprising number of balls which the cities of Tochtepec, Otlatitlan, and
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HISTORY OF MEXICO. 215 places, paid in tribute to the crown of Mexico, the number of which, as we have already mentioned, was not less then sixteen thousand. The kings themselves played and challenged each other at this game; as Montezuma II, did Nezahualpilli. At present it is not in use among the nations of the Mexican empire; but it is still kept up among the Najarites, the Opates, the Taraumarese, and other nations of the North. All the Spaniards who have seen this game were surprised with the uncommon agility of the players. The Mexicans took great delight also in another game, which some writers have called patolli. (h) They described upon a fine mat made of the palm-tree, a square, within which they drew two diagonal and two cross lines. instead of dice they threw large beans, marked with small points. According to the points which their dice turned up; they put down, or took up, certain little stones from the junction of the lines, and whoever had three little stones first in a series, was victor. Bernal Diaz makes mention of another game at which king Montezuma used to amuse himself with the conqueror Cortes, during the time of his imprisonment, which he informs us was called Totoloque. That king, he says, threw from a distance certain little balls of gold, at certain pieces of the same metal, which were placed as marks, and whoever made the first five hits won the jewels for which they played. Among the Mexicans there were persons extremely dexterous at games with the hands and feet. One man laid himself upon his back on the ground, and raising up his feet, took a beam upon them, or a piece of wood, which was thick, round, and about eight feet in length. __________ (h) Patolli is a generic term signifying every sort of game. 216 HISTORY OF MEXICO. He tossed it up to a certain height, and as it fell he received and tossed it up again with his feet; taking it afterwards between his feet, he turned it rapidly round, and what is more, he did so with two men sitting astride upon it, one upon each extremity of the beam. This feat was performed at Rome before pope Clement VII, and many Roman princes, by two Mexicans sent over there by Cortes from Mexico, to the singular satisfaction of the spectators. The exercises also which, in some countries are called the powers of Hercules, were extremely common amongst them. One man began to dance; another placed upright on his shoulders, accompanied him in his movements; while a third, standing upright upon the head of the second, danced and displayed other instances of agility. They placed also a beam upon the shoulders of two dancers, while a third danced upon the end of it. The first Spaniards, who were witnesses of those and other exhibitions of the Mexicans, were so much astonished at their agility, that they suspected some supernatural power assisted them, forgetting to make a due allowance for the progress of the human genius when assisted by application and labour. Though games, dances, and music, conduced less to utility than pleasure, this was not the case with History and Painting; two arts, which ought not to be separated in the history of Mexico, as they had no other historians than their painters, nor any other writings than their paintings to commemorate the events of the nation. The Toltecas were the first people of the new world who employed the art of painting for the ends of history; at least we know of no other nation which did so before them. The same practice prevailed, from time immemorial, among the Acolhuas, the seven Aztecan tribes,
HISTORY OF MEXICO. 217 and among all the polished nations of Anahuac. The Chechemecas and the Otomies were taught it by the Acolhuas and the Toltecas, when they deserted their savage life. Among the paintings of the Mexicans, and all those nations, there were many which were mere portraits or images of their gods, their kings, their heroes, their animals, and their plants. With these the royal palaces of Mexico and Tezcuco both abounded. Others were historical, containing an account of particular events, such as are the first thirteen paintings of the collection of Mendoza, and that of the journey of the Aztecas, which appears in the work of the traveller Gemelli. Others were mythological, containing the mysteries of their religion. Of this kind is the volume which is preserved in the great library of the order of Bologna. Others were codes, in which were compiled their laws, their rites, their customs, their taxes, or tributes; and such are all those of the above mentioned collection of Mendoza, from the fourteenth to the sixty-third. Others were chronological, agronomical, or astrological, in which was represented their calendar, the position of the stars, the changes of the moon, eclipses, and prognostications of the variations of the weather. This kind of painting was called by them Tonalamatl. Siguenza makes mention (i) of a painting representing such like prognostications which he inserted in his Ciclographia Mexicana. Acosta relates "that in the province of Yucatan, there were certain volumes, bound up according to their manner, in which the wife Indians had marked the distribution of their seasons, the knowledge of the planets, of animals, and other natural productions, and also __________ (i) In his work entitled, Libra Astronomica, printed in Mexico. 218 HISTORY OF MEXICO. "their antiquity; things all highly curious and minutely described:" which, as the same author says, were lost by the indiscreet zeal of an ecclesiastic, who, imagining them to be full of superstitious meanings, burned them, to the great grief of the Indians, and the utmost regret of the curious amongst the Spaniards. Other paintings were topographical, or chorographical, which served not only to shew the extent and boundar |