[1]Las Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.;Zurita,Rapport, inTernaux-Compans,Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 95;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 354.[2]Ixtlilxochitl, for whose patriotism due allowance must be made, writes:'Es verdad, que el de Mexico y Tezcuco fueron iguales en dignidad señorío y rentas; y el de Tlacopan solo tenia cierta parte como la quinta, en lo que era rentas y despues en los otros dos.'Hist. Chichimeca, inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 238.Zurita also affirms this:'Dans certaines, les tributs étaient répartis en portions égales, et dans d'autres on en faisait cinq parts: le souverain de Mexico et celui de Tezcuco en prélevaient chacun deux, celui de Tacuba une seule.'Rapport, inTernaux-Compans,Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 12.'Quedó pues determinado que á los estados de Tlacopan se agregase la quinta parte de las tierras nuevamente conquistadas, y el resto se dividiese igualmente entre el príncipe y el rey de Méjico.'Veytia,Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 164.Brasseur de Bourbourg agrees with and takes his information from Ixtlilxochitl.Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 191. Torquemada makes a far different division:'Concurriendo los tres, se diese la quinta parte al Rei de Tlacupa, y el Tercio de lo que quedase, à Neçalhualcoiotl; y los demas, à Itzcohuatzin, como à Cabeça Maior, y Suprema.'Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 146.As also does Clavigero:'Si diede quella Corona (Tlacopan) a Totoquihuatzin sotto la condizione di servir con tutte le sue truppe al Re di Messico, ogni volta che il richiedesse, assegnando a lui medesimo per ciò la quinta parte delle spoglie, che si avessero dai nemici. Similmente Nezahualcojotl fu messo in possesso del trono d'Acolhuacan sotto la condizione di dover soccorrere i Messicani nella guerra, e perció gli fu assegnata la terza parte della preda, cavatane prima quella del Re di Tacuba, restando l'altre due terze parti pel Re Messicano.'Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 224.Prescott says it was agreed that 'one fifth should be assigned to Tlacopan, and the remainder be divided, in what proportion is uncertain, between the other powers.'Mex., vol. i., p. 18.[3]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 356;Zurita,Rapport, inTernaux-Compans,Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 12-13;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 116;Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 577.[4]Torquemada writes:'esta fue costumbre de estos Mexicanos, en las Elecciones, que hacian, que fuesen Reinando sucesivamente, los Hermanos, vnos despues de otros, y acabando de Reinar el vltimo, entraba en su lugar, el Hijo de Hermano Maior, que primero avia Reinado, que era Sobrino de los otros Reies, qui à su Padre avian sucedido.'Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 107. 'Los Reies (of Mexico) no heredaban, sino que eran elegidos, y como vimos en el Libro de los Reies, quando el Rei moria, si tenia hermano, entraba heredando; y muerto este, otro, si lo avia; y quando faltaba, le sucedia el sobrino, Hijo de su hermano maior, à quien, por su muerte, avia sucedido, y luego el hermano de este, y así discurrian por los demas.'Id., tom. ii., p. 177.Zurita states that in Tezcuco and Tlacopan, and their dependent provinces,'le droit de succession le plus ordinaire était celui du sang en ligne directe de père en fils; mais tous les fils n'héritaient point, il n'y avait que le fils aîné de l'épouse principale que le souverain avait choisie dans cette intention. Elle jouissait d'une plus grande considération que les autres, et les sujets la respectaient davantage. Lorsque le souverain prenaient une de ses femmes dans la famille de Mexico, elle occupait le premier rang, et son fils succédait, s'il était capable.'Then, without definitely stating whether he is speaking of all or part of the three kingdoms in question, the author goes on to say, that in default of direct heirs the succession became collateral; and finally, speaking in this instance of Mexico alone, he says, that in the event of the king dying without heirs, his successor was elected by the principal nobles. In a previous paragraph he writes:'L'ordre de succession variait suivant les provinces; les mêmes usages, à peu de différence prés, étaient reçus à Mexico, à Tezcuco et à Tacuba.'Afterward we read:'Dans quelques provinces, comme par exemple à Mexico, les frères étaient admis à la succession, quoiqu'il y eût des fils, et ils gouvernaient successivement.'Rapport, inTernaux-Compans,Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 12-18.M. l'Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, taking his information from Zurita, and, indeed, almost quoting literally from the French translation of that author, agrees that the direct line of succession obtained in Tlacopan and Tezcuco, but asserts, regarding Mexico, that the sovereign was elected by the five principal ministers of the state, who were, however, restricted in their choice to the brothers, nephews, or sons of the deceased monarch.Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 576-7. Pimentel also follows Zurita.Memoria, p. 26. Prescott affirms that 'the sovereign was selected from the brothers of the deceased prince, or, in default of them, from his nephews.'Mex., vol. i., p. 23. Sahagun merely says:'Escogian uno de los mas nobles de la linea de los señores antepasados,'who should be a valiant, wise, and accomplished man.Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 318.'Per non lasciar troppa libertà agli Elettori, e per impedire, quanto fosse possibile, gl'inconvenienti de' partiti, o fazioni, fissarono la corona nella casa d'Acamapitzin; e poi stabilirono per legge, che al Re morto dovesse succedere uno de'suoi fratelli, e mancando i fratelli, uno de'suoi nipoti, e se mai non ve ne fossero neppur di questi, uno de'suoi cugini restando in balìa degli Elettori lo scegliere tra i fratelli, o tra i nipoti del Re morto colui, che riconoscessero più idoneo pel governo, schivando con sí fatta legge parecchj inconvenienti da noi altrove accennati.'Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 112.Leon Carbajal quotes this almost literally.Discurso, pp. 54-5. That the eldest son could put forward no claim to the crown by right of primogeniture, is evident from the following:'Quando algun Señor moria y dexava muchos hijos, si alguno se alzava en palacio y se queria preferir á los otros, aunque fuese el mayor, no lo consentia el Señor á quien pertenecia la confirmacion, y menos el pueblo. Antes dexavan pasar un año, ó mas de otro, en el qual consideravan bien que era mejor para regir ó governar el estado, y aquel permanecia por señor.'Las Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.Señor Carbajal Espinosa says that from the election of Chimalpopoca, who succeeded his brother Huitzilihuitl, and was the third king of Mexico,'quedó establecida la ley de elegir uno de los hermanos del rey difunto, y á falta de éstos un sobrino, cuya práctica se observó constantemente, como lo harémos ver, hasta la ruina del imperio mexicano.'Hist. de Mex., tom. i., p. 334. 'El Imperio era monárquico, pero no hereditario. Muriendo el Emperador los gefes del Imperio antiguamente se juntaban y elegian entre sí mismos al que creian mas digno, y por el cual la intriga, el manejo, la supersticion, eran mas felizmente reconocidas.'Carli,Cartas, pt i., p. 114. 'Tambien auia sucession por sangre, sucedia el hijo mayor, siendo para ello, y sino el otro: en defeto de los hijos sucedian nietos, y en defeto dellos yua por elecion.'Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xv.As the order in which the Mexican kings actually did follow each other should be stronger proof of what was the law than any other evidence, I take from the Codex Mendoza the following list: Acamapichtli, who is usually spoken of as the first king, succeeded Tenuch, although it is not stated that he was related to him in any way; then came Huicilyhuitl, son of Acamapichtli; Chimalpupuca, son of Huicilyhuitl, Yzcoaci, son of Acamapichtli; Huehuemoteccuma, son of Huicilyhuitl; Axayacaci, son of Tecocomochtli, and grandson of Yzcoaci; Tiçoçicatzi, son of Axayacaci; Ahuiçoçin, brother of Tiçoçicatzi; Motecçuma, son of Axayacaci; thus, according to this author, we see, out of nine monarchs, three succeeded directly by their sons, and three by their brothers.Esplicacion, inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 42-53. See further,Veytia,Hist. Ant. Mej., andBrasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ.These writers differ slightly from the collection above quoted, but in no important respect.[5]After the death of Acamapichtli, the first king of Mexico, a general council was held, and the people were addressed as follows:'Ya es fallido nuestro rey Acamapichtli, á quien pondremos en su lugar, que rija y gobierne este pueblo Mexicano? Pobres de los viejos, niños y mugeres viejas que hay: que será de nosotros á donde irémos á demandar rey que sea de nuestra patria y nacion Mexicana? hablen todos para de cual parte elegirémos rey, é ninguno puede dejar de hablar, pues á todos nos importa para el reparo, y cabeza de nuestra patria Mexicana esté.'Upon Huitzilihuitl being proposed,'todos juntos, mancebos, viejos y viejas respondieron á una: que sea mucho de enhorabuena, que á él quieren por señor y rey.'Tezozomoc,Crónica Mex., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 10.Sahagun's description of their manner of electing kings, appears also to be more appropriate to this early period than to a later date:'Cuando moria el señor ó rey para elegir otro, juntábanse los senadores que llamabantecutlatoque, y tambien los viejos del pueblo que llamabanachcacauhti, y tambien los capitanes soldados viejos de la guerra que llamabanIauiequioaque, y otros capitanes que eran principales en las cosas de la guerra, y tambien los Sátrapas que llamabanTlenamacazque ó papaoaque: todos estos se juntaban en las casas reales, y allí deliberaban y determinaban quien habia de ser señor.'Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 318;Acosta,Hist. de las Ynd., p. 439.[6]The exact number and rank of these electors is hard to determine.'Si le souverain de Mexico mourait sans héritier, les principaux chefs lui choisissaient un successeur dont l'élection était confirmée par les chefs supérieurs de Tezcuco et Tacuba.'Zurita,Rapport, inTernaux-Compans,Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 15-16.Pimentel follows this,Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 26:'Tutti e due i Re (of Tezcuco and Tlacopan) furono creati Elettori onorarj del Re di Messico, il qual onore soltanto riducevasi a ratificare l'elezion fatta da quattro Nobili Messicani, ch'erano i veri Elettori.'Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 224.'Despues en tiempo de Izcoatl quarto Rey, por consejo y orden de vn sabio y valeroso hombre, que tuuieron a llamado Tlacaellèl se señalaron quatro electores, y a estos juntamente con dos señores, o Reyes sujetos al Mexicano, que eran el de Tezcùco, y el de Tacuba, tocaua hazer la elecion.'Acosta,Hist. de las Ynd., p. 439.These four electors'de ordinario eran hermanos, o parientes muy cercanos del Rey. Llamauan a estos Tlacohecalcàtl, que significa el Príncipe de los lanças arrojadizas, que era vn genero de armas que ellos mucho vsauan.'Id., p. 441. 'Seis electores elegian el Emperador, dos de cuales eran siempre los príncipes de Tescuco á de Acolhuacan y de Tacuba, y un príncipe de la sangre real.'Carli,Cartas, pt i., p. 114.'Four of the principal nobles, who had been chosen by their own body in the preceding reign, filled the office of electors, to whom were added, with merely an honorary rank however, the two royal allies of Tezcuco and Tlacopan.'Prescott's Mex., vol. i., p. 23. Brasseur de Bourbourg gives the style and title of each elector, and says they were five in number, but does not state his authority:'Les principaux dignitaires du royaume, le Cihuacohuatl ou Ministre suprême de la justice et de la maison du roi, le Tlacochcalcatl, Généralissime ou Maître de la maison des Armes, l'Atempanecatl, ou Grand-Maître des Eaux, l'Ezhuahuacatl, ou le Maître du Sang, et le Tlillancalqui, ou chef de la Maison-Noire, composant entre eux le conseil de la monarchie, élisaient celui qui leur paraissait le plus apte aux affaires publiques, et lui donnaient la couronne.... Il est douteux que les rois de Tetzcuco et de Tlacopan aient jamais pris une part directe à ce choix.'Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 577-8.At the foot of the same page is the following note:'Si havia duda ó diferencia quien debia de ser rey, averiguase lo mas aina que podian, y sino poco tenian que hacer (los señores de Tetzcuco y Tlacapan).'Gomara,Crónica de Nueva-España, ap. Barcia, cap. 99.This quotation is not to be found, however in the place indicated.'Crearon cuatro electores, en cuya opinion se comprometian todos los votos del reino. Eran aquellos funcionarios, magnates y señores de la primera nobleza, comunmente de sangre real, y de tanta prudencia y probidad, cuanta se necesitaba para un cargo tan importante.'Carbajal Espinosa,Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 578. 'Fue el quinto Rey, Motezuma primero deste nombre; y porque, para la elecion auia quatro eletores, con los quales interuenian los Reyes Tezcuco y de Tacuba. Se juntò con ellos Tlacaellel como Capitan general, y saliò elegido su sobrino Motezuma.'Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiii.After the king in rank,'eran los quatro electores del Rey, que tambien sucedian por elecion, y de ordinario eran hermanos, o parientes cercanos del Rey, y a estos llamauan en su lengua, principes de las lanças arrojadizas, armas que ellos vsauan.'Id., cap. xix.[7]Acosta,Hist. de las Ynd., p. 441, gives the names of three military orders, of which the four royal electors formed one; and of a fourth, which was of a sacerdotal character. All these were of the royal council, and without their advice the king could do nothing of importance. Herrera helps himself to this from Acosta almost word for word: dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xix. Sahagun implies that this supreme council was composed of only four members:'Elegido el señor, luego elegian otros cuatro que eran como senadores que siempre habian de estar al lado de él, y entender en todos los negocios graves de reino, (estos cuatro tenian en diversos lugares diversos nombres).'Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 318.According to Ixtlilxochitl the council whose duties corresponded to this in Tezcuco, was composed of fourteen members.Hist. Chichimeca, inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 243;Veytia,Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 183.[8]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 37.[9]Beaumont,Crón. de Mechoacan, pp. 52, 54-5;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 338, 523;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 138;Zurita,Rapport, inTernaux-Compans,Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 17;Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 310-11;Pimentel,Mem. Raza Indígena, p. 27;Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 82. In theWest-Indische Spieghel, pp. 265-6, we read:'Dese Stadt ende Provincie wierden voor de comste der Spaenjaerden soo treffelick gheregeert, als eenighe van die Landen, daer was een Cacique die absolutelick regeerde, staende onder de ghehoorsaemheydt van de groote Heere van Tenoxtitlan.'The old chronicler is mistaken here, however, as the kingdom of Michoacan was never in any way subject to Mexico.[10]Clavigero says that the city of Tlascala was divided into four parts, each division having its lord, to whom all places dependent on such division were likewise subject.Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 155.[11]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 200, 276, tom. ii., pp. 347-9;Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. ii.;Laet,Novus Orbis, p. 252;Pimentel,Mem. Raza Indígena, p. 27;Prescott's Mex., vol. i., p. 411.[12]Camargo,Hist. Tlax., inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 197.[13]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 350-1.[14]Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xii. Brasseur de Bourbourg writes:'Dans les divers états du Mixtecapan, les héritages passaient de mâle en mâle, sans que les femmes pussent y avoir droit.'Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 39;this may, however, refer merely to private property.[15]Burgoa,Geog. Descrip., cap. 53;Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 29-30.[16]Acosta,Hist. de las Ynd., p. 474, writes:'Pusieronle Corona Real, y vngieronle, como fue costumbre hazerlo con todos sus Reyes, con vna vncion que llamauan diuina, porque era la misma con que vngian su ydolo.'Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 360, says that Acosta is mistaken, for, he observes that'la Corona que llamaba Copilli, no se daba en esta ocasión, sino que en lugar de ella, le ponían las mantas dichas sobre la Cabeça, ni tampoco era la vncion la misma que la de los Idolos; porque la Divina, que èl [Acosta] nombra, era de Ulli, y Sangre de Niños, con que tambien vngian al Sumo Sacerdote;'but Torquemada here directly contradicts a previous statement of his own, tom. i., p. 102, where he says that immediately after the election, having seated the king elect upon a throne,'le pusieron la Corona Real en su Cabeça, y le vntaron todo el Cuerpo, con la Vncion, que despues acostumbraron, que era la misma con que vngian à su Dios,'thus using almost the same words as Acosta. Leon y Gama,Dos Piedras, says that the water used at the anointing was drawn from the fountain Tozpalatl, which was held in great veneration, and that it was first used for this purpose at the anointment of Huitzilihuitl, second king of Mexico.[17]Sahagun states that the king was dressed upon this occasion in a tunic of dark green cloth, with bones painted upon it; this tunic resembled the huipil, or chemise of the women, and was usually worn by the nobles when they offered incense to the gods. The veil was also of green cloth ornamented with skulls and bones, and in addition to the articles described by other writers, this author mentions that they placed dark green sandals upon his feet. He also affirms that the four royal electors were confirmed in their office at the same time as the king, being similarly dressed, save that the color of their costume was black, and going through the same performances after him, except, of course, the anointment.Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. ii., p. 319. Gomara says they hung upon the king's neck 'vnas correas coloradas largas y de muchos ramales: de cuios cabos colgauan ciertas insignias de rei, como pinjantes.'Conq. Mex., fol. 305.[18]Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 306.[19]The crown used by the early Chichimec sovereigns was composed of a herb calledpachxochitl, which grew on the rocks, surmounted by plumes of the royal eagle, and green fathers calledTecpilotl, the whole being mounted with gold and precious stones, and bound to the head with strips of deer-skin.Ixtlilxochitl,Hist. Chichimeca, inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., tom. xi., p. 213. In another place,Relaciones, inid., p. 336, the same writer says that the crown differed according to time and season. In time of war it was composed of royal eagle feathers, placed at the back of the head, and held together with clasps of gold and precious stones; in time of peace the crown was made of laurel and green feathers of a very rare bird called Quezaltotolc; in the dry season it was made of a whitish moss which grew on the rocks, with a flower at the junction calledteoxuchitl.[20]Concerning anointment and coronation, seeTorquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 102; tom. ii., pp. 83, 359-69;Zurita,Rapport, inTernaux-Compans,Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 20-9;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 113-15;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 318-21;Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xv.;Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 305-6;Acosta,Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 356, 439-40, 474;Ortega, inVeytia,Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 309;Tezozomoc,Crón. Mex., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 142-3. In addition to the numerous works of acknowledged authority on the subject of aboriginal American civilization there are a number of others, chiefly of modern date, that treat more or less completely of the matter. Many of these are mere compilations, put together without regard to accuracy or consistency; others are works which deal ostensibly with other Spanish American matters and only refer to the ancient civilization in passing; their accounts are usually copied bodily from one or two of the old writers; some few profess to exhaust the subject; in these latter, however, the authors have failed to cite their authorities, or at best have merely given a list of them. To attempt to note all the points on which these writers have fallen into error, or where they differ from my text, would prove as tiresome to the reader as the result would lie useless. It will therefore be sufficient to refer to this class of books at the conclusion of the large divisions into which this work naturally falls. About the system of government, laws of succession, ceremonies of election, anointment and coronation, of the Aztecs and other nations included in this division, see:Carbajal Espinosa,Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 578-83, 596;Soden,Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., pp. 8-14, 51-2;Touron,Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 6-7, 25-38;Baril,Mexique, pp. 204-7;Bussierre,L'Empire Mexicain, pp. 119, 150-8, 229-30, 244;Lafond,Voyages, tom. i., p. 119;Poinsett's Notes Mex.,app., pp. 22-3;Macgregor's Progress of America, p. 21;Dillon,Hist. Mex., pp. 24-6, 41-3;Hassel,Mex. Guat., p. 247;Dilworth,Conq. Mex., p. 45;Pradt,Cartas, pp. 106, 176;Monglave,Résumé, pp. 9, 14-19, 22-3, 32-6, 68;Klemm,Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 59-75, 186;Cortés,Aventuras,pref., pp. 7-13;Chamber's Jour., vol. iv., p. 253;West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, p. 97.[21]'Que antes de Reinar avia investigado los nueve dobleces de el Cielo.'Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 194.Ortega, inVeytia,Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 306, writes:'Quel el que siendo particular supo penetrar los secretos del cielo;''that he who, being a private individual, could penetrate the secrets of heaven,' which appears more intelligible.[22]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 194-5.[23]Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ix. Though it is more than probable that Gomara means the same thing, yet the manner in which he expresses it leaves us in some doubt whether the tiger might not have been standing over the eagle.'El escudo de armas, que estaua por las puertas de palacio y que traen las vanderas de Motecçuma, y las de sus antecessores, es vna aguila abatida a vn tigre, las manos y vñas puestas como para hazer presa.'Conq. Mex., fol. 108.'Het Wapen dat boven de Poorte stont, was een Arent die op een Griffioen nederdaelde, met open Clauwen hem ghereet maeckende, om syn Roof te vatten.'West-Indische Spieghel, p. 246.[24]Relatione fatta per vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, inRamusio,Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309.[25]Ib.[26]'Le tecali paraît être la pierre transparente semblable à l'albâtre oriental, dont on faisait un grand usage à Mexico, et dont les réligieux se servirent même pour faire une espèce de vitres à leurs fenêtres. On en trouve encore de ce genre dans plusieurs couvents de la Puebla de los Angeles.'Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 8.[27]Incense-offering among the Mexicans, and other nations of Anáhuac, was not only an act of religion towards their gods, but also a piece of civil courtesy to lords and ambassadors.Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 51. Cortés during his march to the capital was on more than one occasion met by a deputation of nobles, bearing censers which they swung before him as a mark of courtesy.[28]Prescott,Mex., vol. i., p. 177, makes in both cases the 'estado' the same measure as the 'vara,' that is three feet, a clumsy error certainly, when translating such a sentence as this:'que tenia de grueso dos varas, y de alto tres estados.'[29]'Á manera de estribo,'writes Ixtlilxochitl.[30]Ixtlilxochitl,Hist. Chich., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., pp. 242-3.[31]Gage's New Survey, p. 99. Concerning this oratory, seeLas Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., tom. i., cap. l. Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 296, asserts that the gold and silver plates with which the walls and roof were coated, were almost as thick as a finger, and that the first conquerors did not see this chapel or oratory, because Montezuma always went to the temple to pray, and probably, as the natives declared, knowing the covetousness of the Spaniards, he purposely concealed all this wealth from them; it is also said that when Mexico was taken the natives destroyed this chapel, and threw its treasures into the lake.[32]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 297.[33]Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. ii.[34]Ixtlilxochitl,Hist. Chich., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 251-2.[35]Their names, as given by Ixtlilxochitl,Hist. Chich., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 251, were: Huexotla, Coatlichan, Coatapec, Chimalhuacan, Ytztapalocan, Tepetlaoztoc, Acolman, Tepechpan, Chiuhnauhtlan, Teioiocan, Chiauhtla, Papalotlan, Xaltocan, and Chalco.[36]Otompan, Teotihuacan, Tepepolco, Cempoalon, Aztaquemecan, Ahuatepec, Axapochoc, Oztoticpac, Tizayocan, Tlalanapan, Coioac, Quatlatlauhcan, Quauhtlacca, and Quatlatzinco.Ib.[37]'Para la recámara del rey,'namely: Calpolalpan, Mazaapan, Yahualiuhcan, Atenco, and Tzihuinquilocan.Ib.It is unreasonable to suppose that these so-called 'towns' were really more than mere villages, since the kingdoms proper of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan, of which they formed only a fraction, were all contained in a valley not two hundred miles in circumference.[38]Tolantzinco, Quauhchinanco, Xicotepec, Pauhatla, Yauhtepec, Tepechco, Ahuacaiocan, and Quauhahuac.Ib.; see alsoTorquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 167.[39]'La cerca tan grande que tenia para subir á la cumbre de él y andarlo todo.'Ixtlilxochitl,Hist. Chich., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 251.[40]'Para subir hasta esta cumbre se passan quinientos y veynte escalones, sin algunos que estan ya deshechos, por auer sido de piedras sueltas y puestas à mano: que otros muchos escalones ay, labrados en la propia peña con mucha curiosidad. El año pasado los anduue todos, y los contè, para deponer de vista.'Dávila Padilla,Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 619.Prescott,Mex., vol. i., p. 186, citing the above author, gives five hundred and twenty as the whole number of steps, without further remark.[41]Torquemada also mentions this staircase.Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 436.[42]'Esculpida en ella en circunferencia los años desde que habia nacido el rey Nezahualcoiotzin, hasta la edad de aquel tiempo.'Ixtlilxochitl,Hist. Chich., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 252.Prescott says that the hieroglyphics represented the 'years of Nezahualcoyotl's reign.'Mex., vol. i., p. 182.[43]Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 619. 'This figure was, no doubt, the emblem of Nezahualcoyotl himself, whose name ... signified "hungry fox."'Prescott's Mex., vol. i., p. 183, note 42.[44]'Un leon de mas de dos brazas de largo con sus alas y plumas.'Hist. Chich., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 252.[45]These figures were destroyed by order of Fr Juan de Zumárraga, first Bishop of Mexico.Dávila Padilla,Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 619;Ixtlilxochitl,Hist. Chich., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 252. The injury wrought by this holy iconoclast is incalculable. Blinded by the mad fanaticism of the age, he saw a devil in every Aztec image and hieroglyph; his hammers did more in a few years to efface all vestiges of Aztec art and greatness than time and decay could have done in as many centuries. It is a few such men as this that the world has to thank for the utter extinction in a few short years of a mighty civilization. In a letter to the Franciscan Chapter at Tolosa, dated June 12, 1531, we find the old bigot exulting over his vandalism. 'Very reverend Fathers,' he writes: 'be it known to you that we are very busy in the work of converting the heathen; of whom, by the grace of God, upwards of one million have been baptized at the hands of the brethren of the order of our seraphic Father Saint Francis; five hundred temples have been leveled to the ground, and more than twenty thousand figures of the devils they worshiped have been broken to pieces and burned.' And it appears that the worthy zealot had even succeeded in bringing the natives themselves to his way of thinking, for further on he writes: 'They watch with great care to see where their fathers hide the idols, and then with great fidelity they bring them to the religious of our order that they may be destroyed; and for this many of them have been brutally murdered by their parents, or, to speak more properly, have been crowned in glory with Christ.'Dicc. Univ., App., tom. iii., p. 1131.[46]There is a singular confusion about this passage. InKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 252, Ixtlilxochitl is made to write:'Un poquito mas abajo estaban tres albercas de agua, y en la del medio estaban en sus bordos tres damas esculpidas y labradas en la misma peña, que significaban la gran laguna; y lasranaslos cabezas del imperio.'InPrescott's Mex., App., vol. iii., pp. 430-2, Ixtlilxochitl's description of Tezcozinco is given in full; the above-quoted passage is exactly the same here except that forranas, frogs, we readramas, branches. Either of these words would render the description incomprehensible, and in my description I have assumed that they are both misprints fordamas. Mr Prescott,Mex., vol. i., pp. 182-3, surmounts the difficulty as follows: 'On a lower level were three other reservoirs,in each of which stood a marble statue of a woman, emblematic of the three states of the empire.' This is inaccurate as well as incomplete, inasmuch as the figures were not statues, each standing in a basin, but were all three cut upon the face of the rock-border of the middle basin.[47]I have no doubt that this is the basin known to modern travelers as the 'Baths of Montezuma,' of which Ward says that it is neither of the proper shape, nor large enough for a bath, but that it more probably 'served to receive the waters of a spring, since dried up, as its depth is considerable, while the edge on one side is formed into a spout.'Mexico, vol. ii., p. 297. Of late years this excavation has been repeatedly described by men who claim to have visited it, but whose statements it is hard to reconcile. Bullock mentions having seen on this spot 'a beautiful basin about twelve feet long by eight wide, having a well about five feet by four deep in the centre, surrounded by a parapet or rim two feet six inches high, with a throne or chair, such as is represented in ancient pictures to have been used by the kings. There are steps to descend into the basin or bath; the whole cut out of the living porphyry rock with the most mathematical precision, and polished in the most beautiful manner.'Mexico, vol. ii., pp. 125-6. Latrobe says there were 'two singular basins, of perhaps two feet and a half in diameter, not big enough for any monarch bigger than Oberon to take a duck in.'Rambler, p. 187;Vigne's Travels, vol. i., p. 27, mentions 'the remains of a circular stone bath ... about a foot deep and five in diameter, with a small surrounding and smoothed space cut out of the solid rock.' Brantz Mayer, who both saw it and gives a sketch of it, writes: 'The rock is smoothed to a perfect level for several yards, around which, seats and grooves are carved from the adjacent masses. In the centre there is a circular sink, about a yard and a half in diameter, and a yard in depth, and a square pipe, with a small aperture, led the water from an aqueduct, which appears to terminate in this basin.'Mex. as it Was, p. 234. Beaufoy says that two-thirds up the southern side of the hill was a mass of fine red porphyry, in which was an excavation six feet square, with steps leading down three feet, having in the centre a circular basin four and a half feet in diameter and five deep also with steps.Mex. Illustr., p. 195. 'On the side of the hill are two little circular baths, cut in the solid rock. The lower of the two has a flight of steps down to it; the seat for the bather, and the stone pipe which brought the water, are still quite perfect.'Tylor's Anahuac, p. 152.[48]'Tras este jardin se seguian los baños hechos y labrados de peña viva, que con dividirse en dos baños era de una pieza.'Ixtlilxochitl,Hist. Chich., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 252.[49]Ib.[50]Dávila Padilla says that some of the gateways of this palace were formed of one piece of stone, and he saw one beam of cedar there which was almost ninety feet in length and four in breadth.Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 620.[51]Concerning the royal buildings, gardens, &c., of the Aztecs, compareLas Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., tom. i., cap. l.;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 167, 296-8;Ixtlilxochitl,Hist. Chich., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 243-4, 251-2;Dávila Padilla,Hist. Fvnd. Mex., pp. 619-20;Relatione fatta per vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, inRamusio,Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 302-9;Camargo,Hist. Tlax., inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 196;Acosta's Hist. Nat. Ind., p. 484;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 271-4;Oviedo,Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 305-7, 504;Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 69;Motolinia,Hist. Indios, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 181-5;Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 107-11;Ortega, inVeytia,Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 315-19;Cortés,Cartas, pp. 110-11;Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ix.-xi.;West-Indische Spieghel, pp. 245-6, 343;Gage's New Survey, pp. 97-9;Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii., iv., x.;Chevalier,Mexique, pp. 30-2;Prescott's Mex., vol. i., pp. 177-84, vol. ii., pp. 65, 115-21;Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 8-11;Pimentel,Raza Indígena, p. 57;Tápia,Relacion, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. ii., pp. 581-3. Other works of no original value, which touch on this subject, are:Klemm,Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 15, 244, 65-6, 234-7;Ranking's Hist. Researches, pp. 347-51;Bussierre,L'Empire Mexicain, pp. 90-4, 109;Macgregor's Progress of America, p. 22;Dilworth's Conq. Mex., pp. 66, 70;West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt i., p. 125.[52]Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 107-8.[53]Close to the great audience hall was a very large court-yard,'en que avia çient aposentos de veynte é çinco ó treynta piés de largo cada uno sobre sí en torno de dicho patio, é allí estaban los señores prinçipales apossentados, como guardas del palacio ordinarias.'Oviedo,Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 501.[54]'Vna como tabla labrada con oro, y otras figuras de idolos.'Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 68.[55]Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 297-302.[56]This pungent condiment is at the present day as omnipresent in Spanish American dishes as it was at the time of the conquest; and I am seriously informed by a Spanish gentleman who resided for many years in Mexico, and was an officer in Maximilian's army, that while the wolves would feed upon the dead bodies of the French that lay all night upon the battle-field, they never touched the bodies of the Mexicans, because the flesh of the latter was completely impregnated with chile. Which, if true, may be thought to show that wolves do not object to a diet seasoned with garlic.[57]Described too frequently in vol. i., of this series, to need repetition.[58]The tamale is another very favorite modern Mexican dish. The natives generally make them with pork; the bones are crushed almost to powder; the meat is cut up in small pieces, and the whole washed; a small quantity of maize paste, seasoned with cinnamon, saffron, cloves, pimento, tomatoes, coarse pepper, salt, red coloring matter, and some lard added to it, is placed on the fire in a pan; as soon as it has acquired the consistency of a thick gruel it is removed, mixed with the meat, some more lard and salt added, and the mass kneaded for a few moments; it is then divided into small portions, which are enveloped in a thin paste of maize. The tamales thus prepared are covered with a banana-leaf or a corn-husk, and placed in a pot or pan over which large leaves are laid. They are allowed to boil from one hour and a half to two hours. Game, poultry, vegetables, or sweetmeats are often used instead of pork.[59]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 229, regrets that certain persons, out of the ill-will they bore the Mexicans, have falsely imputed to Montezuma the crime of eating human flesh without its being well seasoned, but he admits that when properly cooked and disguised, the flesh of those sacrificed to the gods appeared at the royal board. Some modern writers seem to doubt even this; it is, however, certain that cannibalism existed among the people, not as a means of allaying appetite, but from partly religious motives, and there seems no reason to doubt that the king shared the superstitions of the people. I do not, however, base the opinion upon Oviedo's assertion, which smacks strongly of the 'giant stories' of the nursery, that certain 'dishes of tender children' graced the monarch's table.Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 501. Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 68, also cannot withstand the temptation to deal in the marvelous, and mentions'carnes de muchachos de poca edad;'though it is true the soldier-like bluntness the veteran so prided himself upon, comes to his aid, and he admits that perhaps after all Montezuma was not an ogre.[60]Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 68.[61]Oviedo,Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 501.[62]Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 229.[63]Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 68, says there were four of these women; Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 229, says there were twenty.[64]'E ya que començaua á comer, echauanle delante vna como puerta de madera muy pintada de oro, porque no le viessen comer.'Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 68. 'Luego que se sentaba à la Mesa, cerraba el Maestre-Sala vna Varanda de Madera, que dividia la Sala, para que la Nobleça de los Caballeros,que acudia à verle comer, no embaraçase la Mesa.'Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 229.'Tosto che il Re si metteva a tavola, chiudeva lo Scalco la porta della Sala, acciocchè nessuno degli altri Nobili lo vedesse mangiare.'Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 270.[65]'A potation of chocolate, flavored with vanilla and other spices, and so prepared as to be reduced to a froth of the consistency of honey, which gradually dissolved in the mouth.'Prescott's Mex., vol. ii., p. 125. 'This was something like our chocolate, and prepared in the same way, but with this difference, that it was mixed with the boiled dough of maise, and was drunk cold.'Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., [Lockhart's translation Lond., 1814, vol. i., note, p. 393].'La bebida es agua mezclada con cierta harina de unas almendras que llamancacao. Esta es de mucha sustancia, muy fresca, y sabrosa y agradable, y no embriaga.'Las Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.[66]'Entonces no mirauamos en ello; mas lo que yo vi, que traian sobre cincuenta jarros grandes hechos de buen cacao con su espuma, y de lo que bebia.'Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 68.Oviedo, as usual, is content with no number less than three thousand:'É luego venian tres millxícalos(cántaros ó ánforas) de brevage.'Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 501.Las Casas makes it three hundred:'A su tiempo, en medio ò en fin de los manjares segun la costumbre que tenian, entravan otros trescientos pajes, cada uno con un vaso grande que cabia medio azumbre, (about a quart), y aun tres quartillos de la bebida en el mismo, y servia el un vaso al rey el maestresala, de que bebia lo que le agradava.'Las Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.[67]'Vnas yervas que se dize tabaco.'Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 68.[68]Only five persons enjoyed the privilege of looking Montezuma II. in the face: the kings of Tezcuco and Tlacopan, and the lords of Quauhtitlan, Coyouacan, and Azcapuzalco.Las Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi. Bernal Diaz says that all who approached the royal seat made three reverences, saying in succession, 'Lord,' 'my lord,' 'sublime lord.'Hist. Conq., fol. 68.[69]This custom of speaking through a secretary was adopted by the other Aztec monarchs as well as Montezuma, and was also imitated by many of the great tributary lords and governors of provinces who wished to make as much display of their rank and dignity as possible. SeeMotolinia,Hist. Indios, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 184;Las Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 205.[70]'Lo que los señores hablaban y la palabra que mas ordinariamente decian al fin de las pláticas y negocios que se les comunicaban, eran decir con muy baja voztlaa, que quiere decir "sí, ó bien, bien."'Motolinia,Hist. Indios, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 184.[71]Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iv.[72]Torquemada writes of Montezuma II.:'Su trato con los Suios era poco: raras veces se dejaba vèr, y estabase encerrado mucho tiempo, pensando en el Govierno de su Reino.'Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 205.[73]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 205.[74]Picking up straws, says Las Casas:'É iban estos oficiales delante quitando las pajas del suelo por finas que fuesen.'Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.[75]This was the Aztec manner of salutation, and is doubtless what Bernal Diaz means where he writes:'Y en señal de paz tocauan con la mano en el suelo, y besauan la tierra con la mesma mano.'Hist. Conq., fol. 65.[76]Green stones, more valued than any other among the Aztecs.[77]Cortés himself says that the king was supported by two grandees only; one of whom was his nephew, the king of Tezcuco, and the other his brother, the lord of Iztapalapa.Cartas, p. 85.[78]Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 65.[79]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 230;Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 107;Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ix.;Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 67;West-Indische Spieghel, p. 246. Clavigero disbelieves the report that Montezuma had one hundred and fifty women pregnant at once.Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 268. Oviedo makes the number of women four thousand.Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 505.[80]Oviedo,Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 505.[81]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 435.[82]Hist. Tlax., inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 169.[83]'Quebraban,' which probably here means 'castrated.'[84]'Tenia Moteuczomatzin en su palacio enanos y corcobadillos, que de industria siendo niños los hacian jibosos, y los quebraban y descoyuntaban, porque de estos se servian los señores en esta tierra como ahora hace el Gran Turco de eunucos.'Hist. Indios, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 184-5.Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 298, uses nearly the same words.[85]Hist. Conq., fol. 68.[86]'Otros tres Tlacopintlix de frisoles.'The Tlacopintlix was one 'fanega,' and three 'almudes,' or, one bushel and a quarter.[87]'Xiquipilli, costal, talega, alforja, o bolsa.'Molina,Vocabulario.[88]'Treinta y dos mil cacaos,' possibly cocoa-pods instead of cocoa-beans.[89]'Cien gallos.' Probably turkeys.[90]Probably pumpkin or melon seed.[91]Ixtlilxochitl, inHist. Chich.,Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 241.[92]Concerning the king's manner of living and the domestic economy of the royal household, see:Cortés,Cartas, pp. 84-5, 109-13;Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 66-8;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 286-322;Las Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 167-8, 205-6, 228-31, 298, tom. ii., p. 435;Motolinia,Hist. Indios, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 184-5;Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii., iv.;Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 103-4, 107-8;Acosta,Hist. de las Ynd., p. 507;Oviedo,Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 307, 501, 505;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 268-71;Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. v., vii., ix., xii-xiii., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiv.;Veytia,Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 189-91;Ortega, inId., pp. 310-17;West-Indische Spieghel, p. 246;Gage's New Survey, pp. 97, 100-1;Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 284, tom. iv., pp. 9-13;Prescott's Mex., tom. ii., pp. 121-9;Zuazo,Carta, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 362;Carli,Cartas, pt i., pp. 117-18. Other works of more or less value bearing on this subject are:Touron,Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 25-38, 355-7, 359;Bussierre,L'Empire Mex., pp. 109, 119-22, 254-5;Baril,Mexique, pp. 204-7;Dufey,Résumé, tom. i., pp. 136-7;Brownell's Ind. Races, pp. 83, 93-5;Ranking's Hist. Researches, pp. 315-16, 321-3, 342-7, 350;Soden,Spanier in Peru, p. 136;Carbajal Espinosa,Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 582-4;Lafond,Voyages, tom. i., pp. 104-5;Cooper's Hist. N. Amer., pp. 112-13;Dilworth's Conq. Mex., pp. 65-6, 70-1;Hawks, inHakluyt's Voy., vol. iii., p. 469;Monglave,Résumé, pp. 19, 82-3;Incidents and Sketches, p. 60;Klemm,Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 63-6, 209-11, 234, 242;Dillon,Hist. Mex., p. 52;West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pp. 123-5.[93]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 231;Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xii.;Oviedo,Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 502.[94]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 88;Veytia,Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 182, makes the number twenty-seven.[95]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 88,et seq.; see alsoVeytia,Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 182,et seq.;Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 428,et seq.;Ixtlilxochitl,Relaciones, inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 353,et seq.;Oviedo,Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 502;Herrera, dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xii.[96]Lettre, inTernaux-Compans,Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 251.[97]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 196.[98]Camaxtli was the Tlascaltec god of war, corresponding with and probably the same as the Mexican Huitzilopochtli. The order of Tecuhtli being held in higher esteem in Tlascala than elsewhere, the ceremony of initiation is generally described as it took place in that state.[99]'Unas piedras chequitas de piedra negra, y creo eran de la piedra de que hacen las navajas.'Las Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvii.[100]'Se iba à vna de las Salas, ò Aposentos de los Ministros que servian al Demonio, que se llamaba Tlamacazcalco.'Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 362.It seems unlikely, however, that the candidate would be taken to another temple at this juncture. Brasseur explains the name of the hall to which he was taken as'le Lieu des habitations des Ministres, prêtres de Camaxtli.'Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 587.[101]'Y à las Sillas solas que representaban las Personas ausentes, hacian tanta cortesia, y le captaban Benevolencia, como si realmente estuvieran presentes los Señores que faltaban.'Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 364.[102]Concerning the ceremony of initiation see:Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 361-6;Las Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvii.;Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 306-8;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 120-1;Camargo,Hist. Tlax., inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 147-9.[103]Veytia,Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 58-60.[104]Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 586.[105]Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xv.[106]The Tlaquimilloli, from whence the title is derived, was a sacred package or bundle, containing relics of gods and heroes.[107]Clavigero asserts that the hair of such only as entered the service on account of some private vow, was cut.[108]Clavigero says that only a part of them rose upon each occasion.'S'alzavano alcune due ore incirca innanzi alla mezza notte, altre alla mezza notte, ed altre allo spuntar del di per attizzar, e mantener vivo il fuoco, e per incensare gl'Idoli.'Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 42.[109]'Elles passaient une partie de la matinée à preparer le pain en galette et les pâtisseries qu'elles présentaient, toutes chaudes, dans le temple, où les prêtres allaient les prendre après l'oblation.'Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 556.Clavigero says they prepared the offering of provisions which was presented to the idols:'Tutte le mattine preparavano l'obblazioni di commestibili da presentarsi agl'Idoli.'Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 42.[110]Clavigero writes:'L'insegna de' Sommi Sacerdoti di Messico era un fiocco, o nappa di cotone pendente dal petto, e nelle feste principali vestivansi abiti sfarzosi, ne' quali vedevansi figurate le insegne di quel Dio, la cui festa celebravano.'Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 38.The most important works that can be consulted concerning the Mexican priesthood are:Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 549-59; from which I have principally taken my account;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 163-5, 175-91;Las Casas,Hist. Apologética, caps. cxxxiii., cxxxix., cxl.;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 112 et seq., 218-23, tom. iii., pp. 276-7;Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 323-5;Acosta,Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 335-42;Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xv-xvii.;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 36 et seq.[111]This is the title given by the Spanish authors; it is probably derived fromtay, a man, andsacaa, a priest.Vocabul. en lengua Mixteca, etc., according toBrasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 17, note.[112]Wiyatao, Burgoa writeshuijatoo, and translates, 'great watchman;' the Zapotec vocabulary translates it by the wordpapa, or priest.[113]Yopaa, Burgoa also writes Lyobaa and Yobaa; it signifies the Place of Tombs, fromYo, place, or ground, andpaa, tomb, in the Zapotec tongue, 'the centre of rest.'[114]Teutitlan was its name in the Nahuatl language. Its Zapotecan name was Xaquiya.[115]Rasgos y señales de la primera predicacion en el Nuevo-Mundo, MS. de Don Isidro Gondra;Carriedo,Estudios históricos y estadísticos del Estado Oaxaqueño,Mexico, 1850, tom. i., cap. i.; quoted inBrasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 9.
[1]Las Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.;Zurita,Rapport, inTernaux-Compans,Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 95;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 354.
[2]Ixtlilxochitl, for whose patriotism due allowance must be made, writes:'Es verdad, que el de Mexico y Tezcuco fueron iguales en dignidad señorío y rentas; y el de Tlacopan solo tenia cierta parte como la quinta, en lo que era rentas y despues en los otros dos.'Hist. Chichimeca, inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 238.Zurita also affirms this:'Dans certaines, les tributs étaient répartis en portions égales, et dans d'autres on en faisait cinq parts: le souverain de Mexico et celui de Tezcuco en prélevaient chacun deux, celui de Tacuba une seule.'Rapport, inTernaux-Compans,Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 12.'Quedó pues determinado que á los estados de Tlacopan se agregase la quinta parte de las tierras nuevamente conquistadas, y el resto se dividiese igualmente entre el príncipe y el rey de Méjico.'Veytia,Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 164.Brasseur de Bourbourg agrees with and takes his information from Ixtlilxochitl.Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 191. Torquemada makes a far different division:'Concurriendo los tres, se diese la quinta parte al Rei de Tlacupa, y el Tercio de lo que quedase, à Neçalhualcoiotl; y los demas, à Itzcohuatzin, como à Cabeça Maior, y Suprema.'Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 146.As also does Clavigero:'Si diede quella Corona (Tlacopan) a Totoquihuatzin sotto la condizione di servir con tutte le sue truppe al Re di Messico, ogni volta che il richiedesse, assegnando a lui medesimo per ciò la quinta parte delle spoglie, che si avessero dai nemici. Similmente Nezahualcojotl fu messo in possesso del trono d'Acolhuacan sotto la condizione di dover soccorrere i Messicani nella guerra, e perció gli fu assegnata la terza parte della preda, cavatane prima quella del Re di Tacuba, restando l'altre due terze parti pel Re Messicano.'Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 224.Prescott says it was agreed that 'one fifth should be assigned to Tlacopan, and the remainder be divided, in what proportion is uncertain, between the other powers.'Mex., vol. i., p. 18.
[3]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 356;Zurita,Rapport, inTernaux-Compans,Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 12-13;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 116;Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 577.
[4]Torquemada writes:'esta fue costumbre de estos Mexicanos, en las Elecciones, que hacian, que fuesen Reinando sucesivamente, los Hermanos, vnos despues de otros, y acabando de Reinar el vltimo, entraba en su lugar, el Hijo de Hermano Maior, que primero avia Reinado, que era Sobrino de los otros Reies, qui à su Padre avian sucedido.'Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 107. 'Los Reies (of Mexico) no heredaban, sino que eran elegidos, y como vimos en el Libro de los Reies, quando el Rei moria, si tenia hermano, entraba heredando; y muerto este, otro, si lo avia; y quando faltaba, le sucedia el sobrino, Hijo de su hermano maior, à quien, por su muerte, avia sucedido, y luego el hermano de este, y así discurrian por los demas.'Id., tom. ii., p. 177.Zurita states that in Tezcuco and Tlacopan, and their dependent provinces,'le droit de succession le plus ordinaire était celui du sang en ligne directe de père en fils; mais tous les fils n'héritaient point, il n'y avait que le fils aîné de l'épouse principale que le souverain avait choisie dans cette intention. Elle jouissait d'une plus grande considération que les autres, et les sujets la respectaient davantage. Lorsque le souverain prenaient une de ses femmes dans la famille de Mexico, elle occupait le premier rang, et son fils succédait, s'il était capable.'Then, without definitely stating whether he is speaking of all or part of the three kingdoms in question, the author goes on to say, that in default of direct heirs the succession became collateral; and finally, speaking in this instance of Mexico alone, he says, that in the event of the king dying without heirs, his successor was elected by the principal nobles. In a previous paragraph he writes:'L'ordre de succession variait suivant les provinces; les mêmes usages, à peu de différence prés, étaient reçus à Mexico, à Tezcuco et à Tacuba.'Afterward we read:'Dans quelques provinces, comme par exemple à Mexico, les frères étaient admis à la succession, quoiqu'il y eût des fils, et ils gouvernaient successivement.'Rapport, inTernaux-Compans,Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 12-18.M. l'Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, taking his information from Zurita, and, indeed, almost quoting literally from the French translation of that author, agrees that the direct line of succession obtained in Tlacopan and Tezcuco, but asserts, regarding Mexico, that the sovereign was elected by the five principal ministers of the state, who were, however, restricted in their choice to the brothers, nephews, or sons of the deceased monarch.Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 576-7. Pimentel also follows Zurita.Memoria, p. 26. Prescott affirms that 'the sovereign was selected from the brothers of the deceased prince, or, in default of them, from his nephews.'Mex., vol. i., p. 23. Sahagun merely says:'Escogian uno de los mas nobles de la linea de los señores antepasados,'who should be a valiant, wise, and accomplished man.Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 318.'Per non lasciar troppa libertà agli Elettori, e per impedire, quanto fosse possibile, gl'inconvenienti de' partiti, o fazioni, fissarono la corona nella casa d'Acamapitzin; e poi stabilirono per legge, che al Re morto dovesse succedere uno de'suoi fratelli, e mancando i fratelli, uno de'suoi nipoti, e se mai non ve ne fossero neppur di questi, uno de'suoi cugini restando in balìa degli Elettori lo scegliere tra i fratelli, o tra i nipoti del Re morto colui, che riconoscessero più idoneo pel governo, schivando con sí fatta legge parecchj inconvenienti da noi altrove accennati.'Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 112.Leon Carbajal quotes this almost literally.Discurso, pp. 54-5. That the eldest son could put forward no claim to the crown by right of primogeniture, is evident from the following:'Quando algun Señor moria y dexava muchos hijos, si alguno se alzava en palacio y se queria preferir á los otros, aunque fuese el mayor, no lo consentia el Señor á quien pertenecia la confirmacion, y menos el pueblo. Antes dexavan pasar un año, ó mas de otro, en el qual consideravan bien que era mejor para regir ó governar el estado, y aquel permanecia por señor.'Las Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.Señor Carbajal Espinosa says that from the election of Chimalpopoca, who succeeded his brother Huitzilihuitl, and was the third king of Mexico,'quedó establecida la ley de elegir uno de los hermanos del rey difunto, y á falta de éstos un sobrino, cuya práctica se observó constantemente, como lo harémos ver, hasta la ruina del imperio mexicano.'Hist. de Mex., tom. i., p. 334. 'El Imperio era monárquico, pero no hereditario. Muriendo el Emperador los gefes del Imperio antiguamente se juntaban y elegian entre sí mismos al que creian mas digno, y por el cual la intriga, el manejo, la supersticion, eran mas felizmente reconocidas.'Carli,Cartas, pt i., p. 114. 'Tambien auia sucession por sangre, sucedia el hijo mayor, siendo para ello, y sino el otro: en defeto de los hijos sucedian nietos, y en defeto dellos yua por elecion.'Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xv.As the order in which the Mexican kings actually did follow each other should be stronger proof of what was the law than any other evidence, I take from the Codex Mendoza the following list: Acamapichtli, who is usually spoken of as the first king, succeeded Tenuch, although it is not stated that he was related to him in any way; then came Huicilyhuitl, son of Acamapichtli; Chimalpupuca, son of Huicilyhuitl, Yzcoaci, son of Acamapichtli; Huehuemoteccuma, son of Huicilyhuitl; Axayacaci, son of Tecocomochtli, and grandson of Yzcoaci; Tiçoçicatzi, son of Axayacaci; Ahuiçoçin, brother of Tiçoçicatzi; Motecçuma, son of Axayacaci; thus, according to this author, we see, out of nine monarchs, three succeeded directly by their sons, and three by their brothers.Esplicacion, inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 42-53. See further,Veytia,Hist. Ant. Mej., andBrasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ.These writers differ slightly from the collection above quoted, but in no important respect.
[5]After the death of Acamapichtli, the first king of Mexico, a general council was held, and the people were addressed as follows:'Ya es fallido nuestro rey Acamapichtli, á quien pondremos en su lugar, que rija y gobierne este pueblo Mexicano? Pobres de los viejos, niños y mugeres viejas que hay: que será de nosotros á donde irémos á demandar rey que sea de nuestra patria y nacion Mexicana? hablen todos para de cual parte elegirémos rey, é ninguno puede dejar de hablar, pues á todos nos importa para el reparo, y cabeza de nuestra patria Mexicana esté.'Upon Huitzilihuitl being proposed,'todos juntos, mancebos, viejos y viejas respondieron á una: que sea mucho de enhorabuena, que á él quieren por señor y rey.'Tezozomoc,Crónica Mex., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 10.Sahagun's description of their manner of electing kings, appears also to be more appropriate to this early period than to a later date:'Cuando moria el señor ó rey para elegir otro, juntábanse los senadores que llamabantecutlatoque, y tambien los viejos del pueblo que llamabanachcacauhti, y tambien los capitanes soldados viejos de la guerra que llamabanIauiequioaque, y otros capitanes que eran principales en las cosas de la guerra, y tambien los Sátrapas que llamabanTlenamacazque ó papaoaque: todos estos se juntaban en las casas reales, y allí deliberaban y determinaban quien habia de ser señor.'Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 318;Acosta,Hist. de las Ynd., p. 439.
[6]The exact number and rank of these electors is hard to determine.'Si le souverain de Mexico mourait sans héritier, les principaux chefs lui choisissaient un successeur dont l'élection était confirmée par les chefs supérieurs de Tezcuco et Tacuba.'Zurita,Rapport, inTernaux-Compans,Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 15-16.Pimentel follows this,Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 26:'Tutti e due i Re (of Tezcuco and Tlacopan) furono creati Elettori onorarj del Re di Messico, il qual onore soltanto riducevasi a ratificare l'elezion fatta da quattro Nobili Messicani, ch'erano i veri Elettori.'Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 224.'Despues en tiempo de Izcoatl quarto Rey, por consejo y orden de vn sabio y valeroso hombre, que tuuieron a llamado Tlacaellèl se señalaron quatro electores, y a estos juntamente con dos señores, o Reyes sujetos al Mexicano, que eran el de Tezcùco, y el de Tacuba, tocaua hazer la elecion.'Acosta,Hist. de las Ynd., p. 439.These four electors'de ordinario eran hermanos, o parientes muy cercanos del Rey. Llamauan a estos Tlacohecalcàtl, que significa el Príncipe de los lanças arrojadizas, que era vn genero de armas que ellos mucho vsauan.'Id., p. 441. 'Seis electores elegian el Emperador, dos de cuales eran siempre los príncipes de Tescuco á de Acolhuacan y de Tacuba, y un príncipe de la sangre real.'Carli,Cartas, pt i., p. 114.'Four of the principal nobles, who had been chosen by their own body in the preceding reign, filled the office of electors, to whom were added, with merely an honorary rank however, the two royal allies of Tezcuco and Tlacopan.'Prescott's Mex., vol. i., p. 23. Brasseur de Bourbourg gives the style and title of each elector, and says they were five in number, but does not state his authority:'Les principaux dignitaires du royaume, le Cihuacohuatl ou Ministre suprême de la justice et de la maison du roi, le Tlacochcalcatl, Généralissime ou Maître de la maison des Armes, l'Atempanecatl, ou Grand-Maître des Eaux, l'Ezhuahuacatl, ou le Maître du Sang, et le Tlillancalqui, ou chef de la Maison-Noire, composant entre eux le conseil de la monarchie, élisaient celui qui leur paraissait le plus apte aux affaires publiques, et lui donnaient la couronne.... Il est douteux que les rois de Tetzcuco et de Tlacopan aient jamais pris une part directe à ce choix.'Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 577-8.At the foot of the same page is the following note:'Si havia duda ó diferencia quien debia de ser rey, averiguase lo mas aina que podian, y sino poco tenian que hacer (los señores de Tetzcuco y Tlacapan).'Gomara,Crónica de Nueva-España, ap. Barcia, cap. 99.This quotation is not to be found, however in the place indicated.'Crearon cuatro electores, en cuya opinion se comprometian todos los votos del reino. Eran aquellos funcionarios, magnates y señores de la primera nobleza, comunmente de sangre real, y de tanta prudencia y probidad, cuanta se necesitaba para un cargo tan importante.'Carbajal Espinosa,Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 578. 'Fue el quinto Rey, Motezuma primero deste nombre; y porque, para la elecion auia quatro eletores, con los quales interuenian los Reyes Tezcuco y de Tacuba. Se juntò con ellos Tlacaellel como Capitan general, y saliò elegido su sobrino Motezuma.'Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiii.After the king in rank,'eran los quatro electores del Rey, que tambien sucedian por elecion, y de ordinario eran hermanos, o parientes cercanos del Rey, y a estos llamauan en su lengua, principes de las lanças arrojadizas, armas que ellos vsauan.'Id., cap. xix.
[7]Acosta,Hist. de las Ynd., p. 441, gives the names of three military orders, of which the four royal electors formed one; and of a fourth, which was of a sacerdotal character. All these were of the royal council, and without their advice the king could do nothing of importance. Herrera helps himself to this from Acosta almost word for word: dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xix. Sahagun implies that this supreme council was composed of only four members:'Elegido el señor, luego elegian otros cuatro que eran como senadores que siempre habian de estar al lado de él, y entender en todos los negocios graves de reino, (estos cuatro tenian en diversos lugares diversos nombres).'Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 318.According to Ixtlilxochitl the council whose duties corresponded to this in Tezcuco, was composed of fourteen members.Hist. Chichimeca, inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 243;Veytia,Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 183.
[8]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 37.
[9]Beaumont,Crón. de Mechoacan, pp. 52, 54-5;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 338, 523;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 138;Zurita,Rapport, inTernaux-Compans,Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 17;Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 310-11;Pimentel,Mem. Raza Indígena, p. 27;Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 82. In theWest-Indische Spieghel, pp. 265-6, we read:'Dese Stadt ende Provincie wierden voor de comste der Spaenjaerden soo treffelick gheregeert, als eenighe van die Landen, daer was een Cacique die absolutelick regeerde, staende onder de ghehoorsaemheydt van de groote Heere van Tenoxtitlan.'The old chronicler is mistaken here, however, as the kingdom of Michoacan was never in any way subject to Mexico.
[10]Clavigero says that the city of Tlascala was divided into four parts, each division having its lord, to whom all places dependent on such division were likewise subject.Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 155.
[11]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 200, 276, tom. ii., pp. 347-9;Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. ii.;Laet,Novus Orbis, p. 252;Pimentel,Mem. Raza Indígena, p. 27;Prescott's Mex., vol. i., p. 411.
[12]Camargo,Hist. Tlax., inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 197.
[13]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 350-1.
[14]Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xii. Brasseur de Bourbourg writes:'Dans les divers états du Mixtecapan, les héritages passaient de mâle en mâle, sans que les femmes pussent y avoir droit.'Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 39;this may, however, refer merely to private property.
[15]Burgoa,Geog. Descrip., cap. 53;Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 29-30.
[16]Acosta,Hist. de las Ynd., p. 474, writes:'Pusieronle Corona Real, y vngieronle, como fue costumbre hazerlo con todos sus Reyes, con vna vncion que llamauan diuina, porque era la misma con que vngian su ydolo.'Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 360, says that Acosta is mistaken, for, he observes that'la Corona que llamaba Copilli, no se daba en esta ocasión, sino que en lugar de ella, le ponían las mantas dichas sobre la Cabeça, ni tampoco era la vncion la misma que la de los Idolos; porque la Divina, que èl [Acosta] nombra, era de Ulli, y Sangre de Niños, con que tambien vngian al Sumo Sacerdote;'but Torquemada here directly contradicts a previous statement of his own, tom. i., p. 102, where he says that immediately after the election, having seated the king elect upon a throne,'le pusieron la Corona Real en su Cabeça, y le vntaron todo el Cuerpo, con la Vncion, que despues acostumbraron, que era la misma con que vngian à su Dios,'thus using almost the same words as Acosta. Leon y Gama,Dos Piedras, says that the water used at the anointing was drawn from the fountain Tozpalatl, which was held in great veneration, and that it was first used for this purpose at the anointment of Huitzilihuitl, second king of Mexico.
[17]Sahagun states that the king was dressed upon this occasion in a tunic of dark green cloth, with bones painted upon it; this tunic resembled the huipil, or chemise of the women, and was usually worn by the nobles when they offered incense to the gods. The veil was also of green cloth ornamented with skulls and bones, and in addition to the articles described by other writers, this author mentions that they placed dark green sandals upon his feet. He also affirms that the four royal electors were confirmed in their office at the same time as the king, being similarly dressed, save that the color of their costume was black, and going through the same performances after him, except, of course, the anointment.Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. ii., p. 319. Gomara says they hung upon the king's neck 'vnas correas coloradas largas y de muchos ramales: de cuios cabos colgauan ciertas insignias de rei, como pinjantes.'Conq. Mex., fol. 305.
[18]Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 306.
[19]The crown used by the early Chichimec sovereigns was composed of a herb calledpachxochitl, which grew on the rocks, surmounted by plumes of the royal eagle, and green fathers calledTecpilotl, the whole being mounted with gold and precious stones, and bound to the head with strips of deer-skin.Ixtlilxochitl,Hist. Chichimeca, inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., tom. xi., p. 213. In another place,Relaciones, inid., p. 336, the same writer says that the crown differed according to time and season. In time of war it was composed of royal eagle feathers, placed at the back of the head, and held together with clasps of gold and precious stones; in time of peace the crown was made of laurel and green feathers of a very rare bird called Quezaltotolc; in the dry season it was made of a whitish moss which grew on the rocks, with a flower at the junction calledteoxuchitl.
[20]Concerning anointment and coronation, seeTorquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 102; tom. ii., pp. 83, 359-69;Zurita,Rapport, inTernaux-Compans,Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 20-9;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 113-15;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 318-21;Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xv.;Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 305-6;Acosta,Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 356, 439-40, 474;Ortega, inVeytia,Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 309;Tezozomoc,Crón. Mex., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 142-3. In addition to the numerous works of acknowledged authority on the subject of aboriginal American civilization there are a number of others, chiefly of modern date, that treat more or less completely of the matter. Many of these are mere compilations, put together without regard to accuracy or consistency; others are works which deal ostensibly with other Spanish American matters and only refer to the ancient civilization in passing; their accounts are usually copied bodily from one or two of the old writers; some few profess to exhaust the subject; in these latter, however, the authors have failed to cite their authorities, or at best have merely given a list of them. To attempt to note all the points on which these writers have fallen into error, or where they differ from my text, would prove as tiresome to the reader as the result would lie useless. It will therefore be sufficient to refer to this class of books at the conclusion of the large divisions into which this work naturally falls. About the system of government, laws of succession, ceremonies of election, anointment and coronation, of the Aztecs and other nations included in this division, see:Carbajal Espinosa,Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 578-83, 596;Soden,Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., pp. 8-14, 51-2;Touron,Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 6-7, 25-38;Baril,Mexique, pp. 204-7;Bussierre,L'Empire Mexicain, pp. 119, 150-8, 229-30, 244;Lafond,Voyages, tom. i., p. 119;Poinsett's Notes Mex.,app., pp. 22-3;Macgregor's Progress of America, p. 21;Dillon,Hist. Mex., pp. 24-6, 41-3;Hassel,Mex. Guat., p. 247;Dilworth,Conq. Mex., p. 45;Pradt,Cartas, pp. 106, 176;Monglave,Résumé, pp. 9, 14-19, 22-3, 32-6, 68;Klemm,Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 59-75, 186;Cortés,Aventuras,pref., pp. 7-13;Chamber's Jour., vol. iv., p. 253;West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, p. 97.
[21]'Que antes de Reinar avia investigado los nueve dobleces de el Cielo.'Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 194.Ortega, inVeytia,Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 306, writes:'Quel el que siendo particular supo penetrar los secretos del cielo;''that he who, being a private individual, could penetrate the secrets of heaven,' which appears more intelligible.
[22]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 194-5.
[23]Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ix. Though it is more than probable that Gomara means the same thing, yet the manner in which he expresses it leaves us in some doubt whether the tiger might not have been standing over the eagle.'El escudo de armas, que estaua por las puertas de palacio y que traen las vanderas de Motecçuma, y las de sus antecessores, es vna aguila abatida a vn tigre, las manos y vñas puestas como para hazer presa.'Conq. Mex., fol. 108.'Het Wapen dat boven de Poorte stont, was een Arent die op een Griffioen nederdaelde, met open Clauwen hem ghereet maeckende, om syn Roof te vatten.'West-Indische Spieghel, p. 246.
[24]Relatione fatta per vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, inRamusio,Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309.
[25]Ib.
[26]'Le tecali paraît être la pierre transparente semblable à l'albâtre oriental, dont on faisait un grand usage à Mexico, et dont les réligieux se servirent même pour faire une espèce de vitres à leurs fenêtres. On en trouve encore de ce genre dans plusieurs couvents de la Puebla de los Angeles.'Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 8.
[27]Incense-offering among the Mexicans, and other nations of Anáhuac, was not only an act of religion towards their gods, but also a piece of civil courtesy to lords and ambassadors.Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 51. Cortés during his march to the capital was on more than one occasion met by a deputation of nobles, bearing censers which they swung before him as a mark of courtesy.
[28]Prescott,Mex., vol. i., p. 177, makes in both cases the 'estado' the same measure as the 'vara,' that is three feet, a clumsy error certainly, when translating such a sentence as this:'que tenia de grueso dos varas, y de alto tres estados.'
[29]'Á manera de estribo,'writes Ixtlilxochitl.
[30]Ixtlilxochitl,Hist. Chich., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., pp. 242-3.
[31]Gage's New Survey, p. 99. Concerning this oratory, seeLas Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., tom. i., cap. l. Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 296, asserts that the gold and silver plates with which the walls and roof were coated, were almost as thick as a finger, and that the first conquerors did not see this chapel or oratory, because Montezuma always went to the temple to pray, and probably, as the natives declared, knowing the covetousness of the Spaniards, he purposely concealed all this wealth from them; it is also said that when Mexico was taken the natives destroyed this chapel, and threw its treasures into the lake.
[32]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 297.
[33]Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. ii.
[34]Ixtlilxochitl,Hist. Chich., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 251-2.
[35]Their names, as given by Ixtlilxochitl,Hist. Chich., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 251, were: Huexotla, Coatlichan, Coatapec, Chimalhuacan, Ytztapalocan, Tepetlaoztoc, Acolman, Tepechpan, Chiuhnauhtlan, Teioiocan, Chiauhtla, Papalotlan, Xaltocan, and Chalco.
[36]Otompan, Teotihuacan, Tepepolco, Cempoalon, Aztaquemecan, Ahuatepec, Axapochoc, Oztoticpac, Tizayocan, Tlalanapan, Coioac, Quatlatlauhcan, Quauhtlacca, and Quatlatzinco.Ib.
[37]'Para la recámara del rey,'namely: Calpolalpan, Mazaapan, Yahualiuhcan, Atenco, and Tzihuinquilocan.Ib.It is unreasonable to suppose that these so-called 'towns' were really more than mere villages, since the kingdoms proper of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan, of which they formed only a fraction, were all contained in a valley not two hundred miles in circumference.
[38]Tolantzinco, Quauhchinanco, Xicotepec, Pauhatla, Yauhtepec, Tepechco, Ahuacaiocan, and Quauhahuac.Ib.; see alsoTorquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 167.
[39]'La cerca tan grande que tenia para subir á la cumbre de él y andarlo todo.'Ixtlilxochitl,Hist. Chich., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 251.
[40]'Para subir hasta esta cumbre se passan quinientos y veynte escalones, sin algunos que estan ya deshechos, por auer sido de piedras sueltas y puestas à mano: que otros muchos escalones ay, labrados en la propia peña con mucha curiosidad. El año pasado los anduue todos, y los contè, para deponer de vista.'Dávila Padilla,Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 619.Prescott,Mex., vol. i., p. 186, citing the above author, gives five hundred and twenty as the whole number of steps, without further remark.
[41]Torquemada also mentions this staircase.Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 436.
[42]'Esculpida en ella en circunferencia los años desde que habia nacido el rey Nezahualcoiotzin, hasta la edad de aquel tiempo.'Ixtlilxochitl,Hist. Chich., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 252.Prescott says that the hieroglyphics represented the 'years of Nezahualcoyotl's reign.'Mex., vol. i., p. 182.
[43]Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 619. 'This figure was, no doubt, the emblem of Nezahualcoyotl himself, whose name ... signified "hungry fox."'Prescott's Mex., vol. i., p. 183, note 42.
[44]'Un leon de mas de dos brazas de largo con sus alas y plumas.'Hist. Chich., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 252.
[45]These figures were destroyed by order of Fr Juan de Zumárraga, first Bishop of Mexico.Dávila Padilla,Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 619;Ixtlilxochitl,Hist. Chich., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 252. The injury wrought by this holy iconoclast is incalculable. Blinded by the mad fanaticism of the age, he saw a devil in every Aztec image and hieroglyph; his hammers did more in a few years to efface all vestiges of Aztec art and greatness than time and decay could have done in as many centuries. It is a few such men as this that the world has to thank for the utter extinction in a few short years of a mighty civilization. In a letter to the Franciscan Chapter at Tolosa, dated June 12, 1531, we find the old bigot exulting over his vandalism. 'Very reverend Fathers,' he writes: 'be it known to you that we are very busy in the work of converting the heathen; of whom, by the grace of God, upwards of one million have been baptized at the hands of the brethren of the order of our seraphic Father Saint Francis; five hundred temples have been leveled to the ground, and more than twenty thousand figures of the devils they worshiped have been broken to pieces and burned.' And it appears that the worthy zealot had even succeeded in bringing the natives themselves to his way of thinking, for further on he writes: 'They watch with great care to see where their fathers hide the idols, and then with great fidelity they bring them to the religious of our order that they may be destroyed; and for this many of them have been brutally murdered by their parents, or, to speak more properly, have been crowned in glory with Christ.'Dicc. Univ., App., tom. iii., p. 1131.
[46]There is a singular confusion about this passage. InKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 252, Ixtlilxochitl is made to write:'Un poquito mas abajo estaban tres albercas de agua, y en la del medio estaban en sus bordos tres damas esculpidas y labradas en la misma peña, que significaban la gran laguna; y lasranaslos cabezas del imperio.'InPrescott's Mex., App., vol. iii., pp. 430-2, Ixtlilxochitl's description of Tezcozinco is given in full; the above-quoted passage is exactly the same here except that forranas, frogs, we readramas, branches. Either of these words would render the description incomprehensible, and in my description I have assumed that they are both misprints fordamas. Mr Prescott,Mex., vol. i., pp. 182-3, surmounts the difficulty as follows: 'On a lower level were three other reservoirs,in each of which stood a marble statue of a woman, emblematic of the three states of the empire.' This is inaccurate as well as incomplete, inasmuch as the figures were not statues, each standing in a basin, but were all three cut upon the face of the rock-border of the middle basin.
[47]I have no doubt that this is the basin known to modern travelers as the 'Baths of Montezuma,' of which Ward says that it is neither of the proper shape, nor large enough for a bath, but that it more probably 'served to receive the waters of a spring, since dried up, as its depth is considerable, while the edge on one side is formed into a spout.'Mexico, vol. ii., p. 297. Of late years this excavation has been repeatedly described by men who claim to have visited it, but whose statements it is hard to reconcile. Bullock mentions having seen on this spot 'a beautiful basin about twelve feet long by eight wide, having a well about five feet by four deep in the centre, surrounded by a parapet or rim two feet six inches high, with a throne or chair, such as is represented in ancient pictures to have been used by the kings. There are steps to descend into the basin or bath; the whole cut out of the living porphyry rock with the most mathematical precision, and polished in the most beautiful manner.'Mexico, vol. ii., pp. 125-6. Latrobe says there were 'two singular basins, of perhaps two feet and a half in diameter, not big enough for any monarch bigger than Oberon to take a duck in.'Rambler, p. 187;Vigne's Travels, vol. i., p. 27, mentions 'the remains of a circular stone bath ... about a foot deep and five in diameter, with a small surrounding and smoothed space cut out of the solid rock.' Brantz Mayer, who both saw it and gives a sketch of it, writes: 'The rock is smoothed to a perfect level for several yards, around which, seats and grooves are carved from the adjacent masses. In the centre there is a circular sink, about a yard and a half in diameter, and a yard in depth, and a square pipe, with a small aperture, led the water from an aqueduct, which appears to terminate in this basin.'Mex. as it Was, p. 234. Beaufoy says that two-thirds up the southern side of the hill was a mass of fine red porphyry, in which was an excavation six feet square, with steps leading down three feet, having in the centre a circular basin four and a half feet in diameter and five deep also with steps.Mex. Illustr., p. 195. 'On the side of the hill are two little circular baths, cut in the solid rock. The lower of the two has a flight of steps down to it; the seat for the bather, and the stone pipe which brought the water, are still quite perfect.'Tylor's Anahuac, p. 152.
[48]'Tras este jardin se seguian los baños hechos y labrados de peña viva, que con dividirse en dos baños era de una pieza.'Ixtlilxochitl,Hist. Chich., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 252.
[49]Ib.
[50]Dávila Padilla says that some of the gateways of this palace were formed of one piece of stone, and he saw one beam of cedar there which was almost ninety feet in length and four in breadth.Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 620.
[51]Concerning the royal buildings, gardens, &c., of the Aztecs, compareLas Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., tom. i., cap. l.;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 167, 296-8;Ixtlilxochitl,Hist. Chich., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 243-4, 251-2;Dávila Padilla,Hist. Fvnd. Mex., pp. 619-20;Relatione fatta per vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, inRamusio,Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 302-9;Camargo,Hist. Tlax., inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 196;Acosta's Hist. Nat. Ind., p. 484;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 271-4;Oviedo,Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 305-7, 504;Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 69;Motolinia,Hist. Indios, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 181-5;Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 107-11;Ortega, inVeytia,Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 315-19;Cortés,Cartas, pp. 110-11;Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ix.-xi.;West-Indische Spieghel, pp. 245-6, 343;Gage's New Survey, pp. 97-9;Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii., iv., x.;Chevalier,Mexique, pp. 30-2;Prescott's Mex., vol. i., pp. 177-84, vol. ii., pp. 65, 115-21;Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 8-11;Pimentel,Raza Indígena, p. 57;Tápia,Relacion, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. ii., pp. 581-3. Other works of no original value, which touch on this subject, are:Klemm,Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 15, 244, 65-6, 234-7;Ranking's Hist. Researches, pp. 347-51;Bussierre,L'Empire Mexicain, pp. 90-4, 109;Macgregor's Progress of America, p. 22;Dilworth's Conq. Mex., pp. 66, 70;West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt i., p. 125.
[52]Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 107-8.
[53]Close to the great audience hall was a very large court-yard,'en que avia çient aposentos de veynte é çinco ó treynta piés de largo cada uno sobre sí en torno de dicho patio, é allí estaban los señores prinçipales apossentados, como guardas del palacio ordinarias.'Oviedo,Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 501.
[54]'Vna como tabla labrada con oro, y otras figuras de idolos.'Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 68.
[55]Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 297-302.
[56]This pungent condiment is at the present day as omnipresent in Spanish American dishes as it was at the time of the conquest; and I am seriously informed by a Spanish gentleman who resided for many years in Mexico, and was an officer in Maximilian's army, that while the wolves would feed upon the dead bodies of the French that lay all night upon the battle-field, they never touched the bodies of the Mexicans, because the flesh of the latter was completely impregnated with chile. Which, if true, may be thought to show that wolves do not object to a diet seasoned with garlic.
[57]Described too frequently in vol. i., of this series, to need repetition.
[58]The tamale is another very favorite modern Mexican dish. The natives generally make them with pork; the bones are crushed almost to powder; the meat is cut up in small pieces, and the whole washed; a small quantity of maize paste, seasoned with cinnamon, saffron, cloves, pimento, tomatoes, coarse pepper, salt, red coloring matter, and some lard added to it, is placed on the fire in a pan; as soon as it has acquired the consistency of a thick gruel it is removed, mixed with the meat, some more lard and salt added, and the mass kneaded for a few moments; it is then divided into small portions, which are enveloped in a thin paste of maize. The tamales thus prepared are covered with a banana-leaf or a corn-husk, and placed in a pot or pan over which large leaves are laid. They are allowed to boil from one hour and a half to two hours. Game, poultry, vegetables, or sweetmeats are often used instead of pork.
[59]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 229, regrets that certain persons, out of the ill-will they bore the Mexicans, have falsely imputed to Montezuma the crime of eating human flesh without its being well seasoned, but he admits that when properly cooked and disguised, the flesh of those sacrificed to the gods appeared at the royal board. Some modern writers seem to doubt even this; it is, however, certain that cannibalism existed among the people, not as a means of allaying appetite, but from partly religious motives, and there seems no reason to doubt that the king shared the superstitions of the people. I do not, however, base the opinion upon Oviedo's assertion, which smacks strongly of the 'giant stories' of the nursery, that certain 'dishes of tender children' graced the monarch's table.Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 501. Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 68, also cannot withstand the temptation to deal in the marvelous, and mentions'carnes de muchachos de poca edad;'though it is true the soldier-like bluntness the veteran so prided himself upon, comes to his aid, and he admits that perhaps after all Montezuma was not an ogre.
[60]Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 68.
[61]Oviedo,Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 501.
[62]Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 229.
[63]Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 68, says there were four of these women; Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 229, says there were twenty.
[64]'E ya que començaua á comer, echauanle delante vna como puerta de madera muy pintada de oro, porque no le viessen comer.'Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 68. 'Luego que se sentaba à la Mesa, cerraba el Maestre-Sala vna Varanda de Madera, que dividia la Sala, para que la Nobleça de los Caballeros,que acudia à verle comer, no embaraçase la Mesa.'Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 229.'Tosto che il Re si metteva a tavola, chiudeva lo Scalco la porta della Sala, acciocchè nessuno degli altri Nobili lo vedesse mangiare.'Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 270.
[65]'A potation of chocolate, flavored with vanilla and other spices, and so prepared as to be reduced to a froth of the consistency of honey, which gradually dissolved in the mouth.'Prescott's Mex., vol. ii., p. 125. 'This was something like our chocolate, and prepared in the same way, but with this difference, that it was mixed with the boiled dough of maise, and was drunk cold.'Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., [Lockhart's translation Lond., 1814, vol. i., note, p. 393].'La bebida es agua mezclada con cierta harina de unas almendras que llamancacao. Esta es de mucha sustancia, muy fresca, y sabrosa y agradable, y no embriaga.'Las Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.
[66]'Entonces no mirauamos en ello; mas lo que yo vi, que traian sobre cincuenta jarros grandes hechos de buen cacao con su espuma, y de lo que bebia.'Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 68.Oviedo, as usual, is content with no number less than three thousand:'É luego venian tres millxícalos(cántaros ó ánforas) de brevage.'Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 501.Las Casas makes it three hundred:'A su tiempo, en medio ò en fin de los manjares segun la costumbre que tenian, entravan otros trescientos pajes, cada uno con un vaso grande que cabia medio azumbre, (about a quart), y aun tres quartillos de la bebida en el mismo, y servia el un vaso al rey el maestresala, de que bebia lo que le agradava.'Las Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.
[67]'Vnas yervas que se dize tabaco.'Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 68.
[68]Only five persons enjoyed the privilege of looking Montezuma II. in the face: the kings of Tezcuco and Tlacopan, and the lords of Quauhtitlan, Coyouacan, and Azcapuzalco.Las Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi. Bernal Diaz says that all who approached the royal seat made three reverences, saying in succession, 'Lord,' 'my lord,' 'sublime lord.'Hist. Conq., fol. 68.
[69]This custom of speaking through a secretary was adopted by the other Aztec monarchs as well as Montezuma, and was also imitated by many of the great tributary lords and governors of provinces who wished to make as much display of their rank and dignity as possible. SeeMotolinia,Hist. Indios, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 184;Las Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 205.
[70]'Lo que los señores hablaban y la palabra que mas ordinariamente decian al fin de las pláticas y negocios que se les comunicaban, eran decir con muy baja voztlaa, que quiere decir "sí, ó bien, bien."'Motolinia,Hist. Indios, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 184.
[71]Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iv.
[72]Torquemada writes of Montezuma II.:'Su trato con los Suios era poco: raras veces se dejaba vèr, y estabase encerrado mucho tiempo, pensando en el Govierno de su Reino.'Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 205.
[73]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 205.
[74]Picking up straws, says Las Casas:'É iban estos oficiales delante quitando las pajas del suelo por finas que fuesen.'Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.
[75]This was the Aztec manner of salutation, and is doubtless what Bernal Diaz means where he writes:'Y en señal de paz tocauan con la mano en el suelo, y besauan la tierra con la mesma mano.'Hist. Conq., fol. 65.
[76]Green stones, more valued than any other among the Aztecs.
[77]Cortés himself says that the king was supported by two grandees only; one of whom was his nephew, the king of Tezcuco, and the other his brother, the lord of Iztapalapa.Cartas, p. 85.
[78]Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 65.
[79]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 230;Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 107;Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ix.;Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 67;West-Indische Spieghel, p. 246. Clavigero disbelieves the report that Montezuma had one hundred and fifty women pregnant at once.Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 268. Oviedo makes the number of women four thousand.Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 505.
[80]Oviedo,Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 505.
[81]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 435.
[82]Hist. Tlax., inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 169.
[83]'Quebraban,' which probably here means 'castrated.'
[84]'Tenia Moteuczomatzin en su palacio enanos y corcobadillos, que de industria siendo niños los hacian jibosos, y los quebraban y descoyuntaban, porque de estos se servian los señores en esta tierra como ahora hace el Gran Turco de eunucos.'Hist. Indios, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 184-5.Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 298, uses nearly the same words.
[85]Hist. Conq., fol. 68.
[86]'Otros tres Tlacopintlix de frisoles.'The Tlacopintlix was one 'fanega,' and three 'almudes,' or, one bushel and a quarter.
[87]'Xiquipilli, costal, talega, alforja, o bolsa.'Molina,Vocabulario.
[88]'Treinta y dos mil cacaos,' possibly cocoa-pods instead of cocoa-beans.
[89]'Cien gallos.' Probably turkeys.
[90]Probably pumpkin or melon seed.
[91]Ixtlilxochitl, inHist. Chich.,Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 241.
[92]Concerning the king's manner of living and the domestic economy of the royal household, see:Cortés,Cartas, pp. 84-5, 109-13;Bernal Diaz,Hist. Conq., fol. 66-8;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 286-322;Las Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 167-8, 205-6, 228-31, 298, tom. ii., p. 435;Motolinia,Hist. Indios, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 184-5;Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii., iv.;Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 103-4, 107-8;Acosta,Hist. de las Ynd., p. 507;Oviedo,Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 307, 501, 505;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 268-71;Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. v., vii., ix., xii-xiii., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiv.;Veytia,Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 189-91;Ortega, inId., pp. 310-17;West-Indische Spieghel, p. 246;Gage's New Survey, pp. 97, 100-1;Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 284, tom. iv., pp. 9-13;Prescott's Mex., tom. ii., pp. 121-9;Zuazo,Carta, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 362;Carli,Cartas, pt i., pp. 117-18. Other works of more or less value bearing on this subject are:Touron,Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 25-38, 355-7, 359;Bussierre,L'Empire Mex., pp. 109, 119-22, 254-5;Baril,Mexique, pp. 204-7;Dufey,Résumé, tom. i., pp. 136-7;Brownell's Ind. Races, pp. 83, 93-5;Ranking's Hist. Researches, pp. 315-16, 321-3, 342-7, 350;Soden,Spanier in Peru, p. 136;Carbajal Espinosa,Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 582-4;Lafond,Voyages, tom. i., pp. 104-5;Cooper's Hist. N. Amer., pp. 112-13;Dilworth's Conq. Mex., pp. 65-6, 70-1;Hawks, inHakluyt's Voy., vol. iii., p. 469;Monglave,Résumé, pp. 19, 82-3;Incidents and Sketches, p. 60;Klemm,Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 63-6, 209-11, 234, 242;Dillon,Hist. Mex., p. 52;West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pp. 123-5.
[93]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 231;Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xii.;Oviedo,Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 502.
[94]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 88;Veytia,Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 182, makes the number twenty-seven.
[95]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 88,et seq.; see alsoVeytia,Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 182,et seq.;Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 428,et seq.;Ixtlilxochitl,Relaciones, inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 353,et seq.;Oviedo,Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 502;Herrera, dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xii.
[96]Lettre, inTernaux-Compans,Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 251.
[97]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 196.
[98]Camaxtli was the Tlascaltec god of war, corresponding with and probably the same as the Mexican Huitzilopochtli. The order of Tecuhtli being held in higher esteem in Tlascala than elsewhere, the ceremony of initiation is generally described as it took place in that state.
[99]'Unas piedras chequitas de piedra negra, y creo eran de la piedra de que hacen las navajas.'Las Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvii.
[100]'Se iba à vna de las Salas, ò Aposentos de los Ministros que servian al Demonio, que se llamaba Tlamacazcalco.'Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 362.It seems unlikely, however, that the candidate would be taken to another temple at this juncture. Brasseur explains the name of the hall to which he was taken as'le Lieu des habitations des Ministres, prêtres de Camaxtli.'Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 587.
[101]'Y à las Sillas solas que representaban las Personas ausentes, hacian tanta cortesia, y le captaban Benevolencia, como si realmente estuvieran presentes los Señores que faltaban.'Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 364.
[102]Concerning the ceremony of initiation see:Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 361-6;Las Casas,Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvii.;Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 306-8;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 120-1;Camargo,Hist. Tlax., inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 147-9.
[103]Veytia,Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 58-60.
[104]Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 586.
[105]Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xv.
[106]The Tlaquimilloli, from whence the title is derived, was a sacred package or bundle, containing relics of gods and heroes.
[107]Clavigero asserts that the hair of such only as entered the service on account of some private vow, was cut.
[108]Clavigero says that only a part of them rose upon each occasion.'S'alzavano alcune due ore incirca innanzi alla mezza notte, altre alla mezza notte, ed altre allo spuntar del di per attizzar, e mantener vivo il fuoco, e per incensare gl'Idoli.'Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 42.
[109]'Elles passaient une partie de la matinée à preparer le pain en galette et les pâtisseries qu'elles présentaient, toutes chaudes, dans le temple, où les prêtres allaient les prendre après l'oblation.'Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 556.Clavigero says they prepared the offering of provisions which was presented to the idols:'Tutte le mattine preparavano l'obblazioni di commestibili da presentarsi agl'Idoli.'Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 42.
[110]Clavigero writes:'L'insegna de' Sommi Sacerdoti di Messico era un fiocco, o nappa di cotone pendente dal petto, e nelle feste principali vestivansi abiti sfarzosi, ne' quali vedevansi figurate le insegne di quel Dio, la cui festa celebravano.'Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 38.The most important works that can be consulted concerning the Mexican priesthood are:Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 549-59; from which I have principally taken my account;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 163-5, 175-91;Las Casas,Hist. Apologética, caps. cxxxiii., cxxxix., cxl.;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 112 et seq., 218-23, tom. iii., pp. 276-7;Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 323-5;Acosta,Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 335-42;Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xv-xvii.;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 36 et seq.
[111]This is the title given by the Spanish authors; it is probably derived fromtay, a man, andsacaa, a priest.Vocabul. en lengua Mixteca, etc., according toBrasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 17, note.
[112]Wiyatao, Burgoa writeshuijatoo, and translates, 'great watchman;' the Zapotec vocabulary translates it by the wordpapa, or priest.
[113]Yopaa, Burgoa also writes Lyobaa and Yobaa; it signifies the Place of Tombs, fromYo, place, or ground, andpaa, tomb, in the Zapotec tongue, 'the centre of rest.'
[114]Teutitlan was its name in the Nahuatl language. Its Zapotecan name was Xaquiya.
[115]Rasgos y señales de la primera predicacion en el Nuevo-Mundo, MS. de Don Isidro Gondra;Carriedo,Estudios históricos y estadísticos del Estado Oaxaqueño,Mexico, 1850, tom. i., cap. i.; quoted inBrasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 9.