Creation’s heir, th e w o rld , th e w o r ld is mine.”OLIV ER G O LDSMITH .

THE A' TECS

( 1090- 1 52 1 )

Prelim inary Word. My beloved daughter,very dear li ttle dove, you have already heard andattended to the words which your father has toldyou . They are precious words, and such arerarely spoken or listened to . My deardaughter,whom I tenderly love, see that you livein the world in peace, tranquili ty and contentment, all the days that you shall live . See that

you disgrace no t yourself, that you stain not yourhonor, nor pollute the lustre of fame o f your ancesto rs.

” Such are the beginning and the ending o f the written advice o f an Aztec mother toher first-born daughter,written probably five hundred years ago— almost a century before Columbus discovered America—when the various Indiantribes inhabiting the lands now occupied by mosto f those who may read this volume were seminaked savages, howling through the wilderness .

”

Could i t be that any mother possessing the V i rtuesand the intelligence, the tenderness and the filial

( 5 )

6 THE AZTECS

affection, o f th is unknown one— perhaps a ch ieftain ’s wi fe

,or a king’s daughter— could have

longed to a race akin to the same savaroamed over the United States, scalpmies

,and danced war dances with the sea

ing from thei r belts ? Must not such a peohave been gentle

,hospi table, peaceable, and

removed from such extreme o f barbarism ?The strange contradictions between the resplendid traits o f the peculiar nation, o r raceIndians—so—called— who inhabited the great plateau in the centre o f Mexico, long before the timewhen Cortés subdued i t and set up a kingdom o f

New Spain in America, and the despicable andbloody religious rites which they daily celebratedbefore their idols, are, indeed , an anomaly in thehistory o f mankind . I t is to look a l ittle into thel i fe and beliefs, the greatness and the weakness,the rise and the downfall o f this peculiar peoplethat we shall now have to do, and the story isintensely interesting.Wh o were th e Aztecs i—This is a questioneasily asked, but which the wisdom of thehistorian may never answer. How may it beanswered, indeed, when no one can tell whencecame the other Indian tribes o f America

,or the

Eskimos, or the Patagonians, o r the singularlyrich and powerful Peruvians ? Who knows theorigin of the savages on the li ttle island of SanSalvador in the West Indies

,who capered about

in picturesque costumes when Columbus first sawland in 1492 ? Yet some form an hypothes is

, andare d isappo inted if i t be not accepted by the gen

HISTORY 7

eral public . The best we can do, however, is topoint to certain known, and to certain probablefacts and tradi tions, and then to draw reasonableconclusions.Before we do this, however, let us get clearlyin mind the more prominent theories which havebeen held by different writers concerning the original home o f this queer, strange people ; o r, rather,o f all the red , copper, ol ive, o r brown nations,races

,o r tribes

, w hich inhab i ted North andSouth America before white men came over to thiscountry from Europe .The French archazo logist and ethnologist, Bras

seur ( 1 8 14- 1 874 ) ,held that, six o r seven thousandyears ago, there was the subsidence of a continentbetween Africa and America, as traditions of i twere preserved in ancient Mexican manuscripts,and that this continent almost made a bridge between the East and the West. This is but a repeti tion o f the story o f the large, now submerged,island o f Atlantis, described by Plato . S t. Augustine ( 354-

430 ) intimated his belief that, asby God ’s command at the time o f the Creation,the earth brought forth the l iving creatures afterhis kind, so a similar process must have takenplace after the Deluge in islands ( and, o f course,on continents, o f which, then, he had no knowledge ) too remote to be reached by animals fromthe continent ” o f Asia ; and , i f there were newcreations o f animals, suggests Pri tchard, an English ethnologist ( 1 786 why not of men ?Beechey, the navigator ( 1 796 and Humbold t ( 1 769- 1 8 after him, the latter be ing the

8 THE AZTECS

most eminent German scientist of his day, thoughtthat the inhabitants o f Eastern Tartary and Japan could easi ly have steered their canoes from island to island across to America,

“without ever

being on the ocean more than two days at atime.”

I t is a well-known fact that Japanese wreckshave been found, dri fted by ocean currents toAmerica

,and it is believed they might sometime

have had persons on them who reached this continent. I In a narrative o f Hoei-Shin, a Buddhistmonk of the Fi fth Century, he claims that he visired , in the year 499 A. D . , a land east o f China,which many o f his countrymen, and others, havesupposed was America. Southey wrote a poem on

Prince Madoc,who w as a legendary Welshman,

and whom traditions say went west from Walesand reached a new world in 1 1 70. I t is certainthat the Norsemen went from Iceland about theyear 900 and reached Greenland,which they subsequently colonized , and that in the year 1000 thesame hardy class o f voyagers, under Lei f Ericson,

reached V inland , which is believed to have beenthe coast o f Massachusetts .2

These suggestions and facts out o f many arestated to show the possibili ty, i f not probabili ty, o fthe original races o f America having come fromAsia, or elsewhere, by crossing the seas .Si r Charles Lyell, the geologist ( 1 797i s sure that the American continent was so reachedin very ancient times . I f reached , not once but atvarious times, then i t is no t improbable that allthe early settlers o f America were originally from

HISTORY 9

Asiatic races. I t is true, also, that the Peruvians,Nl exicans, and other classes of Indians thatstretched along from the Aleutian Islands toPeru

,were of the same cranial type as the Mon

go lians, and possessed , as to thei r pottery, inclination to build mounds and pyramids, and mode ofcarrying on various arts, a striking likeness tomany of the nations o f ancient Asia and also tothat of Egypt. Some of the ablest modern writerson the subj ect, like Bancroft of Cali fornia, ( stillliving ) , and Squier ( 1 82 1 have held thatthe probabili ties are that the Mexican peoplescame up from the south rather than down fromthe north . A few other writers, like Agassiz

( 1 807 and Winchell ( 1 824 have heldthat all American Indian tribes were “ probablyindigenous and not migrators

,from Asia.

But the trend of opinion is that, however thePeruvians came to be in thei r country, the Aztecswent into Mexico from the north, which is according to thei r own tradi tions . For it is certainthat ' ( 1 ) The Aztecs had tradi tions d istinct andclear, picture-writings o f which may still be seen,o f thei r traveling from the north . ( 2 ) That theysurely reached the plateau where is now the Cityo f Mexico from the northern part o f Mexico .

( 3 ) That they called the place in the far northfrom which they came,

“Aztlan .

”

(4 ) That theyhad nei ther tradi tions no r records that they hadmigrated from the south.

~Where “Aztlan was, is, as yet, a puzzle.As it simply means the place of the Aztecs

,

”i t

has no etymological significance. I t was probably,

10 THE AZTECS

however,not As ia, nor any similar distant coun

try,but some place in New Mexico, Arizona, or,

preferably,Southern California. I t was where

there was water, although, o f course, i t may havebeen by a lakeside instead o f by the seaside . Dr.

C . W . Zaremba, a recent enthusiastic student o fhi exican history and a collector of Aztec souvenirs, o f Riverside, Cali fornia, in an extensivearticle publ ished in the Chicago Tribune o f September 3 , 1 899, declares his belief that he has d iscovered the location of “Aztlan

,

” and that i t wason Santa Catalina Island, thirty miles west o f thecoast of Cali fornia, and almost due south o f Los

Angeles . The Aztec picture—writings, some ofwhich he possesses, clearly show the peculiar shapeof the mountain in “Aztlan

,

” from which thatpeople started on thei r long j ourney

,and it cer

tainly bears a striking resemblance to the mountain visible from Avalon harbor at Santa Catalina.We shall probably never know to a certaintywhere

“Aztlan was, but we may believe i t to

have been north of Mexico, and west of the RockyMountains, and also by the waterside .There are stone and earth ruins o f variousshapes, round, pyramidal and square, some o f themwhere the stones are just as accurately squared asin the best Mexican buildings

,all the way from

the wonderful mound in Sonora in the northwestern part o f Mexico, up to the curious clefts andhigh table-lands o f Colorado . There were alsomound -builders in Ohio and other states east ofthe Mississippi . These monuments

,whether con

HISTORY 1 1

structed for purposes o f religion, as tombs, orWhat-no t, were the products of the hands of unknown former races or nations of men, and it i snot i llogical to ascribe some o f them to the anecstors of those who afterward peopled Mexico .But we must leave this intensely interestingsubj ect for the archmo logist and ethnologist, andstate the condition of things when the Aztecs d idactually reach Mexico.First, however, let us note that the Aztecs werenot the first Indians to reach the Valley of Mexico. They were preceded by many so -called nations, or tribes, all of which have been classifiedby recent historians as belonging to two generalgroups, the Maya and the Nahua. The Mayasreached Mexico first, and thei r records indicatedthey came in the Fifth Century. The chief subdivision of the Mayas is known as the Toltec, andof the Toltecs we are certain o f a few things .

About th e Toltecs—There was a large, active,highly civil ized people living at Tula, fifty milesnorth of the present City o f Mexico, before theAztecs settled at that identical spot in o r about theyear 1 1 50. They took the name from Tula— o r

To llan, as i t was formerly called—o r Tula fromthem ; i t is uncertain which. They spread out

over much territory, and, possibly, not probably,built the pyramids and other enormous structureswhich exist to-day in a ruined state in variousparts of central and southern Mexico . Fewlarge, strictly-Aztec monuments now exist, forthe Aztecs were not, when in Mexico at least,builders of great works that have remained to this

12 THE AZTECS

day ; but Toltec ruins, o r those o f a more ancientrace

,are still scattered about in many places.

The Pyramids of the Sun and Moon at SanJuan Teotihuacan

,twenty-five miles east of the

City of lWexico , and the Pyramid o f Cholula,near Puebla

,are the most accessible important

ruins near the capi tal, and it is certain they werethere long before the Aztec domination . ThePyramid o f Cholula the writer has stood upon,and i t is to-day a lofty and most conspicuous ruinin the landscape . I t is one hundred and seventyseven feet high and measures nearly a thousandfeet square at the base. The Pyramids of theSun and Moon are not quite so large by ci rcularmeasurement, but are immense ; that of the Sunbeing two hundred and sixteen feet high and overseven hundred feet square at the base, and that ofthe Moon being over one hundred and fifty feethigh and averaging four hundred and seventy feetsquare at the base. They are built o f brick, stoneand rubble . These pyramids were intended fortemples to the sun, or to gods, such temples ofstone and wood having been placed upon thesummits.The Toltecs d isappeared before the advance o fthe Aztecs, how o r why we do not know

,unless

driven away by hostile tribes. They were one ofa confederacy o f nations that went to pieces before the dawn o f the Aztec nation . The Toltecsclaimed, or others have claimed for them,

thatthey also came from the north

,and founded Tula

about 648 A. D . ; i f so, this was over five hundred years before the Aztecs reached Tula. They

HISTORY 1 3

are believed to have deserted Tula because disintegrated by a rebellion, and to have gone south toCholula and vicini ty and again still further southa hundred years before the Aztecs arrived at Tula.The date o f the migration from Tula is said tohave been 1 103 , or, according to better calculations, 105 1 . Before this d isappearance from Tula,and beginning wi th about the year 839, theirrecords contain accounts o f nine kings whosenames are fairly well authenticated .

I t may be said, further, o f the Toltecs, thateven i f they erected some o f the high mounds andpyramids of Central Mexico, they left few written records, and few monumental inscriptions,and what have been found have not yet been deciphered . I f they, and no t a preceding people,also left the inscriptions on the much grandermonuments of stone now to be found in southeastern Mexico, Yucatan and Guatemala, which arefull of hieroglyphics and pictures

,they might as

well no t have been made, fo r there is no one whohas the key to their interpretation .

The mystery about the Toltecs, as to thei r o rigin, history and progress, and disappearance, is fargreater than about the Aztecs . In consequenceo f the lack o f decipherable records relating tothem, everything that happened in Mexico priorto the Aztec age has, in many modern volumes,been referred to the Toltecs, without justificationin any present known facts. We are only surethat they existed, were probably o f the same

(Nahua ) nation,were powerful, were also builders, and had in them at least some o f the same

14 THE AZTECS

real elements o f high culture possessed by theiAztec successors. I t is believed that they wefar less cruel than the Aztecs ; possibly also, ingeneral way

,were a better class with which

have founded a great American monarchy, honly the fates been kinder to them.

Oth er N ative Races.—Tribes known as the '

Chicim ecs are said to have come into the Valley'

o f Mexico after the Toltecs, and certain ofthem by that name were there when the Aztecsarrived . But there were also other tribes, o r subdivisions of that tribe, there, although that particular name is one much heard of in the earlyrecords.Almost at the same time, as i t is thought, the

A lco lhuans, whom we shall refer to hereafter as ;Tezcucans, arrived, and set up thei r abode at Tezcuco, twenty miles northeast o f the present city ofMexico .So much at present for the migrations of tribesfrom, probably, the north, to the region of the 'Valley o f lVIexico . The languages spoken by these 'various peoples were diverse, yet no t wholly distinct. The Nahuas, o f whom the Aztecs becthe most powerful and controlling

,spoke what is

called the Nahua ( or Nahuatl ) tongue ; the nat ions to the far southeast, the Maya. We shall lrefer to the Nahua lan

’

guage later.Th e Aztec Ch ronology .

—However early theAztecs began their southward march from “Aztlan,

”

(which some who have computed their records state was in the year 1090 A. D.,

but o th

H ISTORY 1 5

ers makei t later ) ,they arrived inMexico andwereat a place called Chicom o z tec, about 1 1 16 ; anda li ttle later at Tula, which had been abandonedby the Toltecs. From Tula they migrated to theValley of Mexico, and settled at, or near, the hi llof Chapultepec

,about 1 194. During the next

century,they had various engagements with neigh

boring tribes,and in 1297 were seriously over

thrown. At this time they were at Culhuacan

( not Coyoacan ) ,which was by Lake Xochimilco .As a consequence, they were obliged to flee to anisland called Tiz aapan, perhaps in the same lake .In 1 325 they decided to make thei r futurehome on marshy islands near the western shoreo f Lake T ez cuco . Why they went there we areno t informed .

That year, then, 1 325 , is to be taken as a realdate in Aztec history ; from that year begins thefoundation of their metropolis and thei r start as asmall, but vigorous and growing people.The Aztecs called the Mexican country wherein they made their home “Anahuac,

” whichmeans near the water,

” and that became forthem afterward the name o f thei r empire.Wh at Anahuac Included.

—Anahuac includednot only the present Valley o f Mexico

,but all

the country of Mexico over which,in later years,

the Aztecs gained control, extending from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and from north to south ( soHumboldt says ) between the fourteenth andtwenty-first degrees of north latitude ; that isto say, from near southern Honduras in the southto about a hundred and twenty-five miles north

THE AZTECS

of the present City of BIexico . From being asmall number of people and occupying a fewsquare miles by a lakeside in 1 325 , two hundredyears later

,in 1 52 1 , they held in subj ection vari

ous alien tribes, embracing more than three hundred municipalities

,extending over at least forty

thousand square miles of terri tory, possessing inthei r

,then

,zenith of glory an empire of several

millions of souls. In that short period of timethey had become the most powerful, and, e xceptthe Tezcucans

,the most civil ized nation in North

America.

Aztec History in Brief .—The history o f the

Aztecs in Anahuac, from the founding o f theCity of Tenochtitlan to thei r conquest by Cortés,has been told many times. While enveloped inmore or less of tradi tion, the story of thei r earlieryears there is believed to be substantially as follows 'Tenochti tlan is said to mean a cactus on astone,

”and the name is significant of how the

settlers came to build upon the islands of LakeT ez cuco . There grew on one o f the islands anopal, a species of cactus, out o f a rocky base ; theysaw a golden eagle perched upon it

,and

,viewing

this sight, believing i t to be a good omen, theydecided to stop there and build . This may o r

may not be pure legend, but the Aztecs of a laterday believed it, although there would seem to bemore foundation fo r the alleged fact that Tenuch

( said to have died in 1 363 ) was the Chieftain atthe time the city was founded

,and that its name

was derived from him as the founder. The build

HISTORY 1 7

ers chose with much foresight, i f they themselvesselected the spot instead o f relying upon such a su

perstitious event. Like Venice,Tenochti tlan couldbe water-protected against enemies, so as to bealmost unassai lable, and, with the fortificationssubsequently constructed, i t became a ci ty whichwas never captured until the final entry of Cortés .The original immigrants and settlers were fewin number, but were the survival of the fittestin general vigor. Whatever they were as tocivilization, they were certainly not ruder thanthe first Angle and Saxon colonists of England,or than the No rsem en o f the Eighth Century. I tis thought the whole number, when they enteredMexico, might not have exceeded a few hundred .

They buil t reed houses o f a primi tive nature, but,in a few years, as the village grew, these gaveplace to structures of sun-dried brick and , eventually, of stone, where the owners were able toafford i t.When the period came for stone buildings, theyfound that the marshy islands were a poor foundation ; so they used piles . In fact, to this daythe City of Mexico rests largely upon piles,whichaccounts for so many buildings being out ofplumb .Fact1onal troubles led to s- ome families going tothe hilltop o f Chapultepec, three mlles distant,and others to T latelo lco , also near by. The shortdistance between these schismatics and the parenttribe proves they were in the whole composedo f but a hand ful at most ; otherwi se they wouldhave needed to have gone further to allow for

1 8 THE AZTECS

sustenance and growth . They were no t, therfore

,like the Israeli tes on their entry into

naan,two millions or more strong, but

few,brave adventurers and travelers ;

company o f a regiment of a division of thearmy o f Indian peoples that had for centuries ;been populating Mexico from the north ; perhaps,,also, from the south .

The settlers on this Venetian-like site also became expert boatmen, and canoes, made out o f?single trunks o f large trees, capable o f holdingfrom two to sixty men, were much employed forall purposes o f local transportation . They connected together the islands, and also the mainland,with long embankm ents o f earth and rubble work,using drawbridges with which they might at anytime sever the connection . These embankments ;were always dangerous ways for any bodies of ;

foreign troops to march over, since they could beattacked from the water on both sides. They alsobuilt canals through the most o f their streets

, and,in time, these connected nearly all quarters ofcity by direct water communication.

By the year 1 350 the village had become a ci tyin size, and the people were numerous enough todemand more than the o rdinary tribal organization they had hitherto possessed . That they hadwar Chieftains and leaders before this period thereis no doubt, and the names o f these have comedown to us as those o f kings. But we pass thenames by, because o f thei r doubtfulness, and because the facts become much more clear after thepopular election held in 1350, in which everybody,

HISTORY 19

ncluding the women, voted, and at least the first‘ king to rule over the Az tecs as residents of

s chosen. He, and the precedinghim

,must have belonged to what

the blood- royal,”fo r all subse

uent kings were selected from the same line .The result o f this election was the establishment

The chieftain electedrecognized as

,practically, a monarch ;

but i t was a military democracy, because, as to allleading officials, there were popular elections ; andbecause, as war was about to be the chief end ofthat generation and o f succeeding ones, at leastunti l the ci ty became a nation and could spell i tsname wi th a large N, the king selected was alwaysone who had proved his abili ty as a warrior. Thehistorical kings from this time unti l the days ofthe last Montaz um a, were in this order 'I . Acam apichtli I I . (meaning Handful-o freeds a son o f Acam apichtli I.,who was prob ‘

ably thei r ruler while the Aztecs were at Culhuacan. He was selected as the first king of Tenoch

titlan and held office fo r fifty- three years. Hebuilt some canals, and unde r his administrationstone b uildings began to appear. But during hisreign the Aztecs were obliged to pay tribute tothe Tepanecs, a tribe on the west border of thelake. Fo r the first time gold-workers came intothe settlement from some outside locali ty and began to ply their art.I I . Huitz ilihuitl I I . Humming-b ird son

o f the preceding, was elected king in 1403 . Under him aprimitive but actual code of laws came

20 THE AZTECS

into existence. He is said to have promoted industry, inaugurated rules o f trade, and encouragedthe making o f floating gardens. He is supposed tohave been the first chieftain who was buried onThe Hill of the Grasshopper,

’ as Chapultepecsignifies ; and thereafter the so -called kings wereburied on that mount, which became known asthe royal burying—place of the Az tecs.” Hedied in 1 4 1 7 .

I I I . Chim alpopoca, brother to the last king,succeeded and reigned until 1 428 . What iscalled the “ Codex Chim alpopoca,

” which hasnever been published, and which starts the historyof the world from about 1000 B . C ., i s an Aztecmanuscript of probably his reign, and may be themost ancient o f preserved written Aztec documents containing the national legends . He isbel ieved to have been murdered .

IV. Itz co atl Obsid ian-snake He was abrother to the preceding. Under him the chiefhindrance to Aztec growth in the valley, the tribeo f Tepanecs, whose home was only a few milesfrom Tenochtitlan, was overthrown and it wasmade tributary. At the same time the Alco lhuans— the Tezcucans— entered into an alliance withthe Aztecs, defensive and offensive, in which theTepanecs joined, and so the first Aztec militaryconfederation o f three tribes was established . Thecombination was powerful enough to seek conquests o f outside terri tory and tribes. One by oneother tribes were overcome, o r treated with, andthe Confederacy rapidly grew. Itz coatl died in1440,after a short but glorious leadersh ip .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

22 THE AZTECS

Tizoc,succeeded, and of him the history grows'

more full of detail. At the very beginning of his ;career

,which extended over sixteen years, the r

ceremonies attending the completion of the Great 'Teocall i— the large temple o f the Aztec wain the centre of Tenochti tlan—called forth,computed, more than a million o f people froparts of the country, even from hostile provinces.

IWhat this temple was wi ll be described hereaf~ter. The ceremonies attending the induction ofi ts high pries t into ofiice, and the other dedicatoryg'

formali ties, were as splendid as they were-

b

baric. I t was in the very year o f his elevationpower that this occurred, 1486 ( oryears before Columbus discovered America.

this time the uni ted Confederacy must h ave 0grown all former proportions and strength

,

cause there were led up into that temple, onday o f i ts dedication, thousands upon thousaof victims to be sacrificed . Various accounts

,

both native historians and Spanish wri ters,

the number all the way from twenty thoeighty thousand . The king, officiating aspriest, began the ferocious work with hishand, and was followed by the priests

, eac

whom slaughtered until physical ly unable toon the performance. Two long lines ofstretched far out to and over the causewaysci ty. No such extensive slaughter hadknown before, or was known afterward, inhuac. This king led his armies frequently totle, and in at least one engagement ( in 1494 )badly defeated and his son slain . Some of

HISTORY 23

rs were waged far south of Anahuac. Thiser also performed a public service intended tog him honor, but which nearly cost him hisHe found Lake Tez cuco becoming low atgradually drying up around i ts borders.

feared—what has since happened, though longaft er his day— that i t would make the island partof the mainland, and so endanger the ci ty

’s isolation . W i th the best intent he constructed anaqueduct from large springs at Chapultepec, so asto refill the lake . In one rainy season, it is said,conduit burst in the ci ty, and almost drownedhis people. I t is quite certain, however, thatlake itself, which is lower than the surroundlakes that drain into i t, rose up and causeddestruction. The water went into the king’s

edcham ber and he had to escape in haste. Heied in 1 503IX. Montezuma II .— the Coward, as hisllow countrymen afterward termed him—o f

nquest days, with whose reign ofour readers must be more familiarof any of his predecessors, was atl, and great-grandson o f Monteshall describe him as soon as .w e

tez um a and

3 m et Montezuma—The whole ca0 of Hernando Cortés reads like thea novelist.

_

With so few men, a mereSpanish adventurers, he held, not one,powerful tribes and warlike peoples,hundreds of thousands, at bay, month

24 THE AZTECS

by month, while advancing in easy stages fthe seacoast at Vera Cruz to the capital, overhundred miles in the interior.Cortés was born in Spain in 1 485 . Whenteen years o ld he went to Santo Domingo, alater

,when twenty-six years of age, he j oined

expedition of Velasquez to take possessionCuba. Velasquez, as governor o f that island,,appointed him a judge

, ( a local alca lde ) , and imthis office be exhibited unusual abili ty. He was shandsome and fond o f mili tary life, and so

lasquez appointed him to go to Mexico topossession

,in the name o f Spain, o f all the

he might find , that country having been diered, tw o years before, by Cordova .3 Therehitches about his starting

,and Cortés,wearying

the delay, and selecting about eight hundred mand ten cannon,4 unexpectedly set sai l in elevvessels. He landed at Vera Cruz April 2 1 , 1and, in less than seven months

’ time, 0

ber 8, he had fought a score of battles, w on

all, and entered the City of Tenochtitlan asguest of lVIontez um a. On August 1 3 , 1 52 1

less than two years thereafter— there was a toend of the Aztec empire.Previous to his final entry into the countryVera Cruz, Cortés effected a temporary landion the banks o f the river now called Riobasco, over two hundred miles east-southeastVera Cruz. Here he had a confl ict with alike tribe of many thousand warriors and wonfirst signal victory. In his terms of peace atclose of the engagemen t, a number of Ind

HISTORY 25

womenwere presented to him as slaves, one o f

whom was called Malintz in,who afterward wentamong the Aztecs by the name o f Malinche,

”

and among the Spaniards by the familiar name o fDona Marina,

”

(Lady lVIarina ) . I t is said shewas exceedingly beauti ful, as well as sagacious,and she soon became so accomplished in the artso f interpretation and statecraft that her servicesproved invaluable throughout all the future history o f Cortés in Mexico . Being acquainted withthe Nahua language, spoken by the Aztecs, andalso the related j argons o f the coast- Indians, shewas enabled to interpret what was said later bythe messengers o f Montezuma to Aguilar

,who in

turn in terpreted to Cortés. Aguilar was also discovered on the coast about this time and, withMarina, shares the cred it o f assisting Cortés inhis d ifficult intercourse with the natives . He wasa Spaniard, who . some years before, had beenshipwrecked on the coast of Yucatan and thusunderstood the language o f the coast- Indians . Hecame into the camp of Cortés, being glad to re

turn again from savage to more civilized li fe .Cortés carried through his campaign two redbanners, on at least one o f which were the words,in Latin,

“ Friends,let us follow the Cross, and

under this sign, having fai th, we shall conquer.One o f these banners, small and containing abeauti ful face o f the Madonna, may now be seenin the National Museum in the City of Mexico,while the other, which was perhaps the morehighly valued by the Spaniards themselves, having in after years been presented to the chiefs of

26 THE AZTECS

the Tlascalan nation, has ever since remainedpossession of the municipal authorities o f the to fTlascala. which still exists and bears thatI t is of silk brocade, faded to a light marooneight feet long by six broad, cut in sw

tail ” fashion. The spear and part of the brokstaff are still preserved .

At Vera Cruz Cortés learned definitely o f tposition and elegance of the capi tal o f thand he soon set out to reach i t. Beingby nobles who had been sent out byhe expressed to them his intention of visi tingcapital to see fo r himsel f how powerful andthei r king was. l\’Iontez um a had heard o f“ white men ” as soon as they had landed, fhis couriers, who were constantly bringinginformation as to new events in the empire .had heard o f thei r victory at Rio de Taco, and was anxious to learn more o f thetors. Cortés had not proceeded far,he learned o f the Tlascalans as theformidable enemies o f the Aztecs . They livein the mountains about one hundred antwenty miles west o f Vera Cruz, and boasteo f three hundred thousand people . The modertown o f the same name is located in thenear the m ountains, and contains to-day only fourthousand people . I t was about hal f way on thedi rect road to Tenochtitlan, and i t is presumedthei r city and surrounding villages embracedscarcely more than fifty square miles o f territory.They were a brave and proud tribe, who hadalways refused to pay tribute to Montezuma or

HISTORY 27

his predecessors . The foresight o f Cortés, whichwas equal to every emergency, served him now,

for he immediately decided to attach this aliennation to his cause. The Tlascalans, however,were unwilling to treat wi th him, and undertookto defeat his progress. Cortés and his men, bygreat bravery and by the use o f cannon and cavalry, fought on successive days several tremendousbattles,which eventuated in complete victory ; andso complete was the victory that a treaty o f peacewas made, in which the Tlascalans agreed to quarter the army of Cortés unti l i t was ready to moveon, and also to furnish troops to aid him in anyconfl ict with the Aztecs. Thereafter this nationwas always his friend, and only by their aid wasthe final conquest no t a complete d isaster. Cortésdesi red them to change thei r relig1on, but this hecould no t accomplish, although they agreed not tohave further human sacrifices.South o f T lascala was Cholula, now a smalland miserable place o f four thousand inhabitants,then the abode o f perhaps fifty thousand souls .Cortés said i t had twenty thousand houses. I twas the most sacred place in Mexico, for reasonsto be stated presently. The people o f Cholulainvited Cortés to thei r city and certain events decided him to accept the invitation .

One was the disaffection among his soldiers,which came near terminating his campaign . Theyhad already grown weary of battles and privations, and demanded that they should be returnedto Cuba. To overcome this unwillingness to proceed, Cortés performed a most daring act, which

THE AZTECS

necessnated the future cooperation of his troops ;he went back to Vera Cruz and directed a commission to report that, after examination o f thevessels

,which had been left there in the harbor,

they found the same to be unseaworthy, and, onthe reception of this report, he ordered them tobe dismantled and sunk. When this was done,there was nothing left for the troops but to goforward .

Another event which also happened about th istime was the reception of a second embassy fromMontezuma

,who had now become thoroughly

alarmed at the progress and achievements o f thesewhite men .

” The embassy consisted of five nobles and two hundred slaves, who brought threethousand ounces o f gold , several hundred richlydecorated mantles and much beauti ful featherwork . They begged Cortés to accept the presents,but to come no further, as i t was unsafe,

” declaring that Montezuma could not control hisaffi liated tribes sufficiently to insure the safety ofCorté s in reaching Tenochtitlan . Corte

'

s said tothe embassy that he was commissioned by his august majesty, the King o f Spain, to convey the respects of his king to Montezuma and that he mustdo i t in person .

So Cortés, on the whole, determined i t best toturn aside to Cholula, and he probably desired tosee what was then such a remarkable city. Cholula, according to the accounts, had some fourhundred temples, but the chief one was upon animmense pyramidal mound, and was sacred to' uetzalcoatl . He will be described more minutely

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30 THE AZTECS

men on thei r backs, and also b ig iron af

fairs on wheels ( cannon ) , that o f their own ac

cord belched forth fire and destruction, and itwas useless to oppose their progress ; the second ,that

,according to his own predictions, ' uetzal

coatl, whom they expected might return at anytime

,would

, on such return, preside over the destinies o f the monarchy, and this might be he 'When they reached a point from which theycould see the Aztec capital in the distance, theybeheld a sight that surprised them by its extensiveness and beauty. However captivating thisspectacle is now, then, when the City of T enoch

titlan with i ts imposing Teocalli, the three largeshimmering lakes of the valley, and the surrounding hilltops crowned with edifices

,came before

the vision o f the traveler, i t must have been farmore magnificent. This whole valley of twohundred miles in ci rcumference was then in thehighest state o f _ cultivation, abounding in villagesand ci ties . Lake T ez cuco was a broad expanse

,

extending entirely around the City o f T enoch

titlan, and, besides the vast and green plateau onevery hand, there was not a rounded eminencewhich was not made charming with toweredtemples and abundant foliage.Various pauses were made in the valley-ci tiesand towns by the way, but on November 8, 1 5 1 9,Cortés entered the great capital o f the Aztecs

,and

met Montezuma face to face.Description of Montezuma—W e are quitesure o f our description o f Montezuma

,as he ap

peared on that memorable day and afterward,for

HISTORY 3 1

various chroniclers,who were wi th the Spaniards,have narrated it. He was at this time about fortyyears o f age (having been born in 1 479 ) ;5 wastall and thin ; had black hair, quite coarse, likehis countrymen, but not long. His beard was fullbut thin, and his expression was serious, his behavior dignified and sedate.” There are pictures of him extant, but they are not bel ieved tohave been painted until some years after his death .

When lVIontez um aw as elected king,he was oneo f the priests o f the Great Teocalli— some thinkthe supreme high priest— and had also achievedan excellent record as a sold ier in battle. He waso f the blood-royal, and one of the most popularo f the priests . After he began to reign in 1 503 ,th is populari ty continued, unti l about ten yearslater, when he became unpopular because o f thegrievous taxes he imposed on his people and theaffi liated nations

,and because of his assumption

o f the powers o f legislator as well as sovereign .

Until this time in his reign the laws were madeby the king and his council, but now he took thematter o f legislation into his own hands . It issaid that his name meant “ sad ,

” or “ severe ”

man, but there is no evidence of his wearing morethan a serious countenance before Cortés madehim a prisoner. When notified of his election bythe people as thei r chief, he was found engaged insweeping the stairs o f the temple, and he at onceprofessed unfitness fo r the office. I t is not toomuch to say that he felt his unworthiness at thatmoment, but that he was unfit when the real testing-time o f a brave warrior and monarch came the

32 THE AZTECS

events of 1 5 19 proved . He could have saved hisempi re from forei gn domination had he continuedhis popularity unti l the fatal year arrived, or hadhe early in 1 5 1 9 struck the decisive blow. But hehesi tated to compel Cortés to retreat to the coast,and until the day o f his death was a waverer. Inthis connection i t must be remembered, however,that his supersti tion about the reappearance o f

' uetzalcoatl, and his fears that Cortés was that

god come back to Anahuac,may have had much todo wi th his indecision .

The formal address made to him on his induction into office was preserved by his scribes, andfurnishes a fai r specimen o f the best Indian oratory o f that day. Montezuma is said to havebeen moved to tears by this address. Followingthe address, he was crowned, the crown being inshape like a mitre, the forepart stand ing erectabove the forehead and the back part hangingdown behind the neck. I t was probably made ofthin plates o f gold .

Probably before this coronation day, but afterhis first anointing, Montezuma entered upon hisfirst war, as king, with a rebel province no t faraway fo r the purpose o f bringing back captivesto be sacrificed, as one o f the incidents of his coronation, on the sacrificial altar. In this war he wassuccessful and took to his city many victims . Hefrequently afterwards led his troops to battle andusually won every confl ict. His predecessors hadc arried their warfare as far south as Guatemalaand

,

Honduras, and IVIontez um a, at least once,went to Nicaragua and gained victories. Under

HISTORY 33

him the Aztecs became the foremost and mostpowerful nation in all Mexico. His chief opponents thereafter were the Tlascalans, whomMontezuma undertook several times to chastise,but in one o f his engagements wi th them he wasthoroughly defeated and his own son slain . TheTlascalans, however, could not, o r did not, pushthei r victory on that occasion to any further conclusion,

though always refusing afterward to paytribute to the Aztecs, as d id the other nations.The laws of Montezuma were severe and en

forced with strictness. He would sometimes patrol the streets of the capital at night, in disguise,to see i f these laws were violated . He communicated constantly with all parts o f his country, bymeans of swift-running couriers, there being re

lays o f them on the great roads every six miles.He erected many new, and embellished the old,temples, and in 1 5 1 2 he dedicated a new and largesacrificial stone with captives obtainedfrom a revolting province. In his day, T enoch

titlan became, perhaps, the greatest city in thenumber o f i ts temples and priests in all the world .

Many o f the temples were small, but the idea wasthat there should be no excuse fo r the people ineach separate square of houses in the city fromhaving temple services performed for them

, al

most at thei r doors, as often as was required .

Having been a priest, and believing the dailyworship of the gods an essential to morality andthe true basis for happiness in the world to come

,

he was their patron to an unprecedented extent.To construct and maintain so many separate

34 THE AZTECS

structures and their administration required dailyand nightly watchers almost innumerable. Tocare for all these priests and other helpers inTenochti tlan, and elsewhere in h is dominions, hewas obliged to impose heavy tributes on the subservient tribes, and equally heavy taxes on his nation . About the same time he grew more and moredespotic as to the character of his government, sothat what had been a laudable kind o f constitu

tional monarchy became pure despotism .

No doubt the Aztecs as a people would haveliked to have broadened and improved thei r ownsemi- free monarchical system, but Montezumaintervened and, besides becoming cruel and tyrannical, grew to be selfish and luxurious. In theend his conduct aided to alienate the friendlytribes and weakened his nation in i ts vi tal points .As to his luxuriousness, all accounts agree thatMontezuma took his meals alone in the largeHall of Audiences in his palace under conditionso f prodigali ty. The cups from which he drankwere of gold or pearl . He never used the sametable utensi ls the second time. Several hundredyoung nobles were employed in bringing in various plates o f food to be tasted as they were setdown, at a time when Cortés was present, and itwas said this was not uncommon. Each platerested on a ho t chafing dish . He changed his dressfour times each day, and also took a daily bath .

His clothing he never wore tw ice, but gave i taway to his chief attendants. Swift couriersbrought him fish that the day before had beenswimming in the Gulf of Mexico. He had a

H ISTORY 35

harem of a thousand wives—s ome say of threethousand—and in that respect was a “

greaterthan Solomon . He had fifty sons and daughters his father was reputed to have had one hundred and fifty. He had near his palace twomenageries, various fishponds, and an enormousaviary of the rarest birds. He had a hunting park,an extensive garden o f flowers, and, in going outto see them, or to and from his summer palace atChapultepec, which was built on that hill in agrove of old and magnificent cypress trees, he wasalways carried reclining upon his li tter.In a word, as he grew rich and strong in power,he became effeminate as well as despotic. In consequence o f all these increasing vices, his empirewas honeycombed with plots to dethrone him, but,up to the time of the arrival of Cortés, he hadmanaged to hold his people together in fai r sub

j ection.

We know his favorite beverage was, not pulque,but cacao, and many pitchers o f i t were preparedfor his daily consumption . He was a greatsmoker, chiefly, however, o f an intoxicating weedwhich the Spaniards called tobacco,6 and whichwas perfumed ; and, while he smoked, he wasfond of having exhibi tions before him of jugglersand mountebanks, fo r which the Aztecs were famous.

Th e Meeting with Montezuma—Cortes en

tered Tenochtitlan by the south causeway ; thesame, substantially, as the present south entranceinto the City of Mexico. Then the waters ofLake Tez cuco sparkled in the sunshine around

36 THE AZTECS

all the city ’s boundary ; now they are to be seenonly from the top of the tall buildings and far inthe distance. Cortés ’ own warriors numberedless than four hundred ; his Tlascalan allies wereabout six thousand . The route entering into theci ty passed by many suburban vil lages ; therewere some fifty of them in the environments.

These, like the buildings of the capi tal i tsel f,werenot longer built of bamboo reeds ; the Aztecs ofeven the smaller towns had passed that primi tivestage long before, and had substantial homes.The waters were covered with thousands o f canoes, the whole population, seemingly, coming outto meet the “ white strangers .” Before reachingthe causeway itsel f, several hundred Aztec chiefsappeared to welcome their guests. Montezumafel t i t was incumbent on him to seem to be hospitable, as i t might prevent bloodshed, and surelythese strangers

,he thought, who had come only

to give presents and tender the respects of theirforeign king, would not remain too long, andwould then leave the country.These chiefs were dressed in rich costumes

,hav

ing about thei r loins the same gaily colored sashes

( the m axtli) which are sti ll to be seen among thedescendants of the Aztecs. Thei r mantles wereembroidered in feathers, and thei r necks and armswere adorned wi th bracelets. Thei r ears andunder-lips, or noses, had pendants o f gold, or precious stones. These chiefs helped to form thestrange procession which now entered into thecity.But this was not all of the procession, as it

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38 THE AZTECS

the face of a white man, but, more than this, hemight have been looking on the face of a god 'His emotions must have been inexpressibly sad,but he concealed them well. Cortés was also perturbed, but to outward appearances was calm, aswell as sel f- reliant.Cortés

,by his interpreter Marina, tendered his

respects ; Montezuma welcomed him to the city.Cortés then placed around the neck o f the kinga chain of colored crystal, and was about to embrace him

,but this Montezuma’s aides prevented

as shocking to thei r ideas o f the sacredness o f

thei r emperor ’s person. Montezuma now resumedhis posi tion in his l i tter, after he had appointed hisbrother to convey Cortés and all his troops to thebuildings made ready fo r them opposi te to theTeocall i ; and soon after,when Cortés and his so ldiers were quartered in this guest-house, the kingmade his first oflicial call to talk over the situation .

At this point let us take leave of these two menuntil we have had time to make a more detailedsurvey o f the curious City o f Tenochti tlan and o fthe Aztec people as Cortés found them .

General Description of th e Aztec City—ThatTenochti tlan was a fair and vast city to look uponfrom a distance we already know . I t was located

feet above the level of the sea, and, in con

sequence, had a magnificent winter climate, whilethe summer climate, though generally rainy, wasof nearly the same temperature. Then, as now,

the thermometer must have averaged from sixtyfive to seventy

-five degrees all the year round .

HISTORY 39

For nine months o f the year the skies were clearand the ai r sparkling. The ci ty had, in 1 5 19, i fthe Spaniards stated the fact correctly, sixty thousand houses, chiefly stone-buil t, which would imply at the least three hundred thousand people.8

It was buil t as a square, each side about threemiles long. There rose up in its centre

,on one

side o f the chief plaza, the remarkable pyramidtemple, the Great Teocalli, to the height o f'eighty-six feet, which presented a landmark forobservers from all the surrounding valley. Hundreds o f smaller temples were in all parts o f thecity . These temples, however, having nei thergolden no r copper domes or minarets, presentedbut a faint l ikeness to the barbaric splendors ofOriental ci ties.Nor did the municipali ty contain any twentystory commercial buildings ; on the contrary, thehouses o f all classes, except of the very rich, wereuni formly one story and with flat roofs . I t hasbeen thought that most o f the residences werecommunal, being large enough to contain al lthe blood - relatives o f a single family, and thatonly the wealthy and the nobles had separate residences, but this point is much in dispute . O c

casionally a building rose to the height o f twostories

,the superstructure being o f wood , but this

was an exception . The houses had parapets onthe roofs for purposes o f safety, and to be usedas fortresses, and sometimes there were slight towers . The adornments o f these buildings were alsotoo trifl ing to be mentioned ; they were severelyplain, though substantial . One must not, there

40 THE AZTECS

fore,in picturing in imagination this strange old

city,compare it wi th a modern Cairo or Moscow,

much less with Chicago o r New York . I t wasequally as curious as the Oriental ci ties now are tothe eyes of travelers, but no t resplendent .The Aztecs had erected thei r first buildings o fthe most meagre materials, but long before thetime o f Cortés had used the best and hardeststones to be quarried from thei r mountains. Oneis almost surprised to know that they freely usedgranite, porphyry, and even j asper, although theordinary material was a hard, red, but light andporous

,stone ; yet, singularly enough, as has been

stated, these stone build ings were generally whitewashed, and thus the city was wholesome, i f lessarchitecturally attractive than i t might otherwisehave appeared .

The city, viewed from within, therefore, wasnot like any modern metropolis, American o r

European, but was much superior to any otherci ty known to have existed in North Americaprior to later centuries . Canals were in almostevery street. Communication to and fro

,in the

ci ty and about the suburban V i llages, was carriedon chiefly by means o f canoes, o f wh ich there weresaid to have been two hundred thousand . Thequays had basins and locks, and there were customoflicials to collect imposts . Many o f the residences had gardens attached

,full of tropical

plants. There were smooth, wide streets, andmany plazas. A central market-place was largeenough to accommodate over sixty thousand sellers and purchasers at one time ; there was prob

HISTORY 4 1

ably a second one, o f nearly equal size, in the capital city, as well as a stil l larger one in the suburbs.Once a week ( every fifth day ) a regular fair washeld, when the habitués o f the markets were increased many fold by salespeople from a distance.Cortés said that, at such times, one o f the marketswas known to contain two hundred thousand people, but this was probably an exaggeration .

Public fountains and ponds, and the royal baths,were supplied with water by an aqueduct fromChapultepec. There were lighthouses upon towers, to direct the canoes at night, and the streetswere l ighted by braziers. These streets,when notcanals

,were sprinkled daily to keep down the

dust. Certain hours of the day and night wereannounced by the priests from the summits o f thetemples by blowing through conch- shells, for timewas regulated there

,for priests and fo r laborers,

as strictly as in a modern manufactory.I t is stated that T ez cuco , about twenty milesnortheast from Tenochti tlan, was a much largerand more cultured ci ty, but that was not strictlyAztec, and, nevertheless, the fame of the latterexcelled .

Th e Palace of Montezuma—W e have brieflyreferred to some o f the habits of the king in hisroyal abode

,but the size and appointments of his

town residence need an additional word . I t wasan exceedingly long and a low building, as is, indeed, the present palace o f President D iaz, whichis partially on the same spot, but is much lessenormous in extent than that of Montezuma . I twas built of huge blocks of the porous red stone

42 THE AZTECS

heretofore described, well cemented together.enclosed three large plaz as, in each o f whi

played a fountain day and night There wtwenty doors that opened on the various sqand streets

,over each of which was the coat

arms of the kings of Anahuac, an eagle grippiin his talons a j aguar. The palace was full of imense halls

,one capable of holding three thou

sand persons . Besides these, there were a hundredo r more smaller rooms, and as many marble baths.As Montezuma was frequently visi ted by thetwo other kings o f the confederated nations, o f

Tez cuco and T lacopan, there were suites of apartments reserved for their use, as well as fo r thenobles and lords of the ci ty, and the ministers o fstate. There were also rooms fo r the one thousand o r more women who were wives of Montezuma, o r attendants on his court. A writer whowas with Cortés says that, while he often wandered about the palace unti l he was tired, he neversaw the whole o f i t. The walls and floors werefaced with polished marbles

,and there were many

curious carvings on balconies and porticoes . Thewoods used were cedar and cypress, and were heldtogether without nails . The roofs were a succession o f terraces. On the marble floors werechoicest mats, and before the windows ( glass wasunknown ) were curtains o f brilliant colors .Through the halls were golden censers

,in which

were burned spices and perfumes.Not far away, (where the Hotel Jardin and

the San Francisco Church now are ) , were largegardens fo r wild beasts

,and another near i t for

HISTORY 43

birds—a genuine zoological museum and aviary ;also ponds o f wonderful fish and alligators . Mexico had many birds of rarest plumage, among themthe scarlet card inal, various brilliantly coloredparrots, the golden pheasant, and beauti ful humming-birds, and these could always be seen in theking’s gardens. There were also groves of raretrees

,and everywhere lovely flowers ; the latter

sti ll grow in thei r perfection in the Valley ofMexico . I t was in these gardens where Montezuma

,in his latter days, spent much o f his time,

alone, o r with his favori te wives .The building in which Cortés and his troopswere quartered had been the palace of Axayacatl,the father o f Montezuma. I t was located justwest o f the Great Teocalli

,on the spot where

stands now the National Pawnshop of the City ofMexico . I t consisted o f a low range o f stonebuildings, occupying much ground, and af

fording room fo r all the regular Spanish troops .

Th e Great Teocal li—The chief temple o f theAztecs was the central one near the palace o f

lWontez um a, occupying more ground than thepresent enormous Cathedral in the ci ty, which isbuilt directly facing the site ; i t took up much o f

what is at present the main plaza. I t was thelargest

,as well as the chief, sanctuary of the A z

tecs,but not the largest in all Mexico ; the one at

Cholula,which still exists, being twice as high

and proportionately larger at the base.'

The w riter has been upon this py ramid and has d escribedit,briefly , in his B r zzglzt Day ' in S unny Lands p . 408 .

44 THE A'TECS

The Great Teocalli was erected to the chiefAztec god called Huitzilopochtli

,which is a name

composed of two words,

“ humming-bird andleft and his images contain a representation

o f this bi rd,with the feathers only on i ts left foot.

A humming-bird was surely a curious namefor a war-god

,especially as this w as the great god

o f war of the nation,although often spoken o f as

the god o f Nature and o f the Sun ; in any event hewas thei r patron divini ty.The legend that a humming-bird originally di

rected the first settlers toward Mexico m ay havehad something to do with the singularity o f thisname as applied to this protecting Dei ty. Histemples were always the largest and most stately,and the chief sacrifices o f human beings were onHuitzilopochtli ’s altars . This god had anothername

,Mexitl,

” and i t is from this name thatthe word Mexico is derived . The latter namewas not uncommon to the Aztecs, and seems tohave been in such use, when the Spaniards m adetheir conquest, that i t was usually so called bythem, and on the first Spanish map o f the Valleyof Mexico, made by Clavigero in 1 580, the ci ty isput down as l\4essico .”9The great temple was oblong, being three hundred and seventy-five feet long and three hundredfeet broad at the base. I t was five stories high,each story built of huge blocks of stone superimposed upon the preceding, but each ascendingstory being of smaller size ( six feet narroweronly ) as i t rose toward the sky. To ascend i t, thepriests in charge walked up to the first terrace

,

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46 THE AZTECS

so -called ) ,Tezcatl ipoca. Some have averred tthe left-hand one was for various idols, brouthere in turn

,according to which should p

over festival days, but Bernal D iaz ( 1 498- 1sold ier under Cortés and, later, an b istorihe saw Tezcatlipoca there, seated, insanctuary, and the best authori ties hold that i tfor him . Each o f these horrible lookingwas placed upon a stone base, about fourhigh, and in front o f them hung huge, richtains,with tassels, and bells o f gold that rattlthe hangings were moved to and fro . Bthese gods were small stones of sacrifice, eachabout three feet wide, five feet long and threefeet high.Another and larger stone o f sacrifice for public 'occasions was near the entrance to the upper terrace

,as approached from the last stai rway, in full l

V iew from the city, the two towers named being ;at the other end of the platform . This large stone rof sacrifice may be the one now in the National lMuseum o f l\/Iexico , an illustration of which appears as the frontispiece to this volume. This latter stone is eight feet in diameter, oblong, and 'thirty-one feet around . It was discovered near ‘

the Cathedral in I t has elaborate carvings,,representing victorious chiefs under the formerking Tizoc

,who ruled from 1 48 1 to 1486. This

king is represented dragging prisoners by the hairto the place of sacrifice. There are fifteen groupso f these prisoners, two in a group, and they are believed to represent fifteen conquered tribes. Thecarving also illustrates the evening star and the

H ISTORY 47

moon engaged in a mortal struggle . O n the top,there is an image o f the sun in the centre, but thishas been partially cut out to make a bas in, assome have supposed, for the head o r shoulders ofthe victim, because there is a canal leading to aniche on the edge, as i f to catch the blood andcarry i t away. Some consider this simply a gladiato rial stone, on the top of which a gladiator,standing,would fight with another gladiator, andthe defeated one would be led o ff to the real sacrificial stone to be immolated .In the upper stories o f the towers Diaz foundother idols and bloodstains although Cortés saysthese towers were used for the ashes o f the deceased cremated kings and nobles . Before eachchapel

,on a stone hearth

,of a man ’s height

,a fire

was kept burning perpetually, and i t was prophetic o f grave misfortune should i t become accidentally extinguished . Here, also, stood an immense drum of snake-skins

,which was beaten on

festival occasions.Between the central pyramid and the outerwalls were some seventy o r more other small stonestructures, all with many elevated stone pillarson them,

on which were kept fires in adoration o fthe idols . There were six hundred such pillars,and at night thei r fires served to turn night intoday ” to all who served in the temple. Many ofthese seventy stone buildings— about forty o f them— were also li ttle temples, each with i ts idol ; thetallest being that to the god Tlaloc, which wasascended by fi fty steps.To take care o f all these smaller temples, as

48 THE AZTECS

well as the larger in this one vast central simore than five thousand persons werepriests

,nuns, children and other persons,

and women .

Th e Awful Sacrifice of Human Life.

Aztecs d id not slay thei r enemies in battle i f theycould capture them alive, but preferred—evenwent to war to secure— prisoners whom theycould use either as slaves or as victims on their altars. All the Indians nations o f North and SouthAmerica had the same general idea that thei r godscould best be propitiated by human victims, al

though many o i the tribes l iving in the presentUnited States,who used the tomahawk, slew theirenemies merely in order to secure thei r scalps, aspecies o f warfare unknown to the people ofAnahuac. Perhaps we must except the Mayatribes from having much to do with human sacrifices, but this is not quite certain. The Aztecsalso sacrificed birds, and occasionally animals, butthere can be no exaggeration of the fact of the awful fate of thousands of prisoners of war in thetemples, and also o f some o f thei r own people,who offered themselves to be immolated, even ifthe figures are appallingly great and sometimesimprobable.The skulls of those slain, put on cross-polesaround the summit of the Great Teocalli

,were

the saddest of proofs to the Spaniards o f such sacrifices. There were poles set upright on the topmost platform, about four feet apart, and crosspoles were run through them. On each cross-polewere hung five skulls. At either end of the plat

HISTO RY 49

rm were also two high pillars made of skulls,

facing outward . When there were distined captives, the heads were left in thei r natstate, with hair and skin on, which was the

most ghastly spectacle of all . Bernal D iaz claimedthat two Spanish soldiers actually counted

o f these skulls when the Spaniards firstascended the temple, but this is supposed to havebeen an overstatement.The manner o f the sacrifices on the GreatTeocalli, and , doubtless, on the top platforms o fother temples in Anahuac, has often been detailed,and is too sickening to bear any extended repetition . The victim was stripped, and then extendedupon the sacrificial stone, being firmly held byfour priests. The executioner, who was sometimes the chief priest, especially on great occasions, wore a red vestment, and on his head acrown of green and yellow feathers. He used asharp stone kni fe ( the itz tli) , making a deep incision between the ribs ; then, thrusting in his hand,tore out the living heart and deposi ted i t in thecenser before the idol that was being worshiped .

The body was at once thrown down to the groundfrom the top of the temple,where either the warrior who had captured the prisoner, i f he werepresent and recognized his victim, o r whoever firstpicked i t up, had the privilege o f cooking and eating the thighs, arms and breast . The rest of thebody was burned, o r given as foo d fo r the beastsin the royal menagerie.We have already stated that, when the Great

Teocall i was ded icated, about 1486,Ahu izotl, the

50 THE AZTECS

king,sacrificed an enormous number of captives.

Torquemada, the historian and priest ( 1 545who went to reside in Mexico some forty

years after Cortés conquered i t, and who gatheredhis account from native tradi tions and,p ossibly,records

,says they numbered Clavigero

( 1 73 1 the Jesuit wri ter, born in Mexico,says the number was others put i t muchless, even

' down to But, taking thesmallest number as most probable, what a butchery o f innocent victims during only four days ofthe royal ri tes and festivi ties ' History furnishesno other example o f such sanguinary religiousceremonies .I t may well be that in this one thing alone, o fthei r perseverance in destroying human li fe on

thei r altars, as i f i t were but the li fe of the mothor o f the savage beast, this nation well merited theretribution which befell i t so soon after theSpaniards— who had other national and individualfaults not to be palliated, but who Were not murderers o f the same dreadful mold

,nor cannibals

had taken possession o f thei r fair capital .

Th e Aztec Religion.—It is impossible to com

prehend how a race of people, or any portion o f

that race, who were in some respects so esthetic inthe ir tastes ; who were versed , even rudely, inmany important sciences ; who had written documents ; who maintained a high moral code in family li fe, and who had so many excellent laws togovern them, could be so exceedingly barbarous inthei r rel igious Observances, unless we know a greatdeal more about their rel igious beliefs than we

HISTORY 5 1

do . Unfortunately,while we know much ofgods, we understand less of the Aztec innerous l i fe than we should like. This is becausei r own chroniclers, and those of the conquerwho held these pagans in such disdain that

they never tolerated thei r religion after the conquest, took no pains to wri te about i t wi th minuteness. All accounts on the subj ect are unsatisfactory and mysti fying. Still, we can gather fromthe annals o f that period, and the known facts,considerable in formation upon their mythology,from which such curious religious Observancesrang ; and i t throws much light upon

‘

the bloodess of thei r rites .The chief gods were believed to delight in the

o f the sacrifice, and it is easy to conj eee that, as this mythology was self-originated ,immediate ancestors o f the Aztecs o f Mexico

must, perforce, have been cruel and bloodthirstym en . We hardly believe that this nation was de

generating, although it may have been increasingin barbari ty in this one respect, owing to the insatiable cruelty o f thei r kings .I n the early ages of the world blOodthirstinessappears to have been the rule, even after signs ofcivilization were well under way, and races which,from thei r general intellectual standing, should

'

have been peace-loving and uncruel, were rarelyan exception . I t is so to-day in the heart of Africa it was so in the past centuries in the heart ofAsia. Is i t any wonder that i t was so in the heartof America ?a The mythology—which term m eans a mythical,

52 THE AZTECS

theology ; doctrines of gods who were really but tmyths -o f the Aztecs was in many respects l ikethat of other early nations o f the East. This si s one of the reasons for supposing thei r ancestors ;were originally from As ia. S till, the likenesses ;between the religions o f the peoples of Asia and 'o f the Aztecs were not greater than were their '

dissimilari ties.Like most untutored peoples, they had always ;believed in good and evil spiri ts, and, therefore,thei r gods were both good and bad, but, unfo rtunately, thei r chief gods were what we shouldcall bad . They had minor gods of a di fferentcharacter, as of the seasons, of the harvest- timeo f warriors, hunting, fishing,medicine,mountains

“,

thunder, etc. ,who were scarcely good or bad ; buto f thei r five chief gods at least three were certainlyfar from good in what they rigorously demandedo f thei r worshipers.The Aztecs d id rise up to some conception of a

Supreme God, who was chief Lord of the universe, and supreme even above the god who madethe earth and the heavens. Their li terature prov‘esthis. There are beauti ful appeals to God ( to

’

Teo tl, the Supreme God ) as the great Lordover all . He was also called T loque-N ahuaque,meaning “ First Cause of all Things .” AlsoItalnem oaloni, He in Whom and by Whom weare and live .” In an Aztec prayer He was spokeno f as God o f all purity .

” But a conception o f

H im, or o f any inferior god, as a loving, all-merciful Father,who might love H is earthly childrenwith surpassing love,

”

more ready to be m erci ful

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T11 13? AZTECS

I t would be profitless to name the moretwo hundred gods that have place in Aztecology. Perhaps thirteen of these onsidered as principal deities . As every pgod had various names, we cannot behow many there were. Below we shallthe four which, in addition to the Supreme

(Teo tl ) already named, appear to have mostfluenced thei r religious ceremonies.First, and chief, after Teotl, was Tez catlipshining mirror He was supposed to be

god who created the heavens and the earthalso man . His images always representedholding a mirror in his hands. As time haeffect upon him, he had the face o f a youTezcatlipoca rewarded the just

,but punis

unjust by disease. He also went aboutmen inducing them to destroy one another.were placed stone seats fo r him at the co rthe streets, where he might rest ; and no oneallowed to si t on those seats. Although hisalways had a young appearance, the images ofwere ugly. Above his head was, usually, a lahead, with immense round eyes and big ears,the general whole was grotesque and disagreeaTezcatlipoca was no t generally supposed toas bloody a dei ty as the god to be named next, butmany sacrifices were made to him, and the an

nual festival to him was celebrated with a sacr1fice of girls.Second , Huitz ilOpochtli, o r Mexitl .9 He wasthe most honored of all the Aztec divini ties .has been mentioned before. I t was chiefly for

He

HISTORY 55

t the Aztecs erected thei r first small hut-temple11 they founded Tenochti tlan . I t was fo r himso mighty a Teocalli was built in the ci ty

He was no t simply a god of war, butrible god o f war. He was said to have beenof a woman without a human father, andwhen born he had a shield in his left hand,in his right hand , a green plume on hisfeathers on his left leg. His figure on

the Great Teocalli, in the tower-sanctuary,f wood , painted blue, the forehead of an

azure tint, and the face crossed from ear to car bya band of azure. A helmet, l ike a bi rd, was onhis head , and a collar representing six humanhearts was around his neck . He had also the seeptre

,feathers, etc. , to indicate his general appear

ance at birth . He was always one of the mosthideous o f the gods, to whom most victims weresacrificed, and in case of war some image o f himwas carried by the priests through the city toarouse the people to go forth to battle.Third, Tlaloc, master of Paradise. Helived on the mountain summit,where people wentto pray to him. He was a Toltec god, but theAztecs believed in him as governor o f thei r future place of abode, ( the Sun ) , fo r they werelookers-forward to an immortali ty beyond thegrave . Images o f him were also horrible . Children were sacrificed to this god, and the year wasfull of festivals to him when other human sacrifices were offered .

Fourth, ' uetzalco'

atl, also a Toltec god,whosepersonal l i fe as a divini ty was quite blameless. He

56 THE A'TECS

was god o f the air. Some thought he wasreal priest at Tula before the Aztecs arrived,that he left for Cholula and was deifieddeath. As there were two of that name, aand a divini ty, they have probably becomeup in the records. I t is interesting to obserthe first Spanish missionaries saw in ' ue“ a disciple o f Jesus Christ,

” because hecharity

,gentleness and peace .” They believedd

from this that the Gospel must have been previ-iJ

ously preached 1n Anahuac, no t only because they)'saw this supposed man-god was so good, but alsoqbecause they fancied they saw resemblances in certain of his customs to those of thei r own religiona.

He was always described as once a man ; a tall lman,with a white skin, broad forehead, large eyes sand bushy beard,who invented the art o f smelting'm etals and working in stone. At Cholula he had iwon the hearts of the people and had resided thereetwenty years ; then went toward the sea, never ito return, but sent word back that he would re

turn at some time in the far future at the head o ffwhite- faced men and govern the kingdom. The '

natives o f Cholula, whether Toltecs or what,,

promptly deified him, and ever afterward they, .

and the Aztecs also, venerated him as the god 'of the air.” His fame spread into Yucatan,

and 'later kings there declared they were descended lfrom him . All Mexico believed in him and in his ,promise to return ; and this is what made theAztecs specially fearful that Cortés and his sold iers might be ' uetzalcoatl and his band retuming to claim possession of the land, which, in his ;

HISTORY 5 7

nce, had been glad to tender him thei r wor

al coatl was at first only worshiped byo f frui ts and flowers ; his teachings wereof the arts and of the precepts o f peace.the later years o f the empire, when the

Aztecs had set such constant examples o f the sacrifice of human beings to their own peculiar gods,the Cho lulans sacrificed also hundreds, i f notthousands, of victims to this gentle and peace-lov

There were,in addition to gods, goddesses of

the earth and o f maize, of flowers and of agedwomen, etc . In truth, there were gods and goddesses to fit every condition in li fe, and to ac

count fo r every past o r present event in the heavens o r the earth . These minor gods were not allbloody creatures, i t is true, but as their chief divinities were, is i t scarcely a wonder that, so long asthey believed in them, human sacrifices to pro

pitiate these gods were continued, o r that the nas tion should be led to believe by the priests andkings that the larger the sacrifices, the greaterwould be the mercies to come down upon thewhole people ?

The idols o f these gods were made of stone,terra cotta and wood , though often o f gold andsi lver. They were o f all sizes, and no t in agreement in the same class, even as to grotesque details . These idols were as numerous as are idolsnow in India o r China, being in the houses ofthe people and along the roads and streets . Thefirst b ishop o f Mexico, Zumarraga ( 1 486

58 THE AZTECS

says that one order of Spanish monks alone destroyed twenty thousand idols in eight years time .Temples where occurred Aztec sacrifices

,such

as have been named, were no t alone in T enoch

titlan, but elsewhere. Torquemada, the Spanishhistorian,who resided in Mexico and wrote a H isto ry of the IndianM onarchies, declared that therewere fifty thousand temples in Anahuac. Otherhistorians o f near his day declared there were amillion o f priests, which must have been an exaggeration .

The temple service consisted of hymn-chantingand incense-burning at dawn, noon, sunset andmidnight. The sun was incensed thrice everymorning. Each morning also these priests paintedthei r bodies black with soot, and over this blackcovering put figures in yellow or red ochre ; but,at night, they bathed in temple fountains and weremade clean again . Fo r ordinary use on the streetsthey wore black cotton caps

,but during the cere

monies put on colored mantles,according to the

orders to which they belonged . Their hai r wasallowed to grow as long as i t would . They neverdrank to excess, and severe were the laws fo r disobeying customs, o r for immorality. The greatdoor o f the temples always faced to the west

,so

that in bending down before the idol at the eastend , the worshiper was turned toward the easttoward the rising sun .

To keep up thei r worship in i ts grander formsalmost continually, there were festivals to one

god o r another nearly every day in the year.Many of these were, of course, not accompanied

HISTORY 59

by the shedding Of blood, although animals andbirds were frequently sacrificed ; quails, especially,were Offered in enormous numbers, usually at thesunrising, but also at other hours . They wereOften light and cheerful festivals

,accompanied

with dances of men, o f women and o f children,and with national songs . The Toltecs, who hadpreceded the Aztecs, had inaugurated such peaceful festivities, that nation being averse to bloodshed .

The chief priestly ceremonies were gorgeous,so as to dazzle the people with the splendors of theworship . Each priest was devoted to the serviceo f some god . He was allowed to marry, practicedpenances ( fastings, flagellations, maintainedconfessionals and had the power of absolution .

Men usually confessed but once during their l ives,in thei r o ld age, because, i f they repeated an o f

fence once confessed and pardoned by the priest,i t could never afterward be expiated . When thepriest absolved the confesser, the certificate o f i talso shielded him from prosecution by the civi llaw.

Future li fe was believed in, and was dividedinto three states ' ( 1 ) O f the wicked , who wentto hell ; a place of everlasting darkness. ( 2 ) O fthe class who died Of diseases and were notwicked

,but had not earned heaven by ei ther thei r

heroism o r death on the sacrificial altar. ( 3 ) O fthose who fell in war, o r were slain on the stoneo f sacrifice . Those who did no t belong to one o f

these three classes,who were simply deceased

good men,” were supposed to be four years in a

60 THE AZTECS

preparatory state before entering upon the enjoyment of heaven, and for these, during each of thefour years, offerings Of food, wine, flowers andperfume were placed on o r near the burial-placeof his body, o r his ashes, accompanied with songs,feasting and revelry. Paradise was thus clearlyreserved, in the first place, for heroes and martyrs ;then for good men, but only after further probation . With such beliefs as to how immortalityin the Sun could be earned, the enigma o f theirconstant warfare with other tribes, even whenpeace could easily have been concluded, was nolonger such . War was always glorious, and deathin war had this allurement ahead .

Marriage and Funeral Rites—Marriageswere usually performed at the age o f abouttwenty-one in men and eighteen in women . Whensons and daughters arrived at that age the parentsconsulted soothsayers as to the desi rabili ty o f thematch proposed fo r thei r children, and, i f theaugury was for a happy union, some o ld lady relatiy es o f the young man sought out the father o fthe proposed bride, taking presents and asking forthe daughter’s hand . He always re fused i t atfirst

,but subsequently, other deputations being

sent, i f he acceded, a date was soon fixed . Onthe date the father and mother o f the bride gaveher good advice, and then led her, with some accompanying music, to the bridegroom

’s house.The bridegroom and his relatives met the party atthe door with lighted torches . The betrothedoffered incense to each other, when the couplewere led to the great hall in the house, and the

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THE AZTECS

under seventeen years o f age, in which cases theywere buried . The altar for the burning wasusually attached to the temple, where the deadperson o r his family had attended worship . Whenthe body was being burned

,the mourners threw

on the flames j ewels,weapons and food . In the

case o f kings, sometimes an embalming was attempted, but probably this was only that the bodymight last through the extended ceremonies. Onthe day o f his decease

,the general ceremonies were

no t unlike those for a private person, but on afuneral day they were gorgeous in all respects .The body was laid on a li tter, or placed on athrone, and borne to the temple amid a processiono f priests, nobles and people, as well as the slavesto be immolated . At the funeral Of some O f thekings, several hundred slaves belonging to theroyal household were slain on the sacrificial stonein the usual manner and the bodies cremated .

These slaves were supposed to follow the soul o fthei r royal master to the Sun and there attendupon him .

Th e Aztec Calendar.—The Aztecs had a pre

pared calendar and various copies o f i t, in stone‘

or picture-writing, are in existence . Their yearwas o f three hundred and sixty-five days, like ourown, but was composed of eighteen months, O f

twenty days each, and the month was subdividedinto four weeks O f five days each . To the lastmonth, five davs were added to make up the fullnumber. These were called “ useless ” days andwere given up to festivi ties . The name o f eachm onth and each day had a m eaning ; for example,

HISTORY 63

the first month, beginning with the day corresponding with our February 2,

I I called “Atlacahualco , signifies

“ want o f water ; the fifthmonth, Toxcatl,

” dry or slippery,”

( as i f theywere uncertain whether i t would rain o r be dry )the sixteenth month,

“Ateno z tli,

” “ fall o f thewaters,

” etc. The names o f the days were ob

j ects, as fish, house, lizard , tiger, flower, etc.Every fifty- two years made a cycle, and , at theend Of the cycle there was a curious celebration,upon the hypothesis that i t might be the worldwould then be destroyed . On the afternoon o f

the last day o f the cycle, the temple and household fires were suffered to go out, and furniture,utensils and garments were destroyed . Then aprocession Of priests went to the mountains. Menin the ci ty watched the procession from thei rhousetops, while the women remained indoors,with covered heads, under the fear that, i f theywitnessed the procession, they would , when thefinal hour arrived, be turned into beasts . At midnight O f that day the Pleiades was due at thez eni th

,and, i f i t reached there, i t was the signal

that a new day would cOm e and a new cycle begin .

At the supreme moment a new fire was kindledby the friction o f sticks on the exposed breast O fa noble

, who was then put on a funeral pyre, andthe fire communicated to i t. Torches were lightedfrom the pyre and were rapidly carried by cou

riers over the country, to the temples and hom eso f the people .We have omitted to state that at the end o f thecycle twelve and one-hal f days were added to it,

64 THE AZTECS

a proof that the Aztecs were amazingly correctas to thei r calendar, this addition making it moreexact than the calendar o f any civilized nationo f Europe unti l the Gregorian calendar came intoexistence in 1 582, long after the Aztec customhad come into use . As it was, the Aztec calendarwould no t lose a day in five centuries ; by theGregorian calendar there is a loss of one day onlyevery years .The last twelve or thirteen days of the Azteccycle were given up to festivi ties, the evening ofthe last day being spent as above reci ted . Thelast celebration o f the Festival Of the Cycle wasin 1 506 ; when the next cycle occurred, the Aztecnation no longer existed . In their system of ages,the Aztecs supposed a series of cycles, embracingseveral thousand years, when no t only the worldand mankind , but the sun itsel f, was destroyed ,and a new series o f cycles would begin by a re

kindling of the sun by the Supreme G od, and newcreations of the world and man by Tezcatlipoca.Many have supposed that one Of the most w on

derful obj ects in existence connected with theAztec knowledge o f the movements o f the sun,moon and stars, and o f cycles, etc., i s the Calendar S tone,

” discovered in 1 790, under where theGreat Teocall i stood, and which is now in theMexican National lVIuseum . I t is nearly threefeet in thickness and twelve and one-hal f feet ind iameter, and weighs almost sixty thousandpounds . I t is said to have been quarried andcarved in 15 1 2,

’

having been brought from Coyoacan, and, when being taken across the causeway

H ISTORY 65

on wooden rollers, broke down upon the drawbridge, and was recovered, o r

, as other wri tersdeclare, a new one was obtained and successfullybrought to the temple by the combined efforts offive thousand men . I t is generally understood

,

however, that this stone, o r the original afterwhich i t was patterned . was Toltec rather thanAztec, the Toltecs having possessed astronomicalknowledge long years before the Aztecs reachedMexico . This stone, or i ts original, may havebeen in Tula, and may have been removed fromthere by the Aztecs, but the theory of such along j ourney for i t is rather untenable.As to what is actually represented upon thisCalendar S tone, there is no agreement amongscholars. The illustrations given o f i t in thedifferent books

,or

,indeed, the original i tsel f,

which the wri ter has seen, can certainly not beinterpreted by everybody, even i f Of more thanaverage intelligence. That it is an harmonious design, beginning in the centre with the sun, as itwas usually painted by the Aztecs, and with otherfigures representm g days and months, cycles andepochs, and various understood and not understood solar events, there is scarcely room fo r

doubt. The Mexican archaeologist,Gama ( 1 735insisted that i t was only a sun-dial—and

sun-dials were well-known and commonly used ;but the better opinion seems to be that, whetherused for that purpose o r not, i t relates to variousperiods Of time, o f the solstices and equinoxes, andof the transi t of the sun over the zenith o f Mexico . At all events the Az tecs were m ore versed

66 THE AZTECS

than we should naturally suppose in the scienceof astronomy, and some of their names fo r theheavenly bodies were extremely expressive, as, fora comet, CitlalinpOpoca,

” which means “ thesmoking star.”

The Aztecs calculated all the years o f theirMexican history from 109 1 A. D .,whenthey firstinstituted o r reformed thei r

;ca lendar. From

that date they began to note “in thei r annals theeclipses, and evidently knew what caused them ;and they had from that period ideas about astronom ical science, the correctness Of which,whetheroriginal o r derived from the Toltecs, has astounded all writers who have tried to unravelAztec attainments .

Laws and Courts—All barbarous nations havesome established laws, o r rules, usually suchas custom and their kings have decreed . But inAnahuac the legal system was complete

,and based

on a large amount o f practical wisdom . Therewas one

“ supreme judge,

” from whom no decision in criminal matters could be appealed . Hewas the supreme court on public and private o ffences . Below him sat a court of three judges,who held daily sessions, i f required, and heardboth civi l and criminal causes. From them nocivil cause could be appealed ; criminal ones couldgo, as above stated, to the supreme judge forfinal hearing. In each quarter o f the ci ty therewere small court judges, equivalent, in many re

spects, to our justices of the peace, called lieutenants O f tribunals,

” who first judged the causesarising in thei r several d istricts . Below them were

HISTORY 67

commissioners, who preserved order, i f theycould

,without legal measures ; i f they could not,

they would direct policemen to make arrests andcarry offenders to a “ l ieutenant o f tribunals.The supreme judge appointed the three j udgesof the court below him, but each lieutenant o ftribunals ” and “ commissioner ” was elected byhis fellow-ci tizens . In very grave matters thesupreme judge ” made no decree till he hadadvised with the king. This whole system seemsto have been as well devised as i f i t were a plano f the Twentieth instead of the Fourteenth

,or

possibly of the Fi fteenth, Century.There were no lawyers, but the accuser couldmake no charge unsupported by witnesses

,and the

accused could defend himself under oath upon hisgods . I f land property was in dispute

,resort was

had to the official records, which were carefullypreserved .

At first, Aztec laws were made by the priests ;afterward by the nobility. Itz coatl was the firstsovereign to make some laws fo r himself, and succeeding sovereigns d id likewise, but the O ld lawswere also allowed to stand and were rarely ap

pealed . Despotism naturally followed the sovereign

’

s interposi tion in becoming both legislator and executive, and Anahuac was in this cond i tion o f despotism when Montezuma ended hisdays, and the empire was brought to an ingloriousend .

Food and Medicine.—In their earlier years in

Mexico,the Aztecs were compelled to live on the

poorest imaginable food . Surrounded by hostile

68 THE AZTECS

peoples,growing rapidly in numbers, residing on

small islands in a lake, they could plant and gatherli ttle maize or other grain—what they did plantother tribes might harvest— and cultivate but fewfruits. They were, therefore, often obliged to eatfl ies

,ants, grasshoppers, snakes and roots O f plants.

There was a very prolific species o f fly, cal led thevegetable fly,

” which they caught, and a doughmade o f them, seasoned with sal tpetre, and

cooked, made food even down to Spanish times ;the Spaniards said i t was not unpalatable . W hether from this kind of food or not, in the early dayso f the nation pestilence was not uncommon . Dis

eases broke out now and then that swept awaythousands. But afterwards the race grew stronger,plagues were less prevalent, and centenarians werefrequently spoken o f as no t anomalies. The Nahuas, as a rule, were a vigorous, healthy, longlived people, and so, to-day, are many of their descendants.

Maize was the most stable product o f the field,and grown wherever the soil would grow it.This is our Indian corn, and i t sti ll flourishes invarious parts of Mex ico. The people made cakesOf i t, called by the Mexicans o f to-day tortillas,and similar cakes are sti ll sold in all Mexicanci ties. Sometimes the maize was eaten in theform of a porridge. ’ After maize, cacao (or cocoa) , was in brief demand, o f course mainly as adrink. The cacao-bean, as i t is called, being aseed from the cocoa tree, was ground up wi thcertain other seeds and bOiled ; the liquid wasshaken up till frothy, then mixed

‘wi th a l i ttle

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70 THE AZTECS

gave the gods that were implored the credi t ratherthan the physicians.

Sk il l in th e Arts.—Ordinary skill in rudi

mentary arts,or even a stage or two above the ;

rudimentary, scarcely marks the d ifference between a barbarous and a civil ized race, for somesavages are experts in making weapons, weavinggarments and working in stone . But the Aztecswere immeasurably in advance Of any savage racein these and other matters requiring a high degreeof skill and taste. Having neither iron nor steeltools, they early used fl int, but soon found Ob

sid ian— a mineral o f volcanic origin, commonenough in Mexico— and with it made knives, raz o rs, and even mirrors. I t is of various colorsand extremely hard .

In process Of time they used copper andbronze, and as they knew o f the beauty and

uses o f gold, silver and precious stones, theyhad many j ewelers, who made the metals intoornaments, and polished the precious stones,and this they did to a wonderful degree o fperfection . Some emeralds, amethysts, carnelians, and other such stones, cut and carvedby Aztec j ewelers, were sent to Spain by Cortés,and became famous. Their work in gold and silver, however, was equally beauti ful . Cortéswrote home that Montezuma had in his co llection o f curios a counterfei t in gold, si lver, stone,or feathers, o f every natural Obj ect in his domin ion, whether bird, beast or fish ; and thepresents made by him to Cortés are known to haveembraced objects Which made the Spanish so ld iery

HISTORY 7 1

wonder, admire and envy. There were amongthem goblets

,pictures, rings, bracelets, earrings,

helmets,charms, and similar things, most precious

in quality and exquisi te in manufacture. Unfo r

tunately, almost all such obj ects o f value Obtainedby the Spaniards were melted down in order thatthey might make less bulk fo r shipment to Spain,and very few o f them in thei r original designs stillexist.To illustrate the richness o f some o f these ob

jects Of art we note that the treasures whichNl ontez um a gave to Cortés, counted up in

pesos de o ro,”2 and making allowance for the

change in value O f gold since the beginning Of theS ixteenth Century, amounted to about Six millionthree hundred thousand dollars .Household utensils were made o f clay, and thepotters were pecul iarly skill ful in turning out

those products . Weavers were numerous, usingcotton, flax, hemp, and even feathers, in theirweaving. They frequently spun with terra cottaSpindles. They made cotton cloth o f fine grade,and dyed it in various colors . Mantles andblankets were made o f a mixture o f cotton andfeathers, so that i t was almost as soft as wool .They dressed in skins o f animals and bi rds ;wove baskets and mats ; plaited ropes ; madeboxes with lids and hinges ; also tables and chairs.They had fans o f feathers ; also paper of themaguey plant, on which to pencil o r paint thei rhieroglyphic records . In the art o f dyeing colorsthey excelled the Europeans, especially in reds andpurples . They made rude maps of their country,

72 THE AZTECS

and also many drawings and printed p ictures, o fanimals, b i rds, trees, and of thei r kings. Theymade feather-pictures, however, which excelledany, perhaps, which have ever been made, andthei r descendants are, to-day, able to producethem in a manner to astonish the traveler, whosees them in Mexico for the first time.

Literature of th e Empire—W e have seen thatwhen Montezuma I I . was crowned

,i t was the

occasion for a speech of genuine oratoricalmeri t . Did these early lVIexican races, then, possess orators, poets and authors ? They certainlydid . Speechmaking, on proper O flicial occasions,was always an Indian accomplishment. Some O fthe most eloquent addresses in the English .

language are those translated from the Indianlanguages o f North America. The Aztecs wereno exception to the general rule . They were nota loquacious people ; on the contrary, were naturally sedate and quiet, especially beforestrangers . They rarely talked when there wasnothing to say. But when the educated amongthem did speak, especially in public, their wordsread like . and Often were, studied orations. Eventheir prayers were orations and Often marvels ofelaborate elocutionary effort. On festal occasions, at marriages, and in carry ing on intercoursewith thei r own oflicials, o r in making diplomatictreaties with other nations, many and long ad

dresses were made . Parents orated before theirchild ren in giving them advice o r admonition .

The children were also taught from early yearsto declaim the speeches of thei r most famous

HISTORY 73

ancestors . The composi tions o f poets were frequently recited in public and sometimes sung

,the

themes being of war, national annals, nature, andnot in frequently o f love .Probably most of thei r l i terary productions theynever committed to writing, but many they didwri te out, and a few survive . Unhappily, theSpaniards did not value records and manuscriptsthat they could not read, and the great bulk ofAztec composition was allowed to perish byneglect, by fire, and by the demolition of thei rtemples and ci ties. Soon after Zumarraga, firstbishop o f Mexico, arrived in that country, by hisorders a mountain heap Of them, to use his ownlanguage, were gathered up and destroyed ; records and writings that would now be invaluable,as containing the thoughts o f religious wri ters ofAnahuac and the annals of the empi re. We knowo f five cities yield ing to the Spanish governors, who destroyed every leaf 'The country did no t possess first-class artists,though they drew animals to perfection . Thei rd rawings of human faces and landscapes wereusually crude, and frequently grotesque, which,however, in the case o f persons, may have beenintentional .The Official records were exactly kept and full

o f detail, so much so that nothing o f importanceseemed to escape thei r attention in noting ao

counts. They made and kept tables O f their kingsand nobles

,tax rolls

,land titles, law codes, court

records,calendars o f days and feasts, and pos

sessed full national annals, actual as well as tra

74 THE AZTECS

ditional, in thei r original hieroglyphic system .

Their national records were kept by the priestsin the temple archives. The common people maynot have been able to read , but all the educatedcould read . Their picture—w n tings weresketched, o r painted , in bright colors, rapidly, byeducated scribes and artists, on strips o f cottoncloth, o r skins

,but generally on paper, the best

o f which was made O f the leaves Of the maguey,which made a paper softer than parchment. Whena document was completed i t was rolled

,or folded

up . The sheets Of the picture-writing were fromtwelve to fifteen inches wide

,and often sixty o r

seventy feet long. They were no t rolled, butfolded in squares

,the last two pages being ex

posed to view. After thin wooden boards hadbeen fastened to the edge o f the outer page, theymade a handsome appearance and would havegraced a modern library. The bound bookslooked much like our quartos.I t is this written language, original and suf

ficiently perfect to declare whatever one wishes tosay, which is one of the surest signs that the A ztecs had a higher degree of intellectual cultivationthan any other o f the nations in North or SouthAmerica, except, perhaps, in Peru, of whose li tcrary skill, however, we have less knowledge thanwe have of the Aztecs.

Some picture-writings all nations have had .

The lowest form is mere representation o f

natural obj ects. Then come symbols ' fo r example

,several footprints, meaning a journey ; an

eye, meaning light ; a black square, meaning

HISTORY 75

night, etc. But these are crude, and wouldscarcely be interpreted in any detai l by a strangerto the particular tribe or people using them.

The various early settlers of Asia and of the Pacific slope in America carved many such pictures and symbols on rocks and on bark, theformer still existing but now untranslatable . O fa higher order come phonetic pictures, or symbols,these having some relation to sound, so as to makethem capable o f being read aloud . This shouldlead, ultimately, to a phonetic alphabet, which isthe acme o f achievement in the formation of anywritten language. The Aztecs d id not attain thatfinal

,end ; the Nahua language had no real pho

netic alphabet, o r i t would have been fully equal,in capabili ty of written expression, to any modern language .As to notation, they indicated small numbers upto 10 by dots ; 10 by a lozenge ; and all largenumbers by twenties ( the number of days inthei r month ) ; they also had signs for squaresand cubes of twenty. For example, 20 was represented by a flag ; the square o f 20 (400 ) by afeather ; 20 times 400 ( 8000 ) by a purse. Forconvenience, these signs were halved . Thus, towrite 534,would require one feather (400 ) one

quarter of a feather, ( 100 ) one flag, ( 20 ) onehalf of a flag, and four dots. This illustrates the principle and is ingenious and accurate,although we might consider i t clumsy. Theyhad no diflicu lty, under thei r scheme, to indicateei ther small amounts or millions.The Nahua language, as Spoken, i s said to have

THE AZTECS

been sweet and harm onious to the cars, having no sharp or nasal sounds . I t is also describedas rich, exact and expressive. Bancroft (Hu

bert after a careful study of the subj ect,says ' Of all the languages spoken on the American continent, the Aztec is the most perfect infinish, approaching in this respect the tongues ofEurope and Asia, and actually surpassing manyo f them by its elegance o f expression .

” I t lackedthe consonants b, d, f, r, g, and s, but the omissionof these improved the musical tone o f the wordsemployed . I t may interest some to note whatwere the letters of the language, employing, forthis, of course, such English letters as exactly correspond with the sound ' a, 9, ch, e, h, i, k, I, m , n,

o, p, q, t, tl, tz , u, v, x, y, z . The words, compounded in all sorts o f ways, were certainly moreexpressive than any other American tongue ; andas to exactness, Hernandez, a Spanish naturalist

( 1 5 14 who traveled in Mexico fifty yearsafter the Conquest, described twelve hundredplants

,two hundred birds, and many animals, in

sects,etc., and had no difliculty in finding for

each a special Aztec name. The longest word wehave come across is one o f sixteen syllables, givenby Hernandez in stating the native name of oneof the plants '

m ihuz zttilm oy oiccuitlatonpicixo ch itl

To give a further i llustration of the Azteclanguage, as rendered b y English spell ing, wegive herewith the Lord ’s Prayer in that languageTo tatz ine ynilhuicac tim oyez tica, m ayectene

hualo inm o tocatz in, m ahualauh inm o tlatocayo tz in

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78 THE AZTECS

The women were not oppressed . They wereallowed to live quiet, industrious and peacefullives, caring for their children, preparing thehousehold food, and doing some of the lighterwork o f the field . A few could become priestesses, and these lived in the temples, clothed in a

white garb .

There were no shops of sale in the city ; everybody transacted business by sale or barter in thepublic markets, which were always immenseenough to hold a large portion O f the population .

Polygamy was permitted, no t only to the kingsand nobil ity, but to individual ci tizens . In thecase o f the latter, however, i t was not practicedto any wide extent.All the Nahuan nations were a finely formed,well-proportioned, tall and athletic people. Theirskin was O f a light copper, o r Ol ive color, thei rhair black, thick and coarse, but glossy, thei r teethregular, thei r foreheads low and narrow, theireyes black, and thei r sense of S ight peculiarlyacute. Being agile, they were wonderful runners.D iaz says that one Aztec courier ran from VeraCruz and return ( about 420 miles by direct way )in four days.The dress of the ordinary native was simple andadapted to the even climate o f that semi-tropical country. They all used the m axtli, or breechcloth, to cover the loins, and this was usually ofcotton cloth, about nine inches wide and twentyfour feet long, the great length being so that itmight be wound first between the legs and thenaround the hips, leaving the ends to hang down in

HISTORY 79

front and at the back. The ends had fancyfringes, o r tassels. Men then threw over thei rShoulders a mantle, about four feet long, knottedunder one o f the arms. This mantle for wealthypeople was painted and ornamented with feathersand birds.Soon after chi ldren were born they werenam ed, the name being chosen by thei r mothers,and a rite was performed which the Spaniardsthought bore a striking likeness to Christian baprism . This ceremony was usually attended to bythe midwife,who, in the presence o f the relatives,at sunrise, set the child

’s face toward the west,addressing i t in certain phrases o f deference, and,after moistening i ts lips and breast with water,poured water on i ts head . Some o f the phrasesused when the water was being employed werel ike these ' Take this holy and pure water thatthine heart may be cleansed .

” Receive, O myson, the water of the Lord of the World,which isour li fe, with which we wash and are clean ; maythis celestial, l ight-blue water enter into thy bodyand there remain ; may it destroy and removefrom thee all evi l and adverse things that weregiven thee before the beginning of the world .

”

Expressive and also beauti ful '

Education Of Ch ildren .—Children were sent

to school,o r taught in the home, beginning with

five years O f age . They were informed, first, aboutthe worship o f the gods by prayer, including themeaning o f the temple services ; then the dutiesthey owed thei r superiors, and the other primaryvirtues. They were instructed how to be modest

80 THE AZTECS

and virtuous, that work was ennobling, that a liewas abominable, ( the tongues o f the children werepricked with agave- thorns when they were detected in falsehood ) , and that respect for the agedwas absolutely essential to correct deportment.One o f the counsels given by a parent to a childreads

, in the Aztec li terature, as follows ' Neverlie

,for it is a great Sin. When thou tellest any

one what has been told thee, tell the simple truth,and add nothing thereto. Slander no one, and besilent in regard to the faults thou seest in others,i f i t is not thy duty to correct them . When thoutakest a message, i f the one who receives i t fl iesinto a passion and speaks ill o f the person whosent i t, in repeating his words modi fy thei r severi ty, in order that thou mayst not be the cause of aquarrel, nor o f a scandal for which thou wouldsthave to reproach thyself.They were instructed no t to talk too much, norto speak foolishly, no r to mock at old men or deformed people, and to submit to proper punishment in si lence. In other words, the cardinal virtues common to all races having high tenets ofmorali ty were first taught, and then the generaleducation, o r the trade that seemed best to befitthe possessor. In this respect modern educatorsmight take a cue from the Aztecs . Punishmento f disobedient children was usually corporal

,and

often brutal ; the whip and agave- thorn werenever abolished from their schools.There were common schools

,one in each quar

ter of the ci ty, for the masses, and here childrenwere taught till the age of about fi fteen, when

HISTORY 8 1

they were withdrawn to follow a trade or profession. Sons o f the nobili ty, and those expectingto become priests, were sent to the college atTez cuco , or a monastery near a temple, whichwas under priestly supervision . Large buildingswere also annexed to the temples and used fo rseminaries for the girls, who, besides studyingthei r religion, weaving, spinning, etc., also sweptthe temple and attended i ts sacred fires .The maguey plant (known as the Americanaloe, o r century-plant ) , was cultivated, and perhaps more extensively than i t is to-day, whenhundreds o f thousands o f acres o f i t may beseen in various parts Of Mexico . I t is awonderful plant, which has been termed

“ themiracle o f nature,

” growing practically on soi lthat would otherw ise be a desert, because o f wantof rain . Paper was made from its leaves, and theleaves were used to thatch the dwellings of thepoor ; thread, and even strong cord, were madefrom its fibres ; i ts thorns were used as pins andneedles ; the root could be employed as food ;threads made from it could be woven into clothing, and i ts juice furnished the well-known intoxicating beverage called pulque, which has a pcculiarly disagreeable flavor, but of which the original natives were excessively fond, as are themodern lVIexicans.

Th eir Floating Gardens—Much has beenwri tten o f the floating gardens ( chinampas) o f

the Aztecs, and, naturally, many have doubtedtheir existence . One who now goes by boat, asthe custom of tourists is, upon the canal con

82 THE AZTECS

necting two of the small lakes of the valley withLake Tez cuco , which passes d irectly by the Cityo f Mexico, familiarly known as La Viga, finds atSanta Anita, and also at points beyond, what arestill called floating gardens, but they do no t float.I t is d ifficult to believe they ever did . But theevidence is quite in favor of the history of theperiod, which states that, when all this was amarshy lake, the fibrous roots which grew on thewater were employed to sustain twigs andbranches thrown upon them, on which two orthree feet of black earth was placed, and that inthis way a real garden was constructed on topo f the water, and the whole floated there as readily as a raft. The constructors, o r possessors, ofthese gardens, moved them about at will ; theywere usually no t over one hundred feet long.There is nothing impossible or improbable aboutthe matter. As these marshes have long ago driedup, the floating gardens are now not even islands,but rest securely upon the main soil below.

Money and Merch andising—Money was current, to effect sales, but none was coined . Therewere four kinds of money ' grains o f cacao, used assmall change ; small squares o f cotton cloth ; tinynuggets o f gold enclosed in duck quills ; and tin,the latter somewhat in size and shape like our

p ieces of money. There were no weighing scalesin use, everything being bought and sold

—

by thep iece or measure.Merchants went about the country to sell theirgoods, but nearly always in caravans for pro tection from robbers. They could travel on roads,

HISTORY

for these were laid out all over the empire, andwere repai red after Sudden rains. Rivers were

by boats o r rafts, or by long wooden andvery narrow bridges, which swung like a hammock when ventured upon, yet were consideredperfectly safe . Merchandise was carried on thebacks o f Slaves. When the merchants returnedfrom long journeys, they paid their tribute to thestate, and then gave a feas t to their friends . Thesemerchants were in high repute with thei r sovereign,who Often consulted with them as to whatthey had seen in their j ourneys, and as to eventstranspiring in different parts o f the kingdom .

even became so powerful at court as to haveallowed to levy armies to wage war against

ose who had no t treated them with proper reect

Th eatres and Gam es.—Theatres were com

mon, the stage being a simple platform under theOpen sky near the market-places, o r by thetemples .Public games and private Sports were also com

e ci ties and smaller villages. Notthese was a game o f ball, ( the

usually made o f rubber, about threed iameter) , played in a large Oblong field ,

osed with three high stone walls. The ballnot thrown with the hand, but struck withknee, elbow, shoulder, or some other part ofbody agreed upon, and, i f i t touched the opi te wall, o r went Over i t, a point was scored ;ile i f i t was struck with some other part of theas the hand or fee t, a point was lost. If it,

84 THE AZTECS

could be driven through the centre o f aho le j ust aslarge as the ball in one o f the stone images ofidols on the end wall, the player who succeededin doing i t not only won the game

,but the cloth

ing of all those present. I t was said to be a difficult feat, rarely accomplished, and when donethe player became almost as noted as were the victors in the great Olympian games in Greece.This game o f ball went by the name Of tlachtli.These and other popular open-air games weregam bled upon, and they had regular referees—o f

priests— to Settle d isputes .

Last Days of th e Empire—The story of whatfollowed the meeting o f Cortés and Montezumaon that November day in 1 5 19,when the formerentered for the first time the City o f Tenochti tlan;has been often told, and i t is to be hoped thatevery reader o f this volume, who has not alreadyread i t, will do so , or re- read it, to Obtain thedetails, which are so instructive and interesting,as well as terrible . Naturally one turns to Prescott’s Conquest ofM exico, as the most entertainingly interesting of any work on this sad theme.We can only note,with much brevity, the leadingevents in the order in which they occurred .

Cortés, as soon as he was settled, began toscheme for the conquest o f the ci ty and country,as had been his original aim. But he was no tprecipitate. He called upon and received callsfrom Montezuma, and, in the meantime, carefully studied the si tuation . He urged Montez uma to adopt the Christian religion, and alsosuggested that he should become a vassal to the

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had arisen and besieged the Spaniards in theirquarters.Cortés arrived j ust in time to get to the garrison and take command, but even his presencewas scarcely suflicient to avert a calamity. Heendeavored to secure peace, but failed . The people were indignant at Montezuma for allowinghimself to become a prisoner, instead o f drivingout the “ white strangers,

”and they met and

elected Cuitlahuatz in, brother of Montezuma,as thei r leader, who carried on an offensive warfare and was afterward made king. Cortés, towin over the people, had Montezuma taken to thetop of the headquarters, that he might be seento be a free man and not a prisoner, and to address the people. He made a piti ful appeal forquiet and the restoration of peace, but one of theonlooking throng sent an arrow, which struckMontezuma in the head, and in a few days he wasdead . The rumor quickly spread _ abroad that hehad been poisoned .

The death o f Montezuma occurred on June

30, 1 520, after the Spaniards had been sevenmonths in Tenochtitlan .

Cortés promptly decided he must abandon theci ty, as, while he had used his abode as a fo rtification, and might hold out for some time, he sawthat eventually his troops must all perish

,as he

was short of ammunition and provisions. Ac

co rdingly, the next day, July 1 , at night, be undertook to leave the ci ty. When in front o f wherenow stands the Church of San HipOlitO , amiddarkness and heavy rain, he was suddenly attacked

HISTORY 87

on every side. A terrific struggle ensued, and i t

is computed that Cortés lost in that one night bydeath and wounds, and by prisoners taken by theAztecs, four hundred and fifty of his Spanishtroops, twenty-six horses, and four thousand Tlascalan allies. The Aztecs lost far more, but theycould replenish thei r losses,while he could not.That night is known in Mexican history as

La Noche Triste (“The Melancholy Night

and the spot where Cortés sat down at the end ofthe struggle, under a wide-spreading tree,—it issaid to weep,— is still marked by the same gnarledo ld cypress,which is now standing in forlorn magnificence. I t is some sixty feet in circumference,and is, probably, tod ay, at least a thousand yearsold . The next day the captured Spaniards wereimmolated on the Great Teocalli, in full sight ofCortés and his remaining army.The Spaniards succeeded in reaching a fortifiedhill, twelve miles from Tenochtitlan, took possession O i i t by driving away the natives in charge,and here recuperated . In a week’s time they againset out, and at Otumba, thirty-five miles fromTenochti tlan

,the Aztecs came up in great force

and gave battle . Cortés won, and then proceededon to Tlascala, where he was well-received, andwhere he remained about four months . On De

cem ber 24, wi th an abundance of stores of ammunition and provisions, he set out to recapturethe capital with an army o f 700 infantry, 1 1 8

arquebusiers, 86 horses, and more than

Tlascalans. Reaching the ci ty o f Tez cuco , hemade a league wi th its chieftain, who was not

88 THE A'TECS

then on good terms with the Aztec king,and who

furnished him with many additional men . Othertribes around about contributed to the army ; i t issaid to the number of men . Here Cortésconstructed brigantines, and with these, and some

Tezcucan canoes, he rowed across LakeTez cuco to attack Tenochti tlan from the lake.In the meantime, Cuitlahuatz in had died ofsmallpox a few weeks after becoming king, andwas succeeded by Cuauhtemoc (

“Swoopingeagle usually known as G uatem o tz in,who hadmarried the daughter of Montezuma, and wasa most popular warrior. In fact, because of hissubsequent conduct, his name has remained sopopular among the Mexicans that to-day a magnificent monument to his memory stands on thefine boulevard leading from the City o f Mexicoto Chapultepec, while an enormous bust of himadorns the bank o f the Viga canal, in the suburbsof the ci ty. G uatem o tz in was in charge of thedefence of the capital and proved to be a superbgeneral .All that spring and summer the Spaniards besieged and bombarded the ci ty, making o f i t almost a heap of ruins, but still G uatem o tz in defended i t against the besiegers. I t was a frightfulcombat, in which Cortés lost heavily, and the lossof the Aztecs from all causes was computed at

After eight months,on August 1 3 ,

1 52 1 , the end came ; G uatem o tz in was capturedin a canoe as he was making fl ight from the ci ty,and the city capi tulated . This day marked theclose of the Aztec empire.

HISTORY 89

After the Surrender.—Tenochti tlan was so

desolated of people, and so destroyed by the bombardm ent, that Cortés d id no t try to live in i t, butwas obliged to rebuild i t from end to end . Hewent to Coyoacan, and made his residence, orpalace, there in the town hall, a building whichstands to this day. He cleansed Tenochti tlan byburning the dead and clearing the streets, and setto work to lay out a new city

,which he in

tended should vie with the best ci ties o i Spainin i ts broad streets, ( he first filled up the canalwith the débris ) , fine churches and more modernbuild ings. He only partially succeeded in thisin his l i fetime, but from that year Tenochtitlanwas a thing of the past, and the City o f Mexicobecame both a name and a reali ty.The Great Teocalli had been destroyed withthe other temples and buildings . On the ruins ofthe former, o r j ust beside them, a site was setapart for a Christian temple, and i t is now cov

ered by the present grand Cathedral , whose corner-stone was laid in 1 5 73 , and which was finished in 1 667 , except the towers which were com

pleted in 1 79 1 .

G uatem o tz in was kept a prisoner, o r understrict surveillance

,for more than three years,

after having undergone torture to disclose whathe had done with Montezuma ’s wealth Of goldand S i lver. He bravely endured i t, declaring finally that he had thrown it in Lake Tez cuco ,

which was probably no t true, as i t was theresearched fo r in vain . Cortés, in the meantime,was confirmed by the King of Spain in all his

90 THE AZTECS

authori ty and rights, and was made governor,captain-general and chief j ustice.In 1 525 , Cortés led an army to Central A merica to quell a supposed rebellion, all the rest o f theAztec kingdom having immediately made terms,after the fall' o f Tenochtitlan, and become a parto f New Spain . He arrived there, however, onlyto find everything peaceful . On this j ourneyG uatem o tz in was accused, probably upon no justgrounds, o f conspiracy to overthrow Cortés

,and

was summarily put to death, at Tabasco ,IS by be

ing hung upon a cypress tree. He was only abouttwenty-eight years of age at the time of his death,and the event has been deplored by all who havestudied the li fe Of Cortés as another stain upon hischaracter as a ruler.We do no t propose to follow the history o f

Cortés further, except to say that he was subsequently obliged to go to Spain to defend hischaracter and met the accusations successfully ;that he made other expedi tions of discovery in thePacific coast as far north as Cali fornia ; and thathe was presented by Charles V. with an immenseestate at Cuernavaca, forty miles south of theCity o f lVIexico , and there, as a landed estateowner

,in buildings which still stand, he spent the

last three years of his residence in Mexico . Hegave up his Do fia Marina to be married to one

o f his officers, Don Juan Xaram illo , assigningher estates in her native province ; took back hisown wife, whom he had left in Cuba, and whohad come to Mexico (but she speed ily died, hisenem ies said from poison ) went back to Spain,

HISTORY 9 1

and, near Seville, died,December 2, 1 547, in thesixty-third year of his age, twenty-eight years after he set out from Cuba to conquer the land ofAnahuac.Th e Aztecs After the Conquest—The historyof the Aztecs as a people, after the fall of Tenoch

titlan, is one O f complete subjugation to a foreignrace. NO serious attempt

,headed by any recog

niz ed leader, was ever made by them to overthrow the Spanish domination, until i t was toolate to restore the Aztecs as a race to any controlof the insti tutions and laws o f thei r country.They were subdued , terrorized, and glad to beable to enj oy what li ttle allotments Of land werepermitted them, on which to obtain thei r l iving.Within three years after the Conquest, twelveFranciscans, Often called The Twelve Apostles,

” arrived ; two years later Dominican monkscame ; and , seven years later sti ll, seven Augustinian monks ; and more soon followed . Theyrevolutionized the religious habits of the people,and everywhere buil t churches, all in a time sobrief that it seems like an arranged human drama.So little hold did Sun and Idol worship haveupon the natives— though, of course, the changewas superinduced by great Show of force and confiscations o f property— that the country was thoroughly Catholic in a few decades, and, tod ay,tradi tions of thei r ancient religion scarcely existamong the two millions o f full-blooded Aztec descendants in Mexico, who continue to speak theNahua language, but not in its puri ty. Occasionally

,however

,a traveler, who enters some lonely

92 THE AZTECS

spot, l ike a cave, or a mountain summit, reportsthat a native has been met with there silently gazing upon some inherited, o r newly-discovered,small idol— one which he has carried with him to

,

o r has found on the spot - and has, perhaps, saidto i t some silent prayer .Viceroys were appointed by the king of Spain,who were Often cruel, and often conspired against.Even the Inquisi tion was established in 1 5 70, forthe burning of Spanish heretics in Nl exico , but,fortunately, Indians were unmolested, probablybecause they had not the courage to care whatthey believed, so long as they were left alone.New cities were built, vast acqueducts constructed, more and better roads opened, stone viaducts and bridges put up, gold, si lver and ironmining carried on with vigor, and the nobleforests were cut down for thei r wealth Of beauti ful woods, which were sent to Spain to be usedin buildings and the arts.A tremendous change, local and national, re

ligious and civil, came at once over the land .Seeds were sown fo r future revolutions, but theywere rather o f Spaniards against Spaniards, instead o f tribes against tribes . A large foreignpopulation poured in, o f Office-holders, priests,merchants

,fakirs, speculators and vagabonds .

We cannot tell the story, fo r i t would embrace thewhole history o f a turbulent colony of Spain forthree hundred years .Finally, in 1 824 the native populations,only partly Spanish, completely put aside thepower of Spain i tsel f, and became a free and inde

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HISTORY 93

pendent people, under the title of The Republicof Mexico .”

Th e Aztecs of To-day .—TO -day the two mil

l ions o f Aztecs in Mexico do not exist as a separately named people among the many Indian inhabitants O f the Republic . Intermixed with o th

er natives and Spaniards,they are a degenerate

and mixed-up race, with a name only in historyand li terature. Shorter of stature than their ancesto rs, Often beauti ful in physique, usually cheerful, exceedingly patient, devoted to the Catholicreligion with a faithfulness that puts to shame theadherents of other religions, content to live in apeaceful, humdrum, uneventful way, they arelikely to pass gradually o ff the stage o f action In

the next few centuries from sheer deteriorationand racial decay. Sad that i t i s so, but notstrange, for the march of the general human raceforward is accompanied everywhere with deathand destruction, and no man living can predictwhat the future o f any particular race o r nationwi ll be five centuries hence .As one stands now upon the top o f one o f thetwo tall towers o f the Cathedral in the City ofMexico, he can see, white-mantled in snow, theidentical and towering summits o f Popocatepetland Ixtaccihuatl that the subj ects Of Montezumafeared and reverenced . He can view in the distance the glistening waters o f Lake Tez cuco ,

shrunken far from its former boundaries, but stillthe same lake that floated the brigantines OfCortés

,when he returned on his final successful

endeavor to overthrow Tenochtitlan . He can put

94 THE AZTECS

eyes on the summit o f Chapultepec,once the royal

abode and burial-place of the Aztec kings, nowcrowned by the Mili tary Academy of Mexico andthe Summer Palace o f President Diaz. He cancount up all the peaks, and can impress upon hismemory for all aftertime the curved outlines o fthe grand array o f mountains that girt the wholewide Valley o f Mexico ; the same that have stoodthere since the Creator marshaled them in theirorderly array. He will look upon miles and milesof verdant thatches Of al fal fa, groups o f grazingcattle, and everywhere hamlets and villages o f

wealthy and prosperous residents. By day, j ustas o f yore, the same sun shines overhead . By nightthe same pale moon and stars, the same Pleiadesand Southern Cross 16 Shed radiance mild ” overthe ghostly landscape, as in the times of the Azteckings, temples and priests. He may breathe thesame glorious atmosphere

,clear as the purest crys

tal, wind - tossed, surcharged with li fe, invigo rating

,inspi ring

,intoxicating,that charmed the high

priests o f the Great Teocalli on this identical spot.But the grand old forests o f oak and cypress havedisappeared . The lakes are without canoes, orsti r O f li fe. Only the busy city below, with i tsbustl ing throngs, bursts in upon the wide-roundsilence. Here there are strange new faces o f

modern men and women, mingling with strangerexamples o f curious remaining natives.The Aztecs Of old have gone— who knowswhere —perhaps to continents, o r sea-washedislands

,immeasurably larger than any mansions

in the Sun '

HISTORY 95

NO TES O N THE TEXT.

1It has been stated that the Japanese in theUnited States unhesi tatingly accept the AmericanIndians, on the evidence o f their faces, and theirbeliefs and ceremonies, as people o f the same racewith themselves.” We have repeatedly noticed,while in hIexico , the resemblance in general appearance between the modern Aztecs and theJapanese, especially among the women, and,have, therefore, a strong belief that somewhere between these two races in ancient times there musthave been a close connecting link .

2The fullest account o f this voyage o f discoveryis to be found in Da Costa’s Pre-Co lum bian D iscovery of Am erica, Albany, 1 90 1 . The knownfacts as to the early voyages to Greenland andVinland will be presented in a subsequentvolume in this Library.”

3Francisco Hernandez de Cordova ( 1475I 526 ) sailed along the coast o f Yucatan, and ,while the land i tsel f had been seen by previousSpanish sailors

,he was the first to put foot on its

soi l .4To be exact, Cortés had with him, on arrivalat Vera Cruz, only this small army ' 5 53 infantry

, 1 6 horsemen and their horses, 1 10 sailors, and200 Cuban Indians. He also had ten large cannon,and four lighter guns called falconets.

5Prescott says Montezuma was thi rty- four,which would indicate his birth—date as 1 485 .

Another equally good authority says 1476. Oth

96 THE AZTECS

ers give other dates. But as Bernal D i az, whowas with Cortés, and who must have made in

quiries on the spot, says he was born in 1479,wehave adopted his date .

6The Aztecs had three kinds o f tobacco, andsmoked pipes and used cigarettes. All the American tribes, from the northwest of the presentUnited States to Patagonia, seem to have knownof i t and o f i ts use, and some o f them used snuff.

8The population o f Tenochtitlan in 1 5 1 9 willnever be known . Some writers put i t as low as

which we think is absurd . I t could nothave been less than and was probably '

more.9Pronounced by the AztecsM eshitl, because the

x in Mexi tl, ( or in Mexico ) would have thesound o f sh .

The papyrus spoken of refers to the papermade from the maguey, or aloe, plant ; no t thepapyrus plant known to the Egyptians.

' It is not certain, but only probable, that theAztec year began on Feb . 2 .

12“

Pesos de o ro means the gold peso, whichis, to-day, in U . S . currency,worth a fraction lessthan twenty cents.

14Charles V. ( 1 500- 1 558 ) was also EmperorOf the Holy Roman Empire. He was made kingo f Spain in 1 5 16, as Charles I. ; became emperorof the larger empire in 1 5 1 9. He abdicated thethrone Of Spain in 1 556 to his son, Philip I I . Hewas king Of Spain during all the time o f Cortésin Mexico.

H ISTORY 97

‘STabasco is now a state of Mexico . I t is inthe extreme southeastern end of 5Mexico, adj oining Guatemala .

16The famous constellation of the SouthernHemisphere is visible as far north as Mexico during certain seasons of the year.

BEST WO RKS IN I ENGLISHO N

“

THE A 'TECS .

V BAN CRO FT, HU BERT H . Native Races o f

America ” in Bancroft’

s Works. 5 vols.San Francisco

, 1 883

V PRESCOTT, WILLIAM H . Conquest o f Mexico . 3 vols.

SH ORT, The North American Indians o f Antiquity ” New York, 1879.

V HELPS , SIR ARTH UR.

“ Spanish Conquest ofAmerica .” 4 vols. New ed . New York,1904.

CH EVALIER, M . Mexico, Ancient and ModH

em . 2 vols. London, 1 864 .

BAN DELIER, ADOLPH F. A (Various works onAmerican Archze ology ) .

W IN DSOR, JU STIN .

“ Narrative and CriticalHistory of America.” In V o l . 1 . New

Az tecs,Their History, etc.Chicago, 1900.

98 THE AZTECS

CHIRO IN O 'LO GI-OAL TABLES .

EARLIER YEARS .

Toltecs founded Tula A. D.

Toltecs left TulaAztecs left Az tlanReform of Aztec calendarAztecs arrived at Chicom o z tec, Mexico .

Aztecs reached Tula .

Aztecs at Chapultepec 1 194Az tecs on Island of T iz aapan 1 297Aztecs at Coyoacon . 1 300

Az tecs founded Tenochtitlan 1 325

A' TEC KIN GS O F TEN OCH TITLAN

First king, Acam apichtli I I 1 350

Second king, Huitz ilihuitl I I 1403Third king, Chim alpopoca 14 1 7Fourth king, Itz coatl 1428

Fi fth king,Mo tecahz om a (Montezuma ) I . 1440

S ixth king, Axayacatl 1469Seventh king

,Tizoc 148 1

Eighth king, Ahuitz o tl 1486

Great Teocall i dedicated 1486, or 1487Ninth king

, Mo tecah z om a (Montezuma )

Last festival of Aztec Cycle

EV EN TS AFTER ARRIVAL O F SPAN IARDS .

Cortés landed at Vera Cruz . .Apri l 2 1 , 1 5 19

Co rtes entered Tenochti tlan . November 8, 1 5 19

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100 THE AZTECS

G uatem o tz in, 88H ierogl

yphics

, 74Huit z il i uitl II., 1 9H uitzilopochtli, 44, 45, 54H uman sacrifi ces, (S e e S a c

r ifi ces)Iztaccihuatl, 29It z coatl , 20Language, 75Law s, 66L iterature, 7 1Malinche, (Marina), 25, 38, 90Marriages, 60May as, 1 1 ,48Med icine, 67Merchants, 82Mex itl, 54Money , 82Monk s, 91Montezuma I. , 2 1Montezuma II., d escri tionof, 30 ; coronation o 32 ;law s of, 33 ; luxuriousnessof, 34 ; meeting Cortes, 35 ;palace of

, 41 imprisonment of

,85 ; d eath of, 86My thology , 5 1

N ahuas, 1 1N ezahualcoy otl, 53Paper, 8 1Polygamy , 78

Popocatepetl, 29Pr i ests 1 8 58

Py ramid3sOfSun and Moon,1 2

Pulque, 69, 8 1' uetzalcoatl, 28, 55, 5 7R eligion, 50S acrifi ces, 22, 33S acrifi cia l S tone, 46Tabasco, 24, 90Tenochtitlan

,found ing of, 1 6;

k ings, 1 9 ; general d escription, 3 8 ; palace ofMontezuma, 41 G reatTeocalli

, 43 ; Cortes en

ters,35 Cortes leaves,8 7 ;capture of, 88T eo

s

ca l l i, G reat, 22, 39, 43, 48,

9T eo tl, 52Tepanecs, 20Tezcatlipoca

, 46, 54Tezon co, 1 5, 30, 35, 4 1Theatres, 83T iz aapan, 1 5Tizoc

,2 1 , 46Tlaloc, 55Tlascalans, 26, 29, 33Toltecs, 1 1 , 59, 65Tula, 1 1 , 65

V iceroy s, 92' aremba,C. W ., 80