MEDICINE AND BURIAL
So many of the manuscripts have a religious or calendrical
significance, that it may be as well to say here a few words about the
Mexican system of writing. The Indians of the North American plains
had evolved a sign-language, by means of which, under limitations, a
silent conversation could be carried on; further, they were in the
habit of recording events by painting figures and scenes on hide, or
weaving them in their wampum belts. The Mexican system was a little
more advanced; though events were expressed by the actual depiction of
the scenes, yet many of the details were purely symbolical, and names
were expressed by a figure or combination of figures which constitute
a rebus. Thus the name of the king, Itzcoatl, was written as a snake
(coatl) bristling with obsidian knives (itztli); the town of Tochtepec,
by a rabbit (tochtli) on a mountain (tepetl); that of Tenochtitlan, by
a stone (tetl), on which grows a cactus plant (nochtli), the syllable
_tlan_ being a place-termination.
[Illustration:
FIG. 12.--Detail from the historical portion of the
Telleriano-Remensis MS.
To the left, the date _7. tochtli_, accompanied by glyphs
expressing the death of Tizoc and the accession of Auitzotl.
To the right, the date _8. acatl_, with glyphs showing
the dedication of the great temple to Uitzilopochtli, and the
sacrifice of 20,000 prisoners.]
To express numbers, as far as the calendar was concerned, since no
figure higher than 13 occurred ordinarily, a dot was put for each unit.
There was also a special period-sign meaning a year (Fig. 86, _l_;
p. 356, usually combined with the day-sign from which that particular
year took its name), and another for the period of 52 years, called
_xiuhmolpilli_, or “sheaf of years.” As, however, there was no
subsidiary sign by which one xiuhmolpilli could be differentiated from
another, the reader is obliged to infer from the context the cycle to
which a particular year belongs. In the numeration of objects, as in
the tribute-lists, higher numbers are expressed by special symbols. The
Mexican numeral system was vigesimal, and hence the first special sign
was that for 20, a religious banner. 20 × 20, or 400, was expressed
by a tree; and 20 × 400 by an incense-pouch (see Fig. 12). In certain
portions of some manuscripts we find the lower numbers simplified by
the employment of a bar to mean five. These MSS. present other features
which are not typically Aztec in character, and it may at once be said
that the use of the bar to express five was universal in the Maya
countries, and extended in pre-Aztec times right up through the Zapotec
country (e.g. Monte Alban) and Cuernavaca (Xochicalco) to the Mexican
Valley (Island of Xico).
In the historical MSS. we have the year-signs in order accompanied by
certain figures symbolical of important events. A temple in flames
with a place-name attached signifies the conquest of a town; the sign
olin, an earthquake; a smoking star, a comet; and so forth. In Fig. 12
appears a small portion of the manuscript known as Telleriano-Remensis;
two year-dates are shown, of which the first, 7. tochtli, is
accompanied by two figures, a mummy-pack with the name of Tizoc, and
a seated man with the name of Auitzotl. This signifies the death of
the king Tizoc, and the enthronement of his successor. Accompanying
the next year-date, 8. acatl, is a picture of the great temple to
Uitzilopochtli, beneath which is a smoking fire-stick, and the
name-sign of Tenochtitlan. The group signifies the dedication of the
great temple at Mexico, since new fire was always made at the opening
of a newly-constructed building. At the side are two figures clad in
the livery of prisoners destined to the gladiatorial stone, each with
his name; these represent two important prisoners sacrificed on that
occasion, and below them is a number, reading 20,000, the number of the
victims sacrificed during the inaugural ceremonies.
The nature of the calendrical manuscripts has been explained in chapter
III, and it will therefore not be necessary to say more about them,
except that most, if not all, of the surviving examples seem not to be
pure Aztec work. Some are rather in Zapotec style, while others may
have been produced at Teotitlan or Tehuacan on the Mixtec border, where
the priests were especially skilled in calendrical lore; of others
again the place of origin may be Chiapas. Of great interest are the
tribute-lists, of which the best, known as Codex Mendoza, gives the
imperial revenue in the time of Montecuzoma, together with a list of
the tributary towns; the glyphs, in Fig. 18, p. 118, are taken from
this manuscript. Again, the ownership of land was carefully noted on
maps, territory belonging to the king, the nobles, and the calpulli (or
clans) being marked in different colours; and plans of towns are also
found, that shown in Fig. 13 in all probability representing the palace
at Tezcoco. Similar documents were prepared for legal procedure, and at
the landing of the Spaniards manuscripts were taken to Montecuzoma on
which were carefully noted the portraits of the leaders, together with
pictures of ships, horses, dogs and cannon.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Plan of the palace at
Tezcoco.
(_Humboldt MSS., Berlin_)]
Maps and manuscripts were painted on fine cloth made of aloe- or
palm-fibre, paper made from the aloe, or dressed skins, the two former
being coated with a kind of size. The colours were applied with a
brush, which was moistened with the lips of the artist, and the designs
were invariably outlined in black. A considerable variety of colours
was employed, red from cochineal or log-wood; two yellows, vegetable
and mineral; blue from certain flowers; white from chalk, and black
from the soot of the ocotl palm. The mixing of colours was understood,
and brilliant greens, purples and browns are found.
It will be readily understood that the service of so many gods and so
formidable a list of religious festivals required the services of a
large body of carefully trained priests. The office of priest was one
which had undergone considerable evolution in Mexico, at least as far
as the immigrant tribes were concerned. At first the priest was also
the temporal leader; his principal duty was the care of the image of
the tribal god, which he carried during the wanderings of the tribe;
and since it was the god who directed those wanderings, and the priest
was the sole interpreter of his wishes, it came about that the priest
was also the director of the tribal policy. But once the tribe became
settled, there was a tendency for the priest to become less and less
a man of action, and to concentrate his energies on the elaboration
of ritual and the study of astronomy. At the same time there was no
sharp division between the temporal and religious authority; the
king exercised many priestly functions, and the priesthood possessed
enormous influence in national affairs. Priests even engaged in war,
and there was a special series of _insignia_ worn in fight by
those who had distinguished themselves in battle by the capture of one
or more prisoners. In Mexico itself at the head of the hierarchy were
two chief priests, each of whom bore the title of Quetzalcoatl (since
the god of that name was regarded as the prototype of all religious
orders), and who were distinguished by the names of Totec Tlamacazqui
and Tlaloc Tlamacazqui. The first was the priest of Uitzilopochtli,
the second of Tlaloc; they were equal in status, and both were
selected from the upper grade of religious officers in virtue of their
wisdom, piety and general good character, irrespective of their birth.
Subordinate to them was a minister called Mexicatl Teohuatzin, whom
Sahagun terms a “patriarch,” and who acted as general overseer of
ritual and of the priestly college called Calmecac. He was assisted
by two other functionaries, the Uitznauac Teohuatzin and the Tepan
Teohuatzin, the latter of whom shared his responsibilities as an
educational officer. Beneath these dignitaries were ranked an upper
grade of priests, called Tlanamacac, and a lower grade, Tlamacazqui;
and finally the novices, Tlamacazton. The priests of the upper grade
included a number of functionaries with special titles, who were
devoted to the services of particular deities, or to the discharge
of definite functions, as was the Ome Tochtzin, or overseer of the
religious singers, who provided the latter with wine according to
the following peculiar practice. After the singing, the Ome Tochtzin
produced 303 canes, one only of which was bored throughout its length;
the singers drew one each, and he who was lucky enough to hit upon the
pierced cane had the sole privilege of drinking octli on that day.
It is impossible to enter into details as regards these priests with
special functions, and the interested reader may be referred to the
work of Sahagun. The Mexican priesthood exercised very little control
over the religious life of the subject cities beyond exacting the
tribute necessary for the maintenance of the temples and sacrifices,
and insisting on expiatory sacrifices in cases of breach of discipline
(as in the case of the Totonac of Cempoala for having received the
Spaniards). Subject to this very loose supervision, each city was
permitted to exercise its own particular form of worship, and, as has
been shown, the Aztec were always ready to adopt the worship of the
gods of their neighbours. The ceremonial garb of priests in general
consisted of black body-paint, sometimes with designs in ochre, and
a black mantle; their hair was never cut, and the lobes of their
ears were invariably torn in shreds owing to constant practice of
the penitential rite of blood-letting. The black-robed priests with
their long locks matted with blood and their torn ears made a great
impression upon Bernal Diaz when he first met them in Cempoala. The
sacrificial priest constituted an exception in so far as his garment
was red, but his five assistants, the Chalmeca, wore black, and were
distinguished by a headband ornamented with paper discs.
The Tarascan priests differed in several essentials from those of the
Aztec. Since the office was hereditary they formed a caste, their heads
were carefully shaved, and their principal _insignia_ were a pair
of golden tweezers, used for epilation, and a calabash containing
tobacco, employed to produce a state of ecstasy during which they were
supposed to hold communion with the gods. Among the Totonac were two
high-priests consecrated to Cinteotl, who were regarded with especial
veneration; they were widowers, over sixty years of age, wore garments
of jackal-skins, ate no fish, and their functions were the delivery of
oracles, and the preparation of manuscripts.
In Tehuacan there was an especially holy order of priests who spent
four years at a time in perpetual prayer (by relays) and observed a
continual fast, abstaining from meat, fish, fruit, honey and pepper,
and taking but one meal a day. They were supposed to commune directly
with the gods, and were held in especial estimation by Montecuzoma.
But perhaps the most generally revered priest in Mexico was the priest
of Quetzalcoatl at Cholula, who was regarded as the direct successor
of the god, and who lived a life of particular austerity. Among the
Mixtec the high-priest wore a short coat embroidered with mythological
figures, and over this a garment described as a “surplice,” while his
head was crowned with feathers interwoven with small figures of the
gods. But one of the holiest priests was the high-priest of the sacred
Zapotec city of Mitla, who was kept in retirement, for it was feared
that death would seize any of the ordinary folk who might set eyes upon
him. He was regarded as an inspired prophet and was supposed to hold
converse with the gods.
The functions of the Mexican priesthood were manifold; apart from the
general care of the temples and the maintenance of the holy fires, the
priests were employed in sacrifice, divination, teaching, astronomy
and the preparation of manuscripts. The ceremonial burning of incense
at appointed hours absorbed much of their time, for to the sun alone
this offering was made four times during the day and three times during
the night. They lived in communities, under the strict supervision
of their superiors and colleagues; small breaches of discipline were
punished by extra performance of the penitential rite, by pricking
with aloe-spines, or by midnight offerings of incense upon a mountain;
more serious offences by beating, especially at the Etzalqualiztli
festival, or by death. The provision of wood for the temple fires was
a most important duty; in Mexico it was usually undertaken by the
novices, but in Michoacan it was nominally the duty of the king, though
in fact the high-priest, as his representative, saw to the matter. The
education of would-be priests was a matter of great moment, and the
institution at which this was carried out, the Calmecac, deserves a
word of description. Parents wishing to dedicate a son to the service
of the gods invited the officers in charge of that establishment to a
banquet during which they communicated their desires. The child was
then taken to the Calmecac and offered to the image of Quetzalcoatl,
the patron of the institution, and his ears were pierced. If too young
to be entered as a novice forthwith, he was for the time restored to
his parents, but his necklace was left with the god, since it was
believed that his soul was mysteriously attached to this ornament. At
the age of seven or eight the child definitely took up his residence
at the Calmecac, where his duties at first consisted in sweeping the
building and preparing the black paint used by the priests from the
soot of a species of pine. Later on he assisted in the collection of
aloe-spines used for blood-letting, and later still in the gathering
of firewood and preparation of sun-dried bricks for building (adobes).
All the time he was receiving instruction in the ceremonial chants
and in ritual, and learning the practice of austerities by rising
at midnight to offer incense or to take a ceremonial bath, or by
joining in the ceremonial fasts on appointed days. The elder novices
occasionally made pilgrimages at night to a neighbouring mountain; they
set out alone and nude, carrying a censer, a bag of incense, a torch,
a conch-shell trumpet, and a number of aloe-spines. The latter were
left at the furthest point of their journey wrapped in a ball of hay.
The Tlamacazqui lived with the novices at the Calmecac, all messed and
slept together, and were subject to the strictest discipline. A special
duty of the Tlamacazqui was the sounding of conch-shells and drums
at stated hours of the day and night. A portion of the Calmecac was
reserved for girls, also dedicated by their parents to the service of
the gods. They were under the charge of elderly unmarried women, and
assisted in the sweeping of the temples, the tending of the fires, the
preparation of food, and the manufacture of garments and ornaments for
the idols. They were compelled to live in strict chastity, but their
service was not necessarily life-long. Any girl when she attained a
marriageable age might leave the establishment with the permission of
her superiors, which was easily obtained by means of a present. In
fact, many girls entered the service of religion in the hope that their
devotion to the gods might be rewarded with a good husband.
An institution similar to the Calmecac existed among the Mixtec at
Achiutla.
Other institutions for the religious instruction of the young of both
sexes existed in Mexico, attached to various temples. The mode of life
was much the same as in the Calmecac, but the discipline was not so
severe.
As said before, one of the principal functions of the priesthood was
the exercise of the art of divination, and the principal instrument
was the tonalamatl. The priests of Tlazolteotl were supposed to be
especially expert in the use of the “book of days”; the horoscopes of
new-born children were invariably cast, and a favourable day selected
for the baptismal ceremony (as described below, p. 160), in accordance
with the various influences attached to the day of its birth. Constant
recourse was had to the interpreters of the tonalamatl in almost every
emergency, and practically no enterprise of importance was undertaken
except upon a propitious day. But there were numerous other methods
of divination, and several grades of magical practitioners. Grains of
maize or red beans were commonly employed to discover the issue of
a sickness. The goddess Tozi was the patroness of the professional
magicians who used this means, though the casting of the grains was
usually performed in the presence of a figure of Quetzalcoatl, the
arch-patron of magic. Twenty grains were usually cast upon a cloth; if
they fell forming a hollow circle, typifying a grave, it was believed
that the sick person would die; but if so that a straight line could be
drawn leaving ten on each side, the patient would recover. Or again, if
they fell scattered, a fatal termination to the illness was expected;
but if in a heap, health would be restored. At Tlaxcala it was a fatal
sign if one grain stood up on end. Grain was also used in divination by
the Mixtec, who sowed seed on the nemontemi days, and from its success
or failure calculated the prospects of the year’s crop. Another method
of prognosticating the chances of a patient consisted in winding a
string into a knot; if it could be pulled loose, the patient would
recover, otherwise his chances were small. Or again, a sick child
would be held over a vessel of water, and his reflection carefully
observed; if the image was dim there was small prospect of recovery.
The last method of divination was employed when the sickness was
supposed to be due to absence of the child’s _tonalli_ (which may
be translated “soul” or “luck”), and constitutes another instance of
the belief, so common throughout the world, that the incorporeal nature
of man is closely connected with his reflection or shadow. Snakes were
also used in divination, especially to discover a stolen object; the
suspected persons were seated in a circle, and the magician placed a
basket containing a snake in the middle. The basket was uncovered,
and it was believed that if the culprit were present the snake would
indicate the fact by crawling to him. Scrying in a mirror or bowl
of water was another method of divination widely employed in Mexico
proper, and was found among the Tarascans also. At Tlaxcala a peculiar
custom was observed when war was declared in order to estimate the
chances of ultimate success. Two sacred arrows were carefully kept
in this town, which were supposed to have been brought by the first
immigrants from Tulan. These were hurled in the direction of the foe
by two specially chosen warriors, and then recovered at all costs.
If an enemy was wounded by one the omens were regarded as especially
favourable. At Mexico the Naualli was a magical priest of a high order;
he was celibate, had been trained from youth in weather-wisdom and
spent much of his time in fasting and purification. He was credited
with special powers, such as the assumption at will of animal form,
and levitation; he acted as the general guardian of the city against
sorcerers, and gave warning of approaching famine or pestilence. The
belief in powers such as these became extraordinarily widespread after
the conquest, and resulted in the formation of a regular cult, the
members of which were called Nagual. The Nagualists were supposed
to have animal familiars, whose shape they could assume, and to hold
regular “witches’ sabbaths.” Many natives confessed to such practices,
and the Spaniards experienced great difficulty in stamping out the
cult, which had as its avowed object the elimination of Christianity,
and penetrated far into Central America. The information available
concerning this extremely interesting recrudescence of paganism can be
found in a small book by Brinton entitled “Nagualism.”
Besides the magical priests already mentioned, there existed a class
of professional conjurers, who performed various tricks, often for
hire. One would have a number of puppets in a pouch which came out and
danced, apparently uninspired by human agency, while another would
roast maize on a simple cloth without fire. The Huaxtec were supposed
to be particularly expert at such tricks, and among their feats Sahagun
mentions the production from space of a spring with fishes, the burning
and restoration of a hut, or the dismemberment and resurrection of the
conjurer himself. The last proceeding recalls certain of the feats
performed by the members of the ritual societies of the west coast of
North America during the winter ceremonials. The Ocuiltec of the Toluca
valley also possessed a great reputation as magicians. Various forms of
domestic divination were practised, such as the springing of octli upon
the hearth-fire, auguries being taken from the spluttering. But before
saying a word about the popular belief in omens, it will be as well
to treat very shortly the subject of sorcery. Individuals born on the
days 3. cipactli and 1. eecatl were supposed to be predisposed to the
practice of the black art, and days with the number nine, especially 9.
itzcuintli and 9. malinalli (but also 4. eecatl), were believed to be
especially favourable for their evil practices. They could transform
themselves into animal shape, influence the hearts of women, inflict
wasting diseases upon their enemies (as implied in one of their names,
“heart-eaters”), and bring misfortune. These arts they were ready to
place at the disposal of those who were prepared to pay for their
services, and they often combined their trade with that of professional
housebreaker. For this purpose their most powerful charm was the arm of
a woman who had died in childbirth; by its means they could cast sleep
upon the inmates of the house which they desired to rob, or at any rate
deprive them of the faculty of speech and movement. This belief bears
a strange resemblance to that once held in this country concerning
the magical properties attaching to the hand of an executed criminal.
They could however be kept at a distance by placing a stone knife in a
bowl of water on the threshold, or thistles in the windows. A bolder
method of counteracting the machinations of a sorcerer was forcibly
to snatch a few hairs from his head. It was believed that if he could
not recover them he was destined to die the same night, unless indeed
he could steal or borrow something from the house of his assailant.
Practitioners of the black art were punished by the Tarascans by
blinding.
Various portents were drawn from the animal world; the cries of beasts
of prey at night were supposed to forebode disaster to those who heard
them, and the voices of certain birds were believed equally unlucky.
The owl, so closely associated with Mictlantecutli, was especially
regarded as the harbinger of ill-fortune and death, and if one of these
birds perched upon the house of a sick man his demise was considered
certain. It was held unlucky to encounter a skunk or a weasel, and the
entry into the house of a rabbit or a troop of ants foreboded bad luck.
If a certain kind of spider was found in the house, the owner traced a
cross upon the ground, at the centre of which he placed the insect.
If it went towards the north, the direction of the underworld, it was
regarded as a sign of death for the observer, any other direction
foretelling misfortune of minor importance.
Besides these superstitions there were a whole host of popular beliefs,
of which only a few can be given here. Many of these were connected
with food; it was customary to blow upon maize before putting it in the
cooking-pot, to “give it courage,” and it was believed that if a person
neglected to pick up maize-grains lying on the ground they called out
to heaven to punish the omission. If two brothers were drinking, and
the younger drank first, it was thought that the elder would cease
to grow; and it was also believed that the growth of a child was
stopped by stepping over it when seated or lying down, but that the
effect could be averted by stepping back again. Young girls were not
allowed to eat standing, for it was believed that they would fail to
get husbands, and children were prevented from licking the grind-stone
for fear they would lose their teeth. When a child lost one of its
first teeth, the father or mother placed the tooth in a mouse-hole, a
proceeding which was supposed to ensure the growth of the second tooth;
and all nail-parings were thrown into the water in the hope that the
auitzotl, a mythical water-animal which was believed to eat them, would
make the nails grow. Sneezing was thought to be a sign that evil was
being spoken of the sneezer, and there was a peculiar belief that the
perfume of the flowers which were carried at banquets and in ceremonial
dances might only be inhaled from the edges of the bouquet, since the
centre belonged to the god Tezcatlipoca.
Magic played a very important part in the treatment of sickness,
and many diseases were supposed to be sent by the gods, either in a
malignant spirit, or as a punishment for some breach of ritual, such as
violation of a public fast. The Ciuapipiltin, the souls of women dying
in childbirth, were in particular supposed to be disease-bringers; they
were thought to haunt cross-roads on particular calendrical dates,
and to select children principally as their prey. People falling sick
on the date 1. ozomatli were generally given up by their doctors as
incurable victims of these malignant goddesses. Tezcatlipoca was also
regarded as a giver of disease in general, though in his case sickness
was a punishment for some fault. Other deities were supposed to preside
over special maladies, such as Xipe over disorders of the skin and
eyes, and Amimitl over coughs and dysentery. Individuals suffering from
the former complaints were believed to obtain relief by wearing the
skin of a sacrificial victim during the Tlacaxipeualiztli festival,
while the shrine of Amimitl at Cuitlauac was sought by victims of
the latter well on into Christian times. Ixtlilton presided over the
diseases of children, and in the courtyard of his temple were jars
of holy water used as medicine. The mountain-gods were believed to
send gout and rheumatism, and sufferers made vows to erect statues to
them and to the rain- and water-deities. Another medical divinity was
Tzapotlatenan, a deified woman who was revered as the discoverer of
the medicinal value of turpentine, while Teteoinnan was the general
patroness of doctors and midwives. Certain disorders were supposed to
be contracted from the natural world, e.g. by smelling or sitting on
certain flowers, while others were attributed to the machinations of
sorcerers. The treatment of patients offers two aspects, one of which
is purely magical, the other scientific. The Mexicans had a very good
knowledge of the properties of certain plants, and used them with much
success, both by external and internal application. In surgery they
could set bones, and Sahagun states that a badly cut nose was sewed
up with a hair, and a mixture of honey and salt applied. But no doubt
it was the magical aspect of medical treatment which counted most in
popular estimation. The medical priest would often apply suction to
the seat of pain, and then produce triumphantly from his mouth some
small object, such as an obsidian knife, which he pretended to have
extracted from the patient’s body. Amulets were frequently worn to
banish maladies, especially in the case of children, and many ointments
contained ingredients the effect of which was purely imaginary,
though the massage which accompanied their application had no doubt
a beneficial effect. One such medicament consisted of certain herbs,
including tobacco, pounded up with the bodies of various insects, and
this was also applied to the body as a protection against poisonous
snakes and other wild animals. The idea that sickness could be removed
by transferring it to another person was found in Mexico as in many
other parts of the world; in cases of fever the image of a dog would be
made of maize dough, and placed on an aloe-leaf in a pathway, and it
was believed that the first passer-by would remove the malady in his
heel-bones. A remedy which was of almost universal application, and
which was of real value, was the steam-bath. The patient was introduced
into a small brick-built chamber which had a furnace constructed at one
side. Between the furnace and the chamber was a slab of the volcanic
stone called _tezontli_, upon which water was poured to produce
steam. This building was called temazcalli in Mexico, but the treatment
is not peculiar to this area, being found elsewhere in America also.
According to Burgoa, among the Zapotec, persons who felt themselves
incurably sick would ask to be shut up in a chamber in the holy city
of Mitla reserved for the bodies of sacrificial victims and captains
killed in war. Here they were left to perish, secure in the knowledge
that their lot in the other world would be far superior to that in this.
To the Mexicans, as to many primitive peoples, death was not an
altogether abhorrent idea, being little more than an incident in the
continuity between this life and the next. But the manner of death
was more important, since it had a direct effect upon the fate of the
soul. The most enviable lot was that of the warriors who died either
in battle or in sacrifice; they were supposed to depart to the eastern
paradise of the sun, where, assembled on a great plain, they greeted
his rising by beating upon their shields, and escorted him on his
journey to the zenith. Thence they descended to the earth in the form
of humming-birds and other birds of bright plumage, and spent their
time among the flowers. Women dying in war or childbirth were equally
fortunate; as the counterpart of the warriors they went to the western
paradise of the sun, and bore him in a litter of bright feathers from
the zenith to the horizon, when they descended to earth in the form of
moths.
Those who were drowned, struck by lightning, or who perished by certain
diseases such as dropsy or leprosy, found a home in the terrestrial
paradise Tlalocan, the home of the god Tlaloc, where food-plants and
flowers flourished in miraculous fertility and summer was perpetual.
Those who died of other diseases or old age were obliged to embark
upon a difficult journey to Mictlan, the underworld, where the god
Mictlantecutli held sway. During this they had to pass between two
clashing mountains, to run the gauntlet of a great snake and a huge
lizard, to traverse eight deserts and eight hills, and to encounter
a wind full of stone knives. Finally, but not until the end of four
years, the soul reached the great river of Hades, which must be crossed
by swimming. For this the aid of a red dog was necessary, and dogs
of this colour were reared in the house and killed at funerals. An
interesting parallel to this belief is that current in parts of Peru,
that the souls of the dead were escorted to the other world by black
dogs, numbers of which were bred for this particular purpose. Though
living in the underworld, the souls of the dead were not deprived
of the light of the sun, since it was supposed to pass through the
infernal regions during the night on its journey back to the east.
The souls of infants dying still unstained by sin were believed to be
received in a special paradise by Tonacatecutli, where they spent their
time flitting from flower to flower in the form of humming-birds.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--A. Mummy of a warrior
prepared for burial.
(_Magliabecchiano MS., Florence_)]
B. Mummy supported in the jaws of the earth-monster.
(_Fejérváry-Mayer MS., Liverpool_)]
The question of the obsequies of the dead next arises, and we find two
methods of disposal practised in Mexico, cremation and inhumation. The
first of these appears to be the more characteristic of the hunting
tribes, though the account of Sahagun would seem to show that the
Chichimec originally practised the latter. This people were said to
be extremely long-lived, and protracted ill-health was regarded as so
uncanny that if a malady lasted over four or five days, the patient
was killed. The Tarascans certainly employed cremation; in the case
of the king, the body was laid out by the principal chiefs, who were
summoned during his illness, and carried in state by night to a temple,
where it was burned. A number of slaves accompanied the procession,
playing on tortoise-carapaces and rattles formed of a serrated bone
along which a stick was rubbed; these slaves were killed while the
pyre was burning, and were buried separately behind the temple. The
ashes of the king were made into a mummy-pack with a false head and
mask, which was buried seated in a large urn at the foot of the temple
steps facing eastward. The grave was roofed with wooden slabs, and
earth was heaped upon the top. Those killed in war were also burnt with
their bows before the temple, and their ashes buried in urns. Though
the wilder Chichimec, as stated above, appear to have simply buried
their dead, yet the early Chichimec kings in the valley of Mexico,
Xolotl, Nopaltzin and Quinatzin, are said to have been burnt and their
ashes deposited in urns in caves. At Teotihuacan, a site where the
Toltec culture flourished for a considerable period, unburned burials
are found, and it is probable, from other evidence, that cremation is
not typical of this civilization. The Acolhua practised cremation and
buried the ashes. The Aztec practised both forms of disposal of the
dead, but cremation, which, according to the early commentator on the
MS. known as Vaticanus A, they learnt from the Otomi, was the more
common. The deceased was made up into a mummy-pack with quantities of
paper, which was supposed to enable him to pass through the various
dangers to be encountered on his journey to the underworld, and decked
with appropriate ornaments (Fig. 14, _a_). Water was sprinkled
over his head, and a supply for his journey provided in a small vessel;
his red dog (shown in the illustration) was killed, and dog and master
were burnt together with various articles of personal property which
might be wanted in the other world. In many cases this privilege was
allowed to slaves destined for sacrifice, and they were permitted to
burn their small effects before they mounted the sacrificial stone. The
ashes were collected and placed in a vase or stone coffer, together
with a small jewel (the lip-plug of the deceased) to serve as a
“heart,” and buried. Offerings were made on the grave after twenty
days’ interval, and again after eighty days. These were repeated on
the annual feast of the dead for four years, after which the soul was
supposed to have completed its journey. The grave, at any rate in the
case of individuals of importance, was a vault lined with stone and
lime. The obsequies of the king followed the same lines, but were more
elaborate, and certain of his personal slaves and wives were killed to
accompany him. Motolinia states that in the case of men of high rank,
all the clothing which they had worn in life was buried with them. Both
the “Anonymous Conqueror” and Francisco de Bologna speak of bodies
being placed in the vault seated on a chair, and it is possible that
the ashes were occasionally made up into a mummy-pack as among the
Tarascans. However, simple inhumation was certainly practised by the
Aztec, though it was usually reserved for those whose manner of death
entitled them to a place in the terrestrial paradise Tlalocan. In the
case of a merchant dying while away from home on a trading expedition,
a figure was made by his relations at home and burnt with due ceremony.
If he had been killed by a hostile people, the cremation took place
in a temple-court, but if he had fallen a victim to disease, in front
of his house. Merchants of the Pochteca guild of Tlaltelolco received
special treatment; the body was swathed in paper, the face decorated
with the red and black paint of the gladiatorial sacrifice, ornaments,
including the lip-plug, were added, and the pack was attached to a
carrying-frame and exposed on a mountain-top. As stated before, the
souls of women dying in childbirth were deified under the name of
Ciuapipiltin, and their bodies were accorded special treatment. The
corpse, clad in its best garments, was borne by the husband to the
courtyard of the temple dedicated to the Ciuapipiltin, where it was
buried. On the way it was escorted by a retinue of midwives armed with
swords, and the husband and his friends kept watch over the grave for
four nights. These precautions were necessary to prevent young warriors
or sorcerers from seizing the body in order to obtain the left arm, or
middle finger of the left hand and the hair of the deceased. It was
believed that the finger and hair, if carried in the warrior’s shield,
would render the possessor invincible, while the hand was a powerful
charm used by robbers to cast sleep upon the inmates of a house, as
described on p. 98.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--Carved stone slab from
Tlacolula, Oaxaca. (_After Seler_)]
When we come to consider the Mixtec and Zapotec, we find inhumation
the rule, indeed the Zapotec abhorred cremation, considering it
destructive of the soul. Nor was the method always simple inhumation,
but secondary burial. The body was placed in the ground with feet to
the east, and the bones were collected subsequently and placed in a
vase which was deposited in a stone vault in a mound, the doorway being
closed with a sculptured slab (Fig. 15). Both peoples also employed
caves to some extent as receptacles of the dead. Simple inhumation
in caves seems to have been more common among the Mixtec than the
Zapotec, and Burgoa writes of cave burials at Chalcatongo, supposed to
be the gate of paradise, where the dead were laid out dressed in rich
garments, numbers of small idols in gold, stone and wood being placed
in niches in the cave-walls. The same author tells of the Zapotec kings
being deposited at Mitla, in a chamber in one of the temples, clad in
gorgeous ornaments and holding shield and spear. It is possible that
primary burial was reserved for those of high rank.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.--Carved stone slab from
Placeres del Oro, Guerrero.]
An extremely interesting burial has been found at a place called
Placeres del Oro, in the valley of the Rio del Oro, a southern
tributary of the Rio de las Balsas. The chief interest of the remains
here found lies in the very peculiar art of the sculptured slabs
between which the bones were deposited (Fig. 16). The walls of the
grave, which was situated at the foot of a mound, were of clay hardened
by fire, and of the bones themselves it is said “there is good reason
to suspect that at least partial cremation of the body took place at
the time this burial was made.” This is a most important point, and
ought to be definitely settled by careful inspection of the bones. The
site is on the debatable land between Nahua, Tarascan and Zapotec,
and there are reasons, which will be given later, why I think it most
probable, failing definite evidence to the contrary, that the body had
not been burnt.
The fine stone coffer from the Huaxtec country shown on Pl. X, 2; p.
108, is almost certainly a coffin; and in the Totonac country both
cist-burial in mounds and, occasionally, well-burial are found. Traces
of cremation appear to be exceptional, and confined to hill-sites
inland, where they are perhaps indicative of Nahua influence.
[Illustration:
_PLATE X_
HUAXTEC
1. STONE FIGURE; PANUCO RIVER
2. „ CHEST; „ „]
[Illustration: MAYA
3. POTTERY CENSER; BRITISH HONDURAS
(Scale: 1, ⅒th; 2, ⅛th; 3, ⅕th)]
To speak broadly, it would appear that cremation was typical of the
invading hunter-tribes, inhumation of the early sedentary peoples of
the valley of Mexico. If this is so, the interment of individuals whose
souls were supposed to be destined for the paradise of Tlaloc is easily
explained, since that god appears to have been the deity principally
worshipped by the agriculturists of the valley, and it is only natural
that the form of burial characteristic of his early worshippers should
be retained in such cases.