CHAPTER I: THE CIVILISATION OF MEXICO

THE MYTHS OF

MEXICO & PERU

BY

LEWIS SPENCE

AUTHOR OF "THE MYTHOLOGIES OF ANCIENT MEXICO AND PERU"

"THE POPOL VUH" "THE CIVILIZATION OF ANCIENT MEXICO"

"A DICTIONARY OF MYTHOLOGY" ETC. ETC.

WITH SIXTY FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS MAINLY BY

GILBERT JAMES AND WILLIAM SEWELL

AND OTHER DRAWINGS AND MAPS

NEW YORK

THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY

PUBLISHERS

Printed by

BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY LTD

Tavistock Street Covent Garden

London England

PREFACE

In recent years a reawakening has taken place in the study of American

archæology and antiquities, owing chiefly to the labours of a band of

scholars in the United States and a few enthusiasts in the continent

of Europe. For the greater part of the nineteenth century it appeared

as if the last word had been written upon Mexican archæology. The lack

of excavations and exploration had cramped the outlook of scholars,

and there was nothing for them to work upon save what had been done in

this respect before their own time. The writers on Central America who

lived in the third quarter of the last century relied on the travels

of Stephens and Norman, and never appeared to consider it essential

that the country or the antiquities in which they specialised should

be examined anew, or that fresh expeditions should be equipped to

discover whether still further monuments existed relating to the

ancient peoples who raised the teocallis of Mexico and the huacas of

Peru. True, the middle of the century was not altogether without its

Americanist explorers, but the researches of these were performed in

a manner so perfunctory that but few additions to the science resulted

from their labours.

Modern Americanist archæology may be said to have been the creation of

a brilliant band of scholars who, working far apart and without any

attempt at co-operation, yet succeeded in accomplishing much. Among

these may be mentioned the Frenchmen Charnay and de Rosny, and the

Americans Brinton, H. H. Bancroft, and Squier. To these succeeded

the German scholars Seler, Schellhas, and Förstemann, the Americans

Winsor, Starr, Savile, and Cyrus Thomas, and the Englishmen Payne and

Sir Clements Markham. These men, splendidly equipped for the work they

had taken in hand, were yet hampered by the lack of reliable data--a

want later supplied partly by their own excavations and partly by the

painstaking labours of Professor Maudslay, now the principal of the

International College of Antiquities at Mexico, who, with his wife,

is responsible for the exact pictorial reproductions of many of the

ancient edifices in Central America and Mexico.

Writers in the sphere of Mexican and Peruvian myth have been few. The

first to attack the subject in the light of the modern science of

comparative religion was Daniel Garrison Brinton, professor of American

languages and archæology in the University of Philadelphia. He has

been followed by Payne, Schellhas, Seler, and Förstemann, all of whom,

however, have confined the publication of their researches to isolated

articles in various geographical and scientific journals. The remarks

of mythologists who are not also Americanists upon the subject of

American myth must be accepted with caution.

The question of the alphabets of ancient America is perhaps the most

acute in present-day pre-Columbian archæology. But progress is being

made in this branch of the subject, and several German scholars are

working in whole-hearted co-operation to secure final results.

What has Great Britain accomplished in this new and fascinating field

of science? If the lifelong and valuable labours of the venerable Sir

Clements Markham be excepted, almost nothing. It is earnestly hoped

that the publication of this volume may prove the means of leading many

English students to the study and consideration of American archæology.

There remains the romance of old America. The real interest of American

mediæval history must ever circle around Mexico and Peru--her golden

empires, her sole exemplars of civilisation; and it is to the books

upon the character of these two nations that we must turn for a

romantic interest as curious and as absorbing as that bound up in

the history of Egypt or Assyria.

If human interest is craved for by any man, let him turn to the

narratives of Garcilasso el Inca de la Vega and Ixtlilxochitl,

representatives and last descendants of the Peruvian and Tezcucan

monarchies, and read there the frightful story of the path to fortune

of red-heeled Pizarro and cruel Cortés, of the horrible cruelties

committed upon the red man, whose colour was "that of the devil," of

the awful pageant of gold-sated pirates laden with the treasures of

palaces, of the stripping of temples whose very bricks were of gold,

whose very drain-pipes were of silver, of rapine and the sacrilege of

high places, of porphyry gods dashed down the pyramidal sides of lofty

teocallis, of princesses torn from the very steps of the throne--ay,

read these for the most wondrous tales ever writ by the hand of man,

tales by the side of which the fables of Araby seem dim--the story

of a clash of worlds, the conquest of a new, of an isolated hemisphere.

It is usual to speak of America as "a continent without a history." The

folly of such a statement is extreme. For centuries prior to European

occupation Central America was the seat of civilisations boasting a

history and a semi-historical mythology second to none in richness and

interest. It is only because the sources of that history are unknown

to the general reader that such assurance upon the lack of it exists.

Let us hope that this book may assist in attracting many to the

head-fountain of a river whose affluents water many a plain of beauty

not the less lovely because bizarre, not the less fascinating because

somewhat remote from modern thought.

In conclusion I have to acknowledge the courtesy of the Bureau of

American Ethnology, which placed in my hands a valuable collection of

illustrations and allowed me to select from these at my discretion. The

pictures chosen include the drawings used as tailpieces to chapters;

others, usually half-tones, are duly acknowledged where they occur.

LEWIS SPENCE

Edinburgh: July 1913

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. The Civilisation of Mexico 1

II. Mexican Mythology 54

III. Myths and Legends of the Ancient Mexicans 118

IV. The Maya Race and Mythology 143

V. Myths of the Maya 207

VI. The Civilisation of Old Peru 248

VII. The Mythology of Peru 291

Bibliography 335

Glossary and Index 341

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

The Princess is given a Vision Frontispiece

The Descent of Quetzalcoatl xiv

Toveyo and the Magic Drum 16

The Altar of Skulls 26

The Guardian of the Sacred Fire 30

Pyramid of the Moon: Pyramid of the Sun 32

Ruins of the Pyramid of Xochicalco 34

The Spirit of the dead Aztec is attacked by an Evil

Spirit who scatters Clouds of Ashes 38

The Demon Izpuzteque 40

The Aztec Calendar Stone 44

A Prisoner fighting for his Life 48

Combat between Mexican and Bilimec Warriors 53

Priest making an Incantation over an Aztec Lady 54

The Princess sees a Strange Man before the Palace 62

Tezcatlipoca, Lord of the Night Winds 66

The Infant War-God drives his Brethren into a Lake

and slays them 70

Statue of Tlaloc, the Rain-God 76

The Aged Quetzalcoatl leaves Mexico on a Raft of

Serpents 80

Ritual Masks of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca; and

Sacrificial Knife 84

The so-called Teoyaominqui 88

Statue of a Male Divinity 90

Xolotl 94

The Quauhxicalli, or Solar Altar of Sacrifice 98

Macuilxochitl 102

The Penitent addressing the Fire 106

Cloud Serpent, the Hunter-God 110

Mexican Goddess 114

Tezcatlipoca 117

"Place where the Heavens Stood" 120

A Flood-Myth of the Nahua 122

The Prince who fled for his Life 126

The Princess and the Statues 130

The King's Sister is shown the Valley of Dry Bones 140

Mexican Deity 142

The Prince who went to Found a City 156

"The Tablet of the Cross" 160

Design on a Vase from Chamá representing Maya Deities 166

The House of Bats 172

Part of the Palace and Tower, Palenque 182

The King who loved a Princess 186

Teocalli or Pyramid of Papantla: The Nunnery,

Chichen-Itza 188

Details of the Nunnery at Chichen-Itza 190

The Old Woman who took an Egg home 192

Great Palace of Mitla: Interior of an Apartment in

the Palace of Mitla 198

Hall of the Columns, Palace of Mitla 202

The Twins make an Imitation Crab 214

The Princess and the Gourds 220

The Princess who made Friends of the Owls 222

In the House of Bats 226

How the Sun appeared like the Moon 230

Queen Móo has her Destiny foretold 240

The Rejected Suitor 242

Piece of Pottery representing a Tapir 247

Doorway of Tiahuanaco 248

Fortress at Ollantay-tampu 250

"Mother and child are united" 252

The Inca Fortress of Pissac 254

"Making one of each nation out of the clay of the

earth" 258

Painted and Black Terra-cotta Vases 280

Conducting the White Llama to the Sacrifice 312

"The birdlike beings were in reality women" 318

"A beautiful youth appeared to Thonapa" 320

"He sang the song of Chamayhuarisca" 322

"The younger one flew away" 324

"His wife at first indignantly denied the accusation" 326

"He saw a very beautiful girl crying bitterly" 328

MAPS

The Valley of Mexico 330

Distribution of the Races in Ancient Mexico 331

Distribution of the Races under the Empire of the Incas 333

CHAPTER I: THE CIVILISATION OF MEXICO

The Civilisations of the New World

There is now no question as to the indigenous origin of the

civilisations of Mexico, Central America, and Peru. Upon few subjects,

however, has so much mistaken erudition been lavished. The beginnings

of the races who inhabited these regions, and the cultures which they

severally created, have been referred to nearly every civilised or

semi-civilised nation of antiquity, and wild if fascinating theories

have been advanced with the intention of showing that civilisation was

initiated upon American soil by Asiatic or European influence. These

speculations were for the most part put forward by persons who

possessed but a merely general acquaintance with the circumstances

of American aboriginal civilisation, and who were struck by the

superficial resemblances which undoubtedly exist between American and

Asiatic peoples, customs, and art-forms, but which cease to be apparent

to the Americanist, who perceives in them only such likenesses as

inevitably occur in the work of men situated in similar environments

and surrounded by similar social and religious conditions.

The Maya of Yucatan may be regarded as the most highly civilised

of the peoples who occupied the American continent before the

advent of Europeans, and it is usually their culture which we are

asked to believe had its seat of origin in Asia. It is unnecessary

to refute this theory in detail, as that has already been ably

accomplished. [1] But it may be remarked that the surest proof of

the purely native origin of American civilisation is to be found in

the unique nature of American art, the undoubted result of countless

centuries of isolation. American language, arithmetic, and methods of

time-reckoning, too, bear no resemblance to other systems, European

or Asiatic, and we may be certain that had a civilising race entered

America from Asia it would have left its indelible impress upon

things so intensely associated with the life of a people as well as

upon the art and architecture of the country, for they are as much

the product of culture as is the ability to raise temples.

Evidence of Animal and Plant Life

It is impossible in this connection to ignore the evidence in favour of

native advancement which can be adduced from the artificial production

of food in America. Nearly all the domesticated animals and cultivated

food-plants found on the continent at the period of the discovery were

totally different from those known to the Old World. Maize, cocoa,

tobacco, and the potato, with a host of useful plants, were new to

the European conquerors, and the absence of such familiar animals

as the horse, cow, and sheep, besides a score of lesser animals,

is eloquent proof of the prolonged isolation which the American

continent underwent subsequent to its original settlement by man.

Origin of American Man

An Asiatic origin is, of course, admitted for the aborigines of

America, but it undoubtedly stretched back into that dim Tertiary Era

when man was little more than beast, and language as yet was not, or at

the best was only half formed. Later immigrants there certainly were,

but these probably arrived by way of Behring Strait, and not by the

land-bridge connecting Asia and America by which the first-comers found

entrance. At a later geological period the general level of the North

American continent was higher than at present, and a broad isthmus

connected it with Asia. During this prolonged elevation vast littoral

plains, now submerged, extended continuously from the American to the

Asiatic shore, affording an easy route of migration to a type of man

from whom both the Mongolian branches may have sprung. But this type,

little removed from the animal as it undoubtedly was, carried with it

none of the refinements of art or civilisation; and if any resemblances

occur between the art-forms or polity of its equal descendants in Asia

and America, they are due to the influence of a remote common ancestry,

and not to any later influx of Asiatic civilisation to American shores.

Traditions of Intercourse with Asia

The few traditions of Asiatic intercourse with America are,

alas! easily dissipated. It is a dismal business to be compelled to

refute the dreams of others. How much more fascinating would American

history have been had Asia sowed the seeds of her own peculiar

civilisation in the western continent, which would then have become

a newer and further East, a more glowing and golden Orient! But

America possesses a fascination almost as intense when there

falls to be considered the marvel of the evolution of her wondrous

civilisations--the flowers of progress of a new, of an isolated world.

The idea that the "Fu-Sang" of the Chinese annals alluded to America

was rendered illusory by Klaproth, who showed its identity with

a Japanese island. It is not impossible that Chinese and Japanese

vessels may have drifted on to the American coasts, but that they

sailed thither of set purpose is highly improbable. Gomara, the Mexican

historian, states that those who served with Coronado's expedition

in 1542 saw off the Pacific coast certain ships having their prows

decorated with gold and silver, and laden with merchandise, and these

they supposed to be of Cathay or China, "because they intimated by

signs that they had been thirty days on their voyage." Like most of

these interesting stories, however, the tale has no foundation in

fact, as the incident cannot be discovered in the original account

of the expedition, published in 1838 in the travel-collection of

Ternaux-Compans.

Legends of European Intercourse

We shall find the traditions, one might almost call them legends,

of early European intercourse with America little more satisfactory

than those which recount its ancient connection with Asia. We may

dismiss the sagas of the discovery of America by the Norsemen, which

are by no means mere tradition, and pass on to those in which the

basis of fact is weaker and the legendary interest more strong. We

are told that when the Norsemen drove forth those Irish monks who

had settled in Iceland, the fugitives voyaged to "Great Ireland,"

by which many antiquarians of the older school imagine the author of

the myth to have meant America. The Irish Book of Lismore recounts the

voyage of St. Brandan, Abbot of Cluainfert, in Ireland, to an island

in the ocean which Providence had intended as the abode of saints. It

gives a glowing account of his seven years' cruise in western waters,

and tells of numerous discoveries, among them a hill of fire and an

endless island, which he quitted after an unavailing journey of forty

days, loading his ships with its fruits, and returning home. Many Norse

legends exist regarding this "Greater Ireland," or "Huitramanna Land"

(White Man's Land), among them one concerning a Norseman who was

cast away on its shores, and who found there a race of white men

who went to worship their gods bearing banners, and "shouting with

a loud voice." There is, of course, the bare possibility that the

roving Norsemen may have on occasions drifted or have been cast away

as far south as Mexico, and such an occurrence becomes the more easy

of belief when we remember that they certainly reached the shores of

North America.

The Legend of Madoc

A much more interesting because more probable story is that which

tells of the discovery of distant lands across the western ocean by

Madoc, a princeling of North Wales, in the year 1170. It is recorded

in Hakluyt's English Voyages and Powel's History of Wales. Madoc,

the son of Owen Gwyneth, disgusted by the strife of his brothers

for the principality of their dead father, resolved to quit such an

uncongenial atmosphere, and, fitting out ships with men and munition,

sought adventure by sea, sailing west, and leaving the coast of

Ireland so far north that he came to a land unknown, where he saw

many strange things. "This land," says Hakluyt, "must needs be some

part of that country of which the Spaniards affirme themselves to

be the first finders since Hanno's time," and through this allusion

we are enabled to see how these legends relating to mythical lands

came to be associated with the American continent. Concerning the

land discovered by Madoc many tales were current in Wales in mediæval

times. Madoc on his return declared that it was pleasant and fruitful,

but uninhabited. He succeeded in persuading a large number of people

to accompany him to this delectable region, and, as he never returned,

Hakluyt concludes that the descendants of the folk he took with him

composed the greater part of the population of the America of the

seventeenth century, a conclusion in which he has been supported by

more than one modern antiquarian. Indeed, the wildest fancies have

been based upon this legend, and stories of Welsh-speaking Indians who

were able to converse with Cymric immigrants to the American colonies

have been received with complacency by the older school of American

historians as the strongest confirmation of the saga. It is notable,

however, that Henry VII of England, the son of a Welshman, may have

been influenced in his patronage of the early American explorers by

this legend of Madoc, as it is known that he employed one Guttyn Owen,

a Welsh historiographer, to draw up his paternal pedigree, and that

this same Guttyn included the story in his works. Such legends as

those relating to Atlantis and Antilia scarcely fall within the scope

of American myth, as they undoubtedly relate to early communication

with the Canaries and Azores.

American Myths of the Discovery

But what were the speculations of the Red Men on the other side of

the Atlantic? Were there no rumours there, no legends of an Eastern

world? Immediately prior to the discovery there was in America a widely

disseminated belief that at a relatively remote period strangers

from the east had visited American soil, eventually returning to

their own abodes in the Land of Sunrise. Such, for example, was the

Mexican legend of Quetzalcoatl, to which we shall revert later in

its more essentially mythical connection. He landed with several

companions at Vera Cruz, and speedily brought to bear the power

of a civilising agency upon native opinion. In the ancient Mexican

pinturas, or paintings, he is represented as being habited in a long

black gown, fringed with white crosses. After sojourning with the

Mexicans for a number of years, during which time he initiated them

into the arts of life and civilisation, he departed from their land

on a magic raft, promising, however, to return. His second advent was

anxiously looked for, and when Cortés and his companions arrived at

Vera Cruz, the identical spot at which Quetzalcoatl was supposed to

have set out on his homeward journey, the Mexicans fully believed him

to be the returned hero. Of course Montezuma, their monarch, was not

altogether taken by surprise at the coming of the white man, as he had

been informed of the arrival of mysterious strangers in Yucatan and

elsewhere in Central America; but in the eyes of the commonalty the

Spanish leader was a "hero-god" indeed. In this interesting figure

several of the monkish chroniclers of New Spain saw the Apostle

St. Thomas, who had journeyed to the American continent to effect

its conversion to Christianity.

A Peruvian Prophecy

The Mexicans were by no means singular in their presentiments. When

Hernando de Soto, on landing in Peru, first met the Inca Huascar, the

latter related an ancient prophecy which his father, Huaina Ccapac,

had repeated on his death-bed, that in the reign of the thirteenth

Inca white men of surpassing strength and valour would come from their

father the Sun, and subject the Peruvians to their rule. "I command

you," said the dying king, "to yield them homage and obedience,

for they will be of a nature superior to ours." [2]

But the most interesting of American legends connected with the

discovery is that in which the prophecy of the Maya priest Chilan

Balam is described. Father Lizana, a venerable Spanish author, records

the prophecy, which he states was very well known throughout Yucatan,

as does Villagutierre, who quotes it.

The Prophecy of Chilan Balam

Part of this strange prophecy runs as follows: "At the end of

the thirteenth age, when Itza is at the height of its power, as

also the city called Tancah, the signal of God will appear on the

heights, and the Cross with which the world was enlightened will be

manifested. There will be variance of men's will in future times,

when this signal shall be brought.... Receive your barbarous bearded

guests from the east, who bring the signal of God, who comes to us

in mercy and pity. The time of our life is coming...."

It would seem from the perusal of this prophecy that a genuine

substratum of native tradition has been over-laid and coloured

by the influence of the early Spanish missionaries. The terms of

the announcement are much too exact, and the language employed is

obviously Scriptural. But the native books of Chilan Balam, whence

the prophecy is taken, are much less explicit, and the genuineness of

their character is evinced by the idiomatic use of the Maya tongue,

which, in the form they present it in, could have been written by none

save those who had habitually employed it from infancy. As regards the

prophetic nature of these deliverances it is known that the Chilan,

or priest, was wont to utter publicly at the end of certain prolonged

periods a prophecy forecasting the character of the similar period to

come, and there is reason to believe that some distant rumours of the

coming of the white man had reached the ears of several of the seers.

These vague intimations that the seas separated them from a great

continent where dwelt beings like themselves seem to have been

common to white and red men alike. And who shall say by what strange

magic of telepathy they were inspired in the minds of the daring

explorers and the ascetic priests who gave expression to them in act

and utterance? The discovery of America was much more than a mere

scientific process, and romance rather than the cold speculations

of mediæval geography urged men to tempt the dim seas of the West in

quest of golden islands seen in dreams.

The Type of Mexican Civilisation

The first civilised American people with whom the discoverers came

into contact were those of the Nahua or ancient Mexican race. We

use the term "civilised" advisedly, for although several authorities

of standing have refused to regard the Mexicans as a people who had

achieved such a state of culture as would entitle them to be classed

among civilised communities, there is no doubt that they had advanced

nearly as far as it was possible for them to proceed when their

environment and the nature of the circumstances which handicapped them

are taken into consideration. In architecture they had evolved a type

of building, solid yet wonderfully graceful, which, if not so massive

as the Egyptian and Assyrian, was yet more highly decorative. Their

artistic outlook as expressed in their painting and pottery was more

versatile and less conventional than that of the ancient people of

the Orient, their social system was of a more advanced type, and a

less rigorous attitude was evinced by the ruling caste toward the

subject classes. Yet, on the other hand, the picture is darkened

by the terrible if picturesque rites which attended their religious

ceremonies, and the dread shadow of human sacrifice which eternally

overhung their teeming populations. Nevertheless, the standard of

morality was high, justice was even-handed, the forms of government

were comparatively mild, and but for the fanaticism which demanded

such troops of victims, we might justly compare the civilisation

of ancient Mexico with that of the peoples of old China or India,

if the literary activity of the Oriental states be discounted.

The Mexican Race

The race which was responsible for this varied and highly coloured

civilisation was that known as the Nahua (Those who live by Rule),

a title adopted by them to distinguish them from those tribes who

still roamed in an unsettled condition over the contiguous plains of

New Mexico and the more northerly tracts. This term was employed by

them to designate the race as a whole, but it was composed of many

diverse elements, the characteristics of which were rendered still

more various by the adoption into one or other of the tribes which

composed it of surrounding aboriginal peoples. Much controversy has

raged round the question regarding the original home of the Nahua,

but their migration legends consistently point to a northern origin;

and when the close affinity between the art-forms and mythology of

the present-day natives of British Columbia and those of the Nahua

comes to be considered along with the very persistent legends of a

prolonged pilgrimage from the North, where they dwelt in a place "by

the water," the conclusion that the Nahua emanated from the region

indicated is well-nigh irresistible. [3]

In Nahua tradition the name of the locality whence the race commenced

its wanderings is called Aztlan (The Place of Reeds), but this

place-name is of little or no value as a guide to any given region,

though probably every spot betwixt Behring Strait and Mexico has been

identified with it by zealous antiquarians. Other names discovered in

the migration legends are Tlapallan (The Country of Bright Colours)

and Chicomoztoc (The Seven Caves), and these may perhaps be identified

with New Mexico or Arizona.

Legends of Mexican Migration

All early writers on the history of Mexico agree that the Toltecs were

the first of the several swarms of Nahua who streamed upon the Mexican

plateau in ever-widening waves. Concerning the reality of this people

so little is known that many authorities of standing have regarded them

as wholly mythical, while others profess to see in them a veritable

race, the founders of Mexican civilisation. The author has already

elaborated his theory of this difficult question elsewhere, [4] but

will briefly refer to it when he comes to deal with the subject of the

Toltec civilisation and the legends concerning it. For the present we

must regard the Toltecs merely as a race alluded to in a migration myth

as the first Nahua immigrants to the region of Mexico. Ixtlilxochitl,

a native chronicler who flourished shortly after the Spanish conquest

of Mexico, gives two separate accounts of the early Toltec migrations,

the first of which goes back to the period of their arrival in the

fabled land of Tlapallan, alluded to above. In this account Tlapallan

is described as a region near the sea, which the Toltecs reached by

voyaging southward, skirting the coasts of California. This account

must be received with the greatest caution. But we know that the

natives of British Columbia have been expert in the use of the

canoe from an early period, and that the Mexican god Quetzalcoatl,

who is probably originally derived from a common source with their

deity Yetl, is represented as being skilled in the management of the

craft. It is, therefore, not outside the bounds of possibility that

the early swarms of Nahua immigrants made their way to Mexico by sea,

but it is much more probable that their migrations took place by land,

following the level country at the base of the Rocky Mountains.

The Toltec Upheaval

Like nearly all legendary immigrants, the Toltecs did not set out to

colonise distant countries from any impulse of their own, but were the

victims of internecine dissension in the homeland, and were expelled

from the community to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Thus thrust forth,

they set their faces southward, and reached Tlapallan in the year 1

Tecpatl (A.D. 387). Passing the country of Xalisco, they effected a

landing at Huatulco, and journeyed down the coast until they reached

Tochtepec, whence they pushed inland to Tollantzinco. To enable them to

make this journey they required no less than 104 years. Ixtlilxochitl

furnishes another account of the Toltec migration in his Relaciones,

a work dealing with the early history of the Mexican races. In this

he recounts how the chiefs of Tlapallan, who had revolted against the

royal power, were banished from that region in A.D. 439. Lingering

near their ancient territory for the space of eight years, they then

journeyed to Tlapallantzinco, where they halted for three years before

setting out on a prolonged pilgrimage, which occupied the tribe for

over a century, and in the course of which it halted at no less than

thirteen different resting-places, six of which can be traced to

stations on the Pacific coast, and the remainder to localities in

the north of Mexico.

Artificial Nature of the Migration Myths

It is plain from internal evidence that these two legends of the Toltec

migrations present an artificial aspect. But if we cannot credit them

in detail, that is not to say that they do not describe in part an

actual pilgrimage. They are specimens of numerous migration myths

which are related concerning the various branches of the Mexican

races. Few features of interest are presented in them, and they

are chiefly remarkable for wearisome repetition and divergence in

essential details.

Myths of the Toltecs

But we enter a much more fascinating domain when we come to peruse

the myths regarding the Toltec kingdom and civilisation, for, before

entering upon the origin or veritable history of the Toltec race, it

will be better to consider the native legends concerning them. These

exhibit an almost Oriental exuberance of imagination and colouring,

and forcibly remind the reader of the gorgeous architectural and

scenic descriptions in the Arabian Nights. The principal sources of

these legends are the histories of Zumarraga and Ixtlilxochitl. The

latter is by no means a satisfactory authority, but he has succeeded

in investing the traditions of his native land with no inconsiderable

degree of charm. The Toltecs, he says, founded the magnificent city of

Tollan in the year 566 of the Incarnation. This city, the site of which

is now occupied by the modern town of Tula, was situated north-west of

the mountains which bound the Mexican valley. Thither were the Toltecs

guided by the powerful necromancer Hueymatzin (Great Hand), and under

his direction they decided to build a city upon the site of what had

been their place of bivouac. For six years they toiled at the building

of Tollan, and magnificent edifices, palaces, and temples arose,

the whole forming a capital of a splendour unparalleled in the New

World. The valley wherein it stood was known as the "Place of Fruits,"

in allusion to its great fertility. The surrounding rivers teemed with

fish, and the hills which encircled this delectable site sheltered

large herds of game. But as yet the Toltecs were without a ruler,

and in the seventh year of their occupation of the city the assembled

chieftains took counsel together, and resolved to surrender their

power into the hands of a monarch whom the people might elect. The

choice fell upon Chalchiuh Tlatonac (Shining Precious Stone), who

reigned for fifty-two years.

Legends of Toltec Artistry

Happily settled in their new country, and ruled over by a king whom

they could regard with reverence, the Toltecs made rapid progress in

the various arts, and their city began to be celebrated far and wide

for the excellence of its craftsmen and the beauty of its architecture

and pottery. The name of "Toltec," in fact, came to be regarded by

the surrounding peoples as synonymous with "artist," and as a kind of

hall-mark which guaranteed the superiority of any article of Toltec

workmanship. Everything in and about the city was eloquent of the

taste and artistry of its founders. The very walls were encrusted

with rare stones, and their masonry was so beautifully chiselled

and laid as to resemble the choicest mosaic. One of the edifices

of which the inhabitants of Tollan were most justly proud was the

temple wherein their high-priest officiated. This building was a

very gem of architectural art and mural decoration. It contained four

apartments. The walls of the first were inlaid with gold, the second

with precious stones of every description, the third with beautiful

sea-shells of all conceivable hues and of the most brilliant and

tender shades encrusted in bricks of silver, which sparkled in the

sun in such a manner as to dazzle the eyes of beholders. The fourth

apartment was formed of a brilliant red stone, ornamented with shells.

The House of Feathers

Still more fantastic and weirdly beautiful was another edifice,

"The House of Feathers." This also possessed four apartments, one

decorated with feathers of a brilliant yellow, another with the

radiant and sparkling hues of the Blue Bird. These were woven into a

kind of tapestry, and placed against the walls in graceful hangings

and festoons. An apartment described as of entrancing beauty was that

in which the decorative scheme consisted of plumage of the purest and

most dazzling white. The remaining chamber was hung with feathers of

a brilliant red, plucked from the most beautiful birds.

Huemac the Wicked

A succession of more or less able kings succeeded the founder of

the Toltec monarchy, until in A.D. 994 Huemac II ascended the throne

of Tollan. He ruled first with wisdom, and paid great attention to

the duties of the state and religion. But later he fell from the

high place he had made for himself in the regard of the people by

his faithless deception of them and his intemperate and licentious

habits. The provinces rose in revolt, and many signs and gloomy

omens foretold the downfall of the city. Toveyo, a cunning sorcerer,

collected a great concourse of people near Tollan, and by dint of

beating upon a magic drum until the darkest hours of the night,

forced them to dance to its sound until, exhausted by their efforts,

they fell headlong over a dizzy precipice into a deep ravine, where

they were turned into stone. Toveyo also maliciously destroyed a

stone bridge, so that thousands of people fell into the river beneath

and were drowned. The neighbouring volcanoes burst into eruption,

presenting a frightful aspect, and grisly apparitions could be seen

among the flames threatening the city with terrible gestures of menace.

The rulers of Tollan resolved to lose no time in placating the gods,

whom they decided from the portents must have conceived the most

violent wrath against their capital. They therefore ordained a great

sacrifice of war-captives. But upon the first of the victims being

placed upon the altar a still more terrible catastrophe occurred. In

the method of sacrifice common to the Nahua race the breast of a

youth was opened for the purpose of extracting the heart, but no such

organ could the officiating priest perceive. Moreover the veins of

the victim were bloodless. Such a deadly odour was exhaled from the

corpse that a terrible pestilence arose, which caused the death of

thousands of Toltecs. Huemac, the unrighteous monarch who had brought

all this suffering upon his folk, was confronted in the forest by the

Tlalocs, or gods of moisture, and humbly petitioned these deities to

spare him, and not to take from him his wealth and rank. But the gods

were disgusted at the callous selfishness displayed in his desires,

and departed, threatening the Toltec race with six years of plagues.

The Plagues of the Toltecs

In the next winter such a severe frost visited the land that all crops

and plants were killed. A summer of torrid heat followed, so intense in

its suffocating fierceness that the streams were dried up and the very

rocks were melted. Then heavy rain-storms descended, which flooded the

streets and ways, and terrible tempests swept through the land. Vast

numbers of loathsome toads invaded the valley, consuming the refuse

left by the destructive frost and heat, and entering the very houses

of the people. In the following year a terrible drought caused the

death of thousands from starvation, and the ensuing winter was again

a marvel of severity. Locusts descended in cloud-like swarms, and

hail- and thunder-storms completed the wreck. During these visitations

nine-tenths of the people perished, and all artistic endeavour ceased

because of the awful struggle for food.

King Acxitl

With the cessation of these inflictions the wicked Huemac resolved

upon a more upright course of life, and became most assiduous for the

welfare and proper government of his people. But he had announced

that Acxitl, his illegitimate son, should succeed him, and had

further resolved to abdicate at once in favour of this youth. With

the Toltecs, as with most primitive peoples, the early kings were

regarded as divine, and the attempt to place on the throne one

who was not of the royal blood was looked upon as a serious offence

against the gods. A revolt ensued, but its two principal leaders were

bought over by promises of preferment. Acxitl ascended the throne,

and for a time ruled wisely. But he soon, like his father, gave way

to a life of dissipation, and succeeded in setting a bad example to

the members of his court and to the priesthood, the vicious spirit

communicating itself to all classes of his subjects and permeating

every rank of society. The iniquities of the people of the capital

and the enormities practised by the royal favourites caused such

scandal in the outlying provinces that at length they broke into

open revolt, and Huehuetzin, chief of an eastern viceroyalty, joined

to himself two other malcontent lords and marched upon the city of

Tollan at the head of a strong force. Acxitl could not muster an army

sufficiently powerful to repel the rebels, and was forced to resort

to the expedient of buying them off with rich presents, thus patching

up a truce. But the fate of Tollan was in the balance. Hordes of rude

Chichimec savages, profiting by the civil broils in the Toltec state,

invaded the lake region of Anahuac, or Mexico, and settled upon its

fruitful soil. The end was in sight!

A Terrible Visitation

The wrath of the gods increased instead of diminishing, and in order

to appease them a great convention of the wise men of the realm met

at Teotihuacan, the sacred city of the Toltecs. But during their

deliberations a giant of immense proportions rushed into their midst,

and, seizing upon them by scores with his bony hands, hurled them

to the ground, dashing their brains out. In this manner he slew

great numbers, and when the panic-stricken folk imagined themselves

delivered from him he returned in a different guise and slew many

more. Again the grisly monster appeared, this time taking the form

of a beautiful child. The people, fascinated by its loveliness,

ran to observe it more closely, only to discover that its head was

a mass of corruption, the stench from which was so fatal that many

were killed outright. The fiend who had thus plagued the Toltecs at

length deigned to inform them that the gods would listen no longer to

their prayers, but had fully resolved to destroy them root and branch,

and he further counselled them to seek safety in flight.

Fall of the Toltec State

By this time the principal families of Tollan had deserted the country,

taking refuge in neighbouring states. Once more Huehuetzin menaced

Tollan, and by dint of almost superhuman efforts old King Huemac,

who had left his retirement, raised a force sufficient to face the

enemy. Acxitl's mother enlisted the services of the women of the

city, and formed them into a regiment of Amazons. At the head of

all was Acxitl, who divided his forces, despatching one portion to

the front under his commander-in-chief, and forming the other into a

reserve under his own leadership. During three years the king defended

Tollan against the combined forces of the rebels and the semi-savage

Chichimecs. At length the Toltecs, almost decimated, fled after a final

desperate battle into the marshes of Lake Tezcuco and the fastnesses

of the mountains. Their other cities were given over to destruction,

and the Toltec empire was at an end.

The Chichimec Exodus

Meanwhile the rude Chichimecs of the north, who had for many years

carried on a constant warfare with the Toltecs, were surprised that

their enemies sought their borders no more, a practice which they

had engaged in principally for the purpose of obtaining captives

for sacrifice. In order to discover the reason for this suspicious

quiet they sent out spies into Toltec territory, who returned with

the amazing news that the Toltec domain for a distance of six hundred

miles from the Chichimec frontier was a desert, the towns ruined and

empty and their inhabitants scattered. Xolotl, the Chichimec king,

summoned his chieftains to his capital, and, acquainting them with

what the spies had said, proposed an expedition for the purpose of

annexing the abandoned land. No less than 3,202,000 people composed

this migration, and only 1,600,000 remained in the Chichimec territory.

The Chichimecs occupied most of the ruined cities, many of which

they rebuilt. Those Toltecs who remained became peaceful subjects,

and through their knowledge of commerce and handicrafts amassed

considerable wealth. A tribute was, however, demanded from them,

which was peremptorily refused by Nauhyotl, the Toltec ruler of

Colhuacan; but he was defeated and slain, and the Chichimec rule was

at last supreme.

The Disappearance of the Toltecs

The transmitters of this legendary account give it as their belief,

which is shared by some authorities of standing, that the Toltecs,

fleeing from the civil broils of their city and the inroads of

the Chichimecs, passed into Central America, where they became the

founders of the civilisation of that country, and the architects of

the many wonderful cities the ruins of which now litter its plains

and are encountered in its forests. But it is time that we examined

the claims put forward on behalf of Toltec civilisation and culture

by the aid of more scientific methods.

Did the Toltecs Exist?

Some authorities have questioned the existence of the Toltecs, and

have professed to see in them a race which had merely a mythical

significance. They base this theory upon the circumstance that

the duration of the reigns of the several Toltec monarchs is very

frequently stated to have lasted for exactly fifty-two years, the

duration of the great Mexican cycle of years which had been adopted

so that the ritual calendar might coincide with the solar year. The

circumstance is certainly suspicious, as is the fact that many of the

names of the Toltec monarchs are also those of the principal Nahua

deities, and this renders the whole dynastic list of very doubtful

value. Dr. Brinton recognised in the Toltecs those children of the sun

who, like their brethren in Peruvian mythology, were sent from heaven

to civilise the human race, and his theory is by no means weakened by

the circumstance that Quetzalcoatl, a deity of solar significance, is

alluded to in Nahua myth as King of the Toltecs. Recent considerations

and discoveries, however, have virtually forced students of the subject

to admit the existence of the Toltecs as a race. The author has dealt

with the question at some length elsewhere, [5] and is not of those

who are free to admit the definite existence of the Toltecs from a

historical point of view. The late Mr. Payne of Oxford, an authority

entitled to every respect, gave it as his opinion that "the accounts of

Toltec history current at the conquest contain a nucleus of substantial

truth," and he writes convincingly: "To doubt that there once existed

in Tollan an advancement superior to that which prevailed among the

Nahuatlaca generally at the conquest, and that its people spread

their advancement throughout Anahuac, and into the districts eastward

and southward, would be to reject a belief universally entertained,

and confirmed rather than shaken by the efforts made in later times

to construct for the Pueblo something in the nature of a history." [6]

A Persistent Tradition

The theory of the present author concerning Toltec historical existence

is rather more non-committal. He admits that a most persistent body

of tradition as to their existence gained general credence among the

Nahua, and that the date (1055) of their alleged dispersal admits of

the approximate exactness and probability of this body of tradition

at the time of the conquest. He also admits that the site of Tollan

contains ruins which are undoubtedly of a date earlier than that

of the architecture of the Nahua as known at the conquest, and that

numerous evidences of an older civilisation exist. He also believes

that the early Nahua having within their racial recollection existed

as savages, the time which elapsed between their barbarian condition

and the more advanced state which they achieved was too brief to admit

of evolution from savagery to culture. Hence they must have adopted an

older civilisation, especially as through the veneer of civilisation

possessed by them they exhibited every sign of gross barbarism.

A Nameless People

If this be true it would go to show that a people of comparatively

high culture existed at a not very remote period on the Mexican

tableland. But what their name was or their racial affinity the writer

does not profess to know. Many modern American scholars of note have

conferred upon them the name of "Toltecs," and speak freely of the

"Toltec period" and of "Toltec art." It may appear pedantic to refuse

to recognise that the cultured people who dwelt in Mexico in pre-Nahua

times were "the Toltecs." But in the face of the absence of genuine

and authoritative native written records dealing with the question,

the author finds himself compelled to remain unconvinced as to the

exact designation of the mysterious older race which preceded the

Nahua. There are not wanting authorities who appear to regard the

pictorial chronicles of the Nahua as quite as worthy of credence

as written records, but it must be clear that tradition or even

history set down in pictorial form can never possess that degree of

definiteness contained in a written account.

Toltec Art

As has been stated above, the Toltecs of tradition were chiefly

remarkable for their intense love of art and their productions in its

various branches. Ixtlilxochitl says that they worked in gold, silver,

copper, tin, and lead, and as masons employed flint, porphyry, basalt,

and obsidian. In the manufacture of jewellery and objets d'art they

excelled, and the pottery of Cholula, of which specimens are frequently

recovered, was of a high standard.

Other Aboriginal Peoples

Mexico contained other aboriginal races besides the Toltecs. Of

these many and diverse peoples the most remarkable were the Otomi,

who still occupy Guanajuato and Queretaro, and who, before the coming

of the Nahua, probably spread over the entire valley of Mexico. In

the south we find the Huasteca, a people speaking the same language as

the Maya of Central America, and on the Mexican Gulf the Totonacs and

Chontals. On the Pacific side of the country the Mixteca and Zapoteca

were responsible for a flourishing civilisation which exhibited

many original characteristics, and which in some degree was a link

between the cultures of Mexico and Central America. Traces of a still

older population than any of these are still to be found in the more

remote parts of Mexico, and the Mixe, Zaque, Kuicatec, and Popolcan

are probably the remnants of prehistoric races of vast antiquity.

The Cliff-dwellers

It is probable that a race known as "the Cliff-dwellers," occupying

the plateau country of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah,

and even extending in its ramifications to Mexico itself, was related

ethnologically to the Nahua. The present-day Pueblo Indians dwelling to

the north of Mexico most probably possess a leaven of Nahua blood. Ere

the tribes who communicated this leaven to the whole had intermingled

with others of various origin, it would appear that they occupied with

others those tracts of country now inhabited by the Pueblo Indians,

and in the natural recesses and shallow caverns found in the faces

of the cliffs erected dwellings and fortifications, displaying an

architectural ability of no mean order. These communities extended

as far south as the Gila river, the most southern affluent of the

Colorado, and the remains they have left there appear to be of a later

date architecturally than those situated farther north. These were

found in ruins by the first Spanish explorers, and it is thought that

their builders were eventually driven back to rejoin their kindred in

the north. Farther to the south in the cañons of the Piedras Verdes

river in Chihuahua, Mexico, are cliff-dwellings corresponding in many

respects with those of the Pueblo region, and Dr. Hrdlicka has examined

others so far south as the State of Jalisco, in Central Mexico. These

may be the ruins of dwellings erected either by the early Nahua or by

some of the peoples relatively aboriginal to them, and may display the

architectural features general among the Nahua prior to their adoption

of other alien forms. Or else they may be the remains of dwellings

similar to those of the Tarahumare, a still existing tribe of Mexico,

who, according to Lumholtz, [7] inhabit similar structures at the

present day. It is clear from the architectural development of the

cliff-dwellers that their civilisation developed generally from south

to north, that this race was cognate to the early Nahua, and that it

later withdrew to the north, or became fused with the general body

of the Nahua peoples. It must not be understood, however, that the

race arrived in the Mexican plateau before the Nahua, and the ruins

of Jalisco and other mid-Mexican districts may merely be the remains

of comparatively modern cliff-dwellings, an adaptation by mid-Mexican

communities of the "Cliff-dweller" architecture, or a local development

of it owing to the exigencies of early life in the district.

The Nahua Race

The Nahua peoples included all those tribes speaking the Nahuatlatolli

(Nahua tongue), and occupied a sphere extending from the southern

borders of New Mexico to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec on the south,

or very much within the limits of the modern Republic of Mexico. But

this people must not be regarded as one race of homogeneous origin. A

very brief account of their racial affinities must be sufficient

here. The Chichimecs were probably related to the Otomi, whom we have

alluded to as among the first-comers to the Mexican valley. They were

traditionally supposed to have entered it at a period subsequent to

the Toltec occupation. Their chief towns were Tezcuco and Tenayucan,

but they later allied themselves with the Nahua in a great confederacy,

and adopted the Nahua language. There are circumstances which justify

the assumption that on their entrance to the Mexican valley they

consisted of a number of tribes loosely united, presenting in their

general organisation a close resemblance to some of the composite

tribes of modern American Indians.

The Aculhuaque

Next to them in point of order of tribal arrival were the Aculhuaque,

or Acolhuans. The name means "tall" or "strong" men, literally

"People of the Broad Shoulder," or "Pushers," who made a way for

themselves. Gomara states in his Conquista de Mexico that they

arrived in the valley from Acolhuacan about A.D. 780, and founded

the towns of Tollan, Colhuacan, and Mexico itself. The Acolhuans

were pure Nahua, and may well have been the much-disputed Toltecs,

for the Nahua people always insisted on the fact that the Toltecs

were of the same stock as themselves, and spoke an older and purer

form of the Nahua tongue. From the Acolhuans sprang the Tlascalans,

the inveterate enemies of the Aztecs, who so heartily assisted Cortés

in his invasion of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, or Mexico.

The Tecpanecs

The Tecpanecs were a confederacy of purely Nahua tribes dwelling

in towns situated upon the Lake of Tezcuco, the principal of which

were Tlacopan and Azcapozalco. The name Tecpanec signifies that each

settlement possessed its own chief's house, or tecpan. This tribe were

almost certainly later Nahua immigrants who arrived in Mexico after the

Acolhuans, and were great rivals to the Chichimec branch of the race.

The Aztecs

The Aztecâ, or Aztecs, were a nomad tribe of doubtful origin, but

probably of Nahua blood. Wandering over the Mexican plateau for

generations, they at length settled in the marshlands near the Lake

of Tezcuco, hard by Tlacopan. The name Aztecâ means "Crane People,"

and was bestowed upon the tribe by the Tecpanecs, probably because of

the fact that, like cranes, they dwelt in a marshy neighbourhood. They

founded the town of Tenochtitlan, or Mexico, and for a while paid

tribute to the Tecpanecs. But later they became the most powerful

allies of that people, whom they finally surpassed entirely in power

and splendour.

The Aztec Character

The features of the Aztecs as represented in the various Mexican

paintings are typically Indian, and argue a northern origin. The

race was, and is, of average height, and the skin is of a dark brown

hue. The Mexican is grave, taciturn, and melancholic, with a deeply

rooted love of the mysterious, slow to anger, yet almost inhuman in

the violence of his passions when aroused. He is usually gifted with a

logical mind, quickness of apprehension, and an ability to regard the

subtle side of things with great nicety. Patient and imitative, the

ancient Mexican excelled in those arts which demanded such qualities

in their execution. He had a real affection for the beautiful in

nature and a passion for flowers, but the Aztec music lacked gaiety,

and the national amusements were too often of a gloomy and ferocious

character. The women are more vivacious than the men, but were in

the days before the conquest very subservient to the wills of their

husbands. We have already very briefly outlined the trend of Nahua

civilisation, but it will be advisable to examine it a little more

closely, for if the myths of this people are to be understood some

knowledge of its life and general culture is essential.

Legends of the Foundation of Mexico

At the period of the conquest of Mexico by Cortés the city presented

an imposing appearance. Led to its neighbourhood by Huitzilopochtli,

a traditional chief, afterwards deified as the god of war, there

are several legends which account for the choice of its site by the

Mexicans. The most popular of these relates how the nomadic Nahua

beheld perched upon a cactus plant an eagle of great size and majesty,

grasping in its talons a huge serpent, and spreading its wings to

catch the rays of the rising sun. The soothsayers or medicine-men of

the tribe, reading a good omen in the spectacle, advised the leaders

of the people to settle on the spot, and, hearkening to the voice of

what they considered divine authority, they proceeded to drive piles

into the marshy ground, and thus laid the foundation of the great

city of Mexico.

An elaboration of this legend tells how the Aztecs had about the year

1325 sought refuge upon the western shore of the Lake of Tezcuco,

in an island among the marshes on which they found a stone on which

forty years before one of their priests had sacrificed a prince of

the name of Copal, whom they had made prisoner. A nopal plant had

sprung from an earth-filled crevice in this rude altar, and upon

this the royal eagle alluded to in the former account had alighted,

grasping the serpent in his talons. Beholding in this a good omen,

and urged by a supernatural impulse which he could not explain,

a priest of high rank dived into a pool close at hand, where he

found himself face to face with Tlaloc, the god of waters. After an

interview with the deity the priest obtained permission from him to

found a city on the site, from the humble beginnings of which arose

the metropolis of Mexico-Tenochtitlan.

Mexico at the Conquest

At the period of the conquest the city of Mexico had a circumference

of no less than twelve miles, or nearly that of modern Berlin without

its suburbs. It contained 60,000 houses, and its inhabitants were

computed to number 300,000. Many other towns, most of them nearly half

as large, were grouped on the islands or on the margin of Lake Tezcuco,

so that the population of what might almost be called "Greater Mexico"

must have amounted to several millions. The city was intersected by

four great roadways or avenues built at right angles to one another,

and laid four-square with the cardinal points. Situated as it was in

the midst of a lake, it was traversed by numerous canals, which were

used as thoroughfares for traffic. The four principal ways described

above were extended across the lake as dykes or viaducts until they met

its shores. The dwellings of the poorer classes were chiefly composed

of adobes, but those of the nobility were built of a red porous stone

quarried close by. They were usually of one story only, but occupied a

goodly piece of ground and had flat roofs, many of which were covered

with flowers. In general they were coated with a hard, white cement,

which gave them an added resemblance to the Oriental type of building.

Towering high among these, and a little apart from the vast squares and

market-places, were the teocallis, or temples. These were in reality

not temples or covered-in buildings, but "high places," great pyramids

of stone, built platform on platform, around which a staircase led to

the summit, on which was usually erected a small shrine containing

the tutelar deity to whom the teocalli had been raised. The great

temple of Huitzilopochtli, the war-god, built by King Ahuizotl,

was, besides being typical of all, by far the greatest of these

votive piles. The enclosing walls of the building were 4800 feet

in circumference, and strikingly decorated by carvings representing

festoons of intertwined reptiles, from which circumstance they were

called coetpantli (walls of serpents). A kind of gate-house on each

side gave access to the enclosure. The teocalli, or great temple,

inside the court was in the shape of a parallelogram, measuring 375

feet by 300 feet, and was built in six platforms, growing smaller in

area as they descended. The mass of this structure was composed of

a mixture of rubble, clay, and earth, covered with carefully worked

stone slabs, cemented together with infinite care, and coated with

a hard gypsum. A flight of 340 steps circled round the terraces and

led to the upper platform, on which were raised two three-storied

towers 56 feet in height, in which stood the great statues of the

tutelar deities and the jasper stones of sacrifice. These sanctuaries,

say the old Conquistadores who entered them, had the appearance and

odour of shambles, and human blood was bespattered everywhere. In this

weird chapel of horrors burned a fire, the extinction of which it was

supposed would have brought about the end of the Nahua power. It was

tended with a care as scrupulous as that with which the Roman Vestals

guarded their sacred flame. No less than 600 of these sacred braziers

were kept alight in the city of Mexico alone.

A Pyramid of Skulls

The principal fane of Huitzilopochtli was surrounded by upwards of

forty inferior teocallis and shrines. In the Tzompantli (Pyramid of

Skulls) were collected the grisly relics of the countless victims to

the implacable war-god of the Aztecs, and in this horrid structure

the Spanish conquerors counted no less than 136,000 human skulls. In

the court or teopan which surrounded the temple were the dwellings

of thousands of priests, whose duties included the scrupulous care

of the temple precincts, and whose labours were minutely apportioned.

Nahua Architecture and Ruins

As we shall see later, Mexico is by no means so rich in architectural

antiquities as Guatemala or Yucatan, the reason being that the

growth of tropical forests has to a great extent protected ancient

stone edifices in the latter countries from destruction. The ruins

discovered in the northern regions of the republic are of a ruder type

than those which approach more nearly to the sphere of Maya influence,

as, for example, those of Mitla, built by the Zapotecs, which exhibit

such unmistakable signs of Maya influence that we prefer to describe

them when dealing with the antiquities of that people.

Cyclopean Remains

In the mountains of Chihuahua, one of the most northerly provinces,

is a celebrated group called the Casas Grandes (Large Houses), the

walls of which are still about 30 feet in height. These approximate in

general appearance to the buildings of more modern tribes in New Mexico

and Arizona, and may be referred to such peoples rather than to the

Nahua. At Quemada, in Zacatecas, massive ruins of Cyclopean appearance

have been discovered. These consist of extensive terraces and broad

stone causeways, teocallis which have weathered many centuries, and

gigantic pillars, 18 feet in height and 17 feet in circumference. Walls

12 feet in thickness rise above the heaps of rubbish which litter the

ground. These remains exhibit little connection with Nahua architecture

to the north or south of them. They are more massive than either, and

must have been constructed by some race which had made considerable

strides in the art of building.

Teotihuacan

In the district of the Totonacs, to the north of Vera Cruz, we find

many architectural remains of a highly interesting character. Here

the teocalli or pyramidal type of building is occasionally crowned

by a covered-in temple with the massive roof characteristic of Maya

architecture. The most striking examples found in this region are the

remains of Teotihuacan and Xochicalco. The former was the religious

Mecca of the Nahua races, and in its proximity are still to be seen the

teocallis of the sun and moon, surrounded by extensive burying-grounds

where the devout of Anahuac were laid in the sure hope that if interred

they would find entrance into the paradise of the sun. The teocalli of

the moon has a base covering 426 feet and a height of 137 feet. That

of the sun is of greater dimensions, with a base of 735 feet and a

height of 203 feet. These pyramids were divided into four stories,

three of which remain. On the summit of that of the sun stood a

temple containing a great image of that luminary carved from a rough

block of stone. In the breast was inlaid a star of the purest gold,

seized afterwards as loot by the insatiable followers of Cortés. From

the teocalli of the moon a path runs to where a little rivulet flanks

the "Citadel." This path is known as "The Path of the Dead," from the

circumstance that it is surrounded by some nine square miles of tombs

and tumuli, and, indeed, forms a road through the great cemetery. The

Citadel, thinks Charnay, was a vast tennis or tlachtli court, where

thousands flocked to gaze at the national sport of the Nahua with a

zest equal to that of the modern devotees of football. Teotihuacan was

a flourishing centre contemporary with Tollan. It was destroyed, but

was rebuilt by the Chichimec king Xolotl, and preserved thenceforth its

traditional sway as the focus of the Nahua national religion. Charnay

identifies the architectural types discovered there with those

of Tollan. The result of his labours in the vicinity included the

unearthing of richly decorated pottery, vases, masks, and terra-cotta

figures. He also excavated several large houses or palaces, some with

chambers more than 730 feet in circumference, with walls over 7-1/2

feet thick, into which were built rings and slabs to support torches

and candles. The floors were tessellated in various rich designs,

"like an Aubusson carpet." Charnay concluded that the monuments of

Teotihuacan were partly standing at the time of the conquest.

The Hill of Flowers

Near Tezcuco is Xochicalco (The Hill of Flowers), a teocalli the

sculpture of which is both beautiful and luxuriant in design. The

porphyry quarries from which the great blocks, 12 feet in length,

were cut lie many miles away. As late as 1755 the structure towered

to a height of five stories, but the vandal has done his work only

too well, and a few fragmentary carvings of exquisite design are all

that to-day remain of one of Mexico's most magnificent pyramids.

Tollan

We have already indicated that on the site of the "Toltec" city of

Tollan ruins have been discovered which prove that it was the centre of

a civilisation of a type distinctly advanced. Charnay unearthed there

gigantic fragments of caryatides, each some 7 feet high. He also found

columns of two pieces, which were fitted together by means of mortise

and tenon, bas-reliefs of archaic figures of undoubted Nahua type, and

many fragments of great antiquity. On the hill of Palpan, above Tollan,

he found the ground-plans of several houses with numerous apartments,

frescoed, columned, and having benches and cisterns recalling the

impluvium of a Roman villa. Water-pipes were also actually unearthed,

and a wealth of pottery, many pieces of which were like old Japanese

china. The ground-plan or foundations of the houses unearthed at

Palpan showed that they had been designed by practical architects,

and had not been built in any merely haphazard fashion. The cement

which covered the walls and floors was of excellent quality, and

recalled that discovered in ancient Italian excavations. The roofs

had been of wood, supported by pillars.

Picture-Writing

The Aztecs, and indeed the entire Nahua race, employed a system of

writing of the type scientifically described as "pictographic," in

which events, persons, and ideas were recorded by means of drawings

and coloured sketches. These were executed on paper made from the agave

plant, or were painted on the skins of animals. By these means not only

history and the principles of the Nahua mythology were communicated

from generation to generation, but the transactions of daily life, the

accountings of merchants, and the purchase and ownership of land were

placed on record. That a phonetic system was rapidly being approached

is manifest from the method by which the Nahua scribes depicted the

names of individuals or cities. These were represented by means of

several objects, the names of which resembled that of the person for

which they stood. The name of King Ixcoatl, for example, is represented

by the drawing of a serpent (coatl) pierced by flint knives (iztli),

and that of Motequauhzoma (Montezuma) by a mouse-trap (montli), an

eagle (quauhtli), a lancet (zo), and a hand (maitl). The phonetic

values employed by the scribes varied exceedingly, so that at times

an entire syllable would be expressed by the painting of an object

the name of which commenced with it. At other times only a letter

would be represented by the same drawing. But the general intention of

the scribes was undoubtedly more ideographic than phonetic; that is,

they desired to convey their thoughts more by sketch than by sound.

Interpretation of the Hieroglyphs

These pinturas, as the Spanish conquerors designated them, offer no

very great difficulty in their elucidation to modern experts, at least

so far as the general trend of their contents is concerned. In this

they are unlike the manuscripts of the Maya of Central America with

which we shall make acquaintance further on. Their interpretation

was largely traditional, and was learned by rote, being passed on

by one generation of amamatini (readers) to another, and was by no

means capable of elucidation by all and sundry.

Native Manuscripts

The pinturas or native manuscripts which remain to us are but few

in number. Priestly fanaticism, which ordained their wholesale

destruction, and the still more potent passage of time have so

reduced them that each separate example is known to bibliophiles and

Americanists the world over. In such as still exist we can observe

great fullness of detail, representing for the most part festivals,

sacrifices, tributes, and natural phenomena, such as eclipses and

floods, and the death and accession of monarchs. These events, and the

supernatural beings who were supposed to control them, were depicted

in brilliant colours, executed by means of a brush of feathers.

The Interpretative Codices

Luckily for future students of Mexican history, the blind zeal which

destroyed the majority of the Mexican manuscripts was frustrated by the

enlightenment of certain European scholars, who regarded the wholesale

destruction of the native records as little short of a calamity,

and who took steps to seek out the few remaining native artists,

from whom they procured copies of the more important paintings, the

details of which were, of course, quite familiar to them. To those were

added interpretations taken down from the lips of the native scribes

themselves, so that no doubt might remain regarding the contents of

the manuscripts. These are known as the "Interpretative Codices,"

and are of considerable assistance to the student of Mexican history

and customs. Three only are in existence. The Oxford Codex, treasured

in the Bodleian Library, is of a historical nature, and contains a

full list of the lesser cities which were subservient to Mexico in

its palmy days. The Paris or Tellerio-Remensis Codex, so called from

having once been the property of Le Tellier, Archbishop of Rheims,

embodies many facts concerning the early settlement of the various

Nahua city-states. The Vatican MSS. deal chiefly with mythology

and the intricacies of the Mexican calendar system. Such Mexican

paintings as were unassisted by an interpretation are naturally of

less value to present-day students of the lore of the Nahua. They

are principally concerned with calendric matter, ritualistic data,

and astrological computations or horoscopes.

The Mexican "Book of the Dead"

Perhaps the most remarkable and interesting manuscript in the Vatican

collection is one the last pages of which represent the journey of the

soul after death through the gloomy dangers of the Other-world. This

has been called the Mexican "Book of the Dead." The corpse is depicted

dressed for burial, the soul escaping from its earthly tenement by way

of the mouth. The spirit is ushered into the presence of Tezcatlipoca,

the Jupiter of the Aztec pantheon, by an attendant dressed in an ocelot

skin, and stands naked with a wooden yoke round the neck before the

deity, to receive sentence. The dead person is given over to the tests

which precede entrance to the abode of the dead, the realm of Mictlan,

and so that he may not have to meet the perils of the journey in a

defenceless condition a sheaf of javelins is bestowed upon him. He

first passes between two lofty peaks, which may fall and crush him if

he cannot skilfully escape them. A terrible serpent then intercepts

his path, and, if he succeeds in defeating this monster, the fierce

alligator Xochitonal awaits him. Eight deserts and a corresponding

number of mountains have then to be negotiated by the hapless spirit,

and a whirlwind sharp as a sword, which cuts even through solid

rocks, must be withstood. Accompanied by the shade of his favourite

dog, the harassed ghost at length encounters the fierce Izpuzteque,

a demon with the backward-bent legs of a cock, the evil Nextepehua,

the fiend who scatters clouds of ashes, and many another grisly foe,

until at last he wins to the gates of the Lord of Hell, before whom

he does reverence, after which he is free to greet his friends who

have gone before.

The Calendar System

As has been said, the calendar system was the source of all Mexican

science, and regulated the recurrence of all religious rites and

festivals. In fact, the entire mechanism of Nahua life was resident in

its provisions. The type of time-division and computation exemplified

in the Nahua calendar was also found among the Maya peoples of Yucatan

and Guatemala and the Zapotec people of the boundary between the

Nahua and Maya races. By which of these races it was first employed

is unknown. But the Zapotec calendar exhibits signs of both Nahua and

Maya influence, and from this it has been inferred that the calendar

systems of these races have been evolved from it. It might with equal

probability be argued that both Nahua and Maya art were offshoots

of Zapotec art, because the characteristics of both are discovered

in it, whereas the circumstance merely illustrates the very natural

acceptance by a border people, who settled down to civilisation at

a relatively later date, of the artistic tenets of the two greater

peoples who environed them. The Nahua and Maya calendars were in all

likelihood evolved from the calendar system of that civilised race

which undoubtedly existed on the Mexican plateau prior to the coming

of the later Nahua swarms, and which in general is loosely alluded

to as the "Toltec."

The Mexican Year

The Mexican year was a cycle of 365 days, without any intercalary

addition or other correction. In course of time it almost lost its

seasonal significance because of the omission of the extra hours

included in the solar year, and furthermore many of its festivals

and occasions were altered by high-priests and rulers to suit their

convenience. The Mexican nexiuhilpililztli (binding of years)

contained fifty-two years, and ran in two separate cycles--one

of fifty-two years of 365 days each, and another of seventy-three

groups of 260 days each. The first was of course the solar year,

and embraced eighteen periods of twenty days each, called "months"

by the old Spanish chroniclers, with five nemontemi (unlucky days)

over and above. These days were not intercalated, but were included

in the year, and merely overflowed the division of the year into

periods of twenty days. The cycle of seventy-three groups of 260 days,

subdivided into groups of thirteen days, was called the "birth-cycle."

Lunar Reckoning

People in a barbarous condition almost invariably reckon time by the

period between the waxing and waning of the moon as distinct from the

entire passage of a lunar revolution, and this period of twenty days

will be found to be the basis in the time-reckoning of the Mexicans,

who designated it cempohualli. Each day included in it was denoted by

a sign, as "house," "snake," "wind," and so forth. Each cempohualli

was subdivided into four periods of five days each, sometimes alluded

to as "weeks" by the early Spanish writers, and these were known by

the sign of their middle or third day. These day-names ran on without

reference to the length of the year. The year itself was designated

by the name of the middle day of the week in which it began. Out

of twenty day-names in the Mexican "month" it was inevitable that

the four calli (house), tochtli (rabbit), acatl (reed), and tecpatl

(flint) should always recur in sequence because of the incidence

of these days in the Mexican solar year. Four years made up a year

of the sun. During the nemontemi (unlucky days) no work was done,

as they were regarded as ominous and unwholesome.

We have seen that the civil year permitted the day-names to run on

continuously from one year to another. The ecclesiastical authorities,

however, had a reckoning of their own, and made the year begin always

on the first day of their calendar, no matter what sign denominated

that day in the civil system.

Groups of Years

As has been indicated, the years were formed into groups. Thirteen

years constituted a xiumalpilli (bundle), and four of these a

nexiuhilpilitztli (complete binding of the years). Each year had thus

a double aspect, first as an individual period of time, and secondly

as a portion of the "year of the sun," and these were so numbered

and named that each year in the series of fifty-two possessed a

different description.

The Dread of the Last Day

With the conclusion of each period of fifty-two years a terrible dread

came upon the Mexicans that the world would come to an end. A stated

period of time had expired, a period which was regarded as fixed by

divine command, and it had been ordained that on the completion of

one of those series of fifty-two years earthly time would cease and

the universe be demolished. For some time before the ceremony of

toxilmolpilia (the binding up of the years) the Mexicans abandoned

themselves to the utmost prostration, and the wicked went about

in terrible fear. As the first day of the fifty-third year dawned

the people narrowly observed the Pleiades, for if they passed the

zenith time would proceed and the world would be respited. The gods

were placated or refreshed by the slaughter of the human victim,

on whose still living breast a fire of wood was kindled by friction,

the heart and body being consumed by the flames so lighted. As the

planets of hope crossed the zenith loud acclamations resounded from

the people, and the domestic hearths, which had been left cold and

dead, were rekindled from the sacred fire which had consumed the

sacrifice. Mankind was safe for another period.

The Birth-Cycle

The birth-cycle, as we have said, consisted of 260 days. It had

originally been a lunar cycle of thirteen days, and once bore the names

of thirteen moons. It formed part of the civil calendar, with which,

however, it had nothing in common, as it was used for ecclesiastical

purposes only. The lunar names were abandoned later, and the numbers

one to thirteen adopted in their places.

Language of the Nahua

The Nahua language represented a very low state of culture. Speech is

the general measure of the standard of thought of a people, and if we

judged the civilisation of the Nahua by theirs, we should be justified

in concluding that they had not yet emerged from barbarism. But we

must recollect that the Nahua of the conquest period had speedily

adopted the older civilisation which they had found awaiting them

on their entrance to Mexico, and had retained their own primitive

tongue. The older and more cultured people who had preceded them

probably spoke a more polished dialect of the same language, but its

influence had evidently but little effect upon the rude Chichimecs

and Aztecs. The Mexican tongue, like most American languages, belongs

to the "incorporative" type, the genius of which is to unite all

the related words in a sentence into one conglomerate term or word,

merging the separate words of which it is composed one into another by

altering their forms, and so welding them together as to express the

whole in one word. It will be at once apparent that such a system was

clumsy in the extreme, and led to the creation of words and names of

the most barbarous appearance and sound. In a narrative of the Spanish

discovery written by Chimalpahin, the native chronicler of Chalco,

born in 1579, we have, for example, such a passage as the following:

Oc chiucnauhxihuitl inic onen quilantimanca España camo niman ic yuh

ca omacoc ihuelitiliztli inic niman ye chiuhcnauhxiuhtica, in oncan

ohualla. This passage is chosen quite at random, and is an average

specimen of literary Mexican of the sixteenth century. Its purport is,

freely translated: "For nine years he [Columbus] remained in vain

in Spain. Yea, for nine years there he waited for influence." The

clumsy and cumbrous nature of the language could scarcely be better

illustrated than by pointing out that chiucnauhxihuitl signifies "nine

years"; quilantimanca, "he below remained"; and omacoc ihuelitiliztli,

"he has got his powerfulness." It must be recollected that this

specimen of Mexican was composed by a person who had had the benefit

of a Spanish education, and is cast in literary form. What the

spoken Mexican of pre-conquest times was like can be contemplated

with misgiving in the grammars of the old Spanish missionaries,

whose greatest glory is that they mastered such a language in the

interests of their faith.

Aztec Science

The science of the Aztecs was, perhaps, one of the most picturesque

sides of their civilisation. As with all peoples in a semi-barbarous

state, it consisted chiefly in astrology and divination. Of the

former the wonderful calendar system was the basis, and by its aid

the priests, or those of them who were set apart for the study of the

heavenly bodies, pretended to be able to tell the future of new-born

infants and the progress of the dead in the other world. This they

accomplished by weighing the influence of the planets and other

luminaries one against another, and extracting the net result. Their

art of divination consisted in drawing omens from the song and flight

of birds, the appearance of grains of seed, feathers, and the entrails

of animals, by which means they confidently predicted both public

and private events.

Nahua Government

The limits of the Aztec Empire may be defined, if its tributary

states are included, as extending over the territory comprised in

the modern states of Mexico, Southern Vera Cruz, and Guerrero. Among

the civilised peoples of this extensive tract the prevailing form of

government was an absolute monarchy, although several of the smaller

communities were republics. The law of succession, as with the Celts

of Scotland, prescribed that the eldest surviving brother of the

deceased monarch should be elected to his throne, and, failing him,

the eldest nephew. But incompetent persons were almost invariably

ignored by the elective body, although the choice was limited to one

family. The ruler was generally selected both because of his military

prowess and his ecclesiastical and political knowledge. Indeed, a

Mexican monarch was nearly always a man of the highest culture and

artistic refinement, and the ill-fated Montezuma was an example of the

true type of Nahua sovereign. The council of the monarch was composed

of the electors and other personages of importance in the realm. It

undertook the government of the provinces, the financial affairs of

the country, and other matters of national import. The nobility held

all the highest military, judicial, and ecclesiastical offices. To

each city and province judges were delegated who exercised criminal

and civil jurisdiction, and whose opinion superseded even that of

the Crown itself. Petty cases were settled by lesser officials, and

a still inferior grade of officers acted as a species of police in

the supervision of families.

Domestic Life

The domestic life of the Nahua was a peculiar admixture of simplicity

and display. The mass of the people led a life of strenuous labour

in the fields, and in the cities they wrought hard at many trades,

among which may be specified building, metal-working, making

robes and other articles of bright featherwork and quilted suits

of armour, jewellery, and small wares. Vendors of flowers, fruit,

fish, and vegetables swarmed in the markets. The use of tobacco was

general among the men of all classes. At banquets the women attended,

although they were seated at separate tables. The entertainments of

the upper class were marked by much magnificence, and the variety

of dishes was considerable, including venison, turkey, many smaller

birds, fish, a profusion of vegetables, and pastry, accompanied

by sauces of delicate flavour. These were served in dishes of

gold and silver. Pulque, a fermented drink brewed from the agave,

was the universal beverage. Cannibalism was indulged in usually on

ceremonial occasions, and was surrounded by such refinements of the

table as served only to render it the more repulsive in the eyes of

Europeans. It has been stated that this revolting practice was engaged

in owing solely to the tenets of the Nahua religion, which enjoined

the slaughter of slaves or captives in the name of a deity, and their

consumption with the idea that the consumers attained unity with

that deity in the flesh. But there is good reason to suspect that the

Nahua, deprived of the flesh of the larger domestic animals, practised

deliberate cannibalism. It would appear that the older race which

preceded them in the country were innocent of these horrible repasts.

A Mysterious Toltec Book

A piece of Nahua literature, the disappearance of which is surrounded

by circumstances of the deepest mystery, is the Teo-Amoxtli (Divine

Book), which is alleged by certain chroniclers to have been the work

of the ancient Toltecs. Ixtlilxochitl, a native Mexican author, states

that it was written by a Tezcucan wise man, one Huematzin, about the

end of the seventh century, and that it described the pilgrimage of

the Nahua from Asia, their laws, manners, and customs, and their

religious tenets, science, and arts. In 1838 the Baron de Waldeck

stated in his Voyage Pittoresque that he had it in his possession,

and the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg identified it with the Maya Dresden

Codex and other native manuscripts. Bustamante also states that the

amamatini (chroniclers) of Tezcuco had a copy in their possession

at the time of the taking of their city. But these appear to be mere

surmises, and if the Teo-Amoxtli ever existed, which on the whole is

not unlikely, it has probably never been seen by a European.

A Native Historian

One of the most interesting of the Mexican historians is Don Fernando

de Alva Ixtlilxochitl, a half-breed of royal Tezcucan descent. He

was responsible for two notable works, entitled Historia Chichimeca

(The History of the Chichimecs) and the Relaciones, a compilation of

historical and semi-historical incidents. He was cursed, or blessed,

however, by a strong leaning toward the marvellous, and has coloured

his narratives so highly that he would have us regard the Toltec or

ancient Nahua civilisations as by far the most splendid and magnificent

that ever existed. His descriptions of Tezcuco, if picturesque in the

extreme, are manifestly the outpourings of a romantic and idealistic

mind, which in its patriotic enthusiasm desired to vindicate the

country of his birth from the stigma of savagery and to prove its

equality with the great nations of antiquity. For this we have not

the heart to quarrel with him. But we must be on our guard against

accepting any of his statements unless we find strong corroboration

of it in the pages of a more trustworthy and less biased author.

Nahua Topography

The geography of Mexico is by no means as familiar to Europeans as

is that of the various countries of our own continent, and it is

extremely easy for the reader who is unacquainted with Mexico and

the puzzling orthography of its place-names to flounder among them,

and during the perusal of such a volume as this to find himself in a

hopeless maze of surmise as to the exact locality of the more famous

centres of Mexican history. A few moments' study of this paragraph

will enlighten him in this respect, and will save him much confusion

further on. He will see from the map (p. 330) that the city of Mexico,

or Tenochtitlan, its native name, was situated upon an island in the

Lake of Tezcuco. This lake has now partially dried up, and the modern

city of Mexico is situated at a considerable distance from it. Tezcuco,

the city second in importance, lies to the north-east of the lake, and

is somewhat more isolated, the other pueblos (towns) clustering round

the southern or western shores. To the north of Tezcuco is Teotihuacan,

the sacred city of the gods. To the south-east of Mexico is Tlaxcallan,

or Tlascala, the city which assisted Cortés against the Mexicans, and

the inhabitants of which were the deadliest foes of the central Nahua

power. To the north lie the sacred city of Cholula and Tula, or Tollan.

Distribution of the Nahua Tribes

Having become acquainted with the relative position of the Nahua

cities, we may now consult for a moment the map which exhibits the

geographical distribution of the various Nahua tribes, and which is

self-explanatory (p. 331).

Nahua History

A brief historical sketch or epitome of what is known of Nahua history

as apart from mere tradition will further assist the reader in the

comprehension of Mexican mythology. From the period of the settlement

of the Nahua on an agricultural basis a system of feudal government had

evolved, and at various epochs in the history of the country certain

cities or groups of cities held a paramount sway. Subsequent to the

"Toltec" period, which we have already described and discussed, we

find the Acolhuans in supreme power, and ruling from their cities

of Tollantzinco and Cholula a considerable tract of country. Later

Cholula maintained an alliance with Tlascala and Huexotzinco.

Bloodless Battles

The maxim "Other climes, other manners" is nowhere better exemplified

than by the curious annual strife betwixt the warriors of Mexico and

Tlascala. Once a year they met on a prearranged battle-ground and

engaged in combat, not with the intention of killing one another,

but with the object of taking prisoners for sacrifice on the altars

of their respective war-gods. The warrior seized his opponent and

attempted to bear him off, the various groups pulling and tugging

desperately at each other in the endeavour to seize the limbs of

the unfortunate who had been first struck down, with the object of

dragging him into durance or effecting his rescue. Once secured, the

Tlascaltec warrior was brought to Mexico in a cage, and first placed

upon a stone slab, to which one of his feet was secured by a chain

or thong. He was then given light weapons, more like playthings than

warrior's gear, and confronted by one of the most celebrated Mexican

warriors. Should he succeed in defeating six of these formidable

antagonists, he was set free. But no sooner was he wounded than he

was hurried to the altar of sacrifice, and his heart was torn out

and offered to Huitzilopochtli, the implacable god of war.

The Tlascaltecs, having finally secured their position by a defeat of

the Tecpanecs of Huexotzinco about A.D. 1384, sank into comparative

obscurity save for their annual bout with the Mexicans.

The Lake Cities

The communities grouped round the various lakes in the valley of Mexico

now command our attention. More than two score of these thriving

communities flourished at the time of the conquest of Mexico,

the most notable being those which occupied the borders of the

Lake of Tezcuco. These cities grouped themselves round two nuclei,

Azcapozalco and Tezcuco, between whom a fierce rivalry sprang up,

which finally ended in the entire discomfiture or Azcapozalco. From

this event the real history of Mexico may be said to commence. Those

cities which had allied themselves to Tezcuco finally overran the

entire territory of Mexico from the Mexican Gulf to the Pacific.

Tezcuco

If, as some authorities declare, Tezcuco was originally Otomi in

affinity, it was in later years the most typically Nahuan of all the

lacustrine powers. But several other communities, the power of which

was very nearly as great as that of Tezcuco, had assisted that city to

supremacy. Among these was Xaltocan, a city-state of unquestionable

Otomi origin, situated at the northern extremity of the lake. As we

have seen from the statements of Ixtlilxochitl, a Tezcucan writer, his

native city was in the forefront of Nahua civilisation at the time of

the coming of the Spaniards, and if it was practically subservient to

Mexico (Tenochtitlan) at that period it was by no means its inferior

in the arts.

The Tecpanecs

The Tecpanecs, who dwelt in Tlacopan, Coyohuacan, and Huitzilopocho,

were also typical Nahua. The name, as we have already explained,

indicates that each settlement possessed its own tecpan (chief's

house), and has no racial significance. Their state was probably

founded about the twelfth century, although a chronology of no less

than fifteen hundred years was claimed for it. This people composed

a sort of buffer-state betwixt the Otomi on the north and other Nahua

on the south.

The Aztecs

The menace of these northern Otomi had become acute when the Tecpanecs

received reinforcements in the shape of the Aztecâ, or Aztecs, a

people of Nahua blood, who came, according to their own accounts,

from Aztlan (Crane Land). The name Aztecâ signifies "Crane People,"

and this has led to the assumption that they came from Chihuahua,

where cranes abound. Doubts have been cast upon the Nahua origin of

the Aztecâ. But these are by no means well founded, as the names of

the early Aztec chieftains and kings are unquestionably Nahuan. This

people on their arrival in Mexico were in a very inferior state of

culture, and were probably little better than savages. We have already

outlined some of the legends concerning the coming of the Aztecs to

the land of Anahuac, or the valley of Mexico, but their true origin

is uncertain, and it is likely that they wandered down from the north

as other Nahua immigrants did before them, and as the Apache Indians

still do to this day. By their own showing they had sojourned at

several points en route, and were reduced to slavery by the chiefs

of Colhuacan. They proved so truculent in their bondage, however,

that they were released, and journeyed to Chapoultepec, which they

quitted because of their dissensions with the Xaltocanecs. On their

arrival in the district inhabited by the Tecpanecs a tribute was levied

upon them, but nevertheless they flourished so exceedingly that the

swamp villages which the Tecpanecs had permitted them to raise on the

borders of the lake soon grew into thriving communities, and chiefs

were provided for them from among the nobility of the Tecpanecs.

The Aztecs as Allies

By the aid of the Aztecs the Tecpanecs greatly extended their

territorial possessions. City after city was added to their empire,

and the allies finally invaded the Otomi country, which they speedily

subdued. Those cities which had been founded by the Acolhuans on the

fringes of Tezcuco also allied themselves with the Tecpanecs with

the intention of freeing themselves from the yoke of the Chichimecs,

whose hand was heavy upon them. The Chichimecs or Tezcucans made a

stern resistance, and for a time the sovereignty of the Tecpanecs

hung in the balance. But eventually they conquered, and Tezcuco was

overthrown and given as a spoil to the Aztecs.

New Powers

Up to this time the Aztecs had paid a tribute to Azcapozalco, but now,

strengthened by the successes of the late conflict, they withheld it,

and requested permission to build an aqueduct from the shore for the

purpose of carrying a supply of water into their city. This was refused

by the Tecpanecs, and a policy of isolation was brought to bear upon

Mexico, an embargo being placed upon its goods and intercourse with

its people being forbidden. War followed, in which the Tecpanecs

were defeated with great slaughter. After this event, which may

be placed about the year 1428, the Aztecs gained ground rapidly,

and their march to the supremacy of the entire Mexican valley was

almost undisputed. Allying themselves with Tezcuco and Tlacopan,

the Mexicans overran many states far beyond the confines of the

valley, and by the time of Montezuma I had extended their boundaries

almost to the limits of the present republic. The Mexican merchant

followed in the footsteps of the Mexican warrior, and the commercial

expansion of the Aztecs rivalled their military fame. Clever traders,

they were merciless in their exactions of tribute from the states

they conquered, manufacturing the raw material paid to them by

the subject cities into goods which they afterwards sold again to

the tribes under their sway. Mexico became the chief market of the

empire, as well as its political nucleus. Such was the condition

of affairs when the Spaniards arrived in Anahuac. Their coming has

been deplored by certain historians as hastening the destruction of

a Western Eden. But bad as was their rule, it was probably mild when

compared with the cruel and insatiable sway of the Aztecs over their

unhappy dependents. The Spaniards found a tyrannical despotism in

the conquered provinces, and a faith the accessories of which were

so fiendish that it cast a gloom over the entire national life. These

they replaced by a milder vassalage and the earnest ministrations of

a more enlightened priesthood.