. % Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https ://arch ive.org/detai Is/mexicol ifeofconqOI pres THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD AN HISTORICAL SERIES IN THIRTY VOLUMES VOLUME EIGHTEEN MEXICO Mexico Frontispiece , vol. one. MEXICO AND THE LIFE OF THE CONQUEROR FERNANDO CORTES WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT IN TWO VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED VOL. 1 NEW YORK PETER FENELON COLLIER MDCCCXCVIII PREFACE, As the Conquest of Mexico has occupied the pens of Solfs and of Robertson, two of the ablest historians of their respective nations, it might seem that little could remain at the present day to be gleaned by the historical inquirer. But Robertson’s nar- rative is necessarily brief, forming only part of a more extended work ; and neither the British, nor the Castilian author, was pro- vided with the important materials for relating this event, which have been since assembled by the industry of Spanish scholars. The scholar who led the way in these researches was Don Juan Baptista Munoz, the celebrated historiographer of the Indies, who, by a royal edict, was allowed free access to the national ar- chives, and to all libraries, public, private, and monastic, in the kingdom and its colonies. The result of his long labors was a vast body of materials, of which unhappily he did not live to reap the benefit himself. His manuscripts were deposited, after his death, in the archives of the Royal Academy of History at Madrid ; and that collection was subsequently augmented by the manuscripts of Don Vargas Pon^e, President of the Acad- emy, obtained, like those of Munoz, from different quarters, but especially from the archives of the Indies at Seville. On my application to the Academy, in 1838, for permission to copy that part of this inestimable collection relating to Mexico and Peru, it was freely acceded to, and an eminent German scholar, one of their own number, was appointed to superintend the collation and transcription of the manuscripts ; and this, it may be added, before I had any claim on the courtesy of that respectable body, as one of its associates. This conduct shows the advance of a liberal spirit in the Peninsula since the time of Dr. Robertson, who complains that he was denied admission to the most important public repositories. The favor with which my own application was regarded, however, must chiefly be at- tributed to the kind offices of the venerable President of the Acad- emy, Don Martin Fernandez de Navarre te ; a scholar whose 4 PREFACE , . persona! character has secured to him the same high considera- ion at home, which his literary labors have obtained abroad. To this eminent person I am under still further obligations, for the free use which he has allowed me to make of his own man- uscripts, — the fruits of a life of accumulation, and the basis of those valuable publications, with which he has at different times illustrated the Spanish colonial history. From these three magnificent collections, the result of half a century’s careful researches, I have obtained a mass of unpub- lished documents, relating to the Conquest and Settlement of Mexico and of Peru, comprising altogether about eight thousand folio pages. They consist of instructions of the Court, military and private journals, correspondence of the great actors in the scenes, legal instruments, contemporary chronicles, and the like, drawn from all the principal places in the extensive colonial empire of Spain, as well as from the public archives in the Peninsula. I have still further fortified the collection, by gleaning such materials from Mexico itself as had been overlooked by my illustrious predecessors in these researches. For these I am in- debted to the courtesy of Count Cortina, and, yet more, to that of Don Lucas Alaman, Minister of Foreign Affairs in Mexico ; but, above all, to my excellent friend, Don Angel Calderon de Ka Barca, late Minister Plenipotentiary to that country from the Court of Madrid, — a gentleman whose high and estimable qualities, even more than his station, secured him the public confidence, and gained him free access to every place of interest and importance in Mexico. I have also to acknowledge the very kind offices rendered to me by the Count Camaldoli at Naples ; by the Duke of Ser- radifalco in Sicily, a nobleman, whose science gives additional lustre to his rank ; and by the Duke of Monteleone, the present representative of Cortes, who has courteously opened the ar- chives of his family to my inspection. To these names must also be added that of Sir Thomas Phillips, Bart., whose precious col- lection of manuscripts probably surpasses in extent that of any private gentleman in Great Britain, if not in Europe ; that of Mons. Ternaux-Compans, the proprietor of the valuable literary collection of Don Antonio Uguina, including the papers of Munoz, the fruits of which he is giving to the world in his excel- lent translations ; and, lastly, that of my friend and countryman, Arthur Middleton, Esq., late Chargd d’Affaires from the United States, at the Court of Madrid, for the efficient aid he has afforded me in prosecuting my inquiries in that capital. In addition to this stock of original documents obtained PREFACE. 5 through these various sources, I have diligently provided myself with such printed works as have reference to the subject, including the magnificent publications, which have appeared both in France and England, on the Antiquities of Mexico, which, from their cost and colossal dimensions, would seem better suited to a public than to a private library. Having thus stated the nature of my materials, and the sources whence they are derived, it remains for me to add a few observa- tions on the general plan and composition' of the work.— Among the remarkable achievements of the Spaniards in the sixteenth century, there is no one more striking to the imagination than the conquest of Mexico. The subversion of a great empire by a handful of adventurers, taken with all its strange and pictu- resque accompaniments, has the air of romance rather than of sober history ; and it is not easy to treat such a theme according to the severe rules prescribed by historical criticism . But, not- withstanding the seductions of the subject, I have conscientiously endeavored to distinguish fact from fiction, and to establish the narrative on as broad a basis as possible of contemporary evi- dence ; and I have taken occasion to corroborate the text by ample citations from authorities, usually in the original, since few of them can be very accessible to the reader. In these ex- tracts I have scrupulously conformed to the ancient orthography, however obsolete and even barbarous, rather than impair in any degree the integrity of the original document. Although the subject of the work is, properly, only the Con- quest of Mexico, I have prepared the way for it by such a view of the Civilization of the ancient Mexicans, as might acquaint the reader with the character of this extraordinary race, and enable him to understand the difficulties which the Spaniards had to encounter in their subjugation. This introductory part of the work, with the essay in the Appendix which properly belongs to the Introduction, although both together making only half a vol- ume, has cost me as much labor, and nearly as much time, as the remainder of the history. If I shall have succeeded in giving the reader a just idea of the true nature and extent of the civilization to which the Mexicans had attained, it will not be labor lost. The story of the Conquest terminates with the fall of the capital. Yet I have preferred to continue the narrative to the death of Cortds, relying on the interest which the development of his character in his military career may have excited in the reader. I am not insensible to the hazard I incur by such a course. The mind, previousl occupied with one great idea, that of the subversion of the capital, may feel the prolongation of the story beyond that point superfluous, if not tedious ; and 6 PREFACE. may find it difficult after the excitement caused by witness* ing a great national catastrophe, to take an interest in the advent- ures of a private individual. Soil's took the more politic course of concluding his narrative with the fall of Mexico, and thus leaves his readers with the full impression of that memorable event, undisturbed, on their minds. To prolong the narrative is to expose the historian to the error so much censured by the French critics in some of their most celebrated dramas, where the author by a premature enouement has impaired the interest of his piece. It is the defect that necessarily attaches, though in a greater degree, to the history of Columbus, in which petty adventures among a group of islands make up the sequel of a life that opened with the magnificent discovery of a World ; a defect, in short, which has required all the genius of Irving and the magical charm of his style perfectly to overcome. Notwithstanding these objections, I have been induced to continue the narrative, partly from deference to the opinion of several Spanish scholars, who considered that the biography of Cortes had not been fully exhibited, and partly from the cir- cumstance of my having such a body of original materials for this biography at my command. And I cannot regret that I have adopted this course ; since, whatever lustre the Conquest may reflect on Cortes as a military achievement, it gives but an imperfect idea of his enlightened spirit, and of his comprehensive and versatile genius. To the eye of the critic there may seem some incongruity in a plan which combines objects so dissimilar as those embraced by the present history ; where the Introduction, occupied with the antiquities and origin of a nation, has somewhat the char- acter of a philosophic theme, while the conclusion is strictly biographical , and the two maybe supposed to match indifferently with the main body, or historical portion of the work. But I may hope that such objections will be found to have less weight in practice than in theory ; and, if properly managed, that the general views of the Introduction will prepare the reader for the particulars of the Conquest, and that the great public events narrated in this will, without violence, open the way to the re- maining personal history of the hero who is the soul of it. What- ever incongruity may exist in other respects, I may hope that the unity of interest , the only unity held of much importance by modern critics, will be found still to be preserved. The distance of the present age from the period of the nar- rative might be presumed to secure the historian from undue prejudice or partiality. Yet to American and English readers, acknowledging so different a moral standard from that of the PREFACE . 7 sixteenth century I may possibly be thought too indulgent to the errors of tht conquerors ; while to a Spaniard, accustomed to the undiluted panegyric of Solis, I may be deemed to have dealt too hardly with them. To such I can only say, that, while, on the one hand, I have not hesitated to expose in their strong- est colors the excesses of the Conquerors ; on the other, I have given them the benefit of such mitigating reflections as might be suggested by the circumstances and the period in which they lived. I have endeavored not only to present a picture true in itself, but to place it in its proper light, and to put the spectator in a proper point of view for seeing it to the best advantage. I have endeavored, at the expense of some repetition, to surround him with the spirit of the times, and, in a word, to make him, if I may so express myself, a contemporary of the sixteenth century. Whether, and how far, I have succeeded in this, he must deter- mine. For one thing, before- 1 conclude, I may reasonably ask the reader’s indulgence. Owing to the state of my eyes, I have been obliged to use a writing-case made for the blind, which does not permit the writer to see his own manuscript. Nor have I ever corrected, or even read, my own original draft. As the chirography, under these disadvantages, has been too often careless and obscure, occasional errors, even with the utmost care of my secretary, must have necessarily occurred in the transcription, somewhat increased by the barbarous phraseology imported from my Mexican authorities. I cannot expect that these errors have always been detected even by the vigilant eye of the perspicacious critic to whom the proof-sheets have been subjected. In the Preface to the “ History of Ferdinand and Isabella,” I lamented, that, while occupied with that subject, two of its most attractive parts had engaged the attention of the most popular of American authors, Washington Irving. By a singular chance, something like the reverse of this has taken place in the composition of the present history, and I have found myself unconsciously taking up ground which he was preparing to occupy. It was not till I had become master of my rich collection of materials, that I was acquainted with this circumstance ; and, had he persevered in his design, I should unhesitatingly have abandoned my own, if not from courtesy, at least from policy ; for, though armed with the weapons of Achilles, this could give me no hope of success in a competition with Achilles himself. But no sooner was that distinguished writer informed of the preparations I had made, than, with the gentlemanly spirit which will surprise no one who has the pleasure of his acquaintance, 8 PREFACE. he instantly announced to me his intention of leaving the subject open to me. While I do but justice to Mr. Irving by this state- ment, I feel the prejudice it does to myself in the unavailing regret I am exciting in the bosom of the reader. I must not conclude this Preface, too long protracted as it is already, without a word of acknowledgment to my friend George Ticknor, Esq., — the friend of many years, — for his patient re- vision of my manuscript ; a labor of love, the worth of which those only can estimate, who are acquainted with his extraor- dinary erudition and his nice critical taste. If I have reserved his name for the last in the list of those to whose good offices I am indebted, it is most assuredly not because I value his ser- vices least. WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT. Boston, October i, 1843, CONTENTS . or VOLUME FIRST. BOOK I. INTRODUCTION. — VIEW OF THE AZTEC CIVILIZATION CHAPTER I. PAGE. Ancient Mexico.— Climate and Products. — Primitive Races.— Aztec Empire. 2g Extent of the Aztec Territory. 29 The Hot Region 30 Volcanic Scenery . . 32 Cordillera of the Andes 32 Table-land in the Days of the Aztecs 33 Valley of Mexico ....... 33 The Toltecs. 34 Their mysterious Disappearance 35 Races from the North-west 36 Their Hostilities 36 Foundation of Mexico 37 Domestic Feuds 37 League of the kindred Tribes 38 Rapid Rise of Mexico 39 Prosperity of the Empire 40 Criticism on Veytia’s History 40 CHAPTER II. Succession to the Crown. — Aztec Nobility.— Judicial System.— Laws and Revenues. — Military Institutions 45 Election of the Sovereign 42 His Coronation 43 Aztec Nobles 43 Their barbaric Pomp 43 Tenure of their Estates 44 Legislative Power 41. Judicial System 45 independent J udges 47 Their Mode of Procedure 47 Showy Tribunal 48 Hieroglyphical Paintings 4g Marriage Rites „ . , 4q Slavery in Mexico 5a Royal Revenues § ( Burdensome Imposts 53 Public Couriers §5 12 CONTENTS. PAOBc Aztec Ambassadors £4 Orders of Knighthood r* Gorgeous Armor National Standards Military Code Hospitals for the Wounded Influence of Conquest on a Nation Criticism on Torquemada’s History.. Abbd Clavigero 58 CHAPTER III. Mexican Mythology. — The Sacerdotal Order.— The Temples. — Human Sac- RIFICES 6 1 Systems of Mythology Mythology of the Aztecs Ideas of a God Sanguinary War-god God of the Air Mystic Legends Division of Time Future State Funeral Ceremonies Baptismal Rites . Monastic Orders . Fasts and Flagellation Aztec Confessional . Education of the Youth. ....... Revenue of the Priests Mexican Temples Religious Festivals Human Sacrifices The Captive’s Doom Ceremonies of Sacrifice Torturing of the Victim Sacrifice of Infants Cannibal Banquets Number of Victims Houses of Skulls Cannibalism of the Aztecs Criticism on Sahagun’s History. 69 69 70 71 7 * 72 73 73 74 74 75 75 76 CHAPTER IV. Mexican Hieroglyphics. — Manuscripts. — Arithmetic. — Chronology. —As- tronomy 8> Dawning of Science Picture-writing Aztec Hieroglyphics.. Manuscripts of the Mexicans Emblematic Symbols Phonetic Signs Materials of the Aztec Manuscripts. Form of their Volumes Destruction of most of them Remaining Manuscripts Difficulty of deciphering them Minstrelsy of the Aztecs Theatrical Entertainments System of Notation Their Chronology The Aztec Era Calendar of the Priests Science of Astrology. 90 92 94 94 94 95 97 99 Ml CONTENTS. 13 VAGB. Astrology of the Aztecs 102 Their Astronomy • • . . . •••; 10 3 Wonderful Attainments in this Science 104 Remarkable Festival 104 Carnival of the Aztecs 106 Lord Kingsborough’s Work 106 Criticism on Gama 108 CHAPTER V. Aztbc Agriculture.— Mechanical, Arts. — Merchants. — Domestic Manners.. 109 Mechanical Genius 109 Agriculture 110 Mexican Husbandry no Vegetable Products hi Mineral Treasures 113 Skill of the Aztec Jewellers 114 Sculpture 115 Huge Calendar-stone 116 Aztec Dyes 116 Beautiful F eather-work, 117 Fairs of Mexico 118 National Currency 118 Trades 118 Aztec Merchants 119 Militant Traders 1 19 Domestic Life.. 120 Kindness to Children 12 1 Polygamy 12 1 Condition of the Sex 122 Social Entertainments 122 Use of Tobacco 122 Culinary Art 123 Agreeable Drinks. 124 Dancing. 124 Intoxication . 125 Criticism on Boturini’s Work 126 CHAPTER VI Tezcucans.— Their Golden Age.— Accomplished Princes. — Decline of their Monarchy 128 The Acolhuans or Tezcucans. Prince Nezahualcoyotl His Persecution His Hair-breadth Escapes .. • His wandering Life Fidelity of his Subjects Triumphs over his Enemies.. Remarkable League General Amnesty The Tezcucan Code Departments of Government. Council of Music Its Censorial Office Literary Taste Tezcucan Bards Royal Ode Resources of Nezahualcoyotl. His magnificent Palace His Gardens and Villas, Address of the Priest His Baths Luxurious Residence Existing Remains of it 128 128 129 130 130 * 3 * 131 132 *32 13* *33 *33 *34 *34 *35 *36 *37 *37 *38 140 141 *42 148 14 INDEX. Royal Amours Marriage of the King Forest Laws Strolling Adventures Munificence of the Monarch His Religion Temple to the Unknown God Philosophic Retirement His plaintive Verses Last Hours of Nezahualcoyotl His Character _ Succeeded by Nezahualpilli........ The Lady of Tula Executes his Son Effeminacy of the King His consequent Misfortunes. .. Death of Nezahualpilli Tezcucan Civilization Criticism on Ixtlilxochitl’s Writings. PAG* 143 *44 *45 *45 146 146 *47 148 148 *49 * 5 * 15 * *53 *52 *53 *53 *53 *54 *55 BOOK II. DISCOVERY OF MEXICO. CHAPTER I. Spain under Charles V. — Progress of Discovery. — Colonial Policy. — Con- quest of Cuba. — Expeditions to Yucatan 15* Condition of Spain 159 Increase of Empire 159 Cardinal Ximenes 160 Arrival of Charles the Fifth 160 Swarm of Flemings 160 Opposition of the Cortds 161 Colonial Administration 161 Spirit of Chivalry 162 Progress of Discovery 162 Advancement of Colonization 163 System of Repartimitntos 163 Colonial Policy 164 Discovery of Cuba 164 Its Conquest by Velasquez 164 Cordova's Expedition to Yucatan 165 His Reception by the Natives 166 Grijalva’s Expedition 167 Civilization in Yucatan 167 Traffic with the Indians. 168 His Return to Cuba. 168 His cool Reception 168 Ambitious Schemes of the Governor 169 Preparations for an Expedition 169 CHAPTER II. Hernando Cortes- — His Early Life. — Visits the New World. — His Residence in Cuba. Difficulties with Velasquez. — Armada intrusted to Cortes. 170 Hernando Cortds 170 His Education Choice of a Profession 171 INDEX. *5 Departure for America Arrival at Hispaniola His Mode of Life Enlists under Velasquez Habits of Gallantry Disaffected towards Velasquez. Cortes in Confinement Flies into a Sanctuary Again put in Irons His perilous Escape His Marriage Reconciled with the Govemer. Retires to his Plantation Armada intrusted to Cortes... Preparations for the Voyage.. Instructions to Cortes PAGE 172 173 173 *73 *74 *74 *75 *75 176 176 176 *77 * 77 178 179 180 CHAPTER III. Jealously of Velasquez. — Cortes embarks. — Equipment of his Fleet. — Hrs Person and Character. — Rendezvous at Havana. — Strength of his Armament 182 Jealousy of Velasquez Intrigues against Cortes His clandestine Embarkation Arrives at Macaca Accession of Volunteers Stores and Ammunition Orders from Velasquez to arrest Cortes. He raises the Standard at Havana Person of Cortd? . . . . . His Character Strength of the Armament Stirring Address to his Troops Fleet weighs Anchor Remarks on Estrella’s Manuscript 182 *83 *83 184 *85 *85 186 186 *87 188 189 190 190 CHAPTER IV. Voyage to Cozumel. — Conversion of the Natives. — Jeronimo db Aguilar.— Army arrives at Tabasco. — Great Battle with the Indians. — Chris- tianity Introduced 191 Disastrous Voyage to Cozumel., Humane Policy of Cortes Cross found in the Island Religious Zeal of the Spaniards. Attempts at Conversion . . Overthrow of the Idols Jeronimo de Aguilar His Adventures Employed as an Interpreter.... Fleet arrives at Tabasco Hostile Reception Fierce Defiance of the Natives. Desperate Conflict Effect of the Fire-arms Cortds takes Tabasco Ambush of the Indians The Country in Arms Preparations for Battle March on the Enemy Joins Battle with the Indians.. Doubtful Struggle Terror of the War-horse Victory of the Spaniards Number of Slain Treaty with the Natives Conversion of the Heathen * 9 * 191 192 *93 *93 *94 195 *95 196 *97 *97 198 198 198 199 200 200 201 201 202 202 203 003 204 204 20s i6 INDEX. PAGE Catholic Communion ...... 205 Spaniards embark for Mexico ...a. 206 CHAPTER V. Voyage along the Coast. — Dona Marina.— Spaniards land in Mexico. — In« TERVIRW WITH THE AZTECS 20 J Voyage along the Coast 207 Natives come on Board 208 Dona Marina 208 Her History 209 Her Beauty and Character 209 First Tidings of Montezuma 210 Spaniards land in Mexico .... 210 First Interview with the Aztecs 212 Their magnificent Presents 2 if Cupidity of the Spaniards 213 Cortez displays his Cavalry 213 Aztec Paintings 214 CHAPTER VI. Account of Montezuma.— State of his Empire.— Strange Prognostics.— Em- bassy and Presents.— Spanish Encampment: 215 Montezuma then upon the Throne., Inaugural Address The Wars of Montezuma His civil Policy Oppression of his Subjects . . Foes of his Empire Superstition of Montezuma Mysterious Prophecy Portentous Omens Dismay of the Emperor Embassy and Presents to the Spaniards. Life in the Spanish Camp Rich Presents from Montezuma Large gold Wheels Message from Montezuma Effects of the Treasure on the Spaniards. Return of the Aztec Envoys Prohibition of Montezuma Preaching of Father Olmedo Desertion of the Natives 215 215 216 216 217 218 218 219 219 220 221 222 222 223 224 225 225 226 226 226 CHAPTER VII. Troubles in the Camp.— Plan of a Colony. — Management of Cortez.— March to Cempoalla.— Proceedings with the Natives.— F ouNDATioN of Very Cruz- 228 Discontent of the Soldiery • Envoys from the Totonacs Dissensions in the Aztec Empire Proceedings in the Camp Cortez prepares to return to Cuba. ........ Army remonstrate Cortes yields Foundation of Villa Rica Resignation and Reappointment of Cortes. Divisions in the Camp General Reconciliation March to Cempoalla Picturesque Scenery Remains of Victims Terrestrial Paradise Love of Flowers by the Natives Their splendid Edifices Hospitable Entertainment at Cempoalla. .. 228 228 229 229 230 230 231 231 232 232 233 234 234 235 235 236 23.7 23f CONTENTS, \ *7 Conference with the Cacique, Proposals of Alliance Advance of the Spaniards... Arrival of Aztec Nobles Artful Policy of Cortez Allegiance of the Natives... . City of Villa Rica built Infatuation of the Indians.. . PAGE 238 238 *39 240 241 241 24a *4* CHAPTER VIII. Another Aztec Embassy.— Destruction of the Idols.— Despatches Sent to Spain.— Conspiracy in the Camp.— The Fleet sunk 244 Embassy from Montezuma. Its Results.... Severe Discipline in the Army Gratitude of the Cempoallan Cacique Attempt at Conversion Sensation among the Natives The Idols burned Consecration of the Sanctuary News from Cuba Presents for Charles the Fifth First Letter of Cortez Despatches to Spain Agents for the Mission Departure of the Ship It touches at Cuba Rage of Velasquez Ship arrives in Spain Conspiracy in the Camp Destruction of the Fleet Oration of Cortes Enthusiasm of the Army Notice of Las Casas. . His Life and Character Criticism on his Works 244 *45 245 246 246 247 247 248 248 249 250 2S2 2^5 252 253 253 254 255 256 256 258 259 26s BOOK III. MARCH TO MEXICO. CHAPTER I. Proceedings atCempoalla. — The Spaniards climb the Table-land. — Pictu- resque Scenery.— Transactions with the Natives. — Embassy to Tlascala. 265 Squadron off the Coast 265 Stratagem of Cortes 266 Arrangement at Villa Rica 266 Spaniards begin their March 267 Climb the Cordilleras 268 Wild Mountain Scenery 269 Immense Heaps of Human Skulls 271 Transactions with the Natives 271 Accounts of Montezuma’s Power » 271 Moderation of Father Olmedo 273 Indian Dwellings „ 274 Cortes determines his Route. 274 1 8 CONTENTS . Embassy to Tlascala Remarkable Fortification... Arrival in Tlascala CHAPTER II. PAGE 275 276 276 Republic of Tlascala.— Its Institutions.— Early History.— Discussions in the Senatbt — Desperate Battles 279 The Tlascalans Their Migrations Their Government Public Games Order of Knighthood ........ Internal Resources. ......... Their Civilization Struggles with the Aztecs. . . . Means of Defence Sufferings of the Tlascalans.. Their hardy Character Debates in the Senate Spaniards advance Desperate Onslaught Retreat of the Indians Bivouac of the Spaniards The Army resumes its March Immense Host of Barbarians.. Bloody Conflict in the Pass... Enemy give Ground Spaniards clear the Pass Cessation of Hostilities Results of the Conflict. . Troops encamp for the Night . 279 279 280 281 281 281 282 282 283 284 284 285 286 286 287 287 288 289 289 290 291 291 292 292 CHAPTER III. Decisive Victory. — Indian Council. — Night Attack. — Negotiations with the Enemy. — Tlascalan Hero 293 Envoys to Tlascala 293 Foraging Party « 294 Bold Defiance by the Tlascalans 294 Preparations for Battle 295 Appearance of the Tlascalans 295 Showy Costume of the Warriors 296 Their Weapons 297 Desperate Engagement ...... * 298 The Combat thickens 299 Divisions among the Enemy 300 Decisive Victory 300 Triumph of Science over Numbers.... 3°* Dread of the Cavalry 3°* Indian Council 302 Night Attack * 3°2 Spaniards victorious 3°3 Embassy to Tlascala • S°3 Peace with the Enemy. 3°4 Patriotic Spirit of their Chief 304 CHAPTER IV. Discontents in the Army. — Tlascalan Spies. — Peace with the Republic. — Embassy from Montezuma...... 306 Spaniards scour the Country Success of the Foray Discontents in the Camp Representations of the Malcontents Reply of Cortez 306 306 3°7 307 308 CONTENTS . *9 Difficulties of the Enterprise. . . . » . Mutilation of the Spies . . . Inrerview with the Tlascalan Chief. Peace with the Republic Embassy from Montezuma. ......... Declines to receive the Spaniards. . They advance towards the City. . . . . PAGE 309 310 311 312 313 313 314 CHAPTER V. Spaniards enter Tlascala. — Description of the Capital.— Attempted Con- version- — Aztec Embassy. — Invited to Cholula 316 Spaniards enter Tlascala 316 Rejoicings on their Arrival 317 Description of Tlascala 317 Its Houses and Streets 318 Its Fairs and Police 318 Divisions of the City 318 Wild Scenery round Tlascala 319 Character of the Tlascalans 319 Vigilance of Cortes 319 Attempted Conversion 320 Resistance of the Natives 320 Zeal of Cortes » 321 Prudence of the Friar 321 Character of Olmedo 321 Mass celebrated in Tlascala 322 The Indian Maidens 322 Aztec Embassy 323 Power of Montezuma 323 Embassy from Ixtlilxochitl 324 Deputies from Cholula 324 Invitation to Cholula 325 Prepare to leave Tlascala 325 CHAPTER VI. Citv op Cholula. — Great Temple. — March to Cholula. — Reception of the Spaniards. — Conspiracy Detected 326 City of Cholula Its History Religious Traditions Its ancient Pyramid Temple of Quetzalcoatl Holy City Magnificent Scenery Spaniards leave Tlascala Indian Volunteers Army enters Cholula Brilliant Reception Envoys from Montezuma. . . . Suspicions of Conspiracy. . . . Fidelity of Marina. Alarming Situation of Cortes. Intrigues with the Priests Interview with the Caciques. . Night-watch of the Spaniards. 326 326 327 327 328 329 329 330 330 331 332 332 333 333 334 335 335 336 CHAPTER VII. Terrible Massacre. — Tranquillity Restored.— Reflections on the Mas- sacre.— Further Proceedings.— Envoys from Montezuma 337 Preparations for a secret Assault . 337 Natives collect in the Square • 337 20 CONTENTS. The Signal given Terrible Massacre Onset of the Tlascalans Defence of the Pyramid Division of the Spoil Restoration of Order Reflections on the Massacre Right of Conquest Missionary Spirit Policy of Cortes . . . . His perilous Situation Cruelty to be charged on him Terror of “ the White Gods.” The Cross raised in Cholula Victims liberated from the Cages Christian Temple reared on the Pyramid. Embassy from Montezuma Departure of the Cempoallans Pagb 338 338 339 339 340 340 341 341 342 344 344 345 345 346 346 346 347 348 CHAPTER VIII. March resumed.— Ascent of the Great Volcano. — Valley of Mexico. — Im- pression on the Spaniards. — Conduct of Montezuma. — They descend into the Valley 349 Spaniards leave Cholula. Signs of Treachery The Army reaches the Mountains Wild Traditions The great Volcano Spaniards ascend its Sides Perils of the Enterprise Subsequent Ascent Descent into the Crater The Troops suffer from the Tempest. . . .. . First View of the Valley Its Magnificence and Beauty Impression on the Spaniards. Disaffection of the Natives to Montezuma Embassy from the Emperor His gloomy Apprehensions Silence of the Oracles Spaniards advance Death of the spies Arrival of the Tezcucan Lord Floating Gardens Crowds assembled on the Roads Army reaches Iztapalapan Its celebrated Gardens Striking View of Mexico 349 349 350 350 35 1 35 1 352 353 353 354 354 355 355 356 356 357 357 338 359 359 360 361 361 362 363 CHAPTER IX. Environs of Mexico. — Interview with Montezuma. — Entrance into the Capital. — Hospitable Reception. — Visit to the Emperor 364 Preparations to enter the Capital. . . Army enters on the great Causeway. Beautiful Environs Brilliant Procession of Chiefs Splendid Retinue of Montezuma.... Dress of the Emperor His Person His Reception of Cortes Spaniards enter the capital Feelings of the Aztecs Hospitable Reception The Spanish Quarters Precaution of the General 364 364 365 366 366 367 367 368 369 37 0 37 <» 371 373 CONTENTS . 21 s*;v: o Visited by the Emperor His rich Presents Superstitious Terrors Royal Palace . * Description of its Interior Cortes visits M ontezuma Attempts to convert the Monarch Entire Failure His religious Views Montezuma’s Eloquence His courteous Bearing Reflections of Cortes Notice of Herrera. Criticism on his History Life of Toribio Peter Martyr His Works Pagb 372 373 373 374 374 375 375 376 376 377 378 378 379 379 38i 383 384 BOOK IV. RESIDENCE IN MEXICO. CHAPTER I. Tezcucan Lake. — Description of the Capital. — Palaces and Museums. — Royal Household. — Montezuma’s Way of Life 387 Lake of Tezcuco Its Diminution Floating Islands The ancient Dikes Houses of ancient Mexico Its Streets Its Population Its Aqueducts and Fountains.. The imperial Palace Adjoining Edifices Magnificent Aviary Extensive Menagerie Collection of Dwarfs Beautiful Gardens Royal Hill of Chapoltepec Wives of Montezuma His Meals Luxurious Dessert „ Custom of Smoking Ceremonies at Court Economy of the Palace Oriental Civilization Reserve of Montezuma Symptoms of Decline of Power. 387 387 388 3S9 389 39° 391 392 393 394 394 395 395 396 396 397 398 399 399 400 401 401 402 402 CHAPTER II. Market of Mexico. — Great Temple. — Interior Sanctuaries. — Spanish Quar- ters 403 Mexican Costume 403 Great Market of Mexico 404 Quarter of the Goldsmiths 405 Booths of the Armorers 405 Provisions for the Capital 406 Throngs in the Market 407 22 CONTENTS, Aztec Money The Great Temple Its Structure «... Dimensions Instruments of Worship Grand View from the Temple Shrines from the Idols Imprudence of Cortes Interior Sanctuaries*. Mound of Skulls. . Aztec Seminaries Impression on the Spaniards. . Hidden Treasures Mass performed in Mexico. . . PAGE. 408 408 409 410 410 411 412 413 414 415 415 416 4x6 417 CHAPTER III. Anxiety of Cortes. — Seizure of Montezuma.— His Treatment by the Span- iards. — Execution of his Officers. — Montezuma in Irons.— Reflections. 4x8 Anxiety of Cortes Council of War Opinions of the Officers Bold Project of Cortes Plausible Pretext Interview with Montezuma Accusation of the Emperor His Seizure by the Spaniards.... He is carried to their Quarters. . . Tumult among the Aztecs Montezuma’s Treatment Vigilant Patrol Trial of the Aztec Chiefs Montezuma in Irons Chiefs burnt at the Stake Emperor allowed to return Declines this Permission Reflections on these Proceedings. Views of the Conquerors 418 419 419 419 420 422 422 423 424 424 425 425 426 427 427 428 428 428 429 CHAPTER IV. Montezuma’s Deportment.— His Life in the Spanish Quarters. — Meditated Insurrection. — Lord of Tezcuco seized. — Further Measures of Cortes. .. 431 Troubles at Vera Cruz. . I Vessels built on the Lake Montezuma’s Life in the Spanish Quarters His Munificence Sensitive to Insult Emperor’s Favorites Spaniards attempt his Conversion Brigantines on the Lake The Royal Chase Lord of Tezcuco Meditated Insurrection Policy of Cortes Tezcucan Lord in Chains Further Measures of Cortes Surveys the Coast 43i 431 432 432 433 3*4 434 435 435 436 436 437 438 439 439 CHAPTER V. Montezuma swears Allegiance to Spain. — Royal Treasures.— Their Divi- sion. — Christian Worship in the Teocalli. — Discontents of the Aztecs... 441 Montezuma convenes his Nobles. 441 CONTENTS . 23 Swears Allegiance to Spain. - His Distress Its Effect on the Spaniards Imperial Treasures. Splendid Ornaments The Royal Fifth Amount of the Treasure Division of Spoil Murmurs of the Soldiery Cortes calms the Storm. ... Progress in Conversion Cortes demands the Teocalli Christian Worship in the Sanctuary. National Attachment to Religion. . . Discontents of the Aztecs Montezuma’s Warning Reply of Cortes Insecurity in the Castilian Quarters. PAGB. 442 442 442 443 443 444 445 446 446 447 448 448 449 450 450 451 452 452 CHAPTER VI. Fate of Cortes’ Emissaries. — Proceedings in the Castilian Court. — Prepara- tions of Velasquez. — Narvaez lands in Mexico. — Politic Conduct of Cortes. — He leaves the Capital Cortes Emissaries arrive in Spain. Their Fate Proceedings at Court The Bishop of Burgos Emperor postpones his Decision. . Valasquez meditates Revenge Sends Narvaez against Cortes . . . The Audience interferes Narvaez sails for Mexico Vaunts of Narvaez He anchors off San Juan de Ulua Sandoval prepares for Defence. . . . His Treatment of the Invaders. . . Cortes hears of Narvaez He bribes his Emissaries Sends an Envoy to his Camp The Friar’s Intrigues Embarrassment of Cortes He Prepares for Departure He leaves the Capital. 454 454 455 456 45b 457 457 458 459 460 460 461 461 462 463 463 464 465 466 467 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS MEXICO VOL. I Frontispiece — Fernando Cortes . Mexican Peons ....... Capture of the City of Mexico by Cortes • The Temple of the Sun . . . . • Conquest of Mexico book i. INTRODUCTION. VIEW OF THE AZTEC CIVILIZATION. CHAPTER I. Ancient Mexico. — Climate and Products. — Primitive races, — Aztec Empire. Of all that extensive empire which once acknowledged the authority of Spain in the New World, no portion, for interest and importance, can be compared with Mexico ; — - and this equally, whether we consider the variety of its soil and climate ; the inexhaustible stores of its mineral wealth ; its scenery, grand and picturesque beyond example : the character of its ancient inhabitants, not only far surpassing in intelligence that of the other North American races, but reminding us, by their monu- ments, of the primitive civilization of Egypt and Hindostan ; or lastly, the peculiar circumstances of its Conquest, adventurous and romantic as any legend aevised by Norman or Italian bard of chivalry. It is the purpose of the present narrative to exhibit the history of this Conquest, and that of the remarkable man by whom it was achieved. But, in order that the reader may have a better understanding of the subject, it will be w^ell, before entering on it, to take a general survey of the political and social institutions of the races who occupied the land at the time of its discovery. The country of the ancient Mexicans, or Aztecs as they were called, formed but a very ‘small part of the extensive territories Mexico 2 Yol. 1 30 AZTEC CIVILIZATION. comprehended in tb r modern republic of Mexico . 1 Its bound* aries cannc; e de*. ied with certainty. They were much enlarged in the latter days of the empire, when they may be considered as reaching from about the eighteenth degree north, to the twenty-first, on the Atlantic ; and from the fourteenth to the nine- teenth, including a very narrow strip, on the Pacific . 2 In its greatest breadth, it could not exceed five degrees and a half, dwindling, as it approached its south-eastern limits, to less than two. It covered, probably, less than sixteen thousand square leagues . 3 Yet such is the remarkable formation of this country, that, though not more than twice as large as New England, it presented every variety of climate, and was capable of yield- ing nearly every fruit, found between the equator and the Arctic circle. All along the Atlantic, the country is bordered by a broad track, called the tierra caliente , or hot region, which has the usual 1 Extensive indeed, if we may trust Archbishop Lorenzana, who tells us, “ It is doubtful if the country of New Spain does not border on Tartary and Greenland ; — by the way of California, on the former, and by New Mexico, on the latter ” ! Historia de Nueva Espana, (Mexico, 1770,) p, 38, nota. 2 I have conformed to the limits fixed by Clavigero. He has probably, examined the subject with more thoroughness and fidelity than most of his countrymen, who differ from him, and who assign a more liberal extent to the monarchy. (See his Storia Antica del Messico, (Cesena, 1780,) dissert. 7.} The Abbe, however, has not informed his readers on what frail founda- tions his conclusions rest. The extent of the Aztec empire is to be gathered from the writings of historians since the arrival of the Spaniards, and from the picture-rolls of tribute paid by the conquered cities ; both sources ex- tremely vague and defective. See the MSS. of the Mendoza collection, in Lord Kingsborough’s magnificent publication (Antiquities of Mexico, com- prising Facsimiles of Ancient Paintings and Hieroglyphics, together with the Monuments of New Spain. London, 1830). The difficulty of the inquiry is much increased by the fact of the conquests having been made, as will be seen hereafter, by the united arms of three powers, so that it is not always easy to tell to which party they eventually belonged. The affair is involved in so much uncertainty, that Clavigero, notwithstanding the positive asser- tions in his text, has not ventured, in his map, to define the precise limits of the empire, either towards the north, where it mingles with the Tezcucan empire, or towards the south, where, indeed, he has fallen into the egregious blunder of asserting, that, while the Mexican territory reached to the four- teenth degree, it did not include any portion of Guatemala. (See tom. I. p. 29, and tom. IV. dissert. 7.) The Tezcucan chronicler, Ixtlilxochitl, puts in a sturdy claim for the paramount empire of his own nation. Historia Chichemeca, MS., cap. 39, 53, et alibi. 3 Eighteen to twenty thousand, according to Humboldt, who considers the Mexican territory to have been the same with that occupied by the modern intendancies of Mexico, Puebla, Vera Cruz, Oaxaca, and Valladolid. (Essai Politique sur le Royaume de Nouvelle Espagne, (Paris, 1825,) tom. I. p. 196.) This last, however, was all, or nearly all, included in the rival king- dom of Mechoacan, as he himself more correctly states in another part of his work. Comp. tom. II. p. 164* ANCIENT MEXICO. 3 high temperature of equinoctial lands. Parched and sandy plains are intermingled with others, of exuberant fertility, almost impervious from thickets of aromatic shrubs and wild flowers, in the midst of which tower up trees of that magnificent growth which is found only within the tropics. In this wilderness of sweets lurks the fatal malaria , engendered, probably, by the de- composition of rank vegetable substances in a hot and humid soil. The season of the bilious fever, — vomito, as it is called, — which scourges these coasts, continues from the spring to the autumnal equinox, when it is checked by the cold winds that descend from Hudson’s Bay. These winds in the winter season frequently freshen into tempests, and, sweeping down the At- lantic coast, and the winding Gulf of Mexico, burst with the fury of a hurricane on its unprotected shores, and on the neigh- boring West India islands. Such are the mighty spells with which Nature has surrounded this land of enchantment, as if to guard the golden treasures locked up within its bosom. The genius and enterprise of man have proved more potent than her spells. After passing some twenty leagues across this burning region, the traveller finds himself rising into a purer atmosphere. His limbs recover their elasticity. He breathes more freely, for his senses are not now oppressed by the sultry heats and intoxicat- ing perfumes of the valley. The aspect of nature, too, has changed, and his eye no longer revels among the gay variety of colors with which the landscape was painted there. The vanilla, the indigo, and the flowering cacao-groves disappear as he ad- vances. The sugar-cane and the glossy-leaved banana still ac- company him ; and, when he has ascended about four thousand feet, he sees in the unchanging verdure, and the rich foliage of the liquid-amber tree, that he has reached the height where clouds and mists settle, in their passage from the Mexican Gulf. This is the region of perpetual humidity ; but he welcomes it with pleasure, as announcing his escape from the influence of the deadly vomito . 4 He has entered the tierra templada , or temperate region, whose character resembles that of the temperate zone of the globe. The features of the scenery become grand, and even 4 The traveller, who enters the country across the dreary sand-hills of Vera Cruz, will hardly recognize the truth of the above description. He must look for it in other parts of the tierra caliette. Of recent tourists, no one has given a more gorgeous picture of the impressions made on his senses by these sunny regions than Latrobe, who came on shore at Tampico; (Rambler in Mexico, (New York, 1836.) chap. 1 ;) a traveller, it may be added, whose descriptions of man and nature, in our own country, where we can judge, are distinguished by a sobriety and fairness that entitle him to confidence in his delineation of other countries. 32 AZTEC CIVILIZATION. terrible. Hi 6, jad sweeps along the base of mighty mountains, once gleamii^ with volcanic fires, and still resplendent in their mantles of snow, which serve as beacons to the mariner, for many a league at sea. All around he beholds traces of their ancient combustion, as his road passes along vast tracts of lava, bristling in the innumerable fantastic forms into which the fiery torrent has been thrown by the obstacles in its career. Per- haps, at the same moment, as he casts his eye down some steep slope, or almost unfathomable ravine, on the margin of the road, he sees their depths glowing with the rich blooms and enamelled vegetation of the tropics. Such are the singular contrasts pre- sented, at the same time, to the senses, in this picturesque region ! Still pressing upwards, the traveller mounts into other climates, favorable to other kinds of cultivation. The yellow maize, or Indian corn, as we usually call it, has continued to follow him up from the lowest level ; but he now first sees fields of wheat, and the other European grains brought into the country by the Conquerors. Mingled with them, he views the plantations of the aloe or maguey ( agave Americana ), applied to such various and important uses by the Aztecs. The oaks now acquire a sturdier growth, and the dark forests of pine announce that he has entered the tierra fria, or cold region, — the third and last of the great natural terraces into which the country is divided. When he has climbed to the height of between seven and eight thousand feet, the weary traveller sets his foot on the summit of the Cordillera of the Andes, —the colossal range, that, after traversing South America and the Isthmus of Darien, spreads out, as it enters Mexico, into that vast sheet of table-land, which maintains an elevation of more than six thousand feet, for the distance of nearly two hundred leagues, until it gradually declines in the higher latitudes of the north . 5 Across the mountain rampart a chain of volcanic hills stretches, in a westerly direction, of still more stupendous dimensions, forming, indeed, some of the highest land on the globe. Their peaks, entering the limits of perpetual snow, diffuse a grateful coolness over the elevated plateaus below ; for these last, though termed ‘ cold,’ enjoy a climate, the mean tem- perature of which is not lower than that of the central parts of Italy . 6 The air is exceedingly dry ; the soil, though naturally 5 This long extent of country varies in elevation from 5570 to 8856 feet, — equal to the height of the passes of Mount Cenis, or the Great St. Bernard, The table-land stretches still three hundred leagues further, before it declines to a level of 2624 feet. Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. I. pp. 157, 255. 6 About 620 Fahrenheit, or 17 0 Reaumur. (Humboldt, Essai Politique, PRIMITIVE RACES. 33 good, is rarely clothed with the luxuriant vegetation of the lower regions. It frequently, indeed, has a parched and barren aspect, owing partly to the greater evaporation which takes place on these lofty plains, through the diminished pressure of the atmos- phere ; and partly, no doubt, to the want of trees to shelter the soil from the fierce influence of the summer sun. In the time of the Aztecs, the table-land was thickly covered with larch, oak, cypress, and other forest trees, the extraordinary dimensions of some of which, remaining to the present day, show that the curse of barrenness in later times is chargeable more on man than on nature. Indeed, the early Spaniards made as indiscriminate war on the forest as did our Puritan ancestors, though with much less reason. After once conquering the country, they had no lurking ambush to fear from the submissive, semicivilized Indian, and were not, like our forefathers, obliged to keep watch and ward for a century. This spoliation of the ground, however, is said to have been pleasing to their imaginations, as it reminded them of the plains of their own Castile, — the table-land of Eu- rope ; 7 where the nakedness of the landscape forms the burden of every traveller’s lament, who visits that country. Midway across the continent, somewhat nearer the Pacific than the Atlantic ocean, at an elevation of nearly seven thousand five hundred feet, is the celebrated Valley of Mexico. It is of an oval form, about sixty-seven leagues in circumference , 8 and is encompassed by a towering rampart of porphyritic rock, which nature seems to have provided, though ineffectually, to protect it from invasion. The soil, once carpeted wdth a beautiful verdure, and thickly sprinkled with stately trees, is often bare, and, in many places, white with the incrustation of salts, caused by the draining of tom. I. p 273.) The more elevated plateaus of the table-land, as the Valley of Toluca, about 8500 feet above the sea, have a stern climate, in which the thermometer, during a great part of the day, rarely rises beyond 45 0 F. Idem, (loc. cit. , ) and Malte-Brun, (Universal Geography, Eng. Trans., book 83, ) who is, indeed, in this part of his work, but an echo of the former writer. 7 The elevation of the Castiles, according to the authority repeatedly cited, is about 350 toises or 2100 feet above the ocean. (Humboldt’s Dissertation, apud Laborde, Itineraire Descriptif de l’Espagne, (Paris, 1827,) tom I. p. 5.) It is rare to find plains in Europe of so great a height. 8 Archbishop Lorenzana estimates the circuit of the Valley at ninety leagues, correcting at the same time the statement of Cortes, which puts it at seventy, very near the truth, as appears from the result of M. de Hum- boldt’s measurement, cited in the text. Its length is about eighteen leagues, by twelve and a half in breadth. (Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. II. p. 29. — Lorenzana, His. de Nueva Espana, p. 101. ) Humboldt’s map of the Valley of Mexico forms the third in his “ Atlas G^ographique et Physique,” and, like all the others in the collection, will be found of inestimable value to the traveller, the geologist, and the historian. 34 AZTEC CIVILIZATION. the waters. Five lakes are spread over the Valley, occupying one tenth of its surface . 9 On the opposite borders of the lar- gest of these basins, much shrunk in its dimensions 10 since the days of the Aztecs, stood the cities of Mexico and Tezcuco, the capitals of the two most potent and flourishing states of Anahuac, whose history, with that of the mysterious races that preceded them in the country, exhibits some of the nearest approaches to civilization to be met with anciently on the North American continent. Of these races the most conspicuous were the Toltecs. Ad- vancing from a northerly direction, but from what region is un- certain, they entered the territory of Anahuac ,! 1 probably before the close of the seventh century. Of course, little can be gleaned, with certainty, respectiug a people, whose written records have perished, and who are known to us only through the extraditionary legends of the nations that succeeded them , 12 9 Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. II. pp. 29 44-49 — Malte Brun, book 85. This latter geographer assigns only 6700 feet for the level of the Valley, contradicting himself, (comp, book 83,) or rather, Humboldt, to whose pages he helps himself, plenis manibus , somewhat too liberally, indeed, for the scanty references at the bottom of his page. 10 Torquemada accounts, in part, for this diminution, by supposing, that as God permitted the waters, which once covered the whole earth, to subside, after mankind had been nearly exterminated for their iniquities, so he allowed the waters of the Mexican lake to subside, in token of good-will and reconcilia- tion, after the idolatrous races of the land had been destroyed by the Spaniards! (Monarchia Indiana, (Madrid, 1723,) tom. I. p. 309.) Quite as probable, ii not as orthodox an explanation, may be found in the active evaporation of these upper regions, and in the fact of an immense drain having been constructed, during the lifetime of the good father, to reduce the waters of the principal lake, and protect the capital from inundation, 11 Anahuac, according to Humboldt, comprehended only the country be- tween the 14th and 21st degrees of N. latitude. (Essai Politique, tom. I. p. 197.) According to Clavigero, it included nearly all since known as New Spain. (Stor. del Messico, tom. I. p. 27.) Veytiauses it, also, as synonymous with New Spain. (Historia Antigua de Mejico, (Mejico, 1836,) tom. I. cap. 12.) The first of these writers probably allows too little, as the latter do too much, for, its boundaries. Ixtlilxochitl says it extended four hundred leagues south of the Otomie country. (Hist. Chichemeca. MS., cap. 73.) The word Anahuac signifies near the water. It was, probably, first applied to the country around the lakes in the Mexican Valley, and gradually extended to the remoter regions occupied by the Aztecs, and the other semicivilized races. Or, possibly, the name may have been intended, as Veytia suggests, (Hist. Antig., lib. 1, cap. 1,) to denote the land between the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific. 12 Clavigero talks of Boturini’s having written “on the faith of the Toltet historians.” (Stor. del Messico, tom. I. p. 128.) But that scholar does not pretend to have ever met with a Toltec manuscript, himself, and iiad heard of only one in the possession of Ixtlilxochitl. (See his Idea ue una Kueva Historia General de la America Septentrional, (Madrid, 1746,) p. no.) The latter writer tells us, that his account of the Toltec and Chichemec races was PRIMITIVE RACES 35 By the general agreement of these, however, the Toltecs were well instructed in agriculture, and many of the most useful mechanic arts ; were nice workers of metals ; inveeted the complex ar- rangement of time adopted by the Aztecs ; and, in short, were the true fountains of the civilization which distinguished this part of the continent in latter times . 13 They established their capital at Tula, north of the Mexican Valley, and the remains of extensive buildings were to be discerned there at the time of the Conquest . 14 The noble ruins of religious and other edifices, still to be seen in various parts of New Spain, are referred to this people, whose name, Toltec, has passed into a synonyme for architects Their shadowy history reminds us of those primitive races, who preceded the ancient Egyptians in the march of civi- lization ; fragments of whose monuments, as they are seen at this day, incorporated with the buildings of the Egyptians them- selves, give to these latter the appearance of almost modern constructions . 16 After a period of four centuries, the Toltecs, who had ex- tended their sway over the remotest borders of Anahuac , 17 hav- ing been greatly reduced, it is said, by famine, pestilence, and unsuccessful wars, disappeared from the land as silently and mysteriously as they had entered it. A few of them still lin- gered behind, but much the greater number, probably, spread over the region of Central America and the neighboring isles ; and the traveller now speculates on the majestic ruins of Mitla and Palenque, as possibly the work of this extraordinary peo- ple . 18 “derived from interpretation,” (probably, of the Tezcucan paintings,) “ and from the traditions of old men ” ; poor authority for events which had passed, centuries before. Indeed, he acknowledges that their narratives were so full of absurdity and falsehood, that he was obliged to reject nine-tenths of them. (See his Relaciones, MS., no. 5.) The cause of truth would not have suffered much, probably, if he had rejected nine-tenths of the remainder. 13 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 2. — Idem, Relaciones, MS., no. 2. — Sahagun, Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva Espana, (Mexico, 1829,) lib. 10, cap. 29. — Veytia, Hist. Antig.. lib. 1, cap. 27. 14 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva Espana, lib. 10, cap. 29. 15 Idem, ubi supra, — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind. lib. 1, cap. 14. 16 Description de l’Egypte, (Paris, 1809,) Antiquites, tom. I. cap. 1. Veytia has traced the migrations of the Toltecs with sufficient industry, scarcely re- warded by the necessarily doubtful credit of the results. Hist. Antig., lib. 2, cap. 21-33. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 73. -- Veytia, Hist. Antig., lib. 1, cap. 33. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 3. — Idem, Relaciones, MS., no. 4, 5. — Father Torquemada — perhaps misinterpreting the Tezcucan hieroglyphics — has accounted for this mysteri- ous disappearance of the Toltecs, by such fee-faw-fum stories of giants and demons, as show his appetite for the marvellous was fully equal to that of any of his calling. See his Monarch. Ind. a lib. 1, cap. 14. 36 AZTEC CIVILIZATION. After the lapse of another hundred years, a numerous and rude tribe, called the Chichemecs, entered the deserted country from the regions of the far Northwest. They were speedily fol- lowed by other races, of higher civilization, perhaps of the same family with the Toltecs, whose language they appear to have spoken. The most noted of these were the Aztecs or Mexi- cans, and the Acolhuans. The latter, better known in later times by the name of Tezcucans, from their capital, Tezcuco , 19 on the eastern border of the Mexican lake, were peculiarly fitted, by their comparatively mild religion and manners, for receiving the tincture of civilization which could be derived from the few Toltecs that still remained in the country. This, in their turn, they communicated to the barbarous Chichemecs, a large por- tion of whom became amalgamated with the new settlers as one nation . 20 Availing themselves of the strength derived, not only from this increase of numbers, but from their own superior refine- ment, the Acolhuans gradually stretched their empire over the ruder tribes in the north ; while their capital was filled with a numerous population, busily employed in many of the more use- ful and even elegant arts of a civilized community. In this palmy state, they were suddenly assaulted by a warlike neigh- bor, the Tepanecs, their own kindred, and inhabitants of the same valley as themselves. Their provinces were overrun, their armies beaten, their king assassinated, and the flourishing city of Tezcuco became the prize of the victor. From this abject condition the uncommon abilities of the young prince, Neza- hualcoyotl, the rightful heir of the crown, backed by the efficient aid of his Mexican allies, at length, redeemed the state, and opened to it a new career of prosperity, even more brilliant than the former . 21 The Mexicans, with whom our history is principally con- cerned, came, also, as we have seen, from the remote regions of the North, — the populous hive of nations in the New World, as it has been in the Old. They arrived on the borders of Ana- huac, towards the beginning of the thirteenth century, some time after the occupation of the land by the kindred races. For a 19 Tezcuco signifies “ place of detention”; as several of the tribes who successively occupied Anahuac were said to have halted some time at the spot. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist, Chich., MS., cap. io. 20 The historian speaks, in one page, of the Chichemecs’ burrowing in caves, or, at best, in cabins of straw ; — and, in the next, ’ks gravely of their senoras , infantas , and caballeros ! Ibid., cap. 9, et seq.- Veytia, Hist. Antig., lib. 2, cap. 1-10. — Camargo, Historia de Tlascala, MS. 21 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 9-20. — Veytia, Hist. Antig., lib. 2, cap. 29-54. PRIMITIVE RACES. 37 long time they did not establish themselves in any permanent residence ; but continued shifting their quarters to different parts of the Mexican Valley, enduring all the casualties and hardships of a migratory life. On one occasion, they were en- slaved by a more powerful tribe ; but their ferocity soon made them formidable to their masters. 22 After a series of wander- ings and adventures, which need not shrink from comparison with the most extravagant legends of the heroic ages of an- tiquity, they at length halted on the southwestern borders of the principal lake, in the year 1325. They there beheld, perched on the stem of a prickly pear, which shot out from the crevice of a rock that was washed by the waves, a royal eagle of extraor- dinary size and beauty, with a serpent in his talons, and his broad wings opened to the rising sun. They hailed the auspicious omen, announced by the oracle, as indicating the site of their future city, and laid its foundations by sinking piles into the shallows ; for the low marshes were half buried under water. On these they erected their light fabrics of reeds and rushes ; they sought a precarious subsistence from fishing, and from the wild fowl which frequented the waters, as well as from the culti- vation of such simple vegetables as they could raise on their floating gardens. The place was called Tenochtitlan, in token of its miraculous origin, though only known to Europeans by its other name of Mexico, derived from their war-god, Mexitli. 23 The legend of its foundation is still further commemorated by the device of the eagle and the cactus, which form the arms of the modern Mexican republic. Such were the humble begin- nings of the Venice of the Western World. 24 22 These were the Colhuans, not Acolhuans, with whom Humboldt, and most writers since, have confoimded them. See his Essai Politique, tom. I. p. 414 5 II. p. 37 - M Clavigero gives good reasons for preferring the etymology of Mexio above noticed, to various others. (See his Stor. del Messico, tom. I. p. 168, nota.) The name Tenochtitlan signifies tunal (a cactus) on a stone. Espli- cacion de la Col. de Mendoza, apud Antiq. of Mexico, vol. IV. 24 “ Datur haec venia antiquitati, ” says Livy, “ ut, miscendo humana div- inis, primordia urbium augustiora faciat.” Hist. Praef. — See for the above paragraph, Col. de Mendoza, plate 1, apud Antiq. of Mexico, vol. I., — Ix- tlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 10, — Toribio, Historia de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 8, — Veytia, Hist. Antig.,lib. 2, cap. 15. — Clavigero, after a laborious examination, assigns the following dates to some of the promi- nent events noticed in the text. N o two authorities agree on them ; and this is not strange considering that Clavigero — the most inquisitive of all — does not always agree with himself. (Compare his dates for the coming of the Acolhuans; tom. I. p. 147, and tom. IV. dissert. 2.) — A. D. The Toltecs arrived in Anahuac 648 They abandoned the country ...... 1051 38 AZTEC CIVILIZATION. The forlorn condition of the new settlers was made still worse by domestic feuds. A part of the citizens seceded from the main body, and formed a separate community on the neigh- boring marshes. Thus divided, it was long before they could aspire to the acquisition of territory on the main land. They gradually increased, however, in numbers, and strengthened themselves yet more by various improvements in their polity and military discipline, while they established a reputation for courage as well as cruelty in war, which made their name terrible throughout the Valley. In the early part of the fifteenth century, nearly a hundred years from the foundation of the city, an event took place which created an entire revolution in the circumstances, and, to some extent, in the character of the Aztecs. This was the subversion of the Tezcucan monarchy by the Tepanecs, already noticed. When the oppressive con- duct of the victors had at length aroused a spirit of resistance, its prince, Nezahualcoyotl, succeeded, after incredible perils and escapes, in mustering such a force, as, with the aid of the Mexicans, placed him on a level with his enemies. In two successive battles, these were defeated with great slaughter, their chief slain, and their territory, by one of those sudden reverses which characterize the wars of petty states, passed into the hands of the conquerors. It was awarded to Mexico, in re- turn for its important services. Then was formed that remarkable league, which, indeed, has no parallel in history. It was agreed between the states of Mexico, Tezcuco, and the neighboring little kingdom of Tlaco- pan, that they should mutually support each other in their wars, offensive and defensive, and that, in the distribution of the spoil, one fifth should be assigned to Tlacopan, and the remain- der be divided, in what proportions is uncertain, between the other powers. The Tezcucan writers claim an equal share for their nation with the Aztecs. But this does not seem to be warranted by the immense increase of territory subsequently appropriated by the latter. And we may account for any ad- vantage conceded to them by the treaty, on the supposition, that, however inferior they may have been originally, they were The Chichemecs arrived . The Acolhuans arrived about The Mexicans reached Tula They founded Mexico . 1170 . 1200 . 1196 *325 See his dissert. 2, sec. 12. In the last date, the one of most importance, he is confirmed by the learned Veytia, who differs from him in all the others. Hist. Antig., lib. 2, cap. 15. PRIMITIVE RACES. 39 at th$ time of making it, in a more prosperous condition than their allies, broken and dispirited by long oppression. What is more extraordinary than the treaty itself, however, is the fidel- ity with which it was maintained. During a century of uninter- rupted warfare that ensued, no instance occurred where the parties quarrelled over the division of the spoil, which so often makes shipwreck of similar confederaces among civilized states . 25 The allies for some time found sufficient occupation for their arms in their own valley ; but they soon overleaped its rocky ramparts, and by the middle of the fifteenth century, under the first Montezuma, had spread down the sides of the table-land to the borders of the Gulf of Mexico. Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, gave evidence of the public prosperity. Its frail tenements were supplanted by solid 'structures of stone and lime. Its population rapidly increased. Its old feuds were healed. The citizens who had seceded were again brought under a common government with the main body, and the quar- ter they occupied was permanently connected with the parent city ; the dimensions of which, covering the same ground, were much larger than those of the modern capital of Mexico . 26 Fortunately, the throne was filled by a succession of able princes, who knew how to profit by their enlarged resources and by the martial enthusiasm of the nation. Year after year saw them return, loaded with the spoils of conquered cities, and with throngs of devoted captives, to their capital. No state 25 The loyal Tezcucan chronicler claims the supreme dignity for his own sovereign, if not the greatest share of the spoil, by this imperial compact. (Hist. Chich., cap. 32.) Torquemada, on the other hand, claims one half of all the conquered lands for Mexico. (Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 40.) All agree in assigning only one fifth to Tlacopan; and Veytia (Hist. Antig., lib. 3, cap. 3) and Zurita (Rapport sur les Differentes Classes de chefs de la Nou- velle Espagne, trad, de Ternaux, (Paris, 1840,) p. 11), both very competent critics acquiesce in an equal division between the two principal states in the confederacy. An ode, still extant, of Nezahualcoyotl, in its Castilian ver- sion, bears testimony to the singular union of the three powers. “ solo se acordaran en las Naciones lo bien que gobernaron las tres Cabexas que el Imperio honraron.” CANTARES DHL EmPERADOR Nezahualcoytl, MS, 26 See the plans of the ancient and modern capital, in Bullock’s “ Mex- ico,” first edition. The original of the ancient map was obtained by that traveller from the collection of the unfortunate Boturini ; if, as seems proba- ble, it is the one indicated on page 13 of his Catalogue, I find no warrant for Mr. Bullock’s statement, that it was the same prepared for Cortes by the order of Montezuma. 4 o AZTEC CIVILIZATION. was able long to re c ’< the accumulated strength of the confed erates. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, just before the arrival of the Spaniards, the Aztec dominion reached across the continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; and, under the bold and bloody Ahuitzotl, its arms had been carried far over the limits already noticed as defining its permanent territory, into the farthest corners of Guatemala and Nicaragua. This extent of empire, however limited in comparison with that of many other states, is truly wonderful, considering it as the ac- quisition of a people whose whole population and resources had so recently been comprised within the walls of their own petty city ; and considering, moreover, that the conquered territory was thickly settled by various races, bred to arms like the Mex- icans, and little inferior to them in social organization. The history of the Aztecs suggests some strong points of resem- blance to that of the ancient Romans, not only in their military successes, but in the policy which led to them . 27 27 Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. I. lib. 2.— Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., tom. I. lib. 2, — Boturini, Idea, p. 146. — Col. of Mendoza, Part 1, and Codex Telleriano-Remensis, apud antiq. of Mexico, vols. I., VI. Machiavelli has noticed it as one great cause of the military successes of the Romans, “ that they associated themselves, in their wars, with other states, as the principal”; and expresses his astonishment that a similar pol- icy should not have been adopted by ambitious republics in later times. (See his Discorsi sopra T. Livio, lib. 2, cap. 4, apud Opere (Geneva, 1798).) This, as we have seen above, was the very course pursued by the Mexicans. The most important contribution, of late years, to the early history ot Mexico is the Historia Antigua of the Lie. Don Mariano Veytia, published in the city of Mexico, in 1836. This scholar was born of an ancient and highly respectable family at Puebla, 1718. After finishing his academic education, he went to Spain, where he was kindly received at court. He afterwards visited several other countries of Europe, made himself acquainted with their languages, and returned home well stored with the fruits of a dis- criminating observation and diligent study. The rest of his life he devoted to letters; especially to the illustration of the national history and anti- quities. As the executor of the unfortunate Boturini, with whom he had contracted an intimacy in Madrid, he obtained access to his valuable collec- tion of manuscripts in Mexico, and from them, and every other source whiclf his position in society and his eminent character opened to him, he composed various works, none of which, however, except the one before us, has been admitted to the honors of the press. The time of his death is not given by his editor, but it was probably not later than 1780. Veytia’s history covers the whole period, from the first occupation of Anahuac to the middle of the fifteenth century, at which point his labors were unfortunately terminated by his death. In the early portion he has en- deavored to trace the migratory movements and historical annals of the principal races who entered the country. Every page bears testimony to the PRIMITIVE PACES. 41 extent and fidelity of his researches ; and, if we feel but moderate confidence in the results, the fault is not imputable to him, so much as to the dark and doubtful nature of the subject. As he descends to later ages, he is more occupied with the fortunes of the Tezcucan than with those of the Aztec dynasty, which have been amply discussed by others of his countrymen. The premature close of his labors prevented him, probably, from giving that attention to the domestic institutions of the people he describes, to which they are entitled as the most important subject of inquiry to the historian. The deficiency has been supplied by his judicious editor, Orteaga, from other sources. In the early part of his work, Veytia has explained the chronological system of the Aztecs, but, like most writers preceding the ao curate Gama, with indifferent success. As a critic, he certainly ranks much higher than the annalists who preceded him ; and, when his own religion is not involved, shows a discriminating judgment. When it is, he betrays a full measure of the credulity which still maintains its hold on too many even of the well informed of his countrymen. The editor of the work has given a very interesting letter from the Abbe Clavigero to Veytia, written when the former was a poor and humble exile, and in the tone of one addressing a person of high standing and literary eminence. Both were employed on the same subject. The writings of the poor Abbe, published again and again, and translated into various languages, have spread his fame throughout Europe; while the name of Veytia, whose works have been locked up in their primitive manuscript, is scarcely known beyond the boundaries of Mexico. 42 AZTEC CIVILIZATION CHAPTER II. Succession to the Crown. — Aztec Nobility. — Judicial Sys« tem.— Laws and Revenues. — Military Institutions. The form of government differed in the different states of Anahuac. With the Aztecs and Tezcucans it was monarchical and nearly absolute. The two nations resembled each other so much, in their political institutions, that one of their historians has remarked, in too unqualified a manner indeed, that what is told of one may be always understood as applying to the other . 1 I shall direct my inquiries to the Mexican polity, borrowing an illustration occasionally from that of the rival kingdom. The government was an elective monarchy. Four of the principal nobles, who had been chosen by their own body in the preceding reign, filled the office of electors, to whom were added, with merely an honorary rank however, the two royal allies of Tezcuco and Tlacopan. The sovereign was selected from the brothers of the deceased prince, or, in default of them, from his nephews. Thus the election was always restricted to the same family. The candidate preferred must have distinguished him- self in war, though, as m the case of the last Montezuma, he were a member of the priesthood . 2 This singular mode of supplying the throne had some advantages. The candidates received an education which fitted them for the royal dignity, while the age, at which they were chosen, not only secured the nation against the evils of minority, but afforded ample means for estimating their qualifications for the office. The result, at all events, was favorable ; since the throne, as already noticed, was filled by a succession of able princes, well qualified to rule over a warlike and ambitious people. The scheme of election, however defective, argues a more refined and calculating policy than was to have been expected from a barbarous nation . 3 1 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 36. 2 This was an exception. — In Egypt, also, the king was frequently taken from the warrior caste, though obliged afterwa - to be instructed in the mystries of the priesthood : 6 Si he fiax'ijuo)v The Hon. C. A. Murray, whose imperturbable good humor under real troubles forms a contrast, rather striking, to the sensitiveness of seme of his predecessors to imaginary ones, tells us, among other marvels, that an Indian of his party travelled a hundred miles in four and twenty hours. (Travels in N. America, (New York, 1839,) vol. I. p. 193.) The Greek, who, according to Plutarch, brought the news of victory to Plataea. a hundred and twenty- five miles, in a day, was a better traveler still. Some interesting facts on the pedestrian capabilities of man in the savage state are collected by Buffon, who concludes, truly enough, “ L’homme civilise ne connait pas ses forces. * (Histoire Naturelle; De la Jeunesse . ) Mexico 3 Vol. 1 54 AZTEC CIVILIZATION. \ courier, denoting by its ' jlor that of his tidings, spread joy or consternation in the tov, ns through which he passed. But the great aim of the Aztec institutions, to which private discipline and public honors were alike directed, was the pro- fessiorq of arms. In Mexico, as in Egypt, the soldier shared with the priest the highest consideration. The king, as we have seen, must be an experienced warrior. The tutelary deity of the Aztecs was the god of war. A great object of their military ex- peditions was, to gather hecatombs of captives for his altars. The soldier, who fell in battle, was transported at once to the region of ineffable bliss in the bright mansions of the Sun . 33 Every war therefore, became a crusade ; and the warrior, animated by a religious enthusiasm, like that of the early Saracen, or the Christian crusader, was not only raised to a contempt of danger, but courted it, for the imperishable crown of martyrdom. Thus we find the same impulse acting in the most opposite quarters of the globe, and the Asiatic, the European, and the American, each earnestly invoking the holy name of religion in the perpe- tration of human butchery. The question of war was discussed in a council of the king and his chief nobles. Ambassadors were sent, previously to its declaration, to require the hostile state to receive the Mexican gods, and to pay the customary tribute. The persons of ambas- sadors were held sacred throughout Anahuac. They were lodged and entertained in the great towns at the public charge, and were everywhere received with courtesy, so long as they did not deviate from the highroads on their route. When they did, they forfeited their privileges. If the embassy proved unsuccess- ful, a defiance, or open declaration of war, was sent ; quotas were drawn from the conquered provinces, which were always subjected to military service, as well as the payment of taxes ; 81 Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 14, cap. 1. The same wants led to the same expedients in ancient Rome, and still more ancient Persia. ‘ 1 Nothing in the world is borne so swiftly,” says Herod- otus, “ as messages by the Persian couriers ” ; which his commentator, Valck- enaer, prudently qualifies by the exception of the carrier pigeon. (Herod- otus, Hist., Urania, sec. 98, nec non Adnot. ed. Schweighauser.) Couriers are noticed, in the thirteenth century, in China, by Marco Polo. Their stations were only three miles apart, and they accomplished five days’ journey in one. (Viaggi di Marco Polo, lib. 2, cap. 20, ap. Ramusio, tom. II.) A similar arrangement for posts subsists there at the present day, and excites the admiration of a modern traveller. (Anderson, British Embassy to China, (London, 1796,) p. 282.) In all these cases, the posts were for the use of gov- ernment only. 32 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva Espafia, lib. 3, Apend.,cap. 3. MILITARY INSTITUTION, \ 55 and the royal army, usually with the monarch at its head, began its march . 33 The Aztec princes made use of the incentives employed by European monarchs to excite the ambition of their followers. They established various military orders, each having its privi- leges and peculiar insignia. There seems, also, to have existed a sort of knighthood, of inferior degree. It was the cheapest reward of martial prowess, and whoever had not reached it was excluded from using ornaments on his arms or his person, and obliged to wear a coarse white stuff, made from the threads of the aloe, called nequen. Even the members of the royal family were not excepted from this law, which reminds one of the occasional practice of Christian knights, to wear plain armor, or shields without device, till they had achieved some doughty feat of chivalry. Although the military orders were thrown open to all, it is probable that they were chiefly filled with persons of rank, who, by their previous training and connexions, were able to come into the field under peculiar advantages . 34 The dress of the higher warriors was picturesque and often magnificent. Their bodies were covered with a close vest of quilted cotton, so thick as to be impenetrable to the light missiles of Indian warfare. This garment was so light and serviceable, that it was adopted by the Spaniards. The wealthier chiefs sometimes wore, instead of this cotton mail, a cuirass made of thin plates of gold, or silver. Over it was thrown a surcoat of the gorgeous featherwork in which they excelled . 35 Their hel- mets were sometimes of wood, fashioned like the heads of wild animals, and sometimes of silver, on the top of which waved a panache of variegated plumes, sprinkled with precious stones 33 Zurita; Rapport, pp. 68, 120. — Col. of Mendoza, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. 1. PI. 67; vol. VI. p. 74. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 14, cap. 1. The reader will find a remarkable resemblance to these military usages, in those of the early Romans. Comp. Liv., Hist., lib. 1, caps. 32; lib. 4, cap. 30, et alibi. 34 Ibid., lib. 14, cap. 4, 5. — Acosta, lib. 6, ch. 26. — Collec. of Mendoza, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. 1. PI. 65; vol. VI. p. 72. — Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala* MS 36“ Their mail if mail, it may be called, was woven Of vegetable down, like finest flax, Bleached to the whiteness of newfallen snow. ********** Others, of higher office, were arrayed In feathery breastplates, of more gorgeous hue Than the gay plumage of the mountain-cock, Than the pheasant’s glittering pride. But what were these, Or what the thin gold hauberk, yvhen opposed To arms like ours in battle ? ” Madoc, P. 1, canto 7. Beautiful painting ! One may doubt, however, the propriety of the Welsh- man’s vaunt, before the use of fire-arms. AZTEC CIVILIZATION. 56 and ornaments of gold They wore also collars, bracelets, and ear-rings, of the san-j rich materials . 36 Their armies were divided into bodies of eight thousand men ; and these again, into companies of three or four hundred, each with its own commander. The national standard, which has been compared to the ancient Roman, displayed, in its em- broidery of gold and feather-work, the armorial ensigns of the state. These were significant of its name, which, as the names of both persons and places were borrowed from some material object, was easily expressed by hieroglyphical symbols. The companies and the great chiefs had also their appropriate ban- ners and devices, and the gaudy hues of their many-colored plumes gave a dazzling splendor to the spectacle. Their tactics were such as belong to a nation, with whom war, though a trade, is not elevated to the rank of a science. They advanced singing, and shouting their war-cries, briskly charging the enemy, as rapidly retreating, and making use of ambuscades, sudden surprises, and the light skirmish of guerilla warfare. Yet their discipline was such as to draw forth the encomiums of the Spanish conquerors. “ A beautiful sight it was,” says one of them, “ to see them set out on their march, all moving forward so gayly, and in so admirable order ! ” 37 In battle, they did not seek to kill their enemies, so much as to take them prisoners ; and they never scalped, like other North American tribes. The valor of a warrior was estimated by the number of his prisoners ; and no ransom was large enough to save the devoted captive . 38 Their military code bore the same stern features as their other laws. Disobedience of orders was punished with death. It was death, also, for a soldier to leave his colors, to attack the enemy before the signal was given, or to plunder another’s booty or pris- oners. One of the last Tezcucan princes, in the spirit of an 36 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva Espana, lib. 2, cap. 27 ; lib. 8, cap. 12.. Re- latione d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. III. p. 305.— Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., ubi supra. 37 Relatione d’un gentil’ huomo, ubi supra. 38 Col. of Mendoza, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. I. PI. 65, 66; vol. Yl. p. 73. — Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva Espana, lib. 8, cap. 12. — Toribio, Hist, de los Indios, MS., Parte I. cap. 7. — Torquemada, Monarch Ind., lib. 14, cap. 3.— Relatione d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, loc. cit. Scalping may claim high authority, or, at least, antiquity. The Father of History gives an account of it among the Scythians, showing that they per- formed the operation, and wore the hideous trophy, in the same manner as our North American Indians. (Herodot., Hist. Melpomene, sec. 64.) Traces of the same savage custom are also found in the laws of the Visigoths, among the Franks, and even the Anglo-Saxons. See Guizot, Cours d’Histoire Moderne, (Paris, 1829,) tom. I. p. 283. MILITARY INSTITUTIONS. 57 ancient Roman, put two sons to death, — after having cured their 'wounds, — for violating the last-mentioned law . 39 I must not omit to notice here an institution, the introduc- tion of which, in the Old World, is ranked among the beneficent fruits of Christianity. Hospitals were established in the prin- cipal cities, for the cure of the sick, and the permanent refuge of the disabled soldiers ; and surgeons were placed over them, “ who were so far better than those in Europe,” says an old chronicler, “ that they did not protract the cure, in order to in- crease the pay .” 40 Such is the brief outline of the civil and military polity of the ancient Mexicans ; less perfect than could be desired, in re- gard to the former, from the imperfection of the sources whence it is drawn. Whoever has had occasion to explore the early history of modern Europe has found how vague and unsatisfac- tory is the political information which can be gleaned from the gossip of monkish annalists. How much is the difficulty in- creased in the present instance, where this information, first recorded in the dubious language of hieroglyphics, was inter- preted in another language, with which the Spanish chroniclers were imperfectly acquainted, while it related to institutions of which their past experience enabled them to form no adequate conception ! Amidst such uncertain lights, it is in vain to ex- pect nice accuracy of detail. All that can be done is, to at- tempt an outline of the more prominent features, that a correct impression, so far as it goes, may be produced on the mind of the reader. Enough has been said, however, to show that the Aztec and Tezcucan races were advanced in civilization very far beyond the wandering tribes of North America . 41 The degree of civili- 89 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 67. 40 Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 12, cap. 6; lib. 14, cap. 3. — Ixtlilxo- chitl, Hist Chich., MS., cap. 36. 41 Zurita is indignant at the epithet of barbarians bestowed on the Aztecs; an epithet, he says, “ which could come from no one who had personal knowl- edge of the capacity of the people, or their institutions, and which, in some respects, is quite as well merited by the European nations.” (Rapport, p, 200, et seq.) This is strong language. Yet no one had better means of knowing than this eminent jurist, who, for nineteen years, held a post in the royal audiences of New Spain, E>uring his long residence in the country he had ample opportunity of acquainting himself with its usages, both through his own personal observation and intercourse with the natives, and through the first missionaries who came over after the Conquest. On his return to Spain, probably about 1560, he occupied himself with an answer to queries which have been propounded by the government, on the character of the Aztec laws and institutions and on that of the modifications introduced by the Spaniards. Much of his treatise is taken up with the latter subject. In what relates to the former he is more brief than could be wished, from th« AZTEC CIVILIZATION. 58 zation which they had reached, as inferred by their political in- stitutions, may be considered, perhaps, not much short of that enjoyed by our Saxon ancestors, under Alfred. In respect to the nature of it, they may be better compared with the Egyp- tians ; and the examination of their social relations and culture may suggest still stronger points of resemblance to that ancient people. Those familiar with the modern Mexicans will find it difficult to conceive that the nation should ever have been capable of devising the enlightened polity which we have been considering. But they should remember that in the Mexicans of our day they see only a conquered race ; as different from their ancestors as are the modern Egyptians from those who built, — I will not say, the tasteless pyramids, — but the temples and palaces, whose magnificent wrecks strew the borders of the Nile, at Luxor and Karnac. The difference is not so great as between the ancient Greek, and his degenerate descendant, lounging among the master-pieces of art which he has scarcely taste enough to ad- mire, — speaking the language of those still more imperishable monuments of literature which he has hardly capacity to compre- hend. Yet he breathes the same atmosphere, is warmed by the same sun, nourished by the same scenes, as those who fell at Marathon, and won the trophies of Olympic Pisa. The same blood flows in his veins that flowed in theirs. But ages of tyranny have passed over him ; he belongs to a conquered race. The American Indian has something peculiarly sensitive in his nature. He shrinks instinctively from the rude touch of a foreign hand. Even when this foreign influence comes in the form of civilization, he seems to sink and pine away beneath it. It has been so with the Mexicans. Under the Spanish domina- tion, their numbers have silently melted away. Their energies are broken. They no longer tread their mountain plains with the conscious independence of their ancestors. In their falter- ing step, and meek and melancholy aspect, we read the sad characters of the conquered race. The cause of humanity, in- deed, has gained. They live under a better system of laws, a more assured tranquillity, a purer faith. But all does not avail. difficulty, perhaps, of obtaining full and satisfactory information as to the details. As far as he goes, however, he manifests a sound and discriminating judgment. He is very rarely betrayed into the extravagance of expression so visible in the writers of the time; and this temperance, combined with his uncommon sources of information, makes his work one of highest authority on the limited topics within its range. — The original manuscript was con- sulted by Clavigero, and, indeed, has been used by other writers. The work is now accessible to all, as one of the series of translations from the pen of the indefatigable Ternaux. MILITARY INSTITUTIONS . 59 Their civilization was of the hardy character which belongs to the wilderness. The fierce virtues of the Aztec were all his own. They refused to submit to European culture, — to be en- grafted on a foreign stock. His outward form, his complexion, his lineament, are substantially the same. But the moral char- acteristics of the nation, all that constituted its individuality as a race, are effaced forever. Two of the principal authorities for this chapter are Torquemada and Claw igero. The former, a Provincial of the Franciscan order, came to the New World about the middle of the sixteenth century. As the generation of the Conquerors had not then passed away, he had ample opportunities of gather- ing the particulars of their enterprise from their own lips. Fifty years, dur- ing which he continued in the country, put him in possession of the tradi- tions and usages of the natives, and enabled him to collect their history from the earliest missionaries, as well as from such monuments as the fanaticism of his own countrymen had not then destroyed. From these ample sources he compiled his bulky tomes, beginning, after the approved fashion of the ancient Castilian chroniclers, with the creation of the world, and embracing the whole circle of the Mexican institutions, political, religious, and social, from the earliest period to his own time. In handling these fruitful themes, the worthy father has shown a full measure of the bigotry which belonged to his order at that period. Every page, too, is loaded with illustrations from Scripture or profane history, which form a whimsical contrast to the barbaric staple of his story ; and he has sometimes fallen into serious errors, from his misconception of the chronological system of the Aztecs. But, notwith- standing these glaring defects in the composition of the work, the student, aware of his author’s infirmities, will find few better guides than Torquemada in tracing the stream of historic truth up to the fountain head ; such is his manifest integrity, and so great were his facilities for information on the most curious points of Mexican antiquity. No work, accordingly, has been more largely consulted and copied, even by some, who, like Herrera, have affected to set little value on the sources whence its information was drawn, — (Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 6, cap, 19.) The Monarchia Indiana was first published at Seville, 1615, (Nic Antonio, Bibliotheca Nova, (Matriti, 1783,) tom. II. p. 787,) and since, in a better style, in three volumes folio, at Madrid, in 1723. The other authority, frequently cited in the preceding pages, is the Abbe Clavigero’s Sioria Antica del Messico. It was originally printed towards the close of the last centary, in the Italian language, and in Italy, whither the author, a native of Vera Cruz, and a member of the order of the Jesuits, had retired, on the expulsion of that body from America, in 1767. During a re- sidence of thirty-five years in his own country, Clavigero had made himself intimately acquainted with its antiquities, by the careful examination of paint- ings, manuscripts, and such other remains as were to be found in his day. The plan of his work is nearly as comprehensive as that of his predecessor, Torquemada ; but the later and more cultivated period, in which he wrote, is visible in the superior address with which he has managed his complicated subject. In the elaborate disquisitions in his concluding volume, he has done much to rectify the chronology, and the various inaccuracies of preceding writers. Indeed, an avowed object of his work was, to vindicate his country- men from what he conceived to be the misrepresentations of Robertson 6o AZTEC CIVILIZATION. Raynal, and De Pau. In regard to the last two, he was perfectly successful. Such an ostensible design might naturally suggest unfavorable ideas of his impartiality. But, on the whole, he seems to have conducted the discussion with good faith ; and, if he has been led by national zeal to overcharge the picture with brilliant colors, he will be found much more temperate, on this score, than those who preceded him, while he has applied sound principles of criticism, of which they were incapable. In a word, the diligence of his researches has gathered into one focus the scattered lights of tradition and antiquarian lore, purified in a great measure from the mists of superstition which obscure the best productions of an earlier period. From these causes, the work, notwithstanding its occasional prolixity, and the disagreeable aspect given to it by the profusion of uncouth names in the Mexican orthography, which bristle over every page, has found merited favor with the public, and created something like a popular interest in the subject. Soon after its pub- lication at Cesena, in 1780, it was translated into English, and more lately, into Spanish and German* MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY, 61 CHAPTER III. Mexican Mythology. — The Sacerdotal Order. — The Temples. — Human Sacrifices. The civil polity of the Aztecs is so closely blended with their religion, that, without understanding the latter, it is impossible to form correct ideas of their government or their social institu- tions. I shall pass over, for the present, some remarkable tradi- tions, bearing a singular resemblance to those found in the Scriptures, and endeavor to give a brief sketch of their mythol- ogy, and their careful provisions for maintaining a national worship. Mythology may be regarded as the poetry of religion,-— or rather as the poetic development of the religious principles in a primitive age. It is the effort of untutored man to explain the mysteries of existence, and the secret agencies by which the operations of nature are conducted. Although the growth of similar conditions of society, its character must vary with that of the rude tribes in which it originates ; and the ferocious Goth, quaffing mead from the skulls of his slaughtered enemies, must have a very different mythology from that of the effeminate native of Hispaniola, loitering away his hours in idle pastimes, under the shadow of his bananas. At a later and more refined period, we sometimes find these primitive legends combined into a regular system under the hands of the poet, and the rude outline moulded into forms of ideal beauty, which are the objects of adoration in a credulous age, and the delight of all succeeding ones. Such were the beau- tiful inventions of Hesiod and Homer, “ who,” says the Father of History, “ created the theogony of the Greeks an assertion not to be taken too literally, since k is hardly possible that any man should create a religious system for his nation . 1 They only filled up the shadowy outlines of tradition with the bright touches of their own imaginations, until they had clothed them l Troi^oavre^ deo-yoviT/v ”E/l "kqoi Herodotus, Euterpe, sec, 53. — Heeren haza- rds a remark equally strong, respecting the epic poets of India, “ who,” says he, “ have supplied the numerous gods that fill her Pantheon.” His- torical Researches, Eng. trans., (Oxford, 1833,) vol. III. p. 139. 62 AZTEC CIVIL1ZA Tf£>A/ in beauty which kindled the imaginations of others. The power of the poet, indeed, may be felt in a similar way in a much riper period of society. To say nothing of the “ Divina Corn- media,” who is there that rises from the perusal of “ Paradise Lost,” without feeling his own conceptions of the angelic hier- archy quickened by those of the inspired artist, and a new and / sensible form, as it were, given to images which had before floated dim and undefined before him ? The last-mentioned period is succeeded by that of philosophy ; which, disclaiming alike the legends of the primitive age, and the poetical embellishments of the succeeding one, seeks to shelter itself from the charge of impiety by giving an allegorical interpretation to the popular mythology, and thus to reconcile the latter with the genuine deductions of science. The Mexican religion had emerged from the first of the periods we have been considering, and, although little affected by poetical influences, had received a peculiar complexion from the priests, who had digested as thorough and burdensome a ceremonial, as ever existed in any nation. They had, moreover, thrown the veil of allegory over early tradition, and invested their deities with attributes, savoring much more of the grotesque conceptions of the eastern nations in the Old World, than of the lighter fictions of Greek mythology, in which the features of humanity, however exaggerated, were never wholly abandoned . 2 In contemplating the religious system of the Aztecs, one is struck with its apparent incongruity, as if some portion of it had emanated from a comparatively refined people, open to gentle influences, while the rest breathes a spirit of unmitigated feroc- ity. It naturally suggests the idea of two distinct sources, and authorizes the belief that the Aztecs had inherited from their predecessors a milder faith, on which was afterwards engrafted their own mythology. The latter soon became dominant, and gave its dark coloring to the creeds of the conquered nations, — which the Mexicans, like the ancient Romans, seem willingly to have incorporated into their own,— until the same funereal superstitions settled over the farthest borders of Anahuac. The Aztecs recognized the existence of a supreme Creator and Lord of the universe. They addressed him in their prayers as “ the God by whom we live,” “ omnipresent, that knoweth 2 The Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone has fallen into a similar train of thought, in a comparison of the Hindoo and Greek Mythology, in his “ His- tory of India,” published since the remarks in the text were written. (See Book I. ch. 4.) The same chapter of this truly philosophic work suggests some curious points of resemblance to the Aztec religious institutions, that may furnish pertinent illustrations to the mind bent on tracing the affinities of the Asiatic and American races MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY 6 3 all thoughts, and giveth all gifts,” “ without whom man is as nothing,” “ invisible, incorporeal, one God, of perfect perfection and purity,” “ under whose wings we find repose and a sure de- fence.” These sublime attributes infer no inadequate concep- tion of the true God. But the idea of unity — of a being, with whom volition is action, who has no need of inferior ministers to execute his purposes — was too simple or too vast, for their understandings ; and they sought relief, as usual, in a plurality of deities, who presided over the elements, the changes of the seasons, and the various occupations of man . 3 Of these, there were thirteen principal deities, and more than two hundred in- ferior ; to each of whom some special day, or appropriate festi- val, was consecrated . 4 5 At the head of all stood the terrible Huitzilopotchli, the Mexican Mars ; although it is doing injustice to the heroic war- god of antiquity to identify him with this sanguinary monster. This was the patron deity of the nation. His fantastic image was loaded with costly ornaments. His temples were the most stately and august of the public edifices ; and his altars reeked with the blood of human hecatombs in every city of the empire. Disastrous, indeed, must have been the influence of such a su- perstition on the character of the peopled 3 Ritter has well shown, by the example of the Hindoo system, how the idea of unity suggests, of itself, that of plurality. History of Ancient phil- osophy, Eng. trans., (Oxford, 1838,) book 2, ch. 1. 4 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva Espana, lib. 6, passim. — Acosta, lib. 5, ch. 9. — Boturini, Idea, p. 8, et seq.— Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 1— Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS. The Mexicans, according to Clavigero, believed in an evil Spirit, the ene- my of the human race, whose barbarous name signified “ Rational Owl.” (Stor. del. Messico, tom. II. p. 2.) The curate Bernaldez speaks of the Devil being embroidered on the dresses of Columbus’s Indians, in the like- ness of an owl. (Historia de los Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 131.) This must not be confounded, however, with the evil Spirit in the mythology of the North American Indians, (See Heckewelder’s account, ap. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, vol. I. p. 205,) still less with the evil Principle of the Oriental nations of the Old World. It was only one among many deities, for evil was found too liberally mingled in the natures of most of the Aztec gods, — in the same manner as with the Greek, to admit of its personification by any one. 5 Sagahun, Hist, de Nueva Espana, lib. 3, cap. 1, et seq. — Acosta, lib. 5, eh. 9. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 6, cap. 21. — Boturini, Idea, pp. 27, 28. Huitzilopotchli is compounded of two words, signifying “ humming-bird,” and “ left,” from his image having the feathers of this bird on its left foot; (Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. II. p. 17;) an amiable etymology for so ruffian a deity. — -The fantastic forms of the Mexican idols were in the highest degree symbolical. See Gama’s learned exposition of the devices on the ^atue of the goddess found in the great square of Mexico. (Descripcion de 64 AZTEC CIVILIZATION. A far more iubvesUig personage in their mythology was Quetzalcoatl, god ^ t air, a divinity who, during his residence on earth, instructed the natives in the use of metals, in agricul- ture, and in the arts of government. He was one of those ben- efactors of their species, doubtless, who have been deified by the gratitude of posterity. Under him, the earth teemed with fruits and flowers, without the pains of culture. An ear of Indian corn was as much as a single man could carry. The cotton, as it grew, took, of its own accord, the rich dyes of human art. The air was filled with intoxicating perfumes and the sweet melody of birds. In short, these were the halcyon days, which find a place in the mythic systems of so many nations in the Old World. It was the golden age of Anahuac, From some cause, not explained, Quetzalcoatl incurred the wrath of one of the principal gods, and was compelled to abandon the country. On his way, he stopped at the city of Cholula, where a temple was dedicated to his worship, the massy ruins of which still form one of the most interesting relics of antiquity in Mexico. When he reached the shores of the Mexican Gulf, he took leave of his followers, promising that he and his de- scendants would revisit them hereafter, and then, entering his wizard skiff, made of serpents’ skins embarked on the great ocean for the fabled land of Tlapallan. He was said to have been tall in stature, with a white skin, long, dark hair, and a flowing beard. The Mexicans looked confidently to the return of the benevolent diety ; and this remarkable tradition, deeply cherished in their hearts, prepared the way, as we shall see hereafter, for the future success of the Spaniards . 6 las Dos Piedras, (Mexico, 1832,) Parte 1, pp. 34-44 ) The tradition respect- ing the origin of this god, or, at least, his appearance on earth, is turious. He was born of a woman. His mother, a devout person, one day, in her at- tendance on the temple, saw a ball of bright-colored feathers floating in the air. She took it, and deposited it in her bosom. She soon after found her- self pregnant, and the dread deity was born, coming into the world, like Minerva, all armed, — with a spear in the right hand, a shield in the left, and his head surmounted by a crest of green plumes. (.See Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. II. p. 19, et seq. ) A similar notion in respect to the incarna- tion of their principal deity existed among the people of India beyond the Ganges, of China, and of Thibet. “ Budh,” says Milman, in his learned and luminous work on the History of Christianity, u according to a tradition known in the West, was born of a virgin. So were the Fohi of China, and the Schakaof of Thibet, no doubt the same, whether a mythic or a real per- sonage. The Jesuits in China, says Barrow, were appalled at finding in the mythology of that country the counterpart of the Virgo Deipara.’ r (Vol. I. p. 99, note. The existence of similar religious ideas in remote regions, in- habited by different races, is an interesting subject of study; furnishing, as it does, one of the most important links in the great chain of communication which binds together the distant families of nations. 6 Codex Vaticanus, PI, 15, and. Codex Tellexiano-Remensis, Part 2. PI MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY. We have not space for further details respecting the Mexican divinities, the attributes of many of whom were carefully de- fined, as they descended, in regular gradation, to the penates or household gods, whose little images were to be found in the humblest dwelling. The Aztecs felt the curiosity, common to man in almost every stage of civilization, to lift the veil which covers the mysterious past, and the more awful future. They sought relief, like the nations of the Old Continent, from the oppressive idea of eternity, by breaking it up into distinct cycles, or periods of time, each of several thousand years’ duration, There were four of these cycles, and at the end of each, by the agency of one of the elements, the human family was swept from the earthy and the sun blotted out from the heavens, to be again rekindled.’ They imagined three separate states of existence in the future life. The wicked, comprehending the greater part of mankind, 2. ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vols. I., VI. — Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva Espana, lib. 3, cap. 3, 4, 13, 14. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 6, cap. 24. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 1. — Gomara, Cronica de la Nueva Espana, cap. 222, ap. Barcia, Historiadores Primitivos de las Indias Occiden- tals, (Madrid, 1749,) tom II. Quetzalcoatl signifies “ feathered serpent.” The last syllable means, like- wise, a “twin which furnished an argument for Dr. Siguenza to identify this god with the apostle Thomas, (Didymus signifying also a twin,) who, he supposes, came over to America to preach the Gospel. In this rather start- ling conjecture he is supported by several of his devout countrymen, who appear to have as little doubt of the fact as of the advent of St. James, for a similar purpose, in the mother country. See the various authorities and arguments set forth with becoming gravity in Dr. Mier’s dissertation in Busta- mante’s edition of Sahagun, (lib. 3, Suplem.,) and Veytia, (tom. I. pp. 160- 200.) Our ingenious countryman, McCulloh, carries the Aztec god up to a still more respectable antiquity, by identifying him with the patriarch Noah. Researches, Philosophical and Antiquarian, concerning the Aboriginal History of America, (Baltimore, 1829,) p. 233. 7 Cod. Vat., PI. 7-10, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vols. I., VI. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 1. M. de Humboldt has been at some pains to. trace the analogy between the Aztec cosmogony and that of Eastern Asia. He has tried, though in vain, to find a multiple which might serve as the key to the calculations of the former. (Vues des Cordillares, pp. 202-212.) In truth, there seems to be a material discordance in the Mexican statements, both in regard to the num- ber of revolutions and their duration. A manuscript before me, of Ixtlilxo- chitl, reduces them to three, before the present state of the world, and allows only 4394 years for them; (Sumaria Relation, MS., No. 1;) Gama, on the faith of an ancient Indian MS., in Boturini’s Catalogue, (VIII. 13,) reduces the duration still lower; (Descripcion de las Dos Piedras, Parte 1, p. 49, et seq. ;) while the cycles of the Vatican paintings take up near 18,000 years.— It is interesting to observe how the wild conjectures of an ignorant age have been confirmed by the more recent discoveries in geology, making it probable that the earth has experienced a number of convulsions, possibly thousands of years distant from each other, which have swept away the races then ex- isting, and given a new aspect to the globe. 66 AZTEC CIVILIZATION \ were to expiate their sins in a place of everlasting darkness* Another class, with no other merit than that of having died of certain diseases, capriciously selected, were to enjoy a negative existence of indolent contentment. The highest place was re- served, as in most warlike nations, for the heroes who fell in battle, or in sacrifice. They passed, at once, into the presence of the Sun, whom they accompanied with songs and choral dances, in his bright progress through the heavens ; and, after some years, their spirits went to animate the clouds and singing birds of beautiful plumage, and to revel amidst the rich blossoms and odors of the gardens of paradise . 8 Such was the heaven of the Aztecs ; more refined in its character than that of the more polished pagan, whose elysium reflected only the martial sports, or sensual gratifications, of this life . 9 In the destiny they assigned to the wicked, we discern similar traces of refinement ; since the absence of all physical torture forms a striking con- trast to the schemes of suffering so ingeniously devised by the fancies of the most enlightened nations . 10 In all this, so con- trary to the natural suggestions of the ferocious Aztec, we see the evidences of a higher civilization, inherited from their pre- decessors in the land. Our limits will allow only a brief allusion to one or two of their most interesting ceremonies. On the death of a person, his corpse was dressed in the peculiar habiliments of his tutelar 8 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva Espana , lib. 3, Apend. — Cod. Vat., ap. Antiq. of Mexico, PI. 1-5. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap 48. The last writer assures us, “ that as to what the Aztecs said of their going to hell, they were right; for as they died in ignorance of the true faith, they have, without question, all gone there to suffer everlasting punishment”! Ubi supra. 9 It conveys but a poor idea of these pleasures, that the shade of Achilles can say, “ he had rather be the slave of the meanest man on earth, than sov- ereign among the dead.” (Odyss. A. 488-490.) The Mahometans believe that the souls of martyrs pass, after death, into the bodies of birds, that haunt the sweet waters and bowers of Paradise. (Sale’s Koran, (London, 1825,) vol. I. p. 106.) — The Mexican heaven mav remind one of Dante’s, in its ma~ terial enjoyments ; which, in both, are made up of light, music, and motion. The sun, it must also be remembered, was a spiritual conception with the Aztec : ,{ He sees with other eyes than theirs ; where they Behold a sun, he spies a deity.” 10 It is singular that the Tuscan bard, while exhausting his invention in devising modes of bodily torture, in his “ Inferno,” should have made so little use of the moral sources of misery. That he has not done so might be reckoned a strong proof of the rudeness of the time, did Wj not meet with examples of it in our own day ; in which a serious and sublime writer, like Dr. Watts, does not disdain to employ the same coarse machinery for mov< ing the conscience of the reader SACERDOTAL ORDER. 6/ deity. It was strewed with pieces of paper, which operated as charms against the dangers of the dark road he was to travel. A throng of slaves, if he were rich, was sacrificed at his obse- quies. His body was burned, and the ashes, collected in a vase, were preserved in one of the apartments of his house. Here we have successively the usages of the Roman Catholic, the Mussulman, the Tartar, and the Ancient Greek and Roman ; curious coincidences, which may show how cautious we should be in adopting conclusions founded on analogy . 11 A more extraordinary coincidence may be traced with Chris- tian rites, in the ceremony of naming their children. The lips and bosom of the infant were sprinkled with water, and “ the Lord was implored to permit the holy drops to wash away the sin that was given to it before the foundation of the world ; so that the child might be born anew .” 12 We are reminded of Christian morals, in more than one of their prayers, in which they used regular forms. “ Wilt thou blot us out, O Lord, for ever ? Is this punishment intended, not for our reformation, but for our destruction ? ” Again, “ Impart to us, out of thy great mercy, thy gifts, which we are not worthy to receive through our own merits.” “ Keep peace with all,” says another petition ; “ bear injuries with humility ; God, who sees, will avenge you.” But the most striking parallel with Scripture is in the remarkable declaration, that “ he, who looks too curiously on a woman, commits adultery with his eyes.” These pure and elevated maxims, it is true, are mixed up with others of a pue- rile, and even brutal character, arguing that confusion of the moral perceptions, which is natural in the twilight of civilization. One would not expect, however, to meet, in such a state of so- ciety, with doctrines as sublime as any inculcated by the enlight- ened codes of ancient philosophy . 13 11 Carta del Lie Zuazo, (Nov., 1521,) MS. — Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 8. — Tor- quemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 45. — Sahagun, Hist.de Nueva Espana. lib. 3, Apend. Sometimes the body was buried entire, with valuable treasures, if the deceased was rich. The “ Anonymous Conqueror,” as he is called, saw gold to the value of 3000 Castellanos drawn from one of these tombs. Relatione d 1 un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. III. p. 310. 12 This interesting rite, usually solemnized with great formality, in the presence of the assembled friends and relatives, is detailed with minuteness Sahagun, (Hist, de Nueva Espana, lib. 6, cap. 37,) and by Zuazo, (Carta, MS.,) both of them eyewitnesses. Fora version of part of Sahagun’s account, see Appendix , Part /, note 26. 13 “z'Es possible, que esteazote y este castigo no se nos da para nuestra correccion v enmienda, sino para total destruccion y asolamiento ? ” (Saba- gun, Hist, de Nueva Espana lib, 6, cap. 1.) ‘‘ Y esto por sola vuestra liberali- dad y magnificencia lo habeis de hacer, que ninguno es digno ni merecedof 68 AZTEC CIVILIZATION. But, although the Aztec mythology gathered nothing from the beautiful inventions of the poet, nor from the refinements of philosophy, it was much indebted, as I have noticed, to the priests, who endeavored to dazzle the imagination of the people by the most formal and pompous ceremonial. The influence of the priesthood must be greatest in an imperfect state of civiliza- tion, where it engrosses all the scanty science of the time in its own body. This is particularly the case, when the science is of that spurious kind which is less occupied with the real phenom- ena of nature, than with the fanciful chimeras of human super- stition. Such are the sciences of astrology and divination, in which the Aztec priests were well initiated ; and, while they seemed to hold the keys of the future in their own hands, they impressed the ignorant people with sentiments of superstitious 1 awe, beyond that which has probably existed in any other coun- try, — even in ancient Egypt. The sacerdotal order was very numerous ; as may be inferred from the statement, that five thousand priests were, in some way or other, attached to the principal temple in the capital. The various ranks and functions of this multitudinous body were dis- criminated with great exactness. Those best instructed in music took the management of the choirs. Others arranged the festivals conformably to the calendar. Some superintended the educa- tion of youth, and others had charge of the hieroglyphical paint- ings and oral traditions ; while the dismal rites of sacrifice were reserved for the chief dignitaries of the order. At the head of the whole establishment were two high-priests, elected from the order, as it would seem, by the king and principal nobles, with- out reference to birth, but solely for their qualifications, as shown by their previous conduct in a subordinate station. They were equal in dignity, and inferior only to the sovereign, who rarely acted without their advice in weighty matters of public concern . 14 de recibir vuestras larguezas por su dignidad y merecimiento, sino que por vuestra benignidad.” (Ibid., lib. 6, cap. 2.) “ Sed sufridos y reportados, que Dios bien os ve y respondera por vosotros, y el os vengara (a) sed humildes con todos y con esto dos haraDios merced y tambien honra.” (Ibid., lib. 6, cap. 17.) “Tampoco mires con curiosidad el gesto y disposicion de la gente principal, mayormente de las mugeres, y sobre todo de las casadas, porque dice el refran que el que curiosamente mira a la muger adultera con la vista.” (Ibid., lib. 6, cap. 22.) 14 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva Espana, lib. 2, Apend lib. 3. cap. 9. — Tor- quemada, Monarch. Ind., lib, 8, cap. 20; lib 9, cap. 3, 56. — Gomara, Cron., cap. 215, ap. Barcia, tom. II. — Toribio, Hist.de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 4. Clavigero says that the highpriest was necessarily a person of rank. (Stor. del Messico, tom. II p. 37.) I find no authority for this, not even in his SACERDOTAL ORDER . 69 The priests were each devoted to the service of some particu- lar deity, and had quarters provided within the spacious pre- cincts of their temple ; at least, while engaged in immediate attendance there, — for they were allowed to marry, and have families of their own. In this monastic residence they lived in all the stern severity of conventual discipline. Thrice during the day, and once at night, they were called to prayers. They were frequent in their ablutions and vigils, and mortified the flesh by fasting and cruel penance, — drawing blood from their bodies by flagellation, or by piercing them with the thorns of the aloe ; in short, by practising all those austerities to which fanat- icism (to borrow the strong language of the poet) has resorted, in every age of the world, “ In hopes to merit heaven by making earth a hell.” 16 The great cities were divided into districts placed under the charge of a sort of parochial clergy, who regulated every act of religion within their precincts. It is remarkable that they ad- ministered the rites of confession and absolution. The secrets of the confessional were held inviolable, and penances were im- posed of much the same kind as those enjoined in the Roman Catholic Church. There were two remarkable peculiarities in the Aztec ceremony. The first was, that, as the repetition of an offence, once atoned for, was deemed inexpiable, confession was made but once in a man’s life, and was usually deferred to a late period of it, when the penitent unburdened his conscience, and settled, at once, the long arrears of iniquity. Another pe- culiarity was, that priestly absolution was received in place of the legal punishment of offences, and authorized an acquittal in case ef arrest. Long after the Conquest, the simple natives, when they came under the arm of the law, sought to escape by producing the certificate of their confession . 15 oracle, Torquemada, who expressly says, “ There is no warrant for the as- sertion, however probable the fact may be.” (Monarch. Ind., lib. 9, cap. 5.) It is contradicted by Sahagun, whom I have followed as the highest authority in these matters. Clavigero had no other knowledge of Sahagun’s work than what was filtered through the writings of Torquemada, and later authors. 15 Sahagun, Hist de Nueva Espana, ubi supra. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 9, cap 25. — Gomara, Cron., ap. Barcia, ubi supra, — Acosta, lib. 5. cap. 14, 1 7. 16 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva Espana, lib r, cap. 12 ; lib 6, cap. 7. The address of the confessor, on these occasions, contains some things too remarkable to be 1 omitted “ O merciful Lord,” he says, in his prayer, “ thou who knowest the secrets of all hearts, let thy forgiveness and favor descend, like the pure waters of heaven, to wash away the stains from the AZTEC CIVILIZATION. 70 One of the ,rio e 'i important duties of the priesthood was that of education, 10 which certain buildings were appropriated with- in the inclosure of the principal temple. Here the youth of both sexes, of the higher and middling orders, were placed at a very tender age. The girls were intrusted to the care of priestesses ; for women were allowed to exercise sacerdotal functions, ex- cept those of sacrifice. 17 . In these institutions the bovs were drilled in the routine of monastic disipline ; they decorated the shrines of the gods with flowers, fed the sacred fires, and took part in the religious chants and festivals. Those in the higher schools — the Calmecac. as it was called — were initiated in their traditionary lore, toe mysteries of hieroglyphics, the principles of government, and such branches of astronomical and natural science as were within the compass of the priesthood. The girls learned various feminine employments, especially to weave and embroider rich coverings for the altars of the gods. Great attention was paid to the moral discipline of both sexes. The most perfect decorum prevailed ; and offences were punished with extreme rigor, in some instances with death itself. Terror, not love, was the spring of education with the Aztecs . 18 At a suitable age for marrying, or for entering into the world, soul Thou knowest that this poor man has sinned , not from his own fre» will , but from the influence of the sign in under which he was born.” After a copious exhortation to the penitent, enjoying a variety of mortifications and minute ceremonies by way of penance, and particularly urging the necessity of instantly procuring a slave for sacrifice to the Deity, the priest concludes with inculcating charity to the poor. “ Clothe the naked and feed the hungry, whatever privations it may cost thee ; for remember, their flesh is like thine , and they are men like thee ” Such is the strange medley of truly Christian benevolence and heathenish abominations which pervade the Aztec litany,— intimating sources widely different. 17 The Egyptian gods were also served by priestesses. (See Herodotus, Euterpe, sec. 54.) Tales of scandal similar to those which the Greeks circulated respecting them, have been told of the Aztec virgins (See Le Noir’s dissertation, ap. Antiquites Mexicaines, (Paris, 1834,) tom. II. p. 7. note.) The early missionaries, credulous enough certainly, give no counte- nance to such reports ; and father Acosta, on the contrary, exclaims, “ In truth, it is very strange to see that this false opinion of religion hath so great force among these young men and maidens of Mexico, that they will serve the Divell with so great rigor and austerity, which many of us doe not in the service of the most high God ; the which is a great shame and confusion.” Eng. Trans., lib. 5, cap. 16, 18 Toribio, Hist, de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 9. — Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva Espana, lib. 2,, Apend. ; lib. 3, cap. 4-8. — Zurita, Rapport, pp. 123- 126.— Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 15, 16.— Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 9, cap. n-14, 30, 3 1 * “ They were taught,” says the good father last cited, “ to eschew vice, and cleave to virtue, — according to their notions of them ; namely, to abstain from wrath, to offer violence and do wrong to no man, — in short to perform the duties plainly pointed out hv natural religion.” SACERDOTAL ORDER. 7 * the pupils were dismissed, with much ceremony, from the con- vent, and the recommendation of the principal often introduced those most competent to responsible situations in public life Such was the crafty policy of the Mexican priests, who, by reserving to themselves the business of instruction, were enabled to mould the young and plastic mind according to their own wills, and to train it early to implicit reverence for religion and its ministers ; a reverence which still maintained its hold on the iron nature of the warrior, long after every other vestige of education had been effaced by the rough trade to which he was devoted. To each of the principal temples, lands were annexed for the maintenance of the priests. These estates were augmented by the policy or devotion of successive princes, until, under the last Montezuma, they had swollen to an enormous extent, and covered every district of the empire. The priests took the management of their property into their own hands ; and they seem to have treated their tenants with the liberality and indulg- ence characteristic of monastic corporations. Besides the large supplies drawn from this source, the religious order was enriched with the first-fruits, and such other offerings as piety or supersti- tion dictated. The surplus beyond what was required for the support of the national worship was distributed in alms among the poor ; a duty strenuously prescribed by their moral code. Thus we find the same religion inculcating lessons of pure philanthropy, on the one hand, and of merciless extermination, as we shall soon see, on the other. The inconsistency will not appear incredible to those who are familiar with the history of the Roman Catholic Church, in the early ages of the Inquisition . 19 The Mexican temples — teocallis , “ houses of God,” as they were very numerous. There were several hundreds in each of the principal cities, many of them, doubtless, very humble edi- fices. They were solid masses of each, cased with brick, or stone, and in their form somewhat resembled the pyramida r structures of ancient Egypt. The bases of many of them were more than a hundred feet square, and they towered to a still w Torquemada, Monarch. Ind , lib. 8, cap. 20, 21. — Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS. It is impossible not to be struck with the great resemblance, not merely in a few empty forms, but in the whole way of life, of the Mexican and Egyptian priesthood. Compare Herodotus (Euterpe, passim) and Diodorus (lib. 1, sec. 73, 81). The English reader may consult, for the same purpose, Heeren, (Hist. Res., vol. V. chap 2,) Wilkinson, (Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, (London, 1837,) vol. I. pp. 257-279,) the last writer especially, — who has contributed, more than all others, towards opening t® t»s the interior of the social life of this interesting people. 7 2 AZTEC CIVILIZATION. greater height. They were distributed into four or five stories, each of smaller dimensions than that below. The ascent wa by a flight of steps, at an angle of the pyramid, on the out- side. This led to a sort of terrace, or gallery, at the base of the second story, which passed quite round the building to another flight of stairs, commencing also at the same angle as the preced- ing and directly over it, and leading to a similar terrace ; so that one had to make the circuit of the temple several times, before reaching the summit. In some instances the stairway led directly up the centre of the western face of the building. The top was a broad area, on which were erected one or two towers, forty or fifty feet high, the sanctuaries in which stood the sacred images of the presiding deities. Before these towers stood the dreadful stone of sacrifice, and two lofty altars, on which fires were kept, as inextinguishable as those in the temple of Vesta. There were said to be six hundred of these altars, on smaller buildings within the inclosure of the great temple of Mexico, which, with those on the sacred edifices in other parts of the city, shed a brilliant illumination over its streets, through the darkest night . 20 From the construction of their temples, all religious services were public. The long processions of priests, winding round their massive sides, as they rose higher and higher towards the summit, and the dismal rites of sacrifice performed there, were all visible from the remotest corners of the capital, impressing on the spectator’s mind a superstitious veneration for the mys- teries of his religion, and for the dread ministers by whom they were interpreted. This impression was kept in full force by their numerous festivals. Every month was consecrated to some protecting deity ; and every week, nay, almost every day, was set down in their calendar for some appropriate celebration ; so that it is difficult to understand how the ordinary business of life could have been compatible with the exactions of religion. Many of their ceremonies were of a light and cheerful complexion, con- sisting of the national songs and dances, in which both sexes joined. Processions were made of women and children crowned 20 Rel. d’un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. III. fol. 307. — Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS — Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 13. — Gomara, Cron., cap. 80, ap. Barcia, tom. II. — Toribio, Hist, de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 4. — Carta del Lie. Zuazo, MS. This last writer, who visited Mexico immediately after the Conquest, in 1521, assures us that some of the smaller temples, or pyramids, were filled with earth impregnated with odoriferous gums and gold dust \ the latter, sometimes in such quantities as probably to be worth a million of Castellanos! (Ubi supra.) These were the temples of Mammon, indeed I But I find no confirmation of such golden reports. HUMAN SACRIFICES. 73 with garlands and bearing offerings of fruits, and ripened maize, or the sweet incense of copal and other odoriferous gums, while the altars of the deity were stained with no blood save that of animals . 21 These were the peaceful rites derived from their Toltec predecessors, on which the fierce Aztecs engrafted a superstition too loathsome to be exhibited in all its nakedness, and one over which I would gladly draw a veil altogether, but that it would leave the reader in ignorance of their most strik- ing institution, and one that had the greatest influence in form- ing the national character. Human sacrifices were adopted by the Aztecs early in the fourteenth century, about two hundred years before the Con- quest . 22 Rare at first, they became more frequent with the wider extent of their empire ; till, at length, almost every festi- val was closed with this cruel abomination. These religious ceremonials were generally arranged in such a manner as to afford a type of the most prominent circumstances in the char- acter or history of the deity who was the object of them. A sin- gle example will suffice. One of their most important festivals was that in honor of the god Tezcatlipoca, whose rank was inferior only to that of the Supreme Being. He was called “the soul of the world,” and supposed to have been its creator. He was depicted as a handsome man, endowed with perpetual youth. A year before the intended sacrifice, a captive, distinguished for his personal beauty, and without a blemish on his body, was selected to re- present this deity. Certain tutors took charge of him, and in- structed him how to perform his new part with becoming grace and dignity. He was arrayed in a splendid dress, regaled with incense and with a profusion of sweet-scented flowers, of which the ancient Mexicans were as fond as their descendants at the present day. When he went abroad, he was attended by a train of the royal pages, and, as he halted in the streets to play some favorite melody, the crowd prostrated themselves before him, and did him homage as the representative of their good deity. In this way he led an easy, luxurious life, till within a month 21 Cod. Tel. Rem., PI. i, and Cod. Vat. passim, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vols. I., VI. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. io, cap. io, et seq. — Saha- gun, Hist, de Nueva Espana, lib. 2, passim. Among the offerings, quails may be particularly noticed, for the incredible quantities of them sacrificed and consumed at many of the festivals. 22 The traditions of their origin have somewhat of a fabulous tinge. But, whether true or false, they are equally indicative of unparalleled ferocity in the people who could be the subject of them. Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. I. p. 167, etseq.; also Humboldt, (who does not appear to doubt them,) Vues des Cordilleres, p. 95. AZTEC CIVILIZATION. n of his sacrifice. Four beautiful girls, bearing the names of the principal goddesses, were then selected to share the honors of his bed ; and with them he continued to live in idle dalliance, feasted at the banquets of the principal nobles, who paid him all the honors of a divinity. At length the fatal day of sacrifice arrived. The term of his short-lived glories was at an end. He was stripped of his gaudy apparel, and bade adieu to the fair partners of his revelries. One of the royal barges transported him across the lake to a temple which rose on its margin, about a league from the city. Hither the inhabitants of the capital flocked, to witness the con- summation of the ceremony. As the sad procession wound up the sides of the pyramid, the unhappy victim threw away his gay chaplets of flowers, and broke in pieces the musical instru- ments with which he had solaced the hours of captivity. On the summit he was received by six priests, whose long and mat- ted locks flowed disorderly over their sable robes, covered with hieroglyphic scrolls of mystic import. They led him to the sacrificial stone, a huge block of jasper, with its upper surface somewhat convex. On this the prisoner was stretched. Five priests secured his head and his limbs ; while the sixth clad in a scarlet mantle, emblematic of his bloody office, dexterously opened the breast of the wretched victim with a sharp razor of itztli,— a volcanic substance, hard as flint, — and, inserting his hand in the wound, tore out the palpitating heart. The minister of death, first holding this up towards the sun, an object of worship throughout Anahuac, cast it at the feet of the deity to whom the temple was devoted, while the multitudes below pros- trated themselves in humble adoration. The tragic story of this prisoner was expounded by the priests as the type of human destiny, which, brilliant in its commencement, too often closes in sorrow and disaster . 23 Such was the form of human sacrifice usually practiced by the Aztecs. It was the same that often met the indignant eyes of the Europeans, in their progress through the country, and from the dreadful doom of which they themselves were not ex- empted. There were, indeed, some occasions when preliminary tortures, of the most exquisite kind, — with which it is unneces- 23 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva Espana, lib. 2, cap. 2, 5, 24, et alibi. — Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 3, lib. 2, cap. 16. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 7, cap. 19; lib. 10, cap. 14 — Rel. d’un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom III. fol. 307. — Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 9-21. — Carta del Lie. Zuazo, — Relacion por el Regimiento de Vera Cruz, (Julio, 1519,) MS. Few readers probably, will sympathize with the sentence of Torquemada^ who concludes his tale of woe hy coolly dismissing “ the soul of the victim, to sleep with those of his false gods, in hell t ” Lfb. 10, cap. 23. HUMAN SACRIFICES 75 sary to shock the reader, — were inflicted, but they always ter- minated with the bloody ceremony above described. It should be remarked, however, that such tortures were not the sponta- neous suggestions of cruelty, as with the North American Indians ; but were all rigorously prescribed in the Aztec ritual, and doubtless were often inflicted with the same compunctious visitings which a devout familiar of the Holy Office might at times experience in executing its stern decrees . 24 Women, as well as the other sex, were sometimes reserved for sacrifice. On some occasions, particularly in seasons of drought, at the festival of the insatiable Tlaloc, the god of rain, children, for the most part infants, were offered up. As they were borne along in open litters, dressed in their festal robes, and decked with the fresh blossoms of spring, they moved the hardest heart to pity, though their cries were drowned in the wild chant of the priests, who read in their tears a favorable augury for their peti- tion. These innocent victims were generally bought by the priests of parents who were poor, but who stifled the voice of nature, probably less at the suggestions of poverty, than of a wretched superstition . 25 The most loathsome part of the story — the manner in which the body of the sacrificed captive was disposed of — remains yet to be told. It was delivered to the warrior who had taken him in battle, and by him, after being dressed, was served up in an entertainment to his friends. This was not the coarse repast of famished cannibals, but a banquet teeming with delicious bever- ages and delicate viands, prepared with art, and attended by both sexes, who, as we shall see hereafter, conducted themselves with all the decorum of civilized life. Surely, never were re- 24 Sahagun, Hist de Nueva Espana, lib. 2, cap. io, 29. — Comara, Cron., cap. 219, ap. Barcia, tom. II. — Toribio, Hist, de los Indios, MS., Parte I, cap. 6-1 1. The reader will find a tolerably exact picture of the nature of these tortures in the twenty-first canto of the “ Inferno.” The fantastic creations of the Florentine poet were nearly realized, at the very time he was writing, by the barbarians of an unknown world. One sacrifice, of a less revolting character, deserves to be mentioned. The Spaniards called it the “ gladia- torial sacrifice,” and it may remind one of the bloody games of antiquity. A captive of distinction was sometimes furnished with arms, and brought against a number of Mexicans in succession. If he defeated them all, as did occasionally happen, he was allowed to escape. If vanquished, he was dragged to the block and sacrificed in the usual manner. The combat was fought on a huge circular stone, before the assembled capital. Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva Espana, lib. 1, cap. 21. — Rel. d’un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. Ill fol. 305. 25 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva Espafla, lib. 2, cap. 1, 4, 21, et alibi. — Tor- quemada., Monarch. Ind., lib. 10, cap 10. — Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, torn. II. pp. 76, 82. AZTEC CIVILIZATION. 7C finement and the extreme of barbarism brought so closely in contact with each other ! 26 Human sacrifices have been practiced by many nations, not excepting the most polished nations of antiquity , 27 but never by any, on a scale to be compared with those in Anahuac. The amount of victims immolated on its accursed altars would stag- ger the faith of the least scrupulous believer. Scarcely any author pretends to estimate the yearly sacrifices throughout the empire at less than twenty thousand, and some carry the num- ber as high as fifty ! 28 On great occasions, as the coronation of a king, or the conse- cration of a temple, the number becomes still more appalling. At the dedication of the great temple of Huitzilopotchli, i486, the prisoners, who for some years had been reserved for the purpose, were drawn from all quarters to the capital. They were ranged in files, forming a procession nearly two miles long. The cere- mony consumed several days, and seventy thousand captives are said to have perished at the shrine of this terrible deity ! But who can believe that so numerous a body would have suffered themselves to be led unresistingly like sheep to the slaughter ? Or how could their remains, too great for consumption in the ordi- 23 Carta del Lie. Zuazo, MS. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 7, cap. 19. — Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 3, lib. 2, cap. 17. — Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva Espana, lib. 2, cap. 21, et alibi. — Toribio Hist, de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 2. 27 To say nothing of Egypt where, notwithstanding the indications on the monuments, there is strong reason for doubting it. (Comp. Herodotus, Euterpe, sec. 45,) It was of frequent occurrence among the Greeks, as every schoolboy knows. In Rome, it was so common as to require to be interdicted by an express law, less than a hundred years before the Christian era, —a law recorded in a very honest strain of exultation by Pliny; (Hist, Nat., lib. 30, sec. 3, 4;) notwithstanding which traces of the existence of the practice may be discerned to a much later period. See, among others, Horace, Epod., In Canidiam. 28 See Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. II. p, 49. Bishop Zumarraga, in a letter written a few years after the Conquest, states that 20,000 victims were yearly slaughtered in the capital. Torque- mada turns this into 20,000 infants. (Monarch. Ind., lib. 7, cap. 21., Herrera, following Acosta, says 20,000 victims on a specified day of the year, throughout the kingdom. (Hist, General, dec. 2, lib. 2, cap. 16.) Clavigero, more cautious, infers that this number may have been sacrificed annually throughout Anahuac. (Ubi supra.) Las Casas however, in his reply to Sepulveda’s assertion, that no one who had visited the New World put the number of yearly sacrifices at less than 20,000, declares that “ this is the estimate of brigands, who wish to find an apology for their own atrocities, and that the real number was not above 50 ” ! (G£r"’-es, ed. Llorente, (Paris 1822,) tom. I. pp. 365, 386.) Probably the good T onop’s arithmetic, here, as in most other instances, came more from his heart than his head. With such loose and contradictory data , it is clear that any specific number is mere conjecture, undeserving the name of calculation. HUMAN SA CRIFICES, 77 nary way, be disposed of,. without breeding a pestilence in the capital ? Yet the event was of recent date, and is unequivocally attested by the best informed historians. 29 One fact may be considered certain. It was customary to preserve the skulls of the sacrificed, in buildings appropriated to the pur- pose. The companions of Cortes counted one hundred and thirty-six thousand in one of these edifices l 30 Without attempt- ing a precise calculation, therefore, it is safe to conclude that thousands were yearly offered up, in the different cities of Anahuac, on the bloody altars of the Mexican divinities. 31 Indeed, the great object of war, with the Aztecs, was quite as much to gather victims for their sacrifices, as to extend their empire. Hence it was, that an enemy was never slain in battle, if there were a chance of taking him alive. To this circum- stance the Spaniards repeatedly owed their preservation. When Montezuma was asked, “ why he had suffered the republic of Tlascala to maintain her independence on his borders,” he re- plied, “ that she might furnish him with victims for his gods ” ! As the supply began to fail, the priests, the Dominicans of the New World, bellowed aloud for more, and urged on their superstitious sovereign by the denunciations of celestial wrath. Like the militant churchmen of Christendom in the Middle Ages, they mingled themselves in the ranks, and were conspicu- ous in the thickest of the fight, by their hideous aspect and frantic gestures. Strange, that, in every country, the most 29 I am within bounds. Torquemada states the number most precisely, at 72,344. (Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 63.) Ixtilxochitl, with equal precision, at 80,400. (Hist. Chich., MS.) Qmen sabe ? The latter adds, that the captives massscred in the capital, in the course of that memorable year, exceeded 100,000 ! (Loc. cit.) One, however, has to read but a little way, to find out that the science of numbers — at least, where the party was not an eyewitness — is anything but an exact science with these ancient chroniclers. The Codex Tel-Remensis, written some fifty years after the Conquest, reduces the amount to 20,000 (Antiq. of Mexico, vol I. PI. 19; vol. VI, p. 141, Eng. note ) Even this hardly warrants the Spanish interpreter in call- ing king Ahuitzotl a man “ of a mild and a moderate disposition,” templada V benign a condicion ! Ibid., vol. V. p. 49. 30 Gomara states the number on the authority of two soldiers, whose names he gives, who took the trouble to count the grinning horrors in one of these Golgothas, where they were so arranged as to produce the most hideous effect. The existence of these conservatories is attested by every writer of the time 31 The “Anonymous Conqueror” assures us, as a fact beyond dispute, that the Devil introduced himself into the bodies of the idols, and persuaded the silly priests that his only diet was human hearts ! It furnishes a very satisfactory solution, to bis mind, of the frequency of sacrifices in Mexico- Rel. d’un gent,, ap. Ramusio, tom. III. fol. 307. Mexico 4 Yol. 1 AZTEC CIVILIZATION. 78 fiendish passions of the human heart have been those kindled in the name of religion ! 32 The influence of these practices on the Aztec character was as disastrous as might have been expected. Familiarity with the bloody rites of sacrifice steeled the heart against human sympathy, and begat a thirst for carnage, like that excited in the Romans by the exhibitions of the circus. The perpetual recurrence of ceremonies, in which the people took part, asso- ciated religion with their most intimate concerns, and spread the gloom of superstition over the domestic hearth, until the character of the nation wore a grave and even melancholy as- pect, which belongs to their descendants at the present day. The influence of the priesthood, of course, became unbounded. The sovereign thought himself honored by being permitted to assist in the services of the temple. Far from limiting the authority of the priests to spiritual matters, he often surren- dered his opinion to theirs, where they were least competent to give it. It was their opposition that prevented the final capitulation which would have saved the capital. The whole nation, from the peasant to the prince, bowed their necks to the worst k ; M of tyranny, that of a blind fanaticism. In reflecting on the revolting usages recorded in the preced- ing pages, one finds it difficult to reconcile their existence with anything like a regular form of government, or an advance in civilization. Yet the Mexicans had many claims to the charac ter of a civilized community. One may, perhaps, better under- stand the anomaly, by reflecting on the condition of some of the most polished countries in Europe, in the sixteenth century, after the establishment of the modern Inquisition ; an institu- tion, which yearly destroyed its thousands, by a death more painful than the Aztec sacrifices ; which armed the hand of brother against brother, and, setting its burning seal upon the 32 The Tezcucan priests would fain have persuaded the good king Neza- hualcoyotl, on occasion of a pestilence, to appease the gods by the sacrifice of some of his own subjects, instead of his enemies ; on the ground, that, not only they would be obtained more easily, but would be fresher victims, and more acceptable. (Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 41.) This writer mentions a cool arrangement entered into by the allied monarchs with the republic of Tlascala and her confederates. A battlefield was marked out, on which the troops of the hostile nations were to engage at stated sea- sons, and thus supply themselves with subjects for sacrifice. The victo- rious party was not to pursue his advantage by invading the other’s territory, and they were to continue, in all other respects, on the most amicable foot- ing. (Ubi supra.) The historian, who follows in t : j track of the Tezcucan Chronicler, may often find occasion to shelter hii