XIX. MEDICINE AND FUNERAL RITES AMONG THE NAHUAS…

XIX. MEDICINE AND FUNERAL RITES AMONG THE NAHUAS

MEXICAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO MEDICAL SCIENCE--THE BOTANICAL GARDENS--LONGEVITY--PREVALENT DISEASES--INTRODUCTION OF SMALL-POX AND SYPHILIS--MEDICAL TREATMENT--THE TEMAZCALLI--ABORIGINAL PHYSICIANS--THE AZTEC FACULTY--STANDARD REMEDIES--SURGERY--SUPERSTITIOUS CEREMONIES IN HEALING--FUNERAL RITES OF AZTECS--CREMATION--ROYAL OBSEQUIES--EMBALMING--THE FUNERAL PYRE--HUMAN SACRIFICE--DISPOSAL OF THE ASHES AND ORNAMENTS--MOURNERS--FUNERAL CEREMONIES OF THE PEOPLE--CERTAIN CLASSES BURIED--RITES FOR THE SLAIN IN BATTLE--BURIAL AMONG THE TEO-CHICHIMECS AND TABASCANS--CREMATION CEREMONIES IN MICHOACAN--BURIAL BY THE MIZTECS IN OAJACA.

Writers on Mexico have paid but slight attention to aboriginal medical science, although the greatest benefit which Europe derived from that part of the New World came doubtless in the form of medicinal substances. Most of the additions to the world's stock of remedies since the sixteenth century were indigenous to tropical America, and in few instances, if any, were their curative properties unknown or unfamiliar to the native doctors. Jalap, sarsaparilla, tobacco, with numerous gums and balsams, were among the simples of American origin. Dr Hernandez, physician to Phillip II., was sent to Mexico by his king to investigate the natural history of the country. The results of his researches, in which he was assisted by native experts, were published in a large work, which contains long lists of plants with their medicinal properties, and which has been much used by later writers. I shall not, however, attempt in this chapter to give any catalogue of medicinal plants.[808] The healing art was protected by royalty, and the numerous rare plants in the royal gardens, collected at great expense from all parts of the country, were placed at the disposal of the doctors in the large cities, who were ordered to experiment with each variety, that its curative or injurious properties might be utilized or shunned. Thus the court physicians derived from these constantly increasing collections all the advantages of travel through distant provinces.[809]

The Nahuas were a healthy race; naturally so with their fine climate, their hardy training, active habits, frequent bathing, and temperate diet. The extraordinary statements respecting the great age attained by their kings in the earlier periods of Nahua history are of course absurdly exaggerated; but as centenarians are often met with among their descendants at the present day, there is no doubt that they were a long-lived race, and that those who did not attain a hundred years, succumbed for the most part to acute diseases.[810] Indigestion and its accompanying ills were unknown, and deformed people were so rare that Montezuma kept a collection of them as a curiosity. The diseases most prevalent were acute fevers, colds, pleurisy, catarrh, diarrhea, and, in the coast districts, intermittent fever, spasms, and consumption, aggravated by exposure.[811]

[Sidenote: EPIDEMICS AND THEIR RAVAGES.]

Deadly epidemics swept the country at intervals, the traditional accounts of which are so intermingled with fable that we can form no idea of their nature. One of the most fatal and wide-spread recorded was that brought on by famine, war, and the anger of the gods at the breaking-up of the Toltec empire.[812] The matlazahuatl was a pestilence said to be confined entirely in its ravages to the natives, and which made great havoc even after the Spaniards came. It is thought by some to have attacked the people periodically in former times, and to have been similar in its nature to the yellow fever. While the Aztecs were shut up in their island home, a curious malady, consisting of a swelling of the eyelids, followed by a violent dysentery ending in death, or, as others say, by a swelling of the throat and body, attacked the nations on the main land, especially the Tepanecs. The popular tradition was that the fumes of roasted fish and insects wafted from the island to the shore, created a powerful longing for this new and, to them, unobtainable food, and that the pangs of an unsatisfied appetite originated the pestilence.[813] Ixtlilxochitl relates that a catarrhic scourge fell upon the people during the unusually severe winter of 1450 and carried off large numbers, especially of the aged.[814]

The vices introduced by the Spaniards, their oppression of the natives, and the consequent disregard of the ancient regulations respecting cleanliness and the use of liquors, prepared the way for new maladies. With the Spaniards came the small-pox, measles, and as some believe, the syphilis. Small-pox is said to have been introduced by a negro from one of Narvaez' ships and spread with frightful rapidity over the whole country, destroying whole households who died and found no other graves than their houses. Measles were introduced some ten or eleven years later also from the Spanish ships. The yellow fever has never prevailed to any great extent among the natives.[815] Respecting syphilitic diseases and their origin there has been much discussion. The first appearance of the malady has been attributed to the old world and the new, and to many localities in the former. But naturally neither continent, nor any nation has been willing to accept the so-regarded dishonor of inflicting on the world this loathsome plague. The discussion of the subject seems unprofitable and I shall not reopen it here. The testimony in the matter appears to me to prove that syphilis existed in Europe long before the discovery of America; but there are also some indications in the traditional history of the Nahua peoples that the disease in some of its forms was not unknown to the aboriginal Americans before their intercourse with foreigners.[816]

[Sidenote: ATTENTIONS TO THE SICK.]

Accustomed to look on death in its most terrible form in connection with their oft-recurring religious festivals, the people seem to have become somewhat callous to its dread presence, and to have met its approach with less fear of the dark and unknown hereafter than might have been expected from their superstitious nature. An attack of illness did not necessarily produce great anxiety, or an immediate recourse to the doctor's services; but the common people resorted for the most part to simple home cures, which were the more effective as the curative properties of herbs and their modes of application were generally well known.[817] The unconcern with which they regarded sickness did not result from want of affection, for the Aztecs are said to have been very attentive to their sick, and spent their wealth without stint to save the life of friends. Yet the Tlascaltecs, a hardier race, are reported by Motolinia to have been less attentive, and some other Teo-Chichimec tribes did not hesitate to kill a patient whose malady did not soon yield to their treatment, under pretense of putting him out of his misery, but really to get him off their hands. This work of charity was performed by thrusting an arrow down the throat of the invalid, and old people were especially the recipients of such favors.[818]

The favorite remedy for almost every ill of the flesh was the vapor-bath, or temazcalli. No well-to-do citizen's house was complete without conveniences for indulging in these baths, and the poorer families of each community owned one or more temazcalli in common. The reader is already sufficiently familiar with the general features of these baths, a confined space with facilities for converting water into steam being all that was required. Clavigero describes and pictures a very graceful structure for this purpose, for which, as it seems to involve the then-unknown principle of the arch, he probably drew somewhat upon his imagination. It is of adobes, semi-globular in form, about eight feet in diameter, six feet high, with a convex floor a little below the level of the ground. On one side was an opening sufficiently large to admit a man's body, on the opposite side a square furnace separated from the interior by a slab of tetzontli, and at the top an air-hole. Most of the bath-houses, however, were simply square or oblong chambers with no furnace attached, in which case the fire had of course to be removed before the apartment was ready for use. When the apparatus was properly heated a mat was spread on the floor, and the patient entered, sometimes accompanied by an assistant, bearing a dish of water to be thrown on the floor and walls to produce steam, and a bunch of maize-leaves with which his body, and especially the part affected, was to be beaten. A plunge into cold water after a profuse perspiration was frequently but not always resorted to. As I have said, there were scarcely any maladies for which this treatment was not recommended, but it was regarded as particularly efficacious in the case of fevers brought on by costiveness, bites of venomous serpents and insects, bruises, and unstrung nerves, and to relieve the pains and purify the system of child-bearing women. The steam-baths were also much used to promote cleanliness and to refresh the weary bodies of those in good health.[819]

The beneficial effects of a change of climate upon invalids seem to have been appreciated, if we may credit Herrera, who states that Michoacan was much resorted to by the sick from all parts of the country.[820] For severe cases, the expenses of treating which could not be borne except by the wealthy classes, hospitals were established by the government in all the larger cities, endowed with ample revenues, where patients from the surrounding country were cared for by experienced doctors, surgeons, and nurses well versed in all the native healing arts.[821] Medical practitioners were numerous, who attended patients for a small remuneration; the jealousy of Spanish physicians, however, brought them into disrepute soon after the conquest, and the healing art, like others, greatly degenerated. It is related that a famous medicine-man of Michoacan was summoned before the college of physicians in Mexico on the charge of being a quack. In reply to the accusation he asked his judges to smell a certain herb, which produced a severe hemorrhage, and then invited them to check the flow of blood. Seeing that they were unable to do this promptly, he administered a powder that immediately had the desired effect. "These are my attainments," he exclaimed, "and this the manner in which I cure the ailings of my patients."[822]

[Sidenote: THE NAHUA ESCULAPIUS.]

The Esculapius of the Nahuas was embodied in the persons of Oxomococipactonatl and Tlatecuinxochicaoaca, who were traditionally the inventors of medicine and the first herbalists among the Toltecs. Soon after its invention the healing profession became one of the most highly honored, and its followers constituted a regular faculty, handing down their knowledge and practice from generation to generation, according to the Nahua caste-system, according to which the son almost invariably adopted the profession of his father, by whom he was educated. This system of education from early childhood under the father's guidance, the opportunities for practice in the public hospitals, free access to the botanical gardens, and the numerous subjects for anatomical dissection supplied by sacrificial rites, certainly offered to the Nahua doctor abundant opportunities of acquiring great knowledge and skill. The profession was not altogether in the hands of the sterner sex; for female physicians were in high repute, especially on the eastern coast. In certain cases, as of childbirth, we find the patient attended by none but women, who administer medicines and baths and render other necessary assistance, even going so far as to cut out the infant in order to save the mother's life.[823]

Medicines were given in all the usual forms of draught, powder, injection, ointment, plaster, etc.; the material for which was gathered from the three natural kingdoms in great variety. Many of the herbs were doubtless obtained from the gardens, but large quantities were obtained in the forests of different provinces by wandering collectors who brought their herbs to the market-places for sale, or even peddled them, it is said, from house to house. Each ailment had its particular corrective, the knowledge of which was not entrusted to the memory alone, but was also recorded in painted books.[824] Doubtless many of the vegetable and other medicines employed were mere nostrums administered to give an exalted opinion of the doctor's knowledge and skill rather than with any hope of effecting a cure.

[Sidenote: TREATMENT OF VARIOUS DISEASES.]

Sahagun gives page after page of native recipes for every ailment of the human body, which cannot be reproduced here. Many of the remedies and methods of application are as absurd as any of those which have been noticed among the wild tribes. For diseases of the scalp a wash of urine, an ointment of soot, and an application of black clay were prescribed, together with vegetable specifics too numerous to mention. The white of an egg was much used in mixing remedies for wounds and bruises; a certain animal tapaiaxin was eaten for a swollen face; the broth of a boiled fowl was recommended for convalescents. Cataracts on the eye were rasped and scraped with certain roots; for bloodshot eyes the membrane was cut, raised with a thorn, and anointed with woman's milk; clouded eyes were treated with lizard's dung. Morning dew cured catarrh in newly born children. Hoarseness was treated by drinking honey, and an external application of India-rubber. Wounds in the lips must be sewn up with a hair; a certain insect pounded and hot pepper were among the remedies for toothache, and great care of the teeth was recommended. Stammering in children was supposed to be caused by too long suckling. Remedies for a cold were nearly as numerous as in our day. Copper-filings were applied to bubos, which may or may not have been syphilitic sores. For looseness of the bowels in infants, the remedy was given not only to the child but to the nurse. For a severe blow on the chest, urine in which lizards had been boiled must be drunk. The necessity of regulating the bowels to sustain health was well understood, and the doctor usually effected his purpose by injecting a herbal decoction from his mouth through the leg-bone of a heron. Purgatives in common use were jalap, pine-cones, tacuache, amamaxtla, and other roots; diuretics, axixpatli and axixtlacotl; emetics, mexochitl and neixcotlapatli. Izticpatli, and chatalhuic, are mentioned among the remedies for fevers. Balsams were obtained from the huitziloxitl by distillation, from the huaconex by soaking the bark in water, and from the maripenda, by boiling the fruit and tender stones. Oils were made from tlapatl, chile, chian, ocotl (a kind of pine), and the India-rubber tree. Octli, or wine, was often prescribed to strengthen the system, and was also mixed with other medicines to render them more palatable, for which latter purpose cacao was also much used.

Several stones possessed medicinal properties: the aztetl, held in the hand or applied to the neck, stopped bleeding at the nose; the xiuhtomoltetl, taken in the form of a powder, cured heartburn and internal heat. This latter stone fell from the clouds in stormy weather, sunk into the earth, and grew continually larger and larger, a solitary tuft of grass alone indicating to the collector its whereabouts. The bones of giants dug up at the foot of the mountains, were collected by their dwarfish successors, ground to powder, mixed with cacao, and drunk as a cure for diarrhea and dysentery. Persons suffering from fever, or wishing to allay carnal desires, ate jaguar's flesh; while the skin, bones, and excrement of the same animal, burnt, powdered, and mixed with resin, formed an antidote for insanity. Certain horny-skinned worms, similarly powdered and mixed, were a specific for the gout, decayed teeth, and divers other ailments.

[Sidenote: SUPERSTITIOUS CURATIVE RITES.]

Surgery was no less advanced than other branches of the healing art, and Cortés himself had occasion to acknowledge the skill and speed with which they cured wounds. Snake-bites, common enough among a barefooted people, were cured by sucking and scarifying the wound, covering it with a thin transparent pellicle from the maguey-plant. Rubbing with snuff, together with heat, was another treatment, and the coanenepilli and coapatli were also considered antidotes. Fractures were treated with certain herbs and gums, different kinds for different limbs, and bound up with splints; if the healing did not progress satisfactorily the bone was scraped before the operation of resetting. For painful operations of this nature it is possible that narcotics were administered, for at certain of the sacrifices it is related that the victims were sprinkled with yauhtli powder to render them less sensitive to pain. Mendieta states that a stupefying drink was given on similar occasions; and Acosta mentions that oliliuhqui was taken by persons who desired to see visions. This latter was a seed, which was also an ingredient of the teopatli, or divine medicine, composed besides of India-rubber gum, ocotl-resin, tobacco, and sacred water. This medicine could only be obtained from the priests. Blood-letting was much in vogue for various ills, the lancets used being iztli knives, porcupine-quills, or maguey-thorns. Ulli-marked papers were burned by the recovered patient as a thank-offering to the gods. Veterinary surgeons are mentioned by Oviedo as having been employed in the zoölogical gardens of Montezuma.[825]

The medicines, though prepared and applied by the doctors themselves, were not deemed sufficient for the patient; superstitious ceremonies were held to be indispensable to effect a cure, and to enhance the value of professional services. Evil beings and things had to be exorcised, the gods must be invoked, especially the patron deity, known chiefly by the name of Teteionan, who was esteemed the inventor of many valuable specifics, as the ocotl-oil and others, and confessions were extorted to ease the conscience and appease the offended deity. The affected parts were rubbed and pressed amid mutterings and strange gestures, and to work the more upon the simple-minded patient, they pretended to extract a piece of coal, bone, wood, or other object, the supposed cause of the ailment. A favorite treatment in certain prostrating cases was to form a figure of corn dough, which was laid upon a prickly maguey-leaf and placed in the road, with the view of letting the first passer-by carry away the disease--a charitable hope that seems to have afforded much relief to the afflicted. However absurd this jugglery may appear, it no doubt gave a powerful stimulus to the imagination, which must have aided the working of the medicine. In critical cases, chance was often consulted as to the fate of the sufferer. A handful of the largest grains or beans were thrown on the ground, and if any happened to fall upright it was regarded as a sure sign that the patient would die, and he received little or no attention after that; otherwise prescriptions and encouraging words were not spared. Sometimes a number of cord rings were thrown in the same manner, and if they fell in a heap, death was expected to result; but if any fell apart, a change for the better was looked for. To encounter a snake or lizard was held to be a sign of death for the person himself or for his sick friend. Although no curative process, probably, in the case of a serious illness was altogether free from superstitious rites, yet it is surprising that these played so unimportant a rôle. Among a people so addicted on every occasion to complicated ceremonies, the most complicated might naturally be sought in their efforts to combat disease; but it is just here that the least reliance seems to have been placed in supernatural agencies.[826]

[Sidenote: FUNERAL RITES OF KINGS.]

The Aztecs were very particular about the disposal of their dead, and conducted funeral rites with the pomp that attended all their ceremonials. The obsequies of kings were especially imposing, and their description, embracing as it does nearly all the ceremonies used on such occasions by these nations, will present the most complete view of the proceedings.

[Sidenote: PREPARATION FOR FUTURE EXISTENCE.]

When the serious condition of the monarch became apparent, a veil[827] was thrown over the face of the patron god, to be removed on his death, and notice was sent to all the friendly princes, the grandees and nobles of the empire, to attend the obsequies; those who were unable to attend in person sent representatives to deliver their condolence and presents. As soon as the king had breathed his last, certain masters of ceremonies, generally old men whose business it was to attend on these occasions, and who were doubtless connected with the priesthood,[828] were summoned to prepare the body for the funeral. The corpse was washed with aromatic water, extracted chiefly from trefoil,[829] and occasionally a process of embalming was resorted to. The bowels were taken out and replaced by aromatic substances, but the method does not seem to have been very complete, and may only have been intended to serve while the body lay in state, for no remains of embalmed mummies have been found. The art was an ancient one, however, dating from the Toltecs as usual, yet generally known and practiced throughout the whole country. A curious mode of preserving bodies was used by the lord of Chalco who captured two Tezcucan princes, and, in order that he might feast his eyes upon their hated forms, had them dried and placed as light-holders in his ball-room.[830] When the invited guests had arrived the body was dressed in many mantles, often to the number of fifteen or twenty, such as the king had worn on the most solemn occasions, and consequently richly embroidered and glittering with jewels.[831] While some were shrouding the body, others cut papers of different colors into strips of various forms, and adorned the corpse therewith. Water was then poured upon its head with these words: "This is the water which thou usedst in this world;"[832] and a jug of water was placed among the shrouds, the priest saying: "This is the water wherewith thou art to perform the journey." More papers were now delivered to the deceased in bunches, the priest explaining the import of each, as he placed it with the body. On delivering the first bunch he said: "With these thou art to pass between two mountains that confront each other." The second bunch, he was told, would pass him safely over a road guarded by a large snake; the third would conduct him by a place held by an alligator, xochitonal; the fourth would protect and aid him in traversing the 'eight deserts;' other papers would facilitate the passage of the 'eight hills,' and still others afford protection against the cutting winds termed itzehecayan, which were so strong as to tear out rocks and cut like very razors; here the wearing-apparel buried with him would also be of great service. A little red dog was thereupon slain by thrusting an arrow down its throat, and the body placed by the side of the deceased, with a cotton string about its neck. The dog was to perform the part of Charon, and carry the king on his back across the deep stream called Chicunahuapan, 'nine waters,'[833] a name which points to the nine heavens of the Mexicans.

It will thus be seen that the dead had a difficult road to travel before reaching their future abode, which was on the fifth day after the burial, and that they needed the articles of comfort and necessity, as food, dresses, and slaves, which affectionate friends provided for their use. The ideas entertained by the Nahuas respecting a future life belong to another department of my work, and will only be alluded to incidentally in this chapter. After the defunct had received his passports, he was covered with a mantle like that of the god which his condition and mode of death rendered appropriate, and decorated with its image. As most kings were warriors, he would be dressed in a mantle of Huitzilopochtli, and would, in addition, wear the mantle of his favorite god.[834] A lock of hair was cut off and placed, with one that had been cut at his birth, as well as small idols, in a casket painted inside and out with the images of the patron deity. The casket used for this purpose in the case of some of the Chichimec kings is described to have been of emerald or other fine stone, three feet square, and covered by a gold lid set with precious stones. A mask either painted, or of gold, or of turquoise mosaic was placed over the face,[835] and a chalchiuite, which was to serve for a heart, between the lips. According to Tezozomoc and Duran a statue was placed with the king, dressed in royal insignia by the hands of princes. The chiefs of the senate redressed it in other robes after painting it blue. It was then honored with addresses and presents, and again undressed, painted black, and arrayed in a robe of Quetzalcoatl; a garland of heron-feathers was placed upon its head, bracelets and jewelry about its body, a small gilded shield by its side, and a stick in the hand. This figure shared the honors given to the body and was burned with it.[836]

[Sidenote: ROYAL OBSEQUIES.]

The arrayed corpse was either laid upon a litter covered with rich cloths, or seated upon a throne, and watched over by a guard of honor, while princes and courtiers came to pay their last respects.[837] They approached with great manifestations of grief, weeping, lamenting, clapping their hands, bending the body or exhibiting neglect of person, and addressed the defunct, referring to his present happiness, the loss his departure had caused, his goodness and bravery, and begged his acceptance of the presents they had brought. This performance was enacted by all, those of higher rank taking precedence and leaving offerings of ten slaves, a hundred robes, and other things, while others brought gifts of less value. Then came the women, and while they were leaving their presents of food, the aged courtiers intoned the funeral chant, the miccacuicatl. Addresses of condolence were also made to the royal family or the senate. The human sacrifices were inaugurated at this time by the immolation of the sacerdotal slave under whose charge the household idols stood.[838] On the fifth day, before daybreak, a grand procession formed for the temple, preceded by an enormous paper banner, four fathoms in length, and richly adorned with feathers, on which the deeds of the defunct were doubtless inscribed, and attended by priests who wafted incense and chanted his glory, though in mournful strains, and without instrumental accompaniment.[839] The corpse was borne upon the state litter by the most trusted of the noble servitors, while at the sides walked the chief lords and princes dressed in mourning, their attire consisting of long, square mantles of dark color, trailing on the ground, without any ornaments; some, however, were painted with figures of skulls, bones, and skeletons. Behind them came the ambassadors of absent princes, the grandees and nobles from all parts of the country, each carrying some insignia, weapons, or jewels to be offered on the pyre.[840] In the procession were also a large number of slaves, all newly attired in the royal livery,[841] and carrying clothes, implements, and other articles, according to the duties assigned them. On reaching the courtyard of the temple, the priest who directed the burning came to receive the procession, and conducted it to the altar devoted to cremation, all chanting the while a moral song, in which they reminded the mourners that as they were now carrying a senseless body to its last resting-place, so would they be carried; they also reminded them that good deeds alone would remain to keep their remembrance green, and pictured the glories in store for the deserving. These priests were called coacuiles, and their office was held to be of such importance that they prepared for it by fasting and confession. They appeared in the same idol dress as the dead king, though with more elaborate ornaments. We find them on one occasion as demons with faces at different parts of their dress, set with eyes of mirrors and gaping mouths; and at another time with blackened or dyed bodies and paper maxtlis, swinging the yellow sticks used to stir the ashes. According to Ixtlilxochitl, the high-priest of Cihuacoatl, who was supposed to gather the dead, came out to receive the procession.[842]

[Sidenote: CREMATION AND INTERMENT.]

The opinions as to the introduction of cremation are extremely varied, but it seems to have been practiced in very ancient times by the migrating tribes, who took this means to secure the remains of honored chiefs from desecration; their ashes could thus be carried along and serve as talismanic relics. Ixtlilxochitl gives an instance of this in the case of a Chichimec king who died in battle and whose body was burned, so that the ashes might be carried home with convenience and safety. Brasseur de Bourbourg also holds that cremation was an ancient Toltec custom, but the first recorded case is that of the last Toltec king, Topiltzin.[843] Others assert that the Toltecs who remained in the country after the destruction of their empire adhered to interment, as did the early Chichimecs. Veytia affirms that Ixtlilxochitl or Tezozomoc was the first to be deposited according to the forms instituted by Topiltzin and used by the Mexicans, namely, burning; Torquemada distinctly states that the Chichimecs used cremation, and Clavigero agrees with him.[844] Veytia also thinks that the first Aztec kings were buried, but this is contrary to all other reliable accounts. The custom may not have been very general, for Sahagun states that during Itzcoatl's reign it was resolved by the chiefs that all should be burned, indicating at the same time that cremation was then already in use. The later established usage was to burn all except those who died a violent death, or of incurable diseases, and those under seventeen years of age, who were all interred. The Tlascaltecs and Tarascos practiced burning like the Aztecs.[845]

The altar devoted to the burning was doubtless one attached to the temple consecrated to the deity to whose abode the deceased was supposed to go. Chaves describes it as three feet in height and the same in width,[846] on which a heap of ocotl was piled. Upon this pyre the body was laid in full array, together with the dog, and, as the fire flared up, the mourners added insignia, jewels, weapons, food, and other tributes. Two of the demon-like coacuiles stirred the fire while others stood by chanting appropriate songs and sprinkling blessed water and incense upon the remains, as well as upon the mourners. Now began the sacrifice of those doomed to follow the deceased to the other world and there administer to his wants and pleasure. These were at first but few in number, but during the bloody dominion of the Aztecs they increased to several hundred, as at the funeral of Nezahualpilli, when two hundred males and one hundred females were immolated; they consisted chiefly of slaves and deformed beings from the royal retinue, and such as had been presented. Duran says that all slaves and deformed persons belonging to the household were killed, and Acosta goes so far as to state that the whole royal household was dispatched, including the favorite brother of the king; but this must be taken with a grain of allowance, for, at this rate, the nobles, who crowded the service of the monarch, even in menial positions, would soon have been exterminated. Some courtiers were, no doubt, expected to prove the sincerity of their life-long adulations by either offering themselves as victims, or submitting to a selection made from their number. Sometimes a chief would signify his preference for those among his concubines whom he wished to have with him, a mark of favor often received with great joy, for they would thus be sure of entering into the supreme heaven, where the warlike lords usually went, while they might otherwise be doomed to dark Mictlan. Self-immolation of wives was, accordingly, not uncommon, although not prescribed by law as in India. Brasseur says that captives were sacrificed, but Duran states that they were not offered except to the gods. Persons born during the last five days of the year--the unlucky days--were, however, reserved for royal obsequies.[847]

[Sidenote: DISPOSITION OF THE REMAINS.]

This array of victims was harangued by a relative of the deceased, who dilated on the happiness before them in being allowed to join their master, and admonished them to serve him as faithfully in the next world as they had done here. They were then consigned to the priests, who laid them upon a teponaztli,[848] cut open the breast and tore out the heart, which was thrown upon the pyre, while the bodies were cast upon another blazing hearth near by.[849] Gomara and others state that the bodies were interred, but as the dog and the property were burned, it is not likely that the more important and useful human servants were buried.[850]

When the body had been thoroughly burned, the fire was quenched, the blood collected from the victims being used for this purpose, according to Duran, and the ashes, sprinkled with holy water, were placed with the charred bones, stones, and melted jewelry in the urn, or casket, which contained also the hair of the deceased. On the top of this was placed a statue of wood or stone, attired in the royal habiliments, and bearing the mask and insignia, and the casket was deposited at the feet of the patron deity, in the chapel.[851] On the return of the procession a grand banquet was given to the guests, ending, as usual, with a presentation of gifts. For four days the mourners paid constant visits to the shrine to manifest their sorrow and to present the offerings of food, clothes, or jewels, termed quitonaltia, 'to give good luck.' These were either placed by the urn or upon the altar of the god, and removed by the priests, who ate the food and sent the valuables to the temple treasury. These ceremonies closed with the sacrifice of ten to fifteen slaves, and then the casket was deposited in that part of the temple appointed for its permanent reception.[852] Among the Chichimecs the royal casket often remained forty days on view in the palace, whence it was carried in procession to its final resting-place.[853]

[Sidenote: NAHUA SEPULCHRES.]

In cases of interment the deceased was deposited in the grave, seated on a throne in full array, facing the north,[854] with his property and victims around him. In early times, when the practice of interment was more general, the victims were few, if not dispensed with entirely, and consisted usually of two favorite concubines, placed one on each side of their master, who, it is said, were entombed alive, though it is more probable that they were stupefied by narcotic drinks, or clubbed, as in Michoacan. This practice of burying alive is ascribed to the Toltecs.[855] The graves were usually large subterranean vaults of stone and lime, situated in the temple court, palace, or some favorite spot near the city, as Chapultepec. It is related that the temple pyramid in Mexico was the superstructure of royal graves, the remains being deposited on the summit, and the successor to the crown erecting upon this another platform. On destroying the temple, the Spaniards found several vaults, one beneath the other, with their valuable contents of jewelry.[856] The Toltecs also buried their dead in and near the temples, and, according to some authors, the mounds at Teotihuacan, to the number of several hundred, which will be described in Vol. IV. of this work, are the graves of Toltec chiefs.[857] The Chichimec kings were usually buried in round holes, five to six feet deep, situated in caves beneath the palace or in the mountains; in later times, however, they chose the temples.[858]

Twenty days after the burial further offerings were made, together with a sacrifice of from four to five slaves; on the fortieth day two or three more died; on the sixtieth, one or two; while the final immolation consisting of ten to twelve slaves took place at the end of eighty days, and put an end to the mourning. Motolinia adds, however, that testimonials of sorrow accompanied by offerings continued to be made every eightieth day for the space of a year.[859]

[Sidenote: PLEBEIAN FUNERAL RITES.]

The obsequies of the subjects were, of course, on a scale of much less grandeur, though the rich and nobles ventured to exhibit a certain pomp. The common man, after having been washed in aromatic waters, was dressed in his best garments; a cheap stone called the tentetl, 'mouth-stone,' was inserted between the lips; the passport papers for the dark journey were handed to him with the usual address; and by his side were placed the water, the dog, the insignia of his trade, as arms, spade, or the like--spindle or broom in the case of a woman--with the dresses and other things required for comfort. Lastly the mantle of the god which his condition in life and manner of death rendered appropriate, was placed upon him; thus, a warrior would wear the mantle of Huitzilopochtli with the image of the war god upon it; a merchant the mantle of Iyacatecutli; the artisan that of the patron deity of his trade. A drunkard would, in addition, be covered with the robe of the god of wine; a person who had died by drowning, with that of the water gods; the man executed for adultery, with that of the god of lasciviousness; and so on.[860] According to Zuazo, the corpse was further decorated with feathers of various colors, and seated in a chair to receive the expressions of sorrow and respect of friends, and their humble offerings of flowers, food, or dresses. After a couple of hours a second set of shrouders removed the garments, washed the body again, re-dressed it in red mantles, with feathers of the same color, and left it to be viewed for an hour or more, according to the number of the visitors. A third time the body was washed, by a fresh corps of attendants, and arrayed, this time, in black garments, with feathers of the same sombre color. These suits were either given to the temple or buried with the body.[861] Nobles had the large banner borne in their procession, and seem to have been allowed the use of sacrifices.[862] According to Chaves the common people were also burned in their own premises or in the forest, a statement which Acosta and others indirectly confirm by saying that they had no regular burial-places, but their ashes were deposited in the yards of their houses, in the temple courts, in the mountains, or in the field. Upon the graves were placed flags, ornaments, and various offerings of food during the four days of mourning. Visits of condolence with attendant feasting extended over a period of several days, however.[863] People who had died a violent death, by lightning or other natural causes or of incurable diseases, such as leprosy, tumors, itch, gout, or dropsy, were not burned but interred in special graves. Branches or shoots of amaranth were placed upon their cheeks, the brow was rubbed with texutli, certain papers were laid over the brain, and in one hand was placed a wooden rod which was supposed to become green and throw out branches in the other world. The bodies of women who died in childbed were also buried; and the burial was attended by great difficulty, since warriors and sorcerers fought bravely to obtain possession of some part of her body, as has been stated in a preceding chapter.[864]

A trader of the rank of pochteca, who died on a journey, was dressed in the garb of his class, with eyes painted black, red circles round the mouth, and with strips of paper all over his person. The body was then deposited in a cacaxtli, or square basket, well secured by cords, and carried to the top of a mountain, where it was fixed to a tree, or pole driven into the ground, and left to wither. The spirit was supposed to have entered the abode of the sun.[865] On the return of the caravan the death was reported to the guild, who broke the news to the family of the deceased. A puppet made of candlewood, and adorned with the usual paper ornaments, was left at the temple for a day, during which the friends mourned over it as if the body was actually before them. At midnight the puppet was burned in the quauhxicalco and the ashes buried in the usual manner. Funeral ceremonies were held for four days, after which the relatives washed the faces, that had remained untouched by water during the absence of the trader, and put an end to the mourning. The practice of paying honors to the dead in effigy was especially in vogue among the warrior class.[866]

[Sidenote: HONORS TO THE SLAIN IN BATTLE.]

Besides funeral honors to individuals, ceremonies for all those who died in a battle or war were of frequent occurrence, as that ordered by the first Montezuma in memory of the slain in the campaign against Chalco. A procession of all the relatives and friends of the dead, headed by the fathers bearing decorated arms and armor, and terminated by the children, marched through the streets, dancing and chanting mournful songs in honor of those who had fallen fighting for their country and their gods, and for each other's mutual consolation. Towards evening presents were distributed by the king's officials, clothing to the common people, ornaments to the chiefs, and food to all. An effigy was then prepared, the details of whose dress and decoration are minutely described, and before it, placed in the cihuacalli, war songs were chanted, instruments were played, women danced and cried for four days; then the image was burned before the temple, the ceremony being called quitlepanquetzin, 'burning the dead of the last war.' Some of the ashes were scattered upon the relatives, who fasted for eighty days, the remaining ashes being in the meantime buried; but after the eighty days had passed they were dug up and carried to the hill of Yahualiuhcan, on the boundaries of Chalco, where they were left. Five days later a feast took place, during which the garments of the dead warriors were burned, more offerings were made, and as a final honor to the memory of the departed all became intoxicated with pulque. Very distinguished warriors were sometimes honored with the funeral rites of royalty.[867]

The ceremonies during the period of mourning were not the last honors paid to deceased friends. Every year during the four years that the souls were supposed to live in a preparatory state in the heavens,[868] offerings of choice viands, wine, flowers, and reeds of perfume were placed before the casket or upon the grave; songs extolling the merits of the departed were sung, accompanied by dances, the whole closing with feasting and drinking. After this the dead were left to oblivion.[869] These commemorations took place in the months of Tlaxochimaco and Xocotlhuetzin. The former was termed 'the small festival of the dead,' and seems to have been devoted to the common people and children, but at the celebration in the latter month great demonstrations were observed by all; and certain royal personages and warriors who had died for their country were awarded divine honors, their statues being placed among those of the gods, to whose presence they had gone. While the priests were burning incense and making other offerings to the dead, the people stood with blackened bodies on the roofs of their houses, and, facing north, prayed to their dead relatives, calling on them to visit their former homes.[870]

In the month of Quecholli another celebration took place, which seems to have been chiefly intended for warriors who had perished in battle. On the fifth day certain small arrows from five to nine inches in length, and torches, were tied in bundles of four each and placed upon the graves, together with a pair of sweet tamales. At sunset the bundles were set on fire, and the ashes interred with the dead. The shield of the dead, with arrow, mantle, and maxtli attached, was afterwards fastened to a stalk of maize of nine joints, mounted by two paper flags, one of which reached the length of the stalk. On the small flag was a cross, worked in red thread, and on the other an ornamentation of red and white thread, from the white part of which a dead humming-bird was suspended. Bunches of white aztatl feathers, tied in pairs, were also attached to the stalk by a thread covered with white hen-feathers. This was burned at the quauhxicalco.[871]

[Sidenote: FUNERAL RITES OF THE TARASCOS.]

Among the peoples whose funeral ceremonies differ from those described, may be mentioned the Teo-Chichimecs, who interred their dead, and danced and sang for several days after.[872] In Tabasco interment seems also to have prevailed, for Grijalva found a grave in the sand, containing a boy and a girl wrapped in cotton cloth and adorned with jewelry.[873] In Goazacoalco it was the custom to place the bones in a basket, as soon as the flesh was gone, and hang them up in a tree, so that the spirit of the defunct might have no trouble in finding them.[874]

[Sidenote: CREMATION OF THE TARASCAN KINGS.]

In Michoacan the funeral rites were of a very exacting character. When the king lay on his death-bed it was incumbent on all vassals and courtiers to attend at the palace, and those who stayed away were severely punished. While awaiting the final breath they were royally entertained, but none could enter the death-chamber. When the corpse was ready for shrouding, the lords entered to dress it in festive robes, each attending to a particular part of the attire; the emerald brooch was put between the lips, and the body was laid upon a litter covered with cloths of different colors. On one side of the body were placed a bow and quiver, on the other was a doll made up of fine mantles and dressed exactly like the king.[875] While the courtiers were giving vent to lamentations and tendering their respects, the new king proceeded to select those among the servitors, who, according to the inviolable law of the country, were doomed to follow the dead prince. Seven of these were noble women, to whom various duties were assigned; one was appointed to carry the precious lip-ornament, another to keep the rest of the jewels, a third to be cup-bearer, and the others to attend at table and to cook. Among the male victims, who seem to have been slaves for the most part, every trade and profession was represented,[876] as valets, hair-dressers, perfumers, fan-holders, chair-bearers, wood-cutters, boatmen, sweepers, doorkeepers, and artisans; also clowns, and some of the physicians who had failed to save the life of the monarch. Occasionally some enthusiast would offer to join his beloved master of his own accord, but this seems to have been prohibited; besides, the new king had, doubtless, selected all that were obnoxious to him, and could not afford to lose good servants. At midnight the litter was carried on the shoulders of the chief men to the temple, followed by vassals, warriors, and courtiers, some blowing trumpets, others chanting the glories of the dead. In the van of the procession were the victims, who had been bathed in aromatic waters and adorned with garlands stripped of their leaves and branches, and with yellow streaks over the face, who marched in files, sounding whistles, rattling bones, and beating tortoise-shell drums. Torch-bearers attended the party, and ahead went a number of men who swept the road, singing at the same time: "Lord, here thou hast to pass, see that thou dost not miss the road!"[877] Four turns were made round the pyre before depositing the corpse upon it. While the flames shot up, and the funeral chants fell from the lips of the mourners, the victims were stupefied with drinks and clubbed; the bodies were thrown into holes behind the temple, by threes or fours, together with the ornaments and other belongings of the deceased. The ashes and valuables were gathered from the smoking pyre, and made into a figure, which was dressed in royal habiliments, with a mask for its face, a golden shield on its back, bows and arrows by its side; this was set upon a throne facing the east, the whole being placed in a large urn, which was deposited upon a bed of golden shields and silver articles in a grave with stone walls, lined with mats, about twelve feet square, and equally deep, situated at the foot of the temple. The urn was covered with a number of valuable mantles, and around it were placed various implements, food, drink, and boxes filled with feather-work and ornaments; the grave was finally bridged with varnished beams and boards, and covered with a coating of earth and clay. After the funeral, all who had taken an active part in the ceremonies went to bathe, in order to prevent any injury to their health,[878] and then assembled at the palace to partake of a sumptuous repast. At the close of the banquet a cotton cloth was given to each guest wherewith to wipe his face, but all remained seated for five days with lowered heads, without uttering a word, except the grandees, who went in turn by night to watch and mourn at the grave. During this period the mourning was general, no corn was ground, no fires lighted, no business transacted; the streets were deserted, and all remained at home, mourning and fasting. The obsequies of the people bore a general resemblance to the above, the ceremonies being regulated by the rank and means of the deceased. The graves were usually situated in the fields or on the slope of a hill.[879]

[Sidenote: SEPULCHRES IN OAJACA.]

Among the Miztecs, in Oajaca, where cremation does not seem to have obtained, compliments and addresses were presented to the corpse of a chief, just as if he were alive. A slave arrayed in the same splendid garments worn by his master, with mask, mitre, and other insignia, was placed before it; and while the funeral procession accompanied the body to burial, he represented the chief, and received the honors paid to royalty. At midnight four priests carried the body to the forest, where it was placed, in the presence of the mourners, in a cave, with the feet to the east, and surrounded with various weapons and implements. Two male and three female slaves, who had in the meantime been made drunk and strangled, were also placed in the grave, together with idols to serve as guides. Burgoa was told by the natives that devoted servants used to follow their lord alive into the grave. On the return of the funeral cortège, the slave who represented the deceased was sacrificed and deposited in a hole, which was left unclosed. The cave selected for the grave of the chief was supposed to be the gate to paradise. Burgoa found two of these resting-places. One was situated in a hill and lighted by loopholes from above. Along the sides were stone benches, like troughs, upon which lay the bejeweled skeletons, and here and there were niches occupied by idols. Another was a stone vault, with plastered walls, arranged like the former; a stone block closed the entrance.[880] Some authors state that when the flesh was consumed, the bones were taken out and placed in graves in the houses or in the temples; this may, however, only have applied to certain chiefs, for Burgoa found skeletons, as we have seen, in the caves which he explored. Every year, on the anniversary of the birth of the last defunct lord, not on that of his death, great ceremonies were held in his honor.[881] Like the Aztecs, they believed that the soul wandered about for a number of years before entering into perfect bliss, and visited its friends on earth once a year.[882] On the eve of that day the house was prepared as if for a festive occasion, a quantity of choice food was spread upon the table, and the inmates went out with torches in their hands, bidding the spirits enter. They then returned and squatted down round the table with crossed hands and eyes lowered to the ground, for it was thought that the spirits would be offended if they were gazed upon. In this position they remained till morning, praying their unseen visitors to intercede with the gods in their favor, and then arose, rejoiced at having observed due respect for the departed. The food, which the spirits were supposed to have rendered sacred by inhaling its virtue, was distributed among the poor, or deposited in some out-of-the-way place. During the day further ceremonies, accompanied by offerings, were made at the temples, and a table was spread for the priests.[883]

[Sidenote: PHYSICAL PECULIARITIES.]

The Nahuas were physically a fine race. They are described by all the old writers as being tall,[884] well-formed, and of an olive or light copper color; as having thick, black, coarse, though soft and glossy hair, regular teeth, low, narrow, retreating foreheads,[885] black eyes, scant beards,[886] and very little hair on their bodies. Their senses were very acute, especially that of sight, which they enjoyed unimpaired to the most advanced age.[887] Their bodies they kept in training by constant exercise. They were wonderful runners and leapers, and, as we have seen, some of their athletic and acrobatic feats were looked upon by the conquerors as nothing short of the work of the devil. It was no unusual thing to meet with people who from their color could scarcely be distinguished from Europeans. The people of Michoacan enjoy the reputation of having been the tallest and handsomest among the Nahuas.[888] The women of Jalisco found great favor in the eyes of the reverend Father Torquemada. He was shown one there, he says, who might be considered a miracle of beauty; indeed, so fair was her skin, so well-proportioned her body, and so regular her features, that the most skillful portrait-painter would have been put to it to do her justice.[889] Deformed people were very uncommon; indeed, as we have seen, their rarity made them valuable as objects of curiosity, and kings and princes kept collections of them.[890]

[Sidenote: CHARACTER OF THE NAHUAS.]

The character of the Nahuas, although the statements of the best authors are nearly unanimous concerning it, is in itself strangely contradictory. We are told that they were extremely frugal in their habits, that wealth had no attractions for them, yet we find them trafficking in the most shrewd and careful manner, delighting in splendid pageants, gorgeous dresses, and rich armor, and wasting their substance in costly feasts; they were tender and kind to their children, and solicitous for their welfare, yet the punishments they inflicted upon their offspring were cruel in the extreme;[891] they were mild with their slaves, and ferocious with their captives; they were a joyous race, fond of feasting, dancing, jesting, and innocent amusements, yet they delighted in human sacrifices, and were cannibals; they possessed a well-advanced civilization, yet every action of their lives was influenced by gross superstition, by a religion inconceivably dark and bloody, and utterly without one redeeming feature; they were brave warriors, and terrible in war, yet servile and submissive to their superiors; they had a strong imagination and, in some instances, good taste, yet they represented their gods as monsters, and their religious myths and historical legends are absurd, disgusting, and puerile.

That the Nahuas were a most ingenious people is abundantly proven by their work as well as by the statements of those who knew them. It has been said that they were not inventive, but this Clavigero indignantly denies.[892] It is certain that their power of imitation was very great,[893] and that they were very quick to learn the new arts introduced among them by the Spaniards.[894] They were generous and remarkably free from avarice.[895] They are said to have been very temperate in their habits,[896] but judging from the vast number of dishes served up at the tables of the rich, and the stringent laws which were necessary to prevent drunkenness, this appears doubtful. Although terrible to their enemies, and naturally warlike, they were peaceable among themselves, and seldom quarreled. Las Casas says that when a difficulty arose between two of them, the disputants did not come at once to blows, but contented themselves with such personal abuse as: "Go to, thou hast bad eyes; thou art toothless;" or they threw handfuls of dirt in each other's faces and then separated and washed themselves. On rare occasions they pushed and elbowed each other, or even had a scuffle, in which hair was pulled out, clothes were torn, and bloody noses received, but deadly weapons were never used, nor even worn except by soldiers on duty. The same writer relates that two women were put to death by order of the king of Tezcuco for fighting in the public market-place, a scandalous outrage upon public decency, the like of which had never been heard of before. He says, further, that when two young men became enamored of the same woman, or when one carried off the other's mistress, the rivals were allowed to fight a duel for the possession of the woman. The combat did not take place, however, until the army went forth to war, when upon the first engagement they sought out each other, and fought with their weapons until one was vanquished.[897] They seem to have been very strict and jealous in all matters relating to their women.[898]

The Tlascaltecs were great lovers of liberty, and were always ready to fight for it; they were, besides, quick to take offence, otherwise they are said to have been of a peaceable, domestic disposition, content to stay at home and listen to or tell stories in their own families, an amusement of which they were very fond. They are further described as truthful, just, frugal, and industrious.[899]

The Cholultecs, so celebrated for their pottery, are reported to have been very peaceful, industrious, and shrewd traders, yet brave withal, and capable of defending their rights.[900] The Zapotecs were a fierce people, always at war with their neighbors.[901] The Miztecs are said by Herrera to have been the bravest people in all New Spain; the same writer asserts that they were lazy and improvident, while Espinosa speaks of them as an industrious race.[902] The natives of Vera Cruz are spoken of as affable and shrewd.[903] The people of Jalisco were witty and slothful, yet they willingly carried burdens for the Spaniards, Herrera tells us.[904] The Tarascos were exceedingly valorous, great liars, and industrious.[905]

FOOTNOTES:

[808] Hernandez, Nova Plantarum, etc. The MSS., comprising 24 books of text and 11 books of plates, were sent to the Escurial in Spain, and from them abridged editions were published in Mexico, 1615, and Rome, 1651. The latter edition is the one in my collection. Sahagun also devotes considerable space to a description of herbs and their properties. Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., xi.Return to passage

[809] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 157; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xi.; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 623-4.Return to passage

[810] 'É da maravigliare, che i Messicani, e massimamente i poveri, non fossero a molte malattie sottoposti atteso la qualità de' loro alimenta.' Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 217; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 88.Return to passage

[811] 'Las principales enfermedades que corrian entre esta gente, eran de abundancia de colera, y flema, o otros malos humores, causados de mala comida, y falta de abrigo.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. x., cap. xxi.Return to passage

[812] Tezozomoc, Crón. Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 64; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 365.Return to passage

[813] 'Hacia malparir las Mugeres, de antojo de comer de aquello que asaban ... daban camazas á los Viejos de deseo de comer de aquello; y á las Mugeres se los hinchaban los brazos, las manos, y las piernas, que adolecian mucho, y morian con aquel deseo.' Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. x. Torquemada qualifies this by 'Esto dicho, pase por cuento.' Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 93; Tezozomoc, Crón. Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 21-2, 64.Return to passage

[814] Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 250.Return to passage

[815] Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 15; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 148.Return to passage

[816] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 117-19, tom. iv., pp. 303-28; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. x., cap. xxi.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 148; Pauw, Rech. Phil., tom. i., pp. 46-9; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 99-101; Prescott's Mex., vol. ii., pp. 434-5; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 66-71; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., p. 53; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 182; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clx., p. 280; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., p. 246.Return to passage

[817] 'Both men, women, and children, had great knowledge in herbs.... They did spend little among Physicians.' Gage's New Survey, p. 111. 'Casi todos sus males curan con yeruas.' Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 117. 'No se guardauan de males contagiosos, y enfermedades, y bestialmente se dexavan morir.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvi.Return to passage

[818] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 119. 'Si algun médico entre ellos (Tlascaltecs) fácilmente se puede haber, sin mucho ruido ni costa, van lo á ver, y si no, mas paciencia tienen que Job.' Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 76.Return to passage

[819] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 214-16, with cuts, copied in Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 671-3; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. xi., pp. 286-7.Return to passage

[820] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix.Return to passage

[821] 'En las Ciudades principales ... habia hospitales dotadas de rentas y vasallos donde se resabian y curaban los enfermos pobres.' Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxli. 'De cuando en cuando van por toda la provincia á buscar los enfermos.' Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 131; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 165; Carbajal, Discurso, pp. 37-8.Return to passage

[822] Bustamante, in Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. xi., p. 282.Return to passage

[823] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 185; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. ix., cap. vii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 211-12, 216-17; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 131.Return to passage

[824] 'Hay calle de herbolarios donde hay todas las raíces y yerbas medicinales que en la tierra se hallan. Hay casas como de boticarios donde se venden las medicinas hechas, así potables como ungüentos emplastos.' Cortés, Cartas, p. 104. They 'possédaient des livres dans lesquels étaient consignées minutieusement toutes leurs observations relatives aux sciences naturelles.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 637-8. See also Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 116; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 300; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 117; Relatione fatta per vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309. 'Tenian siete, o ocho maneras de rayzes de yeruas y flores: de yeruas y arboles, que eran las que mas comunmente vsauan para curarse.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. x., cap. xxi.Return to passage

[825] Acosta adds that the ashes of divers poisonous insects were mixed with the teopatli composition, which benumbed the part to which it was applied. 'Aplicado por via de emplasto amortigua las carnes esto solo por si, quanto mas con tanto genero de ponçoñas, y como les amortiguaua el dolor, pareciales efecto de sanidad, y de virtud diuina.' Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 370-1. For details of medical practice see Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 85-105, 109, tom. xi., pp. 212, 236-86, tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 214-15; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxli., ccxiii.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 100, 139; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 274, 550, 558; Oviedo, Hist. Ind., tom. iii., p. 306; Peter Martyr, dec. v., tom. ii-iii.; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. x., cap. xxi., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xvii., dec. iv., lib. ix., cap. viii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 77, 212-16; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 189, tom. iii., pp. 638-40, tom. iv., p. 355.Return to passage

[826] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxli.; Id., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 234. 'Lanzábanlos (unos cordeles como llavero) en el suelo, y si quedaban revueltos, decian que era señal de muerte. Y si alguno ó algunos salian extendidos, teníanlo por señal de vida, diciendo: que ya comenzaba el enfermo á extender los piés y las manos.' Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 110; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 130-1; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 491-2; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. ix., cap. vii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 216-17. Other authorities on medicine are: Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., p. 1133; Gage's New Survey, p. 111; West-Indische Spieghel, p. 247; Prescott's Mex., vol. i., p. 48, vol. ii., pp. 119-20, 137, 434-5; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 668-74; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pp. 132-4; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 90-1; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., p. 16; Baril, Mexique, p. 208; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 51. I further have in my possession a very rare and curious medical work by Dr Monardes, treating of the various medicinal plants, etc., found in Mexico and Central America, printed in Seville in 1574.Return to passage

[827] 'Ponen mascaras a Tezcatlipuca, o Vitzilopuchtli, o a otro idolo.' Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 309. As the idols wore masks, it is more likely that a veil was thrown over the face, than that another mask should have been put on. 'Suivant une coutume antique attribuée à Topiltzin-Acxitl, dernier roi de Tollan, on mettait un masque au visage des principales idoles, et l'on couvrait les autres d'une voile.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 572. 'Mettevan una maschera all' Idolo di Huitzilopochtli, ed un'altra aquello di Tezcatlipoca.' Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 95.Return to passage

[828] 'Ciertas mujeres y hombres que están salariados de público.' Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 364. Brasseur de Bourbourg thinks that they were only employed by the common people. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 569. Tezozomoc states that princes dressed the body. Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 142.Return to passage

[829] Zuazo says that the corpse was held on the knees of one of the male or female shrouders, while others washed it. Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 364.Return to passage

[830] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 151, 87; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 16; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 145, tom. ii., p. 99; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiv.Return to passage

[831] The chapter on dress furnishes all the information respecting the royal wardrobe. It is not unlikely that princes assisted in robing the king, for such was the custom in Michoacan, and that the mantles brought by them were used for shrouding, but authors are not very explicit on this point.Return to passage

[832] Brasseur de Bourbourg uses the expression 'C'est cette eau que tu as reçue en venant au monde.' Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 569.Return to passage

[833] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 527; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 94. Gomara says the dog served as guide: 'vn perro que lo guiasse adonde auia de yr.' Conq. Mex., fol. 309.Return to passage

[834] 'Le ponian los vestidos del Dios, que tenia por mas Principal en su Pueblo, en cuia Casa, ò Templo, ò Patio se havia de enterrar.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 521; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 93-5. Duran mentions an instance where a king was dressed in the mantles of four different gods. Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 309.Return to passage

[835] 'Sobre la mortaja le ponian vna mascara pintada.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 521. Perhaps he confounds the idol image on the robe with the mask, for it is unlikely that the mask should be placed upon the shroud. 'Visage découvert.' Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 201. Speaking of the obsequies of Tezozomoc of Azcapuzalco, Ixtlilxochitl says that a turquoise mask was put over his face, 'conforme lo fisonomía de su rostro. Esto no se usaba sino con los monarcas de esta tierra; á los demas reyes les ponian una máscara de oro.' Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 370. Veytia states that it was a gold mask 'garnecida de turquezas.' Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 5. The hair, says Gomara, 'quedaua la memoria de su anima.' Conq. Mex., fol. 309.Return to passage

[836] Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 90, 98-9; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix. 'On plaçait sur le lit de parade la statue que l'on faisait toujours à l'image du roi.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 572. The only statue referred to by other authors is that made of the ashes after the cremation.Return to passage

[837] Some of the early Chichimec kings lay five days in state, and Tlaltecatzin, forty days, his body being buried on the eightieth day. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 61, 72, 87.Return to passage

[838] Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 321, among others, calls this slave a priest.Return to passage

[839] Although Acosta says, 'tañendo tristes flautas y atambores.' Hist. de las Ynd., p. 322; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xviii. 'On faisait deux grandes bannières de papier blanc.' Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 309.Return to passage

[840] Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 370; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 6-7. Duran states that kings bore the corpse and that the mourners were dressed as water-goddesses. Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix., xl., tom. ii., cap. li. Acosta says that the arms and insignia were carried before the body by knights. Hist. de las Ynd., p. 321.Return to passage

[841] Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 90, 142, states that they were dressed in royal insignia and jewels, which is not very likely; a number of them, however, were loaded with the royal wardrobe, which fact may have given rise to this statement.Return to passage

[842] Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 370; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Id., vol. v., pp. 200-1; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 322; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xl. 'Salia el gran Sacerdote, con los otros Ministros, à recibirlo.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 521.Return to passage

[843] Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 332, 325, 327, 388.Return to passage

[844] 'El (the mode) que estos Chichimecas vsaron, fue quemarlos.' Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 60, 72, 87; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., pp. 369, 388; Id., Hist. Chich., pp. 214, 223, 261-2. Veytia, who introduces some arguments on this point, thinks that Tezozomoc introduced burning, yet he describes ceremonial cremations in the case of several kings before him. Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 3-4, tom. ii., p. 113; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 140, tom. ii., pp. 97-8.Return to passage

[845] Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 165, 202. 'La gente menuda comunmente se enterraua.' Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 308; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 200; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 528; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 129. 'Sabia por las pinturas, que se quemaron en tiempo del señor de México que se decia Itzcóatl, en cuya época los señores, y los principales que habia entónces, acordaron y mandaron que se quemasen todas, para que no viniesen á manos del vulgo.' Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 140-1.Return to passage

[846] Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 309.Return to passage

[847] Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 379, 388; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix., xl.; Bologne, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 213-14; Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 432; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 202; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 573; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 8-9.Return to passage

[848] Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 90; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix., tom. ii., cap. li.Return to passage

[849] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 521; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 321. Camargo indicates that the bodies were thrown upon the same pyre together with the presents. Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 202. 'Sacándoles los corazones, y la sangre de ellos en una batea ó gran xícara, con la cual rociavan á Huitzilopochtli, á quien le presentaron los corazones de todos los muertos.' Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 90.Return to passage

[850] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 309; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 370; Tezozomoc, ubi sup.Return to passage

[851] 'La colocaron en el mismo lugar en que ardió la pira.' Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 9. This author says that the mouth-stone of the deceased together with the mask, robes, and ornaments were taken off before the body was placed upon the pyre; this could only have been for the purpose of dressing the wooden statue therein; the stone was, however, placed inside the urn. Ixtlilxochitl, ubi sup. Brasseur de Bourbourg calls this bundle of bones tlaquimilolli, which he says was sacredly preserved, whether of kings or braves. Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clx., p. 268. In the case of Nauhyotl of Culhuacan, the bones were exhumed and placed in a statue, which was made in his honor, and deposited in a temple consecrated to him. Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix.Return to passage

[852] 'Al cuarto dia, al anochecer, cargaron los sacerdotes la arca de las cenizas y la estatua, y la colocaron en una especie de nicho, dentro del templo.' Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 10. 'Sous le pavé même du sanctuaire, devant la statue du dieu.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 574. Duran mentions that the ashes of one king were deposited at the foot of the stone of sacrifice. Hist. Indias, MS., tom. ii., cap. li.; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 142; Cortés, Cartas, p. 106; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. li.Return to passage

[853] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 72, 87; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., pp. 15-16.Return to passage

[854] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., p. 257.Return to passage

[855] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 316, 331; Bologne, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 213-14; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 192, 202.Return to passage

[856] 'La muerte se hacian enterrar en la más alta grada, é despues el subcessor subia otras dos gradas.' Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 503. 'Los Príncipes necesitaban de gran sepultura, porque se llevaban tras sí la mayor parte de sus riquezas y familia.' Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 432. 'Io aiutai a cauar d'vna sepoltura tre mila Castigliani poco piu ò meno.' Relatione fatta per vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 310.Return to passage

[857] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 141; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 327; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 189.Return to passage

[858] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. ix., p. 214; Id., Relaciones, pp. 335, 344; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 98.Return to passage

[859] Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 31; Ritos Antiguos, p. 20, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix. Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 371, states that the sacrifices on the fourth day consisted of five to six slaves, on the tenth of one, on the eightieth of three. 'Le cinquième on sacrifiait plusieurs esclaves, et cette immolation se répétait encore quatre fois, de dix en dix jours.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 574. Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xiv., xxxix., mentions a fast of eighty days, at the end of which a statue was made, like one which he states was burned with the corpse, and to this exactly the same ceremonies were paid as to the defunct, the statue being burned with an equally large number of slaves as before. The fullest descriptions of royal obsequies are given in Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 521-3; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 3-11; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 95-8; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 309-10; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 571-4; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix., xl., tom. ii., cap. xlviii.; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 86-90, 99.Return to passage

[860] After describing the robing of drunkards and others, Gomara says: 'Y finalmente a cada oficial dauan el traje del idolo de aquel oficio,' which certainly indicates that a drowned or besotted artisan would wear the mantle due to his position in life as well as that due to his manner of death. Conq. Mex., fol. 309. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 93-4, uses the following expression: 'Vestivanlo d'un abito corrispondente alla sua condizione, alle sue facoltà, ed alle circostanze della sua morte.'Return to passage

[861] Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 364-5.Return to passage

[862] Camargo says, with reference to sacrifices and pompous ceremonies, 'tout cela avait lieu, plus ou moins, à toutes les funérailles, selon la richesse du défunt.' Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 202; Prescott's Mex., vol. i., p. 63.Return to passage

[863] Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 365; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 310; 'Durauan las exequias diez dias.' Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 321. 'On passait vingt ou trente jours au milieu des fêtes et des festins.' Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 202. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xviii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 93-5.Return to passage

[864] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 529; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 186-91. See p. 269 of this volume.Return to passage

[865] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., p. 358.Return to passage

[866] Sahagun intimates that the puppet was for those who were slain by enemies, but adds, afterwards, that a puppet was burned with the same ceremonies in the court of the house, if they died at home. Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iv., pp. 314-15; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 587; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 621-2. See this vol., p. 392.Return to passage

[867] Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 37-8, 86-7, 161-2; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xviii., tom. ii., cap. xlviii.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 259-61, 407-8.Return to passage

[868] Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 130; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Id., p. 193.Return to passage

[869] Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 31; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 523.Return to passage

[870] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 298; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 193-4. 'Los tres dias ultimos de este mes ayunavan todos los vivos á los muertos.' Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 130. See this vol., pp. 328, 331.Return to passage

[871] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 163-4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 281. Brasseur de Bourbourg says that this celebration was of a general character, and dilutes the meagre and doubtful information of his authority considerably. The arrows and food, 'après qu'elles y avaient demeuré un jour et une nuit, on les enlevait et on brûlait le tout ensemble en l'honneur de Mixcohuatl et de ses compagnons d'armes.' Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 234, tom. iii., pp. 528-9.Return to passage

[872] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 119.Return to passage

[873] Diaz, Itinerario, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 304; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 532.Return to passage

[874] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. ix., cap. vii.Return to passage

[875] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 310. 'Esta figura se la ponian encima al Difunto.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 524. It is not likely, however, that a life-size figure, as Gomara calls it, or any figure, for that matter, should have been placed over the ornaments of the king and pressed upon the body. Beaumont says: 'Lo cubrian con una manta, en que estaba pintado ó realzado el cadaver con los mismos adornos.' Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 55. 'Au-dessus on asseyait une poupée de la taille du défunt.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 83.Return to passage

[876] 'Matauan vno, y aun mas de cada oficio.' Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 311.Return to passage

[877] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 525. The slaves, he says, 'los embadurnaban todo el cuerpo, con vna tinta amarilla.' 'Yban las andas ó atahud en hombros de los tres principales.' Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 56.Return to passage

[878] 'Todos los que habian tocado el Caltzontzi y á los demas cuerpos se iban á bañar por preservarse de alguna enfermedad.' Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 57.Return to passage

[879] Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 54-8; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 523-6; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 310-12; Gage's New Survey, pp. 157-60, with a cut; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 82-6; Payno, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da época, tom. i., pp. 717-19.Return to passage

[880] Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt ii., fol. 160-1, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 320.Return to passage

[881] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 98-9; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiii.; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. v., p. 130; _Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano_ (Vaticano), in Id., p. 193; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 22-4.Return to passage

[882] 'Au douzième mois de l'année zapotèque.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 23.Return to passage

[883] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 392-3; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 23-4. Additional references to funeral ceremonies are: Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 238, tom. ii., pp. 79, 231-2, 298; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., pp. 15, 25, 29; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 89-91, 98-9, 141-2, 178-9; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1029-30, 1138-9; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill's Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 514; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 261-2; D'Avity, L'Amérique, tom. ii., p. 69; Adair, Amer. Ind., p. 217; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 9-10; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., pp. 318-23; Lenoir, Parallèle, pp. 11-13, 28, 30; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1824, tom. xxiv., pp. 137-8; Fransham's World in Miniature, vol. ii., p. 19; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 666; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 64-5; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 234, 559-64, tom. ii., pp. 375, 604; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 424-5, tom. iii., pp. 407-8, 453, 520-3, 528-9, 569-74; Carli, Cartas, pt i., p. 107; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 456; Simon's Ten Tribes, pp. 275-6; Monglave, Résumé, p. 32; Cooper's Hist. N. Amer., vol. ii., p. 163; Baril, Mexique, p. 203; Bussierre, L'Empire Mex., pp. 147-9; Ranking's Hist. Researches, pp. 381-4; Brownell's Ind. Races, p. 96; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 31, 49-53, 77, 184; Carbajal, Discurso, p. 37.Return to passage

[884] Except the Zapotecs, who, Carbajal Espinosa says, were of low stature and broad-shouldered. Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 245.Return to passage

[885] Gomara says they had wide foreheads. Conq. Mex., fol. 317. 'La forma, ò figura de las Cabeças, comunmente las tienen proporcionadas à los cuerpos, y à los otros miembros de èl, y derechas; algunos las tienen empinadas, y las frentes quadradas, y llanas; otros (como son estos Mexicanos, y algunos del Pirù) las tenian, y tienen de mejor forma, algo de hechura de Martillo, ò Navio, que es la mejor forma de todas.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 582-3. 'The Aztec skulls are described as being remarkable for the shortness of their axis, their large flattened occiput obliquely truncated behind, the height of the semicircular line of the temples, and the shortness and trapezoidal form of the parietal plane. They present an elevation or ridge along the sagittal suture; the base of the skull is very short, and the face slightly prognathic, as among the Mongol-Kalmucs. They bear a strong analogy to the skulls of a Peruvian Brachycephali delineated by Morton.' Foster's Pre-Hist. Races, p. 326. 'The aboriginal Mexicans of our own time are of good stature and well proportioned in all their limbs. They have narrow foreheads, black eyes, white, well-set, regular teeth, thick, coarse and glossy black hair, thin beards, and are in general without any hair on their legs, thighs, or arms. Their skin is olive coloured, and many fine young women may be seen among them with extremely light complexions. Their senses are very acute, more especially that of sight, which they enjoy unimpaired to the most advanced age.' Figuier's Hum. Race, p. 455. For remarks on Mexican Crania, descriptions and measurements of skulls with cuts, see Morton's Crania Amer., pp. 144-7, 152-7, 231-3, 257, and plates xvi-xviii., lix.-lxi.Return to passage

[886] According to Herrera, Hist. Gen., (Lond. 1726,) vol. iv., p. 125, and Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 35, the Miztecs had long beards.Return to passage

[887] 'En los Sentidos exteriores (como son los de el Vèr, Oìr, Oler, y Gustar) los alcançan admirables; porque vèn mui de lejos, y no vsan de Antojos, si no son mui pocos, despues que los han visto, en nuestros Españoles, y eso es en la vejez, y tienen comunmente los ojos buenos, y hermosos, oien mucho, huelen tambien qualquier cosa de mui lejos; lo mismo es el Gusto; el Sentido del tacto, comunmente es delicado, lo qual se verifica en ellos, porque qualquier cosa, que pueda lastimarlos, como es frio, calor, açotes, ù otra exterior afliccion, los aflige mui facilmente, y en mucho grado, y qualqueira enfermedad los adelgaça, mas presto los enflaquece, y mata, que à otra Nacion, asi Española, como otra alguna, como es notorio, à todos los que los conocemos, y son para sufrir mui poco trabajo.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 580.Return to passage

[888] Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 50; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 218; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 337, tom. iii., p. 332; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 57.Return to passage

[889] He adds further: 'Y esto (aunque no en tanto extremo) corre, mui en general, por todos estos Reinos, y en especial en aquel de Xalisco, en la Nacion, que llaman Coca, y Tecuex, que son los Tonaltecos, y por acà en la de Tlaxcalla, y otras muchas, que por escusar enfado, callo.' Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 582; see also tom. i., p. 339.Return to passage

[890] 'Sonovi così rari i deformi, che tutti quegli Spagnuoli, e Creogli, che nel 1768, vennero dal Messico in Italia, restarono allora, e sono anche oggidì maravigliati dall'osservare nelle Città di questa coltissima penisola un sì gran numero di ciechi, di gobbi, di zoppi, d'attratti ec.' Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 163. See farther, concerning the physical peculiarities of the Nahuas and earlier peoples: Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 326, 336-7, 341, 344-5, 395; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., tom. ii., p. 12; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 37, 44, 95, 318; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 112, 119, 132; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 37, 51, 255, tom. ii., pp. 580-83; Cortés, Cartas, tom. i., p. 23; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 143-6, tom. ii., p. 5; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. x., cap. xix.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 499; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 118-19, tom. iv., pp. 161-76; Relatione fatta per vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 304; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 282, tom. ii., pp. 187, 189, tom. iii., p. 35; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 90, 245, tom. ii., pp. 326, 487; Dupaix, Rel., 2de Expéd., p. 25; Gordon's Hist. and Geog. Mem., pp. 71-2; Dillon's Hist. Mex., p. 45; Macgregor's Progress of Amer., vol. i., p. 21; Cooper's Hist. N. Amer., vol. ii., p. 163.Return to passage

[891] See this volume, p. 242.Return to passage

[892] 'Vi sono molti, che accordano ai Messicani una grande abilità per l'imitazione; ma lor contrastano quella dell' invenzione. Error volgare, che trovasi smentito nella Storia antica di questa Nazione.' Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 120.Return to passage

[893] See this volume, pp. 475-6.Return to passage

[894] 'Los niños de los Indios no son molestos con obstinacion ni porfia à la Fè Catholica, como lo son los Moros y Indios; antes aprenden de tal manera las verdades de los Christianos, que no solamente salen con ellas, sino que las agotan, y es tanta su facilidad que parece que se las beuen. Aprenden mas presto que los niños Españoles; y con mas contento los Articulos de la Fè por su orden, y las demas oraciones de la doctrina Christiana, reteniendo en la memoria fielmente lo que se les enseña.' Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 139. 'Il n'était rien que les Indiens n'apprissent avec une rapidité surprenante, et s'il arrivait quelque nouveau métier dont ils n'eussent aucune connaissance, ils s'appliquaient à le voir faire avec tant d'intelligence, que, malgré les soins de l'ouvrier à leur cacher son secret, ils le lui enlevaient au bout de quelques jours.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 728.Return to passage

[895] 'Son muy ladrones, mentirosos, y holgazanes. La fertilidad de la tierra deue causar tanta pereza, o por no ser ellos codiciosos.' Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 317. 'La liberalità e lo staccamento da qualsiasi interesse sono dei principali attributi del loro carattere. L'oro non ha presso i Messicani tutta quella stima, che gode presso altri. Danno senza dispiacere quello, che si procacciano con somma fatica. Questo loro staccamento dall'interesse, ed il poco amore, che portano a quei che gli governano, ii fa rifiutare quelle fatiche, a cui sono da essi costretti, e questa è appunto la tanto esagerata pigrizia degli Americani.' Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 121-2. 'Estavan libres de la enfermedad de la codicia, y no pensauan en la vanidad del oro, y plata, ni hazian estimacion dello.' Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 18. 'Segun lo que aquella edad permite, son inclinadissimos à ser liberales. Tanto monta que lo que se les da, se de à vno como à muchos: porque lo que vno recibe, se reparte luego entre todos.' Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 139.Return to passage

[896] The most sober people known. Relatione fatta per vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 304.Return to passage

[897] Las Casas, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 124-5.Return to passage

[898] 'Son celosissimosmos, y assi las aporrean mucho.' Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 317. We have seen in a former chapter, that Nezahualcoyotl put his dearest son to death for speaking lewdly to his father's concubine. See this volume, pp. 447, et seq.; see further concerning the character of the Mexicans, about whom the above remarks, though doubtless applicable to many other of the Nahua nations, are more particularly made: Esplicacion de la Coleccion de Mendoza, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 40; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 458-9; Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., pp. 139, 270; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. iii., p. 232; Gomara, Conq. Mex., pp. 317-18; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 8; Zorita, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 235; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Id., vol. ix., p. 167; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xliv., xlv., lxvii., cxl.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 119-23, tom. iv., pp. 177-202; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., p. 17; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 727-30, 810; Edinburgh Review, 1867; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 8-10; Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 90-3; Gordon's Hist. and Geog. Mem., pp. 73-6; Chevalier, Mexique, pp. 53-4.Return to passage

[899] For the character of the Tlascaltecs see: Cortés, Cartas, p. 68; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 197-200, tom. xcix., pp. 136, 149, 151; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 76; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 87; Alcedo, Dicc., tom. v., p. 155; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, p. 88; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 294; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. i.; Pradt, Cartas, pp. 175-6; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., pp. 121, 129, 511; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 186-7; Bussierre, L'Empire Mex., p. 230; Dillon, Hist. Mex., p. 7.Return to passage

[900] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 499; Gomara, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 95; Pradt, Cartas, p. 176; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 130; Carbajal Espinosa, _Hist. Mex._, tom. i., p. 259, tom. ii., pp. 121, 339.Return to passage

[901] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiv.; Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 548; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 183.Return to passage

[902] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiii.; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 244; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 35.Return to passage

[903] Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 57.Return to passage

[904] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. ii.Return to passage

[905] Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 51-2; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 337, tom. iii., p. 332; Oviedo, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii., p. 563; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 308; Herrera, _Hist. Gen._, dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 218; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 56-7; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 291, tom. ii., p. 595; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 456.Return to passage

Chapter XX

GOVERNMENT, SOCIAL CLASSES, PROPERTY, AND LAWS OF THE MAYA NATIONS.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS--VOTAN'S EMPIRE--ZAMNÁ'S REIGN--THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF YUCATAN; COCOMES, TUTUL XIUS, ITZAS, AND CHELES--TITLES AND ORDER OF SUCCESSION--CLASSES OF NOBLES--THE QUICHÉ-CAKCHIQUEL EMPIRE IN GUATEMALA--THE AHAU AHPOP AND SUCCESSION TO THE THRONE--PRIVILEGED CLASSES--GOVERNMENT OF THE PROVINCES--THE ROYAL COUNCIL--THE CHIAPANECS--THE PIPILES--NATIONS OF NICARAGUA--THE MAYA PRIESTHOOD--PLEBEIAN CLASSES--SLAVES--TENURE OF LANDS--INHERITANCE OF PROPERTY--TAXATION--DEBTORS AND CREDITORS--LAWS AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.

My reasons for dividing the Civilized Nations of our territory into two groups, the Nahuas and the Mayas, whose institutions are separately described, have been stated in the General View, to which a preceding chapter has been devoted. In the same place was given an outline sketch of the nations composing each group, and their mutual relations,[906] which may serve as an introduction to the remainder of this volume. Without further preliminary remarks I may therefore enter at once upon the subject-matter of this second division of my topic, a description of Maya institutions, or the manners and customs of the civilized nations whose home was south of the isthmus of Tehuantepec. It will be evident to the reader from what has been said that this account must be not only much briefer, but also less complete and satisfactory than that of the Nahua nations. Concerning the Aztecs and kindred peoples about the lakes of the Mexican valley, as we have seen, a large amount of information has been preserved; I have consequently been able, in treating of the northern peoples, to take these nations of the valley as a nucleus, adding in their proper places such fragments of knowledge as are extant respecting tribes outside the limits of Anáhuac. In the south, fragmentary information is all we have; there is no nucleus round which to group it; the matter of the following chapters will, therefore, be very similar in its nature to what that of the preceding would have been, had I undertaken to describe the Tarascos, Totonacs, Zapotecs, etc., without the Aztecs. In this branch of my subject I shall follow as nearly as possible the same order as in the preceding, bringing together into one chapter, however, the topics before treated in several. I shall also include the civilized nations of Nicaragua in this division, although one at least of them was of Nahua blood and language. In the days of ancient Maya glory when Votan and his successors reigned over mighty and perhaps confederated empires in Chiapas, Guatemala, and Yucatan, the kings played rôles to a great extent mythical, being pictured by tradition as combining the character and powers of legislators, teachers, high-priests, and monarchs. Details of the system by which they governed are altogether wanting,[907] but after a long term of prosperity this government in Guatemala and Chiapas became weakened and at last practically destroyed; the country was divided among petty chiefs, concerning whose rule even less is known than of that of their predecessors, but who not improbably based their forms of authority on the ideas handed down from Votan. From these governmental relics there sprung up in later years, under new and perhaps foreign leaders, the Quiché and Cakchiquel empires, of whose government some details are known, since these nations came into direct contact with the Spaniards at the conquest. Leaving these nations for the present, I will speak first of another branch of the primitive Maya empire.

[Sidenote: VOTAN'S MAYA EMPIRE.]

Yucatan received its culture traditionally from Zamná, who came from abroad, governed the Mayas through a long life, and left the throne as an heritage to his successors. He was doubtless a companion or a descendant of Votan, and founded institutions similar to those of the western kingdoms whence he came. The government and institutions established in Yucatan met to a certain extent the same fate as those of Chiapas; that is, the country was finally split up by civil wars into numerous petty independent sovereignties; but this division was at a much later date than that of Votan's western empire,--not long preceding the Spanish conquest--and the government of the independent chieftains was substantially that of their ancestors, many of whom claimed to be of the royal family founded by Zamná. Consequently some scraps of information are extant respecting the form of government, as well as other institutions, in Yucatan; and from these we may form a faint idea of the earlier institutions of Guatemala and Chiapas.

Zamná, like Votan, united in himself the qualities of ruler, law-giver, educator, and priest; he founded the city of Mayapan, and divided the whole country among the chiefs of the leading families who came with him, making them vassals of the king whom he left on the throne at Mayapan. The nobles of the royal family were of course the highest, a family which was perhaps that known later as the Cocomes, and which lasted to the coming of the Spaniards. Each of the vassal princes had to live in the capital during a certain part of every year; and Brasseur de Bourbourg, following Ordoñez, thinks that Mayapan may have formed a confederacy with Tulhá and Palenque in Chiapas.[908]

[Sidenote: THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF YUCATAN.]

Another royal family, the Tutul Xius, sprung up later and became very powerful as allies and vassals of the king reigning in Mayapan; and still another family, the Itzas, built up a strong government of theocratic nature at Chichen Itza. Then came Cukulcan with some new religious teachings--a famous personage bearing a striking resemblance in his traditional career and in the etymology of his name to the Quetzalcoatl of the Nahuas. Being finally called to the throne at Mayapan, he formed a confederacy, making the princes of the Tutul Xius and Itzas his associate monarchs, subordinate nominally in rank but practically independent except where mutual assistance was required. Cukulcan left the throne to the Cocomes, seven of whom ruled during a period of great prosperity, the succession being from father to son, down to about the eleventh century. Afterward the Cocomes, becoming tyrannical, were deposed from their high position, Mayapan destroyed, and a new confederacy established with the Tutul Xius at the head, Uxmal being at first their capital, the Itzas second, and the Cheles at Izamal third. The Tutul Xiu rule was no less glorious than that of the Cocomes. They rebuilt Mayapan and made it once more the capital, but the unfortunate city was again sacked, this time by foreigners--perhaps the Quichés--in the thirteenth century; and was finally destroyed in the middle of the fifteenth century by the vassal lords of the realm, who revolted, overthrew the Tutul Xiu dynasty, obtained their complete independence, and ruled each his petty province with sovereign power. This was their condition when the Spaniards came, but before that time by civil war, and by famine and pestilence also, as tradition tells us, the power of the rulers and the population of the country had been greatly diminished and the ancient Maya glory had departed forever. Shortly before the final destruction of the monarchy a portion of the Itzas had left Chichen and migrated southward to found a small but powerful nation in what is now the province of Peten, belonging politically to Guatemala. It is from traditionary accounts of the kingdom under the Tutul Xius, and from the meagre observations of the Spaniards in the sixteenth century that our slight knowledge of Maya institutions in the peninsula is gained.

The highest title of the king at Mayapan was Ahtepal, which signifies in the Maya tongue 'Majestic,' or 'August.' His power was absolute, but he rarely acted in matters of importance without consulting his lords, and, in accordance with their advice and that of the chief priests, he appointed all officials, secular and religious, in the kingdom, possessing moreover the right to organize all courts and to condemn to death any of his subjects. The succession to the throne was confined to the royal family, to the male line, and to the sons of noble wives; the eldest son seems to have been the acknowledged heir to the throne, and Landa tells us that if the king died during the childhood of his heir, then his eldest or most capable brother ruled not only during the son's minority but during all his own life; and in case there were no brothers the priests and nobles chose a suitable person to reign.[909] One author speaks of the king as having the right to appoint a council which should name his successor, and Remesal mentions that in the province of Campeche, a woman who came in the direct line of succession received high honors, but the most capable of her male relatives ruled the state.[910]

[Sidenote: COURT ETIQUETTE IN YUCATAN.]

Whenever the king appeared in public, he was always attended by a large company and wore a long white flowing robe decorated with ornaments of gold and precious stones, bracelets, a magnificent collar, and sandals of gold. His crown was a plain golden circle somewhat wider on the forehead than behind, and surmounted with a plume of quetzal-feathers. This bird was reserved for the king and highest nobles, death being the penalty, according to Ordoñez, for one of lower rank who should capture the bird or wear its plumage. The monarch was borne on the shoulders of his nobles reclining in a palanquin, shaded by a feather canopy, and constantly fanned by attendants of high rank. Any person who came into the presence of the king or other high official, was expected to bring some gift proportioned to his means, and Herrera informs us that the highest mark of respect was to place the right hand, anointed with spittle, on the ground and then to rub it over the heart. Villagutierre mentions without description a kind of small throne among the Itzas, and states that the king of this southern realm bore the title of Canek, the name of the leader of their migration. Our only knowledge of the royal palaces of Yucatan is derived from their examination, when more or less in ruins, by modern explorers; consequently I refer the reader to the chapter on Maya buildings for a general description of these grand stone structures, and to another volume of this work for a detailed account with illustrative plates.

The nobility of the highest class belonged to members of the royal families, the Cocomes, Tutul Xius, Cheles, and Itzas, those of the reigning king's own blood taking naturally the highest rank. Ahau was the ordinary title of the princes, and Halach Winikel, 'most majestic men,' was a high title among the Tutul Xius. From nobles of the royal families mentioned, governors of provinces, and all the highest officials were chosen. Their positions were nominally at the king's disposal, but practically they descended hereditarily in the same manner as the royal power, the king interfering with new appointments only on extraordinary occasions. These rulers were almost absolute in matters concerning their own provinces, and exacted great honors, ceremonial attendance, and implicit obedience from all their subjects; but they were not exempt in matters of crime from the penalties of the law, and were obliged to reside during a part of each year in the capital, to render personal service to the monarch, and to take part in the supreme council by which he was guided in the administration of public affairs. They were, however, exempt from all tribute except that of personal service, and lived on the product of portions of the public domain assigned them. Cogolludo tells us that the nobles of Mayapan were also required to perform certain services in the temples, and to assist at the religious festivals. They not only had the exclusive right to the government of provinces, but also to the command of armies.

Nobles of a lower class, with the title Batab, governed cities, villages, or other subdivisions of provinces. They were not of royal blood, or at least were only connected with the reigning family through the female branch. Their position was also practically hereditary, although the heir could not assume his inherited rank without the royal sanction. No government officials received any salary, but they were obliged to maintain themselves and the poor and disabled of their respective communities from the products of their inherited estates.[911]

[Sidenote: THE QUICHÉ-CAKCHIQUEL EMPIRES.]

The most powerful kingdoms in Guatemala at the coming of the Spaniards were, that of the Quichés, whose capital was Gumarcaah, or Utatlan, near the site of the modern Santa Cruz del Quiché; and that of the Cakchiquels, capital Iximché, or Patinamit, near Tecpan Guatemala. These two nations were independent of and hostile to each other in the sixteenth century, but they had been united in one empire during the days of Guatemala's greatest glory, their separation dated back only about a century, and their institutions were practically identical, although they were traditionally distinct tribes in the more remote past. The same remark may be made respecting the institutions of the other nations in Guatemala which were wholly or partially independent of the powers mentioned above. All the aboriginal powers had greatly deteriorated by wars, one with another, and their mutual hatred made their defeat by foreigners possible, as had been the case in the conquest of the Nahua nations farther north.

There is little doubt that the Quiché-Cakchiquel peoples were direct descendants of Votan's subjects, but the line of traditional history that unites the two empires is broken at many points and cannot be satisfactorily followed. There are evidences also of foreign, chiefly Nahua, influences in the molding of Quiché institutions, exerted before or after the Toltec era in Anáhuac, probably at both periods. The traditional history of the Quiché empire for three or four centuries before the Conquest, rests almost entirely on manuscripts written in the native languages with the Roman alphabet, which have only been consulted by one modern writer. Into the labyrinth of this complicated record of wars and political changes I shall not attempt to enter, especially since the general nature of Quiché institutions does not seem to have been perceptibly modified by the events recorded.

An aristocratic monarchy, similar in nearly every feature to that I have described in Yucatan, seems to have been the basis of Quiché government from the first. All high positions, judicial, military, or sacerdotal, were hereditary and restricted to noble families, who traced their genealogy far back into the mythic annals of the nations. Between noble and plebeian blood the lines were sharply defined. The nobles were practically independent and superior in their own provinces, but owed tribute, allegiance, and military aid to the monarch. At the time of Guatemala's highest prosperity and glory, when King Qikab from his throne in Utatlan ruled over all the country, the monarch, if we may credit the traditional account, made an effort to diminish the power of the nobles, by conferring military commands and other high positions on the ablest men of plebeian blood. Thus a new class of nobles, called Achihab was created. This newly conferred power became, acting with the alienation of the old hereditary nobility, too great to be restrained by the monarch who created it. The Achihab became ambitious and insubordinate; they were at last put down, but the dissolution of the empire into several states was the indirect result of their machinations.

[Sidenote: SUCCESSION TO THE QUICHÉ THRONE.]

Respecting the order of succession to the Quiché throne Torquemada and Juarros state that the king's brother was the king elect, and the direct heir to the throne; the king's oldest son was the senior captain and the next heir; and the latter's first cousin, the nephew of the king, was junior captain and third heir. When the king died each heir was promoted one degree, and the vacant post of junior captain was filled by the nearest relative--whose nearest relative the authors neglect to say. Whoever may have been elevated to the vacant position the whole system as a regular order of succession would be a manifest absurdity. Brasseur de Bourbourg agrees with the authors cited and gives to the king, the elect, and the two captains the titles of Ahau Ahpop, Ahau Ahpop Camha, Nim Chocoh Cawek, and Ahau Ah Tohil, respectively; but when the last position was left vacant by the death of the king, the Abbé tells us that "it was conferred upon the eldest son of the new monarch,"--that is, upon the same man who held it before! Padre Ximenez implies perhaps that the crown descended from brother to brother, and from the youngest brother to a nephew who was a son of the oldest brother. I have no authorities by the aid of which to throw any light upon this confused subject; it is evident, however, that if the last-mentioned system, identical with that which obtained among some of the Nahua nations, be not the correct one, nothing whatever is known of the matter in question.[912]

All the authorities state that this remarkable system of succession was established to prevent the power from coming into the hands of young and inexperienced men; and that an incompetent person in the regular line could not succeed to the throne, but retained throughout his life the rank to which he was born. It is not clearly explained how the heir's competency was decided upon, but it seems probable that the matter was settled by the reigning king with the advice of his council of princes. The king's children by his first wife were preferred above the rest, though all received high honors. At Rabinal the Ahau, or ruling prince, was regularly chosen by the nobles, from the royal family, but was not necessarily a son or brother of the last ruler. Among the Cakchiquels the succession alternated between two royal families. The king's title was Ahpozotzil; the next heir from the other branch bore the title Ahpoxahil; their eldest sons, the elder of which became Ahpoxahil on the king's death, had the titles Ahpop Qamahay and Galel Xahil. Inferior titles were Galel Qamahay, Atzih Winak, and Ahuchan Xahil, the bearers of which succeeded to the throne in default of nearer heirs. It will be noticed that this plan of succession is but little clearer than that attributed to the Quichés.[913]

[Sidenote: CORONATION IN GUATEMALA.]

The ceremonies of coronation in the kingdom of Rabinal, and, so far as can be known, in the other kingdoms of Guatemala, consisted of an assemblage of all the nobles at the capital,--each being obliged to attend or send a representative--the presentation of gifts and compliments to the new king, a discourse of congratulation and advice addressed to him by one of the ancients, and finally a splendid feast which lasted several days and usually degenerated into a drunken orgy. The Quichés and Cakchiquels also bathed the new king and anointed his body with perfumes before seating him on the throne, which was a seat, not described, placed on a carpet or mat, and surmounted by four canopies of feather-work placed one above another, the largest at the top; the seats of the three lower princes already mentioned were also shaded by canopies, three, two, and one, respectively. Whenever he appeared in public the monarch was borne in a palanquin on the shoulders of the nobles who composed his council.[914]

The machinery of government was carried on in the provinces by lieutenants of the king's appointment, and the monarch was advised in all matters of state by a council of nobles. Juarros tells us that the supreme Quiché council was composed of twenty-four grandees, who enjoyed great privileges and honors, personally attended the king, and managed the administration of justice and the collection of the royal revenue, but were liable to severe punishment if they committed crime. Brasseur de Bourbourg speaks of a supreme council, giving the names of the princes that composed it, and also of an ordinary council whose members were called alchaoh, or 'judges,' and were entrusted with the collection of tribute. The other authorities, Torquemada and Ximenez, state that the councils were not permanent, but were summoned by the king and selected for their peculiar fitness to give advice upon the subject under consideration. The lieutenants had also their provincial councils to advise them in matters of local importance, but all cases of national import, or affecting in any way the nobles of high rank, were referred to the royal council. So great was the power of the nobles assembled in council, that they might, under certain conditions, depose a tyrannical sovereign and seat the next heir on the throne. No person unless of noble blood could hold any office whatever, even that of doorkeeper to the council-chamber, if we may credit Juarros; consequently the greatest pains was taken to insure a lineage free from any plebeian stain. A noble marrying a woman of the common people was degraded to her rank, took her name, and his estate was forfeited to the crown. Ximenez states that traveling officials visited from time to time the different provinces, to observe the actions of the regular judges, and to correct abuses.[915]

[Sidenote: THE QUICHÉ NOBILITY.]

The following is the Abbé Brasseur's account of the grades of nobility taken from the Quiché manuscript published under the title of Popol Vuh: "Three principal families having a common origin constituted the high nobility of Quiché, modeled on the ancient imperial family of the Toltecs. The first and most illustrious was the house of Cawek, the members of which composed the royal family proper; the second was that of Nihaïb; and the third that of Ahau Quiché. Each of these houses had its titles and charges perfectly distinct and fixed, which never left it, like the hereditary offices of the English court at the present time; and to each of these offices were attached fiefs, or particular domains, from which the titularies drew their revenue, their attendants, and their vassals, and a palace where they lived during their stay in the capital. The house of Cawek, or royal house proper, included only princes of the blood, like the eldest branch of the Bourbons in France. It was composed of nine chinamital, or great fiefs, whose names corresponded to those of the palaces occupied by these princes in the capital, and whose titles were as follows:--I. Ahau Ahpop, or 'lord of the princes,' title of the king, corresponding nearly to 'king of kings,' whose palace was called cuha; II. Ahau Ahpop Camha, or 'lord of the princes and seneschal' (camha, he who cares for the house, majordomo), whom the Spaniards called the second king, and whose palace was called tziquinaha, or 'house of birds;' III. Nim Chocoh Cawek, or 'grand elect of Cawek;' IV. Ahau Ah Tohil, or 'lord of the servants of Tohil,' priests of Tohil, the principal Quiché god; V. Ahau Ah Gucumatz, or 'lord of the servants of Gucumatz,' (priests of Quetzalcoatl); VI. Popol Winak Chituy, or president of the counsellors; VII. Lolmet Quehnay, the principal receiver of royal tributes, or minister of finance; VIII. Popol Winak Pahom Tzalatz Xcaxeba, or 'grand master of the hall of the council of the game of ball;' IX. Tepeu Yaqui, 'chief or lord of the Yaquis' (Toltecs, or Mexicans).

"The house of Nihaïb, the second in rank, had also nine chinamital, with names corresponding to their palaces, and titles as follows: I. Ahau Galel, 'lord of the bracelets,' or of those who have the right to wear them, and chief of the house of Nihaïb; II. Ahau Ahtzic Winak, 'lord of those who give,' or of those who made presents (especially to ambassadors, who were introduced by him); III. Ahau Galel Camha, 'lord of the bracelets, and seneschal;' IV. Nimah Camha, 'grand seneschal;' V. Uchuch Camha, 'mother of the seneschals;' VI. Nima Camha Nihaïb, 'grand seneschal of Nihaïb;' VII. Nim Chocoh Nihaïb, 'grand elect of Nihaïb;' VIII. Ahau Awilix, 'lord of Awilix' (one of the gods of the Quiché trinity); IX. Yacol Atam, 'grand master of feasts.'

"The third house, that of Ahau Quiché, had only four chinamital with the following titles: I. Ahtzic Winak Ahau, 'great lord of givers;' II. Lolmet Ahau, 'grand receiver;' III. Nim Chocoh Ahau, 'lord grand elect;' IV. Ahau Gagawitz, 'lord of Gagawitz' (one of the gods of the Quiché trinity)."[916]

[Sidenote: PIPILES AND NICARAGUANS.]

Respecting the Chiapanecs, who are not generally considered as the descendants of the peoples who inhabited the country in Votan's time, we have no knowledge of their government save a probably unfounded statement by García that they were ruled by two chiefs, elected each year by the priests, and never had a king.[917] The Pipiles in Salvador, although traditionally among the partially civilized nations, seem to have been governed in the sixteenth century by local chieftains only, like most of the wild tribes already described. These chiefs handed down their power, however, to their sons or nearest relatives. Palacio tells us that to regulate marriages and the planting of crops was among the ruler's duties. Squier concludes that all these petty chiefs were more or less allied politically, and acted together in matters affecting the common interests.[918]

Nicaragua, when first visited by Europeans, was divided into many provinces, inhabited by several nations linguistically distinct one from another, one of them, at least, speaking the Aztec tongue; but in respect to their government and other institutions, the very meagre information preserved by Oviedo enables us to make little or no distinction between the different tribes. In many of the provinces we are told the people lived in communities, or little republics, governed by certain huehues, or 'old men,' who were elected by the people. These elective rulers themselves elected a captain-general to direct their armies in time of war, which official they had no hesitation in putting to death when he exhibited any symptoms of insubordination or acquired a power over the army which seemed dangerous to the public good. In other and probably in most provinces a chieftain, or teite, ruled the people of his domain with much the same powers and privileges as we have noticed in Yucatan and Guatemala. These teites had their petty vassals and lords to execute their orders, and to accompany them in public displays, but it seems they could claim no strictly personal services in their palaces from any but members of their own household. Peter Martyr speaks of a 'throne adorned with rich and princely furniture.' These rulers affected great state, and insisted on a strict observance of court etiquette. They would receive no message, however pressing the occasion, except through the regularly appointed officials; and one of them, in an interview with the Spaniards, would not condescend to open his royal mouth to the leader until a curtain was held between him and his foreign hearers. On several occasions they met the Spaniards in a procession of men and women gaily decked in all their finery, marching to the sound of shell trumpets, and bearing in their hands presents for the invaders. But even in the provinces nominally ruled by the teites, all legislative power was in the hands of a council called monexico, composed of old men, who were elected every four moons. Without the consent of the monexico the chief could take action in no public matter whatever, not even in war. The council could decide against the teite, but he had the right to assemble or dissolve it, and to be present at all its meetings. The decisions of the monexico were made known in the market-place by a crier, whose badge of office was a rattle. The lords also, in sending an ambassador or messenger on any public business, gave him a fan, bearing which credential he was implicitly trusted wherever he might go. Two members of the council were chosen as executive officers, and one of them must be always present in the market-place to regulate all dealings of the buyers and sellers. Squier says that the council-houses were called grepons, and its corridors or porticos galpons; Oviedo in one place terms the buildings galpones, and in another applies the name to a class of vassal chiefs.[919]

[Sidenote: THE MAYA PRIESTHOOD.]

It is only of the priesthood as connected with the government, as an order of nobility, as a class of the community, that a mention is required here: In their quality of priests proper, religious teachers, oracles of the gods, leaders of ceremonious rites, confessors, and sacrificers, they will be treated of elsewhere. Their temporal power, directly exercised, or indirectly through their influence upon kings and chieftains, was perhaps even greater than we have found it among the Nahua nations. Votan, Zamná, Cukulcan, and all the other semi-mythical founders of the Maya civilization, united in their persons the qualities of high-priest and king, and from their time to the coming of the Spaniards ecclesiastical and secular authority marched hand in hand. In Yucatan, the Itzas at Chichen were ruled in the earlier times by a theocratic government, and later the high-priest of the empire, of the royal family of the Cheles, became king of Izamal, which became the sacred city and the headquarters of ecclesiastical dignitaries. The gigantic mounds still seen at Izamal are traditionally the tombs of both kings and priests. The office of chief priest was hereditary, the succession being from father to son--since priests and even the vestal virgins were permitted to marry--but regulated apparently by the opinions of kings and nobles, as well as of ecclesiastical councils. The king constantly applied to the high-priest for counsel in matters of state, and in turn gave rich presents to the head of the church; the security of the temples was also confided to the highest officers of the state. The rank of Ixnacan Katun, or superior of the vestals, was founded by a princess of royal blood.

In Guatemala the high-priests who presided over the temples of the Quiché trinity, Tohil, Awilix, and Gucumatz, were all princes of the three royal families; their titles have been given in the lists of the Quiché nobility; and one of the most powerful kings is said to have created two priestly titles for the family of Zakik, to each of which he attached a province for its support. Ximenez tells us that in Vera Paz the chief priest, next in power to the king, was elected from a certain lineage by the people. In the province of Chiquimula, Mictlan is described as a great religious centre, and a shrine much visited by pilgrims. Here the power was in the hands of a sacerdotal hierarchy, hereditary in one family, whose chief bore the title Teoti and was aided by an ecclesiastical council of five members, which controlled all the priesthood, and from whose number a successor to the Teoti was appointed by the chief of the Pipiles, or, as some authorities state, was chosen by lot.

Thus we see that while the priesthood had great power over even the highest secular rulers in all the Maya nations, yet the system by which the high-priests were members of the royal families, rendered their power a support to that of royalty rather than a cause of fear. The fear which kings experienced towards the priests seems consequently to have been altogether superstitious on account of their supernatural powers, and not a jealous fear of any possible rivalry. Ordinary priests were appointed by the higher authorities of the church, but whether the choice was confined to certain families, we are not informed. It is altogether probable, however, that such was the case in nations whose lowest secular officers must be of noble blood.[920]

[Sidenote: PLEBEIANS AND SLAVES.]

In the south as in the north, the status of the lower classes, or plebeians, has received no attention at the hands of the Spanish observers. We know that in Yucatan the nobles were obliged to support from their revenues such of the lower classes as from sickness, old age, or other disabling cause were unable to gain a livelihood. It has been seen also that none of plebeian blood could hold any office, the only exception noted being the attempt of one of the Quiché kings to humiliate the aristocracy by raising plebeian soldiers to the new rank of Achihab, 'men' or 'heroes.' The lower classes of freemen were doubtless for the most part farmers, each tilling the portion of land allotted him in the domain of a noble; and beyond the obligation to pay a certain tax from the product of their labor, and to render military service in case of necessity, they were probably independent, and often wealthy.[921]

Lowest in the scale among the Mayas as elsewhere in America were the slaves. Slavery was an institution of all the nations in the sixteenth century, and had been traditionally for some centuries. In Yucatan, tradition speaks of a time when slavery was unknown; its introduction by a powerful Cocome king was one of the acts of oppression which brought about a revolution and deposed him from the throne. During the power of the Tutul Xius which followed, slavery is said to have been abolished, but must--if indeed the tradition be not altogether unfounded--have been re-introduced at a still later period.[922] In the annals of other Maya nations no time seems to be noted when slaves were not held. This unfortunate class was composed chiefly of captives in war, or of those whose parents had been such; the condition was hereditary, but, in Yucatan at least, the children had the right to redeem themselves by settling on unoccupied lands and becoming tribute-payers. Foreign slaves were also brought into the country for sale; and Cortés speaks of Acalan, a city of Guatemala, as a place where an extensive trade in human kind was carried on.[923] In Nicaragua a father might sell himself or his children into bondage, when hard pressed by necessity; but in such cases he seems to have had the right of redemption.[924] In Nicaragua and Yucatan the thief was enslaved by the owner of stolen property, until such time as he paid its value; he could even be sold to other parties, but it is added that he could only be redeemed in Nicaragua with the consent of the cacique. In Yucatan, if a slave died or ran away soon after his sale the purchaser was entitled to receive back a portion of the price paid.[925]

[Sidenote: TREATMENT OF SLAVES.]

Kidnapping, according to Las Casas, was common in Guatemala, but the laws against the offence were very severe. He who sold a free native into slavery was clubbed to death, his own wife and children were sold, and a large part of the price received went to fill the public exchequer.[926] Pimentel concludes that slaves were more harshly treated in Yucatan than in Mexico; Gomara and Herrera state that no punishment was decreed to him who killed a slave in Nicaragua; but in Yucatan the killer of another's slave must pay the full value of the property destroyed, and was also amenable to punishment if the murdered slave was his own. In Guatemala if a freeman had sexual intercourse with the female slave of another he had to pay the owner her full value or purchase for him another of equal value; but if the woman were a favorite of the owner, the penalty, though still pecuniary, was much increased. In the province of Vera Paz, as Las Casas states, if slaves committed fornication with women of their own condition, both parties were slain by having their heads broken between two stones, or by a stick driven down the throat, or by the garrote; the man, however, being sometimes sold for sacrifice. Among the Pipiles a freeman cohabiting with a slave was himself enslaved, unless pardoned by the high-priest for services rendered in war. In Yucatan, as it is expressly stated, and elsewhere probably, the master was permitted to use his female slaves as concubines, but the offspring of such connection could not inherit. Thomas Gage tells us of a town in Guatemala whose inhabitants in the olden time were all slaves and served the people of Amatitlan as messengers. The only distinguishing marks of slaves that are mentioned were the shearing of the hair in Yucatan, and marks of powdered pine charcoal, called tile, in Nicaragua.[927]

Respecting the tenure of landed property among the Maya nations the little information extant applies chiefly to Yucatan. The whole country, as we have seen, was divided into many domains, or fiefs, of varying extent, ruled over by nobles, or lords, of different rank. Although each lord had, under the king, nearly absolute authority over his domain, yet he does not seem to have been regarded as in any sense the owner of the lands, or to have had a right to sell or in any way alienate them. A certain portion of these lands were set apart for the lord's support, and were worked by his people in common; the rest of the land seems to have been divided among the people, the first occupant being regarded in a certain sense as its owner, and handing it down as an inheritance from generation to generation, but having no right to sell it, and being also obliged to contribute a certain part of its products to the lord of the domain. Cogolludo and Landa speak of the land as being common property, yet by this they probably do not mean to imply that any man had a right to trespass on the cultivated fields of another, but simply that unoccupied lands might be appropriated by any one for purposes of cultivation. Game, fish, and the salt marshes were likewise free to all, but the hunter, fisherman, or salt-maker must pay a tribute to the lords and to the king. In Nicaragua land could not be sold, and if the owner wished to change his residence he had to leave all his property to his relatives, since nothing could be removed.[928]

[Sidenote: INHERITANCE AND TAXATION.]

At a man's death his property, in Yucatan, was divided between his sons equally, except that a son who had assisted his father to gain the property might receive more than the rest. Daughters inherited nothing, and only received what might be given from motives of kindness by the brothers. In default of sons, the inheritance went to the brothers or nearest male relatives. Minor heirs were entrusted to tutors who managed the estate, and from it received a recompense for their services. According to Oviedo, property in Nicaragua was inherited by the children, but if there were no children, it went to the relatives of both father and mother. Squier states that in the latter case all personal property was buried with the deceased.[929]

Taxes and tribute paid by the people for the support of the kings and nobles consisted of the products of all the different industries. The merchant contributed from the wares in which he dealt; the farmer from the products of the soil, chiefly maize and cacao; the hunter and fisherman from the game taken in forest and stream. Cotton garments, copal, feathers, skins, fowl, salt, honey, and gold-dust composed a large part of the tribute, and slaves are also mentioned in the lists. Personal labor in working the lands of the lords, and in supplying his household with wood and water, was also an important element of taxation in the provinces. Officials were appointed to assess and collect taxes from all subjects. In Yucatan the tribute of the king and that of the local lords were kept separate and were attended to by different officials; but in Guatemala it is implied that all taxes were collected together and then distributed to the king and several classes of nobles according to their rank. In the ancient times those who lived in Mayapan were exempt from all taxation. In Nicaragua, we are told that the teite received no tribute or taxes whatever from his subjects, but in the case of a war or other event involving extraordinary expense, the council decided upon the amount of revenue needed, and chose by lot one of their number to assess and collect it. Taxation among the Mayas does not seem to have been oppressive, and the attempt to extort excessive tribute contributed largely to the overthrow of the Cocome power in the twelfth century.[930]

A sale of property or other contract was legalized in Yucatan by the parties drinking before witnesses. A strict fulfillment of all contracts was required both by the law and by public sentiment. Heirs and relatives were liable, or at least assumed the liability, for debts; and often paid, as did the lords of the province, the pecuniary penalty incurred by some poor man, especially if the crime had been committed involuntarily or without malice.[931]

[Sidenote: ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.]

The administration of justice and the execution of the laws were among the Mayas entrusted to the officials that have been mentioned in what has been said respecting government. Serious crimes or other important matters affecting the interests of the king, of the state, or of the higher ranks of nobility, were referred directly to the royal council presided over by the monarch. The king's lieutenants, or lords of royal blood who ruled over provinces, took cognizance of the more important cases of provincial interest; while petty local questions were decided by subordinate judges, one of whom was appointed in each village or hamlet. But even in the case of the local judges the advice of a council was sought on every occasion, and persons were appointed to assist both judges and parties to the suit in the character of advocates. Although these judges had the right to consult with the lord of their province, and the latter, probably, with the royal council, yet after a decision was rendered, there was apparently no right of appeal in any case whatever; but we are told that in Yucatan at least a royal commissioner traveled through the provinces and reported regularly on the manner in which the judges performed their duties, and on other matters of public import. Both judges and advocates might receive presents from all the parties to a suit, according to Cogolludo, and no one thought of applying for justice without bringing some gift proportioned to his means. In Guatemala, as Las Casas states, the judge received half the property of the convicted party; this is probably only to be understood as applying to serious crimes, which involved a confiscation of all property.

In Vera Paz the tax-collectors served also as constables, being empowered to arrest accused parties and witnesses, and to bring them before the judges. Very little is known of the order of procedure in the Maya courts, but great pains was apparently taken to ascertain all the facts bearing on the case, and to render exact justice to all concerned. Court proceedings, testimony, arguments, and decisions are said to have been altogether verbal, there being no evidence that written records were kept as they were by the Nahuas, although the Maya system of hieroglyphic writing cannot be supposed to have been in any respect inferior to that of the northern nations. Nothing in the nature of an oath was exacted from a witness, but to guard against false testimony in Yucatan a terrible curse was launched against the perjurer, and a superstitious fear of consequences was supposed to render falsehood impossible. In Guatemala so much was the perjurer despised that a fine and a reprimand from the judge were deemed sufficient punishment. Torture, if we may credit Las Casas, by tying the hands, beating with clubs, and the inhalation of smoke, was resorted to in Vera Paz to extort confession from a person suspected of adultery or other serious crimes. Great weight seems to have been attached to material evidence; for instance, it was deemed important to take the thief while in actual possession of the stolen property; and a woman to convict a man of rape must seize and produce in court some portion of his wearing-apparel. The announcement of the judge's decision was, as I have said, delivered verbally, and sometimes, when the parties to the suit were numerous, Cogolludo informs us that all were invited to a banquet, during which the verdict was made known. As there was no appeal to a higher tribunal, so there seems to have been no pardoning power, and the judge's final decision was always strictly enforced. Except a mention by Herrera that the Nicaraguan ministers of justice bore fans and rods, I find no account of any distinguishing insignia in the Maya tribunals.

[Sidenote: MAYA PUNISHMENTS.]

Punishments inflicted on Maya criminals took the form of death, slavery, and pecuniary fines; imprisonment was of rare occurrence, and apparently never inflicted as a punishment, but only for the retention of prisoners until their final punishment was legally determined. Cogolludo states that culprits were never beaten, but Villagutierre affirms that, at least among the Itzas, they were both beaten and put in shackles; and the same author speaks of imprisonment for non-payment of taxes at Coban. The death penalty was inflicted by hanging, by beating with the garrote, or club, and by throwing the condemned over a precipice. Ximenez mentions burning in Guatemala; Oviedo speaks of impalements in Yucatan; those condemned to death in Nicaragua seem to have been sacrificed to the gods by having their hearts cut out; and throwing the body from a wall or precipice is the only method attributed to the Pipiles.

At a town in Yucatan called Cachi, Oviedo mentions a sharp mast standing in the centre of a square and used by the people for impaling criminals alive. The method of imprisonment, as described by Cogolludo, consisted in binding the hands behind the back, placing about the neck a collar of wood and cords, and confining the culprit thus shackled in a wooden cage. At Campeche a place of punishment is mentioned by Peter Martyr and Torquemada as having been seen by the early voyagers. Three beams or posts were fixed in the ground, to them were attached three cross-beams, and scattered about were blood-stained arrows and spears. This apparatus would indicate, if it was really a place of punishment, a method of inflicting the death-penalty not elsewhere mentioned; and a stone structure adjoining, covered with sculptured emblems of punishment is suggestive of ceremonial rites in connection with executions. The death sentence generally involved the confiscation of the criminal's property and the enslaving of his family. All but the most heinous offences could be expiated by the payment of a fine consisting of slaves or other property, and the whole or a large part of this fine went to the judges, the lords, or the king.

Murder was punished in all the nations by death, but in Yucatan and Nicaragua if there were extenuating circumstances, such as great provocation or absence of malice, the crime was atoned by the payment of a fine. In Yucatan a minor who took human life became a slave; the killing of another's slave called for payment of the value destroyed; the killing of one's own slave involved a slight penalty or none at all. In Nicaragua no penalty was decided upon for the murder of a chief, such a crime being deemed impossible.

Theft was atoned by a return of the stolen property and the payment of a fine to the public treasury. In case the criminal could not pay the full value he was sold as a slave until such time as he might be able to redeem his freedom. In some cases the amount seems to have been paid with the price he brought as a slave, and in others he served the injured party. Fines, however, in most cases seem to have been paid by the relatives and friends of the guilty party, so that the number of persons actually enslaved was perhaps not very large. In Guatemala stolen articles of trifling value went with the fine to the public treasury, since the owner would not receive them. The incorrigible thief, when his friends refused to pay his fine, was sometimes put to death; and death was also the penalty for stealing articles of value from the temple. In Nicaragua the thief who delayed too long the payment of his fine was sacrificed to the gods; and in Salvador, banishment was the punishment for trifling theft, death for stealing larger amounts. Landa informs us that in Yucatan a noble who so far forgot his position as to steal had his face scarified, a great disgrace.

[Sidenote: CRIMINAL CODE.]

Adultery was punished in Yucatan and Guatemala with death; in the latter if the parties were of the common people they were thrown from a precipice. Fornication was atoned by a fine, or if the affronted relatives insisted, by death. A woman who was unchaste was at first reprimanded, and finally, if she persevered in her loose conduct, enslaved. Rape in Guatemala was punished by death; an unsuccessful attempt at the same, by slavery. Marriage with a slave, as already stated, reduced the freeman to a slave's condition; sexual connection with one's own slave was not regarded as a crime. He who committed incest in Yucatan was put to death.

Treason, rebellion, inciting to rebellion, desertion, interference with the payment of royal tribute, and similar offences endangering the well-being of the nations, were sufficient cause for death.

In Guatemala he who kidnapped a free person and sold him into slavery, lost his life. For an assault resulting in wounds a fine was imposed. He who killed the quetzal, a bird reserved for the kings, was put to death; and the same fate was that of him who took game or fish from another's premises, if the injured party was an enemy and insisted on so severe a penalty.

The Pipiles condemned a man to be beaten for lying; but the same offence in time of war demanded capital punishment, as did any disrespect shown for the sacred things of religion.

Ximenez states that in Guatemala the balam, or sorcerer, was burned; the same offence in Vera Paz, according to Torquemada, caused the guilty party to be beaten to death or hanged.

A strict payment of all just debts was enforced, and in Guatemala he who bought many things on credit and failed to pay for them was finally enslaved or even killed. Both here and in Nicaragua the borrower was obliged to return or pay for borrowed articles, and, if the articles were products of the soil, the lender might repay himself from the borrower's field. He who injured another's property, even servants in the lord's palace who broke dishes or furniture, must make good all damage. In Yucatan, we are told that a man could not be taken for debt unaccompanied by crime. Some additional laws and regulations of the Maya nations will appear in their appropriate places in other chapters.[932]

FOOTNOTES:

[906] See pp. 81-123 of this volume, and especially pp. 114-23, on the Maya nations.Return to passage

[907] Although Brasseur de Bourbourg, on the authority of some of his original MSS. perhaps, states that Xibalba in the height of its glory was ruled by thirteen princes, two of whom were kings, the second being subordinate to the first; and also that there was a council of twelve, presided over by the king. He also mentions a succession of seventeen kings after Votan. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 127, 123, 95-7.Return to passage

[908] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 178-9; Ordoñez, Hist. del cielo y de la Tierra, MS.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 78-80.Return to passage

[909] 'Si moria el señor, aunque le succediesse el hijo mayor, eran siempre los demas hijos muy acatados, y ayudados y tenidos por señores.' Landa, Relacion, p. 112. 'Si quando el señor moria no eran los hijos para regir y tenia hermanos, regia de los hermanos el mayor o el mas desenbuelto y al heredero mostravan sus costumbres y fiestas para quando fuesse hombre y estos hermanos, aunque el eredero fuesse para regir, mandavan toda su vida, y sino avia hermanos, elegian los sacerdotes y gente principal un hombre sufficiente para ello.' Id., p. 138. Brasseur de Bourbourg, in his French translation of this passage, gives a different meaning from what I deem the correct one as given in my text. He understands that the brother succeeded in any case. 'Ce n'étaient pas ses fils qui succédaient au gouvernement, mais bien l'aîné de ses frères,' and also that the person appointed by the priests if there was no brother, ruled only during the heir's minority, 'jusqu'à la majorité de l'héritier,' all of which may be very reasonable, but certainly is not found in the Spanish text.Return to passage

[910] 'Organisait les conseils de la religion et de l'état qui devaient, après lui, nommer son successeur.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii, pp. 53-6; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 256.Return to passage

[911] 'Todos los señores tenian cuenta con visitar, respetar, alegrar a Cocom, acompañandole y festejandole y acudiendo a el con los negocios arduos.' Landa, Relacion, p. 40. A kind of mayordomo called Caluac, whose badge of office was a thick short stick, was the agent through whom the lord performed the routine duties of his position. Ib. 'Concertavan las cosas, y negocios principalmente de noche.' Id., p. 112. 'Fuè todo el Reyno de Yucatàn, y sus Provincias, con el Nombre de Mayapàn, desde que los Indios fueron à èl y le poblaron, sujeto à vn solo Rey, y Señor absoluto, con Govierno Monarquico. No durò esto poco tiempo, sino por muchos Años.' Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 28. Among the Itzas Cortés was visited by 'el Canek, con treinta y dos Principales.' Id., p. 46. 'Despues llamó el Canek à Consejo à todos sus Capitanes, y Principales.' Id., p. 91. 'Vno, como à modo, ò forma de Trono pequeño, en que èl solia estar.' Id., p. 105. 'Vna Corona de Plumas, de varios colores.' Id., p. 349. Yucatan 'regido de Señores Particulares, que es el Estado de los Reies: Governavanse por Leies, y costumbres buenas; vivian en Paz, y en Justicia, que es Argumento de su buen Govierno.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 345. Brasseur refers to Torquemada, tom. xi., cap. xix., on Yucatan Government, but that chapter relates wholly to Guatemala. 'Quando los Señores de la Ciudad de Mayapàn dominaban, toda la tierra les tributaba.' In later times they attached much importance to their royal blood. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 179. 'Dizese, que vn Señor de la Ciudad de Mayapàn, cabeça de el Reyno, hizo matar afrentosamente à vn hermano suyo, porque corrompió vna doncella.' Id., p. 182. See also on the system of government in Yucatan: Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii-iv.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 16-17, 38, 46, 53-6, 72; Las Casas, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 147; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 182-4; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 27; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 262; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 45-6, 146; Fancourt's Hist. Yuc., pp. 55-6, 115-16.Return to passage

[912] 'It was ordained that the eldest son of the king (that is, of the first king who founded the monarchy) should inherit the crown; upon the second son the title of Elect was conferred, as being the next heir to his elder brother; the sons of the eldest son received the title of Captain senior, and those of the second Captain junior. When the king died, his eldest son assumed the sceptre, and the Elect became the immediate inheritor; the Captain senior ascended to the rank of Elect, the Captain junior to that of Captain senior, and the next nearest relative to that of Captain junior.' Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 188-9. 'Luego el Capitan menor, entraba por maior, y metian otro en el que avia vacado del Capitan menor, que ordinariamente era el Pariente mas cercano.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 338-41. 'Restait alors la charge d'Ahau-Ah-Tohil; elle était conférée au fils aîné du nouveau monarque.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 547, 103, 496. 'Luego que el primero subió al reino, mandó el padre (the first king) que el segundo fuese capitain, y mandó por ley, que si fuesen cuatro, que el primero reinase, el segundo fuese como principe, el tercero capitan general, y el cuarto capitan segundo, y que muerto el primero, reinasen todos por su órden, si se alcanzasen en vida.' Note, 'Bien clara está la descendencia de padres á hijos de todos tres hermanos.' Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., Escolios, pp. 195-6.Return to passage

[913] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 549-50, 534, with reference to Roman, Repub. de los Indios, tom. ii., cap. viii. Titles in Atitlan. Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 416. 'Las Prouincias de Tazulatlan, gente belicosa y braua, si bien con pulicia, porque viuian en poblaciones formadas, y gouierno de Republica.' Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 148. Tazulatlan, or Tuzulutlan, was the province of Rabinal. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 147.Return to passage

[914] 'Aqui havia muy grandes, y sumptuosas comidas, y borracheras.' 'Sentaban al nuevo Electo en vna estera mui pintada.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 342, 338-45. 'In one of the saloons stood the throne, under four canopies of plumage, the ascent to it was by several steps.' Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 88. The twenty-four counsellors 'carried the emperor on their shoulders in his chair of state whenever he quitted his palace.' Id., p. 189. 'No se diferenciaba el rey de Guatemala ó de Utatlán de los otros en el trage, sino en que él traia horadadas las orejas y narices, que se tenia por grandeza.' Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 197, 196.Return to passage

[915] 'Tenia el rey ciertos varones de gran autoridad y opinion, que eran como oidores, y conocian de todos los pleitos y negocios que se ofrecian;' they collected the royal revenues and attended to the expenses of the royal family. 'Tenia en cada pueblo grande sus cancillerias con sus oidores, que eran las cabezas de calpul; pero no era muy grande la comision que tenian.' 'Poderosos Señores, los quales esperaban su confirmacion de sus estados del dicho rey.' 'Aun en las cosas pequeñas y de poca importancia entraban en consulta.' 'Unos como alquaciles que servian de llamar y convocar al pueblo.' Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 196-7, 201-2. The king's lieutenants 'tenian su jurisdicion limitada, la qual no era mas, que la que el Señor, ò Rei les concedia, reservando para si, y su Consejo las cosas graves.' These lieutenants held their positions for life if they were qualified and obedient, but to hold them they must have been promoted from lower offices. 'El consejo no era de qualesquiera Personas, sino de aquellas, que mas cursadas estaban en la misma cosa, de que se trataba.' They sometimes called in the aid of foreign nations to depose a tyrant. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 339-40, 343, 386. 'There was no instance of any person being appointed to a public office, high or low, who was not selected from the nobility.' Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 190-1. Some members of the councils were priests when religious interests were at stake. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec iv., tom. viii., cap. x. 'Les personnes ou officiers qui servaient le souverain à la cour se nommaient Lolmay, Atzihunac, Calel, Ahuchan. C'étaient les facteurs, les contador, et trésoriers.' Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 418. 'De l'assemblée des princes des maisons de Cawek, d'Ahau-Quiché et de Nihaïb, réunis avec le Galel-Zakik, et l'Ahau-Ah-Tzutuha, se composait le conseil extraordinaire du monarque.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 548-9. The king 'constitua vingt-deux grandes dignités, auxquelles il éleva les membres de la haute aristocratie.' Id., pp. 496-7.Return to passage

[916] Lists of the nobility. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. 337-47; Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 430-32.Return to passage

[917] 'Nunca tuvieron Rei, sino solo elegian los Sacerdotes cada Año dos Capitanes, que eran como Governadores, à quien todos obedecian, aunque era maior el respeto, i veneracion, que tenian à los Sacerdotes.' García, Orígen de los Ind., p. 329; a statement repeated in Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 27; and Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, p. 84. García refers to Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xi., where the only statement on the subject is that 'son muy respetados los principales.'Return to passage

[918] 'No doubt there were individual chiefs who possessed a power superior to the others, exercising a great influence over them, and perhaps arrogating a qualified authority.' Squier's Cent. Amer., pp. 331-4; Palacio, Carta, p. 78.Return to passage

[919] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 36-8, 52, 54, 104, 108, 110, tom. iii., p. 231; Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 340-6; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Peter Martyr, dec. vi., lib. iii.; Scherzer, Wanderungen, p. 64.Return to passage

[920] On the status of the priesthood see: Landa, Relacion, pp. 42, 54, 56, 114, 160, 354; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 198; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x., lib. x., cap. ii.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 56; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxiii.; Palacio, Carta, pp. 62, 64; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 200-1; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 74, 79, tom. ii., pp. 6, 10, 19, 33, 40, 48, 114, 551-6.Return to passage

[921] 'L'idée de la supériorité de caste est tellement évidente dans le Popol-Vuh, par example, que le peuple, c'est-à-dire la masse étrangère aux tribus quichées, n'est jamais désigné que sous des nommes d'animaux; ce sont les fourmis, les rats, les singes, les oiseaux, etc.' Viollet-le-Duc., in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 88. 'Acostumbravan buscar en los pueblos los mancos y ciegos y que les davan lo necesario.' Landa, Relacion, p. 40. 'Y los señores dauan Gouernadores a los pueblos, a los quales encomendauan mucho la paz, y buen tratamiento de la genta menuda.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii. 'Achih ... signifie régulièrement héros, guerrier; il semble toutefois s'appliquer à ceux qui n'appartenaient point à l'aristocratie, mais à une classe intermédiaire entre la noblesse et les serfs ou paysans.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. 92-3, 324-5; Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 56-58. Among the Pipiles 'los que no eran para la guerra, cultivaban las tierras millpas del cazique i papa i sacerdotes, i de las propias suyas davan un tanto para la gente de guerra.' Palacio, Carta, p. 82. Beggars mentioned in Nicaragua. Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 264.Return to passage

[922] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 35, 41, 70. 'Cocom fue primero el que hizo esclavos pero por deste mal se siguio usar las armas con que se defendieron para que no fuessen todos esclavos.' Landa, Relacion, p. 50.Return to passage

[923] 'En las guerras, que por su ambicion hazian vnos à otros, se cautiuaban, quedando hechos esclauos los vencidos, que cogian. En esto eran rigurosissimos, y los trataban con aspereza.' Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 181-2; Carrillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 267; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 70; Cortés, Cartas, p. 421; Las Casas, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 144. In Nicaragua, Helps tells us that only the common captives were enslaved, the chiefs being killed and eaten. Span. Conq., vol. iii., p. 257.Return to passage

[924] 'Acaesçe que venden los padres á los hijos, é aun cada uno se puede vender á sí proprio, si quiere é por lo que quisiere.' Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 51, 54; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856.) vol. ii., p. 345. Bienvenida says that in Yucatan as soon as the father dies the strongest of those who remain enslave the others. In Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 331.Return to passage

[925] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 264; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 181-2; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 34; Fancourt's Hist. Yuc., p. 117.Return to passage

[926] Las Casas, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 136, 144; Herrera, Gomara, and Pimentel, ubi sup.Return to passage

[927] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 387; Las Casas, ubi sup.; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x., lib. x., cap. iv.; Palacio, Carta, pp. 80-2; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 70, 573; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 46-7; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 182; Gage's New Survey, p. 414; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 204.Return to passage

[928] 'Las tierras por aora es de comun, y assi el que primero las ocupa las possee.' Landa, Relacion, p. 130. 'Las tierras eran comunes, y assi entre los Pueblos no auia terminos, ò mojones, que las dividiessen: aunque si entre vna Provincia, y otra, por causa de las guerras.' Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 180. Las Casas, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 139, speaks of boundary marks between the property of different owners. 'Les habitations était pour la plupart dispersées sans former de village.' Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 45. 'Leur qualité de seigneurs héréditaires ne les rendait pas, pour cela, maîtres du sol ni propriétaires des habitants.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 56-8. 'Property was much respected (in Nicaragua); but ... no man could put up his land for sale. If he wished to leave the district, his property passed to the nearest blood relation, or, in default, to the municipality.' Boyle's Ride, vol. i., p. 274; Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 345; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.Return to passage

[929] 'Los indios no admittian las hijas a heredar con los hermanos sino era por via de piedad o voluntad.' Landa, Relacion, pp. 136-8. 'Mejorauan al que mas notablemente auia ayudado al padre, a ganar el hazienda.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 180; Carrillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., pp. 267-8; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 70; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 36; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 50; Squier, in Palacio, Carta, p. 119.Return to passage

[930] 'Hanno abondanza di cottone, & ne fanno manti che sono come lenzuoli, e camisette senza maniche, e questo s'è il principal tributo che danno à suoi patroni.' Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 99. 'El tributo era mantas pequeñas de algodon, gallinas de la tierra, algun cacao, donde se cogia, y vna resina, que seruia de incienso en los Templos, y todo se dize era muy poco en cantidad.' Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 179. 'Allende de la casa hazian todo el pueblo a los señores sus sementeras, y se las beneficiavan y cogian en cantidad que le bastava a el y a su casa.' Landa, Relacion, pp. 110-12, 130-2. 'Sus mayordomos ... que recibian los tributos, y los dauan a los señores.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii. Some authors speak of a tribute of virgins and of a coin called cuzcas. Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 262. 'Jamais l'impôt n'était réparti par tête, mais par ville, village ou hameau.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 57-8, 33, 553. In Guatemala, 'en lo tocante á las rentas del rey y Señores, habia este órden, que todo venia á un montón, y de allí le daban al rey su parte, despues daban á los Señores, segun cada uno era, y despues daban á los oficiales, y á quienes el rey hacia mercedes.' Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 201-2. 'Ils possédaient les esclaves mâles ou femelles que ces sujets leur payaient en tribut.' Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 416-17; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 45; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 345, 386; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 104; Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 341; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 195.Return to passage

[931] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 180-1; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 46; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 70-1; Carrillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 268.Return to passage

[932] On the Maya laws see: Landa, Relacion, pp. 132-4, 176-8; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 196-200, 208; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 338-46, 386-92; Las Casas, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 135-46; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 179-83; Palacio, Carta, pp. 80-2; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 229-30, tom. iv., pp. 50-1; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. ii.; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 162; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 191-2; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263-4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 59-61, 572-4; Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 345; Id., Cent. Amer., p. 334; Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 417-18; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 46-7; Helps' Span. Conq., vol. iii., pp. 256-7; Fancourt's Hist. Yuc., pp. 116-17; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 29-34.Return to passage

XXI. EDUCATION AND FAMILY MATTERS AMONG THE MAYAS

EDUCATION OF YOUTH--PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF GUATEMALA--BRANCHES OF STUDY IN YUCATAN--MARRYING AGE--DEGREES OF CONSANGUINITY ALLOWED IN MARRIAGE--PRELIMINARIES OF MARRIAGE--MARRIAGE CEREMONIES--THE CUSTOM OF THE DROIT DU SEIGNEUR IN NICARAGUA--WIDOWS--MONOGAMY--CONCUBINAGE--DIVORCE--LAWS CONCERNING ADULTERY--FORNICATION--RAPE--PROSTITUTION--UNNATURAL CRIMES--DESIRE FOR CHILDREN--CHILDBIRTH CEREMONIES--RITE OF CIRCUMCISION--MANNER OF NAMING CHILDREN--BAPTISMAL CEREMONIES.

The Maya nations appear to have been quite as strict and careful in the education of youth as the Nahuas. Parents took great pains to instruct their children to respect old age, to reverence the gods, and to honor their father and mother.[933] They were, besides, encouraged while mere infants to amuse themselves with warlike games, and to practice with the bow and arrow. As they grew older, the children of the poor people were taught to labor and assist their parents. The boys were in their childhood educated by the father, who usually taught them his own trade or calling; the girls were under the especial care of the mother, who, it is said, watched very closely over the conduct of her daughters, scarcely ever permitting them to be out of her sight. Children of both sexes remained under the immediate control of their parents until they were of an age to be married, and any disobedience or contumacy was severely punished, sometimes even with death. The boys in Guatemala slept under the portico of the house, as it was thought improper that they should observe the conduct and hear the conversation of married people.[934] In Yucatan, also, the young people were kept separate from their elders. In each village was an immense whitewashed shed, under the shelter of which the youths of the place amused themselves during the day, and slept at night.[935]

The various little events in a child's life which among all peoples, savage or civilized, are regarded as of so great importance by anxious mothers, such as its being weaned, its first step, or its first word, were celebrated with feasts and rejoicing; the anniversaries of its birthday were also occasions of much merry-making. The first article that a child made with its own hands was dedicated to the gods.[936] In Yucatan children went naked until they were four or five years old, when the boys were given a breech-clout to wear and a piece of cloth to sleep under; girls began at the same age to wear a petticoat reaching from the waist downward.[937] In Guatemala children were left naked till they were eight or ten years of age, at which time they were required to do light labor.[938] As soon as a child reached the age of seven years, it was taken by its father to the priest, who foretold its future destiny and instructed it how to draw blood from its body, and perform other religious observances.[939]

[Sidenote: EDUCATION OF CHILDREN.]

The Mayas entrusted the more advanced education of youth entirely to the priesthood. In Guatemala the youths assisted the priests in their duties, and received, in turn, an education suited to their position in life. There were schools in every principal town, at which youths were instructed in all necessary branches by competent teachers. The principal of these was a seminary in which were maintained seventy masters, and from five to six thousand children were educated and provided for at the expense of the royal treasury.[940] Girls were placed in convents, under the superintendence of matrons who were most strict in their guardianship. It is said that they entered when eight years old, and were not free until about to be married.[941]

In Yucatan, social distinctions seem to have been more sharply defined than in Guatemala. Here, the schools of learning were only open to the children of the nobility; a poor man was content to teach his son his own trade or profession. The children of the privileged classes were, however, very highly educated. The boys were initiated, we are told, into the mysteries and strange rites of their religion; they studied law, morals, music, the art of war, astronomy, astrology, divination, prophecy, medicine, poetry, history, picture-writing, and every other branch of knowledge known to their people. The daughters of the nobles were kept in strict seclusion, and were carefully instructed in all the accomplishments required of a Maya lady.[942]

In Yucatan, the young men usually married at the age of twenty years.[943] In Guatemala, Las Casas tells us that the men never married until they were thirty, notwithstanding he has previously made the extraordinary assertion that the great prevalence of unnatural lusts made parents anxious to get their children wedded as early as possible.[944] Girls among the higher classes must have been married at a very early age in Guatemala, since it is related that when a young noble espoused a maiden not yet arrived at the age of puberty, her father gave him a female slave, to lie with him until the wife reached maturity. The children of this slave could not inherit his property, however.[945]

The Guatemalans recognized no relationship on the mother's side only, and did not hesitate to marry their own sister, provided she was by another father.[946] Thus, if a noble lady married an inferior in rank or even a slave, the children belonged to the order of the father, and not of the mother.[947] Torquemada adds that they sometimes married their sisters-in-law and step-mothers.[948]

[Sidenote: DEGREES OF KINDRED.]

Among the Pipiles, of Salvador, an ancestral tree, with seven main branches, denoting degrees of kindred, was painted upon cloth, and within these seven branches, or degrees, none were allowed to marry, except as a recompense for some great public or warlike service rendered. Within four degrees of consanguinity none, under any pretext, might marry.[949] In Yucatan there was a peculiar prejudice against a man marrying a woman who bore the same name as his own, and so far was this fancy carried that he who did this was looked upon as a renegade and an outcast. Here, also, a man could not marry the sister of his deceased wife, his step-mother, or his mother's sister, but with all other relatives on the maternal side, no matter how close, marriage was perfectly legitimate. A Yucatec noble who wedded a woman of inferior degree, descended to her social level, and was dispossessed of a part of his property, and deprived of his rank.[950] In Nicaragua no one might marry within the first degree of relationship, but beyond that there was no restriction.[951]

The question of dowry was settled in Guatemala by the relatives of the young couple.[952] The Yucatec son-in-law served his father-in-law for four or five years, and the omission of such service was considered scandalous;[953] while in Nicaragua the dower was usually paid in fruit or land.[954]

Each of the Maya nations seems to have had a method of arranging marriages peculiar to itself. In Guatemala the whole affair was managed by the nearest relatives of the betrothed pair, who were kept in profound ignorance of the coming event, and did not even know each other until the day of the wedding. It seems incredible that the young men should have quietly submitted to having their wives picked out for them without being allowed any voice or choice in the matter. Yet we are told that so great was their obedience and submission to their parents, that there never was any scandal in these things. If this be the case, what a strange phenomenon Guatemalan society must have been, with no love affairs, no wooing permitted, and Cupid a banished boy. But, for all that, many a Guatemalan youth may have looked coldly upon his bride as he thought of another and, to him, fairer face, and many a loyal young wife may have been sometimes troubled with the vision of a comely form that she had admired before she saw her lord.

[Sidenote: PRELIMINARIES OF MARRIAGE.]

When a man of rank wished to marry his son, he sent a number of his friends with presents to the parents of the young girl upon whom his choice had fallen. If the presents were refused it was a sign that the offer of alliance was declined, and no farther steps were taken in the matter; but if they were accepted it showed that the match was thought a desirable one. In the latter case, a few days having elapsed, another embassy, bearing more costly gifts than before, was dispatched to the parents of the girl, who were again asked to give their consent to the marriage. Finally, a third deputation was sent, and this generally succeeded in satisfactorily arranging the affair. The two families then commenced to treat each other as relations, and to visit each other for the purposes of determining the day of the wedding and making preparations for the event. Among the lower classes the father usually demanded the bride of her parents in person.[955] It was customary among the Pipiles of Salvador for the father of the boy, after having obtained the consent of the girl's parents to the match, to take her to his house when she was twelve years of age, and his son fourteen, and there educate and maintain her as if she were his own child. In return he was entitled to her services and those of his son, until they were able to sustain themselves, and of a suitable age to marry. The parents of the couple then jointly made them a present of a house and gave them the means to start in life. Thereafter, if the young man met his father-in-law in the street, he crossed to the other side of the way, and the girl paid the same courtesy to her mother-in-law.[956]

In the greater part of Nicaragua matches were arranged by the parents, but there were certain independent towns in which the girls chose their husbands from among the young men, while the latter were sitting at a feast.[957]

I have already alluded to the fact that if in Guatemala or Yucatan a young man married into a rank lower than his own he lost caste in consequence, hence his parents were the more careful to select for him a bride from among the maidens of his own standing in society. Among the Mayas of Yucatan when the day appointed for a marriage ceremony arrived, the invited friends assembled at the house of the bride's father, where the betrothed couple with their parents and the officiating priest were already waiting. For the joyful occasion a great feast was prepared, as it was customary to incur a large expense in food and wine for the entertainment of invited guests. When all were present, the priest called the bride and bridegroom with their parents before him and delivered to them an address concerning the duties of the wedded state. He then offered incense and certain prayers to the gods, concluding the ceremony by asking a blessing from heaven for the newly wedded couple.[958] No ceremonies took place when a widow or widower was married; in such case a simple repast or the giving of food and drink one to another was deemed sufficient to solemnize the nuptials.[959]

[Sidenote: MARRIAGE CEREMONIES.]

It was customary in Guatemala, when all preliminaries of a marriage had been settled and the day fixed for the wedding, for the bridegroom's father to send a deputation of old women and principal men to conduct the bride to his house. One of those sent for this purpose carried her upon his shoulders, and when they arrived at a certain designated point near the bridegroom's home, she was met by other men also chosen by her father-in-law, who offered incense four or five times before her and sacrificed some quail or other birds to the gods, at the same time giving thanks for her safe arrival. As soon as she came to the house she was seated with much ceremony upon a couch covered with mats or rich carpets; immediately a number of singers began a song suited to the occasion; musicians played on their instruments; dancers came forth and danced before her.[960] The consent of the cacique had to be obtained to all marriages that were celebrated in his territory; before the ceremony the priest desired the young man and his bride to confess to him all the sins of their past life. No person was allowed to marry in Yucatan until the rite of baptism had been administered.[961] In Guatemala, if the betrothed belonged to the higher classes of society, the cacique joined their hands and then tied the end of the man's mantle to a corner of the woman's dress, at the same time advising them to be faithful and loving toward each other. The ceremony ended, all partook of the wedding feast and the bride and bridegroom were carried to the house intended for them, upon the shoulders of some of those who had assisted at the marriage; they were then conducted to the bridal chamber and, as Ximenez tells us, received instructions from two of the most honored old women respecting certain marital duties.[962]

The marriage ceremonies of the Pipiles were simple and unique; matches were made by the cacique and carried into effect under his direction. At the appointed time the kinsfolk of the bride proceeded to the house of the bridegroom, whence he was borne to the river and washed. The relatives of the bride performed the same act of cleansing upon the person of the bride. The two parties with their respective charges then repaired to the house of the bride. The couple were now tied together by the ends of the blankets, in which they were enfolded naked and laid away--married.[963] After the ceremony an interchange of presents took place between the relatives of the newly married couple and they all feasted together.

Among the civilized nations of Nicaragua, when a match was arranged to the satisfaction of the parents, some fowls were killed, cacao was prepared, and the neighbors were invited to be present. The father, mother, or whoever gave away the bride, was asked in presence of the assembled guests whether or not she came as a virgin; if the answer was in the affirmative, and the husband afterwards found that she had been already seduced, he had the right to return her to her parents and she was looked upon as a bad woman; but if the parents answered that she was not a virgin, and the man agreed to take her for a wife, the marriage was valid.[964]

When they were to be united the cacique took the parties with his right hand by the little fingers of their left hands and led them into the house set apart for marriages, leaving them, after some words of advice, in a small room, where there was a fire of candlewood. While the fire lasted they were expected to remain perfectly still, and not until it was burned out did they proceed to consummate the marriage. The following day if the husband made no objection in respect to the girl's virginity, the relations and friends assembled and expressed their gratification with loud cries of joy, and passed the day in feasting and pleasure.[965]

[Sidenote: DROIT DE SEIGNEUR.]

Notwithstanding the disgrace attached to a woman who had lost her virginity before marriage and concealed the fact, we are assured by Andagoya that in Nicaragua a custom similar to the European 'droit du seigneur' was practiced by a priest living in the temple, who slept with the bride during the night preceding her marriage.[966]

A widow was looked upon as the property of the family of her deceased husband, to whose brother she was invariably married, even though he might have a wife of his own at the time. If she had no brother-in-law, then she was united to the nearest living relative on her husband's side.[967] In Yucatan, the widow could not marry again until after a year from her husband's death.[968]

Monogamy seems to have been the rule among the Maya nations, and many authors assert positively that polygamy did not exist. It was only in the border state of Chiapas that the custom is mentioned by Remesal. To compensate for this, concubinage was largely indulged in by the wealthy. The punishment for bigamy was severe, and consisted, in Nicaragua, of banishment and confiscation of the entire property for the benefit of the injured wife or husband, who was at liberty to marry again, a privilege which was not, however, accorded to women who had children. Landa tells us that the Chichen Itza kings lived in a state of strict celibacy, and Diaz relates that a tower was pointed out to him on the coast of Yucatan, which was occupied by women who had dedicated themselves to a single life.[969]

With their loveless marriages it was fortunate that divorce could be obtained on very slight grounds. In Yucatan, says Landa, the father would, after a final separation, procure one wife after another to suit the tastes of his son. If the children were still of tender age at the time the parents separated, they were left with the mother; if grown up, the boys followed the father, while the girls remained with the mother. It was not unusual for the husband to return to the wife after a while, if she was free, regardless of the fact that she had belonged to another in the meantime.[970] In Guatemala the wife could leave her husband on the same slight grounds as the man, and if she refused to return to him after being requested to do so, he was allowed to marry again; she was then considered free, and held of no little consequence. In Nicaragua the husband decided whether the children were to remain with him or the divorced wife.[971]

[Sidenote: INTERCOURSE OF THE SEXES.]

The Mayas seem to have dealt more leniently with adulterers than the Nahuas. In Guatemala, the married man who committed adultery with a maiden was, upon complaint of the girl's relations, compelled to pay as a fine from sixty to one hundred rare feathers. It generally happened, however, that the friends of the woman were careful to keep the matter secret, as such a scandal would cause great injury to her future prospects. If a married man was known to sin with a married woman or a widow, both were for the first or even the second offence merely warned, and condemned to pay a fine of feathers; but if they persevered in their crime, then their hands were bound behind their backs, and they were forced to inhale the smoke of a certain herb called tabacoyay, which, although very painful, was not a fatal punishment. The single man who committed adultery with a married woman was obliged to pay to the parents of the latter the amount which her husband had paid for her; doubtless this fine was handed over to the injured husband, who, in such a case, repudiated his wife. It sometimes happened, however, that the husband did not report the matter to the authorities, but gave his unfaithful wife a bird of the kind which was used in sacrifices, and told her to offer it to the gods, and, with her companion in crime, to confess and be forgiven. Such a husband was regarded as a most virtuous and humane man.[972] A noble lady taken in adultery was reprimanded the first time, and severely punished or repudiated for the second offence. In the latter case she was free to marry again.[973] It was a capital crime to commit adultery with a lord's wife; if he who did so was a noble, they strangled him, but if he was a plebeian, they flung him down a precipice.[974]

Cogolludo says that among the Itzas the man and woman taken in adultery were put to death. The woman was taken beyond the limits of the town to a place where there were many loose stones. There she was bound to a post, and the priest who had judged her having cast the first stone, and the injured husband the second, the crowd that was never missing on such occasions joined so eagerly in the sport that the death of their target was a speedy one. The male adulterer, according to the same account, was also bound to a post, and shot to death in the same manner with arrows.[975]

[Sidenote: ADULTERY AND FORNICATION.]

In Vera Paz, incorrigible adulterers were enslaved.[976] In Nicaragua, the faithless wife was repudiated by her husband, and not allowed to marry again, but she had the right of retaining her dowry and effects. The adulterer was severely beaten with sticks, by the relations of the woman he had led astray. The husband appears to have taken no part in the matter.[977] In Yucatan, adultery was punished with death. According to Cogolludo, offenders of both sexes were shot to death with arrows; Landa tells us that the man was killed with a stone by the husband of his paramour, but the woman was punished with disgrace only. It is said that in more ancient times adulterers were impaled or disemboweled. But so great was the horror in which the Yucatecs held this crime, that they did not always wait for conviction, but sometimes punished a suspected person by binding him, stripping him naked, shaving off his hair, and thus leaving him for a time.[978] Among the Pipiles of Salvador he who made advances to a married woman, and did nothing worse, was banished, and his property was confiscated. The adulterer, if we may believe Palacio,[979] was put to death; Squier says he became the slave of the dishonored husband.[980]

Simple fornication was punished with a fine, to be paid in feathers of a certain rare bird, which, by the laws of Vera Paz at least, it was death to kill without express permission, as its plumage formed a most valuable article of trade with the neighboring provinces.[981] But if any complaint was raised, such as by a father in behalf of his daughter, or by a brother for his sister, the seducer was put to death, or at least made a slave.[982] In Yucatan, death seems to have been the inevitable fate of the seducer.[983]

In Guatemala and Salvador, consummated rape was punished with death. He who merely attempted rape was enslaved.[984] In Nicaragua, the penalty for this crime was not so severe, since he who committed it was only obliged to compensate pecuniarily the parents of his victim; though if he could not do this he became their slave. He who ravished the daughter of his employer or lord was, however, always put to death.[985] Incest is said to have been an unknown crime.[986]

Public prostitution was tolerated, if not encouraged, among all the Maya nations. In every Nicaraguan town there were establishments kept by public women, who sold their favors for ten cocoa-nibs, and maintained professional bullies to protect and accompany them at home and abroad. Parents could prostitute their daughters without shame; and it is said, further, that during a certain annual festival, women, of whatever condition, could abandon themselves to the embrace of whomever they pleased, without incurring any disgrace.[987] It was no unusual thing for parents of the lower orders to send their daughters on a tour through the land, that they might earn their marriage portion by prostitution.[988]

[Sidenote: UNNATURAL VICES.]

All the old writers appear anxious to clear the civilized aborigines from the charge of sodomy, yet the fact that no nation was without strict laws regarding this unnatural vice, combined with the admissions reluctantly made by the reverend fathers themselves, seems to show that pederasty certainly was not unknown. Thus, Las Casas says that sodomy was looked upon as a great and abominable sin in Vera Paz, and was not known until a god,[989] called by some Chin, by others Cavil, and again by others Maran, instructed them by committing the act with another deity. Hence it was held by many to be no sin, inasmuch as a god had introduced it among them. And thus it happened that some fathers gave their sons a boy to use as a woman; and if any other approached this boy he was treated as an adulterer. Nevertheless, if a man committed a rape upon a boy, he was punished in the same manner as if he had ravished a woman. And, adds the same writer, there were always some who reprehended this abominable custom.[990] In Yucatan certain images were found by Bernal Diaz which would lead us to suppose that the natives were at least acquainted with sodomy,[991] but here again the good father[992] takes up the cudgels in behalf of his favorites. In Nicaragua sodomites were stoned to death.[993]

The desire to possess children seems to have been very general, and many were the prayers and offerings made by disappointed parents to propitiate the god whose anger was supposed to have deferred their hopes. To further promote the efficacy of their prayers, the priest enjoined upon man and wife to separate for a month or two, to adhere to a simple diet, and abstain from salt.[994] Several superstitious observances were also regarded; thus, among the Pipiles, a husband should avoid meeting his father-in-law, or a wife her mother-in-law, lest issue fail them.[995] These observances tend the more to illustrate their longing to become parents, since the women are said to have been very prolific. The women were delivered with little difficulty or pain,[996] yet a midwife was called in, who attended to the mother's wants, and facilitated parturition by placing a heated stone upon the abdomen. In Yucatan an image of Ixchel, the goddess of childbirth, was placed beneath the bed. Among the Pipiles and in Guatemala, the woman was confessed when any difficulty arose, and it not unfrequently happened that an officer of justice took advantage of such opportunities to obtain criminating evidence. If the wife's confession alone did not have the desired effect, the husband was called upon to avow his sins; his maxtli was besides laid over the wife, and sometimes blood was drawn from his tongue and ears, to be scattered towards the four quarters with various invocations.[997] After delivery a turkey hen was immolated, and thanks rendered to the deity for the happy issue. The midwife thereupon washed the child, placed a bow and arrow in its hands, if a boy, a spindle, if a girl, and drew a mark upon its right foot, so that it might become a good mountaineer.

[Sidenote: CHILDBIRTH AND CIRCUMCISION.]

The birth of a son was celebrated with especial rejoicings, and extensive invitations issued for the feasts that took place on or about the day when the umbilical cord was to be cut,[998] a ceremony which seems to have borne the same festive character as baptism among the Nahuas and other nations. The ahgih, astrologer, was asked to name a favorable day for the rite. The cord was then laid upon an ear of maize to be cut off with a new knife and burned. The grains were removed from the cob and sown at the proper season; one half of the yield to be made into gruel and form the first food of the child aside from the mother's milk, the other half to be sent to the ahgih, after reserving a few grains for the child to sow with his own hands when he grew up, and make an offering thereof to his god. At the same time a kind of circumcision may have been performed, a rite which could not, however, have been very general, if indeed it ever existed, for Cogolludo positively asserts that it never was practiced in Yucatan, and Landa thinks that the custom of slitting the foreskin, which the devout performed before the idol, may have given rise to the report. Palacio asserts that certain Indians in Salvador are known to have scarified themselves as well as some boys in the same manner.[999]

[Sidenote: NAMING THE CHILDREN.]

The naming of the child was the next important affair. Among the Pipiles it was taken to the temple on the twelfth day, over a road strewn with green branches,[1000] and here the priest gave it the name of its grandfather or grandmother, after which offerings of cacao and fowl were presented to the idol, and some gifts to the minister. In Guatemala the child was named after the god to whom the day of its birth was dedicated, for it was not thought desirable to call it after the parents; other names were, however, applied afterwards, according to circumstances.[1001] Las Casas adds that the parents lost their name on the birth of the first son and daughter, the father being called 'father of Ek,' or whatever might be the name of the son, and the mother receiving the cognomen of 'mother of Can,' etc.[1002] The Itzas gave their children a name formed of the combined names of the father and mother, that of the latter standing first; thus, in Canek, can is taken from the mother's name, ek from the father's. In Yucatan, the former home of this people, the custom was almost the same, except that na was prefixed to the names of the parents; thus, Na-Chan-Chel denoted son of Chel and Chan, but as the name of the father, according to Landa, was perpetuated in the son only, not in the daughter, it follows that the girl could not have been named in the same order; it is possible that the mother's name was placed last, and served as surname in their case. In later years this name was not usually imposed until the time of baptism; but in earlier times a distinctive name was given by the priest at the time of taking the horoscope, shortly after birth. The name of the father was borne till the marriage day, the names of both parents being assumed after that event.[1003] On the conclusion of the above ceremonies, the Guatemalan or Pipile infant and mother were taken to a fountain or river, near a fall if possible, to be bathed, and during the bath incense, birds, or cacao were offered to the water, apparently with a view of gaining the good will of the god of that element. The utensils which had served at the birth, such as warming stone, cups, and knife, were thrown into the water at the same time.[1004]

The mothers were good and patient nurses, suckling their infants for over three years, for the habit of taking warm morning drinks, the exercise of grinding maize, and the uncovered bosom, all tended to produce large breasts and an abundant supply of milk. Otherwise the children received a hardy training, clothing being dispensed with, and the bare ground serving for a couch. When working, the mother carried them on her back; in Yucatan, however, they were usually borne across the hip, and for this reason a large number became bow-legged. Landa also mentions another deformity, that produced by head-flattening, which is to be noticed on the sculptures of the Maya ruins.[1005]

[Sidenote: BAPTISMAL CEREMONIES.]

It is related by all the old Spanish historians, that when the Spaniards first visited the kingdom of Yucatan they found there traces of a baptismal rite; and, strangely enough, the name given to this rite in the language of the inhabitants, was zihil, signifying 'to be born again.' It was the duty of all to have their children baptized, for, by this ablution they believed that they received a purer nature, were protected against evil spirits and future misfortunes. I have already mentioned that no one could marry unless he had been baptised according to their customs; they held, moreover, that an unbaptised person, whether man or woman, could not lead a good life, nor do anything well. The rite was administered to children of both sexes at any time between the ages of three and twelve years. When parents desired to have a child baptised they notified the priest of their intentions. The latter then published a notice throughout the town of the day upon which the ceremony would take place, being first careful to fix upon a day of good omen. This done, the fathers of the children who were to be baptised, selected five of the most honored men of the town to assist the priest during the ceremony. These were called chacs.[1006] During the three days preceding the ceremony the fathers and assistants fasted and abstained from women. When the appointed day arrived, all assembled with the children who were to be baptised, in the house of the giver of the feast, who was usually one of the wealthiest of the parents. In the courtyard fresh leaves were strewn, and there the boys were ranged in a row in charge of their godfathers, while in another row were the girls with their godmothers. The priest now proceeded to purify the house with the object of casting out the devil. For this purpose four benches were placed one in each of the four corners of the courtyard, upon which were seated four of the assistants holding a long cord that passed from one to the other, thus enclosing part of the yard; within this enclosure were the children and those fathers and officials who had fasted. A bench was placed in the centre, upon which the priest was seated with a brazier, some ground corn, and incense. The children were directed to approach one by one, and the priest gave to each a little of the ground corn and incense, which, as they received it, they cast into the brazier. When this had been done by all, they took the cord and brazier, with a vessel of wine, and gave them to a man to carry outside the town, with injunctions not to drink any of the wine, and not to look behind him; with such ceremony the devil was expelled.[1007] The yard was then swept clean, and some leaves of a tree called cihom, and of another called copo, were scattered over it. The priest now clothed himself in long gaudy-looking robes, consisting, according to Landa, of a jacket of red feathers with flowers of various colors embroidered thereon; hanging from the ends were other long feathers, and on his head a coronet of plumes. From beneath the jacket long bands of cotton hung down to the ground. In his hand he held some hyssop fastened to a short stick. The chacs then put white cloths upon the children's heads and asked the elder if they had committed any sins; such as confessed that they had, were then placed apart. The priest then ordered the people to sit down and be silent; he next blessed the boys, and offering up some prayers, purified them with the hyssop with much solemnity. The principal officer who had been elected by the fathers, now took a bone, and having dipped it in a certain water, moistened their foreheads, their features, and their fingers and toes.[1008] After they had been thus sprinkled with water the priest arose and removed the cloths from the heads of the children, and then cut off with a stone knife a certain bead that was attached to the head from childhood; they were then given by one of the assistants some flowers to smell, and a pipe through which they drew some smoke, after which they were each presented with a little food, and a vessel full of wine was brought as an offering to the gods, who were entreated to receive it as a thanksgiving from the boys; it was then handed to one of the officials, who had to drink it at one draught. A similar ceremony took place with the female children, at the conclusion of which their mothers divested them of a cord, which was worn during their childhood, fastened round the loins, having a small shell that hung in front. The removal of this signified that they could marry as soon as their parents permitted.[1009] The children were then dismissed, and their fathers distributed presents among those who had assisted at the ceremony. A grand banquet called emku, or 'the descent of god,' was then held, and during the nine succeeding days the fathers of the children fasted, and were not to approach their wives.[1010]

[Sidenote: DOMESTIC DISCIPLINE.]

The Nicaraguan husbands are said to have been so much under the control of their wives that they were obliged to do the housework while the women attended to the trading. The latter were, moreover, great shrews, and would on the slightest provocation drive their offending husbands out of the house; we are told that it was no unusual occurrence for the neighbors to be suddenly called in to appease some unfortunate man's Xanthippe.[1011] The women of Yucatan were renowned for their modesty and conjugal faithfulness. Landa, one of the first bishops of Yucatan, relates an anecdote illustrating this trait. Alonso Lopez de Avila, during the war against Bacalar, took prisoner a very beautiful Indian girl. Struck by her beauty the captor endeavored by all means to induce her to gratify his desires, but in vain. She had promised her warrior-husband, who during those perilous times was constantly face to face with death, that none but he should ever call her wife; how then, while perhaps he yet lived, could she become another's mistress. But such arguments did not quench the Spaniard's lust, and as she remained steadfast, he ordered her to be cast among the bloodhounds, who devoured her--a martyr at the hands of the men who pretended to preach Jesus Christ, and him crucified.[1012]

FOOTNOTES:

[933] They were taught, says Las Casas, 'que honrasen á los padres y les fuesen obedientes; que no tuviesen codicia de muchos bienes; que no adulterasen con muger agena; que no fornicasen, ni llegasen á muger, sino á la que fuese suya; que no mirasen á las mugeres para codiciarlas, diciendo que no traspasasen umbral ageno; que si anduviesen de noche por el pueblo, que llevasen lumbre en la mano; que siguiesen su camino derecho, que no bajasen de camino, ni subiesen tampoco del; que á los ciegos no les pusiesen ofendiculo para que cayesen; á los lisiados no escarneciesen y de los locos no se riesen, porque todo aquello era malo; que trabajen y no estubiesen ociosos; y para esto desde niños les enseñavan como havian de hacer las sementeras y como beneficiallas y cogellas.' Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 132. Brasseur de Bourbourg remarks that the respectful term of you instead of thou, is frequently used by children when addressing their parents, in the Popol Vuh. Popol Vuh, p. 96. The old people 'eran tan estimados en esto que los moços no tratavan con viejos, sino era en cosas inevitables, y los moços por casar; con los casados sino muy poco.' Landa, Relacion, p. 178.Return to passage

[934] 'Dormian en los portales no solo cuando hacian su ayuno, mas aun casi todo el año, porque no les era permitido tratar ni saber de los negocios de los casados, ni aun sabian cuando habian de casarse, hasta el tiempo que les presentaban las mugeres, porque eran muy sujetos y obedientes á sus padres. Cuando aquestos mancebos iban á sus casas a ver á sus padres ... tenian su cuenta de que no hablasen los padres cosa que fuese menos honesta.' Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 181.Return to passage

[935] Landa, Relacion, p. 178.Return to passage

[936] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxix.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 569.Return to passage

[937] Landa, Relacion, p. 180.Return to passage

[938] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xiv.; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 195.Return to passage

[939] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 569.Return to passage

[940] Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 87; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 569.Return to passage

[941] Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 194; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 195; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 569.Return to passage

[942] Landa, Relacion, pp. 42-4; Carrillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 269; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 191; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 61-2.Return to passage

[943] Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 203; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 52; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv., says that in later times they married at twelve or fourteen.Return to passage

[944] Las Casas, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 135.Return to passage

[945] Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 208. This is the same passage that Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 572, cites as Roman, Rep. Ind., tom. ii., cap. x.Return to passage

[946] 'Los Indios de la Vera-Paz muchas veces, segun el Parentesco, que vsaban, era fuerça que casasen Hermanos con Hermanas, y era la raçon esta: Acostumbraban no casar los de vn Tribu, ò Pueblo, con las Mugeres del mismo Pueblo, y las buscaban, que fuesen de otro; porque no contaban por de su Familia, y Parentesco los Hijos que nacian en el Tribu ò Linage ageno, aunque la Muger huviese procedido de su mismo Linage; y era la raçon, porque aquel Parentesco se atribuìa à solo los Hombres. Por manera, que si algun Señor daba su Hija à otro de otro Pueblo, aunque no tuviese otro heredero este Señor, sino solos los Nietos, Hijos de su Hija, no los reconocia por Nietos, ni Parientes, en raçon de hacerlos herederos, por ser Hijos del otro Señor de otros Pueblos y asi se le buscaba al tal Señor, Muger que fuese de otro Pueblo, y no de el proprio. Y asi sucedia, que los Hijos de estas Mugeres, no tenian por Parientes à los Deudos de su Madre, por estàr en otro Pueblo, y esto se entiende, en quanto à casarse con ellas, que lo tenian por licito, aunque en lo demàs se reconocian. Y porque la cuenta de su Parentesco era entre solos los Hombres, y no por parte de las Mugeres. Y por esto no tenian impedimento, para casarse, con los tales Parientes; y asi se casaban con todos los grados de Consanguinidad, porque mas por Hermana tenian qualquiera Muger de su Linage, aunque fuese remotisima, y no tuviese memoria del grado, en que le tocaba, que la Hija de su propia Madre, como fuese havida de otro Marido, y por este error se casaban, con las Hermanas de Madre, y no de Padre.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 419.Return to passage

[947] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 572.Return to passage

[948] Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 419.Return to passage

[949] 'En lo que tocava al parentesco, tenian un arbol pintado, i en el siete ramos que signifacava siete grados de parentesco. En estos grados no se podia casar nadie, i esto se entendia por linea recta si no fuese que alguno huviese fecho algun gran fecho en armas, i havia de ser del tercero grado fuera; i por linea traversa tenia otro arbol con quatro ramos que significaban el quarto grado, en estos no se podia casar nadie.... Qualquiera que tenia quenta carnal con parienta en los grados susodichos morian por ello ambos.' Palacio, Carta, p. 80; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x.; Squier's Cent. Amer., p. 334.Return to passage

[950] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Landa, Relacion, pp. 134-6, 140; Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 61.Return to passage

[951] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 419; Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343.Return to passage

[952] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 570.Return to passage

[953] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 53. 'Los dotes eran de vestidos, y cosas de poca sustancia, lo mas se gastaua en los combites.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.Return to passage

[954] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 50; Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343.Return to passage

[955] Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 204-6; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 569-71.Return to passage

[956] Palacio, Carta, p. 78; Squier's Cent. Amer., p. 321.Return to passage

[957] Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343.Return to passage

[958] 'Haziase vna platica de como se auia tratado, y mirado aquel casamiento, y que quadraua: hecha la platica el Sacerdote sahumaua la casa; y con oraciones bendezia a los nouios, y quedauan casados.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.Return to passage

[959] Ib.; Landa, Relacion, p. 142.Return to passage

[960] 'Llegada á casa, luego la ponian y asentaban en un tálamo bien aderezado, y comenzaban grandes bailes y cantares y otros regocijos muchos, con que la fiesta era muy solemne.' Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 206; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 570-1.Return to passage

[961] 'Sin él ninguno se casaba.' Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 183; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 191; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 196.Return to passage

[962] 'A la noche, dos mugeres honradas y viejas metíanlos en una pieza, y enseñàbanlos como habian de haberse en el matrimonio.' Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 206.Return to passage

[963] Palacio says they were each wrapped in a new white mantle. 'Ambos los enbolvian cada qual en su manta blanca nueva.' Carta, p. 78. See also Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x.; Squier's Cent. Amer., p. 333.Return to passage

[964] 'Si la tomo por virgen, y la halla corrompida, desecha la, mas no de otra manera.' Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 49.Return to passage

[965] 'Los novios se están quedos, mirando cómo aquella poca tea se quema; é acabada, quedan casados é ponen en efetto lo demás.' Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 50. 'En muriendose la lumbre, quedan casados.' Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263; Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343; Boyle's Ride, vol. i., p. 273.Return to passage

[966] 'La noche ántes habia de dormir con la novia uno que tenian por papa.' Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 414; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. v., cap. xii. Oviedo perhaps alludes to this custom when he says: 'Muchos hay que quieren más las corrompidas que no las vírgenes.' Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 50; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 472.Return to passage

[967] 'Comunmente estas gentes compraban la muger, y aquellos dones que llevaban, era el precio, y así la muger jamas volvía á casa de sus padres aunque enviudase; porque luego el hermano del muerto la tomaba por muger aunque él fuese casado, y si el hermano no era para ello, un pariente tenia derecho á ella. Los hijos de las tales mugeres no tenian por deudos á los tales abuelos, ni á los demas deudos de las madres, porque la cuenta de su parentesco venia por linea de varones, y así no tenian impedimentos para casarse con los parientes de sus madres, esto se entiende para contraer matrimonio; que en lo demas amábanse y queríanse unos à otros.' Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 207; Las Casas, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 146; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 388; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 571-2.Return to passage

[968] 'No se casavan despues de viudos un año, por no conocer hombre a muger en aquel tiempo, y a los que esto no guardavan, tenian por poco templados y que les vendria por esso algun mal.' Landa, Relacion, p. 156.Return to passage

[969] Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 13. 'Todos toman muchas mugeres, empero vna es la legitima,' says Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263, in speaking of Nicaragua. 'Comunmente cada uno tiene una sola muger, é pocos son los que tienen más, exçepto los prinçipales ó el que puede dar de comer á más mugeres; é los caçiques quantas quieren.' Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 37. The word 'muger' evidently means women who lived with the man, the wife and concubines, for, on p. 50, it is stated that only one legitimate wife was allowed. The punishment for bigamy helps to bear this out. Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 310, 499. 'Nunca los yucataneses tomaron mas de una.' Landa, Relacion, pp. 142, 341. This view is also taken by Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 193, who adds, however: 'Contradize Aguilar en su informe lo de vna muger sola, diziendo, que tenian muchas;' but this may refer to concubines. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 55, says: 'La pluralité des femmes étant admises par la loi,' and gives Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv., as his authority; but this author merely refers to concubinage as being lawful.Return to passage

[970] Landa, Relacion, pp. 138-40. 'Tenian grandes pendencias, y muertes sobre ello,' says Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv., referring to their married life.Return to passage

[971] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 50; Las Casas, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 146; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 572.Return to passage

[972] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 137-8.Return to passage

[973] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 572.Return to passage

[974] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 387. 'Acontecio quexarse vn Indio contra vn Alcalde de su nacion, que sin pedimento suyo hauia castigado a su muger por ocho adulterios, y hechole pagar a el la condenacion, de manera que aliende de su afrenta, le lleuaua su dinero.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. viii. 'Cuando queria que la muger se huia y se iba con otro, ó por sencillas se volvia en casa de sus padres, requeríala el marido que volviese, y si no queria, él se podia casar luego con otra, porque en este caso las mugeres eran poderosas y libres. Algunos sufrian un año aguardándolas; pero lo comun era casarse luego, porque no podian vivir sin mugeres, á causa de no tener quien les guisese de comer.' Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 200.Return to passage

[975] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 699.Return to passage

[976] 'Quando las mugeres eran halladas en adulterio, la primera vez eran corregidas de palabra; y si no se enmendaban, repudiábanlas; y si era Señor, hermano ó pariente del Señor de la tierra, luego en dejándola, se podia casarse con quien quisiere. Los vasallos hacian tambien esto muchas veces, pero tenian un poco de mas paciencia, porque las corregian dos y cinco veces, y llamaban á sus parientes para que las reprehendiesen. Pero si eran incorregibles, denunciaban ellas delante del Señor, el cual las mandaba comparecer ante sí y hacianlas esclavas, y la misma pena se daba á las que no querian hacer vida con sus maridos.' Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 208-9.Return to passage

[977] Oviedo asserts that the husband avenged his own honor. The Friar asks: '¿Qué pena le dan al adúltero, que se echa con la muger de otro?' The Indian answers: 'El marido della riñe con él é le da de palos; pero no lo mata.' Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 50. Squier, Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343, says that the woman was also severely flogged, but this does not seem to have been the case. See Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Boyle's Ride, vol. i., p. 273.Return to passage

[978] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 182; Landa, Relacion, pp. 48, 176; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 46; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii.; Fancourt's Hist. Yuc., p. 117.Return to passage

[979] Carta, p. 80.Return to passage

[980] Cent. Amer., p. 334.Return to passage

[981] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 137, 144; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 387.Return to passage

[982] Las Casas, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 144; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 388.Return to passage

[983] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 182.Return to passage

[984] Las Casas, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 144; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 388; Herrera, _Hist. Gen._, dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x.; Palacio, Carta, p. 82; Squier's Cent. Amer., p. 334.Return to passage

[985] Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 51; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343.Return to passage

[986] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 51; Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343.Return to passage

[987] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 252, 316, tom. iv., pp. 37, 51; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263-4; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 663; Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 343-4; Boyle's Ride, vol. i., p. 273. 'Dado que e vido que en otras partes de las Indias usavan del nefando peccado en estas tales casas, en esta tierra (Yucatan) no e entendido que hiziessen tal, ni creo lo hazian, porque los llagados desta pestilencial miseria dizen que no son amigos de mugeres como eran estos, ca a estos lugares llevavan las malas mugeres publicas, y en ellos usavan dellas, y las pobres que entre esta gente acertava a tener este officio no obstante que recibian dellos gualardon, eran tantos los mocos que a ellas acudian que las traian acossadas y muertas.' Landa, Relacion, p. 178.Return to passage

[988] Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viajes, tom. iii., p. 414; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. v., cap. xii.; Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 344; Boyle's Ride, vol. i., pp. 273-4.Return to passage

[989] A demon, Las Casas calls him, but these monks spoke of all the New World deities as 'demons.'Return to passage

[990] Las Casas, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 138. Before this he writes: 'Y es aqui de saber, que tenian por grave pecado el de la sodomia como abajo dirémos, y comunmente los padres lo aborrecian y prohibian á los hijos. Pero por causa de que fuesen instruidos en la religion, mandavanles dormir en los templos donde los mozos mayores en aquel vicio á los niños corrompian. Y despues salidos de alli mal acostumbrados, dificil era librarlos de aquel vicio. Por esta causa eran los padres muy solicitos de casarlos quan presto podian, por los apartar de aquella corrupcion vilissima aunque casallos muchachos contra su voluntad y forzados, y solamente por aquel respeto lo hacian.' Id., pp. 134-5.Return to passage

[991] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 180.Return to passage

[992] 'Otro acerrimo infamador de estas naciones, que Dios Nuestro Señor haya, en cuya historia creo yo que tuvo Dios harto poca parte, dixo ser indicio notorio de que aquellas gentes eran contaminadas del vicio nefando por haver hallado en cierta parte de aquella tierra, hechos de barro ciertos idolos uno encima de otro. Como si entre nuestros pintores ó figulos no se finjan cada dia figuras feas y de diversos actos, que no hay sopecha por nadie obrarse, condenarlos todos por aquello, haciendolos reos de vicio tan indigno de se hablar, no carece de muy culpable temeridad, y asi lo que ariba dije tengo por la verdad, y lo demas por falsos testimonios dignos de divino castigo.' Las Casas, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 147.Return to passage

[993] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 51; Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343.Return to passage

[994] 'Que comiesen el pan seco ó solo maiz, ó que estuviesen tantos dias en el campo metidos en alguna cueva.' Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 193.Return to passage

[995] Palacio, Carta, p. 78.Return to passage

[996] In Vera Paz 'las mugeres paren como cabras, muchas vezes a solas, tendidas en el suelo: otras por los caminos, y luego se van a lauar al rio.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xiv.; Landa, Relacion, p. 192.Return to passage

[997] 'Le hazian dezir sus pecados i si no paria, hazia que se confesase el marido, i si no podia con esto, si havia dicho i confesado que conofia alguno, ivan á casa de aquel i traian de su casa la manta é pañetes i ceiñola á la preñada paraque pariese.' Palacio, Carta, p. 76; Las Casas, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 139.Return to passage

[998] It would seem that the child remained with the navel-string attached to it until a favorable day was selected for performing the ceremony of cutting it. 'Echaban suertes para ver que dia seria bueno para cortar el ombligo.' And further on: 'Muchos tribus de indios de Centro-America conservan hasta hoy al nacimiento de un niño el uso de quemarle el ombligo; costumbre barbara de que mueron muchos niños.' This would indicate that the cord was burned while attached to the infant. Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 193-4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 448.Return to passage

[999] In Cezori 'ciertos Indios idolatraron en un monte en sus terminos, i entre ellos que uno se harpó i hendió su miembro, i que circuncidaron quatro muchachos de doze años para arriba al uso judaico, i la sangre que salio dellos la sacrificaron á un idolo.' Palacio, Carta, p. 84. 'Se harpavan el superfluo del miembro vergonçoso, dexandolo como las orejas, de lo qual se engaño el historiador general de las Indias, diziendo que se circumcidian.' Landa, Relacion, pp. 162-3. 'Ni aquellos Religiosos Dominicos, ni el Obispo de Chiapa, haziendo tan particular inquisicion, hazen memoria de auer hallado tal cosa ... los Indios, ni estos tienen tradicion de que vsassen tal costumbre sus ascendientes.' Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 191. 'They are Circumcised, but not all.' Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. i. Circumcision was 'un usage général dans l'Yucatan, observé de temps immémorial: elle était pratiquée sur les petits enfants dès les premiers jours de leur naissance.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 51. This positive and isolated assertion of the Abbé must be founded upon some of his MSS., as usual.Return to passage

[1000] 'Cortarban ramos verdes en que pisase.' Palacio, Carta, p. 76.

[1001] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 568, refers only to the first-born. 'Dabanle el nombre del Dia, en que havia nacido, ò segun lo que precediò en su Nacimiento.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 448. Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 193.

[1002] Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxix.

[1003] 'A sus hijos y hijas siempre llamavan del nombre del padre y de la madre, el del padre como propio y de la madre apellativo.' The pre-baptismal name was abandoned when the father's name was assumed. Landa, Relacion, pp. 136, 194. Only the few who were destined to receive the baptism obtained the distinctive name. Medel, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 44-5; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 489.

[1004] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 448. Palacio, Carta, p. 76, states that this ceremony was performed after the twelfth day, and that the mother only was taken to be bathed. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x., and Squier's Cent. Amer., p. 333; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 568.

[1005] 'Allanarles las frentes y cabeças.' 'Comunmente todos estevados, porque ... van ahorcajados en los quadriles.' Landa, Relacion, pp. 192-4, 112; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 195.

[1006] Chác or Chaac, was the title given to certain laymen who were elected to assist the priest in some of his religious duties. Also the name of a divinity, protector of the water and harvests. See Landa, Relacion, p. 485.

[1007] Who was selected to take the wine, brazier, and cord outside the town, or what he did with it afterwards, we are not told. Cogolludo says: 'Daban à vn Indio vn vaso del vino que acostumbraban beber, y embiabanle fuera del Pueblo con èl, mandandole, que ni lo bebiesse, ni mirasse atràs, con que creìan quedaba totalmente expulso el demonio.' Hist. Yuc., p. 191. 'En un vaso enviaban vino fuera del pueblo, con órden al indio que no lo bebiese ni mirase atras, y con esto pensaban que habian echado al demonio.' Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 183; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.

[1008] 'Esta agua hazian de ciertas flores y de cacao mojado y desleido con agua virgen que ellos dezian traida de los concavos de los arboles o de los montes.' Landa, Relacion, p. 150.

[1009] 'Los varoncillos usavanles siempre poner pegada a la cabeça en los cabellos de la coronilla una contezuela blanca, y a las muchachas traian ceñidas por las renes muy abaxo con un cordel delgado y en el una conchuela asida que les venia a dar encima de la parte honesta, y destas dos cosas era entre ellos peccado y cosa muy fea quitarla de las mochachas antes del baptismo.' Landa, Relacion, pp. 144, 146.

[1010] Brasseur de Bourbourg says they feasted nine days: 'Tous ensemble, prêtres et parents, festoyaient après cela, pendant neuf jours, les pères étant obligés, durant cet intervalle, de s'abstenir de leurs femmes.' Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 52. He appears to have misunderstood Cogolludo, to whom he refers, since that author's words are, 'acabando la fiesta en banquetes, y en los nueve dias siguientes no auian de llegar à sus mugeres los padres de los niños.' Hist. Yuc., p. 191. 'Allende de los tres dias que se avia, como por ayuno, abstenido, se avia de abstener nueve mas y lo hazian inviolablemente.' Landa, Relacion, p. 154. See further: Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 182-3; Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 205; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 272; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 44-5.

[1011] Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viajes, tom. iii., p. 414; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., lib. v., cap. xii.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 39, 61, 103; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 472; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263. In Guatemala 'il est à remarquer ici que quand il s'agit simultanément d'hommes et de femmes dans le discours, les femmes ont presque toujours la préséance sur les hommes.' 'C'est peut-être en mémoire de la mère de Hun-Ahpu que les femmes-chefs en bien des contrées devaient leurs prérogatives.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. 93-4. In Yucatan the women 'son zelosas y algunas tanto que ponian las manos a las de quien tenian zelos, y tan colericas, enojadas, aunque harto mansas, que solian dar buelta de pelo algunas a los maridos con hazerlo ellos pocas vezes.' Landa, Relacion, pp. 188, 190. The women of Yucatan had, however, their duties to perform. 'Son grandes travajadoras y vividoras, porque dellas cuelgan los mayores y mas trabajos de la sustentacion de sus casas y educacion de sus hijos, y paga de sus tributos y con todo esso si es menester llevan algunas vezes mayor carga, labrando y sembrando sus mantenimientos. Son a maravilla grangeras, velando de noche el rato que de servir sus casas les queda, yendo a los mercados a comprar y vender sus cosillas.'... The women joined and aided one another in the work, as weaving, etc. 'Elles avaient leurs saillies et leurs bons mots pour railler et conter des aventures et par moment aussi pour murmurer de leurs maris.' Id., p. 190.

[1012] Landa, Relacion, p. 186.