Mexican Peoples

MEXICAN PEOPLES The Nahuatl-speaking Peoples.—In this section the centre of interest is the Valley of Mexico, where Mexico City (Tenoch titlan) was, at the time of the Conquest, the seat of Aztec power. Excavation, principally at Azcapotzalco, has demonstrated that the earliest remains show close affinity with those of the Huaxtec region, of the Tarascan area (in Guadalajara), and with certain archaic pottery found in the Maya district. Superimposed are objects which can be related with the Toltec, which exhibit a close relation to Maya art of the finer period. Above these are the inferior relics of the Aztec regime. So far these results sug gest that a common culture, based on agricultural life (with maize as the staple plant), extended throughout. The development of Maya culture in the south had very far-reaching effects upon the Mexican Valley, the Zapotec tribes of Oaxaca acting as inter mediaries. The successive waves of Nahuatl-speaking tribes, im migrants from the north (fundamentally hunters) adopted this culture when they became sedentary and developed it, though in rather degraded form, according to their own psychology. In brief, the history of the Nahuatl, summarized from legends col lected by the early chroniclers (such as Sahagun and Ixtlilxochitl) supplemented by native pictographical manuscripts, appears to be as set out in the accompanying chronological table. This table, taken from Joyce's Mexican Archaeology, is explained in detail in that work. The first wave Qf immigrants appears to have been constituted by the people known to history as Toltec, who, establishing themselves at the "city" of Tulan, gradually ex tended their power over the Valley of Mexico, and absorbed, to the best of their ability, those elements of early Maya culture which had percolated to that region. Three centuries of develop ment followed, during which arts and crafts were brought to a high pitch of perfection. So that, when eventually the Toltec "empire" collapsed under further pressure of hunting tribes from the north, the name of the Toltec survived in tradition as the great exponents of culture. The generic name given to these later immigrants is "Chichimec." Like the Toltec, they were speakers of the Nahuatl tongue, and the name survived in Aztec times as applied to the rude hunting-tribes on the northern borders, who still lived under the primitive conditions which characterized the earliest Nahuatl immigrants. The terminology is confusing, because in the widest sense the term Chichimec is equivalent to Nahuatl ; in the narrower sense it applies to that branch of Nahuatl who settled at Tenayocan, under the "Chichi mec" chief Xolotl, at the time of the Toltec downfall, and who appear to have exercised a loose suzerainty over the remaining Toltec, whose legitimate ruler had moved to Colhuacan. The population of this settlement were termed "Acolhua," but the term was later expanded to include all those "Chichimec" who adopted settled life.

The "Chichimec" (using the word in the narrower sense) in course of time transferred their seat of power to Tezcoco. The next wave of immigration, the Tepanec, settled at Azcapotzalco and later at Tlacopan. The final wave, the Aztec, after some years spent in subordination to the earlier immigrants, finally established themselves on the islands of Tenochtitlan and Tlalte lolco in the Lake of Mexico, and eventually became rulers, not only of the Valley, but suzerains of countries far to the south. (For details see Bibliography, Joyce.) The break-up of the Toltec "empire" led to a whole-sale emi gration of Toltec clans, which had far-reaching effects on the populations to the south and east, resulting in the introduction of Toltec art into Yucatan and Salvador. Further pressure sent Nahuatl influence further afield, with the result that, at the time of the Conquest, tribes speaking Nahuatl were found in Nica ragua (Rivas) and even in Panama (Chiriqui Lagoon). It seems certain that the Nahuatl were responsible for the introduction of the bow into the areas previously dominated by Maya culture, and this weapon no doubt facilitated their progress as conquerors. There is no trace of the bow among the early Maya, but refer ences occur in the tribal legends of the Quiche (Popol Vuli) and Kakchiquel (Annals of Xahila) in the region of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala; and the bow was the weapon of the immigrant aristocracy in Yucatan at the time of the Conquest. Further, the Aztec historical manuscripts show, in pictographic form, the immigrant Aztec, skin-clad and armed with the bow, overcoming the valley-dwellers clothed in cotton garments but armed only with the inacquauitl, a wooden club edged with obsidian.

Settled on their islands in the Lake of Mexico, for a century the Aztec played an unimportant part in the politics of the Mexican Valley. But under their fourth historical ruler, Itzcoatl, in the early part of the i 5th century, owing to intertribal con flicts, they rose to prominence. A league was formed between Tenochtitlan (including Tlaltelolco), the Acolhua settlement of Tezcoco, and the Tepanec settlement at Tlacopan, and this con federation endured until the Conquest. The Aztec reserved for themselves the direction of the military policy of the confedera tion, and thereby became the paramount power, owing to the in timate connection of war with religion. Tezcoco, however, was, to the end, regarded as the seat of learning and culture, the Mexican "Athens." One settlement alone held its independence, the "city" of Tlaxcala, where Toltec traditions still survived. Though the league maintained continual hostilities against the Tlaxcalans, no very serious effort appears to have been made to conquer them, owing to the ceremonial nature of Mexican war fare as explained below. The long-enduring hostility felt by the Tlaxcalans for the Aztec led them to ally themselves with the Spaniards to whom they gave invaluable assistance.

The final step in the consolidation of the Aztec "Empire" was the incorporation of the island of Tlaltelolco, which had previ ously been ruled by its own chiefs, with that of Tenochtitlan. This occurred in 1473, when Axayacatl attacked Tlaltelolco, killed the ruler Moquiuix and incorporated the smaller island with Tenochtitlan. Axayacatl, by means of various expeditions, extended Aztec influence far beyond the confines of the Valley, and his policy of expansion was continued by his successors. Such expeditions were not conquests in the normal sense of the word, owing to the Mexican attitude towards war; but they re sulted eventually in a complex system of trade and tribute, extend ing from the Panuco River to Central Guatemala. The "tribute lists" of the Mexican ms. known as the Codex Mendoza (preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford) shows the enormous extent of territory from which Mexico City drew "tribute" at the time of the Conquest.

Architecture.

Mexican architecture followed the same lines as that of the Maya, but, in Toltec times led to a develop ment of the pyramid form of substructure to huge dimensions. The site of San Juan Teotihuacan, not far from Mexico city, in cludes in an enormous complex of mounds, two of the largest of the American pyramids. Aztec tradition associated this site with the name of the Toltec, and recent excavation has revealed sculp tured ornament in pure Toltec style. To the west of Mexico, is the well-known low pyramid of Xochicalco, with sculptured decoration of the Toltec period ; and in Oaxaca is the large site of Monte Alban, at present unexcavated, but showing, as regards its plan, a close similarity with that of Teotihuacan. Near to the last is the puzzling site of Mitla. The mosaic-sculpture ornament of Mitla is unique in Central America and bears little relation, from the artistic standpoint, to either Maya or Toltec. It is clearly based on textile designs, and resembles very closely the mural decoration of the Northern Peruvian coast, and the painted designs on certain pottery of the Pueblo area of Arizona and New Mexico. This feature, taken into consideration with the fact that the Mitla buildings were obviously flat-roofed, by means of beams, renders them rather exceptional. It is more than probable that a properly-conducted exploration of the Zapotec sites of Oaxaca would shed much light on the development of early American culture.

Of Aztec buildings, little trace has remained. The two great pyramids of Tenochtitlan and Tlaltelolco, each supporting two shrines, were utterly destroyed by the Conquistadores, but con temporary accounts suggest that they were built on the Toltec model, i.e., stepped pyramids, with a stairway on the west. As regards the shrines, native manuscripts suggest that they were small and flat-roofed, with an embattled pediment, or roof-comb, and built probably of wood. Cne sole survivor of Aztec religious architecture remains, in ruined form, at Teportlan and has been described by Seler. The same author has recorded buildings be longing to the Aztec period in the Huaxtec and Totonac settle ments of Papantla and Cempoala. Both here, and in Mexico City, stucco was freely used as a coating to masonry, and the facing of the Totonac buildings was so perfect that the spies sent in advance by Cortes, reported that they were faced with silver plates.

As regards secular buildings, the reports of the Conquistadores provide the only source of information. The houses of the upper class were built on terraces and constructed of stone. The build ings usually enclosed a court, where the girls of the household could walk under the supervision of duennas; and the roofs of the more important buildings were flat and battlemented. In fact there is little trace of the Maya false arch in Aztec buildings.

Less pretentious dwellings were constructed of sunbaked bricks (adobe), while the poorest class lived in flimsy structures of reeds and mud, roofed with straw of leaves of maguey.

A remarkable architectural achievement on the part of the Aztec was the series of causeways which connected the island with the mainland. In building them, a double palisade was first erected and the space between filled with earth and rubble and faced with stones. The great dam, which led from Iztapalapa to Atzacualco (built by Montecuzoma I. on the advice of Neza hualcoyotl of Tezcoco), was ten miles long, perforated by sluices and was erected in an attempt to control the inundations to which Tenochtitlan was subject. Another work of great economic im portance was a double stone aqueduct, which brought water to the city from Chapultepec.

Religion and Burial.

Mexican religion, at the time of the Conquest, was of a highly composite nature; this feature is founded on the history of the people in their role as immigrant conquerors, and is apparent even in Toltec times, although little detail has survived concerning this early people. The Toltec, like all the Nahuatl tribes in their migratory days, were led by chiefs who were also priests. In the case of the Toltec, after they settled in the Valley of Mexico, the priestly side of "kingship" became accentuated, and the gods who presided over the seden tary arts and crafts (which were of necessity borrowed from the people of the valley), became of greater importance. So Quetzal coatl, the god of Arts and Crafts, of the Calendar, and of general culture, was adopted by the Toltec as their own particular di vinity. The word Quetzalcoatl, as explained above, is a literal translation of the name of the great Maya god, Kukulcan, who bore the same attributes of combined bird and snake. Of almost equal importance was the god Tlaloc, the god of rain, the counter part of the Maya Chac. The Nahuatl nomads, when they took to settled life based on agriculture, were forced to borrow the gods of the sedentary population upon whom they imposed themselves, and these gods, or at least the most important of them, were almost certainly derived from the Maya. The original tribal gods of the Nahuatl people were hunting- and war-gods, con nected with the stars rather than with the sun, and they could hardly be expected to know anything about agriculture or the arts based on settled life. All evidence seems to show that the Toltec, being the first-comers were more influenced by such elements of Maya religion as had permeated to Mexico than the subsequent immigrants. The latter, especially the Aztec, while accepting the local deities of agriculture and craftsmanship, main tained the worship of their tribal god, whom they often invested with qualities and powers borrowed from the adopted deities. A case in point is the Aztec tribal god, Uitzilopochtli, at first a stellar- war- and hunting-god ; later associated with the sun, and finally imposed as the most important deity in ritual upon all the tributaries within the Aztec "Empire." The growth of sun-wor ship is interesting. Certainly the early Maya worshipped a sun god, and there are indications that he was associated with war, but there is little evidence that either the sun-god or war were of great importance in religious or secular life. But, under the Aztec regime, war, intimately connected with sun-worship, be came a religious duty, because the belief had arisen that the sun needed the blood of human hearts as nourishment, and war was necessary in order to procure prisoners for sacrifice. The cere monial nature of war is a most important feature of Aztec "civ ilization." The object of war was the capture of prisoners, not the killing of enemies, and warriors obtained promotion in accord ance with the number of prisoners which they took. A state of peace within the sphere of Aztec influence would have been a re ligious calamity; the Aztec therefore held their dependencies very lightly and were not in the least averse to revolt, but rather wel comed it. The introduction and development of human sacrifice (which was not practised by the early Maya) into the Mexican valley, is, according to tradition, responsible for the breakup of the Toltec "Empire" and the migration of Toltec clans eastwards and southwards. In Aztec times the practice was the normal ac companiment of nearly all religious festivals, and had attained such proportions that, according to the native mss. no less than 20,000 human victims were slaughtered on the occasion of the dedication of the great pyramid in Tenochtitlan in the reign of Auitzotl. In Mexican sacrifice, the essential feature was the offering of the heart, but variations of the normal ritual pre vailed in ceremonies held in honour of specific deities, many of which had been adopted from surrounding tribes. For instance, the victims offered to the fire-god were thrown into a huge fire before the heart was extracted; the female victims offered to the fer tility goddesses were decapitated (a rite representing, symboli cally, the reaping of the maize-cob) ; the prisoners offered to Xipe (the god of young vegetation) were flayed, and their captors wore the skins for the duration of the festival. The casting off of the dead skins, which was performed ceremonially, was a magico religious act, and was supposed to assist in the resurrection of the food-crop. Mexican religion, though often revolting in its expression, was based on the idea that the powers of nature needed continual regeneration which could only be afforded by human aid in the form of personal sacrifice. Death on the sacri ficial stone was the same as death in war; the normal death of a fighting-man ; and each was the avenue to the Paradise of the Sun. Most of the victims were identified with the god to whom they were sacrificed, but the principal instance is the youth who was offered up at the feast of Toxcatl held in honour of the High god Tezcatlipoca. Tezcatlipoca was the "Jupiter" of the Nahuatl pantheon, worshipped by all in common, a creator- and sky-god. The chosen victim was not only his representative, but the vehicle which enabled the god-spirit to associate with mankind, and so ensure the prosperity of the community. But it was essential that the god-spirit should not be weakened by the decay which is the heritage of mortals, consequently the human vehicle, after living in divine state for a year, was sacrificed, and the spirit transferred to another predestined victim in the prime of youth.

Ceremonial cannibalism was an occasional feature of sacrifice, certain individuals being privileged to partake of the body of the victim. But the act was purely ritual, and, in fact, an act of corn munion, for which many parallels can be found in other parts of the world.

To Quetzalcoatl no human sacrifices were made, and, as it is clear that this god was originally adopted from the early Maya, further support is given to the theory that human offerings were introduced into Mexico by the Nahuatl immigrants.

The composite nature of Aztec religion is equally expressed in the method of disposing of the dead. Both cremation and in humation were practised, but the two methods bore a definite relation both to the method of death of the individual, and to the worship of certain gods. The fate of the soul varied accord ingly. Men killed in battle or by sacrifice reached the Paradise of the Sun; women dying in child-birth had a paradise of their own, because their death was considered a warrior-death. Persons who were drowned, or who perished of dropsical affections were accommodated in a separate paradise belonging to the pre-Aztec fertility- and rain-god Tlaloc. People dying normally had only the dim underworld of the death-god, Mictlantecuhtli, as their future abode. Cremation was the fate of all except those who were destined for Tlaloc's paradise. This fact affords a clear indication that inhumation was the early form of funerary rite, and that cremation was introduced by the Nahuatl immigrants. Much has been recorded on the subject of Mexican religion, the gods, their respective ritual and feast, their attributes and tribal affinities. For details see Bibliography under Sahagun, Seler and Joyce.

In their contest with the Spaniards the Mexicans were, in a sense, betrayed by their own religion. There was an ancient legend that the great culture-god, Quetzalcoatl, after instructing the people in the useful arts, departed eastward over the sea, promising to return in a year of a certain date. According to tradition, Quetzalcoatl was white-skinned and bearded and the arrival of the Spaniards, in the appropriate year, led Montecu zoma II., who had been trained as a priest, to adopt a fatally hesitating policy towards them. Again, the fact that the Aztec fought, not to kill, but to capture, on more than one occasion saved the small force of Cortez from annihilation.

Economic Life.

As in the case of the Maya, the economic life of the Mexicans was based fundamentally on maize-cultiva tion. Since the Aztec, in the earlier period of their settled life, occupied only a very restricted land-area, cultivation was inten sive, and the practice of manuring the fields, rare among primitive peoples, had been systematically developed. Even the waters of the lake were pressed into service, and many food-plants were grown on floating rafts loaded with soil. The lake and its marshes provided abundance of fish and wild-fowl, and on the mainland, deer, rabbits and various game-birds afforded a plentiful supply of flesh-food. Two plants of great economic importance need mention. First the cacao, from which the drink known as choco latl (whence our "chocolate") was prepared. Second the maguey or Mexican aloe '(agave americana), the various uses of which are best described in the words of one of the conquerors. "This tree is of the greatest utility. From it is made wine, vinegar, honey, a syrup-like grape-juice. They employ it (i.e., the fibre) in the manufacture of garments for men and women, for foot gear, ropes, the ties used in building houses, the roofing of these houses (the leaves), for sewing needles (the spines), for dressings for wounds and other purposes." From the sap an intoxicating drink was prepared, known as octli (at the present day, pulque), indul gence in which, however, was controlled by law. Tobacco was smoked in tubes. The hunting instinct of the Aztec, after they became a settled people, found a free vent in trade, and one of the most important sections of the community was the guild of Pochteca, or travelling merchants. These grew to be a privileged class, worshipping special gods, and practising private ceremonies. Their extended wanderings helped to spread Aztec influence far into Guatemala and other districts to the south and east, and, apart from their position as traders, they played the part of mili tary spies. The death of one of these merchants, at the hands of a foreign tribe, was never left unavenged in the days of the Aztec supremacy, but afforded an excuse for a military expedition which brought further tribute and sacrificial victims to Tenochtitlan. The economic prosperity of this city at the time of the conquest is amply illustrated in the account of the great mart at Talatelolco, described by the so-called "Anonymous Conqueror," and the tribute lists of the Mendoza Codex.

Arts and Crafts.

The Nahuatl tribes, after their settlement, knew and worked gold, silver and copper. Of these, copper alone is useful as a tool, and its use is very limited. In the main, there fore, implements were made of stone or of the natural glass known as obsidian. Expert as they were in the flaking of these materials, their products do not attain the perfection of the Maya or Zapo tec; but their technique in the manufacture of implements, masks, bowls and so forth, of polished stone, obsidian jadeite and crystal, is remarkable. Such works of art were produced by the lengthy process of rubbing and the free use of sand. Hollows were cut by means of tubular drill of cane, also armatured with sand, and the final polish was given with bamboo. To the Aztec, the Toltec were the great masters of stone-cutting, and most, if not all, of the late Mexican lapidaries were of Toltec descent. The Aztec them selves were warriors and political organizers. Nearly all the in dustrial pursuits were in the hands of close clan-corporations, the great majority of which claimed Toltec ancestry. These industrial corporations worshipped special gods, and practised ceremonies of their own (details in Sahagun and Joyce). Perhaps the most spectacular examples of the lapidaries' art are the mosaics of turquoise, lignite, shell and pyrites, applied, usually, to a wooden foundation, which are amply described in Saville's monograph (see Bibliography).

Metal-working in Mexico was, in the main, confined to gold, and there were two separate "guilds" of gold-workers, the beaters and the casters. Casting was done by means of the "cire-perdue" method, and the same process was employed, especially by the Totonac, in dealing with copper, which, owing to the presence of a percentage of tin (as an impurity) was, in fact, an accidental bronze. Gold-foil, of extreme thinness, was produced by the beaters, and frequently applied to wood-carving. Many works of art, known to us by description, have perished in the melting pot being composed of a metal precious in European economy, with the result that Mexican gold-work is extremely rare in Museums. Wood was used both for building and in the manu facture of various utensils and instruments, especially gongs (teponaztli), but, owing to the perishable nature of the material, specimens are scarce (see Saville, Bibliography). The art of the potter flourished in Mexico, and though the wheel was unknown, certain classes of ware are remarkable for the perfection of their shape, firing and decoration. For the most part the coiling pro cess was employed, but the use of moulds was also known. The pottery of the Aztec is distinctly inferior from every point of view. Toltec ware shows close affinities with the Maya, but exhibits in the most characteristic examples a peculiar "cloisonne" technique, in which a dark slip, added to the surface of the pot has been cut out to form outlines, and slips of other colours, principally turquoise-blue, inlaid between them. Ware of this class is found in the Totonac area of Vera Cruz, and bears wit ness to the close association of the Totonac with Toltec culture. But such examples are rare, and as regards the two qualities of form and firing, Totonac pottery (of which the most notable series is preserved in the British Museum), represents the finest achieve ment of the Mexican potter. In colour and burnish, however, the pottery of Cholula (in the state of Puebla), and of the Zapotec, are paramount. The two classes of ceramic ware show very close similarities, and the colours employed are those of the finest Maya pottery. Puebla was peopled by clans of Toltec origin and the Zapotec country had been permeated by Maya influence. The inference is that the population of Puebla had received, through the Zapotec, the tradition of Maya colouration. In any case under the late Aztec regime, the potters of Cholula were regarded as the masters of the ceramic art, and the table-ware of Montecuzoma and the Aztec nobles was provided by this province.

Good pottery was manufactured also by the Huaxtec and Taras cans, the large figurines of the latter people showing conspicuous freedom and originality in modelling.

The textile art was developed to a high degree by means of a very simple form of loom. Patterns of the most intricate type were inwoven or embroidered, and one of the most important dyes was that produced by the cochineal insect, which consti tuted an important item of tribute to Mexico City. Very few Mexican textiles have survived, but the native mss. bear witness to the perfection of technique and brilliancy of colouring.

The art of feather-mosaic was extensively practised in Aztec times. Complicated designs were produced by the meticulous application of the small feathers of tropical birds to a background of cloth or maguey (aloe) paper. Practically all the surviving specimens relate to post-conquest times, when, under the influence of missionaries, numbers of sacred pictures were produced in this technique. Complicated arrangements of feathers, secured to a bamboo framework, were worn by warriors of different ranks attached to the back, and military standards were constructed of the same materials. Art can best be studied in Museums, or by means of well-illustrated books devoted to this subject (see Joyce, Bibliography). Toltec art shows a very close correspondence with that of the Maya, with a tendency to stylization in angular form. The flowing line was not lost, but the increased convention alism often gives to Toltec art a slightly "mechanical" aspect. In Aztec times the angularity is accentuated in the mss., but in sculp ture there is a great tendency towards simplification combined with a subtle suggestion of ferocity.

Social Life.

The Nahuatl-speaking tribes, being nomadic, were controlled originally by chiefs who were skilled warriors and hunters, supported by an advisory council of elders. Since these tribes recognized gods of their own, who were regarded as tribal leaders, the function of the priest became immensely im portant. In many cases the office of chief and priest was com bined and the priestly aspect of the Toltec rulers is very clearly expressed in tradition. The Toltec were more affected by the eminently peaceful sociology of the Maya than their successors, and the priestly side of "king-ship" became accentuated. Later, successive immigrations of warlike tribes, and the development of the ceremonial importance of war, as the means of procuring victims for sacrifice, led, in Aztec times, to a reversion to type. The Aztec ruler held his position as the supreme war-lord, while the religion, complicated owing to the incorporation of alien gods and their respective ritual, fell into the hands of a specialist priesthood. When the nomadic Nahuatl descended on the Mex ican Valley they were faced with a question which was outside their experience. In adopting a settled, agricultural life, they were suddenly aware of the value of land. None of their gods had any control over land, or its produce. The Toltec were the first in the field; later intruders based their territorial claims on intermarriage with women of Toltec stock. The legendary his tory, combined with the later Aztec practice, whereby brother succeeded brother (under normal circumstances), and, after the extinction of the generation, the succession reverted to the eldest nephew, suggests that rank-inheritance was transferred through the female line. In the latest times, however, this rule was not without exceptions, because, owing to the growing importance of war as an integral part of religion, it was necessary for the candidate for rulership to have passed a certain military rank. The fact that the last Montecuzoma had been trained both as a priest and a warrior, led him, when white strangers arrived in the year of prophecy, to adopt a vacillating policy which resulted in the downfall of his "empire." The Aztec showed great political genius in the system which they devised for the control of the various peoples from whom they extracted "tribute." They dared not abolish war, because war brought the prisoners which their gods demanded as sacri fice. So, as a rule, they allowed the subject tribes to maintain their own system of government and individual rulers, with the fixed intention of making "punitive" raids on the least excuse.

The inner social system of Mexico under Aztec domination provides all the features which might be expected from the in cursion of immigrants, who acquired land-interests, either by right of conquest or by intermarriage with the daughters of local chiefs. The conquering chiefs gave land to their principal re tainers, and these formed an aristocracy who paid no taxes but owed feudal service to the ruler. Associated with them was a military nobility, who held estates at the ruler's good-will, and whose tenants paid royal taxes. Next came a class of landed freemen, members of "clans," known as calpulli. These calpulli distributed the land over which they had rights among their members, but any member who, whether by carelessness or by change of abode, allowed his plot to go out of cultivation, lost his holding. The calpulli paid taxes in common. Below the free men ranked the tax-paying rent-holders, and, finally the serfs who paid taxes only to their feudal lords. Apart from these were the members of the official class and their families, who, ranking as warriors and "nobles," paid no taxes, but contributed their personal services, and formed the suite of the ruler. To provide for the education both of the artisan and upper classes full pro vision was made. The exercise of certain pursuits was in the hands of close corporations (mainly of different tribal stocks) ; but apart from technical specialists, provision was made for the "higher education" of children. The institution known as the Calmecac provided the education for those who desired to adopt a priestly career, and was under the especial protection of the god Quetzalcoatl, while the candidates for military service entered the Telpochcalli, where, under the aegis of the god Tezcatlipoca, they received a military training. Details of the Aztec constitution are readily available in the works of Sahagun, and the compilation of Joyce (see Bibliography).

Nicaragua, Costa Rica and

Panama.—Archaeological re search in these countries is not as yet sufficiently advanced to enable a connected picture to be drawn of the economic life of the more cultured inhabitants of this area. Intensive excavation, on scientific lines, has been carried out in certain areas, but the gaps are wide. In particular so little is known about southern Honduras and Nicaragua that the southern limit of Maya cultural influence is undefined. Nahuatl colonies existed beyond doubt in the Department of Rivas in Nicaragua, in the peninsula of Nicoya (Costa Rica), and on the edge of the Chiriqui lagoon (Panama). In all of these districts the Nahuatl language was found. In Nicoya and Rivas the pottery shows strong Nahuatl affinities. And in Rivas religion and ritual were purely Mexican in char acter, as is proved by Oviedo's account. From central Costa Rica, southwards and eastwards, the flora, fauna and ethnography begin to approximate to those of the Southern Continent. The wall-less hut-shelter takes the place of the walled hut ; the hammock makes its appearance; cassava (manioc) plays a more and more predominant role as a food-plant. The tribes inhabiting this region have been classified on linguistic lines, and show a great diversity of speech (for details see Thomas, Swanton and Lehmann, in the Bibliography) . The archaeological areas cross the political boundaries of the present Republics so that it is impossible to discuss the archaeology of each in detail without constant repetition. All available material has been summarized in Joyce's compilation (which includes a full bibliography), and Lothrop's later work (see Bibliography).

In Nicaragua stone-building on the scale practised by the Maya and Aztec was unknown, but monolithic sculptures, some of considerable size, have been found on the islands in lakes Managua and Nicaragua. These are not Nahuatl in style, and are believed to have been the work of the Chorotega people, who probably occupied a wider area in ancient times than is indicated by later linguistic surveys. Archaeological evidence, slight as it is, suggests that their original territory was reduced by the expansion of the Matagalpa, Sumo and Ulua peoples. They manu factured good painted pottery, and it is quite possible that their art was a reflection of that of the Maya; but far more explora tion is necessary in Honduras before the connection can be proved. The Nicarao (or Niquirian) people in Rivas, were of comparatively late Nahuatl stock, but the pottery found in the area possesses finer qualities than that of the Aztec. Though stone-carving on a large scale is rare, yet the Nicaraguans and Northern Costa Ricans produced smaller examples of sculpture, in the form of figures, bowls and, especially, metates (tripod slabs for grinding maize). In the peninsula of Nicoya, jadeite was worked with great skill, and pendants in the Nicoyan style have been found in regions north and south of the district. Probably more worked jadeite has been recovered from Nicoyan ceme teries than anywhere else in America, yet the source of the material is still unknown. The Nicoyans represent a definite lin guistic unit to-day, but archaeological evidence proves, that in the heart of the peninsula was an enclave of Nahuatl immigrants, who manufactured pottery of extremely good technique (both as regards paste and coloured decoration) in which the Mexican tradition is obvious.

On the mainland, opposite the Nicoyan peninsula, is a strip of territory (in Costa Rica) occupied by the Guetar people whose ancient cemeteries have yielded quantities of polychrome pottery, which, though inferior in colour to that of Nicoya, and, again, inferior in quality of paste to that of the tribes to the south and east, nevertheless shows great variety and takes a high rank in the scale of primitive ceramics. In southern Costa Rica, and western Panama, inhabited for the most part by Talamancan tribes, the potter's art was developed to a degree which has its only parallel in Peru. In the quality of technique the so-called "biscuit-ware" of the Talamancans is unsurpassed in the history of hand-made pottery, and the sense of form exhibited in these vases is beyond reproach. In slip-decoration the brilliancy of colour is inferior to that of the ware of Cholula or Oaxaca, and, especially that of Southern Peru. But the Talamancans were masters of the so-called "lost colour" process, whereby elements of a design were "reserved" by wax-painting on a slip of a cer tain colour. Upon this a second slip of another colour was added, which, in the firing was released from the waxed portions. Pottery of this class is common in Colombia and Ecuador, and occasional in Peru, while its occurrence in the Isthmian region emphasizes the connection of the Talamancan region with the southern con tinent. Further evidence of this connection is provided by the gold-work, recovered in large quantities from Talamancan ceme teries. Pendants in human and animal form have been obtained in considerable bulk from this area. The raw material was ob tained by the laborious process of picking out grains of gold from river-sands, and the ornaments were partly cast (by the process), and finished by hammering. The same processes pre vailed in Colombia, and it is not easy to distinguish the products of the two regions. Between the Talamancan district and the southern continent lay a densely forested area, peopled by tribes of lower culture, but on the Pacific coast, especially in the gulf of San Miguel, the first Spanish explorers found settlements engaged in pearl-fishery and a coastal trade southwards. From a chief named Tumaco they received an itinerary by sea to Peru, then undiscovered, and an allusion, in vague terms, to the great Inca Empire. (See Joyce, Bibliography.) Inter-tribal traffic had attained a high degree of development in Central America. The jadeite work of Nicoya is found sporadi cally in southern Costa Rica, while the gold-work of the Tala mancan area has been discovered, not only in Nicoya, but even at Chichen Itza in Yucatan. The Isthmian region in every respect, flora, fauna and ethnography, combines the characteristics of both North and South America. Apart from the interchange of commercial products by hand-to-hand trade, Mexican influence from the north introduced the practice of cremation into certain restricted areas, where it impinged on certain technical processes (pottery and gold-work) characteristic of the Southern Continent.