The earliest and one of the most authentic specimens of those paintings, by means of which the Mexicans supplied their want of written records, was published, as has been noticed, by Purchas, in 66 plates, divided into three parts : the first of which (according to expla nations obtained from the natives) contains the history of the Mexican empire under i:s ten monarchs ; the se cond represents the tribute which each conquered town paid into the royal treasury ; and the third is a code of their domestic, political, and military institutions. But, if we may judge from the specimens and explanations given by M. Humboldt in his American researches, nothing can well he conceived more clumsy in execu tion, more vague in the interpretation, or more uncer tain as historical records, than these boasted devices. The more simple of these hieroglyphics represent a town by the rude delineation of a house with certain emblems, sometimes natural objects, and sometimes mere artificial figures,, to distinguish one from another. Some of them are mere fanciful figures. A monarch, for instance, who had extended his empire by force of arms, is represented by a painted target, ornamented with darts, placed between his figure and the emblems of the towns which he had subdued. In designating num bers, they had reached the farther step of mere conven tional signs, expressing a small number by so many cir cles as units, but assigning to large integral numbers their peculiar marks. A small standard or flag, for in stance, represented 20, a feather 400, a sack 8000 ; and so on, says Clavigero, as far as 48,000,000. A flag, di vided by two cross lines, and half coloured, denoted 10 ; and if three quarters were coloured it signified 15. A flag followed by three dots or points expressed 23, Sze.
Their mode of computing time is considered as a more decisive evidence of their progress. Their civil year was a solar year of 365 days, and consisted of 18 months, each containing 20 days. The five intercalary, or rather supernumerary days, were considered as un lucky days, on which no work should be done, or sacred rite performed, and were devoted solely to amusement. The day was reckoned to begin at sun-rising, and was divided into four intervals, by the rising and setting of the sun, and its two passages over the meridian. Each month of 20 days was divided into four weeks of five days each. Thirteen years formed a cycle, to which they gave a particular name, and four of these consti tuted a period of 52 years, which they denoted by ano ther term. Two of these periods of 52 years formed what they called an old age. At the end of 52 years, 13 days were intercalated to bring their time up to the seasons, which makes their year agree with the Julian period of 365 days and 6 hours, and discovers a consi derable degree of philosophical accuracy.
A variety of considerations concur, on the other hand, in proving the civilization of the Mexicans to have been extremely imperfect. Their mode of carrying on %var was altogether savage, and they fought chiefly to gratify their vengeance, by shedding the blood of their enemies. They estimated the glory of a victory by the number of prisoners ; and all the captives were invariably butch ered and devoured with the most barbarous excesses.
Their funeral rites were equally bloody ; and, on the death of any distinguished person, a certain number of his attendants were put to death, and buried in the same tom b.
Their agricultural productions were by no means so abundant as to furnish a plentiful subsistence to the na tion ; and various precautions were employed to prevent a rapid increase of population. There was little inter course between the different provinces of the empire ; and scarcely any roads to facilitate such communications. They were destitute of money, and of any universal standard for estimating the value of commodities. All their commerce was carried on by barter, except that nuts of cocoa (from which chocolate, the favourite drink of the higher ranks, was made,) bad begun to be used as a medium of exchange.
Their architecture was altogether rude and imperfect; and, even in their larger cities, the houses were mere huts of turf and stone, thatched with reeds, and without windows. Nor do the public buildings and houses of the nobility appear to have been constructed of more durable materials.
The religion of the ancient Mexicans was of the most gloomy and revolting description. Their divinities were represented as delighting in vengeance, and were exhi bited under the most detestable and horrifying forms. Their temples were decorated with the figures of the most ferocious and destructive animals with which they were acquainted ; and fear was the only principle in stilled into the minds of their votaries. The most rigid mortifications and excruciating penances were the means employed for appeasing the wrath of the gods; and the worshippers sprinkled the altars, as they approached, with blood, drawn from their own bodies. Human sacri fices were accounted the most acceptable of all offer ings, and every captive taken in war was devoted as a victim to the deity. The head and heart were allotted to the idol, and the body carried off as a feast for the offerer and his friends. Under the influence of such barbarous superstitions and bloody spectacles, the spirit of the ,Mexicans became unfeeling, and their man ners in many respects not less ferocious than those of the most savage tribes, who were far behind them in point of general civilization. Without losing the fiercer fea tures of the wandering and independent Indians, they had fallen into many of the evils which attend the for mation of political societies and large communities. When the Spaniards made the conquest of Mexico, they found the people in that state of abject submission and poverty which usually accompany a despotic government and feudal institutions. The higher classes alone pos sessed the more fertile lands—the governors of pro vinces indulged with impunity in the severest exactions —and the cultivators of the soil were every where de graded. The highways swarmed with mendicants ; and, from the want of large quadrupeds in the country, thou sands of the lower orders were employed as beasts of burden in conveying the maize, cotton, hides, and other commodities sent from the more remote provinces to the capital, in the payment of tribute.