785 



AZTECS. 



AZTECS. 



786 



all the ornaments, arms, instruments, and tools of the trade of the 

 deceased, and with a techichi, a domestic quadruped of the Mexicans. 

 When the body was consumed by the fire they placed the ashes in a 

 vessel, with a gem of more or less value according to the means of 

 the deceased's family, and this funeral urn was buried in a deep hole, 

 and libations of pulque were offered upon it for several days. With the 

 bodies of kings and great lords, their priest, some of their wives, slaves, 

 and other servants of their household were killed and then burnt. 

 Those who died of leprosy and other diseases, or before attaining the 

 age of seventeen, were buried without burning : their bodies were 

 placed in niches made of stone and mortar, sitting upon a chair sur- 

 rounded by their arms, and wearing many valuable jewels. They had 

 no appointed place for burying their dead : some buried them in their 

 own gardens, and others in the teocalli. The ashes of the kings were 

 deposited in the great teocalli. 



The Aztecs had attained a certain degree of astronomical know- 

 ledge. They had a solar year of 365 days divided into 18 months 

 of 20 days each. The 5 complementary days, which they called 

 nemontemi, or useless, were added to the last month. The year was 

 represented in their paintings, as the engraving shows, by a circle, 



01 

 From Claviero. 



in the centre of which they placed a figure intended to represent the 

 moon illuminated by the sun ; and in the circumference they placed 

 the symbols of the 18 months. The month was divided into four 

 periods of five days each. Thirteen of their years formed a period 

 analogous to the Roman Indiction, which they called tlalpilli ; four 

 tlalpilli formed a xiuhmolpilli, or ligature of years ; and two xiuhmol- 

 pilli a huehuetiliztli, or old age of 104 years. Instead of adding one 

 day every fourth year, as we do, they added thirteen days every fifty- 

 two years. They had also a lunar year by which they regulated their 

 sacred festivals. The years were distinguished by the names of 

 Tochtli, a rabbit ; Acatle, a cane or reed ; Tecpatl, a flint ; and Calli, 

 a house. The first year of their century was called first rabbit ; the 

 second, second cane ; the third, third flint ; the fourth, fourth house ; 

 the fifth, fifth rabbit ; and so on till the indiction ended with the 

 thirteenth rabbit. The second period began with the first reed, and 

 then followed second flint, third house, and fourth rabbit, to end 

 with the thirteenth cane. The order of the third period was flint, 

 house, rabbit, reed ; and that of the fourth, house, rabbit, reed, and 

 flint. The age was represented in their paintings by a circle formed 

 by a serpent biting its tail, and forming four foldings with its body, 

 which corresponded to the four inductions. In the centre of this circle 

 they painted a face representing the sun, and round it the images of 

 a rabbit or hare, a reed, a knife of flint, and a house, and upon each 

 sign the number of that sign expressed in dots or rounds. Their 

 year, according to the computation of Clavigero (vol. ii. p. 234), began 

 on the 26th of February, on the first year of the cycle ; but every 

 fourth year it was anticipated one day, and on the last year of the 

 cycle it began on the 14th of the same month, because of the 

 thirteen intercalary days of the leap years. According to Humboldt 

 (' Researches,' p. 132), the beginning of the Aztec year varied from 

 the 9th to the 28th of January. The day was divided into eight parts, 

 four of which were for the rising and setting of the sun, and two for 

 it* passage across the meridian, corresponding to the third, ninth, 

 fifteenth, and twenty-first hours of astronomical time. They ascer- 

 tained the hour in the daytime by the sun and at night by the stars. 

 The names of different months were taken from some festival or from 

 Rome circumstance which usually happened in the month, and the 

 Mme WM observed with regard to the names of the days. The days 

 were all desiifnated by a particular name. At the end of every 

 Xfattmolpilti tlmy held a religious festival, somewhat analogous to 



OIOO. DIV. VOL. I. 



the sabbatic year of the Jews. On the eve of the festival they 

 destroyed the furniture of their houses (Clavigero, vol. ii. p. 84), and 

 extinguished the fires. Some priests then proceeded from the prin- 

 cipal temple to the neighbouring mountain to kindle the new fire. 

 This was procured by the friction of two dry pieces of wood upon the 

 breast of a prisoner, who was afterwards sacrificed upon the moun- 

 tain. After the fire in the temple had been lighted the inhabitants 

 received a portion of the sacred fire. The next thirteen days were 

 occupied in replacing the destroyed furniture. 



The Aztecs had made some progress in the arts of social life. The 

 monuments of architecture, sculpture, and painting, which still exist, 

 are not devoid of merit. The designs of their painters are coarse and 

 uncouth ; the figures are fantastical, and only drawn in profile ; but 

 they are remarkable for the brilliancy and durability of their colours. 

 Their works of architecture and sculpture are of a higher degree of 

 excellence. The Aztecs were also acquainted with the art of casting 

 in metal figures of natural objects. Their mosaic, or rather works of 

 embroidery, were admirable. The method they adopted was to glue 

 feathers of different colours upon a piece of canvass, and then place it 

 upon a tablet of wood or a plate of copper. They laid the feathers so 

 even, and matched the colours so admirably, as to give to objects thus 

 represented the appearance of painting. Another kind of mosaic work, 

 made with pieces of shells of different colours, was done by separate 

 artificers, every one of whom undertook a part, and then another 

 artist arranged the different parts together, so as to complete the 

 performance. 



The houses of the poor were made of reeds, or of unbaked brick, 

 and were roofed with a certain species of grass, upon which they 

 placed leaves of the aloe, cut in the shape of tiles. They had but one 

 apartment, where all lived together. The houses of the citizens had 

 besides an ajauhcalli, or oratory, and a temazcalli, or bath. The houses 

 of the nobles were built with stone and mortar, and consisted of two 

 stories, covered with a flat roof or terrace. Their stuffs were of cotton, 

 of rabbit's hair, of a certain species of palm, and of thread made out 

 of the leaves of the aloe. The dress of the men consisted merely in 

 a sash tied round the waist, with the two extremities hanging before 

 and behind, and a square mantle, 4 feet long, the two extremities of 

 which were tied upon the chest. This mantle covered the shoulders 

 and all the body behind. The women wore a square piece of stuff tied 

 round their waists, which descended down to their ankles, and a sort 

 of waistcoat without sleeves. Their shoes consisted in a sole cut out 

 of the leaves of the aloe, fastened to the foot with a cord. The kings 

 wore instead thin plates of silver, gold, or copper. None of the Aztecs 

 ever cut their hair, with the exception of the virgins who were conse- 

 crated to the service of the temples ; the men tied it on the crown of 

 their heads, and the women let it hang down their shoulders. Both 

 men and women wore rings and other ornaments in their ears, nose, 

 and under lip, as also collars and bracelets. On their festivals they 

 ate the legs and arms of the prisoners or slaves who had been sacrificed 

 in the temple. 



In June 1853 a couple of children, stated to have been brought 

 from a city long hidden, called Ixamayil, were exhibited in London 

 as genuine descendants of the ancient Aztecs. They were dwar*^, 

 almost idiots, and knew no language, though with much difficulty 

 they had been taught to pronounce a few words of English. A most 

 improbable tale was related of the manner of their being obtained ; and 

 it was added that the pure race had become thus diminutive, and that 

 they were employed only as priests or priestesses, or rather as repre- 

 sentatives of a deity. Professor Owen, on examining them, pronounced 

 that they were merely exceptional dwarf specimens of some race, 

 probably South American, of the usual stature, with a mixture of 

 European blood; and Dr. Conolly, formerly of Hanwell, asserted 

 that they were examples of a peculiar kind of cretinism, not attended 

 with goitres. 



The Aztecs made use of several intoxicating liquors, the principal 

 of which was that called by the Spaniards ' pulque,' made of the juice 

 of the aloe. In conveying goods beasts of burden were not used ; the 

 articles were carried by men, upon their shoulders. They had public 

 roads and inns, also bridges, some of which were suspended over the 

 torrents. These suspension-bridges consisted of a sort of hammock, 

 made of strong ropes of aloe, and suspended from two trees on each 

 side of the stream. In their chinampas, or floating-gardens, which 

 floated on the lake, or were attached to the shore, they cultivated 

 Indian corn and several species of vegetables and flowers. 



The Aztec language wants the sounds corresponding to the letters 

 *> d, f, g, and r, and abounds in those expressed by I, x, t, tl, Iz, and z. 

 The letter I, though occurring so often in that language, is never found 

 at the commencement of a word. The language has very few mono- 

 syllabic words, and although it allows great freedom in the compounding 

 of words, even to the extent occasionally of no less than sixteen syllables, 

 yet few are monosyllables in their roots. The plural of nouns is formed 

 by doubling the first syllable and adding the particle in to the word, 

 thus from miztli, a cat, is formed mimi/tin, cats. This reduplication 

 is sometimes made in the middle of the word, as ichpochtli, a girl, 

 ichpopochtin, girls. In all the examples quoted by Humboldt it 

 should be observed the I is dropped in the plural. Verbal nouns are 

 formed by means of the particle liztli ; thus from tlatlolana, to ask a 

 question, they form the noun tetlaniliztli, a question. The Aztec 



3 



