92 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 
alienated nor sold; in fact, there is no trace of barter or sale of land pre- 
vious to the conquest. If, however, any calpulli weakened, through loss 
of numbers from any cause whatever, it might farm out its area to another 
similar group, deriving subsistence from the rent.” If the kinship died out, 
and its lands therefore became vacant, then they were either added to those 
of another whose share was not adequate for its wants or they were dis- 
tributed among all the remaining calpulli”* The calpulli was a democratic 
organization. Its business lay in the hands of elective chiefs—‘old men’ 
promoted to that dignity, as we intend to prove in a subsequent paper, for 
their merits and experience, and after severe religious ordeals. ‘These chiefs 
formed the council of the kin or quarter, but their authority was not abso- 
lute, since on all important occasions a general meeting of the kindred was 
convened.* The council in turn selected an executive, the ‘calpullec’ or 
‘chinancallec,’ who in war officiated as ‘achcacauhtin’ or ‘teachcauhtin’ 
origin, which possesses since long time a territory whose limits are known, and whose members are of 
the same lineage.” ‘‘ The calpullis, families or quarters, are very common in each province. Among the 
lands which were given to the chiefs of the second class there were also calpullis. These lands are the 
property of the people in general (‘de la masse du peuple’) from the time the Indians reached this 
land. Each family or tribe received a portion of the soil for perpetual enjoyment. They also had the 
name of calpulli, and until now this property has been respected. They do not belong to each inhabit- 
ant of the village in particular, but to the ca!pulli, which possesses them in common.” Don Ramirez 
de Fuenleal, letter dated Mexico, 3 Noy., 1532 (‘* Recueil de piéces,” etce., Ternaux-Compans, p. 253): 
“There are very few people in the villages which have lands of theirown; * * * the landsare held 
in common and cultivated in common.” Herrera (Dec. III, Lib. IV, cap. XV, p. 135) confirms, in a 
condensed form, the statements of Zurita, ‘‘ and they are not private lands of each one, but heldin com- 
mon.” Torquemada (Lib. XIV, cap. VII, p. 545.) Veytia (Lib III, cap. VI, p. 196). ‘‘ Finally, there 
were other tracts of lands in each tribe, called ealpulalli, which is land of the calpules (barrios), which 
also were worked in common.” Oviedo (Lib, XXXII, cap. LI, pp. 536 and 537). Clavigero (Lib. VII, 
cap. XIV). Bustamante (‘‘Tezcoco,” ete., Parte IIIa, cap. V. p. 232). 
' Zurita (p. 52): ‘He who obtained them from the sovereign has not the right to dispose of 
them.” Herrera (Dee. III, Lib. IV, cap. XV, p. 135): ‘He who possessed them could not alienate 
them, although he enjoyed their use for his lifetime.” ‘Torquemada (Lib. XIV, cap. VII, p. 545): 
“Disputes about lands are frequently mentioned, but they refer to the enjoyment and possession, and 
not the transfer of the land. Baron Humboldt (‘‘ Wnes des Cordilléres et monuments indigenes des 
peuples de ?Amérique,” Vol. I, Tab. V) reproduces a Mexican painting representing a litigation about 
land. But this painting was made subsequent to the conquest, as the fact that the parties contending 
are Indians and Spaniards sufficiently asserts. Occasional mention is made that certain lands ‘could 
be sold.”’ All such tracts, however, like the ‘“ pallali,” have been shown by us to be held in communal 
tenure of the soil, their enjoyment alone being given to individuals and their families. 
* Zurita (p. 95): ‘In case of need it was permitted to farm out the lands of a calpulli to the in- 
habitants of another quarter.” Herrera (Dee. ILI, lib. IV, cap. XV, p. 134): ‘ They could be rented out 
to another lineage.” ; 
* Zurita (p. 52): ‘When a family dies out, its lands revert to the calpulli, and the chief dis- 
tributes them among such members of the quarter as are most in need of it.” 
+Zurita (pp. 60, 61, 62). Ramirez de Fuenleal (‘ Letter,” etc., Ternaux-Compans, p. 249), 
