MORGAN, ] JOINT-TENEMENT HOUSES. 233 
used.”’ In the tidiness of these rooms we gain some evidence of the char- 
acter of Aztec women. 
Joint-tenement houses, and the mode of life they indicate, were at this 
time unknown in Europe. They belonged to a more ancient condition of 
society. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Spaniards, astonished at 
their magnitude, should have styled them palaces, and having been received 
with a great array by Montezuma, as the general commander of the Aztee 
forces, should have regarded him as a king, since monarchical government 
was the form with which they were chiefly acquainted. Sutftice, it then, to say 
that one of the great houses of the Aztecs was large enough to accommodate 
Cortes and his fourteen hundred and fifty men including Indian allies as they 
had previously been accommodated in one Cholulan house and elsewhere, on 
the way to Mexico. From New Mexico to the Isthmus of Panama there was 
scarcely a principal village in which an equal number conld not have found 
accommodations in a single house. When it is found to be unnecessary to call 
it a palace in order to account for its size, we are led to the conclusion that 
an ordinary Aztec house was emptied of its inhabitants to make room for 
their unwelcome visitors. After their reception, Aztec hospitality supplied 
them with provisions. Mr. Bandelier has, in the article above referred to, 
explained this house in a very satisfactory manner as “the teepan, or 
official house of the tribe.” He says: ‘The house where the Spaniards 
were quartered was the ‘tecpan,’ or official house of the tribe, vacated by 
the official household for that purpose.” In sallying forth to greet the new- 
comers at the dike, ‘‘Wrathy chief (Montezuma) acted simply as the 
representative of the tribal hospitality, extending unusual courtesies to 
unusual, mysterious, and therefore dreaded guests. Leaving these in pos- 
session of the ‘tecpan,’ he retired to another of the large communal buildings 
surrounding the central square, where the official business was, meauwhile, 
transacted His return to the Spanish quarters, even if compulsory, had 
less in it to strike the natives than is commonly believed. It was a re-in- 
stallation in old quarters, and therefore the ‘Tlatoean (Couneil of Chiefs) 
itself felt no hesitancy in meeting there again, until the real nature of the 
dangerous visitors was ascertained, when the council gradually withdrew 
9 
from the snare, leaving the unfortunate ‘chief of men’ in Spanish hands.” 
' History of America, ii, 330. 212 Annual Report of Peabody Museum, p. 680. 
