183 



cake and half at a meal. At eight years of age', 

 the instruments of punishment are shown to dis- 

 obedient and idle children, and they are threat- 

 ened ; but it is not till they have attained ten 

 years of age, that they are actually punished *. 

 At thirteen and fourteen the children of both 

 sexes share the labors of their parents ; they row, 

 fish, cook, or weavef. At fifteen, the father pre- 

 sents two sons to two different masters of the 

 temple and military college ; this is the age of 

 choosing their way of life : the girls are settled 

 by marrying. From this period the years are no 

 longer reckoned ; we see the young man follow 

 and serve the priests and the warriors, receiving 

 instructions and undergoing chastisements in this 

 double career. He obtains the honors attached 

 to employments ; blazoned bucklers, which are 

 the marks of noble actions ; the red riband, with 

 which the head of the initiated knight is encir- 

 cled ; and the other distinctions, which the sove- 

 reign grants to valour, according to the number 

 of the prisoners made. These different ranks 

 are designated from the private soldier to the 

 principal chiefs and generals of the army, and 

 even the rebellious and punished cacique. The 

 history of this cacique brings on the stage mes- 

 sengers of state, spies, officers of justice, judges, 

 the great tribunals of the empire, and finally the 

 sovereign himself, seated on his throne. 



* PI. 59, Bg, 3 and 4. + PI. 58, fig. 12. 



