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, fig’, 3 and 4. + PI. 58, fig. 12. 
