DAVID CERNA-PILGRIMAGE AND CIVILIZATION OF THE TOLTECS. 67 
the sacred offices, the interpreters of the divine word; the only ones, in¬ 
deed, to intervene in and direct the practice of their peculiar religious 
rites. As among the nobility, there were among the priests certain dis¬ 
tinctions of rank. 
The priests passed most of their time within the temples, engaged in 
prayer. They usually went barefooted, with eyes cast down, showing 
in every way a condition of the greatest humility. They never mar¬ 
ried, but lived in absolute chastity. They usually wore white or black 
tunics, long enough to reach the ground; their heads were covered with 
white caps, and their hair, arranged in rolls artistically twisted, hung 
gracefully over their backs. The priests were wont to fast and do pen¬ 
ance for a certain number of days at the beginning of the month and 
year. They spoke but little, and when not in religious meditation or 
in the discharge of sacred duties, they engaged themselves in the educa¬ 
tion of the youth, who were generally taught according to their social 
ranks. 
Marriage bore, it may be said, a Christian character, and polygamy 
was severely punished. 
Government .—As may have been observed, the form of the Toltec 
government was a hereditary and absolute monarchy. Each monarch, 
according to law, could only reign for a period of fift}^-two years, 
which number comprised the Toltec century. If the sovereign survived 
the period allotted by law, he was obliged to deliver the government, at 
the expiration of his term, to his successor. If he died within the period, 
a member of the nobility was appointed to exercise provisional power for 
the rest of the term, when the rightful heir would assume the control of 
the government. The existence of this law of fifty-two years is denied 
by CHAVERO, based on the Annals of Cuauhtitlan. 
Although the scepter was always wielded by the royal family, the 
priesthood exercised a powerful influence in the management of public 
affairs. 
The king wore the most gorgeous costume. This consisted of a plain 
white or gray mantle, over which was placed the tunic, xicalli , bearing 
the most brilliant colors and adorned artistically with golden trimmings 
and precious stones. The collars, similarly arranged, completed the 
whole attire which, hanging gracefully to a little below the knee, is said 
to have been simply superb. The shoes, species of sandals, made of 
some woven cotton stuff, had soles of metal, this being generally pure 
gold. 
The royal palaces were grand in every respect, and so spacious as to 
contain gardens for the cultivation of the numerous rare plants, and the 
keeping of the'different kinds of animals. The Toltecs were great nat¬ 
uralists, and I may here state that many of the medicinal plants, properly 
