# Mexican Archæology/Chapter 4

Table of Contents
CHAPTER IV—MEXICO: WRITINGS, PRIESTHOOD, MEDICINE AND BURIAL
SO many of the manuscripts have a religious or calendrical significance, that it may be as well to say here a few words about the Mexican system of writing. The Indians of the North American plains had evolved a sign-language, by means of which, under limitations, a silent conversation could be carried on; further, they were in the habit of recording events by painting figures and scenes on hide, or weaving them in their wampum belts. The Mexican system was a little more advanced; though events were expressed by the actual depiction of the scenes, yet many of the details were purely symbolical, and names were expressed by a figure or combination of figures which constitute a rebus. Thus the name of the king, Itzcoatl, was written as a snake (coatl) bristling with obsidian knives (itztli); the town of Tochtepec, by a rabbit (tochtli) on a mountain (tepetl); that of Tenochtitlan, by a stone (tetl), on which grows a cactus plant (nochtli), the syllable tlan being a place-termination.
To express numbers, as far as the calendar was concerned, since no figure higher than 13 occurred ordinarily, a dot was put for each unit. There was also a special period-sign meaning a year (Fig. 86, /; p. 356, usually combined with the day-sign from which that particular year took its name), and another for the period of 52 years, called xiuhmolpilli, or "sheaf of years." As, however, there was no subsidiary sign by which one xiuhmolpilli could be differentiated from another, the reader is obliged to infer from the ​text the cycle to which a particular year belongs. In the numeration of objects, as in the tribute-lists, higher numbers are expressed by special symbols. The Mexican numeral system was vigesimal, and hence the first special sign was that for 20, a religious banner. $20\times 20$,
or 400, was expressed by a tree; and $20\times 4000$ by an incense-pouch (see Fig. 12). In certain portions of some manuscripts we find the lower numbers simplified by the employment of a bar to mean five. These MSS. present other features which are not typically Aztec in character, and it may at once be said that the use of the bar to express five was universal in the Maya ​countries, and extended in pre-Aztec times right up through the Zapotec country (e.g. Monte Alban) and Cuernavaca (Xochicalco) to the Mexican Valley (Island of Xico).
In the historical MSS. we have the year-signs in order accompanied by. certain figures symbolical of important events. A temple in flames with a place-name attached signifies the conquest of a town; the sign olin, an earthquake; a smoking star, a comet; and so forth. In Fig. 12 appears a small portion of the manuscript known as Telleriano-Remensis; two year-dates are shown, of which the first, 7. tochtli, is accompanied by two figures, a mummy-pack with the name of Tizoc, and a seated man with the name of Auitzotl. This signifies the death of the king Tizoc, and the enthronement of his successor. Accompanying the next year-date, 8. acatl, is a picture of the great temple to Uitzilopochtli, beneath which is a smoking fire-stick, and the name-sign of Tenochtitlan. The group signifies the dedication of the great temple at Mexico, since new fire was always made at the opening of a newly-constructed building. At the side are two figures clad in the livery of prisoners destined to the gladiatorial stone, each with his name; these represent two important prisoners sacrificed on that occasion, and below them is a number, reading 20,000, the number of the victims sacrificed during the inaugural ceremonies.
The nature of the calendrical manuscripts has been explained in chapter III, and it will therefore not be necessary to say more about them, except that most, if not all, of the surviving examples seem not to be pure Aztec work. Some are rather in Zapotec style, while others may have been produced at Teotitlan or Tehuacan on the Mixtec border, where the priests were especially skilled in calendrical lore; of others again the place of origin may be Chiapas. Of great interest are the tribute-lists, of which the best, known as Codex ​Mendoza, gives the imperial revenue in the time of Montecuzoma, together with a list of the tributary towns; the glyphs, in Fig. 18, p. 1 18, are taken from this manuscript. Again, the ownership of land was carefully noted on maps, territory belonging to the king, the nobles, and the calpulli (or clans) being marked in different colours; and plans of towns are also found, that shown in Fig. 13 in all probability representing the palace at Tezcoco. Similar documents were prepared for legal procedure, and at the landing of the Spaniards Fig.—13. Plan of the palace at Tezcoco. (Humboldt MSS., Berlin) manuscripts were taken to Montecuzoma on which were carefully noted the portraits of the leaders, together with pictures of ships, horses, dogs and cannon. Maps and manuscripts were painted on fine cloth made of aloe-or palm-fibre, paper made from the aloe, or dressed skins, the two former being coated with a kind of size. The colours were applied with a brush, which was moistened with the lips of the artist, and the designs were invariably outlined in black. A considerable variety of colours was employed, red from cochineal or log-wood; two yellows, vegetable and mineral; blue from certain flowers; white from chalk, and black from the soot of the ocotl palm. The mixing of colours was understood, and brilliant greens, purples and browns are found.
​It will be readily understood that the service of so many gods and so formidable a list of religious festivals required the services of a large body of carefully trained priests. The office of priest was one which had undergone considerable evolution in Mexico, at least as far as the immigrant tribes were concerned. At first the priest was also the temporal leader; his principal duty was the care of the image of the tribal god, which he carried during the wanderings of the tribe; and since it was the god who directed those wanderings, and the priest was the sole interpreter of his wishes, it came about that the priest was also the director of the tribal policy. But once the tribe became settled, there was a tendency for the priest to become less and less a man of action, and to concentrate his energies on the elaboration of ritual and the study of astronomy. At the same time there was no sharp division between the temporal and religious authority; the king exercised many priestly functions, and the priesthood possessed enormous influence in national affairs. Priests even engaged in war, and there was a special series of insignia worn in fight by those who had distinguished themselves in battle by the capture of one or more prisoners. In Mexico itself at the head of the hierarchy were two chief priests, each of whom bore the title of Quetzalcoatl (since the god of that name was regarded as the prototype of all religious orders), and who were. distinguished by the names of Totec Tlamacazqui and Tlaloc Tlamacazqui. The first was the priest of Uitzilopochtli, the second of Tlaloc; they were equal in status, and both were selected from the upper grade of religious officers in virtue of their wisdom, piety and general good character, irrespective of their birth. Subordinate to them was a minister called Mexicatl Teohuatzin, whom Sahagun terms a "patriarch," and who acted as general overseer of ritual and of the priestly college called Calmecac. He was assisted by two other ​functionaries, the Uitznauac Teohuatzin and the Tepan Teohuatzin, the latter of whom shared his responsibilities as an educational officer. Beneath these dignitaries were ranked an upper grade of priests, called Tlanamacac, and a lower grade, Tlamacazqui; and finally the novices, Tlamacazton. The priests of the upper grade included a number of functionaries with special titles, who were devoted to the services of particular deities, or to the discharge of definite functions, as was the Ome Tochtzin, or overseer of the religious singers, who provided the latter with wine according to the following peculiar practice. After the singing, the Ome Tochtzin produced 303 canes, one only of which was bored throughout its length; the singers drew one each, and he who was lucky enough to hit upon the pierced cane had the sole privilege of drinking octli on that day. It is impossible to enter into details as regards these priests with special functions, and the interested reader may be referred to the work of Sahagun. The Mexican priesthood exercised very little control over the religious life of the subject cities beyond exacting the tribute necessary for the maintenance of the temples and sacrifices, and insisting on expiatory sacrifices in cases of breach of discipline (as in the case of the Totonac of Cempoala for having received the Spaniards). Subject to this very loose supervision, each city was permitted to exercise its own particular form of worship, and, as has been shown, the Aztec were always ready to adopt the worship of the gods of their neighbours. The ceremonial garb of priests in general consisted of black body-paint, sometimes with designs in ochre, and a black mantle; their hair was never cut, and the lobes of their ears were invariably torn in shreds owing to constant practice of the penitential rite of blood-letting. The black-robed priests with their long locks matted with blood and their torn ears made a great impression upon Bernal Diaz when he first met ​them in Cempoala. The sacrificial priest constituted an exception in so far as his garment was red, but his five assistants, the Chalmeca, wore black, and were distinguished by a headband ornamented with paper discs.
The Tarascan priests differed in several essentials from those of the Aztec. Since the office was hereditary they formed a caste, their heads were carefully shaved, and their principal insignia were a pair of golden tweezers, used for epilation, and a calabash containing tobacco, employed to produce a state of ecstasy during which they were supposed to hold communion with the gods. Among the Totonac were two high-priests consecrated to Cinteotl, who were regarded with especial veneration; they were widowers, over sixty years of age, wore garments of jackal-skins, ate no fish, and their functions were the delivery of oracles, and the preparation of manuscripts.
In Tehuacan there was an especially holy order of priests who spent four years at a time in perpetual prayer (by relays) and observed a continual fast, abstaining from meat, fish, fruit, honey and pepper, and taking but one meal a day. They were supposed to commune directly with the gods, and were held in especial estimation by Montecuzoma. But perhaps the most generally revered priest in Mexico was the priest of Quetzalcoatl at Cholula, who was regarded as the direct successor of the god, and who lived a life of particular austerity. Among the Mixtec the high-priest wore a short coat embroidered with mythological figures, and over this a garment described as a "surplice," while his head was crowned with feathers interwoven with small figures of the gods. But one of the holiest priests was the high-priest of the sacred Zapotec city of Mitla, who was kept in retirement, for it was feared that death would seize any of the ordinary folk who might set eyes upon him. He was regarded as an ​inspired prophet and was supposed to hold converse with the gods.
The functions of the Mexican priesthood were manifold; apart from the general care of the temples and the maintenance of the holy fires, the priests were employed in sacrifice, divination, teaching, astronomy and the preparation of manuscripts. The ceremonial burning of incense at appointed hours absorbed much of their time, for to the sun alone this offering was made four times during the day and three times during the night. They lived in communities, under the strict supervision of their superiors and colleagues; small breaches of discipline were punished by extra performance of the penitential rite, by pricking with aloe-spines, or by midnight offerings of incense upon a mountain; more serious offences by beating, especially at the Etzalqualiztli festival, or by death. The provision of wood for the temple fires was a most important duty; in Mexico it was usually undertaken by the novices, but in Michoacan it was nominally the duty of the king, though in fact the high-priest, as his representative, saw to the matter. The education of would-be priests was a matter of great moment, and the institution at which this was carried out, the Calmecac, deserves a word of description. Parents wishing to dedicate a son to the service of the gods invited the officers in charge of that establishment to a banquet during which they communicated their desires. 'The child was then taken to the Calmecac and offered to the image of Quetzalcoatl, the patron of the institution, and his ears were pierced. If too young to be entered as a novice forthwith, he was for the time restored to his parents, but his necklace was left with the god, since it was believed that his soul was mysteriously attached to this ornament. At the age of seven or eight the child definitely took up his residence at the Calmecac, where his duties at first consisted in sweeping ​the building and preparing the black paint used by the priests from the soot of a species of pine. Later on he assisted in the collection of aloe-spines used for bloodletting, and later still in the gathering of firewood and preparation of sun-dried bricks for building (adobes). All the time he was receiving instruction in the ceremonial chants and in ritual, and learning the practice of austerities by rising at midnight to offer incense or to take a ceremonial bath, or by joining in the ceremonial fasts on appointed days. The elder novices occasionally made pilgrimages at night to a neighbouring mountain; they set out alone and nude, carrying a censer, a bag of incense, a torch, a conch-shell trumpet, and a number of aloe-spines. 'The latter were left at the furthest point of their journey wrapped in a ball of hay. The Tlamacazqui lived with the novices at the Calmecac, all messed and slept together, and were subject to the strictest discipline. A special duty of the Tlamacazqui was the sounding of conch-shells and drums at stated hours of the day and night. A portion of the Calmecac was reserved for girls, also dedicated by their parents to the service of the gods. They were under the charge of elderly unmarried women, and assisted in the sweeping of the temples, the tending of the fires, the preparation of food, and the manufacture of garments and ornaments for the idols. They were compelled to live in strict chastity, but their service was not necessarily life-long. Any girl when she attained a marriageable age might leave the establishment with the permission of her superiors, which was easily obtained by means of a present. In fact, many girls entered the service of religion in the hope that their devotion to the gods might be rewarded with a good husband.
An institution similar to the Calmecac existed among the Mixtec at Achiutla.
Other institutions for the religious instruction of the ​young of both sexes existed in Mexico, attached to various temples. The mode of life was much the same as in the Calmecac, but the discipline was not so severe.
As said before, one of the principal functions of the priesthood was the exercise of the art of divination, and the principal instrument was the tonalamatl. 'The priests of 'Tlazolteotl were supposed to be especially expert in the use of the "book of days"; the horoscopes of new-born children were invariably cast, and a favourable day selected for the baptismal ceremony (as described below, p. 160), in accordance with the various influences attached to the day of its birth. Constant recourse was had to the interpreters of the tonalamatl in almost every emergency, and practically no enterprise of importance was undertaken except upon a propitious day. But there were numerous other methods of divination, and several grades of magical practitioners. Grains of maize or red beans were commonly employed to discover the issue of a sickness. The goddess Tozi was the patroness of the professional magicians who used this means, though the casting of the grains was usually performed in the presence of a figure of Quetzalcoatl, the arch-patron of magic. Twenty grains were usually cast upon a cloth; if they fell forming a hollow circle, typifying a grave, it was believed that the sick person would die; but if so that a straight line could be drawn leaving ten on each side, the patient would recover. Or again, if they fell scattered, a fatal termination to the illness was expected; but if in a heap, health would be restored. At Tlaxcala it was a fatal sign if one grain stood up on end. Grain was also used in divination by the Mixtec, who sowed seed on the nemontemi days, and from its success or failure calculated the prospects of the year's crop. Another method of prognosticating the chances of a patient consisted in winding a string into a knot; if it could be pulled loose, the patient would recover, ​otherwise his chances were small. Or again, a sick child would be held over a vessel of water, and his reflection carefully observed; if the image was dim there was small prospect of recovery. The last method of divination was employed when the sickness was supposed to be due to absence of the child's tonalli (which may be translated "soul" or "luck"), and constitutes another instance of the belief, so common throughout the world, that the incorporeal nature of man is closely connected with his reflection or shadow. Snakes were also used in divination, especially to discover a stolen object; the suspected persons were seated in a circle, and the magician placed a basket containing a snake in the middle. The basket was uncovered, and it was believed that if the culprit were present the snake would indicate the fact by crawling to him. Scrying in a mirror or bowl of water was another method of divination widely employed in Mexico proper, and was found among the Tarascans also. At Tlaxcala a peculiar custom was observed when war was declared in order to estimate the chances of ultimate success. Two sacred arrows were carefully kept in this town, which were supposed to have been brought by the first immigrants from Tulan. These were hurled in the direction of the foe by two specially chosen warriors, and then recovered at all costs. If an enemy was wounded by one the omens were regarded as especially favourable. At Mexico the Naualli was a magical priest of a high order; he was celibate, had been trained from youth in weather-wisdom and spent much of his time in fasting and purification. He was credited with special powers, such as the assumption at will of animal form, and levitation; he acted as the general guardian of the city against sorcerers, and gave warning of approaching famine or pestilence. The belief in powers such as these became extraordinarily widespread after the conquest, and resulted in the formation of a regular cult, the members ​of which were called Nagual. The Nagualists were supposed to have animal familiars, whose shape they could assume, and to hold regular "witches' sabbaths." Many natives confessed to such practices, and the Spaniards experienced great difficulty in stamping out the cult, which had as its avowed object the elimination of Christianity, and penetrated far into Central America. The information available concerning this extremely interesting recrudescence of paganism can be found in a small book by Brinton entitled "Nagualism."
Besides the magical priests already mentioned, there existed a class of professional conjurers, who performed various tricks, often for hire. One would have a number of puppets in a pouch which came out and danced, apparently uninspired by human agency, while another would roast maize on a simple cloth without fire. The Huaxtec were supposed to be particularly expert at such tricks, and among their feats Sahagun mentions the production from space of a spring with fishes, the burning and restoration of a hut, or the dismemberment and resurrection of the conjurer himself. The last proceeding recalls certain of the feats performed by the members of the ritual societies of the west coast of North America during the winter ceremonials, The Ocuiltec of the Toluca valley also possessed a great reputation as magicians. Various forms of domestic divination were practised, such as the sprinkling of octli upon the hearth-fire, auguries being taken from the spluttering. But before saying a word about the popular belief in omens, it will be as well to treat very shortly the subject of sorcery. Individuals born on the days 3. cipactli and 1. eecatl were supposed to be predisposed to the practice of the black art, and days with the number nine, especially 9. itzcuintli and g. malinalli (but also 4. eecatl), were believed to be especially favourable for their evil ​practices. They could transform themselves into animal shape, influence the hearts of women, inflict wasting diseases upon their enemies (as implied in one of their names, "heart-eaters"), and bring misfortune. 'These arts they were ready to place at the disposal of those who were prepared to pay for their services, and they often combined their trade with that of professional housebreaker. For this purpose their most powerful charm was the arm of a woman who had died in childbirth; by its means they could cast sleep upon the inmates of the house which they desired to rob, or at any rate deprive them of the faculty of speech and movement. This belief bears a strange resemblance to that once held in this country concerning the magical properties attaching to the hand of an executed criminal. They could however be kept at a distance by placing a stone knife in a bowl of water on the threshold, or thistles in the windows. A bolder method of counteracting the machinations of a sorcerer was forcibly to snatch a few hairs from his head. It was believed that if he could not recover them he was destined to die the same night, unless indeed he could steal or borrow something from the house of his assailant. Practitioners of the black art were punished by the Tarascans by blinding.
Various portents were drawn from the animal world; the cries of beasts of prey at night were supposed to forebode disaster to those who heard them, and the voices of certain birds were believed equally unlucky. The owl, so closely associated with Mictlantecutli, was especially regarded as the harbinger of ill-fortune and death, and if one of these birds perched upon the house of a sick man his demise was considered certain. It was held unlucky to encounter a skunk or a weasel, and the entry into the house of a rabbit or a troop of ants foreboded bad luck. If a certain kind of spider was found in the house, the owner traced a cross upon the ground, ​at the centre of which he placed the insect. If it went towards the north, the direction of the underworld, it was regarded as a sign of death for the observer, any other direction foretelling misfortune of minor importance.
Besides these superstitions there were a whole host of popular beliefs, of which only a few can be given here. Many of these were connected with food; it was customary to blow upon maize before putting it in the cooking-pot, to "give it courage," and it was believed that if a person neglected to pick up maize-grains lying on the ground they called out to heaven to punish the omission. If two brothers were drinking, and the younger drank first, it was thought that the elder would cease to grow; and it was also believed that the growth of a child was stopped by stepping over it when seated or lying down, but that the effect could be averted by stepping back again. Young girls were not allowed to eat standing, for it was believed that they would fail to get husbands, and children were prevented from licking the grind-stone for fear they would lose their teeth. When a child lost one of its first teeth, the father or mother placed the tooth in a mouse-hole, a proceeding which was supposed to ensure the growth of the second tooth; and all nail-parings were thrown into the water in the hope that the auitzotl, a mythical water-animal which was believed to eat them, would make the nails grow. Sneezing was thought to be a sign that evil was being spoken of the sneezer, and there was a peculiar belief that the perfume of the flowers which were carried at banquets and in ceremonial dances might only be inhaled from the edges of the bouquet, since the centre belonged to the god Tezcatlipoca.
Magic played a very important part in the treatment of sickness, and many diseases were supposed to be sent by the gods, either in a malignant spirit, or as a punishment for some breach of ritual, such as violation of a ​public fast. The Ciuapipiltin, the souls of women dying in childbirth, were in particular supposed to be disease-bringers; they were thought to haunt cross-roads on particular calendrical dates, and to select children principally as their prey. People falling sick on the date I. ozomatli were generally given up by their doctors as incurable victims of these malignant goddesses. Tezcatlipoca was also regarded as a giver of disease in general, though in his case sickness was a punishment for some fault. Other deities were supposed to preside over special maladies, such as Xipe over disorders of the skin and eyes, and Amimitl over coughs and dysentery. Individuals suffering from the former complaints were believed to obtain relief by wearing the skin of a sacrificial victim during the Tlacaxipeualiztli festival, while the shrine of Amimitl at Cuitlauac was sought by victims of the latter well on into Christian times. Ixtlilton presided over the diseases of children, and in the courtyard of his temple were jars of holy water used as medicine. The mountain-gods were believed to send gout and rheumatism, and sufferers made vows to erect statues to them and to the rain-and water-deities. Another medical divinity was Tzapotlatenan, a deified woman who was revered as the discoverer of the medicinal value of turpentine, while Teteoinnan was the general patroness of doctors and midwives. Certain disorders were supposed to be contracted from the natural world, e.g. by smelling or sitting on certain flowers, while others were attributed to the machinations of sorcerers. The treatment of patients offers two aspects, one of which is purely magical, the other scientific. The Mexicans had a very good knowledge of the properties of certain plants, and used them with much success, both by external and internal application. In surgery they could set bones, and Sahagun states that a badly cut nose was sewed up with a hair, and a mixture of honey and salt applied. But no doubt it was the magical ​aspect of medical treatment which counted most in popular estimation. The medical priest would often apply suction to the seat of pain, and then produce triumphantly from his mouth some small object, such as an obsidian knife, which he pretended to have extracted from the patient's body. Amulets were frequently worn to banish maladies, especially in the case of children, and many ointments contained ingredients the effect of which was purely imaginary, though the massage which accompanied their application had no doubt a beneficial effect. One such medicament consisted of certain herbs, including tobacco, pounded up with the bodies of various insects, and this was also applied to the body as a protection against poisonous snakes and other wild animals. The idea that sickness could be removed by transferring it to another person was found in Mexico as in many other parts of the world; in cases of fever the image of a dog would be made of maize dough, and placed on an aloe-leaf in a pathway, and it was believed that the first passer-by would remove the malady in his heel-bones. A remedy which was of almost universal application, and which was of real value, was the steam-bath. The patient was introduced into a small brick-built chamber which had a furnace constructed at one side. Between the furnace and the chamber was a slab of the volcanic stone called tezontli, upon which water was poured to produce steam. This building was called temazcalli in Mexico, but the treatment is not peculiar to this area, being found elsewhere in America also. According to Burgoa, among the Zapotec, persons who felt themselves incurably sick would ask to be shut up in a chamber in the holy city of Mitla reserved for the bodies of sacrificial victims and captains killed in war. Here they were left to perish, secure in the knowledge that their lot in the other world would be far superior to that in this.
To the Mexicans, as to many primitive peoples, death ​was not an altogether abhorrent idea, being little more than an incident in the continuity between this life and the next. But the manner of death was more important, since it had a direct effect upon the fate of the soul. The most enviable lot was that of the warriors who died either in battle or in sacrifice; they were supposed to depart to the eastern paradise of the sun, where, assembled on a great plain, they greeted his rising by beating upon their shields, and escorted him on his journey to the zenith. Thence they descended to the earth in the form of humming-birds and other birds of bright plumage and spent their time among the flowers. omen dying in war or childbirth were equally fortunate; as the counterpart of the warriors they went to the western paradise of the sun, and bore him in a litter of bright feathers from the zenith to the horizon, when they descended to earth in the form of moths. Those who were drowned, struck by lightning, or who perished by certain diseases such as dropsy or leprosy, found a home in the terrestrial paradise Tlalocan, the home of the god Tlaloc, where food-plants and flowers flourished in miraculous fertility and summer was perpetual. Those who died of other diseases or old age were obliged to embark upon a difficult journey to Mictlan, the underworld, where the god Mictlantecutli held sway. During this they had to pass between two clashing mountains, to run the gauntlet of a great snake and a huge lizard, to traverse eight deserts and eight hills, and to encounter a wind full of stone knives. Finally, but not until the end of four years, the soul reached the great river of Hades, which must be crossed by swimming. For this the aid of a red dog was necessary, and dogs of this colour were reared in the house and killed at funerals. An interesting parallel to this belief is that current in parts of Peru, that the souls of the dead were escorted to the other world by black dogs, numbers of which were bred for this particular purpose. Though ​living in the underworld, the souls of the dead were not deprived of the light of the sun, since it was supposed to pass through the infernal regions during the night on its journey back to the east. The souls of infants dying still unstained by sin were believed to be received in a special paradise by Tonacatecutli, where they spent their time flitting from flower to flower in the form of humming-birds.
The question of the obsequies of the dead next arises, and we find two methods of disposal practised in Mexico, cremation and inhumation. The first of these appears to be the more characteristic of the hunting tribes, though the account of Sahagun would seem to show that the Chichimec originally practised the latter. This people were said to be extremely long-lived, and protracted ill-health was regarded as so uncanny that if a malady lasted over four or five days, the patient was killed. The Tarascans certainly employed cremation; in the case of the king, the body was laid out by the principal chiefs, who were summoned during his illness, and carried in state by night to a temple, where it was burned. A number of slaves accompanied the procession, playing on tortoise-carapaces and rattles formed of a serrated bone along which a stick was rubbed; these slaves were killed while the pyre was burning, and were buried separately behind the temple. The ashes of the king were made into a mummy-pack with a false head and mask, which was buried seated in a large urn at the foot of the temple steps facing eastward. The grave was roofed with wooden slabs, and earth was heaped upon the top. Those killed in war were also burnt with their bows before the temple, and their ashes buried in urns. Though the wilder Chichimec, as stated above, appear to have simply buried their dead, yet the early Chichimec kings in the valley of Mexico, Xolotl, Nopaltzin and Quinatzin, are said to have been burnt and their ashes deposited in urns in caves. At Teotihuacan, a site ​where the Toltec culture flourished for a considerable period, unburned burials are found, and it is probable, from other evidence, that cremation is not typical of this civilization. The Acolhua practised cremation and buried the ashes. The Aztec practised both forms of disposal of the dead, but cremation, which, according to the early commentator on the MS. known as Vaticanus A,
they learnt from the Otomi, was the more common. The deceased was made up into a mummypack with quantities of paper, which was supposed to enable him to pass through the various dangers to be encountered on his journey to the underworld, and decked with appropriate ornaments (Fig. 14, a). Water was sprinkled over his head, and a supply for his journey provided in a small vessel; his red dog (shown in the illustration) was killed, and dog and master were ​burnt together with various articles of personal property which might be wanted in the other world. In many cases this privilege was allowed to slaves destined for sacrifice, and they were permitted to burn their small effects before they mounted the sacrificial stone. The ashes were collected and placed in a vase or stone coffer, together with a small jewel (the lip-plug of the deceased) to serve as a "heart," and buried. Offerings were made on the grave after twenty days' interval, and again after eighty days. These were repeated on the annual feast of the dead for four years, after which the soul was supposed to have completed its journey. The grave, at any rate in the case of individuals of importance, was a vault lined with stone and lime. The obsequies of the king followed the same lines, but were more elaborate, and certain of his personal slaves and wives were killed to accompany him. Motolinia states that in the case of men of high rank, all the clothing which they had worn in life was buried with them. Both the "Anonymous Conqueror" and Francisco de Bologna speak of bodies being placed in the vault seated on a chair, and it is possible that the ashes were occasionally made up into a mummy-pack as among the Tarascans. However, simple inhumation was certainly practised by the Aztec, though it was usually reserved for those whose manner of death entitled them to a place in the terrestrial paradise Tlalocan. In the case of a merchant dying while away from home on a trading expedition, a figure was made by his relations at home and burnt with due ceremony. If he had been killed by a hostile people, the cremation took place in a temple-court, but if he had fallen a victim to disease, in front of his house. Merchants of the Pochteca guild of Tlaltelolco received special treatment; the body was swathed in paper, the face decorated with the red and black paint of the gladiatorial sacrifice, ornaments, including the lip-plug, were added, ​and the pack was attached to a carrying-frame and exposed on a mountain-top. As stated before, the souls of women dying in childbirth were deified under the name of Ciuapipiltin, and their bodies were accorded special treatment. The corpse, clad in its best garments, was borne by the husband to the courtyard of the temple dedicated to the Ciuapipiltin, where it was buried. On the way it was escorted by a retinue of midwives armed with swords, and the husband and his friends kept watch over the grave for four nights. Fig. 15.—Carved stone slab from Tlacolula, Oaxaca. (After Seler) These precautions were necessary to prevent young warriors or sorcerers from seizing the body in order to obtain the left arm, or middle finger of the left hand and the hair of the deceased. It was believed that the finger and hair, if carried in the warrior's shield, would render the possessor invincible, while the hand was a powerful charm used by robbers to cast sleep upon the inmates of a house, as described on p. 98.
When we come to consider the Mixtec and Zapotec, we find inhumation the rule, indeed the Zapotec abhorred cremation, considering it destructive of the soul. Nor was the method always simple inhumation, but secondary burial. The body was placed in the ground with feet to the east, and the bones were collected subsequently and placed in a vase which was deposited in a stone vault in a mound, the doorway being closed with a sculptured slab (Fig. 15). Both peoples also employed caves to some extent as receptacles of the dead. Simple ​inhumation in caves seems to have been Fig. 16.—Carved stone slab from Placeres del Oro, Guerrero. more common among the Mixtec than the Zapotec, and Burgoa writes of cave burials at Chalcatongo, supposed to be the gate of paradise, where the dead were laid out dressed in rich garments, numbers of small idols in gold, stone and wood being placed in niches in the cave-walls. The same author tells of the Zapotec kings being deposited at Mitla, in a chamber in one of the temples, clad in gorgeous ornaments and holding shield and spear. It is possible that primary burial was reserved for those of high rank. An extremely interesting burial has been found at a place called Placeres del Oro, in the valley of the Rio del Oro, a southern tributary of the Rio de las Balsas. The chief interest of the remains here found lies in the very peculiar art of the sculptured slabs between which the bones were deposited (Fig. 16). The walls of the ​grave, which was situated at the foot of a mound, were of clay hardened by fire, and of the bones themselves it is said "there is good reason to suspect that at least partial cremation of the body took place at the time this burial was made." This is a most important point, and ought to be definitely settled by careful inspection of the bones. The site is on the debatable land between Nahua, Tarascan and Zapotec, and there are reasons, which will be given later, why I think it most probable, failing definite evidence to the contrary, that the body had not been burnt.
The fine stone coffer from the Huaxtec country shown on Pl. X, 2; p. 108, is almost certainly a coffin; and in the Totonac country both cist-burial in mounds and, occasionally, well-burial are found. Traces of cremation appear to be exceptional, and confined to hill-sites inland, where they are perhaps indicative of Nahua influence.
| | HUAXTEC |
| 1. | Stone figure; Panuco River |
| 2. | "Chest;"" |
| MAYA ||
| 3. | Pottery Censer; British Honduras |
| (Scale: 1, 1/10th; 2, 1/8th ; 3, 1/5th) ||