But all this expensive machinery of state and royalty, was not supported without ample revenues from the people. There was a currency of different values regulated by trade, which consisted of quills filled with gold dust; of pieces of tin cut in the form of a T; of balls of cotton, and bags of cacao containing a specified number of grains. The greater part of Aztec trade was, nevertheless, carried on by barter; and, thus, we find that the large taxes which were derived by Montezuma from the crown lands, agriculture, manufactures, and the labors or occupations of the people generally, were paid in "cotton dresses and mantles of feather-work; ornamented armor; vases of gold; gold dust, bands and bracelets; crystal, gilt and varnished jars and goblets; bells, arms and utensils of copper; reams of paper; grain; fruits, copal, amber, cochineal, cacao, wild animals, birds, timber, lime, mats," and a general medley in which the luxuries and necessaries of life were strangely mixed. It is not a little singular that silver, which since the conquest has become the leading staple export of Mexico, is not mentioned in the royal inventories which escaped destruction. [16]
The Mexican Mythology was a barbarous compound of spiritualism and idolatry. The Aztecs believed in and relied on a supreme God whom they called Teotl, "God," or Ipalnemoani—"he by whom we live," and Tloque Nahuaque,—"he who has all in himself;" while their counter-spirit or demon, who was ever the enemy and seducer of their race bore the inauspicious title of Tlaleatecolototl, or the "Rational Owl." The dark, nocturnal deeds of this ominous bird, probably indicated its greater fitness for the typification of wickedness than of wisdom, of which the Greeks had flatteringly made it the symbol, as the pet of Minerva. These supreme spiritual essences were surrounded by a numerous court of satellites or lesser deities, who were perhaps the ministerial agents by which the behests of Teotl were performed. There was Huitzilopotchtli, the god of war, and Teoyaomiqui, his spouse, whose tender duties were confined to conducting the souls of warriors who perished in defence of their homes and shrines, into the "house of the sun," which was the Aztec heaven. The image in the plate, presented in front and in profile, is alleged to represent this graceful female, though it gives no idea of her holy offices. Tetzcatlipoca was the shining mirror, the god of providence, the soul of the world, creator of heaven and earth, and master of all things. Ometcuctli and Omecihuatl, a god and goddess presided over new born children, and, reigning in Paradise, benignantly granted the wishes of mortals. Cihuacohuatl, or, woman-serpent, was regarded as the mother of human beings. Tonatricli and Meztli were deifications of the sun and moon. Quetzalcoatl and Tlaloc were deities of the air and of water, whilst Xiuhteuctli was the god of fire to whom the first morsel and the first draught at table were always devoted by the Aztecs. Mictlanteuctli and Joalteuctli were the gods of hell and night, while the generous goddess of the earth and grain who was worshipped by the Totonacos as an Indian Ceres, enjoyed the more euphonious title of Centeotl. Huitzilopotchtli or Mexitli, the god of war, was an especial favorite with the Aztecs, for it was this divinity according to their legends who had led them from the north, and protected them during their long journey until they settled in the valley of Mexico. Nor did he desert them during the rise and progress of their nation. Addicted as they were to war, this deity was always invoked before battle and was recompensed for the victories he bestowed upon his favorite people by bloody hecatombs of captives taken from the enemies of the empire. We have already spoken of this personage in the portion of this work which treats of the Spanish conquest of Mexico.
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If the Mexicans had their gods, so also had they their final abodes of blessedness and misery. Soldiers who were slain in conflict for their country or who perished in captivity, and the spirits of women who died in child-birth, went at once to the "house of the sun" to enjoy a life of eternal pleasure. At dawn they hailed the rising orb with song and dances, and attended him to the meridian and his setting with music and festivity. The Aztecs believed that, after some years spent amid these pleasures, the beatified spirits of the departed were changed into clouds or birds of beautiful plumage, though they had power to ascend again whenever they pleased to the heaven they had left. There was another place called Tlalocan the dwelling place of Tlaloc, the deity of water, which was also an Aztec elysium. It was the spirit-home of those who were drowned or struck by lightning,—of children sacrificed in honor of Tlaloc,—and of those who died of dropsy, tumors, or similar diseases. Last of all, was Mictlan, a gloomy hell of perfect darkness, in which, incessant night, unilluminated by the twinkling of a single ray, was the only punishment, and the probable type of annihilation.
TEOYAOMIQUI. (FRONT.)
TEOYAOMIQUI. (PROFILE.)