Notwithstanding the brilliant pages which Aztec history contributed to the annals of America and the civilization which prevailed, not only in the valley of Mexico, but also in other portions of the territory now within the limits of the republic, we find that the indigenous descendants of these heroic and intelligent ancestors have degenerated to such a degree that they are at present in general, fitted only for the servile toils to which they are commonly and habitually devoted. Three hundred years of oppression may have done much to produce this sad result. Without union among the tribes; without community of feeling, language or nationality; the Indians became an easy prey to the Spaniards after the conquest of the great central power. Old prophecies were accomplished, according to the Aztec belief, by the arrival of the Spaniards. "It is long since we knew from our ancestors,"—said Montezuma to Cortéz,—"that neither I nor all who inhabit these lands were originally of them, but that we are strangers, and came hither from distant places. It was said that a great lord conveyed our race to these regions and returned to the land of his birth, and yet, came back once more to us. But, in the meantime, those whom he first brought had intermarried with the women of the country; and when he desired them to return again to the land of their fathers they refused to go. He went alone; and ever since have we believed, that from among those who were the descendants of that mighty lord, one shall come to subdue this land, and make us his vassals! According to what you declare of the place whence you come, which is toward the rising sun, and of the great lord who is your King, we must surely believe that he is our natural lord."
Such were the superstitious opinions amongst the most civilized of all the Indian nations at the period of the conquest. It is not surprising therefore to find the other nomadic, predatory hordes,—whose ferocity was not so keen as that of their northern kindred, but had been tempered and softened in some degree by the genial climate of the tropics,—soon yielding to the superior will of a masculine race, eager, not only for gold, but for the establishment of estates which were in fact principalities, and whose beneficial improvement required the employment of large bodies of continual and compulsory laborers. The Indians afforded the staple of this stock at once. The conquest rooted out all their old institutions by violence. Their government and laws were overthrown by force; their religion was changed by power; their graven idols, the material emblems of their gods, were ground to dust; their social system was completely overturned; and thus, perfectly annihiliated as a nation, in politics, theology, and domestic life or habits, they were, in the end, but wretched outcasts in their own land.
The Indians may therefore be regarded as somewhat prepared by degradation for the system of repartimientos, which, as we have already seen in the historical part of this work, was instituted immediately after the conquest.
The aborigines throughout Mexico have been devoted as a class to agricultural labors. Immediately after the conquest the Spaniards forced them to toil in the mines as well as in the fields; but as soon as a race of mixed blood was found to replace these original laborers in the bowels of the earth, the native Indian escaped to wilder districts where there were no mines, or where his services were required on the surface of the earth. Besides this, since the revolution, labor has been somewhat more free than before that epoch. The Indian, if not bound to the estate, by the slavery of debt, as we shall see hereafter, has the right to do what he pleases, and consequently he selects that labor which will give him support with least fatigue in a country whose soil is almost spontaneously productive.
The Mexican Indian, may therefore be generally designated as an agriculturist. A few of them engage in the manufacture of certain elegant fabrics of wool and cotton; in some of the imitative arts, in which they greatly excel; and in the formation of utensils for domestic use.
In the field, the Indian executes all the labor,—sometimes in the midst of the great plantations of sugar, cotton, coffee, corn, tobacco, wheat, and barley—or, at others, in the midst of the beautiful gardens for which some parts of the republic are celebrated. In all these positions his labor is faithfully performed;—but he is the enemy of all changes in the modes or utensils of his work. He prefers the old system of drawing water for irrigation; the old system of rooting the earth with the Arab stake instead of the American plough; the old system of carrying offal, stones, or whatever is to be removed from his fields, in bags, instead of in barrows or carts; and the old system of bearing every burden, no matter how onerous, on his shoulders instead of a dray or a wagon. It offends him to speak of changes, which he regards as unrighteous innovations. His character, like that of the Chinese, is one of excessive tenacity for old customs. After three centuries of constant intercourse with strange races, he still segregates himself from the foreigner, and, nestling in his native village, keeps aloof from the Spaniard. He speaks his hereditary language; clings to his old habits; and,—according to the report of reliable travellers,—worships, occasionally in private, his ancestral idols. In the capital, garlands which have been secretly suspended on the images by Indians, are still sometimes found around the hideous Aztec divinities preserved in the court yard of the University. "You gave us three very good gods"—said an Indian once to a respectable Catholic curate,—"yet you might as well have left us a few of our own!"
Grave, taciturn and distrustful,—types, in manners, of a crushed and conquered race,—the Indians of Mexico, wear a sombre look and demeanor, accompanied by an air of evident submissiveness. It is rare to find them merry, except at the end of harvest on the large estates, when an annual festival is prepared, in which they are accustomed to unite with great zest. They have other periods of cessation from toil, such as the Sabbath day, the feasts of the patron saints of their village or parish church. Upon these occasions their devotion to the externals of religion is exhibited by a lavish expense in articles which they imagine may contribute to the honor or glory of their spiritual protector in heaven. In order to celebrate the occasion with due decorum, according to their simple ideas, they not only spend whatever money they happen to possess at the moment, but pledge themselves, in advance, at the haciendas, for the loan of sums which they must repay by future labor. The result is that these superstitious frivolities consume a large share of the Indian's substance; and, notwithstanding his economy and frugality, he and his family are obliged to spend the greater part of the year in misery, in recompense for the rockets, fire crackers, music, wax candles, and flowers, which he purchased on the Festival of his Santo. In addition to these ecclesiastical costs, we must not omit his personal expenses, for the Indian does not forget his bodily condition whilst he pays attention to his spiritual wants. Liquor and gambling, fill up the occasional pauses in the pious ceremonials, so that after the Indian has finished his religious services and his dinner for the day, it is quite likely that he is prepared to creep into a hovel or shelter with his family, where they may sleep off the debauch that universally finishes these ecclesiastical functions. Similar wild indulgences are permitted among them at marriages, baptisms and interments, and in consequence of this thriftlessness, these miserable wretches are never able either to leave property to their offspring or to afford them an education by which they may improve their lot in life.
The Indian woman is the true and faithful companion of her husband's fortunes. She works incessantly at her appropriate tasks. She grinds the corn for the tortillias and atolé of the family, and carries them to her husband wherever he is at work; she weaves, in her rude manner, all the materials of cotton or wool that are worn by her household; she makes the garments of her spouse and children; she keeps the domestic premises in order without an assistant; nor does she cease, for a moment, to nourish and watch her offspring during their infancy. If her husband departs to another district, or is enlisted as a soldier, she straps her pack and her youngest child on her back, and accompanies her liege lord, whilst a train of their mutual descendants, "small by degrees and beautifully less," follows in their rear.
We have said that the Indians are frugal in their food and economical in their dress, for in reality, their meals commonly consist only of cereal products, and, especially, of corn. Atolé, tortillias, Chili peppers and frijoles, are sufficient to support them. They do not eat flesh habitually, and yet they are healthy and robust, nor is it extraordinary to see individuals among them who attain the advanced age of more than of ninety years.
Their occasional indulgence in drunkenness, disgusting and injurious as it is at the moment, does not generally destroy the constitutions of these hardy laborers, whose subsequent compulsory temperance, not only in drink but in food, soon repairs the momentary inroads of a day's debauch.