[18] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 306.

[19] The crown used by the early Chichimec sovereigns was composed of a herb called pachxochitl, which grew on the rocks, surmounted by plumes of the royal eagle, and green fathers called Tecpilotl, the whole being mounted with gold and precious stones, and bound to the head with strips of deer-skin. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chichimeca, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., tom. xi., p. 213. In another place, Relaciones, in id., p. 336, the same writer says that the crown differed according to time and season. In time of war it was composed of royal eagle feathers, placed at the back of the head, and held together with clasps of gold and precious stones; in time of peace the crown was made of laurel and green feathers of a very rare bird called Quezaltotolc; in the dry season it was made of a whitish moss which grew on the rocks, with a flower at the junction called teoxuchitl.

[20] Concerning anointment and coronation, see Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 102; tom. ii., pp. 83, 359-69; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 20-9; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 113-15; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 318-21; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xv.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 305-6; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 356, 439-40, 474; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 309; Tezozomoc, Crón. Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 142-3. In addition to the numerous works of acknowledged authority on the subject of aboriginal American civilization there are a number of others, chiefly of modern date, that treat more or less completely of the matter. Many of these are mere compilations, put together without regard to accuracy or consistency; others are works which deal ostensibly with other Spanish American matters and only refer to the ancient civilization in passing; their accounts are usually copied bodily from one or two of the old writers; some few profess to exhaust the subject; in these latter, however, the authors have failed to cite their authorities, or at best have merely given a list of them. To attempt to note all the points on which these writers have fallen into error, or where they differ from my text, would prove as tiresome to the reader as the result would lie useless. It will therefore be sufficient to refer to this class of books at the conclusion of the large divisions into which this work naturally falls. About the system of government, laws of succession, ceremonies of election, anointment and coronation, of the Aztecs and other nations included in this division, see: Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 578-83, 596; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., pp. 8-14, 51-2; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 6-7, 25-38; Baril, Mexique, pp. 204-7; Bussierre, L'Empire Mexicain, pp. 119, 150-8, 229-30, 244; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 119; Poinsett's Notes Mex., app., pp. 22-3; Macgregor's Progress of America, p. 21; Dillon, Hist. Mex., pp. 24-6, 41-3; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 247; Dilworth, Conq. Mex., p. 45; Pradt, Cartas, pp. 106, 176; Monglave, Résumé, pp. 9, 14-19, 22-3, 32-6, 68; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 59-75, 186; Cortés, Aventuras, pref., pp. 7-13; Chamber's Jour., vol. iv., p. 253; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, p. 97.

[21] 'Que antes de Reinar avia investigado los nueve dobleces de el Cielo.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 194. Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 306, writes: 'Quel el que siendo particular supo penetrar los secretos del cielo;' 'that he who, being a private individual, could penetrate the secrets of heaven,' which appears more intelligible.

[22] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 194-5.

[23] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ix. Though it is more than probable that Gomara means the same thing, yet the manner in which he expresses it leaves us in some doubt whether the tiger might not have been standing over the eagle. 'El escudo de armas, que estaua por las puertas de palacio y que traen las vanderas de Motecçuma, y las de sus antecessores, es vna aguila abatida a vn tigre, las manos y vñas puestas como para hazer presa.' Conq. Mex., fol. 108. 'Het Wapen dat boven de Poorte stont, was een Arent die op een Griffioen nederdaelde, met open Clauwen hem ghereet maeckende, om syn Roof te vatten.' West-Indische Spieghel, p. 246.

[24] Relatione fatta per vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309.

[25] Ib.

[26] 'Le tecali paraît être la pierre transparente semblable à l'albâtre oriental, dont on faisait un grand usage à Mexico, et dont les réligieux se servirent même pour faire une espèce de vitres à leurs fenêtres. On en trouve encore de ce genre dans plusieurs couvents de la Puebla de los Angeles.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 8.

[27] Incense-offering among the Mexicans, and other nations of Anáhuac, was not only an act of religion towards their gods, but also a piece of civil courtesy to lords and ambassadors. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 51. Cortés during his march to the capital was on more than one occasion met by a deputation of nobles, bearing censers which they swung before him as a mark of courtesy.