The proportion in which taxes were paid is stated at from thirty to thirty-three per cent., or about one third of everything made and produced. Oviedo affirms that each taxpayer, in addition to one third of his property, delivered one out of every three of his children, or in lieu thereof a slave, for the sacrifice; if he failed to do this he forfeited his own life.[165]
The government had in the head town of each province large warehouses for the storage of breadstuffs and merchandise received by the tax-gatherers; also auditing offices to which the calpixques, or stewards of the revenue, were required to render a very strict account of their collections, and such as were convicted of embezzlement, were immediately put to death and their property confiscated.[166] In the royal treasury were paintings by which were recorded the tributary towns, and the quantity and kind of tribute paid by each. In the Codex Mendoza may be seen thirty-six such paintings, each one of which represents the principal towns of one or of several provinces of the empire, together with the quantity and quality of the taxes and the time when they were paid.[167]
The personal and ordinary service consisted in providing every day the water and wood needed at the chiefs' houses; this was distributed from day to day among the towns or wards, and thus each individual was occupied in rendering such service once or twice in the year at the utmost. Residents in the vicinity were the only ones so subjected, and then, in consideration of such service, were exempted from paying a portion of the imposts. Other labor was mostly done by slaves, of whom there were large numbers. Foreign provinces subjected by the empire without having made any resistance, were not required to pay a fixed tribute, but sent several times in the year whatever they thought proper, as a present to the king, who showed himself more or less gracious according to the value of the presents. No calpixques or tax-gatherers were placed in such provinces by the Mexican sovereign, but they continued under the rule of their own chiefs. Such countries as were reduced by war, had to submit to the rigorous conditions imposed by the conqueror, and bore the name of tequitin tlacotl, which means 'paying tribute like slaves.' Over them were stationed stewards and calpixques, who had authority even over the lords of the country, and who besides recovering the tributes forced men to cultivate land, and women to spin, weave, and embroider for their private benefit; indeed, so great was their tyranny, that whatever they coveted they were sure to obtain by fair means or foul. The kings of Tezcuco and Tlacopan, and other sovereign lords, allies of the king of Mexico, shared these tributes if they aided in the conquest.[168]
TAXATION UNDER MONTEZUMA II.
The sovereigns selected the calpixques from among the Aztec pilli, or nobles of inferior rank. They were under the supervision of the chief treasurers or hueycalpixques, who resided at the several capitals, and it was their duty to gather the tributes or taxes, and to see that the lands belonging to the municipalities or to private persons were kept under cultivation. The duties of these calpixques were not very arduous at first, as the people generally hastened to pay their taxes before being called upon; but during the reign of Montezuma II. the taxes increased so enormously, owing to the great extravagance of the court, that this commendable zeal cooled down very considerably. The bulk of the immense wealth which the conquerors saw with so much admiration at Montezuma's court was the result of this excessive taxation, and it was one of the main causes of that alienation of the people from their sovereign which rendered the conquest a possible achievement. Notwithstanding the easy disposition of the taxpayers, they could not submit patiently to a yoke so onerous. The merchants, whose trading expeditions had been so useful to the state in former times, were no less overwhelmed by the taxes than the inhabitants of conquered provinces by the tributes. It was among that powerful class that the first symptoms of defection were noticed. To the main grievance was added the tyranny and harshness exhibited by the revenue officers in collecting the taxes. They carried a small rod in one hand and a feather fan in the other, and, accompanied by a large retinue of understrappers, went through cities and fields, unmercifully maltreating the unfortunate beings who could not promptly comply with their demands, and even selling them into slavery; at least it is certain that such sales occurred in conquered provinces.
SELFISHNESS OF MONTEZUMA II.
From the first years of his reign Montezuma II. began to oppress the merchants with heavy taxation, even upon the most trifling things. The greatest sufferers were the retail dealers, who had to pay excessive duties upon the merchandise they introduced into the principal tianguez, or market-place, from which such merchandise was taken to the lesser market-places. But the king and his creatures finding that this did not directly injure the wholesale traders, among whom were the judges of the mercantile court,—that is to say, the consuls and syndics, so to name them, of the company of Tlatelulco,—witnesses were soon found to trump up charges of high treason against them, which ended in their being put to death, and their goods and chattels confiscated and distributed among the people of the royal household. A very large portion of the taxes and tributes was expended in supporting the army, the public employees, the poor and destitute, such as widows, orphans, and the aged, and also in providing food for the people in times of great scarcity, but almost as large a portion was appropriated by the king to his own uses.[169] It was by such acts as these that Montezuma II. undid the work of his fathers, and spoiled the harmony of his realm by caring only for his own glory and that of his court.
CHAPTER VII.
EDUCATION, MARRIAGE, CONCUBINAGE, CHILDBIRTH, AND BAPTISM.
Education of the Nahua Youth—Manner of Punishment—Marriage Preliminaries—Nuptial Ceremony—Observance after Marriage—Mazatec, Otomí, Chichimec, and Toltec Marriages—Divorce—Concubinage—Ceremonies Preliminary to Childbirth—Treatment of Pregnant Woman—Proceedings of Midwife—Superstitions with regard to Women who Died in Childbed—Abortion—Baptism—Speeches of Midwife—Naming of Children—Baptism among the Tlascaltecs, Miztecs, and Zapotecs—Circumcision and Scarification of Infants.