TRAVELING MERCHANTS.
Expeditions to distant provinces were undertaken by the company of Tlatelulco for purposes of commercial gain; or by order of the king, when political gains were the object in view, and the traders in reality armed soldiers; or more rarely by individual merchants on their own private account. For protection large numbers usually traveled in company, choosing some one of the company to act as leader. Previous to departure they gave a banquet to the old merchants of the town, who by reason of their age had ceased to travel; at this feast they made known their plans, and spoke of the places they intended to visit and roads by which they would travel. The old merchants applauded the spirit and enterprise of those who were going on the expedition, and, if they were young and inexperienced, encouraged them and spoke of the fame they would gain for having left their homes to undertake a dangerous journey and suffer privations and hardships. They reminded them of the wealth and honored name acquired by their fathers in similar expeditions, and gave them advice as to the best manner of conducting themselves on the road.[418]
On the route the carriers marched in single file, and at every camping-place the strictest watch was kept against enemies, and especially against robbers, who then as now infested the dangerous passes to lie in wait for the richly laden caravans. Rulers of the different friendly provinces, mindful of the benefits resulting from such expeditions, constructed roads and kept them in repair; furnished bridges or boats for crossing unfordable streams; and at certain points, remote from towns, placed houses for the travelers' accommodation. Expeditions in hostile provinces were undertaken by the nahualoztomecas, who disguised themselves in the dress of the province visited, and endeavored to imitate the manners and to speak the language of its people, with which it was a qualification of their profession to make themselves acquainted. Extraordinary pains was taken to guard against robbers on the return to Mexico, and it is also said to have been customary for the merchants on nearing the city, to dress in rags, affecting poverty, and an unsuccessful trip. The motive for this latter proceeding is not very apparent, nor for the invariable introduction of goods into the city by night; they had not even the hope of evading the payment of taxes which in later times prompts men to similar conduct, since merchandise could only be sold in the public market, where it could not be offered without paying the royal percentage of duties.
The usual route of commercial expeditions was south-eastward to Tochtepec near the banks of the Rio Alvarado, whence the caravans took separate roads according as their destination was the coast region of Goazacoalco, the Miztec and Zapotec towns on the Pacific, or the still more distant regions across the isthmus of Tehuantepec. The southern limit reached by the traders of the Aztec empire, it is impossible accurately to determine. The merchants of Xicalanco furnished Cortés, when about to undertake the conquest of Honduras, tolerably correct maps of the whole region as far south as the isthmus of Panamá;[419] the raiders from Anáhuac are known to have penetrated to Chiapa, Soconusco, and Guatemala; it is by no means improbable that her merchants reached on more than one occasion the Isthmus.[420]
The preceding pages contain all that has been preserved concerning Nahua trade and traders except what may be termed the mythology of commerce, a branch of the subject not without importance, embracing the ceremonies, sacrifices, and superstitions connected with the setting-out, journey, and return of the Tlatelulcan caravans. Commerce, like every other feature of Nahua civilization, was under the care of a special deity, and no merchant dared to set out on an expedition in quest of gain, without fully complying with all the requirements of the god as interpreted by the priesthood. The particular divinity of the traders was Iyacatecutli, or Iyacacoliuhqui, 'lord with the aquiline nose'—that nasal type being, as the Abbé Brasseur thinks, symbolic of mercantile cunning and skill. Services in his honor were held regularly in the month of Tlaxochimaco; but the ceremonies performed by traveling merchants, seem to have been mostly devoted to the god of fire and the god of the roads.
SETTING-OUT OF THE MERCHANTS.
First a day was selected for the start whose sign was deemed favorable—Ce Cohuatl, 'one serpent,' was a favorite. The day before they departed the hair was cropped close, and the head soaped; during all their absence, even should it last for years, these operations must not be repeated, nor might they wash more than the neck, face, and hands, bathing the body being strictly prohibited. At midnight they cut flag-shaped papers for Xiuhtecutli, the god of fire, fastened them to sticks painted with vermilion, and marked on them the face of the god with drops of melted ulli, or India-rubber. Other papers also marked with ulli, were cut in honor of Tlaltecutli, to be worn on the breast. Others, for the god of the merchants, were used to cover a bamboo stick, which they worshiped and carried with them. The gods of the roads, Zacatzontli and Tlacotzontli, also had their papers ornamented with ulli-drops and painted butterflies; while the papers for Cecoatlutlimelaoatl, one of the signs of the divining art, were decorated with snake-like figures. When all the papers were ready, those of the fire-god were placed before the fire in the house, the others being arranged in systematic order in the courtyard. Then the merchants, standing before the fire, offered to it some quails which they first beheaded, and forthwith, drawing blood from their own ears and tongue, they repeated some mystic word and sprinkled the blood four times on the fire. Blood was then sprinkled in turn on the papers in the house, towards the heavens and cardinal points, and finally on the papers in the courtyard. The fire-god's papers, after a few appropriate words to the deity, were burned in a brazier with pure white copal. If they burned with a clear flame, it was a good omen; otherwise ill fortune and disaster were betokened. The papers left outside were burned together—save those of the merchants' god—in a fire which was kindled in the court, and the ashes were carefully buried there.
All this at midnight. At early dawn the principal merchants of the city or of the neighborhood, or simply friends and relatives of the party about to set out on the journey, according to the wealth of the party, with youths and old women, were invited to assemble and, after a washing of mouths and hands, to partake of food. After the repast, concluded by another washing and by smoking of pipes and drinking of chocolate, the host spoke a few words of welcome to the guests, and explained his plans. To this some one of the chief merchants briefly responded with wishes for the success of the expedition, advice respecting the route to be followed and behavior while abroad, applause for the spirit and enterprise shown, and words of encouragement to those about to undertake their first commercial journey, picturing to them in vivid colors both the hardships and the honors that were before them. Then the merchandise and provisions for the trip were made ready in bales and placed in the canoes, if the start was to be made by water, under the direction of the leader who, after attending to this matter, made a farewell address of thanks for advice and good wishes, recommending to the care of those that remained behind their wives and children. The friends again replied briefly and all was ready for the departure. A fire was built in the courtyard and a vase of copal was placed near it. As a final parting ceremony each of the departing merchants took a portion of the copal and threw it on the fire, stepping at once toward his canoe. Not another word of farewell must be spoken, nor a parting glance be directed backward to friends behind. To look back or speak would be a most unpropitious augury.
CARAVANS OF TRADERS.
Thus they set out, generally at night, as Sahagun implies. On the journey each merchant carried continually in his hand a smooth black stick representing his god Iyacatecutli—probably the same sticks that have been mentioned as being covered with papers in honor of this god the night before the departure from home. When they halted for the night the sticks of the company were bound together in a bundle, forming a kind of combination divinity to whose protecting care the encampment was piously entrusted. To this god offerings of ulli and paper were made by the leaders, and to the gods of the roads as well. Blood must also be drawn and mingled with the offering, else it were of no avail; and, a most inconvenient rule for poor weak humanity, the sacrificial offering had to be repeated twice again each night, so that one or another of the chiefs must be continually on the watch. The caravans, when their destination was a friendly province, usually bore some presents from the sovereigns of Mexico as tokens of their good will, and they were received by the authorities of such provinces with some public ceremonies not definitely described.