In the pueblo of Mexico (Tenochtitlan), he remarks, "Four quarters had been formed by the localizing of four relationships composing them respectively, and it is expressly stated that each one might build in its quarter (barrio) as it liked." [Footnote: Duran (Cap V p. 42), Acosta (Lib. VII, cap. VII, p. 467), Herrera (Dec. III, Lib. II, cap. XI, p. 61).]
The term for these relationships, in the Nahuatl tongue, and used among all the tribes speaking it was 'calpulli.' It is also used to designate a great hall or house and we may therefore infer that, originally at least, all the members of one kinship dwelt under one common roof.
[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 1 relocated to chapter end.]
The ground thus occupied by the 'calpulli' was NOT, as Torquemada admits, assigned to it by a higher power; the tribal government itself held NO DOMAIN which it might apportion among subdivisions or to individuals, either gratuitously or on condition of certain prestations, or barter against a consideration. [Footnote: The division into "quarters" is everywhere represented as resulting from common consent. But nowhere is it stated that the tribal government or authority assigned locations to any of its fractions. This is only attributed to the chiefs, on the supposition that they, although elective, were still hereditary monarchs.]
The tribal territory was distributed, at the time of its occupancy, into possessory rights held by the KINDRED GROUPS AS SUCH, by common and tacit consent, as resulting naturally from their organization and state of culture.
[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 2 relocated to chapter end.]
The patches of solid ground, on which these 'quarters' settled, were gradually built over with dwellings, first made out of canes and reeds, and latterly, as their means increased, of turf, 'adobe', and light stone. These houses were of large size, since it is stated that even at the time of the conquest 'there were seldom less than two, four, and six dwellers in one house; thus there were infinite people (in the pueblo) since, as there was no other way of providing for them, many aggregated together as they might please.' Communal living, as the idea of the 'calpulli' implies, seems, therefore, to have prevailed among the Mexicans as late as the period of their greatest power.
[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 3 relocated to chapter end.]
"The soil built over by each 'calpulli' probably remained for some time the only solid expanse held by the Mexicans. Gradually, however, the necessity was felt for an increase of this soil. Remaining unmolested 'in the midst of canes and reeds,' their numbers had augmented, and for residence as well as for food a greater area was needed. Fishing and hunting no longer satisfied a people whose original propensities were horticultural; they aspired to cultivate the soil as they had once been accustomed to, and after the manner of the kindred tribes surrounding them. For this purpose they began throwing up little artificial garden beds, 'chinampas,' on which they planted Indian corn and perhaps some other vegetables. Such plots are still found as 'floating gardens,' in the vicinity of the present city of Mexico and they are described as follows by a traveler of this century:
"They are artificial gardens about fifty or sixty yards long, and not more than four or five wide. They are separated by ditches of three or four yards, and are made by taking the soil from the intervening ditch and throwing it on the chinampa, by which means the ground is raised generally about a yard, and thus forms a small fertile garden, covered with the finest culinary vegetables, fruits, and flowers…."