The one called the Wanderings of the Aztecs, is absolutely authentic, and is wholly interpreted. It is forty-eight feet long and nine inches wide done on maguey paper, all in black, with no other colors, except that the line of travel is marked in red. This painting gives the route of the Aztecs, from their departure from Aztlan until their arrival in the valley of Mexico. On an island, in the land of Aztlan, stands a teocalli, like the temples of worship in Mexico. The chronology year by year is given, and the various halts made by the wanderers, with the principal events that befell them. A short piece at the end is torn off and missing, which probably depicted the founding of Tenochtitlan.
Another painting depicts a range of mountains among which is one pouring forth smoke from its summit. On the left is a city entirely surrounded by water, with the cactus growing on the rock, which always signifies Tenochtitlan. The mountain doubtless in Popocatepetl, which by its name signifies Hill that gives Smoke. Another painting gives the chronology of the kings of Mexico and Texcuco; it is long, stretching half across the large room of the museum in which it is exhibited.
COURT OF THE MUSEUM AT MEXICO.
If we only had more of these paintings, the daily life of the Aztecs would be before us, just as we can read on the Egyptian monuments every detail of such remote living.
In the usual accounts of the religion of the Aztecs, more stress is laid upon the horror of their human sacrifice than upon its other features, which, however, deserve notice. They firmly believed in a future life. While some of the Nahuatl races imagined that after death the common people would be transformed into insects, the chiefs into birds, the Aztecs conceived of graduated stages of happiness for mankind. Warriors slain in battle were immediately to dwell in the house of the sun; less distinguished souls went to live in the various planets. But these starry houses were only temporary. For four years after the death of a relative the friends offered meat, wines, flowers, and perfumes to the dead in certain months of the year, one of which was dedicated to dead children, and the other to warriors killed in battle.
When a chief died among the Aztecs great care was taken in ornamenting the body, as if preparing it for a long journey. Several papers are presented to the corpse: one as a passport across the defile between the two mountains; one with which to avoid the great serpent; the third was to put to flight the alligator; the fourth would give a safe crossing over the eight great deserts and the eight hills. A little red-haired dog was killed, a leash put about his neck, and he was buried near the corpse. Always the little dog, for rich or poor, warrior or slave, to guide his master across the nine great torrents which every departed soul must encounter.
Domestic life, we may infer, was happy with the Aztecs. Every man was bound to marry when he reached the age of twenty years. Polygamy was not forbidden; a man could have as many wives as he could afford to support. There were no patronymic names. Mothers chose names for their children as soon as they were born; these names were generally connected with the month in which the child was born, or some circumstance connected with the event. When each boy grew up, he was given a name by the medicine man, and by an act of especial bravery he might gain a third name.