Page:About Mexico - Past and Present.djvu/256

248, they relapsed into barbarism. They held their lands again in common and as far as possible kept up their old tribal organization. These divisions were known even among those who had been under the heel of the oppressor for generations. They often elected a chief whose only privilege was to serve as a taskmaster over his people. A hardy and industrious race, they cling tenaciously to the homes and the habits of their forefathers in spite of the most stringent laws, by which their masters strove to mingle the tribes. Thirty-five of these tribes are known to have survived the conquest. Many of them inhabit the same villages, speak the same dialect, work at the same business and with the same rude tools as those which their ancestors used generations ago. Loyal as they may be to the corrupt religion which was forced upon them, many in remote and isolated places are looking for Montezuma to return, confusing him, no doubt, with Feathered Serpent, in whom their fathers so vainly trusted. The revolt of the Zapotecs in 1550 was due to this hope. We are told that the sacred fire which once glowed on Aztec altars is still kept burning in hidden caves, and of Indian boys whose solemn chants morning and evening toward the rising and setting sun tell of heathen superstitions which have survived three hundred years of Romish teaching. This last beautiful