Page:About Mexico - Past and Present.djvu/59

Rh of women and children, each carrying an earthen bowl containing a quantity of smoking-hot broth, all coming down the same road and dispersing among the different huts. This custom has existed for an unknown length of time."

Like their neighbors, these Aztecs held as their own an undefined territory over which they might extend their city as they chose. As we have seen, the ground on which Mexico stood was nearly all reclaimed from the salt marshes of Lake Tezcuco. It had about it a fringe of floating gardens which in part supplied the city markets, although with the increase of population a still larger supply was drawn from the fields and the orchards of tribes they had forced to pay tribute.

The city had four calpulli, or wards, each of which was governed by its own chief and had its own temple and public buildings. These wards were further subdivided as the tribe increased in numbers. Not only was each ward sovereign in its own territory, but each of its subdivisions was an independent organization so far as its local interests were concerned.

The business of the tribe was transacted in the central council-house—teepan, or house of the community. This building fronted the great open square in the heart of the city and had a tower for defence and lookout. It is reasonable to suppose that it was this large building which was described by Spanish historians as Montezuma's palace. As the dwelling of the rich and powerful clan to which the chief-of-men belonged, the tribal council was probably held within its chambers, that being the custom through all the subdivisions of the tribe.

While the settlement on the lake was still new one of