Page:About Mexico - Past and Present.djvu/62

56 of old Venice, were despotic, and often cruel. The man chosen by this council bore the title of "chief-of-men" (tlaca-tecuhtli).

Among the Aztecs the chief had an associate in office whose business it was to look after the revenues of the tribe. This man had the strange title of "snakewoman" (cohua-cohuatl), meaning, probably, a mate. From their first appearance in history these warlike people had subsisted on the plunder taken from other tribes, so that whoever had the care of the revenues from this source had the life of the nation in his hands. This associate chief went through the same ceremonies at the time of his inauguration, and wore the same dress, as the "chief-of-men," and in time of emergency he was expected to head the army.

Tlascala had four chiefs, who acted in concert; the Zapotecs had a high priest or divine ruler, and the Tezcucans also had but one.

It is a fact established by one of the oldest sculptures in Mexico that the custom of double headship was common there from the earliest times. A nameless artist has given us on the walls of Palenque a picture representing the two chiefs in their official regalia—the very dress which Montezuma wore, as described by Spanish writers.

Among the qualifications which were required in the chief-of-men were gravity and dignity of manner, fluency of speech and bravery in war. The prolonged ordeal through which each candidate for ordinary chieftainship was called to pass was a test of his character and of his fitness for office which none but those possessed of every Indian virtue could endure, and any one selected from among those thus distinguished could scarcely fail to be worthy of public trust. The candidate was obliged to