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126 hide and feather ornaments, and often represented the head of some animal, jaguar or snake, the jaws of which framed the face of the warrior (as Fig. 18, m). The defensive armour of the Mixtec was of hide. Clubs with heads of stone or wood were employed by the Tarascans. Defensive works were not very elaborate, though we read of palisades and walls; but the cities were usually built in some position which afforded natural protection. Thus Tenochtitlan and Xochimilco were situated on small islands in lakes, while the settlements of the Tlalhuica were amidst almost inaccessible barrancas. Of the various nationalities the Aztec were undoubtedly the most warlike, followed at no great distance by the peoples of Tlaxcala and Uexotzinco. Of the peoples of Oaxaca the Mixtec, though inferior to the Aztec, were superior to the Zapotec.

In connection with the military expansion of Mexico, mention must be made of the guild of travelling merchants, or Pochteca. The Pochteca were not peculiar to Tenochtitlan; similar guilds were found in Azcapotzalco, Uitzilopochco and Quauhtitlan, but those of Tlaltelolco were by far the most famous. Membership of the guild was a valued privilege, since the merchants stood high in the royal favour; only the sons of merchants could become merchants except by permission of the chiefs. Like the other calpulli, the Pochteca were under the direction of headmen, who represented the guild in external business, but they were privileged in so far as they were exempt from agricultural labour and from the ordinary judicial system, delinquents being judged by their own headmen. They worshipped special gods, chief of whom was the deity Yacatecutli, and joined in private ceremonies of a kind, as far as can be judged, far more elaborate than those of the other guilds. To some extent it is true that the importance of the guild grew with the expansion of Mexican power, but it would be almost equally true to say that Mexican power