Page:Mexico of the Mexicans.djvu/30

14 wound around the pile and led to the summit where the god or gods was enshrined in a building of stone or wood. Here, also, stood the stone of sacrifice, a convex block, upon which the struggling victims of fanaticism were immolated by having their hearts torn out, these being placed in a large vase, along with a quantity of gum copal, the steam arising to titillate the nostrils of the ever-hungry god.

The warfare which secured this never-failing supply of victims was scarcely of a higher type scientifically than that waged by most North American Indian tribes. The Aztec warriors greatly favoured the ambush—quick retreats followed by speedy rallies and such barbaric stratagems. The weapons most in use were the maquahuitl, a wooden club-sword, into the side of which were inserted sharp pieces of iztli or flint; and the Spanish conquerors speak of this as a really formidable weapon, a blow from which was capable of killing horse or man outright. Bows and arrows were employed, and a spear-thrower, known as atlatl, was much used to launch darts and javelins. Armour consisted of thick, quilted cotton jackets for the rank and file, and occasionally of light gold or silver plates in the case of chiefs. Discipline was severe, and acts of cowardice in the field were almost unknown.

Enough has been said to show that the race which preceded the Spaniards in Mexico was at the epoch of their arrival emerging from a condition of savagery into one of comparative civilisation. In all probability, its material achievements and equipment were more advanced than its mental outlook, and this was probably due to the circumstance that only some three centuries prior to the Conquest it had fallen to the heirship of a civilisation it comprehended incompletely, the outward conditions of which it speedily accepted and absorbed, without possessing the capability to embrace the more valuable social code of the people whom it had partially dispossessed of the soil.