Page:Myths of Mexico and Peru.djvu/75

 clumsy and cumbrous nature of the language could scarcely be better illustrated than by pointing out that chiucnauhxihuitl signifies "nine years"; quilantimanca. "he below remained"; and omacoc ihuelitiliztli, "he has got his powerfulness." It must be recollected that this specimen of Mexican was composed by a person who had had the benefit of a Spanish education, and is cast in literary form. What the spoken Mexican of preconquest times was like can be contemplated with misgiving in the grammars of the old Spanish missionaries, whose greatest glory is that they mastered such a language in the interests of their faith.

Aztec Science

The science of the Aztecs was, perhaps, one of the most picturesque sides of their civilisation. As with all peoples in a semi-barbarous state, it consisted chiefly in astrology and divination. Of the former the wonderful calendar system was the basis, and by its aid the priests, or those of them who were set apart for the study of the heavenly bodies, pretended to be able to tell the future of new-born infants and the progress of the dead in the other world. This they accomplished by weighing the influence of the planets and other luminaries one against another, and extracting the net result. Their art of divination consisted in drawing omens from the song and flight of birds, the appearance of grains of seed, feathers, and the entrails of animals, by which means they confidently predicted both public and private events.

Nahua Government

The limits of the Aztec Empire may be defined, if its tributary states are included, as extending over the Rh