Page:The Story of Mexico.djvu/147

Rh red-haired dog was killed, a leash put about his neck, and he was buried near the corpse. Always the little dog, for rich or poor, warrior or slave, to guide his master across the nine great torrents which every departed soul must encounter.

Domestic life, we may infer, was happy with the Aztecs. Every man was bound to marry when he reached the age of twenty years. Polygamy was not forbidden; a man could have as many wives as he could afford to support. There were no patronymic names. Mothers chose names for their children as soon as they were born; these names were generally connected with the month in which the child was born, or some circumstance connected with the event. When each boy grew up, he was given a name by the medicine man, and by an act of especial bravery he might gain a third name.

The laws against stealing and other crimes were strictly enforced, although unwritten, the penalties probably assigned in accordance with ancient customs.

The Aztecs were essentially musical, as their descendants are now. Their songs and hymns transmitted the traditions of their race, and are carefully taught in the schools. They had a sort of theatrical exhibition, in which the faces of the actors were hid with masks representing birds or animals.

The relic which gives the best testimony of the mental powers of the Aztecs is their calendar, preserved for centuries from destruction, and now built into the cathedral of the city of Mexico. It was carved in the year 1512 A.D., and brought to the