at
a repast, where they were eaten!--sheer cannibalism, which is vouched
for as their practice as a religious rite.

How was the history of the early Mexicans handed down and perpetuated?
It is probable that the ancient civilisations of America were near the
dawn of a literature when their culture was destroyed. They had already
some phonetic signs in use, from which, in the natural course of time,
an alphabet might have evolved; but the picture-writing, or clumsy
hieroglyphical representation of things in line and colour to express
ideas, was their main method. Yet their laws, State accounts, history,
and other matters were so recorded. When the Spaniards set foot on the
coast a hieroglyphical representation of them and their ships,
delineated on native paper, was in the hands of Montezuma a few hours
afterwards--a species of rapid edition of a newspaper indeed! But these
written records were supplemented by oral descriptions, and the two
methods in conjunction formed the Aztec literature. Paper for such
documents were made of skins, or cotton cloth, or of the fibrous leaves
of the _maguey_, and this last, a species of "papyrus," was carefully
prepared, and was of a durable nature. Aztec literature of this nature
existed in considerable quantities at the beginning of the Hispanic
occupation. It was thoroughly destroyed by the execrable act of the
first Archbishop of Mexico--Zumarraga, who, looking upon these papers
as "devilish scrolls," had them collected, piled up, and burnt! Some
few, however, escaped, and were preserved and published in Europe. Some
famous Maya documents of this nature, from Yucatan, have also brought
to light some details of those people.

The Mexicans' scientific knowledge was simple and primitive. Some
arithmetical system had been evolved, but, on the other hand, they had
calculated and adopted a chronology--probably it had been inherited
from the Toltecs--which displayed a remarkable precision, in that they
adjusted the difference of the civil and solar year in a way superior
to that of contemporary European nations.

In primitive Mexico--like primitive Peru--agriculture was far advanced
as an industry. Land was apportioned, as has been shown, on a
philosophical basis for the needs of the inhabitants. In that respect
the system was far superior to that of the Republic of Mexico of
to-day, where the whole surface of the land is mainly held by large
landholders. Irrigation was an advanced art,