the Pueblo of Yzamatitan was tributary to
eight thousand reams of paper. The articles are here pictured forth;
the number is indicated by the flags, feathers, etc. The tribute of
provisions consisted of such articles as corn, beans, cocoa, red-pepper,
honey, and salt--amounting in all, according to this collection<33> to
about six hundred thousand bushels. Still it will not do to place too
great a reliance on picture records. The number of tributary pueblos
must have been constantly changing. The quantity of articles intended
for clothing was certainly very great. A moderate quantity of gold was
also collected from a few pueblos, where this was obtainable.

The collection of this tribute was one of the most important branches
of government among the Mexicans. The vanquished stood in peril of their
lives if they failed to keep their part of the contract. In the first
place, the Mexicans took from each subject tribe hostages for the
punctual payment of tribute. These hostages were taken to the Pueblo
of Mexico, and held there as slaves; their lives were forfeited if the
tribute was refused.<34> But special officers were also assigned to the
subject tribes, whose duty it was to see that the tribute was properly
gathered and transmitted to Mexico. These stewards or tribute gatherers,
are the officers that the early writers mistook for governors. Their
sole business, however, had to do with the collection of the tribute,
and they did not interfere at all in the internal affairs of the tribe.

Where the forces of the confederacy had conquered a tribe, but one
steward was required to tend to the tribute, but each of the confederate
tribes sent their representative to such pueblos as had become their own
prey, and as sometimes occurred, one pueblo paid tribute to each of the
confederate tribes, it had to submit to the presence among them of three
separate stewards.

We can easily enough see that it required men of ability to fill this
position. They were to hold their residence in the midst of a tribe who
were conquered, but held in subjection only by fear. To these people
they were the constant reminder of defeat and disgrace. They were
expected to watch them closely and report to the home tribe suspicious
movements or utterances that might come to their notice. We need not
wonder that these stewards were the tokens of chiefs. It was a part
of their duty to superintend the removal of the tribute from the place
where gathere