XI.
AZTEC CHARACTER.
It is impossible with our present knowledge to form an estimate of the civilization of the Aztecs at their highest point. The reports given by the Spaniards at the time of the conquests are not to be relied upon, as they paint in the exaggerated colors they thought most likely to give glory to their own achievements. Unfortunately they felt called upon to destroy most of the picture-writings they found, which would have been as valuable in forming an opinion of the manners and customs of the race they depicted, as the volumes we find in European libraries are to enlighten us upon the manners and customs of contemporary races in Europe.
The Aztecs knew no alphabet, but instead of letters they used certain signs or hieroglyphics by which they wrote on every subject—religion, history, geography, poetry, feasts, famines, wars, and the arts of peace. This fashion of writing was handed down from father to son, and taught in colleges or by the priests. The artists who executed the manuscripts were treated with general consideration, and the sovereign even paid them honor. They worked on paper made of the fibre of the maguey, or on
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