The Historical Child
by Oscar Chrisman · English · Gutenberg #46474 · 1,124,523 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: The Historical Child
Author: Oscar Chrisman
Release date: August 1, 2014 [eBook #46474]
Most recently updated: October 24, 2024
Language: English
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Transcriber's Note:
Text which was marked as italic in the original text is surrounded by _
in this edition, bold text by =, superscripted text is preceded by ^.
A note on the other changes to the book can be found at the end of this
document.
_Paidology_
_The Science of the Child_
THE
HISTORICAL CHILD
BY
OSCAR CHRISMAN, A.M., Ph.D.
_Professor of Paidology and Psychology in the Ohio University_
BOSTON
RICHARD G. BADGER
THE GORHAM PRESS
COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY RICHARD G. BADGER
_All Rights Reserved_
Made in the United States of America
The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A.
TO MY WIFE
PREFACE
In the _Pedagogical Seminary_ for December, 1893, in an article on "The
Hearing of Children," the last paragraph, page 438, occurred for the
first time in print the word _paidology_.[1] In _The Forum_ for
February, 1894, page 728, the first article explanatory of paidology
appeared. A more complete outlining of the subject was as a doctor's
dissertation at the University of Jena, Germany, 1896. In the first
edition of the Standard Dictionary was included the word paidology,
wherein it was defined as "The scientific study of the child." Paidology
originated in my mind at a very unexpected moment one day in April,
1893.
This book is the first of a series that it is my purpose to write upon
child life. The others will follow from time to time upon the different
phases of child being. This book and the others it is hoped may appear
are the outcome of several years of study and of teaching the subject to
young men and women, which has proved to me that people are eager to
know about children in the past as well as in the present. He who wishes
to acquaint himself with children and child nature must have a knowledge
of child life as it existed among the various nations of the world. The
child as found in Ancient Mexico and Ancient Peru is given place here
because the life and doings of these peoples have always been attractive
reading to me, and also it is well to consider child life in these
nations who reached such a high stage of existence among the lower forms
of human society and so far removed from the civilizations of Asia and
Europe. It is hoped there is value in this work to the student of child
nature and that young people may find it interesting and profitable.
It will be noted that there are topics of a general nature given in this
work, which purports to be a study of child life. When it is considered
that the affairs of a nation affect every class and age of the persons
constituting it and especially react upon women, the mothers, then it
may be understood how vital these matters become in a study of child
life among a people and how necessary they are for a better
comprehension of what is directly connected with children. Too the term
"child" is used here in a general sense, to include all ages up to full
manhood.
It seems to me that everything done and studied in my whole life touches
this science of the child and that every one with whom I have come in
contact has aided me. It is wished here to express in a general way my
thanks to these friends for their help. I must, though, mention by name
a few who have more directly made this book possible. First of all is
President G. Stanley Hall of Clark University, the great leader and
pioneer in the study of children, with whom I spent two years and from
whom I first obtained the right ideas of studying child life. Another is
Professor Wilhelm Rein of the University of Jena, who kindly permitted
me to use paidology as the subject for my doctor's thesis and extended
the time for working on it, thus giving me opportunity for use of
material at Berlin and when completed he endorsed the thesis,
"Paidologie, Entwurf zu einer Wissenschaft des Kindes," to the Senate of
his University. A third one to whom I am greatly indebted is Professor
Rudolph Eucken of the University of Jena, whose lectures listened to for
a year gave me a broader view of life and the sympathy he expressed for
myself and work were of the utmost encouragement and too at a time when
well needed. I owe much to Prof. Dr. W. Preyer of the University of
Berlin, now deceased, who wrote me encouragingly of my work before my
going to Germany and while there he talked over matters with me and went
over the thesis when completed and had faith in the idea I was
promulgating, new at that time, that the study of the child is a science
in and of itself and for which I had originated the term paidology, and
he advised and encouraged me to make it my life study.
I must take this opportunity to express gratitude to my wife who so
willingly gave up the many things which are so dear to a woman and a
mother that there might be acquired by myself the very best education
the world could give and so make possible the coming forth of paidology
and all it may contain.
O. C.
_The Ohio University._
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
PREFACE 7
I. THE CHILD IN MEXICO 15-38
The people 15
Women and marriage 16
Birth 18
Casting the nativity of the infant 19
Baptizing and naming child 19
Care and treatment of children 19
Dress 24
Food and drink 25
Lore 27
Human sacrifice 28
Slavery 30
Industries 30
Couriers 33
Amusements 33
Education 36
II. THE CHILD IN PERU 39-51
The people 39
Buildings 41
Dress 41
Food, drink, narcotics 42
Marriage 43
Care and treatment of children 44
The Virgins of the Sun 44
Human sacrifice 45
Industries 45
Training of the Inca and the Order of the Huaracu 49
Education 50
III. THE CHILD IN EGYPT 52-84
The country 52
The people 53
Slavery 54
The home 55
Women and marriage 57
Child and parent 58
Dress 59
Food and drink 62
Food and clothing of children 64
Industries 65
Sickness and death 74
Child and religion 76
Amusements 76
Games, plays, and toys 81
Education 82
IV. THE CHILD IN INDIA 85-103
Caste 85
Women and marriage 85
Boys and girls 96
Infanticide 97
Dress 98
Amusements 98
Rites 99
Adoption 99
Inheritance 100
Education 100
V. THE CHILD IN CHINA 104-129
Women and marriage 104
Infancy 112
Boys and girls 115
Child and parent 116
Deformation of the feet 117
Amusements 118
Dress 121
Religion 122
Education 123
VI. THE CHILD IN JAPAN 130-160
Women 130
Marriage 134
The mother's memorial 138
Dress 140
Regulations 140
The care of children 143
Naming children 145
Carrying children 145
Adoption and inheritance 145
Power and duty of father 146
Amusements 146
Lore 152
Religion 155
Suicide 155
Work 156
Education 157
VII. THE CHILD IN PERSIA 161-166
Characteristics 161
Women and marriage 161
Dress 163
Child and parent 163
Inheritance 163
Amusements 164
Education 164
VIII. THE CHILD IN JUDEA 167-176
Historical 167
Women and marriage 167
Care and treatment of children 170
Duties of children 171
Dress 171
Amusements 173
Education 173
IX. THE CHILD IN GREECE 177-211
Physical characteristics 177
The people 177
The home 178
Girls and women 178
Marriage 182
Dress 186
Food 190
Child and parent 191
Care of children 191
Infanticide 193
Duties of children 194
Adoption and inheritance 194
Toys and playthings 194
Games and plays 195
Sports and festivals 197
Other amusements 199
Sickness and death 201
Religion 202
Education 203
X. THE CHILD IN ROME 212-263
Characteristics 212
The people 213
Slavery 214
The home 215
Women 218
Marriage 224
Dress 231
Food 237
Child and parent 238
Names 239
Care and treatment of children 239
Citizenship 240
Inheritance 241
Adoption 242
Sickness and death 243
Industries 246
The spectacles 249
Other amusements 253
The bath 254
Games and plays 254
Religion 255
Vestal Virgins 255
Education 257
XI. THE CHILD IN EARLIER AND MEDIEVAL EUROPE 264-312
Historical and critical 264
Feudalism 265
The feudal castle and its life 267
Chivalry 268
The peasantry 271
The town people 273
The aristocracy 275
The home 276
Women 277
Marriage 279
Dress 282
Food 285
Children of the ancient Britons 287
Children among the early Christians 289
Child and parent 289
Care and treatment of children 290
Apprenticeship 290
Military training for the young 291
Amusements 292
Education 296
The children's crusade 302
Other child-pilgrimages 310
XII. THE CHILD IN EARLIER UNITED STATES 313-455
Customs relating to land 313
The people 314
Slavery 316
Servants 318
The home 322
Women 334
Marriage 336
Dress 348
Infants' clothing 359
Boys' clothing 360
Girls' clothing 361
Food 364
Drink 369
Food and drink of children 374
Infancy 376
Number and names of children 379
Child welfare 380
Manners and courtesy of children 382
Diary of a Boston school girl of 1771 384
Inheritance 388
Sickness and death 389
The illness of children 396
Amusements 398
Games and sports of children and young people 407
Children's toys and story books 412
Holidays and festivals 413
Public punishments 416
Manufactures 421
Boys' work and manufactures 422
Girls' and women's work 423
Religion 428
The child and religion 438
Education 442
INDEX 457
THE HISTORICAL CHILD
CHAPTER I
THE CHILD IN MEXICO
=The People.= When the Spaniards entered Mexico, in the sixteenth
century, and conquered it, they found the ruling people to be the Aztecs
and whose capital city, Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), was on an island in
the lake of Tezcoco. The Aztecs were not the first inhabitants of Mexico
as they had entered the country some five hundred years before the
Spanish conquest and through alliances and conquests had become the
ruling power about a century before the appearance of the Spaniards. The
people whom the Aztecs found when they entered Mexico told them of a
great people who had lived before their time and the ruins of whose
great buildings remained and still exist to the present day and who were
designated the Toltecs. It has been claimed for the Toltecs a very high
state of civilization, much in advance of the Aztecs, and some even
holding that it really equaled the civilization of the present time.
Mexico at the time of the conquest by the Spaniards was a monarchy, in
which the king stood supreme as he was a priest of their great god,
commander-in-chief of the military forces, and supreme judge. The
throne, however, was not hereditary, as upon a vacancy a ruler was
selected by four officers appointed for that purpose by the nobles and
principal officials of the kingdom. The king was usually taken from the
ruling family and might have been a brother of the late ruler or a
nephew belonging to an elder branch. The office-holders were usually
appointed for life and at their death the vacancies were filled by
appointment by the king. The people were divided into classes. The
highest class was a landed aristocracy, who paid no definite taxes but
owed service to the king; a second class, who ranked with the landed
aristocracy, was a military nobility who held land at the king's
goodwill; the next class embraced the freemen, who held land in common
and paid taxes in common; below these were a class of freemen who rented
the lands of the lord and made payment to him for the same; and the
lowest of all were the serfs, who were bound to the soil. They
maintained a military system and made war upon neighboring tribes; at
the time of the coming of the Spaniards this seemed to have been carried
on mostly for the purpose of securing captives for the human sacrifices
demanded by their religion. They had an elaborate and efficient judicial
system and the laws seem to have been justly administered to all alike,
whether the ones before the courts were of higher rank or of the common
people.
=Women and Marriage.= The women were described by the Spaniards as being
pretty, with long black hair, and with a serious and rather melancholy
cast of countenance. It would appear that they were treated with much
consideration by the men who permitted them to engage in festivities and
entertainments equally with themselves.
Marriage was an important institution with the Mexicans and it was held
in such high esteem that there was a tribunal appointed for the sole
purpose of attending to matters relating to it. The customary age with
men for marriage was about twenty, women marrying at a younger age. When
a young man reached this age it became his duty to marry and sometimes
the high priest commanded it of him. The selection of the bride was made
by the parents and if a young man refused to abide by his parents'
decision and made his own choice, he was looked upon as being quite
ungrateful to his parents. Should he refuse to marry, it was his duty to
remain continent through his life and devote himself to the service of
the gods. Should he afterward decide to marry, he was despised by his
friends and publicly denounced for not keeping his vow to the gods and
no respectable woman would marry him.
When the parents had decided it was time for their son to marry, all the
relatives were called together and a feast given at which the father
announced to them that the son was of proper age to be married. The son
was then informed that his parents were about to select a bride for him,
to which the young man gave consent. Then they called in the priests
under whom the young man had received his education and their permission
was obtained and one of the priests addressed the young man with advice
for the occasion. The next step was to ascertain the day and sign of the
young man's birth and also the birthday and sign of the young woman,
which was obtained through astrologers or soothsayers. If the horoscopes
of both were favorable and showed that the union would have good fortune
all was well; if not, another girl had to be selected. If the augurs
were favorable to the union, two discreet and virtuous elderly women
were called in as go-betweens. These women were given their directions
and they called upon the parents of the bride and after a second visit
preliminaries were arranged.
The parents of the girl then called in the relatives and friends and
informed them of the affair and the girl was given much advice by them.
Then their decision was sent to the parents of the young man. A
favorable day for the marriage was found by the augurs and both families
made preparations for the day of marriage and sent out invitations to
relatives and friends. On the day set for the marriage the relatives and
friends of the bride went to her home as did also some of the
bridegroom's relatives and friends and in procession escorted her to his
home, where the best room in the house had been fitted up for the
occasion and the house festooned with green branches and garlands of
flowers. The bridegroom met the bride at the entrance to his home and
took her by the hand and led her into the room for the ceremony. They
were then seated upon a special mat, the woman at the left of the man.
The mother of the bridegroom gave presents to the bride and the mother
of the bride gave presents to the bridegroom. Then the priest made a
long talk to the couple, defining their duties to one another and toward
the married state. The couple then arose and the priest tied the end of
the man's mantle to the dress of the woman. A feast was then partaken of
but in which the couple did not participate as they were required to
spend four days in fasting and prayer in the room, closely guarded by
old women. Upon the fourth night two priests prepared a couch of two
mats and the young people were left to themselves. The next day they
underwent a baptismal ceremony and they were adorned with new apparel
and some more advice was given them by the mothers-in-law or nearest
relatives, another feast was given of which they partook, and the
marriage ceremony was then fully completed.
Cousins were allowed to marry but not nearer relatives. As a rule a
widow was not permitted to remarry except a brother of her deceased
husband and in case she had children by the first marriage, then it was
the duty of the brother-in-law to marry her that the children might not
be without the care and protection of a father. Divorce was allowed but
only after a careful hearing by the tribunal on marriage, and when a
divorce was granted the couple could not under any circumstances be
reunited. Concubinage was practiced and it might occur even with young
people under marriageable age upon the consent of the parents. In this
there was no contract or ceremony, the two simply living together. In
case a child was born to them a marriage was performed or else the woman
returned to her parents' house, taking the child with her which was then
considered as belonging to her parents. This was not considered
dishonorable on the part of the girl nor were her chances for marriage
in any degree lessened by her having thus lived in a state of
concubinage. Polygamy was permitted but perhaps it was not greatly
indulged in and it was chiefly among the wealthiest people. The
necessity for monogamy seemed to be understood, as a record is given of
a father counselling his son that for the proper perpetuation of the
race but one man is ordained but for one woman.
=Birth.= As soon as a woman was found to be pregnant the relatives and
friends were informed of it and a feast was prepared, to which all were
invited who had been present at the wedding. Speeches of congratulations
and of admonition were made to the future parents. During the period
before the birth of the child, the mother was careful and she observed
many rules. "Thus, sleeping in the daytime would contort the child's
face; approaching too near the fire or standing in the hot sun would
parch the fœtus; hard and continued work, lifting weights, running,
mental excitement, such as grief, anger, or alarm, were particularly
avoided; in case of an earthquake all the pots in the house were covered
up or broken to stop the shaking; eating _tzictli_, or _chicle_, was
thought to harden the palate of the unborn child, and to make its gums
thick so that it would be unable to suck, and also to communicate to it
a disease called _netentzzoponiztli_; neither must the edible earth, of
which, as we shall see in a future chapter, the Mexicans were very fond,
be eaten by the mother, lest the child should prove weak and sickly; but
everything else the woman fancied was to be given her, because any
interference with her caprices might be hurtful to her offspring."[2]
When the time of confinement drew near another feast was given and
speeches and suggestions were made. Among the higher classes a midwife
was procured and careful preparation was made for the confinement. A
woman dying in childbirth was honored by a burial with great ceremony.
When the child was born, there was rejoicing with praises to the mother
and congratulations to parents and grandparents, and even the child
itself was spoken to in welcoming words by the midwife as it was being
dressed.
=Casting the Nativity of the Infant.= Astrology was held in high esteem
by the Mexicans and it was used to decide the fortune of the infant. On
the birth of a child the astrologer was summoned and upon being told the
time of the event he cast the horoscope of the infant. If the augury was
favorable he told of the great fortune coming to the child and of the
honors and happiness to fall upon him. Should the augury prove
unfavorable, it was made less severe by the horoscopist who found
accompanying signs that helped allay the evil coming from the bad omens.
=Baptizing and Naming the Child.= The rite of baptism was early
performed upon the child, at which time it was given a name. The house
was decorated with branches and flowers, a feast was prepared, and
relatives and friends invited. Miniature weapons were used, if a boy, to
show that he was born a warrior, and, if a girl, small weaving utensils
as symbols of her future calling of housewife. The child, if a boy, was
usually named from the sign of the day or a bird or animal, and, if a
girl, was named from a flower. Sometimes a child took its name from some
important event which occurred at the time of its birth. A solemn
invocation to the gods was made, after which the head and lips of the
infant were touched with water, the name was given to it, and then it
was lifted up to heaven and a prayer of blessing said over it.
=Care and Treatment of Children.= Upon the arrival of a child into a
family, friends and neighbors congratulated them upon such, for it was
deemed quite a blessing. Although children were welcomed, yet the
discipline of younger children was rather severe and children were
taught to reverence and obey their parents and superiors. Both boys and
girls were carefully reared by the best parents.
The following admonitions of a father to his son show how greatly these
ancient Mexicans would have their children observe a right living:--
"My son, who art come into this light from the womb of thy mother, like
the chicken from the egg, and like it, art preparing to fly through the
world, we know not how long heaven will grant to us the enjoyment of
that precious gem which we possess in thee; but, however short is the
period, endeavor to live exactly, praying God continually to assist
thee. He created thee; thou art His property. He is thy Father, and
loves thee still more than I do; repose in Him thy thoughts, and day and
night direct thy sighs to Him. Reverence and salute thy elders, and hold
no one in contempt. To the poor and the distressed be not dumb, but
rather use words of comfort. Honor all persons, particularly thy
parents, to whom thou owest obedience, respect, service. Guard against
imitating the example of those wicked sons who, like brutes, that are
deprived of reason, neither reverence their parents, listen to their
instruction, nor submit to their correction; because, whoever follows
their steps will have an unhappy end, will die in a desperate or sudden
manner, or will be killed and devoured by wild beasts....
"When any one discourses with thee, hear him attentively, and hold
thyself in an easy attitude, neither playing with thy feet, nor putting
thy mantle to thy mouth, nor spitting too often, nor looking about you
here and there, nor rising up frequently if thou art sitting; for such
actions are indications of levity and low breeding.
"When thou art at table do not eat voraciously, nor show thy displeasure
if anything displeases thee. If any one comes unexpectedly to dinner
with thee, share with him what thou hast; and when any person is
entertained by thee, do not fix thy looks upon him.
"In walking, look where thou goest, that thou mayest not push against
any one. If thou seest another coming thy way, go a little aside to give
him room to pass. Never step before thy elders, unless it be necessary,
or that they order thee to do so. When thou sittest at table with them,
do not eat or drink before them, but attend to them in a becoming
manner, that thou mayest merit their favor.
"When they give thee anything, accept it with tokens of gratitude; if
the present is great, do not become vain or fond of it. If the gift is
small, do not despise it, nor be provoked, nor occasion displeasure to
them who favor thee. If thou becomest rich, do not grow insolent nor
scorn the poor; for those very gods who deny riches to others in order
to give them to thee, offended by thy pride, will take them from thee
again to give to others.
"Support thyself by thy own labors; for then thy food will be sweeter.
I, my son, have supported thee hitherto with my sweat, and have omitted
no duty of a father; I have provided thee with everything necessary,
without taking it from others. Do thou so likewise....
"Stay no longer than is necessary in the market-place; for in such
places there is the greatest danger of contracting vices.
"When thou art offered an employment, imagine that the proposal is made
to try thee; then accept it not hastily, although thou knowest thyself
more fit than others to exercise it; but excuse thyself until thou art
obliged to accept it; thus thou wilt be more esteemed.
"Be not dissolute; because thou wilt thereby incense the gods, and they
will cover thee with infamy. Restrain thyself, my son, as thou are yet
young, and wait until the girl whom the gods destine for thy wife
arrives at a suitable age; leave that to their care, as they know how to
order these things properly. When the time for thy marriage is come,
dare not to make it without the consent of thy parents, otherwise it
will have an unhappy issue.
"Steal not nor give thyself up to gaming; otherwise, thou wilt be a
disgrace to thy parents, whom thou ought rather to honor for the
education they have given to thee. If thou wilt be virtuous, thy example
will put the wicked to shame. No more, my son, enough hath been said in
discharge of the duties of a father. With these counsels I wish to
fortify thy mind. Refuse them not, nor act in contradiction to them; for
on them thy life and thy happiness depend."[3]
The girl was not degraded among the Mexicans, and she was treated with
tenderness and love. How well cared for was the girl is attested by the
following advice of an Aztec mother to her daughter:--
"My daughter, born of my substance, brought forth with my pains, and
nourished with my milk, I have endeavored to bring thee up with the
greatest possible care, and thy father has wrought and polished thee
like an emerald, that thou mayest appear in the eyes of men a jewel of
virtue. Strive always to be good; for otherwise who will have thee for a
wife? Thou wilt be rejected by every one. Life is a thorny, laborious
path, and it is necessary to exert all our powers to obtain the goods
which the gods are willing to yield to us; we must not therefore be lazy
or negligent, but diligent in everything. Be orderly and take pains to
manage the economy of thy house. Give water to thy husband for his
hands, and make bread for thy family. Wherever thou goest, go with
modesty and composure, without hurrying thy steps, or laughing with
those whom thou meetest, neither fixing thy looks upon them nor casting
thy eyes thoughtlessly, first to one side and then to another, that thy
reputation may not be sullied; but give a courteous answer to those who
salute and put any question to thee.
"Employ thyself diligently in spinning and weaving, in sewing and
embroidering; for by these arts thou wilt gain esteem, and all the
necessaries of food and clothing. Do not give thyself too much to sleep,
nor seek the shade, but go in the open air and there repose thyself, for
effeminacy brings along with it idleness and other vices.
"In whatever thou doest encourage not evil thoughts but attend solely to
the service of the gods, and the giving comfort to thy parents. If thy
father or thy mother calls thee, do not stay to be called twice; but go
instantly to know their pleasure, that thou mayest not disoblige them by
slowness. Return no insolent answers, nor show any want of compliance;
but if thou canst not do what they command, make a modest excuse. If
another is called and does not come quickly, come thou, hear what is
ordered, and do it well. Never offer thyself to do that which thou canst
not do. Deceive no person; for the gods see all thy actions. Live in
peace with everybody, and love everyone sincerely and honestly, that
thou mayest be loved by them in return.
"Be not greedy of the goods which thou hast. If thou seest anything
presented to another, give way to no mean suspicions; for the gods, to
whom every good belongs, distribute everything as they please. If thou
wouldst avoid the displeasure of others, let none meet with it from
thee.
"Guard against improper familiarities with men; nor yield to the guilty
wishes of thy heart; or thou wilt be the reproach of thy family, and
wilt pollute thy mind as mud does water. Keep not company with
dissolute, lying, or idle women; otherwise they will infallibly infect
thee by their example. Attend upon thy family, and do not go on slight
occasions out of thy house, nor be seen wandering through the streets,
or in the market-place; for in such places thou wilt meet thy ruin.
Remember that vice, like a poisonous herb, brings death to those who
taste it; and when it once harbors in the mind it is difficult to dispel
it. If in passing through the streets thou meetest with a froward youth
who appears agreeable to thee, give him no correspondence, but dissemble
and pass on. If he says anything to thee, take no heed of him nor his
words; and if he follows thee, turn not your face about to look at him,
lest that might inflame his passion more. If thou behavest so, he will
soon turn and let thee proceed in peace.
"Enter not without some urgent motive into another's house, that nothing
may be either said or thought injurious to thy honor, but if thou
enterest into the house of thy relations, salute them with respect and
do not remain idle, but immediately take up a spindle to spin or do any
other thing that occurs.
"When thou art married, respect thy husband, obey him, and diligently do
what he commands thee. Avoid incurring his displeasure, nor show thyself
passionate or ill-natured; but receive him fondly to thy arms, even if
he is poor and lives at thy expense. If thy husband occasions thee any
disgust, let him not know thy displeasure when he commands thee to do
anything; but dissemble it at that time, and afterwards tell him with
great gentleness what vexed thee, that he may be won by thy mildness and
offend thee no farther. Dishonor him not before others; for thou also
wouldst be dishonored. If any one comes to visit thy husband, accept the
visit kindly, and show all the civility thou canst. If thy husband is
foolish, be thou discreet. If he fails in the management of wealth
admonish him of his failings; but if he is totally incapable of taking
care of his estate, take that charge upon thyself, attend carefully to
his possessions and never omit to pay the workmen punctually. Take care
not to lose anything through negligence.
"Embrace, my daughter, the counsel which I give thee. I am already
advanced in life, and have had sufficient dealings with the world. I am
thy mother. I wish that thou mayest live well. Fix my precepts in thy
heart and bowels, for then thou wilt live happy. If by not listening to
me, or by neglecting my instructions, any misfortunes befall thee, the
fault will be thine and the evil also. Enough, my child. May the gods
prosper thee."[4]
=Dress.= The men wore a long broad girdle or sash with the ends hanging
down before and behind, which sash often was figured and the ends
fringed or tasseled. They also wore a cloak or mantle, which was thrown
over the shoulders and tied around the neck. The women wore a short
tunic, usually without sleeves, and with it a short skirt under which
they would wear another skirt of longer length, these skirts often being
embroidered and ornamented. Over tunic and skirt they would wear a long
loose robe, which might have at its upper part a hood attached, for
wearing over the head. The material first used for clothing was of skins
and later of maguey and cotton. Mantles of fur and of feather-work were
also worn in cooler weather by both men and women. They wore sandals
made of deer and other skins and also of nequen and cotton.
The ordinary way of wearing the hair was to cut it short on the forehead
and temples and let it grow at the back. Unmarried girls wore their hair
loose, while the virgins who served in the temple had their hair cut
short. In some parts the heads of the children were shaved, with a tuft
left behind. Women after marriage on becoming mothers would sometimes
let their hair grow on all parts and arrange it on the head; one way was
to plait it and cross it on the forehead, another way was to braid it
and ornament it with flowers. Also, sometimes the women would use a dye
made of herbs on their hair, which gave it a violet shade.
The women used paint on their faces, one fashion was to paint the face
yellow and with a pottery stamp impress a pattern of red upon the
cheeks. They painted the teeth with cochineal and also they painted the
hands, neck, and breast. Among some peoples the women had their arms and
breasts tattooed, incisions being made with a sharp instrument and a
blue color inserted. Ornaments were worn by the men, women, and
children, and by all classes of people. The higher classes used gold and
gems, while people of the lower classes used shell and obsidian. There
were a great variety of ornaments made for the arms and neck and
attached to garments. Rings were worn on the fingers and rings and plugs
in the ears. There also were rings and plugs for the nose and plugs for
the lips, although it would appear that these were not so much in use as
were the other ornaments. "There existed very stringent laws regarding
the class of ornaments which the different classes of people were
allowed to wear, and it was prohibited, on pain of death, for a subject
to use the same dress or ornaments as the king."[5]
=Food and Drink.= There was quite a variety of foodstuffs in Mexico.
Maize was the principal product but also there was great use made of
other grain, yams, and beans, and there were fruits, as the banana and
plantain. Their supply of meat was obtained very greatly from the game
animals, among which were deer, wild hogs, rabbits, quails, pigeons,
ducks, turkeys, and geese. Turkeys, ducks, and geese were domesticated,
having been raised for their feathers as well as for food. Fish was
another important article of food and both salt water and fresh water
varieties were procured in abundance.
"Miscellaneous articles of food, not already spoken of, were
_axayacatl_, flies of the Mexican lakes, dried, ground, boiled, and
eaten in the form of cakes; _ahuauhtli_, the eggs of the same fly, a
kind of native caviar; many kinds of insects, ants, maguey-worms, and
even lice; _tecuitlatl_, 'excrement of stone,' a slime that was gathered
on the surface of the lakes, and dried till it resembled cheese; eggs of
turkeys, iguanas, and turtles, roasted, boiled, and in omelettes;
various reptiles, frogs, and frog-spawn; shrimps, sardines, and crabs;
corn-silk, wild-amaranth seeds, cherry-stones, tule-roots, and very many
other articles inexpressible; yucca flour, potoyucca, tunas; honey from
maize, from bees, and from the maguey; and roasted portions of the
maguey stalks and leaves."[6]
There were three meals a day, morning, noon, and night, and among the
higher class, at least, banquets and feasts were quite numerous. The
food was cooked and eaten from pots, bowls, and dishes of pottery.
Maize, when green, was boiled and eaten, as roasting-ears with us now,
and when dry it was sometimes parched or roasted. It was usually ground
into meal and prepared in the form of cakes. To prepare the meal, the
grain was thrown into boiling water, in which, lime had been placed, and
then the hull was removed. It was then washed and ground on
grinding-stones, called _metlatl_, and then kneaded and rolled into
cakes and baked, there having been many kinds of cakes. The meal was
also boiled and made into porridge or gruel. Beans were boiled when
green and also when dry. Meats were stewed, boiled, and roasted. Pepper
was quite freely used, as was also salt. Fruits were eaten raw, although
some, as the plantain and banana, were roasted and stewed.
There were two national drinks, _octli_ and _chocolatl_, now known as
pulque and chocolate, the first an intoxicant made from the maguey and
the second from the cacao. There were other fermented drinks prepared
from grain, and a kind of mushroom was used to put into drinks to make
them more intoxicating. Intoxication was excusable in older people but
the young people were severely punished for it and even in case of
intemperance death was the punishment paid to the young while with the
older persons only loss of rank and property was the punishment.
Tobacco was used by the Mexicans, having been smoked in pipes or in the
form of cigars, and also it was made into snuff and used. "A kind of
chewing-gum was prepared from resin or bitumen, though its use, at any
rate in public, was confined by custom to unmarried girls."[7]
Human flesh also was eaten. This was not used as a common food but as a
religious rite. The sacrifice was made on an elevated place and after
the victim's heart was taken out as an offering to the gods, and if a
warrior his head was taken off to be preserved as a trophy, the body was
then cast down the steps and taken by minor priests and prepared for the
table as other animals. A thigh was sent to the king's palace and the
remainder was taken to the home of the warrior who captured the victim
or if a slave to the house of the owner, who had the human flesh
prepared with other dishes and served up in an entertainment to his
friends. "This was not the coarse repast of famished cannibals, but a
banquet teeming with delicious beverages and delicate viands, prepared
with art, and attended by both sexes, who, as we shall see hereafter,
conducted themselves with all the decorum of civilized life."[8]
Although the eating of human flesh by the ancient Mexicans was not
merely to satisfy the appetite for such food but in obedience to
religion, yet there must have been quite a good deal of partaking of it
as the number of human sacrifices each year was very great. Too, must be
kept in view, the sacrifices included men and women, quite often young
people, and likewise children, even infants. One peculiar custom was
that the giver of the feast where the body of a human sacrifice was
served did not partake of the flesh of his own captive, having been
disbarred from this because he was supposed to stand to the victim in
the relation of father to son.
=Lore.= "Various portents were drawn from the animal world; the cries of
beasts of prey at night were supposed to forebode disaster to those who
heard them, and the voices of certain birds were believed equally
unlucky. The owl, so closely associated with Mictlantecutli, was
especially regarded as the harbinger of ill-fortune and death, and if
one of these birds perched upon the house of a sick man his demise was
considered certain. It was held unlucky to encounter a skunk or a
weasel, and the entry into the house of a rabbit or a troop of ants
foreboded bad luck. If a certain kind of spider was found in the house,
the owner traced a cross upon the ground, at the center of which he
placed the insect. If it went towards the north, the direction of the
underworld, it was regarded as a sign of death for the observer, any
other direction foretelling misfortune of minor importance.
"Besides these superstitions there were a whole host of popular beliefs,
of which only a few can be given here. Many of these were connected with
food; it was customary to blow upon maize before putting it in the
cooking-pot, to 'give it courage,' and it was believed that if a person
neglected to pick up maize-grains lying on the ground they called out to
heaven to punish the omission. If two brothers were drinking, and the
younger drank first, it was thought that the elder would cease to grow;
and it was also believed that the growth of a child was stopped by
stepping over it when seated or lying down, but that the effect could be
averted by stepping back again. Young girls were not allowed to eat
standing, for it was believed they would fail to get husbands, and
children were prevented from licking the grindstone for fear they would
lose their teeth. When a child lost one of its first teeth, the father
or mother placed the tooth in a mouse-hole, a proceeding which was
supposed to ensure the growth of the second tooth; and all nail-parings
were thrown into the water in the hope that the auitzotl, a mythical
water-animal which was believed to eat them, would make the nails grow.
Sneezing was thought to be a sign that evil was being spoken of the
sneezer, and there was a peculiar belief that the perfume of the flowers
which were carried at banquets and in ceremonial dances might only be
inhaled from the edges of the bouquet, since the center belonged to the
god Tezcatlipoca."[9]
=Human Sacrifice.= The sad and degrading side of the Aztec civilization
was that of human sacrifice. The number of sacrifices was very great,
estimated from twenty to fifty thousand annually, and on one occasion
alone, the dedication of a great temple, no less than seventy thousand
human beings were sacrificed to the gods. The great object of war, along
with the desire for the extension of the kingdom, was to obtain victims
for the sacrifices and hence an enemy was never slain in battle if there
was a chance of taking him alive. Mostly the victims were prisoners of
war but slaves also were used as sacrifices. Sometimes they offered up
children, generally infants, who were obtained by the priests, purchased
from poverty-stricken parents, who, perhaps, gave their children as much
from a sense of religious duty as for money. These children were dressed
in beautiful garments, and adorned with flowers. They were then carried
in procession of chanting priests through the city to the place of
sacrifice. The cries they uttered were not heard because of the chants
of the priests, and the tears they shed were favorable omens.
These sacrifices were so conducted as to exhibit something of prominence
relating to the deity being worshipped. The following illustrates
this:--
"One of their most important festivals was that in honor of their god
Tezcatlipoca, whose rank was inferior only to that of the Supreme Being.
He was called 'the soul of the world,' and supposed to have been its
creator. He was depicted as a handsome man, endowed with perpetual
youth. A year before the intended sacrifice, a captive, distinguished
for his personal beauty, and without a blemish on his body, was
selected to represent this deity. Certain tutors took charge of him, and
instructed him how to perform his new part with becoming grace and
dignity. He was arrayed in a splendid dress, regaled with incense and
with a profusion of sweet-scented flowers, of which the ancient Mexicans
were as fond as their descendants of the present day. When he went
abroad, he was attended by a train of royal pages, and, as he halted in
the streets to play some favorite melody, the crowd prostrated
themselves before him, and did him homage as the representative of their
good deity. In this way he led an easy, luxurious life, till within a
month of his sacrifice. Four beautiful girls, bearing the names of the
principal goddesses, were then selected to share the honors of his bed;
and with them he continued to live in idle dalliance, feasted at the
banquets of the principal nobles, who paid him all the honors of a
divinity.
"At length the fatal day of sacrifice arrived. The term of his
short-lived glories was at an end. He was stripped of his gaudy apparel,
and bade adieu to the fair partners of his revelries. One of the royal
barges transported him across the lake to a temple which rose on its
margin, about a league from the city. Hither the inhabitants of the
capital flocked, to witness the consummation of the ceremony. As the sad
procession wound up the sides of the pyramid, the unhappy victim threw
away his gay chaplets of flowers, and broke in pieces the musical
instruments with which he had solaced the hours of captivity. On the
summit he was received by six priests, whose long and matted locks
flowed disorderly over their sable robes, covered with hieroglyphic
scrolls of mystic import. They led him to the sacrificial stone, a huge
block of jasper, with its upper surface somewhat convex. On this the
prisoner was stretched. Five priests secured his head and his limbs;
while the sixth, clad in a scarlet mantle, emblematic of his bloody
office, dexterously opened the breast of the wretched victim with a
sharp razor of _itztli_--a volcanic substance, hard as flint,--and,
inserting his hand into the wound, tore out the palpitating heart. The
minister of death, first holding this up toward the sun, an object of
worship throughout Anahuac, cast it at the feet of the deity to whom the
temple was devoted, while the multitudes below prostrated themselves in
humble adoration. The tragic story of this prisoner was expounded by the
priests as the type of human destiny, which, brilliant in its
commencement, too often closes in sorrow and disaster."[10]
=Slavery.= Slavery existed, the slaves having been criminals, prisoners
of war, public debtors, persons who sold themselves into slavery, and
children. Slavery was never the birthright of any child born in ancient
Mexico. Children born to a slave were free. Yet children could be sold
into slavery and were often sold by their parents, mostly on account of
poverty. There was one peculiar thing in slavery here. With the consent
of the master the parents could substitute a younger child as it grew up
for an older one sold into slavery, which substitution could go on down
to the youngest child. Slavery must have been rather mild, as in the
presence of four witnesses the precise services were prescribed when a
child was sold, and a slave could have a family and even hold other
slaves, and, as was stated, all his children were born free, the worst
feature having been that slaves were liable to be sacrificed.
=Industries.= Agriculture was in quite an advanced stage in ancient
Mexico. Unlike in other parts of North America, the men engaged in the
work, performed such labor as preparing the fields, planting, and
reaping, while the women helped in scattering the grain, weeding, and
winnowing. They had no useful domesticated animals, so that the people
carried on all the kinds of farm work and the implements were simple,
as, the hoe, spade, and basket. They fertilized the soil, let it recover
from exhaustion by lying fallow, irrigated by means of canals,
surrounded the fields by adobe walls and aloe hedges, and built
granaries in which to store the harvests.
They mined silver, lead, tin, and copper. Gold was obtained in the form
of nuggets on the surface of the ground or from the sand in the beds of
rivers. They also got quicksilver, sulphur, alum, ocher, and other
minerals which were used in making colors and for other purposes.
Although there was an abundance of iron, it was not mined or used. They
made tools of copper, hardened with tin. Most of the instruments,
however, were of stone, such as axes and hammers. From obsidian, a kind
of volcanic glass, by means of pressure they detached long flakes having
a razor-like edge, which they used for making knives, razors, lancets,
swords, arrow-heads, and spear-heads. They quarried stone from the hills
and mountains and often transported large blocks for long distances and
erected great buildings.
The caste-system did not exist in Mexico but it was a custom, usually
observed, for the son to learn the trade of his father. Trades were
highly esteemed among them, being learned even by the nobles. A
particular part of the city was given over to a particular trade, which
had its own distinctive mark, something like a guild, having its own
god, festivals, and the like. The high standing of the trades is shown
by this advice given by an aged chief to his son: "Apply thyself, my
son, to agriculture, or to feather-work, or some other honorable
calling. Thus did your ancestors before you. Else how would they have
provided for themselves and their families? Never was it heard that
nobility alone was able to maintain its possessor."[11]
Among the manufactures were cloths made of cotton, maguey fiber, rabbit
hair, fiber of palm-leaves, and also the cotton was mixed with the
rabbit hair and with feathers in making a very fine kind of cloth. The
cloths were dyed in different colors as they obtained a number of dyes
from both vegetable and mineral substances, probably even excelling the
Europeans in the art of dyeing. They tanned the skins of animals both
with and without the hair. The making of mats and baskets was an
important industry. Paper was made from maguey fiber, sometimes this was
mixed with fiber from some other plants. Wood was used in making
household furniture and farming implements and they also made cups and
vases of lacquered wood. In the working of gold and silver they had
reached a high degree of perfection, making most beautiful ornaments,
which, in many instances, were superior to the work done in Europe. They
were quite skillful in the use of feathers. Feathers were mixed with
cotton and with other fiber for the making of clothing, tapestry,
carpets, and bed-coverings. Feathers were used as ornaments and
decorations, sometimes having been tipped with gold and set in precious
stones, most beautiful fans were made in this way. The work with
feathers they most excelled in was what has been called feather-mosaic,
in which beautiful designs were worked out and colors harmoniously
blended by the skillfully pasting of feathers on to cloth. For temporary
use, as for decorations on the occasions of special festivals, they made
designs with leaves and flowers similar to the feather-work. They were
quite skillful in working precious stones, making most beautiful
ornaments from the stones found in the country, emeralds, amethysts, and
turquoises being the most abundant. Pearls and bright colored shells
were used with the stones in the formation of necklaces, bracelets,
earrings, and other ornaments. "Mirrors of rock crystal, obsidian, and
other stones, brightly polished and encased in rich frames, were said to
reflect the human face as clearly as the best of European
manufacture."[12]
The making of pottery was one of the leading industries, which products
ran from coarse undecorated vessels to quite fine ware of various colors
and highly ornamented. "The quality of the potting varies considerably
according to locality, but the finer examples, such as the ware from
Cholula and the Totonac district exhibit a very high standard of paste,
form and technique, though the potters of this region of America cannot
boast such consummate mastery over their material as the early
inhabitants of the Peruvian coast."[13]
The agricultural and industrial products were not only used where
produced but also carried to the different provinces and even to other
countries by traders, which occupation was highly respected in Mexico.
They took with them the products of their own country and brought back
the products of other countries. These traders not only engaged in trade
but also acted as spies for the king and brought to him much information
concerning the places visited by them. The products of the country and
those brought in from outside by the traders were displayed for sale in
the great market-places of the principal cities. "The great market in
Tlaltelolco moved the wonder of the conquerors; it is described as being
three times as large as that of Salamanca, and one estimate places the
daily attendance at twenty or twenty-five thousand persons. One of the
conquerors gives the following picture of it. 'On one side are the
people who sell gold; near them are they who trade in jewels mounted in
gold in the forms of birds and animals. On another side beads and
mirrors are sold, on another, feathers and plumes of all colors for
working designs on garments, and to wear in war or at festivals. Further
on stone is worked to make razors and swords, a remarkable thing which
passes our understanding; of it they manufacture swords and roundels. In
other places they sell cloth and men's dresses of different designs;
beyond, dresses for women, and in another part footgear. A section is
reserved for the sale of prepared hides of deer and other animals;
elsewhere are baskets made of hair, such as all Indian women use.
Cotton, grain which forms their food, bread of all kinds, pastry, fowls,
and eggs are sold in different sections; and hard by they sell hares,
rabbits, deer, quails, geese and ducks. Elsewhere wines of all sorts are
for sale, vegetables, pepper, roots, medicinal plants, which are very
numerous in this country, fruits of all kinds, wood for building, lime
and stone. In fact, each object has its appointed place. Beside this
great market-place there are in other quarters other markets also where
provisions may be bought.' Special magistrates held courts in the
market-places to settle disputes on the spot, and there were market
officials similar to our inspectors of weights and measures.
Falsification of the latter was visited with severe punishment."[14]
=Couriers.= The means of communication between different parts of the
country was by couriers, who were trained for this purpose from
childhood. One courier would carry his messages from one post-house to
another, where another courier would take them and carry them to the
next post-house, and so on. These couriers were so well trained from
childhood that they traveled with remarkable speed, so that as much as
two hundred miles a day would be covered by the chain of carriers.
=Amusements.= Feasts were of common occurrence and were given by people
of all ranks of society. Each man vied with the other in giving banquets
and it often happened that the host ruined himself financially by his
hospitality, as it was the custom to distribute costly presents among
the guests, and some went so far as to have sold themselves into slavery
to raise funds to give at least one big feast that would make a name for
them and thus be kept in the memory of their fellow-men. One form of
entertainment at these feasts was the use of jesters, similar to the
court-fools of European medieval times, who made jokes at the expense of
the guests, imitated people of different nations in dress and manners,
mimicked old women and well-known eccentric individuals, and the like.
"At the royal feasts given when the great vassals came to the capital to
render homage to their sovereign, the people flocked in from the
provinces in great numbers to see the sights, which consisted of
theatrical representations, gladiatorial combats, fights between wild
beasts, athletic sports, musical performances, and poetical recitations
in honor of kings, gods, and heroes. The nobles, in addition to this,
partook daily of banquets at the palace, and were presented by the
monarch with costly gifts."[15]
There were people who gave gymnastic performances and who performed
acrobatic feats such as of the present day and with equal or even
greater skill. There were running races, swimming matches, wrestling
matches, contests in shooting with bow and arrow and in throwing the
dart, and soldiers fought with wild beasts in enclosed places. Gambling
greatly prevailed, property of all kinds was put up as stakes and even a
man might jeopardize his own personal liberty on a game of chance. Dice
was the most general gambling game.
Dancing was one of the leading amusements of the ancient Mexicans. It
formed an important part in their religious ceremonies and much time was
given by the priests in instructing the youth in this art. Drums and
other musical instruments were used in the dancing and they were
accompanied by chants and other music of the dancers. In some of the
dances each sex danced apart, while in others they danced together.
Sometimes they danced in threes, two men and a woman, or two women and a
man, while again they danced in pairs, with their arms round one
another's waist or neck. There was one dance which somewhat resembled
the old English May-pole dance, in which ribbons were wound and unwound
about a pole. In some of their great public dances thousands
participated. These occurred in an open place, the musicians being
placed in the center, about them was formed a circle of the nobles and
elderly people, next came a circle of middle-aged persons, and then the
young people formed a great circle around them all. Each person was to
keep his own place on the circle while all circled about the musicians.
The inner circle moved with slow and sedate steps, the middle circle
moved more rapidly, and the outer circle of young people twirled rapidly
about with many fantastic figures. With drums beating and other musical
instruments going and all the dancers chanting, with arms, feet, heads,
and bodies all moving in perfect accord, leaders directing, this dancing
must have made a great spectacle to the onlookers.
There were not a great variety of musical instruments. They had drums,
rattles, gongs, trumpets, and whistles. There were bands of musicians
and choirs, each temple having had a choir composed of singers of
different ages, among whom were boys of four to eight years of age.
There were contests in music and prizes were given to the successful
competitors. There were a large number of popular songs or ballads,
which were well known to all classes of the people. The drama existed
among them. The plays were given on a terrace in the market-place or on
a porch of a temple. The players usually wore wooden masks or were
disguised as animals. The play generally was given in the form of a
burlesque and ended with the animal players giving exhibits of the
actions of the animals they represented.
"The national game of the Nahuas was the _tlachtli_, which strongly
resembled in many points our game of football, and was quite as lively
and full of scuffle. It was common among all the nations whose cult was
similar to the Toltec, and was under special divine protection, though
what original religious significance it had is not clear. Indeed, for
that matter, nearly every game enjoyed divine patronage, and
_Ometochtli_, 'two rabbits,' the god of games, according to Duran, was
generally invoked by athletes as well as by gamblers, in conjunction
with some special god. Instruments of play, and natural objects were
also conjured to grant good luck to the applicant. As an instance of the
popularity of the game of tlachtli, it may be mentioned that a certain
number of towns contributed annually sixteen thousand balls in taxes,
that each town of any size had a special playground devoted to the game,
and that kings kept professionals to play before them, occasionally
challenging each other to a game besides. The ground in which it was
played, called the _tlachco_, was an alley, one hundred feet long and
half as wide, except at each end where there were rectangular nooks,
which doubtless served as resting places for the players. The whole was
enclosed by smooth whitewashed walls, from nine to twelve feet high on
the sides, and somewhat lower at the ends, with battlements and turrets,
and decreasing in thickness toward the top. At midnight, previous to the
day fixed for the game, which was always fixed favorably by the augurs,
the priests with much ceremony placed two idols--one representing the
god of play, the other the god of the tlachtli--upon the side walls,
blessed the edifice, and consecrated the game by throwing the ball four
times round the ground, muttering the while a formula. The owner of the
tlachco, usually the lord of the place, also performed certain
ceremonies and presented offerings, before opening the game. The balls,
called _ullamaloni_, were of solid India-rubber, three to four inches in
diameter. The players were simply attired in the maxtli, or
breech-clout, and sometimes wore a skin to protect the parts coming in
contact with the ball, and gloves; they played in parties, usually two
or three on each side. The rule was to hit the ball only with knee,
elbow, shoulder, or buttock, as agreed upon, the latter was however the
favorite way, and to touch the wall of the opposite side with the ball,
or to send it over, either of which counted a point. He who struck the
ball with his hand or foot, or with any part of his body not previously
agreed upon, lost a point; to settle such matters without dispute a
priest acted as referee. On each side-wall, equidistant from the ends,
was a large stone, carved with images of idols, pierced through the
center with a hole large enough to just admit the passage of the ball;
the player who by chance or skill drove the ball through one of these
openings not only won the game for his side, but was entitled to the
cloaks of all present, and the haste with which the spectators scrambled
off in order to save their garments is said to have been the most
amusing part of the entertainment. A feat so difficult was, of course,
rarely accomplished, save by chance, and the successful player was made
as much of as a prize-winner at the Olympic games, nor did he omit to
present thank-offerings to the god of the game for the good fortune
vouchsafed him."[16]
=Education.= Annexed to the temples were buildings devoted to the
purpose of education for boys, youths, and young women. The education of
the males was in the hands of the priests and of the females in the care
of the priestesses. Thus the priesthood were enabled to mould the young
in their own way. They brought the young so well under their sway that
they were never able in after life to free themselves from such nor did
they seem so to desire to do.
The sexes were not educated together nor was any intercourse allowed
between them, and if such occurred the transgression was severely
punished. The morals of both sexes were very closely looked after.
Offenses were severely punished, sometimes by death. Love did not lead
the Aztec youth in education, but terror.
The children of the common people and those of the higher classes did
not attend in the same buildings. Both classes were taught such things
in religion, music, painting, and the like, as belonged to their
stations in life. The boys of the common people did the heavier and more
menial work about the temples, such as the attending to the getting of
fuel for the sacred fires and preparing the material for the repair of
the sacred edifices. The young nobles attended to the higher duties,
such as caring for the fires of the sanctuaries, keeping the upper parts
of the temples clean, and decorating the shrines of the gods with
flowers. The children of the common classes were obliged to sleep in the
school buildings but they took their meals at home while the young
nobility remained in the buildings for meals as well as for sleeping.
For the most part the girls who attended the schools belonged to the
nobility. They attended to the lower part of the temples, prepared the
offerings of meats to the idols, and wove and embroidered the fine
cloths for the altars. They were strictly guarded so that no intercourse
could take place between them and the youths. When they went out they
were accompanied by their teachers and they were not permitted to pay
any attention to any one, and if they did so they were severely
punished. They were instructed in religion, household arts, spinning,
the weaving of mantles, the making of feather-work, and the like.
In the higher schools, the noble boys were taught much that was given to
the other boys and also in many of the arts and sciences, such as the
study of heroic songs and sacred hymns, history, religion, philosophy,
law, astronomy, astrology, and the writing and interpreting of
hieroglyphics. Those destined to be priests were further educated in the
priestly duties, while those who were to enter upon a military life were
exercised in gymnastics, and trained to the use of weapons, to shoot
with the bow, to manage the shield, and to cast darts at a mark.
When the young reached the age when marriage was permissible or when
business cares should be entered upon, they were sent from the schools
with the commendations of the officers and teachers, which were of great
aid to many in securing positions in life.
LITERATURE
1. Bancroft, Hubert Howe, The native races of the Pacific states of
North America.
2. Barnes, Earl and Mary S., Education among the Aztecs. _Studies in
Education_, I, 73-80.
3. Joyce, Thomas A., Mexican archæology.
4. Mason, Otis Tufton, Woman's share in primitive culture.
5. Nadaillac, Marquis de, Prehistoric America.
6. Prescott, William H., History of the Conquest of Mexico.
CHAPTER II
THE CHILD IN PERU
=The People.= The origin of the people found in Peru at the time of the
Spanish conquest is unknown. The people themselves held to a tradition
that the empire began with a settlement in the Cuzco valley, the central
region of Peru. By the time of the coming of the Spaniards in the first
part of the sixteenth century, through military expeditions this Inca
power had been extended to include the country from the river Ancasmayu,
just north of the city of Quito, Ecuador, to the river Maule, just south
of the city of Santiago, Chile, or from about the second degree of north
latitude to the thirty-seventh degree of south latitude, territory
embraced at the present time by Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, part of Chile,
and north-west Argentina. Before these Inca people there seemed to have
existed a race of well advanced people who left imposing architectural
remains that the Inca people were unable to account for. To hold
together the parts of the empire, great roads were built leading from
Cuzco, the capital, to the extremities of the country. One of these
great roads ran over the grand plateau north to Quito and south to
Chile, and a second one ran each way, north and south, along the
lowlands on the border of the ocean, and these two were connected by
cross-roads. "The road over the plateau was conducted over pathless
sierras buried in snow; galleries were cut for leagues through the
living rock; rivers were crossed by means of bridges that swung
suspended in the air; precipices were scaled by stairways hewn out of
the native bed; ravines of hideous depths were filled up with solid
masonry; in short, all the difficulties that beset a wild and
mountainous region, and which might appall the most courageous engineer
in modern times, were encountered and successfully overcome. The length
of the road, of which scattered fragments only remain, is variously
estimated at from fifteen hundred to two thousands miles; and stone
pillars, in the manner of European mile-stones, were erected at stated
intervals of somewhat more than a league, all along the route. Its
breadth scarcely exceeded twenty feet. It was built of heavy flags of
freestone, and, in some parts at least, covered with a bituminous
cement, which time has made harder than the stone itself."[17] Along
these roads were a series of post-houses for couriers, selected for
their swiftness of foot, who carried messages back and forth between the
capital and the different parts of the empire. The statement is made
that these couriers covered the distance from Quito to Cuzco, over a
thousand miles, in eight days. Along the routes were also placed
storehouses with provisions for troops or for those who travelled on
state affairs, who really were the only travellers.
At the time of the Spanish invasion, Peru was a huge bureaucracy, which
had evolved from a primitive communism as the territory was extended by
conquest. The empire was divided into provinces and placed under rulers,
below whom was a hierarchy of officials, running down to an inspector of
ten heads of families. A careful census was kept of the people and
resources of each province, which censuses were sent regularly to Cuzco.
From these returns was estimated the tribute each person was to give to
the state, which was not paid in money but in labor or products. No one
but the sick was permitted to remain idle and there was constant
supervision over all. No man was exempt except by special regulation
from agricultural work and military service. "From the cradle to the
grave the life of the individual was marked out for him; as he was born
so would he die, and he lived his allotted span under the ceaseless
supervision of officials. His dress was fixed according to his district;
he might not leave his village except at the bidding of the state, and
then only for state purposes, he might not even seek a wife outside his
own community."[18] Yet every one was cared for, widows, orphans, aged,
and sick, in fact no one was allowed to suffer. The state stored in
buildings provisions for times of scarcity of crops, so as to prevent
famine. At the head of the empire was the sovereign and who bore the
title of Sapa Inca, Only Inca, the divine ruler; next to the sovereign
came the nobility of royal blood, the Inca nobility, and who held the
principal offices of the state; then came a lower nobility, the Curaças,
who were of the original rulers of conquered states; and last were the
common people.
=Buildings.= The buildings of the highlands were of stone, while on the
coast stone was used for foundations and brick made of clay mixed with
reeds or tough grass was used for the walls. With stone mortar was
sometimes used and sometimes not. In the great buildings where large
stones were placed in the walls no mortar was used, and it is stated
that in some of the remains of such buildings the stones are fitted so
closely that not even a knife-blade can be inserted in the joints. The
exterior walls were often of great thickness and the interior of the
building was arranged around a court, with windows and doors from the
rooms opening on to the court. Some of the buildings were of immense
sizes, in particular those built as fortifications and for religious
purposes. The doors were narrowed at the top, and with a stone across
the top, the arch with the keystone not showing in Peruvian
architecture. The roofs were thatched and in the large buildings the
ceilings sometimes were vaulted by having the upper courses of masonry
overlap and the whole topped by a single slab, thus forming a kind of
arch. On this lower part a second story was built, which did not open on
to the first floor, but was approached from the hill against which the
building was built. Inside the building the walls were niched for the
purpose of decoration and also gold plates and jewels were placed on the
walls as ornaments.
=Dress.= The two principal garments of the ancient Peruvians were the
tunic and the robe. In the simplest form the tunic consisted of an
oblong piece of cloth, folded crosswise in the middle and a piece cut
out of the fold for the head to go through, and the edges on each side
sewed together except a place left for the arms. Sometimes the tunic was
made with short sleeves. Often a belt was worn about the tunic at the
waist. In the coast country the material used for clothing was cotton
while wool was used in the highlands in the interior. The quality of the
clothing differed with the rank of the wearer, the coarsest clothes were
used by the common people while the finest were reserved for the
nobility and the very finest for the sovereign. The cloths were colored
and designs woven in them and sometimes they were fringed and
embroidered and sometimes even they were further decorated with feathers
and small plates of silver and gold.
On the head were worn conical or flat-topped caps, some having flaps to
cover the ears and the back part of the head, while others enclosed the
entire head, coming down under the chin, leaving only the face exposed
to view. Women wore their hair long while with men the length of the
hair proclaimed the rank, as the higher the rank the shorter the hair
was worn, the sovereign alone having a closely cropped head. The ruling
class wore a fringed cord of vicuña wool wound round the head three or
four times, the color designating the rank of the wearer, that of the
sovereign being crimson, of the heir to the throne yellow, and the
higher officials wore other colors. Hair was not allowed to grow on the
face and it was kept pulled out by means of small silver and copper
tweezers. They wore sandals made of the hide of the llama or of
vegetable fiber and they were fastened to the feet with cords.
Another mark of rank, along with their colored fringed cord, was the
wearing of studs in the lobe of the ear, the largest size having been
permitted to the sovereign only, and the sizes diminished according to
rank. These ear-ornaments were so heavy as to pull the lobes of the ears
down, making them quite large, the sovereign's ears being distended
nearly to his shoulders. Sometimes the nose and the lower lip were
pierced and ornaments worn in them. They wore necklaces made of beads of
colored shell and turquoise, finger-rings, anklets, and bracelets of
silver and gold, and pins for fastening the cloaks. Tattooing was
practiced, designs having been worked into the skin with a blue pigment.
=Food, Drink, Narcotics.= Because of the country's lying for the most
part in the tropics and also being of a mountainous nature, thus
allowing different climatic conditions, there was a plant life as found
in both tropical and temperate zones such as to offer a variety of food.
In the uplands maize was one of the staple foods, which was usually
eaten whole, roasted or boiled, maybe not used by them as bread except
at festivals, and the leaves were eaten as a vegetable. Quinoa was
another grain used by them, a kind of buckwheat. Another staple was the
potato, most commonly used in the form of chuno, in which the potatoes
were exposed to the frost for some time, then pounded and dried in the
sun, which made quite nourishing food and could be stowed away and kept
for some time. Beans and tomatoes were also used by them. On the
lowlands along the coast were found bananas, cocoa-nuts, the quava, and
the manioc. Birds were abundant, as were also fish, both from the lakes
and the ocean. The llama and the deer and the wild sheep of the
mountains were used as food, as was the flesh of some other animals.
This flesh was often cut into strips and dried, which was called
_charqui_, probably from which came the term "jerked" beef.
Syrup and a kind of vinegar were made from the juice of the maguey and
also syrup was made from the juice extracted from the stalk of the
maize. They made from the grain of the maize _chica_, which was the
national drink of Peru, and chica also was made from the grain of the
quinoa. But more desired than food or drink was the narcotic effect of
the coca, whose leaves were gathered and dried, mixed with lime or
bone-ash, and thus made into a preparation for chewing. Tobacco was used
by the Peruvians but they "differed from every other Indian nation to
whom it was known, by using it only for medicinal purposes, in the form
of snuff."[19]
=Marriage.= By law in ancient Peru, every person, both male and female,
was to marry at a marriageable age, which should be not less than
twenty-four in males and eighteen or twenty in females, it being
recognized that not until that age were people prepared to care for a
family. The nobility were allowed more than one wife but the common
people were limited to one.
According to law, each person was to marry within his own kindred. This
was not a very great restriction since all of his community, including
the town and often the whole province, were counted his kin.
The queen of the ruler was selected from among his sisters. No other
person in the realm was allowed to marry his own sister. This was
commanded of the ruler so that only the purest blood--the blood of the
heaven-born children of the sun--would thus flow in their offspring,
thereby preventing anything earthly from being a part of their great
rulers.
No marriage was considered legal unless the consent of the parents had
been given; nor was any contract performed without the contracting
parties so desiring it.
The ceremony was very simple and yet quite peculiar. On a certain day of
each year, designated by law, all persons of marriageable age came
together in the open squares of their native places. The ruler of the
district would take the hands of the different couples in his and place
them in each other's and pronounce them man and wife. Among the kindred
of the Inca this ceremony was performed by the Inca in person.
After all the marriage vows were performed, there was a general good
time had by the newly married pair and their friends, which was carried
on for several days. It can be seen that these festivities must have
been very general over the whole empire, as all weddings occurred on the
same day, and as in every circle there must have been one wedding, so
there must have been among the participants in the after-feasts nearly
all, if not all, the people of the country.
The newly married pair were not left to find a home for themselves. Each
district furnished a house for each married couple within its boundaries
and gave a certain portion of land to them, and as children came
additional allotments were made for the support of each child. For a son
twice as much land was assigned to the parents as for a daughter. This
allotment of land occurred each year and amounts were given in
accordance with the size of the family.
=Care and Treatment of Children.= Infants were placed in cradles,
somewhat like Indian cradles, and fastened in them and kept in this
manner, not even having been taken out and into the mother's arms when
fed. When they were weaned an important ceremony occurred. In the first
place the hair was cut. The first lock of hair was cut from the head by
an elder relative with a stone knife and the rest of the hair was cut by
the relatives in the order of closeness of kin. The child was then given
a name, presents were given to it, and a feast closed the proceedings.
When the heir to the throne underwent this ceremony, the High-priest of
the Sun cut the first lock of hair, and the child received many fine
presents, among them being presents from the rulers of the various
provinces of the empire. A very careful record of births and deaths was
kept.
=The Virgins of the Sun.= The Peruvians worshipped the sun and they
trained for this worship young women who were called Virgins of the Sun.
They were taken from their homes at an early age and placed in convents
solely consecrated to their instruction and training. One of these
institutions, located at Cuzco, was for the girls of royal blood. In the
other provinces they were for the girls of the higher and inferior
nobles, and occasionally a girl of remarkable beauty from among the
common people was placed among the inmates.
These girls were put in charge of old, reliable women, who had spent
many years in the convents. They taught the girls how to spin and to
weave the hangings for the temples. They prepared the apparel for the
ruler and his people. They were instructed in their religious duties,
one of these being the watching over the sacred fires.
When the girls entered the convents they were shut entirely away from
the world, not even being permitted to see or to hear from their friends
and relatives. Morality was carefully inculcated. If one of the young
women should be caught in an intrigue, she was buried alive, her lover
was strangled, and his native town razed to the ground.
No one was allowed to enter these convents except the king and his
lawful queen. The institutions were inspected each year by persons sent
for that purpose, who made a report of what they noted on their visits.
The buildings themselves were as finely furnished as were the palaces of
the Incas and the temples, as they were for the accommodation of the
Daughters of the Sun and so were in especial charge of the state.
When these young women reached a marriageable age, the most beautiful
among them were chosen to become brides of the ruler, others were given
by him as wives to the higher nobles, while others remained in the
service of religion, vowing perpetual virginity, and who were held in
the very highest respect.
=Human Sacrifice.= Human sacrifice was of rare event in Peru. This only
occurred to mark some great public affair. The victims usually were
children and beautiful maidens. They were selected from the various
parts of the empire and they travelled in regular convoys, the children
too young to walk being carried by their mothers. As they journeyed they
received the adoration of all the people on the way. In offering them up
as sacrifices, the priests strangled them or broke their necks with a
stone implement, while with some the throat was cut and blood from the
wound sprinkled on their faces. In some cases the hearts of the victims
were plucked out and offered to the divinity. These sacrifices were
never served up at feasts, as in Mexico, but all were buried in special
cemeteries. Human sacrifice never came to be a great part of the
religion of Peru under the Incas, as was the case in Mexico, and where
it did occur there was never any cannibalism with it.
=Industries.= Agriculture was the main occupation of the ancient
Peruvians. Every one was required to put in some time in agricultural
pursuits unless excused by special permit by the authorities. The land
was divided into three parts, one portion was reserved for the Sun, to
be used to produce revenue to care for the temples and the priests and
others connected with the religion, a second part was reserved for the
state, and the third part was given over to the people for their own
use, each head of a family receiving a plot and additional plots for
each unmarried child. There were no animals for use in the fields, so
the people had all the work to do. The men used a digging-stick, which
was a long stake with a sharpened point, sometimes having the point
covered with copper, and with a cross stick about a foot up from the
pointed end for a foot-rest for digging with the foot. The men would
turn up the soil with their digging-sticks and the women would follow
and break up the clods with a rake and pull out the weeds. The men
unable to dig and the boys acted as scare-crows or used blow-guns and
slings to keep the birds away. Every bit of ground was cultivated and to
add to this terraces were formed on the hillsides by means of parallel
walls of rough stones, one above the other. To add further to the area
of tillable land, where the soil was rocky and dry they would make
excavations, sometimes as much as an acre in extent and sunk to the
depth of fifteen or twenty feet, and would line these with walls of
adobe, sun-dried bricks. The bottom of the pits probably reached down to
where there was some moisture and they were prepared for cultivation as
the other fields.
As is well known, much of the coast region of the country which was
occupied by the empire of the ancient Peruvians is arid, as the
prevailing winds are from the east and the moisture is taken from them
by the high Andes mountains, and thus the rivers are few and with but
little water in them, often dry for a long time, and there is but little
rainfall, if at all. In order to overcome this lack of moisture and to
add to the fertile area of the country, the Peruvians built reservoirs
and aqueducts. These aqueducts were sometimes above ground and sometimes
underground and some were quite long, one at least having been between
four and five hundred miles in length and twelve feet deep and wide. As
they did not use the arch they could not well cross depressions or
streams and had to make long detours, and sometimes they tunneled in the
mountains for the passages. They had sluices by means of which the
water could be turned on to the land and they were very careful in
allowing the right amount of water to be used on the fields. The
construction of these aqueducts, and other great buildings, is all the
more remarkable when it is considered that these people had no iron
tools of any kind whatever.
They were acquainted with the principle of fertilizing the crop. A small
sardine-like fish was abundant along the coast, which they caught and
often placed with the grains of maize in the holes in planting. Guano,
the deposit of sea-fowls on the islands along the coast, was used in
great quantity by them, and much care was given to its proper
distribution to the different districts. No one was allowed on the
islands during the breeding season and such trespass and killing the
birds at any time were punished by death. "Inland other forms of manure
were used."[20]
As most of the country of the Peruvian empire lay in the torrid zone and
consisted of low coast land, elevated land, and mountainous regions, it
would have all ranges of climate, according to elevation, and without
any great changes of temperature in any one part. Thus all kinds of
agricultural products could be cultivated, such as would be found in
tropical and temperate regions. In the warm coast region cotton was
grown in great abundance and the banana and the cassava; in the more
elevated regions the great staple produced was maize and also manioc,
guava, groundnuts, tobacco, beans, gourds, and tomatoes; and in the
higher and colder parts were found the potato, quinoa, coca, and maguey.
Fishing was an important industry and on the coast regions it ranked
next to agriculture. They had a kind of raft, balsa, made of bundles of
reeds or poles fastened together and they used nets, harpoons made of
copper or tipped with copper, and hooks of bone or copper. Fowling was
carried on by means of nets and quite largely engaged in especially
along the coast where there were great numbers of birds. Game was
plentiful in the mountainous regions and often great drives were made,
sometimes as many as fifty or sixty thousand people took part in one and
in which thirty thousand head of game might have been taken. They used
dogs in hunting, having had at least two varieties of hunting dogs.
Beasts of prey, such as pumas, bears, foxes, and wild-cats were killed.
The real purpose of the hunt, though, was to capture the huanaco and
vicuña, from which the wool was cut and then the greater part of them,
the females and best males, were turned loose to let the wool grow for
another year, some being kept for food. Besides these wild animals, they
kept great flocks of llamas and alpacas, the alpaca having been raised
for its wool and the llama for a beast of burden, for its wool, and also
for its flesh for eating.
The Peruvians excelled in the art of weaving. They made cloth, tapestry,
gauze, and embroidery. They used cotton and wool for the most part,
although there was a thread made from the fiber of the maguey. One of
the principal occupations of the women was the preparation of the thread
for weaving. In the early times it would seem that the loom was unknown
but at the time of the entrance of the Spaniards into the country the
work was done by true weaving on the loom. There were a number of
designs used, variations showing from one period to another. Various
colors were used. The patterns were woven in the material or placed on
the cloth in the form of embroidery or painted on the cloth, and
sometimes the cloth was ornamented with feathers placed on it in the
form of patterns. They also wove a double-faced cloth in which the
colors were different on the two sides. Delicate gauzes were made in
which designs were embroidered on fine net background.
Pottery was another important industry. There were very many designs and
all kinds of utensils and the workmanship was good. Gold was obtained
from deposits in streams and silver was mined. These metals were cast,
hammered, soldered, and inlaid, as the people were very skillful in
working with these metals and did especially fine work. They made vases,
bracelets, mirrors, necklaces, and all kinds of delicate ornaments.
Copper was greatly used, tin having been mixed with it. They made from
this various kinds of implements and tools and weapons. They were quite
skillful in wood-carving and inlaying was widely practiced, not only on
wood but also on bone and shell and stone. They displayed skill in
stone-carving, being able to cut the hardest stones, as emeralds and
other precious stones. Their implements were of copper or stone, as iron
was not at all in use.
Money was not in use among the Peruvians and so there was required an
exchange of products. As the products of the country varied it became
necessary that ways should be provided whereby people could have
opportunity to exchange what they had for things greatly needed from
other people of a different calling. This was done by means of fairs
held throughout the empire. In the more populous places they took place
three times a month. "These fairs afforded so many holidays for the
relaxation of the industrious laborers."[21]
=Training of the Inca and the Order of the Huaracu.= "In his early
years, the royal offspring was intrusted to the care of the _amautas_,
or 'wise men,' as the teachers of Peruvian science were called, who
instructed him in such elements of knowledge as they possessed, and
especially in the cumbrous ceremonial of their religion, in which he was
to take a prominent part. Great care was also bestowed on his military
education, of the last importance in a state which, with its professions
of peace and good will, was ever at war for the acquisition of empire.
"In this military school he was educated with such of the Inca nobles as
were nearly of his own age; for the sacred name of Inca--a fruitful
source of obscurity in their annals--was applied indifferently to all
who descended by the male line from the founder of the monarchy. At the
age of sixteen the pupils underwent a public examination, previous to
their admission to what may be called the order of chivalry. This
examination was conducted by some of the oldest and most illustrious
Incas. The candidates were required to show their prowess in the
athletic exercises of the warrior; in wrestling and boxing, in running
such long courses as fully tried their agility and strength, in severe
fast of several days' duration, and in mimic combats, which, although
the weapons were blunted, were always attended with wounds, and
sometimes with death. During this trial, which lasted thirty days, the
royal neophyte fared no better than his comrades, sleeping on the bare
ground, going unshod, and wearing a mean attire--a mode of life, it was
supposed, which might tend to inspire him with more sympathy with the
destitute. With all this show of impartiality, however, it will probably
be doing no injustice to the judges to suppose that a politic discretion
may have somewhat quickened their perceptions of the real merits of the
heir-apparent.
"At the end of the appointed time, the candidates selected as worthy of
the honors of their barbaric chivalry were presented to the sovereign,
who condescended to take a principal part in the ceremony of the
inauguration. He began with a brief discourse, in which, after
congratulating the young aspirants on the proficiency they had shown in
martial exercises, he reminded them of the responsibilities attached to
their birth and station, and, addressing them affectionately as
'children of the Sun,' he exhorted them to imitate their great
progenitor in his glorious career of beneficence to mankind. The novices
then drew near, and, kneeling one by one before the Inca, he pierced
their ears with a golden bodkin; and this was suffered to remain there
till an opening had been made large enough for the enormous pendants
which were peculiar to their order, and which gave them, with the
Spaniards, the name of _orejones_. This ornament was so massy in the
ears of the sovereign that the cartilage was distended by it nearly to
the shoulder, producing what seemed a monstrous deformity in the eyes of
the Europeans, though, under the magical influence of fashion, it was
regarded as a beauty by the natives.
"When this operation was performed, one of the most venerable of the
nobles dressed the feet of the candidates in the sandals worn by the
order, which may remind us of the ceremony of buckling on the spurs of
the Christian knight. They were then allowed to assume the girdle or
sash around the loins, corresponding with the _toga virilis_ of the
Romans, and intimating that they had reached the season of manhood.
Their heads were adorned with garlands of flowers, which, by their
various colors, were emblematic of the clemency and goodness that should
grace the character of every true warrior; and the leaves of an
evergreen plant were mingled with the flowers, to show that these
virtues should endure without end. The prince's head was further
ornamented by a fillet, or tasselled fringe, of a yellow color, made of
the fine threads of the vicuña wool, which encircled the forehead as the
peculiar insignia of the heir-apparent. The great body of the Inca
nobility next made their appearance, and, beginning with those nearest
of kin, knelt down before the prince and did him homage as successor to
the crown. The whole assembly then moved to the great square of the
capital, where songs and dances and other public festivities closed the
important ceremonial of the _huaracu_."[22]
=Education.= Education in ancient Peru was wholly reserved for the
nobility. The common people were treated very kindly by the ruling
class, but it was the theory of their government that the masses were
only children and must be treated as such. The following from one of
their leading sovereigns portrays this idea: "Science was not intended
for the people; but for those of generous blood. Persons of low degree
are only puffed up by it, and rendered vain and arrogant. Neither should
such meddle with the affairs of government; for this would bring high
offices into disrepute, and cause detriment to the state."[23]
The youth of the nobility were placed under "wise men," who were the
only ones having sufficient learning to do such work. The youth were
trained for the especial kind of duties they were to perform in after
life. They were taught the laws of their country, the principles of
government, and were well grounded in the use of their mother tongue.
Those who were to enter into a religious life were carefully instructed
in regard to the rites and ceremonies of the religion of the country.
All were made familiar with the use of the quipus.
The quipus were used for counting and computing numbers. The quipu was a
cord near two feet long, made of threads of different colors twisted
together and having smaller threads hanging from them like fringe. These
threads were of different colors with knots in them which served instead
of ciphers in computing. Sometimes the threads represented abstract
ideas, as, white stood for peace, red for war, and, again they
represented concrete objects, as, white was for silver, yellow for gold.
LITERATURE
1. ... Ancient Peru--Its people and its monuments. _Harper's Magazine_,
VII. (1853), 7-38.
2. Joyce, Thomas A., South American archæology.
3. Nadaillac, Marquis de, Prehistoric America.
4. Prescott, William H., History of the conquest of Peru.
5. Winsor, Justin, Narrative and critical history of America.
CHAPTER III
THE CHILD IN EGYPT
=The Country.= The desert stretching across Africa from the Atlantic
Ocean on the west extends into Western Asia and in its whole extent it
is broken only in one place and that is the long, narrow valley made by
the Nile river. In this valley snow and frost are unknown and the chief
characteristic of the climate is its combined warmth and dryness. There
is but little rainfall throughout this region and yet there is abundance
of moisture, which comes from the annual overflow of the Nile, and which
overflow also greatly enriches the soil. The deserts surrounding Egypt
and the cataracts of the Nile at its southern border isolated this
country so that it was not readily disturbed by outside peoples. This
isolation, with the warm climate and the productive soil, gave just the
conditions necessary for the development of mankind in its early times
and thus arose a people in this region which developed into a great
nation, extending from about 5,000 years before Christ down to its
overthrow by the Persians in 525 B. C. The country was divided into
Upper Egypt, the principal city of which was Thebes, Middle Egypt, with
Memphis as the principal city, and Lower Egypt, which included the
Delta, its chief city being Heliopolis.
From the cataracts on the South to the Mediterranean Sea the Nile
pursues its course for over five hundred miles, till within sixty miles
of its mouth it divides into branches and forms the part called the
Delta. The cultivable land, depending upon the extent of the inundation,
averages about five and a half miles in width, varying from two miles in
its narrowest part to ten and three-quarters in its widest part,
including the river. On the west of the valley is a range of hills,
which protects it from the sand of the desert, and on the east, between
the Nile and the Red Sea, is also another range of hills. Lying at the
foot of the hills is a strip of sand, sometimes as great as two and a
half miles in breadth, which is not reached by the inundation and
consequently remains a waste. The demarcation between this waste and
the fertile soil is very marked, so as to be readily noted. The rock in
these hills varies, at the southern extremity being found the granite,
from which were cut out their monoliths and made into obelisks and
collossi; further north is found sandstone of various colors, and from
which were built the palaces and temples of that region; and following
this district is a part wherein there is a limestone formation, in which
region are found the pyramids, mostly composed of this stone.
=The People.= The ancient Egyptians, although in Africa, were not from
African races but were of Asiatic descent, as the formation of their
skulls, their features, their hair, and their language, show that they
were of a Caucasian race. "The Egyptians appear to have been among the
darkest races with which the Greeks of the early times came into direct
contact.... The hair was usually black and straight. In no case was it
'woolly,' though sometimes it grew in short, crisp curls.... The
forehead was straight, but somewhat low; the nose generally long and
straight, but sometimes slightly aquiline. The lips were over-full; but
the upper lip was short, and the mouth was seldom too wide. The chin was
good, being well-rounded, and neither retreating nor projecting too far.
The most marked and peculiar feature was the eye, which was a long,
narrow slit, like that of the Chinese, but placed horizontally and not
obliquely. An eyebrow, also long and thin, but very distinctly
pencilled, shaded it. The coloring was always dark, the hair, eyebrows,
eyelashes, and beard (if any) being black, or nearly so, and the eyes
black or dark brown.
"In form the Egyptian resembled the modern Arab. He was tall; his limbs
were long and supple; his head was well placed upon his shoulders; his
movements were graceful; his carriage dignified. In general, however,
his frame was too spare; and his hands and feet were unduly large. The
women were as thin as the men, and had forms nearly similar. Children,
however, appear to have been sufficiently plump; but they are not often
represented."[24]
The people were divided into classes and although the separation of the
classes was very marked and distinct, yet there was really no rigid
caste system, as the boundaries were crossed by people ascending from a
lower class into a higher. Of course, as with all people, it was quite
customary for the son to take up the work of his father, but, at least,
in some cases this was not compulsory. In one instance it is shown where
the occupation of architect had descended from father to son for
twenty-one generations. There is difficulty in knowing just what were
the divisions of society but at any rate there were at least three
distinct classes, which were the priestly class, the military class, and
the rest of the people. The first two classes, from whom came the king,
were exempt from taxation. The rest of the people had to bear the burden
of the taxes, to construct the public works, to perform the agricultural
tasks, and to carry on all mechanical and other pursuits. They had a
hard time and yet the laws regarding them seem to have been justly
administered and it would appear as if they were contented with their
condition.
"The occupations of the common people in Egypt were carefully watched by
the magistrate, and no one was allowed to live an idle life, useless to
himself and to the community. It was thought right that the industrious
citizen should be encouraged, and distinguished from the lazy or the
profligate; and in order to protect the good and detect the wicked, it
was enacted that every one should at certain times present himself
before the magistrates, or provincial governors, and give in his name,
his place of abode, his profession or employment, and the mode in which
he gained his livelihood, the particulars being duly registered in the
official report. The time of attendance was fixed, and those from the
same parish proceeded in bodies to the appointed office, accompanied by
their respective banners, and each individual being introduced singly to
the registering clerks, gave in his statement and answered the necessary
questions."[25]
=Slavery.= Slavery has a very early date, as it is found at the very
beginning of history, which is true in Egypt as elsewhere. The origin of
slavery cannot be traced but in the early history of Egypt it appears
that the slaves came from outside countries, gained through wars and
raids and by purchase from dealers. Many of the captives who became
slaves were placed in the service of the king and used on public works,
as the building of temples, cutting canals, raising dykes and
embankments, and the like. They were used in private, both black and
white, to do the work in the fields and in the homes and elsewhere. They
attended on guests at banquets and also were used to amuse them by
singing and dancing and in other ways.
The master had full power over his slaves, could sell them, remove them
from place to place, if they escaped could pursue and recapture them,
and do with them as he pleased, and yet he could not wilfully murder one
of them or, if so, he himself was put to death. "The very kind treatment
of Joseph, the mode of his liberation, and his subsequent marriage with
the daughter of a freeborn Egyptian, a high functionary of the
sacerdotal order, are striking proofs of the humanity of the Egyptians
and of their indulgent conduct toward manumitted slaves."[26] At the
same time, as with slaves everywhere and at all times, no doubt they
were often cruelly treated, as is given concerning the Israelites, when
"there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph."[27]
=The Home.= The houses in the towns varied in size, many of one story
and maybe some of four or five stories, but for the great part not above
two stories. The streets of the towns were narrow. The poorer classes
lived much in the open air and so did not use their houses greatly. The
wealthier classes built their houses so as to be cool throughout the
summer. To keep their houses cool "a line of trees ran parallel with the
front of the house; and to prevent injuries from cattle or from any
accident, the stems were surrounded by a low wall, pierced with square
holes to admit the air."[28] The material used in constructing the
houses was crude brick, baked in the sun, a material peculiarly suited
to the climate. Wood was used for beams and doors, sometimes for floors,
and the finer imported woods for decorative purposes.
The houses were of different sizes and arrangement. Some of the houses
were small, having an open court in front, with three or four small
rooms adjoining for storing grain and other things, and a single chamber
on a second floor above these rooms, stairs leading to it from the
court. Such houses as these small single ones probably were found only
in the country. In the towns the smaller houses were usually built in a
solid row along a street, with a courtyard, common to several dwellings.
The wealthier people had separate houses, which sometimes were quite
large, covering a good deal of ground.
Before the front door was a portico or porch, about twelve or fifteen
feet high and supported on columns of stone, or if of wood they were
stained to represent stone. There was a large front entrance and on
either side a small door, probably for servants and ordinary use.
Sometimes on the lintels or imposts of the entrance the owner's name was
written and over the door was placed a phrase, as, "The Good House."
Inside next to the entrance was a small open court with a receiving door
for visitors, on the opposite side of which was a door through which the
master of the house came to receive the callers. From this small court
doors led to a larger court, which was shaded by trees. The rooms of the
house were arranged on the right and left of the large court, opening
into it. The rooms on the ground floor were used chiefly as store-rooms
for furniture, goods of various kinds, wines, oil, etc. Over the rooms
on the ground floor were placed the chambers of the upper story, with
stairs leading to them.
The ceilings of the rooms were formed with rafters of the date tree with
transverse layers of palm branches or planks and sometimes they were
vaulted and made of brick and in the houses of the rulers they might
have been arched with stone. The floors were of stone or a composition
made of lime and other materials. The doors opened inward, both of the
rooms and the outside entrance. The doors were made of wood, often
stained to imitate foreign and rare wood. They were made of one or two
valves and they turned on pins of bronze, which were fastened to the
wood with nails of the same metal, and they were secured within by means
of a bar or bolt or with a wooden lock. The openings for the windows
were small as the cloudless sky of Egypt gave out brilliant light and
small openings let in less heat. The windows had wooden shutters of one
or two valves, opening on pins and secured by bars and bolts, as the
doors. The walls and ceilings were stuccoed and ornamented with various
devices painted on them, being tastefully done in form and arrangement
of colors. A terrace was placed on top of the house and covered with a
roof and supported by columns, which during the summer provided a refuge
from the heat of the day and a sleeping-place at night.
Beside these town places there were villas, which sometimes were quite
great in extent with a large mansion and beautiful gardens, watered by
canals from the Nile, and all surrounded by a wall.
The poorer classes of people sat cross-legged, crouched on the ground,
knelt on one or both knees, or sat on the heels. Sometimes as a token of
respect to superiors, the people of the higher classes knelt or sat on
the heels, but usually they used chairs or stools or couches.
The chairs were of various kinds, some of them of elegant form and made
of ebony and other fine woods, inlaid with ivory, and covered with rich
stuffs. Beside the single chair, they had a double chair for two
persons, which often was reserved for the master and mistress of the
house, and occasionally offered to guests. Most of the chairs had backs,
some had a raised piece at the back, while others were made in the form
of camp-stools. They were usually about as high as they are now, but
some of the chairs were quite low, the seat sometimes being as low as
eight inches from the floor. The legs were usually made in imitation of
those of an animal, as, of the lighter chairs like the legs of an
antelope, of the heavier like those of a lion. In the finer chairs bars
were not used to unite the legs. The seats were made of wood or leather
and sometimes of interlaced string or leather thongs, over which a
cushion was placed.
The finer stools were very much as the chairs, of fine workmanship and
of rare woods inlaid with ivory. Some of the cheaper ones had solid
sides while others had three legs. They had footstools with open or
closed sides, covered with leather or interlaced string, as with the
chairs. They used couches, some of which were most beautiful in form and
workmanship. They used mats and carpets and rugs.
The tables of the Egyptians were round, square, or oblong. They were
generally made of wood, although some were of stone or metal. The
smaller tables often had but one support, in the center, while the
larger ones had three or four legs or were made with solid sides. In
sleeping, for the head they used a low half cylinder, usually of wood,
sometimes of pottery or stone, some of the wooden ones being made of
rare woods and ornamented. The poorer people slept on mats on the floor
but probably the wealthier people had bedsteads made in wicker form of
palm branches and some, perhaps, were of wood and bronze.
=Women and Marriage.= We find the women having considerable power in
ancient Egypt. They had full control of the home, as it appears that
the husband entered the house of his wives, rather than the wives to
have entered his. Royal authority and supreme direction of affairs were
intrusted without reserve to women. The women went often into public, at
some of the public festivals they were even expected to attend with
their husbands. Even greater privileges were accorded to the women of
the middle and lower classes as they often went and came as they liked.
Plurality of wives was allowed, except in the case of priests, who by
law were permitted but one wife. Yet the Egyptians generally restricted
themselves to one wife. Marriage of brother and sister was permitted and
seemingly encouraged from a religious point of view.
Although in most cases they might not have had but one wife, yet they
had concubines. These appear to have been obtained mostly in war or
bought as slaves from foreign dealers, not for most part being native
Egyptian women. These concubines were both white and black, but the
black were used as domestics in the family. Sometimes the white
concubine took a prominent part in the family, ranking next to the wives
and children.
All the children born to a father were considered legitimate whether the
offspring of a wife or of some other woman, but those who were born of a
brother and sister in legitimate marriage took precedence of those whose
mother was of inferior rank or a slave.
The people of old Egypt held strong opinions on the behavior of their
women and so punished adultery very severely. A woman detected in
adultery had her nose cut off, as it was thought this would be a severe
blow to her charms and so make her less attractive. The man was
condemned to receive a bastinado of one thousand blows. If a man used
force toward a free woman he was very cruelly punished.
=Child and Parent.= The Egyptians were very fond of their children. Even
the most consequential pontiff did not affect indifference toward them.
They cared for the children and did not permit the father to have any
right over the life of his offspring. The punishment for child-murder
was very severe. They did not take the life of the offender, but gave to
him a punishment which would well portray to him the heinousness of the
crime. In the case of the killing of a child, it was ordered that the
corpse of the child be fastened to the neck of the parent offending, and
for three entire days and nights was the embrace of the dead child to
continue, under the watchful eyes of a public guard. The murder of a
parent was considered the most wicked of all crimes. In this case the
criminal was sentenced to be lacerated with sharpened reeds and after
being thrown on thorns he was burnt to death. In case a pregnant woman
was sentenced to death, the punishment did not take place till after the
birth of the child, both because they thought it wrong to take the life
of an innocent being and also they did not wish to deprive the father of
the child, which might become his support in later life.
Children were taught to pay great respect to old age. The children's
greatest duty was respect for and care of parents. This was just as
binding among the upper classes as with the lower. This was carried up
even to the very highest, as the sons of the king acted as fan-bearers
to him, and they also walked on foot behind his chariot in triumphal
processions.
=Dress.= The lower orders of the Egyptian people dressed in a very
simple manner. The men wore a sort of apron, or kilt, held at the waist
by a girdle or sash, or else short drawers, extending half way to the
knees. Sometimes the apron was simply bound round the loins and lapped
over in front. When at heavy labor the men would even wear less
clothing, as they would use the girdle about the body at the waist and
fasten to it in front a roll of linen and pass this between the legs and
fasten it to the girdle at the back. The men of the higher orders used
the apron also and wore over it a dress which extended to the ankles and
had large sleeves. Sometimes this dress was fringed on the border around
the legs. Over this for cool weather they wore a woolen cloak. Sometimes
they wore over the apron a skirt with short sleeves and over this a
loose robe with the right arm left exposed. As a distinguishing mark,
the princes wore a peculiar badge at the side of the head, which
descended to the shoulders and was frequently adorned and terminated
with a gold fringe.
The women of the lower classes usually wore a loose robe or shirt, with
tight or full sleeves, fastened at the neck with a string, and over this
they wore a sort of petticoat with a girdle about it at the waist, and,
often while at hard work, this costume was further simplified by their
wearing merely the loose shirt or robe and going barefooted. The women
of the higher orders wore a petticoat, or gown, held by a colored sash
at the waist or by straps over the shoulders, and over this they wore a
large loose robe, with full sleeves and tied in front below the breast.
Slaves and servants were not allowed to dress as their mistresses. They
wore a long tight gown, tied at the neck, with short sleeves, reaching
nearly to the elbows. When entertaining guests by dancing or otherwise
at banquets and the like, these women wore over their dress a long loose
robe and strings of beads around their hips.
The material used for the clothing was sometimes cotton but linen was
preferred. Wool was used for cloaks for colder weather. Some of the
material was of very fine texture, this being particularly true of the
linen. There was a great variety of patterns in brilliant colors. In
some of the striped patterns, the stripes were of gold threads,
alternating with red lines as a border. The most elegant stuff and
beautiful patterns were reserved for the robes of the deities and the
dresses of queens.
The men of ancient Egypt shaved the head and face, never letting the
hair grow except when they were in mourning. Women, on the contrary,
never had their hair cut off, even in mourning or after death. They wore
their hair long and plaited, generally in a triple plait, the ends being
left loose; but more usually two or three plaits were fastened together
at the ends by a woolen string of the same color as the hair, and
falling around the head to the shoulders. An ornamental fillet was bound
around the head and fastened with a lotus bud, which fell over the
forehead. The plaits of hair at the side were held in place by a comb or
band and sometimes a round stud or pin was thrust into them at the
front. The male slaves had their heads and faces shaved as their
masters. The female slaves generally bound their hair at the back of the
head into a sort of loop; sometimes they arranged it in long plaits at
the back and at the sides of the neck and face.
The men wore wigs both within the house and without. Sometimes the whole
wig was of plaited hair, sometimes the upper portion was of curled hair
and the lower part of plaited hair, and again the whole wig was of short
locks of equal length. Too, cheap wigs were made in woolen and other
stuffs in imitation of hair. "The wig was worn by every gentleman; and
though it might appear ill-suited to a hot climate, the interlaced
texture of the ground to which the hair was fastened, and the protection
of this last against the sun, rendered it a most effective, and at the
same time the coolest, kind of covering for the head."[29]
"The most singular custom of the Egyptians was that of tying a false
beard under the chin, which was made of plaited hair, and of a peculiar
form, according to the person by whom it was worn. Private individuals
had a small beard, scarcely two inches long; that of a king was of
considerable length, square at the bottom; and the figures of gods were
distinguished by its turning up at the end. No man ventured to assume,
or affix to his image, the beard of a deity; but after their death it
was permitted to substitute this divine emblem on the statues of kings,
and all other persons who were judged worthy of admittance to the
Elysium of futurity, in consequence of their having assumed the
character of Osiris, to whom the souls of the pure returned on quitting
their earthly abode."[30]
Both men and women wore sandals, which often were carefully and
beautifully made. They were made of leather, and lined with cloth, or of
palm leaves, papyrus stalks, or other similar materials in a sort of
woven or interlaced work. Some were pointed and turned up in front, some
had a sharp flat point, while still others were nearly round.
The Egyptians liked ornaments very much. They used gold and silver and
precious stones, and also cheaper materials were used in imitation of
these. Women wore earrings, some quite large. The women seem to have
been exceedingly fond of rings, sometimes wearing two or three on the
same finger, often wearing them on every finger of the left hand and at
the same time on a finger or two of the right hand, and they even wore a
ring on the thumb. They wore anklets. Both men and women wore armlets,
bracelets, and necklaces.
The men carried walking-sticks. These were of various lengths, running
from three to six feet. Some had a knob at the top while others had a
peg projecting from the side. On entering a house the sticks were left
at the door or in the hall. Where a party was being given, sometimes a
poor man was employed by the master of the house to hold the sticks of
the guests. Quite often the name of the owner was written in
hieroglyphics on the stick.
For improving their appearance, the ladies of ancient Egypt used paints
and cosmetics. They applied kohl to the eyes, they used ointment on the
body, the ointment having been scented in various ways, they stained the
fingers with red _henneh_ and the eyelids with a moistened powder of a
black color. They kept the paints and ointments in bottles and boxes and
vases of various forms and materials, some being ornamented. They had
pins and needles. Some of the needles were of bronze and from three to
three and a half inches in length. Some of the pins were seven or eight
inches in length, with or without heads, used for arranging the plaits
or curls of the hair. They had combs, usually of wood, about four inches
long and six wide, some being double with small teeth on one side and
large teeth on the other side. They had mirrors of mixed metal, chiefly
copper, carefully made and highly polished, nearly round in form, and
with handles of wood, stone, or metal.
These people were of cleanly habits, both men and women. As was given
before, the men kept the head and face wholly shaved. They used warm and
cold baths. "The priests were remarkable for their love of cleanliness,
which was carried so far that they shaved the whole body every three
days, and performed frequent daily ablutions, bathing twice a day and
twice during the night."[31]
=Food and Drink.= Beef and goose constituted the principal part of the
animal food throughout Egypt, yet the cow was held sacred and forbidden
to be eaten.[32] Among the animals used for food were the ox, kid, wild
goat, and gazelle. Of fowls there were the goose and duck, the widgeon
and quail and other wild birds. There were fish in plenty. They had a
variety and abundance of vegetables, among them being onions, garlic,
lentils, beans, cucumbers, and melons. The lotus, papyrus, and other
plants that grew abundantly along the Nile furnished the greatest food
for the poorer people. Among the grains they had wheat, barley, and
durra. Of the fruits were dates, figs, pomegranates, olives, almonds,
peaches, and grapes.
For grinding the grain they had a mill of two circular stones, the lower
one fixed and the upper one arranged to turn on a pivot. The grinding
was done by a woman turning the upper stone by a handle, the grain being
poured through an opening in the center of the upper stone so as to get
between the stones to be crushed and ground. The same kind of a mill
was made on a larger scale and turned by animals. The better classes
used bread made from wheat while the poorer people used cakes of barley
or durra flour.
Dinner probably came at midday and supper in the evening. It would seem
that they washed before the meal as well as after partaking of it. A
napkin was presented to each person for wiping the mouth after drinking.
It was their custom to sit together about a table at their meals, as we
do now. Men and women sat together, although sometimes the sexes were
entertained separately in a different part of the room, on which
occasion the master and the mistress of the house sat close together on
two chairs or on a double chair at the upper end of the room. Water,
cooled in porous bottles, or wine was served to the guests. Knives were
used for the carving of a large joint and spoons were provided the
guests, for soups and other liquids, but they did not have knives or
forks, so they ate with their fingers, each one dipping his bread into a
dish placed in their midst, one after another according to rank as
guests.
"The Egyptians, a scrupulously religious people, were never remiss in
expressing their gratitude for the blessings they enjoyed, and in
returning thanks to the gods for that peculiar protection they were
thought to extend to them and to their country, above all nations of the
earth. They therefore never sat down to meals without saying grace; and
Josephus says that when the seventy-two elders were invited by Ptolemy
Philadelphus to sup at the palace, Nicanor requested Eleazer to say
grace for his countrymen, instead of those Egyptians, to whom that duty
was committed on other occasions."[33]
"It was a custom of the Egyptians, during (or according to Herodotus
after) their repasts, to introduce a wooden image of Osiris, from one
foot and a half to three feet in height, in the form of a human mummy,
standing erect, as Plutarch informs us, in a case, or lying on a bier,
and to show it to each of the guests, warning him of his mortality, and
of the transitory nature of human pleasures. He was reminded that some
day he would be like that figure; that men ought 'to love one another,
and avoid those evils which tend to make them consider life too long,
when in reality it is too short'; and while enjoying the blessings of
this world, to bear in mind that their existence was precarious, and
that death, which all ought to be prepared to meet, must eventually
close their earthly career."[34]
Wine was their favorite beverage and they had several different kinds of
it. They indulged in it very freely and there were no restrictions on
its use by individuals. It was used by all classes of the people, by the
priests, furnished to soldiers, offered to the gods, and prescribed as
medicine. Women, both young and old, were permitted to have wine, and it
would appear as if there were no restrictions as to their use of it.
The Egyptians also had beer, which was made from barley, and as they did
not grow hops they used lupins, skirret, and an Assyrian root for
flavoring it.[35] "Besides beer, the Egyptians had what Pliny calls
factitious, or artificial, wine, extracted from various fruits, as figs,
myxas, pomegranates, as well as herbs, some of which were selected for
their medicinal properties."[36]
There were excesses in drinking committed by people of all classes, both
men and women. At the banquets of the rich stimulants were sometimes
used to excite to further drinking, the cabbage having been one of the
vegetables used for such purpose.
=Food and Clothing of Children.= Swaddling clothes do not seem to have
been used by the Egyptians as they were among the Jews and some other
nations. If the child could not walk, he was carried by the nurse or
mother before her or at her side, in a shawl thrown around her back over
a shoulder. It was the custom, no matter whether the child had little or
no clothing on, to have a string of beads about the neck, having
occasionally a charm suspended in the center, a symbol of truth and
justice. These were for the purpose of keeping ill luck from the child,
and to make him wise and virtuous.
"The dresses of children of the lower classes were very simple; and, as
Diodorus informs us, the expenses incurred in feeding and clothing them
amounted to a mere trifle. 'They feed them,' he says, 'very lightly, and
at an incredibly small cost; giving them a little meal of the coarsest
and cheapest kind, the pith of the papyrus, baked under the ashes, with
the roots and stalks of some marsh weeds, either raw, boiled, or
roasted; and since most of them are brought up, on account of the
mildness of the climate, without shoes, and indeed without any other
clothing, the whole expense incurred by the parents does not exceed 20
drachmæ (about 13 shillings) each; and this frugality is the true reason
of the populousness of Egypt.' But the children of the higher orders
were often dressed like grown persons, with a loose robe reaching to the
ankles, and sandals."[37]
=Industries.= The ancient Egyptians engaged in many industries and
reached a high stage in the development of their country and their own
powers. The country was immensely rich, as was shown from the objects of
luxury found among them, and they loved pomp and splendor. Their
accomplishments come to us from the accounts of ancient writers and are
depicted through sculptures and paintings found upon the walls of
temples, palaces, and tombs, and remains of their work still exist
sufficient to show the great things they did.
The life of ancient Egypt depended upon the annual rise of the Nile,
caused by the rains and melting of snow on the mountains in the interior
of Africa. This rise begins in June, reaches the highest point in
September, remains stationary a few days, then recedes, and by December
the flood is past. This inundation, spreading over the whole country,
left the land covered with a rich dressing so that no further
fertilizing was necessary and made ancient Egypt probably the most
fertile tract of country in the world. This rising of the Nile produced
a line of industries, such as the building of canals and dykes and
irrigation works as well as the greatest industry of all, that of
agriculture.
Because of the favorable conditions in Egypt, as mentioned above, and
the dense population, agriculture was the principal industry. So
efficient did the people become in this and the agricultural laborers
were so frugal in their mode of living that there was a great surplus of
products each year, which gave Egypt advantages which no other country
possessed, giving them the balance of trade with other nations. The
principal grains were wheat, barley, and durra. Beside these grains they
grew beans, peas, and lentils, clovers, lupins, and vetches, flax and
cotton, various medicinal herbs, and of vegetables, garlic, leeks,
onions, endive, radishes, melons, cucumbers, and lettuce, in fact, a
very large number and a great variety of plants.
As soon as the water began to subside and land to appear, they began
preparing to sow the grain. On the highlands right along the river this
would generally be in October and the other parts following. The wheat
and the barley were sown about November, the barley ordinarily ripening
in about four months and the wheat in five. The durra was usually sown
about April, as an after-crop when the wheat and the barley had been cut
and taken off the ground. The ground was prepared by means of a very
rude plow, but more often by the hoe. The seed was sown broadcast over
the surface of the land. It would appear as if neither harrow nor rake
was used to cover in the grain, but it was left as it fell on the ground
to germinate. As was stated before, the water of the overflow of the
Nile was carried by means of canals throughout Egypt and retained for
irrigating the land. When the land was elevated, as along the banks of
the Nile, they used the _shadoof_, a contrivance somewhat like the old
well-sweep and bucket, to lift up the water from the river or wells to
be poured over the soil. When crops were raised late in the year or on
soil not covered by the Nile, they sometimes used fertilizing
substances, as nitrous earth and some other kinds of dressing. In
harvesting the wheat was cut a little ways below the grain with a
toothed sickle and placed in baskets and carried to the threshing-floor,
on which it was deposited and cattle driven over it to tread out the
grain. It was then winnowed with wooden shovels and put in sacks and
taken to the granary.
Of the domestic animals were cattle, sheep, goats, hogs, horses, asses,
camels, cats, and dogs. The cat was a favorite animal among the ancient
Egyptians. They never allowed a cat to be killed purposely, cared for
them when ill, and embalmed them when dead. Dogs also were well
considered by them and they had several breeds of them. They had learned
the artificial process of hatching eggs and built ovens expressly for
that purpose. There were great flocks of sheep and they were well taken
care of, great attention having been given to their proper food in the
various seasons and they were carefully treated when ill. The skill of
the Egyptians in curing animals had reached a high stage.
Hunting was an industry as well as an amusement. There were quite a
number of different animals that they hunted. They used the bow and
arrow and other weapons and also the net, which in hunting large animals
was placed across ravines and the like to keep them from escaping. They
hunted with dogs and they even had cats trained to hunt with. The
Egyptians were expert fowlers, using for the most part nets and traps
for catching the birds. The Nile was celebrated for its fish and fishing
was an important industry. The net was greatly used in fishing and the
rod and line and spear were also used. Salted as well as fresh fish were
used as food.
There were a great number of people engaged in manufactures and many
different trades were found among the ancient Egyptians. Whether each
one was compelled by law to follow the trade of his father, it is
probable that most of them did, so that often they were able to trace
back the occupation in the family for many generations. It is probable
that each craft had its own particular part of the city set aside for it
wherein its members dwelt and carried on their particular work and which
was called after it, as, the quarter of the goldsmiths, and so on. The
workmen became very proficient in their work and a number of inventions
were made which are the same as we have now, among some of the
implements invented being the forceps, bellows, blow-pipe, and siphon.
They were celebrated for their manufacture of cloths, having made such
of cotton, wool, and linen. They were woven on hand looms, some of which
were vertical and others horizontal and must have been of considerable
size, as they wove cloth five feet wide and at least sixty feet in
length. The spinning and weaving was the work of women, although men did
sometimes engage in this work. They colored the cloths, using dyes and
paints, and varied the colors in them, making patterns and showing
figures of animals and the like. Whether they understood the principle
of the action of mordants, they used this agency to make the cloth take
the color equally and also to change the hues.
Glass was known to the Egyptians and from it they made bottles, vases,
and other utensils, beads and other ornaments, and they were quite
skillful in the use of glass in counterfeiting the amethyst and other
precious stones. They had glazed ware a long time before they used
glass. There were quite a large number of people engaged in pottery work
and they were quite skillful in the manufacture of this ware. There
were many varieties and forms of their work and it included rough
unglazed ware up to fine glazed vases, highly decorated and colored.
There were bottles not only of glass and earthenware but also of leather
and of stone and there were glass bottles enclosed in wicker-work and
others encased in leather. There were all kinds of vases, earthenware,
stone, bronze, alabaster, glass, porcelain, ivory, bone, silver, and
gold. Some of the vases were most beautiful in make and design, inlaid
with precious stones and tastefully ornamented.
There was quite an industry in metal working among them. There was
probably very little of any kinds of metals found in Egypt, having been
brought in from other countries. Gold was early used for the making of
ornaments. They soon found a way of hardening gold by alloying it with
silver. They learned to work gold in various ways. They cast it into
figures, molded it into beads by pressure, soldered it, drew it out into
wire, used it in plaiting, beat it out into sheets for gilding, engraved
it and inlaid it with precious stones. Silver came into use later than
gold and in early times it was scarcer than gold. Copper was greatly in
use among the ancient Egyptians and by alloying it with tin produced
bronze. They made many utensils and implements of it and learned to make
it so hard as to be used for woodcutting tools and chisels for cutting
limestone. Lead was used by them, as was also tin and antimony. Iron was
perhaps used in the early times, but it would appear that it was not
greatly in use till the time of the Greeks and the Romans in Egypt.
They were quite skillful in working in wood and there was a large class
of wood-workers, divided into carpenters, cabinet-makers, wheelwrights,
coopers, coffin-makers, and boat-builders. There was quite a good deal
more wood in Egypt in ancient times than now and yet not a great
variety. The principal trees were the date-palm, used for beams; the
Theban palm, used for rafts, and other purposes connected with water,
and for beams and rafters; the sycamore, used for large planks for
boxes, tables, doors, and the like; the tamarisk, a hard and compact
wood, used for the handles of tools and wooden implements; and the
acacia, used for planks and masts of boats. For ornamental purposes and
where fine woods were required, they were brought in from other
countries, as, the cedar, cypress, cherry, walnut, and deal from Syria,
and ebony and other rare woods from Ethiopia.
Wood was used for buildings and parts of buildings, for furniture,
boxes, barrels, chariots, traveling cars, palanquins, coffins, statues,
statuettes, and in boat-building. "Regarding the methods of woodworking,
certainly the axe was the primitive tool, as shown by the royal
architect being designated by the axe. In the scenes of the pyramid age
we find the saw about three feet long worked with both hands, the mallet
and chisel for cutting mortise-holes, and the adze in constant use for
shaping and for smoothing wood. To this day the small adze is a favorite
tool of the Egyptian carpenter and boat-builder. For smoothing down the
caulking inside a boat, heavy pounders of stone were used, held by a
handle worked out on each side of the block. Drills were also commonly
used both on wood and stone, worked by a bow."[38]
As they had only the hand-saw, in making planks they usually placed the
piece of timber upright and fastened it to stakes and then sawed
downward through it. In joining two boards end to end, they would cut
into their ends and join them and glue them and then insert a flat
wooden pin through them from edge to edge and then pass a round wooden
pin through the boards into the flat pin, thus effectually keeping the
joints from opening and thereby showing the thoroughness of their work.
They dovetailed and veneered and stained and painted and gilded and
inlaid their woodwork, thus displaying a high degree of skill in working
with wood.
One of the greatest industries with them was that of brick-making, which
was wholly under the control of the government and carried on solely by
it. "The use of crude bricks baked in the sun was universal throughout
the country for private and for many public buildings, and the dry
climate of Egypt was peculiarly suited to those simple materials. They
had the recommendation of cheapness, and even of durability; and those
made 3,000 years ago, whether with or 'without straw,' are even now as
firm and fit for use as when first put up in the reigns of the Amunophs
and Thothmes, whose names they bear. When made of the Nile mud, or
alluvial deposit, they required straw to prevent their cracking; but
those formed of clay (now called _Háybeh_) taken from the torrent beds
on the edge of the desert, held together without straw; and crude brick
walls frequently had the additional security of a layer of reeds or
sticks placed at intervals to act as binders."[39]
The tanning and preparation and use of leather was quite a leading
industry of ancient Egypt, so much so that a section of the city of
Thebes was set apart for the exclusive use of the workers in skins and
leather. The demand for leather was so great Egypt itself could not
supply the hides necessary and great quantities of hides were imported
from foreign countries and also the skins of wild animals were brought
in and used. They tanned the skins and dyed them and made some fine
leather and also embossed the leather.
The tools used for working in leather were a semi-circular knife, a sort
of chisel, an awl, a stone for polishing, cutting table, bending form,
hone, and a few others. They made shoes, sandals, coverings and seats
for chairs and sofas, bow-cases, ornaments and harness for chariots, and
adornments for harps. Skins were used to cover shields and other things
and they were shaped into forms for carrying water, wine, and other
liquids. They made thongs by twisting leather strips together, cutting
the strips from circular pieces of leather as is done now.
The Egyptians were famed for their manufacture of paper, which was made
from the papyrus plant. This grew almost altogether in Lower Egypt, on
marshy land or in the ponds left after the inundation of the Nile. The
right of growing and selling it belonged to the government and the
particular species from which the paper was made was closely guarded and
perhaps not allowed to grow anywhere else than in the restricted
territory in the Delta. The paper was made by removing the outer
covering of the stalk, cutting the interior lengthwise into thin pieces
and laying these together side by side on a flat board and across them
another layer, cementing the strips together with a kind of glue, then
putting all under pressure, and after drying the paper was completed and
ready for use.
The paper made from the papyrus differed in quality according to the
growth of the plant and from which part of the stalk the pieces were
taken, the stalk growing to about fifteen feet in height. The breadth of
the paper differed, running from six inches under an early Dynasty to
fourteen and a half inches under a later Dynasty. When a sheet of
papyrus had been used for writing, it was rolled up, and if important
and to be preserved for any length of time, tied round the middle and
secured by clay stamps with a seal. The cost of the papyrus was so great
that it was used only in funeral rituals, conveyances, deeds, and other
public documents, and sometimes the old writing was erased and then the
roll was written on again. For ordinary purposes of writing, pieces of
broken pottery, stone, board, and leather were used.
The Nile traversing the entire length of Egypt formed a great avenue for
trade, as it was an open and easy way for reaching all parts. Not only
did the Nile give access to all parts about it, but also the canals
going out from it and running parallel with it connected the various
parts and gave ready ways on which domestic trade could go. The other
nations bordering the Mediterranean Sea carried on important maritime
trade with Egypt and, too, there was a great caravan trade with the
interior of Africa and parts of Asia. From Ethiopia came gold, ivory,
and slaves; from Arabia was obtained an incense necessary in the
religious ceremonies; from India were received spices. "Syria took
Egyptian chariots by hundreds; Tyre imported 'fine linen with broidered
work'; Greece, large quantities of paper; India and Arabia, linen
fabrics; Etruria, glass, porcelain, and alabaster; Assyria, perhaps,
ivories. In the earlier times Egyptian manufactures must have been
altogether unrivalled; and their glass, their pottery, their textile
fabrics, their metal-work, must have circulated freely through the
various countries bordering the Mediterranean and the Red Sea."[40]
Among the important industries of Egypt were the works in sculpture,
painting, and architecture. The men engaged in these occupations ranked
high, along with the scribes.
There were three kinds of sculpture in ancient Egypt. One kind was that
of statuary, sculpture in the round, where the complete figure was
shown; a second kind was relief, where the figure was raised from the
flat surface by cutting away the stone about it; the third kind was
intaglio, in which there was a cutting of the figure into the flat
surface, sinking the figure below the surface, and in one form of this
the cutting was done about the figure so as to leave it raised from the
interior, almost up to the level of the surface of the stone.
The old Egyptians reached a stage of progress in which the block of
stone for the sculpture figure was cut away from the original rock and
transported to the place where it was to stand. Yet the figure was
rarely if ever cut entirely away from the stone and so did not stand
forth separate, detached, a statute in and of itself. That which most
kept Egyptian sculpture, perhaps, from reaching to the highest
attainment was the conventionality in the displaying of figures. As the
sculptures were used in the decoration of tombs and temples, religion,
which is ever conservative, prescribed certain attitudes for the
figures, so that there was not much left for the working out by the
individual sculptor, and although there was an exactness of finish
attained there was not that expression which comes through allowing
freedom to the individual sculptor, and in consequence there is very
much of a sameness in the products of the sculptors running through the
twenty centuries of old Egypt.
As with sculpture so with painting, the conventional forms were demanded
of the painter so that although mechanical skill became great, there was
not that high artistic effect that is attained where individuality is
permitted to display itself. The walls of buildings were not broken by
windows, as the brilliancy of light was such that few openings were
necessary and the openings let in heat. The walls on the interior were
covered with a coating of stucco, which was white or whitish, and then
decorated with paintings displaying scenes and events in the life of the
people and the nation. The ceilings were also painted. The colors used
were black and white, red, blue, and yellow, green and brown. Columns
and other parts of buildings were also stuccoed and painted and even the
same was done with statues and other products of the sculptors.
The early buildings in Egypt were made of brick or by the interweaving
of palm-sticks. From these rude structures to the great temples and
pyramids makes the architecture of that country a most marked feature of
its progress. The architecture of Egypt in its rectangular form and
massiveness fits well into the nature of the land, which frames plain
and cliff about these buildings as a proper background. Yet size is not
so much the essential characteristic of this architecture but rather
strength and durability, which were the chief features of the
structures, whether large or small. Although they were familiar with the
arch and used it very much in brickwork, yet it would appear that it was
not used in the great buildings of stone, or, if so, it was hid in the
building and kept away from the external forms.[41]
The kinds of stone used in sculpture and architecture were limestone,
sandstone, granite, basalt, alabaster, and diorite. The stone was cut
out in blocks from the quarry, the surfaces were picked smooth with a
short adze, the blocks were then sawn and cut with drills, and probably
all prepared at the quarry ready for use at the building. Sand was used
as the cutting material with the soft stones and emery with the harder
ones. Whether the cutting material was used as powder or set as separate
teeth on the copper saw blade cannot be determined, yet in some
instances it would appear that the emery was set in the tool as teeth.
The great problem to us is how these stones were transported from the
quarries and set up in their places. One obelisk is estimated to have
weighed 886 tons and it was taken over-land a distance of 138 miles.
Some of the obelisks of seventy to eighty feet in length and weighing
near 300 tons each were conveyed a distance of more than 800 miles.[42]
Two great collossi, weighing 1,175 tons each, were carried upstream a
distance of 450 miles.[43] It would appear that sometimes the stone were
placed on sleds and drawn by oxen down to the river, where by an
inclined plane they were placed on vessels, while again these blocks
were hauled by large bodies of men over-land to their places of
destination.
The greatest of all their buildings were the Great Temple at Karnak and
the Great Pyramid at Ghizeh. The temple at Karnak was 1,200 feet long
and 340 feet wide, with an entire area of 396,000 square feet, and with
pylons, obelisks, and columns, and it is called "the greatest of man's
architectural works." The Great Pyramid at Ghizeh has a square base the
length of each side of which is 764 feet, covering an area of about
twelve acres. Its original perpendicular height is estimated at about
485 feet. "The solid masonry which it contained is estimated at more
than 89,000,000 cubic feet, and the weight of the mass at 6,848,000
tons. The basement stones are many of them thirty feet in length and
nearly five feet high. Altogether the edifice is the largest and most
massive building in the world, and not only so, but _by far_ the largest
and most massive--the building which approaches it the nearest being
the Second Pyramid, which contains 17,000,000 cubic feet less, and is
very much inferior in the method of its construction."[44]
=Sickness and Death.= It would appear that the study and practice of
medicine began at a very early time in Egypt. Principles and remedies
were given out from time to time till finally they were brought together
in the form of medical works and all physicians were expected to study
them and to use the prescribed remedies. The medical skill of the
Egyptians became known to other parts of the world and they were
consulted and called to foreign countries to give advice and treatment.
They went so far as to divide the study and practice of medicine into
specialties and so there were physicians attending to one kind of
illness only, as, one for the diseases of the eyes, another for the
diseases of the intestines, and so on, accoucheurs having been usually,
if not always, women. The physicians were given salaries by the
government and fixed by it and also they were permitted to receive fees
for their advice and attendance upon patients, but when in military
service they could not charge fees.
On account of the glaring light and the sandy plains and the overflow of
the Nile, some of the prominent troubles were of the eyes and such as
were connected with malaria. In treatment of illness, it was held that
the patient had been attacked by some evil influence, hence to cure him
was first necessary to find what was the nature of this evil spirit and
to drive it out or to destroy it. This was the task of those skilled in
sorcery, through incantations, amulets, and the like. Then the diseases
that had been carried into the body by the evil influences were to be
cured by medicine and medical treatment. Physicians were held
responsible for their treatment of a disease and if contrary to the
established system they were punished and the death of a patient under
such circumstances was considered a capital offense. Yet if they had
exhausted all the prescribed remedies without producing good effect,
they could prescribe new remedies and hence an opportunity for
advancement in the science of medicine. In their practice they strove to
prevent illness by directing attention to regimen and diet; they purged
the system by use of emetics or clysters; and they used drugs and
medical herbs.
When a death occurred, all the women of the household covered their
faces with dust and mud and with bosoms exposed ran out through the
streets, striking themselves and uttering loud cries of grief. Friends
and relatives joined the procession and the demonstrations became the
louder. If the deceased person had been of wide repute, many other
people went into the line of mourners and hired mourners were employed
to increase the lamentations and thereby enlarge the public display of
respect to the dead. For seventy-two days the mourning was carried on in
the house, lamentations were made, the funeral dirge was sung, all
amusements and indulgences were abstained from, and the men allowed
their hair and beard to grow. Thus they endeavored to show respect to
the deceased and their great affliction by his departure.
One of the great arts of the ancient Egyptians was that of embalming. It
constituted a distinct profession. The embalmers had wooden models of
mummies, displaying the three different ways of embalming. The first way
of embalming was very expensive and was used only by the wealthy class
and people of high position; the second way was more simple and quite
less expensive and used by the middle class of people; the third way was
very simple and very cheap and employed by the lower classes. After
embalming the body was returned to the family and put into a case and
placed in a room upright against the wall, and sometimes they were
retained by the family for quite a while before their burial.
When the time for burial came, the mummy was put into a coffin of wood
or stone to be placed in a tomb, which may have been hewn in the rock or
built up of brick or rock and usually on the western side of the Nile.
Some of the tombs were of great extent and highly ornamented with
paintings and sculptures and some were immense structures. The pyramids
were built for tombs. The funeral of any important personage was a great
occasion. There was much display and much noisy lamentations and it was
very costly. Upon reaching the Nile the body was placed on the funeral
barge and the procession went out on the river to the lake of the dead.
Before the deceased could be taken across the lake for burial he had to
meet the tribunal of death. Forty-two judges were at the bank of the
lake and any one could bring accusation against the deceased. The judges
considered the accusation and acted upon it and if the decision was
acquittal then burial in the tomb took place, but if the accusation was
sustained burial was denied. The judgment was carried out on the body of
any person in the country, high or low, rich or poor, the meanest
subject or a Pharaoh, and there are instances of deceased Pharaohs
having been denied public burial.
"All the legitimate tendencies exerted by this singular institution were
obviously for good. It sent forth from the very entrance of the tomb a
most powerful persuasive to live a life of virtue. It appealed to some
of the strongest of human motives, and enforced that appeal by the
severest of all sanctions, the exclusion of the body from its sepulchre,
and of the soul from the abodes of the blessed. It is not a little
singular that a custom apparently so salutary, and so early introduced,
should not afterwards have been adopted by other nations."[45]
=Child and Religion.= The child played a part in the religion of the
ancient Egyptians. Even one of their gods, Harpocrates, was represented
by an infant, having his finger to his mouth and that striking
characteristic of a young child--a protruding abdomen. The birth of a
child was a matter for thanksgiving offerings through the priests to the
gods. Herodotus says: "When parents, living in town, perform vows for
the recovery of their children's health, they offer prayers to the deity
of whom the animal is sacred, and then shaving a portion, or half, or
the whole of the child's head, they put the hair into one scale of the
balance and money into the other until the latter outweighs the former;
they then give it to the person who takes care of the animal to buy fish
(or other food)."[46]
On some occasions when the sacred bull was led in procession through the
town, the procession was led by children, and on such occasions it was
thought that these children received the gift of foretelling future
events. Wilkinson gives the following from Plutarch: "They even look
upon children as gifted with a kind of faculty of divination, and they
are ever anxious to observe the accidental prattle they talk during
play, especially if it be in a sacred place, deducing from it presages
of future events."[47]
=Amusements.= In the earlier times of ancient Egypt, as of all nations,
when the struggle for living required the putting forth of the energies
and but little leisure was allowed, there was not much time for
recreation and the people were not much given to amusements. As wealth
grew and there was leisure time, the desire for amusement and
entertainment increased until there grew up in the Egyptian character a
softness and inclination to luxurious living. Great banquets were given,
where hosts vied with one another in entertaining lavishly and in
furnishing amusement for the guests, till it would appear as if they
devised every possible kind of amusement. Nor was the zest for amusement
confined to the upper classes, for during the inundation of the Nile,
when but little work could be done, the peasantry gave themselves up to
pastime and sport. Many of the kinds of entertainment given at the
banquets were performed on the streets and open places.
Dancing was an indispensable entertainment at an Egyptian party and
music was required with the dance. They danced to the music of the harp,
lyre, guitar, pipe, tambourine, and other instruments, and in the
streets also to the drum. Dancing was not done by the guests, as it was
held not to be proper for the upper classes to dance, although the lower
classes indulged in this amusement and greatly enjoyed it. The dancing
was carried on before the guests by slaves taught the steps for that
purpose or by hired performers who made a profession of furnishing
dancing and music for festive occasions. Graceful posings and movements
and especial skill and grace in the use of the hands were the important
features of the dance. Both men and women danced for hire, the women
showing the superior grace and elegance and the men displaying the most
spirit. The dress of the female dancers was usually a loose flowing
robe, reaching to the ankles, fastened at the waist, and around the hips
was a small narrow girdle of various colors and ornamented with beads.
The material of the dress was of a very fine texture and thin, showing
the form and movement of the limbs in dancing.
There were various ways of dancing. Sometimes one person danced alone,
sometimes they danced in pairs, again there were several dancers
together sometimes of both sexes and then of but one sex. Some danced to
slow music, while others preferred lively tunes, men sometimes
displaying great spirit, bounding from the ground. The aim of the dance
was to display a succession of figures in which were exhibited a great
variety of gestures. Twirling was much used in dancing and the pirouette
was quite a favorite form with them. In one dance two parties would each
dance on one leg toward one another and perform a series of evolutions
and then retire from one another. In another step, standing on one foot
the dancer would strike the ground with the heel, changing back and
forth from one foot to the other. The dances of the lower classes were
sometimes in the form of a pantomime, in which there was a preference
shown for the ludicrous rather than the graceful.
Music was very popular with the Egyptians and they had both vocal and
instrumental. They had numerous songs and for various occasions. They
had quite a variety of musical instruments. Music was used in military
movements, in religious exercises, in their social functions, and in the
wailing for the dead. Music formed a part of the education of a member
of the upper classes, but he did not display this at social functions,
as that, like dancing, was given over to professionals. Both men and
women of the priestly order, though, did render service with voice and
instrument in religious ceremonies.
"It is sufficiently evident, from the sculptures of the ancient
Egyptians, that their hired musicians were acquainted with the triple
symphony; the harmony of instruments, of voices, and of voices and
instruments. Their band was variously composed, consisting either of two
harps, with the single pipe and flute; of the harp and double pipe,
frequently with the addition of the guitar; of a fourteen-stringed harp,
a guitar, lyre, double pipe, and tambourine; of two harps, sometimes of
different sizes, one of seven, the other of four strings; of two harps
of eight strings, and a seven-stringed lyre; of the guitar, and the
square or oblong tambourine; of the lyre, harp, guitar, double pipe, and
a sort of harp, with four strings, which was held upon the shoulder; of
the harp, guitar, double pipe, lyre, and square tambourine; of the harp,
two guitars, and the double pipe; of the harp, two flutes, and a guitar;
of two harps and a flute; of a seventeen-stringed lyre, the double pipe,
and a harp of fourteen strings; of the harp and two guitars; or of two
seven-stringed harps and an instrument held in the hand, not unlike an
Eastern fan, to which were probably attached small bells, or pieces of
metal that emitted a jingling sound when shaken, like the
crescent-crowned _bells_ of our modern bands; besides many other
combinations of these various instruments; and in the Bacchic festival
of Ptolemy Philadelphus, described by Athenæus, more than 600 musicians
were employed in the chorus, among whom were 300 performers on the
_kithara_."[48]
As was stated before, dwarfs and deformed persons were attached to the
households of the greater people as a means of entertainment as in Rome
and Medieval Europe. These dwarfs and also others engaged in buffoonery
for the entertainment of guests. There were various tricks performed by
jugglers, and we find there the old cup or shell game, in which a little
ball or pea is rolled about on a board from one inverted cup to another
to guess under which it finally rested. There were many kinds of
acrobatic feats, mostly performed by women, such as two performers
swinging around in a reckless fashion while holding hands. This was
varied by two men holding the hands of two women and whirling them
around with feet braced together. There were tumbling exhibits of
turning forward and backward on the hands, somersaulting off one
another's shoulders, and even sometimes doing these feats while holding
one foot with a hand. There were tests of strength wherein two men would
sit back to back and each strive to rise first from the ground, and in
another test they would try who could lift the heaviest weight or raise
a bag of sand with a straight arm up over head. They would throw knives
at a board, each contestant striving to strike his knife in the center
of the board or on a mark.
The most common indoor games were odd and even, mora, and draughts, all
of which it would appear were played in Egypt from very ancient times.
In odd or even bones, beans, nuts, almonds, and coins were used and any
indefinite number was held between the hands, the game being to guess
whether odd or even. The game of mora was usually played by two persons,
each at the same time quickly throwing out the fingers of one hand, then
trying to guess the number of fingers shown by both. Draughts was a
favorite game of all ranks. It was played by two people on a board
similar to the present checker-board, but the pieces were not flat,
being raised, more like the pieces in chess, and picked up like chessmen
between thumb and finger. In another game hooked rods were used by which
a small hoop was to be snatched from one another, the skill in this was
for one person to get his hoop loose from his opponent's rod and then
snatch it away quickly before he had time to stop it. In one game a
player knelt with face toward the ground between two others, who held
over him in their closed hands shells or dice, the number of which he
was to guess before being allowed to rise. They played with dice and
probably played several other games of chance.
Wrestling was a favorite amusement among the lower classes. They fought
with the single-stick and among the boatmen of the Nile were conflicts
with long poles. Mock fights were common, especially with the military
classes, sometimes quite a great affair wherein a temporary fort would
be erected and attacked by a party with a battering-ram and other
implements of war and vigorously defended by the party within the fort.
There were bull fights, sometimes between the animals and again men
would fight the bulls. The animals were carefully trained to fight and
prizes were awarded to the owner of the victorious combatant. It is
pretty certain that animals were taught to perform tricks and to dance.
All classes of the Egyptians delighted in hunting, fowling, and fishing.
In hunting they used the bow, the spear, the lasso, and the net to place
across enclosures. There were preserves on some of the estates in which
animals were kept for hunting, but the greatest sport was hunting out on
the desert. Dogs were used and different breeds reared, some for
attacking, some for coursing, and the like. Sometimes there would be a
great hunt arranged, with beaters for forcing the game into quarters
where they could be enclosed with nets and then hunted within. In
hunting for birds and water-fowl the real sportsman used only the
throwing-stick, which was from a foot and a quarter to two feet in
length, about one inch and a half in breadth, and slightly curved at the
upper end. The hunter would usually go out in a boat into the places
covered with tall reeds and lotuses and gliding swiftly in among the
birds, or using a decoy bird to attract them toward him, he would cast
the throwing-stick at them as they arose and thus fell them. Often a cat
would accompany the hunter which was trained to get the birds as they
fell and bring them to the boat. In the pleasure-grounds of villas were
ponds well stocked with fish. The fish were caught from them by hook and
line. But the real fisherman used the bident spear, which sometimes had
feathers at one end, like an arrow, but more often without, and
sometimes the spear had a string attached to it to bring it back when
thrown. Running his boat over the surface of the water, as he would see
a fish he would cast his spear at it. They prided themselves on their
skill with the spear.
=Games, Plays, and Toys.= The children and young people among the
ancient Egyptians engaged in many sports and they were encouraged in
this by their elders, particularly in those activities of an outdoor
nature, as they were considered to be conducive to good health through
exercise of the body. The young people took part in the singing and
other music and at least among the lower classes in the dancing. They
went out with their parents and other relatives on fishing trips and
bird hunting and the youth went with the men on hunting trips. The youth
of both sexes practiced shooting at a target with the bow and arrow.
The game of ball was one of the great games of the Egyptians,
participated in by children and adults of both sexes, but it appears to
have been more indulged in by the women. Some of the balls were made of
leather or skin, sewed with string, and stuffed with bran or husks of
corn, some being about three inches in diameter. In one of the favorite
games the ball was thrown and caught and the one failing had to carry
the other woman, who caught it on her back till this one failed to catch
it, when she had to do the carrying. The women rode sidewise in short
petticoats on the backs of the losers. In another game the ball was
thrown as high as possible and the catcher would leap up and catch it
before the feet would touch the ground. Again when the ball was thrown
to them they would catch it with the hands behind the back and even
while standing on one leg.
The playthings of the little child are often found buried with it. They
had dolls of various kinds, being made of wood, stone, and enamelled
pottery. They often were painted, the inferior ones being the most
gaudily colored. Some were of rude construction with head and body and
without arms and legs, while others were small models of the human
figure. Some were jointed, the arms and legs moving on pins. Some had
artificial hair, while others had beads in imitation of hair hanging
from the head. Some grotesque figures were formed and by means of
strings could be made to assume various postures. One such figure was
that of a crocodile which could be made to amuse the child by its
grimaces and by the opening and closing of its mouth. Some figures of
persons could be made to go through the motions of washing and of
kneading dough. One was the figure of a person with jointed arms and
legs, which could be thrown about by the pulling of a string, and which
still exists with us today in the jumping-jack. They also had pigs,
ducks, pigeons on wheels, boats, balls, marbles, and miniature sets of
household furniture.
=Education.= The ancient Egyptians were very much interested in the
education of the young. It would appear that the parent was left entire
freedom in the selecting what education and how much the child should
have. In the matter of education there seemed to be no caste whatever,
as the poor boy and son of one of the lower classes could take his place
in school by the side of the rich boy or the son of the noble.
A clever boy in school had great opportunities, be he from whatever
class of society. He was encouraged to go on to literary life, which
meant, if successful, entering into the employ of the government and
reaching the very highest places. Many a great nobleman so arose in
Egypt and often was found on his monument after his death: "His
ancestors were unknown people."
There were elementary schools, probably none provided by the state, and
whether there were schools or not in a community, there were teachers to
be had for the instruction of the young. With the temples were connected
higher schools and in the capitals of the three districts of Egypt,
Thebes, Memphis, Heliopolis, the temple schools were quite important
centers of learning. The child started into the elementary school at
near five years of age and continued till he left for work, or to enter
a higher school, or else he might have gone into the office of a scribe
or physician or architect to learn directly the work of his profession.
The vast majority of the children received very little training beyond
the rudiments of education and what instruction was given to them by
their parents in teaching them their trades. Some of the young people
continued with their schooling and entered the schools of the temples
and there came in contact with the learned men of the state and received
a higher education. A very few of these, who displayed special aptitude
for learning, were permitted to enter into the deeper studies and to
whom was thrown open all the knowledge possessed by the wisest men of
their day. Little is known about the education of girls. As the women
ranked high in Egypt and took part in the public festivities and
religious ceremonies, they must have received such education as would
prepare them for their duties in life.
The purpose of education in ancient Egypt was to prepare for some one of
the callings of priest, scribe, architect, engineer, physician, soldier,
musician, artisan. It was necessary to be educated to enter into office
and to rise in position. Thus the education was of a utilitarian nature.
The most important calling outside the priesthood was that of the scribe.
The scribe learned about official documents and the management of business
and to read and write the three forms of writing--hieroglyphic, hierotic,
demotic--and also he studied ethics, philosophy, and law. The
architect studied mathematics and science and the history that would
give him a knowledge of art. The physician was taught such anatomy
and physiology as was known, remedies and incantations, and other
things pertaining to his calling. Whatever may be considered about
this education, it did give Egypt a high place among the old nations
of the world and caused its civilization to continue through many
centuries.
In the home and in the school it was impressed on the children to be
respectful to their elders. They were taught to be careful of looks and
gestures, that such should be of a proper kind. It was not permitted to
use any dance or ode at the feasts and sacrifices that had not been
passed on by the proper authorities. The children were not permitted to
hear or to learn any verses or songs than such as were of a virtuous
giving character.
The discipline in school was quite severe. One teacher spoke thus: "The
hawk is taught to fly and the pigeon to nest; I shall teach you your
letters, you idle villain."[49] A pedagogical saying runs: "A young
fellow has a back, he hears when we strike it."
"Plato says the Egyptians taught numbers to children in their play by
distributing amongst them a certain number of fruits, or other things,
the same number to be given to many or to few children, so that by
dividing them amongst themselves they learnt lessons in arithmetic; and
all sorts of numbers were given to them in their games and plays as
arithmetical problems."[50]
For written work they had wooden blocks covered with red or white
stucco. Copies were engraved on wooden or stone tablets and then the
children copied them on their tablets. Work was also given by dictation.
The older pupils wrote from dictation, or from copies, extracts from the
best writers. This trained also in penmanship and spelling. Often the
pupils copied an "instruction," which consisted of moral precepts of an
ancient writer. Often the instruction consisted of letters between
student and teacher.
LITERATURE
1. Brugsch-Bey, Henry, A history of Egypt under the Pharaohs.
2. Dean, Amos, A history of civilization.
3. Graves, Frank Pierrepont, A history of education, Before the middle
ages.
4. Laurie, S. S., Historical survey of pre-Christian education.
5. Maspero, G., Life in ancient Egypt and Assyria.
6. Maspero, G., The dawn of civilization.
7. Petrie, W. M. Flinders, Arts and crafts of ancient Egypt.
8. Rawlinson, George, History of ancient Egypt.
9. Wilkinson, Sir J. Gardner, A popular account of the ancient
Egyptians.
10. Wilkinson, Sir J. Gardner, The Egyptians in the time of the
Pharaohs.
11. Wilkinson, Sir J. Gardner, The manners and customs of the ancient
Egyptians.
CHAPTER IV
THE CHILD IN INDIA
=Caste.= The caste system in India was the most fixed of any of the
nations. In this way the natural divisions into which mankind placed
itself in a free country was not allowed, but fixed and hereditary
classes were formed. There were four principal classes: The Brahmans,
the priests; the Kshatriyas, the warriors; the Vaisyas, the farmers and
traders; the Sudras, the laborers. Below these was a class of the very
lowest.
There was very little opportunity for a member of one caste going into a
higher, so that an impulse for higher striving was of no avail, and if
ever such came to a member of a lower caste it must have soon died away.
This entailed especial disadvantages upon the children, for a boy's
whole situation in life depended upon the class to which the father
belonged and, consequently, his occupation and education. This rigid
caste system might have brought contentment to the people, as there was
no use of being discontented with one's lot, but such contentment could
not bring great progress.
=Women and Marriage.= In the early times in India, women were not
excluded as they were later, but they were honored and respected. They
were considered as the intellectual companion of the husband, as helper
in the daily life, and as partaker in the religious duties. They
attended the courts and assemblies and public entertainments, being
permitted to appear freely and openly on public occasions. The change
took place when they were conquered by the Moslems, from whom the custom
of the exclusion of women was learned by the Hindus or was thrust upon
them.
The Code of Manu some three centuries before Christ set the status of
woman thus, "During her childhood a woman depends on her father; during
her youth, on her husband; her husband being dead, on her sons; if she
has no sons, on the near relatives of her husband; or if in default of
them, on those of her father; if she has no paternal relatives, on the
sovereign. A woman ought never to have her own way." So it is no wonder
that the wife was treated by the husband in the harshest manner and she
to respond with the greatest humility. The following from a witness of a
hundred or more years ago, portrays some of the relations which women
bore to the opposite sex:
"The women, on the other hand, are so thoroughly accustomed to harsh and
domineering treatment from their husbands that they would be quite
annoyed if the husbands adopted a more familiar tone. I once knew a
native lady who complained bitterly that her husband sometimes affected
to be devoted to her in public and allowed himself such little
familiarities as are looked upon by us as marks of affection. 'Such
behavior,' said she, 'covers me with shame and confusion. I dare not
show myself anywhere. Did anyone ever see such bad manners amongst
people of our caste? Has he become a Feringhi (European), and does he
take me for one of their vile women?'
"As a rule a husband addresses his wife in terms which show how little
he thinks of her. _Servant_, _slave_, etc., and other equal flattering
appellations, fall quite naturally from his lips.
"A woman, on the other hand, never addresses her husband except in terms
of the greatest humility. She speaks to him as _my master_, _my lord_,
and even sometimes _my god_. In her awe of him she does not venture to
call him by his name; and should she forget herself in this way in a
moment of anger, she would be thought a very low class of person, and
would lay herself open to personal chastisement from her offended
spouse. She must be just as particular in speaking of him to anyone
else; indeed, the Hindus are very careful never to put a woman under the
necessity of mentioning her husband by name. If by chance a European,
who is unacquainted with this point of etiquette, obliges her to do so,
he will see her blush and hide her face behind her _sari_ and turn away
without answering, smiling at the same time with contemptuous pity at
such ignorance.
"But if women enjoy very little consideration in private life, they are
in some degree compensated by the respect which is paid to them in
public. They do not, it is true, receive those insipid compliments which
we have agreed to consider polite; but then, on the other hand, they are
safe from the risk of insult. A Hindu woman can go anywhere alone, even
in the most crowded places, and she need never fear the impertinent
looks and jokes of idle loungers. This appears to me to be really
remarkable in a country where the moral depravity of the inhabitants is
carried to such lengths. A house inhabited solely by women is a
sanctuary which the most shameless libertine would not dream of
violating. To touch a respectable woman even with the end of your finger
would be considered highly indecorous, and a man who meets a female
acquaintance in the street does not venture to stop and speak to
her."[51]
Courtesans in India, as in Greece, if of great beauty and
accomplishments, were accorded many more privileges than the other
women. As these were used in the temples, they were permitted to learn
to read and to sing and to dance, accomplishments which a respectable
woman would have been ashamed to have acknowledged even if she should
have learned them.
In the early times, during the Vedic period, it would seem that the
girls had some choice in the selection of the husband, and yet the
father must have exercised some control over the affair. But later the
selection of both bride and groom was fast fixed in the hands of the
parents, who arranged everything. With the young man's family the purity
of the caste of the future wife was the greatest concern, beauty and
personal attraction counting nothing, while the girl's parents thought
more of the fortune of the bridegroom to be and of the character of his
mother, because she was to become the absolute mistress of the young
wife. Intermarriage between castes was not strictly forbidden, but a
woman could not marry a man of lower caste without losing caste.
"To a Hindu marriage is the most important and most engrossing event of
his life; it is a subject of endless conversation and of the most
prolonged preparations. An unmarried man is looked upon as having no
social status and as being an almost useless member of society. He is
not consulted on any important subject, and no work of any consequence
may be given to him. A Hindu who becomes a widower finds himself in
almost the same position as a bachelor, and speedily remarries.
"Though marriage is considered the natural state for the generality of
men, those who from pious motives remain unmarried are looked up to and
treated with the utmost respect. But it is only those persons who have
renounced the world, and have chosen to lead a life of contemplation,
who can take vows of celibacy. In any other case marriage is the rule,
and every one is under obligation of discharging _the great debt to his
ancestors_, namely, that of begetting a son.
...
"But this privilege men possess of remaining single, and giving
themselves up to a life of contemplation, is not shared by women. They
at all events cannot, under any circumstances, take vows of celibacy.
Subjected on all sides to the moral ascendancy of man, the very idea
that they could possibly place themselves in a state of independence and
out of men's power is not allowed to cross their minds. The opinion is
firmly established throughout the whole of India, that women were only
created for the propagation of the species, and to satisfy men's
desires. All women therefore are obliged to marry, and marriages are
carefully arranged before they arrive at a marriageable age."[52]
There were eight kinds of marriages described in the law, the Institutes
of Manu: "Of which one half are honorable, and differ from one another
only in some minute circumstances; in the fifth, the bridegroom bestows
gifts upon the bride, her father, and paternal kinsman; the last three
are rather species of unlawful connection, than forms of nuptial
contract; one being voluntary and by mutual consent; the other forcible
when a woman is seized, 'while she weeps and calls for assistance, after
her kinsmen and friends have been slain in battle'; the last, 'when the
damsel is sleeping, or flushed with strong liquor, or disordered in her
intellect."[53]
The following verses from the Rig Veda, a very ancient Aryan collection
of hymns, belonging to the Hindus, give the ceremony of marriage in
those olden times:
"21. O Visvâvasu! (god of marriage), arise from this place, for the
marriage of this girl is over. We extol Visvâvasu with hymns and
prostrations. Go to some other maiden who is still in her father's house
and has attained the signs of the age of marriage. She will be your
share, know of her.
"22. O Visvâvasu! arise from this place. We worship thee, bending in
adoration. Go to an unmarried maiden whose person is well developed;
make her a wife and unite her to a husband.
"23. Let the paths by which our friends go in quest of a maiden for
marriage be easy and free of thorns. May Aryaman and Bhaga lead us well.
O gods! may the husband and wife be well united.
"24. O maiden! the graceful sun had fastened thee with ties (of
maidenhood), we release thee now of those ties. We place thee with thy
husband in a place which is the home of truth and the abode of righteous
actions.
"25. We release this maiden from this place (her father's house), but
not from the other place (her husband's house). We unite her well with
the other place. O Indra! may she be fortunate and the mother of worthy
sons.
"26. May Pûshan lead thee by the hand from this place. May the two
Asvins lead thee in a chariot. Go to thy (husband's) house and be the
mistress of the house. Be the mistress of all, and exercise thine
authority over all in that house.
"27. Let children be born unto thee, and blessings attend thee here.
Perform the duties of thy household with care. Unite thy person with the
person of this thy husband; exercise thy authority in this thy house
until old age.
"40. First Soma accepts thee; then Gandharva accepts thee; Agni is thy
third lord; the son of man is the fourth to accept thee.
"41. Soma bestowed this maiden to Gandharva, Gandharva gave her to Agni,
Agni has given her to me with wealth and progeny.
"42. O bridegroom and bride! do ye remain here together; do not be
separated. Enjoy food of various kinds, remain in your own home, and
enjoy happiness in company of your children and grandchildren.
"43. (The bride and bridegroom say), May Prajapati bestow on us
children; may Aryaman keep us united till old age. (Address to the
bride), O bride! Enter with auspicious signs the home of thy husband. Do
good to our male servants and our female servants, and to our cattle.
"44. Be thine eyes free from anger; minister to the happiness of thy
husband; do good to our cattle. May thy mind be cheerful; and may thy
beauty be bright. Be the mother of heroic sons, and be devoted to the
gods. Do good to our male servants and our female servants, and to our
cattle.
"45. O Indra! make this woman fortunate and the mother of worthy sons.
Let ten sons be born of her, so that there may be eleven men in the
family with the husband.
"46. (Address to the bride), May thou have influence over thy
father-in-law, and over thy mother-in-law, and be as a queen over thy
sister-in-law and brother-in-law.
"47. (The bridegroom and bride say), May all the gods unite our hearts;
may Mâtarisvan and Dhâtri and the goddess of speech unite us
together."[54]
Dubois goes quite fully into the ceremonies and functions of a Brahmin
marriage of his time, from which is taken the following extract.[55]
There were four different ways of arranging the preliminaries of a
marriage. In the first the father of the bride refused the sum of money
to which he was entitled from the young man's parents and he bore all
the expenses of the wedding. In the second way the parents of both
parties agreed to share all the expenses. In the third way the youth's
parents bore all the expenses of the wedding and also paid a sum of
money to the father for his daughter. In the fourth method the girl's
parents handed her over to the young man's parents to do with her what
they would. It is needless to say that the first way was the most
honored and respected and the last was most mortifying to the girl's
parents and it was used by none but the very poorest.
As soon as the parents of a young man had discovered a suitable girl,
when the auguries were favorable, they provided themselves with presents
and went and formally asked for her. Then the parents of the girl, at a
favorable moment, gave their consent and accepted the presents. Then the
priest who presided at public and private ceremonies fixed on a lucky
day and great preparations were made. The wedding garments were
prepared, the stores for feasts and for presents were got together, and
all the many other things needed. A canopy was erected and all the
relatives and friends invited.
The marriage ceremony lasted for five days. The first day was the great
day, as it was the day on which the most important and solemn ceremonies
took place. The gods and the ancestors and other divinities were invited
to be present. Then a number of rites and ceremonies were performed, in
which the bride and bridegroom, the parents, and guests partook. Near
the close of these ceremonies the husband fastened round the neck of the
young wife the _tali_, the little gold ornament which all married women
wore round their necks, and which performed by the husband showed that
henceforth the woman was to be his property. The day was ended with a
specially magnificent feast.
Amongst the ceremonies of the second day was the placing of an ornament,
covered with gold-leaf or gold paper and entwined with flowers, on the
forehead of both husband and wife to avert the effects of the evil eye,
the spell which is cast by the looks of jealous or ill-disposed people.
On the third day the wife joined in the sacrifice offered by the
husband, the only occasion on which a woman could take an active part in
any of the sacrifices. The only remarkable ceremony on the fourth day
was that the newly married couple rubbed each other's legs three times
with powdered saffron, of which Dubois did not understand the meaning
and fancied its only object was to kill time, just as Europeans under
similar circumstances would spend their time in drinking. The fifth day
was chiefly occupied in dismissing the gods and the ancestors and the
other divinities that had been invited to the feast. Then followed the
distribution of presents. The festivity ended with a solemn procession
through the streets, which generally took place at night by torchlight
in the midst of squibs and fireworks of all kinds.
A girl's lot after marriage must have been dreadful in many cases, as
she became a servant to the mother of her husband, who too often tried
in every way to make the young girl miserable. In her husband's home the
young wife occupied the back of the house with the other women and she
must take the humblest place in this apartment for women. The little
girl was scolded quite a great deal and received no, or but little,
praise. "I have several times seen young wives shamefully beaten by
beastly young husbands who cherished no natural love for them.... A
child of thirteen was cruelly beaten by her husband in my presence for
telling the simple truth, that she did not like so well to be in his
house as at her home."[56] Yet, there are here and there bright spots in
this dark home life.
Polygamy was practiced in ancient India, and even down to later times,
as was true among many other ancient nations, but as a rule it was
confined to kings and wealthy lords. It was not looked upon with great
favor. A person of inferior rank was not allowed to have more than one
wife, except in case his wife was barren or had only borne female
children, but before he could contract a second marriage he had to
obtain the consent of the first wife.
"Women in India have ever been remarkable for their faithfulness and
their duteous affection towards their husbands, and female
unfaithfulness is comparatively rare."[57] Adultery was looked upon with
the greatest detestation in India. Yet the heinousness of the crime was
regulated by the caste of the offender, for a man of high caste
committing adultery with a woman of low caste was by no means so
severely punished as was a man of low caste with a woman of high caste.
In case the man was a Sudra and the woman of one of the three higher
castes he suffered capital punishment, but as on no account was a
Brahmin to be punished with death, this offence could not bring it to
him.
"Although no law has ever said so, the popular belief is that a woman
can have no salvation unless she be formally married."[58] Perhaps for
this belief parents became extremely anxious when their daughters were
over eight or nine years of age and were unsought in marriage. This was
so strong it frequently happened that poor parents feeling that their
daughters must be married would marry girls of eight or nine to men of
sixty or seventy. In the early times child marriages were unknown, but
later boys among the Brahmins married at about sixteen years of age and
girls generally at five or seven or, at the utmost, nine years of age.
One author states that among the Brahmins, if any girl remained
unmarried until she was eleven years old the family was suspended from
caste.[59]
In early times in India, widows married and men belonging to one caste
married widows of other castes. "A droll story is told of the daughter
of a householder of Mâlava who married eleven husbands successively; and
on the death of the eleventh husband the plucky widow would probably
have welcomed a twelfth, but 'even the stones could not help laughing at
her,' so she took to the life of an ascetic."[60] But Manu laid down
that a widow should never even mention the name of another man after
her husband had died, and that a second husband was nowhere prescribed
for virtuous women. A widower, whatever his age might be, and to
whatever caste he might belong, could marry again; but a woman of the
Brahminical caste, whether she ever lived with her husband or not, was
not allowed again to enter
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