Page:Mexican Archæology.djvu/155

cultivation, failing which their tenure lapsed. Land so apportioned was in practice hereditary, but only on these terms, and the man who changed his residence lost his holding. The clan-chiefs possessed considerable power, since they represented the calpulli in all ex- ternal business, being in fact the descendants of the heads of families who formed the old tribal council, and regulated the inner life of the clan. A land system somewhat similar to that of the Mexican calpulli ex- isted among the Mixtec in so far as land appears to have been hereditary in families but could not pass outside the local group. Below the members of the calpulli ranked certain freemen who farmed the lands of the lords on payment of a rental (in kind), and, finally, a class of serfs who were bound to the soil and prob- ably represented the remnants of the early agricultural population. ‘The Mexican social system therefore comprised a landed aristocracy who paid no definite taxes, but owed service to the king; associated with them was a military nobility who held lands at the king’s goodwill, and whose tenants paid royal taxes. Lower in rank were the calpulli freemen, who paid taxes in com- mon; still lower, the tax-paying rent-holders, and finally the serfs, who paid taxes only to their feudal lords. In addition to these there was the official class, their sons and descendants, who, ranking as warriors and noble, paid no definite taxes, but contributed their personal services and formed the suite of the ruler. The office-holders were known by the generic name of Tecutli, and the positions which they occupied were essentially military in origin ; four of them were placed as overseers of the four districts into which the city was divided for administrative purposes, and acted as repre- sentatives of the Tlacatecutli, or ruler. Besides these there were the judicial officials, treasurers, and a whole host of overseers, of whom the lowest in rank, as in Peru, exercised supervision over a few families only. The