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first entering they were charged with the duty of sweeping the building and attending to the fires, later of fetching wood and engaging in various constructional works. During this period they took their meals in their own houses, but returned to the Telpochcalli to sleep; their amusements consisted in attending the dances, in the building called Cuicacalco, which took place between sunset and midnight. The sons of the higher officials who intended to embrace the military profession received the superior education of the Calmecac, and accompanied experienced warriors to battle in the capacity of shield-bearers. As soon as the young man was of an age to go to war, the whole of his hopes centred upon the taking of a prisoner, so that the lock of hair which he wore at the back of his neck as a sign of his noviciate might be removed. If he performed the feat with the aid of several of his companions, all were permitted to wear a side-lock instead, but if single-handed he received at the hands of the king the privilege of wearing certain body-paint and embroidered mantles of particular designs. The capture of two, three, four or more prisoners was also rewarded with special insignia (Fig. 17, b; p.113), with promotion in rank, and the gift of privileges including the right to wear a lip-plug of a particular pattern and to sit on a particular seat. A distinction was made according to the nationality of the prisoners captured; one or more Huaxtec were of comparatively small account, but the taking of even a single warrior of Atlixco or Uexotzinco was regarded as a great feat and received a corresponding reward. 'Two "orders" existed, which were conferred upon the most prominent warriors, the "eagle" and the "ocelot"; those who obtained one of these coveted distinctions were allowed to wear dresses representing the animal from which their order took its name. Other dresses and back-devices, each conferring a definite status, existed in numbers, and constituted an important item