elder brother).[1] This office was for life or during good behavior.[2] It was one of his duties to keep a reckoning of the soil of the calpulli, or 'calpulalli,' together with a record of its members, and of the areas assigned to each family, and to note also whatever changes occurred in their distribution.[3] Such changes, if unimportant, might be made by him; more important ones, or contested cases, had to be referred to the council of the kinship, which in turn often appealed to a gathering of the entire quarter.[4]
"The 'calpulalli' was divided into lots or arable beds, 'tlalmilli.'[5] These were assigned each to one of the married males of the kinship, to be worked by him for his use and that of his family. If one of these lots remained unimproved for the term of two consecutive years, it fell back to the quarter for redistribution. The same occurred if the family enjoying its possession removed from the calpulli. But it does not appear that the cultivation had always to be performed by the holders of the tract themselves. The fact of improvement under the name of a certain tenant was only required to insure this tenant's rights.[6]
- ↑ Zurita (p. 60): The calpulli have a chief taken necessarily from among the tribe; he must be one of the principal inhabitants, an able man who can assist and defend the people. The election takes place among them. * * * The office of this chief is not hereditary; when any one dies, they elect in his place the most respected old man. * * * If the deceased has left a son who is able the choice falls upon him, and a relative of the former incumbent is always preferred" (Id., pp. 50 and 222). Simancas M. S. S. ("De l'ordre de succession," etc.; "Recueil," p. 225): As to the mode of regulating the jurisdiction and election of the alcaldes and regidors of the villages, they nominated men of note who had the title of achcacaulitin. * * * There were no other elections of officers." * * * "Art of War," etc. (pp. 119 and 120).
- ↑ Zurita (pp. 60 and 61). Herrera (Dec. Ill, Lib. IV, cap. XV, cap. 125): "I le elegian entre si y teman por maior."
- ↑ Zurita (pp. 61 and 62): "This chief has charge of the lands of the calpulli. It is his duty to defend their possession. He keeps paintings showing the tracts, the names of their holders, the situation, the limits, the number of men tilling them, the wealth of private individuals, the designations of such as are vacant, of others that belong to the Spaniards, the date of donation, to whom and by whom they were given. These paintings he constantly renews, according to the changes occurring, and in this they are very skillful." It is singular that Motolinia, in his "Epistola proémial" ("Col. de Doc."; Icazbalceta, Vol. I, p. 5), among the five "books of paintings" which he says the Mexicans had, makes no mention of the above. Neither does he notice it in his letter dated Cholula, 27 Aug., 1554 ("Recueil de pieces," etc., Ternaux-Compans).
- ↑ Zurita "Rapport," etc., pp. 56 and 62). We quote him in preference, since no other author known to us has been so detailed.
- ↑ "Tlalmilli" "tierras, á heredades de particulares, que estan juntas en alguna vega" (Molina, Part II a, p. 124).
- ↑ Each family, represented by its male head, obtained a certain tract or lot for cultivation and use, Zurita (p. 55). "The party (member of the calpulli, because no member of another one had the right to settle within the area of it—see Id., p. 53), who has no lands applies to the chief of the calpulli, who, upon the advice of the other old men, assigns to him such as corresponds to his ability and wants. These lands go to his heirs." * * * id., p. 56). "The proprietor who did not cultivate during two years, either through his own fault or through negligence, without just cause, * * * he
