Their religion was based on an incongruous and exaggerated mythology, which, through the influence of superstition and the machinations of a perniciously insinuating priesthood, resulted in idol worship and the terribly vitiating practice of human sacrifice. They believed in a supreme being, whom they supplicated, but in an indirect way. They were unable to conceive of a personal unity so comprehensive in attributes of perfection as is the Great Creator and Savior of man, and, therefore, supplicated through inferior ministers--presiding deities, represented in great images set up in their teocallis--temples. They had a system of education, which embraced a traditional history, astronomy, mechanics, arithmetic, and a means of communicating ideas by written signs, designated hieroglyphical painting, which was imparted to the youth through the medium of a public school, under the management of the priesthood. Their domestic habits, and the rules regulating intercourse between the sexes, were most advantageous for the women. They, unlike their red sisters of the north, and, we might add, some of the whiter ones of Europe, were required to do no labor that was counted the man's, but were left strictly to the performance of their domestic duties. They were treated with the greatest consideration, especially by their husbands; and, when sought after in marriage, were courted in a manner truly chivalrous. Of their young women we quote from a well-known and authentic writer: "The Aztec maiden was treated by her parents with a tenderness from which all reserve was banished.... They conjured her to preserve simplicity in her manners and conversation, uniform neatness in her attire, with strict attention to personal cleanliness. They inculcated modesty as the great ornament of a woman, and implicit reverence for her husband a duty." When circumstances would allow of it the women beguiled the time in the lighter work of adornment; or, not infrequently, passed it in quiet indolence. It is said of them that they were quite pretty, not at all like what may be seen to-day in their miserable descendants. Their long and profuse black hair was usually confined by a web of some kind, or adorned with wreaths of flowers, or strings of glittering beads, formed from the precious metals and the richer gems of stone and pearl. A scarf was sometimes worn upon the head, the fashion or design of which we will not attempt to describe. There is scarcely anything said by writers of their dress. We may infer, however, that it was worn with a view to convenience, neatness, and show. The prevailing skirt, we dare say, was of a length which did not hamper the movement, but was, nevertheless, a work of art, as were the jackets and leggings which were worn by the higher classes, in which elaboration and richness of decoration were often indulged to a degree approaching gorgeousness.