work of a highly specialized character to leave it time to undertake temporal rule, especially as that rule now involved the superintendence of an elaborate military system. The result was that the general was replaced by a “king,” and, owing to the moral ascendancy which each earlier body of settlers exercised over its successors the first ruler selected either was himself a descendant of some previous ruling house, or received as consort a daughter of such and held his office in virtue of that alliance. So we find that when the Aztec were at Coatlichan, before Tenochtitlan was founded, they elected as leader (he does not seem to have been counted among the “kings”) Uitziliuitl, whose father was an Aztec of no particular rank, but whose mother was a daughter of the ruler of Tzompanco: while Acamapitzin, the first “king” of Tenochtitlan, was, by his mother, grandson of Coxcoxtli, ruler of Colhuacan, and might therefore lay claim to Toltec descent; also Quaquapitzauac, first king of Tlaltelolco, was son of the Tepanec ruler of Azcapotzalco. Moreover it was Toltec descent which really counted most, as may be seen in the fact that the Mexican “kings” were installed as the representatives of Quetzalcoatl. The importance of women as the channel by which rank was transmitted is obvious from the genealogy of the Mexican sovereigns. As a rule brother succeeded brother, and in any case it was only the sons of ladies of rank who were elected to the throne. Though, however, the priesthood thus became confined to the exercise of its own complicated profession, it never lost its influence upon temporal affairs. Naturally the degree to which that influence could be exercised depended to some extent upon the personal character of the king, but it was always a power behind the throne, and when the king himself had been trained as a priest, as was the case with the last Montecuzoma, it had few limits, as the history of the conquest shows. The association of the god Quetzalcoatl with the kingly office invested the ruler with a semi-divine character, and the subordination of war to religion gave the priesthood tremendous power in the direction of military policy. The power of the king, apart from his “divine right,” was based upon his offices as commander-in-chief and supreme judge, the military aspect of his position being emphasized by the fact that, from the time of Chimalpopoca, only those of the ruling family who had held the position of general were considered as candidates for the throne. In Michoacan however, though here too the king was the chief judge, it was the religious aspect of his office which predominated. The idol of the ruling class was in his especial care, and one of his most important functions was the, at least nominal, provision of sufficient fuel for the sacrificial fires. For the rest, he was supported by a hierarchy of military and religious officers similar to, but less elaborate than, that of the ruler of Mexico.