ook its function. They generally
treat of it as an advisory board of ministers appointed by the "king."

Each of the Mexican gens was represented in this council by a "Speaking
Chief," who, of course was elected by the gens he represented. All
tribal matters were under the control of this council. Questions of
peace and war, and the distribution of tribute, were decided by the
council. They also had judicial duties to perform. Disputes between
different gentes were adjusted by them. They also would have
jurisdiction of all crimes committed by those unfortunate individuals
who were not members of any gens, and of crimes committed on territory
not belonging to any gens, such as the Teocalli, Market-place, and
Tecpan.

The council must have regular stated times of meeting; they could be
called together at any time. At the time of Cortez's visits they met
daily. This council was, of course, supreme in all questions coming
before it; but every eighty days there was a council extraordinary. This
included the members of the council proper, the war-chiefs of the four
phratries, the war-chiefs of the gentes, and the leading medicine men.
Any important cause could be reserved for this meeting, or, if agreed
upon, a reconsideration of a cause could be had. We must understand that
the tribal council could not interfere in any matter referring solely to
a gens; that would be settled by the gens itself.

The important points to be noticed are, that it was an elective body,
representing independent groups, and that it had supreme authority.
But the tribes needed officers to execute the decrees of the council.
Speaking of the Northern tribes, Mr. Morgan says, "In some Indian
tribes, one of the sachems was recognized as its head chief; and so
superior in rank to his associates. A need existed, to some extent for
an official head of the tribe, to represent it when the council was
not in session. But the duties and powers of the office were slight.
Although the council was superior in authority, it was rarely in
session, and questions might arise demanding the provisional action of
some one authorized to represent the tribe, subject to the ratification
of his acts by the council."<19>

This need was still more urgent among the Mexicans; accordingly we find
they elected two officials for this purpose. It seems this habit of
electing two chief executives was quite a common one among the tribes
of Mexico and Central America. We have alre