n, possibly borrowed from Europeans, that
the _seventh_ son is a natural born prophet, with the gift of healing by
touch.[281-3] Adair states that their former neighbors, the Choctaws,
permitted the office of high priest, or Great Beloved Man, to remain in
one family, passing from father to eldest son, and the very influential
_piaches_ of the Carib tribes very generally transmitted their rank and
position to their children.

In ancient Anahuac the prelacy was as systematic and its rules as well
defined, as in the Church of Rome. Except those in the service of
Huitzilopochtli, and perhaps a few other gods, none obtained the
priestly office by right of descent, but were dedicated to it from early
childhood. Their education was completed at the _Calmecac_, a sort of
ecclesiastical college, where instruction was given in all the wisdom of
the ancients, and the esoteric lore of their craft. The art of mixing
colors and tracing designs, the ideographic writing and phonetic
hieroglyphs, the songs and prayers used in public worship, the national
traditions and the principles of astrology, the hidden meaning of
symbols and the use of musical instruments, all formed parts of the
really extensive course of instruction they there received. When they
manifested a satisfactory acquaintance with this curriculum, they were
appointed by their superiors to such positions as their natural talents
and the use they had made of them qualified them for, some to instruct
children, others to the service of the temples, and others again to take
charge of what we may call country parishes. Implicit subordination of
all to the high priest of Huitzilopochtli, hereditary _pontifex
maximus_, chastity, or at least temperate indulgence in pleasure,
gravity of carriage, and strict attention to duty, were laws laid upon
all.

The state religion of Peru was conducted under the supervision of a
high priest of the Inca family, and its ministers, as in Mexico, could
be of either sex, and hold office either by inheritance, education, or
election. For political reasons, the most important posts were usually
enjoyed by relatives of the ruler, but this was usage, not law. It is
stated by Garcilasso de la Vega[283-1] that they served in the temples
by turns, each being on duty the fourth of a lunar month at a time. Were
this substantiated it would offer the only example of the regulation of
public life by a week of seven days to be found in the New World.

In