THE LUSTER OF ANCIENT MEXICO 



23 



treasures of their kingdom. Silver, lead, 

 and tin they drew from the mines of 

 Tasco; copper from the mountains of 

 Zacotollan. These were taken not only 

 from the crude masses on the surface, but 

 from veins wrought in the solid rock, into 

 which they opened extensive galleries. 

 In fact, the traces of their labors fur- 

 nished the best indications for the early 

 Spanish miners. Gold, found on the sur- 

 face or gleaned from the beds of rivers, 

 was cast into bars or, in the form of dust, 

 made part of the regular tribute of the 

 southern provinces of the empire. The 

 use of iron, with which the soil was im- 

 pregnated, was unknown to them. Not- 

 withstanding its abundance, it demands 

 so many processes to prepare it for use 

 that it has commonly been one of the last 

 metals pressed into the service of man. 



They found a substitute in an alloy of 

 tin and copper, and with tools made of 

 this bronze could cut not only metals, but, 

 with the aid of a silicious dust, the hard- 

 est substances, as basalt, porphyry, ame- 

 thysts, and emeralds. They fashioned 

 these last, which were found very large, 

 into many curious and fantastic forms. 

 They cast, also, vessels of gold and silver, 

 carving them with their metallic chisels 

 in a very delicate manner. Some of the 

 silver vases were so large that a man 

 could not encircle them with his arms. 

 They imitated very nicely the figures of 

 animals, and, what was extraordinary, 

 could mix the metals in such a manner 

 that the feathers of a bird or the scales 

 of a fish should be alternately of gold and 

 silver. The Spanish goldsmiths admitted 

 their superiority over themselves in these 

 ingenious works. 



SHAVING WITH STONE RAZORS 



They employed another tool, made of 

 itztli, or obsidian, a dark transparent min- 

 eral, exceedingly hard, found in abun- 

 dance in their hills. They made it into 

 knives, razors, and their serrated swords. 

 It took a keen edge, though soon blunted. 

 With this they wrought the various stones 

 and alabasters employed in the construc- 

 tion of their public works and principal 

 dwellings. 



The most remarkable piece of sculpture 

 yet disinterred is the great calendar-stone. 



It consists of dark porphyry, and in its 

 original dimensions as taken from the 

 quarry is computed to have weighed 

 nearly fifty tons. It was transported 

 from the mountains beyond Lake Chalco, 

 a distance of many leagues, over a broken 

 country intersected by water-courses and 

 canals. In crossing a bridge which tra- 

 versed one of these latter in the capital 

 the supports gave way, and the huge mass 

 was precipitated into the water, whence it 

 was with difficulty recovered. The fact 

 that so enormous a fragment of porphyry 

 could be thus safely carried for leagues, 

 in the face of such obstacles and without 

 the aid of cattle — for the Aztecs, as al- 

 ready mentioned, had no animals of 

 draught — suggests to us no mean ideas 

 of their mechanical skill and of their ma- 

 chinery, and implies a degree of cultiva- 

 tion little inferior to that demanded for 

 the geometrical and astronomical science 

 displayed in the inscriptions on this very 

 stone. 



WONDERFUL, DYES 



The ancient Mexicans made utensils of 

 earthenware for the ordinary purposes 

 of domestic life, numerous specimens of 

 which still exist. They made cups and 

 vases of a lackered or painted wood, im- 

 pervious to wet and gaudily colored. 

 Their dyes were obtained from both min- 

 eral and vegetable substances. Among 

 them was the rich crimson of the cochi- 

 neal, the modern rival of the famed Ty- 

 rian purple. It was introduced into Eu- 

 rope from Mexico, where the curious 

 little insect was nourished with great care 

 on plantations of cactus, since fallen into 

 neglect. The natives were thus enabled 

 to give a brilliant coloring to the webs, 

 which were manufactured of every de- 

 gree of fineness from the cotton raised 

 in abundance throughout the warmer re- 

 gions of the country. They had the art, 

 also, of interweaving with these the deli- 

 cate hair of rabbits and other animals, 

 which made a cloth of great warmth as 

 well as beauty of a kind altogether origi- 

 nal, and on this the}' often laid a rich 

 embroidery of birds, flowers, or some 

 other fanciful device. 



But the art in which they most de- 

 lighted was their plumaje, or feather- 



