A NATURE S BATH-TUB AT CUERNAVACA, MEXICO 



There are probably fewer bath-tubs in all tropical America than there are in the single 

 city of New York. "The old swimming-hole" must answer for many millions of Mexicans; 

 and in Mexico swimming-holes are often many miles apart. 



provoking the appetite of the idle passen- 

 ger; pastry, bread of the Indian corn, 

 cakes, and confectionery. Along with 

 these were to be seen cooling or stimu- 

 lating beverages, the spicy foaming 

 chocolatl, with its delicate aroma of va- 

 nilla, and the inebriating pulque, the fer- 

 mented juice of the aloe. All these com- 

 modities, and every stall and portico, were 

 set out, or rather smothered, with flow- 

 ers, showing, on a much greater scale, 

 indeed, a taste similar to that displayed 

 in the markets of modern Mexico. 



The most perfect order reigned through- 

 out this vast assembly. 



The women partook equally with the 

 men of social festivities and entertain- 

 ments. These were often conducted on 

 a large scale, both as regards the number 

 of guests and the costliness of the prep- 

 arations. Numerous attendants, of both 

 sexes, waited at the banquet. The halls 

 were scented with perfumes and the 

 courts strewed with odoriferous herbs 

 and flowers, which were distributed in 

 profusion among the guests as they ar- 

 rived. Cotton napkins and ewers of 



water were placed before them as they 

 took their seats at the board ; for the ven- 

 erable ceremony of ablution, before and 

 after eating, was punctiliously observed 

 by the Aztecs. 



SNUFE USED IN TENOCHTITEAN 



Tobacco was then offered to the com- 

 pany, in pipes, mixed up with aromatic 

 substances, or in the form of cigars, in- 

 serted in tubes of tortoise shell or silver. 

 They compressed the nostrils with the 

 fingers while they inhaled the smoke, 

 which they f requently swallowed. 

 Whether the women, who sat apart from 

 the men at table, were allowed the indul- 

 gence of the fragrant weed, as in the most 

 polished circles of modern Mexico, is not 

 told us. It is a curious fact that the Az- 

 tecs also took the dried leaf in the pulver- 

 ized form of snuff. 



The table was well provided with sub- 

 stantial meats, especially game, among 

 which the most conspicuous was the tur- 

 key, erroneously supposed, as its name 

 imports, to have come originally from the 

 East. These more solid dishes were 



31 



