226 



MEXICO. 



and so on. The most striking circumstance how- 

 ever was that all these Indians wore feathers 

 round their heads, precisely in the manner repre- 

 sented in the cuts which embellish the old ac- 

 counts of the conquest. Some had tied round 

 their straw-hats a circle of red flowers, so much 

 resembling feathers, that it was not easy to dis- 

 tinguish between the two. Several of them wore 

 necklaces of white beads made of bone, the dis- 

 tinctive mark, as we were told, of being married. 

 A little old man of the party, who seemed much 

 entertained by our curiosity, begged our atten- 

 tion to a rod about two feet long, which he car- 

 ried in his hand, and to the skin of a little bird 

 of brilliant plumage, suspended at his left knee ; 

 these two symbols he gave us to understand be- 

 longed to him as chief of the village. The only 

 woman of the party stood apart, wrapped in a 

 coarse kind of blanket, holding the bridles of the 

 mules. At first they were rather alarmed at the 

 interest we took in their dress and appearance, 

 and as they did not understand Spanish, shrunk 

 back from us. But an obliging person in the 

 market-place stepped forward to act as interpre- 



