Among the laws of the Mexicans was the following:
They hung and very severely punished those sons who squandered the property left them by their fathers, or destroyed the arms, jewels, or remarkable things that their fathers had left.[50]
PL. X
MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK
In another study[51] we have called attention, as follows, to the daily traffic of gold and precious stones in the great market of Tenochtitlan.
Cortés describes the great market of Tenochtitlan, and the great quantity of things daily exposed for sale included jewels of gold, silver, and stones. The Anonymous Conqueror, in describing the great market, states that “on one side of the plaza are those who sell gold, and adjoining are those who sell precious stones of various classes set in gold, in the shapes of various birds and animals.”[52] This refers to mosaic jewels with stone and gold inlays. Cortés further informs us that Montezuma had in his house representations in gold, silver, stones, or feathers, of every object of his domain, beautifully executed; and there is also a statement (by Ixtlilxochitl) that in the collection of Nezahualcoyotl, king of Texcoco, were the representations in stone mosaic-work and gold of every bird, fish, or animal which could not be obtained alive.[53]
A most interesting description is given by Sahagun of one of the edifices erected by the Toltecs in Tula. If true, it clearly shows that in pre-Aztec times much more elaborately decorated buildings were erected than in the more recent period, for there are no accounts in the writings of the Spaniards of such lavishly ornamented buildings existing in the numerous cities conquered by them during the beginning of the sixteenth century. This is corroborated by the excavations now being conducted in the ruins of Teotihuacan, the greatest city known to us from Toltec times, where some marvelous structures have been unearthed.[54] The temple in question is said by Sahagun to have been built in honor of Quetzalcoatl, and included in its embellishment some of the most precious work of which they were capable.
It had four halls. The eastern one (had the walls) covered with plates of gold, and it was called the golden hall or house. The western hall was called the hall of emeralds, or turquoises, because inside they had (the walls) covered with fine stonework, with all manner of stones, all placed and joined (together) as a coating or covering, like work of mosaic. The southern hall had the walls of divers marine shells, and in place of any other covering, they had silver, which was put together so nicely with the shells that the joints were not visible. The fourth hall, the northern one, had the walls made of colored jasper and shell, put on in a very ornamental manner.[55]