The textile arts flourished throughout Mexico, though owing to the unfavourable nature of the climate, specimens are practically non-existent. Thread was spun by the women from nequen, the fibre of the maguey or cotton, and the fur of rabbits was also utilized. Girls learnt the art at a tender age, and the ornamented spindle-whorls, usually of pottery, but sometimes of bone, are common in museums (Fig. [26]). The spindle was made to revolve in a small pottery bowl, as is shown in Fig. [29]; p. 161, and the thread was woven on a loom of simple construction. The warp was fastened to a convenient post, and kept taut by means of a band passing round the back of the weaver, who beat down the weft with a wooden “sword” (Fig. [27, b]). The loom was in fact almost certainly the same as that used right into modern times, and it is probable that a number of heddles were employed for the more elaborate designs. Cotton was of course grown in the hotter countries, and both textiles and the raw material formed perhaps the most important article of import into the valley. Strangely enough it is the inhabitants of the cooler districts who bore the reputation of being the most skilful weavers. Some idea of the designs which were employed may be gathered from the manuscripts, but the patterns there figured form only a very small proportion of the whole. Sahagun gives a long list of names relating to particular types of mantle, unfortunately without further description except in a very few cases. One of these may be cited in illustration of their elaborate nature. “They also made use of cloaks on which were figured beautiful and rich jars mounted on three feet, and furnished with two ‘wings’ like those of butterflies (octli-vases). The lower portion of the jar was rounded and coloured red and black (the colours of the octli-gods), the wings were green with a yellow border, and three small dots of the same colour on each. The neck of this jar had the form of the marquesota of a tunic, crowned with four small rods embroidered in red and blue feathers. These jar designs were scattered on a white field. This cloak had two red stripes along its front border, passing over white bands grouped two by two” (see the textile in Fig. [18, s]; p. 118). Many of the details in patterns such as the above were added in embroidery, at which the Mexican women were equally expert. Good polychrome weaving was performed by the Otomi in maguey fibre, and the Tarascan and Huaxtec ranked high as textile artists. The Tarascan women were said to prepare food for a couple of days before starting to weave, so that they might not be disturbed at their task. Weaving and embroidery were under the especial patronage of the goddess Xochiquetzal. Mat- and basket-making was also an important industry, though of these arts also specimens are lacking. However, the use of mat seats was a privilege of rank, though perhaps less so than in the Maya region, and the mat-makers paid reverence to a special patron-deity, Napatecutli, one of the Tlaloque. The consideration of Mexican pottery will be deferred until the architectural remains have been discussed.
Fig. 28.—Designs from pottery stamps; Valley of Mexico.
(British Museum)
A certain amount of information concerning the dress and ornaments of the Mexicans can be gleaned from the foregoing pages, and repetition will be unnecessary. The ordinary dress for a man, worn by nearly all the peoples mentioned in this book, was a girdle, maxtlatl, the ends of which hung down before and behind, and a shoulder-cloak (e.g. Fig. [23]; p. 143). The woman’s dress, equally universal, consisted of a skirt and a tunic, usually without sleeves (e.g. Fig. [27, b]; p. 148). The original costume of the Aztec was of skins, but after their settlement in the valley, textiles were adopted, first of nequen fibre, later of maguey and cotton. The last-named material however was reserved for the upper classes, the women of which added to their attire by wearing additional tunics and skirts. Exceptions to the above rule were constituted by the Tarascans, among whom the men, as among the Huaxtec, wore no maxtlatl, and the Chichimec who wore skins. Skin-clothing prevailed to some extent among the Tarascans also, though they were good weavers, and in this district the young wore shorter skirts than their elders. The following garments were considered more or less characteristic of certain peoples; white cloaks with figures of scorpions in blue of the Toltec; striped textiles of the Otomi; duck-feather cloaks of the Tarascans; net cloaks of the Totonac; white cotton mantles of the Zapotec, and polychrome textiles especially representing interlaced eddies (as the shield in Fig. [18, p]; p. 118) of the Huaxtec. Body-paint was employed by all the tribes, especially on ceremonial occasions; Mexican women were in the habit of painting their faces yellow and impressing patterns in red upon their cheeks with pottery stamps (Fig. [28]). Figures of monkeys and coxcoxtli-birds were especially favourite designs. The Tarascans of Tzintzuntzan used black body-paint, like the priestly orders in Mexico, and the Tlalhuica red. The question of tatu is more difficult to settle, certainly this form of adornment was not common. Sahagun states that in the month of Toxcatl the priests “with a stone knife made scars on children of both sexes, on the breast, the stomach, the middle of the arms and the wrists,” and also that the Otomi women “made on their breasts and arms designs in a blue colour, by means of small instruments which fixed the colour in the flesh.” The latter statement at any rate seems to point to the practice of tatu. Sahagun states that the Huaxtec and Totonac tatued, and the slab illustrated in Fig. [11]; p. 83, shows a man whose limbs are apparently ornamented in this manner. Otomi women stained the teeth black, a practice found also among the Huaxtec, while tooth-filing was found among the latter people, the Tarascans and the Mixtec. Pottery heads showing the Maya form of tooth-filing have been found in the Totonac area. The actual inlaying of teeth seems to have been confined to those peoples of definite Maya affinities, such as the Huaxtec, though teeth ornamented in this fashion have been found in the Mixtec area, at Xoxo. Mexican women of rank filed the teeth and painted them red. This practice seems to have been borrowed from the Huaxtec, and tooth-mutilation as a whole does not seem to have been a characteristic of the Nahua-speaking peoples. Methods of dressing the hair show slight variations, though the ordinary method was to cut it short on the forehead and temples, and allow it to grow at the back. The Tarascans however for the most part cropped it close all over, while the Chichimec did not cut it at all, but wore it in plaits. Among the Otomi the child’s head was cropped close, men and young girls cut the locks on the forehead, and women after becoming mothers allowed it to grow all over the head and dressed it on the top. Zapotec chiefs and warriors wore long hair gathered at the back in a pigtail. In Mexico men of rank, being warriors, cut the hair, and brushed it up on the right side (Pl. [IX, 4]), while chiefs cropped most of the head, leaving a long lock on the forehead which they kept erect by means of a fillet (Pl. [IX, 5]). Of Montecuzoma we read, “He did not wear his hair long, but so as just to cover his ears.” In Mexico women of rank sometimes wore the hair plaited and crossed on the forehead in two “horns,” but ordinarily it was allowed to grow and was worn loose. Ear-ornaments were almost universal, in the form of plugs of stone, gold and turquoise; while lip-plugs were found among the Mexicans, Otomi and Totonac (see Fig. [18, b]; p. 118). At Mexico the lips of children were pierced on admission to the Calmecac, and the status of a man could be judged by the quality of his lip-plug. Shell and obsidian marked the lower ranks, while gold and gems were reserved for the higher orders of nobility; most prized of all were those of chalchiuitl, or of crystal, the latter being hollow and containing a blue feather. Nose-ornaments were not so common, and were especially associated with the Huaxtec; they are however frequently seen in the representations of Mexican goddesses (especially those borrowed from the Huaxtec) and consisted for the most part of gold plates, often in the form of a butterfly, or of golden tubes. Of the tremendous variety of ornaments worn round neck and arms and attached to the garments, it is impossible to write in detail, but some idea of their variety may be gathered from the following passage of Sahagun, describing the dance performed by men and women of the warrior-class in the month Uei tecuilhuitl. “The women were clad in rich and costly robes and skirts ornamented with elaborate embroidery.... Of the robes ... some were white without designs, and the upper opening of these was bordered with deep fringes which covered the whole breast, and the fringes of the lower border were equally deep. These women danced with their hair down, confined by plaited bands which ran from forehead to neck. Their faces were without ornament, smooth and clean. The men were equally richly clad; they wore a cotton cloak of so wide a mesh that it might almost be called a net. In the case of men who were distinguished by great valour and who had the right to wear a plug in the lower lip, these cloaks were fringed with small white shells ... those who were not so distinguished wore black cloaks with (plain) fringes. All wore ear-plugs of mixed metals, but those of the higher ranks were of copper with gold pendants, their lip-plugs corresponding. In some cases these lip-plugs represented lizards, in others, small dogs, or two small squares of metal. The youngest who had already distinguished themselves in action wore in the lower lip a large disc, containing four others arranged crosswise. The youngest of all had a plain disc without ornament. All the ‘braves’ wore hide collars with pendants terminating in numbers of small white shells ... and at the same time lip-plugs of oyster-shell in the form of an eagle; while others who considered themselves of still greater valour, bought small white spheres found in certain molluscs. Ordinary folk decked themselves in a sort of chaplet, yellow in colour, made of other marine products, and of small value. Among this class, those who had captured prisoners in war bore an ornament of plumes on their heads as an indication that they had taken a captive in battle. The captains were distinguished by feather insignia attached to their backs, as a sign of valour.... There were some who carried on the left foot the hooves of deer attached with strips of hide of the same animal. All had their faces painted in various designs; some painted circles on their cheeks and stripes on the forehead from temple to temple with black pigment covered with iron pyrites, others prolonged the stripe to the ears, and others again painted stripes from the base of the ear to the mouth.” Feathers of course, whether applied to textiles or worn by themselves, constituted an extremely important article of adornment, and even the Otomi women wore them on their feet and legs during dancing, a custom found also among the Toluca. Sandals of hide with straps ornamented according to the rank of the wearer were in universal use.
The Mexicans enjoyed considerable variety in food, and though famines were not uncommon, yet the attention paid to agriculture in the valley and the extensive trade-system made the supply plentiful under normal circumstances. The Chichimec hunters lived on game, wild roots and fruits, and honey, but most of the remaining tribes practised cultivation, especially of maize, though the Otomi were said to have been improvident in the use of the crop. To speak generally, maize was the staple food, though free use was made of other grain, yams and beans. From maize a large variety of “bread” was manufactured, mostly in the form of thin cakes differing greatly in quality. The grain was thrown into boiling water, into which a little lime had been sprinkled, to remove the husk; when cool, it was washed, ground on the grinding-stones, called metatl, and kneaded into dough which was cooked in pots, or wrapped in leaves and steamed. Certain flowers were often added to give it a flavour. Maize-meal was often boiled in water, the liquor being strained and reboiled until it was reduced to a kind of gruel, called atolli, which was consumed in large quantities. Venison, rabbits, hares, quails, partridges, ducks, turkeys and geese, provided the most common flesh-foods; the two latter birds were domesticated and were bred almost as much for their feathers as for their flesh, especially in Culiacan, Jalisco and Michoacan; eggs were not eaten. The hairless Mexican dog was also bred as a food-animal in some places, such as Jalisco. Meat was cooked wrapped in dough or plainly roasted, and pepper was consumed in great quantities as a condiment, just as in Peru. Fish too formed an important article of diet, and the courier-system in the later days of the Empire was so excellent that it could be brought fresh from the coast for the use of the royal house. Certain marshflies which appear in veritable clouds on the lake were pounded and made up into balls and boiled, and their eggs were collected from the reeds and eaten as a kind of caviare; frogs too were not despised, and the Otomi were credited with eating snakes and rats. A peculiar food seen by the conquerors consisted of “cakes made from a sort of ooze which they get out of the great lake, which curdles, and from this they make a bread having a flavour something like cheese.” Honey, both that of bees and that made from the sap of the maguey, was used to sweeten atolli and in many other ways, and salt was prepared by filtering water through certain kinds of earth and evaporating the liquor. The constant hostilities of the Tlaxcalans with the Mexicans had resulted in the almost total destruction of the salt trade as far as the former were concerned; in fact the inhabitants had practically lost the habit of taking it, and some years elapsed after the conquest before it became common in that district. It is said that neither salt nor pepper was used by the Toluca and Matlatzinca. As regards beverages, two were of great importance; the first of these was prepared from the cacao, imported from the hotter regions near the coast, and was called chocolatl (whence our own word chocolate). The nut was pounded and boiled in water with a little maize-flour; the oil was skimmed off, and the mixture strained and poured into another vessel so as to produce a froth; sometimes honey and vanilla were added, and it was generally taken after food with tortoise-shell spoons. The other national drink was octli (often inaccurately termed pulque, an Argentine word for the same beverage), prepared from the fermented sap of the maguey. The heart of the plant was cut out (the day 1. tecpatl being considered an appropriate date) and when the sap had collected it was drawn off in long gourds by means of suction applied through a small hole at the end, and stored in skins or calabashes. Fermentation was assisted by the addition of a certain root. The legal restrictions placed upon the use of this beverage in Mexico have already been mentioned. Other fermented drinks were prepared from grain, and a certain mushroom was employed as an intoxicant, especially at a feast organized by the guild of merchants. The effects of the latter are described by Sahagun: “Some sang, others wept because they were intoxicated; others remained silent, seated in the hall as if absorbed in thought. Some thought that they were dying, and sobbed in their hallucination, while others imagined that they were being devoured by some savage beast. Others again thought that they were capturing an enemy in fight, another that he was rich, another that he possessed a large number of slaves. Some thought that they were taken in adultery, and that their heads were being crushed for this crime, others that they had been convicted of theft and were being executed, and a thousand other illusions. When the intoxication had passed, they entertained one another by relating their hallucinations.” The discovery of the properties of this fungus seems to have been made originally by the Chichimec, since its use was common among this people. A kind of chewing-gum was prepared from resin or bitumen, though its use, at any rate in public, was confined by custom to unmarried girls. Allusion has already been made to the practice of smoking; reeds were collected and after being carefully smoothed were filled with pulverized charcoal mixed with tobacco and other fragrant herbs. The exterior was often richly ornamented with paint and gilding, in some cases in such a way that the design only appeared under the influence of the heat produced by the act of smoking. Pottery pipes are found in Mexico, though not in great numbers, and it is uncertain to what extent they were used before the conquest. Pipes are found more frequently in Michoacan, where tobacco-smoking was commoner than among the Aztec, especially in the case of men of rank.
In general the first meal of the day, taken after a few hours’ work, consisted in atolli-gruel, a more substantial repast following at midday, after which the higher classes smoked and took a siesta. Food was cooked in and eaten from pots, bowls and dishes of pottery, often beautifully ornamented. Cups of the same material, and also of gold or stone (such as alabaster), were used for beverages, and a peculiar pattern with two butterfly-handles and three feet (as shown on the textile in Fig. [18, s]; p. 118) was especially associated with octli, forming one of the devices of the octli-gods.
Maguey-fibre has already been mentioned as a material extensively employed for textiles, and indeed the uses of this plant were manifold. To quote again from one of the conquerors, “This tree is of the greatest utility; from it is made wine, vinegar, honey, a syrup like boiled grape-juice. They employ it in the manufacture of garments for men and women, for footgear, ropes, the ties used in building houses, the roofing of these houses, for sewing-needles (i.e. the spines), for dressings for wounds, and other purposes. They also collected the leaves ... and cooked them in subterranean ovens, with wood piled up, in a fashion peculiar to this country. After roasting, the bark and veins are removed, and an intoxicating drink is prepared.”
The consideration of Mexican architecture from a comparative standpoint will be deferred until the remains scattered through the country are discussed. But as all these remains consist of buildings devoted to religious purposes, a few words may be said here concerning the actual habitations of the people. Mexico city was utterly destroyed by the Spanish, but from the accounts left by the first visitors a good idea can be gathered of the nature of the buildings. The houses of the chiefs were spacious, built on terraces, and constructed of stone and lime. The buildings usually enclosed a court, and there was often a garden attached where the girls of the household could walk under the supervision of duennas. The women’s apartments were separated from the rest; two storeys were sometimes seen, and in the most important structures the roofs were flat and battlemented. Nezahualcoyotl’s palace at Tezcoco, of which a native plan is shown in Fig. [13], p. 89, was constructed on a terrace, and the roofbeams were supported by wooden pillars on stone bases. The terrace formed a court in front, approached by steps, and there were many small buildings for guests, the women of the household, and the retainers. Diaz mentions the palaces of Iztapalapa “how well-built they were, of beautiful stone-work and cedar-wood and the wood of other sweet-scented trees; with great rooms and courts, wonderful to behold, covered with awnings of cotton cloth.” He also mentions the “great halls and chambers, canopied with the cloth of the country,” of the palace of Axayacatl, and the “beds of matting with canopies above” which were provided for the Spaniards. Earth and unfired bricks (“adobes”) were also used for the walls of buildings, and the houses of the poorer classes were of reeds and mud roofed with thatch of straw or maguey-leaves. In Mexico city, owing to the marshy nature of the ground, a large proportion of the buildings rested on pile foundations, and, in consequence of the growth of the town beyond the limit of land-accommodation, many were built over the water, and could only be reached by boat or drawbridge. The town itself was intersected by numerous canals, and the inhabitants went about as much in boats as on land. Near the coast, pile-dwellings were constructed so that the inhabitants might be out of the reach of wild beasts, and protecting walls of adobes or wooden palisades were also found. Beds in most cases were made of rushes, with cotton sheets, those of the lords being woven with feathers, and for meals a mat was simply spread upon the ground. The primitive hunting-tribes, such as the wilder Chichimec, lived chiefly in caves, though some of the more advanced constructed rude temporary huts. The Tarascans built the walls of their dwellings of natural stones, and constructed the roof of straw thatch, with, apparently, a clay ridge. Thatch was in fact the principal roofing material throughout Mexico, and even the shrines were usually so covered.
One of the chief features of Mexico city was the series of causeways which connected the island with the mainland. The position of these, according to the most recent ideas, can be seen in Fig. [1], p. 13. In building them a double palisade was first constructed, and the space between filled with stones and earth faced with rubble. The great dyke which ran from Iztapalapa to Atzacualco, built by the first Montecuzoma on the advice of Nezahualcoyotl, was no less than ten miles long, and was perforated by sluices, by means of which an attempt was made to control the inundations to which Mexico was subject. The effect of this feat of engineering was to cause the portion of lake to the west, called the Lake of Mexico, to become fresh, and to be filled with wild-fowl and fish, for the springs which fed it contained no salt, whereas the streams running into the eastern portion still continued to carry into it the salt which they absorbed on their journey. Another work of economical importance was the double stone aqueduct which brought water to the city from Chapultepec. The Mexicans also constructed roads in various directions throughout the country, for the use of merchants, couriers, and others who travelled on state business. Such roads were narrow, of well-beaten earth, and often had a watercourse running along the side. Like the Peruvian rulers, the Mexican kings maintained a system of trained runners established at definite posts along certain roads. Messages and light burdens could be transferred long distances in a short time by this method, and we hear of three hundred miles being covered in a day.