Chapter VI: Of how the messengers of Montezuma returned to Mexico (1)

with the report of what they had seen._

After what has been related was done, they took leave of the captain, and entered their canoes, and commenced to go toward the land, paddling with great speed, and saying to one another, “There are valiant men; let us exert ourselves to paddle before anything happens.” They arrived very quickly at the town of Xicalanco, and there they ate and rested a little, and then they got into their canoes again, and paddling with great speed they arrived at the town called Tecpantlayacac, and from there began to journey by land, running with great speed, and they reached the town called Cuetlaxtla: there they ate and rested a little, and those of the town begged them that they should rest at least a day, but they responded that they could not, because they had to go with great speed to make known to Montezuma what they had seen, very new things, and never before seen nor heard of, of which no one else could speak about: and so traveling with great speed by night and day, they arrived in Mexico by night.”

In the accounts of the vast treasure secured by Cortés from Montezuma before his untimely death, there is to be found no specific mention or description of objects decorated with stone mosaic. Much of the treasure secured in the final sack of Tenochtitlan (Mexico) was lost. The “empire” of the Aztecs was completely subjugated in 1521. From that time, and up to 1525, Cortés sent to Europe at various intervals great quantities of loot, gathered as tribute from the stores of the Indians, accompanied with inventories, a number of which have been published. From these inventories we select the following items which clearly relate to stone mosaic objects.

_Report of the Feather-work and Jewels sent to Spain to be distributed to the following Churches and Monasteries and Special Persons._ [Without date.]

For the Lord Bishop of Burgos

Item: something like a staff (crosier) of stone mosaic-work of many colors, for him (the Bishop).

_Copy of the Register of the Gold, Jewels, and other Things which are to go to Spain in the Ship Santa María de la Rábida, its Master (being) Juan Baptista. (The year 1522.)_

This report contains a register of much treasure sent in one of the several ships which left Mexico in June, 1522, in charge of the treasurer Julian Alderete, and Alonso Dávila and Antonio de Quiñones, proctors. The register contains statements of the monetary value of certain treasure registered by various persons, among whom we find one Juan de Rivera, who carried treasure for himself, Cortés, and other persons named in the inventory; but none of the articles is described. In the margin of the report are notes stating that a considerable portion remained in the Azores. In another inventory, from which we shall quote later, are descriptions of certain pieces, jewels, and feather-work that remained in the Azores in charge of the above-named proctors. According to Peter Martyr the greater part of this treasure was destined for the King of Spain, but it never reached him, for the vessel, which with the others had put into the Azores to escape French pirates, was captured later by these corsairs and the rich spoils of the Aztecs went to augment the treasure of Francis I.

The ship _Santa María de la Rábida_ seems to have arrived in Sevilla in November, 1522, and Peter Martyr saw the treasure that it brought and interviewed Juan de Rivera at length concerning the people and country of New Spain. The account which he wrote, based on a view of the wonderful objects and what Rivera had told him, comprises an entire book in the Fifth Decade of his _De Orbe Novo_, first printed in 1530. It contains a mass of valuable and generally trustworthy information, gleaned not only at first hand from Rivera, but also from a young native Mexican whom Rivera had brought to Spain as a slave and servant. This account supplies certain information describing the treasure, which is missing in the inventory. The report is so interesting that we quote what Peter Martyr writes about some of the objects of stone mosaic-work which Rivera displayed.[21]

We have been particularly delighted with two mirrors of exceptional beauty: the first was bordered with a circle of gold, one palm in circumference, and set in green wood; the other was similar. Ribera states that there is stone found in these countries, which makes excellent mirrors when polished; and we admit that none of our mirrors more faithfully reflect the human face.

We also admire the artistically made masks. The _superstructure_ is of wood, covered over with stones, so artistically and perfectly joined together that it is impossible to detect their lines of junction, with the fingernail. They seem to the naked eye to be one single stone, of the kind used in making their mirrors. The ears of the mask are of gold, and from one temple to another extend two green lines of emeralds; two other saffron colored lines start from the half-opened mouth, in which bone teeth are visible; in each jaw two natural teeth protrude between the lips. These masks are placed upon the faces of the gods, whenever the sovereign is ill, not to be removed until he either recovers or dies.

Peter Martyr gives us details regarding the King’s share of the loot brought by the _Santa María de la Rábida_, writing as follows:

Without mentioning the royal fifth, that ship brings the treasure which is composed of a part of what Cortés amassed, at the cost of risks and dangers, and the share belonging to his principal lieutenant: they offer it all in homage to their King. Ribera has been instructed to present to the Emperor in his master’s [Cortés’] name the gifts he sends, while the others will be presented in the name of their colleagues by the officers who, as I have said, remained behind at the Azores.... The treasure destined for the Emperor is on board the vessel which has not yet arrived: but it is said that it amounts to 32,000 ducats of smelted gold in the form of bars. Were all the rings, jewels, shields, helmets, and other ornaments now smelted, the total would amount to 150,000 ducats. The report has spread, I know not how, that French pirates are on the watch for these ships: may they come safely in.

As we have stated, the ships were captured and the treasure was irretrievably lost to the Spaniards. An inventory of the treasure, preserved in Spain, reads:

_Statement of Pieces, Jewels, and Feather-work sent from New Spain for His Majesty, and that Remained in the Azores in the Charge of Alonso Dávila and Antonio Quiñones._ [Without date.]

Statement of the pieces, jewels, and feather-work that are sent to Their Majesties in the following boxes:

A shield with blue stone mosaic-work with its rim of gold.

A shield of stone mosaic-work, with a rim of blue and red feathers.

A shield of stone mosaic-work, the casco (crown) of feathers and the clasps of gold, and on the rim some long green feathers.

A shield of stone mosaic-work and confas (shells) with some pendants on the rim, of large and small gold bells.

_Report of the Objects of Gold that are Packed in a Box for His Majesty which are Sent in Care of Diego de Soto._ [Without date.]

A face of gold with the features of stone mosaic-work.

A face of tiger-skin [_sic_] with two ear-ornaments of gold and stone mosaic-work.

_Report of the Things Carried by Diego de Soto from the Governor in Addition to what he Carries Listed in a Notebook of Certain Sheets of Paper for His Majesty_. [Without date.]

A large shield with some moons of stone mosaic-work and with much gold.

Two stone mosaic-work shields.

The final inventory from which we extract items relating to stone mosaic-work objects is dated 1525. It is:

_Report of the Gold, Silver, Jewels, and Other Things that the Proctors of New Spain Carry to His Majesty._ (_Year of 1525_.)

A large head of a duck of blue stone mosaic-work.

Two pieces of gold, such as the natives of these parts wear in their ears with some red and blue stones, weighing altogether ten pesos.

A bracelet with four greenstones set in gold like the hoof of a stag. Not weighed.

Another bracelet of gold with ten pieces like azicates, and two claws of greenstone set in gold.

An armlet of tiger-skin with four greenstones and four small bars of gold of little weight.

A shell like a venerica set in gold with a greenstone in the center.

A large shell set in gold with a face of greenstone, with some blue and yellow little stones around the neck.

A butterfly of gold with the wings of venera, and the body and head of greenstone.

Two veneras, one purple and the other yellow, each one respectively with greenstones in the center and other blue ones around it, set in gold.

Another white venera, set in gold, having some blue and red eyes, the one inserted in the other.

A monster of gold with some greenstone mosaic-work in the belly, weighing altogether eleven pesos.

A poniard (or jewel broncha) of white shell set in gold, weighing altogether thirty-seven pesos, five tomins.

A butterfly of shell, of fancy work, set in gold, weighing altogether eleven pesos, six tomins.[22]

TRIBUTE OF MOSAIC PAID TO THE AZTEC RULERS

Mosaic objects, and especially the raw material for their manufacture, formed a part of the annual tribute paid by some of the coast provinces of ancient Mexico to the Aztec kings of Tenochtitlan. We have the pictorial representation of some of the objects of such tribute in an important native book or codex, painted in colors on maguey fiber paper, known as the Tribute Roll of Montezuma. This original codex was at one time in the famous Boturini collection, and is now one of the treasured possessions of the Museo Nacional in the City of Mexico. It lacks, however, several leaves which were abstracted about a century ago, and which came into possession of Joel R. Poinsett, who had been American Minister to Mexico, and who presented them to the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia in 1830, where they now are. On the pages have been written explanations of the pictures and figures in both Nahuatl and Spanish. “The Nahuatl words look as if made by a pencil, style, or short brush similar to that used in delineating the figures, and with a sepia-like preparation; while the Spanish ones have evidently been made with an ink containing iron, and an instrument which disturbed the gloss of the paper, as is shown by its penetration to fibres adjacent, giving the lines a sort of hazy margin occasionally.”[23]

Some time between the years 1534 and 1550, Don Antonio de Mendoza, the first Viceroy of Mexico, during this period, had the Indians prepare for the Emperor Charles V, a book on European paper, containing a pictorial account, in colors, of some things relating to the history and life of the natives of the Mexican plateau. It was painted in three sections, the first being a chronological record of the Aztec kings and their conquests, the third relating to the habits and customs of the natives and especially of the education of Mexican youth.

STONE IDOL: THE GODDESS COATLICUE, WITH MOSAIC DECORATION

NATIONAL MUSEUM, MEXICO]

STAFF AND RATTLE OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION

PEABODY MUSEUM, CAMBRIDGE]

The _second_ part was a copy of the Tribute Roll above referred to. These pictures were given to other Indians for the interpretation of their import, which was written down in the Nahuatl language, and another person, well versed in both the Indian and Spanish languages, made a translation into Spanish, which was incorporated in the book. It was then despatched to Spain, probably about the year 1549, but the vessel was captured by French pirates, and the book came into the hands of the French geographer, André Thevet, in 1553. After Thevet’s death it was purchased, about the year 1584, by Richard Hakluyt, at that time chaplain to the English Ambassador to France. Hakluyt bequeathed the volume to Samuel Purchas, who published it, without colors, with an English translation of the text, in _Purchas His Pilgrimes_, London, 1625. The English text was translated into French and accompanied with the plates was published by Melchisedec Thevenot in his _Relations des Divers Voyages_, in 1663. The codex ultimately became the property of Selden, and with some other original Mexican codices later became a part of the Bodleian Library at Oxford, where it is now preserved. In 1831, Lord Kingsborough issued it for the first time in colors, together with a new and more accurate English rendering of the Spanish text, in his monumental work on the _Antiquities of Mexico_.

The Tribute Roll was published by Archbishop Lorenzana in Mexico in 1770, in his edition of the _Cartas de Cortés_, the drawing, uncolored, being traced in a very inferior manner from the original in Mexico. Finally, Dr. Antonio Peñafiel included a beautiful colored facsimile of the Tribute Roll in his work, _Monumentos del Arte Mexicano Antiguo_, published in Berlin in 1890, the missing leaves, in Philadelphia, being reproduced from a very poor drawing of the codex on European paper, probably executed for Boturini. These leaves were published in exact facsimile in 1892, with an article entitled, The Tribute Roll of Montezuma, edited by Dr. D. G. Brinton and Henry Phillips, in vol. XVII of the _Transactions of the American Philosophical Society_.

On plate XVIII (we refer to the Peñafiel edition), in the second section of the plate, among other objects of tribute is a small bowl containing pieces of cut turquois (see fig. 1). In the explanation given by Purchas, this item is described as “a little panne full of Turkes stones,” and in the Kingsborough text it has been translated “a little vessel of small turquois stones.” On the plate published by Lorenzana is the caption, “Matlauac Rosilla con q. se tiñe azul.” The word _matlauac_ is probably a corruption of the Nahuatl word _matlaltic_, meaning ‘blue,’ but the rest of the sentence in Spanish is confused, for _rosilla_ means ‘reddish,’ and _con q. se tiñe azul_, ‘with which they dyed blue,’ seems to indicate that the phrase is incomplete. Accompanying the objects depicted as tributes are the hieroglyphs of the towns which paid them. These glyphs have been interpreted in the same manner in all of the reproductions of the codex, but we use the spelling adopted by Peñafiel, in preference to that given by Purchas or by Kingsborough. They are: (1) _Quiyauhtecpan_, “temple of rain or of its deities” _Tlaloc_ or _Chalchiuhtlicue_; (2) _Olinalan_, “place of earthquakes;” (3) _Cuauhtecomatlan_, “place of tecomates;” (4) _Cualac_, “place of good drinkable water;” (5) _Ichcatlan_, “cotton-plantation;” (6) _Xala_, “sandy ground.” These places are given in the explanation as being “cities of warm provinces.”

In the third section of the same plate (XVIII) are the objects shown in figs. 2 and 3. Peñafiel writes of fig. 2 as “ten little figures worked in turquois.” Only one object painted blue is depicted, the number ten being indicated by the ten dots. That masks form this tribute is clearly evident; in Purchas the description is “tenne halfe faces of rich blew Turkey stones,” and in Kingsborough, “likewise 10 middling sized masks of rich blue stones like turquois.”

HELMET OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION

BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON]

The second item in this section (fig. 3) is described by Peñafiel as “a small bag of the same stones.” Kingsborough’s statement is, “a large bag of the said blue stones,” while in Purchas the translation reads, “a great trusse full of the said Turkey stones.” On the bag which is painted blue, with two red vertical bands, is the Aztecan hieroglyph for stone, _tetl_. The towns whence this tribute was exacted are: (1) _Yoaltepec_, “place consecrated to the deity of the night;” (2) _Ehaucalco_, “in the place of tanning;” (3) _Tzilacapan_, “river of chilacayotes;” (4) _Patlanalan_, “place where parrots abound;” (5) _Ixicayan_, “where the water comes down;” (6) _Ichcaatoyac_, “river of cotton.” These cities are of the warm provinces.

The only finished objects of mosaic-work in the Tribute Roll are on plate XXXII. This is one of the leaves of the original codex in Philadelphia, and we have traced fig. 4 from this original. They are described by Purchas as “two pieces like platters decked or garnished with rich Turkey stones.” Kingsborough mentions them as “two pieces like salvers ornamented or set with rich turquoise stones.” Lorenzana has correctly printed the legend which we find reproduced in the Philadelphia publication of this leaf; it is “_Ontetl xiuhtetl_,” followed by the Spanish, “turquesas o piedras finas.” _Ontetl_ is Nahuatl for “two,” and _xiuhtetl_, or _xiuitl tetl_, “turquois stone.” The mosaic character of these two pieces is graphically represented by the ancient artist. The towns paying the tribute illustrated on this sheet are as follows: (1) _Tochpan_, or _Tuchpan_, “over the rabbit;” (2) _Tlaltizapan_, “place situated over chalk;” (3) _Cihuateopan_, “in the temple of Cihuacoatl;” (4) _Papantla_, “place of the priests;” (5) _Ocelotepec_, “place of the ocelot;” (6) _Mihuapan_, “river of the ears of corn;” (7) _Mictlan_, “place of rest.”

In the _Crónica_ of Tezozomoc is an account of the campaign of the Aztecan king Ahuitzotl into southern Mexico in 1497. The towns of Xuchtlan, Amaxtlan, Izhuatlan, Miahuatla, Tecuantepec, and Xolotlan, in the region of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, had revolted against him. After the complete rout of the rebellious Indians, it was related by Tezozomoc that “the kind of arms carried by the coast people was very rich, so much so that the undisciplined soldiers began to strip the bodies of the dead of the very rich feather-work pieces called _quetzalmanalli_, and from their military ornaments remove a round emerald like a mirror which sparkled in its perfection, called _xiuhtezcatl_. Others of the dead carried on the back of their arms that which was called _yacazcuil_, outside of fine gold, and in the nose they wore stones; others (wore) gold, and the shield which they carried had a very rich greenstone in the center, and around it a decoration of very fine stones set in (mosaic-work), said shield being called _xiuhchimal_.” Those who remained after the slaughter came to Ahuitzotl, saying: “Our Lords, let us speak. We will give our tribute of all that is produced and yielded on these coasts, which will be chalchihuitl of all kinds and colors, and other small stones called _teoxihuitl_ (turquois) for setting in very rich objects [mosaic], and feathers of the richest sort brought forth in the whole world, very handsome birds, the feathers of which are called _xiuhtototl_, _tlaquechol_, _tzinitzcan_, and _zacuan_; tanned skins of the tiger (ocelot), lions (puma), and great wolves, and other stones veined with many divers colors.”[24]

In the same _Crónica_ we read that Montezuma, who succeeded Ahuitzotl after his death in 1502, received a royal tribute from his vassals in Xaltepec, a coast town of Tehuantepec, among which were “broad collars [_sic_] for the ankles, strewn with gold grains and very rich stone mosaic-work.”[25]

MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION

BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON]

SOURCE OF TURQUOIS

The source of the considerable quantity of turquois used in Mexico in pre-Spanish times for personal ornaments and mosaic incrustation is still an unsolved problem. Thus far no prehistoric workings have been found in Mexico. Only recently turquois has been discovered at the silver mines at Bonanza, Zacatecas, but Dr. Kunz, who has called our attention to this, writes that he has no information regarding prehistoric workings there.[26] In the extensive bibliography on the geology of Mexico by Aguilar y Santillan[27] we find only a single entry for turquois, that being the study of Mexican mosaics in Rome by Pigorini.[28] Pogue[29] writes that there are no important turquois deposits that do not show signs of prehistoric exploitation, and he is also of the opinion that it is very difficult to trace the source of the turquois used by the Indians of ancient Mexico and Central America. Pogue’s conclusion is that “as no occurrence at all adequate as an important source has been discovered south of the present Mexican boundary, it therefore seems probable that the Aztecs and allied peoples, through trade with tribes to the north, obtained supplies of turquois from the Cerrillos hills [New Mexico] and perhaps other localities of the Southwest.”

Sahagun is the only early chronicler who affords information concerning this point. He writes explicitly that “the Toltecs had discovered the mine of precious stones in Mexico, called _xiuitl_, which are turquoises, which mine, according to the ancients, was in a hill called Xiuhtzone, close to the town of Tepotzotlan [State of Hidalgo].” We will quote other statements by Sahagun concerning turquois:

The turquois occurs in mines. There are some mines whence more or less fine stones are obtained. Some are bright, clear, and transparent; while others are not.... _Teoxiuitl_ is called turquois of the gods. No one has a right to possess or use it, but always it must be offered or devoted to a deity. It is a fine stone without any blemish and quite brilliant. It is rare and comes from a distance. There are some that are round and resemble a hazelnut cut in two. These are called _xiuhtomolli_.... There is another stone, used medicinally, called _xiuhtomoltetl_, which is green and white, and very beautiful. Its moistened scrapings are good for feebleness and nausea. It is brought from Guatemala and Soconusco [State of Chiapas]. They make beads strung in necklaces for hanging around the neck.... There are other stones, called _xixitl_; these are low-grade turquoises, flawed and spotted, and are not hard. Some of them are square, and others are of various shapes, and they work with them the mosaic, making crosses, images, and other pieces.[30]

If we are to credit Sahagun, turquois was worked not only in the immediate region of the central Mexican plateau, but they received supplies from distant points, and specifically from Chiapas and Guatemala. The raw material mentioned in the Tribute Roll of Montezuma as coming from coast towns and from the south, must also be taken into consideration. Hence, notwithstanding the present lack of information respecting the localities where turquois is to be found _in situ_ in central and southern Mexico, we cannot reject the opinion that ultimately ancient workings will be found at more than one site in Mexico. We do not believe it necessary to assume that the source of supply of both the Toltecs and the Aztecs, as well as of other tribes, such as the Tarasco, and the Mixtec and Zapotec, which also made use of this material, was the far-distant region of New Mexico. It was formerly asserted by some students that the jadeite of Middle America must have come by trade from China,[31] because no deposits have as yet been found in the former region; but it is now known by chemical analysis that the Middle American jadeite is distinct from that of Asia. In fact, the writer has long held that not alone in one, but in at least five, different localities, jadeite will in time be discovered.[32]

MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION

BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON]

THE AZTEC LAPIDARIES AND THEIR WORKS

The development of the art of the lapidaries and mosaic-workers, like that of the goldsmiths, is attributed by Sahagun to the Toltecs, under the beneficent influence of Quetzalcoatl, the culture hero god. In treating of the pre-Aztec people called Tultecas, or people of Tollan or Tula, by Sahagun, he states that they were very skilful in all that pertained to the fine arts. He writes:

The Tultecas were careful and thorough artificers, like those of Flanders at the present time, because they were skilful and neat in whatsoever they put their hands to; everything (they did) was very good, elaborate, and graceful, as for example, the houses that they erected, which were very beautiful, and richly ornamented inside with certain kinds of precious stones of a green color as a coating (to the walls), and the others which were not so adorned were very smooth, and worth seeing, and the stone of which they were fashioned appeared like a thing of mosaic.... They also knew and worked pearls, amber, and amethyst, and all manner of precious stones, which they made into jewelry.[33]

We find another statement to the effect that--

The lapidary is very well taught, and painstaking in his craft, a judge of good stones, which, for working, they take off the rough part and bring together or cement with others very delicately with bitumen or wax, in order to make mosaic-work.[34]

In the pictorial section of the Florentine manuscript of Sahagun,[35] in the Codex Mendoza,[36] and in the Mappe Tlotzin,[37] are pictures delineating artisans engaged in various crafts, such as weavers, painters, carpenters (wood-carvers), stone carvers, lapidaries, goldsmiths, and feather-mosaic workers, yet we find no actual representation of turquois-mosaic workers. In the third section of the Codex Mendoza appears a picture of a father teaching his son the secrets of the lapidary’s art. The interpreter of the codex writes:

The trades of a carpenter, jeweler (lapidary), painter, goldsmith, and embroiderer of feathers, accordingly as they are represented and declared, signify that the masters of such arts taught these trades to their sons from their earliest boyhood, in order that, when grown up to be men, they might attend to their trades and spend their time virtuously, counseling them that idleness is the root and mother of vices, as well as of evil-speaking and tale-bearing, whence followed drunkenness and robberies, and other dangerous vices, and setting before their imaginations many other grounds of alarm, that hence they might submit to be diligent in everything.

The elaborate series of pictures of the various crafts in the Florentine manuscript of Sahagun (laminas liv to lxiv) includes those that show in detail the work of the goldsmiths and the feather-workers; but the illustrations devoted to the lapidaries we are unable to correlate, in the absence of the text, with the Nahuatl text of the Sahagun manuscript in the Real Academia de la Historia in Madrid, which we will give later from the study by Dr. Seler containing a translation of the native text into French. This description of the work of the lapidaries informs us only concerning the working and polishing of the stones. Unlike the other accounts by Sahagun regarding the goldsmiths and the feather-workers, which enlighten us with respect to the details of these two fine arts, he does not here enter into any description concerning the delicate work of the artists who fashioned the beautiful pieces of stone mosaic. Although such work was turned out by the Aztecan workmen, as we have already demonstrated, it seems highly probable that in times immediately preceding the Spanish conquest, the Aztecan kings Ahuitzotl and Montezuma obtained a considerable number of such objects through tribute and by barter with the tribes living in what are now the states of Vera Cruz, Oaxaca, and western Chiapas. As our knowledge of Mexican archeology, now all too meager, is extended, it is very probable that we will find vestiges of this art in the Pacific state of Guerrero, where great numbers of jadeite and other greenstone objects have been discovered, with a respectable number of specimens indicating the high artistic skill of the indigenes of that section. We may also hope to find relics of this art in the area of Matlaltzincan culture to the north of the valley of Mexico, and also in the field of Tarascan culture in the states of Michoacan and Jalisco, for, as will be related, mosaic specimens have been recovered from ancient ruins as far north as the State of Zacatecas.

MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION

PREHISTORIC AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUM, ROME]

Sahagun’s account (chap. II) of the work of the lapidaries we herewith append, with the Nahuatl text and a translation of the French rendering by Seler.[38]

1. _In tlateque tulteca ynic quitequi yn yztac tehuilotl yoan tlapaltehuilotl yoan chalchiuitl yoan quetzalitztli ynica teoxalli yoan tlaquauac tepuztli._

1. The lapidary artisans cut rock-crystal, amethyst, emerald, both common and precious, by means of emery and with an instrument of tempered copper:

2. _Auh ynic quichiqui tecpatl tlatetzotzontli._

2. And they scraped it by means of cutting flint.

3. _Auh ynic quicoyonia ynic quimamali teputztlacopintli._

3. And they dug it out (hollowed) and drilled it by means of a little tube of copper.

4. _Niman yhuian quixteca quipetlaua quitemetzhuia, auh yn yc quicencaua._

4. And then they faceted it very carefully; they burnished (polished) it and gave it the final luster.

5. _Ytech quahuitl yn quipetlaua ynic pepetlaca, ynic motonameyotia ynic tlanextia._

5. They polished it set in wood, so that it comes to be very brilliant, shining, glossy.

6. _Anoço quetzalotlatl ynitech quilau ynic quicencaua ynic quiyecchiua yn intultecayo tlatecque._

6. Or they polish it mounted in bamboo, and the lapidaries finish it thus, and conclude their work.

7. _Auh çannoiuhqui yn tlapaltehuilotl ynic mochiua ynic mocencaua._

7. And in the same manner they work and smooth amethyst.

8. _Achtopa quimoleua quihuipeua teputztica yn tlatecque yn tulteca ynic yyoca quitlatlalia yn qualli motquitica tlapaltic yn itaqui._

8. In the first place the lapidary artisans break into pieces the amethyst and crush it with an instrument of copper, for they work only the beautiful pieces which are entirely reddish.

9. _Çan niman yuhqui tlatlalia yn campa monequiz quimoleua tepuztica._

9. They do not set up the precious stones named in this manner, except in the parts where it is necessary, when they break them with the copper instrument.

10. _Auh niman quichiqui quixteca yoan quitemetzhuia yoan quipetlaua ytech quahuitl yn tlapetlaualoni ynic quiyectilia ynic quicencaua._

10. Then they scrape it, and they facet it, and they smooth it, and they polish it, mounted in wood, set on the instrument called polisher or burnisher, and they manufacture and finish it.

11. _Auh yn yehoatl yn moteneua eztecpatl ca cenca tlaquauac chicauac camo ma vel motequi ynica teoxalli._

11. The stone called blood silex (heliotrope) is very hard and very strong, and they do not cut it well with emery.

12. _Çaçan motlatlapana motehuia._

12. They break it and they cut it up in any kind of way.

13. _Yoan motepehuilia yn itepetlayo yn amo qualli, yn amo uel no mopetlaua._

13. And they throw away the vein-stone, the useless stone, that which does not lend itself readily to polishing.

14. _Çan yehoatl mocui motemolia yn qualli, yn vel mopetlaua yn eztic, yn uel cuicuiltic._

14. They do not take or seek except the beautiful pieces that lend themselves to good polishing, the red-banded, that permit themselves to be well cut.

15. _Michiqui atica yoan ytech tetl cenca tlaquauac vnpa uallauh yn matlatzinco._

15. They rub them with water and mounted in a very hard stone that comes from the country of Matlatzinca [district of Toluca].

16. _Ypampa ca uel monoma namiqui, yniuh chicauac tecpatl noyuh chicauac yn tetl, ynic monepanmictia._

16. And because these two stones are companions, the one to the other, as the silex is very hard, so the stone is hard, they kill one another (the one kills the other).

17. _Çatepan mixteca yca teoxalli yoan motemetzhuia yca ezmellil._

17. Then they facet and polish them by means of emery.

18. _Auh çatepan yc mocencaua yc mopetlaua, yn quetzalotlatl._

18. And they finish and polish them with bamboo.

19. _Ynic quicuecueyotza quitonameyomaca._

19. In this way they make them scintillate and give to them a luster like the rays of the sun.

20. _Auh yn yehoatl motocayotia vitzitziltecpatl niman yuh yolli tlacati._

20. And that which they call hummingbird silex (stone of a thousand colors) is (in color like) an animal of that nature.

21. _Miyec tlamantli ynic mocuicuiloua, iztac yoan xoxoctic yoan yuhquin tletl, anoço yuhqui citlali yoan yuhquin ayauhcoçamalotl._

21. It is tinted (painted) in a thousand colors, white, blue, clear brilliant red, black with white spots, and the color of the rainbow.

22. _Çan tepiton xalli ynic michiqui ynic mopetlaua._

22. They scrape it and simply polish it with fine sand.

23. _Auh yn yehoatl motocayotia xiuhtomolli camo tlaquauac camo ezmellil ytech monequi ynic michiqui ynic mixteca yoan ynic motemetzhuia yoan ynic mopetlaua ynic moquetzalotlahuiaya ynic motonameyotia motlanexyotia._

23. The stone that they call round turquois is not very hard, so they have no need of emery to scrape, facet, smooth, or polish, for they apply to it the bamboo, then it receives its radiant luster and brilliancy.

24. _Auh yn yehoatl teoxihuitl ca amo cenca tlaquauac._

24. The fine turquois is not very hard either.

25. _Çanno tepiton xalli ynic mopetlaua ynic moyectilia auh yn uel no yc motlanextilmaca motonameyomaca occentlamantli ytoca xiuhpetlaualoni._

25. They polish it likewise with fine sand and they give to it a very brilliant luster and radiance by the method of another polisher, called the polisher of turquois.

MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION

PREHISTORIC AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUM, ROME]

Regarding the patron deities of the lapidaries, Sahagun has given us a detailed account which is so interesting that we translate _in extenso_.

The lapidaries who worked precious stones in the time of their pagandom adored four gods, or better said devils: the first was called _Chicunavitzcuintli_, the second _Naoalpilli_, the third _Macuilcalli_, and the fourth _Cintcutl_: to all these last three gods they made a festival when there reigned the sign or character called _Chicunavitzcuintli_, which is a woman, and for this (reason) they painted it so: to this (one) they attributed the cosmetics of the women, and in order to signify this they painted it with a crosier in the right hand, and in the left they put a shield, in the which (shield) there was represented a foot. They also put ear-ornaments of gold on it, and from the cartilage of the nose hung a butterfly of the same metal, and they dressed it (the idol) with a _uipil_ and woman’s shirt that was woven white and red, and also the skirts: they put on some sandals, also colored, having some paintings that appeared like almonds. To all these four (gods) they gave their images or their titles, so that they might die in their service on the day of their festival. That one called _Naoalpilli_ they decked out, and they cut the strands of hair in unequal lengths, very badly cut, disheveled or standing on ends, and divided in two parts. They put on the forehead a delicate plate of gold (thin) like paper, some earrings of gold in the ears, and in the hand a crosier decorated with rich feathers, and in the other (hand) a shield made like a net, and in four parts it had rich feathers badly placed. They also dressed it with a jacket woven white and red, with edging in the lower end: they also put on it some colored sandals. And the other god, called _Macuilcalli_, they also composed like a man, the hair cut in the middle of the head like a ridge, that is called _quachichiquille_, and this ridge was not of hair but made of the richest feathers. They placed in the temples some plates of delicate gold, and a jewel hung from the neck also, made of a round and wide marine shell. In the hand a crosier made of rich feathers was placed, and in the other hand was a shield with some circles of red, some inside the others; they had the body painted vermilion color, and they also put on it some sandals of the same color. The other god, called _Cinteutl_, was fashioned in the likeness of a man, with a mask wrought like mosaic-work, with some rays of the same (mosaic-work), coming out of the same mask. They put on it a jacket of cloth dyed light-blue; a jewel of gold hung from the neck. They place it (the idol) on a high platform from which it looked out, which platform, called _cincalli_, was composed of cornstalks after the manner of a _xacal_. They adorned it with some white sandals, the fastenings of which were made of loose cotton; they say that to these gods they attribute the artifice of working precious stones, of the making of barbotes (the tops of helmets), and ear-ornaments of black stone, of crystal, and of amber, and of other white (stones). They also attribute to these gods the working of beads, anklets, strings of pearls which they carried on their wrists, and all kinds of work in stones and chalchihuites, and the hollowing-out and polishing of all the stones; they said that these gods had invented it, and for this reason they were honored as gods, and to them the elder artisans of this craft and all the other lapidaries made a festival. By night they intoned their hymns and set the captives who were to die, on watch in their honor, and they did not work during the festival. This (festival) was celebrated in Xochimilco, because they said that the forefathers and ancestors of the lapidaries had come from that town, and there was the place of origin of these artisans.[39]

MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION

MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION. NEW YORK]

The ruler of the eighteenth week of the astrological calendar, or _tonalamatl_, was a goddess named _Chantico_ or _Quaxolotl_, also nicknamed _Chiconaui-itzcuintli_,[40] from the ninth day of the thirteen-day period or week. Seler writes:

She was the goddess of Xochimilco, and consequently also the chief deity of the guild of the tlatecque, of the stone cutters, the stone polishers, the jewelers, who were also supposed to come from Xochimilco. (Duran calls her wrongly Ciuacoatl and identifies her with the goddess of Colhuacan, which place stood opposite the city of Xochimilco).... Besides _Chiconaui-itzcuintli_ the stone-cutters had still a few other titles for the goddess. Such were Papaloxaual and Tlappepalo, i.e., “she of the red butterfly painting,” and “she with the red butterfly,” and these have reference to fire.... The stone-cutters also gave their goddess a butterfly as her nasal ornament, which, red and white, are the colors of her robe.[41]

In some of the different versions or paintings of the _tonalamatl_ contained in old Mexican codices, opposite the delineation of the goddess Chantico there is placed a fasting man in an enclosure. In both Codex Borbonicus[42] and Codex Telleriano Remensis,[43] this figure is found. Seler describes it as--

an enclosure inlaid with gold discs or rings. The interpreter designates it as “house of gold.” Beyond doubt this name has reference to one of the four little fasting houses (_necaualcalli_) which the hero of Tollan, Quetzalcoatl, built for himself, and naturally corresponded to the four quarters of the heavens, the first of which was said to be made of gold or embellished with gold (_coztic teocuitlacalli_), the second decorated with red musselshells (_tapachcalli_), the third with turquoises (_xiuihcalli_), the fourth with white musselshells (_teccizcalli_).[44]

Seler draws this inference from the legend given by Sahagun, which we have translated in full below.

As often is the case, there is some confusion in the description of Chantico in the early writings. This deity is also asserted to be a male. In the explanation of the Codex Telleriano Remensis the attributes of Chantico or Cuaxolotle are recited. It is said that--

Chantico presided over these thirteen signs (a division of the tonalamatl, or divinatory calendar), and was the lord of chile or of the yellow woman. He was the first who offered sacrifice after having eaten fried fish; the smoke of which (sacrifice) ascended to heaven; at which Tonacotli (Tonacatecutli, the father of all the gods) became incensed, and pronounced a curse against him that he should be changed into a dog, which accordingly happened, and he named him Chantico on this account, which is another name for Miquitlatecotle. From this transgression the destruction of the world ensued. He was called Nine Dogs, from the sign on which he was born. Chantico or Cuaxolotle is the symbol which the country people of Xolotle wear on their heads.[45] (The symbol of the city of Xolotlan in the Codex Mendoza is the head of a Dog.)

In the Sahagun manuscript of the Real Palacio in Madrid[46] the deity is painted with the shirt and skirt of a woman, and also in the Codex Borbonicus[47] and the Tonalamatl Aubin.[48] In his explanation of the last codex Seler has treated exhaustively of the various representations and attributes of this goddess.[49]

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]

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]

The fame of this temple or palace seems to have been firmly established, as Sahagun recurs to it in another part of his history, but in less detail. Sahagun follows the fortunes of the culture hero while he was in the ascendency in Tula, and states that later, owing to circumstances which it is needless to relate in this place, Quetzalcoatl determining to abandon Tula, ordered the burning of “all the houses that he had made of silver and shell, and furthermore commanded that other precious things should be buried in the neighboring hills and ravines.”[56] This indicates that the mosaic-decorated building was laid in ruins, and part of the treasure, at least, was buried before the inhabitants left the region and commenced the migration southward.

In presenting the tradition of this migration of Quetzalcoatl, Sahagun states that he (Quetzalcoatl) is reputed to have made and erected some houses underground which are called _Mientlancalco_. This of course refers to the famous ruins of Mitla, and seems to be an authentic tradition of the Nahuan origin of this important city of southern Mexico. It is doubly significant, when considered in connection with the description of the mosaic-decorated buildings in Tula, for, as is well known, the dominant architectural feature of the Mitla group of structures is the mosaic treatment of many of their outer and inner walls.

MASK OF WOOD (FRAGMENT) WITH MOSAIC DECORATION

MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK]

It is not necessary to give more than brief attention to this application of mosaic-work in architecture. The traditional mosaic-decorated buildings of Tula have disappeared, but the structures of Mitla are still standing in an excellent state of preservation, and moreover are easily accessible to travelers by rail and automobile; therefore they have been visited and admired by more people than perhaps any ruins in ancient America. In the embellishment of the walls a true mosaic decoration was employed, differing in kind only from the turquois mosaic on small objects. Geometric patterns were produced by fitting together small stones of different shapes and sizes, some of which were more deeply imbedded than others, so that the designs were traced out by the stones which projected more than others; in single panels, several planes were necessary to bring out the desired patterns. In many cases the stones are so neatly fitted that the joints can hardly be traced. We have written elsewhere that--

the massiveness of the construction and simple and chaste ornamentation place the Mitla structures in a class unapproached by any other existing ruined edifices in ancient America. The workmanship revealed in the stonework, the elegant precision with which the stones are laid and carved, is not equaled in any of the Mayan ruins. However, as noted by Holmes, the geometric fretwork mosaics differ from the great façades of the Mayan buildings “in subject matter rather than in kind, for the decorated surfaces there, though depicting animal forms, are mosaics in the sense that they are made up of separate hewn or carved stones set in mortar to form ornamental designs.”[57]

OBJECTS DECORATED WITH MOSAIC

In the ancient chronicles are found many descriptions of the employment of mosaic-work decoration in the central Mexican region. From the writings of Sahagun and others it is clearly evident that many such decorated objects were made for and were used as parts of the paraphernalia with which great idols of wood or of stone representing various deities were adorned for the frequent religious festivals which occurred at stated intervals. The rulers and the priests and members of the so-called nobility used such objects on these occasions. The major employment of the mosaic art seems to have been for the adornment of objects or ornaments used ceremonially, such as crowns or head-bands, helmets, masks, shields, scepters, ear-ornaments, nose-ornaments, breast-plates, bracelets, and anklets. The material on which the mosaic incrustation was placed was chiefly wood, but gold, shell, bone, and stone were also used. Small figures of the gods, either in human or in animal form, as well as musical instruments, were thus adorned. There are also indications that pottery vessels were sometimes decorated by embedding turquois in the clay.

Unfortunately we still possess only scant knowledge of the various objects ornamented in this manner. In the data obtained from the early chronicles there is abundant evidence that, in the central plateau of Mexico during the period immediately preceding the Spanish conquest, the art was highly developed. Visual evidence is at hand in the few beautiful examples now in European museums, specimens which were sent across the water by Cortés during the earliest period of the conquest, between the years 1518 and 1525.

A few references from some of the early writers regarding the use of turquois mosaic by the Aztecs will be presented.

MASK OF WOOD (FRAGMENT) WITH MOSAIC DECORATION

MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK]

Stone idols were often decorated with mosaic incrustations. Andrés de Tapia describes an idol probably representing Huitzilopochtli, showing this type of embellishment, in the great temple at Tenochtitlan. Tapia’s account is worthy of attention, for he was one of the captains of Cortés, and took a prominent part in the capture of the capital of Montezuma. He writes:

There were two idols on two pedestals, each one of the bulk of an ox; the pedestals measured a yard in height, and above these (were) two idols, each one almost three yards in height, of polished grain: and the stone was covered over with nacre, which is the shell in which pearls are created, and over this (mother-of-pearl), fastened with bitumen after the manner of paste, were (set in) many jewels of gold, and men, snakes, birds, and histories (hieroglyphs), made of small and large turquoises, of emeralds and amethysts, so that all the mother-of-pearl was covered, except in some places where they left it (uncovered) so as to make work with the stones. These idols had plump snakes of gold (as) girdles, and for collars each (one had) ten or twelve hearts made of gold, and for the face a mask of gold and eyes of mirror (obsidian or iron pyrites), and they had another face in the back of the head like the head of a man without flesh.[58]

Pomar describes the idol of Huitzilopochtli as of wood, “having on the breast a jewel of turquoises set in gold, with some gold bells (hanging), and on the face (were) two stripes of gold and two of turquoises, very beautifully wrought and placed.”[59]

In describing this idol, Bernal Díaz writes that “the whole body was covered with precious stones, and gold and pearls, and with seed pearls stuck on with a paste that they make in this country out of a sort of root, and all the body and head was covered with it, and the body was girdled by great snakes made of gold and precious stones.” He goes on to mention another idol close to it, which held “a short lance and a shield richly decorated with gold and stones.”[60]

Concerning the ancestral treasure of the Aztecan kings which Montezuma inherited from his father Axayacatl, finally exacted by Cortés from the unfortunate ruler, Bernal Díaz describes “three blowguns with their pellet molds and their coverings of jewels and pearls, and pictures in feathers of little birds covered with pearl shell, and other birds, all of great value.[61]

Tezozomoc, in describing the great sacrifices offered to the god Huitzilopochtli in honor of the coronation of Montezuma, and the presents brought by neighboring chiefs and lords as tributes from the various towns under their jurisdiction, writes:

In the center of the great square there was a building (_xacal_) where was the _teponaztli_, and the great _tlapanhuehuetl_ with which they made music. On the _xacal_ was the device of the Mexican arms with a small _peñula_ (rock?) of painted paper, like a natural rock, with a great cactus (_tuna_) on it, and on the cactus a royal eagle having in its claws a great mangled snake, and the eagle had a crown of doubled or twisted paper very well (made) and gilded, and (with) very rich stone mosaic-work round about it, in the Mexican custom called _teocuitla amayxcuatzolli_.[62]

At this festival Montezuma had the king of Aculhuacan attired in special raiment, which Tezozomoc describes as “a netted mantle with much rich stonework in the knots of the mantle, and with little gold bells hanging from the fringe.[63]

According to Sahagun, Xiuhtecutli, god of fire, wore “earrings in the holes of the ears worked with mosaics of turquois.... In his left hand he carried a shield with five greenstones called _chalchihuite_, placed like a cross on a round gold plate, which nearly covered the whole of the shield.”[64]

MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION

MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK]

Chalchihuitlicue, goddess of water, fountains, and rivers, wore earrings of turquois fashioned in mosaic-work. In describing the idol of Quetzalcoatl, Sahagun says that, for ceremonial occasions, ear-ornaments of turquois mosaic were placed on it, and “in the right hand was placed a scepter like a bishop’s crosier or staff, the upper part crooked like a bishop’s staff, and wrought with stone mosaic-work.” In treating of the presents sent to Cortés by Montezuma we have already given the description of the paraphernalia pertaining to this deity. This scepter is there described as having “the crook like the head of a snake turned around or coiled.” In the codices the god or his priest is represented with this staff with a crook, but the serpent-headed scepter is shown by Sahagun (manuscript of the Real Palacio, Madrid, estampa VII, fig. 1) as part of the ceremonial outfit of Huitzilopochtli (fig. 5). The body of the serpent is painted blue, representing the scales done in turquois mosaic.

In describing the god Tezcatlipoca, Pomar states that he was represented with “a mask with three stripes (_vetas_) of _espejuelo_ (either transparent lamellated gypsum [selenite], or more probably obsidian), and two of gold, which crossed over the face.”[65] The idol was fashioned from wood in the figure of a man. _Espejuelo_, he states, was a kind of shining metal called _tezcapoctli_.