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136. Dress and Ornaments. In the climate of Mexico, very little clothing was necessary. The poor wore a girdle; and the higher classes, a girdle, and a mantle or cloak over the shoulders, about four feet long, and in winter a waistcoat. The shoe was of lether or coarse cloth, under the foot tied with strings round the ankle. The Mexicans wore their hair long, thinking it dishonorable to be shaved. For ornaments they wore ear-rings, pendants at the under lip, or the nose; bracelets on the arms, and rings like a collar on the legs. The rich used pearls, emeralds and other gems set in gold; and the poor used shells, crystals, or some shining stones.

137. Furniture of the houses. The beds of the Mexicans did not accord with the finery of their dress. Their beds were two coarse mats of rushes, to which the rich added fine palm mats and sheets of cotton. The cover of the bed was a mantle, or a counterpane of cotton and fethers. The table was a mat spread on the ground; and napkins were used, as were plates, porringers, earthern pots and jugs, but no knives nor forks. For chairs, were used low seats of wood and rushes or palm, and reeds. The shell of a fruit like a gourd furnished cups. The Mexicans used no wax, tallow or oil for lights, but torches of wood, like pine knots. Tobacco was much used for smoking and in snuff. Instead of soap, were used the fruit and root of a particular tree.

138. Amusements. The Mexicans had no stringed instruments; but for music made use of horns, shells, and little pipes or flutes. They had also a kind of drum, which was a cylinder of wood, covered with a deer skin, weil dressed and stretched, which they slackened or tightened. They had also a piece of wood, cylindrical and hollow, in which were two openings lengthwise; this was beat with two little sticks, whose ends were covered with elastic gum, to soften the sound. These instruments were ac

companied with singing; but their voices were harsh and offensive to European ears.

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139. Dances. The dances of the Mexicans were very graceful. They were of various kinds; sometimes in circles; sometimes in ranks; some dances were performed by men only, others by females. On such occasions, the nobles were dressed in their most pompous attire; adorned with bracelets, ear-rings, and various pendants of gold and jewels, and with various plumes. The little dance was performed for the amusement of the nobles, or in temples for devotion, or in private houses. This was performed by a few persons, who arranged themselves in parallel lines, with their faces directed sometimes one way, sometimes another, and they occasionally crossed and intermingled with each other.

140. Great Dance. The great dance was performed in a large open space of ground, or in the area of a temple. Hundreds of persons sometimes joined in it, with the music placed in the center of

the area. The lords were arranged in two or three circles, near the center; at a distance, other circles were composed of persons of inferior rank, and the exterior circles were composed of young persons. All the dancers moved in circles; those near the center moved slowly; those more distant moved more briskly, so that all the circles moved round in the same time.

141. Games and Feats. The Mexicans had various games for public occasions, or for relaxation and amusement. One of these was the race, in which they were exercised from their childhood. They had also military games, in which the warriors represented a pitched battle. One of the most singular of their amusements was an exhibition of the flyers, used in certain great festivals. The manner is this. The stem of a lofty tree, stripped of its bark and branches, is fixed in the center of a square, with the end inserted in a wooden cylinder. From this hung four ropes, supporting a square frame, like a ship's main top. Between the cylinder and the frame were fixed four other ropes, which were twisted round the timber, as many times as there were revolutions to be made. These were drawn through holes in the

frame.

142. Manner of flying. The four principal flyers, disguised as eagles, herons or other fowls, mounted the tree by means of a rope laced about it, tied the ropes round their bodies, and lanched from the frame with a spring, and began their flight with wings expanded. Their action put the frame and cylinder in motion; the frame by turning untwisted the ropes by which the flyers swung; and the lengthening of the ropes enlarged the circle of the flyers, and lowered them to the earth. While this process was going on, a man stood and danced on the top of the timber, beating a little drum or waving a flag.

143. Other games. The Mexicans were very fond of playing with a ball of three or four inches diame

ter, made of elastic gum. They played in parties, two against two, or three against three; all naked except a bandage round their middle. It was a rule of the game, not to touch the ball, except with the joint of the thigh, or the arm or elbow. The player who caused the ball to reach the opposite wall or made it rebound from it, gained a point.

Another play was, to place a beam upon the shoulders of two dancers, while a person danced on the top of it.

They also danced, one man on the shoulders of another, and a third, dancing on his head, and displaying great agility.

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Such was the state of society in Mexico, when the Spaniards invaded and conquered the country in the year 1521.

144. Other Indian Nations in North America. The tribes of natives which were spread over the more northern regions of America, were far less advanced

in knowledge, arts and civility, than the Mexicans. They all cultivated maiz and beans, which constituted no small part of their food. Corn and beans boiled together when green, they called suckotash; a dish held in great esteem by their conquerors, and much used by us at this day. But the cultivation of the earth was wholly performed by the women. The men were occupied in war, or in hunting or fishing, which supplied them with the flesh of deer, bears, beavers, moose, raccoon and the like. They had no drink but water.

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145. Habitations and Furniture. The dwellings of the savages were huts called wigwams, made with poles fixed in the ground, bent together, fastened at the top, and covered with mats of bulrushes. The fire was in the middle of the hut, and an opening was left at the top for the smoke to escape. Their beds were mats or skins spread on boards a little raised. For cooking they used pots made of clay; their dish

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