own of the humming-bird, which reveled in swarms among the
honeysuckle bowers of Mexico, supplied them with soft aerial tints
that gave an exquisite finish to the picture. The feathers, pasted
on a fine cotton web, were wrought into dresses for the wealthy,
hangings for apartments, and ornaments for the temples.

When some of the Mexican feather-work was shown at Strasbourg: "Never,"
says one admirer, "did I behold anything so exquisite for brilliancy
and nice gradation of color, and for beauty of design. No European
artist could have made such a thing."

Instead of shops the Aztecs had in every town a market-place, where
fairs were held every fifth day--i. e., once a week. Each commodity had
a particular quarter, and the traffic was partly by barter, and partly
by using the following articles as money: bits of tin shaped like an
Egyptian cross (T), bags of cacao holding a specified number of grains,
and, for large values, quills of gold-dust.

The married women among the Aztecs were treated kindly and respectfully
by their husbands. The feminine occupations were spinning and
embroidery, etc., as among the ancient Greeks, while listening to
ballads and love stories related by their maidens and musicians
(Ramusio, iii, 305).

In banquets and other social entertainments the women had an equal share
with the men. Sometimes the festivities were on a large scale, with
costly preparations and numerous attendants. The Mexicans, ancient and
modern, have always been passionately fond of flowers, and on great
occasions not only were the halls and courts strewed and adorned in
profusion with blossoms of every hue and sweet odor, but perfumes
scented every room. The guests as they sat down found ewers of water
before them and cotton napkins, since washing the hands both before and
after eating was a national habit of almost religious obligation.[17]
Modern Europeans believe that tobacco was introduced from America in
the time of Queen Isabella and Queen Elizabeth, but ages before that
period the Aztecs at their banquets had the "fragrant weed" offered to
the company, "in pipes, mixed up with aromatic substances, or in the
form of cigars, inserted in tubes of tortoise-shell or silver." The
smoke after dinner was no doubt preliminary to the _siesta_ or nap of
"forty winks." It is not known if the Aztec ladies, like their
descendants in modern Mexico, also appreciated the _yetl_, as the
Mexicans called "tobacco