kinds of paper;[1] diligences and carts; flour; sugar; chocolate; indigo; tiles; and adobe, or sun-dried brick; also wine and liquors, which are described in a separate chapter (vide p. 115).
N. B.—None of these articles are exported to any extent.
XXXVII.
Native Productions.
This chapter is designed to supplement the preceding one on manufactures. The Indians of to-day make various articles that were in common use among their Aztec ancestors.
The plumaje, or feather-work, which is sold in the shops at the capital, resembles that made in Montezuma's time; but, instead of being interwoyen with a cotton web, the feathers are put together in various forms and attached to a card-board.
Different varieties of artificial birds are constructed in this manner, the gorgeous colors of the parrot tribe and the delicate down of the humming-bird affording excellent material for a beautiful model. Some of these birds are of life-size, but most of them are on a reduced scale. The modern Mexicans do not make knives, razors, and serrated swords of itztli, or obsidian, but the tourist may find fragments of this material on sale in the portales of the City of Mexico.
Pottery is manufactured on a large scale (vide preceding chapter). It comes mostly from Guadalajara, Uruapan, and Zintzuntlan. The Guadalajara ware is glazed and variegated in color. It is molded into all kinds of figures, many of which are artistic in design, and illustrate the national costumes. Aztec pottery is now very scarce.
- ↑ There was no paper-factory up to 1803.
