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MEXICAN ARCHÆOLOGY
Fig. 25.—Feather-work mantle (Berlin}.
(After Seler) pasted to a backing of bark-paper: the design was carefully drawn upon it, and then cut out after the manner of a stencil, through which the design was traced upon a sheet of maguey, backed with cotton, or cotton backed with maguey. To the last a layer of the cheaper kind of feathers of the requisite shapes and colours was applied by means of the spatula, first the outlines in black, and then the body-colours and details. The foundation was then detached and fastened to a board, and the final layer, this time in precious feathers of similar colours, was added. The stencil was used as a
