Page:About Mexico - Past and Present.djvu/109

Rh The manners of the people showed great attention to all the proprieties of life. The Aztecs always saluted by touching the hand to the ground and then raising it to the head. When they appeared in the presence of the great chiefs, it was common to wear a coarse mantle over their rich garments, in token of respect to superiors in rank. The dignity and the decorum of an Indian council are proverbial among us, and the Mexican teepan was a model of tedious etiquette. Cortez says, "No sultan or infidel lord now known had so much ceremonial in their courts as did Montezuma." A censer with sweet incense thrown on the burning coals was swung before the honored guest by an Aztec host, that the very air might breathe its welcome to him. Hands were carefully washed and dried before and after meals, and the whole person was bathed every day. There were no tables or knives or forks, but finger-bowls and cotton napkins were commonly used, and dainty pottery. It is said that in the higher circles meats were kept hot on chafing-dishes, the guests being seated on clean rush mats placed on the floor; chocolate was served in cups of gold, silver or tortoise-shell, and an after-dinner pipe was as common there as here. The Aztecs became skillful cooks as the tribe increased in wealth, though the poor could never forget the day when, hunted into the swamps, their ancestors were often obliged to fall back on the glutinous scum of the lake as a substitute for more palatable food.

In dress as in architecture these people had advanced far beyond the more northern Indians. The costume of the citizen was a large square mantle (tilmantli), worn throughout Mexico; two ends of this were brought together and knotted under the chin. This flowing