Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/249

Rh rapidly ripening wheat was attacked by the chiahuiztli, and the greater part destroyed.

The eclipse occurred about nine o'clock in the morning. For three quarters of an hour the city was shrouded in almost total darkness, during which the greatest confusion and consternation prevailed. To the superstitious and already excited minds of the lower classes this phenomenon appeared as an evil omen, a belief which subsequent events only served to confirm.

With the loss of the wheat crop the consumption of corn increased, its price being further advanced by the partial failure of the crop, due to excessive moisture and cold. The situation was indeed critical. Maize was the food staple of the natives, and since the loss of the wheat crop the tortilla had taken the place of wheat bread, not only among all the lower and laboring classes of the capital, but also to some extent among the wealthy. Such was now the increasing scarcity that by the beginning of September the price of wheat had more than doubled. The