Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/641

Rh was procured entirely by the natives, and efforts were made to protect them from the usual extortions of the Spaniards, though apparently with little avail, as the yield decreased and finally was almost confined to the districts of Oajaca. Nevertheless at the beginning of the present century the exports from Vera Cruz represented about $2,000,000. A few years previously this industry had occupied from twentyfive to thirty thousand persons, but the profits were apparently moderate.

But the skill of the Aztecs in producing feather-work excited the most remark. Marvellous stories were related by the first Europeans who saw specimens of this art, and the choicest patterns were deemed worthy to be offered to the sovereign. The novelty soon lost its charm, however, and an industry which in aboriginal times had been fostered and developed with the utmost care, was neglected by the representatives of civilized Europe, until it lost all its importance for practical purposes, and merely served to satisfy occasional curiosity. . A worse fate befell the manufacture of jewelry, which had attained the highest perfection among the Aztecs, whose skill was considered as unrivalled by Europeans. Though it was well known that they possessed the knowledge of working the metal in certain forms absolutely unknown in Europe, when in 1527 some mining regulations