Page:Young Folks History Of Mexico.pdf/151

Rh ; gold, silver and precious stones for the king and the nobility; bone, stone or copper for the plebeians, in the shape of bracelets, anklets, armlets, and rings for the ears, nose, fingers and lower lip. But no subject could wear the same dress or ornament as his king, the penalty was death! The nobles wore in their lips the chalchihuite, or native emerald, while the poorer classes thrust eagle-claws and fish-bones through holes bored in their ears, lips, and nose.

The king possessed the greatest variety of mantles of cotton, so finely made as to resemble silk, and wore a different one for every occasion. We can hardly believe that he never wore any dress a second time, as many have pretended. His sandals had golden soles and were ornamented with precious stones; the royal crown was a band of gold rising to a point in front, and sometimes ornamented with the long feathers of the quetzal, or royal trogon. Besides feather tassels garnished with gold, worn upon the crown of the head, the king sometimes wore chin ornaments of crystal and precious stones, or golden crescents suspended from his under lip. In one account given of the visit of Nezahualcoyotl to the unfortunate King Chimalpopoca, imprisoned in a cage, we read that the king gave the young prince his emerald lip ornament at parting. The great lords bored holes in their noses and wore some kind of precious stones, one on each side. They wore strings of gems about their necks, bracelets of mosaic work, and greaves of thin plates of gold on their legs below the knees. Sometimes they carried a small golden flag in their hand, ornamented with a tuft of brilliant feathers, and wore upon the head a rich-plumed bird with its beak in front and its wings hanging over their temples.

From this plain and sober statement of the costume and ornaments of the higher classes, collected from a