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Show • H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. nooK vrr. ufe of were curiouOy carved and painted, and likewife adorned with ~ gold and fiiver. Befidcs the excrcife of the chace which private individuals took e:ther for nmnfemen.t , or to provide food for themfelvcs , there were general cbace , which were either thofe efiablifhed by cuf-tom to procure a plenty of viCtims for facrifices, or others occafionally appointed by the king. For this general chace they fixed on a large wood, which was generally that of Zacatepec, not far difiant from the c:1pital; there they chofe the place nwfi adapted for {( tting a great number of (nares and nets. With [orne thoufands of hunters they formed a circle round the wood of fix, [even, eight, or more . mile~, according to the number of animals they intended to take : they iet fire every where to the dry grafs and he::rbs, and made a terrible noifc ·with drums, horns, f110uting, and whifiling. The animals, alarmed by the noife and the :fire, fled to the centre of the wood, which was · the very place where the fnarcs were ft:t. The hunters approached towards the fame fpot, and ilill continuing their noife, gr. dually contr~ Cted their circle, m;til they left but a very fmall fpace to the game, which they all then attacked with their arms. Some of the animals were killed, and fome.,wt:re taken alive in the fi1ares, or in the hands of the hunters. The number and variety of game which they took was fo great, that the :fidl: viceroy of Mexico, when he w:1s told of it, thought it fo incredible, that he defired to make experience of the method himfelf. For the field of the chace, he made choice of a great plain which lies in the ~ountry of the Otomies, between the vill.lges of Xilotepec and S. Giovanni del Rio, and ordered the Indians to proceed in the fame manner as thev had been ufed to do in the time of their paganifm. The viceroy, ~ith a great retinue of Spani,mis repaired .to the p~ain, where accommodations were prepared for them in houft:s bmlt of wood, erected there on purpofe. Eleven thoufand Otornies formed a circle of more than fifteen miles, and after practi!ing all the means abo.ve mentioned, affernbled fuch a quantity of game on the plain, that the v1ceroy, who was quite aftonifhed at the fight, commanded that the greater part of them fhould be fet at liberty, which ~as nccordingly d nc; notwithfianding the number of animals taken would be altogether incredible, if the circumfiance had nut been publicly known and at~dl:ed by many, ar.d among others by a witnefs worthy of the higheft credit. H I S T 0 R Y 0 F ,M E X I C 0. credit (r ). They killed _more than fix hundred deer and wild goats, BOOK V II. upwards of a hundred COJOtes, and a furpriting number of hares, rab- ~ btts, and other quadrupeds. The plain ftill retains the Spanifh na~e Cazadero, or" pl.tce of the chace, which was then given it. . Befides ~he ufual met~1od of pra.Cti.Gng the chace, they had other parttcula~ devtces for catchmg particular kinds of animals. In order to catch yo~n g apes, they ~1ade a finall fire in the woods, and put among the burnmg coals a particular kind of il:one which they called Caca/Qtetl, (raven, or black !tone), which burfis with a loud noi.fe when it is well heated. They covered the fire with earth, and fprinklc.:d around it a little maize. The apes, allnred by the grain,. affetnblcd about it with their young, and while they were peaceably eating, the fionc burfi:; the old apes fled away in terror leaving their young behind them.; the hunters, who were on the watch~ then feized them before their. dams could return to carry them off. The method alfo which they had, and .fiill ufe, to. catch ducks, is, artful and curious. The lakes of the Mexican vale, as well as othe~. of the kingdom, are frequented by a prodigious multitude of ducks,geefe,. and other aquatic birds. The Mexicans left fome empty gourds to. float upon the water, where thofe· birds reforted, that they might be. accu!l:omed to fee and approach them without fear. The bird-catcher went into the water fo deep as to hide his body,. and covered his head with a gourd; the ducks came to peck at it, and then he pulled 'thern by the feet under water, and in this. manner fc.cure~d as many as he pleafed. They took ferpents alive either by twifl:ing them with great dexterity, or apt)roaching them intrepidly, they feized them with one hand by the neck, and fewed up their mouths with the other. They fiill. take th m in this way, and every day in the apothecary's a1ops of the. capital, and other cities, may be feen live ferpents which have been taken in this manner. But .nothing is more wonderful than their quicknefs in tracing the. fteps of wild beafts. Although there is not the fmallefl: print of them to be fcen from the earth being covered with herbs or dry leaves which (r) P. Toribio di Benavcnri, or Motolinia, fall |