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Show 408 BOOK VII. ~ H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. flO\IIlers of different plants, :wd v,uious ::tnimals. White they obtained from the fione Chimaltizatl, wh-ich, on calcination, becomes li ke a fine plaifrer, or from the 'I'izut!a/li~ another mineral, which after being made into a paflc, worked like cby, and formed into finall b:1.lls, takes in the fire a white colour n.: fembling Spani{h white. Hlack they got from another minet'al, which, on account of its Ihnking iilld l, was called 'Ila!ibijac, or from the foot of the Ocotl, which is a certain aromatic (pecies of pine, colleCted in little e, 1-then veffels. Dlue and azure colours were obtained from the flower of the Matla/xibuitl, and the Xiubquilipitzabuac, which is indigo (I), although their mode of making them w.ts very difft!rent Jrom the way of the moderns. They put the branches of rhis plant into hot, or rather lukewarm water; and after having fiined them about for a fufficient time with a fl:ick or ladle, they paffed the water when impregnated with the dye into certain pots or cups, in which they let it remain until the folid part of the dye was dcpofi.ted, and then they poured off the water. This lee or fediment was dried in the fun, and afterwards it was placed between two plates near a fire, until it grew hard. The Mexicans had another phnt of the fame name, from which they li kewife obtained an azure colour, but of an inferior quality. Red they got from tbe feeds of the Acbiot or R.uocou, poiled in water; and purple from the Noci.Jiztli, or cochinc,,J. Yellow from the Tccozahuitl , or' ochre; and likewih: from the Xochip~11li, a plant, the leaves of which refcmblc thofe of the Artemifia. The beautiful flowers of this pbnt, boiled in water with nitre, furnifhed them a fine orange-colour. In the C1me manllcr as they made ufe of nitre to obtain this colour, tbey employed alum to obtain others. After grinding and difTolving the aluminous earth in water, which they called 7'/a/xocot/, they boiled it in e:trthen vefftls; (/) The dd.:ription of the indigo pl:lnt is found in many :l \tthnrs, particularly in ITr m~n· dcz, lib. iv. cap. 12. whi his totally dift(:rrnt from that dcfnibcd by Ray nal, in the lixth book of his l'hilofophical and Political Hi fiory . This author ailirms, that indigo was n~n[planted from the Eafl-lndico to Amcri<.:a, and that •xperiments ha ving been made of it in fc" crnl countries, the culture of it was clhhlifhcd in Carolit1:1, Hifpanioln, and Mexico. 1 his however is om: of the many miOnkes of that phi.lofopher. It is certain, fmm th ~ te!timony of :Ferdinand Columbus, iu cap. !xi. of the Life of his famous paretlt Chrillopher Columbu ·, that ~ne ~f the ~I ants,. native to th~ ifhmd of Hifpnniola, was the indigo. We know rtl!o from the hlllonans ot Mc:x1co, nnd partlcltlarly Hernandez, that th e nncicnt Mc:xicans made ltfe of indigo. then H l S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0 . t1len by di.ll:illation , they extraCl:ed the al1um pure, white, and tranfplrent,. a:1d before th ey hardened it entirely, they parted it in pieces to fell 1t m the market. To make their colours hold better too-ether they made uLi: of the glutinous juic.:e of the Tzauhtli (m), or the fin~ oil of Chian (n). The figures of mountains, rivers, buildings, trees, and minerals, and, above all, thofe of men, which appear in the paintings .ll:ill extant of the ancient Mexicans, are for the. moil: part unproportioned and deformed; this, however, we think is not to be afcribed fo much to their ignorance of the proportions of objeCts, or their want of abilities, as to their ha.ll:e in painting, of which the Spaniih conquerors were witne. Oes: for as they folely paid attention to m:1ke a 6ithful reprefentation of things, they negleCted making their images perfeCt, and on that account frequently contented themfelvcs with mere fke tches or outlines. However, we have feen among the anci nt painting~. many portraits of the kings of .Mexico, in which bcfidcs the fi.ngular beauty of the colours, the proportions were moil: accurately obferved; but we will, notwithftanding, confefs, that the Mexican painters were by no means arrived at much perfeCl:ion of defign, or in mixing a1ade an~ light, I The Mexicans ufed in painting not only to reprefent the fimple images of objects, as feme writers have reported, but alfo employed hieroglyphics and charaCters (o). They reprefented material things by their proper figures, but in order to abridge and !~we labour, paper, and colours, they contented themfdves with reprefenting a part of an objeCt which was fufficient to make it b undcrftood by the intelligent; and as we cannot underfbnd the v.. T itings of others, until we have learnt to read them, in like manner tboic American authors required to have been firfi infl:ru ~1ed in the Mexic1n manner of reprCfen ting o0- jeCl:s, in order to have been able to l,liJ.dcrfi:anc.l the paintings which (m) The Tzflltl.Jilfis a plant very common in that C()\tntry. Tts leaves :1re fit~~ilnr to tho(e of the leek, its fi.etn is flrait and knotty, its flow ers tiu f{ed with a )Cllowifh green, its root white :md fibrous. 'J'o c:xtra6 its jui..:e they brol\e it nnd JricJ it in the fun. (11) Thinking to rendcl' a fcn·icc to tbc Italian painter,! we: cultivat ed with great :1ttention three pl nn ts of the Chinn fprnng from r~c,\ frnt ftotn MeXICO j they took root fuccefsfu~. and we had the pleafurc of fee ing them lo.l<icJ with Rowers in .:ieptembcr l ~i7; bltt the fr< of that year cotnin){ more c:~.rly th an ufual, nipp ed thcn t entire ly. . . • (n) Such :tllthnrs are effcf.lu:tlly rrfutcd by Dr. Egttbra, in the l·•arned prelace to hsa Bt· lllintheca Meffi au:t, anJ by us in om Di tlcrtarion s. VoL. I. G g g ferved 40;! B...O.._O_K_, __V_U.. . SF. CT. XLIX. 'fhc cha ractrr of thcit· paiu .iugs, and mode of rcprefcncin~ ol>jeets. |