TORTILLAS, thin cakes made of Indian corn, resembling oat-cakes; see p. 33.
TRAPICHE, a sugar-mill.
ULEI, see Hule.
VAQUERO, cow-herd.
ZOPILOTE (Aztec, zopilotl), a turkey-buzzard.
V. DESCRIPTION OF THREE VERY RARE SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT MEXICAN MOSAIC-WORK (IN THE COLLECTION OF HENRY CHRISTY, ESQ.).
These Specimens, two Masks and a Knife, (see page 101.) are interesting as presenting examples of higher art than has been supposed to have been attained to by the ancient Mexicans, or any other of the native American peoples. Their distinctive feature is an incrustation of Mosaic of Turquoise, cut and polished, and fitted with extreme nicety,—a work of great labour, time, and cost in any country, and especially so amongst a people to whom the use of iron was unknown,—and carried out with a perfection which suggests the idea that the art must have been long practised under the fostering of wealth and power, although so few examples of it have come down to us.
Although considerably varied, they are all three of one family of work, so to speak; the predominant feature being the use of turquoise; and the question which presents itself at the outset is—what are the evidences that this unique work is of Aztec origin?
The proofs are so interwoven with the style and structure of the specimens that their appearance and nationality are best treated of together.