“Χέρνιβα δʹ ἀμφίπολος προχόῳ ἐπέχευε φέρουσα Καλῇ χρυσείῃ ὑπὲρ ἀργυρέοιο λέβητος, Νίψασθαι: παρὰ δὲ ξεστὴν ἐτάνυσσε τράπεζαν.” ΟΔΥΣΣ. Α. The feast affords many other points of analogy to the Aztec, inferring a similar stage of civilization in the two nations. One may be surprised, however, to find a greater profusion of the precious metals in the barren isle of Ithaca than in Mexico. But the poet’s fancy was a richer mine than either. [255] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, lib. 6, cap. 22.--Amidst some excellent advice of a parent to his son, on his general deportment, we find the latter punctiliously enjoined not to take his seat at the board till he has washed his face and hands, and not to leave it till he has repeated the same thing, and _cleansed his teeth_. The directions are given with a precision worthy of an Asiatic. “Al principio de la comida labarte has las manos y la boca, y donde te juntares con otros á comer, no te sientes luego; mas antes tomarás el agua y la jícara para que se laben los otros, y echarles has agua á las manos, y despues de esto, cojerás lo que se ha caido por el suelo y barrerás el lugar de la comida, y también despues de comer lavarás te las manos y la boca, y limpiarás los dientes.” Ibid., loc. cit. [256] Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 306.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, lib. 4, cap. 37.--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 23.--Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 227.--The Aztecs used to smoke after dinner, to prepare for the _siesta_, in which they indulged themselves as regularly as an old Castilian.--Tobacco, in Mexican _yetl_, is derived from a Haytian word, _tabaco_. The natives of Hispaniola, being the first with whom the Spaniards had much intercourse, have supplied Europe with the names of several important plants.--Tobacco, in some form or other, was used by almost all the tribes of the American continent, from the Northwest Coast to Patagonia. (See McCulloh, Researches, pp. 91-94.) Its manifold virtues, both social and medicinal, are profusely panegyrized by Hernandez, in his Hist. Plantarum, lib. 2, cap. 109.