The caste-system did not exist in Mexico but it was a custom, usually observed, for the son to learn the trade of his father. Trades were highly esteemed among them, being learned even by the nobles. A particular part of the city was given over to a particular trade, which had its own distinctive mark, something like a guild, having its own god, festivals, and the like. The high standing of the trades is shown by this advice given by an aged chief to his son: "Apply thyself, my son, to agriculture, or to feather-work, or some other honorable calling. Thus did your ancestors before you. Else how would they have provided for themselves and their families? Never was it heard that nobility alone was able to maintain its possessor."[11] Among the manufactures were cloths made of cotton, maguey fiber, rabbit hair, fiber of palm-leaves, and also the cotton was mixed with the rabbit hair and with feathers in making a very fine kind of cloth. The cloths were dyed in different colors as they obtained a number of dyes from both vegetable and mineral substances, probably even excelling the Europeans in the art of dyeing. They tanned the skins of animals both with and without the hair. The making of mats and baskets was an important industry. Paper was made from maguey fiber, sometimes this was mixed with fiber from some other plants. Wood was used in making household furniture and farming implements and they also made cups and vases of lacquered wood. In the working of gold and silver they had reached a high degree of perfection, making most beautiful ornaments, which, in many instances, were superior to the work done in Europe. They were quite skillful in the use of feathers. Feathers were mixed with cotton and with other fiber for the making of clothing, tapestry, carpets, and bed-coverings. Feathers were used as ornaments and decorations, sometimes having been tipped with gold and set in precious stones, most beautiful fans were made in this way. The work with feathers they most excelled in was what has been called feather-mosaic, in which beautiful designs were worked out and colors harmoniously blended by the skillfully pasting of feathers on to cloth. For temporary use, as for decorations on the occasions of special festivals, they made designs with leaves and flowers similar to the feather-work. They were quite skillful in working precious stones, making most beautiful ornaments from the stones found in the country, emeralds, amethysts, and turquoises being the most abundant. Pearls and bright colored shells were used with the stones in the formation of necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and other ornaments. "Mirrors of rock crystal, obsidian, and other stones, brightly polished and encased in rich frames, were said to reflect the human face as clearly as the best of European manufacture."[12]