Healing plants
Roots, leaves and bark used as medicine, by Indigenous healers in the Americas and by European herbalists and apothecaries.
The Great Market of Tenochtitlan
Hernán Cortés, second letter to Emperor Charles V, October 30, 1520 (the market of Tenochtitlan) · dated October 30, 1520; printed at Seville, 1522 (describes the city as Cortés saw it in 1519–1520)
Hay calle de herbolarios, donde hay todas las raíces y yerbas medicinales que en la tierra se hallan. Hay casas como de boticarios donde se venden las medicinas hechas, así potables como ungüentos y emplastos. Hay casas como de barberos, donde lavan y rapan las cabezas. Hay casas donde dan de comer y beber por precio. Hay hombres como los que llaman en Castilla ganapanes, para traer cargas. Hay mucha leña, carbon, braseros de barro y esteras de muchas maneras para camas, y otras mas delgadas para asiento y para esterar salas y cámaras.
There is a street of herbalists, with every root and medicinal herb found in the land. There are shops like apothecaries' shops, where they sell ready-made medicines: drinks, ointments, and plasters. There are shops like barbers' shops, where people have their heads washed and shaved. There are houses where you can eat and drink for a price. There are men like those called ganapanes in Castile, who carry loads. There is plenty of firewood and charcoal, clay braziers, and mats of many kinds, some for beds and thinner ones to sit on and to cover the floors of halls and rooms.
Maize, Markets and Books in Yucatán
Diego de Landa, Account of the Things of Yucatán (mid-1560s), on trade and farming, and on the Maya books · written in the mid-1560s (describes Maya life before and after the Spanish conquest, as Landa knew it from 1549)
Que los officios de los indios eran olleros y carpinteros, los quales por hazer los idolos de barro y madera con muchos ayunos y observancias ganavan mucho. Avia tambien cirujanos, o por mejor dezir hechizeros, los quales curavan con yervas y muchas supersticiones, y assi de todos los demas officios.
The Indians' trades were pottery and carpentry. Potters and carpenters earned a great deal by making the idols of clay and wood, which they made with many fasts and rituals. There were also surgeons, or rather sorcerers, who healed with herbs and many superstitions. And so it was with all the other trades.