The Maquahuitl, called by the Spaniards Spada, or sword, as it was the weapon among the Mexicans, which was equivalent to the sword of the old continent, was a stout stick three feet and a half long, and about four inches broad, armed on each side with a sort of razors of the stone itzli, extraordinarily sharp, fixed and firmly fastened to the stick with gum lack (Hernandez says, that one stroke of the maquahuitl was sufficient to cut a man through the the middle; and the Anonymous Conqueror attests, that he saw in an engagement a Mexican, with one stroke which he gave a horse in the belly, make his intestines drop out; and another, who with one stroke which he gave a horse upon the head, laid him dead at his feet.), which were about three inches long, one or two inches broad, and as thick as the blade of our ancient swords. This weapon was so keen, that once it entirely beheaded a horse at one stroke, according to the affirmation of Acosta; but the first stroke only was to be feared; for the razors became soon blunt. They tied this weapon by a string to the arm, lest they might lose it in any violent conflict. The form of the maquahuitl is described by several historians, and is represented in one of the plates of this history. (The History of Mexico, Collected from Spanish and Mexican Historians, From Manuscripts and Ancient Paintings of the Indians: Illustrated by Charts, and Other Copper Plates; To Which are Added, Critical Dissertations on the Land, the Animals, and Inhabitants of Mexico, 2 vols. [trans. Francesco Saverio Clavigero; London: J. Johnson, 1807], 1:367-68)
