Note 20 — Chapter IX · ANTIQUITIES. PRISON. SPORTS.
Reading edition
The Aztecs had but one word to denote both gold and silver, as they afterwards made one serve for both iron and copper. This curious word teocuitlatl we may translate as “Precious Metal,” but it means literally “Dung of the Gods.” Gold was “Yellow Precious Metal,” and silver “White Precious Metal.” Lead they called temetztli, “Moon-stone;” and when the Spaniards showed them quicksilver, they gave it the name of yoli amuchitl, “Live Tin.”