large capes or cloaks; large pieces of cloth; a large cotton blanket, sheet (see Karttunen); a mantilla, in Spanish (see attestations); such cloth and cloaks could serve as currency in pthe autonomous era (i.e. before European colonization) and in the early Spanish colonial period
lengths of cotton tribute cloth; mantle(s); large capes or cloaks (Lockhart); in early Mesoamerica, these cloths could serve as a type of currency
matlactica quachtli in tlatla iceioal, iehoatl y, in cẽca tlatolinjaia = With ten large capes [they paid for that] which burned each night. This much impoverished [them] (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Referred to as tlacocohualoni, that with which various things are bought in the Cuernavaca census records. (Cuernavaca region, ca. 1540s)
quachtli = large mantles
oncā poliuhqe yn patolquachtli ȳ tiq̉macaya yn imomextin Alōso valençia yvan juᴼ perez de artiaga. auh ȳ tictemacaq̄ yn patolquachtli yexiquipilli yn nauhxiuhtica = At that time the patolquachtlis that we had been giving to both Alonso de Valencia and Juan Pérez de Artiaga were stopped. We gave twenty-four thousand of them during four years.
oncā ticauhque yn veyac quachtli yxiptla mochiuh ȳ tomines = At that point we gave up [paying in] long tribute cloaks; the money was substituted instead.
Ca njcan catquj mjtzmotiamjctilia in tlapalivi: macujltzin quachtli, ic tonmonentlamachitiz in tianqujznaoac: ic toconmonextiliz in cochcaiutl, in neuhcaiutl: in chiltzintli, in jztatzintli, in ocotzintlj: auh in cetzin quauhtlatzaiantzin, injc tonmotlapopuchilitiez = here the husband provideth thee with merchandise, five large cotton capes with which thou wilt negotiate at the market place, with which thou wilt procure the sustenance, the chili, the salt, the torches, and some firewood, that thou mayest prepare food (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
auh iopico conujcaia, amo çan nen oalqujçaia, amo çan nen caoaloia, itla ic moqujxtiaia, itla ic onanoia, aço totoli, aço quachtli qujtemacaia. Et.a = And they carried him to the Temple of Iopitli; and not for nothing did he come out, not for nothing was he let free. Something was given as ransom; something was taken—perchance a turkey-hen, mayhap a great cotton mantle he offered, etc. (16th century, Mexico City)
niman ie ic quioalmoxelhuia, ontzontli concui in quachtli tenochca: auh no ontzontli concui in tlatilulca: auh in quachtli niman ic mocoa in tlatocatilmatli ihuitica tetecomaio, ioan xaoalquauhiotilmatli, ioan ihuitica tenoaoanqui, ioan tlatocamastlatl iacauiac, ioan tlamachcueitl, tlamachhuipilli. Jnĩ tlatquitl uel iscoian, iasca, in Auitzotzin = Those of Tenochtitlan took eight hundred large cotton capes, and also those of Tlatiluco took eight hundred. And with the large cotton capes were then bought the rulers’ capes, feathered in cup-shaped designs, and those of eagle face designs, and striped on the borders with feathers; and rulers’ breech clouts with long ends; and embroidered skirts [and] shifts. This clothing was verily and the exclusive property of Auitzotzin [which the merchants carried to Anauac]. (sixteenth century, Mexico City)
"...Garibay consistently translates this as 'mantas chicas.' It is interesting that in this annotation, and in the annotation in lámina V, the author [of the Matrícula de Tributos] separated quachtli from tilmatli. The quachtli may have served as a form of currently among pre-Conquest Mesoamerican peoples. See Durand-Forest 1971."
"Empero, el ancho del lienzo no necesariamente tenía que ser el del 'que permitía el telar' —por supuesto excluyendo el máximo—, sino el que requería la proporción de la anchura total de la manta en proyecto; es decir que en todo caso las piernas o lienzos que tenían que unirse debían ser de iguales dimensiones. Así, en la Relación de Tepeaca se dice que las mantillas (cuachtli), eran de 'una braza de largo y de ancho media vara, y cada mantilla tenía tres piernas', esto es, cada pierna de 0.28 m de amplitud, escasamente."
auh yn cauildo mochi nalquizticatca tlapapal quachtl ynic çe sulal tlaticatca huel mahuizca catca = El cabildo todo, de lado a lado, estaba cubierto con mantas rojas, todo un solar estaba oculto, fue muy hermoso. (Tlaxcala, 1662–1692)
auh yni quicouh quachtli cenquimili = y lo que dio por las dichas tierras fueron viente mantas [quachtli] (Tlatelolco, 1558)
"Las mantillas que se llamavan, tototlaqualtequachtli, valían a cien cacaos, y las otras que se llamavan tequachtli, valían a ochenta cacaos; y otras que se llamavan quachtli: que eran las mas baxas valían a sesenta cacaos. (DE ROJAS: 98:1998)."