is much to be praised. They are made and got
out of the stone (if one can explain it) in this manner. One of these
Indian workmen sits down upon the ground, and takes a piece of this
black stone, which is like jet, and hard as flint, and is a stone which
might be called precious, more beautiful and brilliant than alabaster
or jasper, so much so that of it are made tablets[24] and mirrors. The
piece they take is about 8 inches long or rather more, and as thick as
one's leg or rather less, and cylindrical; they have a stick as large
as the shaft of a lance, and 3 cubits or rather more in length; and at
the end of it they fasten firmly another piece of wood, 8 inches long,
to give more weight to this part; then, pressing their naked feet
together, they hold the stone as with a pair of pincers or the vice of
a carpenter's bench. They take the stick (which is cut off smooth at
the end) with both hands, and set it well home against the edge of the
front of the stone (_y ponenlo avesar con el canto de la frente de la
piedra_) which also is cut smooth in that part; and then they press it
against their breast, and with the force of the pressure there flies
off a knife, with its point, and edge on each tide, as neatly as if one
were to make them of a turnip with a sharp knife, or of iron in the
fire. Then they sharpen it on a stone, using a hone to give it a very
fine edge; and in a very short time these workmen will make more than
twenty knives in the aforesaid manner. They come out of the same shape
as our barbers' lancets, except that they have a rib up the middle, and
have a slight graceful curve towards the point. They will cut and shave
the hair the first time they are used, at the first cut nearly as well
as a steel razor, but they lose their edge at the second cut; and so,
to finish shaving one's beard or hair, one after another has to be
used; though indeed they are cheap, and spoiling them is of no
consequence. Many Spaniards, both regular and secular clergy, have been
shaved with them, especially at the beginning of the colonization of
these realms, when there was no such abundance as now of the necessary
instruments, and people who gain their livelihood by practising this
occupation. But I conclude by saying that it is an admirable thing to
see them made, and no small argument for the capacity of the men who
found out such an invention."

Vetancurt (_Teatro Mejicano_) gives an account, taken from the above.
Hernandez