 Section 3 being Book 1 Chapter 4 of the Conquest of Mexico. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For further information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org History of the Conquest of Mexico by William H Prescott Book 1 Chapter 4 Mexican hieroglyphics, manuscripts, arithmetic, chronology, astronomy. It is a relief to turn from the gloomy pages of the preceding chapter to a brighter side of the picture and to contemplate the same nation in its generous struggle to raise itself from a state of barbarism and to take a positive rank in the scale of civilisation. It is not the less interesting that these efforts were made on an entirely new theatre of action apart from those influences that operate in the old world. The inhabitants of which, forming one great brotherhood of nations, are knit together by sympathies that make the faintest spark of knowledge struck out in one quarter spread gradually wider and wider until it has diffused a cheering light over the remotest. It is curious to observe the human mind in this new position conforming to the same laws as on the ancient continent and taking a similar direction in its first enquiries after truth. So similar indeed as, although not warranting perhaps the idea of imitation to suggest at least that of a common origin. In the eastern hemisphere we find some nations as the Greeks for instance early smitten with such a love of the beautiful as to be unwilling to dispense with it even in the graver productions of science and other nations again proposing a severer end to themselves to which even imagination and elegant art were made subservient. The productions of such a people must be criticised not by the ordinary rules of taste but by their adaptation to the peculiar end for which they were designed. Such were the Egyptians in the old world and the Mexicans in the new. We have already had occasion to notice the resemblance born by the latter nation to the former in their religious economy. We shall be more struck with it in their scientific culture especially their hieroglyphical writing and their astronomy. To describe actions and events by delineating visible objects seems to be a natural suggestion and is practised after a certain fashion by the rudest savages. The North American Indian carves an arrow on the bark of trees to show his followers the direction of his march and some other sign to show the success of his expeditions. But to paint intelligibly a consecutive series of these actions forming what Warburton has happily called picture writing requires a combination of ideas that amounts to a positively intellectual effort. Yet further when the object of the painter instead of being limited to the present is to penetrate the past and to gather from its dark recesses lessons of instruction for coming generations we see the dawnings of a literary culture and recognise the proof of a decided civilisation in the attempt itself however imperfectly it may be executed. The literal imitation of objects will not answer for this more complex and extended plan it would occupy too much space as well as time in the execution. It then becomes necessary to abridge the pictures to confine the drawings to outlines or to such prominent parts of the bodies delineated as may readily suggest the whole. This is the representative or figurative writing which forms the lowest stage of hieroglyphics. But there are things which have no type in the material world abstract ideas which can only be represented by visible objects supposed to have some quality analogous to the idea intended. This constitutes symbolical writing the most difficult of all to the interpreter since the analogy between the material and immaterial object is often purely fanciful or local in its application who for instance could suspect the association which made a beetle represent the universe as with the Egyptians or a serpent typify time as with the Aztecs. The third and last division is the phonetic in which signs are made to represent sounds either entire words or parts of them. This is the nearest approach of the hieroglyphical series to that beautiful invention the alphabet by which language is resolved into its elementary sounds and an apparatus supplied for easily and accurately expressing the most delicate shades of thought. The Egyptians were well skilled in all three kinds of hieroglyphics but although their public monuments display the first class in their ordinary intercourse and written records it is now certain that they almost wholly relied on the phonetic character. Strange that having thus broken down the thin partition which divided them from an alphabet their latest monuments should exhibit no nearer approach to it than their earliest. The Aztecs also were acquainted with the several varieties of hieroglyphics but they relied on the figurative infinitely more than on the others. The Egyptians were at the top of the scale the Aztecs at the bottom. In casting the eye over a Mexican manuscript or map as it is called one is struck with the grotesque caricatures it exhibits of the human figure monstrous overgrown heads on puny misshapen bodies which are themselves hard and angular in their outlines and without the least skill in composition. On closer inspection however it is obvious that it is not so much a rude attempt to delineate nature as a conventional symbol to express the idea in the most clear and forcible manner in the same way as the pieces of similar value on a chessboard while they correspond with one another in form their little resemblance usually to the objects they represent. Those parts of the figure are most distinctly traced which are the most important. So also the colouring instead of the delicate gradations of nature exhibits only gaudy and violent contrasts such as may produce the most vivid impression for even colours as Gama observes speak in the Aztec hieroglyphics but in the execution of all this the Mexicans were much inferior to the Egyptians the drawings of the latter indeed are exceedingly defective when criticised by the rules of art for they were as ignorant of perspective as the Chinese and only exhibited the head in profile with the eye in the centre and with total absence of expression but they handled the pencil more gracefully than the Aztecs were more true to the natural forms of objects and above all showed great superiority in abridging the original figure by giving only the outlines or some characteristic or essential feature. This simplified the process and facilitated the communication of thought an Egyptian text has almost the appearance of alphabetical writing in its regular lines of minute figures a Mexican text looks usually like a collection of pictures each one forming the subject of a separate study this is particularly the case with the delineations of mythology in which the story is told by a conglomeration of symbols that may remind one more of the mysterious anaglyphs sculptured on the temples of the Egyptians than of their written records the Aztecs had various emblems for expressing such things as from their nature could not be directly represented by the painter as for example the years, months, days, the seasons the elements, the heavens and the like a tongue denoted speaking a footprint, travelling a man sitting on the ground an earthquake these symbols were often very arbitrary varying with the caprice of the writer and it requires a nice discrimination to interpret them as a slight change in the form or position of the figure intimated a very different meaning an ingenious writer asserts that the priests devised secret symbolic characters for the record of their religious mysteries it is possible but the researchers of Champollion lead to the conclusion that the similar opinion formally entertained respecting the Egyptian hieroglyphics is without foundation lastly they employed as above stated phonetic signs though these were chiefly confined to the names of persons and places which being derived from some circumstance or characteristic quality were accommodated to the hieroglyphical system thus the town Simat Dan was compounded of Simat a root which grew near it and Clan signifying Nia Clash Kalan meant the place of bread from its rich fields of corn who were shot Tzinkor a place surrounded by willows the names of persons were often significant of their adventures and achievements that of the great Tescucan prince Nezahual Coyotl signified Hungry Fox intimating his sagacity and his distresses in early life the emblems of such names were no sooner seen than they suggested to every Mexican the person and place intended and when painted on their shields or embroidered on their banners became the armorial bearings by which city and chieftain were distinguished as in Europe in the age of chivalry but although the Aztecs were instructed in all the varieties of hieroglyphical painting they chiefly resorted to the clumsy method of direct representation had their empire lasted like the Egyptian several thousand instead of the brief space of two hundred years they would doubtless like them have advanced to the more frequent use of the phonetic writing but before they could be made acquainted with the capabilities of their own system the Spanish conquest by introducing the European alphabet supplied their scholars with a more perfect contrivance for expressing thought which soon supplanted the ancient pictorial character clumsy as it was however the Aztec picture writing seems to have been adequate to the principles of the nation in their imperfect state of civilization by means of it were recorded all their laws and even their regulations for domestic economy their tribute roles specifying the imposts of the various towns their mythology, calendars and rituals their political annals carried back to a period long before the foundation of the city they digested a complete system of chronology and could specify with accuracy the importance of the most important events in their history the year being inscribed on the margin against the particular circumstance recorded it is true history thus executed must necessarily be vague and fragmentary only a few leading incidents could be presented but in this it did not differ much from the monkish chronicles of the Dark Ages which often dispose of years in a few brief sentences quite long enough for the annals of barbarians in order to estimate a right the picture writing of the Aztecs one must regard it in connection with oral tradition to which it was auxiliary in the colleges of the priests the youth were instructed in astronomy history, mythology etc and those who were to follow the profession of hieroglyphical painting were taught the application of the characters appropriated to each of these branches in a historical work one had charge of the chronology another of the events every part of the labour was thus mechanically distributed the pupils instructed in all that was before known in their several departments were prepared to extend still further the boundaries of their imperfect science the hieroglyphics served as a sort of stenography a collection of notes suggesting to the initiated much more than could be conveyed by a literal interpretation this combination of the written and the oral comprehended what may be called the literature of the Aztecs their manuscripts were made of different materials of cotton cloth or skins nicely prepared of a composition of silk and gum but for the most part of a fine fabric from the leaves of the aloe agave americana called by the natives margue which grows luxuriously over the table lands of Mexico a sort of paper was made from it resembling somewhat the Egyptian papyrus which, when properly dressed and polished, is said to have been more soft and beautiful than parchment some of the specimens still existing exhibit their original freshness and the paintings on them retain their brilliancy of colours they were sometimes done up into rolls but more frequently into volumes of moderate size in which the paper was shut up like a folding screen with 24 tablets of wood at each extremity that gave the whole when closed the appearance of a book the length of the strips was determined only by convenience as the pages might be read and referred to separately this form had obvious advantages over the roles of the ancients at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards great quantities of these manuscripts were treasured up in the country numerous persons were employed and the dexterity of their operations excited the astonishment of the conquerors unfortunately this was mingled with other and unworthy feelings the strange unknown characters inscribed on them excited suspicion they were looked on as magic scrolls and were regarded in the same light with the idols and temples as the symbols of a pestilent superstition that must be extirpated the first Archbishop of Mexico Don Juan de Tomorraga a name that should be as immortal as that of Omar collected these paintings from every quarter especially from Tescuco the most cultivated capital in Anahuac and the great depository of the National Archives he then caused them to be piled up in a mountain heap as it is called by the Spanish writers themselves and reduced them all to ashes his greater countryman Archbishop Chimenez had celebrated a similar Autodafé of Arabic manuscripts in Granada some twenty years before never did fanaticism achieve two more signal triumphs than by the annihilation of so many curious monuments of human ingenuity and learning the unlettered soldiers were not slow in imitating the example of their prelet every chart and volume which fell into their hands was wantonly destroyed so that when the scholars of a later and more enlightened age anxiously sought to recover some of these memorials of civilisation nearly all had perished and the few surviving were jealously hidden by the natives through the indefatigable labours of a private individual however a considerable collection was eventually deposited in the archives of Mexico but was so little heeded there that some were plundered others decayed piecemeal from damps and mildews and others again were used up as waste paper we contemplate with indignation the cruelties inflicted by the early conquerors but indignation is qualified with contempt when we see them thus ruthlessly trampling out the spark of knowledge the common boon and property of all mankind we may well doubt which has the strongest claims to civilisation the victor or the vanquished a few of the Mexican manuscripts have found their way from time to time to Europe and are carefully preserved in the public libraries of its capitals they are brought together in the magnificent work of Lord Kingsborough but not one is there from Spain the most important of them for the light it throws on the Aztec institutions is the Mendoza Codex which after its mysterious disappearance for more than a century its length reappeared in the Bodleian Library at Oxford it has been several times engraved the most brilliant in colouring probably is the Bordian Collection in Rome the most curious however is the Dresden Codex which has excited less attention than it deserves although usually classed among Mexican manuscripts it bears little resemblance to them in its execution the figures of objects are more delicately drawn and the characters unlike the Mexican appear to be purely arbitrary and are possibly phonetic their regular arrangement is quite equal to the Egyptian the whole infers a much higher civilisation than the Aztec and offers abundant food for curious speculation some few of these maps have interpretations annexed to them which were obtained from the natives after the conquest the greater part are without any and cannot now be unriddled had the Mexicans made free use of a phonetic alphabet it might have been originally easy by mastering the comparatively few signs employed in this kind of communication to have got a permanent key to the whole a brief inscription has furnished a clue to the vast labyrinth of Egyptian hieroglyphics but the Aztec characters representing individuals or at most species require to be made out separately a hopeless task for which little aid is to be expected from the vague and general tenor of the few interpretations now existing in less than a hundred years after the conquest the knowledge of the hieroglyphics had so far declined that a diligent Tescoon writer complains he could find in the country only two persons both very aged at all competent to interpret them it is not probable therefore that the art of reading these picture writings will ever be recovered by the circumstance certainly to be regretted not that the records of a semi-civilized people would be likely to contain any new truth or discovery important to human comfort or progress but they could scarcely fail to throw some additional light on the previous history of the nation and that of the more polished people who before occupied the country this would be still more probable if any literary relics of their Toltec predecessors were preserved and if report be true an important compilation from this source was extant at the time of the invasion and may have perhaps contributed to swell the holocaust of the Moraga it is no great stretch of fancy to suppose that such records might reveal the successive links in the mighty chain of migration of the primitive races and by carrying us back to the seat of their possessions in the old world have sold the mystery so long perplexed the learned in regard to the settlement and civilization of the new besides the hieroglyphical maps the traditions of the country were embodied in the songs and hymns which as already mentioned were carefully taught in the public schools these were various embracing the mythic legends of a heroic age the warlike achievements of their own or the soft details of love and pleasure many of them were composed by scholars and persons of rank and are cited as affording the most authentic record of events the Mexican dialect was rich and expressive though inferior to the Texcucan the most polished of the idioms of Anahua none of the Aztec compositions have survived but we can form some estimate of the general state of poetic culture from the odes which have come down to us from the royal house of Texcucor Sahagun has furnished us with translations of their more elaborate prose consisting of prayers and public discourses which give a favorable idea of their eloquence and show that they paid much attention to rhetorical effect they are said to have had also something like theatrical exhibitions of a pantomimic sort in which the faces of the performers were covered with masks and the figures of birds or animals were frequently represented an imitation to which they may have been led by the familiar delineation of such objects in their hieroglyphics in all this we see the dawning of a literary culture surpassed however by their attainments in the severe aworks of mathematical science they devised a system of notation in their arithmetic sufficiently simple the first twenty numbers were expressed by a corresponding number of dots the first five had specific names after which they were represented by combining the fifth with one of the four proceeding as five and one for six five and two for seven and so on ten and fifteen had each a separate name which was also combined with the first four to express a higher quantity these four therefore were the radical characters of their oral arithmetic in the same way as they were of the written with the ancient Romans a more simple arrangement probably of many existing among Europeans twenty was expressed by a separate hieroglyphic a flag larger sums were reckoned by twenties and in writing by repeating the number of flags the square of twenty four hundred had a separate sign that of a plume and so had the cube of twenty or eight thousand which was denoted by a purse or sack this was the whole arithmetical apparatus of the Mexicans by the combination of which they were enabled to indicate any quantity for greater expedition they used to denote fractions of the larger sums by drawing only a part of the object thus half or three fourths of a plume or a purse represented that proportion of their respective sums and so on with all this the machinery will appear very awkward to us who perform our operations with so much ease by means of the Arabic or rather Indian ciphers it is not much more awkward however than the system pursued by the great mathematicians of antiquity unacquainted with the brilliant invention which has given a new aspect to mathematical science of determining the value in a great measure by the relative position of the figures in the measurement of time the Aztecs adjusted their civil year by the solar they divided it into eighteen months of twenty days each both months and days were expressed by peculiar hieroglyphics those of the former often intimating the season of the year like the French months at the period of the revolution five complimentary days, as in Egypt were added to make up the full number of three hundred and sixty-five they belonged to no month and were regarded as peculiarly unlucky a month was divided into four weeks of five days each on the last of which was the public fair market day this arrangement different from that of the nations of the old continent whether of Europe or Asia has the advantage of giving an equal number of days to each month and of comprehending entire weeks without a fraction both in the months and in the year as the year is composed of nearly six hours more than three hundred and sixty-five days there still remained an excess which like other nations who have framed a calendar decided for by intercalation not indeed every fourth year as the Europeans but at longer intervals like some of the Asiatics they waited till the expiration of fifty-two vague years when they interposed thirteen days or rather twelve and a half this being the number which had fallen in a rear had they inserted thirteen it would have been too much since the annual excess over three hundred and sixty-five is about eleven minutes less than six hours but as their calendar at the time of the conquest was found to correspond with the European making allowance for the subsequent Gregorian reform they would seem to have adopted the shorter period of twelve days and a half which brought them within an almost inappreciable fraction to the exact length of the tropical year as established by the most accurate observations indeed the intercalation of twenty-five days in every hundred and four years shows a nicer adjustment of civil to solar time than is presented by any European calendar since more than five centuries must elapse before the loss of an entire day such was the astonishing precision displayed by the Asiatics or perhaps by their more polished Toltec predecessors in these computations so difficult as to have baffled till a comparatively recent period the most enlightened nations of Christendom the chronological system of the Mexicans by which they determined the date of any particular event was also remarkable the epoch from which they reckoned corresponded with the year 1091 of the Christian era it was the period of the reform of their calendar soon after their migration from Aslan they through the years as already noticed went to great cycles of 52 each which they called chiefs or bundles and represented by a quantity of reeds bound together by a stream as often as this hieroglyphic occurs in their maps it shows the number of half centuries to enable them to specify any particular year they divided the great cycle into four smaller cycles or indictions of 13 years each they then adopted two chronological series of signs one consisting of their numerical dots up to 13 the other of four hieroglyphics of the years namely a rabbit, a reed, a flint and a house these latter they repeated in regular succession setting against each one a number of the corresponding series of dots continued also in regular succession up to 13 the same system was pursued through the four indictions which thus it will be observed began always with a different hieroglyphic of the year from the proceeding and in this way each of the hieroglyphics was made to combine successively with each of the numerical signs but never twice with the same since 4 and 13 the factors of 52 the number of years in the cycle must admit of just as many combinations as are equal to their product thus every year had its appropriate symbol by which it was at once recognized and this symbol preceded by the proper numbers of bundles indicating the half centuries showed the precise time which had elapsed since the national epoch of 1091 the ingenious contrivance of a periodical series in place of the cumbre system of the hieroglyphical notation is not peculiar to the Aztecs but various people on the Asiatic continent the same in principle though varying materially in arrangement the solar calendar above described might have answered all the purposes of the nation but the priests chose to construct another for themselves this was called a lunar reckoning though no wise accommodated to the revolutions of the moon it was formed also of two periodical series consisting of 13 numerical signs or dots the other of the 20 hieroglyphics of the days but as the product of these combinations would only be 260 and as some confusion might arise from the repetition of the same terms for the remaining 105 days of the year they invented a third series consisting of 9 additional hieroglyphics which alternating with the two preceding series is it impossible that the three should coincide twice in the same year or indeed in less than 2,340 days since 20 times 13 times 9 equals 2,340 13 was a mystic number of frequent use in their tables why they resorted to that of 9 on this occasion is not so clear this second calendar rouses indignation in the early Spanish missionaries and father Sahagun loudly condemns it as most unhallowed since it is founded neither on natural reason nor on the influence of the planets nor on the true course of the year but is plainly the work of necromancy and the fruit of a compact with the devil one may doubt whether the superstition of those who invented the scheme was greater than that of those who impugned it at all events we may without having recourse to supernatural agency find in the human heart a sufficient explanation of its origin in that love of power that has led the priesthood of many a faith to affect a mystery the key to which was in their own keeping by means of this calendar the Aztec priests kept their own records, regulated the festivals and seasons of sacrifice and made all their astrological calculations the astrological scheme of the Aztecs was founded less on the planetary influences than on those of the arbitrary signs they had adopted for the months and days the character of the leading sign in each lunar cycle of 13 days gave a complexion to the whole though this was qualified in some degree by the signs of the succeeding days as well as by those of the hours it was in adjusting these conflicting forces that the great art of the diviner was shown in no country, not even in ancient Egypt were the dreams of the astrologer more implicitly deferred to on the birth of a child he was instantly summoned the time of the event was accurately ascertained and the family hung in trembling suspense as the minister of heaven cast the horoscope of the infant and unrolled the dark volume of destiny the influence of the priest was confessed by the Mexican in the very first breath which he inhaled we know little further of the astronomical attainments of the Aztecs that they were acquainted with the cause of eclipses is evident from the representation on their maps of the disk of the moon projected onto that of the sun whether they had arranged a system of constellations is uncertain though that they recognized some of the planets as the Pleiades for example is evident from the fact that they regulated their festivals by them we know of no astronomical instruments used by them except the dial an immense circular block of carved stone disinterred in 1790 in the great square of Mexico that supplied an acute and learned scholar with the means of establishing some interesting facts in regard to Mexican science this colossal fragment on which the calendar is engraved shows that they had the means of settling the hours of the day with precision the periods of the solstices and of the equinoxes and that of the transit of the sun across the zenith of Mexico we cannot contemplate the astronomical science of the Mexicans so disproportion to their progress in other walks of civilization without astonishment an acquaintance with some of the more mysterious principles of astronomy is within the reach of the rudest people with a little care they may learn to connect the regular changes of the seasons with those of the place of the sun at his rising and setting they may follow the march of the great luminary through the heavens by watching the stars that first brighten on his evening track or fade in his morning beams they may measure a revolution of the moon by marking her phases from a general idea of the number of such revolutions in a solely year but that they should be capable of accurately adjusting their festivals by the movements of the heavenly bodies and should fix the true length of the tropical year with the precision unknown to the great philosophers of antiquity could be the result only of a long series of nice and patient observations evincing no slight progress in civilization but whence could the rude inhabitants of these mountain regions have derived this curious erudition not from the barbarous hordes who roamed over the higher latitudes of the north nor from the more polished races on the southern continent with whom it is apparent they had no intercourse if we are driven in our embarrassment like the greatest astronomer of our age to seek the solution among the civilized communities of Asia we shall still be perplexed by finding amidst general resemblance of outline sufficient discrepancy in the details to vindicate in the judgments of many the Aztec claim to originality I shall conclude the account of Mexican science with that of a remarkable festival celebrated by the natives at the termination of the great cycle of 52 years we have seen in the preceding chapter their traditions of the destruction of the world at four successive epochs they looked forward confidently to another such catastrophe to take place like the preceding at the close of a cycle when the sun was to be faced from the heavens the human race from the earth and when the darkness of chaos was to settle on the habitable globe the cycle would end in the latter part of December and as the dreary season of the winter solstice approached and the diminished light of the day gave melancholy presage of its speedy extinction their apprehensions increased and on the arrival of the five unlucky days which closed the year they abandoned themselves to despair they broke in pieces the little images of their household gods in whom they no longer trusted the holy fires were suffered to go out in the temples and none were lighted in their own dwellings their furniture and domestic utensils were destroyed their garments torn in pieces and everything was thrown into disorder for the coming of the evil genii who were to descend on the desolate earth on the evening of the last day a procession of priests assuming the dress and ornaments of their gods moved from the capital towards a lofty mountain about two leagues distant they carried with them a noble victim the flower of their captives and an apparatus for kindling the new fire the success of which was an augury of the renewal of the cycle on reaching the summit of the mountain the procession paused till midnight when, as the constellation of the Pleiades approached the zenith the new fire was kindled by the friction of the sticks placed on the wounded breast of the victim the flame was soon communicated to a funeral pile on which the body of the slaughtered captive was thrown as the light streamed up towards heaven shouts of joy and triumph burst forth from the countless multitudes who covered the hills the terraces of the temples and the housetops with eyes anxiously bent on the mount of sacrifice couriers with torches lighted at the blazing beacon rapidly bore them over every part of the country the cheering element was seen brightening on altar and hearthstone for the circuit of many a league long before the sun rising on his accustomed track gave assurance that the new cycle had commenced its march and that the laws of nature were not to be reversed the following thirteen days were given up to festivity the houses were cleansed and whitened the broken vessels were replaced by new ones the people dressed in their gayest apparel and crowned with garlands and chaplets of flowers thronged in joyous procession to offer up their oblations and thanksgiving in the temples dances and games were instituted emblematical of the regeneration of the world it was the carnival of the Aztecs or rather the national jubilee the great secular festival like that of the Romans or ancient Etruscans which few alive had witnessed before or could expect to see again and of book one chapter four section four that is book one chapter five of the history of the conquest of Mexico this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for further information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The History of the Conquest of Mexico by William H. Prescott book one chapter five Aztec agriculture the mechanical arts merchants domestic manners agriculture in Mexico was in the same advanced state as the other arts of social life in few countries indeed has it been more respected it was closely interwoven with the civil and religious institutions of the nation there were peculiar deities to preside over it the names of the months and of the religious festivals had more or less reference to it the public taxes as we have seen were often paid in agricultural produce all except the soldiers and great nobles even the inhabitants of the cities cultivated the soil the work was chiefly done by the men the women scattering the seed husking the corn and taking part only in the lighter labours of the field there was no want of judgement in the management of their ground when somewhat exhausted it was permitted to recover by lying fallow its extreme dryness was relieved by canals with which the land was partially irrigated and the same end was promoted by severe penalties against the destruction of the woods with which the country as already noticed was well covered before the conquest lastly they provided for their harvests ample granaries which were admitted by the conquerors to be of admirable construction in this provision we see the forecast of civilised man amongst the most important articles of husbandry we may notice the banana whose facility of cultivation and exuberant returns are so fatal to habits of systematic and hardy industry another celebrated plant was the cacao the fruit of which furnished the chocolate from the mexican chocolatele now so common a beverage throughout europe the vanilla confined to a small district of the sea coast was used for the same purposes for flavouring their food and drink as with us the great staple of the country and continent was maize or indian corn which grew freely along the valleys and up the steep sides of the cordilleras to the high level of the table land the Aztecs were as curious in its preparation and as well instructed in its manifold uses as the most expert new england housewife its gigantic stalks in these equinoctural regions afford a saccharin matter not found to the same extent and supplied the natives with sugar little inferior to that of the cane itself which was not introduced among them till after the conquest but the miracle of nature was the great mexican aloe whose clustering pyramid of flowers towering above their dark coronals of leaves were seen sprinkled over many a broad acre of the table land as we have already noticed its bruised leaves afforded a paste from which paper was manufactured its juice was fermented into an intoxicating beverage of which the natives to this day are excessively fond its leaves further supplied an impenetrable thatch for the more humble dwellings thread of which coarse stuffs were made and strong cords were drawn from its tough and twisted fibres pins and needles were made of the thorns at the extremity of the leaves and the root when properly cooked was converted into a palatable and nutritious food the agave in short was meat, drink, clothing and writing materials for the Aztec surely never did nature enclose in so compact a form so many of the elements of human comfort and civilisation it would be obviously out of place to enumerate in these pages all the varieties many of them of medicinal virtue which have been introduced from Mexico into Europe still less can I attempt to catalogue of its flowers which with their variegated and gaudy colours form the greatest attraction of our greenhouses the opposite climates embraced within the narrow latitudes of New Spain have given to it probably the richest and most diversified flora to be found in any country on the globe these different products were systematically arranged by the Aztecs who understood their properties and collected them into nurseries more extensive than any then existing in the old world it is not improbable that they suggested the idea of those gardens of plants which were introduced into Europe not many years after the conquest the Mexicans were as well acquainted with the mineral as with the vegetable treasures of their kingdom silver, lead and tin they drew from the mines of Tasco copper from the mountains of Sacotollan these were taken not only from the crude masses on the surface but from veins wrought in the solid rock into which they opened extensive galleries in fact the traces of their labours furnished the best indications for the early Spanish miners gold found on the surface or gleaned from the beds of rivers was cast into bars or in the form of dust made part of the regular tribute of the southern provinces of the empire the use of iron with which the soil was impregnated was unknown to them not with sanding its abundance it demands so many processes to prepare it for use that it has commonly been one of the last metals pressed into the service of man the age of iron has followed that of brass in fact as well as in fiction they found a substitute in an alloy of tin and copper and with tools made of this bronze could cut not only metals but with the aid of a siliceous dust the hardest substances as basalt, porphyry, amethysts and emeralds they fashioned these last which were found very large into many curious and fantastic forms they cast also vessels of gold and silver and with their metallic chisels in a very delicate manner some of the silver vases were so large that a man could not encircle them with his arms they imitated very nicely the figures of animals and what was extraordinary could mix the metals in such a manner that the feathers of a bird or the scales of a fish should be alternately of gold and silver the Spanish goldsmiths admitted their superiority in these ingenious works they employed another tool made of xtli or obsidian a dark transparent mineral exceedingly hard found in abundance in their hills they made it into knives razors and their serrated swords it took a keen edge though soon blunted with this they wrought the various stones and alabasters employed in the construction of their public works and principal dwellings I shall defer a more particular account of these to the body of the narrative and will only add here that the entrances and angles of the buildings were profusely ornamented with images sometimes of their fantastic deities and frequently of animals the latter were executed with great accuracy the former, according to Tolke Marder were the hideous reflection of their own souls and it was not till after they had been converted to Christianity that they could model the true figure of a man the old chronicle's facts are well founded whatever we may think of his reasons the allegorical fantasms of his religion no doubt gave a direction to the Aztec artist in his delineation of the human figure supplying him with an imaginary beauty in the personification of divinity itself as these superstitions lost their hold on his mind it opened to the influences of a purer taste and after the conquest the Mexicans furnished many examples of correct and some of beautiful portraiture sculptured images were so numerous that the foundations of the cathedral in the Plaza Mayor the great square of Mexico are said to be entirely composed of them this spot may indeed be regarded as the Aztec forum the great depository of the treasures of ancient sculpture which now are hid in its bosom such monuments are spread all over the capital however and a new cellar can hardly be dug or foundation laid without turning up some of the mouldering relics of barbaric art but they are little heeded and if not wantonly broken in pieces at once are usually worked into the rising wall or supports of the new edifice two celebrated bar reliefs of the last Montezuma and his father cutting the solid rock in the beautiful groves of Chapultepic were deliberately destroyed as late as the last century by order of the government the monuments of the barbarian meet with as little respect from civilized man as those of the civilized man from the barbarian the most remarkable piece of sculpture yet disinterred is the great calendar stone noticed in the preceding chapter it consists of dark porphyry and in its original dimensions as taken from the quarry is computed to have weighed nearly 50 tons it was transported from the mountains beyond Lake Charcot a distance of many leagues over a broken country intersected by water courses and canals in crossing a bridge which traversed one of these latter in the capital the supports gave way the mass was precipitated into the water whence it was with difficulty recovered the fact that so enormous a fragment of porphyry could be thus safely carried for leagues in the face of such obstacles and without the aid of cattle for the Aztecs had no animals of draft suggests to us no mean ideas of their mechanical skill and of their machinery and implies a degree of cultivation little inferior to that demanded geometrical and astronomical science displayed in the inscriptions on this very stone the ancient Mexicans made utensils of earthenware for the ordinary purposes of domestic life numerous specimens of which still exist they made cups and vases of a lacquered or painted wood impervious to wet and gaudily coloured their dyes were obtained from both mineral and vegetable substances among them was the rich crimson of the cochineal the modern rival of the famed Tyrian purple it was introduced into Europe from Mexico where the curious little insect was nourished with great care on plantations of cactus since fallen into neglect the natives were thus enabled to give a brilliant colouring to the webs which were manufactured of every degree of fineness from the cotton raised in abundance throughout the warmer regions of the country they had the art also of interweaving with these the delicate hair of rabbits and other animals which made a cloth of great warmth as well as beauty of a kind altogether original and on this they often laid a rich embroidery of birds, flowers or some other fanciful device but the art in which they most delighted was their plumache or featherwork with this they could produce all the effect the gorgeous plumage of the tropical birds especially of the parrot tribe afforded every variety of colour and the fine down of the hummingbird which reveled in swarms among the honeysuckle bowers of Mexico supplied them with soft aerial tints that gave an exquisite finish to the picture the feathers pasted on a fine cotton web were wrought into dresses for the wealthy hangings for apartments and ornaments for the temples no one of the American fabrics excited such admiration in Europe with numerous specimens were sent by the conquerors it is to be regretted that so graceful an art should have been suffered to fall into decay there were no shops in Mexico but the various manufacturers and agricultural products were brought together for sale in the great marketplaces of the principal cities fairs were held there every fifth day and were thronged by numerous concourse of persons who came to buy or sell from all the neighbouring country a particular quarter was allotted to each kind of article the numerous transactions were conducted without confusion and with entire regard to justice under the inspection of magistrates appointed for the purpose the traffic was carried on partly by barter and partly by means of a regulated currency of different values of transparent quills of gold dust of bits of tin cut in the form of a tea and of bags of cacao containing a specified number of grains blessed money exclaims Peter Martyr which exempts its possessors from avarice since it cannot be long hoarded nor hidden underground there did not exist in Mexico that distinction of castes found among the Egyptian and Asiatic nations it was usual however for the son to follow the occupation of his father the different trades were arranged into something like guilds having each a particular district of the city appropriated to it with its own chief its own tutela deity its peculiar festivals and the like trade was held in a vowed estimation by the Aztecs apply thyself my son was the advice of an aged chief to agriculture or to feather work or to some other honourable calling thus did your ancestors before you else how would they have provided for themselves and their families never was it heard that nobility alone was able to maintain its possessor shrewd maxims that must have sounded somewhat strange in the ear of a Spanish Hidalgo but the occupation peculiarly respected was that of the merchant it formed so important and singular a feature of their social economy as to merit a much more particular notice than it has received from historians the Aztec merchant was a sort of itinerant trader who made his journeys to the remotest borders of Anahuac and to the countries beyond carrying with him merchandise of rich stuffs, jewellery, slaves and other valuable commodities the slaves were obtained at the great market of Ascapotalco not many leagues from the capital where fairs were regularly held for the sale of these unfortunate beings they were brought there by their masters dressed in their gayest apparel and instructed to sing, dance and display their little stock of personal accomplishments so as to recommend themselves to the purchaser slave dealing was an honourable calling among the Aztecs with this rich freight the merchant visited the different provinces always bearing some present of value from his own sovereign to their chiefs and usually receiving others in return with a permission to trade should this be denied him or should he meet with indignity or violence he had the means of resistance in his power he performed his journeys with a number of companions of his own rank and a large body of inferior attendants who were employed to transport the goods 50 or 60 pounds were the usual load for a man the whole caravan went armed and so well provided against sudden hostilities that they could make good their defence if necessary till reinforced from home in one instance a body of these militant traders stood a siege of four years in the town of Ayotlan which they finally took from the enemy their own government however was always prompt to embark in a war on this ground finding it a very convenient pretext for extending the Mexican empire it was not unusual to allow the merchants to raise levies themselves which were placed under their command it was moreover very common for the prince to employ the merchants as a sort of spy to furnish him information of the state of the countries through which they passed and the dispositions of the inhabitants towards himself thus their sphere of action was much enlarged beyond that of a humble trader they acquired a high consideration in the body politic they were allowed to assume insignia and devices of their own some of their number composed what is called by the Spanish writers a council of finance at least this was the case in Tescuco they were much consulted by the monarch who had some of them constantly near his person addressing them by the title of uncle which may remind one of that of Primo or cousin for which a grandee of Spain is saluted by his sovereign they were allowed to have their own courts in which civil and criminal cases not accepting capital were determined so that they formed an independent community as it were of themselves and as their various traffic supplied them with abundant stores of wealth they enjoyed many of the most essential advantages of a hereditary aristocracy that trade should prove the path of permanent political preferment in a nation but partially civilised where the names of soldier and priest are usually the only titles to respect is certainly an anomaly in history it forms some contrast to the standard of the more polished monarchies of the old world in which rank is supposed to be less dishonoured by a life of idle ease or frivolous pleasure than by those active pursuits which promote equally the prosperity of the state and of the individual if civilisation corrects many prejudices it must be allowed that it creates others we should be able to form a better idea of the actual refinement of the natives by penetrating into their domestic life and observing the intercourse between the sexes we have fortunately the means of doing this we shall there find the ferocious Aztec frequently displaying all the sensibility of a cultivated nature consoling his friends under reflection or congratulating them on their good fortune as on an occasion of marriage or of the birth or the baptism of a child when he was punctilious in his visits bringing presence of costly dresses and ornaments or the more simple offering of flowers equally indicative of his sympathy the visits at these times though regulated with all the precision of oriental courtesy accompanied by expressions of the most cordial and affectionate regard the discipline of children especially at the public schools as stated in a previous chapter was exceedingly severe but after she had come to a mature age the Aztec maiden was treated by her parents with a tenderness from which all reserves seemed banished in the councils to a daughter about to enter into life they conjured her to preserve simplicity in her manners and conversation uniform neatness in her attire with strict attention to personal cleanliness they inculcated modesty as the great ornament of a woman an implicit reverence for her husband softening their admonitions by such endearing epithets as showed the fullness of a parent's love polygamy was permitted among the Mexicans though chiefly confined probably to the wealthiest classes the obligations of the marriage vow which was made with all the formality of a religious ceremony were fully recognised and impressed on both parties the women are described by the Spaniards as pretty, unlike their unfortunate descendants of the present day though with the same serious and rather melancholy cast of countenance their long black hair covered in some parts of the country by a veil made of the fine web of the pita might generally be seen wreathed with flowers or among the richer people with strings of precious stones and pearls from the Gulf of California they appear to have been treated with much consideration by their husbands and past their time in indolent tranquility or in such feminine occupations as spinning, embroidery and the like while their maidens beguiled the hours by the rehearsal of traditionary tales and ballads the women partook equally with the men of social festivities and entertainments these were often conducted on a large scale both as regards the number of guests and the costiness of the preparations numerous attendants of both sexes waited at the banquet the halls were scented with perfumes and the courts strewed with odoriferous herb and flowers which were distributed in profusion among the guests as they arrived the cotton napkins and ewers of water were placed before them as they took their seats at the board from the venerable ceremony of ablution before and after eating was punctiliously observed by the Aztecs tobacco was then offered to the company in pipes mixed up with aromatic substances or in the form of cigars inserted in tubes of tortoiseshell or silver they compressed the nostrils with the fingers while they inhaled the smoke which they frequently swallowed whether the women who sat apart from the men at table were allowed the indulgence of the fragrant weed as in the most polished circles of modern Mexico is not told us it is a curious fact that the Aztecs also took the dried leaf in the pulverized form of snuff the table was well provided with substantial meats especially game among which the most conspicuous was the turkey erroneously supposed as its name in ports to have come originally from the east these more solid dishes were flanked by others of vegetables and fruits of every delicious variety found on the North American continent the different vians were prepared in various ways with delicate sauces and seasoning of which the Mexicans were very fond their palette was still further regaled by confections and pastry for which their maize flour and sugar supplied ample materials one other dish of a disgusting nature was sometimes added to the feast especially when the celebration partook of a religious character on such occasions a slave was sacrificed and his flesh elaborately dressed formed one of the chief ornaments of the banquet cannibalism in the guise of an epicurean science becomes even the more revolting the meats were kept warm by chafing dishes the table was ornamented with vases of silver and sometimes gold of delicate workmanship the drinking cups and spoons were of the same costly materials and likewise of tortoise shell the favourite beverage was the chocolatel flavoured with vanilla and different spices they had a way of preparing the froth of it so as to make it almost solid enough to be eaten and took it cold the fermented juice of the margay with a mixture of sweets and acids supplied also various agreeable drinks of different degrees of strength and formed the chief beverage of the elder part of the company as soon as they had finished with their repast the young people rose from the table to close the festivities of the day with dancing they danced gracefully to the sound of various instruments playing their movements with chance of a pleasing though somewhat plaintive character the older guests continued at table sipping pulque and gossiping about other times till the virtues of the exhilarating beverage put them in good humour with their own intoxication was not rare in this part of the company and what is singular was excused in them though severely punished in the younger the Aztec character perfectly original and unique it was made up of incongruities apparently irreconcilable it blended into one the marked peculiarities of different nations not only of the same place of civilisation but as far removed from each other as the extremes of barbarism and refinement it may find a fitting parallel in their own wonderful climate capable of producing on a few square leagues of surface the boundless variety of vegetable forms which belong to the frozen regions of the north the temperate zone of Europe and the burning skies of Arabia and Hindustan end of book 1 chapter 5 part 5 being book 1 chapter 6 of the history of the conquest of Mexico this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for further information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the history of the conquest of Mexico by William H Prescott book 1 chapter 6 the Tezcucans their golden age accomplished princes decline of their monarchy the reader would gather a perfect notion of the civilization of Anahuac without some account of their colloans or Tezcucans as they are usually called a nation of the same great family with the Aztecs whom they rivaled in power and surpassed in intellectual culture and the arts of social refinement fortunately we have ample materials for this in the records left by Islil Shochit a linear descendant of the royal line of Tezcucor who flourished in the century of the conquest with every opportunity for information he combined much industry and talent and if his narrative bears the high coloring of one who would revive the faded glories of an ancient but dilapidated house he has been uniformly commended for his fairness and integrity and has been followed without misgiving by such Spanish writers and manuscripts I shall confine myself to the prominent features of the two reigns which may be said to embrace the golden age of Tezcucor without attempting to weigh the probability of the details which I will leave to be settled by the reader according to the measure of his faith the colloans came into the valley as we have seen about the close of the 12th century and built their capital of Tezcucor on the eastern borders of the lake opposite to Mexico from this point they gradually spread themselves over the northern portion of Anahuac when their career was checked by an invasion of a kindred race the Tepanics who after a desperate struggle succeeded in taking their city slaying their monarch and entirely subjugating his kingdom this event took place about 1418 the young prince the heir to the crown then 15 years old saw his father butchered before his eyes while he himself lay concealed among the friendly branches of a tree which overshadowed the spot his subsequent history is full of romantic daring and perilous escapes not long after his flight from the field of his father's blood the Tezcucan prince fell into the hands of his enemy he was born off in Triumph to his city and was thrown into a dungeon he effected his escape however through the connivance of the governor of the fortress an old servant of his family who took the place of the royal fugitive and paid for his loyalty with his life he was at length permitted through the intercession of the reigning family in Mexico which was allied to him to retire to that capital and subsequently to his own where he found a shelter in his ancestral palace here he remained unmolested for 8 years pursuing his studies under an old preceptor who had had the care of his early youth and who instructed him in the various duties befitting his princely station at the end of this period the tepanic usurper died bequeathing his empire to his son Mastla a man of fierce and suspicious temper Nezahual Coyote hastened to pay his obeisance to him on his accession but the tyrant refused to receive the little present of flowers which he laid at his feet and turned his back on him in presence of his chieftains one of his attendants friendly to the young prince admonished him to provide for his own safety by withdrawing as speedily as possible from the palace where his life was in danger he lost no time consequently in retreating from the inhospitable court and returned to Teskuco Mastla however was bent on his destruction he saw with jealous eye the opening talents and popular manners of his rival and the favour he was daily winning from his ancient subjects he accordingly laid a plan for making away with him at an evening entertainment treated by the vigilance of the prince's tutor who contrived to mislead the assassins and to substitute another victim in the place of his pupil the baffle tyrant now threw off all disguise and sent a strong party of soldiers to Teskuco with orders to enter the palace seized the person of Nezahual Coyote and slay him on the spot the prince who became acquainted with the plot through the watchfulness of his preceptor he was disobeying, as he was counseled resolved to await his enemy they found him playing at ball when they arrived in the court of his palace he received them courteously and invited them in to take some refreshment after their journey while they were occupied in this way he passed into an adjoining saloon which excited no suspicion as he was still visible through the open doors by which the apartments communicated with each other a burning censor stood in the passage and as it was fed by the attendants threw up such clouds of incense as obscured his movements from the soldiers under this friendly veil he succeeded in making his escape by a secret passage which communicated with a large earthen pipe formally used to bring water to the palace here he remained till nightfall when taking advantage of the obscurity he found his way into the suburbs and sought a shelter in the cottage of one of his father's vassals the Tipanek Monarch enraged at this repeated disappointment ordered instant pursuit a price was set on the head of the royal fugitive whoever should take him dead or alive was promised however humble his degree the hand of a noble lady and an ample domain along with it troops of armed men were ordered to scour the country in every direction in the course of the search the cottage in which the prince had taken reference the cottage in which the prince had taken refuge was entered but he fortunately escaped detection by being hid under a heap of Marge fibers used for manufacturing cloth as this was no longer a proper place for concealment he sought a retreat in the mountainous and woody district lying between the borders of his own state and Tlaxcala here he led a wretched wandering life exposed to all the inclemences of the weather hiding himself in deep thickets and caverns and stealing out at night to satisfy the cravings of appetite while he was kept in constant alarm by the activity of his pursuers always hovering on his track on one occasion he sought refuge from them among a small party of soldiers who proved friendly to him and concealed him in a large drum around which they were dancing at another time he was just able to get out of a hill as his enemies were climbing it on the other side when he fell in with a girl who was reaping chian a Mexican plant the seed of which was much used in the drinks of the country he persuaded her to cover him up with the stalks she had been cutting when his pursuers came up and inquired if she had seen the fugitive the girl coolly answered that she had and pointed out a path as the one he had taken understanding the high rewards offered Nesahual Coyote seems to have incurred no danger from treachery such was the general attachment felt to himself and his house would you not deliver up the prince if he came in your way he inquired of a young peasant who was unacquainted with his person not I replied the other what not for a fair lady's hand and a rich dowry beside rejoined the prince at which the other only shook his head and laughed on more than one occasion his faithful people submitted to torture and even to lose their lives rather than disclose the place of his retreat however gratifying such proofs of loyalty might be to his feelings the situation of the prince in these mountain solitudes became every day more distressing it gave a still keener edge to his own sufferings to witness those of the faithful followers who chose to accompany him in his wanderings leave me he would say to them to my fate why should you throw away your own lives for one whom fortune is never weary of persecuting most of the great tesku conchiefs had consulted their interests by a timely adhesion to the usurper but some still clung to their prince preferring prescription and death itself rather than desert him in his extremity in the meantime his friends at a distance were active in measures for his relief the oppressions of mashtla and his growing empire had caused general alarm in the surrounding states who recalled the mild rule of the tesku conchiefs princes a coalition was formed a plan of operations concerted and on the day appointed for a general rising Nesawad Goyot found himself at the head of a force sufficiently strong to face his tepanic adversaries an engagement came on in which the latter were totally discomfited and the victorious prince receiving everywhere on his root the homage of his joyful subjects entered his capital not like a proscribed outcast but as the rightful heir and saw himself once more enthroned in the halls of his fathers soon after he united his forces with other Mexican's long disgusted with the arbitrary conduct of mashtla the allied powers after a series of bloody engagements with the usurper routed him under the walls of his own capital he fled to the baths whence he was dragged out and sacrificed with the usual cruel ceremonies of the Aztecs the royal city of Ascapotzalco was razed to the ground and the wasted territory was henceforth conserved as the great slave market for the nations of Anahuac these events were succeeded by the remarkable league among the three powers of Tescucco Mexico and Tlacopan of which some account has been given in the previous chapter the first measure of Nezahualcoyotl on returning to his dominions was a general amnesty it was his maxim that a monarch might punish revenge was unworthy of him in the present instance he was averse even to punish and not only freely pardoned his rebel nobles but conferred on some who had most deeply offended posts of honour and confidence such conduct was doubtless politic especially as their alienation was owing probably much more to fear of the usurper than to any disaffection towards himself but there are some acts of policy which a magnanimous spirit only can execute the restored monarch next set about repairing the damages sustained under the late misrule and reviving or rather remodeling the various departments of government he framed a concise but comprehensive code of laws so well suited it was thought to the exigencies of the times that it was adopted as their own by the two other members of the triple alliance he divided the burden of government among a number of departments as the council of war the council of finance the council of justice this last was a court of supreme authority both in civil and criminal matters receiving appeals from the lower tribunals of the provinces which were obliged to make a full report every four months or eighty days of their own proceedings to this higher judicature all these bodies a certain number of citizens were allowed to have seats with the nobles and professional dignitaries there was however another body a council of state for aiding the king in the dispatch of business and advising him in matters of importance which was drawn altogether from the highest order of chiefs it consisted of fourteen members and they had seats provided for them at the royal table lastly there was an extraordinary tribunal called the council of music but which, differing from the import of its name was devoted to the encouragement of science and art works on astronomy chronology, history or any other science were required to be submitted to its judgement before they could be made public this sensorial power was of some moment at least with regard to the historical department where the willful perversion of truth was made a capital offence to the bloody code of Nessa-Hualcoil yet a Tescookan author must have been a bungler who could not elude a conviction under the cloudy veil of hieroglyphics this body which was drawn from the best instructed persons in the kingdom with little regard to rank had supervision of all the productions of art and of the nicer fabrics it decided on the qualifications of the professors in the various branches of science and the fidelity of their instructions to their pupils the deficiency of which was severely punished and it instituted examinations of these latter in short it was a general board of education for the country on stated days historical compositions and poems treating of moral or traditional topics were recited before it by their authors seats were provided for the three crowned heads of the empire who deliberated with the other members on the respective merits of the pieces and distributed prizes of value to the successful competitors the influence of this academy must have been most propitious to the capital which became the nursery not only of such sciences as could be compassed by the scholarship of the period but of various useful and ornamental arts it's historians, orators and poets were celebrated throughout the country it's archives for which accommodation were provided in the royal palace were stored with the records of primitive ages it's idiom more polished than the Mexican was indeed the purist of all the Nahuatlac dialects and continued long after the conquest to be that in which the best productions of the native races were composed Tescuco claimed the glory of being the Athens of the western world among the most illustrious of her bards was the emperor himself for the Tescucan writers claimed this title for their chief as head of the imperial alliance he doubtless appeared as a competitor before that very academy where he so often sat as a critic but the hours of the Tescucan monarch were not all passed in idle dalliance with the muse nor in the sober contemplations of philosophy as at a later period in the freshness of youth and early manhood he led the allied armies in their annual expeditions which were certain to result in a wider extent of territory to the empire in the intervals of peace he fostered those productive arts which are the surest sources of public prosperity he encouraged agriculture above all and there was scarcely a spot so rude or a steep so inaccessible as not to confess the power of cultivation the land was covered with a busy population and towns and cities sprung up in places since deserted or dwindled into miserable villages from resources thus enlarged by conquest and domestic industry the monarch drew the means for the large consumption of his own numerous household and for the costly works which he executed for the convenience and embellishment of the capital he refined it with stately edifices nobles whose constant attendance he was anxious to secure at his court he erected a magnificent pile of buildings which might serve both for a royal residence and for the public offices it extended from east to west twelve hundred and thirty four yards and from north to south nine hundred and seventy eight it was encompassed by a wall of unburnt bricks and cement six feet wide and nine high for one half of the circumference and fifteen feet high for the other half within this enclosure were two courts the outer one was used as a great marketplace of the city and continued to be so until long after the conquest the interior court was surrounded by the council chambers and halls of justice there were also accommodations there for the foreign ambassadors and a spacious saloon with apartments opening into it for men of science and poets who pursued their studies in this retreat or met together to hold converse under its marble porticoes in this quarter also were kept the public archives which fared better under the Indian dynasty than they have since under their European successors adjoining this court were the apartments of the king including those for the royal harem temporarily supplied with beauties as that of an eastern sultan their walls were encrusted with alabasters and richly tinted stucco or hung with gorgeous tapestries of variegated featherwork they led through long arcades and through intricate labyrinths of shrubbery into gardens where baths and sparkling fountains were overshadowed by tall groves of cedar and cypress the basins of water were well stocked with fish of various kinds and the aviaries with birds glowing in all the gaudy plumage of the tropics many birds and animals which could not be obtained alive were represented in gold and silver so skillfully as to have furnished the great naturalist henandes with models accommodations on a princely scale were provided for the sovereigns of Mexico and Tlacopan when they visited the court this lordly pile contained 300 apartments some of them 50 yards square the height of the building is not mentioned it was probably not great but supplied the requisite room by the immense extent of ground which it covered the interior was doubtless constructed of light materials especially of the rich woods which in that country are remarkable when polished for the brilliancy and variety of their colours that the more solid materials of stone and stucco were also liberally employed is proved by the remains at the present day remains which have furnished an inexhaustible quarry for the churches and other edifices since erected by the Spaniards on the site of the ancient city we are not informed of the time occupied in building this palace but 200,000 workmen it is said were employed on it however this may be the Tescook and Monarchs like those of Asia and ancient Egypt had the control of immense masses of men and would sometimes turn the whole population of a conquered city including the women into the public works the most gigantic monuments of architecture which the world has witnessed would never have been reared by the hands of freemen adjoining the palace were buildings for the king's children were mounted to no less than 60 sons and 50 daughters here they were instructed in all the exercises and accomplishments suited to their station comprehending what would scarcely find a place in a royal education on the other side of the Atlantic the arts of working in metals jewellery and feather mosaic once in every four months the whole household not accepting the youngest and including all the officers of the king's person assembled in a grand saloon of the palace to listen to a discourse from an orator probably one of the priesthood the princes on this occasion were all dressed in neck and the coarsest manufacture of the country the preacher began by enlarging on the obligations of morality and of respect for the gods especially important in persons whose rank gave such additional weight to example he finally seasoned his homily with a pertinent application to his audience if any member of it had been guilty of a notorious delinquency from this wholesome admonition the monarch himself was not exempted and the orator boldly reminded him of his paramount duty to show respect for his own laws the king so far from taking umbridge received the lesson with humility and the audience we are assured was insulted into tears by the eloquence of the preacher the fondness of Nesahual Coyote for magnificence was shown in his numerous villas which were embellished with all that could make a rural retreat delightful his favourite residence was at Tesgod Zinkel a conical hill about two leagues from the capital it was laid out in terraces or hanging gardens having a flight of steps many of them hewn in the natural porphyry in the garden on the summit was a reservoir of water fed by an aqueduct that was carried over hill and valley for several miles on huge buttresses of masonry a large rock stood in the midst of this basin sculptured with the hieroglyphics representing the years of the reign of Nesahual Coyote and his principal achievements in each on a lower level were three other rivers of was in each of which stood a marble statue of a woman emblematic of the three states of the empire another tank contained a winged lion cut out of the solid rock bearing in his mouth the portrait of the emperor his likeness had been executed in gold, wood, featherwork and stone but this was the only one which pleased him from these copious basins the water was distributed in various channels through the gardens or was made to tumble over the rocks in cascades shedding refreshing dews on the flowers and odoriferous shrubs below in the depths of this fragrant wilderness marble porticoes and pavilions were erected and baths excavated in the solid porphyry the visitor descended by steps cut in the living stone and polished so bright as to reflect like mirrors towards the base of the hill in the midst of cedar groves whose gigantic branches through a refreshing coolness over the verger in the sultry seasons of the year rose the royal villa with its light arcades and airy halls drinking in the sweet perfumes of the gardens here the monarch often retired to throw off the burden of state and refresh his wearied spirits in the society of his favourite wives reposing during the noontide heats in the empowering shades of his paradise or mingling in the cool of the evening in their festive sports and dances here he entertained his imperial brothers of Mexico and Placoopan and followed the hardier pleasures of the chase in the noble woods that stretch for miles around his villa flourishing in all their primeval majesty here too he often repaired in the latter days of his life when age had tempered ambition and called the ardour of his blood to pursue in solitude the studies of philosophy and gather wisdom from meditation it was not his passion to hoard he dispensed his revenues munificently seeking out poor but meritorious objects on whom to bestow them he was particularly mindful of disabled soldiers and those who had in any way taken the public service and in case of their death extended assistance to their surviving families open mendicity was a thing he would never tolerate but chastised it with exemplary rigor it would be incredible that a man of the enlarged mind and endowments of Nessahualcoyoch should acquiesce in the sordid superstitions of his countrymen and still more in the sanguinary rites borrowed by them from the Aztecs in truth his humane temper shrunk from these cruel ceremonies and he strenuously endeavoured to recall his people to the more pure and simple worship of the ancient Toltecs a circumstance produced a temporary change in his conduct he had been married some years but was not blessed with issue the priests represented that it was owing to his neglect of the gods of his country and that his only remedy was to propitiate them by human sacrifice the king reluctantly consented and the altars once more smoked with the blood of slaughtered captives but it was all in vain and he indignantly exclaimed these idols of wood and stone can neither hear nor feel much less could they make the heavens and the earth and man the lord of it these must be the work of the all-powerful unknown god creator of the universe on whom alone I must rely for consolation and support he then withdrew to his royal palace of Tescotsinko where he remained forty days fasting and praying at stated hours and offering up no other sacrifice than the sweet incense of copal and aromatic herbs and gums at the expiration of this time he is said to have been comforted by a vision assuring him of the success of his petition at all events such proved to be the fact and this was followed by the cheering intelligence of the triumph of his arms in a quarter where he had lately experienced some humiliating reverses greatly strengthened in his former religious convictions he now openly professed his faith and was more earnest to wean his subjects from their degrading superstitions and to substitute nobler and more spiritual conceptions of the deity the temple in the usual pyramidal form and on the summit a tower nine stories high to represent the nine heavens a tenth was surmounted by a roof painted black and profusely gilded with stars on the outside and encrusted with metals and precious stones within he dedicated this to the unknown god the cause of causes it seems probable from the emblem on the tower from the complexion of his verses as we shall see that he mingled with his reverence for the supreme the astral worship which existed among the Toltecs various musical instruments were placed on the top of the tower and the sound of them accompanied by the ringing of a sonorous metal struck by a mallet summoned the worshippers to prayers at regular seasons no image was allowed in the edifice as unsuited to the invisible god and the people were expressly prohibited from profaning the altars with blood or any other sacrifice than that of the perfume of flowers and sweet-scented gums the remainder of his days was chiefly spent in his delicious solitudes of Tescotsinko where he devoted himself to astronomical and probably astrological studies and to meditation on his immortal destiny giving utterance to his feelings in songs or rather hymns of much solemnity and pathos at length about the year 1470 Nezahuel Coyote full of years and honours felt himself drawing near his end almost half a century had elapsed since he mounted the throne of Tescocco he had found his kingdom dismembered by faction and bowed to the dust beneath the yoke of a foreign tyrant he had broken that yoke and breathed new life into the nation renewed its ancient institutions extended wide its domain had seen it flourishing in all the activity of trade and agriculture gathering strength from its enlarged resources and daily advancing higher and higher in the great march of civilization all this he had seen and might fairly attribute no small portion of it to his own wise and beneficent rule his long and glorious day was now drawing to its close and he contemplated the event with the same serenity which he had shown under the clouds of its morning and in its meridian splendour a short time before his death he gathered around him those of his children in whom he most confided his chief councillors the ambassadors of Mexico and Tracopan and his little son the heir to the crown of the Queen he was then not eight years old but had already given as far as so tender a blossom might the rich promise of future excellence after tenderly embracing the child the dying monarch threw over him the robes of sovereignty he then gave audience to the ambassadors and when they had retired made the boy repeat the substance of the conversation he followed this by such councillors were suited to his comprehension and which when remembered through the long vista of after years would serve as lights to guide him in his government of the kingdom he besought him not to neglect the worship of the unknown god regretting that he himself had been unworthy to know him and intimating his conviction that the time would come when he should be known and worshipped throughout the land he next addressed himself at one of his sons in whom he placed the greatest trust and whom he had selected as the guardian of the realm from this hour he said to him you will fill the place that I have filled a father to this child you will teach him to live as he ought and by your councils he will rule over the empire stand in his place and be his guide till he shall be of age to govern for himself then turning to his other children he admonished them to live united with one another and to show all loyalty to their prince who though a child already manifested a discretion far above his years be true to him he added and he will maintain you in your rights and dignities filling his end approaching he exclaimed do not bewail me with idle lamentations but sing the song of gladness and show a courageous spirit that the nations I have subdued may not believe you disheartened but may feel that each one of you is strong enough to keep them in obedience the undaunted spirit of the monarch shone forth even in the agonies of death that stout heart however melted as he took leave of his children and friends weeping tenderly over them while he bade each a last adieu when they had withdrawn he ordered the officers of the palace to allow no one to enter it again soon after he expired in the 72nd year of his age and the 43rd of his reign thus died the greatest monarch and perhaps the best who ever sat upon an Indian throne his character is delineated with tolerable impartiality by his kinsmen the Tescoocan conicler he was wise, valiant, liberal and when we consider the magnanimity of his soul the grandeur and success of his enterprises his deep policy as well as daring we must admit him to a far surpassed every other prince and captain of this new world he had few failings himself and rigorously punished those of others he preferred the public to his private interest was most charitable in his nature often buying articles at double their worth of poor and honest persons and giving them away again to the sick and infirm in seasons of scarcity he was particularly bountiful remitting the taxes of his vassals and supplying their wants from the royal granaries he put no faith in the idolatrous worship of the country he was well instructed in moral science and sought above all things to obtain light for knowing the true god he believed in one god only the creator of heaven and earth by whom we have our being who never revealed himself to us in human form nor in any other with whom the souls of the virtuous are to dwell after death while the wicked will suffer pains unspeakable he invoked the most high as him by whom we live and who has all things in himself he recognised the son for his father and the earth for his mother he taught his children not to confide in idols and only to conform to the outward worship of them from deference to public opinion if he could not entirely abolish human sacrifices derived from the Aztecs he at least restricted them to slaves and captives I have occupied so much space with this illustrious prince that but little remains for his son and successor Nezawal Pilli I have thought better in our narrow limits to present a complete view of a single epoch the most interesting in the Tescu canals than to spread the inquiries over a broader but comparatively barren field yet Nezawal Pilli the heir to the crown was a remarkable person and his reign contains many incidents which I regret to be obliged to pass over in silence Nezawal Pilli resembled his father in his passion for astronomical studies and is said to have had an observatory on one of his palaces he was devoted to war in his youth but as he advanced in years resigned himself to a more indolent way of life and sought his chief amusement in the pursuit of his favourite science or in the soft pleasures of the sequestered gardens of Tescotinco this quiet life was ill-suited to the turbulent temper of the times and of his Mexican rival Montezuma the distant provinces fell off from their allegiance the army relaxed its discipline disaffection crept into its ranks and the wily Montezuma partly by violence and partly by stratagems unworthy of a king succeeded in plundering his brother Monarch of some of his most valuable domains then it was that he arrogated to himself the title and supremacy of Emperor hitherto born by the Tescucan princes as head of the alliance such is the account given by the historians of that nation who in this way explain the acknowledged superiority of the Aztec sovereign both in territory and consideration on the landing of the Spaniards these misfortunes pressed heavily on the spirits of Nesuagpili their effect was increased by certain gloomy prognostics of a near calamity which was to overwhelm the country he withdrew to his retreat to brood in secret over his sorrows his health rapidly declined and in the year 1515 at the age of 52 he sunk into the grave happy at least that by his timely death he escaped witnessing the fulfilment of his own predictions in the ruin of his country and the extinction of the Indian dynasties forever in reviewing the brief sketch here presented of the Tescucan monarchy we're strongly impressed with the conviction of its superiority in all the great features of civilisation over the rest of our Nahwak the Mexicans showed a similar proficiency no doubt in the mechanic arts and even in mathematical science but in the science of government in legislation in the speculative doctrines of a religious nature in the more elegant pursuits of poetry, eloquence and whatever depended on refinement and a polished idiom they confessed themselves inferior by resorting to their rivals for instruction and citing their works as the masterpieces of their tongue the best histories the best poems the best code of laws the purest dialect were all allowed to be Tescucan what was the actual amount of the Tescucan civilisation it is not easy to determine with the imperfect light afforded us it was certainly far below anything which the word conveys measured by a European standard in some of the arts and in any walk of science they could only have made as it were a beginning but they had begun in the right way and already showed a refinement in sentiment and manners a capacity for receiving instruction which, under good auspices might have led them on to indefinite improvement unhappily they were fast falling to the dominion of the warlike Aztecs and that people repaid the benefits received from their more polished neighbours by imparting to them their own ferocious superstition which, falling like a mildew on the land would soon have blighted its rich blossoms of promise and turned even its fruits to dust and ashes End of Book 1 Chapter 6