GARDENS OF ANCIENT MEXICO NUTTALL 457 



Their prediction was fulfilled and before three years had passed 

 all of their charges blossomed so luxuriantly that the gardeners from 

 Cuetlaxtla were amazed and said that even in their native soil such 

 plants never flowered so soon. They concluded therefore that the 

 Huaxtepec region suited these valuable plants better than their origi- 

 nal home. It is interesting to learn that " then Montezuma lifted 

 his hands to heaven and thanked the God of all creation for these 

 blessings and he and his brothers shed tears of joy at the success of 

 their experiment. For they esteemed as a special mercy and benefit 

 bestowed upon them by the Lord of the Heavens, of the Day and 

 Night, that they could now bequeath to the Mexican people and to all 

 the inhabitants of the Province of Huaxtepec the joy of possessing the 

 precious plants they had been obliged to do without until then." 



It was of the Huaxtepec garden that in his letter to Charles V, 

 dated May 15, 1522, Cortes wrote that " it was the finest, pleasantest, 

 and largest that ever was seen, having a circumference of 2 leagues." 

 He adds : "A very pretty rivulet with high banks ran through it from 

 one end to the other. For the distance of two shots from a crossbow 

 there were arbors and refreshing gardens and an infinite number of 

 different kinds of fruit trees; many herbs and sweet-scented flowers. 

 It certainly filled one with admiration to see the grandeur and ex- 

 quisite beauty of this entire orchard." Other Conquistadores were 

 equally enthusiastic. In his account of Cortes's second expedition, 

 Bernal Diaz wrote : " We went * * * to Huaxtepec where is the 

 pleasure garden * * * which is the finest I have seen in all my 

 life. When Cortes and the Treasurer Alderete saw it and promenaded 

 in it for a while they were filled with admiration and said that even 

 in Spain they had never seen a finer kind of pleasure garden." 



Bernal Diaz also records that on his expedition to the hot lands 

 Capt. Gonzalo de Sandoval rested and slept overnight in the Huaxte- 

 pec orchard and pronounced it to be " the most beautiful he had 

 seen in New Spain. It contained a greater number of buildings and 

 many more admirable sights than any other garden. Although he 

 had not finished exploring all of it, as it was more than a quarter of 

 a league in length, he considered it certainly to be a pleasure garden 

 worthy of a great prince." 



The historian Torquemada, quoting from original sources, sup- 

 plements the foregoing descriptions by the information that besides 

 groves of trees, rest houses, and gardens full of flowers, fruit, and 

 game there were also plantations and fountains and " several large 

 rocks on which were bowers and oratories and observatories, with 

 the steps leading to them cut in the solid rock." 



Doctor Hernandez, the Spanish physician who visited " the royal 

 gardens at Huaxtepec " between 1570 and 1577, mentions two valu- 

 able medicinal trees he had seen there, namely the "Brazilwood" 

 (Ccesalpinia crista), which had been brought thither from Panuco 



