GARDENS OF ANCIENT MEXICO NUTTALL 459 



culture which has been termed " The Athens of America," and was 

 the residence of the most interesting personality in the history of 

 ancient Mexico, whose name would be voiced oftener if it were not 

 generally considered as so unpronounceable. Nezahualcoyotl, the 

 law giver, philosopher, and poet king of Texcoco was born in 1403 

 and died at the age of 71, after a reign of 50 years. Referring the 

 reader to the works of Prescott and Bancroft for the history of his 

 life and an account of the remarkable code of laws he formulated, 

 attention is drawn here only to the interesting fact that, in order to 

 prevent the destruction of forests and woods he prescribed certain 

 limits to the hewers of trees and severely punished their transgres- 

 sion. 



A descendent of his, Ixtlilxochitl, relates that Nezahualcoyotl 

 possessed many kinds of gardens, for he had inherited those which 

 pertained to the palaces of his grandfather and father and had also 

 created no less than eight groves and gardens. " These contained 

 sumptuous palaces beside fountains, canals, drains, tanks, baths, and 

 other intricate waterworks; and were planted with many strange 

 and wonderful varieties of flowers and all sorts of trees, brought 

 thither from remote places. He also had five pieces of land near 

 the lake where food plants were cultivated and he always personally 

 superintended their harvest. Each garden was under the special 

 care of men from one of eight provinces, whose services were ren- 

 dered as a tribute." Another tribute consisted of the tropical flowers 

 required for the use of the palace, which were sent daily from Cuer- 

 navaca, at that time subjected to Texcoco. 



Doctor Hernandez, writing between 1570 and 1577, records that 

 Nezahualcoyotl had devoted himself to the study of plants and 

 animals and, being unable to have living specimens of many of 

 the tropical species, had pictures of them painted from nature 

 and copied on the walls of his palace. The drawings of exotic 

 plants were so excellent that the Spanish botanist was able to 

 make use of them. He also mentions seeing the remains of the 

 new palaces, gardens, and groves of trees planted by the poet king. 



Writing in the middle of the sixteenth century, Friar Motilinia 

 describes as particularly worth seeing the ruins of Nezahualcoyotl's 

 palace " with its inclosed garden containing more than a thousand 

 very large and very beautiful cedar (cypress) trees"; and a second 

 palace with " many gardens and an immense tank or pool. * * * " 



In 1850 the American diplomat, Brantz Mayer, in his work on 

 Mexico, described the same ancient grove of cypresses, standing in 

 the level plain northwest of Texcoco as " one of the most remark- 

 able relics of the princes and people of the Texcocan monarchy," 

 and gave the following details : " The grove is formed by double 

 rows of gigantic cypresses, about 500 in number, arranged in a 



