THE SACRED EAR-FLOWER OF THE AZTECS 

 XOCHINACAZTLI. 



[With 1 plate.] 



By William Edwin Safford. 



Among the marvels of the New World which excited the admira- 

 tion of the Spanish conquistadores were the parks and gardens of 

 the Aztec Emperor and his nobles. Cortez, in his official reports to 

 Charles V, described them at length. 



At Iztapalapan, on a peninsula between Lake Chalco and Lake 

 Tezcuco, there was a park which covered a very large area, laid out 

 in squares, with the intersecting paths bordered by vine-covered trel- 

 lises and aromatic shrubs which filled the air with perfume. Many 

 of the trees and shrubs had been brought from great distances, and 

 the gardens were arranged in regular plots, irrigated by ditches. 

 There were aviaries filled with birds, remarkable for their brilliant 

 plumage and their songs. There was a great basin, or reservoir of 

 stone, stocked with fishes of many kinds. This is described as hav- 

 ing a circumference of 1,G00 paces, and around it there was a stone 

 pavement wide enough for four persons to walk abreast. Its 

 sides were sculptured with curious designs, and a flight of steps led 

 down to the water, which fed the irrigating ditches and was the 

 source of beautiful fountains. So elaborate and magnificent were 

 the gardens described by the conquistadores that we might well doubt 

 the truth of their assertions, were the evidence not attested by many 

 witnesses. 



In the capital city itself the Emperor had established the botanical 

 garden of Tetzcotzinco, of which there still remain a few vestiges. 

 After having gathered together all the plants and animals which 

 could endure the climate, the Emperor caused the pictures of others 

 to be painted upon the walls of his residence, so that the whole of 

 the fauna and flora of Anahuac might be represented. 



A few leagues south of the City of Mexico, in the direction of the 

 modern city of Cuernavaca, was the wonderful garden of Huaxtepec, 

 which survived the conquest, and to which Hernandez frequently re- 



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