AZTEC AGRICULTURE. 1 3 



The Mexicans then had long smce passed the dividing line between the rude 

 nomads of the plains and forest, and the patient cultivator of the soil ; they were 

 even more than mere herdsmen, had passed beyond the pastoral period, and were 

 firmly fixed in possession of estates. Without beasts of burden, they were obliged 

 to train the lower classes to carry neavy loads, and labor in the field was per- 

 formed solely by human hands. But they, — even in their necessitous condition, — 

 were more advanced than many nations of Europe, and even than the English, 

 if we may believe one of the earliest of our books on agriculture. 



The range of food-plants on the table-land of Mexico was not broad, but the 

 people utilized them all. Maize was their chief reliance, growing everywhere from 

 coast to mountain-top; and from it they prepared a variety of foods and drinks 

 perfectly astonishing. They clothed themselves with cotton, from the tropic coast- 

 belt, drank beverages prepared from the cacao {chocolatl), the maguey and the 

 maize, and drew upon the sylvan fauna and flora for a multitude of simple articles 

 of sustenance. While they had no fowls, except the wild turkeys and curassows 

 (crax alecfor), they obtained eggs from iguanas, turtles, alligators, and some native 

 birds; and meat from quail, rabbits, deer, akos, or native dogs, peccaries, and other 

 animals indigenous to the country. Agriculture proper, however, in its most re- 

 stricted sense, — the tillage of the soil, — furnished them with their principal 

 aliment. Aside from tradition, and the records of the picture-writings, — which 

 some may question, and we will not call in testimony, — "ineffaceable evidence 

 of a high state of agriculture exists all over Mexico." One may still find, on the 

 savannas of the coast, as they extend up towards the hills and .mountains, " traces 

 of a dense agricultural population; of tribes who had passed away long before the 

 Spanish invasion; for, when these plains are laid bare by fire, it will be seen that 

 the entire region was formed into terraces, by means of walls of masonry, with 

 every precaution against the ravages of the tropical rains. . . . All is now 

 concealed by trees, or tall grass; for miles, scarcely a hut is built, where formerly 

 every foot of land was as diligently cultivated as the banks of the Nile, or the 

 Euphrates, in Solomon's time.'' 



" In the other Hemisphere," says the historian Herrera, in the quaint English 

 version of his time, "there were no dogs, asses, sheep, goats, swine, cats, horses, 

 mules, camels, nor elephants ; no oranges, lemons, pomegranates, figs, quince, 

 olives, melons, vines, sugar, wheat, nor rice." 



By indicating what the aboriginal inhabitants of America lacked, we may be 

 better able to show what was accomplished after the Europeans had gained pos- 

 session of the country. Every variety of soil and climate having been bestowed 

 upon it, a natural dwelling-place could always be found for whatever fruit or 

 vegetable was introduced from the Old World. 



Hernando Cortes wrote to his sovereign, shortly after the siege of Mexico : " All 

 the plants of Spain thrive admirably in this land. We shall not proceed here as 

 we have done in the isles (West Indies), where we have neglected cultivation, and 

 destroyed the inhabitants." Unfortunately, both for Spain and for M'exico, the 

 home-government pursued a policy, after the subjugation of New Spain, diametri- 

 cally opposite to that suggested and advised by Cortes and the conquerors. 



Of little avail were the entreaties of those who had the prosperity of Mexico at 

 heart, and would have brought out the latent energies of her people. They were 

 not allowed to encourage any industries which would conflict with those of Spain 



