MEXICO. 



799 



titlan, or the city of Mexico. Clavigero enumerates 

 the collections of paintings which have been pre- 

 served ; they were executed on skins, cotton cloth, 

 and the leaves of the maguey or agave. At the 

 time of the arrival of the Spaniards, the Aztecs had 

 attained such a degree of civilization that the right 

 of private property was understood, cities built, pro- 

 fessions and distinctions of rank existed, the arts 

 were cultivated with considerable success, &c. 

 Among the most remarkable monuments of architec- 

 ture are the teocallis, or pyramids. The pyramid of 

 Cholula comprises a square, of 1773 feet, and is 177 

 feet high. It is formed of unburned bricks and clay, 

 find is attributed to the Toltecs, who preceded the 

 Aztecs in the country. The object is unknown. 

 About two miles from Pueblo are a number of pyra- 

 mids, described by Humboldt. The first, the house 

 of the sun, has a base of 682 feet in length, and is 

 180 feet high. The second, or house of the moon, is 

 150 feet high. They are both truncated, as is that 

 of Cholula, and are also of Toltec origin. A group 

 of little pyramids surrounds them, which are supposed 

 to have been tombs. In the wall of the cathedral at 

 Mexico is fixed a circular stone, covered with hiero- 

 glyphical figures, by which the Aztecs designated 

 the months. Near it is a second stone, on which 

 human sacrifices were performed. In the Dominican 

 convent is a large idol, representing a serpent de- 

 vouring a human victim. Mr Bullock obtained 

 l^ave to examine another, which was concealed 

 under the gallery of the university j it represented 

 the goddess of war, and was six feet nine inches 

 high, and nine feet nine inches broad, and was com- 

 posed of a deformed human figure, a tiger, and a 

 rattle-snake. For information on the subject of this 

 article, the reader may consult the works of Robert- 

 son, Clavigero, Humboldt, &c., mentioned in the 

 article Mexico; also Ranking's Conquest of Peru 

 and Mexico by the Mongols (London, 1827), and 

 Antiquities of Mexico (7 vols., folio, London, 1830), 

 containing facsimiles of the Mexican paintings in 

 the royal libraries of Paris, Dresden, Berlin, the 

 imperial library of Vienna, the Vatican, the Bod- 

 leian library, Oxford, &c., with inedited Mexican 

 histories. 



Mexico, or Mej'ico, one of the states of the Mexican 

 confederacy, with a population of about 1,000,000 

 inhabitants, is divided into eight districts ; between 

 16 30' and 20 N. lat., and 102 50' and 107 20' 

 W. Ion. It lies principally on the central plateau, 

 but its western coasts on the Pacific are low. It is 

 bounded north by Queretaro, east by Puebla, south 

 and south-west by the Pacific, and west by Vallado- 

 lid. Its capital is Tezcoco, Mexico, the chief city, 

 having been declared a federal city. The magnifi- 

 cent port of Acapulco lies on its western coast. A 

 f>reat number of valuable mines lie within its terri- 

 tories, and its rich soil yields a valuable agricultural 

 produce. The legislative assembly is composed of 

 nineteen deputies ; and the districts are placed each 

 under a prefect, whose duty it is to establish village 

 schools, form a census, &c. Its constitution was 

 adopted in 1827. The former intendency of Mexico 

 comprised the states of Mexico and Queretaro. 



Mexico, New ; a territory of the Mexican confeder- 

 acy, lying north of the state of Chihuahua, between 

 31 and 38 N. lat., 107 5CX and 111 50' E. Ion. 

 It is traversed by the Rio del Norte, which flows into 

 the gulf of Mexico. The population is not more than 

 50,000, of whom about half are Indians ; capital, 

 Santa Fe. 



Mexico, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Mex- 

 ic-an confederacy, see of an archbishop, lies 7400 feet 

 above the level of the sea ; lat. 19 25' 45" N.; Ion. 

 103 45' 30" W. The streets are broad, airy, and run 



at right angles ; the houses spacious, but low, rarely 

 exceeding one story, with flat roofs ; it is the most 

 magnificent city of America, and among the capitals 

 of Europe, there are few that can support a compari- 

 son with it. It is situated at about an equal distance 

 from Veracruz and Acapulco, in an extensive valley, 

 surrounded with lofty mountains, and containing sev- 

 eral lakes, among which are Tezcuco and Xochimilco. 

 It is on the site of the ancient city of Tenochtitlan, 

 but the waters of lake Tezcuco, on which it borders, 

 have so far subsided th;it the islands on which the 

 old city was built are now confounded with the main 

 land. The three causeys which connected them 

 still remain, and four have since been built, which 

 are well paved, and bordered with trees, forming 

 avenues to the city. Humboldt estimated the popula- 

 tion, in 1803, at 137,000 ; Poinsett, in 1822, at be- 

 tween 150 and 160,000, and later estimates have stat- 

 ed it at 168,000. The principal public buildings are 

 the cathedral, about 500 feet in length, the palace of 

 government, the college of mines, a noble building, 

 but now somewhat dilapidated ; the mint, with a 

 front of SCO feet by 250 feet in depth, the Franciscan 

 and Dominican convents, &c. There are, besides, 

 forty-eight convents, hospitals, churches, theatres, 

 &c. The public walks are the Alameda, and the 

 Pasco. The rides to the Chapultepec, or summer 

 palace of the viceroy Galvez, beautifully situated on 

 an eminence, near which is an aqueduct of 900 

 arches, and to Tacubaya, a village about four miles 

 from the capital, which contains the country resi- 

 dence of the archbishop, are very pleasant. The 

 canal of Chalco, which extends from the lake of that 

 name to the capital, is covered, morning and even- 

 ing, with canoes of the peasants, conveying fruits, 

 flowers, and vegetables, to market ; near it are the 

 remains of the Chinampas, or floating gardens, which 

 are surrounded with a broad ditch, and are now, if 

 they were not always, firmly fixed. The inhabitants 

 display a good deal of splendour in their dress and 

 equipages, but many of the wealthiest have been 

 obliged to leave the country by the wars of the re- 

 volution. The lazaroni population, which, in 1824, 

 amounted to 20,000 individuals, called by the Mexi- 

 cans leperos, is described by Ward as presenting a 

 most disgusting appearance of filth and rags. Mea- 

 sures have since been taken by the government to 

 reform them, by compelling them to labour. Mexico 

 enjoys a mild climate, and a pure and healthy atmo- 

 sphere : it is subject to inundations from the lakes, and 

 numerous works, such as canals, dikes, &c., have 

 been erected as a protection against such a calamity. 

 Tenochtitlan was founded by the Aztecs, in 1325, and 

 was a rich, flourishing, populous, and active city, the 

 seat of government and of religion, at the time of its 

 discovery by the Spaniards. It was taken by Cortez, 

 in 1521, after a siege of seventy-five days, and a 

 most dreadful slaughter of the inhabitants. The 

 besiegers razed the buildings as they advanced, in 

 order to approach the principal quarter with safety. 

 The ancient city was thus entirely destroyed, and the 

 present city arose on its ruins. 



Mexico, Gulf of; a large bay or gulf of the Atlan- 

 tic, extending north and south, from the coast of 

 Florida to the coast of Tabasco and Yucatan, about 

 600 miles, and from the island of Cuba westward to 

 the coast of Mexico, about 700 miles. Cuba divides 

 it into two btraits, one to the south, between cape 

 Antonio and cape Catoche, forty-five leagues wide, 

 through which it communicates with the Caribbean 

 sea, and another to the north, forty leagues in width, 

 called the gulf or strait of Florida. It receives the 

 waters of the del Norte, Sabine, and Mississippi. The 

 Mexican ports on this gulf are mere roadsteads. The 

 principal are Tampico, and Veracruz. Havana and 



