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M E X I C O. 



Slate of 

 manner;*. 



Antiqui 

 MM. 



Mexico, bodies. Human sacrifices were accounted the most 

 "~V~" ^ acceptable of all offerings, and every captive taken in 

 war was devoted as a victim to the deity. The head 

 and heart were allotted to the idol, and the body car- 

 ried off as a feast for the offerer and his friends. Un- 

 der the influence of such barbarous superstitions and 

 bloody spectacles, the spirit of the Mexicans became 

 unfeeling, and their manners in many respects not less 

 ferocious than those of the most savage tribes, who 

 were far behind them in point of general civilization. 

 Without losing the fiercer features of the wandering 

 and independent Indians, they had fallen into many of 

 the evils which attend the formation of political socie- 

 ties and large communities. When the Spaniards 

 made the conquest of Mexico, they found the people 

 in that state of abject submission and poverty which 

 usually accompany a despotic government and feudal 

 institutions. The higher classes alone possessed the 

 more fertile lands the governors of provinces in- 

 dulged with impunity in the severest exactions and 

 the cultivators of the soil were every where degraded. 

 The highways swarmed with mendicants ; and, from 

 the want of large quadrupeds in the country, thou- 

 sands of the lower orders were employed as beasts of 

 burden in conveying the maize, cotton, hides, and 

 other commodities sent from the more remote provin- 

 ces to the capital, in the payment of tribute. 



There are few remains of Mexican antiquities to be 

 found in the country. Even the hieroglyphic paint- 

 ings are now so scarce, that the greater part of the 

 well-informed persons who reside there have never 

 seen any. Cortez, at the conquest, destroyed the tem- 

 ples, broke the idols, and buried three masses of stone, 

 which were too large to be destroyed, that every thing 

 belonging to the ancient rites might be concealed from 

 the eyes of the people. Some of these stones have 

 been recently discovered, and particularly one of an 

 immense size, covered with sculpture, relative to the 

 calendar. This was dug up in 1790, in the great 

 square of Mexico, among the foundations of the tem- 

 ple of Mexitli. Its actual weight is 24 tons ; and as 

 no mountain within eight or ten leagues of the spot 

 furnishes the same kind of porphyry, it must have 

 been conveyed with immense labour to the foot of the 

 sacred edifice. Another of a cylindrical form, and 

 covered with figures in relief, was also found upon 

 levelling the great square in Mexico, and is supposed 

 to be the stone of sacrifices usually placed on the sum- 

 mit of the teocallis ; but is conjectured by M. Hum- 

 boldt to correspond rather with the account given of 

 large stones, upon which the braver prisoners were 

 condemned to sustain the combat of gladiators with 

 a succession of Mexican warriors. Various other sculp- 

 tures in relief, colossal statues, small clay vases, well- 

 cast brass bells, &c. have been found in different pla- 

 ces ; and it is supposed, that upon due research being 

 made, many more might be procured. But the prin- 

 cipal and most prominent Mexican antiquities are the 

 remains of the teocallis, or houses of the gods. These 

 edifices were generally of a pyramidal form, rising, not 

 by steps, but by a succession of four or five lofty ter- 

 races. On the summit were erected the temples, 

 which served also as watch-towers, and in which were 

 placed the colossal idols of the divinity, to whom the 

 teocalli was consecrated ; and to this platform a grand 

 staircase on the outside afforded access. 



The burial-places of the kings and nobles were con- 

 structed within these pyramids, and around them were 

 the dwelling-places of the priests, with gardens and 



fountains enclosed by walls. These structures were Mx'eo. 

 frequently used as arsenals and fortifications, and are ^^^f*** 1 

 considered as bearing a striking resemblance to the 

 Babylonian temple of Belus. The most remarkable of 

 these edifices still existing are those of Teotihuacan, 

 Papantla, and Choluln. The first are situated in the 

 valley of Mexico, about eight leagues north-east from 

 the capital, in a plain called the path of the dead, where 

 there are two large teocallis surrounded by several 

 hundreds of smaller ones, forming streets in straight 

 lines from north to south, and from east to west. 

 Each side of the base of the largest measures 682 feet, 

 and the perpendicular height 180 feet. The smaller 

 pyramids are not above 30 feet in perpendicular height, 

 and are supposed to be the tombs of the chiefs. The 

 pyramid of Papantla, which was discovered only about 

 the year 1780, by some Spanish hunters, is more ta- 

 pering than any other monument of the kind, being 

 only about 80 feet broad at the base, and about 65 in 

 perpendicular height. It is built entirely with hewn 

 stones of an extraordinary size, and regular shape ; 

 and has three staircases leading to the top. It is 

 covered with hieroglyphical sculptures, and small 

 niches to the number of ,'i 1 8 cut in its sides, and arrang- 

 ed with great symmetry. But the greatest and most 

 ancient and most celebrated of these pyramidal struc- 

 tures, is the teocalli of Cholula, which, at a distance, has 

 the appearance of a natural hill covered with vegeta- 

 tion. Its perpendicular height is 164 feet, and each 

 side of its base 1440 feet. It is built of unbaked 

 bricks, with alternate layers of clay ; and on the plat- 

 form is now erected a Catholic chapel, in place of the 

 ancient temple of the god of the air. A few years ago 

 a road from Puebla to Mexico was carried through the 

 first terrace, which laid open a square room in the in- 

 terior, built of bricks, and supported by cypress beams. 

 The bricks were stepped over each other, the upper 

 overreaching the lower, so as to meet in a point, and 

 form a kind of Gothic arch, a mode of structure not 

 uncommon in Egypt and India. This apartment had 

 no outlet, but contained two human skeletons, several 

 idols in basalt, and a number of curiously varnished 

 and painted vases. 



The history of the conquest of Mexico by the Spa- Conquest 

 niards has been already'brought down, in the article f Mexic. 

 CORTES, to the capture of Guatimozin, after the fall of 

 his capital, in 1521. This memorable siege, which 

 decided the fate of the Mexican empire, continued for 

 the space of seventy-five days, with scarcely any in- 

 terruption to the exertions of the assailants and de- 

 fenders ; and without the aid of the other Indian pow- 

 ers, all the superiority of the Spanish arms and discip- 

 line would not have been able to carry the place over 

 the great abilities of Guatimozin, the number of his 

 troops, and the peculiar situation of his capital. The 

 exultation of the Spaniards in accomplishing this ar- 

 duous enterprise was quickly damped by the incon- 

 siderable amount of the spoil which they were able to 

 collect amidst the ruins of the metropolis. Guatimozin, 

 aware of his approaching fate, had ordered the remaining 

 treasures in his possession to be thrown into the lake ; 

 and the Indian auxiliaries, while the Spaniards wene 

 engaged with the enemy, had carried off the most valu- 

 able part of the booty. To appease the discontent of 

 the troops, and in compliance with their suspicions, 

 Cortes was at length persuaded to subject the unhappy 

 monarch and his chief favourite to torture, in order to 

 force from them a discovery of the royal treasures, 

 which they were supposed to have concealed. The 

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