4 WILD ANIMALS. 



cared for, testifying not only to the barbaric ostentation of the 



Aztec king, but to the fact that his love for and cultivation of 



natural history were far beyond the level of the European countries 



at the time. An extract from the quaint account of this palace 



may be worth quoting: — "In another apartment there were dwarfs, 



crooked Persons, misshapen and monstrous, a great number 



whereof he kept for his Diversions ; and it is reported that some 



of them were purposely so deformed in their infancy, alleging 



that it became a great monarch to have such things as were not 



to be found elsewhere. Every sort of dwarfs, or other monsters, 



were kept apart, with people to look after them. In the lower 



rooms there were many strong cages, or Pens, in some whereof 



there were Lyons, in others Tygers, in others Bears, in others 



Leopards, and in others "Wolves. In short, there were all 



sorts of four-footed Beasts, only that Montezuam (sic) might be 



said to be so great that he had all wild Beasts shut up in 



his house ; and they were fed with Turkeys, Deer, Dogs, and 



other creatixres. "What is still more strange, in other rooms 



there were vast great jars, Pans and such like vessels full of 



water or earth, in which they fed and kept snakes thicker than a 



man's thigh; very large Vipers, Alligators, Lizards, and Serpents 



of several sorts, so fierce and venemous that the very sight was 



frightful to such as were not well used to them. . . . The 



Spaniards were very well pleased to see such variety of Birds, so 



many fierce wild Beasts, the Fury of the hideous Serpents, though 



they do not like to hear their hissing, the horrid roaring of the 



Lyons, the dismal howling of the "Wolves, the disagreeable cries of 



the Leopards and Tygers, and the dreadful noise of other 



creatures, which they made either through hunger, or because they 



were not at liberty to practise their savage temper. "When first the 



Spaniards heard that frightful variety of noises in the night, they 



were frightened, till it grew familiar to them, and they afl&rmed it 



was so hideous that the House seemed to be a Eesemblance of 



Hell and the Habitation of Devils." 



At the end of the twelfth century Frederick the Second, in 

 Sicily, made a notable collection of wild animals, which was 

 exhibited in many parts of Italy, but the want of opportunities 



