Vol. XXX, No. 1 



WASHINGTON 



July, 1916 



THE LUSTER OF ANCIENT MEXICO 



The following article is abstracted from the celebrated classic, 

 Conquest of Mexico," by William H. Prescott 



'History of the 



OF ALL that extensive empire 

 which once acknowledged the au- 

 thority of Spain in the New 

 World, no portion, for interest and im- 

 portance, can be compared with Mexico, 

 and this equally, whether we consider the 

 variety of its soil and climate ; the inex- 

 haustible stores of its mineral wealth ; its 

 scenery, grand and picturesque beyond 

 example; the character of its ancient in- 

 habitants, not only far surpassing in in- 

 telligence that of the other North Ameri- 

 can races, but reminding us, by their 

 monuments, of the primitive civilization 

 of Egypt and Hindostan ; or, lastly, the 

 peculiar circumstances of its conquest, 

 adventurous and romantic as any legend 

 devised by Norman or Italian bard of 

 chivalry. 



The country of the ancient Mexicans, 

 or Aztecs, as they were called, formed 

 but a very small part of the extensive 

 territories comprehended in the modern 

 Republic of Mexico. Its boundaries can- 

 not be denned with certainty. They were 

 much enlarged in the latter days of the 

 empire, when they may be considered as 

 reaching from about the eighteenth de- 

 gree north to the twenty-first, on the At- 

 lantic, and from the fourteenth to the 

 nineteenth, including a very narrow strip, 

 on the Pacific. In its greatest breadth it 

 could not exceed five degrees and a half, 

 dwindling, as it approached its southeast- 

 ern limits, to less than two. 



It covered probably less than 16,000 

 square leagues. Yet such is the remark- 



able formation of this country that, 

 though not more than twice as large as 

 New England, it presented every variety 

 of climate, and was capable of yielding 

 nearly every fruit found between the 

 Equator and the Arctic Circle. 



All along the Atlantic the country is 

 bordered by a broad tract, called the 

 tierra calicnte, or hot region, which has 

 the usual high temperature of equinoctial 

 lands. Parched and sandy plains are 

 intermingled with others of exuberant 

 fertility, almost impervious from thickets 

 of aromatic shrubs and wild flowers, in 

 the midst of which tower up trees of that 

 magnificent growth which is found only 

 within the tropics. 



SCENERY GRAND AND TERRIBLE 



After passing some twenty leagues 

 across this burning region, the traveler 

 finds himself rising into a purer atmos- 

 phere. His limbs recover their elasticity. 

 He breathes more freely, for his senses 

 are not now oppressed by the sultry heat 

 and intoxicating perfumes of the valley. 

 The aspect of nature, too. has changed, 

 and his eye no longer revels among the 

 gay variety of colors with which the land- 

 scape was painted there. The vanilla, 

 the indigo, and the flowering cacao groves 

 disappear as he advances. The sugar- 

 cane and the glossy-leaved banana still 

 accompany him ; and, when he has as- 

 cended about 4,000 feet, he sees in the 

 unchanging verdure and the rich foliage 

 of the liquid-amber tree that he has 



