THE LUSTER OE ANCIENT MEXICO 



grains brought into the country by the 

 Conquerors. Mingled with them he 

 views the plantations of the aloe or 

 maguey (agave Americana), applied to 

 such various and important uses by the 

 Aztecs. The oaks now acquire a sturdier 

 growth, and the dark forests of pine an- 

 nounce that he has entered the tierra fria, 

 or cold region, the third and last of the 

 great natural terraces into which the 

 country is divided. 



THE BROAD MEXICAN TABLE-LAND 



When he has climbed to the height of 

 between 7,000 and 8,000 feet, the weary 

 traveler sets his foot on the summit of 

 the Cordillera of the Andes — the colossal 

 range that, after traversing South Amer- 

 ica and the Isthmus of Darien, spreads 

 out as it enters Mexico into that vast 

 sheet of table-land, which maintains an 

 elevation of more than 6,000 feet, for the 

 distance of nearly 200 leagues, until it 

 gradually declines in the higher latitudes 

 of the north. 



The air is exceedingly dry ; the soil, 

 though naturally good, is rarely clothed 

 with the luxuriant vegetation of the 

 lower regions. It frequently, indeed, has 

 a parched and barren aspect, owing partly 

 to the greater evaporation which takes 

 place on these lofty plains, through the 

 diminished pressure of the atmosphere; 

 and partly, no doubt, to the want of trees 

 to shelter the soil from the fierce influ- 

 ence of the summer sun. 



In the time of the Aztecs the table- 

 land was thickly covered with larch, oak, 

 cypress, and other forest trees, the extra- 

 ordinary dimensions of some of which, 

 remaining to the present day, show that 

 the curse of barrenness in later times is 

 chargeable more on man than on nature. 

 Indeed, the early Spaniards made as in- 

 discriminate war on the forest as did our 

 Puritan ancestors, though with much less 

 reason. After once conquering the coun- 

 try they had no lurking ambush to fear 

 from the submissive, semi-civilized In- 

 dian, and were not, like our forefathers, 

 obliged to keep watch and ward for a 

 century. This spoliation of the ground, 

 however, is said to have been pleasing to 

 their imaginations, as it reminded them 

 of the plains of their own Castile, where 



the nakedness of the landscape forms the 

 burden of every traveler's lament who 

 visits that country. 



THE WONDERFUL VALLEY OE MEXICO 



Midway across the continent, some- 

 what nearer the Pacific than the Atlantic 

 Ocean, at an elevation of nearlv 7,500 

 feet, is the celebrated Valley of Mexico. 

 It is of an oval form, about 67 leagues in 

 circumference, and is encompassed by a 

 towering rampart of porphyritic rock, 

 which nature seems to have provided, 

 though ineffectually, to protect it from 

 invasion. 



The soil, once carpeted with a beauti- 

 ful verdure, and thickly sprinkled with 

 stately trees, is often bare, and in many 

 places, white with the incrustation of 

 salts, caused by the draining of the 

 waters. Five lakes are spread over the 

 valley, occupying one-tenth of its surface. 

 On the opposite borders of the largest of 

 these basins, much shrunk in its dimen- 

 sions since the days of the Aztecs, stood 

 the cities of Mexico and Tezcuco, the 

 capitals of the two most potent and flour- 

 ishing States of Anahuac, whose history, 

 with that of the mysterious races that 

 preceded them in the country, exhibits 

 some of the nearest approaches to civili- 

 zation to be met with anciently on the 

 North American continent. 



Of these races the most conspicuous 

 were the Toltecs. Advancing from a 

 northerly direction, but from what region 

 is uncertain, they entered the territorv of 

 Anahuac, probably before the close of 

 the seventh century. 



The Toltecs were well instructed in 

 agriculture, and many of the most useful 

 mechanic arts ; were nice workers of 

 metals ; invented the complex arrange- 

 ment of time adopted by the Aztecs ; and, 

 in short, were the true fountains of the 

 civilization which distinguished this part 

 of the continent in later times. They es- 

 tablished their capital at Tula, north of 

 the Mexican Valley, and the remains of 

 extensive buildings were to be discerned 

 there at the time of the Conquest. The 

 noble ruins of religious and other edifices, 

 still to be seen in various parts of New 

 Spain, are referred to this people, whose 

 name, Toltec, has passed into a synonym 



