THE LUSTER OF ANCIENT MEXICO 



27 



for architectural magnificence in his no- 

 bles, he contributed his own share to- 

 ward the embellishment of the city. It 

 was in his reign that the famous calendar- 

 stone, weighing, probably, in its primi- 

 tive state, nearly fifty tons, was trans- 

 ported from its native quarry, many 

 leagues distant, to the capital, where it 

 still forms one of the most curious monu- 

 ments of Aztec science. Indeed, when 

 we reflect on the difficulty of hewing such 

 a stupendous mass from its hard basaltic 

 bed without the aid of iron tools, and that 

 of transporting it such a distance across 

 land and water without the help of ani- 

 mals, we may well feel admiration at the 

 mechanical ingenuity and enterprise of 

 the people who accomplished it. 



Montezuma's magnificent mansion 



Not content with the spacious residence 

 of his father, Montezuma erected another 

 on a yet more magnificent scale. This 

 building, or, as it might more correctly 

 be styled, pile of buildings, spread over 

 an extent of ground so vast that, as one 

 of the Conquerors assures us, its terraced 

 roof might have afforded ample room for 

 thirty knights to run their courses in a 

 regular tourney- Remarkable were its 

 interior decorations, its fanciful draper- 

 ies, its roofs inlaid with cedar and other 

 odoriferous woods, held together with- 

 out a nail and, probably, without a knowl- 

 edge of the arch, its numerous and spa- 

 cious apartments, which Cortes, with en- 

 thusiastic hyperbole, does not hesitate to 

 declare superior to anything of the kind 

 in Spain. 



Adjoining the principal edifice were 

 others devoted to various objects. One 

 was an armory, filled with the weapons 

 and military dresses worn by the Aztecs, 

 all kept in the most perfect order, ready 

 for instant use. The emperor was him- 

 self very expert in the management of 

 the maquahuitl, or Indian sword, and 

 took great delight in witnessing athletic 

 exercises and the mimic representation 

 of war by his young nobility. Another 

 building was used as a granary, and 

 others as warehouses for the different ar- 

 ticles of food and apparel contributed by 

 the districts charged with the mainte- 

 nance of the royal household. 



There were also edifices appropriated 

 to objects of quite another kind. One of 

 these was an immense aviary, in which 

 birds of splendid plumage were assem- 

 bled from all parts of the empire. Here 

 was the scarlet cardinal, the golden 

 pheasant, the endless parrot tribe, with 

 their rainbow hues (the royal green pre- 

 dominant), and that miniature miracle of 

 nature, the humming-bird, which delights 

 to revel among the honeysuckle bowers 

 of Mexico. Three hundred attendants 

 had charge of this aviary, who made 

 themselves acquainted with the appro- 

 priate food of its inmates, oftentimes pro- 

 cured at great cost, and in the moulting 

 season were careful to collect the beauti- 

 ful plumage, which, with its many-colored 

 tints, furnished the materials for the Az- 

 tec painter. 



A separate building was reserved for 

 the fierce birds of prey ; the voracious 

 vulture tribes and eagles of enormous 

 size, whose home was in the snowy soli- 

 tudes of the Andes. No less than five 

 hundred turkeys, the cheapest meat in 

 Mexico, were allowed for the daily con- 

 sumption of these tyrants of the feath- 

 ered race. 



THE AZTEC ZOO DESCRIBED 



Adjoining this aviary was a menagerie 

 of wild animals, gathered from the moun- 

 tain forests, and even from the remote 

 swamps of the ticrra caliente. 



The collection was still further swelled 

 by a great number of reptiles and ser- 

 pents remarkable for their size and ven- 

 omous qualities, among which the Span- 

 iards beheld the fiery little animal "with 

 the castanets in his tail," the terror of the 

 American wilderness. The serpents were 

 confined in long cages lined with down 

 or feathers or in troughs of mud and 

 water. 



The beasts and birds of prey were pro- 

 vided with apartments large enough to 

 allow of their moving about, and secured 

 by a strong lattice-work, through which 

 light and air were freely admitted. The 

 whole was placed under the charge of 

 numerous keepers, who acquainted them- 

 selves with the habits of their prisoners 

 and provided for their comfort and clean- 

 liness. 



