STX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 158 



their riches, and the progress of the arts among 

 the Mexican people, are doubted by those 

 who have never seen the country. I firmly 

 believe all that the intelligent and indefati- 

 gable Abbe Clavigero has related of his 

 countrymen. Had Monsieur de Pauw, or 

 our better informed countryman Robertson, 

 passed an hour in Tezcuco, Tescosingo, or 

 Huexotla, they would never have supposed 

 for a moment that the palace of Montezuma 

 in Mexico was a clay built cottage, or that 

 the account of the immense population of 

 that city was a mere fiction. 



It is not in the present capital of New Spain 

 that we are to look for the remains of Mex- 

 ican greatness, as every vestige of its former 

 splendour was annihilated by the conqueror. 

 He was compelled to demolish and level with 

 the ground every house as he took it, and 

 50,000 Indian workmen followed close at the 

 heels of his soldiers, to complete the work of 



