MEXICO. 



127 



Among other signs of the weakness of the existing 

 government, the neglect and decay of many of the public 

 institutions are not to be overlooked. 



The importance of the mint to the revenues of the 

 country, renders its maintenance an object of state pol- 

 icy ; but the university, the museum, the public library, 

 the splendid mineria, or schools of the mines; many of 

 the noble hospitals of Spanish foundation, and the acad- 

 emy of arts, were, at the time of our visit, in a state of 

 general neglect shameful to the government and people. 

 The botanic garden, which occupies an interior court of 

 the palace, is also but indifferently maintained under the 

 care of an old badger of a functionary, who will make 

 you up a packet of the most vulgar and ordinary garden 

 seeds, and charge you fifty dollars for it with the best 

 assurance of conscience in the world. 



But to go into the details of these matters would be to 

 write a book instead of a letter. 



Though in the last degree of confusion, the museum, 

 which is in the palace, presents a scene of great interest ; 

 as, besides a multitude of rare and unique works illus- 

 trative of the history of the country, and a great quantity 

 of the most curious antiquities, it contains many of the 

 most remarkable records of the conquest. But all are 

 in the most appalling disorder — a disorder which has, 

 by-the-by, favoured numerous thefts. The same obser- 

 vation applies to the state of the more massive antiquities 

 which have been, from time to time, brought to light ; 

 such as the Stone of Sacrifice, the Feathered Serpent, 

 the idol Goddess of War, and many others, all of which 

 have been described at large a hundred times. There 

 they lie, half covered with dust, dirt, and rubbish, in a 

 corner of the court of the university ; to whose area the 

 fine bronze equestrian statue of Charles the Fourth has 

 also been exiled, by the levelling, king-hating repub- 

 licans. 



The great Toltec Calendar is seen to more advantage, 

 from its being inserted in a conspicuous position into the 

 wall of the cathedral, which, I have elsewhere mentioned, 



