138 



MEXICO. 



is built on the site of the principal teocalli of the Mexi- 

 cans, dedicated to the god Mexitli.* 



Wonder has often been expressed, why so few rem- 

 nants of the ancient city are to be found, and how com- 

 pletely the vestiges of its existence have been swept 

 from the large area which it once occupied. The site 

 of a few of the principal buildings is known ; and here 

 and there, fragments have been unearthed, and this is 

 all. That the greater proportion of the dwellings should 

 have disappeared, no one need marvel, when it is recol- 

 lected that they were merely built of layers of unburnt 

 clay ; that the numerous canals were filled up with the 

 ruins ; and, moreover, that the mode resorted to by 

 CorteZj according to his own account, in gaining posses- 

 sion of the city, was literally to level every house and 

 street as soon as it was won. But still I am satisfied 

 that these causes, however plausible, are not sufficient 

 to account for the fact altogether ; but that a most sedu- 

 lously jealous and concerted system of destruction and 

 inhumation must have been pursued by the conquerors 

 with reference to all relics of the ancient race. 



It may be supposed, that a people that proves itself 

 so little disposed to appreciate treasures of this nature, 

 would show but little ardour in their being brought to 

 light and preserved ; and whatever is discovered, is dis- 

 covered by chance. Foreigners have occasionally insti- 

 tuted a search in suitable localities, and have made valu- 

 able discoveries ; but the existing law, which prohibits 

 the exportation of antiquities under any pretence, has 

 put a stop even to their labours. 



Indeed, at all times, the inhabitants of this city, even 

 when most civilized, and numbering many men of educa- 



* The first great temple named in the history of the kings, is that in 

 the reign of the sixth monarch, Axayacatl, in 1470, who erected a tower 

 of nine floors in honour of the Creator. The seventh king, Tizoc, col- 

 lected materials for a very great temple, which his son, the eighth mon- 

 arch, finished ; when, Clavigero states, 8,000,000 of people came to the 

 dedication ; and all the prisoners made during four years, in number 

 72,344, were ranged in two files, a mile and a half long, and were sacri- 

 ficed. This was probably the great one which formed the main citadel 

 of the Mexicans at the taking of the city. 



