180 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



a man defended from the fun and rain kept watch, and 

 drove away the birds which came in flocks to confume 

 the young grain. Thofe little towers are ftill made 

 ufe of even in the fields of the Spaniards on account of 

 the exceiTive number of birds. 



The Mexicans were alfo extremely well /killed in the 

 cultivation of kitchen and other gardens, in which they 

 planted with great regularity and tafte, fruit-trees, and 

 medicinal plants and flowers. The laft of thofe were 

 much in demand, not lefs on account of the particular 

 pleafure taken in them, than of the cuftom which pre- 

 vailed of prefenting bunches of flowers to their kings, 

 lords, ambafTadors, and other perfons of rank, befides 

 the exceflive quantity which were made ufe of in the 

 temples and private oratories. Amongit the ancient 

 gardens, of which an account has been handed down to 

 us, the royal gardens of Mexico and Tezcuco, which 

 we have already mentioned, and thofe of the lords of Iz- 

 tapalapan and Huaxtepec, have been much celebrated. 

 Among the gardens of the great palace of the lord of 

 Iztapalapan, there was one, the extent, difpofition, and 

 beauty of which excited the admiration of the Spanifli 

 conquerors. It was laid out in four fquares, and planted 

 with every variety of trees, the fight and fcent of which 

 gave infinite pleafure to the fenfes ; through thofe 

 fquares a number of roads and paths led, fome formed 

 by fruit-bearing trees, and others by efpaliers of flower- 

 ing flirubs and aromatic herbs. Several canals from the 

 lake watered it, by one of which their barges could en- 

 ter. In the centre of the garden was a fifh-pond, the 

 circumference of which meafured fixteen hundred paces, 

 or four hundred from fide to fide, where innumerable 

 water-fowl reforted, and there were fteps on every fide 



to 



