MEXICO. 



421 



architectural ruins. The bath is cut with mathematical precision, in a hard, porphyretical rock ; 

 it is highly polished, and stands out like a swallow's nest in the side of a house ; it is 12 feet 

 long, 8 feet wide, and has in the centre a well 5 feet deep. It is surrounded by a low parapet, 

 in which there is a cut, the representation of a chain, such as is drawn in the ancient pictures as 

 belonging to kings. 



Tliere is a dilapidated monument called the Fort of Xochicalco, on an insulated hill sur- 

 rounded by trenches and divided by art into 5 terraces. Its sides exactly face the cardinal 

 points. There are various fragments of porphyry well cut, with figures of crocodiles spouting 

 water, and of men sitting like the Asiatics, cross-legged. On the top, which is a square sur- 

 face of 100,000 square feet, there are the ruins of a small edifice. In the province of Oaxaca 

 are the ruins of an ancient Mexican city, where many of the walls are ornamented in what we 

 call grecques and labyrinths, in Mosaic, of small stones. The designs are much like those ia 

 the vessels called Etruscan. There are here 6 porphyry columns without capital or base, 

 placed in a large hall to support the roof. Their height is 16 feet, and the general disposition 

 of them, and of the other ruins, bears a resemblance to the remains in Upper Egypt. 



All recent investigations support the descriptions given by the conquerors, of Mexican ar- 

 chitecture. The remains are massy. In the palace of Mitla, there are stones more than 19 

 feet ill length, 5 feet in breadth, and 3 in the thickness. The pyramid of Papantla, which was 

 discovered but about 50 years ago, is composed altogether of large blocks of stone smoothly cut. 

 On the borders of Yucatan there are large vestiges of an Indian capital ; much of it is of stone, 

 and there are many sculptured figures and bas reliefs. The circumference of the ruin is about 

 6 leagues. Many however of the Mexican monuments, and all of them in the city, were de- 

 stroyed by the Spanish conquerors, from motives both of policy and piety. The moveable an- 

 tiquities of Mexico consist in rude and grotesque statues of stone, in manuscripts or hieroglyph- 

 ical paintings executed on skins, cloth, and agave paper. There is at Mexico a colossal statue 

 of the goddess of war, which is now buried, that it may not revive the dormant superstitions of 

 the Indians. When it was taken up that a cast might be made from it, the natives dressed it 

 in flowers. " A view of this idol," says a traveler, " is enough to dispel any doubt of the 

 enormities committed before it. Fuseli could have conceived nothing more hideous. The 

 drapery is of twisted snakes, and 2 serpents supply the place of arms. The ornaments are i;i 

 character. The necklace represents human hands and skulls fastened together by entrails. Tru.3 

 it is that the gods of the heathen are devils." This statue is 9 feet high. Within the enclo- 

 sure of the cathedral, and sunk even with the earth is an ancient mass, called the stone of th'j 

 sacrifices. It is of porphyry, 9 feet broad. In the centre is a head of relief, surrounded by 

 27 groups of figures. There is a groove in the stone to carry ofl:' the blood of the victims. 

 There is another curious stone called Montezuma's watch, weighing 24 tons. It is of basaltic 

 porphyry, of which none is found within 8 leagues of the city. It is in fact cut into figures, 

 that denote tne Mexican division of time, and may, therefore, be called the Mexican calendar. 

 Among the antiquities may perhaps be reckoned a sound cypress tree in the province of Oaxa- 

 ca, measuring in circumference 93 feet and a half. 



23. History. Mexico was subdued by the Spaniards under Cortez in 1521. Montezuma 



was at that time emperor, and fell in defence of 

 his capital. The inhabitants were considerably 

 advanced in civilization ; they were acquainted 

 with the arts of working gold, silver, and cop- 

 per, and with a kind of printing ; and their 

 cities were adorned witli temples and palaces, 

 and regulated by a police. 'J'he country con- 

 tinued a province of Spain till 1810, when an 

 insurrection commenced in Durango, and after 

 a variety of revolutionary movements, Iturblde 

 proclaimed himself emperor, in 1822. His 

 imperial sway was brief. He was banished 

 the country, and a government was established 

 on a model similar to that of the United 

 States. The most important events in the re- 

 cent history of Mexico are the overthrow of 

 tne lederal constitution m 18^5, the consequent revolt and unsuccessful invasion of Texas, the 



