HEX 
leaves, or the thorns of the caftus; and of putting reeds 
into the wounds, in order that the blood- might be feen 
to trickle more copiouily. 
Another very remarkable tradition ftill exifts among 
the Indians of Cholula, according to which the great py¬ 
ramid was not originally deftinecl to ferve for the worlhip 
of Quetzalcoatl. After my return to Europe, (lays Hum¬ 
boldt,) on examining at Rome the Mexican manufeript 
in the Vatican library, I found, that this lame tradition 
was already recorded in a manufeript of Pedro de Los Rios, 
a Dominican monk, who, in 1566, copied on the very 
fpot all the liieroglyphical paintings he could procure. 
“ Before the great inundation which took place four 
thouland eight hundred years after the creation of the 
world, the country of Anahuac was inhabited by giants. 
All thole who did not perilh were transformed into fifties, 
fave feven, who fled into caverns. When-the waters fub- 
lided, one of thefe giants, Xelhua, furnamed the architedl, 
w'ent to Cholollan ; where, as a memorial of the moun¬ 
tain Tlaloc, which had ferved for an afylum to himfelf 
and his fix brethren, he built an artificial hill in form of 
a pyramid. He ordered bricks to be made in the province 
of Tlamanalco, at the foot of the Sierra of Cocotl; and, to 
convey them to Cholula, he placed a file of men who palled 
them from hand to hand. The gods beheld with wrath 
this edifice, the top of which was to reach the clouds. 
Irritated at the daringattempt of Xelhua, they hurled fire 
on the pyramid. Numbers of the workmen perilhed ; the 
work was difcontinued,and the monument w'as afterwards 
dedicated to Quetzalcoatl, the god of the air.” - 
Humboldt proceeds : “ The fize of the platform of the 
pyramid of Cholula, on which I made a great number of 
aitronomical obfervations, is four thouland two hundred 
•fquare metres. From it the eye ranges over a magnificent 
profpeft ; Popocatepetl, Iztaccihuatl, the peak of Orizaba, 
and the Sierra deTlafcalla, famous for the tempefts which 
gather around its lummit. We view at the fame time 
three mountains higher than Mont Blanc, two of which 
are ftill burning volcanoes. A fmall chapel, furrounded 
with cyprefs,and dedicated to the Virgin de los Remedies, 
lias fucceeded to the temple of the God of the Air, or the 
Mexican India. An ecclefiaftic of the Indian race cele¬ 
brates mafs every day on the top of this antique monu¬ 
ment. 
“ No one of the ancient writers, neither Herodotus nor 
Strabo, Diodorus nor Paufanias, Arrian nor Quintus Cur- 
tius, afterts that the temple of Belus was erefted accord¬ 
ing to the four cardinal points, like the Egyptian and 
Mexican pyramids. Pliny obferves only, that Belus was 
confidered as the inventor of aftronomy. Diodorus re¬ 
lates, that the Babylonian temple ferved as an obferva- 
tory to the Chaldeans, “ who it mull be admitted,” fays 
he, “ here made their obfervations on the ftarS, the rifing 
and fetting of which might be exactly perceived, on ac¬ 
count of the elevation of the edifice." The Mexican 
priefts made obfervations alfo on the liars from the fum- 
njit of the teo-callis ; and announced to the people, by 
the found of the horn, the hours of the night. Thele 
teo-callis were built in the interval between the epocha of 
Mahomet and the reign of Ferdinand and Ifabella ; and 
we cannot obferve without aftonilhment, that American 
edifices, the form of which is almoft the fame as that of 
one of the moft ancient monuments on the banks of the 
Euphrates, belong to times fo near our own.” 
Having thus given a pretty full account of the progref- 
five hiftory of Mexico, we proceed to a defeription of that 
interefting portion of the globe in its more modern ftate ; 
and for this concluding part of our article we Ihall be in¬ 
debted chiefly to M. de Humboldt’s EjJai PolitiqueJ'ur le 
I{oi/aume de la Nouvelle Efpngne. 
The viceroyalty of Mexico may be. confidered as the 
chief in Spanilh America, and is extended over a territory 
equal to an European empire. But there are feveral in¬ 
ferior governors, named by the Spanilh fovereign. A 
I C O. 3GS 
confiderable part of the viceroy's power eonfifts in the 
patronage of all the churches. His lalary is inconfider- 
able, being only 60,000 dollars, or little more than 13,000k 
per annum. But his indirect means of amafling wealth 
are immenfe ; and there are viceroys, who, after a few 
years refidence in Mexico, have retired with a fortune, 
which they had acquired there, of above 300,000k When 
we conlider the fraud, injullice, and extortion, with which 
fuch fortunes mull have been accumulated, we ceafe to 
wonder at the deteftation in which the name of viceroy is 
held throughout America. His court is formed on the 
regal model, with hoffe and foot guards, a grand houle- 
liold, and numerous attendants. In the vice-royalty 
there are three grand tribunals, called Royal Audiences, 
viz. that of Mexico, that of Guatemala, and that of Gua- 
dalaxara. There are alfo feveral inferior tribunals. The 
audience of Mexico contains the province of Mexico 
Proper, Mechoacan, Guafteca or Panuco, Tlafcala, Oax¬ 
aca or Guaxaca, Tabafco, and Yucatan. Xalilco, or 
New Gallicia, and Zacatecas, are alfo within the territory 
of Mexico, but in the audience of Guadalajara. The fore¬ 
going account relates chiefly to Mexico Proper, but in a 
certain degree to all the other provinces, though each will 
be found noticed under its proper head. 
The chief city of New Spain is Mexico, which fee ; 
but there are many other flourifliing cities in this -wide 
empire.. The moft interefting in a commercial view are 
the two chief ports, Acapulco on the Pacific Ocean, and 
Vera Cruz on the Atlantic ; to thefe we may add, Puebla 
de los Angelos, Cordova, Xalapa, Queretaro, Guadalaxara, 
and Guatemala ; which fee relpe&ively. 
The ecclefiaftical revenue is very confiderable. The 
archbilhopric of Mexico is extremely opulent; and yet 
deemed inferior to the bilhopric of Puebla de los Angelos. 
The ecclefiaftical courts are numerous ; and the holy tri¬ 
bunal of the faith, or the Inquilition, is very vigilant and 
fevere. The chapter of the cathedral comprehends 26 ec- 
clefialtics. While the revenue of the archbilhop is com¬ 
puted at 100,000 dollars, the dean has more than 10,000 j 
the canons from 7 to 9000, the minor canons from 2 to 4000; 
fome curacies are worth many thoufand ducats ; and one 
in the archbilhopric of Mexico is valued at 14,000 ducats 
a-year; while many of the curates, in their career of am¬ 
bition, become prebendaries and bifliops. There are two 
archbiihoprics, thole of Mexico and Guatemala; with 
eight bilhops, Puebla de los Angelos, Guaxaca, Durango, 
Mechoacan, Antequera, Guadalaxara, Yucatan, and 
Chiapa. The curacies are computed at 235. 
The population of all the provinces included in the 
territory of Mexico, or New Spain, is eftimated by Hum¬ 
boldt (in 1808) at 7,800,000; and, from a Memoir pre- 
fented to the court of Spain by the bilhop of Mechoacan, 
in the year 1799, it appears, that the whites do not form 
above a fifth of this population; two-fifths being defen¬ 
dants of the aboriginal unmixed Indians, and the remain 
ing two-fifths being compofed of the Cufias, or the race 
of mixed blood. Yet almoft all property is centered in 
the whites ; and, though the Indians are governed in 
their villages by magiftrates of their own nation, the arti¬ 
fice of petty ariltocracies appears to be as prevalent and 
as adverfe to public improvement among them as in Eu¬ 
rope. The caftas, or people of colour, being chiefly de- 
feended from Haves, are kept in a ftate of degradation, 
which fofters in them a conftant irritation againft the 
whites. They are fubjeft, likewil'e, to a capitation-tax ; 
an impoft which is more obnoxious as a badge of flavery 
than as a pecuniary burden. The rapacity of the white 
magiftrates, (jujiicias territorialcs,) who maintain a mo¬ 
nopoly of trade in their refpedtive districts, has been de- 
ltrudtive of perl'onal comfort to many individuals, and has 
produced the mifehief of bad example to all. Until thefe 
evils are removed, it is in vain to expert any progrefs in 
moral improvement among the inhabitants oflNew Spain. 
The late-viceroys have been men of good character, but 
fettered 
