THIS province is the most important, though not the most extensive
of those which form the viceroyalty of New Spain; its historical
relations, its splendid capital, extraordinary and beautiful
appearances and situation, give it, independently of its chief
place being the metropolis of New Spain, an advantage over the
other states of this widely extended region; we shall accordingly
enter more at large into its history and description, than what
the limits of this work will allow to be allotted to the other
provinces.
Mexico is bounded on the north by the intendancy of San Luis
Potosi, on the east by the province of Tlascala, or Puebla, and
Vera Cruz, on the west by Mechoacan, or Valladolid, and Guanaxuato,
and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. The government of the royal
audience, in the capital, is the richest and most extensive of the
three royal audiences established in North America.
Mexico was formerly an empire of no great extent, but numerously
peopled, and covered with towns; it was surrounded by several other
states, either in alliance with it, or under its dominion. Of these
the most noted were the Michuacan, Tlacopan, and the Acolhuacan
kingdoms, the Cholollan, Huexotzincan, and Tlaxcallan republics,
with several others of inferior note.
The boundaries of the Mexican kingdom were the small state of
Quauhtemallan on the south-east; on the east, part of the above
states and the Mexican gulf; on the north Huaxtecas, a country
inhabited by a tribe of that name; Tlacopan, and a savage tribe,
called the Chichemicas, were on the north-west; Michuacan on the
west; and on the south and south-west the Pacific. This kingdom
was therefore situated between the fourteenth and twenty-first
degrees of north latitude, and between the ninety-seventh and the
hundred and fifth degrees of west longitude. Of this extent, the
most fertile and best cultivated portion was the vale of Anahuac,
or of Waters, which embraced a beautiful district, comprised
within mountains, the circuit of whose basis occupied 120 miles.
From the name of this vale, the whole country received afterwards
the appellation of Anahuac, previously to its settlement by the
Spaniards, who called it New Spain; which title has since been
given to the dominions of Spain, in North America, occupying the
whole extent from the northern boundaries, to the kingdom of
Guatimala, and often embracing that territory also. In the centre
of the vale of Anahuac are the lakes of Tezcuco and Chalco, on
whose banks were the cities of Mexico, Acolhuacan, Tlacopan,
Tezcuco, and forty others, with innumerable small towns.
Michuacan, the westerly kingdom, had its capital on a lake, called
Pascuaro, with four other cities. Tlacopan lay between Mexico
and Michuacan, and its capital was Tezcuco, four miles west of
Mexico. Acolhuacan, which was very extensive, as well as the most
ancient of the kingdoms, had its capital on the eastern shore of
Lake Tezcuco, at about fourteen miles from Mexico; this kingdom
was powerful, populous, and contained many cities; it was amongst
the most civilized of the territories of Anahuac. Tlaxcallan
or Tlascala was on the south of Mexico, and the chief of the
republics; it was not large, and its capital was situated seventy
miles east of Mexico. The republics of Cholollan and Huexotzinco
lay to the south of Tlaxcallan.
The origin of the Mexican nations, or the nations of Anahuac is
very obscure, but it is supposed that the Toltecas, who inhabited a
country to the north of Mexico were the most ancient inhabitants,
of whom any trace could be found; and they had a tradition that
they came from the north. A tribe of this nation being banished
from the country where they dwelt, journeyed to the southward in
search of a favourable spot whereon to fix their residence; it is
asserted they commenced their migration in the year 596 A.D., but
not finding a place which had charms enough to fix them, for any
great length of time, they still kept removing to the south for the
space of 104 years, when they came to a spot which pleased them.
Here they erected a city, fifty miles eastward of the spot where
Mexico the capital was afterwards founded. They rested twenty years
in this place, when they again removed and settled forty miles
farther west, building another city.
They appear to have been an industrious people, well skilled in
many arts, and living under the government of their kings in a
peaceable manner; but, unfortunately in the year 1052, suffered
from a dearth and want of water, which pervaded their land; and
a great part of their people died of famine. Those who remained,
dispersed themselves into Guatimala, Mexico, &c. For the space
of 100 years the Toltecan country was nearly a desert, very few
having been left behind; after this interval the Cachemecas,
another race from the north arrived, whose manners were not so
cultivated, and their way of living more savage than the Toltecans.
They established themselves in a place about six miles from the
present city of Mexico, and were governed by kings, who encouraged
their people to cultivate the friendship of the poor Toltecans
who remained; in return for which they instructed them in all
the arts they knew. This monarchy lasted till the year 1520, or
nearly five centuries; the Toltecan monarchy having endured nearly
four. Some other tribes from the north, of which the Acolhuans,
and the Otomies were the principal, entered into alliance with
the Cachemecas. After them the Tarascas and the Nahuatlacas, also
from the north, settled in Anahuac. The Aztecas, or Mexicans, were
the last; they came from a country beyond the gulf of California;
this is said to have taken place in the year 1160, when they
moved southward, and traces of the buildings they left, are said
to exist on the banks of the Rio Colorado, and on the Rio Gila,
&c. They stopped for some time at a place in New Biscay, about
250 miles north-north-west of Chihuahua, and there raised some
large buildings, from which the place is now called Casas Grandes,
which signifies large houses, and is in 29° north latitude. This
large building is constructed with three floors, and crowned by a
terrace; the lower floor has no door, and the upper is accessible
only by a ladder, which is still the manner in which the buildings
of New Mexico are constructed. This house, or fort, has been
surrounded by a wall, seven feet thick, and in which enormous
stones were used; the beams of pine are said still to exist. In the
centre is a keep or mound; the whole has had a ditch about it, and
earthen pots, jars, &c. with mirrors of the itzli stone, have been
dug up in the neighbourhood. On leaving this spot, they crossed the
mountains of Taraumara, and rested three years at Culiacan.
When the Aztecas left their native country, they consisted of
six tribes, viz. the Mexicans, Tepanecas, Chalcese, Tlahuicas,
Tlascans, and Xochimilcans. At Culiacan they constructed the
image of the deity Huitzilopochtli, with a throne to carry it
on the shoulders of four priests. The Mexicans were deserted by
the five other tribes on quitting Culiacan, and journeying with
their image, arrived at Tula, the capital which the Toltecans had
built, erecting altars at all their resting places on the road.
They stayed here, and in the vicinity, twenty years; and in 1216
they came to Zumpanco, a large town in the vale of Anahuac; here
they were kindly received, and one of their chief women married
Ilhuicatl, the son of the chief; from which marriage the race of
Mexican emperors descended. They roamed about the borders of the
lake Tezcuco, settling in different places, and at last engaged in
wars with the Cachemicas and Acolhuans, and were obliged to take
refuge in some islands called Acocolo, in the southern part of the
Mexican lakes. Here they existed fifty-two years, in great poverty,
and were finally enslaved by the chief of a small state called
Colhuacan.
A few years after a war commenced between the Xochimilcans, one of
the tribes who had separated from the Mexicans at Caliacan, and
the Cholhuans, in which the Mexicans assisted their enslavers, and
behaved so valorously as to gain their liberty. Their conduct was
however stained by the cruelty they committed in the action, by
cutting off their prisonersʼ ears, and by a human sacrifice, which
they made to their divinity after the battle, which consisted of
four of the prisoners whom they had reserved. The chief of the
Cholhuans commanded them to quit his territory, being disgusted at
their barbarity; they moved therefore to a place near the junction
of Lakes Chalco and Tezcuco, which place they named Mexicaltzinco;
they removed however from this to Iztacalo, nearer the place
where Mexico was soon after built. Here they rejoiced for their
victory and subsequent liberation, and remained two years, when
wandering about, they discovered on an island, in the lake, a sign
which their oracles had declared to be the mark of their future
resting place; here they accordingly built some miserable huts
of reeds, and having taken a Cholhuan prisoner, sacrificed him
to their deity, built an altar, and prepared permanently to fix
their residence. To this town and island they gave the name of
Tenochtitlan, and afterwards building their huts round the altar
of Huitzilopochtli or Mexitli, they gave the town the name of
Mexico, or the city of Mexitli, their god of war. This took place
in the year 1825.
The situation of their new town, chosen solely from the omen,
was as uncomfortable and as ill-placed, as they could have found
on a small island, in a lake without ground for cultivation, or
much space for building. There they lived long in a very wretched
manner, till at last, impelled by necessity, they drove stakes and
made dykes to the neighbouring islets; by which means they shut out
the water, and connected the islands, so as to gain considerable
space from the lake. By industry they attained sufficient
quantities of materials from the neighbouring settlements to erect
their habitations and furnish themselves with necessaries, and
constructed floating gardens on the water, with the mud of the
lake and branches of trees, on which they raised vegetables, &c.
Struggling with great distress and difficulties, they remained
unanimous and constant in their exertions for thirteen years, when
an old quarrel was renewed amongst themselves, and they divided
into two factions, who separated, one remaining on the spot,
the other going to an island in the vicinity, which they named
Tlatelolco, and which was afterwards united to the other by mounds.
The original town was now divided into four quarters, and in the
centre was built the temple of Mexitli.
They remained in great barbarism for some time, and sacrificed a
daughter of the king of Cholhuacan, whom they had invited into
their town, under a specious pretext; on which the king declared
war against them, but they were now as powerful as himself. Their
government had been hitherto an aristocracy; the nation obeying
a council of their great chieftain. At this era they found that
a monarchy was best suited to their views, as well because their
neighbours had mostly adopted that form of government, as because
their territories consisting only of the city, one person was
better able to perform the duties of the kingly office than
several. They therefore elected Acampatzin for their king and
leader, who was descended from the race above mentioned.
This prince took a daughter of Acolmiztli, king of Coatlican, for
his consort; their rival brothers, the Tlatelolcos also chose a
king, the son of the king of the Tepanecans, and in consequence of
their choosing the son of this prince, who had hitherto received
tribute from both parties, they endeavoured to instigate him to
make war on the Mexicans; he however, only doubled their tribute,
and otherwise oppressed them very much, for fifty years; during
thirty-seven of which, Acamapitzin governed Mexico. He took another
wife, and had by her a son Huitzilihiutl, and by his concubines
several children, of whom Itzcoatl was afterwards one of the most
renowned.
Acamapitzin governed Mexico with great success, and in his reign
buildings of stone were constructed, and canals for the use and
ornament of the place were commenced. He died in the year 1389,
and after four months Huitzilihiutl his son, succeeded him by the
universal choice of the people. He married a daughter of the king
of the Tepanecas, as well as another princess; they each brought
him sons, and the son of the latter was the famous Montezuma
Ilhuicamina. Huitzilihuitl reigned twenty years, and died in 1409,
and was succeeded by his brother Chimalpopoca, who, dying by
his own hands in prison, to which he was treacherously conveyed
by the king of Acolhuacan, was succeeded by Itzcoatl, the son
of Acamapitzin, by a slave. In the mean time they were engaged
in many disputes with the neighbouring kings and their rivals
the Tlatelolcans, who were as rapidly advancing in power as the
Mexicans. The first king of the Tlatelolcans died in 1339.
On the ascension of Itzcoatl to the Mexican throne, who was
accounted one of the most prudent of their kings, he built
temples, &c. subdued some neighbouring provinces, and concluded
an alliance with the exiled prince of Acolhuacan, whose father
had been killed, and himself supplanted by a neighbouring king.
This prince immediately declared war against the usurper, and took
several towns. Itzcoatl sent Montezuma, the son of Huitzilihuitl
to congratulate him. He was taken prisoner, but escaped by
treachery, and got back to Mexico, when Maxtlaton, the usurping
king of Acolhuacan, who had been only king of Tepanecas, declared
war against Mexico, on account of the Mexicans joining the exiled
prince Nezahualcajotl. This terrified the Mexicans, and they
demanded their king to make peace, but Montezuma, by his oratory
persuaded them to commence hostilities. Montezuma undertook to
carry the defiance, and was assailed in his return by some of the
enemy, but got back after killing two or three. After this the
exiled prince joined his army to the Mexicans, and a furious battle
took place. When night approached, the troops of the enemies still
increasing, the Mexicans were discouraged, and began to give way;
but Montezuma, and the other chiefs, rushing to the front, redeemed
the day. Montezuma took the general of the adversaries with his
own hand; the next day the battle was renewed, and the Tepanecans
totally defeated, and their city taken.
That nation was afterward totally subdued, and became subjected
to Itzcoatl; who, after reducing all the provinces which were
refractory, replaced Nezahualcajotl on his throne; in these actions
Montezuma manifested his usual address and courage. Itzcoatl gave
the Tepanecan country to Totoquihuatzin, with the title of king of
Tacuba. These kings then formed a treaty of alliance, offensive
and defensive. The Xochimilcans, fearing that they might be the
next objects of Mexican power, declared war, but were defeated,
their capital and strong holds being taken by Montezuma. Thus,
after twelve years, Mexico rose from its insignificancy, and became
more powerful than all the surrounding states, and was no longer
tributary. Itzcoatl died in 1436, at an advanced age, and Montezuma
was called to the throne; one of the first acts of his reign was
to build an immense temple, and he was no sooner placed on the
imperial seat, than he was called to a war between the Chalcese
and the Tezcucans; which terminated in the defeat of the former,
and in this war he obtained the victims to be sacrificed at his
coronation, which was the most splendid they had ever witnessed.
The king of Tlatelolco having formed a conspiracy against Itzcoatl,
and renewing his designs against Montezuma, he deposed him, and put
Moquihuix in his place. Two large provinces were also conquered,
and added to the Mexican dominions about this period.
He then engaged in a war with the king of the Mixtacas, the
Huexotzincas, and Tlascalans, and after meeting with a reverse,
he finally succeeded in defeating them, and again enlarged his
dominions. In 1457 he undertook the conquest of Euetlachtlan, and
sent Moquihuix, king of the Tlatelolcos to subdue it, but hearing
that the Cholulans, the Tlascalans and Huexotzincas had joined the
enemy, he ordered his army to return; they however disobeyed his
command, conquered the enemy, and dispatched an immense number
of them to be immolated in the Mexican temples. This so pleased
Montezuma, that he forgave them, and married Moquihuix to one of
his own relatives.
The Chalcese, who had again rebelled, were again reduced, and the
whole of his reign was occupied in augmenting his dominions; so
that at his death, in 1464, his territories reached from the gulf
of Mexico nearly to the Pacific.
During the reign of Montezuma, Mexico suffered by an inundation;
this happened in 1446, when, after a very long continuance of rain,
the lake swelled, and overflowing the city, destroyed many houses;
to prevent its recurrence, he constructed a dyke of two parallel
rows of stakes, filled in with mud and stones; this dyke was nine
miles long, and for the future, prevented that evil in a great
measure. Six years after this calamity, the maize harvest failed;
and, in 1452, after having suffered more or less, from the same
cause, for three years, the people were become so reduced, that
many sold themselves for slaves, and Montezuma was obliged to open
the granaries, and issue edicts that no woman should sell herself
for less than 400 ears of wheat, or any man for less than 500. They
existed on fish, and were only restored by a plentiful harvest
happening in 1454.
On his demise, he was succeeded by Axaycatl, in 1468; which prince,
after a great victory, built an immense temple called Coatlan; this
was after conquering the natives of the province of Tecoantepec.
The Tlatelolcos, in opposition, built another which they called
Coaxolotl. This prince was not so fortunate as Montezuma, for many
of the districts he conquered, revolted, and the Tlatelolcos became
again the enemies of the Mexicans. In 1469 and 1470, the kings
of Acolhuacan and Tacuba died, and thus the league was weakened.
The Tlatelolcos now declared war, and the king Moquihuix, who had
married a sister of Axayacatl, treated her so ill that she informed
her brother of the enterprise, by which means he totally defeated
the Tlatelolcos, penetrating, in the commencement of the action,
into the market place, where he tore out the heart of Moquihuix,
who had been taken prisoner; he then united the city to Mexico,
which it has ever since made a part of.
Axayacatl then engaged in war with some other states and
was wounded, however, he gained a complete victory over the
Matlatzincas, and continued to extend his dominions till his death
in 1477. He was succeeded by his brother Tizoc, after reigning
thirteen years. Tizoc conquered fourteen cities, and after having
collected materials to build a larger temple than any of his
ancestors, was poisoned by his subjects. This prince married one of
his grand-daughters to the king of the Acolhuacans, who also fell
in love with her sister Xocotzin, and married her, by whom he had
a son named Cacamatzin, who succeeded his father, and was taken
prisoner afterwards by the Spaniards.
Ahuitzotl, the brother of Tizoc, succeeded him in 1482, after he
had reigned five years. His first care was to finish the temple
begun by Tizoc, which he completed in four years. This king was
engaged in several wars, and the human sacrifices he caused to be
made at the dedication of the new temple, were so enormous, that
they are said to have amounted to upwards of 70,000. Another temple
was also dedicated in his reign, at which many unfortunate victims
were immolated.
The dedication of these temples took place in 1486 and in 1487,
when there was a terrible shock of an earthquake felt at Mexico.
This monarchʼs life was spent in war, he extended his dominions as
far as Guatimala, 900 miles from his capital. The Mexicans were
however defeated in 1476, by the Atlixcans, under the command of a
chief of the Huexotzincas.
Ahuitzotl caused a channel or aqueduct to be made from a fountain
into the lake, by which the waters were so much increased, that an
inundation, followed by a famine, took place.
He died in 1502, after a reign of twenty years. At the period of
his death, Mexico was precisely in the same state, with regard
to territorial acquisitions, as when the Spaniards arrived. He
embellished Mexico by building with a stone which he discovered
a quarry of in the neighbourhood, and his death was caused by a
contusion on the head, which he received in rushing out of his
palace, when the waters of the lake rose, by striking his head
against the upper part of the door.
The next sovereign was Montezuma, the second of that name, and the
ninth in order; he was called Montezuma Xocotzin, or the younger;
who was a priest, and a man of great bravery; and on his election
the people particularly valued themselves.
Montezumaʼs attention was first directed to war, in order to
procure victims to be offered to the deities at his coronation, and
the unfortunate Atlixcans were the sufferers, who, however, slew
numbers of the Mexicans before they were subdued.
The pomp of Montezumaʼs coronation exceeded that of any preceding
emperor, and the people saw with regret, symptoms of a tyrannical
and haughty disposition show themselves after this ceremony, which
they had before not suspected.
Montezuma changed many of the rules adopted by his predecessors,
and particularly favoured his nobles, at the expence of the other
classes. His household were entirely composed of people of rank,
and he kept a number of women confined in the palace, choosing
those for himself and favourites, which he thought the most
beautiful; 600 neighbouring chieftains came to congratulate him,
and appeared themselves to be in the utmost dread of his vengeance.
His attendants cast off their shoes on entering the palace, and he
permitted none of them to be sumptuously dressed. On entering the
audience hall, they made three obeisances, at each of which they
addressed him with a higher title. He was carried in a litter on
the shoulders of his nobles, covered with a canopy, and carpets
were spread along the streets in which he walked; the kitchen
utensils of the finest earthenware, his tablecloths and napkins
were never used more than once. His chocolate was prepared in
golden vessels, and his state dinners were carried by three or
four hundred young nobles, who respectfully retired when they set
the dishes down, each dish standing on a chafing dish, and the
whole consisting of every variety of the game, fish, fruits and
herbs of the country. He pointed out those which he preferred,
and the rest were taken into the anti-chamber to the attendant
nobility. Four women stood by him the whole time with ewers, and he
was surrounded by his counsellors and carvers.
He bathed every day, and changed his dress four times, never
putting on the same dress again, they being reserved for his
nobles and chief warriors. One whole city he appointed as a place
of residence at his expence, for those who were worn out in his
service. All his palaces and gardens were very magnificent, and
he had palaces in Mexico, appropriated to the kings and foreign
nobles, whenever they should choose to reside there; with royal
menageries; an aviary that occupied the attention of 300 men and
physicians; five hundred turkeys were killed every day for the
birds of prey, and the beasts were fed on deer, rabbits, and the
entrails of human sacrifices.
This Prince had many parks for hunting; he was the patron of the
arts, and had many good qualities; but was bigoted in the extreme;
so much so, that he afterwards lost his life and empire by his
belief in vain predictions. Montezuma was not so fortunate as his
predecessors had been, he indeed conquered a province which had not
before been reduced; but in his wars with the Tlascalans, he was
unsuccessful. This small republic contained a brave and independent
people, and though comparatively in small numbers to the Mexicans,
they resisted all their attacks; the Tlascalans fortified their
territories, and built a wall six miles in length on the frontier
they suspected would be attacked, and they repulsed the Mexicans
and their allies in every attempt they made to subdue them.
The resistance of these people to the power of Montezuma created
several other rebellions which lasted during the remainder of
his reign. In the year 1508, an expedition had been sent against
Amatla, a distant region, and the Mexican army, in marching over
a mountain, encountered a furious snow storm, in which great
numbers perished, and on arriving at Amatla, the remainder were
almost all slain. A comet appearing at this time, and the empire
suffering under rebellion and other calamities, Montezuma, ever
superstitious, was thrown into great alarm; the king of Acolhuacan,
Nezahualpilli, who was accounted a learned soothsayer, presaged,
that the comet portended a calamity that was about to befal the
nation, by the arrival of some strangers. This he was unwilling to
believe, and an astrologer, who verified the predictions of his
brother king, was slain in his house, which was razed to the ground.
There are many other things related of the foreknowledge the
Mexicans had of the arrival of the Spaniards, these may be traced
to two sources; the Spanish priests, who have invented most of them
since, and to the following; the Spaniards at that time had become
very formidable in the West India Islands; settlements had even
been attempted on the southern continent, and their uncommon arms
and appearance must have been the universal topic of conversation
among the natives where they came; many of the savages on the
islands had escaped, and it is hardly possible to think, that from
the year 1492, when Columbus discovered the American islands, to
1508, the period we are now speaking of, that such a people as the
Mexicans would not have heard of these formidable neighbours, and
that they would not have formed some idea that it might soon be
their turn to be attacked. They, however, went on for some years
in the usual manner, and although always dreading the arrival of
the unknown people, they continued their internal wars and human
sacrifices. The stone, or altar, on which these unfortunate victims
had been laid, was found too small, and the emperor ordered one of
enormous dimensions to replace it; this was dragged by a multitude
of people towards the temple, and in going over a bridge, broke the
structure and precipitated the high priest and his attendants into
the lake. It was, however, got out by immense labour, and, it is
said, upwards of 12,000 victims were sacrificed on it.
This was the period when Mexican splendour was at its height, and
Montezuma on the pinnacle of his glory. The Spaniards having well
settled themselves in the great islands of Cuba and Hispaniola,
turned their attention to explore the continent towards the
west. Vasco Nuñez de Balboa first landed on the coast, and from
the mountains descried the Pacific; this was, however, near the
Isthmus, in the year 1513.
Juan de Grijalva was appointed to command a small expedition for
discovery; having four ships and 240 men, he first landed on the
island of Cozumel, east of Yucatan, on the 3d of May, 1518, and
returned to Cuba without making any attempt to reduce the country,
which he called New Spain. Velasquez, the governor, by the accounts
he gave, entrusted Cortez with a commission to explore and conquer
the newly discovered regions; the manner in which this was effected
has been related under the head of New Spain, as well as the cause
of the death of Montezuma.
The Mexican empire extended, at this time, 500 leagues from east
to west, and 200 from north to south. On the death of Montezuma,
his brother Quetlavaca, or Cuitlahuitzin, succeeded him after
he had reigned nearly eighteen years; which event happened in
June 1520. Quetlavaca gave promise of being an excellent king;
he prepared his capital to receive the Spaniards, when he heard
they were returning from their last retreat, and caused it to
be supplied with stores, and made spears headed with the daggers
and swords taken from the Europeans who had fallen, to annoy the
Spanish cavalry. He died of the small-pox before he could bring his
projects to bear, in July 1520, and was succeeded by his nephew
and son-in-law, Guatimozin, who had the misfortune to observe his
people, dividing themselves from each other, and instead of aiding
him to extirpate the Spaniards, many of them were assisting them to
the utmost of their power. He was a man of undaunted courage and
great capacity, and defended his city with great resolution; but
being at last nearly starved; want, wretchedness, and disease, with
the daily advance of the Spaniards and their auxiliaries, induced
him to effect his escape, which he sought to do with his family
in a canoe, accompanied by many of his faithful subjects; whilst
those whom he had left to guard the remnant of his once flourishing
capital endeavoured to deceive the Spaniards, in order to favour
it. The canoes being large and rowing very swiftly, with other
suspicious appearances, attracted the attention of the Spanish
vessel, and a brigantine commanded by Garcia Holguin, was ordered
to chase by Sandoval, one of Cortezʼs best officers. On coming up
with the canoes the rowers dropped their oars, and the people with
lamentations, begged the Spaniards not to fire, as the emperor was
there. Garcia eagerly seized such a prize, and the emperor in an
undaunted manner gave himself up, earnestly requesting them not
to injure his wife and children. Appearing before Cortez, he, in
a manly and majestic tone, addressed him, saying, “I have done
my duty as a king, sheath your dagger in my body; my life is now
useless to myself and my subjects.”
He had, previously, ordered his treasures to be thrown into the
lake; and the allies of Cortez, had, during the general bustle,
carried off the most valuable of what remained; this exasperated
the Spaniards, and the rebellious spirit of his soldiers urged
Cortez to a deed which has for ever stained his memory; he directed
that Guatimozin and his prime minister should be put to the
torture, to make them reveal where the treasure had been deposited.
The emperorʼs favourite or minister, overcome with pain, for they
varied the torture in every possible manner, putting them on heated
grates with live coals, &c. threw a glance of supplication to
Guatimozin, as if he requested leave to explain. The emperor looked
at him sternly, and saying, “am I reposing on a bed of roses,”
checked all further solicitation. The unfortunate minister, worn
out with agony, shortly after breathed his last. Cortez, who was
present, ordered the torture to cease, and released the emperor,
but only for further indignities; he made him swear allegiance to
the crown of Spain, and afterwards, pretending he had planned a
revolt, ordered him to be strangled. Thus died Guatimozin, who had
reigned about nine months, and finished his imperial career on the
15th of August 1521, the day on which the city was taken.
Here ended the race of Mexican emperors, after a period of 197
years, and 300 years from the emigration of the colony to Mexico.
The memory of the events which happened in Mexican history was
retained by means of paintings on cloth of a coarse and awkward
appearance, and by historical songs which were handed from
generation to generation; we shall not, however, enter into those
discussions which have taken place with respect to the probability
of many of the circumstances; it is sufficent to say, that they
were generally believed by the natives themselves. The Mexicans
were assuredly an extraordinary people, and were acquainted with
many arts unknown to more civilised nations; they cast metals,
made pictures in feather work, dyed their cloths with beautiful
and permanent colours, fabricated mirrors of a stone called itzli,
as well as razors of the same substance, cut and polished gems,
made a strong and lasting cement for their architectural purposes,
cultivated their land, and knew the uses of the cochineal insect,
which they bred; manufactured cotton cloth and hewed wood into
beams, &c. with instruments of copper. Their potters were adroit,
and manufactured beautiful articles; above all, they knew the
difference between the solar and civil year, and added 13 days to
their cycles, or era of 52 years, as intercalary days. They divided
their year into 18 months, and gave these months appropriate names
from the seasons, agricultural employments, &c. In their pictures,
a month was represented by a circle divided into twenty parts or
days; for a year, they divided a circle into eighteen parts or
figures, and placed the moon in the centre. The era or century of
fifty-two years, was similarly represented, and round the circle a
serpent was drawn with four folds, to denote the commencement of
the four periods of thirteen years each.
Cacao nuts were the monies of the people of Anahuac; and, for large
purchases, were made up in bags, each bag passing for a certain
sum. (In Mexico, the poor people still make use of these nuts,
to purchase articles at market.) Very few remains of the Mexican
structures exist; but Cortez asserted, that the great temple of
Mexitli, occupied a space, in which five hundred houses might have
stood. It appears, that the habitations of the Mexicans were rudely
constructed, and ill contrived. The ancient city stood nearly where
the present stands; though the waters of the lake have receded,
owing to a drain having been formerly cut, to carry off some
superabundant water. Its scite was on some islands on the west side
of Lake Tezcuco, north of its junction with Lake Chalco, accessible
on the west side only, by three large causeways, thirty feet broad,
of earth and stone; the lake covering the other sides. It is
asserted, that the circumference of the city was ten miles, and
that it contained 60,000 houses. It was divided into four quarters,
which had four broad roads leading from the four gates of the great
temple; a fifth quarter was added, when the city of Tlatelolco was
taken, and the city was intersected by canals in every direction.
It contained many temples and palaces, the better kind of which
had parapets and balconies; and many had even towers for defence.
The largest square was that of Tlatelolco, where the great market
was held, large enough to contain 40,000 people; and the city had
fountains and reservoirs for fish, with beautiful gardens and
terraces. The population was immense, but no just account has been
given of it.
The Mexicans were a sanguinary people. The human beings they
sacrificed on the altars of their gods were innumerable; they
laid the body on the altar, cut the breast open, and took out
the panting heart to satisfy their chief deity. The priests
practised all sorts of austerities; puncturing their bodies with
the spines of aloes, and mangling their flesh; after which they
bathed in a sacred pond, which was tinged with the blood of these
self-tormentors.
The dress of the Mexicans consisted, in the higher ranks, of
fine cotton, dyed in fanciful colours, interwoven with hair and
feathers, and painted with curious figures; they wore two or three
mantles, one above another, the longest undermost, so that each
might be visible. Their shoes were mere sandals of leather, or
coarse fibrous cloth, tied with ribbands; the rich people adorning
them with precious stones, &c. Their hair was worn long; the women
allowed it to fall naturally in tresses; the men tied it up, and
adorned it with feathers and jewels. They wore ear-rings, pendants
from the upper lip, as well as the nose; necklaces, bracelets on
the wrists and arms, and round their legs. Those of the rich
were of gold, pearls and gems; the poorer sort wore crystal,
amber and shells, and their habits were made of the thread of the
mountain-palm or coarse cotton. They used the pulp of a fruit, and
a root, for soap, to wash their cotton garments.
Having traced the Mexican people, from the earliest known period of
their history, to the conquest by Cortez, it is now time to recur
to the actual situation of the country.
The climate of Mexico Proper varies according to the situation
of the districts; its sea coast is hot and unhealthy, the plains
are temperate and salubrious, and the high land cold and barren.
Earthquakes and dreadful thunder storms are common. This province
abounds in mountains; their principal summits have been described
under the general head of New Spain; four of them are within a
short distance of the capital; these mountains abound in ores and
fossils, and are in general covered with thick forests, and, in
their upper regions, with snow. Some large rivers run from them
into the two oceans. They occasionally furnish precious stones and
marbles for sculpture, as well as different kinds of stone for
building. Mexico is cultivated with the lemon, orange, citron,
cocoa, and plantain trees, vanilla, chili, or long-pepper, achiote,
cotton, indigo, pimento, wheat, maize, barley, rice, pease, beans,
and all sorts of European vegetables and fruits; also the plants
useful in forming drugs, resins, gums, oils, as well as for
their fruit, flowers, and roots, which are indigenous, have been
enumerated as exceeding one thousand.
The trees which afford timber in this province, are of every
variety. Tigers, wild cats, or loupcerviers, wolves, bears, foxes,
deer, goats, badgers, weazels, polecats, martins, squirrels,
rabbits, otters, and rats, are common in the forests, and usual
haunts of the respective species. The cojotl, the tlacojotl,
and three other species similar to dogs; the wild cat, called
ocotochtli; the cajopollin, resembling a mouse; the tozan, a
similar animal; the porcupine and ahuitzotl, an amphibious
creature; the mitzli, a sort of lion, without long hair; the
polutaca, a flying rat; the Mexican hog, the opossum, the
armadillo, the tapir, racoons, monkeys, and apes, are amongst the
most noted animals of Mexico, and the adjacent regions.
The birds of Mexico are numerous, and celebrated for the variety
and splendour of their plumage. Eagles, falcons, hawks, ravens of
two or three different kinds, of which one never touches carrion,
but subsists on corn; and another which follows the alligator, and
destroys her eggs; ducks, geese, swans, herons, quails, divers,
king-fishers, pelicans, pheasants, pea-hens, the mocking bird,
cardinals, humming bird, &c. &c. It would occupy a volume to
describe their peculiarities as well as their number. Mexico has
indeed been called the country of birds, celebrated for their song,
their beauty, and for their feathers, of which the Mexican pictures
were executed, and which had all the softness and brilliancy of oil
colours, and were so skilfully done, as to be distinguished only by
the touch; they having had the art of flattening them, in such a
manner, as to give them an appearance of the finest painting.
The reptiles are numerous; the cayman, or alligator, being nearly
as formidable in appearance as the Egyptian crocodile. The
serpents in the forests and marshes attain an enormous size, but
are rarely found in the inhabited districts. The lizard tribe,
from the cayman down to the water lizard, are very numerous. The
rattle snake, cenocoatl, or phosphorescent snake, are the most
venomous; and there are many harmless snakes, who devour the ants
and other insects. Edible frogs, of three species, which attain a
great size, are found in Lake Chalco and are eaten at Mexico. The
rivers and lakes abound with fish, as do the seas which bound the
province. Turtles are a principal article of food; lobsters, and
other crustaceous animals also abound; and upwards of one hundred
kinds of nutritious fish, have been enumerated as used by the
inhabitants. Sharks of great voracity are found on the coasts; and
the almost tepid water of the Mexican gulf, seems highly natural
for the production of the large aquatic animals. Beautiful shells
are collected on the shores, and sponges and lithophytes are
produced in great variety. The insect tribe, terrestrial, aquatic,
and atmospherical, are more numerous than can be conceived; of
these, the scolopendras, ants, scorpions, spiders of great size,
are all dreadful and venomous; hornets, wasps, bees, &c. common,
and the fire-fly and lanthorn beetle, are singular and innumerable;
indeed, the whole continent of America seems to be amply furnished
with luminous insects, which are not to be found in Europe. A large
fly, which is produced near the Mexican lake, lays innumerable eggs
on the flags which border the shores; these eggs are collected by
the natives, and made into a sort of paste for sale in the market,
where it is eagerly purchased for food, and is said to resemble
caviare.
Mosquitoes and venomous gnats occupy the air in clouds, and are
extremely tormenting, sometimes causing inflammatory appearances
on the bitten parts, which become dangerous. The capital, though
on a lake, is however free from these pests, probably owing to
the circumambient atmosphere being charged with smoke; the smoke
or vapour of wood fires being destructive to these insects. Thus
many towns in North America are free from mosquitoes, whilst, if
you step across their boundaries, these insects immediately assail
you, and it is remarkable, that they are more troublesome to
strangers than to the natives. Butterflies of every beautiful and
elegant variety are natives of the Mexican forests and fields, and
form rich articles in the collections of the virtuosi. A species
of locust sometimes destroys the rising vegetables, and great
distress is felt from their ravages. A species of the tique or tick
is as troublesome as the chigoe, or jigger of the West Indies.
Many of the insect tribe, after being reduced to powder, and made
into paste, are eaten by the natives, as they were also before the
conquest.
The silk-worms of Mexico are in a state of nature; but produce a
beautiful and strong cocoon. The cochineal insect forms one of the
principal articles of Mexican commerce; and great pains are taken
in rearing it.
The mineral productions, are gold, silver, copper, tin, the mines
of which are near the capital; lead, iron, quicksilver, sulphur,
alum, vitriol, cinnabar, ochre, and a sort of earth, resembling
white lead. Asphaltum and amber are found on the coasts.
Among the precious stones and gems of Mexico, are a few diamonds,
topazes, emeralds, amethysts, the stone called cats-eye,
turquoises, cornelians, &c. Chrystal is also found in the
mountains. Jasper, and various marbles, alabaster in particular,
and a red stone, called tetzontli, which is porous and light, yet
firm, is much used in the capital, where the foundations being
marshy, they wish not, in many spots, to overload the piles on
which they are erected. The loadstone is found to the north-west
of the province; mica is common, and a fine sort was, after being
burnt and powdered, used by the Mexicans in their paintings. The
itzli stone is the most curious of the productions of the Mexican
quarries; it has a glossy appearance, is semi-transparent, and
generally of a black colour, though sometimes varying to dark blue
and dirty white; it has been assimilated to the obsidian of the
ancients, and declared to be the obsidian, or volcanic glass of
modern mineralogy. The Mexican artists fabricated it into mirrors,
razors, spearheads, knives, lancets, and all sorts of fine tools.
The natives, that is to say, the aborigines or Indians, are well
made, above the middle size, with complexions of an olive colour,
narrow foreheads, black eyes, firm, regular, and fine teeth,
coarse, black shining hair, with very little beard or hair on the
trunk, or legs and arms; and it is remarked, that few deformed
people are seen amongst them.
The women are fairer than the men, and many of them handsome. These
people have generally good health, and are long-lived. Ardent
spirits, together with European disorders, have considerably
thinned their numbers, and they have much degenerated; the modern
Mexican possessing little of the fire and warlike spirit which
characterized his ancestors, neither are they so industrious
as their forefathers, being of a melancholic temperament, and
affecting mystery in all their actions. They are mostly of the
Catholic persuasion; their progenitors had an imperfect notion of
the Supreme Being, and adored him under the appellation of TEOTL;
they likewise called him Ipalnemoani, “He by whom we live,” and
Tloque Nahuaque, “He who has all in himself.” Of the Creator, they
formed no image, and to him no set forms of religious worship were
made; they principally directed their prayers to Tlatecolototl,
or the wise owl, an evil spirit; they also believed in the
metemsychosis, and imagined, that the souls of their heroes went,
after death, to the mansions of the Sun; and, after living there
four years in happiness, returned under the form of beautiful
birds. The souls of their slaves and meaner people, passed into
the bodies of animals, in the more abject scale of creation; but
souls of those who died by disease, by water, by lightning, and
other accidental causes, went with the souls of little children
to an Elysium; and those who died by punishment for crimes, &c.,
to a kind of Tartarus, which they called Mictlan, or the abode of
utter darkness. It is said, that their historical pictures related
the events of the creation, deluge, confusion of languages, and
consequent dispersion of the people; and that this is one proof of
the Americans being of the same origin as their brethren of the Old
World.
They had thirteen chief deities. The creator; Tezcatlipoca, ever
young, and supreme agent under the Invisible Being; the Sun, the
Moon, the god of the air; Tlaloc, the god of water, of harvests,
and of the household; the god of fire, Centeotl; the goddess of
the earth; the god and goddess of hell; the god of night, and
Mexitli, the god of war; and the rational owl, or evil god, who
was worshipped to avert his wrath. Besides these, they had many
inferior deities, who presided over the hunters, fishers, &c. They
had also 260 gods, who had each a day of service assigned them;
these were probably their heroes.
They were adored under the form of images of clay, wood, stone,
gold, silver, or copper, and gems. In their prayers, their
faces were turned to the east; and the avenue to the sanctuary,
where the image was placed, had its opening to the west. It is
said, the temples in Mexico amounted to 2000, and that the idol
Huitzilopochtli, or Mexitli, was the most adored; having more
sacrifices offered at his altar; and that this image was formed of
seeds glued together with human blood. The two high priests, in
fact, governed the nation; they were consulted on all occasions,
and wore a distinctive habit. They ruled the inferior priests,
whose dress consisted of a black mantle, thrown over the head;
their hair reaching down to their legs, as they never were shaved.
They gave the names to new born children with many ceremonies, and
assisted at all nuptials. They also presided on these occasions,
and at the funeral ceremonies, placing by the side of the deceased,
if he was buried, a jug of water, and pieces of their paper, with
gems, and one of the deceasedʼs domestic animals. The bodies of the
dead were however generally burnt, and the ashes collected in a
pot, which, in the case of people of high rank, were deposited in
the temples. The priests had likewise the care of instructing the
children, and preceded their armies in war.
The language of the Mexicans bears some similarity to that of the
Peruvians; it is expressive and copious; and the great feature
of it before the conquest was, that an addition of respect,
according to the rank of the person addressed, might be added to
each word; the words are many of them of immense length, as in the
more northern dialects of the American Indians. It has not the
consonants _b_, _d_, _f_, _g_, _r_, _s_;--_l_, _x_, _t_, _z_, _tl_,
_tz_, are the most usual; but no word begins with _l_, though it is
the most common liquid of the language. The penultimate syllable of
most of the words is long, yet no nasal sound occurs in speaking
it; the aspirations are soft; it is also abundant in augmentatives
and diminutives; and is as well supplied with verbs as with nouns.
The colleges and university of Mexico admit the natives as freely
as the Spaniards and their descendants, and are said to be well
conducted, and to find considerable genius for the fine arts, and
for some of the higher branches of science manifested in the pupils.
The capital of this province or intendancy, and of the whole of New
Spain, has been already described under the head of New Spain; and
the province of Mexico is 136 leagues in length, and ninety-two
leagues broad; its population has been laid down at 1,511,800
souls; which at once shows its importance.
The great features of this province are the immense plains on the
ridge of the Cordillera, elevated from 6561 to 8857 feet above the
level of the sea, and forming bases for still higher mountains,
whose hoary heads repose on their bosom. These plains are from
fifty leagues in length, to ten in breadth.
The mountain of Toluca, the highest summit of the intendancy, is
covered with snow, whence it is called Nevado de Toluca; the word
_nevado_ signifying a mountain which rises above the lowest term
of congelation. The highest peak of this volcano is 15,156 feet
in height, the plain on which it rests being itself 8857 feet
above the level of the sea. The mountains surrounding the vale
in which Mexico is situated, are all very high, but reach the
greatest elevation on the south, where the intendancy of Puebla
begins, in which are two great volcanoes close to the boundaries of
Mexico. The Iztaccihuatl and Popocatepetl roads of communication
cross the crest of the Cordillera, enclosing the valley in six
directions; one road passes between the last named volcanoes, and
consequently, through very sublime scenery, another road, which is
not yet finished, leads from Mexico to Vera Cruz, and promises to
give great energy to the commerce of the interior countries. Some
idea may be formed of the labour and art employed in opening these
extraordinary communications, when we find that some of them are
carried over summits elevated near 10,000 feet above the sea, at a
greater altitude than the lower limit of perpetual snow in central
Europe, and at nearly the height of Mont Perdu, the highest peak of
the Pyrennean chain.
On the plate of comparative heights of the American Cordilleras
which accompanies this work, a glance will suffice to point out
these stupendous undertakings.
The lakes of Mexico are fed by small rivers, which rise in the
surrounding mountains.
The Lake Tezcuco has retired since the period of the conquest,
nearly three miles from the city of Mexico, and the city at
present, instead of being enveloped by waters, stands solely on the
margin of the strait or channel which connects the lakes with each
other. Lake Tezcuco, the sheet of water nearest to the city, is
saturated with salts, and hence was called by Cortez, who supposed
that it ebbed and flowed, the sea of Anahuac; it is 7468 feet above
the ocean, and is only from ten to sixteen feet in depth. In the
dry seasons it is so drained by evaporation, that the canoes find
great difficulty in navigating it; there is also another cause,
which operates to decrease this celebrated lake; a cut has been
made through the mountains to throw off the superabundant waters of
the two upper lakes of Zumpango and San Christoval, which prevents
those lakes from nourishing Tezcuco. Lake Tezcuco, covers a space
equal to ten square leagues. A strait or channel connects Tezcuco
with the lakes of Xochimilco and Chalco to the south of the city,
which are not so broad as Tezcuco, but are more interesting;
in Chalco there are several islands of large size, famous for
the retreat of the ancient Aztecs. These lakes are of fresh
water, and occupy a space of six and a half square leagues; the
first-named is the most pure; on their surfaces are the celebrated
floating gardens of the Mexicans, which supply the capital with
fruits and vegetables. They are formed on rafts of reeds and
brush-wood covered with soil, which is constantly watered from the
surrounding lake, and the earth, which is strongly impregnated
with muriate of soda, becomes by this continual washing, at last
very free from salt and fit for vegetation. They are moved from
one place to another by men with poles, and some of them contain
watch-huts; where the proprietor or his deputy resides to overlook
the gardens; pease, beans, chilis, potatoes, artichokes, cabbage,
&c. pimento and flowers of all sorts luxuriate on these moving
gardens, and afford both pleasure and profit to the inhabitants
of the metropolis; many of them have become fixed on the borders
of the lake, on account of the general decrease of the waters.
The remaining great lakes to the north, are San Christoval and
Zumpango; the former has an expanse of three and a half square
leagues; the latter of one and a quarter.
There are two mineral springs near Mexico, at which baths have been
constructed, and near one of them the earth is so impregnated with
salts, that regular salt pans are established for the supply of the
capital.
One of the most extraordinary works in the neighbourhood of the
capital executed by the Spaniards, is the cut or canal above
mentioned, which has been made to carry off the superabundant
waters of lake Zumpango. It is carried through a mountain, and
cost the labour of fifteen thousand Indians for nearly a year;
its length is 21,653 feet, in breadth more than eleven feet, and
in depth more than thirteen; it was completed in 1608. Beyond the
mountain, this canal is carried on above 28,000 feet to the river
Tula, which runs into the gulf of Mexico near Panuco. This canal
was undertaken in consequence of the many and dreadful inundations
the city had suffered, and it appears, that it may still be visited
by this calamity, by the southern lakes being overflowed from the
high mountains in their neighborhood. This wonderful gallery was
however inefficient; for want of proper arching the earth fell in
and closed the passage, and Mexico was inundated for the space
of five years. After much discussion and trials of various other
means, the subterraneous cut was entirely uncovered, and formed
into an open trench; in many parts, upwards of 160 feet deep, and
300 in breadth at top, the old canal serving as the course for the
water, and it yet does not answer the purpose, the slope of the
banks not being sufficient, and the soil so friable that it is
constantly falling. This work was put a stop to in 1789; and cost
above one million forty thousand pounds sterling, and is 67,535
feet in length. In digging, fossil bones of the elephant species
were discovered.
Many unfortunate Indians perished in this undertaking, which
displays an astonishing effect of human industry, but very little
science. Canals have since been executed at enormous expence, to
conduct the water from the lake Zumpango and St. Christoval to
the cut; these, with the repairs, and the great cut itself, cost
up to the year 1804, as computed by M. De Humboldt, the sum of
1,291,770_l._
It appears, that a new canal is about to be commenced from Lake
Tezcuco to the cut just described, which is also to be in part
deepened, the waters of Tezcuco being lower than those of Zumpango.
In the vale of Mexico north-east of Lake Tezcuco, are two pyramidal
shaped masses, called the temples of San Juan de Teotihuacan, which
the Mexicans had built for the worship of the sun and moon. The
temple of the sun is 180 feet in height, with a base of 682 feet;
the temple of the moon is not so high or so large, their sides
nearly correspond to the cardinal points, and around them are lines
of smaller pyramids of about thirty feet in height, which branch
off in streets from the faces of the pyramids, and were supposed to
be dedicated to the stars; of these there are many hundreds. Time
has eradicated the exact forms of them all, but though covered with
plants, they are still very apparent. To the south of the Nevado
de Toluca is another curious monument called Xochicalco, also a
pyramid, with its sides to the cardinal points; it is above 500
feet in height, and divided into five stages covered with stone,
the whole being surrounded by ditches; on the top are the ruins
of a square building, and the stones of the several platforms are
covered with figures; it is supposed to have been an Aztec fortress.
The great causeways which led to the ancient Mexico, are now
converted into paved roads, but still exhibit all the traces of
their wonderful construction.
An extended description of the capital of the intendancy having
been given, we shall now briefly describe the most noted towns
of the province. Of these, _Queretaro_, _Tacubaya_, _Cuernavaca_,
_Tascho_, _Acapulco_, _Toluca_, _Zacatula_, and _Pachuca_, are of
the greatest note; there are also four mines of much consequence,
of which, those of El Doctor and Zimapan, are the most productive.
_Queretaro_, in 20° 36ʹ 39ʺ north latitude, 100° 9ʹ 15ʺ west
longitude, near the east boundary of Guanaxuato, is celebrated for
its manufactures of cloth, its superb aqueduct, and the elegance of
the buildings; it is situated at the height of 6374 feet above the
level of the sea, and contains 35,000 people, of whom 11,600 are
Indians; south of this city is a handsome town, called _San Juan
del Rio_, surrounded with beautiful vineyards and gardens.
_Tacubaya_, celebrated for its olive grounds and the archbishopʼs
palace.
_Cuernavaca_ is in a delightful climate, on the southern edge of
the Cordillera.
_Tasco or Tascho_, has a fine church founded by _Laborde_, a
Frenchman, which cost him more than 83,000_l._; he had gained
enormous riches by the mines, but was afterwards reduced to poverty.
_Acapulco_, in 101° 40ʹ 45ʺ west longitude from Greenwich, and
16° 50ʹ 29ʺ north latitude, formerly the most famous sea-port of
America, when the galleons came from Manilla with spices, muslin,
china, silk, and other Asiatic productions, in return for cocoa,
quicksilver, and silver; this trade still subsists, but in a
different manner. It was formerly very populous, but is in so
unhealthy a situation behind a chain of mountains, which reflect
the heat to so great a degree, that the inhabitants made a cut
through them to admit the sea breeze. Its population is only four
thousand, which is increased on the arrival of the Asian vessels,
by people from the interior employed in the trade.
_Toluca_, at the base of a great mountain, in a fertile valley,
producing abundance of maize and the agave, called also by the
native name of maguey. This town, though at the foot of a mountain,
is elevated 8813 feet above the level of the sea.
_Zacatula_, the most northern sea port of any consequence in the
intendancy of Mexico, on the shores of the Pacific, is situated on
the borders of the river Zacatula.
_Pachuca_ is one of the most ancient mines of New Spain, and the
village dependent on this town called Pachuquillo, is said to be
the first Spanish village that was built in the vale of Anahuac.
The height of Pachuca is 8141 feet above the sea.
The rivers of this province are the Rio Tula, which rises near
the lakes, and receives several small rivers from the mountains,
as well as the superabundant waters of the upper lake; and after
a course through the whole north-eastern part of the province,
crosses the intendancy of Vera Cruz, and falls into the river
Panuco, or Tampico, near the town of Panuco, close to the Mexican
gulf.
The great river Santiago also rises in this province, in the Nevado
of Toluca, and is called Rio de Lerma, for a considerable length;
it has already been described.
The next and last great river of consequence is the Rio Zacatula,
which rises in the Cordillera of Anahuac, and discharges itself
into the Pacific, at the town of Zacatula, on the confines of the
province of Valladolid.
_THE INTENDANCY OF VALLADOLID OR MECHOACAN_
Is bounded on the north by the river Lerma, or Santiago, and
Guanaxuato, east by Mexico, west by Guadalaxara and the Pacific
Ocean, and south by Mexico; its length is 78 leagues, its breadth
38.
This country enjoys a salubrious climate, owing to its situation
along the western side of the great Cordillera of Mexico; on the
coast of the Pacific the air is not so good, and the climate in
some parts unhealthy.
Travellers speak with much delight of this province; it presents
some charming scenery, and in the valleys surrounded by mountains,
it has all the variety of hill, dale, water and forest.
The land in some districts is very high, but no part if the country
offers so singular a feature, as the volcanic mountain of Jorullo,
which rose from the plains in one night The highest point of
Valladolid is the Pico de Tancitaro, and a little to the east of
it, is the volcanic production above-mentioned; which, in the midst
of the darkness of the night on the 29th of September, 1759, rose
from the bosom of the plain.
Previous to this wonderful event, the ground consisted of part
of an immensely extended plain between some ranges of mountains.
This plain was covered with cultivation, and elevated from 2460 to
2624 feet above the level of the ocean. The sugar cane and indigo
were thriving, and the inhabitants of the district, or plantation,
which was reckoned as the richest of the kingdom, looked forward
with delight to the prospect of the fruits they were to derive from
their labour. A confused noise under the surface of the plantation
was distinctly heard in June, 1759; to which succeeding alarming
earthquakes for a month, the inhabitants fled from the devastation
they imagined was about to overwhelm them; but these convulsions
ceasing for a time, they thought that the effect was at an end,
and returned to their beloved spot. For nearly the whole month of
September nothing extraordinary appeared, when on the night of
the 28th and near the morning of the 29th, the dreadful rumbling
noise again began beneath the plain. The affrighted natives fled to
the mountains, and forsook their homes; an immense tract suddenly
rose and swelled itself into an enormous convex hill 524 feet in
perpendicular height above the plain. This phenomenon continued
to vomit fire to an amazing extent; rocks of enormous magnitude
were cast up, and two rivers were swallowed into the bosom of the
burning entrails of the newly formed hill; the land of the plain
was also seen to undulate like the waves of the ocean.
Thousands of small conical mounds, enveloped in basaltes, started
up, and studded the hill with their knobs, each of these is a
little volcano, occasionally vomiting smoke; amidst them, six large
hills, elevated themselves above the main body, from 312 to 1640
feet in height, above the mass of cones.
The highest of these is called Volcano de Xorullo, and is 1695 feet
above the level of the old plains; it spouted forth fire, rocks,
ashes, &c. and continued to terrify the people till February, 1760.
The roofs of houses 48 leagues distance were covered with ashes
during this time; since then the mountain has been less furious,
and the natives have returned to reside in its vicinity. M. De
Humboldt went down into the crater of Xorullo in 1803, and examined
the inside minutely; a sulphureous vapour issued from it, and the
air was at 139° of Fahrenheit. He mentions that the hill begins to
be covered with plants as well as the tumuli about it. The country
filled with these volcanillos or brood of little volcanoes is not
unaptly styled Malpays; and the air is so warm that in the shade
the thermometer stood at 109°. The Indians inhabit this country
even amidst these ovens! The two rivers which were swallowed, it is
said, may be heard running underneath the ground, and issue from it
in the form of heated mineral springs.
The above cited author, in concluding his account of Xorullo,
remarks what is in reality a most singular circumstance. The
volcanic mountains of central New Spain do not follow the direction
of the great Cordillera, which is from the south-east to the
north-west, but cross this chain perpendicularly, beginning on the
east or Mexican gulf-shore by the great Pico de Orizaba; thence
west to the Pacific, the two volcanoes of the Intendancy of La
Puebla, the Nevado de Toluca, the Pico de Tancitaro, the volcano
of Colima and the new volcano of Xorullo, all lying in a line east
and west between 18° 59ʹ and 19° 12ʹ of north latitude. The Pico de
Tancitaro is covered with snow, but accurate measurement has been
made of it.
The population of Valladolid is 376,400 souls. In it there are
three cities, three towns and 263 villages. The Indians or natives
exceed 120,000, and are of three tribes, the Otomies, Chichimecs
and the Tarascs, inhabiting the whole of the southern part of the
province; the Chichimecs retain the ancient Mexican language, and
the Otomies their former savageness.
The bishop of Valladolid governs the ecclesiastical affairs of this
province; his bishopric is not one of the most valuable of New
Spain, and many of the priests are Indians.
_Valladolid_ or _Mechoacan_, the capital, is delightfully situated
on a small river, which discharges itself, into a little lake on
the north; it has also another small lake on the east, both famous
for fish.
It is a well built large town, and is at the height of 6396 feet
above the level of the sea; snow sometimes falls, but the climate
is in general excellent. It has a handsome aqueduct, and is the see
of a bishop, with a population of 18,000 souls.
The other towns of note are Pasquaro on the banks of the little
lake of that name on the west of Mechoacan, which has 6000 people.
_Huitzitzilla_, a village formerly the capital of the kingdom of
Mechoacan, contains 2500 people; there are many other villages and
towns, some of which are very large, inhabited chiefly by Indians.
There are five principal mines in Valladolid, and the products of
the province are gold, silver, copper, maize, corn, cotton, cacao,
gums, sarsaparilla, vanillas, cassia, the root mechoacan, honey,
ambergris, balsam, odoriferous gums, &c.
The Indians are famous for their pottery ware, silks and ornamental
feather works; they supply the capital with fruit, flowers,
vegetables, &c. and possess some beautiful gardens.
Valladolid is famous for an excellent breed of horses and fine
cattle; the wild animals are principally the tiger, wild dogs,
squirrels and an innumerable tribe of foxes, which are very
troublesome to the inhabitants in destroying their fowls, &c.
There are no good ports on the coast of Valladolid, which causes
most of the commerce of that province to be carried on by land.
_INTENDANCY OF TLASCALA, OR PUEBLA._
_Puebla_ or _Tlascala_, is the next province to the south of
Mexico, and is bounded on the north by Vera Cruz; on the east by
Oaxaca, or Guaxaca; on the south by the Pacific, and on the west,
by the province of Mexico; and is about 354 miles in length, and
from 40 to 150 in breadth.
The soil and productions are nearly the same with Mexico; it
is here that the continent begins to narrow very much; and as
we approach the southern boundary of North America, it gets
continually less and less, until it passes the dividing mountains
in Panama, when it again spreads into that immense extent of
country, known in geography by the general name of South America.
Tlascala is crossed by the great chain of mountains called
Cordillera de Anahuac on the west, which is adorned by cultivation;
and on the north, by a range eternally overspread with snow; these
are constantly subject to violent hurricanes, terrible tempests and
torrents, by which those habitations, situated in their vicinity,
are often swept away, and even those which are built on the tops
of little rising grounds endangered. Notwithstanding all this, and
the dreadful earthquakes to which the country is subject, Tlascala
is supposed to be one of the most populous provinces of New Spain.
It is so fertile in maize, that it received its name from that
produce of the soil; Tlascala signifying the land of bread in the
native language.
This province was formerly a kingdom, but afterwards divided into
different districts; a chief, or cacique of each district residing
at the court of Tlascala, where a council of the whole was held
to promulgate laws. They were the enemies of the Mexicans, and
maintained themselves against its kings for a length of time, and
continued this form of government until the conquest of Mexico by
Cortez. The towns and villages are filled with the native Indians.
Cortez obtained a grant of this kingdom from Charles VI., and it is
consequently exempt from services and duties to the crown of Spain,
on account of its having been his ally, in his expedition against
the Mexicans; they pay solely a poll-tax to the Spanish king in
kind, being a handful of Indian wheat each person, and this has
been said to amount to the extraordinary quantity of 13,000 bushels
in one year.
The government of the caciques or chiefs was decreed by the
inhabitants of the country after the close of some civil wars; thus
making many kings to abate the power of one.
The capital of this province was anciently _Tlaxcallan_, or
_Tlascala_, on the side of a great mountain, and on the banks of a
small river which runs into the Pacific. If we are to believe the
accounts of the Spanish adventurers when they first saw this city,
its inhabitants amounted to 300,000; and it was adorned with a
large market-place, sufficient to contain 30,000 people; the market
was supplied with hardly ever fewer than 1500 sheep, 4000 head of
cattle, and 2000 swine. In the year 1698, Gemelli says, that it
was then a village with one church, in which hung the picture of
the vessel in which Cortez arrived at Vera Cruz. The Tlascalans
offered human sacrifices to their deities, and kept them in cages
till their execution. It is situated twenty miles north of Puebla
de los Angelos, and now contains only 3400 inhabitants, of whom 900
are of the original tribe.
_Puebla de los Angelos_, is at present the capital of Tlascala,
and one of the few cities entirely built by Spaniards in America;
it is situated in 19° 15ʹ north latitude, and 102° 43ʹ west
longitude, east-south-east of Mexico, on a small river which runs
through the town; the number of good houses is very great. It has
a fine cathedral, several churches and monasteries, which are
all well built and beautifully decorated. The houses are mostly
of stone, very lofty and tasteful, the streets broad and quite
straight, crossing each other at right angles, which is a favourite
method of building the towns of the Spanish dominions in the New
World. The streets are generally very clean, and there is a fine
square in the middle of the city, superior to the great square of
Mexico, adorned with porticoes or piazzas on three of its sides,
and on the fourth, by the great cathedral built of stone, with
two lofty towers, and an elegant front of modern architecture.
The piazzas are filled with shops for the display of all sorts of
goods, which has an exceedingly rich appearance. It is a bishopʼs
see removed from Tlascala, and is reckoned the richest in New
Spain. There is a manufacture of fine felts, with a royal mint and
glass-house. The valley which adjoins this fine city, is extremely
productive in corn and fruits, including all the European sorts.
In the neighbourhood are many mineral springs; it contains 67,800
inhabitants, and its height above the level of the sea is 7380 feet.
The highest mountain in New Spain, or indeed in all the known
parts of North America, is in this province; as Popocatepetl; more
elevated than any summit of Europe, its height being 17,716 feet
above the level of the sea; it is constantly in action, throwing
out smoke, ashes, and fire; and its figure is that of a truncated
cone with a large crater; but no great eruption has hitherto taken
place.
Iztaccihuatl is the next greatest elevation of the chain of Puebla,
and is situated near the former on the north-west of it, and close
to the boundaries of the province of Mexico; this mountain is part
of the Sierra Nevada; its height is 15,700 feet above the level of
the sea, and it appears to have been an active volcano; and between
these two, Cortez and his wondering army passed when he marched to
attack the capital; they are both constantly enveloped in snow on
their upper peaks.
The whole of Puebla is under the torrid zone; the western part
is a mere desert, and the east, from the above named volcano to
the borders of Vera Cruz, where there are beautiful plains filled
with fields of maize, corn, sugar, cotton, fruit, &c., is the
most populous, containing 813,300 souls. It is on this ridge or
plain, that the most ancient monuments of the former state of the
Mexicans exist, of which the greatest and most astonishing, is
the pyramid or temple of Cholula, 177 feet high, with a base of
1420 feet in breadth. It is divided into four stages; on the top
the Spaniards have erected a temple to the Virgin, in which mass
is constantly performed. This pyramid is built of layers of brick
and clay, and has been injured by part of it having been destroyed
to form a road, which has, however, shown that it was a place of
burial, as in the Egyptian pyramids; the faces of this structure
are directed to the four quarters of the globe, and as in the
others before-mentioned, vestiges, though not very perfect, are
found of smaller pyramids around it. It had an altar on its summit
dedicated to the god of the air, who was one of the most ancient
Mexican lawgivers, and is represented to have disappeared suddenly,
promising to return to resume the reins of government; the Mexicans
imagined that Cortez and his Spaniards were the descendants and
messengers of this mysterious being.
The view from the summit of this pyramid is very superb; the
volcanoes of La Puebla, the Pico de Orizaba, and the stormy summits
of the Sierra de Tlascala being distinctly visible from it. It is
covered with vegetation, which renders an accurate examination of
its superficies impossible.
There are some great salt works in Puebla, and some fine quarries
of marble.
Puebla contains six cities and 600 villages.
The Tlascalan part of Puebla has been lately united to Mexico; the
chief town Tlascala, being governed by a cacique who is the kingʼs
lieutenant, and four Indian judges; and the municipal body is
composed entirely of Indians.
Cholula, Tlascala, and Huexotzinco, are famous as having been the
three republics which so long resisted the power of the Mexican
kings; Tlascala for having been the ally of Cortez, and Cholula, as
a holy city.----Three distinct languages are spoken by the Indians;
the Mexican being one, which is spoken only by the Indians of the
towns of Tlascala, Puebla and Cholula.
The town of most note after the capitals Puebla and Tlascala, is
_Cholula_, which has a population of 16,000 souls. In ancient
times this was one of the first of the Mexican cities, containing
an immense number of inhabitants, and was deemed the sacred town
of the empire; it contained more than 400 temples and places of
worship. Cortez was astonished at the sight of this city, and
described it with admiration in his letters to the king.
_Huexotzinco_, now a small place, was formerly the capital of the
republic of that name, and a very populous city; as was also--
_Atlixco_, celebrated for its pure air, and excellent fruits, with
many others which the limits of this work forbid us to enumerate.
The great mining undertakings of New Spain are not paid so much
attention to in this province as in many others; however, it is
not deficient in ores; but the fertility of the soil renders
agriculture and other branches of commerce to be the more attended
to; and where tillage once takes place in America, the produce of
the interior of the earth is not so greatly sought after.
The principal river of the Intendancy of Puebla, is the Rio Yopez,
which rises in the mountains near La Puebla, and throws itself into
the Pacific just below the boundary of Valladolid; there are also
several others on the Pacific coast, but of no material moment.
_INTENDANCY OF VERA CRUZ._
THIS Intendancy lies almost entirely along the shore of the Gulf of
Mexico, and may consequently be denominated the eastern maritime
province of New Spain; it contains, indeed, the most celebrated
port in the viceroyalty, from the name of which that of the
province is derived.
Vera Cruz lies wholly within the tropics, and its coast is
consequently subject to violent heats, which render it unhealthy:
but in the interior the high mountains and the declivity of the
table land, or plain of the ridge of Anahuac, ameliorates the
climate, and renders it suitable for European constitutions.
The length of this province, from the salt water lake of Terminos
to the mouth of the great Panuco River, is 210 leagues, and its
breadth twenty-six. It is bounded, on the north by San Luis Potosi,
or New Santander; on the east by the Gulf of Mexico and Yucatan,
or Merida; west by Puebla, Oaxaca, and Mexico; and south by Oaxaca,
or Guaxaca, and the kingdom of Guatimala.
Vera Cruz comprehends within its limits the former province of
Tabasco.
M. de Humboldt has given a very animated picture of the sensations
excited in a traveller when he ascends the acclivity leading from
the coast of Vera Cruz, the capital, to the Plain of Perote. Here,
he says, nature may be observed in the course of a few hours in all
her variety; suffocating heat prevails on the coast; ascending, the
air becomes gradually more pure and less heated; the face of the
country sensibly changes; the productions of the torrid zone first
meet the eye, then those of the temperate, and the eager step of
curiosity advancing may place it amid the region of ever during
snow and ice. The mountains covered to a certain height above and
below with a belt of oaks, of bananas, and trees of the liquid
amber, denote that the climate is conducive to health; the hardy
pine ascends the higher regions, and becomes more and more stunted
in its growth, till it is lost in fields of snow. The majestic
features of the volcanoes, the vast expanse of the ocean, the
verdure of the forests, and the fall of the cataracts, rushing from
the mountains, cause the most wonderful and gratifying variety in
the _coup dʼ[oe]il_ of this singular province.
The pimento, the vanilla, jalap, cacao, tobacco, sarsaparilla,
cotton, indigo, and sugar are amongst the principal productions of
Vera Cruz, and in some of which a very lucrative and considerable
trade is carried on.
The population of the Intendancy has been estimated at 156,000;
part of which is concentrated in the town of Vera Cruz, and in the
towns on the table land; and the remainder thinly scattered over
the extent of country between the coast and the mountains.
The capital of this province is _La Vera Cruz_, which is the seat
of government, situated in 19° 11ʹ 52ʺ north latitude, and 96° 8ʹ
45ʺ west longitude; with a secure harbour sufficiently large for a
great fleet, having from four to ten fathom water; the only danger
being from the northerly winds, which are excessively violent, and
have sometimes done much damage to the shipping in the port. This
harbour swarms with aquatic birds.
The defence of the port is principally Fort St. Juan de Ulua,
situated on a small island at the entrance of the channel, strongly
fortified, and mounting three hundred pieces of cannon. It was
this island that Juan de Grijalva discovered in 1518. This city is
neither the Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, nor Vera Cruz el Antigua of
the followers of Cortez, both of which were deserted on account of
their unhealthiness; it stands on the spot where Cortez first set
his foot on the continent, on the 21st of April 1519.
_Vera Cruz_ is the mart for the merchandizes of the East and West
India Islands. The situation of the city is bad, on account of
the marshy soil and the barren tract round it. It projects in a
semicircular form into the sea, and is inclosed with a parapet six
feet in height, and three broad at the crest, having a palisade.
This rampart has six low bastions or square towers, twelve feet
high. Along the shore on the north-west is a redoubt mounted with
cannon; and on the south-east is another, to defend the port. The
houses of the city are built of stone, and have wooden balconies;
the streets being wide, paved, and in good order. The churches are
numerous and richly decorated, and the inhabitants are chiefly
merchants, very indolent, and very devout Catholics. The great
luxury of their houses is porcelain; trade is carried on here to
a great extent, and the city is accounted to have seven or eight
houses, each worth a million of dollars. The women are not reckoned
very handsome, and are kept in great retirement; they are excused
from going to mass during the north winds, which are very violent,
and load the ramparts with sand from the beach. Processions and
religious shows are the principal amusement of the people, who,
during the time there are no arrivals, are computed at about
16,000: but this amount is much swelled in the season when the
fleet arrives from Spain; at which time there is a fair here and
at Xalapa, and lodging is not to be had. The display of riches on
this occasion is immense; but since the galleons have been done
away with, and the restrictions of the other ports taken off, Vera
Cruz, no longer enjoying the monopoly, has dwindled from its former
importance; it is, however, still a place of great trade. In the
rainy season, the water falls chiefly during the night, and at
this period the marshes and bogs on the south are infested with
alligators of seven or eight feet in length, but which are said to
be innocent. The mosquitoes, during this season, are intolerable,
and the country subject to earthquakes, so that these evils,
combined with its unhealthy situation, render it no very desirable
residence. Commerce, all-powerful commerce, nevertheless, draws
man to this abode, and in the middle of swamps, reptiles, venomous
insects, tornadoes and earthquakes, he finds enjoyment in its
pursuit, and shortens his life to amass a few grains of dust to
enrich those, who after he is gone, laugh at him for his pains. The
Buccaneers and different powers having taken and sacked this city
several times, the Spanish government built small forts along the
line of coast near it.
The black vomit, that dreadful malady which so often prevails in
this town, has been supposed to be owing, in a great measure, to
the want of good water, the richer people contenting themselves
with what falls in for all the uses of the kitchen and table;
the poorer class living on bad water collected from the ditches.
An aqueduct is constructing, though very slowly, and at immense
expence, to bring a pure stream to the city.
Old Vera Cruz is also a sea-port near the former city, at the
distance of only fifteen miles to the north. Cortez landed here in
1518. It is also situated very unhealthily in a marsh, and on a
river which is full of large alligators, said to be strong enough
to manage an ox, and to draw him under water. They devour all the
dogs which fall in their way.
_Xalapa_, on the north of Vera Cruz, is the place where almost all
the business of the European commerce is transacted. It gives its
name to the medicinal root commonly called jalap, but originally
spelt Xalap. This town is the see of a bishop, and contains 13,000
inhabitants; it is placed at the foot of a basaltic mountain, and
its environs are highly picturesque; but it is sometimes subject to
thick fogs for weeks together, during the winter. The merchants of
Vera Cruz reside mostly at Xalapa. This town is at the height of
4264 feet above the level of the port of Vera Cruz, and contains an
excellent drawing academy for young mechanics; the great road from
Mexico to Vera Cruz will pass by it.
_Cordova_, near the Pico de Orizaba, and _Orizaba_ are famous for
being the places where the tobacco for home consumption in New
Spain is mostly produced.
To complete the description of this intendancy, there remains only
to notice a part of it, which was until very lately a distinct
province, the coast of which is still designated the Tabasco shore.
THE PROVINCE OF TABASCO
OCCUPIED the southern portion of the present government of Vera
Cruz, and was 100 miles long and 60 miles broad. The soil is not
very fertile, neither is the air healthy, as the country is in
general flat and marshy, filled with small lagoons or lakes; and
as it rains during greater part of the year, the climate is very
damp. The coast is subject, from September to March, including
both those months, to dreadful storms, the northerly gales
prevailing during that period, which renders navigation dangerous
and difficult. In February, March and April, the heats prevail,
which are insupportable, and accompanied with infinite swarms of
mosquitoes and other venomous insects. Notwithstanding all these
disadvantages, the inhabitants have good farms, well stocked with
cattle, in which their principal traffic consists. To Vera Cruz
they also export maize and cocoa nuts, and the Spaniards having
brought vines, lemons, oranges and fig-trees here, they are now
found in abundance, and thrive very well in most parts of the
country. The natives reap from three to four harvests of maize in
the year, and have rice, barley, European garden herbs and fruits,
as well as those common to America. The cacao tree grows so well
in Tabasco, that they formerly paid their tribute to the Mexican
emperors in chocolate.
The woods, which are principally of Brazil-wood and cedar, with
thickets of bamboos, mangroves, &c. are infested with serpents,
tigers, bears and apes; and the rabbit, the deer, the squirrel,
&c., find covert and shelter every where.
The marshes and lakes are well stored with fish.
The chief town, and one of the oldest of New Spain, is _Tabasco_,
in 18° 34ʹ north latitude, 93° 36ʹ west longitude, called also
_Neustra Senora de la Victoria_, on account of a great victory
which Cortez gained here on his first landing. It stands on an
island at the mouth of the Rio Grijalva, which divides itself near
the gulf into two arms; the west arm falls into the Rio Tabasco;
and the other continues its course till within twelve miles of the
ocean, where it again divides, and separates the island on which
the city stands, from the continent.
The town is not very extensive, but strongly and well built, and
owes its prosperity to a sort of annual fair at Christmas.
The island of Tabasco is about thirty-six miles in length, and
seven or eight broad; near it, on the continent, are great plains
abounding in cattle, sheep, &c., and a wild animal called the
mountain cow, or tapir, which subsists on the moss that accumulates
on trees near the great rivers, in marshy situations.
_Villa Hermosa_ and _Tlacotalpan_, formerly the principal Indian
town of Tabasco, are the only remaining towns of note.
The principal river of the Intendancy of Vera Cruz, is the Rio
Tabasco, which rises in the mountains of Chiapa, and after a
circuitous course, and receiving the Grijalva and other streams,
runs into the gulf of Mexico: it is said that some of the largest
cabbage and cotton trees, which are known in the New World, grow on
the banks of this fine river.
There are some other streams in this country, viz. the Sumasinta,
which rises in the mountains of Chiapa, twenty miles south of
Sacatulan, and falls into the gulf near the isthmus of Yucatan.
The Rio Tula, under the name of Motesuema, pervades this province
in the north, as do the Rio Panuco, or Tampico, the Rio Atopan,
and the Rio Antigua, which rise near the volcano of Perote, the
Rio Blanco which rises near the Orizaba volcano, the Rio del Passo
and Huasacualco, with many others, which all fall into the Mexican
gulf, and form large and numerous islands, of which little is known.
The lake, or enclosed bay, of Tamiagua, is an extraordinary large
basin, having a long and narrow outlet to the south, parallel with
the shore; it contains a large island called De Ramirez, and
several others. Lakes, or lagoons, and indentations, are very
frequent on this coast, as are islands; but a bar extending all
along, and the insalubrity of the climate, prevents the shore from
being explored.
The volcanoes of Vera Cruz form the most astonishing feature of its
scenery; of these, the highest is the great volcano of Orizaba,
visible from Mexico; it is the most elevated mountain of Spanish
North America, excepting only Popocatepetl; its form is that of
a truncated cone, with a large crater, from which issues fire,
smoke and ashes; as it is considerably above the lower period of
congelation in these latitudes, its summit is constantly covered
with snow. The inferior limit of congelation is very distinctly
marked on the Mexican summits; at a distance, it forms so accurate
a line on the cones, that it appears the effect of art rather than
of nature, and adds greatly to the singularity of the landscape.
This volcano is called, in the Mexican dialect, Citlaltepetl, or
the Starry Mountain, its fire appearing like a star, when viewed
from the capital, and is 17,371 feet above the level of the sea;
its cone is a little inclined, at the summit, to the south-east.
The next summit is Nauhcampatepetl, or the Square Mountain, which
the Spaniards call Cofre de Perote, from the small square rock on
the top.
The Cofre de Perote is 13,414 feet above the level of the sea, and
is to the north-east of Orizaba. It is seen at a great distance at
sea, being a landmark for the harbour of Vera Cruz. There appears
no crater at the top; but from beds of lava, and the whole mountain
being surrounded with pumice stones, and other substances attendant
on volcanoes, it is evident that it has formerly been one of a
tremendous nature.
There is another volcano on the coast, to the south of Tlacotalpan,
and in that part of the shore which projects considerably into the
Mexican gulf; it is the highest summit of a small chain, called
Sierra de St. Martin. The distance is twelve miles from the beach
to the volcano, which is called Volcan de Tuxtla, from a small
village of the Indians in its vicinity. It is a very powerful
volcano, and some dreadful eruptions have lately taken place;
the last was not more than twenty years ago, when the houses and
streets of Vera Cruz were covered with ashes, and the noise,
resembling the firing of cannon, was heard 57 leagues distant.
The height of this volcano has not been ascertained, but it is
considerably inferior to those which we have mentioned, as crossing
the Cordillera of Anahuac, in a transversal line.
The next objects of curiosity which we have to turn our attention
to, in traversing the intendancy of Vera Cruz, are the pyramidical
remains of temples, of which that of Papantla has been recently
discovered in the bosom of a forest; this building is not of
layers of clay and stones, or brick, as those we have described
are, but differs from them in all its architectural points; it is
composed of enormous stones, cemented together, and well polished
and finished, and is only 82 feet in base, with a height of about
160 feet. It has seven different platforms round it, and a square
summit. In the middle of one of the faces a large and well-cut
stair ascends the whole height. Niches are observed along the sides
of each stage, regularly decreasing in number to the top; and the
whole is carved in relief with figures.
_INTENDANCY OF GUAXACA, OR OAXACA._
THIS province is bounded on the north by Vera Cruz and Puebla; on
the west by Puebla; on the east by Chiapa and Guatimala, and on the
south by the Pacific.
This intendancy, the last of the viceroyalty of New Spain, to
the south-west, is esteemed one of its most fertile districts,
producing excellent chocolate and cochineal, sugar, cotton, rice,
plantains, cassia and indigo. The mountainous parts abound in mines
of gold, silver, lead and crystal; and many of its rivers have
particles of gold in their sands. The inhabitants are, however, not
very industrious, and there are but two manufactures of indigo,
and five hundred looms in employ for the weaving of cotton. It has
also a manufacture, in its chief city, of black wax. Oaxaca may be
stiled the western maritime province of New Spain, as it embraces a
great extent of coast along the Pacific ocean.
The capital is _Oaxaca_, in 17° 30ʹ north latitude, at the opening
of three large plains, one of which runs as far as Guatimala. This
city stands on a river, which runs into the sea, near Vera Cruz,
and aqueducts supply it with pure and wholesome water from the
mountains on the north-east of the town. The form of Oaxaca is an
oblong square, being two miles long, and one and a quarter wide,
and surrounded by gardens and plantations of the cactus, which
feeds the cochineal insect; and it is at this city that the most
abundant gatherings of that valuable insect take place.
The streets are wide, uniform and well paved, and the houses mostly
built of stone, two stories high. From a distance, the beautiful
spires and numerous houses of stone, give it a magnificent
appearance, and nothing seems to be wanting to render it a
delightful abode, but superior industry; for the air is clear and
healthy, and here reigns a perpetual spring, refreshed by westerly
breezes in the evening, and the east winds in the morning. The
temperature of the climate causes the fruits of Europe to flourish
luxuriantly in the gardens; and thus, with the native trees, they
have a constant succession for the luxuries of the table.
The town house is a stone building, in the middle of one of the
sides of the great square, and has not been long built; the
stone of this edifice is of a green colour, and has a pretty
effect; the cathedral and bishopʼs palace occupy two of the other
sides of the square; which is surrounded with arcades. There
are many monasteries and churches of handsome architecture, and
magnificently ornamented.
The population, including mulattoes, Indians and negroes, which
form the greater portions, (the whites not being very numerous) is
estimated at 24,000.
The governor of the province resides here, as well as the diocesan.
Yet this beautiful city, so delightfully situated, in such a
temperate clime, so fruitful a soil, and with such beautiful
decorations, is sometimes visited by that tremendous scourge, an
earthquake; and has a few years back suffered very much from the
effects of one which was felt over all this part of the continent.
The other towns of the greatest importance, in the province of
Guaxaca, are _Tehuantepec_, a sea-port town, situated on the shore
of the great bay of Tecoantapeque, at the foot of a mountain,
whose summit is a volcano, in 16° 20ʹ north latitude, 95° 1ʹ west
longitude, with a population of 2600 families of Indians, and fifty
of whites.
_Aguatulco_, or _Guatulco_, is a sea-port of Guaxaca, with a large
and well frequented harbour, in the Pacific, in 15° 44ʹ north
latitude, famed as having been plundered by Sir Francis Drake.
_Embarcadero_ is situated on the western side of the province in a
small harbour of the Pacific.
_San Pedro_, a sea-port 75 miles south of Guaxaca.
_San Antonio de los Cues_, in the north, on the route from Orizaba
and Vera Cruz to Oaxaca, with a large population, is famous for the
remains of some Mexican fortifications, but which are in great
dilapidation.
There are four mines of silver, which are very valuable, in Oaxaca,
and the population of the province, amounts to 534,800.
Oaxaca is described as the finest, healthiest and most productive
province of New Spain; and its former inhabitants were amongst the
most civilized of the people discovered by the Spanish conquerors.
It is extremely mountainous, and is divided into two highland
districts, called Mixteca and Tzapoteca. The Cordillera, which runs
through the province, falls to the oceans on either side; and it
is said the mountains are so high, that in one or two points, the
Pacific and Atlantic may be observed at the same time, the summits
are however not so high as those of Mexico, and their substance
differs widely. In Oaxaca, granite and gneiss compose the ridges;
whilst in Mexico, basaltes, amygdaloid, porphyry, and grunstein,
are the strata which form those tremendous elevations.
The most singular monument of the ancient inhabitants of this
province is the ruins of Mitla, which was the burial place of the
chiefs or kings of the country, and is finely constructed of stone,
covered with sculpture; the excavations under the building are
very large, and lined with large engraved stones. Six columns of
porphyry, sixteen feet in height, of a single piece each, support
the roof of a large room, and the whole is in good preservation;
many curious paintings having been found amongst the rubbish.
These ruins are ten leagues south-east of Oaxaca.
The province is celebrated, as part of it forming a grant made to
Cortez, for his services, with the title of Marquess.
It consists of four towns and 49 villages, and now belongs to the
Duke of Monte Leone, a descendant of the conqueror.
The rivers of Oaxaca are principally, the Rio Verde, on which
Oaxaca stands, which rises in the mountains of Higher Mixteca, and
falls into the Pacific; the river Chicometapea, after receiving
others, falls into the Pacific, north of the former.