CHAPTER XVIII.

ARCHITECTURE AND DWELLINGS OF THE NAHUAS.

ARCHITECTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS--GENERAL FEATURES OF

NAHUA ARCHITECTURE--THE ARCH--EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR

DECORATIONS--METHOD OF BUILDING--INCLINED

PLANES--SCAFFOLDS--THE USE OF THE

PLUMMET--BUILDING-MATERIALS--POSITION AND FORTIFICATION OF

TOWNS--MEXICO TENOCHTITLAN--THE GREAT CAUSEWAYS--QUARTERS

AND WARDS OF MEXICO--THE MARKET-PLACE--FOUNTAINS AND

AQUEDUCTS--LIGHT-HOUSES AND STREET-WORK--CITY OF

TEZCUCO--DWELLINGS--AZTEC GARDENS--TEMPLE OF

HUITZILOPOCHTLI--TEMPLE OF MEXICO--OTHER TEMPLES--TEOCALLI

AT CHOLULA AND TEZCUCO.

I shall describe in this chapter the cities, towns, temples, palaces,

dwellings, roads, bridges, aqueducts, and other products of Nahua

architectural and constructive art, as they were found and described

by the Spaniards in the sixteenth century. Monuments of this branch of

Nahua art chiefly in the form of ruined temples, or _teocallis_, are

still standing and have been examined in detail by modern travelers.

The results of these later observations will be given in Volume IV. of

this work, and I have therefore thought it best to omit them

altogether here. In order to fully comprehend the subject the reader

will find it advantageous to study and compare the two views taken

from different standpoints. It is for a general and doubtless

exaggerated account of the grandeur and extent of the Nahua

structures, rather than any details of their construction that we

must look to the Spanish chronicles; and it is also to be noted that

the descriptions by the conquerors are confined almost entirely to the

lake region of Anáhuac, the buildings of other regions being dismissed

with a mere mention. In this connection, therefore, the supplementary

view in another volume will be of great value, since the grandest

relics of Nahua antiquity have been found outside of Anáhuac proper,

while the oft-mentioned magnificent temples and palaces of the lake

cities have left no traces of their original splendor.

The Olmecs, Totonacs, and others of the earlier Nahua nations are

credited by tradition with the erection of grand edifices, but the

Toltecs, in this as in all other arts, far surpassed their

predecessors, and even the nations that succeeded them. I have in a

preceding chapter sufficiently explained the process by which this

ancient people has been credited with all that is wonderful in the

past, and it will be readily understood how a magnifying veneration

for past glories, handed down from father to son with ever

accumulating exaggeration, has transformed the Toltec buildings into

the most exquisite fairy structures, incomparably superior to anything

that met the Spanish gaze. With architectural as with other

traditions, however, I have little or nothing to do in this chapter,

but pass on to a consideration of this branch of art in later times.

Respect for the gods made it necessary that the temples should be

raised above the ordinary buildings, besides which their height made

them more conspicuous to the immense multitudes which frequently

gathered about them on feast-days, rendering them also more secure

from desecration and easier of defence when used as citadels of

refuge, as they often were. But as the primitive ideas of engineering

possessed by the Aztecs and their insufficient tools did not permit

them to combine strength with slightness, the only way the required

elevation could be attained was by placing the building proper upon a

raised, solid, pyramidal substructure. The prevalence of earthquakes

may also have had something to do with this solid form of

construction. In the vicinity of the lake of Mexico, the swampy nature

of the soil called for a broad, secure foundation; here, then, the

substructure was not confined to the temples, but was used in building

public edifices, palaces, and private dwellings.

[Sidenote: NAHUA ARCHITECTURE.]

Another general feature of Nahua architecture was the small elevation

of the buildings proper, compared with their extent and solidity.

These rarely exceeded one story in height, except some of the chapels,

which had two or even three stories, but in these cases the upper

floors were invariably of wood.

Whether the Aztecs were acquainted with our arch, with a vertical

key-stone, is a mooted point. Clavigero gives plates of a

semi-spherical _estufa_ constructed in this manner, and asserts,

further, that an arch of this description was found among the Tezcucan

ruins, but I find no authority for either picture or assertion. The

relics that have been examined in modern times, moreover, seem to show

conclusively that key-stone arches were unknown in America before the

advent of the Europeans, though arches made of overlapping stones were

often cut in such a manner as to resemble them. The chaplain Diaz, who

accompanied Grijalva, mentions an 'arc antique' on the east coast, but

gives no description of it. Nevertheless, as the 'antique' would in

this connection imply a peculiar, if not a primitive, construction, it

is not probable that the arch he saw had a key-stone.[663]

As decorations, we find balconies and galleries supported by square or

round pillars, which were often monoliths; but as they were adorned

with neither capital nor base the effect must have been rather bare.

Battlements and turrets, doubtless first used as means of defense,

became later incorporated with decorative art. The bareness of the

walls was relieved by cornices and stucco-work of various designs, the

favorite figures being coiled snakes, executed in low relief, which

probably had a religious meaning. Sometimes they were placed in

groups, as upon the temple walls at Mexico, at other times one serpent

twined and twisted round every door and window of an apartment until

head and tail met. Carved lintels and door-posts were common, and

statues frequently adorned the court and approaches. Glossy surfaces

seem to have had a special attraction for the Nahuas, and they made

floors, walls, and even streets, extremely smooth. The walls and

floors were first coated with lime, gypsum, or ochre, and then

polished.

No clear accounts are given of the method of erecting houses. Brasseur

de Bourbourg thinks that because the natives of Vera Paz were seen by

him to use scaffolds like ours, that these were also employed in

Mexico in former times, and that stones were raised on inclined beams

passing from scaffold to scaffold, which is not very satisfactory

reasoning.[664]

However this may be, we are told by Torquemada that the Aztecs used

derricks to hoist heavy timbers with.[665] Others, again, say that

walls were erected by piling earth on both sides, which served both as

scaffolds and as inclined planes up which heavy masses might be drawn

or rolled,[666] but although this was undoubtedly the method adopted

by the Miztecs, it was too laborious and primitive to have been

general,[667] and certainly could not have been employed in building

the three-story chapels upon Huitzilopochtli's pyramid. The perfectly

straight walls built by the Nahuas would seem to indicate the use of

the plummet, and we are told that the line was used in making

roads.[668] Trees were felled with copper and flint axes, and drawn

upon rollers to their destination,[669] a mode of transport used, no

doubt, with other cumbrous material. The implements used to cut stone

blocks seem to have been entirely of flint.[670]

[Sidenote: BUILDING MATERIAL.]

The wood for roofs, turrets, and posts, was either white or yellow

cedar, palm, pine, cypress, or oyametl, of which beams and fine boards

were made. Nails they had none; the smaller pieces must therefore have

been secured by notches, lapping, or pressure.[671] The different

kinds of stone used in building were granite, alabaster, jasper,

porphyry, certain 'black, shining stones,' and a red, light, porous,

yet hard stone, of which rich quarries were discovered near Mexico in

Ahuitzotl's reign.[672] After the overflow of the lake, which happened

at this time, the king gave orders that this should be used ever after

for buildings in the city.[673] _Tecali_, a transparent stone

resembling alabaster, was sometimes used in the temples for

window-glass.[674] Adobes, or sun-dried bricks, were chiefly used in

the dwellings of the poorer classes, but burnt bricks and tiles are

mentioned as being sold in the markets.[675] Roofs were covered with

clay, straw, and palm-leaves. Lime was used for mortar, which was so

skillfully used, say the old writers, that the joints were scarcely

perceptible,[676] but probably this was partly owing to the fact that

the walls were almost always either whitewashed, or covered with

ochre, gypsum, or other substances.

Frequent wars and the generally unsettled state of the country, made

it desirable that the towns should be situated near enough each other

to afford mutual protection, which accounts for the great number of

towns scattered over the plateau. The same causes made a defensible

position the primary object in the choice of a site. Thus we find them

situated on rocks accessible only by a difficult and narrow pathway,

raised on piles over the water, or surrounded by strong walls,

palisades, earth-works and ditches.[677] Although they fully

understood the necessity of settling near lakes and rivers to

facilitate intercourse, yet the towns on the sea-coast were usually a

league or two from the shore, and, as they had no maritime trade,

harbors were not sought for.[678]

The towns extended over a comparatively large surface, owing to the

houses being low and detached, and each provided with a court and

garden. The larger cities seem to have been layed out on a regular

plan, especially in the centre, but the streets were narrow, indeed

there was no need of wider ones as all transportation was done by

carriers, and there were no vehicles. At intervals a market-place with

a fountain in the centre, a square filled with temples, or a line of

shady trees relieved the monotony of the long rows of low houses.

[Sidenote: MEXICO TENOCHTITLAN.]

The largest and most celebrated of the Nahua cities was Mexico

Tenochtitlan.[679] It seems that about the year 1325 the Aztecs, weary

of their unsettled condition and hard pressed by the Culhuas, sought

the marshy western shore of the lake of Mexico. Here, on the swamp of

Tlalcocomocco, they came upon a stone, upon which it was said a

Mexican priest had forty years before sacrificed a certain prince

Copil. From this stone had sprung a nopal, upon which, at the time it

was seen by the Mexican advance guard, sat an eagle, holding in his

beak a serpent. Impelled by a divine power, a priest dived into a pool

near the stone, and there had an interview with Tlaloc, god of

waters,[680] who gave his permission to the people to settle on the

spot.[681] Another legend relates that Huitzilopochtli appeared to a

priest in a dream, and told him to search for a nopal growing out of a

stone in the lake with an eagle and serpent upon it, and there found a

city.[682]

The temple, at first a mere hut, was the first building erected, and

by trading fish and fowl for stone, they were soon enabled to form a

considerable town about it. Piles were driven into the soft bottom of

the lake, and the intermediate spaces filled with stones, branches,

and earth, to serve as a foundation for houses.[683]

Each succeeding ruler took pains to extend and beautify the city.

Later on, Tlatelulco,[684] which had early separated from Mexico

Tenochtitlan, was reunited to it by king Axayacatl, which greatly

increased the size of the latter city. Tezcuco is said to have

exceeded it in size and in the culture of its people, but from its

important position, imposing architecture, and general renown, Mexico

Tenochtitlan stood preëminent. A number of surrounding towns and

villages formed the suburbs of the city, as Aztacalco, Acatlan,

Malcuitlapilco, Atenco, Iztacalco, Zancopinco, Huitznahuac, Xocotitlan

or Xocotlan, Coltonco, Necatitlan, Huitzitlan, etc.[685] The

circumference of the city has been estimated at about twelve miles,

and the number of houses at sixty thousand, which would give a

population of three hundred thousand.[686] It was situated in the

salty part of the lake of Mexico, fifteen miles west of its celebrated

rival Tezcuco, about one mile from the eastern shore, and close to the

channel through which the volumes of the sweet water lake pour into

the briny waters of the lake of Mexico, washing, in their outward

flow, the southern and western parts of the city. The waters have,

however, evaporated considerably since the time of the Aztecs, and

left the modern Mexico some distance from the beach.[687]

[Sidenote: CITIES OF ANÁHUAC.]

Fifty other towns, many of them consisting of over three thousand

dwellings, were scattered on and around the lake, the shallow waters

of which were skimmed by two hundred thousand canoes.[688] Four grand

avenues, paved with a smooth, hard crust of cement,[689] ran east,

west, north, and south, crosswise, forming the boundary lines of four

quarters; at the meeting-point of these was the grand temple-court.

Three of these roads connected in a straight line with large causeways

leading from the city to the lake shores; constructed by driving in

piles, filling up the intervening spaces with earth, branches, and

stones, and covering the surface with stone secured by mortar. They

were broad enough to allow ten horsemen to ride abreast with ease, and

were defended by drawbridges and breastworks.[690]

The southern road, two leagues in length, commenced half a league from

Iztapalapan, and was bordered on one side by Mexicaltzinco, a town of

about four thousand houses, and on the other, first by Coyuhuacan with

six thousand, and further on by Huitzilopochco with five thousand

dwellings. Half a league before reaching the city this causeway was

joined by the Xoloc road, coming from Xochimilco, the point of

junction being defended by a fort named Acachinanco, which consisted

of two turrets surrounded by a battlemented wall, eleven or twelve

feet high, and was provided with two gates, through which the road

passed.[691] The northern road led from Tepeyacac, about a league off;

the western, from Tlacopan, half a league distant; this road was

bordered with houses as far as the shore.[692] A fourth causeway from

Chapultepec served to support the aqueduct which supplied the city

with water.[693]

[Sidenote: QUARTERS AND WARDS OF MEXICO.]

The names of the four quarters of the city, which were thus disposed

according to divine command, were Tlaquechiuhcan, Cuecopan, or

Quepopan, now Santa María, lying between the northern and western

avenues; Atzacualco, now San Sebastian, between the eastern and

northern; Teopan, now San Pablo, between the eastern and southern; and

Moyotlan, or Mayotla, now San Juan, between the western and southern;

these, again, were divided into a number of wards.[694] Owing to the

position of the city in the midst of the lake, traffic was chiefly

conducted by means of canals, which led into almost every ward, and

had on one or both sides quays for the reception and landing of goods

and passengers. Many of these were provided with basins and locks to

retain the water within them;[695] while at the mouth were small

buildings which served as offices for the custom-house officials.

Bridges, many of which were upwards of thirty feet wide, and could be

drawn up so as to cut off communication between the different parts,

connected the numerous cross-streets and lanes, some of which were

mere dry and paved canals.[696]

The chief resort of the people was the levee which stretched in a

semi-circle round the southern part of the city, forming a harbor from

half to three quarters of a league in breadth. Here during the day the

merchants bustled about the cargoes and the custom-houses, while at

night the promenaders resorted there to enjoy the fresh breezes from

the lake. The construction of this embankment was owing to an

inundation which did serious harm during the reign of Montezuma I.

This energetic monarch at once took steps to prevent a recurrence of

the catastrophe, and called upon the neighboring towns to assist with

people and material in the construction of an outer wall, to check and

turn aside the waters of the fresh lake, which, after the heavy rains

of winter, rushed in volumes upon the city as they sought the lower

salt lake. The length of the levee was about three leagues, and its

breadth thirty feet. In 1498, fifty-two years after its construction,

it was further strengthened and enlarged.[697]

Although the Spaniards met with no very imposing edifices as they

passed along to the central part of the city where the temple stood,

yet they must have found enough to admire in the fine smooth streets,

the neat though low stone buildings surmounted by parapets which but

half concealed the flowers behind them, the elegantly arranged

gardens, gorgeous with the flora of the tropics, the broad squares,

the lofty temples, and the canals teeming with canoes.

Among the public edifices, the markets are especially worthy of note.

The largest, in Mexico Tenochtitlan, was twice as large as the square

of Salamanca, says Cortés, and was surrounded by porticoes, in and

about which from sixty thousand to one hundred thousand buyers and

sellers found room.[698] The market-place at Tlatelulco was still

larger, and in the midst of it was a square stone terrace, fifteen

feet high and thirty feet long, which served as a theatre.[699]

[Sidenote: FOUNTAINS AND AQUEDUCTS.]

The numerous fountains which adorned the city were fed by the aqueduct

which brought water from the hill of Chapultepec, about two miles off,

and was constructed upon a causeway of solid masonry five feet high

and five feet broad, running parallel to the Tlacopan road.[700] This

aqueduct consisted of two pipes of masonry, each carrying a volume of

water equal in bulk to a man's body,[701] which was conducted by

branch pipes to different parts of the town to supply fountains,

tanks, ponds, and baths. At the different canal-bridges there were

reservoirs, into which the pipes emptied on their course, and here the

boatmen who made it a business to supply the inhabitants with water

received their cargoes on the payment of a fixed price. A vigilant

police watched over the distribution of the water and the care of the

pipes, only one of which was in use at a time, while the other was

cleansed.[702] The supply was obtained from a fine spring on the

summit of Mount Chapultepec, which was guarded by two figures cut in

the solid stone, representing Montezuma and his father, armed with

lances and shields.[703] The present aqueduct was partly reconstructed

by Montezuma II. on the old one erected by the first king of that

name. Its inauguration was attended by imposing ceremonies, offerings

of quails, and burning of incense.[704]

During Ahuitzotl's reign, an attempt was made to bring water into the

city from an immense spring at Coyuhuacan. The lord of that place

consented, as became a loyal vassal, to let the water go, but

predicted disastrous consequences to the city from the overflow which

would be sure to follow if the water were taken there. This warning,

however, so enraged the king that he ordered the execution of the

noble, and immediately levied men and material from the neighboring

towns to build the aqueduct. The masons and laborers swarmed like ants

and soon finished the work. When everything was ready, a grand

procession of priests, princes, nobles, and plebeians marched forth to

open the gates of the aqueduct and receive the waters into the city.

Speeches were made, slaves and children were sacrificed, the wealthy

cast precious articles into the rolling waters with words of thanks

and welcome. But the hour of sorrow was at hand. The prediction of the

dead lord was fulfilled; the waters, once loosed, could not be

fettered again; a great part of the city was inundated and much damage

was done. Then the distracted king called once more upon the

neighboring towns to furnish men, but this time to tear down instead

of to build up.[705]

[Sidenote: LIGHTHOUSES AND STREET-WORK.]

Among the arrangements for the convenience of the public may be

mentioned lighthouses to guide the canoes which brought supplies to

the great metropolis. These were erected at different points upon

towers and heights; the principal one seems to have been on Mount

Tocitlan, where a wooden turret was erected to hold the flaming

beacon.[706] The streets were also lighted by burning braziers placed

at convenient intervals, which were tended by the night patrol. A

force of over a thousand men kept the canals in order, swept the

streets and sprinkled them several times a day.[707] Public closets

were placed at distances along the canals.[708] The care of buildings

also received the attention of the government, and every eleventh

month was devoted to repairing and cleaning the temples, public

edifices, and roads generally.[709] A number of towns on the lake were

built on piles, in imitation of Mexico, chiefly for the sake of

security. Thus, Iztapalapan stood half on land, half over the water,

and Ayotzinco was founded entirely on piles, and had canals instead

of streets.[710]

Other towns had recourse to strong walls and deep ditches to secure

their protection. Tlascala especially was well defended from its

ancient Aztec enemy, by a wall of stone and mortar[711] which

stretched for six miles across a valley, from mountain to mountain,

and formed the boundary line of the republic. This wall was nine feet

high, twenty feet broad,[712] and surmounted by a breastwork a foot

and a half in thickness, behind which the defenders could stand while

fighting. The only entrance was in the centre, where the walls did not

meet, but described a semi-circle, one overlapping the other, with a

space ten paces wide and forty long between them.[713] The other side

also was defended by breastworks and ditches.[714] The city itself

stood upon four hills, and was crossed by narrow streets,[715] the

houses being scattered in irregular groups. In size it was even larger

than Granada, says Cortés, which is not unlikely, for the market had

accommodation for thirty thousand people, and in one of the temples

four hundred Spaniards with their attendants found ample room.[716] At

Huejutla there was a curious wall of masonry, the outside of which was

faced with small blocks of tetzontli, each about nine inches in

diameter on the face, which was rounded; the end of each block was

pointed, and inserted in the wall.[717]

[Sidenote: THE CITY OF TEZCUCO.]

The city next in fame and rank to Mexico Tenochtitlan was

Tezcuco,[718] which Torquemada affirms contained one hundred and forty

thousand houses within a circumference of from three to four

leagues.[719] It was divided into six divisions, and crossed by a

series of fine straight streets lined with elegant buildings. The old

palace stood on the border of the lake upon a triple terrace, guarding

the town, as it were; the newer structure, in the construction of

which two hundred thousand men had been employed, stood at the

northern end; it was a magnificent building and contained three

hundred rooms. This city was the seat of refinement and elegance, and

occupied relatively the same position in Mexico as Paris does in

Europe.[720]

[Sidenote: DWELLINGS OF THE RICHER CLASSES.]

The style of architecture for houses did not exhibit much variety; the

difference between one house and another being chiefly in extent and

material.[721] The dwellings of the nobles were situated upon

terraces of various heights, which in swampy places like Mexico,

rested upon tiers of heavy piles.[722] They were usually a group of

buildings in the form of a parallelogram, built of stone or in Mexico

of tetzontli, joined with fine cement, and finely polished and

whitewashed.[723] Every house stood by itself, separated from its

neighbor by narrow lanes, and enclosed one or more courts which

extended over a large space of ground.[724] One story was the most

common form, and there are no accounts of any palaces or private

houses exceeding two stories.[725] Broad steps led up the terrace to

two gates which gave entrance to the courts; one opening upon the main

street, the other upon the back lane, or canal, that often lay beneath

it. The terrace platform of the houses of chiefs often had a wide walk

round it and was especially spacious in front, where there was

occasionally a small oratorio facing the entrance. This style was

particularly noticed on the east coast.[726] The court was surrounded

by numerous porticoes decorated with porphyry, jasper, and alabaster

ornaments, which, again, led to various chambers, and halls, lighted

by large windows. Two great halls and several reception-rooms were

situated in front; the sleeping-chambers, kitchen, baths, and

store-rooms were in the rear, forming at times quite a complicated

labyrinth.[727] The court was paved with flags of stone, tessellated

marble, or hard cement, polished with ochre or gypsum,[728] and

usually contained a sparkling fountain; occasionally there was a

flower-garden, in which a pyramidal altar gave an air of sanctity to

the place.[729] The stairway which led to the second story or to the

roof, was often on the outside of the house, and by its grand

proportions and graceful form contributed not a little to the good

appearance of the house.[730] The roof was a flat terrace of beams,

with a slight slope towards the back,[731] covered with a coat of

cement or clay,[732] and surrounded by a battlemented parapet,

surmounted at times by small turrets.[733] There were generally

flowers in pots upon the roofs, or even a small garden; and here the

members of the household assembled in the cool of the evening to

enjoy the fresh air and charming prospect.[734] Some houses had

galleries, which, like most work added to the main structure, were of

wood,[735] though supported upon columns of marble, porphyry, or

alabaster. These pillars were either round or square, and were

generally monoliths; they were without base or capital, though

ornamented with figures cut in low relief. Buildings were further

adorned with elegant cornices and stucco designs of flowers and

animals, which were often painted with brilliant colors. Prominent

among these figures was the coiling serpent before mentioned. Lintels

and door-posts were also elaborately carved.[736]

The interior displayed the same rude magnificence. The floors were

covered with hard, smooth cement like the courtyard and streets,

rubbed with ochre or gypsum, and polished.[737] The glossy walls were

painted and hung with cotton or feather tapestry, to which Las Casas

adds silver plating and jewels. The furniture was scanty. It consisted

chiefly of soft mats and cushions of palm-leaves or fur, low tables,

and small stools with palm-leaf backs. The beds were mats piled one

upon another, with a block or a palm-leaf or cotton cushion for a

pillow; occasionally they were furnished with coverlets and canopies

of cotton or feather-work.[738] Vases filled with smoldering incense

diffused their perfume through the chambers. The rooms which were used

in winter were provided with hearths and fire-screens, and were

lighted by torches.[739] There were no doors, properly called such, to

the houses, but where privacy was required, a bamboo or wicker-work

screen was suspended across the entrance, and secured at night with a

bar. To this was attached a string of shells, which the visitor

rattled to call the host or his attendants to the entrance. The

interior rooms were separated by hangings, which probably also served

to cover the windows of ordinary dwellings,[740] although the

transparent _tecali_ stone, as before stated, answered the purpose of

window-glass in certain parts of some of the temples.[741]

[Sidenote: HOUSES OF THE LOWER CLASSES.]

The houses of the poorer classes were built of adobe, wood, cane, or

reeds and stones, mixed with mud, well plastered and polished,[742]

and, in Mexico, raised on stone foundations, to prevent dampness,[743]

though the elevation was less than that of the houses of the richer

people. They were generally of an oblong shape, were divided into

several apartments, and occasionally had a gallery in front. They

could not afford a central court, but had instead a flower or

vegetable garden wherever space permitted. Terrace roofs were not

uncommon in the towns, but more generally the houses of the poorer

people were thatched with a kind of long thick grass, or with

overlapping maguey-leaves.[744]

Besides the oratory and storehouse with which most houses were

provided, a _temazcalli_, or bath, was generally added to the

dwelling. This, according to Clavigero, consisted of a hemisphere of

adobe, having a slightly convex paved floor sunk a little below the

level of the surrounding ground. The entrance was a small hole just

large enough to admit a man. On the outside of the bath-house, and on

the opposite side to the entrance, was a furnace made of stone or

brick, separated from the interior by a thin slab of _tetzontli_, or

other porous stone, through which the heat was communicated. On

entering, the door was closed, and the suffocating vapors were allowed

to escape slowly through a small opening in the top. The largest

bath-houses were eight feet in diameter, and six feet in height. Some

were mere square chambers without a furnace, and were doubtless heated

and the fire raked out before the bather entered.[745]

The storehouses and granaries which were attached to farms, temples,

and palaces, were usually square buildings of oxametl-wood, with

thatched roofs. The logs had notches near the ends to give them a

secure hold. Two windows, or doors, one above the other, gave access

to the interior, which was often large enough to contain many thousand

bushels of grain.[746]

[Sidenote: AZTEC GARDENS.]

Love of flowers was a passion with the Aztecs, and they bestowed great

care upon the cultivation of gardens. The finest and largest of these

were at Iztapalapan and Huastepec. The garden at Iztapalapan was

divided into four squares, each traversed by shaded walks, meandering

among fruit-trees, blossoming hedges, and borders of sweet herbs.[747]

In the centre of the garden was an immense reservoir of hewn stone,

four hundred paces square, and fed by navigable canals. A tiled

pavement,[748] wide enough for four persons walking abreast,

surrounded the reservoir, and at intervals steps led down to the

water, upon the surface of which innumerable water-fowl sported. A

large pavilion, with halls and corridors, overlooked the grounds.[749]

The Huastepec garden was two leagues in circuit, and was situated on a

stream; it contained an immense variety of plants and trees, to which

additions were continually made.[750] The _chinampas_, or floating

gardens, have been described elsewhere.[751]

The Mexicans required no solid roads for heavy traffic, since goods

were carried upon the shoulders of slaves, but a number of pathways

crossed the country in various directions, which underwent repair

every year on the cessation of the rains. Here and there country

roads crossed streams by means of suspension-bridges, or fixed

structures mostly of wood, but sometimes of stone, with small spans.

The suspension-bridges were made of ropes, twisted canes, or tough

branches, attached to trees and connected by a netting. The Spaniards

were rather fearful of crossing them, on account of their swinging

motion when stepped upon and the gaping rents in them.[752]

Almost the only specimen of Nahua architecture which has withstood the

ravages of time until our day is the temple structure, _teocalli_,

'house of God,' or _teopan_, 'place of God,' of which Torquemada

asserts there were at least forty thousand in Mexico. Clavigero

regards this as a good deal below the real number, and if we consider

the extremely religious character of the people, and accept the

statements of the early chroniclers, who say that at distances of from

a quarter to half a league, in every town and village, were open

places containing one or more temples,[753] and on every isolated rock

or hill, along the country roads, even in the fields, were substantial

structures devoted to some idol, then Clavigero's assertion may be

correct.[754]

The larger temples were usually built upon pyramidal parallelograms,

square, or oblong, and consisted of a series of superimposed terraces

with perpendicular or sloping sides.[755] The celebrated temple at

Mexico forms a fair type of the latter kind and its detailed

description will give the best idea of this class of edifices.

[Sidenote: TEMPLE OF HUITZILOPOCHTLI.]

[Sidenote: THE GREAT TEMPLE OF MEXICO.]

[Sidenote: THE SACRIFICIAL STONE.]

When the Aztecs halted on the site of Mexico after their long

wanderings, the first care was to erect an abode for their chief

divinity Huitzilopochtli. The spot chosen for the humble structure,

which at first consisted of a mere hut, was over the stone whereon the

sacred nochtli grew that had been pointed out by the oracle. A

building more worthy of the god was soon erected, and, later on,

Ahuitzotl constructed the edifice from whose summit Cortés looked down

upon the scenes of his conquest. The labor bestowed upon it was

immense, and notwithstanding that the material had to be brought from

a distance of three or four leagues--a serious matter to a people who

were supplied with no adequate means of transport--the temple was

completed in two years.[756] The inauguration took place in 1486, in

the presence of the chief princes and an immense concourse of people

from all quarters, and 72,344 captives, arranged in two long files,

were sacrificed during the four days of its duration.[757] The site of

the building was indeed worthy of its character, standing as it did in

an immense square forming the centre of the town, from which radiated

the four chief thoroughfares.[758] The idea of thus keeping the god

before the people at all times had, doubtless, as much to do with this

arrangement as that of giving him the place of honor. A square

wall[759] about four thousand eight hundred feet in circumference,

from eight to nine feet in height and of great thickness, with its

sides facing the cardinal points, formed the courtyard of the

temple.[760] It was built of stone and lime, plastered and

polished,[761] crowned with battlements in the form of snails, and

turreted and adorned with many stone serpents,--a very common ornament

on edifices in Egypt as well as Anáhuac--for which reason it was

called _coatepantli_, 'wall of snakes.'[762] At the centre of each

wall stood a large two-story building, divided into a number of rooms,

in which the military stores and weapons were kept. These faced the

four chief thoroughfares of the town, and their lower stories formed

the portals of the gateways which gave entrance to the courtyard.[763]

This was partly paved with large smooth flag-stones, partly with

cement, plastered and polished, and so slippery that the horses of the

Spaniards could scarcely keep their footing.[764] In the centre stood

the great temple, an oblong, parallelogramic pyramid, about three

hundred and seventy-five feet long and three hundred feet broad at the

base, three hundred and twenty-five by two hundred and fifty at the

summit, and rising in five superimposed, perpendicular terraces to the

height of eighty-six feet.[765] The terraces were of equal

height,[766] the lowest, according to Tezozomoc, having a foundation a

fathom or more in depth, and each receded about six feet from the edge

of the one beneath it, leaving a flat ledge round its base.[767] At

the north-west corner the ledges were graded to form a series of

steps, one hundred and fourteen in all, and each about nine inches

high, which led from terrace to terrace, so that it was necessary to

walk completely round the edifice to gain the succeeding flight.[768]

This style of building was probably devised for show as well as for

defence, for by this means the gorgeously dressed procession of

priests was obliged to pass in sight of the entire multitude gathered

on all sides of the temple, winding at a solemn pace round each

terrace. The structure was composed of well-rammed earth, stones, and

clay, covered with a layer of large square pieces of tetzontli, all

of equal size, hewn smooth and joined with a fine cement, which

scarcely left a mark to be seen; it was besides covered with a

polished coating of lime, or gypsum.[769] The steps were of solid

stone and the platform of the same slippery character as the

court.[770] At its eastern end stood two three-story towers, fifty-six

feet in height,[771] separated from the edge by a walk barely wide

enough for one person. The lower story was of masonry with the floor

raised a few feet above the platform and an entrance on the west; the

two upper stories were of wood, with windows, to which access was had

by movable ladders.[772] A wooden cupola well painted and adorned

formed the roof.[773] The sanctuaries were in the lower story, the one

on the right hand dedicated to Huitzilopochtli with his partner and

lieutenant, the other to Tezcatlipoca.[774] The gigantic images of

these gods rested upon large stone altars three to four feet

high,[775] their monstrous grandeur shielded from the vulgar gaze of

the multitude by rich curtains hung with tassels and golden pellets

like bells, which rattled as the hangings moved. Before the altar

stood the terrible stone of sacrifice, a green block about five feet

in length, and three in breadth and height, rising in a ridge on the

top so as to bend the body of the victim upwards and allow the easy

extraction of the heart.[776] The walls and ceilings were painted with

monstrous figures, and ornamented with stucco and carved wood-work,

and, according to Las Casas, the gold and jewel-decked interior

exceeded even Thebe's famed temple in beauty,[777] but the venerable

bishop was evidently led away by his well-known enthusiasm for

whatever concerned the natives, for Bernal Diaz and others state that

the floors and walls were steeped with blood, diffusing a fetid odor

which made the visitors glad to escape to the fresh air.[778] The

upper stories were used as receptacles for the ashes of deceased kings

and lords,[779] and for the instruments connected with the service of

the temple, but Diaz also noticed idols, half human, half monstrous in

form, and found the rooms blood-stained like the lower apartment.[780]

Before each chapel stood a stone hearth of a man's height, and of the

same shape as the piscina in Catholic churches, upon which a fire was

continually kept burning by the virgins and priests, and great

misfortunes were apprehended if it became extinguished.[781] Here was

also the large drum covered with snake-skins,[782] whose sombre notes

resounded over a distance of two miles on feast-days and other

extraordinary occasions--many a death-knell it struck for the

Spaniards before they became masters of it. From this height the

Spaniards gazed down upon between seventy and eighty other edifices

within the enclosure, with their six hundred braziers of stone, some

round, some square, and from two to five feet high,[783] whose bright

fires flared in perpetual adoration of their idols, and turned the

night into day. About forty of these were temples, each with its

idols, scattered round the court and facing the great pyramid as if in

adoration.[784] They were considerably smaller than the central

temple, and differed chiefly in the form of the roof which was round,

square, or pyramidal, according to the character of the idol.[785] The

largest was that of Tlaloc, which stood nearest the pyramid, and was

ascended by fifty steps.[786] Quetzalcoatl's was the most singular in

form, being circular and surmounted by a dome, symbolic of the abode

of the god of air; a snake's jaws with exposed fangs formed the low

entrance, and made the stranger shudder as he stooped to pass in.[787]

Among other notable edifices were the _tezcacalli_, or 'house of

mirrors,' so called from the mirrors which covered its walls, and the

_teccizcalli_, 'house of shells,' to which the king retired at certain

times to perform penance. The high-priest also had a house of

retirement called _poiauhtla_, and there were several others for the

use of certain other priests. Among these was a splendid building,

provided with baths, fountains, and every comfort, in which notable

strangers who visited the temple or the court were entertained. The

Ilhuicatitlan temple, dedicated to the planet Venus, contained a large

column painted or sculptured with the image of the star, before which

captives were sacrificed on the appearance of the planet. Another

temple took the form of a cage, in which the idols of conquered

nations were confined, to prevent them from assisting their worshipers

in regaining their liberty.[788] The _quauhxicalco_ was used as a

receptacle for the bones of victims sacrificed at various sanctuaries.

The skulls of those killed at the great temple were deposited in the

_tzompantli_,[789] which stood just outside the court, near the

western or main gate. This consisted of an oblong sloping

parallelogram of earth and masonry, one hundred and fifty-four feet at

the base, ascended by thirty steps, on each of which were skulls.[790]

Round the summit were upwards of seventy raised poles about four feet

apart, connected by numerous rows of cross-poles passed through holes

in the masts, on each of which five skulls were filed, the sticks

being passed through the temples.[791] In the centre[792] stood two

towers, or columns, made of skulls and lime, the face of each skull

being turned outwards, and giving a horrible appearance to the whole.

This effect was heightened by leaving the heads of distinguished

captives in their natural state, with hair and skin on. As the skulls

decayed, or fell from the towers or poles, they were replaced by

others, so that no vacant place was left. The Spaniards are said to

have counted one hundred and thirty-six thousand skulls on the steps

and poles alone, but this number is, no doubt, greatly exaggerated.[793]

In the court was a large open space, which stretched to the foot of

the stairway of the great temple. Here the great dances were held in

which thousands took part,[794] and here, in full view of the

multitude gathered to join in the festive ring, stood the gladiatorial

stone, the _temalacatl_, upon which the captives were placed to fight

with Aztec warriors, for their liberty as it was termed, but rather

for the delectation of the masses, for their chance of victory, as we

have seen, was very small. It consisted of an immense flat circular

stone, three feet in height, very smooth, with sculptured edge, placed

upon a small pyramid eight feet in height.[795] In another part of the

court were three large halls with flat roofs and plastered walls,

painted on the inside, which contained a number of low, dark chambers,

each the abode of an idol; the walls were covered with blood, two

fingers in thickness, and the floors to the depth of a foot

almost.[796] The court also contained a grove in which birds were

raised for sacrifices, and whence the procession started on the day

devoted to the great hunt in honor of Mixcoatl; there were also a

number of gardens, where flowers and herbs for offerings were grown.

There were several bathing-places, one of which, the _tetzaapan_,

'cleansing water,'[797] was set apart for those who had made vows of

penance, and another, at Mixcoatl's temple, filled with black water,

for the priests. The _toxpalatl_ was a fine fountain, the waters of

which were only drunk at solemn festivals. It was supposed to have

been the identical spring in which the Aztec priest had the interview

with Tlaloc and obtained permission for the nation to settle. The care

of all the temple buildings devolved upon a perfect army of priests,

monks, nuns, school children, and other people, estimated at from five

to ten thousand, who all slept within the sacred precincts.[798] The

passing and repassing of such numbers must have made the place teem

with life, yet everything was in such perfect order and kept so

scrupulously clean, says Diaz, that not a speck or a straw could he

discover.[799]

Besides this there were several other temples and public oratories in

the city, situated either in groups within a square, or scattered

throughout the wards, and attended to by their special priests and

servants. Torquemada thinks that their number equaled the days in the

Aztec year, namely, three hundred and sixty, and Clavigero believes

that there were two thousand chapels besides.[800]

The temples in other towns were pretty much like the foregoing, three

being usually grouped around a central pyramid in a square, each with

its idol and one or two braziers. Others were mounds of earth cased

with stone, with one broad stairway in the centre of the western side,

or with steps on three sides, sometimes at each corner.[801] The

chapels on the platform were usually two or three stories in height,

often provided with balconies, the whole edifice being plastered and

polished.[802]

[Sidenote: TEOCALLI AT CHOLULA AND TEZCUCO.]

The pyramid at Mexico, large as it was, did not equal that at Cholula,

which Humboldt estimates at five thousand seven hundred and sixty feet

in circumference and one hundred and seventy-seven feet in height. It

consisted of four square terraces facing the cardinal points, which

seem to have been composed of alternate layers of adobe and clay, and

was surrounded by a double wall, according to Diaz. On the top stood

the semi-spherical chapel of Quetzalcoatl, with its door made low so

that all who entered should bend in humility.[803] This city

contained, besides, a great number of smaller temples, the total

equaling the number of days in the Mexican year.[804] The temple at

Tezcuco was also several steps higher than the Mexican pyramid.[805]

King Nezahualcoyotl, who is said to have believed in one supreme god,

erected in his honor a nine-story building, to indicate the nine

heavens, the roof of which was studded with stars and surmounted by

three pinnacles; the interior was decorated with gold and feather-work

and precious stones. The upper floor was a receptacle for musical

instruments, from one of which, the _chililitli_, the edifice was

named.[806] The traditional temples of early times, very fairy

creations according to the accounts of the natives, were far superior

to the later ones; but these relations are little more than

supernatural fables.[807]

FOOTNOTES:

[663] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. iv., p. 212;

_Diaz_, _Itinéraire_, in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, série i., tom. x.,

p. 27; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 658.

[664] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 658.

[665] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 274. Sahagun, in

describing how the people raised a mast to the god of fire, says:

'Atábanle diez maromas por la mitad de él ... y como le iban

levantando, ponianle unos maderos atados de dos en dos, y unos

puntales sobre que descanzase.' _Hist. Gen._, tom. i., lib. ii., p.

143.

[666] _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, (Translation, Lond. 1726), vol. iii.,

p. 280.

[667] _Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. i., p. 663; _Clavigero_,

_Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., pp. 201-2.

[668] _Motolinia_, _Hist. Indios_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._,

tom. i., p. 63; _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p.

201.

[669] 'With their Copper Hatchets, and Axes cunnyngly tempered, they

fell those trees, and hewe them smooth ... and boaring a hole in one

of the edges of the beame, they fasten the rope, then sette their

slaues vnto it ... putting round blocks vnder the timber.' _Peter

Martyr_, dec. v., lib. x.; _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i., lib. ii.,

p. 141.

[670] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 205;

_Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 318.

[671] Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x., states that they bored holes in

beams. They may therefore have known the use of wooden bolts, but this

is doubtful.

[672] 'Le _Tetzontli_ (pierre de cheveux), espèce d'amygdaloïde

poreuse, fort dure, est une lave refroidie. On la trouve en grande

quantité auprès de la petite ville de San-Agostin Tlalpan, ou de las

Cuevas, à 4 l. S. de Mexico.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat.

Civ._, tom. iii., p. 381.

[673] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 202;

_Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. i., pp. 663-4.

[674] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iv., p. 8.

[675] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 205. Cortés

mentions a 'suelo ladrillado' at Iztapalapan, _Cartas_, p. 83, and

Herrera, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xii., both _adobes_

and _ladrillos_ in speaking of building-material.

[676] _Dávila Padilla_, _Hist. Fvnd. Mex._, p. 75; _Carbajal

Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. i., p. 665. 'L'ignorante Ricercatore

nega a' Messicani la cognizione, e l'uso della calcina; ma consta per

la testimonianza di tutti gli Storici del Messico, per la matricola

de' tributi, e sopratutto per gli edifizj antichi finora sussistenti,

che tutte quelle Nacioni faceano della calcina il medecimo uso, che

fanno gli Europei.' _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii.,

p. 205, tom. iv., pp. 212-13. Both Cortés, _Cartas_, p. 60, and

Herrera, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. iv., mention walls of

dry stone, which would show that mortar was sometimes dispensed with,

in heavy structures; but Bernal Diaz, _Hist. Conq._, fol. 43,

contradicts this instance.

[677] At Sienchimalen. _Cortés_, _Cartas_, p. 57.

[678] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iv., pp. 89-90.

[679] Mexico is generally taken to be derived from Mexitl, or Mexi,

the other name of Huitzilopochtli, the favorite god and leader of the

Aztecs; many, however, think that it comes from _mexico_, springs,

which were plentiful in the neighborhood. Tenochtitlan comes from

_teonochtli_, divine nochtli, the fruit of the nopal, a species of

wild cactus, and _titlan_, composed of _tetl_, stone or rock, and

_an_, an affix to denote a place, a derivation which is officially

accepted, as may be seen from the arms of the city. Others say that it

is taken from _Tenuch_, one of the leaders of the Aztecs, who settled

upon the small island of Pantitlan, both of which names would together

form the word. 'Ce nom, qui veut dire _Ville de la Tuna_.... Le fruit

de cet arbre est appelé _nochtli_ en mexicain, car le nom de tuna ...

est tiré de la langue des insulaires de l'île de Cuba.... On a aussi

prétendu que le véritable nom de Mexico était Quauhnochtitlan, ce qui

veut dire _Figuier de l'Aigle_.... D'autres, enfin, prétendent que ce

figuier d'Inde n'était pas un _nochtli_ proprement dit, mais d'une

espèce sauvage qu'on appelle _tenochtli_, ou de celle que les naturels

nomment _teonochtli_ ou figure divine.' 'Elle avait pris du dieu Mexix

celui de Mexico.' _Camargo_, _Hist. Tlax._, in _Nouvelles Annales des

Voy._, 1843, tom. xcix., pp. 174-5. 'Los Indios, dezian; y dizen oy

Mexico Tenuchtitlan; y assi se pone en las Prouisiones Reales.'

_Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xiv. 'Tenoxtitlàn,

que significa, Tunal en piedra.' _Acosta_, _Hist. de las Ynd._, p.

466. The natives 'ni llaman Mexico, sino Tenuchtitlan.' _Torquemada_,

_Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 293. 'Tenuchtitlan, que significa fruta de

piedra.' 'Tambien dizen algunos, que tuuo esta ciudad nombre de su

primer fundador, que fue Tenuch, hijo segundo de Iztacmixcoatl, cuyos

hijos y decendientes poblaron ... esta tierra.... Tampoco falta quien

piense que se dixo de la grana, que llaman Nuchiztli, la qual sale del

mesmo cardon nopal y fruta nuchtli.... Tambien afirman otros que se

llama Mexico de los primeros fundadores que se dixeron Mexiti.'

_Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 113-15; _Motolinia_, _Hist. Indios_, in

_Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom. i., p. 180; _Clavigero_, _Storia

Ant. del Messico_, tom. i., pp. 168-9. '_Tenochtitlan_, c'est-à-dire,

auprès des nopals du rocher.' 'Ti-tlan est pris pour le lieu.'

_Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., pp. 446-9.

[680] He is also termed god of the earth in the fable.

[681] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., pp. 91-4, 289-91;

_Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., pp. 443-9.

[682] _Acosta_, _Hist. de las Ynd._, pp. 465-7. See also _Clavigero_,

_Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. i., pp. 167-8. Nearly all the authors

give the whole of the above meanings, without deciding upon any one.

[683] _Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. i., p. 313; _Heredia y

Sarmiento_, _Sermon_, p. 95.

[684] It means islet, from _tlatelli_, island. _Herrera_, _Hist.

Gen._, dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xiv. Veytia says it is a corruption

of _xaltelolco_, sandy ground. _Hist. Ant. Mej._, tom. ii., p. 141;

_Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 115.

[685] _Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. ii., p. 218; _Brasseur

de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iv., p. 5.

[686] The Anonymous Conqueror says two and a half to three leagues in

circumference, which is accepted by most authors. _Relatione fatta per

vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese_, in _Ramusio_,

_Navigationi_, tom. iii., fol. 309. But as the embankment which formed

a semi-circle round the town was three leagues in length, the

circumference of the city would not have been less. _Brasseur de

Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iv., p. 4. Cortés says that it was

as large as Seville or Cordova. _Cartas_, p. 103. Aylon, in _Id._, p.

43, places the number of houses as low as 30,000. Las Casas, _Hist.

Apologética_, MS., cap. l., who is usually so extravagant in his

descriptions, confines himself to 'mas de cincuenta mil casas.'

Gomara, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 113, 60,000, each of which contained two to

ten occupants. Torquemada, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 291, places the

number as high as 120,000, which may include outlying suburbs. The

size and business of the markets, the remains of ruins to be seen

round modern Mexico, and its fame, sustain the idea of a very large

population.

[687] See _Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. ii., pp. 216-17, on

former and present surroundings. _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii.,

lib. vii., cap. xiv.; _Cortés_, _Cartas_, p. 103.

[688] _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 115.

[689] 'Erano ... di terra come mattonata.' _Relatione fatta per vn

gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese_, in _Ramusio_,

_Navigationi_, tom. iii., fol. 309; _Prescott's Mex._, vol. ii., p.

110.

[690] 'Fueron hechas à mano, de Tierra, y Cespedes, y mui quajadas de

Piedra; son anchas, que pueden pasar por cada vna de ellas, tres

Carretas juntas, ò diez Hombres à Caballo.' _Torquemada_, _Monarq.

Ind._, tom. i., p. 292; _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap.

l.; _Prescott's Mex._, vol. ii., p. 69; _Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist.

Mex._, tom. ii., p. 217. 'Tan ancha como dos lanzas jinetas.'

_Cortés_, _Cartas_, p. 103. He mentions four causeways or entrances,

but this must include either the branch which joins the southern road,

or the aqueduct. 'Pueden ir por toda ello ocho de caballo á la par.'

_Id._, p. 83. The view of Mexico published in the Luxemburg edition of

_Cortés_, _Cartas_, points to four causeways besides the aqueduct, but

little reliance can be placed on these fanciful cuts. Helps thinks,

however, that there must have been more causeways than are mentioned

by the conquerors. _Span. Conq._, vol. ii., pp. 456, 472. 'Entrano in

essa per tre strade alte di pietra & di terra, ciascuna larga trenta

passi.' _Relatione fatta per vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando

Cortese_, in _Ramusio_, _Navigationi_, tom. iii., fol. 309. _Brasseur

de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iv., p. 4. 'Las puentes que

tenian hechas de trecho á trecho.' _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Conq._, fol.

70.

[691] 'Dos puertas, una por do entran y otra por do salen.' _Cortés_,

_Cartas_, p. 84, which means, no doubt, that passengers had to pass

through the fort. He calls the second town along the road Niciaca, and

the third Huchilohuchico. Brasseur de Bourbourg states that within the

fort was a teocalli dedicated to Toci, on which a beacon blazed all

night to guide travelers. _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iv., pp. 209-10. But

this is a mistake, for Tezozomoc, _Hist. Mex._, pt ii., p. 184, his

authority for this, says that the beacon was at a hill 'avant

d'arriver à Acuchinanco.'

[692] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 292; _Las Casas_,

_Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. l.; _Cortés_, _Cartas_, p. 84. The

Anonymous Conqueror calls them two leagues, one league and a half, and

a quarter of a league long respectively. _Relatione fatta per vn

gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese_, in _Ramusio_,

_Navigationi_, tom. iii., fol. 309; Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Hist. Nat.

Civ._, tom. iv., p. 4, makes the shortest a league.

[693] 'Habia otra algo mas estrecha para los dos acueductos.'

_Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. ii., p. 217.

[694] In Tezcuco the wards were each occupied by a distinct class of

tradespeople, and this was doubtless the case in Mexico also, to a

certain extent. 'Cada Oficio se vsase en Barrios de por sì; de suerte,

que los que eran Plateros de Oro, avian de estàr juntos, y todos los

de aquel Barrio, lo avian de ser, y no se avian de mezclar otros con

ellos; y los de Plata, en otro Barrio,' etc. _Torquemada_, _Monarq.

Ind._, tom. i., p. 147; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._,

tom. iv., p. 3; _Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. ii., p. 218.

[695] 'Al rededor de la ciudad habia muchos diques y esclusas para

contener las aguas en caso necesario ... no pocas que tenian en medio

una acequia entre dos terraplenes.' _Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._,

tom. ii., pp. 218-19.

[696] 'Hay sus puentes de muy anchas y muy grandes vigas juntas y

recias y bien labradas; y tales, que por muchas dellas pueden pasar

diez de caballo juntos á la par.' In case of necessity 'quitadas las

puentes de las entradas y salidas.' With this facility for cutting off

retreat, Cortés found it best to construct brigantines. _Cartas_, p.

103; _Motolinia_, _Hist. Indios_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._,

tom. i., p. 187; _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Conq._, fol. 73. 'Otra Calle

avia ... mui angosta, y tanto, que apenas podian ir dos Personas

juntas, son finalmente vnos Callejones mui estrechos.' _Torquemada_,

_Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 291; _Relatione fatta per vn gentil'huomo

del Signor Fernando Cortese_, in _Ramusio_, _Navigationi_, tom. iii.,

fol. 309; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xiii.

[697] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., pp. 157-8. It is here

said to be four fathoms broad. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat.

Civ._, tom. iii., pp. 231-2; _Klemm_, _Cultur-Geschichte_, tom. v., p.

32; Mühlenpfordt, _Mejico_, tom. ii., pt ii., p. 255, says: 'Reste

des ... gegen 39,400 Fuss langen and 65 Fuss breiten Dammes aus

Steinen in Lehm, zu beiden Seiten mit Pallisaden verbrämt.'

[698] _Cortés_, _Cartas_, p. 103; _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 116;

_Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii., p. 299; _Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist.

Mex._, tom. i., p. 608.

[699] 'Cosi grande come sarebbe tre volte la piazza di Salamanca.'

_Relatione fatta per vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese_, in

_Ramusio_, _Navigationi_, tom. iii., fol. 309; _Motolinia_, _Hist.

Indios_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom. i., p. 181.

[700] The Anonymous Conqueror states that this road carried the

aqueduct which was three quarters of a league in length. _Relatione

fatta per vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese_, in _Ramusio_,

_Navigationi_, tom. iii., fol. 309; _Cortés_, _Cartas_, p. 108;

_Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iv., p. 4;

_Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 207; _Prescott's Mex._, vol.

ii., p. 114.

[701] 'Los caños, que eran de madera y de cal y canto.' _Cortés_,

_Cartas_, pp. 209, 108; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii., p. 304.

Other writers make the pipes larger. 'Tan gordos como vn buey cada

vno.' _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 113. 'Tan anchas como tres hombres

juntos y mas.' _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. l.

[702] Cortés, _Cartas_, p. 108, says 'echan la dulce por unas canales

tan gruesas como un buey, que son de la longura de las dichas

puentes.' _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 207; _Las Casas_,

_Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. l.; _Prescott's Mex._, vol. ii., p.

114; _Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. i., p. 664.

[703] _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 113; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec.

ii., lib. vii., cap. xiii.

[704] _Acosta_, _Hist. de las Ynd._, pp. 500-1; _Torquemada_, _Monarq.

Ind._, tom. i., p. 207; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._,

tom. iv., p. 4.

[705] _Duran_, _Hist. Indias_, MS., tom. ii., cap. xlviii., xlix.

[706] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 427,

tom. iv., pp. 209-10; _Tezozomoc_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. ii., p. 184.

[707] _Ortega_, in _Veytia_, _Hist. Ant. Mej._, tom. iii., p. 319;

_Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., pp. 206, 460.

[708] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iv., p. 7. 'En

todos los caminos que tenian hechos de cañas, ò paja, ò yervas, porque

no los viessen los que passasen por ellos, y alli se metian, si tenian

gana de purgar los vientres, porque no se les perdiesse aquella

suciedad.' _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Conq._, fol. 70.

[709] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 298. The authorities

for the description of the city are: _Relatione fatta per vn

gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese_, in _Ramusio_,

_Navigationi_, tom. iii., fol. 309, and in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de

Doc._, tom. i., p. 390-2, with plans; _Cortés_, _Cartas_, pp. 43,

83-4, 102-9, 209; _Id._, _Despatches_, p. 333, plan; _Bernal Diaz_,

_Hist. Conq._, fol. 70-3; _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i. pp.

91-4, 147, 157-8, 206-7, 288-98, 306-7, 460; _Acosta_, _Hist. de las

Ynd._, pp. 465-8, 500-1; _Motolinia_, _Hist. Indios_, in

_Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom. i., pp. 180-3, 187-8; _Las Casas_,

_Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. l.; _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol.

113-16; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii., pp. 283-4, 299, 305;

_Veytia_, _Hist. Ant. Mej._, tom. ii., p. 141; _Ortega_, in _Id._,

tom. iii., p. 319; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii., lib. vii., cap.

xiii., xiv., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xi.; _Id._, (Translation, Lond.

1725), vol. ii., p. 372, vol. iii., p. 194, view and plan; _Camargo_,

_Hist. Tlax._, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1843, tom. xcix., pp.

174-5; _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. i., pp. 168-9;

_Heredia y Sarmiento_, _Sermon_, pp. 95-6; _Tezozomoc_, _Hist. Mex._,

tom. ii., p. 184; _Montanus_, _Nieuwe Weereld_, pp. 81, 238-9;

_Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., pp. 443-9, tom.

iii., pp. 231-2, 427, tom. iv., pp. 3-7, 209-10; _Carbajal Espinosa_,

_Hist. Mex._, tom. i., pp. 310-14, 664, tom. ii., pp. 216-28, with

plan; _Prescott's Mex._, vol. i., pp. 16-17, vol. ii., pp. 69, 76-86;

_Mühlenpfordt_, _Mejico_, tom. ii., pt ii., p. 255; _Alaman_,

_Disertaciones_, tom. i., p. 184-8; _Helps' Span. Conq._, vol. ii.,

pp. 310-14, 456, 471-2, 490-1, with plans; _Carli_, _Cartas_, pt i.,

pp. 35-6; _Peter Martyr_, dec. v., lib. x.

[710] _Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. ii., p. 197; _Prescott's

Mex._, vol. ii., p. 69.

[711] Cortés says 'piedra seca.' _Cartas_, p. 60, but this is

contradicted by Bernal Diaz, who found it to be of stone and mortar.

_Hist. Conq._, fol. 43. 'Sin mezcla de cal ni barro.' _Herrera_,

_Hist. Gen._, dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. iv.

[712] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 150, gives

the measurement at eight feet in height and eighteen in width.

[713] _Cortés_, _Cartas_, p. 60; _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Conq._, fol.

43; _West-Indische Spieghel_, pp. 225-6. _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del

Messico_, tom. ii., p. 150, with a cut.

[714] _Klemm_, _Cultur-Geschichte_, tom. v., p. 186.

[715] Delaporte says that streets met on the hills. _Reisen_, tom. x.,

p. 256.

[716] _Cortés_, _Cartas_, p. 67; _Relatione fatta per vn gentil'huomo

del Signor Fernando Cortese_, in _Ramusio_, _Navigationi_, tom. iii.,

fol. 308; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xii.

[717] _Cortés_, _Cartas_, p. 171. See _Warden_, _Recherches_, pp.

67-8, on fortifications. In Michoacan, some towns had walls of planks

two fathoms high and one broad. _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. iii.,

lib. iii., cap. iii.

[718] Meaning place of detention, because here the immigrating tribes

used to halt, while deciding upon their settlement. _Ixtlilxochitl_,

_Hist. Chich._, in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. ix., p. 214.

[719] Las Casas, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. xlix., says that it

was nearly as large as Mexico. _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 115.

Motolinia, _Hist. Indios_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom. i.,

p. 182, gives it a league in width and six in length. Peter Martyr,

dec. viii., lib. iv., gives it 20,000 houses. Carbajal Espinosa,

_Hist. Mex._, tom. i., pp. 87-8, estimates it at 30,000 houses, and

thinks that Torquemada must have included the three outlying towns to

attain his figure. _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 304.

[720] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iv., pp. 89-90,

303-4; _Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. i., pp. 87-8;

_Ixtlilxochitl_, _Hist. Chich._, in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol.

ix., pp. 242-4. For further references to Mexican towns, forts, etc.,

see: _Cortés_, _Cartas_, pp. 24, 57-60, 67-8, 74-5, 92-3, 153, 171,

186, 196; _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Conq._, fol. 43; _Relatione fatta per

vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese_, in _Ramusio_,

_Navigationi_, tom. iii., fol. 308; _Ixtlilxochitl_, _Hist. Chich._,

in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, tom. ix., pp. 214, 242, 251-2, 257;

_Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. xlix.; _Torquemada_,

_Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., pp. 251-2, 304, 449-50; _Gomara_, _Conq.

Mex._, fol. 26, 51, 115; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii., lib. v.,

cap. viii., lib. vi., cap. iv., xii., xvi., lib. vii., cap. iv., dec.

iii., lib. iii., cap. iii.; _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_,

tom. ii., p. 150, with cut; _Peter Martyr_, dec. iv., lib. iv., vii.,

dec. viii., lib. iv.; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii., p. 283;

_West-Indische Spieghel_, pp. 221, 225-6; _Bologne_, in

_Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, série i., tom. x., p. 212; _Montanus_,

_Nieuwe Weereld_, p. 236; _Klemm_, _Cultur-Geschichte_, tom. v., p.

186; _Delaporte_, _Reisen_, tom. x., p. 256; _Carbajal Espinosa_,

_Hist. Mex._, tom. i., pp. 87-8, 259, 663, tom. ii., pp. 51, 161;

_Warden_, _Recherches_, pp. 67-8; _Prescott's Mex._, vol. ii., p. 65;

_Helps' Span. Conq._, vol. ii., p. 296; _Bussierre_, _L'Empire Mex._,

pp. 240, 243.

[721] Las Casas states that when a warrior distinguished himself

abroad he was allowed to build his house in the style used by the

enemy, a privilege allowed to none else. _Hist. Apologética_, MS.,

cap. lxvi.

[722] 'I fondamenti delle case grandi della Capitale si gettavano a

cagione della poca sodezza di quel terreno sopra un piano di grosse

stanghe di cedro ficcate in terra.' _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del

Messico_, tom. ii., p. 202. 'Porque la humedad no les causase

enfermedad, alzaban los aposentos hasta un estado poco mas ó menos, y

así quedaban como entresuelos.' _Mendieta_, _Hist. Ecles._, p. 121.

Speaking of Cempoalla, Peter Martyr says: 'Vnto these houses or

habitations they ascend by 10. or 12. steppes or stayres.' Dec. iv.,

tom. vii. The floor of the palace at Mitla consisted of slabs of stone

three feet thick, which rested on ten feet piles. _Brasseur de

Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 26. Houses with elevated

terraces were only allowed to chiefs. _Tezozomoc_, _Hist. Mex._, tom.

i., p. 188.

[723] _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. xlix. This mode of

whitewashing the walls and polishing them with gypsum seems to have

been very common in all parts of Mexico, for we repeatedly meet with

mentions of the dazzling white walls, like silver, which the Spaniards

noticed all through their march. _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom.

i., p. 251; _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 202.

[724] In Cempoalla, says Peter Martyr, 'none may charge his neighbours

wall with beames or rafters. All the houses are seperated the distance

of 3. paces asunder.' Dec. iv., lib. vii. Cortés, _Cartas_, p. 24,

mentions as many as five courts.

[725] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 291; _Las Casas_,

_Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. l.; _Prescott's Mex._, vol. ii., pp.

76-7; _Chevalier_, _Mex., Ancien et Mod._, p. 173. 'N'avaient guère

qu'un étage, à cause de la fréquence des tremblement de terre.'

_Bussierre_, _L'Empire Mex._, p. 173.

[726] _Cortés_, _Cartas_, p. 24.

[727] _Chaves_, _Rapport_, in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, série ii.,

tom. v., p. 328. The palace at Tecpeque, says Las Casas, was a very

labyrinth, in which visitors were liable to lose themselves without a

guide. In the palace allotted to Cortés at Mexico he found comfortable

quarters for 400 of his own men, 2000 allies, and a number of

attendants. _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. lii., l. 'Auia salas con

sus camaras, que cabia cada vno en su cama, ciento y cincuenta

Castellanos.' _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. v.

'Intorno d'una gran corti fossero prima grandissime sale & stantie,

però v'era vna sala cosi grande che vi poteano star dentro senza dar

l'un fastidio all'altro piu di tre mila persone.' _Relatione fatta per

vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese_, in _Ramusio_,

_Navigationi_, tom. iii., fol. 309.

[728] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., pp. 200, 202;

_Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 251.

[729] Tezozomoc, _Hist. Mex._, tom. i., p. 188, says that chiefs were

permitted to erect towers pierced with arrows in the courtyard.

_Prescott's Mex._, vol. ii., p. 120. The houses were often quite

surrounded with trees. _West-Indische Spieghel_, p. 220.

[730] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 656.

[731] _Tylor's Anahuac_, pp. 135-6.

[732] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 291. Las Casas, _Hist.

Apologética_, MS., cap. l., says: 'Encalados por encima, que no se

pueden llover.' 'Couered with reede, thatch, or marish sedge: yet many

of them are couered with slate, or shingle stone.' _Peter Martyr_,

dec. iv., lib. vii., dec. v., lib. x.

[733] _Peter Martyr_, dec. iv., lib. iv., dec. v., lib. x.; _Carbajal

Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. ii., p. 219.

[734] _Helps' Span. Conq._, vol. ii., p. 314.

[735] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 658.

[736] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., pp. 200-2;

_Bussierre_, _L'Empire Mex._, pp. 173-4; _Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist.

Mex._, tom. i., pp. 662-3, 665.

[737] 'Eran los Patios, y Suelos de ellos, de argamasa, y despues de

encalados, cubrian la superficie, y haz, con Almagre, y despues

bruñianlos, con vnos guijarros, y piedras mui lisas, y quedaban con

tan buena tèz, y tan hermosamente bruñidos, que no podia estarlo mas

vn Plato de Plata; pues como fuese de mañana, y el Sol començase à

derramar, y esparcir la Lumbre de sus Raios, y començasen à reberverar

en los Suelos, encendianlos de manera, que à quien llevaba tan buen

deseo, y ansia de haber Oro, y Plata, le pudo parecer, que era Oro el

Suelo; y es mui cierto, que los suelos de las Casas, y de los Patios

(en especial, de los Templos, y de los Señores, y Personas

Principales) se hacian, y adereçaban, en aquellos Tiempos, tales, que

eran mui de vèr, y algunos de estos hemos visto tan lisos, y limpios,

que sin asco se podia comer en ellos, sin Manteles, qualquier Manjar.'

_Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., pp. 251-2; _Las Casas_, _Hist.

Apologética_, MS., cap. xlix.

[738] 'Toldillos encima.' _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Conq._, fol. 66.

[739] _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. l.; _Gomara_, _Conq.

Mex._, fol. 318; _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Conq._, fol. 66, 68; _Herrera_,

_Hist. Gen._, dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. v., vii.; _Bussierre_,

_L'Empire Mex._, pp. 174-5; _Cortés_, _Cartas_, pp. 79, 174-5. Klemm,

_Cultur-Geschichte_, tom. v., pp. 15-16, mentions stools of cane and

reed; and firebugs which were used for lights.

[740] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 381; _Clavigero_,

_Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 201; _Carbajal Espinosa_,

_Hist. Mex._, tom. i., p. 662. 'No ay puertas ni ventanas que cerrar,

todo es abierto.' _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 318.

[741] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iv., p. 8.

[742] _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xii.; _Peter

Martyr_, dec. v., lib. x.; _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap.

xlix-l.; _Prescott's Mex._, vol. ii., p. 76.

[743] _Peter Martyr_, dec. v., lib. x.

[744] _Motolinia_, _Hist. Indios_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._,

tom. i., p. 199; _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p.

200; _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 318; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist.

Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 657; _Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, tom.

i., pp. 661-2.

[745] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., pp. 214-15,

with cut; _Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. i., pp. 662, 671-2,

with cut. The poorer had doubtless resort to public baths; they

certainly existed in Tlascala. _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii., lib.

vi., cap. xvi.; _Bussierre_, _L'Empire Mex._, p. 240.

[746] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 155;

_Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 635;

_Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 564. For description of

houses, see: _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., pp. 251-2, 291,

tom. ii., pp. 381, 564; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii., lib. vi.,

cap. xii., xvi., lib. vii., cap. v.; _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del

Messico_, tom. ii., pp. 155, 200-2, 214-15, with cut; _Las Casas_,

_Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. xlix.-lii.; _Cortés_, _Cartas_, p. 24;

_Relatione fatta per vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese_, in

_Ramusio_, _Navigationi_, tom. iii., fol. 309; _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist.

Conq._, fol. 66, 68; _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 318; _Motolinia_,

_Hist. Indios_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom. i., p. 199;

_Mendieta_, _Hist. Ecles._, p. 121; _Tezozomoc_, _Hist. Mex._, tom.

i., p. 188; _Peter Martyr_, dec. iv., lib. iv., vii., dec. v., cap.

x.; _Chaves_, _Rapport_, in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, série ii., tom.

v., p. 328; _West-Indische Spieghel_, p. 221; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_,

_Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., pp. 26, 222, 635, 656-8, iv., p. 8;

_Prescott's Mex._, vol. ii., pp. 76-7, 120; _Chevalier_, _Mex., Ancien

et Mod._, p. 31; _Bussierre_, _L'Empire Mex._, pp. 173-5, 240;

_Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. i., pp. 661-3, 671-2, with

cut, tom. ii., p. 219; _Tylor's Anahuac_, pp. 135-6; _Klemm_,

_Cultur-Geschichte_, tom. v., pp. 15-16.

[747] 'El anden, hácia la pared de la huerta, va todo labrado de cañas

con unas vergas.' _Cortés_, _Cartas_, p. 83.

[748] 'Un anden de muy buen suelo ladrillado.' _Cortés_, _Cartas_, p.

83.

[749] _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii., p. 283; _Brasseur de

Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 636; _Clavigero_, _Storia

Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 156.

[750] _Cortés_, _Cartas_, p. 196; _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del

Messico_, tom. ii., p. 157.

[751] See this vol., p. 345.

[752] 'Hay sus puentes de muy anchas y muy grandes vigas juntas y

recias y bien labradas; y tales, que por muchas dellas pueden pasar

diez de caballo juntos á la par.' _Cortés_, _Cartas_, p. 103. Brasseur

de Bourbourg, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 632, says that stone

bridges were most common, which is doubtless a mistake. Speaking of

swinging bridges, Klemm says: 'Manche waren so fest angespannt, dass

sie gar keine schwankende Bewegung hatten.' _Cultur-Geschichte_, tom.

v., p. 75; _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 169.

[753] 'En los mismos patios de los pueblos principales habia otros

cada doce ó quince teocallis harto grandes, unos mayores que otros.'

_Motolinia_, _Hist. Indios_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom.

i., p. 64. 'Entre quatro, ó cinco barrios tenian vn Adoratorio, y sus

idolos.' _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Conq._, fol. 72.

[754] _Mendieta_, _Hist. Ecles._, pp. 84-6; _Torquemada_, _Monarq.

Ind._, tom. ii., p. 141; _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap.

cxxiv.; _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 35.

[755] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., pp. 26, 34,

cuts; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, (Translation, Lond. 1725), vol. ii.,

pp. 372, 378, cuts.

[756] _Tezozomoc_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. i., pp. 151-3.

[757] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 186; _Vetancvrt_,

_Teatro Mex._, pt ii., p. 37. Other authors give the number at

60,460, and the attendance at 6,000,000. _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del

Messico_, tom. i., p. 257.

[758] 'Recibia dentro de su hueco todo el suelo en que aora està

edificada la Iglesia Maior, Casas del Marquès del Valle, Casas Reales,

y Casas Arçobispales, con mucha parte de lo que aora es Plaça, que

parece cosa increìble.' _Sahagun_, quoted in _Torquemada_, _Monarq.

Ind._, tom. ii., p. 146. To-day the Cathedral stands upon the Plaza,

and many houses occupy the spot; see _Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist.

Mex._, tom. ii., pp. 226-7, 233-5. Opposite the south gate was the

market and 'en face du grand temple se trouvait le palais.'

_Tezozomoc_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. i., p. 152.

[759] 'Dos cercas al rededor de cal, y canto.' _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist.

Conq._, fol. 70-1.

[760] 'Mayores que la plaça que ay en Salamanca.' _Bernal Diaz_,

_Hist. Conq._, fol. 70. Cortés, _Cartas_, p. 106, states that a town

of 500 houses could be located within its compass. Torquemada,

_Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 144, Gomara, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 119, Las

Casas, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. li., and Herrera, _Hist. Gen._,

dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xvii., agree upon a length to each side of

one cross-bow or musket shot, and this, according to Las Casas, cap.

cxxxii., is 750 paces; in the same places he gives the length at four

shots, or 3000 paces, an evident mistake, unless by this is meant the

circumference. Hernandez estimates it at about 80 perches, or 1,420

feet. Sahagun, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i., lib. ii., p. 197, who seems to

have investigated the matter more closely, places it at 200 fathoms,

which cannot be too high, when we consider that the court enclosed 77

or more edifices, besides the great temple. Carbajal Espinosa, _Hist.

Mex._, tom. ii., p. 226, gives a length of 250 varas.

[761] 'Era todo cercado de piedra de manposterìa mui bien labrado.'

_Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 144. 'Estaban mui bien

encaladas, blancas, y bruñidas.' _Id._, p. 141.

[762] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 27;

_Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 661;

_Prescott's Mex._, vol. ii., p. 142. 'Era labrada de piedras grandes a

manera de culebras asidas las vnas a las otras.' _Acosta_, _Hist. de

las Ynd._, p. 333; _Motolinia_, _Hist. Indios_, in _Icazbalceta_,

_Col. de Doc._, tom. i., p. 63.

[763] Acosta, _Hist. de las Ynd._, p. 333, says an idol stood over

each gate, facing the road. It is not stated by any author that the

arsenals formed the gateway, but as they rose over the entrance, and

nearly all mention upper and lower rooms, and as buildings of this

size could not have rested upon the walls alone, it follows that the

lower story must have formed the sides of the entrance. 'A cada parte

y puerta de las cuatro del patio del templo grande ya dicho habia una

gran sala con muy buenos aposentos altos y bajos en rededor.' _Las

Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. li.; _Torquemada_, _Monarq.

Ind._, tom. ii., p. 146; _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 120. Tezozomoc,

_Hist. Mex._, tom. i., p. 152, mentions three gates. 'À l'orient et à

l'occident d'une petite porte et d'une grande vis-à-vis de l'escalier

méridional.'

[764] 'Y el mismo patio, y sitio todo empedrado de piedras grandes de

losas blancas, y muy lisas: y adonde no auia de aquellas piedras,

estaua encalado, y bruñido.' _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Conq._, fol. 70.

The white stones had no doubt received that color from plaster. 'Los

patios y suelos eran teñidos de Almagre bruñido, y incorporado con la

misma cal.' _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 141; _Las

Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. xlix. The dimensions given by

the different authors are extremely varied; the Anonymous Conqueror,

as the only eye-witness who has given any measurements, certainly

deserves credit for those that appear reasonable, namely the length

and width; the height seems out of proportion.

[765] 'Cento & cinquanta passi, ò poco piu di lunghezza, & cento

quindici, ò cento & venti di larghezza.' _Relatione fatta per vn

gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese_, in _Ramusio_,

_Navigationi_, tom. iii., fol. 307. This would give the length and

breadth of the base in the text, assuming two and a half feet to the

pace. With a decrease of two good paces for each of the four ledges

which surround the pyramid, the summit measurement is arrived at. The

terraces are stated by the same author to be two men's stature in

height, but this scarcely agrees with the height indicated by the 120

or 30 steps given. Bernal Diaz, _Hist. Conq._, fol. 70, counted 114

steps, and as most authors estimate each of these at a span, or nine

inches in height, this would give an altitude of 86 feet. Clavigero,

_Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., pp. 28-9, gives about 50 fathoms

(perches, he calls them) by 43 to the base, and, allowing a perch to

the ledges, he places the summit dimensions at 43 by 34 fathoms. The

height he estimates at 19 fathoms, giving the height of each step as

one foot. To prove that he has not over-estimated the summit

dimensions, at least, he refers to the statements of Cortés, who

affirms that he fought 500 Mexicans on the top platform, and of Diaz,

who says that over 4,000 men garrisoned the temple. Torquemada,

_Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., pp. 144-5, who follows Sahagun, states it to

be 360 feet square at the base, and over 70 at the top; the steps he

says are 'vna tercia, y mas' in height, which closely approaches a

foot. Las Casas, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. li., says: 'Una torre

triangular ó de tres esquinas de tierra y piedra maciza; y ancha de

esquina á esquina de ciento y viente pasos ó cuasi ... con un llano ó

plaza de obra de setenta pies.' In cap. cxxxii. he calls it 100 men's

stature in height. Gomara, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 119, says 50 fathoms

square at the base and 18 at the top. Ixtlilxochitl, _Hist. Chich._,

in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. ix., p. 245, describes a temple

which seems to be that of Mexico, and states it to be 80 fathoms

square, with a height of 27 men's stature. Herrera, _Hist. Gen._, dec.

ii., lib. vii., cap. xvii., places the dimensions as low as 30 varas

square at the base and from 12 to 15 at the top. Of modern authors

Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 659, gives the

dimensions at 300 by 250 feet for the base, and 60 feet for the

summit, after allowing from 5 to 6 feet for the ledges, a rather

extraordinary computation; unless, indeed, we assume that the terraces

were sloping, but there is no reliable cut or description to confirm

such a supposition. Humboldt, _Essai Pol._, tom. i., pp. 169-70, has

97 mètres for the square, and 37 for the height. Ortega, in _Veytia_,

_Hist. Ant. Mej._, tom. iii., pp. 280-82, is positive that the height

was certainly no less than 38 varas. Prescott, _Mex._, vol. ii., p.

144, remarks that there is no authority for describing the temple as

oblong, except the _contemptible_ cut of the Anonymous Conqueror. This

may be just enough as regards the cut, but if he had examined the

description attached to it, he would have found the dimensions of an

oblong structure given. We must consider that the Anonymous Conqueror

is the only eye-witness who gives any measurement, and, further, that

as two chapels were situated at one end of the platform the structure

ought to have been oblong to give the space in front a fair outline.

[766] 'Alto come due stature d'vn huomo.' _Relatione fatta per vn

gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese_, in _Ramusio_,

_Navigationi_, tom. iii., fol. 307.

[767] 'Lasciano vna strada di larghezza di duo passi.' _Relatione

fatta per vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese_, in _Ramusio_,

_Navigationi_, tom. iii., fol. 307. See note 87; _Motolinia_, _Hist.

Indios_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom. i., p. 64.

[768] The Anonymous Conqueror, _Relatione, etc._, ubi supra, Las

Casas, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. cxxiv., Gomara, _Conq. Mex._,

fol. 119, and Torquemada, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 145, all say

that there was no ledge on the west side, merely steps, but this is,

doubtless, a careless expression, for 23 steps allotted to each

terrace would scarcely have extended over a length of about 300 feet,

the breadth of the pyramid. Nearly all agree upon the number of the

steps, namely 114. Ixtlilxochitl, _Hist. Chich._, in _Kingsborough's

Mex. Antiq._, vol. ix., p. 245, however, gives 160 steps; Oviedo,

_Hist. Gen._, tom. iii., pp. 502-3, 60 steps; and Acosta, _Hist. de

las Ynd._, p. 333, 30 steps, 30 fathoms wide, but the latter author

has evidently mixed up the accounts of two different temples.

Tezozomoc, _Hist. Mex._, tom. i., p. 152, states that the temple had

three stairways, with 360 steps in all, one for every day in the

Mexican year. According to _Klemm_, _Cultur-Geschichte_, tom. v., p.

155, the steps are on the south corner, but there is no authority for

this statement; in the cuts they appear on the north.

[769] 'De tierra y piedra, mezclada con cal muy macizada.' _Herrera_,

_Hist. Gen._, dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xvii. 'Por la parte de fuera

iba su pared de piedra: lo de dentro henchíanlo de piedra todo, ó de

barro y adobe; otros de tierra bien tapiada.' _Motolinia_, _Hist.

Indios_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom. i., pp. 63-4. 'Hecha

de manposteria.' _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 144. The

pyramid of Teotihuacan, which, according to some authors, has been a

model for others, is built of clay mixed with small stones, covered by

a heavy wall of tetzontli, which is coated with lime. _Humboldt_,

_Essai Pol._, tom. i., p. 187. 'Todas las piedras estauan assentadas

de tal suerte, que la mezcla casi no parecia, sino todas las piedras

vna.' _Dávila Padilla_, _Hist. Fvnd. Mex._, p. 75. The whitewash may,

however, have given it this solid appearance. 'Todos aquellos Templos,

y Salas; y todas sus paredes que los cercaban, estaban mui bien

encaladas, blancas, y bruñidas.' _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom.

ii., p. 141. The mortar was mixed with precious stones and gold-dust.

_Tezozomoc_, _Crónica Mex._, in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol.

ix., p. 60.

[770] Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 659,

states that three sides of the platform were protected by a balustrade

of sculptured stone, and this is not unlikely when we consider the

slippery nature of the floor and the dizzy height. See _Torquemada_,

_Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 141; _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_,

MS., cap. xlix., cxxiv., and note 75 on polished floors. Carbajal

Espinosa, _Hist. Mex._, tom. i., p. 664, states that the summit was

paved with marble.

[771] 'In alto dieci, ò dodici stature d'huomo.' _Relatione fatta per

vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese_, in _Ramusio_,

_Navigationi_, tom. iii., fol. 307. This is followed by Clavigero,

_Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 29, who says 56 feet, or about

9 perches. No other dimensions are mentioned by the old chroniclers;

Brasseur de Bourbourg, however, gives them a base of 20 feet square,

_Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., pp. 659-60, but this becomes absurd when

we consider the height of the buildings, and the accommodation

required for the gigantic idols they contained. This author hazards

the opinion that the chapels were placed close to the edge, to enable

the people to see the idols from below, but there is no mention of any

doors on the east side, and it is stated that the chapels were placed

at this end so that the people in praying might face the rising sun.

_Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 119; _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_,

MS., cap. li.

[772] 'Que se mandaban por la parte de adentro, por unas escaleras de

madera movedizas.' _Ixtlilxochitl_, _Hist. Chich._, in _Kingsborough's

Mex. Antiq._, vol. ix., p. 245. Acosta states that the towers were

ascended by 120 steps. _Hist. de las Ynd._, p. 334. The towers were

made of 'artesones.' _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 119. Brasseur de

Bourbourg states that the outside of the walls was painted with

various figures and monsters, but this seems to be a misinterpretation

of Gomara, who places the paintings on the inside. _Hist. Nat. Civ._,

tom. iii., p. 660. Bernal Diaz says, besides, that the towers were

'todas blanqueando.' _Hist. Conq._, fol. 70.

[773] The eaves or the domes of the temples were decorated with fine

red and white pillars, set with jet black stones and holding two

figures of stone with torches in their hands, which supported a

battlement in form of spiral shells; the torches were adorned with

yellow and green feathers and fringes. _Acosta_, _Hist. de las Ynd._,

p. 333; _Montanus_, _Nieuwe Weereld_, p. 242.

[774] Most of the old authors say that Tlaloc occupied the second

chapel, but as the next largest temple in the court is dedicated to

this god, I am inclined to think, with Clavigero, that Tezcatlipoca

shared the chief pyramid with Huitzilopochtli. Another reason for this

belief is that Tezcatlipoca was held to be the half-brother of

Huitzilopochtli, and their feasts were sometimes attended with similar

ceremonies. Tezcatlipoca was also one of the highest if not the

highest god, and, accordingly, entitled to the place of honor by the

side of the favorite god of the Aztecs. Tlaloc, on the other hand, had

nothing in common with Huitzilopochtli, and the only possible ground

that can be found for his promotion to the chief pyramid is to be seen

in the fable of the foundation of Mexico, in which Tlaloc, as the lord

of the site, gives the Aztecs permission to settle there. We have,

besides, the testimony of Bernal Diaz, who saw Tezcatlipoca, adorned

with the _tezcatl_, or mirror ornament, seated in the left hand

temple. _Hist. Conq._, fol. 71; _Ortega_, in _Veytia_, _Hist. Ant.

Mej._, tom. iii., p. 281. Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Hist. Nat. Civ._,

tom. iii., p. 660, thinks it possible that the second temple was

occupied by different idols, in turn, according to the festival.

[775] 'No eran mas altos que cinco palmos.' _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._,

fol. 119. _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 29.

[776] Clavigero thinks that the stone was of jasper. _Storia Ant. del

Messico_, tom. ii., p. 46, with cut. It is difficult to define the

position of this stone; some place it before the idol within the

chapel, others at the western extremity of the platform. Referring to

the idols in the chapel, Sahagun says: 'Delante de cada una de estas

estaba una piedra redonda á manera de tajon que llaman _texcatl_,

donde mataban los que sacrificaban á honra de aquel dios, y desde la

piedra hasta abajo un _regaxal_ de sangre de los que mataban en

él'--he describes the stone as round. _Hist. Gen._, tom. i., lib. ii.,

p. 198. And this I am inclined to accept as correct, especially as

several points indicate that the stones stood inside the chapel. Their

floor, we are told, were steeped in blood that must have flown from

the victims; further, we know that the reeking heart was held up

before or thrown at the feet of the idol, immediately after being torn

out. The act of sacrifice was in itself a ceremony which could only

have been performed before the idol. Acosta, _Hist. de las Ynd._, p.

334, and Solis, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom. i., p. 397, place it in the

middle of the platform. Prescott, _Mex._, vol. ii., p. 145, states

that the stone (one only) stood near the head of the stairway, but

this is most likely a hasty interpretation of Diaz' vague account.

There may, however, have been a large stone at this place, which was

used for the great and general sacrifices. _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist.

Conq._, fol. 70; _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. cxxiv.

Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., pp. 660-1,

manages very dexterously to place the two stones before the chapel,

and at the same time near the head of the steps. Klemm,

_Cultur-Geschichte_, tom. v., p. 98, mentions one stone with a hollow

in the middle.

[777] _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. cxxxii.; _Gomara_,

_Conq. Mex._, fol. 119.

[778] _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Conq._, fol. 71.

[779] _Cortés_, _Cartas_, p. 106. It is also stated that certain

chapels in the streets were used for burial places by the lords. 'Inde

Straten waren veel Cappellen, die meest diendeden tot begravinghe van

de groote Heeren.' _West-Indische Spieghel_, p. 248.

[780] 'Dezian, que era el Dios de las sementeras' (called Centeotl).

_Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Conq._, fol. 71.

[781] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., pp. 29-30;

_Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. ii., p. 228; _Torquemada_,

_Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 145; on p. 141, he says, in

contradiction: 'Delante de los Altares en estos Templos avia vnos

braseros hechos de piedra, y cal, de tres quartas en alto, de figura

circular, ò redonda, y otros quadrados, donde de dia, y de noche ardia

continuo fuego, tenian sus fogones, y braseros todas las Salas de los

dichos Templos, donde encendian fuego, para calentarse los Señores,

quando iban à ellos, y para los Sacerdotes.' 'Tan altos como tres

palmos y cuatro.' _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. cxxiv.

[782] _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Conq._, fol. 70.

[783] See note 119; _Motolinia_, _Hist. Indios_, in _Icazbalceta_,

_Col. de Doc._, tom. i., p. 65.

[784] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 30. Las

Casas, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. li., and Motolinia, _Hist.

Indios_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom. i., p. 64, say that

they face in all directions, which tends to prove that they must have

faced the temple of the supreme and patron gods. 'Estando encontrados,

y puestos vnos contra otros,' adds _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom.

ii., pp. 141, 145. Gomara, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 119, states that they

were turned against all points but the east, so as to differ from the

chief temple. 'Tenian la cara ácia el occidente.' _Sahagun_, _Hist.

Gen._, tom. i., lib. ii., p. 198. Acosta, _Hist. de las Ynd._, p. 334,

states that the court held eight or nine temples facing all quarters.

[785] 'Todos eran vnos; pero diferenciabanse en el asiento, y

postura.' _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 145. 'La cubierta

... era de diversas, y varias formas, que aunque eran vnas de madera,

y otras de paja, como de Centeno, eran mui primamente labradas, vnas

coberturas piramidales, y quadradas, y otras redondas, y de otras

formas.' _Ib._ _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 118-19; _Brasseur de

Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., pp. 662-3.

[786] 'La menor dellas tiene çinqüenta escalones para subir al cuerpo

de la torre.' _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii., p. 302; _Cortés_,

_Cartas_, p. 106.

[787] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 145.

[788] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., pp. 147-50.

[789] _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 201-7;

_Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 149; Clavigero, _Storia

Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 32, calls it Hueitzompan.

[790] 'En los escalones habia tambien un cráneo entre piedra y

piedra.' _Ortega_, in _Veytia_, _Hist. Ant. Mej._, tom. iii., p. 287.

But this is unlikely. See also _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 121.

[791] 'Estos palos hazian muchas aspas por las vigas, y cada tercio de

aspa o palo, tenia cinco cabeças ensartadas por las sienes.' _Gomara_,

_Conq. Mex._, fol. 121-2. Acosta, _Hist. de las Ynd._, p. 334, places

the masts a fathom apart, and twenty skulls upon each cross-pole,

which is, to say the least, very close packing.

[792] At each end of the platform. _Warden_, _Recherches_, p. 66.

[793] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 32;

_Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 121-2; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii.,

lib. vii., cap. xviii.; _Acosta_, _Hist. de las Ynd._, pp. 333-5. The

account of the latter author is so mixed up with that of the chief

temple as to be of little value; Montanus, _Nieuwe Weereld_, pp.

242-3, follows him.

[794] Acosta, _Hist. de las Ynd._, p. 333, says that 8,000 to 10,000

persons could dance with joined hands in this place.

[795] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 48, with

cut; _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 154; _Ortega_, in

_Veytia_, _Hist. Ant. Mej._, tom. iii., p. 283; _Brasseur de

Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 662.

[796] _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 120; _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._,

tom. ii., pp. 146-7; _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. li.

[797] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 151; _Ixtlilxochitl_,

_Hist. Chich._, in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. ix., p. 244.

[798] 'Residen en el a la contina cinco mil personas, y todas duermen

dentro, y comen a su costa del.' _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 120.

'V'hauea vna guarnigione di dieci mila homini di guerra.' _Relatione

fatta per vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese_, in _Ramusio_,

_Navigationi_, tom. iii., fol. 309.

[799] The authorities on the temple of Mexico are: _Bernal Diaz_,

_Hist. Conq._, fol. 70-2; _Relatione fatta per vn gentil'huomo del

Signor Fernando Cortese_, in _Ramusio_, _Navigationi_, tom. iii., fol.

307, 309, and in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom. i., pp. 384-5,

394-5, with cuts; _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 186, tom.

ii., pp. 140-56; _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i., lib. ii., pp.

197-211; _Cortés_, _Cartas_, p. 106; _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol.

118-22; _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. xlix., li.,

cxxiv.; _Vetancvrt_, _Teatro Mex._, pt ii., p. 37; _Clavigero_,

_Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. i., pp. 257-8, tom. ii., pp. 25-32,

46-8, with cuts made up from the various descriptions of Diaz and

others; see his remarks, p. 26. _Acosta_, _Hist. de las Ynd._, pp.

333-5; this author mixes up the descriptions of the chief temple and

the Tzompantli, and represents this account as that of Huitzilopochtli's

sanctuary; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xvii.,

xviii.; _Motolinia_, _Hist. Indios_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._,

tom. i., pp. 63-5; _Ortega_, in _Veytia_, _Hist. Ant. Mej._, tom.

iii., pp. 279-89; _Tezozomoc_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. i., pp. 151-3, 193;

_Ixtlilxochitl_, _Hist. Chich._, in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol.

ix., p. 245; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii., pp. 302-3, 502-3;

_Dávila Padilla_, _Hist. Fvnd. Mex._, p. 75; _Solis_, _Hist. Conq.

Mex._, tom. i., pp. 394-98; _Montanus_, _Nieuwe Weereld_, p. 242;

_West-Indische Spieghel_, p. 248; _Humboldt_, _Essai Pol._, tom. i.,

p. 187; _Klemm_, _Cultur-Geschichte_, tom. v., pp. 154-5; _Brasseur de

Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., pp. 659-65; _Carbajal

Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. i., p. 664, tom. ii., pp. 226-35, with

cuts; _Warden_, _Recherches_, p. 66; _Prescott's Mex._, vol. ii., pp.

142-5.

[800] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 145; _Clavigero_,

_Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 33. Gomara, _Conq. Mex._, fol.

120, says that there were 2000 idols, each of which is supposed to

have had a separate chapel. _Cavo_, _Tres Siglos_, tom. i., p. 2; _Las

Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. cxxxii.; in cap. cxxiv., he

adds that 100 of these were great temples.

[801] _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 120. Some temple pyramids, says

Dávila Padilla, formed a perfect cone, the casing being composed of

large stones at the bottom; as the wall rose, the stones decreased in

size; the summit was crowned with a precious stone. _Hist. Fvnd.

Mex._, p. 75; _Prescott's Mex._, vol. i., p. 72.

[802] 'Los grandes tenian tres sobrados encima de los altares, todos

_de terrados y_ bien altos.' _Motolinia_, _Hist. Indios_, in

_Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom. i., p. 64; _Las Casas_, _Hist.

Apologética_, MS., cap. cxxiv.; _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom.

ii., p. 141.

[803] _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. cxxiv.; _Humboldt_,

_Essai Pol._, tom. i., pp. 239-40; _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del

Messico_, tom. ii., pp. 33-4. Bernal Diaz counted 120 steps, which

scarcely agrees with the height of the pyramid. _Hist. Conq._, fol.

72. Acosta, _Hist. de las Ynd._, pp. 390-1, mentions 60 steps only.

'Alto bien mas de quarenta estados: fue hecho de Adove, y Piedra.'

_Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 281. Montanus adds that on

the summit stood a square structure, supported by 28 pillars, within

which were thousands of skulls; he mentions two chapels. _Nieuwe

Weereld_, p. 236. It had 1508 steps; in the wall was a large diamond.

_West-Indische Spieghel_, p. 238.

[804] _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. xlix. Some of these

had two chapels, which would make the number of towers about 400.

_Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ii.

[805] _Ixtlilxochitl_, _Hist. Chich._, in _Kingsborough's Mex.

Antiq._, vol. ix., p. 245. The description of the temple as given by

this writer is almost identical with that of the great temple at

Mexico. _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Conq._, fol. 72; _Torquemada_, _Monarq.

Ind._, tom. i., p. 305.

[806] _Ixtlilxochitl_, _Hist. Chich._, in _Kingsborough's Mex.

Antiq._, vol. ix., p. 257.

[807] _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 107-8. Further

authorities on Mexican buildings: _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii.,

lib. vii., cap. iv-v., viii-xi., xiii-xviii., dec. iii., lib. i., cap.

viii., lib. ii., cap. xi., xv.; _Peter Martyr_, dec. v., lib. ii-iii.,

viii., x., dec. viii., lib. iv.; _Mendieta_, _Hist. Ecles._, pp. 84-7,

121; _Veytia_, _Hist. Ant. Mej._, tom. i., p. 155; _Zuazo_, _Carta_,

in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom. i., pp. 359, 362;

_West-Indische Spieghel_, pp. 240-8; _Munster_, _Cosmographia_, p.

1410; _Montanus_, _Nieuwe Weereld_, pp. 80-5, 235-7, 242-3; _Cortés_,

_Aven. y Conq._, pp. 120, 128-33; _Bussierre_, _L'Empire Mex._, pp.

123-7, 172-5, 252-3, 258-9, 266; _Klemm_, _Cultur-Geschichte_, tom.

v., pp. 31-2, 75, 84-5, 97-9, 152-62; _Monglave_, _Résumé_, pp. 20-1,

24-5, 36-7; _Touron_, _Hist. Gén._, tom. iii., pp. 40-8; _Cooper's

Hist. N. Amer._, pt ii., p. 164; _Lafond_, _Voyage_, tom. i., pp.

106-7; _Brownell's Ind. Races_, pp. 92-5; _Ranking's Hist.

Researches_, pp. 336-7; _Domenech_, _Mexique_, pp. 70-2; _Foster's

Pre-Hist. Races_, p. 391; _Dilworth's Conq. Mex._, pp. 64, 70-1;

_Lenoir_, _Parallèle_, pp. 20-1; _Pimentel_, _Mem. sobre la Raza

Indígena_, pp. 55-7; _Chevalier_, _Mex., Ancien et Mod._, pp. 30-3;

_Purchas his Pilgrimes_, vol. iv., pp. 1033, 1123-4, 1133.