When morning broke over the lake, the voyagers were still at a league's
distance from the city. The wind had died away, the clouds parted in the
heaven, and long before the sunlight trembled on the snows of
Iztaccihuatl, the morning-star was seen peeping over its summit. It bade
fair for a goodly day, and Juan, despite his situation, which, rightly
considered, was in every point of view, wretched enough, began to feel a
sensation of pleasure, as he breathed the fresh air at liberty, and
looked around him on the fair prospects, disengaging themselves each
moment from the rolling mists. Though the tops of the higher mountains
of the east were visible, the lower borders of the lake in that quarter,
as well as to the north and south, were yet concealed under vapours. In
the west, however, the view was but little obstructed, and he could
behold, distinctly enough, the dense masses of edifices, which covered
the whole island of Mexico and many a broad acre of water around it. The
huge pyramids, with their tower-like sanctuaries, rose proudly, as of
yore, high above the surrounding buildings; the turrets and pinnacles,
that crowned the royal palaces and the houses of nobles, still gleamed
in the morning air; and, as he drew nigh, he could see the gardens of
shrubs and flowers on the terraces, which gave to the whole city a look
of verdure strange and beautiful to behold.
As soon as objects became distinct, Techeechee, observing that Juan's
garments were yet dripping with wet, took from the prow of the canoe a
little bundle, from which he drew a broad, richly ornamented tilmaltli,
or cloak, a _maxtlatl_, or cloth to wrap round the loins, sandals for
the feet, fillets for the hair, and a fan of feathers to protect the
eyes from sunshine. These he proffered to Juan, giving him to understand
that he should forthwith doff his Christian weeds, and appear in the
guise of a Mexican noble; telling him, at the same time, that they had
been provided by Guatimozin, in anticipation of his deliverance. Yet
neither remonstrance nor entreaty could prevail upon him to do more than
throw off his reeking surcoat, and supply its place by the Indian cloak,
which was of sufficient capacity, when folded about his person, almost
to conceal his under attire, now in a great measure dried by the warmth
of his body. This being accomplished to his satisfaction, Techeechee
resumed his paddle, and fixing his eyes upon the imperial city, began to
mumble, in an under voice, certain snatches of native airs, which, both
in quality and pitch, bore no little resemblance to the suppressed
growlings, or rather the groaning of an imprisoned lion, and which, had
Juan required any such testimony, would have proved how little his
commerce with the Conquerors and his personal affection for himself, had
withdrawn his heart from the people and the faith of Montezuma. As he
advanced still nearer to the city, his air grew more confident, his
tones more resolute and animated; and, by and by, without seeming to
regard the presence of the young Spaniard, he launched boldly into a
sort of national anthem, in which the military pride of the Mexicans was
mingled with the gloom of their ferocious superstitions. The melody was
rude and savage,--or rather it was no melody at all, but a chant or
recitative, which was relieved from monotony only by the variations of
emphasis, which became stronger and stronger, as the distance waxed less
and less to the city. To express the words employed in any of the
metrical modes of civilized song, would be to rob the roundelay of its
identity; for rhythm and melody were equally set at defiance;--at least,
so it would have seemed to an ear accustomed only to the natural music
of iambics and dactyls. We will therefore express them in unambitious
prose, only premising that before the barbarian had proceeded far in the
chant, the song was caught up and continued by the warriors in the fleet
of canoes, now paddling out of the mists behind, and by many infidels
who watched its approach from the shore, and from an island crag,
strongly fortified, that lay a little to the east of the city.
"Mexitli Tetzauhteotl,[1] o-ah! o-ah!" thus sang the pagan,--"the son of
the woman[2] of Tula. 'Mother, I will protect you.'[3] The green plume
is on his head, the wing of the eagle is on his leg, his forehead is
blue like the firmament; he carries a spear and buckler, and with the
fir-tree of Colhuacan,[4] he crushes the mountains. 'Mother, I will
protect you.' Am not I the son of Mexico? and is not Mexico the daughter
of Mexitli? O-ah, o-ah! Mexitli Tetzauhteotl!
[Footnote 1: Mexitli, the Terrible God.]
[Footnote 2: Coatlicue, or Coatliquay, a religieuse, and sort of
lady-abbess, of a mythic era. She was deified as the Goddess of
Flowers.--A strange mother for such a son. But the Mexicans carried a
sword in one hand, and a flower in the other.]
[Footnote 3: The words of the god, yet unborn, when the life of
Coatlicue was threatened by her _human_ children.]
[Footnote 4: The Hunchbacked Mountain, on the sides of which the
Mexicans won their first recorded victory.]
"My father ate the heart of Xochimilco! Where was Painalton, the god of
the swift foot, when the Miztecas ran to the mountains? 'Fast, warrior,
fast!' said Painalton, brother of Mexitli. His footprint is on the snows
of Iztaccihuatl, and on the roof of Orizaba.[5] Tochtepec and Chinantla,
Matlatzinco and Oaxaca, they shook under his feet, as the hills shake,
when Mictlanteuctli, king of hell, groans in the caverns. So my father
killed the men of the south, the men of the east and west, and Mexitli
shook the fir-tree with joy, and Painalton danced by night among the
stars.
[Footnote 5: _Pojautecatl_, in Mexican.]
"Where is the end of Mexico? It begins in Huehuetapallan in the north,
and who knows the place of Huehuetapallan?[6] In the south, it sees the
lands of crocodiles and vultures,--the bog and the rock, where man
cannot live. The sea washes it on the east, the sea washes it on the
west, and that is the end--Who has looked to the end of the waters?
It is the land of blossoms,--the land of the tiger-flower,
and the cactus-bud that opens at night like a star,--of the
flower-of-the-dead,[7] that ghosts come to snuff at, and of the
hand-flower,[8] which our gods planted among the hills. It is a land
dear to Mexitli.
[Footnote 6: Huehuetapallan, was the name of the unknown land, from
which came all the hordes of Toltecs and Aztecs. One remarkable
circumstance connected with the famous ruined city near to Palenque in
Guatemala, seems to have escaped the theorists. It is said that the
Indians call this city by the name of Huehuetapallan. It is far to the
_south_ of Mexico.]
[Footnote 7: The Dahlia.]
[Footnote 8: _Arbol de las Manitas_--the marvellous tree, of which,
besides that in the present Botanic Garden, there are supposed to be but
two more specimens in the land, unless known only to the Indians.]
"Who were the enemies of Mexico? Their heads are in the walls of the
House of Skulls, and the little child strikes them, as he goes by, with
a twig. Once, Mexico was a bog of reeds, and Mexitli slept on a couch of
bulrushes: our god sits now on a world of gold, and the world is Mexico.
Will any one fight me? I am a Mexican.--Mexitli is the god of the brave.
Our city is fair on the island, and Mexitli sleeps with us. When he
calls me in the morning, I grasp the quiver,--the quiver and the axe;
and I am not afraid. When he winds his horn from the temple, I know that
he is my father, and that he looks at me, while I fight. Sound the horn
of battle, for I see the spear of a foe! Mexitli Tetzauteotl, we are the
men of Mexico!"
With such roundelays as these, echoed at a distance by the rowers in the
fleet and by many barbarians from the buildings that projected into the
lake, Techeechee urged the light canoe through a sluice in the northern
dike, and approached that long neck or peninsula, once the island of
Tlatelolco, but long since united to that of Tenochtitlan, which gave
its name to the fifth quarter of the city, and, as it afterwards
appeared, was the site of the noblest of the many palaces, built at
different periods, by the kings of Mexico. A large portion of the
peninsula, midway between its extremity and the ancient bank of the
island of Tenochtitlan, was occupied by a garden, divided from the lake
by a wall lofty enough to secure it against the assault of a foe, and
yet sufficiently low to expose to the eye of a spectator on the lake,
the rich luxuriance of groves, among whose waving boughs could be traced
the outlines of a spacious edifice, profusely decorated with turrets and
observatories, some of which were of great height and singular
structure.
Against this wall, through a fleet of fishing canoes, now paddling out
into the lake, Techeechee seemed to direct the little skiff, much to
Juan's surprise, until, having drawn nigher, he perceived that it was
perforated by several gateways or sally-ports, very low, and evidently
designed to give entrance only to the humble vessels which composed the
Mexican navy. The largest was wide enough to admit two or three of the
largest piraguas abreast, and the smaller ones seemed intended only for
the private gondolas of the royal family. All were defended by stout
wickets, which, as Juan soon perceived, were raised and let fall from
within, somewhat in the manner of a portcullis.
The tranquillity that seemed to reign within this sanctified recess,
betrayed at once its royal character. In every other quarter of the
city, as he passed it, Juan could hear a roaring hum, as if proceeding
from a vast multitude pent within the narrow island,--as was indeed the
case, the whole military strength of the empire being concentrated
within the limits of the island and the shore-cities that commanded the
causeways. But here all was a profound calm, broken only by the songs of
birds, and, occasionally, by what seemed the cry of some tamed and
domesticated beast of prey.
As Techeechee urged the canoe towards one of the smaller gateways, Juan
beheld the wicket ascend from the water, but without seeing by whom or
in what manner, it was raised. An instant after, he was on the very
point of entering the narrow chasm, perhaps never more to repass it. He
turned his eye back again to the lake, and strove to discover the dim
lines and masses of shore and city, palace and pyramid, among which he
had so lately dwelt in sorrow and confinement. The mists were nearly
dispersed, and the sky was clear; but the fiery track of the rising sun
over the lake, dazzled his eyes, and, with a veil of radiance, hid the
towers of Tezcuco. He caught an indistinct view of two or three
brigantines, becalmed at a distance from the shore, which they were
endeavouring to regain by the force of oars; but the city of the
Acolhuacanese was no longer visible; and by and by, the whole prospect
of the lake was shut out by the garden wall, under which he had passed.
He had scarce turned away his eyes, when the wicket sunk, with a plunge,
into the water. He looked back: but those who had loosed it, were
already hidden among the shrubbery. It seemed as if the falling of that
portal had shut him out for ever from the society of his countrymen. His
companions were now to be found among the uncivilized and the godless.
A narrow canal, bordered with banks of flowers, conducted the canoe from
the gateway to a little stone basin, planted round with trees, at the
roots of which were placed carved blocks of stone, as if designed for
seats. Here Techeechee sprang ashore, followed by Juan and Befo, the
latter now completely refreshed, and, though evidently somewhat
surprised, and even daunted, by the novelty of his situation, without
showing any symptoms of having repented his change of masters.
"The Great Eagle is in the house of the king, his brother," said the
Ottomi, "and his enemies cannot reach him,--no, not even if they were
the Tlatoani of the great city. Sit down then, and be at peace; for
presently the king will come from the lake, and speak to his brother.
Techeechee will go to the wall and look out. The big tiger,--the
dog,--Pepo."--He had already acquired the dog's name, or as near an
approach to it as his organs could overmaster, and was not a little
pleased, when the animal, raising his head at the sound, stalked
amicably towards him, rubbing his nose against him in token of
good-will. "Pepo! amigo, friend, good rascal!" he said, affectionately,
but not without some nervousness--"very pretty Pepo, Techeechee's
brother. Guatimozin is the Young Eagle's brother; Techeechee will be
Pepo's!" Then, Befo having returned to Juan, he continued, "Let not Pepo
roam through the garden; the watchmen on the walls would think him a
tiger escaped from his cage, and shoot him with arrows. This is the Pool
of the Full Moon: here the king will come to his brother."
So saying, Techeechee glided away through the shrubbery, and was
presently seen ascending the wall, by certain steep steps constructed
for the purpose, up to a ledge, undoubtedly prepared to give footing to
defenders, from which he could overlook the outer parapet, and enjoy an
extensive view of the lake.
And now the outcast Juan, after giving way, for a few moments, to a
grief that was the stronger perhaps, from the opportunity thus offered
of indulging it in secret, began gradually to be moved by other
feelings, in which curiosity soon became predominant; and looking about
him, he beheld with his own eyes an example of the strange and barbaric
magnificence which characterized the royal gardens of Anahuac.
The sun was already high in the east, and the last rain-drop was
exhaling from the leaf. The sky was cloudless, the waters were at rest.
It was such a day as lent beauty to objects not in themselves fair; and
to the green brilliance of foliage and the harmonious hues of flowers it
imparted a loveliness as dear to the imagination as the senses. It was
the spring time, too,--the season of Nature's triumph and rejoicing.
The Pool of the Full Moon, as Techeechee had called it, doubtless, from
its circular shape, and its diminutive size, was surrounded by a wall of
trees as dense as that which enclosed the memorable pond in the garden
of Tezcuco. But besides the addition of the stone seats and basin, it
was ornamented with banks of the richest flowers, behind which rose a
thick setting of shrubbery; and from the branches of the trees hung rich
tufts and festoons of that gray moss--the Barba de Espana, which gives
an air of such indescribable solemnity to the forests of the lower
Mississippi. A few little birds warbled among the boughs, and the
field-cricket chirped in the bushes. In other respects the place was
silent and wholly solitary; and as its green walls shut out almost
altogether the spectacles disclosed from other places, Juan left it,
after seeing that Techeechee maintained his stand on the wall, as if the
fleet were still at a distance.
He now perceived that the garden, though very beautiful, was a
labyrinth, or rather, as it seemed, a wilderness of groves, glades, and
fountains, some of which last burst from mounds of stone, that were the
pedestals of rude and fantastic statues, perhaps idols, and some spouted
up into the air, from the mouths of porphyry serpents and dragons, as if
the science of hydraulics had already begun to dawn upon the minds of
the Mexican artisans. The noblest cypresses rose over the humblest vine,
and many a convolvulus rolled its cataract of flowers over the tops of
lesser trees, and many an aloe, from a vast pyramid of leaves, reared up
its lofty pillar, crowned with a yellow canopy of blossoms. All the
splendour of the vegetable world known to Anahuac, found its place in
this magnificent retreat: and the plants of the lower zones, and even
the palms of the coast, had been made to thrive side by side with those
productions which were natural to the elevated valley.
Besides these ornaments and a thousand similar, the animal kingdom was
made to add a charm, and, as it soon appeared, a horror to the royal
garden; for Juan had no sooner left the pool, than he beheld, besides a
thousand birds of every dye among the trees, some half dozen deer
frisking over the glades, and heard at but a little distance, the roar
of fiercer animals, such as came to his ears, while he was yet on the
lake.
At a sound so hostile, Befo bristled and uttered a low bark, as if to
apprize his master of the presence of danger; but Juan knew enough of
the habits of the Mexican kings to understand that their gardens,
besides enclosing all that was beautiful among plants, contained also
aviaries and menageries, in which were collected the birds and beasts of
their empire;--in other words, they were Zoological Gardens, such as the
advance of science is now establishing in the countries of Europe. A
little fawn, feeding hard by, started with more terror at this unusual
cry of Befo, than at any of the howls to which it had been long
accustomed, and ran timidly away. As it fled, Juan remarked that its
neck was encircled by a chaplet of flowers, as if lately put on by some
caressing hand.
At this sight a new impulse seemed to seize the youth. He faltered,
hesitated, cast his eye to the wall, on which Techeechee was yet
standing, and then marking the quarter whither the little animal had
fled, he beckoned to Befo to take post at his heels, and immediately
followed.
He soon found himself among a maze of copses, among which were scattered
divers cages or baskets, of great strength, secured to the trunks of
trees, and little paddocks equally strong, each containing some
ferocious or untameable beast, many of them brought from the most
distant provinces. Thus he beheld,--besides an abundant display of pumas
or mitzlis, (the maneless lion,) jaguars, wolves, ounces, and wild
dogs,--the bison of Chihuahua staggering in his pen, the antelope or
prong-horn of the north, and even the great bear from the ridges of the
Oregon or Rocky Mountains. The tapir of Guatemala rolled by his fenny
pool, and the peccary herded hard by. Here were apes, ant-eaters,
porcupines, and a thousand other animals; and among them, imprisoned
with the same jealous care, in suitable cages, were the reptiles of the
country,--lizards and adders, and all the family of the Crotalus, from
the common rattlesnake of America to that frightful one of Mexico and
South America, which has been distinguished as especially the Horrid.
Here was the phosphorescent _cencoatl_, whose path through the bushes
and grass by night is said to be indicated by the gleaming light of his
body; the _tlilcoa_, or great black serpent of the mountains, and the
still more formidable and gigantic _canauhcoatl_, or Boa-Constrictor,
which, like his neighbour, the cayman or crocodile, from the same
boiling fens of the coast, made his prey upon the largest stags, and
even human beings. With these were many smaller snakes, distinguished
for their beauty, and sometimes their docility, some of which latter,
entirely harmless, were allowed to crawl about at liberty.
It would require a book by itself, to particularize and describe all the
members of this fearful convocation of monsters; of which it was
afterwards written by Bernal Diaz, that when the beasts and reptiles
were provoked and irritated, so as to howl and hiss together, 'the
palace seemed like hell itself.' It is very certain that Befo lost much
of his dignity of carriage at the mere sight of such assembled terrors,
creeping along reluctantly and with draggling tail; and Juan himself was
not without some sensations of alarm, as he found himself now startled
by the growl of an angry mitzli, now perturbed by the sudden rustling of
a boa among the dried reeds of his couch. The rattlesnakes shook their
castanets at his approach, the cayman tumbled, with a sudden plunge,
into his muddy pool, the wolf showed his sharp teeth, and the ape darted
towards him from the tree, with a wild, chattering, and half hostile
scream. But he had remarked that the little fawn directed its course
immediately through the thickest of the assemblage; and if that
circumstance did not convince him of the safety of the path, he was
certainly ashamed to show less courage than the young of a doe. He
therefore trudged onwards, and, in a few moments, exchanged the scene
for one less frightful, though not less striking.
He was now among the birds of Mexico. A grove,--it might have seemed a
forest,--of lofty trees, was covered over with a curious contrivance of
nets, some of which were confined to their tops, while others were made
to surround the shrubbery at their roots, in all which were confined the
noisy prisoners. Other nets were flung over little pools, whose banks
and surface were enlivened by the presence of water-fowl. In some places
cages were hung upon the trees, containing the more precious or
unmanageable captives. Through this grove one might penetrate in all
conceivable directions, and seem to be confined along with its feathered
inhabitants, and yet be really separated from them by the nets.
The outer portion or border of the grove, was devoted to the endless
tribe of parrots, whose magnificent colours gave a beauty to the
treetops, not to be lessened even by the horrid clamour of their voices.
The singing birds were confined within the silent recesses of its
centre.
If curiosity and a mere love of barbarous display, without other motive,
had collected together in the gardens of Mexico her beasts and reptiles,
utility had some little influence in the selection of her birds. Their
feathers were devoted to a thousand purposes of ornament, and among
others, to the construction of those very singular Mosaic works, or
pictures, which have won the admiration even of European painters and
virtuosos. But while thus providing for the supply of one of the most
elegant of wants, the Mexican kings secured to themselves the means of
adding the loveliest and most natural feature to their gardens. It would
be impossible to convey any just idea of the splendid creatures that
went wandering and leaping, like sunbeams, among the leaves and over the
grass. Eagles and kites sat on the trees, and storks, herons, and
flamingos stalked through the pools. Here the macaw flashed, screaming,
through the boughs; there the wood-pigeon sat cooing by his mate. The
little _madrugador_, or early-riser, the happiest of his species, who
chirps up his companions, when the morning-star peeps from the horizon,
repeated his jovial note; the white-sparrow, the calandra, the cardinal,
the sable-and-golden orible, and the little spotted tiger-bird, added
their charming voices; and the Centzontli, or mocking-bird, as it is
trivially called, for it is worthy of a name much more poetical and
dignified, whistled and sang with such a power and variety of
melody, as left all other songsters in the background. The little
_chupa-rosas_,--rose-pickers, or humming-birds,--darted about from
blossom to blossom, needing and acknowledging no bonds save those of
attachment to their favourite flowers.
Through this delightful grove Juan stepped, enchanted with its music;
and following a pleasant path, over which there echoed no notes louder
than those of the little wood-pigeon, such as the traveller yet hears
cooing in the copse that surmounts the mouldered pyramid of Cholula, he
was soon introduced to a spectacle more striking, more lovely, and to
him far more captivating, than any he had yet beheld.