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Show 428 DISSERT; YU. '-'v--J \ II I S T 0 R Y 0 ' F M E X I C 0. vilegcd, fell i1; the principal flJuarc of the city. This amazing quantity of pulc1ue is o.1lmofi folc:ly confumed uy the Indians and Mulattoes , the nun1ber of which is furpaffed by that of the Whites and Cre0les, few of whom make ufe of this beverage. The tax upon it amou nts annually, in the capital alone, to about two hundred ami eighty thollfand crowns (pefos fuertes ), The daily confumption of tobacco for finoaking, in that capital, is r .. ckoned at one thouf:uul, two hundred and fifty crowns, or thereabouts; which in one year makes the fum, of four hundred and fifty thoufand crowns and more. But it is ncceffilry to be underfiood, that among the Indians very few ufe tobacco;. among the Europeans and Creoles very many do not ufe it, and fome of the Mt1lattoes do not. Who will put greater faith in the. calculations made by M. de Paw than in the regifiers of the capital ? or who will place more value on the judgment of a modern Prufiian, wh.o is fo extrav:rgant refpecring the ancie1~t populoufnefs of that city, than on that of fo many ancient writers who faw it. With regard to the city and court of Tczcuco, we know from the· letters of Cortes to Charles V. that it contained about thirty thoufand houfes; but thi~ ought to be u-ndedl:ood folely of the court; for including the G>ther three cities of CoatlichQn~. Huexotla,. and Atenco, which, as Cortes attefts, appeared to form a feparatc population, it was, by a great deal, larger than Mexico. Torquemada, following Sahagun, and the accounts of the Indians, affirms, that the population of thofe f0ur c:ities, c~ntained an hundred and forty thoufand houfes; from which number, althougt1 we· deduCt an baH~ a li:Orlfid~r.able population would remain. No hiilorian has t:old us t·he population of Tlacopan, although all affirm it was confiderable. Of Xochimilco we know~ that next to the three royal refidences it was the large{b of all. Of Ixtapalapan, Cortes affirms, it had· from twelve to fifteen thou'land fires; of Mixcoac, he f.1ys, that it had ab0ut fix thoufand; Huitzilopochco from four to five thoufand; Acolman and Otompan. each four thoufand; · and Mcxicaltzinco, three thoufand. Chalco, Azcapozalco, Cojoacan, ~auhtitlan, were,. without comparifon, larger than thcfe lafi mentioned cities. All thefe, and a great many others,. were comprehended in the vale of Mexico alone : the fig,ht o~ which. caufe.d .. H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. caufed no lefs admiration than fear to the Spaniards when they fidl: obferved them from the top of the mountains of that delightful valley. They felt the fame afionifhment when they faw the population of Tlafca]a. Cortes, in his letter to Charles y. fJ)eaks thus of that city ; cc It is fo large and wonderful, that although l omit a great dt:al of " what I could fay, I believe that little which I fity will appear incrc" dible; for it is much larger and more populous than Granada when " it was taken from the Moors, more firong, has as good buildings, " ·and more abundance of every thing." The anonymous conqueror fpcaks of it i11 the f..1me manner, '' There " are," he f.1ys, " great cities, and am.ong others that of Tlafcala,. " which, in [orne refpecl:s, refemb.les Granada,. and in others, Sego," via, but it is more populous than either." OfTzirnpantzinco, a city of the republic, Cortes at1irms (i), that the enumeration of the houfes having been made at his. deG.rc, there were found to be twenty thoufand. Of Huejotlipan, a place of the fame republ~c,. he fays, that it had from three to four thoufand fires. Of Cholu]a Cortes afl1rms. that it had about twenty thoufand houfes, and as many in the neighbollt'ing villages~ which were like its fuburbs., Huexotzinco and Tepeyacac were the rivals of Cholula in greatn .. efs. Thefe are fome of the peopled places which the Spzmia.rds fa:V before the co?queft; we omit many others, of the greatncfs of whtch we arc certified by the te!timony of thefe and other authors. 'Ve are not lefs convinced of the population of thofe countries from the innumerable concourfe of people which were feeti at their matkets, from the very numerous. armies which they raifed whenever it was necelfary, and the furprifing number of baptiiins ~mmediately after the conquefi. \Viith ref peer to the numbers .at their market~, an~ ()f their armies, we have [aid enough in our htfiory on the f~uth of many eye-witnclfes.. We might fufpeCl:~ that the conquerors had e~aggerated the number of the Indian troops,. in order to make thetr .conquefi appe~r more glorious,. but this would appear only when they reckoned the number of the troops of the enemy, not when they counted their own allies, as. the mare the nwnber of the latter W<lS. ( ; ) Cortes fpcnks of tliis city witho.ut n.aming it, but it appears f1·om the context to have lleen the fame · and Tor'l.uemnda menuons 1t exprcfsly •· • J;:...J, • ' l!llCrea~.t:u DlSSER T. VII. .. J |