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Show 382 DISSERT. NI. ~ H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. plc hieroglyphic, from it to allegorical fymbols, from the.nce to arbitrary charaCters, and laftly to ·the alphabet. If any perfon would «rill1 to know from his hiftory to what degree the Mexicans were arrived, he certainly will not be able to find it; as that hiftorical reafoner fpeaks with fo much ambiguity, that fometimes it appears that he believes ihey were hardly arrived at the fecond degree, that is fimple hieroglyphic; and fometimes it feems that he judges them arrived at the fourth degree or at arbitrary .charaCter. But, independent of what he fays, it is certain, that all the above mentioned ways of reprefenting ideas, except that of the alphabet, were ufed by the Mexicans. Their numeral charaCters, and thofe fignifying night, day, the year, the century, the heavens, the earth, the water, &c. perhaps were not tnily arbitrary charaCters. The Mexicans were arrived then as far as the famous Chincfe; after many ages of civilization. There is no difference between the one and the other, except that the Chinefe characters are mul'tiplied to fuch excefs, that a whole life-time is not enough to learn them. Dr. Robertfon, far from denying, like Mr. de Paw, the fecqlar wheels of the Mexicans, confeffes their method of computing time, and f.1.ys, that their having obferved, that in eighteen months, of twenty days each, the courfe of the fun was not completed, they added the five days 1\emontemi. " This near approach to philofophical accu" rncy is a remarkable proof that the Mexicans had beftowed fomc " attention upon enquiries and [peculations to which men in their {udc " fiate·never turn their thoughts (h)." What would he have faid had he known, as appears from the chronology of the Mexicans, that they not only counted three hundred fixty-five days to the year, but alfo knew of the excefs of about fix hours in the folar over the civil year, and remedied the difference between them by means of thirteen intercalary days, which they added to thei ceiltury of fifty-two years. (b) Ilifr. of .America, book vii. SECT. H I S T 0 R Y 0 F , M E X I C 0. , j J I S E C T. V. On t/;e Arts of the Mexicam. MR. de Paw, after having given a contemptuous dcfc_ription of Peru, and the barbarity of its inhabitants, fpeaks of Mexico, of which ftate, he f.:1ys, there are as many fallities and miracles related as of Peru; but it is certain, he adds, that thofe two nations were upon an equality; whether we confider their government, their arts, or their inftruments. Agriculture was abandoned by them, and their architeCture moil: wr tched : their paintings were coarfe, and their arts very imperfect; their fortification s, their palaces, and their temples, are mere fiCtions . of the Spaniards. If the Mexicans, he fays, had had fortifications, they would have lheltered themfelves from the mufketry, and thofe "fix poor pieces of cannon, which Cortes carried with him, would not have overthrown in a moment fo many ba!l:jons and entrench; ments. The walls of their buildings were only great ftones, laid loofely, one upon another. The boafted palace, where the kings of Mexico re.lided, was a mere' hut; on which account, F. Cortes, finding no fuitable habitation in all the capital of that fiate, was obliged 'to erect a palace for himfelf in hafte, which ftill exifts. It is not eafy to enumerate the abfurdities thrown out by M. de Paw on this fubject: omitting, however, what belongs to Peru, we !hall examine what he 'has written againfi. the arts of the Mexicans. Of their agriculture we have fpoken in other places, where we have ·fuewn, that the Mexicans not only cultivated moft diligently all the 'lands of their empire, but likcwife by wonderful exertions of indu:ftry, created to themfelves new territory for cultivation, by forming thofe · floating fields and g11rdens on the water~ which have ~ecn fo hig~ly ~e.lebrated by all the Spaniards and foreigners, and a~ (bll the adrntratw.o of all who fail upon thofe lakes. We. have demon (hate~ that .not on~y aU the p~ants which were ncccffary for food, . for clot~ mg. and .med1 .. ci'ne but likewife the flowers and other vegetables wh1ch contnbuted folel~ to luxury and pleafnrc, were all moft plenteouily .cultivated by them. Cortes, in his .}utters to Charles V •. and Bernal D1az~ fpeak -: with.1 383 DISSERT. VII • . ~. |