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Show ·mSSERT: VI. '--v---1 . H I S T 0 It Y. ro l' M E 'X 1 C 0. with afronilhment of the famous gardens of lztapalapan and Huaxtepec, which they faw; and they are alfo mentioned by Hernandez, in his Natural Hiftory, who f.1w thefe gardens forty years after. Cortes, in a letter to Charles V. of the 3oth of OCtober, 1520, fpeaks thus~ . " The multitude of inhabitants in thofe countries is fo great, that there " is not a foot of land left uncultivated." It is being very obll:inate to refufe faith to the unanimous tell:imony of the Spaniih authors. We have fet forth, on the fupport of the fame teftimohy, the ,great ikill of the Mexicans in bringing up animals, in which kind of magnificence Montezuma furpafied all the kings of the world. Th~ ·Mexicans could not have bred up fuch an infinite variety of quadrupeds, reptiles, and birds, without having great knowledge of their natures, their inftintl:, their habits of life, &c. Their architeCture is not to be compared with 'that of the Europea~, but it was certainly greatly fuperior to that of moft of the people of Afia and Africa. Who would form a comparifon between the houfes, palaces, temples, bafi:ions, aqueduCts, and roads of the ancient Mexicans, with the miferable huts of the Tartars, Siberi.ans, Arabs, .and other wretched nations, which live between the Cape de Verd, and the Cape of Good Hope; or the buildings of Ethiopia, of a great part of India, and the Afiatic and African ifies, except thofe of Japan? M. de Paw fays, the boafi:ed palace of Montezuma was nothing elfe .than a mere hut. But Cortes, Diaz, and the anbnymous conqueror, who faw this palace fo often, affirm the direCt contrary. " He had," fays Cortes, talking of Montezuma, " in this c;.ity of Mexico, fuch houfes for " his habitation, fo deferving of admiration, that I cannot fu~ciently " exprefs their gra~deur and excellence; I lhall therefore only fay, that '" there are none equal to them in Spain." Thus writes this conqueror to his king, without fear of being contradiCted by his officers or foldiers, who had alfo themfelves viewed the palaces of Mexico. The anonymous conqueror, in his curious and faithful relation, fpeaking of the buildings of Mexico, writes thus : " There were beautiful houfes be.,, longing to the nobles, fo . grand and numerous in their apartments, " with fuch admirable gardens to them, that the fight of them filled us " with aftonilhment and delight. I entered from curioiity four times "' i~to a palace belonging to Montezuma, and having pervaded i~ ':lntil " I was • II I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. " I was weary, I came away at lall: without having fcen it all. Around " a large court they ufed to build fumptuous ha.lls and chambers; but tc there was one above all fo large that it. was capable of containing up" wards of three thou.C,md pcr[ons without the leaD: inconvenience: it " was fuch, that in the gallery of it alone a little fquare was formed, '' where thirty men on horfe~back might cxercifc." It i certain fi·om the ·a{tirmation of all the hifrorians of Mexico, that the army under Cortes, confliling ·;)f fix thoufand four hundred men and upward , including the allies, were all lodged in the palace formerly poffdfcd by king Axajacatl; and there remained frill fufficieut lodging for Morrtezuma and his attendants, befides the magazine of the trca[ures of king Axajacatl. The fame hiflorians attei1: the JI1011: bcilutiful difpofition of the palace of birds; and Cortes adds, that in the apartments belonging to it two princes rnight have been lodged with all their futt, and mi'~ nutely defcribcs its porticos, lodges, and gardens. He fays alfo to Charles V. that he lodged in the palace of Nezahalpilli, at Tezcuco, with fix hundred Spaniards, and forty horfes, · and that it was fo large it could eafily have lodged fix hundred more. He fpeaks in a flmilar ·manner of the palaces of Iztapalapan, and other cities, praifing their fi:rutl:ure, their beauty, and magnificence. Such were the huts of the kings and chiefs of Mexico. · M. de Paw fays, that Cortes made a palace be confi:ruCl:ed. in hafi:e for his own habitation, bccaufe he could not find any one in aH that capital fuHiciently commodious; but M. de Paw is in a great mifi:ake, or rather he alferts without truth, and condemns without reafon. It is true that Cortes, during the fiege of Mexico, burnt and demolilhed the greater part of that great city, as he himfelf relates ; and for that end he had demanded and obtained ii·01n his allies fome thonf;mds of country people, who had no other employment than to pull down at~d deftroy the houfes anJ buildings as the Spa:1iard advanced into the city, that there might not rem<:in behind tht:m any houfc fi·om which the Mexicans could annoy them. It is therefore not very wonderful that Cortes did not find a convenient habitation for himfclf in n city which he had himfclf dcflroyed ; but the ruin of it was not fo general, but that there remained a confiderable number of houfes in the diviGon o'f Tbtclolco, where the Spaniard might have lodged con- VaL. II. D<ld veniently, DISSERT. VI. "-v'-J |