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Show , HISTORY OF ME X I C 0. . DISSER T. be contained. This and the other temples of Mexico, Tezcuco, Cho .. VI. , lula, and-other cities, are fpoken .of in the f.1me ftile by B. ,Diaz, the ' " anonymous conqueror, Sahagun, and Tobar, who faw them, and the Mexican and Spani0.1 hif1orians, who wrote after them and informed themfelves accurately on the fuhjeCt:. Hernandez defcribed one by one, the fi~venty-eight parts of which tl~e greater temple was com pofed. Cortes adds, that among the high towers which adorned that great capital were forty, fo elevated that the fmalleft of them was not inferi~r in height to the famous Gira!da (k) of Seville. D. F. de A.Ixtlilaochitl makes mention in his manufcripts of the tower of nine floors, that his famous ancefi:or Nezahualpilli, erretl:ed to the Creator of heaven, whicl1 appears to have been that famous .temple of Tezcutzinco, fo much extolled by Valades in his work. All this cloud of witneifcs depofe againft 1\:1. de Paw. Notwithftanding he canhot believe in that great multitude of temples in Mexico, becaufe he fays Montezuma I. was he who gave the form of a city to that village: from the reign of this monarch until·the arrival of the Spaniards, no more than forty-two years elapfed, which fpace of time is not fufficien't: ·to build two thoufand temples. Thefe three aifertions, make, as is ufual with this author, as many errors. I. It is £1lfe that Montezuma I. gave the .form of a dty to Mexico, be~ aufe we know from hiftory that that court had the form of a city frorri the time of Acamapitzin the fir.ft king. 2. It is falfe,. bcfides, . ~hat th·~re intervened but forty-two years between the reign of Montezuma and the arrival of the Spaniard·s. Montezuma began to reign, as we have {hcwn ·in Di!fcrtation fecond, in the year 1436, and died in 146 5, and the Spaniards did not come to Mexico before I 5 I 9· Therefore, from the beginning of that reign until the arrival of the , Spaniards elapfed eighty-three yea.rs, and from the death of that king till th<.;n fifty-five. 3· M. de Paw difcovers his total ignorance of the ftruCl:ure of the Mexican temples, nor does he know what mul~ titude of workmen afremblcd for the confirutl:ion of the publi.c edifi es, and what expedition they made in building . . ln thofe times a whole village has been raif<.:d, though compofed of huts of wood, covered. Vl The v¢ry lofty and famom i1cc1Jlc of the Dome of Sllville, 7 HISTORY OF M"EXICO" 'Or thatched with hay or thaw, and. the new fettlers have conduCted' their fami~ies, their animals, and all their other property. to it, in one fin gle night. · As to their fortifications it is certain. and indubitable, from the depofitions made by Cortes and all thofe. who f.tw the ancient cities of that empire, that the· Mexicans, and all the other neighbouring nations living in focieties, raifcd walls, bafiions,. palifades, ditches,. and intrench-ments for their defence. But without the atteftations of thofe eye-witneffes, the ancient fortifications which frill exi!l: in §(gaubtochco or Guaatufco, and near to Mo!caxac, would be fufficient to !hew the error of M. de P.aw. It is true that fuch fortifications were not comparable to thofe of the Europeans, becaufe neither was their military. architeCture per. feB:ed, nor had they occafion to cover themfelves from artillery, of which they had no experience or conception:. but they gave plain proofs of their induftry in inventing many different kinds of expedients to defend themfdves from their native enemies. Whoever will read the unani~ mous depofition of the conquerors, will. not entertain a doubt of the great difficulty they found in taking the ditches and intrenchments of the · Mexicans during the iiege of that capital, although they had fuch an exceffive number of troops of allies, and the advantages of fii·c arms, and the brigantines. The terrible defeat the Spaniards· met wit11 when they meant to hav.e retireci in fecret from Mexico, wiU not fuffer a doubt to· remain concerning the fortifications of that capital.. It was not fllrrounded by walls, becaufe its fituation was rendered fecnre by ditches which intcrfeeted all the roads by which an enemy could approach; but other cities which were not placed in fo advantageous a· . fttuatlon, ha.d walls and other means of de~c:nce. Cortes himfelf gives. an exaCt defcription of the walls of ~auquecholla n. But it is not necefiary to confume time in accumulating teftirnonies. and. ·other proofs o-f the architeCt:-ur=e of the Mexicans, while they have left, in the three roads · wh~ch they formed upon the lake itlelf, qlld · t.he very ancient aq~t::dutt: of C hapolt~pec, an immortal monument of· their indufb:y. ~ The f.1mc authors who atteft the architetl:ural ikill of the Mexi~ cans, witnefs alfo the .i.ngenu;ty of t~ei~ rgold-fmjths,. their weavers,, ~c.ir gem-cutters, and their artificers of w.orks of feathers. Many E11roreans, . ' 3~... DISSERT. VI. ~ ' |