the cathedral of mexico.—site of the aztec teocalli.—human sacrifices.—panorama of the valley of mexico.—extent and cost of the cathedral; chapels and altars.—tomb of iturbide.—the career and tragic end of iturbide.—the richest altar in the world.—golden candlesticks a man could not lift.—the aztec calendar-stone; its interesting features; inscription on the stone.—brief account of the aztecs.—the tribe called mexicans.—aztec laws and customs.—prevalence of the death penalty.—aztec posting system.—picture-writing.—flower-show in the zocalo.—a fashionable assemblage.—wonderful work in feathers.
"in paris," said frank in his note-book, "the church of notre dame is the first object of interest to the stranger. in vienna he goes first to st. stephen's, and in rome to st. peter's. so in the capital of mexico we go first to the cathedral.
"it is a magnificent building, and would do honor to any of the capitals of europe. the spot where it stands is historic; the spaniards destroyed the aztec city that stood here, and built their own upon its ruins, and where now stands the cathedral the teocalli, or temple of the aztecs, was formerly to be seen. it is saddening to think of the rivers of blood that flowed here in the sacrifices which the aztecs deemed necessary to their religious exercises.
"the historical authorities say generally that 60,000 persons were slaughtered in a single year on the altars of the great teocalli of tenochtitlan (the aztec city that stood here and was destroyed by the spaniards); most of them were prisoners of war, but when there was not a sufficient supply of prisoners the aztecs themselves were chosen for sacrifice. the spaniards may have shown great cruelty in their treatment of the people they conquered, but they did well to put a stop to this terrible shedding of blood in the name of religion.
"the teocalli was a pyramid of earth, faced with stone, and is said to have been 150 feet in height. steps led around and up its sides, and they were so arranged that in mounting to the top the pedestrian made a complete circuit of the structure. on the summit was the sacrificial altar, and this is supposed to have been very nearly where the centre of the cathedral
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is at present. the sacrificial stone from the teocalli is now in the museum; it is shaped like a millstone, is three feet high by nine in diameter, and is elaborately carved on the sides and upper surface. there is a bowl in the centre, and a gutter leading from the bowl to one side to permit the flow of blood from the victims.
the cathedral, city of mexico.
"but we are wandering from the cathedral in considering what preceded it. the teocalli was destroyed, and the materials were used for filling up the neighboring canal; then a small church was erected, and followed by a larger one, and this again was removed in 1573 to make room for the present cathedral, which was completed ninety-four years later at an expense of $2,000,000. it stands on the eastern side of the plaza mayor, and is a very conspicuous object in the panorama of the city. like most catholic cathedrals, it is in the shape of a cross, its greatest length being 426 feet, and its greatest width 200 feet. it is 175 feet high, and its towers rise to a height of 200 feet. we ascended to the top of one of the towers, and advise all visitors to the city to do likewise, as they will have from it one of the finest views in the world.
moonlight view of plaza and cathedral.
"as we looked from the tower we agreed with bishop haven that never did a city have such an environment. the whole city lay below us spread out like a map; there are few chimneys in mexico, and consequently there was no smoke to mar the view, and we readily traced the streets and avenues, stippled with the green of the squares and gardens that abound so numerously. we looked over the plains and down upon the lakes, and then our gaze swept to the mountains that surround the valley in a jagged chain that covers nearly 200 miles of distance in its girdling course. the snow-covered peaks of popocatepetl and his sister and companion, 'the white woman,' seemed to rise higher than we had before seen them, and added a solemnity to the picture in addition to that which it already possessed. north of the city rises the hill on which is built the church of guadalupe, and on the west is that of chapultepec. as we looked on the latter we thought of the heroic attack upon the fortress by the american army in our war with mexico, while the former secured our respect as one of the places which are sacred in the eyes of pious mexicans.
"the $2,000,000 which i mentioned as the cost of the cathedral were for the walls alone; at one time the wealth of the church, in silver and gold and costly pictures, was something almost beyond calculation, but it has been repeatedly plundered, and the aggregate work of the despoilers has stripped off much of its magnificence, but even now it is very rich, and as long as peace continues is likely to remain so. there are six altars, fourteen chapels, and five naves; there are paintings by famous artists of spain, and there is a balustrade around the choir which is said to weigh 50,000 pounds, and is so valuable that the church authorities refused an offer to replace it with a balustrade of solid silver of equal weight. the balustrade was made in macao, china, and is of tumbago, a composite of silver, copper, and gold. it was brought to acapulco, and transported thence on pack-mules to this city.
"we visited the chapels in which the remains of some of the great men of mexico are buried, notably the chapel of san felipe de jesus, which contains the tomb and monument of the unfortunate iturbide, the first emperor of mexico. on the monument he is called 'the liberator,' and we are told that his birthday is remembered and honored, as it justly deserves to be. we haven't yet told you who iturbide was.
"he was born in 1783, his parents having come from spain shortly before his birth, and settled at what is now morelia, in mexico. he became
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a soldier, and fought in the wars against the revolutionary movements in the first fifteen years of the present century. in 1816 he went into private life, having been dismissed from the service in consequence of quarrels with men high in power; then he began to dream of securing the independence of mexico; and when the revolutionary movement became general in 1820, he joined it. he was soon at the head of the army, the revolution succeeded, independence was acknowledged, and iturbide was proclaimed emperor may 18, 1822, and crowned on the 21st of the following july.
augustin de iturbide, grandson of the liberator.
"but peace did not follow his coronation. there was a new revolution, with santa anna at its head, and iturbide was forced to abdicate the throne and leave the country. he went to italy, and afterwards to england; but in 1824 the desire to regain his crown led him back to mexican soil, where he had been proclaimed a traitor and an outlaw. he landed at soto la marina on the 14th of july, and was arrested. five days later he was shot by order of the military commander; as he fell he assured the multitude that his intentions were not treasonable, and exhorted them to religion, patriotism, and obedience to the government. and here his body rests, the judgment upon his conduct having been long ago reversed. his grandson now lives in washington. maximilian, being childless, chose young iturbide, the grandson, to be his heir to the throne of mexico, but there is little likelihood that he will ever ascend its steps; the atmosphere of mexico does not seem favorable to imperial plants.
"in the days of its glory the high altar of this cathedral was the richest in the world. there were candlesticks of solid gold upon it; they were so heavy as to make a load for a strong man, and some were so large that the strength of one man was not sufficient to raise them. the other ornaments and appurtenances of the altar were of corresponding richness and value, some of the crosses, pixes, and censers being studded with diamonds, pearls, amethysts, sapphires, emeralds, and rubies. there was a statue of the assumption, which was of gold set with diamonds, and is said to have cost more than $1,000,000. it is gone; and so is a lamp which was valued at $70,000; and with them many other things of great value have disappeared. some one says that it cost $1000 to clean that famous lamp, but the revolutionary troops cleaned it out for nothing. the balustrades of tumbago remain undisturbed, possibly because the real value of that metal was unknown at the time of the looting of the cathedral.
granting absolution in the cathedral.
"like catholic churches everywhere, the cathedral is always open, and men and women come here for prayer whenever opportunity offers, in addition
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to their attendance at mass. in nearly every chapel we saw one or more kneeling figures. all classes meet here on common ground; and the poor indian may be seen worshipping side by side with the richly clad and jewelled lady whose family is of the purest blood of spain. on great festivals the church is crowded, and the mingling is most indiscriminate. at such times pickpockets are said to abound; and they manage to steal handkerchiefs and purses while kneeling devoutly at the side of those whose possessions they covet. mexican thieves are quite adroit, and some of their performances are, professionally considered, worthy of the highest praise.
"before leaving the cathedral we inspected the famous calendar-stone of the aztecs, which is in the base of one of the towers. fred will tell you about it; my business is now with the churches."
frank added to his notes that in addition to the cathedral there were forty-six large churches in the city, all of them broad and high, and ornamented with domes or towers. one, the sagrario, adjoins the cathedral,
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and is connected with it by a large door; its façade is richly, and, as frank thought, rather grotesquely carved.
ready for mass.
one of the most fashionable churches is the profesa, which is crowded during lent with the ladies of the best society, all arrayed in solemn black, in accordance with the church-going custom already mentioned. our friends went there, and also to the church of san fernando, which is near the cemetery, and is the resting-place of most of the illustrious men of mexico. generals miramon and mejia, who were shot with maximilian, are buried there; san fernando also contains a monument to president juarez, which is considered one of the best works of modern sculpture. it was made by manuel islas, a mexican sculptor. the monumental group is in a small greek temple, and represents the dead president lying at full length, with his head resting on the knee of a feminine figure, which represents mexico.
old spanish palace in the calle de jesus.
doctor bronson and the youths paid a visit one morning to the church where the remains of cortez the conqueror rested at one time, and by many are supposed to be resting to-day. it was the desire of cortez, in case of his death in europe, to have his bones transported to the new world. they were brought to mexico in 1629, and rested quietly in this church for nearly 200 years, when they were secretly removed, through fear that the tomb would be violated by the
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revolutionists, who had a bitter hatred of everything spanish. they were first placed in another part of the church, and then sent to italy, where they now are. from present indications, the mexicans are not likely to ask for their return.
church built by cortez.
when we left the cathedral we gave a glance at the aztec calendar-stone, which fred was to describe to us. listen to his account:
"the aztec calendar-stone," writes fred, "is exceedingly interesting, both from its historic character and as a work of the sculptor's art. some say the name is incorrect, and that the stone is not intended for a calendar. we will not enter into the dispute, but accept the name by which the antiquity is best known. it is of circular shape, eleven feet in diameter, and is said to weigh twenty-five tons.
"a great deal has been written about this stone, and there has been a wonderful amount of speculation and theory concerning it. i haven't space or time to consider everybody's story, and will take that of señor chavero, who, as we are told, is one of the best authorities, if not the best of all. señor chavero says the stone was engraved in honor of the sun, and for this reason it is often called 'the stone of the sun.'
"according to this gentleman's account, the stone was made in the reign of king axayacatl, about 1479 of our era, and was originally placed horizontally in the temple of mexico. when the temple was destroyed by cortez after the conquest, the stone lay for a while in the great square. it was buried about the middle of the sixteenth century, and remained beneath the surface of the plaza until 1790, when it was unearthed and placed where it is now to be seen.
the aztec calendar-stone.
"here is what señor chavero says of the meaning of the sculpture on the stone:
"'the face in the centre is the god-star throwing his light on the earth, which is represented by the tongue protruding from his lips. he has the pupils of his eyes turned upward, and they are seen through the sacred mask that covers the upper part of his face. the hieroglyphics on
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the diadem encircling the head represent the division of time and the mexican method of numbering the years. the civil year, like ours, was 365 days. each four years had different emblems repeated successively, without reference to other chronological arrangements. the first year was called tochtl, or rabbit; the second, acatl, or reed; the third, tecpatl, or flint; the fourth, calli, or house. in addition to these periods, the years were arranged by the number of thirteen, four of such periods making fifty-two years, or a mexican age, when the festival of fire occurred. this was a most serious event for the mexicans, as the priests taught the people that the world might come to an end and terrible demons would descend from above and eat up mankind.
"'the two claws on the dial at the sides of the mask represent computations of numbers, for which the hand was used in a sort of deaf-and-dumb alphabet. the large v-shaped ornaments denote four equal divisions of the day, and the smaller ornaments of the same shape indicate the division of the day into eight parts. the ornaments lying between the v's represent eight divisions of the night. the twenty ornaments in
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panels in the circle inside the v's are symbols of twenty days, or one mexican month. the rest of the stone is differently interpreted by different writers, but they generally agree that it represents the relations of the months to the year and the years to the mexican cycle.'
indian picture-writing.
"and here is a good place," said fred, "to make some notes about the aztecs. properly speaking, they were only one of the tribes or nations that occupied the plateau of anahuac, or mexico, at the time of the conquest by cortez. they migrated from the north, the aggregate time consumed in their migrations being nearly 200 years, and finally settled in the valley of mexico, at a spot where they saw an eagle sitting on a cactus and with a snake in his beak. this eagle and cactus have been adopted as the symbol of mexico, and are seen on the national flag and on the coins.
tenochtitlan, a.d. 1517.
"the aztecs found the valley occupied by the toltecs, who had been there for several centuries. they made war on the toltecs, took possession of the country, and proceeded to build a city on the site of the present capital. it was called tenochtitlan ('cactus on a stone'), and the foundations were laid about a.d. 1324. lake tezcoco was then much higher than it is now, and the new city was surrounded by water, and greatly resembled venice in the abundance of its canals. it could only be approached on narrow causeways, and there was a fleet of boats on the lakes which prevented attack by water. with this stronghold as a base, the aztecs gradually conquered all the surrounding people, so that they had possession of the entire valley at the time of the arrival of cortez.
first cavalry charge by cortez.
"one of the tribes of the aztecs was called mexicans, from mexi, their chief. this tribe seems to have become more powerful than the rest,
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though originally it ranked as the seventh. it gave the name to the whole people, and from the people the name passed to the country.
"if you think the aztecs, or ancient mexicans, were a barbarous people, look at some of their laws and customs.
"they had a complete system of laws, and they had courts in all their cities and towns to administer the laws. they had inns along the roads for the free accommodation of travellers, and bridges or boats at the crossings of rivers. creditors could imprison their debtors; slaves about to be sold might free themselves by seeking refuge in the royal palace; and treason, embezzlement
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of taxes, and any crime against the person of the sovereign would cause the death of the offender and all his relatives to the fourth degree. slander was punished by cutting off the lips or ears, and death was the penalty for robbing in the market, altering lawful measures, or removing the legal boundaries of land. prisoners of war were devoured, enslaved, or offered as sacrifices; and there were two sorts of prisons: one for debtors and others not charged with capital crimes, the other for condemned criminals and prisoners of war.
"they had no beasts of burden; and when cortez landed with the few horses that he brought on his ships, he struck terror to the hearts of the people, who had never seen such an animal. all burdens were carried on men's backs, and they had towers erected along the principal roads for forwarding the king's despatches. these towers were about six miles apart,
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and couriers were always standing ready to receive messages which were brought from the last tower or station by a man running at the top of his speed. letters were carried three hundred miles in a day by this method. this system is almost identical with that of the great khan of cathay, as described by marco polo, except that the khan had his post-stations only three miles apart, instead of six.
"i think i hear you ask something about their language and how they wrote. well, they had no written language like ours, with letters and words, but they had a picture-writing, in which everything was represented by drawings and paintings. they had records of this sort of all their history, and their books and papers would have filled a large library, but they were burned by the spaniards, who thought it a sin to allow these pagan documents to exist. only a very few of the picture-writings preceding the conquest have been preserved. when cortez landed on the coast of mexico, a full account and description of his ships and men were sent to the king by means of these pictures. the aztec picture-writings have a remarkable similarity to the hieroglyphics of the ancient egyptians, and some writers believe that the aztecs are the lost tribes of israel, who wandered to america and brought the egyptian form of writing with them.
"that will do for the present about the aztecs," said fred. "if you want more you must wait a while till i take breath."
fred made a sudden descent from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century,
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and as he closed his note-book he suggested a stroll to the grand plaza.
a flower-show in zocalo.
frank assented, and away they went. it was the hour when fashionable people were out for their daily airing, and the display was well worth seeing. there was a flower-show in the zocalo, a garden in the centre of the plaza. it is not a relic of the conquest, but of very modern origin, as it was laid out by maximilian, who had a good eye for the beautiful. many persons complain of the zocalo, as it partially obstructs the view of the cathedral.
frank and fred found the flower-show very interesting, not only on account of the floral products which they saw, but also because of the artistic arrangement of the bouquets. some of the bouquets contained strawberries and other small fruits on account of the contrasts of color, and there were many bunches and baskets with little flags, on which were mottoes, patriotic, sentimental, and otherwise, so that all reasonable tastes could be accommodated. there was a band of music playing, and the fashionable population seemed to have assembled in the zocalo to see and be seen.
how the mantilla is worn.
not the least interesting part of the show was the crowd of promenaders. the ladies were in the fashions of paris, perhaps six months after the date of their issue in the french capital, and every young lady was accompanied by her duenna, an elderly woman, who never for a moment left the side of her charge, and scarcely removed her eyes from her. fashionable young, middle-aged, and old men were there, but the younger seemed to be in the majority. some of them wore the national costume, the trousers and short jacket, ornamented with silver buttons, and the broad-rimmed sombrero, covered with silver braid and embroidery; others had adopted the walking costume of europe; and from the number of these it was evident that the old fashion is dying out. frank and fred thought it a pity that such should be the case, as the mexican
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dress is picturesque, and certainly distinctive of its wearers. some of the ladies wore the mantilla in combination with their parisian dresses, while others had adopted the french bonnet, with all the delicacy of trimming that adapts it for fine weather only.
the trogon.
from the zocalo the youths wandered to the shops along one side of the square, where they lingered for some time among the curiosities which were exposed for sale. the first thing to attract their attention were the famous feather pictures which are made by the indians, exactly as they were made in the days before the conquest. the secret of this work has been handed down from father to son, and is known in its perfection to a comparatively small number.
"we saw some feather pictures," said frank, "that were marvels of beauty and skill. the brilliant plumage of the paroquet, humming-bird, trogon, and other members of the ornithological family of mexico, is used for this work, and the colors are as skilfully blended as are the pigments of an accomplished painter. considering the time required for their production, these pictures are wonderfully cheap, and we have bought several to send as curios to our friends at home. the ancestors of the feather artists of to-day made the famous feather cloak of montezuma, which excited alike the admiration and the cupidity of cortez and his companions."
