aztec agriculture—mechanical arts—merchants—domestic manners

it is hardly possible that a nation so far advanced as the aztecs in mathematical science should not have made considerable progress in the mechanical arts, which are so nearly connected with it. indeed, intellectual progress of any kind implies a degree of refinement that requires a certain cultivation of both useful and elegant art. the savage wandering through the wide forest, without shelter for his head or raiment for his back, knows no other wants than those of animal appetites, and, when they are satisfied, seems to himself to have answered the only ends of existence. but man, in society, feels numerous desires, and artificial tastes spring up, accommodated to the various relations in which he is placed, and perpetually stimulating his invention to devise new expedients to gratify them.

there is a wide difference in the mechanical skill of different nations; but the difference is still greater in the inventive power which directs this skill and makes it available. some nations seem to have no power beyond that of imitation, or, if they possess invention, have it in so low a degree that{147} they are constantly repeating the same idea, without a shadow of alteration or improvement; as the bird builds precisely the same kind of nest which those of its own species built at the beginning of the world. such, for example, are the chinese, who have probably been familiar for ages with the germs of some discoveries,[210] of little practical benefit to themselves, but which, under the influence of european genius, have reached a degree of excellence that has wrought an important change in the constitution of society.

far from looking back and forming itself slavishly on the past, it is characteristic of the european intellect to be ever on the advance. old discoveries become the basis of new ones. it passes onward from truth to truth, connecting the whole by a succession of links, as it were, into the great chain of science which is to encircle and bind together the universe. the light of learning is shed over the labors of art. new avenues are opened for the communication both of person and of thought. new facilities are devised for subsistence. personal comforts, of every kind, are inconceivably multiplied, and brought within the reach of the poorest. secure of these, the thoughts travel into a nobler region than that of the senses; and the appliances of art are made to minister to the demands of an elegant taste and a higher moral culture.

the same enlightened spirit, applied to agriculture, raises it from a mere mechanical drudgery, or the barren formula of traditional precepts, to{148} the dignity of a science. as the composition of the earth is analyzed, man learns the capacity of the soil that he cultivates; and, as his empire is gradually extended over the elements of nature, he gains the power to stimulate her to her most bountiful and various production. it is with satisfaction that we can turn to the land of our fathers, as the one in which the experiment has been conducted on the broadest scale and attended with results that the world has never before witnessed. with equal truth, we may point to the anglo-saxon race in both hemispheres, as that whose enterprising genius has contributed most essentially to the great interests of humanity, by the application of science to the useful arts.

husbandry, to a very limited extent, indeed, was practised by most of the rude tribes of north america. wherever a natural opening in the forest, or a rich strip of interval, met their eyes, or a green slope was found along the rivers, they planted it with beans and indian corn.[211] the cultivation was slovenly in the extreme, and could not secure the improvident natives from the frequent recurrence of desolating famines. still, that they tilled the soil at all was a peculiarity which honorably distinguished them from other tribes of hunters, and raised them one degree higher in the scale of civilization.{149}

agriculture in mexico was in the same advanced state as the other arts of social life. in few countries, indeed, has it been more respected. it was closely interwoven with the civil and religious institutions of the nation. there were peculiar deities to preside over it; the names of the months and of the religious festivals had more or less reference to it. the public taxes, as we have seen, were often paid in agricultural produce. all except the soldiers and great nobles, even the inhabitants of the cities, cultivated the soil. the work was chiefly done by the men; the women scattering the seed, husking the corn, and taking part only in the lighter labors of the field.[212] in this they presented an honorable contrast to the other tribes of the continent, who imposed the burden of agriculture, severe as it is in the north, on their women.[213] indeed, the sex was as tenderly regarded by the aztecs in this matter, as it is, in most parts of europe, at the present day.

there was no want of judgment in the management of their ground. when somewhat exhausted,{150} it was permitted to recover by lying fallow. its extreme dryness was relieved by canals, with which the land was partially irrigated; and the same end was promoted by severe penalties against the destruction of the woods, with which the country, as already noticed, was well covered before the conquest. lastly, they provided for their harvests ample granaries, which were admitted by the conquerors to be of admirable construction. in this provision we see the forecast of civilized man.[214]

among the most important articles of husbandry, we may notice the banana, whose facility of cultivation and exuberant returns are so fatal to habits of systematic and hardy industry.[215] another celebrated plant was the cacao, the fruit of which furnished the chocolate,—from the mexican chocolatl,—now so common a beverage throughout europe.[216] the vanilla, confined to a small district of the sea-coast, was used for the same purposes, of flavoring their food and drink, as with us.[217] the great staple of the country, as, indeed, of the{151} american continent, was maize, or indian corn,[218] which grew freely along the valleys, and up the steep sides of the cordilleras to the high level of the table-land. the aztecs were as curious in its preparation, and as well instructed in its manifold uses, as the most expert new england housewife. its gigantic stalks, in these equinoctial regions, afford a saccharine matter, not found to the same extent in northern latitudes, and supplied the natives with sugar little inferior to that of the cane itself, which was not introduced among them till after the conquest.[219] but the miracle of nature was the great mexican aloe, or maguey, whose clustering pyramids of flowers, towering above their dark coronals of leaves, were seen sprinkled over many a broad acre of the table-land. as we have already noticed, its bruised leaves afforded a paste from which paper was manufactured;[220] its{152} juice was fermented into an intoxicating beverage, pulque, of which the natives, to this day, are excessively fond;[221] its leaves further supplied an impenetrable thatch for the more humble dwellings; thread, of which coarse stuffs were made, and strong cords, were drawn from its tough and twisted fibres; pins and needles were made of the thorns at the extremity of its leaves; and the root, when properly cooked, was converted into a palatable and nutritious food. the agave,[222] in short, was meat, drink, clothing, and writing-materials, for the aztec! surely, never did nature enclose in so compact a form so many of the elements of human comfort and civilization!{153}[223]

it would be obviously out of place to enumerate in these pages all the varieties of plants, many of them of medicinal virtue, which have been introduced from mexico into europe. still less can i attempt a catalogue of its flowers, which, with their variegated and gaudy colors, form the greatest attraction of our greenhouses. the opposite climates embraced within the narrow latitudes of new spain have given to it, probably, the richest and most diversified flora to be found in any country on the globe. these different products were systematically arranged by the aztecs, who understood their properties, and collected them into nurseries, more extensive than any then existing in the old world. it is not improbable that they suggested the idea of those “gardens of plants” which were introduced into europe not many years after the conquest.[224]

the mexicans were as well acquainted with the mineral as with the vegetable treasures of their kingdom. silver, lead, and tin they drew from the mines of tasco; copper from the mountains of{154} zacotollan. these were taken not only from the crude masses on the surface, but from veins wrought in the solid rock, into which they opened extensive galleries. in fact, the traces of their labors furnished the best indications for the early spanish miners.[225] gold, found on the surface, or gleaned from the beds of rivers, was cast into bars, or, in the form of dust, made part of the regular tribute of the southern provinces of the empire. the use of iron, with which the soil was impregnated, was unknown to them. notwithstanding its abundance, it demands so many processes to prepare it for use that it has commonly been one of the last metals pressed into the service of man. the age of iron has followed that of brass, in fact as well as in fiction.{155}[226]

they found a substitute in an alloy of tin and copper, and, with tools made of this bronze, could cut not only metals, but, with the aid of a silicious dust, the hardest substances, as basalt, porphyry, amethysts, and emeralds.[227] they fashioned these last, which were found very large, into many curious and fantastic forms. they cast, also, vessels of gold and silver, carving them with their metallic chisels in a very delicate manner. some of the silver vases were so large that a man could not encircle them with his arms. they imitated very nicely the figures of animals, and, what was extraordinary, could mix the metals in such a manner that the feathers of a bird, or the scales of a fish, should be alternately of gold and silver. the spanish goldsmiths admitted their superiority over themselves in these ingenious works.[228]

they employed another tool, made of itztli, or obsidian, a dark transparent mineral, exceedingly hard, found in abundance in their hills. they{156} made it into knives, razors, and their serrated swords. it took a keen edge, though soon blunted. with this they wrought the various stones and alabasters employed in the construction of their public works and principal dwellings. i shall defer a more particular account of these to the body of the narrative, and will only add here that the entrances and angles of the buildings were profusely ornamented with images, sometimes of their fantastic deities, and frequently of animals.[229] the latter were executed with great accuracy. “the former,” according to torquemada, “were the hideous reflection of their own souls. and it was not till after they had been converted to christianity that they could model the true figure of a man.”[230] the old chronicler’s facts are well founded, whatever we may think of his reasons. the allegorical phantasms of his religion, no doubt, gave a direction to the aztec artist, in his delineation of the human figure; supplying him with an imaginary beauty in the personification of divinity itself. as these superstitions lost their hold on his mind, it opened to the influences of a purer taste; and, after the conquest, the mexicans furnished many examples of correct, and some of beautiful, portraiture.

sculptured images were so numerous that the foundations of the cathedral in the plaza mayor, the great square of mexico, are said to be entirely{157} composed of them.[231] this spot may, indeed, be regarded as the aztec forum,—the great depository of the treasures of ancient sculpture, which now lie hid in its bosom. such monuments are spread all over the capital, however, and a new cellar can hardly be dug, or foundation laid, without turning up some of the mouldering relics of barbaric art. but they are little heeded, and, if not wantonly broken in pieces at once, are usually worked into the rising wall or supports of the new edifice.[232] two celebrated bas-reliefs of the last montezuma and his father, cut in the solid rock, in the beautiful groves of chapoltepec, were deliberately destroyed, as late as the eighteenth century, by order of the government![233] the monuments of the barbarian meet with as little respect from civilized man as those of the civilized man from the barbarian.[234]

the most remarkable piece of sculpture yet disinterred is the great calendar stone, noticed in the preceding chapter. it consists of dark porphyry, and in its original dimensions, as taken from the{158} quarry, is computed to have weighed nearly fifty tons. it was transported from the mountains beyond lake chalco, a distance of many leagues, over a broken country intersected by watercourses and canals. in crossing a bridge which traversed one of these latter, in the capital, the supports gave way, and the huge mass was precipitated into the water, whence it was with difficulty recovered. the fact that so enormous a fragment of porphyry could be thus safely carried for leagues, in the face of such obstacles, and without the aid of cattle,—for the aztecs, as already mentioned, had no animals of draught,—suggests to us no mean ideas of their mechanical skill, and of their machinery, and implies a degree of cultivation little inferior to that demanded for the geometrical and astronomical science displayed in the inscriptions on this very stone.[235][236]

the ancient mexicans made utensils of earthenware for the ordinary purposes of domestic life,{159} numerous specimens of which still exist.[237] they made cups and vases of a lackered or painted wood, impervious to wet and gaudily colored. their dyes were obtained from both mineral and vegetable substances. among them was the rich crimson of the cochineal, the modern rival of the famed tyrian purple. it was introduced into europe from mexico, where the curious little insect was nourished with great care on plantations of cactus, since fallen into neglect.[238] the natives were thus enabled to give a brilliant coloring to the webs which were manufactured, of every degree of fineness, from the cotton raised in abundance throughout the warmer regions of the country. they had the art, also, of interweaving with these the delicate hair of rabbits and other animals, which made a cloth of great warmth as well as beauty, of a kind altogether original; and on this they often laid a rich embroidery, of birds, flowers, or some other fanciful device.{160}[239]

but the art in which they most delighted was their plumaje, or feather-work. with this they could produce all the effect of a beautiful mosaic. the gorgeous plumage of the tropical birds, especially of the parrot tribe, afforded every variety of color; and the fine down of the humming-bird, which revelled in swarms among the honeysuckle bowers of mexico, supplied them with soft aerial tints that gave an exquisite finish to the picture. the feathers, pasted on a fine cotton web, were wrought into dresses for the wealthy, hangings for apartments, and ornaments for the temples. no one of the american fabrics excited such admiration in europe, whither numerous specimens were sent by the conquerors. it is to be regretted that so graceful an art should have been suffered to fall into decay.[240]

there were no shops in mexico, but the various{161} manufactures and agricultural products were brought together for sale in the great marketplaces of the principal cities. fairs were held there every fifth day, and were thronged by a numerous concourse of persons, who came to buy or sell from all the neighboring country. a particular quarter was allotted to each kind of article. the numerous transactions were conducted without confusion, and with entire regard to justice, under the inspection of magistrates appointed for the purpose. the traffic was carried on partly by barter, and partly by means of a regulated currency, of different values. this consisted of transparent quills of gold dust; of bits of tin, cut in the form of a t; and of bags of cacao, containing a specified number of grains. “blessed money,” exclaims peter martyr, “which exempts its possessors from avarice, since it cannot be long hoarded, nor hidden under ground!”[241]

there did not exist in mexico that distinction of castes found among the egyptian and asiatic nations. it was usual, however, for the son to follow the occupation of his father. the different trades were arranged into something like guilds; each having a particular district of the city appropriated{162} to it, with its own chief, its own tutelar deity, its peculiar festivals, and the like. trade was held in avowed estimation by the aztecs. “apply thyself, my son,” was the advice of an aged chief, “to agriculture, or to feather-work, or some other honorable calling. thus did your ancestors before you. else how would they have provided for themselves and their families? never was it heard that nobility alone was able to maintain its possessor.”[242] shrewd maxims, that must have sounded somewhat strange in the ear of a spanish hidalgo![243]

but the occupation peculiarly respected was that of the merchant. it formed so important and singular a feature of their social economy as to merit a much more particular notice than it has received from historians. the aztec merchant was a sort of itinerant trader, who made his journeys to the remotest borders of anahuac, and to the countries beyond, carrying with him merchandise of rich stuffs, jewelry, slaves, and other valuable commodities. the slaves were obtained at the great market of azcapozalco, not many leagues from the capital, where fairs were regularly held for the sale of these unfortunate beings. they were brought thither by their masters, dressed in their gayest apparel, and instructed to sing, dance, and{163} display their little stock of personal accomplishments, so as to recommend themselves to the purchaser. slave-dealing was an honorable calling among the aztecs.[244]

with this rich freight, the merchant visited the different provinces, always bearing some present of value from his own sovereign to their chiefs, and usually receiving others in return, with a permission to trade. should this be denied him, or should he meet with indignity or violence, he had the means of resistance in his power. he performed his journeys with a number of companions of his own rank, and a large body of inferior attendants who were employed to transport the goods. fifty or sixty pounds were the usual load for a man. the whole caravan went armed, and so well provided against sudden hostilities that they could make good their defence, if necessary, till reinforced from home. in one instance, a body of these militant traders stood a siege of four years in the town of ayotlan, which they finally took from the enemy.[245] their own government, however, was always prompt to embark in a war on this ground, finding it a very convenient pretext for extending the mexican empire. it was not unusual to allow the merchants to raise levies themselves, which were placed under their command. it was, moreover, very common for the prince to employ the merchants as a sort of spies, to furnish him information of the state of the countries through which they passed,{164} and the dispositions of the inhabitants towards himself.[246]

thus their sphere of action was much enlarged beyond that of a humble trader, and they acquired a high consideration in the body politic. they were allowed to assume insignia and devices of their own. some of their number composed what is called by the spanish writers a council of finance; at least, this was the case in tezcuco.[247] they were much consulted by the monarch, who had some of them constantly near his person, addressing them by the title of “uncle,” which may remind one of that of primo, or “cousin,” by which a grandee of spain is saluted by his sovereign. they were allowed to have their own courts, in which civil and criminal cases, not excepting capital, were determined; so that they formed an independent community, as it were, of themselves. and, as their various traffic supplied them with abundant stores of wealth, they enjoyed many of the most essential advantages of an hereditary aristocracy.{165}[248]

that trade should prove the path to eminent political preferment in a nation but partially civilized, where the names of soldier and priest are usually the only titles to respect, is certainly an anomaly in history. it forms some contrast to the standard of the more polished monarchies of the old world, in which rank is supposed to be less dishonored by a life of idle ease or frivolous pleasure than by those active pursuits which promote equally the prosperity of the state and of the individual. if civilization corrects many prejudices, it must be allowed that it creates others.

we shall be able to form a better idea of the actual refinement of the natives by penetrating into their domestic life and observing the intercourse between the sexes. we have, fortunately, the means of doing this. we shall there find the ferocious aztec frequently displaying all the sensibility of a cultivated nature; consoling his friends under affliction, or congratulating them on their good fortune, as on occasion of a marriage, or of the birth or the baptism of a child, when he was punctilious in his visits, bringing presents of costly dresses and ornaments, or the more simple offering of flowers, equally indicative of his sympathy. the visits at these times, though regulated with all the precision of oriental courtesy, were accompanied by expressions of the most cordial and affectionate regard.{166}[249]

the discipline of children, especially at the public schools, as stated in a previous chapter, was exceedingly severe.[250] but after she had come to a mature age the aztec maiden was treated by her parents with a tenderness from which all reserve seemed banished. in the counsels to a daughter about to enter into life, they conjured her to preserve simplicity in her manners and conversation, uniform neatness in her attire, with strict attention to personal cleanliness. they inculcated modesty, as the great ornament of a woman, and implicit reverence for her husband; softening their admonitions by such endearing epithets as showed the fulness of a parent’s love.[251]

polygamy was permitted among the mexicans, though chiefly confined, probably, to the wealthiest{167} classes.[252] and the obligations of the marriage vow, which was made with all the formality of a religious ceremony, were fully recognized, and impressed on both parties. the women are described by the spaniards as pretty, unlike their unfortunate descendants of the present day, though with the same serious and rather melancholy cast of countenance. their long black hair, covered, in some parts of the country, by a veil made of the fine web of the pita, might generally be seen wreathed with flowers, or, among the richer people, with strings of precious stones, and pearls from the gulf of california. they appear to have been treated with much consideration by their husbands, and passed their time in indolent tranquillity, or in such feminine occupations as spinning, embroidery, and the like, while their maidens beguiled the hours by the rehearsal of traditionary tales and ballads.[253]

the women partook equally with the men of social festivities and entertainments. these were often conducted on a large scale, both as regards the number of guests and the costliness of the preparations. numerous attendants, of both sexes, waited at the banquet. the halls were scented with perfumes, and the courts strewed with odorif{168}erous herbs and flowers, which were distributed in profusion among the guests, as they arrived. cotton napkins and ewers of water were placed before them, as they took their seats at the board; for the venerable ceremony of ablution[254] before and after eating was punctiliously observed by the aztecs.[255] tobacco was then offered to the company, in pipes, mixed up with aromatic substances, or in the form of cigars, inserted in tubes of tortoise-shell or silver. they compressed the nostrils with the fingers, while they inhaled the smoke, which they frequently swallowed. whether the women, who sat apart from the men at table, were allowed the indulgence of the fragrant weed, as in the most pol{169}ished circles of modern mexico, is not told us. it is a curious fact that the aztecs also took the dried leaf in the pulverized form of snuff.[256]

the table was well provided with substantial meats, especially game; among which the most conspicuous was the turkey, erroneously supposed, as its name imports, to have come originally from the east.[257] these more solid dishes were flanked by others of vegetables and fruits, of every deli{170}cious variety found on the north american continent. the different viands were prepared in various ways, with delicate sauces and seasoning, of which the mexicans were very fond. their palate was still further regaled by confections and pastry, for which their maize-flour and sugar supplied ample materials. one other dish, of a disgusting nature, was sometimes added to the feast, especially when the celebration partook of a religious character. on such occasions a slave was sacrificed, and his flesh, elaborately dressed, formed one of the chief ornaments of the banquet. cannibalism, in the guise of an epicurean science, becomes even the more revolting.[258]

the meats were kept warm by chafing-dishes. the table was ornamented with vases of silver, and sometimes gold, of delicate workmanship. the drinking-cups and spoons were of the same costly materials, and likewise of tortoise-shell. the favorite beverage was the chocolatl, flavored with vanilla and different spices. they had a way of preparing the froth of it, so as to make it almost solid enough to be eaten, and took it cold.[259] the{171} fermented juice of the maguey, with a mixture of sweets and acids, supplied, also, various agreeable drinks, of different degrees of strength, and formed the chief beverage of the elder part of the company.[260]

as soon as they had finished their repast, the young people rose from the table, to close the festivities of the day with dancing. they danced gracefully, to the sound of various instruments, accompanying their movements with chants of a pleasing though somewhat plaintive character.[261] the older guests continued at table, sipping pulque, and gossiping about other times, till the virtues of the exhilarating beverage put them in good humor with their own. intoxication was not{172} rare in this part of the company, and, what is singular, was excused in them, though severely punished in the younger. the entertainment was concluded by a liberal distribution of rich dresses and ornaments among the guests, when they withdrew, after midnight, “some commending the feast, and others condemning the bad taste or extravagance of their host; in the same manner,” says an old spanish writer, “as with us.”[262] human nature is, indeed, much the same all the world over.

in this remarkable picture of manners, which i have copied faithfully from the records of earliest date after the conquest, we find no resemblance to the other races of north american indians. some resemblance we may trace to the general style of asiatic pomp and luxury. but in asia, woman, far from being admitted to unreserved intercourse with the other sex, is too often jealously immured within the walls of the harem. european civilization, which accords to this loveliest portion of creation her proper rank in the social scale, is still more removed from some of the brutish usages of the aztecs. that such usages should have existed with the degree of refinement they showed in other things is almost inconceivable. it can only be explained as the result of religious superstition; superstition which clouds the moral perception, and perverts even the natural senses, till man, civilized

[image unavailable.]

our lady of guadaloupe

goupil & co. paris

{173}

man, is reconciled to the very things which are most revolting to humanity. habits and opinions founded on religion must not be taken as conclusive evidence of the actual refinement of a people.

the aztec character was perfectly original and unique. it was made up of incongruities apparently irreconcilable. it blended into one the marked peculiarities of different nations, not only of the same phase of civilization, but as far removed from each other as the extremes of barbarism and refinement. it may find a fitting parallel in their own wonderful climate, capable of producing, on a few square leagues of surface, the boundless variety of vegetable forms which belong to the frozen regions of the north, the temperate zone of europe, and the burning skies of arabia and hindostan.

one of the works repeatedly consulted and referred to in this introduction is boturini’s idea de una nueva historia general de la américa septentrional. the singular persecutions sustained by its author, even more than the merits of his book, have associated his name inseparably with the literary history of mexico. the chevalier lorenzo boturini benaduci was a milanese by birth, of an ancient family, and possessed of much learning. from madrid, where he was residing, he passed over to new spain, in 1735, on some business of the countess of santiba?ez, a lineal descendant of montezuma. while employed on this, he visited the celebrated shrine of our lady of guadaloupe, and, being a person of devout and enthusiastic temper, was filled with the desire of collecting testimony to establish the marvellous fact of her apparition. in the course of his excursions, made with this view, he fell in with many relics of aztec antiquity, and conceived—what to a protestant, at least, would seem much more rational—the idea of gathering together all the memorials he could meet with of the primitive civilization of the land.

in pursuit of this double object, he penetrated into the remotest parts of the country, living much with the natives, passing his nights sometimes in their huts, sometimes in caves and the depths of the lonely forests. frequently months would elapse without his being{174} able to add anything to his collection; for the indians had suffered too much not to be very shy of europeans. his long intercourse with them, however, gave him ample opportunity to learn their language and popular traditions, and, in the end, to amass a large stock of materials, consisting of hieroglyphical charts on cotton, skins, and the fibre of the maguey; besides a considerable body of indian manuscripts, written after the conquest. to all these must be added the precious documents for placing beyond controversy the miraculous apparition of the virgin. with this treasure he returned, after a pilgrimage of eight years, to the capital.

his zeal, in the mean while, had induced him to procure from rome a bull authorizing the coronation of the sacred image at guadaloupe. the bull, however, though sanctioned by the audience of new spain, had never been approved by the council of the indies. in consequence of this informality, boturini was arrested in the midst of his proceedings, his papers were taken from him, and, as he declined to give an inventory of them, he was thrown into prison, and confined in the same apartment with two criminals! not long afterward he was sent to spain. he there presented a memorial to the council of the indies, setting forth his manifold grievances, and soliciting redress. at the same time, he drew up his “idea,” above noticed, in which he displayed the catalogue of his museum in new spain, declaring, with affecting earnestness, that “he would not exchange these treasures for all the gold and silver, diamonds and pearls, in the new world.”

after some delay, the council gave an award in his favor; acquitting him of any intentional violation of the law, and pronouncing a high encomium on his deserts. his papers, however, were not restored. but his majesty was graciously pleased to appoint him historiographer-general of the indies, with a salary of one thousand dollars per annum. the stipend was too small to allow him to return to mexico. he remained in madrid, and completed there the first volume of a “general history of north america,” in 1749. not long after this event, and before the publication of the work, he died. the same injustice was continued to his heirs; and, notwithstanding repeated applications in their behalf, they were neither put in possession of their unfortunate kinsman’s collection, nor received a remuneration for it. what was worse,—as far as the public was concerned,—the collection itself was deposited in apartments of the vice-regal palace at mexico, so damp that they gradually fell to pieces, and the few remaining were still further diminished by the pilfering of the curious. when baron humboldt visited mexico, not one-eighth of this inestimable treasure was in existence!

i have been thus particular in the account of the unfortunate boturini, as affording, on the whole, the most remarkable example of the serious obstacles and persecutions which literary enterprise, directed in the path of the national antiquities, has, from some cause or other, been exposed to in new spain.{175}

boturini’s manuscript volume was never printed, and probably never will be, if indeed it is in existence. this will scarcely prove a great detriment to science or to his own reputation. he was a man of a zealous temper, strongly inclined to the marvellous, with little of that acuteness requisite for penetrating the tangled mazes of antiquity, or of the philosophic spirit fitted for calmly weighing its doubts and difficulties. his “idea” affords a sample of his peculiar mind. with abundant learning, ill assorted and ill digested, it is a jumble of fact and puerile fiction, interesting details, crazy dreams, and fantastic theories. but it is hardly fair to judge by the strict rules of criticism a work which, put together hastily, as a catalogue of literary treasures, was designed by the author rather to show what might be done, than that he could do it himself. it is rare that talents for action and contemplation are united in the same individual. boturini was eminently qualified, by his enthusiasm and perseverance, for collecting the materials necessary to illustrate the antiquities of the country. it requires a more highly gifted mind to avail itself of them.