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the same race, and possessed of similar customs and institutions.

2. That they were populous, and occupied a great extent of territory.

3. That they had arrived at a considerable degree of civilization, were associated in large communities, and lived in extensive cities.

4. That they possessed the use of many of the metals, such as lead, copper, gold and silver, and probably the art of working in them.

5. That they sculptured in stone, and sometimes used that material in the construction of their edifices.

6. That they had the knowledge of the arch of receding steps; of the art of pottery,-producing utensils and urns formed with taste, and constructed upon the principles of chemical composition; and of the art of brick-making.

7. That they worked the salt springs, and manufactured that substance.

8. That they were an agricultural people, living under the influence and protection of regular forms of government.

9. That they possessed a decided`system of religion, and a mythology connected with astronomy, which, with its sister science geometry, was in the hands of the priesthood.

10. That they were skilled in the art of fortification. 11. That the epoch of their original settlement, in the United States, is of great antiquity; and,

Lastly, That the only indications of their origin, to be gathered from the locality of their ruined monuments, point towards Mexico.

CHAPTER V.

ANTIQUITIES IN MEXICO AND THE ADJACENT STATES.

No portion of the globe offers more decisive evidence, of having been occupied for many ages by civilized nations, than the southern regions of North America. At the time of the discovery, the ancient remains in the United States were deserted, and the people, by whom they had been erected, were apparently extinct; so that the question of their origin was a subject of inquiry to the antiquary, rather than to the historian. In the vast territory at the south, however, another spectacle was presented: there the Spanish invaders found populous nations, regularly organized states-aristocratical, monarchical and republican forms of government,-established systems of law and religion—immense cities, rivalling in the style, character and magnificence of their edifices and temples, those of the old world; and roads, aqueducts and other public works, seldom excelled in massiveness, durability, and grandeur. The inhabitants were clothed, the soil was tilled, many of the arts had been carried to a high degree of advancement, and their knowledge in some of the sciences equalled, if not surpassed that of their conquerors. many distinct tribes, each enjoying its own peculiar government, and institutions; and the same remark applies to Yucatan, and other neighboring countries. That extensive tract of land

Guatemala was occupied by

known as Anahuac, a name which though originally limited to the vale of Mexico was subsequently applied to most of the region formerly denominated New Spain, was divided into several kingdoms and republics, of which the kingdom of Mexico was the most powerful and extensive.* Though the commencement of this empire dates in the year 1325, when the city of Mexico was founded, yet this warlike and enterprising people, at the conquest, had brought under their sway many of the surrounding nations, and their dominions reached from the 14th to the 21st degree of north latitude, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.

With these facts clearly presented to us in history,—with these evidences of the existence of numerous states, advanced in civilization, and in the arts, it may appear singular, that in so short a period as three hundred years, it has become the part of the antiquary, to pore over the ruins of their monuments; as if to gather the history of an extinct people. But the civilization found existent there was of a peculiar character; the great mass of the people were uncultivated; society was kept in a state of order, not by the intelligence of the people, but by their veneration for their rulers; the public records, the festivals, the arts and sciences, and even agriculture, were all committed to the charge and direction of the priesthood; and when their governments fell before the assaults of their invaders, and their religion yielded to Catholic zeal, their institutions and civilization perished in a common grave. These causes alone, however, are not sufficient to account for the absolute ruin that befell these nations. The Spaniards not only waged a war of

* Clavigero, vol. i. pp. 1, 123.

extermination against the natives themselves, but, from various motives, sought to obliterate every vestige of their former pow-. er, and opulence. They spared neither monuments nor records, and strove to destroy every object, that might preserve to a despised race, the memory of what they had been; or that could tend to make them cling the more tenaciously to their old institutions and customs. Fortunately, the vast extent and dimensions, and the solid and massive character, of many of these monuments, defied all attempts to destroy them, and triumphing alike over time and violence, they still serve to shed some light upon the history of their authors.*

Fresh from the consideration of the majestic pyramidal mounds of the United States, the first and most natural objects of attention are the pyramids of Spanish America, the most ancient and the most expressive of all its ruins.

Pyramids. The finest temple of the city of Mexico was one of the victims of Spanish bigotry, and for a description of this great "Teocalli,"+ we are compelled to resort to the narratives of the conquerors.

Its location was in the central square of the city, and it was dedicated to Tezcatlipoca, the first of the gods after Teote the Supreme Being, and to Huitzilopochtli or Mexitli, "the God of War." It was built after the model of those ancient pyramids

* Some of the idols in the city of Mexico, which they were unable to break, were deliberately buried in the earth; and it is a curious instance of the tenacity with which the natives have adhered to their old superstitions, that when one of these idols was recently disinterred, the Indians secretly, in the night time, crowned it with garlands of flowers. "House of God." Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 83. De Solis, vol. i. p. 398.

The

supposed to have been founded by the Toltecs, and had been erected but a short period before the landing of Cortez. main building was surrounded by a wall of hewn stone, upon which were sculptured knots of serpents, intertwined together. The four sides of this wall faced the cardinal points respectively, and the residences of the priests were immediately adjacent to it, within. In the middle of this square stood the Teocalli, constructed of clay, and covered with enormous masses of hewn porous amygdaloid.* This edifice was a truncated pyramid built with five stories; its sides faced the cardinal points; the line of its base was three hundred and eighteen feet long, and its perpendicular elevation one hundred and twenty-one feet.† Flights of stairs led to its superior platform, where were placed the sacrificial stone, and chapels containing the idols of the gods. Here also were the colossal statues of the sun and moon, formed of stone, and covered with plates of gold.‡ Eight principal temples, of similar character, are said to have existed within the city, and the number of those of inferior dimensions amounted to two thousand. This picture might seem to be overdrawn, were there not sufficient vestiges remaining, in the ruins of other Teocallis, to attest the truth of its leading features, and to confirm its accuracy by extrinsic. evidence.§

* Humboldt's Political Essay, vol. ii. pp. 15, 16. Fifty-four metres high according to Humboldt. This altitude included that of the edifices upon its summit.-Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 84.

Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 86. De Solis, vol. ii. p. 177. § Waldeck says, "The descriptions of the Mexican Teocalli are very contradictory. Some terra cottas represent them in minia

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