tezcucan lake—description of the capital—palaces and museums—royal household—montezuma’s way of life

1519

the ancient city of mexico covered the same spot occupied by the modern capital. the great causeways touched it in the same points; the streets ran in much the same direction, nearly from north to south and from east to west; the cathedral in the plaza mayor stands on the same ground that was covered by the temple of the aztec war-god; and the four principal quarters of the town are still known among the indians by their ancient names. yet an aztec of the days of montezuma, could he behold the modern metropolis, which has risen with such ph?nix-like splendor from the ashes of the old, would not recognize its site as that of his own tenochtitlan. for the latter was encompassed by the salt floods of tezcuco, which flowed in ample canals through every part of the{282} city: while the mexico of our day stands high and dry on the main land, nearly a league distant, at its centre, from the water. the cause of this apparent change in its position is the diminution of the lake, which, from the rapidity of evaporation in these elevated regions, had become perceptible before the conquest, but which has since been greatly accelerated by artificial causes.[306]

the average level of the tezcucan lake, at the present day, is but four feet lower than the great square of mexico.[307] it is considerably lower than the other great basins of water which are found in the valley. in the heavy swell sometimes caused by long and excessive rains, these latter reservoirs anciently overflowed into the tezcuco, which, rising with the accumulated volume of waters, burst through the dikes, and, pouring into the streets of the capital, buried the lower part of the buildings under a deluge. this was comparatively a light evil when the houses stood on piles so elevated that boats might pass under them; when the streets were canals, and the ordinary mode of communication was by water. but it became more disastrous as these canals, filled up with the rubbish of the ruined indian city, were supplanted by streets of solid{283} earth, and the foundations of the capital were gradually reclaimed from the watery element. to obviate this alarming evil, the famous drain of huehuetoca was opened, at an enormous cost, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, and mexico, after repeated inundations, has been at length placed above the reach of the flood.[308] but what was gained to the useful, in this case, as in some others, has been purchased at the expense of the beautiful. by this shrinking of the waters, the bright towns and hamlets once washed by them have been removed some miles into the interior, while a barren strip of land, ghastly from the incrustation of salts formed on the surface, has taken the place of the glowing vegetation which once enamelled the borders of the lake, and of the dark groves of oak, cedar, and sycamore which threw their broad shadows over its bosom.

the chinampas, that archipelago of wandering islands, to which our attention was drawn in the last chapter, have, also, nearly disappeared. these had their origin in the detached masses of earth, which, loosening from the shores, were still held together by the fibrous roots with which they were penetrated. the primitive aztecs, in their poverty of land, availed themselves of the hint thus afforded by nature. they constructed rafts of reeds, rushes, and other fibrous materials, which, tightly knit together, formed a sufficient basis for the sedi{284}ment that they drew up from the bottom of the lake. gradually islands were formed, two or three hundred feet in length, and three or four feet in depth, with a rich stimulated soil, on which the economical indian raised his vegetables and flowers for the markets of tenochtitlan. some of these chinampas were even firm enough to allow the growth of small trees, and to sustain a hut for the residence of the person that had charge of it, who with a long pole, resting on the sides or the bottom of the shallow basin, could change the position of his little territory at pleasure, which with its rich freight of vegetable stores was seen moving like some enchanted island over the water.[309]

the ancient dikes were three in number. that of iztapalapan, by which the spaniards entered, approaching the city from the south. that of tepejacac, on the north, which, continuing the principal street, might be regarded, also, as a continuation of the first causeway. lastly, the dike of tlacopan, connecting the island-city with the continent on the west. this last causeway, memorable for the disastrous retreat of the spaniards, was about two miles in length. they were all built in the same substantial manner, of lime and stone, were defended by draw-bridges, and were wide enough for ten or twelve horsemen to ride abreast.[310]{285}

the rude founders of tenochtitlan built their frail tenements of reeds and rushes on the group of small islands in the western part of the lake. in process of time, these were supplanted by more substantial buildings. a quarry in the neighborhood, of a red porous amygdaloid, tetzontli, was opened, and a light, brittle stone drawn from it and wrought with little difficulty. of this their edifices were constructed, with some reference to architectural solidity, if not elegance. mexico, as already noticed, was the residence of the great chiefs, whom the sovereign encouraged, or rather compelled, from obvious motives of policy, to spend part of the year in the capital. it was also the temporary abode of the great lords of tezcuco and tlacopan, who shared, nominally at least, the sovereignty of the empire.[311] the mansions of these dignitaries, and of the principal nobles, were on a scale of rude magnificence corresponding with their state. they were low, indeed,—seldom of more than one floor, never exceeding two. but they spread over a wide extent of ground, were arranged in a quadrangular form, with a court in the centre, and were surrounded by porticoes embellished with porphyry and jasper, easily found in the neighborhood, while not unfrequently a fountain of crystal water in the centre shed a grateful coolness through the air. the dwellings of the common people were also placed on foundations of stone, which rose to the height of a few feet and were then succeeded by courses of unbaked bricks, crossed occasionally by wooden{286} rafters.[312] most of the streets were mean and narrow. some few, however, were wide and of great length. the principal street, conducting from the great southern causeway, penetrated in a straight line the whole length of the city, and afforded a noble vista, in which the long lines of low stone edifices were broken occasionally by intervening gardens, rising on terraces and displaying all the pomp of aztec horticulture.

the great streets, which were coated with a hard cement, were intersected by numerous canals. some of these were flanked by a solid way, which served as a foot-walk for passengers, and as a landing-place where boats might discharge their cargoes. small buildings were erected at intervals, as stations for the revenue officers who collected the duties on different articles of merchandise. the canals were traversed by numerous bridges, many of which could be raised, affording the means of cutting off communication between different parts of the city.[313]

from the accounts of the ancient capital, one is reminded of those aquatic cities in the old world,{287} the positions of which have been selected from similar motives of economy and defence; above all, of venice,[314]—if it be not rash to compare the rude architecture of the american indian with the marble palaces and temples—alas, how shorn of their splendor!—which crowned the once proud mistress of the adriatic.[315] the example of the metropolis was soon followed by the other towns in the vicinity. instead of resting their foundations on terra firma, they were seen advancing far into the lake, the shallow waters of which in some parts do not exceed four feet in depth.[316] thus an easy means of intercommunication was opened, and the surface of this inland “sea,” as cortés styles it, was darkened by thousands of canoes[317]—an in{288}dian term—industriously engaged in the traffic between these little communities. how gay and picturesque must have been the aspect of the lake in those days, with its shining cities, and flowering islets rocking, as it were, at anchor on the fair bosom of its waters!

the population of tenochtitlan at the time of the conquest is variously stated. no contemporary writer estimates it at less than sixty thousand houses, which, by the ordinary rules of reckoning,{*}{289} would give three hundred thousand souls.[318] if a dwelling often contained, as is asserted, several families, it would swell the amount considerably higher.[319] nothing is more uncertain than estimates of numbers among barbarous communities, who necessarily live in a more confused and promiscuous manner than civilized, and among whom no regular system is adopted for ascertaining the population. the concurrent testimony of the conquerors; the extent of the city, which was said to be nearly three leagues in circumference;[320] the immense size of its great market-place; the long lines of edifices, vestiges of whose ruins may still{290} be found in the suburbs, miles from the modern city;[321] the fame of the metropolis throughout anahuac, which, however, could boast many large and populous places; lastly, the economical husbandry and the ingenious contrivances to extract aliment from the most unpromising sources,[322]—all attest a numerous population, far beyond that of the present capital.[323]

{*} [this estimate is of course erroneous. “the ordinary rules of reckoning” cannot be applied to people living as did the mexicans. the word vecinos means not only householders, as pointed out in the author’s note, but also inhabitants. the translator who rendered the “anonymous conqueror” into italian made no blunder when he used the word habitatori. morgan (ancient society, p. 195) thinks the population was not more than 30,000, and asks “how a barbarous people without flocks and herds, and without field agriculture, could have sustained in equal areas a larger number of inhabitants than a civilized people can now maintain armed with these advantages.” (london at that time may have contained 145,000 inhabitants.) but morgan’s estimate is without question too low. zuazo and the anonymous conqueror were more nearly right in fixing, the population of the city at 60,000. there could not possibly have been room enough for sixty thousand aztec houses in a city of which the circumference was less than three leagues. (no one makes it at any time to have been more than four leagues in circumference.) the houses in which the higher officials dwelt were spread over a wide extent of ground, were low, “seldom of more than one floor, never exceeding two.” (ante, p. 285.) public buildings and pleasure grounds took up much space. the great market-place, tianguez, was “thrice as large as the celebrated square of salamanca” (p. 312). no one states the number of visitors at less than 40,000 (p. 317). (according to ford, handbook of spain, the plaza at salamanca was the largest square in spain. from 16,000 to 20,000 spectators could be accommodated at the bull-fights which took place there.) the temple area also was enormous. on a map of the city of mexico, in the edition of the letters of cortés published at nuremberg, 1524, the temple space is twenty times as great as that given to the market-place. the large number of visitors to the plaza on market days is easily accounted for if we compare the thronged afternoon streets in the shopping districts of any large city with those same streets deserted at night when the visitors have returned to their homes. there were no shops in the aztec capital and all the buying was done in the tianguez.—m.]{291}

a careful police provided for the health and cleanliness of the city. a thousand persons are said to have been daily employed in watering and sweeping the streets,[324] so that a man—to borrow the language of an old spaniard—“could walk through them with as little danger of soiling his feet as his hands.”[325] the water, in a city washed{292} on all sides by the salt floods, was extremely brackish. a liberal supply of the pure element, however, was brought from chapoltepec, “the grasshopper’s hill,” less than a league distant. it was brought through an earthen pipe, along a dike constructed for the purpose. that there might be no failure in so essential an article when repairs were going on, a double course of pipes was laid. in this way a column of water of the size of a man’s body was conducted into the heart of the capital, where it fed the fountains and reservoirs of the principal mansions. openings were made in the aqueduct as it crossed the bridges, and thus a supply was furnished to the canoes below, by means of which it was transported to all parts of the city.[326]

while montezuma encouraged a taste for architectural magnificence in his nobles, he contributed his own share towards the embellishment of the city. it was in his reign that the famous calendar stone, weighing, probably, in its primitive state, nearly fifty tons, was transported from its native quarry, many leagues distant, to the capital, where it still forms one of the most curious monuments of aztec science. indeed, when we reflect on the difficulty of hewing such a stupendous mass from its hard basaltic bed without the aid of iron tools, and that of transporting it such a distance across land and water without the help of animals, we may well feel admiration at the mechanical inge{293}nuity and enterprise of the people who accomplished it.[327]

not content with the spacious residence of his father, montezuma erected another on a yet more magnificent scale. it occupied, as before mentioned, the ground partly covered by the private dwellings on one side of the plaza mayor of the modern city. this building, or, as it might more correctly be styled, pile of buildings, spread over an extent of ground so vast that, as one of the conquerors assures us, its terraced roof might have afforded ample room for thirty knights to run their courses in a regular tourney.[328] i have already noticed its interior decorations, its fanciful draperies, its roofs inlaid with cedar and other odoriferous woods, held together without a nail, and, probably, without a knowledge of the arch,[329] its numerous and spacious apartments, which cortés, with enthusiastic hyperbole, does not hesitate to declare superior to anything of the kind in spain.[330]

adjoining the principal edifice were others, de{294}voted to various objects. one was an armory, filled with the weapons and military dresses worn by the aztecs, all kept in the most perfect order, ready for instant use. the emperor was himself very expert in the management of the maquahuitl, or indian sword, and took great delight in witnessing athletic exercises and the mimic representation of war by his young nobility. another building was used as a granary, and others as warehouses for the different articles of food and apparel contributed by the districts charged with the maintenance of the royal household.

there were, also, edifices appropriated to objects of quite another kind. one of these was an immense aviary, in which birds of splendid plumage were assembled from all parts of the empire. here was the scarlet cardinal, the golden pheasant, the endless parrot-tribe with their rainbow hues (the royal green predominant), and that miniature miracle of nature, the humming-bird, which delights to revel among the honeysuckle bowers of mexico.[331] three hundred attendants had charge of this aviary, who made themselves acquainted with the appropriate food of its inmates, oftentimes procured at great cost, and in the moulting{295} season were careful to collect the beautiful plumage, which, with its many-colored tints, furnished the materials for the aztec painter.

a separate building was reserved for the fierce birds of prey; the voracious vulture-tribes and eagles of enormous size, whose home was in the snowy solitudes of the andes. no less than five hundred turkeys,{*} the cheapest meat in mexico, were allowed for the daily consumption of these tyrants of the feathered race.

{*} [the turkey was introduced to europe from mexico, as has before been stated.—m.]

adjoining this aviary was a menagerie of wild animals, gathered from the mountain forests, and even from the remote swamps of the tierra caliente. the resemblance of the different species to those in the old world, with which no one of them, however, was identical, led to a perpetual confusion in the nomenclature of the spaniards, as it has since done in that of better-instructed naturalists. the collection was still further swelled by a great number of reptiles and serpents remarkable for their size and venomous qualities, among which the spaniards beheld the fiery little animal “with the castanets in his tail,” the terror of the american wilderness.[332] the serpents were confined in long cages lined with down or feathers, or in troughs of mud and water. the beasts and birds of prey were provided with apartments large enough to allow of{296} their moving about, and secured by a strong latticework, through which light and air were freely admitted. the whole was placed under the charge of numerous keepers, who acquainted themselves with the habits of their prisoners and provided for their comfort and cleanliness. with what deep interest would the enlightened naturalist of that day—an oviedo, or a martyr, for example—have surveyed this magnificent collection, in which the various tribes which roamed over the western wilderness, the unknown races of an unknown world, were brought into one view! how would they have delighted to study the peculiarities of these new species, compared with those of their own hemisphere, and thus have risen to some comprehension of the general laws by which nature acts in all her works! the rude followers of cortés did not trouble themselves with such refined speculations. they gazed on the spectacle with a vague curiosity not unmixed with awe; and, as they listened to the wild cries of the ferocious animals and the hissings of the serpents, they almost fancied themselves in the infernal regions.[333]

i must not omit to notice a strange collection of human monsters, dwarfs, and other unfortunate persons in whose organization nature had capriciously deviated from her regular laws. such hideous anomalies were regarded by the aztecs as a suitable appendage of state. it is even said{297} they were in some cases the result of artificial means, employed by unnatural parents desirous to secure a provision for their offspring by thus qualifying them for a place in the royal museum![334]

extensive gardens were spread out around these buildings, filled with fragrant shrubs and flowers, and especially with medicinal plants.[335] no country has afforded more numerous species of these last than new spain; and their virtues were perfectly understood by the aztecs, with whom medical botany may be said to have been studied as a science. amidst this labyrinth of sweet-scented groves and shrubberies, fountains of pure water might be seen throwing up their sparkling jets and scattering refreshing dews over the blossoms. ten large tanks, well stocked with fish, afforded a retreat on their margins to various tribes of water-fowl, whose habits were so carefully consulted that some of these ponds were of salt water, as that which they most loved to frequent. a tessellated pavement of marble enclosed the ample basins, which were overhung by light and fanciful pavilions, that admitted the perfumed breezes of the gardens, and offered a grateful shelter to the mon{298}arch and his mistresses in the sultry heats of summer.[336]

but the most luxurious residence of the aztec monarch, at that season, was the royal hill of chapoltepec,—a spot consecrated, moreover, by the ashes of his ancestors. it stood in a westerly direction from the capital, and its base was, in his day, washed by the waters of the tezcuco. on its lofty crest of porphyritic rock there now stands the magnificent, though desolate, castle erected by the young viceroy galvez at the close of the seventeenth century.[337] the view from its windows is one of the finest in the environs of mexico. the landscape is not disfigured here, as in many other quarters, by the white and barren patches, so offensive to the sight; but the eye wanders over an unbroken expanse of meadows and cultivated fields, waving with rich harvests of european grain. montezuma’s gardens stretched for miles around the base of the hill. two statues of that monarch and his father, cut in bas-relief in the porphyry, were spared till the middle of the last century;[338] and the grounds are still shaded by gigantic cypresses, more than fifty feet in circumference, which were centuries old at the time of the conquest.[339] the place is now a tangled wilderness of{299} wild shrubs, where the myrtle mingles its dark, glossy leaves with the red berries and delicate foliage of the pepper-tree. surely there is no spot better suited to awaken meditation on the past; none where the traveller, as he sits under those stately cypresses gray with the moss of ages, can so fitly ponder on the sad destinies of the indian races and the monarch who once held his courtly revels under the shadow of their branches.

the domestic establishment of montezuma was on the same scale of barbaric splendor as everything else about him. he could boast as many wives as are found in the harem of an eastern sultan.[340] they were lodged in their own apartments, and provided with every accommodation, according to their ideas, for personal comfort and cleanliness. they passed their hours in the usual feminine employments of weaving and embroidery, especially in the graceful feather-work, for which such rich materials were furnished by the royal aviaries. they conducted themselves with strict decorum, under the supervision of certain aged females, who acted in the respectable capacity of duennas, in the same manner as in the religious houses attached to the teocallis. the palace was supplied with numerous baths, and montezuma set the example, in his own person, of frequent ablutions. he bathed at least once, and changed his{300} dress four times, it is said, every day.[341] he never put on the same apparel a second time, but gave it away to his attendants. queen elizabeth, with a similar taste for costume, showed a less princely spirit in hoarding her discarded suits. her wardrobe was, probably, somewhat more costly than that of the indian emperor.

besides his numerous female retinue, the halls and antechambers were filled with nobles in constant attendance on his person, who served also as a sort of body-guard. it had been usual for plebeians of merit to fill certain offices in the palace. but the haughty montezuma refused to be waited upon by any but men of noble birth. they were not unfrequently the sons of the great chiefs, and remained as hostages in the absence of their fathers; thus serving the double purpose of security and state.[342]

his meals the emperor took alone. the well-matted floor of a large saloon was covered with{301} hundreds of dishes.[343] sometimes montezuma himself, but more frequently his steward, indicated those which he preferred, and which were kept hot by means of chafing-dishes.[344] the royal bill of fare comprehended, besides domestic animals, game from the distant forests, and fish which, the day before, were swimming in the gulf of mexico! they were dressed in manifold ways, for the aztec artistes, as we have already had occasion to notice, had penetrated deep into the mysteries of culinary science.[345]

the meats were served by the attendant nobles, who then resigned the office of waiting on the monarch to maidens selected for their personal grace and beauty. a screen of richly gilt and carved wood was drawn around him, so as to conceal him from vulgar eyes during the repast. he was seated on a cushion, and the dinner was served{302} on a low table covered with a delicate cotton cloth. the dishes were of the finest ware of cholula. he had a service of gold, which was reserved for religious celebrations. indeed, it would scarcely have comported with even his princely revenues to have used it on ordinary occasions, when his table-equipage was not allowed to appear a second time, but was given away to his attendants. the saloon was lighted by torches made of a resinous wood, which sent forth a sweet odor and, probably, not a little smoke, as they burned. at his meal, he was attended by five or six of his ancient counsellors, who stood at a respectful distance, answering his questions, and occasionally rejoiced by some of the viands with which he complimented them from his table.

this course of solid dishes was succeeded by another of sweetmeats and pastry, for which the aztec cooks, provided with the important requisites of maize-flour, eggs, and the rich sugar of the aloe, were famous. two girls were occupied at the farther end of the apartment, during dinner, in preparing fine rolls and wafers, with which they garnished the board from time to time. the emperor took no other beverage than the chocolatl, a potation of chocolate, flavored with vanilla and other spices, and so prepared as to be reduced to a froth of the consistency of honey, which gradually dissolved in the mouth. this beverage, if so it could be called, was served in golden goblets, with spoons of the same metal or of tortoise-shell finely wrought. the emperor was exceedingly fond of it, to judge from the quantity—no less than fifty{303} jars or pitchers—prepared for his own daily consumption.[346] two thousand more were allowed for that of his household.[347]

the general arrangement of the meal seems to have been not very unlike that of europeans. but no prince in europe could boast a dessert which could compare with that of the aztec emperor. for it was gathered fresh from the most opposite climes; and his board displayed the products of his own temperate region, and the luscious fruits of the tropics, plucked, the day previous, from the green groves of the tierra caliente, and transmitted with the speed of steam, by means of couriers, to the capital. it was as if some kind fairy should crown our banquets with the spicy products that but yesterday were growing in a sunny isle of the far-off indian seas!{*}

{*} [this description, as se?or alaman observes, seems to have a tincture of romance, since many of the fruits now produced in such abundance in mexico were unknown there previous to the conquest. conquista de méjico, trad. de vega, tom. i. p. 373.—k.]

after the emperor’s appetite was appeased, water was handed to him by the female attendants in a silver basin, in the same manner as had been done before commencing his meal; for the aztecs were as constant in their ablutions, at these times, as any nation of the east. pipes were then brought, made of a varnished and richly-gilt wood, from which he inhaled, sometimes through{304} the nose, at others through the mouth, the fumes of an intoxicating weed, “called tobacco,”[348] mingled with liquid amber. while this soothing process of fumigation was going on, the emperor enjoyed the exhibitions of his mountebanks and jugglers, of whom a regular corps was attached to the palace. no people, not even those of china or hindostan, surpassed the aztecs in feats of agility and legerdemain.[349]

sometimes he amused himself with his jester; for the indian monarch had his jesters, as well as his more refined brethren of europe, at that day. indeed, he used to say that more instruction was to be gathered from them than from wiser men, for they dared to tell the truth. at other times he witnessed the graceful dances of his women, or took delight in listening to music,—if the rude minstrelsy of the mexicans deserve that name,—accompanied by a chant, in slow and solemn cadence, celebrating the heroic deeds of great aztec warriors, or of his own princely line.

when he had sufficiently refreshed his spirits with these diversions, he composed himself to sleep, for in his siesta he was as regular as a spaniard. on awaking, he gave audience to ambassadors from foreign states or his own tributary cities, or to such caciques as had suits to prefer to him.

[image unavailable.]

montezuma

goupil & co., paris

{305}

they were introduced by the young nobles in attendance, and, whatever might be their rank, unless of the blood royal, they were obliged to submit to the humiliation of shrouding their rich dresses under the coarse mantle of nequen, and entering bare-footed, with downcast eyes, into the presence. the emperor addressed few and brief remarks to the suitors, answering them generally by his secretaries; and the parties retired with the same reverential obeisance, taking care to keep their faces turned towards the monarch. well might cortés exclaim that no court, whether of the grand seignior or any other infidel, ever displayed so pompous and elaborate a ceremonial![350]

besides the crowd of retainers already noticed, the royal household was not complete without a host of artisans constantly employed in the erection or repair of buildings, besides a great number of jewellers and persons skilled in working metals, who found abundant demand for their trinkets among the dark-eyed beauties of the harem. the imperial mummers and jugglers were also very numerous, and the dancers belonging to the palace occupied a particular district of the city, appropriated exclusively to them.

the maintenance of this little host, amounting to some thousands of individuals, involved a heavy expenditure, requiring accounts of a complicated and, to a simple people, it might well be, embarrassing nature. everything, however, was con{306}ducted with perfect order; and all the various receipts and disbursements were set down in the picture-writing of the country. the arithmetical characters were of a more refined and conventional sort than those for narrative purposes; and a separate apartment was filled with hieroglyphical legers, exhibiting a complete view of the economy of the palace. the care of all this was intrusted to a treasurer, who acted as a sort of major-domo in the household, having a general superintendence over all its concerns. this responsible office, on the arrival of the spaniards, was in the hands of a trusty cacique named tápia.[351]{*}

{*} [the name, which is spanish, not aztec, was that given to him by the conquerors, perhaps with some reference to one of their own number, andrés de tápia.—k.]

such is the picture of montezuma’s domestic establishment{**} and way of living, as delineated by {307}the conquerors and their immediate followers, who had the best means of information;[352] too highly colored, it may be, by the proneness to exaggerate, which was natural to those who first witnessed a spectacle so striking to the imagination, so new and unexpected. i have thought it best to present the full details, trivial though they may seem to the reader, as affording a curious picture of manners so superior in point of refinement to those of the other aboriginal tribes on the north american continent. nor are they, in fact, so trivial, when we reflect that in these details of private life we{308} possess a surer measure of civilization than in those of a public nature.

{**} [prescott’s picture of montezuma’s domestic establishment and way of living is drawn, without enlargement, from sketches supplied by cortés and bernal diaz—two men who saw the state in which the aztec chief lived. their observations extended over a period of only five days, as cortés made montezuma his prisoner at the end of that time. subsequent historians, amplifying details only hinted at by the two eye-witnesses, have given free rein to the imagination. the last important contribution to the subject came from the pen of h. h. bancroft, native races, vol. ii. chap. iv (palaces and households of the nahua kings). it was his glowing account, in which were incorporated the details specified by the later spanish historians, which so roused the indignation of lewis h. morgan as to move that scholar to put forth his famous essay, “montezuma’s dinner.” this essay created an immense impression when it first appeared, but a careful examination will demonstrate the fact that it contains almost as many misstatements as do the pages of bancroft. mr. morgan begins by saying that the histories of spanish america may be trusted in whatever relates “to the acts and personal characteristics of the indians: in whatever relates to their weapons, implements, and utensils, fabrics, food, and raiment, and things of a similar character,” and then entirely ignores the fact that cortés and bernal diaz actually saw what they afterward described. he points out, what most men will at once admit, that the dinners the conquerors described were not repasts provided for a king alone, but that they represented the daily fare of a great communal household. meals prepared on almost as large a scale were served in other great communal houses in mexico. in fact, all the dinners served in the city were communal dinners, for all the authorities agree that even the smallest houses were inhabited by several families. but when, with fine scorn, he takes exception to the expression “wine cellars,” and claims, first, that cellars were impossible in a city where the level of the streets and courts was but four feet above the level of the water of the surrounding lake, and, second, that the aztecs had no knowledge of wine, we feel that he is hypercritical. when he goes on to say that “though an acid beer, pulque, was a common beverage of the aztecs, yet it is hardly supposable that even this was used at dinner,” one is inevitably led to the conclusion that mr. morgan had but little knowledge of the dinner habits of some of his contemporaries in the cities of western new york. it is not inconceivable that even in his own city of rochester families can be found who take beer with their principal meal.—m.]

in surveying them we are strongly reminded of the civilization of the east; not of that higher, intellectual kind which belonged to the more polished arabs and the persians, but that semi-civilization which has distinguished, for example, the tartar races, among whom art, and even science, have made, indeed, some progress in the adaptation to material wants and sensual gratification, but little in reference to the higher and more ennobling interests of humanity. it is characteristic of such a people to find a puerile pleasure in a dazzling and ostentatious pageantry; to mistake show for substance, vain pomp for power; to hedge round the throne itself with a barren and burdensome ceremonial, the counterfeit of real majesty.

even this, however, was an advance in refinement, compared with the rude manners of the earlier aztecs. the change may, doubtless, be referred in some degree to the personal influence of montezuma. in his younger days he had tempered the fierce habits of the soldier with the milder profession of religion. in later life he had withdrawn himself still more from the brutalizing occupations of war, and his manners acquired a refinement, tinctured, it may be added, with an effeminacy, unknown to his martial predecessors.

the condition of the empire, too, under his reign, was favorable to this change. the dismemberment of the tezcucan kingdom on the death of the great nezahualpilli had left the aztec monarchy without a rival; and it soon spread its colossal arms{309} over the farthest limits of anahuac. the aspiring mind of montezuma rose with the acquisition of wealth and power; and he displayed the consciousness of new importance by the assumption of unprecedented state. he affected a reserve unknown to his predecessors, withdrew his person from the vulgar eye, and fenced himself round with an elaborate and courtly etiquette. when he went abroad, it was in state, on some public occasion, usually to the great temple, to take part in the religious services; and as he passed along he exacted from his people, as we have seen, the homage of an adulation worthy of an oriental despot.[353] his haughty demeanor touched the pride of his more potent vassals, particularly those who, at a distance, felt themselves nearly independent of his authority. his exactions, demanded by the profuse expenditure of his palace, scattered broadcast the seeds of discontent; and, while the empire seemed towering in its most palmy and prosperous state, the canker had eaten deepest into its heart.