MEXICO AS IT IS, AND WAS BEFORE THE SPANISH CONQUEST — WHY THE EMPIRE FAILED — CONTRADICTORY ACCOUNTS OF THE ANCIENT MEXICANS — THE RUINS OF THEIR BUILDINGS — HUMAN SACRIFICES — THE SACRIFICIAL KNIFE — MEXICAN ART — MOSAIC WORK AND FEATHER PICTURES — CAPABILITIES OF THE COUNTRY.

Before passing to the North American tribes, a brief notice must be taken of Mexico.

At the present day this land is possessed of a sort of civilization which presents no features of interest. It is inhabited chiefly by a mixed people, the descendants of the Spanish conquerors having contracted alliances with the natives, and so produced a hybrid race, which is continually retrograding from the white parentage, and assuming more of the aboriginal type.

The failure in establishing a Mexican empire was entirely due to the question of race. Those inhabitants who were either pure whites, or in whom the white blood predominated, were naturally desirous to have a ruler of their own kind, thinking that an empire was the only mode of civilizing the land, and of putting an end to the constant civil wars and repeated changes of dynasty which kept back their most prolific and fertile land from developing its full capabilities. But in the great bulk of the people the Indian blood predominated, and in consequence an empire founded on the principles of European civilization was as irreconcilable to them as would be the rule of an Indian cacique in Europe. Such an empire could only be held by force of arms, and as soon as the bayonet was withdrawn the empire fell. We must, however, confine ourselves to Mexico as it was before the Spaniard crushed out her civilization and destroyed her history.

The accounts of ancient Mexico are most perplexing. If the narratives of the Spanish conquerors could be implicitly trusted, nothing would be simpler than to condense them into a consecutive history. But it is quite certain that these accounts were very much exaggerated, and that the reality fell very far short of the romantic tales of the Spanish conquerors.

The following is an abstract of the narratives put forth by the Spaniards. The capital was situated on an island in the midst of a large lake. It contained twenty thousand houses, which were of great magnificence. In the midst was the emperor’s palace, built of marble and jasper, and of prodigious extent. It was adorned with fountains, baths, and statues, and the walls were covered with pictures made of feathers. Not only the palace, but the houses of the caciques, possessed menageries filled with all the animals of the country, together with museums of various natural curiosities.

One of the greatest beauties of Mexico was a large square, daily filled with merchants, who came to buy and sell the various works of art in gold, silver, and feathers for which the Mexicans were famous. Between the city and the borders of the lake a hundred thousand canoes were continually passing; besides which mode of transit three vast causeways were built on the lake. The capital was not the only city of the waters, for more than fifty large cities and a multitude of villages were built on the same lake.

The dress of the nobles was most gorgeous, and their persons were adorned with gold and jewels in profusion. Their treasuries were filled with the precious metals, and gold was as plentiful in Mexico as copper in Europe.

That these statements were much exaggerated is not to be doubted, but they were not pure inventions, and had all some foundation in fact. For example, the architecture of the ancient Mexicans was of a Cyclopean vastness, as is proved by the ruins which are now almost the sole memorials of a vanished system of civilization. There is a strong resemblance between the architecture of Mexico and that of Egypt, not only in its massiveness, but in the frequent use of the pyramid.

One of these pyramids has the sides exactly twice as long as those of the large pyramid of Egypt. This is the great pyramid tower of Cholula, which had eight stories, each forming a platform on which rested the one above it, so that it closely resembled the Temple of Belus as described by Herodotus. The interior of these pyramidal structures was pierced with chambers, galleries, and flights of stairs, probably the habitations of the priests who served the temples and performed those terrible human sacrifices which formed an important part of their religious system. Viaducts which crossed deep valleys, bridges, and roads, remains of which are still in existence, testify to the vanished civilization of the Mexicans, or, as some ethnologists think, of a race that preceded them.

Specimens of the artistic skill of the ancient Mexicans may be seen in the magnificent Christy Collection. There is, for example, one of the sacrificial knives with which the priests laid open the breast of the human victim in order to tear out the heart and offer it to the blood-loving deity of the temple. The blade of this instrument is obsidian, and its handle is a marvellous piece of mosaic work, made of lapis lazuli, ruby, and other precious stones. Then there are masks made of similar materials, one being a most ghastly imitation of a human skull.

The skill in feather working still survives, and even at the present day pictures are made so exquisitely from humming-birds’ feathers that they seem, at a little distance, to be admirable specimens of enamel.

The courage of the ancient Mexicans was very great. They opposed their naked breasts to the mail-clad invaders, and their comparatively feeble weapons to the dreaded fire-arms. Even the horse, which at first struck terror into them as a supernatural being, soon ceased to be an object of dread, and there is a story that they captured a horse in battle, stabled it in a temple, and treated it as a god, feeding it with daintily dressed chickens and similar dishes, until the poor beast was starved in the midst of plenty.

The conduct of the Aztecs in destroying their once venerated Emperor Montezuma, because he yielded to the Spaniards, and the calm endurance of his warlike successor Guatemozin, when stretched on the fiery rack, are sufficient instances of the courage possessed by the Mexicans when Cortez came into the country.

The real prosperity of Mexico is to come. There is every capability in the country, which is fertile in many valuable productions,—cattle and horses, for example, both of which, importations from Europe, have multiplied in an astonishing manner, and may at some time supply half Europe with cheap food, hides, and beasts of burden.

Insect life is almost as valuable as that of the higher and larger animals. The cochineal insect reproduces itself in vast numbers, and, large as is the trade in this valuable insect, it could be extended almost indefinitely. There is no trouble in breeding the insect, no risk, and scarcely any capital required. It feeds upon the prickly pear, a plant which springs up luxuriantly if but a leaf be stuck in the ground.

It is indeed so luxuriant, that riders are forced to employ a peculiar kind of stirrup, in order to prevent their feet from being riddled with the needle-like thorns with which the plant, the leaf, and fruit are covered. One of these curious stirrups is shown in illustration No. 1, page 1265, drawn from my own specimens, which was brought from Mexico by Sir F. Wetherell.

It is cut from a solid block of wood, and is therefore exceedingly heavy. A hole is cut in the back of the stirrup, into which the foot can be thrust nearly half way. Owing to the size and weight of this curious implement, the prickly pears are pushed aside as the rider passes among them, and thus the foot and ankle are protected from the slender but formidable thorns with which they are armed. The stirrup is sometimes put to another use, and employed as a rough and ready drinking cup. The front of the implement is covered with bold and graceful patterns, the effect of which is often heightened by means of color. In my own specimen they are colored with blue, scarlet, and black.

As to the vegetable products of Mexico, they are too numerous to mention, but the principal are the indigo, the chocolate, and the vanilla.

Then it is as prolific in mineral as in animal wealth, and in the hands of an energetic and industrious people, the yield of copper, iron, gold, silver, and other metals might be almost indefinitely extended. In all these productions comparatively little labor is required. Nature gives almost gratuitously those privileges which in other lands cannot be obtained without the expenditure of time, labor, and money.

The past civilization of Mexico has vanished never to return. Its present is a comparative failure. The future is yet to be seen, but it may even eclipse the vanished glories of the past if guided by those who understand the epoch, the country, and the race.