Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1846-07-22
The Halls of MOnteZuma

Montezuma II ascended the Mexcan
throne "A. ID. 1902, at the age of twenty
three, before Mexico had been discovered
by Europeans. He died 30th of June, 1920,
in the AID year of his age, of wounds in
licted by the Spanish discoveners whom
he had invited to his royal palace. Histo-
rians agree in admiring his character.
On ascending the throne, not content
with the spacious residence Of his father he
erected another much more magnificent,
fronting on the plaza mayor Of the present
city of Mexico. So vast was this grea:
structure, that, as one of the historians in
! Garnas usstbe space. ayered by its .terraced
roof 3ight have afforded ample room for
thirty knights to run their coursers in a
regular tourney. His fathers palace al
though not so high, was so extensive that
the visitors were too much fatigued in wan
dering through the apartments ever to see
the whole of it. The palaces were built of
red stone, ornamented with marble, the
arms of the Montezuma family ian eagle
bearing tiger in his talons) being sculp-
turcd overthe entrance. Crystal fountains
fed by great reservoirs on the neighboring
hills, played in the vast halls and gardens
and supplied water to hundreds of marble
baths in the interior Of the palaces. Crowds
of mobiles and tributary chieltans were con-
tinually sauntering through the halls, Or
lettering away their hours In attendance on
the court. Rich carvings in wood adorned
the ceilings, and beautiful mats of palm
leaf covered the floors. The walls were hung
with cotton richly stained, the skins of wild
animals, or gorgeous draperies of feather
work. wrought in imitation ofbirds, insects,
and flowers, in glowing radiance of colors.
Clouds of incense from golden censors diff
fused intoxicating odors through splendid
apartments coupled by the nine hundred
and eighty wives and five thousand slaves
of Montezuma.
He encouraged science and learning, and
public schools were established throughout
the greater part of his empire. The city
of Mexico in his day, numbered twice as
many inhabitants as at present, and one
thousand men were daily employed in wa
tering and sweeping its streets, keeping
them so clean that man could traverse the
whole city with as little danger of soiling
his feet as his hands. A careful police guard
ed the city. Extensive arsenals, granaries,
warehouses, an AVERY for the most beauti-
full birds, menageries, houses for reptiles
and serpents, collection Of human mon
sters, Gsh-ponds built Of marble, aud muse
ums and public libraries, all on the extern
sive scale, added their attractions to the
great city of the Aztecs. Gorgeous tenn
pies in which human victims were sacri-
feed, and their blood baked in bread, or
their bodies dressed for food to be devoured
by the people at religious festivals-reared
their pyramidical altars far above the high
est edifces. Thousands Of their brother
men were thus sacrificed annually. The
temple of Maxtli, their war god, was so
constructed that its greatalarm gong sound
ing to battle, reused the valley for three
leagues around, and called three hundred
thousand armed Aztecs to the immediate re-
lief of their monarch. So vast was the col
lection of the birds of prey, in building
devoted to them, that 500 turkeys, the
cheapest meat in Mexico, were allowed sfol
their daily consumption. Such were the
Halls of the MonteZumas! The summer
residence Of the monarch, on the hill Chap
oltepec, overlooking the city, was surroun
ded by gardens of several miles in extent
} here were preserved until the middle of th,
last century, two statues Of the Empero
t and his father. The great cypress trees, un
> der which the Aztec sovereign and his asso
+. ciates once held their moonlight revels, still
shade the royal gardens Some of them