State journal & flag., 1846-06-19
From Inc NeW Fork Sun. The Halls of the NI0mtcZumnas. s.

Montezumas II. ascended the Mexican throne A. D. l502, at the age of twenty
 three, before Mexico had been discovered by Europeans. He died 3O;h June, 1920, in the forty -second year of his age, of wounds inflicted by the Spanish discoverers whom he had invited to his royal palace. Histo rans ugree in admiring hs character.
 On ascending the throne, not content with the spacious residence of his father, he erec- ted another, much more magnificent, front. ing on the plaza moyoD of the present city of Mexico. So vast was this great struc
 ture, that, as one of the historians informs us .he space covered by it's tcrraced rool might have afforded ample room tor thirty knights to run their courses in regular tournay. His fathers palace, although not so high was so extensive that the visitors were loo much ialgued n wandering through the apartments, ever to see the whole ot II. The palaces were built of red stone. or namented with marble, the arms of the Mon- ,ezuma family Gan eagle bearing a tiger in his taIons) being scul ptured over the main en. trance. Crystal fountains, fed by great re- servoirs of the neighboring hills, played in the vast halls and gardens, and supplied wa. ter to hundreds of marble baths m the inte- rior of the paIaces.-Crowds of nobles and tributary chleftaus were continually saun- tering through the halls, or Ioering away their hours in attendance on the court. Rich carvings in wood adorned the ceilings. beau. tiful mats of palm leaf covered the floors. The walls were hung with cotton richly stained, the skins of wild animals, or gorge ous drnperies of feather work wrought in i'm. itaiion of birds, meets and flowers, in glow. ing radiance of colors. Clouds of incence from golden censers difspsed intoxicating odors through splendid apartments occupied by the nine Hundred and eighty wives and five thousand slaves of Montezu,na.
 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 us at present. and 1000 men were daily employed in watering and sweeping it's 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 guarded the city. Extensive arsenals, granaries, warehouses, an avary for the most beautiful birds, menageries, houses for reptiles and serpents, collec- tcn of human monsters, fish ponds built of marble, and museums and public libraries, all on the most extensive scales, added their attractions to the greut city of the Aziecs. Gorgeous ,emples-iL which human victims were sacrificed, and their blood baked in bread, and their bodies dressed tor food 10 be devoured by the people at religious fesii. vals--reared their pyramidal altars far above the highest ediices. Thousands of their brother men were thus sacrificed annually. The temple ot Maxti, their war god, was so constructed that its great alarm gopg, sonding to battle. reused the valley for ihree leagues around. and called 30O,0O0 armed A1lecs to the immediate relief ot their mon- arch. So vast was the collection of birds oi prey, in building devoted to them, that 500 turkeys, the cheapest meat in Mexico, were allowed for their daily consumption.