Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1846-06-23

three, before Mexico had been discover
s led by Europeans. He died 30th June
.1I525, in the forty second year of his ape
tof wounds inflicted BY the spanish discov-
ferries, whom he had invited to his royal
3 palace. Historians agree in admiring
3 his character. 49, -. -. Z.
+ On ascending the throne, not content
with the spacious residence ofhis father,
3 he erected another, much more nagniti-
| cent, fronting on the plaza mayor of the
present city Of Mexico. 50 vast was this
.Egreat structure, that, as one of the histo-
Irians informs US, the space covered BY
i its terraced oofmight have afforded room
for thirty knights to run their caafsers in
la regular taurnay, His fathers palace
although not SO high. was 50 extensive that
/ the visitors were too much fatigued in
wandering through the apartments, ever
to see the whole of it. The palaces were
built ofred stone, ornanented with mar
lhle; the arms ofthe Monte ulna family (an'
eagle bearing a tiger in his taiions) being
tsculptured over the main entrance. Crys 1
tai fountains, led BY the great reservoirs
on the neighbpring. hills, played in the
vast. halls and gardens, and supplied wa ]
ter to hundreds of marble baths in the in
terror ofthe palace. Crowds of nob!es
and tributary chieftains were continually
sauntcring through the halls, or lettering
away their hours in attendance on the
Court. Rich. carving in wood adorned
the ceilings, beautiful mats Of pa'in leaf
covered the floors. The walls were hung
with cotton richly stained, the skins of
wild animals, or gorgeous drapcries o!H
feather work wrought in imitation ofbir1s
insects and flowers, in glowing raaiance
of colors Clouds of incense from golden
censors diffiIsed intoxicating o1ors through
/ splendid apartments occupied by the nine
hundred and eighty wives and FIVE hua9-
red slaves ofMontezuma. Fl
| He encouraged science and learning,
and public schools were established thro
out the greater part of his empire. Tae
city OF, Mexico 10 his day numbered twice
as many inhabitants as at present, ana
one thousand men were daily employed
ia watering and sweeping its streets, keep
4 ing them so clean that man mighttraY..
erse the whole city with little danger oil
/ selling his feet Or his hands. A eaFefu.
! police guarded the city. Extensive arse
/ halls, granefies, warehouses;, an aviary
for the most beautiful birds, menageries,
houses for reptiles and serpents, coliec-
ton of human monsters, fish ponds built
/ ofmar5ie, and museums and public libra
| ries, all on the most extensive scale, al
4 ded their attraction to the great city OF the
! Aztecs. Gorgeous tempies-in which
! human victims were sacrificed, aud their
/ blood bakedin bread cor their bodies dress
ed for food to be devoured by the people al
religious festiyals--reafed their pyramid
al affairs far above the highest edlnces.--
/ Thousands other brother men were thus
4 sacrificed annually The tempe Maxtiii,
/ their war god, was so constructed that its
j great alarm gong, sounding to bate rous-
led the valley for. three leagues around,
and called three hudred thousand armed
Aztecs to the immediate relief of their
.lEinonareh. So vast was the collection of
birds OF prey, in a building devoted to
them, that 500 turkeys, the cheapest meat
! ia Mexico, were allowed for their con-
sumption daily. Such were the Halls of
the Montezumes!'' 49,
/ The summer residence of the monarch,
on the hill of Chapoltepec, overlooking the
city, was surrounded by gardens of seve-
raj miles in extent, and here were preser-
i we'd until the middle of the last century,
two statues Of the Emperor, and his faith
Ier. The great cypress trees, under which
the Aztec, sovereign and his associates
once held their moonlight revels, still
shade the royal. gardens. Some Of them
| fifty feet in circumference, are several
thousand years old, but are yet as green
as in the days Of Montezuna, whose ash
4 IS, or those Of his ancestors, render sa-
i cred, in the ewes of the native Mexicans
| the. hills of Chapoitepec. Natnral decay
and waning population now mark the
seat Of power of the great Montezamas.
lsgA FAMILY OF SoLDIERs. The Boston
4 Trayeller says that a friend informs the
editor that an; ancestor of his wife 5, on
J, the Island of Martinique. was the father
lof 80 sous by one wife, and that during
4 the attack on the Island by the English,
he was the Col. ola regiment of, volunteer
militia. IN, the front rank Of WHICH the.
ssh0le thirty were stationed. -
4 5sssa Forty Years Ago. ss sas.
II Forty years ago, literature meut learn
H ing and was supported by common sense
Refined nonsense had no advocates, and
was pretty generally kickedsout Of doors
sl.f Forty years ago, there we're but few.
merchants 10 the country, or insolyent
debtoFs and they rarely imprisoned for
debt ~s,ss s'sss 3s.ss
Forty years ago, young ladies' OF the
I frs re spectabilitY armed music-7but Il
lmlsic afshe spinning wheel, and learned