Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-03-06
NATIONAL lNTELLIGENCER.
GULL1vERs TRAVELS IN CENTRAL AMERICA.

For some two months past nearly all OF the pubic
papers in this city have contained frequent para
graphs, and sometimes labored and extended arti-
cles, of exciting interest, concerning couple Of
wonderful "Aztec children who have now been
exhibited for few weeks to the g wise men Of Go
tha1n, Z at The Society . IihoeI bsilias On &osdr
way They were Represented q Be specimens Of q
unique and new race Of human beings o. rather the
last relics of an old race, now nearly extinct,
der of priesthood among the ancient Aztecs of Cen
trail America. They were bright as birds, playful
as squirrels and in size and stature the yerest Tom
Thumbs that ever were seen. Doctors examined
them and gave certificates that they were all right;
phrenologists measured their craniums, or crania,
and declared they had more brain proportion their
bodies than the rest of mankind and the newspapers all
agreed that they decidedly the elephant. could
stand this temptation longer l went to see them;
and truth say, well pleased and well paid for my
trouble They are curiostes well worth seeing-decid-
edly more so than little Gen. Tom Thumb, who made
fortune for Barnum And why should not the Aztec
children make fortune for their exhibitors? Judging
from the number of vster present and the interest mani
fested predict they will And judge frem something
ese too which brings to the conclusion. Bar
mum is called the prince of managers for getting up
show but he has not been outBarnumd here, not
the Yankee guess that have generally had the weak
ness to suppose myself.
These children dwarfs, have something Of the COM
plexion of the American aborgnes The boy is about
thirty inches and the girl twenynine inches in
height but they small and slender in proportion to
their height and delicatey formed forehead small and
quite retreating hair black and glossy eyes black and
bright; features finely chiseed and by repul
sve for some Of the ladies asked and received kisses from
the little girl the line from the top of the forehead to the
end of the nearly straight The anonymous printed
Of them bearing date years ago. represents
oo,r~l hr.f 0f
the exhibitors expressed his belief that the girl might be
nine or ten and the boy nearly twenty The boy is said
to weigh about twenty pounds and the girl seventeen
They do not appear to be idotic but their mani
festaons of intellect and requirements very feeble
corresponding nearly with ordinary children at year and
half and two years Of age They seemed afectionate
and sensitive They caressed each other when told to do
SO: and the little GIRL when required to give up favor
ite toy burst into hearty childke cry which, however,
was aueted in minute two, and She was at play again
Tbey exhibited strong and childish fondness for toys
little dancing image in small box filled them with de-
light causing them skip about the stage, dancing IN
imitation and clappng their tiny hands in great glee
The boy blowed little trumpet sawed little fiddle, and
rode little rocking horse But little muscbox about
three inches by two their chief joy and seemed to
fill them with intense delight They examined it with
most nqurng look peered earnestly into it to see where
the sounds FROM and pressed long and repeatedly
to their if in perfect ecstacy The lady who had
brought the musicbox the made present of it
to the boy Maxmo that he might be happy forever And
another lady brought miniature gold ring and placed 1t
on the finger of the girl Bartola.
They speak perhaps dozen words with more or less
distncness, but evidently make slow progress in acqur
ING language They to understand readily many
things said to them in which they have probably been
long time trained When the hour Of exhibition up,
they told to make their bow to the company and bd
them rood-by Whereupon they walked side by side to
the front of the STAGE and Maxine, as if conscious that
Bartoa was the weaker vessel and apprehensve that she
might not perfectly comprehend the order which had been
given placed his hand upon her head and pressed 1t
down to very low bow to the great amusement Of the
audience
But il was not my main object at this time to give
description of these curious dwar The papers are do
inr that every day am surprised however that they
have wholly omitted TO give the wonderful and exceed
inply interesting account replete with tolls pers hair
breadth escapes and horrible Deaths Of their discovery
and transportation this country This account is con-
tanned in pamphlet Of thirty five pages printed in New
York and bearing date 1850. The pamphlet is anony.
nous but nevertheless contains abundant internal ev
dence of being authentic 1t purports to be derived main
y from Spanish journal by Pedro veasquez Of San Sal
rador who of the principal actors in the scenes
described The translator, who modesty conceals his
own name sometimes gives aDrldgmentS Oh tne hstory
in his own language and sometimes copies evenu
in full from the thrilling journal Of Veasquez carefully
and elegantly translated And il is with the highest sat
isacton We learn from the translator that the full jour
nal Of Velasquez will be published to the world
soon as the authors consent be obtained But we
must hasten TO give the lovers Of the marvellous fore
taste Of grand and delicious feast they here
after to enjoy.
It appears from the pamphlet that Mr. Stevens in his
Travels in Central America, speaks Of old padre Ca
thoc priest of Santa Cruz del Quiche who told him
wonderful stories of ruins Of ancient cities in the interior
Of the country and particularly of hiring city far be-
yond the mountains The padre declared that in his
younger days he had climbed to the top Of the Sierra Ma
DIRE height Of ten twelve thousand feet and looking
from the summit immense plain extending to Yu-
catan and the Gulf Of Mexico he had with his
eyes in the remote distance large city, spread
great space, with turets white and gterng the
Mr. Stevens though very desrous explore that region
Of country and test the truth Of the PADRES statements
had time TO do II would be long and perous un-
dertaking But he adds, "two young men Of good CON
stituon and who could afford spend five years might
succeed That hint it seems gave birth to the Aztec
children for says the unknown author Of this pamph-
let cit is now known that two intrepid young men, incit-
cd probably by this identical passage in Mr. Scvenss po-
pular work. agreed undertake the perous and roman
tic enterprise" They Mr.. Huertis, Of Baltimore,
an American Of Spanish parents from Cuba, and Mr..
Hammond civil engineer from Canada Providing