Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1884-06-18
FIomers in the Tronics.

There can be no greater mistake than
TO assume that the flowers of the tropical
forests are chiefly odorless, and that
tropical birds have no song. 1t is only
necessary to read Humboldt, Waterton
and other great travellers, 10 have this
impression removed If one live for
months in those southern forests, as the
writer has done, he will find that the air
is overladen with the perfume of flowers,
and frequently vocal with the song of
birds.
a light breeze from the forest, !"
writes one who has climbed to the Mexi-
can table-land, "often conveys a perfect
cloud of most delicious odors to the wan
derer" Odors of orange, limo. and cit
ron, tuberoseS, violets and magQolias,.
permeate the air, especially in the gars
dens of the coast and the temperate region.
Almost the first greeting extended to
CorteZ when he entered the walled city
of Campoalla, was accompanied with a
present of flowers. and the Mexican
mobiles always carried nosegays in which
they took great delight.
In the religious ceremonies of the Mex
leans, even in the bloody rites of the
Aztecs, flowers played an important
part. Flowers and fruit were the offer
ings made in the worship taught by the
culture-hero, Quetzalcoatt
The Spanish priests, in their anxiety
to secure converts, in the years succeed
ing the conquest, allowed the Indians to
retain many of their ancient forms of
worship, least Objectionable of which
was the expression Of their alteration
1,o g An,,..ro
1t is related that long after the over
throw of the Aztec war god, the terri
BILE Huitzilopochth, the Indians would
visit him by stealth and decorate his
PROSTATE form with garlands of flowers.
The markets of Mexico are filed with
flowers. They bloom here all the year
round; from the high plains of Tlascala
to the borders of the sea may be traced
that blossoming of the beautiful that
pervades all nature, whether the country
be visited in January or in June, in
August or December. This love for
flowers, this redeeming trait of the Aztec
character, has survived oppression of
three hundred years-three centuries of
Spanish taskmasters have failed to cfface
it.
The Aztecs had feasts of flowers, as
well as the ancients of Europe and the
East, and for every plant they had
name, in which its peculiar quality or
virtue was expressed. The Mexican
artists painted them so accurately that
these pictures served the learned Her
nandez In the formation of his great
work on the flora of Mexico, a work
that has stood the criticisms of all
writer's to the present day.
So DESTROYS were the Mexican rulers
to possess all the rare and beautiful
plants in their kingdom, tnat they
formed gardens and Conservatives, and
made long expeditions in search of them,
A single flower was the cause of war be-
tween Montezuma and Malinally, lord of
the Miztecs, in 1907, if we may believe
the Aztec traditions.
Among the many flowers (which embel-
lish the meads and adorn the gardens of
Mexico, there is one whleh was consid-
cred sacred by the AzteGs, and is to-day
one of the most curiouSy shaped in the
world. 1t is called tie macphaIxochitl,
or ''hand flower 10 is of the shape of
a birds foot, or Highland of a monkey,
and is, or was receAtly. still shown in
the botanic garden( on Mexico as a great
curiosity. Good Caoer.