The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1885-04-04
For the Democratic Advocate.
Ancient Mexico and the Montezumas

Everything now relating to Mexico, since
the Mexican Central Railroad is completed
from Elpas del Norte to the city, is now
assuming unusual interest; and since the
commencement Of the unhappy war be-
tween that country and our own--all are de-
sirious Of learning something that was never
thought Of before, or cared about Your
readers have doubtless heard something
about the .'Halls of the Montezumas As
some maynot be aware of the splendor Of
the Mexican court under these monarchs,
I must give chapter on that golden pc
Rod in the history of Mexico--then and
now an outline of that history.
Montezuma H. assembled the Mexican
throne in 1902, at the age of twenty-three,
before Mexico had been discovered by Eu-
ropeans. He died in June, 1920, in the
forty-second year of his age, of wounds IN
fiicted by the Spanish discoverers whom he
had invited to his royal palace. Historians
agree in admiring his character.
On. ascending the throne, not content
with the spacious residence Of his father,
he erected another, much more magnif-
cent, fronting on the plaza mayor Of the
present city of Mexico, but not the present
building exactly as paintings show. 50
vast was this great structure that, as one
of the historians informs US, the space COW
cred byits terraced roof might have afforded
ample room for thirty knights to run their
courses in a regular tourney. His fathers
palace, although not so high, was so extern
siye that the visitors were too much IA
tigued in wandering through the apart
ments. ever to see the whole of 1t. The
palaces were built of red stone, ornamented
with marble the arms of the Montezuma
family Can eagle bearing a tiger IN his
talons) being sculptured over the main en-
trance. 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 chieftains were continually
sauntering through the halls, or lettering
away their hours in attendance on the
court. Rich carvings in wood adorned the
ceilings, beautiful mats of palm-leaf covered
the floors. The walls were hung with cot
ton richly stained, the skins of wild ami
mails or gorgeous draperies of feathered
work, wrought in imitation of birds, insects
and flowers, in glowing radiance Of colors.
Clouds of incense from golden censors diff
fused Intoxicating odors through splendid
apartments occupied 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 The streets, keeping
them so clean that man could traverse
the whole city with as little danger of soil
ing his feet as his hands. A careful police
guarded the city Extensive arsenals,
granaries, warehouses, an ayiary for the
most beautiful birds, menageries, houses
for reptiles aud serpents, a collection of
human monsters, fish ponds built of marble,
and museums and public libraries, all on
the most extensive scale, added their attrac-
tions to the great city of the Aztecs. Cor
geous temples-in which human victims
were sacrificed, and their blood baked into
bread, or their bodies dressed for food to
be devoured by the people at religious fes-
tivals-reared their pyramidal affairs above
the highest ediGces. Thousands of their
brother men were thus sacrificed annually.
The temple of Maxtili, their war god, was
so constructed that its great alarm-gong
sounded to battle, reused the valley for
three leagues around, and called three hun
bred thousand armed Aztecs to the imme-
diate relief Of their monarch. So vast was
the collection of birds Of prey, in building
devoted to them, that five hundred turkeys,
the cheapest meat in Mexico, were allowed
for their daily consumption.
The summer residence of the monarch,
on the hill of Chapultepec, overlooking the
city, was surrounded by gardens of several
miles in extent, and here were preserved,
until the middle of the last century, two
statues of the emperor and his father
The great cypress trees, under which the
Aztec sovereign and his associates once
heid their moonlight reYels; stIll sldue TIC
royal gardens. Some of them, fifty feet in
circumference, are several thousand years
old, but are yet as green as in the days of
Montezuma, whose ashes, or those Of his
ancestors, rendered sacred in the eyes of
the native Mexicans the hill of Chapulte-
pee. Natural decay and waning popula-
ton now mark the seat Of power of the
great Montezumas.
The shepherds in those days were In
dams from Mexico, and there are a great
many Indians still living in Mexico. They
are, to considerable extent, in a state of
barbarism There is great similarity be-
tween all the Indian tribes on this conti-
nent, though there are many different dia-