Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-10-10
OBSERVATIONS IN MEXICO.

Relics of Former Ages = Civilization,
Arts and other Objects of Interest.
y correspondent of the Galveston Nt1cs
says:
In the City of Mexico the houses are
stone built, some of them prettily orna-
mented, and the streets are wide, but with
narrow sidewalks. The latter are crowded
with bare-footed Indians, running at dog
trot with burdens on their backs, ranging
from basket OF vegetables to a three-story
hencoop, and strapped to their foreheads.
The foreigner yet unacquainted with the
customs of the country, finds himself in
constant collision with these cotton-clad
fast-trotters and soon learns that he must
pass people by turning to the left instead of
to the right The houses are generally of
the Spanish style OF architecture. with in
closed, stone-paved patios court yards and
barred windows, and ON the principal
streets, are all constructed according to The
most strict architectural rules The foun-
dations of the city were laid by Cortes.
whose descendants still own the finest
dwellings, and, whatever Cortes did, from
building house to building an empire. he
did it veil. We will first visit the great
public square, which contains fifteen acres.
paved with stone. The western side of this
square is occupied by a row of high, sub
stantial houses, the lower stores tenanted
by leading merchants the upper project
ing the width of the sidewalks. These
houses, though very substantial and good
as new, expose lines of antiquity on their
faces. In fact, most of them were built by
Cortes, who, with an eye to business, select
ed the choice places for himself and de-
scendants. The Presidents palace covers
the entire eastern side of this square 1t
stands on the site of the palace of Monte
yuma, was formerly the palace of the vice
roys, and is an immense incongruous mass
of masonry, 675 feet long, 800 wide and
three stories "a Mexican story measures
twenty feet high the whole with dispropor-
tionately small windows in profusion, and
parapet walls running the entire length of
the building. Only small portion of the
building is used as the Presidents resi-
dence, for all the public offices are here.
including the Treasury, Ministers of War,
Finance, Foreign Relations, Justice, Bo-
tanical Garden, Museum, etc. The En-.
bassadors hall is 800 feet long by so feet
wide, with throne at the southern end for
the President and his Cabinet, and contains
some valuable pictures of Mexican heroes,
among others Hidalgo, Moreles, Juarez and
DiaZ. On the ground floor You are shown
Macmillan state carriage. The body of
the vehicle is painted red, the wheels gilt,
and the interior lined with white silk bro
| cade, trimmed with heavy silk thread The
museum is well worth a visit Here are
displayed Maximilian's silver service and
all sorts Of relics of more sacred memory to
the Mexicans, while several rooms are
filed with specimens of Mexican woods,
minerals, stuffed animals, fishes birds and
bugs, arranged in perfect order. One can
spend some time with profit and interest in
examining the museum In the interior of
the court yard is the sacrificial stone twen-
ty-seven feet in circumference and three
feet thick which was found near the site of
the cathedral, December II 1871.
This stone points to all that is incompre-
hensibe in the early history of Mexico
the existence of loathsome, blood curdling
sacrifice alongside of degree of enlighten-
ment and system of government that be-
wildered the conqueTing Cortes. The stone
stood i'll the temple of the Aztec war god
the present cathedral now occupies the
ground-in which thousands of the young
est and loveliest of the Mexican population
were annually sacrificed At the dedica-
ton of the temple in 1886, upward 100000
captives were killed before the shrine, and
the companions of Cortes $50 Prescott savsl
counted 1856 900 skulls in one of the sacrifi-
cial buildings This war god, this terrible
old alcalde, on whose reeking affairs women
prononnceable name OF Hoitzlopotchh
which of itself is almost sufficient to make
ones hair stand on end. But this was not
the only god to be propitiated. In dry sea-
sons young children, decked in the flowers
OF spring, their screams drowned in the
wild chants of the priests, were sacrificed
to propitiate Tlahoc, the god of rain Satu-
rated with such bloody observances the
difficulty Of introducing christianity must
have been Superhuman to any effort short
OF the most extraordinary zeal with extra
ordinary backing, such as was afforded by.
the indomitabe hero, Cortes What is
perhaps the strangest of all in connection
with the dark side of Aztec worship is the
almost Christian beliefs that were held
They recognized Supreme Being whom
they addressed as the soul of purity and
perfection. They baptized their children
with ritualstic solemnity, held that the
world was once drowned, two persons alone
escaping; believed that a woman, which
they depicted with serpent near her
brought sin and all our woe into the world,
and that white man named Quetzaleoatl
visited their empire q long time ago, and.
after preaching morality, peace and good
will, left with a promise to return The
belief in this promise was at first favorable
to the invasion of Cortes, who was hailed
by the Seyenth-day Adventists as Quetzal-
coatl, the usher of the millennium Wheth-
er or not this was madet TO form the ground
work of the Book of Mormon, which goes
on TO say that the Savior after the crucifix-
ion visited Mexico and there duplicated
the light of His old world teachings. is a
subject with which your correspondent
does not care to deal, beyond venturing the
suggestion that it would be begging the
question to call the Mormon statement
mere coincidence, if it could be proved
that Joseph Smith did not steal the incl
dent. But how did the Aztecs get hold of
such traditions? Quien sabe? One thing
is probable, and that is, the wholesale sac
rifce of human lives must have existed be-
fore the birth of the practices embraced in
the traditions referred to, and was after
ward carried forward by them as a dead
weight, drag and damage. The new light.
however led the people forward to civili-
Zation. The mechanical arts flourished.
the supreme ruler was elected, though al
ways from the same family line. and he
took advice from a cabinet of wise men,
and localized his administration through
an order of nobility. There was an eff
Gent police system, public business was
dispatched by couriers at the rapid rate of
Ice miles a day The public highways
were Kept in good repair; buildings were
devoted to the sick; the rites of matrimony
celebrated and property respected. There
was lay civilization united to religious bar
barisrn, and the sensibility that was shocked
by the disfguring of dead enemy was
joined to stomach that was ready to d.
gest the corpse.
The Journal Of Chemistry. relates that
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