Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-11-07
WONDERS OF MEXICO.
SWEEPING OUT THE DEVIL AND
HIS COUNTRY'S HISTORY.
Hydraulic Engineering-A General
Day Of rrection-Immense
Cathedral-Etc.

site OF the great IDOL temple OF MonteZuma.
1t is 500 feet long by 400 wide, and, unlike
the palace, is of splendid proportions. The
style is Gothic, and that it might be as
enduring as brass the walls were made sew
eral feet thick. A description of its mag
nificent works of art and expensive fittings
would be nothing; sufficient that it is the
grandest church edifice in America, and at
one time threatened to absorb the wealth
the outer wall of this cathedral, near the
corner, may be seen the famous calendar
stone of the Aztecs, called
MoNTEzuMA's DIAL,
A large circular mass of porphyritic stone
ten feet in diameter. In the center is
human head cut in relief, with the tongue
lolling out and supposed to be in immita-
ton of the sun. Around this head are
depicted four circles of Intercollegiate figures
for the computation of the division of
time. The civil year was divided into
eighteen months of twenty days each, and
to each month was added five intercalendar
days, while the fractions of hours were
reckOned at the end of every fifty-two
years, and in this way the almost inappre-
cable fraction to the exact length of the
year, as established by the accurate obser-
yations of modern scientists, aided by
modern instruments, was almost reached.
But here again we are confronted with the
anomaly of scientific advance straddIed
with most sanguinary barbarism. The
cycle OF tltty-two years was the occasion
for propitiating the sungod against extin-
gushing his fire and light, to which end
noble victim was dragged to the top of a
mountain, his tongue torn out and his
body flung upon roaring bonfire, from
which new fires are set blazing all
over the country. The priests had a cal
endar for their church use, grounded upon
astrology, Of which they were professors
and fully up with the Chadeans.
THE CALENDAR STONE,
OF which they were the authors, attests the
accuracy of their stellar observations tits
to be observed that their calendar CORE
Sponded with that of the Egyptians, their
year commencing on the 26th of February.
the same that was fixed for the beginning
of the Egyptian year, TAI years before the
birth of Christ. This wonderful coinci-
dence furnishes another Gear case of quien
sabe. the illumination of which would
prove of far greater clinical value than the
excavation of buried cities with written
histories, such as Troy Pompeii and Her
culaneum. Indeed, the little attention paid
to the study of the calendar stone and the
great protusion of Aztec hieroglyphics to be
found in the palace museum, is a reflection
on our antiquarians' usefulness, if not their
skill, when one cannot help believing that
were they cipher kilograms bearing upon
an important political contest. the mystery
would be cleared up by a committee of
Congress. In the matter of
MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY,
The origin from which all terrestrial deities
can be traced, is found in the figlre of
Coat, or the first woman, corresponding in
her characteristic of bringing death upon
mankind with our Mother Eve. She was
Worshiped in a part of the temple called
AtlanticO, revealing a large figure in the
earth, and was bountifully supplied with
hands, as symbols of the earth's creative
power. On her waist-belt was a skull
ornament representing the deity of death
which was supposed to receive the bodies
OF the dead and preserve them to a day of
general resurrection. Many deities were
peScended from her, and a woman was
sacrificed to her annually IN q recess called
the place of snakes" for the purpose of
sin. The old habitation of the |
gods is observed in the remains af
Teothuacan of two pyramids which were |
dedicated to the sun and moon. and |
though partially destroyed, vet preserve |
their main outlines. One of then contains |
an apartment supposed to have been de- |
signed as
RECEPTACLE FOR SACRED ASHES
OF chief or sacrifice, and on the summit of
the larger once stood a temple enshlininr
q statue of the sun, with a plate of bur-
nished gold and silver in its breast to re-
fleet the rays of the bright divinity. This
statue was destroyed at the beginning of
the present century by Bishop Zumarraga,
whose broom swept cleaner in the destruc-
ton OF Aztec monuments than the hand of
time or an Illinois tornado Around these
pyramids once stretched a city twenty
miles in circumference, very slight vestires
OF which are now to be seen, except where
the cutter of passing pIow or the snout
u razor-Dacked hog roots up the head of
All luo,. me aotecs, We are informed
built this city, framed its religion and
nodded its idols; but who the Toltecs
were, whence they came, and what became
of them, only little is known and that
little onl y resting on the groun1w6rk Of
popular legends. Another spot Of exraor-
binary historic interest is the site of the
once famous city Of Cholula, which was
said to contain upward of 10000 houses
fined by walls. 1t was here that
THE FAIR-HATRED GOD QUETzALcoATT,
Before referred to, spent twenty years in
structing the people in ways of righteous
ness and morality A pyramid III feet
high, and /, 423 long, ana surmounted with
his statue, was erected to his honor and
visited annually by pilgrims. The city
was thronged with priests, and the temple
of the fair god stained annually with the
blood of about 5000 victims. In this city
Cortes is said 10 have massacred 5000 of
the leading personages who had come to
greet him as friends, but, as he was led to
believe with a treacherous intent.
The ancient capital was destroyed by the
Spaniards, and Cortes made very great
mistake in founding the present city on the
ruins of the old one He should have Sc
lected a loftier location, such as may be had
about six miles farther west The great
problem is the subject of drainage, and it
has formed a subject for investigation by
the ablesL minds in the country since the
time of the conquest As early as 1907 the
Viceroy attempted the artificial drainage
of the lakes by constructing a tunnel, which
has been considered one of the greatest
feats in
HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING
That was ever undertaken. The plan en-
braoed the construction of a gallery
through the hill called Nochistongo, the
lowest of the great mountain wall bound
ing the valley of Mexico on the north
Enrique Martinez was detailed to organize
and carry out the plan of work The
Niceroy applied the first pickaxe and $4,000
Indians followed suit. After eleven months
continued labor during which many In
dams persisted from harsh treatment. the
tunnel, four miles long, eleven and half
feet wide and fourteen feet high, was COM
pleted, and the water came rushing through
it with a mighty roar, September II,
A D. 1908 But It had hardly begun to
flow toward the gulf of Mexico until the
canal was found TO be too small. Different
remedies were tried, various plans for en-
larging the canal were discussed; distin-
guished engineers differed on all these
questions; the constant falling of earth was
suffing up the gallery, and, finally, new
Viceroy ordered the aqueduct closed up,
and resorted to the old Indian plan of