The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1885-02-13
MExico's HISTORIC CASTLE.
Tho Gloomy Shades of Chapultepec- Mon.
tezuma's Palace and Gardens.
Fannie h. Ward I'm pi,,near prass

Aho gloomy shades OF Mon.
tezuma's Palace and Gardens.
Fannie B. Ward In Pioneer Pressl
A greater contrast can scarcely be i'm
a2ined than between the glittering gaiety Of
the Pasco and the gloomy shades of Chapul.
tepec. Perched upon its rocky eminence,
the historic castle seems to brood In solemn
silence upon the past, and the very air, whis.
permg among the moss draped expresses sur.
rounding l., Is heavy with memories Of other
years. So long ago that their records are
lost In oblivion the Toltecs lived here-who
came from their unknown Tollen, the Land
OF Heeds;" and departed, none knew whisher.
Long after their exodus and the coming OF
seven tribes to Anahuac from their equally
unknown Aztlan. the Country Of Herons'l,
the Axsecs-wandering from place to place
: around the salt Lagoon Tezcoco- finally
made stand at the mountain on its western
border. which they named Chapultepec.
From their ancient picture histories,
painted upon the woven fiber OF the century
plant. we learn that ths height was given
this name (chapul meaning 1grasshopper,"
topec "hiilD because those early pioneers
were at first compelled to subsist entirely
upon the grasshoppers which were found In
great numbers upon the mountain. Cen.
~1sA~s A1~oe shas pAasS bSCdfub lhuOuS as TINS
resort and burial place of Indian kings; and
6oo years thereafter decisive battle was
fought upon it between nations then unborn
-the soldiers OF Mexico and the United
States.
On its porphyrytic summit once stood
Montezuma's most luxurious palace, where
his thousand wives were sheltered: and under
these WONDERFUL Expresses that monarch held
his harnarie p,trf NTH
splendcr and the standardization Of the Tar.
tar races. The spot was consecrated TO the
ashes OF his ancestors, and two statues OF
himself AMI his sire, King Axayacatl Che
who built the great teocalIi and baptized Il
with tie blood Of $4,000 victims) were left
standing till as late as the middle Of the last
century. Prescott: tells us that Montezuma's
gardens stretched for miles around the base
Oh Chapultepsc, and that the grove of gi
gantic trees tcupressus distica), many of
which are over fifty feet in circumference.
were centuries old at the time OF the con-
quest
IL Ii popular superstition that under
these stately expresses, now gray-bearded
with moss like venerable Druids, mysterious
figures are seen fitting about In the shadows
the ghosts Of Guatimozin and Donna
Marina! At the foot Of the aGrasshopper
mountain'-or Ell Cerro del Chapulin, as Il
Is sometimes called lis n spring Of crystal
water, which still supplies ths distant city,
rs IL did Tenochtitlan 500 years ago. The
ancient aqueduct which the invading Span
iards built more than three centuries since d
yet In use, though green with moss and mold:
and In places upon its massive sides young
trees are thriftily growing In the dust Of |
ages. There was mo nonsense" about those |
conquerors! They builded for |
eternity; and their every work in the new
world partakes somewhat OF their OWE |
character--relentless as destiny, grim, soliG |
and indestructibie.