Page:The Conquest of Mexico Volume 1.djvu/485

 Page 81 (2).—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 34.—Gama, Descripcion, Parte 2, pp. 81-83. These statues are repeatedly noticed by the old writers. The last was destroyed in 1754, when it was seen by Gama, who highly commends the execution of it.

Page 81 (3).—This wantonness of destruction provokes the bitter animadversion of Martyr whose enlightened mind respected the vestiges of civilisation wherever found. "The conquerors” he says, "seldom repaired the buildings that were defaced. They would rather sack twenty stately cities than erect one good edifice."—De Orbe Novo, dec.;, cap. 10.

Page 81 (4).—Gama, Descripcion, Parte 1, pp. 110-114.—Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 40. Ten thousand men were employed in the transportation of this enormous mass, according to Tezozomoc, whose narrative, with all the accompanying prodigies, is minutely transcribed by Bustamente. The Licentiate shows an appetite for the marvellous, which might excite the envy of a monk of the Middle Ages.—(See Descripcion, nota, loc. clt.) The English traveller Latrobe, accommodates the wonders of nature and art very well to each other, by suggesting, that these great masses of stone were transported by means of the mastodon, whose remains are occasionally disinterred in the Mexican Valley.—Rambler in Mexico, p. 145.

Page 81 (5).—A great collection of ancient pottery, with various other specimens of Aztec art, the gift of Messrs. Poinsett and Keating, is deposited in the cabinet of the American Philosophical Society, at Philadelphia. See the Catalogue, ap. Transactions, vol. iii. p. 510.

Page 81 (6.—Hernandez, Hist. Plantarum, lib. 6, cap. 116.

Page 82 (1).—Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 15.— Boturini, Idea, p. 77. It is doubtful how far they were acquainted with the manufacture of silk. Carli supposes that what Cortés calls silk was only the fine texture of hair or down, mentioned in the text. (Lettres Améric, tom. i. lett. 21.) But it is certain they had a species of caterpillar, unlike our silkworm, indeed, which spun a thread that was sold in the markets of ancient Mexico. See the Essai Politique (tom. iii. pp. 66-69), where M. de Humboldt has collected some interesting facts in regard to the culture of silk by the Aztecs. Still, that the fabric should be a matter of uncertainty at all shows that it could not have reached any great excellence or extent.

Page 82 (2).—Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS.—Acosta, lib. 4, cap. 37.—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 9, cap. 18-21.—Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 15.—Rel. d'un gent, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 306. Count Carli is in raptures with a specimen of feather-painting which he saw in Strasbourg. "Never did I behold anything so exquisite," he says, "for brilliancy and nice gradation of colour, and for beauty of design. No European artist could have made such a thing." (Lettres Améric. Lett. 21, note.) There is still one place, Patzquaro, where, according to Bustamente, they preserve some knowledge of this interesting art, though it is practised on a very limited scale, and at great cost.—Sahagun, ubi supra, nota.

Page 82 (3).—"O felicem monetam, quæ suavem utilemque præbet humano generi potum et a tartareã peste avatitiæ suos immunes servat possessores, quod suffodi aut diu servari nequeat! (De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 4.—See also, Carta de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 100 et seq.—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 8, cap. 36.—Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 8.—Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS.) The substitute for money throughout the Chinese empire was equally simple in Marco Polo's time, consisting of bits of stamped paper, made from the inner bark of the mulberry tree.—See Viaggi di Messer Marco Polo, gentil' huomo Venetiano, lib. 2, cap. 18, ap. Ramusio, tom. ii.

Page 83 (1).—Col. de Mendoza, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i. Pl. 71; vol. vi. p. 36.—Torquemada. Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 41.

Page 83 (2).—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 9, cap. 4, 10-14.