Page:The Rambler in Mexico.djvu/133

Rh Among other signs of the weakness of the existing government, the neglect and decay of many of the public institutions are not to be overlooked.

The importance of the mint to the revenues of the country, renders its maintenance an object of state policy; but the university, the museum, the public library, the splendid mineria, or schools of the mines; many of the noble hospitals of Spanish foundation, and the academy of arts, were, at the time of our visit, in a state of general neglect shameful to the government and people. The botanic garden, which occupies an interior court of the palace, is also but indifferently maintained under the care of an old badger of a functionary, who will make you up a packet of the most vulgar and ordinary garden seeds, and charge you fifty dollars for it with the best assurance of conscience in the world.

But to go into the details of these matters would be to write a book instead of a letter.

Though in the last degree of confusion, the museum, which is in the palace, presents a scene of great interest; as, besides a multitude of rare and unique works illustrative of the history of the country, and a great quantity of the most curious antiquities, it contains many of the most remarkable records of the conquest. But all are in the most appalling disorder—a disorder which has, by-the-by, favoured numerous thefts. The same observation applies to the state of the more massive antiquities which have been, from time to time, brought to light; such as the Stone of Sacrifice, the Feathered Serpent, the idol Goddess of War, and many others, all of which have been described at large a hundred times. There they lie, half covered with dust, dirt, and rubbish, in a corner of the court of the university; to whose area the fine bronze equestrian statue of Charles the Fourth has also been exiled, by the levelling, king-hating republicans.

The great Toltec Calendar is seen to more advantage, from its being inserted in a conspicuous position into the wall of the cathedral, which, I have elsewhere mentioned,