AZTEC CIVILIZATION. chusetts, 4th May, 1796; died 28th January, 1859. Critic and historian. He studied at Harvard College with sents every variety of climate, and is ca [WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT, born at Salem, Massa. pable of yielding nearly every fruit, found between the Equator and the Arctic circle. All along the Atlantic, the country is bor dered by a broad track, called the tierra caliente, or hot region, which has the usual high temperature of equinoctial lands. Parched and sandy plains are intermingled with others, of exuberant fertility, almost impervious from thickets of aromatic shrubs and wild flowers, in the midst of which tower up trees of that magnificent growth which is found only within the tropics. In this wil. derness of sweets lurks the fatal malaria, engendered, probably, by the decomposition of rank vegetable substances in a hot and humid soil. The season of the bilious fever, the intention of adopting the legal profession, in which his father was already distinguished; but an accident deprived him of the sight of one eye and seriously affected that of the other. He devoted himself to letters, and despite many physical inconveniences produced a series of historical works, which take rank amongst the first of their class. History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, The Catholic; History of the Conquest of Mexico, and the Life of the Conqueror, Hernando Cortez; The Conquest of Peru; Philip the Second, of Spain, which was to have extended to five volumes, but soon after the publication of the third the author died; Critical and Historical Essays, contributed to the North American Review, (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co.) Sir Archi-vómito, as it is called,-which scourges bald Alison said, “Mr. Prescott is one of the foremost historians of America, and he may justly be assigned a place beside the very greatest of modern Europe."] THE these coasts, continues from the spring to the autumnal equinox, when it is checked by the cold winds that descend from Hud. HE country of the ancient Mexicans, or son's Bay. These winds in the winter seaAztecs as they were called, formed but son frequently freshen into tempests, and, a very small part of the extensive territories sweeping down the Atlantic coast, and the comprehended in the modern republic of winding Gulf of Mexico, burst with the fury Mexico. Its boundaries cannot be defined of a hurricane on its unprotected shores, and with certainty. They were much enlarged on the neighbouring West India islands. in the latter days of the empire, when they Such are the mighty spells with which Namay be considered as reaching from about ture has surrounded this land of enchantthe eighteenth degree north, to the twenty-ment, as if to guard the golden treasures first, on the Atlantic; and from the fourteenth locked up within its bosom. The genius and to the nineteenth, including a very narrow enterprise of man have proved more potent strip, on the Pacific. In its greatest breadth, than her spells. it could not exceed five degrees and a half, After passing some twenty leagues across dwindling, as it approached its south-eastern this burning region, the traveller finds him. limits, to less than two. It covered, proba- self rising into a purer atmosphere. His bly, less than sixteen thousand square limbs recover their elasticity. He breathes leagues. Yet such is the remarkable forma- more freely, for his senses are not now op tion of this country, that, though not more pressed by the sultry heats and intoxicating than twice as large as New England, it pre-perfumes of the valley. The aspect of na VOL. II. 26 ture, too, has changed, and his eye no longer | America and the Isthmus of Darien, spreads Bevels among the gay variety of colours with out, as it enters Mexico, into that vast sheet which the landscape is painted there. The of table-land, which maintains an elevation vanilla, the indigo, and the flowering cacao- of more than six thousand feet, for the disgroves disappear as he advances. The su-tance of nearly two hundred leagues, until it gar-cane and the glossy-leaved banana still gradually declines in the higher latitudes of accompany him; and when he has ascended the north. about four thousand feet, he sees in the un- Across this mountain rampart a chain of changing verdure, and the rich foliage of the volcanic hills stretches, in a westerly direc liquid-amber flower that he has reached the tion, of still more stupendous dimensions, height where clouds and mists settle, in their forming, indeed, some of the highest land on passage from the Mexican Gulf. This is the the globe. Their peaks, entering the limits region of perpetual humidity; but he wel of perpetual snow, diffuse a grateful coolness comes it with pleasure, as announcing his es- over the elevated plateaus below; for these cape from the influence of the deadly vómito. last, though termed cold," enjoy a climate, He has entered the tierra templada, or tem- the mean temperature of which is not lower perate region, whose character resembles than that of the central parts of Italy. The that of the temperate zone of the globe. The air is exceedingly dry; the soil, though nat features of the scenery become grand, and urally good, is rarely clothed with the luxueven terrible. His road sweeps along the riant vegetation of the lower regions. It base of mighty mountains, once gleaming frequently, indeed, has a parched and barwith volcanic fires, and still resplendent in ren aspect, owing partly to the greater evatheir mantles of snow, which serve as bea-poration which takes place on these lofty cons to the mariner, for many a league at All around he beholds traces of their ancient combustion, as his road passes along vast tracts of lava, bristling in the innumer able fantastic forms into which the fiery torrent has been thrown by the obstacles in its career. Perhaps, at the same moment, as he casts his eye down some steep slope, or almost unfathomable ravine, on the margin of the road, he sees their depths glowing with the rich blooms and enamelled vegetation of the tropics. Such are the singular contrasts presented, at the same time, to the senses, in this picturesque region! sea. plains, through the diminished pressure of the atmosphere; and partly, no doubt, to the want of trees to shelter the soil from the fierce influence of the summer sun. In the time of the Aztecs, the table-land was thickly covered with larch, oak, cypress, and other forest trees, the extraordinary dimensions of some of which, remaining to the present day, show that the curse of barrenness in later times is chargeable more on man than on nature. Indeed, the early Spaniards made as indiscriminate war on the forest as did our Puritan ancestors, though with much less reason. After once conquering the country, they had no lurking ambush to fear from the submissive, semicivilized Indian, and were not, like our forefathers, obliged to keep watch and ward for a century. This spoliation of the ground, however, is said to have been pleasing to their imaginations, as it reminded them of the plains of their own Castile, the table land of Europe; where the nakedness of the landscape forms the burden of lament of every traveller who visits that courtry. Still pressing upwards, the traveller mounts into other climates, favourable to other kinds of cultivation. The yellow maize, or Indian corn, as we usually call it, has continued to follow him up from the lowest level; but he now first sees fields of wheat, and the other European grains brought into the country by the Conquerors. Mingled with them, he views the plantations of the aloe or maguey (agave Americana), applied to such various and important uses by the Aztecs. The oaks now acquire a sturdier Midway across the continent, somewhat growth, and the dark forests of pine announce nearer the Pacific than the Atlantic ocean, that he has entered the tierra fria, or cold re- at an elevation of nearly seven thousand gion, the third and last of the great natu- five hundred feet, is the celebrated Valley ral terraces into which the country is di- of Mexico. It is of an oval form, about sixvided. When he has climbed to the height ty-seven leagues in circumference, and is of between seven and eight thousand feet, encompassed by a towering rampart of porthe weary traveller sets his foot on the sum-phyritic rock, which nature seems to have mit of the Cordillera of the Andes,-the co- provided, though ineffectually, to protect it lossal range, that, after traversing South from invasion. The soil, once carpeted with a beautiful verdure, and thickly sprinkled with stately trees, is often bare, and, in many places white with the incrustation of salts, caused by the draining of the waters. Five lakes are spread over the Valley, occupying one-tenth of its surface. On the opposite borders of the largest of these basins, much shrunk in its dimensions since the days of the Aztecs, stood the cities of Mexico and Tezcuco, the capitals of the two most potent and flourishing states of Anahuac, whose history, with that of the mysterious races that preceded them in the country, exhibits some of the nearest approaches to civilization to be met with anciently on the North American continent. Of these races the most conspicuous was the Toltecs. Advancing from a northerly direction, but from what region is uncertain, they entered the territory of Anahuac, probably before the close of the seventh century. Of course, little can be gleaned, with certainty, respecting a people, whose written records have perished, and who are known to us only through the traditionary legends of the nations that succeeded them. By the general agreement of these, however, the Toltecs were well instructed in agriculture, and many of the most useful mechanic arts; were nice workers of metals; invented the complex arrangements of time adopted by the Aztecs; and, in short, were the true fountains of the civilization which distinguished this part of the continent in later times. They established their capital at Tula, north of the Mexican Valley, and the remains of extensive buildings were to be discerned there at the time of the Conquest. The noble ruins of religious and other edifices, still to be seen in various parts of New Spain, are referred to this people, whose name, Toltec, has passed into a synonym for architect. Their shadowy history reminds us of those primitive races who preceded the ancient Egyptians in the march of civilization; fragments of whose monuments, as they are seen at this day, incorporated with the buildings of the Egyptians themselves, give to these latter the appearance of almost modern construction. After a period of four centuries, the Toltecs, who had extended their sway over the remotest borders of Anahuac, having been greatly reduced, it is said, by famine, pestilence, and unsuccessful wars, disappeared from the land as silently and mysteriously as they had entered it. A few of them still lingered behind, but much the greater number, probably, spread over the region of Central America and the neighbouring isles; and the traveller now speculates on the majestic ruins of Mitla and Palenque, as possibly the work of this extraordinary people. After the lapse of another hundred years, a numerous and rude tribe, called the Chichemecs, entered the deserted country from the regions of the far Northwest. They were speedily followed by other races, of higher civilization, perhaps of the same family with the Toltecs, whose language they appear to have spoken. The most noted of these were the Aztecs or Mexicans, and the Acolhuans. The latter, better known in later times by the name of Tezcucans, from their capital, Tezcuco, on the eastern border of the Mexican lake, were peculiarly fitted, by their comparatively mild religion and manners, for receiving the tincture of civilization which could be derived from the few Toltecs that still remained in the country. This, in their turn, they communicated to the barbarous Chichemecs, a large portion of whom became amalgamated with the new settlers as one nation. Availing themselves of the strength derived, not only from this increase of numbers, but from their own superior refinement, the Acolhuans gradually stretched their empire over the ruder tribes in the north; while their capital was filled with a numerous population, busily employed in many of the more useful and even elegant arts of a civilized community. In this palmy state, they were suddenly assaulted by a warlike neighbour, the Tepanecs, their own kindred, and inhabitants of the same valley as themselves. Their provinces were overrun, their armies beaten, their king assassinated, and the flourishing city of Tezcuco became the prize of the victor. From this abject condition the uncommon abilities of the young prince, Nezahualcoyotl, the rightful heir to the crown, backed by the efficient aid of his Mexican allies, at length, redeemed the state, and opened to it a new career of prosperity, even more brilliant than the former. tury, sometime after the occupation of the from the foundation of the city, an event land by the kindred races. For a long time took place which created an entire revoluthey did not establish themselves in any tion in the circumstances, and, to some expermanent residence; but continued shift- tent, in the character of the Aztecs. This ing their quarters to different parts of the was the subversion of the Tezcucan monMexican Valley, enduring all the casualties archy by the Tepanecs, already noticed. and hardships of a migratory life. On one When the oppressive conduct of the victors occasion, they were enslaved by a more had at length aroused a spirit of resistance, powerful tribe; but their ferocity soon made its prince, Nezahualcoyotl, succeeded, after them formidable to their masters. After a incredible perils and escapes, in mustering series of wanderings and adventures, which such a force, as, with the aid of the Mexicans, need not shrink from comparison with the placed him on a level with his enemies. In most extravagant legends of the heroic ages two successive battles these were defeated of antiquity, they at length halted on the with great slaughter, their chief slain, and southwestern borders of the principal lake, their territory, by one of those sudden rein the year 1325. They there beheld, verses which characterize the wars of petty perched on the stem of a prickly pear, states, passed into the hands of the conquerwhich shot out from the crevice of a rock ors. It was awarded to Mexico, in return that was washed by the waves, a royal for its important services. eagle of extraordinary size and beauty, Then was formed that remarkable league, with a serpent in his talons, and his broad which, indeed, has no parallel in history. wings opened to the rising sun. They It was agreed between the states of Mexico, hailed the auspicious omen, announced by Tezcuco,and the neighbouring little kingdom the oracle, as indicating the site of their of Tlacopan, that they should mutually supfuture city, and laid its foundations by sink-port each other in their wars, offensive and ing piles into the shallows; for the low defensive, and that, in the distribution of the marshes were half buried under water. On these they erected their light fabrics of reeds and rushes; and sought a precarious subsistence from fishing, and from the wild fowl which frequented the waters, as well as from the cultivation of such simple vegetables as they could raise on their floating gardens. The place was called Tenochtitlan, in token of its miraculous origin, though only known to Europeans by its other name of Mexico, derived from their war-god, Mexitli. The legend of its foundation is still further commemorated by the device of the eagle and the cactus, which form the arms of the modern Mexican republic. Such were the humble beginnings of the Venice of the Western World. The forlorn condition of the new settlers was made still worse by domestic feuds. A part of the citizens seceded from the main body, and formed a separate community on the neighbouring marshes. Thus divided, it was long before they could aspire to the acquisition of territory on the main land. They gradually increased, however, in numbers, and strengthened themselves yet more by various improvements in their polity and military discipline, while they established a reputation for courage, as well as cruelty in war, which made their name terrible throughout the Valley. In the early part of the fifteenth century, nearly a hundred years spoil, one-fifth should be assigned to Tlacopan, and the remainder be divided, in what proportions is uncertain, between the other powers. The Tezcucan writers claim an equal share for their nation with the Aztecs. But this does not seem to be warranted by the immense increase of territory subsequent-ly appropriated by the latter. And we may account for any advantage conceded to them by the treaty, on the supposition, that, however inferior they may have been originally, they were, at the time of making it, in a more prosperous condition than their allies, broken and dispirited by long oppression. What is more extraordinary than the treaty itself, however, is the fidelity with which it was maintained. During a century of uninterrupted warfare that ensued, no instance occurred where the parties quarrelled over the division of the spoil, which so often makes shipwreck of similar confederacies. among civilized states. The allies for some time found sufficient occupation for their arms in their own valley; but they soon overleaped its rocky ramparts, and by the middle of the fifteenth century, under the first Montezuma, had spread down the sides of the table-land to the borders of the Gulf of Mexico. Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, gave evidence of the public prosperity. Its frail tenements were supplanted by solid structures of stone and lime. |