'Well,' he replied, I must go now; and as you cannot know me to-day, I will call to-morrow morning before you leave this place.' He did so, and when he came back, he was washed clean again. "When the men paint their thighs, legs, and breast, they generally, after laying on a thin shading coat of a darkish colour, and sometimes of a whitish clay, dip their fingers' ends in black or red paint, and then spreading them out, bring the streaks to a serpentine form." Under the head of Indian Anecdotes, we find MATRIMONY AND DIVORCE. "Had the following anecdote been in existence in the time of our great poet Milton, would he not have translated it into his high style, and given it a place in his treatise on the Doctrine and Dis cipline of Divorce?' One can easily conceive how he would have chuckled over such a thing in the midst of the bitterness (caused by his wife's misconduct) with which he sat down to compose his 'Tetrachordon,' and other tracts on the subject. "An A aged Indian, who for many years had spent much of his time among the white people both in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, one day about the year 1770 observed, that the Indians had not only a much easier way of getting a wife than the whites, but were also more certain of getting a good one; For,' (said he in his broken English) White man court, court, -may be one whole year!-may be two years before he marry!well!-may be then got very good wife-but may be not!--may be ་་་ very cross!Well now, suppose cross! scold as soon as get awake in the morning! scold all day! scold until sleep!-all one; he must keep him!* White people have law forbidding throwing away wife, be he ever so cross! must keep him always! Well! how does Indian do? Indian when he see industrious Squaw, which he like, he go to him, place his two forefingers close aside each other, make two look like one-look Squaw in the face-see him smile -which is all one he says Yes! so he take him home- no danger he be cros! no, no! Squaw know too well what Indian do if he cross! -throw him away and take another! Squaw love to eat meat! no husband! no meat! Squaw do every thing to please husband! he do the same to please Squaw! live happy!" 13.-Six Months in Mexico. By William Bullock. Near the city of Tezcuco, formerly the Athens of Mexico, Mr. B. and his party "Were informed, that at a distance of only two leagues was a place called Bano de Montezuma, and that it had formerly been used as a bath by that monarch. A gentleman of the town, Don Trinidad Rosalia, offered to escort us, and in a few minutes we were on horseback: after a smart canter through cultivated grounds, and over a fine plain, bounded by the mountains of the Cordilleras, we approached an hacienda and church; and here I expected to find the bath of which we were in * The pronouns in the Indian language have no feminine gender. in search, in some subterraneous place, but learnt to my surprise that we had to ascend a conical mountain called Tescosingo. We employed our horses as far as they could take us, but the unevenness of the ground at last obliged us to dismount; and having fastened them to a nopal tree, we scrambled with great difficulty through bushes and over loose stones, which were in great quantities on all sides, and at last perceived that we were on the ruins of a very large building-the cemented stones remaining in some places covered with stucco, and forming walks and terraces, but much encumbered with earth fallen from above, and overgrown with a wood of nopal, which made it difficult to ascend. In some places the terraces were carried over chasms by solid pieces of masonry; in others cut through the living rock: but, as we endeavoured to proceed in a straight line, our labour was very great, being sometimes obliged to climb on our hands and knees. By the assistance of underwood, however, at length, after passing several buildings and terraces, the stucco of which appeared fresh and of a fine peach colour, we arrived at about two-thirds of the height of the hill, almost exhausted with our exertions; and great indeed was our disappointment when we found that our guide had mistaken the situation, and did not know exactly where we were. Greatly chagrined, we began to retrace our steps; and luckily in a few minutes perceived the object of our search. It was cut in the solid rock, and standing out like a marten's nest from the side of a house. It is not only an extraordinary bath, but still more extraordinarily placed. It is a beautiful basin about twelve feet long by eight wide, having a well about five feet by four deep in the centre, surrounded by a parapet or rim two feet six inches high, with a throne or chair, such as is represented in ancient pictures to have been used by the kings. There are steps to descend into the basin or bath; the whole cut out of the living porphyry rock with the most mathematical precision, and polished in the most beautiful manner. This bath commands one of the finest prospects in the Mexican valley, including the greater part of the lake of Tezcuco, and the city of Mexico, from which it is distant about thirty miles. As we descended, our guide showed us in the rock a large reservoir for supplying with water the palace, whose walls still remained eight feet high; and as we examined farther, we found that the whole mountain had been covered with palaces, temples, baths, hanging gardens, &c. ; yet this place has never been noticed by any writer. "I am of opinion that these were antiquities prior to the discovery of America, and erected by a people whose history was lost even before the building of the city of Mexico. In our way down we collected specimens of the stucco which covered the terrace, still as hard and beautiful as any found at Portici or Herculaneum. Don T. Rosalia informed us that we had seen but the commencement of the wonders of the place: -that there were traces of buildings to the very top still discernible; that the mountain was perforated by artificial excava tions, tions, and that a flight of steps led to one near the top, which he himself had entered, but which no one as yet had had courage to explore, although it was believed that immense riches were buried in it. and Moon, or of St. Juan de Teotihuacan, we set off for Otumba, in the expectation of finding them near that place. After a stroll round the city, which is said to have once contained 50,000 inhabitants, we examined two curious ancient columns, richly sculptured; called upon the Padre, but he could give us no information respecting the pyramids, although they were in full view from the windows of his house. "We returned to Tezcuco across some fine fields of corn, and having put up our horses again, commenced our rambles over this very interesting city, and its suburbs, every part of which exhibits remains of its ancient grandeur; We then left this wretched and the raised mounds of brick are deserted place, where even the seen on all sides, mixed with aque- water is so bad that necessity alone ducts, ruins of building of enor- can induce any person to use it; mous strength, and many large and proceeded to the stupendous square structures nearly entire remains, from which we were now (which I believe to be of Mexican distant about a league and a half. architecture); fragments of sculp- As we approached them, the square tured stones constantly occur near and perfect form of the largest the church, the market-place, and became at every step more and palace; a visit to which cannot more visibly distinct, and the terfail to awaken the most interest- races could now be counted. We ing recollections in the mind of a rode first to the lesser, which is person at all versed in the history the most dilapidated of the two, of this portion of America. It and ascended to the top, over maswas in this palace that Cortez, ses of falling stone and ruins of with his whole army, was lodged masonry, with less difficulty than and entertained, as described in we expected. On the summit are the simple narrative of Bernal the remains of an ancient building, Dias, whose accounts I had many forty-seven feet long and fourteen opportunities of corroborating. It wide; the walls are principally of was in the market-place here, too, unhewn stone, three feet thick and that the zeal of the first bishop eight feet high; the entrance at collected the documents of Mexi- the south end, with three windows can history, knowledge, and lite- on each side, and on the north end rature-all the Atzec paintings, it appears to have been divided at manuscripts, and hieroglyphical about a third of its length. At the writings; when, forming them front of the building, with the into an immense pyramid, he com- great pyramid before us, and many mitted them to the flames amid smaller ones at our feet, we sat the unavailing prayers of the peo- down to contemplate the scene of ple for their preservation." ancient wonders:—where the eye takes in the greater part of the vale of Mexico, its lake and city, and commands an extensive view of the plains beneath and the The following extract relates to another interesting excursion. "After a vain inquiry for the celebrated pyramids of the Sun mountains mountains that bound the west of than the valley. "It was at this place that Cortez fought and defeated the innumerable army of Indians: after that horrible night of desolation, he expressly says, that he arrived on the plains near Otumba; he ascended an eminence, and discovered the whole district covered with armies: despair filled every breast, except the intrepid leader's. The unnumbered host of Indians arrived, and closed round the small band of Spaniards, when the dauntless Cortez, with a few horsemen, charged furiously that part of the enemy where the royal banner was carried; the bearer was killed, the banner taken, and the whole of the immense multitude fled in consternation from the field, offering no further interruption to the retreat of Cortez through Otumba to the territory of Tlascalla. "I think there can be little doubt that these immense structures, which vie with the pyramids of Egypt, were at the period we are speaking of, in the same state in which they are now; and that it was on ascending one of them that Cortez beheld the approach of the great Indian army. "Not far from the great pyramid, near a gate, lay an enormous stone, with a few sculptured orna we expected, though the whole way up, lime and cement are mixed with fallen stones. The terraces are perfectly visible, particularly the second, which is about thirty-eight feet wide, covered with a coat of red cement eight or ten inches thick, composed of small pebble-stones and lime. In many places, as you ascend, the nopal trees have destroyed the regularity of the steps, but no where injured the general figure of the square, which is as perfect in this respect as the great pyramid of Egypt. We every where observed broken pieces of instruments like knives, arrow and spearheads, &c. of obsidian, the same as those found on the small hills of Chollula; and, on reaching the summit, we found a flat surface of considerable size, but which has been much broken and disturbed. On it was probably a temple or other building-report says, a statue covered with gold. rested some time on the summit, enjoying one of the finest prospects imaginable, in which the city of Mexico is included. Here I found fragments of small statues and earthenware, and, what surprised me more, oyster-shells, the first that I had seen in Mexico; they are a new species, and I have brought specimens home. In descending I also found some ornamental pieces of earthenware, the pattern one of which is in relief, much resembling those of China, the other has a grotesque human face. On the north-east side, at about half-way down, at some remote period, an opening has been attempted. This should have been from the south to the north, and on a level with the ground, or only a few feet above it; as all We the the remains of similar buildings have been found to have their entrances in that direction. Dr. Oteyza, who has given us the measure of these pyramids, makes the base of the largest six hundred and forty-five feet in length, and one hundred and seventy-one in perpendicular height. I should certainly consider that the latter measurement is considerably too little, and that the altitude is about half the breadth. As to the age of the pyramids, and the people by whom they were erected, all must be a matter of mere conjecture; no one whom I could meet with in Mexico knew or cared any thing about them. None of the inhabitants had even been to see them, though, from the cathedral, both of them, as well as Tescosingo, containing the bath of Montezuma, are distinctly visible. No person in that neighbourhood could give me the least information respecting these wonderful structures:-on asking an old Indian woman we met near the pyramids, if she could tell who made them, she replied, 'Si Signior, St. Francisco.' "The result of this little excursion of three days has thoroughly convinced me of the veracity of the Spanish writers, whose account of the cities, their immense population, their riches, and progress of the arts among the Mexicans, are doubted by those who have never seen the country. I firmly believe all that the intelligent and indefatigable Abbe Clavigero has related of his countrymen. Had Monsieur de Pauw, or our better informed countryman Robertson, passed one hour in Tezcuco, Tezcosingo, or Huexotla, they would never have supposed 66 for a moment that the palace of Montezuma in Mexico was a clay cottage, or that the account of the immense population was a fiction." Xalapa, or Jalapa, from which the well-known drug takes its name, was till within the last century the great mart of New Spain for European goods. The city at present contains 13,000 inhabitants; but at the time of the fair it was crowded to excess. It is probably decreasing in population, though still a very handsome place. It has many two storied houses, built after the old Spanish manner, forming a square, and enclosing a court planted with trees and flowers, and having a well or fountain. The roofs are tiled, and not flat as in Vera Cruz, yet projecting from the sides sheltering the house from the sun in hot weather, and keeping it dry in the rainy season. Many are furnished with glass windows, and most have an ornamental grating in front of those on the ground floor, which admits a free circulation of air-for the climate is so delightful as seldom to require their being closed. There are still eight churches of a mixed style of architecture; they are kept clean-and the interiors highly decorated with carving, gilding, and painting. The high altar of the Cathedral is of silver, and the walls are covered with gilt ornaments. There are eleven other altars; and the service is performed in an orderly and impressive manner. I attended high mass on Sunday, which was very splendid; all the females above the very lowest class wear black, and are dressed alike, with a handsome lace veil over the head, but which is seldom worn over the face: in this respect retaining less of the manner |