3 2 4 EMPIRE Of THÉ AZTECAS.
the north of Africa, to the Torrid Zone, and through a spacê-
of 2200 leagues its climate is rather cold than temperate.
The 1 Sierra Friaff ^ r “ Cold tand,” as it is termed by the
inhabitants, is bordered by two zones of a lower level -and of
different vegetation, called by the Spaniards l< Sierra Tem-
plada ” and “ Sierra Caliente.” * ~i( The Sierra Templada
or temperate region sweeps along the base óf vast mountains
ever gleaming with voleanie fires, and still resplendent with
their mantles of snow, whiéiÉ;serye as beacons to the thSrineiv
for many a league at sea. All around, the ^traveller behólds
traces of ancient combustion as his road 'passes along vhSt
tracts of lava bristling in the fastastic forms into which the
fiery torrent has been thrown by the obstacles to its - care'er.
After descending 4000 feet he finds himself in the triie
climate of the tropics, where; the vanilla, indigo; groVès of
cocoa-trees and sugar-canes, and plants emitting intoxicating
perfumes, cover with luxuriant vegetation’’ and with impervious
thickets a soil teeming with the pestilential diseases
of equinoctial countries.” !'
But a small part of Anahuac obeyed the Sceptre of the
Aztecan emperor, whose power had long been in the decline
before the arrival of the Spaniards. The great dities of the
Aztecs were chiefly in the valley of Tenochtitlan, which was
situated near the middle of the Continent. The surface of
this valley, though comparatively depressed, maintains an
elevation of more than 70ÖÖ feet. It is encompassed by a
towering rampart of porphyritic rocks.J The kings of Acol-
huacan, Thacopan' and Michuacan were independent princes.
Extensive ruins of towns and villages observed in Mexico
under the 18th and 20th degrees of latitude prove that the
former population of that region was much greater than the
present. There were barbarous races, as well as others who
had adopted the ancient Mexican civilisation within the limits
of Anahuac; and of the latter several appear to have been
foreign to the race and lineage of the. Aztecas. We shall
now advert to the history of these races.
* Humboldt, p, 65, 66.
+ Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico, vól. i. p. 6.
I Ibid.
,Se c t io n II.—-(tinxthe Mexican History.
jPa^a^rap/i^^-nfSourees of Information.
* TbffijSpqnash;roiaguf^ or&^fbund on thjpff arrivàffotber nations
b,esid$pÿ the.; subj eqffof„ Montezuma?p h ||^ t M&i(^an plateau,»
premia of thpVe were' of > the Same ^ad^as |.he AzteC^and. ^poke
the language:, of the Aztecas, or d ja k o tio f it, and' claniîôd
ia', their . traditiona-v'-an ancient: aflpitypwitff thaL peoplqi
Amongjtha races- who were di^indt. ffom-thb(|Azfe©a;s accord-,
ing to.'th’e ; prevalent opinion‘^^44h^^timony#afforded by
diversity of language; there: were': ■ 1 ffere 1 hardly inferior
to .the Azteqas, in civilisation. We have much-, less
knowledge of thabisforypf thesamations'than of ffie Aztecan
thgugh 'some of them' are supposed; fo-Àayèy’Mad hieroglyph
ical~ records or.documents' fësembling.those, of It
is wall known that the Aztecas them|ely^had acqWec| the
art of commemorating by, a sort of picture-wri&g ■ or by
hieroglyphical or,.symbolic paintings the events’“ of theirbis-*
tory. This art had not attained iff Mexicol thff 'degree of
perfection to which it had been brought -ainong the ahei'éht-
Egyptiansybutuit was so far advanced as to bave>,sej?yèki as
an important aid to memory, and . to facilitate the recording
of events and the most remarkable phenomena of the heavens;
of which the Mexicans had been* for épma àgés^curate observers.
On the real value* of the Mexican hieroglyphics
I shall cite a writer whose opinions are entitled to the highest
authority.
. « The pictorial records of the Mexicans^appWr,’tëàÿs Mr:
Prescott, “ to the unlearned eye dike an assemblage! of the
most grotesque figures and unintelligible^ riddles. Any
person who for the first time examines, the historical paintings
of which copies are contained in Lord Kingsborough’s magnificent
collection, must be1 convinced that after all the pains
which, the artist has bestowed i n ‘the delineation, the story
could hardly be guessed without the aid of oral tradition or of