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THE
HISTORY
OF
M E X I C O.
BOOK I.
Description of the Country of Anahuac, or a short Account of the Soil, Climate, Mountains, Rivers, Lakes,
Minerals, Plants, Animals, and People of the Kingdom of Mexico.
The name of Anahuac, which was originally given to the vale of Mexico only, from its principal cities having
been situated on little islands, and upon the borders of two lakes, taking afterwards a more extensive
signification, was used to denominate almost all that tract of land, which is known at present by the name of
New Spain, (a)
__________
(a) Anahuac signifies near to the water, and from thence appears to be derived the name of
Anahuatlaca, or Nahuatlaca, by which the polished nations occupying the banks of the Mexican
lake have been known.
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
This vast country was then divided into the kingdoms of Mexico, Acolhuacan. Tlacopan, and Michuacan;
into the republics of Tlaxcallan, Cholollan, and Huexotzinco, and several other distinct states.
The kingdom of Michuacan, the most westerly of the whole, was bounded on the east and south by
the Mexican dominions, on the north by the country of the Chichemecas, and other more barbarous
nations, and on the west by the lake of Chapallan, and some independent states. The capital
Tzintzuntzan, called by the Mexicans Huitzitzilla, was situated on the eastern shore of the
beautiful lake of Pazcuaro. Besides these two cities, there were others very considerable;
namely, Tiripitio, Zacapu, and Tarecuato. All this country was pleasant, rich, and well
inhabited.
The kingdom of Tlacopan, situated between Mexico and Michuacan, was of so small extent, that,
excepting the capital of that name, it comprehended but a few cities of the Tepaneca nation,
and the villages of the Mazahui, situated in the mountains to the west of the vale of Mexico.
The court of Tlacopan was on the western border of the lake of Tezcuco, four miles westward
from that of Mexico. (b)
The kingdom of Acolhuacan, the most ancient, and in former times the most extensive, was
afterwards reduced to more narrow limits by the acquisitions of the Mexicans. It was bounded
on the east by the republic of
__________
(b) The Spaniards have altered the Mexican names, and adapted them to their own language,
saying Tacuba, Oculma, Otumaba, Guaxuta, Tepeaca, Guatemala, Churabusco, &c. in place of
Tlacopan, Acolman, Otompan, Huexotla, Tepejacac, Quauhtemallan, and Huitzilopochco, whose
example we shall imitate, as far as it is convenient, to avoid giving our readers trouble in
pronouncing them.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
3
Tlaxcallan; on the south, by the province of Chalco, belonging to the kingdom of Mexico; on the
north, by the country of the Huaxtecas; and in the west, it was also bounded by different states
of Mexico, and terminated in the lake of Tezcuco. Its length from south to north was little more
than two hundred miles, and its greatest breadth did not exceed sixty; but in this small district
there were large cities, and a numerous population. The court of Tezcuco, situated upon the eastern
bank of the lake of the same name, fifteen miles to the eastward of that of Mexico, was justly
celebrated not less for its antiquity and grandeur than for the polish and civilization of its
inhabitants. The three cities of Huexotla, Coatlichan, and Atenco, were so near adjacent,
they appeared like its suburbs. Otompan was also a considerable city, and likewise Acolman
and Tepepolco.
The celebrated republic of Tlaxcallan or Tlascala, was bounded on the west by the kingdom of
Acolhuacan, on the south by the republics of Cholollan and Huexotzinco, and by the state of
Tepejacac, belonging to the crown of Mexico, on the north by the state of Zacatlan, and
on the east by other states under subjection to the same crown. Its length did not reach fifty miles,
nor its breadth more than thirty. Tlascala, from whence the republic took its name, was
situated on the side of the great mountain Mattalcueye, towards the north-west, and about
seventy miles to the eastward of the court of Mexico.
The kingdom of Mexico, although the most modern, was far more extensive than all the other
mentioned kingdoms and republics, taken together. It extended towards the south-west and south,
as far as the Pacific Ocean; towards the south-east, as far as the neighbourhood
4
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
of Quauhtemallan; towards the east, exclusive of the districts of the three republics, and a
small part of the kingdom of Acolhuacan, as far as the Gulf of Mexico; towards the north, to
the country of the Huaxtecas; towards the north-west, it bordered on the barbarous Chichemecas;
and the dominions of Tlacopan and Michuacan, were its boundaries towards the east. The whole
of the Mexican kingdom was comprehended between the 14th and 21st degrees of north latitude,
and between 271 and 283 degrees of longitude, taken from the meridian of the island of Ferro. (c)
The finest district of this country, in respect to advantage of situation, as well as population,
was the vale itself of Mexico, crowned by beautiful and verdant mountains, whose circumference,
measured at their base, exceeded a hundred and twenty miles. A great part of the vale is occupied
by two lakes, the upper one of sweet water, the lower one brackish, which communicate together
by a canal. In the lower lake, on account of its lying in the very bottom of the valley, all the
water running from the mountains collected; from thence, when extraordinary abundance of rains
raised the water of the lake over its bed, it easily overflowed the city of Mexico, which was
situated in the lake; which accident happened not less frequently under the Mexican monarchy
than in the time of the Spaniards. These two lakes, the circumference of which is not less than
ninety miles, represented in some degree, the figure of a camel, the
__________
(c) De Solis, and other Spanish, French and English writers, allow still more extent to the
kingdom of Mexico; and Dr. Robertson says, that the territories belonging to the chiefs of
Tezcuco and Tacuba, scarcely yielded in extent to those of the sovereign of Mexico; but how far
these authors are distant from the truth, will appear from our dissertations.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
5
head and neck of which were formed by the lake of sweet water, or Chalco, the body by the lake
of brackish water, called the lake of Tezcuco, and the legs and feet were represented by the
rivulets, and torrents, which ran from the mountains into the lake. Between the two lakes there
is the little peninsula of Itztapalapan, which divides them. Besides the three courts of Mexico,
Acolhuacan, and Tlacopan, there were forty eminent cities, in this delightful vale, and innumerable
villages and hamlets. The cities most noted next to these courts were Xochimilco, Chalco,
Itztapalapan, and Quauhtitlan, which now, however, scarcely retain a twentieth part of their
former greatness. (d)
Mexico, the most renowned of all the cities of the new world, and capital of the empire (the
description of which we shall give in another place) was, like Venice, built on several little
islands in the lake of Tezcuco, in 19 deg. and 26 min. of north latitude, and in 276 deg. and
34 min. of longitude, between the two courts of Tetzcuco, and Tlacopan, 15 miles to the west of
the one, and four to the east of the other. Some of its provinces were inland, others maritime.
The principal inland provinces to the northward were, the Otomies; to the southwest, the
Matlatzincas and the Cuitlatecas; to the south, the Tlahuicas and the Cohuixcas; to the
south-east, after the states of Itzocan, Jauhtepec, Quauhquechollan, Atlixco, Tehuacan, and
others, were the great provinces of the Mixtecas, the
__________
(t)zzz The other respectable cities of the Vale of Mexico were, Mizqule, zzzCuitmiutc, zzzAzeapozalcOy
Tenayocan, Otompan, Colhuacan, Mexicaltxinco, Ifuitzilopochfo, Coyhaeaa, Aiauo, Coutlicban,
Huexotla, Chiautla, Acolman, Tcotibtuacan, Itztapaloecen, Ttpttlontec, Tfpcpolco, Tixaytecan,
Cittlaltepec, Coyotepec, fzompanca, Tallitlan, Xaltoecan, Tetepanco, Ehecatrpec, Tequizquiac,
ffuificbtlan, Tepotzollan, Tchailhjaecan, Htcbectaca, Atlacuihuayan, &c. See our Sixth Dissertation.
6
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
Zapotecas, and lastly, the Chiapanecas. Towards the east were the provinces of Tepeyacac, the
Popolocas, and the Totonacas. The maritime provinces of the Mexican gulf were those of
Coatzacualco and Cuetlachtlan, which the Spaniards call Cotasta. The provinces on
the Pacific Ocean were those of Coliman, Zacatollan, Tototepec, Tecuantepec, and Xoconochco.
The province of the Otomies commenced in the northern part of the Vale of Mexico, and
extended through those mountains to the north, the distance of 90 miles from the capital. The
ancient and famous city of Tollan, now Tula, distinguished itself over all the inhabited
places, of which there were many; also Xilotepec, which after the conquest made by the Spaniards,
was the metropolis of the Otomies. Beyond the settlements of this nation towards the north and
north-west, there were no other places inhabited as far as New Mexico. All this great track of
land of more than a thousand miles in length, was occupied by barbarous nations, who had no fixed
residence, nor paid obedience to any sovereign.
The province of the Matlatzincas, comprehended besides the valley of Tolocan, all that space
from thence to Tlaximaloyan (now Taximaroa), the frontier of the kingdom of Michuacan. The
fertile valley of Tolocan from the south-east to the north-west is upwards of forty miles long,
and thirty in breadth where it is broadest. Tolocan, which was the principal city of the
Matlatzincas, from whence the valley took its name, was, as it still is, situated at the foot
of a high mountain perpetually covered with snow, thirty miles distant from Mexico. All the other
places of the valley were inhabited partly by the Matlatzincas, partly by the Otomies. In the
neighbouring mountains there were the states of
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
7
Xalatlauhco, Tzompahuacan, and Malinalco; at no great distance to the eastward of the valley the
state of Ocuillan, and to the westward those of Tozantla and Zoltepec.
The Cuitlatecas inhabited a country which extended more than two hundred miles from the north-west
to the south-east, from the kingdom of Michuacan, as far as the Pacific Ocean. Their capital was
the great and populous city of Mexcaltepec upon the coast, the ruins of which are now scarcely
visible.
The capital of the Tlahuicas was the pleasant and strong city of Quauhuahuac, called by the
Spaniards Cuernabaca, about forty miles from Mexico towards the south. Their province, which
commenced from the southern mountains of the vale of Mexico, extended almost sixty miles
southward.
The great province of the Cohuixcas was bounded on the north by the Matlatzincas, and Tlahuicas,
on the west by the Cuitlatecas, on the east by the Jopi and Mixtecas, and to the southward it
extended itself as far as the Pacific Ocean, through that part where at present the port and
city of Acapulco lie. This province was divided into several distinct states, namely, Tzompanco,
Chilapan, Tlapan, and Teoitztla, now Tistla, a country for the most part too hot, and unhealthy.
Tlachco, a place celebrated for its silver mines, either belonged to the above mentioned province,
or bordered upon it.
Mixtecapan, or the province of the Mixtecas, extended itself from Acatlan, a place distant an
hundred and twenty miles from the court, towards the south-east, as far as the Pacific Ocean,
and contained several cities and villages, well inhabited, and of considerable trade. To the east
of the Mixtecas, were the Zapotecas, so called from their capital Teotzapotlan. The valley of
Huaxyacac
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
was in their district, called by the Spaniards Oaxaca, or Guaxaca. The city of Huaxyacac, was
afterwards constituted a bishoprick, and the valley a marquisate in favour of the conqueror
D. Ferdinand Cortes. (e)
To the northward of the Mixtecas was the province of Mazatlan, and to the northward and the
eastward of the Zapotecas was Chimantla, with their capitals of the same name, from whence their
inhabitants were called Mazatecas, and Chinantecas. The provinces of the Chiapanecas, Zoqui, and
Queleni were the last of the Mexican empire towards the south-east. The principal cities of the
Chiapanecas were Tochiapan (called by the Spaniards Chiapa de Indies), Tochtla, Chamolla, and
Tziuacantla, of the Zoqui, Tecpantla, and of the Queleni, Teopixca. Upon the side and
around the famous mountain Popocatepec, which is thirty-three miles distant towards the south-east from
the court, were the great states Amaquemecan, Tepoztlan, Jauhtepec, Huaxtepec, Chietlan, Itzocan,
Acapetlayoccan, Quauhquechollan, Atlixco, Cholollan, and Huexotzinco; these two last, which were
the most considerable, having, with the assistance of their neighbours the Tlascalans, shaken
off the Mexican yoke, re-established their former aristocratical government. Cholollan, or
Cholula, and Huexotzinco were the largest and most populous cities of all that
__________
(e) Some believe, that anciently there was nothing in the place called Huaxyacac, but a mere
garrison of the Mexicans, and that that city was founded by the Spaniards; but besides that it
appears by the tribute-roll, that Huaxyacac was one of the tributary cities to the crown of
Mexico, we know that the Mexicans were not accustomed to establish any garrison, except in the
most populous places of their conquered provinces. The Spaniards were said to found a city whenever
they gave a Spanish name to an Indian settlement, and gave it Spanish magistrates; Antequera in
Huaxjacac, and Segura della Frontera, in Tepejacac were no otherwise founded.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
9
land. The Cholulans possessed a small hamlet called Cuitlaxcoapan, in the very place where
afterwards the Spaniards founded the city of Angelopoli, which is the second of New Spain. (f)
To the east of Cholula there was the respectable state of Tepeyacac; and beyond that the
Popolocas, whose principal cities were Tecamachalco and Quecholac. To the southward of the
Popolocas there was the state of Tehuacan, bordering upon the country of the Mixtecas; to the
east the maritime province of Cuetlachtlan, and to the north the Totonacas. This great province,
which was the last in that part of the empire, extended a hundred and fifty miles, beginning
from the frontier of Zacatlan, a state belonging to the crown of Mexico, about eighty miles
distant from the court, and terminating in the Gulf of Mexico. Besides the capital Mizquibuacan,
fifteen miles to the eastward of Zacatlan, there was the beautiful city of Chempoallan upon the
coast of the Gulf, which was the first city of the empire entered by the Spaniards, and where,
as will hereafter appear, their success began. These were the principal inland provinces of the
Mexican empire; omitting the mention, at present, of several other lesser states, which might
render our description tedious.
Among the maritime provinces of the Pacific Ocean, the most northern was Coliman; whose capital
so-called, lay in 19 deg. of latitude, and in 272 deg. of longitude. Pursuing the same coast,
towards the south-east was the province of Zacatolan, with its capital of the same name; then the
coast of the Cuitlatecas; and after
__________
(f) The Spaniards say Tustla, Mecameca, Izucar, Atrlsco and Quecbula, in place of
Tochtlan, Amaquemecan, Iztocan, Atlixco, and Quecholac.
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
it that of the Cohuixcas, in which district was Acapulco, at present a celebrated port for
commerce with the Philippine Islands, in 16 deg. 40 min, of latitude, and 276 of longitude.
Adjoining to the coast of the Cohuixcas, were the Jopi; and adjoining to that, the Mixtecas,
known in our time by the name of Xicayan. Then followed the great province of Tecuantepec; and
lastly, that of Xoconochco. The city of Tecuantepec, from which the state derived its name,
was situated on a beautiful little island, formed by a river two miles from the sea. The province
of Xoconochco, which was the last and most southerly of the empire, was bounded on the east and
south-east by the country of Xochitepec, which did not belong to the crown of Mexico; on the west,
by that of Tecuantepec; and on the south terminated in the ocean. Its capital, called also
Xoconochco, was situated between two rivers, in 14 deg. of latitude, and in 283 of longitude.
Upon the Mexican Gulf there were, betides the coast of the Totonacas, the provinces of Cuetlachtlan
and Coatzacualco; this last was bounded on the east by the vast country of Onohualco, under
which name the Mexicans comprehended the states of Tabasco, and the peninsula of Yucatan, which were
not subject to their dominion. Besides the capital, called also Coatzacualco, founded upon the
borders of a great river, there were other well-peopled places amongst which Painalla merits
particular mention by having been the place of the nativity of the famous Malintzin, one of the
most powerful instruments of the conquest of Mexico. The province of Cuetlachtlan which had a
capital so called, comprehended all that coast which is between the river Alvarado, where the
province of Coatzacualco
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
11
terminates, and the river Antigua, (g) where the province of the Totonacas began. On that part
of the coast which the Mexicans called Chalchicuecan, lie at present the city and port of
Vera Cruz, the most renowned of all New Spain.
All the country of Anahuac, generally speaking, was well peopled. In the history and in the
dissertations we shall have occasion to mention several particular cities, and to give some
idea of the multitude of their inhabitants. Almost all the inhabited settlements with their
ancient names, are now still existing, though much altered; but all the ancient cities excepting
those of Mexico or Orizaba and some others, appear so reduced, they hardly contain the fourth
part of the number of buildings and inhabitants which they formerly possessed; there are many
which have preserved but a tenth part, and others hardly the twentieth part of their ancient
greatness.
To speak in general of the Indians, and comparing the state of their population, reported by
the first Spanish historians, and their native writers, with what we have seen ourselves, we
can affirm that at present there hardly remains one-tenth part of the ancient inhabitants; the
miserable consequence of the calamities they have undergone.
The land is in great part abrupt and mountainous, covered with thick woods, and watered by
large rivers; though not to be compared with those of South America: some of these run into the
Gulf of Mexico, and others into the Pacific Ocean. Amongst the first, those of Papaloapan,
Coatzacualco, and Chiapan are the greatest
__________
(g) We give this river the Spanish name by which it is known at present; as we are ignorant of
its Mexican name.
12
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
The river Papaloapan, which the Spaniards call Alvarado, from the name of the first Spanish
captain who failed into it, has its principal source in the mountains of the Zapotecas, and after
making a circuit through the province of Mazatlan, and receiving other smaller rivers and streams,
is discharged into the Gulf by three navigable mouths, at thirty miles distance from Vera Cruz.
The river Coatzacualco, which is also navigable, comes down from the mountains of the Mixes, and
crossing the province of which it takes the name, empties itself into the ocean nigh to the
country of Onohualco. The river Chiapan begins its course from the mountains called Cuchumataneo,
which separate the diocese of Chiapan from that of Guatemala, crosses the province of its own
name, and afterwards that of Onohualco, where it runs into the sea. The Spaniards call it
Tabasco, which they also called that tract of land which unites the peninsula of Yucatan to the
Mexican continent. They called it also the river Grihalva, from the commander of the first Spanish
fleet who discovered it.
Amongst the rivers which run into the Pacific Ocean Tololotlan is the most celebrated, called by
the Spaniards Guadalaxara, or great river. It takes its rise in the mountains of the valley of
Toloccan, crosses the kingdom of Michuacan and the lake of Chapallan, from thence it waters the
country of Tonollan, where at present the city of Guadalaxara, the capital of New Gallicia,
stands; and after running a course of more than six hundred miles, discharges itself into the
ocean, in the latitude of 22 degrees. The river Tecuantepec springs in the mountains of the
Mixes, and after a short course empties itself into the ocean in the latitude of 15 1/2 degrees.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
13
The river of the Jopi waters the country of that nation, and flows out fifteen miles to the
eastward of the port of Acapulco; forming in that quarter the dividing line between the dioceses
of Mexico and Angelopoli.
There were besides, and still are, several lakes, which did not less embellish the country than
give convenience to the commerce of those people. The lake of Nicaragua, of Chapallan, and
Pazquaro, which were the most considerable, did not belong to the Mexican empire. Amongst the
others, the most important to our history, are those two in the vale of Mexico, which we have
already spoken of. The lake of Chalco extended twelve miles from east to west, as far as the
city of Xochimilco, and from thence taking, for as many miles, a northerly direction,
incorporated itself by means of a canal, with the lake of Tetzcuco; but its breadth did not
exceed six miles.
The lake of Tetzcuco extended fifteen miles, or rather seventeen from east to west, and something
more from south to north; but at present its extent is much less, for the Spaniards have diverted
into new channels many rivers which formerly ran into it. All the water which assembles there is
at first sweet, and becomes salt afterwards, from the nitrous bed of the lake where it is
received. (h) Besides these two great lakes, there
__________
(h) M. de Bomare says, in his Dictionary of Natural History, that the salt of the Mexican lake
may proceed from the waters of the ocean in the north being filtered through the earth; and to
corroborate his opinion he quotes Le Journal des Scavans, of the year 1676. But this is truly
a gross error, because that lake is one hundred and eighty miles distant from the ocean; besides,
the bed of this lake is so elevated, that it has at least one mile of perpendicular height above
the level of the sea. The anonymous author of the work entitled,
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
were in the same vale of Mexico, and to the north of the coast, two smaller ones, named after
the cities of Tzompanco, and Xaltoccan. The lake of Tochtlan, in the province of Coatzacualco,
makes a sweet prospect, and its banks a most delightful dwelling. With respect to fountains, there
are so many in that land, and so different in quality, they would deserve a separate history,
especially if we had to enumerate those of the kingdom of Michuacan. There are an infinity of
nitrous, sulphureous, vitriolic, and alluminous mineral waters, some of which spring out so hot,
that in a few moments any kind of fruit or animal food is boiled in them. There are also
petrifying waters, namely, those of Tehuacan, a city about one hundred and twenty miles distant
from Mexico towards the south-east, those of the spring of Pucuaro in the states of the
Conte di Miravalles, in the kingdom of Michuacan, and that of a river in the province of Queleni.
With the water of Pucuaro they make little white smooth stones, not displeasing to the taste;
scrapings from which taken in broth, or in Atolli (i) are most powerful diaphoretics, and are
used with remarkable success in various kinds of fevers. (k) The citizens of Mexico during the
time of their kings, supplied themselves with water from the great spring of Chapoltepec, which
was conveyed to the city by an aqueduct, of which we shall speak hereafter. In mentioning
__________
Observations curieuses sur le Lac de Mexique, (the work expressly from which the journalists of
Paris have made their extracts,} is very far from adopting the error of M. de Bomare.
(i) Atolli is a name given by the Mexicans, to a gruel made of maiz or Indian corn; of which
we shall speak in another place.
(k) The little stones of Pucuaro have been known but a short time. I have myself been an eye
witness of their wonderful effect, in the epidemic of 1761. The dose prescribed for one who is
easily brought to sweat is one drachm of the scrapings.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
15
the waters of that kingdom, if the plan of our history would permit, we might describe the
stupendous falls or cascades of several rivers, (l) and the bridges which nature has formed over
others, particularly the Ponte di Dio: thus they call in that country a vast volume of earth
thrown across the deep river Atoyaque, close to the village of Molcaxac, about one hundred miles
to the south-east from Mexico, along which, coaches and carriages conveniently pass. It is
probable, it has been a fragment of a neighbouring mountain, thrown from it by some former
earthquake.
The climate of the countries of Anahuac varies according to their situation. The maritime countries
are hot, and for the most part moist and unhealthy. Their heat, which occasions sweat even in
January, is owing to the perfect flatness of the coasts compared with the inland country; or from
the mountains of sand that gather upon the shore, which is the case with Vera Cruz my native
country. The moisture proceeds not less from the sea than from the abundance of waters descending
from the mountains which command the coast. In hot countries there is never any white frost, and
most inhabitants of such regions have no other idea of snow than that which they receive from the
reading of books, or the accounts of strangers. Lands which are very high, or very near to very
high mountains which are perpetually covered with snow, are cold; and I have been upon a mountain
not more than twenty-five miles removed from the capital, where there has been white frost and
ice even in the dog-days. All the other inland
__________
(l) Amongst the cascades there is one famous, made by the great river Guadalaxara, in a place
called Tempizque, fifteen miles to the southward of that city.
16
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
countries, where the greatest population prevailed, enjoy a climate so mild and benign, they
neither feel the rigour of winter, nor the heats of summer. It is true, in many of these countries
there is frequently white frost in the three months of December, January, and February, and
sometimes even it snows; but the small inconvenience which such cold occasions, continues only
till the rising sun: no other fire than his rays, is necessary to give warmth in winter; no
other relief is wanted in the season of heat, but the shade; the same clothing which covers men
in the dog-days, defends them in January; and the animals sleep all the year under the open sky.
This mildness and agreeableness of climate under the torrid zone, is the effect of several natural
causes, entirely unknown to the ancients, who believed it uninhabitable; and not well understood
by some moderns, by whom it is esteemed unfavourable to those who live in it. The purity of the
atmosphere, the smaller obliquity of the solar rays, and the longer stay of this luminary upon
the horizon in winter, in comparison of other regions farther removed from the equator, concur
to lessen the cold, and to prevent all that horror which disfigures the face of nature in other
climes. During that season, a serene sky and the natural delights of the country, are enjoyed;
whereas under the frigid, and even for the most part under the temperate zones, the clouds rob man
of the prospect of heaven, and the snow buries the beautiful productions of the earth. No less
causes combine to temper the heat of summer. The plentiful showers which frequently water the
earth after mid-day, from April or May to September or October; the high mountains continually
loaded with
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
17
snow, scattered here and there through the country of Anahuac; the cool winds which breathe from
them in that season; and the shorter stay of the sun upon the horizon, compared with the
circumstances of the temperate zone, transform the summer of those happy countries into a cool
and cheerful spring.
But the agreeableness of the climate is counterbalanced by thunder storms, which are frequent in
summer, particularly in the vicinity of Matlalcueje or the mountain of Tlascala, and by
earthquakes which at all times are felt, although with less danger than terror. These first and
last effects are occasioned by the sulphur and other combustible materials, deposited in great
abundance in the bowels of the earth. Storms of hail are neither more frequent nor more severe
than in Europe.
The fire kindled in the bowels of the earth by the sulphureous and bituminous materials, has made
vents for itself in some of the mountains or volcanos, from whence flames are often seen to issue,
and ashes and smoke. There are five mountains in the district of the Mexican empire, where at
different times this dreadful phenomenon has been observed. Pojauhtecatl, called by the Spaniards,
Volcan d'Orizaba, began to send forth smoke, in the year 1545, and continued to do so for twenty
years: but after that, for the space of more than two centuries, there has not been observed the
smallest sign of burning. This celebrated mountain, which is of a conical figure, is indisputably
the highest land of all Anahuac; and on account of its height, is the first land descried by
seamen who are steering that way,
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
at the distance of fifty leagues. (m) Its top is always covered with snow, and its border adorned
with large cedar, pine, and other trees of valuable wood, which make the prospect of it every way
beautiful. It is distant from the capital upwards of ninety miles to the eastward.
The Popocatepec and Iztaccihuatl, which lay near each other, but thirty-three miles distant from
Mexico towards the south-east, are also of a surprising height. Popocatepec, for which they have
substituted the name Volcan, has a mouth or vent more than half a mile wide, from which, in the
time of the Mexican kings, it frequently emitted flames; and in the last century many times threw
out great quantities of ashes upon the places adjacent; but in this century, hardly any smoke has
been observed. Iztaccihuatl, known by the Spaniards under the name of Sierra Nevada, threw out
also at sometimes smoke and ashes. Both mountains have their tops always covered with snow in so
great quantities, as to supply with what precipitates on the neighbouring rocks, the cities of
Mexico, Gelopoli, Cholula, and other adjoining places, to the distance of forty miles from these
mountains, where an incredible quantity is yearly consumed in cooling and congealing liquors. (n)
The mountains of Coliman and Tochtlan, considerably distant from the capital, and still more so
from
__________
(m) Pojaubtecatl is higher than Taide or the Peak of Teneriffe, according to P. Tallaudier the
Jesuit, who made observations on them both: vide Lettres Edisintes, &c. Thomas Gage says of the
Popocatepec, it is as high as the highest Alps: he might have added, something higher, if he had
calculated the elevated station on which this celebrated mountain rises.
(n) The impost or duty upon ice or congealed snow consumed in the capital, amounted in 1746,
to 15,522 Mexican crowns; some years after, it rose to 20,000, and at present we may believe it
is a great deal more.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
19
each other, have emitted fire at different periods, in our time. (o)
Besides these mountains there are likewise others, which, though not burning mountains, are yet
of great celebrity for their height; namely, Matlalcueye, or the mountain of Tlascala;
Nappateuctli, called by the Spaniards, from its figure, Cosre or trunk; Tentzon, near
to the village of Moacaxac, Toloccan, and others, which, being of no importance to the subject, I
intentionally omit. Every one knows that the famous chain of the Andes, or Alps of South America,
are continued through the isthmus of Panama, and through all New Spain till they lose themselves
in the unknown countries of the North. The most considerable part of this chain is known in that
kingdom under the name of Sierra Madre, particularly in Cinaloa, and Tarahumara, provinces twelve
hundred miles distant from the capital.
__________
(o) A few years ago an account was published in Italy, concerning the mountains of Tochtlan or
Tuftla, full of curious, but too ridiculous lies; in which there was a description of rivers of
fire, of frightful elephants, &c. We do not mention among the burning mountains, neither Juruyo,
nor Mamotombo, of Nicaragua; nor that of Guatemala; because neither of these three was
comprehended under the Mexican dominions. That of Guatemala, laid in ruins with earthquake, that
great and beautiful city, the 28th of July, 1773. With respect to Juruyo, situated in the valley
of Urecho, in the kingdom of Michuacan, before the year 1760, there was nothing of it but a
small hill where there was a sugar plantation. But on the 29th of September, 1760, it burst with
furious shocks, and entirely ruined the sugar work, and the neighbouring village of Guacana;
and from that time has continued to emit fire and burning rocks, which have formed themselves
into three high mountains, whose circumference was nearly six miles, in 1766, according to the
account communicated to me, by Don Emmanuelle di Bustamante, governor of that province, and an
eye-witness of the fact. The ashes at the eruption, were forced as far as the city of Queretaro,
one hundred and fifty miles distant from Juruyo, a matter almost incredible, but public and
notorious in that city; where a gentleman shewed me, in a paper, the ashes which he had gathered.
In the city of Valadolid, sixty miles distant, it rained ashes in such abundance, they were
obliged to sweep the yards of the limits two or three times during the day.
20
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
The mountains of Anahuac abound in ores of every kind of metal, and an infinite variety of other
fossils. The Mexicans found gold in the countries of the Cohuixcas, the Mixtecas, the Zapotecas,
and in several others. They gathered this precious metal chiefly in grains amongst the sand of
the rivers, and the above mentioned people paid a certain quantity in tribute to the crown of
Mexico. Silver was dug out of the mines of Tlachco, Tzompanco, and others; but it was not so much
prized by them as it is by other nations. Since the conquest, so many silver mines have been
discovered in that country, especially in the provinces which are to the north-west of the
capital, it is quite impossible to enumerate them. Of copper they had two sorts, one hard, which
they used instead of iron to make axes, hatchets, mattocks, and other instruments of war and
agriculture; the other flexible, for making of basons, pots, and other vessels. This metal
abounded formerly more than elsewhere in the provinces of Zacatollan, and the Cohuixchas; at
present it abounds in the kingdom of Michuacan.
They dug tin from the mines of Tlachco, and lead from the mines of Izmiquilpan, a place in the
country of the Otomies. Of tin they made money, as we shall observe in its place, and we know
of lead that it was sold at market, but we are entirely ignorant of the use it was put to; there
were likewise mines of iron in Tlascala, in Tlachco, and other places,; but they either did not
find out these mines, or at least did not know how to benefit themselves by the discovery. There
were also in Chilapan mines of quicksilver, and in many places mines of sulphur, alum, vitriol,
cinnabar, ochre, and a white earth strongly resembling white lead. Of
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
21
quicksilver and vitriol we do not know the use which they made; the other minerals were employed
in painting and dying. Of amber and asphaltum, or bitumen of Judea, there was and still is great
abundance on both coasts, and they were both paid in tribute to the king of Mexico from many
places of the empire. Amber they used to set in gold for ornament; asphaltum was employed in
certain incense offerings, as we shall find hereafter.
With respect to precious stones, there were, and still are, diamonds, though few in number;
amethysts, cats-eyes, turquoises, cornelians, and some green stones resembling emeralds, and
not much inferior to them; and of all these stones, the Mixtecas, the Zapotecas, and Cohuixcas,
in whose mountains they were found, paid a tribute to the king. Of their plenty and estimation
with the Mexicans, and the manner in which they wrought them, we shall speak more properly in
another place. The mountains which lay on the coast of the gulf of Mexico, between the port of
Vera Cruz and the river Coatzacualco, namely, those of Chinantla, and the province of Mixtecas,
furnished them with crystal; and the cities of Tochtepec, Cuetlachtlan, Cozamaloapan, and others,
were obliged to contribute annually to the luxury of the court.
These mountains did not less abound in various kinds of stone, valuable in architecture,
sculpture, and other arts. There are quarries of jasper, and marble of different colours in the
mountains of Calpolalpan to the east of Mexico, in those which separate the two vallies of
Mexico and Toloccan, now called Monte de los Cruzes, and in those of the Zapotecas: of alabaster
in Tecalco (at present Tecale), a place in the neighbourhood
22
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
of the province of Tepeyacac, and in the country of the Mixtecas: of Tezontli, in the vale itself
of Mexico, and in many other places of the empire. The stone Tetzontli is generally of a dark
red colour, pretty hard, porous, and light, unites most firmly with lime and sand, and is
therefore more in demand than any other for the buildings of the capital, where the foundation
is marshy and unsolid. There are besides entire mountains of loadstone, and among others one
very considerable between Teoitztlan and Chilapan, in the country of the Cohuixcas. Of
Quetzalitztli commonly known by the name of the nephritic stone, the Mexicans formed various
and curious figures, some of which are preserved in different museums of Europe. Chimaltizatl,
which is a kind of talc, is a transparent white stone, dividing easily into thin leaves; on
calcination gives a fine plaister, which the ancient Mexicans used to whiten their paintings.
There are besides infinite quantities of plaister and talc; but respecting this last we do not
know what use it was put to. The Mezcuitlatl, that is, moon's-dung, belongs to that class of
stones which, on account of their resistance to the action of fire, are called by chemists
lapides refractarii. It is transparent and of a reddish gold colour. But no stone was more
common with the Mexicans than the itztli, of which there is great abundance in many places of
Mexico. It is semitransparent, of a glassy substance, and generally black, but it is found
also white and blue; they made looking-glasses of this stone, knives, lancets, razors, and spears,
as we shall mention when we treat of their militia; and after the introduction of the gospel
they made sacred stones of it which were much valued. (p)
__________
(p) Itztli is known in South America by the name of the Pietra del Galinazzo. The celebrated
Mr. Caylus proves, in a manuscript Dissertation, which Mr. Bomare
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
23
However plentiful and rich the mineral kingdom of Mexico may be, the vegetable kingdom is still
more various and abundant. The celebrated Dr. Hernandez, the Riny of New Spain, describes in his
Natural history, about twelve hundred plants, natives of that country; but his description,
although large, being confined to medicinal plants, has hardly comprised one part of what provident
nature has produced there for the benefit of mortals. Of the medicinal plants we should give but
an imperfect account if we applied to the medicine of the Mexicans. With regard to the other
classes of vegetables, some are esteemed for their flowers, some for their fruit, some for their
leaves, some for their root, some for their trunk or their wood, and others for their gum, resin,
oil, or juice. (q) Among the many flowers which embellish the meads and adorn the gardens of the Mexicans,
there are some worthy to be mentioned, either from the singular beauty of their colours, the exquisite
fragrance which they exhale, or the extraordinariness of their form.
The Floripundio which, on account of its size, merits the first mention, is a beautiful white
odoriferous flower, monopetalous, or consisting of one leaf, but so large, in length it is full
more than eight inches, and its diameter in the upper part three or four. Many hang together from
the branches like bells, but not entirely round as their corolla, (r) has five or six angles
equidistant from each other. These flowers are produced by a pretty
__________
has cited, that the obsidiana, of which the ancients made their vasa murina, which were so
much esteemed, was entirely similar to this one.
(q) We have adopted this though imperfect division of plants, as it appears the most suitable
and adapted to the plan of our history.
(r) The coloured leaves of which the flower is composed are called petals by Fabio Colonna, and
corolla by Linnaeus, to distinguish them from the real leaves.
24
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
little tree, the branches of which form around top like a dome. Its trunk is tender, its leaves
large, angular and of a pale green colour. The flowers are followed by round fruit as large as
oranges, which contain an almond.
The Jollocxochitl, (s) or flower of the heart, is also large, and not less estimable for its
beauty than for its odour, which is so powerful, that a single flower is sufficient to fill a
whole house with the most pleasing fragrance. 4 It has many petals, which are glutinous, externally
white, internally reddish or yellowish, and disposed in such a manner, that when the flower is
open and its petals expanded, it has the appearance of a star, but when shut it resembles in
some measure a heart, from whence its name arose. The tree which bears it is tolerably large,
and its leaves long and rough.
The Coatzontecoxochitl, or flower with the viper's head, is of incomparable beauty. (t) It is
composed of five petals or leaves, purple in the innermost part, white in the middle, the rest
red but elegantly stained with yellow and white spots. The plant which bears it has leaves
resembling those of the iris, but longer and larger, its trunk is small and slim; this flower was
one of the most esteemed amongst the Mexicans.
The Oceloxochitl, or tyger-flower, is large, composed
__________
(s) There is another Jolloxochitl also exceedingly fragrant, but different in form.
(t) Flos forma spectabilis, et quam vix quifpiam possit verbis exprimere, ant penecillo pro
dignitate imitari, a principibus Indorum ut naturae miraculum valde expetitus, et in magno
habitus pretio. Hernandez Histor. Nat. Hispaniae, lib. viii. c. 8. The Lincean Academicians
of Rome, who commented on and published this history of Hernandez in 1651, and saw the paintings
of this flower, with its colours, executed in Mexico, conceived such an idea of its beauty that
they adopted it as the emblem of their very learned academy, denominating it Fier di Lince.
[following 24]
[image: flowers]
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
25
of three pointed petals, and red, but towards the middle of a mixed white and yellow, representing
in some degree the spots of that wild animal from which it takes its name. The plant has leaves
also resembling those of the iris, and a bulbous root.
The Cacaloxochitl, or raven-flower is small, but very fragrant, and coloured white, red, and
yellow. The tree which produces these flowers appears covered all over with them, forming at the
end of the branches natural bunches not less pleasing to the sight than grateful to the sense. In
hot countries there is nothing more common than these flowers; the Indians adorn their altars with
them; and the Spaniards make excellent conserves of them. (u)
The Izquixochitl is a small white flower, resembling in figure the cynorrhodo, or wood-rose, and
in flavour the garden-rose, but much superior to it in fragrance. It grows to a great tree.
The Chempoalochitl or Chempascuhil, as the Spaniards say, is that flower transplanted to Europe
which the French call Oeillet d'Inde, or Indian carnation. It is exceedingly common in Mexico,
where they call it also Flower of the Dead; and there are several kinds differing in size, in figure,
and in the number of petals of which they are composed.
The flower which the Mexicans call Xiloxochitl, and the Miztecas Iiata, is entirely composed of
thin, equal, and strait threads, but pliant and about six inches long, springing from a round
cup something resembling an acorn, but different in size, in colour, and substance. Some of
these beautiful flowers are entirely red, others
__________
(u) It is probable that this tree is the same which Bomare describes under the name of Fraugipanier
26
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
all white, and the tree which bears them is most beautiful.
The Macphalxochitl, or flower of the hand, is like a tulip, but its pistillum represents the
form of a bird's foot, or rather that of an ape, with six singers terminated with as many nails.
The vulgar Spaniards of that kingdom call the tree which bears these curious flowers Arbol
de Manitas.
Besides these and innumerable other flowers, natives of that country, which the Mexicans delighted
to cultivate, the land of Mexico has been enriched with all those which could be transported from
Asia and Europe, such as lilies, jessamines, carnations of different kinds, and others in great
numbers, which at present in the gardens of Mexico rival the flowers of America.
With regard to fruits, the country of Anahuac is partly indebted to the Canary islands, partly
to Spain, for water melons, apples, peaches, quinces, apricots, pears, pomegranates, figs,
black-cherries, walnuts, almonds, olives, chesnuts, and grapes; although these last were not
altogether wanting in the country. (x) In Mizteca there are two kinds of wild vine original in
the country: the one in the shoots and figure of the leaves similar to the common vine, produces
red grapes, large, and covered with a hard skin, but of a sweet and grateful taste, which would
certainly improve from culture. The grape of the other vine is hard, large, and of a very harsh
taste, but they make an excellent conserve of it.
With respect to the cocoa-tree, the plantain, the citron, orange, and lemon, I am persuaded, from
the testimony
__________
(x) The places named Parras and Parral in the diocese of New Biscaglia, had these names from the
abundance of vines which were found there, of which they made many vineyards, which at this day
produce good wine.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
27
of Oviedo, Hernandez, and Bernal Dias, that they had the cocoa from the Philippine islands, and
the rest from the Canaries; (y) but as I know there are many of another opinion, I decline
engaging myself in any dispute; because, besides its being a matter of no importance to me, it
would force me to deviate from the line of my history. It is certain, that these trees, and all
others which have been imported there from elsewhere, have successfully taken root, and multiplied
as much as in their native soil. All the maritime countries abound with cocoa-nut trees. Of
oranges, there are seven different kinds, and of lemons only four. There are as many of the
plantain, or platano, as the Spaniards call it. (z) The largest, which is the zapalot, is from
fifteen to
__________
(y) Oviedo, in his Natural History, attests, that F. J. Bulangas, a Dominican, was the first
who brought the Musa from the Canaries to Hispaniola, in 1516; and from thence it was
transplanted to the continent of America. Hernandez, in the third book, chap. 40. of his
Natural history, speaks thus of the cocoa: Noscitur passim apud Orientales et jam quoque
apud Occidentales Indos. B. Bias in his history of the conquest, chap. 17. says, he sowed in
the country of Coatzacualco, seven or eight orange seeds; and these, he adds, were the first
oranges ever planted in New Spain. With regard to the musa, of the four species which there
are of it, it is probable, one of them only is foreign, which is called Guinco.
(z) The musa was not altogether unknown to the ancients. Pliny, in citing the account which
the soldiers of Alexander the Great gave of all that they saw in India, gives this description
of it: Major et alia (arbos) pomo et suavitate praecellentior, quo sapintes Inderum vivunt.
Folium avium alas imitatur, longitudine cubitorum trium, latitudine duum. Fructum cortice
emillit admirabilem succi dulcedine, ut uno quartenos satiet. Arbori nomen palae, pomo aniena.
Hist. Nat. lib. xii. cap. 6. Besides these specific characters of the musa he subjoins further,
that the name Palan, which was given to the musa in those remote times, is still preserved in
Malabar, as Garzia dell'Orto, a learned Portuguese physician, bears witness, who resided there
many years. It is to be suspected whether Platano, or plantain has been derived from the word
Palan. The name Bananas, which the French give it, is the same as it bears in Guinea, and the
name Musa, which the Italians give it, is taken from the Arabic. By some it has been called
the Fruit of Paradise, and even some are persuaded it is the very fruit which made our first
parents transgress.
28
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
twenty inches in length, and about three in diameter. It is hard and little esteemed, and is only
eat when roasted or boiled. The Platano largo, that is long, is eight inches at the most in
length, and one and a half in diameter. The skin at first is green, then yellow, and when
perfectly ripe, black or blackish. It is a relishing and wholesome fruit, whether boiled or raw.
The Guinco is smaller than the other, but richer, softer, more delicious, and less wholesome.
The fibres which cover the pulp are flatulent. This species of plantain has been cultivated in
the public garden of Bologna, and we have tasted it, but found it so unripe and unpalatable on
account of the climate, that it might have been supposed to be a quite different species. The
Dominico is the smallest and likewise the most delicate. The tree also is smaller than the others.
In that country there are whole woods of large extent not only of the plantain, but also of oranges
and lemons; and in Michuacan there is a considerable commerce with the dried plantains, which
are preferable to raisins or figs.
The fruits which are unquestionably original in that country are the pine-apple, which from being
at first view like to the pine-tree, was called by the Spaniards Pina. The Mamei, Chirimoya, (a)
Anona, Cabeza di Negro, black Zapote, Chicozapote, white Zapote, yellow Zapote, Zapote
di S. Dominico, Ahuacate, Guayaba, Capulino,
__________
(a) Several European writers on the affairs of America, confound the Chirimoya with the Arcona
and Guanabana: but they are three distinct species of fruits; although the two first are somewhat
resembling each other. It is necessary also to guard against confounding the pine-apple with
the Anona, which, are more different from each other than the cucumber and melon. Bomare, however,
makes two distinct fruits of the Chirimoya and Cherimolia, whereas Cherimolia is only the
corruption of the first and original name of the fruit. The Ate likewise, which some judge a
fruit different from the Cherimoya, is only a variety of the same species.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
29
Guava, or Cuaxinicuil, Pitahaya, Papaya, Guanabana, Noce Encarcelado, Plums, Dates, Chajoti,
Tilapo, Obo or Hobo, Nance, Cacahuate, and many others unimportant to be known by the reader.
most of these fruits are described in the works of Oviedo, Acosta, Hernandez, Laet, Nieremberg,
Marcgrave, Pison, Barrere, Sloane, Ximenes, Ulloa, and many other naturalists; we shall therefore
only take notice of those which are the least known in Europe.
All the fruits comprehended by the Mexicans under the generic name of Tzapotl, are round or
Approach to roundness; and all have a hard stone. (h) The black Zapote, has a green, light,
smooth, tender bark; a black, soft, and most exceeding savoury pulp, which at first sight looks
like the Cassia. (c) Within the pulp, it has flat, blackish stones, not longer than a singer.
It is perfectly round, and its diameter from one and a half, to four or five inches. The tree
is of a moderate size and thickness, with small leaves. Ice of the pulp of this fruit, seasoned
with sugar and cinnamon, is of a most delicate taste.
The white Zapote, which from its narcotic virtue, was called by the Mexicans Cochitzapotl, is
something similar to the black, in size, figure, and colour of the bark; although in the white
the green is more clear; but in other respects they are greatly different. Its stone, which is
believed to be poisonous, is large, round, hard, and
__________
(b) The fruits comprehended by the Mexicans under the name of Tzapotl, are the Mammei
Tetzontzapotl, the Chirimoya Matzapotl, the Anona Quanbtzapotl, the black Zapotl
Tliltzapotl, &c.
(c) Gemelli says, the black Zapotl has also the taste of the Cassia: but this is very far from
being true, which all who have tasted it must know. He says also, that this fruit when crude, is
poison to fish, but it is wonderful that such a fact would be known only to Gemelli, who was
not more than ten months in Mexico,
30
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
white. The tree is thick, and larger than the black; and its leaves also are larger. Besides,
the black is peculiar to a warm climate; but the white, on the contrary, belongs to the cold and
temperate climates.
The Chicozapote, (in Mexican Chictzapotl) is of a spherical shape, or approaching thereto; and is
one and a half, or two inches in diameter. Its skin is grey, the pulp white, and the stones black,
hard, and pointed. From this fruit, when it is still green, they draw a glutinous milk, which
easily condenses, called by the Mexicans, Chictli; and by the Spaniards, Chicle: the boys and
girls chew it; and in Colima they form it into small statues, and other fanciful little figures. (d)
The Chicozapote, fully ripe, is one of the most delicious fruits; and by many Europeans reckoned
superior to any fruit in Europe. The tree is moderately large, its wood fit for being wrought,
and its leaves are round, in colour and consistence like those of the orange. It springs without
culture in hot countries; and in Mixteca, Huaxteca, and Michuacan, there are woods of such trees
twelve and fifteen miles long. (e)
The Capollino or Capulin, as the Spaniards call it, is the cherry of Mexico. The tree is little
different from the cherry tree of Europe; and the fruit is like it in size, colour, and stone,
but not in taste.
__________
(d) Gemelli is persuaded that chicle was a composition made on purpose; but he is deceived, for
it is nothing else than the mere milk of the unripe fruit condensed by the air. -- Tom. 6. lib. ii.
cap. 10.
(e) Amongst the ridiculous lies told by Thomas Gage, is the following, that in the garden of S.
Giacinto, (the hospital of the Dominicans of the mission from the Philippine isles, in the
suburbs of Mexico where he lodged several months,) there were Chicozapoti. This fruit could
never be raised either in the vale of Mexico or any other country subject to white frost.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
31
The Nance is a small, round fruit; yellow, aromatic, and savoury, with extremely small seeds,
which grow into trees peculiar to warm climates.
The Chayoti is a round fruit, similar in the husk, with which it is covered, to the chesnut,
but four or five times larger, and of a much deeper green colour. Its kernel is of a greenish
white, and has a large stone in the middle, which is white, and like it in substance. It is
boiled, and the stone eat with it. This fruit is produced by a twining perennial plant, the root
of which is also good to eat.
The imprisoned nut, commonly so called, because its kernel is closely shut up within an exceeding
hard stone. It is smaller than the common nut; and its figure resembles the nutmeg. Its stone
is smooth, and its kernel less, and not so well tasted as the common one. This (f) transported
from Europe, has multiplied and become as common as in Europe itself.
The Tlalcacahuatl, or Cacahuate as the Spaniards call it, is one of the most scarce plants which
grow there. It is an herb, but very thick, and strongly supplied with roots. Its leaves are
something like purslain, but not so gross. Its flowerets are white, which bring no fruit. Its
fruit are not borne on the branches or stem as in other plants, but attached to the junction
of the roots, within a white, greyish, long, roundish, wrinkled sheath, and as rough as we have
represented it in our third figure of fruits and flowers. Every sheath has two or three Cacahuati,
which are in figure like pine-seeds, but larger
__________
(f) We only speak of the imprisoned nut of the Mexican empire, as the one of New Mexico is
larger and better tasted than the common one of Europe, as I have been informed from respectable
authority. Probably this of New Mexico is the same with that of Louisiana, called Pacana, or
Pacaria.
32
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
and grosser; and each is composed, like other seeds, of two lobi; and has its germinating point.
It is fit for eating, and well tasted when not raw but only a little toasted. If they are much
toasted, they acquire a smell and taste so like coffee, any one may be deceived by it. Oil is made
from the Cacahuati, which is not ill tasted; but it is believed to be unwholesome because it is
very hot. It makes a beautiful light, but is easily extinguished. This plant would thrive, with
certainty, in Italy. It is sown in March or April, and the fruit is gathered in October or November.
Among many other fruits, which I pass over to shorten my account, I cannot dispense with the
mention of the cocoa, the cocoa nut, vainilla, chia, chilli or great pepper, Tomati, the pepper
of Tabasco, cotton, grain, and leguminous plants which are most common with the Mexicans.
Of the Cocoa nuts, (a name taken from the Mexican word Cacahuatli,) Hernandez enumerates four
species; but the Tlalcacahuatl, the smallest of the whole, was the one most used by the Mexicans
in their chocolate and other daily drink; the other species served more as money to traffic with
in the market, than aliment. The Cocoa nut was one of the plants most cultivated in the warm
countries of that empire; and many provinces paid it in tribute to the crown of Mexico; and amongst
others the province of Xoconocho, whose Cocoa-nut is excellent and better than that of Maddalena.
The description of this celebrated plant, and its culture, is to be found in many authors of
every polished nation in Europe.
The Vainilla or Vainiglia, so well known and much used in Europe, grows without culture, in
warm countries.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
33
The ancient Mexicans made use of it in their chocolate and other drinks which they made of the cocoa.
The Chia is the small seed of a beautiful plant, whose stem is straight and quadrangular; the
branches extended in four directions, and symmetrically placed opposite each other, with blue
flowerets. There are two species of it, the one black and small, from which there is an oil drawn,
admirable for painting; the other white and larger, of which they make a cooling beverage. Both
were used by the Mexicans for these and other purposes, which we shall mention hereafter.
Of Chilli or great Pepper, (g) which was as much in use with the Mexicans as salt in Europe,
there are at least eleven species, different in their size, figure and sharpness. The Quauhchilli,
which is the fruit of a shrub, and Chiltecpin are the smallest, but also the most sharp. Of the
Tomate there are six species, distinguished by their size, colour, and taste. The largest, which
is the Xictomatl or Xitomate, as the Spaniards of Mexico call it, is now very common in Europe,
in Spain, and France, under the name of Tomate; and in Italy, under the name of Pomo d'oro.
The Miltomatl is smaller, green, and perfectly round. How much both were used by the Mexicans
at their meals, shall be mentioned when we treat of their diet.
The Xocoxochitl, vulgarly known by the name of Pepe di Tabasco, from its abounding in that
province, is larger than the pepper of Malabar. It grows on a large tree,
__________
(g) In other countries of America the Chilli is called Axi; in Spain, Pimien to; in France, Poivre
de Guinee, and by other names.
34
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
whose leaves have the colour and lustre of those of the orange; and the flowers are of a beautiful
red, and similar in figure to those of the pomegranate, and of a most penetrating and pleasing
scent, of which the branches also partake. The fruit is round and borne in clusters which at first
are green, afterwards become almost black. This pepper, used formerly by the ancient Mexicans,
may supply the want of that of Malabar.
Cotton, from its utility, was one of the most valuable productions of that country, as it served
instead of flax (although this plant was not wanting to them,) and the inhabitants of Anahuac
were generally clothed in it. (h) There is white and tawny-coloured cotton, vulgarly called Coyote.
It is a plant common in warm countries, but more cultivated by the ancients, than the moderns.
The Achiote, called by the French Rocou, served the Mexicans in dying, as it now does the Europeans.
Of the bark they made cordage, and the wood was used to produce fire by friction, after the mode
of the ancient shepherds of Europe. This tree is well described in the dictionary of Bomare.
With regard to corn and leguminous plants, that country had from Europe, wheat, barley, rice,
pease, beans, lentils, and others; all of which rooted themselves successfully in soils suited
to their nature, and multiplied accordingly, as we shall shew in our dissertations. (i)
__________
(h) Michuacan, New Mexico, and Quivira produced flax in great abundance and of the best quality;
but we are ignorant if these nations cultivated or made life of it. The Court of Spain, being
made acquainted of the lauds of Mexico being fit for the culture of flax and hemp, sent, in the
year 1778, twelve country families from Vega di Granata, to be employed in that kind of
agriculture.
(i) Dr. Hernandez, in his Natural history of Mexico, describes the species of wheat found in
Michuacan, and boasts its prodigious fecundity: but the ancients either did not know, or did not
incline to use it, but gave preference then, as
[following 34]
[image: fruit]
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
35
Of grain, the chief, the most useful, and most common was the maize, called by the Mexicans,
Tluolli; of which there are several species, differing in size, colour, weight, and taste. There
is the large and the small sort, the white, the yellow, the blue, the purple, the red, and the
black. The Mexicans made bread of maize, and other meats, of which we shall treat hereafter.
Maize was carried from America to Spain, and from Spain into the other countries of Europe, to
the great advantage of the poor; though an author of the present day, would make America indebted
to Europe for it; an opinion the most extravagant and improbable which ever entered a human
brain. (k)
The chief pulse of the Mexicans, was the French bean, of which the species are more numerous and
more varied than those of maize. The largest species is the Ayacotli, which is the size of a
common bean, and comes from a beautiful red flower; but the most esteemed is the small black
heavy French bean. This pulse, which in Italy is of no value, because it is not good there, is
so excellent in Mexico, that it not only serves as sustenance to the poor class of people, but
is also esteemed a luxury by the Spanish nobility.
__________
they still do, to their own maize. The first person who sowed European wheat in that country was,
a Moorish slave belonging to Cortez, having discovered a few grains of it in a bag of rice, which
he carried for provision, to the Spanish soldiers.
zzz(k) Here follow the words of Bomare, in his Dictionary of Nat. Hist. vide Ble de Turquie. --
On donnoit a cette plante curleuse & utile, le nom de Ble d' Inde: parce qu'elle tire son origine
des Indes, d'ou elle fut apporte en Turquie, & de la dans toutes les autres parties de l'Europe,
de l' Afrique, & de de l' Amerique. The name of Grano di Turchia, by which it is at present known in
Italy, must certainly have been the only reason of Bomare's adopting an error, so contrary to
the testimony of all writers on America, and the universal belief of nations. The wheat is called
by the Spaniards of Europe and America, Maize, taken from the Haitina language, which was spoken
in the island now called Hispaniola, or St. Domingo.
36
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
Of plants which were valuable for their root, their leaves, their trunk, or their wood, the
Mexicans had many which served them for food, namely the Xicama, Camote, Huacamote, Cacomite,
and others; or which furnished them with thread for their clothes, or cordage, namely the Iczotl,
and several species of Maguei; or gave them wood for buildings and other works, as the cedar,
pine, cypress, fir, and ebony, &c.
The Xicama, called by the Mexicans Catzotl, is a root the figure and size of an onion; quite
white, solid, fresh, juicy, and relishing, and always eat raw.
The Camote is another root, extremely common in that country, of which there are three species,
one white, one yellow, and another purple. When boiled they taste well, especially those of
Queretaro, which are justly prized over all the kingdom. (l)
The Cacomite is the esculent root of the plant which bears the beautiful tyger-flower, already
described.
The Huacamote is the sweet root of a species of Jucca, (m) which is also eat boiled. The papa
which is a root transplanted into Europe, and greatly valued in Ireland, was also brought from
South America, its native country, into Mexico, as many other roots and salads were from Spain
and the Canaries, namely, turnips, radishes, carrots, garlic, lettuces, and asparagus, cabbages,
&c. Onions were sold in the markets of Mexico, as Cortez mentions in his letters to Charles Vth,
so that there was no necessity for importing them from Europe. Besides
__________
(l) Many call the Camoti, Batate or Palate; but I have avoided this name because it is equivocal,
and indifferently used by authors to signify Camoti and Pape which are totally different roots.
(m) The Jucca is that plant of whose root they make Cassava bread, in several countries of America.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
37
the name Xonacatl which is given to the onion, and that of Xonocapetec, by which name a certain
place has been known since the time of the Mexican kings; they let us understand that this plant
was very ancient in that country, and never transplanted there from Europe.
The Maguei called by the Mexicans, Metl; by the Spaniards, Pita; and by many authors, the
American aloe, from its being very similar to the real aloe, is one of the most common and most
useful plants of Mexico. Hernandez describes nineteen species, still more different in their
interior substance than in their external form and colour of leaves. In the seventh book of our
history we shall have occasion to explain the great advantages the Mexicans derived from these
plants, and the incredible profit the Spaniards now make of them.
The Iczotl is a species of mountain palm, pretty lofty, and generally with a double trunk. Its
branches form the figure of a fan, and its leaves a spear. Its flowers are white and odorous,
which the Spaniards preserve; and its fruit, at first sight, resembles the musa, but is altogether
useless. Of its leaves they did formerly and still make fine mats; and the Mexicans got thread
from it for their manufactures.
This is not the only palm of that country. Besides the Royal Palm, superior to all others in the
beauty of its branches, the cocoa-palm, and the date-palms (n), there are other species worthy
to be mentioned.
The Quauhcojolli, is a palm of middle size, whose trunk is inaccessible to quadrupeds, from being
armed
__________
(n) Besides the Date palm proper to that country, there is also the Barbary date-palm. Dates
are sold in the month of June, in the markets of Mexico, Angelopoli, and other cities; but
notwithstanding their sweetness they are little in demand.
38
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
round with long, hard, and very sharp thorns. Its branches have the figure of an elegant feather,
between which its fruit hangs in clusters, being round, large as the common walnut, and like it
consisting of four parts, that is a skin at first green and afterwards blackish, a yellow pulp
strongly adhering to the stone, a round and very hard stone, and within the stone a kernel or
white substance.
The Ixhuatl is smaller and has not more than six or seven branches, for as soon as a new one
buds, one of the old ones withers. Of its leaves they made baskets and mats, and at present they
make hats, and other conveniences of them. The bark to the depth of three singers, is nothing but
a mass of membranes, about a foot long, thin and flexible, but also strong; of a number of which
joined together, the poor people make mattresses.
The palm Teoiczotl is also small. The substance of the trunk which is soft, is surrounded with
leaves of a particular substance, round, gross, white, smooth, and shining, which appears like
so many shells heaped upon each other, with which, formerly the Indians, as they do now, adorned
the arches of leaves which they made for their festivals.
There is another palm, which bears cocoas or nuts of oil, so called, (termed by the Spaniards
Cocos de Aceite); because they obtain a good oil from it. The cocoa of oil, is a nut in figure
and in size like the nutmeg; within which there is a white, oily, eatable kernel, covered by a
thin purple pellicle. The oil has a sweet scent, but is too easily condensed, and then becomes a
white mass, soft, and white as snow.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
39
For the excellence, variety, and plenty of its timber, that country is equal to any in the world:
as there is no sort of climate wanting in it, every one produces its peculiar wood. Besides oaks,
firs, pines, cypresses, beeches, ashes, hazels, poplars, and many others common in Europe, there
are entire woods of cedars and ebonies, the two species most valued' by the ancients: there is
an abundance of Agalloco or wood of aloe, in Mixteca; of Tapinzecan, in Michuacan; Caoba, in
Chiapan Palo Gateado; which we might call creeping wood, in Zoncoliuhcan, (now gonzolica);
Camote in the mountains of Tezcoco; Granadillo or red ebony, in Mixteca and elsewhere; Mizquitl
or real Acacia, Tepehuaxin, Copti, Jabin, Guayacan or holy wood, Ayaquahuitl, Oyametl, the wood
of Zopilote, and innumerable other woods valuable for their durability, their hardness, and
weight (o), their pliableness or easiness of being cut, the elegance of their colours, or the
agreeableness of their odour. The Camote is of a most beautiful purple; and the Granadillo, a
dark-red colour; but the Palo gateado, Caoba, and Tzopiloquahuitl or wood of Zopilot, are still
more admirable. The hardness of the Guayacan is well known in Europe; the Jabin has the same
property in no less a degree. The aloe-wood of Mixteca, although different from the true Agalloco
of the east, according to the description given of it by Garzia dell'Orto (p) and other authors,
is however not less to be esteemed for its delightful odour,
__________
(o) Pliny, in his Natural history, lib. xvi. cap. 4. mentions no other woods of great specific
weight, in water, than these four, ebony, box, larch, and barked cork; but in Mexico there are
many trees, whose wood does not float in water, as the Guayacan, Tapinzeran, Jabin, Quilbrahacha,
&c. The Quilbrahacha, which means break-axe, is so called because in cutting it the axe is
frequently broke by the hardness of the wood.
(p) Storia del Semplici, Aromatl, &c. della India Oricntale.
40
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
especially when it is fresh cut. There is also in that country, a tree whose wood is precious,
but its nature is so malignant as to occasion a swelling in the scrotum of any one who manages
it indiscreetly when fresh cut. The name which the Michuacans give it (which 1 do not at present
remember J expresses distinctly that noxious effect. I have never been a witness of this fact,
nor have I seen the tree; but I learned it when I was in Michuacan, from respectable authority.
Hernandez, in his Natural history, describes about one hundred species of trees; but having, as
we before mentioned, consecrated his study to the medicinal plants, he omits the greater part
of those which that fertile soil produces, and in particular those which are most considerable
for their size, and valued for their wood. There are also trees, in height and largeness so
prodigious, they are not at all inferior to those which Pliny boasts to be the miracles of nature.
Acosta makes mention of a cedar, which was in Atlacuechahuayan, a place nine miles distant
from Antequera or Oaxaca, the circumference of whose trunk was sixteen fathoms, that is more
than eighty-two feet of Paris; and I have seen in a house in the country a beam, one hundred
and twenty Castilian feet, or one hundred and seven Parisian feet long. In the capital, and
other cities there are very large tables of cedar to be seen, consisting of one single piece.
In the valley of Atlixco there is still existing a very ancient fir-tree, (q) so large, that
into a cavity of its trunk which was occasioned by lightning, fourteen
__________
(q) The Mexican name of this tree is, Ahuehuetl; and the common Spaniard of that country calls it,
Ahuehuete; but those who would speak in Castilian call it Sabino, that is Savin, in which they
are deceived; for the Ahuehuetl, though very like to Savin, is not one, but a fir, as Hernandez
demonstrates, in lib. iii. cap. 66, of his Nat. Hist. I saw the fir of Atlixco in my way through
that city, in 1756, but not near enough to form a just idea of its bigness.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
41
men on horseback could conveniently enter. We are given a still stronger idea of its capacity
from a testimony even so respectable as his Excellency D. F. Lorenzana, formerly Archbishop
of Mexico, now of Toledo. This Prelate, in the annotations which he made on the letters of Cortez,
to Charles Vth. and printed in Mexico, in 1770, attests that having gone himself, in company with
the Archbishop of Guatemala and the bishop of Angelopoli, to view that celebrated tree, he made
one hundred young lads enter its trunk.
The Ceibas, which I saw in the maritime province of Xicayan may be compared with this famous fir.
The largeness of these trees is proportioned to their prodigious elevation, and they afford a
most delightful prospect at the time they are adorned with new leaves and loaded with fruit, in
which there is inclosed a particular species of white, fine, and most delicate cotton. This
might be, and actually has been made into webs as soft and delicate, and perhaps more so, than
silk; (r) but it is toilsome to spin, on account of the smallness of the threads, and the profit
does not requite the labour, the web not being lasting. Some use it for pillows and mattresses
which have the singular property of swelling enormously when exposed to the sun.
Amongst the great many trees worthy of notice for their peculiarities, which I am however obliged
to look over, I cannot omit a certain species of wood-fig, which
__________
(r) De Bomare says, that the Africans make of the thread of the Ceiba, the vegetable taffety,
which is so scarce, and so much esteemed in Europe. I do not wonder at the scarcity of such
cloth, considering the difficulty of making it. The name Ceiba is taken, like many others, from
the language which was spoken in the island Haiti, or San Domingo. The Mexicans call it, Pochotl;
and many Spaniards Pochote. In Africa it has the name of Benten. The Ceiba, says the above
author, is higher than all the trees hitherto known.
42
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
grows in the country of the Cohuixcas and in other places of the kingdom. It is a lofty, gross,
thick tree, similar in leaves and fruit to the common fig. From its branches, which extend
horizontally, spring certain filaments which taking their direction towards the earth, increase
and grow till they reach it; strike root and form so many new trunks, that from one single fig,
a whole wood may be generated. The fruit of this tree is altogether useless, but its timber
is good. (s)
With respect lastly to plants which yield profitable resins, gums, oils, or juices, the country
of Anahuac is most singularly fertile, as Acosta in his Natural history acknowledges.
The Huitziloxitl, from which a balsam distils, is a tree of moderate height. Its leaves are
something similar to those of the almond tree, but larger; its wood is reddish and odorous, and
its bark grey, but covered with a reddish pellicle. Its flowers, which are pale, spring from the
extremity of the branches. Its seed is small, white, and crooked; and likewise comes from the
extremity of a thin shell about a singer long. In whatever part an incision is made, especially
after rains, that excellent resin distils which is so much valued in Europe, and nowise inferior
to the celebrated balsam of Meccha, (t) Our balsam is of a reddish black, or a yellowish white, as
__________
(s) A. Perez de Ribas makes mention of this singular fig, in his history of the Missions, from
Cinaloa; and Bomare in his Dictionary, under the names of Figuier des Indes, Grande Figuier, &
Figuier admirable. The historians of east India describe another tree, similar to this, which
is found there.
(t) The first balsam brought from Mexico to Rome was sold at one hundred ducats, by the ounce,
as Monardes attests in his history of the medicinal Simples of America, and was declared by the
apostolic See, matter fit for chrism, although it is different from that of Meccha, at Acosta and
other writers on America observe
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
43
from an incision it runs of both colours, of a sharp and bitter taste, and an intense but most
grateful odour. The balsam tree is common in the provinces of Panuco and Chiapan, and in other
warm countries. The kings of Mexico caused it to be transplanted into the celebrated garden of
Huaxtepec, where it rooted successfully, and multiplied considerably in all those mountains.
Some of the Indians, to extract a greater quantity of balsam, after making an incision in the
tree, have burnt the branches. The abundance of these valuable trees makes them regardless of
the loss of numbers; by which means they are not obliged to wait the slowness of the distillation.
The ancient Mexicans not only collected the opobalsam, or drop distilled from the trunk, but
also extracted the xylobalsam from the branches by means of decoction. (u) From the Huaconex and
Maripenda, (x) they extracted an oil equivalent to the balsam. The Huaconex is a tree of moderate
height, and of an aromatic and hard wood which keeps fresh for years though buried under the earth.
Its leaves are small and yellow, its flowers likewise small and white, and its fruit similar to
that of the laurel. They distilled oil from the bark of the tree; after breaking it, keeping it
three days in spring water, and then drying it in the sun. They likewise extracted an oil from
the leaves, of a pleasing odour. The Maripenda is a shrub, whose leaves are like the iron of a
lance; and the fruit is similar to the grape, and grows in clusters which are first green,
afterwards
__________
(u) There is an oil also drawn from the fruit of the Huitziloxitl, similar in stench and taste
to that of the bitter almond, but more acrimonious and intense, which is found highly useful in
medicine.
(x) The names Huaconex and Maripenda are not Mexican, but adopted by the authors who write of
these trees.
44
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
red. They extracted the oil, by a decoction of the branches, with a mixture of some of the fruit.
The Xochiocotzotl, commonly liquid amber, is the liquid Storax of the Mexicans. It is a great
tree (not a shrub, as Pluche makes it); its leaves are similar to those of the maple tree
indented, white in one part, and dark in the other; and disposed in threes. The fruit is thorny
and round but polygonous, with the surface and the angles yellow. The bark of the tree is in part
green, part tawny. By incision in the trunk, they extract that precious resin called by the
Spaniards, liquidambar; and the oil of the same name, which is still more odorous and estimable.
They also obtain liquid amber from a decoction of the branches, but it is inferior to that which
distils from the trunk.
The Mexican name Copalli, is generic, and common to all the resins; but especially signifies those
which were made use of for incense. There are ten species of trees which yield these sorts of
resin, and differ not only in their name, but in foliage and fruit, and in the quality of the
resin. That simply called Copal, as being the principal, is a white transparent resin, which
distils from a large tree, whose leaves resemble those of the oak, but are larger, and the fruit
is round and reddish. This resin is well known in Europe by the name of gum Copal, and also the
use which is made of it in medicine and varnishes. The ancient Mexicans used it chiefly in burnt
offerings which they made for the worship of their idols; or to pay respect to ambassadors, and
other persons of the first rank. At present they consume a great quantity in the worship of the
true God, and his saints. The Tecopalli or Tepecopalli, is a resin similar in colour,
odour, and taste to the incense
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
45
of Arabia: which distils from a tree of moderate size that grows in mountains, the fruit of which
is like an acorn, containing the nut enveloped in a mucilage, within which there is a small
kernel, that is useful in medicine. Not only these two trees but all the others of this class,
which we cannot here describe, are peculiar to warm climates.
The Caragna, and the Tecamaca, resins well known in the apothecaries mops of Europe, distil from
two Mexican trees of rather large size. The trunk of the Caragna (y), is tawny, smooth, mining,
and odorous; and its leaves though round not dissimilar to those of the olive. The tree of the
Tecamaca has large indented leaves, and red, round, and small fruit, hanging from the end of the
branches.
The Mizquitl or Mezquite, as the Spaniards call it, is a species of true Acacia; and the gum
which distils from it is the true gum arabic, as Hernandez and other learned naturalists testify.
The Mezquite is a thorny shrub, whose branches are most irregularly disposed; and its leaves small,
thin, and pinnated. Its flowers are like those of the birch tree. Its fruits are sweet, eatable
shells, containing a feed, of which anciently the barbarous Cicimecas made a paste, which served
them for bread. Its wood is exceedingly hard and heavy. These trees are as common in Mexico as
oaks in Europe, particularly on hills in temperate countries. (z)
__________
(y) The Mexicans gave the Caragna tree, the name of Trabuelilocaquabuitl, that is, tree of malignity,
not Haheliloca, as De Bomare writes it; because they superstitiously believed it to be feared by evil spirits,
and a powerful preservative against sorcery. The name Tecamaca is taken from the Tecomac Ihiyac
of the Mexicans.
(z) There is in Michuacan a species of Mezquite or Acacia, without the least thorn, and with finer
leaves; but in every thing else like the other.
46
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
Lac, or Comma Laca (as it is called by the Spaniards), runs in such abundance from a tree like
the Mezquite, the branches are covered with it. (a) This tree, which is of moderate size, has a
red-coloured trunk, and is very common in the provinces of the Cohuixcas and Tlahuica.
Dragon's blood runs from a large tree whose leaves are broad and angular. It grows in the mountains
of Quauhchinanco, and in those of the Cohuixcas. (b)
The Elastic Gum, called by the Mexicans Olin or Olli, and by the Spaniards of that
kingdom, Ule, distils from the Olquahuitl, which is a tree of moderate size; the trunk of which is
smooth and yellowish, the leaves pretty large, the flowers white, and the fruit yellow
__________
(a) Garzia dell'Orto, in his history of the simples of India, maintains from the account of
some persons experienced in these countries, that Lac produced by ams. This opinion has been
adopted by many authors; and Bomare does him the honour to believe the fact fully demonstrated;
but let us examine how far this is from truth. First, these boasted demonstrations are but
equivocal proofs and fallacious conjectures, which anyone will be convinced of, who reads the
above authors. Second, Of all the naturalists who write of Lac, no one has ever seen it on the
tree, but Hernandez: and this learned and sincere author affirms, without the smallest
diffidence, that the Lac is a gum distilled from the tree which the Mexicans call
Tzinacancuita-quahuitl, and confutes the other opinion. Thirdly, The country where Lac abounds,
is the fertile province of the Tlahuixchas, where all the fruits prosper surprisingly; and are
thence carried in great quantities to the capital. But such a quantity of fruit could not be
gathered if there were so many millions of ants in that land as would be necessary to produce
such an excessive quantity of Lac, the trees being very numerous, and almost all of them full
of it. Fourthly, If the Lac is the labour of ants, why do they produce it only in these trees,
and not in any other species? &c. Lac was called by the Mexicans, fiat's Dung, from some analogy
which they discovered between them.
(b) The Mexicans call dragon's blood Expatli, which signifies blood-coloured medicament; and the
tree Enquabuitl, that is blood-coloured tree. There is another tree of the same name in the
mountains of Quauhuahuac, which is something similar, but its leaves are round and rough, its bark
thick, and its root odorous.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
47
and rather round, but angular; within which there are kernels as large as filberds, and white,
but covered with a yellowish pellicle. The kernel has a bitter taste, and the fruit always grows
attached to the bark of the tree. When the trunk is cut, the Ule which distils from it is white,
liquid, and viscous; then it becomes yellow, and lastly of a leaden colour though rather blacker,
which it always retains. Those who gather it can model it to any form according to the use they
put it to.
The Mexicans made their foot-balls of this gum, which, though heavy, rebound more than those
filled with air. At present, besides other uses to which they apply it, they varnish their hats,
their boots, cloaks, and great coats with it, in the same way as wax is used in Europe, which
makes them all water proof: from Ule, when rendered liquid by fire, they extract a medicinal oil.
This tree grows in hot countries such as Ihualapan and Mecatlan, and is common in the kingdom of
Guatemala. (c) The Quauhxiotl, is a middling tree, the leaves of which are round, and the bark
reddish. There are two inferior species of it, the one yields a white gum, which, when put in
water, gives it a milk colour. The other drops a reddish gum; they are both very serviceable in
dysenteries.
In this class of plants we ought to give a place to the fir, the Higuerilla (which resembles
the fig), and the Ocote, a certain species of pine that is very aromatic, on account of the oils
which they yield; and Brasil wood, logwood, indigo, and many others, on account
__________
(c) In Michuacan there is a tree, called by the Tarascas Tarantaqua, of the same species as the
Olquahuitl; but its leaves are different.
48
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
of their juices; but several of these plants are already known in Europe, and the others we
shall have occasion to treat of elsewhere.
The small part of the vegetable kingdom of Anahuac which we have here communicated, revives
our regret that the accurate knowledge, which the ancient Mexicans acquired of natural history,
has almost totally disappeared. We know its woods, mountains, and vallies are scattered with
innumerable plants, valuable and useful, yet hardly one naturalist has ever fixed his attention
on them. Who can help lamenting, that of the immense treasures which the period of two centuries
and an half has discovered in its rich mines, no part should have been destined to the foundation
of an academy of naturalists, who might have pursued the steps of the celebrated Hernandez, and
imparted to society the knowledge of these precious gifts which the Creator has there so liberally
dispensed!
The animal kingdom of Anahuac is not better known, although it was attended to with equal
diligence by Doctor Hernandez. The difficulty of distinguishing the species, and the impropriety
of appellations taken from analogy, have rendered the history of animals perplexed and indistinct.
The first Spaniards who gave them names, were more skilful in the art of war than in the study
of nature. Instead of retaining the terms which the Mexicans used, which would have been the most
proper, they denominated many animals, tygers, wolves, bears, dogs, squirrels, &c. although they
were very different in kind, merely from some resemblance in the colour of their skin, or figure,
or some similarity in their habits and disposition. I do not pretend to correct their errors, and
still less to illustrate the natural history
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
49
of that vast kingdom; but only to give my reader some slight idea of the quadrupeds, birds,
reptiles, fishes, and infers, which inhabit the land and waters of Anahuac.
Of the quadrupeds some are ancient, some modern. We call those modern which were transported
from the Canaries and Europe into that country in the sixteenth century. Such are horses, asses,
bulls, sheep, goats, hogs, dogs, and cats, which have all successfully multiplied. In our fourth
dissertation we shall evince this truth in confutation of some philosophers of the age, who have
endeavoured to persuade us that all quadrupeds degenerate in the new world.
Of the ancient quadrupeds, by which we mean those that have from time immemorial been in that
country, some were common to both the continents of Europe and America, some peculiar to the
new world, in common however to Mexico and other countries of North or South America, others
were natives only of the kingdom of Mexico.
The ancient quadrupeds common to Mexico and the old continent are, lions, tygers, wild cats,
bears, wolves, foxes, the common stags, and white stags, (d) bucks, wild goats, badgers, polecats,
weazles, martens, squirrels, Polatucas, rabbits, hares, otters, and rats. I am well aware that
Mr. Buffon will not allow a native lion,
__________
(d) The white stag, whether it is of the same or a different species from the other stag, is
unquestionably common to both continents. It was known to the Greeks and Romans. The Mexicans
called it king of the Stags. Mr. Buffon is desirous of persuading us that the white colour of
stags is the effect of their being in captivity; but as in the mountains of New Spain, the white
stag is found, which was never made captive by man, such an idea can no longer be entertained.
50
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
tyger, or rabbit, to America: but as in our dissertations we have combated this opinion, which
rests chiefly on the slight foundation of the imagined impossibility of animals, which are
peculiar to warm countries of the old world, finding a passage to the new continent; it is not
necessary here to interrupt the course of our history with confuting it.
The Miztli of the Mexicans, is certainly no other than the lion without hair mentioned by Pliny, (e)
and totally distinct from the African lion; and the Ocelotl is no way different from the African
tyger, according to the testimony of Hernandez, who knew both the latter and the former. The
Tochtli of Mexico is exactly the rabbit of the old continent, and at least, as ancient as the
Mexican calendar, in which the figure of the rabbit was the first symbolical character of their
years. The wild cats, in size much larger than the domestic cats, are fierce and dangerous. The
bears are all black, and more corpulent than those which are brought from the Alps into Italy.
The hares are distinguished from those of Europe by their longer ears, and the wolves by a grosser
head. Both species are plentiful in that country. According to M. Buffon, we give the name Polatuca
to the Quimickpatlan, or flying rat of the Mexicans. We call it rat, because it resembles it in
the head, though it is much larger; and flying, because in its natural state the skin of its sides
is loose and wrinkled, which it distends and expands together with its feet like wings when it
makes any considerable leap from tree to tree. The vulgar Spaniard confounds this quadruped with
the common squirrel from their likeness, but they are undoubtedly different
__________
(e) Pliny, in lib. viii. cap. 16. distinguishes the two species of lion, with and without hair,
and ascertains the number of each species which Pompey presented at the Roman spectacles.
[following 50]
[image: animals]
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
51
Mice were brought to Mexico in European ships; the rat was not so, but always known in Mexico
by the name of Quimichin, which term they used metaphorically to their spies.
The quadrupeds which are common to Mexico and other regions of the new world, are the Cojametl,
Epatl, several species of apes, comprehended by the Spaniards under the generic name of Monos,
the Ajotochtli, Aztacojotl, Tlacuatzin, Techichi, Telalmototli, Techallotl, Amiztli, Mapach,
and the Danta. (f)
The Cojametl, to which, from its resemblance to the wild boar, the Spaniards gave the name of
Javali, or wild hog, is called in other countries of America Pecar, Saino, and Tayassu.
The gland it has in the cavity of its back from which a plentiful wheyish stinking liquid distils,
led the first historians of the country, and since them many others into the mistaken belief
that it produced hogs with their navels on their backs; and many still credit the absurdity,
although upwards of two centuries are elapsed since anatomists have evinced the error by direction
of the animal. Such is the difficulty of rooting out popular prejudices! The flesh of the Cojametl
is agreeable to eat, provided it is quickly killed, the gland cut out, and all the stinking liquid
cleaned from it; otherwise the whole meat becomes infected.
__________
(f) Many authors include the Paco, or Peruvian ram, the Huanaco, the Vicogna, taruga, and the
sloth, amongst the animals of Mexico; but all these quadrupeds are peculiar to South and none
of them to North America. It is true, Hernandez makes mention of the Pato amongst the quadrupeds
of New Spain, gives a drawing of it, and makes use of the Mexican name Pelonichcatl; but it was
on account of a few individuals which were brought there from Peru, which the Mexicans called
by that name; in the same manner as he describes several animals of the Philippine isles, not
that therefore they had ever been bred in Mexico, or found in any country of North America,
unless it was some individual carried there as a curiosity as they are carried into Europe.
52
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
The Epatl, by the Spaniards called Zorrillo, small fox, is less known in Europe by the beauty
of its skin than the intolerable stink it leaves behind when huntsmen are in close pursuit of
it. (g)
The Tlacuatzin, which in other countries bears the names of Chincha, Sarigua, and Opossum,
has been described by many writers, and is much celebrated on account of the double skin to the
belly in the female, which reaches from the beginning of the stomach to the orifice of the
womb, covering its teats, has an opening in the middle to admit its young, where they are guarded
and suckled. In creeping, or climbing over the walls of houses, it keeps the skin distended, with
the entrance shut, so that its young cannot drop out; but when it wishes to send them abroad to
begin to provide food for themselves, or to let them re-enter either to be suckled or secured
from danger, it opens the entrance by relaxing the skin, disguising her burden while she carries
them, and her delivery every time she lets them out. This curious quadruped is the destroyer of
all poultry.
The Ajotochtli, called by the Spaniards Armadillo, or Encobertado, and by others
Iatu, is well known to Europeans by the bony scales which cover its back, resembling the ancient armour
of horses. The Mexicans gave it the name of Ajotochtli, from an imperfect likeness it has to the
rabbit, when it puts out its head and
__________
(g) Mr. Buffon enumerates four species of the Epatl under the generic name of Mouffetes. He
observes afterwards, that the two first which he names Coaso and Conipata, are from North
America, and the Chincho and Zorrillo, which are, the two others, are from South America. We find no
grounds to believe these, four different species, hot only four varieties of the same species. The name,
Coaso, or squass taken from Dampier the navigator, who affirms the term to be common in New Spain,
was never heard of in all that country. The Indians of Yucatan, where that navigator was, call
that quadruped Pai.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
53
throws it back upon its neck, while it shrinks under its scales or shell. (h)
But it resembles no animal more than the turtle, although many parts of its form are totally
dissimilar. We might give it the name of the testaceous quadruped. When this animal happens to
be chaced on level ground, it has no means of escaping from the hands of its pursuers; but as
it chiefly inhabits the mountains, when it meets with any declivity it coils itself up in the form
of a globe, and by rolling itself down the descent fools the hunter.
The Techichi, which had elsewhere the name of Alco, was a quadruped of Mexico, and other countries
of America, which from its resemblance to a little dog was called by the Spaniards Perro, which
signifies dog. It was of a melancholy aspect and perfectly dumb, from whence the fabulous account
propagated by many authors still living arose, of dogs becoming mute when transported from the
old to the new world. The flesh of the Techichi was eaten by the Mexicans, and if we may credit
the Spaniards who eat it, was agreeable and nourishing food. After the conquest of Mexico, the
Spaniards having neither large cattle, nor sheep, provided their markets with this quadruped; by
which means the species was soon extinct, although it had been very numerous.
The Tlalmototli, or land-squirrel, called by Buffon Svizzero, is like the real squirrel in the
eyes, in the tail,
__________
(h) Ajotochtli is a void compounded of Ajotli, the back part of the head, and Tochtli, rabbit.
Buffon numbers eight species of them under the name of Fatous, estimating their difference from
the number of scales and moveable substances which cover them. I cannot exactly say how many
species there may be in Mexico, having but a few individuals; as I did not think at the time of
willing on this subject, I was not curious to count their scales, nor dof any body who ever
attended to such a strange kind of distinction.
54
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
in swiftness, and in all its movements; but very different in colour, in size, in its habitation,
and some of its qualities. The hair of its belly is quite white, and the rest of it is white
mixed with grey. Its size is double that of the squirrel, and it does not dwell in trees, but
in small holes which it digs in the earth, or amongst the stones of ramparts which enclose fields,
where it does considerable damage by the grain which it carries off. It bites most furiously
any one who approaches it, and cannot be tamed, but has great elegance of form, and is graceful
in its movement. This species is a very numerous one, particularly in the kingdom of Michuacan.
The Techallotl is no way different from the preceding animal, except in having a smaller and less
hairy tail.
The Amyztli, or sea-lion, is an amphibious quadruped which inhabits the shores of the Pacific
Ocean, and some rivers of that kingdom. Its body is three feet in length, its tail two. Its snout
is long, its legs short, the nails crooked. Its skin is valuable on account of the length and
softness of its hair. (i)
The Mapach of the Mexicans is, agreeable to the opinion of Buffon, the same quadruped which is
known in Jamaica by the name of Ratton, rattoon, or west-Indian fox. The Mexican one is of the
size of a badger, with a black head, a long sharp snout like a greyhound, small ears, round body,
hair mixed with black and white, a long and hairy tail, and five toes to every foot. It has a
white streak over each eye, and like the squirrel makes use of its paws to convey any thing to
its mouth which it is going to eat. It seeds indifferently on grain, fruits,
__________
(i) We reckon the Amiztli among the quadrupeds which are common to other countries of America,
as it appears to be the same animal which Buffo describes under the name of Saricovienne.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
55
insects, lizards, and pullet's blood. It is easily tamed, and entertaining with its play, but
perfidious like the squirrel, and apt to bite its master.
The Danta, or Anta, or Beori, or Tapir, as it is differently named in different
countries, is the largest quadruped of the kingdom of Mexico, (k) and approaches most to the sea-horse,
not however in size, but in some of its shapes and qualities. The danta is about the size of a middling mule.
Its body is a little arched like that of a hog, its head gross and long with an appendage to the
skin of the upper lip, which it extends or contracts at pleasure; its eyes are small, its ears
little and round, its legs short, its fore feet have four nails, the hind feet three, its tail
short and pyramidical, its skin pretty thick, and covered with thick hair, which at an advanced
age is brown; its set of teeth, which are composed of twenty maxillary, and as many incisors, is
so strong and sharp, and it makes such terrible bites with them that it has been seen, according
to the testimony of Oviedo the historian, and an eye-witness, to tear off at one bite two or
three handbreadths of skin from a hound, and at another a whole leg and thigh. Its flesh is
eatable, (l) and its skin valuable, from its being so stout as to resist not only arrows, but
even musket-balls. This quadruped inhabits the solitary woods of warm countries near to some
river or lake, as it lives not less in the water than on the land.
__________
(k) The Danta is much less than the Tlacaxolotl described by Hernandez; but we do not know of
this great quadruped ever having been in the kingdom of Mexico. The same may be said of the stags
of New Mexico, and of the Cibolle, or Bisonte, which are also larger than the Danta. See our
IVth Dissertation.
(l) Oviedo says, that the legs of the Danta are pretty good and relishing food, provided they
remain twenty-four hours continually at the fire.
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
All the species of monkies in that kingdom, are known by the Mexicans under the general name
of Ozomatli, and by the Spaniards under that of Monos. They are of different sizes and figure,
some small and uncommonly diverting; some middling, of the size of a badger; and others large,
stout, fierce, and bearded, which are called by some Zambos. These when they stand upright,
which they do upon two legs, often equal the stature of a man. Amongst the middling kind there
are those which from having a dog's head, belong to the class of the cynocephali, although they
are all furnished with a tail. (m)
With respect to the ant-killers, that is, those quadrupeds which are so singular for the enormous
length of their snout, the narrowness of their throat, and immoderate tongue, with which they
draw the ants out of their ant-hills, and from whence they have got their name; I have never seen
any in that kingdom, nor do I know that there are any there; but I believe it is no other than
the aztacojotl, that is, cojote, ant-killer, mentioned, but not described by Hernandez. (n)
The quadrupeds which peculiarly belong to the land of Anahuac, whose species I do not know to
have been
__________
(m) The Cynocephalos of the ancient continent has no tail as every one knows. There having
been monkies found in the New World, which have the head of a dog, and are furnished with tails,
Brisson, in his class of ape», justly applies to them of this class the name of Cinocephali
Cereopitechi, and divides them into two species. Bufson, amongst the many species of monkies
which he describes, omits this one.
(n) We call those quadrupeds, ant-killers, which the Spaniards term Hormigueros, and the French
Fourmillier; but the bear, ant-killers, described by Oviedo, are certainly different from the
Fourmilliers of Buffon; for although they agree in the eating of ants, and in their enormous
tongue and snout, they are nevertheless remarkably distinguished from each other as to tail,
for those of Buffon have an immense tail, but Oviedo's none at all. The description which Oviedo
gives of their way of hunting the ants is most singular and curious.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
57
found in South America, or in other countries of North America, exempt from the dominion of Spain,
are the Cojotl, the Tlalcojotl, Xoloitzcuintli, Tepeitzcuintli, Itzcuintepotzotli, Ocotochtli,
Cojopollin, Tuza, Ahuitzotl, Huitztlacuatzin, and perhaps others which we have not known.
The Cojotl, or Coyoto, as the Spaniards call it, is a wild beast voracious like the wolf, cunning like
the fox, in form like a dog, and in some qualities like the Adive and the Chacal: from whence
several historians have at one time judged it of one species, at another time of another species;
but it is unquestionably different from all those, as we shall demonstrate in our Dissertations.
It is less than the wolf, and about the size of a mastiff, but slenderer. It has yellow sparkling
eyes, small ears pointed and erect, a blackish snout, strong limbs, and its feet armed with large
crooked nails. Its tail thick and hairy, and its skin a mixture of black, brown, and white. Its
voice hath both the howl of the wolf and the bark of the dog. The Coyoto is one of the most
common quadrupeds of Mexico, (o) and the most destructive to the flocks. It invades a sheepfold,
and when it cannot find a lamb to carry off, it seizes a sheep by the neck with its teeth, and
coupling with it, and beating it on the rump with its tail, conducts it where it pleases. It pursues
the deer, and sometimes attacks even men. In flight it does nothing in general but trot; but its
trot is so lively and swift, that a horse at the gallop can hardly overtake it. The Cuetlachcojotl
appears to us to be a quadruped of the same species with the Coyoto, as it differs in nothing
__________
(o) Neither Buffon nor Bomare make mention of the Coyoto, although the species is one of the most
common and most numerous of Mexico, and amply described by Hernandez, whose Natural history
they frequently quote.
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
from it but being thicker in the neck, and having hair like the wolf.
The Tlalcojotl, or Tlalcoyoto, is of the size of a middling dog, but grosser in make, and, in our
opinion, the largest quadruped of those which live under the earth. In the head it is something
like the cat, and in colour and length of hair like the lion. It has a long thick tail, and feeds
on poultry, and other little animals, which it hunts after in the obscurity of the night.
The Itzcuintepotzotli, and Tepuitzcuintli, and Xoloitzcuintli, are three species of
quadrupeds similar to dogs. The Itzcuintapolzotli, or hunch-backed dog, is as large as a Maltesan dog,
the skin of which is varied with white, tawny, and black. Its head is small in proportion to its
body, and appears to be joined directly to it on account of the shortness and greatness of its
neck; its eyes are pleasing, its ears loose, its nose has a considerable prominence in the middle,
and its tail so small, that it hardly reaches halfway down its leg; but the characteristic of it is
a great hunch which it bears from its neck to its rump. The place where this quadruped most abounds
is the kingdom of Michuacan, where it is called Ahora, The Tepeitzcuintli, that is, the
mountain-dog, is a wild beast so small, that it appears a little dog, but it is so daring that
it attacks deer, and sometimes kills them. Its hair and tail are long, its body black, but its
head, neck, and breast are white. (p) The Xoloitzcuintli, is larger than the two preceding; there
being some of them, whose bodies are even four feet long. Its face is like a dog, but its tusks
like the wolf, its ears erect, its neck
__________
(p) Buffon believes the Tepeitzcuintli to be the glutton; but we contradict this opinion in
our Dissertations.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
59
gross, and tail long. The greatest singularity about this animal is its being totally destitute
of hair, except upon its snout, where it has some thick crooked bristles. Its whole body is
covered with a smooth, soft, ash-coloured skin, but spotted in part with black and tawny. These
three species are almost totally extinct, or at least very few of them remain. (q)
The Ocotochtli appears agreeable to the description given of it by Hernandez, to belong to the
class of wild cats; but the author adds some circumstances to it which have much the air of a
fable; not that he has been desirous of deceiving, but that he has trusted too much to the
informations of others. (r)
The Cojopollin is a quadruped of the size of a common mouse; but the tail is grosser which it
uses as a hand. Its snout and ears are similar to those of a pig: its ears are transparent,
its legs and feet are white, and its belly is of a whitish yellow. It lives and brings up its
young in trees. When its young fear any thing, they cling closely to their mother.
The Tozan, or Tuza, is a quadruped of the bigness of an European mole, but very different
otherwise. Its
__________
(q) Giovanni Fabri, a Lincean academician, published at Rome a long and learned dissertation, in
which he endeavoured to prove, that the Xoloitzcuintli is the same with the wolf of Mexico;
having without doubt been deceived by tha original drawing of the Xoloitzcuintli which was sent
to Rome with other pictures of Hernandez; but if he had read the description which this eminent
naturalist gives of that animal in the book of the Quadrupeds of New Spain, he would have
spared himself the labour of writing that dissertation and the expenses of publishing it.
(r) Dr. Hernandez says, that when the Ocotochtli makes any prey it covers it with leaves, and
mounting after on some neighbouring tree, it begins howling to invite other animals to eat its
prey; and itself is always the last to eat; because the poison of its tongue is so strong, that
if it eat first the prey would be infected, and other animals who eat of it would die. This fable
is still in the mouths of the vulgar.
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
body which is well made is seven or eight inches long. Its snout is like that of a mouse, its
ears small and round, and tail short. Its mouth is armed with very strong teeth, and its paws
are furnished with strong crooked nails, with which it digs into the earth and makes little holes,
where it inhabits. The Tuza is most destructive to the fields by ftcaling the corn, and to the
highways by the number of holes and hollows which it makes in them; for when it cannot, on account
of its little sight, find its first hole, it makes another, multiplying by such means the
inconveniences and dangers to those who travel on horseback. It digs the earth with its claws,
and with two dogs-teeth which it has in the upper jaw, larger than its others; in digging it puts
the earth into two membranes like purses which are under its ear, which are furnished with muscles
necessary for contraction or distention. When the membranes are full, it empties them by striking
the bottom of the membranes with its paws, and then goes on to dig again in the same manner,
using its dogs-teeth and claws as a mattock, and its two membranes as a little sack or basket.
The species of the Tuza is very numerous; but we do not recollect to have ever seen them in the
places where the land-squirrels inhabit.
The Ahuitzotl is an amphibious quadruped, which for the most part dwells in the rivers of warm
countries. Its body is a foot long, its snout long and sharp, and its tail large. Its skin is of a
mixed black and brown colour.
The Huitztlacuatzin is the hedge-hog or porcupine of Mexico. It is as large as a middling dog,
which it resembles in the face, although its muzzle is flat; its feet and legs are rather gross,
and its rail in proportion with its body. The whole of its body, except the belly, the hinder
part of the tail, and inside of the legs, is armed with
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
61
quills or spines, which are empty, sharp, and a span long. On its snout and forehead it has long
straight bristles, which rise upon its head like a plume. All its skin, even between the spines
is covered with a soft black hair. It seeds only on the fruits of the earth. (s)
The Cacomiztle is a quadruped, exceedingly like the marten in its way of life. It is of the size
and form of a common cat; but its body is larger, its hair longer, its legs shorter, and its aspect
more wild and fierce. Its voice is a sharp cry, and its food is poultry and other little animals.
It inhabits, and brings up its young in places less frequented than houses. By day it sees little,
and does not come out of its hiding-place but at night, to search for food. The Tlacuatzin, as
well as the Cacomiztle, are to be seen in some of the houses of the capital. (t)
Besides these quadrupeds, there were others in the Mexican empire, which I know not whether to
consider as peculiar to that country, or as common to other parts of America; such as the
Itzcuincuani, or dog-eater; the Tlalocelotl or little lion; and the Tlalmiztli or little
tiger. Of those, which although not belonging to the kingdom of Mexico are to be found in other parts
of North America subject to the Spaniards, we shall take notice in our Dissertations.
We would find the birds a more difficult task than the quadrupeds, if we would attempt to give
an enumeration of their different species, with a description of their
__________
(s) Buffon would make the Huitztlacuatzin the Coendu of Guiana, but the Coendu is carnivorous,
whereas the Huitztlacuatzin feeds on fruits.
(t) I do not know the true Mexican name of the Cacomiztle, and have therefore used the name which
the Spaniards in that kingdom, gave it. Hernandez does not mention this quadruped. It is true
he describes one, under the name of Cacamiztli, but this is evidently an error of the press.
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
forms and manners. Their prodigious numbers, their variety, and many valuable qualities, have
occasioned some authors to observe that, as Africa is the country of beasts, so Mexico is the
country of birds. Hernandez, in his Natural history, describes above two hundred species peculiar
to that kingdom, and yet passes over many that deserve notice, such as the Cuitlacochi, the
Zacua, and the Madrugador. We shall content ourselves with running over some classes of them,
and point out any peculiarities, here and there, as they occur. Among the birds of prey there
are kestrels, gosshawks, and several species of eagles, falcons, and sparrow-hawks. The naturalist
already mentioned, allows the birds of this class a superiority over those of Europe; and the
excellence of the Mexican falcons was so remarkable, that by the desire of Philip the Second,
a hundred were every year sent to Spain. The largest, the most beautiful, and the most valuable
among the eagles is that named by the Mexicans, Itzquauhtli, which not only pursues the larger
birds and hares, but will even attack men and beasts. There are two kinds of kestrel; the one
called Cenotzqui is particularly beautiful.
The Ravens of Mexico, called by the Mexicans Cacalotl, do not, as in other countries, clear the
fields of carrion, but are only employed in stealing the ears of corn. The business of clearing
the fields there, is reserved principally for the Zopilots, known in South America by the name
of Gallinazzi; in other places, by that of Aure; and in some places, though very improperly, by
that of ravens. (u) There are two very different species of these
__________
(u) Hernandez has, without any hesitation, made the Zopilote a species of raven; but they are,
certainly, very different birds, not only in their size, but in the shape of the head; in their
flight, and in their voice, Bomare says, that
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
63
birds; the one, the Zopilote properly so called, the other called the Cozcaquauhtli: they are both
bigger than the raven. These two species resemble each other in their hooked bill and crooked
claws, and by having upon their head instead of feathers, a wrinkled membrane with some curling
hairs. They fly so high, that although they are pretty large, they are lost to the sight; and
especially before a hail storm they will be seen wheeling, in vast numbers, under the loftiest
clouds, till they entirely disappear. They feed upon carrion, which they discover by the
acuteness of their sight and smell, from the greatest height, and descend upon it with a
majestic flight, in a great spiral course. They are both almost mute. The two species are
distinguishable, however, by their size, their colour, their numbers, and some other peculiarities.
The Zopilots, properly so called, have black feathers, with a brown head, bill and feet; they go
often in flocks, and roost together upon trees. (x) This species is very numerous, and is to be
found in all the different climates; while on the contrary, the Cozcaquauhtli is far from numerous,
and is peculiar to the warmer climates alone. The latter bird is larger than the Zopilot, has a
red head and feet with a beak of a deep red colour, except towards its extremity which is white.
Its feathers are brown except upon the neck and parts about the breast, which are of a reddish
black. The wings are of an ash
__________
the Aura is the Cosquauth of New Spain, and the Tropiot of the Indians; so that the
Cozcaquauhtli, as well as the Tzopilotl, are Mexican names used by the Indians, to denote not
one bird only, but two different kinds. Some give the one species the name of Aura, and the other that
of Zopilote, or Gallinazzo.
(x) The Zopilots contradict the general rule, laid down by Pliny, lib. ii. cap. 39. Uncos ungues
hebentia omnino non congregantur, & sibi quaeque praedantur. The rule can only apply strictly to
real birds of prey, such as eagles, vultures, falcons, sparrow-hawks, &c.
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
colour upon the inside, and upon the outside are variegated with black and tawny.
The Cozcaquauhtli is called by the Mexicans, king of the Zopilots; (y) and they say, that when
these two species happen to meet together about the same carrion, the Zopilot never begins to
eat till the Cozcaquauhtli has tasted it. The Zopilot is a most useful bird to that country,
for they not only clear the fields, but attend the crocodiles and destroy the eggs which the
females of those dreadful amphibious animals leave in the sand to be hatched by the heat of the
sun. The destruction of such a bird ought to be prohibited under severe penalties.
Among the night birds, are several kinds of owls, to which we may add the bats, although they do
not properly belong to the class of birds. There are great numbers of bats in the warm and woody
countries; some of them will draw blood, with dreadful bites, from horses and other animals. In
some of the very hot countries bats are sound of a prodigious size, but not so large as those of
the Philippine isles, and other parts of the east.
Under the title of aquatic birds I shall comprehend, not only the Palmipedes which swim and live
generally in
__________
(y) The bird which now goes by the name of King of the Zopilots in New Spain, seems different
from the one we are now describing. This modern king of the Zopilots is a strong bird, of the
size of a common eagle; with a stately air; strong claws; fine, piercing eyes; and a beautiful
black, white, and tawny plumage. It is remarkable, particularly, for a certain scarlet-coloured,
fleshy substance, which surrounds its neck like a collar, and comes over its head in the form of
a little crown. I have had this description of it from a person of knowledge and veracity, who
assures me that he has seen three different individuals of this species, and particularly that
one which was sent from Mexico, in 1750, to the catholic king, Ferdinand VI. He farther informs
me, that there was a genuine drawing of this bird, published in a work called, the American
Gazetteer. The Mexican name Cozcaquauhtli, which means Ring Eagle, is certainly more applicable
to this bird than to the other. The figure exhibited in our plate, is copied from that of the
American Gazetteer.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
65
the water, but the Himantopodes also; with other fishing birds which live chiefly upon the
sea shore, upon the sides of lakes and rivers, and seek their food in the water. Of birds of
this kind there is a prodigious number of geese, at least twenty species of ducks, several kinds
of herons and egrets, with vast numbers of swans, gulls, water-rails, divers, king's fishers,
pelicans, and others. The multitude of ducks is sometimes so great as quite to cover the fields,
and to appear, at a distance, like flocks of sheep. Among the herons and egrets, some are
ash-coloured, some perfectly white; and others of which the plumage of the body is white, while
the neck, with the tips and upper part of the wings, and a part of the tail, are enlivened with
a bright scarlet, or a beautiful blue. The Pelican, or Onocrotalus, known to the Spaniards of
Mexico by the name of Alcatraz, is sufficiently known by that great pouch or venter, as Pliny
calls it, which is under its bill. There are two species of this bird in Mexico; the one having
a smooth bill, the other a notched one. Although the Europeans are acquainted with this bird,
I do not know whether they are equally well acquainted with the singular circumstance of its
assisting the sick or hurt of its own species; a circumstance which the Americans sometimes take
advantage of, to procure fish without trouble. They take a live pelican, break its wing, and
after tying it to a tree, conceal themselves in the neighbourhood; there they watch the coming
of the other pelicans with their provisions, and as soon as they see these throw up the fish
from their pouch, run in, and after leaving a little for the captive bird, they carry off the
rest.
But if the Pelican is admirable for its attention to the others of its species, the Yoalquachilli,
is no less
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
wonderful on account of the arms with which the Creator has provided it for its defence. This is
a small aquatic bird; with a long, narrow neck, a small head; a long, yellow bill, long legs,
feet and claws, and a short tail. The legs and feet are ash-coloured; the body is black, with
some yellow feathers about the belly. Upon its head is a little circle or coronet, of a horny
substance, which is divided into three very sharp points; and it has two others upon the forepart
of the wings. (z)
In the other classes of birds some are valuable upon account of their flesh, some for their plumage,
and some for their song; while others engage our attention by their extraordinary instinct, or
some other remarkable quality.
Of the birds which afford a wholesome and agreeable food, I have counted more than seventy species.
Besides the common fowls, which were brought from the Canary Isles to the Antilles, and from these
to Mexico, there were, and still are fowls peculiar to that country; which as they partly resemble
the common fowl, and partly the peacock, were called Gallipavos * by the Spaniards, and
Huexolotl and Totolin by the Mexicans. These birds being carried to Europe in return for
the common fowls, have multiplied very fact; and especially in Italy, where, on account of their manners
and their size, they gave them the name of Gallinacci; (a) but the European fowl has increased
greatly more in
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(z) In Brasil also there is an aquatic bird with weapons of this kind; but which, in other
respects, is a very different bird.
(a} In Bologna, they are called Tocchi and Tocchini, and in other places,
Galli d' Inde. The French call them Dindes, Dindons and Coqs d' Inde.
* In English the Turkey.
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67
Mexico. There are likewise wild fowls in great plenty, exactly like the same, but larger, and in
many places of a much sweeter flesh. There are partridges, quails, pheasants, cranes, turtle-doves,
pigeons, and a great variety of others, that are esteemed in Europe. The reader will form some
idea of the immense number of quails when we shall come to speak of the ancient sacrifices. The
pheasants are different from the pheasants of Europe, and are of three kinds. (b) The Coxolitli
and Tepetototl, which are both the size of a goose, with a crest upon their heads, which they can
raise and depress at pleasure, are distinguishable by their colour, and some particular qualities.
The Coxolitli, called by the Spaniards, Royal pheasant, has a tawny-coloured plumage; and its
flesh is more delicate than that of the other. The Tepetototl will sometimes be so tame as to
pick from its master's hand; to run to meet him, with signs of joy, when he comes home; to learn
to shut the door with its bill; and in every thing show greater docility than could be expected
in a bird which is properly an inhabitant of the woods. I have seen one of these pheasants which,
after being some time in a poultry yard, had learnt to sight in the manner of cocks, and would
fight with them, erecting the feathers of his crest, as the cocks do those of the neck. Its
feathers are of a shining black, and its legs and feet ash-coloured. The pheasants of the third
species, called by the Spaniards, Gritones, that is, screamers, are smaller than the other two;
with a brown body, and a black tail and wings. The Chachalaca, the flesh of
__________
(b) Bomare reckons the Huatzin among the pheasants; but for what reason, I do not know, as the
Huatzin belongs with crows, zopilots and others, to the second class; the birds of prey.
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
which is very good eating, is about the size of the common fowl. The upper part of the body is
of a brown colour, the under part whitish, and the bill and feet bluish. It is inconceivable
what a noise these birds make in the woods, with their cries; which, although they somewhat
resemble the cackling of fowls, are much louder, more constant, and more disagreeable. There
are several species of turtle-doves, and pigeons, some common to Europe, others peculiar to
those countries.
The birds valuable for their plumage are so many and so beautiful, that we should afford a
greater pleasure to our readers, if we could bring them before their eyes, with all the colours
which adorn them. I have reckoned five and thirty species of Mexican birds, that are superlatively
beautiful; of some of which I must take particular notice.
The Huitzitzilin is that wonderful little bird so often celebrated by the historians of America,
for its smallness, its activity, the singular beauty of its plumage, the thinness of its food,
and the length of its sleep in the winter. That sleep, or rather state of immobility, occasioned
by the numbness or torpor of its limbs, has been often required to be proved in legal form, in
order to convince some incredulous Europeans; an incredulity arising from ignorance alone, as the
same kind of torpor takes place in many parts of Europe, in dormice, hedge-hogs, swallows, bats,
and other animals whose blood is of the same temperature; although perhaps it does not continue
so long in any of them as in the Huitzitzilin, which in some countries remains without
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
69
motion from October to April. There are nine species of Huitzitzilin, differing in size and
colour. (c)
The Tlauhquechol is an aquatic bird of some size, with feathers of a beautiful scarlet colour,
or a reddish-white, except those of the neck, which are black. It lives upon the sea-shores,
and by the sides of rivers; and lives only upon live fish, never touching any thing that is dead.
The Nepapantototl, is a wild duck which frequents the lake of Mexico, and seems to have all the
colours together assembled in its plumage.
The Tlacuiloltototl, or painted bird, justly deserves its name; for its beautiful feathers are
variegated with red, blue, purple, green, and black. Its eyes are black, with a yellow iris; and
the feet ash-coloured.
The Tzinizcan, is of the size of a pigeon, with a small, crooked, yellow bill. The head and neck
are like those of a pigeon, but adorned with shining green feathers; the breast and belly are
white except near the tail, which is variegated with white and blue; the tail is green upon the
upper fide, and black underneath; the wings are partly black, and partly white; and the eyes are
black, with reddish yellow irises. This bird lives upon the sea-coasts.
The Mezcanauhtli, is a wild duck, about as large as a domestic fowl, but of singular beauty. Its
bill is pretty long and broad, azure above, and black upon the under side; the feathers of the
body are white,
__________
(c) The Spaniards of Mexico call this bird Chupamirto, because it sucks chiefly the flowers of
a plant known there, though very improperly, by the name of a Myrtle. In other parts of America,
it is called Chupaflor, Picaflor, Teminejo, Colibre, &c. Among the numerous authors who describe
this precious little bird, no one gives a better idea of the beauty of its plumage than Acosta.
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
and marked with numerous black spots. The wings are white and brown on the under-side, and upon
the upper-side variegated with black, white, blue, green, and tawny-colour. Its feet are of a
yellowish red; its head brown and tawny-coloured, and partly purple, with a beautiful white spot
betwixt the eyes and bill: the eyes are black; and the tail is blue above, brown below, and white
at its extremity.
The Tlauhtototl is extremely like the Tlacuiloltotl in its colours, but is smaller. The Huacamaye
and the Cardinals, so much prized by the Europeans, upon account of their fine colours, are very
common in this country.
All these beautiful birds and others peculiar to Mexico, besides some which have been brought
thither from the countries adjacent, are of great value to the Mexicans, in their singular works
of Mosaic, which we shall mention in another place. Peacocks have been carried there from the old
continent, but they have not been attended to; and have, therefore, propagated very slowly.
Many authors, who allow to the birds of Mexico a superiority in the beauty of their plumage,
have denied them that of song: but we can with perfect confidence affirm, that that opinion has
not been formed upon real observation, but has proceeded from ignorance, as it is more difficult
for Europeans to hear the Mexican birds than to see them.
There are in Mexico, as well as in Europe, gold-finches and nightingales, and at least two-and-twenty
species besides, of singing birds, which are little or nothing inferior to these; but all that we
are acquainted with are surpassed by the very famous Centzontli, so named by
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
71
the Mexicans to express the wonderful variety of its notes. (d) It is impossible to give any idea
of the sweetness and mellowness of its song, of the harmony and variety of its tones, or of
the facility with which it learns to imitate whatever it hears. It counterfeits naturally, not
only the notes of other birds, but even the different noises of quadrupeds. It is of the size
of a common thrush. Its body is white upon the under-side, and grey above; with some white
feathers, especially about the head and tail. It eats any thing, but delights chiefly in flies,
which it will pick from one's singer with signs of pleasure. The Centzontli is to be found every
where in great numbers; yet they are so much esteemed, that I have seen five-and-twenty crowns
paid for one. Attempts have often been made to bring it to Europe, but I do not know if they ever
succeeded: and I am persuaded that, although it could be brought to Europe alive, yet it could
not be, without injuring its voice and other qualifications, by a change of climate and the
hardships of a voyage.
The birds called Cardinals, are not less delightful to the ear, from the sweetness of their song,
than to the sight, by the beauty of their scarlet plumage, and crest. The Mexican Calandra sings
very sweetly also, and its song resembles that of the nightingale. Its feathers are varied with
white, yellow, and grey. It weaves its nest in a wonderful manner, with hairs pasted together with
some kind of viscid substance, and suspending like a little bag, from the bough of a tree. The
Tigrillo, or little
__________
(d) Centzontlatotle, (for that is the real name, and Centzontli but an abbreviation) means the
many-voiced. The Mexicans use the word Centzontli (four hundred) as the Latins did mille &
sexcenti, to express an indefinite and innumerable multitude. The Greek name of Polyglotta,
which some modern Ornithologists apply to it, corresponds to the Mexican name. See further what
we say of Centzontli in our Dissertations.
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
Tiger, which is likewise of some value upon account of its music, is so named from its feathers
being spotted like the skin of a tiger. The Cuitlaccochi resembles the Centzontli, in the
excellence of its song, as well as in size and colour, as the Coztototl exactly does the Canary
bird, brought thither from the Canaries. The Mexican Sparrows, called Gorriones by the Spaniards,
are nothing like the real sparrows, except in their size, their manner of hopping, and in making
their nests in the holes of walls. Their body is white upon the under-side, and grey upon the
upper; but at a certain age, the heads of some become red, and others yellow. (e) Their flight
is laborious, from the smallness of their wings, or the weakness of their feathers. Their song
is most delightful and various. There are great numbers of these singing birds in the capital,
and the other cities and villages of Mexico.
The talking birds too, or those which imitate the
human voice, are to be found in equal abundance, in the country of Anahuac. Even among the singing
birds there are some which learn a few words; such as the celebrated Centzontli, and the Acolchichi,
or bird with the red back, which from that mark the Spaniards have called the Commendador. The
Cehuan, which is bigger than a common thrush, counterfeits the human voice, but in a tone that
appears burlesqued; and will follow travellers a great way. The Tzanahuei resembles the magpie
in size, but is of a different colour. It learns to speak, steals cunningly whatever it can get,
and in every respect shows a kind of instinct superior to what we generally observe in other birds.
But of all the speaking birds, the parrots hold the first place; of which they reckon,
__________
(e) I have heard it said, that the Gorriones with red heads are the males; and those with yellow
heads, the females.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
73
in Mexico, four principal species, namely, the Huacamaya, the Toznenetl, the Cochotl, and the
Quiltototl. (f)
The Huacamaya, the largest of all the parrots, is more valuable for its beautiful feathers than
for its speaking. It articulates words indistinctly, and its voice is harsh and disagreeable.
The Toznenetl, which is the best of them all, is about the size of a pigeon; its feathers are of
a green colour, except upon the head, and fore-part of the wings, which in some of them are red,
and in others yellow. It learns any words or tune, and imitates them faithfully. It naturally
imitates the laugh of a man, or other ridiculous sound, the cries of children, and the various
noises of different animals. There are three species of the Cochotl differing from each other in
size and plumage, which in them all is beautiful; and the prevailing colour is green. The largest
of the Cochotls is nearly as large as the Toznenetl: the two other species, called by the Spaniards,
Caterine, are smaller. They all learn to talk, though not so perfectly as the Toznenetl. The
Quiltototl, is the smallest kind of parrot, and the least valuable for speaking. These small
parrots whose plumage is of the most beautiful green, fly always in large flocks, sometimes making
a great noise in the air; and at other times committing havoc among the grain. When perched upon
the trees they can hardly be distinguished, by their colour from the leaves. All the other parrots
go generally in pairs, a male and female.
__________
(f) The Toznenetl and Cochotl, are called by the Mexican Spaniards, Pericos and Loros. The word
Huacamaya is from the Haitinian language which was spoken in Hispaniola. Lore, is from the
Quichoan or Incan, and Toznenetl, Cochotl, and Quiltototl from the Mexican.
74
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
The Madrugadores, (g) which we shall call the Awakeners, or Twilight birds, and which are called
by the Mexicans Tzacua, although they are not so remarkable for beauty or song, deserve particular
notice for some other qualities. These birds are the last among the day-birds to go to roost at
night, and the first to leave it in the morning, and to announce the return of the sun. They
never cease to sing and frolic, till an hour after sunset; begin again long before the dawn,
and never seem so happy as during the morning and evening twilight. About an hour before the break
of day, one of them begins from the bough of a tree where he has passed the night along with many
others of his species, to call them, with a shrill, clear note, which he continually repeats with
a tone of gladness, till some of his companions hear and answer him. When they are all awake,
they make a very cheerful noise, which may be heard at a great distance. In the journies I have
made through the kingdom of Michuacan, where they abound, they were of some use to me, as they
always roused me in time, to allow me to set out by the break of day. These birds are about as
large as sparrows.
The Tzacua, a bird which resembles the above mentioned Calandra in size, in colour, and in the
form of its nest is still more surprising. These birds live in society; and every tree is to them
a village, composed of a great number of nests, all hanging from the boughs. One of them which
does the office of the head or the guard of the village; resides in the middle of the tree; from
which it
__________
(g) Madrugardor, in Spanish means early riser: but as there is no word in Italian that answers
to it, the Author has employed that of Destatore or Awakener. He seems to think, however, that
the name of Uccello crepuscolare or Twilight bird, would be more applicable.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
75
flies about from one nest to another, visiting them all, and after singing a little while,
returns to its place; while the rest remain perfectly silent. If any bird of a different species
approaches the tree, he flies to it, and endeavours, with his bill and wings, to drive it off;
but if a man, or any other large animal comes near, he flies screaming to another tree, and if
at that time any Tzacuas belonging to the same village happen to be returning from the fields,
he meets them, and changing his note, obliges them to retire again: as soon as he perceives the
danger over, he returns happy to his wonted round of visiting the nests. These observations upon
the Tzacua, made by a man of penetration, learning, and veracity, (h) should make us expect to
find some things still more extraordinary in these birds, if the observations were repeated; but
we must now leave these pleasant objects, and turn our eyes upon some that are of the most
disagreeable kind.
The reptiles of Mexico may be reduced £o two orders or classes; namely, the four-footed, and the
apodes or those without feet. (i) In the first class are crocodiles, lizards, frogs, and toads:
in the second all kinds of serpents.
The Mexican crocodiles resemble the African in size, form, voracity, way of living, and in all
the other peculiarities of their character. They abound in many of the lakes and rivers in the
hot countries, and destroy men and other animals. It would be altogether superfluous
__________
(h) The Abbe D. Giuseppe Rafaelle Campoi.
(i) I am perfectly aware of the variety of opinions entertained by different authors, with
respect to the animals which ought to be classed among the reptiles: but as I do not undertake
to give an exact arrangement, but merely to present them in some order to the reader, I take
the term of Reptile, in the same sense in which it was commonly understood of old.
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
to give any description of these terrible animals, when so much has been written about them in
other books.
Among the greater lizards we reckon the Acaltetepon, and the Iguana. The Acaltetepon,
known to the Spaniards by the very improper name of Scorpions, are two lizards which resemble each other
in colour and in form, but very different in their size and tails. The smallest is about fifteen
inches, with a long tail, short legs, a red, broad, cloven tongue, a grey rough skin covered with
white warts like pearls, a sluggish pace, and a fierce aspect. From the muscles of the hind-legs
to the extremity of the tail, its skin is crossed with yellow lines in the form of rings. The bite
of this animal is painful, but not mortal as some have imagined. It is peculiar to the warmer
climates. The other lizard is an inhabitant of the same climate, but twice as large, being,
according to the report of some who have seen it, about two feet and a half long, and more than
a foot thick round the back and belly. It has a short tail, with a thick head and legs. This
lizard is the scourge of rabbits.
The Iguana is a harmless lizard, sufficiently known in Europe from the accounts of American
historians. They abound in the warm countries, and are of two kinds, the one a land animal, and
the other amphibious. Some of them have been found as long as three feet. They run with great
speed, and are very nimble in climbing trees. Their eggs and flesh are eatable, and praised
by some authors, but their flesh is hurtful to those labouring under the French disease.
Of the smaller lizards there are a great many species, differing in size, colour, and other
circumstances; of which some are poisonous, and others harmless. Among the latter the first
place is due to the cameleon, called by
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
77
the Mexicans Quatapalcatl This resembles the common cameleon almost in every respect, but differs
in having no crest, and in having large, round, open ears. Among the other lizards of the
harmless kind, there is none worth notice but the Tapayaxin, (k) which is remarkable for its
shape and some other peculiarities. It is perfectly round, cartilaginous, and feels very cold
to the touch: the diameter of its body is six inches. Its head is very hard, and spotted with
various colours. It is so lazy and sluggish, that it does not move even although it is shaken.
When its head is struck, or its eyes pressed, it darts out from them, to about two or three
paces distance, a few drops of blood; but is in every thing else an inoffensive animal, and
seems to take pleasure in being handled. It would seem as if, being of so cold a constitution,
it received some comfort from the heat of the hand.
Among the poisonous lizards, the worst seems to be that one which, from its being uncommon, got
the name of Tetzauhqui with the Mexicans. It is very small, of a grey colour, which is of a
yellowish hue upon the body, and bluish upon the tail. There are some others reckoned venomous,
and known by the Spaniards by the name of Salamanquesas, or that of Scorpions (for this name
is applied to many reptiles by the vulgar): but I am certain, from many observations, that those
lizards are either entirely void of poison, or at least, if they have any, it is not so active
as is generally imagined. We may make the same remark with respect to toads, as we have never
seen or heard of any bad effects occasioned by their venom, although in many warm and humid
places the earth is entirely covered with them. In those places there are some toads of eight
inches diameter.
__________
(k) See this lizard in our plate.
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
In the lake of Chalco there are three very numerous species of frogs, of three very different
sizes and colours, and very common at the tables in the capital. Those of Huaxteca are excellent,
and will sometimes weigh a Spanish pound: but I never saw or heard in that country the tree
frogs, which are so common in Italy and other parts of Europe.
The serpents are of much greater variety than the reptiles already mentioned, there being many
of different sizes and colours, some poisonous and others innocent.
The most considerable in point of size seems to have been one called Canauhcoatl by the Mexicans.
It was about three Parisian perches long, and of the thickness of a middle sized man. One of the
Tlilcoas, or black serpents, which Hernandez saw in the mountains of Tepoztlan, was not quite
so large; which, although it was not equal in thickness, yet was ten Spanish cubits, or more
than sixteen Parisian feet long. Such monstrous serpents are seldom to be found now-a-days, unless
in some solitary wood, at a distance from the capital.
The most remarkable of the poisonous serpents are the Ahueyactli, the Cuicuilcoatl, the
Teixminani, the Cencoatl, and the Teotlacozauhqui.
The Teotlacozauhqui, of which there are several species, is the famous rattle-snake. Its colour
and size are various, but it is commonly three or four feet long. The rattle may be considered
as an appendix to the vertebrae, and consists of rings of a horny substance, moveable, and
connected with each other by means of articulations or joints, every one being composed of three
small bones. (l)
__________
(l) Hernandez says, that a new ring is added every year, and that the number of the rings
correspond with the years of the snake's age: but we do not
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
79
The rattle sounds whenever the snake moves, and particularly when he is in motion to bite. This
snake moves with great rapidity, and upon that account it likewise obtained among the Mexicans
the name of Ehecacoatl, or aerial serpent. Its bite is attended with certain death, unless remedies
are speedily applied, among which the most effectual is thought to be the holding of the wounded
part some time in the earth. It bites with two teeth placed in the upper jaw, which as in the
viper and other species of serpents, are moveable, hollow, and pierced at the extremity. The
poison, which is a yellowish crystallizable liquor, is contained in some glands which lie over
the roots of those two teeth. These glands being compressed in the action of biting, dart through
the hollow of the teeth the fatal liquid, and pour it by the apertures into the wound and the mass
of blood. We would have been glad to communicate to the public several other observations which
we have made upon this subject, if the nature of this history should have permitted it. (m)
The Ahueyactli is not very different from the snake just described, except in having no rattle.
This snake, as we are told by Hernandez, communicates that kind of poison called by the ancients
Hemorrhoos, which occasions the blood to burst from the mouth, nose, and eyes of the person who
has received it. There are certain antidotes, however, which prevent these virulent effects.
The Cuicuilcoatl, so named from the variety of its colours, is not quite eight inches long, and
of the thickness of the little singer; but its poison is as active as that of the Teotlacozauhqui.
__________
know whether this is founded upon his own observations or the reports of others.
(m) Father Inamma, a Jesuit missionary of California, has made many experiments upon snakes, which
serve to confirm those made by Mead upon vipers.
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
The Teixminani is that kind of serpent which Pliny calls Jaculum. It is of a long slender form,
with a grey-coloured back and a purple belly. It moves always in a straight line, and never
coils, but springs from the trees upon passengers, and has thence derived its name. (n) These
snakes are to be found in the mountains of Quauhuahuac, and in other hot countries; but I never
knew any instance of such a thing happening to any traveller, although I lived so many years in
that kingdom; and I can say the same thing of the terrible effects ascribed to the Ahueyactli.
The Cencoatl, (o) which is also a poisonous snake, is about five feet long, and eight inches
round at the thickest part. The most remarkable quality of this snake is its shining in the dark.
Thus does the provident Author of nature, by various impressions on our senses, at one time upon
our ears by the noise of a rattle, at another time upon our eyes by the impressions of light,
awake our attention to guard against approaching danger.
Among the harmless snakes, of which there are several kinds, we cannot pass over the Tzicatlinan,
and the Maquizcoatl. The Tzicatlinan is very beautiful, about a foot in length, and of the
thickness of the little singer. It lives always in ant-hills; and it takes so much pleasure
in being among ants, that it will accompany these insects upon their expeditions, and return
with them to their usual nest. The Mexican name Tzicatlinan, signifies mother of ants, and
that is the name given it by the Spaniards; but I suspect that all the attachment which this
__________
(n) The Mexicans give this snake the name also of Micoatl; the Spaniards that of Satilla, both
signifying the same thing with the Jaculum of the Latins.
(o) There are some other species of snakes which having the same colours with the Cencoatl, go by
the same name, but they are all of a harmless nature.
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81
little snake shews to ant-hills, proceeds only from its living upon the ants themselves.
The Maquizcoatl is about the same size, but of a shining silvery hue. The tail is thicker than
the head, and this snake can move progressively with either extremity at pleasure. It is called
by the Greeks Amphisbaena; (p) it is a very rare species, and has never been seen, as far as I
know, in any other place than the valley of Toluca.
Of all the variety of snakes which are found in the unfrequented woods of that kingdom, I believe
that no viviparous species has been discovered, except the acoatl or water-snake, which too is
only supposed, but not certainly known, to be viviparous. That snake is about twenty inches long
and one thick: its teeth are exceeding small, the upper part of the head is black, the sides of
it are blue, and the under part yellow. The back is striped with blue and black, the belly is
entirely blue.
The ancient Mexicans who took delight in rearing all kinds of animals, and who by long familiarity
lost that horror which such animals naturally inspire, used to catch in the fields a little green
harmless snake, which being brought up at home and well fed, would sometimes grow to the size of
a man. It was generally kept in a tub, which it never left but to receive its food from its master's
hand; which it would take, either mounted upon his shoulder or coiled about his legs.
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(p) Pliny, in lib. viii. cap. 23, gives the Amphisbaena two heads; but the Greek name means
nothing more than the double motion. The two-headed serpent of Pliny has been seen in Europe,
and some have asserted that it is to be met with in Mexico, but I do not know that any one has
seen it. If it has been found in that country, it cannot be considered as a natural species,
but rather as a monster, like the two-headed eagle found a few years since in Oaaca, and sent
to the Catholic king.
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
If from the land we now turn our eyes to the rivers, lakes, and seas of Anahuac, we shall find
in them a much greater variety of creatures. Even the known species of their fish are innumerable;
for of those only which serve for the nourishment of man, I have counted upwards of a hundred
species, without reckoning the turtle, crab, lobster, or any other testaceous or crustaceous
animal. Of the fish, some are common to both the seas; some are peculiar to the Mexican gulf
alone, others to the Pacific Ocean; and some are to be found only in the lakes and rivers.
The fish common to both the seas are whales, dolphins, sword-fish, saw-fish, tiburones,
manatis, manias, porpoises, bonitas, cod, mullets, thornbacks, barbels, flying-fish, shad,
lobsters, soles, and a great many others, together with several species of tortoises, polypus,
crabs, spunges, &c.
The Mexican gulf, besides those already mentioned, affords sturgeons, pike, congers, turbot,
lampreys, cuttle-fish, anchovies, carp, eels, nautiluses, &c.
In the Pacific ocean, besides those common to the two seas, there are salmons, tunnies,
sea-scorpions, herrings, and others.
In the lakes and rivers, are three or four kinds of white fish, carp, mullet, trout, barbels,
eels, and many others.
As the particular description of these fish would be foreign to the objects of our history,
and of little use to the European reader, we shall only take notice of a few of the more
remarkable circumstances with respect to them.
The Tiburon belongs to that class of sea-animals called by the ancients Caniculae. Its great
voracity, its size,
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83
strength, and swiftness, are well known. It has two, three, and sometimes more rows of
sharp strong teeth, and swallows whatever is thrown to it whether eatable or not. A whole sheep's
skin, and even a large butcher's knife, has been found in its belly. This fish frequently accompanies
vessels, and by Oviedo's account there have been Tiburones, which have kept up with a vessel in
full sail with a fair wind, for five hundred miles, and often swimming round the ship to catch
any filth that was thrown from it.
The Manati or Lamentin, as it is called by some, is a larger fish than the Tiburon, and
of a very different disposition. Oviedo says, that Manatis have been caught of such a size as to require
a cart with two pair of oxen to draw them. It is like the Tiburon viviparous, but the female
brings only one young one at a time, which, however, is of a great size. (r) The flesh of this
animal is delicate, and something like veal. Some authors place the Manati in the class of
amphibious animals, but improperly, as it is never upon land; but only raises its head, and a
part of its body, out of the water, to brouse upon the herbage which grows along the banks of
the rivers. (s)
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(r) Buffon agrees with Hernandez in saying that the Manati brings but one young one at a time;
but other persons affirm that she brings two. Perhaps the same thing takes place with the Manati
as with the human species; which is commonly to have only one, but sometimes to have two or more.
Hernandez describes the copulation of these animals in these words: Humana more coit, famina
fupina fere tota in littore procumbente, et celeritate quadam fuperveniente mare. We do not with
some modern naturalists rank the Manati among quadrupeds, although it is viviparous; because
every one by the name of quadruped understands an animal with four feet, but the Manati has
only two, and these imperfectly formed.
(s) Mr. de la Condamine confirms our observation with respect to the Manati's living constantly
in water, and the same thing had been said two centuries
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
The Manta is that flat fish mentioned by Ulloa and others, which is so hurtful to the pearl-fishers,
and which I have no doubt is the same with that which Pliny has described, though he seems not
to have been very well acquainted with it, under the name of Nubes or Nebula. (t) It is not
improbable, that this fish has made its way into these seas from those of the old world in the
same manner as some others appear to have done. The strength of this fish is so great that it will
not only strangle a man whom it embraces or winds itself about, but it has even been seen to
take the cable of an anchor and move it from the place where it had been cast. It has been called
Manta, because when it lies stretched upon the sea, as it frequently does, it seems like a fleece
of wool floating upon the water.
The sword-fish of these seas is quite different from that of Greenland. The sword is larger, and
in its figure
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before by two eye-witnesses Oviedo and Hernandez. It is true, that Hernandez does seem to
say the contrary; but this is owing merely to a typographical error, which is obvious to every
reader. I should mention likewise, that the Manati, although properly a sea-animal, is frequently
to be found in rivers.
(t) Ipsi ferunt (Urinatores) et nubem quandam crassescere super capita, planerum piscium similem
prementem eos, arcentemque a reciprocando et ob id stilos preacutes lincis, annexos babere sese;
quia nisi perfosse ita, non recedant, caliginis et pavoris, ut arhitror, epere. Nubem enim
sive nebulam (cujus nomine id malum appellant) inter animalia baud ullam reperit quisquam, Plin.
Histor. Nat. lib. ix. cap. 46. The account given of this cloud by those divers is much the same
with that which the divers in the American seas give of the manta, and the name of the cloud is
perfectly applicable to it, as it really seems to be a cloud to those who are in the water below
it; our swimmers likewise carry long knives, or sharp sticks, for the purpose of dispersing this
animal. This observation which has escaped all the interpreters of Pliny, was made by my
countryman and friend the Abbe D. Jof. Raf. Campoi, a man not less distinguished by his manners
and integrity, than by his eloquence and erudition, particularly in the Latin language, in history,
in Criticism, and in Geography. His death upon the 29th of December, 1777, prevented his finishing
several very useful works which he had begun.
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more nearly resembling a real sword; and is not placed in the same manner with that of the Greenland
fish upon the hinder part, but upon the fore part of the body, like the saw-fish. It moves this sword
at pleasure, with great force, and employs it as an offensive weapon.
Of the two species of saw-fish to be found in those seas, the one is that common one known to Pliny,
and described by so many naturalists. The other, which is about a foot in length, has a row of teeth
or prickles like a saw, upon its back, which has obtained it the name of Tlateconi, from the Mexicans,
and from the Spaniards that of Sierra.
The Roballo is one of the most numerous species, and affords the most delicate food, especially the
kind peculiar to rivers. Hernandez took this fish to be the same with the Lupus of the ancients, and
Campoi imagined it to be the Asellus Minor; but this must have been altogether conjecture, for the
descriptions of those fish left us by the ancients are so imperfect, that it is impossible to ascertain
their identity.
The Gobbo (called by the Spaniards Corcoboda), was so called from a rising or prominence reaching from
the neck to the mouth, which latter part is exceedingly small. The Sfirena had likewise the name of
Picuda (which we might translate long-snout), from the lower jaw being longer than the upper.
The Rospo is a very disagreeable fish to look at; of a perfectly round shape, three or four inches in
diameter, and without scales. It affords a pleasant wholesome food.
Among the eels there is one called Huitzitzilmichin by the Mexicans, which is about three feet long and
very slender. Its body is covered with a sort of small plates,
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instead of scales. The snout is about eight inches in length, with the upper jaw longer than the lower, in which
it differs from all other eels, which this species likewise surpasses, as well in the delicacy of its flesh as
in the size of its body.
The Bobo, is a very fine fish, about two feet long, and four or six inches broad at the broadest part; and is in
high esteem as an excellent food. The river Barbel, known by the name of Bagre, is of the same size with the Bobo,
and of exquisite flavour, but unwholesome till it is cleansed with lemon juice, or some other acid, from a
certain kind of froth or viscid liquor which adheres to it. The Bobos, I believe are got only in the rivers
which fall into the Mexican gulf, and the Barbels in those which discharge themselves into lakes, or into
the Pacific Ocean. The flesh of these two kinds, although very delicate, does not equal that of the Pampano,
and the Colombella, which are deservedly esteemed superior to all others.
The Curvina is about a foot and a half long, of a slender, round shape, and of a blackish purple colour. In
the head of this fish are found, two small, white stones like alabaster, each an inch and a half long, and
about four lines broad, of which three grains taken in water, are thought to be useful in a stoppage of urine.
The Botetto is a small fish, not more than eight inches in length, but excessively thick. This fish, while
it lies alive upon the beach, immediately swells, whenever it is touched, to an enormous size; and boys
often take pleasure in making it burst with a kick. The liver is so poisonous as to kill with strong convulsions
in half an hour after it is eaten.
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The Occhione, (u) is a flat, round fish of eight or ten inches diameter. The underpart of the
body is perfectly flat, but the upper is convex; and in the center, which is the highest part,
it has a single eye as large as that of an ox, and furnished with its necessary eye-lids. The
eye remains open even after it is dead, which sometimes creates a degree of horror to a
spectator. (x)
The Iztacmichin, or white fish, has always been in great repute in Mexico, and is now as common
at the Spanish tables as it used to be anciently at those of the Mexicans. There are three or
four species. The Amilotl, which is the largest and the most esteemed, is more than a foot in
length, and has two fins upon the back, two at the sides, and one under the belly. The Xalmichin
seems to be of the same kind with the former, but not quite so large. The Jacapitzahuac, which
is the smallest kind, is not more than eight inches long, and one inch and a half broad. All
these kinds have scales, are a very delicate and wholesome food, and are to be found in great
plenty in the lakes of Chalco, Pazcuaro, and Chapalla. The fourth kind is the Xalmichin of
Quauhuahuac, which has no scales, but is covered with a tender white skin.
The Axolotl or Axolote, (y) is a great water-lizard of
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(u) This fish, which is only found in California, either his no name, or we at least, are not acquainted
with it; for which reason we have given it one, we think, sufficiently applicable, namely, that of Occhione.
(x) Campoi was persuaded that the Occhione is the Uranoscopos, or Callionymos of Pliny: but Pliny
has not left any description of that fish. The name of Uranoscopos, which was the only foundation of
Campoi's opinion, is equally applicable to all those fish which, having eyes upon the head, look upwards to the sky,
such as skates, and other flat fish.
(y) Mr. Bomare could not light upon the name of this fish. He calls it Azalotl, Axolatl, Azoloti, and
Axoloti; and says that the Spaniards call it Juguete del agua: yet the Mexicans call it
Axolotl, and the Spaniards give it no other name but the Axolote.
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the Mexican lake. Its figure and appearance are ridiculous and disagreeable. It is commonly
about eight inches long, but is sometimes to be sound of twice that length. The skin is soft
and black, the head and tail long, the mouth large, and the tongue broad, thin, and cartilaginous.
The body gradually diminishes in size, from the middle to the extremity of the tail. It swims
with its four feet which resemble those of a frog. But the most remarkable circumstance with
respect to this animal, which has been established by many observations, and confirmed by the
opinion of Hernandez, is the uterus, and a periodical evacuation of blood to which it is subject;
in both which it is said to resemble the human species. (z) The Axolotl is wholesome to eat, and
is of much the same taste with an eel. It is thought to be particularly useful in cases of
consumption.
There are many other kinds of small fish, in the lake of Mexico, but they scarcely deserve our
notice.
As to shells, they are found in prodigious numbers, and of great variety; and some of them of
extraordinary beauty, especially those of the Pacific Ocean. Pearls also have been fished, at
different times, along all the coasts of that sea. The Mexicans got them upon the coasts of
Tototepec, and of the Cuitlatecans, where we now get the tortoise-shell. Among the Sea-stars is
one which has five rays, and one eye in each. Of Spunges,
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(z) Bomare has some hesitation in believing what is said of the Axolote; but while we may rest secure upon
the testimony of those persons, who have had these animals actually under their own inspection, we need not
pay much regard to the doubts of a Frenchman, who, however versed in Natural history, never saw the Axolotis,
and is even ignorant of their name: more especially, when we reflect that the periodical evacuation of
blood is not confined to women alone, but has been observed, likewise, in apes; for, as Mr. Bomare says
Les femelles des singas ont pour la plupart des menstrues comme les femmes.
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and Lithophytes, there are many rare and singular species. Hernandez gives us a print of a spunge, sent
to him from the Pacific Ocean, which was of the shape of a man's hand, but with ten or more singers; of a
clay colour, with black points and red streaks, and was harder than the common spunges.
Descending, at length, to the smaller creatures, in which the power and wisdom of the Creator especially
appear; we shall divide the innumerable multitude of Mexican insects into three classes, the flying, the
terrestrial, and the aquatic; although there are land and water insects which afterwards become flying
insects, and might be considered as belonging to different classes, at different times.
Among the flying insects are, beetles, bees, wasps, flies, gnats, butterflies, and grasshoppers. The beetles
are of several kinds, and mostly harmless. Some of them are of a green colour, and called by the Mexicans,
Majatl; which, by the great noise they make in flying, afford amusement to children. There are others black,
of a disagreeable smell and irregular form, which are called Pinacatl.
The Cucujo or shining beetle, which best deserves our notice, has been mentioned by many authors,
but not hitherto, as far as I know, described by any one. It is more than an inch in length; and,
like other flying beetles, is furnished with double wings. Upon the head, is a small, moveable
horn, which is of great use to it; for if at any time it happens to be turned over and laid upon
its back, it is by means of this horn, by thrusting and pressing it into a membrane somewhat like
a bag, which it has upon the belly, that this insect recovers its natural position. Near the eyes
are two small membranes,
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
and upon the belly one somewhat larger, of a thin, transparent substance, which are full of luminous matter,
affording a light strong enough to read by, and to shew the way to those who travel at night. It shews most
light when it flies; but none at all while it sleeps, as it is then covered with the other opaque membranes.
The luminous matter is a white, mealy, viscid substance, which preserves its luminous quality after it has
been taken from the body of the Cucujo, and one may draw shining characters with it, upon a hat. There are
great numbers of these flying phosphori upon the sea-coasts, and which form upon the neighbouring hills,
at night, a very beautiful and brilliant spectacle. The boys easily catch them by waving a light in the
evening, and the beetles, drawn by the light, come into their hands. Some authors have confounded this
wonderful insect with the glow-worm, but the latter is much smaller, and much less luminous; is pretty
frequent in Europe, and perfectly common in Mexico.
The appearance of the shining beetle is not more pleasing than that of the Temolin is disagreeable. This
is a large beetle of a reddish chesnut colour, with six hairy feet, and four toes upon each. There are
two species of the Temolin: the one having one horn, in the forepart of the head; and the other, two.
There are, at least, six different kinds of bees. The first is the same with the common bee of
Europe, with which it agrees, not only in size, shape, and colour, but also in its disposition
and manners, and in the qualities of its honey and wax. The second species, which differs from
the first only in having no sting, is the bee of Yucatan and Chiapa, which makes the fine,
clear honey of Estabentun, of an aromatic flavour, superior to that of
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all the other kinds of honey with which we are acquainted. The honey is taken from them six times
a year, that is, once in every other month; but the best is that which is got in November, being
made from a fragrant white flower like Jessamine, which blows in September, called in that country
Estabentun, from which the honey has derived its name. (z) The third species resembles in its
form, the winged ants, but is smaller than the common bee, and without a sting. This insect,
which is peculiar to warm and temperate climates, forms nests, in size and shape resembling
sugar-loaves, and even sometimes greatly exceeding these in size, which are suspended from
rocks, or from trees, and particularly from the oak. The populousness of these hives is much
greater than of those of the common bee. The nymphs of this bee, which are eatable, are white
and round, like a pearl. The honey is of a greyish colour, but of a fine flavour. The fourth
species is a yellow bee, smaller than the common one, but, like it, furnished with a sting. Its
honey is not equal to those already mentioned. The fifth, is a small bee without a sting, which
constructs hives of an orbicular form, in subterraneous cavities; and the honey is four, and
somewhat bitter. The Tlalpipiolli, which is the sixth species, is black and yellow, of the
size of the common bee, but has no sting.
Of wasps there are at least four kinds. The Quetzalmiahuatl is the common wasp of Europe. The
Tetlatoca or wandering wasp, is so called from its frequent change of habitation; and is
always found employed in collecting materials to build it. This wasp has a sting,
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(z) The honey of Estabentun, is in high estimation with the English and French, who touch at
the ports of Yucatan; and I have known the French of Guarico buy it sometimes for the purpose
of sending it as a present to the king.
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but makes no honey or wax. The Xicotli or Xicote, is a thick, black wasp, with a yellow belly;
which makes a very sweet honey, in holes made by it in walls. It is provided with a strong sting,
which gives a very painful wound. The Cuicalmiahuatl, has likewise a sting; but whether it
makes honey or not, we do not know.
The Quauhxicotli, is a black hornet, with a red tail, whose sting is so large and strong, as
not only to go through a sugar cane, but even to pierce into the trunk of a tree.
Among the flies, besides the common fly which is neither so troublesome, nor in such numbers as
in Italy during summer, (a) there are some luminous as the glow-worm. The Axayacatl is a marsh-fly,
of the Mexican lake, the eggs of which being deposited in immense quantities, upon the rushes
and corn-flags of the lake, form large masses, which are taken up by fishermen and carried to
market for sale. This caviare called Ahuauhtli, which has much the same taste with the caviare of
fish, used to be eaten by the Mexicans, and is now a common dish among the Spaniards. The Mexicans
eat not only the eggs, but the flies themselves made up together into a mass, and prepared with
salt-petre.
Gnats, which are so common in Europe, and especially in Italy, abound in the maritime parts of
Mexico, and in all places where heat, standing water, and shrubs, encourage their propagation.
They are in immense
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(a) The same observation has been made before by Oviedo; "In the islands," said he, "and in
terra firma, there are very few flies; and in comparison of "their numbers in Europe, one might
almost say there are none." Nat. Hist. Ind. cap. 8l. In Mexico, certainly there are not so few
as Oveido says, but, generally speaking, they are neither so numerous nor so troublesome as in
Europe,
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numbers in the lake of Chalco; but the capital, although near to that lake, is entirely free of
that nuisance.
In the hot countries there is likewise a kind of small flies, which make no buz in flying, but
raise a violent itching by their puncture, and an open wound is very ready to be made, if the
part is scratched.
In those hot countries also, but particularly in those next the sea, Cucarachas are found in
great numbers. This is a large winged, filthy, pernicious insect, which spoils all eatables,
particularly any thing sweet; but in some other respects is of great use in clearing houses of
bugs. It has been remarked, that the ships which come from Europe full of bugs, return from New
Spain quite freed of these stinking insects, by means of the Cucarachas. (b)
The Butterflies of Mexico, are much more numerous, and of greater variety, than in Europe. It is
impossible to give any idea of their variety and beauty, and the finest pencil is unable to imitate
the exquisite colouring and design, which the Author of Nature has displayed in the embellishment
of their wings. Many respectable Authors have celebrated them in their writings; and Hernandez
has made some be drawn, in order to give Europeans an idea of their beauty.
But the butterflies although numerous, are not to be compared in that respect, with the locusts,
which, sometimes darkening the air like thick clouds, fall upon the sea coasts, and lay waste all
the vegetation of the country; as I have myself witnessed, in the year 1738,
__________
(b) This insect is likewise an enemy of the studious, preying upon the ink, in the night-time, unless
it is carefully covered up. The Spaniards call it Cucaracha, others call it Kakerlaques,
and others Dermestes, &c.
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or 1739, upon the coasts of Xicayan. From this cause a great famine was lately occasioned in the
Peninsula of Yucatan: but no country has been visited by this dreadful scourge so often as the
wretched California. (c) Among the land-insects, besides the common ones, about which nothing
occurs to me worthy to be mentioned, there are worms of several kinds, scolopendrae, scorpions,
spiders, ants, nigua chegoes or jiggers, and the cochineal.
Of the worms, some are useful, and others pernicious; some served as food to the ancient Mexicans,
and others in the way of medicine, as the Axin and the Pollin, which we shall speak of in
another place. The Tleocuilin or burning worm, has the same qualities with the Cantharides:
its head is red, the breast green, and the rest of the body is of a tawny-colour. The Temahuani,
is a worm covered with yellow venomous prickles. The Temictli resembles the silk-worm, both in
its operations and its metamorphoses. The silk-worm was brought from Europe, and was propagated
with success. Great plenty of good silk was made, especially in Mizteca, (d) where it became
a great article of trade; but the Miztecans being afterwards, from political causes, forced to
abandon it, the rearing of the worms was likewise neglected; and at this time very few are
employed in that business. Besides that common silk, there is another excellent kind, very white,
soft, and strong, which is often to be found upon trees, in several woods
__________
(c) In the history of California, which will be published in a few months, will be found a great many
observations with respect to locusts, made by the Abbe D. Mich. del Barco, who lived upwards of thirty
years in that country, a country not more famous than undeserving of the name it has acquired.
(d) Some places in Mizteca still preserve the name which they obtained formerly, upon account of that
trade; as silk St. Francis, silk Tepexe.
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upon the sea coasts, particularly in those years when there is little rain. But, unless by some poor people,
this silk is not turned to any use, partly from inattention to their interests, but chiefly from the
obstructions which would be certainly thrown in the way of any one who should attempt a trade of that kind.
We know from Cortes's letters to Charles Vth, that silk used to be sold in the markets of Mexico; and some
pictures are still preserved, done by the ancient Mexicans upon a paper made of silk.
The Scolopendras are sometimes seen in the temperate parts, but more frequently in the warm and moist.
Hernandez says, that he has seen some of them of the length of two feet, and two inches thick: but such
monstrous insects can only have been seen in the wettest and most uncultivated place; for we who have been
in a great many places, through every variety of climate, never met with any one of such extraordinary size.
Scorpions are common throughout the whole kingdom, but in the cold and temperate countries they are not
numerous, nor very hurtful. They abound in the hot parts, or where the air is very dry although the heat
is but moderate; and their poison is so active as to kill children, and occasion terrible pain to adults.
It has been remarked, that the poison of the small, yellowish scorpion is more powerful than that of the
large brown one, and that their sting is the most dangerous during those hours of the day when the sun
gives most heat.
Among the great variety of spiders, we cannot pass over the Tarantola and Casampulga. (e) The name of
__________
(e) I suspect that the original name of this spider has been Cazapulga or flea-killer, corrupted
in a manner common to the vulgar, into Casampulga.
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HISTORY OF MEXICO.
Tarantola is given very improperly, in that country, to a very large spider, the back and legs of which
are covered with a fine, soft, blackish down, like that upon young chickens. This spider is peculiar to
the hot countries, and is found in houses as well as in the fields. It is supposed to be poisonous, and
it is generally believed that if a horse tramples upon one, he very soon loses his hoof; but I have never
known a single instance of this happening, although I was for five years in a very hot country where those
spiders were in great numbers. The Casampulga is a small spider of the size of a chick pea, with short
legs, and a red belly. This spider is venomous, and common in the diocese of Chiapa, and elsewhere. It
seems to answer to the description of what is called the Ragno capullino in other countries, but I do not
know whether it is the same.
The most common ants of that country are of three kinds: first, the small black ants the same with those
of Europe; next, the large red ants called by the Spaniards bravas, or fierce, which give very painful
wounds with their stings: and lastly, the large brown ants, called by the Spaniards barrieras, or carriers,
because they are continually employed in carrying grain for their provision, and for that reason they are
much more hurtful to the country than the common ants. These carrier ants have been suffered by the
carelessness of the inhabitants in some places to multiply to excess; and in the province of Xicayan black
lines are seen upon the earth for several miles, which consist of nothing but of those ants going and coming.
Besides the three species already mentioned, there is a singular kind of ant in Michuacan which,
perhaps, is to be met with in other provinces. It is larger than the
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common ant, with a greyish-coloured body and a black head. Upon its hinder parts it carries a little bag,
full of a very sweet liquor, which the children are very fond of, and imagine it is a honey made by the
ant like that made by the bee, but I rather take it to be eggs. Mr. de la Barrere, in his Natural history
of Equinoctial France, takes notice of such ants being found in Cayenne; but those are winged ants, and
ours are without wings.
The Nigua or Chegoe, called in other countries Pique, is an exceeding small insect, not very unlike a flea,
which, in some hot countries is bred in the dust. It fixes upon the feet, and breaking insensibly the
cuticle, it nestles betwixt that and the true skin, which also, unless it is immediately taken out, it
breaks, and pierces at last to the flesh, multiplying with a rapidity almost incredible. It is seldom
discovered until it pierces the true skin, when it causes an intolerable itching. These insects with
their astonishing multiplication would soon dispeople those countries, were it less easy to avoid them,
or were the inhabitants less dexterous in getting them out before they begin to spread. On the other
hand, nature, in order to lessen the evil, has net only denied them wings, but even that conformation
of the legs, and those strong muscles which she has given to the flea for leaping. The poor however,
who are in some measure doomed to live in the dust, and to a habitual spider of their persons, suffer
these insects sometimes to multiply so far as to make large holes in their flesh, and even to occasion
dangerous wounds.
What the Niguas or Chegoes do in houses, is done in the fields by the ticks, of which there are
two species or rather classes. The first are common in the new, as well as the old world, which
fix in the skins of sheep, horses,
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and other quadrupeds, and get into their ears, and sometimes into those of men.
The other abounds in the grass of the hot countries, from which it readily gets upon the clothes,
and from these to the skin, upon which it fixes with such force from the particular shape of its
feet, that it is very difficult to detach it, and if it is not speedily removed makes a wound
like that made by the Nigua or Chegoe. At first it seems nothing more than a small black speck;
but afterwards enlarges so quickly, and to such a degree from the blood which it sucks, that in
a very short time it becomes as large as a bean, and then takes the colour of lead. (f)
The celebrated cochineal of Mexico, so well known and so highly esteemed over all the world, for
the beauty of the colour which it affords, is an insect: peculiar to that country, and the most
useful of all that the land of Anahuac produces. There particular pains have always been taken
to rear it from the times of the Mexican kings; (g) but the country in which it thrives the best
is that of Mizteca, where it is the principal branch of commerce
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(f) Oviedo says, that the best and safest method of separating it speedily, is to anoint the part with
oil, and then to scrape it with a knife.
(g) The historian Herrera, in the l)ec. IV. lib. viii. cap. 8. says, that although the Indians had the
cochineal, yet they knew nothing of its virtues till they were instructed by the Spaniards. But what did
the Spaniards teach them? To rear the cochineal? How were they fitted to teach what they were ignorant of
themselves, while they took that to be a seed which is in reality an insect. They taught the Indians
perhaps, to use it as a dye; but unless the Indians Uk .! it as a dye, to what purpose did they take
so much pains in rearing it? Why were Huaxyacac, Coyolopan, and several other places obliged to pay
twenty bags of cochineal yearly to the king of Mexico, as appears by the register of tales? Is it possible
to imagine, that a people so given to painting even as they were, and who were besides well acquainted
with the use of the Achiote, the indigo, and of a great many mineral earths and stones, should be ignorant
of the use of the cochineal?
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of that place. (h) In the sixteenth century they used to rear it also in Tlascala, Huexotzinco,
and other places, and it was a considerable article of trade; but the Indians (who have always
been the persons employed in that business), oppressed by the avaricious tyranny of some Spanish
governors, were forced to abandon that employment which, of its own nature besides, was always
very troublesome and tedious. The cochineal, at its utmost growth, in size and figure resembles
a bug. The female is ill proportioned and sluggish. The eyes, mouth, antennas, and feet, are so
concealed among the Wrinkles of its skin, that they cannot be discovered without the assistance
of a microscope: and it is owing to that circumstance, that some Europeans have been so positive
in affirming it to be a kind of seed and not an animal, in opposition to the testimony of the
Indians who reared it, and of Hernandez who examined it as a naturalist. The males are not so
numerous, and one serves for three hundred females: they are likewise smaller and thinner than
the females, but more brisk and active. Upon the heads of this insect are two articulated
antennae, in each articulation of which are four small bridles regularly disposed. It has six
feet, each consisting of three parts. From the hinder part of the body grow out two hairs, which
are two or three times as large as the whole insect. The male has two large wings, which are
wanting in the female. These wings are strengthened by two muscles; one external, extending
along the circumference of the
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(h) Several authors have reckoned that more than 2,500 bags of cochineal are sent every year from Mizteca
to Spain. The trade in that article carried on by the city of Oaxaca, brings in 200,000 crowns a year.
Bomare says, there is a kind of cochineal called Mestecan, because it is got in Meteque, in the province
of Honduras: but this is a mistake, for it comes from Misteca, a province farther from Honduras than Rome
is from Paris.
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wing: the other internal, which runs parallel to the former. The internal colour of this insect
is a deep red, but darker in the female; and the external colour a pale red. In the wild
cochineal the internal colour is still darker, and the external whitish or ash-coloured. The
cochineal is reared upon a species of Nofal, or Opuntia, or Indian fig, which grows to the height
of about eight feet, and bears a fruit like the figs of other Opuntias, but not eatable. It seeds
upon the leaves of that tree, by sucking the juice with a trunk situated in the thorax betwixt
the two fore feet: there it passes through all the stages of its growth, and at length produces
a numerous offspring. The manner of multiplying peculiar to these valuable insects, the management
of the Indians in rearing them, together with the means employed to defend them from rain, which
is so hurtful to them, and from many enemies which persecute them, shall be explained when we come
to speak of the agriculture of the Mexicans. (i)
Among the water insects, the Atetepitz is a marsh beetle resembling in shape and size the beetles that fly.
It has four feet, and is covered with a hard shell. The Atopinan is a marsh grasshopper, of a dark colour,
about six inches long and two broad. The Ahuihuitla is a worm of the Mexican lake, four inches long, and of
the thickness of a goose-quill; of a tawny colour upon the
__________
(i) D. Ant. Ulloa says, that the Nepal, upon which the cochineal is reared, has no prickles; but in Misteca,
where I was For five years, I always saw it upon prickly nopals. Mr. de Raynal imagines, that the colour of
the cochineal is to be ascribed to the red fig upon which it lives; but that author has been misinformed;
for neither does the cochineal feed upon the fruit, but only upon the leaf, which is perfectly green; nor
does that nopal bear red but white figs. It is true, it may be reared upon the species with a red fig, but
that is not the proper plant of the cochineal.
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upper part of the body, and white upon the under part. It stings with its tail, which is hard
and poisonous. The Ocuiliztac is a black marsh-worm, which becomes white on being roasted. All
these insects were eaten by the ancient Mexicans.
Lastly, to omit other insects the very names of which would fill an immense catalogue, I shall
conclude this account with a kind of zoophytes, or animal plants, which I saw in the year 1751,
in a house in the country, about ten miles from Angelopoli, towards the south-east. These were
three or four inches long, and had four very slender feet, and two antennae; but their body
was nothing more than the fibres of the leaves, of the same shape, size, and colour with those
of the other leaves of the trees upon which these insects were found. Hernandez mentions them
by the name of Quauhmecatl; and Gemelli describes another somewhat similar which was found in
the neighbourhood of Manila. (k) The slight account we have already given of the natural history
of Anahuac, may serve to shew the differences that take place in the hot, the cold, and the
temperate countries, of which that vast kingdom is composed. Nature in the hot countries is more
profuse, and in the cold and temperate more mild. In the former, the hills abound more in minerals
and springs, the valleys are more delightful, and the woods are thicker. There we meet with plants
more useful for the support of life. (l) Trees
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(k) I am aware that modern naturalists seldom apply the name of zoophytes, unless to certain marine
bodies, which, with the appearance of vegetables, are really of the nature of animals; but I
give it to those terrestrial insects, because, it seems with as much, if not more propriety
applicable to them than to the marine bodies. In my Natural Philosophy, I think I have given
a very probable explanation of the operation of nature in the production of such insects.
(l) It is true, that generally neither corn grows there, nor many of the European
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of larger growth, more valuable woods, more beautiful flowers, more delicious fruits, and more
aromatic gums. There too the animals are more numerous and of greater variety, and the individuals
of the different species of greater beauty and size; the birds have a finer plumage and a sweeter
fong: but all these advantages are counterbalanced by equal inconveniences; for there the beasts
of prey are more terrible, the reptiles more poisonous, and the insects more pernicious. The
earth there never feels the effects of winter, nor is the atmosphere subjected to a hurtful
vicissitude of seasons. A perpetual spring reigns upon the earth, and a perpetual summer in the
air. The inhabitants are used to that excessive heat, but from the constant sweating which it
occasions, together with the use of those exquisite fruits which the bountiful earth presents
to them in such abundance, they are often affected with disorders unknown in other climates.
The cold countries are neither so fruitful nor so beautiful, but on the other hand they are more
favourable to health, and the animals are less hurtful to man. In the temperate countries (at least
in many of them, and particularly in the vale of Mexico), are enjoyed the advantages of the cold,
and many of the pleasures of the hot climates without the inconveniences of either. The most
common diseases of the hot countries are intermittent fevers, spasms, and consumptions; and in
the port of Vera Cruz, within these few years, the black vomiting; (m) in other parts, catarrhs,
fluxes, pleurisies,
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fruits, such as apples, peaches, pears, &c. yet what signifies the want of a few of those vegetables,
compared with the unspeakable profusion and variety of plants serving both for food and medicine, which
are to be found in those countries?
(m) Ulloa, and other historians of America, describe the spasms and the black vomiting. The latter disease
was not known in that country before the year 1716.
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and acute fevers; and in the capital, the diarrhoea. Betides these more frequent diseases, certain
epidemical disorders arise at times, which seem in some degree periodical, although not with much exactness
or regularity, such as those which appeared in 1546, 1576, 1736, and 1762. The small-pox brought thither by
the Spanish conquerors, is not seen so frequently in that country as in Europe; but generally appears after
an interval of a certain number of years, and then attacking all those who had not been affected by it before,
it makes as much havoc at one time as it does successively in Europe.
The nations which possessed those countries before the Spaniards, although differing in language, and partly
also in manners, were yet nearly of the same character. The moral and physical qualities of the Mexicans,
their tempers and dispositions were the same with those of the Acolhuacans, the Tepanecans, the Tlascalans,
and other nations, with no other difference than what arose from their different mode of education; so that
what we shall say of the one, we should wish to be understood as equally applicable to the rest. Several authors,
ancient as well as modern, have undertaken a description of these people, but I have not met with any one which
is, in every respect, faithful and correct. The passions and prejudices of some, and the imperfect information,
or the weak understandings of others, have prevented their representing them in their genuine colours. What
we shall say upon the subject, is derived from a serious and long study of the history of these nations, from
a familiar intercourse for many years with the natives, and from the most minute observations with respect to
their present state, made both by ourselves and by other impartial
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persons. I certainly have no bias upon my own mind which should make me lean to one side more than to
the other; as neither the feelings of a fellow-countryman can sway my opinion in their favour, nor can
I be interested to condemn them from a love of my nation, or zeal for the honour of my countrymen: so
that I shall speak frankly and plainly the good and the bad, which I have discovered in them.
The Mexicans are of a good stature, generally rather exceeding than falling short of the middle size,
and well proportioned in all their limbs: they have good complexions, narrow foreheads, black eyes,
clean, firm, regular white teeth, thick, black, coarse, glossy hair, thin beards, and generally no hair
upon their legs, thighs, and arms. Their skin is of an olive colour.
There is scarcely a nation, perhaps, upon earth in which there are fewer persons deformed, and it would
be more difficult to find a single hump-backed, lame, or squint-eyed man amongst a thousand Mexicans,
than among any hundred of any other nation. The unpleasantness of their colour, the smallness of their
forehead, the thinness of their beard, and the coarseness of their hair, are so far compensated by the
regularity and fine proportions of their limbs, that they can neither be called very beautiful, nor the
contrary, but seem to hold a middle place between the extremes. Their appearance neither engages nor
disgusts; but among the young women of Mexico, there are many very beautiful and fair; whose beauty is
at the same time rendered more winning by the sweetness of their manner of speaking, and by the
pleasantness and natural modesty of their whole behaviour.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
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Their senses are very acute, especially that of sight, which they enjoy unimpaired to the
greatest age. Their constitutions are found, and their health robust. They are entirely free of
many disorders which are common among the Spaniards, but of the epidemical diseases to which their
country is occasionally subject, they are the principal victims; with them these diseases begin,
and with them they end. One never perceives in a Mexican that stinking breath which is occasioned
in other people by the corruption of the humours or indigestion. Their constitutions are phlegmatic;
but the pituitous evacuations from their heads are very scanty, and they seldom spit. They become
grey-headed and bald earlier than the Spaniards, and although most of them die of acute diseases,
it is not very uncommon among them to attain the age of a hundred.
They are now, and have ever been very moderate in eating, but their passion for strong liquors
is carried to the greatest excess. Formerly they were kept within bounds by the severity of the
laws; but now that these liquors are grown so common, and drunkenness is unpunished, one half of
the people seem to have lost their senses; and this, together with the poor manner in which they
live, exposed to all the baneful impressions of disease, and destitute of the means of correcting
them, is undoubtedly the principal cause of the havoc which is made among them by epidemical
disorders.
Their minds are at bottom in every respect like those of the other children of Adam, and endued
with the same powers; nor did the Europeans ever do less credit to their own reason than when
they doubted of the rationality of the Americans. The state of civilization among the Mexicans,
when they were first known to the Spaniards,
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which was much superior to that of the Spaniards themselves, when they were first known to the
Phoenicians, that of the Gauls when first known to the Greeks, or that of the Germans and Britons
when first known to the Romans, (n) should of itself have been fully sufficient to correct such
an error of man's mind, if it had not been the interest of the inhuman avarice of some ruffians
to encourage it. (o) Their understandings are fitted for every kind of science, as experience
has actually shewn (p). Of the Mexicans who have had an opportunity of engaging in the pursuits
of learning, which is but a small number, as the greatest part of the people are always employed
in the public or private works, we have known some good mathematicians, excellent architects, and
learned divines.
Many persons allow the Mexicans to possess a great talent of imitation, but deny them the praise
of invention:
__________
(n) D. Bernardo Aldrete, in his book upon the Origin of the Spanish Tongue, would have us to believe
that the Spaniards were less rude at the arrival of the Phoenicians, than the Mexicans were at the
time of the arrival of the Spaniards; but this paradox has been sufficiently refuted by the learned
authors of the Literary History of Spain. It is true, that the Spaniards in those remote ages were
not so barbarous as the Chechemecans, the Californians, and same other savage nations of America;
but neither their government was so regular, nor their arts so much improved, nor, as far as we can
judge, had they made so much progress in the knowledge of nature, as the Mexicans at the beginning
of the sixteenth century.
(o) Upon this subject I must refer the reader to the bitter complaints made by the bishop Garces,
in his letter to pope Paul III, and by the Bishop of la Casas, in his Memorials to the Catholic
kings Charles V and Philip II, but especially to the very humane laws made by those most Christian
monarchs, in favour of the Indians.
(p) We shall, in the Dissertations, produce the opinions of D. Giulian Garces, first bishop of
Tlascalla; of D. John di Zumarraga, first bishop of Mexico, and of D. Bartholomew de las Casas,
first bishop of Chiapa, with respect to the capacities, understandings, and other good qualities
of the Mexicans. The testimony of those virtuous and learned prelates, who had so much
intercourse with the Indians, weighs much more than that of any historian whatever.
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a vulgar error, which is contradicted by the ancient history of that people.
Their minds are affected by the same variety of passions with those of other nations, but not to
an equal degree. The Mexicans seldom exhibit those transports of anger, or those frenzies of love
which are so common in other countries.
They are flow in their motions, and shew a wonderful tenacity and steadiness in those works
which require time and long continued attention. They are most patient of injury and hardship;
and where they suspect no evil intention, are most grateful for any kindness shewn; but some
Spaniards, who cannot distinguish patience from insensibility, nor distrust from ingratitude,
say proverbially, that the Indians are alike insensible to injuries and to benefits. (q) That
habitual distrust which they entertain of all who are not of their own nation, prompts them often
to lie and betray; so that good faith certainly has not been so much respected among them as it
deserves.
They are by nature taciturn, serious, and austere, and shew more anxiety to punish crimes than to
reward virtues.
generosity and perfect disinterestedness are the principal features of their character. Gold with
the Mexicans has not that value which it enjoys elsewhere. (r) They seem to give without reluctance
what has cost
__________
(q) Experience has proved the grateful dispositions of the Mexicans, wherever they were assured
of the good-will and sincerity of their benefactors. Their gratitude has been often manifested by
open and loud demonstrations of joy, which publicly declare the falsehood of the Spanish proverb.
(r) I do not speak of those Mexicans, who, by a constant intercourse with covetous nations, have
been infected by their avarice; although, at the same time, even those appear to be less selfish
than the generality of persons of that disposition.
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them the utmost labour to acquire. The neglect of selfish interest, together with the dislike
which they bear to their rulers, and consequently their aversion to the tasks imposed by them,
seem to have been the only grounds of that much exaggerated indolence with which the Americans
have been charged; (s) and after all, there is no set of people in that country who labour more,
nor whose labours are more useful or more necessary. (t)
The respect paid by children to their parents, and by the young to the old, among those people,
seem to be feelings that are born with them. Parents are very fond of their children; but the
affection which husbands bear to their wives, is certainly less than that borne by the wives to
their husbands; and it is very common for the men to love their neighbours wives better than their
own.
Courage and cowardice seem alternately so to affect their minds, that it is often difficult to
determine whether the one or the other predominates. They meet dangers with intrepidity when they
proceed from natural causes, but they are easily terrified by the stern look of a Spaniard. That
stupid indifference about death and eternity, which many authors have thought inherent in the
character of every American, is peculiar only to those who are yet so rude and uninformed as to
have no idea of a future state.
Their singular attachment to the external ceremonies of religion is very apt to degenerate into
superstition, as
__________
(s) What we observe upon the subject of American indolence is not meant to apply to the savage
nations in other parts of the new world.
(t) In our Dissertations we shall give an account of the works in which the Mexicans are employed.
Monsign. Palafox used to say, that if ever the Indians failed them, the Spaniards would find the
Indies fail also.
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
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happens with the ignorant of all nations of the world; but their proneness to idolatry is nothing
more than a chimera formed in the absurd imaginations of misinformed persons. The instances of a
few mountaineers are not sufficient to justify a general aspersion upon the whole people. (u)
To conclude, the character of the Mexicans, like that of every other nation, is a mixture of good
and bad; but the bad is easy to be corrected by a proper education, as has been frequently
demonstrated by experience. (x) It would be difficult to find, any where, a youth more docile than
the present, or a body of people more ready than their ancestors were to receive the lights of
religion.
I must add, that the modern Mexicans are not in all respects similar to the ancient; as the Greeks
of these days have little resemblance of those who lived in the times of Plato and of Pericles.
The ancient Mexicans shewed more fire, and were more sensible to the impressions of honour. They
were more intrepid, more nimble, more active, more industrious; but they were, at the same time,
more superstitious and cruel.
__________
(u) The few examples that are to be sound of idolatry are uot altogether inexcusable, when we
consider how naturally rude and unenlightened men may confound the idolatrous worship of some
unshapely figure of stone or wood, with that which is due to the sacred images alone. And our own
prejudices against them have often been the cause of our treating as idols what were really the
images, though rude ones, of the saints. In the year 1754, I saw some little images which had been
found in a cave in a mountain, and were considered as idols, but which I had no doubt were actually
images representing the mystery of the sacred nativity.
(x) To be sensible of the influence of education upon the Mexicans, we need only to be made
acquainted with the wonderful life led by the Mexican women of the Royal College of Guadaloupe
in Mexico, and those of the monasteries of Capuchins in the same capital, and Valladolid in
Michuacan.
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