Six Months' Residence and Travels in Mexico: Containing Remarks on the Present State of New Spain, Its Natural Productions, State of Society, Manufactures, Trade, Agriculture, and Antiquities, &c |
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Agava altar ancient animals appearance arrived attention basalt beautiful birds brought capital carriage cayenne pepper Chalco CHAPTER chinampas Chollula church climate cloth colour common snipe Cortez covered crowded Cruz decorated delightful dollars dressed ebla eight elegant England English erected Europe European expense feet finest flowers garden gentleman gold ground hacienda handsome horses hundred idols Indian inhabitants journey kind king ladies lake leagues maguey maize manner manufacture ment Mexican Mexico miles Montezuma mountains mules never night Nopal observed Orizaba ornaments Otumba palace passed persons Phaeton present principal procured Puebla pulque pyramids quantity religious remains rich road roofs scarcely seen side silver Spain Spaniards Spanish species specimens square stone strangers streets temple Teotihuacan Tezcuco Themascaltepec tion Tolucca town traveller trees valley of Mexico vegetation Vera Cruz village volcanic whilst whole woods Xalappa
Popular passages
Page 142 - It is a by-word that at Mexico there are four things fair, that is to say, the women, the apparel, the horses, and the streets. But to this I may add the beauty of some of the coaches of the gentry, which do exceed in cost the best of the Court of Madrid and other parts of Christendom; for there they spare no silver, nor gold, nor precious stones, nor cloth of gold, nor the best silks from China to enrich them.
Page 324 - Zumarraga, the first bishop of Mexico, says, in a letter of the 12th of June, 1531, addressed to the general chapter of his order, that in that capital alone twenty thousand human victims were annually sacrificed. Some authors, quoted by Gomara, affirm that the number of the sacrificed amounted to titty thousand.
Page 144 - Spain), from her window called unto us, and after two or three slight questions concerning Spain asked us if we would come in and play with her a game at primera. Both men and women are excessive in their apparel, using more silks than stuffs and cloth. Precious stones and pearls...
Page 131 - Most of the houses are of the same height, generally three stories, highly decorated, and ornamented with two rows of balconies of wrought iron, painted or gilt, and some of bronze. The stories are very lofty, the apartments being from fifteen to twenty feet high. The first or groundfloor is entered by a pair of large folding gates, ornamented with bronze, often thirty feet in height.
Page 347 - ... with people, most of whom expressed the most decided anger and contempt. Not so, however, all the Indians. I attentively marked their countenances; not a smile escaped them, or even a word — all was silence and attention. In reply to a joke of one of the students, an old Indian remarked, 'It is true we have three very good Spanish gods, but we might still have been allowed to keep a few of those of our ancestors.
Page 141 - Spaniards, who are so proud and rich that half the city was judged to keep coaches, for it was a most credible report that in Mexico in my time there were above fifteen thousand coaches.
Page 306 - All the servants of Montezuma's palace consisted of persons of rank. Besides those who constantly lived in it, every morning six hundred feudatory lords and nobles came to pay court to him. They passed the whole day in the antechamber, where none of their servants were permitted to enter, — conversing in a low voice, and awaiting the orders of their sovereign.
Page 27 - Provisions are dear, with the exception of fish, which, as already stated, is in abundance and good. Some beautiful and curious Mangrove oysters were the largest and finest flavoured I ever met with. Milk is scarcely to be had, as not a cow is kept within many miles, and what is, perhaps, peculiar to Vera Cruz, there is not a garden even near it. The absence of vegetation attests at once the poverty of the soil and the insalubrity of the climate. I know not whether prejudice may not have influenced...
Page 345 - This colossal and horrible monster is hewn out of one solid block of basalt, nine feet high, its outlines giving an idea of a deformed human figure, uniting all that is horrible in the tiger and rattle-snake : instead of arms it is supplied with two large serpents, and its...
Page 239 - ... three or four daily papers, but they contain very little information ; they are only just beginning to insert advertisements, which are received gratis, in the same manner as they were in England at the commencement of our newspapers. Lancastrian schools were established in the capital by the Emperor Augustine I., who is now in London : he informed me that it was his intention to have extended them throughout all the provinces. Something of the same nature is in contemplation by the present Government....