They gazed on the spectacle
with a vague curiosity, not unmixed with awe; and, as they listened to
the wild cries of the ferocious animals and the hissings of the
serpents, they almost fancied themselves in the infernal regions.
I must not omit to notice a strange collection of human
monsters, dwarfs, and other unfortunate persons, in whose organisation
Nature had capriciously deviated from her regular laws. Such hideous
anomalies were regarded by the Aztecs as a suitable appendage of
state. It is even said they were in some cases the result of
artificial means, employed by unnatural parents, desirous to secure
a provision for their offspring by thus qualifying them for a place in
the royal museum!
Extensive gardens were spread out around these buildings, filled
with fragrant shrubs and flowers, and especially with medicinal
plants. No country has afforded more numerous species of these last,
than New Spain; and their virtues were perfectly understood by the
Aztecs, with whom medical botany may be said to have been studied as a
science. Amidst this labyrinth of sweet-scented groves and
shrubberies, fountains of pure water might be seen throwing up their
sparkling jets, and scattering refreshing dews over the blossoms.
Ten large tanks, well stocked with fish, afforded a retreat on their
margins to various tribes of water-fowl, whose habits were so
carefully consulted, that some of these ponds were of salt water, as
that which they most loved to frequent.
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