whilst, near it, rose a menagerie, filled with specimens of all the native beasts, together with a museum, in which, with an oddity of taste unparalleled in history, there had been collected a vast number of human monsters, cripples, dwarfs, Albinos and other freaks and caprices of nature. The royal gardens are described by eye-witnesses as spots of unsurpassed elegance, adorned with rare shrubs, medicinal plants, and ponds, supplied by aqueducts and fountains, wherein, amid beautiful flowers, the finest fish and aquatic birds were seen forever floating in undisturbed quiet. The interior of the palace was equally attractive for its comfort and elegance. Spacious halls were covered with ceilings of odoriferous wood, while the lofty walls were hung with richly tinted fabrics of cotton, the skins of animals, or feather work wrought in mosaic imitation of birds, reptiles, insects and flowers. Nor was the Emperor alone amid the splendid wastes of his palace. A thousand women thronged these royal chambers, ministering to the tastes and passions of the elegant voluptuary. The rarest viands, from far and near, supplied his table, the service of which was performed by numerous attendants on utensils and equipage of the choicest material and shape. Four times, daily, the Emperor changed his apparel, and never put on again the dress he once had worn, or defiled his lips twice with the same vessels from which he fed.
Such was the sovereign's palace and way of life, nor can we suppose that this refinement of luxury was to be found alone in the dwelling of Montezuma and his nobles. It is to be regretted that we are not more fully informed of the condition of property, wealth and labor among the masses of this singular empire. The conquerors did not trouble themselves with acquiring accurate statistical information, nor do they seem to have counted numbers carefully, except when they had enemies to conquer or spoil to divide. In all primitive nations, however, the best idea of a people is to be attained from visiting the market-place,—or