158

Chinese Ship-building.

[Book 1.

Chinese pumps, "I have introduced the use of them into the United States of America, where they are of great utility in rivers, in consequence of the little labor they require." (Vol. i, 74.) We are not aware that they are much used in this country at the present time. The chain pump is employed in the diamond districts of Brazil. M. Mawe, in his Travels, has figured and described it as used there. It has also been recently introduced into Egypt, where it is more likely to become domiciliated, than the atmospheric and forcing pump, which Belzoni endeavored in vain to establish; although St. John seems to think even it is rather too complex for the present state of the mechanic arts in the land of the Pharaohs. 66 Windmills for raising water, and chain pumps, have been introduced into Egypt; but as these are machines which require some regard to the principles of good workmanship, they are by no means fitted for general use." Egypt and Mohammed Ali, vol. i, 14.

The chain pump, as well as the screw, noria, chain of pots, &c. has been adopted as a first mover. Placed perpendicularly on the side of a precipice, or wherever a small stream of water can be conveyed into its upper orifice, and can escape from its lower one, the motion of the chain is reversed by the weight of the liquid column acting on the pistons. A wheel similar to the upper one is fixed below, over which the chain also passes; and from the axle of either wheel the power may be taken. A patent for this application of the chain pump was granted in England, in 1784.

There is another device of the Chinese, which is worthy of imitation; and considering the increased security it offers to floating property, and the additional safety of the lives of navigators, it is surprising that it has not been adopted by Americans and Europeans-viz. the division of the holds of ships by water-tight partitions. The Chinese divide the holds of their sea vessels into about a dozen distinct compartments with strong plank; and the seams are caulked with a cement composed of lime, oil, and the scrapings of bamboo. This composition renders them impervious to water, and is greatly preferable to pitch, tar and tallow, since it is said to be incombustible. This division of their vessels seems to have been well experienced; for the practice is universal throughout the empire. Hence it sometimes happens that one merchant has his goods safely conveyed in one division, while those of another, suffer considerable damage from a leak in the compartment in which they are placed. A ship may strike against a rock and yet not sink, for the water entering by the fracture will be confined to the division where the injury occurs. To the adoption of a similar plan in European or American merchantmen, beside the opposition of popular prejudice and the increased expense, an objection might arise from the reduction it would occasion in the quantity of freight, and the increased difficulty of stowing bulky articles. It remains to be considered how far these objections ought to prevail against the greater security of the vessel, crew and cargo. At any rate, such objections do not apply to ships of war, in which to carry very heavy burdens, is not an object of consideration. Staunton's Embassy, vol. ii, 136.

Chap. 18.]

Ancient America.

159

CHAPTER XVIII.

On the hydraulic works of the ancient inhabitants of America: Population of Anahuac-Ferocity of the Spanish invaders Subject of ancient hydraulic works interesting-Aqueducts of the Toltecs-Ancient Mexican wells-Houses supplied with water by pipes-Palace of Motezuma-Perfection of Mexican works in metals-Cortez-Market in ancient Mexico-Hydraulic works-Fountains and jets d'eau-Noria and other machines-Palenque: its aqueducts, hieroglyphics, &c.—Wells in ancient and modern Yucatan-Relics of former ages, and traditions of the Indians. Hydraulic works of the Peruvians: Customs relating to water-Humanity of the early Incas-Aqueducts and reservoirs-Resemblance of Peruvian and Egyptian customs-Garcilasso-Civilization in Peru before the times of the Incas-Giants -Wells-Stupendous aqueducts, and other monuments-Atabalipa-Pulleys-Cisterns of gold and silvor in the houses of the Incas-Temples and gardens supplied by pipes-Temple at Cusco: its waterworks and utensils-Embroidered cloth-Manco Capac.

It has been a subject of regret, that we have been unable to obtain any specific information, respecting the employment of machines to raise water on the American continents, previous to the visit of Europeans in the 15th and 16th centuries. And yet there can, we think, be scarcely a doubt, that in those countries where civilization and the arts had made considerable progress, as Peru, Chili, Guatimala, and Mexico, such machines had long been in use. Unfortunately, accounts of those countries by early European writers, contain little else than details of the successful villany of those savage adventurers, who, under the cloak of religion, and by the most revolting perfidy, robbed the natives of their independence, their property, and myriads of them of their lives.

It is impossible to reflect on the great population of ancient Anahuac— the progress which the natives had made in the arts-the separation of trades and professions-their extensive manufactures-the splendor of their buildings-their laws-the rich produce of their highly cultivated fields—the freedom and prosperity of the republics of Tlascala, and the comparative general happiness of the inhabitants; with the utter desolation brought on them and their country by the Spaniards-without feeling emotions of unmitigated indignation. No one can read even Solis, the advocate of Cortez and the palliator of his conduct, without being thrilled with horror at the uniform treachery, cruelty, and blasphemy of that man. His watchword of the Holy Ghost,' while slaughtering the natives on one occasion like sheep, conveys but an imperfect idea of his ferocity and indifference to their sufferings, and of the disgusting affectation of promoting christianity, under which he pretended to act. Religion,' says Solis, 'was always his principal care.' The Spaniards affected to shudder at the sanguinary gods of the Mexicans, which required human sacrifices-while they immolated in cold blood, hecatombs of the natives to the demons they themselves worshipped-viz. avarice and dominion-until the land was filled with slaughter, and whitened with the bones of their victims. It is said, that "in seventeen years, they destroyed above six millions of them." No romance ever equalled in horror the tragedies performed by Almagro, Valdivia, Cortez and Pizarro-and yet these men have been held up as examples of heroism, and our youth have been taught to admire, and of course to emulate the glory of Cortez.'

It is more than probable that the people, who, in remote times, inhabited the southern continent and Mexico, remains of some of whose

160

Hydraulic Works

[Book I. works, rival in magnitude those of Egypt and India, and many of them, (the roads and aqueducts particularly,) equalled in utility the noblest works of Greece and Rome-were not without hydraulic engines; and had descriptions of them been preserved, they would have furnished more interesting, and perhaps more certain data, respecting the peopling of America, and of the origin of the Toltec and Astec races, than any others derived from the useful arts. From the analogy there is between some of the arts, manners, and customs of the ancient people of Mexico and South America, and those of Asia, we might suppose that the swape, bucket and windlass, noria, and chain of pots, and perhaps the chain pump were known to them; but of this we have met with no direct proof. Were the fact established, that they were in possession of these machines, it would greatly tend to prove their Asiatic origin in post1 diluvian times; while on the other hand, if lacking these, they had others peculiar to themselves, such a fact would be one of the most interesting circumstances connected with the early history of these continents; and might be adduced to sustain the hypothesis of those who consider this hemisphere as having been uninterruptedly occupied by man, from times anterior to Noah's flood; and consequently many of the machines, arts, and productions of the inhabitants peculiar to themselves.

The Toltecs, we are informed, introduced the cultivation of maize and cotton; they built cities, made roads, and constructed those great pyramids which are yet admired; and of which the faces are very accurately laid out; they could found metals, and cut the hardest stone-they knew the use of hieroglyphical painting, and they had a solar year, more perfect than that of the Greeks and Romans. "Few nations (says Humboldt) moved such great masses as were moved by the Mexicans," proofs of which are still found among the ruins of their temples. The calender stone, and the sacrifice stone, in the great square at Mexico, containing 282 and 353 cubic feet; a carved stone dug up, which was upwards of 22 feet in length, 19 feet in breadth, and about 10 deep-are examples; and the colossal statue of the Goddess Teoyaomiqui, is another. And what is more to our purpose, remains of AQUEDUCTS, of surprising magnitude and workmanship, are found throughout Chili, Mexico, and Peru.

Nor had these arts been lost at the period of the Spanish invasion. At that time, agriculture, artificial irrigation, and many other of the mechanic arts, especially those which relate to the metals, appear to have been in a more advanced state, than they have ever been in Spain, during any subsequent period. When Grijalva and his companions landed in Yucatan, (in 1518) they were astonished at the cultivation of the fields, and the beauty of the edifices-as well as at the ornaments, &c. in gold, which the natives possessed, the value of the workmanship often exceeding that of the metal. Tlascala, (says Solis,) was at that period, "a very populous city;" the houses were built of stone and brick, their roofs were flat and surrounded with galleries. The Tlascalans, says Herrera, had baths, bowers, and fountains, and whenever a new house was finished, they had feasts and dancing, &c. like the house warming of old in Europe. Every house in Zempoala had a garden with water. Ancient wells are still in use in Mexico, some of which are two and three hundred feet in depth. Water is drawn from them to irrigate the soil.

The city of Cholula was located in a delightful plain; it contained 20,000 inhabitants, and the number in its suburbs was greater. The

a Clavigero says, columns of stone of one piece, 80 feet long, and 20 feet in circumference, were extant in his time, in the edifices of Mictlan. Mexico, Vol. i, 420.

Chap. 18.]

in Ancient Mexico.

161

Spaniards compared it to Valladolid for its beauty and magnificence. It was a great emporium of merchandise. Strangers from distant parts of the continent flocked to it. Solis says, the streets were wide and well laid out; the buildings larger and of better architecture than those of Tlascala, and the inhabitants were principally merchants and mechanics. Cortez himself, after entering this city, thus speaks of it in a letter to Charles V. "The inhabitants are better clothed than any we have hitherto seen. People in easy circumstances wear cloaks above their dress; these cloaks differ from those of Africa, for they have pockets, though the cut, cloth and fringes are the same. The environs of the city are very fertile and well cultivated. Almost all the fields may be watered; and the city is much more beautiful than all those in Spain; for it is well fortified, and built on level ground. I can assure your highness, that from the top of a mosque (temple) I reckoned more than four hundred towers, all of mosques. The number of inhabitants is so great that there is not an inch of ground uncultivated." When the Spaniards reached Tezcuco, they found it as large again as Seville. It rivalled in grandeur and extent Mexico itself, and was of a much more ancient date than that capital. Herrera says, the streets were very regular, and that fresh water was brought in PIPES from the mountains to every house. The principal front of the buildings extended on the borders of a spacious lake, where the causeway that lea to Mexico began. It was from this causeway, which was built of stone and lime, that the Spaniards first beheld the distant capital, with its towers and pinnacles in the midst of the lake; and on the 8th November, 1519, Cortez and his myrmidons entered that city, which then contained a greater population than New-York does at present; for it had between three and four hundred thousand inhabitants.

When the Spaniards entered the gates, through a bulwark of stone supported by castles, they beheld a spacious street with houses uniformly built, and the windows and battlements filled with spectators. They were received into one of Motezuma's houses, which had been built by his father. This building, Solis remarks, vied in extent, with the principal palaces of emperors in Europe; and had the appearance of a fortress, with thick stone walls and towers upon the flanks. The streets of the city were straight, as if drawn by a line; and the public buildings, and houses of the nobility, which made up the greatest part of the city, were of stone and well built. The palace of Motezuma was so large a pile that it opened with thirty gates into as many different streets. The principal front took up one entire side of a spacious parade, and was of black, red and white jasper, well polished. Over the gates were the arms or symbolical figures of Motezuma or his predecessors, viz. a griffin, being half an eagle and half a lion; the wings extended and holding a tiger in its talons. The roofs of the buildings were of cypress, cedar, and other odoriferous woods, and were ornamented with carvings of different foliages and relievos." But without referring to the splendor of this unfortunate monarch's court, his luxurious mode of living, his treasures, the chair of burnished gold in which he was carried to meet Cortez, the jewels of gold, pearls, and precious stones, that adorned his person and those of his attendants, and the "shoes of hammered gold," that were bound to his feet and legs with straps, like the Roman military sandals; it will be sufficient to notice the market of the city for the sale of merchandise, in order to realize a tolerably correct idea of the state of the arts among the Mexicans. Nothing excited the surprise of the Spaniards so much as this market-both as regarded the quantity, variety, and quality of the goods sold, and the order which prevailed.

66

162

Mechanic Arts of the Mexicans.

[Book 1. The Mexican works of gold and silver, sent by Cortez to Charles V. says Clavigero, "filled the goldsmiths of Europe with astonishment." "Some of them were inimitable." Among others, there were fishes having scales alternately of gold and silver-a parrot with moveable head, tongue, and wings an ape with moveable head and feet, and having a spindle in its hand, in the attitude of spinning. Vol. i, 413.

Cortez, in a letter to Charles V. dated October 1520, says, "the market place is twice as large as that of Seville and surrounded with an immense portico, under which are exposed for sale all sorts of merchandise, eatables, ornaments made of gold, silver, lead, pewter, precious stones, bones, shells, and feathers; delft ware, leather, and spun cotton. We find hewn stone, tiles, and timber fit for building. There are lanes for game, others for roots and garden fruits. There are houses where barbers shave the head, (with razors made of obsidian,) and there are houses resembling our apothecary shops, where prepared medicines, unguents, and plasters are sold. The market abounds with so many things, that I am unable to name them all to your highness. To avoid confusion, every species of merchandise is sold in a separate lane. Every thing is sold by the yard, (by measure) but nothing has hitherto been seen to be weighed in the market. In the midst of the great square, is a house, which I shall call l'audencia in which ten or twelve persons sit constantly for determining any disputes which may arise respecting the sale of goods. There are other persons who mix continually with the crowd, to see that a just price is asked. We have seen them break the false measures, which they had seized from the merchants."

Solis has recorded some facts, which are too interesting to mechanics to be omitted. "There were rows of silversmiths, who sold jewels and chains of extraordinary fashion; several figures of beasts in gold and silver, wrought with so much art, as raised the wonder of our artificers; particularly some skillets with moving handles, that were so cast; besides other works of the same kind, with mouldings and relievos, without any signs of a hammer or graver." Herrera, speaking of these, observes, some things were cast, and others wrought with stones, to such perfection, that mary of them have surprised the ablest goldsmiths in Spain, for they could never conceive how they had been made; there being no sign of a hammer, or an engraver, or any other instrument used by them." They brought to the fair, (continues Solis) all the different sorts of cloth, made throughout this vast empire, of cotton and rabbits' fur, which the women of this country, enemies to idleness, spun extremely fine, being very dexterous in this manufacture. They had also drinking cups exquisitely made of the finest earth, different in color, and even in smell; and of this kind, they had all sorts of vessels, necessary either for the service and ornament of a house.

a These, which were worn round the neck, were doubtless similar to those known as Panama chains; which certainly are extraordinary specimens of workmanship. They may sometimes be met with at our jewellers, who buy them for the purity of the gold. It is said that the mode of making them has never been discovered, and that the secret is still preserved among the Indians of Panama. We have examined one which came from Carthagena, the length of which, had it been cut, was eight feet two inches ; its section, which was hexagonal, did not exceed one twentieth of an inch in diameter. It was formed of one or more fine wires, which seemed to have been woven or interlaced like the platting of a whip handle. When a single thread was examined by a microscope, it was found to be composed of several smaller wires, which separate, were scarcely perceptible to our unaided vision. The weight of the chain was eleven pennyweights, and it appeared to be as flexible as a piece of twine, certainly far more so than any chain formed of links. No end of a wire could be detected, and not a particle of solder was used.