want of money, or fome universal standard by which to eftimate the value of commodities. The discovery of this is among the steps of greateft confequence in the progrefs of nations. Until it has been made, all their transactions must be fo aukward, fo operofe, and fo limited, what we may boldly pronounce that they have advanced but a little way in their career. The invention of fuch a commercial ftandard is of fuch high antiquity in our hemifphere, and rifes fo far beyond the era of authentick hiftory, as to appear almoft coeval with the exiftence of fociety. The precious metals feem to have been early employed for this purpose, and from their permanent value, their divifibility, and many other qualities, they are better adapted to ferve as a common standard than any other fubftance of which nature has given us the command. But in the New World, where thefe metals abound moft, this ufe of them was not known. The exigencies of rude tribes, or of monarchies imperfectly civilized, did not call for it. their commercial intercourfe was carried on by barter, and their ignorance of any common ftandard by which to facilitate that exchange of commodities which contributes fo much towards the comfort of life, may be justly mentioned as an evidence of the infant ftate of their policy. But even in the New World the inconvenience of wanting fome general inftrument of commerce began to be felt, and fome efforts were made ROBERTSON Vol. III.

N

All

towards fupplying that defe&t. The Mexicans, among whom the number and greatness of their cities gave rise to a more extended commerce than in any part of America, had begun to employ a common ftandard of value, which rendered fmaller transactions much more easy.

merce,

As

chocolate was the favourite drink of perfons in every rank of life, the nuts or almonds of cacao, of which it is compofed, were of fuch univerfal confumption, that, in their ftated markets, these were willingly received in return for commodities of fmall price. Thus they came to be confidered as the inftrument of comand the value of what one wifhed to difpofe of, was eftimated by the number of nuts of the cacao, which he might expect in exchange for it. This feems to be the utmost length which the Americans had advanced towards the difcovery of any expedient for fupplying the ufe of money. And if the want of it is to be held, on one hand, as a proof of their barbarity, this expedient for fupplying that want, fhould be admitted on the other, as an evidence no lefs fatisfying, of fome progress which the Mexicans had made in refinement and civilization, beyond the favage tribes around them.

Doubts concerning the ftate of their cities.

In fuch a rude ftate were many of the Mexican provinces when firft vifited by their con

querors. Even their cities, extenfive and populous as they were, feem more fit to be the habitation of men juft emerging from barbarity than the refidence of a polifhed people. The defcription of Tafcala nearly resembles that of an Indian village. A number of low ftraggling huts, fcattered about irregularly, according to the caprice of each proprietor, built with turf and tone, and thatched with reeds, without any light but what they received by a door, fo low that it could not be entered upright. p) In Mexico, though, from the peculiarity of its fituation, the difpofition of the houfes was more orderly, the ftructure of the greater part was equally mean.

Temples,

Nor does the fabrick of their temples, and other publick edifices, appear to have been fuch as entitled them to the high praises beftowed upon them by many Spanifh authors. As far as one can gather from their obfcure and inacurate descriptions, the great temple of Mexico, the most famous in New Spain, which has been reprefented as a magnificent building, raifed to fuch a height, that the afcent to it was by a ftair - cafe of a hundred and fourteen steps, was a folid mafs of earth of a fquare form, faced partly with ftone. Its bafe on each fide extend

p) Herrera, dec. 2. lib. vi. c. 12.

ed ninety feet, and decreasing gradually as it advanced in height, it terminated in a quadrangle of about thirty feet, where were placed a fhrine of the deity and two altars on which the victims were facrificed. q) All the other celebrated temples of New Spain exactly re embled that of Mexico. r) Such ftructures convey no high idea of progress in art and ingenuity; and one can hardly conceive that a form more rude and fimple could have occurred to a nation in its firft efforts towards erecting any great work.

and other publick buildings.

Greater fkill and ingenuity were difplayed, if we may believe the Spanish historians in the houses of the emperor and in those of the principal nobility. There, fome elegance of defign was vifible, and a commodious arrangement of the apartments was attended to. But if buildings correfponding to fuch difcriptions had ever exifted in the Mexican cities, it is probable that fome remains of them would ftill be vifible. From the manner in which Cortes conducted the fiege of Mexico, we can indeed eafily account for the total deftruction of whatever had any appearance of fplendor in that capital. But as only two centuries and a half have elapsed since the con

q) Herrera, dec. 2. lib. vii.

r) See NOTE xxvIII,

queft of New Spain, it feems altogether incredible that in a period fo fhort, every veftige of this boafted elegance and grandeur fhould have disappeared; and that in the other cities, particularly in thofe which did not fuffer by the destructive hand of the conquerors, there are any ruins, which can be confidered as monuments of their ancient magnificence..

Even in a village of the rudeft Indians there are buildings of greater extent and elevation than common dwelling-houfes. Such as are deftined for holding the council of the tribe, and in which all affemble on occafions of pu blick feftivity, may be called stately edifices, when compared with the reft. As among the Mexicans the diftinction of ranks was established, and property was unequally divided, the number of diftinguished ftructures in their towns would of courfe be greater than in other parts of America. But these seem not to have been either fo folid or magnificent as to merit the pompous epithets which fome Spanish authors employ in defcribing them. It is probable that, though more ornamented, and built on a larger fcale, they were erected with the fame flight materials which the Indians employed in their common buildings, s) and Time, in a space much less than two hundred and fifty years, may have swept away all remains of them. t)

s) See NOTE XXIX. t) See NOTE XXX.