Appendix II. Second Letter
335
| IV. | There was no system of phonetic writing. |
| V. | They kept no domestic animals save rabbits, chickens, and little dogs, all of which they ate; and they had no beasts of burden. |
| VI. | Their only cereal was maize. |
| VII. | They knew neither iron, nor tin, nor lead, though the mountains were full of them, and their only hard metal was copper. |
Even from the summary and incomplete indications here given, it is seen that the Aztec state possessed many excellent institutions and elements of an advanced civilisation, and, despite the co-existence of certain limitations which have led some to doubt the development claimed for them, our interest in the origin and history of the mysterious races of Andhuac is stimulated to wonder and admiration for what we do know of their empire, and to boundless regret for the disappearance of all, save the few vestiges which remain to excite a curiosity they are inadequate to appease.
It is not required to endow Mexico with "the glory that was Greece or the grandeur that was Rome" in order to admit that it was beautiful.
