fact, about to be transferred to these heights by a formal edict of King Philip III., at the period of the great inundation in 1607. The ajunta. miento, or magistracy of the city, represented to the court that the value of the houses condemned to destruction amounted to 105 millions of francs. They appeared to be ignorant at Madrid that the capital of a kingdom, constructed for more than 88 years, is not a flying camp, which may be changed at will,

It is impossible to determine with any certainty the number of inhabitants of old Tenochtitlan. Were we to judge from the fragments of ruined houses, and the recital of the first conquerors, and especially from the number of the combatants whom the kings Cuitlahuatzin and Quauhtimotzin opposed to the Tlascaltecs and

lonies, however new their appearance may be, are in disagreeable situations. I do not here speak of the site of Caraccas, Quito, Pasto, and several other cities of South America, but merely of the Mexican cities; for example, Valladolid, which might have been built in the beautiful valley of Tepare; Guadalaxara, which is quite near the delightful plain of the Rio Chiconahuatenco, or San Pedro; Pazcuaro, which we cannot help wishing to have been built at Tzintzontza. One would say that every where the new colonists of two adjoining places have uniformly chosen either the one most mountainous, or most exposed to inundations. But indeed the Spaniards have constructed almost no new cities; they merely inhabited or enlarged those which were already founded by the Indians.

*4,375,350l. sterling. Trans.

Spaniards, we should pronounce the population of Tenochtitlan three times greater than that of Mexico in our days. Cortez asserts, that after the siege the concourse of Mexican artisans who wrought for the Spaniards, as carpenters, masons, weavers, and founders, was so enormous, that in 1524 the new city of Mexico already numbered thirty thousand inhabitants. Modern authors have thrown out the most contradictory ideas regarding the population of this capital. The Abbe Clavigero, in his excellent work on the ancient history of New Spain, proves that these estimations vary from sixty thousand to a million and a half of inhabitants *. We ought not to be astonished at these contradictions when we consider how new statistical researches are even in the most cultivated parts of Europe.

According to the most recent and least uncertain data, the actual population of the capital of Mexico appears to be (including the troops) from 135 to 140,000 souls. The enumeration in 1790, by orders of the Count de Revillagigedo, gave a result of only 112,926 inhabitants for the city; but we know that this result is one sixth below the truth. The regular troops and militia in garrison in the capital are composed

*Clavigero, iv. p. 278. note p.

+ See note C. at the end of the work.

We may ad

of from 5 to 6000 men in arms.

mit with great probability that the actual popu lation consists of

2,500 white Europeans.

65,000 white Creoles.

33,000 indigenous (copper-coloured).

26,500 Mestizoes, mixture of whites and Indians.

10,000 Mulattoes.

137,000 inhabitants.

There are consequently in Mexico 69,500 men of colour, and 67,500 whites; but a great number of the Mestizoes are almost as white as the Europeans and Spanish Creoles!

In the twenty-three male convents which the capital contains there are nearly 1200 individuals, of whom 580 are priests and choristers. In the fifteen female convents there are 2100 individuals, of whom nearly 900 are professed religieuses.

The clergy of the city of Mexico is extremely numerous, though less numerous by one fourth than at Madrid. The enumeration of 1790 gives

and without including lay brothers and novices 2,068. The clergy of Madrid, according to the excellent work of M. de Laborde*, is composed of 3470 persons, consequently the clergy is to the whole population of Mexico as 1 to 100, and at Madrid as 2 to 100.

We have already given a view of the revenues of the Mexican clergy. The archbishop of Mexico possesses a revenue of 682,500 livres t. This sum is somewhat less than the revenue of the convent of Jeronimites of the Escurial. archbishop of Mexico is, consequently, much poorer than the archbishops of Toledo, Valencia,

An

*This excellent work of Laborde, it is worth while to remark, received several contributions from M. de Humboldt. Trans.

+ 18,420 sterling. Trans.

Seville, and Santiago. The first of these possesses a revenue of three millions of livres *. However, M. de Laborde has proved, and the fact is by no means generally known, that the clergy of France before the revolution was more numerous, compared to the total population, and richer as a body, than the Spanish clergy. The revenues of the tribunal of inquisition of Mexico, a tribunal which extends over the whole kingdom of New Spain, Guatimala, and the Philippine Islands, amount to 200,000 livres †.

The number of births at Mexico, for a mean term of 100 years, is 5,930; and the number of deaths 5,050. In the year 1802 there were even 6,155 births and 5,166 deaths, which would give, supposing a population of 137,000 souls, for every 22 individuals, one birth, and for every 26 one death. We have already seen in the fourth chapter, that in the country they reckon in general in New Spain the relation of the births to the population as one to 17; and the relation of the deaths to the population as one to 30.

125,000l. sterling. Trans. † 83341. sterling. Trans.

In France the relation of the births to the deaths is such, that on the totality of the population only one 30th annually dies, while there is born one 28th. Peuchet Statistique, p. 251. In cities this proportion depends on a concurrence of local and variable circumstances. In 1786, there were reckoned in London 18,119 births, and 20,454 deaths; and in 1802, at Paris 21,818 births, and 20,390 deaths.