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IN AN UNEXPLORED REGION; AND THE POSSESSION OF TWO REMARKABLE

AZTEC CHILDREN

MAXIMO (the boy), and BARTOLA (the girl),

DESCENDANTS AND SPECIMENS OF THE SACERDOTAL CASTE (NOW NEARLY
EXTINCT), OF THE ANCIENT AZTEC FOUNDERS OF THE RUINED
TEMPLES OF THAT COUNTRY,

DESCRIBED BY JOHN L. STEPHENS, Esq.,
AND OTHER TRAVELERS.

TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH OF

PEDRO VELASQUEZ,

OF SAN SALVADOR.

NEW YORK:

WYNKOOP, HALLENBECK & THOMAS, PRINTERS,

No. 113 FULTON STREET.

1860.

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PREFACE.

ON Monday, July 4th, 1853, the AZTEC LILLIPUTIANS had the honor to be presented to Her Most Gracious Majesty, QUEEN VICTORIA, having previously visited the families of Sir JAMES CLARKE, Sir BENJAMIN BRODIE, Doctors LATHAM, GUTHRIE, HODGKIN, and been seen by Professors OWEN, GRANT, and FARADAY, and the heads of the Faculty generally, who considered them a curiosity so unique and extraordinary, as to warrant their commending them to the notice of Royalty. At the palace, Her Majesty, their Royal Highnesses PRINCE ALBERT, the PRINCE OF WALES, the PRINCESS ROYAL, and the PRINCESS ALICE, viewed them with acknowledged gratification; and the pleasure they expressed was perfectly in accordance with the commendations bestowed on the Liliputians by their Serene Highnesses the PRINCE and PRINCESS OF PRUSSIA, PRINCE HOLENLOHE LANGENBOURG, the DUKE and DUCHESS OF SAXE COBOURG, and the other members of the Royal Party present at the interview. Indeed, the excitement they occasioned at the Palace was far greater than that which their Guardians had expected; and the perfect satisfaction which Her Majesty and their Royal Highnesses were pleased to intimate, will ever be one of the most gratifying reminiscences to those who accompanied the Aztecs to England.

From the above period down to the present time, the Aztecs have continued in Europe, attracting the greatest attention from the Royal Families, to all of whom they have been presented, and from Physicians, Naturalists, and other classes interested in the Physiology of the Human Race.

European Patrons of the Exhibition.

Her Majesty QUEEN VICTORIA, the PRINCE CONSORT, the DUCHESS OF KENT, and all the ROYAL FAMILY.

EMPEROR AND EMPRESS NAPOLEON, EMPRESS' MOTHER, PRINCE AND
PRINCESS NAPOLEON, and all the IMPERIAL FAMILY OF FRANCE.
KING AND QUEEN OF PRUSSIA: present, ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT,
LECHENSTEIN, and all the PRINCES OF BERLIN.

EMPEROR, EMPRESS, and all the ROYAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA.
KING AND QUEEN OF BAVARIA.

KING AND QUEEN OF SAXONY.

KING AND QUEEN OF HANOVER.

KING AND QUEEN OF HOLLAND.

EX-QUEEN OF FRANCE.

EX-QUEEN OF SPAIN.

PRESIDENT FILLMORE AND FAMILY, OF AMERICA.

(From the London Morning Advertiser, July 25, 1853.)

THE AZTECS.-A throng of distinguished and fashionable visitors have honored these extraordinary and incomprehensible little problems of humanity with visits during the week. Their Majesties the KING and QUEEN OF HANOVER, and the CROWN PRINCE and PRINCESS, and the whole of the late ROYAL FAMILY OF FRANCE, including the EX-QUEEN, visited the Hanover-square rooms; also, the

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And many other members of the aristocracy. The ex-Queen of the French not only expressed the great interest she took in the Liliputian wonders, but substantially testified her approbation, in the form of a valuable present. Her example has been imitated by many other visitors, and so numerous have been the contributions of the ladies in the way of jewels, toys, and habiliments, that the question may well be asked-who would not be an Aztec ?

EXTRACTS FROM A SECOND LETTER FROM VON HUMBOLDT TO MR. MORRIS,

"DATED BERLIN, PRUSSIA, January 14th, 1856. "Ir is with lively satisfaction, sir, that I can give the repeated assurance that their Majesties the King and Queen of Prussia, with the greatest interest, made a prolonged observation of your Aztec Liliputians, in the Castle of Charlottenburg, on the 26th Dec., 1855. This interest is, as I hereupon willingly declare, by no means such as tends only to the satisfaction of a common curiosity, but rather that the gentle, thriving children, for their age so little progressed in their intellectual development, appear to offer a worthy study to those who seriously occupy themselves with the types of human organization, and with the laws respecting them. As it regards the characteristic signs which your little Aztecs present, they display (as has already often been remarked) a great resemblance to the sculptures of Pallenque, and the considerable number of religious paintings in the old Mexican manuscripts, which I have published. But the style of the sculptures and paintings is ascribed to the race of Toltecs. If, now, your little Aztecs are an abnormal deviation, and indeed microcephali (small heads), whilst the other parts of their body are proportionate, the question presents itself, whether their parents possess the same features, the same almost oriental, strange expression of the eyes, and the same almost curly black hair of the little girl? The tribes that succeeded each other in Mexico are the Olmecs, which have extended their wanderings to the Nicaragua, the Toltecs, who emigrated to Tula in 670, and the Chickmecs and Aztecs in the twelfth century."

THEIR AMERICAN REPUTATION.

PREVIOUS to their European tour, the Aztecs spent a short period in this country, where they attracted much of the attention which has since become universal, in proportion as they have been more widely examined, and become better known. From high and intelligent sources in this country, as also from the Press at large, numerous commendatory remarks and notices were received, a few of which are appended.

"PRESIDENTIAL MANSION, January 21, 1852.

"MR. J. M. MORRIS: Sir-Your note of inquiry has been received, and in reply I am pleased to inform you that the visit of the Aztecs to the Executive Mansion was entertaining to us all. They are a greater phenomenon, more extraordinary in their appearance, more agreeable in their dispositions, more pleasing in their manners, and withal more intelligent, than we had anticipated,

"Respectfully, &c.,

MRS. M. FILLMORE."

"THE AZTEC LILIPUTIANS.

"WASHINGTON, January 27th, 1852. "The Aztec children, under the protection of their guardian, visited us at the Capitol to-day, and, as members of the Senate and House of Representatives, we are pleased to add our testimony in their behalf, to that already given.

"We consider them altogether the most remarkable specimens of animated nature we have ever witnessed; agreeable, sprightly, interesting, and manifesting much intelligence, and we think no person would fail to see them if a correct idea could be formed respecting them from any historical account which might precede their visits.

LEWIS CASS,

WM. H. SEWARD,
GEO. W. JONES,
JOHN B. WELLER,
C. T. JAMES,
W. BROOKE,

J. WASHBURN, JR.,
JOHN PETTIT,
JAMES L. ORR,

REUBEN ROBIE,

ANDREW PARKER,

LINCOLN CLARK,
Jos. SUTHERLAND,
D. K. CARTER,
M. M. DIMMICK,
W. MURRAY.
ALFRED GILMORE,
SHEPARD CLEMENS,
C. B. CURTIS,
JOHN APPLETON,
DAVID L. SEYMOUR,
B. HENN,

JOHN JONSON,
S. W. HARRIS,
WILLIS ALLEN,
THOS. BIBIGHAUS,
T. Y WALSH,
B. B. THURSTON,
T. Z. GOODRICH,
RICHARD YATES,
EBON NEWTON,
FAYETTE MCMULLAN,
and others."

LETTER FROM PROFESSOR OWEN.

PROFESSOR OWEN, the first comparative anatomist of the age, in his letter, addressed to the guardian of these little strangers, after returning thanks for the opportunity and facilities afforded him in his examination of them, says:

"The remarkable difference which these children present, as compared with normal European children, with analogous stages of dentition, in thin and slender stature, and especially in the much smaller proportion of the cranial part of the head, renders them objects of peculiar interest to the physiologist and naturalist; whilst their quick perceptive faculties, their easily-excited curiosity, the mild and intelligent expression of their full, dark eyes, their deep-olive complexion, and the singu larity of some of their attitudes, combine to invest them with a character of peculiar singularity, which cannot fail to surprise and gratify all beholders.

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