The Mexicans possessed some knowledge of astronomy, and their calendar was constructed with more exactness than that of the Greeks, the Romans, or the Egyptians. Their hieroglyphic drawings and maps—their cities and artificial roads, causeways, canals, and immense pyramids—their government and hierarchy, and administration of laws—their knowledge of the art of mining, and of preparing metals for armament and use—their skill in carving images out of the hardest stone—in manufacturing and dyeing cloths, and the perfection of their agriculture, inspire us with a high opinion of the civilization of the Mexicans at the time of the conquest: especially when we take into consideration the period when they are described to have reached this state of excellence in the arts and sciences. We ought always to bear in mind the state of Europe at the same period, before the Reformation, and before the discovery of the art of printing. Cortez compares Mexico with Spain, and frequently to the advantage of the former. The only circumstance wanting to have rendered their state of society more perfect than that of Spain, appears to have been a more pure religion, and the use of animals for domestic purposes. The peasants were compelled to carry heavy loads, like beasts of burden; and in their religious worship the most shocking superstition prevailed. Their altars were frequently stained with the blood of human sacrifices. We cannot judge of the character of the population, prior to the conquest, by the Indians we now see. The priests, who possessed all the learning, were destroyed; the princes and nobles were deprived of their property, and in fact reduced to a level with the lowest class; and the serfs, who are, and always have been an oppressed and degraded people, are alone to represent the former Mexicans.