600 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



An the water which collects in 

 thelake of Tezcuco is sweet when 

 it first enters ; but it afterwards 

 becomes so very brackish and un- 

 wholesome, that if drank, or used 

 in cooking by the inhabitants, it 

 gives them fluxes, and complaints 

 in the bowels. This bad property 

 arises from the salt and nitrous 

 bed of this lake; hence the island 

 entirely depends on this double 

 aqueduct of Chapoltepec for its 

 supplies of fresh water. 



The churches and houses are 

 built of stone and of bricks, and 

 the houses in general, where the 

 ground will bear their weight, are 

 three stories high. The founda- 

 tions of the large houses of the 

 capital, as at first built by the 

 Mexicans, were laid upon a floor 

 of large beams of cedar, fixed in 

 the earth, on account of the want 

 of solidity in the soil, which ex- 

 ample the Spaniards have found 

 it necessary to imitate and adopt. 

 The great square is in the centre 

 of the city, from whence the 

 streets run quite through the whole 

 in a direct line, either north and 

 south, or east and west, crossing 

 each other at right angles, so that 

 the length and breadth of the city 

 may be plainly discerned at the 

 corner of any of the streets, all of 

 which are wide and well paved. 

 There is a public walk, with a jet 

 d'eau, where eight avenues meet, 

 which is very grand, and the prin- 

 cipal squares have each a fountain 

 of water in their centre. 



Every morning at sun-rise, in- 

 numerable boats, canoes, and craft 

 of various descriptions, laden with 

 a vast variety of fruits, herbs, 

 flowers, garden-stuff of all kinds, 

 fish, fowls, turkies, geese, ducks, 

 venison, game of all kinds, flesh 



meat of all kinds, and a variety of 

 other provisions, are seen arriving 

 by the lake at the great market- 

 place of the city, where the inha- 

 bitants are supplied with the 

 greatest abundance, and at mo- 

 derate prices. 



The natural strength of the city 

 is great, there being no approaches 

 to it but by the causeways, which 

 may easily be obstructed by break- 

 ing them down at intervals, or by 

 destroying the whole of the cause- 

 ways, if necessary. All other 

 modes of capture must be by 

 boats, canoes, &c. and cutting off 

 their supplies of provisions, and 

 fresh water, &c. which they re- 

 ceive by the aqueduct of Chapol- 

 tepec. 



Mexico is an archbishop's see, 

 and contains one most magnifi- 

 cent cathedral, thirty-four public 

 churches, thirty-six monasteriesof 

 men, and twenty-nine nunneries 

 of women, with each a church. 

 The cathedral possesses a revenue 

 of ninety thousand pounds sterling 

 perannum,ofwhich the archbishop 

 receives thirty thousand pounds, 

 besides casual fines, which make 

 him fifteen to twenty thousand 

 pounds a year more. The re- 

 mainder, amounting to sixty thou- 

 sand pounds, is divided amongst 

 the dignitaries and other clergy 

 belonging to this cathedral, which 

 amount to upwards of four hun> 

 dred, without including organists, 

 musicians, singers, &c. 



The cathedral is built in the 

 form of a cross, is lofty and spa- 

 cious, the windows numerous, the 

 paintings, gilding, and carving, 

 are in a heavy style, and it contains 

 a great number of chapels and su- 

 perb altars. The high altar stands 

 in the middle of the choir ; the 



