Mexico. 

 Town of. 



178 MEXICO. 



of the ground, is conducted over arches for no more 



. i -c *u_ na Thf nnpipnt (likes, or 



Antiqui 

 tiei. 



than a third part of the space. The ancient dikes, or 

 causeways, still exist ; and others have been formed 

 across the marshy grounds, which at once serve the 

 purposes of roads for carriages, and of mounds 

 Lt the overflowings of the lake. There are few re- 

 mains of Mexican antiquities to be found in the capi- 

 tal The ancient temples, or teocalhs, which were 

 truncated pyramids, with a broad base, and frequently 

 150 feet in height, covered with wooden cupolas and 

 altars, (see p. 194,) were so much used during the 

 siege as places of defence, that most of them were de- 

 stroyed in its progress, and the rest atterwards thrown 

 down, partly as being heathen monuments displeasing 

 toPopbh bigotry, and partly a, furnishing strong-holds 

 to the Indian insurgents. The few remaining relics of 

 Mexican art are the dikes and aqueducts; the stone ot 

 the sacrifice; the great calendar monument; tl 

 lossal statue of the goddess Teoyaomiqui, which lies 

 covered with a few inches of earth in one ot the gal- 

 leries of the university; the Aztec manuscripts, or 

 hieroglyphical pictures, painted on agaue paper, stag- 

 skinsf and cotton cloth, which are preserved rather 

 carelessly in one of the archives of the viceroy s pa- 

 lace the foundations of the palace of the kings of 

 Alcolhuacan at Tezcuco; the colossal rel > ted 

 on the porphyritical rock called Penol de los Banos , 

 with several other objects, which are considered as re- 

 sembling the works of the ancient Mongol race 



Ponalatkm The population of Mexico, according to the most 

 Populate. 1 ne pj certg . n dataj amounts t<j i ess than 



135 000, or 140,000, including the military, who are 

 seldom fewer than 5000 or 6000. According to M. 

 Humboldt, the whole may be classed under the i 



lowing heads 



White Europeans , . 



White Creoles . . , - 65, 

 Indigenous, ( copper-coloured) . 33,ou 



Mestizoes, mixture of Whites and I 26,000 



Indians . J , 



Mulattoes . - ' 10,000 



Mexico, 

 Town of. 



Ecclesias- 

 tics. 



Floating 

 garden*. 



137,000 



There are 23 male convents, containing about 1200 

 individuals, of whom 580 are priests and choristers ; 

 and 15 female convents, containing 2100 individuals, 

 of whom nearly 900 are professed religieuses. 

 market of Mexico is abundantly supp bed with provi- 

 sions particularly with roots and fruits of every de- 

 scrintion; which maybe seen every morning at sun- 

 ^"brought down the canals in boats by the Indians 

 along with a great quantity of flowers. The greater 

 part of these roots are cultivated on the chmampas, or 

 floating gardens, in the adjoining lakes. These gar- 

 dens are known to have been in use as far back as the 

 end of the 14th century, and are supposed to have 

 been suggested by the natural occurrence of small 

 portions of earth covered with herbs, and bound toge- 

 ther by their roots, detached from the banks, and float- 

 ine on the surface of the water, or sometimes uniting 

 together so as to form small islands. They were after- 

 wards artificially constructed, by making rafts of reeds, 

 rushes, roots, and brushwood, covering these with black 

 mould, naturally impregnated with muriate of soda, 

 but gradually purified from the salt, and rendered fe 

 tile by washing it with the water of the lake. Some 

 of these gardens are moveable, and driven about by 

 the winds ; but others are anchored, or attached to tr. 

 ihore, and are towed, or pushed with poles from one 



spot to another. Frequently a cottage is built upon 

 them for the residence of an Indian, who acts as keeper 

 or guard for a whole group. They are usually 328 feet - T - 

 in length, by 1 6 or 19 in breadth, rising about 3 feet 

 above the surrounding water ; but many of them have 

 now become fixed, lying along the canal, and separated 

 from each other by narrow ditches. The edges of these 

 squares, formed in this manner, are generally orna- 

 mented with flowers, and sometimes with a hedge of 

 rose-bushes. On a soil thus constantly refreshed with 

 Water, the vegetation is extremely vigorous; and a 

 great variety of vegetables, particularly beans, peas, 

 pimento, potatoes, artichokes, and cauliflower are rais- 

 ed upon them. 



The town of Mexico is scarcely less endangered by in- 

 undations than that of Lima by earthquakes; andinevery 

 M years at least, has been greatly injured by the over- 

 flowing waters of the neighbouring lakes. All these 

 lakes, except that of Tezcuco, are on a higher level than 

 the city ; and even the bed of this nearest lake is progres- 

 sively rising by the accumulation of mud, while the pav- 

 ed streets of Mexico remain a fixed plane. These inunda- 

 tions occasioned less inconvenience in the old city, when 

 the inhabitants were accustomed to live much in their 

 canoes, and when the houses were so constructed, that 

 boats could pass through the lower storey. But the 

 losses experienced in the modern city were much greater, 

 and more alarming to the inhabitants, who have been 

 obliged to abandon the old Indian system of dikes or 

 mounds, which were found insufficient to repel the 

 floods, and have adopted the plan of canals of evacu: 

 tion to carry off the superabundant waters. At one pe- 

 riod, in consequence of these works being interrupts 

 Mexico remained inundated for five years from 1 

 to 1634. The greatest wretchedness prevailed amonj 

 the lower orders ; all commerce was at a stand ; and i 

 was only by frequent earthquakes opening the groun 

 of the valley that the waters were removed. At lengtl 

 after various schemes and delays, an immense outle 

 through the mountains to the north-east was completed 

 in 1789, called the Desague de Hue-huetoca, which is ^ Hue _ 

 one of the most gigantic hydraulic operations ever exe- huetOM . 

 cuted by man, and which, if filled with water to the 

 depth of 32 feet, would allow the largest ships of war to 

 pass. The canal is more than four leagues and a halt 

 length and a fourth part of the whole is cut through 

 the hills of Nochistongo. For the space of 1 1,482 feet, 

 the depth of the cut is from 98 to 131 feet ; and at the 

 highest part of the ridge, for the space of 2624 feet, tl 

 perpendicular depth is not less than from 1 

 feet while the breadth at the top is from 2 

 feet. But, in spite of all the means which have been 

 used to secure the capital against inundation from thi 

 north and north-west, it is still exposed to great risks 

 from the adjoining lake of Tezcuco, for the drainmj 

 of which a canal is begun to be executed, which ,wi 

 extend above 104,660 feet, and cost 125,000 

 operations have proved fatal to multitudes ot Indians, 

 who are compelled to labour in the public works to th 

 neglect of their own domestic affairs ; and who bet* 

 perishing in great numbers from disease and casual- 

 ties, are reduced to a general state of poverty. 



The environs of Mexico present a rich and varied ap- Envirow. 

 pearance, when viewed in the morning from the towers 

 of the cathedral, or the hill of Chapoltepec. Ihe eye, 

 (says M. Humboldt,) sweeps over a vast plain of care- 

 fully cultivated fields, which extend to the very feet of 

 the colossal mountains covered with perpetual snow 

 The city appears as if washed by the waters of the 



canal 



