ENVIEONS OF MEXICO. 



125 



resemblance to the Texcoco of Montezuma ; in the middle of the marshy depres- 

 sion may still be seen numerous other chiuampas, resting on matted beds of 

 aquatic plants and covered with soil brought from a distance. But ihase plots, 

 which are intersected by aculotes, or trenches, are not supported by movable 

 rafts ; on the contrary, they gradually form compact masses attached to the shore 

 and steadily encroaching on the lacustrine basin. Ixtapalapa, or " White Town," 

 formerly a great Mexican city with "fifteen thousand houses," according to Cortes, 

 stands near the head of the Viga Canal at Lake Xochimilco, under the EstreUa 

 or " Star " peak, famous in the religious history of Mexico. Here the priests 



Fig*. oO.^Indian Maeket-GtAedener's Caxob. 



assembled at the end of every cycle of 52 years in order to keep up the succession 

 of time by solemnly opening a new cycle. Fac'ng the capital at a distance of 

 sixteen miles in a straight line on the opposite side of the lake is seen the novv* 

 obscure town of Texcoco, which preceded Mexico and which was long its rival. 

 Texcoco was the ancient residence of the Toltec chiefs and the " Athens " of 

 Anahuac, for here the Nahuatl language was spoken in its greatest purity and 

 elegance. Texcoco has the advantage over Mexico of being built on healthy 

 ground above the level of the highest inundations. The Puerto de las Brigantinas, 

 that is, the spot where Cortes built a flotilla to reduce Mexico, lies now consider- 

 ably over a mile from the margin of the lake. North of Texcoco stands the 

 still more ancient city of Otumha, formerl)^ Otompan, which would appear to have 



