136 SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



" Tezcuco, its capital, now reduced to in- 

 significance, seems to have occupied a large 

 space of ground, on which are yet to be seen 

 fragments of considerable stone walls, &c. 



" It is situated on the eastern side of the 

 large lake of the same name in the valley of 

 Mexico, and five leagues distant from that 

 city. 



6 ' Among the thirteen kings, whose names 

 history has recorded to have reigned over this 

 kingdom from 1170 to 1520, one was named 

 Nezahualcoyolt, who ascended the throne in 

 1426, and who has highly distinguished him- 

 self by his courage, wisdom, and virtues, and 

 may justly be called the Solon of Anahuac: 

 under him the arts flourished so highly, that 

 Tezcuco has been compared to Athens, as it 

 abounded in poets, orators, historians, and 

 excellent workmen, and at the same time was 

 the place where the purest Mexican language 

 was spoken. Great disturbances arose in 



