136 



THE LAKES. 



of the water, which seemingly extended far on the other 

 side, up to the very base of the rock of Chapultepec, and 

 of the mountains behind. The Peiion de los BaSos ap- 

 peared once more as an island ; and this, which was now 

 a deceptive and unreal picture, was the fact three hun- 

 dred years ago. 



The phenomena exhibited by the lakes of Mexico are 

 extremely interesting. 



Though indisputably the hand of man has done much 

 towards the altered state of things as far as regards the 

 diminution of water in the lakes, yet it is probable that 

 natural causes, tending to the same results, have been in 

 operation for ages ; perhaps, ever since the day when 

 the cessation of violent volcanic convulsions left the basin 

 and table land of Mexico, with all its chaotic parts, fluid 

 or solid, to the sway of the ordinary and more gentle 

 operations of nature. 



It is improbable that there was ever a regular influx of 

 water, from whatever source it may have proceeded, at 

 all commensurate with the great evaporation which, 

 under the influence of the climate, and the physical con- 

 struction of the country, must always have taken place. 



Of the five lakes of Mexico — Tezcuco, Xochimilco, 

 Chalco, Cristobal, and Zumpango — that of Tezcuco is 

 the largest, the most central, the most impregnated with 

 saline particles, and lies at the lowest level.* Not one 

 of them possesses a natural outlet from the valley of Mex- 

 ico ; and in case of the overflow of any of the four 

 lakes, Tezcuco is the only reservoir into which they 

 can disembogue themselves. The streams falling into 

 Tezcuco, Xochimilco, and Cristobal, are so inconsider- 

 able as to be of little or no account ; but both Chalco at 

 the southern, and Zumpango at the northern extremity 

 of the chain, receive streams of a considerable volume, 

 calculated, under a combination of causes, to throw so 

 large a body of water into their respective reservoirs, as 

 to produce a most extraordinary overflow, and a con- 

 sequent rise of the waters in Lake Tezcuco. Such, tra- 



* At the height of 7 9 468 feet above the 



