142 TEZCUCO. 



still yet more probability attributable to a people of an 

 age yet more remote. 



Our descent was rapid. It was night by the time we 

 crept forth from the deep barranca which separates the 

 base of the hill of Tezcozingo from the plains, and gained 

 La Navidad. The wind blew cold, but we galloped 

 swiftly onward, and in less than one hour's time reached 

 the meson at Tezcuco, where our servants and carriage 

 had long before preceded us. The arrival of four armed 

 horsemen at that time of the evening seemed to excite 

 some sensation in the little town, and the rumour soon 

 reached the commandant, who thought proper to pay us 

 an official but very shy visit : and after beinof satisfied 

 that we w 7 ere good men and true, apologized, by saying 

 that times were bad, and it had been suspected we were 

 some of Canalizza's insurgents. Next came, also offi- 

 cially announced, the secretary of the alcalde, with a 

 similar polite request, that we would say who we were ; 

 also backed by an humble apology, with this variation, 

 that it had been rumoured that we w r ere a party of La- 

 drones or banditti ! By means of the information gained 

 by these several functionaries, however, the good people 

 of Tezcuco were now enabled to sleep in peace and 

 quiet, leaving the strangers within their walls to their 

 repose also. 



There are but few remains exposed to the observation 

 of a superficial and hasty observer, to vindicate the an- 

 cient claim of Tezcuco to be considered as the second 

 city of the Mexican empire. Yet so it incontestibly was, 

 according to the Spanish historians, and I have no doubt 

 but a careful survey might bring to light much of a most 

 interesting character to the antiquary. 



The ruins of tumuli, and other constructions of un- 

 baked bricks, intermingled with platforms and terraces 

 of considerable extent, are still to be traced ; and it 

 is asserted that many of the Spanish edifices are con- 

 structed out of the ruins of the teocallis, or of the 

 palaces, which existed here at the time the Spaniards 

 built the present town. 



