THE CONTADOR. 



143 



I feel more regret than I can describe, at the hasty 

 manner in which we were obliged, by a sort of neces- 

 sity, to slur over our survey of this interesting site, which 

 is one of those to which I should more particularly di- 

 rect the attention of any friend of mine who may turn 

 his steps towards New Spain. 



Here Cortez made his preparations for his last suc- 

 cessful attempt upon the capital of the empire ; and the 

 spot where he launched his brigantines is still indicated 

 by a bridge called the Puente des Brigantinas, almost 

 close to the town. At that time, the lake must have 

 been in near proximity ; but, as at Mexico itself, a long 

 level of nearly two leagues in breadth is to be traversed 

 before you gain its shallow w T aters. 



There w 7 as one remarkable object upon this broad ex- 

 tent of plain, to which our attention had been particu- 

 larly directed by the virtuosi of the capital ; and that 

 was the Contador, a grove of cypress vulgarly called 

 u Montezuma's Garden." 



Accordingly, the following morning we mounted our 

 horses early, and left the carriage to be packed during 

 our absence. We had no sooner escaped from the gar- 

 dens and enclosures in the immediate vicinity of the town, 

 than we saw the Contador before us, breaking the uni- 

 formity of the great level in advance, by its mass of 

 dark foliage. 



Not a tree or a hillock is to be found in the vicinity 

 of this remarkable grove ; which formerly must have 

 been completely surrounded by the lake. 



The trees composing it may be between three and 

 four hundred in number, disposed to a square of con- 

 siderable size, partly open to the east. A smaller paral- 

 lelogram, higher than the surrounding soil, is to be ob- 

 served at the northeast corner, with a deep ditch round 

 it. I found, upon examination, that this was a porphy- 

 ritic rock. 



The interior of the great square, even at this day, is 

 very slightly elevated above the present level of the lake 

 to the west, and so spongy that we nearly buried our 



