PALACE TROUGH MASSIVE MOUNDS. 275 



In the north-west section of the modern town of Tezcoco, on the 

 top of a shapeless mass of pottery, bricks, mortar and earth, which 

 is thickly overgrown with aloes, there are several large slabs of 

 basaltic rock, neatly squared and laid due north and south. Ac- 

 cording to the legends of the spot this is the site of one of the 

 royal residences, and like most of the antiquities of Mexico, is con- 

 nected with the name of the best known emperor, as the palace of 

 Montezuma. When Mr. Poinsett visited Tezcoco in 1825, this 

 heap had not been pillaged for modern architectural purposes, as 

 much as it has been since that period. Among the ruins of the 

 supposed palace he then found, a regularly arched and well built 

 passage, sewer, or aqueduct, which was formed of square stones 

 the size of bricks, cemented with the strong mortar which was 

 so much used by the Indians in all their works. In the door 

 of one of the rooms he noticed the remains of a " very flat arch," 

 the stones comprising which were of prodigious size and weight. 

 On this spot, some years ago, was found the sculptured basin, 

 which, at the period of our visit, had been transferred to and pre- 

 served in the collection of the Ex-Conde del Penasco in the city of 

 Mexico. 



TROUGH FROM TEZCOCO. 



In the southern part of Tezcoco, are the massive remains of three 

 vast pyramids, whose forms are still remarkably perfect. They suc- 

 ceed each other in a direct line from north to south, and, according 

 to our measurement, are about four hundred feet in extent, on each 

 of their fronts, along the base line. They are built partly of burned 

 and partly of sun dried bricks, mixed up with fragments of pottery 

 and thick coverings of cement, through which neat canals had been 



