SPANISH AQUEDUCTS. 283 
pango." The estimate of the whole cost of this gigantic enterprise, and 
its necessary repairs, until the year 1830, is f 8,000,000 ; yet, with all 
the expenditure and vast labor, it may still prove, in certain cases, only 
efficacious against a portion of the waters that are collected in the val- 
ley. South of the Capital are the lakes of Chalco and Xochimilco, and 
their level is more than a yard- higher than that of the great Square of 
Mexico. 
This Desague, and the noble aqueducts by which the city is supplied, 
are the only very great enterprises, of this character, in the country ; 
and they are all owing to the energy of the old Spanish government, 
which emulated the magnificence of the Romans in its public improve- 
ments, connected with elegance and comfort. ■ During the royal sway 
the roads, also, were properly made and repaired ; but since the Revo- 
lution, when most of them were torn up to prevent the passage of troops, 
or destroyed by the transit of artillery, they have been abandoned to 
the weather and travel, so that in fact, (with the exception of the high- 
way to Vera Cruz, which has recently been improved,) there is scarcely 
a road in the Republic that does not resemble more the deserted bed of 
a mountain stream, than a work intended to facilitate communication. 
The idea of " internal improvements" has never entered into the cal- 
culation of these people ; — though, some years since, a scheme was 
set on foot to construct a railway from the coast to the Capital, and its 
practicability proved by a scientific reconnoissance. Adventures of this 
character will be the first evidences of the growth of mind amono- the 
masses in Mexico, when they are taught to believe that they have other 
sources of wealth besides mines, and that riches do not consist alone in 
gold and silver. Until that period, the patient and toilsome mule will 
continue to be the means of transportation of the chief burdens from the 
sea to the interior. 
If we suppose it to be perfectly practicable to make a railway of about 
350 miles in length, with all its sinuosities, from Vera Cruz to the Cap- 
ital, I think the following estimate may be reasonably made of the profits 
of such an enterprise ; especially, when it is recollected that the distance 
will be passed in less than 24 hours, instead oi four days, (as at present in 
the diligence,) and from eighteen to twenty -five days, by mules and wagons. 
Cost of Railway, say, - . . . $6,000,000 
Motive power, cars, &c 200,000 
Contingent expenses, 300,000 
$6,500,000 
The interest on which, per annum, at 6 per cent, will be $390,000 
It may be estimated, that about fifty thousand tons are imported an- 
nually into Vera Cruz. A ton weight is transported usually on about 
seven mules, each mule load being worth $25, from Vera Cruz to Mexico. 
