VALLEY OF MEXICO. FRANCIS P. Dewees, Esq. DEAR SIR: Iturbide Hotel, City of Mexico, May 31, 1879. On a line drawn from Vera Cruz to Manzanillo, on the 19th parallel of north latitude, midway across the continent, somewhat nearer the Atlantic than the Pacific ocean, "at an elevation," Prescott says, " of nearly seven thousand five hundred feet, is the celebrated valley of Mexico. It is of an oval form, about sixty-five leagues in circumference, and is encompassed by a towering rampart of porphyritic rock, which nature seemes to have provided, though ineffectually, to protect it from invasion. The soil, once carpeted with a beautiful verdure, and thickly sprinkled with stately trees, is often bare, and in many places white with the incrustation of salt caused by the draining of the waters. Five [six] lakes are spread over the valley, occupying one-tenth of its surface. On the opposite borders of the largest of these basins, much shrunk in their dimensions since the days of the Aztecs, stood the cities of Mexico and Tezcuco (Texcoco), the capitals of the two most potent and flourishing states of Anahuac, whose history, with that of the mysterious races that preceded them in the country, exhibits some of the nearest approaches to civilization to be met with anciently on the North American continent." "The valley of Mexico, or Tenochtitlan, of which I publish a very minute map," says Humboldt, "is situated in the centre of the cordilleras of Anahuac, on the ridge of the porphyritical and basaltic amygdaloid mountains, which run from the S. S. E. to the N. N. W. This valley is of an oval form. According to my observations, and those of a distinguished mineralogist, M. Don Luis Martin, it contains, from the entry of the Rio Tenango into the lake of Chalco to the foot of the Cerro de Sincoque, near the Desague Real of Huehuetoca, eighteen and onethird leagues in length, and from S. Gabriel, near the small town of Tezcuco, to the sources of the Rio de Escapusalco, near Guisquiluca, ...There have been no volumes published on the Valley of Mexico equally interesting and reliable with "The Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain," by Baron Von Humboldt. No one can fully understand this subject without reading Vol. II. twelve and one-half leagues in breadth. The territorial extent of the valley is two hundred and forty four and one-half square leagues, of which only twenty-two square leagues are occupied by the lakes, which is less than a tenth of the whole surface. "The circumference of the valley, reckoning from the crest of the mountains which surround it like a circular wall, is sixty-seven leagues. This crest is most elevated on the south, particularly on the south-east, where the great volcanos of La Puebla, the Popocatepeitl and Iztaccihuatl bound the valley. One of the roads which lead from the valley of Tenochtitlan to that of Cholula and La Puebla passes even between the two volcanos, by Tlamanalco, Ameca, La Cumbre, and La Cruz del Coreo. The small army of Cortez passed by this road on his first invasion. * * * "From being long accustomed to hear the capital of Mexico spoken of as a city built in the midst of a lake, and connected with the continent merely by dikes, those who look at my map will be no doubt astonished on seeing that the centre of the present city is 4,500 metres distant from the lake of Texcuco and more than 9000 from the lake of Chalco. They will be inclined, therefore, either to doubt the accuracy of the descriptions in the history of the discoveries of the New World, or they will believe that the capital of Mexico does not stand on the same ground with the old residence of Montezuma; but the city has certainly not changed its place, for the cathedral of Mexico occupies exactly the ground where the temple of Huitzilopochtli stood, and the present street of Tacuba is the old street of Tlacopan, through which Cortez made his famous retreat in the melancholy night of the 1st of July, 1520, which goes by the name of Noche triste. The difference of situation between the old maps and those published by me arises solely from the diminution of the water of the lake of Tezcuco. "But the circumstance which has contributed the most to the diminution of the lake of Tezcuco is the famous open drain, known by the name of the Desague real de Huehuetoca,* which we shall afterwards discuss. This cut in the mountain, first begun in 1607, in the form of a subterranean tunnel, has not only reduced within very narrow limits the two lakes in the northern part of the valley, i. e., the lakes of Zumpango and San Christobal; but has also prevented their waters, in the rainy season, from flowing into the basin of the lake of Tezcuco. These waters formerly inundated the plains and purified a soil strongly covered with carbonate and muriate of soda. At present, without settling into pools, and thereby increasing the humidity of the Mexican atmosphere, they are drawn off by an artificial canal into the river of Panuco, which flows into the Atlantic ocean. * * * * * *During its (the City of Mexico's) occupation by the Spaniards, from 1521 to 1821 the most remarkable events in the local history of Mexico were five great inundations, in 1553, 1580, 1604, 1607, and 1629, caused by the overflowing of the neighboring lakes. To prevent the recurrence of these inundations, a great drain was dug through the hill of Nochistongo, by which the waters of the river Quautitlan were led out of valley, instead of falling into the lake of Tezcuco. This work, which was upward of 100 years in process of construction, is about 12 miles long, from 100 to 130 feet deep, and between 200 and 300 feet wide. It was completed in 1789."-New American Cyclopædia. "This state of things has been brought about from the desire of converting the ancient city of Mexico into a capital better adapted for carriages, and less exposed to the danger of inundation "The water and vegetation have in fact diminished with the same rapidity with which the tequesquite (or carbonate of soda) has increased. In the time of Montezuma, and long afterwards, the suburb of Tlatelolco, the barios of San Sebastian, San Juan, and Santa Cruz, were celebrated for the beautiful verdure of their gardens: but these places now, and especially the plains of San Lazaro, exhibit nothing but a crust of efflorescent salts. The fertility of the plain, though yet considerable in the southern part, is by no means what it was when the city was surrounded by the lake. A wise distribution of water, particularly by means of small canals of irrigation, might restore the ancient fertility of the soil, and re-enrich a valley which nature appears to have destined for the capital of a great empire.. "The actual bounds of the lake of Tezcuco are not very well determined, the soil being so argillaceous and smooth that the difference of level for a mile is not more than two decimetres. When the east winds blow with any violence, the water withdraws towards the western bank of the lake, and sometimes leaves an extent of more than 600 metres dry. Perhaps the periodical operation of these winds suggested to Cortez the idea of regular tides, of which the existence has not been confirmed by late observations. * * * The commerce of the inhabitants of the small town of Tezcuco suffers much in the very dry months of January and February; for the want of water prevents them from going in canoes to the capital. The lake of Xochimilco is free from this inconvenience; for from Chalco, Mesquic, and Tlahuac, the navigation is never once interrupted, and Mexico receives daily, by the canal of Iztapalapan, roots, fruits and flowers in abundance. "Of the five lakes of the valley of Mexico, the lake of Tezcuco is most impregnated with muriate and carbonate of soda. The nitrate of barytes proves that this water contains no sulphate in dissolution. The most pure and limpid water is that of the lake Xochimilco, the specific weight of which I found to be 1.0009, when that of water distilled at the temperature of 18° centigrade was 1.000, and when water from the lake of Tezcuco was 1.0215. The water of this last lake is consequently heavier than that of the Baltic sea, and not so heavy as that of the ocean, which, under different latitudes, has been found between 1.0269 and 1.0285. The quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen which is detached from the surface of all the Mexican lakes, and which the acetate of lead indicates in great abundance in the lakes of Tezcuco and Chalco, undoubtedly contributes in certain seasons to the unhealthiness of the air of the valley. However, and the fact is curious, intermittent fevers are very rare on the banks of these very lakes, of which the surface is partly concealed by the rushes and aquatic herbs. "Adorned with numerous teocallis, like so many Mahomedan steeples, surrounded with water and dikes, founded on islands covered with verdure, and receiving hourly in its streets thousands of boats which vivified the lake, the ancient Tenochtitlan, according to the accounts of the first ΙΟΙ conquerors, must have resembled some of the cities of Holland, China, or the Delta of Lower Egypt. The capital, reconstructed by the Spaniards, exhibits, perhaps, a less vivid, though a more august and majestic appearance. Mexico is undoubtedly one of the finest cities ever built by Europeans in either hemisphere. With the exception of Petersburg, Berlin, Philadelphia, and some quarters of Westminster, there does not exist a city of the same extent which can be compared to the capital of New Spain, for the uniform level of the ground on which it stands, for the regularity and breadth of the streets, and the extent of the public places. The architecture is generally of a very pure style, and there are even edifices of very beautiful structure. The exterior of the houses is not loaded with ornaments. Two sorts of hewn stone, and the porous amygdaloid called tezontli, and especially a porphyry of vitreous feld-spath without any quartz, give to the Mexican buildings an air of solidity, and sometimes even magnificence. There are none of those wooden balconies and galleries to be seen which disfigure so much all the European cities in both the Indies. The balustrades and gates are all of Biscay iron, ornamented with bronze, and the houses, instead of roofs, have terraces like those in Italy and other southern countries. "However, it must be agreed, that notwithstanding the progress of the arts within these last thirty years, it is much less from the grandeur and beauty of the monuments, than from the breadth and straightness of the streets, and much less from its edifices than from its uniform regularity, is extent and position, that the capital of New Spain attracts the admiraion of Europeans. From a singular concurrence of circumstances, I have seen successively, within a very short space of time, Lima, Mexico, Philadelphia, Washington, Paris, Rome, Naples, and the largest cities of Germany. By comparing together impressions which follow in rapid succession, we are enabled to rectify any opinion which we may have too easily adopted. Notwithstanding such unavoidable comparisons, of which several, one would think, must have proved disadvantageous for the capital of Mexico, it has left in me a recollection of grandeur, which I principally attribute to the majestic character of its situation and the surrounding scenery. "In fact, nothing can present a more rich and varied appearance than the valley, when, in a fine summer morning, the sky without a cloud, and that deep azure which is peculiar to the dry and rarefied air of high mountains, we transport ourselves to the top of one of the towers of the cathedral of Mexico, or ascend the hill of Chapoltepec. A beautiful vegetation surrounds this hill. Old cypress trunks (los ahuahuetes) of more than 15 and 16 metres in circumference, raise their naked heads above those of the schinus, which resemble in their appearance the weeping willows of the east. From the centre of this solitude, the summit of the porphyritical rock of Chapoltepec, the eye sweeps over a vast plain of carefully cultivated fields, which extend to the very feet of the colossal mountains covered with perpetual snow. The city appears as if washed by the waters of the lake Tezcuco, whose basin, surrounded by villages and hamlets, brings to mind the most beautiful lakes of the mountains of Switzer land. Large avenues of elms and poplars lead in every direction to the capital; and two aqueducts, constructed over arches of very great elevation, cross the plain, and exhibit an appearance equally agreeable and interesting. The magnificent convent of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe appears joined to the mountains of Tepeyacac, among ravines, which shelter a few date and young yucca trees. Towards the south, the whole tract between San Angel, Tacabaya, and San Augustin de las Cuevas, appears an immense garden of orange, peach, apple, cherry, and other European fruit trees. This beautiful cultivation forms a singular contrast with the wild appearance of the naked mountains which inclose the valley, among which the famous volcano of La Puebla, Popocatepetl, and Iztaccihaut are the most distinguished. The first of these forms an enormous cone, of which the crater, continually inflamed and throwing up smoke and ashes, opens in the midst of eternal snows." H. C. WARD, England's Minister to Mexico during 1825-27, in his Mexico, vol. II., page 39, writes : "The second day made converts of us all; in the course of it we had occasion to visit most of the central parts of the town, and, after seeing the great plaza, the cathedral, the palace, and the noble streets communicating with them, we were forced to confess not only that Humboldt's praises did not exceed the truth, but that amongst the various capitals of Europe there were few that could support with any advantage a comparison with Mexico. * * * "Every one who has resided in a southern climate, knows how much the purity of the atmosphere tends to diminish distances; but even at Madrid, where the summer sky is beautifully clear, I never saw it produce this effect in so extraordinary a degree as at Mexico. The valley is surrounded with mountains, most of which are, at least. fifteen miles from the capital, yet on looking down any of the principal streets (particularly in the direction of San Angel or San Agustin), it appears to be terminated by a mass of rocks, which are seen so distinctly, that on a fine day, one can trace all the undulations of the surface, and almost count the trees and little patches of vegetation which are scattered over it. * * * "Nature, on the other hand, as if to compensate the want of the luxuries of the Old World, seemed to have been most magnificent in her gifts. For many days after my arrival, I could never pass a common fruit-stall without stopping to admire the variety of fruits and flowers with which it was adorned. * It must always be borne in mind that Mexico, from the peculiarity of its geological structure, and the manner in which heat is modified by height in every part of its territory, combines, sometimes, within a very few leagues, the greatest possible variety of climates. On the road to Acapulco, for instance, a descent, as rapid as that from Las Vigas to Jalapa, commences within a few miles of the capital, so that on reaching the plains of Cuernavaca, (forty miles from Mexico city) you find a Tierra Caliente, with all its various productions, from which Mexico derives a constant and most abundant supply. On |