(Here follow the other grants.)
“Then the said Señores ... assign as a street for the exit and service of the said Solares ... a space of 14 feet, which street must pass between the Solar of Alonzo de Villanueva and that of Luis de la Torre and pass through to the site of the Church, on one side being the Solar of Juan de la Torre, and on the other the Solar of Gonzalo de Alvarado.”
In the same note Icazbalceta discusses the measurements of the Solares, which appear to have varied between 141 × 141 Spanish feet (= 130 ¾′ × 130¾′ English) and 150 × 150 Spanish feet (= 139′ × 139′ English), which latter measurement was established by an Act of the Cabildo in Feb. 1537. He also printed with the note a plan of what he considered to be the position of the Solares dealt with in this Act of Cabildo. This plan is incorporated in Tracing A1.
Plate C is a copy of a plan of the Temple Enclosure found with a Sahagun MS., preserved in the Library of the Royal Palace at Madrid and published by Dr. E. Seler in his pamphlet entitled ‘Die Ausgrabungen am Orte des Haupttempels in Mexico’ (1904).
We know from Cortés’s own account, confirmed by Gomara, that the Great Teocalli was so close to the quarters of the Spaniards that the Mexicans were able to discharge missiles from the Teocalli into the Spanish quarters, and according to Sahagun’s account the Mexicans hauled two stout beams to the top of the Teocalli in order to hurl them against the Palace of Axayacatl so as to force an entrance. It was on this account Cortés made such a determined attack on the Teocalli and cleared it of the enemy.
We also know from the Acts of the Cabildo that the group of Solares beginning with that of Cristóbal Flores (Nos. 1–9) are described as “frontero del Huichilobos,” i. e. opposite (the Teocalli of) Huichilobos, and we also learn that the Solar of Alonzo de Avila was “en la tercia parte donde estaba el Huichilobos,” i. e. in the third part or portion where (the Teocalli of) Huichilobos stood. Alaman confesses that he cannot understand this last expression, but I venture to suggest that as the Temple Enclosure was divided unevenly by the line of the Calle de Iztapalapa, two-thirds lying to the West of that line and one-third to the East of it, the expression implies that the Teocalli was situated in the Eastern third of the Enclosure. This would bring it sufficiently near to the Palace of Axayacatl for the Mexicans to have been able to discharge missiles into the quarters of the Spaniards. It would also occupy the site of the Solar de Alonzo de Avila, and might be considered to face the Solar of Cristóbal Flores and his neighbours, and we should naturally expect to find it in line with the Calle de Tacuba. Sahagun’s plan is not marked with the points of the compass, but if we should give it the same orientation as Tracing A2, the Great Teocalli falls fairly into its place.
Measurements of the Great Teocalli.
There were two values to the Braza or Fathom in old Spanish measures, one was the equivalent of 65·749 English inches, and the other and more ancient was the equivalent of 66·768 English inches. In computing the following measurements I have used the latter scale:—
| Spanish. | English. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 foot | = 11·128 inches. | ||
| 3 feet = | 1 vara | = 33·384 „ | = 2·782 feet. |
| 2 varas = | 1 Braza | = 66·768 „ | = 5·564 „ |