"The plan of Martinez appears to have embraced two distinct objects, the first of which extended to the lakes of Tezcoco and San Cristoval, while the second was confined to the lake of Zumpango whose superfluous waters were to be carried into the valley of Tula by a subterraneous canal into which the river Guautitlan was likewise compelled to flow. The second of these projects only was approved by the government; and the line of the canal having been traced by Martinez between the Cerro or hill of Sincoque and the hill of Nochistongo to the north-west of Huehuetoca, where the mountains that surrounded the valley are less elevated than in any other spot,—the great subterraneous gallery of Nochistongo was commenced on the 28th of November, 1607. Fifteen thousand Indians were employed in this work, and as a number of air shafts were sunk, in order to enable them to work upon the different points at once, in eleven months a tunnel of six thousand six hundred metres [38] in length, three metres five in breadth and four metres two in height, was concluded.

"From the northern extremity of this tunnel called la boca de San Gregorio, an open cut of eight thousand six hundred metres conducted the waters to the salto or fall of the river Tula, where, quitting the valley of Mexico, they precipitate themselves into that of Tula, from a natural terrace of twenty Mexican varas in height, and take their course towards the bar of Tampico where they enter the gulf of Mexico. An enterprise of such magnitude could hardly be free from defects, and Martinez soon discovered that the unbaked bricks, of which the interior of the tunnel was composed, were unable to resist the action of water, which, being confined within narrow limits, was at times impelled through the tunnel with irresistible violence. A facing of wood proved equally ineffectual, and masonry was at last resorted to; but even this, though successful for a time, did not answer permanently, because the engineer, instead of an elliptical arch, constructed nothing but a sort of vault, the sides of which rested upon a foundation of no solidity. The consequence was that the walls were gradually undermined by the water, and that the vault itself in many parts fell in.

"This accident rendered the government indifferent to the fate of the gallery which was neglected, and finally abandoned in the year 1623, when a Dutch engineer, named Adrian Boot, induced the viceroy to resume the old system of dyke and embankments, and to give orders for closing the tunnel of Nochistongo. A sudden rise in the lake of Tezcoco caused these orders to be revoked, and Martinez was again allowed to proceed with his works which he continued until the 20th of June, 1629, when an event took place, the real causes of which have never been ascertained."

"The rainy season having set in with unusual violence, Martinez, either desirous to convince the inhabitants of the capital of the utility of his gallery, or fearful, as he himself stated, that the fruits of his labor would be destroyed by the entrance of too great a volume of water, closed the mouth of the tunnel, without communicating to any one his intention to do so. The effect was instantaneous; and, in one night, the whole town of Mexico was laid under water, with the exception of the great square, and one of the suburbs. In all the other streets the water rose upwards of three feet, and during five years, from 1629 to 1634, canoes formed the only medium of communication between them. The foundations of many of the principal houses were destroyed; trade was paralyzed; the lower classes reduced to the lowest state of misery; and orders were actually given by the court of Madrid to abandon the town and build a new capital in the elevated plains between Tacuba and Tacubaya, to which the waters of the lakes, even before the conquest, had never been known to extend.

"The necessity of this measure was obviated by a succession of earthquakes in the dry year of 1634, when the valley was cracked and rent in various directions, and the waters gradually disappeared; a miracle for which due credit should be given to the Virgin of Guadalupe, by whose powerful intercession it is said to have been effected.

"Martinez, who had been thrown into confinement in 1629, was released upon the termination of the evils which his imprudence was said to have occasioned; and was again placed by a new viceroy,—the Marques de Cerralvo,—at the head of the works by which similar visitations were to be averted in future. Under his superintendence the great dyke, or Calzada of San Cristoval was put in order, [39] by which the lake of that name is divided from that of Tezcoco. This gigantic work which consists of two distinct masses, the first, one league, and the second, one thousand five hundred varas in length, is ten varas in width or thickness throughout, and from three and a half to four varas in height. It is composed entirely of stone, with buttresses of solid masonry on both sides, and three sluices, by which, in any emergency, a communication between the lakes can be effected and regulated at the same time. The whole was concluded, like the gallery of Nochistongo, in eleven months, although as many years would now be required for such an undertaking. But in those days the sacrifice of life, and particularly of Indian life, in public works, was not regarded. Many thousands of the natives perished before the desague was completed; and to their loss, as well as to the hardships endured by the survivors, may be ascribed the horror with which the name of Huehuetoca is pronounced by their descendants.

"It is not our intention to follow the progress of the canal of Huehuetoca through all the various changes which occurred in the plans pursued with respect to it from 1637, when the direction of the work was again taken from Martinez and confided to the Franciscan monks, until 1767, when, under the viceroyalty of the Marques de Croix, the Consulado or corporate body of Mexican merchants, engaged to complete this great national undertaking. The necessity of converting the tunnel of Martinez into an open cut, had long been acknowledged, it having been found impossible to prevent the tunnel from being continually choked up by the sand and rubbish deposited by the water on its passage; but as the work was only prosecuted with vigor when the danger of an inundation became imminent, and was almost suspended in the dry years, two thousand three hundred and ten varas of the northern gallery remained untouched, after the expiration of one hundred and thirty years when the Consulado was intrusted with the completion of the arduous task. As the old line of the gallery was to be preserved, it became necessary to give the cut which was to be sunk, perpendicularly upon it, an enormous width at the top, in order to prevent the sides from falling in; and in the more elevated parts, between the mountains of Sincoque and the hill of Nochistongo, for the space of two thousand six hundred and twenty-four feet, the width, across, varies from two hundred and seventy-eight to six hundred and thirty feet, while the perpendicular depth is from one hundred and forty-seven to one hundred and ninety-six feet. The whole length of the cut from the sluice called the vertideros to the salto or fall of the river Tula, is sixty-seven thousand five hundred and thirty-seven feet or twenty-four thousand five hundred and thirty Mexican varas. The highest point of the hill of Nochistongo is that called Boveda Real, and it would be difficult when looking down from it, upon the stream below, and, following with the eye the vast opening through which it seeks an issue, to conceive that the whole is, indeed, the work of man, did not the mounds on either side, as yet but imperfectly covered with vegetation, and the regular outline of the terraces, denote both the recentness of its completion, and the impossibility of attributing it to any natural convulsion.

"The Obra del Consulado, as the opening cut is called, was concluded in the year 1789. It cost nearly a million of dollars; and the whole expense of the drainage from 1607 to the beginning of the present century, including the various projects commenced and abandoned when only partially executed,—the dykes connected with the desague,—and the two canals which communicate with the lakes of San Cristoval and Zumpango,—is estimated at six millions two hundred and forty-seven thousand six hundred and seventy dollars, or one million two hundred and forty-nine thousand five hundred and thirty-four pounds. It is supposed that one-third of this sum would have proved sufficient to cover all the expenses, had Martinez been furnished in the first instance with the means of executing his project upon the scale which he had judged necessary; for it is in the reduced dimensions of the gallery of Nochistongo, which was never equal to the volume of water to which at particular seasons it afforded an outlet, that all the subsequent expenditure has originated." [40]

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We have judged it better to group together in this place all the facts relative to this most important national work,—so as to afford the reader a complete picture of the undertaking,—than to relate the slow and tedious history of the work as it advanced to completion during the reigns of many viceroys. The present condition of the desague and its advantages will be treated in another portion of this work; and we shall therefore revert at once to the year 1609, in which a large number of negroes rebelled against the Spaniards. It seems that the blacks in the neighborhood of Cordova, who were in fact slaves on many of the hiciendas or plantations, having been treated, in an inhuman manner by their owners, rose against them in great force, and gathering together in the adjacent mountains menaced their tyrannical task-masters with death, and their property with ruin. Velasco sent one hundred soldiers, one hundred volunteers, one hundred Indian archers, together with two hundred Spaniards and Mestizos, to attack them in their fastnesses. Several skirmishes took place between the slaves and these forces, and at length the negroes yielded to the Spaniards,—craving their pardon, inasmuch as their "insurrection was not against the king,"—and promising that they would no longer afford a refuge to the blacks who absconded from the plantations. Velasco at once granted their request, and permitted them to settle in the town of San Lorenzo.