This cut represents the embankment crossing the valley. Along the top of this way was laid the canals to transport the water, made of an exceedingly hard cement of mortar and fragments of pounded brick. It is estimated that nearly, if not quite, as much labor was expended on this aqueduct as on the Croton aqueduct that supplies New York City.8 This last statement is probably too strong, but, considering that this work was accomplished by a people destitute of iron tools, it is seen to be a most extraordinary work. From what we have already learned, this hill was evidently a very important place. On all sides we meet with evidences that the whole of the hill was covered with artificial works of one kind or another. On the side of the hill opposite this reservoir was another recess bordered by seats cut in living rock, and leading to a perpendicular cliff, on which a calendar is said to have been carved, but was destroyed by the natives in later days.9
Traces of a spiral road leading up the summit have been observed. In 1824 Bullock (who, however, is not regarded as a very accurate observer) “found the whole mountain had been covered with palaces, temples, baths, hanging-gardens, and so forth.” Latrobe, somewhat later, found “fragments of pottery and broken pieces of obsidian knives and arrows; pieces of stucco, shattered terraces, and old walls were thickly dispersed over its whole surface.”10 Mr. Mayer, after speaking of the abundance of broken pottery and Indian arrows, says: “The eminence seems to have been converted from its base to its summit into a pile of terraced gardens.”
By one class of writers this hill is regarded as the “suburban residence of the luxurious monarchs of Tezcuco, . . . a pleasure garden upon which were expended the revenues of the state and the ingenuity of its artists.”11 Mr. Bancroft has gathered together the details of this charming story,12 and tells us that the kings of Mexico had a similar pleasure resort on the Hill of Chapultepec, a few miles west of the city.13 It is sufficient at present to state that an explanation much simpler and more in accord with our latest scientific information can be given. It is more likely that this hill was the seat of a village Indian community. Its location was naturally strong. The water, brought with so much labor from a distance, furnished a supply for the purpose of irrigation, as well as bodily needs. The terraced sides show that every foot of ground was utilized, and the ruins of the palaces that Mr. Bullock mentions were the fast-disappearing ruins of their communal buildings. Owing to the cruel raids of the Aztec tribes, this place may have been deserted before the coming of the Spaniards, and thus no mention was made of it.
Still further to the north, about thirty miles from Mexico, is found another extensive field of ruins, which is called Teotihuacan, meaning “City of the Gods.” The principal ruins now standing are the two immense pyramids (which are represented in this cut), which the natives call the “House of the Moon” and the “House of the Sun.” We will describe the surroundings first. It is unquestioned but that here was a very extensive settlement in early times. When the Nahua tribes entered Mexico they probably found it inhabited. One very recent writer thinks that “nowhere else in America can you find a more imposing mass of ruins.”14 He estimates that it was “a city upwards of twenty miles in circumference.”
Other writers have also noticed its great extent. According to Thompson, “the ruins cover an area very nearly as large as that of the present City of Mexico, and the streets are as distinctly marked by the ruins of houses.”15 And in another place Mr. Charney tells us “the city was of vast extent; and, without indulging in any stereotyped reflections on the vanity of human greatness, I will say that a more complete effacement is nowhere else to be seen. The whole ground, over a space five or six miles in diameter, is covered with heaps of ruins, which at first view, make no impression, so complete is their dilapidation.”16
Of this mass of ruins we are told but little, beyond the general assertion that it consists of the ruins of buildings, temples, etc. But very recently M. Charney has uncovered the foundation of one of these houses. He calls it a palace. It was, in all probability, a communal building. It had two wings inclosing a court, and was located on a terraced pyramid. He found, on digging into the terrace in front of the ruins, a great number of sloping walls, covered with cement, containing small compartments, etc. M. Charney can not account for their presence.