Illustrations of the Croton Aqueduct

by F. B. Tower

The site of Lisbon, as well as the ground in its vicinity, consists chiefly of limestone and basalt, which render it necessary to obtain good water, at about three leagues distance, for the beverage, and other uses of the inhabitants. The source consists of several springs that are near to the village of Bellas, and their produce is conveyed to Lisbon by an Aqueduct, constructed of a kind of white marble, and finished in 1738. In some parts its course has been excavated through hills; but near to Lisbon it is carried over a deep valley, for a length of 2400 feet, by means of several bold arches, of which the largest has a height of about 250 feet, by a breadth of 115. The arches being pointed have an interesting aspect, particularly when viewed from below, the interior of the spacious vaults being not only majestic in appearance, but reverberating every sound. The water flows through a stone tunnel, or covered arch-way, about 8 feet wide, formed in the middle of the structure; and on each side there is a foot-path, with a parapet wall, having a sufficient width for two persons to walk. The Aqueduct enters the town on its northern side, at a place called da Amoreira, where it branches into several others, in order to supply the different fountains, from which the inhabitants are supplied. Persons, denominated gallegos, obtain a subsistence by selling the water, which they procure at the fountains in small barrels, and afterwards cry it through the streets.

Aqueducts of Mexico and the adjacent States.

The people who, in remote times, inhabited the region of Mexico, were advanced in civilization and in the arts; they had regularly organized states and established forms of government, and their immense cities, their roads, Aqueducts and other public works, give evidence of the advanced state of the arts among them and their knowledge of the sciences.

The location and great population of some of their cities required a familiar knowledge of hydraulic operations to supply them with water; and hence it would seem as if they had cultivated this department of the arts equally with others, for some of their Aqueducts were of a character that would have done honor to Greece or Rome. Nearly all the ancient cities of Mexico were supplied by them.

“The city of Mexico, which was built on several islands near the shore of the lake, was connected to the main land by four great causeways or dikes, the remains of which still exist. One of these to the south, the same by which Cortez entered, was nearly two leagues long—another to the north about one league, and the third at the west somewhat less. The fourth supported the celebrated Aqueduct of Chapoltepec, by which water was conducted from springs, upon an insulated hill of that name, at the distance of from two to three miles.”

The Aqueduct of Chapoltepec was the work of Montezuma, and also the vast stone reservoir connected with it.

This Aqueduct consisted of two conduits formed of solid mason work—each five feet high and two paces broad—by which the water was introduced into the city for the supply of various fountains.

Olid and Alvarado commenced the siege of Mexico by attempting to cut off this supply of water, an enterprise which the Mexicans endeavored to prevent. “There appeared on that side,” says De Solis, “two or three rows of pipes, made of trees hollowed, supported by an Aqueduct of lime and stone, and the enemy had cast up some trenches to cover the avenue to it. But the two captains marched out of Tacuba with most of their troops, and though they met with a very obstinate resistance, they drove the enemy from their post, and broke the pipes and Aqueduct in two or three places, and the water took its natural course into the lake.”

Humboldt says, there are still to be perceived the remains of another Aqueduct, which conducted to the city the waters of the spring of Amilco, near Churubusco. This Aqueduct, as described by Cortez, consisted of two conduits composed of clay tempered with mortar, about two paces in breadth, and raised about six feet. In one of them was conveyed a stream of excellent water, as large as the body of a man, into the centre of the city. The other was empty, so that when it became necessary to clean or repair the former, the water might be turned into it; which was the case also with those of Chapoltepec, “of which one was always in use, whenever the other required cleaning.”

The gardens of Montezuma were also adorned and nourished with streams and fountains, and appear to have rivalled those of Asiatic monarchs in splendour.