Texcoco

“ I spent nearly a week at Texcoco assimilating the quiet interior life of the country. I dined at the Restaurante
CREW OF "LA NINFA ENCANTADORA."
Universe, both cheaply and better as a rule than at Mexico, and found a chamber with the keeper of the principal tienda, there being no inn. I even became something of an expert in pulque. The true connoisseur takes it mitad y mitad: half of agua miel newly from the maguey field, and half the stronger beverage of longer standing. I made the acquaintance of the Jefe Politico, a polite, youngish man, said to be a terror to evil-doers. ”

“ They say it was grand and had cages and other attractive furniture all from the United States. I always mean to go to the penitentiary by proxy.
Across the lake is the city of Texcoco, that was once the Athens of the valley as Tenochtitlan was the Rome. Here are many ancient remains of buildings built when this was the most bitter rival the Aztec capital had. Were it not for the help of the Texcocoans, Cortez never would have conquered the Island City. Beyond here are the Arcos de Zempoala, an aqueduct 37 miles long, supported by arches nearly a hundred feet high. ”

“ To the curious and inquisitive, Mexico offers an endless field, and a few of these most noted ruins will be mentioned here.
The pyramid of Cholula, covering forty-four acres of ground, has already been mentioned. On Lake Texcoco stood the ancient city of Texcoco, and here have been found the foundations of three great pyramids, built of adobe and burnt brick. Sculptured blocks with finely chiseled bas reliefs have also been found. Three miles from Texcoco is a group of ruins called the Hill of Tezcocingo. The hill is very regular in outline and rises to the height of six hundred feet. ”

“ MY next journey was by lake across Texcoco to the old capital of that name. I had hoped to take El Nezhualcoyotl, which lay in the mud by the Garita of San Lazaro, when I went to make preliminary inquiries. There would have been a certain fitness in approaching the ancient capital in a boat named after the sovereign who made it illustrious ”

“ After a short and bloody campaign he defeated, captured, and killed the usurper Maxtla, destroying Atzcapotzalco and restoring the legitimate monarchy of Texcoco. One of his first acts after recovering his throne was to proclaim a general amnesty. He reformed the tribunals, and established a supreme court at Texcoco, for which he formed a code of laws that consisted of eighty articles, of which thirty-four have been preserved in tradition. He was a patron of science and literature, and assembled many learned men at the court of Texcoco. ”

“ The State of Mexico comprises a rich and interesting region. It is the seat of the capital, the famous City of Mexico. With the little adjoining State of Tlaxcala it was the home of the Aztec and other republics or oligarchies of prehispanic days. Here is the classic lake of Texcoco, and on the south of the valley the famous peaks which rise beyond the perpetual snow-line—Popocatepetl, Ixtaccihuatl, and the Nevado of Toluca—rear their gleaming crests. In this region Nature has been profuse with her resources—a rich and varied flora and astonishing wealth of gold and silver. ”

“ With its handsome institutions and public buildings, and extensive boulevards and parks, and characteristic social, literary, and commercial life, the City of Mexico may be described as Americo-Parisian, and it is rapidly becoming a centre of attraction for United States tourists, who, avid of historical and foreign colour, descend thither in Pullman-car loads from the north. The city lies some three miles from the shore of Lake Texcoco, which, with that of Chalco and others, forms a group of salt- and fresh-water lagoons in the strange Valley of Mexico. ”

“ The Teocalli of Texcoco had five or six steps more than that of Mexico. If one were to ascend to the top of the chapel of San Francisco in Mexico, which has an arched roof and is of considerable height, and look over Mexico, the temple of the devil would have a great advantage in height, and it was a wonderful sight to view from it the whole of Mexico and the towns in the neighbourhood. ”

“ It is a good place to study the people and get snap-shots of quaint life. Its principal distinction is that it was a proud city when Tetlepanquetzaltzin was king once upon a time. Texcoco at the time of the conquest was the capital of the Tezcucans, who were a race in alliance with the Aztecs, but it is now principally in ruins, for its glory has passed away. El Desierto was once the home of the Carmelite monks and is frequently visited now in its decay. Coyoacan was the first capital of Mexico, for Cortez established the seat of government there for a time while the new city was being built. ”

“ For magnitude of the undertaking, distance of transport, number of men engaged, with no beasts of burden to help them, and the importance of the issue at stake, the achievement of Cortes and the Tlascalans stands alone. The arrival of the convoy at Texcoco was rightly made the occasion of a triumphal entry, to the sound of music and salutes, while the crowds enthusiastically cheered for Castile and Tlascala. It was found necessary to build a canal in which to join the parts of the brigantines together, and from which to launch them safely on the waters of the lake. ”

“ Whenever their hold upon the people seems to weaken, a cock-and-bull story like the one just told will awe the superstitious people by thousands to the rescue. Think of that humbug when the water was four years falling, and then the image getting the credit for it!
As a matter of fact, Mexico City was built upon an island only two feet higher than Lake Texcoco, a salt lake with no outlet, and both lake and city are in a crater, and all the water that falls in that forty mile valley must remain until evaporated, even though it takes four years to lower the height of a broken cloud-burst. ”

“ Soon the united power of these three cities dominated the Valley of Mexico and began to be felt across the mountains on every side. Tenochtitlan gradually assumed the commanding position in the league, and although Texcoco continued to be an important center the third member was apparently much reduced. The great votive stone of Tizoc records some of the earlier conquests of the Aztecs. At the arrival of Cortez only a few important cities such as Tlaxcala retained their independence. ”

“ The good reader will recall that some chapters back I told how Montezuma's nephew, Cacamatzin, lord of Texcoco, the largest town in all that country after Mexico, came toward us four hundred Spaniards as we drew near the capital city and, with show of regal pomp, bade us welcome in behalf of his uncle. When this prince now knew that with Montezuma imprisoned we were taking all the power we could get—even that we had opened, although we had not taken anything from it, the chamber where lay the treasure of his grandfather—he determined to end our dominion. ”

“ S. to a beautiful old town, Texcoco, where Nezahualcoyotl, the Marcus Aurelius of Mexico, lived.
Except the ancient sun-dial in the palm-planted Plaza, however, there is little to recall that civilization. A big church, built by the friars on the spot of the old temple, [56] was filled with the usual Indian population, sitting and kneeling with their children and their burdens, and as mysterious as that Cortés found worshiping Huitzilopochtli, or any of their other gods. The Indians are religious, rather in the Oriental sense, it seems to me, than in any way resembling ours. ”

“ These facts explain his position and the reason why the “lord of Texcoco” was one of four lords who supported Montezuma when he met Cortés in full state. A careful investigation of the derivation and true significance of the word tecpan yields interesting results. Cen-tecpan-tli means, a count of twenty persons; the verb tecpana signifies, “to establish something in concerted order; to establish order amongst people.” The verb tecpancapoa means, to count something in regular order. ”

“ The foreign population includes many capitalists and industrial managers who are doing much to develop the country, the American colony being concentrated in a fine modern residential district on the south-western side of the city.
History.—The City of Mexico dates, traditionally, from the year 1325 or 1327, when the Aztecs settled on an island in Lake Texcoco. The Aztec name of the city was Tenochtitlan, derived either from Tenoch, one of their priests and leaders, or from tenuch, the Indian name for the “nopal,” which is associated with its foundation. ”

“ It is true this road would have brought troops in by Guadalupe—a town, church and detached spur of mountain about two miles north of the capital, all bearing the same general name—and at this point Lake Texcoco comes near to the mountain, which was fortified both at the base and on the sides: but troops could have passed north of the mountain and come in only a few miles to the north-west, and so flanked the position, as they actually did on the south. ”

“ All the rest was to be divided among the members of the expedition, those who remained in garrison at Vera Cruz sharing equally with those who started on the march to Mexico. (Doc. Ined., torn. XXVI., p. 5-16, tom. XXVII., p. 37. Bernal Diaz cap. cv.) ↑ The lakes of Chalco and Texcoco, the first being of fresh, and the second, of salt water. ↑ The whitish, slippery, fermented liquor called pulque is extracted from the maguey and is still the popular drink in Mexico; as it must be drunk fresh, special pulque trains daily carry supplies to towns along the railway lines. ”

“ There is no hotel in the village, and the market-place is almost always desolate. This town once stood on the borders of the great lake of Chalco, the body of fresh water that poured a volume into Lake Tezcoco, through the lake and canal of Xochimilco. But now the lake is miles away, and only reached by canals cut through the sea of marshes. The inhabitants of the place have commerce with Mexico by canoes, and carry there fruits and flowers, though it is a day's journey distant. Fields of pulque, gardens, and trees surround Chalco on three sides, and in front is the marsh. ”

“ They navigate their lake and the canal leading to it with great dexterity; and large boats, capable of containing fifty or sixty persons, are almost daily seen leaving the landings at Mexico in order to convey passengers and freight to the neighboring country.
Tezcoco, lies on the eastern shore of the lake of that name, opposite Mexico, and at the distance of about 12 miles. It is no longer a town of much importance, but is interesting for its historical associations and for the ancient remains within its limits and neighborhood which will be subsequently described. ”

“ There is not a spot in Lake Tezcoco where a man, standing upright, would have his head under water. It is traversed by market boats of the bread-basket pattern, flat bottomed, and impelled by poling—just the same sort as Cortez found navigating it when he launched his brigantine on its eastern edge, which vessel was doubtless nothing more than a rude raft. The periaguas, and other craft which now ply upon it, bringing produce from Tezcoco, and other lake shore towns to the capital city, are all of the punt species, none of them drawing over eighteen inches of water. ”

“ The retreat of the salt waters of Tezcuco has left the present republican city of Mexico a full league west of the lake. In the days of Montezuma, it stood upon an island two miles removed from the western shore, with which it communicated by the dike or calzada of Tlacopan,—now called Tacuba. The causeway of Iztapalapan, coming from the South, seven miles in length, passed over the island and through the city, and was continued in a line three miles further to the northern shore, and to the city Tepejacac, where now stand the church and the miraculous picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe. ”

“ The lake of Tezcoco in which Mexico stood was salt. By this one stroke, Cortes forced the inhabitants to depend upon a very meagre, scanty supply of water from wells in the city, many of which were brackish and unpalatable. The shores of the lake were swept bare by the beleaguerers. Iztatapalan, a rocky fortress was taken by storm and on April 21, 1521, the first attack was delivered along the causeways. The Mexicans met the advance with their customary intrepidity. The water on either side of the causeway swarmed with canoes. Thousands of warriors poured out of the city. ”

“ Map of Lake Tezcoco. they marched forward with a buoyant step, as they felt they were treading the soil of Montezuma. They had not advanced far, when, turning an angle of the sierra, they suddenly came on a view which more than compensated the toils of the preceding day. It was that of the Valley of Mexico, or Tenochtitlan, as more commonly called by the natives; which, with its picturesque assemblage of water, woodland, and cultivated plains, its shining cities and shadowy hills, was spread out like some gay and gorgeous panorama before them. ”

“ The new dynasty fostered the inherited culture in every way, and made the city not only the political capital, but the Athens of the country. The rise of the Aztecs gave it a rival in Mexico, which in course of the fifteenth century assumed the political sceptre, but Tezcuco still maintained the precedence in culture and elegance. It was said to contain one hundred and forty thousand houses, distributed among different suburbs, and extending with their smiling gardens from the border of the lake to a distance of from three to four leagues. ”

“ Behind us glowed the Mexic valley, green and glossy, where lake and tree met together. It is a magnificent landscape, and naturally set Cortez violently in love with it, as it had the Aztec and the Toltec before him. One does not tire in admiring its wonderful combination of snow range and purple mountains, of broad lake and ever-green foliage, of pretty town and grand city. The lakes here are an important part of the landscape, if landscape it may be called which they make up. Tezcoco, the largest, seems to fill all the outer section of the valley. ”