"Before Proceeding To The Narrative Of The Siege Of Mexico, It May Be
Proper To Give Some Account Of The
Situation of the city of Mexico, and
the mounds or causeways by which it communicated with the land at the
Several posts which were occupied by Cortes for its investment[3]. The
city of Mexico was built partly on an island and partly in the water, at
the west side of a considerable salt lake, named sometimes the lake of
Tezcuco, and sometimes the lake of Mexico, and appears to have been about
a mile from the firm land. It communicated with the land by three mounds
or causeways; that of Tepejacac on the north, about three miles long,
measuring from the great temple in centre of Mexico; that usually called
of Iztapalapa on the south, nearly five miles in length; and that of
Tacuba or Tlacopan on the west, about two miles long, likewise measuring
from the temple; but at least a mile may be abstracted from each of these
measurements, on account of the extent of the city from the great temple
to the commencement of the causeways. About the middle of the southern
causeway called that of Iztapalapa, another causeway branched off
obliquely to the south-east, to the town of Cojohuacan; and at the place
where these two causeways united stood the town of Xoloc, partly on the
sides of the causeways, but chiefly in the water intersected by canals and
ditches. Besides these three grand causeways for communicating with the
land, there was a smaller mound about two miles south from the causeway of
Tacuba, from a town named Chapoltepec, along which the aqueduct, or pipes,
for supplying Mexico with fresh water was carried; but this appears to
have been too narrow for allowing any passage, at least the Spaniards do
not seem to have availed themselves of it, in their long and arduous
endeavours to force their way into Mexico.
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