aqueducts of Rome ; nor restrain the indignation with which such acts of barbarism, perpetrated by Christians and civilized men, against those whom they de- nounced as pagans and savages, should be regarded and recorded. The following farther description of the aqueducts of ancient Mexico^ is given by Cortes, (the conqueror) in a long despatch, addressed to the Emperor Charles V., dated at Segura, in Mexico, October 30th, 1520, and soon after printed at Seville, (Spain.) " Along one of the causeways that lead into the city, are laid two pipes, constructed of masonry, each of which is two feet in width and about five feet in height. An abun- dant supply of excellent water, forming a volume equal in bulk to the human body, is conveyed by one of the pipes, and distributed about the city, where it is used by the inhab- itants for drinking, and other purposes. The other pipe, in the meantime, is kept empty until the former requires cleansing, when the water is conducted into it ; and it continues to be used till the process of cleansing is completed. * Bradford's Antiquities of America, p. 136, 1. t Bradford's Antiquities of America, pp. 106,7. 19 74 PRELIMINARY ESSAY. "As the water is necessarily carried over bridges, on account of the passage of the salt water, (of the lake) across the causeway, at different points, reservoirs resembling canals are constructed on the bridges through which the fresh water is conveyed ; these reser- voirs are of the breadth of the body of an ox, and of the same length of the bridges. Thus the whole city is supplied. The water is also carried in canoes through all the streets, for sale, being taken from'the aqueduct in the following manner ; the canoes pass under the bridges, on which the reservoirs are placed, and men stationed above fill them with water, for which service they receive a suitable compensation." We are indebted for this translation to Mr. Folsom, the Librarian of the New York Historical Society ; who is preparing for the press a complete English version of Cortes' Letters. Gomara, the Chaplain of Cortes, whose " Chronicle of New Spain" was published in 1552, states in addition to the above, that " the water was brought from a place called Chapoltepec, three miles distant from the city, where it sprang from a hill, at the foot of which stood two statues wrought in stone, with bucklers and lances, the one represent- ing, (it is said,) Montezuma, and the other his father, Oxayaca." * Cortes, in his 5th letter to Charles V., speaks of the springs of Amilco, near Cheru- basco, of which the waters were brought to the city by pipes of burnt earth. We still, says Humboldtjt perceive the remains of this great aqueduct, which was constructed with double pipes, one of which received the water, while they were employed in cleaning1 the other. De Sol is, the historian of the Conquest of Mexico, speaking of the magnificence of Montezuma, and of his works, thus refers to the waters and aqueducts of the city : " In all these gardens and pleasure houses, he had many fountains of sweet and wholesome water, conveyed from the neighboring mountains, by different canals as far as the causeys, whence in covered pipes, it was introduced into the city ; for the use whereof there were some public fountains ; and he permitted some of the meaner sort of people, though not without paying a considerable tribute, to sell about the streets what water they brought from other springs. The conveniency of fountains was very much increased in the time of Montezuma ; for the great conduit which conveys a current of fresh water to Mexico, from the mountains of Chapoltepec, about a league distant from the city, was a work of his ; arid by his order and contrivance, a vast cistern of stone was made for a reservatory ; raising the same to such a height as the delivery of the current required. After this he gave orders for a very thick wall, with two open canals, made of stone and lime, of which one was always in use when the other required clean- ing. A building extremely useful ; and Montezuma valued hmiself so much upon the invention, that he ordered his own effigies and that of his father, which bore a pretty near * Cronica c"e la Nueva-Espana, por Francisco Lopez de Gomara; Madrid, 1749 j p. 79, (originally printed at Saragossa, 1552.) t Humb. N. Spain, vol. ii., p. 31. PRELIMINARYESSAY. 75 resemblance to his, to be engraved on two stones, with an ambition to perpetuate his me- mory by so signal a benefaction done to the city.;' * Montezuma's reign commenced A.