and other works which attest the
engineering capabilities of the people. Four great causeways gave
access to the marshy island upon which the capital was
situated--structures of stones and mortar, the longest being some four
or five miles in length. To-day one of these forms part of a modern
street, and the waters of the lake have retired more than two miles
from the city.

[Illustration: THE VALLEY OF MEXICO: VIEW ON LAKE TEXCOCO; THE MODERN
CITY OF MEXICO IN THE DISTANCE.]

The habitations of the principal people were built of stone, and the
interior of polished marbles and rare woods. Painting and sculpture
embellished these interiors and exteriors, although these were
generally crude and barbaric in their execution and representation.
Around the city and upon the shores of the lakes, numerous villages
arose, surrounded by luxurious gardens and orchards, and the singular
_chinampas_, or floating gardens, were made, with their wealth of
flowers, such as the early Mexicans both loved and demanded for
sacrificial ceremonies.

Naturally, all this development took time. Yet the rise of this
civilisation must be considered rapid--probably it was largely
inherited in principle. The first Aztec government was the theocratic
and military _regime_ established in the fourteenth century under
Tenoch, a military priest and leader who died in 1343. Less than two
hundred years afterwards the city of Tenochtitlan was in the zenith of
power and culture at the moment when it fell before the Spaniards. Ten
kings followed Tenoch, the first being Itzcoatl, who may be considered
the real founder of the empire. He was followed by the first Montezuma,
who greatly extended its sway, dying in 1469. Then came Axayacatl, who
is considered to be the constructor of the famous Mexican Calendar
stone. Tizoc, his successor, hoped to win the favour of the war-god by
the reconstruction of the great Teocalli, whose service was inaugurated
by the infamous Ahuizotl in 1487 and at whose dedication an appalling
number of human sacrifices were made. Then at the beginning of 1500 the
throne was ascended by Montezuma the Second, who further extended the
beauty and power of the Aztec capital, but who, vacillating and weighed
down by the fear of destiny, lived but to witness the beginning of the
fall of Mexico before the Spaniards in 1519. The brave Guatemoc, the
last of his line, strove vainly to uphold the dynasty against the
invaders.

There is no doub