ating on the 7th of September. The problem
that now lay before General Scott was a very different one from that which
Cortez had faced in his siege of the city. In his day Mexico was built on
an island in the centre of a large lake, which was crossed by a number of
causeways, broken at intervals by canals whose bridges could be removed.

During the centuries that succeeded this lake had disappeared, low, marshy
lands occupying its site. The city, however, was still reached by
causeways, eight in number, raised about six feet above the marsh level.
In these ended the five main roads leading to the city. A large canal
surrounded the capital, and within its circle were smaller ones, all now
filled with water, as this was the rainy season. The problem of bridging
these under fire was one of the difficulties that confronted the
Americans.

General Scott decided to approach the city by the causeways of San Cosme,
Belen, and Tacubaya, which were defended by formidable works, the
outermost of which was Molino del Rey, a fortified position at the foot of
a slope beyond which a grove of cypresses led to the hill of Chapultepec.
It consisted of a number of stone buildings, some of which had been used
as a foundry, but which were now converted into fortresses. This place was
carried by storm in the early morning of September 8, and the stronger
position of Casa de Mata, a quarter of a mile from Chapultepec, was
captured by a fierce assault the same day. Only Chapultepec now lay
between the Americans and the Mexican capital.

The stronghold of Chapultepec, of which the places just taken were in the
nature of outworks, remained to be captured before the city could be
reached from that quarter. Chapultepec is an isolated rocky hill, about
one hundred and fifty feet in height, and was surmounted by a large stone
building which had been used as the bishop's palace, but was now converted
into a strong fortress. It was well prepared for defence in guns and
garrison, and was the most difficult to win of the fortifications of the
capital. The western side was the most accessible, but the face of this,
above the grove of cypresses which covered its base, presented a steep,
rocky, and difficult ascent.

To deceive the enemy, a feigned advance upon another section of the city
was made on the 12th of September. The two divisions engaged in this
returned that night to Tacubaya, near Chapultepec, though a force still
threatened the southern ca