must grieve as he looks at the great advantages here
possessed for drainage and irrigation which are unimproved. There is
not a spot in the whole valley that is not capable of the most perfect
drainage,[28] while basins have been formed by nature in the highest
points, from which irrigation could be supplied to the whole valley;
but decay and neglect--fitting types of the social condition of the
people--every where exhibit themselves. Water stands in all the narrow
canals or ditches that occupy the middle of the streets, for the want
simply of a sewer to draw it down to the level of the Tezcuco. Once a
year the flags are taken off from the covered ditches, and the mud is
dipped out, while a bundle of hay, tied to the tail of a dirt-cart, is
daily dragged through the open ones.

I have spoken only of the lower division of this valley--the valley in
which the city stands. If we consider the two partly separated valleys
as one, the whole will constitute an oval basin 75 miles long from
north to south, with an average width from east to west of 20 miles.
Two thirds of the southern valley is a marsh, and might well be called
the "Montezuma Marsh," it so strikingly resembles the marsh of that
name in the State of New York, though the whole body of ponds and
marshes of this valley contains much less water than its northern
namesake. The stage-road from Vera Cruz crosses this marsh for fourteen
miles, and has a great number of small stone bridges, beneath which the
water runs with considerable current toward the north, on account of
the difference of level between the southern fresh-water ponds and the
lower salt-water ponds, as in the days of Cortez. There are occasional
dry spots, and now and then there is open water; but the greater
portion is filled with marsh grass, and furnishes good feeding for the
droves of cattle that daily frequent it for that purpose. The ancient
village of Mexicalzingo, or "Little Mexico," the traditional home of
the Aztecs before they built Mexico, is situated on one of the dry
spots, slightly elevated above the level of the fresh water; and on
another dry spot or island, six miles distant, stands the famous city
of Mexico itself, resting on piles driven into a foundation of soft
earth. The canal of Chalco commences at the northerly extremity of the
Xochimulco, and, passing by Mexicalzingo and the floating gardens,
continues along the eastern front of the city, and empties itself into
the salt (_te