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Show 420 BOOK VII. ~ S&cT. LV. Remains of ancient edifices. HISTORY OF MEXICO. more manifefted in the fonndation of their city; for whereas other architetls have no more to do than to lay a foundation upon folid earth, to raife an edifice, the Mexicans were obliged to make the foil Oil ~i ch they built, uniting by terraces feveral little ifiands together •. Be. fides this prod~giou s fa tigue, they had to raiie banks and pallifadoes to render their habitations fecure. But if in thefe works their indufiry is confpicnous, in many others the Mexicans !1Jew their tafte for magnificence. Amongfl: the monumen ts of ancient architeCture which are extant in the Mexican empire, the edifices of Mitl:lan, in Mizteca, are very celebrated; there are many things about them worthy of admiration, particularly a large hall, the roof of which is il.tpported by various cylindrical columns of !l:one, eighty feet high, and about twenty in circumference, each of them confifiing of one fingle piece. But this, or any other fabric of Mexican antiquity now remaining, cannot be compared with the famous aquedutl: of Chempoallan. This large work, worthy of being ranked with the greate!l: in Europe, was done about the middle of the fixteenth century. The Francifcan miffionary Francifco Tembleque, directed, and the Chempoallefe executed it with wonderful perfeB:ion. Moved with compaffion for the difirefs which his profelytes fuffered from a icarcity of water, as all that could be gathered in trenches and ditches was confumed by the cattle of the Spaniards, that pious father undertook to relieve the ncccffities of his people at all events. The water was at a great di!l:ance, and the country through which it was neceffury to condutl: it, was mountainous and rocky; but every ditii.culty was overcome by his zeal and activity, aided by the indufl:ry and toil of his converts. They con!l:ruCl:ed an aqueduct of ftone and lime, which, on account of the frequent turnings they were obliged to make in the mountains, was upwards of thirty miles long. The greate!l: diBiculty confi{l;eu in crofiing three great precipices which intercepted their progrefs; but this was got over by three bridges, the fir!l: confi!l:ing of forty-.feven, the fccond of thirteen, and the third, which is the lar rrefl: and moil: wondt:r-b ful of all, having fixty-fcven arches. The largeft arch, which was in the middle, fituated in the greate!l: depth of the preciptce is one hundre4 and ten geometrical feet in height, and fixty-one in breadth, {() that a large veffel could pafs under it. The other fixty-Gx arches, fi tuated • HI S T 0 R Y 0 F ME X I "C 0. 421 fituateq on each fide of the largefl:, d[minifhed gradually on each fide BOOK vn. unto the edge or top of the precipice, fo as to leave the ground level ~ with the coudc of the aquedutl:. This large bridge is 3,178 geome-tt ·ical feet, or upwards of half a mile in length . T he work of it occu .. • pied the fp ,tce of five years, and the whole aq ued uCl: feventeen. We have deemed it nut impropet to iniert the defcription of this fupcrb fabrick; as although it w;ts the undertaking of a Spaniard, after the conque!t, it was executed by the Chempoallcfe, who furvived the clownf.1l of their empu·e. The ignorant Mr. de P. denies thJt the Mexicans had either the knowledge, or made uie of lime; but it is evident from the te!l:imony of all the hiitorians of Mexico, by tribute rolls, and above all from the ancient buildings ftill remaining, th:lt all tbofe nations made the .Cune ufe of lime as the Europeans Jo. The vulgar of that kingdom believe, that the Mexicans mixed eggs with lime to render it more tenacious ; but this is an error, occalioned by feeing the ancient walls of a yellowifh ca!l:. It is manifefl: al1o, from the tefl:imony of the firft hiftorians, that burnt tiles or bricks were ufed by the Mexicans, and that they fold them like all other things in the market-place. The ftone-cutters, who cut and wrought fi:ones for building, did not make ufc of pickaxes, nor iron chiffels, but only of certain in!l:ruments of Bint-il:one; with thefe, however, they exccut.ed beautiful works and engravings. But thofe iort of labours without iron do not raife fo much wonder as the ftones of !l:upendous fize and weight which were fonnd in the capital and other places, tranfported from great diftances:, and placed in high fituations without the aid of machines which mechani( m has invented. Befides common fl:one they wrought marble, alfo jafper, alabaftcr, itztli, and other valuab le ftones. Of itztli, they made be..1utifnl looking-glai1i::s fet with gold, and thofe extremely !harp razors which they fixed in their fwords, and which their barbers made ufe of. They made thofe razors with fuch expedition, that in the fpace o one hour an artificer could fini(h more than a hundred (u). The Mexican jewellers not only had !kill in gems, but likewife undedtood how to polifu work. and cut them, and formed them into (u) Hernandez Torqucmada and Bctancomt, dcfcribc the manner in which thofe artifls mad11 their razors of the !lone ituli. s what- SecT. LVI. Stone-cut-tcrs, engravvers, jewellers, ando!pot-tcrs. I |