among different suburbs, and extending with their smiling gardens from the border of the lake to a distance of from three to four leagues. The six divisions of the city were crossed by a series of fine streets lined with tasteful and costly buildings. Among the finest structures were the two palaces, which are claimed to have excelled those of Mexico. The older, the Huetecpan, wherein the poet-king Nezahualcoyotl held his court, formed a magnificent monument of his artistic taste. It lay upon a triple terrace bathed by the lake, and was surrounded by an immense wall, from fifteen to twenty-five feet high, inclosing two large squares. Within this precinct were the council-chambers, the halls for various arts and sciences, and the royal apartments. The pleasure-grounds, almost hedged by cedars, were filled with shady groves, traversed by labyrinthian paths, and interspersed with well stocked ponds and aviaries, baths, and sparkling fountains. The new palace, which occupied a smaller space, excelled in imposing architecture and in comforts of the most varied character.
Beside these there were a number of summer resorts in the neighborhood, conspicuous among them the fine palace of Tezcocingo, a prototype of Chapultepec, and like it overlooking the capital from a hill, two leagues to the east.
An aqueduct of stone supplied two reservoirs on the summit, whence the water was distributed over grounds intersected by canals with meandering currents and picturesque cascades.
The palace lay almost hidden within groves of gigantic cedar and cypress, revealing to the rapt beholder pavilions of marble, tessellated pavements, and playing fountains with statuary of unique form.11