and Arciniega. By means of a tunnel between the mount Sincoe and Nochistongo hill the ever threatening waters from most elevated northern lakes of Zumpango could be carried through the Tula tributary of Rio Pánuco to the gulf of Mexico. This being decided upon, Enrico Martinez, a Hollander,[1] and the Jesuit Juan Sanchez[2] submitted plans for the work, one of which embraced also a partial drainage of the middle lakes, while another proposed merely to divert the waters of Rio Quauhtitlan from the Citlaltepec section of Zumpango Lake. The latter was adopted as the speedier and cheaper, and on November 28, 1607, the viceroy broke the first sod in presence of a vast concourse of officials and citizens. The work was intrusted to Martinez,[3] who displayed great energy, and set an immense number of Indians to the task, at different points. The expense was covered by a tax of one and a half per cent on the city property, and a levy on wine.[4]
A canal conducted the waters from the Citlaltepec section of Zumpango Lake, or rather from its great tributary, Rio Quauhtitlan, to Huehuetoca, and thence they passed through a tunnel more than a league in length, and four by five varas in height and width, fol-
- ↑ Educated in Spain, it seems. He enjoyed the title of royal cosmographer and wrote Repertorio de los Tiempos y Historia Natural de Nueva España, Mexico, 1606; Antonio, Bib. Hist. Nova, iii. 564. Humboldt mentions a treatise on trigonometry, Essai Pol., i. 211, but it is probably embraced in the above.
- ↑ Alegre intimates that the plans are due to him, and that he at first had chief control. Hist. Comp. Jesus, i. 438-9. Spanish writers of course prefer to keep the foreigner in the background. Among others connected with the surveys and plans were fathers Mercado and Santos and Doctor Villerino.
- ↑ Sanchez, the associate, soon quarrelled and retired. Torquemada, i. 758. Cavo places the inaugural day on December 28th. Tres Siglos, i. 247.
- ↑ The real estate, valued at 20,267,555 pesos, yielded over 304,000 pesos. Cepeda, Rel., 14. Wine was taxed 50 pesos for every pipe. The clergy were not exempt. Torquemada, i. 758; Recop. de Ind., i. 91-2. The laborers received five reals for seven days, an almud of maize every week, and a pound of meat daily. A hospital was erected for their sick. They came from different provinces, to the number of 471,154, with 1,664 female cooks. Cepeda, Rel. , 18. He adds that the actual money paid them between November 1607 and May 1608 was 73,611 pesos. The authoritative writer of Mex., Rel. Estad., 2, declares that 50,000 natives lost their lives during the work, while Cepeda and others maintain that quite an insignificant number perished. They had reasons, however, for hiding disagreeable facts.
