. Young folks' history of Mexico. gh the water flowed no more freely thanbefore. In 1767 it was decided to convert this subterra-nean canal into an open cut, as it frequenth^ became choked,and endangered the city. Thousands of Indians lost theirlives in both undertakings ; but life was cheap in those days,and labors were performed that to-day it would be impos-sible to execute. At a cost of a million dollars, the cut was concluded, inthe year 1789. It was then 67,537 feet in length, and insome places, at the top, over 600 feet in breadth, with aperpendicular depth of from one hundred and fifty
. Young folks' history of Mexico. gh the water flowed no more freely thanbefore. In 1767 it was decided to convert this subterra-nean canal into an open cut, as it frequenth^ became choked,and endangered the city. Thousands of Indians lost theirlives in both undertakings ; but life was cheap in those days,and labors were performed that to-day it would be impos-sible to execute. At a cost of a million dollars, the cut was concluded, inthe year 1789. It was then 67,537 feet in length, and insome places, at the top, over 600 feet in breadth, with aperpendicular depth of from one hundred and fifty to twohundred feet! This was the great tajo, or cut, of Nochistongo, whichhad cost, at the beginning of the present century onh^, over$6,000,000 and a vast number of lives. It performed itswork ineffectually, and the government of Mexico is yet con-sidering, — at this day, two hundred and seventy-five yearsafter the tunnel was dug, — how it should properly drain thegreat valley in the centre of wliich is the magnificent cap-. The Cut of Nochestongo. 389 ital of Mexico. Enrique Martinez, the great Mexicanengineer, is finally honored by a statue in the plaza of thecity, and through the cut commenced by him so many yearsago runs the track of a railroad, seeking exit from thevalley. From 1611 to 1621 two other viceroys occupied the cap-ital, and the year 1612 was distinguished by a serious insur-rection of the Indians, which was only subdued after seve-ral months hard fighting. [A. D. 1620.] The aqueduct of San Cosme, a magnifi-cent ijionument to the viceroy, the Marques of Guadalcazar,was finished in 1620. Its nine hundred arches still strideacross the fertile fields between Chapultepee and the capi-tal, and over it still flow the sweet waters from tlie hills ofEl Desierto. 390 Mexico. CHAPTER XXVIII. THE REIGN OF THE VICEROYS. Couclllded. [A. D. 1621-1810.] Viceroy and Audiencia continuedto rule the people of Mexico in the interests of the Kingsof Spain. The almost imbecile
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