Page:Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans.djvu/367

 extensive collection of wives, visited them only by stealth, and never took them walking with him. So we must dismiss this pleasant fiction of the harem; but if the lady insists, then we must imagine that the grave and ever-occupied Montezuma always strutted about with his flock at his heels; and every morning, like chanticleer,

"His lusty greeting said, And forth his speckled harem led."

Rising to a height of one hundred and seventy feet, and with a circumference of forty-six, this towering monarch of Chapultepec has sheltered many a royal head ere it attained its present dimensions; but, with the blessing of God, it will never shelter another. Near this sombre cypress draped in its gray robe of Spanish moss, there gushes from the base of the hill that equally famous spring of cool, clear water known as "Montezuma's Bath." It was the former source of supply for the ancient Aztec city, and was conducted to the capital, as now, over a magnificent aqueduct of nine hundred arches. There is an inscription carved in the stone walls of the basin, to the effect that this fountain was restored by the viceroy of Spain in the year 1571. The southern aqueduct marches straight upon the city and terminates there in a fountain of quaint design, near which is a tablet informing one that there are 904 arcos from the bridge of Chapultepec to the fountain; that it is 4,663 varas long, was begun in 1677, and finished in 1779. This fountain is called the Salto del Agua, or Waterfall, and the water obtained here is known as agua delgada, thin or pure water, to distinguish it from that of the San Cosme aqueduct, which is agua gorda, or thick water. Near the spring at Chapultepec is the great rock which is said to have had upon it a carving of Axayacatl and Montezuma, and which was destroyed by Cortés; it is not entirely obliterated, however, as some incised lines yet remain.