The ruins of the city of _Tezcuco_, which with its suburbs was even larger than Mexico, and according to Torquemada, contained one hundred and forty thousand houses, still betoken an ancient place of great importance and magnificence. Without the walls, tumuli, the sepulchres of the former inhabitants, may yet be observed, and also the remains of a _fine Aqueduct_ in a sufficient state of preservation for present use. Two miles from _Tezcuco_, the village of _Huexotla_, situated on the site of the ancient city of that name, which was considered as one of the suburbs of _Tezcuco_, exhibits signs of ancient civilization, in the foundations of large edifices, in _massive Aqueducts_, one of which, covered with rose-colored cement, still exists in a perfect state, and in an extensive wall of great height and thickness. A covered way flanked by parallel walls proceeds from the ancient city, to the bed of a stream now dry, over which there is a remarkable bridge, with a pointed arch 40 feet high, and supported on one side by a pyramidal mass of masonry. _Tlascala_ was furnished with abundance of baths and fountains, and _Zempoala_, like the city of _Tezcuco_, had every house supplied with water _by a pipe_. _Iztaclapa_, which contained about ten thousand houses, had its Aqueduct that conveyed water from the neighboring mountains, and led it through a great number of well cultivated gardens. Among the ruins of the city of _Zacatecas_, are found the remains of an Aqueduct; and at _Palenque_ is found an Aqueduct of stone, constructed with the greatest solidity. Among the hieroglyphical ornaments of the pyramid of _Xochicalco_ are heads of crocodiles _spouting water_, and much proof may be found that the ancient Americans were acquainted with that property of liquids by which they find their level; and applied it not merely to fountains and _jets d’eau_, but to convey water through _pipes_ to their dwellings. _Aqueducts of South America._ The ancient inhabitants of Peru, Chili, and other parts of South America were undoubtedly a refined, civilized and agricultural people; they constructed extensive cities, roads, _Aqueducts_, &c. Though they constructed many and extensive Aqueducts for the supply of towns and cities with water, yet the object of the greater part of the public works of this kind was for the encouragement of agriculture. “The Peruvians and some of the neighboring nations carried the cultivation of the soil to a higher stage of perfection than any of the American nations. In consequence of the narrow extent of land intervening between the mountains and the sea, the rivers in this region are usually of small size, and the soil, being arid and sandy, needs the aid of artificial irrigation. To such an extent did they carry their ingenious efforts, that the sides of the steepest mountains were converted into productive fields, by being encircled with terraces, supported by stone walls, and watered by _canals_.”