At the city of Mexico Cortez had a great reception, negotiation having
established the form of friendly relations between him and Montezuma.
Quarters were provided in the city for the Spanish portion of his army,
a vast edifice being set apart for their use which furnished ample
accommodations for the whole force. The place could be entered only by
causeways. They marched on a wide avenue which led through the heart of
the city, beholding the size, architecture, and beauty of the Aztec
capital with astonishment. This avenue was lined with some of the finest
houses, built of a porous red stone dug from quarries in the
neighborhood. The people gathered in crowds on the streets, on the flat
roofs, in the doorways, and at the windows to witness the arrival of the
Spaniards. Most of the streets were narrow, and had houses of a much
less imposing character. The great streets went over numerous canals, on
well-built bridges. Montezuma's palace was a low, irregular pile of
stone structures extending over a large space of ground.
Among the _teocallis_ of the Aztec capital the "great temple" stood
foremost. It was situated in the centre of a vast inclosure, which was
surrounded by a heavy wall eight feet high, built of prepared stone.
This inclosure was entered by four gateways opening on the four
principal streets of the city. The "temple" was a solid structure built
of earth and pebbles, and faced from top to bottom with hewn stone laid
in mortar. It had five stages, each receding so as to be smaller than
that below it. In general outline it was a rectangular pyramid three
hundred feet square at the base, with a level summit of considerable
extent, on which were two towers, and two altars where "perpetual fires"
were maintained. Here the religious ceremonies were conducted. The
ascent was by a circular flight of steps on the outside which went four
times around the structure. The water in the lagoons being salt, the
city was supplied with water by means of an aqueduct which extended to
Chapultepec.
Such substantially is the account given of the old city of Mexico and
its great temple by every writer who saw them before the Conquest, and
all the struggles which took place for possession of this capital had a
character that would have been impossible any where save in a large
city. In every account of the attacks on the great temple, we can see
that it was a great temple; and we may perceive what the old city was by
reading any account of the desperate and bloody battles in which the
Spaniards were driven from it, after standing a ten days' siege in the
great stone building they occupied.