We turn naturally from the ancient capital of the Aztec empire to the remains of art and architecture which are yet found on the site of Tezcoco, the second city in the realm, and in its vicinity. It was in this place that Cortéz prepared for his second assault upon the city of Tenochtitlan or Mexico, and here he put together and launched on the lake the vessels which he had caused to be fashioned in Tlascala on the other side of the mountains that bound the eastern edge of the valley of Mexico. The spot where these vehicles of his troops across the waters of Tezcoco were first deposited in their proper element is still pointed out by the inhabitants, and is known as El Puente de las Brigantinas, though it is now more than a mile from the shore of the lake.[62]
In the north-west section of the modern town of Tezcoco, on the top of a shapeless mass of pottery, bricks, mortar and earth, which is thickly overgrown with aloes, there are several large slabs of basaltic rock, neatly squared and laid due north and south. According to the legends of the spot this is the site of one of the royal residences, and like most of the antiquities of Mexico, is connected with the name of the best known emperor, as the palace of Montezuma. When Mr. Poinsett visited Tezcoco in 1825, this heap had not been pillaged for modern architectural purposes, as much as it has been since that period. Among the ruins of the supposed palace he then found, a regularly arched and well built passage, sewer, or aqueduct, which was formed of square stones the size of bricks, cemented with the strong mortar which was so much used by the Indians in all their works. In the door of one of the rooms he noticed the remains of a "very flat arch," the stones comprising which were of prodigious size and weight. On this spot, some years ago, was found the sculptured basin, which, at the period of our visit, had been transferred to and preserved in the collection of the Ex-Condé del Peñasco in the city of Mexico.
In the southern part of Tezcoco, are the massive remains of three vast pyramids, whose forms are still remarkably perfect. They succeed each other in a direct line from north to south, and, according to our measurement, are about four hundred feet in extent, on each of their fronts, along the base line. They are built partly of burned and partly of sun dried bricks, mixed up with fragments of pottery and thick coverings of cement, through which neat canals had been moulded to carry off the water from the upper terrace. Bernal Diaz del Castillo informs us, that the chief _teocalli_ of Tezcoco was ascended by one hundred and seventeen steps; and, from the quantity of obsidian fragments, images, vessels and heads of idols we found upon the sides of these structures, it is not unlikely, that they, like the _teocallis_ of the capital were devoted to the same bloody and impious rites. In some of the private houses of this town, many larger idols or images cut from basalt are still preserved, and in 1825, Mr. Poinsett saw at the residence of the commandant several of these figures, which were better formed and designed than most of the Indian statues he had previously encountered in his Mexican travels.