less, large sums of money have been expended by enterprising Mexicans in irrigating experiments.[1]
In connection with aqueducts and irrigation, it will not be out of place to give some account of the attempts that have been made to drain the valley of Mexico, which may be regarded as among the greatest hydraulic undertakings in the world, and which has been before spoken of in this history. After the destructive inundation of 1629,[2] the great dikes or dams of San Cristóbal were constructed at a great sacrifice of Indian life;[3] but with all these efforts, the capital was never secure against flood. The tunnel of Huehuetoca was found to be a failure, as it was impossible to keep it free from the débris which continually choked it up. It was therefore decided to convert it into an open cutting, but owing to improvident suspensions of the work during periods when no danger of inundation was feared,[4] it was not finished until 152 years after its commencement.[5]
from 25 to 150 feet. In all the principal cities the supply of water by aqueducts furnishes the means of irrigating, and the gardens and orchards display a corresponding luxuriance and fecundity. A list of the principal aqueducts in each state will be found in Hernandez, Estadist. Mej., 30. In 1870, there were 260 artesian wells in the federal district. Voz de Mex., 6 Ab., 1878. In the same year, the rainfall in the capital was 583.4 millim.; in the previous year 214.1. Id., 23 de Ag. The first application for the exclusive right to sink artesian wells was made in 1836. Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, iii. 308. During the next twenty years a great number was opened in Vera Cruz, Guerrero, Mexico, Tlascala, Querétaro, and Colima. El Universal, 14 Sept., 1850, 4, Oct. 24, 3; El Estandarte, May 2 and 11, 1857; Cincinnatus, Travels, 325; Silíceo, Mem. Foment., 65–6. The exclusive right system, however, was found to be an impediment to progress, and the government abolished it, extending to all persons the privilege of sinking artesian wells.
- ↑ The owner of a hacienda of about 20 sq. leagues — by no means one of the largest estates in Mexico — assured me that he had expended over $300,000 during 1882–3 for water.
- ↑ For particulars, see vol. iii. 85-9, this series.
- ↑ One of the dikes is a league in length, and the other 1,500 varas. They are 10 varas in thickness, and from 312 to 4 varas high; they are built of stone with buttresses of masonry, and were concluded in 11 months. Wart's Mex. in 1827, ii. 287-8.
- ↑ 'On négligea le travail dans les années de sécheresse.' Humboldt, Essai Polit., i. 219.
- ↑ The total expense of drainage, including all works undertaken from 1607 to 1789, is estimated at $5,547,670, and during the following 15 years from $605,000 to $700,000 more were spent in improvements. Id., 219-20, 2245. The dimensions of this enormous work are astonishing. The length of the cutting is 24,530 varas; for a distance of 2,624 feet the width at the top varies from 278 to 360 feet, and the perpendicular depth from 147 to 196 feet; for a
