In
the summit garden was a reservoir kept filled with water by an aqueduct
carried on masonry buttresses for several miles over hill and valley. In
its centre was a large rock, on which were carved in hieroglyphics the
principal events of each year of the king's reign.
Lower down were other reservoirs, adorned with statuary, and yielding
water to channels that ran through the gardens or to cascades that tumbled
riotously over the rocks. Here were marble porticoes and pavilions, and
baths cut in the solid rock, which the natives still show to visitors
under the title of the "Baths of Montezuma." Near the base of the hill,
amid lofty groves of cedar, rose the royal villa, with its light arcades
and airy halls, affording a delightful relief to the monarch from the
duties of the court. Relics of this villa and garden still remain to
attest their former beauty, and indicate that this Indian king lived in a
magnificence resembling that of the far-famed court of the caliph
Haroun-al-Raschid.
He was like the celebrated caliph of the "Arabian Nights" in another way,
for it was his custom to wander about the streets, conversing with the
humblest of his people and learning their condition and needs from their
own words.
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