them. The foundations of many of the principal houses were destroyed; trade was paralized; the lower classes reduced to the lowest state of misery; and orders were actually given by the Court of Madrid to abandon the town, and to build a new Capital in the elevated plains between Tăcŭbă and Tăcŭbāya, to which the waters of the lakes, even before the conquest, had never been known to extend.
The necessity of this measure was obviated by a succession of earthquakes in the dry year of 1634, when the surface of the valley was cracked and rent in various directions, and the waters gradually disappeared; a miracle for which due credit should be given to the Virgin of Guadalupe, by whose powerful intercession it is said to have been effected.
Martinez, who had been thrown into confinement in 1629, was released upon the termination of the evils which his imprudence was said to have occasioned; and again placed by a new Viceroy, (the Marquis of Ceralvo,) at the head of the works, by which similar visitations were to be averted in future. Under his superintendence the great dike, or Calzada of San Crĭstōbăl was constructed, by which the lake of that name is divided from that of Tĕzcūcŏ. This gigantic work, which consists of two distinct masses, the first one league, and the second 1,500 varas in length, is ten varas in width, (or thickness) throughout, and from three and a half to four varas in height. It is composed entirely of
