Note 384 — Chapter III

This, says Archbishop Lorenzana, was the modern calzada de la Piedad. (Rel. Terc. de Cortés, p. 229, nota.) But it is not easy to reconcile this with the elaborate chart which M. de Humboldt has given of the Valley. A short arm, which reached from this city in the days of the Aztecs, touched obliquely the great southern avenue by which the Spaniards first entered the capital. As the waters which once entirely surrounded Mexico have shrunk into their narrow basin, the face of the country has undergone a great change, and, though the foundations of the principal causeways are still maintained, it is not always easy to discern vestiges of the ancient avenues.{*}

{*} [La calzada de Iztapalapan,” says Alaman, who has made a minute study of the topography, “es la de San Antonio Abad, que conduce á San Augustin de las Cuevas ó Tlalpam.”—K.]