156 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I02 



farthest bounds of the jurisdiction of Tehuantepec, which belongs 

 to the Diocese of Oaxaca, at which point it touches the Diocese of 

 Chiapas and the Circuit Court of Santiago de Guatemala. 



434. The city is one of the largest and finest in the world ; it has 

 an excellent climate, neither cold nor hot, with marvelous skies and 

 healthful air ; since it is built by the lake, it is very salubrious. For 

 the reasons given, which apply also to the district, it covers the area 

 of a very large city. It will be over 2 leagues in circuit ; all the build- 

 ings are of excellent construction, composed of a very fine reddish 

 stone, unique in the world ; there are very rich quarries of it right 

 by the lake ; it is very easy to work and so light that a large slab or 

 block of it will float on the water without sinking, as I saw with my 

 own eyes when I was in that city in the year 161 2. 



435. The streets are very straight, wide, and unencumbered ; taken 

 with the excellent architecture, they make a fine appearance. The 

 city is well supplied with abundance of cheap and delicious food. 

 Along tl"te streets there are broad deep channels of water from the 

 lake, with bridges to cross over from one side to the other. For the 

 provisioning of the city there come in from all the surrounding coun- 

 try every day over the lake more than 1,000 boats loaded with sup- 

 plies of bread, meat, fish, game, wood, and grass, which they call 

 zacate, and what else is needed ; by land every day, over 3,000 mules 

 loaded with wheat, corn, sugar, and other commodities for the stores ; 

 thus it becomes one of the most abundantly and luxuriously supplied 

 cities in the world. 



436. The city will contain over 15,000 Spanish residents and over 

 80,000 Indians who reside in the city and in the suburb or city of San- 

 tiago de Tlaltelolco and in the other environs or garden tracts (chinam- 

 pas) ; furthermore there are more than 50,000 Negroes and mulattoes, 

 slaves of the Spaniards or free ; so the city's area is widespread and 

 extensive. Business is active, both because the land is rich and the 

 city is the capital of those realms, and also in consequence of the 

 close connections it has with Spain, Peru, the Philippines, and with 

 the Provinces of Guatemala and its territory, Yucatan and Tabasco, 

 and all the Kingdom of New Galicia and Vizcaya. They usually have 

 four market days there, with great quantities of merchandise, silk, 

 cloth, and everything to be found in the world's best-supplied mar- 

 kets ; in San Juan, these are Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday ; in San- 

 tiago, every day ; in Santa Maria la Redonda, in the main square ; in 

 Santa Maria de la Modorra and in San Hipolito, Wednesday and 

 Thursday ; and in Tomatlan, which is out toward the moat, there is 

 a food market every day. 



