NATIONAL LIBRARY. 91 



of extreme rarity. Here are to be found volumes of price- 

 less value, among which is a large volume of painted 

 pictures, said to be original dispatches from Montezuma 

 to his allies, and captured by Cortez. The library contains 

 books in all languages, dating from the present century, 

 back four hundred years or more. It has no systematic ar- 

 rangement or catalogue. The library building is an old 

 convert which was confisicated for the purpose The iron 

 fence, which encloses the edifice, is ornamented by marble 

 busts of famous scientists, authors, and orators, and the 

 plat of ground in front is graced by a beautiful bed of 



flowers. 



The Plaza Major, as before said, is the center of the 

 city in every sense of the word. It is fully one thousand 

 feet square and is beautifully laid out. In the center is the 

 Zocalo, screened with groups of orange-trees, shrubbery, 

 and flowers. Here, in a circular music stand, the military 

 band gives concerts four times weekly, in the afternoon and 

 evening. At the western side of the Zocalo is the flower 

 market, whose perfume fills the atmosphere and whose 

 beauty delights the eye. The market is presided over by 

 pretty native girls, who importune you to buy the choice 

 nosegays, and seldom is their entreaty in vain. The 

 ancient Aztecwas an intense lover of flowers; he used them 

 in all his ceremonies, even to those of the sacrifice; the 

 modern native has lost none of his affection for these 

 beautiful emblems, and uses them on every occasion. The 

 most abundant flowers seen here are red and white roses, 

 pinks of various colors, heliotrope, violets, poppies, both 

 white and scarlet, and forget-me-nots. These flowers are 

 artistically arranged in large bouquets, with a backing of 

 maiden-hair ferns, and are sold for fifteen cents each. The 

 price, however, is not fixed, and one may easily purchase a 

 bouquet for half the sum first named. 



