314 LAKES. 



II. GRAIN. 



Maize, or Indian com— cargas of 3 fanegas, 117,224=5-15,219 IS. 



bushels. 

 Barley— cargas, 40,219=187,002 I. S. bu.shels. 

 Wheat flour— cargas of 12 anobas, 130,000=353,229 cwt. 



III. LIQUIDS. 



Pulque, the fermented juice of agave— cargas, 294,790=800,987 cwts. 

 Wine and vinegar— barrels of 4.4 arrobas, 4,007=71,756 I. S. galls. 

 Brandy- barrels, 12,(100=101,052 I. S. galls. 

 Spanish oil— arrobas of 25 pounds, 6,585=15,530 I. S. galls. 



The market is abuiidantlj^ supplied witli vegetables 

 of numerous kinds, wliich are brought in every morn- 

 ing b}^ the Indians in boats. Most of these are cul- 

 tivated on the chinampas or gardens, some of which 

 float upon the neighbouring sheet of water, while 

 others are fixed in the marshy grounds.* 



The surface of the four principal lakes in the val- 

 ley of Mexico occupies nearh' a tenth of its extent, 

 or 168 square miles. The lake of Xochimilco con- 

 tains 49i, that of Tezcuco 77, of San Christobal 27^, 

 and of Zumpango 9/^, square miles. The valley 

 itself is a basin enclosed by a wall of porphyritic 

 mountains, and all the water furnished by the sur- 

 rounding Cordilleras is collected in it. No stream 

 issues from it excepting the brook of Tequisquiac, 

 which joins the Rio de Tula. The lakes rise by 

 stages in proportion to their distance from its centre, 

 or, in other words, from tlie site of the capital. 

 Next to the lake of Tezcuco, IMexico is the least ele- 

 vated point of the valley, the plaza mayor or gi-eat 

 square being only 1 foot 1 inch higher than the mean 

 level of its water, which is 11} feet lower than that 

 of San Christobal. Zumpango, which is the most 



* " These are long narrow strips of ground redeemed from the sur- 

 rounding swamp, and intersected by small canals. They all appear to 

 abound in very fine vegetables, and lively-foliaged poplars generally 

 shadowed their extremities. The little gardens constructed on bushes, 

 or wooden rafts, no longer exist in the immediate vicinity of Mexico ; but 

 1 learned that some may yet be seen at Inchimilco, a place near San Au- 

 gustin de las Caevas." — Captaui Lyon's Journal nf o. Residence and 

 Tour in the Rejytiblic of Mexico, vol. ii. p. 110. 



