CITY OF MEXICO. 307 



The ground it occupies is every where perfectly level, chap.xxiv 

 the streets are regular and broad, the architecture siteoTuie 

 generally of a very pure style, and many of the build- city. 

 ings are remarkably beautiful. Two kinds of hewn 

 stone, a porous amygdaloid and a glassy felspar porphyry 

 are used. The houses are not loaded with decorations, 

 nor disfigured by wooden balconies and galleries. The 

 roofs are terraced ; and the streets, which are clean and 

 well lighted, have very broad pavements. The water 

 of the lake is brackish, as is that of all the wells ; but 

 the city is supplied by two fine aqueducts. The objects 

 which generally attract the notice of travellers are, 

 1. The cathedral, which has two towers ornamented with Pnncipfa 

 pilasters and statues ; 2. The treasury ; 3. The convents, tiuidiiiga 

 of which the most distinguished is that of St Francis ; 

 4. The hospital ; 6. The acordada, a fine building, of 

 which the prisons are spacious and well aired ; 6. The 

 school of mines ; 7. The botanical garden ; 8. The 

 university ; 9. The academy of fine arts ; 10. The 

 equestrian statue of Charles IV. in the great square. 



Few remains of ancient monuments are to be found Ancient 

 in the town or its vicinity. Of those that exist, the 

 chief are the ruins of the Aztec dikes and aqueducts ; 

 the sacrificial stone, adorned with a relievo representing 

 the triumph of a Mexican king ; the great calendar in 

 the plazo mayor ; the colossal statue of the goddess 

 Teoyaomiqui iu one of the galleries of the university ; 

 the Aztec manuscripts or hieroglyphical pictures pre- 

 served in the house of the viceroys ; and the foundations 

 of the palace belonging to the sovereigns of Alcolhuacan 

 at Tezcuco. 



The only remarkable antiquities in the valley of Pyramids. 

 Mexico are the remains of the two pyramids of San 

 Juan de Teotihuacan, to the north-east of the lake of 

 Tezcuco, consecrated to the sun and moon. One of 

 these in its present state is a hundred and eighty feet in 

 height, the other a hundred and forty-four. The 

 interior is clay mixed with small stones, while the 

 facings are of porous amygdaloid, and they are sur- 



