14rO Ten Years of my Life. 



establishments, I heard from a traveller friend, are to be found 

 also in the neighbourhood of Canton in China. 



All the inhabitants of these villages have such little gardens, 

 from which they earn their living. They make more than 

 twelve thousand piastres a year by selling flowers in Mexico. 

 The construction of these fertile floating islands is very simple. 

 The foundation is a sufliciently thick float made of rushes, and 

 on this is laid good garden soil. In spring especially these 

 floating gardens offer a most charming and original sight, 

 although they are, on account of their humidity, all the year 

 round covered with flowers and vegetables. It is quite surpris- 

 ing to see the manner in which they are occasionally trans- 

 ported from one place to another, which is very simply done 

 by attaching them to a pirogue directed by two Indians. 



From the first Sunday after Ash Wednesday until Whit-Sun- 

 day the pirogues at the Promenade de la Viga are always 

 crowded, each containing sometimes fifty people sitting on the 

 board, whilst in the centre three or four musicians make a 

 musical noise, not very sweet to the ear, but satisfactory to one 

 or two couples of female dancers, executing the Jarabe, Pala- 

 ma, or other popular dances. All these people amuse .them- 

 selves amongst the Indians with eating and drinking pulque 

 until sunset, when they return to the city crowned with roses 

 or other flowers, and loaded with bouquets. 



Mexico has four or five theatres, of which two are excellent. 

 The Theatre Iturbide is a very fine building, and would be an 

 ornament to any European city. Its interior is not only very 

 elegant and tasteful, but also very, convenient and spacious. 

 There are several tiers of boxes with fine white columns orna- 

 mented with golden garlands of flowers, and behind them 

 everywhere great saloons and other rooms, provided with all 

 comforts required for the toilet, for the ladies appear always in 

 full dress, and the excellent light from a splendid crystal lustre 

 permits them to be seen and admired. 



Amongst the many squares of the Mexican capital, the Place 

 d'Armes is the largest and finest, for it is surrounded by the 

 most remarkable buildings of the city. It is a large parallelo- 

 gram with a candelabra in its centre, within a square walk 

 shaded by two rows of trees. It is entirely paved and kept 

 tolerably clean. 



,On its north side stands the Cathedral of Mexico, on the 



