120 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES. 



the natural environment. The traveller, viewing it from some commanding site, 

 might well be tempted to exaggerate the part j^layed in history by a city occupying 

 such an imposing position. " We stood rapt in amazement," exclaimed Bernai 

 Diaz. " We declared that the city resembled those enchanted abodes described in 

 the book of Am a dis, and some of our men asked whether the vision was not a 

 dream." 



Mexico is laid out with great regularity, the streets, mostly too narrow, being 

 disposed at right angles, like those of Chicago and Philadelphia ; but this monoto- 

 nous arrangement is somewhat broken b}^ the squares and gardens occurring at 

 intervals. The houses, with their terraced roofs and inner courts like those of 

 eastern cities, are solidly built with a yellowish sandstone, or a red lava called 

 fezontlc, and are usually of only one storey, the better to resist the slight bvit some- 

 what frequent earthquakes. In the centre of the city is situated the great square 

 (plaza), where are celebrated all public solemnities, and where converge the currents 

 of business and pleasure, alternating with the hours of the day. On one side of the 

 square stands the cathedral, which replaces the church erected by Cortes on the 

 spot where stood the ieocalli, or temple of the war- god, ever reeking with the blood 

 of human victims. The very pillars of the new edifice rested on the great idols, in 

 order that they might be for ever crushed by the indestructible column of the holy 

 Christian religion. The present church, which took nearly a century to build, is 

 a sumptuous monument of imposing appearance, and to it is aftached the Sagrario, 

 another church with a façade as luxuriously carved and sculptured as a Hindoo 

 palac?. A second side of the plaza is occupied by the National Palace, which is 

 said to h ive been erected on the site of Montezuma's palace. It is a vast building, 

 with a frontage considerably over 220 yards long, and containing the senate, the 

 Government offices, the ministries, besides the post office, museum, and library. 

 The other two sides of the square are skirfc-d chiefly by houses with poriales, or 

 arcades, where there is a constant movement of loungers, pedestrians, and itine- 

 rant dealers. In the middle of the square is the fine promenade of the Zocalo, or 

 " Socle," shaded with the eucalyptus, and adorned -svith flower beds, fountains, 

 and statues. 



In the Mexican museum are preserved valuable natural history collections, 

 amongst which are those fossils which the conquerors supposed to be the " bones 

 of giants," but which are now known to be the remains of large animals belonging 

 to the quaternary fauna. Still more interesting is the archaeological collection, 

 comprising such antiquities as escaped the iconoclastic fury of the first conquerors 

 and the research of foreign collectors. Here is the precious " Mexican Calendar," 

 on which is sculptured the division of time according to the ingenious Aztec 

 system. It is a huge block weighing 21 tons, which must have been brought 

 from a great distance, for no rocks of the same geological formation occur in the 

 neighbouring mountains. The " Stone of Tizoc " (p. 71), which represents the pro- 

 cession of people vanquished by that hero, and which was long supposed to be the 

 " stone of sacrifice " belonging to the great temple, is another treasure preserved 

 in this museum, where may also be seen the hideous statue of Huitzilopochtli, 



