14 



The National Geographic Magazine 



than formerly, the foreigners are more 

 numerous, and among these Americans 

 predominate. The shops are enlarged 

 and multiplied in number. In the cen- 

 tral part of the city substantial houses 

 have been torn down to give place to 

 magnificent business edifices constructed 

 of steel and marble, with electric ele- 

 vators and all modern appliances of a 

 first-class establishment in New York or 

 Paris. The government has taken the 

 lead in this era of reconstruction. A 

 new and extensive general hospital, one 

 of the largest and best equipped in the 

 world, and a new penitentiary, as per- 

 fect as the advance in humane study 

 could make it, have just been com- 

 pleted. The foundations of a Hall of 

 Congress, which promises to be an im- 

 posing edifice, are being laid, and the 

 appropriations have been made for a 

 new department post-office and other 

 public buildings which will greatly 

 beautify the city. The many friends 

 in the United States of the late Matias 

 Romero, so long the honored minister 

 of his country in Washington, will be 

 glad to learn that the great advance in 

 real estate largely enhanced his modest 

 property in the capital. In his will he 

 stated that he owed all he possessed to 

 his county, and he devised the great 

 body of his estate to the founding of a 

 home for indigent old people, which will 

 constitute one of the improvements of 

 the city. 



The ancient system of street railways 

 is undergoing a great transformation. 

 It has passed into the hands of a foreign 

 syndicate, which is supplanting the old 

 method of mule traction with electric- 

 ity, and is replacing the old-fashioned 

 and rickety cars with those of improved 

 modern construction. In fact, the Diaz 

 epoch may be called the regime of elec- 

 tricity, as in his day it has been intro- 

 duced very generally into the houses 

 and streets, not only in the capital, but 

 in all the principal towns of the country. 



One of the chief attractions of modern 



Mexico is the fashionable driveway, the 

 Paseo de la Reforma. It has been 

 greatly widened, ornamented at fre- 

 quent intervals with statues of public 

 men and artistic figures, and extended 

 to the Castle of Chapultepec, lying 

 nearly a league away from the center 

 of the city. At the foot of this pictur- 

 esque castle there has been laid out a 

 beautiful park, which is being con- 

 stantly enlarged and adorned, and which 

 will soon rival the most famous pleasure 

 grounds of the world. The old visitor 

 to Mexico will, however, have to mourn 

 the loss of many of his dear friends, 

 the so-called "Montezuma trees," the 

 grand old cypresses, some of the most 

 colossal of those surrounding the castle 

 having died. In its present setting of 

 green and flowers, with paved roads and 

 objects of art, the old castle of the 

 Montezumas and the Spanish viceroys 

 appears more lovely than ever. The 

 view from its summit, embracing a wide 

 area of the broad valley, everywhere 

 covered with verdure, the waters of the 

 lakes sparkling in the sunlight, the cap- 

 ital, with its towers and wide-spreading 

 edifices, the many villages nestling 

 among the semi-tropical vegetation, the 

 amphitheater of high mountains sur- 

 rounding and shutting in the valley, 

 with the lofty volcanoes, clothed with 

 eternal snow, standing as hoary senti- 

 nels of the scene — all this constitutes a 

 vision, in my judgment, unsurpassed in 

 any other part of the world. In this 

 day of prosperity and improvement, no 

 wonder the Mexican is proud of his 

 capital and his country. 



IMPROVEMENT OF THE SEAPORTS 



Another geographic phase worthy of 

 notice is the transformation which has 

 taken place in several of the seaports 

 of the country. It is related that a 

 King of Spain, on a visit to Cadiz, was 

 seen with a glass scanning the horizon 

 across the waters to the west. A court- 



