INTENDANCY OF MEXICO. 359 
43 in breadth. It is surrounded by a ridge of 
mountains, more elevated on the southern side, 
where it is confined by the great volcanoes of La 
Puebla, Popocatepetl, and Iztaccihuatl. The capi- 
tal stands in the immediate vicinity of one of the 
great lakes which exist in this beautiful valley, al- 
though formerly it was placed on an island in that 
sheet of water, and communicated with the shore by 
three great dikes. This city is represented by Hum- 
boldt as one of the finest ever built by Europeans 
in either hemisphere, and all travellers agree in 
admiring its beauty. “‘ From an eminence,” says 
Captain Lyon in his interesting Journal, “ we came 
suddenly in sight of the great valley of Mexico, with 
its beautiful city appearing in the centre surround- 
ed by diverging shady paséos, bright fields, and. 
picturesque haciendas. The great lake of Tezcuco 
lay immediately beyond it, shaded by a low float- 
ing cloud of exhalations from its surface, which hid 
from our view the bases of the volcanoes of Popo- 
catepetl and Iztaccihuatl ; while their snowy sum- 
mits, brightly glowing beneath the direct rays of 
the sun, which but partially illumined the plains, 
gave a delightfully novel appearance to the whole 
scene before me. I was, however, at this distance, 
disappointed as to the size of Mexico; but its live- 
ly whiteness and freedom from smoke, the magni- 
tude of the churches, and the extreme regularity of 
its structure, gave it an appearance which can never 
be seen in a European city, and declare it unique, 
perhaps unequalled in its kind.” 
The ground it occupies is every where perfectly le- 
vel, the streets are regular and broad, the architecture 
generally of a very pure style, and many of the 
