314 



LAKES. 



II. GRAIN. 



Maize, or Indian corn— cargas of 3 fanegas, 117,224=545,219 I. S. 



bushels. 



Barley— cargas, 40,219=187.062 L S. bushels. 



Wheat flour— cargas of 12 arrobas, 130,000=353,229 cwt. 



HI. LIQUIDS. 



Pulque, the fermented juice of agave— cargas, 294,790=800,987 cwts. 

 Wine and vinegar— barrels of 44 arrobas, 4,507=71,756 1. S. galls. 

 Brandy— barrels, 12,000=191,052 L S. galls. 

 Spanish oil— arrobas of 25 pounds, 5,585=15,530 L S. galls. 



The market is abundantly supplied with vegetables 

 of numerous kinds, which are brought in every morn- 

 ing by the Indians in boats. Most of these are cul- 

 tivated on the chinampas or gardens, some of which 

 float upon the neighbouring sheet of water, while 

 others are fixed in the marshy grounds.* 



The surface of the four principal lakes in the val- 

 ley of Mexico occupies nearly a tenth of its extent, 

 or 168 square miles. The lake of Xochimilco con- 

 tains 49£, that of Tezcuco 77, of San Christobal 27J, 

 and of Zumpango 9 T 9 o, square miles. The valley 

 itself is a basin enclosed by a wall of porphyritic 

 mountains, and all the water furnished by the sur- 

 rounding cordilleras is collected in it. No stream 

 issues from it excepting the brook of Tequisquiac, 

 which joins the Rio de Tula. The lakes rise by 

 stages in proportion to their distance from its centre, 

 or, in other words, from the site of the capital. 

 Next to the lake of Tezcuco, Mexico is the least ele- 

 vated point of the valley, the plaza mayor or great 

 square being only 1 foot 1 inch higher than the mean 

 level of its water, which is llf feet lower than that 

 of San Christobal. Zumpango, which is the most 



* " These are long narrow strips of ground redeemed from the sur- 

 rounding swamp, and intersected by small canals. They all appear to 

 abound in very fine vegetables, and lively-foliaged poplars generally 

 shadowed their extremities. The little gardens constructed on bushes, 

 or wooden rafts, no longer exist in the immediate vicinity of Mexico ; but 

 I learned that some may yet be seen at Inchimilco, a place near San Au- 

 gustin de las Cuevas." — Captain Lyon's Journal of a Residence and 

 Tour in the Republic of Mexico, vol. ii. p. no. 



