SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



191 



that can boast such variety as Mexico, and 

 none where the consumption is greater in pro- 

 portion to the inhabitants. The great market 

 is larger than Covent Garden, but yet unequal 

 to contain the quantity daily exposed for sale: 

 the ground is entirely covered with every 

 European kind, and, as I have already stated, 

 with many, the very names of which are un- 

 known to us. I was never tired of examining 

 these fruits and vegetables, and took casts and 

 drawings of all I could procure of the former 

 during my residence : they are very numerous 

 and extraordinary, and these copies are exe- 

 cuted in a manner which will convey a better 

 idea of a Mexican market, and the produc- 

 tions of a tropical region, than a volume of 

 description. They must be seen to be under- 

 stood : how few persons in Europe have any 

 idea of the form or appearance, when in a 

 state of life and vegetation, of the various 

 kinds of bananas, plaintains, pawpaws, cus- 



