MEXICO. 



119 



It was now the Holy Week. For several days pre- 

 vious to Palm Sunday, many preparations had been made 

 for the coming solemnities. 



The surface of the canals of Chalco and Izstacalco, 

 which enter the city from the Paseo de las Vigas, was 

 daily crowded with canoes, laden with the most beautiful 

 flowers, the produce of the chinampas, or floating gar- 

 dens of the Indians, on the border of the lakes. The 

 great market was filled with palm branches, and all the 

 altars and shrines of the city were perfumed with the 

 sweet fragrance of the bouquets with which they were 

 tastefully adorned. 



The fruit stalls under the arcades, and in the different 

 plazas, and the innumerable pulquerias, were decorated 

 in the same manner. The love of flowers is as marked 

 among the Indians at this day, as at the time of the con- 

 quest. 



On the earlier days of the week, the interest of the 

 scene thickened hour by hour. 1 A large proportion of 

 the population of the valley repaired to the city ; and the 

 streets were crowded with all classes, from the poor half- 

 naked Indian of the pure Ottomie or the Mexican race, 

 whose sole covering was a dingy wollen or goatskin 

 blanket, and straw hat, jacket, and calico pantaloons 

 reaching to the knee, to the wealthy paysano, or country 

 gentleman, whose costly apparel might be valued at 

 upward of five hundred dollars. About the evening of 

 Wednesday, the scene on the Plaza Mayor, in front of 

 the cathedral, baffles all description, It forms at present 

 one of the finest squares in the world ; and were it not 

 for the intrusion of the Parian, the large ungainly pile 

 of building in one angle, it would be perhaps without 

 rival. 



The cathedral, a noble and stately structure with two 

 ornamented towers, rises to the east ; the splendid palace 

 of the viceroy on the north ; the house of Cortez, and a 

 number of equally palatial buildings to the south ; and a 

 range of fine edifices, with a basement of lofty arcades, 

 to the west. The removal of the circular balustrade, 



