AGRICULTURE FA CTORIE S GUA DALAJARA TOWNS. 293 



foreign wares are doubtless smuggled into the interior, or introduced 

 through the corrupt connivance of custom-house officers along the 

 line of the west coast. 



PLAZA OF QUADALAJARA. 



The city of Guadalajara, 150 leagues from Mexico, the capital 

 of Jalisco, is situated upon an extensive plain. Its handsome 

 streets are airy, and many of the houses well built. There are 

 fourteen squares, twelve fountains, and a number of convents and 

 churches, the principal of which is the magnificent Cathedral, whose 

 owers were injured by an earthquake in 1818. An Alameda is 

 oeautifully laid out with irregular alleys, planted with trees, inter- 

 spersed with flowers, while, in the centre, a fountain throws up a 

 constant stream of excellent water. 



Within the town, the Portales are the principal rendezvous, and 

 contain numerous shops and stalls filled with European and East 

 India fabrics, fruit of all kinds, earthenware from Tonala, shoes, 

 mangas, saddlery, birds, sweetmeats of Calabazato, and a thousand 

 other varieties to attract the passers by. Each of the stalls pays a 

 small ground rent to the convents of Guadalajara, and thus afford 

 an amole revenue to the brotherhoods. 



