APPROACHING THE CAPITAL. 37 
from market ; children, half-starved and naked, and women, whose wiry 
and uncombed hair gave them the mien of porcupines. 
At length, as we gained the top of a little eminence our driver pointed 
out the "City of Mexico :" — a long line of turrets, and domes, and spires, 
lying in the lap of beautiful meadows, and screened, partially, by inter- 
vening trees, planted along the numerous avenues leading to the Capital. 
About two leagues from the city we came to the ancient border of the 
lake of Tezcoco, now a marshy flat from which the waters have receded. 
Here we mounted the Calzada, or causeway, raised about six feet above 
the surrounding waters. 
This road is not one of the ancient avenues by which the city was ap- 
proached, across the lake, during the reign of the Indians, but was con- 
structed at great expense by the old Spanish Government. Although the 
land to the north of it is covered with saline particles that are perfectly 
visible as you ride along, yet the southern flats, being watered by the 
fresher stream from Chalco which flows through several apertures of the 
dike, are in no manner discolored. The northern marsh was covered 
with myriads of ducks, and looked as if it had been literally peppered 
with wild fowl. These birds are murdered in immense quantities with a 
sort of infernal machine, formed by the union of a great number of aun- 
barrels, and they furnish the chief food of the poor of Mexico. 
Thus, about four o'clock, we passed this unprepossessing approach to 
the Capital, driving by the body of a man who had just been murdered, 
lying on the road side, with the blood flowing from his recent wound. 
Hundreds passed, but no one noticed him. At the gates we were detained 
only a moment for examination, and we entered the city by the Puerta de 
San Lazaro. A saint who suffered from impure blood, and presides over 
sores, may well be the patron of .that portal and portion of the suburbs 
through which we jolted over disjoined pavements, while the water lay 
green and putrid in the stagnant gutter, festering in the middle of close 
streets, swarmed with ragged thousands. As I looked at them from our 
window, they seemed more like a population of witches, freshly dismounted 
from their broomsticks, than anything else to which, in fancy, I can readily 
compare them. 
But the journey ended as we drove to the hotel Vergara, where a dirty 
court-yard, filled with sheep, chickens, horses, bath-houses, and a black- 
smith's shop, received our jaded crew. I found that a kind friend had 
already prepared rooms for me, where, after a bath and dinner, 1 was 
made as comfortable as possible, by the attentions of a hospitable land- 
lady. 
