PLAZA AND PARIAN. 
39 
long lines of aqueducts sweeping to the city from the hills, and in others, 
studded with lakes, cultivation, and beautiful groves, until the distant 
view is closed by the volcanoes, whose snows rest against the blue sky, 
uncovered, at this season, by a single cloud. 
Below is the great square or Plaza ; a large paved area, fronted on the 
north, by the Cathedral ; on the east, by the National Palace, (the resi- 
dence of the President ;) to the south of which, again, are the museum, 
and a stone edifice recently built in tasteful style, for a market. The 
corner-stone* of this was laid after I arrived in Mexico, and before I 
left, the building was nearly completed. Until that time the fruits, flow- 
ers, vegetables, and most of the necessaries of the table, had been sold 
on that spot, in shambles and booths built of lamboos and reeds, sheltered 
from the rain and sun hy thatched roofs ! 
In the southwestern corner of the square is the Parian, an unsightly 
building (erected, I believe, since the revolution,) which greatly mars the 
effect of the Plaza. It is a useful establishment, however, as it affords 
a large revenue to the municipality, and is the great bazaar where every 
article requisite for the dress of Mexicans, male or female, may be pur- 
chased at reasonable prices. On the pavement which runs round it, sit 
numbers of coachmen whose stand is in the neighborhood, and crowds 
of women with ready-made shoes. Not the least curious, however, among 
the multitude, with which this side-walk is generally thronged, are about 
a dozen " evangelistas,'" or " letter-writers," whose post is always on the 
curb-stones of the eastern front of the Parian. A huge jug of ink is 
placed beside them; a board rests across their knees; a pile of different 
colored paper (most of which is either cut, valentine fashion, or flourished 
over and adorned with pen-and-ink ornaments,) is placed on it, and, on a 
stool before them, sits some disconsolate looking damsel or heart-broken 
* A medal was struck iq commemoration of this event, the legend on which I give for the sake of those who 
are curious in inscriptions of " modern" latin. The medal is perfectly plain, and of silver. 
PEECEARViS 
MILITIE 
EEIPVBLICE 
QVEDTJX 
ANTOKIOPEZ 
MDCCCXLI. 
