MEXICO, or MEaco, the capital city of the republic, is situated in 19° 20' n. lat., and 99° 5' w. long., at an elevation of nearly 7,500 ft. above the level of the sea, in the valley of Tenochtitlan, 2-i m. w. of lake Tezcuco. The pop. was, in 1878, 230,000. This beautiful city, which is built on the site of the ancient Tenochtitlan of the Aztec empire, is situated on an extensive plateau, having an area of more than 1700 sq. m., sur rounded by lofty mountains, and including 5 lakes within its area. The principal streets, which all converge towards the great square of Mexico, are regularly and well laid-out, broad, clean, and well-paved and lighted; but the building,s, both private and public, are low, and of a light style of architecture, in consequence of water being found in many parts of the city at only a few feet below the surface, and partly from apprehension of earthquakes. The plaza mayor, one of the finest squares of the western world, con tains the cathedral, a spacious and imposing building, erected on the ruins of the great teocalli, or temple of the Aztec god Mixitli, and adorned with the kellenda, a circular stone, covered with hieroglyphics, by which the Aztecs used to represent the months of the year. The palace of the cortes, in the same square, consists of various buildings. appropriated to offices of state, government schools, and public institutions of various kinds, but like everything else in Mexico, has been suffered gradually to fall to decay since the evacuation of the Spaniards. Mexico contains 14 churches, some monasteries and con
vents, and numerous charitable institutions; the fine hospital has been converted into a barrack. There are schools of jurisprudence, medicine, agriculture, engineering, and an academy of the fine arts, containing valuable Aztec antiquities; also several theaters and a circus: the bull-ring was demolished in 1874. In addition to the ordinary alameda or public walk of a Spanish city, Mexico is remarkable for the extent and beauty of its pageos, or raised paved roads, planted with double rows of trees, which diverge far into the country from every quarter of the city. Mexico still boasts a few of the water gardens for which the ancient city was so celebrated, and, although no longer floating-, as in the days of the Aztecs, they form attractive objects in the midst of the surround ing swamps, which, by the negligence of the Mexicans, have been suffered to increase in the vicinity of the lakes. The trade of Mexico is chiefly a transit-trade, although it has a few manufactures, as cigars of superior quality, gold-lace, hats, carriages, saddlery-, etc. ; and these articles, together with gold and silver, and some of the numer ous valuable natural products of the Mexican plain, it transports, chiefly by means of mules, to Vera Cruz and other ports, importing in return Qie manufactured goods of Europe and various colonial products.