MExico, (town of,) the capital city of New Spin, is situated in 19°, 25', 45" of north latitude, and 99°, 5', 15" of west longitude, 7470 feet above the level of the sea. Its name imports, in the Aztec language, the habitation of the god of war ; but, before the year 1530, it was more commonly called Tenochtitlan, which Cortez corrupted into Temixtitan. Its situa tion on an isthmus, washed by the South Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, is peculiarly favourable for commer cial communications; but the state of the coast, and the want of ports on the Atlantic, oppose great obsta cles to its prosperity. It stands in the midst of a fine valley, about 70 leagues in circumference, and was formerly surrounded by a salt-water lake, and inter sected by navigable canals. It was accessible by means of three dikes, or causeways, about 20 feet in breadth, which were carried through the lake, for the space of more than a league, in different directions. But the water of the lake. which seems to have he gun to decrease long before the arrival of the Spa niards, is above two miles distant from the city in its present state. The city was almost completely de stroyed at its conquest by Cortez, by whom it was re built on the same spot, so that the present streets have for the most part the same direction as the old ones, running nearly from north to south, and from east to west, forming a great square, of which each side is nearly 9021 feet in extent. In its ancient state, sur rounded with water, and founded on islands covered with verdure, the capital of Mexico must have resem bled some of the cities of China or of Holland. It is still one of the finest cities ever built by Europeans, and is surpassed by few towns, even on the old conti nent, for the uniform level of the ground on which it stands, the regularity and breadth of the streets, and the extent of the public places. The houses, built of hewn stone, (which is a porous amygdaloid, or a por phyry of vitreous feld-spath,) have a great appearance of solidity and magnificence. They are not loaded with ornaments, and have none of those wooden bal conies and galleries which so much disfigure the Euro pean houses in both the Indies. The balustrades and gates are all of Biscay-iron, ornamented with bronze ; and, instead of roofs, there are terraces resembling those of Italy and other southern countries. The ar chitecture in general is of a very pure style ; and there are several edifices of a very beautiful structure. Those which usually attract the attention of a stranger, are the cathedral, a small part of which is in the Gothic style, and the principal edifice, which is of recent date and fine proportion, has two towers, ornamented with pilasters and statues ; the treasury, adjoining to the pa lace or the viceroys ; the convents, particularly that of St. Ft ancis ; the hospital, which maintains 1400 chil dren and old people ; the acordada, a fine edifice pro. vided with spacious and well aired-prisons, capable of containing more than 1200 individuals; the school of mines, a beautiful new building, which contains fine collections in physics, mechanics, and mineralogy; the botanical garden, small, but rich in the more rare and interesting vegetable productions ; the university public library ; the academy of fine arts ; the equestrian statue of Charles IV. in the Plaza Mayor; and the sepulchral 2nonument to Cortez, in a chapel of the Hospital de los Naturales. The town has been much embellished since the year 1769. Two great palaces or hotels have been recently constructed by Mexican artists from the aca demy of the arts in fine captial, one of which, in the interior of the court, exhibits a very beautiful oval peristyle of coupled columns. But it is the extent and uniform regularity of the city, and the breadth and straightness of the streets, more than the grandeur or number of its monuments, which excite admiration ; NIthile the excellence of the police preserves every thing in proper order and repair. Most of the streets have eery broad pavements, and are both clean and well lighted. The supply of water is well regulated ; and, as that which is found by digging is of a brackish quality, spring water is conveyed from a considerable distance by means of two aqueducts of modern con struction, which are well worthy of notice. One of them, leading front the insulated hill of Chapoltepec, is carried upon arches for the space of 10,826 feet, and the other from the Cordillera, which separates the val ley of Mexico from that of Lerma and Toluca, is about 33,464 Icet in length, but, on account of the declivity of the ground, is conducted over arches for no more than a third part of the space. The ancient dikes, or causeways, still exist ; and others have been formed across the marshy grounds, which at once serve the purposes of roads for carriages, and of mounds to re sist the overflowings of the lake. There are few re mains of Mexican antiquities to be found in the capi tal. The ancient temples, or teocallis, which were truncated pyramids, with a broad base, and frequently 150 feet in height, covered with wooden cupolas and altars, were so much used during the siege as places of defence, that most of them were destroyed in its progress, and the rest afterwards thrown clown, partly as being heathen monuments displeasing to Popish bi gotry. and poly as furnishing strong-holds to the In dian insurgents. The few remaining relics of Mexi can art are the dikes and aqueducts ; the stone of the sacrifice ; the great calendar monument; the co lossal statue of the goddess 'I'e0yaoiiiiqul, which lies covered with a few inches of Cal th in one of the gal leries of the university ; the Aztec manuscripts, or hieloglyphiLal pictures, painted on agaue paper, stag ski A. and co ton cloth, which are preserved rather car.•ssiy in one of the archives of the viceroy's vi be( ; the foundations of the palace of the kings of Alcolhuacan at T zcuco; the colossal relievo, traced on the porphyritical rock called Penol de los Banos ; with several other objects, which are considered as re sembling the works of the ancient Mongol race.
The population of Mexico, according to the most re cent and certain data, amounts to not less than 135,000, 136.500 There are 23 male convents, containing about 1200 individuals, of whom 580 are priests and choristers ; and 15 female convents, containing 2100 individuals, of whom nearly 900 are professed retigtenses. The
market of Mexico is abundantly supplied with provi sions, particularly with roots and fruits of every de scription ; which may he seen every morning at sun rise brought down the canals in boats by the Indians, along with a great quantity of flowers. The greater part of these roots are cultivated on the chinampas, or floating gardens, in the adjoining lakes. These gar dens are known to have been in use as far back as the end of the 14th century, and are supposed to have been suggested by the natural occurrence of small portions of earth covered with herbs, and bound toge ther by their roots, detached from the banks, ani float ing on the surface of the water, or sometimes uniting together so as to form stnall islands. They were after ward artificially constructed, by making rafts of reeds, rushes, roots, and brushwood, covering these with black mould, naturally impregnated with muriatc of soda, but gradually purified from the salt, and rendered fer tile by washing it with the water of the lake. Some of these gardens are moveable, and driven about by the winds ; but others are anchored, or attached to the shore, and are towed, or pushed with poles from one split to another. Frequently a cottage is built upon them for the residence of an Indian, who acts as keeper or guard for a whole group. They are usually 328 feet in length, by 16 or 19 in breadth, rising about 3 feet above the surrounding water ; but many of them have now become fixed, lying along the canal, and separated from each other by narrow ditches. The edges of these squares, formed in this manner, are generally orna mented with flowers, and sometimes with a hedge of rosebushes. Oo a soil thus constantly refreshed with water, the vegetation is extremely vigorous ; and a great variety of vegetables, particularly beans, peas, pimento, potatoes, artichokes, and cauliflowers are rais ed upon them.
The town of Mexico is scarcely less endangered by inundations than that of Lima by earthquakes ; and in every 20 years, at least, has been greatly injured by the ovet flowing waters of the neighbouring lakes. All these lakes, except that of Tezcuco, are on a higher level than the city ; and even the bed of this nearest lake is progres sively rising by the accumulation of mud, while the pav ed streets of IVIxico remain a fixed plane. These inun dations occasioned less inconvenience in the old city, when the inhabitants were accustomed to live much in their canoes, and when the houses were so constructed, that boats could pass through the lower story. But the losses experienced in the modern city were much greater, and more alarming to the inhabitants, who have been obliged to abandon the old Indian system of dikes or mounds, which were found insufficient to repel the floods, and have adopted the plan of canals cf evacua tion to carry off the superabundant waters. At one pe riod, in consequence of these works being interrupted, Mexico remained inundated for five sears, from 1629 to 1634. The greatest wretchedness prevailed among the lower orders ; all commerce was at a stand ; and it was only by frequent earthquakes opening the ground of the valley that the waters were removed. At length, after various schemes and deiays, an immense outlet through the mountains to the north-east was completed in 1789, called the Desague de Ilue-littetoca, which is one of the most gigantic hydraulic operations ever exe cuted by man, and which, if filled with water to the depth of 32 feet, would allow the largest ships of war to pass. The canal is more than four leagues and .1 half in length ; and a fourth part of the- whole is cut through the hills of Nochistongo. For the space of 11.482 fee t, the depth of the cut is from 98 to 131 feet ; and at the highest part of the ridge, for tne space of 2624 feet, the perpendicular depth is not less than from 147 to 196 feet, while the oreadth at the top is from 278 to 360 feet. But, in spite of all the means w•hich have been used to secure the capital against inundation from the north and north-west, it is still exposed to great risks from the adjoining lake of Tezcuco, for the draining of which a canal is begun to be executed, which will extend above 104,660 feet, and cost £125.000. These operations have proved fatal to muttitudes of Indians, are compelled to labour in the public works to the neglect of their own domestic affairs ; and who, besides perishing in great numbers from disease and casualties, are reduced to a general state of poverty.
The environs of Mexico present a rich and varied ap pearance, when viewed in the morning from the towers of the cathedral, or the hill of Chapoltepec. The eye, (says M. Humboldt,) sweeps over a vast plain of care fully cultivated fields, which extend to the very feet of the colossal mountains covered with perpetual snow. The city appears as if washed by the waters of the lake Tezcuco, whose basin, surrounded with villages and hamlets, brings to mind the most beautiful lakes of the mountains of Swisserland. Large avenues of elms and poplars lead in every direction to the capital ; and two aqueducts, constructed over arches of very great elevation, cross the plain, and exhibit an appearance equally agreeable and interesting. The magnificent con vent of Neustra Sonora de Guadalupe appears joined to the mountains of Tapcyacac, among ravines, which shelter a few dates and young yucca trees. Towards the south, the whole track between San Angel Tacabaya, and San Augusta de las Cuevas, appears an immense garden of orange, peach, apple, cherry, and other Eu ropean huit•trees. This beautiful cultivation forms a singular contrast with the wild appearance of the naked mountains, which inclose the valley, among which the famous volcanos of Puebla Popocatepetl, and Iztaccici huall arc the most distinguished. The first of these forms an enormous cone, of which the crater, continual ly inflamed and throwing up smoke and ashes, opens in the midst of eternal snows." See Rohertsot.'s History of America, and Humboldt's Essay on Arm Spain. (q)