Page:About Mexico - Past and Present.djvu/322

314 The City of Mexico is beautiful for situation from whatever point it is seen. It stands on the lowest level of the valley, about seven thousand feet above the sea, and forms a square like a great checker-board, nearly three miles in length each way. Being no longer on an island, the causeways have long since disappeared, and instead are paseos, or raised paved roads, planted on each side with double rows of trees and running far out into the country. The white rim of Lake Tezcuco is now nearly three miles beyond the city walls, but, though so shrunken and shallow, it still forms a beautiful object in the landscape, reflecting in its sparkling waters the snowy mountain-peaks of Popocatapetl and Iztacoihuatl as they tower seventeen miles away eastward from the capital.

The famous chinampas, or floating gardens, are seldom seen—at least, they have ceased to float; but there are multitudes of well-anchored islands dotting the lakes of Chalco and Xochimilco, in the environs of the city and lining its water-ways. The fruits, flowers and vegetables which grow on their rich soil vie with those which were brought to the city markets in Montezuma's day.

Frequently the owner's humble cabin is seen half buried in the luxuriant crops, which always grudge it room, while moored to the shore or afloat on the tide is the rude scow which carries the produce to market. Crowds of these boats find their way thither by the Grand Canal, running south-east from Tezcuco to Lake Chalco, a distance of about forty miles. The level of.the latter is so much above that of the former that there is quite a swift current running toward the city, and the loaded boats have an easy time going to market; but coming back they are poled along by swarthy boatmen or women,