Page:Appleton's Guide to Mexico.djvu/217

Rh to the shore, and are towed or pushed with poles from one spot to another. The Indians occasionally built huts on these chinampas, and are said to have raised vegetables on them.

18. is marked by a small bridge in the Calle de los Hombres Ilustres, just west of the Alameda. The San Cosme horse-cars pass the spot. This street was formerly a causeway leading from the capital toward the mainland, over which the Spaniards passed in the evacuation of the city on the memorable noche triste, or "sad night" of July 1, 1520. The portable bridge over a breach in the causeway had been destroyed, and Alvarado, unwilling to plunge into the waters of the lake, paused upon the brink for a moment. Resting his long lance on the ground, he succeeded in leaping across the gap, to the great astonishment of both the Spaniards and Aztecs. This place has ever since been known as the Salto de Alvarado. As the width of the breach is not given by the chroniclers of the time, the reader can have no means of judging how skillful a pole-vaulter this Spanish warrior may have been.

A card of admission must be obtained at the Palace for permission to enter the castle of During the French invasion the castle was occupied by Maximilian, that personator of Napoleon's dream of empire in the Western World. The view from Chapultepec is one of surpassing beauty, and the grounds contain a magnificent grove consisting chiefly of cedars draped with Spanish moss. One of the trees has been named after Montezuma. The stranger is advised to hire an open carriage by the hour, and drive to Chapultepec and the neighboring town of Tacubaya, visiting the Military School and stately villas if possible.

The celebrated tree is situated in the village of Popotla, near an old church. Cortes is said to have