Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/386

336 by the ancient inhabitants, in which the capital is situated, is an irregular, oval basin, about two hundred miles in circumference, inclosed by walls of porphyritic mountains, and surrounded by some of the highest peaks of the Cordilleras. Lying in the centre of the great table land of the country, it is protected alike from the fierce norte, and the rude breezes of the east, by the bold Sierras that encircle it. Favored with a most genial temperature, this sunny spot teems with the valuable products, quickened into existence by the warm breath of the tropics, and watered by copious showers of rain, and the torrents that gush forth from the fissures of the neighboring cliffs. Forests of oak and pecan trees adorn the more elevated ground. Here a copse of sycamores, and there a group of tall cypresses, fling their broad shadows over the landscape. lighted by the rays of the burning sun, or the soft bright moon. The glossy leaves of the myrtle nestle close beside the pepper tree, whose scarlet berries cast a rich flush over its delicate foliage. Aromatic shrubs load the air with the intoxicating odors that invite the senses to repose, and an endless variety of flowers add their gay and brilliant colors to enhance the beauty of the scene.

Just beneath the range of mountains on the east, is the series of lakes which form the most picturesque at — traction of the valley, looking up, like the blue eyes of the turquoise, to the azure heavens above them, whose glory they reflect. Pretty gardens are scattered lavishly around them, and smiling villages and haciendas peep out in every direction from the groves in which they are imbosomed. But, conspicuous above all, is the city of Mexico, — containing a population of two hundred thousand souls — the most ancient, as it is the most splendid capital on the Western Continent! Her