Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 2.djvu/357

Rh foreign wares are doubtless smuggled into the interior, or introduced through the corrupt connivance of custom-house officers along the line of the west coast.

The city of, 150 leagues from Mexico, the capital of Jalisco, is situated upon an extensive plain. Its handsome streets are airy, and many of the houses well built. There are fourteen squares, twelve fountains, and a number of convents and churches, the principal of which is the magnificent Cathedral, whose towers were injured by an earthquake in 1818. An Alameda is beautifully laid out with irregular alleys, planted with trees, interspersed with flowers, while, in the centre, a fountain throws up a constant stream of excellent water.

Within the town, the Portales are the principal rendezvous, and contain numerous shops and stalls filled with European and East India fabrics, fruit of all kinds, earthenware from Tonala, shoes, mangas, saddlery, birds, sweetmeats of Calabazato, and a thousand other varieties to attract the passers by. Each of the stalls pays a small ground rent to the convents of Guadalajara, and thus afford an ample revenue to the brotherhoods.