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220 edifice by the more wealthy votaries of the Virgin, one of which is very remarkable, for, having been built in consequence of an escape from shipwreck, in order to commemorate the event, it has assumed as much as possible the form of the sails of a ship.

The avenue which extends from Guădălūpĕ to the gates of the Capital is traced upon the line of one of the ancient Mexican causeways: it is broad and paved in the centre, with a row of trees on each side; but the suburb to which it leads by no means corresponds with this magnificence. It is dreary and desolate, the Indian population by which it was formerly tenanted having been destroyed by an epidemic disorder, while their houses, which are merely composed of mud-bricks baked in the sun, are entirely in ruins.

Such a scene agreed too ill with the picture which Humboldt has drawn of Mexico, not to occasion us considerable disappointment, nor were we satisfied with the assurances which we received, that we had not passed through any one of the principal streets of the town, on our way from the Gate, until a view of the splendid Calle de San Francisco, which enters the Alameda close to the house in which we were lodged, convinced us of the propriety of not forming too hasty an opinion. The second day made converts of us all: in the course of it we had occasion to visit most of the central parts of the town, and, after seeing the great Plaza, the Cathedral, the Palace, and the noble streets which communicate with them,