Page:Mexico of the Mexicans.djvu/151

Rh rainfall, which greatly assists agricultural operations, here the staple of existence. In no State in Mexico, perhaps, are the conditions of ancient Aztec life so closely presented, for here, amid a teeming native population, we find the soil as carefully and lovingly tilled by hand as it was in the days of the Aztec emperors. Coffee, cereals, sugar-cane, and fruits, to say nothing of the inevitable pulque, are cultivated in Puebla, all of a very high standard. Manufacturing is carried on with great briskness because of the cheapness of labour, and the cotton factories of Puebla are by far the most numerous in the Republic. But the State is not to any great extent a cotton-growing one, and imports most of its raw material. Onyx and marble are also quarried in Puebla. Puebla de los Angeles, the capital, situated on a great, open plain, has a population of nearly 100,000, and is one of the handsomest and most regularly built cities in Mexico. Churches abound, and their towers are to be seen rising on every hand, glittering with coloured tiles or gold leaf. The cathedral is certainly one of the finest in the world, and certainly the finest in Latin-America. The interior is superb, the exterior somewhat unequal in design. The building was begun in 1552, and took nearly a century to complete. The Teatro Principal, built in 1790, is said to be the oldest existing theatre in the American continent. Puebla is, indeed, one of the most striking cities in Mexico from an artistic point of view. Its art galleries, libraries, and myriad treasures are as interesting as its history, for it was here that Diaz swept the French army before him in headlong rout, and here that Iturbide made his triumphal entry after a stubborn siege, and the marks of French and Mexican bullets may still be seen on its buildings.

Oaxaca is certainly one of the most wealthy mining districts of Mexico. Indeed, its celebrity in this respect is world-wide. It has a population of about 1,000,000, and its scenery is probably unrivalled on the American continent. The Sierra Madre