Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 2.djvu/153

Rh upon the surface and leaves and rushes wave in the open breeze; how the trees and bushes are reflected clearly, the ripples burst into life against the stones, and the extremes of motion and repose meet together.

Perhaps a lonely valley may entice him, where belts of landscape, of different kinds, mount one above another; and miles of corn-growing uplands and lines of verdant fields, clumps of dark foliage and beds of ruddy rocks, sugar plantations and country haciendas, chilé plots and cochineal allotments, agricultural watch-towers and rural hamlets, may be reviewed in turn, as they rise in due gradations to the hills on the horizon.

A shady retreat, beside a spacious alameda, or public walk, is also characteristic of the country, where, from a rustic seat, secure from interruption, one may note the gay groups of cavalleros and donzellas, advancing through the avenues of trees, on their evening promenade; the fashionable and the luxurious driving along in their lumbering coaches; and the tradesman and his customers strolling alike at the close of day. Where staid processions are marshalled past, and stately officials solace themselves after the fatigues