Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 2.djvu/43

Rh fro at the mercy of the winds. The idea of these gardens may have been derived from masses of flowery and grassy earth carried away from their banks; probably rafts were first formed of soil and reeds intertwining among which were planted bulbs and roots. These chinampas are guarded by Indians who live in huts in their neighbourhood and who tow or push them from one place to another by means of long poles. Floating islands of a somewhat similar formation have been discovered in different parts of the world—in Quito and in Italy, as well as in the Celestial Empire.

The pedlars who exhibit their wares for sale beneath the arches have several modes of disposing of their articles, which strike a stranger as especially peculiar. The professed retail dealers are constantly on the look-out for a fair offer to enable them to sell their whole stock at once. Some among these traders have no other notion of measurement or estimation for their goods, than by the vara, or yard—about thirty-three inches: and the scenes occasionally consequent upon dealing out some of their merchandise in this way, are exceedingly ludicrous. They have ribbons and tapes, and