Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/499

 MEXICO 481 carriers, domestics, &c., are commonly Indians or mestizos. Beggars are extremely numer- ous, and the ragged vagrants are called leper os or lepers. Mexico 'ranks among the largest cities in the western hemisphere, and, with its steeples, towers, and domes, presents, from whatever direction ap- proached, an aspect of grandeur and magnifi- cence unsurpassed by any in the world. It is divided into 8 cuarteles mayores or large wards and 32 smaller, compri- sing 245 blocks or squares of houses, 330 streets, and 130 callejones or lanes. The streets are wide and straight, cross- ing each other at right angles, well paved, light- ed with gas, and fur- nished with spacious side- walks, a feature rarely met with in Spanish- American towns. The houses, especially in the central and W. portions, are mostly of three sto- ries, strongly built of stone, often painted in brilliant colors, and hav- ing a balcony before every window. Mex- ico is lavishly supplied with public squares, the finest of which is the plaza de Armas, in the middle of the town ; the centre is laid out in a garden with flower beds, shady trees, and benches, and a band is in attendance almost every evening. The plaza is 810 ft. long by 600 ft. wide. On the N". side, occupying the site of the ancient Aztec pyramid and teocalli, stands the cathedral, a majestic edifice, though the architecture is an irregular mixture 'of the Gothic and Italian styles. The front is deco- rated with carving, and there are two lofty towers ornamented with statues. The interior is rich and gorgeous, and the numerous cruci- fixes, candlesticks, reliquaries, &c., of gold and silver adorned with jewels, are said to be of immense value. In the vaulted roofing is a much admired painting by Juneiro. The ca- thedral is 500 ft. long by 420 broad. It was founded in 1573 under the auspices of Charles V. and Pope Clement VII., and completed in 1667. The E. side of the plaza is occupied by the government house, containing the presi- dent's apartments, the various government of- fices, the chamber of representatives, and the ambassadors' hall with full-length portraits of several Mexican patriots, headed by a magnifi- cent one of Washington. To the government house are attached several courtyards and a botanic garden; this edifice, erected in 1693, stands upon the spot occupied by the palace originally constructed by Cortes for himself, and which, until its destruction by fire at the hands of the populace in 1692, had successively served as the residence of 30 viceroys. Facing the cathedral is the cabildo or city hall, in which is contained the merchants' exchange ; and on the same side is the portal de losflores, an extensive arcade, similar to the portal de mercadores, which flanks the W. side of the The Cathedral. plaza, and before the numerous and showy shops in which are spread to view on stalls endless varieties of filigree work in gold and silver, and other ornamental articles. On the plaza de Santo Domingo are three noteworthy edifices : the convent of the same name, re- markable for its handsome chapel, the old in- quisition building, now the school of medi- cine, and the custom house. Other celebrated churches of Mexico are those of San Fernan- do, Loreto, Encarnacion, Jesus Maria, the chapel of Santa Teresa with a superb cypress in marble, and that of the Concepcion, all celebrated for the beauty of their architecture or their gorgeous and costly decorations. Mexico includes 14 parishes. Eight convents and 21 nunneries which were suppressed by President Juarez's reform law of July 12, 1859, have since been converted into school houses. In the mint were coined, from 1690 to 1853, $1,702,650,087; and the gold and silver coinage in 1867 amounted to $4,304,- 313 95. The national museum, on the N. side of the government palace, contains one of the finest and most extensive collections of paintings in America; and in the school of fine arts are preserved rare specimens of sculpture, painting, engraving, and design. In the courtyard of the national museum are exposed a circular monolith calendar attesting the 1 high degree of civilization attained by the Toltecs, whose year almost exactly coincided with the Julian year; a ponderous statue of Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec god of war, bear- ing no semblance of human form or feature, but being a fantastic and heterogeneous group-