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 482 MEXICO ing of death's heads, hands interlaced, snakes, feathers, &c. ; a sacrificial stone ; and a num- ber of idols and other minor relics from va- rious parts of the country. Two other hand- some piles are the post office and the hotel Itur- bide, the latter having been for a short sea- son the residence of Agustin I. The prin- cipal promenade is the Alameda, shaded with stately beeches, embellished with nine foun- tains and eleven glorietas or summer houses, and tastefully laid out in spacious walks. This is a favorite resort on Sunday mornings, when a regimental band plays for two hours. Other paseos are those of the Viga, extending along the canal of that name, on which has been erected a colossal bust of Guatemozin, the last emperor of the Aztecs; and the paseo de Bucareli, with a superb .bronze equestrian statue of Charles IV., modelled by Manuel Tolsa. In 1874 Mexico had 218 public schools, 77 of which were for females and 48 for both sexes; the average attendance was 16,915. These schools include the escuela preparatories, formerly the college of San Ildefonso (under the rectorship of Sefior Lerdo de Tejada till 1872), the schools of jurisprudence, medicine, agriculture, engineering, fine arts, commerce, arts and trades, deaf and dumb, and those sus- tained by the municipal government and the Lancasterian company, one or two by private individuals, and a number by benevolent socie- ties. The school of engineering has a fine col- lection of specimens in natural history, and a cabinet of mineralogy. The philharmonic so- ciety, with a subsidy from the government, supports a musical conservatory for both sexes. There are also a seminary for the education of priests, a school for the blind, and a night school for adults. The public has access to two libraries: the gran liblioteca national, with upward of 100,000 volumes and manu- scripts, and the biblioteca popular del cinco de Mayo. There are 21 societies, scientific, artis- tic, or commercial, including the geographical and statistical society, and the Humboldt socie- ty of natural history. The theatres are much more numerous than beautiful or commodious, and with a circus are the only public places of amusement in Mexico, the bull ring having been demolished in 1874. The city supports five hospitals, an insane asylum for males and one for females, and a house of correction. Two institutions of comparatively recent foun- dation take care of young children during the day, in order to leave their mothers at liberty to work. The principal cemeteries hitherto in use are now closed, being within the muni- cipal limits ; their place has been supplied by the general cemeteries of La Piedad and Campo Florida, the French, and the Protestant ceme- teries. There are four very good markets, con- stantly stocked with an abundance of the pro- ductions of all the zones. All the fruits and vegetables generally regarded elsewhere as deli- cacies here come to market every day in the year, and the supply of tropical fruits is inex- haustible. Most of the vegetables and fruits are grown upon the chinampas or so-called floating islands on Lake Tezcuco, and brought to market in boats by the canal de la Viga ; and prodigious quantities of flowers of most brilliant colors and most fragrant odors are daily brought to the city in the same way. A new abattoir was erected in 1874, at a cost of $500,000. The water supply reaches the town by two aqueducts of monumental proportions, one bringing agua gorda (thick water) from Chapultepec, and the other agua delgada (light water) from the southwest. The climate is mild, equable, and very salubrious ; the mean annual temperature is 70. The more com- mon diseases are pneumonia, dysentery, and diarrhoea, and the average mortality is about 3 per cent, of the population. The chief oc- cupations of the inhabitants are agriculture v the manufacture of paper, earthenware, cot- ton, woollen, and silk fabrics, the preparation of tobacco, and the importation of the various products of the adjoining states and of manu- factured goods, wines, &c., from Europe, the United States, and the West Indies, especially the island of Cuba. The chief financial insti- tutions are the bank of London, Mexico, and South America, and numerous private banking houses; a government pawn oifice, with branch- es in several parts of the city; and 18 lotteries, with an aggregate risk capital of nearly $2,- 500,000, and paying a mean annual license of $150,000 to the central government. The chief places of interest in the vicinity are Guadalupe Hidalgo, Tlalpan, San Angel, Mixcoac, Coyoa- can, Atzcapozalco, Churubusco, Tacuba, Tacu- baya, noted for its handsome private houses, and Papotla and Chapultepec. Almost all these places are reached by railway (with steam or horse power) or omnibus from Mexico, which is likewise connected by railway with Puebla, Orizaba, Cordova, and Vera Cruz ; and a line is in process of construction to Toluca. Mex- ico owes its chief historical interest to its situa- tion upon the site of the ancient city, the capi- tal of the Montezumas. The Aztecs or ancient Mexicans, after their migration from the north, wandered for a long time in the Mexican val- ley, till in 1325 they halted on the S. W. bor- ders of the lake of Tezcuco, and there beheld an eagle perched on the stem of a nopal, and devouring a serpent. An oracle having an- nounced the omen as auspicious, and as indica- ting the site of their future metropolis, they founded it upon the islets of Lake Tezcuco, calling the place Tenochtitlan, "nopal on a stone," in allusion to the omen. Its name of Mexico was subsequently derived from that of their god Mexitli. By the middle of the 15th century the city had become large and pros- perous, and in place of reeds and rushes were substituted stone and lime ; and when on the evening of Nov. 7, 1519, its long lines of glit- tering edifices first met the eyes of Cortes and his followers, it looked, says Prescott, like a thing of fairy creation rather than the