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120 the amphitheatre, and the equestrian statue of Charles the Fourth, has left the range of the eye over the broad tesselated pavement of the spacious area without obstruction.

At the close of the day in question, a portion of the area in front of the portales or arcades, and before the palace, appeared covered by slight erections of bamboo framework thatched by matting, and shut in by a profusion of green branches and palm leaves. The more spacious were devoted to the sale of refreshments, and liquors of various kinds—lemonade, pinade, a liquor called chea, and pulque; or for that of dulces, for which the city is celebrated. They not unfrequently formed a booth of twelve or fourteen feet in length, with seats and tables for the use of the customers. The smaller served as temporary shops for the retail of trifles of every description—confectionary and fruits, ornaments, or articles of apparel. The whole were most tastefully adorned with bouquets of flowers, and at night illuminated with lamps, tapers, and torches. The trade of the fair—for fair it was—seemed to be chiefly in the hands of Indians, or those in whom the Indian blood predominated.

The crowd thickened, and the bustle in the plaza increased every hour. The incessant sound of the innumerable bells, and the rolling of carriages, were really fatiguing to the ear. But, when the cathedral clock tolled the hour of ten, on Holy Thursday, a change came over the scene. The regular shops were shut, not a bell was to be heard. The carriages of every description disappeared from the streets; not a horse or mule was to be descried; but innumerable crowds of both sexes, and of all classes, rich and poor, were seen intermingling on the same level, and pouring, morning and evening, in one unbroken stream through the thoroughfares, and under the portales. They clustered by hundreds about the doors of the churches; and by thousands—yes, tens of thousands—on the Plaza Mayor.

All the damas of the city, dressed in black, and shrouded in their mantillas, repaired on foot from church