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in the centre. There is not, I believe, a house in the city without this court, of greater or less dimensions, in proportion to the size of the building. There is only one door on the lower floor, and none at all on the outside of the upper story. This door is very strongly built, and high enough for a coach to pass through; it opens into the patio through which you pass to the steps leading to the upper stories, where alone everybody lives except the lowest classes. In all the establishments of the better classes, the basement story is only occupied by the servants and as lumber-rooms, and what struck me as very strange, as stables. I do not suppose that there is such a separate building in the city as a stable. In visiting Count Certuna, for example, whose whole establishment is altogether princely, and others of equal splendor and luxury, I found this court on the ground floor used as a stable, and passed through rows of horses and carriages to make my way to the most spacious halls, filled with fine paintings of the great masters, and furnished throughout in a style altogether gorgeous. In some of the larger private buildings thirty and forty different families reside; each one having rented one or two rooms: all entering at the only outside door into the court, which is the common property of all-and from which each one has an entrance to his own rooms on the ground floor or the gallery above, which runs all around the building. I do not think that the area covered by the city of Mexico can exceed two miles in length, and a mile and a half in width; a very small space to be occupied by a population of nearly two hundred thousand. But, it is not at all surprising when you see thirty or forty families, enough to make a respectable village, all huddled away in one house, and consider what a large number sleep in the open air in

that delightful climate. How pure must be the atmosphere when the city of Mexico is so remarkably healthy, notwithstanding such a crowded and filthy mode of living, and with a tropical sun shining upon the moist surface of the whole valley! One would think the latter sufficient of itself to produce the most fatal malaria.

It is a little curious that whilst the buildings and population of Mexico are thus crowded into so small a space, and the rents are three times as high as in the city of New York, yet all around the city there is a vacant ground, and as dry as the city itself, which may be had almost for the taking. I was riding out with a friend one evening when he showed me a square containing between five or six acres, just in the rear of the Plaza de Toros on the outskirts of the city, and not more than half or three quarters of a mile from the public square, which he had just purchased for four hundred dollars. Why such lots are not improved and the city extended, I cannot easily comprehend.

At the period of the Conquest, the water of the lakes flowed through all the streets of the city, which were crossed in canoes or on bridges. Inundations of the city to the height of several feet were of frequent occurrence. These inundations were caused by the overflowing of the lakes San Christoval and Zumpango, and the rush of their waters into the bed of the lake of Tezcuco, on an island in which the city of Mexico was, and near the border of which it is now situated. The great square of the city of Mexico is four feet one inch elevated above the mean level of the waters of the lake Tezcuco; San Christoval is twelve feet eight inches, and Zumpango thirty-one feet eleven inches higher than Tezcuco; and Xachimilco and Chalco three feet eleven inches higher than the city of

Mexico. Previous to the arrival of the Spaniards, and for nearly a century afterwards, the only protection. against these inundations consisted in dykes between the lakes San Christoval and Tezcuco. In the year 1607, the viceroy determined to construct some more effectual barrier. The plan which was adopted was to drain the lake of Zumpango by a tunnel and canal, which would give a different outlet to its waters. A tunnel was accordingly cut through the mountain, 21,654 feet long; and a canal 28,216 feet long, through which the water flowed into theriver Tula, which empties into the river Panuco. This herculean work was finished by fifteen thousand Indians in eleven months; but, from the giving way of the roof of the tunnel, another plan was resolved on, which was, to remove the top of the tunnel, and make it an open canal. This last work was commenced in 1629, and not completed until 1789. The whole length of this canal is 67,537 feet; its greatest depth 197 feet, and its greatest breadth 361 feet. There are other stupendous works connected with this canal: the stone dykes between Zumpango and San Christoval, between the latter and Tezcuco, and the great canal which empties the waters of the Guatillan into the river Tula. The last great inundation of the city occurred in the year 1629, when the water rose to the height of three feet, and remained so for five years. It was at length carried off by the effects of a succession of earthquakes, but the security is still by no means regarded as perfect. There are clouds. called culebras (snakes), from some supposed resemblance in form, which portend heavy rains, and always cause a general apprehension of an inundation. At such times, all the bells in the city are rung, for the purpose of propitiating the God of the storm, and averting the calamity. The

result has always been favorable-whether from the ringing of the bells and post hoc ergo propter hoc, I shall not decide. In this connection, I will mention another equally curious superstition;—I do not know that it is peculiar to Mexico. At a late hour every evening all the bells of the city are tolled, and the belief is, that whilst the bells are ringing, the sculs in purgatory are released from torment.

CHAPTER VI.

Early visit to Mr. Kendall, of the Santa Fé Expedition-Death of the wife of Santa Anna-Presentation to Santa Anna-Historical SketchCareer of Santa Anna-Victoria.

I ARRIVED in Mexico on Saturday evening, and early on Sunday morning I went to see Mr. Kendall and the Texan prisoners. Although I had not then any personal acquaintance with Mr. Kendall, I felt a deep interest in his sufferings, an interest which was heightened by the terms in which many of my friends in New Orleans had spoken of him to me. I was very sure that no man who did not possess fine qualities could have inspired the feelings which were entertained towards him. I felt it to be my duty that my first visit should be to him. I did not believe that by doing so I should in any way give offence to the Mexican Government, or diminish my ability to procure his release. I have always found the highest policy to consist in pursuing the promptings of just and honorable sentiments. I am satisfied that it was so in this case. Desirous as I was to see Mr. Kendall, my visit to him thus promptly was dictated quite as much by policy as by feeling; I knew that all the movements of the new American minister were closely observed, and that it was generally supposed that I had gone to Mexico specially on account of the American citizens confined there, and with very strong instructions. I have reason to know that my visit to Kendall was immediately reported at the palace, and the effect was what I

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