is grand and massive rather than diversified and ornate. The monotony of solid walls and high-arched portals at first strikes the stranger with a feeling akin to disappointment, but familiarity brings only a deeper consciousness of the grandeur of the whole. A singular and impressive feature is the fact that not only is the site that of the ancient Aztec capital, but the general style of the buildings remains the same. The flat roof, the azotea, the square surrounding the patio, all belong to the past as to the present.
The Plaza Mayor, or Zócalo, is said to be unequaled anywhere. One entire side is covered by the cathedral, which occupies the site of the temple of the Aztec war-god. The National Palace, formerly the residence of the viceroys, covers another side, and stands on the veritable site of the Halls of the Montezumas. The other two sides are occupied by the shady portals.
The great causeways are still in use as leading highways, and the streets are laid out in symmetrical lines, running at right angles—north and south, east and west. Each side of a block has its individual name, but often the same is applied to three or four squares consecutively—as the three San Franciscos, the two Calles Plateros, "streets of the silversmiths," and the first, second, third, and fourth Providencias. A narrow street is called a callejon. An effort has recently been made to change this puzzling method by giving the same name to a street throughout its entire length.
I was much interested in the tradition of the "Calle del Indio Triste" ("Street of the Sad Indian"). A wealthy Indian cacique established his home there, and then became a spy upon his own tribe, steadily informing the viceroy of all their plans and intentions. He failed from some cause to make known to the latter a mutiny which was in process of execution. This gave the viceroy a pretext for the confiscation of his property. Poor and despised by his own people and held in contempt by the Spaniards, he took his seat on the corner of the street, weeping and distressed, refusing food or comfort, and finally, in this melancholy attitude, he breathed his last. His property passed to the crown, and with a view to teaching
