of rare occurrence, and is a notable event of an ordinary life-time. There is but one fire-engine in the city, and perhaps in the republic, counting upon its venerable cogs and wheels at least forty summers.
Another machine, equally primitive, is the only water-sprinkler. Its operations are chiefly confined to the Paseo; but it has many sturdy competitors in the mozos in white who throw bucketful after bucketful of water before their masters' doors.
No city is more peaceful after night-fall. Pulque shops, by order of the government, close at six o'clock in the evening, and are opened
THE NEW AND THE OLD.
at the same hour in the morning. The city is so well patrolled that one may perambulate the streets at any hour of the night without fear of encountering rudeness. Little or no drunkenness is seen, though more than 250,000 pints of the beverage are daily consumed. The imbibers go at once to their homes, there to sleep off the effects of their indulgence.
The city lies in the lowest part of the valley of Mexico, like a deep-set jewel. From its location, and other unexplained causes, it
