white domes, her Gothic churches, her shady paséos, and her beautiful Alameda; her noble cathedral, whose fretted roof, and groined arches, echo daily with the swelling notes of old Te Deum; and her lofty palaces, with their sculptured facades, and porticos embellished with porphyry and jasper, are the first to attract attention — the first to elicit admiration.
As there is no happiness without its alloy, so there are patches covered with rocks of lava, or masses of scoriæ, occasionally to be found in this lovely valley; and now and then a dark buttress, destitute of vegetation, — save, perhaps, a stray creeper, rooted in some crevice, and clambering up its rugged sides, — may be seen projecting from the mountains. Still, it may be questioned, whether these do not, by the very contrast they exhibit, serve to add to, rather than diminish, the beauty that surrounds them. The chinampas, — those floating wildernesses of sweets and blossoms, far surpassing the Alcinas and Morganas of the Italian poets — which dotted the lakes in the time of the conquest, have nearly disappeared.[1] The clearing away of the primeval forests, too, and other influences connected with the improved condition of the country, have caused their waters to recede from their original limits, and
- ↑ The chinampas, or floating gardens, were rafts formed of reeds and rushes, and the branches of young trees woven firmly together, which were covered, to the depth of three or four feet, with the alluvial wash of the streams, and the black mould drawn up from the bottom of the shallow lakes. Vegetables, flowers, and small trees, were raised in them, and sometimes they were capable of sustaining a but for the residence of the gardener. Although they could be pushed through the water without much difficulty, they were usually moored near the shore for safety. This was certainly a rare device to insure the presence of sufficient moisture to counteract the burning heat of a tropical sun. — Humboldt's Essai Politique, tom. ii. pp. 87, 153. — Murray's Encyclopedia of Geography, pp. 323-4.
