ncia_; and in which ten or twelve persons sate every day, to
determine any disputes which might arise respecting the sale of goods.

The city was divided into four _quarters_: this division is still
preserved, in the limits assigned to the quarters of St. Paul, St.
Sebastian, St. John, and St. Mary; and the present streets have, for the
most part, the same direction as the old ones. But what gives to this
city a peculiar and distinctive character is, that it is entirely on the
continent, between the extremities of the two lakes of Tezcuco and
Chalco. This has been occasioned by the gradual draining of the great
lake, and the consequent drying up of the waters around the city. Hence
Mexico is now two miles and half from the banks of the former, and five
miles and half from those of the latter.

Adorned with numerous _teocallis_, (or temples,) like so many Mahometan
steeples, surrounded with water and embankments, founded on islands
covered with verdure, and receiving, hourly, in its streets, thousands
of boats, which vivified the lake, the ancient Mexico, according to the
accounts of the first conquerors, must have resembled some of the cities
of Holland, China, or the Delta of Lower Egypt.

As reconstructed by the Spaniards, it exhibits, at the present day,
perhaps a less vivid, though a more august and majestic appearance, than
the ancient city. With the exception of Petersburg, Berlin,
Philadelphia, and some quarters of Westminster, there does not exist a
place of the same extent, which can be compared to the capital of New
Spain, for the uniform level of the ground on which it stands, for the
regularity and breadth of the streets, and the extent of its public
places. The architecture is, for the most part, in a pure style; and
many of the edifices are of a very beautiful structure. The exterior of
the houses is not loaded with ornaments. Two sorts of hewn stone, give
to the Mexican buildings an air of solidity, and sometimes even of
magnificence. There are none of those wooden balconies and galleries to
be seen, which so much disfigure all the European cities in both the
Indies. The balustrades and gates are all of iron, ornamented with
bronze; and the houses, instead of roofs, have terraces, like those in
Italy, and other southern countries of the old continent.

Mexico has, of late, received many additional embellishments. An
edifice, for the School of Mines, which was built at an expence of more
than L.120,000