always confined not
only to the building in which it originates, but even to the room where
it first makes its appearance. The roofs are nearly all flat and without
chimneys; there is no provision made for producing artificial heat in
the dwelling-houses. This is quite endurable even to foreigners in a
climate where the temperature seldom falls below 60 deg. Fahr., and averages
the year round nearly ten degrees higher. It is always warm in the
middle of the day, and cool only early in the mornings and at night.
The climate may be said to be temperate and the atmosphere is extremely
dry. Travelers are liable to suffer considerably from thirst, and the
lips are prone to chap, owing to this extreme and peculiar dryness. The
warmest months of the year are April and May. It was somewhat of a
surprise to the author to learn that the death-rate of the city of
Mexico averages nearly double that of Boston. As to elevation, it is
over seven thousand feet higher than the city of Washington, D. C., or
more than a thousand feet higher than the summit of Mount Washington, N.
H.

Regarding the fine residences on San Francisco Street, there is a
peculiarity observable as to their location. This is almost wholly a
business street, and therefore to select it for an elegant home seems
incongruous. The choicest residence we can remember on this thoroughfare
stands between a large railroad-ticket office and a showy cigar store.
This house has a most striking facade finished in Moorish style with
enameled tiles, and is on the opposite side of the street from the
Iturbide Hotel.

Numerous large squares, beside the grand plaza and the spacious alameda,
ornament the capital. Several of the main thoroughfares enter and depart
from the Plaza Mayor, as in the city of Madrid, where the Puerto del
Sol--"Gate of the Sun"--forms a centre from which radiate so many of the
principal streets. Some are broad, some are narrow, but all are paved,
cleanly, and straight. The street-car system is excellent. If any fault
is to be found with the management, it is with the rapid manner in which
the mules attached to the cars are driven through the highways amid a
crowded population; and yet, we were told, accidents rarely if ever
happen. They are generally run double, having a first and second class
car, both of which are seemingly well filled at all hours of the day.
Funerals are conducted by turning one of the street cars, made for the
purpose, into a catafa