onal direction of the youthful, handsome,
and would-be empress, Carlotta, who exhibited exquisite taste in such
matters, and hesitated at no cost to carry out her imperial will, freely
expending from her private fortune for the purpose. In the centre of the
plaza is the Zacalo, so called, screened with groups of orange-trees,
choice shrubbery, and flowers. Here there is a music stand and fountain,
where frequent out-of-door concerts are given by military bands,
especially in the evenings. At the western side of the square, under the
shadow of the cathedral, is the flower market, rendering the whole
neighborhood fragrant in the early mornings with the perfume it exhales,
while it delights the eye with hillocks of bright color. This market is
in an iron pavilion covered in part with glass, the lovely goods
presided over by nut-brown women and pretty Indian girls. Barbaric as
the Aztecs were, they had a true love and tenderness for flowers, using
them freely in their religious rites, a taste which three hundred years
and more of oppression, together with foreign and civil wars, has not
served to extinguish. The most abundant specimens of the floral kingdom
one meets with here are red and white roses, very finely developed,
pinks of all colors, violets, mignonette, heliotrope, scarlet and white
poppies, pansies, and forget-me-nots. Such flowers were artistically
mingled in large bouquets, with a delicate backing of maiden-hair fern,
and sold for fifteen cents each. There is no fixed tariff of prices,
strangers naturally paying much more than the residents, and the sum
first demanded being usually double what will be finally received,--a
manner of trade which is by no means confined to the Spanish-speaking
races. It must be remembered that although, these are cultivated
flowers, still they bloom out-of-doors all the year round. The women
venders emulate their lovely wares in the colors they assume in their
costumes. The dahlia, we are told, first came from the valley of Mexico.
The universal love of flowers finds expression in the houses, not only
of the rich, but in those of the very humble poor, all over the town and
the environs.

It was interesting to note the special class of customers drawn in the
early morning to this flower pagoda. These were the true lovers of
Flora, bent upon securing their favorites while damp with dewy
sweetness. There was the very humble but appreciative purchaser, who
invested only a few centav