institutions before their suppression, could it be made public,
would astonish the world." The present Hotel del Jardin nearly surrounds
a garden full of tropical verdure, and seemed very inviting. Determining
to test its cuisine, dinner was ordered, the presiding genius being
given _carte blanche_ to do his best; but, heaven save the mark!--all
we have to add is, don't try the experiment of dining at the place
referred to. The best and most usual way for transient visitors to this
city is to take rooms in comfortable quarters, and to eat their meals at
some of the fairly good restaurants in the neighborhood of the plaza. Of
course, one cannot expect New York or Boston fare, nor do we come to
Mexico for what we can obtain in the way of food and drink.

Among the groups observed sitting on the little balconies of the
dwelling-houses, matrons are seen smoking their cigarettes as openly as
do their husbands. Senoritas do the same on the sly. No place is exempt
from the pungent fumes of tobacco. Pipes seem to be very seldom resorted
to, and the chewing of tobacco, we are glad to say, is not indulged in
at all,--a disgusting use of the weed almost solely confined to North
America and ships' forecastles. Smoking, after all, did not seem to be
so universal and incessant as we have seen it in some other countries.
Perhaps this arises, in a measure, from want of means to pay for the
article among the general population, since they are only half clothed
in wretched rags, being mostly bareheaded and barefooted also. The lower
class of Mexico could give the lazzaroni of Naples "points," and then
outdo them vastly in squalor and nakedness. The idle, indolent, and
thriftless outnumber all other classes in the republic, one reason for
which is found in the fact common to all tropical countries, that the
climate is such that the poor can safely sleep out of doors and without
shelter, with nearly as much comfort as those who have an humble
covering in the shape of four adobe walls and a thatched roof. As a
rule, these common people, men and women, are ugly in form and feature,
except that they have superb black eyes and pearl-white teeth. Physical
hardships do not tend to develop comeliness.

Strong contrasts meet the eye,--naturally to be expected in a community
which is slowly becoming revolutionized from a state of semi-barbarism,
as it were, to the broader civilization of its neighbors. This
transition is very obvious as regards th