man Mexico has known, her Indian President, Benito Juarez,
pronounced Hoo-arez. The design of this elaborate tomb is a little
confusing at first, but the general effect is certainly very fine and
impressive. The group consists of two figures, life size, wrought in the
purest of white marble, showing the late president lying at full length
in his shroud, with his head supported by a mourning female figure
representing Mexico. The name of the sculptor is Manuel Islas, who has
embodied great nobility and touching pathos in the expression of the
combined whole. The base of the monument, as we stood before it, was
half hidden by freshly contributed wreaths of flowers. A small Grecian
temple surrounded by columns incloses this commemorative group, to which
the traveler will be very sure to pay a second visit before leaving the
capital. Many of the monuments in this city of the dead are of the
beautiful native onyx, which has a very grand effect when cut in heavy
slabs. The grounds are circumscribed in extent and overcrowded. No name,
we believe, is held in higher esteem by the general public than that of
Benito Juarez, who died July 18, 1872, after being elected to fill the
presidential chair for a third term.

Juarez was a Zapotec Indian, a hill tribe which had never been fully
under Spanish control. He was thoroughly educated, and followed the law
as a profession. Being fully alive to its character, he always opposed
the machinations of the Catholic Church. His dream and ambition was to
establish a Mexican republic, and the present constitution, which bears
date of 1857, was virtually his gift to the people. He has been very
properly called the prophet and architect of the republic.

In the cemetery of San Fernando were also seen the tombs of Mejia and
Miramon, the two generals who, together with Maximilian, were shot at
Queretaro. Here also are the tombs of Guerrero, Zaragoza, Comonfort, and
others of note in Mexican history. The cemetery as a whole is very
poorly arranged and quite unworthy of such a capital. The bodies of most
persons buried here are placed in coffins which are deposited in the
walls, and even graves are built upon the surface of the ground, because
of the fact that at a few feet below one comes to the great swamp or
lake which underlies all this part of the valley. There is another
Mexican cemetery worthy of mention, which is beautifully laid out and
arranged. It is that of Dolores, on the hillside sout