nd railroad stations they are tied in long rows,
each by its leg, and out of reach of the others, so that purchasers can
make their selection. It must be a very small town in Mexico which does
not contain one or more cockpits, not only as a Sunday resort for
amusement, but also as a medium for the inveterate gambling propensities
of the native people.

Here, also, there is the usual profusion of Roman Catholic churches, but
there is nothing remarkable about them. A couple of miles west of the
city is the church of Nuestra Senora de Tecajic, in which is exhibited a
"miraculous" image which is held in great veneration by the credulous
Indians. It is a picture painted on coarse cotton cloth, and
representing the assumption of the Virgin. This is an ancient shrine,
and has been in existence over two hundred years.

Near Toluca is an extinct volcano, the crater of which forms a large
lake of unknown depth, the water being as cold as ice.

The city supported several notable convents previous to the confiscation
of the church properties, which are now utilized for schools,
hospitals, and public offices. One educational establishment, the
Instituto Literario, is perhaps the widest known institution of learning
in Mexico, and has educated most of the distinguished men of the
country. It may be called the Harvard College of the republic. The
edifice devoted to the purpose is a very spacious one, and besides its
various other departments, it contains a fine library and a museum of
natural history, together with a well-arranged gymnasium.

Toluca has the best and largest general market which we saw in Mexico.
It is all under cover, and each article has its appropriate place of
sale, meats, fruits, vegetables, fish, flowers, pottery, baskets, shoes,
and sandals. It was a general market day when we chanced to be upon the
spot, and the throng of country people who had come in to the city to
dispose of their wares could not have numbered less than a couple of
thousand. Such a mingling of colors, of cries, of commodities! The whole
populace of the place seemed to be in the streets.

We chanced to see in the patio of a private dwelling-house at Toluca a
specimen of that little tropical gem, the coral-tree, a curious and
lovely freak of vegetation, its small but graceful stem, six or seven
feet in height, being topped above the pendent, palm-shaped foliage with
a prominent bit of vegetable coral of deepest red, precisely in the form