estrial workmen did each
day. It is of basaltic material, supported by massive buttresses, and as
a whole is surpassingly grand. High up over the central doorway of the
main front is placed in carved stone the insignia of the order of the
Golden Fleece. The interior is as effective and elegant as that of any
church we can recall, having some fine old bronzes and valuable
paintings, the latter well worthy of special attention, and embracing
some thirty examples. The woodwork upon the grand altar shows an
artistic excellence which is rarely excelled. The two organs are
encased, also, in richly carved wood, exhibiting figures of angels
blowing trumpets. The interior adornments, as a whole, are undoubtedly
the finest of any church or cathedral in Mexico. A majority of writers
consider that the cathedral of the national capital is the grandest
church on the continent of America, but with this we cannot agree; to
our mind, the cathedral of Puebla, all things considered, is its
superior.

Puebla might be appropriately called the city of churches, for, at a
short distance, the countless domes and steeples looming above the flat
tops of the houses are the main feature. We believe that it has as many
edifices occupied for religions purposes as the city of Mexico. The twin
towers of its stately cathedral are especially conspicuous and
beautiful. The town was founded three hundred and sixty years ago, and
retains, apparently, more of its ancient Spanish character than most of
its sister cities. From any favorably situated spot in the town, for
instance from the hill of Guadalupe, one beholds rising in the
southwest, twenty-five miles away, the snowy crown of the world-renowned
Popocatepetl, the view of this mountain being much superior to that had
at the national capital, while the two hardly less famous mountains of
Orizaba and Iztaccihuatl are also in sight, though at farther distances.
The rarefied atmosphere makes all these elevations clear to the view
with almost telescopic power.

The nights here are a revelation of calmness and beauty. The stars are
much brighter than they appear to us in the dense atmosphere we inhabit.
The North Star and the Southern Cross are both visible, though only a
portion of the Dipper is to be seen. Within the points of the Southern
Cross there is a brilliant cluster of stars, which are not apparent to
the naked eye, but which are made visible by the use of the telescope,
shining like a group of