the top of another, and a third placed over all, so soon as
the second gives signs of being swallowed up in the all-devouring mud.

The gardeners navigate the open space between their islands with light
boats; and during the short hours of the morning, the market-boat
alongside each island is loaded with a cargo of vegetables, fruits, and
flowers, which are to be displayed in the great market of Santa Anna.
More pleasing than a drive on the _paseo_ is a boat-ride down the canal
of Chalco at eventide, when the proprietor of each of these little
estates is seen standing in the canal alongside, and throwing upon his
thirsty plants a plentiful supply of the tepid canal water, which, from
every leaf and flower, reflects back the rays of a setting sun, that
have penetrated the long shadows of the trees of Las Vegas. Some of the
chinampas have small huts upon them, where a gardener lives, who
watches over two or three of these little properties. Sometimes also
shrubs, and even trees, are planted along the edges, which yield both
fruits and flowers, and serve to keep the dry earth from falling into
the water. When looking at one of the largest and best cared for
chinampas, the beholder can hardly divest himself of the idea that it
is a floating island, and might well have been the residence of
Calypso.

This is the whole of the story of the chinampas, the most fertile and
beautiful little gardens upon the face of the earth. A correct picture
of them would be poetry enough, without the addition of falsehood; for
whether it is the rainy season or the dry season, it is always the same
to them. They know no exclusive seed-time, and have no especial season
for harvest; but blossoms and ripe fruits grow side by side, and
flowers flourish at all seasons. As market gardens they are unrivaled,
and to them Mexico is indebted for its abundant supplies.

The evidence that Humboldt[35] produces in favor of floating gardens,
viz., that he saw floating islands of some 30 feet in length in the
midst of the current of rivers, amounts to little in this case; for
every one that has traveled extensively in tropical lowlands has seen
vegetation spring up upon floating masses of brush-wood. Where earth
torn from the river bank is so bound together by living roots as to
form a raft, it will always float for a little while upon the current,
provided that its specific gravity does not materially exceed that of
the water; and those grasses that flour