The Ancient Cities of the New World

-Ayotla-Tlalmanalco-Tenango del Aire-Amecameca-A

n, to my great surprise, I discovered a bit of pottery and presently a whole vase; I next tried the ground with my dagger and unearthed more vases, side by side with human remains. At that time, however, I was so absorbed by my photography, so ill prepared for gauging the importance of m

Maximilian; he is used to every climate, always ready to make the best of everything, blessed, moreover, with a perfect temper, a thorough good fellow, a caballero of the old school, with whom it is impossible not to get on. Next comes my private secretary, young Albert Lemaire, a promising topographer, a good draughtsman, who accepts cheerfully the hardships, privatio

heir traps they will, in all probability, never see them again. Poor Julian learnt it to his cost, for in spite of all our vigilance, our fighting, our rushing madly after our porters not to lose sight of our things, when we reached the

ity everywhere have receded so far as to be hardly visible, and the bright towns and hamlets, once washed by them, have been removed miles inland, leaving a barren strip of land with incrustations of salt on the surface. It is refreshing to abandon this unhealthy, horrible swamp to skirt S. Anita's Canal, with its grassy banks, great trees, pretty villas, and blooming gardens overl

d the slopes of the volcanic hills occupying the valley, and imparting to it so unique a character; and now torrential rains carry awa

ximately calculate the time when the requirements of the railway will attack the

e landscape som

urney I fell a prey to them with a diligence full of people, when like a flock of sheep we all stood to be plundered by two wretched-looking fellows one could have brought down at one blow. At that time, however, it was deemed wise to offer no resistance, for fear of unseen companions lurking close by. Now Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, bearing to heaven their

rds. I am told by the guard that when this line was open, hundreds of vases, statuettes, pottery of every shape and size were unearthed, none of which found their way to the Museum, the officials having shared the spoil among themselves. It is grievous

t until we were in the house which was to take us in, there being no hotel in the place, that I perceived both locks of my portmanteau had been broken and ￡20 out of ￡60 taken. I naturally complained to the authorities, but as I could not say

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t an altitude of 626 fe

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of snow over its broad surface; and if yielding in bulk and height to its gigantic neighbour it is far more picturesque, surrounded by a belt of hills, with a thousand fantastic forms, broken peaks, massive rocks, and deep ravines, presenting a variety and richness of colouring unsurpassed anywhere. In the morning the plain is covered with a slight white mist, like a bridal veil, through which show the tapering stalks of Indian corn and the gloomy masses of trees. In this light the lower hills are of a tender peacock-green, deepening to the darkest blue in the barrancas, whilst the crests are tinged with a faint blush; but when storms, at this season very

ratero is ubiquitous and essentially an American institution. His strength as a thief lies in being a member of a very "long firm." He is always to be found in crowds, whether in the market-place, church, or theatre; he penetrates ill-closed houses, whence he takes anything valuable; he strips railway carriages of their fixtures, and railways of their w

A OF TO

The place soon acquired great celebrity for holiness on account of miracles which were performed thereat; chapels, churches, and a good road with the twelve stations of the Cross, were erected by the piety and for the acc

nswer regarding the origin of this peculiar custom. The branches of the surrounding trees, as indeed those on the road up to the Cross, are hung with ex-votos of the oddest description: small crosses, bits of thread, coloured stuff, dead flowers, tangled hair, remindi

by the difficulty of procuring saddle-horses, mules to carry our baggage, an

s, both of whom have been employed in the sulphur-mines of Popocatepetl, one as foreman for the last eight-and-twenty years, and the other even

post, and we begin slowly

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