The public schools are numerous, being chiefly conducted by the priests of the several religious orders.
The royal academy of Arts and Sciences has a good establishment of professors of architecture, sculpture, painting, engraving, and mathematics. There has also been lately erected a college of mines, in which young men are instructed in various branches of science, and in every thing that relates to mining.
The botanical garden is another useful institution, lately much enriched.
The patron saint of Mexico is St. Mary of Guadaloupe, who is also the patroness of Spanish America.
The character of the people of Mexico, as given by late travelers, is that of a courteous and charitable people. The polite arts are their chief study, and they boast of their painters. They are great smokers, using cigars even at the theatre, and the ladies all smoke; a part of their ornaments being a gold or silver cigar box suspended by a chain or ribbon, in which they keep their paper cigars; on the chain they wear little pincers to hold the cigar, which, is nearly finished, whilst they light the new one. The manufactory of cigars, a magnificent building, employs near 5000 persons; such is the demand for this article. They are fond of theatrical exhibitions and have a handsome theatre. As in all Catholic countries, religious processions and shows occupy a great part of their attention; amongst the most splendid of these, is the procession of the Corpus Christi, the festival of the anniversary of the conquest of Mexico, and the publication of the bulls of indulgence; which are hailed with eagerness, and looked for with earnestness. The great civil show, is the entrance of a new viceroy, on which occasion, the city is all splendour and joy. The lower people are immoderately fond of a liquor named pulque, and the number of houses for the sale of it have of late become so numerous that the Police allow them only to remain open from ten till four in the day-time, on account of the riots and violence that happens in them; this liquor is allowed to enter the city only by one gate, that of Guadaloupe; and such is the consumption of it by the inhabitants, that the tax on it yields a revenue annually of a million of dollars. The shopkeepers of Mexico issue tokens of copper, iron and wood; and even grains of cacao pass as current in the neighborhood; which arises from there being no bullion currency. The price of bread is regulated three times in the year by the price of grain. There are numbers of sugar mills in this capital, and from there numerous distilleries of rum are kept at work.
Mexico is at present a place of immense commerce, and will become of more importance in a commercial point of view, when the great roads from Vera Cruz, &c. are completed; as the transport of goods will then be easier and less expensive; and the wheat, &c. of the fine plains of Mexico, will find a ready market all over the world.
This city, though on a marshy soil, is in general healthy, and the black vomit or yellow fever is here hardly known; but consumptions, apoplexy, agues, fever, and pleurisy, are not uncommon. The worst disorder to which the inhabitants of Mexico are subject appears to be what they denominate “flato” or “flatus;” the unhappy patients appearing in a state of madness, and have hot and shivering fits as in the ague; convulsions, and hysteric affections also accompany this strange disorder; which has been supposed to arise from the great quantity of spice they use in their food, and from the excessive use of tobacco.
This extraordinary city attracts the notice of Europeans from its curious situation, as well as from the remembrances attached to its name. It is placed on a plain, the height of which above the level of the sea is 6900 feet, near the banks of the lakes Tezcuco and Chalco, which are about ninety miles in circumference; the waters of the latter are salt, of the former fresh; they communicate with each other, and contain only two sorts of fish, one of which is of very peculiar organization. The city at a distance, appears to rise from the waters of the former lake; the banks of which are beautified with the most enchanting village scenery; on the opposite side of the lake, a luxuriant and highly cultivated valley is contrasted with the towering summits of the enormous mountains, emitting flame and smoke, in regions where eternal snow and winter reigns. This extensive plain is covered with flax, hemp, cotton, tobacco, sugar, indigo, &c.; and furnishes the markets of the city with abundance of vegetables, meat, fruits, and poultry, and reaches to the mountains, whose bases repose on its bosom. These mountains are diversified into every form that imagination can present, and are clothed with cedars, shrubs, and plants, and contain in their bowels precious jewels and minerals. The plain extends on all sides of the city and of the Lakes Tezcuco and Chalco; but on the eastern-side of the latter it is not so prolific, owing to the saline exhalations from the waters. On the lower parts of the mountains, farms, country-seats and romantically situated cottages are seen; and the whole plain appears well watered by numerous canals and rivulets. To the north of the town, near the suburbs, is the promenade, or Alameda; it is surrounded by a rivulet, and is in the shape of a large square, with a basin of water and fountain in the middle. From this bason eight walks strike out, each bordered by two rows of trees: there are also several other public walks, but the ground, in the immediate neighbourhood of Mexico, is full of rivulets and canals, and rather swampy.
The cold at Mexico is not great in the winter, as the Lake Tezcuco seldom freezes thicker than a sheet of paper; in the summer it is very hot, but as there are regular showers, which fall in the evening, the air during the summer is much tempered. The rainy season occupies four months, from the middle of May, to the middle of September.
The houses of pilgrimage in the neighbourhood of Mexico are singular; the chief one is the sanctuary of Neustra Senora de los Remedios, on the spot where Cortez retired when he was repulsed.