THE MARKET-PLACE, CITY OF MEXICO.
One of the attractions of the Mexican capital is the market-place. There are several mercados, or markets, in the city, the principal one being the Volador, which is close to the National Palace, and overlooked, as already mentioned, by one of the windows of the room which was Maximilian's favorite apartment. History says it was for a long time the property of the family of Cortez, as it happened to be on a portion of the land which he secured at the division of the spoils of conquest. For nearly two hundred years the city paid rent to the heirs of the conqueror, and only in comparatively recent times bought the site, and now owns it in fee simple.
Frank and Fred visited the market-place several times during their stay in the city; in fact, it was one of their principal sources of amusement. They were never tired of studying the ways of the natives who throng the place and offer their wares for sale, and they realized the force of what they read in one of the descriptions of Mexico, that the markets had changed very little since the days of Montezuma and the Aztec rule.
INTERIOR OF A HOUSE NEAR THE MARKET-PLACE.
Here is what Bernal Diaz wrote of the market as he saw it in 1519:
"We were astonished at the crowds of people and the regularity which prevailed, as well as at the vast quantities of merchandise which those who attended us were assiduous in pointing out. Each kind had its particular place, which was designated by a sign. The articles consisted of gold, silver, jewels, feathers, mantles, chocolate, skins dressed and undressed, sandals, and great numbers of male and female slaves, some of whom were fastened by the neck, in collars, to long poles. The meat market was stocked with fowls, game, and dogs. Vegetables, fruits, articles of food ready-dressed, salt, bread, honey, and sweet pastry made in various ways, were also sold here. Other places in the square were appointed to the sale of earthen-ware, wooden household furniture (such as tables and benches), firewood, paper, sweet canes filled with tobacco mixed with liquid amber, copper axes and working tools, and wooden vessels highly painted. Numbers of women sold fish and little loaves made of a certain mud which they find in the lakes, and which resembles cheese. The makers of stone blades were busily employed shaping them out of the rough material, and the merchants who dealt in gold had the metal in grains as it came from the mines, in transparent quills, and the gold was valued at so many mantles, or so many xiquipils of cocoa, according to the size of the quills. The entire square was enclosed in piazzas, under which great quantities of grain were stored, and where also were shops for various kinds of goods."