we were forced to confess not only that Humboldt's praises did not exceed the truth, but that amongst the various Capitals of Europe, there were few that could support with any advantage a comparison with Mexico.
In the general style of the architecture there is something very peculiar. The streets are broad, airy, and drawn at right angles, so that by looking down any two, at the point where they intersect each other, a view of nearly the whole extent of the town is commanded. The houses are spacious, but low, seldom exceeding one story; the roofs are flat, and as they sometimes communicate with each other for a considerable distance, when seen from an elevation, they look like immense terraces, the parapets by which they are separated being lost in the distance. Few of the public buildings attain the height to which an European eye is accustomed in such edifices. This is owing partly to the difficulty of laying a good foundation in the valley of Mexico, where water is uniformly found at a very few feet from the surface, and partly from the frequency of earthquakes. The first renders it necessary to raise all the larger buildings upon piles, while the second, although the shocks are seldom severe, would endanger the safety of very lofty edifices, which are the first to suffer.
Every one who has resided in a Southern climate, knows how much the purity of the atmosphere tends to diminish distances; but even at Madrid, where
