Its

through a list that would rival that of any other country. The School of Mines and Engineering, however, stands as one of the first. magnificent building of Chiluca, the nearest to granite the valley affords, was built for it by Tolsa in 1793, and cost three millions. The institution named the Colegio de la Paz, better known as the Vizcainas is one of the principal establishments for the education of young women, founded in 1734, at a cost for construction alone of about $2,000,000, subscribed by three Spanish merchants, who also provided funds for its support. These funds, when insufficient to meet expenses, are supplemented by the Federal Government. We have also a very high grade Military School located at the historical grounds of Chapultepec, which educates fine soldiers.

As late as 1824 Humboldt declared, “No city of the New Continent, not excepting those of the United States, presents scientific establishments so great and solid as those of the capital of Mexico." Except as to the buildings, of course, so much could not be said today, as wealth and numbers have made other countries take more rapid strides in higher education. Some of the universities of the United States pay even $10,000 a year to professors and they therefore can secure the best talent.

From the time of the Spanish domination in Mexico to but a few years ago, the Mexican Government considered itself bound to give to the people free secondary education, and for this purpose colleges for all literary and scientific professions were established in the City of Mexico, and each State did the same in its respective capital, in so far as its means allowed it, so that anybody who intended to follow a scientific career could do so without any expense to himself.

The result of the free technical schools has been that most of the young men of well-to-do families in Mexico follow a literary career and that does not cost them anything, and we have more lawyers, doctors, engineers than we really need for the country.

Reorganization of the Technical Colleges.-We had before 1868 several higher colleges and in each of them the same careers were taught, as law, medicine, engineering, etc., but in the reorganization of our national colleges which took place in that year, it was thought proper to establish a special college for each career, and a preparatory college for such elementary studies as would be required for all careers, such as elementary mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc., etc., so that we now have in the City of Mexico, supported by the Federal Government a special school for engineering, one for law, one for medicine, another for agriculture, etc., etc., but each State generally supports one technical college where all literary careers are taught.

Primary Education.-Comparatively little attention was paid to the primary education, and the public schools were so deficient that

parents of some means did not send their children to them, but to private schools where they were better attended to. The fact that the elevation of the people depends on their primary education has caused common schools to be established in the country, and now the States vie with each other for the purpose of establishing the best system of common schools and increasing their number.

The Mexican Government has been too much disturbed since its independence to earnestly promote the education of the Indians. consider that one of the first duties of Mexico is to educate the large number of Indians which we have, and when that is accomplished the whole condition of the country will change, as it will be able in a few years to increase by several millions its productive and consuming population.

In 1896 the Federal Congress of Mexico passed a law which was promulgated on June 3d of that year, making primary education obligatory on all the inhabitants of the Federal District and Territories, and placing public education under the control of the Federal Government, having been before under the respective municipalities.

In almost all the States education is free and compulsory, but the law has not been strictly enforced. Primary instruction is mostly at the expense of the municipalities, but the Federal Government makes frequent grants, and many schools are under the care of the beneficent societies.

School Statistics.—Statistical reports on public instruction for 1876 showed an aggregate of 8165 primary schools, with an attendance of 368,754 children of both sexes throughout the Republic. Reports for 1895 show a total number of public schools for both sexes throughout the Republic amounting to 10,915, in which are instructed 722,435 scholars, at an aggregate cost of $5,455,549.60. The proportion of children of both sexes attending the school is, with respect to the general population, nearly five per cent., and that of the children of school age, actually attending school about 27 per cent. with an average yearly outlay per capita of $7.55. The entire number of private schools for both sexes, including those supported by religious and civil associations, is 2585, with a total attendance of 81,221. Adding these to the preceding figures we have an aggregate of 13,500 schools with. an attendance of 803,656 scholars. The number of schools in the country for professional technical education is 136, attended by 16,809 pupils of both sexes.

In the Federal District there are 454 public primary schools with an attendance of 44,776 pupils, and 247 private schools with an attendance of 19,334 pupils. In the matter of education Mexico now stands upon a plane as high, if not higher, than any of the Spanish American Republics, out-ranking even Chili and the Argentine Republic, both of which greatly surpassed her in former years.

The statistical part of this paper will contain detailed information about the number of schools established in each State, their cost, etc., during the year 1895, which complements the information embraced in this chapter.

Libraries. Many great and noteworthy public and private libraries attest the ineradicable love of learning characteristic of the Mexican people. In 1894 there were in the Republic the National Library, with 200,000 volumes, and 102 other public libraries. There were in that year 22 museums for scientific and educational purposes, and 3 meteorological observatories. Our National Library at the City of Mexico collected all the books possessed by the libraries of the different convents when they were suppressed by the National Government, and has therefore a very large number of rare and valuable books.

Newspapers.-The number of newspapers published was 363, of which 94 are published in the capital: 4 in English, 2 in French, and I in German, showing that the Press has not attained there the great development that it has in this country.

THE VALLEY OF MEXICO.

The Valley of Mexico is one of the finest spots in the world. Surrounded by high mountains-almost at the foot of the two highest in the country, Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl-with a very rare and clear atmosphere and a beautiful blue sky, especially after a rain; it is really a centre of magnificent scenery. The rareness of the atmosphere makes distant objects appear to be very near, and when looking from the City of Mexico at the mountains which surround the Valley, one imagines that they are at the end of the City, while some of them are at a distance of forty miles. The view of the Valley from Chapultepec Hill, which is about one hundred and fifty feet high and distant about three miles from the City, towards its western extremity, where our military school now is and where the President has made his summer residence, is one of the most beautiful with which the earth is endowed. I have seen the Bosphorus, Constantinople, the Bay of Naples and other spots in the world which are considered to be most remarkable for their natural beauty, but I think the view of the Valley of Mexico from Chapultepec can be advantageously compared with any of them, if it does not excel them all.

Six lakes are within the limits of the Valley,-Chalco, Zochimilco, Texcoco, Xaltocan, San Cristobal, and Zupango, the two former being of fresh water and the others of salt water-and, as they have no natural outlet the City of Mexico has been deprived for some time of a proper drainage and its health has been affected very materially thereby. But the colossal undertaking of making an artificial outlet is

now practically finished. In an article which I published in the Engineering Magazine in January, 1895, I dwelt especially on the work done during four centuries to accomplish that great end.'

The prevailing wind in the Valley of Mexico is northwest and north-northwest, which blew 250 times during the year 1883; while the southern winds, which are very dry, are rare, as they only blew 51 times in that year; but at the same time they have greater velocity than the others, and the greatest relative velocity of the winds is 3.0. The west and northwest winds are very damp.

At the present stage of industrial development, speaking especially of the Valley of Mexico, the question of a cheaper combustible is the one of supreme importance. In the absence of water-power of importance and permanence of volume, the only solution of the problem so vital to the growth of manufactures there lies in procuring abundant and cheap fuel.

THE CITY OF MEXICO.

The City of Mexico, located in the western end of the valley, on the Anahuac plateau, at an altitude of 7350 feet above the sea level in 19° 26' north latitude and 99° 07′ 53′′ .4 longitude west of Greenwich, covering about twenty square miles, is one of the most ancient cities of this continent, was the capital of the Aztec Empire, of the Spanish Colony of New Spain and now of the Mexican Republic, and of the Federal District of Mexico.

Mexico dates either from the year 1325 or 1327, when the Aztecs, after long wanderings over the plateau were directed by the oracle to settle at this spot. For here had been witnessed the auspicious omen of an eagle perched on a nopal (cactus) and devouring a snake. Hence the original name of the city, Tenochtitlan (cactus on a stone), changed afterwards to Mexico in honor of the war god Mexitli. The eagle holding a snake in her beak and standing on a cactus upon a stone, is the coat-of-arms of the Mexican Republic. With the progress of the Aztec culture the place rapidly improved, and about 1450 the old mud and rush houses were replaced by solid stone structures, erected partly on piles amid the islets of Lake Texcoco, and grouped around the central enclosure of the great teocalli. The city had reached its highest splendor on the arrival of the Spaniards in 1519, when it comprised from 50,000 to 60,000 houses, with perhaps 500,000 inhabitants, and seemed to Cortes, according to Prescott's, "like a thing of fairy creation rather than the work of mortal hands." It was at that time about 12 miles in circumference, everywhere intersected by canals, and connected with the mainland by six long and solidly constructed causeways, as is clearly shown by the plan given in the edition of 1 That article is appended to this paper.

Cortez's letters published at Nuremberg in 1524' After its almost destruction in November, 1521, Cortez employed some 400,000 natives in rebuilding it on the same site; but since then the lake seems to have considerably subsided, for although still 50 square miles in extent, it is very shallow and has retired two and a half miles from the city.

During the Spanish rule the chief event was the revolt in 1692, when the municipal buildings were destroyed. Since then Mexico has been the scene of many revolutions, was captured by the United States Army after the battle of Chapultepec, on September 13, 1847, and by the French Army under Marshall Forey in 1863. But since the overthrow of Maximilian, and the French Intervention in 1867, peace has been established and it has become a great centre of civilizing influences for the surrounding peoples.

The City of Mexico is 263 miles by rail from Veracruz on the Atlantic, 290 from Acapulco on the Pacific, 285 from Oaxaca, 863 from Matamoros on the frontier with the United States, and 1224 miles from El Paso. Mexico is the largest and finest city in Spanish America, and at one time larger than Madrid, the capital of Spain, forming a square of nearly 3 miles both ways, and laid out with perfect regularity, all its six hundred streets and lanes running at right angles north to south and east to west, and covering within the walls an area of about ten square miles, with a population now of 539,935.

The present City of Mexico is almost twice as large as the old one, it having increased towards the northwest, and, strange to say, the new portion is not laid out as regularly as the old one. All the main thoroughfares converge on the central Plaza de Armas, or Main Square, which covers 14 acres, and is tastefully laid out with shady trees, garden plots, marble fountains, and seats. Here also are grouped most of the public buildings, towering above which is the Cathedral, the largest and most sumptuous church in America, which stands on the north side of the plaza on the site of the great pyramidal teocalli or temple of Huitzilopochtli, titular god of the Aztecs. This church, which was founded in 1573 and finished in 1657, at a cost of $2,000,ooo, for the walls alone, forms a Greek cross, 426 feet long and 203 feet wide, with two great naves and three aisles, twenty side chapels, and a magnificent high altar supported by marble columns, and surrounded by a tumbago balustrade with sixty-two statues of the same rich gold, silver, and copper alloy serving as candelabra. The elaborately carved choir was also enclosed by tumbago railings made in Macao, weighing twenty-six tons, and valued at about $1,500,000. In the interior, the Doric style prevails, and Renaissance in the exterior, which is adorned by five domes and two open towers 218 feet high. At the foot of the

1 Reproduced in vol. iv. of H. H. Bancroft's History of the Pacific States, San Francisco, 1833, p. 280.