The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-18 00:00:00

FLOATING GARDENS.

In old times, when Mexico was in the middle of PrAO:
1 al=, In innabitants were not strong enougn to hold.
land on the shores, they were driven to strange shifts to
get food. Among other expedients, they took to making
little floating islands, which consisted of rafts of reeds and
brushwood, on which they heaped mud from the shores of
the lakes. On the banks of the lake of Tezcuco the mud
was, at first, too full of salt and soda to be good for culti-
vation; but by pouring the water of the lake upon it, and
letting it soak throug, they dissolved out most of the
salts, and the island was fit for cultivation, and bore splen-
did crops of vegetables. These islands were called " chi-
nampas," and they were often large enough for the pro-
prietor to build a hut in the middle, and live in it with

hie family. In later times, when the Mexicans came to be
no longer afraid of their neighbours, the chinampas were
not of much use ; and whea the water was drained off, and
tho city stood on dry land, one would have supposed that
such a troublesome and costly arrangement would have
been abandoned. The Mexican, however, is hard to move
from the customs of his ancestors ; and we have Humboldt's
word for it, that in his time there were some of these arti-
ficial islands still in the lake of Chola) which the owners
towed about with a rope, or pushed with a long pole. They
are all gone now, at any rate, though the name of
chinampa is still applied to the gardens along the canal.
These gardens very much resemble the floating islands in
their construction of mud, heaped on a foundation of reeds
and branches •, and though they are not the real thing, and
do not float, they are interesting, as the present representa-
tives of the famous Mexican floating gardens. They are
narrow strips of land, with a frontage of four or five yards
to the canal, and a depth of one hundred, or a hundred and
fifty yards. Between the strips are open ditches ; and one
principal occupation of the proprietor seems to be bringing
up mud from the bottom of the ditch with a wooden
shovel, and throwing it on the garden, in places where it
has sunk. The reason of the narrowness of the strips is
that he may be able to throw mud all over them from the
ditches on either side.

The history of Mexico is too well known for us to
dilate at any length on Mr. Tyler's interesting
narrative of the conquest of the country and the
condition of the inhabitants before and after that
event. Enough be it to say that as a proof of
the evil wrought in this rich country, civilised
by native genius and fast rising. into greatness,
before its conquest by the Spaniards, that the
consequent subjugation of the Aztic race
caused native civilisation to cease to pro-
gress ; for although the country has many ad-
vantages consequent to the advance of science, yet
they come from a foreign land, the native energy
is. dead, and in remoter parts the people look back
to the institutions of their ancestors with regret,
and follow the ways of their fathers, as far as
possible, with respect. Christianity has indeed
superseded idolatry ; but what of that.' With a
profligate priesthood, and no moral restraint, are
they better than they were in their former ignor-
ance ? In treating on Earthquakes, &c., Mr.
Tyler makes the following remark, 'which is per-
haps unknown to many 1—