Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1817-10-31

cities of Germany. By comparing
together impressions which follow IN
rapid succession, We are enabled To
rcctify any opinion which we may
have too easily adopted. Notwith-
standing such unavoidable conparI,,
sons, of which several, one would
think, must have proved disadyanta-
ceous to the capital Of Mexico, it has
left in me recollection of grandeur
which principally attribute to the
majestic character ofits situation and
the surrounding scenery.
Tn fact, nothing can present a more
rich and varied appearance than the
valley, when, in fine summer morn
ing, the sky without cloud, and OF
that deep azure which is peculiar to
the dry and refined air of high noun
tains, we transport ourselves to the top
of one of the towers Of the cathedral
of Mexico, OF ascend the hill Of
Chapoltepec. A beautiful vegetation
surrounds this hill. Old cypress
trunks& of more than 5 & l6 mctresI
i'm cir, umfercnce, raise their naked
head above those Of the Scinus, which
resemble in their appearance the
weeping willows of the east. From
the centre of this solitude, the summit
of the porphyriticaI rock of Chapolte-
pee, the eye sweeps over vast plain
| of carefully cultivated fields, which
extend to the very feet of the collos-
sal mountains covered with perpetual
snow. The city appears as ifwashed
by the waters of the lake of Tczcuco,
whose basin, surrounded with villa
gcs and hamIcts, brings to mind the
most beautiful lakes of the mountains
of Switzerland. Large avenues of elms
and popiars lead in every direction to
the capital and two aqueducts con-
s!ructed over arches of very great ele-
walton, cross the plain and exhibit an
appearance equally agreeable and in
teresting. The magnificent convent
of Nuestra Sonora = Guadalupe,
appears joined to the mountains Of
Tcpcyacac, among rasines, which
shelter a few date yucca trees. To
wards the south, the whole tract be-
tween San Angel, Tacabaya, and San
Augustin de las Cuevas, appears an
immense garden of Orange, Peach,
Apple, Cherry, and other European
fruit trees. This beautiful cultira-
ton forms singular contrast with
the wild appearance of the naked
mountains which enclose the valley,
among which the famous volcanoes of
La Pucbla, PopocatepetI. and Iztac-
cihuatl are the most distinguished
The first of these forms an enormous
cone, Of which the crater, continual
ly inhamed and throwing up smoke
aud ashes, opens in the midst of etcr-
nal SHOWS.
saw part completed. the Federal
City will undoubtedly one day he a
much finer city than Mexico. Phila.
dclphia has also the same mode of con-
| struction. The alleys of platanus,
acacia, and populous heterophylla.
which adorn its streets, almost give il
rural beauty. The vegetation of
the banks of the Potomac and Della
ware is also richer than what we find
$500 metres (7,5OO feet) of elevation
oil the ridge of the Mexican Cordille-
ras. But Washington and fhiladel-
phia will always look like European
cities. They will not strike the eyes
of the traveller with that peculiar, ]
may say that exotic character which
belongs to Mexico, Santa Fe de Bog
alta, Quito, and all the tropical capitals,
constructed at an elevation as high or
higher than the passage Of the great
St. Bernard.
: Los Ahuahuetes. Gpressus dis
ticha Lin.
40 and SO feet. Trans.
a Frenchman'S understanding Of what