The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-02-16

business blocks arc OF three and four
stories. There is not the broken sky
line OF our American cities, and the
town looks more like one Of the old
world than OF the new.
Mexico From the Cathedral FEWER.
But suppose we take a hird's-eyo
view of Mexico City. Wa can get 1T
from one of the twin towcra OF tho
great cathedral which forms tho pivot
around which the whole city moves.
| This is the highest capital north OF
the Panama Canal. 1t is a rifle and
half above the other great capitas %
the world and the cathedral towers
are zoo feet higher.
The cathedral stands OH the spot
which forms the centre of the great
city of the Montezumas. It is just
above the site of tho pyramid upon
which lay the sacriicial stone where
| the Abtecs sacrificed their victims and
upon which 10000 slaves were slain
every year. That pyramid rise within
fifty feet of the top OF the tower, and
1t was there that Nfonte2uma st sod be-
side Cortez when he took him up to
show him the city.
We take a taxi and arc soon al the
tower and enter the little d Ior at its
foot. We wind our way round and
/ round through the darkness UP steps
/ worn hollow by the feet of thousands
| and at last come out high above the
! Mexican capital.
| What n magnificent site for a city.
! We are i'll the heart OF the valley OF
| Mexico and surrounded by mountains
! which mako a series of Notifications,
| created by nature, beyond which as |
write the rebels arc lighting. Tho
I - elk i.c nd -
two great peaks off there at the south
| arc covered with snow. They are
PopocataDetl and Ixtaccihuat Old
Popo is considered the husband OF the
latter and she Is everywhere Known as
"Thc White Woman" See how like a
sleeping Siantress she looks, rs. carved
in silver, she lies there outstretched
upon the purple rocks which slope
down TO the plain She lies on her
back with face upturncd, and We can
sec her mighty breasts and the whole
outline of her gigantic body clear to
the snowy feet which are turned to-
ward old Popo.
The Valley of Mexico.
Now look at the valley IN the centr,
OF which wa are standing. DO yo,
| wonder that 1t was chosen as the cen
, tire of the Aztec empire and as the sit
OF the best of that old civilization. l
and thirty miles wide, with a half
dozen silvcry lakes running through
/ it. These lakes rise one over the other
the level of all Of them being abov
that upon which the Mexican capita
4 stands.
s1irting the lakes and covering tn
valley, and coming close to the edg,
of tho city, are plains OF richest green
and within them is the great red ant
1 gray eXpansc of low buildings whicl
make up Mexico city. That vast bull,
I ing off to the south cost over two mil
A lion dollars. It Is the new peniten
4 tiary, and 1t is now the home of man.
a rebel, including General Bernard
! Reyes.
4 OF on the opposite side of the cit.
4 wc can see Chapultepec. where is nov
4 tho white house of Mexico, the homo o
4 President Madero. 1t is there tina
d Montezuma had his summer residence
and there President Dlaz lived Tina
4 wide avenue shaded with trees an
y decorated with magnificcnt statue
A which leads to il is the Paseo de l
p Rcforma. and tho magnificent build
ings about are the Colonias The
q cover some thousands of acres an
a form the new sections OF tho apita
q which were planned by Americans an
81 built with American money
N The Mcxtcnn Housctops.
y Now take your glass and look at tn
a great checkerboard OF Mexico city Th
y most OF the streets cross each othe
a Mt right angles, and tho whole seem
II to be divided UP into square field
q paved with brick. That Is how tn
81 capital looks from the Sky
~ The roofs OF all the houses belo'