Norwich bulletin., 1916-10-02

farther afield in the entrancing valley of the sky.
 '.The way to the present Aztec Ven ice, which bears the name of Xochi- milco, in the field of flowers is through one of these ancient canals a prehistoric water road from Ten ochtitlan to the capital and Seat Of one of the group of seven Aztec tribes which long ago came from remote AZtlan to the rich valley of Mexico.
 'The life on the canal, vivid and picturesque, is as striking now as it was then; it may even be suspected that the change from that time to this has not been very great. It is hard to get a start to the lend of the fens in more ways than one-the negotia tionS for passage in a barge with boatmen who display the cllaracteris- tics of that tribe known the world over; and the conflicting claims also of all the costumes incidents, shipping and so forth, of the boiling, squirm- ing Kaleidoscope canal and shore pop wilder the beholder and make him forget that he is on a journey to see the lake dwe1lers in their primitive homes Tardi1y, then the barge comes into the clear pool in front of the medieval toll-gate fortress. where all shipping must go uader a low bridge and where the old-time toll collector armed wifi, pike, could threaten the recalcitrant without much effort.
 Beyond tEe gateway begin more vistas of a new world! On this canal, bordered with frees and spanned with quaint bridges, is a perfect stream of craft, from the slender dug-out chaloupe to the square bowed fiat boat, hurrying on with everything to feed, repair, and adorn the great city Freight is of all descriptions; but one looks curiously on the small bundles of grass and other green forage for animal feed. the pulque, barrels, veg etables and flowers. The Indian boat men, clad in white cotton shirt and trousers, are working with a will, sometimes wading in the canal and drawing the heavy laden boats after them; and alas! returning to their paradise, g. woman piloting her hus- band who is the worse for pulque.
 'Flotsam and jetsam in the canal are vagrant bulbs of water hyacinth, 9 wicked, beautiful plant, whose re- productivity makes men work to keep it down, but here it has met it's match and is made to be useful for the Az tees throw great masses of 1t upon strip of bog to the thickness of a foot or more. The water hyacinth is provided with large cellular floats, natural provision for it's desselnina- tion, which has made it an obstruc- tion to navigation in some of our sourthern rivers.
 Upon this bed of flats the natives spread layer of muck, dredged from the bottom of the canals. Perhaps before the plant floats have decayed these gardens may drift away should the water rise. Even now portions Of the lake on square miles of vegeta- ton cover the surface like the 'sudd' of the Nile, and the canal roads have to be staked at the sides to Keep them from disappearing.
 t@The term floating gardens was properly applied by the early histor- ians of Mexico to masses of water weeds covered with a thin layer of soil, employed by the Mexicans at a period when the fuctuating waters prevented the formation of permanent chinampas, and so in the New World the Indians repeated the famed gar dens of the lake of Cashmere
 ''The Xochililcos are expert garden CTS and assiduous at their work. Most of their plants are started in seed beds from which they are transplant ed to the chinampas, and 1t is strange to sect boat loads of corn sprouts brought to be planted in this manner. Curisouly enough, these rnorass gar dens sometimes require irrigation, which is accomplished by throwing on water from the canal with a wood en scoop.
 Tt cannot be said that the Xochi- miIcan man has an open and ingenu- Ous countenance but it shows force of character and lights up quickly in response to kindness and recognition. The young women have round, often ruddy, but rather expressionless