Washington in 1999 was fast developing into a magnificent city, worthy of its proud [An Earthly Paradise.] name and eminence as the capital of the great American Republic with its population of 531,000,000 people. Built in the heart of the State of Mexico, it was surrounded by magical charms of scenery such as only a tropical paradise may develop. Its lofty domes and spires and stately public buildings, many of them constructed of huge blocks of multi-colored glass, were reared amidst a land luxuriant with the cochineal, cocoa, the orange and sugar-cane. The city of Washington in 1999 was hedged by nature's most subtle art. Beyond the capital's limits were visible a gay confusion of meadows, streams and perpetual flowering forests. From the centre of the new Washington could plainly be seen the majestic outlines of ancient Popocatapetl, rising as a sombre spectre whose rugged head seemed to cleave the skies. Stretching far away to the right, and clearly visible from the observatory of the Executive Mansion might be seen, towering in its solitary grandeur, the peak of the mighty Orizaba, with its eternal shroud of snow descending far down its sides. How many centuries this mighty giant of the Cordilleras has stood there, a sentinel in the Garden of the Gods, none may tell. But ages and cycles of time after the busy brains of 1899 shall have turned to dust, Orizaba, with the Stars and Stripes adorning its summit, will still rear its proud head and gaze down upon millions of American patriots yet unborn. The transferment of the capital of the Americas in 1990 to the city of Mexico, [Met with General Approval.] was generally regarded as a master-stroke of policy. From a hygienic point of view alone, the change proved eminently a desirable one. Its removal from the malodorous swamps of the Potomac to the elevated plateau upon which the Aztec race reared their ancient capital, with its balmy breezes and tropical luxuriance, proved a most welcome change. It was generally conceded in 1899 that the site of Washington on the malaria-breeding banks of the Potomac, was not a happy selection. In spite of great precautions several epidemics had devastated the national capital during the decades from 1900 to 1940. Among other pestilential attractions of the Potomac swamps, great prominence was given to a fierce and aggressive tribe of mosquitoes, called "Swamp Angels," which in 1920 increased and multiplied greatly, to the absolute terror of the Washingtonites. It is related of these aggressive and dangerous pests that in 1925 a swarm of them actually carried away a sheep while the animal was grazing upon the White House downs. But aside from its favorable hygienic considerations the central position of the city of Washington in the State of Mexico commanding the main avenue between North and South America, gave it great political and commercial importance as the capital of the Americas in 1990, one that was enjoyed by no other rival.