The equestrian statue of Charles IV. was completed just at the time of Humboldt's visit. He was present when it was cast, and saw it on its way to the plaza. The Cathedral was then new, and its massive towers, with the fine plaza in front of it, excited the admiration of the enthusiastic traveller. A few years only before his visit, the great idol, Teoyamiqui, had been discovered, in the time of the eccentric Viceroy Revillagigedo; he would have placed it in the University, but the professors there were unwilling to have it seen by Mexican youths, and they buried it again in one of the corridors of the Colegio. They were persuaded to dig it up in order that Humboldt should see and make a sketch of it. The Aztec calendar, the stone of sacrifice, and the manuscripts in hieroglyph much interested the great man, but more the natural attractions of the city. One of his favorite haunts was Chapultepec, then in good order, as it was left by the Viceroy Galvez, who first made a pleasure-house there, where Humboldt delighted in the broad view of plain and volcano. He loved to go, as every one does now, to the market-place, to see the stalls of the Indians all hung with verdure. No matter what they sell--fruit, roots, pulque--their booths are ornamented with flowers. He describes the hedge a yard high of fresh herbs and delicate leaves built around the fruit-stalls, and the garlands of flowers, which divided the alleys of the market, spread upon the ground with little nosegays stuck at intervals, making a sort of carpet of flowers. The fruit, in small cages of wood, was ornamented on top with flowers. He describes the pretty sight, at sunrise, of the Indians coming along the Viga Canal in boats loaded with fruits and flowers, from Istacalco and Chalco; and gives an account of the _chinampas_, or floating gardens, on the marshy banks of these lakes. This invention is attributed to the early Aztecs, who cultivated the ground on loose tracts of earth, bound together by roots which were either driven about by the winds or moored to the shore. Similar ones, he says, are to be met with in all the zones. In our day the _chinampas_ do not float, but have the appearance of low, wet gardens, intersected by many channels of water; they are, however, pretty patches of gay flowers cultivated, with vegetables, for the city market, and a trip to Santa Anita, over the still waters of the Viga, must not be omitted from the excursions around Mexico; the scene is charming in itself, and haunted moreover by the long succession of gentle Indians, who for centuries have heaped their boats with flowers, and floated over the dark water chanting low songs.