seem to glide and undulate along their path. The inseparable fan,--her constant companion, play thing and interpreter, in the saloon, the ball room, the theatre or the church,--rests carelessly, in her right hand, which coquettishly clasps the folds of her mantilla; and, from beneath its silken folds, her large lustrous eyes gleam soft and languishingly above her pale but healthful cheeks. If Mexican ladies are not so variously beautiful as the women of northern lands, in whose veins the blood of many nations has mingled, they are most loveable creatures in spite of the uniformity of their national type. There is a degree of exquisite tenderness, and an expression of affectionate sincerity, in the face of Mexican women, which instantly wins not only the respect but the confidence of the gazer. Nor does their character in real life contradict their amiable physiognomy. Faithful as a friend and as a wife, the Mexican lady is a person, who, with the educational advantages enjoyed by their northern sisters, would rightfully maintain as high a position in the social scale, with, perhaps, a more delicate degree of sensibility. The lower classes of females are of course different from the upper ranks both in appearance and personal qualities. They are of impure blood. Spaniard, Indian, Negro and Malay, have [Illustration: FRIAR. PRIESTS. LADY. GENTLEMAN.] [Illustration: POBLANAS.] contributed to their ancestral pedigree, and their race is consequently mixed; yet, impure as they are by descent they have not failed, like all imitative inferiors to catch the manners and bearing of the aristocracy. There is hardly a Mexican girl,--whose whole wardrobe consists of her chemise, petticoat, rebozo, comb, looking-glass and shoes,--who does not move along the street, when in full dress, with the queenly step and coquettish display of eye and hair from beneath her cotton _rebozo_, which we have just admired in the Mexican doña. The costume of Mexican gentlemen is the usual European dress worn by the same class among northern nations. But, in addition, the broad folds of a massive cloak are always thrown over their shoulders upon the slightest pretext or provocation of the weather, whilst their nostrils are constantly refreshed by the fragrant fumes of a cigar or cigaritto. * * * * * The city of Mexico possesses two magnificent _Passeos_ and an _Alameda_ in which all classes of the people habitually recreate themselves. The city is supplied with water by splendid aqueducts, bringing the limpid streams from the neighboring hills. [Illustration: TERMINATION OF AQUEDUCT IN CITY OF MEXICO.]