On the following day I made a visit to a gentleman’s country place, situated about two miles from the city. It was a beautiful morning. Under the smiles of a rising sun and a cloudless sky nature appeared to be embellished in all her charms. After a very agreeable walk I arrived at the house; but was disappointed in finding the owner at home. A few Indians were hanging listlessly about the premises, under the charge of a major domo, whose situation was manifestly quite a sinecure. The mansion was of two stories with piazzas, large, and well built of stone; but had nothing very peculiar in its construction. The grounds about it were neatly and tastefully arranged. The division alleys of the garden were laid with stone, covered with composition, ornamentally disposed, and answering the two-fold purpose of a walk and a gutter to conduct the water to the parts where it was required. The orange, the cocoa, the plantain, and the wide-spread banana, were loaded with fruit. Clusters of smaller tropical shrubbery, and myriads of flowers, were in perfection. The enclosures teemed with vegetation, growing in unrestricted luxuriance. This vegetation is only sustained by the aid of irrigation. The water is supplied from immense wells and cisterns, which are opened in large numbers for that purpose. This practice was originally introduced into Spain by the Moors, who thus changed quite barren wastes into productive gardens. Even the courses of rivers were sometimes diverted to effect this important object. Many of the provinces of the parent country, although since suffered by neglect to revert to their former uselessness, bear evidence of the important benefits that resulted from the system. The conquerors of Mexico were aware of its advantages, of which they availed themselves extensively in their agricultural pursuits. These reservoirs are frequently made through a calcareous formation, to the depth of a hundred feet, and are supplied with water both from fountains and from the rains of summer. Broad curbs of stone and mortar are formed around them, from eight to ten feet high, which are used as platforms for drawing up the water by means of revolving buckets, turned by a spindle, and emptying, in their evolutions, into conductors leading to reservoirs located near the place where it may afterwards be wanted. Ascending to the balcony of the building, I had a partial view of the city, embosomed among trees, with its domes and turrets peering above their tops. After acknowledging the hospitality with which I had been received, I made my adieus, and returned at an early hour to the city.