Description of a view of the city of Mexico, and surrounding country, now exhibiting in the Panorama, Leicester-Square / Painted by the proprietors, J. and R. Burford, from drawings taken in the summer of 1823, brought to this country, by Mr. W. Bullock.

  • Robert Burford
Date:
1826
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Description of a view of the city of Mexico, and surrounding country, now exhibiting in the Panorama, Leicester-Square / Painted by the proprietors, J. and R. Burford, from drawings taken in the summer of 1823, brought to this country, by Mr. W. Bullock. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and contains four tier of boxes; but was so badly attended, tliat, during Mr. Bullock s visit in ] 823, its final close was announced. e sh°Ps are not numerous; neither is their appearance at all attractive, the fronts being open, and the articles sold mostly manufactured in sight, without the least indication of wealth ; ew have even the name of the owner painted on them. The barbers and .the pulque-sellers* make the greatestshow : the for¬ mer being decorated with the various utensils of the trade intermixed with large gilt basins and pictures of saints; the latter neatly arranged with bottles of various coloured spirits. Confectioners and coach-makers are numerous, as are the milli- ners, in which twenty or thirty young men are usually em¬ ployed, making caps and other articles of female finery. The baliers have large establishments, and their journeymen are ubsoiutely slaves, being never permitted to leave the place in which they work. During the revolution this system was for a Oit time abolished, and the city remained for several days without bread. J nnPffinnni6* 1 jn',labitant3 a,re estimated at between 150,000 0,000, of these, nearly two thousand are monks and iiuns, and about te thousand more are attached to religious bouses and colleges The number of white Europeans does not exceed two thousand; of these, the females are in the proportion ot only one to one hundred ; the remainder are mixed castes and Indians. There are about thirty thousand persons, chiefly Indians, destitute of any habitation : they are called Guachi- nangos, and much resemble the Lazzaroni of Naples: their chief employment is carrying water, sweeping the streets, or beg¬ ging; and, as very little work enables them to buy pulque, they are frequently intoxicated, when they are removed1 by the !ln nl?inn13 1>aSS|irlg' their time Pretty equally between work, drunkenness, and imprisonment. PLATE I. No. 2.—De los Viscaynas. A large manufactory for lace. The tower contiguous is part of the ruins of the monastery of bt. Philip, now used as a stable for the Count de Regia, one of the richest men in Mexico His stud is remarkably fine, all stallions of the Andalusian breed ; the best he values at two thousand dollars: they are each kept in a separate room with a boarded floor, and are carefully groomed, but not allowed straw or litter of any kind. & ' ' Pulque, the favourite drink of the Mexicans, is extracted from thq anguey, or great American aloe : at the time of throwing up its flower-stem, u is hollowed in the centre, and the juice, which should have supplied the flower, taken from it daily for about two months; which juice, when fermented, immediately fit for drinking. A very strong brandy is also obtained by distil- ia*,ol,\ bo gre?,t 13 lJ,e consumption, that the duty collected at the city-gates amounts annually to 600,000 dollars. J b