over the graves of their gallant enemies who had fallen in the attack on their own beloved city, the monuments commemorative of their names and deeds. Had the Government of Mexico possessed sufficient funds for its own immediate necessities, it would have completed the work. As it is, what they did is a standing reproach to us, and we should see that the necessary funds are provided at once.
On the following morning, Major Hoyt of San Francisco, Col. Geo. M. Green of the Republican Army of Mexico, Señor Antonio Mancillas, Member of Congress from Durango, Señor Ribera, Judge of the Court of the Federal District of Mexico, and myself, started out for a ride through the suburbs of the city. We drove first to the Grand Canal which connects Lakes Chalco and Tezcoco, by way of which a large part of the fruit, vegetables, and other provisions enter Mexico. This canal has a rapid current towards the city, and is navigated by almost innumerable boats, of small size, propelled by poles in men's hands after the old Mississippi "broadhorn" style. Everything entering the city must pay a duty, as in Paris, and there is an arched gate-way at one point thrown across the canal, where the customs collectors and their deputies are on duty night and day. The assistants have long spears with which they probe and run through a cargo in a few minutes, or seconds, and it is seldom that any contraband article escapes their vigilance. This station is called "La Garita de la Vija"—or "the Gate of the Beam." It is said that the customs collected from the boats loaded only with farm produce, at this garita, average twelve hundred dollars per day.
When General Porfiero Diaz was besieging this city
