improvements—electric lights, telephones and telegraphs, besides the railroad which links it to the Atlantic and the Pacific, and a college for girls. Outside the city limits are a number of factories, Guadalajara being the chief centre for wool and cotton industries.
Puebla, nestled among the cloud-capped summits overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, ranks next to the capital in size and importance. From this situation, seven thousand feet above the sea, is a magnificent outlook. The climate is unsurpassed even in this land of perpetual spring. Puebla is connected by a branch road with the railway from Vera Cruz to the capital. Its wide, clean, well-drained streets, imposing churches, substantial, houses and delightful surroundings of hill and grove are pleasant to look upon whichever way the eye may turn. The whole place had an air of thrift and enterprise before the great awakening of recent years. Its cotton-and flouring-mills, foundries, porcelain-and glass-works and the manufacture of pulque make it quite a business centre, but it is chiefly noted as one of the holy cities of Mexico. Its cathedral is proudly called "De los Angelos," from the old tradition that after its massive towers had been upreared the angels came down each night and helped to decorate the magnificent interior. Its pillars, ninety feet high, support a graceful dome from whose centre hangs a ponderous chandelier whose solid gold and silver are tons in weight. The high altar, of translucent marble inlaid with gold, was a gift of one of the bishops. Some of its great stones are as exquisite in color and finish as is any gem in a lady's ring. The image of the Virgin shrined here is almost life-size, and is so bedizened with pearls and emeralds and diamonds as to be worth millions. Delicate and airy wood-carvings,
