PUEBLA, or in full La Puebla delos Angeles, a city of Mexico, formerly capital of the province of Tlaxcala, now of the state of Puebla, lies 76 miles south-east of Mexico, in 19° N. lat. and 98° 2' W. long., at a height of 7220 feet above the sea. It is admirably situated on a spacious and fertile plateau, which, while almost destitute of trees, is, especially in the neighbourhood of the city, clothed with gardens and fields. To the south-west rises the summit of Popocatepetl, and Orizaba and Iztaccihuatl are also within the horizon. By Humboldt Puebla was ranked as the most important city of Spanish America after Mexico, Guanajuato, and Havana, and in the matter of population it still stands third among the state capitals. Its spacious streets run exactly east-west and north-south, and its houses, often of three stories, are solidly built of stone and in Spanish style. The cathedral, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, was commenced in 1552 after the designs of Juan Gomez de Mora, but it was not completed until 1649, after Bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza had devoted eight years of strenuous effort to the enterprise. It is rather more than 320 feet long and 165 wide, and consists of a nave 80 feet high, with side aisles and a dome, the upper portion of which is constructed of pumice-stone for the sake of lightness. The main front, like the columns of the interior, is in the Doric style, but its two side towers are Ionic. In one is a great bell cast in 1637 and weighing upwards of 8 tons. Apart from the cathedral Puebla was famous for the number, and more especially for the lavish decoration of its churches, monasteries, and colleges. Several of these (such as the church and convent of Santo Domingo and the church of S. Felipe Neri) are still of note, and the city ...