VOYAGE OF H.M.S. HERALD. 365 
When Larrived in the city of Durango, several foreign residents 
invited me to live with them. Mr. Washington Kerr, an American 
merchant, having been the first who made me the offer, I took up my 
residence in his house. Of the hospitality shown me by him, as well 
as by other foreigners, I cannot say too much. They treated me with 
the greatest kindness and attention, and I shall always remember them 
with feelings of the deepest gratitude. Durango is a finely-built 
town, containing 22,000 inhabitants. It is situated in a large plain 
about 6,000 feet above the sea, and enjoys a climate which, like that of 
the greater part of the Mexican highlands, is dry, but agreeable. The 
extremes of heat and cold are unknown. Towards the end of Feb- 
ruary the night-frosts cease ; the spring commences; Poplars and 
Willows begin to get green; Peaches and Apricots put forth their 
blossoms. But the temperature alone, though fast increasing during 
April and May, is not sufficient to awaken nature altogether. The 
fields remain dry, till in the latter end of May, or the beginning of 
June, the vivifying rains set in. In a few days everything has started 
into life, and the vegetation proceeds with extraordinary quickness. 
In valleys, on mountains, and in ravines, everywhere Flora celebrates 
her triumphs. Early in September the rains cease: in October the 
night-frosts recommence,—except which there is no regular winter, as 
snow but seldom falls, and never remains long on the ground. 
The vicinity of Durango is arid and thinly wooded ; indeed, there 
are but seven species of indigenous trees, namely, a Willow, an Acacia, 
a Prosopis, an Amelanchier, the Taxodium distichum, Casimiroa edulis, 
and Yucca aloifolia. These, together with a few shrubby Acanthacea, 
Composite, Scrophularinee, and Cactee, and the everywhere-prevailing 
Agaves, constitute the winter flora of Durango. Of Cactee, the imme- 
diate neighbourhood offers three Opuntias, two Echinocacti, and a Mamil- 
laria. The round Cactee, called Visnagas by the natives, are extensively 
used to make a sweetmeat sold in the streets of the city by the name of 
Dulce de Visnagas. In the north of the town, about a mile distant, lies 
the Cerro de Mercado, an iron mountain, containing 88 per cent. of that: 
metal. During the winter it is of little interest to the botanist, being 
overgrown with Opuntias, and the only rare plants found there are a 
creeping Aristolochia, and a little fern, not observed in other localities. 
In the gardens, besides the native productions, nearly all European 
fruits and vegetables are grown. This, however, has only been done of 
