CHARACTERS. 



607 



common horses of Europe; their 

 saddle-horses, although they are 

 geldings, for the most part have 

 an amazing spirit. Mules, which 

 through the whole country of 

 Mexico are employed to draw 

 their carriages of all kinds, and 

 to carry burthens, are equal in size 

 to the mules of Europe. The 

 mules for burthens are conducted 

 by drivers, and carry loads of 

 about 500lbs. weight each. They 

 do not usually travel more than 

 twelve to fifteen miles per day (the 

 Mexican day's journey for loaded 

 mules) ; but at this rate they make 

 journies of five hundred to two 

 thousand miles. Carriage-mules 

 travel at the rate of four miles per 

 hour, and besides the passengers, 

 draw great weights in their bag- 

 gage. Saddle-mules are made use 

 of for very long journies ; it is 

 common to make a journey on the 

 same mule from the city of Mexico 

 to the city of Guatemala, which is 

 upwards of one thousand miles 

 distance, over a country that is 

 mountainous and very rough, at 

 the rate of thirty miles per day. 



Mexico in general, as it is ex- 

 tremely extensive, and divided 

 into so many various provinces, 

 different in their situation, is con- 

 sequently subjected to a variety of 

 climate. The maritime parts be- 

 ing low and flat when compared 

 with the inland country, are hot, 

 and generally moist and un- 

 healthy, and in particular districts, 

 mountains of sand gather on the 

 sea-shore. This moisture proceeds 

 not less from the sea, than from 

 the abundance of waters descend- 

 ing from the elevations that com- 

 mand the coast. The inland parts 

 being extremely high, are tempe- 



rate, dry, and healthy, rendered 

 cool and delightful by the plenti- 

 ful showers which frequently fall 

 after mid-day, from April and May 

 to September and October, and 

 by breezes from the high moun- 

 tains continually covered with 

 snow, scattered here and there 

 through the country of Mexico. 



The greatest cold of any of the 

 inhabited places does not equal 

 the cold of England, or even the 

 cold of Spain; nor can the greatest 

 heat be compared even to the heat 

 felt during the dog-days, in many 

 countries of Europe. The differ- 

 ence between summer and winter 

 is actually so little felt in any part, 

 that the most delicate persons wear 

 the same clothing in June and in 

 January ; no other relief is wanted 

 in the hottest season but to retire 

 to the shade, and the animals 

 sleep all the year round under the 

 open sky. 



But the agreeableness of the 

 climate is counterbalanced by 

 thunder-storms, which are fre- 

 quent in summer, as likewise by 

 earthquakes, which are felt at all 

 times, although in general pro- 

 ducing less real danger than terror; 

 yet it maybe remarked, that they 

 have beensometimes attended with 

 most dreadful consequences, as 

 was experienced on the 29th day 

 of July, in the year 1773; when 

 the large and populous city of St. 

 Jago de Guatimala, at that time 

 the capital of the audience and 

 province of Guatimala, in New 

 Spain, and one of the largest 

 cities in Spanish America, was 

 totally destroyed by a dreadful 

 earthquake, accompanied with an 

 eruption from a neighbouring vol- 

 cano. By this terrible earthquake 



