CHARACTERS. 



615 



year 1770, that he went himself, 

 in company with the archbishop 

 of Guatemala and the bishop of 

 Angelopoli, to view the ancient 

 and celebrated fir-tree in the val- 

 ley of Atlixo, known by the 

 Mexican name of aheuheutl : 

 which he found to be so very 

 large, that into a cavity of its 

 trunk, which was occasioned by 

 lightning, he made one hundred 

 young lads enter. This fact must 

 be true, beyond a doubt, when 

 related on the personal testimony 

 of so highly respectable and ve- 

 nerable a prelate. 



The ceibas, Mexican pochctl, 

 or cotton trees, grow the highest 

 of any trees yet known, and their 

 thickness is proportioned to their 

 prodigious elevation ; they have a 

 most delightful appearance at the 

 time they are adorned with new 

 leaves and loaded with fruit, en- 

 closing a particular species of 

 white, fine, and most delicate cot- 

 ton, with which the Mexicans 

 make various kinds of goods for 

 their own consumption. 



They have a certain species of 

 wood fig, which grows in the 

 country of Cohuixcas, and in some 

 other places: it is a lofty thick 

 tree, similar in leaves and fruit 

 to the common fig. From its 

 branches, which extend horizon- 

 tally, spring certain filaments, 

 taking their direction towards the 

 earth, and growing till they reach 

 it; they then strike root, and 

 form so many new trunks, that 

 from one single fig a whole wood 

 may be generated. The fruit of 

 this tree is altogether useless, but 

 it£ timber is good. 



The mines of Mexico produce 

 sulphur, alum, vitriol, cinnabar, 



ochre, quicksilver, iron, lead, tin, 

 copper, silver, and gold. 



With respect to precious stones, 

 diamonds are still to be found, 

 though but few in number. There 

 are amethysts, cats-eyes, tur- 

 quoises, cornelians, and some 

 green stones which resemble eme- 

 ralds, and are not much inferior 

 to them in quality. There are 

 mountains of loadstone; immense 

 quarries of the finest stones for 

 buildings : quarries of various 

 kinds of marble, of alabaster, of 

 jasper ; and great abundance of 

 the famous stone called itztli, or 

 piera del galinazzo ; it is semi- 

 transparent, of a glossy substance, 

 and generally black, but is found 

 also white and blue ; the Indians 

 made looking-glasses, &c. of it. 

 There are also infinite quantities 

 of lime-stone, of plaster, and of 

 talc. 



The most common diseases in 

 Mexico, in the hottest parts, and 

 on the sea-coasts, are intermit- 

 tent fevers, spasms, consumptions, 

 agues, catarrhs, fluxes, pleurisies, 

 and acute fevers. The black vo- 

 mitting is very common, and fatal 

 in the towns on the sea-coast, as 

 in La Vera Cruz, &c. In the city 

 of Mexico, the diarrhoea is very 

 frequent. The small-pox was ori- 

 ginally brought to Mexico by the 

 Spaniards from Old Spain : it is 

 not so frequent there as in Eu- 

 rope ; but generally appears after 

 an interval of a certain number of 

 years, and then attacking all those 

 who had not been affected by it 

 before, it makes much havoc. 



The method which the Mexi- 

 cans use to catch ducks, &c. is 

 artful and curious. The lakes of 

 the Mexican vale, as well as all 



