130 Ten Years oj my Life 



encouragement it would scarcely require fifty years to revive in 

 them the industrial instincts ©t their forefathers. 



Our friendly Indians were quite enraptured when we gave 

 them some broad pieces, for they are not used to kind treat- 

 ment from the ruling race. 



Our diligence was repaired sooner than we expected, and we 

 continued our journey. AVe entered in the afternoon a very 

 well cultivated beautiful country, studded with country houses 

 and farms, where we saw large fields of Indian corn, sugar- 

 cane, and coffee and cacao plantations, fine gardens with dif- 

 ferent strange-looking fruit trees and many palm trees. 



Towards evening we approached the narrow out beautiful 

 valley in which is situated the town ot Orizava, where we were 

 to stop for the night. It is traversed by the rivers ot Orizava, 

 Puerco, and de los Aguacates, and a rather large place with 

 some fine churches ; but most of the private houses are only 

 one-storied, and the streets are irregular. I did not see much 

 of the town, for I was rather fatigued, and though we were 

 badly lodged I was glad to rest my sorely shaken body. 



Salm heard here that General Negre, to whose staff he was 

 attached, had been transferred from Mexico to Puebla, and 

 that he in consequence would also have to stay there, which 

 he did not like at all. 



We left Orizava next morning at five o'clock. Though the 

 weather in this latitude and at that time ot the year is very 

 changeable, we were fortunate in this respect and could enjoy 

 the beauty of the country. Our journey was up-hill work, for 

 we ascended the Cordilleras (there called Cumbres), and the 

 road made in olden times by the Spaniards was very much out 

 of repair. At last we reached its highest point, La Canada, 

 and arrived soon at an ugly village. Palmar, situated in a very 

 ugly volcanic country, not much beautified by large maguey 

 fields with cactus inclosures. The frame of this dreary pic- 

 ture was, however, surpassingly beautiful, for it was formed by 

 snow-covered mountains, amongst which are most prominent 

 the Popocatapetl^ the Ixtaccihuatl, &c., compared to which 

 even the Swiss mountains appear dwarfish. 



It was evening when we reached the plateau of Puebla, 

 nearly seven thousand feet above the sea, and ane of the rich- 

 est parts of Mexico, where not only magueys and cactus and 

 Indian corn are to be seen, but even wheat-fields. I was 



