JOURNEY TO MEXICO. 337 
ico, and return as speedily as possible to Europe, 
more especially as his instruments, and in particu- 
lar the chronometers, were getting out of order, while 
he found it impossible to procure others. But the 
attractions of so beautiful and diversified a country, 
the great hospitality ofits inhabitants, and the dread 
of the yellow fever of Vera Cruz, which usually at- 
tacks those who descend from the mountains between 
June and October, induced him to remain until the 
middle of winter. 
After making numerous observations and experi- 
ments on the atmospherical phenomena, the horary 
variations of the barometer, magnetism, and the na- 
tural productions of the country, our travellers set out 
in the direction of Mexico; gradually ascending by 
the burning valleys of Mescala and Papagayo, where 
the thermometer rose to 89-6° in the shade, and where 
the river is crossed on fruits of Crescentia pinnata, 
attached to each other by ropes of agave. Reaching 
the elevated plains of Chilpantzuigo, Tehuilotepec, 
and Tasco, which are situated at a height varying 
from 3837 to 4476 feet above the sea, they entered 
a region blessed with a temperate climate, and pro- 
ducing oaks, cypresses, pines, tree-ferns, and the cul- 
tivated cereal plants of Europe. After visiting the 
silver-mines of Tasco, the oldest and formerly the 
richest of Mexico, they went up by Cuernaraca and 
Guachilaco to the capital. Here they spent some 
time in the agreeable occupation of examining nu- 
merous curiosities, antiquities, and institutions, in 
making astronomical observations, in studying the 
natural productions of the surrounding country, ~ 
and in enjoying the society of enlightened indivi- 
duals. The longitude of Mexico, which had been 
zz 
