from May 1, 1830, to April 30, 1840. 



" son on horseback with " quien vive" to which I made no reply but 

 " took out my pistols, and told the mozo to do the same ; the fellow 

 " in passing by scrutinized me, when about 20 yards behind us he 

 " discharged his pistol, and the ball only passed a few inches over 

 " our heads. This is the first time that I was fired at, and it is 

 " quite a wonder that I was never attacked and robbed before." 



No. 25.— Real del Monte, December 20th, 1838.—" I have not 

 " yet been able to send you a parcel of seeds as requested, nor is 

 " it likely to take place before some time, the hostilities between 

 " the French having begun ; the Castle of San J uan de Ulloa and 

 " Vera Cruz are taken, and all the inhabitants have left the latter 

 " port. Tampico also is in disorder. What has become of the 

 " boxes at these ports I have not been able to learn, but to me it 

 " seems as if every thing is conspiring that my collections, got to- 

 " gether with great labour and expense, should never prosper. 

 " During the last month I have made another long and interesting 

 " excursion. I went again to the Cardonal, Zimapan, through 

 " a long ravine (barraiica seca) to Jacala, and returned by another 

 " very interesting ravine to the smelting works of Encarnacion. 

 " In the latter barranca I not only found a tolerable quantity of 

 " seeds of the new species of Garrya (macrophylla mihi) but also 

 " another new species. Pinus Llaveana is growing in great abun- 

 " dance near Zimapan, but all my exertions for securing a good 

 " quantity of seeds were only paid with a few cones ; I therefore 

 " bought some old seed which is an article of commerce, and 

 " according to an experiment made I found that there is only a 

 " loss of 20 per cent, a mere trifle." 



" I find still so much to do here, that I cannot leave this place 

 " before a month or two, and by that time I hope the difference 

 " between France and this country will be settled. I am now form- 

 " ing a collection of Cacti and have already visited the same place 

 " where that extraordinary collection, which was exhibited at one 

 " of the Society's exhibitions in 1837, by Mr. Deschamps, had been 



vol. ii. 2nd series. 3 F 



