SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



31 



tract of sandy desert immediately presents 

 itself, without road or vegetation, without 

 habitations, or any signs of living nature; 

 and, excepting the skeletons of horses and 

 mules, we could discern no other traces of its 

 having ever been traversed. Our course lay 

 along the sea-shore, on which were some 

 tolerable specimens of flat Echini: within a 

 few miles distance we arrived at a bridge and 

 a stream of water, termed Vera Agua, at the 

 mouth of which were several Whimbrels and 

 other waders (the Scolopax Phceopus of Lin.) 

 quite tame. At this place we left the coast, 

 and proceeded to the interior, through sandy 

 ways, almost suffocated with heat and dust, 

 passing over a spot where the Imperial 

 army had lately encamped. Towards the 

 end of this day's journey, the road became 

 rather better, and we halted to take some 

 refreshment at a place, consisting of a few 

 huts, called Santa Fe; here I shot several 



