34 



SIX MONTHS I>3 MEXICO. 



were in the same room with us, in a sort of 

 gallery that projected over the enclosure. 

 Our mules and those of other travellers were 

 fastened on the outside, while numerous dogs 

 belonging to the house, as well as those at- 

 tached to the different conveyances of the 

 travellers, were mingled with their masters, 

 and kept up such an incessant barking as 

 rendered sleep impossible. We had the horses 

 close to our heads, champing Indian corn; 

 the mules kicking and fighting ; the muleteers 

 cursing ; intolerable and suffocating heat ; the 

 braying of asses ; the singing and stinging of 

 mosquitos, and the biting of myriads of fleas 

 completed the comforts of what has been 

 called an inn. How did I pray for a glass of 

 water to moisten my parched and feverish 

 lips ; how did I long for an English barn or 

 hay -loft; for either would have been a Paradise 

 to this infernal spot. To leave it, however, 

 would have been to have incurred the risk of 



