50 



SIX MONTHS IX MEXICO. 



formed their fervent acknowledgments to the 

 Creator. All the convents and religious 

 houses, excepting one, are now closed, and will 

 probably so remain. We met yesterday, it 

 being Lent, a religious procession, carrying a 

 figure of Christ bearing his cross. The streets 

 through which it passed had been swept, 

 watered, and strewed with orange leaves and 

 flowers; and many of the houses, decorated 

 with flowers and drapery, had small crosses 

 placed over the doors. 



The shops and warehouses do not make a 

 showy appearance, as it is not the custom to 

 expose articles of merchandise in the windows. 

 The barbers'' shops, however, form an ex- 

 ception : they are very numerous, and have a 

 very respectable exterior. Mambrino's helmet 

 is exhibited as a sign over their doors. All 

 articles of European manufactory are dear, 

 being three or four hundred per cent, above 

 the cost price, and generally of the very 



