SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



SI 



worst description. This is probably owing 

 to the policy of Old Spain in compelling the 

 province to receive all supplies from the 

 mother country. 



Xalapa is justly celebrated for the excel- 

 lence of its washing : I never saw linen look 

 so well; indeed many of the inhabitants of 

 Vera Cruz send hither their linen to un- 

 dergo the cleansing process. Near one of the 

 entrances is a fountain of the purest w r ater 

 supplying a public washhouse, called Techa- 

 cupa^ in which 144 persons can be employed 

 at the same time. Each laundress is supplied 

 with a constant stream from this fountain, 

 conveyed by pipes to a stone vessel in which 

 the linen is first soaked, added to this there 

 is a flat stone on which they wash, and this con- 

 stitutes the whole apparatus. The operation 

 is performed with cold water and soap, and 

 the linen is rubbed by the hand as in 

 England, I observed that the women had 



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