20 



SIX MONTHS I\ T MEXICO. 



phalus of Linnaeus) was the only one I recol- 

 lected, as belonging to Europe ; most of the 

 rest being new to me. The Indians had like- 

 wise, several kinds of tortoises, armadillos, and 

 a considerable variety of water fowl, amongst 

 which I observed the shoveller duck {Anas 

 Clypeata Lin. — Souchet commun of Cuvier) 

 and the common teal : — there were also a few 

 deer. I returned, to the inn to breakfast, 

 after the only pleasant morning spent in Vera 

 Cruz. In the forenoon we rambled into the 

 principal church, which is large, but of in- 

 different architecture ; its side altars abound- 

 ing in bad carving and gilding, and decorated 

 in the most paltry style, with inferior paintings 

 and painted statues; the large silver candle- 

 sticks and tripods were so dirty as to have 

 more the appearance of lead than of the 

 precious metal of which they were composed. 



Many of the houses of Vera Cruz are 

 large, some three stories high, built in the 



