SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



15 



CHAPTER II. 



Vera Cruz. — Almeida. — Generals St. Anna and Vittoria. — 

 Posada, or Inn. — Markets. — Vultures. 



We landed on a low pier of solid masonry ; 

 I had scarcely put my foot upon it when I 

 observed with surprise that it was partially 

 paved with bars of iron, bearing the broad 

 arrow of the king of England ; these I after- 

 wards learnt, were part of the ballast of an 

 English frigate, left in order to enable her to 

 return with a greater quantity of specie. 

 Thus upon the first step an Englishman takes 

 in New Spain he alights on the product of 

 his native land; may this indication of the 

 identity of the two nations be an auspicious 

 omen of the future good understanding and 



