174 



SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



I accompanied Colonel Campbell, an 

 English gentleman who had been in Mexico 

 several months, in a canoe on the canal, on a 

 little shooting excursion. Our intention was 

 to visit the lake of Chalco, but we soon dis- 

 covered, from the small progress we made, 

 being only pushed forward by two boys with 

 poles, that one day would be much too short 

 for our purpose. After accomplishing a few 

 miles, we were therefore obliged to give 

 up our intention. The canal lies through 

 swampy savannahs, something like those in 

 the West Indies, in which vegetation is very 

 luxuriant ; several pretty villages are on its 

 banks, and we saw Indians catching tortoises, 

 from whom we procured specimens. We 

 landed about a quarter of a mile from a 

 church, to which was a raised path, and 

 entered the Indian village by a bridge of 

 unhewn timber, and were in the midst of 

 the houses before we were seen. We were 



