SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



29 



ing it. As these occurrences are common, 

 the impression is less forcible : — but even the 

 hierreos, or muleteers, have a dread of Vera 

 Cruz, for to those accustomed to the Table- 

 land it is almost as fatal as to strangers. 



The Baron Humboldt has given a melan- 

 choly but true account of the principal sea- 

 ports of this empire, taken from authentic 

 records. After what he has said, it might be 

 imagined that even commercial speculation 

 would set a higher value on human life than 

 to risk it in the intercourse with Vera Cruz. 

 But it is only on the coast and a few leagues 

 from it, and there principally to the newly 

 arrived, that the climate proves so destructive 

 of the human constitution. As you rise to the 

 Table-land, the air begins perceptibly to cool, 

 the face of vegetation altogether changes, the 

 tropica] plants disappear, and those belong- 

 ing to temperate regions supply their places. 

 On the contrary, in the journey from the ca- 



