SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



95 



overgrown with vegetation as to be almost 

 impassable. Among the fruits that presented 

 themselves was our common blackberry, in 

 greater perfection than in Europe ; and once 

 or twice we gathered very good strawberries. 

 We now reached a sterile sandy district, and 

 passed a few barren hills, which had, in some 

 tracts, been worn by torrents into a variety 

 of the most extraordinary and fantastic 

 forms : leaving these, we descended into a 

 fine country, and entered the mining district 

 of Themascaltepec, which a few years since 

 produced a considerable portion of the pre- 

 cious metal exported to Europe. A mile of 

 steep and difficult descent brought us to the 

 town from which the district takes its name. It 

 is most romantically situated in a deep valley, 

 near the junction of three rapid mountain- 

 streams, and is fixed on the only spot suf- 

 ficiently level for the purpose. 



Themascaltepec contains about one thou- 



