lit STX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



to start for Vera Cruz, where the silver was 

 to be shipped on board an English frigate. 

 Such a scene, when the mining operations 

 are in activity, is a very common occurrence ; 

 and even now, when the mines were nearly 

 all filled with water, and ruined, it seemed 

 scarcely to attract the notice of the people. 



We proceeded several miles on the original 

 causeway leading to Vera Cruz, which passes 

 over what was formerly the lake of Tezcuco, 

 though it is now dried up. When we arrived 

 at Mexico, only seven weeks before, the 

 ditches were filled with water, and covered by 

 myriads of shoveller ducks and other aquatic 

 birds, the Indians being employed in fishing ; 

 but, owing to the unusually dry season, the 

 whole had become an arid desert, and sent 

 forth such effluvia, as, in a less elevated 

 country, must have been productive of the 

 worst consequences. The usual road lay 

 round the borders of the lake, but our guide 



