142 



SIX MONTHS m MEXICO. 



After a vain inquiry for the celebrated 

 pyramids of the Sun and Moon, or of St. 

 J uan de Teotihuacan, we set off for Otumba, 

 in the expectation of finding them near that 

 place, — a ride of two hours over a fine coun- 

 try, on which the number of handsome 

 Spanish churches and haciendas exceeds that 

 of any part of Mexico through which I had 

 yet travelled. We arrived at the com- 

 mencement of the mountains, but there was 

 not a vestige of vegetable soil or vegetation 5 

 the whole being a soft iron-coloured stone, in 

 which the continual passing of horses had 

 worn deep tracks up to the animals^ knees, 

 and not more than fourteen inches wide, in 

 which tracks it is very requisite to keep, in 

 order to save the traveller from a worse road. 

 We had thunder all the afternoon, and to- 

 wards evening it rained in torrents, so that 

 the dry beds of the rivers were in an hour 

 filled, and poured their muddy waters in 



