SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



229 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



Departure from Vera Cruz. — Number of Birds in the Bay 

 of Campeachy. — Havannah. — Azores or Western Isles. — 

 Arrival at Portsmouth. — Medical Advice. 



For several days after that which had been 

 fixed upon for our departure the wind was un- 

 favourable for our leaving the anchorage, but 

 on the morning of the 31st of August a gun 

 announced the raising of the anchor, and the 

 Phaeton was under sail before we could get on 

 board. What a change did ten minutes 

 make in the situation of an Englishman, in a 

 place like this, when he felt himself trans- 

 ported suddenly from the pestilential air of 

 the most unhealthy place in the world, where 

 he was surrounded by people by no means to 



