66 



SAN BERNARDO. 



the means of self-defence, you will believe. As it was, I 

 had to put on all my address, and more bold effrontery 

 than I generally affect, to decoy him to accompany me 

 towards a more public thoroughfare, where he was 

 pleased to leave me ; and to tell the truth, I was pleased 

 to leave him. This w'as the second warning I had had, 

 what kind of trouble I was likely to get into by doing 

 that which in this land even honest people could not 

 comprehend, besides throwing myself in the way of 

 danger from the vicious ; and as I could not resolve to 

 give up my pursuits, I, from this time henceforward, 

 never stirred abroad without being well armed. 



In the vicinity of San Bernardo, we met with the first 

 regular plantations of the Agave Americana, or maguey, 

 which I have alluded to as the source from which the 

 present inhabitants of the table land of New Spain, as 

 well as the Aztec aborigines, draw their ordinary bev- 

 erage. It is a noble plant, and I will not forget some 

 future day to give you a more detailed account of its 

 appearance, culture, and uses. 



The ninth of March is noted on my memoranda as 

 having afforded us a singularly amusing day's travel. 



The whole tract of country over which it lay was 

 perfectly distinct in its features from any we had yet 

 seen. The swelling forms, thick rank luxuriance of the 

 lower country, and the sweet pastures and evergreen 

 oaks of the first and lower steps of the tierras templadas, 

 had alike disappeared ; and as we held our course over 

 the elevated hills west of the great defile, we saw around 

 us tracts of most astonishing extent, partly level table 

 land, and partly hill country, with rocky and precipitous 

 sides, and furrowed with barrancas arad ravines of as- 

 tounding depth. The whole landscape, up to the foot of 

 the distant Sierra Madre, appeared garbed in the most 

 uninviting russet hue — the scanty grass covering the 

 plain being now of a uniform brown, and in perfect har- 

 mony w r ith the burnt, arid soil, or bare rock. Fertile 

 spots there were, but they were hidden in the deep valleys. 

 The scene was not lovely, but it was sublime. Its details, 



