TAMPICO. 



27 



ilemen who could, unfortunately, not better themselves ; 

 those of a bar for the dispensation of aqua ardiente, 

 (strong waters,) lemonade, and liqueurs ; a table d'hote, 

 morning and evening, furnished with a little fish, a little 

 flesh, and a little fowl, and garnished with gizzard, tripe, 

 ox cheek, yams, black beans, and bananas ; and lastly, a 

 gaming table in a retired piazza, over which he acted as 

 presiding genius and banker. 



Uncomfortable within, and environed with filth and 

 garbage without, there was little in the Fonda to keep 

 us willing prisoners ; for we happened to be addicted 

 neither to tippling nor gambling ; and our first care af- 

 ter realizing our position, was to contrive the means of 

 passing as much of our time as possible out of doors. 



•A few days gave us an insight into all the capabilities 

 of the spot where we were cooped up. Society, I have 

 said, was very confined. The young foreigners, when 

 emancipated from their counting houses, passed their 

 evenings in riding in the vicinity ; playing at bowls, or 

 worse, at monte; or made an attempt to get up a waltz 

 by the aid of a poor pianoforte, a fife, and a pair of ma- 

 trons. Books and literature, or the study of natural his- 

 tory, had no votaries among them. Now and then a 

 tawdry masquerade, in which all classes mingled, was the 

 amusement of the evening ; but they were dull and stu- 

 pid as might be, and only to be surpassed in stupidity by 

 the fandangoes danced by the lower orders once or twice 

 a week, under an open thatched shed, in the outskirts of 

 the town. 



By aid of sundry letters of credit, and the real kindness 

 of the gentleman who acted as English and American 

 consul, to whom we were all along greatly indebted, we 

 soon achieved the purchase of horses. They may always 

 be purchased — as to selling them, that, we found on 

 divers occasions, to be quite another affair. We also 

 hired an orderly to wait upon our donships : and set to 

 work to make such preparations for our journey into the 

 interior as were in our power, in the absence of all the 

 accoutrements purchased at New-Orleans for the pu rpose ; 

 and moreover took occasion, as weather and temper in- 



