208 



LA PUEBLA. 



gorgeous details, is of almost unrivalled magnificence. 

 Our short stay was sufficient to show us that the mass 

 of the population comprised a considerable number of 

 leperos. 



The city was in a disturbed state ; and it was ru- 

 moured that the general feeling was hostile to the pres- 

 ent government, and only awaiting an occasion for a 

 demonstration in favour of the clergy now in disgrace. 

 The bishop, the most energetic and talented man in the 

 country, being personally obnoxious to the members of 

 the present cabinet, which had given orders for his 

 arrest, was at this time in concealment somewhere in 

 the city ; it was whispered in one of the convents. 



As it was our intention to pursue our journey the 

 following morning towards Jalapa, we lost no time in 

 taking the necessary steps. A coach was hired with its 

 train of mules, and an escort of five dragoons obtained 

 for it, by an application to the commandant. As to 

 M'Euen and myself, we stoutly determined to con- 

 tinue our route as hitherto, on horseback, and to trust to 

 our savage appearance, or rather to the keeping of 

 Providence, for escape from the dangers of the road to 

 the coast. 



At daybreak, April 26th, we were en route on the 

 beaten track, and a barren one it was, after quitting the 

 Haciendas de Trigo, or corn estates, in the vicinity of 

 La Puebla, till we reached the swelling hills covered by 

 a pine forest, known by the name of El Pinal. This is 

 one of the most accredited stripping places on the road. 



Here, hardly a month earlier, the diligence from Vera 

 Cruz to the capital was robbed, with the most ludicrous 

 regularity, for weeks together. When stopped, the pas- 

 sengers — who generally contrived to have nothing on 

 their persons that was w T orth fighting about, and no 

 arms to fight with — were told to alight, and to lie down 

 in a row on their stomachs on the sand, into which their 

 noses were unceremoniously thrust, with threats of in- 

 stant death if they stirred. Their persons and the coach 

 were then thoroughly rifled ; and they were left, with 

 the warning, that if any moved or looked up for the 



