286 



MEXICO. 



and could not possibly follow him — but that I 

 would send off to the ship. " No, no/' cried the 

 man, " that won't do — no time is to be lost — 

 the girl will die — and her blood will be on your 

 head if you delay a moment and he dragged 

 me along with him to a house, where a girl, 

 about sixteen years of age, was lying in a state of 

 insensibility. I was received with infinite joy by 

 the numerous matrons assembled round the bed, 

 who insisted, with one voice, on my saying what 

 was to be done. They told me she had accident- 

 ally fallen backwards down some steps, and had 

 pitched her head against a stone, since which she 

 had lain in the state I saw. " Medecin malgre 

 moi,"*' — I was forced to do something, and, aware 

 of the advantage of bleeding in such cases, I 

 said the girl ought to be bled at once, and told 

 them to send for the person usually employed on 

 such occasions, who it appeared was the principal 

 barber. 



A long time elapsed before he made his ap- 

 pearance, and when he did arrive, he showed no 

 disposition to make up for his delay ; but insisted 

 upon telling the company at great length,'|how 

 much provoked he was to have been disturbed in 



