298 



MEXICO. 



31st of May. — The last family of my acquaint- 

 ance, except that of the governor, and almost the 

 last of the town, went off on this day. I have 

 seldom before taken leave of my friends abroad, 

 without having some hopes of seeing them again ; 

 but the chances of my ever returning to so remote 

 and unfrequented a spot as San Bias, or of ever 

 meeting or hearing of these friends again, were 

 so small, that I felt, on losing sight of them this 

 morning, as if they had actually sunk into the 

 grave. The family consisted of a gentleman, his 

 wife, and his wife's sister, with two elderly female 

 relations. The sister was a very pretty young 

 woman of fifteen, an age in those countries cor- 

 responding to seventeen or upwards in England. 

 She was very dark, and strongly characterised by 

 the Mexican features : elegaut in her manners ; 

 simple and unaffected in her behaviour: and 

 though much beyond all the people about her, 

 both in knowledge and in judgment ; no one seem- 

 ed to have been aware of it, till the attention of 

 the strangers attracted the notice of everybody to 

 her merits. Truth however bids me add, that 

 this young lady could neither read nor write ; 

 and had probably never heard a book read out of 



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