PREFACE. 



HERE is no country on the face of the earth that pos- 



sesses greater interest in the eyes of the scientific or 

 travelled than Mexico, the scene where the adventures so 

 graphically and clearly narrated in this volume transpired : 

 nor is this partiality to be wondered at when we recall to 

 memory what a lavish hand Nature has subtended to her. 



Although several of our most celebrated naturalists have 

 climbed its lofty volcanic mountains, explored its lagoons 

 and giant rivers, and traversed its immense forests, still, 

 from the vast extent of that country and variety of climate 

 • — caused by difference of elevation — much yet remains to 

 be done ere the public become thoroughly conversant with 

 its arboreal and zoological productions. 



The elephant, hippopotamus, lion, and tiger, the largest 

 and most formidable of the terrestrial mammals of the Old 

 World, are not here to be found; but their places are well 

 supplied by the swamp-loving tapir, the voracious alligator, 

 * the stealthy puma, and the blood-thirsty jaguar, all well 

 worthy of the sportsman's rifle, or of the snake-visioned 

 native warrior's weapons — for the power of destruction in 

 these animals during life is great, while after death they 

 either furnish valuable skins or wholesome food. More- 

 over, here the wolf awakes the reverberating echoes of the 

 forest with its dismal howl ; the raccoon, opossum, and squir- 

 rel pass their lives in sportive gambols ; the wild and the 

 ocellated turkeys strut about, pompous in manner, as if con- 



