
          to have had you by my side, and I have the 
 pleasures with me.


 Perhaps if we ever meet I can give a better
 discription than I can write aided by some
 few drawings I have made.


 We have often occassion to admire the public
 look of the Spaniards but non have called
 forth greater encommium upon their taste, than
 this the national road to the City of Mexico, where
 the soil permitted it is paved as a city street but
 with square blocks. Near to Vera Cruz & whenever
 the sands were deep asphalt & clay have been
 used to ecment not only the bed but the sides
 of the road for many feet forming a smooth, unbroken
 floor most delightful to travel o’er. Since the
 expulsion of the Spaniards it has fallen to decay
 excepting in the immediate neighborhood of
 Santa Anna's farms & Haciendas.


 We passed Monclova his favorite residence yesterday
 & left every thing undesturbed. Even his horses
 were untouched, [crossed out: ?] would he have done the
 same, had it been Gen Scotts?


 Heavens, there goes the long [illegible]
        