166 MEXICO. 
Sunday,l8th. I was asleep last night in five minutes, nor did I awake 
until aroused at 5 o'clock by the loud pattering of the rain against the 
shutters. Cold, gray, cheerlessly, the day broke ; and as cold and 
cheerlessly did we assenmble in the kitchen to take our chocolate. A 
council was held as to proceeding or waiting for better weather. 1 ad- 
hered to my theory, that the rain was confined to the Valley of Mexico ; 
and that when we had passed the mountains in this day's journey, we 
would find it dry and pleasant travelling in the warmer and lower coun- 
try. At any rate there was something consolatory in the hope. Tiie horses 
were accordingly ordered, the damp dresses packed, our scrapes wrung 
out, and the mules freighted for the day. 
As the bells were ringing for mass, and the villagers hurrying through 
the streets to church, we sallied forth, every man trying to discover the 
symptom, even, of a break among the dreary brownish clouds that hung 
low from the mountain-tops to the valley. 
As soon as the road leaves the town of St. Augustin, it strikes directly 
up the inountain, and runs over crags and ravines which in our country 
would startle the delicate nerves of a lady. Railroads and McAdam 
have spoiled us ; but here, where the toilsome mule and the universal 
horse have converted men almost into centaurs and are the traditionary 
means of communication, no one thinks of improving the highways. 
But, of late years, diligences are getting into vogue between the chief 
cities of the Republic ; and one, built in Troy, has been started on this 
very road. How it gets along over such ruts and drains, rocks and moun- 
tain-passes, it is difficult to imagine ! 
On we went, however, over hill and dale, the misty rain still drifting 
around us, and becoming finer and mistier as we rose on the mountain. 
The prospect was dreary enough, but in fine weather, these passes are 
said to present a series of beautiful landscapes. In front is then beheld 
the wild mountain scenery, while, to the north, the valley sinks gradually 
into the plain, mellowed by distance, and traversed by the lakes of Chalco 
and Tezcoco. Of the former of these we had a distinct view as the wind 
drifted the mist aside for a moment, when we had nearly attained the 
summit of the mountain. Here we passed a gang of laborers impressed 
for the army, and going, tied in pairs, under an escort of soldiers, to 
serve in the Capital. This was recruiting f Further on, we passed the 
body of a man lying on the side-path. He had evidently just died, and, 
perhaps, had been one of the party we had encountered. No one no- 
ticed him ; his hat was spread over his face, and the rain was pelting 
on him. 
We saw no habitations — no symptoms of cultivation ; in fact, nothing 
except rocks and stunted herbage, and now and then, a muleteer, a mis- 
erable Indian plodding with a pannier of fruit to Mexico, or an Indian 
shepherd-boy, in his long thatch-cloak of water-flags, perched on a crag 
and watching his miserable cattle. We were then travelling among the 
clouds, near 9000 feet above the level of the sea. 
