176 MEXICO. 
,ng day, when he is dispatched from the village under an escort of Indians, 
who watch him until far beyond the limits of the primitive settlement. 
Du Roslan and myself felt a strong desire (notwithstanding the inhibi- 
tion,) to visit this original community, as one of the most interesting objects 
of our journey ; but the rest of our party objecting, we were forced to 
submit to the law of majorities in our wandering tribe. 
I observed, that on this hacienda the proprietors have introduced all 
the improvements in the art of making sugar, and obtained their horizontal 
rollers and boiling-pans from New- York. How they reached their places 
over the wretched roads, must ever remain a riddle to others but Mexican 
teamsters ; and yet, after all the immense outlay of capital, in the pur- 
chase and improvement of this property, the proprietor complains bitterly, 
this year, of the difficulty of selling its produce, and the general depres- 
sion of the times. With roads to transport his crop to market, and 
with ideas heyond the hack of a mule as the only means of transportation, he 
would not be forced to complain long of stagnant trade and trifling profits. 
Peace, internal improvement, and native enterprise, unmolested by fiscal 
legislation, are what Mexico requires ; and, until she obtains them, the 
planter may vainly expend his fortune in mechanical improvements. 
We reached Cuernavaca about 3 o'clock, meeting on the way a number 
of muleteers, and Indians with their wives, returning from market. A 
gang of thieves, sent under a guard to the town prison, also passed us on 
the road. 
We entered the city, through the delightful suburb of groves. The 
families of many of the better classes of the inhabitants were sitting under 
the shade of their porches, and it was impossible to avoid remarking the 
delicate beauty of the females. 
Indolence is said to be the general characteristic of Cuernavaca ; and, 
as in all fine climates, it is fatal to enterprise and in'dustry. The tem- 
perature is too high for these virtues. Man wants but shade, shelter, 
and a gratified appetite, and there is no inducement to make the interior 
of dwellings either beautiful or attractive. Working in the open air 
fatigues — reading, within, makes them drowsy. They rise early, because 
it is too warm to lie in bed ; they go to mass, for exercise in the cool and 
balmy morning air ; they go to sleep after their meals, because it is 
too warm to walk about ; and they go to vespers, to pass the time until the 
hour arrives for another meal, as preparatory to another nap ! And thus, 
between sleep, piety, and victuals, life passes aimlessly enough, in this 
region of eternal summer. 
