time held a fair for the disposal of the products of the
country. The distance to Mexico is about one hun-
dred leagues, travelled only by pack-mules and saddle
animals. The road is bad, but is less frequented by
bandits than that from Mazatlan to Mexico. There
is no wagon road leading from the town in any direc-
tion, the same winding paths and the same means of
conveyance over them being employed now that ob-
tained in the days of Cortes.
The city that once boasted a busy population of fif- teen thousand is now reduced to a lifeless, inert town of three thousand. The population is heterogeneous, but the business is mostly in the hands of Americans and Europeans. Round a large plaza, where groups of animated traders, cock-fighters, and gamblers are often seen, and on the narrow, irregular streets lead- inyf from it are situated low but substantial houses of tiled adobe, stone, and wood, roofed with palm-leaves, and before which run verandas for protection from sun and rain. The shops, cafes, and most of the dwellings are dazzlingly white- washed, and the interior neat and orderly. The tumbling walls of tenements long un- occupied, give the appearance of general decadence to the place. The castle of San Diego, standing on an eminence east of the tow^n, is the chief defence, though I have seen guns planted on the island at the entrance of the harbor. A plain church stands on the plaza, the interior of which is decorated on fete days with palm-leaves and flowers. Pendent from the ceiling was a miniature ship to assist the devotions of sailors.
It was half past eight o'clock on the evening of March 19th when the Panama fired her gun in Aca- pulco bay, and there we remained until noun next day. Scarcely does the steamer come to anchor before it is surrounded by canoes laden with fruit, which come swarming from various parts of the shore, and naked swimmers ready to begin their aquatic gynmastics for a consideration. The boats contain oranges, times, bananas, piue-applcs, cocoa-nuts, bread, cakes, and
