for several years,) and are amongst the oldest and richest in Mexico. The Dowager Marquesa has a most patriarchal family of daughters and granddaughters, and of the large party assembled at table, nearly all were composed of its different members. In the evening we had a pleasant dance under the trees.
20th.—Being invited yesterday to a fête at San Antonio, we left Mexico about eight o'clock, by the great causeway leading to San Agustin. The day was peculiarly brilliant, but the rainy season is now announcing its approach by frequent showers towards evening. We found a large party assembled, and about twelve o'clock, sat down to a magnificent breakfast of about sixty persons. Everything was solid silver; even the plates. A vast capital is sunk in diamonds and plate in this country, no good sign of the state of commerce. The ladies in general were dressed in white embroidered muslins, over white or colored satin, and one or two Paris dresses shone conspicuous. There was one specimen of real Mexican beauty; the Señora , a face perhaps more Indian than Spanish, very dark, with fine eyes, beautiful teeth, very long, dark hair, and full of expression. The house, which is immensely large, is furnished, or rather unfurnished, in the style of all Mexican haciendas. After breakfast, we had music, dancing, walking and billiard-playing. Some boleros were very gracefully danced by a daughter of the Marquesa's, and they also showed us some dances of the country. The fête terminated with the most beautiful supper I almost ever saw. A great hall was
