appearance of the population. The State Congress had been induced by him to pass a law, by which every Lepero found naked or begging in the streets was condemned to labour at the works, which were undertaken by the Government for the improvement of the town, for the term of one month, at the end of which he was set at liberty, and provided with a decent dress, with the offer of employment if he chose to work, and the certainty of a double penalty if he relapsed into his former habits.
This law, which was most rigorously enforced at first, produced a wonderful effect; and, as it was accompanied by the introduction of an excellent night police, it soon freed La Puebla from the swarms of vagrants, by which it had been previously infested; and substituted order and decency for the disgusting licence, which prevailed amongst the lower classes at the period of my first and second visits.
I was present at the meeting of the State Legislature of La Puebla, which, though on a small scale, was conducted with all the formality that accompanies the opening of the Sessions of the General Congress in the Capital. In both, a general exposé of the state of affairs is made; and this in the States, may be considered as the first step towards a regular system of statistics; for the Governor's report embraces all the details of the new territorial division, and enumerates the Towns, Pueblos, and Ranchos, comprehended in the territory, with an estimate
