LETTER II.
It was well that our minds, on landing, were really disposed to contentment, and that we were inclined to overlook minor grievances in our escape from far greater, otherwise, there were circumstances attending our first debut in this land of delights, teeming, as we supposed, with gold and silver, and the richest fruits of the earth, which were certainly far from agreeable, setting aside the causes of trial at which I hinted at the close of my last letter.
The first thing we experienced, which considerably surprised us on placing foot in the town, was the great difficulty of finding a shelter: and we were in the end fain to put up, all three, with a small room in the second story of a square, ill-built, open, wood barrack, the ground floor of which served as a billiard room and gambling house to the piebald population of Tampico de las Tamaulipas.
The second thing which quite horrified us, was the difficulty of procuring food wherewith to satisfy the appetites of three able-bodied gentlemen just from sea. Eggs we found were rare, meat was rarer, bread the rarest of all: and, except at certain hours of the day when it was doled forth in most apologetic morsels, could not be had for love and money.
The third thing in my list, which nearly petrified us, was the cold. Lying under the tropic of Cancer, we were absolutely forced to rise in the night, and dress ourselves before we could sleep. The fourth—but no, I will save a few miseries to qualify some future page of enjoyment.
As late as 1825, the site of the present town of Tampico was solely occupied by a few Indian huts, and the feeble commerce carried on in the port was concentrated at the Pueblo Viejo, or Old Town, situated on the shore of a shallow lagoon a few miles distant, in the state of Vera Cruz. The difficulty of approach, added to the heavy dues exacted for all goods crossing into the state of Tamaulipas on their road to the interior, seems to have directed the attention of the merchants and other speculators to the present site. And truly no possible position could have been better chosen, as it is nearer the bar, situated on the main river, with sufficient depth of water to admit vessels of burden to anchor close to the town, and, moreover, commands an unimpeded interior navigation for one hundred and twenty miles up the country. Were it not for the annual visits of the yellow fever, and the irremediable difficulties which the interposition of the bar imposes upon the merchant, there is no doubt that Tampico would become the most flourishing port in New Spain. As it is, vessels are frequently detained four or five months; being blown off and on by the frequent severe gales, before they can unload and get inside the bar; and held prisoners as long, before they can cross it again.
The new town is built in regular squares, upon the narrow and depressed termination of a rocky peninsula, at the lower extremity of a cluster of lakes which empty their waters into the gulf by the river Panuco. The houses have no pretension to uniformity in their style of architecture. The European merchant builds substantial stone stores and dwelling houses, according to the fashion of his country. The American runs up his flimsy clap board edifices. The Mexican of Spanish descent exhibits his taste and his knowledge of the climate by low thick walls, gayly painted and flat-roofed habitations, with internal courts; and the Indian raises his bamboo cage, plastered with mud, and thatched with palm leaves, according to the custom of his forefathers.
The population is of course the most mongrel that can be conceived. The commerce of the port is principally in the hands of foreigners; the imports consisting of every imaginable fabric, whether their introduction is consistent with the existing laws of the republic or not. Smuggling is reduced to a system. The exports are confined to specie and fustic alone. Of the former, seven millions of dollars from the upper provinces were shipped at this port alone, during the year 1833.
The sum of the population the preceding year, before the cholera broke out, had been estimated at five thousand. Of these, three thousand are said to have been swept away: and though the town was rapidly recruiting its numbers at the time of our visit, the enormous price paid for every article, whether of foreign or domestic production, as well as for labour, is hardly to be credited. Wages for the poorest mason or carpenter, generally English or German, amounted to three or four dollars a day: indeed I knew one instance of a " turn out" of the workmen employed upon the house of one of the principal merchants, who were not content with four dollars, but laid a claim to six! The most ragged urchin lying all day under the shade in the street, if asked to lend a hand to aid the operations of the merchant for a few hours, will not stir till he has made his bargain for a couple of dollars payment. You cannot cross the river, a row of five minutes, for less. To come up from the bar, a distance of six miles, though you be ten in company—ten dollars per head is the sum demanded. Good law, and good physicking—and one might add, good advice, that cheapest of all articles in an ordinary state of society—cannot be had for love or money. This, among a beggarly, half-naked population, (I cry your pardon for speaking so of a sovereign people,) would be perfectly laughable, if it were not felt to be a serious matter. You may remark that both classes, native and foreign, have the same lust of gain; they only differ in their mode of following it, the one striving for it by hook and crook, the others waiting till it drops before their noses.
While I am scrawling these general outlines upon paper, I may at once say that the tone of society is neither creditable to the superior education of European residents, nor to the lofty pretensions of the Mexican employés, who form the nucleus of native society here. The latter are ignorant and debased, insufferably bigoted and proud: jealous of foreigners, and, I believe, the majority here, as throughout the country, thoroughly unprincipled. Extraordinary indeed must the virtue be, which will make the possessor sensible to stern justice, and insensible to a bribe.
As to religion—name it not: the God of the South is Mammon. There is nothing in the degraded ultra-Catholicism of New Spain which can touch the heart and elevate human nature; and unfortunately the majority of the young European merchants who resort here to drive their gainful commerce, evince by word and deed, that the lessons of their youth, and the God of their fathers, are alike forgotten. Had there been more family men among them, one might perhaps have met with more honourable exceptions. Like many mauvais sujets all the world over, they were in general good-tempered, serviceable fellows; and, personally, we had nothing to complain of, as far as our slight intercourse with them went.
I have summarily mentioned the two principal classes of the inhabitants, forming, as it were, the elite of the town. It may be observed of the common people, that, little as can be said in their favour as a mass, individually they are by far the most picturesque in form, manner, and clothing. Their characters and costumes are as various as their blood. The poor Indian is distinguished by his sandalled foot, miserable attire, and subdued air. He, at least, seems to have gained nothing by the change of masters. How should he! He was the slave of the few, now he is the slave of the many. If the Spaniard did little to raise the character of the conquered vassal, the Mexican does less, if possible, to instruct the darker skin whom he pretends to consider politically as his equal, but whom, in fact, he always treats as his inferior. They are as they ever were—governed by the priests, and kept in utter ignorance. They supply the market with fruits, water, and vegetables.
You have here the modern Mexican of every degree, from the substantial ranchero, or proprietor, bespurred, and bedizzened in the full and showy Mexican costume of stamped leather, embroidered vest, and gaudy serape and curbing a wild horse loaded with furniture; or the trusty arriero, with his long string of mules, his precious cargo of specie, and his train of assistant mozos; down to the poor adventurer whose whole wardrobe consists of a pair of faded velveteen trousers silt halfway up the leg, and a tawdry cloak, haunting the gambling table, and living upon what fortune sends.
The costumes are extremely picturesque from their diversity of colour and pattern, and the brilliant hues in fashion. I have omitted to mention the soldiery, than which a more shabaroon, cutthroat set, whether officers or men, I never beheld. It is said that they fight well. I do not dispute the on dit, but from all the evidence I could ever collect, I have considerable difficulty in believing it. I think they would run better; and I know that on most occasions, they do so with very slight provocation. As to costume, nothing could be more diverting. There was an orderly in attendance on a general officer dwelling in our vicinity, who used to shamble past our quarters every morning at a certain hour, garbed in a short coatee, richly embroidered with worsted, a clumsy sword, a cap and sash, and never a strap or shred upon his lower limbs—saving your presence.
The Fonda de la Bolza, where you have seen us lodged, was, at the time of our visit, in the hands of a Frenchman. He was on the point of retiring with a handsome independence drawn from divers sources: to wit, the gleanings of the billiard tables below stairs—the proceeds of the miserable lodgings above, let to gentlemen who could, unfortunately, not better themselves; those of a bar for the dispensation of aqua ardiente, (strong waters,) lemonade, and liqueurs; a table d'hote, morning and evening, furnished with a little fish, a little flesh, and a little fowl, and garnished with gizzard, tripe, ox cheek, yams, black beans, and bananas; and lastly, a gaming table in a retired piazza, over which he acted as presiding genius and banker.
Uncomfortable within, and environed with filth and garbage without, there was little in the Fonda to keep us willing prisoners; for we happened to be addicted neither to tippling nor gambling; and our first care after realizing our position, was to contrive the means of passing as much of our time as possible out of doors.
A few days gave us an insight into all the capabilities of the spot where we were cooped up. Society, I have said, was very confined. The young foreigners, when emancipated from their counting houses, passed their evenings in riding in the vicinity; playing at bowls, or worse, at monte; or made an attempt to get up a waltz by the aid of a poor pianoforte, a fife, and a pair of matrons. Books and literature, or the study of natural history, had no votaries among them. Now and then a tawdry masquerade, in which all classes mingled, was the amusement of the evening; but they were dull and stupid as might be, and only to be surpassed in stupidity by the fandangoes danced by the lower orders once or twice a week, under an open thatched shed, in the outskirts of the town.
By aid of sundry letters of credit, and the real kindness of the gentleman who acted as English and American consul, to whom we were all along greatly indebted, we soon achieved the purchase of horses. They may always be purchased—as to selling them, that, we found on divers occasions, to be quite another affair. We also hired an orderly to wait upon our donships: and set to work to make such preparations for our journey into the interior as were in our power, in the absence of all the accoutrements purchased at New-Orleans for the purpose; and moreover took occasion, as weather and temper invited, to garb ourselves in our best—in which you will recollect we were not much embarrassed by variety of choice—to sneak out of our den at the Bolza, and ride about the environs.
These rides, however, were principally confined to the evening hours preceding sunset, and to the back of the ridge on the San Luis Potosi road, from many of the banana and sugar plantations on which line, the view over the nearer lakes, and towards the distant Sierra Madre, a spur of which appeared far to the southward, was uncommonly beautiful.
A rocky bluff overhanging the Panuco, at the upper end of the town just above the market, was the scene of almost a daily visit, as it commanded an extended view over the distant country both far and near. A little above this point, the river Tammasee, draining the Lago Chairel, and many other lagoons covering a vast tract of country to the westward, forms its junction with the Panuco or Tula, which comes from afar, flowing in a most graceful sweep among low wooded islands from the south west. Beyond the farther shore lies the lagoon of Pueblo Viego; and farther to the south, far in the distance, the fertile uplands of the Huastec, and the advanced spurs of the eastern Cordillera of Mexico.
There is yet a distant object, which excites the marvel of the traveller at Tampico, and this is the Bernal, an isolated mountain, rising like a huge stack, with smooth perpendicular sides, and a jagged summit, over the level line of the horizon to the westward. It is about thirty leagues distant, if we were rightly informed.
Immediately above Tampico, the peninsula, which is rendered such by the lagoon Carpentaro at the back of the town, continues to rise gradually towards the westward, and appears crowded by the Indian huts. They and their bamboo enclosures are nearly buried in a tangled labyrinth of weed of the Solanum species, over-topped occasionally by a banana, or the tall mutilated trunk of a yellow-wood tree.
At early morning the landing below the bluff might be observed beset by the market boats and canoes of the Indians, laden with the produce of the farms of the upper district—sugarcane, bamboo, hay, and fruit, or with loads of sweet water brought down the Tammasee, At the same hour the shore was lined by females standing up to their knees in water, patiently labouring at the purification of some article of apparel, in defiance of the alligators swarming on the neighbouring swampy shore, and disporting themselves in the river. Lower down, abreast of the custom house, and busy market place, appeared the various foreign merchant vessels at anchor; and still farther to the left, the range of hills which rise above Pueblo Viejo, and form the right bank of the Panuco to the gulf Nothing could exceed the picturesque appearance of many of the figures which here continually passed before us, or the classic character of the women, laden with the Etruscan-shaped water jar of the of country; and many a time were we allured to maintain our post, till the heat of the sun, and the effluvia of putrid carcasses which line the shore, forced us to retire. The most striking features of the same view were to be commanded from any of the farms situated to the right of the St. Luis Potosi road, which, from the peculiar water-girt position of the town, formed the only evening ride of all the gallants of Tampico; the road to the bar being nearly impassable, on account of the state of the intervening swamps.
Every evening during this period of detention, our tawdry retainer, Juliano, appeared about an hour before sunset, with our horses, at the door of the Bolza, and mounting, we never failed to forget the ennui of our position, and the heat and annoyances of midday, in our two hours' gallop amid scenes of such beauty.
But you will not be tempted to suspect that I could be, with my prying disposition, in a new country, teeming with novelty and wonders in natural history, without a partial resumption of my wonted habit of an occasional stroll on foot, in spite of heat, insects, and the robbers, from whom there was of course some risk as in other highly civilized countries. "What was the heat to me," thought I, "I can bear it; and the insects, they are what I have come in search of. What are the robbers to me, they will not find my present wardrobe worth cutting my throat for:" so leaving my two companions to their sedentary philosophy, and their siestas, which were sometimes taken by anticipation in the morning as well as afternoon—as soon as the weather became genial, I might be daily seen, after securing a breakfast, which, considering how doubtful the dinner was, was a very necessary precaution, stealing off up to the bluff, and among the fragile Indian huts. My accoutrement consisted of a good cudgel, a long sharp knife, the same that had operated upon the bisons, a few thousand entomological pins, a bag for seeds, and a broad-leaved palmetto sombrero.
That was certainly a species of intoxication! All was new, except the earth I trod upon—trees, shrubs, plants, insects, and birds. I gathered, examined, impaled. No flower courted my admiring gaze in vain. No insect hummed in my ear unattended to. If I skirted the riverside—there was the garrulous jackdaw with his mates quarrelling in their indescribable manner among the glossy leaves and innumerable stems of the mangroves; the white snow crane standing motionless in the shallow water, or a flight of vultures hovering over a dark corner, where my approach had scared them from a bloated carcass—not unfrequently a human one. Farther, the huge slimy log, half buried in the mud, crowded with terrapins; and the loathsome alligator squatting among the reeds on the shore. I would then follow one of those narrow winding paths cut in that thick dense shrubbery which covers a great portion of the surface of the country in the vicinity of Tampico—a wilderness of curious trees and thickets, matted and woven together with ten thousand creepers and parasitical plants, with their graceful hanging flowers, seed vessels—vines, passifloras, and splendid convolvuli rendered quite impervious by the thorny nature of the covert, and the rank growth of prickly aloes which form the undergrowth. These were the paradise of the parrot and other gaudy rivals. Here and there, a small enclosure of sugarcane, and a picturesque Indian hut, would rise on the ordinary solitude of my stroll. I always found the pure-blooded native friendly; and a yard of sugarcane, a gourd of water, and perhaps a glass of aqua ardiente were always at my service. For a whole week I found these daily predatory walks perfectly delightful. I rushed into every thicket, I culled every flower, I handled everything within reach, and longed to handle a great deal which was beyond it. I went wheresoever I lasted, nothing doubting; and you certainly have no suspicion of the cause which was all this time, silently but surely, operating a total change in my taste, habits, and pursuits.
I have described what I was the first week; I will now tell you what I was the second, and, in fact, as long as I remained in the lower country. My love of locomotion remained the same, but all my eagerness and fire to make collections, and to touch what I saw, were utterly extinguished. I walked abroad it is true, but it was with the noli-me-tangere air of a spruce gentleman in a street full of chimney-sweepers. My eyes roamed as they had hitherto done—but as to contact with flower or leaf, however curious or beautiful it might be, that I most scrupulously avoided. I found it was one thing to catch crickets, or gather lilies, daisies, or daffodils in England, and another to make collections under the tropics.
In fact, here the insects and the flowers are in league for mutual defence; every leaf, every spray holds its myriads of garapatos, a species of wood bug, from the size of a small pin head to that of a pea; and the slightest touch is sure to bring a host upon your person, where, attaining the skin, they silently and insensibly bury themselves to the neck, with their barbed claws, and are seldom perceived till they are too firmly fixed to extract without danger; and at the best, cause great irritation, and often inflammation. Now in consequence of my love of natural history, I had become a perfect pasture for these omniverous nuisances, with others of their confraternity, not to be described; and at the end of the term indicated, what between the attacks of the garapatos without, and the nightly wounds inflicted within doors by myriads of moschetoes—which are here very large and sanguinary, not quite as large as a jack-snipe. I was upon the verge of a fever, and solemnly abjured my occupation. It was nearly three weeks before I lost all the consequences of my imprudence, for such it was, and never can I sufficiently appreciate the real merit of those patient, indefatigable, and rhinoceros-skinned men, who have succeeded in enriching our European collections with the wonders of the torrid zone.
Such was the terror which the torment I had been subjected to inspired, that, as long as we were in the tiérres calientes, to which these pests are fortunately confined, I never ran unnecessary risks; and after any accidental contact with tree or shrub, instituted the ordinary patient search to which all must submit.
Meantime the season advanced. About the close of the month we had begun to hope that the Halcyon might make its appearance, and frequently climbed up to the mirador, in one of the tallest houses, to sweep the sea-line beyond the white bar with the telescope; but alas, on the 1st of February another norte set in, and another week was spent in doubt and uncertainty. At length, on the morning of the 7th, a favourable wind of a couple of days' duration enabled a small fleet of inward-bound vessels to approach the port; and among these, the English packet, for the arrival of which a heavy cargo of specie had been for some time collecting from the interior at the consul's office; and, late in the evening, the Halcyon was announced without the bar. The following day we learned that she had been buffeted to and fro in the interval by two successive nortes, destitute of water, but what could be gathered from the clouds; with the loss of their boat, and one of their hands; and with cabins overrun by most loathsome vermin, from the vile habits of most of those on board. Further, that all communication with the shore was interdicted by the custom house, till such time as the goelette's papers were pronounced to be in order, in other words, till the parties should be agreed as to the amount of the bribe demanded by the authorities for the introduction of the contraband cargo. So here we were still in as great a dilemma as ever. No expostulation would serve our purpose for some days, and there seemed to be every probability of the vessel's being again blown out to sea, before the disgraceful intrigues should come to a conclusion, till, after much trouble and expense, we were allowed to anticipate her only, to go on board as she lay beyond the bar, and land our effects. Still difficulties beset our path, and what with one thing and another, a further detention of a fortnight was our destiny before we were enabled to complete our arrangements, and set out for the interior. The causes of this detention would have been ludicrous at any other time, but in our position they were serious enough.
Without entering into the detail, I may cull one or two pictures from the time thus spent, as they stand recorded in my memory, or on my journals.
I have casually mentioned the Pueblo Viejo, or old town. It was not unfrequently our wont, on the early mornings of those fervid days which filled up the intervals between the nortes, to hire one of the pleasant little boats, which were always at your command if you would pay for them, and seek under their white awnings on the breezy surface of the river, that comfort which the great heat of the weather denied ashore. My favourite excursion was to descend the Panuco, till we made the opening of the small broken channel which winds between oyster beds and green verdant banks, and forms the communication with the southern lagoon, upon whose shore the old settlement is situated. At such times the morning breeze would generally fill your sail, and bring you without much labour under the little thatched landing place, which, once the scene of so much bustle, is now nearly deserted.
The picturesque situation of Pueblo Viejo, and its old time-worn Spanish-built houses, lying at the foot of a steep but bushy hill; with the tranquillity reigning in the streets and environs, forms a pleasant contrast to the busy, half European, and more prosaic features of its more prosperous rival. The peninsular position of Tampico, rendered it of necessity subject to a certain degree of monotony. Here there was none; the town was low built and flat roofed, the facades of the houses mostly showing in the faded gayety of their colouring, what they had once been. Many had courts and porticoes, and a group of tasty old houses, of Spanish erection, near the humble church and in the vicinity a group of tall cocoa palms, marked the former seat of government.
Were you inclined for an hour's stroll, that hour carried you up the undulating slope of the hills, amid a wilderness of sweet flowers and shrubs, pausing from time to time to catch a glance of that broad and magnificent picture, of those lakes and rivers with their intermediate woods and plains,glowing in the sunshine, till gaining the crest called La Mira, you might survey the country spread like a map at your feet on one hand, and on the other the deep blue waters of the gulf unfurled to the eastern horizon. Did you seek repose and shade, a foot-way, turning abruptly from the main road of the town against the bosom of the hill, brought you unexpectedly to the Fuenta, a little dell concealing one of the most beautiful and poetic springs in any land. How poetic! how classic! I have often exclaimed, when burying myself under the shade of the trees and luxuriant creepers, which, in untrimmed luxuriance, overhung that romantic paradise of birds, butterflies, and garapatos, and scanning the groups of females gathered round its basin. The source lay concealed underneath a massive shrine of gray stone, to which convenient access was afforded by a descent of a few stone steps, while a long stone reservoir, extending for a dozen feet along the bank of the dell, richly overshadowed by a splendid line of matted creepers from the trees above, served the purpose of a convenient place for washing. Its margin was generally crowded with females of all ages. The groups employed in filling their large earthen jars and bottles, the gracefully draped figures passing to and from, with their burdens poised on their heads, or a sturdy peasant, with his mule laden with two gigantic bottles of baked earth, waiting patiently for his turn in the deep cool shade, formed pictures of the most beautiful description. At the extreme termination of the little dell, a few ancient sibyls were ordinarily employed over a caldron supported by poles, and simmering from the wood fires kindled under it, and the light blue smoke hovered among the branches of the aged trees, which rose from the thicket beyond. The Fuenta was evidently the lounge and trysting place of the town, and many a youthful dark-eyed gallant might be seen at times lolling upon the stone wall which hemmed in the reservoir. Occasionally a mounted cavalier in all his bravery would dash up the little vista at full career, till within a foot of the enclosure, when a check from the powerful bit would bring his horse upon its haunches. He would pass a moment in the cool shade, quaff a gourd of the fresh water from the hand of one of the laughing group, perhaps get a plentiful sprinkle over his gay mantle in return for some saucy speech, and disappear as rapidly as he came.
In short, I shall never forget la Fuenta de Pueblo Viejo, though my enjoyment of its beauties was always qualified by the knowledge, that I never quitted it without carrying off a goodly colony of garapatos, besides sundry ants, with which the whole country about Tampico swarms. There is a species called the arriero or carrier, from its peculiar habits, and I have frequently been tempted to observe them minutely. Their nests are formed below the surface, and must be very extensive, judging from the immense length of the trains which may be observed proceeding to and from them upon the surface, and the quantity of vegetable matter introduced into them. The labourers are seen moving in two distinct columns, strictly adhering to the rule of the road, upon pathways of even breadth throughout, as nicely indicated and beaten from the incessant passage, as those of busy men. They lead frequently into the bushes, to some tree or shrub, which has been fixed upon by common consent, for the scene of their laborious devastation. The weight and size of the loads carried by these minute insects are truly astonishing. They are furnished with a strong pair of serrated forceps, with which they operate upon the leaves and flowers with great force and rapidity; and that must be indeed an unaspiring denizen of the little republic, who does not stagger off with a cargo thrice his own bulk.
There was a small shrub of about a yard in height, with bright green leaves, and pretty white jessamine-shaped flowers, which I soon discovered to be a favourite; and the pathway leading from it to the distant hole, might not inaptly be compared to a gay town promenade on a sunny day, crowded by fine ladies armed with green and white parasols, for it was difficult to distinguish the bearer under the burden which he elevated to keep it out of the way of his neighbour's, or his own toes. The rapidity with which they move, is withal marvellous. I was more than once philosopher enough to oppose a temporary obstruction to the regularity of their proceedings, by placing a pebble upon the aperture of the nest. You must have a lively imagination, if you can fancy the scene which ensued, or conceive the hurry, and bustle, and confusion of the increasing crowd, with their gaudy burdens; the alarm which ran like wildfire along the lines; the quarrels which ensued among the impatient and short-tempered, and the busy importance of sundry knowing old ants, which would drop their cargo, and, climbing the obstruction, take a survey of the nature and extent of the evil.
Our arrangements advanced slowly, and for at least ten days we had alternately to postpone and refix the day of final start.
We found that the country, all El Dorado as it might be to those about us, was not likely to prove so to us, for the price of the most simple article was so excessive, that our eyebrows and our shoulders threatened to take an habitual elevation, from the constant state of surprise and vexation to which we were reduced.
I have a bad memory, but I recollect that such a thing as change for a dollar was never required; indeed, it was as much as you could do to get it for a doubloon, I recollect we paid eight Spanish dollars for a ham; and that to shoe a horse, required three dollars a shoe, and a dollar to a man to hold the animal's nose: though all our steeds were patient as sheep, expostulation was vain-such was the custom.
The heat grew more and more oppressive daily, the moschetoes more bloodthirsty at evening, and more knowing in their attacks upon the faulty corners of our moscheto nets during the watches of the night. The nights were splendid, with a glorious round moon beaming on the river and on the lakes, by the light of which the wild dogs on the opposite shore held most uproarious festivals, to the utter destruction of our rest—the more so, as the numerous dogs of the town never ceased to yell in concert.
The 24th of February the heat was almost unbearable; but in the afternoon a film was drawn over the sky and across the sun, and before midnight we were all shivering in a norte. However, we had sent our horses over the river to Pueblo Viejo the preceding day, and determined to proceed. We left our prison about 10 a.m., crossing the boiling surface of the river with our baggage, not without danger; after a thousand detentions, finally got to horse, and on the approach of the evening, in spite of the lowering sky, advanced two leagues on our route inland to Tampico Alta, once, at the time of the conquest, if historians lie not, a town with seventy thousand inhabitants, now a village of two dozen poor huts, and a small rudely built church. It is situated on a high commanding bluff, within view of the gulf, and rising over an upland and undulating country, carpeted with magnificent shrubberies of low trees and bushes. Over the general level of the vegetation, here and there a gigantic banian spread its hundred arms, the resort of numberless parrots; or the high white pyramidal cluster of flowers of the Spanish palmetto rose conspicuously above the bushes.