sticks, having nothing to hold them together but leather thongs, or rather strips of untanned hide; the sides filled in with coarse straw matted together, which closes high over the top, forming a peaked roof, the ends being left open, on the front of which a wooden cross is reared, sometimes bearing a small bell at each extremity. The huge indescribable wheels, with hubs as big as barrels, creak and groan as they turn heavily along in obedience to the sluggish efforts of two or three yokes of oxen, the drivers following on foot with canes eight or ten feet long, armed with goads, with which they di rect their teams, and make occasional lazy attempts to increase their speed. I have seen several of these odd-looking carts moving in a long file slowly over a plain, creaking out a dismal concert; a kind of baggage-wagon bringing up the rear, to the side of which is tied the stone on which the corn is ground, a griddle, a large firestained earthen pot, and haply a bundle or two of fire-wood, to serve on those desert wastes where no fuel is to be met with; beside it a woman plods along bare-legged and slip-shod, with a large palm hat drawn on over her reboso; the miller and the baker in a female form-but such a form!—is it a Christian woman?-must I look upon her as a sister, possessing the same ties to bind her to the earth, the same title to immortality ?-Yes, truly-her little ones are calling to her from the cart, and the word "madre" sounds as sweetly in her ears as "mother" does in mine-she is a daughter of Eve as well as myself-the cares and the joys of maternity are upon her, and there must be a chord of sympathy between us after all. We rode a little out of our way in the course of the morning to seek refreshment at some cottages we espied at a short distance from the road; it was a dairy farm, if I may dignify it with so com fortable a name, to which it had no claim beyond a yard full of cows, amongst which some dingy-looking milkmaids were doing their work. One of them accepted sixpence for the fruits of her labour, a jar of foaming new milk, to which she added gratis a small new cheese, a few tortillas, and a lesson in Spanish, amusing herself by hearing us repeat after her the names of a variety of things. It is wonderful how readily a language is picked up in this practical manner ;—six months of such teaching are equal to six years of common school tuition. The domicile of my brown instructress is worthy of notice; at least one apartment in which stood her bed, in which her wardrobe was strung round with a housewife's care, and the saints held honourable place. It was a "clay built nest" like a swallow's, and the "callow young" were piping their pleasant parts; but the walls were by no means contemptible, for as low, and confined as they were; seeing that a little attention to neatness and comfort gives grace to a most ordinary apartment. An immoveable, and never-failing seat was provided against the wall round the room, as the Esquimaux Indians are said to furnish their snow huts, and like their's, too, it was partially covered with skins, or matting; besides which it was painted so as to form a lively contrast to the white walls, and one end of the room contained a mimic altar, adorned with many an emblem of Catholic piety, whilst in a niche stood the cross, with its appropriate image. The face of the country was here diversified by hills, the peculiar formation of which attracted our observation. Their summits are as flat as the surrounding plains, and are, indeed, in the language of the country, called mesas, (tables,) which are in some instances of considerable extent, but are more generally cut up and divided by deep gullies, and large plains sometimes intervene between the hills; yet in casting your eye round on these elevated "mesas," it is evident that they are of the same height, that they are, in fact, on a level, and the idea immediately suggests itself, that there must formerly have been the elevation of that portion of the table land; or perchance the bed of a vast lake, whose draining waters have carried with them the soil, so as to lower the main surface of the country, and leave it cut up into unsightly chasms. These hills and plains are dry and unproductive, possessing no charms for the senses, no feast for the imagination-"No feast for the imagination," did I say?—I am wrong. Amid such scenes of desolation, the ideas, untrammelled by the soft influences of the luxuriant and the beautiful, wander at large, travel back to past ages, and trace in each rugged feature the mysterious works of Nature, the great mother—and oh, the great destroyer !—who with one hand scatters destruction, whilst from the other she pours forth beauty and abundance. An old establishment, which had been devoted to the extraction of silver from the ore, was our next stopping place, and seemed to be the resort of the most disorderly, suspicious looking people we had yet encountered; according with what we had been led to believe, that the population invariably assumes a worse character in the mining districts. As we entered the village, we saw on an open space near half a dozen men playing with their lazos; they were mounted, and chasing each other at full speed, throwing the lazo, and when any unlucky wight happened to be caught in it, he was dragged rudely to the ground without the power to help himself; rough sport it seemed to be, and we fancied there was less of jest in it than earnest, till shouts of laughter reached us from the scene of action. Just then a wild-looking horseman scampered past us with a large game-cock under his arm, proving the elegant nature of his amusements; though we afterwards heard that cock-fighting is by no means in bad repute amongst the Mexicans, the most respect. able of whom do not consider it derogatory to their dignity, or injurious to their characters, to be seen in a cock-pit betting large sums upon a favourite bird. Even priests do not scruple sometimes to show their faces there, and I have been told that it is a most incongruous scene; for in the midst of the fraud and profanity which usually pervade such resorts, appears a devotee with a case in his hand, containing some saintly image visible through the glass door of the box in which it is enclosed. This is handed round, and many a profane lip stoops to give it the homage of a kiss, even when the requested mite is refused. Thus vice and superstition go hand in hand. The next day we travelled through a part of one of the vast estates of Don Antonio Garcia, brother of the then governor of Zacatecas, Don Francisco Garcia, the determined, though unsuccessful opposer of Santa Ana. We passed lines of stone fence leagues in length, running over hill and dale, and stretching far away on to the plain, where large tracts were under cultivation, on which swarms of labourers were at work, and amongst them a number of women passing backwards and forwards with baskets of provisions; and groups of them might be seen here and there seated, sociably chatting over their noon-day meal. Our journey was now drawing to a close. Early in the afternoon Zacatecas was pointed out to us amongst a cluster of mountains that rise barren and rocky at the extremity of an extensive plain, concealing, as is believed, beneath their rugged exterior immense hoards of yet undiscovered wealth, in addition to the countless riches they have "poured so freely forth," and are yet giving up from their excavated depths. Within a few miles of the city of Zacatecas is a small town called Guadalupe. On the plain near it are large cultivated fields, (if fields those may be called, which have not the vestige of a fence to mark their boundaries,) and in and around it are some fine gardens, to the produce of which Zacatecas serves as a market. In the town is a fine old monastery, still containing a considerable brotherhood of bare-footed friars "of orders gray," who retain a high character for purity of living, charity, and zealous piety; qualities for which the Frayles are not usually remarkable: but such is the "odour of sanctity" that hangs about these Guadalupe friars, that sinners seek them from far and near, and to them unburthen their souls in confession; and it is no uncommon sight to see a poor fellow carried to his grave in the gray habit of those holy men, as a passport into Heaven, a kind of sheep's clothing; though 66 for that purpose a priest's gown, of whatever order it may be, is considered of great efficacy. As we paced over the plain of Guadalupe, we little thought of the celebrity it would soon acquire from the deeds of arms of the famous Santa Ana. It was there the battle was fought that decided the fate of Zacatecas, and, it may be said, of the Republic. The army entered the town flushed with success, in hot pursuit of the fugitives, and thus it became the scene of pillage and bloodshed. It was into the plaza of Guadalupe that a few of the unfortunate foreigners who had joined the Zacatecas army, were dragged to immediate execution, soon after the sun had risen on the victorious arms of their merciless conquerors. But I am anticipating. When we passed through Guadalupe it was a scene of peace; for though wars, and rumours of wars" were in the land, they had not reached that particular district. Zacatecas was, however, preparing to defend herself from the assaults of her enemies. Fortifications frowned on the heights round the town, and long lines of defence ran far away over the hills, which some workmen were engaged in com. pleting. Military preparations were also going on briskly within the city; military men paraded the streets; military music resounded, and a few evenings after our arrival we were perfectly captivated with the performance of a band playing some fine pieces of Italian music, in a style superior to any thing I had ever heard before on this side of the Atlantic. It was many weeks before I heard it again, and then under different circumstances. TO A LETTER FROM ABROAD. POOR wanderer! whence comest thou, A weary journey hast thou past, There let thy wanderings end. SONNET. Sacred to all but me that seal, I care not yet to break the charm; Yet say whilst here sad winter reigns- Do summer roses bloom; Their rich and rare perfume? Caught'st thou upon thy passing wing Offerings more fair thou bear'st to me- As through thy written thoughts I stray And softly flowing, onward bear SONNET. 'TIS Winter now-but Spring will blossom soon, P. B. |