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156 miles from the town of Palenque. (For description of the buildings, see chapter on ruins.) Tourists should procure letters of introduction to the Government officials in the country lying between the coast and Palenque. There are no hotel accommodations, and the traveler will be obliged to pass the nights in Mexican huts, where he may always expect courteous treatment.

Tourists are recommended to provide themselves with sufficient provisions, tents, camp-bedsteads, mosquito-netting, and medicines. Extreme caution should be taken to avoid the numerous insects as much as possible. The jungle abounds with moniquiles, jiggers, ticks, red ants, etc. The moniquiles burrow under the skin, causing great suffering. Should the stranger be attacked by these peculiar insects, he should employ the common remedy of pasting a leaf over the bite, which causes the insect to come to the surface, when it may be extracted. The natives will point out the peculiar kind of leaf to be used.

(For description of New Orleans, see Appletons' General Guide to the United States, or Hand-Book of Winter Resorts.)

Leaving New Orleans, the steamer descends the Mississippi River for about one hundred and twenty-five miles, and, entering the Gulf of Mexico by the South Pass, takes its course toward Bagdad, the port of Matamoros. No land is seen till the vessel approaches within a few miles of the latter town. We drop anchor about five miles from the shore, and a tender comes out to take off passengers, cargo,