Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/504

448 vessels of war continued the rigid blockade of the Mexican ports.

The next enterprise of any moment, undertaken by Commodore Perry, was a visit to Tabasco, whose citizens had threatened the population of Fronteira with their vengeance, for daring to hold intercourse with the American vessels. The Ӕtna and Bonita, under Commander Van Brunt, were sent to protect the place soon after the capture of Tuspan, and on the 1st of June the Spitfire left Vera Cruz, and arrived at Fronteira on the 3rd instant, where she remained until the 11th. She then ran down the coast, fringed with the rich Campeachy dye-woods, and adorned with the beautiful forests, —

"Where the palm tapers, and the orange glows, Where the light bamboo weaves her feathery screen, And her fur shade the matchless ceiba throws! —

to Laguna, the highest port of Yucatan sixty miles distant from Fronteira. The steamer Scorpion, bombvessel Hecla, and a gunboat, under Commander Bigelow, were at Laguna; and on the 12th instant, the Spitfire returned to Fronteira, in company with the Scorpion, to take part in an expedition up the river.

Commodore Perry reached Fronteira with the Mississippi, and the other vessels of the attacking squadron, on the 13th instant; and, at sunset on the following day, the flotilla of small steamers and gunboats weighed anchor, and commenced ascending the stream. Commodore Perry, in the Scorpion, with the brig