Page:Life in Mexico vol 1.djvu/245

Rh the house, invariably gives rise to a thousand imaginary attacks and fanciful alarms. . . ..

After many attempts at walking, I have very nearly abandoned it, but take a great deal of exercise both on horseback and in the carriage, which last, on account of the ill-paved condition of the streets, affords rather more exercise than the former. I drove out this morning, in an open carriage, with the Señorita Eto her country-house at San Agustin, the gambling emporium. But the famous annual fête does not take place till Whitsunday, and the pretty country villas there are at present abandoned. We walked in the garden till the sun became insupportable. The fragrance of the roses and jasmine was almost overpowering. There are trees of mille-fleur roses; heliotrope and honeysuckle cover every pillar, and yellow jasmine trails over everything. . . ..

Found on my return an anonymous letter, begging me to "beware of my cook!" and signed Fernandez. Having shown it to some gentlemen who dined here, one thought it might be a plan of the robbers to get rid of the cook, whom they considered in their way; another, with more probability, that it was merely a plan of the attentive Señor Fernandez to get the cook's place for himself. . ..

We went lately to pay a visit to the celebrated Virgin de los Remedios, the Gachupina, the Spanish patroness, and rival of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This virgin was brought over by Cortes, and when he displaced the Indian idols in the great Temple of Mexico, caused them to be broken in pieces, and the