Page:Life in Mexico vol 1.djvu/278



 Arrival at Tepenacasco — Lake with wild duck — Ruined hacienda — Sunset on the plains — Troop of asses — Ride by moonlight — Leave Tepenacasco — San Miguel — Description — Thunder storm — Guasco — Journey to Real del Monte — English road — Scenery — Village of Real — Count de Regla — Director's house — English breakfast — Visit to the Mines — Mining speculations — Grand scenery — Visit to Regla — The Cascade — The Storm — Loneliness — A journey in storm and darkness — Return to Tepenacasco — Journey to Sopayuca — Narrow escape — Famous Bull — Return to Mexico.

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is a fine wild scene. The house stands entirely alone; not a tree near it. Great mountains rise behind it, and in every other direction, as far as the eye can reach, are vast plains, over which the wind comes whistling fresh and free, with nothing to impede its triumphant progress. In front of the house is a clear sheet of water, a great deep square basin for collecting the rain. These jagueys, as they are called, are very common in Mexico, where there are few rivers, and where the use of machines for raising water, is by no means general as yet. There is no garden here, but there are a few shrubs and flowers in the inner court-yard. The house inside is handsome, with a chapel, and a patio, which is