Page:Life in Mexico vol 2.djvu/425



 Sail in the Tyrian — Norther off Tampico — The bar — The river Panuco — The Pilote — The shore — Alligator — "Paso de Doña Cecilia" — Tampico — Spanish consul's house — Society — Navigation — Banks of the Panuco — Extraordinary inoculation — The "Glorieta" — Leave Tampico — Furious norther — Voyage — Arrival at Havana.

15th.

On the 8th, having taken leave of the family of our friend, Senor Velasco, and of General Bustamante, whom we hope to see again in Havana, we went out in a little boat, accompanied as far as the packet by several gentlemen, and in a short time were standing on deck, looking our last of Vera Cruz and its sandbanks, and sopilotes and frowning castle, as the shores gradually receded from our view, while the Tyrian was making the best of her time to get clear of reefs and rocks, before the arrival of the norther. We regretted to find, that instead of being one of the new line of English packets, the Tyrian was the last of the old line; small, ancient and incommodious, and destined to be paid off on her return to England. Captain Griffin, the commander, who looks like an excellent, gentlemanly man, is in wretched health, and in a state of acute suffering. There were no passengers but ourselves, and a young Mexican,