Page:Mexico as it was and as it is.djvu/276

Rh lake margins. The gunners erect a sort of infernal machine, with three tiers of barrels—one, level with the marsh or water, another slightly elevated, and the third at a still greater angle. The lower tier is discharged at the birds while they are sitting, and this of course destroys a multitude; but as some must necessarily escape the first discharge, the second and third tiers are fired in quick succession, and it is rare indeed that a duck avoids the wholesale slaughter. From 125,000 to 200,000 annually load the markets of Mexico, and form the cheapest food of the multitude; but it is rare that you can procure one delicate enough to bring to your table.

It was near four o'clock, when, under the slow impulse of our polers, we approached the eastern border of the lake. The shores were dotted with white-walled haciendas and lines of beautiful groves, while at the distance of a few miles, in the interior, rose the lofty sierra, in the midst of which, the mountain of Tlaloc, "the god of Storms," was brewing a heavy thunder-storm. The clouds were thickly gathered around the top of the mountain, and as we disembarked on the waste-like quay, among sands and marshes, the first premonitory' drops began to patter on our hats. Here we had expected to find a carriage, or at least horses, waiting to convey us the remaining league to the town of Tezcoco. But as we did not arrive by the early boats of the morning, our friends had returned home, presuming that we had relinquished our proposed expedition.

While our baggage was landing from the boat, the rain increased rapidly. There was no place for shelter, except an open shed occupied by the boatmen during the day. Thunder and lightning were soon added to the storm; and yet, in the midst of these accumulated discomforts, we took up our line of march, as the prospect of remaining was worse than the danger of a drenching. None of the Indians could be bought or bribed to leave their boats and carry our luggage, nor were there any idlers about, willing to earn an honest penny as porters. I therefore put on my serape, and the oil-skin cover of my hat; and fastening my valise by a handkerchief on my back, balanced it (aguador fashion, in front,) by my gun and sword,—and thus set forth for a dreary tramp over the lonely waste.

As we advanced, the rain and tempest of wind, thunder and lightning, increased, and I have no recollection, in the course of my travels, of a more disagreeable pilgrimage than the one we made to Tezcoco. Our anxiety was greatly increased by the loss of one of our party in the darkness among some morasses, and by the rise of a considerable stream that crossed the road near the town. We however waded the brook, and, about eight o'clock, arrived at the hospitable dwelling of an American, who, after wandering about the world in various capacities, has settled down in the city of Tezcoco, where (from his connection with an extensive menagerie, that once astonished the Mexicans with its lions and monkeys,) he passes by the significant cognomen of "El de las fieras."