Page:Mexico as it was and as it is.djvu/436

Rh

O the 9th of November, 1842, I left the Capital in the diligence, accompanied by Mr. Peyton Southall bearing dispatches to our Government. We had secured the attendance of a strong guard, and found three or four Englishmen in the coach as well accoutred as ourselves.

I was greatly struck with the change that had been effected in everything during the last year. The road was in excellent order;—the ruts in the mountain sides had been filled and levelled;—the inns were refitted and neatly kept;—the villages along the way-side had been cleaned and painted, and scarcely a vestige remained of the misery and desolation that oppressed me on my arrival.

On the 11th, at sunset, we passed through Plan del Rio,—supped at Puente Nacional,—and, at daylight on the 12th, (precisely a year from the date of my arrival,) again reached "La Villa rica de la Vera Cruz."

After a delay of a day or two we embarked on board the U. S. Steamer Missouri. On the 20th, we reached the southwest pass of the Mississippi, and once more hailed with pleasure our native shores.

I only repeat the sentiment of almost every traveller in the beautiful country I have been describing, when I say,—that no matter how impatient we may be to leave Mexico, yet, when her frontier has been passed, perhaps for ever, there are few who do not long to enjoy once more her cloudless skies, her bountiful soil, and her eternal spring!