Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 1.djvu/619

Rh see nothing behind us but the plain below, nor before us, more than a few yards of the road. The path, however, was good, and about six feet in breadth; and a little after seven in the evening, we gained the summit, on which we found a plain, with good pasture, and a lake of water. This place was called La Laguna. The pine trees about it were of immense size, some of them being fourteen and fifteen feet in girth. I conceive that we must have ascended, in the course of the evening, four thousand feet at least, which brought us to the edge of the summit of the Cordillera. There we had to suffer the worst night that I ever experienced; having left Cosala only three days, one of the hottest climates in the Republic, and being now compelled, at the elevation of eight thousand feet, to sleep in the open air, in such a rain as I seldom, if ever, saw, without any shelter but the pine-trees. It thundered and lightened incessantly until daybreak, when we started, and reached the rancho of San Antonio, sixteen leagues, about four o'clock. This was a hard day's work, but I would rather have died upon the road, than have slept out a second night. The first three hours of this day's journey were over a very rugged surface, interspersed with other plains of small extent; after which, we entered an open fertile tract, with rich pastures and fine limpid streams, which took a south-westerly direction, and must some of them find an issue through the glen which I had passed, while others fall into the rivers south of Cosala. The forests were very extensive and luxuriant, and in many places there are openings in the woods, which resembled some of those artificial scenes that are formed in parks, in England, with a fine herbage, streams of chrystal water, and the foliage of the trees feathered to the ground. I regretted much not having a companion to enjoy such scenery with me, for so much beauty did not seem intended to gratify a single eye. After entering upon a more open plain, I discovered a number of cattle, which seemed to bespeak some establishment, and half an hour brought me to San Antonio, a rancho of about eight houses. I went to the best, where I was hospitably treated, but not until I had convinced the landlady and her daughters that I knew the creed and commandments, the Lord's Prayer, &c., and agreed