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Rh and Chirimoyas, of which a stock had been laid in at Jălāpă. The Chĭrĭmōyă is a fruit unknown, I believe, in Europe: in size it is larger than the largest Orange; the rind is green, and full of little inequalities, but the pulp is a beautiful white, of such delicacy that it must be eaten with a spoon, as it assumes a rusty tinge if cut with a knife: the flavour is that of the strawberry, combined with other fruits.

I seldom recollect suffering more from cold than I did at Las Vigas: we probably felt the severity of the weather the more from having been relaxed by a month of unusually hot weather on our passage from Madeira to Veracruz. The inhabitants are but little affected by it; for although the rooms are boarded, and some precautions taken to exclude the air, a fireplace is a thing unknown; and even the Spanish brasero seems not in common use. There was, however, something more than imagination in our chillness; for at seven the next morning the thermometer was at 41°, (about 30° below the temperature of Jălāpă,) and the ground during the night was covered with a white frost. Our horses, many of which had been bred in the Tierra Caliente, suffered even more than ourselves; for although we succeeded in procuring stabling for them, they were perfectly stiff with cold in the morning, and did not recover the full use of their legs until half the day's journey was concluded.

The road from Lăs Vīgăs to Pĕrōtĕ is very steep