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Rh the dry months; and there was, consequently, but little to attract the attention or gratify the sight.

Pĕrōtĕ, San Juan de Uloa, Acapulco, and San Blas, being the only fortresses which the Viceroyalty of Mexico contained, we were curious to see a place to which the Natives appeared to attach no little importance, and naturally conceived that it would be so situated as to command some one of the principal mountain-passes, through which an invading army would endeavour to penetrate into the Interior. We were disappointed, therefore, at finding the Castle placed beyond the last ridge of the mountains, upon the borders of one of those immense plains, which extend, almost without interruption, for fifty miles in the direction of the Capital. It is, in fact, a mere depôt for arms and bullion; for, although regularly fortified with four bastions and abundance of heavy artillery, it is too small to be of importance, and would probably not be taken into account at all by an enemy's force on its march towards the Central Provinces. The town, which lies about half a mile from the fortress, consists of one long street, with flat-roofed houses, seldom rising above the ground-floor, low windows, mostly without glass, and whitewashed walls. It affords, altogether, a fair specimen of the style of architecture which the Spaniards have introduced into all their American Colonies, where, with the exception of the Capitals, houses of two stories are seldom seen. We were received with great