Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/237

Rh presses, and tables, painted, varnished, and inlaid at a vast expence, but of a most uncouth shape, and generally as little calculated for comfort, as for ornament. All the other contents of the shops appeared to be European, but the supply was scanty, and the price enormous. Nature, on the other hand, as if to compensate the want of the luxuries of the Old World, appeared to have been most munificent in her gifts. For many days after my arrival, I could never pass a common fruit-stall, without stopping to admire the variety of fruits and flowers with which it was adorned. Pine-apples, Oranges, Bananas, Chirimoyas, Melons, Grenaditos de China, and a thousand other delicious fruits, are found in abundance during the greatest part of the year, together with Pears, Apples, and all the productions of more Northern climates. Many of these fruits do not, it is true, thrive on the Table-land; but it must always be borne in mind that Mexico, from the peculiarity of its geological structure, and the manner in which heat is modified by height in every part of its territory, combines, sometimes within a very few leagues, the greatest possible variety of climates. On the road to Acapulco, for instance, a descent, as rapid as that from Las Vigas to Jalapa, commences within a few miles of the Capital, so that on reaching the plains of Cuĕrnăvācă, you find a Tierra Caliente, with all its various productions, from which Mexico derives a constant and most abundant supply. On the Table-land, flowers are to be found at