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266 the State of Veracruz, to whose hospitality we were indebted for excellent lodgings both at Lăs Vīgăs, and at Tĕpĕyăgūālcŏ, with which we were provided by orders of the Governor. At Nŏpălūcă, where we slept on the 20th, we found that similar precautions had been taken by the authorities of Lă Pūēblă, in whose territories we then were; and when we reached the Capital of that State, on the 21st, after a most excellent dinner, which we found waiting for us on the road at Ămŏzōqŭe, we were lodged by the Governor, Don José Maria Căldĕrōn, in his own house, where, notwithstanding the largeness of our party, he insisted upon accommodating us all.

Lă Pūēblă was formerly a town inferior only to the Capital in extent and population. It contains at present about 50,000 inhabitants, and is an important place, as being the seat both of the richest Bishoprick in the country, and of the most extensive manufactures of cotton, earthenware, and wool. The streets, like those of Mexico, are rectangular, spacious, and airy. The houses low, but roomy, and the apartments mostly paved with porcelain, and adorned with Fresco paintings on the stuccoed walls. The country around is rich, but naked, being totally devoid of trees, with the exception of the Pīnāl, a pine forest, (as the name implies,) which extends from within a league and a half of Nŏpălūcă, to about five leagues from the gates of La Puebla, where cultivation re-commences. The whole