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310 a less uneven surface, forms a better substitute for a couch. To any thing beyond this he must not aspire, nor must he expect to find, except in the towns, any other provisions than tortillas and Chile. He therefore depends, both for rest and food, upon his own supplies, and of these he ought never to lose sight. In order to accomplish this, the carga mules should be of the best Durango breed, light and active, and able to continue at a trot before the horses thirty or forty miles, with a load of 150 or 160lbs. The Mexicans attach this load to the animal in a most slovenly manner, by merely balancing the packages upon a pad, composed of skins, and sackcloth stuffed with straw, and then girting them with such violence as frequently to injure the mule, by creating swellings either under the girths, or upon the withers, on which the whole load rests in going down hill. The packages too, require constant attention, and alteration, as the balance is destroyed by the roughness of the motion when travelling at a quick pace, although at a very slow walk, fewer changes are necessary. I found that so much inconvenience arose from the frequency of these stoppages on my way to Cuautla, that I determined on my return home to introduce an innovation, against which all my Mexican servants protested, until they were taught by experience how much it tended to diminish their own trouble.

I employed a French saddler recently established in the capital to make me four English packsaddles,