Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/658

638 de Ruhl, where the cultivation for which the district of Aguas Calientes is celebrated, may be said to commence. On the 27th, we reached that town, about three in the afternoon. The road from San Jacinto was quite an interesting scene, for Ranchos multiplied around us at every step. We saw on all sides immense crops of maize, and met huge ox-wains, laden some with Chile, others with Zacate, and others again with the ears of Indian corn: horses, cows, and oxen abounded in "potreros," regularly enclosed with walls, and deep ditches, and every thing seemed to denote a thick and flourishing population.

In the midst of plenty, however, we ourselves were nearly starved; for having imprudently lost sight of the coach on leaving the Hacienda, and taken a different route, we found ourselves separated from our provisions, and without any prospect of rejoining them until we reached Aguas Calientes, where the two roads again met. Under these circumstances, having set out, as usual, without breakfasting, we were most happy, about one o'clock, to meet with a man carrying a large dish of frijoles and tortillas to some shepherds in a neighbouring field. Upon these we laid violent hands; a gourd was filled with water at a spring not very far off; a tree of unusual size afforded us protection from the sun; and notwithstanding the simplicity of our fare, we agreed, when we had completely cleared our dish of haricots and chile, into which we dipped alternately with