Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/687

Rh breaking the mules for the saddle, which was conducted in a similar manner.

The bad riders amongst the servants used to get some terrible tumbles, and they were occasionally carried up and down a barranca in rather awkward places, but no limbs were broken; and as each was laughed at in turn, the most perfect good humour prevailed; while the mules were so far subdued by constant work, that between Valladolid and Mexico they gave us comparatively but little trouble.

We rejoined our party at the Hacienda of Săn Ăndrēs, three miles from the river, where Mr. Carrington had got a lodging for us, there being no inn at Ŏcŏtlān; and, on the following morning, (Jan. 9,) we proceeded to La Barca, where we arrived at an early hour, the distance being only eight leagues.

La Barca is the head of a "Canton," containing four "departamentos," with 96,178 inhabitants. The town is uninteresting, and only worthy of remark as being the last place visited by us in the State of Jalisco, which is divided there by the Rio Grande from the neighbouring States of Guănăjūātŏ and Văllădŏlīd. Our road lay through the last of these, and we consequently sent our carriage and mules over in the evening of our arrival. During this process, which occupied four hours, I went to shoot in the great Cienega, or marsh, which commences a little to the Westward of La Barca, and extends in a line with the river almost as far as the