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674 Twelve hundred ducks are often brought in as the result of a single tiro; and during the whole season they form the ordinary food of the lower classes in the Capital, where they are sold for one, or at most two reals each.

In the North I saw no such masses of ducks, but they were replaced by wild geese, swans and cranes, with herons of a prodigious size, in flocks that covered a vast extent of country when they alighted, and filled the air with discordant screams when on the wing. I never could succeed, however, in securing any of the larger birds, as they were so extremely wary that it was difficult to approach them even within rifle shot.

Jan. 14.—We left Tecacho at seven, and reached Valladolid (twelve leagues) at half-past three.

There was nothing on the way to announce that we were either upon a high road, or approaching the Capital of a flourishing State. A few wretched hovels, at one of which we stopped to breakfast, and two or three miserable arrieros, were the only objects that reminded us of the presence of man. The forest scenery, however, was fine, and we saw occasionally some stupendous masses of lava, looking as fresh as if they had been produced by a very recent eruption. The frequent recurrence of these volcanic remains is a singular feature in New Spain; for since the Conquest there has not been a single eruption of any consequence, (excepting that of Jorullo,) and most of the volcanoes now known are