Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/710

690 performed this long journey on horseback, without experiencing the least inconvenience, so inured had they become to every possible mode of travelling during their three months' wanderings. For their great "Coche" they had formed an attachment, which remains in full force to the present day. They looked upon it quite as their home, and were impatient, in the morning, for the hour to arrive at which they were installed in it, and released from the dulness of a dark and dirty room. Nor had they suffered in any other respect: the eldest little girl, a sad invalid when we quitted the Capital, recovered her health and strength while away; and as to the youngest, she was so fortified by living constantly in the open air, that her fat and rosy cheeks were the admiration of all beholders. Even at Zăcătēcăs, where no kindly feelings were entertained towards the parents, she was visited by a number of friars, who made interest with the Indian nurse to let them kiss her, and carry her about in their arms; and at several other places she and her sister were sent for by people of the town, whose desire to see them Chapita always complied with,—for fear, as she told us, that they might cast an evil eye upon the children, if refused.

We found our coach at Tĕpētĭtlān, to which place it proceeded by the usual coach-road from Tĕpĕtōngŏ the 22d, we started at five o'clock, (at which hour the ground was covered with a hard white