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CH. I.] greatest pitch of prosperity; he was extremely rich, but died about fifty years ago, and I could not recollect having heard, in the capital, any vestiges of his family. The road, which is decaying fast under the repeated effects of the mountain torrents, will keep his memory alive as long as any portion of it exists: had it not been for its relics, neither I nor any of my readers would have heard any thing of the once opulent and magnificent Borda.

We arrived at Cuernavaca about six o'clock in the evening, after passing, for the last three leagues, through one of the most beautiful countries that can be imagined. At this distance from the town there was encamped a requia, or drove of mules, to the number of 140 or more, conveying China goods to Mexico from the South Sea. The beauty and splendour of these articles, consisting chiefly of crapes, and the richest silk velvets of the most extraordinary and beautiful patterns, together with gold and silver embroidered muslins and