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32 tage of our early start, for we had gone a league out of the road: we however reached Zopilote at midday.

Zopilote is the name of a vulture: we saw about 2000 of these dull birds sitting on the trees, as a sort of advanced guard of the place which so properly bears their designation, since they were the only living things that were to be seen in it: like other watchmen, they were, for the most part, fast asleep. The doors of the two small houses of which the place consisted were closed, denoting that the inhabitants were also enjoying their siesta: we went on to take ours at Zumpango, a tolerably good looking Indian town, where we met with a kind reception and a clean floor, in a house very similar to an English barn; it being situated in a farm-yard, well supplied with stock of all kinds: the water too was particularly fresh and excellent. Two leagues before we reached this place I met the extraordinario, or courier, who had been dispatched to Acapulco, previously to my