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454 though not tall I must admit—grows, more or less, in all the streets, and water-cresses are found along the margins of the little streams of fresh water which flow through the gutters in the center.

Off the main street, through which the diligencia passes twice or thrice a day, plying between the railway station at Paso del Macho, the present western terminus of the Eastern section, and Puebla, the present eastern terminus of the Western section which comes down from Mexico, one hardly ever sees a carriage of any kind, unless it be a heavy mule wagon, loaded with cotton, or a wooden-wheeled oxcart lumbering slowly and painfully along. We found one street which appeared to be considerably traveled, so much so that Mr. Frederick Seward started off in an enthusiastic manner, to see where it led to, and ascertain the cause of its unusually lively character: it led to the cemetery, and nowhere else, as I am an honest and conscientious man.

The prospect of the railway being finished from Vera Cruz to Orizaba—the name of the city is always pronounced as if spelled Orizava, (i. e. O-re-zah-vah) with the accent on the last syllable but one—during the Empire, infused a little life into the town, and a very good sized "Hotel de la Diligencias" was erected and opened; but the work was suspended when the Empire went down, and for a long time all life appeared to be dying out. The work has been resumed with some energy, and the grading of the sixteen leagues between Orizaba and Paso del Macho, and up the mountain side around the Cumbres to the great plain above on which Puebla is situated, was so well advanced as to ensure its completion at an early day, and