Page:Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans.djvu/185

Rh bearing date respectively 1633, 1700, 1707, and 1778, attest the progress of various portions of the work. It is in shape a rather irregular parallelogram, with a small watch-tower, or rampart, on each one of its angles. Besides the guns of the structure proper, it has water batteries, and was considered at one time impregnable. It is half a mile from shore, and commands the city, which it has several times nearly reduced to ruins. It was held by the Spaniards until 1825, and remained loyal to the king of Spain for nearly four years after their expulsion from the mainland. At present used as a prison for political offenders, it is especially dreaded by prisoners from the interior of the country, as incarceration there is almost sure to end in death, from disease engendered in its damp dungeons.

If the coast is approached in clear weather, there may be seen that glorious apparition, the volcano of Orizaba, its profile sharply cut against the blue sky full sixty miles inland. Known to the ancient Aztecs as Ciltlaltpetl, or the Mountain of the Star, it was called by the Spanish sailors La Estrella de la Mar,—the Star of the Sea. And well it merits this latter title, since its crystal peak, borne on high 17,500 feet, is visible more than one hundred miles away.

The half-mile or so between steamer and quay is soon gone over, in boats shaded by awnings and propelled by boatmen clad in immaculate garments of white, and you are soon ashore and inspecting the city.

One of the hottest cities of the republic, Vera Cruz is also the unhealthiest, and by some strange anomaly it is likewise one of the cleanest. Streets white and clean are drained by gutters equally free from filth; and if any refuse escapes the eye of the sanitary authorities, those other members of the board of health, the vultures, are sure to snatch it up and bear it away, or devour it on the spot. These valued birds are seen by hundreds, perched on every roof-top, and waddling through all the streets. They are called