Montezuma it is disposed of most summarily by the universal—"Quien sabe!"
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It was growing quite late (after descending the hill of Tezcosingo to the plain at the north of it,) as we passed through the estate of the ex-Marquis of V——, known as "La Molina," or the Mill. Extensive plantations of grain and maguey spread out over a vast expanse of country, and no buildings are perceptible until you approach the edges of a wide barranca, traversed by a stream from the mountains, freshening the verdure of clusters of shrubbery, that conceal the rocks and rugged sides of the ravine. After falling over a number of precipices, as the glen deepens, and forming some beautiful cascades, the brooklet gradually spreads out on the flats to the west, and here (niched in the last steeps of the tangled barranca,) have been erected the lofty dwelling, stores and mills of the farmer Marquis. Farther up the glen, beyond the dwelling, and reached by a narrow entrance which almost bars approach, the tasteful owner has formed the gorge through which the stream gurgles into one of the most exquisite retreats that can be imagined. The barranca is quite narrow; in its centre the brook skims along over a rocky bed; its sides have been smoothed and planted; grassy seats are built around sward covered recesses; rare flowers are imbedded in spots, where, shielded from the storms, they are ever fresh and blooming; a tiny chapel is erected on a jutting rock, and breaks the silence with its silvery bell; and, over all, the lofty trees (meeting in a Gothic arch from bank to bank,) cast their eternal shade throughout the scarcely varying seasons. It is the most beautiful bijou of rural design that I have seen in Mexico. Indeed, it is equalled by few, elsewhere, and may be regarded as the more remarkable, as the whole has been formed out of what was once but an unsightly gully.
12th October. We rode to-day to the Contador, another relic of Montezuma. It is a noble grove of cypresses, about a league northwest of Tezcoco. It was, however, not only our intention to see those trees; but Don Ignacio had eagerly persuaded us to join him in a plover-shooting expedition, on the marsh lands near the lake. I was, therefore, as you may well imagine, exceedingly surprised to find our guide waiting at his door, to accompany us, mounted on a bull! My first disposition was to laugh; but he prevented it by a smile, and a request to "wait until we got among the chichiquillotes and see what a sportsman his beast was!" Tio is remarkable for his hunting strategy; and, besides his bull, (with which he hunts even in the mountains,) he has invented a pipe that perfectly counterfeits the bleating of deer; and by its sound he has often attracted a dozen around him, while lying concealed in the coverts of the forest. Upon the whole, he is a perfect Yankee in inventive talent for the destruction of game; and I doubt not that, if it were his
