into the Interior, we returned to the boat, accompanied by a guard of honour, much superior in appearance to that which we had found upon duty, and took leave, at the gate, of our new friends. The last mark of attention with which they favoured us I should willingly have dispensed with, for wishing to honour us with a salute, on pushing off, they forgot that their guns were shotted, and directed against the Castle, which immediately opened its batteries in return, so that for some time we had the pleasure of finding ourselves between two fires. The balls and shells passed considerably above us, but we saw more than one strike the pier which we had just left, and many more bury themselves in the sands near a bastion at the Southern extremity of the town.
Notwithstanding General Victoria's wish to expedite our departure, several days elapsed before the arrangements for our journey could be completed. We found the greatest difficulty in procuring mules for our baggage, or horses for ourselves; for the trade of Veracruz having been transferred to Alvarado, a general emigration of the population had taken place, with the exception of a few sickly-looking families, which had established themselves in tents in the midst of what was once a wood of cocoa-nut trees,[1] a little beyond the range of the shells from
- ↑ The trees were all cut down, when Santana and Victoria were besieged in Veracruz by Iturbide's army, under the orders of General Echavarri.—Vide last Section of Book II.
