been informed that we could pass the night, but where we found that no sort of accommodation was to be obtained. We were therefore compelled to proceed, at a very late hour, towards Ītzmĭquīlpăn, a town seven leagues farther on, there not being a single Pueblo, or Hacienda, between it and the Venta del Pĕdrĕgăl. The road continued to be stony and bad, with the exception of a few miles of sand covered with a thin brushwood. About two leagues from Itzmiquilpan there is an abrupt descent, of nearly two English miles, covered with masses of rock, amongst which it is hardly possible for horses to keep their footing. We did not reach the town till half-past eight o'clock, having left the Venta at half-past three in the afternoon.
Itzmiquilpan is remarkable for the beauty of its situation, and the richness of the vegetation for about a league in every direction around it. The town stands upon the banks of the river Tula, and is so completely sheltered by the neighbouring mountains, that it is almost a Tierra Caliente; in which every thing seems to partake of the luxuriancy peculiar to that climate. The inclosures are composed of Peruvian pepper-trees intermixed with roses, and covered with vines, which produce fruit in great abundance, as clusters of grapes are seen amidst the highest branches of the trees. By the side of the river, there are some magnificent cypresses, almost equal in size to those of Chapultepec: parasitic plants too are found in every direction, and even the
