nature. There were so many prepossessions in favour of particular districts, so many prejudices against others, and such rivalities amongst the agents or friends of the different Companies, that I found it hopeless to attempt to arrive at any reasonable conclusion with regard to their prospects while at a distance from the scene of action; and, under this impression, I resolved, in any of those inaccuracies into which the want of data might betray me, to ensure to myself the satisfaction of knowing that I had, at least, done all that in me lay to avoid them.
In preparing for the execution of a plan, which rendered it necessary for me to undertake a series of journeys amounting in their aggregate to nearly three thousand English miles, I endeavoured to lessen, as much as possible, the inconveniences with which travelling in Mexico is attended, by taking beforehand all those little precautions, the neglect of which in the first instance is sure to occasion so much subsequent vexation and delay. I accordingly procured the very best horses that were to be obtained, both for myself and my servants, and took equal care in the selection of my baggage, or carga mules, upon which, in fact, the whole comfort of a journey depends.
A Mexican inn, or even a second-rate Hacienda, contains little or nothing besides the bare walls. If the traveller be very much fatigued, he may stretch himself at full length upon the floor, or perhaps he may obtain the luxury of a table, which, as present-
