SECTION II.
We took leave of Guanajuato and its hospitable inhabitants on the 20th of November, and continued our journey towards San Luis Pŏtŏsī, which both Mr. Martin and myself were desirous to visit, on account of its growing importance as a commercial town. We were likewise anxious to see the celebrated mining District of Catorce, which is very little known in Mexico; and notwithstanding the assurances of the natives, that it would be impossible for us, with children and a lady of the party, to attempt to cross the country between Catorce and Durango, where we should find neither houses, nor accommodations of any kind, we were not without hopes of discovering some direct road to the North that would exempt us from that worst of all evils—
