TOWN AND CASTLE OF ACAPULCO.
"Well, here we are at Acapulco, and for the last time dismount from our steeds. We look upon the blue waters of the little harbor, but can see no galleon at anchor, only a few sailing-ships and one of the steamers of the Pacific Mail Company, which has just come into port and lies fuming uneasily, as though impatient to continue her voyage. Were it not for the semi-monthly visits of the Pacific mail steamers, Acapulco would have no regular connection with the rest of the world. The place has a population of three or four thousand only, and it has a fort on an island which lies opposite the town, cutting off the long swell of the Pacific Ocean, and forming one of the best harbors on the western coast of Mexico."
A SCENE ON THE DILIGENCE ROAD.
Frank and Fred returned with Doctor Bronson to the city of Mexico by diligence. The road is rough, and they were severely jolted in their eight hours' ride; they managed to shorten the rough part to six hours by leaving the diligence at Tlalpan and coming thence to the city by the tram-way.
Hardly had the youths shaken the dust of the road from their garments than they looked around for "new worlds to conquer." Their attention was drawn to Guadalajara (pronounced gwa-da-la-ha-ra), a city that is not often visited by tourists, for the reason that it lies off the main route of travel. It is the capital of the State of Jalisco, has a population of some eighty or ninety thousand, contains a fine cathedral, and other public buildings, and altogether is worth a good deal more than a passing thought.