AFTER THE VOMITO.
"We had heard much of the unhealthiness of Vera Cruz, and particularly of the vomito, which sometimes carries off hundreds of victims in a single week, and makes the road to the cemetery the best travelled one in the whole city. Forty or fifty deaths a day are by no means uncommon; the old inhabitants do not seem to mind it, as they claim that a person who has once had the fever is ever after safe from it. A few years ago Dr. Trowbridge, the American Consul, was removed from the office which he had held for twelve years; his successor arrived during the prevalence of yellow-fever, and died on the thirteenth day of his occupation of his new place. Dr. Trowbridge and his family had the fever lightly when they first arrived, and never afterwards suffered from it.
"They tell us that yellow-fever is most dangerous in summer months, and least so in the winter. It is not advisable for a stranger to come here in the sickly season, and so well is this recognized that the betting men of Vera Cruz are said to make wagers as to the probable length of life of a visitor from Europe or North America when the vomito is prevalent. A Yankee whom we met up-country says that when he came to Vera Cruz a polite individual called upon him at the hotel and solicited his patronage, 'which he was sure to need.' He did not feel very comfortable on learning that the polite man was an undertaker, and fled from the city by first train. It used to be said that a life insurance policy was vitiated if the holder remained more than twenty-four hours at Vera Cruz.
"Yellow-fever is as dangerous for the Mexican from the table-lands as it is to the North American, and some authorities say that the stranger from over the sea is less liable to it than the Mexican from the tierra fria. It begins in May, is worst in August and September, and then declines to December, when it practically disappears under the influence of the strong 'northers' that blow during the autumn equinox. Were it not for these northers Vera Cruz would be altogether too unhealthy for human habitation."
[CHAPTER XXVI.]
THE ALAMEDA OF VERA CRUZ.—TROPICAL GROWTHS.—THE PALO DE LECHE AND ITS PECULIARITIES.—A DANGEROUS PLANT.—FOUNTAINS AND WATER-CARRIERS.—GOVERNOR'S PALACE.—BRIEF HISTORY OF VERA CRUZ.—PILLAGED BY PIRATES AND CAPTURED IN WARS.—FORTRESS OF SAN JUAN DE ULLOA.—HORRORS OF A MEXICAN PRISON.—EXCURSION TO JALAPA.—THE NATIONAL BRIDGE.—CERRO GORDO.—GENERAL SCOTT'S VICTORY.—JALAPA.—A CITY OF MISTS.—STAPLE PRODUCTS OF THE REGION.—JALAP AND ITS QUALITIES.—PRETTY WOMEN.—PECULIARITIES OF THE STREETS.—ORIZABA AND PEROTE.—NEW RAILWAY CONNECTIONS.—TAMPICO AND ANTON LIZARDO.—DELAYED BY A NORTHER.—DEPARTURE BY STEAMER.—FAREWELL TO VERA CRUZ.
The walk of our young friends took them to the Alameda, which proved unusually attractive, as it was filled with tropical plants and trees to which their eyes had not been accustomed in the upland region. They welcomed the palm-trees as old friends; the palm does not flourish in Mexico at a greater elevation than 1500 feet above the level of the sea excepting under peculiarly favorable circumstances. The palms of Vera Cruz are finely developed, but they do not attain the size of those at Medellin, twelve miles down the coast. Medellin is a summer resort of the Veracruzanos; they go there for recreation during the hot season, or at least such of them as cannot afford the longer journey to Orizaba and the mountain regions.