SKETCHED AT RINCONADA.
"We stopped at Rinconada, where we breakfasted, and changed mules for the second time, the first change having been made at the National Bridge. The second station from Rinconada was Cerro Gordo, where General Scott defeated the Mexicans in 1847. It is a narrow pass bordered by high hills, and connects the lowlands of the coast with the regions of the tierra templada. How an army could get through the pass in the face of anything like determined and intelligent opposition by a force superior in numbers, it is difficult to understand. An English writer who has visited the spot says of it as follows: 'That 10,000 Americans should have been able to get through the mountain passes, and to reach the capital at all, is an astonishing thing; and after that, their successes in the Valley of Mexico follow as a matter of course. They could never have crossed the mountains but for a combination of circumstances.'
"After passing Cerro Gordo, in which we had no such difficulties as beset General Scott, we found ourselves in a less tropical region than the one behind us. Cornfields were numerous, and so were fields of barley; that we had not left the region of warmth altogether was evident by the sugar-cane and the coffee-trees that abounded in many places. They continued up to and into Jalapa, whither our mules went at a gallop, and came to a halt about half-past four in the afternoon. Twelve hours for a journey of seventy-four miles, up a slope of 4000 feet, and sixty miles of the distance by mule-power, isn't so bad after all.
PART OF JALAPA.
"There was a drawback to the interest of the scene in the shape of a cloud of mist in which we were enveloped as we entered the city; but the wind swept it away and we had some beautiful views; then it came on again, to our aggravation, and in fact it kept up a sort of peep-show performance all the time we were there. They told us that a good deal of rain falls at Jalapa, and when there is no rain there is generally a mist of more or less density. We were reminded of Ireland and Scotland, and in more ways than one; the mists that obstruct the view are the glory of Jalapa in keeping everything green, even to our memory of it. It does not rain, nor is the sky obscured all the time, else there would be no ripening of fruit in the gardens; and the gardens of Jalapa are among the finest in the world.
"The great staple of Jalapa is coffee, but there is a large product of sugar; and as for plantains, bananas, mangoes, and similar fruits, they are to be had in abundance and for little more than the asking. We looked for that old-fashioned drastic medicine, jalap, which takes its name from the city, but were told it is no longer exclusively produced here. Doctor Bronson says the drug was introduced into England from Mexico in 1609, and was in use for 200 years before the plant from which it came was known. It belongs to the same family as the 'four-o'-clock' of our gardens, and grows wild in the mountains in the neighborhood of Jalapa. As this city was then the centre of commerce in this article, the name adhered to it, just as the name of Calicut adhered to the cloth called calico, which originally came from that town of India.
"Another staple for which Jalapa is famous is pretty women; but so far as we have been able to observe, it has no monopoly of them against the other cities of Mexico. They have been praised by many travellers, and there is a Mexican saying that 'Las Jalapeños son muy halagüeñas' ('the women of Jalapa are very charming.') We have seen many pretty faces, and if the weather had been uninterruptedly fine perhaps we could have seen more.