rt. It is humorously said that people
never die here; they grow old, dry up, and disappear. The place is
certainly very healthy. It is over three hundred years old, and looks as
though it had existed in prehistoric times. It has, like all Mexican
cities, its alameda, its bull ring, and its plaza, the latter
particularly well-cared for, beautiful in flowers and charming shade
trees, together with well-trimmed shrubbery. The Calle Real is the
principal thoroughfare, over which the traveler will find his way to the
famous battlefield of Buena Vista (pronounced Wana Veesta), about eight
miles from the city proper. This was one of the fiercest battles ever
fought on Mexican soil. General Taylor had only forty-five hundred men
of all arms, while Santa Anna's army numbered twenty-two thousand! The
Americans had the most advantageous position, but were at times
overwhelmed by numbers. Notwithstanding this, at the end of the second
day, February 23, 1847, the American flag waved in triumph over the
field, and the Mexicans were utterly routed. It was of this hard-fought
battle that Santa Anna said: "We whipped the Americans half a dozen
times, and once completely surrounded them; but they would not stay
whipped." The battle of Buena Vista was fought at a great altitude,
nearly as high above the level of the sea as the summit of Mount
Washington in New England.

The baths of San Lorenzo, a league from the city, are worth visiting,
being cleanly and enjoyable.

About seventy-five miles to the eastward of Saltillo, and eight hundred
miles, more or less, from the national capital, on the line of the
Mexican International Railroad, which crosses the Rio Grande at Laredo,
is the city of Monterey,--"King Mountain,"--capital of the State of
Nuevo Leon. It is eighteen hundred feet above the sea and contains
nearly twenty thousand inhabitants. It was founded three hundred years
ago, and its history is especially blended with that of the Roman
Catholic Church during the intervening period. Here one finds quite a
large American colony; but still the place is essentially Mexican in its
manners and customs. The city stands upon very uneven ground, in the
middle of an extensive plain, with grand mountains rising to view in the
distance on all sides. The Rio de Santa Catarina flows through the town.
In coming hither from Saltillo we descend thirty-five hundred feet, or
about an average of fifty feet to the mile. It is considered to be a
health