o act in the capacity we have described. They are two feet and over in
length of body, and measure six feet from tip to tip of the wings, or
about the size of a large Rhode Island turkey. Employing these birds for
the removal of refuse is a remedy almost as bad as the disease, since
the habits of the huge, ungainly, ill-omened creatures are extremely
disgusting. Clouds of them roost upon the eaves of the houses, the
church belfries, and all exposed balconies, and would invade the patios
of the dwellings were they not vigorously driven away and thus taught
better manners. The cathedral facade on the plaza is sometimes black
with them, the rays of the bright tropical sun being reflected from
their glossy feathers as from a mirror. It seems there is one mystery
which appertains to these unpleasant birds; namely, as to their breeding
places. No one knows where they go to build their nests and to raise
their young. The imaginative stranger is perhaps inclined to regard them
as tokens of danger to the newcomer. All things considered, many a
northern city has a less efficient street-cleaning department.

For a striking picture of strong local color, we commend the stranger to
watch for a short half-hour the picturesque old fountain at the head of
the Calle Centrale. Here he will find at almost any time of the day
scores of weary burros slaking their thirst; busy water-carriers filling
their red earthen jars; the street gamin wetting his thirsty lips; the
itinerant fruit peddler seeking for customers; the gay caballero pausing
to water the handsome animal he bestrides; while the tramway mules seek
their share of the refreshing liquid. Dark-hued women are coming and
going with earthen jars poised upon their heads, wonderfully like their
Eastern sisters at the fountains of oriental Cairo. Here are men with
curiously trimmed fighting birds in their arms, wending their way to the
cruel cockpit. On the edge of the sidewalk close at hand, women are
cooking dough-cakes of corn-meal over charcoal in tiny earthen
braziers,--the universal tortillas. A sand-covered muleteer, just
arrived, is testing their quality while his burros are drinking at the
fountain.

Though Vera Cruz has suffered more than any other capital with which we
are acquainted from bombardments, change of rulers, ravages of
buccaneers, hurricanes, fevers, and other plagues, yet it is still a
prosperous city, always spoken of with a certain degree of pride by the
people