h a rich, level district, covered with forests of fine timber,
and abounding in cultivated fields of grain. Presently clusters of
spires and towers sprang from the plain, and coursing through suburbs of
walled gardens, convents, and country dwellings--all gratefully reposing
beneath the shade of overhanging trees--we entered the city of Leon. It
includes, with the environs, a thriving population of near sixty
thousand souls; delightfully situated in the heart of one of the most
salubrious table-lands of the higher terraces of Mexico. The town,
though inferior to Guadalajara in elegance, can still boast of much
manufacturing wealth, with fine churches, spacious squares, and great
uniformity in the general construction of the houses, while streams of
pure water traverse it in every street, and irrigate the extensive
suburbs around. Indeed, let a Spaniard alone for choosing a pleasant
site, near good water; not that these their descendants have any cleanly
predilections that way, for, on the contrary--except for the commonest
purposes of drinking--their general filthiness of habit induces the
belief that they are universally imbued with a hydrophobial aversion
thereto.

We rode through one of the main avenues of the city, and entered the
grand plaza as the great bell of the cathedral was slowly tolling for
_oracion_, and unconsciously we checked the horses, to behold a vast
concourse of many thousands silently kneel--with uncovered heads, and
faces turned towards the church--whilst all was hushed to perfect
stillness. I never was more deeply impressed with an emotion of awe and
solemnity.

Three sides of the large square were lined with _portales_, or arcades;
with every archway and open space filled with venders of glass, cigars,
cutlery, saddlery, bridlery, and every kind of horse equipment; all,
however, destitute of workmanlike finish. The plaza itself was crowded
with itinerant traders, screaming in every possible intonation of voice,
their different wares. Stalls and booths were also doing a large
business in _licores_ and fried bits of meat, _frijoles_ and
_tortillas_, but what carried away the commercial palm by long odds,
were the _dulce_ women. There were a number of these popular saleswomen,
squatted beneath huge umbrellas, full ten feet in diameter--surrounded
by crowds of buyers--to whom they were dispensing papers of colored
sugars, candies, and sweetmeats unceasingly. I passed them again the
next morning,