nd bonnetless women of low and high degree are returning
to their homes; some wearing mantillas of satin, black and shining as
their raven hair, which are pinned by a jeweled pin upon the top of
their heads; others, more modern in their tastes, sport India shawls;
while the common class still cling to the "rebosa," which they so
ingeniously twirl around their heads and chests as to include in its
narrow folds their arms, and all above the waist except the face.
Priests appear in black gowns, and fur hats with such ample brims that
they lap and are fastened together upon the top of their heads. The
armed patrol, in dirty cotton uniforms, and soldiers in broadcloth, are
returning from morning muster; for in this hot climate the burden of
the day's duties is discharged before breakfast. Under the arches
(_portales_), and in the open market-place, men and women are driving a
brisk trade, in the most quiet way, in meats, and vegetables, and
huxter's wares. Nature has denied to the butcher of hot climates the
privilege of salting meat, but he makes amends for this defect by
cutting his tough beef into strips, which he rubs over with salt, and
offers to sell to you by the yard. Vera Cruz is now as venerable a
looking town as when I was here before, although the houses, and the
plastered walls, and tops of the stone churches seem to have had a new
coating of Spanish white within a few months. But the malaria from the
swamps in the time of the vomito, or the salt atmosphere driven upon it
by the Northers, soon replaces the familiar dingy hue. The battered
face of the stone image, at the side of the deserted church, has
received a few more bruises since I was last here; for the marriageable
young misses still most religiously believe that a stone thrown by a
fair hand that shall hit the image full in the face, will obtain for
the thrower a husband, and an advantageous settlement for life. This is
a small city, or the poor image could not have endured this kind of
bruising for two hundred years.

The first Spaniard that landed here was Grijalva,[1] in 1518, in a
trading expedition fitted out by Valasquez, Governor of Cuba. He was so
successful in his traffic with the natives, as to obtain, in exchange
for a few trinkets, $14,000 worth of gold dust. His success so
encouraged Valasquez, that he fitted out a much larger expedition the
following year, the command of which he gave to Hernando Cortez, of
whom we shall have occasion to s