to let us pass, and entered the streets of Vera Cruz, which were crowded,
balconies and all, and even roofs with curious faces. The guard formed as
we passed, and struck up a march. The principal street is wide and clean,
and we reached the house of Senor V---o, a rich merchant, formerly consul,
where we are to reside, followed to the door by the whole population. We
were received with great hospitality, and found excellent rooms prepared
for us. The house is immensely large and airy, built in a square as they
all are, but with that unfurnished melancholy look, which as yet this style
of house has to me, though admirably adapted to the climate.

A guard of honour sent by General Victoria, trotted into the courtyard,
whose attendance C---n declined with thanks, observing that his mission had
for object to terminate the coolness hitherto existing between two families
of brothers; that between members of the same family there was nothing to
fear, and all compliments were unnecessary.

I found a German piano in the drawing-room, on which I was glad to put my
fingers after a month's abstinence. A number of gentlemen came in the
evening to visit C---n. We were received by this family with so much real
kindness, that we soon found ourselves perfectly at home. We had a
plentiful supper--fish, meat, wine, and chocolate, fruit and sweetmeats;
the cookery, Spanish _Vera-Cruzified_. A taste of the style was enough for
me, garlic and oil enveloping meat, fish, and fowl, with pimentos and
plantains, and all kinds of curious fruit, which I cannot yet endure. Bed
was not unwelcome, and most comfortable beds we had, with mosquito
curtains, and sheets and pillows all trimmed with rich lace, so universal
in Spanish houses, that it is not, as with us, a luxury. But the mosquitoes
had entered in some unguarded moment, and they and the heat were inimical
to sleep.