Date: 1897
We moved rapidly along in the dawn and lovely sun rise till we arrived, at 9.30, at Irapuato, where the train stopped half an hour for an excellent breakfast with delicious strawberries (which are here served fresh all the year round) at the railway restaurant.  At these meals one generally has for vis-a-vis one's railway " conductor," or the engine-driver — a decided advantage, as they gener ally take tbeir time and save one the trouble and anxiety of constant rushes to see that the train is not off directly the ding-dong begins to clang.  We resumed our journey by a branch line, entering the exquisitely fertile province of Jalisco, through the lovely emerald-green valley watered by the broad Rio de Lerrua, the longest and most important in Mexico, receiving innumerable tributaries during its progress, from its rise in the mountains near Toluca, through Lake Chapala, to the Pacific near San Bias, nowhere navigable, being full of cataracts and rapids.