The Express.
London, England, 1846-11-04 00:00:00

sober red. So much for the room; the company was an
eztraordinary medley. Most of the inhabitants were gone
up,thdreivesiidy
driven out
sbeay
stohne.sh.rothans
god svheemiloofr,thheowcasevetler:
"d
help
of
managed to collect a good round number together, with the
hheere to
; to jin
and men in ugly-cut uniforms, covered with a pro-
fusionalaaafrewPordwho under other circumstances would not have
invited. Ladies of all-coloured faces and dresses were
of gold lace and gaudiness; but by far the most pie-
tbee
tare:ague dresses were some of those worn by gentlemen, not
as uniform, but as private fancies. I must not, however,
omit the dress of some gentlemen who appeared as " officers"
of the gold and silver mines. They wore a sort of leathern
armour, much ornamented with tinsel and foil of purple and
bronze, gold, silver, and black polish. They looked just
like tropical beetles. Some of the Mexican girls were
extremely beautiful ; of exquisitely
e clear, dark complexions,
regular features, with very , dark, gleaming eyes, and a
Firgourfuesison of black tresses falling ever their uncompressed
of indolent grace.
The dances were difficult from their intricacy, as well as
peculiarity, and certainly very unlike any of our European
dances. The band consisted of eight guitars of different
sizes, a Moorish flute, and a sort of bass harp. During the
evening we had the pleasure of seeing the Mexican version
of the fandango danced. It had various grotesque and mere-
tricious additions to the Spanish extravagance, which are
altogether indescribable. His Excellency the Governor,
however, made a prominentffigure upon the occaaion.
We will now adjourn to the supper-room. Here you see
an immensely long table, covered with dishes, and no seat
vacant ; some ladies and many officers standing to eat from
a green leaf by way of plate, and with their fingers by way of
spoon or fork; the Governor making a voluble speech,
and no one paying him the least attention, except the polite
English, who scarcely understood a word he said, owing to
his extreme rapidity and the loud noise of the room. Every
one spoke, ate, and laughed at the same time. The health
of the English commander of the Mexican squadron (a
nephew of Sir Sydney Smith) was drunk; upon which he
endeavoured three several times to make a speech, but could
not get an audience for his broken Spanish from the noisy
crowds about him. The Mexicans were in too great excite-
ment to attend to anything. I will just give one charac-
teristic anecdote, and then dismiss this uproarious supper.
The English vice-consul, by dint of bawling, and standing
up to make strong gesticulations, succeeded in getting a toast
drunk ; it was, " The Ladies of Vera Cruz." Upon this,
a Mexican colonel started up, and holding the glass over
his head like a wild bacchanal, drank the toast with an
insulting emphasis, and looking very hard at a Spanish lady
who sat opposite him. The insult was instantly taken, and
instantly revenged. She caught up a kn'fe, and flung it
across the table, point forwards, with a masterly hand. It
shot close by my forehead, over the head of an English tra-
veller, grazed our doctor's cheek, and hit the button and
epaulette of the offending colonel. All the foreigners looked
astonished, and naturally expected some terrible disturbance ;
but the matter passed off as quietly as possible, and nobody
seemed to think about, or notice the affair.