Ypsilanti sentinel. [volume] (Ypsilanti, Washtenaw Co., Mich.) 1843-1900, 1847-06-02

roy Don Martin Enriques de Almanac, for tn,
protection of the Royal shps--his excellency
having had an opportunity of witnessing, in
person. the danger to which they might be ex-
posed in the combat between his fleet and yes
sells of the famous English slave-trader, Johr
Hawkins, in 1861
| To return 10 myself; After rowing an hour
we entered part of the roadstead called the
harbor, where few small vessels were living
between the castle on the right and the city or
the left. 1t was night, and, although the moor
| shone brightly, objects were but indistinctly
seen at distance; as, however, had an oppor.
| tunity to examine them with more care on nv
return, l half describe them as | then fount
them.
The castle is somewat oblong on its GROUND
plan, with bastions at the angles, stretching in
its greatest length, about two hundred and fifty
yards in front of the city, from which it is dis
tant about half mile. The walls are very
high, probably not less than forty feet, and rise
Immediately from the water; and the whole
though imposing from its mass, is too regularly
geometrical in form to present much Of the pic
tIresque.
The city, as seen from the harbor, exhibits
another line of dead wall, extending about three
quarters of mile in length, between two forts
that of LA Caleta, orConcepcion,o on the north,
and that of Santiago on the south. The castle
and the city have each only one gate, opening
to the harbor. From the city gate mole OF
stone, about hundred fifty yards by ten in
breadth, stretches at right angles into the sea,
but not far enough to enable the smallest yes-
sells to lie near it. A crane at its extremity
showed that an attempt was made TO continue
it; but such work is beyond the power of the
present owners of Mexico,& the mole serves as
a place of execution for deserters and other re-
fractory individuals of the upper countries, who
are condemned to labor on it, and are, ofcourse,
soon despatched by the vomito.
When we had arrived at about two hundred
yards from the city wall, single pull of the
oars plunged our boat into the atmosphere of
the place, and could then, for the first time,
realize all that has been SAID of its insalubrty.
| had passed through the Jews quarteri in Rome
during summer; l had with difficulty threaded
the filthiest lanes of Naples at the same season
of the year, and made voyage of thirteen
days in an Italian felucca, loaded with Goldfish
and garlic, on the Mediterranean: but never be-
fore had l experienced such compound of hor-
rible odors as then assailed me. 1t increased,
of cour re, as we approached the mole, and on
landing could not but look with apprehension
at the gate though which | was to enter the
great laboratory where the fetid gases were
disenvolyed. The consul, Mr.. Burrough, re-
ceved me on the mole. After some parlev the
gate was opened, and we passed into wide
space, from which streets ran in various direc-
tions. Taking our way through one of those
streets which was strait, regular, well paved,
with sidewalks, and overlooked by handsome
buildings, we soon reached the Plaza de Armas
great square of the city; and Mr.. Burrough
knocking at large door on one side, it turn
e, Il 81 l.
yard of the hotel of Messrs. Fulton & Bell.
Without any disparagement to the worthy
persons last named, the night which l spent
under their roof was one of the most uncom
Portable of my lite. In a narrow room, with
the thermometer at 95deg and the atmosphere
such as might have been produced by the pres
ence of three or four corpses; suffocated if the
door on the balcony was shut, and chilled by
the damp winds if it remained open-for the
rainy season was the1 at its height and showers
succeeded each other with great rapidty; sew
eral clocks striking the hours and the quarters,
and Waterman under the window bawling out
his sails ret[' every ten minutes; devourcd by
mosquitoes out of bed, and bed bugs when laid
down, it is not surprising that | should have
longed for morning.
Morning at length came; aud at six o'clock,
after taking a most delightful cup of chocolate,
got into the diligencia, which was ju,t three
seat American stage made at Hartford. My
fellow passengers were sick man fromHavana
a merchant from Jalapa with his wife and their
niece, young mulatto senorlta, and French
woman, whom afterwards found to be not only
the first modiste of Vera Cruz, but also the dear
friend, the CONSIDER, and the JOY OF the highest
military parsonage of the department then re-
siding at Jalapa. The carriage was drawn by
i. x.ls. l. r. 4 i
die, and two IN front: on the left of the front
pair rode the 500, or postillion; the cochcro on
the box was aPhiladephian, for no ore inMexi-
CO would trust his neck n carriage over this
read with any other than a North american
driver. The streets through which we passed
were all like those seen on the previous evening,
straight and paved, and the houses were we'll
built, though for the most part in ruinous con-
dition. The city, in fact, with accommodations
for twenty thousand persons, contained not
more than onc-ffth Of that number; and l cap
rot yet comprehend Row SO small population
spread over so large space can manage to
concoct SO much putridity.
On leaving Vera Cruz, we drove for some
distance within two hundred yards Of the shore,
and at intervals through the water of the sea,
which over flows the wall at high tides. The
scene before us was desolate, presenting only
sandy plains interposed with ponds. AS we
advanced the surface became more uneven, and
patches of weeds were seen; then the chapPa-
I,or hammocks, as it is called in Florida, com
posed of vines and shrubs interviewer into
thick mass and at length, after three or four
miles, trees, chiefly palms and others ofunknown
families. People were met coming to the
town clothed generally in shirt and pair of
short linen trousers, like those worn by the
lazzaron in Naples, and driving mules or asses
loaded with varions articles carried in pannires
or bundles. They were all Indians, or Mestisos
or Sambos-tha; is, of mixed Indian and white
or negro blood, except few negroes, ana were
for the most part remarkably stout and healthy.
The houses first observed were merely sheds,
matched with palm leaves, under which the oc-
cupants slept in hammocks OF hides suspended
from the rafters: little further on they had
sides made Of reeds stuck in the ground, and IN
some cases the reeds were plastered with mud.