by a kind-hearted Frenchman and lady,5 who gave us supper at a low price, and the good woman divided all her husband's old clothes among our more destitute comrades. Here we met [228] an unpretending, whole-souled German, a blacksmith by trade, who insisted upon giving us all his clothes except what he had on; and when our pulque-drinking officer refused to let us have more than one gourd full of vino mascal, because, he said, it would make Texians very dangerous, our German friend told him "he was a fool; that Texians had stronger heads, and could drink ten times as much as Mexicans, and still be men." This German philosophy procured us the second and third gourd full of the ethereal liquid, and all hands went to sleep praising the Dutch nation.

Of all nations, we found the Germans the most devoted to the interest of their fellow-countrymen in prison; next to them, the Scotch; next, the English; and last, our own Yankee nation. Mortifying as this acknowledgment is where my countrymen are concerned, truth requires me to say it. It is true, that in some instances we have met a whole-souled countryman, both from the north and south of our Republic, who would not only share with us his purse, but his blood. Such countrymen, though few, live in Mexico, and we regret most sincerely that we would do them a disservice by specifying their generosity; but, on the other hand, the bulk of our countrymen found abroad, and especially in that country, are a cold, calculating race; they go abroad for the purpose of accumulation; they have no sentiment beyond such miserable lucre, and they would permit a countryman to starve in a foreign [229] dungeon just as they would at their own doors. The German does not wait to make the personal acquaintance of his oppressed countrymen: he asks their number in distress - feeds and clothes them, to the credit of their nation. Thus will also a Scotchman and Englishman do. We found many generous Frenchmen, though we had but few French prisoners. The old proverb, "When you cannot say anything good of your household, to say nothing," prevents me from instancing several of the most superlative meannesses of our countrymen.

March 20th. This morning we procured some of the most miserable burros we have seen, and eight leagues brought us to San Martin, a considerable village in a broad, cultivated, and well-watered plain. At this place our red-faced officer and guard returned to the capital, and we were turned over, March 21st, to two lieutenants; the oldest long, lean, and lank - a dyspeptic-looking man, who appeared always hungry - a fine specimen of ill nature and low breeding; the other quite a youth, but evidently the son of a gentleman: he was well bred, and exceedingly civil. They guarded us to Puebla, a large city ninety miles from the capital. This day we marched eight leagues, and were quartered in a horribly filthy room in a cavalry barracks. We asked our long lieutenant to "have the filth removed from our room - that we would pay the soldiers for so doing;" he replied in the most contemptuous manner to our request, when an exceedingly