Sketches of the campaign in northern Mexico : in eighteen hundred forty-six and seven / by an officer of the First Regiment of Ohio volunteers.

240 THE CAFES-THE SHOPS.
protects the inner walls from the sun, is itself generally
sheltered by the overhanging branches of fruit trees and rare
flowering vines, that breathe a delicious fragrance through
its cool arches. These colonnades, as we afterward discovered when stationed in the city, were just the places in
which to enjoy a siesta or a bottle of vinto tino and cigar,
after a fatiguing drill in the Plazca zmayor.
After visiting the churches and other public buildings,
which presented nothing remarkable either in design or
embellishment, we entered a restaurant, where a very poor
dinner was obtainable for sixteen rials, including the luxury
of a table-cloth. The Mexicans are much more temperate
than the Americans, both in eating and drinking; and their
cafes consequently are not as flourishing as those in our
towns and villages. Their favorite beverages now, as at the
princely feasts of the Aztec nobles in the days of their barbaric splendor, are the pulque, distilled from the aloe, and
the chocolate, prepared from the cacao. A very good red
wine is grown in parts of the tierra templacdct, the quality of
which might be much improved by the careful and cleanly
process of manufacture pursued in our Ohio vineyards.
Nearly all the shops of Monterey were open, and some of
them contained assortments of rare and valuable goods, particularly of Chinese fabrics. The market also seemed to be
well attended by the country people. Relying on the friendly
assurance contained in the proclamation of the military governor of the city, the citizens had gradually returned to their
homes. But they evidently avoided any familiar intercourse
with the Americans. Naturally taciturn and serious, the