In that season comes an accumulation of evils.

The sun is at its height; there is no north wind to clear the air; and the heavy tropical rains--more than three times as much in quantity as falls in England in the whole year--come down in a short rainy season of four months.

The water filters through the sand-hills, and forms great stagnant lagoons; a rank tropical vegetation springs up, and the air is soon filled with pestilential vapours.

Add to this that the water is unwholesome; the city too is placed in a sand-bath which keeps up a regular temperature, by accumulating heat by day and giving it out into the air by night, so that night gives no relief from the stifling closeness of the day.

No wonder that Mr.Bullock, the Mexican traveller, as he sat in his room here in the hot season, heard the church-bells tolling for the dead from morning to night without intermission; for weeks and weeks, one can hardly even look into the street without seeing a funeral.
We turned back through the city, and walked along watching the Zopilotes--great turkey-buzzards--with their bald heads and foul dingy-black plumage.