After numerous fatigues and dangers he at length saw himself near the end of his journey, and approached Guaxaca. At a village, within a short distance of that place, he saw, for the first time in his life, and with the utmost pleasure, the fine cochineal feeding on the nopal, or cactus, which it frequents. He saw a garden full of nopals, and not doubting but that they were laden with cochineal insects, he sprang from his horse, and, under pretence of adjusting his stirrups, entered into conversation with the Indian proprietor of the garden. He asked him with apparent indifference what was the use of those plants, and was answered, that they were for the cultivation of _grana_. Feigning surprise, de Menonville asked to be permitted to see this grana, and he was really astonished when the insect was brought to him, for he had supposed it red, and it was in fact covered with a white powder. “My doubts,” he says, “were tormenting, but I suddenly thought of the expedient of crushing one upon white paper, when what did I see?—the true purple of kings!” Full of delight and anticipation, the traveller now set forward towards the spot where he might hope to make himself acquainted with the culture of the precious insect, and purchase a store for transportation. Nothing could be more beautiful than the situation of Guaxaca, capital of the province of that name. Standing in the midst of fertile and extensive plains, at the foot of a majestic mountain range, and watered by a fine and noble river, this city is richly supplied with corn and fruits of all kinds, at the same time that its environs supply a most favourable site for the culture of the cochineal. The air, continually refreshed by easterly breezes in the morning, and westerly in the evening, is pure and delicious, like that of a May morning. Indeed, our traveller asserts, that for magnificence of site, beauty of decoration, excellence of soil, fine temperature, and abundance of European and American fruits succeeding each other without intermission, nothing is wanting to Guaxaca to make it an enchanting spot, but an active and industrious people, to avail themselves of its natural advantages.