_Vera Cruz_ is the mart for the merchandizes of the East and West India Islands. The situation of the city is bad, on account of the marshy soil and the barren tract round it. It projects in a semicircular form into the sea, and is inclosed with a parapet six feet in height, and three broad at the crest, having a palisade. This rampart has six low bastions or square towers, twelve feet high. Along the shore on the north-west is a redoubt mounted with cannon; and on the south-east is another, to defend the port. The houses of the city are built of stone, and have wooden balconies; the streets being wide, paved, and in good order. The churches are numerous and richly decorated, and the inhabitants are chiefly merchants, very indolent, and very devout Catholics. The great luxury of their houses is porcelain; trade is carried on here to a great extent, and the city is accounted to have seven or eight houses, each worth a million of dollars. The women are not reckoned very handsome, and are kept in great retirement; they are excused from going to mass during the north winds, which are very violent, and load the ramparts with sand from the beach. Processions and religious shows are the principal amusement of the people, who, during the time there are no arrivals, are computed at about 16,000: but this amount is much swelled in the season when the fleet arrives from Spain; at which time there is a fair here and at Xalapa, and lodging is not to be had. The display of riches on this occasion is immense; but since the galleons have been done away with, and the restrictions of the other ports taken off, Vera Cruz, no longer enjoying the monopoly, has dwindled from its former importance; it is, however, still a place of great trade. In the rainy season, the water falls chiefly during the night, and at this period the marshes and bogs on the south are infested with alligators of seven or eight feet in length, but which are said to be innocent. The mosquitoes, during this season, are intolerable, and the country subject to earthquakes, so that these evils, combined with its unhealthy situation, render it no very desirable residence. Commerce, all-powerful commerce, nevertheless, draws man to this abode, and in the middle of swamps, reptiles, venomous insects, tornadoes and earthquakes, he finds enjoyment in its pursuit, and shortens his life to amass a few grains of dust to enrich those, who after he is gone, laugh at him for his pains. The Buccaneers and different powers having taken and sacked this city several times, the Spanish government built small forts along the line of coast near it.