the richest
and most prosperous merchants in Matamoros, and a very nice fellow.

After dinner we went to a _fandango_, or open-air fete. About 1500
people were gambling, and dancing bad imitations of European dances.

* * * * *

_5th April_ (Sunday).--Mr Zorn, or Don Pablo as he is called here, Her
Majesty's acting Vice-Consul, is a quaint and most good-natured little
man--a Prussian by birth. He is overwhelmed by the sudden importance he
has acquired from his office, and by the amount of work (for which he
gets no pay) entailed by it,--the office of British Consul having been a
comparative sinecure before the war.

Mr Behnsen is head of the firm. The principal place of business is at
San Luis Potosi, a considerable city in the interior of Mexico. All
these foreign merchants complain bitterly of the persecutions and
extortion they have to endure from the Government, which are, doubtless,
most annoying; but nevertheless they appear to fatten on the Mexican
soil.

I crossed to Brownsville to see General Bee, but he had not returned
from Boca del Rio.

I dined with Mr Oetling. We were about fourteen at dinner, principally
Germans, a very merry party. Mr Oetling is supposed to have made a
million of dollars for his firm, by bold cotton speculations, since the
war.

We all went to the theatre afterwards. The piece was an attack upon the
French and upon Southern institutions.

* * * * *

_6th April_ (Monday).--Mr Behnsen and Mr Colville left for Bagdad this
morning, in a very swell ambulance drawn by four gay mules.

At noon I crossed to Brownsville, and visited Captain Lynch, a
quartermaster, who broke open a great box, and presented me with a
Confederate felt hat to travel in. He then took me to the garrison, and
introduced me to Colonel Buchel of the 3d Texas Regiment, who is by
birth a German, but had served in the French army; and he prepared
cocktails in the most scientific manner. I returned to Matamoros at 2.30
P.M.

Captain Hancock and Mr Anderson (the paymaster) arrived from Bagdad in a
most miserable vehicle, at 4 P.M. They were a mass of dust, and had been
seven hours on the road, after having been very nearly capsized on the
bar.

There was a great firing of guns and squibs in the afternoon, in
consequence of the news of a total defeat of the French at Puebla, with
a loss of 8000 prisoners and 70 pieces of cannon.

Don Pablo, who had