peak more at large hereafter. Cortez,
at first, landed on the island of Ulua, in front of the site of the
present city. But when he commenced his conquest he transported his
boats to the mouth of the river Antigua, where he founded his intended
city, a little way below the place where the national bridge now
stands, and gave it the name of the Rich City of the True Cross (Villa
Rica de Vera Cruz); and there it was where he destroyed his little
vessels. Ninety years after the conquest of Mexico, the Marquis De
Monterey removed the port back to Ulua, and founded the present city of
Vera Cruz. It was at first built of wood, but having been several times
burned down, it was at length built of its present material--a porous
stone full of animal remains, obtained from the bottom of the harbor.
This stone, when laid in and covered over with cement, forms a very
durable building-material. The castle, which stands upon the island of
Ulua, is now fast going to decay.

COMMERCE OF VERA CRUZ.

As a fortification it is no longer of great value,[2] although it is
computed that more than $16,000,000 was expended in its erection. In
fact, its only present practical advantage is derived from the
light-house which stands upon one of its towers.

This town, although it has been the terror of seafaring men for the
last three hundred years, has, for a like period of time, enjoyed an
enviable commerce. Nearly three-fourths of all the silver that has been
shipped to Europe from America during that long period has been sent
from this port, besides the other productions of the country, such as
cochineal, vanilla, wood of Tobasco, sarsaparilla, and jalap. To all
this we must add that all the trade of Spain with Japan, China, and the
Philipine Islands, was carried across Mexico from Acapulco, on the
Pacific, to be shipped from Vera Cruz to Spain. During the long period
we have named, this was the only port on the Atlantic side where
foreign commerce was allowed; and this was restricted to Spain alone,
and to a single fleet of merchant ships that came and went annually,
until about fifty years before the Mexican independence, when free
commerce was allowed with all the Spanish world. From a history of the
commerce of Vera Cruz, just published at Mexico, I find that its annual
average did not vary greatly from $12,000,000 importations against
$18,000,000 exportations. The extra $6,000,000 being about the annual
average of the royal revenue der