Its walls, with the reef on which it stands (Gallega), shelter the harbour of Vera Cruz--which, in fact, is only a roadstead--from the north winds.
Under the lee of San Juan the ships of commerce lie at anchor.

There are but few of them at any time.
Another large fort (Concepcion) stands upon the beach at the northern angle of the city, and a third (Santiago) defends it towards the south.
A circular bastion, with heavy pieces of ordnance, sweeps the plain to the rear, commanding it as far as the sand-ridges.
Vera Cruz is a pretty picture to look at, either from the sea or from the sand-hills in the interior.

Its massive domes--its tall steeples and turreted roofs--its architecture, half Moorish, half modern--the absence of scattered suburbs or other salient objects to distract the eye--all combine to render the City of the True Cross an unique and striking picture.

In fact, its numerous architectural varieties, bound as they are into compact unity by a wall of dark lava-stone, impress you with the idea that some artist had arranged them for the sake of effect.
The _coup d'oeil_ often reminded me of the engravings of cities in _Goldsmith's Epitome_, that used to be considered the bright spots in my lessons of school geography.
-- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- At break of day, on the 10th, the army took up its line of march through hills of sand-drift.

Division lapped upon division, regiment upon regiment, extending the circle of investment by an irregular echelon.
Foot rifles and light infantry drove the enemy from ridge to ridge, and through the dark mazes of the chaparral gorge.