George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Major-General United States Army
George Gordon Meade, Ed.

[146] pomegranates, not dreaming they could be of any injury. The disease, however, is of a very mild character. I broke mine after the second attack, and have now been six days without a return, and hope with care to avoid it in future. Nearly one-third the army is down with it, and many of the poor wounded fellows have been attacked. It is said to be a very common disease at this place, though for what reason I cannot tell, for this appears the garden spot of the earth, the air purity itself, and no source of malaria visible. I wish you could be here to enjoy the delicious climate, to see the exquisite landscapes presented by the towering mountains, and the rich and fertile valley at their feet.

I believe I told you I had been living in town since the capitulation. At first I lived in a house with General Worth, who has shown the most uniform kindness to me; but not wishing to trespass too far upon his civility, and the death of Captain Williams making me senior, and thus detaching me from General Worth's staff and reattaching me to headquarters, I left General Worth's house, and have taken possession of one left in his charge by the proprietor, General Ortega, of the Mexican Army. This is considered one of the handsomest houses in town, and is furnished in a style considered in this country magnificent. The custom of the country is to furnish most plainly. Generally a table and a few chairs constitute the furniture of the parlors, and a bed, with a few chairs, that of the bedroom. But General Ortega, who is a man of wealth, and has been Governor of this Department (Nuevo Leon), a traveled man withal, has gone to great expense in furnishing his mansion, and I am now deriving the benefit of his liberality. The house has six rooms in it, as the subjoined sketch shows. The parlor, a long room, about the size, I should suppose, of the two in Fourth Street, is furnished with two mahogany pier-tables (French), with large mirrors over them. In each of the four corners are corner-pieces (tables), with vases filled with beautiful wax flowers, covered with glass. There are two mahogany centre-tables, cane-bottom and painted chairs, a mahogany sofa at one end, with a strip of ingrain carpet in front — a great luxury, and the only carpet I have seen in the town. The windows, uniformly open to the air, here have glass doors (of very large panes) to keep out the air when cold; the doors are all glass doors. A very splendid French clock, with ormolu ornaments, is on a table at the foot of the parlors, and the walls are hung all around with beautiful colored engravings (French), illustrating historical events in Spanish