Europeans coming to Veracruz during the 19th century were invariably impressed by its large population of vultures and sharks. Those who arrived in the 1860s in pursuit of Napoleon III's Mexican dream, or who followed in the train of Maximilian von Habsburg in the hope of sharing in the glory and profit of his new empire, found what one French officer called 'these disgusting animals' which 'stalk you like a prey' a sobering sight. Things were to turn out worse than their worst forebodings.

LRB 7 October 1993 | PDF Download