H35 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/sevenmexicancitiOOkend 15 5EYEN MEXICAN CIIIES By JOHN S. HENDAIL. «Ises from the opposite side. The result- iS" that seassickn.ess is practically u-n • kqow-n on -bpardj- 'In tiie summer ti.i>ie,- jespepially,- When .the fGulf fit Mexico is a,t its,: peacefuUest, ..aH pie way possible at Tampico. All you need is a stout line, a big hook, some bait and a place on the nrharf. In the bar attached to one of the hotels in Tampico there is a room decorated with the scales of tarpon caught in just such unpretentious ways, each scale adorned with the name of the fisherman, the weight of the fish and the date of the event. The collection is large and grrowing, for every year more and more people come to Tampico for the fishing, the fame of which is gradually being noised abroad. As yet, however, it is one of those places which the soul of Isaak Walton would have delighted in — where there is plenty of fish and not enough competitors to spoil sport. Tarpon as big as any ever caught are regularly taken in the Panuco in front of the city, and the supply seems absolutely inex- haustible. There is no doubt of it, Tampico is the fisherman's real par- adise. ohaf=>xe:r II The Gateway of Northeastern Mexico — Rapid Growth of the Honey Business — Hundreds of Barrels of Honey Exported Every Year — Experimenting- with Bananas— American Colonies in the Tampico District— Reasons Why Many of Them Fave Proven Unsuccessful — End of Hard Times in Tampico — Bright Future of the Little City — Municipal Sanitary Enter- prises — Notable Work of Dr. Matienza — ^Ridding Tampico of Mosquitoes — Sewerage and Drainage — Strict Quaran- tine Laws Rig-idly Enforced — Healthfulness of the Port Demonstrate^^— A Visit to the Hospital. VVVHE population of Tampico is \ 7 about 20,000. Tlie American \ / colony numbers about 250, & '2' but the members thereof are constantly changing. The business of the city is largely , JS) in the hands of brokers and commission merchants. The imports are valued at $49,000,000, and the exports at $14,000,000 per annum. The imports are principally lumber, coal and coke, machinery, rails and other manufactured articles of steel and iron, the former for the use of the railroad, and the latter partly for the railroad and partly for t?he use of the big smelters in the in- terior. Tlie exports are principally bullion, ixtle, hides and honey. The bullion comes to Tampico not only from the smelters -within a short radius of the port, but from as, far off as the vicinity of El Paso. The railroad makes a rate through Tam- pico to New York which is lower than the all-rail rate. This is prob- ably due to tfie fact that the road has to bring empty care to the sea, and can afford to reduce the freight charges on the ore in order to find something with which to fill these cars. Tlie bullion goes principally to Perth Amboy, -where it is refined. The second principal feature of the export trade, ixtle, is a kind of in- ferior grade of hennequin (sisal), and is valued for use in making ropes, etc. Something is also done with zapupe, a species of fiber w^hich grows luxuriantly in the vicinity of Tampico, but the commercial possi- bilities of which are just now being recognized. Zapupe can be sold at a somewhat higher price than sisal, and while it is not as valuable as the latter, the length of the fiber and the fact that the plant matures in about one-third of the time re- quired for sisal, indicates that it can be made profitable. The honey business is rapidly, growing. The Mexican-American Steamship Company brings down every month an immense number of whisky barrels, which are promptly returned filled with honey. The usual shipment is 75 or 100 barrels. So far no attempt has been made to cultivate the bee scientifically. The Indians in the interior, on whom the merchants now rely for the entire supply, construct their apiaries _ in the most primitive mannei:, utilizing hollow stumps of trees, caves, tin cans, etc. When the sewerage works were being inaugurated in Tampico recently much trouble was exper- ienced from thefts by the natives of sections of earthenware pipe. These were quickly turned into bee hives. Afterwards the Indians found that they could procure pieces of chipped pipe for the askiixg, and consequent- ly, while the thefts ceased, the num- ber of bee hives of this unique fa- shion has augmented steadily. The Indians collect the honey ii^ empty five-gallon oil cans, load them into their canoes and transport them down the Panuco and the Tamasi Rivers to market. They present a very picturesque sight. These are indications that the fruit business, once a prosperous feature of Tampico commerce, will be revived. Formerly, lightdraught schooners running into Tampico took back to the United States car- 10 Seven Mexican Cities. goes of luscious bananas, but the development of the Central American ports has destroyed the traffic. Re- cently, however, a California syndi- cate, headed by a man named Trigg, has acquired an extensive tract of land about sixty miles from Tampi- co. Communication is maintained from the plantation witli Tampico by tlie Panuco River. Here experi- Tampico can make a trip in tvsro and a half or three days. Obviously, a detention of three days longer, as required by .t,l\e existing quarantine laws, would make it unprofitable for the ships to go in the trade on a large scale. •;';:■' Though the American colony in Tampico is small, there are, per- haps, '/'.OOO ot our countrymen set- L.o:i-rE:F=R Mountain Scenery Bel\yeen Tampico and San Luis Potosi — Won- derful JEngineeririg Work in the Tamosopo Valley — Pit-Like Ravines a Thousand Feet Beep— Ascent of Fifteen Hundred Feet in Less Than Thirty Miles— Through the Desert— The Charm of Guanajuato — Old^Fashioned Mexican Mining Town High Up in the Hills,' Which Remains To-Day Exactly as It Was a Century Agor— A Costly Theatre — The Campo Santo and Its MummieSi ROM Tampico to San Luis. Po- tosi, a distance of about 300 miles, the Si;0kican Central .Railroad runs, throUgfii coun- try every foot of" which ,is- interesting. The train leaves Tampico at, 6 o'clock, and plung-es alnj^bgt at-;-p,nce 'into a tropical jungle of ■.•mesquite, in the g-narled branches of which grow niil- lions of orchids. Here and there a. sugar plantatiort reliev.es;:,the green •monotony of the , walderness. At Ebano, a typical little' Station, al- reaay hot and dusty though , the' morning has but begun,; one sees huge tanks and talF'derricks erected by the railroad company. /Ebanos; is the center of what prorhis^^* to be ^h important oil field. Many.5of the io- comotives operated on... this section of the Mexican Central have already been equipped to.; use oil in' lieu of coal. If the Ebano wells prove as productive as now seems proba;ble, one of the pressing industrial prob- lems of northeastern Mexico will be solved. Nothing has handicapped the development of this rich and fertile section of the republic more than, the- lack of fuel. Coal is imported from the United States and England; wood is costly and not always easy to pro- cure, and it is in petroleum that the hope of the land obviously lies. The exploitation of the field has, how- ever, not been made on a very ex- tensive scale, nor at any other poiiit than Ebano. Beyond that stopping place the simple, pastoral character of the landscape reasserts itself. Nothing is more interesting than the silent, impassive crowd which ■ g'athers at the average Mexican rail*- road station to watch i^ie ^rain' go> ty. -.imost invariably a well- mounted l-anchero reins in hiS' horse to enjoy the spectacle. The costumes of those we saw between Ebano and Tamasopo were not especially pic- turesque, except in respect to hats. 'a loose, shapeless garment envel- oped the body and joined the coarse cotton' trousers under the crimson :.-f,olds of a wide sash tightly lashed ,jiround the waist. The hat, however, was of nlonutnental proportions, two; •;"and even three., feet in diameter aci-OBs tne brim and fully half as high, rising into a tall cone of felt or straw, as the owner's taste dic- ts»ted.-V Often leather ornaments, .gaily worked with colored braids, and a "massive woolen cord added to its weight. Which - in the hot sunshine -must have been almost unendurable. Rich- and poor alike . affected these huge hats. We even found one old fellow who wore two, one spiked upon the other, like some new kind of portable pagoda. The dress of the women was rudimentary in its sim- plicity. So far as the casual glance revealed, it consisted of a single long white garment, girded at tne waist, and a blue shawl, or reboso, draped over the head and shoulders. All, without distinction of sex, gazed at the train with dull faces, without so much as a passing expression of in- terest, as though they had forgotten the purpose for which they had as- sembled, or found the spectacle much less interesting than they had hoped. In the vicinity of the little station of Coco the road leaves the plains and enters the foothills, which, grad- ually rising from that point, attain a height of 6,000 feet before the day is over. From this point, onward the lover of beautiful scenery finds much to delight him. There is one section, of the trip from Tamasopo 16 Seven Mexican Cities. At thv F«»utttain Bi'fore the Pari:sli Church, Giianajnnto. to Las Canoas, which in_ ruggea grandeur rivals anything- of the kind in Switzerl-and. Before arriving at Tamasopo the route lies for a con- siderable distance among the lower spurs of the Sierra, but there is nothing to prepare the mind for the sudden transition frora the compara- tive commonplace of tropical land- scape to the verdant wonder of the hills beyond that :station. It is about 1± o'clock when the train stops at Tamasopo for breakfast. Prom the platform of the little station one may look up and up and up the appar- ently unscalable heights, all bosked Seven Mexican Cities. 17 with woods. But there is absolutely no hint of the tremendous dramg. that is about to open. For a few miles the train runs un- concernedly along- through little patches of willow and mesquite, al- ternating with tiny plowed fields as yet bare in the brig-ht sunshine, but soon to become green with harvest. Suddenly a huge hill seems to bar the way; the tracks curve sharply around its base, and for many min- utes the traveler finds himself riding along a slielf in the rock, mounting little by little, but all the time look- ing back over the valley and the lit- tle station he has just left. Then, suddenly, as though one had just turned the leaf of a great story- book and come unexpectedly upon a Strange and spirit-stirring drama, the matchless conception of the en- gineer who constructed the road be- comes clear. His task -was to scale these mountains, and he has executed it in the boldest manner, run- ning his levels back and forth across the almost precipitous slopes, carry- ing the track up and on to the very summit, often requiring the whole circuit of the valley to gain a few feet of elevation. There are points ■u-here one can count three distinct lines of track on the same hillside. ihe grandeur and magnitude of the work can be appreciated from the fact that for nearly two hours the train continues in sight of the hamlet of Tamasopo. Tunnels may hide it from sight for a few mo- ments; a gigantic hill may snatch it from view; but ultimately it reap- pears in the landscape, growing con- stantly smaller as the perpendicular distance increases. Obviously, vol- canic forces of the most gigantic character have been at work here in times past, carving the hills into strange shapes. Then the torrential tropical rains have gashed the slopes and precipitated avalanches of rock into the ravines, leaving the very bones of the mountains bare and glis- tening. Sometimes these wall-like formations thrust themselves out from the ground directly in the way of the train. Many tunnels such as the three at Espinaza have been cut through just such barriers. For one bewildering moment they snatch you away from sunshine and the hills — ■ for they are seldom more than a few score feet in length — and then, with a rush and roar, the train leaps back into the clear day, leaving you breathless with surprise as some gi- gantic valley opens out beneath you, perhaps a thousand feet deep. There are places where, after leaving the wide grandeur of the Tamasopo Canon, the eye plunges directly down into pitlike ravines, five or six hun- dred feet deep, into which a plummit might be easily dropped from tlie car window without encountering in- terruption till at the bottom it would be received in the rocky bed of some now dry rivulet. In spite of the amazing complexity of the hill-forms in all this region, the lush vegetation of the tropics never loses its grip on the rocks for more tnan a few feet at a time. Here and there, on the shoulder of a iiul, where it hardly seems possible for a human being to keep his feet for a single staggering instant, a hardy mountaineer has planted a tiny field. Once we saw, stuck like a postage stamp upon the perpendicu- lar face of a verdant cliff a thousand feet high, a tiny thatched cottage, a mere eyrie, such as an eagle might inhabit; yet there were women and children dwelling in that apparently inaccessible home, for they thronged to the lip of the tremendous descent and watched our train rushing by on the opposite hillside. This ride is one of the most re- markable experiences that can come into a man's life. The distance from tamasopo to Las Canoas, where the grandest part of the scenery comes to an end, is less than thirty miles, but the ascent is 1,500 feet. Carde- nas, which is a few kilometers be- yond Las Canoas, is situated nearly 4,000 feet above the sea. It is easy to understand, then, that for most of the distance between these towns the grades are of from 3 to 3 1-2 per cent. At the season of the year in which we saw it the country was suffering from a lack of rain, and the hun- dreds of little water courses that would otherwise have lent life to the landscape were lacking. Only the ury, rock-strewn channels through which they flow at other times, seamed the ravines. There was, how- ever, one bold little river which de- fied the heat and the drought and went thundering over the cliffs near the statioji of Abra, in a cascade 300 feet high. "El Salto del Abra," it is called. The unexpected sight of its green current, dashing out, as it were from a deep cave of trees, itself the color of emerald, and then beaten to snowy foam as it plunged into va- cancy, was one of the most delight- ful sensations of the trip. But, beautiful as these streamlets must be in the rainy seasons, when the now dry canyons each receive its headstrong little torrent, they are a scource of unquestionable danger to the railroad. Between Las Canoas and Tamasopo the number of track 18 Seven Mexican Cities. walkers is increased to two or three per mile during that part of the year. They go armed with dyna- mite, searching for rocks dislodged by water and precipitated upon the track. It is said that hardly a day passes witliout tlie discovery and re- moval of enormous fragments of sandstone that would otherwise cause the wreck of trains and serious loss of life. The system is so perfect, however, that no accident has ever it a matter of superfluous effort to seek as yet to' reclaim the desert. There is, however, something in the very Immensity of the barren pros- pect terminating many miles away in a line of blue hills, that impresses, the imagination. Nor is the long- perspective devoid of life. Here and there a,t comparatively frequent irl-^ tervals the wails of a "hacienda" lift themselves white above tlie gnarled mesquite, inclosing within its ample *'I^a Presa,*' Guanajuato's Famous Park. occurred, nor is likely to, so long as this sleepless vigilance is main- tained. After leaving Cardenas, a thriving town of some size, the landscape loses most of its charm. Fortlinately, then, evening comes on, and the few remaining hours of daylight serve to giye the traveler a glimpse of the desert. For it is a desert, sparsely grown with cactus and mesquite. Doubtless this arid region could be made to blossom as bravely as any, if irrigated, but the abundance of de- sirable farming land in Mexico renders protection all the appurtenances of the ranch. It is astonishing with what persistence the khan type of dwelling holds its own in this land, now happily rid of the lawless ele- ment that originally justified the construction of these fortress-like liomes. For the "hacienda" of a by- gone generation was ^practically a citadel, and sheltered herds and re- tainers at night against the attack of marauders. This type of dwell- ing, however, is in entire harmony with the oriental character of the landscape, and adHs a touch of won- Seven Mexican Cities. 19 der to the scene fast losing- distinct- ness in the haze of twilight. Soon darkness shuts in; the big-, lustrous Mexican stars begin to appear, one by one, -with startling suddenness and individuality, as tliough each tiny point of flame determines independ- ently the moment to illumine itself, careless of its fellows. Our train, rushing- on to its destination, and soon to halt in the spacious station at San Luis Potosi, hardly seems a part of the peaceful night without. has resulted a system of parks and streets the like of which probably exists nowhere else in the world — ten-aces, stairs, inclined planes lead- ing up to houses higli on the hillsides like swallows' nests; plazas ant* parks half in the air, half-sunken be- low the level of the adjacent prop- perty, and everywhere brilliant color and quantities of flowers, making- up a scene as unusual and it is beauti- ful. Guanajuato dates back to 15.54, but Saddling Donkeys for the Ride to the Canipo Santo, Guanajuato, Few of the hundreds of tourists whom the Mexican Central annually brings from the United States to the City of Mexico think it worth "while to interrupt their journey at Silao, and make the side trip to Guaina- juato. This is strange, becaute Guanajuato is one of the most pic- turesque and interesting places in Mexico. It is located at the intersec- tion of three ravines, and from this unusual g-eological formation there its prosperity began in 17j60, when a poor Spaniard, tlien called Obregon, but subsequently invested with the title of Count of Valenciana, discov- ered a mine there of surpassing rich- ness. The town has always been fa- inous for its mines. It is even now liiLiC more tlian a mining ca-mp. Its main industry is the handling of ores: its chief source of wealth the traffic in supplies for the miners at work hi.o-li up in the hills. Of late the control of some of the ricnest of 20 Seven Mi-xican Cities. these properties has passed into the Jiands of Americans, and it is to be feared that tlie city, which has till :now resisted the modernizing- influ- ences at work elsewhere taroug-hout tlie republic, will lose much of its Old World charm in the course of the next few years. ^ Life, no doubt, will be made much more comfortable, taut it is a question whether the gain in •convenience \vill offset the loss of ■qualities w^hich now make Guanaju- ato a delight to the jaded sightseer. tie river, crossed by stone bridges mossy with years. On the other are ruins of scores of ore-rendering es- tablishments partially or wholly de- stroyed in the inundation of July, 1905. It is impossible to give any idea of tlie amazing picturesqueness of these moldering structures, so vast in extent, so romantic In their forti- fied strength. Some of them are cen- turies old, and have had occasion to test the value of their loopholed w^alls and turrets against bandits Facade of the Juarea Theatre, Guauu.iuato. The scenic charm of the place, how- ever, can never be destroyed. Leaving Silao by train, a short half-hour brings one to tne town of Marfil, in itself only less picturesque than Guanajiia'-o Fro— > Marfl' i' 's necessary to take a street car drawn by four rambunctious mules. For three miles the tracks follow the great road constructed by the Span- ish at a cost of millions in money -and nearly eighty-three years of la- bor. It is a marvel of engineering in its way. At one side brawls a lit- who have been tempted to attack tliem in hopes of securing the treas- ures garnered within. Guanajuato, being situated in the hills, there has always been danger to apprehend from cloudbursts, and on more than one occasion serious damage has been inflicted upon the adjacent country by sudden floods. That which occurred last year was, however, the greatest and most de- structive of which there is any rec- ord. The water topped the dam of the water works reservoir two or Seven Mexican Cities. 21 three miles from the city, and when this vast mass of masonry finally col- lapsed a solid wall of water rushed roaring down upon Guanajuato and Marfil. In the former city the flood stood sixteen feet deep in many places. All over the town may be seen little blue, g-lazed tablets set in the walls of the houses, recording- the height to which the water rose. In the lovely little parish church the floor was six or eight feet below the flood level. Singualrly little harm was done to the city by the inunda- tion, or, if not so, the evidences of damage have been repaired. But in the outskirts of Marfil and all along the marvelously picturesque journey thence to Guanajuato we saw on every hand the ruins of great build- ings which were the prey of the storm. So great was the destruction here that it seemed as though we were passing through Pompeii or St. Pierre. In the midst of the ruTns, however, the vivid life of Mexico •went on much as usual. Strings of mules loaded with ore passed us, coming and going along the old Spanish road. Here and there a group of idlers sat on the piers of a shattered drawbridge or merry chil- dren romped along the battlements of some old "hacienda" a thousand feet long, where a huge water wheel, once so busy, was now motionless and silent. Our crowded little car deposited us with dramatic abruptness in the tiny triangular plaza in the very heart of Guanajuato. This is probably the largest piece of level ground in the city limits. It measures hardly a hundred feet along its greatest side, but, ah, how full it is of bloom and blossom, tree and shrub! The su- perbly-carved facade of the parisli church tempted us to go within. The interior was cool and sweet; the altars glittered with lights, and there were pictures and frescoes on the walls to make the place beautiful. In a little chapel at the right of the altar we found hundreds of votive offerings nailed to the wall — pictures painted on tin in the crudest fashion, representing the intervention of heavenly powers, when prayer had been answered by the preservation of life or some unexpected stj-oke of good fortune. The very absence of all artistic merit made these quaint little pictures all the more interest- ing, mute testimonials as they were to the sincerity of the faith which placed them in their present posi- tion. Adjoining this charming little church stands the most splendid theatre in the Western World. The Teatro Juarez is truly one of the- wonders of Mexico. The exterior, constructed of some fine gray stone, is more or less Grecian in design, with a magnificent portico fully fifty feet in height, tlie cornice decorated with bronze statues of the muses. Bronze replicas of Thorwaldsen's lions flank the noble steps that lead' up to the entrance. The foyer is in the Pompeiian style, exquisitely fres- coed, and rich with bronze, marble, gold and carved wood. The audito- rium is not large, but its fittings are- perfect, and the Persian decorations are carried out with a lavishness hardly to be appreciated until seen. The impression of accumulated richness is almost overpo\yering. I believe the structure cost the Mexi- can Government a million dollars. Why so expensive a building was erected in this out-of-the-way moun- tain town is one of the problems which the leisurely tourist may solve for himself. There it is, finished ful- ly ten years ago, and only used two- or three times since it was dedi- cated, in 1903, by President Diaz In person. The custodian, who showed us over the place, told us tiiat from the day it was pronounced finished till the time when the President ar- rived to dedicate it, the building re- mained closed. "And since tlien," he added, a bit wistfully, as it seemed to us, "we lend it only to high-class- companies — none other are worthy of this place, veritable temple of art as it is. And they are not many, senor!" Probably not, we reflected, as we followed him from saloon to saloon, admiring the sumptuous gilded furni- ture, upholstered in crimson velvet and bullion fringe, the busts and vases specially designed for their places, the statues and the costly in- laid floors. One of the historic places in Guan- ajuato, the Alhondi^a de Grenaditas, is worth visiting if only to look at the spike on which the liead of Hidal- go was thrust after the execution of" that patriot leader in Chihuahua. The head remained there, moldering in the sunshine, for ten years, and then, Mexico having flung off the yoke of its Spanish masters, was transported to the City of Mexico and interred in the Chapel of the Kings, in the Cathedral. The Alhondiga was erected in 1785 as a commercial ex- change, and long served that purpose. But now it has fallen from its higli estate, and is utiliped as a prison where convicts are tauglit trades, in the hope — alas, how often vain! — of rendering them on their release use- ful members of the community. Hi- dalgo's story is closely connected 22 Sevkn Mexican Cities. -with Guanajuato, for it was here that he gained his first important victory over the Spanish in 1810, and it was here, too, tliat Calleja defeated Al- lende, Hidalg-o's friend and lieuten- ant, and cruelly punished the loyalty of the populace lo the cause of lib- erty by shooting- many of the promi- nent citizens, imprisoning others, and levying heavy fines upon hundreds more. But the artistic soul will not ask for historic associations in Guana- flowers, flowers! It is through scenes like these that one rambles on to the upper end of the town, to La Presa, one of the reservoirs connected with the water works, which Mexican ingenuity and love of the beautiful have converted into a park and pleas- ure resort. Nothing can be more fas- cinatingly lovely than the slender tower which overlooks the broad pool of -water dreaming in the sun- shine, willow trees glassing them- selves in its smooth surface. The The Plaza at Guanajuato. juato. The place is its own excuse for being. Every street corner is a picture. Here a sudden turn of the hillside reveals a stone fountain, the toright water plashing into a mossy basin and an Indian girl, wrapped in her reboso, standing beside it with .a huge earthenware jar on her shoul- der. Another vista will disclose on the hillside a little home such as Seneca or Cicero might have fre-- ciuented on the Appian Way, so truly does it reproduce in plan and color- ing the type of Roman dwelling of 2,000 years ago. And everywhere are , dam is high and coped with stone so as to- form a noble esplanade looking down on a little park below, where at times tlie band, plays and where there is at all other hours a cease- less choiring of birds. It is probably one of the most beautiful spots in Mexico. The most interesting place in Guanajuato to-day is the Gampo santo. It stands on a hill to the north cif the city, is inclosed in high walls and looks like a fortress rather than a cemetery. The approach is along a street which runs steeply up Seven Mexican Cities. 23 the hillside between rows of box trees, each primly set by itself in a little circular wall of rough stone. The houses continue almost to the very gate of the cemetery, then cease abruptly, as thoug-h awed by the proximity of sacred soil, leaving the tourist face to face with a superb view over the thronging "casas" of the city and the multitudinous blue hills beyond. Usually, the arduous ascent is made on donkeys, numbers clamorous children, all eager for the honor and emoluments which go witli tlie task of holding a donkey's head during the absence of its rider. The cemetery is open to all, but there is some formality connected with the admission to the crypts, where the great curiosity of the place is seen, and it is well to go armed with a card from the proper autliori- ties. We omitted this important per- formance, and consequently had a A Youthful Adjunct to the AVater AVorks, Gusiuajuato. of v/hicli can be hired at the base of the liill. Tlie advent of foreigners suffices to set tlie entire neighbor- hood in commotion. The proprietor of the donkeys promptly hurries for- ward; scores of bright-eyed urchins crowd around, .soliciting the gift of a cent or two: women and girls draped in blue rebosos appear before the houses to gaze amusedly at the ani- mated scene, and finally, when the party, mounted and ready for adven- ture, sets forth, it is usually accom- panied at least as far as the gateway ■of the cemetery by a battalion of long \vait in the laot S'lnsliine while the affable sexton liurried off as fast as his fat little legs would permit in searcn of our credentials. While we waited we liad ample time to ex- plore the cemetery, whicli, as a mat- ter of fact, is rather a bare and gloomy place, in spite of the glorious sunsliine and tlie pungent mountain air. Tlie high walls are lined with tiers of "ovens." those curious colum- baria wliic-- all Latin races have in- herited from Roman ancestors, and which have been adapted to new uses now that the unpopularity of 24 Seven Mexican Cities. cremation has robbed them of their only reason for existing-. Five and even six tiers of tombs arise to the very lip of the wall, the top of which, thus made astonishingly wide, can be gained by ladder, and thence another magnificent view of the city may be obtained. Long ambulatories, shield- ed from the sun by rows of arches, afford a grateful shade for such as have occasion to walk there, scan- ning the inscriptions upon the tombs. The vast area thus inclosed has un- fortunately been left uare of floral adornment, though here and there scattered over its parched surface are- many marble monuments, some of them of great artistic merit. Our amiable friend, the sexton, re- turning- with a bit of pasteboard be- tween his perspiring fingers, led us to the farthest arcade and pointed to an iron ring set in one of the huge flags that form the pavement. "It Is down there," he whispered, in a voice which familiarity with the se- crets of the place could not rob of a certain awe. He seized. the ring, and with many a tug, raised the stone from its resting place, revealing .1 circular opening running far do^vn into the darkness and silence below. It was a -winding stair cut in the living rock. Had the little sexton not promptly led the way, I doubt if any in our party -would have felt equal to the descent into so unprom- ising a place. But, -with a final glance at the sunlit tombs around us, we followed our guide into obscurity. As a matter of fact, the winding stair was shorter than it seemed and ended fifteen or twenty feet below the surface of tlie earth in an arched entrance giving access to a long, dimly-illuminated tunnel. It is said that this grim vault, excavated deep an the hillside, is 900 feet in length and has a width of twenty feet. The light which finds its way into the depths enters from circular openings high up on the side wall, and is so thin and ghostly that at first, before the eye becomes accustomed to the semidarkness, tlie tunnel seems in ■ terminable, high and long and nar- row out of all proportions, a place ■""or ghouls and bandits, and yet so still that we could hear one another breathing- in the silence. The strang- est impression, however, results from beholding high glass doors, now se- curely locked, which shut off the up- per extremity of the vault, and be- hind which, clad in dusty wliite, a row on eitlier side, are some scores of human forms. These motionless figures are the famous mummies of Guanajuato, the ghastly, scarce hu- man remains of persons who have escaped the common doom of man- kind and have secured an uninten- tional and perhaps undesired immor- tality through the action of the' air and sun in the wall tombs of the cemetery. It appears that in this Campo Santo, as in practically all Mexican cemeteries, space is rented, but not sold for burial purposes, and at the end of five years the occupant of the g-rave must make way for another tenant. If friends are at hand to care for the bones of the late la- rnented, well; if not, they are con* signed to the vault below, wher« now. as our friendly sexton informed us, over 100,000 skeletons have been stored. We saw the bones, neatly- stacked from side to side and fr'-jm floor to roof, most of them brown from the earth in which they have so long reposed, but here and there a skull or thigh bone, bleached in the wall tombs, showed ghastly white against the darker mass. In the process of extracting the dead from the tombs at the end of each lustrum occasionally a body is found which has resisted the natural forces of decay. Most of these mummies are discovered in the uppermost tier of tGm.bs, wliere the heat is greatest, and doubtless a gradual drying out of the moisture of the body prepares it to become a member of the grim below behind the rocked and barred glass doors. For many years the mummies were disposed at intervals along the entire lengtli of the cor- ridor. In those days they were left in their unadorned hideousness, but the vandalism of visitors, some of w^hom, as the sexton hastened to in- form us, went so far as to dance here in the cat icomb -with these weazened corpses for partners, eventually com- pelled the authorities to collect them behind barriers, which the average tourist is not permitted to pass. For the same reason they -were provided some eight or ten years ago with white robes, wliicii, while, of course, desirable in many ways, add a fresh toucli of strangeness to a spectacle already sufficiently bizarre. Many of the mummies have, ho-w- ever, undergone sucli changes in the singular process to wliich tiiey have been subjected that it is very diflJi- cult to believe that they have ever been human beings. Thus tlie horror of the scene is mitigated and made bearable. The Mexican custom of separating the sexes holds even here, for me women are ranged on one side, the men on the other, each standing in a line, forty or fifty strong-, on a little stone bench erected for the purpose. The best preserved Seven Mexican Cities. 25 figure is that of an elderly priest, a man renowned for piety and learning and a friend of our little guide, as he proudly informed us. This venerable prelate, clad in his black robes, has the place of honor against the far- ther wall, between the two ranks, his placid face not very clear in the half light, yet seeming to wear still an expression of benign sweetness. But sometimes only fragments of bodies are found mummified. There are, for instance, quite a number of heads preserved in the collection. It is with a feeling almost as though resurrected from the final death that we emerged once more to light and air and space, and turn again to the picturesque little city, sweet with flowers and radiant with sunshine. Mummies and all, Guanajuato is the most picturesque place in Mexico, one which an ar- tist would delight in, and where every person, no matter what his trade, habit or previous condition of servitude, ought to spend at least a day in order to learn just what old Mexico was before Progress laid its spell upon the country. C^HAF=TEFR IV. Queretaro, a City of Memories — Splendid Churches That Were Old When the Declaration of Independence Was Signed — A Viceregal Conspirator — ^^The Story of "La Corrigidora" — An Andrew Carnegie of the Eighteenth Century — The End of An Epic— Where Maximilian Was Imprisoned and Executed — Relics of an Emperor — Weavers of Cloth and Grinders of Opals— Queretaro 's Splendidly Organized Educational System. UERETARO is one of the most interesting- cities in Mexico. It is practically unknown to the average tourist, except as the name of a station on the Mexican Central Railroad, at which g-audlly colored opals are offered him for purchase. As usual with most Mexi- can towns, the railroad passes the city at some distance, and all its lovely church-towers and busy streets are hardly visible from the train. A queer little, asthmatic street car, drawn by an unneces- sarily large number of mules and of- ficered by a ridiculous superfluity of drivers, conductors, inspectors and other functionaries, conveys one from the station to the center of the city. We arrived and departed by night, and our impressions of this ride of less tlian a mile were limited to the Ill-lighted and crowded interior of this funny little car. It deposited ug in a "plaza" full of tall trees, odorous with flowers and vocal with birds and music — for at 10 o'clock the band was still playing in the kiosk in the middle of the verdant obscurity, and all the people of Queretaro that amounted to anything, were gathered in that romantic and perfumed square. The incandescent lights burning in the walks only made the mysterious charm of the spot more evident. Our hotel looked into this square, the very heart and center of the city. Just beyond we could gaze into a market-place, the entrance to which was marked by a tall stone arch, surmounting a fountain and the life-sized statue of a Triton. In the morning the market was crowded with hundreds of vendors, but after the sun went down it, too, became a place of silence and of mystery. Silence and mystery! There are the qualities which belong to Quere- taro above all others. For the city is filled with memories of great men and great events, and its life is lived largely in the past. Its 40,000 inhabitants are, for the most part, poor. Its monuments are little visited, its thrilling- story seldom told. Even the native, basking- in the midday sunshine, hardly knows how to answer your inquiry as to the dwelling places of the historic personages whose fame is indis- solubly associated with the city. It is only by sheer accident that you happen to hear the strang-e, true stories that make up the history of the city. Queretaro was not its original name. The Indians, who had a set- tlement here long before the Spanish ventured northward from the City of Mexico, called it Querendaro — "A Place Surrounded by Mountains." But the aboriginal village was destroyed by the Conquistadores un- der Tapia in 1531, and a Christian city founded on its site. These first white inhabitants called tlie place '-Queretaro de Santiago," an* by that name it has toeen kno^vn ever since. It was not long before the little city became famous for its climate, probably the most salubrious in i.lexico. Gouty viceroys found it worth while to transfer their resi- dence for a time from the gay capi- tal to Queretaro, where either the religious quiet of the town, or its healing air, or both combined, wrought perpetual miracles in their shattered healths. Not only the viceroys came. Members of the viceregal families journeyed north- ward at frequent intervals and were g-uests in the magnificent convents and monasteries which soon beg-an to be erected in the city. 28 Seven Mexican Cities. For, fiom the beginning', Queretaro was a city of cliurches. Except Celaya, which lies in the Valley of Laja, not more than twenty miles away, there was no city In old Mexico where the power and grand- eur of the church attained more picturesque proportions than in Queretaro. Fifty great churches and sixteen convents still exist, after war, confiscation and vandalism have done their worst. Some of them are of genuine interest. The Tere- sitas, where Maximilian and Mendez were imprisoned together for a short time, is a vast pile, now the dwell- ing place of 300 friars and students. ancient music, was added only a century ago. In fact, a profitable article as long again as this present screed might be written about the churches of Queretaro alone, -espe- cially as through various for- tunate circumstances the religious orders seem to be recovering their prestige in the old city, along with some of their former possessions. It is strange that in this very hot- bed of viceregal and priestly con- servatism, more plots against Mexi- can rulers -have been fomente.d than in any other town in the country—^ excepting the capital, of course. The first event which stands out con- The Church of L.a Cruz, Q,ueretaro. The Federal Palace occupies a part of the Convent of St. Augustin and is renowned throughout Mexico for the beauty of its architecture and the richness of the superbly carved stone galleries surrounding the courtyard. The old church of San Francisco, ■whicli in 1863 was created the Cathedral of the diocese, was founded almost immediately after the Spaniards acquired possession of the town. As it stands to-day, a quaint and lovely old structure, it repre- sents the result of many decades of patient labor; for though pronounced complete in 1698. it was frequently repaired and altered, the last time in 1727. The beautiful choir, a mass of carved oak, now black with age, inclosing a tall music rack full of enormous volumes of spicuously in the history of the city is connected with the conspiracy of Iturrigaray to secede from Spain and establish in this ancient Aztec domin- ion a new and more liberal govern- ment. Iturrigaray was viceroy at the time. Whether he really meditated rebellion or not, is one of the moot points of local history. But it is well remembered that when the news of his projected movement reached the patriotic junta, which then governed Spain, not only w^as he ar- rested and deported, but half-a-dozen prominent men in Queretaro also, including the Intendant. Only a few years later, in a house adjoining the Gran Hotel, and* over- looking the beautiful Plaza Mayor, another and more memorable con- spiracy had its origin. This house, Seven Mexican Cities. 29 two stories high and not in any way distinguished from its fellows, whicli it accurately resembles, dates back to the beginning of the nineteenth century. In ISIO it was the home of Miguel Dominguez, the then •"Corrigidor," or Mayor. Dominguez is one of those unselfish, devoted, high-minded men whose careers adorn every page of Mexican history. His name, and that of his wife are household words whenever the an- nals of Mexico's "War of Liberty" are known. He was the friend of Hidalgo, the curate of Dolores, who headed the first revolt against the Spanish. It was in Dominguez's house in Quere- to join Hildago and his patriot raga- mutfins in the mountains. She was punished in his stead. The oppressor could not lay hands on the rebel, 30 he sought a vicarious sacrifice, and the "Corrigidora" paid the penalty. The building is kept in good repair, and is one of the places wliich no one who goes to Queretaro should over- look, not only for the sake of the noble women martyred there, but for its own quaint beauty, and for that of the flower-crowded square over which it looks. This square is called "Independen- cia." In the middle of it, as I have said, is the statue of the Marquis Memorial Chapel at the Hill of the Bells, Near Q,neretaro. taro that Hidalgo planned the move- ment that brought death to him and independence to his country. i.n another part of the town, in front of tlie delicious little plaza, in which stands the statue of the Marquis de Aguila, the tourist is shown a long, low, yellow building with a "portal" in front of it. Now- adays the city uses it as a "Palacio Municipal." To Mexican patriots it is much more than that. It is a shrine. For here the wife of Dornin- guez, the "Corrigidora," whose name is always spoken ■with reverence in Mexico, and whose statue stands in an honored place in Mexico City, spent the weary years of her imprisonment. She was arrested by the Spanish after her husband fled de Aguila — de Villar del Valle de Aguila, to give him the whole sonor- ous appellation to wliich he is en- titled. The statue is carved out of gray stone and is somewhat weather worn now, but gives a good idea of tlie eigliteenth century grandee it represents. A fountain bubbles at his foot and a tablet states that the construction of a monument in memory of the Marquis was begun in 1843 on this spot; that the statue was dismounted in 1867, during the siege of the place, by a cannon-shot from the Liberalists' batteries, and that it was re-erected only a few years ago. Queretaro owes honor to the memory of this ricla, eccentric, benevolent old Don. He was one of tlie founders of her excellent educa- 30 Seven Mexican Cities. tional system, and he built at his own expense the famous aqueduct which brings water to the city from the mountains. The work cost him nearly $100,000, and was carried on under his own direction. When it was finished he caused the dates to be inscribed on two arches, one re- cording the beginning and the other the ending of the work, and there they stand to-day, for anyone to see. The personalitJ^ however, which, more than any other, dominates Queretaro is .Maximilian. Here was planned the movement that brought the ill-fated Austrian Archduke to the throne. Here are the churches it belonged had great possessions in the city and the country surround- ing it. Maximilian was confined in a room on the second floor of the attached monastery; the broken glass in one w^indow attracts attention even from the heedless passer-by. It was in that room that Colonel Palacios refused the historic bribe of $100,000 to aid the Emperor to escape. Access to the church to- day is difficult. One goes in at a little door quite "around the corner," in the house of the janitor, and passes through his living-rooms in order to secure access to the painted and pictured shrine. There, an <'<)urtyar«i of tho Plaeio Federal, Formerly the Aii^ni»;-f^r revoiu-''- lutioh, and- only" keptr.'in/ the' paths of peace and pro'gi-fss ,by the iron' -hand of President Diaz. W^e hjlve taken for granted i-that Mexican ! statesmen are merely in^^politics for their own personal benefit, an,d' not'' actuated by unselfish "#r patriotic motives. ' How far these ideas vary from the fact it needs only a short > residence in the Mexican capital to disclose. Tlianks to ■ the ' energy and' enterprise of the governing classes,;; the appearance of 'the city has been ' transformed within the last ten years. To-day it is far more of a great modern: capital than most American cities of equal populai'tion. The streets havftsbeen well 4paved, chiefly wi-^. asphalt. Electric lights and electrio street cars are everywhere. The sewerage and drainage systems are among the best in the world. The parks and driveways are numerous, beautiful, and constantly being ex- tended. The cleaning of the city is carried on daily in a more ef- fective and comprehensive manner than is the case in the average American city of less than 400,000 inhabitants. The public edifices recently constructed have been models of architectural excellence. Hundreds of residences are being erected in all parts of the city, which, while they ^may invite criticism as regards their artistic merit, are costly and comfortable. In fact, the progress which Mexico has made in late years along all lines of municipal Improvement could be profitably studied by those who are charged with the administration of the public affairs of most of our own growing cities. Some of the problems which Mexico has had to solve have been extremely difficult, and the way in which they have been worked out calls for unstinted admiration. There are, moreover, many features of municipal management which could be applied to our own cities with ad- vantage, and it is in these departments tliat, it seems to me, the genius of the Mexican people is now being most conspicuously demonstrated. Few even among the rich and great capitals of the old world can boast of a location as beautiful as that of the City of Mexico. . It occupies almost the precise center of a fertile plain, some forty miles in diameter, completely girt on every side by high ranges of mountains. Though situated at a level of more than 5,000 feet above the sea, the soil of the Valley of Mexico is extremely fer- tile, and to one looking down upon Seven Mexican Cities. 35 the smiling landscape from some lofty elevation — say, from Chapulte- pec, or the towers of the Cathedral- there is unfolded a delightful pano- rama of cultivated fields, windin:? roads, villages and even occasional clumps of willow or eucalyptus trees, extending to the very foot of the rock-ribbed hills. The high peaKs of Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuati, re- garding which every school boy is informed, are seldom visible from the streets of the city, but from Chapul- tepec they may be seen, crowning- the encircling hills to the eastward with spots of dazzling whiteness, hardly distinguishable from the clouds above them. Doubtless, this noble valley is of volcanic origin. Some scientists think that it is itself a crater, long extinct and now filled in with earth washed down from the mountains all around. There are many evidences of volcanic action among the Sierras, but hundreds of years have elapsed since the last serious eruption of Popocatepetl, and there are no indications to-day to justify us in anticipating any further activity on the part of these terrible forces of nature. Gazing over the valley the five lakes which existed there in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries may be made out. They have shrunk greatly in area since then, but several still have a surface level higher than the City of Mexico. The danger of inundation, which for a century after the conquest was always more or less immediate, has now been averted once for all by the construction of gigantic drainage works, the cost of which is put at {20,000,000. This gigantic engineer- ing enterprise, conapleted only a few years ago, is one of the many endur- ing monuments that exist in the city and Its environs to the public spirit and resource of President Diaz. Thanks to this capable administrator. the task of improving and beautify- ing the city proceeds all the time. The traveler arriving in the capital is set down in a splendid station at Buena Vista, constructed of stone and steel, not,- of course, on the same vast scale as some of the railroad terminals in the United States, but superior in many respects to the average in our own country. While this improvement is not directly due to the Government, it seems to have come into existence as a result of the popular demand for beauty and convenience, educated by the numer- ous works of public utility con- structed by the municipality at the suggestion of President Diaz. The broad avenue, paved with asphalt and lighted by electricity, and the com- fortable and speedy electric street car which passes Buena Vista, and- by means of whic-h the tourist is soon safely deposited in tlie centei- of the city, at the Plaza de la Constitucion, are directly attributable to the ac- tivity of the Government. The Plaza itself is a fine example of what intelligent governmental supervision can accomplish. Within the last few years the streets sur- rounding it have been repaved with asphalt, the dimensions of tlie gar- dens considerably enlarged, and many unsightly obstructions, es- pecially in front of the National Palace, removed. To-day the place is picturesque and beautiful to a de- gree which must be a revelation to the American tourist, accustomed to the prim formality of our treeless public squares. The Mexican is neve/- content with the green lawn, studded with floral millinery, which does duty in the average American city as a place of general resort and recrea- tion. Perhaps the industry of the Spanish conquerors in denuding the land of its noble garniture of cypress and oak taught the natives the artis- tic value of nature in the wild; at any rate, here in the very heart of the capital, as in practicalty everj^ one of the innumerable other little squares that stud the city, the trees:' are numerous and stately, hiding countless shady little nooks, where iron benches invite the passer-by to linger. At the early hour when we first visited the spot, these retreats were already populous with Indian nursemaids and men, the former ac- companied by their over-dressed little charges, the latter idling away the time till they were due at their day's task, smoking cigarettes and chatting quietly as they waited. It is said that this splendid square was formerly the center of ah island, washed on all sides by the waters or Lake Texcuco, and that it was here- that the wandering Aztecs discovered an eagle perched on a cactus and grasping a snake in its talons — an. omen which they immediately con- strued as indicating the wish of their gods that a city should be erected' on the spot. The extraordinar>^ evaporation of Lake Texcuco has reduced it to an insignificant size- and left the erstwhile island of the eagle a part of the solid mainland. But when Cortez first saw the city, it retained all its original charm, and as it then was. surrounded by water and intersected! by canals, it can well be imagined how his spirit was stirred by its: beauty. At that .time a considerable portion of the present Plajia was: 36 Seven Mexican Cities. included In the limits of the hugo ^leathen temple, the most sacred pare of which, a truncated pyramid crowned with towers, occupied the .-•Site of the present Cathedral. On the ariglit, where now stands the National yalace, was the "new house" of Monte- :zuma, and on the left, where the "'portales" are now, was a great In- fdian dancing scliool. The City Hall, opposite the Cathedral,- has displaced the palace of the Aztec commander- in-chief, and almost directly opposite once stood the great palace of Monte- zuma himself, on ground now par- tially occupied by the National Pawn Shop. All of these places and temples have disappeared, for the Spaniard was as great a foe to their buildings as to the Indians themselves, and de- One of the Chapels of the Cathedral, City of Mexico. Seven Mexican Cities. 37 Etroyed the one as ruthlessly as tho other. Cortez erected for himself a fort- ress-like residence on the site of Montezuma's "new house," and there for years he and his descendants dwelt, looking out on the doubtful view which the windows of their home commanded. For g-enerations — IB fact, up to within a century — the Plaza was encumbered with huts and booths, small stores, the gallows, and many other objects which even the hardy eyes of the Iberian aristocrac must have shuddered to gaze upon In 1789 the viceroy then in power cleared away the IncumtaranctiS which disfigured the place, planted new gardens, and greatly embellished those already in existence. The good work which was thus begun was continued by subsequent rulers, but even down to 1886 there were many features of the place which writers found cause to criticise. How syste- matically the present scheme of beautification has been carried on within the last eight or ten years no one who has not seen the place before that date can well imagine. To-day it is, as it obviously should be, the point to which the social and business life of the city converges. Practically everything of any moment which the tourist desires to see is concentrated either on the Plaza or w^ithin a short distance of it. Of the great Cathedral I shall have occasion to speak later. The National Palace, which overlooks one whole side of the square, is recom- mended to visitors chiefly by the many historical events with which it is connected. The present structure was begun in 1692, and represents an orderly, but unpremeditated, aggregation of different structures added, one after the other, as the need for them arose, since that date. The enormous length of the facade — over 600 feet — is impressive by reason of magnitude, but from the point of beauty there is littlef to recommend this long, low, two- storied wall, pierced by two rows of monotonous windows, and barely re- lieved from utter commonplaceness by the little sentry boxes at the three arched entrances, and the statue-crowned turrets that break the outline of the roof at regular intervals. The huge patios within are worth seeing, merely for their size, but the effort of scaling the high staircases scarcely repays itself, even for the opportunity to view the hall in which the Mexican Congress meets, or the stately apartment in which President Diaz is supposed to meet the ambassadors and other representatives of foreign nations that may solicit that honoi\ The- apartments assigned to the President are commodious, but Diaz seems to be a man of simple tastes, and prefers to transact public business from" his own residence, a simple stone: building some distance from the- Palace, and not distinguished by any particula' ity from hundreds of its"- neighbors. The summer residence of the Mexi- can rulers has usually been at Chapultepec, whither President Diaz, generally goes in June, and where- he likes to remain till well along ire the fall. It is impossible to imagine- a statelier home than this spleijdid palace, erected on the brow of a jhill 200 feet high, and overlooking 'the- city three miles away, and command- •ihg a superb view of- the valley. Cliapultepec is a huge mass of stone- thrust up abruptly from the flonr of the valley, apparently as a result of some prehistoric volcanic citaclysm. Its isolation has from the ver\^ earliest times made it a desirable- military station. Whoever holds Chapultepec, controls the City of Mexico. The Aztecs apparently real- ized this fundamental strategic fact,, for they appear to have had a primi- tive fortress here. The Spanish were- prompt to see its importance, and under the early viceroys. first a fortress and then a military schooP were established among the cypresses^ of the great hill. In the Mexican War the American troops stormed" and took the castle after a desperate resistance, the story of which is one- of the most heroic in any language,, and which every patriotic Mexican> recalls with pardonable pride. Like- wise, the' fate of the Emperor Maximilian was determined when- the Liberal forces scaled the cliffs-, some forty years ago. With his capi- tal in the hands of Juarez, it was^ only a question of time when the Im- perial government should collapse,- as collapse it did within a few short months, ending what is, all things- considered, the most dramatic episode- - in all the dramatic history of Mexico. It is a little strange that the charrn> of Chapulteoec as a summer home- should not have struck the Spanish' viceroys from the very first. The- good Galvez was, however, the first of them to erect a summer home on the summit of the hill. 'After his tima- the rulers of Mexico found pleasure- in adding to and beautifying the place. When Maximilian and Car- lotta reached Mexico, fresh from the> enchanting landscape of Miramar^ they undertook to make Chapultepec- a rival of that little Austrian para- dise. The extensive repairs and alterations which they began were- 38 Seven Mexican Cities. mever entirely completed. After tlie -fall of the empire, the palace went unused for some time. President Lerdo was the first of the constitu- tional rulers of Mexico to make his summer home there, and he only re- mained a few weeks. It is to Presi- dent Diaz that the castle is mostlj' indebted for its present splendor. For over twenty years he has annually turned thither at the advent of the ■warm weather. The huge build- is a view which is reckoned among the most wonderful in the world. The carriage road by which the average visitor approaches the castla winds in and out among the huge cypresses at the base of the hllL Many of these venerable trees ,aro twenty feet in diameter at the ground. Humboldt, when he visitd the place, estimated the age of one of the largest of them at 1,600 years. Nowadays they all form parts of a Faeade o£ t lie Cathedral, City of Mexico. ;lng on the brow of the hill has been virtually reconstructed under his superintendence. The old outlines have been retained, but the interior .has been modernized on a scale which would dazzle and- perhaps disappoint the ancient lordlings of Mexico, could -they revisit the spot to-day. The -.decorations are largely in the Pom- ■peiian style, the furniture rich and ■glowing with red and gold. The ^'•hanging" gardens — they are worthy of the name— are inexpressibly beauti- tul, and from the walks along the ■crest of tlie precipitous descent there truly magnificent park. Ten or .welve years ago the approaches to Chapultepec left much to be desired in the way of stateliness, but all that has been rectified. The addition of an ornamental kiosk, containing a restaurant, offers another inducement for luxurious idlers to frequent the spot. The Jockey Club is building: for itself a home not far away, and a race_ course is also spoken of and will eventually be constructed, no doubt. At any rate, the park is steadily being extended on all sides, and la kept in a high state of cultivation, presenting a scene of tropical beauty Seven Mexican Citii<:s. 39 iiardly to be excelled anywhere else in the vorld. It is one of the greatest pleasures open to the traveler to return from ■Chapultepec in the late evening by •w&y of the Paseo de la Reforma, the magnificent driveway whicli Mexico owes to the taste of Car- lota. It was planned as an approach to Chapultepec, and almost through- out its length the hill and the castle are to be seen, lifting themselves high up above the trees which adorn the sides of the avenue. The Paseo is fully 100 feet wide, the drive paved with smoothly-rolled gravel and flaked by broad sidewalks. A row of •ornamental bronze electric ligiit posts runs directly down the middle, dividing tlie road into two parts, by whicli means tlie procession of car- riages -wliicli assembles liere nearly every afternoon is kept from falling into confusion. The margin of tlie sidewalk is fringed with pedestals, alternately supporting bronze figures of illustrious Mexicans and large vases of tlie same expensive material. These stand at intervals of fifty or a hundred yards all the way to Chapultepec and constitute a very ef- fective rival to Berlin's famous "Sieges Allee." The stately mansions ■which have been erected along the Paseo are inhabited by the richest and most distinguished element in the population of the city; they do" not, however, continue in unbroken succession all the w^ay to the castle. Near Chapultepec the empty fields appear through the clustering trees, and the advertisements of numerous real estate agents attract attention to the fact that Mexico is in the throes of a "boom." Through a variety of causes, 'some of which appear obscure, the City of Mexico is enjoying a touch of genuine American "prosperity." The prices of living are higlier than usual. Rents have advanced almost as definiteb; as they have in New Orleans. As a consequence, there has been a con- siderable development of the suburbs, hundreds of people investing their savings there in lots and small houses, and moving out to the edge iyt the city, rather than reside in the center of town, in the hope of lessen- ing their expenditures. The most attractive of the new "colonies" is that called "Roma," through which the traveler passes on his way from Chapultepec to the city. The houses which are being erected here are largely departures from the old "khan"' style, so familiar throughout Mexico and so admirably suited to its climate. The taste of the builders has apparently been vitiated by a study of our own cheap adaptations of Geor- gian and Queen Ann architecture. It is little short of pitiable to firfa, under the perennially blue Mexican skies, steep hip-roofs designed to shed the snow of a stormier and colder land. Yet this is what the Colonia Roma exhibits without the sliglitest apparent appreciation of the incongruity. When this flourishing little suburb is completed, it will differ in no essential respect from Fifth Avenue. Tlie buildings are, many of tliem, just as costly as any in New York, but the gross lack of harmony between their architecture g.nd tlie environment and the crasa indifference to tlie liistorical asso- ciations witli which the Valley of Mexico teems are amazing. The "klian'' type of dwelling is so per- fectly fitted to life in a warm coun- try that it is a source of astonish- ment to me that New Orleans has not patterned after the older sections of Mexico, and made, that style a favorite with the builders of expen- sive lionies. On the other hand, here is Mexico, breaking away from its ideals^ and embarking in the un- worthy business of imitating the imi- tations wliich have so long marred tiie loveliness of American cities, even in those sections of the United States where the temperature ap- proximates most nearly that of the Valley of Mexico. The City of Mexico has nothing more beautiful to show a visitor than its churches, of which over 300 still remain. For generations the entire intellectual and artistic life of the country centered in its re- ligious establishments. The educa- tional system was practically under the control of the church, the in- fluence of which exerted a profound effect upon all the literature pro- duced prior to the year 1S59, when Jaurez suppressed the Catholic or- ders. .This was true to such a de- gree than when the National Library was established in the old Church of San Augustin, there was little or nothing to put in it except the books rifled from convents and monaster- ies. In spite of the numerous modern works which have been ac- quired since, the bulk of the col- lection there to-day is composed of theological works and volumes of ecclesiastical history. The same was true of painting and sculpture, the artists finding their most munificent, if not their only patrons, among the fathers of the religious orders. The Academy of Fine Arts, which came into exis- tence mucli in the same fashion that the National Library did, is filled witli the spoils of the religious establishments. Of course, this in- stitution existed under the name of the Academy of San Carlos long be- 40 Seven Mexican Cities. fore Juarez issued his famous decree from Vera Cruz, from wiiicii dates the impoverishment of the Church of Mexico; but its galleries were bare and poor indeed until enriched by the treasures of art sequestered from the church. The names of Murillo Van Dyck, Rubens and scores of lesser masters, which figure in the catalog-ue to-day, would hardly have been there if it had not been for the ancient zeal and wealth of the Mexican Church, expended in the cause of art many years ago. architectural genius. They are still used by the clergy- for religious pur- poses much as they were in the olden time. The priests take a proper pride in maintaining them in good order. The leniency of the present administration in this respect has excited considerable discussion in Mexico, where it is one of the pretexts which have been seized upon ito stir up opposition to President Diaz. Presumably, however, the President feels sufficiently assured of his power to disregard the mur~ Fruit Vendor in the Suburbs of Mexico. The despoiling of the churches, however, has robbed them only of extrinsic ornaments. The structures themselves remain to-day in all essen- tial particulars unchanged, . precisely as they were when the title passed from their builderg to the Govern- ment. Under tlie constitution of the 'Republic, the ownership of real estate by religious organizations is illegal. This statute secures to the Federal power scores of noble struc- tures, which, like the Cathedral, rep- resent the fine flower of Mexican murs of the anti-clerical party, for he has so far shown no intention to enforce the law in its most stringent form, but, on the contrary, exhibits from year to year a more and more liberal disposition in interpreting it. Consequently one finds to-day elab- orate repairs and restorations in progress in many of the hand- somest churches in Mexico City. At Guadeloupe, the shrine of all others, the most sacred and famous in Mexico, the lovely church was at the time of our visit being painted Seven Mexican Cities. 41 and gilded in a sumptuous and ex- pensive manner; the famous silver railing-, weigliing twenty-six tons, and vi^orth fully $1,000,000, is still there, and the pomp and ceremony of an older day are being revived. The greatest and most beautiful of the Mexican churches is, however, the Cathedral. As everyone knows, it was begun in 1753 and finished in 1771, at a total cost of about $2,000,- 000 — a sum which, considering the purchasing power of money a cen- tury or so ago, must be multiplied four or five times to give an ade- quate idea of the immense expendi- tures involved. It is impossible here to insert all the interesting particulars of measurement, etc., which the guide books supply; suffice it, then, to mention merely that the height of the ceiling is 179 feet, that the interior is 287 feet wide by 177 feet deep; that the towers are 203 feet high, and that all the other di- mensions of the stately- pile are on the same scale. We were fortunate in paying our first visit to the Ca- thedral at 7 o'clock in the morning, and in finding mass in progress be- fore the main altar. It was a scene of such beauty and grandeur that it left the spectator almost breathless with awe and admiration. The main altar stands in the middle of the church where the aisles cross, and is in the form of a pavilion, quite de- tached from the surrounding col- umns, vaults and chapels. It rises in a series of circular tabernacles, one imposed upon the other, each adorned with pillars of oynx, much gilding, life-sized statues painted in brilliant hues, and other sumptuous accessories. Before this imposing structure, -on a platform encircled by bronze railings, stood a group of twenty priests, each dressed in the most magnificent style, some in cloth of gold studded with gems, others in costly lace, others still in red and purple. The light of numerous tall candles, in silver candlesticks ten feet high, sparkled on these glitter- ing dresses, while the early morning sunshine, struggling through the stained glass in the clerestory win- dows, added a wealth of color to the gorgeous scene. Clouds of incense whirled to and fro; the music of a choir of boys echoed down the five lofty naves; a silver bell rung vio- lently at the elevation of the host; the mysterious associations of the place, its strange and romantic his- tory — all these powerfully affected the imagination. The glory of the Cathedral is its chapels. They are seven in number, three on each side, and one, the most splendid of all, that of the Kings, at the rear extremity of the central aisle. The Chapel of the Kings la so called because Iturbide and Maxi- milian were crowned within it. It Is a huge, semi-circular mass of carved and gilded wood, in what is culled the churriguerresQue style. It is im- possible to indicate in words the amazing complexity and richness of this decoration. The carving is as delicate and abundant as that iipon a costly picture-frame; the gold- leaf is of the most massive sort; and enclosed in this elaborate fret- work are many excellent statuettes, colored as in life, and some good paintings by Mexican artists. Under the altar are buried the heads of Hidalgo, Allende, Aldema and other heroes of the Mexican War of Lib- erty. In the smaller -chapels the same gorgeous scheme of decoration is carried out with even more be- wildering beauty, some of them be- ing practically solid masses of gold, formed into the shapes of flowers, fruit, cornice, column and buttress. When the light falls upon these wonderful walls the impression of superlative wealth is almost unen- durable. In many of these chapels are relics, not only of religious, but of historical and even secular inter- est. In one you see the casket in which lie the bones of Hidalgo, sur- rounded by scores of wreaths; other scores of which lie piled upon the coffin of Escobedo, the gallant sol- dier who overcame Maximilian. In the adjoining chapel, Iturbide, the real "liberator" of Mexico, lies bur- ied. In still another, are the paint- ings and crucifixes used in the priv- ate chapels of Maximilian and Car- lotta. The sarcophagus of Zumar- raga, the first Mexican Archbishop, who died in 154S, bears mute testi- mony to the antiquity of the great building in which it stands. The City of Mexico contains so much to interest and instruct that this article might be extended al- most indefinitely, without having done justice to half of them. The impression, however, which was made upon my mind by the first sight of the stately buildings of which I have spoken above, and which was deep- ened and -strengthened every hour I spent in the capital, was one of ad- miration for the forceful personality of the illustrious man to whose in- itiative the present attractiveness of the city is due. It is impossible to study very long the admirable re- sults which have been achieved in Mexico under the wise rule of Pres- ident Diaz without wishing that something of the same thing might be done in New Orleans. The genius of American civilization does not per- 42 Seven Mexican Cities. mit the existence of a despotism so absolute as that which the Mexican President enjoys, but whether the means commend themselves to us or not, the results are certainly ad- mirable and worthy of imitation. If New Orleans could be paved, drained, sewered, lighted and adorned in the same way with churches, li- braries, art g-alleries, schools and all the other appurtenances of advanced civilizatiori, it would be not less lovely than the City of Mexico. It must be a matter of deep regret to the traveler coming from New Or- leans to a city only a little larger, only a little more prosperous, and one which has enjoyed even less op- portunities in the way of peace and good government, to find his native place outstripped by the Altec capi- tal. c:::HAF=»-rEFR vi Down the Mountains to the Gulf Coast — Over the Oldest Railroad in the Mexican Republic — Superb Scenery in Maltrata Valley and Metlac Canyon — Important Public Works in Progrress at Vera Cruz — Sanitating- the City — The Sewage and Water Systems — Improvement in the Health Conditions. NE of the most interesting experiences which comes to the traveler in Mexico is the railroad journey from the Capital to Vera Cruz, over the Mexican Railroad. Start- ing early in the morning' from the handsome station at Buena- vista, midday finds him at Esperanza, 2,000 feet above his starting point, and nearly half-Tvay to the coast. From this point to P.aso del Macho the track turns and twists among the spurs of the Cordillera, spanning bottomless ravines on spidery steel bridges, surmounting obstacles which the engineers at first deemed impossible to overcome, plunging into and out of dark, smoky little tunnels, and meanw^hile running down grades so steep that they are positively startling. Then, from Paso del Macho to Vera Cruz, through a country only a couple of hundred feet above sea- level, the road runs through tropical wilder- nesses of wild fig, cedar and mahog- any. Finally, as evening shuts in, the domes and towers of Vera Cruz come into sight, and the dusty train halts at a station almost within ear- shot of the booming surf of the gulf. This picturesque railroad was the first built in Mexico. Prior to its completion the traffic between the coast and the interior was carried on by means of pack trains over the highway constructed by the Spanish through Jalapa and Perote. It is a curious fact that the history of this old highway is better known- to us to-day than that of the railroad regarding which only a few names, a few dates, and a few dry details have been preserved. The most in- teresting portion of the story has never been written, and can be gath- ered only from the lips of the men, now few and scatterel, who shared in the work. For this task we lacked time and opportunity, but the fol- lowing " sketch embodies the few facts regarding the enterprise which have been preserved: The idea of the railroad is at- tributed to Don Francisco Arillaga, a wealthy merchant of Vera Cruz. He seems to have been in other res- pects an impracticable person, for as soon as the surveys revealed the dif- ficulties of the task he had under- taken, he became discouraged and surrendered to the government the franchises which he had obtained from it in 1837. The country was in a disturbed state for many years thereafter, and local capitalists, how- ever much they might have approved of the scheme theoretically, hesitat- ed to put their money into an enter- prise almost sure to result in fail- ure. For this reason, also, the con- struction of the road was eventually begun, not at the City of Mexico, the logical starting point, but at Vera Cruz. The Capital was altogether too turbulent in those days; hence the wisdom of concentrating the work as much as possible in a locality not likely to be disturbed by the mili- tary operations of rival aspirants for the presidency. Nobody in Mexican history aided more consistently in the promotion of the civil wars than Santa Anna, yet it was he who gave the Mexican Railroad its start. His interest man- ifested itself in rather an indirect, but nevertheless effective, manner. In 1842, when he became Provisional President, he revived the' "averia" tax of 2 per cent over and above the regular duties on all merchandise passing through the Custom-house at Vera Cruz. It was agreed between him and the numerous creditors of the Government that the revenue thus obtained should be utilized partly to repair the Spanish highway and partly to construct a railroad between Vera Cruz and the San Juan 44 Seven Mexican Cities. River. The latter part of the con- tract was very carelessly carried out. By 1847, when the concession was annulled, only three miles of track had been laid. Tne Govern- ment did not acquire possession even of that till nearly four years later. In 1854 a tramway was constructed which carried the line to La Caleta, a short distance furtaer westward, Then the eminent Mexican engineer, Sanitago Mendez, took cnarge of the work, proposing- to lay at least a league of track a year, at a cost of $715,333 per annum. Before Mendez had much chance to carry out this enormously expensive contract, the Government seems to have realized its rashness and taken steps to frustrate his plans. In Aug- ust,. 1855, accordingly, President Santa Anna granted a franchise to two Mexicans named Mosso to build a railroad from the San Juan River clear across the Republic to Acapulco. They transferred the scene of activ- ity from the vicinity of Vera Cruz to Mexico City. When the line had been constructed as far as the sub- urb of Guadalupe, however, they sold their rights to Antonio Bscandon, the man who was to introduce order and system into the work, and thus make its eventual success possible. Bscandon seems to have been a ■ very different type from those who up to that time had essayel the gi- gantic task of connecting the Capital and'the coast by rail. Prom the very first he had a clear notion of what he wanted to do, and a grim deter- mination to do it. The concession which he obtained from the Govern- ment on Aug. 31, 1857, called for a railroad from Vera Cruz to the Pa- cific. He does not seem to have giv- en more than passing attention to the possibility of carrying the line west- ward from the City of Mexico, but, having purchased from the Govern- ment the road already built between Vera Cruz and the San Juan, made that the starting point of his work. Escandon enlisted the services of a number of distinguished foreign en- gineers, chiefly Englishmen. They located and surveyed three routes be- tween the City of Mexico and Vera Cruz, one following fairly closely the old Spanish highway, one running through Jalapa, and one through Ori- zaba. It was an open question which of the three should be adopted. The Jalapa line presented fewer serious engineering problems, but the route by way of Orizaba ran through a richer country and promised to be commercially the most satisfactory in the long run. It was this considera- tion which ultimately caused the se- lection of the present line. Colonel Talcott, who made the survey, esti- mated the cost at $15,000,000. As a matter of fact the expenditures were in the neighborhood of $50,000,000. What the work cost in human life has never been figured out but scores of workmen perished in cutting the roadbed in the face of the tremendous precipices, say at Maltrata and the Infernillo, at Metlac and through the Encijaal Valley. Under the direction of an engineer named Lyons the road was quickly built as far as the Tejeria, about eight miles west of Vera Cruz. Then a revolution broke out, which com- pelled the temporary suspension of the construction work. The surveys were, however, continued beyond that point, as though civil war were in progress nowhere in the vicinity. Not only were the engineers exposed to danger from bandits and guerillas, but many died of exposure and hard- ships among the hills. Talcott com- pleted the plans in 1858. In 1861 the restoration of peace allowed the con- struction work to be resumed. In April of that year Escandon obtained from President Juarez a new conces- sion, which, while still laying stress upon the transcontinental nature of the enterprise, was important main- ly because it provided for the con- struction of the present branch line to Puebla. The Government also un- dertook to aid the enterprise finan- cially to the extent of $800,000. For this purpose a consolidated fund was created, chargeable on the public debt and bearing interest at 5 per cent, the principal to be paid in twen- ty-five years. Everything looked en- couraging, when the invasion of the Republic by the French and the es- tablishment of the second empire re- vived the horrors of the civil war. In 1864 the indefatigible Escandon, probably thinking that in the pre- vailing disorder he had little chance of carrying his enterprise further, sold his rights in the railroad to the Imperial Railway Company. This purchase was approved by Maximil- ian in the following January. A month later construction work was started at "Los Cumbres," the "summits," 'the highest point in the Cordilleras reached by the road. The concession had only five years to run and the contractors were just start- ing on what was obviously the most difficult section of the line. Con- siderable work had, however, been done elsewhere. When in June, 186T, the collapse of the empire restored the Republican Government to power, two divisions had been completed, that from Vera Cruz to Paso del Macho, a distance of forty-seven and one-half miles, and that from the Seven- Mexican Citii.:s. 45 City of Mexico to Apizaco, a distance of eig-hty-six and one-half miles. President Juarez promptly confirmed the concession granted by Maximilian and in 1868 the final stages of the work were entered upon under the direction of Buchanan, Foote, Murray, Cosio, Begares and other disting- uished foreign and native 'engineers. The superintendent of construction, Thomas Braniff, was an Englishman. Thanks to tlie energy of these men, the section from Paso del Macho to Atoyac was opened in 1870, and that Atoyac to Portin in the following December. In 1871 the successful construction of the viaduct, across the Metlac canyon eliminated one of the most serious obstacles with which the engineers had to contend. Trains crossed the bridge for the first time on Sept. 5, 1872. On Dec. 31, 1872, the road was pronounced complete from the City of Mexico to Vera Cruz. On the following day the line was inaugurated by President Juarez, whose wise patronage had done much to make this happy issue possible. To-day, even the preliminary stages of the journey from the capital to "Vera Cruz are full of interest. For nearly four hours after leaving the city we were in view the volcanoes , of Popocatapel and Iztacclhuatl, their lofty summits crested with im- mortal snows and shining like silver in the. sunshine. Though nearly 100 miles away in a southerly direction, they are clearly defined above ele- .\-ations which rim the valley of Mexico, and present a most impres- sive and , inspiring appearance. The pyramid of San Juan Teotihau- can, erected long before the arrival of ,the Spanish in Anahuac, is visible .from the train, and is also an object of great interest. The sensational .part of the journey, however begins at Esperanza, where, as I have said, the road attains an elevation of near- ly 8,000 feet. Although it was a bril- liant June morning, without a cloud in the sky, the cool, keen air of the mountains made us relish the shelter of the railroad carriage. At this point we crossed the boundary line between the States of Puebla and Vera Cruz, and began the descent from the table-land to the low-lying tropical region along the Gulf coast. Between Boca del Monte and Orizaba the scenery was of indescribable magmificent. Everywhere huge mass- es of basalt, granite and limestone rising in fantastic shapes, formed gTilches, mounds and pinnacles of un- cqualed grandeur. Presently, a beau- tiful view across the valley of La Joya revealed lovely gardens, heavily wooded slopes, and freshly-ploughed fields, where in the furrows the brown-skinned farmers were pa- tiently driving teams of oxen hitched to rude ploughs crudely shaped from tl>e fork of m tree. This attractive landscape, however, scarcely prepared us for the vast panorama of the Maltrata Valley, wheich opened unexpectedly before us as we emerged from a somewliat longer tunnel than usual. The sud- den transition from impenrtrable darkness to tlie blinding radiance of the daylight was sufficiently startling in itself. But our amazement can be imagined when we found ourselves, as it were, upon the clouds, the road- bed being here excavated in the face of a tremendous cliff, so that, while on the left the scarred face of the rock continues to rise heavenward, on the right it falls sheer away near- ly 2,000 feet. We were seated upon the right, and obtained the full effect of this unparalleled experience. The first emotion was too nearly like that of some involuntary aeronaut, who finds himself swept up into the clouds, and looks down with dis- may upon the pleasant earth, the familiar features of which seem rap- idly dwindling away beneath his feet. This somewhat disagreeable sen- sation promptly gave way to admira- tion for the genius of the men who had constructed the road at this dizzy height, and for the marvelous range and variety of the landscape. Below us, at the bottom of the almost per- pendicular precipice, along which the- track was built, lay the little town of Maltrata, its white houses and one slender little gray church spire twinkling bravely in the sun- shine. Ribbons of cactus crossed ;he valley in many directions, dividing it into fields. Here and there the glint of water showed where a little stream pursued its way. For fully half an hour we remained in sight of the tiny town, describing a huge irregular horseshoe along the hills above it, gradually descending on one side and then on another, the vegetation get- ting denser on the slopes as we pro- ceeded. The mingled rock and soil Were screened by lovely ferns and perfect conservatories of wild flow- ers. Here and there a large tree might be seen withering in the grasp of parasitic vines, wound like ropes around the trunk, and burgeoning securely among the branches. In a few years the victim will die, smoth- ered in the embrace of its lusty ene- my; but at that time the vine itself will have attained such proportions that it will replace the tree to all in- tents and purposes, continuing to support in its convolutions frag- ments of the rotten wood. Vast numbers of orchids flourished every- 46 Seven Mexican Cities. where, but they rarely bore a flower, and what color they contributed to the rich carpet of the hillside was supplied by the delicate gray, blue and pink, which mottled the spiney leaves. The train descends rapidly, rush- ing down under its own impetus, the powerful engines being- used to re- strain its momentum, instead of to accelerate it. The floor of the val- ley, which from high up on the moun- tains seemed a level expanse of green, proves to be a succession of low. hills thickly grown ■with grass. It is with something of surprise that we halt finally at a huge iron water tank to slake the thirst of -the engine, and to find that the toy village on which we lately looked down with curious amusement, has grown in the in- terval to a picturesque little city of several hundred inhabitants. At the station boys and girls offer tlie trav- eler fruit at ridiculously small prices, reckoned in American money. There is nothing noisy or pressing in their demeanor. They lift to your window the fragrant burden of pineapple, mamey, zapote or lemons, as the case may be, murmuring a word or two; welcoming a sale with a smile, ac- bepting an adverse decision with uncomplaining sadness. The stolid endurance which is tamped on these young faces is characteristic of the natives, not ofMaltrata only, but of all parts of the Republic. They seem dumbly conscious of the burden of history that weighs upon them, and appreciate instinctively the doom, that overshadows their future. The sheaves of flowers, a whole armful of which roses and orchids, can be bought for twenty cents, have singularly little perfume; it is as though the racial weariness and inefficiency had some- how infected the produce of their gardens as well. Between Boca del Monte and the station at Maltrata the train travels only ten or twelve miles, but the descent is nearly 2,000 feet. In the next six or seven miles, to the In- fernillo Viaduct, and the opening of the Encinal Valley, there is a fur- ther descent of about 1,000 feet. It is said that where the track is car- ried along the face of the mountains, the laborers wlio excavated the road- bed had to be lowered to their work every morning by ropes, and that they chipped the rock away bit by bit with hammer and chisel. One of the engineers has left On record the curious statement that 60,000 pounds of gunpowder were consumed in blasting away a place for the piers of a single bridge. In running the levels for the Maltrata incline, the hills were crossed and recrossed thirty times before the engineers hit upon a practicable route. Even then, from the day the work began, till the last spike was driven home, thirteen years of unremitting effort elapsed. At many points places are pointed out in the swiftly-flowing Maltrata River where the men, of- ficers and subordinates alike, worked neck-deep in water. At the Metlac bridge they put in two years of heart- breaking labor. At first it was pro- posed to cross the canyon on a via- duct 800 feet above the river. This was so difficult and dangerous that the present bridge, built on a curve of 325 feet radius, at an elevation of 90 feet, was substituted, although the change involved the construction of six tunnels, between two of which the bridge itself was finally suspended. Such were some of the difficulties, in the face of w^hich this wonderful rail- road was completed. Passing through the Sumidero Val- ley, famous for its underground riv- ers, and still winding in and out among lofty mountains, clad from base to summit with verdure, we reached Orizaba about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. This is one of the oldest and most picturesque of Mexi- can cities. A little stream, boiling and bubbling through the city and past the railroad station, furnishes power to several sugar, cotton and flour mills. The volcano of Orizaba is usually visible from this point, but unfortunately a heavy rain began to fall as we neared the city, and the vast bulk of this lofty mountain was completely hidden from view under a veil of clouds. The ascent of the volcano presents no serious difficul- ties to those accustomed to this form of exercise. It is said that the sum- mit was flrst reached by a party of Americans, who planted a flag there, the tattered remains of whicli were recovered in 1851, by an adventurous Frenchman. The city and its environs are of peculiar interest in modern Mexican history. To the west of the town the domelike hill of El Borrego, a mass of slate rising at an angle of seventy-five degrees, is alw^ays pointed out. There, some 5,000 Mexi- can troops were surprised and routed by a single company of Zuaves, dur- ingthe French invasion. The valor of the French troops has been much commented upon, but as a matter of fact, their success was due princi- pally to the fact that the Mexica* reserves, on coming into action, be- Seven Mexican Cities. 47 eame confused in the darkness of the nig-ht, and fired upon tlieir own com- rades.. The episode, however, was of considerable importance, inasmuch as it compelled the retreat of the Re- publican Army, and enabled the French to occupy the city. Orizaba was, in fact, for some time, the headquarters of Bazaine's army. It was here in 1866 that Max- imilian bade farewell to that officer and with him to the last hope of maintaining the imperial power of Mexico. Only a short distance after leaving- the city the railroad passes the village of Jalapilla, where Max- imilian established himself after the departure of the French, and where he held a historic conference with Jiis officers, to determine his future conduct. The Emperor wished to ab- dicate, but his judgment was over- ruled by friends, and he set forth from this little place on his last cam- paign, determined to conquer his re- bellious people. It was a gallant folly, worthy of a Hapsburg. The end of the Empire was soon at hand. It is customary to attribute the fall of Maximilian's tissue-paper government to the interposition of the United States, at whose demand Napoleon III was obliged to order Bazaine and the French Army to evacuate Mexico; but the result would have been the same if the United States had_never stirred in the matter. The empire was al- ready falUns to pieces, and the tri- umph of Juarez could have been at best postponed only a few months longer. Beyond Orizaba, the route lies for much of the way through groves of bananas and cocoanut, and planta- tions of sugar and corn. The falls of Atoyac are practically the last im- portant bit of scenery which the traveler needs to watch for. At Cameron the lush vegetation of the tropics is in full possession, and be- yond that to Vera Cruz, through the shadows of the swiftly-coming night, the monotony of the landscape is broken only by the tall shapes of the ceiba and mahogany trees. Several days might, be spent profi- tably in Vera Cruz; but we could give it only a few hours. The ■ city has had a long and interesting his- ' tory. Founded by Cortez in 1519, it was practically destroyed by pirates in 1583. In 1823 the Spanish Gover- nor, driven from the mainland took refuge in the Fortress of San Juan de Ulua, the guns of which were then turned upon the town. In 1838 a French fleet charged with the col- lection of a debt due to one of King Louis Phillippe's subjects, bombarded and almost annihilated the place. The Americans in 1846 used their arti- lery effectively upon the city for five days. Add to these disasters the minor ones inflicted by bucaneers, patriots and military chieftains of all sorts, and it is a wonder that the city is as prosperous and energetic as it actually it to-day. The people seem deeply interested in the future of the port. Tlie Government is going, to pave the streets at an early date. The electrification of the street car line is spoken of, and other eviden- ces of enterprise are visible on all sides. Nothing justifies the hopeful spir- it of the commAnity more than tha extensive harbor Improvements, which are now approaching comple- tion. What this gigantic enterprise means to Vera Cruz can readily be imagined. Nearly twenty-five years have elapsed since the project was originally bruited. Tlie first con- tract was made with a French firm. They failed to do anything and the concession was withdrawn in 188G. Another contractor made an equally inglorious record. Finally the work was entrusted to Sir Wheetman Pear- son, of London. The company of which this distinguished engineer is the head began operations in 1895, and is still at work. A sea wall of concrete and granite has been built from a point north of the city to the Gallega Reef, on which stands the Castle of San Juan de Ulua. Beyond this point the wall is continued in a southwesterly direction to the mouth of the harbor, which is about 800 feet wide. Another breakwater terminat- ing in a handsome lighthouse pro- tects the southern side of the harbor. The area thus inclosed measures nearly 550 acres, and is dredged to a uniform depth of nine meters, or about thirty feet. Three large stone docks have been erected, and a num- ber of smaller ones, each capable of accommodating several steamships at once. Much rem-ains to be done to equip the docks with machinery and appliances. In their present state, however, they are superior to any- thing of the kind at all but the very largest ports in the United States. In connection with these works a sea wall was solidly built parallel with the town, and three or four hundred feet from the shore. The area thus inclosed, some ninety acres in extent, has been filled in with sand excavated from the harbor, with a topping of earth brought by rail from a point twenty kilometers in- land. Here the most desirable sec- tion of the citv will eventually be lo- cated. At present it is rather an unsightly expanse of grassy ground, full of ruts and furrows. The mag- 48 Seven Mexican Cities. nificent postofflce building, a marble structure of classical architecture, adorned with busts of famous me-n, stands at one end. Other govern- ment structures will be erected in the same locality. The harbor works are very costly and complicated, and naturally they are proceeding slowly When finished they will represent an expenditure of more than $50,000,000. and will make Vera Cruz the safest port in the world and probably one of the handsomest. Vera Cruz in common with other Mexican seaports, has benefited from the Government's interest in sanitary matters. The National Congress an- nually appropriates large sums to be spent in promoting the health of these places. Vera Cruz receives a considerable portion of this money, and is spending it wisely. Dr. Frick, the United States Marine Hospital Surgeon, now stationed here, in dis- cussing the nature of the improve- ments, has drawn a useful distinction between "temporary" and "perma- nent work." In respect to the latter category, he says, the city represents an improvement over former times of from sixty-five to seventy-five per cent. This is a creditable showing. Many of the enterprises which are relied on to increase the healthful- ness of the city are not yet complete. When they are finished, the percent- age will naturally be higher. The two most important of these works are the sewerage and the wa- ter systems. In spite of some de- fects the latter has been instrumental in greatly bettering the local health conditions. The principal criticism which the system invites the man- ner of making connections with the houses. Any person is permitted to perform this work. The result is not always as satisfactory as might be desired, from the hygienic point of view. This, of course, is a matter which is bound to correct itself. A demand for better plumbers is al- ways springing up, and must be filled at an early date. The water supply is drawn from the Jamapa River, at Tejeria, about eight miles from Vera Cruz. The quality is excellent. The local med- ical authorities say that since it was made available, typhoid fever has practically disappeared from the city. The system, is new and will work more smoothly in a little while than it does now. The people, especially the lower classes, are very wasteful in the use of water. Conseauently, in order that every part of the city shall have its quota, it is necessary to cut off one quarter after the other for a short time during each day. Tanks and cisterns, barrels and other reservoirs are necessary in "which to store water against the times when the municipal service is interrupted. The law requires that all such recep- tacles should be screened. This stat- ute is being more and more strictly enforced as time passes. Any laxity just now is offset by the fact that Dr. Frick had failed to find that the stegomyia mosquito breeds in them. So long as this dangerous little in- sect is absent, the yellow fever ex- perts will not be too exacting with the Vera Cruz authorities. Dr. Frick has given considerable attention to the breeding places of the stegomyia in Vera Cruz. He has failed to find them in pools formed by rain. The hot sun soon evaporates any such accumulations of vi^ater. The rains flush the gutters copiously and prevent the propagation of the mosquito there also. The weather, moreover, has been for the last two or three years uniformly unfavorable to the development of mosquitoes. Dr. Frick believes that the stego- myia has practically disappeared from the coast. He entertains the interesting theory that it cannot sur- vive a temperature in excess of 102 degrees. Vera Cruz is seldom that w^arm in the shade, but in the sun- shine the thermometer doubtless of- ten registered a heat even more in- tense. The fact that there has been practically no yellow fever now for two years is most encouraging. Ex- perience shows that the population is to be relied on to report any fever that may develop. The adoption of the mcsquito the- ory of the origin of yellow fever has done much to invalidate quaran- tines. There is a splendidly organ- ized and equipprd quarantine station in Vera Cruz, maintained by the Gov- ernment now to prevent the introduc- tion of other contagious diseases, like cholera or the plague. The Mexican quarantine deals with yelliw fever almost, if not entirely, by means of fumigation. Passengers are not de- tained' unless they are already ill. Vera Cruz no longer considers itself a breeding spot for the fever. It apprehends danger principally from Havana and Panama. With Panama there is at present no direct inter- course. It is interesting to note that the local surgeons believe that rough weather at sea tends to develop the disease, if the germ is latent in the body of one of the passensrers. Thir- ty-six hours of storm suffices as a rule to bring on the characteristic symptoms. If nothing happens at the end of that time ship masters heave a sigh of relief, and are easy in their minds; there is no yellow fever on board. In calm weather, however, Seven Mexican Cities. 49 the disease does not manifest itself so promptly. The death rate in Vera Cruz will be lower when the present public works are finished. The Govern- ment's statistics are reliable as far as the mortality is concerned. Im- proper diet undoubtedly does much to lower the power of resistance to disease among- the poorer classes of the population. For this reason the death rate is especially high among infants and children. They contribute upwards of ten per cent of the entire mortality. Among- adults the vic- tims of tuberculosis are most nume- rous. A pernicious form of malaria known in the United States as the Chagres fever, and tetanus also oc- casion many deaths. I'Jxcluding these diseases and those of the alimentary tract, the death rate is really small. The paving of the city, and the fill- ing in of the harbor front, will do much to rid the town of malaria. The other diseases arc largely hereditary, and tend to exterminate tliemselves. Considering the beneficial result so far resulting from the sanitary en- terprises in exploration in Vera Cruz, there is every reason to expect a very marked improvement in the fu- ture. We may soon see a day when the city will be classed as a model in matters of health as well as of commerce. C:^HART"EF=R VII The Tehauntepec Railroad to Be Opened for Business Next Octo- ber — Extension of the Mexican Central from Tuxpan to Colima and Manzanillo — What It Means to New Orleans- Opportunities to Open Up Important Fields as Yet Unreached by American Enterprise — Scenic Beauties of the Tuxpan-Co- lima Route — Curious History of the Tehauntepec Franchise — Great Harbors Constructed at Coatzacoalcos and Salina Cruz — Advantages of Tehauntepec Over Panama as a Route for the Commerce of the World. ■^m^ L.SE WHERE in this series of I J letters I have had occasion Ij («) to speak of the energy which ^ the Mexican Government is ^^^ showing in developing the "^^^ commercial possibilities of \(S) its ports. In addition to the important enterprises which it has underway at these places, it is aiding- in many ways in the construc- tion of two important transconti- nental railroads, the completion of either of which will be of profound significance to the city of New Or- leans. The Tehauntepec Railroad is finished between Coatzacoalcos, on the Gulf of Mexico, and Salina Criz, on the Pacific, but as a factor in the world's commerce its value will not be felt until the harbor works at these terminals have been com- pleted, which will be some time in October. The extension of the Mexi- can Central Railroad, westward from Guadalajara, will not be opened for business for fully eighteen months yet. The route, which traverses some of the most picturesque portions of the Republic, will ultimately con- nect with the existing railroad at Colima, by means of which it will have access to Manzanillo, on the Pacific coast. Extensive improve- ments are being made at Manzanillo, which, when done, will make that harbor, naturally one of the safest and most commodious on the western littorah thoroughly modern in every respect. Little has been published about the extension of the Mexican Central Railroad southward from Tuxpan to Colima. The country through which the line is being run is one of the most densely inhabited in Mexico. The" scenery is of the grandest character. To the average Ameri- can this region is less known than Northern Africa. Tlie quick- est time in which it can now be reached from New Orleans is two weeks. The mineral resources of the Pacific Coast are of extraordi- nary richness and variety. There are mines of fabulous value around Mazatlan and Culiacan, Tepic and San Bias. The State of Colima is celebrated for the excellence of its coffee, of which great quantities are exported annually in sailing vessels to Europe. At present nine-tentlis of the products of this extensive lit- toral find their way to £an Fran- cisco. The new railroad, when com- pleted, will, however, bring New Or- leans within six days of Manzanillo, and it is reasonable to expect that a very considerable portion of tills lucrative trade will find its way by the new route to this city. The most difficult section of the new road is now being constructed between Tuxpan and Colima, a dis-* tance of about forty miles. The route lies through the Sierras, v^rhich liere attain very respectable dimensions. Some tremendous ravines are crossed. Over the Santa Rosa barranca a steel bridge will be thrown at a height of 282 feet. Another great can- yon, called after his Satanic Majesty, is 600 feet deep and 2,000 feet wide. T..e quality of the engineering in- volved may be estimated from the fact that one single kilometer — a trifle more than half a mile — -will cost $200,000 to build. Several others will represent an expenditure Seven Mexican Cities. 51 of $100,000 each. The total cost of the roald will be flO, 000,000, silver equivalent to $5,000,000 in American currency. Of about $50,000 per mile. Inasmuch as sixty miles of the dis- tance to the Pacific is covered by the narroiw-gauge road already in exis« tence between Colima and Manzanillo, the outlay necessary to broaden the track, reduce the grades and correct the curves on this section of the route will be comparatively small. The bulk of the expenditure will be on the line between Tuxpan and Colima. Tuxpan is a little town with . a population in which the Indian ele- ment larg-ely predominates. Thence to Colima, the route winds among the spurs of the Sierras leading up to the great Volcano of Colima, the only one in North America now ac- tive. An excellent view of this mag- nificent cone, 14,343 feet high, will be afforded from the train. All the year found clouds of steam issue from the summit of the mbuntain, but it is so fenced around by lesser elevations that, even in the times of its gfeatiest activity, the overflow of lava and hot mud cannot do much harm. Froni' its sides, too, come the streams of thie great barrancas, fed by the: continually condensed steam from the vdlcanb. These streams cut the Country into great gulches radiating from the volcano, and for a portion of thci line, the road fol- lows the opposite side of the Tuxpan River to avoid these barrancas, or canons. The river bed itself pro- vides the finest scenery to be found anywhere. Motintaih walls of stone are perhaps grandeif, but the magni- ficence of the view here is un- equaled in its kind. Above the river, . in places 1,000 above it, rise sheer precipices, sometimes graded off by the tumbling of the crunibling soil of the region, made up of boulders and volcanic mud from the volcano, and in others by limestone and even granite ground and broken to cob- blestones by the great cataclysms of the past. Above this river w^all, be- low which the Tuxpan tumbles over its rocky bottom, comes a flat table- land, in some places marked by a surprisingly rich soil, very exten- sively cultivated in corn and rice. Still above this tableland, however, is the great mesa, where the soil is rich and soft, where great sugar haciendas reap yearly their thousands of acres, and w^here rice and corn are raised in abundance, and whp'-r^ cattle breed in rich pastures. Low ranges of hills line the mesa, above which finally rises the admirably proportioned cone of the volcano, with its attendant wreaths of storm- clouds, and the thin vapor from hid- den fires cui-ling languidly heaven- ward. The last considerable eruption took place in 1903, but it is really twenty years since there has been any dangerous manifestation of the titantic forces asleep in the heart of the giant. This noble peak Is fasci- nating, even wlien it is veiled from base to crest in a mantle of clouds, and is practically lost to view. Thu mere fact that it is there, even when invisible, exercises a potent influ- ence over the imagination. In other respects, too, the scenery on the line of the road as it ap- proaches the city of Colima, may well be ranked among the finest in Mexico. AVaterfalls precipitate them- selves from the tableland to the river below. The hilltops are graced with pine trees. Great gaps in the moun- tains permit vistas of still more dis- tant hills. The luxuriant vegetation of the tropics adorns the slopes with a mantle of close-woven foliage. The city of Colima is well built, with a romantic history and many beauti- ful churches. The climate is superb. The days are warm, but not exces- sively so, and the nights are in- variably cool and delightful. Its trade with the interior has always been considerable. Hundreds of pack-mules daily traverse tlie trail from Zapotlan, laden with produce, goods and ore. The freight rates over this primitive route are very high, averaging from $25 to $50, silver, per ton. These figures will, of course, be materially reduced w^hen the rail- road is opened. Colima also does much business with the outside world, over the Mexican Pacific Rail- road and through the port of Man- zanillo, the objective towards which the new railroad is directed. Man- zanillo is the most centrally located of all the many ports on the Pacific. Pacific mail steamers, all coasters on the Pacific, and acrosS-the-ocean traffic also, can touch tliese with- out retracing their path up the Gulf of California. Acapulco, San Bias, Mazatlan and Guaymas can be reached by the vessels which even now ply the Mexican west coast, opening up the wonderfully rich west- coast country. It will bring the ports of lower California within two days of the City- of Mexico, and in return for tlie vast products of these sections, present and prospec- tive, in mining, grazing and agricul- tural industries, the line will also open to this west coast the advan- tages of direct communication with the capital, and give a new and vir- gin field for the exploitation of the products of the fast-growing manu- factories of Guadalajara, one of the principal cities of Mexico, as well as 52 Seven Mexican Cities. to many other manufacturing- center.s all over the Republic. The port of Manzanillo, while com- paratively small, has been developed partially by the Government, at a cost of aijout $7,000,000, Mexican currency, up to the present time, and more money will be spent on walling- tlie water line and dredg-ing, most of tlie present appropriation having been spent on a breakwater protect- ang- tlie entrance to the inner harbor. But the present developments at Manzanillo are inadequate to the needs of the port, as they are antici- pated by those, interested in the pro- ject. It is a matter of note, how- ever, that Manzanillo, unlike most of tlie Pacific ports, has within its Teach one of tlie finest possibilities for liarbor development to be met w^ith anywhere. Back of the range of hills which edges the harVior at this point is a great stagnant lake, nearly ten miles long, into which an entrance from the harbor could be cut at small expense, and which could l)e dredged over its full surface to any depth required, and a vast har- bor, capable of taking care of the shipping of nations, made here for the accommodation of the commerce, which is confidently expected to come to this, the tidewater terminus of the first of the many projected west coast lines from the capital of the Republic. Linking at the City of Mexico with the Mexican Railway it will complete the interoceanic route from Vera Cruz dreamed of for so many years, by so many statesmen and engineers. A moment's inspection of the map will convince anyone that, in several important respects, nature has done at Tehauntepec almost as much as at Panama, to facilitate communica- tion between the Eastern and West- ern oceans. At this point the conti- nent shrinks to a narrow neck of land only 125 miles wide, while the Sierra Madre Mountains here de- cline to a range of hills only a few hundred feet in height. From the earliest times it has been looked on as a possible route of an inter- oceanic road. As far back as 1520, when Cortez was the guest of Monte- zuma in Tenochtitlan, the Indiiiii monarch called his attention to the subject. He showed him a map and suggested the expedition which the Conqueror subsequently dispatched to Tehauntepec. The party sailed up tlie Coatzacoalcos River, hoping tliat it would prove a waterway run- ning clear across to the Pacific — an idea which, it is needless to remark, was disappointed. Cortez never for- g-ot the possibilities of the Tehaunte- pec route. In his fourth letter to tOharles V, he dwells upon it at con- siderable length. He was so sure that eventually the exigencies of trade would compel the opening of a route across the Isthmus, that he obtained from the crown a grant of four estates along the line which he judged would be adopted. These lands were held by his descendants down to within comparatively recent years. Ho-vv w^ise the Conqueror was may be inferred from the fact that the rail- road runs for a part of the way right through his plaiitations. Since the time of Cortez, repeated attempts have been made to utilize in one way or the other the oppor- tunities which Tehauntepec offers so prodigally. Though the policy of Spain was not in general favorable to the development of trade in her colonies, surveys for an inter- oceanic road across the isthmus were continued under the viceroys. The accuracy of the charts compiled under the reigns of Philip II and Cliarles III, have often been com- mented on by subsequent genera- tions of engineers. Austin Cramer, the agent sent by the Viceroy Buca- reli, in 1774, was the first man to advocate the construction of a canal across the Isthmus. In 1824, shortly after the establishment of indepen- dence in Mexico, the Federal Govern- ment and the State of Vera Cruz each dispatched a commission to survey the Isthmus. It was tlirough their efforts that the city of Minatitlan was founded. They also devised a project for improving the navigation at the Coatzacoalcos up to its junc- tion with the Malatengo, and for a carriage road from that point to the Pacific. In 1842 Santa Anna granted a con- cession for a land and water route across the Isthmus to Jose de Garay. Some five or six years later the fran- chise was acquired by an English firm domiciled in Mexico, which, in turn, disposed of it to Peter Hargous, of New York. Hargous made several attempts to realize the project, but found it impossible to do so, in view of the hostility then felt in Mexico towards the Americans because of the war just recently ended. His con- cession was annulled in 1851, and a new one of similar import was is- sued to A. D. Sloo & Co. The Sloo Company proved equally incapable. In September, 1S57. the Mexican Government contracted with th--> I>ouisiana Tehauntepec Company, of New Orleans, for a rail and river road across Tehauntepec. A higli- way was actually built between Suchil and Ventosa, and for a time a prosperous business was done. Hundreds of pilgrims bound for the gold fields of California made the journey by sea from New Orleans to Seven Mexican Cities. Minatitlan, thence by boat up the Coatzacoalcos to Suchil, completing the journey on the steamers that plied between Ventosa and San Fran- cisco. In 1866, however. President Juarez annulled the franchise on the ground that the Company liad £aile>l to fulfill its obligations — presumably, in not having built the railroad speci- fied in the contract. Emile La Sere, a New Orleans man, who had been prominently connected with the Louisiana Tehauntepec Company, obtained the concession in 1867, but after having beeri several times renewed and modified, this was also annulled, in 1879. The next concessionaire was Edward Learned. of New York, who transferred his rights to a company by whom some fifteen or sixteen miles of railroad were actually constructed. The con- cession was annulled in 1882 on terms w^hich must have been very satis- factory to the company, inasmuch as the Government agreed to pay, in all, $1,625,000 for such improve- ments as had been made. Perhaps the mere fact that a start had thus at last been made in the building of the railroad was worth all of that very considerable sum. At this point it is necessary to mention the Eads Ship Railway, which was to transport vessels bodily across the Isthmus. Eads, whose fame was won at the Mississippi River Jet- ties, firmly believed in the feasibility of this gigantic project. At each end of the. road as he planned it, there w^as to be a terminal dock, with a pontoon capable of lifting the largest ships then afloat. A vessel could by this means be raised to any desired level, placed upon a specially con- structed car, and transpo-rted, freight, passengers and all, just as she stood, across the Isthmus. Then, by means of a similar pontoon, she would be safely placed back in the water. Eads interested a number of people, and secured several concessions from the Mexican Government, the first being granted in 1881. Nothing was done, how^ever, to carry out the great engi- neer's plans, probably because at the time public attention was diverted to the Nicaragua Canal. In the meantime the Mexican Government seems to have gone on trying to find a competent contrac- tor who would really try to carry out his obligations regarding the build- ing of a railroad across the Isthmus. Its first contract, with Delfin San- chez, made in 1882, was rescinded in 1888. Sanchez, however, built part of the road and did some other w^ork of importance, altogether ex- pending $562,910 on the enterprise. When the next concessionaire, Ed- ward 21cMurdo, of Londoji, took charge, he found 108 kilometers — a little more th&n sixty miles — of roa'l, more-or less l>adly built and in groat need of repair. MoMurdo undertook to complete the road withtn thirty months. He had /at his disposal the proceeds of a loan of £2,700.000, floated in Europe, bearing 5 per cent interest, and secured by a mortgage on the railway property. Unfortu- nately, he died before he could carry out his plans. The contract was re- scinded in 1892. Within a month another contract was made witli Messrs. Corthell, Hampson and Stan- hope, under whom the work %vas car- ried on energetically. But the pro- ceeds of the European loan pro\-ed inadequate, and by mutual agreement this contract, like so many of its predecessors, was canceled, Stanhope, hovirever, retained his confidence in the enterprise, and in December, 1893, secured a concession from the Government for the construction of the fifty-nine -kilometers, which re- mained to be built in order to com- plete the road. In the meantime, another loan of £3,000,000 had been raised. Stanhope's price for the work was $1,113,035. By the year 1896 the work was finished, and the railroad across the Isthmus of Te- hauntepec was an accomplished fact. As it stood in 1896, however, the Thehauntepec Railroad was only ol local importance. It could not com- pete for the commerce of the world with the fleets that sailed around Cape Horn, or with the transconti- nental railroads of the United States. That it should do so, nevertheless, was the intention of Mexico's wise and progressive ruler. President Diaz saw that in order to crystallize his dream it would be necessary to build two great harbors, those of Coatza- coalcos and Salina Cruz, the com- pletion of which next month will mean so much to New Orleans. In 1S9S and 1899 the Government accordingly negotiated a cnntfact with the British firm of S. Pearson & Sons, Ltd., , of London, to run fifty-one years, by which it virtually went into partner- ship in the management of the rail- road and the construction of the projected harbors. This concession was revised and approved in 1902, and with some modifications made two years later, is still in force. The work has been done every- where with characteristic British thoroughness. As the crow flies, the distance from ocean to ocean across the Isthmus of Tehauntepec is 125 miles, but the sinuosities of the track are such that the railroad is 190 miles in length. It rises quite gradually from Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf Coas^ to the Chivela pass, the highest point on the divide, about 730 feet above 54 Sevkn Mexican Cities. «ea-level. The scenery is attrac- tive, but the hills and vallies which -contribute to the traveler's g-ratifi- cation have necessitated much heavy constructural work. In the Mala- tengo canyon, for instance, for a dis- tance of about eight miles, and in the Chivela pass, for about eighteen miles, the engineering problems wero ■of a high order. At Chivela the con- struction of two horseshoe curves- and one tunnel was necessary. After leaving Chivela the descent is more or less abrupt, the grade being' in places as much as 160 feet to the mile. The main line is supplemented by a branch about fifteen miles Ions', connecting- Juile and San Juan Evangelista. At Lucrezia, connection IS made with the Vera Cruz and Pacific Railroad, over the line of which trains ffire now operated to "Vera Cruz and Cordova, thus g-iving iininterrupted access to all parts of the Republic. The equipment of the Tehauntepec road is of the most modern descrip- tion. The gauge is the standard one of four feet eight and one-half Inches. Oil. imported from Beau- mont, Tex., is used in lieu of other fuel. Steps are now being taken to rectify the five most important curves, and in time the heavier grades will be reduced. Eventually, it is expected to double-track all the line. The bridges, which are of steel with abutments of solid masonry, are numerous and, as in the instance of that over the Jaltepec River at Santa Lucrezia, of consider- able size. The Jaltepec bridge is 560 feet long and consists of five spans. The road has been relaid throughout its length with eisrhtv-pmind rails. The ties are of crpns'-'ted pine, native Tiardwood. and California redwood. One of the many curious problems which had to be solved was presented by the luxuriant vegetation which thrives all along the route, and which, left to itself, would soon over- run the track and stop transporta- tion. The company uses an ingenious device for sprinkling the roadbed with chemicals, which destroy even the roots of the plants. But manual labor has also to be employed in tlie unending contest, the maintenance of "Which cuts quite a large figure in the annual -budget of the road. Af Coatzacoalcos the river forms a natural harbor of almost unlimited -capacity, with an average depth of fifty feet. Tlie cliannel was originally ■obstructed by a bar over which there was, as a general rule, only twelve feet of water. The prob- lem, therefore, which the engineers *in charge of the portworks had to ^olve was merely to remove the bar sind prevent it from forming anew. The system employed so successfully at the mouth of the Mississippi River, and tested anew with equally satis- factory results at Tampico, was. put in practice here. Two converging jetties extend from the mouth of the river into the sea, so as to confine the current wfithin as narrow limits as possible, compelling it to scour out the channel across the. bar. Wheu finished, the jetties will be 1,300 meters, or oyer 4,000 feet long. They are being built of rubble dumped into the sea, and finished with a concrete dressing at the top. At present the west jetty is about three-quarters done, and work has been started on the east jetty. The rock for the lat- ter is carried across the river oh a barge operated by an . endless chain. Ultimately, it is expected that there will be a depth of water on the bar of over thirty feet. In the meantime the construction of three handsome steel wharves has been accomplished, and two more are under way. These are to be supple- mented by six large iron warehouses, eacli measuring 126 meters long, by thirty-three wide, two of which are done and one has been begun. The w^harves are equipped with electric cranes. A railroad yard five or six hundred feet wide lies back of the warehouses, on a considerable ex- panse of made land, the area of which is shortly to be tripled. At Salina Cruz, on the Pacific, the engineering problems which had to be solved were of a much higher order than at Coatzacoalcos. Here there had existed only an open road- stead. A harbor had literally to be made out of hand. In other words, human effort has had to do every- thing, without any assistance •what- ever from nature. Salina Cruz lacked even the subsidiary aids found at Vera Cruz for the creation of a safe and commodious haven for shipping. In winter time it was exposed to severe northers. In the summer time the prevailing winds caused a heavy and sometimes dangerous surf. But by building enormous breakw^aters of rubble, concrete and hewn stone, extending seaward from a rocky promontory, an outer and an inner harbor, admirable for the purpose, have been made. The breakwaters of the outer harbor are being reared in water between forty-five and fifty feet deep, and will inclose an area of about twenty acres, ample to accom- modate the sliipping of a hemi- spliere. The real harbor, how- ever, is an inner basin excavated upon the site of the old tow^n of Salina Cruz. Two immense dredgers are at work here. The basin, when finished, will be over 3,000 feet long. Seven Mexican Cities. by upwards of 700 feet wide, and at low water there will be a deptli of thirty feet on the sills. The sides will be faced with concrete monoliths, on top of which a rubble foundation will support a heavy course of cement, backed with sand. Near the •entrance to this capacious basin three warehouses will be erected, and tracks will be laid on the wliarves so that, with the aid of electric cranes, freight may be handled with the utmost expedition. Eventually, this basin will be widened nearly one-half; ten piers will be built along- the land side, and a number of othei' improvements will be added. At the northwest corner of the ba- sin a dry dock is being excavated, •capable of accommodating vessels 300 feet long. Within the next two months, as I have said, Salina Cruz and Coatza- coalcos will be ready to handle ship- ping. The Mexican Government, it is understood, will establish its own steamship lines between Coatzacoal- cos and New Orleans, and between Salina Cruz and San Francisco. Al- ready a Japanese steamship company is arranging to run vessels regularly to Salina Cruz, thus bringing that port directly in touch with the Orient. Aside from the saving of time, in wliich respect Tehauntepec will rep- resent a gain of five days over Pan- ama, the great advantage which it offers New Orleans as a transcon- tinental route, is an actual economy of money. Freight can be trans- ported from shiphold to shiphold across the Isthmus at $2 per ton. In this connection the significant words of John F. Wallace, late Chief Engineer of tlie Panama Canal, may be quoted, with which this imperfect account of a great engineering enter- prise may be concluded: "It is estimated," says Mr. Wal- lace, "that modern steamers can carry ocean freight woth profit at the rate of $1 a ton per 1,000 miles. On this basis, from New York to Sydney, Australia, the saving in dis- tance by tl^e Mexican route would be 5,700 miles, and any rate across the neck less that $5.75 per ton should take this business from the Suez Ca- nal. This does not count the time required to steam 5,700 miles — from which, of course, should be substract- ed the time consumed in transferring the freight by rail across the isth- mus. From New Orleans to Hong Kong the saving over Suez would be 4,800 miles and fourteen days in time; and from New Orleans to Yok- ohoma the saving, similarly reck- oned, would be 8,400 miles and twen- ty-four days." CDHAF=>TER VIII. The Capital of Yucatan, Center of the Sisal Industry— Growing: and Selling- the Fiber Used in Rope Has Made Merida the Richest City in Mexico — The Descendants of the Mayas — ^Strict Sanitary Laws Rigidly Enforced in the Cities of Yucatan — Opportunities for the Merchants of New Orleans^ ••^HE growtTi of the sisal busi- \ J ness in the last eight or ten \ / years h?B made Yucatan one © ® of the most prosperous sec- tions of Mexico. Prior to that time, the Philippines prac- j ^ tically monopolized the trade. The hemp industry, however, was disorganized during the war there, and the ropemakers of the world had to look elsewhere for sup- plies of raw material. Sisal, which is a remarkably long, tough and dur- able fiber, is an excellent substitute for hemp, and has now almost entire- ly taken its place in the manufacture of the cheaper grades of cordage, and especially of binder twine. It is curious to reflect that the activity which established a market for American harvesting machinery in Russia also contributed materially to the development of the sisal in- dustry in Yucatan, but such was the fact. Wherever the American reaper is used binder twine is in demand, and as, year by year, the consump- tion of this product is increasing, it seems highly probable that Yucatan's prosperity will continue. The cultivation of sisal monopolizer the entire capital and enterprise of the State. Practically nothing else is raised for market, and no attempt whatsoever is made in the way of manufacturing. The ropewalk opened a few years ago in Merida, to manu- facture sisal, has been closed as un- profitable. The markets both of Merida and Progreso, though ex- tremely picturesque and interesting, offer only a few varieties of fruit and vegetables, and these are expensive It is said that to-day it would be im- possible for a newcomer to purchase land and go into the sisal business, except far down on the east coast, where the danger from Indians is too great to justify the risk. In that quarter are found logwood, chicle and mahogany, a considerable quan- tity of which is annually exported; but around Merida the broad, level, arid country is given over -wholly to the cultivation of sisal. Sisal is a hardy plant, resembling' both the palmetto and the "Spanish dagger." The thick, hairy, dwarfed trunk grows to a height of five or six feet and is crowned by a spiny panache of stiff green leaves, each separate and distinct from its fel- lows. It grows anywhere, no matter how dry or rocky the soil. All that is necessary is to clear the earth of the heavy vegetation that promptly springs up in tropical regions, \vhen- ever the hand of man is withdrawn, even for a short time. A hole rudely punched in the hard ground receives the shoot, which flourishes vigorous- ly whether the rains fall or not, whether the sun scorches or the hur- ricane blows. Once a year the plant- er clears the weeds off the estate. At the end of the fifth season the har- vest is ready. Only the outer circle of leaves is removed the first year, and the inner circles are subsequent- Iv cut at the rate of one uer annum. The plant continues to yield for eight or ten seasons, at ' the end of which time a tall flower thrusts itself up from tlie center, bursts into brown blossoms and dies. TS^ith it the plant dies also. How valuable sisal is may be Judged from the fact that the leaves are said to be worth 7 cents, gold, each in the field. When harvested, they are subjected to treatment in the- massive machines that British and American ingenuity has devised for the purpose, and with which nearly all of the great Yucatan plantations are now equipped. The process is simple and expeditious. The leaves are macerated and passed under gi- gantic iron rollers, which squeeze out the juice and leave a handful of greenish yellow fiber, dry and flexi- ble. This is hung in the sun for twelve hours to bleach, and is then- Seven Mexican Cities. 57 ready to be baled and shipped. About 70,000 bales of sisai find their way to Progreso every month, and are thence shipped to the United States. Much of this goes to Chicag-o, some to Ohio, Illinois and San Francisco, and the residue to various other places where cordage is manufac- tured. The average value of a bale of sisal is $70. Progreso claims to handle, year in and year out, about 600,000 bales, valued at $45,000,000, silver. It is an enormous and most profitable business, out of which a hundred princely fortunes have been made in less than one-tenth as many years. The trade has developed so quickly and On such a vast scale that it is becoming difficult to obtain sufficient labor to carry on the gigantic enter- prises which certain great "henne- queneros," for instance, have set afoot. Nearly all the sisal planters depend upon the local or Maya In- dians and upon the half-breeds, called Mestizos. The Mayas do not seem ever to have been very numer- ous, and while their number shows a ^ slight but constant increase, a time will probably come when they will prove inadequate to all the demands made upon them. The Mestizos are numerous enough at present, but whether ultimately they will not also fail to supply the demand is a ques- tion of considerable interest in Yu- catan. The Mayas are descendants of the ancient inhabitants of the peninsula, who were old in the land when the Conquistadores found tlieir way hither and established tlie city of Merida. They are a simple, humble, affectionate, laborious race, distinguished from ofher Mexican tribes for the cleanliness of their persons and dwellings and for an in- tense conservatism, which makes them content to live in the species of * bondage in which they are held on the great plantations. The Indians are seen at their best on the "ranchos," where they live the lives of any other "peons," ex- cept that they speak the Maya tongue. The men are in most cases strong and well built, the ■women graceful and good-natured. Their food is chiefly corn bread and beans. Beef is seldom seen upon their tables, but as they are mighty hunters, even with the antiquated muzzle-loading weapons which their poverty alone is able to afford, game is a frequent and delicious dish. All classes are intensely religious, and the church festivals are invariably celebrated on a great scale. Though few of the Indians can either read or write, they have the Catholic liturgy in their own tongue, and their devo- tions in the little country churches are always performed with exem- plary zeal. Usually the Indians of the interior dwell 150 to 200 familit.-s on a rancho. This is the average number on one of the larger plantations. From forty to fifty families is considered not a large complement for a rela- tively small place. They are com- pletely dependent upon the pro- prietor, who, it must be added, uses his almost patriarchal authority in nearly all cases with kindness, con- sideration and genuine sympathy tor the poor creatures confided to his care, as it must seem to him by Divine Providence. On nearly every one of the ranchos a thatched-roofed cottage is assigned to each family, and every week a "ration" consist- ing of a bushel of corn and beans, and a few other simple provisions, is dealt out to them. In addition they are paid a fixed sum proportioned to the number of sisal leaves reaped during the day's work. It is cus- tomary also to assign each family a bit of uncleared land to bring under cultivation, and on which vegetables for their use may be grown. On these little farms they raise corn, pumpkin and the few simple fruits that Yucatan seems to favor. Few of the ranchos maintain schools. In such as exist, however, instruction is in the Maya dialeot. It is curious to find that, though clinging tenaciously to the languaga of their forefathers, these degenerate descendants of a mighty race have parted with every recollection of its history. Here and there twenty years ago might have been found aged crones to recall having heard from their grandmothers or more remote ascendants, something of the tradi- tions of the past — perhaps even the meaning of some of those extraordi- nary hieroglyi)hics sculptured on the rocks at Mayapam or Uxmal. But these appear to have passed away and, with them, the last link that connected the Maya of to-day with his "shadowy" ancestry. The one serious vice with which the Yucatan Indians are charged is a fondness for liquor. The sisal planters haVe found it wise to pro- hibit the use of intoxicants on their estates. The men, however, find va- rious ways to evade this wise and salutary regulation, and to procure supplies of anisette, the beverage to which they are most addicted. This liquor is made locally from sugar cane rum, and a bottle of it can be procured for 38 cents, silver. It produces a kind of frenzied in- toxication, the victim of which wants to fight, and frightful murders, per- petrated with the machete, under such circumstances are on record. Of course, these things happen rare- ly, but they do happen. 58 Seven Mexican Cities. The Mestizos form an interesting class by themselves. Many of them show only the slightest trace of their Indian blood, nor does the fact that they belong to a mixed race appear to carry with it any special social stigma. The men wear a loose cos- tume of -white cotton, and when at work roll the trousers up tight around the thighs, so as to leave their muscular legs free and unadorned. The women are fond of dress. The garment which is most in favor is known as the "liipil." This is a long loose, shapeless robe of white cloth, worn over every other article of at- tire, and enveloping the figure from the throat to the ankles. It has no sleeveg, and the opening through which the head is introduced is cut square, and edged with some bril- liant braid or embroidary. Simple as the description sounds, the hipil can be made both beautiful and ex- pensive. Ordinarily, five or six dol- lars suffices to purchase such a gar- ment, but cases are known when the quality of the fabric, the richness of the embroidary and tlie delicacy of tlie needlework tlirougliout liave increased the price to $390 and even more. Any amount of jewelry is worn with this robe, and at the Mestizo balls, whicli appear to be very elaborate entertainments, at which all middle-class Berida enjoys being present, the girls have been known to deck themselves with an almost fabulous quantity of gold chains and gems. Nothing impresses the traveler more regarding both the Indians of pure blood and the Mestizos, than the distinctly Chinese cast of fea- tures that prevails among- them all. The few scientific observers who have pushed their way into Yucutan in past times, when the means of ac- cess were by no means as good as now, have noted and commented upon the resemblances between the native races and the Mongol. Prince Napoleon, who conducted extensive explorations in Southern Mexico some sixty years ago, collected a vast body of data bearing on the sub- ject, and came to the conclusion that the Western Hemisphere was peopled from Asia. Prof. Le Plongeon has developed practically the same theory. At any rate, the Maya is one of the oldest tribes in Mexico, antedating the Aztecs, and probably far surpassing these bloodthirsty con- querors in intelligence and refine- ment. The little that is known re- garding the history of this fasci- nating people has been obtained by a patient study of the ruins which abound in Yucatan. Some of tlie most important of these remains are found witliin a day's journey of Merida, and are the property of Mr. Edward Tlionipson, for many years the United_ States Consul in Yuca- tan. Mr. Thompson is a man of rare attainments, a member of many learned societies, and probably the greatest living authority on all sub- jects connected with the antiquities of Yucatan. "Chichen-Itza, the name by which his ranch is known, is famous for the Maya ruins which Stand upon it— a stupendous pile of carved stone, including multitudes of rooms, courtyards, fortified walls and hall-ways, and all the appur- tances of a great temple. It is pos- sible to proceed by railroad from Merida to Tltas. a drive of four leagues over good roads bringing the visitor to Mr. Thompson's estate by nightfall. The entrance is under an arch erected at least 1,000 years ago. The ruins are kept in perfect order, the brush carefully removed, and the walls freed from vines. This is not the case elsewhere in Yucatan, and thus the visitor who desires to learn something of the ancient civilization of the peninsular can no-vvhere obtain the knowledge so easily and accu- rately as at Chichen-Itza. Mr. Thomp- son's explorations have convinced him that Chichen-Itza was erected at least 2,000 years ago. In cleaning up the ruins he has come across skele- tons which, partly on ethnological grounds, but particularly because of the way in which they were buried, he has felt compelled to assign ?:n that remote epoch. Chichen-Itza is, probably, tfierefore one of the oldest ruins in the -world — almost certainly the oldest in North America. Could all its secrets be read,, what a strange and stirring story they would re- veal — what tragedies, what comedies, and what moving incidents of love, loyalty and devotion! — All no-w, alas! forgotten in the long accummulation of years. The population of Yucatan, how- ever, contains a larger proportion of people of white descent than of In- dian or of mixed blood. Most of them reside in Merida and Progreso. There are very few foreigners in either place. The Germans consider- ably outnumber Americans in both cities. Much of the business outside of sisal is in tlie hands of the Ger- mans, of whose merits as immigrants the people of Yucatan appear to en- tertain a high opinion. The Sisal planters for the most part maintain superb residences in Merida, -where they spend the -winter months, visit- ing their rachos, their "quintas," or going to Progreso for the bathing, in the summer time. Life in Merida in the season is expensive, judged even by our extravagant American standards. But in the country, in the Seven Mexican Cities. -ft' S'f hot months, much of the formality of society is laid aside, and a simple, natural, healthful regimen is fol- lowed. The quintas are little farms many of which are located in tlie environs of Merida, and are seen from tlie train as one enters the city from Progreso. Nothing- more delight- ful in the way of residences could be desired. The houses, low, ramb- ling and adorned with verandahs and porticos, are invariably smother- ed in flowers. Hundreds of Ameri- can windmills left their skeleton arms into the sky; for the soil is dry, and water for every purpose must be pumped from sources far underground. Wherever the life-bear- ing liquid flows, however, the amazing fertility of the tropics is evident, yielding lush grass, unnum- bered roses, the glassy foliage and brilliant scarlet blossoms of the fire- trees and scores of other magnificent flow^ers. Merida is situated tw;enty-four miles inland from Progreso. A fairly well-equipped railroad connected the tvpo places. The journey occupies an hour, and most of the route is lined on either hand by interminable sisal fields. Yucatan, at least in this part, is a hilless region, and the eye ranges uninterruptedly over the low. flat landscape to the unbroken line of the horizon. The city itself is one of those surprises so often en- countered in Mexico. Here, in this remote, unfrequented — I have nearly said isolated — quarter of the Repub- lic, is found its handsomest, cleanest, richest town. Fifteen years ago, it is said, Merida w^as a dirty little place, where a brisk rain often made the streets impassable for hours to- gether, and caused the passing vehicles to plaster walls and pedes- trians alike w^ith malodorous mud. All this, and a hundred otlier dis- advantages, have been removed with- in the last five or six years, thanks to the efforts of Governor Olegario Molina, and to the ample revenues which the sisal trade has turned into the coffers of tlie State. Governor Molina is one of those rare men who merit and receive the enthusiastic de- votion of their people. He has de- voted himself with exemplary zeal to the task of modernizing Merida and Yucatan in general. So ■'well has his work been done that recently, w^hen he completed his first term, he was re-elected to office by an overwhelm- ing majority. He is a man of ex- ceptional integrity, has a large for- tune made in sisal, and is a lawyer by profession. He w^as past middle age when called to office, but is full of energy still. He has refused to accept any salary for his services. and out of his own pocket has con- tributed liberally to forward many public enterprises. In Merida they like to tell how he supervised the paving of the city himself, dispensing with inspectors. Though he knew little practically regarding the merits of paving material, he wus in the habit of going over the work in person, and wherever he thought the contractor at fault compelled him to do it all over again. The re- sult is that Merida is paved from end to end with asphalt and vitrified brick, and the quality of both is far superior to anything in New Orleans. Governor Molina has also estab- lished a model system of street clean- ing. A well-equipped station erected in the outskirts of the town ac- commodates the best modern ap- paratus for this purpose. Every thoroughfare in the city is kept abso- lutely free from every kind of dirt. The thoroiighness with which the work is done must command the ad- miration and approval of the most captious. As yet, Merida has no municipal sewerage system. The gar- bage service is similar to tiiat in New Orleans; but as the authority of a Mexican Governor is backed up by federal troops, it counts for much more than a mere American mayor's. and consequently the night carts make their rounds punctUEllly and do their office promptly and effectively. There is urgent need of a water and drainage system, whicli will obviate the use of cisterns, tanks and wells, but this important municipal enter- prise remains as yet to be accom- plished. Governor Molina is at present in Europe, enjoying a vacation after six or eiglit years of arduous labor, and in his aljsence many important enterprises are at a standstill. It is very likely, however, tliat a public official of his experience and ability will not long ignore the water prob- lem, the solution of which will be the crowning feature of his adminis- tration. He has already taken so many v^^ise measures to rid the city of disease tliat this one must long ago have presented itself for his con- sideration, and if its execution is de- ferred, it can only be for the present. The task can never be an easy one. Merida is situated on a species of limestone reef not far from great brackisli marshes. Under the city itself are found caverns and pools of icy water, known to the Indians of old, whose remains are every now and then discovered in these strange re- sorts. Preliistoric workmen con- structed steps down to one of these underground basins and used it as a bath. These curious geological con-. ditions will unquestionably make the work of the engineers difficult, but modern science is equal to even 60 Seven Mexican Cities. greater undertaking's, and there should be in the freaks of nature no serious obstacle to the accomplish- ment of a necessary enterprise. The city autliorities are extremely energetic in their efforts to enforce the sanitary laws. The promptness and efficiency with which cases of suspicious fever are handled afford an example which might well be imi- tated in our own country, whenever the emergency presents itself. At certain seasons of the year no per- son can complain of heahache or other symptoms of yellow fever with- out being promptly visited by health officials and, if the ease seems to justify, placed in a screened ambu- lance and removed to the city hos- pital. Strangers taken ill in the city are kept under observation, and transferred to the hospital as soon as the case seems to require it. The hospital is an immense affair on the outskirts of the city, and occupies an entire square of ground on one side of the penitentiary, the Ayala Asylum occupying a corresponding position on the left. The three great build- ings form an impressive group. In front a spacious plaza with a foun- tain in the center and myriads of brilliant flowers affords a spot of splendid color. The Penitentiary, surrounded by low battlemented walls, has an impressive entrance and is surmounted by a tower. The asylum is a pretty place, with spacious grounds bright with blos- soms, erected at a cost of $1,000,- 000 and presented to the city by a wealthy planter. Of the hospital the casual visitor sees little above the high walls but the roofs of the vari- ous " wards, but everyone who has enjoyed the opportunity of inspect- ing it agrees in saying that it is ad- mirably equipped, splendidly conduct- ed, and so far as the facilities for handling yellow fever, a model insti- tution. The local laws require that all ivells and other receptacles for water should be screened or oiled so as to prevent the propagation of mos- quitoes. A corps of inspectors make weekly visits, and whenever a house is found where these precautions are not carefully observed, the work is done at the owner's expense and «i fine is imposed, in addition. It is impossible not to note with pleasure these evidences of activity on the part of the sanitary officials. Backed by Governor Molina's pitriotism and energy, this ceaseless fight against disease must eventually win. Similar efforts, made with less zeal and less ample funds, have won elsewhere. Surely, a time will come when Merida will be as free from pernicious disease as any city in the world. Even novr the heRlth conditions show marked improvement irom year to year, and the danger into which the foreigner fancies he Avas running "When he visits the city in summer, is largely Imaginary. Although Merida is a gay little city in the season, it is reputed to be orderly, sober and above the average Mexican city in morality. Gamb- ling is strictly forbidden, and the law is carried out with so much vigor that it is not safe to make bets openly, even in the club. Cockfight- ing is under the ban, for there is little interest in this variety of sport, as the Mexicans practice it, unless the spectator has a wager on the birds. Bullfights are, however, both lawful and popular. The sale of in- toxicants is prohibited after noonday on Sundays and national holidays. Beer may be sold after that hour in the hotels, but the barrooms must either close or limit their traffic to temperance drinks. There are no "side doors" in Merida. For the first i.:- fraction of this law the penalty is a fine of $50, for the second, imprison- ment; and the third entails the for- feiture of license and of the bar- keeper's chances of ever again enter- ing the saloon business in the city. The result is seen in the fact that comparatively few crimes are com- mitted on holidays, and in the general good behavior of the population at all times. The appearance of the city is ex- tremely attractive. At the time of our visit the general renovation through which the town was pxit in anticipation of the visit of President Diaz a few months ago, was still in evidence. Gossip has it that the authorities compelled everybody, high and low, to paint his dwelling afresh; at any rate, we saw nowhere any indication of poverty or neglect. but on the contrary, street after street opened up long perspectives of brightly-colored, fresh and inviting homes, through the doorways of which frequent glimpses were ob- tainable of beautiful courtyards within. Governor Molina's own resi- dence is pointed out to visitors. It is one of the least pretentious in the city, but the "patio", is a riot of tropical flowers, and a place where a poet might find his dreams satisfied The handsomest section of the city is, however, in process of erection. The Paseo de"Montejo is a wide and stately thoroughfare, well paved, and leading from one of the numerous "plazas" to the statue of Sierra, the poet and jurist, a distance of per- haps half a mile. One of Merida's rich citizens inaugurated the work, laid out the street, and presented it to the municipality about ten Seven Mexican Cities. (A years ago. The residence of Senor Canton, another local magnate, which is being erected at one end of this noble drive, is a g'orgeous palace of carved sandstone, which would em- bellish any great city. Other stately homes are now being built, representing large expenditures of money, taut few of them possess the rare artistic excellence of Senor Can- ton's truly magnificent home. The social life of Merida is largely a matter of private entertaining. Such noble buildings as this Canton residence fill an important place in the local scheme of things. With the exception of the circus and two theatres, the performances in all of ■which are intermittent, there seems a dearth of amusement. A very handsome new theater is being erected in the middle of the city, but much difficulty has been experienced in finding a reliable contractor, and the task has proceeded slowly and expensively, upwards of $500,000, sil- ver, having already been spent in the work, which is not more than lialf done. Ultimately, it is hoped, this ornate structure will see every year a season of opera, the artists to be imported from Europe for the purpose. At present, however, the one perennial source of entertain- ment is found in the con'certs given by the military band three times a ■week in the main "plaza," in front of the Jockey Club, the City Hall, the Cathedral and other principal public edifices. The square is large, well paved, and full of flowers. An iron kiosk in the center accommodates the musicians, who are men of more than average talent, judging by the concert which was in progress when we visited the place. High over the spot towers a lofty mast, from which Topes radiate to many parts of the circle of trees and flowers around the kiosk; from these on gala nights colored incandescant bulbs are sus- pended in incredible numbers, lend- ing a touch of fairyland to a scene at all times fantastically gay. Merida is partial to electric lights, and uses them with much taste whenever a g:eneral illvimination seems justified Governor Molina is said to have placed 3,000 lights on the facade of his house in honor of President Diaz Other equally lavish and splendid displays are frequent. In fact, the impression which one carries away from the city is of inexhaustible riches, lavishly spent, and of a sprightly, intelligent, luxurious popu- lation, now for the first time realiz- ing the delight of embellishing their sumptuous little town. * * • • * Progreso, after Merida, does not claim much attention. It is, in fact merely the port, the commercial an- nex, of the sisal-growing region around Merida. The population is estimated at S,000, the larger portion of whom are employed on the docks or in tlie warehouses. The local firms are engaged in the commission business, handling sisal for export and importing- the wliole range of manufactured articles required by a community producing notliing for its own consumption. The warehouses in Progreso are of gigantic size. One firm owns fourteen, all of which are practically always full of sisal waiting export. Haven, in the right use of the word, there is none. The harbor is an open roadstead, liable to sudden fierce storms, the violence of which sometimes compels the ship- ping to weigh anchor and put to sea. These visitations are, however, of infrequent occurence; in ordinary weather ships drawing not more than eleven or twelve feet of water may lie beside any one of the four well- built steel piers, where they are rapidly discharged. Cranes, tracks, steel flatcars, mules and human muscle are all employed as occasion demands in getting the sisal to the ships, and the scene on the wharves is always a busy one. One of the piers is now being extended to deep water by private enterprise. At present vessels of large size are obliged to anchor two or three miles off shore, and cargo is conveyed to and from them in lighters, craft which are exceedingly picturesque under sail, but which are manifestly slow and cumbersome. Progreso, it is understood, is on the list of ports which' the Federal Government proposes to modernize. As yet, the national treasury has not disbursed a cent for public improve- ments in Yucatan, and the people of the State are justly proud of the fact. But the construction at Pro- greso of such a harbor as Vera Cruz now boasts is far too great an enter- prise for them to undertake of their own initiative. As soon as the har- bor works at Coatzoacoalcos shall have been completed, it is believed that th^ Federal Government will turn its attention to Progreso; and ap this must now occur within a short time, it is reasonable to expect that only a few years will elapse before Merida will have a port onen to the world worthy of her growing impor- tance and wealth. Progreso, however, »s not to wait for the Federal Government to take action before equipping herself with all the modern Improvements in her power. It li not difficult to see behind this r«*fi<>lution the prompting of Governor Molina. Thanks to him, a contract 1« •hortly to be signed for the paviajr with 62 Seven Mexican Cities. asphalt of the principal *r.7«^t« of the town, and for the improv.iiiient of the .water supply and »««v»yftge At present, the city depends for v/Ater upon tanks, cisterns, etc. The strin- gent local layvrs regarding- the screen- ing: ' of these receptacles, etc., are enforced with as mucli vigor in Pro- greso as in Merida. The beneficial _ effect of these salutary regulations upon the local health is seen In the fact that over a year has euipseu since a case of yellow fever has oc- curred. Progreso was founded thii'ty years «Rgo by Don Juan Castro, and is known by his name, thus — "Progreso ■de Castro" — on all formal occasions Formerly the trade of Merida went through Sisal and Campeache, taut these ports proving somewhat in- accessible, a point was ultimately cliosen on the seashore directly north of the city, and here Progreso was built. It stands on the shelving, sandy beach, the character of tlVe soil being such that the drainage is naturally good, and the sweep of the tradewinds blowing nearly all d.'^iy long keeps the atmosphere fresh and comparatively cool. The streets are deep in sand; here and there an al- mond tree's varnislied foliage pre- sents a pleasant glimpse of green, and in the middle of the town a typical Mexican plaza affords a pleas- ant resort in the evening. The people feel a good deal of pride in their schools, which, like those in Merida, are solidly and handsomely constructed of stone. Three have already been opened and more are building. The curriculum includes instruction in ;, Spanish, English French and Latin. These languages are obligatory even in the lowest . grades. Incidentally, it may be ob- sierved as evincing the open-minded- ness of the people of Yucatan in general, that the practice of having pupils study their lessons aloud does not maintain in the Progresso schools, where the methods favored in Ameri- can institutions a,re preferred. Yucatan is a field to v\'-hich the enterprise of the merchants of New Orleans might be profitably directed. The only serious competition would be from New York. The imports frorh Europe, which are of consider- able value, are restricted to such articles as the United States, and more particularly the South, is not likely to produce. With some small modifications of the quarantine sys- tem as now enforced at the mouth of the Mississippi, New York could be eliminated from the problern alto- gether. New Orleans is only two days' steaming away from Progreso w^hile New York is five even under the mpst favorable circ^imstances. The delay at the mouth of the Missis- sippi, however, now rather more than offsets this advantage, and makes the distance between Yucatan and New York actually less in point of time than between "Yucatan and New Orleans. These facts give a good deal of annoyance to the inerchants of Yucatan, who strenuously argue against the strict health laws en- forced at the Mississippi, and point out that they impede the free de- velopment of what they regard as tiio natural trade relations w^ith tlie Southern Stales. Be this as it may, however, the opportunities in Yucatan are very great. The principal imports last year v^^ere machinery and hard- ware, including railway supplies, corn, flour and hay, lumber, gro- ceries, including preserves, canned goods and cheese, druggists' sup- plies, dry goods, including ribbons thread and the finer cloths, felt and straw^ hats, wines and liquors: During the calendar year 1904 the total value of exportation from Yucatan reached the sum of $32,000,000 Mexican. Of this considerable sum about 75 per cent, or $24,000,000, filters out of thr country again, of which four-fifths is in payment of imported materials one-tenth is used in impost duties and' payments of interest, and one- tenth, or over $2,000,000, is spent by the people of Yucatan in travel abroad. Inasmuch as the United States consumes 95 per cent of the total output of Yucatan it would seem that our country should sup- ply 95 per cent of the imports, but domestic claims and and competi- tion here steps in. The other State? of Mexico supply cotton cloth from the Puebla and Vera Cruz looms, cattle from Tabasco and Tampico, corn from Guanajuato, bottled beer of good quality from the great breweries of Orizaba, Toluca and Monterey. Shoes, sugar, rum and tobacco, both in leaf and manu- factured, come from Vera Cruz and other States. Twenty years ago most of these articles were imported from the United States and the foreign countries. Each year finds the national competition keen and able on new articles — an index of Mexico's progress. But the United States looms up big in the commercial hori- zon w^ith her 45 per cent share of Yucatan's entire imports. Otlier foreign countries are prominent in specialties, as France vyith her wines Belgium with her rails, etc.. Great Britain ^vith engines and general merchandise, with Spain next in rank. For New Orleans to extehd her busi- ness with Yucatan she should devote decided attention to the most vul- nerable points. As Yucatan produces SiEVEN Mexican Cities. 63 but little else than sisal, she uses much preserved meat, veg-etables, fruits and other canned goods, and th