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Mexico and the Mexicans

OR,
NOTES OF TRAVEL IN THE WINTER
AND SPRING OF 1883.

BY
HOWARD CONKLING.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.

NEW YORK:
TAINTOR BROTHERS, MERRILL & CO.
1883.

Copyright, 1883,
By HOWARD CONKLING.

PRESS OF J. J. LITTLE __ CO ,
H03_ 10 TO 3D ASTOH PLACE, NEW YORK.

DEDICATION.
To the Members of the Calumet Club,
The grateful memory of whose undeviating cour
tesy and confidence has recently journeyed with me,
each step of the way, from New York to Mexico, and
from the Mexican capital to my home, and will con
tinue to accompany me, whether at home or abroad,
through the remainder of my life, this hasty record
of my tour through the Republic of Mexico is most
respectfully inscribed by
THE AUTHOR.
New York, June 20, 1883.

PREFACE.

AMONG the most vivid and cherished mem
ories of my childhood are the descriptions
which my grandfather, after his return from his
mission as Minister to Mexico, was accustomed
to give of that land of mystery and romance.
What especially dazzled my imagination was
the picture he drew of that world-renowned land
mark of the navigator, the snow-capped peak of
Orizaba, which, as the war-steamer that bore
him to his destination neared the Mexican
coast, stood out like a gigantic spectre against
the clear blue sky. So, too, with the matchless
view, from the plateau near Ario, of the mar
vellous volcano of Jorullo, which, almost with
in the memory of living men, sprang up, as if
at the command of an enchanter, to the height
of more than four thousand feet, amid the palm,

vi Preface.
the banana, the orange, and the lemon groves
of the Pacific slope.
Not less fascinating was his description of
the gorgeous hues of the flowers, the splendid
coloring of the butterflies, and the brilliant
plumage of the birds ; all of which seemed like
pictures of fairy-land.
Nor have I forgotten the testimony which
he bore to the high courtesy with which he was
everywhere received and treated, in social, as
well as in official circles.
Now that the bonds of friendship and alli
ance between our own country and our sister
Republic are about to be drawn so much closer ;
now that a new, auspicious, and even brilliant
era is about to dawn upon the Land of the
Aztecs, I made up my mind, in the month of
January last, to see Mexico with my own eyes.
The succeeding pages contain the record of
my observations and experiences during my
recent tour through that country. I have en
deavored to portray the condition of the Mex
ican people, under their social, industrial and
religious aspects, and to present a brief sketch

Preface. vii
of their commercial, agricultural, mining and
other industrial interests.
I gladly avail myself of this opportunity to
record my grateful sense of obligation to Senor
Don Matias Romero, the Mexican Minister at
Washington, for the valuable aid, in the pros
ecution of my plans, with which he has so
kindly favored me. With the politeness which
so well befits his eminent station, he not only
furnished me with letters of introduction to
General Manuel Gonzalez, the President of the
United Mexican States, and to various other
gentlemen of official and social distinction, but
he has likewise supplied me with official doc
uments, of great importance and value, which
were not otherwise accessible. Indeed, but
for my reliance upon his long-standing friend
ship for my father and uncle, I should have
hesitated to undertake the preparation of these
pages. What the future has in store for the human
family, Providence has wisely hidden from our
view. Still, it may be said that many indica
tions point to the early federation of all the

viii Preface.
peoples that now inhabit the North American
Continent. Hence I look forward to the meet
ing of the gentleman from the Isthmus of Pan
ama with the gentleman from the frozen zone,
on the floor of the Capitol at Washington, to ex
change congratulations that the government of
North America is, and will forever remain, one
and indivisible.

CONTENTS,

PAGE
Dedication  iii
Preface  v
I. From New York to Esperanza  i
II. Agriculture  16
III. Puebla and Cholula  28
IV. Mexican History  41
V. The City of Mexico  66
VI. The Serpent-Worship  90
VII. Visits to Prominent Persons  102
VIII. A Trip Westward  112
IX. The Volcano of Jorullo  135
X. Cuernavaca  153
XI. Commerce  159
XII. San Juan Teotihuacan  170
XIII. Ascent of the Great Volcano  178
XIV. Queretaro. — Mr. Seward's Visit  192
XV. The Northern Cities  206
XVI. Mining  223

x Contents.

PAGE

XVII. To and from San Luis Potosi  235
XVIII. Through the Sierra Madre  248
XIX. The Railroads  256
XX. The Railroads — Continued  269
XXI. Monterey  283
XXII. The Future of Mexico  288

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE
The Cathedral, Mexico  Frontispiece.
Sacred Serpent  91
Quetzalcoatl  91
The Goddess Teoyaomiqui  92
Volcano of Jorullo  _35
Popocatepetl  180
Iztaccihuatl  180

MEXICO AND THE MEXICANS.

CHAPTER I.
FROM NEW YORK TO ESPERANZA.
In the month of January last I left New
York, with its wintry climate, and after a pleasant
and speedy journey by rail, I found myself in the
balmy atmosphere of Florida. Then I took my
way to the old Creole city of New Orleans, and
embarked for Vera Cruz, the principal port of
Mexico. While on the voyage the ship en
countered one of those hurricanes which occur
periodically on the Gulf of Mexico, and which
are known by the name of " Northers " ; but it
was attended with no more serious consequen
ces than the sea-sickness of most of the passen
gers. On the morning of the sixth day after
leaving port the steamer dropped anchor under

2 Mexico and the Mexicans.
the walls of the fortress of San Juan de Ulloa
(now dismantled, and used as a state prison,),
which is situated on a small island off Vera
Cruz, and which affords a partial shelter to ves
sels in stormy weather. When a severe " Nor
ther " is in progress all vessels are obliged to
put to sea and wait for the troubled waters to
subside. The anchorage is so shallow that all
communication with the shore must be had
by small boats. The coral reefs which every
where abound make the navigation very dan
gerous, and the numerous wrecks serve to ad
monish shipmasters to proceed with the utmost
caution when approaching the coast.
No sooner had the steamer dropped anchor
than it was surrounded by a fleet of small boats,
rowed by men of every conceivable shade of
complexion (white alone excepted), who swarmed
up the sides of the good ship " City of Mexico,"
and offered their services to land passengers and
baggage. Having engaged one of these men,
I was presently landed at the Custom House,
where my trunk and valise were promptly ex
amined by a polite and obliging officer. There-

From New York to Esperanza. 3
upon my boatman, placing them on a curious
two-wheeled vehicle drawn by three mules
abreast, led the way to the Hotel de Dili
gencias. The port of Vera Cruz, which has a population
of about twelve thousand souls, has for centuries
been the sole Mexican portal, on the Gulf side, for
the commerce of the world. Its streets are nar
row, and are laid out at right angles ; the houses
are built of coral rock covered with stucco.
They are two stories in height, the first story
being used for business purposes and the second
as the family residence of the occupant. The
centre of the lot is arranged as a court-yard,
sometimes very tastefully laid out and planted
with tropical trees, plants, and flowers. There
is one street railway. The cars are drawn by
two undersized mules, and the driver announces
his approach by blowing a horn.
Everything centres around the Plaza de la
Constitucion, a park about two hundred feet
square. It is the one redeeming feature of the
city, and its cocoanut palms, its laurel-trees, and
its fountains form a pleasant contrast to the

4 Mexico and the Mexicans.
white stucco of the Hotel de Diligencias, the
parochial church, and the other buildings sur
rounding it. At night it is lighted by electric
lights. Owing to the absence of all sewerage, and
the drainage consisting solely of a kennel in the
centre of the streets, the atmosphere is invari
ably loaded with poisonous exhalations. As
might be expected in that torrid climate, the
yellow fever prevails there at all seasons of the
year in a malignant form. Of course the first
and most engrossing care of the stranger is to
make his escape, at the earliest possible moment,
from its pestilential courts.
At six o'clock on the morning succeeding my
arrival, I took passage on the Mexican Railway,
which extends from the city of Vera Cruz to the
Mexican capital, a distance of two hundred and
sixty-four miles, thus overcoming an elevation of
seven thousand three hundred and fifty feet, and
even ascending, in one part of the route, to an
elevation of eight thousand three hundred and
thirty-three feet. As the train was about to
leave the station, a squad of twenty-five soldiers
under the command of an officer, who took their

From New York to Esperanza. 5
places in the forward car, suggested the possible
danger of robbers along the route.
Running rapidly across the plain of the Tierras
Calientes, or Hot Lands, the train ascended in
rapid succession a number of very steep grades,
and passing through a short tunnel, suddenly
emerged upon a landscape of enchanting beauty.
It was an undulating plateau surrounded by
mountains ; while the lofty peak of Orizaba,
which formed the background, seemed to meet
the sky.
I soon passed the town of Cordova,* which is
noted for its numerous and extensive coffee-
plantations. Epicures have pronounced the
coffee here produced to surpass, in the delicacy
of its flavor, any other in the world, the far-
famed berry of Mocha not excepted.
And now the train approaches the great chasm
of Metlac. Here the railroad presents a wonder
ful exhibition of engineering skill. Running
upon a very steep grade along the side of a
mountain, the passenger who looks down sees
no object intervening between the car and the
bottom of the gulf, some five hundred or six

6 Mexico and the Mexicans.
hundred feet below. Farther on, where the
ravine is not so deep, it is spanned by an iron
bridge. After crossing, the train runs back in
the opposite direction over a similar steep grade,
having made a complete horse-shoe curve to ac
complish the passage of the ravine. In point of
grandeur and engineering skill this work far sur
passes the famous horse-shoe curve of the Penn
sylvania Railroad, which was constructed for a
similar purpose.
An hour's ride from Metlac brought me to
Orizaba. I had come ninety miles from Vera
Cruz, ascending four thousand and twenty-seven
feet, and found myself in the midst of a region
so surpassingly beautiful as almost to form a
terrestrial paradise. Marshal Bazaine made his
head-quarters here during the French occupation
of Mexico, and it thus became the most impor
tant centre of that freebooter's military opera
tions. Orizaba has a population of seventeen thou
sand. There is a street railway, with branches
extending in various directions, and it is used
for the transportation of freight as well as pas-

From New York to Esperanza. 7
sengers. The streets are wide, and are laid out
at right angles. The houses are covered with
stucco, and are roofed with tiles of a dull red
color. Their height seldom exceeds a single
story, the windows, which extend almost to
the ground, being secured with iron gratings.
There is a very good hotel here, kept by a
young German widow. Her late and lamented
husband had been a lieutenant in Maximilian's
army. She has been regarded by connoisseurs
as the prettiest woman in Mexico.
On the northern side of the town, a hill which
rises about fifteen hundred feet above the plain
commands an admirable view of the place and
its environs. The prospect from its summit is
exceedingly grand. Imagine a plain of unsur
passed fertility, extending about ten miles in
every direction, covered with rich fields of sugar
cane, tobacco, and Indian corn, and situated
within an amphitheatre of high mountains, above
which rises majestically the lofty peak of Ori
zaba. The town is situated in the centre of the plain,
and the monotonous white buildings with red

8 Mexico and the Mexicans.
roofs are relieved not only by the verdure of a
most luxuriant semi-tropical vegetation in the
plazas and court-yards which abound in every
part of the town, but also by the spires and
domes of the churches. There are ten of these
edifices ; a rather large number, it would seem
to us, for a population of seventeen thousand
souls. I ought to add, however, that since Presi
dent Juarez and his successors have abridged the
power and privileges of the Church, several of
these edifices have been used for secular pur
poses, while others have been altogether aban
doned, and are rapidly falling into decay.
The climate of Orizaba in winter is uniform
and delightful. It was still February, yet the
heat of the sun, at mid-day, was somewhat op
pressive. The mornings and evenings, however,
were comparatively cool. During the warmer
portions of the day the clothing of the inhabi
tants consists of only a single thickness of cotton
cloth ; but as the sun declines, they cover them
selves with a blanket, sometimes thrown over
the shoulders, and sometimes with the head in
serted through a slit provided for that purpose.

From New York to Esperanza. 9
These blankets, costing much less than an over
coat, are useful as a covering by night as well as
by day. The principal part of the population
of Mexico, it may be remarked, is descended
from the aborigines, and has little or no ad
mixture of European blood. To-day we have
the same race which the Spanish conqueror
Cortez found here more than three centuries
ago, with only such changes as foreign rulers
have imposed upon them. There is nothing
surprising, therefore, in the circumstance that
they dress so much like the aboriginal popula
tion of the United States.
The citizens of Orizaba never tire of boasting
about their famous cataract. They exhort trav
ellers never to think of going away till they have
visited this grand natural curiosity. It must be
acknowledged, however, that the tourist who
has not become familiar with the physical geog
raphy of Mexico is hardly qualified to sympa
thize with their admiration. To those who
have seen the Eureka Falls, Buttermilk Falls,
High Falls, and other such spectacles which are
exhibited at almost every rural watering-place

10 Mexico and the Mexicans.
in this country, the high-sounding praises of the
little cascade near the suburb of Jalapilla will
seem to be greatly exaggerated. But after they
have travelled through Mexico and noticed the
extreme scarcity of water, and especially of run
ning streams, more particularly on the table
lands, they will be able to appreciate the pride
and enthusiasm of the people of Orizaba.
When I visited the cascade I entered a lum
bering vehicle of tremendous avoirdupois and
great antiquity, drawn by mules. It was so
heavy that the mules were unable to pull it up
the first hill, and as it began that unpleasant
motion of running backward down hill, every
body jumped out and lent a helping hand. The
road lies through magnificent fields of sugar-cane
and passes a hacienda building where the oper
ation of crushing the cane and manufacturing
molasses may be seen. The superintendent
received me with great courtesy, and accom
panied me through the establishment.
While at Orizaba the opportunity was afforded
me to witness the favorite national amuse
ment — a bull-fight. It was on Sunday, which is

From New York to Esperanza. n
a gala day in Mexico, and the proceeds of the
entertainment were devoted to charity. The
ring was built inside the walls of a deserted
church edifice. Seats in the shade commanded
a higher price than those in the sun. Of the
women who honored the entertainment with
their presence, very few could lay claim to an
elevated social position; and, strange to say,
the costume of these was not of a kind to
attract any attention. Not so with the men.
Every variety of attire that could gratify per
sonal vanity seemed to be here represented.
Sombreros trimmed with silver cord, which some
times almost covered up the entire hat, and
tight-fitting Wack trousers, with the outside
seams decorated with silver chains laid cross
wise, and terminating in little balls or buttons,
were favorite articles of adornment. Some of
the spectators came on horses with very elab
orately ornamented saddles. A gentleman
showed me a saddle, inlaid with gold, which he
valued at a thousand dollars.
A very good band was in attendance, and
presently the toreadores, or bull-fighters, entered

12 Mexico and the Mexicans.
the arena. These were dressed in handsome
costumes of fantastical colors. A door being
thrown open, the bull rushed in and charged the
various actors, who maddened him by flaunting
red flags before his eyes, and who, with great
agility, would avoid his horns by springing lightly
to one side. When too closely pressed they
would take refuge behind a small but substantial
board fence, provided at several places, at a dis
tance of about one foot and a half from the sides
of the ring, thus affording them a refuge which
is too small for the bull to enter. The bull next
gave his attention to the picador, who is a horse
man armed with a somewhat blunt spear. In
this instance his horse was protected from the
horns of the bull by a heavy piece of sole leather
hung over the chest. As the bull was about to
strike the horse the picador fastened his spear
in the bull's shoulder and forced him away. At
every repeated onslaught the picador with uner
ring dexterity put his spear into the wound so
made, and held the infuriated animal at bay.
Perhaps his ability to check the bull's furious
charges was due rather to the pain caused

From New York to Esperanza. 13
by the stroke than to the strength of his
arm. Then men on foot, called banderilleros,
came forward with their banderillas, which are
barbed weapons to which are fastened ribbons
or bright-colored pieces of paper, and which
must be stuck into the animal's neck. This
must be done by coming up directly in front, and
not by any stealthy approach from behind. Of
course the feat is attended with a considerable
amount of personal risk. One of the banderil
leros was knocked down and trampled upon, but
his companions immediately advanced and, with
their flags, diverted the bull's attention, which
gave him time to rise and make good his escape.
When the spectators had been sufficiently
amused by all this brutality, the bull was dis
patched by the long straight sword of the mata
dor, who with one thrust pierced the animal's
heart. He was then dragged away, the band
meanwhile making as much noise as possible.
This routine is repeated half a dozen times.
When a fresh bull does not show a warlike dis
position he is lassoed and taken away.

14 Mexico and the Mexicans.
My next departure was taken for Esperanza.
The railway runs along the side of the mountain,
which towers aloft to the height of two thousand
feet, and enters a narrow cafion of great depth,
made the more conspicuous by numerous ad
vertisements of Saint Jacob's Oil in the Spanish
language. After several windings the train
gained the summit, which commands one of the
most magnificent prospects of the kind in the
world. A stop is had at Boca del Monte, an altitude
of seven thousand nine hundred and twenty-four
feet, which marks the dividing line between the
States of Vera Cruz and Puebla.
Esperanza is a railway station, with a good
hotel, kept by a Frenchman, and is fifteen miles
distant from the volcano of Orizaba. Here I
had the good fortune to make the acquaintance
of Sefior Don Camillo Averami, the manager of
an extensive hacienda, or plantation. With the
courtesy characteristic of his countrymen he
conducted me over the estate. He had many
square miles of land under cultivation, and had,
besides, vast herds of cattle, flocks of sheep, and

From New York to Esperanza. 15
droves of mules. He had a large counting-house,
with several clerks; also shops, stores, and all
necessary appurtenances, giving employment
and subsistence to two hundred families. The
laborers occupied cabins on the estate, and a
church and school were provided for them and
their children. My friend, the haciendado, rode
a splendid white horse, elegantly caparisoned,
and was attired in the showy costume of the
country. Everywhere the people paid court to
him as to a prince, and several of them, at his
command, joined us. We spent the first night
on the floor of a laborer's cabin, the second in a
cave on the mountain-side — the entire trip
occupying nearly three days.

CHAPTER II.
AGRICULTURE.
The physical geography of Mexico is perhaps
more remarkable than that of any other por
tion of the earth's surface of equal extent.
Stretching through seventeen degrees of lati
tude and thirty degrees of longitude, compris
ing a superficial area of eight hundred and thirty
thousand square miles, or nearly eighteen times
as great as that of the State of New York, a
large portion of which is unsurpassed in fertility,
her soil yields the products of every zone and
climate between the Equator and the North
Pole. But this is not all : owing to a peculiar
combination of heat and moisture, extensive
districts produce each year two crops of Indian
corn, of wheat, and of the other cereals which
are common to the Temperate Zone. Thus it
would seem that Mexico is singularly favored
of heaven with all the natural conditions re-

Agriculture. \ 7
quired to make her the home of a numerous
and prosperous people.
The configuration of this vast region and its
climatic conditions have suggested its division
into three several parts — the Tierras Calientes,
the Tierras Templadas, and the Tierras Frias.
The Tierras Calientes, or Hot Lands, include the
low grounds, or those having an elevation of less
than two thousand five hundred feet above the
sea-level, on the east and west coasts. The Tier
ras Calientes of the west are not so extensive
as those of the east, the western arm of the Cordil
leras approaching nearer to the sea. This great
mountain chain traverses the whole length of
Mexico. On the northern border of Guatemala
it bifurcates — the western arm following the
coast of the Pacific, and the eastern arm that of
the Gulf of Mexico, subsiding into the plains of
Texas. The annual mean temperature of this re
gion is estimated at seventy-seven degrees Fah
renheit, which especially adapts it to the growth
and cultivation of all the agricultural products
requiring a high temperature, such as sugar-cane,
vanilla, indigo, tobacco, cotton, and bananas.

1 8 Mexico and the Mexicans.
The Tierras Templadas, or Temperate Lands,
which are of comparatively limited extent, oc
cupy the slopes of the mountain ranges which
have been referred to, and the regions adjacent
thereto. They extend from about two thou
sand five hundred feet to five thousand feet
in elevation, and the mean temperature does
not vary essentially from sixty-eight degrees.
The extremes of heat and cold are alike un
known to the inhabitants of these delightful
regions. All the trees, fruits, flowers, and ce
reals of the United States flourish in this climate.
The Tierras Frias, or Cold Lands, include the
vast plateau, elevated five thousand feet and up
ward above the sea. In the City of Mexico,
at an elevation of seven thousand three hun
dred and fifty feet, the thermometer some
times falls below the freezing point, and con
sequently snow-storms occasionally occur. In
the coldest season of the year the mean temper
ature of the day varies from fifty-five to seventy
degrees, while in summer the thermometer sel
dom rises in the shade above seventy-five
degrees. The annual mean temperature may

Agriculture. 19
be taken at sixty-two degrees ; but wherever
the table-land rises to more than eight thou
sand feet it has, even in that portion which lies
within the tropics, a somewhat rigorous climate.
Under the parallel of the City of Mexico the
limit of perpetual snow varies from fourteen
thousand five hundred feet to fifteen thousand
feet. In the tropical and central regions, and as far
north as the latitude of twenty-eight degrees,
there are only two seasons — that of rain, lasting
from June to the middle of September ; and the
dry season, continuing from October to the end
of May. In some portions of the table-land,
however, showers, and even protracted rains,
sometimes occur during the dry season. In the
month of February, during my sojourn in the
City of Mexico, heavy showers frequently oc
curred during three successive days ; and at
Maravatio, on my journey to visit the great
volcano of Jorullo, a copious rain fell during an
entire day and night. In travelling by rail from
Vera Cruz to the capital, every variety of cli
mate is experienced within the space of a few

20 Mexico and the Mexicans.
hours ; and the natural productions peculiar to
each zone are successively passed in review,
from the sugar-cane, indigo plant, and bananas
of the tropics, to the pines, firs, and lichens of
the far north.
These peculiar conditions of topography and
climate offer unrivalled advantages for the cul
tivation of Indian corn, the cereals, coffee, cocoa,
sugar, cotton, and tobacco ; and, except on the
northern part of the central plateau, there are
splendid timber lands, especially on the moun
tain slopes. The flora is exceedingly rich and
extensive, more than ten thousand families of
plants having been recognized. The flowers
are surpassingly beautiful and graceful in their
structure, exquisite in color, and of wonderful
fragrance. The cultivation of Indian corn is by far the
most important branch of agricultural industry.
The official statistics show that in the fiscal year
of 1879 the total value of the agricultural prod
ucts of the country, comprising twenty-six sev
eral articles, was $177,451,986, of which the
value of the corn crop was $112,164,424, or

Agriculture.

21

more than three-fifths of the entire amount.
The production of brown beans in the same
year equalled in value $8,406,211. Indian corn
and brown beans constitute almost the sole ar
ticles of food of an overwhelming majority of
the entire population. Next in importance to
the cultivation of Indian corn is that of wheat,
and the amount of its production is given at
$17,436,345. Tobacco is extensively grown in the States of
Chiapas, Tabasco, and Vera Cruz. That pro
duced in the State of Tabasco is considered the
best, its quality being unsurpassed by that of
the choicest Cuban tobacco. At no distant day
the growth and exportation of this article will
prove to be a source of immense revenue. The
railroad which is about to be constructed, under
the immediate auspices of General U. S. Grant,
will run through these tobacco growing districts,
thus providing them with the facilities of trans
portation which at present they so greatly need.
It is hardly to be expected that Mexican cot
ton will ever become an important article of ex
port. It is inferior in staple to that grown in

22 Mexico and the Mexicans.'
the United States ; but the quality and quantity
produced will doubtless suffice for the greater
part of the home consumption.
The coffee-tree requires a climate which is
exempt from frost on the one hand and from
excessive heat on the other. It grows best on
the hills, and where it is partially shaded from
the sun's rays. The leaves of the banana-tree
often answer that purpose. It is safe to say that
nowhere else in the world can a region be found
which can compete with the less elevated regions
of the Tierras Templadas in the growth of this
important article, which, like sugar, is consumed
about equally by the prince and the peasant, and
the demand for which is consequently almost
unlimited. It is to be borne in mind that the preceding
remarks apply to the Tierras Calientes and to the
Tierras Templadas, and not to the Tierras Frias.
The latter comprise not less than three-fifths of
the entire area of the country. The greater por
tion of this vast region is susceptible of culture
only under unfavorable and expensive condi
tions. The historian Prescott describes it with

Agriculture. 23
his accustomed accuracy and elegance of diction.
" Across this mountain rampart," he says, " a
chain of volcanic hills stretches, in a westerly
direction, of still more stupendous dimensions,
forming, indeed, some of the highest land on the
globe. Their peaks, entering the limits of per
petual snow, diffuse a grateful coolness over the
elevated plateaus below ; for these last, though
termed ' cold,' enjoy a climate the mean temper
ature of which is not lower than that of the cen
tral parts of Italy. The air is exceedingly dry ;
the soil, though naturally good, is rarely clothed
with the luxuriant vegetation of the lower
regions. It frequently, indeed, has a parched
and barren aspect, owing partly to the greater
evaporation which takes place on these lofty
plains, through the diminished pressure of the
atmosphere ; and partly, no doubt, to the want
of trees to shelter the soil from the fierce influ
ence of the summer sun. In the time of the
Aztecs the table-land was thickly covered with
larch, oak, cypress, and other forest trees, the
extraordinary dimensions of some of which, re
maining to the present day, show that the curse

24 Mexico and the Mexicans.
of barrenness, in later times, is chargeable more
on man than on nature. Indeed, the early
Spaniards made an indiscriminate war on the
forest, as did our Puritan ancestors, though with
much less reason. After once conquering the
country they had no lurking ambush to fear
from the submissive, semi-civilized Indian, and
were not, like our forefathers, obliged to keep
watch and ward for a century. The spoliation
of the ground, however, is said to have been
pleasant to their imaginations, as it reminded
them of the plains of their own Castile — the
table-land of Europe, where the nakedness of
the landscape forms the burden of every travel
ler's lament, who visits that country."
Whether in the future the grand plateau is to
be brought under cultivation will depend chiefly
upon the restoration of at least a portion of the
forests with which it was once clothed. The
annual rain-fall in the City of Mexico is esti
mated by Humboldt to be fifty-nine inches, while
in San Francisco it is only twenty, and in the
City of New York is but forty-five, inches. Yet,
denuded as the immense plain has been of its

Agriculture. 25
timber, the copious rains, which chiefly fall
during four months of the year, are carried off
by the mountain torrents, leaving the country
parched, except where it is made fruitful by ir
rigation. Be this as it may, it is satisfactory to
know that the Tierras Frias are admirably adapt
ed to the raising of horses, horned cattle, and
sheep. The agricultural interests of Mexico, irrespec
tive of the great plain, are susceptible of the
greatest development, a comparatively small pro
portion of the arable lands of the country being
under cultivation, and the methods of labor em
ployed being of the most primitive kinds. At
present, however, the farmer has no motive
materially to increase the yield of his lands, as
he is unable to export his produce with advan
tage, owing to the expensive and inadequate
facilities of transportation which are at his com
mand. Except in the case of the few railways
which have been, up to this time, constructed,
nearly all merchandise must be transported on
the backs of men, mules, or donkeys. Thus
the exportation of agricultural produce, on ac-

26 Mexico and the Mexicans.
count of the attendant expense and labor, is ren
dered almost impracticable. Hence the annual
production of many articles exceeds by only a
very small amount the limit of the quantity
required to supply the home markets. In
the fiscal year of 1879 there was produced
$8,761,317 worth of sugar, and tobacco of
the value of $2,006,153. These two articles
aggregate $10,767,470, and yet the value of
their annual exportation does not usually ex
ceed $600,000. In the year 1882 the value was
$617,000. The ingenuity of the thinking men of Mexico
has for a long time been exercised in trying to
devise some means whereby domestic and for
eign trade may be stimulated, and the agricul
tural resources of the country may be developed.
The President of the Republic thinks that the
most urgent need of the country is the construc
tion of cheap roads, in conjunction with the rail
way system, by which the national products may
be transported on reasonable terms. This, he
thinks, would assure the production and profit
able exportation of all the articles which can be

Agriculture. 2 7
raised on the rich soil of the country. That
traffic once placed upon a firm financial basis, he
believes that an era of unprecedented national
prosperity would ensue.

CHAPTER III.
PUEBLA AND CHOLULA.
FROM Esperanza to the City of Mexico the
railroad runs through a sandy plain, a small por
tion of which is utterly barren. On several
occasions I observed columns of sand drawn up,
by a whirlwind, to a height of several hundred
feet, and then dispersed in suffocating clouds.
At such times horsemen cover their mouths and
noses with scarfs, or draw up their blankets, to
protect their lungs. I may here remark that it
appears to be a national custom to cover the
lower part of the face in the cooler portions of
the day.
At Apizaco I took the branch railroad for
Puebla. In size and population this is the third
city in the Republic, containing about seventy-
five thousand inhabitants. It is situated on a
plain between the volcano of Malinche, which is
ten miles distant on one side, and the volcanoes

Puebla and Cholula. 29
of Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, twenty-five
miles distant in the opposite direction. It was
founded by the Spaniards in 1531, and is now an
important commercial and manufacturing empo
rium. Its churches are justly regarded as supe
rior to those of most of the other cities of the
Republic. I attended high mass at the elegant
church of La Compania. The music was grand
and solemn. Indeed, the music in Mexican
churches is always of a high order. The cathe
dral is on one side of the grand plaza, in the
centre of the city. Its architecture is superior
to that of many of the celebrated cathedrals in
the capitals of Europe. The structure is exten
sive, with two lofty towers in front, a large dome
at the centre, and another at the rear. The
interior is beautifully frescoed, and profusely
supplied with every variety of ecclesiastical
ornamentation. External niches in the walls
are filled with the statues of the saints and
martyrs of Jesus.
On the other three sides of the plaza are
buildings with arcades, as in the Rue de Rivoli
in Paris. These arcades are occupied by the

30 Mexico and the Mexicans.
stands of venders of fruit and small wares, and
also by the tables of professional letter-writers,
who offer their services to their less educated
countrymen. The principal hotel is very comfortable, and
the manager was very polite and obliging. It is
a two-story building with a porte cochere, and a
square court-yard in the centre, embellished with
plants and trees. The front rooms on the first
floor are occupied as shops, and the rear part of
the building is used as a stable. On the second
floor a wide gallery extends around the court
yard, and it answers the double purpose of office
and dining halls. The sleeping apartments open
off the gallery, and, the hotel being situated-on
a corner, many of them front on the street,
where the windows are provided with small
balconies. The Paseo de San Francisco, at the northern
end of the city, is a small park, a half mile long
and about two hundred feet wide. It affords
both a delightful promenade and short carriage
drive. The Church of San Francisco, near the
entrance, is very noticeable for the style of its

Puebla and Cholula. 31
architecture. The facade is of carved stone,
and the other portions of the edifice are built of
brick, adorned in places with colored and pict
ured tiles of every variety.
The College of the State of Puebla offers edu
cational facilities for one thousand students.
The system of instruction is very thorough, and
the student can enter upon almost any course of
study which he desires.
Taking the horse-car, I visited the town of
Cholula, which is between seven and eight miles
distant from Puebla, and was formerly the capi
tal of the province, as well as the religious me
tropolis of Mexico. Its history illustrates in a
striking manner the mutability of human affairs.
When Cortez first entered it he estimated the
number of houses within the walls at twenty
thousand, and as many more in the environs,
making the population at least one hundred and
fifty thousand. Now the number of inhabitants
does not exceed ten thousand. Once conspicu
ous for its trade, manufactures, wealth and
splendor, now desolation and silence reign su
preme on every side. A church built by Cortez

32 Mexico and the Mexicans.
contains a series of historical paintings illustra
tive of the epoch of the Conquest, and is well
worth the attention of the tourist. The im
mense pyramid which stands here is supposed
to be the oldest in Mexico, and possesses the
greatest interest for the scholastic theologian, as
well as for the archaeologist. It is built of sun-
dried bricks alternated with layers of clay, and
its dimensions far exceed those of every other
structure ever reared by human hands. Indeed,
the only memorials of the past which in size
bear any comparison to it are the colossal
mounds the remains of which are still extant on
the banks of the Euphrates. According to
Humboldt, its base-line originally measured one
thousand four hundred and twenty-three feet,
or more than double the length of the Great
Pyramid of Cheops, thus covering an area of
upwards of forty-four acres. Its height is still
one hundred and seventy-seven feet, although
one of its four terraces has succumbed to the
ravages of time. The superficial area of the
platform, on its summit, exceeds an acre in ex
tent. It remains to be said, and I record the

Puebla and Cholula. 2>2>
fact not without some degree of sorrow and in
dignation, that the hand of the utilitarian has
not spared this most wonderful monument. In
order to avoid a slight detour, a cut for the track
of the horse railroad has been made through one
portion of it, while a considerable part of the
base has been levelled and placed under cultiva
tion. Nevertheless, it still stands pre-eminent
among the monuments of an unknown antiquity.
The Aztec conquerors of Mexico found it
standing there with its shrine upon its summit ;
but no trustworthy record or tradition concern
ing the date of its erection has come down to
our time. I have often wondered what may
have been said of it in the imperial archives of
ancient Tenochtitlan, and in the thousands of
books which were ruthlessly destroyed by the
Spanish propagandists of the religion of the
Prince of Peace. It has been very plausibly
ascribed to the Toltecs, or to the earlier Olmecs,
and by some its construction is supposed to have
been coeval with the commencement of the
Christian era. One'Aztec tradition, preserved
by the learned Jesuit father Torquemada, has as-
3

34 Mexico and the Mexicans.
signed to it an origin analogous to that of the
Tower of Babel in the land of Shinar. It relates
that one of the seven demi-gods, who escaped
from a great deluge by climbing to the top of
Mount Tlaloc, began the building of this pyra
mid to commemorate that event. He intended
that its sunimit should reach the clouds, but the
gods were angry at his presumption, and dis
persed the workmen with lightning.
Mr. Baldwin, in his interesting work on An
cient America, expresses the opinion that this
pyramid was built by the Toltecs, and that it is
of the same general character as the mounds
found in the more northern portions of this con
tinent, and as the temples of Central America.
He chiefly relies upon the testimony of M.
Brasseur de Bourbourg, and his translation of
the Popul-Vuh, an old record of the preceding
inhabitants. The Toltecs, we are informed,
were the same race that once occupied the val
leys of the Ohio and Mississippi, working the
copper mines of Lake Superior, and erecting the
various mounds and earthworks that still exist
throughout all that region. They were obliged

Puebla and Cholula. 35
to leave that country, probably on account of
the hostility of other and more warlike tribes.
A sentence in one of the hieroglyphical records
of Central . America seems to give an air of
plausibility to this theory. It states that the
Toltecs emigrated from Ancient Tlapallan, a
very distant country at the northeast, more than
two thousand years ago. Mr. Baldwin suggests
that this race were the builders of the Great
Pyramid of Cholula, and that the inhabitants of
the surrounding region, at the coming of the
Spaniards, belonged to that race. After their
subjugation by the Aztecs, Cholula became a
sanctuary and sacred resort for pilgrims and
worshippers from all parts of Mexico. It sur
passed all other cities in distinction and sanctity.
As, in ancient Assyria, the conquered Akkads
became the scribes and priests of the country,
so the Cholulans seem to have become the
sacred caste of Mexico.
The Teocalli,* or the Great Pyramid, was not the
only shrine in the Holy City. Other races there
* Literally — The House of God ; in other words, the pyramid
on which the human sacrifices were offered.

36 Mexico and tlie Mexicans.
founded numerous temples ; and Cortez relates
that he counted four hundred turrets, some tem
ples having two and others only one, to indicate
them. Thus it would seem that Cholula was the
Aztec Hierapolis. Religious processions, sacri
fices and festivals were of almost continual oc
currence. No other city had so great a concourse
of priests, and so incessant a round of ceremonies.
It was thronged by pilgrims from all parts of
Anahuac ; and while the poor painfully begged
their way thither, and subsisted while there upon
charitable contributions, the city was enriched
and adorned by the benefactions of the more
opulent worshippers. Thus the sacred city of
the Cholulans was to this continent what Rome,
Delphi, and Mecca were to the old.
Quetzalcoatl was the divinity whose worship
was celebrated in the shrine of the Great Pyra
mid. Tradition accords to him the distinction
of being the civilizer of the Aztec race. He was
the god of the sky, and bore a cross to denote
his dominion over the four winds. His worship
did not originate with the Aztecs, for they had
derived it from the more ancient and refined

Puebla and Cholula. 37
Mayas and Central Americans. Kukulkan and
Gukumutz, their designations of this deity, have
the same meaning. He was the central figure
of the Toltec mythology. Like Apollo in the
Grecian, and Krishna in Brahmanical mythology,
he is always represented as having dwelt with
mankind. The legends give him both a human
and a divine parentage. He had been born of a
virgin in ancient Tula or Tlapallan, and became
the supreme pontiff of that region. Coming
from the East, he brought science and the arts
with him for the enlightenment of the races of
Mexico and Central America. Glowing descrip
tions are given of his reign and the numerous
blessings which characterized it. He established
agriculture, he taught the textile arts, and insti
tuted religious worship. This was the golden
age of Anahuac, and the most romantic fables
of its prosperity are recorded. Finally, however,
this period came to an end. He proclaimed
that he had been summoned home to Tlapallan.
A legend declares that the divinity Tezcatlipoca,
or Yoalliehecatl, the spirit of night, had given
him a drink, under the pretence that it would

38 Mexico and the Mexicans.
render him immortal ; but it had only awakened
in his breast an uncontrollable longing for home.
He accordingly entered his boat of serpent-skins,
and sailed away — that is, he departed on a cloud
with the lightning, promising, however, to return
from the East and again reign over Anahuac.
Thus the second advent of Quetzalcoatl was
regarded by the Mexicans with sentiments and
expectations akin to those of the Hebrews rela
tive to their promised Messiah. The latter ex
pected a temporal prince who should vanquish
every enemy, who should exalt the Israelitish
nation to a degree of power and splendor sur
passing the glorious epoch of David and Solo
mon, and who should make the holy city on
Mount Zion the seat of empire to which the
wealth of the nations would flow, and kings
would come to render homage. With like con
fidence and fervor the ancient inhabitants of
Mexico looked forward to the return of their
divine monarch Quetzalcoatl, with his family
and court, to resume and perpetuate his tem
poral and spiritual dominion at Cholula. The
Spaniards were greatly aided in their operations

Puebla and Cholula. 39
by the belief, which was nearly universal among
the peoples of Anahuac, that the day and the
hour of the second advent of their Messiah was
at hand. Earthquakes, inundations, conflagra
tions, and comets had followed each other in
rapid succession. Strange lights had been seen
in the heavens, and mysterious voices had been
heard in the air. Observing these signs, all the
oracles, seers, soothsayers and astrologers con
curred in prognosticating that a terrible calamity
was about to overtake the Aztec dynasty.
When the Spaniards landed on the shores of
his empire, a report in picture-writing was at
once transmitted to Montezuma. He recog
nized in its symbols the fulfilment of the pre
dicted return of Quetzalcoatl, and was over
whelmed wi.h consternation. This report re
presented that men of fair complexions and
flowing beards had arrived from the East in vast
" water-houses," and that they rode upon mys
terious four-footed beasts, and held in their
hands the thunder and the lightning. These
facts, coinciding as they did with their tradi
tions, seemed to indicate to the Aztecs the

40 Mexico and the Mexicans.
divine origin of the visitors ; and the belief soon
became general that the great chief who sent
greetings to Montezuma was none other than
the divine Quetzalcoatl returned with his retinue
to resume possession of his empire. In looking
upon the faces of the down-trodden and submis
sive peons, I have sometimes doubted whether
their minds and hearts had ever become fully
emancipated from this impression. Be this as it
may, it is easy to understand how this supersti
tion facilitated the march of the Spaniards to
victory and dominion.
It was now time to bid farewell to this sup
posed earthly abode of the benign god of the
air and return to the dwelling-place of common
men. I did not wait for the coming of the
veh cle which, on its rounds, had brought me
hither. The day was fine and the road good. I
accordingly set out on foot, and, walking vigor
ously, arrived at my hotel while it was yet early.
The next day, taking the train for Apizaco,
the point of junction with the main line of the
Mexican Railway, I proceeded directly to the
capital of Mexico.

CHAPTER IV.
MEXICAN HISTORY.
The early history of Mexico is hidden in the
twilight of fable. That illustrious explorer, sci
entist, and scholar, Alexander von Humboldt,
has traced it back to the seventh century of the
Christian era. He states that the Toltecs ap
peared in the year 648 ; the Chichemecs in 1 170 ;
the Nahuas in 1178; the Acolhuas and Aztecs
in 1 196. Their respective languages show that
all of them belonged to the same family with
the other aboriginal races of North America.
The Toltecs came first and developed a high
civilization. They introduced the culture of
cotton and Indian corn. They constructed
highways and bridges, and they built cities.
They erected the pyramids which are yet the
wonder and admiration of the world. They em
ployed hieroglyphical writing, reduced and
wrought the metals, skilfully carved the hard-

42 Mexico and the Mexicans.
est stones, and were proficient in astronomical
learning. Their solar calendar was more per
fect than that of the Greeks and Romans. They
are said to have finally retired from the country
to Central America, and the Chichemecs, a wild
race, occupied the territory which they had
abandoned. The Nahuas soon followed them,
and after them, at the end of the twelfth century,
the Aztec conquerors took possession of the
Valley of Anahuac. For more than a century
they appear not to have had any fixed abode.
For a time they were enslaved by the Colhuas,
but they finally succeeded in regaining their
freedom. The earliest legend represents them as now
tired of a roving life, and desirous of founding a
city. Their oracle commanded them to do this
where they should see an eagle standing on a cac
tus which grew upon a rock. This omen was wit
nessed on the Lake Tezcuco, and accordingly,
in the year 1325, they there founded the city,
and named it Tenochtitlan, which signifies a
cactus and a stone. The founders of the exist-.
ing Republic further perpetuated the tradition

Mexican History. 43
by adopting the device of the eagle and cactus,
which forms the national coat-of-arms of Mexico.
After the conquest by the Spaniards, the
more civilized people of the southern region
preferred to endure the foreign yoke to encoun
tering the privation and perils of emigration ;
while the northern tribes abandoned their un
cultivated territory, and withdrew beyond the
river Gila.
In the year 15 17 a navigator from Cuba, Her
nandez de Cordova, had while on a cruise. dis
covered an unknown land, which proved to be
what is now known as the Peninsula of Yucatan.
On his return to Cuba his accounts of the sur
passing natural beauty and the untold wealth
of the strange land greatly excited the people of
that island. The governor, Velasquez, with an
ardent purpose of seeking advantage from the
discovery, fitted out a squadron of four vessels,
which he placed under the command of his
nephew, Juan de Grijalva, and dispatched it to
the westward. Leaving Cuba on the first day
of May, 1 5 1 8, Grijalva first touched at Cozumel,
an island off the coast of Yucatan, and finally

44 Mexico and the Mexicans.
sailed as far north as the mouth of the River
Panuco, when he returned home.
Velasquez, on learning of the rich empire at
the West, was enraged at Grijalva for not having
established a colony on the newly discovered
coast. He resolved to fit out another armament
on a scale of sufficient magnitude to effect the
conquest of the country. Having solicited
authority from Spain for the purpose, he began
preparations, and sought a fit person to take
command of the expedition, who at the same
time would be able to bear a share of the ex
pense. He decided to give the command to
Hernando Cortez, a native of the province of
Estremadura, in Spain, who at an early age had
sought that field of adventure in the New World
which was, not open to him in the Old. He
had led a wild and reckless life in Hispaniola
and Cuba ; and at one time, having been de
tected in a conspiracy against the Government,
he was arrested and narrowly escaped with his
life. He afterwards engaged in agricultural
enterprises and accumulated a competency.
On the eighteenth day of February, 15 19,

Mexican History. 45
and at the age of thirty-three or thirty-four, he
set sail from Cape San Antonio, in command of
an expedition which was to occupy the new
land of wonders, and to plant the cross upon its
golden shores.
Touching at several intermediate points, he
finally landed near San Juan de Ulloa, and, erect
ing a cross, founded La Villa Rica de la Vera
Cruz — The Rich City of the True Cross. He
was accompanied by five hundred and fifty-
three soldiers, sixteen of whom were cavalry
men ; and besides these he had one hundred
and ten mariners and two hundred Cuban na
tives. Having ordered his ships to be sunk, on the
pretence that they were unseaworthy, but really
to remove from his followers the hope of return
ing to Cuba, he advanced to the table-lands of
the interior, with the intention of conquering
the country, of whose wealth he had heard from
the Indians of the coast. Having craftily
secured the assistance of several tribes hostile to
the Aztec dynasty, he marched rapidly across
the great central table-land until his progress

46 Mexico and the Mexicans.
was opposed by the fierce and warlike Tlasca-
lans. When the news of the approach of the
Spaniards was brought to their capital, a council
of the leaders was at once convened. An aged
chief called Xicotencatl, who is said to have been
more than one hundred years old, proposed that
his son, who was in command of the armies of
Tlascala, should immediately attack the white
men, and if defeated, that the council should de
clare that he had acted without orders. This
advice prevailed, and several desperate engage
ments took place, with unvarying success to the
Spanish arms. At last, recognizing the superior
ity of their adversaries, the Tlascalans implored
peace, and offered their assistance in a campaign
against their hereditary enemies, the Aztecs.
Continuing his march, in company with his new
allies, Cortez proceeded to Cholula, the inhabi
tants of which he massacred without pity or
remorse, under the pretence that they contem
plated treachery. Then, climbing the mountain-
wall, he marched between the volcanoes of Po
pocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, and descending
into the valley of Tenochtitlan, entered the

Mexican History. 47
Aztec capital, on the eighth day of November,
1 5 19. He was met at the gate by the emperor,
the great Montezuma II.
The Spaniards, as they passed over the
great dike which extends across the salt flood
of Tezcuco, had occasion to observe the me
chanical ingenuity displayed by the Aztecs in
its construction, as well as in that of the va
rious suburbs, which were built on piles, after
the manner of the lake-dwellers of ancient
Switzerland. The appearance of the crowded
and thriving population of the great city far
surpassed everything which the Spaniards had
yet seen or conceived. At the Fort of Xoloc,
several hundred Aztec chiefs, richly dressed and
decorated with a profusion of ornaments, met
them to announce the approach of their sov
ereign. After crossing the drawbridge the
retinue of the king came in sight, and the royal
palanquin, borne on the shoulders of noblemen,
approached. Montezuma descending, walked
under a canopy, the ground being covered with
cotton tapestry, to receive his unwelcome guests.
He wore a cloak of the finest cotton, and sandals

48 Mexico and the Mexicans.
the soles of which were of solid gold. Both
cloak and sandals sparkled with pearls and
precious stones. On his head he wore a pa
nache of quetzal feathers. The invaders had
found a magnificence and civilization not sur
passed in their own country. The architecture
of the chief edifices was of a high grade. The
manufactures were numerous and diversified.
The Aztec goldsmiths exhibited a skill in no
respect inferior to that of their fellow-artisans in
Europe. The houses were built on foundations
of stone ; the streets were paved with cement,
and intersected by numerous canals. Water was
supplied by an earthern main from the neigh
boring hill of Chapultepec.
Montezuma had transported the Calendar
stone, fifty tons in weight, from its native bed
of basalt, a distance of many leagues, and had
set it up in his own capital. He encouraged art
among his nobles, and he himself contributed
liberally toward the embellishment of his cap
ital, in which an aviary, a zoological garden, and
a botanical garden were maintained at great
cost. The libraries of the Aztecs contained

Mexican History. 49
many thousands of volumes, ingeniously bound,
which the Spaniards afterward remorselessly
consigned to the flames.
The ostensibly friendly relations between the
Aztecs and their visitors were of brief duration ;
but with the primitive weapons, the arrows,
stones, and missiles of one party, and the su
perior methods of warfare of the other, a con
test for supremacy could eventually have but
one termination. Still, the struggle was a long
and bitter one, and Cortez had many difficulties
and reverses to surmount. At the moment of
his departure from Cuba, Velasquez, actuated
by jealousy, had resolved to deprive him of his
command. Learning of the Governor's inten
tion, Cortez sailed away in the night from St.
Jago, the gubernatorial seat, and completed his
outfit at other ports. In the month of March,
1520, Velasquez sent out an expedition with
nine hundred men, under the command of Pan-
filo de Narvaez, with orders to at once proceed
to the new empire, and bring back Cortez as a
captive. No sooner had Cortez heard^f the arri
val of this expedition, and its object, than he sent
4

50 Mexico and the Mexicans.
an envoy to Narvaez, with instructions to pro
pitiate the commander, and at the same time
to create a spirit of disaffection among his sol
diers by the distribution of gold. Leaving
his trusted lieutenant, Pedro de Alvarado, in
charge of the capital, Cortez, with two hundred
men, surprised Narvaez on a tempestuous night,
completely routed him, and, strange to say, suc
ceeded in enlisting his soldiers in his own army,
when he returned in triumph to the City of
Mexico. Here he was destined to meet with
severe reverses, until at length he was forced to
withdraw his troops. The night on which this
disastrous retreat took place has ever since
borne the name of Noche Triste, or Melancholy
Night. An immense tree is still standing in
one of the suburbs of the city, under which
Cortez is said to have seated himself and wept
over his misfortunes.
Fortunately for the Spaniards, several ships
arrived about this time at Vera Cruz, and their
crews with little difficulty were induced to join
the army of the invader. Observing the im
proved fortunes of Cortez, all the tribe's hostile

Mexican History. 51
to the Aztecs now offered him their assistance.
The city was besieged and succumbed to an
assault on the thirteenth day of August, 1521.
The power of the sovereigns of Spain was now
firmly established on the soil of the New
World. From this time until 1821, a period of exactly
three hundred years, the country remained a
province of Spain. With the exception of the
first few years of this period it was governed
by viceroys, who drained its resources to the
lowest ebb.
In honorable contrast with the rest of this
long line of vampires, stands the name of An
tonio de Bucareli, who governed the country
with humanity, and instituted many public im
provements. At last, unable to bear longer the terrible
oppression, an insurrectionary spirit began to
manifest itself. Finally, at midnight on the
fifteenth of September, 18 10, Miguel Hidalgo y
Costilla, a venerable Roman Catholic priest of
the parish of Dolores, in the State of Gua
najuato, having called together his people,

52 Mexico and the Mexicans.
addressed them from the window of his house
and proclaimed the independence of Mexico.
The country, ripe for revolt ^gainst the hated
foreign viceroys, at once rose in arms. A long
and sanguinary contest ensued. Hidalgo was
at length taken prisoner, while endeavoring to
make his way to the United States to procure
arms and ammunition, after the rout of his
forces at the battle of Puente de Calderon.
He was taken to Chihuahua and there shot, on
the twenty-seventh of July, 1811. Thus per
ished the man whose disinterested and patriotic
services justly entitle him to be styled " The
Washington of Mexico." The grateful remem
brance in which his devotion to the holy cause
of liberty is held by his countrymen is mani
fested by the circumstance that there is scarcely
a town of any importance that has not erected
its monument to his memory. Some of these are
very imposing. Mexican art, however, has repre
sented Hidalgo under widely different aspects.
In Toluca, a splendid marble statue in the plaza
gives the idea of a giant in size, and of com
manding presence. On the other hand, a paint-

Mexican History. 53
ing in the Hall of the Ambassadors, at the
Capital, represents him as a slight, delicate and
hollow-chested man, of careworn appearance and
apparently studious habit, attired in his priestly
garb, having just arisen from his chair, holding
in his hand the scroll proclaiming independence,
which he is about to read to the people. A
colossal bronze statue in the city of San Luis
Potosi corresponds closely with the painting,
which is in accordance with the universal belief.
After the death of Hidalgo, the revolution
was carried on under the leadership of Jose
Maria Morelos, also a Roman Catholic priest.
The struggle continued, without any decided
success on either side, until the year 1821, when
Augustin de Iturbide, a soldier of fortune, born
of Spanish parents in the city of Morelia, offered
his sword to the insurgents. . During the early
years of the war, he had shown great zeal in
fighting against the patriots, but now he openly
espoused their cause. His labors resulted in the
triumph of the revolution and the establish
ment of Mexican independence.
Had Iturbide been less ambitious, his name

54 Mexico and the Mexicans.
would doubtless have taken its place in history
with tbat of the illustrious patriot Hidalgo.
But, inflamed by an unbridled ambition, he
aspired to absolute power. He was accordingly
proclaimed Emperor by his partisans, on the
eighteenth day of May, 1822. Three days later
he caused Congress to ratify this procedure, and
he was duly crowned on the twenty-first of July
in the same year.
The people, however, had not rid themselves
of one oppressor merely to submit to another.
The republican party was very powerful, and on
the second of December, Santa Anna, its most
distinguished and trusted leader, issued a mani
festo proclaiming the Republic, annulling Itur-
bide's election as emperor, and declaring him
an outlaw. The movement was successful.
Iturbide was deposed, and on the eleventh
of May ensuing he left the country and sailed
for Europe, where he remained for more than
a year. In the hope that by some possi
bility he might regain his crown, he returned
to Mexico, and arrived at Padilla on the four
teenth of July, 1824. He was at once ar-

Mexican History. 55
rested, and five days later he was taken out and
shot. In 1823 Spain made a futile attempt to re
take the country. This was the occasion of the
declaration in the seventh annual Message of
President Monroe, transmitted to Congress on
December 2d, 1823, which in effect forbids the
colonization or invasion of this continent by any
European power in the future, and which has
since become familiarly known as the " Monroe
doctrine." It reads as follows :
* * * * The citizens of the United States cherish senti
ments the most friendly in favor of the liberty and happiness of
their fellow-men on that side of the Atlantic. In the wars of
the European powers, in matters relating to themselves, we have
never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy to do
so. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously men
aced that we resent injuries or make preparations for our defence.
With the movements in this hemisphere we are of necessity more
immediately concerned, and by causes which must be obvious to
all enlightened and impartial observers. The political system of
the allied powers is essentially different in this respect from that
of America. This difference proceeds from that which exists in
their respective governments. And to the defence of our own,
which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood and
treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their most enlightened

56 Mexico and the Mexicans.
citizens, and under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity,
this whole nation is devoted. We owe it, therefore, to candor
and to the amicable relations existing between the United States
and those powers, to declare that we should consider any at
tempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this
hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the ex
isting colonies or dependencies of any European power we have
not interfered, and shall not interfere. But with the govern
ments who have declared their independence, we have, on great
consideration and on just principles, acknowledged we could not
view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or
controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European
power, in any other light than as the manifestation of an un
friendly disposition towards the United States.
A republican form of government was now
firmly established. The next event of impor
tance was the war with the United States ; but
as the reputation of our country for honor and
fair dealing was not increased by the circum
stances which led to it, it may be well to pass
over its history.
The religious and political history of Mexico
from the date of the Spanish conquest down to
the year 1867 have been so intimately blended
that it is hardly an exaggeration to say that
they have been one and the same. The Roman

Mexican History. 57
Catholic worship, established by Cortez on the
ruins of the ancient superstitions, existed un
challenged for over three centuries. The first
Mexican Constitution, adopted in 1824, con
tained these words : " The religion of the Mexi
can nation is, and will be perpetually, the Roman
Catholic Apostolic. The nation will protect it
by wise and just laws, and prohibit the exercise
of any other whatever." Under this new stimu
lus the Church continued to grow in power and
importance, so that it soon dominated every
thing, political, social, and even domestic. The
number of religious houses was enormous. The
officials of the Church had the complete monop
oly even of banking and other financial matters.
They acknowledged possessions amounting to
one hundred and eighty million dollars, but
probably three hundred millions would be nearer
the truth. Some writers have estimated that
their possessions comprised one-third of all the
real and personal property in the Republic ; and
as it was exempt from taxation, the burden on
the remaining property of the country was, of
course, correspondingly augmented.

58 ' Mexico and the Mexicans.
In the year 1856 a spirit of opposition to the
temporal authority of the Church began to mani
fest itself. A bitter controversy between the
partisans of the old rdgime and the Liberal party
before long agitated the whole Republic. Gen
eral Miramon was the acknowledged leader of the
former. He afterwards held high rank in the
army of Maximilian, and finally shared his fate.
Under the able leadership of Benito Juarez,
a pure-blooded Indian, born in the State of
Oaxaca, the Liberal party triumphed, and the
present constitution, curtailing the power of the
Church, was promulgated on the fifth of Feb
ruary, 1857. The utmost energy of the govern
ment was now put forth to assure the subordina
tion of the religious to the civil power. New laws
and regulations were established, many of which
were severe, not to say oppressive. In some of
the States the bells cannot be rung without the
special permission of the authorities, and priests
are not suffered even to walk the streets in their
clerical gowns.
Among the most striking evidences of the de
cadence of the power of the Church which im-

Mexican History. 59
press a stranger, is the number of abandoned
and ruined church edifices with which he every
where meets. Some of them are occupied as
military barracks and others are used for busi
ness and other secular purposes. One of the
finest churches in Vera Cruz has been converted
into a store-house for sugar, and another at
Orizaba, as has been already remarked, is used
as a ring for the bull-fights. It remains, how
ever, to be added, that in some of the States
the influence of the Roman Church is still very
powerful. During the administration of President Juarez,
the Mexican Congress, in June, 1861, passed a
law confiscating ecclesiastical property. On
the seventeenth of July following, Congress
passed another measure which was productive of
great and momentous results. It provided for
" a suspension for two years of payments on
account of the foreign debt and of all national
liability." A portion of the foreign debt was
owing to England, France and Spain. These
powers at once formed an alliance for securing
themselves against loss, and each agreed to fur-

60 Mexico and the Mexicans.
nish troops, to make up an army, which was to
proceed to Mexico, accompanied by commis
sioners, for the purpose of securing the payment
of their respective debts. Accordingly an army
of ten thousand men was landed at Vera Cruz,
on the tenth of January, 1862.
It was not long before the commissioners of
England and Spain discovered that Napoleon
III. had sent his forces to Mexico for the real
purpose of establishing an imperial government
on the Western Continent, and that he had only
used the matter of the debt as a pretext for his
invasion. They consequently withdrew.
It has been asserted that the purpose of the
French tyrant and usurper was to treat with our
Southern States then in rebellion, and with
them to form a vast slave empire, which should
control the cotton-growing region of the North
American Continent. He sent a large army to
Mexico, which in due time made its way by
force of arms to the capital. The throne of the
newly erected Mexican Empire was then offered,
for political reasons, to the Archduke Maximil
ian of Austria. He accepted the proffered

Mexican History. 61
crown, and arrived in Mexico on the twenty-
ninth of May, 1864. He was strenuously op
posed by . the adherents of the Liberal party
and by the mass of the Mexican people. Still,
he received a certain support from a faction
which, in the expected triumph of Maximilian,
coming as he did with the papal blessing, hoped
to see the supremacy of the Church re-estab
lished. On the other hand, all those who had
purchased its confiscated estates sided with the
Liberals, as in the event of Maximilian's suc
cess they feared that these would be wrested
from them and restored to the Church.
Owing to the civil war in the United States
we had been powerless to prevent this flagrant
violation of the terms of the '* Monroe doctrine."
But on the cessation of hostilities, General U.
S. Grant, with the co-operation of the Secre
tary of State, William H. Seward, and the ap
proval of President Johnson, ordered General
Sheridan, with an army of seventy thousand
veterans, to proceed to the Rio Grande del
Norte. The Emperor of the French was now
notified by a cable telegram that his armies

62 Mexico and the Mexicans.
must be immediately withdrawn from the soil
of Mexico.
The terms of this peremptory and humiliat
ing demand were of course promptly complied
with. The unfortunate Maximilian, not having
the sagacity to return with the French army
to Europe, soon found himself surrounded by
enemies on every side. His army was reduced
to the small Austrian contingent which had
accompanied him, and such Mexican troops as
still remained true to him. Leaving the beauti
ful palace of Chapultepec he withdrew to the
city of Queretaro, and there surrendered to the
Liberal forces under General Escobedo, on the
fourteenth of May, 1867.
He was subsequently tried by court-martial
and condemned to death, the same sentence be
ing pronounced upon his two generals, Miramon
and Mejia. He died as he came, a freebooter
on the soil of Mexico.
Maximilian probably would have been for
given his political offences, at least his life would
have been spared, if, prompted by the infamous
Bazaine, he had not in a weak moment signed an

Mexican History. 63
order declaring that all Mexicans taken prison
ers with arms in their hands should be con
demned to death and their sentence executed
within twenty-four hours. Pursuant to this
order many patriots were butchered, in cold
blood. Every effort was made by his friends to
save his life, but without avail. Even Secretary
Seward intimated a wish to President Juarez
that his life might be spared, but he received
the pertinent reply that the United States was
great enough and powerful enough to be gener
ous; but not so with Mexico.
On the nineteenth day of June, 1867, Maxi
milian was marched out to the foot of the Cerro
de las Campanas, a small hill hear Queretaro,
and was there shot — his generals Miramon and
Mejia falling at the same moment. The story
which has been circulated by some penny-a-
liner that he uttered with his dying breath
the words " Poor Carlotta ! " is undoubtedly
destitute of all foundation. As he received the
volley of the firing party he ejaculated, in his
native tongue, what in English is equivalent to
the exclamation " Oh my ! " and that was all.

64 Mexico and the Mexicans.
His body was embalmed, and it now reposes in
the imperial vault at Vienna.
On the night preceding his execution he ad
dressed the following letter to his wife. It is
probably, the most creditable act of his life.
" TO MY BELOVED CHARLOTTE :
" If God ever permits you to recover and read
these lines, you will learn the cruelty of the fate
which has not ceased to pursue me since your
departure for Europe. You carried with you
my soul and my happiness. Why did I not
listen to you ? So many events, alas ! so many
unexpected and unmerited catastrophes, have
overwhelmed me, that I have no more hope in
my heart, and I await death as a delivering
angel. I die without agony. I shall fall with
glory, like a soldier, like a conquered king. If
you have not the power to bear so much suffer
ing, if God soon reunites us, I shall bless the
divine and paternal Hand which has so rudely
stricken us. Adieu ! Adieu. " Thy poor Max."
What precise share his nearest blood relations

Mexican History. 65
of the imperial House of Hapsburg had in
the atrocious conspiracy which was originally
hatched by the villain who had trampled under
foot the free constitution of France, will proba
bly never be known until the deep shall give up
its dead. That they felt relieved by the formal
relinquishment of his possible claim to the
crown of Austria, which they exacted, there is
abundant evidence. If the truth shall ever
come to light, it may be found that they secretly
exulted in his miserable doom.
Let us hope that this episode in the annals
of our sister republic will serve as a bloody
buoy, warning the despots of Europe, in all
coming time, to keep aloof from the republics
of America. 5

CHAPTER V.
THE CITY OF MEXICO.
The City of Mexico is situated in the middle
of a large basin which was anciently covered by
the waters of Lake Tezcuco. Hence, while it is
seven thousand three hundred and fifty feet
above the level of the sea, it nevertheless stands
on ground considerably lower than the sur
rounding region. Even in the dry season, the
winter, when the water of the lake is at the
lowest, it is only six feet below the grade of the
city. The obstacles to thorough drainage have
not yet been surmounted, and accordingly
Mexico cannot be considered a healthy place of
residence. During the rainy season the con
tents of the sewers are constantly more or less
disturbed, which, of course, renders the atmos
phere impure.
Pre-eminent among the writers who have de
scribed the natural features of Mexico stands

The City of Mexico. 67
the name of the illustrious Humboldt. Who
ever desires accurately to inform himself re
garding the geology, topography and physical
geography of that country may wisely addict
himself to the study of the records made by that
eminent explorer in the year 1804. It may
indeed be doubted whether any succeeding
writer has added anything of value to his dis
coveries and observations. Accordingly, it is
to me a source of unalloyed satisfaction to re
member that the noble bust of Humboldt looks
benignly upon every visitor who enters the Cen
tral Park from Fifth Avenue. I may add that,
on my homeward journey through the city of
St. Louis, I was both surprised and delighted to
find an imposing statue of bronze, commemo
rative of that great man, occupying the most con
spicuous place in the beautiful pleasure-ground
which bears the name of Tower Grove Park.
The description given by him of the site of
the City of Mexico in every particular corre
sponds with what may be stated to-day. The
Mexico rebuilt by Cortez, he informs us, is
smaller than Tenochtitlan under the last of the

68 Mexico and the Mexicans.
Montezumas. What gives the newer city a
peculiar and distinctive character is the fact that
it is situated entirely on the continent, between
the extremities of the two lakes of Tezcuco and
Xochimilco, and that it only receives, by means
of navigable canals, the fresh water of the
Xochimilco. There are five of these lakes in
the valley of Mexico, four of which are salt.
The largest of these, Lake Tezcuco, is the high
est body of salt water known to exist on the
globe. Cortez described it as an interior sea,
whose tides continually ebbed and flowed. The
action of the winds probably occasioned his mis
take in this regard. The water is more salt than
that of the Baltic Sea, but less so than that of
the ocean. Sulphide of hydrogen is exhaled in
great quantities from all these lakes, and un
doubtedly adds at certain seasons to the insalu
brity of the valley. Humboldt, however, re
marks as a curious fact that intermittent fevers
are of rare occurrence.
Nevertheless, strangers taking up their resi
dence in the City of Mexico, until they have be
come acclimated are liable to suffer from a mild

The City of Mexico. 69
form of fever, and caution should accordingly
be exercised to avoid taking cold. This, how
ever, is no easy matter. The doors and win
dows of the houses are not well fitted, and of
course the inmates are often exposed to draughts
of cold air. Even in the palaces and more costly
residences there are no stoves, fire-places or ap
pliances of any kind for warming the apartments.
A Mexican will tell you that fire attenuates the
atmosphere, and this is not conducive to health.
It is indeed true that individuals who have lived
on the sea-coast cannot at once accommodate
themselves to the rarefied atmosphere of the
Mexican capital. Hence, it is customary with
such, when circumstances admit of it, to sojourn
temporarily at a place of intermediate altitude,
like Orizaba.
The population of the City of Mexico is vari
ously estimated from two hundred and twenty-
five thousand to two hundred and seventy-five
thousand souls. No enumeration of the inhabi
tants has ever been made, hence the discrepancy
referred to.
The hotels are kept on the European plan.

70 Mexico and the Mexicans.
You engage a room, or a suite of rooms, at a
stated price, and take your meals wherever you
please. The prices here are higher than at any
other place in the country, the cost of moderate
living being about four dollars a day. The
best restaurants are conducted by foreigners.
They are not fitted up with much elegance, but
the quality of the fare is excellent. Better than
all, you here escape the everlasting grease and
spice that characterize the ordinary Mexican
cookery. Corned beef swimming in oil, and rice
saturated with lard and seasoned with red pep
per may, however, be very palatable for those
whose taste runs that way. The French ar
rangement of meals is adopted throughout the
country, — a refection of coffee and rolls in the
morning, breakfast in the middle of the day and
dinner in the evening.
The Hotel Iturbide is the principal hotel in
the city, and is the favorite resort of Americans.
It was originally designed as a palace for the
Emperor Iturbide ; but before it was completed
he had met his fate at the hands of the execu
tioner.

The City of Mexico. ji
The hackney-coaches are of three several
classes, and are distinguished from each other by
flags of different colors attached to the driver's
seat. The prices are graded accordingly. For
those carrying blue flags, the rate is one dollar
per hour ; for those carrying red flags, seventy-
five cents ; and for those carrying white flags,
fifty cents. These prices are doubled after ten
o'clock in the evening. The driver takes down his
flag the moment that the services of his vehicle
are engaged ; and the customer is required to
pay for its use from the time of engaging till
the return to the spot where he originally en
gaged it.
There is also a very complete system of
street railroads. The cars are designated as
first-class and second-class, and mules are em
ployed to draw them. The regulations do not
appear to be very strict. I have seen pas
sengers bring live hogs on board the second-class
cars. There are two conductors to each car,
one who sells tickets to passengers and the
other v/ho collects them. Each in this way
serves as a check on the other. Wages, how-

72 Mexico and the Mexicans.
ever, must be low, and laborers numerous, if the
companies can afford to employ so many men.
On a few lines the American bell-punch is used.
The foreign residents, including the Ambassa
dors and their attache's, the railroad projectors,
and the English, French and German store-keep
ers, constitute quite a colony by themselves.
The Americans have a club-house and grounds
at La Piedad, several miles distant from the
city. The English and French languages are in
general use among the better educated class of
the population. As though preparing for the
next phase of their history as a people, every
body seems to be learning to speak English.
The variety of costumes to be seen on the
street is wonderful. The ladies are beginning
to adopt the fashions of ' Paris. Still, many ad
here to the old Spanish style of lace on the
head, black mantillas, rather short skirts, and
high-heeled shoes, the style so well delineated
in the pictures of Fortuny, Boldini, Madrazo
and others. Indeed, I think that artists who are
in the practice of choosing Oriental scenes in
order to introduce coloring into their work, may

The City of Mexico. 73
turn their attention to Mexico with advantage.
They will find there the richest flesh-tints, and
costumes of every variety of color.
As for the men's apparel, with the exception
of a small number of the upper class, who adopt
the French fashions, there seems to be no pre
scribed style of dress, except an immense hat
and a short jacket for those who choose to wear
it, instead of a shawl. Both in the city and in
the country you not unfrequently encounter
men whose entire suit is of leather. Fire-arms
are everywhere carried in plain sight. The
Mexican especially affects a handsome revolver
with an ivory handle. Horsemen frequently
carry a sword, not suspended from the waist in
military fashion, but fastened to the saddle.
Throughout the rural districts the men carry
a large heavy knife, called the" machete, with a
blade about two feet long and two and a half
inches wide. While it is made in New England,
and is extensively used in the Spanish West
India Islands, it may, very properly, be called
the National Knife of Mexico. There it is used
for an almost infinite variety of purposes. It

74 Mexico and the Mexicans.
not only enables the agricultural laborer to cut
down the sugar-cane, and even trees of moder
ate size, but it likewise serves as a formidable
weapon of offence and defence.
Sunday is a grand gala day. Everybody
goes abroad dressed in the best possible style.
A military band plays during the greater part of
the day in the Plaza, and there is a general air
of bustle and merry-making. The shops of the
better and more fashionable description are open
till noon ; the arcades are thronged by itinerant
venders of every variety of wares, some of the
articles probably being stolen. These hucksters
generally accept half the price at first demanded,
and sometimes even much less than that. A
bull-fight in the afternoon and a ball in the even
ing usually complete the enjoyments of the day.
The pulque is the popular beverage. This is a
concoction of the fermented juice of the ma
guey, and is drunk by everybody. One must
practise to like it ; otherwise he might imagine
it to be the magic draught of witches.
The drives in the environs are very beauti
ful. The most fashionable of these is the Paseo

The City of Mexico. 75
de la Reforma, one of the avenues of the new
park. This was the favorite drive of the unfor
tunate Empress Carlotta, and is often called
"the Mad Woman's Drive." At half-past five
in the afternoon the avenue is crowded with
the equipages of the foreign Ambassadors, the
bankers, merchants and wealthier residents gen
erally. The park is extensive and well kept, its
avenues are broad, and at intervals they widen
into circles, which are ornamented with statues
of King Charles IV. of Spain, Christopher Co
lumbus, and the Goddess of Liberty. One is
about to be erected to Benito Juarez, the De
liverer of Mexico.
At the southern extremity of the park stands
the Palace of Chapultepec, on the site where
formerly stood the imperial abode of Monte
zuma. It was the residence of the Emperor
Maximilian during the greater portion of his
brief reign, and is now occupied for military
purposes. It is about to be fitted up for the
summer abode of the President.'
A little further on is the village of Tacubaya,
where many residents of the city have tasteful

76 Mexico and the Mexicans.
villas. The retreat of Cortez and the Spaniards
from Mexico in 1520 was by this route, and the
Melancholy Night constitutes an epoch in the
early history of New Spain. The tree of Noche
Triste still commemorates the event, and is
pointed out to travellers.
Three miles to the north of the city is the vil
lage of Guadalupe with its celebrated church.
This edifice was built to commemorate the ap
pearing of the Blessed Virgin to an Indian pros
elyte named Juan Diego. From the moment
of its consecration it became the most distin
guished Christian sanctuary in New Spain. The
railings, tabernacle, lamps, and other ornaments
are of silver. The innumerable votive offerings
which cover the walls are so many testimonials
to the wonderful cures performed by the Holy
Virgin of Guadalupe. When Hidalgo reared
the standard of Mexican independence in 1810,
her image was painted upon his banner. After
the successful establishment of the Republic
the place was exalted to civic dignity under the
designation of the City of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
The treaty of peace between the United States

The City of Mexico. 77
and Mexico in 1848 was signed here by the
plenipotentiaries of both countries, and it has
ever since been known as The Treaty of Gauda-
lupe Hidalgo.
The shops of Mexico are very fine, and the
variety of articles sold is great. It may afford
some criterion of the wealth of the people to
remark that no very costly goods are offered for
sale. The notion generally prevails that Ameri
can tourists have an unlimited supply of money.
Every trader is accordingly on the qui vive to
turn an honest penny at their expense. The
instant that the fact becomes known that you
desire an article of a particular kind, such _as
bric-a-brac or relics, your apartments are be
sieged by a small army of dealers offering to
supply it. If the thing exhibited does not
chance to please you, they promise to bring
something to-morrow that will certainly suit
El Seiior. Sure enough, they are on hand
the next day, with something very near, if not
exactly, what is desired. It would be curious,
and might be instructive, to know where the
article has been procured.

78 Mexico and the Mexicans.
Lotteries are very popular, and you are solic
ited on every hand to buy a ticket. Some of
them are carried on under the auspices of the
Government, and even churches are in part sup
ported by them.
One of the most interesting features of the
city, which, however, is often neglected by vis
itors, is the Viga. This is a canal, running
along the line of a broad highway. The sides
of the road and the banks of the canal are
shaded by fine trees, many of them willows and
Lombardy poplars. It extends to Lake Chalco,
and is used for bringing vegetables and the va
rious country products into the city. It can be
reached by street cars. On arriving at the
canal I found a flat-boat with a low roof, which,
by a little stretch of the imagination, might be
assimilated to a Venetian gondola. After I had
gone on board, the boatman took his position
in the bow and with a pole propelled the craft
on its way. The water was only five feet deep,
and he was able to get on at a fair rate of speed
without much difficulty. These boatmen are
generally Indians.

The City of Mexico. 79
A more picturesque scene can hardly be im
agined than is presented here toward the close
of the day. I could discern all the objects on
the avenue as well as on the water, including
the freight and passengers. The working people,
most of whom are Indians, were going home
from their daily toil. In general, they travelled
in a dug-out canoe, like their fellow aborigines
of more northern climes. Each man sat in the
stern and propelled his craft with a paddle,
while his family occupied the bow. High-
sounding names were painted on these canoes,
many of them being of a religious character.
The municipal police force is large, and un
der admirable management and discipline. The
patrolmen wear a uniform of dark blue cloth,
with a military cap of white duck. At night a
long cloak, also blue, is added, and they carry
lanterns. When they are not walking they place
these in the middle of the streets to indicate
where they are. It seems to be the practice for
them to stand at the corners of the streets,
rather than to keep constantly in motion.
The postal regulations are somewhat peculiar,

80 Mexico and the Mexicans.
and I must say they admit of essential improve
ment. Mexicans evidently do not write many
letters, if we may judge from the small number
of names on the bulletin-lists at the post-offices.
Pursuant to the provisions of the postal treaty,
the rate of postage to the United States is six
cents, but for any distance within the bound
aries of the Republic exceeding seventeen
leagues it is twenty-five cents. All postage
must be prepaid by stamps, but the arrange
ments in this respect are clumsy and trouble
some. The individual desiring to mail a letter
is required to deliver his letter, and at the same
time the money, to the clerk at the post-office
and he affixes the stamp. The stamps dis
tributed among the several States are numbered,
and those belonging to one State may not be
used in another. Stamps are not sold to in
dividuals as in this country, except in rare in
stances at the discretion of the postmaster.
The Cathedral of Mexico is a building of ex
traordinary beauty and grandeur. Its dimen
sions far exceed those of every other Christian
temple in the Western Hemisphere, and justly

The City of Mexico. 8 1
entitle it to rank with St. Peter's at Rome, and
with the magnificent cathedrals at Milan and
Cologne. To those who are familiar with the
splendid edifice which stands on Fifth Avenue
between Fiftieth and Fifty-first Streets, it is
only necessary to say that in size the cathedral
at the City of Mexico is nearly twice as great.
No person of architectural' culture and taste can
look upon the grand pile, within or without,
and fail to receive an impression which time
cannot efface.
It is situated on the Plaza Mayor, and with
the Sagrario, it occupies the entire northern side
of the square. It was built on the site of the
Great Temple of Huitzilopochtli, the war-god of
the Aztec race. The work was begun in 1.573
and was completed in ninety-four years, having
cost the sum of 1,752,000 dollars. The edifice,
with the minor structures, is five hundred feet
in length by four hundred and twenty feet in
width ; and its towers are each two hundred feet
high. The superb panoramic view from the
eastern tower gives the observer an accurate
conception of the various districts and localities

82 Mexico and the Mexicans.
in the City of Mexico. There are no less than
forty-eight bells in these towers, many of which
are dedicated to the saints and more distin
guished martyrs of the Roman Catholic calen
dar. Among these are Santa Maria de Guada
lupe, thirty-six feet high, Doha Maria, weighing
fifteen thousand pounds, and Saint Angel, weigh
ing fourteen thousand pounds. A handsome
clock with a gilt dial-plate surmounts the main
entrance. Standing near it are the figures of
the three Christian Virtues, Faith, Hope and
Charity. The cupola is octagonal in form and
is almost as high as the towers. It is wrought
and adorned with great elegance. The fine
painting in fresco, by Juneiro, representing the
Assumption of the Virgin, constitutes one of the
ornaments of the interior.
The cathedral is built after the style of the
Spanish Renaissance. It has five naves. On the
sides of the two lateral naves are fourteen chapels,
enclosed with balustrades of carved wood.
There are also six others, namely : the Chapel
of the Kings, in which the viceroys were buried;
the Chapel of Souls, where the remains of the

The City of Mexico. 83
priests were deposited ; the Chapel of Good
Resolution, the Chapel of Saint Joseph, the
Chapel of Saint Lawrence, and the Chapel of
Forgiveness of Sins. In the last of these a mass
is said every half hour of the day throughout the
entire year.
The main altar, covered by a canopy sup
ported by eight columns, is situated in the cen
tre of the cathedral, between the choir and the
altar of the kings. The latter is surrounded by
a balustrade which is ornamented by sixty-two
figures, each holding a candlestick. A figure
representing the Holy Virgin, and also statues
of the apostles and principal saints, all of life
size, stand about the main altar. These were
formerly adorned with precious stones presented
by Charles V.
It would, however, require a book to de
scribe this magnificent structure and its decora
tions as they deserve, and I will attempt it no
further. The celebrated Aztec Calendar Stone leans
against the exterior wall of the cathedral. It
is circular in form, eleven feet in diameter and

84 Mexico and the Mexicans.
three feet thick. It once adorned the Great
Aztec Temple, and was probably made in the
year 1279. It was carved from a piece of por
ous basalt, and is covered with hieroglyphics in
dicating the months of the year. It was found
in 1790 buried in the Plaza, which itself for
merly constituted a part of the precinct of the
Great Temple. Calendars made of gold and
silver were highly esteemed by the former rulers
of Mexico. Montezuma presented Cortez with
two, both richly carved, which are described as
being " as large as cart-wheels," one represent
ing the sun and the other the moon. Another
of solid gold was found by a soldier, during the
sack of Tenochtitlan, in the garden of Guatemo
zin, the last of the Aztec Emperors. The Aztec
sages were as devoted star-gazers as the ancient
Chaldeans and had as elaborate an astronomy.
The Spaniards, however, were not savants in
search of learning, and every fabric of gold or
silver, no matter how beautiful or curious, was
hurried to the melting-pot. The English have
never failed to display a similar rapacity in Hin-
dostan. Warren Hastings, when governor, took

The City of Mexico. 85
much interest in archaeology. Finding a deposit
of ancient Persian darics he sent them home as
curiosities to the East India Company. His
zeal was ill-judged ; they were speedily melted
down for the gold. The Spaniards could hardly
have done worse.
The Mexicans take a just pride in their Na
tional Gallery of Paintings, the Academia de San
Carlos. The collection is large, and many of the
pictures are after the style of the old masters.
Those of the modern school, in which depart
ment native talent is well represented, possess
decided merit.
The College of Mines is a well-regulated in
stitution. It was built by Don Manuel Tolsa
seventy years ago at a cost of one and a half
million dollars, and covers an area of about two
acres. Its organization as a school of science is
very complete, and it deserves the careful atten
tion of the tourist.
The building in which the Inquisition of
Mexico formerly held its dread convocations
is now occupied by the National School of
Medicine.

86 Mexico and the Mexicans.
The new building of the National Library is
perhaps the finest edifice in the city.
The Palacio del Gobierno, or Government
Palace, is also situated upon the Plaza. It is six
hundred and seventy-five feet long and two
stories high. It was commenced by Cortez, and
for three centuries was occupied as the vice
regal residence. Since the establishment of
Mexican independence it has been used by the
Government for public affairs, including the
Post Office, the military barracks and the Na
tional Museum.
The Hall of the Ambassadors, the principal
room in the Palace, is a handsome and spacious
apartment, being three hundred feet long and
twenty-five feet wide. It is opened only on
special occasions. I had the opportunity of
seeing it, through the courtesy of the Governor
of the Palace. The walls are hung with the
portraits of the heroes and great men of Mexico,
Hidalgo, Morelos, Iturbide, Juarez and others.
A single foreigner only has been admitted to
this Pantheon, — Washington. There is a pict
ure of the battle of Puebla, in which the French

The City of Mexico. 87
were defeated by the Mexican forces. With a
pardonable patriotism, the artist has depicted
the enemy in headlong flight and the field
covered with their dead.
I paid numerous visits to the National Mu
seum and took the greatest interest in the col
lections. Here are preserved old Spanish arms,
glassware that had belonged to the Emperor
Iturbide, the silver table-service and medals of
Maximilian ; also his state carriage, which was
made in the most expensive fashion after the
style of such carriages in Europe.
There is a very complete collection of Aztec
and pre-Aztec antiquities. The most notable
of these, the Sacrificial Stone, was cut from a
huge block of jasper, and is about equal in its
dimensions to the Calendar Stone, which I have
already described. In the centre is a bowl-
shaped depression, evidently for the purpose of
receiving the blood of the victim, which was
carried off by a groove or trough extending to
the edge. The mode of slaughter consisted in
stretching the wretched victim upon the sur
face of the stone, five priests holding fast his

88 Mexico and the Mexicans.
head and limbs, while the sixth, with a razor of
volcanic glass or obsidian, opened his breast, and
thrusting in one hand tore out the heart. He
first held it up to the sun, and then placed it on
a censer at the feet of the statue of Huitzilo-
potchli, around which was the coiled figure of
the Sacred Rattlesnake. This abominable rite
seems to have belonged peculiarly to the Aztecs.
The older race of Toltecs are generally repre
sented as making bloodless offerings. Human
sacrifices dated back only about two centuries
before the Spanish Conquest. There were many
of these sacrificial stones, not only in Tenoch
titlan but in the other cities of the Aztec do
minion ; and the number put to death seems
almost incredible. It is stated by Father Tor-
quemada that at the dedication of the Great
Temple, or Hall of Serpents, in i486, a procession
of prisoners two miles long and numbering
seventy-two thousand perished on the very
stone which I have described.
There is a very extensive collection of Aztec
idols in this museum. They are for the most
part grotesque and fantastic in appearance.

The City of Mexico. 89
Many of the figures are those of animals ; but
the rattlesnake is the most common symbol.
The serpent-worship will be described in the
next chapter.

CHAPTER VI.
THE SERPENT-WORSHIP.
On the eve of my departure for Mexico, my
learned and .greatly valued friend, Dr. Alex
ander Wilder, did me the honor to present me
with a copy of his curious and interesting mon
ograph on The Serpent-Worship. At the
same time he paid me the compliment to re
mark he would feel under obligation for any
information which I might communicate to
him, on my return, concerning the serpent-
cultus of the ancient Mexicans ; to the end that
he might embody it in his more elaborate
work, to be entitled " Serpent and Siva Wor
ship," which is now in the course of preparation
for the press.
With my attention thus directed to the sub
ject, I have availed myself of every opportunity
which has offered to study the general subject,
to collect images and to make sketches of such

QUETZALCOATL.

SACRED SERPENT.

The Serpent- Worship. 9 1
of the veritable idols of the Toltec and Aztec
worship as have come in my way. The rep
resentations of the Serpent-gods of Mexico,
carved in stone, were generally destroyed by
the Spaniards. The simulacra of several of
them are, however, preserved in the National
Museum. The general form is that of a coiled
serpent. I annex copies of a pencil sketch of
two of these images, which I made during one
of my visits to the National Museum.
Mr. Bradford, in his work on American An
tiquities, describes the image of the goddess
Teoyaomiqui, — which is preserved in the Uni
versity of Mexico — as a statue of colossal dimen
sions and terrible form. A traveller has de
scribed it as hewn out of a solid block of basalt,
nine feet high. Its outlines, we are told, are a
combination of a deformed human figure with
all that is horrible in the tiger and the rattle
snake. Instead of arms, it is supplied with two
large serpents ; while its drapery is composed of
wreathed snakes interwoven in the most disgust
ing manner, and the sides terminate in the wings
of a vulture. Its feet are those of a tiger, and be-

92 Mexico and the Mexicans.
tween them lies the head of a rattlesnake, which
seems to be descending from the body of the
idol. Humboldt says : " The arms and feet
were hidden under a drapery, surrounded by
enormous serpents, which the Mexicans denoted
by the name of cohuatlicuye, garment of ser
pents." The accompanying effigy, cut from a care
fully executed photograph, represents this idol.
In Mexico, as in every other portion of the
western hemisphere where the serpent was
found in nature, it appears to have been a uni
versal symbol of divinity. In the ancient picture-
writing, carved upon walls, and coiled around
idols, the mystic figure was everywhere to be
seen, reminding us of a faith and worship that
to many will seem incredible. If we may credit
the account of Bernal Diaz, the historiographer
of the Spanish Conquest, living rattlesnakes were
maintained in the Great Temple, or, as it was
then called, the Hall of Serpents, at Mexico, as
sacred or petted objects. They were kept in a
cabin, in which a quantity of feathers had been
strewn. There they laid their eggs and reared

mm- 'W$k

_.'Sj_5S

THE GODDESS TEOYAOMIQUI.

The Serpent-Worship. 93
their young. They were fed indiscriminately
with the remains of human sacrifices and with
dogs'-meat. He also tells us that the Spaniards,
in their march under Cortez to Mexico, came to a
place called Terraguca, which, on account of the
numerous figures of these reptiles found in the
temples, where they were worshipped by the
natives as gods, they named The Town of Ser
pents. This worship would appear to be in close
analogy to the practices of the races inhabiting
the Ancient World. The apocryphal Book of
Daniel, as printed in the Bibles of other days,
relates the story of a dragon which the Baby
lonians worshipped ; and the Book of Kings de
clares that Hezekiah broke in pieces the brazen
serpent made by Moses, because it was an object
of idolatry among the Israelites. In the tem
ples of Egypt figures of the serpent were every
where to be met with ; and living serpents were
maintained in the Grecian sanctuaries of Apollo
and Esculapius. The consecration of a new
shrine of these divinities was accompanied by
the transportation thither of one of these rep-

94 Mexico and the Mexicans.
tiles from a parent temple. At the present
time living snakes are worshipped in parts of
Hindostan and of Africa. In contrast with the
asp of Egypt, the colubers of Europe and the
cobra de capello of India, the rattlesnake enjoys
the distinction of being the sacred emblem of
America. The wall which surrounded the site of the
Great Temple of Mexico was denominated
Coatepantli, the Wall of Serpents. Humboldt
relates that the triangular roof of the temple of
Quetzalcoatl was surrounded by one of these
symbolical figures. One of the titles of this
divinity was Yolcohuatl, the rattlesnake ; and
the entrance to his sanctuary in Mexico repre
sented the jaws of an immense serpent. The
place of his disappearance was denominated
Coatzacoalco, the hiding-place of the rattlesnake;
and he was fabled to have taken his departure
from Mexico in a boat of serpent-skins.
A favorite designation of the rattlesnake
among the various native tribes of North Amer
ica, by whom it was frequently identified with
the sun, was The Great Father. The rattle-

The Serpent- Worship. 95
snake was also adored as the parent of mankind.
Such was the belief of the ancient Peruvians.
The Supreme Divinity of the Mexicans was
Tonacatlcoatl, the Genius, or, more literally, the
Serpent, of the Sun. His consort was designated
indifferently Cihuacohuatl and Tonacacihua, the
Wife of the Serpent, or the Spouse of the Sun.
A tradition existed similar to that of the Peru
vians, that they became parents of twins, a son
and a daughter, from whom descended all man
kind. Hence the invocation of the Aztec litany:
" We entreat that those who die in war may be
received by thee, our Father, the Sun, and our
brother the earth ; for thou alone reignest."
This belief has its parallel in the mythological
legends of the ancient world. The Scythians,
according to Herodotus, ascribed their origin
to Echidna, the Serpent-woman, and Hercules,
the Moloch or Sun-god of Western Asia. Tra
ditions of the Armenians, Asiatics, Ethiopians
and Abyssinians, ascribe to their kings a descent
from Zohak, the murderous snake of the Avesta ;
and the Naga tribes of Kashmir and India trace
a similar lineage. Even the Athenian Cecrops

96 Mexico and the Mexicans.
was depicted with ophidian extremities, and the
mother of Alexander the Great pretended that
he was the offspring of the Bacchic Serpent.
I see little difference between the serpent-
worship of the East and that of America. In
each is the same reference to an original father,
an era of prosperity, and an intimate relation
with natural events. The serpent not only typi
fies the first parent, but the sun and the light
ning. In India it is the withholder of rain, in
China and Mexico it forms the clouds and causes
the rain to fall. It dispenses benefits and is the
great benefactor of mankind.
Quetzalcoatl, the son or incarnation of Ton
acatlcoatl, the all-sustaining god, is sometimes
represented by the figure of a rattlesnake with
quetzal feathers. But alone of all the gods of
the Aztecs he is commonly depicted as having
a human body.
Some writers have suggested a method of
interpretation whereby the various supernatural
myths, fairy tales and religious traditions are
all explained as relating to solar and meteoro
logical occurrences. According to this hypoth-

The Serpent-Worship. 97
esis, the legends of Quetzalcoatl are so many
sun-myths. His advent from the Far East, or
Tlapallan, his accession to supreme power, and
his final departure with a promise to return from
the East and renew his reign with augmented
splendor, would thus become a symbolical rep
resentation of the King of Day at the various
stages of dawn, noonday and decadence.
Many of the characteristics ascribed to Quet
zalcoatl are consonant with such an explana
tion. The morning star was his symbol, and
the Teocalli at Cholula was dedicated to him as
the author of light. He was accordingly char
acterized as the inventor of the calendar, be
cause he was the creator of days. Like Vira
cocha of the Peruvians and other divinities of
the dawn, he was represented as of fair com
plexion, clad in white or shining robes and
wearing a full beard.
The historian Prescott describes him some
what differently as he appeared- in the Teocalli
of Cholula. " On the summit," says he, " stood
a sumptuous temple, in which was the image of
the mystic deity, ' God of the Air,' with ebon feat-
7

98 Mexico and the Mexicans.
ures, unlike the fair complexion which he bore
upon earth,, wearing a mitre upon his head wav
ing with plumes of fire, with a resplendent col
lar of gold round his neck, pendants of mosaic
turquoise in his ears, a jewelled sceptre in
one hand, and a shield curiously painted, the
emblem of his rule over the winds, in the
other." The hieroglyphical symbol by which Quetzal
coatl is denoted, a feathered rattlesnake, was
undoubtedly a homophone of his name, the
quetzal being a kind of paroquet and cohuatl,
the Aztec word for snake. This has everywhere
been a common device of occult symbolism.
The bird represented the wind and the serpent
denoted the lightning. Quetzalcoatl or Kukul-
kan was therefore the lord of the storm and the
lightning. He appears to have been the coun
terpart of Rimmon, of ancient Assyria, who was
also the god of the wind ; and in accordance
with the same -analogy, as air is in a manner
identical with health, life and spirit. He was
also the lord of intelligence, wisdom and pro
phetic intuition. Like Prometheus of the old

The Serpent-Worship. 99
Hellenic mythology he gave fire to. men, and
peace, plenty and every earthly blessing were
diffused among his subjects. He was the ideal
of goodness, and is represented as of majestic
stature and dignified demeanor. Artificers and
men of learning came with him. " He was chaste
and temperate in life," declares Brasseur de
Bourbourg, " wise in council, generous in gifts,
conquering by the arts of peace rather than by
those of war ; delighting in music, flowers and
brilliant colors. So averse was he to human
sacrifices that he shut his ears with both hands
when they were mentioned."
If it is asked how these characteristics are
reconcilable with the atrocious rites employed
in his worship, it may be answered that history
abounds with examples where divinities, whose
attributes were peaceful and merciful, were wor
shipped with ceremonies of an opposite character.
The Aztecs were not originally the worshippers
of Quetzalcoatl. He was a god of the Mayas,
Toltecs and Nahuas, who worshipped him with
milder and more humane rites. The Aztecs,
when they adopted him, made him the son of

100 Mexico and the Mexicans.
Mexcoatl, on whose sacrificial stones human
victims were mercilessly slaughtered.
Human sacrifices seem to have been a uni
versal characteristic of the worship of the ser
pent. The ancient Israelites during the period
that they burned incense to the Brazen Serpent
of Moses " slew their children in sacrifice, used
secret ceremonies, and made revellings of strange
rites." The Greeks at the Bacchic orgies and
the festivals of Poseidon put men to death, till
after the Doric and Hellenic revolution, attrib-
buted by the myth-writers to Hercules and
Theseus. The Phoenicians and Carthaginians
were notorious for kidnapping women and chil
dren for the services of their gods and for the
numbers of human victims whom they immo
lated. The Romans, Egyptians and other East
ern nations perpetrated like enormities. Several
of the snake-worshipping tribes of Africa sacrifice
human victims to their idols at the present day.
Mr. Fergusson has ingeniously conjectured
that the reign of Quetzalcoatl was somewhere
between the sixth and ninth century of our era,
and synchronous with a corresponding time of

The Serpent-Worship. 101
prosperity in Cambodia and Farther India.
Although Buddhism at the beginning superseded
the serpent-worship and bloody sacrifices, the
Naga-religion was afterward engrafted upon it
in Northern India. Hence the sculptures and
architectural remains at Cambodia as well as at
Sanchi and Amaravati exhibit the ophite worship
in full splendor. Whether the simultaneous
prevalence of the serpent-cultus in Eastern Asia
and its appearance in America are evidence of
propagandism is a matter for curious enquiry.
It is certain that Buddhism and its kindred faith
Jainism dispensed with all cruel and bloody rites.
It is no valid argument that in both religions,
cruelty afterward became more or less an ele
ment. Whether Mr. Fergusson's hypothesis is
well founded must be decided by other evidence.

CHAPTER VII.
VISITS to prominent persons.
I WAS enabled, through the courtesy of Sefior
Don Matias Romero, the Mexican Minister at
Washington, who furnished me with the neces
sary letter of introduction, to obtain an inter
view with the President of Mexico, General
Manuel Gonzalez. He has seen much active
service and was the commander who won the
Battle of Tepeac, in the last revolution, which
placed General Diaz in the Presidential chair,
and which of course assured to him the succes
sion ; the Mexican Constitution prohibiting the
immediate re-election of the President. At the
present moment he suffers severely from the
effects of wounds received in battle. I there
fore found it necessary to call several times
before he was able to receive me. He is a
genial, pleasant gentleman of about fifty years
of age, of middle height and is quite thick-set.

Visits to Prominent Persons. 103
He has a very noticeable scar on his left cheek.
It is said that he has received in all twenty-
seven wounds, one of which caused the loss of
his right arm.
Although he has travelled more or less in
the United States he speaks no English, but he
welcomed me with the utmost politeness in
the Spanish language, declaring himself in glow
ing terms to be at my service and very happy
to do anything that might add to my pleasure
or convenience during my sojourn in Mexico.
He was very glad, he said, that the Ameri
cans were willing to invest their capital in build
ing railroads in Mexico. He regarded their
construction as a great benefit to his country.
He felt assured that the trade which would re-
sul; from it, provided it was supplemented by a
commercial treaty, would be of great advantage
not only to Mexico, but to the United States
as well. It would also, he added, promote the
friendly relations which happily now exist and
which he hoped would forever continue between
the two countries.
General Strother, the American Consul-Gen-

104 Mexico and the Mexicans.
eral, remarking upon this subject, declared that
it was chiefly owing to the action of the United
States in sending General Phil Sheridan to the
frontier with an army of observation, consisting
of seventy thousand veterans, in the time of
Maximilian, that any friendly feeling now exists
on the part of the Mexicans towards our Gov
ernment and people. Immediately after the
war between the two countries, he added, a law
had been passed, which is still in force, inhibiting
aliens from acquiring title to land within twenty
leagues of the boundary lines. The purpose of
this legislation was to guard against possible
encroachments on the part of the Americans.
I have ventured to refer to these remarks in
order that I may record my dissent from the
conclusion thus expressed. Throughout my
entire sojourn in the Mexican Republic I made
it my constant aim to inform myself regarding
the sentiments of the people, high and low, rich
and poor, towards us. It affords me no ordi
nary satisfaction to testify that, not only no
bitter and resentful memories of the war now
rankle in the breasts of our neighbors, but that

Visits to Prominent Persons. 105
a cordial feeling of friendship and community
of interest is almost universally prevalent. All
Mexicans thoroughly understand that the war
was brought about by the ruffianly propa
gandists of slavery, for the purpose of strength
ening the slave power and of rendering it su
preme in the administration of our Government.
Nothing could possibly have been more hateful
in the eyes of our neighbors. Inspired by the
teachings of the Church, they had, in advance
of every other nation, eliminated from their
laws and constitution the curse and scourge, the
sin and shame, of negro slavery. When there
fore a vast territory was wrested from them at
the cost of many lives and an immense amount
of treasure, and given over to slavery, it was
not in human nature to look upon the result
with composure. The War of the Rebellion
having put an end to slavery in this country,
the bands of peace and good-will towards each
other have grown stronger and stronger with
the lapse of time.
Among the letters of introduction furnished
me by Sefior Romero- was one addressed to

106 Mexico and the Mexicans.
Sefior Don Ignacio Mariscal, the Minister of
Foreign Relations. The functions of this officer
correspond substantially to those of the Secretary
of State under our own Government. I called on
him at his office in the Government Palace, and
was conducted through a series of elegantly fur
nished apartments to the parlor in which he re
ceived me. He is a very courteous and high
bred gentleman, and has perfect command of
the English language, having lived some time in
the United States. I advise all Americans visit
ing Mexico to seek an introduction to him.
Speaking of the relations of Mexico to the
United States, he said that the Mexicans would
like to have free trade between the two coun
tries ; but that his country was rather poor at
present and required the revenues derived from
duties on imports for its support, adding that a
certain percentage of these duties had been
irrevocably pledged to pay the subventions
granted to the railroad companies. He thought
that the United States Government might very
well remove all duties from Mexican produce,
because, as he understood the matter, the sole

Visits to Prominent Persons. 107
opposition to the proposed commercial treaty
came from those who are engaged in the pro
duction of sugar and tobacco. The opposition
of these interests, he thought, was not altogether
just, as nearly all the sugar and tobacco raised
in Mexico was required for home consumption
— the quantity exported to the United States
having thus far been very inconsiderable. There
fore Mexico could not bring these articles into
serious competition with us until the resources
of the country were more fully developed by the
completion of the railways. He saw only one
objection to the measure, — which was one that
could be removed by judicious legislation on the
part of both Governments. This objection was
that sugar produced in Cuba and in the other
West India Islairos might be smuggled into
the United States by way of Mexico. He knew,
however, that this contraband trade is now car
ried on to an infinitely greater extent at our
Pacific ports, where sugar from Peru is imported
free of duty, .under cover of the treaty of the
United States with the Hawaiian Islands.
He spoke of the facilities for travelling about

108 Mexico and the Mexicans.
the country, and remarked that he considered
that the days of stage-coach robberies were
passed and gone, owing to the new era in the
history of the country and to the effective
measures which the Government has taken to
suppress the practice. He remarked that there
had been no robberies on the routes leading to
the United States for the last three years.
During my stay in the capital I had the
pleasure of conferring with Sefior Mariscal on
several occasions. The information and advice
with which he kindly favored me proved to be
of the greatest advantage while visiting all por
tions of the country.
Of course I availed myself of an early oppor
tunity to call upon the American Minister, the
Hon. Philip H. Morgan, or Louisiana. The
American Legation occupies a fine building situ
ated on the Paseo, which is one of the most
fashionable and attractive quarters of the city.
While waiting in the ante-room, I observed a
number of portraits of the former Ministers, and
I was naturally gratified to see my grandfather's
picture among the number. I was soon shown

Visits to Prominent Persons. 109
into the Minister's private office. Judge Mor
gan is a gentleman of imposing personal appear
ance and elegant manners. As a jurist he had
achieved a brilliant reputation before leaving
home. Almost his entire life has been spent on
the bench. Just before coming to Mexico he
had occupied the position of Judge of the Inter
national Court in Egypt. The United States is
fortunate in having as its representative a gen
tleman who is so able and learned, and at the
same time so popular and highly esteemed. He
remarked that the interest which our people
had lately taken in Mexican affairs had caused a
great increase in the business of his office.
On learning that I intended to record the re
sult of my observations, he said that matters
were progressing so rapidly that what was writ
ten now was likely to require revision before
many months had elapsed.
Judge Morgan and his family enjoy great per
sonal popularity, and their numerous entertain.
ments are held in pleasant remembrance by all
those who have had the good fortune to attend
them.

no Mexico and the Mexicans.
I am sure I shall render my countrymen who
may hereafter have occasion to visit Mexico, an
acceptable and valuable service by advising
them to lose no time in seeking an interview
with the Consul-General of the United States,
the Hon. David H. Strother, of Virginia. The
offices of the Consulate are situated in a build
ing in the Calle de la Perpetua, which was once
occupied by the Inquisition. A stone in the
court-yard bears an inscription with the date
1598. General Strother is thoroughly informed
on all matters relating to Mexico, and is a writer
of acknowledged ability, having for years been a
contributor to Harper's Monthly Magazine.
Extensive travel in many parts of the world
has qualified him in an eminent degree to judge
with accuracy not only the present condition
but likewise the future prospects of Mexico,
which he regards as exceedingly brilliant. He
dwelt with great eloquence upon its boundless
and inexhaustible natural resources ; and he
looks forward with confidence to their early de
velopment. He predicts that the present primi
tive methods employed in nearly every branch

Visits to Prominent Persons. 1 1 1
of industry will soon give place to improved
processes ; and that, by means of new facilities
of transportation and domestic intercommunica
tion, Mexico is destined to take a prominent
place in the family of nations.

CHAPTER VIII.
A TRIP WESTWARD.
The desire to see one of the greatest of the
natural wonders of the world now impelled me
to make a trip to the volcano of Jorullo. It is
situated almost due west from the capital, in the
State of Michoacan, and less than one hundred
miles from the Pacific Ocean. As it is a four
days' journey from the nearest station on the
Mexican National Railway, the excursion from
the capital cannot be conveniently made in
much less time than two weeks.
Accordingly, one afternoon, in the early part
of the month of March last, I took the train at
the temporary station near the new park; my
brother, who had accompanied me to Mexico,
being my companion. After crossing the val
ley the train ascended the mountain-wall, within
which the city lies, by a series of heavy grades.
I was soon enabled to see the valley of Mexico

A Trip Westward. 113
stretched out below me like a map. A gentle
man sitting near me in the car called my atten
tion to the grand spectacle, and with the ani
mation characteristic of his race, he cried:
"Muy bonito ! muy bonito ! muy bonito /"
(" Very beautiful ! very beautiful ! very beauti
ful ! ")
At the end of two hours the train reached the
highest point on the road, which is nine thou
sand nine hundred and seventy-four feet above
the sea-level. I soon arrived at the city of
Toluca, where I passed the night. This place is
situated at the foot of the magnificent volcanic
mountain of Toluca, the height of which is fifteen
thousand one hundred and sixty-six feet above
the sea-level. Consequently it is capped with
eternal snow. The city itself has an elevation of
eight thousand six hundred feet. It is a thriving
place, and exhibits a degree of neatness seldom
seen in Mexican cities. An admirable statue,
in marble, of the Liberator Hidalgo, stands in
the centre of the Plaza.
The hotel is unusually good. I was con
ducted to a clean and spacious apartment, newly

114 Mexico and the Mexicans.
painted ; and I even ventured to sit down on
the chairs without first testing their strength.
Here, as in many other places, the dining-room
is not under the same management as the hotel.
A theatre, in a dilapidated condition, occupies
the rear portion of the building.
A national industrial exposition has recently
been held at Toluca. The enterprise was at
tended with great success. Immense numbers
of people went daily from the capital to Toluca,
returning in the afternoon. Numerous excur
sion trains were engaged, from day to day, by
large parties which were formed for the pur
pose. Expositions of this description seem to be
very popular with the Mexicans, and have been
lately held at the cities of Orizaba and Quere
taro. Evidently they belong to the number of
those events which cast their shadows before.
Lithographic pictures representing the buildings
used for these purposes were printed and circu
lated in large numbers throughout the Republic.
The next day's journey was through a high
and desolate region chiefly devoted to grazing.

A Trip Westward. 115
About noon the train stopped by the side of a
stationary car in which a very good dinner was
served. While I was sitting at the table a ter
rific hail-storm burst forth. From the noise of
the hail-stones striking against the car it seemed
as if the roof would be beaten in. On this, as
well as on many previous occasions, I was much
astonished at the apparent insensibility of the
natives to the elements. Some of them seemed
to give no heed whatever to the tempest, while
others only protected themselves by putting on
a mantle made of the fibres of the maguey plant,
which, however, did not extend quite to the
knees. Below that point their legs were en
tirely exposed, only a few even wearing sandals,
although snow lay on the ground, the remains
of a recent storm which had fallen in this ele
vated region. They also seemed to be perfectly
indifferent whether or not they took refuge
under some friendly cover.
At nightfall I had reached Maravatio, lying
one hundred and twenty-nine miles west of the
capital. At that time it was the temporary ter
minus of the road, but I have learned that the

n6 Mexico and the Mexicans.
road has since been opened to the town of
Acambaro. Repairing to the Hotel de Dili
gencias, from which the diligence for Morelia
was advertised to leave at three o'clock on the
following morning, I secured seats for myself
and my brother. The hotel is a one-story build
ing with a square court-yard in the centre from
which the rooms open. The apartments which
do not front on the street have no windows, and
with their massive doors, with ponderous locks
and keys, are suggestive of dungeons. On retir
ing, I debated the question whether I should
turn the formidable key. Should the lock get
out of order, or should anything occur, for in
stance a fire, to prevent the doors from being
opened, the unfortunate prisoner would have no
means of escape.
At supper the people around the hotel, con
sisting chiefly of American civil engineers in the
employ of the Railway Company, with the train
and station hands, beguiled the time with tales
of the various stage-coach robberies which had
recently occurred, as they said, in the vicinity.
Perhaps their intentions were a trifle mischievous.

A Trip Westward. 117
Promptly at three in the morning I was pre
pared to set out, but there were no signs of
making ready the old and seemingly worn-out
diligence, built in imitation of a Concord coach,
which stood in the court-yard. At half after
four the attendants began to grease the wheels
and to make sundry repairs by the light of a
small bonfire. After the lapse of another hour
the eight mules were hitched up. First came
two leaders, then four abreast and then two at
the pole ; and by six o'clock, three hours after
the designated time of departure, I was on my
way. The storm of the preceding day had greatly
injured the roads. Never very good, they
were now in a shocking condition. With the
rate of speed at which I was moving I con
cluded that, instead of making the distance to
Morelia in one day, as advertised, the journey
was likely to take at least twice that length of
time. In the diligence, like a Mount Desert
buck-board, the middle seats are the best, be
cause your neighbors hold you in and make some
thing soft to be occasionally pitched against.

118 Mexico and the Mexicans.
If possible, the traveller should sit between
two stout passengers. The drivers of dili
gences are provided with an assistant, whose
duty it is to execute the orders of the driver,
— above all to beat the mules. He uses a whip
with a lash long enough to reach the leaders.
He has also another with a short but unusually
heavy lash, and when necessary, especially when
the diligence is going up hill, he jumps down
and applies it with effect. He also takes a sup
ply of stones on the box, and when occasion
requires he throws them at the leaders with
unerring aim. The driver is also armed with a
whip having a long lash. With all these pow
ers of persuasion in operation, the perceptive
faculties of an intelligent mule are apt to be
sufficiently aroused to enable him to perceive
that he is expected to move. Presently a stop
was made to change mules, and the passengers
went- into a peon's house for breakfast. A peon
is an Indian day-laborer.
The bill of fare consisted of chickens, eggs,
boiled beans and tortillas. This cabin, which
was better than the average, was absolutely de-

A Trip Westward. 1 1 g
void of anything that could justly be denomi
nated luxuries. There were no beds, and no
chairs. A large part of the Indian population
never slept in a bed. These people sit on the
ground, often gazing vacantly before them for
hours. For the accommodation of the passen
gers some old boxes were brought out to serve
for chairs. To my surprise, the table was fur
nished with a limited number of china plates, but
there were no knives, forks or spoons. When
eating food which cannot well be taken in the
fingers, a tortilla is used as a kind of scoop to
convey the food to the mouth. To the Mexi
can the tortilla is what the potato is to the
peasant of the Emerald Isle. It is a flat cake,
circular in form, about the size of an ordinary
dinner-plate, and is made of Indian corn, moist
ened with water and thoroughly kneaded. The
corn is placed on a flat stone. The tortilla-
maker rests on her knees and holds a cylindrical
stone with one hand on each end of it. She
runs this stone back and forth on the flat stone
on which she has placed the com, and so crushes
it by the pressure. Then by mixing water with

t20 Mexico and the Mexicans.
the crushed corn she makes a kind of dough
and continues to work this as before. Next she
takes a quantity of dough between her hands
and by patting it for a time gives it the proper
shape and size. She then bakes it on a large
earthen plate resting over a small fire. When
away from home or on a journey the peons take
a supply of tortillas with them, and they appear
to desire no other food. I have seen them at
night in the open fields gathered around fires
over which they were toasting their tortillas,
which are not considered good unless they are
freshly baked or warmed up. In places distant
from the centres of population bread is seldom
to be found and tortillas are served in its place.
How long the tortilla has been in use it is im
possible to say. Historians record that when
the Spaniards entered the country, in the be
ginning of the sixteenth century, they found it
to be the national article of diet. The soldiers,
unable to procure any more acceptable food,
were obliged to accustom themselves to its use,
as indeed travellers frequently are even in our
day. In future ages, antiquarians will doubtless

A Trip Westward. 121
speculate upon the question as to what race of
people first invented the tortilla, whether the
Aztec, the Toltec, or the still more remote
Olmec. In physique, the peons are far inferior to the
laboring men in the United States, but their
deficiency of muscular power is somewhat coun
terbalanced by their power of endurance and
ability to bear exposure to the elements. In
one instance, while on a horse-back tour, a well-
formed, erect and athletic-looking Indian of
about fifty-five years of age was able to keep up
with my horse for nearly thirty-two miles. To
the last he walked gracefully, with head erect
and chest well expanded. He wore the usual
dress of coarse cotton cloth, with his trousers
rolled up as far as possible, and sandals on his
feet. He followed me across plain and over
mountain. When I put my horse into a faster
pace he would break into a run, never seeming
to tire. All this time I held no conversation
with him, because, although perfectly good-
natured, he seemed to be of a taciturn disposi
tion.

122 Mexico and the Mexicans.
The pay per day of an ordinary agricultural
laborer is one real and a half, or eighteen and
three-quarter cents. Those employed on large
haciendas are paid off in part by store-orders,
which of course greatly reduces the cost to the
employer, and correspondingly swindles the luck
less laborer out of his just due. Then the produce
of the land is sold to him at a very exorbitant
price, so that the peon's nominal pay of eighteen
and three-quarter cents per day does not in re
ality amount to much more than half that sum.
Meek in his disposition, with few wants, he sub
mits to this and indeed to any other species of
imposition without complaint. While at work
he keeps it in his mind that there are holidays
in store for him in the future, and of these, the
holiday season of Holy Week is observed and
enjoyed with the greatest possible delight. Then
he spends the little money he has hoarded for
his enjoyment and that of his family. If pos
sible, he will take them with him to the capital,
or at least to the nearest town of importance.
At these seasons of festivity an enormous quan
tity of pulque is consumed, and drunken men

A Trip Westward. 123
and women reel through the streets of the cities.
Only when their money has vanished will they
return to their homes. There they enter with
apparent cheerfulness upon another long period
of unremitting toil and privation in order to
accumulate means for the so-called enjoyment
of other holidays to come.
Setting out once more I passed through the
town of Acambaro, where five mounted soldiers
belonging to the Rural Guards made their ap
pearance. They accompanied the diligence for
the remainder of the day to a small town called
Zinapecuaro. Here the passengers spent the
night at the little diligence tavern. Everything
was old and dilapidated, but the landlord and
his people were very obliging and made their
guests as comfortable as circumstances would
permit. It is evident that foreigners seldom
make their way into this part of the Republic.
I now became an object of curiosity and even
amusement. At first everybody with whom I
conversed seemed to presume that I was travel
ling on business connected with the railways.
When they learned their mistake they showed

124 Mexico and the Mexicans.
great surprise. It was evidently unprecedented
for viajeros particulares, or tourists, to invade
their territory.
The passengers were ready to start promptly
at six o'clock the next morning, and after rat
tling for a time over the cobble-stone pavements
of the town, the diligence entered upon a long
stretch of good road, and the mules galloped
along briskly in the cool atmosphere of the
early dawn. The rising sun disclosed the
beauties of a fertile and well-cultivated plain re
sembling the valley of the Connecticut River.
The rain of the preceding day had lent an
unusual freshness to the vegetation, the weather
was perfect, the surroundings most picturesque.
Everything seemed to be so pleasant and at
tractive that I shall always remember this early
morning drive as one of the most pleasing inci
dents of my travels. Soon came a more hilly
region, and on the left, lying among a range of
picturesque mountains, Lake Cuitzeo, the second
lake in size in Mexico, was visible.
The Rural Guards rode with the diligence from
each town in succession until the next was

A Trip Westward. 125
reached, when they were relieved by those be
longing to that station, the first squad returning
home. They were in the practice, however, of
turning back about a mile too soon, and if
brigands had desired to attack us they would
have had an ample opportunity to make the
attempt during these intervals. These robbers
often meet with a warm reception from the
passengers -themselves, as everybody in_ Mexico
goes armed, and, except, perhaps, when in the
larger cities, their weapons are worn in plain
sight. During the last few years there has been
much less brigandage in the country than for
merly. This is due in a great measure to the
fact that the Government has done everything
in its power to suppress the practice. The sol
diers hunted down a large number of the high
waymen, and those who were too wary or too
powerful to be entrapped have been bought off
by receiving commissions in the army. Once
¦ enlisted they renounce all their former associa
tions and even pursue their former confederates
with relentless zeal. Knowing just who the
brigands are, and where to find them, of course

126 Mexico and the Mexicans.
these men become the most effective agents for
the Government.
Another reason, perhaps, for the less frequent
occurrence of stage-coach robberies, is the oppor
tunity to earn an honest living which has of late
been afforded by the construction of the various
railway lines. It need hardly be remarked that
this decreases the number of the destitute and
removes in a great degree the temptation to
commit crime. With the exception of the States
of Jalisco and Sinaloa, where intestine troubles
exist which have long defied the efforts of the
Government for their suppression, there are now
fewer organized bands of robbers in the country
than ever before. A Roman Catholic priest
from Guadalajara, the capital of the State of
Jalisco, and only second in size to the City of
Mexico, having a population of eighty-eight
thousand, told me that highway robberies are
of almost daily occurrence in his State, and that
the highwaymen take not only the valuables of
the victims but even require them to give up
the clothes which they are wearing.
Desperate men abound in almost every part

A Trip Westward. 127
of the country who are ready to seize any op
portunity to obtain possession by a bold stroke
of a considerable amount of money or valuables.
For this, among other reasons, everybody carries
a revolver in full view. The natural aversion
to dying young, it is thought, may prevent an
attempt at robbery which might be made upon
an unarmed man.
Standing in front of one of the post-stations
while the mules were changed, I had an op
portunity to see a specimen of the horseman
ship for which the Mexicans are so famous. A
peon was mounted on a vicious horse. The
animal tried his best to unseat his rider, going
through all the various motions of rearing,
plunging, bucking and kicking, yet the man sat
with perfect composure as firmly in his saddle as
if he had been a part of the horse. At times it
seemed as though the girths of the saddle would
not stand the strain ; but the horse at last per
ceiving that his efforts to free himself were of
no avail, became as quiet as a lamb.
From the commencement of this trip I had
had as a fellow-passenger in the diligence a very

128 Mexico and the Mexicans.
polite elderly gentleman. He was known to
almost everybody on the-road, and everywhere
was treated with extraordinary deference. The
landlord of the hotel where the passengers had
passed the night, provided a bed for him in his
private parlor. I afterwards learned that he
was a prominent commission merchant of the
City of Morelia. He politely presented me with
his card, which bore the name " Manuel Lo-
zano." When the diligence stopped for break
fast, he paid the entire bill. I offered to pay
my share, explaining that such was the custom
in my own country, but he declined to listen to
my proposition. In the course of my journey-
ings I subsequently observed that it is the fre
quent practice, especially in provincial districts,
for some one passenger in the diligence to pay
the bill, for breakfast or dinner, of the entire
company, although they all happened to be
total strangers.
Sefior Lozano extended to me many other
courtesies, which on several occasions were very
marked. Meeting him one day in the street, in
Morelia, he greeted me with the greatest cordi-

A Trip Westward. 129
ality. Pointing to his residence, which was
about a block distant, with the most courtly
politeness he said to me, in Spanish: "The
third house with a lamp in front of it, — that is
your house."
At a place some miles distant from the end of
the journey a gentleman entered the diligence
to whom he at once introduced me. This was
Sefior Don Pedro Rangel, one of the thirteen
members of the Legislature of the State of
Michoacan, and a brother-in-law of the Governor
of that State. Sefior Rangel related many in
teresting and instructive facts concerning the
history and politics of Michoacan. At our part
ing he promised to call upon me at my hotel
and introduce me to the Governor, Sefior Don
Pudenciano Dorantes.
Nine hours' journeying from the place of
starting in the morning brought me to the City
of Morelia, the capital of the State of Michoa
can. With a grand flourish the diligence drove
up a long paved avenue, well shaded with
trees, and stopped at the diligence hotel. I
alighted and walked to the Hotel de la Soledad,
9

130 Mexico and the Mexicans.
the most distinguished public house of the
city. True to his promise, Sefior Rangel paid me a
visit in the evening, and accompanied me to the
Governor's residence. His Excellency is an
accomplished gentleman, cordial in his manners
and of remarkably prepossessing appearance.
I was also honored with an introduction to
Senora Dorantes, who had entered the room
when I was presented to her husband.
The Governor spoke of the projected rail
ways, and expressed the hope that they might
be completed through the State of Michoacan
at an early day. He was very certain that the
productions of that region, which consist prin
cipally of coffee and tropical fruits, with the
facilities of transportation thus afforded would
find a remunerative market in the United States.
I learned afterwards that this expectation is
generally entertained in this region. The prom
inent inhabitants speak enthusiastically of the
completion of railway connection with the
United States, and the consequent introduction
of American capital and enterprise as certain to

A Trip Westward. 131
inaugurate a new and better state of things in
Mexico. Many of them at present are " land-
poor." They own mines of great richness, but
they have not the means for working them.
Some of these mine-owners keep retail stores in
the arcades. It is the universal belief that, when
the railways are in full operation, there will be
a great influx of Americans. They confidently
hope to enlist our countrymen in their various
enterprises, and by this means to emancipate
themselves from their chronic condition of em
barrassment, both personal and national.
My host at the hotel participated in the gen
eral anticipation. He and his wife were dili
gently studying English, so as to be prepared
for the Americans when they should come. He
was constantly greeting me with such expres
sions as these : " Be pleased to be seated,
sir ; " "I am your humble servant, sir." I am
apprehensive when the Americans become nu
merous in Morelia, and large returns are made
from mining and agriculture, that the hotel
accommodations will become more costly. I
found good hotels there, but the prices were

132 Mexico and the Mexicans.
very moderate. I took my meals at the best
restaurant in the city at an expense of about
one dollar and a quarter per day, which is less
than one-half of the cost in the capital.
The State of Michoacan, formerly known as
the Intendancy of Valladolid, is still largely
inhabited by a native population. It abounds
with valuable mines; the principal of which,
that of Tlalpujahua, is situated close to the
mountains of Campo del Gallo, where the illus
trious patriot Hidalgo established a foundry
for the casting of cannon. The City of Morelia,
its capital, is well built and is kept very clean.
The remarkable air of quietude which reigns
here is very pleasing to a tired and wayworn
traveller. It is suggestive, however, of the so
lution that the business and commercial enter
prises of the city are not at present very active.
The ecclesiastical buildings are of a high or
der. The Cathedral is a magnificent structure,
built in the Spanish Renaissance style. That
eminent architect, James Renwick, Esq., to whom
I have exhibited photographic views of it, pro
nounces it to be the most perfect and admirable

A Trip Westward. 133
specimen of that order of architecture which has
fallen under his observation.
While the church edifices in other States of the
Mexican Republic are many of them neglected
and going rapidly into decay, those of the State
of Michoacan are kept in excellent repair. In
deed, in one place I observed workmen engaged
in erecting a new stone tower on one of the oldest
churches. Priests throng the streets in their
long black gowns and stove-pipe hats, and the
bells seem to ring incessantly. Michoacan is
one of the strongholds of the Roman Catholic
Church, and all the numerous outward forms of
the Roman ritual are observed in the strictest
manner. Its partisans are very exacting in
matters of devotion. I was actually insulted
in the City of Morelia for having neglected to
remove my hat when passing the Cathedral,
although it was at night and I was on the
opposite side of the wide street upon which
that fine edifice stands.
Governor Dorantes very graciously extended
to me numerous civilities. On my departure he
furnished me with official letters to the Pre-

134 Mexico and the Mexicans.
fectos of the towns of Patzcuaro and Ario,
through which I would pass on my way to the
volcano of Jorullo. These missives directed
those magistrates to render me every service
and extend to me every civility in their power.

VOLCANO OF JORULLO.
From a pen and ink sketch by the A uthor.

CHAPTER IX.
THE volcano of jorullo.
The General Diligence Company, which con
trols nearly all the stage-coach lines in the Re
public, runs no vehicles westward df Morelia.
Finding, however, that I could reach Patzcuaro
by a "diligencia particular" I took passage, at
half after five o'clock on the following morning,
for that town, which is sixteen leagues distant.
Distances are reckoned in Mexico by the Spanish
league, which is equal to two and twelve-nine
teenths English miles. The road at first is rocky
and often nearly impassable. When appealed
to by the driver, who was at the same time the
proprietor of the vehicle, the passengers would
good-naturedly alight and walk a short distance.
After a while the road somewhat improved.
While passing through a mountain range, the
scenery became picturesque. The beautiful City
of Morelia continued in sight for several hours.

136 Mexico and the Mexicans.
The draught animals were changed twice on
the trip. At the second change, I was surprised
to find instead of the mule-teams which had
brought me thus far, a relay of eight spirited
horses led out from the stable. The reason for
this presently appeared. Rival lines send out
diligences three times a week on the same day
and at the same hour. Up to this point they
had proceeded at a moderate pace as if by mutual
consent. Now a struggle for the lead was about
to begin. The passengers had not quite finished
their breakfast, when the drivers began to call
out : " Vamonos ! Vamonos ! " (" Let us go ! Let
us go ! ") Everybody was at once on the qui
vive. Our horses reared and plunged ; and when
loosed from the grasp of the hostlers, dashed
straight at the fence of the yard, but the driver
with great dexterity guided them through a
narrow gateway. A stage-coach race, with eight
horses at their utmost speed, is apt to prove in
teresting to the passengers inside. In this in
stance it hastened them rapidly to their journey's
end. Our driver, a handsome and portly man
of distinguished appearance, was a " stunning "

The Volcano of forullo. 137
fellow, as Thackeray would say. Resplendent
in a hat richly ornamented with silver, a short
jacket made of purple plush, a colored shirt, a
red sash and long leather leggings, he was alto
gether the beau ideal of a stage driver. Like
men of his craft in other parts of the world, he
was evidently a sort of autocrat on the road, to
whom people paid court, and whose smile pro
duced joy in the hearts of those who were for
tunate enough to be favored by it. One evening
I invited him to dine with me, and found him to
be an exceedingly polite man, well versed in the
conventionalities of the dinner table.
At the outset we had a trifle the better of
the contest ; but the opposition coach had a
lighter load and presently began to make faster
headway. Our driver, however, was equal to
the exigency, and pulled his horses into the
road in front of those of his adversary. But
this headlong pace could not last to the end;
the strain was too great. Besides, one of our
horses somehow entangled his forelegs in the
harness, compelling us to stop in order to ex
tricate him. This was the rival driver's oppor-

138 Mexico and the Mexicans.
tunity. He dashed by at full speed, and we
were unable to overtake him until we had
reached the City of Patzcuaro. There I found
an excellent hotel, with good accommodations ;
while the prices in the restaurant seemed to me
ridiculously low : an excellent dinner was served
for thirty cents.
The principal object of interest here is the
lake of Patzcuaro, about five leagues long from
north-east to south-west, and twelve leagues in
circumference. It is bordered by mountains,
which are covered with trees, and presents a
beautiful and picturesque appearance, remind
ing one of a great mirror set in a frame of
arabesque. It also contains five small islands,
which are covered with a luxuriant vegetation,
interspersed with brilliant flowers. I can
recall no landscape which surpasses it in loveli
ness. Several miles to the eastward of the lake is
an extinct volcano, within the crater of which
is now a flourishing field of wheat.
There being no public conveyance of any
kind beyond this place, I engaged the services

The Volcano of Jorullo. 139
of a mozo, or servant, whose duties are the same
as those of a courier in continental Europe.
He procured the necessary saddle-horses, and
I set out early the following morning for the
town of Ario, a distance of twelve leagues. The
road lay through the mountains, as before. I
met with numerous trains of pack-mules and
donkeys, laden with the produce of the region
¦ — fruits, coffee, cotton, palm-leaves and copper"
ore. The latter was from the old mines of
San Pedro de Jorullo, which were worked by
the Aztecs long before the coming of the Span
iards. On their return trip, these trains carry im
ported articles. These goods by the time they
reach the towns near the Pacific coast, become
enhanced in cost to an extent which is bewil
dering to a stranger.
Ario is a squalid hamlet, and the hotel is, if
possible, still more miserable ; probably few
Americans have set foot within its limits in our
day. I was stared at by everybody. The chil
dren corigregated around the door of the res
taurant and watched me while at dinner, which
cost but eighteen cents. Almost every idler in

140 Mexico and the Mexicans.
the town was present to superintend the clean
ing of my shoes.
I paid my respects to the Prefecto, and de
livered to him Governor Dorantes' letter. He
received me with distinguished civility, and
loaned me his fine saddle-horse for an afternoon
ride. With a somewhat extensive observa
tion and experience of saddle-horses in various
parts of this country, as well as in the British
islands and on the continent of Europe, I have
no hesitation in saying that many of the Mex
ican horses are fully equal to the best which I
have met with elsewhere. In general they are
rather small, resembling in that particular the
Arabian horses. Probably few, if any of them,
are thoroughbred. Still, I am of the opinion
that a large number have a strain of Arabian
blood. Their extraordinary endurance denotes
this. The Prefecto likewise gave me a letter of cre
dence to an official who lived at the foot of the
volcano ; and when I set out the ensuing morn
ing, he sent a mounted escort under the com
mand of a corporal with me, not, as he said, be-

The Volcano of Jorullo. 141
cause it was necessary for my protection, but as
a mark of respect to the authority of the Gov
ernor, whose guest I was. They accompanied
me for many miles, observing to the very last
the strictest military etiquette. I soon found
myself in the midst of scenery of the greatest
grandeur. The Cordilleras towered aloft on
every side. The volcano of Jorullo belongs to
this system. Continuing my journey by abrupt
descents, I soon reached a plain having an eleva
tion of about two thousand feet, yet belonging
to the Tierras Calientes of the Pacific slope.
Having come eight leagues, I stopped for re
freshment at a hamlet called Tejamanil. The
houses, with the exception of an old hacienda
building, were constructed of rough planks
fastened together with ropes or some other,
expedient equally simple and primitive, and
thatched with palm-leaves. This style of archi
tecture is older than the Spanish Conquest. The
mode of living was still more antique. Human
beings, horses, mules, donkeys, dogs, pigs and
chickens dwelt together, all in perfect harmony
and dirt. Although it was the ninth day of

142 Mexico and the Mexicans.
March, which is not the hot season, the mer
cury stood in the shade at eighty-nine degrees,
Fahrenheit. I waited here till the heat had somewhat
moderated, and then went on to La Puerta de
la Playa, which is situated near the base of the
volcano. I presented my letter from the Pre
fecto of Ario to the official, Sefior Don Francisco
Vega, who immediately invited me to make his
house my home during my stay. I was glad
to accept his invitation. The next morning I
arose at four o'clock, in order to avoid the heat
while making the ascent. To my surprise, my
host, although a man advanced in years, had
also risen, and with exquisite courtesy commu
nicated his purpose to accompany me. Mount
ing our horses, we rode on in the dark as far as
this was practicable, and then left the animals in
the care of the mozo.
The mountain rises very abruptly from the
plain, to a height of about two thousand feet.
The ascent does not require any especial skill in
the matter of climbing, but the walking is very
laborious. The path lies over soft ashes, which

The Volcano of Jorullo. 143
are continually sliding from under the feet, and
over loose, irregular masses of lava. At sunrise
I stood on the summit, and looked down a de
scent of six hundred feet into a crater about
eighteen hundred feet long and of nearly the
same breadth. In numerous places steam was
issuing in small quantities from fissures. The
volcano is less than a mile wide at any point on
the summit, but it is much larger than that at
the base. A mass of lava was emitted at the
last eruption almost as large as the body of the
mountain itself.
A hundred and twenty-five years ago the
place was a palmy plain, occupied as a hacienda.
One hot September evening, in the year 1759,
the surface of the ground began gradually to
rise, while a strange sound was heard beneath
the earth. Flames issued forth, fragments of
rock were hurled upward, and the eruption con
tinued for many months. This was the begin
ning of Mount Jorullo. Baron von Humboldt
describes the occurrence as one of the most ex
traordinary revolutions in the history of our
planet. " Till the middle of the eighteenth

144 Mexico and the Mexicans.
century," says he, " fields cultivated with sugar
cane and indigo occupied the extent of ground
between the two brooks called Cuitamba and San
Pedro. They were bounded by basaltic moun
tains, of which the structure seems to indicate
that all this country at a very remote period
had been already several times convulsed by
volcanoes. These fields, watered by artificial
means, belonged to the plantation {hacienda) of
San Pedro de Jorullo, one of the greatest and
richest of the country. In the month of June,
1759, a subterraneous noise was heard. Hollow
noises of a most alarming nature (bramidos)
were accompanied by frequent earthquakes,
which succeeded one another for from fifty to
sixty days, to the great consternation of the
inhabitants of the hacienda. *
" From the beginning of September, every
thing seemed to announce the complete re-
establishment of tranquillity, when in the night
between the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth,
the horrible subterraneous noise recommenced.
The affrighted Indians fled to the mountains of
Aquasarco. A tract of ground from three to

The Volcano of Jorullo. 145
four square miles in extent, which goes by the
name of Malpays, rose up in the shape of a
bladder. The bounds of this convulsion are
still distinguishable in the fractured strata. The
Malpays near its edges is only twelve metres
above the old level of the plain called the playas
de Jorullo ; but the convexity of the ground
thus thrown up increases progressively toward
the centre to an elevation of one hundred and
sixty metres.
" Those-who witnessed this great catastrophe
from the top of Aquasarco assert that flames
were seen to issue forth for the extent of more
than half a square mile ; that fragments of burn
ing rocks were thrown up to prodigious heights ;
and that through a thick cloud of ashes, illu
mined by the volcanic fire, the softened surface
of the earth was seen to swell up like an agitat
ed sea. The rivers of Cuitamba and San Pedro
precipitated themselves into the burning chasms.
The decomposition of the water contributed to
invigorate the flames, which were distinguish
able at the City of Patzcuaro, though situated on
a very extensive table-land fourteen hundred

146 Mexico and the Mexicans.
metres elevated above the plains of las playas de
Jorullo. Eruptions of mud, and especially strata
of clay, enveloping balls of decomposing basalts
in concentric layers, appear to indicate that sub
terraneous water had no small share in produc
ing this extraordinary revolution. Thousands
of small cones, called by the indigenes ovens
{hornitos), issued forth from the Malpays. Al
though within the last fifteen years,* according
to the testimony of the Indians, the heat of
these volcanic ovens has suffered a great dimi
nution, I have seen the thermometer rise to
ninety-five [203° F.] on being plunged into
fissures which exhale an aqueous vapor. Each
small cone is a fumarola, from which a thick
vapor ascends to the height of ten or fif
teen metres. In many of them a subterraneous
noise is heard, which appears to announce the
proximity of a fluid in ebullition.
" In the midst of the ovens six large masses

* Baron von Humboldt and M. Bonpland made the ascent of
Mount Jorullo on the nineteenth of September, 1803. He
accordingly refers to it ataperiod of more than forty years after
the first eruption.

The Volcano of Jorullo. 147
elevated from four to five hundred metres each
above the old level of the plains sprung up from
a chasm, of which the direction is from the
N.N.E. to the S.S.E. This is the phenomenon
of the Monte Novo of Naples, several times re
peated in a range of volcanic hills. The most
elevated of these enormous masses, which bears
some resemblance to the puys de l'Auvergne, is
the great Volcan de Jorullo. It is continually
burning, and has thrown up from the north side
an immense quantity of scorified and basaltic
lavas containing fragments of primitive rocks.
These great eruptions of the central volcano
continued till the month of February, 1760.
In the following years they became gradually
less frequent. The Indians, frightened at the
horrible noises of the new volcano, abandoned
at first all the villages situated within seven or
eight leagues' distance of the playas de Jorullo.
They became gradually, however, accustomed to
this terrific spectacle; and having returned to
their cottages they advanced towards the moun
tains of Aquasarco and Santa Inez, to admire
the streams of fire discharged from an infinity

148 Mexico and the Mexicans.
of great and small volcanic apertures. The
roofs of the houses of Queretaro were then cov
ered with ashes at a distance of more than forty-
eight leagues in a straight line from the scene of
the explosion. Although the subterraneous fire
now appears far from violent and the Malpays
and the great volcano begin to be covered with
vegetation, we nevertheless found the ambient
air heated to such a degree by the activity of the
small ovens {hornitos), that the thermometer,
at a great distance from the surface, and in
the shade, rose as high as forty-three degrees
[109° F.]. This fact appears to prove that
there is no exaggeration in the accounts of
several old Indians who affirm that, for many
years after the first eruption, the plains of Jo
rullo, even at a great distance from the scene of
the explosion, were uninhabitable, from the ex
cessive heat which prevailed in them."
The Baron gives other interesting details in
regard to this volcano and the adjacent region.
The two rivers of Cuitamba and San Pedro dis
appeared on the night of the explosion ; but
at a distance of a mile and a quarter farther

The Volcano of Jorullo. 149
west, two rivers burst forth from the ground,
which the inhabitants declared to be the same
streams, asserting that they heard great masses
of water running underground in a westerly
direction. The view from the summit of Jorullo is mag
nificent. The mountain, to be sure, is by no
means as high as many of those surrounding it ;
but the more lofty elevations are remote, and
therefore interpose no serious obstruction. I
saw the volcano of Colima, snow-capped and a
hundred and twenty-five miles distant, with per
fect distinctness. It is but ten miles from the
Pacific Ocean, and is still active.
Before setting out to return it was resolved
to descend into the crater. This was an under
taking attended with considerable personal risk.
There is great danger of displacing the loose
masses of lava and of thereby starting a land
slide. We were fortunate enough, however, to
make our way down in safety. Placing a ther
mometer into one of the fissures from which
steam was issuing, the mercury registered one
hundred and thirty-two degrees, Fahrenheit.

150 Mexico and the Mexicans.
Easy as we had found the descent, we did not
climb the wall of the crater with equal facility.
It was not so difficult at first, but became more
so as we approached nearer the edge. The
others had succeeded in reaching a firm foothold
on the summit, and I was not far behind them,
when on a sudden the loose stones and pieces of
lava on my left gave way and began to roll and
slide downward. I had accidentally displaced
several of the stones beneath, which however had
served as a support to the others. I lost the hold
of my left hand and foot, but fortunately my
right hand was grasping a firm rock, in a crevice
of which my right foot rested comparatively
secure. I could only remain quiet in this posi
tion. Every attempt to advance, or even to
place myself in a safer position, served only to
increase the moving of the rubbish which hung
trembling around me. My brother now hastened
to my assistance. He stepped upon a rock which
was firmly embedded, and taking fast hold of it
with both hands, he reached his foot down for
me to grasp. Holding on to it with one hand, I
was able to make my way upward, and in a mo-

The Volcano of Jorullo. 151
ment more was out of the treacherous crater.
We now passed rapidly down the hill, running
along the inclined planes of volcanic ashes.
Reaching the horses in a short time, we mounted
and returned to the house of our polite host. It
being now mid-day we indulged in the siesta
which the fierce heat of tropical latitudes renders
so refreshing. As soon as the heat had in some
degree subsided I set out on my return to Ario.
The road ascends almost immediately over a
thousand feet, when I rested for a time in the
delightful shade of a noble pine grove.
By night I reached Ario. Not having been
pleased with the hotel where I had sojourned
the previous day, I now engaged rooms at an
other. But alas ! there was little, if any, im
provement in the surroundings. Whoever goes
to either of these hostelries is certain to wish
that he had gone to the other. The bedsteads
consisted of planks, and had no mattresses or
bed-clothing of any kind. The traveller is ex
pected to content himself with the blanket which
every Mexican carries with him.
The next day I set out for the capital, passing

152 Mexico and the Mexicans.
through scenes similar to those experienced on
my outward journey. At Morelia I was again
treated with the utmost politeness, I had almost
said distinction. Several gentlemen holding
official positions paid their respects to me and
showed me the most flattering attentions. They
kindly chose to regard my visit to Mexico, and
in particular my excursion to the volcano of
Jorullo, which by no possibility could have any
purpose of pecuniary profit, as being in some
sense personally complimentary to themselves.
A wealthy citizen, who had been a merchant,
but who had retired from business, politely
devoted almost an entire day to my entertain
ment. His house was one of the most elegant
in the city. Much of his time was devoted to
scientific pursuits. Conducting me to the roof
of his house at night, he pointed out among the
other constellations that of the magnificent
Southern Cross, which, in this latitude, rises
above the horizon.

CHAPTER X.
CUERNAVACA.
I ALSO paid a visit to the celebrated City of
Cuernavaca, once the beloved residence of Cor
tez, and more recently the favorite retreat of
the Emperor Maximilian. The diligence left
the Hotel Iturbide promptly at six o'clock in
the morning. For several hours I was driven
over a broad, smooth avenue, bordered on either
side with trees, and extending through the sub
urbs of San Angel and those of Tlalpam. Dur
ing all this time the route lay in close proximity
to Lake Xochimilco. Presently I reached the
foot of the mountain barrier which bounds the
Valley of Mexico. Still the road was in excellent
condition, far be'tter, indeed, than any other I
met with in the Republic. The ascent to the
higher level is accordingly at once easy and de
lightful. A point was at length attained which
is ten thousand feet above the level of the sea,

154 Mexico and the Mexicans.
and which overlooks the magnificent region just
traversed. A little farther on I passed the di
vide, and the City of Cuernavaca lay before me
in its wonderful beauty. It is situated on the
side of the mountain, fully four thousand feet
below the ground upon which I stood. At the
left towered the spectral peaks of Popocatepetl
and Iztaccihuatl. They continued in full view
during the remainder of the drive. TJie road now
descended. At the last place of changing, five
mules were attached to the diligence, instead of
eight, as is usual. I now made a high rate of
speed, and reached the place of destination at
four o'clock in the afternoon.
Cuernavaca is built on a projecting piece
of land between two barrancas, or ravines,
its altitude above the sea being between five
thousand feet and six thousand feet. It was
founded by the Nahuas five hundred years ago.
They named it Quauhnahuac, The Town by the
Beautiful Hills. In time it became tributary to
the Aztecs, from whom it was wrested by Cortez
in 1521. It afterwards became the personal prop
erty of the Conqueror, who took up his residence

C uernavaca. 155
there in 1530. It. had been the capital of the
Tlahuico natives. Cortez built, at great cost, a
splendid palace, as well as a church and convent
for the Franciscans, believing that he was lay
ing the foundations of a great metropolis. He
also expended large sums upon the cultivation
of the soil. He established large pastures for
the rearing of fine cattle and merino sheep.
But his fond anticipations of the coming glory
of the lovely city, it need hardly be remarked,
were never realized.
Until the year 1869, this district formed a
part of the State of Mexico. It then became a
separate State, receiving the title of Morelos,
in honor of the distinguished priest of that
name, elsewhere referred to, who had done such
signal service as a general in the Mexican Revo
lution. Cuernavaca was again made its capital.
It has a population of twelve thousand, and
contains several churches, two of which belong
to the Protestants, besides several other build
ings of local importance. The inhabitants urge
strangers to visit the Recreo de Maximiliano, a
house about a mile and a half from town, where

156 Mexico and the Mexicans.
the unfortunate Emperor at times sought a
respite from the cares and perplexities of state.
I may here remark that I have endeavored in
vain to comprehend the impelling motive which
prompts the Mexicans, of all conditions in life,
to point out," importunately, every spot which
is in any manner associated with the life and
death of the man Maximilian. Evidently, the
motive is not to heap obloquy upon his mem
ory, or to exult in his miserable doom.
The palace of Cortez stands on the edge of
one of the ravines, and commands a view of the
part of the valley which was granted by the
King of Spain to the Conquistador.
The picturesque gardens of La Borda, by
reason of their singular beauty, are among the
chief attractions of this enchanting spot. The
landscape gardener who designed them was a
master in his vocation, which, in such hands, is
justly entitled to take its place with sculpture,
painting and architecture, as one of the fine
arts. None will deny that he exhibited an ex
quisite taste and skill. Let us hope that they
may be preserved in their integrity, in order

Cuernavaca. 157
that, like the Boboli Gardens, like the gardens
of the Villa Palavicini, and, like the Royal Gar
dens of Versailles, they may instruct and de
light generations yet unborn.
From my window, which overlooked the
plaza, I witnessed the funeral of one of the pub
lic men of the city. It was conducted in essen
tially the same manner as we are accustomed
to conduct such an observance in the United
States. Everybody seemed to have come out.
Those who had high black hats put them on
in order to do honor to the occasion. The heat
was excessive, but every one seemed to be hav
ing a good time. The liquor-sellers, I may add,
did a thriving business.
Sheltered as Cuernavaca is on all sides from
the cold winds of the grand plateau, the climate
is singularly mild and delightful. Its luxuriant
vegetation is characteristic of the Torrid, rather
than of the Temperate Zone. My visit was
made in the middle of the month of March last.
At dinner my landlady served for dessert an
excellent watermelon. The charge for it was
twenty-five cents. At the Iturbide restaurant,

158 Mexico and the Mexicans.
in the City of Mexico, it would have been two
dollars. Although the distance between the
two places is but fifty miles, the only means of
transporting the watermelon to the capital is
on the back of a mule or donkey ; hence the dif
ference in price.

CHAPTER XI.
COMMERCE.
In our day it is common to use the term Com
merce to denote a mercantile intercourse with
foreign countries ; while Trade is used to de
note traffic between the inhabitants of the same
country. Strictly speaking, there is no founda
tion for this distinction. Each is entitled, both
by etymology and by decisive authority, to a
comprehensive and general interpretation.
From the earliest ages, the development of
civilization has always been characterized by
the division of employments and by the ex
change of the products of labor. Like the wild
animal, the untutored savage has no trade. Like
the brute, he instinctively wars upon the rights
and property of his neighbor. As soon as he
enters into social relations with others, and rec
ognizes the justice of equivalents for the services
and benefits which he receives, he ceases, to that

160 Mexico and the Mexicans.
extent, to be a savage. The interchange of good
offices and the exchange of articles of value,
regulated and facilitated by the adoption of
compacts, denote a moral and intellectual ad
vancement, which forms the condition precedent
of all civilized society. Hence commerce may
be regarded as being at once the means and the
evidence of civility and enlightenment.
The welfare, prosperity and greatness of a
people are undeniably dependent, in a very large
measure, upon its commercial relations with
other communities. So well is this now under
stood, that all civilized nations maintain, as far
as practicable, peace and amity with each other,
as the basis, and for the promotion, of com
merce. A wise policy would seem to dictate
that no impediments to its exercise should be
interposed, by means of embargoes, taxes or re
strictions of any other kind.
Agriculture brings out the wealth of the soil,
supplying the human family with food and with
many other articles of prime necessity. Mining
extracts from the bowels of the earth the va
rious mineral treasures. Skilled industry trans-

Commerce. 1 6 1
forms the raw materials thus produced into
textile fabrics and into various other instrumen
talities for the use and enjoyment of mankind.
It is the function of commerce to place these
several commodities within the reach of every
consumer, on such conditions as shall render
them available for his wants. The trend of po
litical economy, in recent times, has accordingly
been in the direction of facilitating communica
tion between districts and countries, in order to
encourage the production and exchange of the
merchandise and manufactures of each for the
advantage of all.
These elementary truths have, of late, not
only engaged, to a greater extent than ever be
fore, the attention of the thinking men of Mex
ico, but it is evident that they are gradually
gaining a footing on the popular mind. It is
to be regretted that our sister Republic, like
ourselves, and indeed like every other civilized
nation, has its heritage of debt and prejudice
to trammel the introduction of sound economi
cal principles into its administrative policy.
The Mexican Constitution of 1857 favors to

1 62 Mexico and the Mexicans.
the utmost possible extent a liberal policy ; but
the disturbed condition of affairs, incident chief
ly to the French occupation, has retarded its
fruition. That policy now bids fair to be real
ized. The Government is steadily, and it may
even be said rapidly, removing all obstacles that
impede the development of industry and, at
the same time, discourage immigration.
However national obligations may interfere
with the adoption of a liberal policy, as regards
the foreign commerce of the country, I am not
aware that the domestic commerce of Mexico
differs essentially from that of the United States.
In both countries, commerce between the sev
eral States is happily untrammelled. In both
countries, the intercourse ofthe inhabitants with
each other is of far greater importance, perhaps
it is no exaggeration to say of a hundred-fold
greater importance, than that with foreign na
tions. It is accordingly gratifying to know
that this view of the subject receives the earnest
attention of the enlightened statesmen who are
now at the head of public affairs.
The primary need of the country is unques-

Commerce. 163
tionably commercial facilities, to the end that
the products of the soil, as well as those of the
mines, may be placed in the markets of the
world without being burdened with a cost of
transportation which practically is equivalent to
prohibition. On the other hand, it is no less
essential that the necessaries of civilized life
should be introduced and delivered to the con
sumer on as favorable terms as they are brought
into the adjacent countries.
A few facts may serve to illustrate more ef
fectually than pages of dissertation the deficien
cy which is here referred to. On my way from
the City of Cuernavaca to the capital, I met three
cargadores (porters) on the highway, carrying a
new set of furniture on their backs. The first
of them had on his shoulders a sofa of consider
able size, secured by straps across his forehead
and breast, and passing under his arms ; the sec
ond bore two large and heavy arm-chairs ; the
third carried several smaller chairs. They had
evidently come from the City of Mexico, which
was thirty-five miles distant. Firewood costing
two dollars a cord at Patzcuaro, in the State of

164 Mexico and the Mexicans.
Michoacan, sells in the capital for sixteen dol
lars a cord. At San Luis Potosi a shopkeeper
showed me an invoice of snuff which was pur
chased in the city of New Orleans for the sum
of nine dollars. Of course it was not manufac
tured in that city, so that the sum in question
probably included not less than three several
profits, to wit : that of the manufacturer, that of
the shipper, and, finally, that of the merchant.
With the duty and the cost of transportation
added, the package cost, at its destination,
exactly fifty dollars. At Tejamanil, seven miles
from the volcano of Jorullo, I purchased a me
rino scarf of French fabrication. At the Bon
Marche" in Paris, I could have bought it for
fifteen, or, at the outside, twenty sous. At
Tejamanil it cost a dollar.
The ports of the Republic open to foreign com
merce are : Vera Cruz, Tampico, Matamoros,
Campeachy, Progreso, Tabasco, Huatulco, Aca
pulco, Manzanillo, San Bias, Mazatlan, Altata,
and Guaymas. The Mexican Railway extends
from the first of these to the capital. It is con
templated to connect several others of these

Commerce. 165
ports with the railroads now in progress or pro
jected, and to establish regular lines of steamers
touching at each in succession, which will run
to the ports of this country and to those of
Europe. In the year 1850, the value of the exports
and imports respectively did not exceed the
sum of twenty-five million dollars. For many
succeeding years the amount did not vary essen
tially from that sum. Thus, in 1875-76, the
imports reached $28,485,000. The exports
amounted to $25,435,000. Of the latter sum,
fifteen millions consisted of silver.
During the fiscal year 1879-80, the value of
the exports was $32,663,525, as follows :
To the United States  $13,416,600
" Great Britain  1 1,037,594
" France  5,194,741
" Germany  1,498,734
" Spain  1,009,368
" South America  506,488
Total  $32,663,525

1 66 Mexico and the Mexicans.
One half of all the exports was shipped from
the port of Vera Cruz.
The commercial marine comprises twelve
hundred and sixty-eight vessels, of which num
ber four hundred and twenty-one are employed
in the foreign trade, and eight hundred and
forty-seven in the coasting trade.
The absence of official, or other trustworthy
data, renders it extremely difficult for the
student of Mexican affairs to arrive at satisfac
tory conclusions. As regards the all-important
matter of Education, I have abandoned the in
vestigation of the subject in despair. Where
the authorities are at variance with each other,
I have chosen the one which appears to be best
entitled to credit.
The following exhibits of the Public Debt
and the Public Finances are taken from the Al
manack de Gotha. They will serve to illustrate
the fiscal embarrassments with which the present
authorities have to contend.

Commerce. 167

THE PUBLIC DEBT.
1. Foreign debts  $104,712,570
English debt of 14th
Oct., 1850  $89,252,360
English Convention
of 4th Dec, 1851  5,900,025
Spanish Convention
of 6th Dec, 1853.... 1,231,775
Spanish Convention
of 12th Nov., 1853... 5,553,287
Indebtedness to the
United States of
4th July, 1868  2,775.123
2. Internal debt  40,241,215

Total  $144,953,785
It is to be borne in mind that this large aggre
gate is, for the most part, due to the injustice,
the rapacity and hostility of other nations, and
not to the lack of ability or integrity on the part
of the Mexicans themselves.

1 68 Mexico and the Mexicans.
THE FINANCES. (In dollars.)
Receipts. Budget 1882-83.
Custom-Houses  $15,000,000
Custom-House of Mexico and
Excise  2,000,000
Stamps  4,000,000
Direct Tax  900,000
Mint  690,000
Receipts from former Fund for
Public Education  60,000
Post-Offices and Telegraphs  650,000
Lotteries  800,000
Other Receipts  3,000,000
Total  $27,100,000
Receipts from the several
States  7^.500,000
Grand Total  $34,600,000
Expenditures.
Legislative Power  $1,071,712
Executive Power  48,832

Commerce. 1 69
Supreme Court  $389,554
Foreign Affairs  336,280
Interior  3,235,118
Justice, Public Education  1,215,473
Public Works {Fomento)  7,5 s1, 683
Treasury  4,648,377
War and Navy  8,5 14,478
Total  $27,011,507
Expenditures of the several
States  7,500,000
Grand Total  $34,5 11,507

CHAPTER XII.
SAN JUAN TEOTIHUACAN.
LIKE the great pyramid of Cholula, to which
they are accounted to be only second in antiquity,
the celebrated prehistoric pyramids of San Juan
Teotihuacan are objects of the highest interest.
They are situated on the outskirts of the village
of the same name, which is twenty-five miles
distant from the capital. By starting from the
City of Mexico, in the morning train of the Mexi
can Railway, ample time was afforded me to
examine them, on all sides and in every part,
and to return the same day. A walk of a little
less than two miles from the railway station
brings you to the site of these structures. The
two principal ones are four-sided, facing the car
dinal points of the compass, and are about half
a mile distant from each other. According to an
immemorial tradition, the larger one was dedi
cated to the Sun. In size, it is hardly inferior to

San Juan Teotihuacan. 171
the pyramid of Cheops on the plain of Ghizeh,
being six hundred and eighty-two feet long at the
base, with a height of one hundred and eighty
feet. The smaller one was sacred to the Moon.
Unlike the vast structure at Cholula, a large
quantity of loose stones was used in their con
struction. Originally, these pyramids each had four ter
races ; but I was able to distinguish only three.
When first discovered by Europeans, some ruins
were found on their summits ; now nothing of
the kind remains.
With a view to the determination of the long
mooted question, whether they are hollow in
their construction, M. Desire Charnay, the en
terprising explorer, whose name, in conjunction
with that of Pierre Lorillard, Esq., has latterly
been associated with the ruins of Mexico and
Central America, has recently examined these
pyramids. Although he discovered several re
cesses in the walls, and collected some relics
from a place which he conjectured to be the
tomb of a chief, the do.ubt as to whether they
are solid or hollow still remains to be solved.

172 Mexico and the Mexicans.
Besides the main structures referred to, there
are many smaller ones, which are supposed to
have been sacred to the stars. A dim and
shadowy tradition, however, refers to these lesser
tumuli as the graves of the nobles of the nation.
Hence the plain on which they stand was called
by the Aztecs Micoatl, the Path of the Dead.
To these pyramids, the spot owes the desig
nation of Teotihuacan, the Dwelling-place of the
Gods. It was once a great and flourishing city
and the resort of myriads of devout pilgrims;
but the introduction by the Spanish Conqueror
of a new and purer faith, has, in the lapse of
ages, led to its present decay.
In the temple which once stood upon the
summit of the larger edifice was a statue of the
presiding deity, the Sun. It was of a single
block of stone and faced the east. A plate of
burnished gold protected its heart, on which
the first rays fell in the morning. That fiery
soldier of the cross, Archbishop Zumarraga, in
his zeal against pagan monuments, demolished
it ; as he did every other symbol of the pre-His-
panic religion which came in his way.

San Juan Teotihuacan. 173
A lively trade in Aztec and Toltec relics is
carried on here by the natives. Some of the
smaller articles which they offer for sale are
probably genuine. Not so, however, with the
large jars of pottery, ingeniously ornamented
with hieroglyphics and o.her symbols, which
they frequently succeed in palming off upon
unsophisticated travellers. I was told that one
of these was recently purchased by a stranger
for the sum of thirty Mexican dollars, which the
Curator of the National Museum, without a
moment's hesitation, pronounced to be a coun
terfeit. I had the good fortune to buy one of
the same description for the sum of seventy-five
cents. In past ages, the worship of the Sun, Moon,
and Constellations has been practised by various
races of men, and in widely different portions of
the earth. Even in our day, it unquestionably
prevails to some extent among the aborigines of
the Western Hemisphere. Some of the old
writers like Macrobius, who lived in the early
part of the fifth century of the Christian era,
have endeavored to prove that the principal

174 Mexico and the Mexicans.
divinities in all the heathen mythologies are
personifications of the Sun. The myths of the
Aztecs, and other races of both North and South
America, are perhaps susceptible of this inter
pretation. It is, however, by no means certain
that any of them regarded the material planet
as being itself the divinity. In the infancy of
language, they were compelled to employ words,
derived from sensuous experience, to express
ideas of a metaphysical character ; as wind for
spirit, light for truth, the hand for energy. As
in metaphor, the containing vessel is named to
denote the substance which it contains, so the
Sun may have been made the religious symbol
of the Supreme Being. NezahualcoyatL the
sovereign of Tezcuco, we are told, reared a pyr
amid and placed on it a temple ten stories high
which he dedicated to the Unknown God, the
Cause of Causes. No image was placed in it,
nor was blood ever shed there in worship —
flowers and incense were the only offerings.
The Moon-Goddess was associated by the
ancient inhabitants of Mexico with night, water,
and production. She protected women and

San Juan Teotihuacan. 175
their babes, and blessed the rites of marriage.
She caused the earth to yield its harvests ; she
sent the timely rain; but she was capricious
and hard to please. Night, damp and cold were
her ministers, and fevers, pain and death pro
ceeded from her. Contained in their baptismal
formula were the words : " We are all under the
power of evil and sin, because we are the chil
dren of the Water." Hence to propitiate her
was an essential office of the Aztec ritual. " The
Moon was worshipped as the wife of the Sun,"
says the historian Veytia, " and the Stars as his
sisters." The Toltecs everywhere associated
them in their rites, and regarded them as
the abode of souls. Like the Vedic Aryans,
and like the Greeks of a remote antiquity, they
worshipped the Sky, or the God of Heaven, as
the Over-lord of the Universe, and they vener
ated the wind as his Spirit. The Sun, Moon,
Planets and Constellations were regarded as the
subordinate representations of these supreme
powers in their various specific manifestations.
"I have always pictured to myself our Areskui"
(meaning the Sun and Supreme Being), said

1 76 Mexico and the Mexicans.
a Huron woman, " as of the same nature which
you ascribe to your God."
The Natchez and other aborigines regarded
the Sun as the great fire, and so worshipped it
as the source of life. " The life in your body
and the fire on your hearth are one, and from
the same source," said a Shawnee chief. " The
ancient God, the Father and Mother of all
Gods," says an Aztec prayer, " is the God of the
Fire." General J. M. Brown writes that the
Blackfeet Indians, in every instance when ques
tioned, explained that they prayed, not to the
Sun, but to the Old Man {qucere, the Great
Spirit?) who lives there. This corresponds ex
actly with the Septuagint version of the words
of the Hebrew Psalmist: ">He hath set His tab
ernacle in the sun." Neither the Hebrew nor
the American considered the symbol or dwell
ing-place as identical with the dweller in it.
Thus the religion represented by the pyr
amids at San Juan Teotihuacan would seem to
have been but a variation of other primeval
world-wide faiths. It associated physical phe
nomena with invisible power; it was neither

San Juan Teotihuacan. 177
monotheism, pantheism, nor fetishism, but, as
Kant has expressed it, a conviction of a highest
and first principle, which binds all phenomena
into one.
That the Aztecs recognized one Supreme
Lord of the Universe, there is little room to
doubt. They addressed Him in their prayers
as " the God by whom we live "; " omnipresent ";
" that knoweth all thoughts and giveth all gifts ";
"without whom man is as nothing"; "invisible,
incorporeal, one God, of perfect perfection and
purity"; "under whose wings' we find repose
and a sure defence." At the same time they
recognized a plurality of deities, who presided
over the elements, the changes of the seasons,
and the various occupations of men. Of these,
there were thirteen principal deities, and more
than two hundred inferior, to each of whom
some special day or appropriate festival was
consecrated. We search the Aztec theology in
vain for those doctrines which constitute the
crowning glory of Christianity, and which serve
to reconcile us to time, by proving it to be but
the transparent veil of eternity.

CHAPTER XIII.
ASCENT OF THE GREAT VOLCANO. '
It had long been my purpose, before leaving
home, to visit the most celebrated volcanoes of
Mexico. The principal of these, the famous vol
cano of Popocatepetl, is now the property of
General Gaspar Sanchez Ochoa. This distin
guished gentleman was in active service during
the war with the French, and commanded the
national forces in the State of Puebla. Presi
dent Juarez afterwards intrusted him with a con
fidential mission to our Government. It was my
good fortune to obtain a formal introduction to
him. I was not only graciously accorded per
mission to ascend the mountain, but the Gen
eral with the utmost courtesy gave me a letter
of commendation to his superintendent at Am
ecameca, a town near the base of the mountain.
General Ochoa expressed his opinions with
soldierly frankness in regard to political matters.

Ascent of the Great Volcano. 1 79
Neither the Americans nor Mexicans, he warmly
declared, would ever tolerate a king or emperor.
The Mexicans had found it necessary, when
Maximilian attempted to establish a military
despotism on their soil, to shoot him, as they
had before done with the Emperor Iturbide.
He cherished, he said, a grateful remembrance
of the intervention of the United States in be
half of his country, and he gratefully acknowl
edged its great value. Nevertheless he had no
doubt that the Mexicans alone would, in time,
have expelled the French from their soil.
Popocatepetl, meaning in the Aztec language
" The Mountain that Smokes," is, according to
the observations of Baron von Humboldt, sev
enteen thousand seven hundred and twenty feet
in height. Later observations, however, have
assigned to the great volcano a height of sev
enteen thousand eight hundred and fifty-two
feet. It- is nearly three times the height of
Mount Washington, the highest of the White
Mountains, and over two thousand feet higher
than Mont Blanc, in Switzerland. Iztaccihuatl,
another volcano, stands in close proximity to it.

180 Mexico and the Mexicans.
The name signifies " White Woman," and tradi
tion represents Popocatepetl as being the mon
arch of the mountains, and Iztaccihuatl as his
wife. The ascent of Popocatepetl is a formidable
undertaking. It is seldom made except by the
peons who are employed in the crater. Gen
eral Ochoa derives a considerable income from
the sulphur obtained from that source. I made
the ascent in company with my brother, who,
having trodden nearly all of the loftiest pinna
cles of the Alps, was well qualified by his ex
perience to undertake the ascent of the grand
est mountain of this continent. The volcano is
fifty miles from the capital, and is reached by
way of the Morelos Railway to Amecameca.
Here we spent the night, and in the morning
were furnished two guides by the superintend
ent referred to, who also gave us the key of the
Rancho de Tlamacas, a hut in the mountains
where we could pass the night.
Several days are required to make the ascent,
and tbe severest physical exertion, personal risk,
exposure and hardship, must inevitably be en-

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Ascent of the Great Volcano. 181
countered. The preliminary arrangements will
be attended with many annoying delays, as the
people do not like to hurry themselves, and
must have a little time to think over every
proposition which is made to them. Upon
speaking to the hotel proprietor about our
plans, he obtained for us a middleman, there
being many of these in Mexico, who engaged to
furnish horses and attend us in person. So,
taking provisions for two days, blankets and
other necessary articles, we set out at two
o'clock one afternoon for Tlamacas, which is
situated at a distance of twelve miles from the
foot of the mountain. At first the region which
we traversed was fertile and beautiful ; next came
splendid timber-lands ; farther on, tall, sombre
pines, growing , in a wilderness of rank, coarse
grass, and then came that scantiness of vegeta
tion which is incident to all high altitudes. At
seven in the evening we had arrived at the
ranch, about thirteen thousand five hundred feet
above the sea-level, and only a short distance
below the line of perpetual snow. It was a hut
used by the peons who transport the sulphur on

1 82 Mexico and the Mexicans.
their backs ; but this being Holy Week, and, of
course, a holiday time, they were away. We
picketed our horses, and, entering the cabin,
built a fire in the middle of the earthen floor,
after the true Indian style. There was no
chimney, but numerous gaps and crevices in the
roof and walls gave abundant egress to the
smoke. After a cold supper we lay down to
sleep on some bare planks, wrapped in our
blankets, taking care, however, to keep our re
volvers within convenient distance. From time
to time, during the night, one of the party-
would rise and replenish the fire. This was in
dispensable to our comfort, as the piercing wind,
blowing down from the region of eternal snow
and ice, made its way into the hut on every
side. At half-past three in the morning we rose and
prepared to ascend the cone. I wore an ordi
nary heavy business-suit, with canvas leggings
and shoes purchased for the occasion. A large
straw hat, a havelock, and a pair of green gog
gles were worn for protection against the direct
rays of the sun and the reflection from the

Ascent of the Great Volcano. i 83
snow. A pair of mittens, an alpenstock, and a
small flannel hat stuck into a belt completed
my outfit. One of the guides carried a knap
sack with provisions. The horses were left at
the ranch, and we set out, on foot, at half-past
four o'clock in the morning. The full moon
shone brightly, and we walked rapidly in Indian
file through a very wild region, where we could
see the tracks of wolves in the sand and hear
them baying in the distance. There was some
thing weird in the sighing of the night wind
through the leafless branches of the forest. Af
ter walking a mile we came to the snow. From
this point our labors became very severe. We
went up very steep inclines, through snow often
knee-deep, for about fifteen hundred feet. No
where was the slope gradual enough to admit
of a moment's relaxation.
We now came to a vast wall, almost per
pendicular, of hard, frozen snow, which stretch
ed upward for over twenty-five hundred feet
to a point which the guides declared was
the summit. The snow was so hard as to
afford no foothold, thus adding inconceivably

184 Mexico and the Mexicans.
to our labor and peril. It would be im
possible to say how far one would slide in
case of a fall, except that the higher he had as
cended the greater of course would be the de
scent. One of the guides went forward, and
with a sharp spade cut steps in the snow, which
made the ascent safer. Still the walking was very
fatiguing. Making a zig-zag track he led the
way up the great wall to places where those who
are inclined to vertigo should be careful not
to look down. Soon a strong sulphurous odor
was perceptible, and increased in intensity with
each successive step, until at length it became
exceedingly oppressive.
When I was still about two thousand feet
from the summit, I began to experience the
effects peculiar to a highly rarefied atmos
phere. Keeping on five hundred feet higher,
I was almost prostrated. I experienced drow
siness, a peculiar clicking and singing sensa
tion in the ears, accelerated breathing, palpita
tion of the heart, and violent headache. My
brother, however, experienced none of these
inconveniences, and reached the summit nearly

Ascent of the Great Volcano. 185
two hours before I did, almost as fresh as when
he set out. These sensations, so often affecting
mountain-climbers, are not by any means due to
the lack of muscular power, but to inability to
breathe comfortably in such rarefied air. The
strongest man in the world might fail to reach
the summits of comparatively low mountains, if
his lungs were not suited to breathing air of this
kind. By a strong effort of the will, I was at
length able to reach the top of the mountain at
about a quarter of an hour before noon, having
walked, without intermission, seven hours and a
quarter since leaving the hut. I made the last
two hundred feet over needle-like points of ice,
with every certainty of going thousands of feet
without stopping, in case of a slip or a false
step. Utterly exhausted, I threw myself on the
ground just inside of the edge of the crater,
where I was partially sheltered from the fierce
ness of the wind. My brother made me as com
fortable as possible under the circumstances,
supplying me with dry shoes and socks, which
had been brought up in the knapsack for the

1 86 Mexico .and the Mexicans.
purpose. After dozing for a short time I was
somewhat revived, and was able to get up and
take a view of the surroundings.
The summit has a very small superficial area,
owing to the immense crater that meets the
eye the moment the last upward step is taken.
The crater is very deep, the guides say five hun
dred feet, but probably it is much more. The
walls are very steep, steam issues with a puffing
sound from various fissures, and numerous yellow
masses indicate the presence of sulphur. At the
bottom of the crater is a pool of clear water of
a greenish hue, but I had neither the time, means,
nor inclination to descend the precipitous sides
and investigate the cause of its singular color.
The Spaniards, in the earlier periods of their
occupation of the country, here procured sul
phur for the manufacture of gunpowder, but
there has been some difference of opinion among
historians, whether the Spaniards took the sul
phur from the crater or from some crevice in the
side of the mountain, which was in a state of
eruption at about that period.
In the early morning, the valleys had been

Ascent of the Great Volcano. 187
covered by heavy clouds. The rising of the sun
over them was a glorious sight, easier to imagine
than to describe. Presently they began to rise,
revealing the beauties of the Valley of Ameca
meca and of the great Valley of Mexico. The
City of Puebla and the pyramid of Cholula were
distinctly visible. The clouds approached nearer
and nearer, and at last began to gather around
us. The guides, at this moment, with evident
signs of apprehension, urged us to set out at
once upon our return. The wind was terrific,
and when we were again on the icy snow there
was danger of being thrown down by it. Ac
cordingly, that I might present less surface, I
gave my large hat to the guide and put on the
small one. Of course I suffered the penalty —
my face being blistered by the direct and reflected
rays of the sun.
When the most dangerous places had been
passed, the guides each took a palm-leaf mat
from their backs and suggested coasting. This
seemed very dangerous, but it was undoubtedly
the quickest way of getting down, and as every
step I made was attended, exhausted as I

1 88 Mexico and the Mexicans.
was, with great effort and even pain, I decided
to try it. I sat down behind one of them,
and away we went down the steep incline,
making about five hundred feet at a time.
In the early hours of the day, when the snow
remained hard, from the influence of the low
temperature of the night, this would have been
nothing short of foolhardy, but it was now past
noon, and the snow had been softened by the
heat of the sun." We could stop at intervals by
selecting for the purpose some particularly soft
spot, or by putting our alpenstocks behind and
throwing our weight upon them, at the same in
stant burying our heels in the snow. After the
novelty wore off we resumed walking, and ar
rived at the ranch in about two hours, when we
immediately commenced preparations for return
ing to the plain. We proceeded to disencumber
ourselves of the articles for which we had no far
ther use, and presented hats, leggings, shoes, a
lantern and other articles to the guides. It being
no doubt the first time they had ever experienced
such a wind-fall, they seemed very gratefifl.
Finding our liberality continue, beyond any ex-

Ascent of the Great Volcano. 1 89
pected limits, they became emboldened to ask for
still other articles, which we were not prepared
to surrender.
We were soon ready to start, and mounting
our horses, we descended the mountain by the
very route taken by the Conqueror, when he
first led his army into the Valley of Tenoch
titlan. The guide left in charge of the horses had
neglected to fasten one of them securely, and
he had strayed home. Consequently, the man
was obliged to walk, but I finally took pity on
him and let him get on behind me, and in this
manner we rode into the town of Amecameca, ar
riving at eight in the evening — the day being
Good Friday. The town was filled to overflow
ing with country people, and a grand torch-light
procession was in progress. The people lay
asleep in dense rows under the trees in the pub
lic square, and in every other available spot.
They could not afford to pay for beds; nor, as
far as I could judge, did they desire them. In
walking, it was necessary to use some precau
tion to avoid stepping on some sleeper. When

190 Mexico and the Mexicans.
we applied for accommodations at a hotel —
not the one at which we had stopped before
the landlady, evidently taking into considera
tion the character of stray travellers in general,
regarded us with considerable suspicion, and de
manded and received payment in advance for
her rooms. In the morning, the peons and
their families besieged the station an hour and a
half before train time, all going into the capital
to spend the holidays. Many of them, proba
bly, had never ridden on a railroad train before.
The train was of great length, and platform and
freight cars were pressed into service for their
accommodation. Every station swelled the
number of passengers, and when the train en
tered the station of San Lazaro, the population
of the metropolis was temporarily increased by
some thousands of souls.
I have thus dwelt, perhaps at too great length,
upon the details and incidents of this enterprise,
for the reason that, in looking back upon it,
I am unable to perceive in what manner the
preparations for it, which were made by my
brother, could have been in any particular im-

Ascent of the Great Volcano. 191
proved. Hence I advise those who may here
after attempt the ascent of the great volcano,
to imitate my. example in this regard. An
other and more important reason has prompted
me. The ascent of Popocatepetl, notwithstand
ing its cost in time, labor, and money, will be a
memorable event in the life of any tourist. The
vastness and sublimity of the field of vision
which its summit commands, cannot fail for
ever to stand out in conspicuous relief among
his choicest memories.

CHAPTER XIV.
QUERETARO. — MR. SEWARD'S VISIT.
ALTHOUGH I had passed several weeks in
the capital, and had been so busily engaged as
hardly to allow myself time for needed rest, I
reluctantly came away without visiting several
localities of historical importance, and without
studying various objects of interest which are
peculiar to the Land of the Aztecs. Having
resolved to return home by the overland route,
I decided to make the tour of the principal
cities in the Northern States, with San Luis
Potosi as my objective point. A line of dili
gences is run from that city to Monterey, and
there connects with the Mexican National Rail
way, the terminus of which is Laredo, on the
Rio Grande.
Candor compels me to say that this route
is attended with numerous inconveniences.
Whether you start from Queretaro or Lagos,

Queretaro — Mr. Seward's Visit. 193
it involves seven successive days of diligence
travel from four o'clock in the morning until
six o'clock in the evening. At present the lat
ter place is the temporary terminus of the Mex
ican Central Railroad.
The route which I decided to take, by way
of the City of Zacatecas, involves nine days of
diligence travel. One day is certain to be lost
on the route, as, throughout Mexico, Monday
is always a day of rest on all diligence lines.
Then, the diligence is run but three times a
week, setting out, as has been stated, on each
successive day of the journey at four in the
morning. Should the seats be all engaged, at
least two days, if not more, must be lost while
waiting for a vacancy to occur. In addition to
the discomforts of rising at an unreasonably
early hour on so many consecutive days, the
hotel accommodations are everywhere inferior,
and are not unfrequently insufficient to meet
the demands of the public. During the hours
of travel the opportunities for getting meals
occur at irregular intervals, while the quality
of the food is, at best, far from palatable.
13

194 Mexico and the Mexicans.
The train on the Mexican Central Railroad,
which "leaves the capital at a quarter after six
o'clock in the morning, gives the passengers five
minutes for coffee at one of the small stations
on the route. A stop is made for a mid-day
breakfast at San Juan del Rio, where the fare
in the railroad restaurant is in all respects un
exceptionable. I left the train at the important and beautiful
City of Queretaro. On account of the number
of her spires, our youthful neighbor, Brooklyn,
has been named the "The City of Churches";
but she is poor in the proportion which her
religious edifices bear to the aggregate of her
population in comparison to Queretaro, with
her almost countless domes and towers (spires
not being used in the church architecture of
Mexico). The streets are clean, and the parks are taste
fully embellished. The Alameda, the largest
and most attractive of these, is a delightful
pleasure ground, where the shade of the trees
offers the weary a charming retreat. An abun
dant supply of good drinking water is brought

Queretaro. — Mr. Seward's Visit. 195
into the city by means of a long aqueduct,
which was built a century ago.
The Hotel de Diligencias is fairly well kept,
and the galleries in the court -yard are adorned
with exquisite roses growing in handsome flow
er-pots. The air is salubrious. The site of the
city is less elevated than that of the capital,
consequently the flowers are even more beauti
ful and abundant.
The city is celebrated for its connection with
the later history of Maximilian. After the
French armies had been withdrawn from the
country, he retired with his forces from the
capital and established himself here, relying, no
doubt, on the well-known devotion of the peo
ple of Queretaro to the interests of the Church
party. On the nineteenth day of May, 1867, as
has been elsewhere stated, he was made a pris
oner, and, after a trial by court-martial, was
shot, with two of his officers. I walked out to
the spot where he died, at the hour of sunset,
on Easter Sunday. The day had been one of
remarkable beauty, and the gorgeous coloring
of the western sky added to the beauties of a

1 96 Mexico and the Mexicans.
lovely and picturesque landscape. Standing on
the slight eminence which rises from a fertile
plain, whose stately trees and splendid fields of
grain border the fair city, which was gilded by
the last rays of the setting sun, with surround
ings so peaceful and picturesque, I could hardly
realize that this had been the theatre on which
the dark tragedy had been enacted, which put
an end to one of the blackest crimes which his
tory has recorded.
The "Hercules" cotton-mill is one of the
lions at Queretaro. It is situated two and a
half miles from the city, in a deep canon, and is
the most extensive establishment of the kind in
the country. It began operations in 1840, and
gives employment to fourteen hundred hands
at its looms. The machinery is of the best
quality and of the most improved patterns.
Both steam and water power are used. The
former drives an engine of one hundred and
fifty horse-power, and the latter turns an over
shot wheel forty-six feet in diameter. The cost
of construction was four million dollars. The
operatives employed are Indians, there being

Queretaro. — Mr. Seward's Visit. 197
about as many women as men. The wages of
the common hands are about thirty-seven and
a half cents a day, Mexican money. Four
Englishmen act as foremen, and each receives
a compensation of four dollars a day.
The buildings are of stone, and have the unique
accompaniment of fine gardens containing arti
ficial ponds. Here are orange-trees laden with
fruit, peach-trees, figs and pomegranates. Roses,
geraniums, fuchsias and numerous tropical flow
ers also abound. A statue of Hercules, executed
in Italy, and other works of art adorn the place.
A wall pierced for musketry encloses the sev
eral buildings, and a squad of thirty soldiers in
uniform is always on duty. This precaution is
thought to be necessary on account of the fre
quent revolutions and uprisings which, in the
past, have characterized Mexican history. On
such occasions lawless individuals turn out in
gangs, and under various pretexts break open
houses and plunder everything which they can
lay hands upon. A similar exhibition of vio
lence and robbery, it will be remembered, was
witnessed in the City of New York in the cele-

198 Mexico and the Mexicans.
brated riots of July, 1863. The mills are well
guarded against such outbreaks. An arsenal
attached to them is well supplied with Reming
ton rifles, swords, revolvers and howitzers.
Every appliance that is necessary to give a fit
ting reception to marauding visitors of the char
acter referred to is here provided.
I found the proprietor exceedingly polite and
affable. He is the son of the first owner and
founder of the establishment, Don Francisco
Rubio, and is himself one of the most active, en
terprising and enlightened men in Mexico. He
possesses an extraordinary endowment of ner
vous energy, and talks with the greatest anima
tion. He informed me that he made a journey
to England for the express purpose of learning
the business in the mills of Manchester, return
ing home in 1856. He has superintended the
works ever since his return.
He spoke very highly of the Indian operatives
and their great powers of endurance. When I
was there the mill was running on extra time, and
the hands were kept at work from half-past five
in the morning till half-past nine at night, a half

Queretaro. — Mr. Seward's Visit. 199
hour only being allowed them for breakfast and
an hour for dinner. There had been but one
strike during twenty-six years. Two hundred
operatives then refused to work, and he, in turn,
refused to employ them a second time. They
threatened his life, but he armed himself and
would not give way to intimidation.
The Governor of the State of Queretaro, fear
ing the consequences of his determined stand,
finally visited him and demanded that he should
permit the strikers to resume work. He simply
answered: "If you will come and take charge of
the mill they can return ; but on the day that
the first one comes, I will go." Of course his
Excellency could not agree to this. He then
added : " If you will attend to your business I
will attend to mine."
On the very first day that he went abroad
unarmed, a man came up to him with hat in
hand as though as he were humbly asking for
work. As soon, however, as he had approached
near enough, the miscreant suddenly drew a
knife and inflicted a dangerous wound, making
his escape immediately afterward.

200 Mexico and the Mexicans.
The people of Queretaro hold in grateful, in
deed I may say affectionate, remembrance, the
visit which the Hon. William H. Seward, accom-'
panied by Mr. and Mrs. Frederick W. Seward,
paid to their city, toward the close of the year
1869. It will be remembered that, soon after
that gentleman's retirement from the office of
Secretary of State, the Mexican authorities in
timated a wish that he would at an early period
favor them with his presence. Accordingly, in
the autumn of the year 1869, after a brief so
journ in the City of San Francisco, he took pas
sage on board " The Golden City " steamer, for
Manzanillo on the Pacific coast, where, with his
suite, he was landed in the month of October —
the people turning out en masse to welcome
him. From that port to the City of Mexico his
journey assumed the character of a triumphal
progress. He was everywhere hailed with the
most enthusiastic demonstrations of popular
respect and gratitude, as "El Ilustre Ameri
cano" who had done so much to uphold the
Republic when its life was menaced by foreign

Queretaro. — Mr. Seward's Visit. 201
invasion ; and to whose interposition Mexico
was so largely indebted for the victory which at
last crowned her struggle for independence.
The second grand ovation in his honor took
place at the City of Colima, the capital of the
State of the same name. Here the Governor,
in a graceful and eloquent speech, welcomed
him to a grand ball and banquet.
Mr. Seward's response was worthy of his high
renown as a statesman and orator. It was
printed in the Spanish language, and was circu
lated in all parts of the country. The generous
and lofty sentiments to which he gave utterance,
in the light of subsequent events seem almost
prophetic. I cannot resist the temptation to
add both interest and value to my narrative by
here inserting it in its entirety. Mr. Seward
spoke' as follows :
Gentlemen :
I thank you with a full heart for these and
all the other distinguished hospitalities and
honors which have been showered upon me in
this respected and ancient capital of Colima.

202 Mexico and the Mexicans.
The experience of the 18th century indicated
to mankind two important changes of society
and government on the continent of America.
First, that all American States must thereafter
be, not dependent European colonies, but inde
pendent native American nations. Second, that
all independent American nations must there
after have, not imperial or monarchial govern
ments, but republican governments, constituted
and carried on by the voluntary agency of the
people themselves.
During a large part of my own political life,
these great changes of society and government
have been more or less contested — in logical de
bate in Europe and on the battle-field through
out America. While they have often involved
the American States in civil and international
wars, they have more than once provoked Eu
ropean intervention.
A third improvement was early found neces
sary to guarantee success to the two principal
changes which I have already mentioned. This
third improvement consists in the combination
of the many or several contiguous States,

Queretaro. — Mr. Seward's Visit. 203
which are weak of themselves, into distinct
nations. My own country, the United States, has taken
the lead in these changes, so essential in the
American hemisphere.
The Mexican Republic has, bravely and per
sistently, adopted a similar system. Central
America, and nearly all the South American
States, have followed the example thus set by
the United States and by the Mexican Republic.
One additional principle remains to be adopted
to secure the success of the republican system
throughout the continent. If it shall become
•universal on the American continent, we have
reason to expect that the same great system
may be accepted by other nations throughout
the world. That additional principle is simply
this, that the several American Republics, just
as they constitute themselves, while mutually ab
staining from intervention with each other, shall
become, more than ever heretofore, political
friends through the force of moral alliance.
This, in short, is the policy which I have in
culcated at home, and which, with your leave,

204 Mexico and the Mexicans.
and the leave of others interested, I shall com
mend as far as possible to the Republics of Mex
ico, Central America, and South America.
I sincerely trust that the severest trials of the
republican system are already passed in Mex
ico ; and I shall never cease to pray God for
her continued independence, unity, prosperity
and happiness.
Having spent some time at Queretaro, Mr.
Seward proceeded by slow stages to the capital.
At a distance of two miles from the city he was
met by President Juarez, Sefior Lerdo De Te-
jada, the Minister of Foreign Relations, Minister
Romero, Hon. Thomas H. Nelson, United States
Minister to Mexico, and an escort of about four
hundred soldiers. The reception was enthusi
astic, and the greetings extended to the distin
guished American were extremely gratifying to
him. He was conducted in all the pomp of
military display to the capital ; and was there
formally installed in one of the handsomest
houses in the city, which had been especially
prepared for his accommodation. He was here

Queretaro. — Mr. Seward's Visit. 205
bidden to make himself perfectly at home dur
ing his stay at the capital, and the freedom of
the city was heartily extended to him.
A round of magnificent entertainments and
festivities, lasting through many days, now fol
lowed each other in rapid succession. Similar
ovations and honors followed him all the way
to the City of Vera Cruz, where he embarked
for the United States. In variety, in extent
and splendor, the tributes rendered to Mr.
Seward far surpassed those ever paid to any
other foreigner by the people of our sister
Republic. . When Mexico shall finally make up her
jewels, his effigy may be assigned a place, in
her National Pantheon, beside that of Wash
ington.

CHAPTER XV.
THE NORTHERN CITIES.
I REMAINED at Queretaro till the afternoon of
Easter/Monday, and then resumed my journey.
The region through which I now passed was
even more beautiful than that which I had just
traversed. Occasionally, however, the railroad
intersects a district where only the cactus
flourishes. The variety which appears on the
national coat-of-arms is a feature of nearly every
landscape in Mexico. There are many genera
and species of cacti recognized by botanists.
The cereus grows here, including the night-
blooming variety, the Bonplandii and others now
used in medicine. The organ cactus is most
highly esteemed by the Mexicans. It was so
named from its resemblance to the pipes of a
church organ. It is frequently planted on the
lines bounding separate estates, and serves the
purpose of a fence.

The Northern Cities. 207
I passed the towns of Celaya, Salamanca and
other neat and orderly places. At Silao, I took
the branch line for the City of Guanajuato. The
terminus of this branch road is at Marfil, three
miles before Guanajuato is reached. This dis
tance is accomplished by stage or tramway.
The road passes through a deep and narrow
gorge of the mountain, at the extremity of which
the city lies.
Guanajuato is the capital of the State of that
name, and is a flourishing city with about sixty
thousand inhabitants. Situated as it is at the
termination of a ravine, the streets are not regu
larly laid out as in other towns, but are eccen
tric in their respective courses, like those of the
older part of Boston.
Some of the richest silver mines in the world
are found in the hills surrounding the city, and
it owes to them its chief importance. Humboldt
estimated that they produced one-fifth of the
silver of the world. Their present yield is about
five million dollars a year. The metal is ex
tracted by the patio or cold amalgamation
process, which is explained in the chapter on

208 Mexico and the Mexicans.
Mining; but the pioneer steam stamping-mill has
been erected, and others are certain to follow.
The spirit of the age appears to have reached
the inhabitants of this old, conservative town.
They seem to be almost universally engaged in
learning the English language, as though in an
ticipation of the period soon to arrive when this
knowledge will be indispensable. I observed a
barber, on the other side of the street from the
hotel where I was sojourning. He studied all
day long, walking to and fro in his shop, and
conning the sentences of a conversation-book.
I imagine that he will soon be able to entertain
his American patrons with the news of the day,
and with dissertations on art, science, literature
and ethics, on a par with any German barber in
the City of New York.
The telephone has come. An American com
pany has already established branches in the
principal cities, and there are seventy-five instru
ments in use in Guanajuato.
The prison is a well-regulated institution, and
is noticeable both for its dimensions and from
the absence of windows on the exterior. It

The Northern Cities. 209
was the last place in the State of Guanajuato
which the Spaniards were able to hold in the
war for Mexican independence. They retreated
to it and strongly fortified themselves. Their
Indian assailants, who were destitute of fire-arms,
suffered severely from the Spanish bullets. They,
however, improvised a protection against these
by carrying flat stones on their shoulders, which
were large enough to cover their heads. In this
manner, stooping over so that their entire bodies
might be shielded, they made their way to the
gate, in defiance of the musketry of the besieged
soldiers, and set it on fire. It is relatfed that
four chiefs fell into the hands of the Spaniards,
who cut off their heads and hung them oh nails
on each corner of the doorway.
The stage-coach and mule-cars leave the city
every afternoon to meet the railway trains.
They generally race all the way. The former
vehicle is driven in the most reckless manner
through the crowds of idlers who forever stand
in the middle of the principal thoroughfares;
but somehow they manage to get out of the
way in time to escape being run down. The cars
14

210 Mexico and the Mexicans.
have the better of it at the start, but the stage
coach takes a short cut, and by driving down
a steep and stony hill at a furious pace, dashes
up to the station and secures the first place.
In taking the branch road back to Silao, it
was necessary for me to wait forty minutes for
the train going northward. There is a restau
rant near the station, where I found it pleasant
to wait. The Frenchman who keeps it has
achieved a wide reputation in all this region for
the excellence of his menu.
The ride on the railroad was a pleasant one.
At nightfall I reached Lagos, which is the pres
ent terminus of the railroad. There is little of
note about this town. The diligence hotel is
not equal to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, but still
it is comfortable. Yet the arrangements admit
of improvement. When I left my room at four
the next morning to take the diligence, I was
obliged to go through the apartments of several
other guests, or " passengers," as they are called.
The vehicle was almost full of travellers, three of
whom were women. In accordance with the
custom of the country they wore no bonnets.

The Northern Cities. 211
When the road is smooth enough to permit it,
everybody goes to sleep in these early rides,
except the driver, and he barely keeps awake.
When a passenger purchases his ticket, a seat is
assigned to him, as he may select, and its num
ber is written on the ticket. Nobody, how
ever, pays any attention to this. The wary
and experienced voyageur comes early to the
coach, seats himself in the best place that he
can find, and goes quietly to sleep. After sev
eral hours, when the sun is up, every one
awakes, and all become sociable.
The road from Lagos is sandy for a consider
able distance, and very promotive of repose.
Presently, however, came a hilly district which
was fearfully rough and stony. The driver
appealed to his passengers : " Would they
do him the favor to walk a little way ? " All
complied without hesitation. After six hours
a stop was made for refreshment. It was a
poor-looking place, but the repast was excellent.
The road beyond this point extended thirty-
five miles through a level region, which, like
most of the Tierras Frias of Northern Mexico,

212 Mexico and tke Mexicans.
is destitute of trees. Indian corn is success
fully cultivated here, and much of the land is
devoted to grazing.
Late in the afternoon I came to the City of
Aguas Calientes, or Hot Springs, the capital of
the State of that name. It derives its name
from the thermal waters that are found there.
The inhabitants number about thirty-five thou
sand. It loses nothing by a comparison with its
American namesake — that wretched hamlet
which has sprung up amid the wilds of Arkan
sas, where all is noise and bustle, and where
bands of music play at the railroad station when
the trains arrive.
The City of Aguas Calientes is in direct and
admirable contrast. Here everything is quiet
and orderly. The streets are wide and clean,
and there are parks in abundance, well supplied
with beautiful flowers. In one of them there is
a monument to Hidalgo.
At the springs extensive and commodious
bathing-houses have been erected, which are
surrounded with flower gardens.

The Northern Cities. 213
The city contains thirteen churches, a hospi
tal, a penitentiary for women, and a jail.
At a recent bull-fight in this place, the Com
mittee of Arrangements invited four young
ladies, two Mexican and two American, to be
present and act as queens. The Mexicans ac
cepted, but, strange to say, only one of the
Americans complied with the flattering request.
The Hotel de Diligencias at Aguas Calientes
is a well kept inn. When travelling in the in
terior of the country I have found it the wiser
course to stop at the diligence hotels, as the
stages always leave very early in the morning
and it is much more convenient to be on the
spot. Besides, coffee is served before setting out,
which is not the case at other hotels. Many
of them are owned, or at least controlled, by
the Diligence Company, and are therefore apt to
be better managed than those the proprietors
of which have less capital at command.
One of the hotels in which I was a guest was
kept by a fine-looking, intelligent and well-
educated man, who was evidently fitted for a
far higher kind of employment. I learned that

214 Mexico and the Mexicans.
he had been a priest, and was highly regarded
by those with whom he came in contact. It
was found out, however, that he was an invet
erate gambler, and was bringing scandal upon
the Church by his conduct. Accordingly, his
superiors, very justly and to their own honor,
removed him from holy orders.
The journey in the diligence from Aguas Cali
entes was through similar scenes to those which
I had witnessed on the preceding days. I passed
through a number of forlorn little villages,
with houses built of adobe, or sun-dried brick,
looking to be the very embodiment of wretched
ness itself. My fellow-passengers were chiefly
Americans. One of them was an itinerant den
tist, who entertained me with a rather prolonged
discourse in relation to the demand for artificial
teeth in the Mexican market. He proved, how
ever, to be a good fellow at bottom, or it may
be that I became accustomed to his peculiarities.
Byron says :—
" My very chains and I grew friends ;
So much a long communion tends
To make us what we are."

The Northern Cities. 215
At noon I arrived at a little town called El
Rincon de Roma, and a few minutes later I
brought up at a superior hacienda. The water
supply in this part of the central table-land is
very limited. At this place it is obtained from
a neighboring hill a mile and a half distant, by
means of a stone aqueduct, and is stored here
in a large reservoir.
The plain as I advanced became more and
more narrow, and the road was rough and
broken. Some hills which I passed were so uni
form in their contour as to present the appear
ance of having been artificially constructed.
The town of Guadalupe is situated four miles
from Zacatecas, of which it is in fact a suburb.
Their interests are identical, and the places are
connected by a line of cars which runs through
the narrow cation which lies between them. They
are drawn up the ascending ground by mules ;
but as Zacatecas is six hundred feet higher than
Guadalupe, no power is required on the return
trip. The conductor uses the brake when the
cars go too fast. Some persons doing business
at Zacatecas prefer to live at the other town

216 Mexico and the Mexicans.
because it is of a lower altitude, and they find
the atmosphere somewhat less rarefied. Hence
the travel between the two places is considera
ble. In 1880, during the six months from May
to October inclusive, the number of passengers
on this road was one hundred and seventy-two
thousand. The right of way is owned by the
Mexican Central Railroad Company. They in
tend to run trains over it when they have com
pleted their main line.
Zacatecas was constituted a city by a decree
of Philip II. of Spain, in 1685. It is situated
in a ravine, and is surrounded on every side by
barren mountains. The streets are very uneven,
constantly ascending and descending, and are
otherwise diversified. Instead of being paved
with rough cobble-stone, as elsewhere, many of
them are macadamized. Though surrounded
with unfavorable environments, Zacatecas is a
very pleasant city, well built, clean and healthy.
It has, however, a deficient supply of water.
Many foreigners live here who are engaged in
business relating to the mines. The State is
regarded as the first in Mexico as regards min-

The Northern Cities. 217
eral wealth. Gold, silver, lead, copper, and iron
are produced.
The territory remained in possession of the
Chichemecs until about three centuries ago,
when it was overrun by the Spaniards. They
worked the mines, and removed much of the
ore lying near the surface. Many of them were
then abandoned. The working of several of
them has of late years been resumed, but the
miners are now obliged to go to a great depth,
which causes a serious drawback to the profits.
The mine of San Rafael has a shaft eight hun
dred and fifty-six feet deep, and the descent is
made by means of ladders. The old methods
are still in vogue, and in many of the mines the
peons carry up the ore on their backs. These
men work many hours to the day, yet they re
ceive only about one-fourth of the pay of white
laborers in the United States.
There are eighteen mining districts in this
State. The San Martin mine has a shaft seven
hundred feet in depth, and the ore is raised to
the surface in cars drawn up by steam power.
These cars are also used by the miners to go

218 Mexico and the Mexicans.
into and come out from the mine. A mine once
owned by Cortez was abandoned a few years
ago, because its proprietors had no means of
taking out the water, which, even in that par
ticularly dry region, seems to abound in the
shafts of mines. The inquiry constantly sug
gested itself, why not sink artesian wells to
obtain a supply of water?
An Englishman, who uses the patio process,
has a superior stamping-mill, which he has
owned for upward of twenty years. He is
very courteous, and tourists visiting this re
gion will be amply repaid for examining his
works. The principal buildings of Zacatecas are the
State House, city hall, cathedral, markets, hos
pital, jail, theatre, mint, and last but not least,
the amphitheatre, where the bull-fights take
place. The cathedral is noticeable for the fine
carving of its brown-stone facade. The in
terior of the building exhibits the peculiar effects
incident to white and gilt.
The Hotel Zacatecano is an excellent and well-
conducted public house. The building was for-

The Northern Cities. ' 219
merly a convent, and was purchased, together
with the chapel, by the present owner after the
sequestration of church property. He fitted it
up and improved it, so that it is now a valuable
and handsome property.
The former chapel of the convent is now oc
cupied by the Presbyterian Mission. I attended
the Sunday morning service. The congregation
numbered about four hundred persons. The
clergyman was an Italian, and a man of decided
ability. His wife was a lady from Pittsburgh.
The service was conducted in the Spanish lan
guage. The singing by the choir was very good —
the congregation participating, but not with
equal skill. Many of those present belonged
to the poorest class, and worked for very low
wages ; yet when the plate was carried around,
almost every one made a contribution. Their
dress and personal appearance denoted a com
mendable degree of cleanliness and respect
ability. I took the opportunity to make the acquaint
ance of the clergyman. He gave me an interest
ing history of the Mission. There would be, he

220 Mexico and the Mexicans.
assured me, a larger congregation at the even
ing service, usually about seven hundred. Sun
day morning was a time for active business
everywhere, and many found it difficult to attend
worship at that time.
When the enterprise was inaugurated there
were many obstacles to be encountered. The
owner of the Hotel Zacatecano, a gentleman of
progressive views, had generously provided the
chapel, charging a rent which was merely nom
inal. The room was occupied, at the time, as a
stable and ten-pin alley, and required alteration.
The Roman Catholic bishop threatened with ex
communication every mechanic and laborer who
should dare to engage in the work. The State
Government, however, which is liberal in its
views, extended its aid, and offered the use of the
convict laborers, with a company of soldiers to
protect them while so employed. Thus the
building was fitted up at an outlay of three
thousand dollars. It is a comfortable, and even
an attractive, place of worship.
The outlook for Protestant missions in this
part of Mexico he considered to be very en-

The Northern Cities. 221
couraging. The early impediments have been
overcome, and there are twenty-two congrega
tions now worshipping in the districts of Za
catecas, San Luis Potosi and Durango. All
of them belong to the Presbyterian denomina
tion. While I remained at Zacatecas, the ball of the
season took place. It was a grand occasion, but
no Americans, except residents, were invited.
The reason of this omission was said to be the
rude conduct of several railroad men at the last
ball. In order to prevent a repetition of their
ruffianism, the committee of arrangements had
decided to invite no Americans whose presence
in the city was merely temporary.
Zacatecas is a great centre of travel. Lines
of diligences enter it from every direction. One
proprietor runs a wagon-train for the conveyance
of both passengers and treasure northward to
Monterey. He sets out with several vehicles
and a drove of sixty mules. As soon as one of the
draught animals gets tired, a fresh one is put at
work in its place. A large force of guards,
armed to the teeth, accompanies each train. The

222 Mexico and the Mexicans.
journey is accomplished in six and a half days,
and the passengers are fed and lodged at the
proprietor's expense. For all this, the charge is
forty dollars. Those who have travelled with
him speak highly of their treatment.

CHAPTER XVI.
MINING.
As regards the mineral kingdom, Mexico may
be accounted the most opulent of countries.
From the elaborate work which has recently
been issued by the Mexican government (for a
copy of which I am indebted to its courteous
representative at Washington), it appears that
Mexico contains all the metals known to science.
The major part of these have been discovered
during the present century, only seven distinct
metals having been previously recognized. Now
twenty-eight metals are known to exist.
Following the general direction of the Cordil
leras, a metalliferous belt extends from Guana
juato* to Guadalupe y Calvo, in the State of
Chihuahua. Within this area are found the
most important metallic deposits, commencing
with those of Guaymas, in the State of Sonora,
and terminating with those of Oaxaca. The

224 Mexico and the Mexicans.
sections best known for their production of gold
and silver are Guanajuato, Zacatecas, Fresnillo,
Real del Monte, Pachuca, Catorce, Tasco and
Oaxaca. If the importance of a mineral region is to be
determined by reference to its proximity to the
great centres of population, the group formed
by the districts of Pachuca, Real del Monte,
Atotonilco, El Chico, Capula, Santa Rosa, El
Potosi and Tepeneme may be first mentioned.
This group, occupying a territory which com
prises fifteen and a half miles, from north to
south, and of twenty and a half miles, from east
to west, is only one hundred and thirty miles
distant from the capital. In the next place
come the district of Tasco and those of Zacual-
pan, Sultepec, Angangueo, Tlalpujahua and
Zimapan, which, with the mines of Oaxaca, form
a circuit, opening to the eastward, around the
City of Mexico, having a radius of about one
hundred and thirty miles.
The districts of Guanajuato and Zacatecas, on
account of their large and industrious popula
tions, form two of the most important groups.

Mining. 225
After these may be placed the district of Catorce,
in the State of San Luis Potosi.
In the States of Sonora, Oaxaca, Michoacan,
Chihuahua and Guerrero deposits abound, not
only of the precious metals, but also of iron,
copper, lead, zinc, etc. Hills of pure oxide of
iron are found in the States of Durango and
Oaxaca. Copper is found abundantly in Micho
acan, Oaxaca and Chihuahua, and in the vicinity
of the towns of Mazapil and Jalapa.
Mining'Tias been so generally regarded as the
chief industry of Mexico, that a work relating
to that country would be considered incom
plete unless some reference was made to it. It
had been extensively carried on by the Aztecs,
in various parts of the country, before the com
ing of the Spaniards ; and it was the treasure of
Mexico, more than anything else, that led the
invaders to attempt the conquest and occupation
of the country. " The Spaniards," Cortez said
to the native governor at Vera Cruz, " had a
disease of the heart for which gold was a specific
remedy." Accordingly, after the conquest, al
though their commander assiduously urged them
15

226 Mexico and the Mexicans.
to engage in agriculture, they were not long
withheld from engaging in mining enterprises.
While silver mines were the most numerous,
the natives possessed gold in greater profusion.
The latter was found in a natural state and is
more readily wrought ; whereas silver is found
in combination with sulphur and with other sub
stances, rendering an elaborate process necessary
for its separation. The Spaniards were com
pelled to abandon many mines from which they
had obtained a large yield of silver, because the
supply of wood needed for smelting had been ex
hausted. Fortunately, a miner, Bartolomeo
Medina, in the year 1557, invented the patio pro
cess — in other words, the art of extracting the
metal by cold amalgamation — and it has since
been almost universally employed. By this
method of treatment, the ore is broken into
small pieces with hammers and is then ground
under a wheel by the help of mules. It is then
reduced to a fine powder by arrastras, which
are heavy flat stones revolving in a large vat or
tub half full of water. Two weeks more are re
quired to pulverize the ore with sufficient

Mining. 227
thoroughness. It is next mixed with chemicals,
such as quicksilver, sodium chloride, magistral,
or copper and iron sulphide. Then it is trampled
upon by mules in order to mix the ingredients
thoroughly. After several further manipulations,
the compound is washed in water till the silver
is separated. Having been reduced by heating
in furnaces, it is finally cast into bars.
Prior to the discovery of the mines of Cali
fornia and Australia, Mexico occupied the fore
most rank as regards the production of the
precious metals. This was due to the largeness
of the veins and to the development which
has taken place within the last two centuries.
The Aztecs confined themselves to working the
gold mines and such others as yielded native sil
ver. Peru, accordingly, took the palm anciently
awarded to Spain herself, of being the principal
silver-producing country of the world.
The Paton Potocchi, a silver mine of Potosi,
was the greatest mine in that country, perhaps
in the world ; and has yielded two hundred and
eighty millions of dollars.
Immediately after the conquest of Mexico,

228 Mexico and the Mexicans.
the Spanish settlers began to work the mines of
Tasco, Pachuca, Zacatecas and Guanajuato.
Cortez himself, when he took up his residence
at Cuernavaca, engaged in working the gold
mines of Tehuantepec and the silver mines of
Zacatecas. At that early period the amount of
metal obtained was less than the present yield ;
but to compensate for this, the ore was found
nearer the surface, and less expense was accord
ingly involved in the working. The veins are not
so rich as in South America, but far excel in
dimensions. The " Biscaina " at Real del Monte,
near the City of Mexico, is several yards in
breadth ; and the main vein at Guanajuato is
ten yards wide, and has been worked for a dis
tance of more than eight miles.
The pleasantness of the climate is another
great advantage. The mines of Peru are gen
erally at a height of twelve thousand feet and
more above the level of the sea, and hence in a
region of almost arctic coldness ; whereas the
Mexican mines are seldom higher than six or
seven thousand feet, where it is always tem
perate. The mines of Guanajuato are situated

Mining. 229
in a country producing two crops of grain each
year in the valleys. Humboldt judged that
about one-fifth of the silver of the world was
produced from these mines. At the beginning
of the last century Mexico produced annually
only six or seven millions of dollars. The
amount, however, was increased to thirteen
millions, and, finally, at the beginning of the
present century, it exceeded twenty-five mill
ions. The yield is now less, owing to political
and economic reasons ; there is no limit to the
opulence of the mines.
The mines of Zacatecas were early discovered.
During the one hundred and eighty years end
ing with 1732 they produced $832,232,880. The
yield at the date referred to was about $1,700,-
000 annually, or about one-fifth of the entire
silver product of New Spain. This amount was
even augmented a few years later. When the
Jesuits were expelled from Mexico, the wealthy
mine owners were the principal purchasers of
their estates.
The mines of Guanajuato are noted for their
richness. The period of their greatest pros-

230 Mexico and the Mexicans.
perity was the twenty years extending from
1760 to 1780. The crown of Spain levied taxes
to the amount of twenty-three million dollars
each year, increasing the amount in subsequent
years ; and, after defraying the expenses of
government, received a net revenue of one mill
ion one hundred thousand dollars.
The mine of La Valenciana, near the City of
Guanajuato, produced in ten of the closing years
of the last century a net profit of eight million
dollars to its owners.
The famous Catorce mine in the State of San
Luis Potosi was discovered in 1779. A soldier
was seeking for a lost horse in the district of
Charcas, when he found a large and rich " lead "
of silver. The report of this discovery was
made to King Charles III. by Viceroy Bucarelli.
This ruler, whose reputation as a brave and
upright officer has been referred to, appears to
have reported many such discoveries to his
royal master.
The prodigious yield of gold and silver of
Mexico is readily seen when we recall the fact
that the products of her mines from 1537 till

Mining. 231
1880 fall but little short of four thousand mill
ion dollars. The mines of our Western States
and Territories from 1848 to 1882 yielded seven
teen hundred millions of dollars of gold and five
hundred and eighty-five millions of dollars of
silver. The State of Chihuahua, however, has never
been fully explored. It contains one hundred
and twenty mining districts, producing gold,
silver, copper, lead, mercury, salt, coal, zinc,
antimony, cobalt, arsenic, bismuth, nickel, and
other minerals. The Mexican Central and other
railroads traverse this State and will produce a
revolution in mining. The scarcity of labor and
the difficulties in the extraction of the ores have
led to the abandoning of many rich mines,
which can be again made remunerative. The
completion of the Southern Pacific Railroad to
El Paso in Texas increased the value of lands
fourfold in Chihuahua, which indicates what is
believed and expected.
The apprehension has been expressed by
writers on political economy that a time will
come when the production of silver will be

232 Mexico and the Mexicans.
limited, if not wholly arrested, by the deprecia
tion of its value. Such a result was actually
experienced in ancient times. When the Phoeni
cians brought gold from Ophir and silver from
Spain, the latter was so abundant that it is
recorded in Holy Scripture that the kings made
it as stones in Jerusalem, and that " it was
nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon."
Upon the discovery of gold in California, the
demand for improved processes in mining and
reducing the ore gave an impetus to invention,
and the result was the construction of far more
effective machinery and devices for these pur
poses. The introduction of American enter
prise into Mexico will be doubtless characterized
by the general adoption of these methods.
Already the pioneer steam stamping-mill has
been erected in Guanajuato, and more are cer
tain to be set up before many years. The re
sult can be readily foreshadowed. It is true
now, though in a less degree than when Hum
boldt uttered it, that " the abundance of silver
is such in the Cordillera chain, that one is
tempted to believe that we have not begun to

Mining. 233
enjoy the inexhaustible richness that the New
World contains." When the mines of Chihuahua,
Sonora, Durango, Guerrero and other regions
already indicated are made to reveal their pro
fusion of the precious metal, there is risk that
the wants of the world will be more than met,
unless other uses both for art and taste shall
be devised.
We ought not, however, to restrict our con
sideration of the mineral wealth of Mexico so
entirely, as has been the case, to the precious
metals. The country abounds with other mines
of importance, which may not be overlooked.
The iron mountain of Mercados, in the State
of Durango, could supply all the British fur
naces and foundries for more than three cent
uries at their present rate of consumption.
This would constitute a value of one thousand
million dollars — a sum representing seven times
the annual coinage of gold and silver in the
City of Mexico from 1690 to 1803. Chihuahua
abounds with coal, copper, lead and other min
erals. Coahuila contains copper and lead.
Guanajuato has deposits of lead, iron, tin, ein-

234 Mexico, and the Mexicans.
nabar and copper. Jalisco contains lead, cop
per and iron. Coal and antimony are found in
Michoacan. Puebla has coal and copper; San
Luis Potosi has copper, lead and mercury ; the
Catorce district yields iron also. The same ac
count may be given of Sinaloa. Sonora pro
duces salt, lead, copper, iron, tin and anti
mony. Tamaulipas has iron, copper and lead.
Zacatecas yields lead, copper, iron, sulphur,
antimony, arsenic and tin. Oaxaca contains
iron, copper and mercury. Chiapas has mines
of lead and iron; Vera Cruz contains copper;
Lower California, coal, lime, gypsum and dia
monds. Petroleum is also found in many
parts of the country. In short, the mineral
kingdom is more abundantly represented in
Mexico than in any other part of the known
world ; and the supply from that source alone,
for both the comfort and the luxury of the
human family, is very certain to be abundant
for the requirements of many centuries.

CHAPTER XVII.
TO AND FROM SAN LUIS POTOSI.
The man who drove me from Zacatecas to
San Luis Potosi was not very considerate of
his cattle. The road was good, and, like Jehu
of old, he went along at a furious pace. All
the first day the road lay through a treeless
region. On account of the scarcity of water,
large tracts, naturally very fertile, have been
abandoned to the cactus.
The breakfast station is Ojo Caliente, a pict
uresque village situated at the foot of a moun
tain, and, for more reasons than one, resembling
an oasis in the desert. The hotel fronts on a
garden, immediately adjoining which is a fine
park. The walls of the public-room here, as
I had frequently observed elsewhere, are hung
with quaint old colored engravings in heavy gilt
frames, commemorative of events in Spanish
annals, or of scenes from the histories of Greece

236 Mexico and the Mexicans.
and Rome. Closely examined, these engravings
will often be found to be executed in the high
est style of the art. Nobody seems able to give
any information concerning them. It is alto
gether probable that they were brought from
Spain while Mexico was still a province of that
kingdom. They would be highly prized in
New York by collectors of antique curiosities.
Having travelled eighty-four miles during the
day, I reached the little town of Las Salinas,
where I passed the night. As its name sug
gests, the manufacture of salt is the principal
industry of the place. The brine for this pur
pose is procured from several lakes outside the
town. The buildings used are enclosed by a
strong wall, surrounded by a deep moat filled
with water. It is spanned by a drawbridge,
which is raised at night. This is a precaution
against marauders and as a protection in revo
lutionary times. The proprietor has endeav
ored to beautify his property by planting trees,
which have now grown to considerable size.
They are the only ones to be found for many
miles.

To and from San Luis Potosi. 237
My journey the next day was for hours
through an uninhabited region. Finally, how
ever, I came to several fine haciendas with
beautiful fields, made so by the precious endow
ment of nature — streams of pure running water.
As I drew near the City of San Luis Potosi, the
scenery became more varied, and presented a
pleasing contrast with that already referred to.
After driving several miles over a straight
road, I experienced a new sensation when the
diligence came suddenly upon the pavements of
the city. The drivers of diligences when enter
ing or leaving a city always urge their horses or
mules, as the case may be, to as rapid a pace as
possible. In this instance, the concussion of
the vehicle on the extremely rough pavements
forced the passengers to hold tightly to the
seats. The highest ambition of the diligence
driver appears to be to urge his animals, eight
in number, at the top of their speed, through
the low, narrow entrances to the court-yards of
the hotels. Failing to accomplish this feat, he
must be content to take his place in the inferior
ranks of his profession.

238 Mexico and the Mexicans.
San Luis Potosi is one of the most attractive
cities of Mexico. Its beautiful plaza has a
fountain and a number of fine shade-trees. It
is likewise adorned by a statue in bronze of
Hidalgo, surmounting a pedestal of marble —
the whole being about thirty feet in height.
Its population is estimated to number fifty
thousand, including a few Americans. What
just at present gives the city especial impor
tance is the fact that it is, by reason of its geo
graphical position, the favorite starting-place
for the United States.
Among the public buildings are the Casa
Municipal, or City Hall, the market and the
theatre. The churches possess more than
ordinary architectural merit. At the date of
the erection of most of them, the population
was larger than it is at present. Their sculp
tures compare favorably with those of any
other ecclesiastical edifices in Mexico. The
Cathedral has a clock which was presented by
one of the kings of Spain. The Sanctuary of
Guadalupe is situated about a mile from the
city. It is built of stone, and exhibits much

To and from San Luis Potosi. 239
architectural beauty. The Alameda, or public
walk which leads to it, is a broad, paved avenue,
and is embellished with shade-trees.
A military band plays at evening in the plaza,
when all classes of the inhabitants come out for
a promenade, thus affording an excellent oppor
tunity to form a correct judgment of their
appearance, manners and character.
The hotels are good, but an enterprising Amer
ican is about to build a new one, which will be
conducted like hotels in the United States.
When completed it will have the distinction of
being the first and only one of its kind in the
Republic. It will no doubt be successful, for
one soon becomes dissatisfied with the monot
onous bill of fare in the hotels of Mexico.
Before the opening of the Mexican Railway
(the Vera Cruz road) this city had a large over
land trade, but it was then diverted into the
new channels. The inhabitants are sanguine
that its former importance and prosperity will
be restored upon the completion of the new
railroads. It is well situated on the eastern
side of the great plateau and is easy of access

240 Mexico and the Mexicans.
from every point. Besides the two great
North and South lines, a railroad is now in
process of construction from Tampico on the
eastern coast, a distance of three hundred and
twenty-five miles. The property-owners here
are heavily taxed for the payment of a subsidy
for its construction. It is believed that a good
harbor can be formed at Tampico by the ex
penditure of two million dollars. I cannot
speak intelligently in regard to that matter. At
present there is less than six feet of water off
the bar at low tide. The Tampico river, how
ever, is a navigable stream with good facilities
for wharfage for a distance of twenty-five to
thirty miles from its mouth.
The people here seem to feel very certain
that when these improvements are completed
their city will eclipse the capital of the Repub
lic, not only as a centre of trade, travel and trans
portation, but also of population. It certainly
is superior to it in regard to climate and natural
advantages. The water-supply is good and the
topography unsurpassed. The mines in this
region were once regarded as the richest in the

To and from San Luis Potosi. 241
world, and it is thought that a judicious ex
penditure of capital would restore their former
reputation. The ore, however, is somewhat
refractory to the old Spanish methods, and the
mines become overflowed with water, at only a
short distance below the surface. Gold, silver,
copper, lead, iron and mercury are the principal
metallic productions. The present indications
seem to justify many of the predictions of the
inhabitants. Hence travellers and explorers are
becoming too numerous for the facilities for
their transportation and entertainment.
The diligence for the north leaves only three
times a week. The managers do not perceive
the utility of more frequent trips, although a
daily coach would be crowded with passengers.
Nobody appears to have the enterprise to
establish a rival line. I was compelled to wait
several days before I could obtain a seat, and
there were several American passengers who
had been delayed for more than a week from
the same cause.
It takes five days to make the journey to
Monterey. The rates of fare are reasonable,
16

242 Mexico and the Mexicans.
but the freight charges are extortionate. Each
passenger is allowed to carry baggage weighing
one arroba, which is equal to twenty-five
pounds. The charge for every additional ar
roba is six dollars.
I left San Luis Potosi at four o'clock in the
morning, and consequently drove for some
time before the sun appeared above the hori
zon. Then a rapturous vision was at once dis
played, and the great plateau, with its fringe of
lofty mountains, was seen in all its glory.
One of my fellow-passengers was a Ger
man. He was a man of prepossessing appear
ance, and was ready to engage in conversation.
He had no eye, however, for the scenery which
I was admiring. By profession he was a mu
sical composer, and his whole discourse was of
pianos. He was making a journey through the
country for the purpose of tuning them, and
his heart was certainly in his work. " When I
travels," said he, " I care nothing for scenery,
or anything — only pianos. One time in Central
America I see a volcano with fire come out of
it, but I wouldn't look at it; I think only of

To and from San Luis Potosi. 243
pianos. When I go into a place and find no
pianos there, I go me right out again, quick,
always." Having travelled a little way farther, one of
the braces in the running gear of the vehicle
gave way, and a considerable time was required
to repair it and make a new start. Conse
quently, it was not till long after twelve o'clock
that I arrived at the breakfast station.
Resuming the journey, I passed through a
town named Montezuma. Grapes are cultivated
here and a red wine is manufactured from them.
Whenever the diligence stops to change mules,
it is immediately surrounded by a throng of
persistent, troublesome and wretched-looking
beggars. Nearly all of them are crippled, dis
eased, old, and unable to work.
At night the diligence stopped at the town
of Charcas. Here there is a very good hotel,
but no wonders or curiosities are to be seen.
It is the immemorial custom at hotels in Mexico
never to get dinner for travellers till eight
o'clock. Supplication avails nothing; bribery,
for a wonder, is equally unavailing. If the pro-

244 Mexico and the Mexicans.
prietor is asked for dinner, he will reply, " Im
mediately ;" but the assurance amounts to ab
solutely nothing. On one occasion, after re
ceiving the promise of a speedy preparation of
a meal, I walked out into the town, and was
absent a full hour and a half. On my return,
I found that not the slightest attention had
been paid to the matter; everything was going
on in the old slow style. Twenty minutes more
passed before the repast was placed on the
table. I could take no solace of walking at Charcas.
There was nothing curious or interesting to be
seen. The diligence had arrived late; every
body was tired and hungry, eager to dine and
get to bed. We appealed to the magnanimity,
the humanity, the cupidity of the persons em
ployed about the hotel. All were unavailing.
They seemed to care more for keeping un
shaken their antediluvian regulation as to a
prescribed hour for dinner, than for any actual
suffering which they beheld. After exhausting
every art that could avail among an intelligent
and civilized people, the passengers, worn out

To and from San Luis Potosi. 245
with impatient longing, rose in a body, marched
into the dining-room, took their seats at the
table, and then clamored persistently for their
dinner. We doubtless horrified everybody; at
any rate we obtained our dinner twenty min
utes sooner. When the repast was over, we all
retired promptly to the sleeping apartments.
There were not beds for all ; so that some of the
party were obliged to seek repose on the floor.
At three o'clock in the morning everybody
was up, and ready to start. The telegraph
operator informed us that there would be a worse
chance at the stopping-place the next night.
He had learned by wire that the diligence com
ing southward was full. It was due one hour
before ours ; the hotel was a small one and
every bed was certain to be taken. We held
a council at once and resolved upon a policy.
We promised our driver a bribe of a dollar and
a half if he would get us over the distance in
an hour's less time, so that we would arrive
before the other coach. This would enable the
four " through passengers," who were all Amer
icans, to secure beds. To make the matter

246 Mexico and the Mexicans.
still more certain, we likewise opened negotia
tions with the whipper, who was quite a boy in
appearance, and offered him twenty-five cents
to " encourage " the mules. The result was
electrifying. The vehicle was hurried along at
a speed which made everybody turn and stare,
as we passed them by. An earthquake could
hardly have created greater astonishment. It
was the dry season, the roads were hard and
there was nothing to hinder our speed ; but the
dust was choking. We stopped for a hasty
meal at Matehuala, a town of some importance,
but were in no mood to take observations. We
had the satisfaction of finally accomplishing our
purpose; and drove into Cedral, the stopping-
place for the night, half an hour before the
arrival of the Northern diligence,- and so were
enabled to secure for ourselves the best accom
modations. It was very fortunate for us to be
able to do this. The next day was Monday,
the day of rest for all drivers of diligences in
Mexico. Cedral is a place of little importance, and
without any of the industries or other features

To and from San Luis Potosi. 247
that make a town interesting to strangers.
There are mines in the vicinity, but I found it
impracticable to procure a horse or conveyance
of any kind for the purpose of exploring them.
This region had of old been a famous resort of
robbers. The neighboring town of Catorce,
(which is the Spanish word for fourteen?) re
ceived its name from the fact that it harbored
a band of notorious brigands, fourteen in num
ber, who were long the terror of the country.
An American physician has lived here for
twenty years. He is not able to leave by
reason of pecuniary disabilities, family ties and
other obstacles. He speaks of Cedral as by no
means an attractive place of residence, for per
sons of refined education.

CHAPTER. XVIII.
THROUGH THE SIERRA MADRE.
As usual, we set out early in the morning
from Cedral. The road lay over level ground,
undiversified by a single hill, and we proceeded
at a satisfactory pace. There was not a house
to be seen for many miles. Seven hours had
gone by when we came to a hacienda where we
could get breakfast.
At night the coach stopped at the ranch of
La Ventura. The proprietor, General Tre-
vino, of Monterey, is a man of great considera
tion in the State of Nuevo Leon, and is
supposed to be aspiring to the Presidency of the
.Republic. I have little to say in favor of his
subordinates at La Ventura and the methods by
which they " take in " the stranger.
The next day's journey was over a continua
tion of the same plain as before. Toward even
ing I approached the mountains, between two

Through the Sierra Madre. 249
lofty ranges of which the road now lay. These
ranges form the walls of the valley of La
Angostura, better known to Americans as the
battle-field of Buena Vista. Here General
Zachary Taylor, with an army variously esti
mated at from four thousand five hundref? to
six thousand men, disputed the ground against
President Santa Anna with a force of twenty-
five thousand. The battle was fought across
this valley, and in the ravine which opens out
of it at right angles. There is a river-bed
through which a little stream of water flows ;
from its eastern bank several curious hillocks,
resembling artificial structures, extend to the
high mountain-wall. The American guns were
planted on the summits of these elevations.
From one of them Captain Bragg, in obedience
to the order, " A little more grape, Captain
Bragg," poured forth that destructive fire which
for a time made his name famous.
The slaughter on both sides was terrible. It
could not well be otherwise. A son of Henry
Clay there laid down his life. So did Hardin,
McKees, Yell of Arkansas, and many other

250 Mexico and the Mexicans.
equally brave men, whose names were less
widely known to fame. Men who have since
become illustrious in American history took
part in that action. Many generals of the late
Civil War tried their "'prentice hands" that
dajHin the bloody gorge.
Were the Americans victorious at the battle
of Buena Vista ? The newspapers throughout
the United States published that they were.
Historical writers have borne like testimony.
The bulletins of Santa Anna, however, tell a
widely different story. They relate that the
Mexicans, although wearied by long marching,
were yet eager to meet the invaders. The prog
ress of the battle is duly recorded, and the dis
may which the resolute Mexicans produced in
the ranks of their foes is eloquently portrayed.
Several weeks ago I met General Abner
Doubleday of the United States Army, and I
asked his judgment upon the point in question.
He had served in the war with Mexico, and
was present at the battle of Buena Vista. He
is accurate and scrupulously truthful in his
statements. The General delineated the rela-

Through the Sierra Madre. 251
tive positions of the two armies and the centres
of interest in the conflict. He concluded with
the acknowledgment that, according to the laws
of military science, the position of the respect
ive armies at the close . of the action was
equivalent to a victory for the Mexicans. Be
this as it may, the practical result was that of
victory for the Americans. General Taylor held
his ground, and the whole plateau of Ana
huac virtually fell into his hands. Had he but
followed up the advantage, he, and not General
Scott, would have dictated terms to the Mexi
can Republic in its own capital, Unfortunately,
wars are directed by Cabinets, where political,
rather than patriotic, influences hold sway. Gen
eral Taylor was remanded into idleness, and a
new campaign more costly and more murderous
was instituted to extend from Vera Cruz to
the capital of Mexico. This scheme, however,
resulted adversely to those by whom it was
concocted. The day's drive brought me to Saltillo, the
capital of the State of Coahuila. At this point
the great plateau suddenly terminates with a

252 Mexico and the Mexicans.
precipitous cliff. The city lies beneath, and
nobody approaching it from the south would
suspect its existence till, on descending the
slope by the winding road, he had entered its
streets. It is an old town, begun in 1586, and
was created a city in 1827. At first it was called
Leona Vicario, in honor of a heroine of the Mex
ican War of Independence. The designation,
however, was not popular; and now the name
Saltillo, an old Chichemec word, has usurped its
place. It signifies " a highland with abundant
water " ; and, indeed, it merits the appellation.
The city has about twenty thousand inhabitants.
When under the Spanish dominion, the State
of Coahuila was known as the province of
Nueva Estremadura, and included part of Texas,
as far as the Medina river. After independence
had been established, Coahuila was included in
the same State with Texas ; but, after the final
alienation of that territory by the treaty of
1848, it was made into a commonwealth by
itself. Later it was joined to Nuevo Leon, but
in 1868 again became a separate government.
At the present time there are two stage-coach

Through the Sierra Madre. 253
lines running northward from Saltillo. One of
these, which is owned by an American, has
daily coaches.
From Saltillo to Monterey the scenery is mag
nificent. The road extends through a valley
several miles wide that has the appearance of
being much narrower, and is walled in on both
sides by the steep slopes of grand old moun
tains, wild and picturesque, belonging to the
Sierra Madre. The trees upon these mountains
are meagre and of insignificant dimensions, and
are far from concealing the crags, which often
exhibit the most fantastic shapes.
This range of mountains is very rich in min
erals. The valley is abundantly watered by the
numerous streams from the summits, and is
generally fertile. The road gradually but
steadily descends, as it extends northward. It
is traversed continually by heavy wagons that
are employed for the carrying trade between
Saltillo and Monterey. They are drawn by
mules, ten or fourteen to a wagon. The track
of the road is thus cut up fearfully, and a
prodigious quantity of dust is constantly flying.

254 Mexico and the Mexicans.
The inn, where the diligence stopped for re
freshment, is situated on a hill which over
looks a farm, and the fields of waving grain
afford a vivid delight to one who has journeyed
for days where little vegetation can be seen ex
cept the cactus. The white buildings of Mon
terey, twenty-five miles distant, could be dis
tinctly seen. In the clear atmosphere they
seemed to be much closer.
As I approached the end of the day's journey
I came to the battle-field of Monterey. The
place is now marked by. a mound of earth sur
mounted by a plain wooden cross. Perhaps the
antiquarian of some future race, now without a
historical recognition, may stand here like Ma
caulay 's typical New-Zealander and classify this
eminence as a monument of the Olmecs, or
some other people of unknown remoteness, and
equally low in the scale of civilization.
Just behind the battle-ground, the Sierra
Madre is broken by a wild and picturesque canon,
the rocky walls of which are broken and varie
gated in a most wonderful manner. They far
surpass the Palisades of the Hudson for their

Through the Sierra Madre. 255
striking appearance. It is easy, as one contem
plates their marvellous variety of figures, to
trace out cathedrals, needles, obelisks, senti
nels, and other analogous shapes and structures.
The road lay through the valley of St. Peter.
It was here that our soldiers made their way
along* climbed the hill, literally forcing a pas
sage through the terrible thorn-bushes of Osage-
orange, and stormed the Bishop's palace at the
summit. In this charge Lieutenant U. S. Grant
distinguished himself, and received his first
award of promotion. Another officer, however,
who had displayed no such courage or meritori
ous conduct, had also received a like distinction.
Grant at once declared : " If he deserves promo
tion, I do not ; " and proudly declined the honor.
As the diligence was passing the Bishop's
palace, now a ruin, a train of cars came rapidly
along on the new railroad, carrying a party of
Mexican excursionists who had been riding to
the end of the completed track, which now ex
tends several miles toward Saltillo. It was a
fitting prelude and augury of the new times
that are coming to the Mexican people.

CHAPTER XIX.
THE RAILROADS.
THE railroad is at once the expression and
the instrument of modern civilization. Per
haps in no other portion of the Western Hemi
sphere is it destined to play so important a part
as in Mexico. Owing to the almost total ab
sence of navigable streams throughout our sis
ter Republic, the railroad would seem to furnish
the very instrumentality which is indispensable
to her future development. Fortunately for
her, the great plateau presents an incomparable
route for this mode of trade and travel. Ac
cording to Humboldt, four-wheeled carriages
proceed from the capital, in the centre of the
plateau, to Santa Fe, a distance of fourteen
hundred miles, without any important devia
tion from an apparent level.
In the humblest and most secluded hamlets,
as well as in the centres of population, intel-

The Railroads. 257
ligence and wealth, the conviction has sunk
deeply into the minds and hearts of the people
that when the railroads, which are now in prog
ress, shall be completed, a Golden Age will dawn
upon the country. The facilities which will
thus be afforded for trade, travel and transpor
tation will, it is confidently predicted, stimulate
activity and industry in every direction, so that
the almost boundless natural resources of the'
country will be developed, and its people, in all
conditions of life, will become more prosperous
than ever before. These expectations might be
regarded as visionary but for the lesson taught
by the history of railroads in the United States.
Fifty years ago, a few feeble enterprises were
inaugurated in this country with equivocal, not
to say forbidding, prospects of success. Now
the whole future of the nation seems to be de
pendent upon the gigantic companies which
hold not only the internal communications, but
the commerce of the country, in their hands.
They control the destiny of States and Terri
tories, as well as those of individuals and locali
ties. What these mighty corporations and com-
17

258 Mexico and the Mexicans.
binations have in store for us in the future,
time alone can determine.
Happily, Mexico has it in her power to profit
by our experience, and so to avoid the mistakes
of American railroad legislation. The patriotic
and able statesmen who at present have the
direction of her public affairs will doubtless
see to it that this result is kept steadily in
'view. With the railroads, constructed and con
trolled by American enterprise and capital, will
come two all -important benefits : first, im
proved processes in agriculture, mining, manu
factures, and every other branch of the indus
trial arts ; second, cheap transportation, which,
by leaving to the tiller of the soil and to the
toiler in the mines an increased share of the
fruits of his industry, cannot fail to elevate his
social, intellectual, moral and political condi
tion. First in the field, the Mexican Railway Com
pany, some years ago, completed the road from
Vera Cruz to Mexico, with a branch to the City
of Puebla — in all, a length of two hundred and

The Railroads. 259
ninety-two miles. Having an ascent of over
eight thousand iieet to overcome, and having to
contend with defective means of transporting
material, the cost of construction was excessive,
and reached the enormous sum of thirty mill
ion dollars; which amount, however, includes
a subsidy from the Mexican Government of
twelve million dollars. This aggregate, there
is high authority for asserting, is fully three
times as great as that for which the road could
now be built. Ten millions would now suffice
for this purpose. The receipts of the company
have steadily increased from year to year, so
that they now reach nearly five million dol
lars annually, which enables them to pay a
dividend on the common stock of six and one-
half per cent, per annum.
Its management cannot be termed liberal or
far-seeing. Gross inattention to duty character
izes its subordinates. They pay no regard to
punctuality or to the convenience of the travel
ling public. The prices charged for the trans
portation and storage of merchandise are ex
orbitant, not to say prohibitory. So far as this

260 Mexico and the Mexicans.
railway is concerned, there can be no remunera
tive commerce till a complete revolution in its
administration shall be effected. A virtual
monopoly, its management is arbitrary and
oppressive. A brief statement of my experi
ence of its exactions may not be amiss.
On the twenty-second day of March last I
caused to be delivered, at the station in the
City of Mexico, a wooden box which contained
several specimens of ancient pottery, packed
for security in shavings. It was addressed to
my father, at New York, and was consigned to
the distinguished commercial firm of Messrs.
R. C. Ritter & Co., in the City of Vera Cruz,
the company executing a receipt for it accord
ingly. This receipt I retained in my possession
as a measure of security. The dimensions and
weight of the package were as follows :
Length  25 inches.
Width  \\\ "
Height  12 "
Weight. . . 16 kilograms, or 35%. lbs.
I gave the consignees immediate notice, by let-

The Railroads. 261
ter, of the shipment ; but, as I was constantly
travelling through the country, they were un
able to communicate with me.
On my return to this city, I learned that the
company refused to surrender the box, unless
this receipt was shown to them. Accordingly
they held it for six weeks, and then charged the
sum of four dollars and sixty-three cents for
storage. But this was not all. They exacted,
in addition, the sum of one dollar, under the
designation of guaranty for delivery without
receipt. The package had been roughly handled,
and the largest and most valuable of the con
tents was broken. The package being of the
second class, freight was charged at the rate of
one dollar and fifty cents per cwt. The dis
tance over which it was. transported was two
hundred and sixty-four miles. The exorbi
tancy of this charge will be rendered apparent
by the following statement. The investigation
of what is known as the Hepburn Committee
of the Legislature of the State of New York
showed that merchandise can be profitably
transported by rail from the City of New York

262 Mexico and the Mexicans.
to Chicago, a distance of nine hundred and
eighty miles, for the sum of fifteen cents per
cwt. Of course, the charge of the Mexican
Railway Company is about forty times as great.
When the box was finally placed on board
the "British Empire " steamer, of the Alexandre
Line, at Vera Cruz, the charges on it, including
the sum of three dollars for the consular certifi
cate, amounted to the sum of ten dollars and
thirteen cents. If to this amount be added a
very moderate estimate for correspondence,
postage, and bother generally, the aggregate
would reach at least ten times the value of the
property. I leave it for others to determine
whether a railway conducted like this one is
likely to prosper, or, indeed, ought to prosper.
The Mexican Central Railroad Company has
agreed to construct a road of the standard
gauge from the City of Mexico to Leon, and
from Leon to the northern frontier, making con
nection with Aguas Calientes, Zacatecas, and
Chihuahua. The company further agrees to
construct the road from a point intermediate
between the cities of Mexico and Leon, to some

The Railroads. 263
point on the Pacific coast, connecting on the
way with the City of Guadalajara. The charter,
or " concession," is for the period of ninety-nine
years, after which the road will become the
property of the Mexican Government. The
latter agrees to pay for all other property of
the company on a valuation as provided for,
and also to give the company the preference in
case of a determination at the expiration of the
time specified to sell or lease the road. The
charter originally obligated the completion of
the track from the City of Mexico to Leon in
1882, to the Pacific within five years, and to
Paso del Norte by 1891. A bond of $250,000
was required to be deposited in the City of
Mexico for the due fulfilment of these con
ditions. It is expected, however, that the main
line will be completed by July, 1884.
I rode over the southern section of this road,
as far as completed, when on my way to the
North. It has been built from the City of
Mexico as far north as Lagos, and from the
City of Chihuahua to the frontier. The Govern
ment has recently modified the conditions of

264 Mexico and the Mexicans.
the charter, extending the time for the comple
tion of the lines, as well as the exemptions and
privileges. The subsidy is also to be increased
from September, 1884, provided the main line
to Paso del Norte is then completed. The com
pany is also authorized to increase the tariff on
the interoceanic line from Tampico to San Bias ;
and the discount on transportation for the
Government is reduced from sixty to forty per
cent. The forfeiture clause is revoked and a
fine is substituted in lieu thereof.
The region traversed by this road is one of
the most important in the country. Imme
diately after leaving the City of Mexico, the
line enters the fertile valley of Tula; beyond
which is another opulent district, compris
ing the valleys of Huichapam, San Juan del
Rio, and others. Beyond Queretaro are the
plains of Bajio, where irrigation at seed-time
assures enormous crops of grain. Artesian wells
can easily be multiplied and cultivation ex
tended, till the entire plains shall become a
garden. Political reasons have probably dictated the

The Railroads. 265
selection of San Bias, in the State of Jalisco,
as the western terminus. It is regarded as very
desirable to effect the early colonizing of that
region, and the completion of the road is ex
pected to secure this end. The country is agri
cultural, with a tropical climate; and the val
leys of Ameca, Ahualulco, Etzatlan, Tequila
and Magdalena are rich beyond comparison in
cereals, sugar, and other products. The plan
tations will be more thoroughly cultivated, and
their productiveness will be correspondingly in
creased as soon as the road goes into operation.
This road passes along the axis of a zone
having an average width of fifteen leagues,
which lies between the rivers Tololatlan and
Ameca, with a fertile soil and semi-tropical
climate admirably adapted to the cultivation
of cotton, coffee, rice and sugar. These rivers
also furnish abundant water-power, which can
be employed with advantage in the mechanical
arts. Agricultural products do not, however, con
stitute the only tributaries of this route. At
Tula the road will receive the ores and minerals

266 Mexico and the Mexicans.
coming from Zimapan, El Cardonal, Jacala, and
Encarnacion. At San Juan del Rio it will like
wise receive a large part of the mineral product
of the Sierra Gorda. In approaching Guana
juato it enters a metalliferous region, perhaps
the most important in the country, which is
now actively worked. Guanajuato itself also is
a city of much wealth, and having an extensive
trade with the interior. At Salamanca there
are abundant deposits of kaolin and white clay,
which will either constitute an article of export,
or else manufactories of porcelain will be estab
lished for supplying the wants of the country.
Leon will furnish stone for building and orna
mental purposes in inexhaustible quantities.
Extending beyond Leon to the north, the
road traverses a belt productive of the cereals.
The plains of Tecuan have a rich soil, capable,
with the aid of irrigation, of abundant fertility.
This want artesian wells can be made to supply.
The valley of Aguas Calientes, which extends
beyond the city of that name, is almost exactly
parallel with the valley of Rio de San Pedro.
It can not only produce cereals in abundance,

The Railroads. 267
but it contains extensive forests of timber valu
able for building and for ornamental purposes.
The route of the road proceeds from Aguas
Calientes to Zacatecas, and thence onward
toward Durango. There is no stipulation in the
charter to include Durango in the route, but it is
convenient to do so, and the region is capable
of being made highly productive. Cotton,
sugar-cane and the cereals can be profitably cul
tivated on a large scale. The same may be said
of the other regions and plains which the road
will traverse on the way to El Paso. At that
point it connects with the Southern Pacific
Railroad of the United States. The charter
provides that a branch of the Central Railroad
shall be extended from San Luis Potosi to
Tampico. It will also connect the former place
with Queretaro or Zacatecas. This will place
the States of the interior in direct railway com-
iriunication with the seaboard. Their mineral
and agricultural products will thus find an out
let, and there will be a corresponding influx of
goods of foreign manufacture. The facility of
transit will enlarge the area of production and

268 Mexico and the Mexicans.
consumption, the direct tendency of which will
be to attract thither a large accession of immi
grants. The Mexican Central will, when completed,
connect with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa
F6 system. It is well managed, and is already
well Americanized, the officials of the road
and the persons employed being mostly Amer
icans. The English language is spoken almost
exclusively. The signs and notices are gen
erally printed in both the English and the
Spanish languages. What is true of the Mex
ican Central will be found equally so of the
other projected railroads which are intimately
connected with the railroad systems of the
United States. The English language is likely
to predominate, as well as the American
methods of management.

CHAPTER XX.
THE RAILROADS — CONTINUED.
The Mexican National Railway, now in pro
cess of construction, is a narrow-gauge road.
When the necessary communication shall be
completed through Texas, it will connect with
the Texas and St. Louis narrow-gauge system,
so as practically to form part of it. The con
tract with the Mexican National Construction
Company provides for the constructing and
operating of a narrow-gauge railroad from the
City of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean at the port
of Manzanillo or Navidad, passing through the
cities of Toluca, Maravatio, Acambaro, Morelia,
Zamora, and La Piedad. Furthermore, it pro
vides for a branch or line from the City of Mex
ico northward, to leave the Pacific line at a
point between Maravatio and Morelia, and pass
through the cities of San Luis Potosi, Saltillo
and Monterey to any point which may be

270 Mexico and the Mexicans.
selected on the Rio Grande, between Laredo
and Eagle Pass. The term of the charter is
ninety-nine years, the Government obligating
itself to rent or sell its own rights to the Com
pany, as agreed upon under the " concession"
of September 13th, 1880.
The company agrees to complete the line
to the Pacific in five years, and that to the
frontier in eight years, from the date of the
charter. The whole length of the proposed
line is one thousand seven hundred and sixty-
seven miles. A subvention of $7,000 per kilo
metre, or $11,266 per mile, has been granted
by the Mexican Government for the line ex
tending from the capital to the Pacific ; and of
$6,500 per kilometre, or $10,462 per mile, for
the southern branch. The distance from the
junction to Laredo is eleven hundred and
twenty-five kilometres — making the total
amount of the subvention for the latter $7,312,-
500. Trains are now running from Laredo to
Monterey, and the road will be opened this
summer as far as Saltillo. When I visited the
volcano of Jorullo, I rode over the southern

The Railroads. 271
line as far as Maravatio, in the State of Micho
acan. The line has since been opened to
Acambaro, and the roadway has been graded
as far as Patzcuaro, a distance of forty-two miles
from Morelia and two hundred and twenty-
three miles from the capital. The grades near
the City of Mexico are very steep, the maxi
mum elevation which is reached being nine
thousand nine hundred and seventy-four feet.
The territory which the route of the National
Railway traverses is in no respect inferior to that
which is tributary to the Mexican Central. The
southern branch, until it approaches Lake Cha
pala, penetrates the section of country which
is drained by the Rio de Lerma. It proceeds
around that lake through a highly fertile region
to the salt plains of Zacoalco and Sayula, and
then enters the district lying between the rivers
Armeria and Coahuayana. There are several
lakes of considerable size in this vicinity. The
great agricultural and mineral wealth of these
regions is well understood. All varieties of
climate from tropical to frigid, and the produc
tions of every zone, are found there. There

272 Mexico and the Mexicans.
are large plantations of sugar and coffee, and
gold, silver, iron, copper and quicksilver are
abundant. Descending the Pacific slope, the
Mexican National Railway passes through the
rich tropical region lying south of the State of
Jalisco, including the States of Michoacan and
Colima. Sugar and coffee are abundantly pro
duced here, and the quality of the latter, like
that of Cordova, is highly prized wherever it is
known. Valuable forests likewise abound in this
region, and extensive tracts suited to grazing
purposes are found in the States of Mexico,
Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco. The last
named State has, in addition, many rich mines.
Indeed, the section of country which this line
and the Central will render accessible is not
surpassed, as regards mineral wealth, in the
Republic. In consideration of the subsidies which it
receives, this company is required to restrict its
charges for the transportation of passengers,
produce, and merchandise to the rates pre
scribed by law. Its authorized charge for mer-

The Railroads. 273
chandise is as follows : First class, four cents a
ton per kilometre ; second class, three cents ;
third class, two cents. For passengers : First
class, two and a half cents per kilometre, or four
cents a mile ; second class, two cents per
kilometre, or about three and one-fifth cents
a mile ; third class, one cent per kilometre,
or about one and a half cents a mile. Cereals
must be carried at the rate of three and a
quarter cents a ton per mile. Forty per cent.
must be deducted from the regular rates for
the transportation of articles for the Govern
ment. For the military forces, individuals em
ployed by the Federal authorities, and immi
grants coming under Federal authorization, the
same deduction is required to be made. In
case of forfeiture of the charter, the road be
comes the property of the Government at its
appraised value, after deducting subsidies, and
the franchise must again be sold.
The Morelos Railway is owned by residents
of Mexico. In the face of many discourage
ments, including serious engineering difficulties,
it was begun by Sefior Sanchez, the President
18

274 Mexico and the Mexicans.
of the Tehuantepec Railroad, in 1879. The
route extends over the marshes which border
the lakes in the valley of Mexico, and thence
along the base of the mountains to a populous
region of great natural wealth, but one which is .
rarely visited by foreigners. It extends to the
City of Cuautla de Morelos. Despite the
gloomy predictions that money could not be
had and that the road would not pay expenses,
it is in operation and doing a good business,
chiefly in freights. Sefior Sanchez insists that
he will be able before many years to extend
the Morelos Railway to Acapulco. He richly
deserves success.
The charter of the Tehuantepec Railroad was
originally granted to Edward Lamed, of the
City of New York, in 1879. It nas since been
forfeited, and Sefior Sanchez is endeavoring,
under the auspices of the Mexican Government,
to procure money in this country in order to
prosecute the work of construction. He is a
man of indomitable will and energy, as has been
already shown, and little doubt exists that before
many years the Isthmus Road will be finished.

The Railroads. 275
The Mexican Southern Railway Company,
of which General Grant is the President, will
traverse the coffee and sugar districts of South
ern Mexico. Its initial point is the port of
Anton Lizardo, which lies sixteen miles to the
south of Vera Cruz. The harbor is pronounced
the best on the Gulf of Mexico, the only ob
stacle with which it has to contend being the
coral reefs off the coast. A branch of the road
will connect the two places. The main line
extends from Anton Lizardo, in a south-west
erly direction, by way of Tuxtepec and Amana,
to Arenal. This is the highest elevation any
where on the route, being fifty-five hundred feet
above the level of the sea. Thence it proceeds,
in' a southern direction, by way of Cuicatlan
and Sedas, to Oaxaca. From Oaxaca it will run
in a south-westerly direction, by way of Ejutla
and Miahuatlan, to the town of Tehuantepec.
It then takes an easterly course to Tonala,
where it forks, one division extending to Tapa
chula, in the State of Chiapas, and then into
Guatemala ; the other to San Christobal and in
the direction of Chiquimaceto. A branch line

276 Mexico and the Mexicans.
will extend from Arenal in a north-western di
rection to Puebla, there connecting with the
International and Interoceanic Railway.
No part of the Southern Railway has yet
been built. Work is, however, in progress for
the purpose of improving the harbor of Anton
Lizardo. There will be little difficulty in the
way of grading. The greatest ascent is seventy-
two feet per mile. There has been no grading
done as yet ; indeed the construction of this
road will depend largely upon the completion
of the International and Interoceanic.
General Diaz, Ex-President of the Republic,
and now Governor of Oaxaca, takes a warm
interest in this enterprise. His State will be
traversed by the new road, and is certain to be
benefited by its construction.
The International and Interoceanic Railway
Company at its inception was a part of the
south-west system of the United States which
comprised about seven thousand miles of road
bed, belonging to the Missouri Pacific, the
Texas Pacific, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas,
the Iron Mountain, the International and Great

The Railroads. 277
Northern, and the New Orleans and Pacific.
The route of the road in Mexico extends from
Laredo to the City of Mexico, by way of Guer
rero, Mier Santander, Jimenes, Victoria, and
Jalancingo, with the option of building branches
to Vera Cruz, Tampico, and Matamoros. That
part of the line which extends through the
State of Tamaulipas is easy of construction ;
but, immediately upon reaching Victoria, there
are mountain ranges to encounter which will
render the work more difficult and expensive.
This route has been chosen with characteris
tic shrewdness. It traverses a region which is
considered among the most desirable in Mex
ico, in respect both to agricultural products and
mineral wealth; and ample returns for the in
vestment are assured. Tt will connect, as already
stated, with the authorized route of the Mexi
can Southern at Puebla. The two schemes
have recently been consolidated under condi
tions that are regarded as very advantageous to
both. The Official Journal of the City of Mex
ico for May 28, 1883, has published the contract
between the Mexican Government, Jay Gould

278 Mexico and the Mexicans.
and General Grant, governing their consolida
tion. It guarantees all the benefits heretofore
granted, and modifies the clause relating to for
feiture, making it more favorable to the united
companies. The Mexican Railway Company (the Vera
Cruz road), which has thus far enjoyed a mo
nopoly of railroad transportation in the country,
has complained of this measure, as an act of
bad faith on the part of the Mexican Govern
ment, but it is hardly probable that any serious
obstacle will be interposed in the way of the
consolidated companies.
General Grant has expressed the opinion that
the principal route from the United States will
be by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe
Railroad to El Paso, and thence by the Mexican
Central Railroad to the City of Mexico. He is
thoroughly familiar with Mexico. During the
war between that country and the United
States he was an officer under General Taylor,
and was in the battles of Brownsville, Palo Alto,
Resaca de la Palma, and Monterey. The regi
ment to which he belonged was then transferred

The Railroads. 279
to the command of General Scott. It was sent
down the Rio Grande to its mouth, and from
thence was forwarded by steamer and man-of-
war to Vera Cruz. They were landed on the
Island of Sacrifices. General Scott first reduced
the Castle of San Juan de Ulloa, and then
marched his forces, by way of Jalapa, Perote, and
Puebla, to the City of Mexico. They first en
countered General Santa Anna at Cerro Gordo
between Jalapa and Vera Cruz. General Grant
took part in all the engagements from that
point to the capital.
Among the railways at present in progress
which will be tributary to the Mexican system
is the Central Transit Railway of Texas. The
proposed line rests upon a charter from the
State of Texas. Its length is about five hun
dred miles, the initial point being at Shreve-
port, Louisiana, where it connects with the
Erlanger system, and its terminus at the Rio
Grande, near Eagle Pass, where it will connect
with some of the projected Mexican roads.
The recently completed surveys of the route
have resulted in obtaining a line singularly

280 Mexico and the Mexicans.
direct and remarkably free from any heavy
grades. Its entire route is in a temperate cli
mate, of remarkable fertility from end to end,
and embracing every variety of production,
thus insuring throughout an abundant local
traffic. Connecting on the Rio Grande with the lines
already projected to the Pacific, near the mouth
of the Gulf of California, it is an important link
in the shortest route between the two oceans,
and intersects the entire railroad system east of
the Mississippi river.
The Pacific ocean steamers, or other vessels
sailing from San Francisco for China, usually
follow the ocean currents and sail south on their
outward voyage about eighteen hundred miles
to the latitude of Mazatlan and the mouth of
the Gulf of California before taking a westward
course, via the Sandwich Islands, to Hong-
Kong. Mazatlan is the nearest point on the
American continent to Australia.
European travel, byway of the United States,
to Mazatlan, the Sandwich Islands, Hong-Kong
and Australia, will have the advantage of some

The Railroads. 281
three thousand miles by the Central Transit
route over the northern lines, without the in
terruption of an hour in the year from climatic
impediments. This line will consequently com
mand the through business and commerce of
Europe and Asia, in addition to a local business
of constantly increasing importance and value.
Having passed over nearly every railroad now
in operation, as well as over portions of those
which are in process of construction in all parts
of Mexico, I have no hesitation in saying that,
with the single exception of the Mexican Rail
way, I have found them well managed and ap
parently doing a prosperous business. In many
ways I have had it in my power to ascertain
the views of the people in general regarding
them. I have repeatedly come in contact with trav
ellers who were making wide detours, involving
the expenditure of both time and money, in
order that they might enjoy what they regard
ed as the luxury of railroad travelling, and at
the same time escape the annoyances of dili
gence and horseback locomotion. In short, if

282 Mexico aftd the Mexicans.
the Mexicans shall have the good fortune to
reap even a small proportion of the benefits
which they fondly anticipate from the comple
tion of the several works now under way, what
has been styled "The Railway Invasion" will
prove to be the greatest boon which has ever
fallen to the lot of our sister Republic.

CHAPTER XXI.
MONTEREY.
THE drive into Monterey was through green
fields and gardens. All the surroundings were
in pleasing contrast with the barren plains which
I had passed over during the previous day's
journey. Being now in a region of compara
tively small elevation above the sea-level, the
difference of climate was at once perceptible.
The diligence brought me to the gate of the
Hotel Iturbide. Here it was stopped ; the usual
narrow entrance, curiously reminding me of the
needle's eye of the Scripture, was not open for
coaches. A garden now occupies the place of
the former court-yard ; so that while the passen
gers were permitted to enter by the covered
way, the driver was compelled, after they had
left the vehicle, to go round on the outside of
the building, to the stable in the rear.
The two principal hotels of Monterey are

284 Mexico and the Mexicans.
kept by American proprietors, and are patron
ized by all travellers from the United States.
The bill of fare at the Hotel Iturbide is a com
bination of both the American and Mexican
styles of cookery. Crowds of people are con
stantly coming and going; and day after day
there is an incessant strife to secure rooms.
Cots are every night set up in the corridors, and
activity is apparent on every hand. Everybody
is busy, and the new-comer receives little atten
tion. He is left generally to his own choice
whether to wait an hour for a porter, or to carry
his baggage to his room for himself. Again I was
reminded that " coming events cast their shad
ows before."
Having now completed the overland journey
by diligence, I decided to rest here a few days
before going farther. My chief amusement was
to observe the numerous parties of American
tourists who came down by the railroad from
points in Texas and the South-west. They were
the only persons of their class that I had met
in the Mexican Republic. When they arrived
and had become a little settled, the first thing

Monterey. 285
they did was to go out and make purchases.
They generally returned with a zarape, or Mex
ican blanket, and a fancy basket. The baskets
are made by the prisoners confined in the jail.
This building was formerly the Convent of San
Francisco. There are many American residents
in Monterey, and, if any one is unable to speak
Spanish and needs an interpreter, he can easily
find somebody who will cheerfully help him.
Monterey and its environs are full of interest.
The scenery is magnificent. The city lies in a
valley between the Cerro de la Silla, or Saddle-
Mountain, on one side, and La Mitra, or the
Mitre, on the other. These mountains rise to
the height of about four thousand feet above
the sea-level, while the valley has an elevation
of but sixteen hundred and twenty-six feet. A
small stream of water runs through the city and
is crossed by a substantial bridge which played
an important part in the war with the United
States. It was the scene of a sanguinary engage
ment, and was successfully held by the Mex
icans against the assaults of the American
forces.

286 Mexico and the Mexicans.
The exact date of the founding of the city is
not known. It first bore the name of Santa
Lucia, afterwards that of Leon. When the
city was begun, the untamed Indian tribes had
been but recently expelled from the region.
The newly acquired territory took the name of
the New Kingdom of Leon. This city was the
capital. In the year 1596 it was duly con
stituted as the metropolis of Our Lady of Mon
terey. It now has a cathedral, several fine
churches, a convent and a public library.
The American Board of Foreign Missions has
maintained a station at Monterey for many
years, and its representatives have had a fair
share of success. The Baptists also have their
missionaries in the field, and enforce their re
ligious ideas with great zeal. It is probable
that the City of Monterey will become the
centre and focus of the Protestant worship in
future years.
It was now time to bid farewell to Mexico.
No more diligence riding ! The railroad has
entered the Republic from the north, and a
train of cars takes passengers to the Rio Grande

Monterey. 287
in twelve hours. For many miles out from
Monterey, the scenery is of the most attractive
character, with the grand Sierra Madre con
stantly in view. Later, all this is changed.
The train passes through an entirely different
region. All that can now be seen, is a vast
plain covered with the Osage-orange and the
cactus. In the springtime, however, the mo
notony is somewhat relieved ; for then the cactus
is in blossom. The flowers are of varied hues,
yellow, orange, red and purple, and the tints
are often of great splendor.
At length, the train approached the town of
Nuevo Laredo. Its high frame buildings, so
totally unlike the stuccoed houses of other
Mexican cities, and its general appearance pro
claimed the influence of another people. At
sunset I crossed the Rio Grande and entered
Laredo, the frontier city. I was once more in
the United States.

CHAPTER XXII.
THE FUTURE OF MEXICO.
No discerning man can fail to perceive that
the destiny of our own country is to be, here
after, closely interwoven with that of Mexico.
Besides, the cause of free government and its
adaptation to all conditions of men will hence
forth be on trial before the world as perhaps it
never has been before.
The Mexican Minister at Washington esti
mates the population of Mexico at ten million
souls. He classifies them as follows :
Number of inhabitants of pure Span
ish lineage  1,000,000
Number of inhabitants of mixed blood,
including Mestizos, Zambos, Quad
roons and Octoroons  4,000,000
Number of aborigines, commonly des
ignated as Indians  5,000,000

The Future of Mexico. 289
The last-named class differs in many respects
from the Indians who are found within the
limits of the United States. An officer of the
United States Army, who has seen much ser
vice among the savage tribes of the West,
gives it as his opinion that an American Indian,
living, as he does, chiefly by the chase, requires
a territorial area of forty square miles for his
support. Every effort to eradicate his love for
a nomadic life, or in any way to civilize him,
has thus far proved vain and impotent.
The aborigines of Mexico, on the other hand,
are, without exception, stationary, and are ad
dicted to manual labor of some kind. It will, of
course, be understood that the Comanches and
Apaches, whose reservations lie exclusively with
in the United States, but who are in the habit
of crossing the border when pursued by the mil
itary, are not included in this designation. An
average of two or three acres, in other words,
the one ten-thousandth part of the above-named
quantity of land, suffices to support each Mexi
can man, woman and child. Descended, as they
are, directly from the Aztecs, who, under the
19

290 Mexico and the Mexicans.
Montezumas, attained an advanced civilization,
their whole mode of life antagonizes that of the
American savage. It is stated that they are
divided into various tribes, and I have heard the
number of these placed as high as twenty.
Senor Romero describes them as follows : " I
have not seen any people more docile and more
deserving of a better fate than the Indians of
Mexico. They are ignorant and poor for reasons
that I have already set forth, but there are
elements in them to make them a great people.
Whenever any one of the race has had advan
tages of education, he has risen to the highest
standard. Many of Mexico's most distinguished
men, either as statesmen, patriots, soldiers, etc.,
have been pure-blooded Indians, as Juarez and
Morelos. I have the highest sympathy for
them, and I would spare no effort to do them
justice and to advance their condition in every
way I possibly could. I believe one of the
most effective means to obtain this result is
to increase their wages ; and this has already
been one of the first effects of railroad build
ing in Mexico. When they are well off they

The Future of Mexico. 291
will be a different people from what they are
now." The all-important problem which awaits solu
tion, in the future of Mexico, is : By what means
can the welfare of these millions be most effectu
ally promoted? My reference here is to the
nine millions, and not to the one million. Upon
the success or failure of the present rulers of
Mexico to solve this momentous problem will
depend both the estimation in which they are
held by their contemporaries at home and abroad,
and their just claim to an honorable place on
the page of history.
When California was acquired by the United
States, the number of Mexicans within its
borders probably did not exceed, in all, twenty
thousand. The number of adult males, accord
ingly, hardly reached five thousand. Very socn
after the opening of the gold-fields, at least ten
times that number of adventurers from Europe,
and from all parts of the Western Hemisphere,
precipitated themselves upon the country.
The character and purpose of the vast ma
jority of these men are too well known to re-

292 Mexico and the Mexicans.
quire comment. The result was that everything
Mexican was at once eliminated from the soil
of California. Still, it may be doubted, whether
the charges which from time to time have been
made, of interference with the then established
forms of religious worship, can be substantiated.
The truth is that the missions of the Roman
Catholic Church had, for the most part, fallen
into deCay, and the number of communicants
had been correspondingly diminished, before
the descent of the gold-hunters upon the
country. Whatever else may happen, effectual meas
ures should be adopted to guard against, the
possibility of enacting a similar drama on the
soil of Mexico. Surely no man of generous and
philanthropic views can, for a moment, counte
nance any scheme which will ignore the rights
of the millions of that country. Least of all
will those of our own countrymen, who, twenty
years ago, fought in the fore-front of freedom's
battle, consent to so foul a wrong.
Since the acquisition of California, the great
est triumph for personal liberty that history

The Future of Mexico. 293
has recorded — the emancipation of four millions
of slaves — has been achieved in this country.
Let us hope that the great principles of human
rights which have been written in blood on that
monument of freedom, the Constitution of the
United States, will be enforced, so far as the
people of our sister republic are concerned. On
many a bloody field the Mexicans have proved
their innate and inextinguishable love for liberty.
Let it be understood from the outset that the
new departure is for their advantage, and not,
in any sense, for their oppression.
In a conversation with General Grant, on the
subject of my tour through Mexico, he remarked
that the present is an interesting period for
visiting that country, as many and great changes
are about to occur there. The premonitions on
every hand indicate the correctness of this re
mark. It is within my personal knowledge that
many of our people are about to engage in min
ing, manufactures, agriculture and in other in
dustrial pursuits, at various points throughout
the republic.
Hotels, to be conducted on the American

294 Mexico and the Mexicans.
plan, will be erected in several of the large cen
tres of population and business. Horses, horned
cattle and sheep are to be raised on an extensive
scale. The culture of the vine and the manu
facture of wine will be introduced at an early
day on the Pacific slope. Agricultural imple
ments will be made at various points, and fur
nished to the tiller of the soil at prices which
will at once create for them an extensive market.
Vehicles of all descriptions, from a simple two-
wheeled cart to a fashionable carriage, will be
made, not only in the capital, but in several
other places ; thus providing the means to estab
lish, as proposed by President Gonzalez, innu
merable local channels for the transportation of
the products of the soil and mines on the one
hand, and of manufactured goods on the other.
These avenues will be tributary to the great
lines of railroad. Sugar refineries will be estab
lished, in the neighborhood of the sugar-cane
plantations, on both the east and west of the
country. Petroleum refineries will be opened
in the State of Vera Cruz and at points on the
Pacific coast. The manufacture of the rich orna-

The Future of Mexico. 295
mental woods, the mahogany, the ebony, and
the rosewood, which in some places are now
used for fuel, will become before long an impor
tant branch of industry.
Of course, the mining of iron, copper and
quicksilver, as well as that of the precious metals,
will be prosecuted with the aid of the most im
proved machinery, on a more extensive scale
than ever before. Smelting-furnaces and rolling-
mills will soon follow.
Tobacco, Indian corn, coffee, sugar, cotton,
wheat, indigo, vanilla, sarsaparilla, jute, hemp,
etc., will be produced more extensively than
they have been heretofore, because all will be
certain to find a ready and profitable market,
both at home and abroad.
Enough has been said to show that, for the
first time since the Spanish Conquest, the Mexi
cans are to be favored with a diversified in
dustry. How shall this change be turned to
their highest advantage? How shall it be made
to inure to their elevation, moral, intellectual,
political and social?
The elementary writers on the science of gov-

296 Mexico and the Mexicans.
ernment define a republic to be that form of
government in which the administration of pub
lic affairs is open to all the citizens. We are
accustomed to call Mexico a republic. Is it so
in fact ? I am of the opinion that it is a re
public only in name. After a sojourn of consid
erable duration in the country, during which I
visited the more populous districts, the govern
ment appears to me to be practically an oli
garchy. I make this statement with the less
reserve, because I miss in the civil polity of
Mexico, that clear and distinct recognition of
the essential dignity of human nature and of the
superiority of the rights of manhood to the
rights of property, which constitute the vital
essence of our own political system. I miss,
besides, the guaranty of religious freedom which
is contained in the Constitution of the United
States, and which is even more fully embodied
iri the Constitution of the State of New York
in these memorable words: "The free exercise
and enjoyment of religious profession and wor
ship, without discrimination or preference, shall
forever be allowed in this State to all mankind."

The Future of Mexico. 297
The truth is that the inequalities of condition
are nearly as great in Mexico to-day as they
were during the Spanish domination, or as they
are at this moment in any country of continental
Europe. The land belongs almost wholly to
the white race. When it is cultivated in small
parcels by the Indians, the usual custom is to
give one-half of the product to the landlord as
rent. Unquestionably, the most effectual of all the
plans which have been suggested for ameliorat
ing the condition of the peons is to make them
the owners of the soil. By this means the pres
ent system of tillage will undergo a radical
change. Instead of living, as they do at present,
in cities or hamlets, the tillers of the soil will
occupy the land which they own. A large in
crease in the crops will inevitably ensue. But
what is perhaps of still greater importance, is
the change which will be wrought in the status
of the farmer. Better food, better clothing and
a better house will supersede his present sur
roundings. With these will come a greater
degree of interest in the administration of public

298 Mexico and the Mexicans.
affairs, growing out of his increased stake in the
preservation of social order. The standing
army and the rural police may then be reduced,
because self-government will take the place of
the repressive measures which are now in force.
Then, and not till then, will Mexico take her
place as a model republic, beside the United
States of America.